All right, everyone. Shit. Getting. Real. We finally have a real explosion between Sarada and Itachi in the second test, and I'd say out of all the times she's lost her cool, this one is definitely warranted (at least from her understanding, of course). And we finally have Akatsuki contact- or, well, at least an old war friend. ;)
Itachi also makes a mistake may have some consequences! Enjoy the second test!
Itachi allowed himself to shed the fear for right now to remain normal and composed for his family. As soon as the students parted ways to greet their own families, Himawari ran toward Itachi and threw herself into his arms."You did it, you did it!" she giggled. Hinata stood patiently behind her until Himwari finally peeled herself off her big brother. She gripped his shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug, and crooned in his ear, "We are so proud of you."
Itachi, however, found himself immediately looking around for Naruto as a knee-jerk reaction. Did he see? his brain asked. He hugged his mother tightly and patted his sister on her head, but deep in his core he- Boruto- wanted to know if his father saw how he crushed the first exam.
Just up ahead, he got his answer. Naruto took to a podium situated on a balcony above them. He looked out into the crowd and regarded those below with a large grin on his face. "I'd like to thank all the contestants for being here today," he began. "For those of you who did not pass today, you should still be proud- it is not an easy task to even get to this point. You always have next time. For those of you who passed, you have much to celebrate today before tomorrow begins. Spend time with your families. Relax. But remain on guard because the next test will be here before you know it." His words were a constant reminder Itachi knew well- be proud but only for a moment because you never knew when the next enemy would appear around the corner.
Naruto raised his hand to wave one last time at the crowd to officially signal the end of the first exam. The crowd began to disperse, calling out last congratulations to each other; Himawari skipped ahead of him the whole way home with incessant questions.
"I knew you'd be able to do it. I knew you weren't that hurt. Even after your surgery I knew you could become a chunin!"
"Well, I'm not a chunin yet, Hima." Itachi smiled down at Boruto's little sister. He remembered when he- his real self- became a chunin. Sasuke was just a baby. Itachi came home to giggles and snuggles, Sasuke smiling at his brother, oblivious to the momentous occasion; Itachi remembered thinking that Sasuke would have loved him whether he passed or not.
"What was the first test like? Oh, we made you a cake this morning!" she cried. He could tell that she, too, would have loved her brother even if he didn't pass.
She raced her family inside to be the one to present her brother with the cake. "You two go sit while I cut this up, and Boruto can tell us all about the exam," Hinata offered.
"Well, it definitely was meant to trip us up," Itachi began, sitting at the table. Himawari scrambled into a chair and leaned forward on her elbows so as to not miss a single word of the story. Her excitement and awe of her brother fueled Itachi. The parallels between her and Sasuke were innumerable, if just for the unwavering love they felt toward their older counterpart.
He continued the story just to get high off the familiar feeling of having a sibling look up to him. "Sarada was the one who figured out first they were trying to trick us. They told us they were grading us individually if we could see through a teammate's lie and discover who had a red dot on a scroll they gave us. Since everyone thought we were being graded on how well we could lie or see through a lie, we forgot the most important thing: we were there as a team. The real test was if we could see through the proctors' lie and realize that in the real world we wouldn't have rules like that, and to see the only thing that was the same between real missions and this test was each other. Sarada called it that we had to work together so we all could pass and we couldn't really leave someone behind."
"Very clever." Hinata placed two plates in front of her children. "Sarada is a smart girl. I hope you didn't give her and Mitsuki too much trouble when you were trying to figure out who had the dot." She winked at her son.
"No, no, not at all. We figured it out pretty quickly, actually."
"So are you ready for tomorrow? The second test is significantly harder than the first, from what I remember."
"Yeah, yeah, I got this, it'll be easy," Itachi heard his mouth say on its own, when he really just wanted to be humble. Ah, Boruto's pesky overconfidence showing up again.
"What do you do in the next test?" Himawari asked.
"Well, if it's anything like it used to be, you have to get two scrolls and present them at the finish line," Hinata explained. "You have to steal one from another team though. Things get pretty messy sometimes."
"Why do they get messy?"
"Because sometimes you have to take a scroll from a friend. And no one wants to steal from a friend."
"That doesn't sound very nice," Himawari pouted. "Are you going to steal from a friend, big brother?"
