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The midday sun bore down on the winding trade road as the caravan creaked forward, flanked by tall trees and shaded cliffs. Gennosuke Mugen reclined on a velvet-lined seat inside the lead cart, sipping cool tea and savoring the illusion of safety. Ahead, cloaked in a plain brown robe, Itachi Uchiha walked silently, eyes fixed forward, as if sensing the curvature of the land.
Then, the silence shattered.
From the treetops, a barrage of kunai rained down. The guards... mercenaries and sword-hands hired for coin... barely had time to react before a shadow dropped down, landing like a thunderbolt before the front cart. Dust and fear swirled into the air.
"Bounty hunters," Itachi murmured, more to himself than anyone else.
Five figures emerged from the thickets: lean, scarred veterans with rough armor and chakra suppression cloaks. One of them, a tall, bald man with a serrated machete, grinned.
"Turn over Gennosuke Mugen," he barked. "We don't need the rest of you alive."
Before the mercenaries could rally, Itachi stepped forward.
The bounty hunters laughed and said, "What is a 10-year old boy doing here?"
Until he opened his eyes. The three-tomoe Sharingan flared to life.
The bald man's machete arm twitched involuntarily. Illusion? No, fear. The kind that crawls into your spine when prey looks back like a predator.
Itachi blurred forward. In a breath, he ducked beneath a cross slash, drove a kunai into the attacker's side, spun on his heel, and disabled the next with a genjutsu-triggered misstep. Their formation collapsed.
Two more attempted flanking maneuvers—one from the trees, the other with explosive tags. Itachi danced between them. His chakra control, even at this age, was surgical. He deflected the tag with a well-timed kunai and flicked a shuriken into the falling attacker's throat.
In less than a minute, four were down. The last one tried to run.
Itachi didn't chase. He looked. And the man collapsed, screaming, clutching his head. Sharingan had shown him what he feared: failure, death, and endless repetition.
The forest was silent again.
**
Inside the cart, Gennosuke Mugen had not moved. He held his tea cup, hand trembling, eyes wide.
That child... He saw the red eyes. The same as that man. The stranger who had once appeared at his manor few days ago. he had seen those same blood-red eyes. The power in them. The calm threat. The threat for eyeing red ring scrolls and the promise of great business.
And now here stood a boy... with those same eyes.
"Extraordinary," Gennosuke whispered, stepping down from the cart.
Itachi wiped blood from his kunai. His gaze never lifted.
Gennosuke stepped forward cautiously, then bowed slightly. "I must say, your intervention was timely. Of course, I understand now. I should have expected reinforcements."
Itachi tilted his head. "Reinforcements?"
"From your boss. I already discussed the terms with. I made it clear, didn't I? All arrangements regarding the Red Ring scrolls and the weapons shipment manifest—they were finalized and delivered. I was told to comply. And I have."
Itachi narrowed his eyes.
???
A pause.
The wind shifted. Birds chirped cautiously from a nearby branch.
**
Itachi kept his expression blank, but inside, his mind raced.
Red Ring Scrolls. Weapon Shipment manifest. My 'boss'?
Gennosuke clearly believed he was part of another faction. One that had already confronted him. The Sharingan is rare enough that sightings stand out. And Gennosuke had seen someone else with the same eyes recently.
That means... There is another Uchiha involved in this operation.
A rogue uchiha.
Itachi crossed his arms. "Tell me everything you told... my 'boss'."
Gennosuke, eager to please, began rambling.
"He came at night. Hooded, tall, spoke in a low voice. Said there would be monthly shipments of chakra-reactive components. Not just weapons... armor plating, sensory inhibitors, coded ink seals. Paid in gold. Demanded full secrecy. I complied, of course. Because, it is a excellent business for mugen company."
He left the threat part out, as that was a big insult he had ever faced and it irritated him to remember that.
Itachi memorized every word.
The Red Ring Scrolls refer to a codename or internal communication format.
Possibly a rogue organization intelligence group. Possibly looking to stockpile for a coup or black-market war economy.
Gennosuke continued. "He warned me not to keep duplicates. That they'd know. He left a seal on my ledgers that would destroy them if tampered with. I swear, I didn't even peek after the deal was struck."
Itachi didn't flinch. But he stored that line.
Loyal to power. Not people. Not truth. Power.
Gennosuke is a power-chaser. He will betray anyone for his survival and power. He already tried to kill his own son.
Keep him close. Keep him watched.
Itachi turned away briefly, watching the horizon. "You did a good job delivering the 'goods' in expected time. I will make sure tell this to 'my boss'"
Gennosuke laughed harder and said. "Of course. Of course."
**
Later that night, the caravan lay in a temporary camp. Gennosuke's guards rotated shifts nervously. Itachi sat alone at the cliff edge, overlooking the winding trade route.
His hands were folded. His Sharingan deactivated. His eyes closed. But his thoughts were sharpened.
A rogue Uchiha. Possibly tokubetsu jounin-level. Involved in smuggling chakra-sensitive weaponry. Gennosuke compromised. Red Ring Scrolls possibly a codename for larger intelligence operations.
He reviewed the battle earlier. And yet the bounty hunters were nothing to him. The real threat wasn't muscle.
It was manipulation.
He had seen it in Gennosuke's eyes. The way he tried to serve whoever held more power. The kind of man who would support Konoha if convenient, betray it if needed.
And now he had assumed Itachi as an agent of that rogue uchiha.
My identity has become a false symbol to someone else's network.
Itachi sighed. He would report this to Hiruzen personally. But first, he would visit this drop site.
If there were seals. If there were coded scrolls. If this truly was linked to another Uchiha...
Then this mission was far more than an ANBU evaluation.
It was the start of something darker.
**
A/N: what itachi doesn't know yet is that the rogue organization is uchiha itself. when Gennosuke came to konoha to hire a ninja guard, his main purpose was to deliver the 'goods' in this trip. Look at that pure itachi always thinking to report back to hiruzen.