Tainted Blood of a Ninja (Naruto)

[ItachiRockstar]

||Chapter One: Mitsukai Meets Team 7||

The years went well for Mitsukai. She was now fifteen, slightly taller and leaner. She learned to take care of herself, going from village to village, offering assistance and earning money to buy more clothes, ninja tools, and food. If she planned to stay in a village long enough, then she would use some of her money to rent a hotel room for the duration of her stay. Otherwise, she was always on the road with her small backpack. Her physical look had changed dramatically. She no longer had the innocent sweet face she had when she trained with the Akatsuki; it was covered up with a black ninja mask. Her deep blue eyes often held no emotion and she rarely ever spoke unless it was necessary, like speaking with an employer about whatever task she had been given.

Since she didn't consider herself to be a traditional shinobi like others with her skills, she refused to dress like one. She had no particular taste in clothing. However, she knew she was a girl and it was often displeasing to her employers to see her dressed in a way that most considered to be the way a male would dress. So she asked a woman working in a clothing store to help her. She found a lilac silk shirt that appeared to be a button down but lacked buttons. To make matters worse, the sleeves were too long and were cut at a slant, reaching down to her ankles. The shoulder seams on the shirt were slightly torn but Mitsukai didn't care. The lady in the store thought that the shirt should have been thrown away but Mitsukai insisted on keeping it. The woman decided that Mitsukai was a little off. Mitsukai found a solid black stretch shirt that she believed would go well with black stretch shorts, and then found a lilac tank top. She loved the outfit. The woman watched in horror as she put on the black shirt and shorts, put the tank top over the thin shirt, and then lastly pull on the long sleeved shirt. Mitsukai didn't like the idea of the shirt flapping open so freely, so she found a gold sash to tie around her waist and made a small bow in the back. Lastly, she picked out a pair of sandals that had lilac straps to match her shirt. Although the woman tried to sell her a better looking uniform for a kunoichi, Mitsukai refused and purchased what she had on.

From that day forward, Mitsukai had her own "uniform".

Her hair had grown very long. She tried every thing to keep it cut but within a few weeks it was back to its original length and would stay that way. She decided to just keep it the way it was, color and all. It was too much of a hassle. She resolved to just tie the end up with a purple ribbon with a tag that she had found in a thrift store attached to it that had a few Japanese symbols written on it. Her bangs were long as well, covering the front of her face if she didn't push it to the side like she did often, usually out of habit.

After her first few "missions" (term used by her employers), she realized that she would have to keep wrappings on her right thigh and left arm (from the elbow down to her palm) to help ease the muscles in those areas. At first her jobs were simple household chores. Then one night she caught a man trying to steal from her employer's barn and stopped him. The man told her to move but she wouldn't; he then decided to just fight his way past her. She ended up dislocating his shoulder and after that, the farmer moved her up to more brutal jobs. He often sent her to help his other family members who would then send her to other family members or friends. Word spread and she had a little bit of fame to her name...but she didn't like it. It was too easy to get used to being used like that so she cut herself loose and decided to go to a village she'd never seen before...Konoha.

Mitsukai jumped from branch to branch, tree to tree, coming closer to the village walls up ahead. She had seen a great number of villages, and had heard many great tales about the Hidden Leaf village, Konoha; finally, she would get to see it for herself. Four years had passed since her escape from the Akatsuki, yet she had no memory of it. She could only remember waking up in a beautiful field of field of flowers and feeling as free as a bird.

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It was morning when she reached the gates of Konoha. It was nearly nine o'clock yet there was no sign of anyone. She walked through and looked around, amazed. She was slightly disappointed that it wasn't as lively as she had heard it would be. Another thing that disappointed her was the fact the village seemed to be slightly...damaged. There were construction sites every where, rebuilding houses, stores and shops...even the village walls itself.

'It seems as if they've recently been attacked...' She thought. She jumped into a tree to get a better look at the village as a whole. It was true. The village was slowly rebuilding itself from a recent invasion. She sighed, but it was inaudible. She had made the long journey, so it made no sense to just turn around. Maybe someone would need some help...She sat down on the branch and relaxed. Yes, she would stay here for a few days or more. It wasn't like she had somewhere else to be...

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Naruto walked in silence with his two teammates, Sasuke and Sakura. The loss of the Third Hokage weighed heavily on the three, each for their own reason. It was the only reason the three of them weren't arguing at the moment. They approached a bench that sat along side the only road out of the village. Sasuke sat down first, followed by Sakura. Naruto chose to stand.
"Ya know, I think it sucks that we didn't get to finish the Chuunin Exam." Naruto placed his hands behind his head and looked around.

"Yeah...It would have been great to see how Sasuke would have done." Sasuke leaned back on the bench as Sasuke leaned forward, weaving his fingers together and looked straight ahead. All three of them had been out of the hospital now for a few days and were just beginning to get their strength back.

Naruto looked at Sakura's blissful gaze towards Sasuke and frowned. It always got to him that Sakura adored someone who was such a jerk. "But I would have won! Believe it!"

"Sure." Sakura's reply was clearly meant to be sarcastic. Sakura usually would have argued with the loud-mouthed blonde, but wasn't really up for it today. It just seemed too soon to be loud.

Sasuke didn't so much as glance in Naruto's direction. "Naruto...you're such a loser. Sit down."

Naruto's face turned red with rage as he spun away from his teammates and looked up into the sky, expecting to see the sun. However, something else caught his eye...

"Hey, what's that?" Naruto squinted to get a better look. Sasuke and Sakura both looked up and followed Naruto's line of vision. Up in the tree, a silver haired girl was situated on a wide limb, fast asleep. She had straddled the branch and was leaned forward, flat on her stomach sleeping soundly, using her hand to cushion her face from the rough surface.

"It's a girl!" Sakura whispered and stood.

"Well, what the heck is she sleeping up there for?" Naruto scratched his head. He then cupped his mouth and shouted, "HEY! WHY ARE YOU--"

Sakura landed a well-aimed punch to the top of his head and watched him fall to the ground holding his head. "What did you do that for?"

Sakura put her hands on her hips, "You idiot! If you wake her up, she could fall and seriously get hurt! I think we should just go get Kakashi-sensei. He'll know what to do."

The two boys stared at the pink haired girl for a moment then nodded. They all raced downtown to Kakashi's apartment.

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Mitsukai heard a man's gentle voice and felt a gentle poke in her right shoulder. She stirred slightly, but didn't move.

"Kakashi-sensei, is she okay?" A loud little boy asked.

"I believe so, Naruto. She's only sleeping. However, I agree, Sakura. She looks pretty worn out and I've never seen her before...Hmm...I should move her closer to the ground--"

Mitsukai's eyes snapped open and she immediately jumped up and away from the silver haired masked ninja, landing on another branch. She pulled out a kunai and took her fighting stance, holding the kunai in her right hand. Her left hand made the tiger sign, ready for an offensive jutsu should the man make the wrong move.

"Whoa. Easy now. My team and I mean you no harm. We're just concerned that you could hurt yourself. Take it easy." The man put his hands slowly in his pockets and looked at her with one eye. Mitsukai looked at him and it was hard to keep from being captivated by his looks. He had hair just like her! Four years and no one was nearly as young as her with silver hair. She never knew what her father looked like, nor her mother; looking at the man before her, she now had an image to guess with. She slowly dropped her stance and put the kunai back in its holster on her thigh. "There you go. My name's Kakashi. What's yours?"

Mitsukai only stared. Names were not important to her nor did she particularly care to share hers with strangers.

Kakashi sensed that she wasn't exactly the friendly type so he moved on. "This is my Genin team." He looked down at them.

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki! One day, I'm gonna become the Hokage! Believe it!" The blond gave her a thumbs up that she promptly ignored. He was loud and obnoxious. So far she had no reason to want to stay.

"My name's Sakura Haruno." The bubble gum hair colored girl waved timidly with a broad smile. Mitsukai shuddered...She could just feel the girl getting on her nerves within the next few minutes.

The raven haired boy didn't say anything, shoving his hands into his black shorts pockets. When he finally looked up at her, his eyes were red. Mitsukai froze as a small fragment of her memory was unlocked. 'Red eyes...black hair...definitely a demon...'

She jumped down so quickly that Kakashi barely saw the movement. She stood in front of the boy and leaned closer. "Those eyes...I've seen them before..." She murmured. They all were slightly shorter than her so she had to bend down a bit to get a clear look. The boy gasped upon hearing her speak for the first time, however, her voice was so faint that none of the others knew she was speaking. "But he was older...colder..."

Sasuke's eyes widened with shock then narrowed as rage built up in him. There was only one other person in this world besides him who had his eyes...and that man had a death sentence. He balled his fists up tightly and closed his eyes. "Where is he now?"

Mitsukai leaned away from the boy. He certainly wouldn't get any answers from her with that tone. Mitsukai concluded from this brief interaction that Konoha wasn't all it was cracked up to be and turned to leave the village.

"Wait!" Sakura blocked her exit. "Why don't you stay? We have so many questions. Where did you come from? What's your name? Why are you here? How long will you stay...?”

Mitsukai closed her eyes and sighed inaudibly. As she predicted, the girl was getting on her nerves asking a bunch of questions she didn't want to answer at the moment. Mitsukai figured if she answered one question, the girl would shut up. She held up her hand and Sakura immediately got quiet. "My name is Mitsukai."

Kakashi jumped down and his eye gave the appearance that he was smiling, pleased that she decided to share something with them. "Well, Mitsukai, welcome to Konoha. Do you plan to be here for a while?"

Mitsukai thought about it. Even though the village so far was a disappointment, she had been planning on visiting for months. To leave after only being there for a few hours...would be a waste of her time. Reluctantly, she nodded.

"That's great. If you come with me, I can help you get a place to stay--"

Naruto cut him off and jumped in Mitsukai's face. "You can stay with me! I have my own apartment! Well, so does Sasuke--" He leaned forward and whispered loudly, "--but you don't want to stay with him because he thinks he's this great ninja when he really isn't--" Thankfully he moved away from Mitsukai. "--so how about it, huh?"

Mitsukai slowly shook her head. The boy was nuts...but she secretly liked his spunk. In fact, she looked at them and could honestly say that they were okay. It had been a while since people had welcomed her like this. It was great to be in someone's company who didn't want her to go do a million things.

Kakashi rubbed his head, "Sorry, you'll have to excuse Naruto. He can be a bit..."

"Hyper?" Mitsukai finished for him.

Naruto leaned in and examined her."Your voice sounds as if you're falling asleep...but you look wide awake to me." He squinted. Mitsukai put her hand on his forehead and gently shoved him away from her face and out of her personal space.

"Yes." Kakashi nodded, a bit embarrassed by his student. "Well, let's go. Come on, everyone."

"I have better things to do than to tag along." Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets and turned to walk away.

"Very well, Sasuke. But remember that you guys are to train later on today at three." Kakashi reminded him. Sasuke merely waved his hand as recognition then disappeared. "Okay, you three. Let's go."

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Against her better judgment, Mitsukai agreed to lease an apartment for six months should she decide to stay longer than she planned. Kakashi and Sakura helped her buy things for her apartment that she could sell back to the store later when she decided to leave. By the time the essential things were put in their proper places and food was stored in the refrigerator, it was nearly 3:30.

"Oh yeah, I told Sasuke to be at the training grounds at three, didn't I?" Kakashi rubbed his head and chuckled. "I guess time flies when you're having fun."

Naruto's eyes got big. "SO THIS IS THE KIND OF THINGS YOU'RE DOING WHEN YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE MEETING US?!"

"Something like that." Kakashi stood and headed out the door. "Let's go."

Mitsukai stared around at what she was supposed to call home for the next few weeks. A small part of her was actually glad that she had a place to call home after so many years.

"Mitsukai?"

Mitsukai snapped out of her thoughts and looked up to see Sakura peeking around the corner at her. "Yes?"

"You can come if you want to. That way we can give you a...tour and show you some important places along the way. Who knows? Maybe you can learn a thing or two from watching us." Sakura smiled. It pleased Sakura to know that Sasuke had no interest in the homely girl. She hoped that they could be friends.

Mitsukai looked around her apartment once more and sighed. What else was there to do? She stood and followed Sakura out the door, locking it behind her.

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"This is Main Street. You'll find most of the businesses on this street." Sakura explained to a bored Mitsukai. It was like any other village...Yawn. "There's the bookstore, a barbeque shop--"

"Sakura, you can't forget Ichiraku! That place has the best ramen in the world!" Naruto's loud voice snapped Mitsukai from her daydream as they all trailed behind Kakashi as he lead the way to training grounds. When they finally got there, Mitsukai was ready to hit both Naruto and Sakura for their constant bickering about whether or not Sakura should have mentioned the ramen shop first.

"How is it that you're all late?" Sasuke asked. They looked up to find him in a tree, staring down at them with an annoyed look on his face.

"Sorry, Sasuke. We got a little carried away helping out our new friend." Kakashi pulled out an orange colored book and opened it.

Sasuke looked at Mitsukai. "Is she going to train with us too?"

