Tomogara
What horrors do his crimson eyes behold? These are the unfathomable depths of Uchiha Itachi.
I don't own Naruto nor do I profit from these writings in any way.
"Speaking"
"Thinking"
"Demon"
Tomogara
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They stood together inside of a sunlit apartment. They were in the living area of the small two room, one bathroom suite. Given that its most recent occupant was a child, the place was immaculately clean. Looks can be deceptive however; and on a closer inspection of the dining-table's underside several clumps of dust were revealed.
But what had prompted the bear masked Anbu to inspect the room with such care was not a concern for proper hygiene. Held in place to the underside of the table by chakra induced static attraction was a single strand of black hair. An old man, dressed in the robes of a hokage stood in the middle of the kitchen, one of his eyes was trained on the kunoichi beside him.
"This is Itachi's apartment. I've worked hard to separate him from all influence from that clan within reason. I'm afraid to say that my efforts have actually been aided by their own approach to the boy." A gnarled and liver-spotted hand stroked the Hokage's white goatee, "Combined with the social isolation encouraged by the people of this village Itachi is being placed under an incredible amount of emotional strain, even if he does not express it. With his power I sometimes worry of what form his rage will take when he can no longer contain it."
Noting the startled posture of his subordinate the elder shinobi explained his thoughts. "The Uchiha Clan plans to use his isolation as a wedge to bring him under their thumb, but that will not work, Itachi is one who possesses the mind, skills and abilities of a genius that appears only once in several generations." The old man's face was blank as he said those words but a flicker of an old sadness passing behind his eyes betrayed that neutrality.
"He's clever enough to eventually figure out just why his position in his clan and the attitude of the villagers toward him have changed; that is, if he hasn't discovered it already. I can command silence on the matter of the Nine-Tails but I cannot command people's hearts. The isolation of Itachi, is caused and perpetuated by the children of this village observing and mimicking the behavior of their parents. Were it not for the decree, their emulation would turn to outright hatred. Do you know, that when a person denies your right to exist, their eyes can be very cold?"
"What are my orders?" Questioned the masked woman.
"Itachi is an unpredictable person, not even his own father can say that he completely understands what motivates his son. I have my suspicions though, and that is why I want you to look over this child." Sarutobi's grey eyes level a gaze that pierces through the bear mask.
"I want you to protect him!"
Turning away from the woman the hokage walks in a circle about the room. "Itachi…is the type of person…who would prefer it, if he could die quietly without inconveniencing anyone." Turning toward the Anbu officer again he rapped his orders out in a sharp commanding voice. "Henceforth you shall be code-named Murasaki Moriko, tasked with protecting the next generation to blossom among the leaves of the great tree called Konohagakure!"
The newly named Moriko removed her mask and hood, revealing light brown hair held in a short pony-tail, framing a heart-shaped face from out of which a pair of eyes with dark pupils and deep violet irises gazed at the Sandaime with a determined expression, "Yes, sir!"
The Third grinned at the woman and remarked, "Although, it seems that Itachi is serious about his privacy."
Moriko nodded, "The windows, doors and letterbox are all rigged with simple alarm traps. This room has also been arranged to make it difficult for strangers to simply wander about it without disturbing something."
The Third Hokage nodded, "Itachi-kun as gone through great lengths to ensure that his privacy is honored. Perhaps we should leave?" With a hand seal and a puff of smoke and the two vanish from the room. Careful not to disturb the literally hair-trigger traps, the room is left in almost the same condition that it was entered. The one difference though was the fact that two piles of dust had spiraled down from the ceiling, landing in the exact location of the two who left. The trap waited for its creator to return to inspect the results.
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Inuzuka Suzume had long since her early childhood, come to terms with the uncaring, unfairness of the universe. At a very young age, and to be truthful even now, Suzume had been smitten with the idea of the feminine ideal. She wanted to be smart, and thin, and beautiful; wear those gorgeous pink dresses that she had seen in the Haruno clothes store once, to meet a charming prince and… Oh! The sparkles!
At nine years old she got the 'talk' from her mother which was a lot kinder and less blunt than it could have been. She had been taken to see the alpha of the Inuzuka dog pack, Kuromaru, mate to illustrate the mechanics of how things were done. What followed was a conversation that could be concisely broken down as thus. Fact number one, only a slut puts out for any man that wants her. Fact number two, unless she wanted to spend the rest of her adult life cleaning up after the clan's puppies she had better not leave a litter of her own bastards for her mother to take care off, i.e. use protection until ready to settle down. Fact number three, she could hold out for prince charming if she really wanted to but the pink dresses and sparkles were never gonna happen, ever; Inuzuka women were big breasted, tough, loud or all of the above. Fact number four, Inuzuka women had big feet, B.O. and grew body hair like it was nobody's business, either wear long pants or be resigned to a minimum of twice daily shavings.
