Chapter Twenty-Nine

The Uchiha ANBU (Pt.2)

*An air of gloom ruled the main shrine, so heavy that he had to take a deep breath, unable to stand the weight. His father stood solemnly with his back to the altar, where the avatar of the god was enshrined.

"I have something to announce to all of you, today." The ominous shadow of his tone grew heavier than usual. "My son's entry into the ANBU is at hand."

His father sounded like it was already a done deal. Assassinate Mukai...As if it was as easy as any other mission he was ever given! It was sure to turn into mortal combat, with his life on the line. There was serious chance he could die.

His father put too much faith in his chances of success. Too much confidence in his abilities, and his resolve to do what needed to be done.

But for the wrong reasons.

"An Uchiha will join the ANBU. This is the most favorable opportunity we ever had."

"Then, Chief?" It was Tekka who spoke, quietly.

As everyone had their breath, the restless air gradually thickened. He could hear his own heart pounding fiercely in his ears. Unconsciously, he sought out Shisui.

His friend was three rows in front of him, staring at Itachi's father, motionless. The strained tension was loud and clear in his back.

He wanted to shout at his father to stop, for all this stop, but whereas his heart formed the words, no voice brought them forth. He could taste the malice of the clan, solidifying as if slid into his mouth. Pressing into his throat.

"We have exerted ourselves any number of times until now on behalf of the village. But what they have done for us in return?"

No one answered, but instead silently bent their ears toward Fugaku, so as not to miss a single word he uttered.

"At their root is prejudice against us."

The Clan Patriarch's words mercilessly tightened around his chest. The thing he hated most in the world was materializing before his very eyes.

Hatred.

Fighting.

War.

Whatever word he used, the essential nature of the meaning was the same: the senseless deaths of a large number of people.

"We have endured all this time. But we have reached our limit."

His field of view rocked slowly from side to side, before he slowly realized he was shaking his head. Faster than his thoughts, his body was rejecting his father.

No one was looking at him. Their eyes were all focused on their leader, in the seat of honor.

Stop, Tousan. Please, don't!

The voice in his heart did not reach his father. Abruptly, the patriarch's eyes blazed the bright red of the Sharingan. Such depth this eyes had changed with his agitation.

"taking advantage of my son's entry into ANBU, we will move toward a coup d'ètat."

Everyone raised their voices in unison. Not a drop of confusion in the collective cry. There was even an echo of joy in it. It sickened him.

"Itachi."

Over the cheer, his father called out his name, though to him, it sounded so far away it could have belonged to someone else.

He couldn't bring himself to move or speak up. He was frozen.

With a long stare at his unresponsive son, Fugaku continued, "The true objective of you joining ANBU is to investigate the particulars of the situation in the village. Then you will report back to us."

A spy...

He thought of Mukai Kohinata. Even if they were all in the same village, laking information about one side to the other when there were two forces in conflict was nothing other than spying.

So I'm going to be the same as Mukai?

"The information you bring us holds the destiny of the clan."

All eyes then turned on him.

A sea of red eyes...

As though trapped in a genjutsu, dizziness swayed his world.

...

A single crow soared up towards the heavens. Sinister inky black arms tangled around its feet, the darkness trying to tie its victim to the ground.

No matter how he kicked and struggled, the arms yanked him down. The heavens receded.

Drops the color of blood spilled from the crow's eyes...

...

"The day of reckoning is near."

Everyone stood at their patriarch's declaration. Itachi remained seated, lost in a storm of memories.

"I am your reckoning." Those had been the words spoken by the man in the orange mask, right after he had slaughtered half of his team on the road. Right after he had awakened his Sharingan.

The legs of his brethren all around him looked like trees colored by darkness, as though he had gotten lost in a forest at midnight. In the middle of the trees that filled Itachi's field of view, he caught sight of the only other person sitting.

Shisui.

His friend looked back and caught sight of him. Sadness filled his eyes in a way Itachi had never seen before. Miserably, the older Uchiha prodigy smiled, but it was hollow.

"Our fight will certainly lead to the glory of the Uchiha." His father's voice elicited a cry of delight from all present.

Itachi listened with a feeling of gloom.

...

He was not aware yet of the true nature of the darkness that would visit him.

The darkness held its breath and waited silently. Until the day came when it would hug him to its black chest...


It was the end of Summer, the beginning of Autumn. The target would be taking the following day off, his first in a month. Once Itachi learned this fact from the mouth of Danzo Shimura he hardened his resolve.

After many weeks of strategizing, of holding off and finding the right time to strike, arrangements were soon made. Itachi and Shisui Uchiha, who was to accompany him, had their duty schedules change. Through Danzo's agency.

Itachi was going to kill a ninja living in his own village the following day...

The target may be a traitor, but he was still a comrade from the village remained unchanged.

It would be a lie to say that Itachi wasn't reluctant to kill the target, but this mission was more critical than any he accepted thus far in his life as a ninja. He could not refuse.

Itachi kept very much in mind the fact that this man was a traitor. He, who had been talking with Kiragakure in secret, and had leaked crucial information about Konahagakure. Thinking about this helped him place aside his feelings of guilt.

