sunshineverse | And then Itachi realizes he's doomed

Where: Between Konoha and Iwa
When: the 10th to the 17th
Notes: This is going to be closed to Itachi, and is the sagas of traveling with one's Hokage.

Obito had found quickly that Itachi would make a better travel companion if he wasn't hidden under ANBU attire so he'd given him the mission a bit more publicaly. Also, it should settle Fugaku down about the cluster of horrible that had been the month before, because obviously Obito going somewhere meant it was political... and thus everyone was happy.

He'd ended up having to pick a team of far from high profile people otherwise, which meant none of his students, but it was okay! That lot could be lookouts, and Itachi would be his... his obvious guard. Yes.

At least the travel would be cut down drastically given the seals, and the others were sent ahead to wait on the other end for him and Itachi to go together. Unfortunately, given Iwa's nature... going straight tot he seal outside their village was asking for an uproar, so instead they were going to go to the one just inside of the country's borders... and go on foot for the next four days. Once the politics was done, then they could take the seal back! Easy.

If aggravatingly time consuming. Thus, talking buddies. It was perfect.

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"Oh, it's on now." Catching sight of that grin he did what any reasonable Hokage would do. He sped up with clear intent to catch up and tackle, because come on now, that was totally asking for it

Though it probably said something for the village that this was typical leadership behavior to some degree...

After he heard Obito's comment, Itachi knew what was coming. He dropped down, almost straight down as he jumped from branch to branch, then dove through a thick tangle feet first and his arms under his shin to protect his face from the worst of the scratches. Itachi then went careening to the right and into thicker foliage, which he had no issues plunging through. He'd grown up getting slapped in the face by branches.

He was also still smaller than Obito, and could slither through branches where his cousin couldn't, which was exactly what he intended to do. Of course, he couldn't do that all of the time, but an erratic movement pattern and thicker foliage would hopefully keep Obito from catching him.

It wasn't the time or place for it, so obviously using his best cheat wasn't going to happen here, so that meant he had to play more fair. That didn't, however, mean that he slowed down, instantly on the other Uchiha's tail and wising up to the game plan. It meant that Obito had to take another path, but he didn't kind at all, looking for something with a curve instead of his cousin's wild zig-zag.

Never let it be said that he wasn't good at tag. Even the kind that would probably leave their lookouts struggling to keep up. Catching glimpses of the younger man helped too, of course.

Itachi grinned to himself. So, Obito hadn't gotten as rusty as Itachi had feared sitting in his office doing paper work, had he? Well, that just made Itachi's job easier and made testing his cousin's reflexes a little more challenging.

Itachi vanished behind a tree and stopped, intending to let Obito speed by and then turn the tables on his cousin. All was fair, right?

Who did Itachi think he was? He was Obito! Of course he didn't let himself just fail like that. Nope, he fully intended to show that just because he didn't practice as often didn't mean he didn't practice at all.

Still, he caught onto the trick a bit too late and immediately took off sideways. If Itachi intended to chase instead, he didn't intend to make it easy.

Itachi put on a burst of speed, translocating to make up distance. He'd learned to be fast chasing Shisui, and Itachi personally thought there was no one faster than his cousin.

Without thinking, Itachi committed to a dive to slap a hand on Obito's back, or whatever he managed to touch.

Someday, Shisui and Minato had to play tag then because Obito had picked up his speed dealing with both of those two over the years. Thus, neither him nor Itachi could afford to be slow. He meant to twist out of the way, and might have put off Itachi's aim a bit, which caused a yelp.

"Aim, Itachi, AIM."

It was his own fault for trying to get to a higher branch but really, he hadn't expected to have Itachi go for hand slaps. Now he had to adjust back to chasing. Or at the very least getting the younger man back in his sights.

Edited 2014-04-19 01:29 (UTC)

"Dodge better next time!" Itachi shouted back. This was probably not a good start to the trip, definitely proved Obito's reflexes needed some work. Itachi veered off to the left and went straight up a tree--

--and then went crashing through the branches in an ungainly and entirely ungraceful tumble that quickly turned into what would have been a free fall if the branches weren't so thick. As they were, Itachi went tumbling until he managed to wrench himself around and land roughly on the first branch that would hold his weight.

Itachi gingerly started picking himself up from the crouch he'd landed in, hoping he hadn't strained anything. Even if he started running again, he's lost momentum and Obito would probably be here in seconds.

Had he almost fallen out of the trees trying to avoid the birds nest he'd seen just before he's almost crushed it? Just maybe.

"That was the least graceful cacophony I think I've ever heard out of you Itachi!" He had only caught a glimpse of it, but that hadn't looked like much of a controlled fall to him, and he was almost on him already, slowing to make sure Itachi stopped before coming level with him. "What was that about?"

"There," Itachi said with as much dignity as he could muster. "Was a bird's nest." Because Itachi was the kind of ninja who would almost kill himself trying to avoid birds, bird's nests, and other woodland creatures while tree hopping. It has been the cause of his worse wreck as a genin--that and the time they'd been traveling at night and he'd taken a flying squirrel to the face.

Itachi brushed off a few leaves and wondered if everyone else had seen his spectacular evasive maneuver. His knee was burning, so he'd probably smacked it somewhere.

Obito stared at him for a long moment, then fished in his pocket. A moment later Itachi was getting a butterscotch pelted at his face. "You would. Have that mm? Won't help a damn thing feel better but hey, it's not like I don't have more."

Itachi caught the projectile and stared at his cousin. "Please tell me you did not stock your pockets with butterscotch because you knew you were going on a mission with me." He wasn't five anymore, but he popped the candy into his mouth and, at a more leisurely pace, jumped to the next large branch.

He moved to hop to the next branch, scoffing at the younger man with a small smile. "Hardly. I have some butterscotch, but it's mostly apple hard candies. You know. Because I happen to have a sweet tooth."

Itachi decided he would have to, over the course of this trip, relieve Obito of any and all candies he'd brought. It would give him something to do other than look imposing. "As your bodyguard, I'm going to tell you that we need to keep moving or we'll be late to your very important diplomatic meeting, Hokage-sama."

Itachi grimaced as he leapt up beside Obito. "And as your cousin, I'm going to say if we don't keep moving, my knee's going to stiffen up and you'll have to carry me." Itachi made his leap to the next tree.

He wrinkled up his nose, then immediately moved back into a run, easily keeping pace with Itachi. "Well, if you're going to go and put it that way, I guess I have no choice but to keep moving mmmm?"

Obito will be very sad if he can't hold onto any candy Itachi, but that doesn't mean he might not allow some to be stolen anyway.

And then Itachi realizes he's doomed

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