For the first time, Kakashi actually thought about how fast she'd moved from the tree to Sasuke. 'She moves pretty fast for someone with no apparent ninja training...I should see what her skills are...'

"Yes, she is."

"She is?!" Naruto and Sakura's mouths hung open in shock.

"I am?" Mitsukai asked with a bit of dread in her voice.

"Yes." Kakashi answered them all.

"B-b-but she hasn't attended the Academy! She can't train with us unless she is at least a Genin, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura countered. 'If she tries to steal Sasuke, I WILL KILL HER!' Inner Sakura spat fire.

Kakashi looked at Mitsukai. "How old are you?"

A puzzled look shown in her eyes as she thought about it...She didn't know for sure. She was often told that she looked a certain age but unfortunately couldn't remember her own birthday.

"It's alright, Mitsukai. You're about the same height as the others so we'll assume that you're their ages. As for her rank, Sakura, if I'm not mistaken that's usually determined by the Jounin appointed to each team. The Academy only gets you ready for the test the Jounin gives to determine if you're ready. With that said, I will decide if she's ready."

"And how will you do that?" Sasuke folded his arms, unhappy that this may prolong the training.

"The same way I tested you three," He pulled a single silver bell out of his pocket. "The bell test."

Their eyes popped open and mouths hung in utter shock. That test had taken them hours to complete! Mitsukai tilted her head to the side in interest.

"How will that test me?" She asked.

"Simple. You have to take it from me...but it won't be as easy as you think it would be." Kakashi held up the small silver bell then tied it to his waist and pulled out his book. "You three take a seat and watch."

"This is so stupid." Sasuke muttered going back to his spot in the tree. Naruto sat on the ground while Sakura chose to lean on Sasuke's tree."

Mitsukai, in order to get the bell, you'd have to act as if you want to kill me. I will not hold back and go easy on you." Kakashi looked down at his book and started to read. Mitsukai was slightly interested with his words.

'Kill?' A side of her was awakened as she studied him carefully. It had been too long since her mind was actually challenged like this...Maybe she would stay longer than she planned.

For the longest she just stood and stared at him, taking no fighting stance but instead assessing the situation...as someone whom she couldn't remember had taught her. There were only two things that came to her like second nature, fighting and jutsu. Her training had been drilled into her head to the point where she was always on guard, even in her sleep. She didn't know if he would remain defensive or switch to offensive. So she did what she knew best: she charged.

"Hey! I tried that!" Naruto pointed with a smile. It was nice to know that others thought the way he did.

Kakashi watched as the silver blur rushed towards him. She moved so fast he had to almost squint to make out her face. He dodged her punch, grabbed her arm, kicked her in the chest and watched her roll across the ground. "You should never just charge at your opponent, Mitsukai, it's--" He stopped when she disappeared.

They all looked around, trying to find her. Mitsukai hid in the bushes as she processed the information she'd just gotten. 'He could barely see me, so I know that my speed is his weakness. He will get offensive if I get to close to that stupid bell. So I'll have to use my speed to distract him long enough to get close...'

She smiled to herself and stood. She walked slowly to Kakashi and stood about forty feet away from him. She held up her hands and did the hand signs goat, pig, ox, dog, and snake. Kakashi sighed and put his book away as she created four clones of herself. "I guess I should pay attention to you then. I forget I don't know what you're capable of." He lifted his headband and uncovered his left eye. Mitsukai stared at it.

"Exactly how many of you have those eyes?" She asked.

Kakashi paused upon hearing this question because it gave the indication that she'd seen it before she met them. Before he could ask more about this, the clones took their places around him, making an invisible five point star. They then each turned and ran in a counter-clockwise circle around him, picking up speed with every complete circle. Kakashi tried to locate the real Mitsukai but because of the speed of the clones, it was harder than usual. Soon, in his eye, there was only a blur of blue chakra surrounding him. [AN: Remember, in the eyes of a Sharingan user, shadow clones appear as blue masses of chakra with the outline of a human.] As if her speed and the light it created weren't enough, her movements created a strong wind that nearly immobilized him; it was too strong to move against. He felt a slight tug at his hip. The light faded and the wind instantly died down. He looked down and found that the bell was gone.

Mitsukai gave the bell to Naruto and jumped up into Sasuke's tree, claiming a branch on the opposite side of him. All of their mouths hung open.

"Did...you...see...THAT?! THAT WAS SO AWESOME!" Naruto smiled broadly looking at the bell in his hand. Sakura thought about how she had acted during their bell test and her shoulders slumped. Sasuke was outraged. If he had have been able to take the test by himself, he would have gotten the bell a lot faster.

[ItachiRockstar]

||Chapter Two: A New Hidden Leaf Ninja||

Mitsukai woke up the next day sore from the previous day of training. She never complained until she tried to get out of bed...

"Oww..." She moaned as she tried to move her arms. After several minutes of trying to get up, she gave up and just laid in the bed. She was on her way back to sleep when she heard loud banging on the door.

"HEY, MITSUKAI, ARE YOU UP YET? COME ON, WE HAVE A WHOLE 'NOTHER DAY OF TRAINING TO DO! YOU HAVE TO SHOW ME HOW TO MOVE THAT FAST!" Naruto yelled through the door, banging on it relentlessly. She groaned and rolled over again.

"Naruto, please go away." She mumbled. Of course, he didn't hear this nor did he go away. It took her nearly fifteen minutes to get out of bed, shower, and get dressed. When she finally opened the door, she wasn't a very pleasant person...

"Well, it's about time you got up. Do you know how long I've been out here?"

"Precisely eighteen minutes and twenty-seven seconds." Mitsukai locked the door behind her and followed an all too hyper Naruto. Naruto talked every single second until they met up with Sasuke and Sakura.

"Hey guys! Either of you seen Kakashi-sensei, yet?" Naruto asked.

"No." Sakura shook her head. Sasuke didn't even bother to answer.

"Ya know, we all probably could have stayed in bed and he still wouldn't have shown up on time." Naruto scratched his head with a thoughtful look. Up until this point, Mitsukai had been practically sleepwalking because her eyes were millimeters away from being closed and she was dangerously close to falling asleep. Her eyes shot open and she grabbed Naruto by the collar.

"You mean to tell me that you woke me up early for nothing?!" Her eyes were slightly red and her sleepy voice only made it seem worse.

"I-I'm sorry Mitsukai, it's just that I was so excited about training with you that I kinda got carried away..." He rubbed the back of his head and gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

Mitsukai may have hit him at that moment if Kakashi hadn't have shown up and pried her fingers off of him. "Easy now, Mitsukai. I'm here now."

She let go and folded her arms across her chest, extremely pissed.

"How about I buy you some coffee, eh Mitsukai? That's sure to wake you up." Naruto gave a mile wide smile but Mitsukai ignored him, scratching her head and looking up at the sky. "Mitsukai, did you hear me? What do you say?"

She scratched her head and frowned. "I really must be hearing things."

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On their way to the training field, they ran into a tall man with white hair and red markings on his face. Mitsukai studied him as he talked to Kakashi, and concluded that Konoha was filled with strange people. The man suddenly turned his attention to her and bent down a bit to look her in the eye.

"So you must be Mitsukai. I've heard a lot about you and your amazing abilities as a ninja." He stuck out his hand for her to shake and she eyed it for a moment, and then touched it gingerly, placing her hand in his grasp. "My name's Jiraya."

Mitsukai stared at Jiraya, and he stared at her. When he finally let go, he stood and looked at Kakashi. "You and I will have a little chat about her and Naruto later. There's something you'll need to know if you plan to keep those two on your team."

"Okay then." Kakashi nodded slightly then turned to his team. "Let's go."They followed in silence as Jiraya disappeared and Kakashi led the way to the training grounds. Naruto fell in step beside Mitsukai and whispered to her, "I wonder what the Pervey Sage has to talk to Kakashi-sensei about, don't you?"

Mitsukai, who was still a bit peeved about the early wake up call, continued to ignore him by pretending she was hearing things. This time she dug a finger into her ear and pretended to pull earwax out and flick it on Naruto.

"HEY!" Naruto dusted himself off. "Why aren't you answering me?"

Mitsukai proceeded to "clean" out her other ear.

"I know you can hear me." Naruto waited but she didn't give the indication that she was listening. This ticked him off because it reminded him of the cocky Sasuke who was apparently enjoying Naruto's frustration with the girl. "HEY, COULD YOU AT LEAST LOOK AT ME AND LET ME KNOW THAT YOU EVEN HEAR ME?!"

By then they had reached the field and Mitsukai was now studying her nails and the (lack of) dirt underneath them.

"HEY IF YOU DON'T STOP IGNORING ME AND TALK TO ME, MITSUKAI! I'M TALKING TO YOU! QUIT PRETENDING YOU DON'T HEAR ME! THERE'S NOTHING IN YOUR EARS, OR ANYTHING UNDER YOUR NAILS, OR IN YOUR HAIR, OR IN YOUR EYES. THERE'S NO IMAGINARY BUG BUZZING AROUND YOU---I'M OVER HERE!!!!!"

Poor Naruto was almost at pass out point from screaming and getting himself worked up. Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura watched this one-sided exchange with amusement--very few people could get under Naruto's skin without even making an effort. In fact, Sasuke was the only one. As Sasuke watched Mitsukai, he began to accept her as a potential teammate. She fit in with them almost perfectly and she was skilled. Of course, he resented her for being much more talented than he when he had something important he needed to do and therefore needed the skills and talents she possessed. She, on the other hand, had no real use for them. He had spent the previous evening studying her and memorizing her jutsus unconsciously with his Sharingan (he needed it to keep up with her movements) just in case Kakashi ever thought it would be fun to watch them train against each other. He realized that, like Naruto, if she stayed with the team, she would be another competitor for him to measure himself against. Someone to compare his growth to so that one day, he would be able to kill his brother. Besides...she had passed the bell test within twenty minutes and was currently making Naruto angrier than he himself had in a whole week.

Sasuke let out an annoyed sigh, "Naruto, save your breath. She's too stuck up to want to talk to you."

This stopped everyone and effectively angered Mitsukai. She tilted her head to the side in surprise. "'Stuck up'?"

Naruto completely forgot that he was angry at Mitsukai. "Ya know, Sasuke, just because you actually talk to people doesn't mean that you're still not stuck up."

Before Kakashi could step in, everyone had jumped in and began screaming their heads off. Mitsukai covered her ears and jumped up into a tree, found a wide branch, and fell asleep.
Sasuke saw this and immediately walked away and found his own tree to lean up against while Naruto and Sakura continued to battle it out. Sasuke looked up at Mitsukai and scoffed.

"Dwarf." He mumbled.

Mitsukai sat up and looked down at him. "Sauce-gay."

For the first time in a few months, Sasuke actually got angry enough to want to hit a girl. She had insulted him in a way that Naruto had never dared to touch. "Gay?"

"You can't hear, Sauce-gay?" She sneered then put her head back down. Sasuke pulled a kunai and turned, ready to jump onto her branch when he felt a hand grab his wrist and the kunai was snatched from him.

"Sasuke, you know better than to pull a weapon on your own teammate." Kakashi scolded. He turned to the now quiet Naruto and Sakura. "You all really need to work on your attitudes. Now pair up for training."

No one moved. Kakashi looked around and sighed.

"Fine. Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto and Mitsukai." He looked up at her. "Come down here and face your partner."

Mitsukai opened one eye and, by the way her shoulders moved, it seemed as if she was sighing. She jumped down and stood in front of Naruto. She rolled her eyes when she remembered that it was Naruto who had started it all.

"Okay, everyone is going to practice taijutsu. The girls need it more than anything else." Kakashi sat down and pulled out his Make Out Paradise book. The boys nodded and got in their fighting stances. Sakura freaked out not wanting to fight Sasuke while Mitsukai spotted a spider in the grass and picked it up. It was a daddy long-legs, crawling slowly over the palm of her hand. Mitsukai had been around plenty of boys so she knew that they would like it, however, she hadn't spent a lot of time with girls to know exactly how girls act...

"Hey, Sakura. Look what I found." Mitsukai shoved her hand in Sakura's face and opened it.

"EEEEEEK!" Sakura screamed and ran in the opposite direction. Mitsukai watched her run away, utterly confused by her reaction. Naruto fell into the grass laughing while Sasuke simply shook his head. Kakashi put his face in his hands and mumbled something to himself before standing.

"Fine. Naruto and Mitsukai, start training. Sasuke, come with me." Kakashi said before he and Sasuke took off running. Standing alone with Naruto, Mitsukai felt this strange energy pulse through her. Naruto looked at Mitsukai and had the same feeling. Both of their inner demons could sense the other's presence and it was only because a long time ago, Kyuubi and Houkou had fought each other, and therefore knew the other's chakra well.

"Well, let's get started." Naruto said before throwing a punch that Mitsukai dodged. "Oh come on, Mitsukai. You're supposed to fight back!"

"Why? It takes less energy to simply avoid you. I can wait until you tire yourself out then attack with a Genjutsu." Mitsukai explained, unconsciously repeating the words of her former sensei.