"Everything's ready, Nii-san!" His little brother's cheerful voice interrupted his thoughts. Sasuke jumped out from behind a boulder, smiling. "I put out eight of them, completely separated, just like you told me."

Itachi grinned back. In amongst the close-standing trees, Sasuke had hidden the targets quite splendidly. Even while marked with their double circles, he couldn't see a single one of them. Excellent.

They were back in the middle of the woods, in his usual training spot. It was one of Itachi's breaks, the day before he would have to complete the mission after a long while of observing, planning, and choosing the right place and time for Mukai to meet his end. Sasuke had begged him to join him for some training before his older brother would start the next day. And before Sasuke would start his first day at the Ninja Academy.

Itachi always loved spending time with his brother with every free moment he can spare. With that thought in mind, tomorrow's mission will present an even bigger change in the brothers' lives together, depending on whether he succeeded and failed. Whether he lived or died. If he lived, he would be accepted into ANBU, and his schedule will most likely be busier than it ever was as both a genin and chunin, lessening even more of the little free time he would ever spend with Sasuke from now on. If he died...well, then Sasuke would have lost his big brother for good.

With that unpleasant thought alone, Itachi was determined not to die.

Sasuke hurriedly ran over and crouched behind the nearest shrub, away from the targets or any line of trajectory. "All right, Itachi!" he urged in a spirited tone, unable to hide his excitement.

Nodding, Itachi grabbed his kunai. Once he had wedged one between all his fingers, he had exactly eight in his hands. Eight iron claws sticking out from loose fists.

He closed his eyes.

Lowering his face, he focused his mind a little.

He poured chakra building from the depths of his stomach into his eyes.

Sharingan.

Everything went silent, except the chirping of birds. The stir of a breeze.

Hidden in the bushes, Sasuke swallowed, feeling the tension within the silence. He gulped hard, watching his older brother intently, waiting for his move...Within a flash, kunai flashed out and Itachi kicked lightly from the ground, flipping backwards into the air.

The breathing of the trees grew restless at once. In the rumbling pulsation of life, he saw small circular foreign objects.

Eight targets.

Letting out a breath, Itachi then kicked lightly at the ground.

Crouched from his hiding place, little Sasuke watched this speed of movement with wide, perceptive eyes within less than a second...

The older Uchiha's brother's body twisting high in the air, his head and feet traded places. With his body flipped upside down, his center of gravity pointed toward and stretched out, stabilizing his posture. Increasing the precision of control of his kunai...

With his eyes closed, eight target appeared in his mind. Two he couldn't reach in his position.

The one knocked over artlessly behind the front of the enormous boulder was going to be the most trouble.

Within a single motion, he first threw the four blades in his left hand in a single motion.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

All unerringly pierced the four targets in relatively easy locations.

Next came the two kunai clutched between the thumb and middle finger of his right.

Thud! Thud!

These landed into their intended targets without incident.

Two left...

...the kunai between his middle and ring fingers switched to he left hand...with one kunai now in each hand, with his body arching back, he waved both arms above his head at the same time and sent each kunai flying.

Twing! Clang!

The trajectories of the two blades overlapped, collided in mid-air, then bounced off each other to fly off in unexpected directions.

One second...

He landed in a soundless crouch in the grass. When he opened his eyes, his Sharingan glowed sharply with their crimson light.

"Wow!" When he stood slowly, Sasuke popped his head out from behind a tree, where he crouched to avoid danger, his mouth hanging open as he stared dumbfounded at the rock before him. Behind the boulder lay the most troublesome target, a purposeful challenge the little boy set for his prodigal big brother. Of course he got that one! The target was pinned deeply into the grass by one of the collided kunai with intended force. "You even nailed that target in the blind spot behind the rock!"

While Itachi turned of his Sharingan, Sasuke flew out from behind the tree. He was clutching his own kunai in both hands. He was in such high spirits after that display with his big brother's skills that he was practically beside himself.

"All right! My turn!" exclaimed Sasuke, holding his kunai in position. Practically pulsating with excitement.

So Itachi almost felt bad for what for what he said next. "No, Sasuke, it's time to go!"

Sasuke stopped abruptly. He turned toward his brother, his face puffed thoroughly with displeasure, looking cute on his babylike face. "What? What happened to the new shuriken just you promised to teach me, huh?" he protested, glaring at Itachi with accusation.

Itachi had indeed promised. But he had more than fulfilled that promise with what he had shown the younger boy. He wasn't ready for Sasuke to know too much before he entered the Ninja Academy. He knew from experience that knowing too much ahead of time killed the thrill of learning alongside your classmates, knowing that there was nothing more that they could teach you.

The only true thing that Itachi missed from those days at the Academy was spending them alongside Izumi. Back then, when the friendship between them seemed a lot more simple, more innocent...

"It'll have to wait," he said. "I have an important mission tomorrow, so I must prepare."

His little brother turned his face away, pouting. The cool eyes beneath the furrowed brow were twisted up as if he were about to burst into tears. "Hn! You're such a big, fat liar!"

