Chapter THREE
"I think I need to go."
"I agree. The sun's completely up. You look like you're going to faint."
"Shut up."
"And you get cranky when you're mad."
"...Hn."
"I get it, only being able to stay up half the day is annoying, but it's a price we both agreed we were willing to pay."
"Don't need to remind me."
"Hey, I trusted you with the night; trust me with the day."
"I….I don't not trust you."
"You are so not cute."
"I don't want you to think I'm cute."
"Ah, riiiiiiight."
"Stop that!"
"Go rest."
"Wake me if anything happens."
"Right."
"Wake me if she wakes up."
"Uhhhh, maybe."
"I swear-"
"Okay! I'll see."
"Hn. Don't slack off."
"Yeah, leave it to me."
Uchiha Itachi had been out of the Land of Fire when Kaguya had destroyed everything he had ever fought for. Nothing could have prepared him for the shock and utter horror of returning to see his home gone, obliterated under unseen powers at the whims of a Goddess. Many had died, but just as many had survived, and Itachi had a nagging feeling that Kaguya was toying with them. Most of the victims had been civilians who didn't have the advantage of being able to access their chakra to aid in their escape.
A small part of him wished that he had been here, and he had died alongside him beloved home, so he did not have to face everything that had come after.
"Itachi-kun?"
He looked up at the sound of his name and saw his mother, Uchiha Mikoto, leaning against the door. There was clear worry in her eyes and Itachi realized with a start that he had stopped mid-preparation. The spare clothes he had been about to pack was hovering halfway into his pouch as he had frozen in thought. He quickly finished the action and turned to his mother. "Yes?"
The woman carefully entered the room and gracefully sat down next to him. "How are you feeling?"
Itachi once again paused, this time while reaching for his weapon maintenance kit, and finally lowered his hand. "I am feeling fine," he said.
Mikoto hummed and gently ran her hand through his hair. Itachi let her and patiently waited for her to finish her affectionate gesture. "You are going to the Forest of Death," she finally said.
"I am," Itachi replied.
Mikoto sighed. "Must it be you?" She asked. "There are plenty of others who could go in your place-"
"Okaa-sama," Itachi said, gently cutting her off. "I am honored Hokage-sama has deemed me worthy of leading a party tasked with finding a possible path to survival for the whole of mankind." He smiled and pretended not to notice the way his mother's eyes watered in defeat, as though she had known what his reply would be. She probably did. "If there is something, anything we can do for the future, I would like to be a part of it."
"Of course, Itachi-kun," Mikoto said, smiling in return. "I know you can do it."
His mother left soon after, insisting on preparing food he could bring for himself and his team. They would be hunting for most of the trip, but having something homemade was always nice. Itachi quickly finished packing and soon joined his family in what might be his last dinner with them. There was a certain air of awkwardness as they ate, but by the end of it both his parents were beaming at him, and just before he was about to retire for the night, Fugaku stopped him.
"No matter what," he began softly. "Never ever forget that we are so proud of you, son."
Itachi found himself looking down at his feet and finally managed a faint nod. "Good night, Otou-sama, Okaa-sama," he said, and when he obviously ran to his room, no one called out after him.
Early the next morning, a rather large group of people came to see them off and many more hovered around the exit of the war camp to watch.
As the Hokage once again shared words of encouragement with them, Itachi thought over the members of this party. Nara Shikamaru was the renowned son of Shikaku, who was the best strategist Itachi had ever known. The son may have inherited the infamous Nara laziness, but that hadn't taken anything away from the intellect the clan was famous for, and he also knew the boy had mastered the shadow manipulation techniques passed down within his clan.
Inuzuka Kiba was acknowledged as one of the best trackers even within the Inuzuka, a clan that had honed their chakra in order to communicate with their canine partners, and while he seemed to take after his mother in terms of loudness and brashness, the boy had proved himself over and over during tracking parties outside their base.
Hyuga Neji was often put onto the same pedestal as Itachi himself, and he had even heard rumors of how the Hyuga planned to instate Neji as the next clan head. Neji was the one out of the rest that Itachi had taken the most missions with, and he knew for a fact that the Hyuga was well deserving of the title of prodigy.
