Jumping Fox

Chapter 2: I: Traitors & Serpents

Well here we are again. Disclaimer, I do not own Naruto, if I did I would be writing for shows using that success to gain the credibility to try and push through my own tastes in an anime. But I do not so I am not.

Traitors and Serpents

Five Years after the Sealing of Kyuubi:

He flew through the trees, a corporeal ghost, the embodiment of Shinobi. It would take a Jonin to see his progress in the darkness, and a specialist to know that he had ever been there. Thus, unobserved by nature, the Shinobi made his way to the land of decisions before his final destination of consequence.

Decisions, they are never easy, and Shinobi in particular can find them cumbersome. Shinobi are meant to be tools, living weapons whose purpose is to act as the extension of their master's will. If a command is given it is to be carried out; if a mission is given it is to be completed, or else the Shinobi dies.

But reality is never as simple as an idea. Without exception, the greatest Shinobi are thinkers of some variety. Given a dilemma they must weigh the consequences of each action and determine the proper course. Heroes like the Shodaime, to monsters like Orochimaru; the great ones chose their own paths.

Of course the choices made were not always the right ones. The shame of the White Fang came to his mind. Most Missing Nin would gladly join another village for not only protection but to regain a relatively normal Shinobi life. Yet few were ever taken in, because no Village wanted to be seen to encourage desertion as anything other than elaborate suicide.

Tonight this Shinobi faced the specter of betrayal. All options came down to two outcomes. There were various paths that he could choose, but they all lead to one of two places. And either way he would betray a trust that he held dear. He was not a fool, his two loyalties would eventually become divergent and conflicting, and whatever he did something precious would be forever lost to him. And tonight would be the first step down the road that would see the nature of his betrayal. There would be blood, and little of it would truly deserve to be spilled.

He descended to the ground, not raising a single leaf, and pondered a final time. This was the moment; his actions in the next minute would determine which dream he would slay at the end of the path.

The new arrival was heard before he was seen; he was tired, after all. He dropped to the forest floor silently enough but the landing raised leaves around him, and he unceremoniously dropped his package to the ground. He still wore his chunin vest, his face and hair covered by cloth made it harder to read him. But he was weary; fear was already eating at him more than the effort of fleeing and evading security. He noted that his accomplice had already discarded his hitai ite.

The Shinobi considered the package. It was much smaller than he expected, even wrapped in an issue blanket bound by standard Shinobi wire. So small...

"They aren't too far behind, Itachi sama," the newly missing nin stated. He need not have concerned himself; the ANBU's sword pierced his heart before another irrelevant thought crossed his mind.

"Merciful perhaps, he would not have survived as a missing nin," Itachi thought. Having committed to his course he inspected the new corpse, removing the makeshift mask. A fellow Uchiha: he had not really known the man. Now he never would. Strange that killing family was really no different than killing anyone else.

Leaving the dead man to tend to himself, Itachi turned his attention on the package. Using the unclean sword, he effortlessly cut the wire and delicately cut through the blanket, all without even bending a knee. Pausing to clean his sword and return to its sheath, he went to one knee to remove the late Uchiha's handiwork.