Rescue Mission
Itachi opened his eyes and found himself laid out on the ground in the woods. As he picked himself off the ground, his brain started pounding against his skull causing him to clutch his head in pain.
"Ugh… what happened?" Itachi said then looked at his now bloodied hand. "Now I remember."
Flashback
Team 0 stood in the Hokage's office as Tsunade explained their mission.
"Almost a week ago a group of shinobi were ambushed and the young girl they were escorting was kidnapped. It's your mission to rescue the girl and bring her to the destination- alive." Tsunade said and Shizune gave them a picture of a raven-haired woman with red highlights and red eyes.
"What's so special about her, y'know, aside from the hair and eyes I mean?" Dairuko asked.
"She's the next incarnation of the oracle."
"Wait, you talking 'bout those monks in the mountains oracle?"
"Yes."
"Why would the monk's ask us for help? They usually keep to themselves." Natsuki asked.
"I believe the better question is; how did the monks lose her in the first place?" Itachi noted.
"Yeah, I heard they practically worship the oracle." Dairuko added.
"I don't know all the details myself but gaining the oracle's favour might prove useful in the future; which is why I'm sending you, Itachi."
"Why're you sending Itachi alone?" Natsuki asked.
"Because I have something else for the two of you in the meantime."
"What's her name?" Itachi asked earning him a glance from Natsuki.
"Sen."
End Flashback
Sen ran through the forest for what felt like hours trying to escape Itachi after she hit him over the head with a rock. She had stopped running to catch her breath when she heard a crow and, as she turned to start running again, she ran right into Itachi's chest. Itachi picked Sen up by her collar and flashed his Sharingan, putting her under genjutsu, then slung her over his shoulder.
'This was almost a Dairuko thing to do… if I had punched her out cold.' Itachi thought and smiled to himself. "You've become a bad influence, Dairuko."
Itachi continued through the forest with Sen over his shoulder for a bit then stopped. After letting out a heavy sigh, he threw a kunai into the tree behind him and a body dropped from it. Three ninjas emerged from the bushes and attacked Itachi simultaneously but their swords hit nothing but the ground as Itachi appeared standing on top of their swords.
"If this was your ambush plan, you're outclassed." Itachi said, then one of the men pulled his sword from under Itachi and attempted to stab him but Itachi jumped over it and did a split kick mid-air that knocked the other two away, then landed back on the guy's sword.
'How is he doing this with dead weight on his shoulder?' The shinobi thought.
"You're probably asking it now, right? The how? Yes, I can see it in your eyes." Itachi stated before jumping down in front of the sword. "Now you're thinking why." Itachi walked towards the tip of his sword. "Now you're wondering 'can you kill me'…" Itachi then walked into the sword and kept walking towards the ninja like he wasn't impaled. "…the answer is simple-" Itachi stared into the eyes of his enemy then spoke. "-you cannot kill me." Then a crow came out of Itachi's mouth before he dissolved into crows that swarmed around the terrified shinobi who fell to the ground trembling in the fetal position. Itachi picked up his sword.
"What good is having your own sword on your back if you don't use it?" one of the other shinobi said, recovering.
"It belongs to someone I care about and I'd hate to soil the sword by wasting it on you two." Itachi held up his 'new' sword. 'I've pushed my luck long enough; I need to escape before it runs out.' Itachi thought.
The two remaining shinobi rushed at Itachi who easily dodged their attacks, then countered by hitting one with the hilt of his sword in the throat then throwing Sen at the other, the surprised shinobi caught her on reflex and, when he caught her, Itachi knocked him out with a solid punch to the face then caught Sen and put her over his shoulder again.
Itachi was starting a bonfire when Sen woke up to find herself tied to a tree.
"I can't have you running off again." Itachi said without turning to face her.
"I'm better off running than staying with you." Sen said.
"You're really not."
"You tried to make a deal with them!"
"I bought myself time."
"Pfft as if, you knew you couldn't beat them so you tried to bargain your way out." Sen spat.
