Kitsune Mistress

Princess of Ikana

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and its respective owners.

Chapter 4: Abandon


After an additional patrol later that morning, there was no evidence available around the village. The only good thing was no children had been reported missing so far that day.

The village headman wasn't too impressed with their 'amateur' investigation thus far and even asked what the Hokage was doing sending a genin squad on a B ranked mission.

Itachi was a patient man by nature, but he had to silently disagree with the headman when he suggested this was a B ranked mission, as no one had technically seen any ninja since they asked for assistance. Lady Tsunade couldn't send Chunin or even Jonin on such a remote mission without evidence of a true threat.

Besides, he also felt as though people underestimated the kids because they were young, inexperienced, and, well, they judged him as a sensei.

"Yuni-san, I assure you my students are capable ninja," he once again told the man.

"Uchiha-san, children are going missing. What do you expect me to tell them, that even hired ninja can't save their children?" he challenged the older ninja.

Itachi asked his team to wait outside as things were a bit more tense, and for the sake of them all, he didn't want Naruto to have an outburst.


Grumbling to himself as he led them outside, Naruto kicked some rocks as they found a nice spot near a fountain and plaza area that was next to the headman's house.

"Do you think Itachi-sensei will be able to convince the headman that there is nothing we can do besides surveillance until something substantial happens?" asked Sakura nervously.

"He isn't going to convince anyone that a fox spirit is a culprit to all the missing children even if we encountered her last night," Sasuke butted in.

The other two looked at him, surprised that he said it aloud.

"Hm, we can't stay here indefinitely," added Naruto, looking thoughtful as he stood up from the bench and began to pace.

"Would it help our case if we showed sensei the fox?" asked Sakura.

"He's already seen her before," muttered Sasuke, looking towards the tree line.

Sakura's eyes crinkled a bit as she knew that too but had never told the boys about her first experience with the kitsune…

"She almost got me if not for sensei…" she whispered quietly.

Naruto frowned, and Sasuke stared at the ground.

Naruto then flung a kunai into the bushes in frustration. She was such a nuisance and was trying to take anyone she could…

"You're the girl nii-san was talking about when he rescued me from her one time while I went looking for him beyond the gates of the village. I remembered he looked terrified that I almost got attacked as well," he sighed.

Naruto couldn't reply to her admission like Sasuke, because he thought he knew why Sakura wasn't spirited away like other children… because she looked exactly like her. If the witch had green eyes and pink hair, they could be twins.

"Naruto-kun?" whimpered Sakura, scared that her best friend was now distancing himself from them.

"I'm glad she wasn't able to take you, Sakura," he trailed off, forcing a fake smile on his face.

She looked like he had betrayed her…


Itachi returned to them tightlipped, and he asked them to head back to camp and conduct another surveillance sweep around the village and report back in three hours.

They separated and went in equal sections, patrolling each sector and keeping tabs on each other with their radios.

Itachi took this opportunity to send a message to an old friend who was an expert in tactical tracking and an ANBU level comrade.

He believed his genin, as he had encountered the fox years earlier at least twice, and since that time, he had sworn she kept tabs on him when he left the villages on missions. He scoffed to himself, though. She had never been known to attack any ANBU as far as anyone remembered. They were smart enough to leave her be for a time, because none of their physical attacks would harm her, and no one had bothered to see if attacks with chakra would harm her. He suspected that something must have worked, because why would the tailed beast's chakra scare her so much?


Night fell once more, and the three of them met up at another campsite location that Sasuke had picked out. It was backed up into a waterfall, and they would have less chance of being completely ambushed if the kitsune decided to reappear, or any of the enemy ninja that everyone else was super convinced were on the prowl.

Sakura and Sasuke caught some riverside fish while Naruto kept watch and built a big fire for the evening while they waited for sensei.

"Do you think… Naruto considers us a burden?" wondered Sakura, thinking back to earlier when she had told them that she was lucky to still be here.

"No, but you also know him way better than me," he answered honestly.

Sakura thought back to the time she had been helped by him. They had become friends after, and although she was still shy around new people, Naruto had given her encouragement in becoming better at speaking to others.

He was in a unique position of having to be respected in public because he was the only son of the 4th Hokage, but everyone also talked behind his back about him being a monster and how people thought the village would be better off without a bijju. They were reminded by others too that having the nine tails in their position was much better than an enemy nation, like Cloud.

He had always treated her like a person and was not afraid to keep up a conversation if she was having a bad day or she wasn't feeling as optimistic as him. At one point, she thought maybe he was good at masking his true emotions, but after some time, she learned that Naruto wasn't fake. He wore his true colors all the time. He wouldn't hide when something bothered him but thought he was mentally strong against all the obstacles laid out in front of him. He made sure he wasn't an unnecessary burden on anyone else. He could be really stubborn.

Sakura smiled with some memories crossing her mind as she thought back.

"You're right. I do know him well, and if we were, we would know by now," she replied with confidence.

"Hmph," muttered Sasuke, already knowing but letting her come to her own conclusion.

Easing back together as they leaned on each other's weight, a comfortable silence fell over them as they finished catching the fish they needed for dinner.


Back at the new campsite, Naruto was lighting the kindling when he sensed a figure rushing toward him. Doing a backflip, he landed a few feet away from the fire and held out a kunai and prepared to defend himself.

Moments later, a blur landed in front of him and arose. To Naruto's relief, it was only Itachi, who stared at him, slightly impressed.

"I'm glad to see your guard is up still, even this late in the evening. Where are Sasuke and Sakura?" he said, mussing Naruto's hair.

"Out catching dinner. Damn it, sensei, you scared the wits out of me!" Naruto complained, putting his weapon back into his back pouch.

"Hardly, I would assume that an enemy wouldn't rush you head-on, I was just ensuring you were all still awake," he teased while sitting across from him.

