Bit of a short chapter - but on the plus side plot is happening? Progressing? Well... anyway, things are happening... enjoy!
"Visuals, anyone? The target should be around here somewhere," Choji said, with only the barest of hitches in his voice.
They were doing another D-Rank mission and Itachi had put him in charge for leadership experience, though it was obvious the boy wasn't inclined to the task. He preferred to follow than take initiative and Itachi had hoped to give Choji a little more confidence in his own abilities by letting him take point.
"All clear here," he responded over the comms, Shikamaru echoing much the same.
"I can't see it, but I'm sure I hear something," came Ino's soft reply.
"Okay… uh…" Choji stammered and Itachi could hear shifting over the comms. He seemed to be waiting for someone to rescue him.
In the end it was Ino that spoke up, "Target spotted! Heading west, I'm in persuit!"
"West is… Shikamaru?" Choji asked.
"Yup, and I see it too," Shikamaru confirmed. "Fuck that thing's fast. I think it could give you a run for your money, Sensei."
Itachi chuckled a bit as he headed over to join the pursuit. "If only because I'm going to refuse to be the one catching it. I'm supervising, remember?"
"Such a drag."
That got a chuckle out of all the team that was followed by various grunts and cries of surprise. Once he was on the scene, Itachi had to hold back full blown laughter. Ino and Shikamaru were throwing themselves around trying to snag a small cat with a red bow around its right ear, Choji to the side shifting from foot to foot uncertainly.
Hopping over to the boy Itachi put a hand on Choji, startling him. "Take a deep breath and think over what's not working. Why can't they capture the cat?"
"It's fast."
"Yes, but what else?"
Choji was quiet for a moment as he watched his teammates. He jumped a little as the thought came to him. "It's used to being caught."
Itachi nodded. "Yep, this mission turns up at least once a month. That cat is very used to ninja trying to catch it, which is probably why it's so quick."
"So… what should we do?"
Itachi cocked his head, face carefully blank, "What do you think we should do?"
"Sensei…" he half whined, looking between his friends and Itachi.
"Just relax, think about it. How could we catch a cat that's expecting human ambush?" Itachi asked, convinced he'd given too much away. "What does our team specialise in?"
Even so, it took Choji another five minutes to figure out what he should be doing. "E-everyone back off. Shikamaru, hide and try to get a good line of sight on it for Shadow Possession. Ino, we're gonna try flank it and confine it to another clearing."
Dutifully, both Genin yelled a 'hai!' and moved as directed, Shikamaru practically vanishing into the treeline and Ino tried to lure the cat into a clearing large enough for her and Choji to manoeuvre. Choji and Itachi followed behind before the former ran off to help Ino, the take down going smoother now Shikamaru could see the field clearer and get his shadow jutsu working.
Still it took a while and the Genin were irritated and more than a little scratched up by the time they were finished.
"Well done, everyone," Itachi praised, picking up the cat as Shikamaru's jutsu gave out. Claws flashed and the cat went to strike Itachi, only for the older teen to shoot it a glare. Immediately, the cat thought better of the action and went limp. "Good kitty," Itachi praised, bringing the cat closer to himself and holding it supportively.
"H-how'd you do that?" Shikamaru balked, a cut on his cheek bleeding sluggishly.
"Killing intent," Itachi shrugged, gesturing for his team to follow him back to the client, who was waiting for them at the Hokage's Tower. "It's a skill a lot of ninja learn as they get older. You focus your will to kill and creatures and people tend to get a horrible feeling in response. It's an easy way to shut people up quickly, regardless if you genuinely mean to do them harm or not."
"That's both amazing and terrifying," Ino informed him as a large woman covered in fur and jewels ran from the tower towards them, arms open.
"Tora! My baby ah!"
"Madam, Shijimi," Itachi bowed and handed out the cat, ignoring the obvious anguish the cat was in as the Daimo's wife grabbed her pet and tried to smother it with love.
"Thank you so much! Now come, Tora, you must be starving, oh baby, you poor thing," Madam Shijimi cooed, turning away and walking off down the street, a number of guards carefully falling into formation around her.
