I can't believe it's nearly been a year since the last chapter. I'm sorry for the long wait, though I have no promises for when the next chapter will be uploaded.
Something I forgot to mention in the last author's note: thank you Mukade993 for the criticism of the summary! The initial wording was rather flawed, and wasn't what I intended to convey, so I've updated the wording accordingly.
A massive thank you as well to everyone that's reviewed, favourited, or followed. Reviews especially are rather encouraging; they let me know people like the story and want to engage with it.
As always feel free to spell out any thoughts or criticisms in the reviews, or PM me.
When Shinobi Lose Their Way | Preparations
"The duty of Shinobi is to sacrifice the needs of the present for the security of the future. More succinctly: A Shinobi must always put the mission first. Those who say otherwise are either traitors or fools."
- Shimura Danzo, former Director of ROOT
"My instructors always told me to put the mission first. I thought I understood. They spoke often of the sacrifice all Shinobi perform for their comrades and their village. They did not mention the guilt. Whether one puts the mission first or not, guilt is all that will remain by the end. Only in death can guilt be forgotten."
- Final entry in Sakumo Hatake's journal
When Shinobi Lose Their Way | Preparations
Itachi stood in the corner of his room, cloaked in the silvery darkness of the night. Sharingan blazing, the darkness made no difference—to him, it may as well have been noon. He had divested himself of his cloak and hat, leaving him in his trousers and plain navy shirt. Strapped to the small of his back were his scrolls and kunai pouch. His Akatsuki cloak was stuffed underneath the covers along with a pillow, so that at a distance it looked like he was lying asleep in his bed. His straw hat he left hanging from his chair. He himself was out of the line of sight of anyone spying through his window.
The muffled sounds of merriment beneath slowly faded away as the night grew long, and stopped entirely when Rufus shut down his bar and kicked out the one or two people that tried to stay. He waited for a few minutes longer, and was rewarded with the creak of the steps that led up to the second floor.
Every night after closing the bar, Rufus came up the steps and put the lights out. He would pause at the top of the steps—listening for a bump in the night, perhaps?— before going back down the steps. Itachi waited for Rufus to reach the bottom, and then he put his plan into action.
A cloud covered the moon for a moment, leaving anyone outside that might be watching in total darkness. Clasping his hands together and raising his index and middle fingers, chakra flowed throughout his body. It reinforced his body and began pooling into his legs, and an instant later he vanished through the open window.
The world around him blurred into a smear of colours as he silently skipped across rooftops faster than the eye could see. Several fractions of a second later, the technique ended a hundred yards down the road and behind a small wall.
The shunshin allowed a shinobi to move short distances at near incomprehensible speeds, in a relatively straightforward path. The main downside was that the entire route had to be premeditated, and the sheer speed made it almost impossible to react while it was in use.
Most shinobi used it to relocate themselves, not for combat.
It was far from the most optimal way to sneak away from his room. Ideally he'd leave a shadow clone in his place, or send the clone out for reconnaissance; but those options weren't on the table. Creating a clone of that level required partitioning his chakra in half and manifesting it outside of his body. Such a blatant display would bring the Grimm, as he had already learnt the hard way.
The shunshin kept all his chakra inside his body. As a rule, chakra naturally ebbed and flowed in the body, whether or not a technique was used. If the Grimm had been able to sense that, then they would have eaten him while he slept in the forest: so it stood to reason techniques that kept that chakra inside the body were undetectable by them. This seemed to be correct, given he had yet to be sensed by anyone in the town, or by Grimm. He hadn't even seen any evidence of shinobi existing, to say nothing of any actually being in the town.
Leaping cat-like from his perch, he continued his high-speed journey through the small town, careful to avoid patches of grass and dew.
Ansel, it was called. A tiny frontier town on the edge of civilization itself. He had already taken extensive tours of the place during such nightly excursions. Her roads were either cobbled—like the one Rufus' Inn sat on—or simply made of dirt. As far as defences went, she had only a single wooden palisade and a few paltry watchtowers. With no shinobi and only a few guards, how did that prevent Grimm from overrunning the townspeople? Why were the Grimm not making a beeline for the town of civilians?
