chapter six. the youngest anbu shines.

"Itachi, are you teaching your brother kunai jutsu today?"

"You are capable of teaching him. I have to leave for a mission."

Itachi's father nodded. "I see. I suppose you're very busy, now that you're an Anbu."

The thirteen-year-old Itachi didn't bother to nod or reply as he went to gather his weapons. Today he would have to set out on a new mission with his squad. A small town on the coast of fire country was having some civil disputes, and Leaf Village was hired to assassinate the leader of a union that was threatening the local government. "Tell Sasuke that I'm sorry."

The elder Uchiha watched as Itachi made his way out of the house. There went the pride of the Uchiha clan. And yet, Itachi hadn't turned out as his father had thought he would. There was something about Itachi that unnerved him, just a little.

Itachi walked towards the center of the village, stopping when he noticed Eriko waving and running up to him.

Eriko panted as she caught up to her former teammate. "Guess what, Itachi? Akihiro and I made it to chuunin level. Three years after you did it, but we made it nonetheless. You better watch out, I'll catch up to you soon and become a jounin. Maybe I'll even be on your Anbu squad one day."

No one else would have noticed, but Eriko could tell that Itachi was smiling, if only very slightly. "Congratulations, Eriko. I'm glad all our training sessions finally paid off."

Eriko grinned. "So I hear you're on another mission. That has to be fun."

Itachi shrugged. "A mission is a mission."

"I see you haven't changed at all." Eriko laughed a little before she started feeling awkward. "Well, you better go, or else you'll be late."

Itachi nodded. "Bye, Eriko."

Eriko watched as Itachi started walking away. Nothing had really changed at all. As always, Itachi was innumerable steps ahead of her. "Be safe, Itachi. Not that you would ever let yourself be hurt."

But Itachi didn't hear her. When he realized no one was around he reached into his bag, taking out his Anbu mask. It was a silver plate made to resemble the face of a wolf. He slipped it onto his face and pulled on his cloak just as he reached the squad.

"Itachi. You're late."

Itachi nodded but made no excuse to his squad leader, who also held the distinction of being captain of the Anbu.

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again."

The four man team then turned and set out. They all had received the coordinates of their destination before hand, and quickly got into their standard formation as they began the two day journey.

They arrived without incident, and quickly met with the government head to discern the target. A photo was passed around to each squad member and memorized. Each of them could now spot the man in a crowd of hundreds.

"I was told by your village that he'd be dead within a week."

The squad leader nodded. "It won't be a problem for us."

The last words they received from the town leader was a warning. "We have heard that the union has hired ninjas from the Hidden Sand village for protection, so this mission may not be as easy as you expect."

"Well," replied Itachi's captain, "that makes things interesting. Don't worry about us, though. We'll get the job done."

The captain gave a signal and the other Anbu simultaneously rose to follow him out of the room.

"The mission will be carried out tomorrow," the captain said, his voice too low for anyone but the other Anbu to hear, if any one had been around. "Prepare to infiltrate the union headquarters for the assassination. Details will be worked out tomorrow, at a secure location, outside the city at six am."

The next day, Itachi found himself crawling through an air duct at seven am in the morning. The captain had shared the intelligence with them, and had assigned roles for each Anbu member. Their target would most likely be asleep at this time. Itachi would crawl through the air ducts to the target's bedroom and use long range weapons to kill the man. Two other team members were stationed outside each of two entrances, in case the target tried to leave the compound at that time. The captain, with the aid of an informant that the government had stationed within the union, was in the hallway in front of the target's bedroom, posing as a security guard. If anything went wrong he would blow his cover and help whoever needed it.

Itachi reached the bedroom. He could even see the target in his bed from the air duct. Itachi drew out several long, sharp needles from his weapons pouch. He could kill the target easily by aiming at vital organs, and aimed from behind the vent slits. In a second he had aimed and thrown, but something wasn't right. Every needle had hit the body where he had aimed, yet the body hadn't responded at all. Itachi had just enough time to decide that the body in the bed was only a clone before the vent he was peering through exploded and he had no choice but to leap into the room. Suddenly his view was consumed by a huge, mocking grin.