Feeling a warm smile lifting his expression, his heart swollen with love for the pouting little boy, Itachi waved him over.

Still looking away, arms crossed, Sasuke peered at the corner of his eye at Itachi with a resentful gaze. His face then cleared away instantly with a happy expression before racing over to him. His childish footsteps echoed across the forest, small and excited, imprinting more on Itachi's heart.

"Sorry, Sasuke," he said casually, with a subtle undertone of mischief...and popped his index finger up to poke his still-moving little brother in the forehead like a jab. "Maybe some other time!"

"Ow!" Sasuke winced as he cried out, his progress thwarted. Cheeks reddened with frustration, he glared up at Itachi. Still looking cute with that pout of his.

Itachi knew it was more to do with having his time with his big brother cut short than not being taught the new shuriken technique. Shisui had been on the receiving end of Sasuke's anger when taking Itachi away on missions before. Izumi...well, just for showing up to spend time with Itachi, training or not.

If possible, Itachi would have trained with Sasuke to his younger heart's content. He would stay all day and watch his five year-old little brother develop his hand coordination and steady his feet. Meditate his buzzing chakra and direct its focus into an actual jutsu...

"Okay, but just watch this!" Sasuke suddenly announced.

"Huh?" Itachi blinked out out of his brief reminiscing realizing too late what his little brother planned to do as Sasuke crossed his arms and readied his kunai, smiling boldly.

Before he had a chance to stop him, Sasuke was flying toward the target. "Yaaaah!"

"Hey, be careful!" shouted Itachi, reaching out. "You're going to hurt––"

Then before his eyes, Sasuke twisted his ankle and plunged magnificently into the ground, headfirst. His kunai sprawled across the grass.

"Sasuke!"


"Itachi...I can walk," Sasuke grumbled, his pout half-hidden on his brother's shoulder.

"Don't push yourself," Itachi gently chided him.

"Okay."

Sasuke had hurt his ankle, so there was no more arguing about continuing their training. After giving him some extra bandages, Itachi ended up piggy-backing his brother on the way home, reminding himself of the time when he had hurt his ankle and Shisui had done the same for him. It had been a tad humiliating, but he rather enjoyed feeling tended by the one whom was considered his own big brother. Had it really been two years since that training exercise gone wrong?

Looking back on that night, he realized that had also been the time when he decided that he would best serve the village fighting in the shadows. He did not know then that ANBU would be his course, but it made sense that he met those qualifications long before he knew it.

"Hey, Nii-san, that was fun!" Sasuke said, far too happy to notice his own injured ankle. He tightened his arms around Itachi's neck. "Will you train with me again sometime?"

"Sure. But I'm going to be assigned missions soon, and starting tomorrow, you'll be attending the Ninja Academy. So, we not going to be able to have as much free time to ourselves anymore."

Sasuke was silent for a moment. Then he said, "That's okay. As long as you're able to spend time with me every once in a while." He nudged his forehead affectionately against the back of his big brother's neck, who tightened his arms around the child's legs in response.

Feeling the warmth of his brother on his back, Itachi continued walking back toward the Uchiha compound in Konohagakure, feeling their quiet time together pass peacefully.

Sensing faint ripples in Sasuke's aura, Itachi stopped and looked over his shoulder at the little boy. "What is it?"

But Sasuke was looking wide-eyed at the nearest building, which bore the large emblem of the Uchiha crest above its threshold. "That building is where Tou-san works, isn't it?"

He looked up at the massive building, constructed with the circle as a keynote. "Mm-hm. It's headquarters for the Leaf Police Force," Itachi answered his brother matter-of-factly. It was only a matter of time before his baby brother took note of the importance of his surroundings, including the daily lives of their clan.

"I was wondering," Sasuke continued, sounding rather grown-up with his little voice. "How come the Uchiha clan crest is part of the Military Police Force insignia?"

Itachi sighed. "Well, what do you know? You finally noticed." His eyes quietly bore into the symbol.

"Of course I did!" Sasuke straightened up proudly, and Itachi couldn't help his mouth that stretched into a smile.

"Right...Let me see if I can explain it for you." Itachi thought of what to say without showing too much bias toward his own clan. "Well, basically, it was our Uchiha ancestors who established the Police in our village. So when they created the symbol for the organization, they used the family crest. Since a long time ago, the Uchiha have always handled and maintained public order in this village to ensure the peace here. The crest is a testament of our clan's pride in a way of life centuries old."

He explained this while attempting to avoid difficult words as best as he could. He hoped to fulfill his brother's desire to learn anything and everything before forming opinions of his own.

As Sasuke listened silently, he continued, "Over the years, the Uchiha clan has grown smaller. But even now, nearly all of us are a part of the force, and worked to uphold the peace in this village."

Of course, there were exceptions, like Shisui. He had heard that ninjas of the village had made an appeal, praising Shisui Uchiha's superior talents. As one of the youngest to join the Military Police Force of this generation, his interactions with ninjas on the outside of the Force have been severely curtailed. He would have been completely contained within the clan's framework if not for his well-known services to the Hidden Leaf and its citizens (that, and Shisui was far too clever to be completely exposed to everything he did). Due to entreaties from ninjas in the village who feared that Shisui would be completely withdrawn within the will of his own clan, Shisui has been assigned many missions out in the field the moment he became a genin.