I'm missing something. Something critical.
Ansel lacked the sophistication, dense urban development, and grand buildings that Konoha had. The buildings here were mostly single-storey, made of logs or planks and furnished with small glass windows. The fancier buildings were made of stone or concrete as a foundation, with wood making up the upper floors, reaching two or three floors tall. For the most part the roofs were simple A-frames, although some were slightly more elaborate.
Only one building defied this template, and it was in the exact centre of the town. A narrow steel tower nearly five or six floors tall; it was by far the tallest structure. He hadn't noticed it when he arrived, as delirious and exhausted as he had been. It had no interior. Four legs made of metal beams criss-crossed to form a frame that narrowed as it went up, making up the majority of its bulk. A single narrow, cramped ladder went up to the top where a platform encircled the structure. Several shapes of varying sizes adorned the outside, clinging to the metal frame, growing in frequency the higher up the tower you looked: some were circular and concave, and others were rectangular and flat. Near the base was a machine—roughly the size of his own bed—and the entire tower was encircled by a mesh metal fence.
It had been trivial to leap over the fence and to the top of the tower, although for the life of him he could not figure out what purpose it served. Perhaps it helped defend the town? Whatever it was, it didn't seem to be operational. A sign on the gate read 'No Unauthorised Entry'.
Never mind that.
The Tower, as he had dubbed it, wasn't his destination. The world flickered and smeared for one final time, and stilled in front of his destination: the school.
Jaune sucked in a breath at the briskness of the night, the cool air pooling in his lungs and sending a chill down his spine. While the moon provided just enough light to see after his eyes adjusted, it didn't do much to warm him. Clad in a onesie and a jacket on top of a sweater, he threw his sword onto the grass below, and scampered down the tree next to his window as quietly as he could. Grabbing the sword, he plodded along in his boots until he reached what he had dubbed his 'training ground'.
To call it a training ground was a bit of an exaggeration. It was a natural clearing in a copse of evergreen and oak trees near his home, and more importantly it was the only place he could swing his sword without anyone else seeing. His face flushed with embarrassment as he recalled the time he had been caught by Tiny. There were no proper dummies, just a few smaller trees unlucky enough to exist in the clearing. Their trunks were chipped and heavily abused from the ground up to his shoulder height.
Smiling at the familiar sight, Jaune held his training sword high, with the tip pointed forward and the edges level with the ground. Grinning, he twirled the blade, stumbling through guard positions real and imagined, before turning and swiping at some imaginary foe.
Swish! With a twist and a quick turn, he neatly decapitated the shadowy figure of a Grimm. Turning and ducking under a slash, he stabbed another through the heart. Yanking on his sword and leaping backwards, he narrowly dodged a third Grimm before throwing himself back into combat.
After a while, he had killed each and every foe. Tired of such easy enemies, he spied one of the unsuspecting trees.
With a whisper-yell, he threw all his weight behind a horizontal cut, imagining the trunk to be the leg of a colossal spider Grimm. The blade struck with a clang, and Jaune bit back a curse as his sword wobbled and vibrated, sending shockwaves up his arm and down his entire body. Grimacing, he shook his hands before rolling his wrists. Gripping his sword less tightly, he struck again, this time with much less force behind his strike.
Itachi glared at the book sprawled open on the desk. "Basic Biology" definitely lived up to its namesake.
He had already guessed the people here had no chakra—given that the moon was disintegrating, among other things—and while it was nice to have confirmation, that was not the issue at hand.
The book lacked precision. Specifically, it was too vague. Too basic. The brains of those inhabiting this world seemed to be divided similarly to his; but that wasn't enough. Would their brains even be influenced by his chakra? How could he even find out without testing? It had already been a large gamble to use any techniques at all. The instant he used any gen- or nin- jutsu—any technique externalising his chakra—the Grimm would sense it.
Of course, I could just test the technique here, and leave before the Grimm can be traced back to me. Ansel is of no further use information-wise. It's small and at the edge of civilization: it would hardly be missed should something untoward happen…
With a sigh, he calmed himself and shut the book.
