The last thing Itachi remembered was undoing the reanimation jutsu and telling his little brother he would always love him. Then he was staring into silver eyes filled with conflict. He could tell a lot of things from them. There was love and reluctance and acceptance. It was a weird combination. Was he reborn? He concentrated on his body and it felt incredibly weak and he had absolutely no control. Then he heard the words that confirmed it all: " What will you name him Artemis?"
He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. A strange warmth slowly filled him and he knew it was coming from the woman holding him, his mother. She was searching for something inside him. Then he heard what she wanted -his name- he focused on the energy and thought at it, the only thing he could do. "Itachi."
Weakness overtook him and he held onto consciousness by a thread. A woman with fire dancing in her eyes "Don't worry Artemis. I'll watch over him." his eyes slowly closed and he barely caught the last words his mother said to him "Be a good man, my son".
Itachi had nothing to do. He was only a few days old after all, his body too weak, he couldn't even roll over. So he did the only thing he could. He meditated. It was the only thing that kept him sane and going after that day. Then he felt it. It was only a slight warmth but he knew it well. It was chakra. He still had it?
During his first few days of life he confirmed that he was no longer in the elemental countries and believed that chakra wasn't real. Nobody did anything like a jutsu, no seals, nothing. He was even surprised when he found out that they weren't speaking the language he was familiar with.
Which begs the question why could he understand his mother and the other women she was with. Itachi had a theory, maybe he had chakra because he was her son. He focused on it and pulled it to the space behind his eyes. It was unlikely that he still had the sharingan but it was far less likely that he would be reborn in another world with his memories so he tried.
Then he felt it, a block was there in the space behind his eyes. It was the same block that was there before Inari's death. He had a dojutsu at least. It made sense, he focused and remembered the feeling of that day. Disgust, hate, anger, regret, self loathing all filled his mind and with a push he felt the block shudder. It wasn't enough.
Seems the memories and feeling of his old life won't affect his visual jutsu in this life, so this made him 100% sure that he had the sharingan. He made a few decisions, he would train as soon as possible, he didn't know much about his new world but having the ability to protect those precious to him would never be a bad thing. He also would enjoy his life rather than fight for the rest of it.
13 years later.
Itachi crawled out of his tent, he loved the outdoors he felt alive unlike the time he spent in urban areas and if his theory was true it made sense since his mother is who she is. They were out for his birthday, which would be in a week and Itachi made his way to their small campfire. It was strange that it was still burning, it had to have been at least 4 hours since everyone went to sleep.
He approached silently and spotted a girl tending to the flames. Itachi pulled out the emergency blade he kept on him at all times. Normally while he is at school it is a simple sharpened plastic ruler, but now he was in the wild it was an almost serviceable blade.
He moved through the camp like a ghost and checked the immediate area, there was no one else and surprisingly no trace of the girls movements. This only put Itachi's guard up. He doubted that he wouldn't notice the smallest signs even anbu would leave. If he had missed something from being out of practice then it is very likely that there is another party spying on him.
In a breath he closed the gap between himself and the girl. He wrapped an arm around her since he was quite a bit bigger and pressed his knife on her jugular vein. "Who are you and why are you here?" he said in a cold voice. It had been years since he had needed to threaten anyone or act menacing but he slipped into the act like an old pair of boots.
"Oh my quite the sneaky one you are. Who am I and why am I here? Interesting questions. Why don't you put down your blade and sit down? I am just a helpless girl." She spoke in a completely unflustered voice and she patted the space beside her like he would just see reason and sit down next to her. He recognised the voice but wanted to see what story she would tell. "Just because you look like a harmless little girl doesn't mean you are one. Also if you are trying to pretend to be one, you should act more afraid since I have a knife on your neck, a minute and you'd be dead if I feel like it. So I will repeat for the last time. Who are you? Why are you here? And tell your allies to come out."
The girl just chuckled and then sighed "Fine. My name is Hestia. As for why I am here, it is to tell you something important and to give you a warning you should heed. Also I have no allies here at least. Now that I have answered your questions, why don't you put away that sorry excuse for a blade and sit down." patting the space beside her.
