Disclaimer: The Naruto Universe and many of its inhabitants were created by Masashi Kishimoto. I do my best to do them justice, but sometimes it feels like that mission is… impossible.
Chapter 3: Mission Impossible
~x~
Mission Brief:
Rank: S
Description: Seduction Mission
Target: Itachi Uchiha
Cover: You are a medical ninja in need of a highly skilled escort.
Under-Cover: You are using your medical ninjutsu to serve as a spy in the service of En Oyashiro looking for evidence of young kekkei genkai users.
Objective: Conceive Itachi's child and deliver it to Orochimaru.
Reward: You and Sayuri Senju will be freed from further service to Orochimaru.
Pertinent Intel (some claims lack incontrovertible evidence):
- Target suffers from a degenerative ocular condition
- Target's strengths include genjutsu, fire-style jutsu, and shuriken jutsu
- Target single-handedly eliminated the Uchiha Clan, including his best friend and significant other, but spared his younger brother
- Target travels with Kisame Hoshigaki, a powerful wielder of Samehada and water-style
- Target prefers to psychologically torment opponents with genjutsu, driving them insane
~x~
Kisame Hoshigaki knew Itachi Uchiha better than anyone alive. That didn't mean he understood everything about him, but he was eager to test a new strategy to encourage his reserved partner to be more forthcoming.
He had made the discovery by accident two weeks ago.
Itachi had been more pensive than usual. He wasn't a particularly talkative individual at baseline, so most people wouldn't have noticed, but Kisame easily picked up on the subtle difference. Whereas Itachi usually directed his discerning gaze perceptively at his surroundings, on that particular morning his eyes remained fixed on an unmarked point in the distance.
Kisame suspected that the change was related to the news that a certain Sasuke Uchiha had deserted the Hidden Leaf Village in order to train with Orochimaru. He allowed that it could also have been merely a case of indigestion. Their previous night's take-out had been of dubious quality.
In an effort to rid himself of the memories of poorly cooked shrimp and potentially help his brooding companion, Kisame took it upon himself to find them a more palatable breakfast.
He was sorely disappointed to learn that the only place open nearby besides the ramshackle restaurant from the night before was a dango stand.
Although Kisame didn't consider himself much of a sweets guy, their food supplies were running low and he didn't want to risk further food poisoning. He ordered several servings of dango and vowed to restock their supply of spicy tuna at the earliest opportunity.
On his return to camp, a small spider had begun to craft an intricate web in one of the folds of Itachi's cloak. The Uchiha hadn't moved.
"Now all the remaining Uchiha have left Konoha, nee Itachi-san?" Kisame said, announcing his presence. Itachi didn't acknowledge that he'd heard, but Kisame continued anyway. "Well, this is the best I could find for breakfast. Next time we'd be better off just catching and cooking a meal ourselves." He handed his partner the bag of dango.
Itachi accepted mechanically, but his posture straightened notably when he opened the bag. The shift made Kisame wonder if the dango were offensive in some way. He wouldn't have blamed his partner for refusing the unconventional breakfast.
Rather than reject the dango, however, Itachi began to eat. He ate slowly and deliberately, occasionally closing his eyes. He finished his meal without leaving a crumb behind. Afterward, he seemed to re-focus, his gaze sharpening with his typical awareness of his surroundings.
Kisame recalled that Itachi had ordered a plate of dango on their recent trip to Konoha. They had been forced to abandon the snack by Sasuke's arrival, and Kisame hadn't thought any more of it. Now, he had a growing suspicion that Itachi's appreciation of dango ran deeper than he could have imagined. "You're an interesting guy, Itachi-san. It's hard to believe someone as bitter as you can appreciate anything so sweet," he laughed.
"Hn." Itachi solemnly acknowledged that his sweet-tooth had been discovered, but he did not feel the need to explain himself. Kisame correctly interpreted the familiar response and laughed harder.
Today, Kisame planned to experiment further with that newfound knowledge.
He handed a new package of dango to Itachi with a predatory grin. "I thought you might enjoy these," he said.
When Itachi took the bag without complaint, Kisame's grin widened in anticipation.
It was generally agreed upon that members of the Akatsuki would keep their personal business to themselves, but Kisame had been traveling with Itachi long enough to realize a few key things.
First, despite his reputation as a mass murderer, Itachi did not have half of the homicidal tendencies that the other members of the Akatsuki, Kisame himself included, seemed to possess.
Second, although he remained cold and aloof, Kisame had never seen him lose his temper.
Third, personal information about Itachi Uchiha was harder to come by than spoilers for the upcoming release of the next Icha Icha novel, which meant it was potentially worth more than the combined wealth of the Great Nations.
As a result, Kisame enacted his plan for subtle prying.
