"Talking"
'Thinking'
Jutsu/ Bijuu/ Summons
Flashbacks and Setting
I don't own Naruto
Chapter 9: The Calm Before the Storm
At the Gates of Konoha
The team gazed upon the giant gates of Konoha, which stretched high into the air, and couldn't be happier to see the first sight of home. They were greeted by two Chunin, named Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu, who were aptly nicknamed the 'eternal gate guards', because they had, at some point, started to only take gate guard duty. Other Chunin began to stop taking the gate guard missions, as they were already always taken by the pair, and it became unofficially official, that the gates were their duty.
"Let's get this troublesome process over with." The leader of the returning team told his team. He greeted the guards with a lazy wave. "Team Suzaku returning from a mission in Kusagakure (Hidden Grass Village). Jonin Nara Suzaku, Chunin Inuzuka Hana, Chunin Aburame Muta, Chunin Uchiha Izumi all accounted for."
"Geez Suzaku-taichou would it kill you to show a little energy in this last leg of our mission?" Izumi asked her Jonin leader for the mission to Kusa.
"I'll need to save what's left for the report to the Hokage, Izumi. Give me a break." The lazy Jonin told the girl as he hung his head in response to her nagging. She'd been like that all mission. He eventually even turned over most of the negotiating duties over to the Uchiha Chunin, only adding his advice and opinions when absolutely necessary. He would say he just wanted to give some negotiating experience to the promising Chunin, but Izumi knew he was just being a lazy bastard, just like the rest of his clan.
The team had just spent the last 3 months in Kusa, negotiating better trade deals, and strengthening their relationship. The team was handpicked by the Hokage for their skills, Suzaku for his intelligence and sharp mind, Muta for his logical and rational decision making, Izumi for her high EQ and ability to empathize and connect with people, and finally Hana was chosen for her ability to support her team with her medical and combat skills, while still being one of the more level headed members of the Inuzuka Clan.
The team had achieved more than what they had aimed for, and the team was excited to report their success to the Hokage. Well, at least the Chunin were. The Jonin captain found it troublesome to report all of the details of their agreements. It would take hours to explain everything. Hours he could have spent lazily watching the clan's deer herd.
They walked towards the Hokage tower, taking in the sight of their village. They had missed it after all. For 3 months they were away in Kusa, a minor village, and even though it was one of the bigger ones, it still couldn't compare in scale or grandeur to their village, even if it was still recovering.
"Alright, you guys can go off and do your own thing for now. I'll give the oral report to the Hokage. You guys can turn in your written reports tomorrow. Now scram." Suzaku told his team, and his team thanked their lazy captain, before quickly speeding off to do whatever thing they said they would do when they first got back to the village, on their journey back from Kusa.
With Izumi
She had asked around to see where her boyfriend was, only to find out he had been assigned a mission and wasn't in town. It had been 3 months without seeing him, and now she had to wait even longer to see him! She pouted, sticking out her lower lips, as she thought about what she should do next. She looked at the time and realized the Academy would be over for the day soon, and decided to go pick up her favorite brats in the village.
She headed over to the Academy, and realized it would be still be a few minutes before school was out for the day, so she sat on the swing in front of the school, the one she used to play on back when she was still an Academy student, and began to write her mission report, as she used her legs to gently rock the swing back and forth.
When the bell rang to signify the end of classes, the students began pouring out of the building, like water from a faucet. The kids split up into small groups, as friends went off to hang out after school, or were picked up by their parents. Narumi came out with her group of 6 friends, and was excited to be out of that hell hole.
"Ugh, another useless day. They always ignore my questions. I don't know why I even bother going to school." Narumi groaned as she walked out with her friends.
"I-it's quite rude of them. They s-seem to be especially mean to you today, Narumi-chan." The shy Hyuuga heiress commented.
"The way they treat her is quite illogical. I cannot-", Shino was interrupted by a wolf-whistle followed by a shout.
"Who is that!? She's so hot!" An excited Inuzuka Kiba yelled, as he pointed to a slender figure who sat on the Academy swings.
Naturally, all the heads turned to see where he was pointing, and saw the same figure.
Narumi narrowed her eyes to get a better look, but when she recognized who it was, her eyes widened, and her mouth split into a massive smile.
"Izumi Onee-chan!" She yelled, as she practically exploded towards Izumi, leaving only a cloud of dust where she once was standing. Sasuke was also excited to see her, but tried to hide it, so he didn't seem uncool. He and the rest of his friends walked over to Izumi as well, who by now was being glomped nearly to death by Narumi, who was rubbing her cheeks into the Uchiha girl's neck.
