Inevitable
Chapter 6

"How long until we reach Airin?"

"I think it's only another ten minutes."

The Uchiha apprentice and her sensei were jumping frombranch to branch at full speed, ready to replace and capture the criminal theywere sent after for their special mission, though it just seemed like a normalmission instead of something special.

Itachi already figured out what the mission was for, and wasprepared for anything. He wasn't quite sure what kind of situation or jutsu thecriminal could put them in to make something possibly happen, but he knew thathis father wouldn't allow something like this to fail or someone getting hurttoo badly, even though he had been in ANBU since he was thirteen.

As far as he could tell, his student was pretty muchclueless and thought that it was just another tradition. 'Amejisuto, please, just keep being oblivious and happy for now,'he prayed.

A few minutes later, they dropped into the town, landinggracefully and walking like it was an everyday thing (since it was) while the towncitizens stared in amazement. They obviously didn't get many ninja visitors, beinga resort town. Once the duo got to the assigned hotel, they found that someonehad already booked a reservation for them. ‘TheHokage or Mikoto probably. They're so nice,' Amejisuto smiled. She foundthe average-sized town charming compared to the large ninja village she wasused to.

They got to their room and opened summoning scrolls,collecting clothes for the week that were stored in that place that most summoningthings come from. "Itachi, why did they give us a week when we could justcapture the criminal in a day?"

"It's traditional for it to be a week, and theyprobably want us to bond a bit more in an uncomfortable situation so we canlearn to fully trust each other.. Or something like that at least," theraven replied.

"How is this an uncomfortable situation? It's anothermission along with a chance to bond while relaxing, even though I already trustyou with my life," the brunette smiled.

"Well that's good. Forgive me when I say that I barelytrust anyone with my life," he admitted.

"Understandable, but I guess we'll just have to work onthat sometime. For now, let's go to the hot springs!"

Itachi looked at a clear door on the other side of the room."I guess we have private baths at this resort," he mumbled.

"Then how will we replace the criminal if we don't even goto the same hot spring?"

"I've been told the criminal is male, so you wouldn'tbe able to replace him on your own anyways since public baths are separated, whichbrings the question of how we willreplace him."

"Ooh! We can walk around town and look for him! They saidwe we're posing as a couple, right? Nothing will be suspicious if we go aroundon 'dates'," Amejisuto suggested.

"We should take baths first, but that’s a good idea,"Itachi complimented.

"Who first, though?"

"Why not both at once? The sooner we're out, the soonerwe can look and finish this mission," Itachi shrugged.

The seventeen year old turned red with embarrassment."WHAT?! We can't share a bath, we're different- Hey! What are youdoing?" she yelled as Itachi started taking off his armor and clothes.

"In ANBU, it makes no difference. Put emotions asideand do it for the mission," he stated, chuckling when the girl squeakedand turned around. He put a towel around his waist and walked outside. "Ifyou're uncomfortable with me seeing anything, I suggest you go in first,"he put his hand over his eyes.

Amejisuto sighed and quickly stripped down, running outsideand into the hot water with her eyes closed and face red. Itachi went in nexton the opposite side of the hot spring. "I think this is also what peopleconsider 'bonding and building trust' under these circumstances," theraven said.

"This is inappropriate and humiliating. And don’t wehave a week? It’s not like we’ll run out of time to get the job done! I don'tknow how you ANBU do it," the Ishi mumbled.

"The target could leave the town at any moment. Like Isaid, put your emotions aside for the mission. That's one of the most importantshinobi rules."

"Naruto breaks that rule all the time then. He gets waytoo emotional," she laughed, trying to get rid of the nervous, panickybutterflies, no, bees in her stomachand throat.

They sat in the hot water awkwardly until they felt thatthey were clean enough to go out, both uncomfortable with the idea ofrepeatedly getting out to soap up. Itachi ended up getting hit by a thrown rockwhen he forgot to close his eyes when they left the spring, even though hewasn't even looking.

