Sorry for the long gap between chapters everyone. Post-Christmas I've been really unmotivated and distracted. I've started a couple of new series, and the openings made me think of fights I really want to write in this fic, so hopefully I can at least make it to the end of the Chuunin exams or to pre-Shippuden. Next chapter shouldn't be too long, I know where I need to go with it, just weighing up who's POV is best.

There should hopefully be very few errors in this chapter as I've read it over several times these last couple of months ^_^

The morning after was hell. All four of them were sore, irritated and dealing with the extra lethargy of using too much chakra the other day. Still, reports had to be made, particularly in the case of enemy ninja still at large in their boarders, so Itachi reluctantly bit his thumb and weaved hand signs for a summon.

A puff of smoke erupted in their cramped hotel room, drawing the attention of his tired Genin.

"Huh? A crow…" Ino mused from her bedroll, curled up inside it like a cocoon.

Shikamaru looked over from the bed, where he was helping Choji open a bag of crisps. "That was an animal summon right? So, you've made a contract with crows?"

"I'm sure Iruka-sensei will be pleased to know you paid so much attention in class," Itachi nodded, turning to the bird. "Kohaku, I need you to relay a message to the Hokage."

"Sure, 'Tachi. What's the message?" Kohaku chirped back, causing the children to stare more.

"There was a complication on the mission. Deidara of Iwa made contact and escaped. I still believe him to be in Hi no Kuni."

The crow tipped his head to the side. "That it?"

Itachi gave a small smile. "If he asks whether we'd like to retreat, I would very much like that."

Kohaku let out a caw that might have passed for a laugh. "Yeah you guys look like you got in quite the scrap. I haven't seen you so beat up in a while, 'Tachi."

Itachi blushed a little while his team scoffed. "Yes, well… Go on," he mumbled, gesturing to the open window.

Kohaku hopped up on the windowsill and turned his head to the children. "And what about you three? I can drop by your homes on my circle back. No offense, but 'Tachi doesn't seem in a rush."

"So long as the Hokage is spoken to first, I'm not," Itachi agreed tiredly, looking in his pack for his first aid kit. He'd patched up the worst of their injuries last night, but he'd woken to his bedroll stained with puss and blood, which meant he'd either misplaced some bandages, knocked them off in sleep or bled through. None of which were fun options, especially as they still had the trip home to do. With all its outdoor camping.

Being an Uchiha, burns were a common injury his family dealt with; as such Itachi carried balms and was able to diagnose the severity rather easily. Itachi had done what he could, and though Choji could still move his arm, Itachi worried about the blisters and deep tissue damage, knowing the burns weren't just surface deep, and if he'd actually treated Choji correctly since he clearly hadn't cared for his own injuries properly.

"Nah, if we're going back soon, there's no need to worry my parents about anything," Shikamaru said, Ino relaying much the same. Choji shifted in the bed a little in debate before also shaking his head.

"Nah, I don't want my folks freaking out. I'll talk to them in the village."

"Suit yourselves," Kohaku shrugged, flapping his wings and jumping out into the mid-morning light. Once he was gone and Itachi had located his bandages, he took care of himself before pushing to his feet and double checking Choji's injury.

"How are you feeling, Choji?" Itachi asked as he gingerly turned Choji's arm to examine the bandages.

"It's fine," Choji said. "It doesn't hurt much."

"That could be lingering effects from the genjutsu," Itachi argued. "I still want you to get it checked at the hospital."

"Urgh, fine."

"It's a strong technique, and you probably haven't been exposed to that much genjutsu," Itachi continued on. "I'm serious, Choji. The mind is a delicate thing; I was playing with your receptive ability, something you need for a solid career as a shinobi. And while I'm fairly confident in my abilities, I don't often use genjutsu on my comrades. I'm certainly no trained healer, everything I know is battlefield first aid."

"That's still training," Ino argued.

"Training to keep your insides inside long enough to get to a hospital," Itachi replied. "It's not long term. Your burns and your brain. Get them both checked."

