Chapter 6
When Itachi heard of what happened, his grip on his pen dropped, ink spilling all over the document he was revising.
"Repeat that again?"
Shishui, his cousin and right-hand man, swallowed, "We received reports that Ino was attacked on her way back to the Capital."
Then, he took a small watch from his pocket, pressed the red gem in the middle and a hologram popped up, "This is what our knights captured when they arrived at the scene of attack, and found no evidence of who had tried to attack the future empress."
Itachi wiped his ink-stained hands onto the wet towel placed next to his desk and stood up.
"This sounds like…"
Shishui already knew what his best friend was thinking.
"Akatsuki."
Just hearing the name gave the two Uchiha men shivers.
They were a notorious group wanting to dismantle the Monarchy to build up a Dictator state that has started to spread from Suna to the surrounding smaller states around the Uchiha empire. If they were able to take out one of the Yamanaka heirs, there would be chaos and instability amongst the Nobility, knowing that the Yamanaka is one of the founding pillars of the Empire.
Itachi remembered the first time he heard of this group.
It was not known to the public, only the highest ranking officials in the empire and the Royal family. But even within the family, only the Emperor and the Crown Prince knew of their existence.
When his father officially announced that he would be taking over the crown once he passed, his father took him to a secret room in one of the hidden bunkers in the castle. The hidden bunker stored plenty of documents. But most of these documents were important documents that could topple the entire empire if it got out.
These documents were well-kept documents that unlocked the secret to their eyes.
The power that started and created the empire, the power that created the most invincible army the world had seen.
Power that evolved from three comas to intricate designs within their pupils the more their family unlocked their Sharingans.
Some of these powers include time traveling, strong hypnosis that will enslave the mind under the user's control, and most of all the strongest Sharingan user to date was able to summon the demon king Sussano, which was summoned by Madara Uchiha to conquer kingdoms and found the Uchiha empire.
It was within that darkly lit room that his father explained how the Akatsuki has been after the royal family for centuries, generations. Knowing that their bloodline were able to topple kingdoms, empires, they want to monopolize that power to themselves.
They had been after them since the death of Madara Uchiha, once they found out how powerful it was to have the eye to themselves.
To turn the Empire from Monarchy to a Dictator State.
If the secrets of their eyes went to their hands, they will not be able to counter attack and will keep the people in their peaceful Empire under their mercy.
Itachi vividly remembered the slight fear he felt, when his father uttered the next words after.
"But it seems like this time, they are one step closer to discovering how to unlock the Sharingan. There is a chance that my reign will be cut short and you'd have to step up."
Fugaku, who is usually composed and shows no emotions, let his real emotions shine through, "Once that happens, burn down this castle, burn everything. I would rather them get nothing, than risk them using our powers to bring our people to their knees."
"When that happens, you also need to inform the Yamanakas to destroy their scrolls on mind-reading. With our eyes and the Yamanaka mind-reading powers, who knows what will happen. The first priority when that happens, will be to protect our family and to protect the integrity of the Uchiha empire and make sure it ends in glory."
The Crown Prince pressed a button under his desk, "We need to send word to Duke Yamanaka-"
Before Itachi was able to press the button, there was an urgent knock on his office door.
Shikamaru, one of his chief of staff, barged in, "Your Highness!"
Then, he was pushed aside and an angry strawberry-blond middle aged man stomped in, "I told you, I need to talk to the Crown Prince himself about this, my Barony was crushed by his very own knights!"
Itachih looked to the man who barged in rudely into his office, his cane tapping on the polished wooden floors as he stomped over to the calm man.
"Your Highness, apologies for the rudeness, but you need to see what your Order has caused to my poor Barony at the Southern edge of the continent."
Shikamaru sighed and shrugged his shoulders, his hands in his pocket, posture slouched.
Itachi's dark eyes glanced at the man.
Baron Haruno.
He was a small baron from the South, an area not known for fertile lands, so he was not someone his father and his chief of staff would invite to their meetings in the Capital so he was not familiar with the family.
However, he did know that the Haruno family had aided and complied obediently with accepting Sasuke's troops into the area as a preparation for the impending war with Suna. If it weren't for their assistance, Sasuke's troops might have arrived at the Southern Port later than intended. From what he read from Sasuke's reports, he arrived just in time to quell the unrest in the Port City, which housed people from the Uchiha Empire and some Suna residents. But, the troops from Suna became more aggressive once they heard the rumors of a possible resistance force within the Empire.
