Let's start this from the beginning

Swordsmen of the Mist

IV

Itachi knew that he had at most only a few seconds before he would be cut into pieces, so he acted fast:

Pulling his legs upwards, he wrapped them around the water clone's arms that still held him before twisting his entire body, his chakra enhanced strength ripping the limbs apart with a loud splash. Then, while still falling headfirst towards the ground, he used his newly freed hands to fly through half a dozen hand seals in the blink of an eye.

"Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu!" (Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique)

He disappeared beneath the ground just in time to avoid the deadly trap.

The metal wire was closing in on him fast and Kakashi was more than aware that he would die if he didn't found a way out.

Jumping high into the air was an option, but if he did that, a lot would depend on luck. After all, once in the air, there wasn't anything he could do to change his mind or even dodge an incoming attack. Blocking the wire was out of the question as well because the odds of it just cutting through anything he could possibly use to do so were too high.

So, if he couldn't jump into the air and couldn't stay where he was either, there was only one way to go.

Kakashi rushed through hand seals while falling into a crouch.

"Doton: Tsuchi Kairō!" (Earth Release: Earth Corridor)

This technique usually caused the earth to rise up and trap a target between it, but all it took was a simple adjustment to make the earth below him fall instead, allowing him to escape the incoming attack that way.

Kakashi smashed his hands on the ground to initiate the technique and felt the floor give way beneath him just when the wire arrived, managing to cut open his back before he could entirely vanish into the safety of the underground.

The closer she came to Konoha, the more excited Anko got.

It had been a bit over six years since the last time she had laid eyes upon her home, six years since she had last talked with her friends. Or anyone else who wasn't a snake, for that matter. However, after all this time, she was now finally on her way back. Before the end of the week, she would be able to walk the streets of her youth once again.

Wow, that made her sound old. Scratch that, she thought. How about 'walking half-forgotten paths once again' instead? Damn, that even sounds poetic! Yeah, let's go with that.

Anyway, it was late already and no matter how much she wanted to arrive at her destination, she didn't see the point in missing out on a good night's rest.

Going through the necessary hand seals with ease, she summoned Aoda. As usual, the dark blue snake appeared in a puff of smoke, his large body forming a protective barrier around her entire camp. "It's dinner time, boy," she said while getting a fire started on which she could cook some food. "I hope you have already eaten because there is no way I'm gonna be able to-" That was the moment she turned around and actually looked at her companion. "Hey, what's up with that stupid face?"

Most people would naturally struggle to recognize emotions in a snake's expression, but for Anko who had lived in Ryūchi Cave with nothing but snakes for over a year, that wasn't much of a problem.

Aoda was probably the most well-mannered and mild-tempered snake she had ever met. However, if that were all that was to him, she wouldn't have taken such a liking to him. No, while these traits made it indeed easier to cooperate with him, it was his dry humour that drew her towards him. It reminded her a bit of Itachi, honestly.

She had spent a lot of time with him during her training and even summoned him every single evening ever since she set off from Ryūchi Cave, which meant she knew him and his expressions very well by now.

Right now, he was looking really uncomfortable. Dammit, he couldn't even look straight at her!

"Nothing, Anko-sama," he said, trying and failing to sound casual. "I'm-"

"Yeah," she interrupted him. "Let me stop you right there. First of all, how often did I tell you to not call me –sama already? Just call me Anko." Not that she generally minded being addressed respectfully like that, mind you. Anko liked it just fine when lesser snakes spoke to her like that. Aoda was her friend, though, so he should call her by her name! "But that's beside the point. Now cut the crap and tell me what's going on."

His light green eyes met hers for a second before he turned away again with a low hiss as his entire body twitched uneasily. "It's really nothing-"

"There is," she interrupted him again while crossing her arms in front of her and starting to tap the ground with one foot. "And you're going to tell me what it is. Right now."

Anko could see in the way he lowered his head that she had won this confrontation.

"One of the snakes that recently returned spoke of dark tales," he said hesitantly. "Of evildoings and wicked acts, and attacks carried out during the middle of the night."