"I… feel like that cat is begging to be saved," mumbled Choji.
"Probably," Itachi shrugged, taking a step to the Hogake's office. "Let's go collect our reward and if you want, I'll patch you all up before you head home."
"Seriously?" The three balked.
Itachi shrugged a shoulder, "Well, Inoichi at the very least will be furious with me, and it isn't as though bandages are expensive." He smiled a little at the furious blush on Ino's cheeks.
"He's so embarrassing!"
"Sit wherever you like. Sorry I only have one chair," Itachi added apologetically as he and his team filed into his small apartment. He went to the dresser and removed a large first aid kit, placing it on his desk and pulling out bandages and ointment while the three looked around and situated themselves. Ino and Shikamaru settled on the bed while Choji looked out the window, munching on a bag of snacks.
Taking his desk chair and moving it closer to the bed, Itachi started with Ino, only because she was nearest, and smirked a little realising Shikamaru and Choji were eyeing the hidden bed panel that hid his ANBU uniform and trying to look like they weren't.
"Something funny, Sensei? Ow," Ino hissed as he pressed an antiseptic soaked pad into the wounds on her arm.
"Just thinking this is the busiest my apartment's ever been," Itachi lied.
"It looks like you're never here yourself," she argued, Itachi shrugging in response.
"I'm here more now than I used to be," he answered, "I used to go on missions for long periods of time before becoming a sensei." Though to be fair, he spent that time training now since he couldn't be as rigorous on himself when training his team. There was also the occasional secret meeting with Shisui or Fugaku, though in general they were so infrequent that it was relatively easy to fit them in.
"Still… don't you… do anything?"
"I read," Itachi replied with not even the barest hint of offense, tipping his head to the bedside.
"That's the book from before," Shikamaru noted. "You didn't finish it?"
"Not yet," Itachi said, pausing after pressing a plaster over Ino's cut to pass Shikamaru the book. "I'm at the section regarding the Yata Mirror."
"It's all just legends and like… people not knowing what ninjutsu was right?" Shikamaru asked as he flipped the book open.
Itachi shrugged, "Maybe, but I like having a look around at the sites and seeing where people got those ideas from. How much of it is fiction based off of their environment and how much of it has basis in fact."
There was quiet from the three, broken by Choji, "You sound older than Shikamaru when he wants a nap."
"Hey, you join me in those!"
"Yeah, and you still sound like my great-grandpa!"
Itachi gave an aborted snort. The comment had caught him off-guard, but it wasn't like he wasn't aware his hobbies were odd. "Considering I've bumped into Lord Hokage a couple of times while doing so, I think you're right," he agreed.
"Did he tell you off?" Choji asked. "Lord Hokage told us off for sleeping on the Stone Faces."
"No, we spoke about possibility of dragons and whether they should have wings or not."
Three pairs of eyes blinked at him in astonishment.
"Uh... is… that something you want to discuss?" Itachi asked hesitantly, not at all sure if the looks on his students bode good or not.
"More like we want to know why you and Lord Hokage were talking about dragons in any kind of serious manner," Ino explained.
"Well, animal summons exist, and many of them are capable of ninjutsu," Itachi explained, finishing with Ino and shifting on to Shikamaru. "So we were discussing if dragons had summons. Lord Hokage argued they were probably just snakes as most depictions of dragons have scales and the sizes of summons combined with the variety of jutsu could make it possible for a flying snake and its summoner ninja could be mistaken for a mythical beast."
"All I'm hearing is that you genuinely believe in dragons," Shikamaru stated, frowning.
Itachi didn't deny it. "I'm open to the possibility of them."
"Next you'll be telling us it's okay to wear your ANBU mask."
Itachi cocked an eyebrow, "I'd rather you didn't, but if you really feel the need, I'm not going to stop you."
"Who are you and what have you done with Itachi-sensei?" Ino asked.
