Chapter 10: To Act
Lifting the half awake and throughly unresponsive three year old, Itachi slowly rose from the bed. He needed to get Naoko to someone that could help her and know to keep it quiet. Dark gray eyes moved over to the unconscious caretaker. He also needed that person to be able to keep that woman quiet.
The ten year old shook his head as he moved to lift the unconscious form up to only remember sharply just how short and young he was. If he could carry both Naoko and the caretaker on his shoulders he would be able to get all three of them out but - Itachi pulled Naoko away from him only to find his shirt being pulled with her as her fisted hands tightened - as it was he couldn't.
Itachi frowned before shifting the little girl so that he could form a familiar cross hand-seal. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu." Whispered Itachi before settling back onto the bed. He needed to get the Hokage. He was the only person who could help or get help and keep it quiet. No one who shouldn't know would. No matter what Danzo believed.
It felt like ages before the memories of his bunshin came to Itachi. He had been forced to act like nothing was amiss and wait his turn to see the Hokage. Then he had to convince the kage, through subtly lying about wanting to kill a certain blood related clan, to get the others out of the room. After the explanation of what he really needed, the Hokage informed him to wait and keep the caretaker unconscious. He would be there as soon as possible.
Itachi took a deep breath and exhaled. Naoko needed help from someone that might actually have an idea of what had happened. All Itachi knew was that Naoko was-she had been... Itachi tightened his hold on the little girl. He had watched Naoko's body fade into butterflies.
"Itachi?"
Sharingan red eyes flashed up to find three shinobi standing a few feet away, the caretaker laying between them. Itachi's hands trembled as he stared at the three older men, not caring at that moment that he hadn't noticed them coming. Itachi was just relieved to see Sarutobi Hiruzen.
The other two shinobi were also good to see. Yamanaka Inoichi would easily be able to not only take care of the caretaker but also assess Naoko's mental state. Itachi was certain she was in some high level of shock. Aburame Shibi was good for the butterfly problem.
"Itachi, respond." Ordered the Hokage quietly as Inoichi slowly stepped forward to move Akiko-san from the floor.
"Hai... hai Hokage-sama." Itachi stared for a second longer before realizing with a start that he should perhaps do something, like move Naoko onto the bed. By the time Itachi came to that conclusion the Hokage was carefully pulling her off.
"Report, Inoichi-kun and Shibi-kun need to know whats going on and I need more details beyond Naoko turning into butterflies and is mostly unresponsive."
Itachi slowly nodded as he tried to help get Naoko to let go of his shirt. "Hai, approximately..." Dark gray eyes flickered over the walls until finding a clock, "Thirty minutes ago," It had felt far longer than that. "I came to assess my new roommate. I found her on her bed in all appearance mediating. I chose to observe instead of interrupt her mediation. A few moments later she just... her physical form started to.. I-I don- I don't know, fall apart? Dissolve?"
Itachi looked up at his leader. "Her skin changed, I guess... at first it was like butterflies were crawling up from inside her, they looked like moving tattoos, but then they reached the top of the skin and the butterflies started pulling themselves up through her skin but it didn't rip the skin or anything."
The ten year old moved his sight to the other two shinobi. Like the Hokage's, their faces were carefully blank. "After the caretaker came in and fainted I started calling to her. It took a few minutes but than she opened her eyes and that's when her body fully dissolved. She was gone and all that was left were hundreds of butterflies in the room. Her clothing was on the bed but that was all. " Itachi turned back to Naoko who was now curled into a ball, hugging her pillow. "I-I told her to pull herself back together. I didn't know what else to do but after a few minutes the butterflies all came back to the bed and reformed, solidified into Naoko. I grabbed the pile of pjs and pulled them back on her while trying to get her to talk to me. When she finally started talking it quickly escalated to rambling."
Dark gray eyes looked imploringly at the audience, "Her rambling doesn't make any sense to me. Naoko said that she was everywhere yet no where. She was multiple things at once. I believe she said she was ants and the sky and clouds. There had apparently been more than me shouting at her to get her attention... I- I didn't know what to do so, once she calmed down, I made a bunshin and sent it to you Hokage-sama."
