Chapter Two

"The tension between the clan and village is worsening"

"At this point the coup might actually happen if nothing is done immediately"

Standing in a secluded area of the Konoha's training grounds, were two boys in their teens speaking of matters far above their age range.

"Itachi, my Mangekyo Sharingan's Kotoamatsukami failed to work the elders" Explained one of the boys.

With a small sigh, the boy named Itachi looked up at the sky quietly. They both stood in silence as they tried to come up with a plan to stop the coup d'état the Uchiha clan was currently planning. They both have spent many late nights and early mornings discussing peaceful methods of restoring the trust between the Uchiha clan and Konoha. Their last hope was with Shisui's Kotoamatsukami dojutsu. Unfortunately, they have exhausted all viable ideas.

"Shisui" Itachi spoke quietly. As said boy looked at Itachi and motioned for him to continue. "I fear violence is the only option we have now"

"Itachi, we must not give up yet! We cannot let the Uchiha clan continue down this path of hatred and greed"

"I understand and appreciate your optimism. But, we both know Kotoamatsukami was our last hope at defusing the situation" Although he was a bit younger than himself, Shisui couldn't help but to admire Itachi's maturity. He was the only one capable of seeing the rationale side of this mess. A civil war within this village could lead to another shinobi war. And Itachi took it upon himself to stop this from happening.

Itachi is such a peaceful child. It honestly breaks Shisui's heart to have to watch Itachi take on this burden. He has have very deep and philosophical conversations with Itachi in the past about all things relating to peace. As a brother like figure in Itachi's life, Shisui has witness on several occasions Itachi sacrificing himself for the betterment and harmony of this village.

However, it doesn't look like those sacrifices are helping his health at all. He's pale, frail, and…

At the sound of branches breaking both boys immediately turned to face the direction of the intruder. How long has that person been standing there and why did neither Itachi nor he sense the person approaching. There was no chakra signature coming from the person. Even if the person was a civilian, they would be able to sense that person regardless.

"Show yourself" Itachi demanded

With that command, a small girl hesitantly revealed herself from the bushes. Both boys immediately recognized her has one of Sasuke's friend; Sakura. That was strange, Shisui knew for a fact that Sakura had a chakra signature. But why wasn't he able to sense her?

"Umm… I'm sorry… for sneaking up you guys…I was playing hide and seek with Naruto and Sasuke-kun and got lost…I didn't mean to listen to your conversation. I got scared you might get mad so I hid" Shisui noticed Sakura looked completely terrified at the moment. Her shoulders were hunched over and she refused to make eye contact with them.

Her nervousness was probably due to the seriousness of the situation. And the fact that Itachi was currently staring at her with his Sharingan activated.

"Itachi, deactivate your Sharingan" Shisui hissed. He then took a few steps forward and bend down towards the ground. He motioned for Sakura to come over to him, while reassuring that everything will be fine. "Please excuse Itachi, but you do understand this is a private conversation?"

"How much of our conversation did you hear" Itachi said rather bluntly. Typically Itachi, getting straight to the point.

Sakura slowly made her way over to Shisui and came to a stop right in front of him. With Shisui bent down, they were currently at eye level with each other. In order comfort Sakura more, Shisui gently held her hands and gave a slight squeeze.

Sakura responded with "Well, I didn't really understand a few words. Like coup de' tai? Umm everything was a bit confusing but I understood that something is wrong between the Uchiha clan and the village. You guys said this will cause another war! What if we all get hurt and die and…" At this point Sakura was flailing her arms arm and listing reasons why war was bad.

Shisui chuckled slightly at her behavior. But this was a very serious matter and he couldn't have Sakura starting rumors of an attack on the Village by the Uchiha clan. That would only hasten any violence that was to come.

"Sakura" Itachi called out to her quietly. At this, Sakura had stop rambling and turned to Itachi. "How were you able to go undetected by myself and Shisui?"

"My mother says there's this special dojutsu that runs in our family that allows us to hide our chakra. She said that I should only tell people I trust about it and to definitely not teach them how to perform the technique"

"You not only hid your chakra, but your entire being as well" Itachi started to explain to Sakura. When he saw that she didn't quite understand he continued to explain "It was like you were invisible"

"Really, that's pretty cool"

"It is indeed" Itachi said while looking at her curiously

Shisui found the interaction between Itachi and Sakura a little concerning. He didn't know why, but Shisui was somewhat skeptical of Itachi's intentions with Sakura. Despite being a master of hiding his emotions, Shisui knew when something was amiss with Itachi. It probably was the way Itachi was studying her. He was interested in her abilities, that was a given, but why? Hopefully, Itachi won't include her in spying on the Uchiha clan. She was only ten.

However, his talk with Itachi will have to wait. They have more pressing matters to attend to.

"Sakura-chan, you understand that you can't tell anyone what you heard today right?" Shisui said seriously.

