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Itachi's Return Part 1
It was the next morning after arts & craft day and Maiko was walking Naruto to the Ichiraku Ramen stand to meet up with Jiraiya. It was a pleasant enough morning as she bid Naruto a farewell as he and his sensei left to go find Jiraiya's old friend. She didn't know who they were looking for, but if Jiraiya considered her a friend, Maiko wasn't sure if she wanted to know this person. Maiko then took it upon herself to find Shikamaru to set up a day when he could come over and help make the pie before Mother's day arrived. After she found Shikamaru talking to Ino and Choji at the Yamanaka Flower Shop, she decided to tackle her errands for the day. First up was grocery shopping.
Maiko hummed as she did so and wound her way through the market stalls, gathering up fresh produce along the way. She let her thoughts wander about the previous four days. She recalled her visit with Hinata and Neji at the Hyuga compound. She was curious if they got injured in the crossfire of the invasion while they were under the genjutsu. Thankfully they were not but she also went to the Hyuga compound to catch up with the mother of her first two teammates, Haruka and Hideaki. Maiko had always felt guilty for surviving the Kyuubi attack and the rest of her team didn't. So, she kept up with their mother through helping the elder out like fixing up the house the older woman lived in or walking with the woman to visit their graves every year with Naruto.
Haruka and Hideaki's mother, Kasumi, never held anything against Naruto. She didn't want to be around the jailor of the beast who killed her only children, but Kasumi was never mean towards Naruto either which relieved Maiko to be honest. When Maiko first took in Naruto, she was afraid that Kasumi would spurn her just like most of the villagers. She didn't though so Maiko would come and visit her every now and then to talk. However, Maiko hasn't seen Kasumi or talked to the elder woman for almost a year and talking to her was extremely therapeutic for Maiko who told Kasumi everything from Naruto's graduation, to Kakashi, and to the recent attacks by Orochimaru. Kasumi sat there in silence and let her talk before giving any form of advice or a comforting word or two which was what Maiko really needed at the time.
Maiko then thought about the reconstruction of the hidden Leaf village. For the past four days Maiko's job and contribution to this was to remove the forest from the rooftop that the resurrected Shodai created in the fight between Orochimaru and the Sandaime. It was an extremely tedious and exhausting job because Maiko couldn't just make the forest disappear into thin air. That wasn't possible. No, Maiko had to slowly retract and remold the trees into something else; namely whatever the council thought needed the addition of rooms. Mostly Maiko focused on putting these extra rooms onto the Academy building without making it look obvious that they were additions. But there were a few apartment complexes she added onto as well. Maiko was just thankful that yesterday was the last day and that she was able to finish it early so she had enough time to prepare for arts & crafts day, especially because unknowingly more people had joined them this year.
This led to her next train of thought of Kakashi and Sasuke. Maiko did not expect Sasuke to recall any information in regards to her dating someone from the Uchiha clan. She nearly fainted when he asked her who. Maiko could not tell him and she didn't want to lie to Sasuke about his family that was taken away from him. But Maiko couldn't say that man's name aloud, not in front of Sasuke and not in hearing range of her eavesdroppers: Jiraiya, Asuma, and Kakashi. Their reactions could be disastrous. Asuma would probably just be extremely surprised and would pity her while Sasuke would distrust her or bombard her with questions for more information that she could not give satisfying answers to. Maiko dared not think of what Jiraiya's and Kakashi's reactions would be to the name of the Uchiha she dated. It would do her no good to dwell on those thoughts. After she was done grocery shopping, Maiko decided to take the long way home to get her back into the right mindset.
"Gai-kun! How is it going?" She called out when she spotted a man dressed in a ghastly green and tight-fitted jumpsuit that belonged to only two people Maiko knew of. Gai swiveled around from heading into the hospital. His bright smile brought one to her face and helped push back the negative thoughts surrounding one silver-haired jounin and another ex-jounin with blood red eyes.
"Good morning Mai-chan! I was just going to visit Lee, but you look like you could use some help!" The helmet-haired jounin exclaimed and walked back towards her. Maiko didn't really need his help but his presence was helping her so she readily agreed to his proposition. Once she handed him one of the two big bags of groceries she was carrying they left the hospital gate entrance.
