Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Imouto Trilogy :: Hatake :: Even After All These Years ❯ Chapter 13: The Imouto ( Chapter 13 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

 

Claimer: I do own Kyomi and the story plot.

 

(1) - "Nami no Kuni" means "Land of Waves".

 

Thanks to my beta reader, BattleStations!

 

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Even After All These Years

 

Chapter 13

The Imouto

 

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Itachi.

 

Kyomi instantly felt herself completely freeze up. She could swear that for several moments her heart even stopped beating. Slowly her face formed itself into an expression of shock and her breathing began to come in quick, short bursts.

 

Itachi was standing facing the shadow kunoichi. Though his back was facing Kyomi, his head was turned to stare at her, his sharingan eyes piercing through her.

 

"I-Itachi..." Kyomi breathed out in shock.

 

Itachi's eyes narrowed marginally for a moment before his face relaxed slightly, apparently recognizing her. It took Kyomi a moment to remember that she must look very different dressed up as she was.

 

Slowly, a small, dark smirk crept up onto Itachi's face. "Kyomi-chan," he murmured, tilting his head to the side ever so slightly. His eyes trailed down to Kyomi's wounded arm, which was bleeding freely. "You should get that taken care of."

 

"Itachi--" the shadow kunoichi suddenly interrupted. Itachi simply threw her a look however and she quickly shut her mouth with an audible click.

 

Kuro, who was still in the process of getting up from where he'd been thrown, began to growl but quickly stopped as he stared at Itachi. He looked torn, as if he didn't know whether to attack or not. His nose and memory was telling him that the man was an ally, but his mind was telling him that he was an enemy. Before the half-wolf could come to a decision however, Itachi abruptly threw a couple shuriken his way with a barely noticeably flick of his wrist. The surprised summon disappeared in a small poof of smoke.

 

Itachi then moved his gaze onto Daichi ignoring the shell-shocked Kyomi completely. Daichi was looking like he was about to have a heart attack or was already in the middle of one. His face was so pale that it was doubtful that there was any blood left in it at all and he was shaking badly.

 

Itachi just let his gaze rest on Daichi for a moment to study the man. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he spoke.

 

"You...we no longer need to deal with." Itachi paused to glance at the shadow kunoichi. "We have more important things to take care of."

 

Itachi flicked his wrist once so quickly that before Kyomi was even able to register the movement a scream erupted from Daichi. Half way through however, it turned into more of a gurgle. Kyomi quickly spun around to find a kunai buried deep within the man's throat. Daichi reached up to grab the kunai, but his strength failed half way through and his arms fell back down, the life fading from his eyes.

 

Hearing a shift of clothing behind her, Kyomi quickly turned around again. Itachi had turned back around to face the dark haired kunoichi and had grabbed onto her arm. Seeing that they were obviously about to leave, Kyomi quickly took a stumbling step forward, her eyes wide.

 

"Wait!" she called out, but it was already too late. She was alone in the alley with Daichi's bleeding body. Kyomi hesitated for a moment. She desperately wanted to chase after Itachi but knew that she couldn't; reporting back to the Hokage was more important at the moment.

 

Unbidden furious anger rose up in Kyomi and a snarl rose to her face and she quickly spun around to punch the wall behind her in frustration with all the force she could muster. The sudden pain in her fist reminded Kyomi of her injured arm. Kyomi glared down at it for a moment but then ripped off her already half cut off kimono sleeve and used it to bandage her arm to stem the blood flow.

 

Kyomi then proceeded to take a kunai and use it to cut off the bottom her kimono so that it only reached her mid-thigh. She'd be able to run much earlier this way.

 

Kyomi paused to survey the alley around her, which was currently littered with blood and shinobi weapons. She knew the procedure; she had to clean up after herself to leave no evidence behind. And she had to do it fast because someone must have heard the sounds of fighting.

 

A minute later there were no weapons left or signs of a fight having taken place. All that Kyomi had left was Daichi's body--with any luck, the police might even think that it had just been a simple robbery.

 

Kyomi didn't spare Daichi another glance. Instead, she leapt away and began to race across the rooftops of the city faster than she probably ever had before.

