REVISED: 4/7
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Spiral Out
By: Ane S. Thesia
Beta'd by: Lally
Chapter Four: Prelude
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When Itachi was 7 years old, he graduated from the Konoha Academy at the top of his class. When he was 8, he mastered the Sharingan. At age 10 he passed the Chuunin exam with little effort. At 13 he lead his own squad of ANBU.
At that same age, he found out a terrible secret the Uchiha Clan would live to regret. At that young, innocent age of 13, Itachi became a mass murderer.
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And I find it kind of funny.
I find it kind of sad.
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had.
I find it hard to tell you ´cause I find it hard to take.
When people run in circles, It's a very very…
Mad world
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A young man's story begins anew, sleeping alone in a forest on the hard ground, nothing protecting him from the elements but the clothes on his back. He's tossing and turning in the midst of a terrifying nightmare not even his bag full of weapons can help him satisfy. When he awakens with a start, a nearby tree takes the brunt of eight shuriken he hadn't even seen himself withdraw and throw.
This has been a new kind of ritual over the past three weeks- ever since he fled from his home and Konoha, becoming a wanted S-Class criminal…
Ever since he killed everyone in his clan and ground a knife laced with fear and hurt into his younger brother's heart.
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Itachi stood up slowly, letting out a low groan as his muscles stretched lazily and his joints popped. Bringing his clasped hands up above his head, he stretched his shoulders, yawning.
He had yet to get used to the constantly wet climate of the eastern border of Fire Country, it was taking too long for his body to adjust to the humidity. Why he had chosen to travel east was beyond him; he just knew he had never gone this way before. The attacks by ANBU Hunter-nin had been becoming less and less frequent the closer he got to Kirigakure, which was also a plus. He knew somehow that once he crossed the strait to the main village of Mist, he would be in a situation where he could disappear into anonymity, relax long enough to think.
The sun was coming up on the horizon with dull blue hues, but the moon was still visible in the sky. He guessed it was about 6a.m. now. He took a moment to re-tie his long, black hair into a low ponytail, covered up his burned-out campfire to get rid of any evidence he had been there, and continued on his path towards the sea.
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The dilapidated port town on the edge of Fire Country marked his real descent out of the figurative 'rain cloud' that had been following him for weeks now. Since the entire village revolved around the port in and out, it only took him a few minutes to find a ferry across to the country of Water. He stole no glances and left no marks, only one thing on his mind. Rest. He planned on finding a nice deserted area or maybe an abandoned house and staying there for at least a week to get himself together and figure out what he was going to do. He wished the sting of his treachery would wear off soon…
Little had he known, it may have been fate drawing him to his current destination.
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Not five minutes after departing the boat, Itachi found himself almost brained by a giant man who wasn't watching where he was going. It looked like he was running for his life, but the smile on his face told differently. By the shear size of his 'attacker', he was trampled with ease in his wake.
"Whoa there, kid," Itachi heard from above him, "Didn't see ya, my bad!" Followed by a nervous kind of laughter and the glint of two rather large canine teeth.
Itachi hesitated on the ground for a moment, fighting off the need to rub his sore backside from the impact of the hard stone-covered ground. He glared up at the man above him, eyes widening when he realized he was looking into the black-outlined but pure white eyes of a blue-tinted... man? He was certainly a human of sorts- it only took a few moments to realize it wasn't actually some kind of hyper-evolved fish in front of him, but the result of a bloodline he'd never seen before. He took note of the giant bandage-wrapped zan battou on his back.
Itachi cleared his throat, throwing another killing look upwards, trying not to feel the wavering in his gut.
"Watch where you're going," he ground out icily, pulling himself up and fixing his backpack before walking forward to grind his shoulder in the Shark's own as he passed.
He wasn't particularly in the mood to fight, but he couldn't help but outwardly show his displeasure to the clumsy bastard.
The man grabbed out at Itachi's shoulder. "Why you---!"
Receiving a glare that could have knocked him literally dead, he only faltered for a moment before letting out a loud 'guffaw' of laughter.Gripping the kid's shoulder, he spat with ill-humor. "You have a lot of anger for someone your size, brat! Might I kick some sense into that tiny brain of yours?"
"Don't fucking touch me," Itachi spat with an unusually calm voice considering the anger in his words. Closing his eyes for a moment, he opened them back up to display his own bloodline limit.
