Flip, Flop and Fly
Disclaimer: I own only the obvious, the rest belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
Author's Note: I updated myself on the newest happenings and revelations in the Naruto manga. Unfortunately I find that to be some of the most cliché things I have ever read, and so I am pretty much in denial about it all. I shall spare you the full rant.
Thanks to my good friend and beta, Beta the Second.
Chapter Twenty-One
A pack of chocolate pocky was already resting at the edge of the Hokage's desk when Itachi entered the room, and the young FBI agent knew at once that he was about to hear something that he wasn't going to like. Itachi sighed heavily and grabbed the small pack of goodies before he plopped gracelessly into the chair in front of the Hokage's desk and waited for the old man to start explaining.
"You aren't wearing the headband, I see," was the first thing that Sarutobi said.
"Not on a mission any more, now am I?" he had changed into a pair of jeans and a simple t-shirt that he had brought along from New York, and the headband was stuffed in his bag in his room in the Uchiha household. But Itachi had kept the sandals. They were perfectly comfortable. Itachi also suspected that they might be specially made since shinobi pushed chakra through their feet to stick to surfaces. It seemed plausible.
"Unfortunately that is about to change."
"Excuse me?"
The Hokage sighed slightly. "The investigation into the Uchiha Police Force is coming along, and the village council wants to hear your views about the entire affair. They are very interested in hearing how things are done in the Outside world where you grew up."
"Buuuut...?" Itachi gobbled down two pocky sticks and waited for the old man's reply.
"You must understand that we shinobi have our own ways of settling things and doing investigation. Until now no one has really had any interaction or knowledge about how things are done where you are from, and they are wary of trusting your methods. So it has been suggested that we send you out on several missions to further test your methods and have more chances to see how they work."
The teen nodded. It was understandable that people wouldn't suddenly swear to a method that they had never seen in action before. Itachi certainly wouldn't trust his life to any of these jutsus that he knew the shinobi had but had never personally seen in action before.
"That is understandable. Just give me a couple of cases within the village and then everyone can see how I work," he said. "I don't see what's so bad about this. You put out the pocky and I feared you would demand my head on a silver platter or something."
"They want to send someone along to observe."
The teen shrugged. "So what? Those who joined the rescue mission observed all of it, so it's nothing new. Just send along one of them and-"
"None of those will be sent along," the Hokage cut him off. "The village council is afraid that the people you worked with previously could be biased, and they want the unbiased opinion of someone who has never even met you before. Whomever they choose to accompany you will be strictly observing you and your methods and not interacting or helping out in any way, shape or form."
Itachi frowned. The Hokage seemed very... intent on underlining the fact that he would have a tagalong. It was odd since the request wasn't really all that weird. Was the old man trying to tell him something without actually saying it? Itachi slowly munched on a pocky stick as he watched the old Hokage. The Hokage didn't so much as twitch and his face was carefully blank, but there was something in his eyes that set Itachi on edge for some reason. Itachi's eyes narrowed as his mind tried to come up with the potential answer to what it was that the Hokage was trying to wordlessly tell him.
Was the old man hinting that someone wanted to kill him? That someone within the Uchiha clan didn't appreciate that he had brought such dishonour to the clan and had decided to take the law into their own hands? Should Itachi start checking his food for poisons and look around for assassins wherever he went? Was that what this shinobi who was to accompany him going to do? Kill him? Shinobi were so damn tricky one never knew what they could come up with!
'If I knew more about the village then I wouldn't have such trouble finding out what was going on,' the teen thought, feeling annoyed.
"The Police Force is in serious trouble for their lack of vigilance," Sarutobi spoke up seeing that Itachi needed a bit more explanation. "Not many people are happy with them at the moment and you are an Uchiha yourself by birth. They are worried that you will protect your clan and give misinformation despite the fact that you are the one who discovered the Police Force's decline in discipline and work policy."
The long-haired teen stopped up as the answer made itself known. It was as obvious as an anvil to the head.
Clan politics and village politics were being mixed up along with a dash of bureaucracy, and all together it made one annoying messy soup.
Itachi sighed. While he had been here in the shinobi world he had gotten so used to having to think everything through from every possible angle. He had nearly forgotten that some things, fundamentally, were still simple. And all this that the Hokage was telling him, no matter what it sounded like, still ended up boiling down to the same thing: politics.
