A Solemn Requiem

Itachi took a moment and looked at the girl. She had purple hair that ended in a spiky ponytail, she dressed casually, however that didn't mean she wasn't a potential target. She knew his identity, which couldn't be a good sign, there was a good chance that death would be necessary, especially since she wore the leaf headband.

"Itachi, you're alive, reports had come in saying that you had died... I suppose there was no such luck."

Reports? If she's received reports she must be of at least jonin level.

Itachi assumed a fighting stance and prepared himself to send another soul into the afterlife.

The girl however continued to look at him, if she was afraid she didn't show it, if anything she seemed calm, ready, as though death would be a relief. She looked him right in the eyes when suddenly her own widened with surprise.

"Where's your sharingan?" The surprised kunoichi asked.

"That's none of your business Konoha nin."

"The name Anko for your information, and it's time that you finally paid for your sins."

Itachi chuckled to himself.

"My sins? I'm still paying for them."

Two kunai shot towards him from the girl's hand, she was fast, but she was still nothing in comparison to Itachi. He easily moved aside from the flying blades. However the snakes that came up from the ground nearly caught him off guard. He managed to keep them from grabbing hold of him, but as he jumped away from them he left himself unguarded from a the most recent kunai the girl had sent flying at him.

So he made a Serpent hand seal.

His body melted into the shadows of the trees on the ground. The daylight sky turned to night and Anko watched as her old mentor walked slowly towards her.

"Anko, I've returned for you."

"O-Orochimaru!? What are you doing here?"

"Anko, you were such a bad girl to run away from home, but now it's time that we completed your experiments."

"No! I won't let you take me again."

Anko charged Orochimaru in a rage produced by fear, but upon nearing him the snake sannin unhinged his jaw and devoured her whole.

In reality Anko was laying unconscious on the ground at Itachi's feet. He had recognized the snakes as being from Orochimaru's pact, and realized that she must have trained with him at one point. It may have been speculation, but generally people who train under him become mentally unstable, hell just working with him was enough to make someone want to kill themselves.

Itachi took pity on the girl and dragged her off into a nearby clearing, night was coming, and he needed to make camp. As for Anko, he had a few questions to ask her.

When Anko awoke the moon was high in the sky and the smell of roasted meat drifted through the air. Itachi had already set up a fire (much to his woe it was only a red flame) and he had caught a deer and killed it.

"So glad to see that's you're awake."

The girl looked around and seemed to be surprised that he hadn't bound her, she also seemed to be looking for a certain snake lord.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you, I just need some answers"

"Where's Orochimaru? What's going on!?

"Calm down, I hate dealing with people who freak out over every little thing. I'm a genjutsu master, recreating that insane sannin was easy, and I've taken you hostage because I need answers. I've been dead, I was recently woken up and I need to know what's happened in my absence."

"That makes no sense whatsoever."

"It doesn't have to, I'm not so much asking you as I am telling you, tell me what you know about Uchiha Sasuke, how long it's been since my death, and what is happening with Akatsuki.

"And if I refuse?"

"I cast a genjutsu on you that will make you tell the truth."

"..."
"Well?"

"Uchiha Sasuke is still missing, he has been seen working with akatsuki recently. It's been a few months since he reportedly "killed" you. And finally Akatsuki has captured seven of the bijuu it is believed that sasuke has captured the eight tails for them as of recently. Zetsu, Kisame, Sasuke, his mysterious team, Tobi, the leader, Konan and apparently you are the members.

…

happy?"

"Quite."

With another hand seal Anko was asleep, which meant that Itachi could get some shut eye as well.

He glared at the Keeper with his sharingan eyes. It stood at about eight feet tall, and weighed around 900 lbs. although it could be said that it was clothed with black armor, Itachi had learned from experience that the armor was a hard outer shell that the demon had grown, in that way it was much like a beetle. It carried something like a machete that was size proportional, and attached to his other arm was a large shield. The Keeper's skin was charcoal in color and it's eye's glowed blood red. It's mouth hung open and leaked a dark smoke that clouded Itachi's vision. The thing wreaked of rotting flesh, and Itachi was forced to smell it's foul breadth as it gave a loud and malicious laugh.

It said something in a strange demonic language, but Itachi didn't know what. There was a pause, time seemed to stop, and Itachi realized that he couldn't move, the thing darted forward, it's speed seemed impossible for a creature it's size. The Machete was caked with dried blood, but it tasted something fresh as it sliced through Itachi's skin. Itachi struggled to move but it felt as if his body weren't his own, he looked at the Keeper as it stabbed and sliced him... immortality was overrated.

Itachi woke up with cold sweat on his forehead.

It was morning.

Another dream of that place...

The master of illusion got up and walked over to Anko, he noticed a mark on her neck, it was the same tattoo that Sasuke had, it would seem that she was one of Orochimaru's experiments. He didn't quite feel pity, but he was able to empathize her pain. He twitched a finger and allowed the genjutsu to end. Anko awoke immediately and tried to figure out what happened to her.

"What the...?"

Itachi ignored her and began moving around the campsite erasing all signs of his being there.

"Hey!? Don't ignore me... anyways, what are you going to do now?"

"I need to find Sasuke, it would seem that I'm no longer dying, perhaps now I can talk to him about the truth.

