Chapter 5
Itachi, who does not plan on sleeping, finds himself teaching Sakura the basics of medical jutsu. She’s a good student, easily the most sensible genin on Haromo’s team. She also mistakes Itachi, who is naturally taciturn, for a good listener. He supposes he does qualify as a good listener, because he pays careful attention to everything she says, sifting through it for clues about the political situation in Konoha.
A much larger clue comes in the form of a whispered conversation by two of the Konoha chaperones, who are standing just within Itachi’s peripheral vision, allowing him to activate his sharingan and read their lips.
“A message came from Lord Third,” says Sarutobi Asuma softly. “A raiding party from Suna made it through our first line of defense and set off a bomb at the south wall.”
“They’re looking for the attack that was meant to distract us from, right?” whispers his partner, Yuuhi Kurenai. “The Kazekage is too good a tactician to think a mission to attack the wall would be worthwhile.”
“They’re looking for another attack, but they haven’t found evidence of one yet. That’s what’s worrying Lord Third.”
“Are the Suna party here at the exams going to try anything?” asks Kurenai. “The Kazekage’s children are here, and goodness knows they’re powerful enough to cause plenty of damage in a surprise attack.”
Asuma shakes his head slightly. “They won’t try to fight a war on two fronts, even if Kiri is too far away for any real battle. Jiraiya has been hanging around a supply town and he’s indicated that just fighting Konoha is draining Suna’s resources.”
“Not fast enough, in my opinion,” says Kurenai. She pauses. “I mean, not as fast as I would expect. I’d agree with Lord Third that someone is supplying them with food and weapons.”
“Jiraiya says he’s working on finding out who it is—he even bumped it up in priority above his top-secret long-term mission. But he’s not having any luck so far.”
“We could try our hand at finding out… Shall we linger by the refreshments?”
The two of them turn their backs on Itachi and walk toward the refreshments table, where two Suna genin teams and their chaperones are decimating the snacks.
“…Itachi-san?” He looks around and refocuses on Sakura, who is staring at him in confusion. “That was your sharingan, wasn’t it? What’s going on?”
He debates pretending that he wasn’t spying on the Konoha jounin, but decides that she is probably suspicious anyway. “Your village has been attacked, although it sounds like no-one has been injured. Sarutobi-san and Yuuhi-san were discussing how Wind Country has the resources to enter a war with Fire Country, which is much more powerful.”
Itachi half expects Sakura to say she doesn’t understand, but she frowns thoughtfully and says, “They think Suna has a secret ally?”
He smiles, pleased with her knowledge and deductive skills. “Precisely, Haruno-kun. If you look, they are trying to gather information right now, but I don’t think they’ll have much luck.”
“Wow!” says Fuu, making both of them jump slightly. Itachi hadn’t known she was awake; she has been drooling onto his leg for the last ten minutes. “So is everyone spying? I’ll help!” She bounces to her feet and starts to leave before Itachi catches her hand.
“Fuu, where are you going? You have no reason to care about a war between Fire Country and Wind Country.”
“Buuuuut… I do have a reason to be invested in a certain Suna genin.”
“Do you mean the one who tried to kill you?” asks Itachi, aggrieved that he already knows her answer.
“Yep! Don’t worry, there’s plenty of jounin around here in case he tries again. You’re here, brother, so I know I’ll be safe!”
“Are she and Sasuke… a thing?” whispers Sakura. It amuses Itachi that she seems to think of him as a confidant, considering that he is technically an enemy of her village, even if he is no longer listed as a missing-nin in the bingo book.
“Sasuke has only recently outgrown referring to her as his rival, although we adopted her as our sister three years ago.” Itachi doesn’t take his eyes off Fuu; she is almost completely surrounded by Suna nin, and though they look more curious than hostile right now he doesn’t trust the situation to remain stable. She’s talking to Gaara, gesturing energetically and bouncing on the balls of her feet. Itachi can’t see her face from here, so he doesn’t know what she’s saying, but he can read Gaara’s lips: “There is only one of me,” he says. He pauses while she’s talking and his face goes blank for a long moment (even more than normal, which is impressive), and then he frowns slightly. “You’re a—”
Fuu lunges forward to put her hand over his mouth. He clearly interprets it as an attack, because his sand wraps her in a tight cocoon. She coughs glittering dust in his face, making him wince and try to blink it away, but he doesn’t release his grip.
Fuu struggles, saying something in a low voice, and he replies, “No-one who says they want to be my friend fails to have an ulterior motive. Don’t think that you’re any different. I should crush you to death right now.”
Fuu says something else, gesturing with her chin toward a group of Kiri jounin, probably pointing out that Gaara would have a hard time if he tried to kill anyone now.
Gaara is silent, face completely blank like he hasn’t figured out what to put on it. “What do you want?” he says finally. Fuu tries to lean forward in her sand prison, looking earnest. She talks for a long time, and then Gaara’s sand slowly releases her—almost gently—to stand on the floor. She sticks out her hand, a clear gesture of friendship.
“You don’t know what kind of a monster I am,” says Gaara.
From her body language, Itachi can tell Fuu is rolling her eyes.
“Defeat me in single combat,” he says.
She turns and calls across the room, “Hey, Itachi! Can me and Gaara go outside and fight? He promises no kill shots!”
Itachi sees Gaara mutter, “I didn’t say that.”
He stands, flickers to within earshot, and says, “I will supervise. Temari-san, Kankurou-san, do you wish to come as well?”
Gaara’s siblings eye him distrustfully—he has no innocent reason to know their names, after all—but Temari nods and they follow Gaara and Fuu up to the observation platform on top of the watchtower.