Itachi thought for a moment. He didn't even have a real indication of who was friend or foe apart from their headbands; he realized he could steal from anyone and not feel anything about it. "If I have to," he settled on. "But don't worry, Hima. By the time you get there, you'll be ready to do it too. Sometimes you just have to do things you don't want to for your job." He smiled through the edge of morbidity in the comment, knowing how true that was for himself and potentially for the woman sitting in front of him. Such was the way of the shinobi- having to do things they don't necessarily want to do for the sake of their village.
His stomach sank as he remembered the scroll that they received at the end of the exam. That was him having to do something he didn't particularly want to do: continue to adhere to the rules of Root, this new Akatsuki, hidden in the fringes of the village under the guise of protecting it. But, as usual, here he was doing what needed to be done, no matter how he felt.
Shit. The test started tomorrow and he still needed to discuss this new set of events with Kakashi and Yamato. They needed to be on guard too if there was a potential at capturing the masterminds behind it. He felt like a bit of a superhero at that moment: bringing down a new Akatsuki at the same as becoming a chunin? All in a day's work, he guessed.
"May I please be excused?" he asked after picking at his cake. "I'm going to go train for a bit and head to bed early."
Hinata's eyes fluttered as though surprised at her son's politeness. "Of course…"
Itachi slid back from the table and rushed to Kakashi's. Kakashi quickly came to the door and ushered him inside.
"Hey, congratulations on the first exam," he teased.
"Well thanks," Itachi said. "But that's not why I'm here. We heard from them about what they expect from us in the next test."
Kakashi's face instantly fell into a serious frown. "What."
Itachi recanted the scroll given to his team immediately after the test ended, how it congratulated them for winning, as though someone was watching in the room.
Kakashi took notes. "Okay, so someone might have infiltrated the exams...you're saying how else could they know so quickly that you passed?"
"Exactly. And then it said that tomorrow we're going to come across their team and to 'be on our guard.' So I'm thinking they are going to watch us fight to observe our skills better or start a scuffle to see how we fight."
"So they are using it as a chance to observe everyone…" Kakashi scribbled. "So we're thinking they won't act or make a real move against us."
"I'd assume."
"Okay...so we will take a bit more of a backseat approach. I will be right outside the exam anyway, so if anything does end up happening, I can be there in a flash." Kakashi snapped his fingers for emphasis. "I'm sure they are using the exams as a way to gain more intelligence about the village."
"They are good," Itachi admitted. "They are good at keeping to the fringes. I can't get a read on anything. They didn't even say much when we couldn't give them a lot on Ino-Shika-Cho. They are good at keeping quiet- definitely professionals."
Kakashi snapped his pen shut and nodded grimly. "Go home. Get some rest. You have a big day tomorrow. We'll take care of the rest."
That night, as Itachi laid out clothes for the next day, Naruto knocked on his door.
"Knock, knock…" He started inside then eyed the clothes, confused. "Since when did you get so organized?" he asked. Is his son maturing and he's missing it?
"Oh… Um." Itachi looked at the clothes then back at Naruto, thinking of an excuse. "I wanted to be able to sleep in a little more. You know. Tomorrow will be a busy day." He forced a grin.
Naruto smiled easily back. "I just wanted to say good luck. I know you're going to give it your best. I'm very proud of you."
"Thanks…" He could feel his insides expand with pride, this part of Boruto that still existed and craved his father's love. But the insidious sinking feeling of being a fraud set heavily in Itachi's chest again. He held his grin as Naruto scratched the back of his head awkwardly and said "Hey. I love you. Don't forget that. You're going to do great. I have a great feeling about this time!"
You're wasting your love on me. The one person who truly wanted to hear it, the real Boruto, wasn't even here, yet he craved his father's validation so much his body still reacted to hearing it. But all he could say was, "I love you too." What a sweet yet awkward father son moment. He had a similar one with Fugaku decades before. And down the road, maybe Sarada was- Wait. No.
"Hey, Dad," Itachi continued. "Before you leave… Do you know if Sasuke is back yet?"
"What?"
"Sasuke. Sarada was worried he'd miss the exams." He thought about how she finally opened up to him so easily nights before. That seemed life a lifetime ago.
