Let's start this from the beginning

Swordsmen of the Mist

II

The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were a group of highly violent and cruel individuals who were fortunate enough to have been born with the necessary skill to rise in rank until they were in a position that allowed them to freely live out their proclivities. Had they been anything less than one of the most powerful assets of their country and Kirigakure specifically, their nature would have probably resulted in a death sentence for most of them while the few that were capable of controlling themselves if necessary would have been forced to hide their true selves for the rest of their lives.

Zabuza was part of the second group, and while Kiri's current policy was to distance themselves from those actions that brought them the nickname 'Village of the Bloody Mist', he was satisfied with how things currently were going. As long as he was still sent on missions that allowed him to soil the ground in the blood of his enemies, he was happy enough to pretend he wasn't a cruel monster in the presence of others.

All the better then that his current mission would allow him to do just that.

Considering what kind of people had made up the Seven Swordsmen, it was no surprise to anyone that most members dearly wished to kill each other; companionship between them was rare while rivalries were the norm.

Zabuza was no exception to that, and Kushimaru and Jinin had been the ones from his colleagues he had always hated the most. Needless to say, being given the opportunity to hunt them down end them himself filled him with anticipation and glee.

If this was Mei's apology for making him play bodyguard to some stupid diplomat, he would gladly accept it.

Two chakra signatures closing in on his position from the direction of Konoha behind him made him stop in his tracks and turn around, waiting for who must surely be the Konoha-nin that would join him on this mission.

To be honest, he disliked the idea of foreign shinobi being part of this. It was already bad enough that he would need to deal with whatever support from his own village would arrive, but having these two with him as well was just too much. The new alliance between their villages notwithstanding, in his mind, dealing with his former colleagues was an internal matter that Konoha had no business sticking its nose in.

Alas, he had no say in that decision and could do nothing but accept it. Zabuza had learned a long time ago that crying about things you couldn't change wouldn't help anyone and thus was a big waste of time.

Although at least in the privacy of his mind would Zabuza also confess that he was kind of curious about one of the two Konoha-nin. After all, Mei had been telling stories about this prodigious Uchiha brat that arranged for them to get aid from Konoha for years now. It was high time that he met him.

Two figures appeared in front of him in a twirl of leaves.

"Zabuza-san," the one that must be the Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake spoke up first, his voice sounding bored as if he found it a bother to be here. "We were told to meet at the gate, not several miles away from it. A message telling us that you went ahead would have been highly appreciated."

He shrugged. "You found me just fine, didn't you? Besides, I was even forthcoming enough to only walk at a casual pace instead of running ahead, so I don't see the problem."

"We are supposed to be a team for the duration of this mission, Zabuza-san," the person he was more interested in said. "We should use the time we have as efficiently as we can to prepare for the forthcoming confrontations. Acting like this endangers not only the mission itself but all of us as well, so we would be thankful if you could refrain from doing such a thing in the future."

The brat's voice was neither cold nor antagonistic, but it also couldn't be called polite or even emotionless. It was hard to put a name to it, but Zabuza thought that he would probably do well in politics; his poker face was certainly better than most he had ever seen.

It was just too bad that such things didn't matter to him.

"And why should I care if my actions endanger you? I can handle myself just fine, and if you're too weak to do the same when there are even two of you, there is no place for you on this mission. Kushimaru and Jinin would eat you alive."

The brat looked unimpressed. "Nonetheless, we still ask you to coordinate your future moves with us just like we will do with you. I also remind you that part of our" -he pointed at himself and the Copy Nina- "mission is to evaluate the cooperation between our two villages during the mission. Depending on our assessment, the alliance between Kirigakure and Konohagakure might come to an end before it even had the chance to flourish."

Knowing that the bandages he wore over the lower part of his face would hide it, Zabuza allowed his lips to curve upwards. Going so far as to threaten me to arrange an end to the alliance if I don't behave… I gotta hand it to him, he has balls.

He seriously doubted the two of them had actually the power to pull such a thing off, no matter that they were both famous or that the brat was the heir to the Uchiha Clan. Furthermore, it was also quite unlikely that the Hokage had given them such a mission in the first place. After all, breaking an alliance because the teamwork on one mission was lacking would be stupid, and while The Professor was many things, Zabuza didn't think he was that.

All the more reason to respect the brat; lying to his face without hesitation or any sign that what es said wasn't true was a bold move.

"Yes, that would indeed be troublesome," he agreed before releasing a small amount of bloodlust. "However, if the two of you don't survive the mission, there will be no report for you to give, right? Maybe I should end this little problem right here and now!"

