7The First Mission
The first time Itachi saw his brother's team in real action was when the criminal organization Akatsuki kidnapped the Kazekage. Sabaku no Gaara, a Jinchuuriki, housed the one tailed demon within himself and acquiring said demon was Akatsuki's goal. Tsunade answered by sending Team Kakashi with the addition of Itachi to help. Originally she'd meant to send two teams, but Kakashi and Itachi put together were the equivalent of an army, so she figured it'd be fine.
Itachi didn't have an opinion on this, he'd have to see the members of Akatsuki and gauge their powers first before he could make up his mind. Team Kakashi at least was confident. Well Naruto and Sasuke were. Kakashi withheld his opinion as well and Sakura was openly sceptical, questioning how two elite nin, a medic and two idiots would be able to not only overpower the notoriously powerful and villainous Akatsuki, but get the Kazekage out alive. Naruto countered that he alone would be enough to rescue Gaara's ass, which Sakura answered with a punch that knocked her teammate out for a few minutes. If he couldn't even take one of her punches, she said, he wouldn't even be able to touch the Akatsuki. Naruto mumbled that the Akatsuki probably didn't punch like ogres, so there, which prompted another punch from the irritable female.
Itachi was left wondering how Naruto never learned to keep his mouth shut. Even a dog would understand that open mouth meant a really painful punch and certainly wouldn't open it's mouth again. Naruto on the other hand… Not worth wondering, he decided in the end. If he liked getting punched, who was Itachi to stand in his way?
So they made their way through the desert, and to Suna but not on their way to rescue the Kazekage. Kankurou, Gaara's brother had been badly poisoned and Suna's medics weren't exactly the most capable ones. So it fell on the 15 year old pink-haired kunoichi to do what these would be nins with three times her experience had failed to do.
She spent the next 12 hours extracting the poison from the puppet master's system, analyzing the components of the poison and preparing an antidote. All this she did alone, only occasionally shouting for one of Suna's medics that just stood around staring at her, to give her this or that. She also did it all without complaining once.
At last, Kankurou was saved and they once again set out to rescue the Kazekage.
Only it wasn't that easy. He really should have forseen this, Itachi sighed to himself when their group was stopped by a humongous, distinctly shark-like man with blue skin, razor sharp teeth and small beady eyes. And were those gills on his face? Surely, those wouldn't be functional, right?
The shark-nin refused to let them get any further and Sasuke stepped in, confidently decarling he'll hold the enemy off, they had to get to Gaara. None of them were comfortable leaving Sasuke alone with the man that introduced himself as Hoshigaki Kisame, one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Bloody Mist, but they didn't have a choice. They had no time to spare. Gaara's life was in danger.
So they pressed on with a heavy heart, Itachi hoping that his brother would be smart enough to get away when they were out of Kisame's reach. From there it didn't take long to find the cavern the Akatsuki were hiding in. There was a huge boulder blocking the entrance, but Sakura's monstrous strength took care of that pretty easily.
When they got inside, everything sort of happened at once. A blond man was sitting on the dead Kazekage's chest, which understandably enraged Naruto. Then a big white bird flew away with Gaara and Naruto followed, Kakashi running after him to ensure the boy did nothing foolish like get himself killed. That left Itachi alone with Sakura and the final Akatsuki.
A battle at this point was unavoidable. So they squared off and Itachi quickly realized that even though he and Sakura stood against the lone Akatsuki they were still outnumbered. He was really starting to hate puppets.
The fight dragged on longer than he cared to admit. He was heavily limited in what he could do against those infernal puppets. They were wood, so very flammable, but they were inside a relatively small cavern. If he executed any of his Katon jutsu he risked setting himself and Sakura on fire too. Not a good idea.
The puppets were multiplying. It seemed that every time he blinked two more of those annoyances appeared. He was exhausted, to be frank. All the running around and jumping and evading… He was suddenly very grateful for all those sparring matches with Sakura, thanks to them he was even more nimble than before.
The kunoichi was in trouble. She'd gotten herself poisoned, and even though she'd had the antidote ready, it had taken its toll on her. She wouldn't be able to last much longer, not with her low chakra reserves.
"Itachi-san," she whispered and his eyes found hers. "I know where the heart is. Give me your katana."
He didn't question her, just handed her the sword and covered her as she sprinted with all her might towards the main body, the doll that looked like a pubescent boy. Sasori had even turned his own body into a puppet. The fight was over, he saw. The red-haired puppet didn't put up a fight when the girl jumped in front of him and drove the sword in her hands through his chest. She collapsed on her knees next to the dying enemy and Itachi saw that her shoulders were shaking. She hadn't been ready for a fight of this magnitude.
He left her to her grief for a couple of minutes before he carefully moved her way. She heard him coming and hastily wiped her face clear of tears and shakily stood up. He didn't comment, just stretched his hand out to her and when she grasped it into her own shaking one, led her out of the cave.
What happened next was a blur. Sasuke found them almost as soon as they'd gotten out, muttering something about moving corpses. Then Kakashi and Naruto came back with Gaara's body. The blond Akatsuki had blown himself up, they said. Were all these Akatsuki suicidal? Sakura attempted to heal a corpse but had to admit defeat. A team from Suna arrived while Naruto and Sakura cried over their fallen friend. What was up with that anyway? Why were three chunin and two jounin from Konoha saving the Kazekage while his own ninja stayed safely away in their village?
The old woman who came with the Kazekage's sister complimented Sakura on her skills, extending her greeting to Tsunade and then she did something Itachi had never even thought possible. She brought the dead Kazekage back to life. She had to sacrifice herself to do it, though…
Next time that Tsunade wanted him to go on a mission with Team Kakashi, he would flat out refuse.
He'll have to talk to Sakura about taking the jounin exams. He could sponsor her. A chunin that got sponsored by an ANBU captain was almost guaranteed to pass, after all.
AN: And that's the second part. Pretty much just a recap of the Kazekage rescue but with Itachi along for the ride instead of Team Gai. Hope everyone liked it, the next installment is gonna be more personal on Itachi's side.
