Itachi had been relieved and possibly a little nervous when he’d realized he wouldn’t just be working with someone from Ame, but with Abel. On one hand, he felt certain he could trust Abel with his back. The man seemed calm and competent, and Itachi had no reason to doubt Ame’s standard for Jounin. Whether they could fight together without friendly fire remained to be seen. Hopefully Abel wasn’t squeamish about genjutsu. Some people were funny about being friends after they watched you turn someone into a sobbing mess with a “simple” genjutsu. Messily killing someone was one thing, but mucking around in someone’s brain--twisting them enough so that they killed themselves of their companions, that was a different thing entirely.

Time would tell.

In any case, Itachi was here with a mission on mind, and he had only guesses for how Abel would perform in the field. It seemed strange to Itachi to hire people from two villages instead of a small group from one village. It meant Itachi had to put up a good front for not only their employer, but for the other village. Friends they might be, but Itachi didn’t want anything negative getting into the reports on Konoha’s agents competence (or on the Uchiha heirs incompetence, for that matter.)

Itachi gave Abel a formal bow from the waist as he saw him. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Abel-san.”