Author's Note: Another inconsistency between Mikoto being with Itachi on the night of the Nine Tails attack or not being with him and letting him fend for himself… And save Izumi on top of it. I chose the more fitting and realistic option that his mother would be with him (though unrealistic protecting her), so combing both anime and novel. And I'm sorry this was a long chapter; I didn't want to split it up. -.-;
Citations: Naruto Shippuden Episode #247-249, Naruto Episode Shippuden Episode #452, Itachi's Story: [Daylight] pg. 23-29
Chapter's Song: "Monster" by Paramore
Chapter 6
Farewell
October
"We should go soon." Biwako ordered as she led a very pregnant Kushina through the village, Kushina holding her belly.
"Right." She nodded.
Mikoto, holding Sasuke in her arms went to cross in front of them, but stopped when she noticed them, and bowed to Biwako, being the Third Hokage's wife.
"Oh!" Mikoto smiled at Kushina, and Kushina immediately looked at Sasuke in Mikoto's arms to stop.
"Oh my…" Kushina exclaimed, looking at the beautiful sleeping baby. "You had a girl?"
"It's a boy." Mikoto corrected with a small giggle.
"So cute…" Kushina admired. "What's your name?"
Biwako came back to the two women to admire the new baby. Mikoto lovingly stared at her baby to reply, "It's Sasuke."
"Oh, so he was named after the father of Lord Third!" Biwako smiled, looking on at the baby.
"Yes, so that he will grow up to be a strong and fine Shinobi." Mikoto proclaimed, as Sasuke got fussy. She then looked at Kushina. "You will be giving birth soon too, right, Kushina? You should pick a name in advance."
Kushina raised her index finger, grinning, "I already have." She then placed her hand on Sasuke's head, for him to happily look up at her. "His name will be Naruto. You'll be classmates, Sasuke-kun, so be friends, okay?" She poked his chubby cheeks, and then leaned in to Mikoto, embarrassingly whispering, "By the way, does it really hurt?"
Mikoto awkwardly grinned, "So there's actually something that scares you, Kushina! I'm surprised!"
Biwako then took Kushina by the hand, pulling her away. "Let's go, Kushina!"
Kushina awkwardly giggled and waved goodbye to Mikoto who turned to watch her. "See you again!"
"The details of your birthing are supposed to be top secret." Biwako scolded, looking back at the young woman. "Until we get to our location, you must avoid any contact, even with your friends."
Kushina scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "Yes, I'm sorry."
"Looks like Kushina-sama is going to have a baby soon." Akina smiled, coming out of the shoe store holding a pair of ninja sandals, Itachi next to her looked at Akina, and then passed her to Kushina in the distance.
"Did you two get what you needed?" Mikoto asked, crossing the street to meet the children. They both nodded. "Want to get some dango before we walk Akina-chan home?"
"Yeah," Itachi smiled.
"Yes, thank you, Mikoto-sama!" Akina's green eyes glimmered.
Itachi played with Sasuke in the kitchen, having him grab his wiggly finger. "Hey, Mom… Is Lord Fourth going to have a baby, too?"
"Yes, I wonder what it'll be." Mikoto informed as she stirred rice porridge. "I'll be going out tonight, so go ahead and have dinner."
"Okay," Itachi said with a smile as he enjoyed playing with Sasuke.
"Your father's working too, so please watch Sasuke." Mikoto added.
"Uh-huh." He nodded in agreement.
After dinner, Itachi strapped Sasuke to himself to go outside and sit on the porch. "It's a full moon tonight, Sasuke."
Sasuke just cooed for Itachi to smile, but an eerie wind blew his bangs, Itachi held Sasuke closer to him as he watched the trees sway in the moonlight. "What is this? What is this sensation?"