"Let me guess," he said dryly, "a member of the Uchiha clan demanded further proof?"
"Your cousin brought up a very valid point."
'Shisui, huh?' Itachi thought. Of course, the Hokage could have been talking about another cousin, the Uchiha clan was a large one after all, but Itachi had only had regular interaction with one cousin. And only that selfsame cousin seemed to have a grudge against Itachi. Valid point or not, this was not only hindering the investigation but it was also annoying Itachi to high heaven and back. It was amazing how one's outlook on things changed when family got involved.
The FBI agent sighed once more. "I assume that I can't get out of it?"
"No, it has been decided upon by the village council already."
"And I also assume that I will not know who is to be following me like a rabid stalker?"
"To keep it as neutral as possible, the person will stay out of your sight and out of your mind."
"Alright. Then I suppose there is nothing else to do but graciously accept this wonderful offer of more experience in the life of a typical shinobi, and ask about the mission I am supposed to undertake."
The Hokage chuckled, "It is good to know that you see it that way." He picked up a scroll from his table and handed it to Itachi. "Everything is written there, and though I know you would have managed to read it in the end, I will tell you what is written in the interest of saving time."
"Your generosity knows no bounds." A flick of his wrist and the scroll landed right back onto the Hokage's desk.
That garnered a droll look from the old man. "The mission is requested by a merchant family important to Konoha's economy. They have good connections with the lands to the west, and keep those caravan routes open. They are also distant cousins of the current Lord of the Fire Country."
"I get it, I get it. No insulting the important and rich family," Itachi smiled angelically but the Hokage didn't seem to believe him for some strange reason. "Now, why did they ask for shinobi? Someone spot a spider and wants it killed or something? If that is the case I must tell you that I am against cruelty to animals."
"Please take this a bit more seriously, Itachi-kun. In the last two months the lord of the house, his wife, and the youngest child – a baby of only a few months – have died. At first no one thought much of it. The lord was quite old, and unfortunate though it is babies die every day. There have also been rumours of an epidemic raging in the villages closest to the household, so it would not have been much of a stretch if the household became infected. All reports also say that the three dead all bore signs of the sickness so no one became suspicious."
"It seems perfectly normal so far," Itachi agreed.
"The remaining children suspect foul play and apparently they have proof of it as well. They didn't wish to say anything else in their letter in case it was intercepted," Sarutobi explained. "Your mission would be to go there and find out if they are right and, if so, exactly who is killing the family off. If you leave within the hour you should reach the village and their home after half a day's travel."
"Ah, now, is that half a day of shinobi travel or of civilian travel? And if it is shinobi travel, is it half a day of gennin travel, chuunin travel, jounin travel or ANBU travel?" the teen asked.
"Shinobi travel, jounin speed to be precise. Chuunin speed would have you reach the village around nightfall."
"Chuunin speed sounds much more realistic for me," Itachi admitted. "With several long rests in the middle," he added. "Perhaps I should just go at gennin speed just in case? Or maybe Academy student?"
Sarutobi seemed amused. "That is for you to decide. I would recommend that you spend the next hour packing for the trip and dropping by the shinobi-only stores in town and get whatever you think you need for the mission." He took up an envelope from his desk and slid it across the table to Itachi. "Your first paycheque as a Konoha shinobi."
"Ah, my thanks. I would hate to have to ask Fugaku for money." Itachi opened the envelope and leafed through the money. He couldn't help but be rather impressed with the amount, and also surprised that they still used ryo as currency. "Uhm, incidentally, exactly what rank was the search mission for Team Seven? I doubt that a D-rank would garner so much money?"
"Whenever a shinobi goes missing, the search-mission will always be of B-rank. Since shinobi can reveal both village and clan secrets they are considered as potential traitors until we know exactly what happened to them – at this point the mission changes into either search-and-rescue or search-and-destroy depending on the situation."
The teen whistled, impressed. The shinobi certainly didn't leave anything to chance, did they? Well, except the Uchiha Police Force that is. Probably best not to start ranting about those guys. Itachi didn't think he'd be able to stop once he got started.
"And exactly where is this household and village located?" Itachi asked.
The Hokage pointed to one of the walls where a map hung. It showed the villages closest to Konoha while another, bigger but less detailed map showed all of Fire Country. Itachi approached the wall and stared at the smaller, more local map. Everything was written in kanji and there was little he could actually read straight off. Some of the names on the map Itachi managed to understand and some he guessed at out of the kanji that he actually knew. He easily found Konoha in the middle of the map and with the odd, stylized leaf-emblem marking the spot, but none of that helped him much when he had no idea the name of the place he was supposed to go to.