Izumi could only smile at Narumi's reaction to seeing her. "Looks like someone missed me."
"Oh did I ever! You've been gone for months! Months! We haven't been able to have our girls only outings for months! Stingy onii-chan was also making me eat veggies and stuff like that instead of taking me out to eat yummy stuff!" Narumi yelled out at a rapid pace that would make a certain Jinchuuriki in Kumo jealous, as she maintained her hug on Izumi.
"Hello Izumi onee-san." Sasuke calmly greeted Izumi.
"Oh, now that you're in the academy, you think you're too cool to give your onee-chan a hug? Get your butt over here!" Izumi teased. Sasuke blushed lightly in embarrassment and gave her small hug.
"H-hello Izumi-san. It has been quite some time." Hinata politely bowed.
"Well, well if it isn't my favorite Hyuuga! How have you been?" Izumi asked, and the 3 Academy students chatted away with the older Uchiha girl. Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Shino stood awkwardly by the side, until Izumi turned her attention to them.
"So, who are they? Are these your new friends?"
Narumi smacked herself in the forehead. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I didn't tell you! These are my new friends! This is Ino, the lazy one is Shikamaru, the f… friend next to him is Chouji, and the quiet one is Shino! They're my awesome friends!" She excitedly introduced her friends to the Chunin girl.
"Wow, looks like someone's popular!" She told Narumi as she elbowed her shoulder in good nature.
The Academy students greeted Izumi, and they chatted for a while, before Ko came to pick up Hinata, and the InoShikaCho trio were also picked up. Izumi offered to walk Narumi and Sasuke home, to which Narumi gladly agreed, while Sasuke also agreed, but with a little less excitement, at least openly.
"Glad to see you two make more friends! I knew people would come to see how awesome you two are." Narumi beamed at Izumi's comment. "So how have things been? How's school? Training? Everything ok at home?"
The two Academy students seemed to deflate at that.
"Why? What's wrong?" Izumi asked the two with concern.
The two saw Izumi as an older sister, and felt comfortable enough to her anything, even things that they didn't tell anyone else. So, when Izumi asked them if everything was alright, they opened up the floodgates of complaints and frustrations that had been building up.
Narumi started. "Well, it was nice to make a few new friends at the Academy, but it hasn't been all good. A lot of the kids hate me, and I can sense it. I don't even know what I ever did to them, but they hate me and bully me. They always leave me out of everything, and ignore me if they're not actively making fun of me. On the first day of class, they all called me a stinkin Tomato! How am I a tomato!"
Narumi raged, throwing her fists into the air, but despite all her anger, she looked more cute than scary to Izumi. Izumi giggled at Narumi's reaction to her own story. "I don't know, but you sure are the cutest tomato I've seen."
Narumi blushed a little at the strange compliment, before she continued. "That's not all. I'm doing good in my shuriken and taijutsu training, but those stinkin instructors always nitpick when it comes to me, and mark me down for any and every mistake! They don't do that for everyone! Just me! And that's the subject that I'm "good" at. The boring classes like math or intro to chakra are even worse. They suck at explaining, and when I ask them questions, they ignore me. My grades are terrible, and I'm scared to show Naruto onii-chan my report card. He's gonna be so disappointed. I hate going to school, and I hate everyone there except my friends. I only go to school so I can see them, and so Naruto nii-chan doesn't get mad at me."
Izumi frowned. Those bastards at the academy picking on her little sister like that. They couldn't see the sweet, cheerful girl that she was, and only saw the Kyuubi. Stupid. So stupid.
"I'm sure Naruto-kun won't be mad at you, you know he cares about you a lot, and just wants you to do well. I'm sure he won't let those people at the academy treat you like that if he knew." Izumi tried to encourage the young redhead.
Narumi nodded her head a little, and stopped talking to give a turn to Sasuke, and Izumi looked at Sasuke to let him know it was his turn to talk.
Sasuke was next to vent. "Well, I've got nothing major like Narumi, and I'm doing fine in school."
Izumi nodded at him, prompting him to continue. "But?"
Sasuke continued "But I'm not satisfied with my training. Everyone is too busy to train me. Tou-san is too busy with clan affairs, Itachi and Shisui nii-san are always on missions, or are up to something between them. They always have a serious look on their face these days and are always whispering to each other. It's hard to even find them around the compound these days, and even when they finally make time to train me, they're distracted and unfocused with me."
