"Right, so in order to reduce the strain on your body, it's necessary for you to relieve your pain." Shinjiro said as he stood at the entrance of the ryokan with Itachi, "I asked Shishou and he said that your best bet was a drug called Kotarō. It can only be found in the Land of Medicine, in the Village of Howling Wolves. Give this to the pharmacist there and he'll make what you need." He explained while holding a piece of paper out to Itachi.

"Understood." Itachi replied as he accepted the paper, "What's the name of the place that sells it?"

"Shishou didn't know, so you'll have to ask around when you get there." Shinjiro admitted. "Try to come back here in a month or so. It's best if I can treat you regularly to slow the damage to your body."

"Understood."

"That last mission put a strain on me. I need to rest my body." Itachi told his new partner Kisame a month later as he headed toward Byoukan.

"What do you mean?" Kisame asked.

"There are certain risks associated with the Mangekyou Sharingan." Itachi told him, "In times when I am forced to use it, it becomes necessary for me to recuperate afterward."

"And is that why we've come to Yugakure?" His partner asked as he saw Itachi heading for the entrance of the inn.

Itachi turned and looked at him, "Yeah. There's a physician at this medical resort who is knowledgeable about visual prowess." He entered the inn and found Shinjiro sitting behind the registration desk. The blue-haired boy smiled up at him.

"Itachi-san. I'm glad you came." He said as he stood up from the chair, "I've already asked Oyu-chan to begin preparing things."

"You were expecting me?" Itachi asked with a slightly raised brow.

"Not exactly." Shinjiro said, "I sensed you when you were still about a kilometer away, but I had no way of knowing for sure if you were coming here or if you were in the area for something else."

"Oh? So this kid is a sensory type, huh?" Kisame asked, "But is he really a doctor?"

"I'm actually still learning, but I've studied a great deal about visual prowess." Shinjiro answered, "Who is this, Itachi-san? Your associate?"

"Yeah." Itachi said with a nod.

"Hoshigaki Kisame." The shark man said with a grin, "Nice to meet you."

"Mayonaka Shinjiro." The boy said with a nod, "That sword on your back... that's the sword known as Samehada, right?"

"Oh? Not much escapes your perception, does it?" Kisame asked in amusement.

"Not really, no." Shinjiro replied as he looked at the entrance right as Chino walked in.

"Shinjiro—oh." Chino stopped in her tracks as she took note of the two shinobi and then looked at Shinjiro, who smiled at her apologetically.

"Chino-neesan. I'm sorry, but I'm with a patient right now. Since your business isn't urgent, would you mind waiting in the kitchen?" He asked.

"Uh, sure..." Chino replied.

Shinjiro turned and looked at Kisame, "Itachi-han and I will be a while. Please feel free to enjoy the hot springs while you wait for us." He felt a flare in Chino's chakra as he said this, but he didn't acknowledge it.

"Sure. Thanks." Kisame said.

Shinjiro headed toward the part of the inn that served as the clinic with Itachi and Chino following. As they passed the kitchen, they found Oyu waiting there with a tray.

"Here's the food you asked for, Shinjiro-kun." She said with a smile.

He nodded to the girl as he accepted the tray, "Thanks Oyu-chan. Would you mind keeping Chino-neesan company while I'm treating Itachi-han?"

"Of course." Oyu said with a nod before looking at Chino, "Please come inside, Chino-san."

"Yeah, thanks." Chino said as she walked past Shinjiro. Shinjiro could sense that she was angry with him, but it wasn't a matter he could deal with right now.

Shinjiro went into the treatment room with Itachi, shutting the door and placing his sound-sealing jutsu on the room before walking over to sit down across from Itachi.

"Your friend didn't seem too pleased..." Itachi remarked, and Shinjiro sighed.

"I've known Chino-neesan since I was small. There are times when she can be unreasonable..."

"What do you mean?" Itachi asked.

"There's some bad blood between the Uchiha and the clan that she comes from." The boy explained as he poured Itachi's tea, "However, that matter goes back to the Era of Warring States. In my opinion, there's no use holding a grudge over something that happened more than a century ago. People can't be blamed for the crimes of their ancestors..." He handed the teacup to Itachi, "But never mind that. Has something happened? You seem a bit... refreshed, compared to last time."

"Nothing of importance." Itachi remarked mildly before sipping his tea.

Shinjiro raised a brow at this, "I don't recall you wearing that necklace the last time you were here. Is there some kind of purpose to it?"

Itachi blinked in surprise and then lowered his cup, "A girl in Howling Wolf Village gave it to me, to thank me for defending her from somebody that she owes money to. She said that it can help regulate one's flow of chakra."

Shinjiro nodded, "I wouldn't be surprised at such a thing from the Land of Medicine. However, there's more to it than that. It seems that you've taken a liking to her."

"Not really, although she does make excellent–"

"Itachi-han..." Shinjiro began, "You can lie to yourself all you want, but you can't lie to me. When I asked about the necklace, there was a shift in your chakra that indicated a sentimental fondness for it, and therefore, fondness for the person who gave it to you."

Itachi blinked again, and then sighed. "You remind me of my friend Shisui. He could always tell what I was thinking, even if I didn't quite realize it myself."

"It's not like I can read your mind." Shinjiro replied, "I only interpret the shifts in your chakra."

Sometime later, Itachi had fallen asleep in the treatment room, so Shinjiro asked Mako to keep an eye on him and then went to the kitchen.

