Once he had more or less salvaged the moods of his team, Itachi had to address another serious issue.

"Our mission is technically over, even though it ended in failure. Thus, you are no longer bound to follow my orders.", he addressed his fellow ninjas.

"Regardless if you wish to stay together or do your own thing, I'll ask you to refrain from making a decision for the day."

After a short pause, Sasori was the one who surprisingly objected first.

"No.", he said stoically.

"Un. We already decided", Deidara spoke next.

"Aaa, there's nothing much to think about", Kisame agreed.

Itachi stared at them for a moment, before he nodded in acceptance.

"What is your decision?"

"Obviously, I'll stick with you, partner – no, captain.", Kisame grinned his shark-like grin at the Uchiha.

"You aren't getting out of that rematch this easily, oh fearless leader.", Deidara teased good-naturedly. There was no way he would admit that he enjoyed the others' company. No way.

They finally turned towards Sasori, awaiting his decision.

"I shall stay. This team arrangement has proven surprisingly tolerable."

Itachi couldn't help but stare at them, his surprise evident for the three ninjas. He had truly thought this was where they'd split up. After all, all 4 of them were criminals, even in a world of trained killers. He had never expected them to entrust themselves to him like this. Him! The traitor who murdered his whole clan, his own flesh and blood.

His throat closed slightly from the emotions that kind of faith stirred up. A small, near-unnoticeable smile graced his lips as he closed his eyes.

"Very well."

In that case, he would continue to act as their leader. He was surprisingly happy with that. Responsibility back in his old village had always felt heavy, weighing him down, stealing away his breath. This though… this felt more like a privilege. He felt light.

When Itachi's eyes opened once more something in his eyes had changed. It wasn't anything tangible or a change to their appearance… it was the feeling they gave of. Tranquil was the closest one could describe them.

Mihawk was surprised at the interaction. From the teamwork, mutual respect and silent understanding between them they had shown so far, as well as the wordless compliance his comrades showed the Uchiha, he had assumed they were a seasoned team that had worked together for years, not a temporary one simply compiled for a mission.

That spoke volumes of their respective skill levels. Interesting.

Itachi then promptly turned and fixed his gaze on their newest member, expression stoic once more. He had asked the others to stay earlier because they had no information on the world outside the Elemental Nations, except for the very limited information they had gathered during their exploration.

He was glad he had listened to his gut and bound the young samurai to their team.

"Mihawk"

The man looked at him in question. He observed him for a moment. He seemed disappointed but resigned. He couldn't find any blame or anger directed towards them, currently. Good.

"Since our way back is barred, I suggest an exchange of information"

'Exchange?', Mihawk blinked. He had honestly expected to just have questions fired at him and had mentally prepared himself for it ever since it became apparent that the ninjas' way back had been closed to them.

He felt strangely content with the situation, like a giant boulder he hadn't known he was carrying that had been slowly crushing him was being lifted. He hadn't realized just how heavily the responsibility of carrying his family's wishes all alone had burdened him.

He was finally not alone anymore. There was proof in front of him now, that the Elemental Nations still existed, that his family's dreams were, in fact, not impossible. Most of all, the burden of his search could now be shared with others. It was… freeing, in a way not even the open waters managed to be.

Plus, he mused as he continued staring at Itachi, he felt like he had agreed to give his loyalty to a good person. His actions until now had been considerate and thoughtful. At least he was sure Itachi wasn't a person without honour. No, he didn't think he'd regret his decision.

Mihawk nodded in agreement, curious what information his captain could offer.

"Hn. Public knowledge on recent history, about the current political situation, everything we know regarding your clan, any questions that aren't personal and we aren't bound to secrecy on"

Itachi was upfront and fair with his offer.

"In exchange, geography, common knowledge, history, politics, military, any questions, the same limitations apply."

Mihawk could live with that.

"Aaaa. Before we get started on that, there's something I need to report", Kisame interrupted sheepishly. At Itachi's raised brow he hastily explained.

"It… kind of slipped my mind last night and today I waited 'cause it didn't really have an impact on the plan."

"Hn."

Itachi slightly narrowed his eyes at his partner, but in the end decided to trust Kisame's judgement on the matter and let the issue drop, for now. He would decide what to do about it later. This could technically be considered insubordination, a serious offence in any sort of combat-oriented team. Since the team had decided to stay, Kisame was still under his command. He needed to deal with this properly.

Mihawk raised his brows once again. From the still tense line in Kisame's shoulders, he could tell the other man didn't consider himself off the hook yet, despite the fact the Uchiha had offered the option to leave just minutes ago, he had chosen to stay and confess to his mistake. The ninja seemed to truly respect Itachi as a leader, so much so it outweighed any fear or apprehension they felt for him. One thing was for sure, they didn't take him for a pushover. Once more, Mihawk reaffirmed his decision.

"I found this yesterday", Kisame said as he pulled out a slightly battered scroll from who-knows-where.

"It's still sealed, and the ink is waterproof so it should still work. Contents unknown."

