My Clan, my Duty- running into Team Ro

After Sasuke had all-but passed out, Team Ro had decided to only rest for five hours.
" We really need to get out of lightening soon. Us being here could lead to...a confrontation, as you know." Hound had reasoned.
While the Third-World war had ended a while ago, tensions were still high between the different Hidden Villages that fought against each other. It wouldn't do to provoke them accidentally. The best case scenario was to stay unnoticed.
Aside from that, any mission outside of the Land fo Fire bore the risk that they could very easily be attacked by bounty hunters- Hounds head alone was worth a lot and most others had made it into the Bounty books too.
" I think the kid'll be out longer than that. " Otter mused.
" I can carry him." Itachi offered.
" No. That'd slow us down." Hound denied. "Sparrow, you should carry him." And so they went. ( Though Itachi did complain. The kid really wasn't professional when it came to his brother. Not that anyone could blame him right now. ) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When Sasuke woke up he noticed that oddly enough he was moving. When he finally opened his eyes, blinking his sleep away, he was stating at the ground which was rapidly moving. His sleep addled mind took a minute to comprehend. Oh. He was being carried. Well, this was both embarrassing and terrifying. Embarrassing because it implied that he couldn't take care of himself and terrifying because it once again underlined his less-than-ideal situation. Any of the anbu could do absoloutely anything they wanted at any time to him. If they wanted him dead, they could probably break his neck with their little pinkies... Sasuke tried his best not to panic. He mourned the fact that if he used genjutsu on himself there 'd probably be questions... He really really really wanted to just blanket himself in five to ten layers of the don't-panic genjutsu. To be honest, he had wanted to do that ever since he had felt Itachis chakra- and then he couldn't cause he needed the chakra to run and run and run. He woukd still need to do this today- and he really didn't want to be carried. So, he resisted the urge to use his favourite genjutsu and instead asked to be put down. To his immense relief the anbu actually agreed and then it was back to running. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was sometime in the afternoon, probably- Sasuke wasn't great with telling the time from the sun but they had had a quick break to eat a while ago and it only made sense to do that mire towards the middle of the day, in his opinion- when The Otter mask stiffened. " We aren't alone anymore...I detect 20 chakra signatures, a few chnunin- and- at least a dozen Jonin-level- and they are moving towards us." " Maa, what are the chances that it's just some Kumo-nin saying hello?...We don't attack first, if they are Kumo nin don't use any recognisable attacks, we don't want to fan another war...if they aren't dispose of them as quickly as possible." The dog-mask commanded. " We'll have to look out for the kid so just treat this as sort of a protection mission. And don't die." He added. " That much was obvious." Sparrow commented, taking out a tanto. " This'll be messy...maybe just close your eyes?" asked Itachi towards Sasuke, sounding worried. It made Sasuke feel uneasy, after all he still didn't know if Itachi was a monster or not. Aside from emotions, Itachis suggestion was far from sound, however, and Sasuke didn't hesitate to say so. " No thanks. I can't afford to die here, I still have things to do." Itachi frowned. " That's a really weird way to say you want to stay alive. You don't need to worry anyhow, however, we are anbu...this shouldn't be a problem. And if you don't close your eyes you might get nightmares..." Sasuke shook his head. " It's fine. All my dreams are like...nightmares anyways. " This, at last, shut Itachi up. Team Ro went into a formation that both covered them and also Sasuke. They all got battle ready. Sasuke also pulled out a kunai just in case. It was indeed necessary. Their enemies- who bore no shinobi headband so either disguised ninja or ninja who had defected- were ruthless. Soon their formation fell apart, the anbu mostly engaging multiple enemies at once to keep them away from Sasuke, the obvious weak link in their group. Itachi and Sparrow stayed behind to cover him. Sasuke mainly just sort of stood there kunai ready. Although he hated it he had to admit that these guys were probably above his level- heck, he wasn't even a genin yet. And Itachi and Sparrow fought well anyways, Itachi catching multiple people in a genjutsu, probably with the sharingan- Sasuke didn't even look at Itachis face, he knew he would absoloutely panic if he saw Itachis Sharingan again and he did not have the emotional capacity nor the time for that- whole Sparrow managed long-distance attacks. Things were going well. Until they weren't. An attacker that had come the moment Itachi and Sparrow were busy- first attacked Sasuke with multiple projectiles. With his Sharingan active and the Sunshin he could evade them easily. He couldn't evade the man when he used a ninjato and sped towards him faster than Sasuke could Sunshin away. Mentally, Sasuke had already been prepared to die. It would be a shame that he couldn't help his people first, that everything would be for nothing... Then, Someone crashed into him. Itachi. Sasuke stared wide-eyed in disbelief. Itachi...had taken the hit for him. For Sasuke the hit would have been somewhere on his ribcage, for Itachi who was so much taller than him it was on his legs. There was a trail of blood on Itachis leg, gushing out of the wound when the enemy pulled his weapon back out... Itachi had been stabbed. If Sasuke had been thinking logically and rationally, he would have realized that anbu can attack even when heavily injured. Moreover, he would have realized that being stabbed didn't automatically mean death. Right now, however, he could only think about all the people who he had seen die over and over again who Itachi had stabbed and who had died immedeatly or shortly after... He thought it was ironic that the one who had stabbed his people now died protecting him...the the one who had wanted to prevent that and make this impossibleinstead. It didn't bring him joy. This...Itachi didn't seem to be the monster yet. The monster wouldn't risk dying for him, after all, it found Sasuke pathetic. It had some use for Sasuke or liked to see him suffer, sure ( after all, Sasuke had been left alive, left behind to life in agony and eventually die) but it wouldn't risk its life for that. That meant that Sasuke being here right now killed the brother he had loved. His blood was on Sasukes hands. