Volume I: Beginning Chapter 8: Against Root

After eating my miso ramen I went around the village for quite some time, and I have got a tail now. I'm pretty sure that it's from Danzo as I have publicly talked with Naruto and did not see him as a plague as he wanted. So I just went circles around the village instead of going straight to meet Itachi and Shisui.

As I reached an alley I made a shadow clone and sent it home and I changed into a civilian and went out only after the tail had gone after the shadow clone. When the coast was clear I went to the training ground where they were waiting.

When I reached there I changed into my form and walked towards them, seeing me Shisui just looked at me and said "We just got here."

"So, what happened?" I asked Itachi. 

Sighing he said, "Tenma was killed."

"How?" I asked him since I don't remember what happened clearly at this time. 

"We got an honorary task of escorting the Land of Fire's daimyō on one of his routine trips to Konoha. Tenma was killed by a masked man during the mission." Itachi said that with a solemn expression. 

Looking at him I said "Okay. I know it's sad, but isn't that the risk of being a ninja? I mean, we could die at any time on a mission."

Both of them looked at me like I'm an alien so I asked them "What?"

"It's just that he's a pacifist," Shisui said. 

"Well, there will always be a conflict here and there, this will make two opposition. Then, if you're also in the middle of it you will need to join a side." I said.

"What you said is true." Shisui said and continued "But I'm expecting a but there."

"Yeah, there's always a but," I said. 

Then looking at Itachi I said, "If you are not strong enough, you will have to choose either side."

"So you're saying that, if I have enough strength I can stand on my ground?" Itachi asked me. 

"If you want to, yes. That's how the world works." Shisui said. 

Looking at Itachi and me he said "Say, I have a three-part training exercise, want to join me?"

"Sure. When?" I asked him. 

"Tomorrow morning to the day after tomorrow."

"Alright, I'll see you at this place then," I asked him. 

He nodded at me and told Itachi "Let's go."

After that, I went back home. I'm sure that Itachi will be sharing the information on his awakening Sharingann today. Reaching home I took Shika with me and went to tend some of the deers in the forest, even though it was evening the deers were all out in the open.

After playing around with Shika for some time we went back to eat dinner. Finishing dinner I went to do my duty of guarding Naruto. From my shadow spies, I spotted him at the Ichiraku shop, smiling that I went there. 

When I reached there I saw Naruto eating his fourth bowl and Teuchi and Ayame smiling at him as he wolfed down the ramen. So I went in and said "Teuchi-san, miso ramen with extra pork and eggs."

"Sure." Saying that he and Ayame started to prepare my ramen. 

As I sat down next to Naruto he looked at me and said "Dango guy!"

"It's Bokuto," I said while slightly chopping on his head with my hand.

Placing his hands on his head he said "I know."

Sighing, I told him, "You know, you can call me Bokuto-san or Bokuto-nii."

"Mmhmm." Then observing me for some time he asked me "Say.... is Bokuto-nii a ninja?" with a curious face. 

Nodding at him I said "Yeah, I'm a genin ninja. See this." I pointed to my armband with the symbol of Konoha village.

When he heard that I am a ninja he had stars in his eyes and he murmured to himself in a small voice "So that's why they didn't tell him about me huh."

As that was going on my ramen was served so I started to eat it. Even though I ate at home, there's always space for ramen for me. After finishing it I paid the bill to Ayane, looking at the amount I gave she said: "Bokuto-san here's the change."

Smiling at her I put my hand on top of Naruto's head and he looked up at me wondering why I placed my hand on his head. Giving him a warm smile I said "That's mine, and these little ones amount to the ramen."

Hearing this Naruto's eyes went wide and Teuchi said "Well, for Naruto the two bowls are free. So... "

Before he could finish I interjected, "It's alright, I'm paying for both of us." Saying that I exited the shop and shunshined away to a nearby tree and started my guard duty.

After that was done, in the morning I went to the training ground to meet Itachi and Shisui. I had already asked Inoichi-san for a break from my mission, so he gave me a three-day leave. Now it's time to utilise it to the maximum.

As I reached there I saw both of them sitting in the shade of a tree, when they saw me, both of them stood up and Shisui spoke first "Alright let's start our training exercise."

I and Itachi nodded at him and started the exercise. 

We three started to track a fugitive during the day, noticing decoys left along the way. At night, we three ate food and made small talk. Looking at both of us, Itachi said "I have to inform you about something."

"What is it?" Shisui asked him. 

Without saying another word he closed his eyes and a second later he opened his eyes showing the blood-red iris with two tomes spinning around a pivot. Looking at it I said "The Sharingan."

Itachi nodded and said, "I awakened it at the time when Tenma died at the hands of the masked man."

Sighing at that Shisui said "That's how we Uchiha awaken our Sharingan. It will only awaken when a traumatic event happens." He closed his eyes and said, "During the war, I lost one of my teammates and awakened mine." As he said that, he opened his eyes and showed us his Sharingan. Looking at it I said "It's sad huh?"

"It is sad." After that, we went to sleep. 

The next morning we were woken up by hearing a fight happening nearby. So we went to investigate it, as we arrived at the spot we found three masked men with cloaks attacking a Konoha Anbu as he had a bird mask and the Anbu symbol on his shoulder, who was desperately fighting against the three. Seeing the three I knew who they were. 'The Root is after something from that Anbu.'

Suddenly the attacked Anbu dissolves seeing that we understood that it was a water clone. The Root members remain unconcerned as if they already know that they will be successful in this mission. Looking at both of us Shisui said "I don't know about you two, but that guy who was a water clone is a Konoha Shinobi. So I'm going to fight against those three. Are you in?"

"Yep." We both said and jumped towards them to fight.

Shisui went ahead and started to fight with one of the root members. 

Itachi went after another one who started to set up traps. 

And I went ahead and started to fight against the last one. 

As we fought with them, Itachi defeated his opponent by turning the trap to the one who played it. Shisui defeated his opponent with his pure speed and use of Sharingan. As for me, I used my shadow jutsu in tandem with the martial arts I know. 

Just as I thought that we got them, the one who got defeated by Shisui retreated with his other teammates. Before we could pursue them Shisui receives a signal that his exercise is over. The injured Anbu wants to keep the incident a secret. Shisui's superiors are glad that no one got hurt, despite the fight not being a part of the exercise. Shisui tends to a small injury of Itachi's, who still needs to get used to the delay between his Sharingan's perception and his reaction time. Shisui takes Itachi back to the Uchiha compound, and I went back to the Nara compound and played with Shika for the rest of my leave.

°

°

°

<Chapter 8 End>