The same couldn't be said of Itachi, who didn't become a genin until years after the end of last war, but he and Team Two had been sent on much more challenging missions than the others of their generation, back when they had worked together. Back when Tenma and his sensei were alive, and Shinko still a kunoichi.

And Izumi...she would be becoming a genin by now. She would soon be pulled into the inner battles of the Uchiha's secret meetings and the village's scrutiny. Her childhood would also be approaching its official conclusion before the end of this year, and there would be nothing he could do about it without causing suspicion.

What would her reaction be, when she found out that her own clan was plotting against the village he knew she loved? Her late father's side of home? What would she think of him and Shisui for keeping it from her for so long?

Quickly abandoning that line of thought, he then smiled back at Sasuke. "Which is good, because even the most exceptional of shinobi can weed out the criminals hiding among their brethren."

And because even the most exceptional of ninja can be capable of committing crime, so only can a greater ninja be capable of bringing them down.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Wow, Otousan is the coolest!" Then a thought occurred to him. "Are you going to join the force, too?" Sasuke's innocent question pierced his heart.

"Well..." The real answer got stuck in his throat. "I'm not sure."

"Why not?!"

He could never tell his little brother about joining the ANBU for the sake of their clan, and how dissatisfied they were with the village. All he could do was offer a noncommittal response.

"Boy, when I grow up," said Sasuke excitedly, "I'm definitely going to enter the Police Force!"

His glittering purity wrenched at Itachi's heart. His brother's voice was so free of worry, unaware of the dark circumstances of their childhood. He thought about what was in Sasuke's mind: both brothers in the Leaf Police force, encouraging each other in their work. Days passing like a dream.

But that day will never come...

Even if he ever did join the force instead of ANBU, he could never be content with that fate. His dream was to rid the world of war, and the vessel of the Military Police Force was simply too small to realize something that big.

"And when I start the Academy, Tousan will surely be at my entrance ceremony. It'll be the first step to my dream!"

Itachi's baby brother's dream was to work as a ninja, together with his big brother, in the Leaf Police Force.

He was glad. It was a selfish feeling, because he knew it was a dream he knew could never be realized. But just for a moment, being in the same mind and heart with the person he cared about most in the world, it was a pleasant fantasy.

"That's right," said Itachi softly. The vague reply was all he could give.

When they passed through the gates separating the Uchiha compound from the village, Itachi abruptly felt an aura beside the wall. There, they found Fugaku leaning against the entrance, looking grim with his arms folded in front of him. Itachi jaw clenched at the sight of him.

"You're late, Itachi," he said sternly. "What have you been doing?"

"Tousan!" whispered Sasuke.

Fugaku quickly took in the scene, noting Sasuke on Itachi's back. The older brother tensed up, feeling his eyes narrow.

Not in front of Sasuke!

Face unreadable, his father turned around. "I need to talk to you. Let's go."

"Hai."

Their father started walking toward their house with a confident stride, and Itachi moved with heavy feet to chase after him, his little brother still on his back. When had he become so annoyed at facing his father like this?

He knew the answer. He just didn't want to acknowledge it.

...

They were settled in a kneeling position in his father's room. Fugaku sat with his arms crossed before Itachi and Sasuke, who were sitting alongside each other. "I'm told that it's tomorrow."

Itachi stayed silent, feeling his heart start to pound in his chest. But he knew exactly what his father meant. Mukai's upcoming assassination. His heart beat faster as the words pounded into his head with condemning harshness. How much does Otou-san know? Who did he hear about the mission from?

He could only guess the answer to the second question. It had to be someone within Danzo's circle, someone close. But why would Danzo leak information about the mission to his father, of all people? Doubt piled with more doubt, stirring in his heart like a disease.

"Ha ha." Fugaku laughed. "That's my boy. It's only been a year since your promotion to chunin, and you've already come so far."

Itachi continued to look at his father silently, keeping his face unreadable. Sasuke turned worried eyes on his older brother, as though sensing the unnamed tension building between them.

"Tomorrow is a special mission...and I've decided to go along." Fugaku's small smile was almost chilling.

His heart pounded more fiercely than it had all day. But the rocking of his brother's heart next to him was many times fiercer. He could almost see the look of shock and disappointment in his brother's eyes.

He is so focused on the clan that he doesn't even remember why tomorrow is so important to Otoutou! Anger toward his father swelled inside of him.

"If you succeed in this mission, Itachi, your entry into the ANBU is all but assured." His father's sharp eyes bled crimson with the Sharingan. Sending the silent message between them. "Do you understand?"

Fugaku despised the village, and here he was being toyed with, via information brought in from the village. It was so pitiable to him that he could hardly stand it.

This was a mission that required him to be ready to die. And he was only allowed to bring one person on this assassination, which his father likely didn't know about, meaning he didn't care enough of the well-being of his oldest son, so long as the mission was carried out. It made Itachi's blood boil with both anger and sadness.

