Chapter 13: Promotion

Two Years Later.

It was all so familiar to Itachi. The formality, the endless stream of Uchiha, and the overwhelming discussion of his accomplishment. This time, however, he'd been made a captain. It didn't have an official ceremony like his ANBU induction, but upon hearing his accomplishment, his Fugaku had insisted on a repeat of the celebration.

That was another thing that was different. Fugaku was not here. He was not perched behind Itachi's back, hands clamped on his shoulders, showing him off to everyone. No, today, he was down at the station, along with a few of the rookie officers trying to sort through the current mess.

Given the choice, Itachi would have rather been with Izumi, or Shisui, or even out in the field with his father. Just as he had two years ago, he despised the overbearing aura of the celebration, if it even qualified.

Yet Itachi couldn't blame the Uchiha looking for something to celebrate. They really hadn't had anything to celebrate in the past few years. Itachi had heard whispers in his brief periods of time back in the village.

There'd been a few incidences between the Uchiha and civilians. Nothing violent, and always resolved peacefully. Still, even now, he could spot a few groups of Uchiha murmuring to each other..He thought back to what Hiruzen had told him when he'd visited him with Shisui.

"I do not want you to be burdened with this, to be split between duty to your village and your family… but your insistence on it leaves me with the impression that you'll do it with or without my permission. I hope that you and Shisui will be able to find an answer."

Itachi sighed. He excused himself to the restroom. Once free from the oppressive atmosphere, Itachi splashed his face with water and looked at himself in the mirror.

The Gamer

Itachi Uchiha LVL 29

These past two years had been good to his level. He even had about 130 of his points left over. He hadn't had any real reason for them. Kakashi was excellent backup, and a lot of his training in his early shinobi career had left him sitting comfortably above most opponents.

Of course there'd been some troubling spots, like when they helped recruit a rather unique addition to ANBU. That had been a quite a day, and both he and Kakashi were glad that the Hokage had chosen to file the report for it personally.

Refreshed, Itachi returned to the party. Things returned to their dull rhythm as he waited it out. Eventually, the last of the guests left. Fugaku hadn't returned. It was assumed that if he wasn't home at a certain time, he was sleeping at the office. Itachi decided not to think about it too much, and headed off to bed himself.

Itachi woke a bit later than he normally would. It was a free day for him. He stretched out, and walked into Sasuke's room. He sat down on the bed and gently shook Sasuke.

"What is it, Oka-san? There's no school today," he said sleepily. He rolled over to face away from the door.

"Sasuke, I have the day off and my morning is free. I thought I'd take you out training." Itachi said, smiling down at his brother.

"Nii-san!" Sasuke shouted, throwing the covers off of him. "Do you really mean it this time?"

"Of course, Sasuke," Itachi told him. "Now let's go eat some breakfast." Sasuke threw his training clothes on and joined Itachi in the kitchen. He followed Itachi's movements as he ate, and soon they left the house.

"This is great!" Sasuke proclaimed. "Otou-san is always too busy… But he's not as good as you." He looked up at Itachi. "What's wrong, Nii-san?"

"Oh, sorry," Itachi said, pulling himself out of his thoughts, "I was just thinking about Otou-san. He's been working a lot."

"It stinks…" Sasuke commented, "he's never home, and when he is, he's too tired to do anything. But that doesn't matter today because you're here, Nii-san." Itachi met his brother's and smiled.

"That's right, Sasuke. I can't wait to see how much you've improved." He said. Sasuke began charging towards the grounds, and Itachi followed at a similar pace.

"Ha, beat you!" Sasuke declared as Itachi walked up.

"You did. Looks like you're training has paid off," Itachi said.

"It has. Did you know that I'm the top ranked student at the academy?" Sasuke asked, the pride unmistakable in his voice.

"That's impressive, Sasuke. What did Otou-san think?" It had been an innocent question, and yet Itachi immediately could tell that it had been a mistake. Sasuke looked down at the ground.

"He just told me good job…" He said. Itachi frowned. He kneeled down next to him.

"Let's forget about this, Sasuke," he said. "Instead, why don't you show me your kunai skills?" He held some up for Sasuke, who took them eagerly.

"Look, Nii-san! I learned your trick while you were away!" He shouted. He leaped up in a graceful arc. Two kunai left his hands nigh simultaneously. There was a sharp clank of metal on metal. Sasuke landed. "Go look!" He urged.

"Alright, I will." Itachi said. He walked around the boulder and there, right in the dead center of the target, was one of the thrown kunai. "You've been keeping up on your training," he shouted to Sasuke.

"Of course! I want to be as good as you, so I've come here every day after school," he said proudly.

"Alright then, Sasuke, let's see what else you've been practicing…"

Several hours went by as Sasuke showed Itachi all the things he'd been training. Itachi stood with him, absorbing every moment with him, even activating the Sharingan to record when Sasuke wasn't looking. But they weren't meant to spend the day alone, and someone else joined them.

"Hey, what's this, Itachi?" Shisui asked, making a sudden appearance. "I thought you only trained with me."

"Sorry, Shisui," he replied, "but Sasuke has priority. He is my brother after all." Itachi could feel Sasuke glow with affection.