Life was unfair. Reeeeaaaallllyyyy unfair!
Nadeshiko, Suzume's red Akita inu, had neither the strength nor the temperament to become alpha female in the Inuzuka dog packs. The six month old pup was quiet and aloof from everyone except for Suzume, preferring to follow her human partner about her daily routine with intelligent and patient observation. The little dog sat in a stomach pouch sown into her grey hoody and sweater.
It wasn't as if Nadeshiko was the runt of the litter though, the Akita had been an invaluable aid in helping her to ace the survival exam, giving advice and advanced warning in the form of sort yips and barks. Suzume knew that senjutsu was not her best area but like their dogs, Inuzuka bred for intelligence. A full week of studying had prepared her as much as possible for the rigorous written tests. She certainly hadn't scored high but she definitely didn't fail either.
Which was why she was puzzled and a little insecure after learning just who her teammates would be, Suzume was sure that Usagi-sensei had said that the academy was grouping graduates by test score. The highest scoring, with the average student and the dead last. As they sat in the outdoor lounge that they had been told to meet their sensei at, Suzume was feeling the weight of silence press all of her minds ramblings down upon her. She looked to her right at the seemingly unconcerned boy sitting next to her, chewing on a stick of pemmican.
He was just a little more than half her age and weight, yet this kid had left the entire graduating class behind in the dust, Uchiha Itachi. She wasn't the type to moon over the kid as some of her classmates and even a few instructors had taken to doing. Yet, Suzume had to admit to being filled with a sense of awe whenever she looked at him. This was someone who had laid out a chunin after all, beaten him so badly that his jaw had to be wired shut and with seemingly minimal effort to boot. His test scores in their normal survival skills training had consistently been on par with her scores and it was her best subject. With the exception of a strange six month dip in ninjutsu skills, apparently caused by some injury incurred during the Kyuubi attack, Itachi had been first in his class by a very wide margin in just about every subject.
He wasn't a genius, he was a super genius!
Nadeshiko didn't seem too keen on the boy but then she had always been reticent around people that she didn't know, especially after the terror of the Kyuubi attack.
Itachi wasn't the problem though. Suzume briefly glanced to her left and couldn't stop herself from flinching. Sitting to her left, sat Hyuuga Hideo, a branch family member who had been glaring through her, at Itachi. Glaring through her at Itachi for the last half-hour for some reason and he hadn't stopped glaring at Itachi from the time that the squad groupings had been announced. Those big, pearl-like eyes were boring through her skull at the other boy since she had the misfortune to sit between them. Nadeshiko softly whined in sympathy.
The thing is that Itachi was the confirmed rookie of the year. Probably one of the youngest, if not the youngest shinobi to ever graduate from the Konoha ninja academy; and certainly the only one to do so with a three hundred and sixty-seven point lead over his nearest competitor in the overall ninja skills rankings. If he was the highest scorer then either Suzume of Hyuuga Hideo was the dead last. Suzume doubted that it was her but Hideo had been at least competent in the field tests and was always placed in either the second or third spot in the overall rankings. He would have had to completely flunk the written tests to be placed last in the class. That was impossible for some one with the Byakugan, he could have simple used it to see the answers that he didn't know.
It's possible that they were trying to create a specialized team, trackers or scouts maybe, but with such high powered members the team dynamics could be skewed. Hideo had such lovely flowing hair though and Suzume loved the color of his lavender eyes even if they were creepy. She tugged at her own shaggy brown mane that spilled from the edges of her forest-green woolen cap as she thought dreamily about Hideo's glossy hair.
"The Sparkles!"
As if she had spoken aloud the Hyuuga suddenly shifted his focus toward her. Suzume started guiltily but Nadeshiko's whine made her aware of what she had missed while in dreamland. Entering from a door on her right was the jounin who would probably be their instructor and team leader. The woman was five feet seven inches tall and wore a deep purple turtle neck sweater with long, loose sleeves under her flak-jacket. Violet eyes seemed to weigh them as the woman introduced herself. Suzume couldn't help but stare at those eyes with a faint blush. Their purple luster seemed to refract the light in a hypnotic fashion that just entranced her. She tugged on the front of her green wool cap as a distraction from the thought rampaging through her mind.
