Let's start this from the beginning

Genin Days

III

Itachi and Shisui were sitting back to back in the middle of the training ground, both of them trying to stop panting and regain their strength after their last spar.

"Well," Shisui broke the silence first. "I think it would be safe to say that you mastered the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique) and the Katon: Hibashiri (Fire Release: Running Fire) by now. By the way, did your chakra reserves grow since the last time we met? You used these two Jutsu much more than you did in our last match."

"You know as well as I do that the body grows used to a technique with time if you use it often enough and that it consumes much less chakra to use a technique your body is already accustomed to than it would otherwise. I spent the last three weeks you were on your mission almost exclusively focused on getting my body as used to these techniques as possible."

Unfortunately, this effect would lessen more and more with time until it stopped entirely. Otherwise, every shinobi would train a few techniques like crazy for a few weeks and be able to spam them endlessly afterwards.

Shisui laughed. "I know, I know. No need to give me a lecture, I just wanted to test you."

He rolled his eyes, a small smile on his lips. "Of course you did."

"Hey, are you saying you doubt me? I let you know, that I will be promoted to Jōnin soon! Then I will probably be given a Genin team, which means I need to train how to act like a teacher and test my cute little students. And just so you know it, you just took the role of the cute little student!"

My pity to whoever is unfortunate enough to become your student, Itachi thought amused. "Isn't the teacher supposed to be better than his student? I think I won more of our fights than you did so far, didn't I?"

His friend spluttered. "Only as long as we don't include Ninjutsu! The times you won then can be counted on one hand!"

"You're three years older and have bigger reserves than I do. That's hardly fair."

Honestly, it probably wasn't fair of him to tease Shisui over his losses either. Itachi knew his fighting style by heart, even after all these years, and his friend's current form was far less developed than the one he would have years later.

Also, Itachi was much faster than he was when he was actually six years old. So, although still slower than Shisui, he could hold pace with him enough to win their fights.

"Many things aren't fair, Itachi. Enemies will always use every chance they get to have an advantage. You need to be prepared to deal with it," Shisui said, much more serious now.

He nodded, already aware of that.

"Anyway," his friend continued, his voice carefree once more. "Why did you choose these two jutsu? Any specific reason?"

"Not really," he shrugged. "They are both rather basic but have enough potential to be used versatilely. Moreover, one of them is more offensive orientated while the other one is more defensive orientated. Seemed like a good balance."

Shisui nodded, not commenting further on it.

This time it was Itachi who broke the silence, asking the question he had wanted to ask Shisui since he had returned from his mission. "You have been distracted all day now. Did something happen on your mission?"

Shisui didn't answer immediately but thought about it for a few minutes before replying.

"There were some unexpected interferences. Some missing-nin got involved and they outnumbered us quite badly. Most of their followers were normal bandits, though, no shinobi, so I'm pretty sure we would have been able to manage them after a while. Just not without casualties. It was fortunate that we were close enough to the border for some ANBU to notice us or else at least one of my teammates would have died. It was a close thing, had they arrived a minute later it would have been too late."

Shisui stopped to took a deep breath. Then, he suddenly balled his fists, an angry look on his face. "And I didn't even notice! He could have been killed and I wouldn't have known it until all the fighting was over! I'm still not strong enough to protect everyone."

Itachi hesitated for a moment, thinking about how he should react, before giving his friend a soft nudge with his shoulder. "Hey, you're not even ten yet but are still considered for promotion to Jōnin. You are strong, and you will only grow stronger. That's what we're training for, isn't it? To get stronger and protect everyone."

Shisui laughed softly but sounded absent when he answered. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Itachi knew there wasn't anything he could say that would placate the other prodigy, so he didn't speak at all.

They continued to stay where they were for another hour, enjoying the calm and each other's silent company, before standing up and making their way home.

"So," the old Hokage said. "You think they're ready for their first C-Rank mission, Akihito?"

Their sensei nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama. Their teamwork is faultless, and Itachi managed to fit right in with these two. All of them can defend themselves and they look out for each other. They're ready."

"Well then," the older man replied with a smile. "In that case, I think I have just the right mission for you."

