Tainted Blood of a Ninja

The journey to the Wakkanai Village located on the Nagi Island near the Modoroki Shrine was arguably the worst one Mitsukai had ever had to endure. It wasn’t going through the River and Fire countries that made her antsy, but rather the idea of having to travel over water that did her in.

“There has to be another way.” She pleaded with Kisame. Begging for Itachi’s sympathy proved to be a waste of good air since he flat out told her he was looking forward to the change of scenery.

Kisame looked at her and scoffed. “Fresh sea air will do you some good.”

Mitsukai nearly fell on her face. “I forgot you’re part fish. You want to go more than the weasel does.” She ducked a well aimed swing and jumped back. “Is there no other way?”

“Unfortunately…no.” Itachi stood from the rock he had been sitting on as a boat came into view on the horizon of the water. “This is the quickest and most direct way. We need to make up for time lost…The child will have been on his own for over a week now.”

“You know,” Kisame added as he put his sword back in its place on his back, “We could have easily just ran across the water. That would be quicker than going by boat.”

Mitsukai glared at the man. “Well then you can go by foot. I’ll wait here until you two return.”

Kisame chuckled as Itachi moved towards the pier. “As if. Come along now.”

Mitsukai frowned but filed onto the boat with them. They waited patiently as cargo and other passengers were loaded and seated. When the boat finally began to move, Mitsukai fidgeted and fussed with her clothes and hair just to keep herself preoccupied and her mind off of her location.

“You need a haircut.” Itachi murmured catching her attention.

“Why?” She stopped and looked at him.

“It’s a very unique color. It gives your opponent the advantage in battle.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “I like the color and I’d like to see someone try to grab it now. I learned a few things from that battle with that ass who cut my hair last time.”

Kisame nodded with a smile but kept his eyes on the sea.

“You should still cut it.” Itachi insisted, reaching out to catch a few strands in his hand for a few seconds before letting go.

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The summer heat was close to unbearable. Mitsukai had to take off her lilac button-less button down long sleeve shirt and tie it around her waist. Kisame was guzzling water while glaring at Mitsukai, daring her to say anything offensive. Even Itachi chose to unbutton his cloak all the way.

“The odds of us finding the kid alive in this heat are minimal.” Kisame muttered to no one in particular.

“If he left on his own.” Itachi countered. Mitsukai didn’t say a word. Before they knew it, a little over an hour had passed by and, by Kisame’s educated guess, they were less than three hours away from the Wakkanai Village.

“Ah…” Mitsukai whined, shoulders drooping with fatigue, “The first chance I get, I’m taking a long bubble bath.”

“I’m going for a swim.” Kisame closed his eyes, picturing a huge sparkling pool.

“I’m…” Itachi added, “…going to get ice cream.”

Both Kisame and Mitsukai slowly leaned away from Itachi as if he had some deadly viral infection.

“I-ice cream…I-itachi-san?” Kisame asked cautiously.

“…Yes.” He turned slightly to look at the pair. “I’m human too.”

“Human in his case,” Mitsukai pointed to Kisame, “is a relative term and therefore up for debate. I guess I can understa—“ She ducked another one of Kisame’s swings.

“Say something else you little—“

The argument stopped before it could even start properly. Itachi had stopped walking for a second then suddenly took off into the forest on their left, cutting across Mitsukai and Kisame making them stop to avoid running into him. They both stood still, both confused yet awed at the teen’s speed. Before either of them could make a move or comment, Itachi returned carrying a little boy in his arms. “I found him.”

Mitsukai stared for a second. “So…then I didn’t need to come after all?”

“Pool, here I come!” Kisame cheered.

Mitsukai started to cheer and whoop along with Kisame. Itachi looked down at the boy’s pale skin. “He isn’t alive.”

“What?” Mitsukai stopped.

“Looks like he had a heatstroke…” Itachi laid the boy down in the grassy part of their path. “…His father won’t take this well.”

“Well, it isn’t our fault he can’t keep up with his own offspring.” Kisame said sourly, not liking the idea of being blamed for a death he had no part of.

“It doesn’t matter whose fault it is. Our main concern is getting the man to support our organization. That’s why we took this mission in the first place.” Itachi stood, closing his eyes to think of a solution.

“Well…” Mitsukai stepped closer to Itachi, “If it means that much to you guys, I-I know of a way to revive him.”

This got both Kisame and Itachi’s full attention. Kisame was doubtful. “You can bring back the dead?”

Itachi’s mind thought of all possible ways before something clicked in his brain. “You trained briefly with Orochimaru.”

“What does that have to do with anything? Even he can’t bring back the dead!” Kisame exclaimed folding his arms and turning away. “I say we just take the corpse to the man and tell him it was too late.”