"The Sparkles! The Sparkles!"
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Her clan spent most of their time outside of Konoha. Although the main branch swore fealty to Konohagakure, their village had at one time been the capital of one of the small fiefdoms that existed during the days of the Secret World Wars and had opted to peacefully join under the banner of Fire country rather than face forcible annexation. It wasn't as if her people didn't benefit from the arrangement. Her clan had been royalty, owned great tracts of land and were honored within the ninja world for their grasp of genjutsu. Within their own sphere of influence they were as highly looked upon as the Hyuuga or Uchiha Clans were in Konoha.
By agreement with the Shodaime, in exchange for being provided with a share of the missions coming in to Konoha and guaranteed military support, her family had given up their most skilled main family members to serve and die for Konoha as need be. Her natural skill for genjutsu had endeared her to the infiltration and assassination ANBU division and she was occasionally farmed out to do 'light' work with torture and interrogation. It had been three years since she joined the Anbu at fifteen and the first time in a long while that she was going without her mask, albeit under an assumed name.
She had spent the morning finishing her reading of the various reports from the teachers and official dossiers on her new students. In her care were a branch family Inuzuka and Hyuuga and the outcast son of the Uchiha Clan's clan-leader. The Inuzaka girl could stand to work on her taijutsu and ninjutsu skills, but her survival skills rating was consistently high as expected from a member of the Inuzuka clan. The girls sensei had described her as slightly scatter-brained but competent. Moriko intended to find out just what that meant.
The Hyuuga was a puzzle. He was well trained by his family and evaluations by the psych-ops officer stationed at the academy indicated an intelligent, well balanced young ninja trainee. Yet he had completely flubbed his written exam and was placed last in his class. His other skills and past history had more than passed muster so he had graduated dead last in his class even with the atrocious score. On paper he looked like all brawn and no brains, yet talking it over with Usagi-sensei from the academy had indicated that Hyuuga Hideo probably didn't feel challenged by the curriculum and had taken to just coasting by in order to make it through the academy; his lack of initiative had finally caught up with him at the graduation exam. Moriko intended to find a way to put an end to that if the shock of coming last in the graduation class was not enough motivation to the boy to improve his skills.
On the subject of Itachi she had been briefed by the Hokage himself. A genius from a genius clan was the overused description for him. Graduating one year older than the previous record set by Sharingan no Kakashi, Itachi's scores were something that had been cause for great praise before the Kyuubi attack and was now the center of concern for many villagers who didn't want that 'Kyuubi brat' to become a ninja. Stoic and steadfast in nature, with a shrewd mind and amazingly self-sufficient work ethic. His psychological profile was normal for a child from a ninja clan who had been trained from a young age. Her own childhood profile had probably been very similar although she had been thirteen years old when she was inducted into the academy compared to Itachi's six.
Of the Shinrabanshou hijutsu that had been implanted into Itachi at birth she knew only what she had been told. That it was a secret technique that allowed the implantation of techniques copied by the sharingan into the minds and bodies of a subject. The jutsu had a high mortality rate and could not be used on large numbers of people, only Uchiha children at birth. The practice had been forbidden by the Shodaime but Itachi had been given the technique after heavy lobbying by the Uchiha Clan during the Third Secret World War. Itachi was literally born and bred for battle and Moriko understood the Third's pity for the boy. As someone who was born to be sacrificed it wasn't a great leap of logic for the Uchiha to offer him again for the ritual to seal the Kyuubi. She sincerely hoped that the Hokage's estimation of what went on in Itachi's mind was right however, as someone with such a supreme ninja technique, talent and the power of the Kyuubi no Kitsune could possibly be the most dangerous threat to the Hidden Leaf. If Itachi proved to be a threat, she swore that she would kill him, even if she had to give up her own life to do it.
As she slowly made her way through the crowded streets on her way to the academy Moriko pondered just what she would do as part of her official evaluation test for the new genin. The Hokage simply advised that she create a test that would examine the qualities that she valued in her comrades. She had a general idea of what she was going to do and had taken the time to gather some special supplies.
