Uchiha Itachi was travelling through Kiri by tree hopping when he heard the sound of a child crying in the middle of the forest. He debated to himself about moving on, then sighed and went towards the direction of the sniffling sound. He knew that this part of the forest was a frequent battleground between purists and rebels. Leaving a child alone in this area would be the same as leaving the child dead.

He found the child at the base of a tree. She looked to be about five years of age, had dark indigo hair and two whisker marks on each cheek. He wondered who would be cruel enough to inflict such injury on a child. Making his footsteps audible, he tried to gain her attention. She looked at him and he noticed her eyes. They were the exact same eyes he had seen just days ago, on the face of the Kyuubi jinchiruchi, Uzumaki Naruto.

She quickly wiped her face of tears when she saw him and asked him, looking at his forehead protector, "You're a leaf ninja, right? Do you know where tou-chan is?"

Apparently, she didn't know the meaning of slash on the forehead protector.

"I don't," he answered her honestly. "What are you doing here?"

She sniffed. "We were here on a vacation. Then the bad men kidnapped Mama and Boruto and tou-chan said he was sending me somewhere safe and said that he would come to get me when it's safe and then he disappeared."

"Who's your father?" he asked, before trying to figure out what had happened.

"Uzumaki Naruto." she sniffed. "My name is Uzumaki Himawari."

It seemed Naruto-Kun had inherited his father's talent for space-time seals. But Itachi didn't know what kind of idiot would consider the Bloody Mist a safe place to send their daughter to.

"I am Uchiha Itachi." he offered her his name in response to hers. It was the polite thing to do and was also a way to fish for information.

"You're related to Sarada?" She asked, her eyes curious, instead of sad as of a moment ago.

"I don't know." he decided to be honest. Although, he very much wished the answer to her question was positive. It would mean Sasuke had a family.

"Why do you have a line across the leaf on your forehead protector?"

He had forgotten how many questions a five-year-old child asked.

"It means that I don't live in Konoha."

"Like Sasuke Oji-san?"

"What?"

He couldn't help but tense up at that. Sasuke was a missing-nin?

"Sarada told me that he was never into Konoha because he was wandering ninja, that protected the village from outside its walls. Are you wandering ninja, too?"

"Something like that." He couldn't express the relief he felt at that. Sasuke was alive, he had a daughter. Although he couldn't understand why he'd name his daughter 'salad'. He liked tomatoes but this was taking it a bit far.

"Is your family sad too? Because you are always away? Sarada and Sakura oba-san are really sad because of that."

Himawari has a real talent to hit a nerve.

"I don't have a family." he lied, for the first time in this conversation. "Do you know why Sasuke-san a wandering ninja?"

Was it some form of compulsory assignment that the council had given his brother due to the past crimes of his clan?

Himawari hesitated. "I don't know for sure, but..... Promise me you won't tell you can," she demanded.

"I promise."

She immediately relaxed. She had inherited Naruto-Kun's naivety.

"Well, I listened in when Sakura oba-san and tou-chan were talking last week. Sakura oba-san wanted tou-chan to give Oji-san in-village missions as tou-chan just became Hokage. But he refused and said that Oji-san didn't want to be in Konoha and he wouldn't force him. Then he asked her if she would want to be in a village that was resp...responsible for the death of his clan and his brother. Then they started walking towards the place I was hiding and I crept away. " Himawari told.

'He knew', was all Itachi could think about after hearing her explanation. How did he find out? The council wouldn't have told him, the Sandaime was dead...... Madara, he concluded. He should have known that he would go for Sasuke as soon as Itachi was dead.

The thought made Itachi furious enough to want to burn him with Amaterasu.

...... He could do that. He could transplant his Amaterasu in Sasuke's eye during their inevitable battle. After Itachi's death Madara and Sasuke would be the last Uchiha, so Amaterasu can be activated at the sight of Sharingan. This way Madara wouldn't be able to tell Sasuke the truth.

He would also have to make some backup plans, in case Madara survived.

"Itachi-Kun." he was jolted out of his thoughts by the five-year-old. "Are you all right?" Itachi was surprised to see genuine concern in her eyes.

"Yes," he said, simply. "We should get out of the open and look for shelter for the night. It could start raining anytime."

