Inevitable
Chapter 14

"Hey Ameji, did you hear that Team Seven is going on amonth-long mission?" Sasuke asked. It was the day after his confession ofhis attraction to Naruto, and he already felt lighter after getting that offhis chest.

"No, I didn't. What are you guys doing?" Amejisutoreplied, turning her attention away from the targets she was setting up.

"We're guarding the king of the Land of Fire. He wantedthe best four person team there was. Something about getting an assassinationthreat."

"That sounds boring, but also kind of like a month longvacation with a possibility of fighting. So, when are you leaving?"

"In an hour. Can you do that thing that most sisters doand give advice for my love life?" he smirked, covering up hisinsecurities poorly.

"Of course, though you have to call me ‘oh wise andall-knowing sister’," the brunette laughed.

"You would have to call me ‘oh amazingly talentedbrother’," the Uchiha joked.

"Your brother and sister relationship soundsinteresting," Itachi said from the door of the dojo.

"Hey, we were having a private conversation,"Sasuke whined playfully.

"Alright, you have five minutes," the olderbrother said before walking away.

"Oh wise and all-knowing sister, please give me adviceon how to have a good relationship."

The Ishi thought for a moment. "Well, I've never beenin a one but I do watch people a lot, so all I can say is be honest and actnormal. You two have been best friends for six years and are even closer thannormal people since you've seen every side of each other."

"Well that makes sense," Sasuke nodded. "So,I was curious. Who are you closest to?"

"I think I'm closest to Itachi, and I hope he thinkshe’s pretty close to me… Although he hasn't seen my furious side. It's about asbad as Sakura's," she joked with a tinge of seriousness.

"Does that mean you like him?" Sasuke winked,making his 'sister' blush.

"That's not exactly what I meant but ok...”

"So is that a yes or a no?"

"Yes, I like your brother,” she said quickly. “Now, youbetter get packing for you mission, and I should get the last of these set upsince he will be here in a few seconds," she got back to putting up thetargets and Sasuke left, passing his brother at the door and saying a quick byebefore going.

"Are you ready?" Itachi asked, handing her a bunchof kunai.

"I think I can manage,” she grinned. “You're justsitting on the sidelines and not doing anything, so you can go if youwant."

"No, that would be neglecting my duties as a sensei,"he got comfortable at the side of the dojo, praying that his apprentice didn'thit him with her weapons. He was surprised as she threw six kunai all at once,each hitting the target. "Ok, you aren't as bad as I thought youwere."

His only response was a glare before she focused on hittingthe dead middle. She was good at hitting it individually, but when it came tothree or more, she was having trouble hitting the exact middle. "Is itcheating if I use wind to guide it?" she shouted to her sensei.

"No, I guess not," Itachi said. "Anythinggoes as long as it's from your own talent."

"Sweet! Then I wanna test something," she lacedher chakra in the air around the kunai, guiding each of the sharp objectsperfectly and quickly to the direct center of each target. "Wow! I didn'tthink that would work so perfectly!"

"Almost no need to even practise, but what you justaccomplished would be fine normal trainees. Now you have to challenge yourself.Can you get them while blindfolded? Backwards? Can you do even more thansix?" Itachi pressed, making her excited for that training. It would be achallenge since there was more than one way to do it.

She clenched her fist in determination, and Itachi couldalmost see the fire burning in her eyes. "I'll train until I can't move!I'll perfect it and make it look awesome too!"

"Heh. I never thought you could get fired up soeasily," the sensei mumbled while smirking and heading to the door."Sorry, I just remembered that I got a summons from the Hokage earlier. I'llbe back in an hour or so." He got a nod from the apprentice before shestated attacking the targets with kunai flying from all directions she jumped.He could feel the wind coming from her location.

Leaving her to her training, he left the home and ranthrough the Uchiha compound, eventually leaping on a low roof and jumping tothe next one that was slightly higher, roof-hopping to the Hokage tower likemost ANBU had a habit of doing to avoid being seen and recognised, thoughItachi was always the exception in ANBU. Since he joined when he was young,everyone knew of and could identify him.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Lady Hokage," he jumpedthrough the open window directly into the ninja leader's office. "I waswatching my student train."

Tsunade laughed and shrugged. "I know how it is. Timeflies when you're having fun training." Itachi wondered why she was beingso nice. It was then that he noticed many little sake cups scattered on herdesk.

"Lady Hokage, have you been drinking?"

"Maybe a little," she admitted. "It's nothingI can't handle though!"

To avoid starting a fight, the Uchiha quickly changed thetopic. "What was it that you needed to talk to me about?"

"Oh, I completely forgot! Let's see...” She looked downand saw a paper with something written on it. "You need to work on bondingwith the nine-tails more so he doesn't stick you to Sasuke again, stupid!"

Itachi blanked. "That sounds more like something youwould say to Naruto, Lady Hokage."

