Naruto: Escape From Konoha-Chapter 258 - 251: Darkness and Root

The sun hung low in the sky.

Dealing with all the encountered bandits during the mission didn't drain much energy from Itachi. Although he was still a genin, his strength far surpassed what was expected of his rank.

His brutal fighting style, mastery of fire release jutsu and shurikenjutsu, and even his keen understanding of genjutsu, could easily outmaneuver most skilled ninjas. He lacked only the awakened Sharingan to possess the full arsenal of traditional Uchiha techniques.

Itachi believed that by continuing his rigorous training, he would one day surpass even the most powerful Uchiha.He noticed the envious gaze of his teammate, Tenma. He understood Tenma's silent gaze: "Why was he so strong, yet I remain so weak?"

Most of the bandits were dealt with by Itachi alone. Yuki-sensei refrained from taking action, leaving only him, Tenma, and Inari to handle the situation.

While Inari's strength wasn't exceptional, her role as support member meant her primary purpose wasn't combat. As long as she managed logistics effectively, she contributed significantly to the team. Itachi appreciated her logistical contribution, recognizing it as a way to lessen his own burden.

This left Tenma, the team's fiercely competitive ninja, as his sole combat partner. Despite being five years older, in theory he should possess five years' worth of additional experience than Itachi. Yet, Itachi, the undeniable genius, had outstripped him despite the age difference.

Itachi had effortlessly eliminated most of the bandits, while Tenma had taken far longer, and it was quite the small number. The disparity in their strength was undeniable.

Itachi, however, remained unfazed. He thought that there was nothing wrong with healthy competition. If Tenma's competitive spirit could drive him to become stronger, it was a good direction. He preferred ambitious and self-motivated teammates over incompetent and passive ones.

His own personal rule he had set for himself was straightforward. He would fight equally alongside strong comrades, but if they were weak, he would protect those who couldn't keep up.

Even when Tenma was at odds with him, they still managed to maintain the teamwork.

"As expected of Itachi, truly a genius from the Uchiha clan. Having a teammate like you makes my role as captain much easier." Minazuki complimented with a smile.

"It's nothing, Minazuki-sensei."

"Well, that's settled. The next mission will be patrolling. Inari and I will team up, Itachi and Tenma will be in charge of the other side."

Given Inari's weak capabilities, pairing her with the Jonin was logical. But... Itachi glanced at Tenma, who hummed coldly, he couldn't help but feel a headache. Minazuki-sensei's praise only manged to fuel Tenma's frustration.

Sometimes, Itachi wondered if Minazuki-sensei's obliviousness to this tension was genuine or if he had ulterior motives. He found the idea of the team's Jonin deliberately trying to sow discord within the team deeply disrespectful.

Inari sighed, regretting she couldn't be in the same team as Itachi. She would have preferred accompanying the handsome and capable Itachi rather than the captain with a regretful demeanor.

"Don't take Minazuki-sensei's words to heart. He's just a bit careless."

As they were about going on their patrol, Itachi walked in front, spoke to Tenma with his back turned. Before he could finish his sentence, a surge of murderous intent struck from behind.

Itachi avoided the fist with minimal body movement. He then effortlessly swept out his foot, sending Tenma stumbling to the ground.

The timing was flawless, a testament to Itachi's confidence in his abilities.

This wasn't even the first time Tenma had attacked him. Itachi viewed these sneak attacks as mere training exercises, opportunities to sharpen his reaction speed. While Tenma wasn't that skilled in ninjutsu or genjutsu, his taijutsu was indeed topnotch for a genin.

"Sorry, I seem to have offended you." Itachi said, offering his hand to help Tenma up.

Tenma ignored him, standing upon his own and brushing the dust off his clothes, and he glared at Itachi with undisguised animosity. "Your constant know-it-all attitude, like you can see through everything, rubs people the wrong way. It was the same back in academy. What on earth do those girls see in you?"

Itachi remained silent. He wasn't sure himself what had drawn his admirers from academy. Was it his appearance? His talent? Or simply a fascination with strength? It was a complex question he had no interest in dissecting.

