9 PM, December 13th, 1844
Weselton Outskirts
When he travelled through the area surrounding the kingdom of Arendelle, he had suddenly felt the dense chakra that originated from the kingdom that was apparently home to a sorceress who could use ice magic. And given that he had not felt anyone else in this world with chakra in all the years he had been here since that day 22 years ago.
—
11 PM, December 22nd, 1830
Kindom of Corona, Forest
A warm breath of air that fanned over his face roused him from unconsciousness as he stretched out his senses in search of any threats. Barring the person currently leaning over his face and trying to reach out a hand to caress it of course. After several seconds and feeling the person continue to wage an internal war of whether to wake him or not, Itachi finally opened his eyes and was met with the soft face of a brown haired teenage girl dressed in a distinctly western dress that was also pink of all colors. When the girl noticed his eyes open, she immediately pulled her hand back and looked at him with concern and just a bit of confusion. He rose from the soft slightly damp grass before looking around and taking in his surroundings. The girl seemed almost like she had absolutely no idea what to say to him as he saw her open her mouth and close it a few times before finding her voice.
"Ummm Mister? Are you okay? Also how did you get here?" Her soft voice flitted through the crisp morning air that he realised with shock he could actually smell. And indeed, as he took a deep breath, he felt the cool air fill his lungs and expand them wonderfully. Then he realised that he didn't feel any pain from taking that breath whereas he would usually need to fight the urge to hack and cough his lungs out. He had lived with his deteriorating health for so long that it had become normal for him to fight down wheezing coughs that had followed him around like a constant annoyance that refused to go away. Now though, he couldn't remember the last time he had felt this, well, healthy. Not since before he unlocked his Mangekyou and used it on his little brother. Speaking of, since he could feel the grass beneath him with his hands and the gentle caress of the wind on his face, he was pretty sure he was not dead. So how did he end up here. The forest lacked the distinctive feel of wood chakra that he was familiar with especially in the forest surrounding Konoha. Looking back as the brown haired girl repeated her question, he decided it was as good a time as any to find out where he had landed.
"I'm fine. Thanks for asking. I don't know how I got here but if I may ask, do you know where we are?" He inquired gently so as to not scare the girl who he now realised held an iron pan of all things against the side of her head as if it was a weapon.
"Oh that's good to hear. Sorry for um startling you if you were startled I mean. And you're in the kingdom of Corona. How do you not know where you are if you're here? You must of passed through the gates in order to get to this forest after all." She responded confusedly and in rapid speech that reminded him of certain kunoichi in Konoha who also had a habit of asking question after question. Though she did lower the pan so he counted that as her not thinking of him as someone who broke into this kingdom of Corona.
"It's quite alright. Don't worry about it." Here he paused and formulated his next response, "so, um. This might sound strange, but I don't actually know where Corona is. I just arrived here in this forest. The how of my arrival is something I won't be able to answer at the moment I'm afraid." He finally offered after a moment to think over what he knew and of the possibilities of how he came to be here. This most likely was not the Elemental Nations since he was sure there didn't exist a kingdom of Corona. Or any kingdom for that matter.
Her eyes told him exactly what he had expected. She looked at him strangely and tilted her head to the side in a contemplative manner as she thought over his answer. Once she was satisfied, she quickly hopped up and offered him a hand which he graciously accepted and stood up next to her. After he was on his feet again, he once again took a look around the surrounding lush greenery and reveled in the peaceful environment. Then he suddenly realised that he could see clearly again which made him question his means of arrival even more. When he looked to the girl again, he noticed two things. First, she was similar in height to him and two, she was looking at him expectedly.
"Sorry, what did you say? I am still quite disoriented." He offered her a gentle smile and received one in return.
"It's quite alright. I understand. Anyways I was just asking if you wanted to come with me to my home where I can introduce you to my parents and boyfriend. Maybe there we can figure out what you know and also maybe find out how you got here?" Her voice trailed off at the end uncertainly and he gave her a grateful nod that seemed to ease her concern. If only a little.
"That would be acceptable. By the way my name is Itachi Uchiha. And may I know yours?" His voice adopted a questioning tone as he looked at her expectedly and she flushed when she realized she hadn't introduced herself.
"Oh haha. Nice to meet you Mr. Uchiha. My name is Rapunzel and I am the princess of Corona." She answered hurriedly before offering an awkward curtsey which he returned with a bow of his own. After exchanging some pleasantries, Rapunzel began leading him towards the path in the woods that he assumed led to Corona. As the two traversed the lands, Rapunzel talked excitedly of all the things she loved about her kingdom and of what to expect from her parents.
