Haruto frowned, staring at the hands that used to be dripping with Uchiha blood. He dipped his arms into the water and washed his hands in the lake again, violently scrubbing off the blood only visible to him.
He did not sign up for a guilt trip.
The blood of the innocent Uchiha's had stained his imagination by appearing randomly.
No, he shook his head violently, eye narrowed as he argued with himself, They were going to start another war, probably use mother and Naruko-chan as their breeding stock, raping them until they reached their death beds. Which sick shinobi wouldn't? His mother and sister was beautiful, men liked beautiful things and with no one to stop them, who would?
Breaking out of his small little stupor, he looked back at his wet, but clean, hands. His armour was ruined, what with the front and back completely missing. The single heart were still exposed, slightly worrying the Namikaze as the scroll had not said anything about infections and how it would affect the hearts if they were simply left in the open air. He would have to find something tough and small to cover them with. He hadn't had much time to experiment with it either, seeing as he had burned most of the night as cover to escape from Konoha. He would deal with that later.
There were a few small problems though.
One, He had no idea how to contact or even ask to join Akatsuki. He assumed it was an invitation-only organisation, seeing as how Itachi said they were only S-Rank missing-nins in it. One way to get known fast in the elemental nations was to do something incredibly fucked up.
Slaughtering the Uchiha Clan was something that showed off his power and it was a pretty atrocious sight, rumours would spread and, he wouldn't be surprised if his father had already listed him down as a missing-nin. He didn't resent the man, Minato did it out of love for his village, listing him down as a possibly insane threat and Haruto would understand. He had committed the genocide of the Uchiha for his village and Itachi.
All threats had to be exterminated, that he understood.
Two, he was unsure how to communicate with someone from Konoha who knew he was playing the role of a missing-nin to infiltrate Akatsuki. Surely Itachi would not have any idea, and even then, he could not communicate with his older brother. Security in Konoha would most likely be tight and the chances of entering Konoha silently were little to none.
He rubbed a finger at the gap between his nose and his lips. Perhaps Jiraiya could help him, provided Haruto could find the perverted toad sage. Last he remembered the man had stopped over for a visit, hit on his godmother, Tsunade, and tried to peek in on Kushina during her shower, ran away from an enraged Minato and a furious, towelled Kushina before saying that he needed to maintain his spy network, leaving via window.
A hectic afternoon, he recalled.
He assumed he had to go do things to gain attention for himself, he needed new clothes without freaking anyone out either, what with his stitches and silently-beating hearts on his back. He grimaced at his reflection, the sight of his body making him cringe.
He hoped his sister would not hate and shun him for how he looked, which basically was Frankenstein's monster. Haruto stood up from the flat stone he used as a chair, leaving the clearing that held a small river.
He figured he'd better learn how to use the Jiongu soon, the chances of him facing enemies were high and if father had placed his name down on the Bingo Book, there were going to be a lot of people to deal with, especially Konoha-nin. However, he'd try his best to leave them (Konoha-nin) alive. His hands were already stained with the blood of innocents from the Uchiha clan.
Making up his mental check list, he set off to complete his task, unaware that Konoha ANBU were soon nearing his location.
Kakashi breathed in and out, an upset frown on his masked face, easily visible through the black fabric. He had always thought of Haruto as a little brother, quiet and cold, but still a brother nonetheless. Haruto had always been alone or chose to be a loner, his only friend that the grey haired ninja could pull from the top of his head was Itachi, and then Haruto actually seemed to like Itachi as a friend.
He had been assigned to use lethal force on Haruto if he retaliated violently against the ANBU by a puffy eyed Yondaime.
Of course, Kakashi had no idea that the Uchiha Coup was being staged and that they were eventually going to be killed, but Itachi had been called into a private meeting between the stoic teen and the Village Elders and Minato-sensei.
They probably wanted to speak about the CRA and how he was the last of his kind, along with his brother. Kakashi knew that Itachi would twist the council's hypothetical hand behind their back by saying that his mother was not to be touched, and was to be left alone and outside of the CRA's boundary and Minato-sensei would readily agree with him as Mikoto was a good friend of his and an even better friend of Kushina-sama.
He didn't know that they were also discussing if Itachi had told Haruto of the Uchiha's attempt at usurping power from the elders and the Yondaime, something Itachi vehemently denied.
He digressed, preventing his mind from wondering too far. He had to focus on the mission he was in charge of, or else he probably would have his heart stolen and used as a Raiton affinity by the Jiongu's threads and would supply and extra life to Haruto.
But the idea of plunging a Raikiri into Haruto's chest hurt him, definitely less than having his heart removed from his chest of course, however, returning home with Haruto's limp body and witnessing Naruko's reaction at seeing her older brother (who she probably loved more than a sibling should) with a hole through his chest would probably shatter his own heart.
God, sometimes he wished he never became a shinobi.
An ANBU with a tiger mask dropped from the tree tops and landed beside a ruminating Kakashi, "Inu, we're moving out."
Kakashi nodded, grabbing his old and worn dog mask that hung loosely from his waist and attaching it onto his face. Two more masked ANBU came and fell alongside Tora.
"Let's go, Tora, Usagi, Yaku." The four of them nodded simultaneously, taking off into the treeline and headed to where Haruto's tracks seemed to have gone.
In Konoha, Naruko and Sasuke were discussing over their missing brother. Sasuke had thought over what Itachi-aniki had said over Haruto-aniki and had told Naruko. He remembered the Uchiha clan being very tense and silent in the week leading up to the massacre, there were many people who gathered in their home's basement but Itachi always accompanied him to his room and stayed with him, preventing him from peeking at the meeting.
Both teens knew that their older brothers were hiding something big from them, what with Haruto's sudden defection and Itachi's strange and wise words about Haruto's choice in eradicating the rest of the Uchiha. Haruto's note made no sense either, he was the happiest when around the three of them, but why would he write about him hating them, something they knew was untrue.
Both sighed, unable to unravel the mystery surrounding Haruto's defection. Naruko just want to be with her Haru-nii, enjoying his comforting warmth when he cradled her in his arms even at the age of 12, hugging his strong chest and taking in his musk. But Daddy had told her that Haruto might look VERY different when she saw him next time. She had asked what he looked like but he shook his head sadly and walked away, leaving her with even more questions.
Both had resolved to training to the best of their abilities, advancing in the skill ladder with whoever their teammate was. She had demanded that she be placed on the same team as Sasuke and her daddy would bend as easily to her as he would to mommy, so in the end after some begging, they were put together with a "Haruno Sakura". Nobody knew Haruto's exact skill level, but it was high enough to have killed multiple guards on duty with the sharingan before escaping the village without anyone noticing.
Naruko had shared information with Sasuke that she had received a parting gift from her Haru-nii in the form of a Kinjutsu. One that allowed the user to use sentient shadow clones to assist in anything. The idea of swarming Haru-nii in bed and latching onto every single part of him and getting the maximum surface area of Haru-nii made her excited, too bad he couldn't use it, and then she could have been surrounded by multiple… sweaty… hot… naked…Haru-nii's…
Whoa, down girl.
She told herself, saving the deviant imagination for another time, preferably in bed with her custom made Haruto dakimakura featuring audio clips and a body heater for lonely nights without Haru-nii.
Man, she received weird looks from the owner for that custom order.
Shaking her head, she broke out of the horrifying memory (omake) and prepared for their daily spar to improve in their taijutsu.
With this, we're just one step closer to getting Haru-nii/Haruto-aniki back! And with that thought in their minds, they leaped forward, intent on doing their best.