Again, Itachi buried himself among the books in the village's library. Tired from the flood of information, Itachi leaned back and let out a soft sigh as his mind drift to the previous day's Akatsuki meeting.

After everyone had been assigned their target, Pain asked both Itachi and Kisame to remain while the other member dispersed.

"It has been almost one month since your previous report. Anything came to light about the girl?"

"Here it comes," Itachi thought. He understood that he need to be very careful with what he disclose about her in order not to implicate her further because of Akatsuki's interest. Thankfully, Kisame hadn't been attending their training much after their last spar, other than few other times where he helped demonstrate some technique for Mitsuki or spar lightly with her.

"As for now, I believe her true strength lies in her perception, stealth, and agility. As far as combat strength, nothing significant other than we know came to light yet, and her life absorption skill is often too risky considering her lack of chakra for her defence." Itachi answered as simple as possible, leaving the possibility of her connection to senjutsu, the unnamed nature energy absorbing clan, and mokuton a secret. Thankfully, he had explained previously to Kisame that her power is not akin to Mokuton, so it was unlikely that he will bring that point out.

"I agree," Kisame added, "Her combat prowess is lacking, however if I may add, she had the brain to make up for it, a kid as she is. Her decisiveness during unexpected situation was also impressive."

Itachi didn't expect Kisame to give Mitsuki such commendation, considering how he had always teased and mocked Mitsuki. Kisame ended up revealing more information about her, but somehow the development didn't upset Itachi.

"I see. Have you two ascertained her identity yet? After all, like what you said on previous report, her existence is an oddity. I've looked into it as well, but found no clue." Pain added.

"I'm onto it," Itachi answered, hopefully putting a stop at Pain's attempt to uncover Mitsuki's identity by himself. However, if even Pain with such extensive connection network had difficulty with finding out about the matter, Itachi worried that this matter is a lot more complicated than he initially thought. "After all, he managed to pinpoint the general location and identity of all the jinchuurikis on his own," Itachi thought warily." Seemed like the answer about Mitsuki's identity either existed within her, or somewhere a shinobi wouldn't touch," Itachi concluded.

"Noted. You know how to contact me if anything comes up. For now, go ahead with both of your targets," Pain concluded swiftly as he dispersed his substitute form. Seeing their leader left, Itachi and Kisame cancelled the technique as well.

As he finished recalling, Itachi thought to himself that he handled the situation as well as he could. So many concerns had popped in his head due to all the new development and information that he got. He needed to proceed carefully on every issues. "Konoha, Uzumaki Naruto, Sasuke, Kyuubi, and Mitsuki," he recounted. At that time, he knew that what he could do was to delay Akatsuki's plan as much as he could while keeping all of Konoha safe.

As he put aside his concern regarding Konoha, Itachi moved his attention back towards the pile of book in front of him. A book regarding myth, legends, and history of the village was what was left piling up in front of him. As he expected, no mention about Mitsuki's condition can be found within the shinobi related books, however he noted that once he was able to access a more comprehensive library on shinobi's history, he'd still make sure to check them as well. Drowning the doubt in his mind, Itachi decided to give those books a try.

"Aida-chan!" A tall, teenage-looking guy called upon Mitsuki's new friend from the front of her bento shop.

"Kyosuke-kun!?" Aida promptly answered with excitement, her eyes sparkling. As Aida hurriedly went outside to greet the guy, Mitsuki's eye followed Aida's movement curiously. It was her first time seeing her new friend sparkle with such joy. "It even seemed like she forgot about her sprained ankle," Mitsuki thought as she smiled worriedly.

In front of the shop, Aida chattered with her guest excitedly, her face slightly flushed as she laughed heartily during their conversation. However, their conversation seemed to end quickly as the boy left Aida after she handed him a bento. The sight of Aida's back as she watched the boy go away looked a bit lonely, yet happiness was evident in her heart. It's the type of emotion that Mitsuki hadn't got much chance to witness in someone yet. As she turned towards the door to get inside the shop once more, Aida was surprised seeing how Mitsuki was staring at her intently.

"Mi-Mitsuki-san! Why are you staring like that?" Aida said, flustered.

"Nothing," Mitsuki answered plainly as she went back to her cleaning task, causing Aida to exhale in relief. However, Mitsuki can't contain her curiosity for long.

"Was that the different kind of like you mentioned the other day?" Mitsuki asked nonchalantly, causing Aida to yelp in surprise.

"Mitsuki-saaaaan, ssssh! Later ok? Later!" Aida quickly said as she covered Mitsuki's mouth quickly, wishing that no one heard what she had said. Mitsuki could only nod in confusion as Aida kept her hand over her mouth.

"The Founding Myth of Sun Blessing Village," Itachi read the title of the book in his hand.