Izumi could tell how frustrated her favorite kids were, and she was frustrated for them. She decided to help.
"You know what? Your nee-chan just got back from a mission, so I'll have a few weeks off until my next mission. I'll swing by and give Narumi some help on her school work, and we can all train together after school. How does that sound?"
The two kids had stars in their eyes. "Really? You'd do that for us?" they asked almost in unison.
"Of course! You two are my favorite imouto and otouto in this village after all!" Izumi declared as she put her arms around their necks. The three of them smiled at each other.
Izumi invited Narumi to sleep over at her house, since Naruto was away on a mission, and Narumi readily accepted. A sleepover with her onee-chan was always fun.
The three of them entered the Uchiha compound some time later, and Izumi noticed the strange atmosphere. There seemed to be a lot of tension in the air. The weird stares on Narumi were hard to ignore as well.
"Sasuke? Is there something up with the clan?" the Uchiha girl asked, sensing something wasn't quite right.
"I don't know nee-san, but there is a weird mood to the clan these days. I'm wondering if Itachi and Shisui nii-san know anything about it."
Izumi narrowed her lips. She knew something was wrong. She'd get to the bottom of this.
A couple weeks later, At the Hokage's Office
"Are you certain?" the Sandaime asked the two ANBU operatives he had sent on a recon mission to Amegakure.
"Hai Hokage-sama." Weasel replied.
"This is troubling news, a group that's strong enough to be giving Hanzo the Salamander a tough time. We'll need to keep an eye out for more news regarding this rebel group. This Akatsuki. So, you're telling me the group might have some connections to Kiri?" Hiruzen asked.
"Well, that's a speculation based on some rumors going around in Ame. We haven't been able to find any evidence that connected Akatsuki to Kiri. The refugees we found there are more of an indication of the desperate situation with the civil war in Kiri." Fox replied.
"I see. Excellent work you two. We've gotten more news regarding Ame from this one mission, than we have in the past decade. Any intel on the Kiri civil war is a welcome one as well. I'll add the pay for an S-rank mission into your accounts. You've earned it. Now go get some rest. Dismissed." The old Hokage told his two best ANBU, who nodded and promptly vanished.
With Fox and Weasel
The two headed to ANBU HQ to change out of their mission gear. "Always glad to be back home after a long mission." Fox said as he took off his mask, revealing a blonde 14-year-old with blue eyes.
"Agreed. I've heard Izumi is back from her mission as well." Weasel said as he changed out of his mission gear, revealing Itachi.
"Heh, so even the stoic Itachi shows feelings for his girlfriend huh?" Naruto teased, as he finished up changing. "Let's go look for my sister and your girlfriend." The two agreed and headed off.
They were walking down the streets when they heard a familiar laugh with some familiar voices from a nearby dango shop.
When the two entered, they saw Izumi, Narumi, and a Chunin named Mitarashi Anko eating dango with a flustered Sasuke.
"No need to blush so hard gaki. It was just a suggestion." Anko said innocently, as she suggestively licked the sauce off of her dango.
Sasuke huffed as Izumi and Narumi laughed.
"Now, now, I hope you're not having too much fun with Sasuke-kun, Anko-san." Naruto spoke as he sat down and swiped a stick of dango from Anko's plate.
"Blondie-kun! You're welcome to join us, but you need to order a round of dango for all of us. You do owe me, you know." Anko said in a mock-seductive voice as she slithered her arm around Naruto's shoulder.
"Hey! I just took one stick! I can't afford to buy all of you a whole new plate each!" He said defensively, trying to protect his hard-earned cash.
"You just got paid for an S-rank mission Naruto. I'm sure you can afford a few orders of dango." Itachi said softly, as he took a seat next to Izumi, who couldn't help but break into a wide smile and a blush at the sight of her boyfriend she had been missing for months.
Anko's smile turned into a smirk. "Oooooohhh an S-rank eh? In that case you'll have plenty of Ryo for-"
"RAMEN!" Narumi interrupted with a shout.
"-dango." Anko finished while entering into a glaring contest with Narumi, their eyes fighting a fierce battle to defend the honor of their favorite foods.
Meanwhile, Naruto gave Itachi a dirty glare. How dare he try to part him from his money. He needed to think of a way to get out of this situation, quickly.
"Weeeellll why don't we give the happy couple some time alone? It has been quite some time since they've gone on a date, no? I'll take little Narumi here for some training. Gotta check her progress and all, you all understand right?" Naruto tried to say smoothly, as he grabbed Narumi by the arm and tried to slink away to the door. Narumi maintained her gaze in her staring contest with Anko as she was dragged off.
