The girl on his team screamed, a sudden brush of air behind him causing his whole body to tense. They had found them. A cold kunai pressed against his throat as the other talked to the girl. Itachi didn’t pay attention, he was trying to figure out how to get out of this mess.
“Please... you can have it... here!” She tossed the bag at the man. “Now go away!”
The man sneered. “You’re young... sad that you had to get assigned to this task. Do you want mercy?” The girl looked up at him with tear filled eyes, nodding once. She didn’t see the kunai lash out, neatly slicing her throat open. Her eyes went wide as she fell back, blood flowing quickly from her.
“Oi.” The man behind Itachi mumbled, tone lazy. “Stop playing around. Let’s just go.”
The blood woke something in Itachi, his body relaxing despite the metal pressed against him. His hand gripped the kunai at his throat as he elbowed the man behind him, using the space between them to duck under his arm. Using his own kunai he slashed at the man’s arm, nearly severing it. The man screamed and fell from the tree, his partner spinning to see their attacker. The sharingan almost burned his eyes, but he felt as though they were moving slowly, time almost suspended. He calmly dropped down, evading the shurikens thrown at him with ease. The unhurt man rushed him, slicing out with his kunai. Itachi dropped to his knees, two quick slashes slicing into the man’s thighs. Too slow. They were too slow. He smirked as the other man stumbled back in surprise. Probably at how quickly he moved, a part of him mused. Still sluggish in compare, the man threw a kunai at him, Itachi deflecting it with his bloodied one. Taking advantage of the way the man left himself open, if for a moment in his own eyes, he slashed at his chest. The kunai in the man’s hand started toward him; Itachi saw it, and kicked the man’s wrist hard. He dropped the kunai just as Itachi slashed once more, blood spilling over him. The murderer laid at his victim’s feet, eyes glassy as the last of life fled him.
Itachi knew better than to stay still too long, the other was hurt but possibly still in the area. As if on cue he charged Itachi, knife in his good hand. The boy on Itachi’s team cried out to warn him, but he already had heard the thundering of the other man’s feet on the forest floor. He turned, palming another kunai discreetly, then threw the blood covered one. It was deflected of course, the enemy nin fooled into a false sense of security at having rid the boy of his weapon. Jumping to avoid the slash, Itachi threw another round of shuriken at him. He used his chakra to stick to the tree the dead laid on then pushed away from it, catching the second man off guard long enough sink his kunai between his eyes. The force of his blow almost passed it all the way through the man’s head. All Itachi could do was mourn the loss of his weapon, lodged as it was in his skull.
The boy was trembling, looking at Itachi in horror. “You’re... covered in blood.”
“Yes.” Itachi replied calmly, turning to pick up the bag his teacher and teammate lost their lives over. “It was my first time. Next time will be cleaner.”