Sasuke began to cry for Itachi to rock him. "There, there… Don't cry, Sasuke. No matter what happens, your big brother will definitely protect you…"
Suddenly, the Nine-Tailed Fox appeared and started terrorizing the center of the village. Yasuo and Akina ran outside to the front steps, looking down the main street of their clan's compound, seeing the Nine Tail's head above the trees.
"Lord Yasuo! It's the Nine-Tailed Fox!" An alarmed clansman informed Yasuo.
"I can see that!" Yasuo barked, as he went to run with the clansmen that had just informed him, but Akina clung to his leg.
She gripped to the cloth of his pant leg and held on so tightly that her knuckles began to turn white. "Please, Father, don't go! Don't go! I can't lose you!"
Yasuo's eyes softened, his hands stretching down, holding Akina's cheeks, making her look up to him. "Your mother died protecting you, I don't want to leave you, but I have to in order to protect you. You'll become a bud that blossoms into a beautiful rose."
Yasuo then disappeared as indigo petals into the night; he was no longer in her tiny grasp. Akina stood trembling, watching the Nine Tailed Fox. "No…" She whispered to herself, as she stood in front of the empty doorway alone, holding back tears. "NO!"
She burst out the door, falling over her own feet. Akina ran as fast as her legs could carry her, running down the unlit streets, it was because of the power outage the Nine-Tails caused.
She felt a tense feeling come over her and she froze in an overwhelmed stance. The emerald-eyed six-year-old broke out of this trance when she heard Benjiro's voice scream out to her as he came closer from behind.
Benjiro grabbed around her waist and tried to get her away from the fox, her struggling against her cousin's lecture, pushing on his arm. "You can't help! You're just a child! Please, Akina-hime! Your father doesn't want to see you dead! You are important, you're the only heir to the Mochizuki Clan!"
"Unhand me, Benjiro Nii-san!" Akina continued to struggle. She waved a hand sign and replied darkly, murmuring, "My Dad won't see my death, if he loses his. I'm sorry…"
Thorns and rose vines then wrapped around Benjiro's arms, to make him release the girl, the vines dragging him down to pin him to the ground where he just watched as Akina ran off, towards the fox. "How is her Kekkei Genkai so strong at her age?"
He thought, but then to his surprise, he saw a black rose bloom from one of the vines. He looked at it with a scared shock in his eyes as he thought, "A black rose? Oh man, if my Mother finds out about her being able to control black roses… She'll have Akina sealed. I promised Uncle Yasuo I'd protect her, but I don't think it will be long before she can protect herself."
"In a bind, Benjiro?" Shisui asked, teleporting to stand above Benjiro.
An Anbu landed in the entryway of the Third Hokage's home, kneeling behind Lord Third as he was already dressed in his shinobi attire, tightening his headband bandana. "Third Hokage-sama! The Nine-Tails is…! The Nine Tails has suddenly appeared in the village!"
The Third Hokage adjusted his armguards, answering, "I'm aware of that. I will suppress it." He looked to the Anbu still kneeling. "You and the others protect the civilians!"
"Yes, sir!" The Anbu then disappeared.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, turned back to the doorway. "Was Kushina's seal broken? Despite all the precautions, did we fail?" He then felt worry flood his heart. "Biwako…"
Countless shinobi helped protect the civilians, and many shinobi took on the Nine-Tailed Fox head on, throwing kunai or paper bombs. The wind created by the Nine-Tails chakra shook trees violently all around, and smashed trees with any shinobi planning their attack.
Uchiha Fugaku stared at the cloud of dust rising up off in the distance from the roof of the Konoha Military Police Force headquarters, his face grim. His aides, the best and brightest of the Uchiha Clan, stood around him, waiting.
"Oh! That's…" A white-haired man said, Yashiro, on Fugaku's left.
Fugaku had already discerned the cause of the commotion with his own eyes.
"N-Nine Tails…" The man with long black hair pulled up said, Inabi, on Fugaku's right. He tried to stop himself from trembling in fear.
