Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter Five
Sunrise109
One month later…
"Can you explain to me why you have been following me?" A pair of onyx eyes glared at the space in front of him as Itachi spoke in a low tone.
There will be no way to catch Itachi Uchiha off guard. So the best way to confront him is face-to-face.
"And if I am following you, what will you do about it?" Hinata replied, keeping her face lowered underneath her hooded purple cloak. "You are a shinobi, aren't you? Is it not so uncommon that other shinobi will take an interest in you from time to time?"
A few hours ago, Itachi's crow had reported back to him that someone was tracking him down and closing in on his exact location, so he had decided to lead them towards Kisame's favourite tavern, where he intended to interrogate them to find out why they were following him. Plus, he was currently on a mission with Kisame, and his partner would soon be meeting him there anyway, so Itachi decided he would kill two birds with one stone.
They were sat back-to-back on separate tables, a space of one meter separating them from each other. They couldn't see each other's faces, but they both knew they were each other's targets now.
She had come all the way to the Hidden Rain village to find him. This made Itachi curious. This was a place where the Akatsuki could openly browse through the streets and establishments without any retaliation or disturbance.
Itachi's features hardened.
"Who sent you?" He asked quietly.
Hinata, despite her façade of being semi-innocent and not really wanting to draw too much attention to herself, slammed her glass of water down onto the wooden table with much more force than expected after taking a sip. The glass didn't shatter, however, but the movement earned her one or two stares.
"It's not possible for me to tell you that." Hinata replied.
Suddenly he was stood behind her, and Hinata felt the cool steel of a metal kunai against her neck long before she looked down and saw it. His Akatsuki ring on his right hand gleamed against the reflection of the blade.
"I would suggest you start telling me the truth now."
A few gasps filled the air, but soon they would turn into audible shouts, as Hinata decided she was done pretending to be neutral about the situation.
Without warning, the Hyuuga heiress' heel shot straight upwards and nicked the underside of her table, causing it to flip over her head—Itachi was forced to remove his blade from her throat and dodge the flying object headed straight in his direction, before the table slammed into the wall at the back of the tavern, breaking into pieces.
The truth was, she had been telling the Uchiha the truth. If she dared to try to reveal Danzo's name to him now, the Curse Seal imprinted on the back of her tongue would immediately activate and paralyse her entire body, and the battle would be over.
"Uchiha Itachi," Hinata breathed, her Byakugan now activated but her opalescent eyes completely hidden behind dark-brown contacts. "It's a shame we had to meet under these circumstances but I have a mission I must complete."
Finally, Itachi saw her face.
The veins protruding around her temples gave away that she had the Byakugan kekkei genkai and was a Hyuuga.
But for some reason, she had dark-brown eyes—likely unnatural.
Her hair was short or mid-length, going past her neck and ending just before her shoulder blades. Jet black.
She was clearly of the Main Branch, due to the absence of a Caged Bird Curse Seal on her forehead, and for a moment Itachi wondered whether she could be their heiress, Hyuuga Hinata, whom he had seen on Deidara's scroll only four months ago. But Itachi quickly dismissed the thought—the calculating woman in front of him could not be her.
Finally, she wore a long purple cloak, hood now down, with a white shirt and black trousers for ease of movement. Clearly, a shinobi.
Again, even her stance, one palm raised forward and the other clenched in a fist by her side revealed that she was a member of the Hyuuga Clan.
"Don't you think trying to fight Itachi of the Sharingan will earn you a bad reputation amongst your Clan if you lose against me?" Itachi provoked her, trying to get a reaction from her. Gauge her character and temperament.
Hinata narrowed her eyes in determination and charged forwards at him without answering, making sure, as Danzo had explained to her, to use extremely precise charka control to disrupt the chakra flows in her brain by applying Gentle Fist in its weakest output to her temples. Listening to or rising to his insults would only be an unnecessary distraction which she couldn't afford.
I now have sixty seconds… of immunity against all forms of genjutsu. I must use Koryoku in that time.