Silence stretched out as the older shinobi digested Itachi's words. The third and Inoichi were both trying to understand what Orochimaru could have done to her. Shibi was contemplating exactly what this could mean for his clan and, to some extent, the village. Itachi was split between hoping someone knew something and wondering whether he should bring up already knowing her or not.
Sarutobi had to make sure of one thing before pursuing this possible kekkei genkai. "Itachi are you certain?" Dark gray eyes met black and the old man seemed to hesitate for a moment, "You have been under a great deal of stress recently."
Itachi frowned, his apparent difficulties with his family and the ANBU could lead to mental issues in some cases but he wasn't insane. Even so Itachi couldn't really blame the Hokage for coming to that conclusion. The only way any of them could possibly, fully believe him is if they saw it themselves...or perhaps saw just a part of her become butterflies. The memory of the first time he had seen the butterflies came to mind. "Perhaps... Hokage-sama if Naoko's entire body dissolves into butterflies..." Itachi pulled out a kunai and carefully pulled a small chunk of silky white strands into his hand, "Then maybe her hair will dissolve into butterflies when cut?"
The third regarded the ten year old thoughtfully for a moment before nodding, "It is worth a try."
With a flick of the blade, loose silvery white strands gleamed in Itachi's hand. The Uchiha carefully cupped his hand around the loose strands of hair and the others stepped closer for a better view. Itachi forced himself not to react to the small kikaichū bugs that landed on his fingertips. The quiet ticking of the clock grew louder as time seemed to run slower.
It felt like forever by the time something occurred and the strands seemed to fad away into two little butterflies. They were mostly blue, the same color of Naoko's eyes. The back wings had little orange circles like eyes. Both butterflies fluttered off back towards Naoko. Shibi reached out and carefully caught one while the other landed on her arm and crawled back under her skin and into her.
More tiny little bugs crawled out of the Aburame's sleeve. A few zoomed over to Naoko and a few crawled over to the lone butterfly in the tall man's hand. The Hokage settled onto the bed and carefully slid his hands through slivery white strands. "Inoichi, make sure the caretaker doesn't remember this and have her inclined to not investigate this area for a time."
Shibi quietly interrupted."Hokage-sama, it would be best to move her from the orphanage immediately. This possible bloodline limit is an unknown and so could be a danger to civilians."
The old man nodded in agreement. "Hmmm... Have her believe Naoko has been taken to her apartment early. She will be going with you Shibi-kun, of course."
"That would be best."
Itachi looked between his superiors as Inoichi carried the still unconscious woman away. "Hokage-sama, what will happen now?"
The third didn't answer immediately as he began rubbing circles onto Naoko's back. Finally he spoke up, concern gleamed in his black eyes, "Itachi after you help setup the other orphans into their new apartments next week, come to my office. If Naoko has not been deemed ready to leave the Aburame's care you will return the following week and so forth. You're otherwise dismissed at this time." The third Hokage looked up into Itachi's eyes, "What has happened here is an S-rank secret."
The young man frowned and hesitated for a moment. Itachi wanted, no needed, to know what was going to happen to Naoko. They were going to help her and he should see her next week but still... this was Naoko and she was his responsibility in a way not even the Hokage could understand.
After a moment Itachi bowed, dark gray eyes settled onto her unresponsive form. He couldn't help her. The ten year old had no clue what or why what happened happened, but the Hokage could figure it out. That didn't make it any easier for Itachi to turn and leave. Naoko and he were in this together, and it felt like he was deserting her when she needed him the most.
"One more thing Itachi, one of your new teammates is back on duty and will be contacting you for some basic training involving your new position."
Itachi nodded sharply before fleeing. Naoko would be alright. She would be.