Neither Konoha-nin even batted an eye, but Zabuza knew that they were mentally preparing for a fight.

"There are precautionary measures in place should such an unfathomable tragedy happen, of course," Kakashi said with a bored drawl and one hand casually in his pocket. "Also, it would probably not look too good in a report if both of us died while you were still alive."

He was just about to reply to that when the Uchiha spoke up again.

"Besides, there are two of us while you're alone. You should remember that the odds of you dying on this mission are twice as high as the ones of both of us doing so."

This threat was more cleverly hidden than Zabuza's own had been, but it was a threat nonetheless. A reminder that he was outnumbered and more likely to die in a confrontation against them than to come out victorious.

Itachi Uchiha was big for a thirteen years old boy, yes, but he was still by far the smallest one of their group, and not even the flak jacket he wore and the serious expression on his face could hide the underlining youth in his features. However, there was also a darkness in his gaze that made even him feel cold for a moment.

It wasn't the usual thing you saw in the eyes of experienced and accomplished shinobi, and neither was it the look of a monster in human skin that could be seen in people like Zabuza himself or even his former acquaintance Kisame. There was no cruelty to it, no thirst for blood and no enjoyment in slaughter. It wasn't even indifference. No, Zabuza couldn't pinpoint what it was, but he understood what it meant:

Something must have happened to the Uchiha, something that went even beyond what a regular shinobi went through in their life. Something personal. Whatever this thing in the boy's eyes was, it told him that there was literally nothing he wouldn't do -or hadn't already done- to achieve some specific goal.

Zabuza also realized that he hadn't just seen it by accident but had deliberately been shown this thing, and he also understood why.

The grin that spread beneath his mask was big enough that even his bandages couldn't hide it, but he didn't care. Apparently these two aren't just spineless idiots, huh? I guess they might be useful after all.

He reigned his bloodlust in from one moment to the next. "Well then," he said, silently gesturing for them to join him. "What are you waiting for?"

This was as much a concession as he was willing to make and they thankfully realized that as well.

I didn't think it possible, but this mission actually just got even more interesting.

Naruto and Haku were already training when Sasuke finally arrived, but he couldn't find it in him to feel bad for being late. He had other worries at the moment.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called as soon as he saw him, stopping in the middle of his spar to beam at him and immediately regretting it when Haku's fist collided with his head.

"Don't take your eyes from your opponent, Naruto-kun. You will never win if you always get distracted this easily."

Naruto gave Haku a betrayed look as he rubbed the spot where she had hit him. "I don't get distracted! You only win because you're older than me!"

Haku chuckled. "I'm afraid most enemies wouldn't hold back just because they are older than you, though. What are you gonna do? Surrender to every adult enemy shinobi you meet?"

Naruto didn't reply to that, choosing instead to turn around with a pouty scoff. This action, however, brought him face to face with Sasuke. "Wow, you look like shit!"

"Shut up, idiot."

It was probably good that for all that Naruto tended to overreact and be overly emotional, he also knew when someone was rude only because they had a bad day. Sasuke was sure most of their friends from the academy would already feed up with him because of such a greeting alone.

"Damn, did something happened? You weren't in such a bad mood ever since Kiba-"

"We said we would never talk about that again!"

Before Naruto could reply, Haku intervened. "Now, why don't you two calm down? There is no need to start a fight this early in the morning." She then turned specifically towards Sasuke. "And why don't you tell us what's bothering you? Maybe we can help."

Sasuke scoffed, but there was no heat behind it. "You can't." Without saying anything further, he unceremoniously dropped to the ground.

"Nah, of course we can!" Naruto exclaimed in his usual loud voice as he let himself fall down next to him and threw an arm over his shoulder, ignoring his murmured complaints at that action. "That's what friends are there for, right Haku?"

The girl nodded as she sat down in front of them, her knees orderly arranged beneath her body. "He's right. And even if we can't help directly, we can at least support you."

He always found these mushy talks stupid and uncomfortable, even when they came from Itachi or his mother. It wasn't even that he disagreed with the sentiment or anything like that, he just found it weird. Why couldn't people say these things in a less cringy way? However, right now, he couldn't help but feel somewhat thankful for it.

"Nii-san went on another mission," he finally said with a downcast expression. "He didn't say what it was, though. Not even to Otou-san and Kaa-san."

There had been a number of occasions in the past where Itachi wouldn't tell him what his missions were about, no matter how much he begged. Sasuke wasn't stupid, however, and could guess that these missions were the kinds of which he found too brutal to tell him about, the kinds of which every child at the academy dreamed of going on one day. The thing was, Sasuke also knew that Itachi usually told their parents even if he didn't tell him. That he didn't do so this time must mean that it was something top-secret he literally couldn't talk about.

