Chapter 97: Itachi's Secret (1)

That temple looked a little neglected, not to say very neglected, since it had no part of the roof, there were plants growing on the wooden planks and it seemed that at any moment the walls would fall, hitting the ground and leaving only the debris.

Still, this didn't bother Toru at all. He came to this place after his encounter with that policeman and some other people, now he just wants to finish his investigation in this store. Moreover, on the way to this place, he asked different people if they had seen a young man with the same hat and cloak with the red cloud design. And surprisingly he received answers from almost everyone he asked.

Some said that this boy was very kind to everyone. He always helped when needed, even though he only comes to the village once or twice a year for the last few years. Apparently everyone knows and respects him, but unfortunately he only stays in the village for a couple of days and then leaves without saying anything. He also heard something interesting, and that is that Itachi usually always goes to the shrine of the Kodon clan, so this was connected with the "medicine" recipe that strange person gave him.

'It would seem that that guy who gave me the prescription just wanted me to get addicted to this stuff too, saigenzai. That's impossible for me, I can't damage my mind any more than it already is. Before I lose myself, I must finish everything I have started. For this, I need to look for that store, but it looks like looking for it won't be necessary.'

Just below the stairs, there is the store Toru is looking for so much, Rengyōdō. He looks at the place curiously, analyzing every little detail. Then, he notices that it was getting dark, but he doesn't think anything of it and decides to approach.

As he approached the tent, Toru's Shigan activates and a kunai, appearing out of nowhere, stabs into the wooden planks. With ease, Toru was able to dodge it, turning his gaze to the sender of this metal weapon.

"Who are you!2! Have you come to steal the Kotarō like everyone else!"

It is the voice of a child. A boy wearing the typical mask worn by the ninja of the ANBU organization. The boy is standing on a tree branch and Toru sees him with an expressionless face under his hat.

"I'm not here to steal anything. In fact, I want to compare something... However, you don't seem to be the owner of the store, so I demand to talk to the person in charge of this place" He says with a soft, but aggressive tone of voice. This made the boy frown under the mask and launch into an attack.

Toru easily stops him by giving him a blow on the forehead that leaves him lying on the ground, holding his head where he was hit while rolling on the ground to appease the pain.

"I don't have time to play with you, sorry. I'm busy right now and I need to talk to the owner of this store. So, could you tell me-?"

"Fuck you, I'm not going to tell you anything."

"What a rude boy..."

Toru is disappointed, as he expected a better welcome in this place. At the same time, another voice is heard. The voice seems to call out to the boy in the mask, as this boy stood up from the ground and looked in the direction of the store.

A few moments later, someone comes out of the tent. It is a boy. He has long hair tied back and is wearing a purple kimono. He is also holding some medicinal herbs in his arms and upon seeing Toru's cloak, he opens his eyes and sighs a second later.

"Kina, go into the tent. Don't go out again without my permission. It's dangerous to be out of the house at this hour."

"But, but I..."

"Kina..."

"Hum! I'm going into the store, but not because you say so, but because I want to!"

Kina enters the store, leaving the mysterious long-haired boy and Toru alone.

This long-haired boy looks at Toru for a few seconds. He doesn't do anything else, just looks at him, looking closely at the cape with the red cloud design that reminded him of a certain person.

"You go into the tent too. It's getting cold, maybe you can have something to eat with us."

The boy, still holding the medicinal herbs in his arms, turns around, heading for the tent. This leaves Toru confused, who adjusts his hat and follows him.

Toru deduces that this boy knows about him, as his reaction to seeing him was as if he was already expecting him. He also allowed him to enter the store without hesitation, so his suspicions had been confirmed.

***

The scene changes to the three boys sitting on the floor, with a small wooden table where dinner is served. They were now inside the store, in a room that is close to the kitchen and other rooms.

Toru looks at the food with a frown, but a voice is heard in the room that forces him to look up.

"Now that I see you better... it's cape I've seen his before. Hey, Reishi, I think that cloak was also worn by Itachi-san."

Kina speaks with food still in his mouth, so his words couldn't be understood so easily. Even so, Toru made the effort and opens his eyes knowing that now everything is connected up to this moment. The person in Akatsuki's garb who has been coming to this village was Itachi.

"Do you know Itachi?"

Toru asks. Reishi keeps silent and continues to eat. Right now, Kina doesn't have his mask on, so Toru can see the face of a nine-year-old boy with tousled, spiky hair. This brings back memories of that boy who screamed that he wanted to be Hokage all the time.

