An Itachi Fanfiction [EDITING]

Disappearance

After leaving Sasuke's team, I didn't head straight for the Hidden Rain.

Instead, I spent the next three days circling it.

Watching.

Listening.

Waiting.

The Hidden Rain wasn't like other villages.

It felt wrong.

The rain never stopped.

The civilians never smiled.

And every time someone mentioned their "god", they lowered their voices.

That alone was enough to make me suspicious.

The first thing I did was transform into a small snake.

I spent hours slithering through alleyways and drainage systems, mapping the village in my head.

The second thing I noticed was the chakra.

Or rather...

The same chakra.

Over and over again.

The first time I felt it, I assumed it was Pain.

The second time, I assumed I was mistaken.

The third time, I knew something was wrong.

I was sensing the exact same chakra signature in multiple locations throughout the village.

That should have been impossible.

Yet it kept happening.

Every time I got close enough to investigate, the signature vanished.

As though someone knew exactly where I was.

By the fourth day, I was certain of two things.

Someone was hiding something.

And someone was watching me.

I sat alone in a small tea shop overlooking one of the canals.

The rain hammered against the windows.

I slowly stirred my tea.

Behind me, two Rain ninja entered.

I recognised them immediately.

Not by their faces.

By their chakra.

They were the same two shinobi who had followed me all morning.

I hid my smile.

Good.

That meant they wanted me to know.

I spent the rest of the day deliberately leading them through the village.

Past markets.

Across rooftops.

Through abandoned warehouses.

Every time I changed direction, they followed.

Every time I stopped, they stopped.

By sunset I had confirmed something important.

The surveillance wasn't random.

Pain had specifically assigned people to watch me.

Which meant he already suspected something.

The following night I got my first breakthrough.

I had transformed into a snake and slipped into one of the taller towers near the centre of the village.