There were also worrying reports of a resistance group that has started propaganda against the Royal Family in the Southern area, and this definitely points to the Akatsuki, especially after what had happened to the Yamanaka heiress. Itachi's migraine just got worse, thinking about the possible unrest about to happen. With all that happened within the past two weeks, he could feel that something was brewing and if they were not ready…
Baron Haruno took his own pocket watch out and showed the hologram video of what had happened close to the Port City.
There were shouts of anger and fears, as a troop of Suna forces burned down the small provinces surrounding the Port City. One person, in particular, caught Itachi's eyes.
"Wait, pause the video and zoom in on this area."
Baron Haruno fumbled at the Prince's demand and zoomed in.
There was a hooded person walking against the crowd, constantly looking back, almost as if to see if there were someone following him.
The people in the office held their breaths, as they concentrated on the video playing. Until, the hooded person turned his face towards the direction of the street camera, the sunlight directed towards the person's face.
The quality of the video was not great, but the grainy photo showed the tattoo on the person's forehead.
That was all Itachi needed to know.
"Shishui, call in reinforcements and send them to Sasuke as soon as possible."
"Yes, your highness."
Shishui, knowing who that man was, immediately bowed and left the office to action his orders as soon as possible.
Shikamaru, who was lounging on the wall, looking bored, also stood in alert when he saw the face.
"Troublesome. I'm guessing you need me to talk to my father?"
Itachi nodded, "Immediately. And investigate."
The hidden meaning behind his words were understood by the smartest chief of staff that surrounded the prince.
Investigate how much the Suna forces have infiltrated the Empire and if there are any connections between them and the Akatsuki.
The baron was confused with the seriousness of the Prince's tone.
"Y-your highness, what is happening…?"
The prince walked over to the man, his eyes red.
"Thank you for sharing this piece of information, Baron. The Imperial family will send their thanks to your family."
The moment the baron looked into the Prince's eyes, his expression turned blank.
"Yes, your highness. Our humble family appreciates the gesture…"
Then after Itachi finished replacing his memory of their meeting with an illusion, his eyes turned black.
"But rather than gifts, would your highness invite our family to the Capital sometimes?"
Green pupils turned sharper, mind clear, not knowing of what happened just a few seconds ago.
"Yes, of course. Now, if you excuse me, I need to go visit my fiance."
"Ah! Yes, congratulations on your engagement! You see, I have a daughter as well and-"
Itachi politely cut the baron off, "Apologies for rudely cutting you off, but I have urgent matters to attend to."
Baron Haruno coughed in embarrassment, "Eh, yes, please. It was a pleasure meeting with you, your highness."
One of Itachi's escorts appeared behind the baron and bowed, "Let me escort you out, Baron Haruno."
"Yes.."
As soon as the door closed, Itachi's eyes turned red again and then he vanished.
But as soon as Itachi turned his back towards the Baron, he missed the sour expression and angry glare that came from the short man.
Ino was in her bed, shivering, muscles sore.
After she got home from her trip, she collapsed in their main hall, surprising the Yamanaka household. Then, almost immediately, her body started burning up and the headache came in full force, almost as if it was trying to split her head up.
With the limited amount of mana Ino thought she had, she was still able to teleport her and Sophie back to their mansion.
Her headache seemed to not subside no matter how much medicine she took and how much she slept.
Her cheeks were also dried up with tears she shed when she was in pain from the nightmares she kept having from her past life.
She vaguely heard her mother crying on her bedside, as she nursed over her health the past two days. She also heard that they brought in Lady Tsunade to help check up on her condition and gave her medicine with the best quality to ensure the Yamanaka heiress get better soon. This was last night and the pain has not subsided one bit.
Today, when she woke up, her room was quiet and cool, the total opposite of what Ino was feeling inside.
The sick blonde opened her eyes a bit and closed it immediately, as the pain from her head came back with full force.
"Argh…"
Then, she felt something cool being placed on her forehead.
She moaned, the pain subsiding a bit due to the shock of the cold temperature.
There was also a smell of medicinal herbs being rubbed on her temples, to help with the pain.
Once her headache was slightly more bearable, she briefly opened her eyes and saw a blurry figure tending to her, refilling the empty glass of water on her bedside.
He had red eyes and raven-colored hair.
"... Sasuke..?"
