Summary: Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke are twins, only five minutes apart. Kidnapped by their cousin at age three, they grew up living lives of young mercenaries. When they manage to get hired by Gato and ambush Team 7, that's were everything went wrong.
Chapter Two: Tricks
"I see that the famed Uchiha brothers failed."
Sasuke flinched as those eyes glided over him and stopped at his brother, who stayed nonchalant about the whole thing.
"Failed? We merely brought the game to you, unless you're not capable of finishing them off," Itachi mocked and looked at Zabuza as if the man wasn't even half his size.
How Itachi pulled that off with Zabuza standing on a high tree branch will always remain a mystery to Sasuke. But it succeeded in infuriating the other ninja.
"After killing off the old man," Zabuza threatened. "I'll be sure to take you head as well."
----
Sakura was surprised when the large sword came hurtling out of practically nowhere. She grabbed the closest person, who happened to be the younger twin, Sasuke, and shoved him down. From the corner of her eye, she saw Naruto do the same for Tazuna while Kakashi and that older boy, Itachi, just kneel down, the sword hardly grazing their hair.
A tall man appeared to be the ending destination of the sword. Sakura was too frightened to move so she observed.
The man started by mocking the two 'Uchiha' (?!) brothers. Sakura wanted to run over and clamp her hand over Itachi's mouth when the teen successfully dismissed the older man, Momochi Zabuza.
He wants to get himself killed!
Sakura frantically readied herself for any incoming attacks. Itachi and Kakashi were fighting for Zabuza's attention each telling the other to scram, if the situation wasn't that dire, she might have found it overly amusing. Boys, men, they were all the same.
----
The wires loosened for a fraction of a second, but that was all Itachi needed. With chakara gathered at the sole of his feet, he ran up tree only turning to the base once to slash the hardy wire with a kunai.
He could feel Kakashi's stare on him, it worked. If that guy's attention was on him, Sasuke can make it out without a scratch. Now it just depends how he could escape Kakashi while the other man breathed down his neck.
From his pouch, Itachi reached for four exploding tags and rough wire. He threw three of them onto the base of the tree and ran up the tree tying the wire around the thickest and topmost branch. His dive to the wire tied on the base of the tree was successful since Kakashi was pushed away in a hurried kick to his neck before twisting around and smacking the man on the back.
Itachi cursed as time ran out, tying the wires together quickly before a large explosion ripped through the clearing.
----
Sasuke marveled at his brother, he was truly a genius. Itachi's timing was a little off, but the distraction was made. This was a trick Itachi had taught him to use when making a escape route, messy but efficient.
Three exploding tags that are placed around the base of the tree are used to uproot it. The fourth tag is placed in the middle of the tree for it to split and hinder the movements of the attacker. This only works if the target itself is in the middle, they fall through the makeshift hole unable to get right back up and pursue. Itachi had lured Kakashi into place before dashing down.
If it is let alone, then the tree would fall in any which way and you may end up aiding their pursuit with extra momentum from the explosion. That's where Kakashi made his mistake, tying them in place with wire. With the wire on the base of the trunk tied with a sturdy branch on the top straining against the opposite momentum.
That man got what he deserved, to be crushed under burning logs. He looked back only once to look for his older brother when without warning; he was pushed to the floor. Sasuke felt his cheek connect with dry earth with a hand pressuring his head. He couldn't get up since a certain man was sitting on his back with Sasuke's arm twisted in an uncomfortable position.
"Enough with the jokes," Kakashi said clearly. "Itachi-kun, I know your still there. Come out or I'll kill him."
Wincing a bit as a kunai pressed against the flesh of his neck. His high collar shirt was disadvantageous at times like these, if he was cut, especially on a main artery, the next breath may be his last.
Damn.
----
Naruto nearly laughed at Sasuke's misery. Both of them had come to an accord by insulting each other along the way. In the end, Itachi had reluctantly come out from behind Kakashi, which surprised both Naruto and Sakura but not so for Kakashi.
Kakashi was speaking quietly with Itachi in the front. He saw both parties nod and argue, otherwise he couldn't hear much of their conversation. Sasuke didn't bother trying to eavesdrop, in fact, it seemed as if he were making sure Naruto couldn't.
"Ne, Sasuke-kun," Sakura stopped briefly as if to ask if it were okay to place that suffix, not receiving any objection she continued. "Your surname is Uchiha right?"
"Un."
"Who did you live with when you were growing up?"
"Our cousin, Shusui. He was like another brother for me, a teacher as well. He taught us things to survive. He was a shinobi, wore those funny metal headbands as well."
Naruto noted how Sasuke's eyes shined with something unexplainable as he told them of his cousin. It seemed as if he wouldn't stop talking about how his cousin was.
"…smart…reliable…a bit standoffish from others…strong…" Naruto only filtered bits and pieces of information. Instead he watched the growing aura from Itachi, which was filled with negativity, Sasuke who seemed either fearless or just used to it, continued with his prattle on Shusui.
When Sasuke grew quiet, Naruto jerked his attention off the older twin. In Sasuke's eyes was unparallel sadness, Naruto bet that Kakashi was seeing the same eyes from Itachi.
"However, one night, Shusui just disappeared."
That's when a large sword came hurtling out of nowhere.
A/N: I tried to make Itachi the more emotionless one, while Sasuke had enough emotion for the both of them. Since in the canon, Sasuke's sore spot was Itachi, my fanfic couldn't really do that now could it. So instead it's Shusui. Oh, what a genius I am.
For the explanation of Itachi's trick, it's really too confusing. It's equivalent to falling into a hole made by a tree splitting in the middle, which is already falling. ---Okay, that's didn't help.
Many thanks to The Black and White Wolf, Guennol, dragonmage27 ( 3), Mizuki Hikari, and lizuchiha (omg, I love your penname I'm a Liz too!).