 

This whole situation was bad. Really bad. The shadow kunoichi was a part of the Akatsuki? Or at least worked with them...And Daichi had helped them? How? Why? And what about that katana that Kyomi had been guarding when she'd first met the shadow kunoichi? Why had they been after that?

 

And then there was Itachi...Kyomi's frown deepened. She hadn't seen him since he'd left Konoha over eight years ago. He was almost exactly the same as she remembered, only older, which really sent her for a loop. Even his voice was almost exactly the same. Deep...smooth...

 

Kyomi quickly jerked herself out of her thoughts before they could go any further. No. Itachi was the enemy now. He had massacred almost his entire clan and had deserted their village.

 

Kyomi's expression turned into that of a scowl as she began to race toward Konohagakure no Sato.

 

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Only a half an hour later Kyomi noticed a group of people a bit a ways ahead of her through the foliage of the trees she was currently leaping through. She slowed down a bit, but then relaxed when she saw that it was just the two Genin teams that she'd left earlier. Kyomi dashed past them and dropped down from the trees to land before the group.

 

Still jumpy from their earlier battle, several of the Genin immediately threw some kunai and shuriken at Kyomi without waiting to see who she was. Kyomi admired their reflexes, but didn't have time for the young shinobi at the moment and so simply deflected the weapons away.

 

"Haruka-san?" Neji asked with a frown after a moment's pause.

 

Naruto was frowning as well, though for a very different reason. "Kyomi-sensei?"

 

Around him the other Genin turned to him, surprised. Gai looked as though he wasn't sure whether to be surprised or not.

 

"Kyomi," Kakashi put in, causing the attention to shift onto him. "What's happened?"

 

Kyomi paused, thinking of how to word her next sentence since there were Genin present. "Something...came up," she finally said. "I'm heading back to Konohagakure now."

 

Though he was wearing a mask over the lower part of his face, Kyomi could tell from years of experience that Kakashi was frowning.

 

"Is there a problem?" The older shinobi asked. Kyomi knew instantly what he really meant: Was there any immediate danger to them?

 

Kyomi paused once again, considering the question. "...Possibly..."

 

Kakashi nodded in reply and his face set into a very serious expression. He knew very well that Kyomi would not have broken out of cover unless something serious had happened.

 

As Kyomi turned to leave the group she turned her attention onto Naruto.

 

"Hige-kun," she said seriously. "As soon as you get back meet me at Training Ground #21."

 

And with that, she was gone.

 

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Kyomi strode quickly through the Hokage tower, ignoring all of the people around her. It was already around noon, meaning that it had taken almost 24 hours for her to return to Konohagakure no Sato. It was amazing how much quicker it was to travel when you were alone. At the moment however, Kyomi's mind was far from her return trip to Konoha. Rather, it was focused solely on what her upcoming report to the Godaime Hokage was going to be.

 

In mere moments Kyomi had reached the Hokage's office. She swept past the receptionist, ignoring the woman's cry of protest, and slipped into the room without bothering to knock.

 

Tsunade looked up sharply upon hearing her door open. She was currently in the middle of a meeting with a Chuunin. Upon seeing Kyomi in her doorway however, she quickly dismissed the shinobi and beckoned the ANBU to come forward. Kyomi did so without hesitation and moved to stand formally before her superior.

 

"What happened?" Tsunade quickly asked. She, like any other high-ranking shinobi, knew that no ANBU would return so quickly from a mission with something serious having happened. That and the serious look on the silver haired kunoichi's face also gave her away.

 

"Kurosaki-san lied about what was happening, Hokage-sama," Kyomi said solemnly. "In reality his situation actually involved the Akatsuki Organization." Kyomi paused. "...I was intercepted at one point by Uchiha Itachi."

 

Even as the words left Kyomi's mouth Tsunade began to frown ferociously. Upon hearing of Itachi however, her eyes widened and then narrowed dangerously.

 

"Tell me everything," she commanded.

 

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It was almost another hour before Kyomi finally left the Hokage's office. By then she had explained the entire situation in detail and had then had to submit to Tsunade's intense interrogation questions. In the end Tsunade had even called to meeting all of the ANBU commanders and had her repeat what had happened to them.