"Shirohanadani is the village's name."
Itachi's eyes narrowed as he looked through the names on the map. "White flower valley," he translated the name to himself, mumbling it under his breath as if that would help him find it. It took some time before he finally spotted it. "Ah! There it is! West by south-west."
The Hokage nodded. "Indeed. Towards the border of River Country. I recommend that you leave by the South Gate, follow the road until you reach the first fork, and then go straight west through the forest. You will know you are close to Shirohanadani when you climb the third step."
"Climb the third step?" he blinked and turned to look at the Hokage. "What's with the sudden mysteriousness?"
"Even an old man must find amusement somewhere."
The teen snorted. "Alright, you old fossil, I will climb all the steps needed. Now, is there something you recommend for me to get before I set off on this much anticipated adventure – and please note the sarcasm imbedded in those last three words."
"Duly noted," Sarutobi smiled slightly. "I would recommend that you get the standard Konoha shinobi uniform and a travel cloak. That will give you all the standard equipment of someone of chuunin rank. Any money you may have left afterwards you can spend as you see fit, and the shop attendants will help you out if you need it. They are all retired ninja and know their business."
"And where can I find these shops?"
"The market in the eastern part of town has rather tall houses. The shinobi shops are to be found on the roofs of the buildings surrounding the marketplace; this keeps civilian kids from wandering in accidentally."
The only thing that Itachi could think of when he heard the words 'civilian kids' and 'shinobi shop' in the same sentence, was an emphatic ouch.
XXI
The shop clerks sent him odd looks but were more than happy to help out. In the clothing shop Itachi was outfitted with the standard blue Konoha shinobi uniform and the green flak vest. The bandages on the legs were odd beyond belief. They offered minimal protection and you couldn't use those bandages if you really got hurt because they would be dirty. They were made from some sort of sticky fabric and didn't unravel all the time, which was at least something. The bandages around the thigh were equally as odd, and though they probably served as extra protection from the kunai and shuriken in the thigh-pouch – those things were sharp after all, and cutting through the material of the pouch would be far too easy – Itachi kept on worrying about the bandage sliding down his leg.
"Just shut up and wear them!" the shop clerk barked after the fifth time Itachi had asked about the bandages. "You'll get used to it in no time. Now, which scrolls do you want?"
"Scrolls?" Itachi parroted as he finished staring at himself in the full-length mirror in the shop. The uniform made him look... odd. Not like himself. It was a comfortable uniform, the flak jacket was surprisingly breathable, the sleeves of the shirt came to just past his elbows and didn't get in the way of his hands, the pants were comfortably loose but not so much that they got in the way. But no matter what it still felt... weird to see himself in the outfit.
"You don't know about scrolls?" the clerk said sarcastically.
"Let's just pretend that I am a complete newcomer and have no idea of what's what, shall we?" Itachi suggested. The shop clerk had been treating him as if Itachi was already supposed to know all the shinobi stuff, and though he knew some things thanks to his talks with Mikoto before Sasuke went missing, Itachi was still very far from being on Academy student level let alone actually an expert.
The clerk sent him another of those odd looks, then shrugged and pulled out a small scroll. "This is a scroll," he pronounced the words as if Itachi had problem understanding the language. "More specifically it is a storage scroll. Inside it you can store food or bottles of water or clothes or weapons. It makes it easier for a shinobi to travel when we don't have to carry around a large backpack full of clinking and clanking weaponry."
'So it's like pushing things into some sort of subdimension or something?' Itachi wondered as he stared at the thin scrolls that the clerk had pulled out, and then he sighed. 'Best not to think too much about it. I don't understand half the things these people do, so I better not even try. I don't want to end up with a broken brain.'
"There are also transportation scrolls and summoning contract scrolls – but those are very special and can only be passed on from mentor to student." The clerk seemed to think that the possibility of getting hands on a summoning scroll to be zero to nil.
"So how does one put things into it or take it out of them?" Itachi asked and picked up one of the scrolls. It seemed too fragile to be able to hold sharp weapons.