Itachi gently grabbed Mitsukai’s arm and turned her towards him. “Can you do it? That particular jutsu?”

Mitsukai nodded. “I remember a lot from my training with various members of the Akatsuki. Training with him was the most vivid because…he killed something in front of me. I remember the blood more than anything else.”

Itachi nodded and let her go. “What do you need?”

“S-something that has a soul to equal the weight of his…um…L-like a deer or something.” She stammered.

“Kisame.” Itachi spoke sharply causing the man to snap to attention.

“Hai!” Kisame disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Itachi’s red eyes bore into her own, paralyzing her as he analyzed her searching for any lies. When he found none, he blinked and knelt down to the boy. “How much chakra will this cost you…since you’re not using a human soul for the exchange.”

“I have no idea. This is the first time I have ever tried this jutsu on my own, much less with a human and an animal. For all I know it may not work. Or it could work by taking my soul instead of the animal’s.”

“Do you have any idea why Orochimaru would want you to learn this jutsu? Did he ever say?”

She nodded. “He told me that he might need me to perform it when I got older.”

“Hm.” Itachi nodded briefly. “I see.”

Before Mitsukai ask, Kisame came out of the shrubs dragging an unconscious doe. “Okay, if this works, does anyone mind having venison for dinner? I just thought I’d ask before I started hacking away at it when this is over. I wasn’t sure if Mother Nature over there would appreciate me ‘violating’ her ecosystem by eating something she killed herself.”

“Go ahead.” Itachi stated, addressing both Mitsukai and Kisame.

Mitsukai nodded and knelt down in between the boy and doe, tears welling up in her eyes as she recalled how Orochimaru taught her to do it. “The body must be in a fair condition…and you must have a sacrifice.”

Kisame opened his mouth to comment but Itachi held up a hand to silence him.

“Tiger, snake, dog, dragon, and then you clap once.” She murmured to herself then repeated it, this time doing the signs with her hands as she spoke them aloud. “Tiger, snake, dog, dragon, and then you clap once.”

Then she lost consciousness.

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Itachi and Kisame both took a step back as a visible gold aura enveloped Mitsukai, giving off static like chakra that zapped both the doe and the boy.

“What the hell?!” Kisame yelled shielding his face.

“Houkou.” Itachi stated calmly as he narrowed his eyes. “Kisame, get ready.”

“Ready for what?”

The deer convulsed violently for a few seconds before becoming still then the boy’s body twitched as he soon started breathing again. Mitsukai stood but didn’t turn to face them. “You have nerve, using wildlife as a sacrifice.”

Both the men immediately noted that Mitsukai’s voice was not her own, confirming Itachi’s assumption. Itachi took a step forward. “We only did what was necessary.”

“Necessary?” Her head turned and she looked over her shoulder, allowing Itachi to see how her eyes had turned gold. “It was ‘necessary’ to upset the balance of life for your own benefit?”

“We didn’t upset the balance of life. For every thing that dies, one must be born to replace it. Just as for every thing that is born, something must die.”

“Thing? A human soul is different from the life that is within those of the wildlife. Never confuse the two again.” She turned around to face them fully. “Your ignorance is irritating.”

Itachi tensed as he felt the air become charged with chakra. “Kisame—“

A powerful bolt of chakra hit Kisame square in the chest, knocking him off his feet and hitting him hard enough that he landed several yards away. “AH!”

“Fool me once. Shame on me.” Houkou laughed. “Fool me twice. Shame on me.”

The little boy shuddered then opened his eyes, looking around then sitting up. “Where am I?”

‘Shit.’ Itachi thought. Now the boy was in danger. What was worse was that he didn’t seem to remember anything. Suddenly, Mitsukai was in front of him, rearing her fist back to punch him. The blow connected to his chin and his clone exploded, causing Mitsukai to quickly back flip away from the blast and land in a crouched position. She growled and it echoed slightly, sounding more like an animal than a human.

“Tell me, Uchiha, how is Sojobo doing these days?” It asked before chuckling to itself.

This caught Itachi off guard. “How do you—“

“Mitsukai and I share the same brain…remember? Anything that she learns, I learn. However, as the god of illusion, I can see through most of yours that you set up for her to see. Can you still see without your Sharingan? Or have you gone completely blind? “

Before Itachi could respond, Kisame appeared behind her and swung his sword, hitting Mitsukai and draining her of almost all of her chakra, then sending her flying back near Itachi. “You’re lucky I can’t kill you!” He lifted his sword and charged at Mitsukai.

