Designed For War...But Not Meant For It (Itachi Uchiha Story) Info.

Chapter 20.

None of the Akatsuki had been expecting Itachi's new information.

But Pein couldn’t help but find the situation very easy to imagine with Kiken's personality.

It was something that had always puzzled him and immediately noticed the moment she had agreed to work for them all. Kakuzu obeyed orders—well, unless he got angry—but not like Kiken did. She followed everything to the letter; never looked him in the eye, bowing when arriving and leaving his presence. With the way she acted, it seemed as if she wouldn’t dare do anything that would make him slightly annoyed, let alone disobey him if he told her not to do something. At first he had dismissed it as the way her training had been done; she seemed pretty obliging to begin with. It was a good thing to be when working for someone—it made it easier to get jobs if they knew you could follow orders well without protesting. But now Pein could see it made her something else entirely;

The perfect ninja; and ultimately, the perfect weapon.

A ninja that never said anything back; went along with everything you did without a word of protestation. Someone you had complete control over and would do the slightest thing that you asked. In a world where missing nins were numerous—all Pein had to do was look around and he’d see several perfect examples—to have a ninja to whom betrayal was nothing but a word was a valuable thing. For a small village in a small valley that no one knew of and had no remarkable achievements, Seifu must have leaped at the chance to have a power like Kiken's.  And that was why he started the war.

“Wait...so she’s just been playing us all this fucking time?” Hidan burst out, strangely angry at hearing this news. But Itachi wasn’t in the mood to deal with everyone’s theories and lies, and turning to look at all of them now, he shot back,

“No. She didn’t know we were after her power. Everyone thinks the power that was used in the war was superficial; a scroll—it’s what we thought. Anyone who knew otherwise was killed that day, and the information was hidden from a lot of people.  That’s why Kiken was reluctant when I first mentioned it; but once she thought we were after a scroll, she agreed. It was only when I was talking to her now—that I heard her story—that I realised.”

“Then what happened here? Something strange went on that day, and the only person who could know is Kiken. So what is it?” Pein interjected, and although Itachi paused, he knew there was no other way to explain to them, and so replied quietly,

“People were fighting over her; not just the likes of Seifu anymore. Ninjas within the groups themselves were fighting to gain control over Kiken; they thought if they could control her, they could control the valley. But it overwhelmed her as she was forced to fight in so many battles...and she lost control of her chakra—it enveloped the battlefield and killed anyone within its range. She created the jutsu to hide the effects; then she left the valley and hadn’t come back.”

The Akatsuki immediately fell silent with this news; the destruction of that place had been incredible, and to know it was all down to Kiken...it almost didn’t seem believable. Kiken might have been powerful, but doing something like that was an action that no one could comprehend—so Itachi had to be telling the truth. It had to have been by accident. If she had been treated like nothing but an object her entire life, it would make sense that dealing with all those new developments during the war would overwhelm her emotionally. Combine physical power near the surface as she fought and emotional turmoil with what was around her, and logically; she lost control.

“We’re going to have to find her; where do you think she might have gone, Itachi? If we hurry, we can—”

“No.” Itachi interrupted, calmly but clearly. His voice was so firm and blunt that even Pein wasn’t sure how to respond to it. Itachi was powerful—and everybody knew it. But he wasn’t one to flaunt it openly to anyone; though that didn’t mean to say it wasn’t there—and this was a perfect example. He had made Kiken run away, and he couldn’t make things any worse, and as such went on, hoping he could dismiss the lack of respect with that statement,

“We have to be careful about this, Leader-sama. This place brings back a lot of bad memories for her, and she hates it more than anything. Kiken was never treated well when she was younger, and she’s terrified of being treated the same way again. She ran because I was surprised when I figured it out, and I think she thought that that meant we were going to take her and make her do what we wanted. If we go about this the wrong way, we could only make it worse.”

Pein, realising Itachi was right, relaxed slightly, nodding in acceptance at his words, and facing him fully, taking a step towards him, he started a discussion. A way to go after Kiken and make her see they weren’t about to force her—well, not in the way Seifu did—to do things she didn’t want. Not only had they grown to like her, but with her abilities, they doubted they would be able to do in the first place. But they needed to make a plan, and Itachi told the details he knew. There was no point heading after her instantly; her fear was only making her faster.

By now, however, it was a fear that was turning into paranoia.

Kiken was sprinting as fast as she could through the trees, every few seconds glancing behind her to make sure there was no one there. Every sound made her jump, every shadow seemingly a person ready to jump out and attack her. She didn’t like being like this; she’d been in more fights than most ninjas double her age and knew she needed to calm down and think everything over rationally, but there was just too much going on in her head for that to happen.

Forcing back the tears was getting harder and harder the more the memories flashed again and again through her head. Kiken shouldn’t have done it. She shouldn’t have let herself trust Itachi. For as long as she could remember, everyone in her life had stabbed her in the back and acted towards her in a way that was for their own gain, never thinking of her welfare or health. After all that, she shouldn’t trust anyone with anything. So why had she allowed Itachi in? Why had Kiken lowered the barriers that normally made everyone keep their distance—that protected her?

Why was he different?

But there was no denying it—she had trusted him. She would have trusted him with anything. In a way, she still did; it was kinda obvious with how strong her feelings were towards him, though it wasn’t enough to make her stop and turn back and find him. Instead she ran on, the trees around her scratching and her skin and clothes, making her bleed and ripping the fabrics. Clamping her eyes shut for a moment, she cursed at herself as she continued, beginning to see just how stupid she was.

Even with all that people had done to her through her life...

Kiken had still fallen in love with Itachi.