Itachi watched his partner from the corner of his eye as he savored his dango. Kisame Hoshigaki was many things, but subtle would never be one of them.
He idly wondered what had happened to the mutual agreement to respect one another's privacy, but it didn't bother him as much as he thought it should.
Through the years he had come to respect Kisame as a companion and shinobi. He suspected the man was the closest thing to a friend he'd have for the rest of his life.
That made it hard for him to begrudge the shark for indulging in his current behavior, even if it was more characteristic of a teenage girl than a callous muderer.
"I've been wondering for some time now, and I haven't been able to work it out. What kind of person catches your eye?" Kisame's eyes gleamed with mischief.
Itachi fixed his partner with a blank stare, then raised an eyebrow.
The nosy shark continued undeterred. "You'd have it so much easier than I do. It takes a special kind of woman to be interested in someone with my... attributes. With your looks, you could probably have anyone you want. So, who would it be?"
Itachi swallowed slowly. "Kisame. I'm flattered. Is this your way of expressing interest?" he deadpanned.
Kisame was thunderstruck, in awe of the seemingly mystical power of dango. Not only had his questioning elicited a response, but if his ears weren't betraying him, he believed Itachi had just made an attempt at a joke. He began to wonder if alternate dimensions might, in fact, exist, and if somehow he had fallen into one in which Itachi was not the most humorless individual to walk the planet's surface.
He also considered the possibility that the dango had been laced with a mind-altering poison. If that were the case, Kisame reasoned, it was too late to do anything about it.
Itachi watched his partner's reaction with quiet amusement, which he did not allow to show on his face. His redirection had served its purpose.
"Hn." Kisame took a page out of Itachi's book of responses. "I suppose relationships are overrated for guys like us anyway. I met a girl who was interested enough to ask me to dinner once. Do you know what happened?"
Itachi didn't know, but he felt the dango he had just eaten grow heavier in his stomach.
"I killed her. It was part of my mission." Kisame didn't say it with any bitterness. His tone was resigned. He had long ago accepted that the glorified image of shinobi as heroes of justice was just a pathetic farce. From his perspective, the ninja world was a world of sharks. You either devoured or were devoured in turn.
Itachi didn't have anything to say. He could relate all too well. The sweet memories of Izumi that always accompanied him when he ate dango morphed into the painful memories of her lifeless body in his arms. Pale, cold, and pulseless. And of course, he would never forget the way she'd thanked him in the end.
When Itachi didn't attempt to joke again or do anything otherwise out of character, Kisame changed the subject. He decided he had pushed enough for one day. "So, about our next mission from Kakuzu. A simple escort for a medic-nin, but seems it pays through the roof. Gotta be a spy, ne?"
"Probably."
Medical ninjas were ideal spies. Most hospitals were desperately short staffed, which made them willing to overlook gaps in someone's story in order to have an extra set of hands. And based on the types of illnesses and injuries admitted to the hospital, a spy could learn plenty about a village's strengths and weaknesses.
On the other hand, medical ninjutsu was rarely a strong offensive weapon. It was reasonable to request back-up for defense.
To request the Akatsuki, however, and to pay as highly as Kakuzu suggested was unusual. Enough so that Itachi wondered if there might not be something else going on.
"Kakuzu said we could split our time and wrap up some smaller missions on the side with this one. Samehada's been itching for some action. Do you mind if I take the first few?" Kisame asked.
"Do as you wish."
They spent the remainder of the morning traveling toward the Hidden Grass Village in the Land of Fields. Kakuzu instructed them to meet the individual they were assigned to escort in a small forest near the Tenchi Bridge. The terrain in the Land of Fields was hospitable to travelers, and the journey was remarkably smooth, especially compared to some of their recent missions. When they arrived at the agreed location, however, both Akatsuki stopped in their tracks and tensed, acutely aware that something had gone awry.
It appeared they were too late.
A young woman with brown, braided hair and skin several shades darker than Itachi's lay crumpled on the ground, unconscious. Her simple beige tunic and brown traveling pants were torn and stained with blood. Some of the stains were bright red, suggesting her wounds were fresh.
A quick scan of the area revealed two trip wires rigged to explode on contact. If anyone tried to help her, they would trigger a trap that would have satisfied Deidara's criteria for true art. The Akatsuki's resident bomb enthusiast would have been disappointed by the ease with which Itachi disarmed the explosives.
After clearing the traps, Itachi motioned to Kisame that he should hang back in case of an ambush. He advanced toward the girl with his Sharingan activated.
When he pressed his fingers to her neck, she did not stir, but he felt the reassuring flutter of her pulse. Though it was rapid and thready, he guessed she still had a chance at survival.
He began a more thorough exam, accounting for each of her wounds and checking under her clothing to ensure she didn't have any hidden injuries that would require attention.
