A Lethal Observer - ALW Saga Book 2

Chapter 8

"Yes..." she muttered absentmindedly as her eyes closed. She soon fell into a deep slumber.

"Genjutsu?" Shisui looked over his shoulder to find Itachi leaning his back against a tree trunk. He had his arms crossed over his chest. Shisui stood and lifted Hisako to carry her in his arms. Both her bodyguards were killed, so that left only the three of them.

"Let's continue, so we can get this over with."

* * *

Hanako walked through some ruins, not far from the border of the Uchiha Compound outside the village. She had found them on one of her free days she had decided to wander outside the village. Though, that time she didn't have enough time to explore.

She activated her Mangekyou Sharingan, it was a perfect time for training her eyes. Itachi and Shisui had been gone for two days now, and Hanako had to admit it had been a bit boring. Ibiki had also given her a break for the entire week to prepare to crack the stone. Of course, he expected her to try to research about it as much as she could before that. And there she was, searching the old, almost unknown ruins of Konoha.

She wasn't too far away from the village, but she was far enough that if she got lost no one would find her. Hanako couldn't feel any sign of chakra close. No people. She only saw birds soaring in the sky, snakes sizzling along the grass, even squirrels climbing trees. But no humans.

"Well, there's a reason why these are ruins..." She thought to herself. She smiled and took a kunai from her pouch. She looked at her reflection on the knife, focusing on her newly acquired eye design. She just wouldn't get tired of it. The three tomoes of the original design had extended and joined, taking the shape of a shuriken with its tips drawn back until they touched each other. It vaguely resembled the blades of a scythe.

Hanako chuckled softly when she thought of it like a flower, with blade petals. "Maybe it could be... the 'Flower of Death'..." She chuckled at herself, shaking her head and putting away the kunai back in her pouch. She could be childish sometimes, even to the point of naming her eyes. It sounded a bit cool, though.

She started to walk again, through some ruined halls. She extended her arm and trailed the cracked walls with her fingers as she kept moving deeper. She closed her eyes and came to a halt when images started to invade her mind.

Hanako saw a young boy, younger than she was at that point, walking in the same ruins she was in. The tips of his hair reached the length of his chin. He was carrying a small backpack. Hanako recognized this boy as a younger version of Itachi, who seemed to be exploring the ruins with great interest. She smiled softly and opened her eyes again. She had learned to control more her abilities; to the point she was able to observe even the memories left in objects as well as people's memories.

Walking deep into the dilapidated ruins, she found a hidden entrance. She barely fit when she went inside, it was times like these when she was grateful of her small size. The rock wall was cracked everywhere, and there were even burn marks in some places. Hanako figured that there had been a battle there. Probably it was that battle which destroyed the room. She reached her hand to one of the walls and closed her eyes, waiting for images to form.

When Hanako opened her eyes again, she found herself in the same room. But this time, it wasn't destroyed. It was a big squared room, lacking a ceiling. A female voice alerted her that someone was coming and her eyes narrowed.

"What is this place?" the woman asked. Hanako looked over her shoulder at the entrance as a girl appeared. She looked about twenty years old, and held her black straight hair up in a ponytail.

"These are some old ruins that were used before as war headquarters by our ancestors." A man came in right after her, looking just a few years older. His voice was strangely familiar but Hanako couldn't place it anywhere. The man had messy black hair that reached his lower back. They were both dressed in casual black robes.