Itachi stopped the blade with his right forearm, giving Kisame a lethal glare. “Do not forget whose responsibility she is. Do not,” he pushed Kisame’s blade away, “forget who her life belongs to. You are not allowed to do more than is necessary to contain her, no matter what she does to you. Go fetch the child.”

Kisame glared at Itachi for several seconds before putting away his blade and turning around with a grunt of dissatisfaction. “You won’t always be around…Itachi-san.”

Mitsukai groaned weakly and struggled to stand while holding her throbbing head. “What happened? Did I pass out?”

Itachi debated whether or not to let her know the truth. “Something like that.” He helped her stand. “Kisame will be back shortly with the boy. He took off after he woke up.”

Her head snapped up. “Oh yeah! He doesn’t remember anything. I developed a special jutsu for recovering memories that should help.”

“Why would you do that? Create the jutsu, I mean.” Itachi inquired.

“For a while I stayed in a small village outside of Port City in Tea Country. I was appointed as a assistant to the only doctor there and I realized that there were many patients there who had amnesia or were comatose. I learned that my Dream Eater Genjutsu could changed slightly by one hand sign and it could destroy the black box that the mind creates when damaged to store what it deems to be excess information.” She smiled. “It’s very useful.”

Itachi only nodded. Soon the screams and yells of the boy were heard and Kisame set him down. “I need new ear drums.”

Itachi nudged Mitsukai forward. “Go ahead.”

“Hai.” She nodded and knelt down to the boy. “Hi.”

He didn’t say a word, instead filled her arms, burying his face in her neck. “I’m scared! The fishy man scares me!”

She stifled a good laugh and avoided looking up at said fishy man. “It’s okay.” She shushed him as she made the hand signs. Her right hand started to glow and she put it on the back of his head as she concentrated on finding his memories and restoring them. Since he was so young it didn’t take that much time because he didn’t have that many memories. When she was finished, the boy had fallen asleep in her arms. “I’m done. He should be fine now.”

“Let’s go.” Itachi nodded continuing down the trail to the village.

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He sat in his bed, sipping on the brew of tea and medicine that Kabuto had made for him, thinking of what his informant had told him. Mitsukai was with the Akatsuki again. He had tried locating her before they got to her again but training Sasuke turned out to be something that required his full attention at times. However, now that Sasuke had grown, he knew it was time to resume the plans he had made for Mitsukai since the day she was born. Kabuto came into the room with a tray of food. “Kabuto.”

“Hm?” He looked at Orochimaru curiously after setting the food down on the bedside table. “Yes, Lord Orochimaru?”

“I need you to go find Mitsukai.”

“Mit—“ He paused as the name sparked a memory. “The little girl the Akatsuki trained as a weapon?”

Orochimaru nodded.

“Why is she important now? You have Sasuke whom is much stronger than she is.”

“That may be so…but she could be the leverage I need against the Akatsuki. With Naruto and the rest of the Hidden Leaf tracking down the Akatsuki just to find Itachi before Sasuke does, it would increase the odds of killing off the Akatsuki if I turned their own ‘weapon’ against them.” He rasped then took another sip.

“But she is a jinchuuriki. They would pursue her relentlessly. We would have to change locations more often.” Kabuto pointed out.

“A small price to pay for such a great reward.” Orochimaru smiled. “Even with the demon in her, if I could persuade her to join ranks with me after revealing the truth about the Akatsuki , she’d be worth the trouble.”

Kabuto nodded, pushing his glasses up. “Hai.”

“Just find her. If you can, find out what one of her weaknesses is. Report back to me.” Orochimaru finished off his brew. Kabuto disappeared without another word. He chuckled as he leaned back to relax. “Little Mitsukai…even if you fail at getting rid of the Akatsuki…their plans would go up in smoke if their little container were to die.”

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“Ah!” Mitsukai sighed happily as they walked over a lake. “It was nice of Leader to grant us a few days of rest. Does he do that often?”

“Only when you’ve done something that was very important to the organization.” Kisame noted.

Mitsukai nodded. “Can we please stay in a motel? With an actual bed and shower?” Her eyes widened. “An actual toilet with toilet paper?”

Kisame guffawed and nodded. “The kid has a point. I’m getting tired of using leaves myself.”

Mitsukai made a face but didn’t comment.

“You know, I’m surprised you even approve of using toilet tissue. Isn’t that against your environmentalist beliefs?” Kisame looked at her.

“Oh, shut it. That’s different. I have problems with you tearing down trees just for ‘fun’.”

“You know, one day, you’ll actually get over that and move on with your life.”

“Not as long as I have to look your blue face.”

“What’s wrong with blue? You got something against blue?”

“What?! What does blue have to do with—“

“I mean, you brought up the color as if you don’t like it.”