"The Truth? Don't you mean finish him, and what do you mean by dying?"

Itachi would have laughed if he actually felt emotion anymore, but instead simply explained the truth to Anko.

"I killed the clan under orders of the council of elders. I then joined Akatsuki as a spy mission, I allowed Sasuke to kill me so that he could attain the magenkyou sharingan... that's my life story in a nutshell."

"And I'm expected to believe that!?"

"No, but you asked..."
"If you were on a mission from the elders why did you tell me? That would be breaking orders! So you must be lying!"

"You don't seem to understand this... but I DIED...I believe that death releases you from any and all missions. You don't have to listen to me, you can leave, I've no use for you and I really was that evil then I'd have killed you by now."

"..."

"..."

"...Well, that's a pretty damn good point."

"So what will you do now?"

"Right now my mission is to Discern whether or not Sasuke is a legitimate danger to the leaf village, if what you say is true, and you're going to find him then I'm going to have to go with you. Consider me a... partner of sorts. At least for now"

"Just don't slow me down."

"ummm... one more thing..."

"What?"

"Well, I can't be walking around with someone from Akatsuki."

"What, do you want me to wear a disguise?"

"... well... yeah..."

"I wasn't being serious..."

"Too bad, when we get to the next village you're getting a disguise."

"You're not in a position to give orders, I outranked you when I left, and that was when I was thirteen."

"But I'm a woman. I WILL get my way."

"I will get a disguise once on the grounds that you keep your mouth closed until we get to the Akatsuki hideout."

"WAIT! WE'RE GOING THERE!?"
"Well, it's as good a place to start as any."

Itachi began to travel west, towards Konoha, he didn't bother looking to see if the girl would actually follow. He was hoping that she'd get tired of following him and leave but it didn't seem that he would have any such luck. He ran through the forest for three days straight, he never once stopped for food or sleep, but he could sense her presence behind him. Eventually he reached the main gates and about a minute later she did as well.

"WHAT WAS THAT!? You tried to ditch me!"

"(ignoring her) We need to get into the city if you want me to get a disguise, now I could kill all of the guards and while I sneak into the nearest clothing shop you can-"

"No. We're not killing anyone."

"Why not? It's the easiest solution, if you'd like I'll be the one to hide the bodies-"

"I said no, these are my people I can't let you kill them."

"Fine then, infiltrate the city and bring me a disguise."

Anko left and went into the city. Meanwhile Itachi turned around and headed back into the forest...

Soon enough night fell, and Itachi was beginning to feel tired. Looking around he tried looked for a place to stop, when he began to smell something familiar. Spinning around he could see a hole in the ground. He could see a single skeletal hand come up from hole.

Jakals.

One of the few things that he could have lived without while in hell. From what he had gathered he knew that Jakals were souls who had spent to long in the Abyss. They were powerful by themselves, but in groups they were unstoppable. Jakals were once people, but the burning suns and the Keepers fixed that. These people didn't keep a shred of their sanity, they were reduced to skeletal bodies, and were used like slaves by the Keepers. The real question was why was one on Earth?

The Jakal slowly crawled out of the hole which closed up behind the thing as soon as it was all the way through. It seemed slow enough, but Itachi knew better than to fall for the trick, the skeletons may have been dead, but they were quick, and they had a taste for human flesh. It stood on two fleshless legs, and fully erect it stood close to 6 ft. tall. The thing had bits of meat and skin still hanging from it's exposed bones, but the most disturbing feature it had was it's eyes. They had a blood red glow, just like all of those things from hell.

The thing lunged at him. It's fingers seemed to have been sharpened into claws, and it seemed to want to drive these claws into him. Itachi easily side stepped the attack and kicked the thing in the stomach. It recoiled slightly but didn't seem to be to hurt by the attack. Itachi then moved his finger, the genjutsu failed however, the thing didn't seem to have enough of a mind left be affected.

Itachi made a tiger hand seal.

The resulting blast of fire incinerated the forest in front of him. The blast spread fifty feet in diameter. The area around him was cleared, and a small blast like that barely took up any chakra, at least by his own standards. Now that he some room to move around he tried to see where his opponent was hiding. The Jakal slowly moved off of the ground, flames covered its body and it glared at him with its flaming skull.

The creature lunged at him again, this time chaining follow up attacks, each one coming faster than the last. Itachi kept moving backwards, but the thing kept coming. He eventually took a leap backwards and managed to reestablish some distance between himself and his opponent. He launched and kunai ant the things head and it struck right in the center of it's forehead. The creature however didn't seem to care, it simply charged forward, unaware of Itachi's trap. When it came into range Itachi grabbed a hold of the kunai handle and used it to direct his chakra into the beast, metal was easy to direct chakra through, especially this metal. He had stolen the kunai from Anko while she was asleep, and due to his history with Konoha he was well aware of the equipment Jonin carried with them. Their weapons were made from chakra reinforced steel. Chakra continued to fill the skeletal monster until eventually the thing couldn't take anymore.

The Jakal disintegrated, it's dust taken by the wind. Now that Itachi could focus he was able to detect a nearby person. He turned and saw Anko standing a short ways away with some clothes in her hand.

"So, do you believe me now?"