"What about your injuries?" Shikamaru wondered. "You got beat up pretty badly too."

"I have reports to file first, but I'll get there eventually," Itachi nodded.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "Talk about a hypocrite. What was that about making us go to the hospital straight away?"

"They'll put my arm in a sling and keep me overnight," Itachi argued, flapping his good arm. "Writing reports is a pain most of the time, but worse like that. I'm sure the nurses go out of their way to inconvenience ninja."

Ino chuckled. "Maybe they strap you up like that so you guys have to take it easy and heal."

Itachi shrugged the comment off while his team chuckled. She was probably right, but he would never admit it.

Blessedly Kohaku returned after noon to the room of tired ninja and informed them the Hokage was issuing orders to retreat. They packed up and made their way back to Konoha at a much steadier pace than they left.

Once Konoha's gates were in sight, Itachi spoke up, cutting through the relieved cheers the three Genin were making. "Going back to taking it easy, training is cancelled until Sunday. We'll assess how your injuries are doing and ease into routine again."

Choji punched the air victoriously. "Yeah-ah ow! Ow!" he whimpered, cringing and clutching his arm.

"Yeah, looks like a rest is definitely on the cards," Ino chuckled. Shikamaru patted Choji gently on the back.

"You three go check in at the hospital, I'll go to Lord Hokage and send your pay later."

"I don't suppose we get a raise for dealing with dangerous criminals?" Shikamaru asked.

Itachi gave him a sympathetic look, "I doubt it. But you get bragging rights for not being dead."

"Yeah, that's not gonna cut it," Choji complained, dragging his feet in the direction of the check in station.

"You guys look a mess, are you okay?" Izumo asked, eye wide at the dishevelled Genin and Itachi's bloody flak jacket.

"There were a lotta explosions," Choji mumbled, grabbing the pen in his bad hand. "Do we just sign in like we did to get out?"

"Uh… yeah," Izumo nodded, Kotetsu looking over his shoulder at the group in concern.

"'Kay," he mumbled and wrote his name with a wince. "If you see my pops before me, let him know I'm at the hospital."

"Same with us," Shikamaru said, taking the pen from Choji and signing himself in before passing it to Ino.

"Bye, Sensei!" Ino smiled, waving before catching up to the two boys, Choji in the middle of Shikamaru and herself.

"What happened?" Kotetsu blinked after the three before turning his confused gaze to Itachi.

"Our target turned out to be highly ranked in the Bingo Book," he explained, scrawling his name with an angry splodge at the end. He didn't elaborate as he walked away, more than ready to collapse on his bed once he made his report to the Hokage.

"You look quite worn, Itachi," the Third Hokage said in usual his gravelly tone. "Where are your team?"

"I'm fine, sir." Itachi shook his head slightly. "As for my team, they're getting patched up."

"Did your mission go awry?"

"To put it lightly," Itachi mumbled before straightening and replying at a proper volume, "We discovered who was behind the troubles in Bakugakure, however we were unable to avoid conflict. The village took damage and we were unable to detain the culprit."

The Hokage steepled his fingers and levelled Itachi with a stern look. "I find it hard to imagine that someone of your calibre should fail such a simple espionage mission, with a team more than suitably equipped. What more aren't you telling us?"

"The culprit was Deidara, an S-ranked missing nin from Iwagakure," Itachi explained. "He's a bomber for hire and confirmed he'd been tasked with causing trouble in Bakugakure. However, he seems to have a fuse as short as his explosives and attempted to blow up the entire village with a huge bomb. My team and I were able to remove it before it activated, however we used up all our chakra in doing so. There was no sign of Deidara in the area afterward and once I was able, I sent summons out to scout, but the trail was cold."

"I see. Well, it's inadvisable to send a Genin team after such a target," the Hokage reasoned. "I'll have the ANBU look into it and check the boarders." Behind the Hokage, just outside the window, a shadow flickered. One of the several ANBU lingering around the tower likely going to organise the search team. "Meanwhile I'll send someone by tomorrow to collect your report."

Itachi blinked in surprise. "Y-you don't have to do that, Lord Hokage."

