A Lethal Observer (Naruto) [ALW Series Book Two]

Chapter 8

"Please! Please, don't kill me!" The man begged for his life as he crouched, defenseless, in front of a kid. Itachi held a kunai in his hand, pointed at the man's throat. He was looking down at him with a stern face.

This was the spy who had been leaking information to the Kirigakure shinobi. This was also the leader of the B-rank criminal group that was after Hisako, the lord's daughter. The man looked up at the boy with pleading eyes but Itachi only stared back with an emotionless face.

"I was ordered to kill you," said Itachi. Once he had confirmed this man was the spy, he knew he had to kill him before they reached the border. He couldn't lay foot on Kirigakure. Itachi tightened his hold on the kunai, and without a second thought sliced his throat. Blood splashed into his clothes, and he watched as the light faded from the man's eyes and he fell to the ground. His blood continued to pool around him, and Itachi turned his back to him and headed back to where the rest of the group was.

Just as Shisui had predicted, they were ambushed by the ninja who had killed the team they were supposed to meet. And they were also accompanied by the B-rank criminal group the Hokage had warned them about. At that moment, one of Hisako's bodyguards fled to the woods and Itachi followed him. He didn't get far.

By the time Itachi was back, Shisui had already taken care of almost every enemy, leaving just a couple whom Itachi took down with some of his shuriken. Hisako was kneeling on the ground, far from the ninja. She was extremely pale and tears gathered in her eyes. The scene she had just witnessed had been too much for her mind to handle. Upon Itachi's appearance, Hisako looked at him and her eyes widened in horror at the blood in his clothes. She had noticed him run away after her bodyguard at the beginning. And now he had come back alone and stained in blood. Her bodyguard's blood.

Hisako found her voice and opened her mouth to speak. "Whose–blood–is that?" Her voice trembled as she spoke, already fearing the answer. Itachi didn't look at her and just remained quiet. There was no point in telling her something she already knew.

Hisako gulped and pressed her lips into a thin line as a lone tear escaped from her eye. Itachi turned his back to her and walked away. "This is what," he said, "being a shinobi is really like. Not exactly an adventure, like you used to think." He disappeared from her sight.

Hisako took a deep breath and jumped slightly when she heard a twig break close to her. She looked in its direction and sighed relieved when she saw Shisui standing there. He wore an apologetic expression on his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He smiled at her. She smiled back and looked away. Shisui sighed. "I already disposed of the bodies," he announced, taking short steps as he moved closer to her. "You don't have to feel bad. You might think this was your fault because they were after you, but this is actually something that we, as shinobi, experience often. This is not your fault." Shisui crouched in front of Hisako and looked directly into her eyes.

"He killed him," Hisako said, looking up into Shisui's Sharingan. "Itachi killed one of my bodyguards." Her lips quivered as she let out a sob. "I know he ran away when he was supposed to protect me, but he was new. He probably got scared and acted on pure instinct..." She started to cry uncontrollably while speaking. Shisui placed a hand on her shoulder to try to comfort her, but she was probably too shocked to process anything.

"He probably had a very good reason."

"But—"

"Itachi was also hired to protect you, and that's what he did. That's what we did." Shisui interrupted her before she could question any longer. "Now, look at me." Shisui held Hisako by her shoulders as she looked up into his eyes. "You will remember this as if it were just a bad dream, do you understand?" Hisako nodded slowly, almost mechanically. "But you woke and everything was fine, okay?" She nodded again. "Now, you will go back to sleep; and when you wake up again, you will be at the Water Country, ready to meet the Feudal Lord and his son."

"Yes..." she muttered absentmindedly as her eyes closed. She soon fell into a deep slumber.

"Genjutsu?" Shisui looked over his shoulder to find Itachi leaning his back against a tree trunk. He had his arms crossed over his chest. Shisui stood and lifted Hisako to carry her in his arms. Both her bodyguards were killed, so that left only the three of them.