Now that she was prepared, Moriko only needed to do a meet and greet with her prospective team. Entering the Shinobi Academy, she made her way through empty corridors as students had been given the day off and most chunin instructors were assigned elsewhere for this one day vacation. Her loose sleeves rustled as she walked up a short flight of stairs to the chunin lounge that she had arranged to meet with the children. Pausing briefly to reach for something in her rear equipment pouch, she palmed the item into her hand as she reached for the door and opened it. It was time to meet and greet.
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On the day after the shinobi graduation test Hyuuga Hideo opened his eyes an hour before dawn as he had for every day since he had joined the Shinobi academy at the age of seven. He sat up from his futon and stood, not too slowly, not too quickly. After a short stretch that was neither too vigorous nor, by heavens no, too slothful. The twelve year old sank to his knees and folded his futon into a rectangle of exactly eighteen inches by four feet. He placed the sleeping item into a closet and went about the rest of his morning rituals. Since today marked his first step into adulthood Hideo had been excused from the duty of cleaning his house and other chores assigned to Branch family members. He ate an early lunch with the other adults of the Branch family and after greeting his father and mother in a purely cordial manner, he retreated to his favorite spot in one of the less frequented meditation gardens.
Sitting upon a stone bench overlooking a koi-pond, Hideo calmly centered himself as he awaited the rise of the sun over the garden's walls. One by one, he brought forward his memories of the past few days, a vital exercise in memory and emotional control. As he had done for years he thought of the events of the previous day and with great patience and tranquility, integrated them into his mind peacefully.
"Fuck!"
With great patience and tranquility he tried to-
"Fuckit!"
With great patience-
"Fucking, !!"
With grea-
"That fucking, ass-suckin-#!!"
...the important thing is that he tried….
The fact that Hyuuga Hideo was the first member of his family to attain such a low ranking in the academy that he had barely scraped through by the skin of his teeth was a subject that was not mentioned within the clan. The fact that Usagi-sensei had felt it was necessary to take the time to come to his clan compound to speak with his parents about his, to quote, unusually abysmal performance, was not mentioned. That he and the rest of the graduating class had been far surpassed by a little kid barely more than half Hideo's age was another thing that was not mentioned. There were so many more things that were not said to Hideo that at times it was all he could do to stoically endure the weight of things not being said without ripping out clumps of his meticulously well kept hair and going off howling into the wild.
Within the Hyuuga Clan, reading body language was as refined an art as the spoken or written words. People said one thing with their mouths, often said another with their eyes and the rest of their body. Imagine greeting someone that you knew only casually but felt great physical attraction for. A man would suck in his stomach and straighten his back; unconsciously turning his body to face the object of his interest full on. The eyes would trace the lips and breasts before focusing on the eyes, signaling interest. A woman who felt physically repulsed by a man she felt obligated to treat with respect would take every effort that she could to smile or at least turn her chin in the direction of the person to show that he had her attention. She would however, be sure to keep a comfortable distance away from the person that she was dealing with, keeping her focus away from the eyes of her partner during conversation in order to maintain a reasonable amount of physical and emotional distance.
Everything about the Hyuuga's body language over the last few days signaled quiet disappointment and disapproval for Hideo. It was evident behind every glance and every politely worded request. It was in the set of his father's shoulders and his mothers pleasant greetings.
And he knew just who to blame.
Not that Hyuuga Hideo was a vindictive person, or was emotionally immature to the degree that he would refuse to shoulder at least part of the blame for his near complete failure. Hideo completely acknowledged that he had been overconfident and careless. He resolved to learn from the experience and privately admitted to himself that he didn't deserve to be a ninja if he couldn't. There was just one thing that kept niggling at him every time that he sought to put that incident behind him. It was that superior smirk, that irritatingly dismissive glance; that posture that screamed out to the world. "I am King!" After much contemplation Hideo had assigned a special designation for the unique change in posture that he had witnessed that bratty kid undergo.
Evil Itachi.
He had resolved to let the matter drop but here he was, hours later, his shame was now a matter of public record and he was sitting next to that disgustingly tall Inuzuka girl glaring at the boy to her right in spite of himself. His mind repeated was a constant calming mantra as he watched the unconcerned brat eat with seeming obliviousness to the tension in the air. He only let up on his forty-five minute long, one-sided staring match when their instructor finally deigned to show up. It was a testament to the degree of his mental turmoil that Hideo briefly lost his cool and snapped out.
"You're late!"
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"Fuwaaaahhhh. Soo sleepy."
These were the profound thoughts of Uchiha Itachi, tremble before them. His form lazily melted into the cushions as he chewed absentmindedly on a stick of dried veal.