—
9 PM, December 13th, 1844
Weselton Outskirts
After that fateful day, he had soon come to realise that he had somehow been deaged but had apparently kept all his memories and power from when he had released from the Edo Tensei in the war. When he said goodbye to his brother, he had expected to be able to rejoin his parents in the afterlife. So when he woke up in that forest and met the energetic girl, he had been disoriented and only after he had been given a room in the castle did he realise his age change. When they got to the castle and she had introduced him to her parents, her father had given him permission to stay in the castle after explaining what happened with Rapunzel and how she had been kidnapped from a young age and lost for the majority of her life. When he was asked about his gear the next day, he had explained in a toned down version of what he did. Basically, a mercenary who belonged to a village run entirely by mercenaries who would take missions that benefitted the civilians who lived in their village. He didn't explain in depth about what the missions entailed but they had accepted the explanation. Albeit with a bit of unease at talking to a child soldier.
From then on, he had frequently travelled around Corona and the surrounding countries in an effort to learn all he could about this new world he found himself in. One of the first things he had noticed was that while he could feel the distinctive lack of chakra in the people they still had miniscule energy signatures that resembled chakra, then there were some that possessed energy cores resembling a primitive chakra network. These he quickly learned were users of what this world called "magic". These people showed a variety of abilities that ranged from elemental to Rapunzel's own healing ability. Though one thing they shared was that they seemed to feed off the world's magic to some extent to replenish their own. This, he figured, was what most likely caused them to be thought of as having infinite magical stamina. However, he could see that if they pushed themselves to the limit, they would also experience an effect similar to chakra exhaustion. Another thing was that while there were good people like Rapunzel who used their powers responsibly and for the betterment of others, there were also others who used their powers for destruction and greed. They reminded him of the shinobi of his old world with the various types of personalities and purpose for using their skills.
He paused in his contemplation as he sensed a multitude of energy signatures making their way towards where he crouched on the thick tree branch overlooking the main road from Weselton to the other nations. He had witnessed the battle that took place on the fjord of Arendelle a few months ago. Thus he had been keeping his eye on the Duke of Weselton as well as the other princes of the Southern Isles. The rain hitting the canopy above was the only sound besides the neighing of horses and the sound of hooves grounding against the wet soil beneath. The approaching people didn't seem to be talking much and he watched as they were led by a short portly man wearing expensive clothing that practically screamed of his position. Withough them noticing, he silently dropped from the branch and concealed his location before approaching a man that trailed behind the procession. Once he was directly behind him, he silently and skillfully placed a tracking tag on the back of the man's shirt which quickly dissipated into the surrounding forest after it had injected its chakra into the person. At the sudden feeling of being pricked in the back, the man turned to look what had hit him and saw nothing but dark forest path and the trees that rose high above him. Satisfied that he had not been attacked, and dismissing the feeling as being bitten by a insect, he turned back around and jogged to catch up with the rest of the soldiers escorting the Duke to the secret meeting. At the questioning stare of his fellow soldier to his right, he simply shrugged his shoulders.
"Damn bugs. I think I got bitten by one." The other man merely laughed before replying.
"Yeah. I don't see why we need to travel this late at night and why the Duke insisted on going to this secret meeting. I mean we don't even really know where we're going or why we're even going there." He nodded his head in agreement as he couldn't fathom a justifiable reason for them to be travelling through a rainstorm this late at night. Not to mention travelling through the forest with nothing but their torches to guide them was just annoying in his opinion. With the conversation done, they turned their attention back to the front and continued on their journey.
Unbeknownst to them, the tracker tag Itachi placed on the man also served as a microphone that would relay whatever he said or heard back to Itachi. So when he heard about the supposed "secret meeting", he decided to send out clones to scout out the area for any other groups travelling towards where the Duke was currently going. He had to ensure what peace this world had was preserved and he would be damned if he let any meddling idiots endanger this peace. With that, he once again leaped back into the trees and blended into the canopy before continuing on ahead of the group to scout out the location of the meeting.