Probably also something very, very dangerous.

Naruto looked a bit confused at his admission, but Haku immediately understood.

"Itachi-nii is very strong," she said gently. "You know that. It probably isn't a solo mission either, so he has strong teammates to have his back with him as well. He will be fine, I promise."

His mother had told him almost the exact same thing. However, he knew that she was just as worried as he was, even if he couldn't see any signs of it on her face or in her voice. And while his father at least hadn't appeared worried, he went straight to his study even though Sasuke knew that he had already finished all his duties for the day; he never did that other than when he tried to hide from the rest of their family.

"I know that, but what if-"

"C'mon, don't be stupid," Naruto interrupted him, his smile even wider than usual. "Itachi is, like, super strong! He's even already a Jōnin, right? Also, isn't he a prudy- ehm, progy- wait, I got it! A prot-"

"I think the word you're looking for is 'prodigy', Naruto-kun," Haku said gently with a note of amusement in her voice.

"Yes, that! Itachi is this super great prodigy, isn't he? That's what everyone in the village says anyway. He will totally kick ass on this mission, you just wait!"

It was clear that Naruto still didn't completely understand what was bothering Sasuke, but he did realize that he was worried about his brother and immediately jumped to console him.

Sasuke knew that what they said was true; his brother was not only strong but in fact one of the strongest shinobi in the entire village. There were not many who could defeat him, especially when he had backup from other strong shinobi as well. He would probably be just fine.

But wasn't he allowed to worry anyway?

"Alright," Haku spoke up when no one else said anything for several seconds. "Sitting around and doing nothing won't help anyone. Let's continue with our training. Sasuke, didn't you mention a technique Shisui has taught you? Why don't you show it to us and we then think about how we can use it to beat Itachi-nii when he returns?"

He knew what she was trying to do, but he was thankful for the distraction nonetheless.

"Sure, let's do that."

"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed. "Let's go! I will totally beat you today, Sasuke!"

A small smirk crept up his face. "Haven't I won the last two times?"

"So what? I won the time before that!"

"Well, I won-"

Haku interfered once again. "Boys, less talking and more fighting. Big words have yet to win an actual fight, you know."

The two of them didn't need any more motivation than that to rush at each other.

Izumi dropped her head onto the table in front of her with an audible thud, for once completely uncaring of what the other guests at the tea house might think of her. "What are the odds that I return from my mission on the very same day he leaves for his..."

Rather than consoling her, Shisui just chuckled. "This is hardly the first time something like this has happened, right? I thought you would be used to it by now."

Her head snapped back up. "Well, I'm not!" Just because not having as much time to meet her friends as she would have liked had become somewhat of the norm over years didn't mean she must like it, after all. "Besides, you only say that because you were here to see him off! Were it you who missed him instead of me, you would grumble about it for days!"

"I wouldn't!"

That 'argument' would have probably gotten out of hand as it so often did with the two of them, dragging their conversations regularly out for hours at a time, but fortunately, a waitress chose that moment to arrive with their orders.

"Anyway," Shisui continued more calmly once the woman had left as he took a sip from his tea. "If you want to stop missing him -and me as well, by the way- this often, you should hurry and try to get promoted. Jōnin don't necessarily have less missions than Chūnin, but at least you would qualify to join us on more of them than you do now."

She sighed. "I asked the Sandaime to let me participate in the Jōnin Exams, but he thinks I'm not ready yet. I guess I could try to get enough recommendations from other Jōnin, but considering the Hokage has the final say regardless, that would probably not work either."

It had honestly been stupid of her to even ask. Izumi was confident enough to call herself fairly talented, sure. She wasn't a prodigy like Itachi or Shisui, but she was still far above the average skill level of most shinobi. After all, becoming a Chūnin at an age at which people usually just graduated from the academy was an impressive feat, especially during peace times like these. However, Jōnin were the elite of the elite. Even if you were talented, you usually couldn't become one without a lot of experience.

"Well, at least I'm here now, so I don't see what you have to complain about."

She good-naturally rolled her eyes. "Keep telling yourself that if it makes you happy."

His surprised stuttering that followed was enough to completely jolt herself out of her bad mood.

After that, their conversation continued in a more light-hearted manner as they talked about the most recent gossip -Might Guy had apparent started to cry about his 'eternal rival' leaving him behind without even saying goodbye after he had a few too many drinks- and rumours that were swirling around the village like the one that claimed Asuma Sarutobi would return to the village soon.