"Come on, I've got a mission soon and I wanted to train with you too," Shisui whined. Sasuke laughed. "I'll even make it interesting: Winner gets all they can eat dango for a day."

"Ha!" Sasuke butted in, "there's no way Nii-san would lose to you, right, Nii-san?" He looked up at his brother with eyes that told Itachi he fully believed what he said. Shisui laughed at the display.

"Don't worry, Sasuke, I won't be losing today." Itachi said. It was the truth. He'd been holding onto something for a while now, waiting for the perfect opportunity to guarantee his victory. The time was now.

"Is that so, Itachi?" Shisui asked. He rubbed his chin, contemplating the source of Itachi's confidence. "Let's see what you've got." The trio headed off towards the usual spot.

Training Start!

Itachi and Shisui took their places opposite of each other. They stared each other down. A sudden whirl of crimson in both of their eyes, and the fight had begun. Sasuke watched from the sidelines, trying desperately to keep up with the furious exchange of blows, but to no avail.

As suddenly as it had started, they stopped. Itachi didn't even dare sneak a glance at Sasuke while they circled in the arena. They froze in their place and gazed intensely into each other's eyes. Sasuke recognized it as genjutsu. He couldn't help but worry as they stood there.

Shisui was relentless compared to other battles. Itachi thought it was because of the dango prize and Sasuke's outburst. Shisui currently held the advantage, as he had more stamina than Itachi, who was wearing out. But his hope was not lost, he still had his secret weapon.

"Soon, Itachi, you will know defeat!" Shisui shouted. Even now he liked his dramatics. "Are you ready for my secret technique?"

"I'm afraid you lost this battle as soon as you stepped into the ring," Itachi retorted. He couldn't help but get swept up in Shisui's… Shisui-ness.

"Well then, take this!" Shisui yelled. He threw a few smoke bombs on the ground. Itachi tensed up. It was coming. He pulled out his secret weapon. The smoke began clearing and Itachi was taken aback.

He'd taken the shape of Izumi in a one piece bathing suit. This was a bit of a low blow, yet Itachi did not waver.

"You thought you could take me off guard with that?" He asked. "Well, you thought wrong. Now face my ultimate weapon, something I've been saving. Fork of the Daimyo!" With a precision hone through many years of training, Itachi flung the fork handle first at Shisui's form.

"Owwwww!" Izumi cried as the fork hit her. Itachi's eyes widened. Something was very wrong here. The smoke finished clearing away, revealing Shisui standing at the far end of the arena. He was in hysterics. "Why did you do that, Itachi?"

"Izumi, I'm so sorry," Itachi hastily bowed, "forgive me but I thought you were Shisui."

"Relax Itachi, I was only joking. And I was in on it," she said. "It was totally worth it to see you shout out 'Fork of the Daimyo." Itachi hid his face. He'd fallen for such a simple trick.

"Oh man," Shisui said in a pause of his laughter, "I knew this would be great, but never did I think you'd pull out that old fork as a weapon." Unfortunately for him, he was too busy laughing to notice Sasuke walk up to him.

"Nii-san wins," Sasuke declared as he pushed Shisui out of the ring.

"Hey what gives, Itachi was supposed to be the one to push me out," Shisui said, snapped out of his laughter by the sudden loss.

"You brought Izumi to the fight, so Nii-san gets to bring me," Sasuke countered. It was Itachi's turn to laugh as Shisui tried to find a hole in the reasoning.

"This isn't funny anymore," he whined. Contrary to what he thought, everyone else was laughing at him. "Oh well, it was a good fight," he continued after getting back to his feet. "I'd treat you tonight, Itachi, but I really have spent too much time here. Farewell."

The other three gave their goodbye before he was gone. The trio began meandering back towards the Uchiha compound. They spent the entire way back talking about the spar. When they reached where they had to part ways, Izumi sidled up to Itachi.

"Itachi," she said, "if you have the time, I've missed you. Do you think we could go do something after I get changed into something more decent?" Itachi looked at her before he used two fingers to poke her forehead.

"Sorry, Izumi, maybe next time," he said. Izumi rubbed her forehead.

"But why?" she demanded.

"I've got a quick mission I need to do," Itachi explained. She was about to raise further protest when he leaned in close. "But I do have tomorrow morning off. I'll take you to do whatever you want then."

"Alright then, bye!" Izumi shouted before making her hasty departure.

"You must really like her, Nii-san," Sasuke commented.

"No, it's not like that," Itachi said, desperately trying to deny it.

Deception Failed

"But you poked her forehead. You only ever do that with me," Sasuke explained. Itachi had to admit, his observing skills were impressive.

"Of course I do it with you Sasuke," Itachi said, taking a knee to get closer to him. "I love you, and I don't know what I'd do if something ever happened to you. Now let's go, I'll give you a piggyback ride home."

Sasuke leaped up onto Itachi's back. He took it nice and slow, so they'd make it home just as lunch was ready. Sasuke gripped tightly onto Itachi.

"Wait, Nii-san," he said out of nowhere.

"What is it, Sasuke?" Itachi asked.

"If you poke my forehead and you love me and you poked Izumi's forehead, does that mean you love her too?" He asked. Itachi stopped walking for a moment.

"Yeah," Itachi admitted to himself, "I guess so…" He continued on his way back to his house, with Sasuke resting his head on his shoulder.