"But one day, you'll have no choice but to use taijutsu." Naruto grunted as his kicked missed her. Mitsukai continued to dodge him, jumping from place to place using her speed to her advantage.

"No, I won't. Besides, isn't my speed technically considered taijutsu?"

"No." Kakashi answered. "And that's because you use your chakra to help you move."

Her eyes narrowed. So he thought he had her figured out? She ignored Naruto for the time being and moved towards Kakashi. In the blink of an eye, it seemed as if she merely teleported over to him instead of running like she really did. When she chose not to use her chakra, she was practically undetectable.

Kakashi only nodded. "I see. When done without the aid of your chakra, it is considered taijutsu."

Sasuke and Sakura glowered, both consumed with silent rage. Mitsukai went back to Naruto and resumed "training", still choosing to dodge his attacks. Sasuke and Sakura began to train as well.

At the end of the day, everyone was tired and hungry.

"Alright, alright." Kakashi told the cranky group. "You can go home now. But first," He reached into his pocket and pulled out a headband with the Hidden Leaf village plate on it. "Here, Mitsukai. I talked to Jiraya about you yesterday and he believes it's best that you were made a citizen and ninja of Konoha."

Mitsukai only looked at it. "Why?"

"He knows that you officially don't belong to a village, and that you had a rough past. It's best that you stay here with us."

Mitsukai felt strange upon hearing his words. No one had ever extended an invitation like this to her. "Why would he care if I belonged to a village or not?"

Kakashi just looked at her. Unfortunately, Jiraya had the answers for all the questions the girl had. "You'd have to ask him that yourself."

"Just take it. You can't say that you don't like it here." Naruto nudged her forward. Mitsukai smiled behind her mask. It was true. She felt at home in the Hidden Leaf village. Granted it would take a while for her to become completely on comfortable, to completely be relaxed instead of constantly on guard, but she knew that as long as she tried, it would happen.

"I'll take it under one condition." Mitsukai looked up at Kakashi.

"Yes?" He tilted his head to the side.

"I want to talk to...Master Jiraya tomorrow. He says he knows about my past...I need to know what happened to me...I can't remember." She whispered. Everyone looked at her. Kakashi simply nodded.

He decided to take a chance and reached out to pat her head, gently ruffling her hair. "Consider it done."

Mitsukai nodded. "Thank you...Kakashi-sensei."

Naruto and Sakura's eyes widened with love. "Aw!" They threw themselves at Mitsukai and hugged her. Mitsukai's eye twitched from the sudden invasion of her space. 'You can do this. Just relax...' Sasuke watched her with interest as she held her composure with awe. The last time they tried to hug him, he'd spent the rest of the day avoiding them all.

---------------------------

As agreed, Kakashi took Mitsukai to see Jiraya. Along the way, Mitsukai stared at her headband trying to figure out how she wanted to put it on.

"It doesn't matter where you put it on, as long as it's clearly visible." He seemed to be reading her mind. She looked at him then back at the headband. Finally, she settled on tying it on her head. It rested on her forehead but was nearly hidden by her bangs. Kakashi looked down at her and smiled. "That's a great place to put it."

Mitsukai didn't say anything but did roll her eyes. Sometimes it seemed that Kakashi was being overly sarcastic. They came to a little bridge that crossed a small stream in the village. The tall white-haired man was leaned against the rail with his arms folded across his chest. "Kakashi, you still know nothing of being on time, do you?"

"Oh, well, you know--"

Jiraya held up his hand. "Save it. I need to speak to you about something." He looked down at Mitsukai. "Hello, Mitsukai."

"Hi." Mitsukai side-stepped behind Kakashi a bit. There was something about the man that creeped her out a bit.

"Don't tell me you're shy." Jiraya chuckled. Mitsukai shook her head and returned to her spot beside Kakashi, standing up a little straighter. "So I hear that you'd only take the invitation and headband if I talked to you."

"You said that you know about my past." Mitsukai looked down. "I wanted to know if you would tell me what happened."

"Why would you need me to tell you?" Jiraya looked at her questioningly.

Mitsukai took a deep breath. "As far as I know, my life begins with me waking up in a field of flowers somewhere in Grass Country." She slowly brought her eyes back up to Jiraya. "For whatever reason, I felt so happy and free, as if a burden had been lifted from my shoulders. I can't remember anything before that."

"Hm." Jiraya closed his eyes. 'She doesn't remember being with the Akatsuki...yet she still retained her training. She's in as much danger as Naruto's in.' "Well, I know that it would be more dangerous to tell you instead of letting you remember on your own."

"What?" Mitsukai stared blankly. "You won't tell me?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. It would better for your mind to heal itself as it's been doing all of this time."

"What do you mean? My mind's been healing itself?" Mitsukai was beyond confused.

"I can tell you that five years ago you weren't speaking at all. In fact, you were devoid of all emotion. Completely mute. In my opinion, you've come a long way...and you still have quite a way to go." Jiraya opened his eyes and looked at her. "I know this isn't exactly what you wanted to hear, but at this time it's best that you don't know more than you already know."

"How can knowing more about who I am possibly harm me?" Mitsukai was getting frustrated.

He sighed then turned to her, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking directly into her eyes. "Unfortunately, someone made a mistake that greatly affected you. By rights, you belong to an organization that has intents that I won't share with you right now. Look, kid. If you ever gain your memories back, then you'll know what I mean when I say it's dangerous for you to know. Right now, you're safe from these people because you don't know anything. I know I'm not making any sense but you just have to trust me and stay here in Konoha."

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. "You can say that again. I'm lost and I started out knowing more than she did."

Mitsukai stared at the ground. 'An organization...' A fuzzy image began to reveal itself in her mind. Jiraya began talking to Kakashi, ignoring the look on Mitsukai's face. The image kept becoming clearer with silence but would get fuzzy again whenever one of them spoke. She put her hands over her ears to block out the sound and clamped her eyes shut to concentrate.

"Take her. She's all yours." A deep voice said.

Mitsukai felt herself falling towards the boy. In a blur of black and red, her fall immediately stopped. She looked up to see the blonde boy holding her by her shoulders, keeping her from falling.

"Watch it, Little One." He smiled. His sea green eye looked at her warmly and Mitsukai felt her cheeks grow hot with embarrassment.

"...black and red..." Mitsukai whispered.

Jiraya and Kakashi continued to talk."...black cloaks...red clouds...organization..." Mitsukai whispered louder, trying to drown out her voices. It hurt to remember but the memory was right there. The name...what was the name?

They finally noticed Mitsukai beginning to hunch over holding her head as she tried to force her mind to remember the name. Kakashi put his hand on her shoulder. "Mitsukai, what's wrong?"

"Black cloaks...red clouds...I-I can't remember the name of the organization." She panted as tears came to her eyes.

Jiraya's eyes widened then narrowed. 'I can see this was a mistake. I may have jump started her memory.'

He knelt down in front of her and tilted her head back up by her chin with his finger. "Mitsukai, easy. Don't force it."

She ignored him as the word flashed into her mind.

"They went by the name Boshoku..." She muttered before passing out. She fell back into Kakashi's arms.

"Well?" Kakashi looked up at Jiraya.

"Like I said, you and I need to talk. You now have two students that could be in danger if we don't be careful." He looked at Mitsukai. "Take her home first then come back and we'll talk."
Kakashi nodded then disappeared.

---------------------------

The next day Kakashi made them train some more. This time he put Sakura and Naruto up against each other and told Mitsukai and Sasuke watch."Why are we always fighting each other?" Mitsukai asked.

"To help us in battle. You never know when the enemy will take on the form of a teammate so you need to learn their movements and become familiar with their chakra so you'll be able to effectively fight and keep from attacking your ally." Sasuke explained with his eyes closed.

"If that's the case, then why aren't you watching?"

"We do this all the time...and besides, all they ever do is get in my way. It's difficult to not know whether or not it's the real person."

Mitsukai looked at him then out at Naruto and Sakura. "Hm. And all you do is get in their way." Sasuke looked at her, outraged. "It's called teamwork, stupid."

"What would you know about teamwork? If I'm not mistaken, this is the first team you've ever been on...and you've only been here for four days." He sneered then looked Naruto and Sakura.
Mitsukai looked down at her feet for a few seconds then over at him. "That's true...So I'll just make my own definition of teamwork based on what I've seen with you three." She smirked and watched as Sakura tripped Naruto and he slid across the ground. "Teamwork with team seven means being so arrogant about being better than each other...with the exception of Sakura sometimes...that one person rushes out into battle determined to prove that they can handle the situation. Of course, they never can, and in the end, the other two have to step in to try to help that one person out. Even then, Kakashi-sensei has to come save the day. Teamwork means getting in each other's way then helping each other get out of the way." She hugged her knees. "It's amazing how well it works."

Sasuke thought about they had acted during the bell test, during their battles with Zabuza and Haku...especially during the Chuunin Exams. Although she had not been there during those times, and was only basing this off of four days of being around them nearly all day, she was right. In the end, they had always been there to help and save each other...even putting their life on the line for one another despite how much they argued. Sasuke looked at his teammates and froze. He honestly saw them as teammates. He, on several occasions, had shown that he cared about their well-being, doing everything in his power to protect them.

Kakashi ended Naruto and Sakura's fight and called Mitsukai and Sasuke out.

"Go, Mitsy!" Naruto yelled rooting for her, causing Sakura to root for Sasuke.

Both Mitsukai and Sasuke looked back at them in disbelief.

"Did he just call you 'Mitsy'?" Sasuke frowned. She shrugged and took her fighting stance. Sasuke was the only one that Mitsukai liked to train with because he used logic. If she refused to make the first move, he would actually stand there for nearly an hour and wait for her to attack. Kakashi often had to assign someone to be offensive. Also, she recognized that Sasuke was as skilled as she was and every time they trained together, she noticed that he had improved.

"Mitsukai, offensive." Kakashi turned a page in his book. She nodded and held up her hands to make the tiger sign. Thirty minutes later, Kakashi stopped the battle (they were getting dangerously close to torching the environment) and sent out Sakura to train with Mitsukai.

"No." Mitsukai shook her head.

"Huh?" They looked at her.

"I refuse to train with her. It's unfair to fight someone when you have more than one major advantage. Naruto's just gotten to the point where he can try to keep up with my movements. Let her train with Sasuke." Mitsukai jumped up into a tree and sat down. Kakashi didn't bother to argue; he just waved Sasuke back onto the field.

---------------------------

The next day Kakashi let the team take a break from training while he finished his book. The team met up at the ramen shop for lunch.

"So what are we gonna do today?" Naruto asked, stuffing his face with food.

"I don't know but I'm bored." Sasuke played in his food.

"We could go try new jutsus." Sakura offered. She looked at Sasuke and blushed. "Or whatever Sasuke wants to do."

Mitsukai gagged then coughed making them looked at her. "I'm fine." She waved away their concerned looks.

"Hey! I know!" Naruto stood suddenly. "How about we take Kakashi-sensei's book before he gets to the end?" He smiled wickedly.

"Naruto, that is so stu--"

"I'm in. It's so boring around here." Sasuke laid his chopsticks next to his bowl.

"Me, too." Sakura smiled. Everyone looked down at Mitsukai. She put her chopsticks down as well.

"When did you eat your food?!" Naruto yelled. "I've been watching you this whole time! I wanted to see you take your mask off."

Mitsukai looked at him like he had suddenly grown another head. "Then why didn't you just ask?"

He blinked several times then rubbed the back of his head with a sigh. "I dunno. I figured you'd say no."

Mitsukai turned around and hopped off of the stool, leaving her money on the counter. "I'm in." She started to walk away but stopped and looked at Naruto over her shoulder. "Oh, and you were right figuring that out."

"Aw, come on!" Naruto whined and they all got up to go find Kakashi.

[ItachiRockstar]

---------------------------

They spotted him walking down Main Street, reading and walking with groceries in his arm.

"Okay, are you ready?" Sakura whispered as they watched him while peeking out from behind a building.

"If this actually works, I'm going to ask if I can get put with a different team." Sasuke mumbled. He walked up to Kakashi and started asking questions about Mitsukai that Kakashi had to stop and think about. Sasuke waited for the perfect opportunity. Kakashi made the mistake of closing his eyes and Sasuke made the grab.

"Hey! Give that back! I only have three pages left!" Kakashi called after him still holding his groceries. Sasuke ran and handed the book off to Naruto. They all ran for it. Kakashi was still holding his groceries when he managed to catch up to Naruto. Naruto threw the book and Sakura caught it and ran for her life. Fire lit in Kakashi's visible eye as he tossed the groceries to the side and charged. They turned a corner and Sakura screamed when Kakashi was already standing there.

"Mitsy, grab the book!" Naruto yelled and Mitsukai snatched the book from Sakura. "Go, go, go! Just go!"

Mitsukai nodded and added a little chakra to her step and sped off.

"No!" Kakashi dropped Sakura and ran after the silver haired girl. Mitsukai looked behind her and smirked. 'Ha ha...he'll never catch--'

Mitsukai ran into something so hard she fell onto her back. Kakashi stood over her. "H-how?"