"Oh…" Naruto raised a hand to the back of his head again, a nervous habit, Itachi noted. "No, unfortunately he's not. But don't you worry about that, and Sarada shouldn't worry either. He's doing what he needs to do for the village and you're doing your part. He'll be back soon. Really. This time he will."
This time he will… As he lay in bed that night, long after the Uzumaki house quieted for the night, Naruto's words kept echoing through his brain. Sasuke was missing a large moment in his daughter's life, as it seemed like he had often, and the only Uchiha there to witness was him. Poor Sarada. Poor Sasuke. It didn't matter if they were doing exactly what shinobi were supposed to, that didn't mean it didn't hurt when your parents didn't come home.
That night he dreamed that he was holding onto Naruto's hand while crossing a street; he was content, a boy holding onto his father for protection. He looked over to see Sarada alone, crying on the sidewalk. What's wrong? he asked her. I just want my dad to come home, she cried harder. Her tears began to pool at her feet until it flooded the road. Sarada, you have to stop crying, he tried to tell her, or the village is going to flood, but it was a dream and in dreams his voice didn't work.
I'll stop crying when he comes home, she sobbed.
But we'll drown if you don't stop, he tried to reason but the tears continued to rise in the street. Think about the villagers.
But I want to care about myself right now! Dream Sarada continued to cry. You don't know what it's like to have this pain!
That's not true, he tried to tell her.
It's all your fault my dad is like this! she then yelled and suddenly the tears rushed up to take him underneath. He woke up just as his hand- Boruto's hand- separated from Naruto's and he began to drown underneath all of his niece's pain, Sasuke's pain, and the Uchiha's pain.
By the time Itachi woke the next morning, he had already forgotten about the dream.
"Boruto!" Hinata called from downstairs. "Your friends are here!"
My friends? He came to the top of the stairs to see his academy graduating class crowding in his foyer. "We didn't have a chance to talk to you much yesterday!" someone explained. "And we haven't seen you since your surgery. So we figured we'd all go out to breakfast this morning!"
He felt his heart swell seeing the large group of genin smiling up at him; his friends, his mind told him. Boruto was one lucky kid.
They departed, and after a few minutes of joking around, Itachi fell into step next to Sarada. He looked over to see her staring sullenly ahead and he suddenly remembered his dream. "Are you okay?" he tried.
"Yeah," she said. She looked over and forced a smile. "Just a little tired. Didn't sleep very well."
It's okay, he wanted to say, your dad will be home soon, but he didn't want to be too assuming. So instead he just smiled understandingly at her and they walked on silently as everyone bubbled around them.
"My dad told meabout a rule change," Inojin piped in as they reached the restaurant.
"What kind of rule change?" Iwabe asked.
"Well, you know how every team has to capture a heaven and earth scroll?" he said. "This time you can't get one from your village. You can only pass if you capture one from another village."
"What?" someone else asked. "That's not fair… I know how you guys work. It'd be much easier getting it from you, theoretically of course."
" must have figured we know each other's strengths too well so they're narrowing the pool and making us clash with other villages."
"Well, isn't that a good thing?" Denki offered. "That means we don't have to fight each other."
"I was looking forward to seeing the spirit you all have!" Metal cried out. "I am a little sad, I must say! You are all worthy opponents!"
It turned out that Inojin had heard correctly and that rule was changed. Two hours later, stuffed with food and determination, the students were huddled together outside the forest listening to Sai discuss the rules to the second exam. Itachi allowed his attention to waver slightly as he locked eyes with Kakashi, whose presence was there to inspire the genin. Kakashi nodded once, as if to say I'm on it, then broke eye contact to stare off seriously into the crowd.
"Again, you may not take a scroll from comrades," Sai iterated. "You need your village's scroll and another's heaven or earth scroll. Are there any questions?"
The crowd stood silently, eager to go in and set up shop. Next to Itachi, he knew Sarada and Mitsuki were also eager to perform well for the Akatsuki watching.
After a moment of silence, Sai commanded "You may begin!" and the rush of genin infiltrated the gates and scurried off in different questions.
"Where should we head first?" Mitsuki asked as they ran.
"I say somewhere toward the middle," Itachi said. "That gives us time to observe and can circumvent most teams that will pass through."