 

The investigation on Akatsuki had intensified and Kyomi was going to be right in the middle of it, helping out despite the job that she already had—teaching Naruto.

 

Speaking of which, the Godaime had also given Kyomi a new long-term indefinite mission: to protect Naruto. It wasn't like she wouldn't do that anyway, but now she was like his official body guard. With the Akatsuki's increased activities Kyomi was quite sure that it was needed. At one point Tsunade had even suggested that Kyomi move into Naruto's apartment or Naruto into hers, but they both agreed that that wasn't quite needed yet.

 

Now Kyomi was strolling quickly through the streets. She wanted to go speak with Kenmaru in his weapon shop. She wasn't going to tell him anything about the Akatsuki of course, but rather just that they might need to step up on the blonde's training a bit. By the Chuunin exams Kyomi wanted Naruto to be ready for anything that was thrown his way.

 

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Meanwhile, back with the Genin teams, everyone was staring at Naruto.

 

"Kyomi--" Sakura started incredulously.

 

"--sensei?" Sasuke finished, wearing a similar expression.

 

Sakura continued to eye Naruto curiously. "Wait, Kyomi? Wasn't she Kakashi-sensei's sister?"

 

As Naruto nodded uncomfortable in reply Sasuke watched him through narrowed eyes. "Explain," he demanded.

 

Naruto rolled his eyes but quickly shoved down the spike of anger that rose within him in response to the Uchiha's attitude. "I'm Kyomi-sensei's apprentice," he replied with a shrug. "She's my official instructor now."

 

Neji's brow furrowed. "Hmm...Kyomi?" he mused. He too was eyeing Naruto with interest. "Wasn't she that ANBU that we fought against a month or so ago...?"

 

Tenten blinked in surprise. "I think that she might be, but she looks so different..."

 

"She was undercover," Naruto explained. After a moment's pause he turned to Kakashi. "What was she doing?" he asked the Jounin. "What was this whole mission about?"

 

Kakashi smiled brightly at the blonde. "Sorry, Naruto-kun, but that's classified information." Without another word he hid his face behind his little orange book and continued reading.

 

"That's--" Sakura began, but then abruptly cut herself off. "Wait a minute!" she exclaimed angrily. "How come you never told us about this?!"

 

Naruto simply raised an eyebrow. "Did you honestly never question where I went everyday after I finished missions? Or why we never train as a team anymore?" At Sakura's bewildered expression, he let out a sigh.

 

As they continued walking, both Sasuke and Sakura lapsed into silence, thinking. Sasuke had a scowl on his face while Sakura merely looked thoughtful. Naruto went quiet as well, though he spoke with Gai's team occasionally.

 

Time seemed to fly by and eventually a day and a half had passed and the two teams were walking through the gates and into Konohagakure. Kakashi and Gai left almost immediately, heading toward the Hokage Tower to write up their reports. Without saying a word to any of the other Genin, Naruto was already gone, making his way across the rooftops toward the training grounds. He was eager to get back to training with Kyomi.

 

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Naruto was exhausted. That was the only thought running through his mind. It had been another week since the mission to Hajime and since then his training with both Kyomi and Kenmaru had increased exponentially, though previously he hadn't thought that to be possible. They were both pushing him as hard as they could and it seemed as though his every waking moment was filled with some sort of training.

 

Currently he was entering a training ground for his daily session with Kyomi. His eyes were shifting around as he walked. He expected to have to find Kyomi like he always did--he was still going through tracking training, although his skills in that area were much higher than they'd been even a month ago--but to his surprise he found Kyomi standing in the middle of the training ground, waiting. Confused but wary, he approached. His wariness increased at the sight of Kyomi's almost feral grin.

 

"Hige-kun!" Kyomi chirped in greeting. "I've got a surprise for you!"

 

Naruto eyed her warily for a moment. "Uh-huh..."

 

Kyomi quickly waved him off, laughing. "Oh, don't worry," she said. "You'll like this." She pause for dramatic effect, then, "We're going on a B-class mission!"

 

"Mission...?" Naruto echoed in surprise.

 

"Well, you'll be doing the mission and I'll be supervising," Kyomi amended. When Naruto just continued to stare at her, she expounded upon her statement. "I managed to get permission from Godaime-sama to take you on missions. Training is great and all, but it's no substitute for field experience."

