Chapter 5
Kakashi rushed towards the City Hall, that was now in full view, meaning it wouldn't take much longer for him to get to Sarutobi's office, where he and Chief Uchiha were probably waiting for him to arrive. He could already imagine Fugaku's livid face. The Uchiha was used to his tardiness although the Hatake knew that wouldn't spare him a scolding later on.
He rushed over the infinite steps, his patience already wearing thin to wait for the elevator, and he reached the third floor in half a minute, breathing heavily but not stopping until he got to the office and opened the door in a swift move, plopping down in the closest chair he could find. He had run all the way there, and although he was trained he still felt a little out of breath and sweaty, which made quite an uncomfortable feeling.
The Hatake usually wasn't the type to care if he was late, the ones that knew him were accustomed to him never being punctual, but when work was involved it was another matter. He slumped down in his chair, feeling Fugaku's cold glare on him as Mayor Sarutobi acknowledged his arrival with a quick nod in his direction.
Kakashi answered with a nod of his own, and he curiously eyed his surroundings quickly noting that only the higher ranks had been called as he eyed Shikaku Nara, the deputy chief, Inoichi Yamanaka, the head of the psychology police section, Ibiki Morino the head of the correctional warden along with his most trusted officer, Anko Mitarashi. His mismatched eyes meeting the brown ones of his colleague sitting next to him, Genma Shiranui a sergeant, that was playing with a toothpick that he always seemed to keep in his mouth, it was a nervous habit he had picked up when he was younger, and everyone was accustomed to it.
Next to him, sat one of Kakashi's best friends and the man that had took it as his personal mission to cheer him up after Shisui's tragedy, one of the reasons he avoided hanging around the district too much. Gai Maito-who also happened to be a part of his investigation team along with the currently on maternity leave Kurenai Yuhi- gave him a big toothy grin, followed by a thumbs up, that made the grey haired man sigh. He ignored his friend, and looked ahead of him, raising a brow when he caught a glimpse of a third person standing next to the Mayor, his left hand man, Danzo Shimura who stood a few steps behind the other two his only visible eye closed and his forehead wrinkled , as if he was thinking hard about something. Kakashi didn't focus on the man for long, for the Chief cleared his throat, getting ready to speak.
"So, now that everyone is here, I think we can finally explain the reason why we called you all here" the Uchiha's voice was stern and serious as he caught a brief glimpse of his subordinates, avoiding Kakashi intentionally as he leaned his palms on the desk in front of him, his eyes closing for a couple of seconds.
"Mayor Sarutobi has been informed by the governor that the credibility of our district has dangerously decreased. The population of Konoha's doesn't trust that we are competent enough to defend them. This is obviously due to the fact that in nineteen years, we still haven't found a legitimate culprit for the murder of the beloved mayor Namikaze Minato and more recently for letting the suspect for Uchiha Shisui's attempted murder, leave the city."
Fugaku sighed. His fists balling on the desk, his knuckles turning white as he tried to suppress his anger. His pitch black eyes immediately focusing on the grey haired Hatake, that raised his own eyes meeting the chiefs and he knew Fugaku was somehow blaming him. He didn't blame his superior for that, he felt already guilty for the way he had handled the situation. He had been too soft, blinded by the friendship he had shared with the younger Uchiha.
Danzo stepped up, getting close to Fugaku still slightly curved on the desk. and gave a severe look at the small group of people.
"Word has spread that Uchiha Itachi joined the ranks of dangerous a criminal organization, the Akatsuki. The fact that he was a member of Konoha's police forces doesn't help the situation."
Kakashi's eyes narrowed at that, his gaze running to Fugaku, who was still leaning on the desk with a resigned expression on his face.
"Those are just voices, we don't have the certainty they are true" Sarutobi tried to defend, his voice slightly rising as he sent his right hand man a scolding glare, that the man reciprocated.
"I'm afraid it is indeed the truth, Hiruzen. I have proof for what I'm saying. See for yourself" Danzo had a wicked gleam in his eye as he took out a folder he had been hiding under his jacket for all that time and made it fall on the desk, in front of the Mayor's hands that opened it immediately, his eyes widening at the pictures inside.
