A/N: Holy crap, we're at more than 30K views. That makes me really happy.

Chapter 25: Yatagarasu

~Approximately Eleven Years Ago~

Himawari Hyuuga watched the man she loved rap on the Third Hokage's door three times consecutively. "Sandaime?"

"Come in!" Came the response. There wasn't much resembling recognition in his tone. Himawari suspected he was wrapped up in paperwork, as usual.

Itachi opened the door, gripping Himawari's hand with his free one as he led her through the door.

Just before passing through the doorway, he looked back at her. "Are you ready for this?"

The Hyuuga heiress nodded, although she felt nervous for the first time in ages. By comparison to the war, this was nothing, but she and Itachi had spent weeks planning this. It had been her idea and Itachi had agreed to it without hesitation, but she was still feeling very nervous.

"I am. We can do this." She reassured him, squeezing his hand.

He smiled warmly and the two of them walked through the doorway.

Itachi waved, smiling. "Hello, Lord Hokage. Apologies for the intrusion."

Himawari would never be able to get over how absolutely melodic his voice was.

She nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we understand you're probably really busy."

Hiruzen blinked in surprise after looking up from whatever paperwork he'd been doing, confirming Himawari's suspicions. "Oh, Himawari! Itachi! Is something the matter?"

Itachi shook his head. "No, no, not at all."

Himawari felt herself turn the slightest bit pink. "We, uh, we've got something important to tell you, actually. Good news, we think."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, turning his head to the side ever so slightly. "...oh?"

Itachi looked to Himawari expectantly. They'd talked this out beforehand, and she'd told him that she wanted to be the one to actually say it. Unfortunately, Himawari unexpectedly choked up as she felt herself turn pink. She tried to speak, but found herself unable to. It wasn't as if she didn't trust Hiruzen. She trusted him much more than her own father with this information, but...

Itachi, sensing the issues she was having without her having to say a word, turned back to the Third Hokage. "We're expecting, Lord Third."

Hiruzen dropped his pen, eyes widening. "Oh. I, well, I, uh, I did not expect this."

Himawari squeezed Itachi's hand in gratitude. "Thank you."

Itachi kissed her forehead before turning back to the Hokage. "We want our child to be considered legitimate in the eyes of Konoha's government, but the child won't be unless we get married prior to the child's birth."

Himawari continued her lover's thought. "And we can't get married because of a bunch of a bunch of political bullshit between our clans right now, so-"

Hiruzen held up a hand. "I understand; the Hyuuga and Uchiha have never been distinctly fond of each other. How long have you two known?"

"Almost a month, but I think I've been pregnant for about a month and a half." Himawari explained.

"We've been planning this discussion with you for about three weeks." Itachi clarified.

Hiruzen rubbed his beard, looking down at his desk for a moment. "I see."

A moment passed. Himawari and Itachi looked at each other nervously. Himawari suspected it was a rare sight, to see two of the strongest of Konoha's youth so visibly unsettled and anxious, but then again, an Uchiha and Hyuuga coupling had never happened before. They were treading new ground, exploring new territory, so to speak.

Hiruzen looked back up at the two teenagers. "A child of mixed Uchiha and Hyuuga heritage could show great promise, and you two have always done your best for the village and the Land of Fire on a whole. I trust you both to raise a child well and I will support your efforts as parents, and while I do not believe I will be able to convince the leaders of your respective clans to permit a marriage, I will make every effort to. Would you like me to inform your clans for you or would you like me to summon them here so that we may discuss it with them?"

Itachi and Himawari looked at each other, then back at the Hokage.

Himawari answered for the two of them. "The second one, please."

Itachi simply nodded in agreement.

Himawari felt immense relief. "We'd both like to request parental leave as well."

"We do not expect paid leave, of course, just time with our child." Itachi clarified.

Hiruzen nodded. "Excluding missions of the utmost importance, request granted. It will be paid as well, to accommodate for cost of living independently from your clan, should you desire to. Additionally, Himawari, you're not to leave the village until you've recovered from your pregnancy. Is that clear?"

Himawari nodded back. "Yes, Lord Hokage."