As Izumi and Itachi got up together for some alone time, Sasuke realized he had been unaccounted for, and he would be left alone with the crazy snake lady, Anko. No no no. He would not suffer by himself.
"Guess that leaves you and me to go do some training of our own eh, gaki?" Anko turned her attention to Sasuke with a stare that promised a world of pain, whether physically or mentally. Sasuke had to think quickly.
"I'll be training with Naruto nii-san." He tried to join up with the retreating siblings.
"I'll come along too then." Anko began to stand up.
"But who's gonna finish the 10 orders of dango and the finest sake this place has to offer?" Sasuke quickly replied.
"Huh? What dango? What sake?" The snake summoner asked.
"Waitress! I'd like 10 assorted dangos and the finest sake you have here for the lovely lady here! Put it on the tab of Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto!" He quickly ordered before running past Naruto and Narumi and exiting first.
"Wait, what?" Naruto was left speechless at the turn of events.
"In that case, how can I refuse? Thanks for the drink and dango, Blondie-kun!" She blew him a kiss.
"Hey, wait! I never agreed to all this!" He yelled, but it was futile, as the waitress quickly brought everything out, and had already opened the bottle. The manager in the back smiled as Ryo signs could practically be seen in place of his eyes. The waitress would get a nice tip for her quick action.
Naruto was unable to fight back, as he was dragged off by Narumi, who was now excited to show off the new skills Izumi had taught her.
Naruto cried as he was dragged away. It hadn't even been an hour since he had received his precious, and now his precious was being spent against his will again.
With Izumi and Itachi
The Uchiha couple walked along the main street, looking for a place to grab dinner, as they caught up with each other. The pair received smiles from many of the vendors, being seen as cute couple. Izumi blushed as she snuck her arm around Itachi's, who saw what she was doing and failed at hiding the smallest of smiles when Izumi leaned her head on his shoulder. All the turmoil in his mind was silenced when he was with her.
They decided to eat something small, as they had already had some dango earlier. The pair found a small eatery, which served snacks and small meals, which had a wide entrance and window facing the streets, offering a good view of the village's lively streets. Itachi ordered some onigiri, and Izumi ordered some Anpan rolls and some tea to go with it.
They ate their meal with some lighthearted conversation, often talking about Sasuke and Narumi, which Izumi noticed made the smallest of changes in Itachi's expression, which disappeared as quickly as they came. She brushed it off, and the two had a good time talking to each other and enjoying each other's company for hours, until it began to become dark.
Most of the guests had gone home by now, and they were alone as the owner had gone to the back to clean up. It was then Izumi decided to bring up a question that was burning at the back of her mind for weeks now.
"Itachi-kun? Do you know anything about the strange atmosphere in the clan these days?" She asked her boyfriend.
Itachi's face turned serious in an instant. "How about we start heading home Izumi-chan?"
Izumi could see the micro expressions on Itachi's face that told her that what he wanted to tell her was not to be heard by others.
"Sure, it is starting to get dark after all. Let's just pay and head out."
The two paid the owner, and left to go home. The two took a detour, and walked into a somewhat isolated path through the woods, where nobody went usually.
Itachi led Izumi to a small bench, where they sat down. "So, I see you noticed that something is up with the clan."
Izumi nodded, and Itachi continued. He explained the current situation, and the things that were being plotted. Izumi's face began to pale more and more as Itachi explained. Finally, Itachi finished explaining, and Izumi couldn't find words to speak.
Finally, after a few seconds of processing, she managed to speak. "What will we do now? Our clan is going to use Narumi to basically overthrow the Village leadership. Things can't go well for either side."
Itachi nodded. "To be honest, I don't know. I love our village, and I don't want to hurt Narumi, but how can I betray our clan? I haven't been able to decide, and I haven't been able to tell anyone about what's going on in my mind."
Izumi listened quietly to Itachi before asking, "Did you tell Naruto? Itachi, he can help you, he's basically your brother. Please, talk to him."
"How can I discuss using his sister to our clan's benefit? He'd sooner kill the whole clan himself than to see her come to harm. He must not know about this. Nobody can. Izumi, promise me you won't tell him, at least until I come a decision."
Izumi's mind was already made up. She wasn't about to let anything happen to Narumi. She believed in Itachi and knew he would eventually make the right choice and protect Narumi as well. She decided not to push him and drive him into making rash decisions, so she decided to go along.
