Let's start this from the beginning
Genin Days
V
Just like any other good shinobi who didn't know where exactly they were, Itachi didn't give any outwardly sign that he was awake when he woke up. Instead, he let his senses feel out the area.
The closest and only presence he could feel was right beside him, and he instantly recognized it as Anko's. Deciding that he was in friendly company, he opened his eyes and sat up. Anko sat pretty close to his right, and a small, smokeless fire was to their left. He nodded approvingly at that. As it apparently wasn't night yet (or not anymore? How long had he been unconscious?) the light of the fire didn't give them away, and as Anko had made sure that it was smokeless, they wouldn't be spotted from far away.
"Itachi!" Anko exclaimed, cutting his thoughts short. "You're finally awake! I don't have any medical knowledge, so I wasn't able to do more than give you a superficial check. I was afraid you might have some internal injuries or something when you didn't wake up."
"I think-" he started to speak before a coughing fit forced him to stop.
For one unreasonable moment, Itachi actually feared Fate had caught up with him and that this was his illness acting up again, but he forced himself to calm down quickly, realizing that this was impossible.
"Hey, take it slowly, you hear me? You just woke up! Here, drink some water. It's from a nearby river and I've already filtered and boiled it, so it should be fine."
He nodded thankfully before accepting the water, drinking it directly from the stone Anko pushed into his hands. It seemed she had taken some big rock and carved into it until it could serve as a bowl.
After he finished his drink, he tried speaking again, this time with more success than before. "I should I'm fine. I don't feel too bad, at least not considering the situation. How long have I been out of it?"
Anko nodded, accepting his words without questioning them. "I'm not sure how long we have been unconscious, but I woke up about twelve hours ago. Considering I didn't start to feel hungry until maybe an hour or so ago, I don't think we were out cold for very long. Maybe a handful of hours. And before you ask, no, I don't know where we are for sure, but I have a pretty good guess. You should be able to figure it out pretty easily too."
Anko was right. He didn't feel too hungry either. Probably more than her, though, seeing that he had used much more chakra in the fight against Taro. And thinking of the man...
"Congratulations on killing Taro and his subordinates. At least we don't need to worry about them searching for us anymore."
Unexpectedly, Anko shook her head. "You're the one who tricked and distracted him with your crows -this half formed crow clone of yours looked badass, by the way- so it was just as much your victory as it was mine."
She seemed to be a bit down at that, though. If Itachi had to take a guess, he would say that she probably was disappointed with her own performance.
He should try to lighten her mood. Their situation was dire enough without her being distracted by negative emotions.
"Only 'just as much'?" he asked in a somewhat teasing tone, one eyebrow raised.
Anko huffed. "Yes, only 'just as much'. After all, I can't go around and say I was saved by a midget like you, can I now?"
He smiled at that before becoming serious again and looking around once more. They were on a small clearing with their backs to a big tree and with dense fog surrounding them, making it impossible to look farther than the line of trees that marked the border of the clearing.
Yes, Anko had been right. He was pretty sure he knew where they were, and he didn't like it one bit. "We're in the Land of Water."
She grimly nodded back. "Looks like it."
That wasn't good at all. Taro's attack had obviously swept them into the sea, and from there, they must have drifted in the water until they reached land. Honestly, they had so incredible luck that they hadn't drowned, it was almost as hard to believe. And the fact that he had been so close to dying again... that was terrifying. He pushed that thought aside, knowing that now wasn't the time to think about things like that, but he would need to deal with this at some point.
"As you said, at least we don't need to worry about people searching for us. It's not unlikely that the patron of the orphanage asked for shinobi to look into all these kidnappings, so Kirigakure will probably assume that their people got killed by the team sent to deal with it. There will be no manhunt for us. And just in case, I sent some of my snakes into the surrounding area to scout for us," Anko said.
"True," he agreed. "But that doesn't mean that there will be no search groups at all. It would be careless not to search the area after your shinobi got killed in such close proximity to your border."
"But we should have a day or two until that happens."