At least he would have Shisui by his side, one of the only people he trusted with his life. He would not allow his father to interfere with that.

Itachi managed to keep his mask of composure. "You don't have to worry about me out there. And, more importantly..." Itachi looked at Sasuke, and what he saw cracked his heart.

His baby brother looked to be on the verge of loud sobs, his large ebony eyes shining with unshed tears, but with wisdom and strength beyond his age, the little boy was pushing back his own feelings and smiling.

"It's all right, Itachi..." He felt as though he could hear Sasuke's voice in his head.

A smile spread his lips. Itachi wished he could tell him right now how proud he was of him, but it was not his reassurance that Sasuke needed right now.

Tell him...He silently urged, hoping Sasuke would understand. Tell him about the big day tomorrow. Remind him of what's more important. He gave the smaller boy a push with the power of his eyes.

Sasuke turned shyly to their father. "Tousan..." he said meekly. "You see...tomorrow afternoon is my––"

"This mission tomorrow, it's not just about you!" Fugaku cut him off, completely disregarding his younger son. "This performance will reflect on our entire clan."

Just like that, his little brother's courage was shattered with the hard words of their father, whose mind was focused on nothing but the clan. Sasuke lowered his head, a frozen look on his face. Tears seemed more prominent in his eyes as he desperately held them back, hiding them behind his bangs.

The sight was another blow to Itachi's heart. His anger toward Fugaku surpassed his limits. Was the clan that important? Did he not care about Sasuke?

"Actually," his next words came out, "I'm going to pass on tomorrow's mission."

"What are you talking about?! That's insanity! You know how important this is! You'll do no such thing!"

"I have to. Tomorrow is Sasuke's entrance ceremony."

Fugaku caught his breath. It was in that moment that, for the first time, the patriarch remembered what Sasuke was doing the following day.

This, too, made Itachi so angry that he didn't feel the least bit sorry for adding salt into the wound. "Our family has to attend," he said with a sickly sweet smugness in his calm, quiet tone. "It's customary at the Academy. You received a notice...remember?"

He looked straight into his father's shocked eyes, who tried to understand the deadly calm of his oldest son. Even Sasuke, who glanced up at the corner of his eyes in surprise, didn't seem to fully believe it when Itachi said he was throwing aside an important mission for him.

But Itachi was not bluffing when he said he was abandoning the mission. Not this time. Those words were from the bottom of his heart, with no lies on his tongue.

For Sasuke, he would have done anything to make sure that his little brother knew that he was just as important. That he would have family there to support him. Even if it meant throwing away a career opportunity. Itachi would find other ways to play his part as a ninja, and he never particularly wanted to be ANBU. Not as much as his father did, evidently.

Finally, after the fleeting silence flowed into the room, the patriarch let out an exasperated sigh, and stood up from his seat, towering above the boys. "All right, enough. I get it. I'll be at the Academy tomorrow."

With the discussion concluded, they walked out, following their father out side to meet their mother in the kitchen for dinner. From the garden came the dry sound of the bamboo rocker arm of the shishi-odoshi clacking against the stone.

Itachi was now sure that his father would go to the entrance ceremony tomorrow. He was glad he spoke up the way he did. Because with his oldest son's entry into the ANBU, it was his first step toward realizing his deepest wishes for the clan. He couldn't risk making a mess of it over Sasuke's entrance ceremony. And he wouldn't be able to come along on the mission tomorrow as he first claimed.

Two birds killed with one stone.

But honestly, being sick and tired of everything, Itachi truly wished he would be able to go to Sasuke's entrance ceremony. See him take his first official steps into the ninja world, cheer him on and watch him grow cutely embarrassed as he and his mother wished him a good day from a distance. What he would have given not to miss it...

But he couldn't actually give up on accomplishing his mission with Shisui. Joining ANBU was not a foothold to realizing the dreams of his clan. No, it was a modest step toward realizing his own dream of becoming the most skilled ninja in the world in order to get rid of all the fighting. He had no intention of giving that up.

He had inwardly meant it when being prepared to find other solutions, should the conversation in the room have gone differently. But with that being no longer necessary...in the end, Itachi had used his little brother. It filled him with such self-loathing.

He felt Sasuke trail quietly behind him. Itachi looked over his shoulder, noting how downcast the five year-old was. Hiding his own guilt well, he spoke, "Sasuke?"

"Mm?" His little brother looked up, attentive.

Itachi gave him a kind smile. "Your left ankle...make sure you really ice it, okay?" Did his face stiffen up as he smiled when he said that? He hoped not.

"'Kay," mumbled Sasuke, sullenly. There was a complicated look on his face.

Itachi quickly turned around and walked on, having no idea what to say to Sasuke in that moment.

Throughout dinner, the feelings of guilt never left him. He secretly watched Sasuke eat, and talk with Mikoto who asked how their training went and how excited Sasuke must be to go to the Academy. This cheered the little boy up, enough to eagerly talk about what he wanted to learn and all the kids he planned to beat. Even Fugaku managed to a small, secret smile of his own as he ate, no doubt listening.