Itachi smiled widely, the lines etched into his face deepening. "Thank you, Sandaime."

Hiruzen returned the smile, stood up from his desk, walked over to the young couple, and placed his hands on their shoulders. "This is an important matter, and I imagine news of this will spread quickly not just throughout the village, but to other villages as well. I imagine villages we're on rocky diplomatic terms with may see this as the beginning of our attempt to recover from the Nine-Tails' attack on our village, and may seek to create problems for the two of you as a result."

Himawari hadn't thought of that. Had their conceiving a child painted a massive target on her back?

Hiruzen looked at Itachi, expression relatively neutral. "Itachi, in the same way Kakashi Hatake was assigned to Kushina Uzumaki to ensure her protection during her pregnancy, you will be assigned to Himawari. I imagine you are comfortable with this duty?"

Itachi nodded, still grinning. "Of course, Lord Hokage. Nothing would make me happier."

Hiruzen nodded, turning back to Himawari. "Other shinobi and kunoichi will be positioned around your general location at all times, you understand."

Himawari cocked her head to the side. "Really? Anything after me and Itachi seems a bit much."

Itachi's head turned in the direction of his lover. "Himawari, while it is unlikely that a potential assailant will be able to get past myself, or you, for that matter, stress can be harmful to a fetus' development, which is why-"

Hiruzen chuckled, cutting Itachi off as he patted the young Uchiha's shoulder. "-which is why we'd rather have a member of the ANBU, like Kakashi Hatake, eliminate the threat before either of you even become aware of said threat."

Itachi nodded, remaining silent.

Himawari frowned. She couldn't exactly argue with that. She and Itachi had both read extensively on pregnancies in their off time for the past three weeks, and she remembered that tidbit of information as one of the reasons they'd both thought to request parental leave. Didn't leave a good taste in her mouth that she'd be confined to the village for so long, though, even though she did have her favorite person in the world by her side.

The Hokage's smile widened ever so slightly as he patted their shoulders once more, chuckling again. "Well, young ones, shall we contact your families?"

Himawari and Itachi nodded simultaneously. Himawari's anxiety became excitement. Her family and the Uchiha would be informed while she and Itachi had the protection and blessing of the Hokage.

She couldn't have felt happier.

~Present Day~
Himawari Hyuuga dragged herself from her memories as she began to conclude her speech, wiping tears and raindrops from her face as she scanned the crowd gathered to attend Hiruzen Sarutobi's funeral. It consisted primarily of Genin, Chuunin, some Jounin, assorted members of the Sarutobi Clan, and numerous other civilians that had known the Hokage. Her son was in the crowd as well, with Naruto to his left and Sasuke to his right (the only two people in that section of the crowd that weren't Main House Hyuuga). Both were trying to keep him awake through all the pain medicine and chakra pills he'd been prescribed. She'd probably have to carry him most of the way home.

She tightened her grip on the podium she was positioned behind. "Of course, you all know how that relationship with Itachi turned out, but that's not the point of this speech. Hiruzen was the kind of man that fought like hell to get my baby boy the same rights as nearly every other child born in Konoha only a month or so after he'd started developing, and he did it not just for the sake of two lovestruck teenagers that both happened to be extremely useful during the last war, but for the entire village. He advocated for Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, two young orphans that just recently helped to save all of us, in a similar way, and he took care of both of them before I took them in myself. Someone willing to put his life on the line for his citizens, someone willing to fairly use his immense power to the benefit of those without that power, that's a true leader. That's a true Hokage."

Off in the distance, a man stood on the village wall, watching Hiruzen Sarutobi's funeral processions continue. He was a tall man, standing at around six feet. His long hair was pitch black, the color of a crow's feathers, and tied back into a loose ponytail that reached the spot in-between his shoulder-blades. He was of slim-ish but muscular build, and he stood absolutely still as intense winds whipped around his hair and long, black, high-collared coat printed with red clouds.

He watched the woman he loved in his youth (and, in truth, still did love) complete her speech to the audience and join their son in the crowd as the funeral itself wrapped up. The mother of his child and legal guardian of his little brother left the podium and was quickly replaced by the late Sandaime Hokage's daughter and mother of Konohamaru and twin sister of Asuma: Amaya Sarutobi. The village elders called for audience members to each place a single bloom some kind of white flower atop Hiruzen's coffin.

