---The Forests - Land of Rivers Border---
The trees blurred into smears of green and brown.
Team 7 and Haku were moving at a pace that would have killed a normal civilian. They had left Sunagakure an hour ago, leaving Kankuro behind on Chiyo's strict orders. The Puppet Brigade needed a commander, and Kankuro, despite his protests, knew he couldn't leave the village defenseless while the Kazekage was missing.
So, it was just the Konoha elite.
They leaped from branch to branch, the rhythmic thud-thud-thud of their sandals the only sound in the forest.
Haku was at the front, setting a pace that bordered on grueling. He didn't seem to be exerting any effort. His breathing was even, his movements fluid. To him, this was a stroll. To the others, it was a sprint.
"Naruto..."
Sakura caught up to the blonde, leaping beside him. Her face was serious, the wind whipping her pink hair back. "Can I ask you something?"
Naruto turned his head, maintaining his speed. "Yeah?"
"Since when have you been targeted by the Akatsuki?" She asked, her voice low.
Naruto's eyes widened slightly. He looked ahead, his expression tightening. He thought about the encounter in the hotel hallway years ago. The red eyes. The shark skin sword.
"I don't know..." Naruto admitted, leaping over a ravine. "Since the beginning, maybe? The Pervy Sage said they're after the Fox."
Kakashi, who was bringing up the rear, spoke up. "Jiraiya-sama provided intel that during their mission to retrieve Tsunade-sama, Akatsuki came to Tanzaku Gai specifically to make contact with Naruto... but that was three years ago. They went quiet after that."
"They didn't go quiet," Haku's voice drifted back from the front, calm and carrying easily over the wind. "They were preparing."
He passed by a thick branch, not even disturbing the moss.
"It means it's time for them to enact their plans," Haku stated. "You guys gotta be quick... if my thoughts are correct, they're aiming to take the Ichibi from Gaara forcefully. Extraction takes time. But not infinite time."
Haku looked back, his brown eyes sharp.
"And if they successfully do it... the Godaime Kazekage will die. Jinchūriki do not survive extraction."
The words hit them like a physical blow.
Naruto gritted his teeth. "Faster!"
He poured chakra into his legs, accelerating. Sasuke and Sakura matched him.
But Haku was already pulling away.
He didn't look like he was running. He looked like he was gliding. He passed Kakashi, then Sakura, then Sasuke, and finally Naruto. He moved with an efficiency that made their frantic leaping look clumsy.
"Catch up," Haku said simply.
Then, he blurred.
He was gone.
---Haku's POV---
The reason Haku rushed ahead wasn't just to motivate them.
It was because he sensed it.
A chakra signature. About five kilometers ahead.
It was strong. Dense. And strangely... familiar.
Haku frowned as he landed on a high branch, scanning the forest with his enhanced senses. 'It feels... cold. Like Sasuke's chakra, but deeper. More controlled.'
He dropped into a clearing, his boots making no sound on the grass.
The forest here was silent. Too silent. The birds had stopped singing. The wind had died down.
Haku looked ahead.
There, standing in the middle of the path, was a man.
'...He looks like Sasuke...' Haku thought, his hand drifting toward his sword hilt.
At first glance, the resemblance was striking enough to give pause. The same dark, raven-wing hair. The same sharp, aristocratic features. Even a similar stillness in the eyes… a darkness that absorbed light rather than reflected it.
But that was where the similarities ended.
This man's presence was refined in a way Sasuke's was not. Sasuke was a storm… loud, crackling, unstable despite the training. This man was a deep ocean trench. His chakra was dense and precise, not leaking out carelessly, not pressing down on its surroundings. It existed simply because it did, like a perfectly balanced blade resting at one's side.
He wore a black cloak with red clouds. The collar was high, hiding his chin.
Haku did not tense. Nor did he relax. He simply stood there, matching the man's stillness.
The man stood on the forest path as if he had chosen that exact spot long before Haku arrived. There was no surprise in his expression, no indication that Haku's sudden appearance had caught him off guard.