He needed a minute to search through the documents on his table before handing Tanaka-sensei a scroll. "There is an orphanage located at the coast of the Land of Woods. For a few weeks now, children went missing at irregular intervals. As of right now, twenty-eight children are unaccounted for. Since the Land of Woods doesn't have a hidden village of its own, the caretaker of the aforementioned orphanage sent a request to us instead. We assume that there are no shinobi involved and that regular bandits are the culprits. They most likely kidnapped the children to sell them on the black market. Your mission will be to find and to kill all the bandits as well as rescue every child that is with them. If you find out where they sold the other children you're not to interfere. Bring the information back home and I will have an ANBU team take care of it later."

They nodded, Anko and Yukio looking slightly sick at the thought of children being sold on the black market. While Itachi knew that they had their fair share of combat experience, a given with Orochimaru as their sensei, they apparently lacked the experience with the other dark parts of the shinobi lifestyle.

They were already half turned when the Hokage spoke up again. "Before you go on your way... Itachi, I have a scroll for your father concerning some of your clan's dealings with the village. Would you mind taking it with you?"

Nodding, he turned around, walking the short way to the Hokage to receive the message scroll. He took it, not visibly reacting to the hand signs the older man made when his body blocked the view from his teammates, and turned around to join the rest of his team.

Tanaka-sensei spoke up as soon as the door was closed behind them. "We will meet at the entrance gate in an hour. We will need around two or three days to arrive at the orphanage, depending on where exactly at the coast it's located. Keep that in mind when you guys prepare your equipment."

"Yes, Sensei, " they intoned simultaneously.

It was amusing for Itachi to watch his teammates interacting with their teacher. On one hand, they were immature enough to blame him for something that wasn't his fault -becoming their new sensei after their old one betrayed them and left the village- while on the other hand, they were mature enough to hide their disdain and act professional while on missions.

With nothing else to say, they departed, all of them making their way home to prepare for the mission ahead of them.

As soon as his teammates had vanished, Itachi made his way to the closest empty alley and opened the scroll he had received from the Hokage. Just as the Sandaime had said, it was indeed about his clan's dealings as the leading force of the KMPF and how they could possibly work closer together with the ANBU, but that wasn't what interested him.

Much more important was the second, smaller scroll hidden in the bigger one. All it said was one short message:

'Jiraya will be back in three days. We will meet him after you return from your mission.'

Anko jumped over the roofs for about five minutes before arriving home.

She didn't bother to use the door or even announce her arrival; not having any living family members and thus living alone, there wasn't anyone there to greet her when she entered her apartment anyway.

Ignoring the cold feeling in her stomach, she started to collect her stuff. This only lasted a few minutes, however, as she had her equipment already prepared beforehand, having decided years ago to always be ready to depart for a mission on a minute's notice. She hadn't needed it for a few months now, not since... do not think about him, she thought to herself. He doesn't deserve it.

Anko was as ready as she could be and very motivated by the thought of saving some poor children from slavery. Having grown up in an orphanage herself, the thought of young children being kidnapped from there was just disgusting.

Just wait you bastards, she thought. You will pay for this.

[][][]

Only a few blocks away, Yukio was currently rather busy with soothing his mother and younger sister, promising them that he "would be safe" and that "this wasn't a dangerous mission at all, really" while his father hurried through their apartment to get his equipment ready for him.

Honestly, he thought while trying to suppress a fond smile. This is hardly my first real mission. Shouldn't they be used to it by now?

His gaze wandered to his sister, the seven year old clinging to his left arm, which made his thoughts turn to a darker tone.

These monsters who kidnapped children like little Yui at his side didn't deserve any mercy. Just the thought of his sister being one of their victims...

Just wait you bastards, he thought. Your little shitshow will be over soon.

[][][]

"And you promise me you will be safe, will you? And don't forget to look out for your teammates as well. Protect each other. That's what a team is there for, after all."

"Of course, Kaa-san. This shouldn't be a very hard mission anyway, just some common bandits making trouble. It will be fine," Itachi replied, enjoying her hug for as long as it lasted.

Now that he thought about it, it had been a long while since he had been hugged like that. That was rather sad, actually.

He had never been very keen on hugs, but Sasuke's and his mother's ones had something soothing at them that he couldn't help but enjoy. In this specific case, it might be because he felt a bit more forgiven for the sins of his last life when he was in her arms, but he tried to ignore that thought for the moment. No need to ruin the mood.

