THE WILL OF FIRE: 3. The Crow (A Naruto Fanfic)

The Crow, Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Returning felt like a haze. There I was and there was the gate and there were the busy streets of Konoha. I wasn't sure what I was thinking, going back. It felt like a strange place to me all over again. The people who knew me greeted me on the streets but they all seemed like strangers to me again. My house felt strange. Why did I go back? I didn't even know myself. I just sat down in the middle between the kitchen/dining room and living room, with the backpack leaning on the back of the couch. What was I going to do now? The new Hokage won't accept me. I'll probably be cast out of the Village. So why was I back?

There was a knock on the door.

"It's open!"

"I had an inkling you returned," Kakashi said, his calm voice spreading over the empty house as he leaned on the closed door.

"I'm not that hard to sense, I'm an exploding ball of chakra. What do you want with me?"

"I've spent some time researching you. You would be amazed at what I came up with. And what I had to do to get it."

"You think I'm endangering your team? If I wanted to kill them, I would've done it long ago. But Naruto is my brother and I have no intention on doing so."

"I'm more worried about Sasuke. What do you think he's gonna do when he finds out that his brother, the one he loathes, has been training you when you were little."

"I don't plan on telling him. It'll push him straight off the edge and we can't afford that. Uncle Orochimaru's call is strong, he's probably barely resisting it. Unlimited power to destroy Itachi-it's tempting. He's like a ticking time bomb. Little things will set him off."

"But you need to tell him. You need to tell Naruto, too. But first, you need to tell me."

"Why? Just because you knew Itachi? Because you knew my Father? Because I was part of team 7 for like two weeks? I don't owe you anything, Kakashi."

"You are the daughter of Minato Namikaze, my Sesnei. I want you to give me a reason not to go to the authorities and turn you in. I owe it to him."

"You got time?"

"I took the time."

"Sit," I said, motioning towards the dining room chair and picked myself of the ground. "Don't expect me to make you tea." I leaned on the counter, facing him.

"Wasn't counting on it," he said, taking a seat.

"It started when I was little. I used to live with my Aunt and Uncle and cousin in Iwagakure. But one day, one of his experiments with explosions went bad and it was conveniently the same day that the Akatsuki came to get him. They heard that he was an exceptional Shinobi, not just great with explosives, but smart and cunning as well. So the explosion he was working on went bad and ended up killing his parents. He was broken. I remember coming home from the store and finding our, and four houses next to ours, all gone. There was just a big hole in the ground and he was crouched down, sobbing like a maniac. He nearly freaked when he saw me standing there because he thought I was in the house. But there was no time to be sad. He felt the presence of the Akatsuki and he knew that they should never find me. He told me to go to the cave where we used to play and hide until he comes to get me. I did because I've never seen him so shocked before. I didn't even have time to think about what happened to the rest of my family. But I was scared-more for him than for myself. I didn't want him to be alone, facing whatever was coming. So I went to look for him and found him in a temple. Suddenly, I was staring at the three most powerful men I've ever met. My cousin was shaken, he kept telling me to hide but I refused to listen. I said that he was all I had left and I wasn't planning on leaving him. If we died, we died together. We dueled. My cousin wasn't planning on leaving me and the Akatsuki weren't planning on taking me with him. They were prepared to leave peacefully but the problem was I jumped before they had a chance. It was the first time I fought Itachi Uchiha. And we almost won. Almost. And in that moment my cousin realized we had nowhere else to go. They were planning on capturing him anyway, for murder, and I would be left to the mercy of the Village. He told me it was our best option if we went with them. And based on our fight, they thought that I wasn't so useless anymore and after some training, I could stand equally next to them. I agreed because he was my family and I wasn't planning on leaving him. But I refused to move for a couple of weeks. Nobody could get to me and my cousin was too busy to try. So they assigned Itachi to check on me. They believed I had potential and weren't planning on wasting it. And so I realized I wasn't going to get my family back and might as well make the most of the situation so I started to train with Itachi, eventually becoming his partner. I was also appointed with a test to steal Uncle Orochimaru's Akatsuki ring to prove that I was strong enough to join them. I succeeded and I still wear it. All the time. And that's how I got into the Akatsuki. It was the best hiding spot, too, I was right under their noses. But one day, my cousin started sensing danger. He couldn't explain it, he still can't, but he said that it would be best if I fled for Konoha. It wasn't safe for me there anymore. And then we met. Four days ago, I was supposed to go back but they said that the danger still wasn't eliminated. So I contemplated on life and decided to return. If I can't be with my cousin, I can at least be with my brother. And before you start, I would just like to say that I'm not releasing any names or intel, so don't bother. Happy now?"