ORIGINAL A/N: Sorry about taking a long hiatus; hopefully, I should be back and able to release regularly for the rest of the story. In the following few chapters, I'll be doing a few significant time skips so that I might be able to speed the story up a little bit. Thanks all for reading my humble work

Revised on 7/6/22

Chapter 8 – Gaining a New Ally

Fugaku shows him the Naka Shrine

Izumi Meditation

Slowly his eyes opened as he tried to blink the sleep out of his eyes. Moving over and placing his feet on the ground, Itachi got out of bed. Walking over to his window, he took a glance at the village. The village was still quiet at this hour, probably because only shinobi tended to be awake. Thinking back to the past few days, Itachi couldn't believe he had graduated; it all had happened so fast. Now that he was a shinobi, he would finally be able to make a difference. Excited to go on his first mission Itachi hurried through getting dressed and ran out to meet with his team.

Arriving at training ground 15, Itachi was greeted by the sight of an empty field. That couldn't be right; he could've sworn his sensei told them to meet here. Pulling out a scroll, he unraveled it.

Reading over it, he mumbled to himself, "Be sure to assemble at training ground 15 no later than eight o'clock."

Just then, it hit him. In all his excitement, Itachi forgot that it was still two hours until eight o'clock. What's he supposed to do for the next two hours? Just then, his stomach growled, and he remembered that he had also forgotten to eat. Deciding that he had enough time to grab something to eat, Itachi left the field searching for something for breakfast.

Arriving at a little shop at the edge of town, Itachi figured it was as good of a place as any to stop for breakfast. Plus, there was only one other person, a girl with purple hair on the other side of the shop. Sitting down, Itachi picked up the menu to decide on what he wanted. Looking through the menu, he decided upon a simple and light omelet. Telling the cook his order, he placed the menu down and proceeded to look around the shop. It was a small shop with only room for twelve people or so. It appeared to have been built a while ago and hadn't been kept up on that well since then. The cook brought out his food and placed it before him. It looked plain and missed any type of seasonings or fillings. He considered going elsewhere, but his stomach was telling him otherwise. Taking a small bite out of the omelet, his eyes shot open; this was the best omelet he had ever had, bar none. But how could this be? You could see that the food lacked most anything. Examining the omelet, Itachi could not figure out where all the flavor was coming from.

"It's almost like magic, huh," said a voice from behind, startling him. Spinning around in his chair, he became face to face with the girl he had seen earlier. Now that he could get a better look at her, the first thing he noticed was the forehead protector that she used to keep her messy hair in a loose ponytail. She was a new genin, as she lacked the aura of experience that more experienced shinobi had. Looking down at her outfit, she was wearing a loose red top that showed her shoulders. She wore tan shorts with a couple of pouches on her side, but what stood out to him was the goofy grin she had on her face.

Noticing his lack of response and trying to break the ice a little, the mysterious girl extended her hand, "Hi, I'm Anko," the now-named girl stated loudly.

Itachi didn't know what, but something about this girl intrigued him. Taking her hand, he shook it for a moment before introducing himself, "I'm Itachi."

This caused the girl to grow a confused look on her face. Circling him, she muttered, "Hmmmmm, you sure don't look like a prodigy." Itachi was about to ask what she meant by that, but she cut him off, "But I guess maybe a small guy like you could have potential."

This caused Itachi to furrow his brow, "It's not like you're much bigger."

This caused the older girl to glare at Itachi, "I bet I could take you with only one arm." The girl challenged him, "Or are you scared of a girl."

Itachi rose an eyebrow, "You're on," he stated plainly. "Training ground fifteen?" he questioned.

The girl nodded in agreement. After Itachi finished his breakfast, they left together, both curious who would win in their duel.

The fight didn't last long, with the Uchiha being the victor. After pinning Anko against a tree with a kunai located between her T1 and T2 vertebrae, he won, effectively able to paralyze her in a few seconds if needed. Anko knew when she was defeated and tapped out. Taking a step back, Itachi sheathed his kunai.

"I guess you're tougher than you look, kid." The girl who wasn't much older than him stated.

A slight grin formed on the usual stoic Uchiha's face, "You did pretty well yourself."

"Well, Orochimaru doesn't just let anyone become his apprentice," The cocky girl exclaimed while slightly posing.

Suddenly it clicked in his head who this girl was. He knew he recognized her name. Anko was one of the top graduates alongside him; the only reason why her name wasn't more widely known across the village was that Itachi was part of the same graduation class as her.

Walking over to a spot in the field, the wild girl bent over and picked up a few throwing stars that were lying there from their previous engagement. Itachi had to admit that this girl was good with her throwing start, rivaling even himself.

