Chapter 31 - Years Pass and Itachi Returns
After a few years - Lilly was now 10 years old - Itachi had been missing after the day off from school - that Iruka had allowed her to have. Nobody had seen or heard from him since, but she just assumed that he was busy helping out the Akatsuki, pretending to be the bad guy that everyone in the village believed him to be. Itachi wasn't a bad guy, he was one of the more honourable and gentle guys a person would ever meet, but only certain people knew that, his brother and sister being two of them.
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Kakashi was working with Sakura and some others, determined to figure out a way to stop the Akatsuki coming after Naruto, and Orochimaru coming after Sasuke again.
"We need to figure out how to prevent this..." He sighed.
"Then we mustn't let either of them out the village." Tsunade suggested.
"That will be hard..." Sakura sighed. "Naruto loves going outside the village, and Sasuke goes out the village to help Lilly train."
"She's right..." Kakashi nodded. "There must be some other way." He looked up to the ceiling and started to think.
"We'll just have to ask them what they are willing to let us do to protect them." Tsunade stated.
"That's the only option." Kakashi agreed.
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Lilly was at home, studying, as Iruka had told her that there would be a test of some sort for them today. She had no idea what the test was. She wondered if it was finally her chance to graduate and become an actual Genin ninja.
"What you up to?" Cecilia smiled, coming in.
"Studying." Lilly smiled, stating out the obvious.
"You've got a test coming up then." Cecilia smiled, looking over her shoulder, to see exactly what it was she was studying. She was studying about all the different clans within the area, and what each clan could do, Kekki Genkai, or not.
"There doesn't seem to be much information on the Uchiha clan in the school books." Lilly sighed. "It's like the clan was erased from the history of the village, or something like that. All the books seem to say, is that the Uchiha clan has the Kekki Genkai of the Sharingan, and that once they have killed someone they love, the end up with the Mangekyo Sharingan. It doesn't seem to mention anything about the clan being the head of the police force within the village."
"I see that..." Cecilia sighed softly. "I'm sure you'll know about it anyway."
"I do... but only because Itachi and Sasuke told me about it. Itachi was supposed to become the next head of the police, after dad had retired, but he didn't."
"Why?" Cecilia wondered.
"I have no idea... They never told me." She sighed softly, closing her book, putting it away in her bag. She had felt like she had done enough studying for one day.
As Lilly and Cecilia sat in Lilly's room, talking about the test that was coming up, Sasuke eavesdropped on their conversation, hiding his chakra so neither of them could know he was there. He never usually did that, but ever since he had received the cursed mark from Orochimaru, he had been acting slightly... strange.
"Hey Sasuke!" A voice said, coming up behind him. Of course... Naruto.
"What is it Naruto?" Sasuke sighed, slightly annoyed. Naruto was seeming to annoy and anger Sasuke more easily now, however, most people just assumed it to be because of that mark.
"How's Lilly doing with her training and studying?" He wondered.
"Fine. She's the top of the class at the academy. However, that's not a big surprise. Both Itachi and I were the top of the class as well." Sasuke smirked, and it didn't seem to be him at all.
"What's gotten into you Sasuke?" Naruto questioned. He had never known Sasuke to be this out of character.
"Power." Sasuke smirked, walking past him, heading outside.
After Sasuke had left, Lilly opened her door and looked out, seeing Naruto. She had clearly heard voices outside her room, while her and Cecilia had been talking.
"What's going on Naruto?" She questioned.
"Something isn't right with Sasuke." He sighed.
"I know... I've noticed it as well." Cecilia stated, coming out behind Lilly.
"Now you mention it... He hasn't been the same much." She sighed. "He's been rather mean to me..." She looked down, as a small tear fell.
"Don't cry Lilly." Naruto smiled softly, hugging her gently.
"Everything will go back to the way it was before all this. Sasuke will be his old self and Itachi will be home and always around." Cecilia smiled, trying to think about the positive things that would happen.
"I hope you're right Cecilia." Lilly sniffled, drying her eyes.