"Let's continue, so we can get this over with."

* * *

Hanako walked through some ruins, not far from the border of the Uchiha Compound outside the village. She had found them on one of her free days she had decided to wander outside the village. Though, that time she didn't have enough time to explore.

She activated her Mangekyou Sharingan, it was a perfect time for training her eyes. Itachi and Shisui had been gone for two days now, and Hanako had to admit it had been a bit boring. Ibiki had also given her a break for the entire week to prepare to crack the stone. Of course, he expected her to try to research about it as much as she could before that. And there she was, searching the old, almost unknown ruins of Konoha.

She wasn't too far away from the village, but she was far enough that if she got lost no one would find her. Hanako couldn't feel any sign of chakra close. No people. She only saw birds soaring in the sky, snakes sizzling along the grass, even squirrels climbing trees. But no humans.

"Well, there's a reason why these are ruins..." She thought to herself. She smiled and took a kunai from her pouch. She looked at her reflection on the knife, focusing on her newly acquired eye design. She just wouldn't get tired of it. The three tomoes of the original design had extended and joined, taking the shape of a shuriken with its tips drawn back until they touched each other. It vaguely resembled the blades of a scythe.

Hanako chuckled softly when she thought of it like a flower, with blade petals. "Maybe it could be... the 'Flower of Death'..." She chuckled at herself, shaking her head and putting away the kunai back in her pouch. She could be childish sometimes, even to the point of naming her eyes. It sounded a bit cool, though.

She started to walk again, through some ruined halls. She extended her arm and trailed the cracked walls with her fingers as she kept moving deeper. She closed her eyes and came to a halt when images started to invade her mind.

Hanako saw a young boy, younger than she was at that point, walking in the same ruins she was in. The tips of his hair reached the length of his chin. He was carrying a small backpack. Hanako recognized this boy as a younger version of Itachi, who seemed to be exploring the ruins with great interest. She smiled softly and opened her eyes again. She had learned to control more her abilities; to the point she was able to observe even the memories left in objects as well as people's memories.

Walking deep into the dilapidated ruins, she found a hidden entrance. She barely fit when she went inside, it was times like these when she was grateful of her small size. The rock wall was cracked everywhere, and there were even burn marks in some places. Hanako figured that there had been a battle there. Probably it was that battle which destroyed the room. She reached her hand to one of the walls and closed her eyes, waiting for images to form.

When Hanako opened her eyes again, she found herself in the same room. But this time, it wasn't destroyed. It was a big squared room, lacking a ceiling. A female voice alerted her that someone was coming and her eyes narrowed.

"What is this place?" the woman asked. Hanako looked over her shoulder at the entrance as a girl appeared. She looked about twenty years old, and held her black straight hair up in a ponytail.

"These are some old ruins that were used before as war headquarters by our ancestors." A man came in right after her, looking just a few years older. His voice was strangely familiar but Hanako couldn't place it anywhere. The man had messy black hair that reached his lower back. They were both dressed in casual black robes.

The strangest to her was that, even though she was in plain sight to them, neither of them acted as if they had noticed her presence. They just ignored her as if she wasn't even there. Maybe she just wasn't really there.

They turned their backs to her. When Hanako looked at the crest in their backs, her eyes widened. It was the Uchiha crest.

"So this is where our ancestors planned out their next battle strategies?" asked the woman as she looked at the boy with a smirk on her face. Hanako didn't care about what they were talking about their ancestors, even though they seemed to share the same blood. She cared about understanding what was going on. It was the first time she was able to be in the place of a memory. Normally she would watch what happened, from the eyes of the person, or as if a movie watched from the angle the object was. But right now, she was there. She could move freely and observe at the same time. She was there, but at the same time she wasn't.