Akasuna no Sasori was someone Itachi might consider a friend on a particularly nice day. The man had something about him that annoyed Itachi to no end, but the redhead was the closest definition to the phrase 'do not judge a book by its cover', for, despite his lazy appearance, he was one of the most powerful, most deadly warriors ever. Itachi had been present when Sasori had lost both his arms in a reconnaissance mission gone disastrously wrong three years ago. The redhead had sacrificed himself to ensure they all got out alive. Soon after, the man had used his expertise in puppetry to make himself wooden arms to replace his limbs. He had then slowly added new gadgets and tools to them, and he always had new functions to show off whenever they spared. He had the world's most useful set or arms, ever.
Deidara was another person Itachi might consider his friend. The two of them, along with Sasori, were a part of an elite group of warriors made up of people from all over the Elemental Nations, known as the Akatsuki. Even recently, the Akatsuki were called upon when a particularly dangerous group of Zetsus appeared too near their base for comfort. That alone spoke of the blond's skills, and he was someone Itachi would like to have on his side as opposed to an enemy, though he was often very loud could sometimes be annoying. Deidara's self-proclaimed hobby seemed to be annoying Sasori, which Itachi was okay with as long as the redhead did not turn to him for help.
His thoughts were cut short when applause met Tsunade's ending speech. Itachi formally bid his parents, then the rest of the clan, goodbye and waited while the rest of his team did the same in a slightly more affectionate manner. Shikamaru received a few words from his father and a tight hug from his mother before his friends dragged to aside to say their own goodbyes and good lucks. Kiba and his family were slightly louder, though Itachi was not surprised considering the nature of his clan. He then shared a few more friendly hugs with his own friends. The Hyuga were much more composed, much like his own clan, and Neji was the first to reach his side.
Sasori and Deidara both briefly talked to their own Kage, before they too fell into step beside him.
"Shall we depart?" Itachi asked, and when he received firm nods in return, the six of them exited the base.
Gaara watched the search party depart and remained rooted to his spot even when the people gathered slowly began to disperse back to their tasks. When not out of the field, warriors spent the time resting, helping out around the base and tending to their weapons and equipment. Civilians aided as much as they could too, and there was even a civilian faction being trained by warriors to fight so that they could at least defend themselves should their one and only stronghold fall. It hadn't come to that yet, but many were willing to learn to prepare for the worst.
"Gaara?"
He turned towards his sister, who was looking at him with worry in her eyes.
"Are you okay?" She asked. "You look a little out of it."
Gaara took a deep breath to clear his thoughts and nodded. "I am fine," he said. "I will be retiring for the night. If anything happens, you know where to find me."
Temari nodded. "Rest well," she told him. "I know you haven't been sleeping well for a while."
Gaara smiled to himself as his sister walked off; it appeared there was no hiding anything from her sharp eyes. He retreated to his personal tent and went around trying to clean himself up. Finally, he gave up. The war had taken a toll on all of them and he wasn't an exception. Instead sat down on his bed and reached for a book he had dug out of his own collection of books and scrolls.
The Deity of Spring.
His hand hovered over the cover like it had many times during the past two days, and he finally turned to the first page. He flicked through the book Temari had often read to him as a child and words flowed through his mind as memories began to resurface. Kaguya was the Goddess of Creation, but it was the Deity of Spring who had been the one to breathe life into them. There were many variations of how the story had gone, but in this particular one, the one where Kaguya had been sealed by the other Gods and Goddesses after a destructive war for suddenly turning against mankind, the Deity of Spring had been one of Kaguya's victims before she had been contained.
As he read, something became apparent to him, something he hadn't realized or understood as a child. "The Deity of Spring did not remain on this plane by choice," he whispered to himself. "Whatever happened, whatever Kaguya did rendered them unable to return to the Realm of the Gods."
"Where is she?"
"Good evening to you too."
"You said you would wake me when she woke up."
"I said maybe. Besides, we all need you well rested, you know? Can't have you fainting halfway during your watch because you didn't rest properly. Also, she just woke up a while ago. She's washing up."
"You-"
"Shhhhh! You know she doesn't like it when we fight!"
"We aren't 'fighting'. I'm merely attempting to correct your stupidity."
"Do you think that excuse would work on her?"
"I...guess not."
"Exactly."
"Hn. So, how was she?"
"She looked fine, and she smelled fine too."
"That's good."
"Yeah."
"And did she say anything else about the war?"
"She didn't."
"But they're still coming."
"Yeah."
Update, friends!
Darque: This is exciting!
Raven: Uh huh. Proper planning feels nice.
Darque: Yeah, no need to worry about plot holes and stuff. I freak when I find one halfway through a story.
Raven: See? You should plan more, even in real life.
Darque: Don't bring real life into this D:
Raven:...Uh...right.
Read and Review~