“Ugh! No, the part you should have taken offense to was the ‘your face’ part. I don’t care what color it is, you’re not easy on the eyes.”

“So what are you saying exactly?”

“That you’re ugly, Kisame. You are butt ugly.”

“Why do you two even bother to argue?” Itachi interrupted, stopping Kisame from outright attacking the girl. “You get into it then no less than ten minutes to an hour later, you’re friends again laughing and joking.”

Kisame and Mitsukai looked at each other then shrugged.

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Two nights later, right outside of the border of Otogakure, they stopped to make camp for the night before continuing on the next day to their destination. They sat around the fire, with Mitsukai roasting marshmallows she’d bought earlier that day.

“I don’t see how you eat those things.” Kisame remarked turning up his nose at the smell. “It’s burnt sugar.”

“Fluffy sugar, thank you.” She corrected carefully plopping one into her mouth.

He shuddered. “Eating those just can’t be human.”

Mitsukai eyed him for a second. “You’re one to talk about human.”

“Hey, I am human despite my appearance. I’ve done everything humans do.”

“Like?”

“Believe it or not, I’ve kissed a girl.”

Mitsukai’s jaw dropped. “You did what to who?”

Kisame nodded proudly and puffed out his chest. “Yeah. How about you? You ever kissed a guy?”

Mitsukai’s eye twitched and she turned away, shoving a hot marshmallow into her mouth. Of course, it scorched her tongue causing her to spit it out and fan her tongue.

The question sparked Itachi’s interest in their usually bland conversation and made him wait for her answer.

“Stall all you want, kiddo. What’s the verdict?”

“Ah. Well, I…uh…”

Kisame cocked his head to the side. “Was it a guy? Or should I say girl? You’ve never stated your preference.”

“Well?” Itachi prodded.

“I-I’ve never kissed anyone before.” Mitsukai admitted in a whisper.

“Oh?” Kisame blinked then erupted with laughter. “You’re kidding me! You’ve never kissed anyone? How old are you?”

“Oh, shut it.” Mitsukai stood. “I’m going to get more sticks and stuff for the fire.” She threw a half eaten marshmallow into the fire and stomped off.

“You hurt her feelings.” Itachi pointed out which made Kisame stop laughing.

“Well, that’s what she gets for teasing me the way she did.”

Mitsukai made sure she was well away from the two before she started spewing all sorts of expletives and insults as she angrily picked up sticks and branches.

“Did it bother you that much?”

She jumped, dropped all of her sticks, and whirled around. “Itachi?”

He blinked a few times then repeated the question.

“Well, not exactly ‘bother’. It’s just…well I…” She sighed then shrugged. “I just haven’t really given the act any thought. I mean, I have given it thought, I just haven’t had the chance—“

He watched as her mind continued to let her mouth ramble on before taking her chin and tilting her head up. “Do you mind…if I am your first?”

Mitsukai’s mind melted as she processed his words then his question as a whole. “I-I-I…”

He smirked and leaned down, bringing his lips closer to hers as he whispered. “Tell me, Mitsukai, how do you feel about me?”

She tried to move her jaw but no sound came out.

Itachi nuzzled his cheek against hers as he whispered into her ear. “I see. So you do have feelings for me then. Tell me, would you do anything for me?”

Mitsukai nodded.

He chuckled softly. “Would you give your life for me?”

She hesitated, bit her lip, but nodded.

He pulled back and looked her directly in her eyes, his own a dark smoldering charcoal. “Do you love me…Mitsukai?”

She felt her knees buckle but he kept her standing with one of his arms anchored around her waist, pinning her against his body. He leaned forward, lips hovering over hers as his breath gently washed over her lips and cheeks. She could feel herself getting light-headed and knew she’d pass out if he kept this up. “Itachi, I—“

“Please Mitsukai, answer me.”

“Y-yes.” She nodded, whimpering as his lips grazed hers.

He smirked. “Good. That’s all I need to know.” His lips crushed hers in a rough, bruising kiss for what seemed like forever then pulled away suddenly. “Hm.” He suddenly let go and took a few steps back.

“Mitsukai?” Kisame called out.

“O-over here.” She tried to speak out loud. Soon Kisame emerged and her jaw dropped in pure shock.

Itachi was behind Kisame, Sharingan blazing. “Kabuto.”

Her eyes felt like they would split at the seams when she turned back to the Itachi she’d kissed and saw one of her earlier teachers standing there, adjusting his glasses on his nose. “W-what?”

“See you later…Mitsukai-chan.” He waved and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“Can someone please explain what the hell is going on here?” Kisame looked at Itachi then Mitsukai.

“Hell, I wish I knew.” Mitsukai sighed touching her bottom lip.