"Give me the book..." He said it menacingly then dropped to his knees and put his hands together. "Please?! I'm right at the end! Please, I beg you!"

The rest of the team caught up and they all witnessed as their sensei was ready to cry his eyes out over a book. They were so stunned by this that they didn't argue. Mitsukai handed the book to Kakashi and he kissed the cover over the book and hugged it, lost in his bliss.

"So, Kakashi, where's your team?"

They looked up to see Asuma walking next to Kakashi who was holding a bag of groceries in one hand and his book in the other. Their eyes slowly looked back at the Kakashi in front of him and he waved then disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"A CLONE?!!!" Naruto screamed, eyes as big as tea cup saucers.

"All of that hard work...for nothing." Sakura whined through her chibi tears.

Sasuke covered his eyes and shook his head. "How did we not see that coming?"

Mitsukai looked around at her teammates then their sensei and did the only thing she could think of to do...For the first time ever, she laughed.

"Ha ha ha ha!" She slapped her knee as she leaned over, laughing hard.

The other three looked at each other with big eyes then Naruto and Sakura latched onto Sasuke in fear. Sasuke's eyes bugged out with renewed annoyance. "Please let go of me."

"A-are you okay, Mitsy?" Naruto approached her cautiously. She stood and nodded wiping away tears.

"Yes." She turned and began to walk away. "I'm going to go lie down...and laugh some more."
She disappeared, leaving her teammates to worry about her mental health.

---------------------------

The leader looked at the members of the Akatsuki. "It's time that we moved on with my plan and began finding the tailed demons. Hidan and Kazuku, you two are responsible for finding Nekomata. Sasori and Deidara, Shukaku...Itachi and Kisame, I've been trying to decide which Bijuu to send you two after."

"May I make a suggestion?" Itachi interjected. The leader only looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "Kisame and I could go after the Kyuubi. It's no secret that the Hidden Leaf village would be glad to be rid of him."

"...Fine. Itachi and Kisame, the Kyuubi." He dismissed them all. Itachi and Kisame headed for Konoha. After an hour of walking in silence, Kisame spoke up.

"Why did you volunteer for Kyuubi? He's the strongest of all of the Bijuu. Logically speaking, he'll be the hardest to catch and it would probably take all of us to catch him."

Itachi didn't say anything as he adjusted his straw hat, the bells chiming gently in the wind.

"You hardly talk. The least you could do is let me know what's going on." Kisame complained gruffly. Even though Itachi was the youngest (and shortest) member of the Akatsuki, everyone respected him for his talents.

After nearly an hour, Itachi spoke. "The Kyuubi would be the greatest challenge...and besides, there's someone I hope to see in Konoha. It's been four years."

Kisame nodded satisfied that Itachi had said anything at all, yet wondered who Itachi would want to see.

[ItachiRockstar]

||Chapter Three: Return of the Akatsuki||

The journey to Konoha was a very silent one. At first it had bothered Kisame that his partner refused to talk unless it was useful to him in some way, but over the years, he got used to the silence. He had grown accustomed to walking in silence, thinking about their current mission or amusing himself by recalling various arguments between Deidara and Sasori over the true definition of art. Didn't they realize that art was like beauty? Its true definition depended on the person defining it. He adjusted his sword and continued walking alongside his shorter, more stoic partner.

Itachi had gathered enough information from an attendant in the previous town to know that the jinchuuriki had headed back to the Hidden Leaf village in the company of an older male. He also knew that his little brother was still there also. He thought of every possible outcome that would result should Sasuke find out that he was back in town. 'Of course, he will want to fight me...but four years isn't enough time to become strong enough.' He smirked behind the collar of his cloak. 'I'll remind him of that. Maybe even repeat the brief beating I gave him the last time I saw him.'

They finally reached the gates of Konoha with a light mist surrounding them. The guard there stepped forward preparing to stop them and ask questions, but Itachi looked at the man and he fell back, asleep. They both continued on into the village.

"Really. You'd think a village that had just been attacked would be a bit more secure." Kisame chuckled. This didn't get a response from Itachi.

----------------------------------------

*Three hours later*

Sasuke wandered around the village looking for Kakashi. They were supposed to meet up to talk about something. It had been two hours since he had last seen the Jounin and even for Kakashi, that was abnormal. He resolved to just go by the man's apartment to see if he had gone there to read his stupid book. Sasuke scoffed as he turned and headed in that direction. He wouldn't put it past him to do such a thing.

----------------------------------------

*In Kakashi's apartment*

Might Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai surrounded an unconscious Kakashi. Although they hid it well, Gai could tell that Asuma and Kurenai were slightly fatigued from their brief encounter with the Akatsuki members. Gai stared at Kakashi, thinking.

"Based on how they're acting, they haven't found Naruto yet." He murmured to no one in particular. He shifted a bit to get comfortable in his chair as Asuma stood on his right and Kurenai stood near the door close to his left. They all faced Kakashi, a hint of worry visible in each of their expressions.

Asuma nodded, acknowledging Gai's observation. "About that, isn't something funny? They were already in the village. It's easy to find Naruto in this village." He shifted and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He stuck one in his mouth, holding it between his lips, then returned the pack to its place in his vest. "Itachi already knows Naruto's face."

"Ssh." Gai held a finger up to his lips as the door opened and Sasuke appeared in the doorway.
Sasuke surveyed the scene with interest before he spoke, "Kakashi...why's Kakashi sleep? And why are Jounins gathered here? What happened?"

Gai closed his eyes and folded his arms over his chest, "Nothing much happened."

Sasuke didn't buy this in the least bit. He was about to open his mouth to tell the green frog man this much when someone appeared in the doorway behind him, out of breath. "Is it true that the Itachi Uchiha came back? And he's after Naruto?" Sasuke turned around and looked at the man, not really seeing his face as his words took time to register in his head. Gai sighed and his head dropped, having a good idea as to what would happen next.

Kurenai covered her forehead with one hand. "Idiot."
'Itachi...here in Konoha?...What would he want with Naruto?' Sasuke felt something within him unlock as he stared, looking at nothing in particular. The hatred that he had kept bottled in for so long came spewing out, coating his skin and making it tingle. He felt himself grit his teeth hard and ball his fists up so tightly. 'No...I won't let him harm anyone else I care about.' Sasuke pushed past the man and ran back down the stairs.

Gai stood up slowly. "And why did things turn out like this?" He asked sarcastically, sending an accusing glance towards Ebisu.

"What? Did I say the wrong thing?" The man asked, utterly confused.

----------------------------------------

Sasuke dashed through the village determined to find Naruto before his brother did. 'I have to find Naruto before he does or else...I won't let him hurt Naruto...I'll kill him this time...' His first thought was to check Naruto's apartment. There he ran into Sakura and Mitsukai who were leaving food for him.

"Where's Naruto?!" Sasuke demanded making both girls pause at his tone.

"I-I don't know. He's not here." Sakura stuttered. Sasuke promptly jumped and disappeared. "What was that all about?"

"I don't know...but I'll find out." Mitsukai muttered and ran after Sasuke. Sasuke noticed that he was being followed by his teammate but didn't care. He was on a mission. He stopped by Naruto's favorite ramen shop and asked if they had seen Naruto. The owner smiled.

"Yes, he just left here not too long ago with some old man with white hair. They were talking about leaving."

"Did they say where?" Sasuke pressed.

"My guess is the nearest town." The man shrugged. Sasuke turned and ran; Mitsukai close on his heels. She'd never seen this expression on his face. He was truly concerned.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?" Mitsukai ran alongside Sasuke. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye for a second.

"Naruto's in trouble. I have to find him before something bad happens." He closed his eyes for a second then opened them, "He's in danger, Mitsukai."

Mitsukai's eyes widened. "Danger?"

Sasuke didn't say anything else opting to instead keep running. Once they reached the small town outside of Konoha, Sasuke came to a complete stop. "Mitsukai, we'll have to split up to cover more ground. Do you remember what Jiraya looks like?"

Mitsukai nodded.

"If you find Naruto first, guard him with your life. Do you understand?"

Again, Mitsukai nodded. Sasuke immediately turned and ran to the left leaving Mitsukai to keep going forward. 'I wonder what's going on. I've never seen Sasuke act this way before. He actually cares about Naruto and obviously wants to protect him...Then I must do the same.'

----------------------------------------

Naruto heard a faint knock on the hotel room door. Hopefully room service had brought the extra pillows he requested so that he and his clones could have a proper pillow fight. After all, Jiraya had ditched him for some girl.

He swung the door open and froze...Two men wearing black cloaks with red clouds stood just outside the door. One of them was extremely taller than the other and resembled a shark; his skin was even blue. These guys weren't with room service.

The blue man studied Naruto carefully then grunted. "It's hard to believe that a child carries the Nine Tailed Fox."

Naruto's eyes widened with surprise. 'How does he know about the Nine Tailed Fox?'

The shorter raven haired man looked down at Naruto with red eyes...that vaguely reminded him of someone. "Naruto, you're coming with us."

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Sasuke dashed from hotel to hotel, restaurant to restaurant, becoming more anxious with each step. He asked every owner or attendant if they had seen a tall white haired man and a loud blonde obnoxious boy about his age. They all shook their heads no. He hoped that Mitsukai was having better luck than he was at the moment."It's him...he's here." Sasuke muttered to himself, definitely sensing his brother nearby.

~Flashback~
Sasuke went into the kitchen where his mother was preparing his lunch to take with him to school. He went to his usual spot and sat down adjacent to his father, who was silently drinking his morning coffee. Sasuke looked at him, recalling that Fugaku had told him a little over a week ago to stop following his older brother around. As a result, Itachi became distant.

"Father," Sasuke found a spot on the table to stare at while he continued to speak, "Brother never wants to watch over me anymore...why is that?"

The man sighed and sat up a little straighter. "Itachi has always been a little strange. He has a hard time dropping his guard around other people and letting them in."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke finally brought his eyes up to his father.

"I have a hard time reading him...and I'm the boy's father."
Sasuke stared at him. 'Is that his way of saying he doesn't know?' Mikoto handed Sasuke his lunchbox. He corrected her telling her that he would be training late that day then dashed out the door...not knowing that that would be the last time he'd see his family alive.
~End

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Mitsukai jumped from roof top to roof top, searching the crowded streets below her. 'How hard can it be to find a huge old white haired fart? It isn't like he--' She stopped so abruptly that she nearly lost her balance and would have fallen off the building. Jiraya was standing next to a beautiful raven haired woman who clung to him, as forced smile plastered across her face. Mitsukai felt strange looking at her; she'd never seen a woman happy and in Jiraya's company. In fact, she'd never seen a woman with Jiraya at all...

She jumped down and tapped Jiraya on his arm. He stopped chuckling and turned to see who had interrupted his blissful moment. "Oh, Mitsukai? What are you doing here? Never mind that, can you just come back a little later?" He then turned her around and gently pushed her away.

"But--"

"No 'buts'. Can't you see I'm with someone? It's rude to talk while grown-ups are talking." He waved a finger at her.

Mitsukai looked at him strangely. "She looks like she's my age...Now I see why Naruto calls you Pervey Sage."

Jiraya's eyes shot open and his hand covered her mouth then dragged her away from his "friend". He held her by her shoulders. His voice was a lethal whisper, "I swear you had better want something worth my time, kid! She's hot! And young! Don't ruin this for me!"

"Sasuke says Naruto's in danger. I was supposed to find you two and let you know...where's Naruto?" Mitsukai looked around. The smells from the surrounding restaurants threw off her chances of picking up any foreign scents. However, one particular scent that she couldn't identify yet somehow just knew lingered on Jiraya's company. Mitsukai stared at the girl and noticed a slight haze in front of the girl's eyes. 'A Genjutsu!'

"What do you mean he's in danger? I left him back at the hotel room--" Mitsukai ignored him as she went around him. She held up her index and middle finger to make the tiger sign then poked the girl in the arm.

"Release!" She said and instantly the girl's eyes closed as she began to fall unconscious. Jiraya caught her and looked up at Mitsukai, eyes watering up.

"What did you do that for?" He pouted. If Mitsukai hadn't been wearing her mask, he would have been able to see the fully disturbed look on her face.

"Did you cast that jutsu on her?" She asked pointedly.

"Wha-what?! No! Jiraya the toad sage doesn't need to force the women to want to be around him. They come--"

Mitsukai waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you didn't, then who did?"

Jiraya paused as it dawned on him what Mitsukai was getting at. He put the girl over his shoulder and stood. "You said that Naruto's in danger. I assume that someone's after him?"

"Sasuke didn't say...Master Jiraya, I've never seen him look so concerned before. What's going on?" She asked.

Jiraya was silent for a moment then turned. "I'll have to tell you along the way. Right now, every second is vital."

Mitsukai watched in awe as the man leapt up onto the roof of the building parallel to the one they were in. 'He moves pretty good for an old man.'

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Naruto stared at Itachi and Kisame, fear paralyzing him.

"Let's go outside." Itachi suggested taking a step back.

Naruto felt himself moving with him, stepping out into the hallway. 'These guys aren't just chumps.'

