Аннотация: Master Rakurei takes the Uchiha and Naruto children as students and talks about harmony. Itachi goes to Grandma Cat to order weapons and missions.
Part 1. Chapter 12. About harmony
Itachi was surprised at how briefly, smoothly, and most interestingly, Shisui was able to tell their new siblings the truth about their clan. His own plan seemed ridiculously poor against the background of the simple and understandable truth. I was ashamed in front of my younger brother for what had almost happened. Shisui was right to say that the innocent always suffer. Only in Itachi's case, when selfishness and hatred collide. His selfishness and Sasuke's hatred. Itachi was evaluating and analyzing everything differently now. Would Sasuke have taken revenge on him, and then what? How could his brother ever be the same? Wouldn't Sasuke have been left with a devastation after his revenge, which could not be filled with anything but new destruction? Hadn't Hatake Kakashi's example taught him anything? And the terrible words, which were thought out to the last breath, almost sounded that night.... If Shisui hadn't stopped him, there would have been no way to bring his little brother back.... As it is, there may still be hope. And their new little clan has a chance to survive.
"Sasuke, I want to talk to you", Itachi stopped his younger brother coming out after the others.
In the evening. After meeting your new coach. And, probably, Shisui or I will train you in working with your awakened sharingan. In his brother's black eyes, Itachi saw a whole flurry of emotions: confusion and sadness, joy and anticipation, many shades, among which he did not see what he was afraid to find - hatred.
"Okay, nii-san..." Sasuke whispered and hurried after the others into the room where they had left the very green young ones.
Shisui tapped an intricate tattoo on an inconspicuous door in the corner of the room, and it opened. The children gasped, and baby Natsumi screamed:
"Big kitty!"
The Kitty was really big, or rather, big he. The black cat standing on its hind legs was as tall as Shisui. On the forehead of the nyako ninja, a zigzag like a lightning bolt stood out in a bright spot. Yellow-green eyes with vertical pupils surveyed their group, and the long white mustache twitched. The alien snorted:
"Chelonyaki. I want a disguise," the cat said in the cat's language, which, however, was quite understandable, handing Shisui the familiar headbands with white triangular fluffy ears.
"Nyagodarim, Rakurei-nyan," the cousin accepted the gift with a bow and, keeping one for himself, which he immediately placed on his head, gave to the others. The children followed suit.
Itachi got the last headband, and with a sigh, he fixed this design on top of his head.
"Get out of the room with a disguise!" The cat said sternly, wagging his tail, removing the furry limb from litle outstretched hands in time.
Natsumi gawked in a funny way, and then got bored, but her sister pulled the girl away in time, distracting her from Kotoshinobi.
"Nya- Rakurei-nyan, your-nya trenyar, understood? Nyah nyah, learn to disperse. Follow me," Rakurei waved his paw and disappeared through the door from which he had entered.
Is the principle of the language clear to everyone? Shisui asked the children.
They nodded incoherently, whispering to each other, and giggles and naykaniya could be heard from the crowd.
"Then let's go. Rakurei-nyan is a very good melee fighter. He will teach you taijutsu. My clone will look after Natsumi."
Shisui folded the seals, and the crows that separated from him gathered into his shadow copy with a cawing. Itachi looked at the open mouths of the youngsters and said ironically:
"If this was a fight, then by staring at crows, you would all have already been caught in genjutsu. Karasu Bunshin no jutsu is a technique of the Uchiha clan that makes the enemy look at the flickering crows, thinking that this is such an attack, but in fact in the eyes of each such shadow crow is sharingan. One look into it and you're already in an illusion.
"That's cool!" Naruto admired in a loud whisper. "Can you do that too, Sasuke?"
"Someday he will definitely be able to" Itachi confirmed, meeting his younger brother's burning gaze.
A few years ago, knowing that his brother would someday want to get the paw print of Nekomata, the main ninja cat and the largest and strongest cat in the world, into his collection, Itachi defeated all the defenders of the castle and made Nekomata promise that he would fight Sasuke in all seriousness. But now, fighting with their black coach, Itachi was perplexed.
How?!
How could he defeat hundreds of similar ninjas and Nekomata himself at the age of ten?! Itachi definitely remembered this Foreshortening among the defenders, this cat is very remarkable with its lightning on its forehead. Then Itachi easily won their short fight, knocking out the cat with two punches.