"Sure Itachi-kun. I promise I won't tell. But think about this. Our clan is your family, but Naruto and Narumi are also your family."
Itachi grabbed her hand as he gave her an assuring smile. "I know. I'll find a way to protect both families."
Izumi smiled back at him. She believed in him. She would do her best to help him find an answer.
At the Naka Shrine, Underground
The figures of a small group of people were huddled over a table covered in documents and photos, speaking in low whispers. They had been discussing who needed to be neutralized to prevent their opposition from mounting an organized resistance. Who needed to be paid off, and who needed to disappear. After a lengthy discussion, they had come to an agreement on what needed to be done.
"So, when will we make our first move?" the voice of one of the Uchiha elders asked.
"There will be no "first" move. We will prepare everything, and when we see an opening, make all our moves at once. There will only be one shot, and if it doesn't work, it will mean a war against the entire village." Fugaku replied. "We'll have to make sure our one shot goes off as smoothly as possible. We'll need a distraction to occupy their attention while we get our pieces into position."
As he spoke, his eyes fell onto a picture of their resident redheaded jinchuuriki.
At the Hokage Office, late at night
"Hokage-sama, we must make our move quickly. The clan is getting restless. If we don't pacify them now, it may be too late." Shisui told the old Hokage in a private meeting.
The Sandaime puffed on his pipe. "And what do you suggest we do to pacify them?"
"We must organize a private meeting with the clan elders, and concede to at least some of their demands. They are feeling more and more alienated from the village, and feel as if the village doesn't care about their needs and concerns." Shisui suggested to Hiruzen.
"If the other clans find out about this, they may feel like we are favoring the Uchiha clan, and might also begin to have rebellious thoughts. And it might not guarantee the Uchiha's loyalty either." Hiruzen reasoned.
Shisui sighed. He had one last trump card. "Sandaime-sama, I do have one last alternate option."
Hiruzen leaned forward to listen.
"My Sharingan has a unique ability. It's called the Kotoamatsukami. I can only use it once every 10 years, but it allows me to plant ideas and suggestions in the mind using a genjutsu so powerful, that it makes the target think it was their own idea, and they have no way of knowing the genjutsu was used on them."
Hiruzen leaned back. This was a powerful, and very dangerous technique. In the wrong hands, it could prove catastrophic. He thanked Kami it was in the hands, or in the eyes rather, of a loyal, and reliable shinobi by the name of Shisui.
"That's quite the ability Shisui-kun. I'll keep that in mind. I'll try to think of something. In the meanwhile, please continue to keep tabs on the conspiracy, and let me know." Hiruzen told the loyal Uchiha Jonin.
Shisui nodded, and burst into a flock of crows that flew out the window. Hiruzen got up from his seat and went to the window. He looked at the moon as he puffed on his pipe, deep in thought.
Meanwhile, an eavesdropping elder of the village couldn't believe his ears. Such a powerful ability. He couldn't trust such an ability in the eyes of an Uchiha. He would have to take the power and give it to someone he could trust to use the power for the good of the village. He would have to give it to the only person he trusted. He had to give it to himself.
At Ichiraku's, a few days later
"Nothing beats a nice hot bowl of ramen after some training!" a young redheaded girl shouted out as she took her seat at her favorite ramen stand.
"You say that about ramen for everything." Sasuke commented. The other 5 friends laughed at his comment, as they agreed.
"Do we really have to have ramen? It's gonna be so bad for my figure." Ino complained.
"Hey you guys all said I got to pick this time!" Narumi yelled in defense.
"Ugh, we should have known you were gonna pick ramen, that was dumb of us." Ino sighed.
Chouji had no issues with ramen, and was excited to dig into the ramen that Narumi had been building up for weeks now.
The seven, as they now called themselves, had taken up to training together, at Narumi and Sasuke's behest. Though they called it training, very often it was more of a hangout, Ino complained too much to train, besides, she couldn't watch her Sasuke train if she was busy training her self. Chouji was too out of breath to run usually, and just ate his chips next to Shikamaru, who was always napping or lazing around instead of training. It was mostly Narumi, Sasuke, Hinata, and Shino who trained.
They had been taking turns to choose where they ate after training, and Narumi naturally brought them to Ichiraku's where she always spent all of her weekly allowance.
"I don't see how you have so much energy anyway." Ino mentioned. "You guys train so hard, its hard for us to keep up."
"Perhaps you are lacking energy. Why? Because you do not consume enough calories." Shino suggested.
Hinata giggled when Ino huffed as she tried to think of something smart to say back. She failed, and she angrily turned her head to the menu, looking for the ramen with the lowest calories and fat content.