"Won't teams try to be smarter and try to use the edges?" Sarada asked.
"Exactly. We'll get the teams that maybe aren't the smartest strategy wise. We may have a chance."
"Mm."
They continued off through the trees. It was overall an uneventful evening as they slunk their way through the forest in search for a spot to rest. Itachi assumed most groups were trying to stay out of each other's ways to devise a game plan and strike closer to evening.
After a few hours, the three settled into the hollow of a tree twenty feet off the ground. They figured they'd be hidden enough that they could easily watch for people below, and potentially get a few hours of sleep if they needed. They discussed some strategy and what they knew about the skills of the genin from other villages, then lulled themselves into conversation as night began to fall.
"I brought something to pass some time if we wanted," Mitsuki announced. He stuck his hand into his bag and pulled out a card game.
Itachi didn't recognize it, but his mouth instantly blurted, "Shinobi bout! Thanks!" He reached forward to take it.
"Oh, geez," Sarada groaned, eyeing Itachi as he automatically began to shuffle the cards. "Is this what we're doing tonight?"
"I figured it'd be good bonding," Mitsuki replied. "We could relax a little while we wait for something to happen."
"I've never heard of anyone playing games during the chunin exams…" she began. She stopped talking for a second as though she was listening for any sound of intruders, but they could still only hear the occasional chirp of a bird. The coast was still clear for the time being.
"Come on...live a little," Itachi heard himself say as he distributed some cards. Boruto's mind was syncing with his more now, and he could feel a grin plaster his face as though to challenge Sarada.
She glanced one last time at the opening to the tree before sighing heavily. "Oh, what the hell. We can strategize while we play," she said and took the cards from Itachi's outstretched hand.
"Yessssss!" Itachi laughed. He definitely appreciated her cautiousness, since he knew his old self would react the same way if someone offered to play cards during his chunin exams. But he also had to admit that maybe it was good for Sarada to loosen up just a tad with her team.
"So," Mitsuki began. "What do you think we'll run into first: the Anbu or another team in the exams?"
Itachi placed a card down without having to think. "I feel like they'll wait for another team to strike, right? To see us fight?"
"I agree," Sarada said. "Do you think we'll be fighting them or do you think they'll just observe us fighting another team?"
Mitsuki shrugged. "I'm not sure. But really, I don't see this being a problem. I can see us easily beating all those teams. I don't think there are that many strong prospects this year if I'm being completely honest. And the Anbu seems to believe in our skills well enough."
Sarada placed a card down gingerly; she stared hard at it, like she was questioning herself.
"Do you want to change your card?" Mitsuki asked. "Because that's not allowed."
"No...no that's not it." She continued to stare at the card as if mulling something over, then finally looked up at Mitsuki and Itachi, uncertainty clouding her eyes. "You made me think of something. Do you remember the other day, when we were meeting for the first time all together, and they mentioned our skills and our abilities to make difficult choices? And they said it was in my blood? What do you think they meant by that?"
Itachi's hand froze as he began to place a card onto the pile.
"I think they just were saying our families are strong," he lied, "and therefore we are strong shinobi. Okay, Mitsuki, your turn, hurry."
"No, that's not it," Mitsuki said matter-of-factly. He placed down a card. "Don't you know?"
"No…" Sarada said suspiciously. "Should I…? Know what?"
"Okay, Sarada, your turn." Itachi could feel his heart begin to pick up speed and his mind clawed for any way to end the conversation.
"Your uncle," Mitsuki replied pointedly.
Sarada turned her head. "I don't have an uncle…" she said suspiciously.
"Okay, guys, let's hurry this up!"
"Boruto, shut up! Mitsuki, what are you talking about?"
Mitsuki opened his mouth to speak again. "You didn't know you have an uncle? He killed-"
"Mitsuki, stop!" Itachi's body moved on his own and he lunged across the cards to stop his teammate from talking. Mitsuki smoothly lunged out of the way.
Sarada grabbed Itachi by his shirt and pulled him back."Boruto stop it! Let him talk!" She sucked in breath as she looked from Mitsuki to Itachi and back again. "Mitsuki, what are you saying…"
Mitsuki looked at Itachi then to Sarada nonchalantly. "Your uncle. He killed the whole Uchiha clan. Except your dad."