"Did you think it would be that easy?"

Itachi rolled away as the enemy threw several kunai at him. Sand ninja. He grabbed for more needles. Taking am and throwing. The sand ninja easily dodged, and came at Itachi with a high punch. The two exchanged several punches and kicks, each one measuring the other. The sand ninja was fast, fast enough so that Itachi hadn't had time to do and genjutsu before, but Itachi could be faster. He activated his sharingan.

The sand ninja's eyes widened slightly. He could see the two red eyes from behind the slits of the Anbu's mask. "So you're a Uchiha. Then you'll no doubt be fun to kill."

"If this is the level of your jutsu, you won't defeat me so easily."

"This level of jutsu," the sand ninja laughed, "was more than enough to kill your captain. So it should easily defeat you."

Itachi flew back as he dodged a blow. This man killed his captain?

"But just so you'll be entertained, I'll show you another trick I have." The man knocked Itachi back so that he would have time to perform a quick series of hand seals. A screen of chakra formed in front of the man, taking on a material shape... the shape of a lion. The lion roared and leapt at Itachi, forcing the Anbu to block with his arms. He then pushed himself backwards, taking a second to inspect his arms as he dodged the chakra lion. They were covered in burns.

It was impressive, that the chakra was focused enough to burn upon touch. "But you forget that I'm a Uchiha. All jutsu are useless in the face of my sharingan."

The sand ninja planned to attack when he saw Itachi start performing hand seals, but the movements made him stop... the Anbu was performing his chakra materializing jutsu.

A massive black tiger reared up from Itachi's hands, spiraling towards the lion. The lion never stood a chance, disappearing with an awful screech. The sand ninja leapt out of the way, but it was too late, the tiger had changed form and was wrapped around his body. The chakra burned enough to hurt, but not to kill... of course, the Anbu would keep him alive to gather intelligence.

Itachi stepped out of the room when he saw the sand ninja was secure, pausing briefly to notice that the ninja wasn't bluffing. The captain was dead, his throat sliced open with a kunai. Itachi stepped back into the room, sending a flare of chakra out of a window, the signal to the other two Anbu that something was wrong. They were all gathered in seconds.

"I'll go get sempai." One of the Anbu started walking towards the door when Itachi stopped him.

"There's no need."

The Anbu started, but nodded his head.

"We have to find out where our target is and take care of him as soon as possible. One of you take the captain's body back to Konoha. Only two people are needed to finish this mission."

"I'll go." An Anbu left the room, and Itachi stepped up to the captive sand ninja.

"Where is the union president?"

"Why should I tell you? You're Uchiha Itachi, aren't you? Kohona's little robot. The ninja who fights because he was taught to do so. You're a mockery to shinobi."

"Don't listen to him," the other Anbu interrupted. "You fight for the good of Kohona, you know that."

Itachi spoke calmly, ignoring the argument. "We will find the president eventually, with or without your help. If you tell us, we'll have no reason to kill you."

The sand ninja debated whether he should tell... he had no loyalties to the union. He was only hired to do a job. Finally, he nodded. "He's hidden in the tunnels beneath this building."

The ninja felt the chakra around him being released, and fell to the floor. When he looked up the Anbu were gone.

Itachi and the other Anbu found the tunnels within a minimal timeframe, and located the target within moments of that. He and his bodyguards were easily dispatched.

The Anbu were quiet on their way back. Itachi was never talkative to begin with, and the other Anbu was preoccupied with the casualty they had suffered. It never should have happened, not on a low rank assassination like this. When the two got back to Konoha, they were assembled in front of the Homura, one of the Hokage's high council.

"I'm sorry for your loss on this mission," Homura started. "As you probably know, the service will be tomorrow. In the meantime, it is my duty to appoint a new captain of the Anbu, and I believe that you, Itachi, would be the fitting choice. I hope you will accept my congratulations as well as my condolences on this day."

Itachi nodded as Homura made his succinct speech and left. His teammate looked over at him, amazed... a thirteen-year-old boy, appointed as captain? He must be the youngest in Kohona history.

Uchiha Itachi... already, at thirteen, was one of Kohona's greatest ninjas.