AUAU
Sarutobi Hiruzen slowly sank into the single chair in the room with a pop of his back. Soon after Itachi had left, Inoichi had returned and they had moved little Naoko to the Aburame compound. Shibi was silently laying the child onto the bed. The old man could just make out glazed blue eyes.
If the situation wasn't so concerning the elderly man was sure Naoko taking the orphanage pillow on this trip would have been at least slightly amusing and not, in fact, as concerning as it was now. She was awake but absolute unresponsive since she had claimed the pillow as her replacement for Itachi's shirt.
"What have you determined about the butterflies?" Asked the Hokage as Shibi and Inoichi got comfortable.
Shibi pushed his glasses up as he responded, "What I have determined is that the butterflies have the appearance and presence of normal butterflies. Further investigation such as a dissection would be needed to continue to form an appropriate opinion of them. Before such actions can be taken, their relation to Naoko-san must be determined as once they enter into the girl their presence vanish."
Sarutobi sighed heavily, "And to determine that relation we need Naoko to work with us and, more importantly, be responsive. Inoichi its time to see what you can in that head of hers."
The blond man nodded sharply before shifting his position to give himself a better angle towards the three year old, "Pull me out of the technique after two minutes. She is too young for me to safely enter her mind for any longer. Because of the time limit, and the fact that she is three, I will not be able to access her memories...Not properly at least."
"Just pull her back to us." Order the Hokage.
Inoichi nodded before flicking his hand through a blur of handseals and with a soft whisper, the Yamanaka's head fell forward.
AUAU
White smoke and turquoise grass danced in non-existent wind. Inoichi looked around but couldn't make out anything. The smoke - or was it fog? - lazily moved in circles around him, clinging to his clothing. The stark smell of something burnt yet the heaviness of rain filled the Yamanaka's senses. He couldn't hear anything. It was eerie.
In the few civilian minds he had entered, it was always filled with conflicting sounds as memories tried to push themselves onto him. The shinobi minds he had entered in this manner had differed but there had still been some sound, even if it had only been whispers. To hear nothing was strange. Shaking his head, Inoichi slowly looked around. He didn't have time to wonder about this. After a moment or so, the blond man chose a direction had headed off.
It seemed like ages had past in the silence and smoke when the sudden introduction of pounding caught the man off guard until a single glowing butterfly flapped past him, back the way he had come. It was so silent a flying butterfly sounded like the beats of a drum. As the glowing butterfly flew out of sight, its glow breached the smoke and made a pathway. Wind gushed over him, pushing Inoichi after it.
Following it slowly revealed other butterflies all flying in the same general direction. They fluttered, flicked, dived, and danced in the smoke. Soon the smoke looked like some child had stuck his fingers into icing and doodled with no real concept of what he wanted to make before hand.
To make it even stranger, at random moments pipping would jut out from the fog or even the turquoise grass. Inoichi found himself walking over a number of pipes that just peaked out of the earth. The contrast of nature and industrial piping was off putting. One of the things just didn't belong. Was the grass growing over the pipes or were the pipes pushing up from the ground? It was surreal being in such a place.
A whimper brushed past in the wind as another butterfly carried it by. Pupilless blue eyes moved from the thick smoke and found a tall tree heavy with deep blue leaves slowly rising from the whiteness. One of the butterflies fluttered down onto the branch and lost its glow. It looked like the leaves. The leaves weren't leaves. They were butterflies. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of butterflies.
The whimper came to him again, pulling him from the butterfly ladened tree. Walking around the tree revealed only an ornate go board that someone had left in the middle of a game. Frowning Inoichi crouched before the board. He reached out and press his hand onto solid wood. The Yamanaka had half expected it to burst into smoke. Instead if felt as solid as any well made go board he had seen. A slight whistling sound was the only warning before wind crashed into him from all sides. The whimper became part of a sentence. Inoichi could hear deep chuckles, a man's voice.
I would have to say Sukiyaki.
Inoichi couldn't tell where it could have originated but it was part of a memory. The memory was connected to the board even if it had come from the wind.
