Let's start this from the beginning

Genin Days

III

Itachi and Shisui were sitting back to back in the middle of the training ground, both of them trying to stop panting and regain their strength after their last spar.

"Well," Shisui broke the silence first. "I think it's safe to say that you have mastered the Great Fireball and the Running Fire Technique by now. By the way, did your chakra reserves grow since the last time we met? You couldn't use these two jutsu with remotely as much ease during our last spar, nor as often."

"You know as well as I do that the body grows used to a technique with time if you use it often enough, and that it consumes much less chakra to use a technique your body is already accustomed to than one you just learned. I spent the last three weeks you were on your mission almost exclusively focused on practising these two jutsu as much as possible."

Unfortunately, this effect would lessen more and more with time until it stopped entirely. Otherwise, every shinobi would train a few techniques like crazy for a few weeks and be able to spam them endlessly afterwards.

Shisui laughed. "I know, I know. No need to give me a lecture, I just wanted to test you."

Knowing Shisui couldn't see it, he rolled his eyes, a small smile forming on his lips. "Of course you did."

"Hey, are you saying you doubt me? I will let you know that I will be promoted to Jōnin soon! Then I will probably be given a Genin team, which means I need to train how to act like a teacher and test my cute little students. And just so you know it, you just took the role of the cute little student!"

My pity to whoever is unfortunate enough to become your student, Itachi thought amused. "Isn't the teacher supposed to be better than his student? I think I won more of our fights than you did so far, didn't I?"

His friend spluttered. "Only as long as we don't include Ninjutsu! The times you won without me being handicapped can be counted on one hand!"

"You're three years older and have bigger reserves than I do. That's hardly fair."

Honestly, it probably wasn't fair of him to tease Shisui over his losses, either. Itachi knew his friend's fighting style by heart, even after all these years, and his Shisui's current form was far less developed and refined than the one he would have years from now.

Also, Itachi was much faster than he had actually been when he was six years old. So, although still slower than Shisui, he could hold pace with him enough to win their matches with some regularity—assuming they limited themselves to Taijutsu, that was.

"Many things aren't fair, Itachi. Enemies will always use every chance they get to have an advantage. You need to be prepared to deal with it," Shisui said, much more serious now.

He nodded, already aware of that and generously enough to not tease him about falling into a teacher role for real.

"Anyway," his friend then continued, his voice carefree once more, "why did you choose to focus on these two jutsu in particular? Any specific reason?"

"Not really," Itachi shrugged. "They are both rather basic but have enough potential to be used versatilely. Moreover, one of them is more offensive orientated while the other is defensive in nature. It simply seemed like a good balance."

Shisui nodded, not commenting on it any further.

Then it was Itachi's turn to break the silence, asking the question he had wanted to ask Shisui since he had returned from his mission. "You have been distracted all day now. Did something happen on your mission?"

Shisui didn't answer immediately, instead taking the time to think about it for a few minutes before actually replying:

"There were some unexpected interferences. Some missing-nin got involved and they outnumbered us quite badly. Most of their subordinates were regular bandits, no shinobi, so I'm pretty sure we would have been able to manage them after a while. Not without casualties, though. It was fortunate that we were close enough to the border for some ANBU to notice us, or else at least one of my teammates would not have made it. It was a close thing; had they arrived a minute later, it would have been too late..."

Shisui stopped to took a deep breath. Then, he suddenly balled his fists, an angry look on his face. "And I didn't even notice! He could have been killed and I wouldn't have known until all the fighting was already over! I'm still not strong enough to protect everyone."

Itachi hesitated for a moment, thinking about the best way to react, before giving his friend a soft nudge with his shoulder. "Hey, you're not even ten yet but are still considered for promotion to Jōnin. You are strong, and you will only grow stronger. That's what we're training for, isn't it? To get stronger and protect everyone."

Shisui laughed softly but sounded absent when he answered. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Itachi knew there wasn't anything he could say that would placate the other boy, so he didn't speak at all. Besides, Shisui had always taken any perceived mistake very hard, but with time, he also always found ways to deal with his feelings and overcome what was bothering him.

Especially when he had others at his side that supported him.

They continued to stay where they were for another hour, enjoying the calm and peace of each other's company, before standing up and making their way home.

"So," the Hokage said. "You think they're ready for their first C-Rank mission, Akihito?"

Their sensei nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama. Their teamwork is faultless and Itachi has integrated well with the rest of the team. All of them can defend themselves, and they look out for each other. They're ready."

"Well then," the older man replied with a smile. "In that case, I think I have just the right mission for you."