"When you want to store something you write the name of what you want to store, retrace the writing in your own blood, place the desired and named object on the writing, then you push your chakra into the scroll and the object and the scroll will suck the object into itself. To bring something out again you will have to touch the written name of the thing you want to bring out and cancel the technique with a 'kai' while pushing chakra into the writing again. If the entire scroll is holding only weapons you can simply touch the scroll and bring them all out at the same time."
"I assume that it isn't that simple?"
The clerk snorted. "Of course not! A Seal Master first has to prepare a scroll for such use, and don't ask me how they do it, but a standard storage scroll is the result." He unfurled one of the scrolls all the way to the end so that they could see the thin wooden dowel it was wrapped around, and pointed out the tiny, tiny black markings all over the rod. "Those are the work of a Seal Master and they continue all along the edges of the scroll but you can't see them because of the borders. The colour of the border depends on what type of scroll it is, and it protects the edges of the paper as well as the Seal Master's seals under it. But those are things most shinobi don't have to know much about and have little use for – unless you are aiming to become a Seal Master, of course."
"Impressive," Itachi was quite honestly very impressed with these scrolls. "And you say that the colours tell you what kind of storage scroll it is?"
"Green for general items like food, water, clothes and so on. Red for weapons of all kinds, and blue for medical items." The clerk pointed to an example of each scroll as he named them. "Teleportation scrolls have grey edges, and scrolls for summoning are generally very distinctive and depend on the kind of summon they hold. So which ones do you want, and how many?"
The flak jacket had three pockets on each side at the front – six pockets in total – designed to hold scrolls and smaller, thinner weapons. The hip pouch was designed to hold only three scrolls while the rest of the space was made for kunai, rope and explosive tags – something Itachi was a bit wary about. Sure you had to push chakra into the tags in order for them to activate, but if you weren't careful during a fight you could end up being blown to bits accidentally.
Before he left the shop the clerk insisted on guiding Itachi through his first ever use of the storage scroll, and they sealed up the standard, pale gray rain cloak that went with the uniform.
In the weapons shop Itachi found it difficult to stop drooling over the sleek, light-weight katana blades on display. In the end the clerk – who bore resemblance to Tenten of all people – had to drag him away and sit him down and bring the required amount of weapons to fill up his pouches and the weapon-scrolls Itachi had bought. The clerk also threw in a couple of short senbon needles as a 'welcome to shinobi life' gift, and Itachi stuck them into the bandages around his shins. The needles were invisible now and could become quite useful if he ever lost all of his other weapons – not that Itachi expected to have to do a lot or any fighting at all – and this was a good though crazy way to test the bandages that the clerk in the clothes shop had been so proud of.
The last stop on the shopping trip was to the supplies shop where Itachi was further introduced to travel rations and soldier pills and whatever else the shinobi had come up with. And though everything so far had nearly eaten up his first paycheque, Itachi had to admit that it had been a very interesting experience.
'I wonder if I am the only tokubetsu shinobi with a uniform, or if it's a common thing for tokubetsu shinobi to have one for whenever they are called out on a mission?' Itachi mused to himself as he walked through the town, blending in perfectly with all the other shinobi walking around him.
XXI
The last thing Itachi did before he left the village, was drop by the hospital. Sakura's mother wasn't there anymore, but Mikoto had showed up to sit vigil at Sasuke's side while she made the time pass by sewing something that Itachi couldn't figure out. All he could see was that it was large and sheet-like.
"You look very handsome in the uniform," Mikoto smiled at him and, like the mother she was, she straightened the protective collar on the green flak jacket. "You have bought the equipment and filled all the scrolls? I don't think you should have any need for all of that, but it's best to be prepared. Do you have enough pocket money for your journey and in case you have to rent a room at an inn? If not I keep some saved up in the vase in the kitchen, the one that is decorated with blue flowers. A very civilian place to keep them, of course, but-"
Itachi chuckled. "Don't worry, I still have left more than enough for the upcoming mission." Mikoto really was a maternal person through and through. She reminded Itachi of a younger version of Mrs. Kishimoto.
"Yes, well, now you know that the money is there for future reference." Mikoto nervously smoothed out a wrinkle on the flak jacket. "Please be careful when you travel?" she said finally after a few heartbeats.
"Of course." It was no wonder that the woman was worried considering what had happened on Sasuke's first mission out of the village.