"Mitsuki, please, shut up," Itachi hissed. His heart dropped into his stomach and he could feel his insides begin to freeze. No, no, no, this is bad, this is bad, this is-
"What?" Sarada shifted backwards unconsciously, as though she could get away from the news if she tried hard enough. She subconsciously let go of Itachi's shirt. "What are you saying?" she asked impatiently. "That's not true. That's not...my dad would have…"
Her eyes now moved between the two quickly. They searched them, trying to find a lie between the two and assessed their faces- Mitsuki's nonchalant, smooth face, and Itachi's, eyes wild, biting his lip.
"My uncle...killed my family…?" she asked, confusion racking her voice. "I have an uncle?"
"Sarada-" Itachi began. This isn't how you were supposed to find out, he wanted to reason with her, and pull her hands into his. Not during the chunin exams. Not when you're working so hard to be a good Leaf shinobi. You don't need to be disillusioned, not when-
But Sarada pulled further away from him then finally looked away from her teammates, her face clearly crushed. "You knew...you knew something like this and neither of you told me…" Her face was twisting now as her mind was clearly trying to land on how she should feel.
"Sarada-" Itachi tried again.
"No. No, I don't want to hear this from you. We're teammates. We're supposed to tell each other everything..."
"I didn't know you didn't know," Itachi tried to lie.
"Bullshit." She raised her head. Her now red eyes pierced his. "Bullshit. You wouldn't have tried to get Mitsuki to stop talking if you didn't know!"
Itachi was stuck. She had him. So instead he turned his attention to Mitsuki. "Why would you tell her now…" he asked.
"Because I thought she deserved to know. We knew. Why shouldn't she know?"
"I don't think anyone was going to tell her that because that news…" That news could be damaging. Look what it did to Sasuke- and I orchestrated his emotions on that. But Itachi couldn't say any of that, so he just settled on "...because that news could hurt."
"And how did you two know anyway?" Sarada asked suddenly.
Mitsuki and Itachi exchanged glances. Go on, Itachi wanted to say.
"I learned from my parent," Mitsuki admitted.
"And you?" Sarada hissed.
Itachi didn't know what to say. His whole life he had been level headed. He always knew the right thing to say, the right move to make, the correct strategy in a situation. But now he was in one of the toughest verbal situations of his life, counting both lives, and he didn't have an answer. Because the correct answer wasn't the right one in this life- it was the impossible one.
He continued to stare at her, words not forming in his mouth. Even Boruto's body didn't know how to respond.
He could begin to see tears breach the corners of her eyes the longer he sat silently. "Y-you," she sputtered after a moment. "You don't even have to say anything. You learned this from my dad, didn't you."
"No," Itachi offered truthfully.
"Lies." Sarada wiped at her eyes. "We're supposed to be teammates and still you lie. Didn't we just go through this yesterday? With the first test? You're supposed to trust your teammates over everything and still you're giving me a reason not to trust you! How else would you have found out?!"
SARADA'S DIARY
I could feel it all start to boil over. I knew I shouldn't have been so affected. I knew I shouldn't have gotten upset. I knew I shouldn't have shown emotions over this, not during the chunin exams. But it all just came to a head. How I felt about finding out about having an uncle during the exams, how I felt about what he did, but most of all, how I felt about Boruto and my dad, even if he is my best friend and it doesn't usually bother me. It was like all my biggest fears about my dad spending more time with Boruto than me was actually true. But I couldn't be blamed right? Anyone would be upset if they found out from a friend that their uncle, that they didn't even know existed, had killed their family. And afterall, if he didn't find out from my dad, where could he have learned it from?
"Sarada, please, let's talk about this-" Itachi tried.
"No. No you don't get to dictate what happens right now or how I'm feeling. GOD." She wiped her eyes again as though embarrassed they betrayed how hurt she really was. "You must know everything don't you. You must feel so good about yourself right now. Do you know what it's like to go through your whole life and know nothing about your family? No. That's right. You don't!" She laughed angrily. "You have everything about your family. Your dad is the fucking Hokage! You can just go around and know everything about your family and you know about mine too? And you're trying to calm me down as though it's not a big deal?"