He inhaled slowly, then exhaled. He wanted to cry as he saw his son and then his little brother, his own flesh and blood, present flowers and then walk away with a woman he could never be with again. He was also remarkably sad about Hiruzen's passing, but no tears came. They hadn't in nearly ten years, and he suspected they would remain stagnant for the rest of his days.

The man felt a hand on his shoulder. "Doin' okay there, Itachi?"

Itachi Uchiha didn't look at his partner, remaining focused on his son, brother, and former lover. "Do you remember what your parents were like, Kisame?" He asked his partner, the blue-skinned swordsman.

Kisame Hoshigaki chuckled darkly. "Heh, nah. Coupla wacko sciency types from Kiri. Prob'ly better that I don't remember 'em that well. Why d'ya ask?"

Itachi remained still. "In their own twisted way, Kisame, they probably did love you."

Kisame shrugged. "If ya call testin' out all yer weird gene-splicin' tech on yer own kid and makin' a superpowered shark monster outta him 'loving,' then yeah, I guess."

Itachi blinked, expression and tone betraying none of the abject misery he felt. "Kisame, I sacrificed my entire clan and my right to be with my immediate family for the sake of said immediate family."

"Neato." Kisame deadpanned, idly scratching his chin.

"To answer your question, Kisame, while I do not mourn for my former superior, I do occasionally mourn for the family I could have had." Itachi said over the rain, telling a half-truth.

Kisame raised an eyebrow. "This gonna create problems for us when we stop doin' recon in a little while?"

Itachi blinked again, head tilting in the general direction of Hokage Rock. "None. The Eternal Mangekyo and the Nine-Tailed Fox are more important."

~Three Weeks Later~
Kakashi Hatake stared at Itachi Uchiha.

Itachi stared back.

Kakashi kept his kunai at Itachi's throat as he examined the father of Eiji Hyuuga. He had gotten significantly taller since his departure from the village, at least a few inches taller than Kakashi; nearly six feet. His hair had grown out several inches, his face had matured slightly, but his expression remained the same as Kakashi remembered it from when they were paired up on missions together: emotionally deadened from the countless lives this man had taken. Kakashi wasn't one to talk on this matter, but Kakashi had always found it more than a little disturbing that Itachi had never seemed to have an issue with killing people. Even his first time had seemed easy for him.

Kakashi imagined that the nine years he'd spent as a rogue ninja had only sharpened his skills and deadened his emotions further. This was not something Kakashi wished to dwell on.

With Obito's Sharingan, Kakashi could see Itachi's chakra, and if fear hadn't been beaten out of him during his time as a juvenile Jounin, he would have felt it then. Kakashi was also very glad that Itachi lacked the ability the ability to use the Gentle Fist. Otherwise, enough of Itachi's blazing vermillion chakra applied directly to the correct sequence of tenketsu would probably be enough to vaporize most of his internal organs.

Kakashi hadn't been paying much attention to the conversation Kisame had been having with his shadow clone, so he, Asuma, and Kurenai were all visibly surprised when Itachi turned his head in his partner's direction. "Kisame, enough. If you engage this man, it will not be without cost. Additionally, it will take time we do not have, and draw unnecessary attention to us. That is inefficient and, quite frankly, moronic. We mustn't lose sight of our goal."

"Well then, let's hear it. What is your goal? Plan to give the little boy you abandoned a belated birthday present?" Kakashi prodded. Kakashi hoped to get a rise out of him enough to draw the attention of other shinobi in the village, but they were nearly at the village outskirts, quite close to the forest. It would take a lot of noise to get someone important over here.

Itachi's eyebrow twitched, but he otherwise did not respond. "We are searching for something. We are certain it is located in Konohagakure."