Fugaku cast sidelong glances at his subordinates, their fear on full display, and then they stared resolutely at the reality before them. "No mistake. It's Nine Tails."
Out of the dust cloud rising up in the center of the village crawled the Nine Tails, roaring, and destroying everything and everyone in its path.
"Send a unit to the scene immediately. I'll go, too." Fugaku ordered.
"Lord Fugaku, you intend to set out yourself?" Yashiro's voice quivered as he asked the question.
"Of course!" Fugaku shouted, even as his eyes remained fixated on the Nine Tails. He could hear people's bellowing and shrieking from every corner of the village.
Given that the figure of the monster was no doubt visible from all areas of Konoha, even places not yet under attack wouldn't be exempt from the confusion, once they seen the Nine Tails.
"This might be the biggest disaster to befall the village since its founding. Do you think I can just sit back and watch at a time like this?! Me, the chief of the Military Police Force?!"
"But…" Yashiro hesitated. Going near the Nine Tails meant risking death, some of the ninja hurrying to the scene had likely already been sacrificed. It was no small wonder Yashiro was scared.
"I have never once begrudged my life to do my job." Fugaku said unwavering.
"Chief..." Tears blurred in Yashiro's thin eyes.
"The only thing that can control the Nine Tails is the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan. If we don't hurry, stopping it will be impossible." Fugaku ordered.
"Chief!" His aide Tekka appeared, panting as though he had run for miles. From the ghostly mien of his capable subordinate, Fugaku guessed that something else alarming had happened.
"What is it?" Fugaku asked, knowing it wasn't good.
"Instructions have come down from top brass. The police are instructed to strengthen the village's defenses." Tekka sorrowfully reported.
"What did you say?" Fugaku glared at Tekka, doubting his own ears.
Cleverly grasping his superior's anger, Tekka gave voice to his own supposition. "Only the Sharingan can control the Nine-Tails. Brass likely has misgivings—"
"Are you saying that this commotion is our fault?!" Yashiro shouted.
Fugaku understood so well it hurt. "The Uchiha Clan is part of Konohagakure. We have no reason to release a creature like the Nine Tails and bring about this chaos. If whoever is controlling the Nine Tails avoided just their own home, they would obviously soon be a suspect. No one in the clan would do something so foolish.
Not to mention, this demon is rampaging indiscriminately. If a member of the clan had indeed summoned it, they had basically called disaster down upon their own self as well. It could not be the work of any Uchiha currently living in the village."
"Tell them, 'understood'." Fugaku spat bitterly at Tekka.
"Chief!" Yashiro disputed as he drew in closer in urgency.
Fugaku nodded wordlessly, before turning toward the stairs leading to the lower floors. He was worried about Itachi and Sasuke at the house, but right now, his duty came first.
Itachi comforted the crying Sasuke in his arms, going back inside his shaking house. "It's okay. There, there!"
The earth quaked for Itachi to catch his balance. The boy heard shouting as he exited his house, shielding his and Sasuke's eyes from the dust whooshing around. "It's the Nine Tails! The Demon Fox is on the loose!"
"What's going on?!" Another voice shouted. Itachi stood in shock.
"You run, you idiot!"
Itachi began running with the adults, for boulders to hit behind his back to throw him away onto his knees, Itachi shielded Sasuke crying even louder. "Sasuke!" Itachi looked down at the baby. "It's okay. You got a little scared, huh?"
The boy picked up Sasuke, soothing him, and looked around at the hurt and dead people laid beneath rubble.
"This is an announcement from the Leaf Police! All civilians are to evacuate to the southeast shelter!" Itachi ran at the sound of the clansmen's voice. "The southeast shelter!"
"Itachi!" Mikoto came running, an empty bag intended for groceries.
"Mom." Itachi acknowledged in relief.
"Thank god you're safe!" Mikoto wrapped her arms tightly around Itachi, who was standing in the lane in front of the house, holding Sasuke.