They walked back to her house and talked comfortably about Lee's physical therapy although Maiko was sure to avoid the topic of how effective it would be. They made it all the way to her door step when Maiko felt a chakra presence flair up: a chakra presence she hasn't felt for years, a chakra presence she wished to never feel again. Maiko prayed to Kami that it was just a figment of her imagination because she was thinking about that man constantly throughout the day.
"Did you feel that release of chakra? There must be an intruder close by." Gai said and crushed her delusion that she didn't sense the same thing. Maiko just exchanged a quick glance with Gai as she put down the bag of groceries she was carrying she created a chakra net and extended to find the source of the chakra flare. Maiko outwardly groaned at the confirmation of her fears.
"Itachi Uchiha is back and he is fighting Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma with a partner. Do you know how to fight against the sharingan, Gai-kun?" She asked and at the nod of his head she told him the plan. She was going to confront Itachi first and Gai would sneak up behind them being her back up if Itachi's partner tried to attack her and level the playing field because from what her chakra net was telling her Kakashi was down for the count while Kurenai and Asuma were stuck, useless in a fight against the sharingan. Gai grudgingly agreed, he wanted to be right next to her when confronting Itachi in the beginning, but he realized that concealing himself until the opportune moment would be for the best. Once he agreed they took off and headed straight to the river that was less than a mile from Maiko's home.
"Guh… You are looking for Sasuke aren't you?" Kakashi panted as he was hunched over slightly. Maiko spotted him, Kurenai, and Asuma facing off against Itachi and a man Maiko recognized as Kisame Hoshigaki, an S-class missing-nin from Kirigakure. They were standing on the river and Maiko assumed that Kurenai and Asuma had their eyes closed while Itachi and Kisame calmly looked on, unphased in the slightest. Maiko and Gai stopped a few yards away, their chakra presences masked due to distance and being hidden. She looked to her partner and shared a brief nod before Gai took off to her right, heading further down the river bank to look for a better position. Maiko took a deep breath, preparing herself for what could possibly happen next.
"No," Itachi answered Kakashi's question in an eerily cold and distant voice that Maiko remembered well. "We are after the Fourth Hokage's legacy."
"The Yondaime's legacy you say?" Kakashi repeated as he kneeled down, exhaustion was rapidly taking its toll on him. Both Kurenai and Asuma gasped in surprise.
"What do they want with him?" Kurenai asked and Maiko took this chance to make her presence known.
"They are after the Kyuubi inside of Naruto, aren't you?" She said and walked out of the tree line and towards her friends with a calm demeanor that she did not feel internally. Her friends were even more startled at her presence but Maiko wasn't looking at them, she wasn't even looking at Itachi. Maiko couldn't see anything for she had her eyes closed and was using her chakra net to guide her.
"You have begun to move, you think we don't know? The name of your organization is 'Akatsuki' isn't it?" Kakashi added after recovering quickly. From the change in tension in the air, Maiko assumed that Itachi and Kisame were surprised at how much they knew.
"Akatsuki?" Asuma asked. But before either Kakashi or Maiko could explain Itachi reacted first.
"Kisame! Take Kakashi out and we will take the woman to see what they know." The Uchiha she used to be so close to ordered. Maiko prepared herself as she felt Kisame launch himself towards them while Itachi built up chakra as an accompanying attack. However, Gai blocked Kisame and threw the S-class missing-nin backwards while Maiko kicked up some water to disguise her own hand seals that sent a wave to take out Itachi. Maiko didn't see how, but Itachi dodged it as Kisame picked himself up and Gai took up his spot next to Maiko.
"Who the hell are these two?" Hoshigaki growled, but there was a hint of glee in his voice.
"The Leaf's Prideful Green Beast, Gai Maito! And the Blood Tigress herself, Maiko Senju!" Her partner exclaimed proudly but Maiko ignored him and focused on Itachi. She could feel his gaze on her that made her emotions turn into a torrent of conflict. There was familiarity in feeling his chakra presence again but then there was the emotional pain and anger that came with it as the last few memories she had of Itachi come to the forefront of her mind.
