Sorry about not putting the disclaimer up the first time I poster this. I've been writing original stories so long that I nearly forgot to do this. So to avoid further mistakes like this, this disclaimer applies to every chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did I'd go ahead and put the anime to the time skip, and I would make Neji or Itachi the main character.
Prologue: The ANBU captain
A man with dark brown hair ran through the forests on the outer rims on the fire country. His clothes resembled that of a beggar, with ripped gray clothes and his feet were bare. His pants, which now looked closer to shorts now, were so dirty you could almost swear that it was a mixture of brown and deep red. His face was cut all over, and blood covered his face and stained his short sleeved shirt.
"Damn ANBU." He muttered to himself as he continued to run. He stopped for a moment to listen for footsteps or the sound of people landing on tree branches. No sound presented itself except for the crickets singing their nightly song. The man smiled and continued his sprint.
The man managed to make it to a lake just near the border, and he figured since he was so far ahead of the ANBU squad chasing him, that he could stop for a quick drink and refill his flask. The moment he bent over he felt the point of a sword against his back.
"Zoburo Fachisi." The voice from behind him spoke. "You have left Konoha without permission, you expected us to follow you, and yet you drop your guard. I expected someone like you to be better considering three Jonin are dead because of you."
"It was a sneak attack and luck." Another voice shouted.
"QUIET!" The first voice said. "Fachisi, you are going to die."
"We're supposed to return him!"
Fachisi turned around and saw three men in ANBU uniform. The one behind him wore a mask resembling that of a weasel. The second one who also spoke wore an owl's mask, and the last one wore a mask that resembled a cat.
"Itachi-kun?" Fachisi asked.
The ANBU in the weasel mask looked back and nodded. "Good bye." Itachi swung the sword; Fachisi moved back and fell into the lake.
Itachi began to do three hand seals. Flame erupted from his mouth in a glorious flash and evaporated the majority of the water, however, Fachisi was nowhere to be seen.
"A clone, I see." Itachi murmured.
The ANBU in the owl's mask turned to his left and saw two Fachisis standing on the same branch of a tree, and they both began four hand seals. Both the Fachisis leapt to the ground and placed their hands on the earth, and stone pillars began shooting up out of the ground making their way towards the three ANBU.
Itachi did the same seals and returned the jutsu back at Fachisi. Itachi's copy of the jutsu managed to stop Fachisi's attack, and then Itachi followed up by throwing two kunai, making one hit the other to his both Fachisis in the face. Once they both hit them, they vanished.
"He relies on clones too much." The ANBU in the cat's mask said dully.
The ANBU in the owl's mask leapt to one tree behind him and used it to help him jump from tree to tree hoping to find Fachisi. After about ten jumps, he stopped. "He tricked us."
Itachi looked at the ANBU, and a faint red glow could be seen through the eyeholes of his mask, "Follow me."
Fachisi smiled to himself, constantly thinking of how he outwitted the best of the ANBU. He looked forward and turned pale when he saw Itachi standing five yards in front of him. It was almost pitch dark where he was because the forest canopy was so thick it shielded the ground from most of the moonlight. The only way he saw Itachi was the faint glow of his sharingan from the light of the moon.
"You're not getting away." Itachi growled.
Fachisi made the same four seals for the stone pillars, and Itachi did the three seals for his blaze jutsu. Once the stone pillars came up, Itachi blew the flame and melted the pillars.
Fachisi leapt towards Itachi and began his taijutsu combinations. He entered with a whirlwind kick from the air, and his foot met Itachi's face. However, to Fachisi's horror, he saw that this was also a clone, and the clone exploded, causing Fachisi to fly through a tree.
Fachisi soon recovered and continued his run; however his speed wasn't as fast as it once was because his lack of stamina. "DAMN IT!" Fachisi scolded himself "I used too much chakra!"
His sprint continued, constantly striving to find some place to escape his relentless pursuers. His blood now dripped into his mouth, causing him to cough violently, almost making him fall while running. His side began to ache after a few more minutes of running, and his vision became blurry.
He turned around towards where he believed his pursuers might show, and prepared himself for the worst. As he took a final drink from his flask, he felt a little revitalized and ready to take whatever came to him.
The three ANBU landed in front of Fachisi. The silence was almost eerie when it lasted for five minutes, and then Fachisi spoke, "I'm not going back. I'll never go back alive."
"I wasn't intending on taking you back alive." Itachi's words his Fachisi like stone. Itachi put his hands together preparing to perform hand seals. Fachisi attempted to be the faster one and performed five hand seals. Once Fachisi touched the ground, more pillars shot up from the ground, but the other two ANBU members smashed through the pillars. The one with the owl's mask performed a water dragon jutsu, and the other smashed through the pillar with a devastating kick.
Fachisi backed up two steps and performed the same five hand seals, except he added horse at the end of it, and stone pillars flew out of the ground and looked similar to giant senbon as they propelled themselves at the three ANBU.
Itachi remained where he stood and every pillar missed him. The other two jumped to the side, and the owl masked ANBU performed the three hand seals, and then everything became blurry to Fachisi for a moment, then a tree surrounded him and the ANBU appeared in the tree holding a kunai. Fachisi smirked and performed a genjutsu dispel.
"You're going to have to try harder than that!" Fachisi yelled.
Itachi stood right behind Fachisi and did his three hand seals for blaze and once again, a fantastic flame shot out of Itachi's mouth. Fachisi's right sleeve caught on fire, but other than that, he avoided it. Fachisi shifted to his side and threw twenty shuriken at Itachi, who caught each one.
The ANBU Uchiha glared at the overconfident, bloody fugitive with his glowing red eyes. Itachi had such a murderous look in his eyes.
Fachisi leapt back and concentrated hard on his next move, but to his dismay he took too long and the ANBU with the owl's mask on had already performed his five hand seals, and prepared to attack again. When he placed his hands on the earth, stone came up around Fachisi and bound him inside.
The ANBU in the owl's mask gave a thumbs-up to his captain, and Itachi stepped forward. "Zoburo Fachisi." Was all Itachi said, and then he performed a few hand seals far faster than the naked eye can see, and his blaze flew from his mouth to the stone mound. Once the smoke cleared, nothing remained except for a pile of ash.
"That was a bit much, don't you think?" The ANBU in the owl's mask asked.
"We were given the job to chase him, and as ANBU, we need to do what is best for our country. Got that Katsiru?" Itachi growled.
The ANBU in the owl's mask flinched. "Whoa, now you're getting patriotic aren't you?"
"No, I'm telling you that to shut you up, now move." The young captain walked back towards Konoha with extreme calm despite his cross attitude.
"What do you think of this Han-san?"
"Well," The ANBU in the cat's mask began, "As long as we got the job done it doesn't matter to me. I'm just ready to get back home and relax, my legs are aching!"
"Pansy." Katsiru muttered.