Itachi stood and sat where she gestured and looked at her face. It was the same. Her eyes still danced with flames and it wasn't just the reflection of the campfire. "So you really exist Hestia, the Goddess of the Hearth and Home." pure surprise grew on her face. "I guess my theory was correct, you are not myths. What is it that you wish to tell me and what is the warning?"
"My my! You are just filled with surprises aren't you. Your mother would be proud. I think. Well, you know most of what I have told you. The greek gods aren't really myths. We are very real and sometimes, well a lot of times actually, they have a child with a mortal. The result is a demigod. As they grow up and come into their powers they attract more and more monsters to them. You are really powerful for a demigod, and when you hit 13 you will start attracting far to many monsters. My warning is if you continue to stay with your family, they won't survive the week. I know that for a fact. So what will you do?"
Itachi sat and stared into the fire for a few moments. He closed his eyes as some tears spilt out his eyes. "I'll need proper weapons then. And some money so I can get started. It would have been convenient if you came in the summer. It is the middle of winter, finding somewhere to sleep now would be a hassle."
"You made your decision quite quickly, are you sure. A hasty decision like this leads to a lifetime of regret." A flash of sadness conquered her face for a moment then the calm replaced it just as quick. Itachi faced her and opened his eyes, it was red with a black tomoe spinning around it. It came to a stop and Hestia raised her eyebrow in surprise. "I would regret it more if I stayed and they came to harm. Can you answer a question for me? Aria. Is she also like me?" The nod made him sigh.
"Take this." She pulled a small backpack from thin air. "It has what you need in it. You will need special metals to kill the more magical beings. Celestial Bronze, Ritual Silver, Imperial Gold." Itachi took the bag and checked it. Inside was dried meat that would last him a week, a canteen, waterproof cloak, flint and steel, a book and a small tactical pouch. He opened the smaller zin and found a forged passport and 1000 dollars.
Itachi pulled out the tactical pouch and pulled out about 2 hunting knives, 4 combat knives and 10 throwing knives. He looked up at Hestia with a questioning expression. "I've watched you for a while, I noticed your skill with knives so I gave you something to protect yourself. The hunting knives are made out of steel. They won't be able to harm monsters and such but you can use it to hunt food and skin stuff. The others are for monsters, they are made out of silver blessed by Artemis. They are also enchanted to never dull and they will return to the pouch after a minute unless they are in contact with you. The money and supplies are to help you while you are in the wilderness." Itachi nodded and stood up and with a burst of his chakra he pulled off the body flicker jutsu and vanished.
Artemis got off her chariot and walked north Zoe following her with an arrow knocked on her bow. They moved silently through the forest until they came upon a campsite. With a few hand signals she communicated with Zoe, they would watch and not interfere. They each climbed a different tree and watched as a young boy stretched outside a tent. Artemis's breath hitched, he looked so much like Mikoto.
It took him less than a second to spot Hestia and move. He pulled a knife out from his back and faded into the forest moving in her direction. He stared at the bush she walked through for a moment longer than the rest of his sweep but moved away and continued his canvas. 'He's searching for more hiding? Is he just paranoid? Mikoto wouldn't have acted like that unless she was trained to. He also almost picked up on my track. He has grown up well with these small excursions into the wild.'
She focused as Itachi came out of the woods from behind Hestia. 'He closed the distance without a sound and quickly too. His placement of the knife is good too. How is he this good? Natural talent? Is this why Chaos wanted him to be born? Mikoto picked this stuff up well so it is not a surprise. Someone must have trained him.'
She listened to his conversation with Hestia and smiled wistfully. After he vanished 'He uses that same energy as Mikoto. I'm impressed.' Zoe appeared. "Well what do you think about the boy?" She asked her right hand woman.
"He is good as far as men go. He noticed Lady Hestia quickly and even thought of the possibility that she wasn't alone and checked before even engaging her. I am also shocked at him having a theory that we exist… My Lady… May I ask a question?"
"Wait until we speak with Hestia."