Inevitable

"Hey Ameji, did you hear that Team Seven is going on a month-long mission?" Sasuke asked. It was the day after his confession of his attraction to Naruto, and he already felt lighter after getting that off his chest.

"No, I didn't. What are you guys doing?" Amejisuto replied, turning her attention away from the targets she was setting up.

"We're guarding the king of the Land of Fire. He wanted the best four person team there was. Something about getting an assassination threat."

"That sounds boring, but also kind of like a month long vacation with a possibility of fighting. So, when are you leaving?"

"In an hour. Can you do that thing that most sisters do and give advice for my love life?" he smirked, covering up his insecurities poorly.

"Of course, though you have to call me ‘oh wise and all-knowing sister’," the brunette laughed.

"You would have to call me ‘oh amazingly talented brother’," the Uchiha joked.

"Your brother and sister relationship sounds interesting," Itachi said from the door of the dojo.

"Hey, we were having a private conversation," Sasuke whined playfully.

"Alright, you have five minutes," the older brother said before walking away.

"Oh wise and all-knowing sister, please give me advice on how to have a good relationship."

The Ishi thought for a moment. "Well, I've never been in a one but I do watch people a lot, so all I can say is be honest and act normal. You two have been best friends for six years and are even closer than normal people since you've seen every side of each other."

"Well that makes sense," Sasuke nodded. "So, I was curious. Who are you closest to?"

"I think I'm closest to Itachi, and I hope he thinks he’s pretty close to me… Although he hasn't seen my furious side. It's about as bad as Sakura's," she joked with a tinge of seriousness.

"Does that mean you like him?" Sasuke winked, making his 'sister' blush.

"That's not exactly what I meant but ok...”

"So is that a yes or a no?"

"Yes, I like your brother,” she said quickly. “Now, you better get packing for you mission, and I should get the last of these set up since he will be here in a few seconds," she got back to putting up the targets and Sasuke left, passing his brother at the door and saying a quick bye before going.

"Are you ready?" Itachi asked, handing her a bunch of kunai.

"I think I can manage,” she grinned. “You're just sitting on the sidelines and not doing anything, so you can go if you want."

"No, that would be neglecting my duties as a sensei," he got comfortable at the side of the dojo, praying that his apprentice didn't hit him with her weapons. He was surprised as she threw six kunai all at once, each hitting the target. "Ok, you aren't as bad as I thought you were."

His only response was a glare before she focused on hitting the dead middle. She was good at hitting it individually, but when it came to three or more, she was having trouble hitting the exact middle. "Is it cheating if I use wind to guide it?" she shouted to her sensei.

"No, I guess not," Itachi said. "Anything goes as long as it's from your own talent."

"Sweet! Then I wanna test something," she laced her chakra in the air around the kunai, guiding each of the sharp objects perfectly and quickly to the direct center of each target. "Wow! I didn't think that would work so perfectly!"

"Almost no need to even practise, but what you just accomplished would be fine normal trainees. Now you have to challenge yourself. Can you get them while blindfolded? Backwards? Can you do even more than six?" Itachi pressed, making her excited for that training. It would be a challenge since there was more than one way to do it.

She clenched her fist in determination, and Itachi could almost see the fire burning in her eyes. "I'll train until I can't move! I'll perfect it and make it look awesome too!"

"Heh. I never thought you could get fired up so easily," the sensei mumbled while smirking and heading to the door. "Sorry, I just remembered that I got a summons from the Hokage earlier. I'll be back in an hour or so." He got a nod from the apprentice before she stated attacking the targets with kunai flying from all directions she jumped. He could feel the wind coming from her location.

Leaving her to her training, he left the home and ran through the Uchiha compound, eventually leaping on a low roof and jumping to the next one that was slightly higher, roof-hopping to the Hokage tower like most ANBU had a habit of doing to avoid being seen and recognised, though Itachi was always the exception in ANBU. Since he joined when he was young, everyone knew of and could identify him.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Lady Hokage," he jumped through the open window directly into the ninja leader's office. "I was watching my student train."

Tsunade laughed and shrugged. "I know how it is. Time flies when you're having fun training." Itachi wondered why she was being so nice. It was then that he noticed many little sake cups scattered on her desk.

"Lady Hokage, have you been drinking?"

"Maybe a little," she admitted. "It's nothing I can't handle though!"

To avoid starting a fight, the Uchiha quickly changed the topic. "What was it that you needed to talk to me about?"

"Oh, I completely forgot! Let's see...” She looked down and saw a paper with something written on it. "You need to work on bonding with the nine-tails more so he doesn't stick you to Sasuke again, stupid!"

Itachi blanked. "That sounds more like something you would say to Naruto, Lady Hokage."

