a/n Any mistakes will be fixed up a little later :)
Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto
TRIALS & TRIBULATIONS OF THE UCHIHA LIFE
NINE
Last Time -
"Come on Shisui. We must find Tomu and get the report." Itachi whispers once the illusion is in full force.
"It's too quiet. There are no lights on in the village. We need to be on our guard Aniki." Shisui replies, noticing that there are no shadows of people in the house windows, and it is only ten o'clock.
"Hai, so we will."
Choosing to travel on foot, the genius children weave through the buildings with the silence of the elite. Hopefully their team is okay, and have followed the secret protocol for such events.
Itachi and Shisui share a wary look, as sharingan swirl with the stress of the moment.
This ghost town is unnerving.
It looks like Konoha is in big trouble, and the Uchiha's are the only ones capable of fixing it.
If they aren't injured or killed first...
xxx
Konoha is completely silent as the Uchiha brothers silently creep through the village. If all goes to plan, Tomu and the rest of their teams will be at the secret meeting point. If not, then Itachi and Shisui will deal with the situation when the time calls for it.
The further the boys travel, the stranger town seems to be. There isn't a soul, anywhere in sight. Not even any stray cats or nocturnal creatures. The lights of the local bar have fizzled out, and is completely empty. Usually Konoha's favourite watering hole is full to the brim with all kinds folks, and tonight would be no different, if something big wasn't currently going down.
Itachi tells himself inwardly that this is like any other mission. That he needs to put his worries and fears to the back burner and pretend that his loved ones aren't on the line. If Shisui is ready for this, then he can be also. The youngest Uchiha looks downright serious, more so than usual. The nin knows that his Otouto is a fierce opponent on the battlefield, so the two of them together can take down any threat.
Where is Uncle Naruto when you need him? Are Hinata and Akane safe? What about Otou-san and Okaa-san, and even Kakashi-sensei?
Right now it is just the Uchiha prodigies out on the front lines, and for the first time since entering the main part of town, a sound calls their attention.
Even though there is a cloak of gen jutsu around them, neither shinobi dare makes a sound. Instead, they follow the tell tale 'thud, thud' until they come to the opening where the academy meets Hokage Tower. There, the sound grows louder, and stronger. Until finally, the boys realise that the noise is not above the ground like themselves. No...It is beneath them.
Looking downward, Itachi is able to sense a mass amount of covered chakra signatures, executed with a jutsu as opposed to complete masking. It must be for the children unable to cover their tracks.
"Shisui. Everyone is underground." Itachi whispers, gazing at his brother who is also looking to the earth.
"Hn. We need to get to the underground entrance. I think it is near Hokage Mountain." The boy replies, turning his head to look at the gigantic rock heads that loom over the village.
It begs the question though, why didn't they take them underground too?
Exiting Hokage Tower, Itachi moves left of the big orange building, leaping toward the nearest roof top. Shisui follows swiftly, hope soaring through his chest. However, unease clouds their stomachs in a smog of doom.
This feels too easy...
xxx
Combing the outside of Hokage mountain, to find the under ground entrance, is surprisingly easy, and makes Shisui think that Konoha needs a new system for underground evacuation.
The little hole at the side of the mountain is big enough to fit a fully grown adult with ease, and towers over the young shinobi. They don't notice this as their little forms are engulfed by the darkness of the passageway, using their sharingan to light the way. There is a torch attached to the entranceway, that they could use, but the fire stick doesn't really scream stealth.
This is similar to the Uchiha underground beneath the Village. The children have only been allowed to enter the sacred place once, when their sharingan reached the second stage to mark their coming of age. Their Okaa-san said that there were many places like this that are especially for the Uchiha that no other can enter. The walls of this path are not covered in carvings of old family stories, they are blank and rough. Itachi wonders how long it took the earth style users to build this area. Uncle Naruto told him long ago that all of Konoha needed to be rebuilt after the war, including the underground passageways. For some reason, the Uchiha secrets are still intact though. Perhaps, it is a jutsu?