But now...
Yellow eyes stared at Itachi with indescribable malice, and all his punches slipped or were muffled in fluffy black fur. At the same time, the cat did not reveal his claws, as last time, demonstrating amazing flexibility and agility. Itachi stayed level only because he used sharingan with three tomoe.
Rakurei jumped away from him and smiled contentedly through his mustache:
"That's enough!" Itachi froze and took a deep breath.
"But why-nya?" he could only exclaim, looking at the rather narrowed muzzle.
"The boys are playing with the cats' babies. Nyaki-ninjas are playing with the babies of the chelonyaks. Harmony." the cat said thoughtfully, baring his sharp-toothed mouth.
A chill went down Itachi's spine from the fact that he, jokingly, asked Nekomata to fight his younger brother seriously, not understanding what kind of "serious" these ninjas could be. As if reading his mind, Rakurei shook his ear.
"Don't worry, Itachi-nyan, harmony is being crushed. I've suffered from the little ones. Nakomata-san suddenly remembered: the most martial of the people of nyago came and overcame the illusion.
***
Itachi walked through the castle and crossed the catacombs of the old city, which had access to the human dimension. Shisui asked him to contact the Old Cat. Itachi knocked on the door and slipped inside. The smell of catnip and tobacco, familiar from childhood, hit my nose. He came face to face with a brown-eyed girl Mina's age or slightly younger. She squeaked, staring at him as if she'd seen a ghost.
"Oh, it's you, Itachi-kun" A woman came out of the back room. Her gray hair, as always, was decorated with black cat ears, and the tip of her nose was darkened like a cat's nose. "Have you met my new assistant yet, Tomaki?"
"Not yet, Grandma Cat" Itachi smiled politely. "I just got here."
"Do you want to order a mission or a weapon?" The old woman busily plopped down on the mat, motioning to the girl, who quickly handed her the phone.
"Both, and we have a request," Itachi nodded. "We are interested in news from Konoha. We're not going in there yet," he began to enumerate, remembering his brother's order and Rakurei's order. "Three more boys need necote*, here are the measurements. And we also need missions, through an intermediary, so that no one knows about us as performers."
The old Cat nodded, making notes in the magazine.
"My percentage as an intermediary is one fifth" the old woman reported.
Itachi knew, or rather, Shisui warned him and ordered him to bargain to the last. Money was tight and a lot was spent to appease Nekomata and to buy food until spring. It was barely necessary to order the necessary weapons for training. It was a good thing that after that very first conversation a couple of weeks ago, when they had just agreed on "saving the innocent," he had sealed a large arsenal of shurikens, kunai, explosive seals, wire, and various "escape" equipment and had not pulled it out even after he became convinced of the futility and impracticability of the plan after Shisui's "death".
In the end, they settled on twelve percent for mediation, in any case, it's much less than Konoha or any hidden village charged. Another thing is that all the missions of the Cat were low-ranking and low-paid, even if they were zen with Shisui, but it was dangerous to take something serious: there was no team, and they had almost ten children in their arms. You can't leave together, especially at first, and taking children with you on missions is also not an option.
After the end of their brisk trade for each percentage, the Old Cat looked at Itachi with admiration and said that she would send her cats to Konoha and the news would be in a couple of days.
"Goodbye, Itachi-kun," the assistant girl said from behind.
***
When Itachi returned to their rooms, everyone was already there and waiting only for him. He signaled to Shisui that everything was fine, and they started eating the food printed from the new grocery scroll. Sasuke glanced at him, and Itachi indicated to his younger brother with a slight nod that their conversation would take place.
"Everyone, let's go to the sauna, don't forget your ears." Shisui warned the children.
"Will they give us yukata or something to replace it?" Mina asked. "I need to wash my clothes"...
"Yes, they will," Shisui replied. "Come on, quickly, so that no one gets lost."
"Sasuke and I will come back a little later." Itachi informed his cousin.
Shisui looked at him carefully, but said nothing, just nodded.
Sasuke looked lost and looked away, as if he didn't know what to do with himself when he was alone with him. Itachi sighed, anticipating a difficult conversation.
* Nekote is from Japan. "Cat's paw" is a weapon in the form of claws (as a variant of takkokagi, shukou).