Kisame studied Naruto. "Hm...Itachi, it would be annoying if he moved around. Perhaps we should cut off a leg or two."

Naruto gasped, shocked. "W-what did he say?"

Normally if Itachi disagreed with Kisame he would say something. However, Itachi didn't say anything. Kisame's lips formed an evil smirk as he took a step forward, hand on the handle of his Sharkskin. "Then I shall."

"It's been a long time." A familiar voice said from behind the men.

Itachi smirked behind the collar of his cloak. 'I was beginning to wonder how long it would take him to get here...' "Sasuke."

Sasuke stared at his brother's back. "Itachi Uchiha."

Naruto switched his gaze from Sasuke to the man in front of him. 'Itachi Uchiha? An Uchiha like Sasuke?...So that's why he looked familiar!'

Kisame turned slightly to get a better look at the boy. "The Sharingan...and he's very familiar to you. Who is he?" Kisame looked at Itachi.

Itachi was secretly pleased with how this was turning out. 'By the sound of his voice, he's finally adopted the notorious Uchiha arrogance. Well then, it won't be hard to piss him off.' "My little brother." He answered sounding bored by the question.

'His little brother? Then that explains why he wanted to come back to his former village.' Kisame looked back at Sasuke but continued to speak to Itachi. "I heard the entire Uchiha clan was killed...by you."

Sasuke noticed that even the fish man had directed his attention to Sasuke but his brother was still facing Naruto. 'The coward can't even face me!' "Itachi Uchiha! I'm going to kill you!"

Itachi swallowed the tiny chuckle that threatened to ruin his calmness. 'If only he knew how stupid that sounded. A hamster wouldn't have even been slightly afraid of that empty threat.'

Naruto looked at Itachi. He remembered when Sasuke first mentioned to Kakashi that there was a certain man that he wanted to kill and when he was holding Sasuke in his arms during the fight with Zabuza and Haku. 'This is the guy Sasuke wants to kill?'

Itachi closed his eyes and took his time turning around to face his baby brother. Sasuke saw him move and closed his eyes too, preparing to look into the eyes of a cold-blooded murderer. They opened their eyes at the same time, both revealing their Kekkei Genkai trait.

Sasuke felt rage boil his blood as he slowly lost his ability to think rationally; his rage began to take over him. "Like you said, I hated you...detested you..." Images from the night his family was murdered by the monster in front of him claiming to be his brother flashed in his mind, adding fuel to the fire that was his anger. He concentrated his chakra into his left hand as the Chidori began to form and the sound of a thousand birds reached their ears. "And just to kill you, I've...I've survived!"

"Sasuke!" Naruto gasped; this was the first time he'd gotten the chance to see Sasuke's new jutsu.

"Chidori?" Itachi asked in an "are you serious" tone although he was impressed that his brother was able to perform a jutsu that was related to their dark past.

"I'm going to kill you!" Sasuke yelled.

Itachi inwardly sighed. 'I wish he'd quit telling me what he's "going" to do and just try it already. The Sage will be back soon.'

Sasuke smashed his Chidori into the wall and charged at Itachi at a fairly fast pace. "Die!!!!" He yelled.

Itachi frowned slightly and knocked Sasuke's arm away and a brief strong wind blew the Chidori towards the wall and created a giant hole where Naruto's room had once been. Itachi quickly grabbed Sasuke's wrist. It was the first time Itachi had touched the boy since the last time he poked him in the forehead right before leaving Konoha. The chakra crackled until it died down and faded.

"What happened?" Naruto whispered to himself. "Sasuke's technique was easily avoided..." Itachi began to bend Sasuke's wrist at an odd angle, and Sasuke grunted uncomfortably. "Not good..." Naruto made the tiger sign to summon the Kyuubi's chakra. "I have to do something!"

Naruto was soon surrounded by the swirling red chakra and Kisame looked at him with interest. "His chakra is filling up the space. I see, this is the Nine Tail's chakra."

Itachi looked at the anger in his brother's eyes. Yes, there was certainly a good amount of hatred in them for him. Unfortunately, Sasuke was still attached to his emotions and the fun had to end. "Enough." Itachi barely moved his own wrist and the sound of bone snapping followed.

Sasuke screamed out in pain then fell to the floor laying flat on his stomach.

"Sasuke!" Naruto looked at his fallen teammate. "That's it. Ninja art summoning jutsu--"

"Too late." Kisame said as he swung his sword, and all of Naruto's chakra disappeared.

Naruto suddenly felt empty. "Hey, I can't feel my chakra. Come on, come on." He tried to summon his chakra again. "What the heck is going on?!"

Kisame chuckled at the kid's stupidity. "Sorry, kid. My blade Sharkskin cuts through chakra and devours it." Kisame looked over his shoulder at Itachi who was looking down at his brother. "We don't need the hassle of this kid whipping out any more jutsu. Forget the legs, maybe I ought to start off with those arms of his." Kisame leveled the blade at the blonde boy.

Upon hearing this, Naruto tried even harder to summon his chakra. "Why isn't it coming?!"

"You're wasting your time." Kisame raised his blade and prepared to swing.

----------------------------------------

"We're almost there, Mitsukai." Jiraya looked over his shoulder at the silver haired girl whose deep blue eyes now reflected worry. "It'll all be alright. I promise."

Mitsukai nodded but didn't believe him. Instincts told her that after today, her peaceful stay in the Hidden Village would come to an abrupt end.

"Mitsukai, hold onto me." Jiraya ordered and she grabbed his shirt in both hands tightly. He held up his hands and performed several hand signs then touched the ground with the palm of his hand. "Ninja art summoning jutsu!"

An orange frog about Mitsukai's height appeared. "Go find Naruto and protect him until I get there." Jiraya ordered. The frog nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Now for us. Hold on tight." Jiraya performed some more hand signs and they too disappeared in a puff of smoke.

----------------------------------------

Itachi stared at Naruto while Sasuke shivered on the floor. His body was beginning to get cold and numb from the broken bone and if he didn't watch it, he was sure to go into shock. Sasuke looked up in time to see Kisame bring his sword down forcefully.

"What the--?" Kisame stared in disbelief as an orange frog dressed as a ninja held its arms up, blocking his hit. Smoke appeared and a man's voice rang out.

"You two don't know me at all, do you? You should've done your homework. Jiraya the toad sage falls victim to no woman's charm. Rare beauties drop for me like blossoms..." Jiraya stuck his chest out and continued to boast. Naruto stared at the man in disbelief while Mitsukai contemplated covering up her face entirely with her mask, eyes included. Then she remembered that there was danger present and surveyed the scene before her. The first thing she saw was Sasuke lying on the ground...wrist apparently broken. 'Sasuke.'

"...storm." Mitsukai ducked just in time to avoid Jiraya's swinging arm. She took a few steps to her right to give him room to do whatever he wanted without accidentally hurting her. He continued to talk so she returned her attention to Sasuke. However, this time, due to her new position, she didn't see Sasuke; she saw a very familiar face. The black cloaks with red clouds, headbands with the single line drawn through the village emblem...She could feel pieces of her memory become clearer at a faster rate than when she tried to force it on the bridge with Kakashi and Jiraya.

"The Akatsuki." She whispered, recalling hearing one of its members say its name in front of her. At the moment, the fish-headed man didn't seem familiar to her...but other did. He looked just like Sasuke, except older. As her eyes studied his face, mentally pieces of her memory sorted itself. She remembered a blonde guy fighting the man in front of her...and losing. 'I had to save that guy from killing himself. He meant a lot to me.' That person's name eluded her at the moment. She looked at the raven haired man's eyes. 'Just like Sasuke's...I've seen them before.'

"...the ladies worship at your awesomeness!!!" Jiraya struck another pose.

"'Awesomeness'? Is that even a word?" Mitsukai asked herself out loud though no one else heard her.

Everyone stared at the man as if he were insane.

Naruto finally snapped out of his stupor and began ranting. "Aw, don't gimme that. One wink from a pretty girl and you turned into a mountain of mush. You fell for it like a ton of bricks, Pervey Sage!" He folded his arms across his chest.

Jiraya let out an embarrassed chuckle and rubbed his head, "I really wish you wouldn't call me that in front of other people."

This earned more blank stares from the other four people watching their exchange.

Naruto lost it. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! WE'VE GOT WORSE THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT OTHER THAN WHAT THESE PEOPLE THINK OF YOU! GET WITH IT, PERVEY SAGE!" Naruto pointed at Kisame and Itachi.

"DIDN'T I JUST ASK YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT?!" Jiraya stepped forward ready to strangle the kid himself. Mitsukai bowed her head, ashamed to say that she had arrived there with one of them and was the other's teammate. Just...ashamed.

Itachi continued to stare, not knowing what to think of the scene. Kisame chuckled. Mitsukai noted that she would too if the situation beyond Naruto and Jiraya weren't so serious; these two were a joke.

"Whatever name you go by, Master Jiraya, I must say you're something of a disappointment..." He continued to speak but Mitsukai didn't hear him. For the first time, the other man looked directly at her. She held his gaze for as long as she could stand to, but the minute she felt herself get sleepy, she looked away.

Itachi studied the girl. She looked very familiar...but it couldn't be her. Instead, Itachi figured it would be best if the girl was unconscious while he and Kisame handled Naruto and Jiraya...the last thing they would need is interferance. However, she didn't hold his gaze long enough for him to cast the Genjutsu on her. She instinctively looked away, as if knowing what he was trying to do. His eyebrow rose with curiosity. 'Who is she?'

"Whaaaa?! You already know who he is?" Naruto asked, dumbfounded.

"Uhhh..." Jiraya smiled nervously, "Don't be fooled by appearances or anything this squirt might say."

Kisame noticed the girl draped over Jiraya's shoulder. "So, you somehow managed to release the Genjutsu we cast on her, eh?"

Jiraya looked directly at Itachi, knowing exactly who had casted the jutsu. He walked over to Mitsukai and put the girl down, propping her up on the wall. "What kind of a coward would do something like that? Using his Sharingan to inflict an illusion jutsu on an innocent woman, all in order to separate Naruto and me." He then stood straight. He laid a hand on the top of Mitsukai's head, silently thanking her.

Naruto's jaw dropped. 'To...to separate us? But why?'

Jiraya looked at Itachi. "I know that he's the one you're really after."

Itachi paused. He remembered during his brief fight with the Konoha Jounins, Kakashi had told them he knew the name of their organization and that they were after Naruto. "That explains how Kakashi knew. Now I understand...he learned it from you." Itachi briefly closed his eyes then opened them. "You're right. Naruto is the prize that the Akatsuki are after...and we will have him."

Naruto's eyes widened with panic. "Wha-what's going on?" The frog disappeared, leaving Naruto vulnerable to Kisame once again.

"No way you're getting Naruto." Jiraya stated evenly. Mitsukai nodded and stood next to Jiraya. This time both of the Akatsuki members looked at her. The first thing Kisame noticed was the tattoo on her left leg: the dragon surrounded by the five elements that wound up her leg. He blinked several times to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

"We'll see about that."

"Actually, this is all very convenient. I can eliminate you both at the same time."

"Stay out of this!"

"Huh?" Naruto's attention snapped back to Sasuke, who had been lying on the floor this whole time. Mitsukai watched as Sasuke struggled to his feet and looked up at the man in front of him.

"The only one who's going to eliminate him...is me!"

"Sasuke..." Naruto whispered.

Jiraya stared at the younger Uchiha with concern. Then it came to him. "Of course. Revenge."

Itachi and Kisame looked over their shoulders at the boy.

Itachi looked down at the weakened child. 'If I had the time, I would allow him to humor me with this pitiful display of determination. But we have a mission to keep to. Besides, I know it would piss him off more than anything else to just dismiss him like father used to do.' "Go away. You don't interest me at the moment."

Sasuke's blood boiled and steam almost literally came out of his ears. 'He comes back just to take Naruto, who isn't special in any kind of way, and ignore me, the person he left as an orphan and told to get stronger just so that I can kill him later? He's officially gone crazy and it's time to end this.' Sasuke balled his fist up and swung. "WELL, GET INTERESTED!"

Itachi smirked behind his cloak collar. 'Bingo.' Itachi lifted his leg and kicked Sasuke in the chest. Mitsukai watched in horror as her teammate was sent flying down the hall, where he crashed into the wall, and slid down to a sitting position.

She took a step forward but Jiraya held out his hand. His eyes relayed one simple message. 'Don't call attention to yourself.'

She couldn't understand why he would want her to stand by and do nothing, yet she obeyed him since he obviously knew more about the potential danger than she did. It was foolish to run into any battle and not know what your opponent was capable of. She looked at Sasuke. 'Sasuke, you were the one to tell me that. Why aren't you following your own advice now? You're letting your emotions overshadow your ability to think rationally. Your emotions...are making you weak.'

"Sasuke, no!" Naruto yelled, getting angry. Sasuke began to fall over on his side. "Why you lousy--"

"No, Naruto! Don't butt in. Mind your own business." Sasuke panted.

Mitsukai sighed inwardly. 'Oh, boy. Here's comes another classic example of Team 7's definition of teamwork. He thinks he can handle this all on his own...'

