Rage and Anger,
A feral roar shook the world in its wake.
Watching the stray clouds pass by, the boy closed his eyes and suppressed a shuddered breath. Soft gushes of uncontrolled breath escaped his nose as a wave of raw emotions surged inside him. His heartbeat steadily went up, slowly stirring the unwanted memories of 'that wretched day' to rise again. Visions swam across his eyes, reminding him of the terrible disaster that he had wanted to forget for so long.
Malice and resentment,
Globes of bloody eyes that razed everything to dust fell upon them.
There was a raging fire spread everywhere, seemingly unquenchable no matter what. It enveloped everyone and everything till nothing left. Flashes of brightness clouded everyone, but none were graced in it. Everyone simply succumbed to it as it washed over them inflicting pain beyond unimaginable. The flames spared none, Shinobi and civilians alike, each and every one of them perished under it. And there he had been, right there, up on the mountain where the forefathers of this great nation stood, to witness all of it all in its raw glory.
Murder and Distaste,
Huge claws tore through everything. Ending the very essence of life itself.
Carnage?
Destruction?
Nothing could describe that vile creature and yet, everything perfectly represented it. 'It' simply embodied these concepts as if its very nature. It seemed as if the sheer presence of such an abomination brought forth the dark will of the world itself into reality. The little boy's grip on reality started to slip as the flashes began to become vivid right in front of his eyes.
Bloodthirst and Dread,
There was no escape, redemption or hope for victory.
His mind remembered every aspect of that day with uncanny clarity. A day that brought forth the greatest tragedy ever happened to the hidden leaf. The day that put down the lives of many and remained an unchanging dread throughout that would never fade even over the passage of time. The little kid who stood stumped at the massacre witnessing the gore in its purest form from the Hokage monument, he was a living record of that tragedy.
It all seemed to happen way too fast. One moment he was enjoying the peaceful serenity of the village and in the next, it was as if hell itself descended. In literal sense, Everything was engulfed in flames and dust. Although his peripheral vision had recorded some of the vague but important aspects of that day, his focus was solely on the large beast that was razing the village to the ground. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, focusing and steadying his breath.
The vivid flashes of his past were interrupted abruptly, as the sound of the soft footsteps came from behind him. Sensing the approach, he sat up with a smile on his face. The footsteps belonged to a boy who was the same age as him (somewhere around 7). Lustrous hair and soft features of the kid made him seem harmless and quite the handsome looker but a keen eye could undoubtedly recognise the chilling mask of a shinobi adorned across that innocent face adorned so nonchalantly.
"Thought you would be here. After all there's no place else that gives you a sense of calmn as it does here, Shisui. Still, it is funny to me that this is the same place that haunts you the most and yet is the only place that gives you calm. I don't think I'll ever quite understand the logic behind it."
A wry smile appeared on Shisui's lips.
He responded, "Well, it's not that hard to figure it out, Mr O'Great Itachi. While it certainly is true that this place gives me the creeps, this is also the place that gave me 'Hope', the place from where I witnessed the fight of humans against a God. The place which showed me that even among us, heroes still reside". An enigmatic smile found its way back onto his face as he looked at the boy beside him with his eyes sparkling.
Sensing the inevitable rant of how the Third and Fourth Hokage saved the village was to come by, Itachi quickly subverted the topic onto the main discussion of today.
"Let me stop you right there before having to listen to your reverence to the Lord third like a damn fanatic. I came here to congratulate you". He presented his hand forward which shisui eagerly shook.
"Impressive of you to pass the academy early. It's an achievement that very few in the leaf can boast about".
Shisui lifted a brow at that, "says the guy who graduated early enough to be comparable enough to the likes of Kakashi Hatake. Thank you for humbling me with your heartfelt congratulations", he jested, eliciting a light chuckle from his friend. Although Itachi had no intentions of competing with his friend in anything, he was very much aware of the drive and competitive spirit of his friend. 'He needs to mask his intentions a bit more before he is ready to fool anyone. Well, he'll learn it soon enough'. But before anything, Itachi had to confirm something, "Did you really think this through? Do you really want to be a shinobi that bad, Shisui?"
It was not that Itachi had any doubts as to whether Shisui would become a good ninja. On the contrary, he believed that Shisui would go on to become one of the most renowned ninjas in the world, he could somehow feel it. But still, if there was any chance that he could keep Shisui away from the bloodshed and gruesome reality of being a ninja. He would take it shamelessly without any doubt and that is exactly what he was trying to do here. Itachi knew how kind and good hearted Shisui was, and in some selfish way he didn't want it to get tainted by the harrowing and treacherous life of a ninja.
Shisui stared at his friend for a moment as if pondering on the question and gave him a big smile, "If there is anything that I am totally sure in my life, then it would be the decision to be a ninja. I don't know how to explain it to you or is it even explainable. But I whole-heartedly believe that this is my calling. I mean, for a guy that has nothing left in his life, I think this is a worthy ordeal to pursue, don't you think?"
'sigh'
He knew it. Itachi was already aware of how badly Shisui wanted to become a ninja. Also that ridiculous reverence of his idols would never allow him to stray away from the path of a ninja. But it would have left a bad taste in his mouth if he did not even try once.
