Akari Uchiha

Ch. 55 Not Good Enough

"You're a shadow clone," Kakashi stated matter-of-factly.

Of course he knew.

"Yes."

"So the real you? Hunting down some innocent jinchuuriki? That's what I heard your organization has been up to these days," Kakashi shrugged, appearing to be casual. However both the shinobi could feel the unmistakable tension in the air between them.

"Kakashi Hatake," Itachi said calmly. "You arranged a meeting with a rogue shinobi such as myself, apparently without your Hokage's knowledge on this matter. You could very well be branded a traitor for this. You did not go through all this trouble just to chit-chat, did you?"

"Look who's talking," Kakashi drawled. "And you're right, I do have a reason."

Itachi stared at the older man, waiting for him to continue.

"Akari Uchiha," Kakashi paused, staring back at him intently. "What do you want from her?"

Itachi narrowed his eyes. He had tried to make sure that Akari was scared enough to not open her mouth on the matter to anyone else. Did she tell Kakashi? But he had been at the village that day, and he didn't sense any disturbance among the usual flow of things.

The most surprise he had detected was from a bunch of genin screaming about the upcoming chunin exams.

But again, this was Kakashi. He hadn't been the captain of his ANBU team for nothing. Even back then, Itachi remembered being astounded by how he managed to figure out strategies that he couldn't figure out until given some sort of hint.

When he had asked Kakashi, he had just said something about how when you have fought through an entire war, you come across countless strategies until the point that very few things surprise you anymore.

Of course, things had changed. He wasn't the eleven year old rookie ANBU now, and Kakashi wasn't an ANBU captain anymore.

Things would never go back to how they were.

"What do you know?" Itachi's shadow clone asked bluntly.

"Nothing, really. The brat refuses to tell me anything about any of her encounters with you. Which makes me believe that you threatened her."

If he was pretending, he was good at it.

Kakashi continued, "However, you came after her twice in a row and yet spared her life. So I need to know, what do you want from her?"

"I'm not the one after her," Itachi stated bluntly. "You need to watch out for someone else."

"Danzo."

"I knew you would've figured."

"What is it in it for you?" Kakashi questioned.

"I could ask you the same," Itachi countered. "What is it in this for you?"

"She's my apprentice."

"You haven't changed," Itachi stated.

"Maybe you haven't either."

At that moment, Itachi knew that Kakashi did know what had happened.

Both of them stood still, without breaking eye contact, through a silence echoing 'Things would never go back to the way they were', to the both of them, as both shinobi accepted it.

Kakashi broke the silence. "I've things I need to protect," he spoke, before suddenly tossing a kunai towards the shadow clone, which disappeared in a flock of crows.