I wonder if he's feeling guilt, too. Itachi watched his father as the corner of his eye. He stabbed at his food. He should be.


(One Month Earlier)

It had started with what was supposed to be a simple infiltration mission.

Konoha had gotten hold of information that Sunagakure and Kiragakure were secretly trying to form a military alliance. If there came a time that Suna and Kiri went to war with the other villages, for whatever the reason, they would be allies. In this time of peace, they would agree on the same hypothetical enemy, and cooperate to bring about the fall of the target village. A secret agreement, with the condition of war.

The current peace was more or less maintained through the ninja villages, with each of the five great nations keeping each other in check. If two countries covertly joined hands and started to move toward a single fixed enemy, the peace would immediately crumble, and the days of war would return. To avoid this, Konoha absolutely had to prevent the secret treaty from being signed.

Itachi had been placed in the same squad as his target when a member of the mixed jonin/chunin team had been injured on his day off, so there was suddenly an opening in the mission. The young prodigy had been hurriedly brought in to help out.

The timing for such a selection had been too much of a coincidence behind the chain of events leading to the chunin's injury. Itachi could still see the shadow of Danzo at the corner of his vision on the hour of his assignment, and could only assume the Root leader had used his own men to injure the chunin, in order to provide a vacant spot for the Uchiha heir. There could be no other explanation.

To this end, Itachi took the message that Danzo silently sent to him and used this chance to carefully observe the target's skills as they carried out the mission together.

Having learned that a Kirigakure representative would visit Sunagakure, Konohagakure ordered the target and his team to do reconnaissance on the meeting. They were to carefully investigate the details of the agreement, and report back. That was basically the whole mission; as long as the enemy didn't notice them, it was in no way difficult.

Or at least it shouldn't have been.

An unforeseen situation occurred after Itachi and the others snuck into the residence of the fourth Kazekage, and watched over the meeting from the shadows. It ended with Suna and Kiri basically comparing their positions and making small moves toward each other, and his team was prepared to leave Sunagakure when one of the chunin was caught in a trap designed for intruders. They ended having to somehow escape their pursuers.

If not for Mukai Kohinata, they likely wouldn't have gotten away with as many of their shinobi as they did. The team leader, for all his show of cool indifference to the world around him, often caught with a golden bottle of sweet-smelling sake hidden from the pocket of his trousers, or even more often drawing out a cigarette in the middle of the mission (and just as much in the middle of a fight), had very much proved to be a seasoned fighter in both skill and wit. He was the only one, besides Itachi, who eased his way through the worst of the situation and handled it with speed and efficiency. Also, he seemed to be easily likable among his teammates with his dry humor alone.

For the most part, Itachi had been perplexed with his sudden choice of actions.

When they were near the border of Sunagakure, surrounded by its flourishing grassland, their pursuers caught up with them, forming a ring of more than twenty around Mukai, Itachi, and the others.

It was apparent that there was going to be no surrender, so Itachi had been prepared to fight when one of the chunin pulled him out of the way, flying over the heads of their pursuers to escape the circle. Mukai had then been left to fight their enemies alone in order to prevent them from following the rest of his team.

From the tree tops, Itachi had watched it all play out within minutes as Mukai performed his clan's inherited kekkei genkai, passed down only from the Hyuga clan: Byakugan.

He recalled Shisui saying it was unthinkable that any Kohinata would have the Byakugan, given that their family had split off however many generations ago from the main Hyuga clan. And yet, there he was, watching the impossible unfold before his very eyes.

Mukai Kohinata used his kekkei genkai to kick away the many kunai flown in his direction, his chakra flowing like a chain reaction in order to change their trajectory. The area around him remained completely unsullied, while only propelling four blades out the many.

Outside the circle, Itachi wondered if he could have managed the same feat himself, Sharingan or no. It would be rather arrogant of him to claim that he would have, but by instinct alone, he can never be entirely sure.

There was nothing wasteful in Mukai's movements. Every kind of weapon imaginable was thrown at him when their pursuers closed on the team leader, and still, he dodged the lust-filled attacks of his enemies and launched his own to hit exactly in the key spots of his defenseless enemies, taking them all down in a single blow. His physical just was so skillful that Itachi could do nothing but watch admiringly.

One person, one blow. Once Mukai had struck twenty or so times, only the enemy leader remained standing.

"Just you now," said Mukai to his leader.

The enemy trembled, long katana in each hand.

"So, you wanna go? Is that it? Well," Bored and completely relaxed, Mukai pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, "I can't exactly just let you go without a scratch now, can't I?" Placing it in his mouth, he took out a lighter and starting lighting it.

The sight seemed to set the leader off. With a strangled shout––it was hard to tell if it was a scream or a battle-cry––the leader closed the distance between them. The first blade came down from high to split Mukai's skull...but the jonin only shifted a tiny bit to the right, dodging it at the last second. There was a aisdeways slashing attack that cut through where he stood, and Mukai's left eye, Itachi noticed, released a flash of white light.

There was a light ring of metal, fading into silence.

"Wh-What the..." The leader mumbled in a daze.

