Hinata stared blankly at the manila envelope in her hands. An Uchiha chunin had appeared, shoved it at her, told her it was urgent to hand deliver to Itachi, and disappeared as quickly as he had arrived. Plain, sealed with a jutsu designed to incinerate upon tampering. It would be simple to dismantle even without Byakugan. This was not a document containing anything of import, then, nor from anyone in the Hokage's office.

It was also unlikely to be truly urgent, since it was being delivered by her. So it was personal. The list of people who would wish a personal letter conveyed to Itachi but didn't want to go to the trouble of tracking him down was very short. It was countable on one hand.

Having a Hyuga in arm's reach must be convenient, to say the least.

She let out a little sigh, put on shoes, and stepped outside. Hopefully he would be nearby, though her first Byakugan sweep dashed that hope the moment it formed. Nowhere in or immediately around the compound.

He wasn't in any of the training grounds. Nor was he visiting the cemetery. A broad sweep of the larger Konoha area didn't yield his chakra signature, either. She sat on the wooden porch steps in resignation. This was going to take awhile.


She found Itachi reading in the city park.

He was curled in on himself, tucked deep into a nook among the branches of a large tree. This was not the posture of anyone who wanted to be bothered. He was dampening his chakra signature as well. Perhaps he had been expecting the letter, or at least that someone would seek him out.

He was still in the tree when she arrived; no need for Byakugan anymore. So she walked up the trunk and gave the bark a little knock. There was the noise of a book being slammed shut. His head poked out from the edge of his hiding spot, just enough to see her. She held out the envelope.

"Um," she said, "here. Sorry."

He pulled it out of her hand and disappeared back into his little nook. A few seconds later, there was a concerning thud against the tree trunk, followed by the sound of crumpling paper.

"I am to...join the police."


AN: yall must be the most patient readers alive, swear to god. im moving x-country in like a week as of this post, didn't realize this chapter was already drafted until i pulled up my gdoc!

thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed!

Val