Itsuki tried to not winch when his feet touched the tree branch, before pushing along with a small, controlled burst of chakra, propelling him forward. Tree hopping was not doing his body any favor. After the high-intensity battle, his muscles were beyond sore, and chakra coils screening in protest. He might have the greatest control over his chakra in all of the elemental nations but his chakra pathways were still too immature to handle the heavy rush of chakra, no matter how good his control may be.
At the moment Itsuki was a part of a convoy heading back to Leaf Village. It had been a day since his clash with Kakuzu and the arrival of advanced forces of both villages. Few minor clashes occurred along with the border but nothing major yet. Every ninja saw the chakra ore blocks raised in the air before they were buried by avalanche rocks. Now that Konoha knew about chakra metal reserves, no way it was going to withdraw. It was only a matter of time before it escalates into a full-blown war.
Itsuki sighed. It was his fault. If he had not informed Jiraya, Konoha would have not known and Kumo would likely have been able to mine the ore before Konoha came to know. Despite this, there would have been no war. Now there is a war on the horizon, and other villages are watching the situation like a hawk. Konoha and Kumo will fight before one by one all major and minor villages will join the conflict, chakra ore was too valuable a resource to lose. If he had not informed Jiraya, Kumo will have mined as much as they could and leave, then Konoha will have discretely mined the rest and no village would have been wiser.
But now, neither Konoha and Kumo will withdraw. Diplomatic measures will be taken but they would delay the war at best.
Itsuki suddenly felt heavy. War was not something he wanted on his consciousness.
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"Finally Home!" Kuhara loudly exclaimed, some members of the convoy looked at him with mirth, others with disdain but he ignored everyone.
"Itsuki, we made back," Kuhara said, eyes filled with tears. Itsuki mustered a tired smile, "Yes, we are back."
Itsuki looked at the village gate, but contrary to Kuhara, he did not feel at home and never felt since the day his mother died. To be always on guard, always hiding in plain sight, fearing that Danzo will send another batch of killers after him, when his clan might decide it was time to remove him. No, to Itsuki, Konoha did not feel home, it was just a different battlefield.
'At least I can relax with Ichika, behind the seals providing some semblance of safety.'
Just then an Anbu dropped down in front of the convoy and addressed Inoichi, the leader of the convoy. Inoichi frowned upon hearing what Anbu said and looked at Itsuki.
"Itsuki, Kuhara, Hokage is calling you." Inoichi said. Kuhara stiffened while Ituski frowned but nodded.
With a jump, both followed the Anbu and moved through the rooftops, and arrived at the Hokage tower. Anbu left them in front of the door of Hokage's office.
Itsuki stood there with Kuhara, carefully schooling his features and opening his senses to the emotions of others, preparing for the meeting with Hokage. Kuhara just stood there awkwardly, wanting to be anywhere but there.
Just a few minutes later, the secretary came out of the office and opened the door for them, "You may enter."
Seeing Kuhara hesitate, Itsuki took the lead and entered the office.
"Ohayo Gonzaimasu Hokage-sama, respected elders." Itsuki gave Hokage a low bow, followed by Kuhara. Hokage just impassively nodded.
Itsuki observed the room. Hokage sat on his desk, Danzo and other elders on his sides. And as always, every single one of them felt like a block of ice to his senses, cold, logical, and ruthless. Curiously enough, he did not sense any Anbu.
"Genin Itsuki, Genin Kuhara, we have read your mission report. We found many irregular..." Just as Danzo was speaking, the door to the Hokage office opened with a bang.
Danzo's displeasure was sensed by Itsuki, even if his face remained impassive. That emotion grew even more pronounced when Danzo noticed who barged into the office.
"Ohayo Gonzaimasu Hokage-sama" Shikaku gave a shallow bow to Hokage, completely ignoring the Elders. His actions were repeated by Inoichi and Choza behind him.
"Shiakaku you arrived earlier than I expected." Hokage addressed Shikaku presently.
"My work at the border ended earlier than anticipated. Kumo has agreed to a ceasefire for a week and for peace talks on neutral ground." Shikaku explained, standing in front of the Hokage, forcing Itsuki to shift and standing between Itsuki and Hokage.
"Who will attend these peace talks will be decided later." Hokage said, giving a pointed glance towards Itsuki and Kuhara. Such sensitive information will not be said in front of two reserve genins.
Shikaku nodded. Before turning to Itsuki and Kuhara, "You two should go to Medics to get yourself checked up." Just then Homura interrupted, "Their actions in last mission have yet to be examined. They first need to be sent to T&I."
"They have been interrogated by the head of T&I himself before coming here." Shiakau pointed at Inoichi, "I don't think it is needed."
Itsuki frowned at that. From what he got from Kuhara, he was questioned, which is just another name for soft interrogation but he and Inoichi did not exchange more than a few words.