He needed a minute to search through the documents on his table before handing Tanaka-sensei a scroll. "There is an orphanage located at the coast of the Land of Woods. For a few weeks now, children went missing at irregular intervals. As of right now, twenty-eight children are unaccounted for. Since the Land of Woods doesn't have a hidden village of its own, the caretaker of the aforementioned orphanage sent a request to us instead. We assume that there are no shinobi involved and that regular bandits are the culprits. They most likely kidnapped the children to sell them on the black market. Your mission will be to find and to kill all the bandits, as well as rescue every child that is with them. If you find out where they sold the other children, you're not to interfere. Bring the information back home and I will have an ANBU team take care of it later."

They nodded, Anko and Yukio looking slightly sick at the casual mention of children being sold like cattle. While Itachi knew that they had their fair share of combat experience, a given with Orochimaru as their sensei, they apparently lacked experience with the other dark parts of the shinobi lifestyle.

They were already half turned when the Hokage spoke up again. "Before you go on your way... Itachi, I have a message for your father concerning some of your clan's dealings with the village. Seeing as you're already here, would you mind taking it with you?"

Nodding, he turned around and walked the short way to the Hokage to receive the message scroll. He took it, not visibly reacting to the hand signs the older man made when his body blocked the view of his teammates, and turned around to join the rest of his team.

Tanaka-sensei spoke up as soon as the door was closed behind them. "We will meet at the village gates in an hour. We will need around two to four days to arrive at the orphanage, depending on where exactly at the coast it's located. Keep that in mind when you guys prepare your equipment."

"Yes, Sensei," they intoned simultaneously.

It was amusing for Itachi to watch his teammates interact with their teacher. On one hand, they were immature enough to blame him for something that wasn't his fault—becoming their new sensei after their old one betrayed them and left the village in disgrace—while on the other hand, they were mature enough to hide their disdain and act professional when the situation called for it.

With nothing else to say, they departed, all of them making their way home to prepare for the mission ahead of them.

As soon as his teammates had vanished, Itachi made his way to the closest empty alley and, after subtly making sure no one was watching him, opened the scroll he had received from the Hokage. Just as the Sandaime had said, it was indeed about his clan's dealings as the leading force of the KMPF and how they could possibly work closer together with the ANBU, but that wasn't what interested him.

Much more important was the second, smaller scroll hidden in the bigger one. All it said was one short message:

'Jiraya will be back in three days. We will meet him after you return from your mission.'

It took Anko about five minutes of jumping from roof to roof to reach her home.

She didn't bother to use the door or even announce her arrival; not having any living family members and thus living alone meant there wasn't anyone there to greet her when she entered her apartment anyway.

Ignoring the cold feeling in her stomach, she started to collect her stuff. This only lasted a few minutes, however, as she had her equipment already prepared beforehand, having decided years ago to always be ready to depart for a mission on a minute's notice. She hadn't needed it for a few months now, not since...

Do not think about him, she thought to herself. He doesn't deserve it.

Anko was as ready as she could be and very motivated by the thought of saving some poor children from slavery. Having grown up in an orphanage herself, the thought of young children being kidnapped from there was simply disgusting.

Just wait you bastards, she thought with a silent snarl. You will pay for this.

Only a few blocks away, Yukio was currently rather busy with the vital task of soothing his mother and younger sister, promising them that he "would be safe" and that "this wasn't a dangerous mission at all, really" while his father hurried through their apartment to get his backpack ready for him.

Honestly, he thought while trying to suppress a fond smile. This is hardly the first time I'm off on a mission. Shouldn't they be used to it by now?

His gaze wandered to his sister, the seven-year-old clinging to his left arm, which made his thoughts take on a darker tone.

These monsters who kidnapped children like little Yui at his side didn't deserve any mercy. Just the thought of his sister being one of their victims...

Just wait you bastards, he thought. Your little shitshow will be over soon.

"And you promise me you will be safe, will you? And don't forget to look out for your teammates as well. Protect each other. That's what a team is for, after all."

"Of course, Kaa-san. This shouldn't be a very hard mission anyway, just some common bandits making trouble. It will be fine," Itachi replied, enjoying her hug for as long as it lasted.

Now that he thought about it, it had been a long time since he had been hugged like that.

And oh, what a sad realization that was.

He had never been very keen on hugs, truth be told, but Sasuke's and his mother's had something soothing about them that he couldn't help but enjoy. In this specific case, it might be because he felt a bit more forgiven for the sins of his last life when he was in her arms, but he tried to ignore that thought for the time being. After all there was no need to ruin the mood.