Long long time ago, the Kitahara family and their retainer's family fled away from the expanding war of the land of ancestors period. As they travelled far, far away into the depth of the southern east forest, they wished to start anew as they fled the flames of war. However, little did the travelling family knew, that the seeds and crops they brought from far north won't be able to survive the south-eastern's climate. Exhausted from the travel, and spent on resources, the travellers fell in despair as the crops they planted withered again and again. Cornered, the traveller prayed and prayed for God's intervention, until one day..

A divine maiden came down, her long locks of hair trailed behind her as she walked, shining gold as the sun. Halo of light shaped in the likes of both the sun and the crescent moon decorated her kamikazari*. Her eyes golden, shining like the sunset, as her long, golden eyelashes shielded them. Doll-like as she was, she looked as if she was no more than a woman in her twenties. As the travellers grovelled in her presence, the divine maiden stated. "I came by the blessing of Amaterasu," said the holy maiden.

"Amaterasu?" The name caught Itachi's attention. When his Mangekyou Sharingan awakened, along with the power of ever burning black flame, the name of the Jutsu popped naturally in his head. After that, he had been researching about the origin of the skill which popped from time to time among the Uchiha clan members. In his search, even as he couldn't find much information about it, he could pinpoint the name as the name of a god revered by Uchiha's founding predecessor. However, judging by the text in front of him, it was likely that the name itself was of a commonly revered God ever since before shinobi came to be.

"To think that there will be some record of the Ancestor Era time kept within this village.." Itachi thought to himself. However, even as he would prefer to keep his mind open, he was still unsure about the accuracy or authenticity of the text in his hand. He understood more than anyone how the passed on information could be embellished with exaggeration and fake information, and that was how history became myth and legend as they got passed on. He suspected the same happened with the text in front of him. Even so, Itachi continued to read.

The maiden spoke to the travellers in a solemn voice.

"O victim of the war, you have survived well. Your suffering hasn't gone unnoticed. By the blessing of Amaterasu, you shall survive here."

Hence after, the holy maiden stayed for a while in the village. With her blessing, the withering crops revitalized, and with her wisdom, the travellers learnt about the lay of the land, and the richness of the forest. A few moon passed, and the maiden declared her task fulfilled. As she bid her farewell, the holy maiden left a parting word.

"My duty here is done, however, Amaterasu's blessing will always be with you. If you ever found yourself needing Her help, pray do call unto Amaterasu-sama's name as you faced the sun."

As the holy maiden carried light back into their overwhelmingly dark future, the holy maiden were hence on revered as the "Priestess of Light" (Hikari no Miko)

As he continued reading, Itachi took in the information into his mind, even though he was not sure if it will serve as a clue. However, if what was written in the text was true, there was likely an existence capable of performing miracle even before chakra came to be. Even though it was akin to grasping a straw, Itachi couldn't help but think if this information is somehow related to Mitsuki.

It was lunch break for both Aida and Mitsuki. After delivering Shin-jii's bento as usual, Mitsuki and Aida found a seat near the village's flower field. Mitsuki was still lost inside her own mind. Shin-jii's condition was no better than the previous days. It seemed like no matter how much Aida took care of him, the light in his soul just continued to fade at a steady pace. Pain resurfaced in Mitsuki's heart. She had steeled her resolve and joined Aida on her quest continuously, not just to help her, but also to find out more about the black, spear shaped mark. At that moment, Mitsuki was no longer sure if she can find out more about it by observing the old man, as her mind shifted towards her worry regarding Aida and the wellbeing of the gentle old-man who had always thanked her for helping Aida and being her friend.

"If only there's something I can do to help," Mitsuki thought to herself.

Itachi finished reading the entirety of the book. Past the passage that he found, the mention of the priestess had appeared a few more times afterwards to perform some miracles. However, after some point, it seemed like she no longer existed. Itachi concluded a few possible answer regarding the change. Firstly, that the priestess had passed. Maybe, she too, had limited lifespan, akin to human. Secondly, is that she had moved somewhere else, or for some reason was unable to come back. Thirdly, was that the villagers slowly forgot their faith or the method to summon her, though it was unlikely that they will let such a valuable information that actually provided them help to be gone just like that. Fourth, was that her ability was deemed no longer important due to the birth of chakra, or fifth, that her existence was fabricated.

"No other way than to talk to the villagers directly, I guess," Itachi thought to himself, and thankfully, it will also give him reason to delay the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki hunt as much as possible.

Author's note:

Another short chapter hehehe cos I just want to focus on one thing at the time! If you guys noticed, I've always tried to make the chapter's title to be as concise as possible to only focus on one or few things at once, hence I can also maintain the length and pace of the chapter constantly along with illustrating :3 Hope you guys enjoy, and feel free to speculate!

Extra note:

(*) Refer to traditional hair decoration (asian style), for more details wait till the illustration come up :3