A Few minutes later, Itachi was showing his skill in shuriken jutsu.
Itachi stood in the middle of the training grounds with multiple targets around him.
Itachi held four Kunai in each hand, and he hid two of them behind them in his sleeve.
He jumped up, spinning around, he threw all four of the Kunai toward their targets and then threw the other two.
Cling! Cling! They deflected each other and hit their targets all at once, and then he dropped.
Ryuu, Kakashi, and Tenzo stood there, watching Itachi.
"He is talented, but making an exception for someone so young is rather unusual for the Anbu," Tenzo stated.
"Well, Ryuu recommended him," Kakashi said,
Tenzo looked at Ryuu while wondering why.
"If I hadn't, Danzo would've been the one to recommend Itachi."
"I doubt that. Itachi doesn't fit the mold for Danzo-sama to recommend him."
"This isn't about him fitting the mold."
"So, what is it about?"
"Sadly, Itachi plays a role he doesn't even know.
Say Danzo got him in his hands, Itachi holds the role of being a direct tunnel to the heart of the village, the Hokage, and because of his relationship with me, he'll have no problem getting to him.
Having Itachi by his corner, Danzo could manipulate Itachi and the clan and after that, he gets to the Hokage.
Itachi is a pure shinobi who'd do anything for the village, and that is too much power for Danzo.
I'm giving Danzo and others some power.
Seeing how desperate they are, Danzo and his men will gladly take this bait without thinking.
I've stripped his power, his respect, and his freedom just to give it back under my conditions.
Soon I expect Danzo and his pals to make a move against me, to see how I'd react, if I play along and act like I don't care, he'll see it as an opportunity to take control.
Problem is, doing so will be as effective as fighting the air you breathe."
"I see…
You've thought this all out." Ryuu nodded.
"Anyway.
Itachi." Itachi looked at Ryuu.
"Come with us."
Ryuu and Kakashi walked away and for the rest of the day, they taught him tactics and formations.
"Itachi, come here." Ryuu pulled him aside.
Itachi had received an invitation from someone unexpected.
"You're progressing well on your first day."
"Thank you."
"Do you remember what we talked about after we killed Mukai Kohinata?"
"Yes."
"Good, you play a big role in my plan, you know?
Make sure he believes you."
Itachi nodded.
----------------------------------------
Two hours later,
Itachi met with Danzo at the foundation headquarters.
"Fugaku Uchiha, stood out as one of the shrouded security captains in generations.
Ryuu Uchiha stands out as possibly the most powerful shinobi in history.
It comes as no surprise that he is your cousin and you are Fugaku's son."
Itachi looked at Danzo, showing no emotion yet surprised to hear this.
"I mean no judgment, the leaf ordered the Uchiha outside the village.
But the leaf also granted them the ability to govern themselves, so we cannot intervene in their matters.
Even after an assassination attempt.
Therefore, we need our own set of eyes and ears there.
I'm counting on you, Itachi."
Itachi nodded.
----------------------------------------
The next day, Ryuu and Itachi guarded Sakumo.
"Have you settled into the job?"
"Not quite."
"Hmm?"
"I haven't gone out on a mission yet."
"Protecting the Hokage is a mission, you know?"
"Isn't the Anbu an assassination and special tactics unit?
Especially our division."
"Well, we aren't at war now."
The door opened and Sakumo walked out.
"Ryuu."
"Sir," Ryuu answered, standing up straight.
"According to Danzo, there's an underside to this mission.
I cannot ignore his views even if I've assigned an official mission.
A separate unofficial team will be dispatched."
"One that the Hokage hasn't ordered?"
"Work under Danzo."
Sakumo walked off.
And Danzo walked out of the office.
"On the surface, it will be a diplomatic mission.
You'll be exchanging Intel with the Hanya black ops of the land of woods at the border.
But I believe that this meeting will be an enemy trap.
Hokage-sama agrees with that.
The Anbu will secretly guard the team that's on the official mission.
When the enemy turns on the team, that attacks. Kill them, leave no survivors."
"Total annihilation?" Ryuu asked.
"We must show them that the hidden leaf does not tolerate betrayal."
"I'm on a three-man team, Kakashi and Itachi will join me."
"As you wish."
Ryuu prepared to leave.
"For years I've recognized your work as an Anbu, I'm even tempted to pull you into the new foundation despite our differences."
Ryuu scoffed.
"Do not misunderstand, I've brought you back only to help the village, but that won't make us allies, we're just not enemies for now."