Their acquaintance stretched back to their academy days, a time when Tenma had challenged him more than once during his academy, fueled by the rumors swirling around the Uchiha clan and their alleged involvement in his uncle's death during the Nine Tails attack. As a result, Tenma harbored a deep-seated resentment towards the Uchiha family.

This situation was beyond Itachi's control. He couldn't apologize for something he hadn't done. He would have apologized if the truth behind the Nine-Tails attack was clear, but it remained shrouded in ambiguity.The only public information was that Uchiha Ruri, the Uchiha clan traitor was responsible for the Nine-Tails incident. He had no idea of the truth.

"Forget it. It was my fault for harassing you back in the academy because of my grudge against the Uchiha... But I stand by my dislike towards you. You keep trying to shoulder everything alone. That's why I can't tolerate you."

Although he was inferior to Itachi in strength, Tenma possessed five years of experience, making him somehow more mature. He saw Itachi as a lone, self-absorbed genius, blinded by his own arrogance.

Battle after battle, Itachi tackled challenges single-handedly. Even when concerned about his teammates, he seemed unwilling to share the burden with his teammates.

Preferring to operate as a lone wolf.

With lazy teammates, they would be happy to have a close teammate like Itachi. But for someone like Tenma who knew he was weak, he still had his pride as a ninja. Itachi's behavior disgusted him.

Itachi was taken aback by Tenma's words. He hadn't anticipated he would say such a thing. But then, he fell. silent. Arrogant?

"If you want to have a better future, you should leave this team as soon as possible. If you're in this team, it's impossible for you to be promoted to Chunin."

With that, Tenma sighed as he walked past Itachi, leaving him to ponder his words. No chance of becoming Chunin on this team? What did he mean? Was Tenma implying that among the three, he was least likely to be promoted?

Soon, Itachi pushed aside the thought and refocused on the mission. Patrol was almost done, and they could return.

Suddenly, Itachi and Tenma tensed their bodies at the same time, stepping back instinctively to stand side by side as they drew out their kunai.

In front of them appeared a ninja dressed in black, wearing a mask with strange patterns. He didn't look like an ordinary passerby, but rather an attacker who had specifically come to interfere with their mission.

"Consider yourselves unlucky to cross paths with me. I'll begin with you brats." The figure spoke in a chillingly casual tone.

"Who do you think you are, acting so arrogantly toward us?"

Tenma had been feeling uncomfortable being overwhelmed by Itachi. With this unknown ninja's words, he immediately became dissatisfied at being looked down upon.

"I'll teach you a lesson and take that mask right off your face!"

After speaking, Tenma rushed towards the black-clad ninja.

'Die bastard!'

Itachi opened his mouth, trying to stop Tenma, but found he couldn't move his body or even open his mouth without great difficulty.

As a ninja, calmly analyzing the strength gap between one's enemy and oneself was foundational.

In Itachi's view, Tenma's behavior was very dangerous. Ninjas who could not objectively assess a situation would die instantly when facing a powerful ninja.

An instant death.

!!!

Tenma's body erupted like a melon struck by a sword. Blood and flesh sprayed across the ground, splattering against Itachi's frozen form.

It happened so fast that Itachi didn't even have time to react. He just stood there blankly. His mind entirely blank.

Tenma's body twitched violently and painfully on the ground before soon going still. His chest was twisted into an inhuman shape with blood pouring out rapidly from a grievous wound that even the most skilled medical ninja would struggle to heal.

"There's no shortage of such simple-minded fools in the world. They're always so eager to prove their worth. You see, death can be so sudden and real, don't you think so, Uchiha Itachi?"

"How do you..."

"I know everything about the Uchiha." The ninja said mysteriously.

Itachi felt a terrifying pressure on his throat and body, trembling all over with horror.

Unlike Tenma, he understood the massive gap in power between them, which made him even more fearful. He wanted to grab a kunai and attack but his body wouldn't respond to him. His body was instinctively at the belief that making any move would lead to instant death.

The ninja admired Itachi's struggle and the confused expression of fear on his face. "I wouldn't have expected this from an Uchiha..."

He slowly stepped toward Itachi, then stopped. Itachi's eyes widened.

It was Tenma's hand. Though his eyes trembling, he clung to life tenaciously even in his dying moments.