Walking over to a patch of grass, Anko plopped herself down, "Hey kid-prodigy, come over here," she said, motioning for Itachi to sit next to her.

Itachi wasn't a fan of the nickname, but he still complied with her request and sat next to her. Lying flat onto her back Anko stretched her arms behind her head, looking up at the clouds. "How come you're so serious? Do you do anything besides train?" She questioned him.

"When I was younger, my father took me out to a previously occupied battlefield. The amount of destruction and lives lost that I saw that day taught me the true meaning of what it is to be a shinobi." The younger boy stated coldly.

Leaning back onto his hands, Itachi looked over at the strange girl, she acted as if they had known each other their entire lives, but they had only just met. She intrigued Itachi; was it that she seemed to act so freely… so carelessly? Itachi didn't know.

The two of them sat there together for what seemed to be hours but was probably just a couple of minutes. All Itachi knew was that it was peaceful here, no pressure from his 'elite' clan, and no need to be a prodigy. Right now, he was just a boy, sitting in the grass, enjoying the breeze in his hair.

That was until he heard an annoying voice yell out, "Hey Anko, whatcha doing dating this freak?" Glancing over his shoulder, Itachi saw the face of his annoying teammate, Tenma.

Anko had heard the boy if the annoyed look on her face was any indication. Not even bothering to open her eyes, she retorted, "Shut up, Tenma, we were just sparring."

The boy quickly returned with, "Then I guess you're still available for me then."

This caused Anko to stand up and face the boy, "Available for you?" She questioned with a bit of venom in her words. "I could never be with someone who can't beat me in a spar." Truthfully that wasn't the case, but she wanted to annoy the slightly older boy.

"Well, I guess I don't have to worry about this freak then." The annoyed boy spat out.

Ignoring the boy's words, Anko kissed Itachi on his cheek and stood up. "I'll see you around, kid-prodigy, but next time I'm going beat you!" She exclaimed before leaving the training field. To most, her actions may have seemed like a girl who had a crush on a boy, but Itachi saw through this and realized that it was just another way for her to anger his teammate.

The two boys stayed there in silence for what seemed to be an eternity until their other teammate and sensei joined them. The first one to speak up was their sensei, Yuki.

"I bet you're all ready to go take on your first mission." He said, gaining a nod from all his recruits. "All right, let's go get a mission from the Hokage's office." Itachi knew something was off; they couldn't be going to get a mission. Yuki hadn't assessed any of their skills, and cocky or not, no shinobi of his rank would walk into a mission blindly.

The group walked in silence to the Hokage's tower, they weren't going to be getting a mission directly from their Kage, but it was a few doors down. Walking into the office, nothing looked out of the ordinary, a Chunin was handing out scrolls to a few of the other teams, but all the shinobi either seemed to be fresh genin or jonin who were leading the teams. This struck Itachi as odd because everyone knew that most of a village's forces were chunin, and yet he saw one. Walking up to the desk, Yuki gave their team's name and his shinobi number. In return, the lower ranked shinobi handed him a scroll with the mission details in it.

Leaving the tower, Yuki opened the scroll, "Team 2's first mission," their sensei read. "Find and capture Miss Suki's missing cat." This earned a confused look from Itachi and an annoyed look from Tenma, "What you didn't think we'd begin by infiltrating an enemy village, did you?"

For the past month, Yuki had only allowed them to take D-rank missions, which Itachi learned was that office's sole purpose in the Hokage's tower. Itachi felt as if they were ready to take on a C-rank mission, but Yuki insisted otherwise. Itachi didn't completely trust his sensei, although he knew that it was probably paranoia, something seemed off about Yuki. They were meeting again today at their regular spot, training field 15, to receive a few more D-Rank missions and maybe practice some sparing. Itachi was a patient boy, but this was beginning to get on his nerves. He had other people with who he could spar and train, but some things could only be learned through real-world experience.

For the past few weeks, Itachi had grown used to a new schedule. He would wake up around Six, get a couple of hours of training in, and then head to training field 15, about fifteen minutes before they were supposed to meet. He couldn't get in as much training as he did prior, but he still made the most of the time he had. Izumi had begun training with him for the first hour, but she would leave because the academy started at eight o'clock. She had progressed a lot from the feeble fangirl she was over a year ago. Now she was at the top of her class in most fields, except for genjutsu, which is odd because this was the area most Uchiha's excelled. There had even been talks of pushing Izumi up a year or two. Shisui had been promoted to a Jonin, and even though Itachi was happy for him, it also annoyed him a bit. Because he could often go blow for blow with Shusui, at least until the older boy wore him down, and yet he wasn't 'ready' to go on C-Rank missions. Itachi didn't know why he and Shusui couldn't be on a team; together, they would be a force to be reckoned with.