"Hmm." Danzo expected that response, and replied,
"That's a shame, you possess all the right qualities, especially the one called darkness." Danzo left.
As Danzo was leaving, Ryuu glared at him from the corner of his eye, some of his hair covered the Sharingan.
'This feeling…' Itachi shivered, feeling Ryuu's hostility once more.
'It's just like that day…'
Itachi remembered when he left the academy when he first felt this aura of darkness.
'He's only alive because he has an ultimate role in my plans for the village.
I own him, he'll be alive until I say so.'
Ryuu thought.
'The bloodlust…
It's almost tangible.'
Ryuu's crimson eyes dimmed as he turned his gaze toward Itachi.
"Itachi, go get ready, I'll tell Kakashi about our mission." Itachi nodded.
After getting ready, Itachi left the locker room and headed out.
As he was leaving, he found two Anbu sparring.
"Hey Itachi, first Anbu mission, huh?"
"Yes." Itachi politely answered.
"I heard it's with both captains.
Watch your back around Captain Kakashi." The other one added.
"Why is that?"
"If it's for a mission, the captain won't hesitate to kill a comrade.
He's a shinobi of the highest degree.
But Ryuu-sama won't allow that.
Any mission he goes to is a complete success not even one casualty unless you ignore his orders.
He even has the record for the most successful missions in a row and he's close to Jiraiya-sama's record for the most missions because of his legendary drive.
He's the ultimate shinobi."
"Sounds like you want to marry him." The other one joked.
"Shut up, I'm only saying this because I respect him so much!"
"Alright well, goodbye," Itachi said and left.
"Ok, everyone! Time to fire up your youthful passion! Now, let's go!"
Guy was being followed by two chunin and one old genin.
"Sometimes I wonder if I'm too old for this…" the genin said to himself as he walked towards them.
Ryuu, Itachi, and Kakashi stood above them on the Konoha gate.
"So they weren't told the true nature of this mission?" Itachi asked.
"That's right, only the top ranks of the leaf know it.
And the three of us."
Kakashi stated as he put his mask on and activated his Sharingan.
Team Ro followed Might Guy and the others into the forest.
At the pace they were at, Guy and the others didn't take long before tiring out, so they stopped at a tree and ate lunch.
They watched Guy, and his team as they spoke about their mission while eating.
Kakashi jumped on the tree Ryuu was on.
"Impressive, he's only been told the superficial facts about this mission but he's figured out the true purpose."
"It's a good time for us to review as well, you know?"
"Right."
They looked at Itachi as he took out some chakra pills and ate them.
"In a way, this symbolizes the Anbu perfectly," Kakashi said.
"How is that?" Itachi asked.
Kakashi looked at Itachi.
"They seat in the sun and enjoy a hot pot meal, while we sit in the shadows and eat food pills."
"I don't mind at all, I realize this is a part of the job we do," Itachi replied with a smile.
"I see…" Kakashi focused back on them.
"Well, not that you asked, but I would only mind if they were eating ramen, you know?"
Sigh.
Kakashi sighed at Ryuu's comments.
'If he keeps that up, he'll get out of shape, it's unhealthy.'
Ryuu looked at Kakashi.
'Unless you've forgotten, I can hear your stupid thoughts through Nobu.'
Kakashi reflected the judgemental gaze,
'I haven't forgotten anything.' he said as he took part in that stare down
Itachi observed them as their eyes clashed.
After eating, Guy and his team started moving again.
They arrived at the meeting area and awaited the Hanya black ops.
They were inside a cave on a rocky mountain.
A lady wearing a dark cloak and a mask walked toward him.
"Huh? Are you with the land of woods, Hanya black ops?"
"Indeed, we are.
Now hand over the scroll."
"Fine, together."
"You first."
"Very well then."
Guy gave her the scroll.
She read through the scroll to confirm.
"There's no mistake, this is the scroll."
"And where is your scroll?"
"Here." She stretched her hand to give him the scroll.
Guy's eyes widened.
"Huh?" He kicked it out of her hands.
Boom!
The scroll exploded.
"We're supposed to exchange scrolls, not fire!"
She jumped back and her black ops also jumped back.
"Konoha has betrayed us, we shall seek retribution!"
"That's just a full-faced lie! You broke our agreement, it was you!"
"Haha haha!" They all started laughing.
"They planned to betray us from the start." Guy and his team prepared to fight.