This startled the ninja, who thought his lethal strike should have killed Tenma in an instant.

"The human body is truly fascinating. Or.. could this be the power of the so-called 'will of fire' at work?"

Tenma didn't answer, but said in a faint whisper using all of the energy he could muster.

"Hurry...escape..."

Even if only Itachi could get away, at least one of them might survive if they could notify their jonin. Tenma knew that neither he nor Itachi were a match for this enemy.

Itachi's body shook slightly. There was an intensely painful warmth brewing in his eyes, a pain that cut deep, a simmering pain that gnawed at his core.

Power.....

Boom!

Just then, the black-clothed ninja's movements interrupted Itachi's thoughts...

The ninja stepped on Tenma's face, staining his wear with blood.

Tenma's face was trampled to a pulp.

Itachi's eyes filled with anger, but his body was still paralyzed by the fear. The gap in strength between himself and this person was too wide. Anger would not help here, he had to stay calm.

"If you answer my questions well, maybe I'll let you live a bit longer... I hate bratty kids who don't respect their elders."

The ninja muttered with dissatisfaction. He continued approaching Itachi, leaving bloody footprints imprinted on the ground with every step.

'Move... move... ' Itachi struggled internally. He found even the slightest movement impossible as fear gripped every fiber of his being.

Death had never felt so close before.

Itachi raised his head in a last ditch stubbornness to maintain the Uchiha pride he should show even in death. Even if he would die he couldn't die bowing his head in shame.

However, the moment his eyes met the ninja's, he immediately froze. Through the small hole on the left side of his mask, Itachi glimpsed a scarlet eye. Sharingan.

How is this possible? Itachi's mind reeled. This man...was he a ninja from the Uchiha clan? But no one matching his description existed among the Uchiha of Konoha. Even the traitor Uchiha Ruri was still a woman rather than a man.

Just who was this man? Itachi felt as if he had stumbled onto some shocking secret, his breathing growing short and panicked.

The ninja began reaching for Itachi, but abruptly looked up at the increasingly gloomy sky. "What a bother, but time is on my side and you'll come to me eventually, Uchiha Itachi. I look forward to your growth...my side is your true destiny."

With those mysterious words and an eerie laugh, his body seemingly melted into the earth and disappeared.

Itachi felt his body had reached his limit. The moment he was about to pass out, he glimpsed Minazuki and Inari rushing toward him from rhe distance.

Did I survive...? The thought flickered faintly as Itachi collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness.

...

Opening his eyes.

When Itachi awoke, he found himself lying in bed in a comforting, familiar room. It was his room. It seemed Minazuki-sensei had successfully rescued him after all.

While heaving a sigh of relief, Itachi suddenly thought of something, and his body trembled.

The horrific memory of Tenma's chest being twisted and torn, blood pouring out, before dying in front of him returned vividly to mind.

Itachi covered his extremely hot eyes, feeling as if something had awakened within them. He hurried of the bed and rushed to the mirror. He froze in disbelief.

His eyes had turned a dark, icy red, Sharingan. The Uchiha's famed kekkei genkai, the symbol of power. Had he awakened it because of his weakness and inability to protect his teammate?

Itachi tightly clenched his fist, filled with intense disappointment towards himself. He had always seen himself as the strong one who could protect everyone. However..... the memory of Tenma dying right before his eyes was so vivid.

Yet he did nothing.

Strength..... it's still not enough.....

If he could fully use these eyes, he could not only protect his future teammates, but do more for the clan as well.

The goal of becoming the strongest ninja now burned stronger than ever within him.

...

Because of their mission's failure and Tenma's death, Itachi's team needed a period of time to integrate new members.

This gave Itachi more time to rest at home, although he sensed that his normally lively teammate Inari Inari had also grown silent.

The death of a teammate.... was no happy matter. it would be a memory that could will accompany them for life.

Inari was a gentle girl. Itachi knew her silent mood was directly related to Tenma's death.

Whenever he thought about this, guilt and frustration with his weakness overwhelmed him. He had to become stronger to create a peaceful world where no one would cry.

"Father, I've awakened my Sharingan."

Itachi announced to his father. He quickly displayed the scarlet pupils he had mastered the past few days.