Mikoto seemed to want to say something more, to smother him, to forbid him to go, but she controlled herself and simply sighed. Even though she smiled the worry was clear in her eyes, and she tried to mask it by telling Itachi the latest news about Sasuke's condition according to the doctor and nurses. "And so, unless their situation suddenly gets worse, they should be awake again within a week or so."
"That is very good news."
"I have talked with Yamanaka Inoichi and he is already briefed on what happened to them and is preparing for the sessions he will have with them to help them through the trauma."
Itachi had to leave shortly afterwards if he was to have any hope of getting to the village around nightfall rather than the middle of the night, but he did drop by Kakashi's room at the hospital. The silver-haired man was sitting comfortably in bed reading a book, but looked up when Itachi stuck his head inside.
"Hey, I see you replaced the mask," Itachi said as he stepped inside.
"I see you have a new outfit." Kakashi put the book down, the statement holding a note of questioning.
Itachi nodded and stopped next to the man's bed. "Politics," he said simply. "I'm off on another mission to prove that my skills are real and not just luck. Well, it's not really a bad thing. This only helps to cement my methods as more real and will spare me for a lot of trouble in the future."
"You expect to get more missions in the future?"
The FBI agent snorted. "I seem to be getting a lot of those for being only a tokubetsu shinobi who has barely been here for two and a half months. With the way things are going I'm starting to suspect that someone is trying to push me into a real shinobi career."
"Yes, well, good luck with this mission." Kakashi seemed a bit amused. All around the man didn't seem to have suffered much during his captivity, and he would probably be discharged from the hospital within a couple of days but with orders to take it easy for another while yet.
"Thank you. I may need it.
"When you leave remember to register with the shinobi manning the desk by the gates," Kakashi reminded him. "And remember to be polite to the person that hired you."
Itachi nearly pouted. "The Hokage said something like that, too. Why does everyone think that I will insult people the second I open my mouth?" he wondered and the older man chuckled slightly. "Well, I'll leave you then. I need to get going. You get better."
"And you get back safely. Good luck with the mission."
"Thanksies."
At the South Gate of Konohagakure he had to stop up and wait for a few minutes before an outgoing trio of shinobi had been registered and then an incoming gennin team had to announce their arrival – Itachi waved to Hinata who was part of said gennin team. No wonder he hadn't seen her at Sasuke's beside yet, she hadn't been in the village the past few days. The young girl looked surprised to see him and shyly waved back, but her attention was quickly arrested by a wild-haired team-mate who had a small puppy – yes, honest to god live dog – on his head, and even where Itachi stood he could hear the puppy-boy demanding to know who Itachi was.
'Honestly, the kid should just ask her out,' Itachi thought to himself in amusement as he heard Hinata stammer out an answer.
"Who?" the shinobi behind the desk asked. An eye-patch covered his left eye.
"Uchiha Itachi," Itachi supplied his name. Unfortunately he hadn't been able to register as Kishimoto Itachi when he had joined the Konoha shinobi ranks.
"ID number?" asked the other shinobi. The man had a very flat and large nose.
"012110."
"Where are you going?"
"Shirohanadani."
A minute later Itachi was stepping through the South Gates of Konoha, ready to start his mission. It somehow felt like this was his very first, official mission now that he was dressed like a real shinobi, had personally prepared for it and had been given the mission directly by the Hokage himself.
He looked up at the bright, cloudless skies and the rich, green life all around him.
Somehow this seemed much more important than a simple mission. More symbolic in a way.
'I feel like I have just been caught somehow,' Itachi sighed and took his first step down the road. 'At least they have pocky here in this world.'
XXI
There. Please tell me what you think.
Please excuse the horrible name of the village, and please tell me the correct way to form the name if I did it horribly wrong.
Thanks to:
CleverBast, frzntears, Birra, MrEmperor, KiraDemon, Slayer End, stupid thing, QuietInsomniac, KuroitsukiNoMai, Weasel Fu, Wandering Hitokiri, Skedaddle-San, xRosePetalx, beloveddaughteroftheking, HolyKnight5, hello, Morrolan, Sharingan-Youkai., LonelyAura, Chaney2250, Hiira, MahinaMura13, Barranca, phoebe turner, -00-night-eyes-00-, SnickyPop, SirKaid, ... , minniemousemom, Ladyrouge214, Aki WildQueen, FaerysWing, xashi, titpuce86, ellesra, xatsumex, cherry-888, TripOverFlatSurfaces, Rilili, Beta the Second, WraithReaper, and Comosicus.