Black Bird [Itachi Uchiha]

3: Initiation

My eyes snapped open, and I propelled my upper body upward off of the soft surface I had been laying on, my Kiro activated. There were currently three people in the room with me. I whipped my head to the right, making eye contact with Itachi Uchiha again. "What happened?" I demanded immediately, gripping onto the edges of what I realized to be a cot underneath me, ready to propel myself off of the bed. I turned to the other two figures and noticed I didn't recognize one of them. He had orange hair, purple, ringed eyes, and piercings all over his face of the same design: rounded, studded, dark. He wore the same robe the other two men wore.

"I understand you may be confused, and a little frightened, but ask me any questions, and I will have the answer for you." The unknown man spoke.

I pursed my lips. I began to survey the situation.

I was here against my will, amongst strong shinobi running from the law, as I too hide from the outside world. I understood I would be sought after, and this would be the perfect cover. There was a chance I would be revealed as being part of this organization, and whether or not authorities believed me when I voiced that this was against my wishes, they would still destroy me if given the chance.

I looked at Itachi, then Kisame, then the orange haired man. Kisame was the only one smirking, the other two had serious expressions on their face. I turned my eyes to "I will comply to your organization. But I only ask one thing."

There was a brief moment of silence before the orange haired man replied. "And what might that be?"

"I want to learn from the Uchiha," I stated boldly. Kisame chuckled, and when I turned to see Itachi's expression, his head was slightly tilted downward, eyes closed with the smallest hint of a smile. "I want to become stronger. I want to hone my craft." I was entranced by his genjutsu, I felt reborn with new strong desires.+-

"Agreed," Pein spoke, turning to look at Itachi and Kisame. "That solves the dilemma of assigning you to another squad until you are strong enough to be a stand-in when other members are busy with given tasks. You will address me as Leader, and you will be initiated briefly," he spoke. I nodded in response, glancing at the opening door as a woman with blue hair tied in a bun with a blue flower walked into the room. She had a piercing below her lower lip, and amber colored eyes. I turned back to Leader when he asked me another question. "How old are you?"

"Fourteen."

"Hm," Kisame mused. "Year younger than Itachi."

"Are you prepared to reject The Sand Village?" Leader asked me.

I hesitated, but ultimately, I nodded. "Yes."

"Good."

--

The initiation didn't take long, and it involved a roaring fire, and all of the members of the Akatsuki. I was given a robe, and a plum-colored ring for my left pinky finger with the kanji saisei for rebirth. Leader also told me to carve a slice through my headband symbol. I met the members all at once around a fire as Pein, or "Leader", loomed over me.

Strangely enough, I wasn't able to get the final words out of my head, as if Leader cast a spell that physically bound me in this group. "Instead of the Five Great Shinobi Nations, Akatsuki shall rule the world. Kyoto of The Sand, we welcome you into the Akatsuki. From this moment on, reject The Sand. From now on. . . You are Kyoto of the Akatsuki."

I had taken a breather in between the initiation and the fight to sit down with a glass of water. I let out a soft breath. I was Kyoto of the Akatsuki.

It was odd how quick it all happened. They hadn't even given me a tour of the place yet. I just woke up here. They had probably expected me to make a run for it rather than just accept my fate.