Itachi's teammates were beginning to arrive at the training field, yet his sensei was nowhere to be seen. Tenma and Shinko often came together. From their past missions, Itachi had learned that they were childhood friends. They had known each other for years before joining the academy. Shinko would occasionally talk to Itachi, but not often. On the other hand, Tenma would frequently speak to him, but never in a friendly way. Itachi had learned a little about their fighting styles from the few times they had trained together. Tenma liked his fights up close and personal, usually charging into things headfirst. On the other hand, Shinko preferred relying on ranged attacks and Justus to wear down her opponent. Together they complimented each other quite well, Itachi didn't know if this was by chance, or maybe they had decided upon this when they were younger. Itachi could easily take either of them head-to-head, but it was a bit more challenging when they teamed up against him.

At around fifteen minutes later than expected, their sensei finally arrived with a grim look on his face. Not taking time for any pleasantries, "As per Hokage's direct order, we will be going on C-Rank mission." Handing out scrolls to each of his students, he continued, "You will find the mission details listed inside the scroll. We will be leaving around seven o'clock, so I expect to see all of you at the gate around 6:30. Any questions?" Receiving a 'no' from each of his students, Yuki finished with, "Then all of you are dismissed. We will take today to prepare for the upcoming mission."

Reading through the scroll, Itachi found that the estimated mission time was three weeks, and their goal was to escort a merchant from a small town in the Land of Tea to Konohagakure. That means the trip back would be significantly slower. Itachi estimated that the trip down would take them around a week, but the trip back would be much longer since they would have to keep pace with a group of wagons. Luckily, Shisui had just returned from a mission, so he would be able to say farewell to his friends before he left.

Deciding to talk to Shisui first, since Izumi was still in class, Itachi left for the one place he knew he would find him, the Uchiha training field. Arriving at the field, he was surprised to see the older, black-haired boy working on his katas. Purposefully stepping on a twig to alert his friend, Itachi entered the clearing.

Without even looking back at his 'brother', "You know I had already sensed your presence, right?"

A smirk formed on the younger boy's face, "I figured I wasn't hiding." This type of banter was frequent between the two of them since they had grown to become brothers in every way except blood.

Stopping mid-kata, the Jonin turned to his friend, "Aren't you supposed to be on some vital D-Rank missions?" He questioned with a smile.

Itachi shook his head, "No, Yuki-Sensei released us early so that we could prepare to leave tomorrow."

This caught Shisui's attention, "So you finally got a C-Rank mission, Yuki decided to let you guys have your fun. Where are you guys heading?"

"It wasn't even Yuki-Sensei's idea. The order came directly from the Hokage." The younger boy stated, a little bit of annoyance evident on his face. "We're heading to the Land of Tea to guard a convoy of merchants."

"I'm starting to wonder how Yuki ever became a Jonin in the first place." The spiky hair boy laughed, "He doesn't seem to be very smart."

The two boys talked back and forth before Shisui had to leave due to prior arrangements. Although it would only be for two weeks, Itachi was going to miss his 'brother'.

After his talk with Shisui, Itachi decided to head towards the academy since Izumi would be leaving for the day soon. Itachi rarely walked through town directly since he drew too much attention from citizens as he was a 'genius'. The citizens treated him like he was a god, and Itachi hated it. Often, he would have to argue with the market owners because they would insist on giving the 'elite Uchiha' free fruits. This was all caused by his clan; they acted better than others just because they were born as 'elite Uchihas'. The villagers feared that if they didn't treat the Uchiha clan with respect, then they would up and leave, and Konohagkarue would be defenseless. However, the Uchiha clan didn't even make up most of the village's forces. On the other hand, the shinobi forces despised the Uchiha clan, blaming them for the Nine-Tails attack.

Arriving at the academy, Itachi was happy to see that he times his travel perfectly. Kids around his age began pooling out of the academy. Looking for a familiar black-haired girl, Itachi was surprised not to see her anywhere. Maybe she decided to stay back and help her teacher clean up. Entering the academy, Itachi looked around at the walls, it felt like forever since the last time he stepped foot in these halls, but it had only been a little over a month. It was eerily silent, not a peep coming from anywhere.

Itachi was about to turn down the hall when he heard the familiar voice of his friend, "It was fun sparring with you today, Sugio."

"Yeah, same here," said a boy, who must've been Sugio, "So are you still on for dinner Friday?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," excitedly she replied.

This is all Itachi could hear. Knowing they were approaching the intersection, he took a right, walking in front of them.