Shizune barged into the office with her pig, Tonton,following close behind. "Lady Tsunade! Please tell me you didn't agree tothat bet with Jiraiya!"

"What bet?" the raven usually didn't intrude on otherpeople's business, but when the Hokage was drunk, things tended to get interesting.

"It was only to see if Naruto and Sasuke got marriedbefore Itachi and Ameji. I think that they won't, since the brooding boy is thetype to be scared of commitment."

"What's this about Naruto and Sasuke?"

"Oh, your brother didn't tell you? They're probablydating by now, since their mission already started," Tsunade answered.

'So that's what he was talking to Ameji about,' hethought, remembering hearing occasional words that his brother exchanged withhis apprentice.

"Lady Tsunade! You shouldn't bet against Jiraiya! Youalways end up losing and having to go on dates with him!" Shizune urged.

"I don't mind, all he does is go on and on and on abouthis new books," the blonde Hokage yawned.

Itachi felt like he barged into a madhouse. "So, whatwas it that I actually needed to come here for?"

"Since she's so out of the loop right now, I'll tellyou," Shizune said as her boss fell asleep. They both sighed.

"I swear, if Naruto’s like this when he becomes Hokage,I'll just run away. He would be even worse with his unpredictability and tailedbeast," Itachi groaned, imagining it. Shizune agreed.

"Anyways, she called you here for a warning. Jiraiyagot some information about the Akatsuki and found out that they're looking torecruit you."

"What?!" Itachi growled. "They're idiots forthinking that they would be able to get me willingly."

"The thing is, they're clever and powerful. They mustalready know you wouldn't want to go and work with them, so we fear that theymight be planning something that would make you willingly join them," theassistant informed.

Itachi's eyes widened and he jumped out of the window,running back to his house as quickly as he could, which meant he got there inless than a minute. "Amejisuto!" he called as he reached the dojo.The brunette landed from midair and looked over at him.

"Something wrong?" She worried, seeing the ravenspanicked expression. He cautiously walked forward and placed his hand on hershoulder to see if she was really there and it wasn't a sick illusion that theAkatsuki could've cast in the few minutes he was gone.

"What was your favourite snack when you werefive?"

"Tuna rice balls. Why?" She asked before gettingpulled into a tight hug. "What's going on?"

Itachi shook his head, not wanting to worry her."Nothing, Lady Tsunade was just worried that there was a thief in ourVillage that was transforming into members of a household and then robbing themonce the others were out," he lied.

"Oh, then don't worry because if someone like that evertried to imitate me, they would get a kunai in the stomach," she smiled,oblivious to his lie. "Now, can you please let me go? I want to show yousomething awesome."

"But I've only been gone for ten minutes," Itachibacked away.

Amejisuto winked and floated in the air. She made a visiblestream of the element by mixing it with her chakra and picked up ten kunai sothey looked like they were on a string before whirling it around her. Sheclosed her eyes for a moment before flashing them open and shooting the wind topush the kunai to the middle of each target. She landed again and tuned to hermentor, who was obviously impressed. "I can probably do better, but I onlyhad ten minutes to come up with that."

"Okay, so you're secretly awesome with mixing ninjutsuwith weapons," Itachi smirked. "But can you do it while upside downand with your eyes closed?"

"I will work on that," she pointed. "I shouldpractise my flips first." The rest of the day was filled with trying newangles and practising manipulating the air, figuring out new moves that wouldalso be good for the battlefield.

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"It seems like the Uchiha caught on to what we'replanning," Zetsu reported. He was planningon kidnapping the girl but was stopped right when Itachi had barged in. He wasready to drag her underground with him when she would've landed.

"I bet that he now has a plan to keep his eye on her atall times," Konan groaned, not liking how their plan was going to takemore work. They were in the main meeting room so they could talk to Madara'sclone (since the real him was on a mission) privately without everyone elsefiguring out who he was.

"Well, watching her at all times is impossible. He hasto sleep and wash sometime," Painreasoned, sitting on one of the comfortable chairs in the room.

"There is a simple solution to this problem,"Madara, who was leaning on the door, smirked.

"What?"

"We play dirty," the secret Uchiha said, claspinghis hands together in an evil manner. He fell over when Hidan opened the doorangrily. Not caring that he interrupted a meeting or that one of the membersthat was supposed to be gone was on the floor, Hidan marched in, looking aroundangrily.

"ZETSU! WHY AND WHERE DID YOU TAKE MYSACRIFICES?!?" he was furiously steaming.

"I ate them," the black half answered calmly likeit was every day that an immortal was ready to kill him, which it pretty muchwas. The white haired man screamed in rage and ran at him with his scythe. Painstood up and tripped him, sending him unconscious on the floor.

"Anyways," Konan said, ignoring the chaos."What exactly are you thinking, Madara?"