"That's not wrong, but..." He hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should proceed with telling her about the current situation in the Land of Water, before deciding that it was much more important that Anko was informed of it so she could prepare herself than it was to conceal that he had information he shouldn't be aware of.
"We also need to worry about the internal problems the country is currently facing."
"'Internal problems'? First of all, what problems, and more importantly, how do you know about them?" Anko asked, her arms crossed in front of her.
"My father is the Clan Head of one of Konoha's four noble clans, so he gets more information than most. He decided to inform me of what he knew about the current affairs of the Land of Water as soon as he heard that this mission would bring me so close to its border."
That was a rather believable lie considering Anko could hardly go to his father and ask about its accuracy. The only person she could possibly mention it to was the Hokage, and he would go along with it to protect Itachi's secret.
"And what exactly did he tell you?"
"The country seems to be on the brink of a civil war," he started to explain. "One in which the Mizukage and the people loyal to him fight against every single person with a Kekkei Genkai and their supporter."
"Wait, what?!" Anko exclaimed. "Why would they do that? Kekkei Genkai users are one if not the most powerful addition to a village's fighting power. Killing them off would cripple themselves!"
"Nobody knows exactly why the Mizukage acts as he does," -of course there were some very few exceptions who knew about Madara's involvement, but he could hardly mention that- "but many of his supporters blame people with bloodline limits for all their hardships and even war itself. They think they can achieve peace for their country if there are no 'filthy bloodline limits' left. Obviously, there are quite a lot of people who are not okay with this senseless genocide or the way the Mizukage leads his village in general, and these rebels are probably planning to overthrow the current government right as we speak. With the country being in such an unstable state, both sides likely have their people patrol the area. And this is, obviously, bad for us."
There was also the fact that many different fractions had fought for dominance in the country ever since the foundation of the Hidden Villages system, of course. With the Land of Water being an island nation, it was much harder for Kirigakure to unify the various groups within its borders under its rule than it was for other villages. That was part of the reason Madara could manipulate the country into a civil war as easily as he had done.
After all, many of the Mizukage's supporters weren't actually all that opposed to bloodline limits as much as they didn't like the population of certain other islands their own island had been in a conflict with in the past. They were merely out for revenge rather than on a crusade against various bloodlines like they claimed to.
These details were unnecessary for Anko to understand the situation, though, so Itachi didn't bother explaining them to her as well.
After being silent for a few minutes, Anko summarized the situation pretty precisely. "Wow, this is so fucked up."
They were on the road -jumping from tree to tree didn't seem like a good idea this deep in enemy territory- for about two hours now. They had departed from the clearing Itachi had woken up on as soon as the sun had set and started to head west. No matter where exactly they were, as long as they headed into that direction, they should come to the westernmost coast and from there they could run over the water until they reached the shore. From there, it was just a small way till they reached home. Unfortunately, it wasn't an option to search for the rest of their team as it was standard procedure to return to the village to get some real search parties if Genin were lost in active duty, meaning Yukio and their sensei were probably already on their way home- if they were still alive, that was.
Explaining to his parents how he had managed to get lost in the Land of Water would be fun, he was sure. Especially because they would be sick with worry by the time he got home. And Shisui and Izumi as well. At least Sasuke was too young to immediately be informed about him being missing. That wouldn't happen as long as no corpse turned up or the search for them went futile for several weeks.
Both Anko and he had summoned their respective animals to scout the area and warn them if someone was closing up on them, but due to the dense mist, his hopes of them succeeding in that were slim. The fact that it was night wasn't improved their chances either. The only way they could notice anyone in that mist was if said person wasn't actively hiding. At least he had some experience with the Soundless Murder Technique through his acquaintance with Kisame, though of how much use that would be to him remained to be seen.
The loud croaking of a crow cut through the silence of the night.
"Anko," he whispered.
"I know."
They instantly moved closer together, making it look like he was too weak to walk and as if Anko was supporting him move forward. They were looking like civilians already thanks to their short time at the orphanage, and their clothes appeared pretty shabby from all the things they had needed to endure in the last 24 hours, so they probably looked like every other pair of orphaned children currently wandering the country. If the people approaching them were the Mizukage's men, they would possibly try to kidnap them too, and then their act might allow them to get the enemy by surprise and kill them before it came to a fight at all. If they weren't part of the Mizukage's party, they would hopefully just ignore them.