"I didn't want you to worry if we ran away with everyone, so I waited for you." Itachi reported.
"Mm-hmm." His mother nodded, tears spilling down her face.
Eyes that had been narrowed with the tension of having to protect his little brother relaxed to some degree, but this was fleeting— As he noticed something closing in from behind his mother.
"Mom!" He practically threw Sasuke to his mother. And then he flew. A boulder tossed into the air by the Nine Tails shattered near their house, and the pieces danced above their heads.
One chunk was falling toward his mother's back. He looked down at her, clutching Sasuke to her chest. Her surprised eyes chased after him; he could see the question there, her wondering just what was happening to make Itachi leap up so suddenly. The rock was enormous, large enough to easily crush a mother and her two children.
"I'll protect you," he murmured. He clenched his fist tightly. The physical arts of the ninja were not about strength. He might have been a small child, but as long as he managed to knead his chakra properly, he could smash even this enormous rock.
He brandished his fist high in the air. Chakra filled his arm, covering it in faint blue flames. The rock slammed into Itachi's fist, and exploded with a shriek. Showered in a rain of pebbles, he landed soundlessly on the ground.
"Are you all right?" he asked, turning around.
Unable to conceal her surprise, his mother stared at Itachi with astoundment in her onyx eyes. His mother was a jonin, which was precisely why she was shocked at his instantaneous action.
"It's dangerous here. Let's get to where everyone else is." Itachi insisted.
"Right…" As if pulled to her feet by his voice, his mother stood, and Itachi raced over to take her hand. "You haven't even started at the academy yet, but you can already do something like that. You really are your father's son, hm?"
It was no time for praise. A sense of duty filled his heart, he had to get his mother and brother to a safe place, as he took Sasuke from his mother to sooth him, besides Sasuke's crying, he could hear the shrieks of girls and women, and the shouts of boys and men all around him, mixed with the roar of destruction; it was overwhelming.
They passed by even more overwhelming scenes. Bleeding people running around trying to escape. A man who had lost his arm, yelling at a fellow ninja. A young woman staring blankly at a mountain of rubble, like a marionette with the strings cut. A child wailing loudly, trying to rouse a now-cold mother.
In the core of his brain, Itachi heard an ear-splitting screeching. They hadn't actually run that far, and yet he was having trouble breathing. Overlaid on the scene before his eyes was the battlefield he had seen when he was four.
"War…" A dull pain raced deep into his eyes. Just like that moment on the battlefield, waves of power pulsed behind his eyeballs. He felt like the world was dyed crimson for a moment, but the sensation quickly subsided.
"Itachi?" His mother called to him from behind, having noticed something strange in her son.
"I'm all right, mom." Itachi reassured.
He ran desperately. He ran to escape the massive violence of the Nine Tails. From the bottom of his heart, he prayed for the strength to stop war. He wanted to be a strong ninja. "I hope Akina's okay!"
"Dad! Mom!" An Uchiha girl cried. Itachi noticed her down a tight alley.
"Come here!" Itachi ordered.
She looked back at the boy standing at the end of the alley, tears streaming down her face. He held out his hand to her. "Itachi-kun!"
"Hurry!" He insisted holding out his hand.
"Okay!" She said wiping her eyes to run towards him. The wall was blasted away and she reached out her hand for Itachi to grab her wrist and swing her out. They ducked for cover as rubble flew everywhere.
Itachi held onto Sasuke with his right and Izumi with his left as he helped her stand. "We're going to the shelter."
He let go of her, and took off running, but she grabbed the tail of his shirt, following his pace. "This way! Hurry!" A shinobi directed civilians into the shelter.
Itachi stopped as he noticed his father. Izumi coming to his side to look at him order, "Keep going!"
"Itachi-kun?" Izumi asked, for Mikoto to push Izumi along to get into the shelter.
"Everyone will be there." He insisted and took off towards his father.
