Itachi stepped outside the hospital just as his break started. Usually, he would stay to help with patients, but his father's request could not be ignored. So the boy dutifully jumped to the roofs and headed towards the compound.

'Hey, Itachi-san! ' someone called him from behind. He stopped and turned around to see none other than the Jonin Commander headed his way.

'Nara-sama, ' he bowed politely like his mother drilled him since birth.

'Is your sister home right now? ' the man asked.

Itachi never truly understood Ryoko 's friendship with the older man. But he guessed that it was an intellectual rivalry of sorts. Kami knows, he never understood why people call him a genius when his sister is the smart one.

The man before him was slouched, eyes tired. Shikaku always had a lazy and laid-back act on display, so to see him out and about, when a regular chunin could have delivered a message, was odd.