Mukai just looked at him, cigarette dangling from his lips. "You just don't get it, do ya?" he drawled. His left hand, slightly raised, had caught the katana, the blade pinched neatly between his thumb and index finger. "I'm not gonna take you down with one blow." Then he let go of the katana.

The leader, who had been in a struggle to move the blade from the locked restraint, crumpled from the sudden release...and then Mukai brought his right foot down, cigarette still lodged in one corner of his mouth. The man's forehead was almost touching his solar plexus when Mukai launched a series of attacks.

"Eight trigrams Four Palms!" Mukai had his palm on the man's stomach and launched two blows in succession.

"Eight Trigrams Four Palms!"

Four blows.

"Eight Trigrams Eight Palms!"

Eight blows. Blood shot out the enemy's mouth.

"Eight Trigrams Sixteen Palms!" Mukai's palms hit the enemy sixteen times, from his face too his legs, and Itachi watched the man dance up lightly in the air like a dead leaf blown away by a strong wind, with no light of consciousness in his eyes.

It all happened in a blink of an eye.

More than twenty Sunagakure shin obi sprawled out on the ground around Konahagakure's team leader. With barely a glance around him, Mukai tucked his cigarette butt into his ash tray, as if putting out a light while taking a break and prepared to get back to work.

Itachi and the rest of the team leapt down from the tree tops, looking around them with amazement. "Amazing!" breathed one of the chunin. "He beat them all!"

"Just as expected from the boss!" claimed another with enthusiasm.

Itachi said nothing. He watched as Mukai leisurely approach him, noting his left eye regained its light once more.

"That's what you call a throwback," Mukai explained, looking down on Itachi, even though the boy was considered tall for his age, reaching exactly five feet in height now after hitting his growth spurt recently. "The main family and the branch families might be separate in theory, but you can't separate the blood. If the element's there, it'll show up on the surface like this." Then, unexpectedly, he chuckled, before resting hand on Itachi's head. "Don't go running around telling people, ya hear?"

The boy moved his head to shake it off. He never like being touched like that. Not when it wasn't Shisui.

Perhaps thinking Itachi was annoyed at being treated like a child, Mukai smiled apologetically. "Never really asked. How old are you, kid?"

"Eleven," Itachi replied easily, showing no signs of pride or distaste in his tone. It was only a fact, after all. He wasn't in the least bit angry at being a treated like a child. He didn't have the mental energy to spare thinking about something so trivial.

"Impressive. Seems the rumors about you are coming true." With a nod, Mukai turned to their teammates. "Let's get home already. My kids are waiting."

"How is your son doing?" asked one of their team members, as the team zipped off across the trees, heading home.

Mukai shrugged, smiling dropping. "Not so great lately," he said grimly. "I'm little worried about him. Gotta hurry home, report to the Hokage, and pay the sitter. She's becoming a genin after all. Another early bird, like this one." He jerked his head back at Itachi. "The Uchiha are are becoming famous for it."

"I'll say!"

There wasn't a hint of mockery in the team leader's tone, but there was something about his words that suddenly had Itachi's attention. "What do you mean?" he asked Mukai.

The man turned back around. After sizing Itachi up a little, perhaps deciding it was alright to continue, a smile then played on his lips. "One of your clan mates takes care of my kids every now and then, when both the wife and I are on the job," he said. "She's about your age, actually. On her way to graduating the Academy this month––"

"Izumi?" The name had blurted out from Itachi before he could stop himself. It just shocked him that this was the first time he was learning this.

"Heh, so you do know Izumi. Go figure. Every clan has a small district, though it's probably the fact that she's the only Uchiha currently in the Academy gave it away, didn't it? She did mention knowing you, though it was a question of whether or not you knew her."

Itachi tensed. What was that supposed to mean? Surely Izumi mentioned they knew each other since before starting the Ninja Academy together. He was certainly not ignorant of her, if that was what Mukai was implying (although he could see why some people would think that, since Itachi didn't necessarily wear his heart on his sleeve like Izumi would).

Of course, this should be the least of Itachi's concerns compared to the fact that his childhood friend was involved in the life of Mukai Kohinata at all. Thinking back on their past conversations, he then remembered that she did mention baby-sitting as one of her part-time jobs...

Mukai must have sensed the unspoken question radiating from Itachi, so he cocked his head. "Her father and I go way back," he said. "Kosuke Utada was three years my junior, but was a damn good jonin."

"I just remembered that I have to baby-sit for an old friend of Tousan's..." she had said that one time. He had never questioned it, after she had taken off so suddenly, seeming upset at something he had said.

That had been weeks ago! Had she been baby-sitting Mukai Kohinata's kids even back then? For how long?

"Went and married an Uchiha dame, got her knocked up and kicked out of her own clan, and then lived it out with their kid for a few years. Until the tragedy..."

"The Kyubbi attack," said Itachi. "I know." The only time he had ever seen Izumi's father in person was witnessing his six-year old daughter weep over his dead body, trying to shake him awake in vain.

