One Year Later
After one year of training the Kaien and Karan had improved their already impressive repitoire of jutsu. Kaien had even mastered the shadow clone jutsu to the annoyance of his sister. Karan had trained with Itachi to increase her endurance and chakra reserves and could now perform basic medical ninjutsu she learned from a book she had read. Her taijutsu had improved greatly since they had started. Both of the twins could perform at least three different element jutsu and we're starting on their fourth.
Despite their great accomplishment Obito or Madara as the three knew him as, was not happy that neither Kaien nor Karan had managed to awaken their Sharingan.
One night, after the twins had were asleep, he appeared on the porch where Itachi was waiting for him.
"Madara," Itachi calmly greeted him.
"Itachi, it's time. The Akatsuki are waiting for you." He said.
"When?" Itachi asked standing up.
"Three days from now, in the Hidden Rain." Madara said.
"What about Kaien and Karan?"
"Bring them with you, They've been here long enough." He said before teleporting away.
Itachi just sighed and decided to go and start packing. It was going to be a long journey.
Two days later
The trip served as a good time to work on survival training. Since Itachi was a wanted ninja he had to avoid being seen, so the main roads were not an option. The hike over the mountain instead of going around it was the best option. They were ahead of schedule so they had a day of training on the way to the hidden rain. He started them off with chakra control exercises and some light sparing with is shadow clones. Kaien took longer that Karan to break out of the genjutsu but not by much. After some combined attacks they managed to defeat Itachi's shadow clone.
"Good Job, now I want you to climb up the cliff. I'll meet you up there." Said Itachi before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
"He's already up there isn't he?" Kaien asked.
"I think he was always there." Karan said walking over to start climbing.
"Why are you climbing like that, just use chakra to walk up there Kar." Karen said
"I don't think that's what Itachi meant when he said climb." Karan retorted.
"Oh come on sis it'll be faster." Karen said walking in circles around his sister.
"Kai, be careful you don't want to..." But she was cut off by her brother tripping and not being able to regain his footing. She reached her hand out and grabbed him but the added weight made her loose her grip and she fell down along with her brother into the river below them.
Once in the water the siblings got separated. Karan managed to swim to get out but Kaien got dragged further down until he managed to grab onto a rock and push himself to the other side of the river and got out.
"Kaien," He heard his sister call out to him.
"I'm fine, you?" She asked worried about him.
"I'm okay, we can't swim across, the current is too strong." He told her.
"Let's go back and meet at the cliff." Karan suggested.
"Okay." He said before running off. Something didn't feel right to him. He felt as if he was being watched.
Back at the cliff, Itachi saw Kaien and Karan fall but just as he was about to go help them, Madara appeared.
"Don't, let them do it themselves. I want to see how much they've improved." Madera said.
"You're finally taking an interest in them?" Itachi said curious as to why he would suddenly care about their training. He had not stopped by to check in on them once in the entire year he was training them.
"I want to see how they handle this test."
"Test?" Itachi questioned.
"There is a gang of s-ranked rogue ninja hiding in the forest. I want to see how they handle it." 'Who knows we might get lucky and one of them may finally awaken their Sharingan.' Obito though to himself.
"That's why you suggested this route to the hideout." Itachi said.
"The gang has been causing trouble for Kakuzu's business deals, It's a waste of time to send one of the Akatsuki to deal with such a pest, the twins were a better option."
"That's not the only reason." Itachi pointed out.
"Perceptive as always," Madara said.
"You're trying to get them to awaken their Sharingan at the risk of getting them killed in the process."
"Careful Itachi, someone might start to think you've started to get attached."
Itachi glared at the masked man. Truth was, he was attached to the twins. Kaien reminded Itachi of Sasuke, with his determination to get stronger and perfect his jutsu. Karan reminded him of Shisui, she was kind and very intuitive and perceptive. The loyalty they had towards each other was admirable.
"They're more than capable of taking care of themselves. You'd know that if you had watched them train." Itachi said trying to change the subject.
"We'll see." Said Madara as he teleported away.
Kaien had gotten about halfway back to the cliff, when he started to hear voices. He decided to stop and take a look. Before he could find them they found him.
"Who do we have here?" He heard someone say from behind him.
"It's just a brat." He heard another voice say.
"Hey kid what are you doing here?" He heard the first voice ask. Kaien turned around to face them. He saw a tall man with black hair and yellow eyes with a shorter man with brown eyes and long hair in a ponytail.