A storage scroll.

Kisame found a storage scroll with unknown contents and didn't think it could've had an impact on their mission. Let him reiterate. Anything could be in there. There could potentially be knowledge on how to re-instate the link between here and their home in there, as unlikely as that was.

Itachi levelled a flat, unimpressed stare at his partner.

Kisame laughed awkwardly.

It was always impressive just how thoroughly the teenage ninja could express his opinion through a stare alone. Even more so, how he could intimidate even seasoned warriors with just a disapproving stare.

Though Kisame had to admit, he deserved whatever the young ninja would cook up as a punishment. He had messed up after all. He kicked himself mentally once more. He wasn't usually forgetful like this… Maybe the playful attention-shifting behaviour of the water here was starting to rub off on him.

If so, that would be dangerous. Very much so. Focus and awareness were indispensable to a ninja. He would have to ask Itachi to help him test this theory later, and if it proved true, then, as much as he'd hate to do so, Kisame would have to strictly limit the time he spent in the ocean from now on. He also swore to put more effort into his mental training.

Itachi finally reached out and plucked the scroll Kisame was offering him to take from his grasp.

His eyes changed from his usual inky black to the familiar red orbs Mihawk had first witnessed the ninja with. He concluded that those were the famed Doujutsu of the Uchiha clan, the power of their bloodline he had read so much about. He hadn't quite connected the dots when he first saw them.

Itachi carefully examined the small seal on the outside of the scroll that was protecting its content. It was a standard seal, thankfully. Not a blood locked one. It was also still fully intact, meaning it was safe to open.

Thus, Itachi bit his thumb and smeared a few drops of blood across the seal, which promptly disappeared without a hitch.

Itachi unrolled the scroll and examined the neatly labelled individual storage seals painted within. They did not show any signs of water damage, despite the likely prolonged period of time the scroll had spent at the bottom of the ocean.

"Hn. Seems to have been used to store things that travellers wished to store temporarily when leaving the island. Dates, signatures, names, presumed return date. Surprisingly, most aren't blood locked. Likely civilian."

There were dozens of them.

Itachi's gaze stopped at a certain spot on the scroll.

Sanada Ichinose.

His gaze flicked over to Mihawk who was staring at the scroll in his hand with growing hope. The man had been surprisingly patient and quiet. Remaining so while he knew they were soon to divulge information on his only remaining family spoke volumes of his self-control.

From his expression, Itachi presumed the samurai had a good idea or at least a hope of just what was contained inside this particular seal.

He continued perusing the names, searching for anything else that was familiar.

Hoshigaki Aozora.

Apparently, part of Kisame's family came through here as well. Huh.

He continued reading, recognizing some of the names on there. None of the others had any connection to any of them from what he could tell though, not until his gaze came to rest at the last name.

Uchiha Madara.

What.

Itachi blinked and read the line again. It didn't change. This… didn't make any sense.

The quiet shuffle of clothing snapped the young Uchiha out of his stupor. His newest companion seemed to have lost his battle with patience, understandably enough. He resolutely shoved the mystery to the back of his mind. He would investigate once he was alone.

"Mihawk. One seal is of the Sanada. Do you want me to release it?"

The seal's contents rightfully belonged to the samurai, but the man's chakra control was atrocious. It was best if one of them did it for him.

Mihawk's eyes lit up.

"Please", he said quietly, hopefully. In fact, sitting still like he was, was already considered a small miracle. Because… If this seal contained what he hoped it did, then the biggest regret of his clan would be rendered void.

Even his self-control wasn't that all-encompassing.

Thus, Itachi placed the scroll on the ground and motioned for the samurai to join him. The stoic teen had talked more during the last few days then he normally would in months. The downsides of leadership, he mused drily.

The Sanada's seal was one of the few blood locked ones.

"Blood. A few drops are enough."

The samurai nodded. He had seen Itachi release the seal with his own blood earlier so he wasn't suspicious about it. He wasn't used to biting his own fingers bloody though, so Mihawk slightly twisted the bottom of the cross on his neck, revealing the small dagger hidden within and nicked his finger with it.

The Uchiha then took his hand and pressed it against the seal with his own, feeding the necessary amount of chakra into it as he went. There seemed to be quite a few things stored within, judging from the amount of chakra that was needed.

So, when the seal was fully released, he didn't let go of the samurai's hand but tightened his grip instead, and pulled the man a few steps back, leaving the scroll lying on the ground.

With a familiar plume of smoke, a small mountain of items appeared on top of the scroll. There were armors, some weapons and personal artefacts. The most eye-catching of which was a very big but thin blade with an oversized golden cross-guard that was ornately decorated with emeralds. Its long grip was wrapped in gauze. Itachi estimated the whole thing was around 7 feet long. The blade itself was pitch-black and gleamed dangerously in the light. It looked like a mix between a ceremonial blade and a truly dangerous weapon.

"Yoru", Mihawk said with emotion, unable to take his eyes off the sword.