Fugaku sighed, his dark eyes snapping open, studying the small stack of papers in Sarutobi's hands.
"What does it have to do with anything?" Fugaku's voice boomed in the room, his eyes held silent fury and for a second they seemed to glow red, matching the anger that transpired from his voice.
Everyone in the room knew it was a delicate topic for the Uchiha and no one ever dared utter the name of the Chief's traitorous son in front of him so easily, so there was a minute of general silent astonishment before Hiruzen stood up glaring at Danzo in disapproval, breaking the shocked silence.
"Fugaku is right, this has nothing to do with the reason we called for this meeting" Shikaku agreed, his tone slightly bored, as he leaned his head on his hand as he shifted in his seat.
Danzo ignored the Nara, and tried to hide his satisfied smirk, but it was quite obvious he was enjoying Fugaku's discomfort. Everyone knew that there was bad blood between the two men and that it went way back, since the murders of the newly appointed Mayor and Fugaku's best friend, Minato Namikaze and his wife, Kushina Uzumaki.
The murders had been archived as unsolved and at the time it had been a true shock for the city. The Law enforcers had put out every agent, every information to find a valid motive for the murder, although Fugaku, that at the time had been a low ranking officer, had always had his suspects that it had been an inside job, and the reason was to be searched for in the mission of the late mayor to eradicate any form of corruption within the higher ranks of the city.
A mission he couldn't finish, since he had been killed before he could do so, and Fugaku as well as others didn't think it was a coincidence. It had been an execution, a warning and no one after that had took on the Namikaze's legacy.
Sarutobi had taken back the seat, aware that there wasn't anybody else that could take Minato's place, although Danzo had tried to persuade him and get him to nominate another successor, but Hiruzen hadn't listened. Despite him sharing Minato's desire to fight the growing wave of crime and corruption, he felt he did not have the energy and strength to handle such a delicate situation, so he had leaned on his right hand man, Danzo, that had took on the new found power, using it at his advantage, forming his own organization, that was supposed to support the police forces, but in reality, they only hindered any attempt Fugaku and his colleagues made, and some sort of hatred was born between the newly appointed Chief of Police, and the mayor's right hand man.
"Itachi, is Fugaku's son. How can he be believable as Chief, if his own son is a rogue agent?"
Here it was, Danzo had given his first strike, and the whole room fell into a shocked silence. Fugaku snapped his head up his eyes burning into the older man's only visible one.
"My… son. He stopped being a son of mine four years ago."
Danzo hummed, he was still reeling in the satisfaction of having forced Fugaku in such a distressed and angered state.
"You can deny it as much as you want, Chief, but he is still your flesh and blood"
Fugaku groaned at that. That disgusting old man was really throwing salt on his wounds.
The Nara noticed his superiors discomfort and sighed, taking a cigarette out from the package he had in his pocket, rolling it around in his fingers, before putting it to rest on his ear.
"Mr Shimura, I think you're overstepping your boundaries in speaking in such a way to our Chief. Itachi's actions do not mirror the respectability of his family. He is his own person, and has made his own choices. I think the people of Konoha are smart enough to separate the two things"
Shikaku side glanced at the older man, not appreciating the way the man was deliberately attacking Fugaku. The man had suffered enough, he didn't need to be reminded of that.
"I think Shikaku is right. Danzo, let's go on with the real reason we called for this meeting" Hiruzen stood up, and Danzo expression changed, to one of silent fury, but he wouldn't back down.
"I think you are making a mistake, Hiruzen, this is something we shouldn't underestimate"
"We will talk about it, but it's not the focal point right now"
The older man didn't say anything else. He would have time to deal with his advisor later. Right now he had other priorities.
He sat down again, feeling like the issue was settled, and took a big deep breath and raised his eyes on the small crowd of people that still had to understand the point of why they had actually been called.
"We can't allow another failure. We have to find who tried to kill one of our most promising agents, Shisui Uchiha. From the information we collected, we know he was investigating Minato's death, comes out he had found some important information." He paused, taking in the shocked faces of the people in the room.
"How come no one knew about it?"