"Comfy chair."
While some worried about Uchiha Itachi's eventual mental breakdown into a murdering psychopath with patricidal and matricidal tendencies. Itachi was just trying to get comfortable.
He was, of course, aware of the regard of his two teammates. Suzume-san and her pet nin-ken were well known to him and if he were so inclined Itachi would have liked to play with the Akita pup. However, lately it seemed that most dogs were becoming overly aggressive or overexcited in Itachi's presence while cats and birds, especially crows just couldn't get enough of him. Cats just seemed to suit Itachi's temperament. If they were in the mood for affection he could give them affection and receive it in return. If they wanted to be left alone, he could leave them alone and not worry about their feelings. The animals seemed to know just what mood Itachi was in and either left him alone or rubbed against him purring depending on the circumstances. Itachi realized that it was a selfish relationship but that suited him just fine.Crows were much the same, and seemed to be even more astute than the cats that Itachi cared for in his few moments between training sessions.
Just like a cat, Itachi stretched on the couch as he lounged there waiting for his instructor. He didn't encourage conversation with his teammates as it seemed that each was wrapped up in their own thoughts. Itachi was confident that he would be able to get along with the Inuzuka girl, the Hyuuga on the other hand...
Glare. Glare. Glare…
Well he seemed to be a simple minded idiot. It looked like the more that he ignored the older boy, the more irritated he became. This suited Itachi just fine, he got to needle a stoic asshole and all he had to do was nothing at all, perfect!
Glare. Glare. Glare…
You couldn't pay for entertainment this good.
It got even better when their Jounin instructor arrived. The woman merely raised an eyebrow at the Hyuuga's outburst and in a patient tone replied.
"I had informed Usagi-sensei to tell you that I might be running late and that you should wait here. If you were not informed or you had difficulty understanding the message then I apologize."
Suzume perked up and nodded gamely while Hideo looked away with a snort. Itachi could see the faint blush on the Hyuuga's cheeks and he bet that the jounin could see it as well. He turned his attention to the woman taking in every detail of her that he could in an effort to learn more about her. She wore black sandals with ankle straps and slightly raised heels. There were kunai and shuriken holsters on both legs and her jounin flak-jacket seemed to be filled with scrolls. He examined the smile lines about her generous mouth as she spoke.
"Good afternoon. My name is Murasaki Moriko and I have been assigned to you as your potential jounin instructor as genin until you achieve the rank of chunin. Itachi immediately seized upon the deliberate slip but allowed the Inuzuka girl to ask the question on their minds.
"Umm, Sensei, what do you mean by saying you'll be our 'potential' instructor?"
Murasaki sensei leaned against a pillar set in the center of the room and tapped her cheek with a finger as she answered.
"Well the fact of the matter is that right now you three aren't actually considered genin." Forestalling an outburst from any of the children Moriko quickly continued, "Statistically, one in every three members of the graduating class will be allowed to become an official ninja after passing a special test administered by a jounin."
Itachi raised his hand and asked, "Then what was the point of the exams that we had to take just to get here?"
Moriko smiled eerily and Suzume and Nadeshiko flinched, "That was just to choose people who could become ninja. You don't get to go into the field until you've been vetted by a jounin."
Hideo grimaced lightly in disgust and spoke harshly, "Fine! So just what is this test and when does it begin?"
Itachi smirked and formed the tiger seal just as Moriko spoke in answer, "The test, Hideo-kun, has already begun. Find me within an hour or be prepared to return your hitai-ite."
Brown vines emerged from their seats; Suzume and Nadeshiko tried to leap to their feet but were ensnared and pulled back into the cushions. Itachi remained in position gathering chakra even as a vine choked him to death. Hideo's eyes widened and the veins around his eyes bulged as his activated Byakugan partially reveal what Itachi and Nadeshiko already knew. They were in a genjutsu.
"Kai!"
"Kai"
"Kai!!"
"Arf!"
Slowly, with slight resistance, a distortion wave seemed to appear in the middle of the room and spread outward, washing away the images and sensation of the vines and revealing them to still be in the room. Hideo and Suzume sighed and relaxed from their half-startled poses, but Nadeshiko and Itachi remained on alert.
"Something is wrong."
"Wait!" Itachi spoke, "We need to do this together."
Hideo sneered and stood, stalking out the door he spoke, "I don't need your help to do this!"
