Chapter 25: Recruiting Mukai

Itachi couldn't help but remember the reason he yearned for peace.

The day his father took him to the battlefield of the third great ninja war when he was 4 years old and he tried to help an injured ninja from the hidden stone village (Iwa), but what awaited him wasn't appreciation like he expected, rather that ninja attempted to kill him and was only saved thanks to Fugaku keeping an eye on him.

From that day on, Itachi had a very strong desire to bring peace so that cruel scene doesn't repeat itself.

"Yes the peace might be broken but the one who needs to pay the price to regain it is the perpetrator, not the victim, and in this case the Uchiha clan is the victim and they do not deserve to be sacrificed because of someone else's whims" I said this time with killing intent radiating from me.

"Go back and rethink what you are doing and don't worry about the clan since I made a new plan with Fugaku to try solving it peacefully, ask him for the details" Itachi looked surprised at this since he knew it was hard to change his father's mind

"Yes, it's true , go back now I have something to talk about with Mukai and just say you failed to kill him" I said again before he could reply.

And so they both nodded at me and Shisui said "we will talk again at the clan's shrine" before he gave one last look at Mukai and left with the still not recovered Itachi.

I sighed at how foolish these kids are and turned to look at Mukai "you are going to let them leave like this without doing anything?"

Mukai drank a mouthful of wine and said indifferently " the question you need to worry about is if you will leave alive like them or not"

I chuckled at him "of course I will leave in one piece".

"Oh, what makes you so sure?" Mukai said as his left eye quickly turned colorless and the veins tightened and emerged from under his face, it was the Byakugan of the Hyuga clan.

"Mukai Kohinata , a member from a family that split off from the Hyuga clan several generations ago , who would have thought you would still gain the Byakugan with your diluted bloodline" I said unbothered by his useless attempt at intimidating me before I continued saying with confidence " as for why you can't kill me , I have deal you can't deny".

Seeing that the kid in front of him wasn't intimidated at all by his aura, Mukai sighed while deactivated his Byakugan and said "I am all ears, but if I don't like it you should hope your parents won't miss you since you won't be going back".

For some reason I remembered my real parents again making me sigh "don't worry they won't" I said and Mukai seemed surprised at this response and understood it's meaning quickly but didn't say anything and waited for me to continue.

"I want you to work for me, in exchange I will make sure nothing happens to your family back in Konoha including your ill kid" I said seriously.

Mukai lost his indifferent expression with his family mentioned because he was really worried about what would happen to them " and how can I believe you can do this, after all, you yourself said that Danzo might use them to draw me into a trap"

"The same way I can't be sure that you won't betray me, it's a gamble we are both taking and I have already paid a lot in it by exposing myself to Itachi and Shisui so make your choice" I said indifferently.

Mukai fell deep in thought but no matter how he thinks about it, this is the only chance he has on protecting his family and ensuring his son's survival.

Thinking about his son he couldn't help but see his image in his head struggling in the hospital with no one to pay the bills for the expensive medicine and it made his heart ache.

'I betrayed Konoha for my son, following this kid is nothing if I can save my family' Mukai thought and made his decision.

"I accept but I want a guarantee that you will keep your promise" said seriously.

I shook my head and said "I can't give you a guarantee especially since for now I want you to do some work outside the village, but you can send a clone to check on them whenever you want as long as it doesn't affect your performance".

"Fine, but if something happens to them you will be my first target" said Mukai with a terrifying glint in his eyes.

"Don't worry; I won't break a promise lightly, now for what I want you to do. First, I want you to find Tsunade Senju; this might even benefit you since she might be capable of curing your son. Second, I want you to make contact with the Sakagami merchant group "I said.

Mukai was glad about the first mission since it was one of his goals but previously he didn't have time between his duties and working as a double agent so he couldn't go search for her.

As for the second mission he was doubtful and so he asked "aren't the Sakagami merchant group close to your Uchiha clan why do you want to make contact with them like this?"

I looked at him coldly "you don't need to know the reason, just escort my clone and he will deal with everything"

Mukai replied "Okay" and didn't ask more, as a professional he knows not to delve too deep in things and just execute.

"Take this device and use it to contact me if you need anything and I will do the same" I said and gave him a device in the shape of an earring made recently by a collaboration between me Minato and Kushina.

This device was filled with seals and works as a two way radio. I asked Minato and Kushina to help me make it after I explained to them how frequencies work.

The hardest part was to replicate the effect of modulating and demodulating frequencies so they can be sent to long distances but we were capable of achieving it in the end.

We also built devices that work as signal transmitters to widen the range of the communication and I will leave them to the clone that's going to accompany Mukai to plant them in various hidden places along their travels to build a huge network.

Mukai inspected the device for a while for any hidden traps since he still doesn't trust me before he tested it.

It was simple to use, just poor chakra into it while saying what you want to say and so he said "does this really works?" at the same time another similar device I was holding started shaking and after I injected some chakra into it Mukai's voice came out slightly different but still clearly audible " does this really works?".

Mukai couldn't keep his amazement from showing since if he had this device he wouldn't need to meet with those Kiri-nin to relay information and it would be possible that Konoha will never know about his betrayal.

I broke him out of his daze by summoning a shadow clone already knowing what his mission is so he nodded at Mukai and started leaving with him while I thought about the long 3h trip waiting for me back home.

'Let see if you pass this test Itachi , will you betray the little trust I put on you or will you keep what happened today a secret. The way I deal with you will depend on this' I thought.

That's right, this is a test to see if it's worth it to invest in Itachi or not, having a talented person is good, but if he's going to be your enemy it's better to deal with him before he grows any stronger.

'Hopefully you and Shisui will use your heads correctly this time and stop acting childish' I thought as I quickly travelled back to Konoha....