Itachi's Plight

Looking in the mirror Haruko observed his own eyes while in no small amount of shock. The eyes which looked back showed his tomoe spread out further away from the center, and in the center two different shapes mixed together showed their form. A 6 pronged pinwheel with three distinct, and sharp edges, and three more fluid almost identical to his sword shaped prongs.

'Another year had passed since Shisui's death, and in that time I noticed how much more detached Itachi was becoming. His training sessions grew shorter, and shorter. I knew he was torn up inside over his best friend's death, and there wasn't anything I could really do to help him. More than a few times I had offered to take on his likeness, but I was turned down as he said it would be too hard to get over his death if he could just rely on me whenever he missed his friend. I tried my best, but at the end of the day I wasn't able to make enough of an impact to prevent the massacre from happening.

The massacre of which he had informed me would be happening soon. He's coming again today to have a talk with me, and he asked me to not pass on the information to Naruto, which despite the respect I have for him there's no fucking way I'm keeping anything from Naruto. I might be 27 in my soul but in all reality I haven't aged any further.

I have a higher thinking capacity, and a metric fuck ton of knowlege thanks to Shisui, Rabbit, and Mouse, but I can tell I don't have the same mental functionality I did when I was in my privious world. Looking back I can see just how many times I acted like a little kid, and how lucky I got that it all worked out for me, but I can tell it isn't going to stop. I'm still a kid in this world, and by this point a lot of my memories from my last life have faded away. The fine details are too hard to remember, despite the fact that I can tell this brain is much better than my old one, the other memories are just too foreign at this point. Plus it's not very useful.'

Haruko finished his mental monologue while watching his clones beat each other to death. He found sending them into this gauntlet, and telling them to be as creative as possible has expanded his repertoire of combat skills by an immeasurable degree.

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Mid chapter authors note. I know there's been a bit of confusion surrounding his actual combat ability, and I have been a bit inconsistent for a few reasons. While I want my mc to be powerful, and he literally has infinite growth potential I don't want him to advance too fast because then there becomes no real threat. If there's no threat of death then what's the point in reading/writing? An overpowered MC can be fun, but It's not what I'm about. So to clarify a few things.

Yes he was all the tactical knowledge, and the knowledge of all skills of the people he has absorbed. Just because he has the knowledge, and muscle memory of said skills does not mean he is perfect at them. While in their form he is, but in his own body he has to adjust, and practice.

At this point the biggest limiter to his strength is his small size, and young body. By the time we get to shippuden he will be a high level kage fighter. I already know I can't slow it down anymore by that point. The difficulty will be that at that point it will take Otsutsuki invasions to challenge him, and a repetitive invasion after invasion will get boring.

Beyond all of this this is meant to be both action, and slice of life. I fucking love writing high action, murder, and big battles I love that shit, but I want to focus on the inter personal relationships, and a slower pace story. Highly contradictory to write that in the midst of a time skip, but it's important.

I know most of the chapter has been taken up by this but this is important to me, I love all the support you guys have been giving me, and I'm very thankful for it.

A couple side notes. Bears won by a landslide. So there shall be bears!

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'Bad news first. I didn't get Shisui's broken mangekyou ability unfortunately, However the abilities I did get are pretty good. My left eye allows me to speed up my ability to think to the point time stops. It isn't a true time freeze as I can't move or act or anything along the lines of that, but it does allow me to freeze everything, and think. My right eye seems to have an ability but I can't access it yet almost as if I havent reached the requirments, or the ability is dorment untill further stimulation. Probably because I forcefully awakend the mangekyo instead of naturaly.

Now the final gift Shisui left with me is an immunity to poison, and venom. The bug's rampaging through his system, and poisoning him were absorbed in the crossfire. Contrary to what I expected I didn't gain the abilities of the bugs. No super powerful shell, or even an upgrade to my own armor. No bug shapeshift, no flight, and nothing else but immunity to their effects. This has confirmed a few things for me, and I assume it's because they were mindless, or their biomass was insufficient.'

Haruko had spent the better part of the past few days locked in his own mind. His training had mostly hit a stand still as there was simply no further way for him to advance beyond growing, or absorbing a significant amount of biomass. He had for the most part wiped out, and absorbed the entirety of wildlife in the forest, and had dedicated everything towards his regeneration. The animal's themselves had granted nothing special beyond biomass. At this point his healing is strong enough to fix him up completely almost regardless of the wound in a month. Regrowing his right leg had taken 2 weeks after an unfortunate accident involving his whip blade.

Haruko saw Itachi approaching the estate from the window on the second floor he was zoning out towards. Given the fact that Itachi had walked here instead of using shunshin indicates how busy, and occupied his mind was. Haruko made his way out to meet Itachi with a heavy heart.

"Hey Itachi."

"Haruko I have a few things I need to discuss with you."

"I had a feeling this was coming." Itachi nodded, and led Haruko back into the house, and down into the cellar.