"Nonsense. You look exhausted. Go, rest, gather your thoughts and maybe go to the hospital yourself," Lord Hiruzen said with a small smile. Itachi flushed and bid his goodbye, heading for his apartment rather than the hospital.

He woke to the sound of banging on his door. Groaning softly, Itachi rolled over and tried to ignore it. Ten more minutes. The banging increased.

"Open up, Uchiha, Konoha Police." Oh Itachi could die right now. Letting out a heavy sigh, he sat up rubbed his eyes.

"I'm putting on pants, Teiuchi," he called, not getting up off the bed.

"Open the door now or I'll break it down," was the response, which got Itachi moving, because Uchiha Teiuchi definitely would break his door down. Itachi answered the door to the stern man, hair greasy and limp around his shoulders and dressed in nothing bar his boxers and the bandages on his shoulder. Teiuchi, in his standard Konoha Police uniform, shot Itachi a dirty look. "It's past ten in the morning, why are you still in bed?" he growled.

Itachi didn't bother answering and turned from the door to find clean clothes. Teiuchi followed him in and leant on the wall, crossing his arms, dark eyes watching Itachi with disapproval.

"Should I assume I'm under arrest?" Itachi asked finding a shirt and pulling it over his head.

"Not unless you make me," Teiuchi allowed. "But you will need to come to the station."

"Oh?" He couldn't think of anything he'd done to warrant such action. Did his father need to see him? Was Shisui okay? He thought back to the way he'd signed his name on the sign in sheet and wondered if Shisui had had him called in to check if Itachi himself was okay.

Teiuchi didn't elaborate and nearly manhandled him out the door once Itachi was dressed. The older man made sure Itachi was in front of him all the way to the station, presumably so Itachi couldn't make a break for it. Not that he much fancied escaping. It was just the police station, even if he did really hate his family; there was nothing in there that could hurt him.

The Konoha Police Department was nearly entirely Uchiha run and as such on their land, though thankfully on the outskirts, as Itachi didn't much like being paraded through the district like a delinquent, even if that was the face he put on. While most of the clan knew what he had done and went along with the plan willingly, there were still some that disliked how Itachi had taken the decision of rebellion out of Uchiha hands and most of the younger members didn't even know Itachi had spared their lives by falling. The dark looks of his clansmen hurt and they didn't stop despite the relative privacy of the Police Department walls, necessary as they were for the Uchiha deception.

Spread across two levels the bottom level functioned as a welcoming area and lead into a small number of cells. Konoha didn't really have a prison so to speak, suspects were detained in the cells to the rear of the building and either released if innocent, sent to the Intelligence Ops in another location for questioning that usually ended in torture, or outright executed. The welcome desk was manned by three police officers of low rank that would either direct visitors to prison cells, file prisons into said cells, or record crimes reported by the public, escalating the case to be reviewed by another higher ranked officer if required. All other police officers were either on patrol in Konoha's streets or on the Police Department's second floor, which was a collection of office spaces and interview rooms.

Glares from the dark eyes of his clansmen and several from activated Sharingan came from every police officer he and Teiuchi encountered as they made their way up to the second floor.

Itachi was briefly surprised Shisui wasn't at his desk, and thought perhaps his friend was on another mission until he spotted the other Uchiha by a filing cabinet on the far side of the room looking haggard, though that was to be expected; Shisui hated paperwork.

"Itachi," a low voice grumbled, footsteps approaching. Itachi turned to the voice as Teiuchi bowed. "Interview room three, let's get this over with. Thank you, Teiuchi, back to work."

"Hai, Fugaku-danchou."

Following his father, head held high and hands in his pockets it took Itachi a moment to realise that interview room three was one with a two-way mirror. Anyone could be on the other side, which mean he still couldn't break character.

Fugaku plonked himself into one chair and flipped open a file he had brought with him as well as a notepad. "Sit down." The barest of chakra pluses exuded through the room as a second table appeared to one side, with Fugaku and Itachi already sat.