"Won't they answer?"

Kina was about to blurt out all the information he has, but Reishi stops him and they continued eating.

A few minutes pass. Everyone has been silent. So far, Toru just stared at the plate of rice and cooked vegetables with narrowed eyes. So the latter annoyed Kina.

"Aren't you going to eat?"

Toru says that he's not going to trust the food of people he just met. It's a logical thing to do, but this annoys Kina even more, who slaps his palms on the table. "Fine, then don't eat - starve yourself to death, you idiot!"

"Haa..."

Shaking his head, Toru remembers a certain blonde-haired person with scars on his face in the shape of whiskers. These two are very similar. In the end, Toru decides he's going to eat. Even if he is poisoned, Toru can easily kill Kina and Reishi, and summon Okaminaru.

Reishi and Kina smile at each other as they watch Toru eat. After that, Toru places the chopsticks on the table gently.

"Tell me about Itachi."

And looking at Reishi, he pulled out one of the daggers through the sleeve of his cloak and pointed it at Kina's face. The latter swallowed saliva and looked at Reishi.

Ever since this research trip began, Toru had heard rumors about Itachi. Well, they were only rumors about one of the Akatsuki members, not Itachi specifically. However, these rumors proved to be the truth the moment Kina named Itachi.

"First, I ask you to take off your hat. Neither of us two are hiding our faces, so you could do that."

Reishi keeps calm and a neutral expression on his face. At the same time, Toru sighs and puts the dagger away again. He takes off his hat and looks Reishi in the eyes again.

Reishi smiles slightly at the sight of Toru's face.

"So you are indeed the silver-eyed boy."

Reishi had heard about Toru in the past. So seeing his face, brought back memories from a few years ago. Kina, at the same time, opened his eyes as she noticed Toru's eyes, which didn't seem to be real, as they were silver like two shiny ocean pearls, but somehow they didn't show life.

"Are you a girl?" Kina asks.

"What?"

Obviously hearing that question from a boy would leave anyone confused, Toru was no exception. Well, certainly, if he had long hair he would look like a girl, after all, his face resembles his late mother's, albeit with some more masculine features.

"Don't mind him. He tends to say such things from time to time. For the time being, take a seat and calm down."

"I won't accept you changing the subject. Besides, I have this... someone gave it to me on the way here. I guess Itachi was looking for this too, wasn't he?"

Toru shows him the recipe he had received earlier. Reishi reads it and frowns. Kina on the other hand, reads the recipe and stands up, putting her feet up on the table so she can keep up with Toru.

"Who gave you that! I knew it, you're after the Kotarō too, you're just like Itachi-san!"

Kina is about to punch Toru, but Reishi steps in the way getting punched in the stomach. He didn't feel that much pain because Kina doesn't have that much strength.

"Itachi-san wasn't like that! Kina, you know that, don't talk bad about him! You know that already, don't you?"

"Kukuku... hahaha..."

Having heard this fight just for insulting Itachi, Toru can't help but laugh. They apparently don't know what Itachi had done in Konoha seven years ago, moreover, they treated him as if he was a good person.

Kina and Reishi see Toru laughing as if he heard the best joke in the world. This lasts for a few seconds, until Toru sighs heavily.

"You... Why do you want to know about Itachi-san?"

Toru puts the hat down on the table and quickly answers him.

"It's none of your business."

Reishi nods his head in response. He knows this boy is the person Itachi had mentioned earlier. Black hair, silver eyes, an expressionless face.

"(If ever a black-haired, silver-eyed boy comes to this store, tell him about my stay here) That's what Itachi-san said a few years ago. He knew that you would come to this place. You... or Sasuke."

"Sasuke, uh..."

Silence hung in the place after that.

"Kina said I was just like Itachi when I showed you the recipe. why?"

Reishi looks at Kina and begins to explain.

It turns out that Itachi comes to the Howling Wolf Village to ask Reishi for a special medicine. It's eye drops, but there was also something else... a medicine that used Kotarō as a base, plus other types of medicines, which makes it a powerful painkiller and something that lengthens the life expectancy in a sick person to a certain extent. Although this also brings side effects, an example would be eye drops, which can lead to temporary blindness. However, Kotarō mixed with other types of medicines has more aggressive side effects, but that is all Reishi mentioned.

Now Toru is confused. He looks at the Saigenzai prescription for a few seconds until Reishi speaks to him.

"So... you came just to listen to this, didn't you?"

"I guess... now I know Itachi is sick."

