Kisame, standing beside the map, started to snicker.
“As odd as that is, Itachi,” said Pein.
“I can’t help but wonder: why are you coming to me?”
“I was hoping you’d take a look at him, Leader-sama.
To see if there is anything to .
.
.
see.” He finished lamely.
Pein sighed and walked around the map-table.
“Alright then.
Kisame, do ask Kakuzu to please have a word with Hidan.
I would like the two of them in working shape for this afternoon.”
The two Doujutsu users left the room together.
“I’m sorry about this.” That was all the Leaf team heard before things went horribly wrong for them.
For two of the chūnin, it was the last thing they heard.
Their heads became detached from their bodies and rolled on the road.
For Jian, it was merely the last thing he heard before the whole world went dark.
When he opened his eyes, it was to a dark cave and one of the most infamous ninja to ever come from Leaf Village.
He whimpered and wet himself.
“What do you want?”
“I have a deal to offer you,” replied Itachi.
“You use your Byakugan to tell me what’s wrong with this child, and I’ll leave you alone.
Or you can be stupidly brave and I torture you to death.
Then I go back to Leaf and find your immediate family and torture them too, just to be sure.
Your choice.” He gave a slight smile which had all the warmth of a shark’s (he’d been taking lessons from Kisame).
Itachi had taken the step of kidnapping a Hyūga simply because Leader-sama, with his Rinnegan, had been unable to identify exactly what it was that was wrong with Hari.
Sort of.
He was able to tell that Hari had a very developed set of chakra coils—far more than an infant should.
Itachi smiled at that, his son was going to be a powerhouse someday.
That had probably been why something had been flung.
Maybe.
But Leader-sama had also spotted something in that odd scar on his son’s forehead.
Leader-sama hadn’t been able to explain that and had recommended consulting the Hyūga.
Jian activated his Byakugan and looked at the toddler presented to him.
It was about two years old, give or take, though its chakra network was far beyond that and resembled an adult’s.
Messy black hair and pale skin suggested that this was the son of the infamous ninja, but the boy had bright green eyes and everyone knew that Uchiha only had coal black ones.
Except, of course, for the Sharingan.
“Um .
.
.
if I had to guess—”
“You don’t.” Itachi smiled without mirth.
“Be certain.”
“R-r-right.” Jian tried to focus.
It was difficult.
For some reason, he kept seeing his own death.
“It looks .
.
.
that can’t be right.
It looks as if there’s .
.
.” he turned his face to Itachi.
“I think there’s a person in that mark on his forehead.
Wait, no.” He held up a hand.
“Not a person exactly.
Maybe a bit of a person?
I can see part of an independent chakra-network that’s partly grafted into his.
So I guess .
.
.
well, it’s the best way to put this .
.
.
maybe a bit of a soul in there?
Or something.
It’s not something I’ve seen before or anything.”
Itachi stared at Jian until the older male shivered.
“Interesting.”
“I mean, I’m not sure it’s actually a soul.
It’s definitely part of a chakra network.
I can’t think of any way for that to happen at all, honestly.
So I’m unfortunately having to make some assumptions.
I know that grafted limbs just become part of the recipient’s network and this is clearly an extra-network thing.” Jian focused on the subject and let himself ease his worries as he did.
“A soul .
.
.” Itachi looked up at the ceiling.
“Very well.” He nodded at Jian.
“As promised, I shall leave you alone now.”
“Thank—” There was a meaty thunk as a kunai slammed into Jian’s chest, spearing his heart.
“Your corpse will find itself quite alone in this cave, especially after I collapse the entrance.” Itachi patted the man on the head as the man coughed blood and died.
Itachi stared down at the body.
Then he blinked.
The man’s eyes weren’t fading.
He could not be that lucky.
But yes, the eyes still gleamed to his sight with the mark of the Hyūga.
“Well then,” he murmured as he knelt.
“waste not, want not.” His hands glowed.
“Itachi,” said Kisame as the young man entered their rooms in the Ame tower.
“Yes?”
“Is the kid wearing a blindfold?”
“No.”
“It looks like a blindfold, Itachi.
I mean, his eyes are covered by cloth wrapped around his head and everything.”
“It’s not a blindfold.”
“I’m going to regret this.
What is it, then?”
“Bandages.”
“Ah.” Kisame sighed.
“And why does your brat have bandages across his eyes?”
“Because he’s healing.”
“I’m going to need a little more here, Itachi.”
“I may have performed some field-surgery.”
“Why?”
“I .
.
.
found a spare set of Byakugan and decided that I shouldn’t waste it.”
“You ‘found’ a Byakugan?
Two of them?”
“.
.
.
Yes.”
“Did you tell Leader-sama?”
“Yes.”
“Alright then.” Kisame shrugged.
Itachi had always been a freak, but since he adopted the kid, he’d become a little less randomly terrifying and a little more just odd.
Unless something threatened Hari, then he was scary as fuck.
“A soul in his head?” Pein sounded skeptical.
“That’s what the Hyūga said.”
The orange-haired man shrugged.
“Okay then.” Another orange-haired figure stepped from the shadows.
Like Pein’s primary body, it had black metal rods shoved through its flesh.
It reached out and pressed a finger to the livid scar on Hari’s forehead.
“Well, that’s odd,” the two Pein said.
“What is?”
“I can speak Snake now.”
“What?”
“Yeah.
I don’t get it either.
But I just learned Snake.
So I’m going to go do something that doesn’t involve your son for a while.
Maybe the world will go back to making sense.”