Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Otherwise, Sasuke would be dead, and Naruto x Sakura would have already happened, ages ago.
Chapter 1: The Calm before the Storm
Black hair tousled by the wind, he closed his eyes as he mentally prepared himself before pulling six kunai from his holster. Sharingan! He thought inwardly,and as he opened them, his obsidian irises turned red. Now, he was ready.
Leaping into the air, he released the kunai one by one, pleased to hear the thunks that told him they had hit the target. This last one would be difficult tho, as it was in his blind spot, behind a boulder. Concentrating, he threw one kunai towards the rock with his right hand, then released the other with his left, deflecting the first onto the target, and the second onto another target positioned on a tree trunk. Though outwardly he displayed no emotion, inwardly, he was rather pleased with himself. It was only the third time in four tries that he'd been able to achieve the feat of hitting all six targets on the bullseye since his father had told him about this place where all Uchihas trained their bloodline limit and shuriken techniques.
He had collected the kunais, ready to try again when something stirred in his peripheral vision, and he only just managed to somersault into the air, avoiding the kunai that had been aimed at his back, while releasing all six kunai that had been in his hands, aiming for the weakest points of the enemy's body-head, neck, heart and both knees. Without his sharingan, he knew, he would have been killed. As he landed, he pulled more shuriken out of his back pouch, standard issue for all ninjas, ready to defend himself if the shurikens had missed. Anyone who had the guts to attack an ANBU captain, even one at his tender age of 13, would be either crazy, suicidal, or strong enough to be confident in matching even his strength. What came next though, even he did not predict.
"Hahahahaha(A/N: picture the creepy laugh), as expected of you, Uchiha Itachi-sama," Orochimaru laughed, but Itachi could tell he was being condescending when he'd applied the honorific to his name. The snake man creeped him out, even then, he was known as one of the Sannin, the three strongest ninja in Konoha, and though he thought he might be able to match up to either one of them in terms of battle strength, Itachi really did not want to fight them.
Once he managed to suppress that slight apprehension though, Itachi realised he was livid inside. This snake freak had just attacked him from behind, and trespassed on Uchiha land, and now, he was mocking him! As those thoughts flashed through his mind, he struggled to compose himself.
Coldly, he said, "What do you want from me, Orochimaru-san, and what are you doing here?" he forced himself to add the honorific, if anything, because that freak was older than him.
"I was merely testing you. You see, I'm conducting some..experiments, and I was wondering if you would like to help me with it," Orochimaru replied, barely missing a beat at the killing intent Itachi was now radiating.
"No. Whatever it is, unless you've come from the Hokage, no," Itachi said, noticing that Orochimaru's false smile had slipped and was bordering on a grimace, "and I have to get back to training, you're in the way."
Orochimaru was furious. How DARE that brat dismiss him! How DARE he refuse him, one of the great Sannin! Well, he smirked to himself, it would just have to be done the hard way then, though he'd very much preferred not to have to fight Itachi, wanting him in as perfect a condition as possible, Orochimaru knew he had to retreat, for now. Controlling his facial expressions once again to show that twisted smile that he'd practiced so often, to fool that stupid old geezer, he said, "Very well. But you must come and see these tests sometime Itachi-sama," he spat the honorific again. It riled him so that he would have to call that brat "-sama" because of his position in the ANBU. It riled him even more that as the village's "genius", Itachi had replaced him, and was even given the exception of not having to wear a mask even though he was ANBU.
Watching the retreating back of the snake Sannin, Itachi couldn't help but feel suspicious. Something was underfoot, and he knew that snake would be behind it. Trying again, he found that he was too distracted to hit all six targets, having missed the one in his blind spot for the second time today. Something told him all was not right. He collected his kunais and decided that he would pay that snake freak a visit, in secret, to find out what his "experiments" were all about.
A/N: Phew, first chapter of Naruto fanfic, EVER. Also, I apologise if the timeline's a little messed. I'll admit, I didn't do much research before writing this, though I'm pretty sure Itachi and Orochi were in Konoha together, at the same time. Anyways, thank you for reading, please review! I'd like to know how my first fanfic is received ) Thank you!