Kakashi just had to ask, it didn't matter if it wasn't his place to much such a question. He had investigated the case thoroughly and didn't know anything about that, and from Fugaku and the others shocked faces, he wasn't the only one who had been kept in the dark.
"Who put him under that assignment? Because I sure didn't"
Fugaku rumbled furiously. It was rare that the mayor would give orders to one of his officers without informing him before he did so. Especially of such an important case like Minato's.
Hiruzen sighed, accepting both questions. He had kept quiet long enough, and he could not hide the truth from them anymore. There had been an important turn of events and he knew he didn't have much time anymore.
"It was top secret, no one had to know about it. I personally asked Shisui because I knew he was reliable and a great agent, one of the best, and he was used on working undercover. We had an agreement, and his mission would have been revealed only if it lead to results. Which it did, but, it also lead to him almost being killed"
Sarutobi sighed again, his hands stroking his own forehead in deep thought. Regret evident on his face.
"Shisui came across some secret documents that Minato himself had hid. Apparently he had the feeling that something was going to happen to him, so he wrote a secret code and hid it in a secure place. The document was given the codename Kyuby, so that only those close to him would know how to decipher it.
I have no idea how Shisui came across to it since we had searched for it after his death, but he did, and I fear it was the reason why someone tried to eliminate him. I have no idea what's in that code or how the information leaked out of my office, but I know is that Akatsuki is somehow trying to get their hands on it and for that I fear someone from the organization attacked Shisui. I don't know why they would be after it, I am afraid they might have been hired by someone who wants what is on that document, the problem is that it went missing the night of Shisui's assault"
He finished speaking leaning back in the chair, the atmosphere in the room was now heavy, and he felt the weight of months, years of secrets lift a bit.
"So, what Danzo said earlier, had something to do with this meeting after all"
Shikaku was the first one to break the silence. He did it with his usual blunt way, not holding back his thoughts.
"It did in a way, but we still have no proof it was Itachi"
Inoichi had stayed quiet till that moment. He had visited Itachi that night, asked him questions to verify his mental health, so he was sure about what he was saying.
Fugaku sighed, putting his hand into his pocket, he knew the next few months were going to be challenging.
"What do you want us to do then, Hiruzen?"
The old mayor closed his eyes, before snapping them open, to look at the black haired man at his left,
"I need you to get a hold of that document before they fall in the wrong hands"
"It's been four years Hiruzen. How do you know it already hasn't? "
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Sasuke felt pure hatred, he could barely stand to look at his older brother in that moment, he just wanted to vent, let out all the anger and sadness he had bottled up for so long, and that he immediately couldn't contain anymore.
He hated that he was being so low as to not being capable of keeping a cold façade, like Itachi, he could barely recognize his brother under that impassive mask.
And it was in that moment that it hit him, Itachi was a completely different person now.
Sasuke had never tried to imagine what impact meeting his brother again would have, but he never thought he would be so disappointed in seeing him so changed. He hated to admit that somewhere deep within him, he had hoped to find a little bit of the affection he once held for him, he had hoped it was all a big mistake, but now, seeing the way Itachi was looking at him… it was like reality had hit him hard and now, the only thing he felt was pure hate for his sibling.
"Itachi… how dare you show your face after all the hurt you caused? "
He growled, his voice shaking just like his body from all the anger he couldn't hold in anymore.
"Hn, So foolish, little brother." Itachi stepped up, ignoring Sasuke, moving to stand closer to the counter, so he could order something to drink. He hadn't intended to get into a fight that evening, he was already fed up with some other troubles and didn't need a vengeful younger brother that wanted to get in a fight with him.
"Don't you dare fucking ignore me, Itachi! We have to settle this!"
Sasuke was blinded by rage, he couldn't stand his brother dismissing him as if he was a child, and hurled his fist forward, determined to hurt him as much as he could.
Itachi wasn't caught by surprise though, he was actually expecting some brash action from Sasuke.
He stopped the fist with his open hand, and held the other still, answering with a punch of his own, hitting Sasuke right in the stomach.
"Have you not learnt anything, Sasuke? Never attack someone without a plan. I thought I had taught you better"
The younger Uchiha doubled over, clutching his stomach tightly with his eyes shut tightly, and a small layer of sweat on his forehead.