After that, Toru stands up, thanks for the food and walks out of the tent, leaving Kina and Reishi staring at the door not knowing what to say about it.

***

Taking advantage of the fact that the shrine is empty and has part of the roof intact, Toru lies down on the wooden planks as he tries to sleep, but cannot fall asleep.

'Itachi... Is he dying?'

The explanation Reishi gave him left Toru that question to his mind. Also, he is curious about the eye drops that Itachi uses. Why does he use them in the first place? Why does he use the modified Kotarō? Is he really dying and that's why he uses that strange medicine? Toru doesn't know what to think.

He sits down and takes out the daggers. With a small rag he found lying around and some water, he starts to clean them.

"Itachi... Why are you acting like you're good now, did you forget what you did?"

He fails to understand why Reishi and Kina respect Itachi so much. Moreover, it seemed that Itachi was kind to them. There were also the opinions of the people he encountered in the village. They said that Itachi was kind and calm. He always helped the one in need without asking for anything in return.

This somehow... made him feel uncomfortable.

Five years ago Toru had let go of his thirst for revenge against Itachi, but that didn't mean he forgave him, didn't mean he didn't hate him.

Toru... even when he tried, he couldn't help but hate Itachi. He was the one who snatched one of the people he loved the most from his hands, but didn't realize it until he saw the blood cover his hands.

That night, Toru cried. Toru cursed Itachi and vowed to kill him. However, as time went by while remembering all the teachings his mother left him, he finally decided to let go of revenge. That would bring him nothing good, because at the end of it all he would end up becoming someone like Itachi, or so Toru thought.

Toru continues cleaning the daggers until he hears footsteps outside. He pulls out a shuriken from the sleeves of his cloak and throws it. The shuriken sticks in the wooden door, the same time Reishi's eyes widen in surprise, as he was about to be killed by a flying shuriken.

"Why are you here?"

Toru asks. Reishi smiles and walks slowly as he says, "Could it be because I own this place?"

Reishi sits down next to Toru and hands him a rice ball. The latter accepts it and eats it without hesitation. His eyes widen as he feels the sweet taste of the fruit inside.

The combination of flavors is strange, but it reminds him of the fruit-filled bread he used to eat when he was still in Konoha.

"You only came to this village to know that? Don't you want to know more about Itachi-san?"

"I'd be lying if I said no. I want to know why Itachi told you you could tell me everything about him."

"Fufu... in the end if you were here for more, huh" Reishi takes a rice ball, puts it in his mouth and continues talking. "Itachi-san was always kind to everyone. He would help me and Kina when the Sendō clan bullied us. He was always reserved, at least at first."

Reishi looks up at the sky and smiles. It's been eight months since the last time Itachi came to the village.

Reishi explains that Itachi, when he came to this village for medicine, never talked about anything with him or Kina. He was a quiet man, with an ever nostalgic expression on his face. Even Reishi came to wonder if Itachi was suffering, he was not wrong.

This was Itachi's secret, something he could only tell to two brothers who somehow reminded him of him and Sasuke. An older brother who acted like a father, a younger brother who had a hard time expressing his feelings.

Reishi says that, one day, Itachi finally spoke to Kina. He said he had two brothers...

Hearing this, Toru's eyes widen in disbelief. Itachi only had one brother, that brother is Sasuke, so he didn't understand. Who is that second brother?

Reishi replies, "You..."

Toru falls silent, staring at the ground as the hat covers his face. He clenches his fists tightly and sighs. Reishi continues to speak.

"When Itachi-san talks about you or Sasuke, he always has a smile on his face. You he used to describe as a child who doesn't know what he wants. Who is unable to understand the world and for some reason his mother's presence bothers him."

As he says this, Reishi removes Toru's hat, revealing the boy looking down at the ground with an expressionless face. This made Reishi smile, as Toru did nothing when his hat was removed and this reminded him of a certain someone.

"But you seem to have changed. At least you don't look anything like the boy Itachi-san used to talk about. In fact, you act like an adult. I could say you look like Itachi-san."

Hearing this, Toru stands up from the ground abruptly, at the same time pulling out one of the daggers from the sleeve of his cloak, to finally touch Reishi's neck with it.

Reishi didn't know what he had done wrong to provoke this reaction, but Toru's eyes glowed with intensity, as a mystical X slowly swirls within his pupils.

"Itachi killed my mother."

_______________

Well, I leave this chapter here and go to work. I'll post the next chapter when I reach 200 power stones, good luck.