12In no time at all, a month had passed since Itachi's arrival in this new world. And in said time frame, he had not been slacking. Over the course of a month Itachi was able to set up a temporary camp within the trees so he would be safe from the giants. He had also encountered quite a few more of those beasts, one ended up wandering into his camp once every few days and he quickly learned that they had a lot of variety when it came to how they looked, how tall they were, and how they behaved. The giants were as small as 3 meters, and the tallest one he saw was about 12. When he decided he should probably explore a bit more at night, he found out that as soon as the sun sets, the giants go completely dominant, unresponsive to the outside world.
It was during these expedition outside of his camp where he learned that the forest that surrounded him was actually quite small, only four miles in radius, with his cleaning centered in the middle, once you got out, there was just a meadow which seemed to go on forever, with only the occasional tree, he hadn't explored much further than that, feeling that it would be best to stay close to camp for now, but he was planning on traveling further soon. At one point, during his first week there, he was a bit bored after already using up all his chakra, so he took a closer look at all the clothes that he came here with, and was surprised to see that there were a number of seals on each piece of clothing. He was no seal master, but after analyzing them with his sharingan, he realized that not only did they reinforce each item, but they also made the clothes increase in size to fit the wearer, essentially ensuring he would be able to wear them forever. This made him quite happy, he had already been dreading the day he had to part with his cloak.
Itachi had also not been lazy when it came to his training either, when he wasn't gathering food, exploring the surrounding forest or sleeping, he was training. He was confident that he had already surpassed his previous skill level in taijutsu, and because of that, he began to try new things. First of all, he had quickly decided that it would be in his best interest to fight against adults, so whenever he trained, he would summon a few clones, either shadow or water depending on how much chakra he had, and order them to transform into opponents from his past life. Using the information he had from his sharingan, he would have his clones imitate the opponents fighting style. This greatly helped progress his combative skills, and made sure he didn't get used to fighting the same person, himself. He also worked on his ninjutsu, trying advanced chakra control techniques as well as practicing with elemental natures he was less familiar with, such as wind and lightning release. In just the span of a month, Itachi was able to increase his reserves by about 50%. While that still wasn't close to what he used to have, it did allow him to be a bit more liberal when it came to using his chakra and his sharingan, which he took full advantage of.
Right now, just like any other day, Itachi was training. He was currently working on his lighting release, trying to recreate the Chidori. He had seen Sasuke and Kakashi use it quite a lot, and figured he would be able to reverse engineer it. He usually didn't steal techniques from comrades, as he felt it to be disrespectful, but he figured they wouldn't mind if they knew of his situation. It would be a useful technique to master, he had seen all the different ways it could be used. He was already somewhat proficient at it, and was experimenting in some unique ways he could apply the technique. He was currently working on having a chain of lighting connected to multiple opponents. However, this was quite draining on his chakra, so he decided it would be a good time to take a break. He grabbed a meal which he had already prepared, and made his way to his favorite spot in the camp, on top of the tallest tree. Once he reached it, he began to eat, enjoying the gentle breeze that blew across his face and the soothing and peaceful atmosphere that the forest provided. About halfway through his meal, something peculiar caught his eye in the distance, a green plume of smoke rising into the air. Activating his Sharingan, he gained heightened perception, allowing him to see everything with greater clarity. Just barely, he saw a canister soaring through the air, releasing a mysterious smoke. Despite the uncertainty, as the smoke billowed about 7 miles away, he couldn't confidently identify its origin. The trees obstructed his view of the ground where the canister originated, but using common sense, he was able to quickly figure out that something must have launched that canister, maybe even a human.