"Hey, Itachi," The black hair girl greeted with a smile. "Whatcha doing at the academy?"

Without missing a beat, he nodded back to the girl, "Yuki-sensei wanted me to pick up a few books from the academy library." He knew it wasn't a great lie, but it was that he could come up with on short notice. "I've got to get back to my team; I'll talk to you later." The raven-haired boy proceeded down the hall and to the library.

Izumi found their engagement odd. Itachi seemed even more withdrawn than usual, and why would Yuki-Sensei send Itachi after a book in the academy? The books here only covered the basics, and Itachi didn't need to learn the basics of anything. Chalking Itachi's weird interaction to Sugio being here, she proceeded on exiting the academy.

Itachi grabbed a few books from the library; he wanted to keep up appearances in case he ran into her again. But even after leaving the library, she was nowhere to be found. Itachi had a new feeling in his chest, and not one that he was fond of. He first noticed the feeling after his interaction with Izumi, and it kept getting worse. He decided to head home so that he could get some rest for his mission tomorrow.

Itachi got up the following day at his usual time, six, but instead of feeling rested, he felt even more drained. He didn't know why but each time he was about to fall asleep he'd begin thinking about the conversation he heard between Izumi and Sugio. If Itachi had to describe this feeling, he would almost say he felt jealous. But why would he feel jealous? He should be happy that Izumi is going out and having fun, and it's not like they were a couple or anything. Itachi needed to get these thoughts out of his head and get ready for the mission at hand.

After a warm shower and a light breakfast, you couldn't even tell that anything was bothering the boy. Saying goodbye to his parents, the young shinobi embarked towards the village's gates. Meeting up with his teammates, the trio waited for their sensei to arrive. Once he did come, they checked out with the Chunin gatekeeper and left their home.

Meanwhile in a Forest Clearing

Izumi had waited for Itachi to show up; after all, he did every morning like clockwork. After about fifteen minutes, she began running through a few of her justsus and katas. Itachi must have been running a bit late today. At least that is what she thought, but deep down, she knew that Itachi had never been late before. After about an hour she started to get worried about her friend. Deciding that he might be with Shisui, the girl embarked on a trip to find the Jonin.

Finding her friend sitting with his feet in a river, she sat next to him. Disappointed that Itachi wasn't here, she let a sigh out of her. The older boy looked over at her, "Something wrong, Izumi?" he questioned. It wasn't unusual for Izumi to talk to him, but it was usually when Itachi was around.

The girl in question looked over at the older boy, "Have you Itachi around anywhere?" a. bit of desperation in her words.

This confused Shisu; hadn't Itachi told her that he was leaving today? "He left on a mission." Seeing the look of disappointment on her face, the boy couldn't help but prod further, "Why, didn't he tell you he was leaving?" After receiving a shake of the head from the girl, the Jonin continued to think out loud. "I could've sworn he said that he was heading to the academy to let you know." A puzzled look began to form on his face.

With a bit of confusion in her voice, the girl muttered, "I saw him at the academy yesterday. He said he was just there to pick up some books."

This perked the older boy's interest; something wasn't adding up. "Did anything else seem off when you two talked?"

Shaking her head," No, me and Sugio were just talking when Itachi came around the corner. He briefly spoke to me and left as if he was in a hurry."

Knowing that Itachi could have easily heard part of their conversation, "What were you two talking about?"

The girl got a bit annoyed by this question, "I already told you, he said that he had to pick up…."

Cutting off the girl, Shisui replied, "Not you and Itachi, the other boy you were with?"

"Oh Sugio, we were discussing a celebratory dinner our teachers are hosting." The girl said, becoming a bit confused by her friend's question.

This didn't make any sense. Why would Itachi be upset by this unless he misunderstood their conversation? "Is there any way Itachi could've misheard or understood your conversation?"

The girl thought for a moment, "No, I don't…." The girl stopped mid-sentence, a thought coming into her head. "Unless he thought me a Sugio were going out for dinner, but why would that upset him?"

That was it. A small grin formed on his lips. Pushing his hand through his hair, "Itachi's a very, uhhhh interesting person. He doesn't tend to think like most people, and that has helped him in many ways." Choosing his following words carefully, "However, this also leads to a few downfalls, one of which is that he doesn't show how he feels very often." Seeing that the girl was beginning to get confused, Shisui decided to get right to the point. "You see, Itachi uhhh" scratching the back of his head, the boy continued, "Well, Itachi likes you a lot, but he just doesn't know how to show it. And if he heard your conversation with Sugio, it's possible that he might have gotten a little bit upset by it."