The Shark pulled his hand away abruptly, in awe. "Sharingan?"
There was a moment of strange silence between the two before the loud ruckus coming in their direction turned both their heads.
"There he is!" One man shouted, flailing a sword out from the sheath on his back. "You won't get away this time, Hoshigaki Kisame!"
"Hoshigaki…" Itachi mumbled, furrowing his brow for a moment in thought. Why did that name sound familiar?
The man with his sword drawn stopped a few yards away and eyed the two warily. Soon three more men were at his side, all sporting similar katana and Mist hitai-ate.
"Suichi-sensei, he has a partner?" the man on the far right questioned quietly.
The apparent leader of the bunch glared at Itachi for a moment, earning nothing but a derisive snort in return.
"Partner or not, you see that cut on his forehead protector? He's a rogue-nin. There's probably a bounty on his head in Fire Country."
"AH! Good thinking, Suichi-sensei!" The kid at his side might as well have clapped his hands at the thought.
"I don't have time for this," Itachi sighed. Inside he was berating himself for forgetting he was wearing his sin so loudly on his forehead. It had become too customary, like a second skin, he never even felt the headband in place anymore.
He needed to act quickly. Otherwise, his trip would have been for nothing. With the idea of relaxing somewhere in peace becoming a fleeting hope, he came to the conclusion that he'd need to slip away without causing a commotion and wear a Henge for a while.
But the man at his side was already in the process of drawing his own sword, ready to shed some blood on this beautiful spring morning. This was just the commotion Itachi wanted to avoid.
"Nehan, Shouja no Jutsu," Itachi spoke quickly, forming the appropriate seals.
All four attackers fell to the ground as abruptly as the Genjutsu was cast, putting them into a deep sleep.
Itachi could hear Kisame give a dejected sigh in response. "That was awful passive considering the look in your eyes just a few minutes ago."
Without a word, Itachi made his way past the sleeping men, stepping around their bodies as he passed to continue down the road into the awaiting village. He stopped, though, the moment he heard Kisame regard him.
"Uchiha," he spoke gruffly, "You've betrayed your village to come to the Mist? What's your business here?"
Itachi didn't respond. So Kisame continued…
"Well, honestly I don't care… I'm on my way out anyway. But I was told to report to Leader if any potential candidates came my way." He scratched the back of his head momentarily, heaving a loud, open-mouthed yawn. "Wouldn't surprise me if you were already noted on, everyone knows about your clan's bloodline."
Itachi couldn't stop the twitch induced by the mention of his clan at that moment. And Kisame didn't let it go unseen.
"Sore spot? Haha… Anyway, like I was saying…"
In the blink of an eye he felt the cold, sharp steel of a kunai grazing the back of his neck, and an angry whisper creeping over his skin.
"Either shut your mouth or get to the point, fish."
Itachi was met with a hesitant laugh.
Kisame raised his hands in mock defeat. "Heh… come on now, we all know you don't really feel like fighting right now…"
Without a second glance he could chop the kid in half with his Samehade… But business comes first, he reminded himself.
Itachi simply dug the knife a little deeper into rough skin, only drawing a small amount of blood from its leathery reaches.
"You've never heard of us, but I'm sure you'll be impressed. Five days. Come with me and you'll meet Akatsuki. We don't disappoint." A wide grin stretched across his features. Leader would definitely promote him for bringing a famed Uchiha into their fold.
"Akatsuki…" Itachi lowered his kunai and slipped it back into his pack.
With a nod, the two continued back up the path to the ferry where they'd no doubt have to threaten the port workers with their lives in order to get back across again. No bother.
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They spent two days in relative silence, much to Kisame's annoyance. All he knew was that the Uchiha's first name was Itachi and he left his village without a plan as to where he was going.
Somehow he knew that was the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
On the third night, the two found themselves once again amongst silence. Their campfire popped and crackled, giving the general tense mood a dimly lit orange hue that danced and threw long shadows up to the treetops. Kisame unconsciously poked the fire every few seconds with a sharpened stick, throwing glances towards the mysterious man perched in the tree above where he sat.
He couldn't help but wonder what the guy was always thinking- it seemed he always functioned with his eyes closed and a defeated posture. Suspicious might have been the word he wanted to describe him as. Every potential chance to fight had always been turned down with cold sighs and shakes of the head. It seemed uncharacteristic, and underneath it all, annoying. Though Kisame had to admit that he didn't know what 'characteristic' really was for the guy.
