Forever My Heart

The Uchiha ANBU (Pt. 1)

Another year seemed to pass quickly since Itachi had been promoted to chunin. The missions had become acceptably more challenging and his various teammates had become more cooperative. It was a small mercy that the secret meeting at the Naka Shrine had been put to a standstill, but Itachi knew that, under his father's orders, they were waiting for the inevitable to happen: his promotion to ANBU.

It had been an unsaid agreement, just like when he would become chunin, that they wait until he was a certain age before they would consider moving him to a high-ranking position. Apparently, nobody wanted to wait more than a year for him to take that position, since both parties seemed to have less than moral motives behind his piece in the game.

Itachi dreaded when that day came…however, this could also be to his advantage. The key to setting things in motion, the doorway to his ultimate goal…

"Fugaku already told you, then. I assume you have agreed to join the ANBU."

"Hai."

"There's resistance from above at having an Uchiha in the ANBU. An achievement is required to show us whether ir not you are suitable for this organization."

"Do you mean a mission?"

"Precisely. I have already been put in charge of giving you that mission. There is a man in the ANBU, age thirty-four. From your perspective, he is already an old shinobi, I suppose. Although not as great your own, many have seen great talent in him, from the time he was a child. This man came up the ranks through genin to chunin without incident, and joined the ANBU at the same time as he was promoted to jonin. But—Recently, we learned he has been colluding with Kirigakure."

A traitor…

"Only a very few people in the village know of this man's collusion."

"So the one to take care of him is me—

"I'm not finished. Those who belong to the ANBU do their utmost to keep the people of the village from learning of their affiliation. On the surface, this man lives an average life as a jonin. He has a wife and two children, ages three and one."

What is Danzo trying to plant inside of me?

"Other than the fact that he was linked to Kirigakure, this man is capable, a great ninja, trusted by the Hokage himself. But if we permit this traitor, the village will never be strong."

"I understand."

"For someone as insightful as you, this tale is quite roundabout. Forgive me."

"Not at all."

"But it is all for the singular purpose of having to know this man. Kill him."

"Understood."

"It is likely obvious at this point, but I am convinced that the place you belong is the ANBU. You are permitted one comrade on this mission. I leave the selection of that person to you. Take whoever you trust the most.

"Peace is actually a troublesome beast. It is hard to produce, but maintaining it is next to impossible. People eat food. While one person is finishing that day's supper, another is suffering somewhere, with nothing to eat. When one person gets something, someone somewhere loses something. Bit by bit, these trivial inequalities warp the days of rest.

"There are always people suffering in the shadows of this fiction called peace. People burdened with darkness. Don't you think we should actually hold in contempt those who forget this fact, and simply gorge themselves on peace?

"Unless there is someone, someone totally free of emotion, to cut away the fraying bits on the edges of peace, this world will not see even a moment of tranquility. Previously, I said you were the bearer of bad luck. Your life will be ever shadowed by chaos. That's why you need to become strong enough to cut out the root of that chaos yourself."