"If I wanted to escape, I would've left you unconscious by the river and let them find you." Itachi said calmly then handed Sen a stick with meat on it.
"When did you-"
"Multi-tasking, now eat, please."
"And what if I don't?"
"I'll force feed you."
"I'd like to see you tr-" suddenly everything went black.
"You're welcome." Itachi said.
"I didn't thank you."
"You did once you finished eating."
"You sly, dishonest bastard! Using genjutsu on me like that!"
"My mission is to get you to the safety of the mountains and if you refuse to remain sustained then you're more likely going to get us killed by slowing me down."
"Why don't you just go to hell!"
"I believe you need to sleep now." Itachi said and used his Sharingan to put Sen to sleep. Itachi created a clone that broke up into a murder of crows that each flew in their own direction. 'That should spot any intruders.' Itachi thought then stretched out on the ground to sleep.
Flashback
Team 0 left the Hokage Tower and Natsuki stopped Itachi.
"Itachi, we need to talk." Natsuki said.
"And I'm out." Dairuko said and walked away.
"What is the problem, Natsuki?" Itachi asked her.
"I don't like you going on this mission alone."
"We both know I can handle a simple rescue mission."
"I don't like this, there're too many unknowns." Natsuki said and Itachi gave a light laugh. "What's so funny?"
"I just realised that we have switched places with you telling me how dangerous the mission is while I insist I can take care of myself."
"Sometimes I question who's a bigger baka; you or Dairuko."
"I ask myself the same thing at times."
"I really don't get how you two can be so different but alike at the same time."
"It's the bond between best friends, Nee-san." Dairuko added.
"I thought you left?"
"I did, but then I remembered how you can be, so I decided to get Itachi outta here."
"And how do I get?"
"Like this."
"I don't know what you're talkin' about."
"Doesn't matter, Itachi's got his mission and we have ours, just trust him like he would trust us."
"So you two are doubling up on me now?"
"Not really." Dairuko said then Natsuki turned to face Itachi who was gone.
"Where'd he go?"
"You just got Itachi'd." Dairuko teased then Natsuki hit him on the head and walked away. "F-f-franchised." Dairuko said holding his head.
End Flashback
Itachi woke up the next morning to find Sen was still tied to the tree. He was calling back his crows when he heard something from a tree nearby. Itachi looked back to where Sen had been tied up, sighed and approached the source of the noise. He found Sen crouching behind the tree.
"You don't give up do you?" Sen asked and Itachi just looked off in the distance. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" Sen stood up.
"Move!" Itachi tackled Sen; then she saw giant shuriken pass over her and Itachi. "Run." Itachi said then stood to face where the shuriken came from while Sen ran away. 'These are elite shinobi, if they got this close without me sensing them...' Itachi thought when four sets of wire from either side wrapped around him.
"Fire Style: Fireball jutsu." Two voices said in unison and two fireballs came hurdling towards Itachi.
Two Itachi's emerged from the flames then, ran across the wires and punched the two ninjas who puffed into smoke. The two Itachi's then landed and one of them puffed into smoke.
'These ninja are much stronger than the ones I faced yesterday. I had best be careful.' Itachi thought when a shinobi emerged from the ground beneath him, sword-first, but Itachi back-flipped out of harm's way then kicked the shinobi in the stomach and followed up with a fireball.
The shinobi used his hands as leverage to regain his footing and barely dodged the fireball, but Itachi was there in an instant and punched him in the face then grabbed him and pulled him back for another. As Itachi continued punching the shinobi another female shinobi attacked him but he turned into crows and appeared behind her then threw her into the other shinobi.