 

Naruto nodded thoughtfully, excitement starting to build within him. He was going to get to go on missions with Kyomi!

 

"Do I need to pack anything?" he asked.

 

"Nope. The mission isn't too far away; we should be back by this evening."

 

Kyomi pulled a scroll out and tossed it to the blonde Genin. "Those are the mission details," she said. "Read it, memorize it, and then burn it. Also know that I won't be helping you with the mission; I'm just there to make sure that things don't go too wrong." She grinned toothily at him.

 

Suppressing his own grin, Naruto opened the scroll and began to read. The mission objective, it seemed, was a simple retrieval. There was an old scroll that had been stolen and Naruto's job was to sneak into the building that it was being kept in, get the scroll, and then get out undetected. In total, it meant that Naruto was going to have to use a lot of the stealth skills that Kyomi had taught him. Real life application indeed.

 

"Kyomi-sensei..." Naruto said after a moment's pause. "Should there be more details in this? Like how and why the scroll was stolen in the first place?"

 

Kyomi shook her head. "Our job as shinobi is to complete our missions. It does not, cannot, matter how or why the situation came to be in the first place," she stated firmly. "It's the job of the ANBU to make sure that there are no extra complications or situations."

 

That was a part of the reason why she was so frustrated about what had happened in Hajime with that shadow kunoichi and Itachi. Being an ANBU herself, she knew well enough that no one in the ANBU had had any idea that Daichi had been lying. That whole mission had been the perfect example of a lack of intelligence on the man.

 

As soon as Naruto had destroyed the mission scroll he and Kyomi headed out of Konohagakure no Sato, pausing only briefly at the gates. Kyomi only told him that it would take about two hours to reach the town that was their destination and then faded into the background, leaving Naruto to navigate on his own. Naruto was infinitely grateful that Kyomi had taught him much about geography and how to read maps, otherwise he would have quickly gotten lost.

 

True to Kyomi's word it took just over two hours for Naruto to reach the village. The travel there had been a bit strange because even though he'd known that Kyomi was there, it'd felt as though he was alone. Was this really what it was like to go on solo missions?

 

Once in the village, Naruto used his skills as a shinobi to make his way over to the walled castle-like structure, up the walls, and into the building itself. It was fairly difficult as it was high noon, but he was an experienced shinobi, so he managed it. Kyomi trailed along behind him the entire time, just out of sight.

 

As soon as he was within the building Naruto preformed the Kakuremino no Jutsu (Cloak of Invisibility Technique) so that he wouldn't be seen from then on. He trusted his skills to keep himself from making noise for now.

 

Because he didn't know where the scroll was being kept Naruto had to search the building. He passed many guards along the way, but managed to avoid notice. Finally, after nearly a half an hour Naruto came upon a room containing many scrolls. He scowled briefly in annoyance but was also glad that the mission scroll had contained a description of the stolen scroll. It was supposed to be large and old with red trimming.

 

Letting out a sigh Naruto began to quickly sort through the scrolls while being careful not to make much noise. Fortunately it only took a minute before he came across a scroll matching the description that he'd been given. Naruto grinned triumphantly and then tucked the scroll away. He was just turning to leave when the door suddenly slid open and a guard stepped inside.

 

Naruto froze completely, cursing within his mind. Thinking quickly he activated his Muon no Jutsu (Soundless Technique) and leapt toward the wall, which he then clung to with his chakra. He waited completely still there for a minute, grimacing as he felt the strain on his control. He could manage to hold up Kakuremino no Jutsu (Cloak of Invisibility Technique) for a while, but holding up two jutsu at the same time was much more difficult.

 

The guard poked around the room for a bit while Naruto watched from his vantage point. Finally, the man appeared to be satisfied that everything was as it should be and left.

 

Naruto let out a relieved breath of air but waited for another minute anyway before finally detaching himself from the wall. He released the Muon no Jutsu (Soundless Technique) and then made his way out of the room. From there it took Naruto only a couple of minutes to get out of the building and to the edge of the village. He laughed as he released the Kakuremino no Jutsu (Cloak of Invisibility Technique), glad to have successfully completed the mission without a hitch.

