Chapter 166: Itachi and Shisui in the forest of death!
Ryuu stayed behind to talk with Yagami while Shisui met with Itachi in the forest of death.
"Why did you lie to Sasuke? He's probably going to resent me too, you know."
"I realize it was wrong of me, but Sasuke's a smart kid, I think he'll understand," Itachi replied as he reached to get the scroll.
"My first task is to take along a genin, and secure the scroll in question.
Even if this training exercise required a genin, it didn't have to be you." Shisui stated as he opened the scroll.
"Hey don't bother telling me that now.
Even if it's not a mission, Shisui the Jonin requested me.
I wouldn't be lying if I said it's a mission, though, right?"
"Well, you're half right.
Plus, we have Ryuu-sensei supervising us, let's go!" Shisui took off.
Itachi followed him and caught up.
"So what are the details?" Itachi asked.
"There are three parts to it.
The first part is to find traces left by a fugitive, and use them to track them down."
"Hisss!" A giant snake appeared, and headed towards Shisui, he dodged left, leaving Itachi wide open.
Swing!
Itachi cut its head off and swung his blade again, slicing the snake into pieces.
Shisui swung back using a vine.
"Hey, not bad."
Itachi smiled.
"Not bad indeed, Itachi." Ryuu caught up with them.
They stopped at a tree.
"Sorry for taking so long before arriving."
"That's no problem, big brother," Itachi replied.
"I won't be helping much unless I'm needed.
But I doubt you two will need me."
Shisui and Itachi dropped.
Shisui was inspecting a footprint.
'Nice one, Shisui, spotting a footprint in the moss.' Ryuu said to himself.
Itachi spotted a broken branch and went to inspect it.
"This is…"
"A broken branch, nice.
Our guy must've stepped on it.
How perceptive.
But I'm afraid it's a decoy."
"Hm?" Itachi looked at the branch.
"Dry wood does snap like this when stepped on, but this piece is all moist, also there's a sharp cut down there.
So obviously he was in a hurry to make a decoy.
This is sloppy work."
"Don't beat yourself up, based on the direction that decoy was placed, our guy must be this way, look at this stone."
Ryuu said as he gave the stone to Shisui.
"I was just getting to that."
"Oh." Ryuu dropped his head depressingly.
"Dry underneath and wet at the top, he must've stepped on it and flipped it over."
"That could be another diversion," Itachi added.
"Could be… At least, it's a possibility.
But even if it's only a decoy, the moisture around the stone can tell us how long he was here.
Plus, if that fails, we can blame sensei for being the one who found the stone."
"I see…" Itachi looked at Shisui as he explained.
Ryuu glared at Shisui but decided not to do anything because they were on a mission.
"From the moisture around here, he may have left a trail."
Itachi looked around.
"Sniff Sniff."
He caught a scent in the air.
"You smell that?" Itachi followed the scent and found a bunch of sunflowers that had been stepped on.
"Excellent," Shisui stated as he put his hand on Itachi's shoulder.
'We followed the trails left by the shinobi and then we found ourselves at the river.
Shisui took this opportunity and filled his bottle with water.'
"So it's not a decoy after all," Itachi stated, looking inside the water.
"No, that's one of the main purposes of leaving decoys.
Everything looks like it might be one.
Being able to confuse the pursuer affords the fugitive more options."
Shisui stated.
"At this rate, there's no way I can catch the fugitive by myself.
I need to develop better tracking skills." Itachi said.
"Haha! Maybe, but you're only half right."
"Huh?"
Shisui opened a bottle of water and drank from it.
"Go on, drink up."
Itachi ran towards Shisui.
He took the bottle of water and sat down.
"Wait, Where's big brother?" Itachi asked before drinking.
"I didn't even notice him leaving."
Ryuu had left the forest of death after being called in by Sakumo through his clones.
Ryuu put on his Anbu uniform and entered the Hokage's office.
"You needed me?"
Sakumo nodded.
Sakumo sat down with Danzo and Lord third on the other side.
"I need your advice." Ryuu tilted his head.
"My…
Advice?"
"Yes.
Please sit down." Ryuu nodded and sat across the Hokage and Lord third.
He had removed his mask, but his Sharingan was still on.
"We are trying to figure out a peaceful way to take care of the unrest that's growing between the Uchiha clan and the village.