I've been undercover for too long. I have no reputation to maintain.
Taking a breath, he repeated himself.
I have no reputation to maintain. Besides, while it won't be missed immediately, Ansel disappearing would surely not go unnoticed forever.
Still debating how to proceed, his eyes turned to the book he had shut.
Putting a target on my back so quickly is a mistake. Genjutsu creates a chakra connection to the target. The Grimm sensed the chakra used for the wall-walking technique: they would surely sense the chakra connection needed for genjutsu.
He nodded to himself, his mind made up.
Reckless violence will not be useful.
He reached for the final item he had come to the school for: a highly detailed map. Vale was by far the largest city in the continent, as well as the capital of the Kingdom. It was at least a several days' journey, assuming he booked it without stopping. Sharingan still active, he burned the image into his mind. Planning the route in his mind, he quickly made a mental checklist of what he would need.
Local clothing and footwear. A bag to carry pre-prepared food and other items: scrolls are a poor long term solution. Water. Money. I'll have to figure out what to do about getting an ID, if they even exist here.
Careful not to disturb anything, he put "Basic Biology" as well as all the other books he had gone through back where he had found them. After double-checking that he had put everything back as he had found it, he clasped his hands together, and vanished.
Reappearing a distance away from the school, Itachi was about to clasp his hands again to continue his journey, but the sounds of metal-on-wood stayed his hand. Sensitive ears quickly pinpointed the source a few hundred metres away.
He had already cased the entire town. Given the types of sounds as well as their relative location, someone was at the small clearing, likely chopping at some poor trees.
Slipping a kunai into his hand, he stalked on light feet towards the source.
It definitely sounds like someone practising. But why would anyone do that so late? Another shinobi, trying to conceal themselves? No, that doesn't add up.
Automatically, he catalogued everything he saw, comparing it to his observations from the week prior. There were at least two dozen decent hiding spots: the trees here began to thicken, such that a small man or woman could conceal themselves in their boughs. Clumps of bushes were large enough to serve the same purpose, to say nothing of shinobi that knew invisibility techniques. The ground was soft enough for someone familiar with an earth nature to hide in the soil, though he was sceptical that anyone could have concealed themselves in the village without his noticing.
Nothing has changed. Still, I had best be cautious.
Circling around the edge of the copse, he quickly found the route that led to the clearing. The grass was light and springy throughout most of Ansel, although here, he could see a path had been made through it. Eyes blazing red, it was a trivial thing to spot: even a genin would have been pressed to overlook it.
The grass was trampled, although not too trampled, and had kept its colour. It had been undisturbed when he had first been here.
Infrequently used, or used by very few people at a time. Perhaps both.
Noting his position, he quickly realised the path led back towards the town centre.
Following the path towards the clearing, the sounds began to grow louder. Adjusting the grip on his kunai, Itachi loosened the hold on his chakra in preparation as he eyed his destination: the source of the sound itself. Clasping his hands, he vanished, reappearing in a tree several metres high and about a dozen metres away from the source.
Itachi held his breath in order to keep a chuckle from escaping.
About a dozen metres away, a boy swung an arming sword into one of the smaller trees, completely oblivious.
This is what had gotten him so wound up? A child, sneaking out to play?
He couldn't help but catalogue the many mistakes that were being made. Each attack was both massively telegraphed and overswung, leaving him unbalanced. He had no sense of form: he simply swung the blade with no regard for maintaining a guard.
Itachi cringed as he saw the boy's swing bounce off the tree he was targeting.
No edge alignment. And why strike a tree? If he wanted to practise cuts, a mat or an unrolled scroll would be much more suitable. All he's doing is damaging his sword and learning bad habits. Was he unable to find a sparring partner?
Itachi sighed as his amusement faded. No doubt the boy thought he was 'training himself' or something similarly foolish. The child was just that: a child. Clasping his hands together, he left the boy to his games.
Jaune's tomfoolery continued well into the night. It was only when he noticed the sky beginning to lighten that he took stock of the time.
