Four Years Later

In the four years that had passed since the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha and the subsequent events no one had aged as much as Uchiha Fugaku. The stress lines under his eyes had gotten deeper and he almost never got a full night of sleep anymore.

Instead he would lie awake and think of everything that had happened. So far, things had been going rather well, or as well as they could go when your daughter was betrothed to a demon and your entire clan was terrified of her and tried to ostracize her at every turn.

Itachi, his darling Itachi, was a genius beyond reckoning, having become a Chuunin at age seven and a Jounin at age eight; she was progressing faster than any ninja before her and was certainly one of the most powerful in the village. He was getting a taste of his own medicine, now, because he couldn't tell a soul of her progress; the entire clan saw her as a threat, and, as far as they knew she was still a genin.

They wouldn't speak of her, if she came up in conversation they changed the subject, it was almost amusing; how they absolutely hated her but wouldn't dare let the village know what had happened to earn their ire. From what he had heard of the village's gossip they simply thought she was being ignored in favor of Sasuke, the clan heir, his son. He was glad that they had never found the truth, because he had enough trouble from the other clans as it was, without them knowing that his daughter was betrothed to a demon.

A demon that had every intention of keeping that engagement; for all that they ignored her, the mysterious gifts that Itachi received were all that they talked about. The gifts had begun to arrive when she was six; just little trinkets like bracelets with beads of onyx and amber, then, as she grew older, the bracelets steadily increased in quality, with beads of jade and rose quartz. Finally, for her ninth birthday, the Kyuubi had given her a set of ivory combs, intricately carved with jasmine blossoms. As upsetting as it was that the Kyuubi could come and go whenever he liked he knew that Itachi adored them, he had noticed her wearing them, the bracelets clacking softly on her wrists, one of the fine combs holding back her hair on special occasions. The thought that someone, if even a demon, was making her happy was a small consolation. All he could do for her was to keep the council from interfering in her life and show her how to make herself increasingly more independent from the clan; a personal bank account, separate from clan funding, as a place to deposit her mission pay, scrolls of jutsu she might find interesting left out on his desk. The necessary politic of being clan head forcing him to show only the quietest of affections for his firstborn daughter.

Fugaku had begun to worry lately, because ever since she had become a Jounin Itachi had been spending more and more time away; always training or on a missions. The increasing absence brought into his mind the worst possible scenarios; was she perhaps growing resentful of the clan? Was she purposefully exiling herself?

He sighted and decided that it was time to get up, for he knew he would get no more sleep that night. He dressed silently, so as not to wake Mikoto, he loved his wife, even thought she had disappointed him in the direst way, siding with the rest of the clan over their daughter.

Silently, Fugaku made his way towards the kitchen, and paused. He knew the light hadn't been left on. He silently slid the door open and was greeted by the sight of Itachi sitting at the kitchen table, she was looking at the door already, and had probably sensed him sic he had left the bedroom.

"Tousan." She greeted quietly. He checked the wall clock, it was nearly two in the morning.

"Itachi." He replied in kind, finally noticing the stark black and white of the ANBU uniform she was wearing, "Congratulations." He added.

Itachi smiled softly for a moment, pleased with the praise, and for a moment it was just his sweet little girl looking up at him instead of a seasoned ninja. She looked down and finished wrapping her ankles, pulling on heavy, black knee-high boots and making sure they were tight and secure, she stood up and adjusted the sleeveless black spandex jumpsuit, tightening the straps of her bone-white armor and securing her scroll belt and sword in place. Adjusting her elbow-length gloves and making sure the hair tie that held her low ponytail in place was tight; as Fugaku watched this ritual of preparation for departure he found himself looking down at the table, and staring at the grinning weasel mask, no one could ever accuse Yondaime-sama of not having a sense of humor, although it was probably his own fault for naming her that in the first place.

"How long?" he asked, already knowing the answer but still having to hear it, his gaze following the mask as Itachi took it from the table to secure it in place; the transformation from Itachi to Weasel finally complete. She turned and focused her gaze on him, although he couldn't see her eyes for the darkened holes they were supposed to occupy.

"A month after I became a Jounin; Hokage-sama gave me the mask as a birthday present." Was the muffled reply, her already monotone voice rendered inflectionless by the thick porcelain.

Ah, so two years in July. He was wondering if it was wrong to be relieved that his daughter had been secretly conscripted into one of the most powerful and notorious groups in Konoha, and the only reason he had found out was by accident, most parents, he supposed, would be horrified. At least he thought she was socializing, even if they are a group of infamous nutcases.

He watched as she turned and left, waving over her shoulder as he disappeared off into the night, he got up and closed the door after her. Fugaku sighed heavily and went to check on his son, the four-year-old as sleeping peacefully. He hoped that his wish for at least one of his children to have a happy childhood wasn't completely naive.

The Uchiha Clan Head looked out the window and into the night and prayed that it wasn't.