Kakashi cocked his head to the side slightly, raising his eyebrow just the slightest bit. "Wouldn't happen to be your son, would it? If so, you're about a decade too late. Growing up during those formative years without a father is difficult, not like you would really kn-"

Kakashi knew he had discovered Itachi's emotional weak point when he felt Itachi's heel hit his jaw with incredible force. Kakashi felt immense amounts of pain, just a warning from Itachi, for a moment before the former's substitution jutsu activated. Kakashi reappeared under the water, calculating his next move. His Sharingan told him that the Itachi that had just kicked him was apparently a shadow clone, and it was one that Itachi planned to detonate in the next few seconds. Rapidly coming to a conclusion, Kakashi sprang from the water and got Kurenai out of the range of the clone's explosion. Kurenai shouted something when they regained their footing, and Asuma joined them in standing on the river seconds after.

Itachi merely stood there, staring at them. "For someone who is not of the Uchiha, you have truly mastered the Sharingan. However, not being one of us, you lack our physical strength and unique chakra signature. You can copy neither of those things."

Dammit, Itachi was right. Kakashi tightened his grip on his kunai, clenching his teeth. "Careful, this guy was promoted to head of the ANBU when he was just thirteen."

Asuma grimaced. "We get it, he's tough."

Kakashi chuckled darkly. "Tough? You haven't seen a fraction of what he can do."

Itachi blinked slowly. "Why is it do you think that the Uchiha were known by all and feared by all?"

Kakashi's eyes widened. He couldn't mean...

"I'll show you three what a true heir of the Uchiha bloodline can do."

Kakashi's eyes widened in actual, legitimate fear for the first time in a very long while. "CLOSE YOUR EYES! DON'T LOOK AT HIS EYES!"

Asuma and Kurenai did as he commanded, closing their eyes.

Unfortunately, it was already too late for Kakashi. He stiffened up as the world turned into naught but sanguine reds and blacks, and suddenly he found himself nailed to a cross, roughly ten feet off the ground.

Itachi stood in front of him, holding a wakizashi. It was the same one that Kakashi had seen Eiji carrying around lately.

Itachi then almost casually drove the blade into Kakashi's abdomen, twisting it around. Kakashi clenched his teeth and pulled back his tongue, which would have been bitten off otherwise. The pain was enormous. Indescribable. Kakashi had been trained to resist torture and he'd been stabbed, cut,and generally injured with bladed weapons so many times he'd lost count, but this was different. It was greater than every blade-induced wound he'd ever suffered through, all rolled into one experience.

Kakashi blacked out from the pain, and when he awoke, he saw that the wound was gone.

Was this only a genjutsu? It felt so incredibly real, and his Sharingan was doing nothing to reduce its effects. This had never happened before.

Kakashi was dragged from his thoughts by the fact that there was now a second Itachi, standing to the first one's right.

The two of them spoke in unison. "Within the Tsukuyomi, time and space, physical mass, everything is under my complete control."

Then, they both stabbed Kakashi, doubling the pain he'd felt an unknowable amount of time ago. "The next seventy-two hours will be nothing but this. Over, and over, and over."

Kakashi blacked out again, and when he woke up, he saw himself being stabbed and lectured by Itachi about the nature of the genjutsu he was in. Kakashi felt every stab twice, and began repeating it's only genjutsu, it's only genjutsu, over and over in his mind.

Another Itachi appeared in front of him, stabbing him once more. "Telling yourself that this is an illusion will do you little good. Call it what you will, it is still pain. Do you feel it any less deeply simply because you are denying it?"

Could Itachi read his mind? What was happening?

Was this another power of Itachi's Tsukuyomi?

Another Itachi appeared out of nowhere and stabbed him again. "How long will it be, I wonder, before your spirit is broken, your soul destroyed? The only one to last all seventy-two hours was Himawari, but I sincerely doubt you have her spirit. No one does."

In spite of the ungodly agony that made it seem like time had slowed to a crawl, Kakashi locked eyes with the nearest Itachi. "You may wonder how long I'll last, but I find myself wondering what Eiji or Shisui would think of you now." Kakashi growled out through gritted teeth.

Then, Kakashi blacked out for just a moment before reawakening to an endless crowd, comprised of nothing but himself on a cross being stared at by seemingly endless copies of Itachi.