Suzume continued to sit on the lounge couch with a puzzled expression on her face as Nadeshiko barked softly in her ear. Frowning slightly, she cast her head from side to side as she sniffed the ear. Nadeshiko whined. Thinking out loud she said, "Sensei's scent is here but it neither enters nor leaves this room. That's not possible!"
Itachi nodded lightly as he spoke, "There are techniques that can be used to do that but I saw Sensei palm a bottle into her hand when she was entering the room. I think that she may have sprinkled something at the door to erase her scent. Can you smell Hideo?"
She paused for a second and nodded, "Yes, I can."
Itachi's expression was that of someone who had made an elusive discovery, "Great." He said, "I want you to do the same for me, all right?" At Suzume's nod he placed his hand on her shoulder and spoke in a commanding tone.
"Kai!"
In a flash, the world instantly resolved itself to Suzume's perspective, no haziness, no slow creeping distortions, she was just there. Itachi still had his hand on her shoulder but his dark eyes were unfocused as he bit his lip. Suzume placed her hand on his and sent a reciprocating pulse of chakra into his body as Nadeshiko shook free of the remnants of the second illusion. When the two of them had composed themselves they were greeted with the sight of Hyuuga Hideo entering and exiting through the door to the room with an expression of extreme frustration.
"Visual Genjutsu is not the the only type of genjutsu to exist. Ideally genjutsu are advanced ninjutsu techniques that can be used to manipulate any one or more of the human body's five senses." Itachi explained as he walked over to Hideo, "She used an offensive tactile and visual genjutsu to arrest our movement and to distract us from noticing the creation of a simpler, subtler and more difficult to disperse visual, auditory and tactile illusion that required outside interference to disperse. Not even self-inflicted pain was enough to lift the illusion for more than the second needed for me to dispel the technique on you."
Turning to Hideo who had entered the room again, Itachi formed the tiger seal briefly before tapping the older boy on his shoulder and then speaking to the confused and blushing Hyuuga.
"Sensei was very sly in her choice of words. One in three people doesn't necessarily mean that only one person on our team can pass."
Seeing the stubborn expression on Hideo's face, Suzume continued on placatingly in Itachi's place, "These traps can only be undone if we work together, we can do it if we hurry, there's still half an hour left!"
Agreeing grudgingly, Hideo attempted to speak in a dignified manner, "Even with my Byakugan it would take three hours to search through the entirety of Konoha."
"We don't need to." Said Itachi, ignoring Suzume's crestfallen sigh, "Sensei used a special poison to confuse Nadeshiko's sense of smell but it doesn't seem to guard against fresh airborne scents, all we need to do is get near to where she is and we should be able to find her."
Seeing that he had his teammates' attention Itachi continued, "When sensei's bunshin first entered the room I noticed that there was a patch of lavender briars caught on the hem of her pants. There was also a sweet smell on her breath."
Suzume and Hideo stared, one in surprise, the other in disbelief.
"You c-could smell that?"
"We're looking for a sweet shop, located at or near to an area with a good amount of low shrubs but no heavy foliage. If you look for areas like that it should narrow down our search and then Suzume and Nadeshiko can zero in on Sensei's position."
Although the two would normally bristle at taking orders from a seven year-old, Hideo and Suzume followed Itachi to the roof of the academy where they began their search. It had taken a false start but Team Nine was born.
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He had been discovered wandering on a battlefield between Hidden Rock, Sand and Konoha and taken in by the head of Konoha's medic-nin program. His natural talent and obedient demeanor had endeared him to the director who had adopted him and named him Yakushi Kabuto. He was a young man of seemingly unbounded potential and deep within his brain, a hidden seal activated.
"I apologize for having forgotten the glory of Sasori-sama."
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AN: I've been re-working the early chapters of God of Flash so there won't be any new chapters for a while. Ninkai no Ou seems to be coming along all right through I had some difficulty fleshing out Itachi's genin teammates. I settled on a three person squad in the theme of Team Kurenai. I had wanted to use Inuzuka Hana as the female member but in cannon it seems that she's actually two years younger than Itachi. Hyuuga Hideo isn't really an idiot, like Hinata he's actually an extremely self-conscious individual and tends to see things in others that aren't there. His family recognizes this and his parents really don't want to say anything that could be taken the wrong way, hence the silent treatment. Suzume's personality is partially based on one of my aunt's pet hunting dogs named Fizz, during Christmas he always spazzes out over the shiny ornaments. TTFN