"Well, it's because me and Sasuke, and Hinata-chan too sometimes, have been training together for a long time," Narumi explained. "We've had awesome trainers too! Like Naruto nii-chan and Itachi-niichan, and Izumi nee-chan recently. Oh yeah don't forget Shisui nii-chan too!"
At the last name everyone perked up. While Naruto and Itachi were well known amongst the Shinobi, their ANBU status meant a lot of their achievements were relatively secret, and unknown to the public. They merely had reputations of being strong due to their meteoric rise through the ranks. Shisui on the other hand, was a regular Jonin, and was a legendary one at that, and was known by his moniker, Shunshin no Shisui, or Shisui the Teleporter. Everybody knew him and his skill. He was a legend.
"No way! You know Shunshin no Shisui?" Ino asked in awe.
"He trains you guys?" Chouji forgot about food for a second as he asked.
At her friends' response, Narumi felt proud of her relationship with Shisui. "Yup! He's awesome! I actually like training with him the best. He's funny, and he always brings snacks."
"Oh, so that's why you like me?" the seven heard a voice say from behind them, and Narumi and Sasuke felt a hand on their shoulders.
They turned around to see the man they had just been talking about. Shisui the teleporter.
"Shisui nii-chan!" Narumi happily greeted him, before she realized he might have everything she said. "Hehe how much did you hear?"
Shisui gave her a teasing smile. "Hmmm… Let's just say… starting from the point where you said ramen is the best after training?"
Narumi's face grew red in embarrassment. Damn her and her loud voice.
Shisui just laughed seeing Narumi's reaction. He decided he had enough fun teasing her.
"You know what? I'm in a good mood knowing how awesome you kids think I am. Why don't I pay for all of you today?" he offered. The glint in Narumi and Chouji's eyes made him realize he made a mistake, but it was too late to take it back. 'Shit. Me and my big mouth.' Shisui thought to himself.
The seven were accompanied by Shisui as they ate their ramen, and chatted amongst each other, with many of Narumi and Sasuke's friends asking him questions about previous missions and the like.
"So, you guys are in your first year huh? I guess you'll be joining the shinobi forces in around 4 years then." Shisui asked Narumi and Sasuke, who nodded. "If you guys do well, I'm thinking about becoming your Jonin sensei, I do enjoy teaching you two after all. It'll be fun, I get to pass down my skills, and I get to take you on some fun D-rank missions while I'm at it!"
Narumi and Sasuke's eyes widened, and they begin to sparkle. Sasuke especially, was happy to hear someone take so much interest in him. He was only in his first year, and someone as strong as Shisui, who was said to be even stronger than Itachi, was offering to teach him when he graduated! He couldn't wait for 4 years to pass.
"No way Shisui nii-chan! That's awesome! I'll be your best student! I promise!" Narumi also couldn't wait to be his student, he was very good natured, and a good combination of firm, but relaxed. He was always so fun to train with.
Meanwhile, the other 5 students with Narumi and Sasuke were also flabbergasted. To them this was akin to getting training by one of the Sannin. Their mouths hung wide open at the scene.
A little later, the 8 satisfied customers of Ichiraku's got up after their meal.
"Thanks, Shisui nii-san!" Narumi and her friends all thanked Shisui for the meal and headed off.
Shisui went to the counter to pay, and was astounded by the bill. 'No wonder Naruto always seemed so down after taking Narumi to eat ramen.' He thought as tears began to roll down his face.
A few weeks later
Itachi had just walked Izumi home after a date, and was coming back home when a crow landed in front of him. He thought nothing of it, and continued to walk home, but the crow began to follow after him, until it landed on his shoulder. 'Hmmm, this appears to be one of Shisui's crows.' Itachi thought to himself.
The crow flew off his shoulder once it had Itachi's attention, and landed a short distance away, and gestured to a certain direction by repeatedly looking at Itachi, and back at the direction. Itachi understood that the crow was trying to lead him somewhere, so he began to follow. Now that Itachi was following it, the crow began to fly, starting slowly, and then picking up speed. Itachi matched the crows speed, and followed the flying crow.
It led him through some woods, and finally led him to a cliff at the end of the woods, which stood above the Naka River. Standing near the edge of the cliff, Itachi saw a figure who was leaning against a tree, panting, and trying to catch their breath. He went closer to find that it was Shisui. He was heavily injured and he was bleeding from his right eye.