The figure stopped what he was doing and a couple seconds later, gently sat down on her bed.
His warm hands moved to her face and gently closed her eyes.
"You should sleep some more, Ino."
The deep voice soothe Ino and made her feel sleepier. The barritone was different from Sasuke's usual tone… she wondered if his time away from the capital has matured and deepended his voice.
She hummed in response, and closed her eyes again.
After a few breaths, Ino fell back to sleep.
The other person brought his hands towards her head, and his hands glowed with mana. Itachi, who had an inkling of what his fiancee was experiencing, knew how to alleviate a little bit of her pain.
Her problem was that she hadn't unlocked her full mana potential, which was why she thought she had little to no mana. But, the thing was, she was part of one of the strongest bloodlines in the Empire. That attack awakened her Yamanaka abilities, which meant that the mana she just unlocked released all at once, overwhelming her body's balance.
His mana flowed from his hands and into Ino's, soothing the chaotic energy within her mind. He helped redirect the overflow of mana to the right places and tried to bring her body back to balance.
This also means that she's ready. The Akatsuki made a wrong move attacking her entourage - they had inadvertently succeeded in unlocking her abilities.
They now have one more powerful foe to think about, in addition to the Uchiha family. Itachi smirked as he looked over at his fiance, sleeping peacefully.
It was time for phase two.
Itachi stayed in her room for another hour, to make sure that she didn't wake up after having another nightmare again.
Once he was sure she had sufficient mana, his hand stroked her head lightly and placed a light kiss on her damp forehead and disappeared.
Once Itachi was gone, another dark-haired man materialized from the walls.
His hands were clenched in anger, his red eyes glaring at the spot his brother just disappeared from.
Sasuke scanned Ino's condition and took a few steps towards the bed.
When he heard of what happened to Ino, he left his office and teleported to her room as soon as he could. Only to find another person already tending to the beautiful blonde. He almost didn't have enough mana to conceal his presence once he arrived due to the distance, but it seemed like Itachi was too preoccupied tending to the blonde to notice anything.
He brought his hand up and stroked the shiny blonde hair, his anger subsided a bit when he saw her peaceful expression.
Then, he frowned and used his sleeves to gently wipe the area his brother left a kiss on.
"I swear I will get you back, Ino. Just you wait and see once I've proven myself capable of being a Crown Prince candidate too."
His hand then moved down to caress her cheeks.
Her breathing was even, her lips regaining their color back.
His eyes turned downcast.
He didn't know why she suddenly broke things off with him, but what he knew was that she still loved him.
Hearing his name come out of her mouth a while ago made his heart skip a beat.
Sasuke leaned down and placed a light kiss on her lips.
"I miss you…"
Before he could do anything, his pocket watch started vibrating.
He knew that he was needed back at the base.
He stood back up and rearranged the blonde's hair so that she doesn't wake up with tangled and frizzy hair.
Sasuke knew how much Ino hated waking up with tangled hair.
"I'll see you soon."
He leaned down and kissed her at the same spot Itachi had, to erase his presence from her. He took one more look.
Then, he disappeared.
A few hours later, Ino woke up that afternoon, and noticed that her head felt clearer and a million times lighter.
Her hands went up to her forehead and found it to have cooled down.
She pressed the call button on her bedside and Sophie, who was on standby outside her room the past few days, rushed into the room.
"Lady Ino, oh my your complexion looks a lot better!"
Ino yawned and stretched her body as she sat up from her bed.
Sophie, who brought in a cart full of nutritious food to nurse Ino back to health, prepared her breakfast in front of the bed.
She placed the cut fruit plate next to her bedside table and then quietly left her room, "Please ring the bell again if you need anything else, Lady Ino."
Once her bedroom door closed, Ino took the fork and stabbed the freshly cut melon.
Her mind felt clear, but now that she's awake she felt troubled.
She was confused.
After growing up believing she had no mana, she couldn't explain what had happened.
Before she fainted, she remembered asking Sophie to promise her to not utter anything about what had happened to Ino to anyone.
She needed to understand what happened first.
Not only that, but while her body was burning up, she had a dream.
A dream of her past life after she was executed.
The empire was lit up in black flames that no one could put out.
In the middle of it was a man with dark spiky hair, who resembled Sasuke, but with half of his face burned, with one red sharingan, and the other with purple eyes with infinite rings.
A/N: It just so happened that I just finished this chapter, hope you guys like the back to back updates :) Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to review!