She ended the hug a few moments later, just when his father spoke up. "Your mother is right, Itachi. A team is there to look out for each other, and there is no shame in accepting help from others when you need it. Misplaced pride will just get you killed."

This was the father from his earliest memories, the one he had grieved for the most after his death. Itachi so dearly wished that he would stay this way, strict but loving, and not turn into that bitter man he had become in his last life; this was a man he could proudly call his father.

"I don't mind admitting when I need help. Besides, we trained on our teamwork for the last few months, and rather intensively so. We won't have any problems looking out for each other."

His parents didn't get any chance to answer, as Sasuke decided to include himself in the conversation at last. "Nii-san gonna go? Not playing?"

Smiling he knelt down to be at eye level with his brother. "Sorry Sasuke, not today. I need to go on a mission and will not be home for a few days"—he tapped his forehead for good measure—"but I will be home before you know it."

I will always return for you. I promise.

They had been on the road for about an hour now, jumping from tree to tree at a comfortable but still rapid pace. Usually, Itachi enjoyed these parts of a mission where he could enjoy the nature around him in silence before the bloody part started the most. Unfortunately, this wasn't an option at the moment.

"You're just annoyed because you couldn't win against him once since he joined our team, so do us all a favour and stop whining," Yukio interrupted Anko in one of her long-winded monologues.

"Excuse me?! What has this to do with anything I just said?" Anko retorted irritated.

"You were telling us about this 'super strong and amazing jutsu' you want to learn when we return from this mission! Don't act as if you don't want to learn it solely for beating Itachi."

Anko scoffed. "I don't want to learn it only to beat him with it, idiot. My life doesn't revolve around him. It will be useful to know and it's powerful, so I want to learn it. It's as easy as that. And if it helps me sweep the floor with boy-wonder over there, well, that's just a nice bonus."

He supposed he was lucky that he was used to Kisame's antics, or else this would have been much more annoying. His sensei wasn't as fortunate, however.

"Alright, alright, that went on for long enough. Calm down, now." While their sensei had still the same dark bags under his eyes, the ones Itachi had noticed the first time he had met him, there was no tiredness or exhaustion in his voice to be found now. "While we will be in friendly territory for at least another day or two, we still need to be careful. You never know where you might run into a missing-nin. In fact, we could even be close to one right now."

Anko and Yukio became serious almost instantaneously. It were moments like this that made Itachi happy about having joined an experienced team rather than one with Genin fresh out of the academy. He was much more comfortable going on missions with people who actually understood the dangers of one instead of only thinking about possible glories.

"Yes, Sensei," they both replied.

The Jōnin nodded. "Good. Does anyone have a suggestion about how we can protect ourselves from being surprised by enemies? Besides the usual methods, that is."

There was a moment of silence before Itachi raised his voice. "I might be able to get some eyes into the sky to look out for us by using the Summoning Technique."

His sensei raised an eyebrow in silent surprise, and judging by the eyes he could feel burning on the back of his head, his teammates had similar reactions.

"I wasn't aware that you were in possession of a summoning contract. Funnily enough, I didn't even know that there was a summoning contract with animals capable of flight in the village at all."

"I have a contract with the crows. They are more... unorthodox than other animals in that they don't require someone to sign a contract with them. In fact, they didn't even give me a chance to disagree with them on becoming my summons. One of them just pricked me with its beak to get some blood and that was enough."

And hadn't that been fun to explain to his parents. And not only once, but twice, seeing as they had done the exact same thing in the other timeline as well. It wasn't as if it was a bad thing, mind you, but it was definitively an unexpected incident. As far as he knew, his 'contract' with the crows was unique in all of the Elemental Nations, though there was the very likely likelihood that there were other cases like his that were kept secret by the various villages.

Not that he was unique in the sense of his crows being the only ones using irregular methods to form contracts either, of course. While he indeed didn't now of anyone else that was being 'forced' into a contract, he knew, for example, that Kisame's shakes had some unique quirks to them as well.

Official summoning contacts might be the most regular method to make a pact, but there were probably just as many unique contracts as there were regular ones.

The contract he had with his crows this timeline had, for some reason, happened later than it did in the last. It had, in fact, happened less than a week ago, whereas he had made it months earlier in his last life. Itachi didn't know why they approached him later in this timeline, which was rather frustrating in and of itself, but he was happy it had happened at last. Itachi hadn't even realized how much he had missed them, how lonely he had been without his constant companions, until they were at his side once more.

Finally being reunited with them also allowed Itachi to use a few of the techniques that had been beyond his reach since he had awoken in the past.