Evildoings and wicked acts, Anko repeated in her mind, brows furrowed. What does that mean? Then her eyes widened. No way, could it be…

She felt her heartbeat quickening. "You said that these tales come from a snake that recently returned. Do you mean 'physically' returned as in 'it slithered all the way herself', or do you mean returned as in 'coming back from being summoned'?"

If possible, Aoda now looked even more uncomfortable than before. "The latter, Anko-sama."

For one moment, the entire world became silent. She didn't even care that Aoda had addressed her as-sama again; all that mattered was that this must be Orochimaru. It had to be! After all, there was nobody else who could summon snakes other than the two of them.

The only being who could track both the snakes that were summoned outside of Ryūchi Cave as well as their summoners was the White Snake Sage, but she had denied every one of Anko's requests to tell her Orochimaru's location. The only other way to find him through the snakes was finding one who was recently summoned by him and willing to tell her where. Unfortunately, the ones she found that fulfilled these criteria either denied her as well or simply lacked the intelligence to be of any help.

Because of that, she had ultimately given up on this approach.

Who would have thought that all she needed to do was to have some patience?

"Where did these attacks happen?" she asked urgently. "You know, don't you? Tell me!"

"I don't think-"

"Dammit, Aoda! You know what that bastard did, and you know that I vowed to bring him to justice! If you know something, please help me!"

Anko could see his mental struggle as clear as day; he didn't want her to fight Orochimaru, but he could also understand her motives. His desire to keep her safe and his willingness to help her achieve her goal were at odds with each other and it was unclear which side would win.

As it turned out, it happened to be the latter.

Snakes were predators first and foremost, after all. It wasn't in their nature to just sit back and do nothing when their prey was within reach.

Itachi waited for several minutes in the underground before he created a clone to check out the situation. He could have gone himself, of course, but why do that and risk being killed? Sticking his head out of the ground to look around left someone way too open and defenceless for his liking.

It was such a shame that this technique only allowed its user to feel the magnetic forces of people that actually stood on the floor; those that were in trees or on a body of water were unfortunately invisible.

His clone returned a few moments later and signalled that it was safe to come out, but even with that, Itachi couldn't help but be surprised when he broke through the surface and found himself in a sunlit clearing with a distinct lack of mist.

He and his clone shared a quick glance, but neither had an answer for why this was the case. Surely Kushimaru and Jinin weren't dead yet, were they?

This could be another trap. Maybe they were trying to lull them into a false sense of safety before trying to kill them when their guard was down. However, no matter whether that was the case or not, there was no reason not to go find his teammates in the meantime as long as he was careful. With that in mind, he began running towards where he could feel Kakashi's presence in the distance, his clone running a fair distance ahead of him in case there was a trap.

There was none.

He reached Kakashi in less than five minutes, his eyes instantly checking him up to evaluate his state and-

"You're injured."

He had apparently already felt his presence –not surprising considering Itachi hadn't tried to stay undetected- and now turned around with a lazy wave, Sharingan once again hidden behind his forehead protector.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted him, completely ignoring his comment. "It's good to see that you're alright. I was afraid of what would happen if I told Shisui-san that you died under my watch."

While the sight of the older man standing casually with one hand in his pocket and once again one-eyed calmed him down somewhat, that did little to minder his annoyance at the man ignoring his statement. Well, he thought. At least I can be pretty sure our opponents are gone now. Kakashi wouldn't have hidden his Sharingan away if he thought there was even the slightest danger, after all.

"I can't say the same for you," he replied evenly as he stepped closer to get a better look at the gashes on his left shoulder and back. "Can I expect Guy-san to come and complain to me about letting his eternal rival getting hurt?"

"It's more likely I who he will seek out to help me 'regain my power of youth'," Kakashi chuckled with just a pinch of desperation. Then, when Itachi stepped behind him to heal his injuries, he turned his head around as much as he could to watch him work. "Hey, do you even know what you're doing? It would be troublesome if you made it even worse."

However, contrary to his words, he didn't move away or tried to stop him and let Itachi patch him up without putting up a fight.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I do, yes. You saw me walking out from one of Tsunade-sama's seminars a little more than a week ago, didn't you?"

"I did, but I also remember that these seminars were held for only two weeks at that point. There are two classes per week, if I remember correctly, so you had only four classes at most."