"Sasuke!" a feminine voice reached his ears and he growled, trying to get away from his friend that was trying to check if he was okay.
"I am fine Usuratonkachi! Mind your own damn business!"
Naruko frowned, her hands on her hips as she looked down at the still crunched up figure.
"Stubborn mule!" she ignored his wish, and still helped him up, ignoring the death glare he shot her, but it didn't last long, he was still too focused on Itachi that was now standing in front of him, looking him with an expression of pity. He couldn't stand that.
"Teme no!" Naruto tried to grab his jacket to pull him back, but it was useless, Sasuke was too far gone to realize what he was doing.
"You bastard!" he groaned, and slipped out of the blonde girl's arms, that couldn't hold him back and assaulted his brother again, this time, managing to deliver at least one of his punches hitting Itachi on the cheekbone, bruising his own hand in the process, before Itachi managed to get a hold of his arm, twisting it behind his back, probably breaking it, and slammed him on the floor, his chin hitting on concrete, his unwounded arm failing to stop his fall.
It had been fast, and Sasuke was too ashamed to even look up, his pride hurt.
Itachi stopped in front of him, and crouched down, pulling him up from his hair, ignoring the cries of protest, and the girl screaming at him to stop.
"You wish to defeat me, you better learn how to fight" Itachi still didn't show any emotion, and Sasuke finally met his eyes, his anger still hadn't dissipated.
"I will come back for you… Itachi. I will show you, I will drag you back to Konoha and see that you rot in jail for what you did to Shisui"
Itachi abruptly let go of his hair, making his face hit the ground again, his upper lip splitting at the contact with the floor.
"There are some things you better not go against Sasuke. You might not like what you find"
"I think you did enough damage for tonight, Itachi, it's better if you go now"
Haku finally stepped up, and Naruko glared wondering why the man hadn't stopped the older Uchiha before, he could have avoided for Sasuke to get hurt if he had.
The older Uchiha didn't say anything else, and didn't even look back at Haku and Naruko, making a quick exit, with a last thought of getting some ice, to put on the nasty bruise on his face, and maybe he would find Karin, he had too much tension built up, he could use some release.
The man let out a sigh and turned around to see the blonde crouching down.
"Sasuke… " Naruko felt an incredible bout of anger and compassion at seeing her best friend all battered and bruised on the floor.
"Here, let's ease him up, and put him on a chair" the brown haired man offered, looking down at the poor boy. Naruko nodded and grabbed Sasuke's side while Haku took Sasuke's good arm, and wound it around his neck, helping him stand, helping him to sit on a chair, resting his back on the support.
"Poor kid, that was brutal" Haku had already called for Suigetsu to bring him some ice and a cloth.
"I don't need your pity" Sasuke coughed up, managing to get the hands that were still supporting his back of his body, leaning back on the support of the chair, letting out a sigh, ignoring the faint taste of copper coming from the cut on his lip.
"No you damn Teme, but you do need to get that arm looked at, it looks dislocated or something" Naruko gave him a look of concern that the Uchiha chose to ignore.
She felt sorry for her friend. She never did have a family, but it must hurt to be treated in such a way by someone that you used to be close to.
"Here's the ice, what do you need it for-whoa"
Suigetsu walked up to them and looked in question from Haku to Naruko, and then to Sasuke, letting out a soft amused chuckle.
"What the hell happened to you, Uchiha? Did a train run you over?"
Suigetsu and Sasuke knew each other from a summer camp they had both gone to in the past, they hadn't stayed much in contact, but there was a weird sort of friendship between the two. Sasuke had been a little baffled when he had learnt that the Hozuki had ended up in the same place as Naruko.
"Give it here you insensitive moron" Haku took the ice, wrapping it with the cloth and resting it on Sasuke's lip, ignoring the soft hisses coming from the boy.
"I know it's uncomfortable, but necessary if you don't want it to swell like a dinghy"
"That would be cool to see" the albino shot the Uchiha a cocky grin, obviously taking advantage of Sasuke's crestfallen state.
Naruko was the one to react, pulling the Hozuki by the collar of his shirt, pulling him close.