She was covered in bruises and had three large scars across her abdomen, but her most serious wounds were a gash in her left side near her hip and a laceration to her right thigh. Both bled freely, soaking the ground around her. He pulled out and opened a first-aid kit, removing gauze, bandages, and antiseptic solution as he directed a stiff command to his partner. "Check and make sure there aren't any enemies nearby."
Kisame silently obeyed, hoping he would have a chance to carve his way through at least a few opponents before the morning was out. He mentally thanked Itachi for staying behind to play nurse so he could enjoy himself.
As Itachi cleaned and dressed the wound on the injured woman's side, he noticed a myriad of small scars. Too small to perceive except under heavy scrutiny, the marks covered her body. Life had not treated her gently. If this was the woman they were expected to escort, he could appreciate her apparent need for a skilled bodyguard. If she'd had one in the past, they'd clearly done a poor job. He tied off the bandages at her waist and moved down to the injury on her leg. When he started to bandage her thigh, she began to moan.
As Tsubaki gradually regained consciousness, she became aware of warm, strong hands on her leg. Instinctively she flinched to withdraw, only to experience searing pain. She opened her eyes and saw red.
More accurately, she saw a Sharingan. Her instinct to withdraw amplified exponentially, and it was only the knowledge that movement would trigger more pain that kept her rooted to the spot.
Itachi, for his part, paused in his ministrations as he met her gaze.
Tsubaki's mind went blank with fear. He looked so much like his younger brother. Dark locks of hair framed his pale face, the contrast accentuating the glowing red eyes that bored into her soul. Stress lines carved their way down his cheeks, making him look older than the eighteen years she knew him to be.
Suddenly the past week of mental preparation for the arduous task in front of her began to seem woefully inadequate. "Thank you," she said, dropping her eyes. From this point forward, she needed to carefully measure her words and actions. Gratitude felt like a safe place to start.
By breaking eye contact, she freed Itachi from his initial pause at seeing her eyes. Although a few shades lighter, they reminded him of Izumi. She, too, once had eyes marked with a vulnerability that had no place in the world of shinobi. It made him uneasy. He wondered if the dango he ate earlier were to blame for his unusual sentiments. "Are the ones that attacked you nearby?" He resumed his care of her injuries, his movements quick and efficient.
"I think they're gone. I apologize for taking your time. My employer told me I was to meet an escort here, but in the brief time I was waiting, I severely underestimated a younger opponent. It was uncharacteristically careless of me." She offered a self-deprecating smile. "Now here I am troubling you."
"I believe we are to be your escort, if you will still accept our aid."
He thought he might have imagined the flash of resolve he saw when she looked back up to meet his eyes. "I would appreciate your protection," she said.
Tsubaki didn't appreciate his protection, or anything about him. She found Itachi's presence terrifying. She couldn't forget that the man wrapped in a dark cloak who tended her wounds had killed his parents, neighbors, friends, and lover. She had read many times over the gruesome history of the Uchiha Clan, but somehow Itachi had surpassed them all in the scope of his crimes. It took all her self-control not to flinch at his continued touch, which was, she thought, disgustingly gentle for a man who broke people with a glance. She then steeled herself, because somehow in the coming months she would need to find a way to get much closer to him.
Thoughts of her sister crashed over her like a tsunami. The sister once so full of innocence and laughter, free from any anxiety, save for whether or not she would ever find another boy as cute as Nikko-kun. And so full of faith in the older sister she admired. The sister now a prisoner, her skin marred with the curse mark, subject to an interminable series of torturous experiments. All because Tsubaki failed to protect her. If anything, Tsubaki thought she deserved her twisted penance of a mission. The scroll from the serpent's tongue was her punishment.
Itachi's red eyes transformed as they probed hers, a mesmerizing black pinwheel pattern swirling into place, and she felt a pressure at the edge of her consciousness that signaled his attempt to break into her mind. She had expected it, and knew that all he would find in her mind were the miles and miles of endless forest she had spent months mentally constructing. Her memories were not his to take.
When Itachi withdrew, his face betrayed no hint of surprise at encountering a massive forest where her memories should have been. He had just confirmed that there was more to this alleged medic-nin, suspected spy, than met the eye. Even an eye as perceptive as his own. He wove a precautionary genjutsu suggestion and left it in place in case she ever decided to turn on him. "Can you describe your attackers?" he asked, as if he hadn't just tried to steal the information from her mind. He tied off her last bandage and stood.
She nodded and the world spun. The back of her head was throbbing where Sasuke had flung her into the wall, and between blood loss, chakra depletion, and lack of food, she was surprised she hadn't lost consciousness again. She placed her hands on the ground to steady herself. "There was one, young, probably no more than thirteen years old, and he was with another tall, pale man. The younger one did all the damage." The best lies were based in truth. "I haven't been particularly fortunate in my meals over the past few weeks, and my strength wasn't at its normal levels. Once I have something to eat, I should be able to heal my injuries." Her stomach offered a menacing growl to reinforce her statement.