He couldn't stop the slight sigh of relief once the wind calmed but not because it had stopped slamming into him. The relief was for something much more important than the state of his hair. This was a normal way for memories to solidify in people's minds. Something distinctive about a memory would be left as the physical representation of said memory. The wind and smoke were odd but every mind was different in someway. Inoichi was just glad he had found the go board because it meant Naoko's mind wasn't too different from the others he had entered in this manner before.
Inoichi rose and looked around. Turning in a circle the man searched in vain as his sight couldn't reach more than a few feet in front of him. As relieving as it was to find the evidence of memories, he was here to find Naoko and not try and find what memories were still close enough on the surface that he'd be able to touch them. Young children had short attention spans for a reason, and when they did remember something it was a single thing from a larger memory that they fixated on. The rest of the memory would be too far from the surface to be able to find safely.
Unless the memory was traumatizing. Then it would stick around for a time. Inoichi glanced up at the butterfly laden tree. Dissolving into a large number of butterflies would be rather traumatizing. The blond turned back to his search. He really didn't need to find out what dissolving into butterflies felt like and that was most likely what that memory would be. Right now he needed to find Naoko, but where could she be? Inoichi jerked back against the tree as the wind crashed into him again from nearly all sides. A wordless plea came with it. What was going on?
"Naoko?" Called Inoichi. "Naoko I'm here to help you!"
The wind died instantly. It was eerily silent again. Then drums resounded outward and a butterfly fluttered down past him. Broken words breathed in the wind that came in its wake. "I...was the sky...I am...am always.."
Inoichi stared for a second before cringing. The whimper was coming from all around him because she was all around him. Technically people could do this when he entered their minds but he had never witnessed it. This was the physical manifestation of their mind but a mind is still the person. It wasn't ever separate. He had only read of this. No one seemed to have the mental capacity to accept the fact that they were omnipotent within their own minds and so they recreated their physical bodies as a sort of avatar in their mindscape. It made things easier for everyone.
The three year old was everywhere but no where, just as she had told the Uchiha boy. How was he supposed to get her back together? The Uchiha had gotten her to physically come back by shouting at her but he didn't have the time. Inoichi had only a few more moments before he had to leave. Time acted differently within the mind but he had to be reaching the end of his limit. How could he help her?
A butterfly fluttered up past his sight. Her physical form had dissolved into butterflies. Inoichi snapped his hand up and caught the butterfly somewhat less neatly than Shibi had earlier. He stared down at it for a second, half expecting to live through Naoko's memory of being a hundred butterflies. After a few seconds, Inoichi slowly moved the little glowing butterfly up to his lips. He whispered softly to it.
"Time to come back together Naoko-chan. You're not the sky. You are a little white haired, blue eyed girl. You are Senju Namikaze Naoko. There isn't any room for you to be the sky and the ants or the birds. You most definitely cannot be the clouds. Clouds have to be themselves just like you." Inoichi silently shook his head. Thanks Kami Shikaku nor ChÅ za would ever hear about this.
Inoichi let go of the butterfly after that thought and watched as it fluttered up to the tree. Unlike the butterflies before it, it didn't land. Instead the butterfly fluttered all around the landed butterflies and then swooped down back towards Inoichi. The landed butterflies took flight after it.
The Yamanaka stayed perfectly still as he suddenly found himself surround by a flock, or perhaps it was a swarm, of butterflies. It wasn't like he knew. Now, ask him about a flower and he'd have the answer.
Shaking his head at the stray thoughts, Inoichi focused back to what was happening before him. Just in time too, as before his eyes the butterflies seemed to come together into a human like shape and fade into cream and white and finally two dots of blue. Naoko looked up at him with wide blue eyes.
No wonder the Uchiha had been so odd. That was one of the strangest things...
AUAU
"There you are." Itachi looked up to find a simple, older man standing before him. The man raised a brow at Itachi, "Aren't you a bit young to be making notes from that?"