Fugaku, enjoying his afternoon tea, was initially surprised, his expression morphing from stunned to ecstatic.

"Well done, Itachi! I thought failing your mission might deal a blow to you, but instead, it has driven you to new heights."

Itachi had assumed his father would worry for him, not wanting him to drown in guilt but instead comforting his wounded heart.

However, but hearing his father's words, It ignited a flicker of anger within him, a feeling he had never directed towards his father before.

He was now regretting revealing his Sharingan. These eyes cost the life of his comrade.... shouldn't his father be more worried about his emotional turmoil than his newfound power?

"A powerful ninja is someone who has survived all sorts of hell. You have not disappointed me, Itachi. You will become a powerful ninja soon."

Oblivious to the simmering darkness in Itachi's eyes, Fugaku reveled in his son's Sharingan, envisioning him as the future pillar of the Uchiha clan soon. He failed to notice his words wounded Itachi's young heart far more deeply than losing his teammate had.

"While the loss of comrades is painful, enduring it is expected for any ninja. If you don't want their deaths to be for nothing, live on powerfully carrying their will." Fugaku added encouragingly.

Itachi's expression remained expressionless, but the pain in his eyes intensified. The power within his crimson eyes burned even brighter.

The cursed power...Itachi lowered his head, a cloudy shadow cast over his eyes.

....

From Fugaku, Itachi learned much about using the Sharingan. Before his new teammates were recruited, he plunged himself into relentless training.

His sole goal was to become stronger, surpassing his father and that black-clothed ninja in order to protect everything mattered to him and end to end all the conflicts in the ninja world.

Over the past half month, every time he closed his eyes, the image of of that scene replayed in his mind. Despite the hellish sights he had already witnessed. Tenma's death lingered in his mind like a ceaseless nightmare

Tenma had paved the way for his Sharingan with his blood and death.

Whenever Itachi thought about this he only felt a suffocating guilt which made him unable to breathe. consumed him that such cursed eyes came at the cost of his friend's sacrifice.

To awake these eyes, friends had to bleed and sacrifice.... What a terrible pair of cursed eyes.

Itachi took a deep breath as he looked at the large number of kunai and shurikens embedded in the ground, along with the scorched earth left by his fire release jutsu.

Fortunately, after the Nine-Tails attack, the Uchiha clan had been relocated to the village outskirts where they had a vast land. Even intense training would not disturb anyone out here.

As for mastering his Sharingan, Itachi wanted to wait until his friend Shisui returned from his mission to talk about it with him. He had an intuition that Shisui was more skilled than even his father in using the Sharingan.

Lost in thought, Itachi was slightly startled by approaching footsteps behind him. It was no ordinary ninja who could come so close without him noticing.

He turned to see a grim, dark aura surrounding the man there. He was dressed in black with bandages over his right face, scrutinizing Itachi as if examining a valuable object.

"Who are you?" Itachi was certain he had never seen this gloomy man before.

The man just smiled without answering.

"I have a question I would like to ask you, a genius who graduated top of his academy class."

"A question?"

"Yes."

"Then you can ask."

Itachi didn't refuse, he really wanted to know purpose this man had looking for him.

"There are a total kf ten passengers aboard a ship..One of thrm has contracted a highly infectious fatal disease. Those who get infected will definitely die. If you were the captain of this ship, how would you deal with it?"

It was a rather strange question unrelated to being a ninja. After pondering a moment, Itachi asked, "Is death guaranteed if infected?"

"Yes, infection leads to inevitable death."

""Since being infected will cause death with no treatment, then, if i were the captain, I would give importance to the lives of the remaining nine people and kill the infected person, throwing the body off the ship."

Itachi believed this to be the most logical solution.

"Just as I thought, you're precisely who I'm looking for. I'm very pleased with your response, Uchiha Itachi." The man smiled and nodded, evidently satisfied. Then, he turned and was leaving.

"My name is Shimura Danzo, and I'm on your side."

Danzo had no intention of directly recruiting Itachi now, but wanted him to come of his own will someday. He held confidence in this outcome.

As the deepest darkness in the Konoha's shadows, Itachi's attraction as a ninja to that darkness and the resonance between them was inevitable.

Only darkness can blend with darkness after all.

-----

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