"Chino-neesan." He said from the doorway, "I need to go gather some medical herbs. Why don't you accompany me so that we can talk?"

"Uh, sure." Chino said slowly, following the boy out the back way. "So do you care to explain why you have Uchiha Itachi as a patient?" She asked him when they had gone a ways and wouldn't be heard by others.

"Itachi-han saved my life." Shinjiro explained while kneeling down to pick some herbs, "Just before the Hidden Mist betrayed Bright Lightning, they sent ANBU to get rid of me. I managed to get Itachi-han's attention, and he saved me from them."

"But... why would somebody who killed his own clan protect you?" Chino asked in surprise.

"I think it's actually better to ask why he killed his clan, but the answer to that is that I don't know." Shinjiro replied, "Itachi-han actually has a very kind heart and a deep love for his younger brother. However, I don't know the circumstances that result in that tragedy."

"If you say that, it must be true, but..."

"The shinobi world is full of darkness." Shinjiro reminded her, "Sometimes, that darkness can swallow people up even though their hearts are pure."

As the years passed by, Shinjiro came to learn more and more about Itachi and the difficult life that he endured. He did what he could for him, but while he eventually figured out what was wrong with Itachi, he was unable to figure out how to correct it, even as his skill as a doctor grew.

Within Yugakure, he became famous for his talent in obstetrics. The Shinjitsugan enabled him to know instantly whether a woman was pregnant and gave him a great advantage in monitoring the health of both mother and baby. It was for this reason that when Itachi married Amai, the girl he had met in the Howling Wolf Village, and she insisted upon trying to have a child two years later, Itachi asked Shinjiro to look after her if she ever did conceive. Mako, Miyu, and Oyu had gotten used to Itachi's presence and had come to be at ease with him, so the four of them were the only ones who even knew about the marriage.

As he grew into his teens, Shinjiro began to realize that he was in love with Oyu. However, the fact that she was his mentor's father daunted him, and so he kept his feelings to himself, not knowing that she felt the same way. Even so, there could be no doubt of his wish to protect her. In fact, Shinjiro had a habit of denying rooms to anyone who he deemed untrustworthy. He was subtle in this, of course, hiding his reasoning by claiming that they were simply full. However, it was because of this habit that Mako's family came to realize that Itachi's reputation did not match up with his character.

During the course of this time, Itachi revealed more and more information to Shinjiro, although there was a reason for this. He eventually informed him of the Akatsuki's Tsuki no Me Plan and his best chance of not being caught in it. When Itachi passed away, Shinjiro naturally mourned his friend's death, but he hoped that Itachi would finally be at peace.

The Fourth Great Ninja War began, although Yugakure was not directly involved. That said, Shinjiro wondered exactly just how stupid the village could be for choosing to ignore a war that was happening less than a day's run from their own village. Thus, when he and Oyu's family went to Konohagakure to escape from the Tsuki no Me, he told the village guards that they had come there for safety. He really did not like being anywhere near one of the five Great Villages, but he had promised Itachi that he would try to look out for his student, Aiko, who was also supposed to be hiding in the village on the night of Juugoya.

Aiko turned out to be a somewhat headstrong girl with all of the passion that Shinjiro had come to expect from a member of the Uchiha. Even so, she was intelligent and had vast knowledge of the history of the shinobi world. When they came to be attacked by Shirozetsu while hiding in the room beneath the ruins of Nakano Shrine, Aiko proved that she was every inch Itachi's student with her calm, analytical nature and her prowess for battle. There was only one way in which she was reckless, and that was in overusing her Mangekyou Sharingan. Shinjiro swore she must've picked that up from Itachi as well. As the time after they'd defeated the Shirozetsu passed, Aiko nearly destroyed her optic nerves while monitoring the situation on the battlefield where Itachi's brother Sasuke was.

By some miracle, Ootsutsuki Kaguya, the progenitor of Chakra, was defeated, and the rest of the world was released from the Infinite Tsukuyomi. This came as a great relief to Aiko, who apparently feared being stuck with a curse that her ancestor had inadvertently placed upon the Uchiha. Shinjiro couldn't really blame her. After confirming that Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke would survive the battle that had robbed them both of one arm each, Shinjiro and Aiko returned to Konohagakure, where Shinjiro ended up assisting in running things at the hospital until the Fifth Hokage Tsunade could take over.

It was about two months later when Uchiha Amai showed up at Byoukan, extremely pregnant and with Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, and Hyuuga Hinata escorting her. Well, actually, it only looked like she was extremely pregnant. She actually wasn't due for two months, but she was carrying twins. The young woman was naturally still grieving Itachi's death, but she tried to look forward to the future. She wound up giving birth to twins on February 14th, whom she named Dango and Tamana, after two of Itachi's favorite foods. Although fraternal, the two siblings looked exactly alike, at least at this age, leaving even their poor mother to occasionally get them mixed up. She finally resorted to putting a ribbon in Tamana's hair so that everyone could tell them apart.

Two years later, Shinjiro finally found the courage to confess his feelings to Oyu, and the two of them were married.


Sorry this chapter covers a long period of time in a relatively short span. I didn't really have Shinjiro's interactions with Itachi over 7 years really planned out, and some of what happens is already told in detail in Sweet and Naive and The Second Survivor, so I didn't see any reason to repeat it beyond an overview. The next chapter will be more interesting though!