Itachi stared a second longer before looking down at the Icha Icha Paradise book and the pen he had been using to mark in it. Then he looked at the tiny role of paper he had been writing numbers on. This did look rather compromising. The Uchiha slowly looked back up at the older man, his expression kept carefully blank.
The man shook his head, "Man, is there any way to get you Uchiha to react?"
"Hn."
An amused, small smile spread across his face, "Well Usa-chan, I think its time for some explaining for your new position."
Itachi frowned at him. His ANBU mask was of a rabbit not a bunny. Choosing to continue to ignore the rude remarks, dark gray eyes slid over his new comrade. Itachi really looked at him now that he knew this was one of his teammates.
Dark brown hair, dark but strangely warm black eyes. He was taller than Itachi but than Itachi was ten. He was clearly in his thirties and wore a green, short kimono over a blue shirt and standard issue black pants and sandals. In the end there was nothing especially special nor odd about him. He would blend in amongst the crowd with ease. As he basically admitted to being an ANBU, his appearance spoke of some skill in espionage. "Who are you?"
"I'm Maboroshi Kisuke. You'd call me Kisuke as I am now but with a mask I'm Mausu." Kisuke pulled out a scroll before settling carefully down besides Itachi on the lone bench in the training field. "Our main purpose is to investigate strange events and strange people. We watch from the shadows and are never seen. Yet people see us everyday as we walk amongst them. Of course each of us have our own roles to play as you'll find out when you meet the rest of our team."
Kisuke unrolled the scroll revealing the classic script of a seal. "Most of the time you'll be walking around looking like Uchiha Itachi just like I'm running around as Kisuke..." Kisuke looked up at the sky. "Sometimes we wear our full uniforms, like when we get guard duty at the Hokage tower but as we are usually moving around in our normal clothing we carry a small selection of our ANBU uniform on us to quickly pull on. " At this Kisuke tapped his hand onto one of the large circles drawn in ink. "In here I have my mask and my trench coat."
Black eyes moved to meet Itachi's, "And you may have noticed that I'm wearing multiple layers of clothing. Most people don't realize it but the base pant mesh we ANBU wear looks just like a regular pair of pants when not fully warped around the ankle. Even our standard shoes just come across as regular shinobi attire when you wear a normal shirt or your chūnin vest with it. Only people who'll guess at the implications are ex-ANBU and some JŠnin. Everyone else won't think twice at you wearing black pants and shoes instead of the standard navy."
Itachi frowned as he looked down. "I see." The ten year old looked up, "So with the trench coat, mask, and lower part of the uniform you can pass as a fully armored ANBU for minor issues."
Kisuke nodded, "You want to also carry the rest of your uniform to pull on when needed but for basic issues, like when the police either signal for us to make an appearance or the issue is outside their jurisdiction, we are able to look fully prepared while still having the ability to move through the open without anyone realizing."
"Our team consists of four shinobi. So usually there is three of us patroling and one off training or on the rare mission when their specific expertise is required." Kisuke rubbed the back of his neck in thought.
It was a few minutes later when the mouse ANBU spoke up again, "Usually Taicho would be giving you this introduction so I might be skipping things... Oh, Captain can basically always be found at the front gate. Its his near permanent day job and its perfect. One of us has to be there to get a good look at all the people coming and going... All of us have day jobs so to speak. I'm considered a runner since I go collect shinobi the Hokage needs for specific missions. The others have their own jobs," Kisuke's mouth slowly stretched into faint smirk, "even you, I hear."
Itachi hmm thoughtfully, ignoring the jab. So what if he was babysitting a bunch of kids. Orders were orders. "As I understand it, we're the only two presently in the village."
Kisuke stood up and, as he put away his scroll, nodded, "We are officially the only two present in the village but," The man turned and regarded Itachi, "Buta is still in the village, you took over his positions since he's been promoted. So he'll be moving through the village when not training with his new team, and every single ex-ANBU is unofficially made part of our team when they retire. They don't go on patrols through the village but they are always watching the strangers around for us. If you find yourself in a situation where one of them is helping you out, you're the one in charge. Well for most of the ex-ANBU, a couple of them are always going to be your senior."
