Thanks lilith for the review, I'll try to take your advice, hopefully it isn't too bad though.
Chapter 10 of part 3 has had a pretty big addition that introduce something vital to the plot later on, but that may just be my opinion as the author.
As they group ran Idate told them his story, Max could see the parallels to Naruto's original story. She wondered how many more had been tricked in this way.
She felt a flash of chakra, the same as she had felt on her way to Tea. She was curious so she told the other two to continue.
"I'm going with you," Sasuke demanded, he had felt it and its familiarity too. He handed Idate over to Naruto. Naruto wasn't complaining, if Sasuke went with her, he could make sure she came back.
Max sighed, if this took too long she might lose who ever it was. She agreed and they separated.
Taking a slightly different route to meet up with where the pulse had been, maybe it would give them some clues. The chakra defiantly was familiar. They landed in a clearing on high alert, it seemed to open for Max's liking. Why would someone pulse their chakra here?
"Unless it's a trap…" Max concluded under her breath. Sasuke looked at her alarmed.
"Ah, Max sharp as usual. I see you've grown up beautifully, and no doubt more dangerous," a voice greeted her, she spun to face it and gasped, instinctively using FA to confirm it, as she could not believe what she was seeing. She would recognise that face anywhere though, the scar she had accidentally given him during the academy days was very distinct and very unique.
"What do you want Shisui?" Max hissed, never mind the fact he was supposed to be dead, killed in the massacre, or suicide beforehand, if Max remembered that much of the original story line. Sasuke mirrored her shock.
"I think Sasuke deserved to know some things, like who really murdered the clan, I think you've figured it out yourself by now."
"You did it, didn't you?" Max growled, she was tensing up ready for a fight and could feel Sasuke doing the same.
"Isn't it obvious, I faked my own death then pretended to be Itachi, framing him for the clan's murder." A hand stopped Sasuke from attacking his cousin. Max was internally sighing, how stupid could people get. Her grip slipped slightly and Sasuke darted forward only to get thrown into a tree by Shisui. Max shifted into an offensive position between the Uchiha's.
She heard Sasuke cough up something and glancing around she saw him cough up some blood. She turned back to meet Shisui's eyes, ready to close her own at a moments notice.
"You're about number six," Max said, her voice still low and dangerous. Sasuke looked at her, either Max was gearing up for kicking some arse or she was actually going crazy. He really hoped she would let him take on the traitor.
"For what?"
"List of enemies who are worth worrying about. The list's out of five, one being the best, suffice to say you suck as my enemy"
"I'm your enemy? I'm hurt Max, after all we've been through?"
"Oh great, now I have to deal with a delusional guy. Sasuke could you catch up with Naruto and tell him I may be a while."
"He killed my family though!" Sasuke protested indignantly. Max sighed, this was way too troublesome. Sasuke really needed to remember just whom he was talking to.
"Fine, I won't kill him, I'll let you do that, just move it," Max hissed, if Sasuke continued to be emo about this she may have to kick his arse too.
"No, you go catch up. I have a score to settle." Max's eye was now twitching, Sasuke hadn't noticed it, if he had he would have gone.
"Sasuke, I outrank you-" Max started, almost in a growl. Laura would have her hide if Sasuke got hurt doing something stupid like fight an opponent he knows nothing about. Which is exactly what would happen, even if Shisui did nothing but stand and talk then she would beat some sense into Sasuke. He was not going avenger on her watch.
"Let him stay, he deserves to hear what we have to say."
"And what do we have to say?" Max seethed. She subtly made a clone to inform Naruto of the current situation, she would have preferred Sasuke to go but the clone would do.
"I wanted to catch up with my cousin and my would-be team mate. I did find out you switched on me." Shisui actually looked hurt about it.
"I needed people dedicated to being a ninja, people who could keep up with me, you didn't make the grade." It was almost the truth, he just irritated her.
"I killed almost all of my clan, and blamed it on someone else," Shisui boasted.
"I eradicated a whole clan before you managed that, it took them weeks to figure out it was me. Unlike you I'm capable of killing everyone," Max retorted, Sasuke looked shocked, he didn't know that. "Heard of the Kumar clan slaughter?" Max asked, an evil grin on her face as she remembered it.
"We learnt about it in the academy, that was you?"
"Yes. I killed them all on my lonesome, first solo mission," Max sighed, reminiscing with a scary grin on her face. She didn't mention it was her last one or the circumstances surrounding that mission.
"Why?"
"They needed to die, they took someone precious from me and needed to pay for it. More of a reason then some people," Max explained looking pointedly at the older Uchiha in front of her.
"I had my reasons," Shisui defended. Max was quickly getting tired of this, both she and Sasuke had a mission to complete.
"Which you probably won't tell us so there's no point hanging around talking-"
"But-" Sasuke interrupted, he still needed to avenge his family.
"There is no point hanging around," Max repeated more firmly, there was no discussion in this.
"But I was hoping we could catch up," Shisui pouted. "It's been ages since we've seen each other, we could get a drink or something."
"Sasuke, go catch up with Naruto, I have a bad feeling about this," Max said, her voice strangely calm as if she had just realised something. Sasuke realised Max was insinuating that Shisui was keeping them from catching up with Naruto.