Shoot!
Grabbing his sword, he hauled himself as quickly as he could back to his house. Clambering back up the tree, he could have given any squirrel a run for its money. Throwing himself through the open window, he divested himself of his sweater and jacket, and did his best to quietly put his boots back by the front door where they belonged.
Finally, he climbed back into his bed. Just as when his eyes drooped and sleep began to overtake him, he heard the telltale sounds of his waking siblings.
Itachi nursed a cup of tea as he waited for Lavender to arrive. The sun, which hadn't quite peaked yet, shined brightly. His yellow straw hat shaded his face and eyes from the worst of it, and despite the brightness and the severity of the sunlight, the chill in the air persisted.
He pulled his cloak just a bit tighter to his body.
He was seated just outside the inn at one of the small tables just outside its door. Several identical tables were laid out in front and behind, although they were empty. On his right ran a broad, rough and cobbled road, and in front he could see the door to the inn. Finishing his cup, he paused his studies, raising his hand.
Rufus came by quickly, and Itachi looked up and smiled gratefully as he returned with a full cup.
"Thanks you," said Itachi.
"Thank you," Rufus gently corrected.
"Thank… you," Itachi said slowly. "Thank you," he repeated, more quickly and with more confidence. Rufus grinned and clapped him on his back, before retreating back inside.
Itachi slumped back into his seat. Leaning on a propped up elbow and turning his head down, he looked at the book splayed out in front of him. Characters from his alphabet and those that Lavender had taught him formed neat, alternating columns. It was the result of almost a hundred hours of translation between the two. He and Lavender had worked, with much difficulty and many children's picture books, to try and gain a basic understanding of each other's languages.
He had already memorised the entire notebook, as well as most of the dictionaries Lavender had thrown at him.
Running his fingers along the characters as though he was reading them, he kept his face and hat angled down, but turned his eyes up and slightly to the right, fixing his gaze on the people around him. With careful precision, he channelled chakra to both of his eyes. His irises burned red, and three black commas emerged, and began to slowly orbit each pupil.
Nearly a hundred metres down the road two men struggled to push a wooden cart. The front wheel was caught in a dip in the cobbled road, and the man in the lead was yelling at the younger man.
"Push harder!" he yelled, loud enough for his voice to reach Itachi over the bustle of the street.
A woman haggled with a man across the road. The two were loud, but their voices did not reach the volume of the man earlier, and so Itachi couldn't hear them. Itachi could see the vendor's face, but not the woman's: she had her back to him.
The vendor shook his head and pursed his lips. Itachi's red eyes caught every movement.
"Too little for that," he said with a sigh. "Took me several days to make it, it did. Fifty, or no deal," he said with an air of finality as he crossed his arms.
The woman sighed, and obliged.
He was forced to stop his people watching when he heard Lavender's loud footsteps. They rang out with a persistent clack clack clack—standing out rather distinctly from the din of the street. He cut the flow of chakra to his eyes, and they returned from blazing red to their normal onyx.
She greeted him loudly, with a wave and a smile. "Hello, Shisui!" she said before taking the seat opposite of him.
Itachi removed his hat from his head, and with a small nod they began their work. Slowly but surely they added to the growing list of translated words. Words and sentences bounced between the two as Itachi did his best to play the part of a struggling student.
It was in the midst of this back and forth of words and phrases that darkness engulfed the small town. Itachi looked up mid slurp and his eyes widened.
Did I miscalculate?!
The cause of the sudden darkness was a large, flying, bird-like monster: although to call it a bird did a disservice to its sheer magnitude. It was an ugly, black creature, with a body the size of a small building. A cruelly hooked beak was attached to the skull plate on its face. Despicable bony feet were adorned with talons the length of a tall man, and halfway along its wings two long claws protruded out. The wingspan of the Grimm was similarly proportioned, easily twice as wide as it was long. Massive tail feathers fanned out behind it, wider than the very road Itachi was next to.
For a moment it seemed as though the sun had been blotted out. Sitting up and straightening, he put down his tea while his free hand strayed towards the kunai pouch on his hip. Mind racing, he nearly activated his sharingan.