"Oi, Itachi?"
Kisame continued looking above him at his traveling partner. He was resting his back against the thick tree trunk, left leg splayed out the length of the branch he sat on, the other dangling over the side. Hands fiddling with a kunai, constantly busy but eyes still closed in contemplation.
"Hm." Was his response.
Standing up to get a better vantage point, Kisame decided he would at least force this total silence issue into the dirt.
"So, you've never said anything about it-," he breathed deeply before asking bluntly, "Why did you leave Konoha?"
Silence. Hell, if you could be more silent than silence, that's what it would have been.
Kisame growled deep in his throat.
"So that's how it is, then?" he snapped, "I take you with me, do you a favor, and you treat me like some kind of hindrance. Really, I'm shocked, I'd have thought you'd be a little less of an asshole for someone who has not a single ally in this world at the moment."
More silence. Somewhere in the surrounding forest, an animal met its fate at the hands of a predator, letting out a final wail before more quiet.
Kisame continued, his anger rising. "What the FUCK is your problem, anyway? That aloof bullshit might work on women—"
"Doing me a favor?" The question was almost inaudible on the wind ruffling the leaves above.
"Hell, yes, doing you a favor! You think I walk around recruiting just any pip-squeak I run over in the streets? Akatsuki is an elite organization." Anger unchecked, Kisame scoffed, "I don't know what I was thinking, I haven't even seen you fight yet. You could be some kind of Uchiha reject, that's why you're roaming around alone."
He seemed to think of this revelation for a moment before continuing. "Yeah, actually, now that I think on that a bit I'll guarantee that's what you are. I'll bet your clan got sick of such a pompous, weak little bastard---"
He cut himself off when his bantering finally garnered the reaction of deep red Sharingan eyes piercing the night. Itachi gripped the kunai in his hand with white knuckles.
Kisame reached for his Samehade with a smirk lacing his lips. "Ha… now, now…" This is what he wanted- finally he would have a little fun.
Before he could even bring his sword up to pull the wrappings off, though, the kunai buzzed passed his right ear at amazing speed.
"Hey! What the hell?!"
"You're noisy," Itachi warned, dropping from his resting place and nodding at something over his companion's shoulder.
Kisame turned around, alarmed to see the body of a man in ANBU gear sticking out from the nearby underbrush, kunai inbedded in his neck. The gurgling ceased after a moment and he twisted back around, looking at Itachi questioningly.
"I didn't hear that guy there- Konoha ANBU?"
Itachi nodded, eyes flicking back and forth in the darkness. "And not the last, I sense three more nearby now." He brought his hand back from his waist-pouch, more kunai nestled between his knuckles.
Kisame looked stunned at the young man before him. All this time he'd been trying to pick a fight with him, letting his senses get away. He silently laughed to himself, drawing the wrappings away from his zan battou. "Hey, uh…"
"No time."
Itachi jumped back and deflected incoming shuriken; throwing a few of his own in the direction they came from. Tensing his eyes against the pitch-black backdrop, he gave Kisame a tight nod before disappearing from sight.
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Keeping his sword balanced on his shoulder now, Kisame grinned sadistically, trusting that his new comrade knew what he was doing. "Come out, come out…" his voice dropped into the blackness.
Almost if on command, three men wearing ANBU masks stepped into the small clearing of their campsite. One with a Dog-face mask crouched down to check the one on the ground, feeling no pulse and wrenching the kunai from his throat in anger.
Bird-mask spoke first, words dripping with venom. "Uchiha Itachi, by order of the Sandaime Hokage, we're here to capture and arrest you. In any other situation I'd offer you the chance to come peacefully," he drew his katana swiftly before continuing, "but for you, we can make an exception."
Kisame simply continued smiling his toothy smile. "As you can see, there's no Uchiha to be found here. But I'm not one to disappoint in entertaining some visitors…" With a chuckle, he brought his sword off his shoulder and held it straight in front of his body, nodding readily.
Even with the dimly lit surroundings, Kisame was quite recognizable.
"S-Class criminal, Hoshigaki Kisame," Boar-mask signaled to Bird-mask. A nod of knowing from their apparent leader prompted a withdrawn sword and the metallic 'zip' of garret wire from the other.
