𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐔𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐇𝐀 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋: 𝐤𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

(xxxvi) itachi

shikamaru, who knew the nature of the mission and had pieced together its true objective, had instructed ino and choji to let y/n have her space while on the mission. they had reluctantly agreed, not knowing why he said so.

not much was said for the first half of the journey.

"y/n..", shikamaru asked in a low voice

"hmm?"

"are you okay?"

y/n sighed, nodding.

ino and choji were more surprised than anything at the way shikamaru addressed her casually, by her first name rather than calling her sensei, especially since she was their senior by a long margin, in both experience and skill.

"shikamaru", ino whispered, "call her y/n sensei"

"why?", he asked

"because she's our sensei shikamaru!", she replied, annoyed

"well..", shikamaru thought about it for a few seconds, "no"

"any problem ino?", y/n asked, turning around

"NO y/n sensei!", ino said nervously

"hmm", she turned back ahead

"it's a drag to call her sensei", shikamaru said, sighing.

his equation with y/n was pretty informal. sure, she was his mentor and he held utmost respect for her. but otherwise anyone who saw them interact could say they were pretty close friends.

"what's that supposed to mean?!", ino asked angrily

"guys we're here", choji told them as they approached a run down building. residual chakra lay all over the place. the location was in ruins. in a corner, black flames could be seen burning.

"amaterasu", y/n mumbled, "itachi's ability"

she concentrated her own mangekyou on the flames, managing to extinguish them. there seemed to be no sign of sasuke or itachi.

it had been raining for a while now and any sign of blood had been washed away.

"y/n sensei..", choji turned around, "what do we do-"

he stopped as he saw y/n frozen in her tracks.

"y/n?", shikamaru began to walk towards her when he realised what she was staring at. or rather, who.

"we were too late", he thought

at her feet lay the lifeless body of her best friend.

"itachi", she said softly.

ino and choji began to walk towards them when shikamaru held up a hand to stop them.

y/n kneeled down next to him, feeling what was left of her heart shatter to bits and pieces. for once she ignored what her comrades would think of her. she put a hand on his cheek, stroking her thumb against his now-cold skin absent-mindedly. there was no chakra to be sensed from him.

"y/n sensei?", ino shot her a suspicious look, "why are you associating with a traitor?"

"ino", shikamaru raised his voice, "shut up"

y/n got back up, her face devoid of any expression at all. she barely even heard the remark ino made about itachi. letting out a huff of air, she asked, "any sign of sasuke?"

"no", ino said sadly

"then let's head back", she squeezed her eyes shut for a few seconds before opening them.

she knew. she knew itachi intended to die at the hands of his brother. but it hurt. god, it hurt so much. and as horrible as it sounded,

sometimes she really wished itachi had killed sasuke instead.

"are you sure you don't wanna take another moment?", shikamaru asked

"no, let's go", she said in an almost robotic voice

she looked at itachi one last time.

"you can finally rest now."
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this chapter wasn't supposed to be in the story but i decided to add it last minute for no reason