"Not even Sandaime-sama? ...Oh what about Mikoto-san?!" Sakura said excitedly. "I'm sure they both can help you guys" She said this like it was the most logical answer.

Shisui signed. Sakura didn't get it. "Sakura-chan…"

Shisui couldn't get his next words out due to Itachi pressing one of her many pressure points and knocking Sakura out. Shisui could only shake his head at his younger cousin's behavior.

"You didn't have to knock her out. I was about to use Kotoamatsukami to alter her memory" Shisui said as he laid the young girl on the floor. He started to make the appropriate hand seals for the dojutsu. Shisui's hands were hovering over Sakura's head and started to change her memory. It would probably be best to just erase the conversation instead implanting any false memories.

Itachi was standing a few feet away looking at him preform the dojutsu. He could tell that the Uchiha ordeal was making Itachi more paranoid.

"We should head back to the compound now" Shisui said while he stood up with Sakura in his arms. "I'm sure Naruto and Sasuke are worried about her."

They both started for the Uchiha compound each lost in their own thought.

XxXxXxXxX

He had that dream again…

No matter how many times this recurring memory pops up, Shisui can't help but to feel guilty. He should have predicted Itachi wouldn't leave Sakura alone.

The one thing he couldn't understand was why Itachi would want to travel with a ten-year old who wasn't skilled. Why would he want to waste his time and energy training a young girl? Yes, she had great potential, especially with that jutsu. But why her?

And then there was the matter of Sakura training under Tsunade.

It was very obvious Itachi was the one who organized the whole thing. But who helped him? It was very unlikely that Tsunade would take orders from someone random. Which means the order had to come from The Third.

But why would The Third allow this.

Deep down, Shisui probably already knew the answer. Hopefully, this mission will give him the opportunity to speak with Itachi and finally get the answers he deserves. After that situation with Sakura, he never got the opportunity to speak with Itachi in depth leading up to the massacre. If Danzo hadn't jumped him out of nowhere and taken his eye…

"Shisui" Shisui was pulled out of his thoughts suddenly. He didn't even realize he got out of bed and walked to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry can you repeat whatever you were saying"

"Would you like breakfast?"

A small smirk started to form on Shisui's face "Aww my baby cousin is being so sweet today". He then went over to the table and sat down. Shisui started reading the mission scroll and going over the finals details for the mission.

"Tch whatever" Sasuke said as he started taking the ingredients out of the fridge and preparing them for the meal.

They both sat in a comfortable silence, each in their own thoughts. The sounds of Sasuke chopping vegetables could be heard in the background. It looks like their informant was just before the border of the fire nation.

Looking over both Itachi's and Sakura skill sets made Shisui a bit uneasy. Growing up with Itachi and training with him gives Shisui a good idea of what they are going up against. But who knows how deadly those techniques have become since then. And there was still Sakura, the only known information about her was that she has an affinity for genjustu and has trained to be a medic-nin. Knowing that she has been trained by Tsunade puts him at ease somewhat. He'll except the enhance strength and the ability to heal herself while in combat.

Despite being in the bingo book, her skill sets are unaccounted for. No one seems to be able to get close enough to her. In the words of Shikamaru Nara, this mission will be very troublesome.

"Sasuke" Shisui suddenly called out to Sasuke. When Sasuke looked up at him and motioned for him to continue, Shisui spoke "We really need to talk about your involvement in this mission"

"There's nothing to talk about" Sasuke replied smoothly. "I will battle Itachi"

"And risk the lives of your fellow team members?"

"I'm sure the four of you can handle capturing Sakura without my help. This is a battle between Itachi and me"

"And if you get killed?"

"You've trained me well" Sasuke replied slowly. "I won't lose. My chance for revenge is finally here. I cannot waste this opportunity."

"Sasuke just think about your decision…"

"And what about you!" Sasuke interrupted him angrily. "How can you be so calm about this? Itachi killed our entire clan and you want me to let him go freely?"

"Sasuke, that is not what I'm saying" Shisui started to defend himself.

"Then what are you saying. Because you know what, your involvement or lack thereof is very suspicious." Sasuke was livid at this point. His face was getting redder by the minute and his Sharingan was activated. "The clan found your supposed suicide note. We all believed in was Itachi who killed you. Honestly, if it wasn't for Danzo having one of your eyes, I would think you helped Itachi kill our clan"

"Sasuke, we talked about this" Shisui started to reason with him. But, it is extremely hard to do when Sasuke gets like this.

"It was pretty convenient that you disappeared days before the massacre and showed up right after" Sasuke snarled at him. This conversation is getting heated and he needed to defuse the situation.

But Sasuke did have a point. It looked really suspicious that Shisui disappearance and involvement was unaccounted for. To this day, Shisui still could not understand how his jutsu failed. It was supposed to completely wipe his existence from this world so no one can take advantage of his dead body. He must have miss calculated something or forced too much chakra into the jutsu. There has to be some explanation.

