Eleven: Espionage and Family Ties
The village was a clear fifty miles of Konoha and just barely inside Fire Country borders. It thrived mostly under the black market trade, unofficial import duties on the goods moving from the different elemental countries whose relationships with Fire Country hadn't quite been so pleasant as of late.
Kurosaki Raiha shivered. There were so many rough and suspicious characters in the streets that no doubt if he had come unarmed he would have been mugged. He held the package closer to his chest.
The Kazahana had known about the Asakura heir going missing from quite some time now and intend to take advantage of the Damyo's current period of unrest. Or rather, exploit.
The Kazahana clan long ruled the territory once known as Snow Country for generations. In a small civil conflict led by one Rouga Nadare, they had managed to capture and add the nation to their already massive territory, thus creating the newly formed Glacier country.
Hence Raiha's mission.
His liege lord, the last of the once great Kazahana had sent him on a mission to find capable ninja to help him accomplish the mission of capturing the runaway heir to the Asakura. A few weeks ago, he had found a pair of shinobi who might very well fit the description.
If they didn't kill him first, that is.
Raiha gripped his tea mug like it was going to crack, forcing himself to adopt a semblance of peace and tranquility. If those ninja dogs were to see him like this who knows what they might have the gall to do.
It took a few more minutes of waiting before his contacts arrived wearing the same red cloud patterned robes and wide straw hats he found them in the first time they met. The taller one adjusted the wrappings on what looked like an overly large sword hanging from his back. The Kazahana emissary decided at once that if anything, he did not like this one, as he was decidedly too sharklike.
His companion was a bit more human, that is until one looked into his eyes. The emissary shivered. There was death in those eyes. Eyes like a pair of dark coins dropped in a watery surface, so cold and flat and impersonal. After a lot of thinking, Raiha decided that he might like to take his chances with his fishy companion.
The pair sat on the table directly behind him, not even acknowledging his presence. This was a security measure, a set of predetermined code words that translated into something non-incriminating should anyone be close enough to listen. Clever really. But that did not mean I had to like it, Raiha said to himself. The human-looking shinobi spoke first.
"One order of soba and a cup of wintergreen tea."
We have tracked down your target.
"Beef teriyaki and three orders of rice."
Have you agreed to our price?
Raiha fumbled with the package and called to the waitress, ordering a bowl of shrimp ramen. Yes, we agree. The party continued to eat for a few minutes, unmindful of each others' presence. The ninja duo left first, leaving some money on the table and crossing over to the rear exit. With some reluctance, the Kazahana emissary followed.
He had not taken a few steps before he was faced with a kunai to the throat. This too was part of the ruse. "Your money or your life," the bandit growled darkly. Raiha raised his hands, the one holding the package shaking under the stress. The bandit and his partner grabbed the box and leapt to the rooftops, running as they went.
The Kazahana emissary slumped to the ground, winded but otherwise unhurt. Hinin bastards, he muttered to himself. He exhaled, picking himself off the ground and walked away.
He had not made it six steps when the explosive tag claimed his life.
Uchiha Itachi dropped his henge, motioning for his parter, Hoshigaki Kisame to do the same. The shark-like shinobi opened the package, his spiked maw widening in excitement as he revealed sixteen perfectly cut emeralds. The mode of payment was predetermined long ago, payable to the pair. Though the Akatsuki council forbids its members to take on missions unrelated to the ones they already have, it was an unsaid agreement that they didn't forbid additional sources of income, should it be related to their primary objective.
Itachi activated his Mangekyou, focusing on the surroundings to keep pursuers from getting too close. "Didn't you say your brother lived in Konoha?" his partner inquired. Itachi grunted, a stereotypical Uchiha response.
"Don't you think it's about time for you to pay your brat brother a visit?"
Itachi considered. "You have a point there, Hoshigaki," he said. "I believe it's that time of the year when I should reconsider visiting my otouto. It's been too long after all."
The pair of cloaked figures blurred out of view.
The Konoha hunter nin smiled under his mask. It took some months of tracking but finally he was able to find the notorious Uchiha Itachi. He had taken residence in the café right across the street to the restaurant the target went in to observe and record the subject's movements.
Hunter nin protocol demanded that by now he call for backup. As he reached for his communicator, the nin was stopped by a kunai aimed at his neck, the point slowly piercing into his jugular. "Peek-a-boo," a man with glowing red eyes breathed. Flames engulfed the nin faster that he could draw breath for a scream.
"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu."
The ashes of the hunter nin blew in the air, dancing through the folds of Itachi's billowing robes as the man turned to see his parter smirking at him. "Now that was a bit much," Kisame said dryly.
Itachi just shot him the look.
Kisame dropped to the ground, panting under the hideously stressful effects of the Tsukiyomi. The jutsu summoned forth images of absolute horror or pain, or both on some occasions. On this case it was the latter. Drawing upon the most foul and bitter recesses of his entirely too sadistic mind, the Mangekyou user flashed his partner through the most agonizing .978345 seconds of his life.
Uchiha Itachi had sent him six hours worth of Hanson videos in half a second.
"You're a sadistic bastard Itachi," Kisame spat. The other nukenin just grinned.
"Yes. I know."
A/N: Itachi hasn't visited Konoha at this point. In the anime the visit to Sasuke came right before said broody shinobi left Konoha to train under Orochimaru. To fit this storyline in the regular arc, I decided to have Itachi visit after Team 7 met Yukio.
Anyway, please review.