Authors note: So school as officially started. Im so so sorry it took forever for this chapter...I was so busy...I'm going to try to finish up this story quickly so I wont keep feeling guilty that I havent updated due to my busy life . Please forgive me and review! Also, I made this chapter a little longer than the others, just to repay you guys a little more...hope its good!
Itachi left his house after his discussion with Kakashi. He passed by Sakura, who was still sleeping on the couch. He didn't bother to wake her up to tell her he was leaving. She was tired and she needed her sleep. And although he refused to admit it, he needed his own.
However, ignoring that simple fact, he made his way to the graveyard to meet the people who were going to bury Sasuke at his funeral. After he made sure that they had the correct spot, which was right by their parents, he left, making his way to his second stop. The place where he was to get Sasuke's coffin.
He planned to make this quick. Make sure that they had his coffin ready for him and make sure it was the right one. But naturally, nothing goes to plan correctly. As he was making his way to the place, he was stopped by two ANBU black ops who appeared randomly in front of him. They had their masks on and they were in full gear.
"Itachi Uchiha," The one on the right spoke. His mask had two red swirls around the eyes.
"What do you need?" Itachi asked blankly, wanting to get back to what he had originally planned to do that evening.
"Lady Tsunade would like a word with you." The one on the left spoke now. His mask reminded Itachi of a cat, it had black whiskers on the cheeks.
"I'm busy at the moment." Itachi said taking a step to the side. The two repeated his motion.
"You will not disobey the order of the hokage, its about your mission." The left one spoke harshly. "Come with us."
"I will go as soon as I get what I had planned, done." Itachi spoke calmly. His expression did not change at the harshness of the ANBU's tone.
"You will come now." The right one said grabbing Itachi tightly around the elbow. "Lets go. I personally don't care if you're the Uchiha Prodigy. Your summoned."
Itachi closed his eyes in response to the ANBU's comment. He took a deep breath and when he reopened his eyes, his sharingan was ablazed. "You might want to let me go." Itachi spoke in a tone that would make any other person cower away in fear. He was showing the look in his eyes that would frighten any person. His eyes held the intent to kill.
"We're not fighting you." The left spoke, slowly standing in a fighting stance just in case Itachi had decided to attack. "Come with us."
Itachi looked down at the hand that was secure around Itachi's elbow. "Remove your hand." he ordered calmly, but harshly.
"Put your sharingan away." the one who held him spoke. With his other hand, he placed his hand on his kunai holster.
Finally, it was as if Itachi had almost snapped. He jerked his arm away from the ANBU and backed up a few steps. He formed the first hand sign for his fireball jutsu, and the ANBU took their positions.
"Itachi, stop this." The left one spoke. "We're in the heart of the village, people will get hurt! Think about what your doing!"
Itachi then warned.: "I advise you to go tell Lady Tsunade that I will be up when my deeds are finished."
"You are really going to fight us over such a thing?" the right one asked. "Itachi, I sympathize that you have just lost your brother. But you are going mad!"
"I've had enough." Itachi lowered his eyebrows in concentration. He formed the rest of his hand signs. "Fireball justsu"-
"Itachi!" a familiar feminine voice yelled from a distance away. A little surprised but not showing it, Itachi turned to see where the voice had come from. Thats when he saw Sakura running towards him, her pink hair flowing behind her.
"Sakura?" Itachi spoke, turning slightly to see her fully. He noticed clear tears running down her face as she ran to him.
"Itachi, stop!" she yelled. She ran until she reached Itachi, and when she did, she threw her arms around the middle of his chest. "Don't fight, please, Itachi!"
Itachi froze. He said nothing as Sakura sobbed into his torso, her grip tightened around his body. Itachi still held his hands in the position as if he were about to finish his jutsu. He glanced over at the ANBU; they had become relaxed once again as their masks where directed at the sobbing girl in his chest. They knew there would be no fight now that Sakura was there.
"Please don't..." Sakura mumbled looking up at Itachi. And, to his surprise, she took her right hand and slapped his hands, causing him to release his handsign. This surprised Itachi. No one had dared to ever slap him as if he were a small child.
But Sakura obviously didn't care.
"Sakura, what are you doing here?" Itachi asked looking into her red eyes that had clear tears still spilling out. Her eyes were red from the tears and her not having any sleep. She had purple rings under her eyes, he could see them clearly. But she did not look bad for having not slept for three days straight.
"I heard the door shut when you left," Sakura spoke through a sobbed voice. "I woke up and...I tried to follow you. But then you began going faster and faster, I lost you. I knew you were going to the graveyard, so it wasn't a big deal...but when I got there, they said you had already left. So I tried looking for you again, and then I saw you were about to fight..." Sakura explained. Itachi's eyes narrowed a bit. She had followed him and he had no idea? That was unusual. It was ALSO unusual that he would make noise when he was meaning not to. Itachi was an excellent ninja, he knew all the tricks. But he knew why he had not detected her and why he had made noise when he left.
He was truly and honestly tired and wasn't thinking straightly anymore.
As that thought ran through his mind, he glanced at the ANBU. They were now watching him.