"Kisame, check our food supplies and see what we can offer her," Itachi looked over at his partner as he spoke. Kisame had just returned, looking somewhat disappointed, after ensuring that no hostile forces lingered nearby.
Tsubaki took in the sight of the large blue-haired man, whose carnivorous features were more suggestive of a shark than a human. He wore a dark cloak with red clouds similar to Itachi, but his slashed forehead protector marked him as a renegade from the Land of Waves. She recognized his famous sword strapped to his back.
"I'm starting to think you see me as a catering service, Itachi-san. Don't forget it's about to be your turn to be in charge of food." With that, the shark began the mundane task of sorting through storage scrolls to find one with edible contents. In his opinion, they really needed to restock on food scrolls soon to save them from further encounters with shady shrimp and dango. He carefully tucked away a spicy tuna scroll for later, choosing instead a scroll with onigiri to share.
Itachi nodded. Now he'd be cooking for three. Or, more accurately, five. Kisame ate for three all by himself.
He wasn't bothered. Actually, Itachi found cooking therapeutic—when he had the time to do it. It was far easier to balance the flavors in a food dish than it was to balance the conflicting desires within himself. Sometimes the lines between the man he considered himself to be and the role he had accepted began to blur. He knew it wasn't uncommon for spies to begin to struggle over their identity, especially as they became more involved with the role they were supposed to play. Only daily reflection on his ultimate goal allowed him to maintain a firm hold on his true identity: Itachi Uchiha of the Leaf.
He wondered about the true identity of the woman before him. "What should we call you?"
"Tsubaki is fine."
"I am Itachi Uchiha. My partner is Kisame Hoshigaki."
"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," she lied.
"The pleasure's all mine. Sorry, Tsubaki-san. We're down to our last five onigiri," Kisame said as he offered her two of the seaweed-wrapped snacks.
"Oh, thank you so much!" This time her gratitude was not feigned. Her mouth watered, and she devoured the comforting food with the enthusiasm of someone who'd spent a week starving after three years of imprisonment by Orochimaru.
Itachi watched her thoughtfully. It was odd for her to be starving. As a ninja, she should at least be able to forage for herself, and her employer was clearly unusually wealthy, which didn't fit with her haggard appearance.
He considered reporting his suspicions to Pain and Kakuzu, but thought better of it. He could effectively deal with any trouble that might arise on his own. And, if for some reason the girl was actually foolish enough to meddle with the Akatsuki, he wouldn't mind allowing her to do some damage before he complied with the role he was expected to play. She might actually prove useful to him, provided she had the skill to keep her true intentions hidden to where he could plausibly deny having noticed anything amiss. Of course, if her true intent was to kill him or Kisame, that would be unacceptable.
He internally grimaced at the prospect of killing her. He didn't enjoy violence like Kisame.
The memories of each and every person he'd killed were his shackles that only tightened and grew heavier as the years passed. Many were nameless, but there were names that haunted him, both in his sleep and in his waking. Those that troubled him most were Fugaku, Mikoto, Izumi, and Shisui. His father, his mother, the only girl he had ever truly loved, and his closest friend. He hadn't really been the one to kill Shisui, but he was painfully aware that his decision to slaughter their clan would have hurt his friend more than a thousand deaths. For all Itachi's brilliance, he hadn't been able to find any other choice that would allow him to live with himself. And now he lived with himself, alone with his thoughts on life, death, ethics, philosophy, and the cruel irony of fate.
One of the greatest benefits of having Kisame as a traveling companion was his ability to interrupt Itachi's thoughts when they became lost in the darkness he had accepted as his own.
"So, what's our destination going to be?" Kisame asked Tsubaki, popping the last three onigiri into his mouth.
"I'm headed to Maipo Village, just outside of the Hidden Stone to offer medical aid." She'd received her destination from one of En's operatives.
"We'll rest here and leave in the morning, then. You should have time to recover. Let us know if you need anything," Itachi said.
As they set up camp for the afternoon, Tsubaki glanced up at the clouds and took a deep, calming breath.
Her impossible mission was underway.
Author's Note:
Tsubaki's mission has multiple layers that play on the idea of looking "underneath the underneath," as a great sensei once advised.
This chapter gave me a hard time, and I had to rewrite their initial encounter around four times before I was satisfied with it. Unfortunately, my third-person omniscient POV quickly fell into the trap of "head-hopping." It's a good thing I'm not trying to impress an editor. As I mentioned in my very first disclaimer, I'm not a professional writer, but I am having a blast writing this story.
Until next time.