Two men wearing ANBU masks appeared a dozen metres in front of them.
"Alright," the left started to speak almost immediately. "We know you are not from here, but you are obviously not sent by the Mizukage. I will give you guys the chance to explain yourself right now and it dependents on your answer what will happen afterwards. So, start talking: who are you and why are you here?"
That wasn't what he had been expecting, and it made him unsure of how to act. Knowing that not answering immediately would have negative consequences, he planned to give himself some more time to think and opened his mouth to say something, only to be deprived of the opportunity when Anko started to speak before he got the chance.
"We're shinobi of Konohagakure. We stranded here -wherever 'here' actually is- by accident. In fact, we're currently on our way home."
Alright, he could work with that. Frankly speaking, he would most likely have told them the truth too after some deliberating as they were obviously already aware of them being foreigners, but he preferred to think things through more thoroughly before acting. Still, with them suspecting them, even a little lie could have terrible consequences, so going with the truth for the time being wasn't too bad.
Also, given what the 'ANBU' had said, it was pretty likely that they were rebels, which also explained why they weren't attacked the very moment they met.
Yes, it seemed that this way of proceeding was indeed the best.
The two people opposite of them didn't visibly react, but there was surprise and scepticism in their voice when the same ANBU from before spoke up again. "Shinobi of Konohagakure, you say? And what proof do you have of that? I don't see a forehead protector with the Konoha symbol on it, or even a forehead protector at all."
"We could demonstrate a technique that nobody but a shinobi of Konoha would be able to use," he decided to join the conversation before things could escalate any further. "I think you're aware of Orochimaru?" he asked, and the way they tensed after only hearing his name was proof enough to answer that. "My teammate is his former student, and just like him, she made a contract with the snakes. A contract that is only found in Konoha. With your consent, she could summon a snake for you?"
It was a bit of a gamble considering that it would be careless of them to allow an unknown shinobi to use a Jutsu, but it was currently their best bet.
"That doesn't seem like a good idea," the man replied, his hands slowly reaching for a weapon. "Maybe it would be better-"
"I should add that I already sent a message home through my crow summons. If something happens to us, our village will know who is responsible, and I'm sure you know what would happen if you kill the Uchiha heir" -he pointed at himself- "and his teammate."
Again, it wasn't necessarily the best way of action to announce his identity and simultaneously threaten them, but the two of them gave him the vibe of being very inexperienced and nervous themselves. This strategy might actually work, and if not... well, he was confident they could take them in a fight.
"Alright," it was the other person who spoke this time. "Show us the technique."
Anko didn't hesitate, probably having come to the same conclusions as he had, and made the necessary hand seals as slowly as she could before summoning a little brown snake.
Both people looked at each other for a few seconds, foolishly ignoring Anko and him, before both nodded and the man who had spoken first started talking again. "Alright, I think that's more than enough proof. Under these circumstances, we offer our aid in leading you home, as long as you come with us."
They hadn't had a real choice in that matter, so they followed these two back to their camp. Of course they could have fought them and probably even won, the short conversation had been enough to convince Itachi that they weren't real ANBU but more likely Chūnin-level rebels at most who wanted to protect their identity, but even a short fight would most likely attract others their way. That, they couldn't afford.
Anko, who had seemingly noticed the same thing, and he used the opportunity to find out some more about where they were exactly and the current situation in the country in general. It seemed that they were on the most western island, the one closest to the mainland. They were stranded somewhere on the southeastern part of said island, which was fortunate because this was the part of the island the rebels controlled.
While the situation hadn't really escalated to an all-out war yet, regions all over the Land of Water were already choosing sides. It wouldn't be long now, Itachi concluded, until the real fighting would begin.
While Itachi was thankful for the information, he was also somewhat disgusted by the way the two eagerly told them about the tense situation in their country as well as all kinds of little secrets. They were lucky that neither Anko nor him or Konoha in general would act on this information to wield war on these lands. If he hadn't been sure of it before, then this would have been the point where it became obvious that they were no real ANBU.