"Right. You were the one that saved her life that night. Lucky for her...not so much for Kosuke. Moron always looked a little too eager for his own good, always acting all chummy, unpredictably emotional, a tad masochistic, and feeling the need to be someone's hero!" he scoffed, though half-heartedly. "Knew it was going to get him killed one day. Over-enthusiasm was probably in his blood, given his ancestry."

"His ancestry?" Itachi asked, curious now.

Disappointingly, Mukai didn't clarify. "His daughter takes a lot after him, in mood and spirit," he continued. "Let's just hope, that unlike Kosuke, she learns to know her limits when in facing more than she can chew. Because sooner or later..." Mukai's voice became grim and low as he looked ahead, "a ninja in this life will end up becoming a shell of what they used to be. Burned from inside out. They fight, kill, survive, repeat. Fight, kill, survive, repeat. Ideals start to shrivel, the light starts to darken, and the world becomes black and red. Everything you thought you knew starts to make less sense: friends, family, your own home...Even they turn against you. Just taking and taking, until there'll be nothing left to salvage. And in the end..."

His voice trails off softly in a murmur, the wind almost taking away his words, "It's you or them, I suppose."

His voice sounded dull, too soft to normal be caught, but Itachi heard it, listening with sharpened intent. Saying nothing as they soared through wind and branch. Because now, even while covered in a facade of a good-humored comrade, his true nature was finally starting to show through.

Underneath the skin of a fellow village comrade, who should have been a shining example to the younger generations, especially to two young children of his own that he should be considering, was a burnt-out shinobi who decided to sell classified information to enemy villages. A shinobi who sold out his village, and had been doing so for some time.

A shinobi, a traitor, of whom Danzo had assigned Itachi to assassinate.

Shisui and I are going to kill this man by ourselves...

Then Mukai shook off that hint of darkness from his expression, and smiled back at Itachi. "Nah, don't mind me. You'll know what I'm talking about, with given time. If there's one thing I have learned from both you and Izumi, one thing you have in common, you're ambitious. It's admirable, really, but a dangerous thing in a world of blood and war."

"The war is over," Itachi pointed out.

"Hmph." His smile dimmed. "Is it really?"

Itachi's blood chilled.

"Now, c'mon! The others are getting ahead."

Then Mukai leapt ahead, catching up with the others, as if unaware of the aura of his own death creeping up on him.

Itachi said nothing else the rest of the way, but his talk with Mukai gave him much to think about.

This was already shaping up to be a difficult mission.

Because, for one, Izumi knew this man. Knew his family.

And Itachi was assigned to kill him for treason.


Itachi lay quietly on his futon, thinking of all the strategical maneuvers he would have to go over with Shisui before they ambushed Mukai.

He was also glad that he wouldn't have to see Izumi tomorrow on the same day he end up killing an old friend of her father's. He wouldn't be able to look her in the eye and act clueless to what had happened, when Mukai's body would have yet to go cold. Just another shinobi killed in action.

Another husband. Another father.

Killed in action.

Assassinated.

Traitor.

He remembered the conversation he had with her about Mukai and his kids. If he thought about it too much about it, he feared he would lose his resolve.

He could only hope that she would be placed in a reliable team. Given the percentage of girls that still attended the Ninja Academy compared the boys, she would likely have two boys on her team. Both of them at least a year older. He was skeptical on whether or not they would be reliable enough to have her back when it counted.

And Sasuke...

Unable to sleep, Itachi got up and slipped out of his room. Walking down the hallway, he gently pressed open Sasuke's bedroom door and stepped inside.

In the darkness, Sasuke was laying under his covers, his eyes closed and his black hair the rumpled mess it always was. Stepping closer to his bedding, Itachi knelt on the edge of the mattress and watched his study breaths as he slept. He placed his hand on his little brother's chest, feeling it rise and fall under the covers, stabled with his own. Still so small...

Itachi very slowly and gently, careful not to wake his little brother, crept on top of the mattress and lay at his side, still watching Sasuke in the darkness.

I might die on this mission.

He would be missing so many things. Sasuke's entrance ceremony would probably be one of many. But it still hurt. Even more so that he was forced to use it as a bargaining chip for something that felt like serving only his own ends.

He knew what he was becoming. He had felt it for a long time now, and he knew that it was something he had to be in order to survive his upcoming role. But he never thought he'd end up resorting to this.

He brushed the back of his hand against Sasuke's warm cheek. The boy didn't even stir in his sleep. It reminded him of when he was a baby, still bundled in his blankets and tiny enough for a six year-old to hold him in a sling. He was becoming so big, he thought fondly.

I'm sorry, Sasuke.

He stroked his head, feeling his chest squeeze the breath out of him.

I'm so proud of you.

Then, when the first signs of dawn approached, he forced himself to pull away, stand up, and walk to the door to leave. At the threshold, he looked back, written with guilt and the soft affection he would have to hide in the light of day. He would be gone by the time Sasuke woke up.

I love you, Otoutou.

He gently closed the door with a click. He repeated the words at the bottom of his heart, and the more he did, the harder became his resolve.

I will get this done, he thought, narrowing his eyes, and come back to you.


*Portions are quoted from Mishashi Kishimoto from Itachi Shinden: Daylight and Itachi Shinden: Midnight.