Itachi stood as the two shinobi circled him then he activated his Sharingan as they attacked. Itachi timed his back-flip with their swipes so that as they reached him, he would be in the space between their swords but they saw through this and flipped their swords, mid-swipe, to vertical slices and Itachi was barely able to force a landing in between the gap of their swords, then counter by doing two jumping roundhouse kicks hitting both of the shinobi in the face. A third shinobi suddenly attacked Itachi with a sword and Itachi deflected the surprise attack with his kunai, then the other two recovered from the kicks and attacked Itachi as well; as skilled as Itachi was he was barely keeping the onslaught at bay. He leapt back and did his Phoenix Flower jutsu mid-air, but one of the ninja used a stone wall to block the fireballs.
Once Itachi landed, the female charged at him with her sword infused with lightning and Itachi ducked under it and connected with an uppercut that knocked her into the air, but Itachi was hit by a water missile jutsu before he could dodge, that knocked him back and into the arms of the shinobi who used the stone wall. The shinobi then started crushing Itachi until he shot the back of his head into the nose of the stone ninja then grabbed his arm and tossed him to the ground. A fourth shinobi emerged from the water and engaged Itachi in taijutsu; during the struggle Itachi punched the water shinobi but he just turned into water and reappeared behind Itachi with a failed attempt at a punch -that Itachi dodged, then delivered a backhand punch causing the shinobi to drop to one knee and Itachi did a running knee to his face.
The fire shinobi from earlier that blew fire at Itachi appeared above him and blew another fireball at Itachi, who crouched down and disappeared into the ground before the fireball hit. Not long after Itachi disappeared he reappeared being thrown out of the ground by the stone shinobi; Itachi stood up as two stone walls tried to crush him but he jumped above them and hit the shinobi with a diving kick however, the stone shinobi armoured his left arm with stone, grabbed Itachi and threw him into the ground.
The stone shinobi performed some hand seals that trapped Itachi up to the neck in stone while his teammates combined their elements to attack Itachi in one big explosion. When the dust settled, all that was left was Itachi's headband with a scratch across the Konoha emblem.
"Let's get the girl." The fire shinobi said and the four of them leapt in the direction that Sen had taken off in.
Sen ran until a gust of wind passed through her and a masked shinobi stood in front of her.
"You're coming with me, Oracle." The shinobi said.
"Okay, just… don't hurt that other guy." Sen said.
"It's too late for that, he's as good as dead now."
"I don't believe you."
"Why is that? It's not like you cared anyway."
"He… he stayed with me despite all the trouble I gave him... and… and you might as well kill me because I'm not going with you quietly!" Sen said clenching her fists.
"I was hoping you'd say that."
The wind shinobi was about to do some hand seals when Itachi appeared from behind Sen and rushed towards the wind shinobi, who used wind style jutsu that Itachi dodged and, once he was close, Itachi connected an elbow to his stomach followed by a back-fist to his face then Itachi tripped him and before he could even fall Itachi punched him in the face, then the stomach and again in the face, followed up by a kick to the face and a left hook and finally, a roundhouse that knocked the shinobi away into a rock that knocked him out.
"About time you showed up; not sure how much longer I could've stalled." Sen said.
"Let's get going before they catch up." Itachi said. He managed two steps before stumbling to all fours.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Sen asked then noticed all the damage Itachi had taken in his previous fight.
"It's nothing. We need to keep going."
"We can't go if you're going to slow us down. Come on, on your feet, I know a place we can hide out." Sen said as she supported Itachi. She led him to a nearby cave that had its own small water supply thanks to a river nearby. Sen set Itachi down and tore off a sleeve from her shirt, wet it then proceeded to clean Itachi's wounds.
Flashback
Itachi had everything ready for his mission but decided to stop by Natsuki's place before he left, he didn't like how he'd left things with her earlier. As he turned onto the street he saw her approaching.
"I was about to come see you." Itachi said.
"Yeah I know… I wanted to see you before you left." Natsuki said.
"Why?"
"I wanted to lend you this." Natsuki said and handed Itachi her sword.
"I can't take this."
"Just take the damn sword and promise me you'll come back alive, 'cause I can't protect you this time."
"I don't need protection."
"You do if you don't want kids now." Natsuki laughed.
"Hmm… Maybe down the line."