The most interesting information they received were the names of the people in charge of the camp they would enter in a few minutes. Especially one name stood out: Mei Terumi.
He had been aware that the future Godaime Mizukage was part of the rebellion and that her achievements there would be part of the reason why she was chosen for the position in the first place, but he hadn't expected to actually meet her here and now. And that presented him with a problem: what should he do now?
The Sandaime and he had made a lot of plans, but most of them focused on strengthening Konoha and maybe its allies. They prepared to face the Akatsuki, which seemed manageable for the most part considering most members had already been killed when he had died himself, thought about ways to protect the Jinchuriki, and tried to improve their relationship with the other villages. It was unfortunate that the last point in particular was hard to archive.
So shortly after the last war had ended, most other villages were still licking their wounds and grieving their losses. The animosity still held strong. Now, however, he was given the opportunity to improve the image of Konoha in the eyes of the future Mizukage. The best thing about it was that it would look like they helped them only because of the goodness in their hearts. After all, if you looked at it from an outside perspective, it was obvious that the rebels were in a worse position than the Mizukage, so there was no real reason to show goodwill to them. It wasn't even as if they could give something back in return for the aid they received. Everything they were given by Konoha would be in the spirit of goodwill as far as they were concerned. Sure, there would be people that were thinking they were playing both sides so that they would win no matter who came out on top of the civil war, but they would have no proof. Besides, how could they possibly know that Mei Terumi would become the Mizukage?
The only thing they needed to pay attention to was that they didn't make it look like Konoha was only helping the rebels to further destabilize the country.
Yes, this was the perfect opportunity to better the relationships between Konoha and Kiri. Now he only needed to find a way to help the future Mizukage and somehow persuade Anko not to stop him.
Itachi wasn't sure what would be harder.
"We're here."
In front of them was the camp, located in the middle of the forest with a huge stone wall in the back.
The 'camp' was pretty much what he had expected; it wasn't very big and he doubted that it held more than 50 men, and the most complex structures were some tents here and there. Honestly, calling it a camp was kind of inappropriate. It was obvious at the first glance that this wasn't meant as a permanent solution but more as a temporary location they used for as long they had business in this area.
The two 'ANBU' lead them right to what he assumed to be the centre of the place, ignoring the curious -and sometimes hostile- glances that were thrown their way. He could feel Anko's nervousness and thought about trying to reassure her but ultimately decided against it. She would probably just take offence from that.
The two men stopped and they followed suit. In front of them, sitting at a round table of rock -probably created with a Jutsu, he thought- were six people; four women and two men. And one of the women was very obviously Mei Terumi.
He had never actually met her face to face before, but he had seen pictures, and the auburn-haired woman, easily the youngest person at the table, was definitively her. She looked to be around sixteen or seventeen years old which now that he thought about it was a big help in creating a timeline. If he remembered correctly, and he was sure he did, then she became Mizukage in her early twenties, which meant that-
"Why did you bring some children to the camp?" the voice of the oldest looking man, who appeared to be in his late fifties, interrupted his thoughts. "We don't have the capacity to take in every orphan you find, especially not in this small camp. You should know that."
"Excuse us, Takahashi-sama, but-" one of the 'ANBU' tried to explain but was interrupted by the same old man as before.
"There is no excuse! Now that they know our location, we have no choice but to let them stay here, which means we have two more mouths to feed! We don't have enough resources to-"
"Takahashi-san, there is no need to become so loud. Please calm down. You're embarrassing yourself right now."
It was Mei that interrupted the old man who indeed shut up after a murmured 'Yes, Mei-san'. In fact, every other person at the table looked at her as if they expected her to make the decision.
Interesting, he thought. I didn't expect her to be such a prominent figure of the rebellion already. It's even more impressive when one is considering her youth.
"You can leave now." she said to the two 'ANBU' who nodded thankfully and vanished a second later. "You two," she turned to look at Anko and him now. "Would you be so nice and explain who you are?"
