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{Hiruzen pov}
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All he could do was stare down at the dark limb that had been wrapped in cloth to hide it away from the prying eyes of the village. Looking up towards the two young shaken genin in front of his desk he couldn't help but feel like he'd been a fool to send houzu on that retrieval mission.
It hadn't even been a day when the team left, only for the chunin and his follower to be brought back restrained. According to the anbu the sensei had attempted to 'teaching the demon a lesson' by trying to make the boys experience outside as unbearable as possible.
He even took houzu away from the group to abuse the boy only to be abused in turn. Houzu had even caused the man to become a shadow of his former self by reducing his power to the point of being at the level of a genin. To make matters worse his closest student made an attempt to grievously harm the Uchiha clan head's eldest son.
He knew there would be a great deal of fallout from this incident. As a show of faith he revoked both the teacher and students shinobi license until they were deemed suitable to return, which was years from now in his eyes. The way they wept and bowed before him spewing all kinds of excuses for their actions disgusted him.
Even after everything that happened they still didn't see what they did wrong. The boy especially looked devastated by his inability to continue his carrier. Once the two sorry excuses for shinobi were escorted out he ordered two anbu to survey the two for the time being.
As a few days past he was quickly notified of three flying creatures approaching the village from above. Once outside he observed the creatures as they drew near only to recognize them in an instant as houzu's insect summons carrying itachi, shinko and the deshevaled daimyo himself.
Once they breached the barrier surrounding the village they land on top of his office. Without hesitation the anbu escorted the daimyo to his temporary residence as he brought the genin into his office and activated the privacy seals to prevent unwanted eavesdropping.
Until they were all alone he noticed the boy's arms clinging onto an object wrapped in cloth with the signs of him recently crying evident from his wet and bloodshot eyes. His female teammate was shaken to her core as he could see her still shaking with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Where.. is houzu itachi...?" Hiruzen asked as he noticed the pale boy was not among the group when they arrived.
In response the Uchiha slowly stepped forward and placed the large wrapping onto his desk to which he hesitantly unwrapped it to see a arm cut to the bicep.
The only problem was it's skin was completely black as ink with the rest being pale. His blood ran cold as his worst fears were realized.
Now his mind was back to the present with him staring at the limb as did the other two. "Report.." he hoarsly commanded as the genin did their best to be seen as professional.
"We... we were attacked during our way back to the village. The perpetrators was a unknown masked man... houzu took the lead and engaged the enemy, but all his attack seemed to pass straight through the man. Without warning he summoned clones made of wood and commanded them to carry us away to safety. By the time we were able to return to the scene all thar was left was a pool of blood and that very limb." Itachi reported as his eyes looked down towards the ground.
Hiruzen's hands clenched in pain and sadness by the supposed death of the boy he looked after for the last two years. How did the stranger know he would be there? Were they after the tailed beast? Something that houzu did not have...
'Wait... the person had a mask? Were they an anbu? Or perhaps root?
"Itachi, what did the man's mask look like?" He asked the boy who's eyed widened in confusion.
"I-it was yellow with strange lines sir..." itachi answered with a confused expression.
Hiruzen, wanting to confirm his worries bolted to a nearby wall and put his hand upon it. Doing so manifested a seal that faded away to reveal a hidden compartment. Opening it with haste the man rummaged through it for a few minute's and soon retrieved a document to which he place on his desk.
Opening it he gave a crudely drawn picture of a cloaked man with the exact same mask. "Is this the man's mask looked like my boy?" He asked quickly to the boy as itachi's eyes glared at the sketch with hate in his gaze.
"Thats definitely the one lord hokage..." he responded as Hiruzen clenched his teeth in anger at the realization.
"Then the boy is in far greater danger than I feared..." Hiruzen spoke as he fell back into his seat. Both genin looked on in shock at the man's worried gaze. "L-lord hokage, who is that man..?" Shinko asked with a trembling voice as the old man sighed in resignation.
"You both must swear to keep what you are told within this room to yourself. You mustn't tell anyone. Not even your families." Feeling the gravity of the situation become much more dire the two nodded and gave their vows, awaiting to hear what he had to say.
"That masked man... he is the culprit of the nine tails incident. The one responsible for so many deaths that faithful night..." Hiruzen spoke with a leveled tone. Hearing his words the two realized what the man was insinuating.
"You mean the man took houzu because he was after the ninetails?" Itachi spoke with a horrified tone. Hiruzen had no doubt the boy was well aware of what jinchuriki were and the fate of one if their tailed beast was extracted due to the subject being documented in his fathers personal archive.
"Correct itachi... however... houzu doesn't have the ninetails." Both genin looked incredulously at the elder as the truth was revealed. "That burden was thrust upon him by his father, the former fourth hokage.."
!!! x2
The two children looked on in utter astonishment at the news of their comrade being the son of the most idolized hero of the village.
Looking down, itachi could only uttered a few words. "But.. why..." shinko looked at her teammates with wariness as the boys anger could be felt by all in the room.
"WHY WAS HE TREATED SO CRUELLY TO BEGIN WITH!!!" itachi screamed as his eyes bore his two tomoe sharingan manifested for all. "He should have been treated like a hero. Surrounded by those who he loved... instead the people outside want him dead..."
Walking over towards the Uchiha he kneeled down and brought the boy into a hug as the child grieved.
"Hatred, my boy. Hatred is the reason they did so..." he hoarsly spoke as shinko looked on in guilt and sadness. "The elder council was the deciding factor of his fate. Even though I'm the hokage I couldn't overrule their decision without showing favoritism."
"It's not fair..." itachi whimpered as he hugged back.
"Life never truly is..."
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