"Eh? That was a joke, Itachi."
"I know."
"So you were playing along?"
"No." Itachi said and Natsuki started blushing. "I have a clan to rebuild, Natsuki…" he hid his smile at her reaction to his words, "I will come back, you have my word." Itachi took Natsuki's sword and left.
End Flashback
Itachi opened his eyes and slowly began to sit up, but Sen stopped him.
"Calm down. You need more rest." Sen said.
"We aren't safe here. They'll be looking for us; water sources first." Itachi said.
"Only two people even know this place exists and those two are here, so chill out for a bit." Sen said and Itachi remained silent before finally agreeing and lying back down.
A few hours later Itachi walked towards Sen, who was sitting near the water. He sat down beside her.
"How did you know about this place?" Itachi asked.
"Why do you want to know?" Sen spat.
"It's a beautiful hideout."
"Oh… well… I'll answer that once you tell me why you didn't tie me up properly to that tree yesterday."
"I trusted you wouldn't run."
"But I did."
"You escaped and waited in a bush until I woke up-"
"Only so you can call back your crows, then I was gonna run for it."
"I believe you didn't want to run away. After all, you acted like you were under my genjutsu."
"You noticed that? Then why didn't you-"
"I learned early on to read people, and you are the person who sub-consciously does things without knowing it at first."
"You don't know me!" Sen exclaimed.
"I never claimed to know you, but if this course of conversation is upsetting you, I'll leave you be." Itachi said then started to get up when Sen spoke.
"What's your name?"
He paused, "Uchiha Itachi." he finally answered and sat back down.
"It's not the worst name I've heard."
"I suppose it isn't."
"Itachi?"
"Hmm?"
"Why did you become a ninja?"
"My clansmen were usually put in Konoha's police force so I had to become a ninja for my clan's honour."
"So… you didn't live a normal life did you?"
"No."
"I guess we got that in common."
"How so?"
"Your clan gave you expectations and this oracle thing is robbing me of the rest of my life."
"I see… that's why you run away, to try and escape and possibly reclaim your desired life."
"Yeah… I don't want to leave this life I have. I'm finally happy with where I am in my life, I was going to be a cook."
"I understand how that feels… as a ninja I've had to constantly leave my family behind and in the end, I wasn't able to save them… not even one of those most precious to me."
"And I thought I had it rough, not knowing my family."
"As a friend once told me, 'everyone has a sob story and everyone's sob story moulds them into who they become'."
"Your friend sounds wise."
"He is an alcoholic, sex-crazed gambler."
"You have strange friends then." Sen laughed.
"I cannot argue with that but, he's still one of my best friends."
"You know, Itachi, you're the only person who's spoken to me about this stuff since the 'oracle' thing started."
"I believe we should rest for a bit before we head out."
"Uhm… yeah let's do that."
Itachi and Sen woke up the next morning and walked out the cave.
"Thanks for listening to me… carrying a weight like that can be difficult." Sen said.
"You're welcome. Now let's get you to safety." Itachi gave Sen a smile and the two continued through the woods.
Natsuki and Dairuko rushed back into Konoha after their mission revealed that Itachi was walking Sen to a trap since the monks had no idea the oracle had been kidnapped in the first place.
"Natsuki, find Inoichi-san and I'll report this." Dairuko said and Natsuki nodded then they split up with Dairuko running towards the Hokage Tower while Natsuki ran to the Yamanaka Flower shop.
"Ino! Where's your father?" Natsuki asked as she burst through the door.
"Uhm… I think he went to see the Nara's." Ino replied and Natsuki left.
"See you later then, Shikaku." Inoichi said.
"Yeah, you got it." Shikaku said and waved goodbye to Inoichi as he made his way back onto the street when Natsuki charged in front of the latter. They exchanged words then returned to Shikaku.
"We need to borrow your living room." Inoichi said with all seriousness and Shikaku just nodded and stepped aside to let them through. He and Natsuki wordlessly acknowledged each other as she slipped by him.