Anko stepped forward first, looking as confident as ever and not showing any of the nervousness he knew she must feel. "My name is Anko Mitarashi. This is my teammate, Itachi Uchiha. We're shinobi of Konohagakure who landed here after a fight at the coast of the Land of Woods ended with us being swept away into the sea. We woke up at your coast only recently, and when your men offered us their aid in returning home, we went with them. And now we're here."
Really, it was easy to forget that Anko could be great at negotiations when she stayed calm and collected. It was a shame she only rarely chose to act like this.
A surprised murmur broke out after she finished, and even Mei's eyebrows rose in silent surprise. Multiple people opened their mouths to speak, but one raised hand by Mei stopped them in the process.
"Shinobi from Konoha? You're far away from home, then. Unfortunately, I don't know if we can actually let you go home as easily as that. Our country's situation is very delicate at the moment, you see. We need to discuss this before making a decision, so if you-"
"Wait, what?" Anko exclaimed, taking another step forward. "You can't just-"
"Anko" he interrupted her calmly while grabbing her by the shoulder to stop her from taking another step. "Please calm down. We don't need additional trouble."
She glared at him. "You can't ask me to stay calm after she said something like that!"
"If you can't stay calm, leave the talking to me. I don't want you to offend our hosts. That would lead to really unfortunate consequences we should try to avoid."
She looked at him for a few moments during which Itachi was actually surprised no one else interrupted them before finally nodding and stepping behind him. "Fine, then talk."
"Well," Mei said and giggled silently when he turned around to face her. "That was interesting. And intense! I would think you were a couple if you were a bit older, you know?"
Not looking at Anko as he was not interested in seeing her reaction to such a comment, he said: "Please forgive my teammate's rashness. Patience isn't her strongest suit." He ignored the glare he could feel at the back of his head. "If I may, could I please ask a question?"
"Fire away," she simply answered with a smile and a careless motion of her hand.
"The problem you're facing is that you don't want the other nations to find out about this intern conflict in your country, correct? Because if that is the case, I'm sorry to tell you that it's already too late for that."
Her easy-going attitude vanished in less than a second. "Explain."
"My father is the Head of the Uchiha Clan, one of the four noble clans of Konoha. He gets more information than most, information he often shares with me, so I can confidently say that at least the higher-ups from Konoha already know about this conflict. I can't say anything certain for the other nations, but at least Kumogakure could possibly also know about it. Forcing us to stay here or even killing us will archive nothing other than offending our village."
There was a moment of silence before Mei started to speak again. "How did they find out? The borders are shut, no information should be able to enter or leave this country."
"I don't think you're naïve enough to believe that, Terumi-sama. It's impossible to completely shut off an entire country from the rest of the world. There will always be a few people who manage to escape abroad and tell their stories. We encountered a few Kiri-nin on our mission, for example. It's their fault that we even stranded here in the first place."
"And what exactly was your mission?"
"We received information that many children got kidnapped from an orphanage at the coast of the Land of Woods during the last few weeks. Probably even longer. We were sent with our team to take care of the people responsible, which we assumed to be common bandits. However, it turned out that the leading force behind these kidnappings were shinobi instead. Shinobi from Kirigakure. And by the comments the one who I assume was their leader made about Kekkei Genkais in general, I'm confident they were not affiliated with you but the Mizukage instead."
"Wait, children, you say?" one of the other women at the table exclaimed in surprise. "We have noted an increasing number of orphan children arriving in several villages that support our cause, Mei-sama! And we just talked about the increased number of vanished people under our protection! This has to be connected! We need to-"
"Yes, thank you, Ito-san." Mei interrupted her. Turning back to them, she continued: "Mitarashi-san, Uchiha-san, I'm sure you noticed that I and my friends here have much to discuss. I will come back to you later. Until then, please enjoy our hospitality."
When she turned around once again to face the other men and women at the table, an ANBU appeared at their side, and from the way they held themselves, Itachi was sure it was a real one this time.
With no other choice, both he and Anko followed them when they began leading them away.
All the while, Itachi could only hope that he wasn't making a grave mistake.