"Which was fortunately enough to have learned a few basics."

And some basics were truly all he knew. In the other timeline, he had participated in the medic classes for ANBU and even looked a bit into healing when his illness got worse, but the former really only covered the absolute backbones while the latter had been focused on medicine rather than actual medical techniques. It was enough to form a good foundation for the aforementioned seminars, but that was it.

So far, Itachi could use only one medical Ninjutsu, which was also the most basic one. It required little skill and did little more than pump chakra into a body to stimulate regeneration, and it only healed minor wounds because the ratio of chakra to healing progress was so poor.

A person with sufficient chakra could theoretically use this technique to heal every and all wound, but that wasn't recommended; serious wounds that were treated this way usually didn't heal correctly in that the bones got more brittle and the muscles grew weaker. Generally speaking, the basic technique was used to stabilize a patient until someone with more expertise could use a more specialized technique to heal them correctly.

Fortunately, as Kakashi's were only superficial, it was the perfect fit for this situation.

Let's hope Zabuza isn't in a worse state, he thought. It would be a problem if I were forced to use a technique I have only read about and never actually practized.

As if on command, the Kiri-nin appeared a few seconds later mostly uninjured aside from one shallow cut on his right shoulder that had already stopped bleeding.

"So you two are still alive, huh?" He then gave Kakashi an appraising look. "You already need healing? Sure you can handle this mission, Copy Ninja?"

Much to Zabuza's visible annoyance, Kakashi's only reaction was a nondescript, one-eyed smile. "Just some scratches, I assure you. Itachi here was merely a bit too eager to test his newfound healer abilities."

"Zabuza-san," Itachi spoke up before the man could give a no doubt snarky reply. "Shall I look over your injury as well? I-"

The swordsman spat on the ground. "I don't need a healer for a little scratch like this, so keep your hands to yourself."

Itachi nodded. While he thought he should at least offer his services, he had expected nothing less.

"Well then," Kakashi said when it became clear that no one else felt like continuing this conversation. "Now that we're all here, why don't we compare what happened after we got separated? I assume it's probably too much to hope for that one of you was successful in killing your opponent?"

"I agree," Itachi spoke up first to avoid giving Zabuza the chance to complain. "Sharing intel is essential in case we will fight another opponent than today in our next confrontation with them."

Zabuza still didn't seem very keen on the idea but at least didn't disagree. If Itachi would be forced to take a guess, he would say that he was just in a terrible mood because their targets had managed to escape them with such ease.

As they shared their stories with each other, a few similarities could be spotted immediately.

For one thing, their strategies had been too simple. Yes, they utilised the silent killing technique with great skill, but in the end, there had been few variations. While definitively still very dangerous and very effective, especially for someone who was confronted with it for the first time, Kakashi and Itachi both have shown that these odds could be overcome relatively quickly by being observant.

Zabuza, who had managed to force his opponent into direct combat almost from the very beginning, also added that in hindsight, Jinin's moves had been rather lacking compared to what he remembered from the past.

These things put together created a clear picture:

This had been nothing more than a test.

Furthermore, every single opponent each of them had fought had been a water clone. While that didn't make it impossible that the originals had been close by as well, the three of them found it rather unlikely; either they had been close enough to hear the explosion in the village or were otherwise informed by it and then sent clones to check up on the scene, or they had kept clones in the area from the beginning. The former was the much more realistic possibility, but if the latter was true, it might indicate that they had been expecting strong opponents to eventually trigger their trap.

Based on the clone Itachi had fought, Kushimaru and Jinin had put a lot of chakra into their clones to make sure that they weren't as easily destroyed as normal water clones. Wasting so much energy only to potentially kill some random people that might accidentally find the village seemed overkill.

Of course, the trap might also have been for Taki-nins. This was their nation, after all. But even then, the likelihood of especially strong shinobi being sent to investigate the village was slim, so why bother leaving so powerful clones behind?

"I still say that it's more likely the originals were in the area during the fight," Zabuza said with crossed arms. "Not only are these two not the types to stay away from a confrontation, but they would also need to observe our fight if this was actually a test. After all, water clones don't transfer memories."