"All right." She said, holding out her arms in his direction.

He looked at her in confusion for a few seconds before realizing that she wanted him to hold her. Itachi tried to think of any excuses that would allow him to refuse, but couldn't think of any.

He hesitantly picked her up and it definitely brought back memories. Sasuke was the last child he had held after all.

It turned out that Himawari really liked tree hopping. All traces of her tear strained face were gone when they reached the cave Itachi had seen a mile back. She was giggling with such genuine happiness that it even brought a smile to Itachi's face.

Itachi didn't set up a fire as he didn't want to spot by ninjas. He could easily fight himself out a situation, but factoring Himawari in the situation made it a little complicated. He knew it was chilly so he offered her his Akatsuki cloak to keep warm, which she refused.

"I'm an Uzumaki, we have a lot chakra. It keeps us warm." she boasted, while he could clearly see her shivering even with his poor eyesight.

He pointedly raised an eyebrow at her.

"Don't be silly. You're sick. I could hear you breathe funny when you were carrying me. Getting cold would make it worse." she said, seriously.

Itachi was a little surprised at himself for letting his guard down so much around this little girl, that she was able to deduce what even Kisame hadn't despite travelling together for years.

Before he could formulate a response to her, she said, "We could share. I did that with Boruto nii in winter. It was warmer than sleeping alone."

She had a look of determination on her face that resembled Naruto-Kun's when he proclaimed that he was going to be Hokage. Knowing what he knew about him now, he decided that it was best not to argue. Besides, it was the best solution.

He just hoped Kisame didn't decide to find him during the night. He would never be able to live it down if he saw her snuggling with a little girl.

He covered both of them with his cloak and still found Himawari to be shivering. He sighed and gently put his arm across her torso and pulled her closer. Soon enough, she was letting out soft snores.

Itachi himself wasn't planning on sleeping but a few hours later three days of exhaustion and sleepless nights caught up to him and he also fell into dreamless sleep.

He was woken up by a hand on his shoulder, which he quickly grabbed and twisted behind the attackers back, his other hand putting a kunai to their throat, Sharingan blazing. It was only after he saw blue eyes staring at him in surprise (or fear?), he remembered the events of the previous evening.

He quickly let go of her hand and bowed his head. "Himawari-chan, Gomen essay."

"Nah, it's all right Itachi-kun. This has happened to me with Kakashi Oji-chan too."

He frowned at her. "Then you know that you shouldn't wake up a ninja like that."

"Haha... I forgot." she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

Itachi sighed. She really was Naruto-Kun's daughter. "Just don't do it again," he told her.

"I promise." she nodded.

That was when they were interrupted by a yellow flash and a man with blonde hair, blue eyes and whisker marks, wearing an orange jacket and Hokage robes was standing in the cave with them.

"Tou-chan." Himawari cried, running up to him and hugged him, as he picked her up.

"Hima-chan." he murmured. Then he looked at him and his eyes widened, "I sent her further back than I was planning on. Thank you for taking care of her Itachi-san." he bowed, holding Himawari's with one hand (was it artificial?)

"It wasn't any trouble," Itachi replied. "Were you able to find your wife and son?"

"Yes. They were kidnapped by traditionalists who wanted to bring back the bloody mist. They are taken care of now." he growled. Then his face split into a smile. Itachi wondered if he ever got whiplash from his expression change. "Well, it was nice seeing you again, Itachi-san. We should get going."

"Wait," Himawari said. "I want to say goodbye." She jumped down and ran to gave Itachi a hug, which, much to his surprise, he returned. "Bye Itachi-kun. I'll miss you." she sniffed.

Itachi smiled. It was the second time in two days. "I'll miss you too, Himawari-chan." he was able to say honestly. He would miss her. She was a bright spot in his otherwise grey life, even she was just with him for less than twelve hours. "Good Bye." he said, putting her on the ground."

Naruto-kun walked over, took her hand and gave Itachi a smile. Surprisingly, there was no pity in his expression. " Goodbye, Itachi-san. " saying that he disappeared in another flash of yellow, taking Himawari with him.

Itachi looked at the spot for a few seconds before, moving on to find Kisame.