She ended the hug a few moments later, just when his father spoke up. "Your mother is right, Itachi. A team is there to look out for each other, and there is no shame in accepting help from others when you need it. False pride will just get you killed."

This was the father from his earliest memories, the one he grieved for after his death. He so dearly wished that he would stay this way, strict but loving, and not turn into that bitter man he had become in his last life. This was a man he could proudly call his father.

"I have no problem with admitting it when I need help. Besides, we trained our teamwork the last few months rather intensively, so we will have no problems looking out for each other."

His parents didn't get any chance to answer, as Sasuke decided to include himself in the conversation. "Nii-san gonna go? Not playing?"

Smiling he knelt down to be at eye level with his brother. "Sorry Sasuke, not today. I need to go on a mission and will not be home for a few days," -he tapped his forehead for good measure- "but I will be home before you know it."

I will always return for you. I promise.

They were on the road for about an hour now, jumping from tree to tree at a comfortable but still rapid speed. Usually, Itachi enjoyed these parts of a mission before the bloody part started, where he could enjoy the nature around him in silence. Sadly, this wasn't an option at the moment.

"You're just annoyed because you couldn't win against him once since he joined our team, so do us all a favour and stop whining," Yukio interrupted Anko in one of her long-winded monologues.

"Excuse me?! What has this to do with anything I just said?" Anko retorted irritated.

"You were telling us about this 'super strong and amazing Jutsu' you want to learn when we return from this mission! Don't act as if you don't want to learn it solely for beating Itachi."

Anko scoffed. "I don't want to learn it only to beat him with it, idiot. My life doesn't revolve around him. It will be useful to know and it's powerful, so I want to learn it. It's easy as that. And if it helps me cleaning the floor with boy-wonder over there, well, that's a nice extra."

He guessed he was lucky that he was used to Kisame's antics, or else this would have been much more annoying. His sensei wasn't as fortunate, though.

"Alright, that went on for long enough. Calm down, now." While their sensei had still the same dark bags under his eyes, the ones Itachi had noticed the first time he had met him, there was no tiredness or exhaustion in his voice to be found now. "While we will be in friendly territory for at least another day or two, we still need to be careful. You never know where you run into a missing-nin. In fact, we could even be close to one right now."

Anko and Yukio became serious almost immediately. It were moments like this where Itachi was happy that he joined an experienced team rather than one with Genin fresh out of the Academy. He was much more comfortable going on missions with people who actually understood the dangers of one instead of only thinking about possible glories.

"Yes, Sensei," they both replied.

The Jōnin nodded. "Good. Does anyone have a suggestion about how we can protect ourselves from being surprised by enemies? Besides the usual methods, that is."

There was a moment of silence before Itachi raised his voice. "I might be able to get some eyes into the sky to look out for us by using the Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)."

His sensei raised an eyebrow in silent surprise, and judging by the eyes he could feel on the back of his head, his teammates had similar reactions.

"I wasn't aware that you were in possession of a summoning contract. Funnily enough, I didn't even know that there was a summoning contract with animals capable of flight in the village at all."

"I have a contract with the crows. They are more... unorthodox than other animals in that they don't require someone to sign a contract with them. In fact, they didn't even give me a chance to disagree with them on becoming my summons. One of them just pricked me with its beak to get some blood and that was enough."

And hadn't that been fun to explain to his parents. And not only once but twice, considering they had done the exact same thing in the other timeline as well. It wasn't as if it was a bad thing, mind you, but it was definitively an unexpected incident. As far as he knew, his 'contract' with the crows was unique in all of the Elemental Nations, though there was the very likely likelihood that there were other cases like his that were kept secret by the various villages.

The contract he made with them this timeline had, for some reason, happened later than it did in the last. It had happened less than a week ago while he had made it months earlier in his last life. Itachi didn't know why they approached him later this time, which was pretty frustrating, but he was happy it had happened at last. He hadn't even realized how much he had missed them, how lonely he had been without his constant companions, until they were at his side once again.

Finally being reunited with them also allowed him to use a few of the techniques that had been impossible to him since he awoke in the past. That was another point in which his crows differed from most other summons; instead of actually, physically helping him fight his enemies, they instead amplified his Genjutsu and allowed him to use some unique techniques of his own. Unfortunately, to use these unique techniques, the summoner and the summon both needed to learn them. So even with him theoretically knowing how to use them, he wasn't actually able to use most of them as of yet.