Turning to the table with Fugaku, Itachi settled himself while Fugaku rubbed his face tiredly. "I heard about what happened with Deidara, are you okay?" the genuine concern in his father's voice had Itachi soften, though their genjustu counterparts remained motionless.

"I'm fine, Father. Just… shaken," he admitted. Turning to the side he reached out and tapped his counterpart's elbow. That Itachi slouched in his seat and began conversing with the other Fugaku, looking like a rather petulant brat despite Itachi now being eighteen years old. "Why the genjutsu?"

"Lord Hokage mentioned that Danzo has had his people surgically reconstructed for deep cover missions before. It was something he never condoned, but Lord Hokage worried that because there's no coup, Danzo might infiltrate the clan directly and sew further seeds of discontent to press us again," Fugaku explained. "I trust my kin about most things, but if you want your peace to hold, the trust must be absolutely hidden."

Itachi nodded, resting his elbows on the table and putting his head in his hands. "He's a monster."

"Certainly his brain cells aren't there, much like your crazy S-Rank bomber," Fugaku mused, his tone light. "Anything I should know you aren't already telling me?" After all, the real genjutsu was Itachi and Fugaku acting how they wished, the reality was beside them, awkward, wooden and more than a little hostile.

"Deidara? Hmm, he was… driven." Itachi chuckled and looked to Fugaku with a smile. "Reckless, just like my students. I ordered them to flee and they did the exact opposite."

"I'm not sure comparing your team to an S-Ranked criminal is a good thing, Itachi," Fugaku returned sternly.

"No, but I mean it in the most positive manner. They saw danger and refused to leave me behind. I commend that, but even more, they worked together seamlessly. Though… they do need to work on risk assessment," he sighed.

Fugaku chuckled. "You're referring to Choji? I heard from Choza that he's doing fine. And that your skill with genjutsu is, and I quote 'scary good'."

Itachi snorted.

"Was Deidara working for anyone you could identify?"

"No. There was no identifying insignia, I think it was a simple mission contract made with the bandits attacking Bakugakure, though you could try asking Ino if she knows more. She managed to catch him in her Mind Transfer jutsu."

"You didn't ask her?"

"I did, but she wasn't sure. Inoichi might have checked her memories for things she didn't catch?"

Fugaku hummed. "Perhaps. I'll go later today and inquire." He nodded and made a side note among all the ones recorded outside of the genjutsu. "Anything else you need to report?"

"How's Sasuke?"

"On his first C-Rank with his team. Hopefully the same thing doesn't happen to him," Fugaku replied with an easy smile.

"Misranked missions are rare, especially such a jump as mine," Itachi reasoned. "Where's he off to?"

"The Land of Waves. They're escorting a bridge builder."

Itachi blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah, I saw them on the way out. The bridge builder's a drunk. Sasuke will spend more time keeping his team from being killed by building equipment than anything else. That's my bet."

Itachi chuckled. He hoped that would be the case. As much as he hoped Sasuke would grow into his ninja role as well as his place as Clan heir, he also wanted Sasuke to have a softer start to his shinobi career than Itachi himself had had. On a battlefield at age 4 and seeing the death of a comrade only four years later… that was no life for a child. And while Sasuke had graduated six years later than Itachi, that didn't necessarily mean he was more emotionally prepared.

"Well, I think we're done here." Fugaku rose from his chair. Itachi stood too, only to be quickly pulled into a hug by Fugaku. "I'm glad you're okay. Stay safe, son."

Itachi's hands rose to return the gesture. "You too, Father." It might have hurt that he and his father could only be honest in a genjutsu world, but almost strangely, Itachi had never felt closer to Fugaku. When he had lived under the man's roof, they rarely talked beyond missions and reports. Itachi had been perfectly happy with his own company, or spoiling Sasuke in Fugaku's place and didn't bother his family with his thoughts and concerns because he had Shisui to confide in. He'd also admittedly been very arrogant in his abilities, and thought more than a few of the Uchiha higher ups complete and utter morons, his father dipping in and out of that consideration as the years passed.

