Inu
Karasu and Usagi were making their way to another of the Foundation's facilities hidden around the Land of Fire, running through the trees to avoid detection in the afternoon light. They reached their destination as dusk neared, painting the sky with golds and pinks as they caught sight of the facility's subterfuge. The Foundation had constructed a small village in the forest to conceal their underground facility, each of the houses belonging to members that worked inside. Karasu could tell by their underdeveloped chakra networks that most of the people above ground right now weren't shinobi, but were more likely the scientists that helped with the Foundation's highly controversial research.
They slipped past the people that milled about, entering the small tea shop that acted as the entrance. Karasu had stashed his father's headband within his inside out coat, not wanting his appearance to give away who they were. Instead he wore a strip of cloth over his eyes to conceal that he was using Shiro's. Usagi pretended to guide him as they entered the shop and seated themselves at an empty table, the woman working behind the counter approaching them to take their order.
"What can I get for the two of you?" She asked in a friendly voice. Karasu could see her infusing her pen with chakra, turning the small object into a potential weapon.
"A pot of your house black tea and some spicy dumplings, please," Karasu said, having picked up the code from a Root member that entered while they were en route.
"I'll check to see if we have any spicy dumplings in the storeroom, the tea will be out in a moment," she said cheerily.
Her response wasn't what Karasu had expected, giving him the distinct impression that their cover was blown. He tracked the woman as she entered the back room of the shop, slipping the paper she had been writing on into a tube that sent her message below ground. He managed to see what was written on the sheet as it went down, a message to warn that enemies were trying to infiltrate the facility.
"So much for being subtle," Karasu whispered to Usagi, leaning over to her ear to avoid anyone hearing them.
The woman returned a moment later, a pot of hot tea with a pair of clay mugs in her hands. Karasu was able to spot the kunai stashed in her sleeves, as well as the vial of poison hidden in her palm. As the woman set down the pot, Karasu grabbed her wrist.
"I seem to recall asking for tea, not poison," he said in an undertone, just loud enough for the woman to hear without drawing attention to them.
She stared at him with wide eyes as the vial in her hand got hot, causing her to drop it on the table. Karasu picked it up as it rolled towards him, removing the stopper and inhaling the poison's scent.
"Your plan was to incapacitate us and send us down to the Foundation's lab below us," he said in a conversational tone, releasing her wrist. He could see the woman's heart hammering in her chest with Shiro's eyes as she heard his words.
"Why don't we make a little deal?" He asked the woman, who nodded her head slowly.
"You send another note down below to say you've handled it, and send us as you had planned. We won't be taking any poison, though. In exchange, I won't tear your shop, and this village, to the ground in order to gain access to the facility. Do we have a deal?"
The woman nodded, ushering them towards the back room. She sent the note he told her before loading them up onto a hidden elevator. Karasu used his combined ocular abilities to render the woman unconscious as they descended, not wanting to risk her sounding some sort of alarm and ruining their chances of entering the facility. A small group of Root shinobi were waiting for them as the elevator stopped at the first level of the facility, weapons and bindings ready as the doors opened. Karasu used Koku's flames to flood the whole chamber, ensuring at least a moment to gather themselves before continuing.
Root shinobi swarmed through the only door in the room as Karasu and Usagi neared it. A thrown kunai tore the srip of cloth from Karasu's eyes, his use of Shiro's ocular abilities allowing him to dodge the projectile by the time it reached him. A handful of the enemy shinobi took a step back as they beheld his eyes, primal fear overtaking their Foundation training. Before they could gather their wits and resume their attack, Karasu engulfed them in an inferno of Koku's fire.
"How are we supposed to get through now?" Usagi asked, staring at the dragon fire that filled the doorway.
Karasu smiled, dispersing the flames with a wave of his hand. Usagi followed him through, the two of them running deeper into the facility and killing anyone they encountered. Karasu had an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach; their mission was going too smoothly, even for two as strong as them. He called Usagi to halt their advance, scouting ahead with Shiro's eyes to find the source of his troubled feeling. He saw nothing out of the ordinary at first, just more Root operatives milling about the compound. The cause of his feeling only became apparent after he directed his gaze to a man standing alone at the bottom-most room, Shiro's sight revealing a very strange chakra within him. Karasu wondered if the man was host to something, just as he and Usagi did. He shared his findings with Usagi, urging her to proceed with caution.