"Shisui! What happened to you!?" Itachi yelled, quite uncharacteristically, as he ran towards Shisui to help him.
Shisui looked up at Itachi, and Itachi realized his right eye was missing. Shisui replied with one word. "Danzo."
Flashback
Shisui was coming back home after informing the Hokage of how far things were progressing with the conspiracy, when he was stopped by Danzo.
"Follow me. There's something you need to hear." The bandaged elder of Konoha told Shisui.
Shisui was always wary of the elder, but Danzo was heavily bandaged and walked with a cane, while Shisui was probably the strongest Jonin in Konoha. He decided to ignore the bad feeling he had in his stomach, and followed Danzo.
A short walk into the woods with Danzo, and they arrived at a clearing. Danzo turned around to speak.
"I'm aware of the conspiracy your clan is plotting. I also know you're against it, and will do anything to stop them from going through with their coup. Am I wrong?"
Shisui wasn't surprised Danzo knew. He was a high ranking elder of the village, and an old teammate of the Third. He always had an uncanny ability to gather intel. At least he knew that Shisui wasn't against Konoha.
"You're not wrong." Shisui replied. "Though I'm not sure how you've heard. So, what is it you want to tell me?"
"What would you do if I told you there was a way to prevent the coup from happening? A way to protect the village from the danger it faces?" Danzo asked Shisui.
Shisui was beginning to feel like Danzo had some ulterior motive, and was feeling uneasy. He began to tense himself to be ready for anything. "Depends. What do you need me to do?"
"What are you willing to sacrifice for the sake of the village? For the sake of peace?" Danzo asked in an ominous way.
"I'm not sure what you're getting at Danzo-sama." Shisui answered.
Danzo gave a small nod and Shisui noticed several ROOT ANBU appear between the trees, forming a circle around them. Shisui understood whatever it is that Danzo wanted, he was going to take it by force.
"Danzo, whatever it is you're planning, I want no part of. Just leave me alone, and I'll pretend this never happened." Shisui warned Danzo.
"I'm afraid I can't do that." Danzo replied, as he nodded to his agents. They drew their tipless tantos, and began to close in on Shisui.
Shisui drew his own blade, and formed one handed seals to perform the Hosenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Sage Flower technique). Several balls of intense fire spewed out from his mouth, and attacked the ROOT ANBU, though all but the slowest of them were able to dodge the fireballs. Shisui didn't mind, it was merely an opening for him to use his trademark variation of the Shunshin (body flicker) technique. Several after images of Shisui appeared all over the clearing, as he effortlessly used the Shunshin in rapid succession to appear as if he were everywhere at once.
The ROOT ANBU were unable to use their numbers to surround him, as Shisui appeared suddenly behind each ROOT ANBU and cut them down before vanishing just as quickly as he appeared. The ROOT ANBU were left slashing at his after image, and were unable to deal with someone of Shisui's caliber.
They were hacked and burnt by Shisui, while they themselves were unable to land a hit on him, but they had accomplished the purpose Danzo had brought them for. To distract him and give him an opening. He drew his own blade and rushed in at blinding speed, which threw off Shisui, as he had thought him to be a feeble old man.
Danzo created a blade of wind from his own blade, and slashed at Shisui, who easily dodged it and struck back at Danzo with his sword coated in his fire chakra, overwhelming Danzo's wind natured chakra imbued sword. They had a brief exchange in sword strikes, and while Shisui was surprised at the old man's skill and speed, he was still the superior ninja and began to overcome him. The exchange ended with Shisui's burning sword going through Danzo's heart, and Shisui quickly followed through with a Goryuka no Jutsu (Great dragon flame technique) to incinerate Danzo and the remaining ROOT ANBU.
He saw Danzo's burnt and charred remains fall to the ground, and turned around to leave. He sensed a warp in reality, and turned around to see an unscathed Danzo rushing to him with blinding speed, leaving Shisui to be unable to react in time.
Danzo ripped Shisui's right eye right out of its socket, and Shisui screamed in pain, as Danzo delivered several sword strikes into him. He held the socket of his right eye and looked up to see Danzo hold his right eye, and several more ROOT ANBU began pouring into the clearing.
Danzo's bandages around his head fell, revealing a blinded Sharingan in one of its eye sockets. Shisui understood what had happened. Izanagi. How had Danzo even known about the forbidden technique? And how had he acquired a Sharingan? That thought was answered when he remembered his own eye was in Danzo's hand. That sick bastard would do anything for power.
Shisui began to cough, and found blood on his hands when he wiped his mouth. His vision began to blur, and he felt slightly more sluggish than before. He knew what had happened.