They went out and went in different shops and tourist attractions,looking for the criminal, and being unaware that he already found out they werehunting him. They ended up going to a restaurant when they got hungry, amusedby the fact that their most popular dish was ramen.

They took a few bites of their snacks - dango and riceballs- before they noticed something weird was happening to Amejisuto. Shestarted gasping for air and mumbling about something being an accident beforeshe passed out. Itachi looked at her with his sharingan and realised she was ina deep genjutsu that even he wouldhave trouble breaking. He quickly paid for the snacks and carried her back tothe resort they were staying at, laying her on her bed. "Damn, the criminal must've donethis," he cursed.

He noticed his apprentice started to whimper and shake, and reacheddown to try to soothe her a bit by shooting some of his chakra into her to helpher block out some of the genjutsu world she was in, but he found himself beingpulled into her mind once he merged with her chakra, falling for the illusionsthat he knew he probably wouldn't escape.

He knew the type of jutsu this was, and he knew that therewas only one way of getting out. It was going to be like a game; going throughall stages or levels until you finally win. He just wondered what kind oflevels there would be in his student's mind, and what he would uncover. Hadn'tshe mumbled something about an accident?

His body in the genjutsu was normal, thankfully. Itachilooked around, seeing a normal looking world. In fact, it looked like the Ishiclan compound; Amejisuto's old home. "Look out!" someone cried,before pummeling into him, throwing them across the street. He looked where hewas previously standing and saw a wolf with an evil aura running through thatspot, looking like he was ready to tear up anyone that crossed his path."Itachi? Well that explains how I could touch you," he looked up atthe person who tackled him to the side. It was his student. "Whathappened? And why are you here too?"

"You got caught in a genjutsu and I got pulled in,"he sighed. "As you know, with a high leveled jutsu, like this is, you needa person on the outside to either give you chakra to regulate your flow ofenergy or defeat the enemy, or you have to block out all senses, but I tried togive chakra and got trapped, and I take it you already tried blocking yoursenses?"

"Yes, with no luck… So how do we get out of here?"

"I think we have to go through until the enemy ends itor this thing runs its course. Have you collected any information?"

Amejisuto visibly shivered. "This is just like theincident twelve years ago. If I'm correct, I think it's going through mymemories. This is the worst one though," she said sadly.

"Why is that?"

"Come with me," the brunette sighed, grabbed hishand and followed the wolf. They got to a small temple where a little girl and anolder man were cornered by the wild wolf. It lunged for the small girl but theman jumped in front of her, quickly forming hand seals, but it was cut short ashe cried out when the wolf sank his teeth into his leg. The man fell on hisknees and the wolf scratched him up and bit down on his neck, killing himinstantly while the girl behind him screamed. Itachi looked away and saw tearsrunning down his student's face.

"Daddy!" the small girl cried, as his dead bodyfell to the ground. The wolf looked at her and prepared to pounce, but a blastof wind threw him away and down the road. The clan leader, Sirami, appeared.She was furious at the intruding animal and looked over at the small girl whowas still crying over the man.

"Why did you kill him, you dirty mutt?" shescreamed, furious, performing hand signs and making a stick of lightning appearin her hand. She threw it at the wolf, who dodged it easily and growled beforerunning down the road and pouncing on her. He stomped a paw on her throat hardenough to make her unable to talk anymore. Sirami wrestled with the canine,getting bitten and scratched but managing to stay alive.

There was a loud scream from the little girl and the wolfturned its head to her, getting distracted and focusing on attacking again. Theblonde woman threw a punch after lining her fist with chakra, slamming it intothe wolf's head and killing it. She then hobbled over to the little girl,wrapping her in a hug and turning her away from the man.

"Mommy, why... Why d-did that doggie attack us?" thegirl sobbed. Sirami tried to talk, but the only sound that would come out was ahoarse breath, making her distraught that she couldn't comfort her daughter.'Amejisuto,' she mouthed.