"I've told you before..." Sasuke stood with a pained effort. Itachi looked at him. "I've lived my whole life for this day, this moment...THIS FIGHT IS MINE!!!" An image of Itachi standing over their dead parent's bodies flashed through his mind and Sasuke launched himself back down the hall at his brother. Itachi didn't even bother to be offensive this time. He merely blocked the pathetic punch with his left hand and used his right hand to backhand the boy, once again sending him flying back down the hall spinning in mid-air.

Mitsukai cringed when she heard the sickening thud of Sasuke's body hitting the wall and then the floor. She had to admit, however, that Sasuke had a nice ballerina spin.

"Sasuke..." Naruto couldn't stand to watch his teammate taking such a beating. He looked over at Mitsukai and saw that she felt the same way.

"Not...finished..." Sasuke gasped trying to control his labored breaths. He tried to lift his left hand to make the signs for the Fireball jutsu but he couldn't even feel his arm at that point.

Itachi was beginning to get annoyed. 'He can't even manage to make the hand sign. This is costing us time that we do not have. Our chances of grabbing the Kyuubi at this point are null. I might as well give him the fight that he's craving so badly.'

"This fight is mine." Sasuke willed his body to move, to stand up and face that monster.

There were very rare instances where Itachi failed a mission...and whenever he did, someone always paid dearly. He narrowed his eyes. "So be it."

Jiraya heard the slight hint of anger in Itachi's voice and started to step forward to intervene but Kisame stopped him. "You heard him, old man. This fight is none of our business. Let's let the two of them sort it out."

Mitsukai watched as Sasuke's target turned and began to walk towards him. By now, her mind was screaming at her to do something. Part of her just knew that if she didn't, Sasuke wouldn't walk out of here.

Sasuke noticed his brother was close to him and jumped to his feet and prepared to swing. "NOW FINALLY--" But he was cut off by a swift knee to his stomach which caused him to double over in pain. 'How?' Itachi drove his elbow down hard and hit a spot near the base of Sasuke's skull causing lights of every color of the rainbow to flash before his eyes. Down the hall, he saw Naruto and Mitsukai watching with pained expressions. Itachi's knee connected with Sasuke's jaw and intense waves of pain pulsed from that area. The force of the blow knocked Sasuke straight up and Itachi seized the opportunity to punch him in the stomach, just like he had the night of the massacre. Felt the wall attempt to give him cushion but being pinned between its hard surface and Itachi's powerful punch did little for him. Very little. 'All of these years...and nothing has changed. How can it be?' Itachi pulled back and allowed his sibling to fall to the floor.

Mitsukai watched the brutal beating and felt herself become angry. No one deserved such treatment...especially someone she had grown to care for like she did Sasuke. In her eyes, he was her little brother. In fact, in the short amount of time she had thus far spent with her team, she saw all of them as her family. Her hands balled up into fists. 'And no one harms my family.'

Itachi reached down and picked up Sasuke by his shirt, pinning him to the wall by his throat. "You're still weak." Itachi's voice was cold and barely a whisper, yet Sasuke heard him clearly. "You don't have enough hate. And you know what?" Itachi leaned in with a sinister smirk and whispered into Sasuke's ear. "You never will."

Sasuke looked at him, eyes wide with disbelief.

"Mangekyou Sharingan!" Itachi's eyes changed and Sasuke felt himself being pulled into another dimension.

The hairs on the back of Mitsukai's neck rose instantly as a combination of anger and fear for Sasuke's life took over her mind. "No!" She called out.

Jiraya didn't know what to do. With Kisame blocking the way, he couldn't get to Sasuke and even then he couldn't leave Naruto and Mitsukai to fend for themselves. He felt a light breeze and looked over to his right. Mitsukai was gone. He looked up and she was standing next to Sasuke and Itachi with an intense look in her eyes. He looked closer. Her blue eyes were slowly turning gold.

"Damn." Jiraya mumbled. If these two weren't sure if this was the same girl they presumed to be dead, they sure would be now.

Mitsukai grabbed Sasuke's right hand and sent her chakra into him, intending to release the Genjutsu she was sure the man was using on him. An image of gold eyes belonging to an animal flashed under her eyelids and her eyes shot open...but she wasn't in the hotel anymore. She watched from a distance as Sasuke stood at one end of a dark room with one huge window and his opponent stood almost seven feet away with a man and a woman between them, sitting back to back. Mitsukai inched forward to get a better look and gasped. All four of them looked alike.

She looked down to the table next to her and saw a portrait of the people in front of her. 'Sasuke's...family? This guy...is his brother?!'

Her eyes returned to the two boys. Her jaw dropped in a silent scream as the older sibling raised his katana and sliced his own mother's neck open then stabbed his father. Red blood spayed Sasuke and the wall behind him making her notice that everything including them was in black and white except the blood.

'Is this a memory? What kind of Genjutsu is this?' Sasuke's screams of terror pierced her thoughts and she watched as he grabbed his head, begging not to see any more. It was then that she realized that he looked a lot younger and a few inches shorter.

'This must a memory.' She concluded as the scene changed and they were standing out on the street under a black moon with a red sky. Bodies fell at Sasuke's feet and blood continued to spray on him. All of these people...they were family to these two. And the oldest was making the younger one relive this painful memory as if it were simply some horror movie that they were watching for fun. Sasuke screamed and fell to his knees as the other began to walk towards him.

No more. I will protect him with my life.' Mitsukai ran and put herself between Itachi and Sasuke. She looked at him defiantly, eyes daring him to try to get past her. However, Itachi was no longer intent on reaching his brother to finish the damage.

"How did you...?" Itachi asked, voice measured and even, yet his eyes held curiosity. He couldn't think of the words that could describe what she had done, but it was a surprise to see her there in his alternate universe.

"Back off. I won't let you harm him any more." Her delicate voice actually held the tone of a threat. Itachi didn't take too kindly to threats. Itachi pulled back and the three of them returned to their world. Itachi head footsteps and looked over his shoulder to see Naruto rushing at him, followed by Kisame. Mitsukai saw the blank look on Sasuke's face. 'I didn't stop him in time...' She could tell that the damage the Genjutsu had done to her teammate was pretty extensive. She let a hand caress his cheek.

"Forgive me, Sasuke." Mitsukai murmured. Itachi heard her speak and looked back at her. His eyes traveled from the color of her hair and eyes down to the tattoo on her leg.

"What is your name?" Itachi's tone was even yet not demanding.She looked at him and frowned. "Mitsukai. Why?"
It was as if time had stopped for a moment. He stared at her in disbelief. The Mitsukai they had known didn't remember her real name, yet this one did. This one also demonstrated power and skills no one except a member of the Akatsuki could possess. She also had the exact same tattoo that he and Kisame had taken her to get. The same tattoo he had drawn himself. However, the main thing that convinced him it was her was her hair color. He remembered the conversation with the leader about it. The color was a physical marking of the demon within her...

Before Itachi could say anything else, the walls were covered by pink and orange goo and Sasuke was pulled from his grasp. Mitsukai also let go and tried to shift her feet but couldn't.

"Naruto! Mitsukai! As long as you stay still and don't move, you'll be fine." Jiraya shouted down the hall from his crouching position.

Itachi ignored Jiraya as he began talking directly to him and Kisame. Time had run out. It was time to go. "Kisame, come."
Kisame turned to follow but his heavy sword was stuck to the pink and orange sherbet goo. "Easier said than done." He grunted then with one hard yank, pulled free. He and Itachi ran down the hall.

"Oh, no you don't." Jiraya sent more chakra into the goo and as a result, it shot from the walls and chased after the pair.

Kisame looked over his shoulder and saw the goo tentacles coming after them. "Don't look now but there's a wall of flesh coming after us." He stopped and swung his sword in an attempt to stop some of the tentacles from grabbing them. "It's no use. It's too fast; we won't make it." They continued to run and Itachi closed his eyes.

Mitsukai watched in awe as a black circle appeared on the wall and as soon as Itachi and Kisame reached it, it disappeared and created a large hole in the wall. They leapt out and were gone. Jiraya came dashing around the corner with Naruto on his heels.

As Jiraya and Naruto inspected the black fire that surrounded the hole, Mitsukai looked at Sasuke who was still lodged into the pocket in the wall of goo. His eyes were open, yet it was obvious that he wasn't staring at anything in particular. He was dangerously close to being brain dead. Wanting to asses the damage, she held up her index and middle finger and touched his forehead. She sent blue chakra into his head and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she determined that it was pretty bad. He would be okay, but that it would take months for his mind to heal itself. The goo receded and Sasuke was released. Mitsukai caught him and set him down, propping him up against the wall. She then straddled his lap and placed her hands on either side of his head, determined to make up for not saving him sooner. She sent steady pulses of chakra in, making sure she stayed focused or she would possibly kill him. She was happy to see that as the minutes wore on, he stopped drooling and his eyes slowly closed; he appeared to be sleeping now. Unfortunately, she didn't know enough to completely heal him. She held his wrist and healed that too.

She stood and looked up. Naruto and Jiraya were coming back their way. She didn't say anything about what she'd done.

----------------------------------------

"So we just run away again? We do a lot of that..." Running away from a fight was one of Kisame's biggest peeves and doing it twice in one day less than three hours apart had put him in a very bad mood.

Itachi ignored his tone. "There's no rush for now. We'll get Naruto when the time is right. Besides, I felt it wise for us to find someplace to rest a while and recharge my powers." 'On top of Tsukuyomi, to have to use the Amaterasu as well...it was more exhausting than I thought.' Itachi allowed his Sharingan to fade as they continued to run.

Finally, they stopped to rest for a while and formulate a new plan. Itachi sat down and leaned against a wide tree trunk, preparing to fall asleep for an hour straight as he always did whenever he used the Mangekyou Sharingan. Over the years, it was putting a greater strain on his body. He usually limited usage to once a day if needed. Other than that he didn't use it often. But three times in one day...He knew he would be asleep for hours.

"Itachi?"

Itachi lifted his gaze to his blue partner.

"Did you see her? That girl?"

Itachi didn't take his time to answer this question as he normally did for she had caught his attention as well. "Yes."

Kisame was surprised by the ready answer. "Who is she?"

"She told me her name was Mitsukai." Itachi closed his eyes.

He heard Kisame inhale sharply. "B-but that's impossible. I pulled her body out of the fire myself."

"Well, according to the being that we just encountered, I don't think you found the right body." Itachi looked at Kisame. "She has the hair, the eyes, and the tattoo. That same tattoo that we took her to get in case she ever got away and we needed to identify her. That's her."

"Then that means...we never failed to keep her alive. She simply got away somehow." Kisame looked at his hands. "I wonder what the Leader would say if we told him she was still alive."

Itachi closed his eyes again. "We'll find out soon enough...because we're taking her back with us."

[ItachiRockstar]

||Chapter Four: Missing the Team||

The nurses left and Mitsukai was finally left alone with an unconscious Sasuke. She stared at him for what seemed like hours, trying to put together the pieces of his memories to figure out what would drive his own brother to kill everyone in their family…except his little brother. She sat down in the chair that was placed next to his bed especially for her and closed her eyes.

Dead bodies…blood everywhere…

Her eyes shot open. Ever since seeing Sasuke’s memories due to Itachi’s genjutsu, Mitsukai hadn’t been able to close her eyes. As if that weren’t enough, she could hear Sasuke’s screams of terror ringing in her ears. She wanted it to stop. She wanted it to go away. Yet…she was curious. How did she manage to insert herself into the genjutsu in the first place? Somehow, her mind had automatically known that to release a genjutsu one had to send their chakra into the victim. That had been her intention when she grabbed Sasuke’s hand.

“Then what happened?” She wondered out loud. Those gold eyes appeared faintly in her mind’s eye then faded away. “What does that mean?”

“What does what mean?” A timid voice asked. She looked over her shoulder to see Sakura peeking into the room, worry in her eyes. “What happened to Sasuke?”

Mitsukai looked down at Sasuke and wondered how he would feel if Mitsukai were to tell anyone what had truly happened... “Nothing too bad. He’s just really exhausted from all of that running.”

“Oh.” Sakura frowned, already aware that Mitsukai wasn’t telling the truth. “Are you okay?”

Mitsukai paused then replied, “I’ve been worse.” She stared at Sasuke. She needed to try the insertion again. Something told her that there was more information hidden in Sasuke’s memories that could possibly help her figure out what was going on. She pulled her chair even closer to Sasuke’s bed and leaned forward. “Sakura, close the door.”

Sakura paused, carefully considering Mitsukai’s command, and then did as she was told. “What’s going on?”

“I want to try something. I’ll need you to watch out for any nurses or medical ninjas, okay? If you see anyone coming, tap me.” Mitsukai instructed as she lightly touched Sasuke’s left forearm. Sakura bristled when she saw this but promptly turned away, refusing to allow her jealousy show. Mitsukai noticed this and gave Sakura a cold look. “Look, I’m not interested in your little knight in shining armor so cool it.”

Sakura studied Mitsukai for a moment then nodded after she determined that the girl was telling the truth. “Hurry up.”