"My, my, my. Maiko Senju was it? I've heard rumors about you. I see that the ones about your beauty are true. What about your fighting skills, are those true as well? I want to find out but you have your eyes closed. Don't you think you should open them so you can stand a chance or are you too scared?" Kisame goaded and Maiko wanted to glare at him for what he was insinuating. But she knew that if she opened her eyes she would look directly at Itachi and she couldn't take the chance of falling into his genjutsu, so she settled on directing her killer intent at Kisame.
"Don't look into Itachi's eyes, that's how his jutsu is done!" Asuma shouted in panic.
"We know that Asuma, don't worry." Maiko responded, her calm façade still firmly in place. Kakashi let out a groan as he crumbled a bit more, but Maiko could tell that he was barely hanging on to consciousness. She needed to end this now and so she dropped into her fighting stance. This made Kisame laugh.
"I'm telling you now gorgeous. You are going to lose this fight if you don't open your eyes." Kisame reiterated and Maiko just growled in reply.
"Don't underestimate them, especially Maiko. She can see us fine can't you? You perfected your technique of extending your chakra through the trees to see us from the last time we were together haven't you?" Itachi said and she could feel him building up his chakra and guiding it to cover the trees in a genjutsu. She mentally smirked at that, thankful that she could still predict his moves.
"Yes I have, but I've grown a lot stronger than that. But so have you, I can tell from your chakra presence." Maiko replied evenly not showing how triumphant she felt at his registered surprise that she wasn't affected by his genjutsu.
"You know this babe Itachi?" Kisame asked curiously. The way he called her "babe" made Maiko's skin crawl but she remained physically impassive just like Itachi.
"Obviously, and you should really improve your vocabulary skills in regards to adjectives, Kisame. 'Babe' is utterly vulgar." Itachi said in the same cold and distant tone as normal but Maiko knew that he was chiding Kisame while defending Maiko. Apparently Kisame could read his partner as well.
"OoooOooo, you have never corrected me before when I used such terminology. What kind of relationship do you have with Maiko Senju?" Kisame questioned seriously at the end but Maiko answered instead.
"A relationship built out of lies that is what it is. One of broken promises too. So pretty much there is nothing between Itachi and I that would stop us from fighting to the death right now if need be."
"You are a feisty one aren't ya?" Kisame chuckled but Maiko pointedly ignored him and focused on Itachi as the Uchiha did the same. The two locked their chakra presences against one another.
But while Maiko pushed with as much anger as she could muster there was something in his chakra presence that made her efforts diminish as time went on. But as this happened Itachi's chakra didn't over power hers but lessened along with. It was strange to her, almost as if Itachi still held feelings towards Maiko that was not letting him fight back and use her feelings to his advantage. She could feel her own confusion mount as time went on and the invisible power of wills died away. They were now just standing there staring at each other. Well, Itachi was staring at her; Maiko was looking back at him through her chakra net. The only thing that snapped her out of this was Kakashi collapsing.
"Kurenai, Asuma! Take Kakashi back to the Medical Treatment Center. Maiko and I will take them on." Gai ordered after he picked the unconscious body of Kakashi and handing it over to Kurenai.
"Aren't you brave…" Kisame growled but his gravelly voice conveyed glee at the thought of an upcoming battle as Kisame took hold of the handle to his sword.
"Kisame, stop it." Itachi commanded. "We did not come here to start a war. Which is what will happen if we continue this nonsense. Let's leave." Kisame grumbled in agreement and they vanished from Maiko's chakra net. When she extended to cover the radius of Konoha's perimeters and could not sense Itachi's chakra presence, Maiko finally opened her eyes. She saw Gai and Asuma giving her curious looks as they held Kakashi between themselves while Kurenai's eyes were filled with concern. She ignored them and started heading towards the hospital.
They followed her in silence. They would have asked her questions if she didn't look so sad and confused. Maiko couldn't understand what just happened between her and Itachi. It was nothing like she had imagined and yet it played out the way it did. Maiko thought Itachi would have attacked her more because of how familiar he was to her fighting style and knew the flaws in it. But then again, the same could be said for her about Itachi's fighting style. Also, it has been years since they have seen each other so they could have changed radically. However, Maiko didn't know if any of that was true because there was little to no fighting that happened between Itachi and herself. They just stood there and felt each other out through their chakra presences. As all of this went through Maiko's head, memories of her and Itachi would pop up that just saddened her even more so.