"It's all my fault," the seventeen year oldAmejisuto whispered. "I begged him to take me to the temple because I wasfinally old enough to go pay my respects to the dead, and the wolf came out ofnowhere..." she started to sob, hiding her face in her hands. "Ishouldn't have begged him so much. He didn't want to take me yet, but he justcouldn't say no after a while, and we got attacked."

Itachi tried to imagine what it would be like if his fatheror brother was killed by a wild animal that should be so easy to take down, andhow bad he would feel if he was the reason they died or his mother stoppedbeing able to talk. There would be only guilt, darkness and depression for him...How did he not know what happened? He and Sasuke had been close friends withher since she was small.

He grabbed his student and wrapped his arms around her,letting her cry on his shoulder. "The worst part was that I was the onewho snuck the wolf out of the Inuzuka dog clinic the day before," shecried.

"I'm sorry this happened, but it's in the distant past.You got over it once, so you can do it again," Itachi tried to cheer herup. Amejisuto stepped back and wiped the tears off of her face and sniffing abit.

"I guess I'm just selfish, since there are people thatget their whole clans killed and have to act like nothing happened," shesighed.

There was a loud crackand the scenery changed. It turned into a dark forest in the middle of a thunderstorm.Oddly enough, the two didn't get wet. They saw three ANBU crouching on themuddy forest floor. One of them was holding a man covered in blood. The brunettesaw her mentor's eyes widen. "No," he murmured.

"Itachi, we have to give up! He's dead and nothing canrevive him!" one of the taller people yelled over the thunder.

"No! He isn't dead and I sent a message to thehospital. A medic-nin will be here soon!" the shortest figure, who waswearing an ANBU captain uniform, yelled back.

"Sir, if we don't get out of here, we will all dietoo!" The other man shouted.

"So be it! If he dies, so will I. He's our comrade! Youcan run if you want but I'm not leaving!"

The dying man twitched slightly. There was a small silencein the storm as he whispered 'let me go… Warn the village.' The younger Itachitook off his ANBU mask and Amejisuto saw that he was around fifteen at thetime.

"I'm not going to let you die," he whispered onthe brink of tears.

"Captain, we have to go before he gets us too,"one of them men said.

"I don't care! Let Orochimaru kill me and take mysharingan. It's my fault anyways!" Itachi shouted.

"You idiot. I'm... Going to die... You must survive forme… For the clan… For that… Girl…" the man gasped in pain and then laystill. Itachi picked him up and they all stood.

"It's over, captain. Shisui is gone. You know therules: no evidence. We have to destroy him now."

"I refuse," Itachi growled.

"Then we'll do it."

"No!” he snapped. “No… not you. I guess the fate of thevillage rests in his disposal, but at least let me mourn."

"We can't, sir. It's now or never," the other ANBUpushed.

Itachi held back his tears and turned into a cold shell. Helaid the man on the ground and everyone took a few steps back. "Firestyle: Dragon fire jutsu!" He yelled, shooting a stream of fire out of hismouth. It grew bigger and disintegrated the man. The ANBU turned around, put ontheir masks, and went on their way back to the village, bringing the storm withthem.

Once they were gone, the present Itachi stood over the ashesof his old comrade. "I hate war and evil… But I can handle those… Deaththough... Well he was the only team member that I couldn't save and it almostbroke me," he whispered.

"Who was he?" asked Amejisuto.

"He was my cousin, Shisui Uchiha. We were close and hewas on my team for about four years," Itachi explained. "Once hedied, I was devastated, and I gained my mangekyo sharingan. It forms when anUchiha's best friend dies in front of them."

The brunette put her hand on his shoulder. "So we'veboth lost precious people."

"And whoever put this jutsu on us is a sickbastard," he spat, losing his kind and calm composure.

The world dissolved around them and they were back inreality. "I'm glad you think so," a man stood smirking in the backdoorway. He had short brown hair, wore sunglasses, and was one of those peoplewho looked like they thought they were soooocool.