Itachi savored the feeling of the wind whipping through her hair as she ran over the village rooftops towards the Hokage's Tower, it was calming and peaceful, and she had had so little of both of those lately. She had started having nightmares again, visions of the Third Secret War and the work she did as an ANBU. One could only work themselves until they collapsed into dreamless sleep so often before they burned out and weren't able to do anything at all; and she had found it increasingly hard to work herself to collapsing. She was powerful, she knew, but she didn't think she should be this powerful, not for one so young, no amount of genius should have improved her this fast, made her as swift and strong as she was, but it had, and it was beginning to scare her.

She hardly used the Sharingan, even though she had mastered it, preferring to do the work to learn things herself, but she learned things so quickly anyway. She had asked Kakashi and he had said that he had thought the same things when he was younger, not that he wasn't young now, still being only fifteen himself. Then he had said it was nice to meet someone freakier that he was, because he was never going to let her forget that she had broken his record, but he was still her squad leader and her friend.

Itachi arrived at the Hokage's Tower, even thought it was late the building was still bustling with activity, late night returns being processed and all sorts of people up and about. They didn't notice the slight shifts of shadow as she passed by, deftly avoiding detection as she made her way to the Hokage's office.

When she reached the hall way outside of his office she stepped out of the shadows and glided down the hallway, nodding to the two ANBU guards on either side of the door. They tensed when they saw her and she smirked behind her mask; it was always the rookie ANBU who were assigned to the dog-watch shifts, their more experienced counterparts foisting the more undesirable duties off on the new recruits. Itachi turned to the ANBU standing on the left, the traditional position of the commanding squad member.

"Is Hokage-sama occupied?" she asked, the blank masks that they wore informed her that they were still trainees and that her assumptions were correct.

"Um, no, Yondaime-sama isn't occupied." The ANBU answered, "He's been waiting for you Weasel-san." there was a stutter in his voice, Itachi was unsurprised; it was common practice during the ANBU training course to point out the more notable and unpredictable members to the trainees so that they wouldn't set someone off and get themselves killed.

She nodded once to them and opened the door, stepping through silently and closing it behind her. Itachi crossed the room and Yondaime motioned her into one of the chairs in font of his desk, she sat while Minato poured two cups of tea from the service beside his desk, kept there for late nights in the office.

"You wished to speak with me, Hokage-sama?" Itachi queried, removing her mask to sip at her tea. Minato grinned hugely but didn't immediately answer, instead taking the time to study his youngest ANBU. She reminded him greatly of a younger Kakashi; the serious demeanor, the unhappy home life. But whereas Kakashi had simply lost both of his parents, most of Itachi's clan simply ignored her and he feared that if it weren't for the influences of her father she would have been exiled by now; Fugaku had gained his undying respect for the vigorous battle he fought against the clan elders. Minato was trying to reverse the damages that had already been done, but the process was slow and the mistrust Itachi held for others was much greater than any desire for human companionship. Not that he blamed her, but he felt that if she spent more time with people who had heard nothing of her past and was given the chance to make her own impression then she would find that not everyone was like the majority of Clan Uchiha. Which was the reason he had called her here.

"Itachi, I'm giving you a vacation." he said at last, and swallowed a grin at the way both of her eyebrows rose simultaneously.

"Sir?"

"A vacation. You've been working non-stop for the past two years, it's time you took a break. So I'm giving you a travel pass for a month and kicking you out of the village." He grinned.

"Oh, I take it that this is my birthday gift for this year." she said, looking less surprised.

"Nope." The surprise was back, "This is to get you ready for your gift. A new assignment. I'm making you captain of Squad Three." Minato greatly enjoyed the look of shock that passed over Itachi's face, for once knowing exactly what she was thinking. Squad Three had a reputation within the ANBU; they were the best, and because they were the best they got all the most challenging and difficult missions.

"You have this vacation to relax, because after it's over I want you back here and ready to go," his manner became serious, "Use this time to heal, Itachi," he said softly, "Get the hell away from that family of yours, sleep for a few days, go to a hotspring, and find a quirk that keeps you sane; even if it's as ridiculous as green spandex."

He was giving her a month to pull herself together, she would repay his trust. She nodded, and the somber expression left Yondaime's face.

"Great!" He rummaged around on his desk before triumphantly holding up a slim packet of papers, "These should do to get you anywhere you want to go, I don't think I have to lecture you about due caution or not provoking enemies and such, you have more common sense than that." he handed her the papers and shooed her towards the window.

"Have a good time!" he yelled after her as she dissapeared into the night.

To Be Continued....

Yay! I finally got it typed up!

A few notes about this chapter: I think that Fugaku, if given the proper motivation, has the potential to be a really great dad. So in this I gave him that motivation, he's still he clan head and he still knows how to do some pretty slick political maneuvering but this time he is fully on-board for his kids.

Also, about the comment Minato made, "find a quirk that keeps you sane" I think that most of the higher level ninja have, over time, all developed their own unique quirks; like Kakashi and his porn or Gai and his spandex or Genma and his senbon. They can be very subtle or very bold, but they all have one that they developed as a way to keep sane in their crazy world of ninja-ing, as something that they could focus on to the exclusion of other, more upsetting, things. Itachi doesn't really have one yet, so Yondaime is hoping that while out on vacation she'll find something. Which she will.

Hmmm...does anyone actually read these notes anymore?

Cake-chan