"Poison. Looks like the effects of my poisoned blade are starting to show now." Danzo told Shisui.
Damn this old man. Shisui knew his chances of coming out of this were slim unless he won quickly. He would not allow him to get his left eye. The ROOT ANBU began to rush him, with their tantos raised to strike him from all angles. They swung their swords at Shisui, only for them to harmlessly bounce off of an ethereal green ribcage that formed around Shisui to protect him.
Shisui's left eye revealed a 4-pronged pin-wheel pattern. His Mangekyo Sharingan. "Susanoo!" Shisui yelled, as the rest of the figure began to form around the ribcage, eventually resulting in a towering green figure, holding a drill-like lance. He easily began to dispatch the attacking ROOT ANBU, and Danzo realized he had nothing in his arsenal that could match up against such a power. He decided to walk away with his gains, and quickly left while Shisui was distracted with his ANBU. He'd let the poison do the work.
Shisui wrapped up killing all the ROOT ANBU, and realized Danzo had gotten away. By then he was already weakened by the poison and the use of his Susanoo in his weakened state. He knew he didn't have long to live. He summoned a crow and sent it to find Itachi.
Flashback end
Shisui explained what had happened to Itachi calmly, despite being near death.
"Itachi, I won't be able to protect the village or our clan any longer." Shisui told Itachi.
"NO! If we get you to the hospital in time, we can still save you! Just shut up and let me carry you!" Itachi shouted out in response.
"No. It's too late. Listen, Itachi I need you to do something for me." Shisui said calmly before ripping out his left eye. "You're the only one I can entrust with this. Please use it to protect the village and the Uchiha name."
Tears began to stream wildly down Itachi's eyes. "No… Shisui. I can't. I'm not strong enough. Please, don't go." Itachi begged Shisui.
Shisui stepped forward and put his eye in Itachi's hand, and leaned in to whisper into Itachi's ears. Itachi's eyes widened in fear.
A few moments later, Shisui's body fell from the cliff, and into the river.
Itachi knelt by the edge of the cliff with a bloody sword in his hand, looking down at the Naka River where Shisui's body fell.
The stream of tears turned into a stream of blood as Itachi wept bitterly.
He opened his eyes to reveal a 3-pronged pinwheel pattern on his red eyes. He had awakened his Mangekyo Sharingan.
* Author's Note*
Back with another chapter of the Jinchuuriki's brother! Man, this chapter was sad for me to write, as I loved Shisui's character, but I had to.
Anyway, I've been tallying up the votes for Naruto's pairing, and realized people were voting multiple times, and I had been counting them as separate votes. Over the weekend, I went over and individually matched each username to the vote they made and made a spread sheet. I counted guest votes separately, as their votes matter as well, but are less reliable, as people can easily vote multiple times anonymously. I found that the top 5 in the polls were the same amongst users, guests, and even combined, though perhaps not in order.
I decided to scrap all the people who are not in the top 5, and start a new vote with the top 5. Also I decided it won't be a multipairing.
In order to keep things fair, all votes are now at 0, and I'll only be taking new votes from users with accounts. Sorry to those who don't have an account, but you gotta understand there is no way for me to know who is voting multiple times.
There will also be a new format to voting. If you want your vote to count, you'll have to use the format. Here's the format.
I vote: (choice 1)/(choice 2)/(choice 3)
Example: I vote: Shizune/ Izumi/ Mei
Your first pick will get 3 points, 2nd pick will get 2, and 3rd pick will get 1.
Well that's the format, but I'll count other formats as well, as long as it's clear what your 1st pick, 2nd pick, and 3rd pick are.
Sorry about the change up, but I hope you understand why I'm implementing it.
Anyway, here are the candidates.
Izumi
Shizune
Samui
Mei
Anko
Also, if anyone can guess what Naruto's summoning will be, I'll count their vote as double. Lol.
I originally had Shisui be the only person in the clan with the Mangekyo, and have Fugaku ask him to use his powers to control the Kyuubi, but I went back and changed that small detail so Shisui is one of very few people to have the Mangekyo. As of now I'm thinking it's just Shisui, Fugaku, The masked man, and now Itachi who has awakened their Mangekyo Sharingan since Madara. Maybe the list will grow but just know the number is very small. Most Uchiha will never even see one even on someone else.
I hope you understand it's my first story, and I know I'm a little lacking, leaving such plot holes. I'll try to do a better job.
Anyway, thanks for reading another chapter! Until next time!