Shizune barged into the office with her pig, Tonton, following close behind. "Lady Tsunade! Please tell me you didn't agree to that bet with Jiraiya!"

"What bet?" the raven usually didn't intrude on other people's business, but when the Hokage was drunk, things tended to get interesting.

"It was only to see if Naruto and Sasuke got married before Itachi and Ameji. I think that they won't, since the brooding boy is the type to be scared of commitment."

"What's this about Naruto and Sasuke?"

"Oh, your brother didn't tell you? They're probably dating by now, since their mission already started," Tsunade answered.

'So that's what he was talking to Ameji about,' he thought, remembering hearing occasional words that his brother exchanged with his apprentice.

"Lady Tsunade! You shouldn't bet against Jiraiya! You always end up losing and having to go on dates with him!" Shizune urged.

"I don't mind, all he does is go on and on and on about his new books," the blonde Hokage yawned.

Itachi felt like he barged into a madhouse. "So, what was it that I actually needed to come here for?"

"Since she's so out of the loop right now, I'll tell you," Shizune said as her boss fell asleep. They both sighed.

"I swear, if Naruto’s like this when he becomes Hokage, I'll just run away. He would be even worse with his unpredictability and tailed beast," Itachi groaned, imagining it. Shizune agreed.

"Anyways, she called you here for a warning. Jiraiya got some information about the Akatsuki and found out that they're looking to recruit you."

"What?!" Itachi growled. "They're idiots for thinking that they would be able to get me willingly."

"The thing is, they're clever and powerful. They must already know you wouldn't want to go and work with them, so we fear that they might be planning something that would make you willingly join them," the assistant informed.

Itachi's eyes widened and he jumped out of the window, running back to his house as quickly as he could, which meant he got there in less than a minute. "Amejisuto!" he called as he reached the dojo. The brunette landed from midair and looked over at him.

"Something wrong?" She worried, seeing the ravens panicked expression. He cautiously walked forward and placed his hand on her shoulder to see if she was really there and it wasn't a sick illusion that the Akatsuki could've cast in the few minutes he was gone.

"What was your favourite snack when you were five?"

"Tuna rice balls. Why?" She asked before getting pulled into a tight hug. "What's going on?"

Itachi shook his head, not wanting to worry her. "Nothing, Lady Tsunade was just worried that there was a thief in our Village that was transforming into members of a household and then robbing them once the others were out," he lied.

"Oh, then don't worry because if someone like that ever tried to imitate me, they would get a kunai in the stomach," she smiled, oblivious to his lie. "Now, can you please let me go? I want to show you something awesome."

"But I've only been gone for ten minutes," Itachi backed away.

Amejisuto winked and floated in the air. She made a visible stream of the element by mixing it with her chakra and picked up ten kunai so they looked like they were on a string before whirling it around her. She closed her eyes for a moment before flashing them open and shooting the wind to push the kunai to the middle of each target. She landed again and tuned to her mentor, who was obviously impressed. "I can probably do better, but I only had ten minutes to come up with that."

"Okay, so you're secretly awesome with mixing ninjutsu with weapons," Itachi smirked. "But can you do it while upside down and with your eyes closed?"

"I will work on that," she pointed. "I should practise my flips first." The rest of the day was filled with trying new angles and practising manipulating the air, figuring out new moves that would also be good for the battlefield.

------------------------------------

"It seems like the Uchiha caught on to what we're planning," Zetsu reported. He was planning on kidnapping the girl but was stopped right when Itachi had barged in. He was ready to drag her underground with him when she would've landed.

"I bet that he now has a plan to keep his eye on her at all times," Konan groaned, not liking how their plan was going to take more work. They were in the main meeting room so they could talk to Madara's clone (since the real him was on a mission) privately without everyone else figuring out who he was.

"Well, watching her at all times is impossible. He has to sleep and wash sometime," Pain reasoned, sitting on one of the comfortable chairs in the room.

"There is a simple solution to this problem," Madara, who was leaning on the door, smirked.

"What?"

"We play dirty," the secret Uchiha said, clasping his hands together in an evil manner. He fell over when Hidan opened the door angrily. Not caring that he interrupted a meeting or that one of the members that was supposed to be gone was on the floor, Hidan marched in, looking around angrily.

"ZETSU! WHY AND WHERE DID YOU TAKE MY SACRIFICES?!?" he was furiously steaming.

"I ate them," the black half answered calmly like it was every day that an immortal was ready to kill him, which it pretty much was. The white haired man screamed in rage and ran at him with his scythe. Pain stood up and tripped him, sending him unconscious on the floor.

"Anyways," Konan said, ignoring the chaos. "What exactly are you thinking, Madara?"