The Psychic, The Swordsman and The Sorcerer
Chapter 7
I do not own Naruto, which belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I do not own X-Men, which belong to Marvel Comics and Twentieth Century Fox. I do not own Harry Potter, which belongs to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. (and probably their sister Dot). I do not own Zorro, which belongs to the Public, despite Zorro Production Inc. claiming otherwise. Fun Fact: Of all of these characters, Zorro has seniority, having first come out in 1919 in the story The Curse of Capistrano. Oh, and the Lone Ranger reference was unavoidable.
The trio headed as quickly as they could to the gate, until they saw the paw prints on the ground.
"These aren't ordinary prints," Sakura commented, "Look at the size. An average black dog has smaller paws and doesn't put as much pressure in the ground."
"Perhaps this is no ordinary dog..." Naruto commented, leaping off Tornado to get a better view, "They are spaced tighter than paw prints of this size should be and the upturned soil is somewhat fresher than the ones we first followed, implying that it moved in reverse. Sasuke, is there any creature that you know of that has a canine's shape and a human's intelligence?"
"The only thing that comes to mind is an Animagus," Sasuke replied, reaching for his wand, "If there's one here, we could be in danger."
"What is an Animagus?" Naruto asked, looking at the wizard in confusion.
"It's a wizard who can transform into a specific animal," Sakura explained, plucking the information from Sasuke's head, "Basically, that means that there's a wizard disguised as a dog wandering through the village."
"Wait," Naruto said, "Sasuke, you told us that your clan was made of wizards. Didn't your Map say that your brother was in the village?"
"Yes, but..." Sasuke paused, "Let me get it out again."
Sasuke took the Marauder's Map out again and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
The blank parchment once more sprang to life, and showed the dot labeled Itachi Uchiha, following the dot labeled Obito Uchiha at a quick pace, getting close to overtaking him.
"Well," Sakura said plainly, looking at the Map carefully, "It seems that we don't need to track them down. The two of them are headed our way."
"If the two of them are here," the masked boy replied, taking out his sword, "We will need to question them carefully."
"Indeed," Sakura said, as the dog burst into the grassy field.
"Show yourself, Itachi," Sasuke commanded as they circled the dog. Wit that, the dog transformed into a man dressed in fully equipped but very torn Anbu uniform, who looked like he hadn't seen civilization for years.
"Hello, little brother," the man said, facing Sasuke, "As much as I would enjoy talking to you, I have a rat to kill."
"What are you doing in Konoha?" Naruto asked, keeping his sword trained on Itachi.
"I'm here to avenge my clan against the person who betrayed it," Itachi answered, maintaining his calm.
"You believe that Obito Uchiha is alive and betrayed your clan..." Sakura said, reading his mind.
"That's impossible," Sasuke commented, not believing him in the slightest, "Obito Uchiha had been years dead long before the massacre."
"The Map did mention him," Naruto remarked, still not lowering his sword.
"The Map must have been wrong," Sasuke replied, his mind reeling from the possibility of his brother being innocent.
"The Map is never wrong," a feminine voice responded from behind Sakura. All but said psychic turned to see Hana Inuzuka and her three large canine companions enter, a rat in the mouth of one.
"Hana," Itachi commented, "You're looking well."
"I wish I could say the same thing, Itachi," Hana said, "You look like a bear walking on its hind legs and smell worse than that."
"What's going on here?" Sasuke asked, still trying to piece together the situation as best he could.
"Well, you see, for reasons we can't understand, Obito decided to kill the clan alongside Orochimaru, and framed your brother for it," Hana said, "Ignoring the fact that he should have be dead long before that day and that he was widely praised as one of the most loyal people to ever become a shinobi, he was an Animagus himself, taking the form of a rat. A rat that we currently have right here."
"May I?" Itachi asked, gesturing for Sasuke's wand. Sasuke, seeing Sakura nod decisively in response, nervously handed it to his brother, hoping that he hadn't made a terrible mistake.
Wand in hand, Itachi turned to the dog with the rat in its mouth, which proceeded to drop the grey vermin to the ground with enough force to stun it while Itachi blasted it with a wordless spell. Upon being struck, the rodent transformed into a black haired man with an orange mask on his face.
"Hello," the man said, "I'm Tobi! Tobi is a good boy!"
"Are you now?" Sakura asked, invading his mind, "Because it seems here that you are Obito Uchiha, though you are a tad insane, and you killed the entire Uchiha clan."
"Well, I'm afraid my charade has been broken," Obito said, reaching into his pocket, "As such, I really must be going."
With that, he anticlimactically threw a container on the ground, covering the area with complete darkness. When the darkness cleared, he was gone.
"Where did he go?" Sasuke asked, hoping that someone knew the answer to his question. His vengeance was so close, and he had missed it.
"I couldn't get a good reading," Sakura said, "He got away."
"Damn it!" Itachi screamed, breaking his usual calm, "Years of chasing him ruined! I was so close!"
"You might want to change back to your animal form," Sakura stated, taking the wand from him and handing it back to Sasuke, "I can feel Kakashi-sensei coming closer. Zorro, would you mind distracting him for the moment."
"I will keep him idle for as long as I can," the whiskered blond replied, mounting Tornado and replacing his sword with his whip, "Tornado, vamos!"
"Who was that masked boy, anyway?" Itachi asked, unaware of the changes in Konoha that occurred while he was gone.
"That was my teammate, Zorro," Sasuke responded, "He's the greatest living swordsman in Konoha."
"Ah," the older Uchiha said as Kakashi's shouts of pain filled the forest, "I should transform now."
With that, Itachi turned into a black dog once again, right as Kakashi burst into the field with several lashes on his arms. He was shortly followed by Naruto, who said, "Forgive me, Copycat Kakashi, I was certain that you were the dog."
"Don't worry about the dog, Zorro," Sakura said, "We got Hana Inuzuka to help us with getting the dog. Also, it seems to have bonded with Sasuke, so we agreed to let him keep it."
"But not before Padfoot gets his shots," Hana said with a smirk on her face at the looks said dog gave her. That would teach him to go off without even giving her a letter.
Kakashi just nodded and led his team to the Hokage Tower to receive their pay. He was sure he was missing something here, but he didn't care what it was. All he knew was that he was definitely going to ask the Hokage for a simple C Rank mission for his team that would take them out of the village. Maybe some time out of the village would make them slightly more manageable. Satisfied with his plan, he led them with a renewed vigor. After all, C Ranks were easy to do, and nothing could possibly go wrong with such a mission, could it?