"I fell in the river and got dragged here." He told them.
Both of the strange men turned to look at each other. "Hear that Cato," The tall one said to the shorter man.
"Probably means the brat isn't alone, Send Lia to scout ahead." The short one asked.
"Hai. What about him?" The tall one asked.
"May as well take him with us use him as bait." He said with a sinister smirk.
At that Kaien pulled out a kunai and got in a defense position waiting for one of them to try and move against him.
"Aww look at that, the brat wants to play ninja." The tall one said with a smirk.
"I'm not a brat," And with that he started making handsigns. "Katon: Giant Fireball Jutsu."
The fireball flew towards the two rogue ninja but they dodged it just in time.
"Troublesome brat," Said Cato as he started throwing shuriken at Kaien. The shorter one took advantage of that to use a jutsu to camouflage himself. Kaien used a substitution and took advantage to try and get away. As soon as he thought he got away, he felt something hit him behind the head and he was on the floor. Just before he lost consciousness he saw the ninja appear in front of him.
"Should have gone the other way kid." He heard him say.
Meanwhile Karan decided to get back as fast as possible and was jumping from branch to branch in an effort to get back faster. She stopped when a woman dressing in a black yukata stood in her way.
"Well, what do you know? Shiro was right that brat wasn't alone." She heard her say.
"Who are you? And what did you do to Kaien?" Karan demanded hiding her worry behind an angry glare.
"Don't worry, you'll see him soon enough." She said making handsigns before disappearing into thin air.
"What the…?" that's when she felt it and immediately disrupted the flow of chakra to break out of the genjutsu.
As soon as she was out of it, the first thing she saw was the woman come at her with a kunai. Karan managed to dodge the attack but fell off the branch to the ground. The woman threw shuriken down at her and Karan barely managed to jump out of the way but not without cutting her arm. She was lucky they had worked on chakra control a few weeks ago and Karan had learned how to walk on water. The strong current of the river forced Karan to use more chakra. She needed to end the fight fast and find her brother or Itachi.
"Who are you?" Karan asked.
"I'm Lia, I was sent here to capture you but with all the trouble you're giving me, I'll just save myself the trouble and kill you." She said with a smirk.
Karan pulled out a kunai. "Not gonna happen. So I'm asking again, where is my brother?"
"Brother?" She said before laughing. "He's with my team. Brat didn't put up much of a fight but then again how much of a fight could a pipsqueak like him put up against 2 S-rank rogue ninja."
'This is bad, I can't take on 2 S-rank ninja on my own. I need to get to Itachi' Karan thought.
"What do you want?" Karan asked.
"Same thing anyone else would want, Money. Someone would pay a good ransom for a pair of brats like you two. If not we could always sell you in the black market."
"Where is he?" Karan said stalling so she could think of a plan.
"Don't worry, you'll see him soon" She said throwing more kunai at Karan.
Karan jumped up to avoid them before going on the offensive. In mid-air she formed handsigns for a jutsu she had seen her brother do once before. "Katon: Phoenix Flower Jutsu"
The fireballs flew towards Lia but she counter attacked, "Suiton: Water bullet Jutsu."
The water dissipated the fireballs but not the shuriken inside. Lia barely managed to deflect the shuriken. She walked closer to Karan and was getting ready to make another handsign but before she could Karan lifted her hands and pulled on something, Ninja wire.
Karan knew that her opponent was faster than she was and that her aim was no where near as good as her brother's but she did know how to set a trap.
"What?! How?" Lia screamed panicking. The wire was wrapped around her and she was barely floating in the river.
"You got distracted." Karan said. "Now tell me where is my brother?" Karan said glaring at the woman.
"I'm not telling you anything brat." Lia said struggling to stay above the water.
"Fine then, I'll just leave you here and I'll find them myself." Karan bluffed.
As soon as she turned around Lia started coughing. The river's current was strong and she could barely stay afloat. "Fine, I'll tell you just let me out of this thing."
"Tell me where he is first." Karan said crossing her arms.
"We set up camp in a clearing two kilometers east of here, now let me out." Karan went up to her and punched her, knocking her out. Then she dragged the woman out of the river and tied her to a tree with ninja wire. It might have been a bit excessive but better safe than sorry.
Karan started to weigh her options. She was the closest to Kaien and if she waited too long she could lose track of them. She looked at the woman standing in front of her and she got an idea.
She used a transformation jutsu to transform into Lia and went to go find her brother. She observed for a few minutes before finally going ahead with her plan.