The one in front of him smiled ever so slightly. "Only seventy-one hours, fifty-nine minutes, and fifty-nine seconds to go."

Every Itachi closed in on their associated Kakashi.

Shortly after, Kakashi lost control of himself.

The screaming began, with only seventy-one hours, fifty-nine minutes, and fifty-eight seconds left on the clock.

After what felt like an eternity, the world returned to its normal colors, and Kakashi was suddenly standing next to Kurenai and Asuma. He panted heavily before falling to his knees. How long had that been? Kurenai and Asuma certainly couldn't have been standing there for three days

Kakashi heard Kurenai's voice. "Kakashi! Are you alright?! Can we open our eyes?"

"No, not yet." Kakashi coughed out, still struggling to remain conscious.

"What the hell happened? One second, the guy's talking, and the next second, you hit the ground!" Asuma growled, obviously confused.

Itachi simply stared at Kakashi, expression completely flat.

Three days. Kakashi had spent three entire days in that nightmare while only a few seconds had passed in the real world. Death would have been preferable.

Kisame appeared in a flash next to Itachi. "After all that, the prick's spirit is still in one piece? Seems like you went easy on him, Itachi. Stop usin' those eyes unless you need to. Shit's risky."

Itachi merely blinked again, saying nothing. Kakashi noticed that he was squinting in a way that implied immense photosensitivity, like when Eiji was suffering from a migraine.

Kakashi struggled to one knee, looking at the eldest surviving Uchiha with eyes that felt like they were about to shut on their own. "This thing you've come for, is it Eiji, or Sasuke? Or both?"

"No. The legacy of the Fourth Hokage."

Naruto, or the Nine-Tailed Fox? Likely the latter, but the difference was a matter of semantics unless Itachi or Kisame was a fuinjutsu expert. Regardless, that must mean that these two were members of the Akatsuki, the organization of rogue ninja that Jiraiya had warned Kakashi about and that Orochimaru had once been a member of. Kakashi made note of the coats both men were clothed in and the similarities between their rings. Both were likely part of some kind of uniform the Akatsuki had.
Kakashi glared at Itachi and Kisame. "You and the seven other rogue ninja you two work with are after the Nine-Tailed Fox, aren't you? The Akatsuki, am I right?"

Itachi absently brushed some jet black hair from his face. "Kisame, we'll take Kakashi with us, but the other two are irrelevant. Eliminate them."

Kisame charged towards the three of them with a manic grin on his face, Samehada in hand. Kakashi prepared for the worst when he noticed something.

He smelled vanilla, and now that he thought about it, that smell had been getting stronger and stronger for the past few seconds.

If Kakashi knew anything from prior experiences like this, that could only mean one thing.

"Duck!" Kakashi shouted back at Asuma and Kurenai.

Both obliged, confused expressions on their faces, just as a tall, hourglass-shaped woman wearing deep blue combat gear appeared out of seemingly nowhere, furious expression on her face, and blasted Kisame high into the sky with a lavender-colored Rasengan to the stomach. Kakashi's gaze followed a perplexed Kisame up into the air, just in time to see a man with a bowl cut in a green jumpsuit meet him there and kick him back down into the river, sending enough water skyward to visibly lower the river's water level.

It was Himawari Hyuuga and Might Guy: the two strongest taijutsu specialists in the village.

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, knowing that now the fight was at least somewhat even, and then promptly passed out.

Itachi Uchiha watched Himawari use her Byakugan to look back at at Asuma, Kurenai, the now-unconscious Kakashi, and the man that had come with her here and just caught Kakashi: Guy.

Himawari had hit Jounin before Guy did and had more S-Ranks under her belt, and given that Kakashi was currently unconscious, she had seniority in this situation. "Kurenai, take Kakashi and get Kakashi to the Medical Corps, and then I want you to stay with my son in the hospital and ensure this traitor doesn't get anywhere near him. Guy, Asuma, you two take on Kisame. I'm the only one that can take Itachi head-on without risk of getting trapped in his genjutsu."

She was right, though. With a Byakugan of her purity and intensity, she could just shrug off his Tsukuyomi by keeping her eyes closed and looking through her eyelids.