Of course, her friends didn't know this so they didn't know what to say to her to cheer her up. Even though Kurenai knew at least some of Maiko's relationship with Itachi, which was a lot more than Asuma and Gai, Kurenai couldn't think of ways to breach the topic with her best friend with the two men there and a third who, although unconscious, could wake up at any moment. So the group of five walked to the hospital in silence, all of them contemplating on what just happened.
Maiko remained silent and sullen as Asuma and Gai explained to the medic-nins as to what happened to Kakashi even though none of the jounins knew what exactly the cause for Kakashi collapsing was. Was it from chakra exhaustion or was the genjutsu still effecting him? Maybe it was something else entirely different? The medic-nins performed their tests and told them that if Kakashi didn't wake up in 24 hours then he was still under the effects of the genjutsu that Itachi performed on him successfully. The four nodded their heads and took the still unconscious Kakashi back to his place. Maiko was still wrapped up in her thoughts, going over every detail of her face off with Itachi. Something was wrong. If Itachi was really looking for Naruto, he knew he should have pressured her more for information as to Naruto's whereabouts or to at least follow her afterwards and not leave the village entirely. He knew he should have because Itachi knew from firsthand knowledge that Maiko was Naruto's guardian.
And from working with Itachi in the past, Maiko knew his tactics in regards to acquiring information and passing it on. He knew how to properly send clues or messages, especially when she thought back to their hand signs that was entirely unique to them when they were partners. With this, Maiko also knew that Itachi had the ability to withhold information, excruciatingly so with his normal impassive attitude. But when she saw Itachi again, he displayed none of those indicators that he was trying to convey a message to her through his movements and words or lack of them. Itachi was just there and spoke minimally. This had to mean something. So Maiko went over everything in her memory, racking it for some form of clue of understanding.
Because Maiko knew that she had her eyes closed, if Itachi was going to reveal any form of information he would have done it through his words. So, she focused on everything he said in her presence. Maiko then noted the change in demeanor when Kakashi announced that the two of them knew about Akatsuki. But that was understandable because Akatsuki was trying to stay under the radar and did so successfully if it wasn't for Orochimaru joining and then leaving the group with Jiraiya's snooping coming upon their little organization. And then when Itachi instructed Kisame to take her to gather more information about Naruto, but did not mention her relationship with the jinchuriki, Maiko found that odd. Why would he say that? He could have just killed her and then waited for Naruto at her home.
No, Itachi was trying to tell her something or lead her on to reveal something. Either way Maiko needed to figure it out to protect Naruto from Itachi and Akatsuki. As she combed her brain for the answer, Maiko half-listened to the conversation between Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai as to how they came across Itachi.
"Well, Kakashi was the first one to recognize Itachi's chakra signature when he was meeting up with Sasuke at the café. Asuma and I so happened to be walking by at the same time and we too recognized his chakra signature as he and his partner were eating there." Kurenai explained. She was going to say more but Maiko stopped her.
"Wait, you said that Itachi and Kisame were eating at the café? The one a couple of blocks away from here?" Her three friends looked at her in confusion.
"Yeah, they were drinking some tea and had hats on to look like they are simple travelers. Although, their cloaks were pretty ostentatious if you ask me." Asuma said. It all clicked for her. That café was only a couple streets away from Ichiraku. In fact, one would pass the Ichiraku stand to get to the café. Itachi and Kisame must have seen Naruto with Jiraiya but must have missed Maiko dropping Naruto off. Itachi took the long way out of Konoha in the hopes of catching the attention of the local jounins and then her. He wanted Maiko to know that he knew that Naruto was with Jiraiya. Why, Maiko had no clue but she had to get to Jiraiya and let him know that Itachi and Kisame was following him.
"I've got to go, but make sure that Sasuke does not learn that Itachi is here and that he is coming after Naruto. If he does, Sasuke is just going to chase them down and get himself killed. So stop him at any costs." Maiko barked out and left before any of her friends could say likewise. She stormed out of Kakashi's apartment complex and flew through the village towards the town Jiraiya and Naruto are going to stay for the night. They should be there right about now and Itachi and Kisame should be catching up soon. She needed to cut them off or find Jiraiya and get him and Naruto to run. It seemed like she was going to be seeing Itachi a lot today, little did she know just how true that would be.