Without wasting any time, Itachi began to quickly Shunshin all around the clearing to grab anything of importance. He grabbed his shirt and Akatsuki cloak that he had taken off during training and put them on, as well as a couple of earth kunai which he had created before saying a quick goodbye to the clearing he had called home before dashing into the forest. He hadn't been training his speed, but because he no longer had a disease ridden body, he was able to travel faster than ever before. He jumped from tree to tree, expertly dodging branches and the occasional giant hand which tried to grab him. In only two minutes he had breached the tree line and could now see that there were quite a few of those smoke signals, mostly green with a couple red ones and a black one. They were going perpendicular to how he was currently running, and by observing how faded each of the signals were, he was able to tell which direction whoever was shooting the canisters was going. Itachi decided it would be best to position himself ahead of the shooter, deciding to wait for them to approach him. He didn't want to spook whoever they were by coming at them from behind, even in the elemental nations, almost anyone would be afraid of a 12 year old coming at them at 120 miles an hour. As he was running, he was able to see more smoke canisters go into the air confirming what he predicted and he was able to deduce whoever was shooting them was going about 35 miles an hour. While he was running, he encountered a few of the giants, but now was no time to fight, so with a quick jump and a wind coated kunai to the nape, the giants fell and he continued running. He made sure to stay far enough away from the shooter to make sure they didn't see him prematurely. He tried to sense for any chakra signatures, hoping that he would be able to get a better estimate at the shooters exact speed and position, but he could feel nothing. Either the shooter had no chakra, or they were masters at concealing it. After about 4 minutes of running, he figured he had gotten ahead enough so it would only be a couple minutes until they reached him.
For the first time in a while, Itach was anxious, This would be his first human contact in over a month. Would they be able to understand him? Would they speak the same language? There was only one language in the elemental nations, but that doesn't mean they'll speak it here. He didn't even know if what he was going to encounter would be human, he doubted he would be sent somewhere without humans, it wouldn't make sense, but he had to keep his possibilities open. Would they be hostile, he didn't know anything about them or their intentions. It was a little reassuring that they were only going around 30 miles an hours, that was around a low chunin level of speed, so it gave him some comfort. However, the fact that they were sending up smoke means that they were leading a group, and the smoke was communicating the leaders current position. They also must be able to defeat the giants as well, it would be too dangerous to venture out at the speeds they were going if they couldn't. With all of this swirling around in his head, Itachi realized he needed to calm himself, he didn't have enough information to make a concrete plan, so it would be best to wait and see what would happen. He stood as tall as he could and maneuvered himself so he was directly in front of whatever was coming, and waited.
After two minutes he finally began to see something on the edge of the horizon. Using his sharingan he was relieved to see that they were indeed humans, 4 of them to be exact. The Leader seemed to be a blond strong looking man, he looked to be in his early 30's, next to him was a grumpy looking black haired man, he looked strong, but he reminded him a bit of Sasuke. On the other side of the blond man there was a brown haired woman with glasses, she had her hair up in a ponytail and had a look of excitement on her face. She must really enjoy the danger of the giants, next to her there was another girl. She had shoulder length ginger hair, she looked to be the youngest out of everyone. They were all wearing the same outfit, a green cloak over a white and brown outfit, with some weird metal contraption attached to their sides.
Surprisingly they were riding horses, usually those were only used when transporting something too heavy to be carried, or by civilians. However, from what he could see, they only had those metal devices, and those would not be heavy enough to require horses. That must mean that the horses allow them to travel faster than what they could naturally run, are they really that slow? As Itachi pondered this question, the group got closer and closer, until finally Itachi was able to see surprise on the group's face, they must have seen him. He decided to deactivate his sharingan, not wanting to reveal it to them until he knew more. The group sent up a different colored signal, this time orange, and made their way towards him. He stood silently, not knowing exactly what to do or say. Eventually the group was right in front of him, staring in shock, this must not have been a very common occurrence. Finally breaking the silence, the blond man spoke.
"Hello, why are you out here, how did you get outside the walls?"
"Walls?" Itachi thought. "They must have some sort of camp or settlement that uses walls to keep the giants away" Deciding to speak, Itachi decided it would be best to tell them at least some of the truth, he didn't know enough about this world to make up a story.
"I do not know, all I remember is waking up in a forest about a month ago"
"How old are you?" It was the ginger haired girl who said this, when looking at her, he was able to see that she was the most affected by his presence, everyone was shocked, but she looked the most emotional
"I don't know for sure, but I think twelve," Itachi said in a monotone voice.
The ginger girl was going to say something else, but the blond man interrupted her before she could.