"I told you, Danzo attacked me and took my eye. I feared he might attack me again, so I tried to wipe my existence. I don't understand how it didn't work" Shisui tried to reason with Sasuke.

"And your other eye?"

It was clear Sasuke didn't believe his pervious explanations for the disappearance (and reappearance) of his other eye. But Shisui was explicitly told not to discuss any information about the coup with Sasuke.

"I told you, it reappeared one day. Sasuke, you have to understand that moment happened in a blur. I was attacked by Danzo one minute and the next I was casting that jutsu. I still had my other eye but I honestly cannot remember what happen" It didn't hurt to throw in a small lie. Sasuke, would only become more skeptical if he knew Itachi had his other eye.

Sasuke continued to look at Shisui suspiciously, but didn't say a word after that. Sasuke obviously didn't believe his excuse. However, it could be plausible since Shisui really did not know what happen during that time. Sasuke wasn't satisfied with his answer but he dropped the subject and went back to cooking.

"This conversation isn't over yet. I will get answers from you after my battle with Itachi" Sasuke stated calmly.

He finished cooking, handed Shisui a plate, and left the kitchen murmuring something about packing his bag. Shisui could only watch with sadden eyes as Sasuke walked away. Shisui knew Sasuke knew that there were secrets he was keeping from Sasuke. But Shisui could not speak on those matters due to him not being fully informed about the massacre. He had his suspicions that Itachi was ordered to kill the clan but wasn't for sure.

More like in denial that the Hokage and the elders would order the execution of the Uchiha.

XxXxXxXxX

Shisui stood by the entrance of Konoha mentally going over last minute details for his current mission. This mission will be difficult to say the least. The majority of the people on this mission has some type of personal connection to Sakura. He wouldn't be surprised if any of the ninjas before him acted upon their personal vendetta against Itachi.

Keeping an eye on Sasuke was a struggle in itself. But to multiply that by three is a disaster waiting to happen.

Putting that thought away for the time being, Shisui started to confirm small details of the mission. As captain, he had to make sure his subordinates understood the mission summary fully and packed accordingly. Each member is required to have a standard amount of money, medical supplies, and…

"Naruto!"

Shisui wasn't able to finish his thought due to two people unexpectedly joining their small mission group. From where he was standing, Shisui could see an older women rushing over to them while waving her hand in order to get their attention. Behind her was a man around the same age as the women, he too was rushing to meet them.

As they slowly approaching, the five some all turned to the women calling for Naruto.

"Naruto, I'm glad to have caught you before you left" The lady said as she finally caught up to them. As she came to a stop in front of them, it was clear that she was out of breath from her obvious run. She looked very familiar with her dark blonde shoulder length hair. The man, who he assumed to be the husband, had light pink hair that went into four different directions. He immediately recognized them to be Mebuki and Kizashi Haruno, Sakura's parents and Naruto's guardians.

What they were doing here, he had the faintest idea.

Now that they were closer, Shisui could see the worry in Kizashi's eyes and the redness in Mebuki's. Naruto must have told them about their mission to rescue Sakura last night.

"I know that we shouldn't be here discussing classified mission details with you. But we are begging each of you to bring our daughter back" Mebuki started speaking. Although her words were directed to the group, everyone could tell she was speaking to Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. They were Sakura's closest friends before the kidnapping. "Please don't jeopardize her return in order to get revenge on Itachi. We just want her home"

Naruto immediately stepped forward and grabbed Mebuki by the hands. He look her right in the eye with the most serious face any of the people standing there have seen. "After all that you guys have done for me. I promise to bring her back. And I never go back on a ninja promise"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but we need to head out now or we'll be behind schedule" Shisui spoke.

Mebuki quickly jumped back and started to apologize while shooing them away at the same time.

With one last look and nod of affirmation to the married couple, the team made their way to the gate separating Konoha from the rest of the fire nation. They came to a stop a few feet away from the gates in order to finish their mission checki.

"Alright, the mission has officially begun" Shisui started saying to the group and looking each of them in the eye. "Follow my command and we won't have any problems, understood?"

"Hai"

"…"

"Hai"

"You got it!"

"Good, so we will stick to formation A for the duration of our trip. I'll be in the front, Sasuke and Naruto in the middle and Sai and Kakashi in the back. We'll stop just before the nation's border to rendezvous with an informant who knows the whereabouts of Itachi and Sakura. We'll adjust our course from there if needed."

Shisui looked at each member of their small group to gauge whether or not he needed to explain anything further. When he was satisfied that they seemed to understand he motioned for the group leave.

"Move out"

XxXxXxXxX

I hope everybody had a wonderful time during the holidays. Please comment if you see a mistake, I wanted to get this out quickly for you guys.

Sidenote: does anyone know how to make those lines that separates two story sections. I like those better than the x that I put.