Darkest Before Dawn

Ibiki-sensei: Four!

   "Go back to the hospital, Tenzou-san!" Sakura ordered, "You shouldn't be walking around with internal bleeding!"

   Tenzou chuckled.

   "Alright, Sakura-chan, I'll go. Take care of yourself."

   Just a few minutes after he left, Ibiki returned with a small stack of papers. He beckoned the girl to follow, and she did so without questions. Like always. Sometimes Ibiki wondered why the girl was so compliant. There were many scenarios that he could've chosen from, yet the only thing to put out there was that she was alone. Hell, the image of her parent's dead bodies was probably still fresh in her mind. The interrogator glanced over his shoulder to see that ever-present smile on her face. He turned to the front and entered a nearby dango shop.

   "Eh? What are we doing here, Morino-san? Cutting work again?"

   Ibiki ignored the twitch in his eye and the poorly concealed giggles that followed.

   "Actually, I have to meet up with a jounin. He's the youngest to ever be promoted. I need to have him fill out a few forms and talk to him about a few things."

   "So he's a pru... pro... pro-di-gy?"

   "Yes. And remember what I told you about joining me for meetings?"

   "Un! Sit down, shut up, but observe carefully!"

   "Good."

   Sakura looked around the shop for someone that fit the prodigy profile. He emerald eyes finally picked out a black-haired boy, maybe about ten years old, sitting alone and calmly sipping some tea. The next thing she noticed was the particular crest on his dark clothing. She blinked before looking up at the interrogator.

   "What's his name, Morino-san?" Sakura questioned in hushed tones. Ibiki peered down at her amusedly.

   "Itachi Uchiha."

   Sakura's cheeks puffed out before she opened her book and scrawled something completely unreadable. He patted her head and steered her towards the table.

~

   The first thing he noticed was that a child with ridiculously pink hair waltzed into the dango shop, the head interrogator of the ANBU sector at her side. Itachi's eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly.

   'How peculiar...'

   He watched as she whispered something he couldn't quite catch, then flinched when she began to write furiously in her book. Not long after, Ibiki and the girl were seated across from him.

   "Uchiha-san." greeted Ibiki, "Shall we get started?"

   Itachi sent a minuscule nod the older man's way. He accepted the given papers and filled them out with not so much as a grunt.

~

   Five minutes in and Sakura was bored. Morino-san said to observe the prodigy carefully, but what was there to observe? Itachi-san was near silent, polite, reserved, and refined. Like an aristocrat. Just the person who tended to keep their emotions in check and had the most to hide. Sakura giggled inwardly. It would be so fun to-

   Two yellow orbs flashed in her peripheral vision.

   The five-year old stared upwards. Her head was still, but her eyes darted about the room. No, nothing was there. She hopped off her chair, put her book on her seat, then trotted out. Itachi stared after her with a quirked brow. Ibiki continued reading the papers, unfazed.

   "She goes off like that sometimes." he supplied, "She'll come back sooner or later."

~

   The guards at the main gates let Sakura out the village with a smile and a wave as she traveled into the forest. She slipped through the trees for a few minutes before resting near a stream.

   "Mister with the yellow eyes at the dango shop? Are you here?"