Without a moment's notice, the fight began. Kisame easily blocked the incoming swordplay, slashing Samehade into the shoulder of one of his attackers. He jumped back just in time from the wire sailing in his direction, glinting in the moonlight.
"Heh! You guys are ANBU Hunters? Pathetic!"
Boar-mask, wounded but angry, clutched his sword tighter in resignation. Shifting a glance at his Dog-masked partner, they both advanced. Wire flew again, slipping a loop over the edge of Kisame's sword. He pulled with all his body, bringing the sword forward but not out of its owner's protective grasp. The other ANBU took the opportunity to lunge at the Shark, intent on the kill.
No one heard the impatient sigh or the rushing kunai.
The sword-wielding Boar collapsed mid-stride, sharp projectiles sticking from his throat and chest, blood gushing unrelenting onto the cold forest floor. Dropping his sword, he grasped at his throat as he struggled for breath on the ground at Kisame's feet.
"Hey…" Kisame said begrudgingly, throwing a glance to his left.
Another sigh. "With guys this weak, it's hardly worth breaking a sweat, Kisame." To his own surprise, he couldn't suppress a darkly coated chuckle, earning another sadistic grin from his partner.
The garret-wielding Dog-mask tried to hold his defensive posture, still clutching the wire around Kisame's sword. "Sudeki-sama! The Uchiha…!" But he faltered, looking back and forth, trying to steal a glance behind him. He realized he was alone.
"Sudeki-sama is over that way," Itachi pointed, covering a grin by tilting his head downward. "He didn't put up a fight… not like I remember him back when we used to spar together" He tsked disapprovingly.
The ANBU member's shaking, be it from fury or horror, reverberated down the razor wire to Kisame's Samehade, earning him condescending laughter at its fullest. "Considering a suicide jutsu?" Kisame cooed.
In all reality, Dog-mask really was. Silently deciding on the most destructive way to go out, hoping he could catch them off guard and take the two criminals down with him.
Not that he had a chance before a giant sword crushed through his sternum, collapsing his lungs and tearing its way brutally between his shoulders and out his back.
They never stood a chance.
"Hm. Well, that escalated quickly," Kisame stated cheekily, wrenching his sword from the man's body with a sickening noise. "And here I thought you were trying to kill me with bad aim before."
Throwing a grin over his shoulder, he sauntered back to their dwindling campfire and sat down to lean on the huge oak once again, as if nothing had just happened.
Without a sound, Itachi took up his last position on the branch above. He closed his eyes and smiled for the first time in a while. The adrenaline was wearing off, but it left that burning satisfaction in its wake.
"Expect that to happen often," he spoke softly to the man below him, earning a low chuckle.
"Thanks for the tip."
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Okay, so Kisame had been wrong. He admitted that now, although inside his head, because he'd never apologize for jumping to conclusions. But what had this kid done to earn nightly ANBU attacks? It'd spill eventually, he had the feeling. Not that he minded either way, because he'd already given Itachi a taste of what his own presence brought in his home country. They shared that common bond now, he contemplated. Both had entire countries damning their names.
The start of a beautiful friendship? Kisame cleared his throat and held back a laugh.
"I assassinated ten powerful Daimyo in my country and traveled with a group of guys from Mist for a while…" he stated, out of the blue.
Itachi inwardly wondered how long Kisame had been thinking about saying that. Not that he really cared either way; it was all just curiosity bringing him on this journey anyway. That, and he didn't have anywhere else to be...anymore.
His response slipped out without a thought, and it came so coolly that even he was surprised at his discloser. He'd never said it out loud before, and he couldn't help but feel the sting of true realization.
"I killed the Uchiha clan."
He heard a shifting sound below and tilted his head slightly to look down for a reaction. Coal-black eyes met beady white for a moment of mutual understanding. They were both screwed. Really. Both having committed the ultimate betrayal from their respective homes.
The main difference between the men was that one found it amusing, while the other still silently wallowed in a form of self-pity so thick it could have drowned him.
"Wow…" Kisame cut in bluntly, throwing a stray stick on the fire, "You're pretty fucked up, huh?"
There was that glare he liked so much.
"How old are you, like what, seventeen? Eighteen?"
Silence. Oh… not this again… Kisame snorted.
"Thirteen."
If eyes could jump from sockets on their own…