"Sarada...that's not…"
But she cut him off. "Boruto, you have no fucking clue what it's like to be me! You don't know what it's like to be kept in the dark for most of your life, and to try so hard and get nowhere. To try...to try so hard to get your dad to notice you, but instead you get nothing!" She held up a finger as though stopping him before he started speaking. "And don't tell me Lord Seventh doesn't notice you because he does! I see it! We all see it! So you get your family's secrets and mine? And have the audacity to try to control the conversation?" She sniffed. "I have tried for so long to know anything about my family, and this is the biggest bombshell I have ever heard, and somehow...somehow you...who doesn't even try hard...you...who is the biggest idiot in the whole world...you...who is supposed to be my best friend….get everything I have been trying years to get? And I get it now? During the chunin exams? Trapped in a tree?"
"Sarada, that's not fair," Mitsuki said. "You know Boruto training with your dad doesn't bother you. I understand you are hurt but-"
"Mitsuki." Sarada held up a finger to him. "This is your fault in the first place so do not start."
Itachi felt like the world was melting around him. He was doing so much to protect her, to protect his family again, but this was not part of the plan. He couldn't even talk his way out of it because she had every right to be upset, especially about the nature of the news.
He wanted her to know about his existence but he understood that that would come with this pain. That's why Sasuke didn't explain anything to her while the three of them were training, when she asked about their family. If she knew about him then she'd have to know what he did, and that was too big of a spoon to swallow at one time. Especially when she was this young and still impressionable. Especially when that was exactly what the Akatsuki was trying to do with his memory…
"Sarada, please, you're right, I have no excuses," he said softly. "But we're in the exams and we don't have time right now to hash this out-"
At that exact moment a kunai sliced through the air between them and landed with a thick thunk! behind Itachi's head. All three immediately morphed into shinobi mode. They cast off the conflict they were just engaged in; if they were to win, they knew they needed to be teammates above all, no matter what just emerged between them.
The sun had set most of the way, but below the canopy of leaves, most everything was already under a thick shadow. Sarada was already in the lead, barking out orders. "Mitsuki, guard the scroll," she hissed while flying out of the tree. The other two were on her heels.
Down below, shadows emerged, seeming to egg on team seven. "Careful, don't engage!" Mitsuki shot back. Whoever was below seemed almost too ready to fight, which to Itachi was a clear sign of a trap.
But Itachi followed Sarada down to the ground. Immediately upon hitting the dirt, another kunai whizzed by his ear. He reached his hand up to catch it midair. He was surprised at his reflexes- his own skills seemed to be syncing with his body more.
Ahead Sarada screamed. Itachi whipped the kunai back to hit the person in front of Sarada, but the person ducked.
"Cho Cho, what are you doing?!" Sarada cried out.
Cho Cho? Itachi ran closer, and with his eyes adjusted to the darkness on the ground, he saw that in front of them, hand wrapped tightly in Sarada's hair, was Cho Cho.
"Cho Cho, stop it!" Sarada squirmed again to get out of her pull. Her sharingan was activated, but she didn't have the strength to release herself. "We're not supposed to fight our teams! You heard Uncle Sai!"
Cho Cho didn't listen. She grabbed Sarada tighter, then slammed her into the ground. Above them, Mitsuki was starting his own fight with Inojin.
What the hell was going on? They knew they weren't supposed to fight their other Leaf teams- unless that was another lie? No. No it wouldn't be. That wasn't the point of the second test.
Sarada shot out from the dirt before Cho Cho had another chance to crush her with her partial expansion. She kicked Cho Cho backward, flinging her into the tree behind her, but Cho Cho immediately came back and attempted to squash her again with her fist. Itachi circumvented her at that moment where he saw an opening and grabbed Cho Cho's arm.
However, Cho Cho was able to use her height and weight to overpower Itachi's speed and crushed him with her other fist. He felt useless; even with some of his own skill, he still wasn't at his old level.
However, face filled with dust, something in Itachi snapped at that moment- and it wasn't a bone. No. He knew strength like this. This wasn't Cho Cho playing around. This wasn't friendly fire or someone ignoring the rules. They weren't here for a scroll.
Cho Cho was fighting to kill.