It was like a slap in the face.
Had he really almost fought them because he was simply summoned? Had he honestly considered putting innocent people's lives at risk? What in the world was wrong with him? If Sakura hadn't have come, he would have fought his own leaf allies! And that would have only resulted in him getting in heaps of trouble, not only risking himself for extraordinary wounds because he was facing, not one, but TWO ANBU black ops. Of course, being the Uchiha Prodigy, he would have a good advantage with his genjutsu. But it would not go without cost.
And the worst part was, they were his allies! And he was about to fight them over such a stupid reason...
Was stress actually beginning to overwhelm him?
"Itachi..." Sakura spoke, bringing him out of his own thoughts. He turned his full attention on her and she closed her eyes, sniffing. "I just lost Sasuke...don't let me lose you too."
"Huh?" Itachi said out of surprised, accidently letting himself show his emotion. Don't let me lose you too. Ran through his mind at least ten times in just a mere three seconds.
"Itachi." one of the ANBU spoke again, bringing both his and Sakura's to them both. The one who had grabbed his arm before, stepped forward. "Now that your calm, we really need you to come with us. Its urgent."
"Is he in trouble? He didn't do anything!" Sakura spoke, her grip tightening around his body. Of course, she was so small and weak, it didn't affect Itachi.
"No," the left one spoke now. "Its about the mission...Kakashi reported to us earlier about you two's conversation."
"Kakashi?" Sakura asked looking at Itachi. "You talked to Kakashi?"
"Yes." Itachi said blankly, looking at her. "I'm calm now, I'm not going to do anything. Since these two are obviously not going to leave until I see the hokage, I will need to leave with them."
"But..." Sakura began.
"It wont take long." Itachi said reaching behind him to unhook Sakura's hands around his body. Sakura looked up at him as he placed her hands to her sides. He then looked to the ANBU, as they turned towards the hokages quarters.
"Is it about your mission?" Sakura asked as Itachi began to take a step forward.
"Yes." Itachi answered as he turned away from her.
"Your not seriously going, are you?" Sakura asked biting her lip in nervousness. Sakura being nervous wasn't very common. "After all thats happened..."
Itachi took a deep breath as he began to walk forward. "I don't know." was all he answered as he walked.
A tear ran down Sakura's face and she quickly wiped it away as she watched Itachi catch up to the ANBU with ease. She stood still as she watched him disappear more with every step. She sighed as she placed her hands over her heart. "Itachi..." she spoke quietly.
Of course telling Sakura he didnt know if he was going on the mission or not, was a big fat lie. But Itachi assumed that telling her he was leaving under the conditions they were under at the moment, wouldn't be right. He would confirm that he was well enough to do this mission to Lady Tsunade, and then he would tell her later. Later when she had calmed down.
But he could already see the result of his news. She would cry. She would beg him to stay. She would say he wasnt well enough to go on such a mission, with them both just losing Sasuke.
But he didn't care. He was a ninja, and no matter what, he would do what he was born to do. A ninja must never show emotion, and he would not. No matter how much he loved his little brother or admired Sakura.
It wouldn't be right.
The ANBU never left Itachi's side even as they walked up the stairs to arrive at the hokages office. Itachi knew why Lady Tsunade had summoned two ANBU to retreive him. It was because she obviously knew that Itachi wouldn't have came willingly to see her.
She was smart, Itachi had to give her credit. After all, she was the hokage too.
Once they arrived in the hokages office, one of them knocked on the door. She granted them approval to come in right away. The right one nudged Itachi gently on the back to walk into the room, receiving a death glare from Itachi's sharingan in return. The ANBU took a small step back, and Itachi walked into the office. He looked straight, and saw the hokages brown eyes staring back into his. He put his sharingan away to show respect to her and bowed.
"My lady," Itachi spoke softly in his even tone. "You wished to see me?"
"Yes." Lady Tsunade spoke, her tone had an edge to it. "But first I would like to know something. What the hell were you thinking? Were you really going to fight your own allies, Itachi? Have you gone insane?"
He straightened up to look her in her eyes. She was obviously not happy with him, and she shouldn't have been. Of course with Lady Tsunades powerful abilities and village spies everywhere, she already knew about the feud that had happened not even an hour ago.
"I apologize," Itachi spoke gently. "I am not sure what came over me." he then turned to both the ANBU that were standing behind him as if they were guarding the door. "I apologize for the trouble." he said. The ANBU did not reply, they just stood straight. The way they stood, Itachi could understand that they had forgiven him. He then turned back to Lady Tsunade.
"Don't you ever do that again. If I hear of that ever happening again, there will be consequences. I understand you are under a lot of stress because of Sasuke's death and you are working your butt off to make sure he has the proper funeral, and I sympathize. But stress is never acceptable to fight against your own village. Do you understand me?"
Itachi nodded. "Yes, I do ma'am. It will not happen again."
"I've never had behavior problems out of you before, Itachi, thats why I am going so easy on you this time. Don't let it happen again." she said one more time. Itachi nodded in response. She then sighed and put her elbows on her desk, her fingers intertwined with each other. "Good. Now that takes care of that little problem. Now for the bigger problem. Listen to me, and listen to me closely, Itachi."