Itachi and Sen arrived safely. A lone monk stood waiting for them. Itachi gave Sen a comforting smile before handing her over to the monk when he got a mental message from Natsuki.
'Itachi, it's a trap! The contact, the messenger, it was all a set up! They're trying to use Sen.' Natsuki exclaimed.
"What?!" Itachi exclaimed, eyes widening in surprise.
"Is something wrong, Itachi-san?" the monk asked with a look of concern. Sen had just taken his hand at the same time when she suddenly clutched her head as she was bombarded with visions of the monk's betrayal.
"You… you betrayed your own people, why?" Sen asked.
"It doesn't matter." Itachi said and threw a kunai into each of the monk's limbs. "We're leaving, Sen. I'll take you directly to the temple." Sen was about to reach for Itachi when blue lightning zoomed pass her and knocked Itachi away.
"She's coming with us." The lightning shinobi said as she grabbed Sen by the throat.
"Stand down." A man with a scar on the left side of his face and white hair ordered then he looked at Itachi who stood up. "This belongs to you, I'm assuming." The man dangled Itachi's headband. "I'm curious as to how you escaped because, honestly, it sounded like you had no moves left to make."
"I always have a move to make."
"Ha! I like you… so I'll watch you die before I take the oracle."
The stone shinobi attacked from above, slamming his fist into the ground but Itachi dodged it and activated his Sharingan. The lightning shinobi rushed at Itachi who watched her carefully before he did a corkscrew jump over her. When he landed he pushed her face into the ground then the stone shinobi attacked Itachi with taijutsu. The stone shinobi was strong, but not nearly as strong as Dairuko, so Itachi could actually block his attacks rather than dodge all the time.
Itachi caught the stone shinobi's fist and landed a strong body blow then he elbowed the lightning shinobi in her face and threw her into the stone shinobi when the wind and fire shinobi appeared and combined their jutsu into a giant flame. In an instant Itachi remembered being thrown out of the ground, so he decided to out burn them instead.
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation." Itachi said and an even bigger flame overcame the wind-buffed fireball and the two shinobi.
The rest of the shinobi were ready to avenge their fallen comrades but the man with white hair stopped them.
"What is your name?" the man asked.
"Uchiha Itachi."
"Worthy opponents always need names to go with their faces."
"I suppose so."
The man created a series of shadow clones and they all attacked Itachi in unison and eventually overwhelmed him until out of nowhere they all burst into black flames. Itachi stood up, blood trickling from his right eye.
"I have never seen anything like the two jutsu you just performed, in all my years." The man said in wonder.
"You are clearly the leader, so you have one chance to walk away from this with most of your people alive."
"Surrendering is not my way."
"So be it."
The white-haired man disappeared then reappeared next to Itachi, who blocked his punch then pulled out a kunai and attacked him, but the man dodged and ducked under one of the attacks then threw a fist full of sand in Itachi's eyes. He then kicked Itachi in the stomach that sent him flying but, before he could land, the man appeared behind him with a roundhouse that sent Itachi back in the direction he came from. The man then appeared back there and delivered a head-butt to Itachi and, once Itachi hit the ground, the man jumped up and stomped Itachi's face in the ground.
"Is that all?" the man asked and kicked Itachi, who didn't respond. "I guess you weren't worthy of remembering." The man walked to Sen as she ran to Itachi's side but he grabbed her by her hair to stop her. "Kill the monk, then the girl. I was promised a fight and he failed to hold his end, so we will do the same."
As Itachi faded from consciousness images of his parents, Jiraiya, Hana, Dairuko, Natsuki flashed before his eyes and then he saw Sasuke running towards him with a smile on his face.
"Okay, Oracle, your turn to die." The lightning shinobi said while the stone shinobi held Sen and closed his hands around her throat when suddenly the stone shinobi was kicked in the face from behind then, within a second, the lightning shinobi was impaled with Natsuki's sword.