A flying Grimm? Did it sense my techniques? That should be impossible! Not an iota of chakra has left my body in weeks!
The monster continued its silent flight, and the darkness disappeared as quickly as it had come. The Grimm seemed content to ignore the insignificant town beneath it, to Itachi's relief.
Lowering his head, Itachi looked around to the other townspeople. The younger man from earlier pointed up in awe at the rapidly vanishing creature, while the older folks went about their business as though nothing had happened. From behind, he heard someone snicker.
Whirling around, he narrowed his eyes at Lavender, who had a strange look on her face.
She burst out into laughter.
"Barrier," she said once she had caught her breath. A moment later she flicked through one of the many encyclopaedias on the table, stopping at the word 'wall'.
"Father has a barrier around town," she tried to explain.
Understanding dawned on his face. "Barrier… holds Grimms long?" Itachi slowly asked.
Ansel has a barrier? I sensed no such thing.
Lavender shook her head. "Barrier hides us from Grimm," she elaborated, showing an appropriate photo for each word to ensure he understood her meaning.
"Grimm cannot see us."
"Do… every town have?" he pressed, eager to learn more.
"No. It's my father's power," she said proudly.
Itachi sat back with a quiet hum, losing himself to his thoughts.
Rufus smiled easily when he saw Nicholas walk into his inn.
"Nick!" he called out from the back of his bar as the large man took a seat, "give me just a second and I'll be right with you."
For most men, the setting sun meant an end to their work. For Rufus, it marked the start of his. Nicholas took a seat at the bar, and waited while Rufus hurried to fill the demands of his other customers. A few minutes later Rufus returned to the counter.
"Drink?"
"Just water."
"Killjoy," Rufus accused while handing his friend a glass.
"Can't upset the missus, Rufus. You know that."
"I suppose you're here about Shisui again, eh?" Rufus prompted once Nicholas had drained his cup.
Nicholas leaned forward slightly. "Yeah. You see anything?" he asked, his voice dropping an octave.
"Nope," he replied. Nicholas stared at him flatly. "Oh, don't be like that! I told you before, and I'll tell you again: I'll let you know if I see anything strange."
"And?"
"Hold on," Rufus said before going to serve a refill.
He returned after a few moments. "We-ell… There is one thing. He may be a moody bastard, but he's got…" Rufus trailed off, trying to find the right words. "He's got this… feeling? Air? About him. Y'know? The kind you feel from huntsmen. Not that he's got any actual aura, mind you… just the sense that he knows what he's doing. Spends a lot of time just watching what's going on. Bastard is smarter than he looks. Other than that? Nothing. He'll go out for a walk every now and then. He sits with Lavender in the mornings. Sometimes he'll sit outside by himself with a cup of tea. At night he goes to his room, and doesn't come out till the morning. Same as what I told you last week."
Nicholas gave his friend another look. "You sure?" he asked.
Rufus groaned. "Yes! I'm sure! I'm very sure! I keep an eye out here and he doesn't come down until exactly six in the morning!"
Nicholas chuckled. "Just checking."
"Just checking, my arse. I've lost a lotta sleep, waiting for some rapscallion to come down and cause trouble, only for nothing to happen."
"I owe you."
"Damned right you do," Rufus muttered, and the two lapsed into a comfortable silence.
"Y'know…" Rufus mused a few beats later with a twinkle in his eye, "you'd probably be better off asking your daughter about him. She spends a lot more time with him than I do."
Now it was Nicholas' turn to groan. "Already have. Aside from his 'incredible ability to learn' and his 'undoubtedly exotic origins', she doesn't have anything to add."
"Worried about her? Think they'll smooch?" Rufus teased.
Nicholas snorted. "No. She's got her eyes on that opening in St. Toms."
"Right! Er… she wanted to be a teacher, no?"
"Yeah, she wanted to go for Beacon at first." Nicholas said with a frown. "She wanted to go to Vale. To Vale, of all places!"
Rufus nodded in understanding. "Pah! Kids. St. Tom's is a good school. Doesn't Beacon require their faculty to be huntsmen anyway?"