—
1 AM, December 13th, 1844
Southern Isles, Secret Hideout
Itachi crouched hidden in a tree above with his sharingan blazing as he stared down at the gathered people in the clearing. After going ahead of the Duke's escort, he had found another group travelling on the same road and had also planted a tracking seal on one of the stragglers at the tail-end of the escort. This one turned out to be led by a Lord of a small island off the coast of the Southern Isles. The coincidence of two people of importance travelling on the same road and most likely the same location seemed too convenient. But just to be sure he had went off on the adjacent roads and had found two other groups also headed towards the same location once he had triangulated their route and found this hide out. It seemed inconspicuous enough at first glance, but under the scrutiny of his Sharingan, he could clearly make out the dark energy surrounding one man who looked normal enough. In fact, he was pretty sure that it was the reportedly dead prince of the Southern Isles. How he had survived being sliced to pieces by Madara he didn't know, but it was cause for investigation. If this world also had someone who was capable of using Edo Tensei, or a variant of it with magic, he needed to put them down quickly or the nations could find themselves facing an infinite army in the future. Should this person have any hostilities with any of the nations, and judging by the fact they revived the madman that was Prince Hans, he did not have high hopes for this person being on the side of people like Rapunzel or the Arendelle Queen. He looked closer when he took notice of the Duke talking with someone he hadn't seen among the ranks of the escort. Focusing his sharingan at the other man, he saw an emblem with a skull and crossbones that was suspiciously like those of pirates. Looking closer, he realised the man was definitely a pirate captain if the way those behind him seemed to behave submissively towards him. So pirates were also involved in this? What was Hans trying to accomplish?
"My Lords and Captains, I graciously thank you for agreeing to meeting with me in this location as per my request. I had not truly expected anyone to accept, much less someone as distinguished as the Duke of Weselton! I am greatly honored by you and the other Lord's acceptance of my invitation and as such welcome you to this meeting where I have no doubt we shall be able to achieve much." Hans's voice reached Itachi as he leaned just a bit lower to see a bit more clearly.
"Of course Prince Hans. When I heard of your demise at the hands of the Ice Queen, I was saddened by the loss of such an ambitious and intelligent young man. If only it weren't for that blasted Uchiha of her's I'm sure we could have taken over Arendelle together." The Duke replied in a heated tone as he cursed the Queen's bodyguard and lamented over the failure of his power grab.
"Fear not my Lord, look around you! We may have been pushed back by the Queen, but we mustn't be so hasty in counting it a loss. We now have the greatest enemy on the open waters as an ally! They will be of much help in destroying our enemies and allowing our forces to take what is rightfully ours." Hans stated in a resolute tone as he stared at the Duke and received a brightening look and a solid nod.
So that was his plan was it? To bring together the group of people who had the most hatred for the Queen of Arendelle and use them to crush Arendelle. If the plan succeeded Hans would most likely be instated as the new King with little to no opposition from the men that currently surrounded him. His theory was proven right a while later as he continued to listen to their meeting progress towards the distribution of spoils of war.
"I put myself forth as the candidate for the new King of Arendelle once we destroy the Queen and her forces and capture them alive. The Uchiha is mine to kill though. I will gut that motherfucker like the pig he is for daring to oppose me!" Hans exclaimed hatefully before continuing, "Anyone have any objections to my being the new King?" His tone clearly stated that they better not have any or they would face serious consequences. Judging by the now sweating men around Hans, Itachi was sure some, if not most, were going to put forth themselves as candidates. At the killing intent that Hans released though, they quickly shut up before bringing on themselves the wrath of this madman whom Itachi was sure was one of the magic users. Another thing about the magic users he noticed was that those who used it for good had magical cores that glowed a vibrant color and those who used it for evil had a tainted core that almost always had an extremely dark nature that mirrored the dark desires and personalities of their users. And given that Hans was practically glowing with darkness, the man was as evil as they come. The only one he had seen who reeked of that much darkness was a witch that he had found and subsequently killed on the outskirts of Corona.
"I a-agree your highness! You are the most p-p-plausible candidate for the position of course!" The nervous proclamation of the Duke caused a cruel smile to grow on the mad Prince's face. With that, the rest of them had similarly voiced their fear-fueled agreements and the meeting had gone into the exact plans for which they would attack Arendelle at the first sign of Spring.
If Arendelle was not made known of this development, they would suffer tremendous losses, both people and property alike. The men at this meeting weren't ones to negotiate and after the amount of humiliation that Hans and the Duke had suffered at the hands of Elsa and Madara, the probability of a peaceful way to resolve their conflicts were lower than null. Silently jumping away from his location, he quickly tree-hopped in the direction of Arendelle in order to pass on a message to the Ice Queen and ensure that Madara was not manipulating them in any degree. With his past experiences of Madara, he was not so ready to trust him with not controlling someone with as much power as Elsa. And although he could tell Madara had changed, he was not yet entirely sure of whether the change was for the better or for the worse. Who knew if the legendary Uchiha hadn't already cooked up a plan for placing this entire world under his control.