The light murmur of voices sounds from up ahead when Itachi and Shisui are a fair way inside the downhill passageway. The youngest Uchiha estimates that the sounds are approximately ten minutes away, by the slight flow of chakra escaping from the protective barrier. Usually, a jutsu like this would not let any chakra escape it, meaning that there are many people in this hiding place. When there are only a few able to perform such a technique, it takes a lot of skill and precision to keep it going. The more people the user needs to cloak, the harder the jutsu is to keep sealed.
True to Shisui's prediction, it is not long before a golden glow begins to emanate the area in front of them. The voices begin to grow stronger and it sounds like the whole town is gathered inside.
Peeping through a slit in the wall, the littlest Uchiha realises that a large rock is covering the entranceway. Lucky for them, Shisui and Itachi are quite small.
The first thing their sharingan eyes fall upon is the blonde mop of their uncles hair. The Hokage is standing above the what seems like the entire village, as he tries to keep everyone calm. The boy's aren't sure what prompted everyone into underground confinement, or the reason they were excluded. How could Naruto-jii just forget them like that?
Eyes narrow with fury as the answer stares back at them with a glint of maliciousness in the twin gazes. Standing beside Naruto and Hinata, are a complete double of – Themselves.
"Hey! What is going on here?" Itachi is the first to speak up, glaring daggers at the children impostors. Who do they think they are? More importantly, why are they pretending to be them?
Naruto's eyes grow to the size of saucers as he sees the real Uchiha children standing upon the earth ramp leading to the ground. Stepping away from the Itachi and Shisui to his left, the Hokage looks completely confused with the situation.
"Naruto-jii. Who the hell are they?!" Shisui demands, growl evident in his usually soft tone. His red eyes spin with rage as the implications of everything seep into his calculated mind.
"Yeah. Why didn't you wake us Hinata-ba?" Itachi asks the dark haired woman who looks just as surprised as her husband.
"We didn't need to, you broke out when the ANBU alert came..." Hinata trails off, horror now streaking her face. The Hyuga clan head stands beside Emiko, who has been avoiding Shisui since their departure. The clear grey eyes of her daughter gaze up at the little Uchiha high above, and Hinata realises. They have taken the wrong children! She is certain that Emiko's subconscious is astute enough to draw such a conclusion. The girl hasn't said anything, but it is has been clear for the past hour or so that something has been wrong with her.
The smile upon her face at the sight of the new children is answer enough.
Meanwhile, the Hokage stares between the Uchiha's upon ground level and the two standing above the throng of people. It seems that Naruto has been stunned into silence.
"Who are they?" The Shisui down below mimics the real Shisui's first words, injecting just as much venom into the sentence. Still, it is not authentic Uchiha.
"Yeah! Why are you barging in here?" The fake Itachi continues, making the real child think – 'I do not sound like that!'
On cue, Naruto jumps into gear, just as the four 'Uchiha's' narrow their dangerous eyes in unison.
"Impostors!" The children point their fingers accusingly.
"Tenzo!" Naruto hollars, understanding that he needs to fix this, now! Thankfully, the wood user knows exactly what to do. Leaping forward, the ANBU representative engulfs both sets of boys with two very sturdy tree prisons.
"It is for your safety and ours." The brunette says, patting the side of the cage before heading over to the Hokage.
Naruto opens his mouth to speak, when an explosion tears through the village in a loud 'boom'. It rumbles the entire area, but the sound of falling buildings doesn't occur. What part of Konoha has been destroyed if not the central area?
Itachi and Shisui sigh at the strangeness of everything.
No one notices the glinting eyes behind the ANBU masks, or realise just how many impostors are really present.
This really doesn't look good.
xxx
Orochimaru manages to pull Sasuke and Sakura further away from camp than safe, and the two Konoha nin silently hope that Kakashi has sensed a change.
The ANBU operative is no where to be seen, as they chase the clone to retrieve answers. They must be swift and destroy the snake man quickly. Then, the two can revert back to their own forms and hurry back to the village.
