The Anachronism

Chapter 10

It was a stormy night, the mission had gone completely south. There they stood, Tatsu in front of his injured teammates taking upon a defensive position, a masked man watching Tatsu and the shinobi he'd wounded from the other side of the severed bridge. The man took a step further causing Tatsu's position to shift in turn.

"Tatsu." The man called out.

His voice was so familiar to Tatsu, but he couldn't put it to a face. The masked figure started to slowly raise his hand, Tatsu's byakugan activating at the same time. As the man placed his hand on his mask, Tatsu felt it, the same chakra he felt on that night, the same chakra of the loud-mouthed Uchiha.

"Obito." That was all the younger male could manage, his shock taking over.

"Come with me Tatsu, it can be just me and you like old times." He said extending his hand to Tatsu.

In a single leap, Tatsu made it to the other side of the ridge. Right before he landed in what appeared to be the man's open arms, Tatsu raised his fist in an attempt to deliver a devastating blow.

"You shouldn't have done that," Obito stated as Tatsu went right through him.

Soon after those words, the younger male could feel a rough pull on his hair, tossing him into the ridge to his certain death. He saw it as clear as day, the quickly approaching rocks below, right when he was about to hit them he abruptly woke from his sleep.

His awakening startling his mother who was delivering a breakfast that he'd missed. After muttering a quick apology to her, he swiftly left the room in an attempt to get some fresh air.

"Bad dream again?" Itachi questioned as soon as Tatsu walked outside.

"Yes otouto, nothing to worry about, where's Sasuke?" Tatsu replied.

"He left earlier, he's training with his team again."

"Oh, you wanna drop by later, just to see how they're doing?"

"You want to see Kakashi don't you?"

"I still have to talk him into letting me move in with him for a little while."

"Why do you have to leave?"

"I just want to, I've been saving up, but I can't keep the saving if I feel compelled to treat Sasuke after his successful missions."

"You know you don't have to do that, right?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

That was the end of the conversation, Tatsu went back into his bedroom, ate the breakfast his mother brought him, and began getting prepared for the day. As he was finishing styling his hair similar to the female-like boy he met on his trip to Kirigakure, a messenger hawk landed on his open window.

Tatsu paid the bird no mind, waiting for it to catch the hidden message that he wasn't going to read the letter. He and Shisui had split about a year ago, supposedly, due to Tatsu's prominent crush on a certain Sarutobi, he never wanted to pursue the older male, but he felt it wasn't right to be with someone while someone else is in his dreams.

Once leaving his home, Tatsu was approached by Shisui once again. It'd become a routine thing. During his walk through the Uchiha compound, Tatsu was bombarded with questions he'd left unanswered countless times before.

"Why Tatsu, we were happy, you were happy? We could have that again, we could be happy together, why won't you answer me? Could you at least tell me why you ended things?" The older male interrogated.

Though he spoke in a tone that would garner a response from anyone else, it held no effect on Tatsu, the younger male just continued on his journey tuning out the policeman following him. As they approached the gate of the Uchiha compound, the adopted male noticed that Shisui was still following him.

It was new to him, usually, when he reached his destination or left the compound Shisui would stop following him, but this was different. As they walked through the village towards the training grounds, Tatsu picked up on the newfound silence, it was pleasing to him.

"Shisui, why are you following me?" Tatsu questioned breaking the silence.

"I'd like an answer to at least one of my questions." The body flicker replied.

"Yeah just stay quiet and out of my way." The younger male said as they arrived at the training grounds.

Currently, Sasuke and Naruto were sparring, it seems the Yondiame has been taking some time off to spend with his son seeing as the boy improved greatly compared to the last time he sparred with Sasuke. While keeping an eye on his younger brother, Tatsu made his way over to where Kakashi and Sakura spectated.

"I see Naruto has improved." Tatsu pointed out to his companion.

"He improves every day." The gray-haired male responded.

"The chūnin exams are approaching, are you entering them?"

"Yes, they may be rookies, but I think they can handle it."

"Maybe they can, but what about her? From what Sasuke tells me she mostly stays back while everyone else is fighting."

"She is from a civilian clan Tatsu, aside from the basics, they don't teach them much about fighting in the academy."

"You are her sensei after all, why don't you teach her?"

"She reminds me Rin a little too much sometimes."

"Excuses excuses excuses, same old hair, same old book, same old Kakashi."

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A/N: Yeah.... yeah. This what we're doing, this is who we are.