LEGACY

Lima belas

Chapter 15

Sasuke was watching how his sister fell in a slow motion. His eyes grew wide as his body trembled. When the event occurred got processed through his head, Sasuke began trashing around. Too bad, Itachi's grip on him did not falter even for a second.

"You are weak." Itachi said. "You know why? Because you don't have enough hatred in you. Even Fumiko had to protect you while her chakra level was so low. She put her life at stake for your sake even though she is the head of the Uchiha clan. What a pathetic little brother you are. All because you don't have enough hatred."

"Ugh—ARGGGGGGG!" Sasuke screamed in pain as Itachi put him in genjutsu.

"That's it!" Jiraiya said as he used his jutsu to trapped them inside his stomach.

Itachi, however, had another plan. "Amaterasu!"

Itachi made a hole on the wall and fled away with Kisame hot on his tail. They were now deep inside a forest when Kisame noticed that Itachi was still holding Fumiko. By the way he hoisted his sister on his chest, Kisame knew that Itachi cared deeply towards the younger Uchiha. He, however, did not comment on that. Instead, he nodded towards Fumiko.

"What are you gonna do with that brat?"

"I—"

"—Chosin giga!"

Itachi was being interrupted by two huge characters attacking him at the same time. He dodged in time, distancing himself from his new enemy. Kisame took Samehada out.

"Are? Isn't it the boy on the other day?" Kisame hummed. "I thought Itachi-san managed to kill you."

"Give taichou back." Sai appeared behind his humanoid characters. His whole body was tense.

"Taichou?" Kisame tilted his head. "Heh, so the ANBU ROOT's leader is now Uchiha Fumiko, huh?"

"Give her back." Again, his characters attacked both Itachi and Kisame.

The both rouges managed to escaped every single hit they sent. While Kisame was distracting the boy, Itachi noticed a desperation from the boy to get Fumiko back. Itachi landed with grace, then looked down at his sister.

Fumiko looked pale. She was always thin and narrowed boned, but right now she looked weak. Fumiko was never weak. Never. Was it because he put the burden of the clan's future on her that got her like this? Or was it because he made her promise to do everything she could to stay loyal to Konoha? He was no Shisui who wanted the best for Fumiko's sake. Afterall, in Itachi's book, Konoha was above blood after all.

"Itachi-san?"

Itachi looked at the boy with his stoic face. "If you can answer this question of mine, I'll let you have Fumiko back."

Sai frowned behind his mask. "What do you want to know?"

"How come Fumiko became the leader of ROOT?"

Sai was hesitant for a moment before he looked at his unmoving taichou. He sighed as the characters stood protectively in front of him. "Danzo-sama's dead. That's how."

"That doesn't explain it, though." Kisame protested.

"No, that's all I needed to know." Itachi put Fumiko down. "Let's go, Kisame."

Both Kisame and Itachi were gone within seconds. Sai undid his jutsu and ran to his taichou. She was cold, making him worry. Sai scooped Fumiko in his embrace as he ran back to the village. By the time Sai reached the hospital, Guy, Neji, and Fu were already waiting there.

"Sai, how's she?" Fu asked.

Sai shook his head. "She's not responding. She's under genjutsu. Her chakra flow is low. However, I don't notice any broken bone."

"Let's just bring her inside."

The males nodded to each other as a ninja doctor came and took Fumiko away. It was roughly three hours before Fumiko then was being placed in the same room as her brother. Neji sat worriedly beside her bed while holding her hand gently. Something flickered within Sai that he could not pinpoint what it was, when Guy gained his attention.

"I need to talk to you both." Guy said while gesturing for the ROOT members to step out of the room.

"What is it?" Fu asked when they were quite far from the room.

"How did you retrieve Uchiha-san from Uchiha Itachi?" Guy asked seriously.

Sai looked over Fu who nodded in return. "I approached them and started attacking them. Uchiha Itachi then told me he'd let taichou away if I answered his question."

"What question?"

"How could taichou became the leader of the ROOT."

Fu cursed. "They know taichou is our leader?"

Sai nodded. "They know. Uchiha Itachi then let taichou go before disappearing. I did not try to follow them as my priority is taichou's wellbeing."

"Wait a minute, what did you answer?" Guy asked.

"That Danzo-sama is dead."

"...That's all?" Guy asked, unconvinced.

"Ha'i." Sai nodded. "Hoshigaki Kisame was about to protest, but Uchiha Itachi said that it was all he needed to know."

Guy frowned. "It's suspicious. Why would he take Uchiha-san away in the first place?"

Again, the ROOT looked at each other before Fu opened his mouth. "Don't worry about it. We'll take care of it from now on."

Guy was about to protest, but both ROOT members were already gone. Little did they know, a boy with almost white eyes were listening in to their conversation. His hands fisted in anger.

"Fumiko-sama..."