"Petra, grab him and put him on your horse, we can question him later, we've already been stopped for too long, with no trees around, we're like sitting ducks"
The ginger haired girl nodded, she must be Petra, and guided her horse beside him. She was about to try and pick him up, but Itachi had already hopped on the back of the horse before she was able to try. He may have been in a twelve year old body, but he wasn't going to allow himself to be treated like a child. Looking behind her to ensure he was on, Petra gave a nod to the Blond haired man, signaling that she was ready. The blond hair man then reached down into a pouch to grab a canister and attached it to some sort of gun, he pointed it into the air and shot out a green smoke signal. As soon as he pulled the trigger, the group began to move forward.
"Hold onto me, I don't want you to fall off" Petra yelled behind her
Ignoring what she said, Itahci took this opportunity to observe the group more closely, he noticed some things that he didn't before. First of all the metal devices that they all wore seemed to have a handle sticking out of it attached to some sort of blade, he also saw that there were extra blades available. He saw that there was also something attached to all of their lower back. It looked like some sort of exhaust, but he couldn't figure out anymore than that. He was also able to confirm that none of them had chakra, they wouldn't be able to hide it from his senses when he was this close to all of them. He also saw that each of them had some sort of insignia on their back of their cloaks.
"These four must all be apart of some group" Itachi thought
Looking to his side he saw that every member of the group would look at him for as much as possible before having to steer their horse. It seems like finding someone was one of the last things they expected. The girl in front of him, Petra, had gotten quite frustrated with him because he refused to hold on, but she gave up on making him, because whatever she said, he just ignored.
Not knowing how long it would be until they stopped Itachi decided it would be a good idea to meditate, he had already learned as much as he could from observing the group, and right now he couldn't exactly strike up conversation, so he closed his eyes and began to focus on the chakra within his body, he moved and manipulated it however he liked, all the while making sure that he wouldn't fall off the horse. After around 30 minutes of this, he was interrupted by the girl in front of him yelling out. Opening his eyes, he saw the reason. About 500 meters away from them on their right was a group of 5 of those giants running very quickly towards them, faster than he'd ever seen them run before, unlike the giants he had seen, these ones were actually decent runners, all of them using proper form to propel themselves forward. He didn't realize they could travel in groups, he stored that bit of knowledge away for later. He turned back towards everyone else and noticed that the blond man was about to speak again.
"Five abnormals?! Levi, do you think you could go and take out that group? They are too fast to outrun, and we have to make sure the kid is safe" he said to the black haired grumpy man
"Sure, it may take some time, with no trees around it will be much harder to reach their napes, but I've never been one to turn down killing titans" He said lazily, almost as if this was a chore for him. "How should we meet up later? You can't stop and wait for me to catch up, it'd be too risky"
"So they're called titans? Interesting." Itachi thought
"That's true," the blond man said in response. "Were heading to the Forest of Giant Trees, you know that, but if we have any sort of change in course there will be no way of telling you"
"No there must be something else, we can't leave the captain on his own, it's too dangerous, even for him, there has to be a different option, I know we can't go with Captain Levi like we usually would, we have to protect the kid, but there must be a different way!" Petra yelled out, clearly displeased at the situation at hand
At this point Itachi realized that his presence was messing up their normal procedures. From what he heard, they were having to attack the situation differently because of his presence, and because of that, the black haired man, Levi, was going to have to go at it alone, and it seems like the lack of trees around them made the situation difficult, he didn't know why, but it did.
"I guess I should do something," Itachi thought.
Moving his body so he was sitting side saddle on the horse, Itachi discreetly took five Kunai he had stored in his cloak. He coated them in wind chakra and with a quick flick of his wrist, he shot the kunai towards the titans which were now only 150 meters away. Using his sharingan to watch their trajectory, he watched as the kunai soared through the air at incredible speeds before they went cleanly through the titans throats, and exited right through their napes.
"I still got it," Itachi thought.
He moved his body so he was once again sitting normally on the horse, and from what he could tell, no one noticed what he did, they were all too busy thinking up a plan. Their discussion was interrupted as the five titans' dead body's slammed against the ground, clearly dead.
"What! How did they die?!" The glasses wearing girl said.