Nicholas snorted again. "Yeah. But try telling that to a starry-eyed young lady. She was almost as bad as Jaune."
"Eh… don't be too hard on 'em Nick. Kids hear these grand stories and can't help themselves. It's like asking a cat to not be curious."
"Just wish they'd actually listen to people that lived through those 'grand stories'." Nicholas paused for a bit, before shaking his head. "Enough of that. She's mostly outgrown it, and Jaune'll outgrow it too. I might not sound like it, but I'm proud of her. I've seen some of the work she's done, it's completely beyond me."
"Really?" Rufus asked, raising his brows and sounding rather impressed. "So, when are you expecting to hear back from the school?"
"Not for a while. She still has to finish getting her paperwork ready, send it, and wait to hear back from them. Plan is to send over her documents next CCT cycle."
"I'll have to wish her luck then," Rufus mused. "Speaking of…" he drawled, pulling a bottle of whiskey from below the bar.
"No…"
"Ack, come on! For old time's sake! You did say you owed me one…"
"Sorry Rufus, like I said, I can't upset the missus. Maybe some other time," he placated as he stepped away, leaving the inn and beginning the short journey home.
Once more night fell on Ansel, and once more Itachi left his room under the cover of darkness. Instead of going to the school, he beelined towards the homes further towards the centre of the town.
One of the women had set several large, rectangular sheets out to dry. Pulling one down, he cut the blanket straight down the middle, to half of its length. Putting his kunai away, he draped the blanket onto his shoulders, with the slit at his front. Wrapping the left flap of the blanket up and over his right shoulder, he finished making his cloak.
Itachi then went from home to home, first to find a large backpack, then to pilfer a small amount of food from each in order to hide his burglary. Bread, cheese, and salted meats were his main targets. For water, he filled a few bottles—enough to last a few days if rationed properly—and resolved himself to face Grimm every few days to refill them. Rations secured, Itachi examined the shoes of those households with people about his height until he found a pair that fit. Finally, he made his way to the stalls across from the inn.
It was a bit of a long shot—most people would probably take their earnings back to a safe—but it was worth it to take a look. Rummaging through the boxes and drawers, his thoroughness was quickly rewarded. To make sure he didn't bankrupt any one person, he made sure to take small amounts from each stall.
Entering back through his open window with his newly acquired equipment, Lavender's earlier words stuck with him. He had already concluded that he was free to use chakra so long as he was careful not to mould it into any external techniques. His usage of shunshin and the sharingan without attracting any Grimm confirmed that.
Lavender's words had changed things, though.
If the town has a barrier to hide from the Grimm, will it also hide my chakra from them? Is my assumption wrong?
His brows furrowed and a frown formed on his face. Setting down his knapsack, he recalled his impromptu meeting with the dark creatures.
As it stands, the Grimm haven't sensed me in the town. And the barrier doesn't explain why the Grimm couldn't sense me until I externalised my chakra when I was in the forest.
My original assumption still has merit. The barrier likely just obscures the people and their emotions from the Grimm; it stands to reason that it would also obscure any externalised chakra. Which means…
Pricking his thumb with a kunai, he allowed a few droplets of blood to form before smearing his bloody thumb across his other fingers.
…I should be able to get away with using a summoning technique while inside the barrier.
Splaying his hand out, he channelled a miniscule amount of chakra—and… nothing. He frowned. That should have summoned a small crow. Trying again, this time he applied more chakra. Again, nothing.
Either the barrier is blocking my summon, or I can't reach them from this place. I'll have to try again outside the barrier.
He frowned, and grabbed one of the scrolls in his pouch and unfurled it onto his desk. It was covered in small symbols and other scribbles that formed long, blocky chains of text. Four of those chains radiated outwards from the centre of the scroll, where they joined together and formed a ring around a drawing of a sword. Pressing his digits to the scroll's face, his sidearm appeared.
This tantō was a relic from his ANBU days. Straight, and doubled-edged with no hand guard, it was a part of the black ops uniform. With a blade length of nearly 30 centimetres, it was a better backup than a kunai, while also maintaining a smaller profile than a katana. He hadn't used the weapon since he'd left their service.