Itachi stood with a red aura around him, blood dripped from his lip and eye and his Mangekyou Sharingan was activated.
"You'll pay for this transgression." Itachi said and the stone and water shinobi attacked him from both sides. He quickly grabbed the water shinobi's punch then kicked the stone in the face but the water shinobi turned to water to escape from Itachi's grip. "So predictable." Itachi said then turned to the water shinobi and looked him dead in the eyes. "Tsukuyomi ." The water shinobi fell on the ground.
The stone shinobi attacked Itachi who ducked under the punch and countered with a straight punch to his stomach, then Itachi twisted his body to deliver a kick that left him in a jump-ready position, where he jumped over the stone shinobi and put the latter in a rear naked choke and proceeded to knee him in the back several times before flipping him into the air before Itachi jumped higher than him and performed some hand seals directly above the still air-born shinobi.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb." Itachi said and a fireball hit the shinobi into the ground then exploded, Itachi landed. "I told you to walk away." Itachi said looking at the scarred, white haired man as he put his foot on the water shinobi's face then intensified the genjutsu on the shinobi causing him to scream in agony.
"You're a bloodthirsty one aren't you? … This will be fun."
"What's your name?" Itachi asked.
"Am I finally a worthy opponent?" the man laughed then answered the question. "Daisuke."
"No… I wanted your name to add it to the list of fools who have tried to kill me and failed." Itachi said and ran towards Daisuke.
As they were about to punch each other Itachi's hand opened while his body turned into crows and reappeared just an inch away from Daisuke's punch which missed but Itachi's hand grabbed Daisuke's face and slammed him into the ground. Daisuke hurriedly stood back up then leapt away.
"You think yourself superior to everyone else, but how does it feel to be powerless?" Itachi said and walked forward.
"You can't beat me!" Daisuke exclaimed.
"You're quick to become rattled by as simple a taunt as 'you are weak'."
"I'm not weak, I've killed more stronger opponents than you ever could!"
"Yes… because I've yet to meet someone stronger than I am." Itachi said then stopped walking halfway from Daisuke. "You've already lost this fight." Itachi said then disappeared behind Daisuke who turned to look but found nothing but Itachi's fist in his face. Itachi landed another solid punch to Daisuke's face, followed by a knee to his gut and then Itachi hit him with a downward axe handle. Itachi grabbed him by the collar and flung him across the ground. He slowly walked toward Daisuke, and placed his foot on Daisuke's throat. "You're not worth killing." Itachi brought his knee down on Daisuke's face knocking him out, then Itachi's red aura died down and Sen ran toward Itachi.
"Are you okay, Itachi?" Sen asked.
"I've been better." Itachi said.
"You sure?"
"Let's get you to the temple." Itachi said and they left.
Itachi walked with Sen all the way to the temple.
"This is it then." Sen said as they stood outside the temple.
"Appears so." Itachi said.
"Well… you completed your mission. You can go."
"I have one last question for you."
"Sure?"
"Do you want to go in?"
"You make it sound like I have a choice." Sen laughed.
"I am."
"W-w-what?"
"You and I can leave now. I can find you a place to live where you will be able to live a normal life."
"What about your mission?"
"Missions have caused me to lose a lot in my life. I won't let my mission take that from you as well."
"Thank you, Itachi-nii!" Sen ran and gave Itachi a hug. "You're the closest thing I've had to a brother and the only person who's treated me as a person… but, this is my fate." As Sen hugged Itachi she had another vision this time about Itachi.
She saw images of Itachi with a little girl, him and Dairuko facing off in the Final Valley, Dairuko's face on Hokage Mountain being destroyed and finally, Itachi standing over a tombstone saying 'It didn't have to be this way… Dairuko.'
"You had a vision?"
"Yes."
"Don't tell me about it."
"But-"
"Like how you accepted your fate… I accept whatever will come my way."
"Fine."
"I believe you can do this, Sen." Itachi said and Sen nodded before walking away, but stopped midway.