Homura did not look pleased, and neither did the rest of the elders and Hokage although they did not show it.
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Shikaku left the office after few hours, looking troubled. Inoichi and Choza followed right behind him. The last few hours were spent discussing the plans for peace talks and war.
"So, what do you think?" Inoichi spoke in his mind. Years of friendship allowed Shikaku and Choza to understand Inoichi was referring to Itsuki.
"I don't know, Inoichi, I don't know," Shikaku replied.
"This was the first time you talked to Itsuki and all you told him was to leave." Choza said, "Did he even know about you, and about the relation between you and her mother."
"No, at least I don't think so," Shikaku replied.
"But why would Hokage want him dead? Yeah, I know he is a good medic and Mogusa wanted him to succeed Tsunade and lead Konoha Medic's in the future but to kill him over it, why? There is always going to be someone who will succeed anyways. If not Itsuki then someone else will take up the mantle." Inoichi questioned, "You know if you had not reached the Hokage when you did, both of them will have been shipped to T&I and forgotten."
Shikaku thought for a moment before replying,
"Because they are afraid."
Inoichi nearly missed a step, Choza actually did. With a voice full of disbelief, Inoichi asked, "What do you mean they are afraid. Hokage, afraid of a mere reserve genin. Are you sure you are not drunk?"
Shikaku continued on, not minding Inoichi's rant, "Do you remember what excuse Council used to strip Itsuki of his Medic rank?"
"Yeah, the murder of one of the Anbu guards of Elder Danzo. I was also there when that pretense of a trial happened. How could a boy who is not even a genin kill an elite Anbu." Inoichi replied airily.
"Except he did kill him," Shikaku said, much to the shock of Inoichi and Choza. Bet before they could question back, Shikaku continued, "You know when the case was brought in front of Council, it was me who was selected to investigate the scene, and that too by Danzo himself. Danzo was reasonably confident one Anbu went inside but did not come out or he would have never selected me to investigate. And sure enough, every witness and evidence point towards one more ninja being there. But there was just one problem, there was no Body."
Shikaku turned his head and looked at Inoichi, 'Every evidence I found is circumstantial and only testimony I have is of Danzo and his guards, which in itself would not be enough, Danzo lies more often than he speaks, but there are too many coincidences and it did not take long for me to form a clear picture of what happened."
Shikaku's voice took a grave tone "Itsuki killed an elite Anbu just after recovering from two explosions and some form of attack from Danzo, vanished the body, removed all evidence, and got ready to take on other threats in less than ten seconds. And both Hiruzen and Danzo know that."
"In fact, they tried again. Itsuki's last mission had fifty Anbu tagalongs from the former Root unit. Because their loyalty lied with Danzo and not the village, Hokage deemed them expendable and used them for suicide missions. They were sent on mission expecting heavy losses. And see the result, all Anbu are dead but Itsuki survived."
Shikaku stopped, prompting Inoichi and Choza to stop behind him. Shikaku continued, "When the term genius is used to define a ninja, it is not a simple title. Chakra enhances every aspect of a ninja, a god spark. But not every ninja is gifted equally, some are leagues ahead of others. I am called genius sometimes but outside of strategy, people like Minato and Itachi make me look like a fool. Their minds operate at a level I can not even comprehend."
Choza spoke "But even Itachi was trained by his clan since he could hold a kunai and Minato truly bloomed under Jiraya's teachings. On other hand, Itsuki spent his days in Konoha General, before he was pulled out and as a reserve, he has little to no training."
Shikaku smiled, "And that's what makes Itsuki truly terrifying. He had little to no physical conditioning, no one to guide him, and academy-level training but he still capable of standing in the same league as Itachi and Minato. Hokage and Danzo know this and that is what makes them so afraid. They do not want other Itachi in their midst much less someone who is even more terrifying than him."
Suddenly Shikaku chuckled, but his laugh was mirthless, "And the worst thing is that there is no way to mend the relationship between Itsuki and the village. They started on the wrong foot, from attacking him and blaming him for self-defense, removing him from Medic Corps and stuffing him in Reserves, there is no love lost between Konoha and Itsuki."
"It that the reason you never approached him because his loyalty did not lie with the village, despite knowing he was your son for more than a year." Inoichi pointedly asked, but there was no accusation in his voice.
Shikaku did not reply. He just raised his head and looked at the floating clouds, not meeting the eyes of his friends.
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Author Notes-
This chapter took much, much longer than anticipated. I completed this chapter much earlier but did not like the direction the story was going, so I scraped the entire storyline and decided to change and reshuffle many things. I envisioned the Byakugan Princess arc to be something of a transitionary arc to the next story arc, but now this arc will now explore the political and social impact of war in the village and increasing tensions between Konoha and Itsuki, making it much larger and richer than even the Winter War arc, something I am very eager to start writing.