Now though, on the occasions they met, Fugaku asked after his wellbeing, they treated each other as people, equals needed to keep Konoha's peace. It was strange, but not bad. Pushing chakra into his eyes, Itachi dispelled the genjutsu with his Sharingan. The sensation of his father's warm embrace evaporated, replaced by the hard wooden chair pressing into his slouched spine.

Shoving himself up, Itachi looked to the door. "Well, I think that's everything. If you don't mind, Fugaku, I'll be going." He didn't look back or wait for permission to be dismissed. Not five minutes after he'd left the station, a shadow shifted to his side. Turning his head his eyes met Sharingan and the world slipped away for a moment.

There was no light, no sound until Shisui's voice said to him from everywhere at once. "One week from now, your old training ground."

Then suddenly the world was at rights and Itachi didn't break his stride, continuing on his way home, where he showered and after a look in the barren cupboards, resigned himself to needing to go shopping.

Sunday rolled around and Itachi got the sense his team was in that awkward stage of being mostly if not fully recovered, but used to the brief pause in training. They weren't eager to go back to their regime, but they were obviously itching to do something. Choji's arm was still in a sling, but he'd been given the all clear to train and just to be careful while the skin continued to recover.

"So… what are we going to do today?" Ino asked hesitantly, looking around the clearing. Itachi had sent a summons a couple of hours ago informing them to meet at Training Ground Five, which consisted of a large lake surrounded by pockets of forest and boulders.

"Do you all remember how you learned to walk up trees?" Itachi asked, turning so his back was to the water. The three Genin nodded and Itachi pointed to the trees around them. "Show me then. Pause at halfway up the trunk."

There were raised eyebrows of doubt and suspicion, and Itachi felt a faint spark of pride that his team were obeying, while glancing over their shoulders at him like Itachi was going to suddenly change the task to something hard and possibly life threatening.

Ino jumped to the halfway point, twisting gracefully and landed in a crouch against the tree trunk, Shikamaru doing the same, while Choji walked up the tree to take his position. Itachi gave it a moment, checking their stability and activating his Sharingan to better assess their chakra control. There was very little of it going to waste. Itachi nodded to himself, feeling the three could cope with the next level.

"Good. Now you may already know this, but the tree climbing technique can be applied to other surfaces. One of which is water." Here, Itachi sprang from the ground and back flipped to land in the middle of the lake. He leisurely made his way back to the shore, pausing several feet away to sit down on the surface, placing his hand on the water to show his team that the technique worked with other limbs, as Shikamaru and Ino had tried when learning to walk up trees. "I want to get on to evasive manoeuvres, but I'd like you to learn to walk on water too. Both skills are important if you want to progress in the Chuunin Exams."

"So… you're putting us in for them?" Choji asked.

"Yes, there's a meeting between Jonin Sensei and Lord Hokage this evening. I'll be putting your names forward, then handing the paperwork out."

"We're still allowed? After disobeying orders on the mission?" Shikamaru asked, jumping down and coming to the water's edge.

"Yeah, we only got half pay," Ino pointed out, "because Bakugakure town hall was damaged."

"And Deidara escaped," Choji added with a frown.

Ino pouted. "So what? I'll bet the report to Bakugakure was fluffed like we killed the bandits."

Itachi ignored the segue, "Yes, you can still compete. It isn't about missions completed, but experience. I believe the skills you demonstrated in Bakugakure are sufficient enough to be considered for Chuunin status." Though it wasn't a certainty that they would succeed, it would be a valuable assessment of their skills compared to that of their peers. And Itachi would be lying if he didn't want to enter his team for the selfish reason of seeing Sasuke participate. To see how much his little brother had grown. "But back to the task at hand. Walk on water. Please," Itachi said, gesturing before him.

"Yeah… can we… not?" Ino tried.

"Well, you either walk on water or I set up a series of forest ambushes."

"Y-y'know what?" Choji started. "I fancy walking on water."

"Me too," Ino nodded hurriedly.

Shikamaru paled, "Yep, I'm up for a swim."