"Shut it Suigetsu, or I will be the one to make your face swell so much it won't look like a dinghy, but a hot air balloon, understood? "
"Fine, fine, I didn't even say anything!" he raised his hands in surrender and decided to rush back into the kitchen, to check on Juugo, it was too quiet in there, and with his friend's delicate condition it was better to always keep an eye on him.
"And you better keep it that way" Zabuza appeared in the room and immediately rushed to where Haku and Naruko were, raising a brow as soon as he spotted the beaten Sasuke.
"What happened?" He checked the boy, ignoring his dark glare on him. Sasuke hated all the attention he was getting.
"Well… " Haku started to say, but Zabuza turned to Naruko that was still standing there looking worried.
"I am fine, I don't need any help!" The Uchiha tried to get up, but was immediately pushed back down by the blonde.
"I can see that, why don't you try moving that arm for me?"
Sasuke groaned, trying to lift his limb to prove that he was indeed doing fine, well, at least physically, it was his pride that had been hurt the most. He tried to hide a wince and was disappointed when he couldn't move it like he thought he could.
"Damn…." He muttered, trying to hide his pained expression, but failed, and Zabuza shot him a knowing look
"I thought as much. It's probably dislocated, we need a doctor to look at it"
Sasuke let out a soft grunt, they were fussing too much over him, he wanted to make them stop.
"I don't need to go to a stupid hospital for this" he tried to stand up again, this time succeeding in his task, but he didn't resist long, under the blonde's disapproving glare.
"You stubborn hard headed bastard!" Naruko was thinking about beating him up herself to knock some sense into him, or maybe she should call Sakura and let her deal with the Teme, she would know what to do.
"I know I might regret it, but I'm going to call Sakura, and tell her you're being impossible!"
Sasuke's eyes thinned "You wouldn't" he breathed in a low deadly tone.
"I would, actually I will do it right now!"
She took her phone out, and scrolled through the short list of contacts, until. She Found the pink haired girls number. Just as she was to press call, Sasuke stopped her, grabbing her wrist with a loud "no!"
The blonde grinned and smirked evilly. If there was one thing they had in common, was being afraid of Sakura's wrath.
"So, what do you want to do?"
Sasuke groaned, defeated. His black eyes low staring at the floor, trying to hide away his embarrassment. It was low of him to be defeated by the done.
"I will let you call Sakura but first I want some painkillers, this arm is killing me, and I really can't take the pain and Sakura together, not this time"
Naruko nodded with a big idiotic grin on her lips, happy that her plan had succeeded. Her brain really did work sometimes.
"I knew you would make the right decision!"
Sasuke scowled at her, not even bothering to answer her.
Zabuza and Haku simply stared, dumbfounded by the little twist of events.
"This Sakura must be scary to make you change your mind so easily. Anyway, Naruko, you better go to the pharmacy down the road, we don't have anything like that here, you know the guy there doesn't like us that much"
Zabuza explained, his mouth was covered by the usual bandages but his eyes showed that he was smiling under there.
"Yeah maybe we shouldn't have gone in there to ask for lube that one time" Haku reminisced and Sasuke and Naruko both cackled hearing that. They didn't even want to think what they needed the lube for.
"OK, I believe Sasuke is safe with you guys, so I will be right back, I'll grab my purse as I leave"
She moved to get out of there quickly, smirking at the Uchiha's last words.
"Be quick, dobe"
She knew it wasn't because of the pain in his arm, but because he was uncomfortable with Haku and Zabuza, and honestly she didn't blame him, especially when they mentioned lube or anything remote sexual. She was still a virgin and even thinking about sex made her ears turn red.
She had just stepped out, and walked a couple of meters, when she heard the rumbling of a motorbike behind her, that woke her up from her thoughts. She was glad for that because they were going in a direction she didn't like, thanks to that pervert of Haku.
The blonde girl turned around and made an astonished face as soon as she saw who it was. She honestly thought he would disappear after what had happened in the bar.
Itachi was sitting there, talking with some tall guy, who was standing next to the rumbling vehicle. The Uchiha looked relaxed as he listened to the other guy, smoking a cigarette, looking like nothing had just happened.
She felt an incredible turmoil inside her, and she wanted to go there and beat him up so badly and ruin that pretty face , but she knew she might not be taken seriously, but deep down, she really wanted to see him hurt.