Guy wordlessly passed Kakashi over to Kurenai, who scooped him up and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Asuma looked as if he was about to argue with her.
Himawari shook her head, motioning in a way that very clearly told him to please shut the hell up. "Asuma, I swear I will throw enough money at the village elders to have you working D-Ranks for a month if you argue with me."

That did, in fact, successfully shut him up.

In the background, Kisame stood up shakily out of the water, shouting obscenities and threats of smothering Himawari with her own breasts in their direction.

Himawari motioned towards Kisame with her head, nodding in his direction. "That's your queue, guys."

Guy looked at Asuma seriously and motioned wordlessly towards Kisame. Asuma nodded somewhat reluctantly, both shinobi about to run off to engage the blue-skinned swordsman before Itachi held up a hand. "I see now that a fight is inevitable. Let's move this into the forest, where collateral damage won't be a risk. Civilians do not deserve to be dragged into our conflict."

Itachi was not remotely concerned about Kisame's ability to handle Guy and Asuma, but he knew Himawari would more than likely be able to defeat him, especially in this enraged state she was in.

Apparently, just hearing his voice was enough to set her off. Himawari closed the distance between the two of them in less than a second delivered a series of strikes to Itachi's ribcage, grabbed him by the shoulders, and threw him with all her strength into the forest, knocking down several trees. Itachi dulled the pain and shielded himself from most harm with chakra (which had become a largely automatic process at this point), but when he impacted a large boulder deep in the forest and the back of his head cracked against it, his vision blurred and the air left his lungs. Itachi blinked and his vision cleared just in time to see Himawari flying at him, roaring and shrouded in lavender chakra.

Oh, this wasn't going to be fun.

Itachi dodged her first strike, a punch that cracked the entire boulder. His eyes widened slightly. She had been strong when he left, but this was-
Itachi's thoughts were expelled from his mind, along with the air from his lungs for a second time, when Himawari kneed him in the stomach and delivered a powerful palm strike to his sternum, pushing him back up against the boulder.

There was just enough of a delay between that string of attacks for Itachi to regain his focus on her and see the chakra she was emitting, but not enough of one to do anything about her next move.

She propelled herself forward further into Itachi by expelling an incredibly amount of chakra from her back and sent him flying through the boulder with a vacuum palm. Itachi reflexively transformed into a murder of crows and reformed behind her, right in the Byakugan's blind spot.

Evidently, she'd grown faster, too. The Byakugan didn't have the same kind of predictive abilities that the Sharingan did that would enable her to use the shunshin in the way that Itachi or Shisui could, but it came about as close as someone without the Sharingan could.

In hindsight, he saw now that his protecting her from Deidara's mercenaries, no matter how cathartic, was more than likely entirely unnecessary.

Itachi's Sharingan told him that she was tensing up to perform a palm rotation, so he flipped twenty feet to the right. He had dodged out of the initial range, but unfortunately for Itachi, the Sharingan can only see chakra, not chakra flow, so there was no way he could have predicted that her palm rotation would suddenly double in size from possessing a fifteen-foot radius to a thirty-foot one. Itachi summoned the ribcage of his Susano'o to avoid getting shredded to pieces, but he was still blown high up into the air. Before he could react, she was on him again. She roared and drove a flaming lavender Rasengan into his Susano'o's ribcage, sending him flying back down towards the ground. With no other alternatives at the moment, Itachi summoned his Susano'o's arms to break his fall and maneuver gracefully out of the trajectory of his former lover, who landed in the spot he would have been in with a loud boom.