Mitsukai turned back to Sasuke and closed her eyes. She remembered how she felt at the time when it happened. She remembered what she had been thinking. ‘I won’t let anyone harm my family…’

Mitsukai felt her skin tingle as chakra gathered under her skin. Suddenly it was quiet and Mitsukai opened her eyes. She was still in the hospital…but things were different. Sakura was gone. Eight year old Sasuke laid in the hospital bed looking up at the ceiling, finally coming around after passing out the night before.

‘A dream?’ A child’s voice whispered into her head. She recognized the voice instantly.

“Sasuke…” She looked at him. He tried to sit up and winced as pain shot through his shoulder. He looked down and was horrified to see that his shoulder was wrapped up. An image of a Chinese star being thrown and slicing that very spot crossed her mind. It was then that she was sure she had succeeded in getting into Sasuke’s head. She stood back and watched as the young Sasuke slipped out of his bed and tiptoed out the door; she followed along. The voices of two nurses reached her ears.

“Yes, it’s true. He was the only one who was rescued.”

Sasuke leaned against the wall and listened to their conversation from around the corner.

“He had an older brother, didn’t he?” The other asked.

“But they don’t know where he is.” Sasuke gritted his teeth angrily. Mitsukai could feel hatred make her blood boil. Sasuke snuck out of the hospital with Mitsukai on his heels. Rain had begun to fall in slow big drops when he reached a fence that was sectioned off with police “Crime Scene” tape. Sasuke ignored this and continued forward. Mitsukai reached out to see if she had to actually move the tape as well or just walk through. She was shocked when the wet plastic touched her fingertips. She moved it and followed Sasuke. He finally stopped to catch his breath, giving her time to look at their surroundings. Dried blood stained the outside of houses and the ground that they walked on. Things like lanterns were sliced open and left dangling from their posts.

“Hello, Sasuke.” She turned to see a woman and her husband standing outside of their home waving at Sasuke…then they promptly faded away. Pain and the sudden sense of loneliness made her chest heavy. She put a hand over her heart and rubbed the spot, willing the tears in her eyes to go away. It was so much more than she could bear… She looked over and saw a gray stone wall that had a line of red and white fans like the one that was usually on the back of Sasuke’s outfit painted on it. Her eyes skimmed the wall and stopped when they landed on one particular painting that had cracks through it. She walked over to it and touched the wall, rain now wetting her hair. The stone was cold and felt rough to the touch. More images flashed in her head as Itachi threw a shuriken at the wall and created cracks through that single fan. Itachi’s speech played in her head and she became confused.

‘What did he mean?’ Mitsukai ran her hands over her hair, pushing her bangs back then letting them fall back over her face. She heard a noise from within the house in front of the cracked painting and ran inside. She found Sasuke in the family room on his knees, silent tears of grief drenching his face as he realized that he was truly all alone. Mitsukai recognized the room at once and her eyes fell on the chalk outline where his parents’ bodies had once been. She forced herself to move and kneel beside Sasuke, slowly wrapping her arms around his shoulders. ‘I know what it feels like to have no one to call family…to be alone…’

The second her head rested on his shoulder, that whole tragic night replayed itself in her head. Mitsukai shut her eyes tightly and willed the images to go away; she didn’t need to see it anymore. Once had been more than enough. When she opened them, she saw Sasuke standing in front of a scroll in a basement somewhere. A few candles were lit to able him to see and move in the dark. She walked up beside him and looked down at the words written on the paper that had turned yellow from the years. Just like Itachi had four years ago, she read about the Uchihas’ bloodline formed from a demon named Sojobo and the forbidden doujutsu that they were capable of unlocking.

Yet, something caught her eye. There was another page underneath the one that Sasuke was looking at. She reached out and attempted to turn it but the paper slipped through her fingertips. She watched as Sasuke simply turned away from the scroll and walked off.

‘He didn’t read the second page…’ Mitsukai thought to herself. She felt a hand grab hers and suddenly she was back in the hospital room with present-day Sasuke and a worried Sakura.

“Someone’s coming!” Sakura whispered urgently. Mitsukai nodded and sat back in her seat, closing her eyes while committing everything she’d just seen to memory. A nurse entered the room.

“I’m sorry but you two will have to leave. You can come back tomorrow if you’d like.” She smiled warmly. Sakura began to ask the nurse questions allowing Mitsukai to slip out undetected.

-------------------------------------

Mitsukai was amazed that she’d been able to learn the way to the Nakano shrine from Sasuke’s memory and actually find it. The inside was literally covered with cobweb but she ignored them, taking extra care not to disturb the homes of the innocent spiders. She located the seventh mat and moved it aside and lowered herself into the darkness. When she landed, the smell of humid musk met her sensitive noise and she gagged. She lit the candle that she had brought with her and moved forward.

On the walls on either side of the table between them, a portrait of a tengu had been painted. Something about the portraits was unnerving and made her anxious to leave. Every step became harder to take than the previous one but she didn’t stop until she stood in the same exact spot as Sasuke and looked down. She gasped. There were ashes on top of the table and common sense told her that it had used to be the scroll. Someone had come back to burn it. ‘But why?’

She reached and picked up a handful of the ashes and a yellow demonic eye flashed in her head as a deep evil laugh filled her head. She dropped the ashes immediately and held her head. ‘…Sojobo?’

Now more than ever she was curious as to what had been on that second page. She also wondered why Sasuke hadn’t looked at it himself. Itachi had sent him there to see. Why stop at the first page? She recalled the look on Sasuke’s face when he was reading the scroll. Second glance made her realize that there had been a thin mist in front of his eyes. Itachi had cast a genjutsu on him that apparently made him only see one page.

Something about all of it didn’t seem right. It made sense but too many details were missing; too many questions were going unanswered. After several minutes, Mitsukai turned and headed back for the village.

-------------------------------------

Might Gai stood before two Chuunin and four Jounin that he’d managed to gather up and took a deep breath. “I can’t say too much without endangering your lives but Master Jiraya has informed me that two S-ranked ninja could possibly come after a Genin from our village.”

The group didn’t even twitch.

“He has ordered me to make sure that a two-man squad is with her at all times. I agree with him and will do in this manner: Every four hours the squads will switch. This will continue until he comes back with Lady Tsunade.” He looked at them. “Any questions?”

One of the Chuunin raised his hand. “Why are S-Ranked ninjas after this Genin?”

Gai frowned. “That I cannot tell you.”

“If we are to guard and protect this person, it is best we know exactly what is at stake here.” A Jounin added.

At that moment, the door to the room that they were in opened slightly and Mitsukai slipped in silently. She stood next to Gai, staring at the floor. The group looked at her, awed by her physical appearance. Gai rested his hand lightly on her shoulder.

“This is the Genin in question. As I’ve said before, I cannot tell you exactly why they might come for her. All I know is that Master Jiraya deemed it very important and said it should take precedence over anything else until his return. I wouldn’t ask you to do this if her sensei, Kakashi, were able to do it himself. As you may have heard, one of the S-ranked ninjas in question has him hospitalized at the moment. Same said ninja also attacked her teammate, Sasuke Uchiha, and he is in the same condition as Kakashi. They both were only attacked with genjutsu.” Gai decided that he would leave out the fact that this same ninja was also a missing Nin from their village, related to Sasuke, and actually did lay hands on the younger Uchiha. He didn’t want to panic more than they already seemed to be. “This is very important. Do not take this mission lightly…or you’ll have to deal with me.”

-------------------------------------

Mitsukai sat on her bed and looked out the window. A few stars dotted the sky but the moon was nowhere to be seen. She drew her knees up closer and hugger them tighter. Things just didn’t feel the same. Her sense of security seemed to vanish when she realized that she was in danger just like Naruto. She only wished she knew why…

‘What is so special about Naruto and me that they would willingly attack those around us?’ She sat in that same spot for hours, trying to come up with a reasonable answer. If Kakashi-sensei were there, things would be okay. But with both Kakashi and Sasuke in the hospital unconscious and Naruto and Jiraya out of town, that only left her with Sakura… She might as well have been alone.

-------------------------------------

Shikamaru and Neji approached the two Jounin that had been stationed by Mitsukai’s apartment and showed them a note that had been written by Asuma relieving the men of their duties until the next squad came. Since it would be only two hours until the next squad came and it was only eleven o’clock, no one believed that this was a problem. Shikamaru chose to sit while Neji leaned up against the building.

“So have you even met this girl?” Shikamaru kept his eyes closed.

“No. Have you?” Neji scanned the area with his normal eyes. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

“Since she came to Konoha, all the time. She has silver hair. You can’t miss her. And she wears a mask just like Kakashi. I heard Asuma-sensei and Gai-sensei commenting on how she looks like she could be his daughter. I agree. He certainly treats her as if she is. I never see him without her somewhere by his side.” He shifted uncomfortably. “Man, this is such a drag. I’ve never known the ground to be so uncomfortable. I’d rather be in bed.”

Neji smirked yet kept scanning for any potential threats. “She sounds interesting. I’d like to meet her.”

“Then go knock on her door. No one’s stopping you.”

“She might be asleep.”

Shikamaru looked up at him. “You actually considered doing it?”

“Well, yes. We should know what she looks like in case something happens. How can you protect someone if you don’t know what they look like?” Neji looked at Shikamaru, slightly annoyed. Something in the distance gave him goose bumps as he stared out into the darkness.

“You say that as if—“ Neji cut him off by holding up his hand.

“I think…they’re here.” Neji whispered. “Byakugan!” He scanned their surroundings. He paused when his eyes settled on two human figures, one of them pulsing with an enormous amount of chakra.

“What is it?” Shikamaru jumped to his feet.

“Two figures about 350 yards northwest of us…and judging by the chakra amount the tallest one has, I highly doubt they’re friends.” Neji’s tone was serious.

“Let’s get her and go to Asuma and Gai-sensei.” Shikamaru turned and ran inside the building followed by Neji.

-------------------------------------

Mitsukai missed her team. With each glimpse of a forgotten memory, her self-confidence dropped considerably. With them around, she felt safe. However, being scattered like this made her feel like the target she was. She remembered that before coming to the village, she knew nothing about her past but was physically and mentally strong enough to take care of herself. After having seen her unconscious teacher and teammate and after having witness first-hand the power of her pursuers, she questioned if she could protect herself against the two men.

With the memories came emotions, emotions that allowed doubt to seep into her mind…

There was a quiet yet firm knock on her door. She opened it slowly and two boys stood in front of her.

“We’re the squad that’s supposed to watch over you until the next Jounin squad comes.” The one with long hair and pale lavender eyes explained. “Let us come in.”

They didn’t give her the opportunity to speak instead choosing to push their way past her. The other one with the spiky ponytail shut the door behind them and locked it. “Where are they now?”

“Wha—“ The long haired one quickly put a hand over her mouth and whispered into her ear.

“Not you. He’s speaking to me. Don’t talk and do everything we say. Okay?” She nodded and he removed his hand then looked at the other one. “They’re downstairs now.”

“Oh, crud. This is getting troublesome.” The spiky ponytail guy scanned the room and his eyes settled on the window. “Out the window. Now.”

Mitsukai froze. ‘They’re here? They actually came for me?’ She couldn’t explain why but part of her was already afraid. Part of her knew what would happen should they succeed in getting their hands on her. ‘I don’t want to go back.’ Her mind screamed. She didn’t know why she didn’t want to go back or even where “back” was. She just knew that she didn’t want to go.

“Wait. First let’s create clones so they’ll be distracted while we get away.” The other suggested. He made a hand sign and one promptly appeared next to him. His friend did they same and they looked at her expectantly. “Hurry up!”

Mitsukai snapped out of her frightened daze and created a clone as well. One of them opened the window and the other helped her out. One of their clones closed the window behind them and the ponytailed one grabbed her by her wrist forcing her to run with them.

“By the way, my name’s Shikamaru.” The guy tossed over his shoulder.

“Neji.” The one behind her stated without looking at her.

“I’m Mitsukai.” She whispered but doubted they heard her over the rush of wind.

-------------------------------------

Itachi and Kisame stood outside the door. Itachi could sense three different levels of chakra behind the door, one of them way higher than the other two. Itachi stepped back, silently signaling Kisame to proceed. With one good kick, the door fell and the three clones looked up at them in surprise.

Itachi immediately saw them for what they were and threw Chinese stars at their throats, causing them to disappear.

“This is already beginning to annoy me.” Kisame muttered.
Itachi turned and walked back out of the room. “They’re on the roof. Let’s go.”

-------------------------------------

‘Only a little bit further to Asuma-sensei’s house—‘ Shikamaru was forced to stop when two figures in a black cloaks with red clouds and conical straw hats jumped in front of him.

“She’s coming with us.” Itachi narrowed his eyes at her, noting the fear in her eyes. He could never recall seeing fear in her, even when he was torturing his brother the day before and she had stood up to him. He wondered what was going on with her.

Because they had been running so fast, Neji was unable to stop himself and ended up running into Mitsukai who in turn bumped into Shikamaru and they all fell down into the alley below. Kisame stepped forward and watched them fall.