Itachi stoically gazed back at her, his eyes bleeding crimson with the swirling tomoe, as he dodged her first strike, and the next, and the next…
Gentle Fist…
Itachi was familiar with the deadly Hyuuga style, but was able to read her moves and where she would strike next with his Sharingan.
Why would a Hyuuga be sent to apprehend him? What was the purpose behind his? He wondered, as Itachi decided he was tired of gauging her capabilities, which were admittedly refined for a Leaf shinobi, of… Anbu rank. Itachi could gauge her rank just from her fighting style, which was quick and impactful.
A brief moment later, he tried to trap her in a genjutsu but, with slight surprise, Itachi realised she had managed to effectively block out the apex of his bloodline limit by successfully disrupting her brain's naturally occurring chakra flows, effectively making herself immune to his bloodline limit.
But for how long?
His hand caught her wrist just before it reached its prime and ultimate target… which was Itachi's heart. Jerking her wrist to his immediate left, Itachi used the momentum of her forward movement to swiftly switch their positions, turning her around 180 degrees and pinning her against the wall behind him, one wrist raised above her head, the other pinned closely by her side.
She couldn't move away or escape.
"Koryoku…" Hinata managed, with great difficulty, accepting the reality that she had been unable to successfully land her forbidden jutsu on her target. He had intercepted and countered her move. But this should have been expected of the Uchiha prodigy all along. "I've held on for too long…" Hinata murmured finally.
Itachi was unable to understand her. His eyes narrowed at the sight of her rapidly paling features.
Hinata looked up through blurry dark-brown eyes as she lost her grip on consciousness, before slumping forwards, inadvertently into Itachi's arms, and didn't come back to.
For a moment, there was silence, as Itachi analysed the woman in his arms with his Sharingan. The veins of her bloodline limit had now receded, and her chakra flows were slowly returning to normal. But the earlier disturbance she had intentionally caused in her own charka flows seemed to have taken a toll on her body, and it seemed like she had reached her limit, or more likely surpassed it.
As the eyes of the few people who had not already fled the partially ruined establishment regarded Itachi, and the unconscious female ninja slumped against his chest, the Uchiha deliberated for a moment simply leaving her there with a crow, so that when she woke up, a strong genjutsu would be cast on her that would rid her of any future desire to come after him again.
The thought didn't take hold, however. Itachi needed to find out from her what her motives were for coming after him, and who had sent her.
Itachi calmly slipped his right arm underneath Hinata's cloaked legs, his left arm supporting her neck, as he held her in his arms, intending to exit the tavern and speedily take to the rooftops. Then he would deposit her somewhere safe before reconvening with Kisame. He would rather keep the knowledge of her a secret and out of the Akatsuki's earshot for now—
Suddenly the tavern door banged open and a large, well-built form stepped inside with an air of heavy arrogance.
Speaking of which…
Two beady, shark-like eyes fell upon the chaotic scene.
"Wow Itachi, is this what happens when you meet a woman?" Kisame shrieked incredulously.
The Uchiha tried to hold back the iciness from entering his glare as he regarded his partner, but was not very successful.
"If you want to remember who you are when you wake up tomorrow, I would suggest you stop asking questions now."
The changed form of Itachi's tomoe indicating the activation of Mangekyo Sharingan heightened the tension in the already tense and tiny room.
Kisame immediately slammed his mouth shut, never fully able to tell whether Itachi was serious or just joking when he made threats of this kind.
"Erm Akatsuki… are you going to pay for the damages?" A small voice chirped up hesitantly. It was the innkeeper, a smallish elderly man, standing sheepishly towards the front of the tavern, and pointing at the damaged back wall with the demolished table lying in pieces at its base.
"Do you want to find out whether sharks can bite?" Kisame asked him, flashing him a wide razor-sharp toothed grin.
The remaining bystanders in the tavern immediately exited the room in panic, including the elderly innkeeper.
Just when I thought things couldn't get more complicated.
Itachi sighed.
And he had seen and done many complicated things in the past.
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A/N: How do you think this first encounter went? :D
Truth be told, I couldn't wait another week to post this chapter! Thanks so much for all your kind reviews! What makes me pleased is knowing that you guys are enjoying this story so far. :)