His family's heirloom blade. This was the reason why his family had kept returning here, year by year, to spend a week searching the bottom of the sea, in the vain hope to recover their heritage.

And these ninjas were the ones who found it. From their gazes they seemed to be interested but there was no greed. He had truly lucked out this time.

"Want me to seal the rest up individually? You can examine them later.", Itachi offered.

Absentminded, Mihawk nodded. He reverently stepped up and took the blade into his hands. A blade had never felt as right in his hands as this one did at that moment. The overwhelming emotions he felt could not be put into words.

Leaving their samurai a semblance of privacy to revel in peace, Itachi quickly got to work sealing the individual possessions of the Sanada family into a separate scroll. He didn't look into any of the boxes or bundles and just sealed them all individually. It was none of his business.

Once he was done, he neatly labelled the scroll and placed it to his side. He would return it once the young swordsman came out of his daze. He did not want to disturb him in his emotional state.

"Kisame"

He motioned the still slightly guilty looking ninja over before motioning to the name on the seal. He handed to man the scroll.

Kisame stared at the name on top of the seal, stunned. Aozora, that was his great-grandmother's name. The woman everyone declared to be off her rocker. Something about an island of fishmen.

To think, she had passed through here.

Kisame nodded his thanks and jumped onto the roof of the cabin. It wasn't really private, per se but the other ninjas understood his intentions and knowingly turned their backs.

The blue-skinned ninja once more reaffirmed his appreciation for his teammates. If any of the other Akatsuki members had been here instead, he doubted he'd have gotten any form of privacy at all for this. Instead, they'd possibly even have neglected to mention the seal at all, just to be petty.

He gently traced the name of his long-dead relative, apprehensive of what he'd find. Was there any truth to the stories she had told? Which of them were true? If this is where his family had come from, did that mean he had family left out here somewhere?

Only one way to find out.

Kisame bit his thumb and placed his bloody hand on top of the seal.

He didn't really have to use much chakra, the items sealed inside merely forming a small pile when he released them. There were a few bags, a big box labelled 'navigation', some books that looked like journals, another box labelled 'weapons' and some bundled up items he'd have to unwrap to identify. The last item was a weirdly clunky looking bracelet. He would investigate all of this later.

Sealing away everything but the bracelet, Kisame rolled up the scroll and jumped back down to hand it back to Itachi.

"Now then, items owned by family aside, we will discuss what's going to happen to the rest later.", Itachi decided. This was because he figured they wouldn't be able to identify some of the items or even throw out something important because they couldn't recognize its significance. They needed to get up to snuff regarding the common knowledge at least.

Mihawk had in the meantime re-joined their circle, his sword Yoru comfortably resting over his knees. His fingers were absentmindedly exploring the ornaments on the blade's guard as he quietly chatted with Deidara.

"Mihawk"

"Yes, captain?"

The samurai's tone had become more natural as he spoke to them. Likely due to the unhesitant return of his heritage. It would seem he had started to truly accept his place among them. That was good.

"Let's start"

The samurai tensed with nerves. He was about to hear of his family. Did they even still exist? Did they thrive? Were they happy? He wanted to know, yet he dreaded the answer at the same time.

"Kisame. Your punishment."

The blue-skinned man stood up straight and faced their leader, attention fully focused.

"Charged with training Mihawk, sword and chakra. Get him up to our standards. Also, explanations are up to you. Lastly, see me for extra training until further notice."

Kisame relaxed slightly, accepting the verdict with a nod and a "Yes, captain". It may seem a bit much if one considered what ended up being in the scroll but if one factored in what could've been in it instead it was just a slap on the wrist, really. Itachi had chosen a fair middle-ground between the two.

Though Kisame was under no illusion that this 'extra training' would be anything but gruelling. He was officially now under the Uchiha's command. That also made him his responsibility. Another mistake like this couldn't be allowed to happen.

Mihawk gaped.

'Training? Up to their standards?'

He hadn't been aware the ninjas considered him to be so far behind. They even planned to instruct them in some of their techniques! Wasn't that against some sort of rules? Also, why go so far?

The Uchiha must have correctly interpreted his scepticism as he proceeded to explain.

"Hn, teams work best if the members have similar power levels. I'll use the Iron country's ranking system to explain. Judging only from what we saw in your fight with Sasori, you have the equivalent of a 2nd lieutenant's level of power at the least. Let's say you fought at 50% of your real strength at that point. That'd make you a captain level samurai at full power. In comparison, any one of the ninjas in our team could quite easily defeat an opponent at the strength of a general."

In short, Mihaw's overall combat power put him around the rank of a seasoned Chunin or fresh Jonin, while each member of their team had the power to potentially defeat a Kage in a 1 on 1 battle if the matchup wasn't horribly disadvantageous.

Mihawk gulped.

He… what kind of monsters had he joined!?

Author's Note:

Yes, this chapter at the latest should give you an idea on how much I didn't adhere to the Naruto verse backstory. I did warn you... probably