Songs For The Heartbroken: That's What You Get

Chapter 26

Stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID. At this rate I would get myself killed before I made Chünin. One would think that with the amount of field experience I had and everything team eight had gone through, I'd be able to spot a simple henge.

Well think again.

Not only was I stupid, oh no the problem did not end there; because on the other side of the transformation jutsu happened to be one of the most dangerous rogue shinobi the world had produced. Fucking Orochimaru. Kami must have been on an extremely merciful mood if they let me live through that.

I only noticed when the Sanin wanted me to notice. When there was nobody around and he could let his real voice and personality shine through. When he was certain that there would be no one listening, when he could personally deliver the message he had come to give me.

When Orochimaru deserted Konoha, the only information we had been given had been just that. Orochimaru was a traitor to the Hat, he left, he was our sworn enemy from that day forward and so on. It was his decision. We were never told why he had left. We were told he was dangerous and our enemy and that was the end of it. So when the Orochimaru came to me, not with a kunai to my eyes, but with Intel, I was more than just taken aback.

"You have no Idea how much trouble I had to go through to get you alone, child." Said the smooth voice of the Sanin behind Kirito's face." Jiraiya sure knows how to make himself a nuisance."

I made sure not to lose him from sight as the body of what I'd thought to be a child made its way to the low table standing to the side of the room. He poured us both tea.

"But since we probably have very little until my team mate comes barging through the door, I'll try to make this as brief as possible."

Orochimaru handed me one of the cups he had been holding and sat before me with posture so graceful and refined it might have been that of a member of the royal family.

"The story I'm about to tell you might sound like a twisted plot of mine to turn you against the Hokage, but although my word means nothing to you, I can swear to you that every bit of it is true." The child before me took a sip of his tea and handed me a piece of paper I never noticed he had been holding. "But he thought you might be still in need of some more concrete proof that that is not my intention. I am merely the messenger."

I took the piece of paper and unfolded it, uncaring of what may lay inside. Looking back, I should have been more careful, taken my time to check for traps or poison, maybe even prepared myself for what was to come. But if I was to be completely honest, nothing could have prepared me for what was written there.

In his always neat, elegant, beautiful handwriting, Itachi had written to me:

Orochimaru-san is an ally, he will give you his own account of the story, and someday, hopefully soon, I will give you mine and apologize as I should. I can only entrust this information to you, my best friend, my last real ally. Please do not die until we meet again. And do not forget who you are, Akane.

Itachi.

It was short, to the point, and just like him. It made me angry. I was livid, and I didn't understand. Why now? After all this time. I had worried, and fretted for his life for years. He had made me wait so long to even tell me he was alive, that he was hopefully well. I'd missed him so much.

I swallowed the knot in my throat and willed my tears not to fall; and then looked up at Orochimaru.

"Tell me."

And tell me he did.

And my hate for Sarutobi Hiruzen and his council grew.

Orochimaru had been, apart from one of Konoha's Legendary Sannin, a member of the research and development division. In fact, he had been the head of the department, with a drive and a love for knowledge that inspired his peers. It all went well until councilman Shimura, with the approval of the Hokage, recruited him for some 'hands on' research. It was a matter of extreme secrecy and should he be discovered, he would have to disappear. Orochimaru's interest had been caught to say the least and he agreed to work for Danzo. Since his knowledge of Jutsu lay in their theory and what he knew of anatomy came from scrolls his team mate Tsunade had written, his work was purely about proposing theories in hypothetical cases presented to him by his superiors.