"Don't tease, sensei. You're beginning to sound too much like Shisui-niisan for my liking, since you're the complete opposite of him," Naruto begrudged, poking his fire, still waiting for the duo to return.

Itachi agreed and only let a small smile grace his face instead of laughing like he wanted to, but Naruto was right. That was more of his cousin's mannerisms.


The next morning, with no more success than the day before, Itachi determined that there was no shinobi threat to the village and they would need to return and report their findings to the Hokage. He even let them know that the village would return their money, as nothing was done and, he suggested the fire temple, as it may be something they couldn't understand.

The villagers were quite displeased as expected, but there were no ninja within 5 miles of the place, and Itachi had conducted his own ANBU level investigation to ensure that was the truth.

Team 7 was quite disappointed that their first and only C ranked mission went as bad as it did, and Naruto was grumbling about how Baa-chan wasn't going to let them do another until they were chunin.

Arriving back in the village, they were met by one of the Uchiha Elders and Kushina, who looked dismal. As they walked up the pair, Naruto glared at his mother, who avoided his gaze.

"Welcome home, Itachi. When you are done at the Hokage's, we need you and Sasuke to come home for an emergency meeting. And Kushina needs Naruto's assistance in the same meeting, so please bring him along as well," the elder said before dragging Kushina back towards the Uchiha district.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto and saw he was already looking at him. There had been problems while they were away…

Sakura knew it had nothing to do with her, but something about that interaction made her feel a bit left out, like the outcast on the team.

Walking towards the Hokage tower, they noticed on their way that the mood in the village was quite somber. Did something happen while they were gone?

Tsunade didn't look happy when they reported in. Naruto planned on saying a few things, but he decided to let Itachi do the talking, as it seemed something else was going on.

"We've returned, and the mission was a failure. We spent two days doing surveillance, and I even conducted a separate investigation of my own to make sure. I can say with confidence that the children are not being taken by another ninja, but I do not know what exactly is responsible, as we didn't encounter anything." he told her.

Tsunade rubbed her eyes before laying her face on her hands as she nodded in acknowledgement.

"Hokage-sama, we noticed a muted tone throughout the village as we arrived, did something happen in our absence?" Itachi inquired.

"In Naruto's absence, five Uchiha children went missing," she told them, sitting up straight.

Sakura raised her hand to her mouth in shock, though the others didn't look like they were affected by the news.

"I see," Itachi replied, straight-faced.

"The town is not happy with your results, so I will be sending team 8 to do a follow-up investigation to ensure that there is no shinobi threat as you disclosed."

They bowed to her before leaving, dismissed for the day.


They reached the center of town before they split ways, with Sakura who decided to head home for the night. She should be training and honing her skills, but she didn't feel like it that night.

Before she said goodbye, she had to ask the question that had been bugging her for a while.

"Itachi-sensei, why don't I see you or Sasuke with your parents anymore?" she meekly asked.

Naruto had been wondering as well, and he looked at them too.

"Our parents were killed two years ago during a top secret mission, and not a lot of people were told of their death due to the confidential items regarding it…" Sasuke blurted out, disgruntled.

Sakura and Naruto gasped and apologized for bringing it up, but now they knew why the two of them seemed closer than before.

Itachi took the opportunity to say goodbye to Sakura and led the other boys towards the Uchiha district.


Itachi and Sasuke led the way to where the meeting would take place and looked behind to see Naruto trailing them.

"Naruto-kun, I understand you don't have a good relationship with Kushina-san, but she was the previous jinchuriki, and we are probably going to be discussing ways to ensure our safety when you leave on a mission now that you are a shinobi," Itachi told him.

"Hai, sensei, I understand," he replied, knowing this was business, but he felt like even though she was the previous jinchuriki, what could she do now that she didn't house the biijuu?

Sasuke leaned towards Itachi before whispering.

"Nii-san, do you think this will become a daily occurrence when Naruto's away? Why do I get the feeling that the twins might be involved this time?" he asked, suspicious of why Kushina looked quite out of it and refused to look at Naruto…

Glancing back at Naruto, Itachi whispered back.

"I think so as well, based on our interaction earlier, and I think Naruto thinks so as well based on his behavior," he replied.

They arrived at the Uchiha shrine where the rest of the important members of the clan met up at least once a month to discuss how things were going and village relations and various other things.

One of the ladies was comforting Kushina, who was crying at the altar while her husband watched from her right side.

Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto approached.

Looking up to see Naruto, Kushina jumped up in a rage and lunged at him.

"It's your fault!" she yelled tearfully.

Naruto let her grab him and looked away, probably knowing she might react this way.

Sasuke and Itachi gently pried her off and directed her back to the other woman.

Naruto just looked haunted.

Sakura made it home and had dinner with her folks and asked if there was a chance she might be a secret Jinchuriki, to which they burst out laughing before telling her no.

Knowing it was a dumb question, she quietly finished her meal and headed up to her room and sulked on her patio, reading a new novel that Ino had recommended while they were away.

She was still troubled about why she managed to get away from being taken but others weren't so lucky. She also felt bad for the two Uchiha brothers who only had each other as close family, and how they must have felt, not being able to tell anyone of their parents' death…


A/N: So things are getting a bit tense as our fox lady hunts more children and things are beginning to look bleak. If you were curious, members of team 8 are still canon with the same sensei, I only swapped out Kakashi thus far. Kushina may have been a jinchuriki in the past (and in canon she shouldn't be alive after extraction) but she doesn't possess any of the tailed beast chakra anymore so she can't protect the village like before. Like always feel free to leave comments/ reviews, favorites, likes, follows or kudos on whichever platform you are reading from.

P.S: thanks to Cherry for helping me edit and look over each update :)