Avenging his clan could wait, Naruto was his best friend. Without a second thought he jumped from the clearing to follow the path Naruto had taken when they split. He was confident Max could handle anything Shisui threw at her. Max was still there to find out exactly what Shisui wanted.
"Still devious," Shisui smirked. "You don't actually have a bad feeling, you lied to get him to leave. Now why would you want us to be alone?" Shisui asked rhetorically, a lewd grin on his face. Max narrowed her eyes to glare at him.
"Don't flatter yourself, I have better things to do right now," Max turned to leave and took a step, she knew he had drawn her there for a reason, that's why she hadn't just apperated out of there.
"Wait. I wanted to ask you something," Shisui called.
"You have until I reach the tree line," Max reasoned, she kept walking, not turning back to face him. If she had she would have seen the Mangekyo Sharingan in his eyes.
He moved towards her, grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face him, hoping for eye contact. He was out of luck, Max had closed her eyes and activated FA while she had been walking, she didn't want him to attack her with her back turned.
"And now this gets interesting," Max smirked. She used his hand to throw him into a tree. "But don't worry I won't kill you, I did tell Sasuke he could." A few fire balls were sent in his direction as they began a deadly dance.
Back in Konoha, in the Hokage's secret office for 'under the radar' missions Itachi was learning of his new assignment. With each word he felt impending doom and once Tsunade had finished the briefing he stood there in silence seeing if there was anyway to get out of this.
"We really need someone to do this, you're the only one with the right experience and skills. I know it's going to be dangerous, but there is no one else who can do this," Tsunade pleaded. She knew that Itachi didn't want this mission but he was the only choice. She didn't want to give him this mission, not after all of her hard work but she had to think about the village.
"When would it start?" Itachi finally asked, he was careful with his wording, he had not actually accepted.
"One week after your birthday according to sources, so three weeks. Max should be back by then, the timing is very important for this." Itachi nodded in understanding, he was still weighing the mission over in his mind, this would mean he wouldn't be able to return for an indefinite amount of time. Someone needed to keep an eye on the others, they would need all the protection they could get in the coming time. With any luck the result of the mission would heighten Max's need to protect her friends and self.
Max ran to catch up with the others, Shisui had managed to escape with only minor injuries. Not before he briefly gained the upper hand. Her lips still tasted of him, no matter what she had tried to get rid of it. She would need a session of drinking to wipe that memory. No one was going to find out about that. Ever.
She reached the stairs to the first stop on the runners list, a quick scan showed they had been there and gone so Max bypassed it and continued along the planned path. In the distance she could hear the crowd cheering someone on, it sounded like "Idate" but it was too far to be sure. She put on a burst of speed reaching the crowd and gaining a vantage point to watch as Idate overtook the other racer in the final stretch. She smiled proudly at the boys, Naruto and Sasuke nearby also watching just in case.
At least they had succeeded in their mission. She snapped out of her thought when she heard "they cheated" from someone. She turned to glare at the speaker, someone from the other clan. Before she could go murder him the other clan had been disbanded.
By the end of the day, the four of them were sat on the dock waiting for a ship. Max had examined Sasuke and found three cracked ribs, recognising it only because of her own experiences with them. She didn't want him to make it worse on the journey back so they would take the boat as far towards Konoha as they could. A jounin would be on the ship ready to escort them.
Max smirked as she saw a boat sail in with a familiar person standing watching them, the smirk turned to a frown as she remembered who was sitting with them. They just had to send Ibiki. Wasn't he busy torturing people?
The interaction between brothers was sweet but they were soon on their way home. She observed Sasuke, she wasn't sure how he was reacting to finding his clans killer. Itachi needed to be told too. Shisui had been his best friend for a while. Max supposed she had kind of interrupted that, she wondered exactly what had happened in the real series, she had only watched a few episodes after the chunin exam arc.
"What do you plan on doing when we get back?" Naruto asked sitting on the mast next to her. Both of them were moulding chakra to keep sitting parallel to the floor just to keep their control in check.
Max sighed, she hadn't actually thought about it, even if she had something would come up, it always did. "Laze around for a bit, maybe take a few missions, maybe travel a bit," she saw his face darken a bit and tried to shift the conversation. "What about you?"
"Train some more, I have a goal to get to"
"Have you ever considered making up your own technique? Like my fire or something. A signature move or an ace up your sleeve." Unless he had learnt something new or actually added wind to his rasengan then the answer would probably be no. Naruto looked sheepishly at her.
"I was wondering if you could teach me how to properly use this," he said taking a handgun from a hidden holster and holding it out. Max's eyes widened and she pushed the muzzle so it was not pointing at her.
"Don't point it at me! Please tell me you have the safety on." The blank look she received was not comforting in anyway shape or form. "Lesson one, gun safety." She took the gun which she managed to identify as and M9, from his hand and flicked the safety on. "Unless you plan on firing it, keep the safety switch on," she explained showing him the safety button. The rest of the boat trip was spent making sure he knew the proper way of handling the gun. She knew he was itching to use it but she made him be patient.
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