"Hey you, Uchiha!" she was furious, and she stomped towards him, bag clutched at her side, face scrunched up in anger.
Said man turned to look at her, and gave her an unimpressed look, he probably had recognized her from back at Kubikiriocho, or maybe he was just wondering what was wrong with her, it was really difficult to tell by his nonexistent expression.
"Is this little lady mad at you Itachi? What did you do to her? She is such a cute little thing"
The man smirked, and Naruko felt chills up her spine from the way he was looking at her.
"Ugh… disgusting" she thought, reminded of the way she was dressed, and annoyed that he felt entitled to Leer at her as if she was a piece of meat, and not a human being. Man like that made her mad. But she wasn't there to deal with him, but with the other guy, that luckily, unlike the other man, seemed to be more educated, and wasn't so openly checking her out, his eyes focused on her face.
"Do you know how much you have hurt Sasuke? You piece of shit, he needed therapy after you left, and it took him a long time to get out of his sulky depression and finally live again, what you did tonight will make him slip back into the dark place you pushed him into before!"
She pointed a finger at him, tears threatening to slip out of her eyes, but she was able to swallow them back, focusing on how much she hated the black haired apathetic man in front of her.
"You damn jerk! You don't even know what to say to defend yourself!"
The man with Itachi squinted his already small eyes, and glared at her.
"How dare you talk like this to him you little bit-"
"Kisame, shut up" Itachi finally spoke up, his eyes on his almost finished cigarette. He threw it to the ground stepping on it. His calmness was truly unnerving the girl, her hands were itching to strangle him.
"Are you his girlfriend?" the question made both hers and Kisame's eyebrows shot up. What the hell did it matter to him?
"No! I'm his best friend, and I care for him!"unlike you! She wanted to add, but knew better than to let her tongue run freely, she had already said too much, Sasuke would probably kill her if he found out.
Itachi eyed her, a stern look on his face now.
"Hn, you have courage, to come here and confront me, you must really care for my foolish brother"
It was the longest she had ever heard him speak, and his voice was something that hit her, it sounded familiar, and it made her wonder where she had already heard it. But that wasn't the point now, she had to defend her friend from his brother's insults.
"Sasuke is not a fool! You are the only fool here, you damn bastard! I will make you pay one day for what you did to him! I really hope they arrest you, I will personally come and visit you just for the satisfaction of seeing you rot in there! And now, excuse me I really have more important things to do"
She turned on her heels and she barely heard the guy, Kisame, chuckle, before Itachi called her back, and she turned again to face him with an annoyed look. She didn't care what comeback he had come up with, or if he had something to say to defend himself, after all, the words of a traitorous bastard were important to her, she had confronted him only because of Sasuke. What she didn't expect was the soft smile he gave her, and that it weirdly made her heart skip a beat.
"Hn, those scars have healed beautifully , I knew they would"
Her eyes widened, and he smirked before putting on a helmet that covered his eyes, and left in a rush, Kisame cursing, annoyed that he had been left behind.
Naruko still in shock, touched her scarred cheek, finally realizing why his voice had been so damn familiar. He was the officer that had rescued her, that had stayed close to her, reassuring her that she would heal and forget the bad experience, telling her that her wounds would never take out her beauty.
"It… it can't be…" she muttered softly her hands tracing the lines that had been inflicted on her skin by a crazy and twisted mind.
She couldn't believe that the kind and gentle soul that had helped her that terrible night, had become a rogue agent, and there was nothing left of the man she had so undeniably crushed on, for all those years.
"What happened to you?" she couldn't help but wonder. She knew she had a bit of a weakness for broken people, being one herself, but she could not avoid thinking that something must have happened to change him in such a way but, and she knew it was better that way, she might never know.
Author's note:
Sorry for the very long wait, I had some small issues to solve and a bit of a writers block for this chapter, since I wanted it to be the way I imagined it in my head. This is the first dramatic meeting between Itachi and Naruko.
I tried my best, so let me know what you think, I promise I will post next chapter sooner!
Thank you to everyone supporting me and this story, I really appreciate it!
Darkshadows92