"I'm trying to be nice, if you'd rather I worked you like my old ANBU squad, fine," Itachi said, not missing a beat. "You'll be training for a minimum of twelve hours a day and have a half hour break with food pills before I want you back for midnight drills."
"No! No, this is fine. I like this Itachi-sensei!" Ino cried her voice rising in fear, Shikamaru and Choji's expressions radiating the same horror.
"O-out of curiosity, what do midnight drills involve?"
"Choji, you're not serious?" Shikamaru shot, eyes wide.
"Running evacuation routes, 3 hour spars and depending on how my day's been, I'll set traps with varying levels of environment damage," Itachi informed, which didn't seem to ease his students' concern in any way, shape or form. "Relax," he tried with a smile, "I wouldn't do that to you three."
Their hesitation lingered but seemed to fade as Itachi went back to his work cleaning and patching up the scratches while Shikamaru flipped through the book of weapons. "What's the Sword of Kusanagi?" he asked, pausing at a page.
"Hm? Ah, it's a sword said to be able to cut through anything. It can also be controlled telepathically and change its length," Itachi explained.
"Real or fake?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "The site my research on it took me to was completely barren. I think someone must have gone there before me. But whether they found it or not, I can't be sure."
"Have you ever found anything?" Shikamaru asked, mumbling a thank you as Itachi finished with him and moved on to Choji.
"Some, but I'd have to kill you if I told you about them," Itachi said, his tone light.
"Could… you maybe not joke about murdering us?" Ino half-begged. Itachi tipped his head to the side, blinking owlishly. "Oh god you're not even joking about it are you."
"Ninja lead dangerous lives and trade in secrets. Don't be offended, some of the things I know can only be shared with the highest ranking officials. It's the same for your parents," Itachi smiled again. "I am sorry if I've frightened you though. I'll try to uh… 'not joke about murdering' any of you."
As May drew to a close, Team 10 met at the base of the Hokage Tower and ascended the stairs. Itachi had them arrive early to given them time to plan missions out and complete them with much of the day left to spare, but this time would probably be different.
"Ah, Team 10, greetings," the Hokage welcomed, smiling and waving his hand as the four ninja bowed to him. "I have a mission for you. A C-Rank, if you don't mind."
"R-really?" Choji startled.
"Yes!" Ino cheered softly, fist clenching in victory.
"What kinda mission is it?" Shikamaru asked, yawning slightly.
"I'd like you to go to Bakugakure and investigate a man by the name of Tachihara Kumo," the Hokage began. "Rumours are he's working with a group of bandits to disrupt Bakuhakure's Summer Festival. I'd like you to find him and if possible, the bandits."
"So we don't need to do anything about the attack on the festival?" Shikamaru asked.
"We don't know what kind of disruption it will be," the Hokage admitted. "If you discover that information as well and feed it back, we can assess it all at once. For the moment, the mission is reconnaissance only."
Itachi walked forward and took the mission scroll. "Is there a time frame on this mission?"
"Just as soon as possible. Though I would expect you back before the month's end."
"Why then?" asked Ino as they walked through the village, having been dismissed from the Hokage's office.
"Because Chuunin exam registration is by June thirtieth," Itachi supplied. "In general as well, it'll be three days travel to Bakugakure and three days back. So we should maximize our time in the village and get the information needed as quickly as possible."
"Urgh, three days? That's like forever," Choji whined.
"Recon missions often take a while I'm afraid. Go pack for a month and unless you want to live off food pills, bring food and money," Itachi ordered. "I'll meet you all at the gates no later than 3pm. Understood?"
A round of yes's answered him and the three pre-teens left to their various homes, and Itachi hopped onto the nearest roof to do the same.
He didn't mind recon missions, they were generally low-energy and his team was actually perfectly suited to this kind of situation. All he had to do was convince them to travel at a certain speed, since walking all the way to Bakugakure would take a week.
"Hey! Sensei, we're here!" Ino called, waving as she lead the group of three to the village gates. Behind her Choji and Shikamaru carried several bags.
"Hello. Uhm, why have you two got so many things?" Itachi asked, tipping his head to one side.