The Uchiha clan has been suspected to be the ones who attacked the village using the nine tails, even after we cleared their name by exposing the Akatsuki.
I figured you would give better advice, being part of the clan and not having any resentment for the village."
"I see…
Well, if you want the truth, there are only 3 ways this could go."
Ryuu told them the three possibilities.
After the meeting, Ryuu went to see Itachi and Shisui before going home.
"Where'd you go, sensei?"
"I had urgent business to attend to.
Anyway, why are you carrying Itachi?"
Shisui was carrying Itachi on his back.
"I got hurt during the mission, I should've been better." Ryuu smiled.
"Say, Itachi, didn't you say you wanted to talk to Ryuu-sensei?"
"Oh, it's not that urgent, big brother probably has better things to do."
Ryuu shook his head.
"Nonsense, come on, I'll take you home, I need someone like you with me right now."
"Someone like me?" Ryuu nodded.
"Well, I'm having trouble with something and sometimes you enlighten me, you know?"
"I… Enlighten you?" Ryuu nodded.
"Hop on, I'll heal you on our way."
Ryuu took Itachi and carried him on his back.
Ryuu healed Itachi's wounds and gave him a chakra pill to restore his chakra.
He had used too much by using his Sharingan.
"So, what did you want to talk about, Itachi?"
"It's not that important.
But I just wanted to thank you.
If it wasn't for you, my entire team would be dead by now. Including me."
"Oh, that, no worries, Itachi.
I'll always have your back, you know."
Ryuu looked down.
"Although I'm disappointed that I didn't make it earlier.
I could've saved Tenma, too."
"I shouldn't have hesitated."
"What?" Ryuu asked.
"I hesitated during the mission.
If I let go of the cart, I could've saved him.
His death was my fault, not yours."
"Itachi…"
Ryuu frowned at hearing Itachi talk like that.
"Hey, don't talk like that again.
This wasn't your fault.
Anyone in your position would've done the same thing."
"But you wouldn't."
Ryuu's eyes widened.
"I…"
Ryuu looked at the ground and thought of what to say.
"Maybe I've never hesitated to save someone's life.
But people have died and suffered because I withheld information.
You still have time to learn from your mistakes, just like I always do.
We aren't so different, you and me.
You'll never forget this day like me, but at least now you know something that you didn't before."
"What's that?"
Ryuu looked at Itachi and winked with a smirk.
"When in doubt, always trust what your gut is telling you, no matter the cost."
Itachi's eyes widened.
'I see…
Big brother always thinks of others before himself, that's why he can play both the villain and the hero.'
Itachi laid on Ryuu's back and started closing his eyes, thinking about what Ryuu told him about falling asleep on Ryuu's back.
"Itachi, you've helped me more than you know.
Now I know what I must do." Ryuu spoke to himself.
Nobu appeared from Ryuu's body.
"Ryuu, what you plan on doing is reckless, will you go through with it?" Ryuu nodded.
"But you didn't tell the elders and the Hokage about your actual plan, I wonder what will happen." Nobu returned to his body.
Knock knock knock.
Ryuu knocked on Fugaku's door.
"Itachi did well today, although he's extremely exhausted from using his Sharingan."
"His Sharingan?" Ryuu nodded.
He shyly scratched his head and said.
"I thought you'd know already."
"No, Itachi didn't mention it."
"I'll take Itachi to his room and then I'll leave with Naruto." Ryuu walked to Itachi's room and put him in his bed.
"Sleep well Itachi." He closed the door.
He went downstairs and saw Naruto and Sasuke playing in the backyard.
"Naruto, it's time to go, you can come back tomorrow."
"Already?" Ryuu nodded.
"C'mon, I'm cooking tonight."
"Really?!" Ryuu nodded.
"Bye Sasuke!" Naruto waved him goodbye.
"Don't come back!"
"Sure, I'll come back if you insist!"
Sasuke closed the door.
"That usuratonkachi Naruto, he's so annoying."
After that, Ryuu said his goodbyes and took Naruto with him.
Fun fact of the day:
There's no way to tell if someone is a jinchuriki of a Phoenix unless you attempt genjutsu or enter their mind.
This is because Phoenix use ash to cover their chakra and all sorts of energy.
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