He dissipated his Susano'o and rose to his feet. His normal Sharingan were not enough for this. He activated his Mangekyo, further increasing both his ocular abilities and the intensity of his migraine. This time, he could actually see Himawari sprinting at him, and decided to utilize Shisui's creative use of the shunshin to match her taijutsu prowess. He didn't consider this particularly fair anymore, but in the face of an angry Himawari Hyuuga, one couldn't afford to consider fairness. The irony of this situation was, of course, that this was likely the same thought process she was using. Upon activation of Shisui's variant of the jutsu, Itachi became a black and red blur and reappeared behind her. He then produced three shadow clones in front of her and had them all attack in sequence. She attacked two and dissipated them, but the third got to her before she could react, performing a titanic fireball jutsu in her direction. She successfully blocked it with a shield of chakra, but she was blown back into the real Itachi, who had channeled his chakra into eight senbon he'd removed from pouches in his coat's sleeves. In less than a second, he placed them in all of her eight primary tenketsu, piercing her skin, musculature, bone, and entering her nerves, eliciting grunts of pain that weighed heavy on his heart.

She fell to her knees, presumably from exhaustion, as her aura of lavender chakra disappeared and her Byakugan deactivated. Forcefully applying chakra to her eight gates like that would have her effectively disabled for the next few minutes while she was working the foreign chakra out of her system, even though she'd ripped all the senbon out in seconds. Even though her Byakugan were deactivated, he couldn't bring himself to consider Tsukuyomi as an option.

Itachi slowly and deliberately walked around Himawari to face her.

He made eye contact with her, and she glared at him, murder in her eyes as she bared her teeth. "I will give you a single chance to take your partner, leave, and never come back. If the way my chakra is moving is any indication of the time you have left to make a decision, you have about three minutes left."

Itachi stood up and shook the dirt and grime from his coat with a single swift motion, forcing himself to make eye contact with Himawari. "We seek the legacy of the Fourth Hokage, you know perfectly well we cannot leave without him."

Himawari curled her hands back into fists, cracking her knuckles as she shakily rose to her feet. "Yeah? I know that you always had a below-average supply of chakra, and that I'd be able to outlast you in a straight fight a few times over with mine."

Itachi didn't respond to that. She was right. He had a very intense and potent chakra signature and extremely tight and precise control of it, but he couldn't store much of it by comparison to her; Hyuuga in general, really.

"Then I'm gonna kick your ass until you tell me why it was you really killed off your whole clan." She threatened.

Itachi then decided it was a good idea to weigh and measure his options.

Itachi couldn't take this woman in straight hand-to-hand combat. As skilled a martial artist as he was, she was as skilled with taijutsu as he was with genjutsu, and that was without any enhancements with chakra. And because he didn't want to kill or significantly injure her (both for personal reasons and professional ones), he couldn't really do anything to her until her chakra began flowing properly again.
Once that happened, she could close her eyes and still see in a near-perfect circle around herself, rendering nearly all of his genjutsu, his specialty, useless. She would be able to predict what jutsu he was going to use based on the activity of his chakra. She would also be able to use the Gentle Fist again, which could even potentially render his Susano'o useless.

In short, because he was unwilling to kill her or use Tsukuyomi on her now, she would win. He needed to last longer than the next four or five minutes for the sake of his son, his brother, and the woman he cared for.
Itachi knew this woman well, probably better than anyone else, and he knew that she never fought harder than when she believed someone she loved was in danger. Right now, she believed that her son and the two boys she'd adopted were under attack by two of the most dangerous Rogue Ninja to ever be listed in the Bingo Book that were actively affiliated with the other seven of them.

While all of that was assuming she had gotten better at thinking before acting when her loved ones were in danger (and it was quite likely that she hadn't), and as helpful it would be to have Himawari disabled for at least what would be happening in the coming week, it was still a risk Itachi wasn't willing to take at present.

Itachi looked at the ground, then in over in the direction he could hear Kisame roaring from. "Kisame! We're pulling out."

Seconds later, Kisame appeared next to Itachi with a few more cuts on his coat sleeves and face. "Dammit, I was just gettin' started, too."

Kisame quickly shifted his gaze from Itachi over to Himawari, smirking and displaying his shark teeth as his eyes wandered down to her chest. "Oh hey, sugartits. How goes it?"

Himawari raised an eyebrow as her eyes narrowed and her expression wrinkled in disgust.

Itachi sighed tiredly, nodding at Kisame as they both performed the shunshin. The world blurred as he and Kisame reappeared back in their hotel room in Shukuba Town.

Kisame folded his arms, expression conveying a healthy amount of skepticism. "So, all of that crap was just a ruse to make 'em think we'd be goin' back there?"