"More like why have you got nothing, Sensei!" Choji shot, jabbing a finger at Itachi, who didn't even have a backpack. "I'm not sharing!"
"One's mine, the rest are Choji's snacks," Shikamaru explained, dropping the bags on the floor. "Choji's right though – to say we've had hours to pack, you look like you didn't bother and just waited here."
"In a way," Itachi shrugged. "I'll explain when we set camp for the night. For now, let's sign out of the village and I'll help carry some of these. Can you all travel in the trees for a few hours?" Affirmative hums sounded as the four walked over to the gatekeepers and Itachi explained the rather simplistic system for leaving and entering the village. "We sign our names and the date here, and depending on how secretive the mission is, our reason for leaving."
"What do you write if the mission's a secret?"
"Whatever the mission scroll states your cover to be. In our case, it's fine to just write 'mission'," Itachi said, signing his name, smudging it slightly.
"You know, for a clever guy, you really struggle with a brush pen," Kotetsu mumbled, gesturing the others over. "You kids too, hurry up, and try to write better than your sensei."
Once they were all done and Choji's bags were gathered they headed off. Behind him, Itachi heard Kotetsu turn to the other guard, Izumo. "Come to think of it, ain't Shisui's writing sloppy too?"
"Yeah, sometimes I can't even read their names, it's awful. You think they'd use their Sharingan to copy someone who can write legibly," Izumo joked. "Seriously though. I'm glad I'm not the Hokage reading their mission reports."
Smiling a little, Itachi returned his attention to his students. "Alright you three, to the trees. I want to get to Bakugakure before I'm thirty."
"If we're still heading there in a decade it's only because Choji's bags are so fucking heavy!" Shikamaru shot.
Choji huffed, "Well, luckily for you guys I can jump and eat." As he spoke, a bag of some kind of snack was already being ripped open by Choji so he could begin eating.
"It's not even been two minutes and you're already stuffing your face?!" Ino squawked.
Itachi sighed. This was going to be a long journey.
Hours later, once the sun had set, Itachi finally gave them the cue to stop and make camp.
The three collapsed to the ground eagerly, their bags going everywhere. Itachi smiled gently, putting down the bags he'd carried. "You all rest for a moment, I'll get some firewood."
"Yup, sounds great," Ino mumbled with vague enthusiasm.
He had to hold back a chuckle as he went into the woods, knowing the three would be more than a little offended at him if he did. Several minutes later, he returned with arms laden with sticks to find that none of his students had moved an inch. Did I push them too hard? Itachi wondered.
"Are you all alright?" he asked, setting the sticks down and starting to make a fire pit.
"Hungry," confirmed Choji.
"My feet hurt," whined Ino.
"I'm just gonna sleep here, Sensei. Don't move me ever," said Shikamaru. Not one of them twitched as Itachi worked.
He weaved the signs for fireball jutsu swiftly and with only a small amount of chakra lit the firewood. "Well, if you want food, I'd suggest getting your own out, I'm a poor chef," he admitted, poking the fire with a spare stick to check the flames had properly taken before unclipping one of the scroll pockets on his flak jacket and removing the storage scroll within.
"Are you seriously working, Sensei? We were running all day," Shikamaru asked in disbelief as Itachi unrolled the scroll.
"Hmm? No," Itachi said, putting the scroll on the floor as the seal was revealed. "You asked me earlier where my pack was, remember? I stored it in this scroll." Placing a hand on the seal and activating it with a little chakra, a puff of smoke erupted and neatly atop the scroll seal was a backpack and a small metal container. Itachi pushed the container into the fire and put his pack to one side before rolling up the scroll and putting it away.
"Wait, what? That's a thing?" Ino asked sluggishly, sitting up and looking at Itachi's back as he pulled a bedroll out of it.
"What's in the box?" Choji asked, sniffing the air in confusion.
"Leftover ramen from the other night," Itachi replied. "I told you, I'm not great at cooking, now come on you three, beds out or you'll be sleeping in the dirt all night."
