The Anachronism

Chapter 6

As the familiar chakra continued to approach the more interested Tatsu became. This chakra was one of someone he held dear to his heart, but it felt different, a lot stronger than the one it reminded him of.

"Sasuke, I'll be right back." That was all Tatsu said as he stood up and walked out of the home.

Leaving the younger male alone to finish his homework, Tatsu approached the familiar chakra's source. A large smile crept its way onto his face as he practically threw himself at the being.

"I've missed you Tatsu." The male spoke as he placed a hand on the other's head.

"I've missed you too Shisui." The shorter male spoke, a light blush on his face as he realized how tall Shisui had become.

"I never expected you to pursue my nii-chan as a love interest, my dear friend," Itachi spoke startling Tatsu with new deepness in his voice.

For someone who was thirteen and about to turn fourteen in a couple of days, Itachi's voice was deeper than Tatsu had imagined. Though it still held the same underlying hint of love, it also held a colder exterior to everyone else.

"Itachi-nii, what would possibly make you think that my relationship with Shisui expands beyond that of being truly platonic?" Tatsu inquired.

"So your relationship is completely platonic?" Itachi answered with another question.

"Completely platonic."

"Well, I'm headed home nii-chan, care to join me?"

"I'd be delighted otouto," Tatsu said finally removing Shisui's hand from his head.

As soon as Itachi turned away from the two, Shisui bent down placing a small kiss on Tatsu's forehead. That caused Tatsu to gasp silently and unintentionally push Shisui so hard that he flew into a wall, one of the many side effects of training under Tsunade Senju. That and the potential for becoming short-tempered.

As the two brothers walked home, there was a calm silence placed over them. Tatsu knew that Itachi knew about the little gift Shisui decided to give him, but being back here with Itachi, knowing his status, and having something feel utterly wrong about what was happening. It was like his mind was screaming at him that he'd done something wrong, but he didn't know what.

When they arrived home, Tatsu immediately went back to helping Sasuke with his homework inviting Itachi, who declined due to his tiredness. That was the last interesting thing that happened that night, Tatsu finished helping Sasuke with his homework then lectured him on the importance of teamwork, since that was one of the only things he was struggling with at the academy.

Even with him being back, even if he had everything he wanted at the moment, his mind kept telling him something was wrong. It kept him up all night thinking about why he was getting that feeling. It plagued his mind so much that he woke up earlier than everyone else in the village and practically broke into the hokage's office.

Sitting there on the Yondaime's desk, he waited. When Minato finally did arrive via Hiraishin no Jutsu, Tatsu ignored him until his mind was ready to allow him to speak.

"Minato-sensei, I've learned many things from lady Tsunade and that perverted geezer Jiraiya. As you can see, I possess the same mark as her along with everything she could teach me. Jiraiya taught me several things too, things I'd rather not speak about. My mission was over as of yesterday when I returned, I did not report back to you the day of because I still believe it was idiotic of you to send an eleven-year-old on a mission such as that without a particular deadline or warning in advance."

"Tatsu, I understand your perspective and I hear what you are saying, but you must know it was for the betterment of the village. Do you have any questions?"

"Two actually, why did you choose to send me and where can I find Inoichi?"

"I chose to send you because you were not performing surgeries at the time, it wouldn't be ideal to be short-staffed of those who could perform surgeries. Inoichi is most likely leaving the flower shop that his wife and daughter tend to."

"You're not off the hook Minato-sensei, remember that," Tatsu spoke as he left the building by jumping out of the window.

As Tatsu walked through the village he could see several faces he'd recognized. There were a lot of students he passed by that were heading to the academy: his little brother Sasuke, an annoying pinkette, a little ray of sunshine known as Naruto, his former sensei's son Neji, a timid Hyuga girl, a miniature version of Shikaku-sama, a miniature version of Chōza-sama, a male version of Tsume-chan, and the daughter of the man he was looking for. There were other students that he passed by, but none of them caught his attention the way they did.

After he made it through the wave of students, he continued his search for Inoichi. He'd been walking around for several hours, it was only five minutes, but it felt like several hours when he finally sensed both Inoichi and Shikaku headed his way. He immediately broke into a sprint to get to Inoichi.

"Tatsu, where've you been, I was looking for you before you left?" Inoichi questioned as soon as Tatsu stopped in front of him.

"I was training with lady Tsunade, can we talk?" Tatsu asked motioning for the conversation to move to a more private location.

The two left Shikaku, who was both displeased and intrigued by what had happened, and relocated near a calm river within the forest. Both of them wanting to hear what the other had to say.

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A/N: Throwing out things again because I have to. Correct me where I'm wrong and help me improve for both of us.