"Like Uncle Kagami." Muttered Itachi as he thought of his great uncle's possible position as the past ANBU commander.
Itachi's comrade slowly nodded, "Yes, like Kagami-sama. Taicho will go over all the particulars of how you tell someone was a ANBU and whatever else I've forgotten. Right now we get to split up patroling the village." A smirk crossed his face, "As I'm the senior officer I'll take the first shift. You'll take over at 0100. Expect to be woken by water balloons if I find you asleep."
Uchiha Itachi frowned after his departing comrade in arms. None of that had been all that surprising, which was a little relieving. The ten year-old looked down at his clothing before putting away the orange book, roll of paper, and pen. First thing first was getting into a more appropriate uniform. Itachi smirked as he headed home. He was already wearing black so he somehow doubted that many JÅ nin would even notice the change in attire for him.
Itachi reached his home as he moved preoccupied through the village. Between Naoko and his new position in the ANBU, there was a number of unknowns and "what ifs" running through his mind. Itachi had had his life planned out all the way to having Sasuke kill him. Not knowing what was happening or going to happen was a somewhat new experience. He hadn't know everything of course but really how hard was it to guess that the Akatsuki members would be hunting down the tailed beasts in a moderately specific order of least number of tails to most number of tails?
Itachi smiled slightly. The thrill of the unknown was exciting. He hadn't experienced the feeling to the depth he was now in a long time. Even if being stuck in the village and babysitting a bunch a little kids for the foreseeable future wasn't exactly fitting for the Uchiha heir, it was something new. As Itachi pulled off his sandals he couldn't help but think about how he couldn't regret it simply because of that reason alone. Itachi had be going on assassination mission at this point last time. It was... nice not to be doing those.
"Itachi?" Dark gray eyes turned and met his mother's less than pleased ones. "Why has the Hokage sent a team of genin to pack your room up?"
Itachi couldn't stop the unintelligent reply from escaping, "Uhhh..." Maybe Itachi did regret becoming a babysitter and being trapped in the village. The Hokage could have given him some warning.
Uchiha Mikoto folded her arms in front of her and stepping out behind her was Uchiha Fugaku. Itachi was most definitely regretting this.
"Well... You see I have a long term mission." Itachi shifted at the deepened scowl on his mother's face. "I... The Hokage has given me orders to take care of and watch over a group of orphans that are too young to be left alone in their new apartments. I have to move into the same apartment complex and this is a mission I'm doing along side ANBU."
After a moment of silence, the two adults spoke at once.
Mikoto gave a blunt "No." while Fugaku asked a question, "Why you and how is this going to affect your missions?"
Itachi glanced at his mother before turning and standing at attention to his father. "I was chosen because of the youngest of the orphans is considered a potential genius. To cultivate her prowess I have been task to guide her since she does not have a clan to aid her. She will be sharing an apartment with myself until her graduation, though the Hokage may choose to have it continue for a time afterwards."
Itachi paused as he looked over at his mother, her scowl had deepened. "The Hokage also informed me that I will be taking less missions. He indicated that if I didn't take this mission he would not consider accepting me in the ANBU."
Turning back to his father, Itachi added after a pause, "It appears that the Hokage is somewhat concerned over my age but realizes my skill would be much appropriated within the ANBU. I believe this is his compromise between his passion for protecting younger shinobi and children from the difficulties he deems harsh for ones my age and younger, and his duty as Hokage."
Fugaku nodded in agreement before turning back to the kitchen, "Go speak with the genin team, they need guidance. We will be continuing this over tea."
The ten year old watched his parent move back into the other room. He could faintly hear a heated argument breakout as the door slid close. Itachi stared a moment longer before taking a steading breath and heading up to his room.