Choji's stomach growled. "Damn, hot food sounds nice. I've got onigiri."
"Same," responded Shikamaru and Ino, both pulling out bento boxes. Probably made by their mothers, Itachi thought, remembering how his own mother would make him lunches for long missions when he first started out as a ninja.
Shrugging, he assured, "Well eat away. If we keep this pace up it won't be much longer until we reach Bakugakure, then we can get lodging and eat out for dinner."
Ino shuffled closer to the fire, warming her hands and legs for a long moment before looking back to her pack and throwing a blanket around her shoulders. Soon they were all eating their dinner in silence until Itachi spoke up. "So what do you three know about keeping watch?"
"I know basically someone stays up while everyone else sleeps," Ino confirmed.
"Iruka-sensei told us there's often shifts when there's more than one person," added Choji.
Shikamaru poked his onigiri into some soy sauce. "Wait, you're not saying we have to bust our asses all day running and do watch shifts at night are you?"
"Of course," Itachi said, unphased. His team started to voice objections but stopped when Itachi raised a hand. "But since it's your first mission out of the village, I'll be nice. You each have to put effort into travel and each night, I'll do the majority of the watch, and leave the final two hours to one of you. That shouldn't be too bad, right?"
"That still sounds pretty crap," Shikamaru sighed.
"Dibs not first!" Ino shouted.
"Me neither!" hollered Choji.
Itachi smirked, "Well volunteered, Shikamaru."
Shikamaru's eye twitched. "Yay me," he said flatly.
His teammates laughed and Itachi allowed his smirk to widen a little. Team 10 certainly wasn't like his ANBU team, but it did remind him of his old Genin team.
Itachi's heart gave a lurch. Tenma…
He'd been little more than a child back then, but because he hadn't been fast enough, Tenma had lost his life. Itachi had sworn to himself then, that it wouldn't happen again. He wouldn't allow his teammates to die. He had the power to protect them now, and he would never let himself be that weak again.
Two days later as his watch neared its end, Itachi poked the fire back to life, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Doing the majority of the watch and running for hours during the day was taking its toll. He was only human after all, but then, he should be able to rest more easily in Bakugakure, sending the three off, perhaps with a Shadow Clone to keep an eye. Speaking of Shadow Clones…
He made the hand sign and a copy of himself appeared. "Walk on to Bakugakure and reserve some rooms in an inn, please?" he asked it, tossing over his wallet.
"Sure. I'll leave it in the room," the clone shrugged, yawning and turning in the direction of the village. It would take the clone anywhere between two and seven hours to get to the village as it didn't have enough chakra to Body Flicker to the village.
Still, it should be fine, Itachi thought to himself as he nudged Ino for her watch. "I've nudged the fire some so you should be warm enough until morning."
Ino grumbled a little and rubbed her eyes as she rose from her bed. "Alright, thanks, Sensei. How many hours until we set off?"
"Four?" Itachi guessed, a hint of question in his tone. He'd prefer five, as it meant more sleep, but it also meant they would be travelling for longer than Itachi wanted.
"Alright, I'll nudge you then," Ino yawned.
Settling down in his bedroll, Itachi fell asleep quickly, more of a testament to training and his exhaustion than a comment on how well the teen actually slept. Which was extremely lightly and generally not well. He heard each member of his team waking and talking over the course of an hour or so, though he refused to move or open his eyes in the hope he'd nod off again for a few more minutes.
"Do we have to get up?" Choji whined from somewhere to Itachi's left. "It's warm in here."
"Get up, fatty" Ino shot. "Sensei said we're almost there."
"Sensei's still in bed."
"Sensei doesn't eat breakfast and you eat like… three! So shut up!"
"How about you both can it?" Shikamaru interrupted. "If I can't sleep through you two arguing, like hell Sensei can."
Itachi imagined Ino and Choji flushing with embarrassment, as neither spoke for perhaps ten minutes after that, their chatter replaced with the occasional clang and rustle of the three trying to make themselves breakfast quietly.
Itachi hoped his clone got them separate rooms.