Itachi held back a chuckle as the three gathered to the shore and started to test the water with their hands.

"Okay, so, like before chakra resists the surface," Shikamaru mused.

"Not enough. My hand's all wet," Choji complained.

Ino frowned and caught Itachi's gaze. "Did you cheat this out with Sharingan?"

Itachi blinked. "Why would I do that?"

"To copy the technique and learn it straight away," Ino replied.

"Yeah, we've seen your eyes go red during training a bunch," added Choji, "That's the Sharingan right?"

"Uhm, well yes, that's the Sharingan, but I don't use it like that. I learned tree and water walking without it since I didn't unlock the Sharingan until a few years later," Itachi explained. "I use it in training to check your chakra levels so I don't push you too much."

"Really? You seem like the type that would know all your clan's jutsu and abilities by the time you could walk," Shikamaru said, putting his hand further into the water and frowning at it as though it would tell him the secrets of the universe.

Itachi smiled, "Nope. I could do the Fireball jutsu and my cousin taught me sleight of hand when I was bunking off the academy. But no Sharingan."

"Ooh, Sensei's a rebel, ditching classes," Ino teased.

Choji frowned, "Wish we could skip training."

"You can if you don't get caught doing it," Itachi said, giving a small chuckle. "I used to send a Shadow Clone to the academy."

Choji flushed, "Y-yeah, but you'd know if I sent a clone. Your Sharingan would see it."

"There are other ways to cheat it. The Sharingan isn't infallible. It's one of the things that annoys me most about the Uchiha. They act like it makes them gods. The Hyuuga do too, but I have to deal with them less in general," he added, shifting to stand on his hands on the water. Slowly, he took the weight of his injured arm, tucked his hand behind his back and started to do push ups. The shoulder was mostly healed, but the joint was still stiff and throbbed with pain as it scabbed over and repaired itself.

"So you don't think you're better than us because you can learn our Hiden justu with a single look?" Shikamaru asked, his tone betraying his sarcasm.

"Not at all. I respect your hard work," said Itachi. "And just because I know the jutsu's fundamentals by using my Sharingan to copy it doesn't mean I can use it perfectly outright," he explained as his ponytail flopped over his shoulder, the tip dipping into the water with each push up. Itachi resigned himself to a wet jacket later since he didn't fancy expending the chakra needed to keep it dry. "I have to anticipate the amount of chakra used, whether the user I copied was even proficient with the jutsu, manage the area of effect and find optimal positions to activate the jutsu in, just like you would, except I often don't have the contextual information of being told a jutsu's pros and cons. It could be a jutsu I copied is perfectly fine in a large space, but I discover is utterly useless in a small space and can't even be modified for small-scale use."

Shikamaru nodded, gaze flickering between the water and Itachi. "What other limits do you have?"

"The Sharingan can't be used to copy other bloodline abilities, I can mimic chakra patterns and movements, but things so ingrained in DNA can't be replicated. Also if a person doesn't look a Sharingan user in the eye, it's much harder to trap them in genjutsu. I can do it because I specialise in genjutsu like Kurenai-sensei and have other ways of trapping someone than eye contact. But Sharingan users usually don't learn more complex genjutsu because their eyes allow users to perform a complex genjutsu with no seals."

Choji groaned, "I didn't follow a word of that."

Chuckling, Itachi summarised, "Don't look in their eyes, if you're worried, pulse your chakra to break any illusions. Better to be overcautious than trapped."

"So just say it like that."

"Aw, but I like being oblique."

"If you're obese I'd hate to know what you think of me," Choji mumbled, shoving his hand on the water sadly, drenching his hand.

Sighing, Itachi got back to his feet and walked over, crouching before Choji. Raising one hand Itachi poked Choji in the forehead with two fingers. "Oblique. It means indirect or doing something in a roundabout way. You're fine just as you are, Choji," he assured, smiling softly.

"Ow. Why are you always doing that anyway?" Choji complained, hand over his headband.

"Because you don't need to worry about unnecessary things. Now, back to the task at hand."