"Are you the S-ranked criminal we were sentafter?" Amejisuto asked bluntly, not even trying to cover up the fact thatthey were there to capture him.

"Duh! No one else around here except for us three havestrong enough abilities to do these types of things," the man bragged."But, I'm retired. I don't even want to be a criminal anymore. I just liketrapping people in genjutsu and making them go insane in their own minds."

"You sadistic asshole," Itachi glared.

"Ah yes, you have seen the true me," the manbragged.

"So if you don't want to be a criminal anymore, howabout coming with us back to Konoha?" Amejisuto growled.

"Lovely offer, pretty lady, but I would also rather notbe in jail. Seeya," he tried to make a run for it but was stopped by thequick Uchiha, who blocked the doors. The man turned around to face the Ishi,who gave him a good punch to the face. Itachi took out a kunai and held it tothe man's neck while the girl gave a short low whistle. The man cried out inpain and fell on the ground, curling into a ball and covering his ears.

"I broke his eardrums. It's the easiest part of thehuman body to break with my jutsu, and perfectly sadistic enough for paybackfor making us relive awful memories," the brunette bragged while glaringat the target.

"I'm not one to agree with revenge, but at least youdidn't kill him. Are you feeling better now?" the raven put the kunai backin his weapons pouch.

"Are you?" she replied while tying up the man.

"I'm fine now."

"Well then so am I."

They found out that they had been in that short genjutsu forthree days, making them cut the week-long mission short, since they could justreturn three days early. An ANBU squad took their new prisoner back to Konoha,and the duo soon left to the Uchiha estate. "Well that was an uneventfulmission when it really comes down to it. The hardest part was just ourmemories," the Ishi sighed, walking down the halls with her mentor.

"The fight was short. Either way, it was a decent fourday mission, compared to other ones I've been on." Itachi agreed. They gotto their rooms and opened their doors, ready to go their separate ways for now."Goodnight, Ameji."

Amejisuto blushed before scurrying into her room."Goodnight."

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Two ninja walked quickly through the desert. They weresilent; all things they needed to discuss have been talked about, planned, and readied.The redhead of the group was sealed inside a creepy puppet with a metalscorpion-like tail and many weapon pockets. The blonde was mixing up a bunch ofclay in his pouches, letting the mouths on his hands eat some in preparation ofthe small invasion on the village that was just barely on the horizon.

They looked at each other and nodded, speeding up andputting Japanese straw hats on. Not to conceal obvious identities, but becausethe leader thought it would be cool, which was nonsense, but they did itanyways. The beige sand swirled around them slightly, as if afraid. There wascomplete silence. Not even the wind dared to blow across them until they reachedthe city.

The guards at the gates were ready to attack, having beenput on lookout for the Akatsuki, since they got word from the great sanninJiraiya that they were now on the move. "Oh great, the general ishere!" one of them cheered, having spotted the only man who could possiblylead them to victory. Another guard turned to the general who looked like azombie.

"General, we have to warn Lord Kazekage!" another exclaimed.

The general moved forward swiftly with a kunai. His eyeswere glazed over and the many guards barely had a chance to cry out in fear ashe killed them quickly and efficiently. The Akatsuki partners glided throughthe gates easily without anyone trying to stop them. "Sasori, my man, yourspy puppets are really useful," Deidara smirked, looking over the deadgeneral who was already a puppet. He had officially died just minutes beforeattacking everyone, but had been unaware of being under the puppet master'sjutsu for a few years.

"Go in now, and don't keep me waiting," Sasorigrowled before looking at his newest addition to his collection.

The blonde smirked and went through the long alley to thevillage, setting off explosives when he got in successfully, trying to get theKazekage's attention. He was only slightly surprised when a teenager with redhair and black surrounding his eyes appeared quicker than expected, riding on acloud of sand.

"This is going to be fun, yeah," he smirked beforethrowing the first bomb and starting the fight.