The one exception was the Karasu Bunshin no Jutsu (Crow Clone Technique), for which he was glad. This version of the Bunshin required much less chakra than the normal Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique) while still creating a solid clone of himself. It also had the benefit of being able to reform should it get destroyed in battle, again without using as much chakra as creating a new clone would do.

In his opinion, which he admitted to himself might be slightly biased, it was a superior version of the Nidaime's Jutsu. It also solved the chakra problem he had with the aforementioned Hokage's version of the Jutsu quite effectively. At least meeting with the Sandaime should be much easier from now on.

"In that case," Tanaka-Sensei said with a small smile. "Please do so. Having eyes watching the area from the sky would be reassuring."

Itachi nodded. He then continued by biting his thumb to get some blood before he made the necessary hand seals.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" (Summoning Technique)

In a swirl of feathers and screeches, a murder of crows appeared before promptly flying into the air to watch the area.

"Wait, don't you need to tell them what to do?" Yukio asked a moment later.

He shook his head. "They knew what I summoned them for from the moment they felt my chakra call them here, there is no need to talk to them. Besides, these crows are still young and inexperienced, so they can't even talk yet."

"Hey," Anko uttered thoughtfully. "Would it help if I summoned some snakes to keep watch while we rest? I would call them while we travel as well, but I doubt the weaker ones would be able to keep up with us."

Tanaka-sensei's smile grew a bit bigger. "Yes, good thinking. Please do so when we stop for the night."

They crossed the border to the Land of Woods on the third day after they left the village.

"From now on, we need to be even more careful than before," Tanaka-sensei said calmly. "We don't want the kidnappers to know we're here, just as we planned."

Itachi couldn't say that he liked their plan. Not that the strategy wasn't sound, far from it, but his role in it wasn't something he looked forward to.

The plan was for him and Anko to act like siblings who lost their family and searched for a new home. Seeing that twenty-two of the twenty-eight missing children were under the age of ten, Itachi was the ideal age to play the role. Anko joined him on this because it was standard procedure to never split Genin teams in a way where a Genin was all alone.

The next time the kidnappers would show up to snatch some children away, they would act all defenceless and let themselves be 'kidnapped'. Tanaka-sensei and Yukio then would follow them, aided by his crows, to find their hideout and fulfil all the objectives of their mission.

Honestly, he wouldn't even have a problem with his role in this weren't it for one single detail...

"Finally Itachi will be forced to call me Nee-chan! I can't wait!"

He sighed.

Approaching the orphanage and asking for aid went as well as could be expected.

With their dirty and in parts torn clothes, they looked just like you would imagine two children would do after they lived several weeks on the streets. The patron of the orphanage had just looked at them for a second before inviting them inside, offering them something to eat, and giving them new clothes.

The facility was actually in much better shape than he had imagined it would be. The building wasn't run-down at all, they had enough resources to feed and clothe every child in their care, there was some arrangement with a number of teachers who would come several times a week to teach the children reading, writing, and mathematics, and there was enough in terms of entertainment to keep the children happy.

Anko and he gained a lot of attention for the first few days, seeing that they were the new kids and still needed to 'settle down', but that stopped around three or four days into their stay. Since then, they didn't do much more than wait for the inevitable.

It was exactly one week after their arrival during a stormy and rainy night that it finally happened. Midnight had just passed when Itachi's senses woke him up from his sleep, warning him of more than two dozen unknown chakra signatures surrounding the building. He instantly noted that most of them were, as expected, untrained and clearly not belonging to shinobi, but there were exceptions: at least six of them were definitively trained in the use of chakra.

He fought down the urge to jump up and prepare to face the enemy, which was a fight he nearly lost the moment eight people -two of which were shinobi- climbed through the window of the boy's dormitory.

He didn't fight when someone pressed a hand over his mouth, only struggling as much as would be expected of a child his age.

He didn't fight when the sound of the struggle from the other kids reached his ears.

He didn't fight when one of the culprits tied him up with a rope.

He didn't even fight when one of them threw him over their shoulder and climbed out of the window.

Not yet, he thought. Not yet, but soon.

They would regret the day they decided to start kidnapping children. Itachi would make sure of that.