"Good thing Kkashi sealed this place up so people could have conversation's down here people couldn't listen in on." Haruko mused aloud to alleviate the tension he could feel.

"Haruko I've been sharing quite a bit of secret information with you for a few reasons." Itachi paused before motioning for Haruko to take a seat. "I've already informed you of the cup in process by the Uchiha clan, and how in order to act in line with Shisui's wishes I'm stopping it in its tracks to ensure peace."

"Yes you've brought it up, what do you plan on doing?"

"While I have been trying my best to prevent it from ever happening the elders of my clan refuse to listen to reason, and are deadset. Drastic measures must be taken, and they will be eliminated."

"The elders?" Haruko asked despite knowing how it was really going to go.

"All of them. I've worked out a deal with Lord Third, and my little brother will be spared. I have two request's for you." Itachi finished with a heavy tone.

"What can I do for you?"

"Will you look out for Sasuke? He is your age, and after everybody is gone he will need a support system. I won't be able to stay in the village, and I've already figured out how I will continue to protect peace after I leave. My second request is more difficult, and could potentially lead to your death."

"Way to sugar coat it. Sure I'll keep an eye out for him, but if he's a dick I'll have to put him in place."

"Please do, he will need somebody on your level to temper him, and push him to further heights. My actions will leave a deep scar that won't heal, and in order to prevent his mind from breaking I'll become the center of his hate."

"Itachi, while I appreciate everything you've done for me, and I'm more than happy to help, why don't you tell him the truth?"

"Because he will follow in the clan's footsteps then, and my mission for peace will be for naught."

"I feel like you could do better, but if that's what you believe. What's the second request?"

"Danzo has pushed harder, and harder for my clan's extinction, and I guarantee his interest is in our eyes. He cannot be allowed to have them. I ask that you follow behind me, and clean up all the mess to make sure nobody can profit from the death of my family."

"Danzo is already hunting me. I have no issue with pissing him off more, protecting your legacy, and ensuring there is no perverse use of their eyes. I will do as you ask." Haruko felt like throwing up at this moment. While he was honest, he had seen more than a few dead bodies at this point. This would be different. This would be an entire compound of 100 plus people dead all at once.

"Thank you, Haruko. Be at the compound tonight, and act quickly."

Itachi got up from his seated position, and made his way out of the estate. Haruko followed him out, and began making preparations for tonight. All black outfit, and several modifications to himself. He formatted his 7 year old body for pure speed as he knew what he would need to do, and how little time he would have to do it. He remembers the fact that all the eyes were stolen by Danzo, but he doesn't remember if he did it personally or not. To ensure the best results he would follow just a few seconds behind each kill.

Haruko didn't know what he would gain for absorbing all the dead bodies, but he had a feeling he likely wouldn't gain full memories or skills as the last time he absorbed something he didn't kill he was a fetus.

Heading to the back he quickly found Naruto relaxing under the shade of a tree.

"Hey Naruto. I'll be gone tonight handling a mission from Itachi. I'll fill you in on the details when I return. Stay inside tonight, and sleep well."

"You can't just leave like that, and not give me any details. I'm going with you."

"I'm sorry Naruto, but you can't. Itachi told me not to tell you at all, so please respect his wishes, and don't wait for me tonight, I shouldn't have told you at all at this point, but I know you would go out looking for me."

"Danzo will take this chance while you're separated from us to attack you. You can't be by yourself."

"Danzo will be preoccupied tonight. Don't worry I'll be back home later, and tomorrow I'll tell you everything. Go inside, and sleep."

"No Haru! I can't let you put yourself in danger, I don't care if it's a mission from Itachi."

Sighing Haruko knew the outcome would be similar to this, but he also knew if he didn't tell Naruto he would leave to search for him, and that's exactly why he had used his power to morph his eye so his sharingan was active without giving the appearance of it. Since the beginning of the conversation he had implanted genjutsu after genjutsu in Naruto to ruin his perception of reality one layer at a time. Knowing Naruto had an extensive amount of training against genjutsu this sneaky way of using the sharingan was Haruko's only choice.

Naruto would believe he had left with Haruko on the mission, but would in fact be at home, and in bed as Haruko watched Naruto's body slump to the floor as the final genjutsu took place. Naruto wouldn't realize he was under Haruko's genjutsu until he woke up tomorrow, and that was an issue for future Haruko to deal with.

"Was that necessary?" Kakashi had asked while stepping out from behind a tree.

"Yes sensei. This numbskull would follow, and possibly get hurt in the process. I can't risk that."

"I could stop you from going." Kakashi quipped while looking down on Haruko.

"You could, but we both know how important this is to Itachi. The mission he gave me will ensure nobody get's hold of the sharingan of his people. It's too important for me to not do it. Nobody else can do it with my speed, and leaving no evidence behind."

"Alright, just be careful. I'd hate to see all my hard work wasted."

"Don't worry sensei, I'll be back."