The wheels were finally clicking in her head as a slight bit of blush formed on her cheeks. "You mean that Itachi thought that me and Sugio were going on a date, and this upset him?" Receiving a nod from Shisui, the young girl looked down at the ground. "I see," standing up and turning away from her friend, "Thanks, do you know when he's getting back?" after receiving a response, the young girl left, unable to even form a goodbye. A small tear fell down her cheek as she thought about how she may have just messed up and lost the best friend she ever had.

The trip down to the land of tea was peaceful, it took them seven days to get there as Itachi expected. But what he didn't expect was for it to be so busy. They were staying in a small town, about the size of one of Konohagakure's districts. However, It had to have close to the same population as their village. Itachi could tell that most of the people weren't residence there. They were probably merchants looking to buy tea from here and sell it to others too lazy to make the trip. None of that mattered to Itachi right now. What mattered was finding their client. The client was supposed to meet them at the pier, but there were so many people there it would take forever to try and find them by asking around. Wishing that the scroll contained more details regarding the client, he began looking through the sea of faces to try and see if he could see anyone out of the ordinary. Spotting a balding fat man standing, not occupying himself with anything, Itachi figured that this was probably their client. After all, who else would be waiting at the pier alone?

Walking up to the man, the much smaller boy looked up to him, "Are you, Suri?"

Looking down at hi,m the man was about to reprimand him until he saw the leaf symbol on his forehead protector. "Are you the shinobi hired to protect the convoy?" receiving a nod from the Genin, the man let out a grunt, "Follow me."

The man hadn't directly answered Itachi's question, and that seemed odd. If he was Suri, then why wouldn't he have answered him? But if he wasn't Suri, how would he have known about the Leaf shinobi protecting the convoy? Things weren't adding up, and Itachi didn't like it. The young boy obeyed the bigger man, deciding that following the man was the only way to get answers.

Reaching a small inn, the older man opened the door ushering Itachi to head inside. Itachi didn't like the idea of the man being behind him, but he couldn't be rude and possibly give away the fact that he knew something was off. Heading inside, Itachi took a glance at his surroundings. The inn looked well lavished; obviously, it was built for wealthy merchants. He didn't see anyone other than a woman sitting with her back to him. Walking in further, the mystery woman turned to face the boy. The woman had long brown hair with hazel eyes to match. Walking around the chair she was sitting in, Itachi could now see the rest of her body. She stood about 5" 4' and had an hourglass figure. Most men would fall for her in an instance, but all Itachi seen was the client.

Walking up to Itachi, she looked him up and done, "This is it?" She questioned with a look most would describe as disgusted. "This is all the mighty Konohagakure could spare?" The woman said with tones of sarcasm in her voice.

If only her attitude matched her looks, the boy thought, "My team is still probably looking for you. I'll go get them." After receiving a wave of the hand from the woman, Itachi left to find his team.

Izumi hadn't gone out to train this morning. She just wasn't up for it. It's funny, she hadn't ever missed a day prior, but today she felt like she didn't have the energy. She had thought a lot about her good friend and blamed herself for hurting him. Many people probably would've thought that Itachi hadn't minded, but Izumi knew better. Itachi only lied if he had a reason, he was the type to tell you he didn't like you to your face, and he rarely beat around the bush. If Itachi would've been unfazed by the conversation, then he would've told her about his mission just as he had planned. But since he didn't, he must've thought he needed to lie.

Initially, Izumi began training with Itachi because he was the cool kid everyone wanted to get with, but they grew close together over time. Now she considered him to be a close friend, and she hated seeing him hurt. It felt like something had torn in her, and it was only getting worse since she was unable to see if he was mad at her or not. It had been a week since the incident, but it was still the only thing she could think about. She rationally knew that it wasn't her fault, but the feeling of knowing that her action resulted in her friend hurting was more than she could bear.

Chapter Words: 5,008

Story Words: 25,000

"When you're about to quit, remember why you started" – Conor McGregor

ORIGINAL A/N: In this chapter, we finally met everyone's favorite purple hair kunoichi, Anko. What do you guys think? Is something going to form between our prodigy and the snake mistress? Let me know in the comments. As promised here in another chapter released much sooner. I wasn't thrilled with how the last chapter turned out, so I'll probably end up redoing it sometime in the future. I added more content to this chapter, so I hope you guys enjoy it!

For this book, missions ranks are as follows:

S-Rank – Outside/Inside village walls, guaranteed chance of violence against an A-Rank shinobi or higher.

A-Rank – Outside the village walls, guaranteed chance of violence.

B-Rank – Outside the village walls, high chance of violence.

C-Rank – Outside the village walls,

D-Rank – Inside the village walls, minimal chance of violence.