It was nice and definitively a welcome respite from her last mission. That was the eighth clean-up mission at the northern border in a month; you would think the bandits in the area would have realized by now that they couldn't expect much success there and move on, but alas, they kept coming back.

It almost made her miss the days when all she ever did was painting fences and hunt a stupid cat. Almost.

However, there was something strange about Shisui. Izumi couldn't put her finger on it, but he seemed somehow more… agitated than usual. More nervous. It took all the restraint she could muster to not pester him about what was going on in his head, but even then her thoughts continuously returned to his weird behaviour.

Weren't she worried it could be something serious, she would probably found it kinda adorable.

"By the way," Shisui said without quite meeting her eyes. "Did you get an invitation to Takijami's birthday too?"

Izumi blinked at that unexpected topic and needed a second before she could reply. "I actually did, yes. Kaa-san was really surprised. We apparently didn't even get invitations to it back when my father was still alive."

Takijami was probably their clan's most influential non-shinobi. He had held a high position in Konoha's Merchant Guild for over a decade now, and more recently, in the wake of the purge of the civilian leadership that happened after it came out that many of them had allied with the member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja that had tried to overthrow Konoha, he had risen even higher. In fact, he had become its Head just a few short months ago.

Only the most important and influential members of their clan were invited to that man's birthday party which obviously meant Izumi's family had never been there before. That made the fact that she was actually invited this year completely unexpected.

Her mother theorized that it had something to do with the higher-ups finally acknowledging her talent, though her friendship with Itachi and Shisui probably helped as well.

"Great!" Shisui exclaimed maybe a tad too loudly with a wide grin as he briefly met her eye before quickly looking elsewhere once again. "So the old geezer finally realized that you're really talented, huh? Certainly took him long enough!"

She snorted. "I can't say I really care about what he thinks about me, but it's nice to be acknowledged, I guess."

"Anyway," Shisui continued, and Izumi thought she could see his cheeks growing red. "I thought we could go there together?"

The question left her completely speechless. Was that what had made him act so strangely all day?

Although she didn't really know what she was going to say herself quite yet, Izumi opened her mouth to reply only for Shisui to continue without looking at her at an ever-increasing pace.

"These kinds of events are always pretty boring, so I thought it would be more interesting if you went with someone you like, y'know? To have some fun and stuff. And at least we would have someone with whom we could laugh at all the pompous people that are usually there, right? Time flies when you have fun, so the entire thing would at least be over in an instant instead of stretching for-"

"Shisui," she interrupted him with a small smile, ignoring the heat she could feel creeping up her own face. "Are you asking me on a date?"

"W-well, I guess I do? Though we can go just as friends too if-"

"I would love to!" she blurted out. "Going there with you, I mean."

Going by the honest surprise on his face, he obviously hadn't expected her to say yes.

"Really?" He shook his head. "No, I mean- that's great!"

"Yeah."

They looked at each other in silence for a few moments, neither of them knowing how to continue from there.

Fortunately, Shisui found his voice first.

"So," he said slowly. "The party is on Friday at eight in the evening. I guess I will be at your house, ehm, a quarter to eight, then?"

"Maybe make that half past seven instead," she said a bit uncertainly. "You know, so we don't need rush or anything."

"Sure," he immediately agreed. "That makes sense."

"Great."

"Yeah."

Although the atmosphere was rather awkward, Izumi couldn't stop the smile that was spreading on her face, and considering Shisui did too, she assumed he felt the same. Honestly, she would have never expected him to ask her on a date. Like, seriously? Shisui? For all that a lot of girls found him handsome and even had approached him in the past, she didn't think he ever went out with any of them.

And now he had asked her on a date.

Izumi couldn't help it; she laughed.

Many other guys might have been offended by that, thinking that she laughed about them, but Shisui understood her. She didn't need to explain what was so funny first for him to get it, and in fact, his laughter soon joined in with hers.

It took Itachi and his team nine days, but now they had almost reached their destination.

After the initial bad start between them and Zabuza, he and Kakashi had been surprised to see that the swordsman was both courteous and cooperative. Or something close to it, at least. That didn't mean that he agreed with everything they said or that he didn't argue, of course, but if you ignored his gruff personality and dark humour, he was almost friendly.

As Itachi had dealt with Kisame for many years, he could handle Zabuza's comments with ease. Kakashi lacked such experience, but he had apparently handled enough eccentric and unpleasant people himself to not be bothered by Zabuza either, meaning there was no problem from his front as well. Thus, the journey was unexpectedly stress-free. Furthermore, Zabuza had also been willing to share some of his insight into his former colleagues, so Itachi could call the last few days even productive!

