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How many different types of braids has Itachi mastered?
Mastery is all subjective, but five. Approximately: five.
It has taken time, but Itachi has a lot of that.
He started with the three strand, the most simple. All beginners began with the three strands. It took almost no time—like it takes most 12 year old girls when they take up braiding. Itachi, however, works and works at perfecting the braid until he knows how to make it hold without a tie at the end and there isn’t a single hair is out of place. If it can stretch to fit partially into the braid, it is in the braid.
Itachi’s fingers practice the braid until he can perform it on himself in less than 20 seconds. It’s become busy work now—the minute distraction on a journey between nations. Kisame laughs when he watches Itachi’s fingers spin like spiders in webs around his hair, the pulling and weaving so artful and effortless.
“You should learn a new technique,” Kisame tells him one day while they eat lunch.
Itachi blinks at him from over top of his onigiri. “There are more?”
Kisame nods back and diverts his eyes to the stream they sit next to. They finish their meal in silence and then head to the next town.
-
Itachi picks up on the Konohagakure braid next. It comes to him one night in a dream where he thinks of home. He remembers the do was often worn by girls around the village; frequently, he sees it out in the country of Land of the Fire. Even outside the Land of Fire, there are instances where he sees it. It’s a popular braid—practical and stylish. There were even a couple memories lingering where his mother wore such a hairstyle.
The familiarity of seeing it almost every day throughout his childhood is what Itachi thinks made him able to pick it up so quickly. It is more difficult than the three strand braid, but that makes it all the more satisfying when he first completes it without leaving a chunk of hair behind. It extends from the crown of his head all the way down to the center of his shoulder blades.
However, when he stands with a handheld mirror gripped in his right hand, back to the floor length reflection, he scowls at the sight of the braid. This is because, unfortunately, he has done the braid too perfectly. He rips the tie from his hair and rakes his fingers through the masterpiece, tearing it apart seam by seam. He cannot get the braid out of his hair fast enough. For a few seconds, he considers taking the nearest kunai and cutting his hair at the bud. What he had optimistically thought would bring him joy from the hard work has just brought him searing pain and tears that rip through ducts that have gone dry like parched deserts.
He looks just like his damn mother.
-
The Sunagakure braid is a lot like the Konohagakure braid, but it is the exact opposite. Almost like the Sand couldn’t stand the idea of being anything like the Leaf. Itachi likes this braid the best even though it gave him a heathy amount of trouble. The number he does on his hair has him concerned he may have ripped himself a bald spot. He asks Kisame to check.
Given the go ahead by Kisame, Itachi works tirelessly to do this braid in a precise manner. It is the Sand’s response to the Leaf’s braid. Any good Sand shinobi would be able to pick up on a ninja from a different nation based off how well they did the braid. Sasori said this to Itachi once—right after the puppeteer pointed out how shitty the plait was at a meeting. Itachi practiced the braid until he was pulling out hairs by the fistful that night.
Ironically, Itachi does the braid correctly for the first time as he and Kisame walk along the outskirts of the Sand. They were just doing reconnaissance on the One Tail. There must have been something about seeing it on girls in the village that made his fingers finally follow the pattern. It still needs work, but a few girls smile at him and say they like his hair as he and Kisame go to fetch lunch.
Later, back at the hostel in a sketchy part of the Sand, Itachi sets up the floor length mirrors facing each other and stands between them. He watches his technique to see what he’s doing wrong. Watching himself helps immensely. He realizes that his fingers still try to pull the braid over the hair like he’s trying to do a Konohagakure braid. Realizing his mistake, he quickly counters and pulls the braids into perfect symmetry and orderliness.
Sasori does not comment at the next meeting.
-
One day, Kisame comes striding back into their little camp with a girl thrown over his shoulder. He grins at Itachi before plucking the girl up and dropping her on her behind on the grassy floor.
“I saw when I was making my rounds,” Kisame says, pulling the girl to her feet by her arm. His strength whips the poor thing around like a rag doll. “I thought maybe you hadn’t learned this one yet.” He grabs her head and twists it hard—so hard Itachi feared it might snap—to the right, showing off the braid that descends down her back.
“No,” Itachi says, squinting, “I haven’t learned that one yet.”
The girl shakily shows Itachi how she does it before they feed her some lunch. Afterwards, she is surprised to know that they’re letting her go with little damage done—just the jostling from the ride on Kisame’s shoulder and the roughness of his touch in general. She wanders off a few yards, looking back over her shoulder every couple of steps, her braid flipping in sync as she does so. Itachi has never seen that one before, but it was elegant and looked difficult to master.
“She is going to tell her entire village that we’re here,” Itachi says as soon as she has completely disappeared between the trees.
Kisame bites down into his onigiri. “I know,” he says through his mouthful of rice. “But I saw the braid and thought it might interest you.” He shrugs and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.
“You brought her to me because you thought learning a new way to braid might make me happy?” Itachi asks dully. Though he tries hard to hide it, a smile peeps through on the very corners of his lips.
“Learning braids seemingly distracts you from being a moody, little bitch,” Kisame replies, finishing his lunch with one last bite. “So, yes, I brought her to you to teach you a new hairstyle. You’re no fun to tease when you don’t even react. It’s pitiful.”