"Considering how much chakra they already invested into this, it wouldn't make much of a difference if they created a shadow clone with the sole purpose of observing us as well."

Zabuza scoffed at Itachi's remark. "The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu is a secret Jutsu from Konoha. Where should they have learned it?"

Itachi wanted to retort that think such as something being a 'secret Jutsu' rarely ever stopped other nations from learning them somehow as well, but he stopped himself. No need to irritate the man even further.

"Anyway," Kakashi fortunately brought the attention back to him. "There is something else you need to know."

He then proceeded by taking out a scroll and releasing its content with a little puff of smoke.

Itachi's eyes widened at the sight of a corpse with a forehead protector from Takigakure.

Kakashi's voice was sombre when he continued. "It appears we weren't the first ones on the scene."

A thousand thoughts went through Itachi's head as he dismissed old theories and came up with new ones; if they had already eliminated the Taki-nins, then why were there still the clones present? Were they just supposed to stay at the scene as long as they could to kill as many people as possible or had they actually been waiting for Itachi and his team and only killed the shinobi from Taki because they just so happened to arrive before them? Was this proof that the originals had been close the entire time?

Then another thought came to his head. Will this situation deteriorate into an actual political incident? Itachi wouldn't put it past Taki to blame Konoha for the death of their shinobi. The reasoning that they only died because his team couldn't kill their targets before it came to this tragedy was weak, but with how bad the relationship between their two villages was, it was possible that Takigakure would try to convince their daimyo that this was the case.

He was pulled from his thought when Zabuza plunged his broken sword into the corpse's body.

Itachi's head jerked towards the man at the same time as Kakashi shouted, "What do you think you're doing?!"

The swordsman ignored them both and instead held his sword above his head, watching with a strange gleam in his eye as it began to repair itself.

There was a tense silence when the process was over, with him and Kakashi looking at Zabuza with a mixture to disgust and anger while Zabuza appeared completely unbothered by that. Only when he had finished inspecting his weapon, which was now complete again, did he turn to her with something akin to amusement on his face. "Well, we should hurry. It would be a shame if we arrive at the daimyo's place only to find him already dead, right?"

He then vanished in a shunshin without waiting for them to answer.

Itachi and Kakashi shared a long glance with each other before the latter sighed and sealed the body back into the scroll. "If every single shinobi from Kirigakure is like this, I'm not sure if this alliance of ours has a future."

Itachi was suddenly reminded that his teammate had made bad experiences with Kiri-nins in the past. In fact, if he remembered correctly, he had even been forced to kill one of his original teammates because of them.

However, instead of mentioning that, he said, "The ones I have met a few years ago during my stay in the Land of Water were decent."

Kakashi only gave a nondescript huff before going after Zabuza, shortly followed by Itachi himself.

What is my name?

She paced around her cell completely uncaring of the pain that every yet so little movement brought her, alternating between bipedal and quadrupedal walking with no real system behind it.

What is my name?

After all, her entire existence had been nothing but pain and suffering for a long time now. When all you had in a world of eternal darkness and silence was pain, when your only companion was pain, when the only thing that never lied to you was pain, you became pain. It was all she had left, the only thing that was still hers, so she didn't shy away from it; no, she embraced it!

What is my name?

It was only now that she truly realized how small her cell truly was. During all the time she had spent chained to the wall or sitting in one corner, it had appeared so unbelievable big. In the darkness, it had looked endless. But now that she was actually moving, she realized that it was barely big enough to take five steps in any direction before running into a wall.

What is my name?

There were so many things inside her head that made no sense. Images from people she felt she should know but didn't, buildings she must have seen somewhere but couldn't say where, and names without faces to put them to...

What. Is. My. Name?

The one and only thing she could remember clear as day was them. A pale skinned man with long, silky hair, and this boy with brown hair and a pair of glasses that followed him behind like a loyal dog. They were the ones that made her what she was now, who unmade her, and they were the ones that brought all the misery into her life.

My name… Why can't I remember? WHY?!

She couldn't remember a thing from before this hell. She couldn't remember what friends she might have had, who her parents were, not even how she herself looked like or, or...

WhAt iS mY nAmE?