Inferno (A Naruto Fanfic Book 4)

Chapter 9

I felt restless as we sat in the tea house. I hope she's okay... I shouldn't have left... I didn't notice I was drumming my fingers against the table until Itachi put his hand over mine. I looked at him, then pulled my hand away, locking them together under the table. "Sorry."

He shook his head. "You're worried."

I bit my lip. "I know Minato won't let anything happen, and I couldn't stay, but..."

Our food came, and I wrinkled my nose. Itachi sighed and asked the waitress to box our it. When she was done, I followed him out of the shop, and he grabbed my hand. "We'll do something else first."

I looked at him curiously. "Like..." He smirked but said nothing more as we began to trek through the woods. We came to an old familiar structure, and I smiled. He pulled me in and set the food against the wall.

I looked around. "Looks the same."

He walked to the opposite end of the space and faced me. "Maybe a little smaller."

I watched him closely as he took a fighting stance. "Not that much smaller."

A ghost of a smile crossed his lips. "Maybe not for you."

I frowned and waited. "Do you really want to fight me, Itachi?"

He gave a slight nod. "It's been a while."

I smirked. "Hn." I stood motionless, waiting for him to make his move. He disappeared from sight, and I dodged his shuriken as I met his blade from behind. "Itachi, you might want to use your eyes if you want me to take you seriously."

We pushed each other back, and he complied. I moved and attacked him from above, but he knocked me back. Before I touched the ground, he was on me again. Our movements became a blur until he formed some hand signs and blew fire in my direction.

I countered with water and followed up with wind to knock him off his feet. I felt my heart racing and smiled. He's good... I sent water senbon in his direction, and as he dodged, I hit him with wind again, but he used it to intensify the fire he sent my way.

I activated my own Sharingan, and our movements only got faster. We fought for what seemed like hours, neither willing to let the other get the upper hand, but at the same time holding back knowing the destruction we could cause. I evaded another one of his attacks, and we locked blades, our faces inches from each other.

I fell back and threw shuriken at him. They missed as he body flickered behind me, I swung my arm back to hit him, but he grabbed it and slammed me against the wall. His kunai was at my throat, but my shadow clone that I formed had one at his spine.

He smirked. "Evenly matched."

I matched his expression. "Seems like it." We were both panting and drenched with sweat. I saw a flicker in his eyes as he lowered his knife, and my shadow clone disappeared, but he still had me pinned to the wall. He leaned closer, keeping his eyes on mine.

I tilted my head up to meet his lips and felt the corner of his mouth twitch. This was different than before, harder, and hungrier. He pressed me harder into the wall, and his tongue grazed my bottom lip. When I opened my mouth, his tongue entered, and he wrapped his free hand in my hair.

I was breathless and pulled away, balling my fists into the front of his shirt. He angled my head and kissed my neck. I couldn't describe the feeling, but I liked it and didn't want it to end. I saw a shadow move in one of the windows above us, and I froze. "Itachi..."

He pulled back and looked in the direction I was. I activated my Byuakugan and frowned. "I thought..."

Itachi frowned at the window. "We should go." I nodded, wondering what I saw. Someone was there... watching... Itachi grabbed the food and took my hand.

We walked in silence, and I looked back behind us. "Strange..."

Itachi glanced at me. "I was reckless."

I blinked at him. "We both were." He looked ahead again, and as we entered the village, I felt eyes on me. I glanced around but saw nothing. I've never been paranoid before... I connected to Itachi's mind. The cliff...

I didn't wait for his understanding before forming a shadow clone and teleporting to the top of the Third Hokage's head. Itachi wasn't far behind as I scanned the area below. Our clones went toward Minato's. That's when I saw the slight shift of shadows not too far behind.

We stood, watching as it followed them. "I knew I wasn't imagining it." Before he could respond, I jumped from the cliff and used wind chakra to lessen the impact of my fall. Silently crossing rooftops, I jumped down in front of our pursuer.

He jumped back and prepared to fight. "So, you found me."

I looked him over, an average height, average build man with grey hair and glasses. "Why are you following us?"

He smirked. "My Lord has interest in you... he asked me to fetch you for him."

I tilted my head. "Whoever he is... he's foolish to think you could."

His smirk became more menacing. "After that fight you just had, I'd bet you're low on chakra. So, now is the perfect time." He rushed towards me, hands glowing green. Medic...

I easily dodged him and activated my Sharingan. "I'm going nowhere with you, and this is hardly the place for an abduction."

He frowned as people began to look into the alley I caught him in. "Seems you're right, but you will become his new test subject. I'll be sure of it." He pushed his glasses up and vanished. Test subject...

Something about the man reminded me of someone, I just couldn't place who. We shall see soon enough...