He was wearing all black and a black mask, and he used his chakra to try and blend into the woods. You threw your shuriken to the left side without evn looking, and you heard the thump and moan as the shuriken hit it's mark. Itachi turned and looked at you, incredulous. He threw a kunai that landed on the man's neck, and then he went to retrieve the giant shuriken. It might be useful later. You were wearing a reddish midlength overshirt over a midlength black tanktop, so you pulled off your overshirt. Itachi gasped when he turned around and saw you pulling your shirt off, but you payed him no mind. You started to rip it into long strips to be used as a bandage. You looked at him, and kept ripping the shirt.
"Come over here and take off your shirt. That wound won't heal itself, you know," you say as Itachi complies, somewhat reluctantly.
You see why he was reluctant. He has muscles the likes of which you've never seen before, but he also has scars that no man would be proud of. But they aren't ugly, knotted scars, they are old, healed scars. One trails accross his back, from the left shoulder to the right hip, one winds from his right shoulder blade over the collarbone and down accross the chest. A third and fourth form an x on his left side/torso area. Itachi has seen some pretty brutal fights to leave scars like that, although the fights were probably fought before he became a shinobi.
He looks at you as a stream of blood winds down his torso from the shuriken's wound. You dont gape or say nothing, and he just lets you wrap the shirt around the wound. When your satisfied that it will stay in place, you fold the excess strips and stick them in your pouch, then strap the giant shuriken to your back while Itachi puts his shirt back on. It's too hot for his coat now.
"Soooo...now which way? I've seen that clan before. They're like wolves- they always travel in packs." You say to him as he studies at the sky.
"First we eat lunch. Then we move north. There's a town not far from here. You could get some info for us there...I'll stay in the woods. All the people here would recognize this cloak far too easily." He says to you. You nod and let it drop, then follow him into the forest. He leads you to a stream, where he stabs two fish and a crawdad in one swipe. Cooked briefly by his fire jutsu since there's no time for camp, you both eat then are moving again. The crawdad was too small to eat, so he throws it back after cooking the fish.
"Do you know any other jutsus?" Itachi throws the question back as you're walking swiftly with him. He apparently meant jutsus other than the simple ones you'd used in the fight.
"Sure I do. I am a shinobi...just not legally," you say.
"What jutsus?"
"Mostly my own techniques. There is one that I was taught by a wiseman once...the stone jutsu."
"Stone jutsu?"
"Yeah. You make a pillar of rock come up out of the ground where ever you need one."
"Hm."
Then you walked in silence once more. Within twenty minutes, you had reached the village. Itachi told you to act like you were just visiting, looking for your brother or something. Lots of shinobi come through here, he said. Just ask around.
So you do. You walk in as if you're just another person, not in any hurry. You look around as if searching for someone, then start to ask random people if they've seen a man with all black on recently, do you know what he was up to, where did he go after that. You try a few people to be sure, then you're out of there. Itachi finds you out side the village and asks you what you found out.
"There's been a whole group of sound ninja through here a few times. They went north, toward the village hidden in sand. Sounds like Orochimaru's up to something." You say calmly. Itachi's eyes narrow.
"How do you know about the sound ninja's master?" He asks.
"I'm a lone shinobi, I don't live in any village. I live everywhere. I make friends everywhere. I've even found a kid who had a crush once. One of them was about fifty, worked for the village of sound, got drunk and blurted out to me that he worked for Orochimaru. Bloody fool died then and there...kunai through his throat. Oh yeah, did I tell you Orochimaru's after me now 'cause I know?" you say, blushing because you feel stupid now. Itachi's face smooths over and is expressionless once more. He turns and walks away down the path, saying,
"C'mon. You're more interesting than I first thought. But we have to move, Kokoro. Let's go."