Drawing it from its sheath and running a finger along its length, he felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him. It was just as sharp and well-oiled as when he had sealed it away.
I'll have to rethink my approach to combat since I can't use jutsu as freely.
An easy thing to say in concept, but more difficult to put into practice. Instincts formed over many years of training were not so easily curtailed. Stepping away from his desk, he rolled his wrist and took a few practice swings, quickly reacquainting himself with the weapon's balance. Sheathing it once more, Itachi strapped the weapon across the small of his back.
He did the same with his other scrolls, resupplying himself with as many kunai and shuriken as he could comfortably carry. Several small pouches of stacked shuriken, as well as a second kunai pouch were added to his hip. Grabbing his crossed-out headband, his Akatsuki robes, and his sandals, he placed them all on one of the empty sealing scrolls. He paused before going through the signs to seal them away.
Itachi the Clan-Killer has no place here.
Still, it almost felt wrong, somehow.
If I'm not the clan-killer, who am I?
He stood for a while, unmoving.
Shisui was just spur of the moment. Sentimental. I can't be Shisui, either.
Completing the seals, his musings continued.
I need to return as quickly as possible. Konoha needs my eyes and ears. If I'm gone for too long, both Konoha and the Akatsuki will begin to wonder where I've gone.
He bit back a curse.
Conflict will likely break out. And Sasuke…
He pinched his nose.
Sasuke will be fine in Konoha. He has the Hokage watching out for him. The mission comes first.
He recalled the mission the Hokage had given him after that night.
Surveil the Akatsuki. I am authorised by the Hokage to do whatever I must to gain their good graces and maintain them. I must report back when I see fit. Only my death, the destruction of Akatsuki, or the order of the Hokage will terminate the mission. Under no circumstances is anyone else to know about this mission.
Stepping towards his open window, he left his room for the final time.
I'll be whoever I have to be to complete my mission.
End
TenkaMeansHeaven: I'm still undecided on pairings, I really don't want them to take over the plot. I have had some suggestions though, and I'll keep them in mind. No promises, but if I do write a pairing I'll be trying not to let it become the main focus. As for faster updates… well… no promises. I'll update when I update.
SandiaVida: Thank you.
Saif Omar: Ah, perhaps I could have phrased myself better. I've read about 5 million words of only RWBY fanfiction, but well over 20 mil in total, not counting other sites. I've lurked on this site for about six to seven years now. As for Itachi… well, he has considered it, but he wants to be sure. I also didn't want to rush things too quickly. Thank you for the criticism though, I probably could have spared a line or two for it; I may update the earlier chapters to remedy this and other criticisms.
Gwynx: Thank you for reading!
andresskorskiruiz: I have no plans for pairings currently. I'll probably see where the story takes me and go from there; although I don't want pairings to become the main focus. So if there is any pairing it probably won't be at the forefront. Thanks for the suggestion!
Knight of the Thorn crown: Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
I-Nex-I: Yes, this is Itachi in the latter part of Part 1: I want to keep it somewhat vague, so I won't be giving any exact time further than that. Most of the RWBY characters so far don't really exist in the canon, so one can't really say they are in or out of character. As for Itachi's disease, I plan to expand on that a bit later.
pau456: Yes, I have plans to continue. I've just been very slow at writing and updating.
KuramaUchiha7: I also like the solution a lot. Before I started writing this story, I was wondering how I'd theoretically bridge such a worldbuilding gap… and then I remembered chakra is physical and mental energy combined. I figured if Grimm can sense your negative feelings, they could probably also sense the literal manifestation of your mind and body. It does solve a lot of power scaling problems of "why didn't he use x jutsu?" Although, it could still get pretty frustrating for readers if I rely too much on "itachi did not want to attract grimm so he did x," so please feel free to point it out if you feel he is acting too out of character.
I hope you'll forgive me if this chapter is a bit slow.
Accidental Dimensional Travel - or: How Not To Use Kamui will be next.