They continued deeper into the facility, making their way towards the man Karasu had seen at the bottom. They were able to avoid the Root operatives that were stationed about, a rather easy feat thanks to Shiro's sight. Karasu was surprised to find the bottom room's heavy metal door covered in sealing tags, and not of the common variety. There were several patterns that he didn't recognize, and Shiro's eyes were able to see a collective seal made from the tags. With a wave of his hand, Karasu burned away the tags and melted the lock.
Karasu pushed the heavy door, crying out in surprise as a clawed hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. Karasu tried to break free, but found the grip impossible to escape. He summoned Koku's flames along his arm, making the clawed hand retreat back into the darkened room. Karasu heard an animalistic roar as the room's occupant launched themselves at Karasu, breaking through the wall. Usagi shrieked as the dust settled, seeing a humanoid wolf atop Karasu.
She charged in, kicking it in the side while charging her limb with the Nine-tail's chakra she possessed. The creature howled in pain, the crack of its ribs breaking seemed loud in the confined space. Karasu took advantage of the distraction to capture the creature's mind with Koku's eyes. The lycanthropic creature went limp and collapsed to the ground, Koku's eyes reflected within its own. The creature's body changed and became human as consciousness left it, revealing a boy not much older than Karasu, maybe twelve years old. Karasu coughed as he sat up, wincing as his body groaned in protest from having been knocked through the wall.
"What the hell was that?" Karasu asked as he rubbed his throat. Usagi offered to heal him, but he dismissed her with a wave of his hand.
"Let's get him bound up and get out of here. I don't want to leave him here when the place gets leveled," he added.
"I don't see a bomb on you, how do you plan to level this place?" The other boy asked groggily as he sat up and put a hand to his ribs.
"Ever seen what dragon fire can do?" Karasu asked, summoning black flames to his hands in case the warning in his voice was unclear.
"Dragon fire? I thought those black flames were Amaterasu, an ability of the Uchiha clan after awakening their eyes for the second time," the boy said, clearly confused and not at all worried about the two people he had just clashed with.
"You know an awful lot about the Uchiha," Usagi said, channeling the Nine-tail's red chakra to her hands.
"The Nine-tails, too," he replied as he eyed Usagi's chakra-charged hands.
"Let's have this conversation outside," Karasu said, standing and dusting himself off.
"Outside?" The other boy asked.
"C'mon. We need to hurry," Usagi said as she took him by the arm and led him towards the door leading back out.
Karasu formed a dragon fire bomb, tossing it into the room where the boy had been held, keeping the flames condensed into an orb as he ran to catch up with the others. The other boy's eyes went wide as Karasu's bomb went off, vaporizing every trace of the facility belowground and causing the Foundation's "village" to be swallowed by the earth.
"You must be Itachi's son. I overheard the Root shinobi talking about how you were wiping out their facilities. And I'm guessing you are the Jinchuriki experiment that they thought they lost on one of his last raids," the other boy said, surprising Karasu and Usagi.
"You seem pretty well informed for a prisoner," Usagi said warily.
"Who are you?" Karasu asked.
"Only name I can remember having is Inu," he replied.
"Do you know what clan you came from?" Karasu asked, feeling something oddly familiar about Inu.
"Ever heard of the Inuzuka?" Inu asked them. They nodded in response.
"My father used to tell me that they used to be part of our clan, but they branched off to fight alongside the hounds that have always looked up to us. Their 'man-beast' transformation is nothing but a pale shadow of what they could once do, it's what you saw me do when I attacked you earlier," he explained.
"Sorry about that, by the way. Thought you were Root operatives taking me to the lab for more tests," he added, addressing Karasu.
"Don't worry about it, no harm done," Karasu replied with a smile.
"I find that hard to believe, I put you through a wall," Inu said, surprised.
"Not a mark, as you can see," Karasu said as he stood and removed his cloak, showing Inu that he was, in fact, unharmed.
"How?" Inu asked.
"I'm only half Uchiha, the other half is Hyuga. Apparently having both bloodlines has given me some strange powers," Karasu said, activating Shiro and Koku's eyes and calling their fires to him.
Inu's eyes went wide before he dropped to one knee and bowed his head, like a shinobi awaiting his mission directive. He spoke to Karasu without raising his head.
"As was once the custom of my clan, I will repay your saving my life by devoting my life to you," he said.
"There's no need for that," Karasu said, feeling uncomfortable with Inu's declaration.
"You don't understand," he said. "Every clan has its secrets and prophecies, mine tells of one who will be 'born to outcasts of Fire's most prominent kin', that will harness the power of his ancestors and usher in a new era. I believe that you are that person," he added.