AUAU
A week and a half had passed by. Itachi slowly moved over the roof tops. He had moved into his new apartment â€" which had just the absolute basics at this point. His parents had reacted differently from what he had expected. His father had been agreeable enough. He had clearly seen the benefit of not only having a genius raised in Uchiha favor but also the other orphans. Uchiha Fugaku had also been interested, too interested in Itachi opinion, on Naoko's age. His father was planning something just what was eluding the ten year old. As it stood, Naoko had been invited to have dinner with his family as soon as she was well enough and Itachi had the time to take her.
Itachi's mother had, on the other hand, been furious. Apparently taking care of a bunch of children was not her idea of keeping her son safe, sane, and from overworking. She also made is very clear that Itachi was too young to be caring for himself let alone children younger than eight. But in the end she didn't have a say. Itachi was an adult by law. He had the right to move and live where he wanted. He even had the finances with his position as a chūnin and a ANBU. Most importantly, it was a mission requested by the Hokage and Itachi had accepted it.
Dark eyes wandered over the empty streets, it was about two in the morning and there was nothing to do but think. Mausu and he were still the only ANBU of their team presently in Konoha. He was still taking the red-eye shift which was something he didn't mind so much. Itachi preferred the quiet. Though, absolutely nothing had happened so far and Itachi wondered vaguely if there was ever any action as he leaned against a water tank and stared up at the black sky.
There was no moon tonight. Itachi slowly searched the stars and found each constellation he could see at this time of the year. Naoko was still with the Aburame. The Hokage had not bothered giving any details to Itachi and, honestly, Itachi hadn't really expected any. Part of him had been certain Naoko would be ready to move to the apartment. She had always bounced back. But this time it wasn't some fight she had lost or training she had had difficulties with. Naoko had turned into a bunch of butterflies and that had to do something to your head.
Though, the Sandaime had also admitted to there being some issue with the timing. Itachi could believe that, after all the Kumo ambassadors had shown up two days after The Incident (as Itachi had started calling it). The Hokage and, to a lessor extent, Yamanaka-san and Aburame-san were going to be rather busy through the peace talks.
Itachi pushed back off the water tank and moved to start his patrol again when some movement on some lower rooftop caught his eye. Someone was there and they were a shinobi, civilians didn't travel on rooftops nor in the middle of the night. Whoever they were, they were in Itachi's sensory range. He should be able to sense their chakra, yet Itachi couldn't. Why would a comrade have his chakra hidden?
Pulling his mask up Itachi moved swiftly after the person, keeping parallel to the figure and on the higher roof tops. His eyes bled red. It was a man and he was carrying a rather heavy sack. More importantly the man was wearing a flat jack in the style of the Kumo-nin ambassadors. Itachi's eyes widened as he remembered his father saying something about this so long ago.
This was the Hyuuga Affair. The ten year old stilled. He couldn't change this. To change this could change so much. Too much.
I. Will. Not. Fail. Konoha.
Itachi snapped forward as Naoko's glaring blue eyes seared through his thoughts. He would not fail Konoha either. It was time to act, not sit back and wait. Itachi narrowed his eyes and sped faster. The Kumo-nin was focused fully on keeping his chakra hidden and getting out of Konoha. He hadn't noticed an enraged Hiashi last time, he was not going to notice him.
The ten year old's eyes spun faster before he jumped in front of the fleeing nin. Black eyes widened. The kumo-nin jerked backwards, away from Itachi even as his eyes met sharingan red. Itachi snapped forward, hands flicked through blurred seals.
"Magen: Narakumi no jutsu." Hissed Itachi.
The kumo-nin flinched and horror rushed across his face. The rucksack fell. Itachi side stepped the kumo-nin, caught the sack, and twisted around. His hand snapped forward, hitting the back of the kumo-nins neck. The shinobi fell, his hands dropping the half formed handseal that would have freed him from the genjutsu.
Itachi snapped his head back the way the kumo-nin had come from. Hyuuga Hiashi was in front of him within seconds of Itachi sensing the man's chakra. Byakugan and sharingan met. Itachi silent lowered the sack and moved to the downed but alive shinobi. He was not going to get between that man and his child.