At that moment all bets were off, and he felt his sharingan activate. But upon seeing Cho Cho go after Sarada again, he knew he had no choice and didn't care; like hell he was going to let someone kill his niece.
NO! He heard a voice deep inside his head but he ignored it. He didn't care about Boruto and his thoughts at that moment. She may have been a friend to Boruto, but to Itachi she was just someone in his way. If he had the strength to kill his clan, he had the strength to kill this girl. He flung himself off the ground and charged back at Cho Cho.
"Boruto, no! I don't think it's Cho Cho!" he heard Sarada yell out, but it was too late. He easily slid back into the routine of using his sharingan, and it was like taking a long cold drink after a hot day. He could now track her movements and, upon seeing another opening under her arm, took another kunai out of his pocket and lunged it straight into her heart.
"NO!" Sarada screamed from behind him. Cho Cho faltered for a moment then pulled herself off his weapon and covered her heart with her hands. Itachi thought she was about to say something as her eyes locked onto his but, within seconds, instead of blood pouring out of her chest she- she-
Sarada screamed.
Cho Cho began to wind up in white swirls as she transformed from their friend into a white monster, now lifeless and deflated on the ground. It wasn't Cho Cho. It was someone- something- pretending to be Cho Cho.
"Mitsuki!" he yelled above and immediately fought to move his way up the trees to his other teammate. "It's not Inojin! Kill him!"
By the time he reached the branch to Mitsuki, Mitsuki was about to drive a kunai through him. Itachi flung in before he had the chance, and within seconds, Inojin was curling in on himself and lay just as the other white body below.
"What was that," Mitsuki breathed, staring at the now lifeless body.
"I don't know," Itachi admitted. The old dusty memory of the name "white zetsu" sat just under the surface of Itachi's mind, but it quickly fluttered away upon hearing Sarada yell again. They jumped below to her.
"It's those things," she cried. "We saw them? Remember? With Konohamaru-sensei."
"What are they doing out here?" Mitsuki asked. His eyes then furrowed at Itachi but he didn't say anything.
"I don't know," Sarada replied. "But we have to find a proctor immediately. I think- Boruto what's wrong with your eyes?"
My eyes? Oh wait...
OH.
FUCK.
Itachi blinked and the sharingan melted away again, leaving just his blue eyes. He screamed at himself from inside. How could he be so careless?
"What about my eyes?" he asked. He tried to keep his voice steadier this time, different than when he was talking to Sarada about the Uchiha Massacre. He couldn't slip on this one. "Come on, let's go. We need to tell someone what we saw and see if we can find the real Cho Cho and Inojin."
SARADA'S DIARY
I knew he was lying when we asked. But how could I ever prove it? How could I ever accuse Boruto of having the sharingan?
Itachi was thankful for the silence as the team ran to find anyone roaming the forest, but they didn't come across one person.
Mitsuki finally broke the silence. "Do we finish the test first or do we tell someone?"
"Well if these things are out here impersonating our friends do you think we should tell someone first in case something bad happens?" Sarada asked.
"Would it really matter if we finished? I mean even if we don't finish it'll be too late anyway so we might as well."
"Mitsuki! They're our friends."
"How about if we see a team along the way we get their scroll otherwise we'll make it to the middle, okay?" he suggested.
"Fine. Deal."
And so they went, into the night, searching for any form of life.
"Uh, hey, Boruto," Sarada began after a few minutes.
"Hm?"
"Now that we're moving...can you please explain to me something."
"Hm?" Don't ask about my eyes don't ask about my eyes don't ask about my eyes-
"What happened to your eyes back there?"
"They were red," Mitsuki pointed out.
"No they weren't," he lied.
"Yes, they definitely were."
"I think you guys are seeing things," he said gently. "It's been a tiring two days. People pretending to be our friends just tried to kill us. We just were fighting before that. You are probably stressed and seeing things."
SARADA'S DIARY
Both Mitsuki and I stressed to where we saw the same hallucination? Not a chance. And I don't get stressed that easily to where I see things; if I did, then I'd have been hallucinating my whole life. Boruto was hiding something and I needed to figure it out.
Itachi was actually grateful for the Hidden Mist team that tried to attack them next. It was a nice distraction from the talk about his eye, and he knew that if they could just get their scroll, they'd have something else to focus on.