"Please stay calm!" One shinobi ordered.
"You're safe here!" Another shinobi insisted.
"Father!" Itachi called out as he approached before Fugaku.
"I knew you would be all right." Fugaku said arms crossed, looking down upon Itachi. "Get to the shelter quickly."
Itachi questionably stared at his father, to turn away saying, "Okay." He then turned back. "Father… Have you seen Akina?"
Fugaku shook his head, and tried to think of a reason to give him. "She'll probably be in the northwest shelter. Don't worry."
"Okay." Itachi nodded and headed for his mother and the shelter.
The young six-year old Mochizuki Princess ran through the village, trying to find her father, she by-passed so many overwhelming scenes of other people bleeding or grieving in shrieking cries, it was traumatizing as she tears streaked down her face in her sense of despair. "Father… Where you…?"
Before her, rose the Nine Tails on it's hind legs, growling, Akina froze, then seeing a staff, Lord Third's staff, extending to bend and hit the Nine Tail's chest, it was it pushed the demon fox back— BOOM!
Massive waves of force and chakra rushed through the air. Taking down all the houses and everything in its path— Including Akina.
She swirled in the air countless times, slowly losing consciousness, as she blacked out to the sound of voices screaming in her head. Ninja going towards the Nine Tails, and another voice, a familiar voice, coming closer to her.
"Akinnnaaaa!" Benjiro screamed, running to her freefalling.
"I got her, Benjiro!" Shisui shouted as he teleported swiftly, and grabbed her to land safely, stumbling in his landing with her.
"Akina?!" Benjiro asked, coming to Shisui's side.
"Come on, kiddo…" Shisui begged. "We need help over here!"
"Shisui…" Benjiro said lowly. "She'll be okay."
"She's not breathing…" Shisui said in disgusted protest at his lack of urgency.
"I have to explain something to you." Benjiro then took Akina from him. "In our clan, certain people with high levels of chakra can perform Black Rose Jutsu to revive their eighth gate when they die."
"It's rare like the Mangekyo Sharigan is to the Uchiha." Shisui compared.
"Exactly." Benjiro nodded. "And it's feared."
"I understand." Shisui closed his eyes. "But we have to explain this to Itachi, too. He's very worried, I'm sure."
"You can't tell anyone!" Benjiro argued.
"Just Itachi." Shisui insisted. "He can keep a secret. We're his only friends, after all."
"Fine. Just Itachi, but for now, just reassure him that she'll be okay."
"Just about everyone has been evacuated." Shinobi informed Fugaku at his post.
"Captain, we'll go after the Nine Tails, as well." The other insisted.
"The Leaf Police Force is to remain and protect the civilians." Fugaku explained, bitterly.
"But Captain!" They both argued, not understanding such orders.
"These are the Village's orders." Fugaku explained further.
The earth shook at that next moment. "What was that just now?!"
"Looks like they sealed the Nine Tails…" Fugaku closed his eyes. "…Somehow."
Sasuke cried as he was held by Itachi in the shelter, Izumi holding Itachi's shirt as she wiped her tears with her other hand. Itachi looked around, seeing some Mochizuki Clan crests on the backs of some people.
"Where's Akina?!" He asked worried. Itachi stood to leave.
"Where are you going, boy?" A guard at the door asked.
"Itachi," His mother scolded.
"Has Mochizuki Akina entered any shelter?!" Itachi asked urgently, but still very dignified for a boy his age. He was the Prince of the Uchiha Clan after all.
"She's safe, Itachi." Shisui's voice said, coming up the stairs to enter the shelter.
"Shisui!" Itachi smiled, but then saddened. "Where is she?"
Shisui sighed. "Akina was hurt, but she's at the hospital now. She'll be okay."
At that moment, Itachi's heart dropped and he felt a rush of power to his eyes once again, but he reassured himself with Shisui's own words, "She'll be okay." This made the wave behind his eyes stop once again.