Itachi wondered if part of the reason he was so cooperative stemmed from his little demonstration right to the beginning of their journey when he and Kakashi had caught up with him.

He had assumed that Zabuza was similar to Kisame in that he only respected strength and had acted accordingly to that. There were no atrocities to his name in this timeline, but he still regained the memories of his past and thus could call upon the emotions he had felt during the time.

Itachi was the first to admit that he hadn't been in a healthy state of mind during, after, and even shortly before the Uchiha Massacre. His mind and heart had been plunged into darkness, madness even, and only the macabre thought of one day dying at his own brother's hand had kept him going. There were lots of shinobi who were a bit mad regardless of name or rank. It was almost normal in their profession. However, what truly mattered was how you dealt with it.

Itachi hadn't dealt with it at all. At least not at first, and certainly not for the first few years after the massacre.

He had once read a line from a famous poet that was said to have lived only shortly after the Sage of Six Paths: 'Whoever fights with monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster in the process. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.'

Itachi had become a monster. While his original intentions might arguably have been good, whatever that might mean in this world of theirs, there was no arguing that the acts of kinslaying and mass murder were evil. He had not only looked into the abyss but jumped into it head-first.

He had eventually pulled himself out of it, but the memories remained, and a man like Zabuza could see its signs when they weren't carefully hidden.

Apparently, it had been enough to convince him of working with rather than against them.

Anyway, back to the present.

While their journey so far had indeed gone unexpectedly well, that wasn't to say that everything was perfect. In fact, even with the welcome advantage of improved cooperation between the three of them, the situation was actually rather grim.

The problem was that the aid they had been supposed to meet yesterday hadn't arrived yet.

It wasn't completely unreasonable to assume that they were simply late. After all, there could be all kinds of delays for a group of shinobi that were travelling all the way from the Land of Water this deep into the continent. What was unreasonable, however, was that neither Itachi's crows nor Kakashi's dogs were able to find any trace of them. Even when their team decided to stay at the designated meeting place for a day to wait for them while also giving the summons more time for their search, they weren't able to find anything.

The only fight their group had so far happened the day after that when Kakashi and he proposed to return in reaction to this development while Zabuza insisted on continuing with just the three of them. Unfortunately, the man stubbornly resisted any logic and even claimed that he would go on by himself if necessary, leaving the two of them no choice but to continue the journey as well.

Unlikable as he might be, he was their comrade for the duration of the mission. Kakashi and Itachi both were unwilling to leave him behind.

Besides, there was also the fact Kirigakure might take badly to them leaving the last of the Seven Swordsmen behind by himself, especially if it got him killed. It didn't matter that they were theoretically in the right or that Zabuza was the one who acted stupid and reckless; if he died, they would be blamed.

All they could do was to follow him while also sending one of Itachi's crows back to Konoha with a message to inform the Hokage about this development.

"I smell blood and rotten flesh."

Pulled back to reality by Kakashi's voice, Itachi turned towards his fellow Konoha-nin. "From where?"

"North-west," he said while nodding in the relevant direction before furrowing his brows. "I don't think it's fresh, but I can't be sure."

Zabuza snorted. "Well, isn't that a useful ability? Seems like we already got a lead!"

"This might be-"

The swordsman didn't let him finish. "A trap, I know. I'm not stupid, and that lanky bastard Kushimaru always loved these funny little traps of his. It's still a lead, though, and if this is really their work, it happened much more recent than anything else we know of. This would be our freshest lead and it would be stupid to ignore it, am I right?"

Itachi and Kakashi looked at each other before the latter decided to speak.

"You are, yes. However, while it's great that all of us realise the potential danger, it would still be prudent to talk about how we will proceed if this is indeed a trap."

Zabuza didn't look as if he agreed, but unexpectedly, he swallowed his complaints down.

"Fair enough," he said. "I guess it would be pretty embarrassing to die by one of that idiot's traps." He crossed his muscular arms in front of his chest. "Alright, what do you suggest?"

Funnily enough, the two Konoha POVs weren't meant to be part of this chapter. I actually intended them to happen later into the arc, but then I realized that

A) it wouldn't make sense to include Sasuke angsting about his Itachi leaving in the the middle of the arc, and

B) the Shisui & Izumi part might not fit in with all the action of the later chapters.

Anyway, the rest of the arc will focus on the actual mission. You can look forward to it! :)