Itachi’s small smile widens a little bit. “Well, I did need to learn something new.” He packs up the remainders of his lunch and throws them to Kisame. “We should probably leave.”
“Probably,” Kisame says, unwrapping the leftovers. “But it might be easier for you to practice the braid of my homeland sitting down.”
Kisame is right Itachi realizes when he tries the Kirigakure braid for the first time. It is the most strenuous of the ones he’s tried so far. It isn’t much like the others in terms of technique. Itachi does not like this braid one bit. Despite liking the previous challenge, this one comes on the heels of it too soon; and it is almost too difficult for him to complete. He gives up and starts again many times. He doesn’t even attempt it when they’re walking.
Each time he thinks he’s done it, Kisame laughs and shakes his head. It is nothing like the Kiri-nin remembers on his fellow shinobi. Once, he even attempted to help Itachi when he noticed the Konoha-nin’s mounting frustration over the matter. Kisame’s fingers, however, are too big and thick, too clumsy and not adroit enough to handle Itachi’s silky hair well. Itachi has to do it by himself.
Itachi discovers one day in a hostel that if he flips his head upside down, he’s able to complete the braid easier. The braid was finally finished for the first time, but it was nowhere near perfect. Kisame still laughed and congratulated and complimented Itachi anyway.
-
The next braid Itachi learns from Deidara.
The blonde is surprised to hear the Uchiha address him after Leader is done speaking. The rest of the group has sauntered off, eager to get back to their missions. They always hate when the meetings are in person at the headquarters in Amegakure. Itachi usually does too, but this meeting he is glad to have attended because he spots the Iwagakure braid wielded proudly on Deidara’s head.
Deidara narrows his eyes and laughs cruelly at Itachi’s proposition. Nevertheless, his hands have already undone his hair and pulled it apart in preparation for his demonstration.
The demonstration does wonders for Itachi. Deidara repeats it a few times because Itachi asks nicely enough. Itachi gets it perfect after the first dozen or so tries. Deidara is impressed by the Uchiha’s ability and asks if he turned the Sharingan on to copy the movements, and Itachi is struck dumbfounded. All this time and he had never thought to do that, but then again, he thinks after a moment that using the Sharingan would have taken all the fun out of it. Learning something from scratch is what has made the whole experience so enthralling for him.
Itachi thinks on it again later as he redoes the Iwa braid in the mirror to watch himself do it. He separates his braid into four parts, labeling them like Deidara told him to. The satisfaction of seeing the braid well done radiates through him. If he had used the Sharingan, he would have never gotten this amount of gratification. He has cultivated his drive to perfect something as simple and stupid as braids, and now, he has become so adroit at it that he skillfully mastered the Iwa braid in no time at all.
The accomplishments were all small and meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but he is proud of himself, happy he could achieve something that didn’t end with death or destruction. After all, what other skills did he have that didn’t get him into trouble?
-
The day he knows Sasuke will fight him, he laments that he was not able to learn the braid native to Kumogakure. It escaped him all this time; he was never able to travel to the Land of Lightning to see it himself. It wasn’t a very popular braid. Apparently, it was difficult, but Itachi would have been happy to master it. It is an opportunity missed.
Still, as Itachi runs his fingers through his hair, he has learned a lot of other braids. He would like to show them to Sasuke—show his younger brother what he’s really been learning all this time—but he knows, feels, Sasuke’s anger from miles away. It is pointless to try and attempt a demonstration. Sasuke wants blood; Itachi wants to know the Kumo braid and know Sasuke will be safe.
Itachi looks at Kisame fondly. This will be the last time.
“Kisame, thank you,” Itachi says bluntly. He doesn’t ever remember properly thanking his partner for the time he brought the girl who taught Itachi the Kiri braid. It was thoughtful of him, Itachi thinks.
Kisame looks down at Itachi, confused. “You’re welcome?” One of his eyebrows lifts, and he offers Itachi an awkward smile. “I’ll fend off the other kids while you kill your brother.”
“Yes,” Itachi says, swallowing the lump in his throat.
He walks off into the building and searches room after room for a place to sit while he waits for Sasuke. Along the way, he comes across some broken glass reflecting his image on the floor. A soft smile touches his lips at the sight of his hair dangling in his eyes as he looks down at himself with his blurry vision. He can barely make himself out among the shattered mirrors. He pushes the hair back. Maybe he should put it up before the fight; it might be able to help a little bit with his sightline.
Itachi wanders into a room with a large, stone chair right at the front of the room. He sits and sighs before gliding his fingers through his hair one last time. For some reason, he doesn’t feel his digits lacing his hair together in his favorite Suna braid—rather in its opposite. The hair pulls together into a Konoha braid like it has a mind of its own.
It’s finished. It’s done for the first time in years—for the first time since the first time. Even if he had a mirror to look into, he wouldn’t be able to see it on himself. His eyesight has long left him. Still, he remembers the day he first did the braid correctly, recalls his mother’s features standing so proudly on his own. He runs the pads of his fingers down the design, smiling bittersweet at the feel of it.
“It’s perfect,” he mumbles to himself, his lips tight in the grimace, as Sasuke’s footsteps sound down the hallway.
Itachi digs his fingers into his hair and undoes the braid.