It was a fair fight, but Itachi made sure not to use his sharingan again. They were not playing to kill, afterall. Within twenty minutes they overthrew the other team and had the heaven scroll. They had even more reason to get to the end.
Night still shrouded them by the time they reached the tower where the proctors were waiting. They debated briefly if they wanted to stop to rest but decided against it. One more scuffle awaited them just at the clearing, but Itachi wanted to reach the end so badly, he allowed the fight to pass by without remembering many details; they were a group from the Stone, clearly newly minted genin within the last six months, and easily defeated.
They finally busted through the tower at what Itachi thought would have been about midnight; the clock on the wall read 2 am.
Sai's face lit up upon seeing them. "Wow, this might be a record-"
"Cho Cho and Inojin are hurt," Sarada panted.
Sai's face crumpled at her words. "Wait, what?" he asked.
"We were attacked by something that wasn't them. We thought it was Cho Cho and Inojin. They came after us to kill but when we defended ourselves and stabbed them they...they…" Sarada slid against the wall, the night finally catching up to all three of them. Mitsuki leaned next to her.
"They transformed into these creatures," Itachi finished for her then allowed himself to slump next to his teammates.
Sai's face quickly morphed into the beginning outline of understanding. "What kind of creatures?" he asked.
"They were white," Sarada breathed.
"We saw them with Konohamaru before," Mitsuki added.
That was all Sai needed. He quickly dispatched Kankuro, the other proctor, who was guarding outside. Within moments the tower was buzzing as Kankuro demanded the details and Sai sent out a super beast scroll to gain the attention of Kakashi, who was guarding outside the gates.
In an hour Sarada, Mitsuki, and Itachi were wrapped in blankets, reciting the story for the third time to a group of jonin. No, they don't know where it came from. No, they didn't see anything else. No, they hadn't seen the real Cho Cho or Inojin since the test began.
"What happened?" Kakashi had demanded upon entering. His eyes rolled over the three genin shrunk together in the corner. His face fell upon seeing Itachi. Something fucking happened.
"These kids might have discovered white zetsu," Sai had explained.
"What."
"We need to stop the exam immediately and bring all the genin here. Then we need to sweep the forest to look for any signs of them before we let them back out. In the meantime someone needs to go alert Naruto."
"I'll tell Naruto." Kakashi exchanged one last glance with Itachi then disappeared out the door.
Outside, Itachi could hear other jonin shouting to one another and for genin to come out. He knew the other genin weren't going to immediately be that trusting, plus it was such a large distance to cover; the first rays of light would be topping the trees by the time all genin were corralled.
Before the first genin had arrived, Sarada had whispered, "You know...I shouldn't even be concerned about this…but we missed the Anbu."
"The Anbu?" Itachi forgot all about their other mission in the chaos.
"Do you think they saw us fight even if we missed them?" she asked. "Do you think they saw our skills?"
Before either had a chance to respond, the genins began to arrive, and the three stopped talking about their other secret mission. Itachi forgot about it again when Sai and Moegi arrived carrying an unconscious Cho Cho and Inojin into the tower.
"I don't know what happened…" Inojin offered weakly to his dad when he finally awoke. "I don't remember anything. I just remembered being attacked and then it's all blank…"
Whatever was out there had attacked his friends. Attacked him. Intent to kill. He hoped that Kakashi was able to reach Naruto in time.
It was decided quickly that they were to sleep in the tower that night so the jonin could sweep the forest for any more white zetsu in case of danger. The genin all crowded together and there was no longer an air of competition: there was something more dangerous out there than each other.
Before all the genin had arrived, Sarada had given way to her exhaustion and had ended up slumped onto Itachi's lap in a deep sleep. He watched as the other teams all huddled together, and he allowed himself to place his hand on her hair protectively. He didn't care how normal or abnormal that would be for Boruto, right now he wanted her to feel safe. He wanted to protect her like he wanted to protect his brother. He wanted to poke her forehead and tell her that everything was going to be alright. I'm here, he imagined himself saying. Your Uncle Itachi is here. Yes, I did just what Mitsuki said. But it's not what you think. It was to protect you. I am here to protect you.
He fell asleep, a hand still on Sarada, wondering just what the white zetsu were for and where they came from.