Itachi nodded. "It was also to analyze what kind of protection Naruto would have if recalled to Konohagakure. If we need only remove Jiraiya from the equation to gain access to Naruto, then I foresee minimal issues."

Kisame grinned again. "Great. Also, ya mind explainin' to me exactly why ya didn't just knock that top-heavy chick out with yer eyes? It looks like ya took a lot of hits."

Itachi glanced over at their room's mirror, and his eyes widened. Much of the pain had been dulled, but apparently Himawari was now physically strong enough to simply punch through his chakra barrier. His face was covered in cuts and bruises, and he didn't even want to think about what his torso looked like. Instead, he simply chose to mould most of the chakra flowing through his face and torso into medical chakra and applied it to the damaged areas, healing the damage done.

Following that, Itachi deactivated his Sharingan and hung up his coat while Kisame placed Samehada on the ground next to his bed. "I'm thinkin' the chick with the bowlin' balls on her chest is gonna be more of a problem 'n either of the two I was dealin' with. Konan told me a while back that she was really dangerous."

That got Itachi's attention. "Did she tell you anything else?"

Kisame removed his coat and undershirt, dropped them on the floor, and casually flopped down into bed, placing his hands behind his head. "That we should try recruitin' her to get info about that blonde brat outta her, but I don't think that's gonna happen."

Itachi reduced his Sharingan back down to their normal, three-tomoe state as he removed the ponytail band from his hair. "Both unlikely and unnecessary. We're staying in this hotel specifically because Jiraiya has stayed here before when he's gone out whoring, and all of the crows I have stationed in and around Konohagakure are informing me that he's planning to stay here again soon, but he's bringing Naruto Uzumaki with him."

Kisame shrugged as much as he was able to from his current position. "Well, that's also what the receptionist said when ya hypnotized him and asked about reservations for the next couple days, but this is Jiraiya we're talkin' about."

Itachi exhaled tiredly, rolling his right shoulder as he walked towards his bedside table. He turned on the bedside lamp and sat down on the bed, locking eyes with Kisame. "I am acutely aware of Jiraiya's characteristic inconsistency, but he has a personal investment in Naruto as the boy's godfather. As moronic as he makes himself out to be, he's a highly intelligent man. Much like yourself."

Kisame let out a noise that sounded somewhere in-between a grunt and a chuckle before shrugging again. "Y'know, Itachi, with you havin' such a close relationship with the boss lady, I didn't think you'd leave Tits McGee alive."

"Killing her would cause more problems than it would solve, Kisame." Itachi exhaled, resting his head on his bed's pillow and closing his eyes as he tried to ignore Kisame's comment about Himawari's physique.

Kisame shrugged. "It would definitely make the boss lady happy, though. When was the last time you got laid?"

Itachi kept his eyes closed, ignoring Kisame's inappropriate question. "Perhaps, but Himawari's report will more than likely influence Konohagakure to centralize their remaining and recovering forces."

"Ya didn't answer my question, Itachi."

"Because it is not particularly relevant to our current situation."

Itachi could practically hear the suggestive grin in Kisame's voice. "I mean, we are in Shukuba Town. There's a 'massage parlor' every few feet in this sleazy cesspool."

"You're welcome to go out whoring, Kisame. I get no enjoyment out of meaningless couplings."

Kisame laughed. "Ha! An answer like that tells me it's been at least a few years."

Itachi ignored his partner once more. "My plan is as follows: Assuming Jiraiya and Naruto are stopping here for one night only on their way to some other destination, it's more than likely that Jiraiya will get distracted by one of Shukuba's streetwalkers or brothels. Once that happens, we can ambush Naruto and extract the Nine-Tails from him."

Kisame yawned. "Alright, Itachi. I'm gonna go out, grab some food, and prob'ly fuck someone. Want me to bring ya anything back?"

"No thank you. Just be back before midnight." Itachi yawned back, removing his headband and settling into what was more than likely going to be a terrible, nightmare-ridden sleep.

A/N: Less dialogue than I'd planned for, but honestly, I'm happy with how this turned out.