'So he noticed me first too,' Haku realized.
"Interesting," Haku said quietly, his tone even, his eyes never leaving the man's face. "I thought my senses were playing tricks on me."
The man's gaze shifted fully toward him then.
His eyes were dark onyx. Unreadable. But sharp. Assessing. Calculating. The kind of look Haku had seen only from Alaric and Zabuza… men who had killed enough to know the weight of a soul.
"You're fast," the man replied calmly. His voice was smooth, velvety. "And precise. That chakra… it doesn't belong to anyone from the Sand. Nor the Leaf, originally."
Haku allowed a faint smile. Not polite. Not friendly. Simply acknowledging the observation.
"Neither does yours."
The forest remained silent around them. No killing intent flared between them, yet the air felt heavy all the same… like the space between two drawn blades that hadn't decided which would strike first.
This wasn't an ambush. And it wasn't a coincidence.
Haku tilted his head slightly. "You resemble someone I know," he said. "But I doubt that's accidental."
The man didn't deny it. He merely watched Haku a moment longer before speaking again.
"Then you already know," he said, "that appearances can be misleading."
Haku's smile widened just a fraction.
"Good," he replied. "I was hoping you'd be the same."
The entire time they were interacting, Haku wasn't looking at the man's eyes. He focused on the bridge of the nose, the chin, the hands. He knew the chances of being caught in a Genjutsu when it came to Uchihas. He had trained against Alaric's Mangekyo enough to know the danger.
The man's eyes flashed red for a second… the Sharingan spinning to life. But Haku didn't react.
Both of them weren't moving for seconds. It seemed that the man wasn't waiting for Haku, but for the others. A delay tactic.
Haku analyzed him. The relaxed posture. The hidden hands. The ring on his finger.
He sighed.
"You must be Uchiha Itachi, then," Haku started with a soft smile. "Before the others arrive... may I talk to you for a second? My name is Yuki Haku. I have something to talk to you about."
"..."
The man… Itachi… scanned Haku. He didn't make a move at first. He didn't know this boy.
"Yuki Haku..." Itachi murmured. "The Ice Devil. Zabuza Momochi's apprentice. The one who killed Kakuzu."
If Itachi could, he would've put Haku inside his Tsukuyomi instantly. However, the ice-user was clever. He wasn't looking.
"You can say it here," Itachi said, his voice flat. "Or you can move on your way. Though I cannot allow you to pass."
Haku took a step forward.
"...It involves the deal you made with Danzo... all the way to your personal mission in spying on the Akatsuki," Haku whispered, his voice carried by a thin stream of wind chakra directly to Itachi's ears.
Itachi froze.
It was microscopic. A tightening of the finger. A slight widening of the eyes. But to a sensor like Haku, it was a scream.
This time, Itachi was alerted. He never told this to anybody. Not Kisame. Not the Hokage. No one. The statement that Haku gave was just too specific to be random. It was the deepest secret of his life.
"..."
Itachi's Sharingan spun wildly. "Who are you?"
"Just a messenger," Haku replied calmly. "My Sensei... he knows things. And he thinks you might want to hear this."
Itachi stared at him. He weighed the risk. This boy knew about the coup. He knew about the mission. That meant he was either the greatest spy in history or he was connected to someone who saw everything.
"Follow me..." Itachi replied softly.
Swish.
He disappeared. He moved toward a different direction… away from the path Team 7 was taking, deeper into the dense forest.
Haku didn't hesitate.
Zero Friction.
He blurred past multiple trees, keeping pace with the Uchiha prodigy.
As he ran, Itachi glanced back, his Sharingan tracking Haku's movement. He was genuinely surprised. The ice-user wasn't just fast; he was effortless. He was stepping on the air as if it were solid ground.
'Yuki Haku...' Itachi thought, speeding up. 'How could you have information only I know? And who is this... Sensei?'
'Interesting...'
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