"And sure enough, who else is going to uplift the name of our clan if not for the great 'me' unlike you who isn't even remotely interested in something as important as that?"
There it was, Itachi suppressed a frustrated groan in his throat and looked at his friend with no expression betraying him. But Shisui, who knew him much better than anyone had picked upon that subtle discomfort and gave him a squinting eye.
"Seriously though, no matter how many times I think about it, I can never understand why you feel this certain disdain for our clan? Sure, we may not have the same respect and ethics that we used to in the past. But isn't that more the reason that we have to work hard and change our ways and flaws which in turn helps us in grabbing the deserved respect for the uchiha's right from the clutches of those who denied it to us.
"It is not disdain. You will understand it much better when you get into the inner workings of the clan. I have nothing against our clan, in fact there is nothing more than I want for our clan to thrive. But things aren't as simple as you think, Shisui. The world isn't as simple as we see it to be. Every victory always comes at a cost. Sometimes what the cost means is to be evaluated thoroughly, otherwise we might find ourselves on the wrong path even without us knowing", he explained in words that he could express. The matter was complex and as a person who had been privy to some information of the clans activity, Itachi knew how risky it was for Shisui to know about their motives and intentions. Even he, had only a little hint of the whole picture, he had to keep a close eye to understand the situation better.
Shisui simply nodded his head. There was nothing more to say, they have been at this crossroads of a conversation more times than he can count. And at each and every time the conversation never went anywhere other than them terminating it for the sake of mutual peace of mind. Whatever sceptical thoughts Itachi may have, Shisui was sure of one thing, that whenever the clan is in danger, Itachi would absolutely never sit still. His sworn brother would have his back to help them.
"What brings you here though? You can't be here just to congratulate me, right? I don't think you have the privilege of disappearing with just a few words of appreciation. Spend some from that hefty wallet of yours, my friend", shisui scooted closer, poking him in the ribs with his elbow.
Itachi deadpanned at this. 'Sometimes this dork can be such a shameless swindler'.
Placing his hand on Shisui's shoulder, he smiled at his friend. For a moment, Shisui was left clueless as Itachi took a small pouch hidden behind his back and placed it in Shisui's hands as he took a step back.
Taking the pouch in his hand, Shisui started back and forth at both the box and his friend. A small smile crept onto his lips unknowingly. It was a fairly long box wrapped neatly in a leather cloth. It also weighed a bit on his hand, without any delay Shisui let loose the fabric.
As the leather slid across, it revealed a beautiful azure box with his name engraved upon it in golden ink. His fingers slowly grazed across his name as he pried the box open with excitement starkly visible in his eyes.
Inside was a kunai neatly tucked. There was nothing flashy about its appearance, it looked just the same as the one he would use every day but just new. Still, Shishu's intuition poked at him, he could feel a cold radiance emanating from it. Admiring the kunai, he took the kunai in his palm. It felt cold and sturdy in his hands. The weight distribution was perfect as it fit so naturally in his hands that he unintentionally started twirling it with his index finger inside the ring.
Shisui rushed and hugged Itachi. There was a big goofy grin plastered on his face.
"This is amazing. It just feels so right in my hands. I wonder what's this different feeling that I am getting from this though?"
"That is because it is made with chakra conducting material".
Shisui's eyes went wide as he heard it. Every shinobi knows how valuable of a weapon it is. Even though he had only heard of those or seen them with Jonin level ninjas. He never thought that he would come into possession of one so early in his career. Shisui clearly knew the advantages of having such a weapon in one's arsenal.
"Isn't 'this' costly?", he gulped at the thought of cost upon such an expensive weapon. It was definitely something that the current him cannot even dream of.
Itachi waved him off.
"I already had the ore with me. Besides, I already have one from my master. So I thought this would help you and it is no big deal to forge one, it is only when you buy a new one it gets that much expensive"
Before Shisui could respond, Itachi patted his shoulder, "I have to go, it's almost time for me to join my team. We're going to be away on a crucial mission this time. I don't know when we will be meeting again. So take care."
He paused for a second and looked straight into Shisui's eyes, "I know how capable and talented you are and I have no doubt that you are going to become a wonderful shinobi but, be careful Shisui, the shinobi world is much scarier and vile than we even imagine. So no matter what happens, do not ever lose your heart .. just ..be the same old you, okay?"
The weight of the request was something unfair that Itachi was asking Shisui of. But he still wanted his friend to be this happy. It was totally his own selfish self asking shisui to be what Itachi wanted him to be. But he also understood that, inevitably, his friend will change. For better or worse, change is an unavoidable factor in the lives of a shinobi.
Shisui nodded and gave a confident smile. He knew that reassurances with hollow words would have no value no matter how many he makes. So he would show through his actions.
As a final act of mischievousness, Itachi gave him a nod back and put his hands in a handseal disappearing in a swirl of leaves right in front of Shisui.
Watching his friend disappear as if he was a damn magician blew Shisui's mind, 'What the ??? Such a show off!', Shisui fumed to himself while simultaneously admiring the jutsu that he had just seen.