Crow's feathers - Naruto fanfiction

Chapter 12 Secrets

 

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“Shouldn’t you be in the hospital?” Neji strolled across the garden and sat down next to her.   
      Taryn glanced up at him. “What use would that be? I can’t get him out of that coma.”
“You haven’t heard yet?” Neji questioned, “they found Tsunade. She came yesterday. She said she’d look at the patients today.”
Taryn stared at him. “Tsunade is in town?”
“Yeah,” Neji nodded, “I thought you might want to check up on Kakashi-sensei.” He stood up and strolled back into the house.
Taryn sighed. It was true that she had avoided the hospital since she came back last week. There was nothing she could do and with Sasuke now too in a coma, she had thought it best to stay out of everyone’s way. She did want to know if Kakashi was alright though. He had to be alright. ‘Itachi… what did you do?’ She bit her lip. There was still another matter. The key Itachi had passed to her was still in her back pocket. But what was it for?
Carefully she took it out and studied it. It had the crest of the Uchiha clan engraved in it. Taryn twisted it around in her hands. It looked like an ordinary key. She studied it with Byakugan. No change. It really was just a regular key. It was significant though. Why else would he have handed it to her?
‘What is it you want me to find, Itachi?’ Her fingers locked around the key and her eyes held a determined expression. She was going to find out one way or another. Even if she would have to try every damn door in the Compound.

Every time again the silence here was unnerving. Especially when it used to be so lively. Out of habit she scanned the area for any movements. Then she slowly walked down the road. She would start at Itachi’s house and work her way through the quarters from there.
She paused in the doorway, examining the lock. It wasn’t the door belonging to the key, but it was a similar lock. What could be so important? What was it Itachi wanted her to find?
     She ventured further into the house. It was hard to picture him in this house after all that had happened.
Taryn sighed. That was the one thing she hadn’t been able to solve. Why? He had never told her that.
The key didn’t fit on any door in the house, so she walked out again. There were a lot of houses. Would she have to try them all?
She studied the key again. She needed to approach this more logical. It was a key. She should be looking for a door that was locked. She closed her eyes for a moment, searching the area carefully. There, in the far corner of Uchiha land, a small building that appeared to be empty. She made her way over. She tried the key and wasn’t surprised that it fit. She was surprised however that the door was unlocked. Someone had been here then.
She stepped into the empty space. The interior was large. A conference room of some kind. Whatever had been here, it was gone now.
Taryn was about to leave when her eye fell on a tile in the corner of the room. It seemed a little out of place. She activated her Byakugan. There was another room underneath this one. That was what Itachi wanted to show her?
Curiosity won her over. She lifted the tile and descended the stairs. It was dark, but with Byakugan she didn’t need light. She saw the shapes of furniture quite clearly. And something else too.
Against the wall was a cabinet and on it some documents. But it was the tablet on the wall that caught her attention.
She found torches in a basket next to the cabinet and used a fire jutsu to light one. She broke off Byakugan and studied the inscribing.
That was strange. It looked different now.
She activated her eyes again and read. She gasped at what she found. If this information was true… did Itachi know this? He must know or he wouldn’t have sent her here. But Itachi didn’t have Byakugan… unless of course it could be read with Sharingan too. Why else would it hang in Uchiha quarters? But what was she going to do with this information? How many people knew of this? If someone were to use this… the world would come to an end. But there was information missing too. The pieces she needed to solve this puzzle. What was going on exactly? She knew someone had the answers, but for now there was only Itachi. And he was nowhere to be found.
This wasn’t something to forget though. She took out a notebook and copied the document. First with Byakugan and after that without it. This meant something. She could think on it later. She could always come back. She had a key after all. Right now there was something else that had a priority.