 

Kyomi chuckled as well as she came into view. Though the mission had been very easy, Naruto had done very well and hadn't been caught. It'd been almost amusing to watch him work.

 

"Good job, Hige-kun," Kyomi murmured while affectionately ruffling his hair. For once Naruto didn't shy away from her hand and instead just grinned up at her.

 

Even as Kyomi congratulated Naruto she couldn't help but let her smile turn a bit sad. Though it'd been quite a while since the incident with the bandit attack Naruto's hair was still tinted red and Kyomi knew that it was now permanent. Normally blood would wash out of course, but as far as Kyomi could tell the blood had reacted strangely with the chakra that he'd been wrapped in at the time because of the Kakuremino no Jutsu (Cloak of Invisibility Technique), and so had stained his blonde hair instead. It was fortunate that the villagers hadn't noticed yet, though that was most likely because Naruto was almost never around the village proper anymore.

 

Naruto's axe too was still stained--most likely for the same reason--but Kyomi thought that that at least might be a good thing. After all, it added an intimidation factor to the already impressive weapon.

 

"Come," Kyomi said as she pushed her contemplations away. "We need to get back to the village. One thing that you should always remember is to return to Konohagakure no Sato punctually, especially if something important or odd happened during your mission. Often the difference between a mission being completely and a shinobi dying is the amount of information that they have before hand.

 

"So, even if you think that something isn't important, it could be to your superiors. For them it could be a puzzle piece that completes a large picture that will decide whether or not they'll send someone on a mission or if they'll up the rating of the mission instead."

 

Naruto's brow furrowed. "Huh? But...I don't..."

 

Kyomi sighed. "Alright. You remember that mission that you went on two years ago in Nami no Kuni(1), right?"

 

Naruto was momentarily surprised that Kyomi even knew of the mission, but quickly nodded without asking questions. He definitely remembered the mission. Not only had it been his first C-class mission (Well, technically A-class, he reminded himself.), but it had also been the first time that he'd really been introduced to death and the harshness of the shinobi world.

 

"Well," Kyomi continued, "Let's say that there was a Chuunin who went on a mission in that area just before you did. Now if he just reported on the basic details of his mission then things would have turned out just as they did. However, if he had instead had a complete report and expanded upon all of the information of the area that he'd encountered, then the Hokage would have known more about the situation in Nami no Kuni and would have known better than to send a new Genin team on such a mission. As such, many deaths could have been avoided."

 

Naruto's eyes widened as realization stuck him. He understood now what Kyomi had meant about writing full reports. Though he'd been glad to have been able to go on the mission in Nami no Kuni, if Haku and Zabuza's deaths could have been avoided he'd agree not to go in a heartbeat. Not to mention that Sasuke had nearly been killed too...

 

"If you never learn anything else from me," Kyomi stated seriously, "Then just know this: Knowledge used properly can be more dangerous than any weapon."

 

Immediately, Naruto began to nod. He understood what Kyomi was saying and, from past experiences, knew that it was probably quite true.

 

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It didn't take quite as long to return to Konohagakure no Sato as it had to reach their original destination, probably because Naruto was excited about having completed his mission. Kyomi disappeared again while they traveled, but joined up with Naruto once more when they came in view of the village gates.

 

"Next time," Kyomi said as they walked up to the Chuunin guards, "I won't show up during the mission at all. I'll still be there, but you'll have to complete the mission all by yourself, including your report to the Hokage." She then turned her attention to the Chuunin and flashed her and Naruto's identification--they needed to get Naruto's photo updated, she noted offhandedly.

 

From there the two headed towards the Hokage Tower. Because Naruto had never filled out a mission report before--Kakashi always did that--Kyomi directed him to where he needed to go and then explained to him what he needed to do. Kyomi would have to fill out a report as well later, but that was more an evaluation of Naruto than about the mission.

 

As Naruto turned in the report, the Chuunin sitting behind the desk in the room told him that his pay would be charged to his bank account. Naruto nodded awkwardly in reply. He knew that that was how they were paid of course, but dealing with the shinobi who worked in the administration was a new experience.

 

Kyomi grinned as she rested a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Come one," she said. "Let's go train."

 

Naruto groaned.