Hanako tried to pick a stone from the ground, but when her fingers came in contact with it, they moved right through it. She pulled away almost immediately. The sound of clashing metal suddenly called her attention, and she looked up to see that the woman and the man had engaged in combat. She was about to leave the room, when she remembered she couldn't pick up a stone from the ground. If she couldn't touch a rock, then they wouldn't be able to hurt her.

Her theory was confirmed when a lost knife went right through her and caused no harm. Hanako smirked and looked again at the two people. Her smirk was wiped off her face when the girl turned in her direction, and she caught sight of her face. It looked just like a copy of her older self, but with black hair.

"Amane?!" Hanako widened her eyes when the girl almost jumped. She had stopped her fight with the man and looked around.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked.

She looked at him and smiled with a shake of her head. "I just thought I heard my name..."

Hanako covered her mouth. She heard her. The image blurred away and Hanako opened her eyes again to find herself back in the burnt and destroyed ruins. She leaned against the rock and sighed.

Amane had definitely sensed her presence there. She had known she was there, even though she couldn't see her. Summoning the arm of Susano'o, Hanako destroyed the room she was in and walked outside.

"Well, I have to say I never expected to find you in a place like this." Hanako scoffed at her sister's voice.

"What? Am I not allowed to develop an interest for some old ruins?"

Hikari smiled. "I'm just saying, I never thought you to be this type of curious. What are you doing here?"

Hanako looked away from her sister and sighed. "I'm just trying to figure something out."

"Concerning your eyes?" At that moment Hanako remembered she still had her Mangekyou activated.

"More or less. I just discovered I can see other people's memories, and object's memories." Hanako looked back at the old ruins. "I just met Amane."

Hikari looked at her seriously, seeming to think about something. "You know, I was studying in the restricted area of the Uchiha Library a few nights ago. And I took the chance to read about the Mangekyou." Hanako looked up at her. "There are two fundamental types of Mangekyou. Those blessed by Izanagi, and those blessed by Izanami. The ones blessed by Izanagi are strong in mind and spirit, it gives them a better chakra control. Those blessed by Izanami are strong in time and space. They are given certain special abilities, allowing them to control dimensions. Which one are you?"

"Definitely blessed by Izanami." Hanako scoffed. "I think I can see the future."

Hikari laughed. "Can the Sharingan really control time?" She shook her head. "It is also said that Uchiha blessed by Izanami are rare, though. I could only read about two: a girl named Naori and Amane."

Hanako looked at her sister. "Keep reading about it," she said. "I have to go."

* * *

Hiruzen was inside his office, looking down through the window into the village. He closed his eyes when he felt a presence behind his back, and opened them again when he recognized him to be one of his Anbu.

"What is it?" asked the Hokage.

"I'm here to report on Itachi Uchiha's mission," replied the Anbu in a curt voice, kneeling before the elder.

"Well then." Hiruzen turned to face him. The Anbu stood up and handed the Hokage a scroll, which contained all the details from the mission since they left until they were on their way back.

"He completed the mission successfully, better than expected. He didn't think twice about killing the man once he confirmed him to be the spy. Not even when he begged for mercy. He's definitely part of the Uchiha," commented the Anbu. Hiruzen finished reading the report and placed it over his desk, nodding at the Anbu to let him know his assignment had been completed. "Hokage-sama."

"Hn?" Hiruzen walked back to his place in front of the window.

"Are you really sure about letting another Uchiha into the Anbu?"

"I don't regard a problem in it, do you?" replied Hiruzen without looking back at him. The Anbu only remained silent, waiting for the Hokage to continue. "There was a reason for Danzo to recommend him. He wants Itachi to join the Anbu, however, the traits Danzo looks for in shinobi are what concern me. I can tell he's into something, but I have to give it time before finding what it is."

"Hai." The Anbu nodded and waited patiently for Hiruzen to dismiss him.

"Itachi passed the test. Show him into the Anbu headquarters and give him a mask and his uniform. After that, you're free to go," said Hiruzen. The Anbu nodded again and disappeared, leaving the Hokage alone in his office.