The Black Leaf (Part 1)

Chapter 23: Itachi vs. Kakashi

Sasuke had been in a bad mood lately. He got beat up by Gaara and not only that, but the seal on the mark wasn't holding up. Everybody was grieving and part of the village got destroyed. I had to stay home for a couple of days to recover. So, I just sat on my balcony, in comfortable sweats and sweeter and drank tea all day. I was lost in thought when suddenly, I felt someone seating next to me.

"Come on, let's eat," it was Kakashi, he had a bag with two boxes. "Yami, you need to get it together," he added, "I heard Danzo wants you back in the AMBU, you know what that means right?"

I sighed loudly, "I'm the only member of the AMBU that he doesn't know anything about, of course, I know what it means, Kakashi."

"You are not going back to the AMBU, I promise you that," he said as he handed me a box of food, "Danzo, is a dangerous man, you need to stay away from him."

"What should I do?" I asked him not expecting a response but I got one anyways.

"Well first, you need to talk to the elders and put yourself out of commission." He said as he opened his food, "mention that you don't feel mentally ready to come back, that you feel guilty or something. Then, we need to find the new Hokage, and when we do, you can resume your position as member of the Hokage's guard," he was positive that his plan would work.

"I can try that," I said somewhat surprised, "did you just think of all this?

"Nah, I been thinking about it for a couple days now," he admitted.

We had dinner together and talked about his training with Sasuke, he was very proud of him, "He is a good kid," I told him. "But all that hatred towards Itachi scares me. I need to be there more for him, if something were to happen to him, I'll never forgive myself. He is all I have now."

"No, you don't" Kakashi said, holding my hand. "You have me... and Tenzo, Genma, Hikku and your friend Iruka." I laughed to the fact that he emphasized the word friend.

"Thank you Kakashi," I whispered. 

The next day we I decided that I was going to go talk to the elders. So, I went straight for the main building as I was walking downtown, I bumped in to Guy.

"Hey Yami, have you seen Kakashi?" he asked.

"No, I-" I stopped mid-sentence when I sense two strong chakras near. I looked at the sky and saw the crows surrounding an area by the river, near the Senju park, "That chakra, I know it."

"It's not good," Guy said alerting a shinobi near by, "Yami stay here."

Before he could say more, I took off running towards the river. My heart almost stopped as I saw the two-man dressed in black cloaks and red clouds. One of the was him... Itachi. Kurenai, Asuma, and Kakashi were in the river fighting against them. Then, I saw Kakashi fall on his knees, and I knew exactly what was going on. Itachi's genjutsu, Tsukuyomi.

"Damm it Itachi," I whispered under my breath "what the hell are you doing?" I saw Itachi pull a kunai and threw it at Kakashi. It was going straight for his head. My first reaction was to jumped in and pulled Kakashi out of the way. I wasn't fast enough and the Kunai went straight in my arm. I looked at Itachi and saw the shock in his eyes.

"Close your eyes, he will get you under his genjutsu," Asuma said.

"Don't look at him," Kurenai added.

"His genjutsu doesn't work on me," I said activating my Sharingan just in case, "what the hell are you doing here, Itachi?"

"Wait a minute, I thought you said you eliminated all of your clan," Itachi's partner said, "this one is real Uchiha, why did you let her live?"

"Izumi, get out of my way," Itachi warned me.

I looked down at Kakashi and I could sense his chakra all over the place, he was in pain. "Itachi, you need to leave, now," I snarled him as I took the kunai from my arm, letting the blood run on my arm, down to my fingers and into the river.

"Oh, I see, she is the one, isn't she?" the tall, blue skinned man asked amused. "But she seems to be more interested in that guy now, I see why you want to kill him," he turned to face us, "well, go on I'll back you up."

"Kisame, as tempting as it might be, we are not here to start a war," Itachi said and he started walking away, "let's go."

I automatically took a step forward, but Kakashi managed to grab my hand preventing me from walking any further. I looked at him as he stared at me in pain. Then, I moved my gaze to Itachi's, who looked back one last time and his eyes went from regret to anger.

Guy took Kakashi to his apartment, there he slept for a few hours but woke up screaming in pain soon after. Asuma and Kurenai were there too, they just stared at me as I sat next to Kakashi's bed.

"Is there anything you can do?" Kurenai finally asked breaking the awkward silence, "You are one of them aren't you?"

"You mean an Uchiha?" I corrected her, "no, there is nothing I can do about this. This is not a typical genjutsu, this is the Tsukuyomi, but I don't expect you to understand."

"Listen, we are all worried about Kakashi. We know you are too," Asuma added, "is he going to make it? is he going to be fine?"

I sighed, "the Tsukuyomi affects you mentally. Physically there is nothing wrong with Kakashi, but the scars of his mental torture might affect him later. There is no way to tell if he will be the same after this."

"So, is your name Izumi or Yami?" Guy asked.

"You caught on to that, huh," I smiled and took a deep breath."Izumi Uchiha is dead. The Hokage decided to burry Izumi along with the rest of the clan. Now no one is allowed to know about my existence. He put my name on an empty grave and changed my name to Yami. Then, he sent me away to the Sakkaku Castle, where I became a Black Leaf."

"A Black Leaf?" Guy asked.

"An elite assassin in charged torturing in order to gather information," Asuma replied with a smirk on his face. "I always wonder why a girl like you would be assigned to the Hokage's guard. You are quite something aren't you?" Kurenai was not amused at his words.

"An elite assassin, you?" Guy eyed me in confusion, he couldn't believe it someone like me could be so horrible.

"I have some herbs that might help Kakashi drift his mind a little, I'll be right back," I said leaving the room. There was so much tension in the air, and I just couldn't deal with it anymore. I cleaned the wound on my arm, I couldn't believe Itachi would attack Kakashi just like that. What the hell was wrong with him? I wondered. I took a shower, made the tea and went back to check on Kakashi. Everyone was gone but Tenzo was there.

"Great they are gone," I said as I walked in the room.

"What happened? Kurenai said you guys were attacked?" he asked.

I explained everything as I gave some tea to Kakashi. He stayed there for a while and then left. Later that night, Guy came back to check on Kakashi and he became uncomfortable when he saw me there.

I notice blood in his vest, "what happened to you?" I asked pointing to the blood.

His face turned white, "it's not mine, you see when you left. Sasuke walked in here. He heard about Itachi coming for Naruto and attacking Kakashi and you. He took off after Naruto and found Itachi," my heart sank in the moment.

I grabbed Guy's vest harshly, "where is he? where is Sasuke?" I demanded to know.

"He is in the hospital, Itachi beat him really bad and put him under Tsukuyomi," he told me.

I ran as fast as I could to the hospital and found Sasuke breathing heavy. His chakra was disrupted. His wrist was broken, his ribs were broken, he had bruises. It was heartbreaking seeing him like that. I cried and held his hand, "Damm you Itachi, why do you keep hurting him?"