"Yes ma'am."
"You are too stressed to go on this mission. Let Kakashi take over." Lady Tsunade put bluntly. "You won't be able to focus."
"With all respect, I will be able to focus." Itachi objected politley.
"No, you wont. There is no use in arguing with this, Itachi." She argued back. "You wont be able to focus. Just look at what happened today. How do you think the mission will go?"
"I haven't slept in quite some time. That was the reason for today's trouble, ma'am." Itachi said holding in a yawn after he said this.
"Itachi, forget it."
"If I may point out," Itachi said not giving up yet. "It is part of the ninja law that once a mission is assigned to a ninja and they accept, then it is that ninja's mission unless he and the hokage agree on giving it to another person. I have not agreed, so therefore, this is my mission until I do so." Itachi explained.
"Yes, Itachi, but I am still hokage"-
"With all respect, My lady, that does not matter. It is part of the ninja law and you must abide."
Lady Tsunade grew quiet at Itachi's arguement. She stared at the Uchiha, her eyes boring into his. He did not move, he showed full respect to her as he stood straight and made complete eye contact. He did not fidget and he evened his breathing, even if he was secretly angry with her trying to intervene with his mission. Finally she sighed.
"Itachi, I was hoping that you would just agree so I wouldn't have to tell you this quite yet," she said. Itachi tensed up slightly at the concern in her tone. "If you go on this mission, you might as well say good bye to Sasuke right now because there is no way possible that the funeral will be before the mission."
After all the words had processed in his mind, he became very angry. He had worked his butt off to make this funeral work! So this was the main reason why they wanted him to forget the mission so badly? Because they knew how much Itachi wanted and needed to be at this funeral. That was why Kakashi offered to take over, because he knew it meant a lot to Itachi.
Struggling to keep himself calm in the presence of the hokage, he opened his mouth to speak. "There is no possible way? I am having a hard time believing this. Surely there is a way"-
"No, Itachi." Lady Tsunade interuppted. "There isn't. I've already checked with everybody. We understand that he is your younger brother and that makes him very well known in the village, but that makes no difference. We cannot accomplish the goal of having his funeral before the mission. I'm sorry, but your going to have to choose."
"Choose..." Itachi repeated without thinking. The single word flew through his mind three times in just a mere second.
"Yes. Itachi, choose. Between the mission or your brother." Lady Tsunade sighed as she sat back in her chair. Her eyes then made contact to the hard floor and she crossed her arms. Her facial expression was disappointed. After Itachi had read her expression throughly, he understood completely. She wasn't doing this to be mean, she honestly had no choice but to put the mission before Sasuke, and she felt horrible for putting Itachi in this situation.
He understood, and he would do the same.
"I choose to stick with my word." Itachi spoke coldly.
"Your word?" Lady Tsunade asked looking back up to the Uchiha prodigy.
"Yes. This mission is still mine." Itachi said, for the first time looking away from the hokage as if he were afraid to see her reaction.
"He's not serious, is he?" one of the ANBU spoke out of turn behind Itachi as if he weren't even in the room. "Lady Hokage, this is wrong. Sasuke is the last family he has, there must be something you can do!"
"With all respect," Itachi said turning to the ANBU that had spoken. "It is not your place to intervene. This is between the Hokage and I."
"Are you really that heartless, Itachi?" The ANBU shot back, his fist clenched. "Do you even love your brother at all?"
"Enough!" Lady Tsunade yelled, standing out of her chair and slamming her hands on her desk. "You had no right to speak," she said looking past Itachi to the ANBU. "I don't want to hear a word out of you two."
"Yes m'lady..." The ANBU replied taking a breath and stepping back into his place.
"As for you, Itachi," Lady Tsunade spoke bringing Itachi's attention back to her. This time, he looked her directly in the eyes. Her eyes held confusion and sadness, Itachi read them perfectly.
"Yes?"
"You are really going to choose the mission?" Lady Tsunade asked, her eyebrows furrowed together. "Why do you want this mission so badly?"
"To show myself," Itachi said blankly. "To show that there is no need for emotions and that a ninja must discard all emotions." he spoke. Of course Itachi personally knew that he had not discarded all his emotions. He was hurting because of Sasuke's death and he truly admired Sakura, but he was trying to prove another point.
He was a ninja. And he must never let emotions get in the way of his ninja life.
"Itachi...your still human." she said shaking her head slightly. "There is no such thing as 'no emotions.'"
"I have none, so I must be a robot." Itachi stared coldly at her. Of course he had lied, but the way he was portraying his words, nobody could ever tell so.
Lady Tsunade was silent then for a good couple of moments. Then she sighed and sat back down in her chair. "I'm giving you until tomorrow to rethink. Come to me tomorrow if you are truly wanting to confirm the mission."
She had given in.
Itachi bowed to her in respect. "Yes ma'am."
"Kakashi is more than willing to take on the mission." She added in, her tone hoping he would change his mind. "Think about it."
Itachi then stood straight and looked her deep in the eyes. "I may." he answered in respect.