Hopefully, Naruto has everything under control at home. For now, this is what the two Uchiha parents need to believe.
A Katon soars through the air, narrowly missing the enemy as he dodges skyward. The fight has spanned on for longer than expected, and Sasuke is running out of techniques to use. He is getting to the point where it would be easier to just show himself and deal with the consequences.
Sakura is feeling the same way. Using a gen jutsu to replicate the sharingan takes chakra out of her that the pinkette does not need to use. The woman has been letting Sasuke take point like they planned the night before leaving and it has been working. The tai jutsu attacks that she follows up with are abrupt and forceful. It helps that Itachi has learnt the same style of tai jutsu as herself. However, his speed is admittedly formidable and hard to replicate.
Snakes fly toward 'Itachi' and Sakura is ensnared within their scaly grasp. Luckily, Shisui flickers forward, burning the body of the animal to pieces.
As the snake's body falls to the earth around the child. Both shinobi narrow their eyes.
Something is not right. Usually, the snake would fall to the earth, dead. However, this animal slowly becomes a pile of goo.
Sharingan glare at their opponent, leaping backwards from the line of attack. Sasuke breaths in deeply and he soars through the air, as his feet hit the ground he hollars -
"Katon goukakyuu no jutsu!"
A rain of fire balls travel through the atmosphere, covering every which way. Smoke enters the area, with trees going up in flames.
A smirk covers his henged face, eyes glinting with success.
The man across from him has been hit in a few non crucial areas. That isn't what Sasuke was looking for though.
"You think that will kill me?" Orochimaru hisses, and the childs smirk grows almost feral.
"You aren't Orochimaru." Sakura states confidently, stepping closer to Sasuke.
"And you are not the Uchiha children." His reply hisses. "Lucky for you. This is all a decoy, and now no one can stop my plan."
Sasuke's eyes narrow accusingly, "I killed you."
"You didn't try hard enough." The impostor smiles menacingly. He sure looks like Orochimaru. Only now, parts of him are starting to change.
Directly in front of their eyes, Orochimaru melts away in a pile of black and white sludge.
Standing before them is something Konoha did not bet on.
As sharp teeth bare themselves dangerously, both shinobi say with low horrified tones -
"Zetsu."
"I'll say hello to your children for you." The evil being grins, and Sasuke lunges for him, releasing the henge in his fit of rage.
Before he can make contact, Zetsu slides into the earth. The only evidence of him being there, is the damage caused to the area.
"Sasuke-kun. We need to get home!" Sakura panics.
"Yes. We do." The raven haired man nods, looking down at his now tattered clothes. Pulling out a pair of shinobi pants from his pouch, Sasuke slips them on quickly. There is no time for anything else.
"Sakura, you will be faster as yourself. Release the henge." Her husband instructs, and the pinkette pulls out her own spare set of clothing. A normal henge is not this troublesome, but the forbidden jutsu requires more than just an illusionary technique.
Eyes grow big with worry, as a million different scenarios flicker through her mind horribly. "We need to hurry Sasuke. What if -"
"Don't think about it tenshi. We need to be strong and trust Naruto." Sasuke assures, knowing that they will need to be strong to succeed. This moment is no time for emotions.
"Okay. Let's head out." Sakura's emerald orbs now gaze back at her loves dark depths. They are both ready but the pinkette feels almost shaky with fear for her children. Her husband on the other hand is so composed and formidable. Sakura knows that he must be hurting on the inside, and finds that she is thankful that he has always been her rock. Especially in times like these.
"Hai." Sasuke replies. They will need to alert Kakashi and travel at top speed toward home.
Silently, the Uchiha hopes that they make it in time.
Both Sakura and Sasuke pray for the safety of their children.
xxx
A/N Well there we go. Next chapter is up. We will find out more answers next instalment and round up this section of the story :)
Thankyou for reading.
Reviews make me smile :)
MerinxD