That was another point in which his crows differed from many other summons:

Instead of actually physically helping him fight his enemies, they instead amplified his Genjutsu and allowed him to use some unique techniques of his own. Unfortunately, to use these techniques, the summoner and the summon both needed to learn them. So even with him theoretically knowing how to use them, he wasn't actually able to use most of them as of yet.

The one exception was the Crow Clone Technique, for which he was grateful. This version of the clone technique required much less chakra than the Shadow Clone Technique while still creating a solid clone of himself. It also had the benefit of being able to reform should it get destroyed in battle without him having to use nearly as much chakra as creating a new clone would cost.

In his opinion, which he admitted to himself might be slightly biased, it was a superior version of the Nidaime's jutsu. It also solved the chakra problem he had with the aforementioned Hokage's version of the jutsu quite nicely. At least meeting with the Sandaime should be much easier from now on.

"In that case," Tanaka-sensei said with a small smile, "please do so. Having eyes watching the area from the sky would be reassuring."

Itachi nodded. He then continued by biting his thumb to get some blood before he made the necessary hand seals.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" (Summoning Technique)

In a swirl of feathers and screeches, a murder of crows appeared before promptly flying into the air to watch the area.

"Wait, don't you need to tell them what to do?" Yukio asked a moment later.

He shook his head. "There is no need to talk to them. They knew what I summoned them for from the moment they felt my chakra call them here. Besides, these crows are still young and inexperienced, so they don't know how to talk yet."

"Hey," Anko uttered thoughtfully. "Would it help if I summoned some snakes to keep watch while we rest? I would call them while we travel as well, but I doubt the weaker ones would be able to keep up with us."

Tanaka-sensei's smile grew a bit bigger. "Yes, good thinking. Please do so when we stop for the night."

They crossed the border to the Land of Woods in the early hours of the third day after their departure from the village.

"From now on, we need to be even more careful than before," Tanaka-sensei said calmly. "We don't want the kidnappers to know we're here, just as we planned."

Itachi couldn't say that he liked their plan. Not that the strategy itself wasn't sound, far from it, but his role in it wasn't something he looked forward to very much.

The plan was for him and Anko to act as siblings who had lost their family and thus were searching for a new home. Considering twenty-two of the twenty-eight missing children were under the age of ten, Itachi was the ideal age to play the role of bait. Anko joined him on this because it was standard procedure to never split Genin teams in a way where a Genin was all by themselve.

The next time the kidnappers would show up to snatch some children away, they would act all weak and defenceless and allow themselves to be 'kidnapped'. Tanaka-sensei and Yukio then would follow them, aided by his crows, to find their hideout and fulfil all the objectives of their mission.

Honestly, he wouldn't even have a problem with his role in this weren't it for one single detail...

"Finally Itachi will be forced to call me Nee-chan! I can't wait!"

He sighed.

Approaching the orphanage and asking for help went as well as could be expected.

With their dirty and in parts torn clothes, they looked just as one would imagine two children would do after they lived several weeks on the streets. The patron of the orphanage had just looked at them for a second before inviting them inside, offering them something to eat, and giving them new clothes.

The facility was actually in much better shape than he had imagined it would be. The building wasn't run-down at all, they had enough resources to feed and clothe every child in their care, there was some arrangement with a number of teachers who would come several times a week to teach the children reading, writing, and simple mathematics, and there was enough in terms of entertainment to keep the children happy.

It was more than most orphanages outside major cities and hidden villages could boast.

Anko and he gained a lot of attention for the first few days, seeing that they were the new kids and still needed to 'settle down', but that stopped around three or four days into their stay. Since then, they didn't do much more than wait for the inevitable.

It was exactly one week after their arrival during a stormy and rainy night that it finally happened. Midnight had just passed when Itachi's senses woke him up from his sleep, warning him of more than two dozen unknown chakra signatures surrounding the building. He instantly noted that most of them were, as expected, untrained and clearly not belonging to shinobi, but there were exceptions: at least six of them were definitively trained in the use of chakra.

He fought down the urge to jump up and prepare to face the enemy, which was a fight he nearly lost the moment eight people—two of which were shinobi—climbed through the window of the boys' dormitory.

He didn't fight back when someone pressed a hand over his mouth, only struggling as much as would be expected of a child his age.

He didn't fight back when the sound of the struggles of the other kids reached his ears.

He didn't fight back when one of the culprits tied him up with a rope.

He didn't even fight when one of them threw him over their shoulder and climbed out of the window.

Not yet, he thought. Not yet, but soon.

They would regret the day they decided to start kidnapping children, Itachi would make sure of that.