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. Sasuke eyes were burning, his vision was tainted in red and he saw the world clearer than ever before. Then he moved. Before the enemy could stab Itachi again, Sasuke jumped- with chakra and slit his throat- like Itachi had done to Aunt Mimiko. When there was another enemy he stabbed them through the stomach-like Itachi had done to father. The next one he burned with a fireball- like Itachi had killed Miki, his older cousin. When there was yet another enemy coming for them, Sasuke just did something- he didn't even know what, he just followed a sort of instinct, but the result was that the person went up in black flames. Sasuke found them beautiful and absentmindedly ran a finger through the flames- they didn't hurt, they were warm, almost soothing. Sasuke could take a nap in them. Sasuke stood there ready to attack Ince more if necessary, but around him and...his brother it was quiet. Then Sparrow came, kneeling near Itachi, hands glowing green. Green. Green chakra was healing. You didn't heak someone who was dead. Itachi wasn't dead. Sasuke didn't kill him. It eas like a heavy stone that Sasuke wasn't even aware was there fell off him... Itachi...was not the monster. Itachi was still the brother he once had. And he was alive. Sasuke wouldn't be responsible for his death one way or another... Itachi was suddenly crouched in front of him, hands moving in front of his eyes his lips were moving. Sasuke had to really focus in order to understand him. Finally he heard Itachi ask him to please deactivate his eyes, heard him describe how to, he heard him say " You did well" and " It's safe now." Well...if Itachi wasn't the monster right now, he was meaning well and deactivating his eyes was probably the best thing to do. Sasuke obeyed and the red swam from his eyes moments before the world went back and Sasuke passed out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After Sasuke had passed out and Itachi had caught him and lifted him into his arms, Sparrow had to reassure a fussing Itachi ten times that Sasuke was fine, just chakra exhausted. Then, Itachi stayed worried at his brothers side, only stopping slightly to put out the black flames. Meanwhile, the rest if Tean Ro cleaned out the battlefield, storing the dead bodies in scrolls and making erasing traces of their fight. Then, they went on swiftly, they really should get out of Lightening Country soon. Itachi insisted on carrying his brother again and this time, after what just happened and Sparrow having healed him completely, he was allowed. When they were finally out of Lightenjng country and it was getting dark, they stopped in a secret anbu outpost. There were quite a few of those, both in and out of Fire country ( but far from the other hidden villages) serving as a rest or equipment stop for missions outside Fire country. Coming upon those was pure luxury. There was food, water bottles, mattresses and a few weapons (though those were all carefully made to not look like they were from Uchiha, just in case an outsider found them. They were generally well protected though- only a fre anbu knew their locations and they were hidden under very subtle genjutsu layers. It was the perfect place to rest after today. While Itachi placed Sasuke on a mattress and pit a blanket over him, Cat prepared food and Sparrow was dressing and healing Hound and Otters injuries. As they were not life-threatening or movement-restricting, the Team had decided not to adress that on side.

When they all had food in front of them- dehydrated cold food ( a fire would lead to smoke and smoke would least to attention) Team Ro ate.
After Hound had eaten his food sooner than should be humanly possible, he spoke.
" Itachi, we really need to talk about your brother." " Yes. " Itachi agreed. " Don't let anyone know about rhe black fire- Sasuke is dealing with a lot right now anyways...and the Clan will have heavy expectations on him if they know." " Sure." Otter agreed easily. What was that anyways?" " That's a clan secret, I can't tell you." Itachi replied. " Well... we can nottalk about it. That's fine. " Hiund agreed. " But we still need to talk abiut more." " What?" Itachi inquired, eyebrow raised. " Your brother said he was tortured, and he shows signs of that but for some reason he has a lot of tomatoes, food, water and weapons. You said your brother was just an academy student and he hasn't been trained, yet he knows the sunshin, has a good grip on his chakra control and he knew how to kill people. Moreover, he moved like you. And then there's the fact that his chakra signature is really weird. I'm just saying there's something more going on than a kidnapping." Hound just expressed what every other member of Team ro had thought in the past too- there was something weird going on with the little kid. " I know." Itachi answered. " And I don't know what happend, when it happened...I don't know how Sasuke could learn and experience so much in just a week, how he is here... I don't know why he sometimes looks as if he is scared of me or hates me. I just know I failed in protecting him and that this is Sasuke, different chakra or not. And Sasuke is really really stubborn- he won't talk unless he has to...I'm still waiting on information from Sishui and if he doesn't have a clue what's going on either we'll just have to wait till Sasuke meets father." Team Ro stayed in the outpost that day, and the next. They needed to recharge chakra anyways and as long as Sasuke was out, Itachi was a mess. Tactically it also made sense to lay low.for a bit in case they ran into enemies again. They still kept wath outside from time to time, just in case. In the middle of Itachis shift, Itachi came back into the outpost, eyes white and face pale. " You were right Captain...there is something more going on... Sishuis crow just told me that Sasuke is alive and well in the village. But this kid here is definetly Sasuke too."