The rest of the group was staring at the body's in silent shock, each of them clearly confused at what had just occurred. The blond haired man was the first to break out of it and spoke.
"It doesn't matter, they're dead now, we have to focus on getting to The Forest of Giant Trees, then we can think about what just happened!" He told the rest of the group, each of them nodded before once again focusing on steering their horses to their destination.
Luckily the rest of the trip wasn't nearly as eventful, they did run into a few more titans, however they weren't in groups, and they were much slower so they were able to avoid them entirely, sending signals into the air to communicate with whoever they were leading.
Itachi never went back to meditating, these soldiers were weaker than he thought, so he didn't want to risk being unresponsive if there was another emergency. He simply watched the landscape pass by as he sat quietly on the horse. After another hour of riding, Itachi was able to see their destination, and it definitely lived up to its name. They were the biggest trees he had ever seen, if he had to guess they probably reached up to 80 meters, it was a truly magnificent sight. After just a couple more minutes of riding, they reached the edge of the forest. The blond man was the first to dismount, then soon after, all the others followed suit. Itachi figured he should get off as well and so he quietly dismounted and observed the group as they tied up the horses. He saw that the four of them were quietly communicating with one another, but he was too far away to hear anything. Once they were done talking he could see that Petra was coming over to him, behind her he was able to see the other three get into a ready position, when suddenly two metal wires, shot out from the metal devices connected to their waists, they had hooks which anchored into the trees, then the device connected to each of their backs let out a puff of gas and they were launched into the air.
"Huh" Itachi thought, "I don't know what I was expecting those devices to do, but I guess it wasn't that. It makes sense though, from what I have seen they are quite slow and weak compared to shinobi, so they need something to increase their mobility, it seems fun"
Itachi's thoughts were interrupted because Petra was now standing right in front of him. She looked hesitant, like she didn't know quite what to say, but after a moment she steeled herself and began to speak with a smile.
"Hey, I know things must be confusing, and you are probably really scared, and you probably have a lot of questions" She said "But I am going to need you to hold on to me for just a moment, so I can get you into the trees, away from those big scary monsters, then we can talk all you like, does that sound ok" Petra said with a sweet smile
Itachi was not amused, and gave her a blank stare. He was already hating the fact that he had been turned into a child. Being talked to like a baby, he was Itachi Uchiha, one of the most feared members of the Akatsuki! The last time he had been talked to like this was when he was five years old, and that came from his own mother. He would have been embarrassed even if he was actually 12. And worst of all, he would have to accept her offer. He couldn't reveal he could just walk up the trees, it would raise too many questions. So, after staring at her in silence for a few seconds, just long enough to make Petra uncomfortable, Itachi gave a quick, emotionless response.
"Fine"
"Umm, great, this will be over fast, I promise, no need to be afraid"
With that said, Petra moved closer to him, and wrapped her arm securely around him. She was quite short, only being two inches taller than him, so it was a bit awkward, but she managed to get him in a safe position. When she felt confident in her grip, she shot hooks high into the trees and used the exhaust to launch them into the air. Itachi could tell she was skilled at using the device. Even when carrying him, she was able to twist around and land with all the others smoothly. She let go once she was sure he had stable footing. After giving him some space, she turned to him and said
"See, that wasn't so bad, you were so brave"
Before Itachi even had a chance to respond, the blond man did for him
"Petra, thank you for bringing him up here, but I think you were more worried than he was. He doesn't seem to enjoy your words of encouragement"
At this, Petra's smile dimmed, and began to pout. It was obvious she wanted to say something in response, but she held her tongue and instead just gave a huff and walked over to where the black haired man, Levi, and the brown haired girl with glasses were sitting.
"Thank you for that" Itachi said
The blond man gave a quick laugh in response
"No worries, but I am sure you may have some questions for me and I definitely have some questions for you, so why don't we get started?"
Itachi nodded in response. At this point he was able to see a couple groups in the distance approaching the forest. They must be who the smoke signals were being sent up for. From what he could see, these groups were bringing with them materials and supplies, in horse drawn wagons, and they all wore the same green cloak with that symbol on the back. If he had to guess there were about 30 people. Itachi refocused his attention on the blond man.
"Sure, let's get started."