"You knew I'd choose this path didn't you?"
"..."
"Then why'd you give me the option of leaving?"
"I wanted you to pick it of your own free will."
"You're the best, Itachi… Natsuki is lucky to have you."
"I didn't tell you about Natsuki."
"I'm the Oracle now, Itachi-nii, I know things." Itachi gave Sen a smile then said goodbye and returned to Konoha.
Dairuko and Jiraiya stood in front of Tsunade in her office.
"So you're taking Naruto and you're taking Hinata?" Tsunade asked to confirm.
"Pretty much." Jiraiya and Dairuko said in unison.
"I'm leaving my team in your care." Jiraiya said.
"And I'll be stopping by every so often with Hinata… or if you need me." Dairuko added.
"Ugh… I'm agreeing to this under the condition you stay out of trouble, Dairuko." Tsunade said.
"What? Me? I'm a saint." Dairuko insisted while Jiraiya laughed.
"And you." Tsunade pointed at Jiraiya.
"Me?" Jiraiya pointed at himself.
"Same applies to you as well, you pervert."
"Ah but, Tsunade-"
"'But' nothing! You both behave or you're both staying in Konoha."
"Fine." They both sighed.
Meanwhile Itachi sat on the roof of his house.
"Hey, Itachi." Natsuki said as she sat down next to him.
"How are you?" Itachi asked and put his arm around her.
"I'm alright. Just can't believe there's a baby in there." Natsuki said and before Itachi could respond Dairuko showed up.
"Yo, it's time." Dairuko called out. Itachi exchanged a look with Natsuki then they both jumped down.
"So two years training with Hinata, huh?" Natsuki asked.
"Yep. We're both going to come back stronger, and do you know why?"
"I'm curious as to why?" Itachi asked.
"Because I am the greatest sensei ever… and also… I have a few friends out in the world who can help in some way."
Team 0 walked to the main gate of Konoha where Hinata, Kiba and Shino waited.
"You ready, Hinata? Dairuko asked.
"Hai, senpai."
"Hinata, take care of yourself and whenever you come back, I want to spar to see how strong you've gotten." Kiba gave Hinata a smile.
"Don't worry, I'll train her well enough so she won't completely own your ass." Dairuko said.
"Go well, Hinata." Shino said.
"Hey, Dairuko, where's your first stop?" Natsuki asked.
"We're going to Suna." Dairuko replied.
"You're not really going to ask her for help."
"I have to bring out the big guns for the training, Natsuki."
"Ugh… fine. Just make sure she gets it through her head that I'm not becoming a puppet master."
"Alright, Natsuki, damn… can we go now? All this talking is messing up my schedule."
"Aren't you forgetting someone?" Ayame said as she showed up.
"I've already said goodbye to yo-" Dairuko was cut off by Ayame pulling him into a deep kiss.
"Just a little something for you to come back to." Ayame said after she broke the kiss.
"I always had something worth coming back to." Dairuko smirked then to Hinata. "Hinata, we're leaving!" Dairuko exclaimed and the two left.
Cue
Awesome
Credit
Sequence
Thanks you guys for supporting Team 0 and waiting for so long for this final Team 0 chapter. Hope you enjoyed part one of Team 0 and check in again in June for Team 0 Shippuden.
Sen sat in the middle of the temple in meditation as part of her Oracle training. It was in this room that she had another vision, clear as day, come to her.
Vision
Itachi stood on the Iron Bridge with his Mangekyou Sharingan active and across from him, on one of the broken pillars was a purple S'usanoo with its bow and arrow taking aim at Itachi. Inside the ethereal archer was a young man about Sen's age also possessing a Mangekyou Sharingan, with spiky hair wearing a battle-damaged Akatsuki cloak.
"DROP DEAD, 'NII-SAN'!" The young man screamed and fired the arrow at such an incredible speed that no normal person could dodge it.
End Vision
"Uchiha Sasuke…" Sen breathed "…is alive."
The End