“Oh, that is priceless.” He chuckled. He turned to Itachi and saw that his partner was not amused at all. “You’re no fun; you know that right?”

Itachi ignored him and jumped down after them. Kisame sighed and followed. Due to the weight of the other two, Shikamaru was unable to right himself in order to land on his feet and they all landed in a heap.

“Ugh…get off!” Shikamaru groaned and Neji got up and pulled Mitsukai up with him. Shikamaru jumped up. “Let’s go.”
He froze when he saw that Itachi and Kisame were once again standing in front of him.

Kisame looked at the three. “Itachi, can’t I just kill the other two and you grab her? If we keep this up, they’ll wake the whole village.”

Itachi assessed the situation. ‘She’s too afraid to even think straight. But if she manages to collect herself that means more trouble for us…’

Shikamaru noticed that even in the dark alley, there was still enough light from the stars to cast shadows on the ground. “Neji.”

Neji turned his attention to him.

“On my signal, grab her and go.” He whispered under his breath. He moved quickly and made the hand sign causing his own shadow to whip out and zoom towards the Akatsuki members. Neji grabbed Mitsukai’s wrist and took off running in the opposite direction. She tried to look over her shoulder to see what was going on but Neji yanked her.

“We need to signal for help. Any ideas?” Neji didn’t look at her. She thought about it.

“I know a jutsu that’s impossible not to notice. It should attract people’s attention.” She spoke up. He stopped and turned to her.

“Do it now!”

She shook off her fear and turned to the open space in front of them. She performed the hands signs quickly. “Ring of Fire!” She took a deep breath, gathering chakra in her mouth and blew it out in the form of fire, creating a ring of fire on the ground.

“That’s it?!” Neji asked.

“Shut up! I’m not done!” She yelled back then did a few more hand signs then pressed her hands to the ground and suddenly a strong wind came and blew very hard. “Flaming Cyclone!”

Neji watched in awe as the small ring of fire expanded and grew, taking the shape of a humongous tornado. “You can’t miss that.”

Mitsukai sent even more chakra into the cyclone causing it to become miles high, towering over Konoha.

-------------------------------------

“What in the world--?” Gai stood up causing Asuma and Kurenai to do the same. They followed his line of sight as the sky was lit up with a huge fiery tornado spinning violently yet staying in one spot.

“What is that?” Asuma asked taking his cigarette out of his mouth.

Gai turned and ran for the door. “I don’t know but we can’t sit here and wait to find out!”

-------------------------------------

Mitsukai stood and let the inferno blaze on its own. It would die down in a few minutes but not before someone came for them. She turned and Kisame appeared suddenly, swinging his sword sapping the rest of her chakra and causing the tornado to disappear. She suddenly felt very weak and tired.

“You shouldn’t have done that. Now Itachi’s mad at your little friends for getting in the way and at you for being so stubborn.” He grinned wickedly. Itachi appeared next to Kisame, Sharingan blazing.

“Let’s go.” His tone was even and lethal, and his body language suggested that he was no longer in the mood to be “nice”.

Neji stood in front of Mitsukai. “Mitsukai, run. I’ll distract them long enough for you to try to get away.”

She only shook her head. “I-I can’t. He took all of my chakra.”

Shikamaru appeared next to Neji. “Just go. We’ll handle them.”

“You don’t understand…I can’t move.” She whispered. “And even if I could, I wouldn’t leave you two behind.”

They both briefly looked back at her with appreciation being concerned about their welfare then back at Itachi and Kisame.

Itachi looked at her. “The reason you can’t move…is because you’re afraid to. You know that Kisame alone can kill them so that would allow me to come after you.” He narrowed his eyes and his lips curled slightly an evil, cold smirk. “And you don’t want to face me alone…do you?”

Mitsukai’s eyes shot open. She realized that he was trying to get inside of her head with a genjutsu and promptly shut her eyes. Then she opened them again, opting to stare at the ground. ‘I can’t just close my eyes. Then that will put Neji and Shikamaru in even more danger.’

Itachi was annoyed that she had once again prevented him from using his sleep inducing genjutsu on her.

“It was over here!” A voice shouted and the sound of rustling leaves followed.

Itachi didn’t have to look up to know that Jounin and even some ANBU members had seen the jutsu and had come to investigate. Once again, they would have to wait. “Kisame, let’s go.”

“What?!” Kisame turned to him. “We’re running? Again? Oh, no. Not before I take someone’s head off. I’m not leaving without properly dismembering someone. I-I just can’t take—“

Itachi gave Kisame a death glare which promptly shut him up and they vanished.

Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai appeared around the three tired Genin.

“Are you guys okay?” Gai asked. Shikamaru and Neji nodded and looked back at Mitsukai. She wavered a bit and fell down on one knee.

‘The Flaming Cyclone jutsu absorbs enough of my chakra as it is. But then he took even more of what chakra I had left…’ She panted slightly. She felt someone lift her up and put her on their back so she closed her eyes and let herself fall asleep.

-------------------------------------

Everyone took Jiraya seriously after the Akatsuki’s attempt to kidnap Mitsukai. The original list of ninjas assigned to take shifts in watching Mitsukai were relieved of their duties and a single ANBU member was assigned to accompany her day and night, even if she was in Gai’s company, until Jiraya returned.

“What’s your name?” She looked at the man walking beside her as she made her way to the hospital. No one had told her that her new bodyguard was from ANBU so she assumed he was just another Jounin.

He raised an eyebrow at her. The village elders had given him a codename but he didn’t expect that she would care to know it. “Miko.”

Her eyes squinted as if she were scrunching up her whole face. “Oh.” She didn’t ask any more questions after that and chose to keep conversation between them to a minimal seeing as they really had nothing to talk about in the first place. She entered Kakashi’s hospital room and he stood silently in the corner with his arms crossed, seemingly asleep. Mitsukai stared at Kakashi. It had been nearly four days since Naruto and Jiraya had left in search of Lady Tsunade. It had been three days since Itachi and Kisame had made their last appearance. With Miko with her at all times, everyone went back to their regular routines, leaving her to be alone again.

‘If you were okay, I’d be able to at least watch you read your dumb book and wonder what the heck it’s about. If you were okay, I could listen to you go on and on about the journey of life or whatever you’re always lecturing us about when I climb up in a tree and go to sleep. If you were okay…I wouldn’t feel so alone, Kakashi-sensei.’ Mitsukai thought, folding her arms across her chest with a quiet sigh. After her experience with going through Sasuke’s mind, she didn’t dare try to go into Kakashi’s or even attempt to heal his mind a bit. She didn’t want to take a chance of harming him. She could barely stand Sakura as it was so trying to spend more time with her just to try to make herself feel like she wasn’t alone was way out of the question. The only thing she could really do was sit and wait for Naruto to return.

‘I…miss them. I miss being with the team as a whole. I actually miss training with them…arguing with them…laughing with them…It’s like we’ve broken apart…’ She stood up. She noticed that the flowers in the vase that Sakura had put on the window sill were beginning to wilt. She smirked sadly. Sakura would be coming their way soon. She left the room and Miko followed silently.

In Sasuke’s room, the curtains hadn’t been opened yet so she took it upon herself to open them. Sunlight filled the room and shone on Sasuke’s pale face.

“You need more sunshine.” Mitsukai joked to herself as she sat in the chair next to him. “People will think you’re some sort of madman if you spend all of your time sitting in the dark.”

Sasuke didn’t even twitch. She found it comforting to know that she could say whatever she wanted to him and he would most likely not be able to recall any of her words. However, it was so much more fun when he reacted to her. She reached forward and brushed his hair away from his face. Five days and he was still a vegetable. And there was nothing she could do to help.

She sat there for nearly thirty minutes like she did every day, first simply regretting not having done something earlier to prevent it. Then she would remember that Sasuke would have been peeved if she proved her definition of teamwork based on their team’s actions correct by stepping in. Finally she would think about Itachi and Sasuke’s past…and the scroll.

At last she stood and looked at Miko.

He sensed her gazing at him. “Yes?”

“You don’t have to follow me everywhere every single day, do you?”

“Yes. You know that by now.”

“I know. I’m just wondering what you would rather be doing right about now.” She shrugged and walked out of the room. Miko knew that she was trying to bait him into making small talk yet willingly took the bait anyway.

“I’ve wanted to get some ramen at Ichiraku for a while now. Eating in your apartment has gotten a bit boring, I’m afraid.” He rubbed the back of his head with an apologetic smile.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Well, I’m sorry if I can’t entertain you properly.” She looked ahead of them. “Then to Ichiraku we go. I’m sure Naruto would have a fit if he knew I haven’t been checking in on the owner like he asked me to.”

Miko only nodded. There was a loud crash and an explosion shortly followed by screams. Miko stiffened then rested his hand on her shoulder. “Stay here.” He was gone before she could say a word. She was about to look in the direction that commotion had come from when a girl landed in front of her.

She had long black hair and emerald green eyes that almost seemed blank, like Neji’s lavender eyes. The girl stood, revealing that she was only a few inches taller than Mitsukai.

“Who are you?” The girl asked. “I’ve seen you around Sasuke and his team but no one will tell me who you are.”

“It depends on who you are.” Mitsukai answered tilting her head to the side. The girl mocked Mitsukai’s movement then sighed.

“I don’t have time to play with you, little girl. I heard some Akatsuki members were after you not too long ago. What do they want with you?”

Mitsukai shrugged. “If I knew I still wouldn’t tell you.”

The girl frowned. “And if I had the time…I would kill you. But I have to go.” She looked over her shoulder then back at Mitsukai. “You seem like you can hold your own so I’ll tell you something. Leave this pathetic village while you can before they try to control you as well.”

Mitsukai just stared blankly.

“I’m tired of it here. I’m leaving. It’s a small world; I’m sure I’ll see you again.”

Mitsukai snapped out of her confused daze. “You can’t just leave. Then you’ll become a missing nin.”

The girl scoffed and waved Mitsukai off. “Like I give a damn.” Then she disappeared.

Mitsukai stood there wondering if the whole thing had really happened. Miko reappeared.

“Are you okay?” He looked at the lost expression on her face.

“I think so.” She shook her head. “Let’s go eat. I think I’ve gotten so hungry that I’m starting to hallucinate.”

-------------------------------------

The next nine days seemed to crawl along at a snail’s pace, making Mitsukai briefly wonder if Naruto was even going to come back. She and Miko discovered that sitting on the roof of her apartment building and watching the villagers move about their daily routines was the most effective way to pass time since they usually both would fall asleep.

Mitsukai had chosen to watch clouds float by in the sky when Miko noticed a kid in an orange jumpsuit dash down the street and smiled. If she didn’t notice this then he wasn’t going to point it out to her. She’d find out sooner or later.

-------------------------------------

Lady Tsunade healed both Kakashi and Sasuke. It took them a while to get their bodies moving around but they were back to normal in no time. Naruto and Sakura beamed up at them but both Kakashi and Sasuke noticed that it seemed like someone was missing.

“Where’s Mitsukai?” Kakashi looked around. Before Sakura could open her mouth, Naruto cut her off.

“Hey! You’re right! She was so worried about you two that she actually chose to stay here with you guys instead of going with me and the Pervey Sage to go find Granny Tsunade!” He looked around.

“Uh…Naruto, I don’t that you can call our future Hokage that.” Sakura sighed.

“Really?” Kakashi seemed surprised by this. Sasuke only stared at the wall in front of him.

“Whatever. She’ll always be Granny Tsunade to me. Believe it!” Naruto chuckled. “I’ll go find Mitsukai and we can all meet at Ichiraku for ramen to celebrate.”

For the first time in a while, no one protested or argued with him; they all nodded in agreement. Naruto turned and headed for Mitsukai’s apartment.

-------------------------------------

It was well into the afternoon when Miko heard someone shouting for Mitsukai. He looked over at her, waiting for her to wake up on her own.

“No…Naruto, just five more minutes…” She mumbled in her sleep. It seemed as if she realized what she’d said and instantly sat up, eyes slightly closed.

“Hey, Mitsukai! Where the heck are ya anyway?” Naruto yelled. Mitsukai shook off her sleepiness and looked over at Miko.

“Naruto’s been back for a few hours now. I would believe that your team has reunited and may be waiting for you.” He looked back at the landscape of Konoha. Before Mitsukai could comment, her window opened and Naruto jumped out onto the roof with them.

“Mitsy, I’ve been looking all over for you. Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke are awake. We’re supposed to meet them at Ichiraku for ramen!” Naruto smiled. It finally dawned on Mitsukai that she was actually looking at Naruto and that what he was saying was true. She felt the emptiness that had been with her for the past two weeks finally fill as joy made her smile broadly underneath her mask. She was even happy to hear him call her Mitsy, a nickname that she had yet to officially accept and adopt. “Well, what are you waiting for?! I WANT RAMEN!!!!”

She stood and Miko did the same. Naruto looked at him. “Who the heck are you?”

“Miko. It’s nice to finally meet you, Naruto.” Miko nodded in Naruto’s direction.

“Are you coming, Miko?” Mitsukai looked at him. He nodded. “Then let’s go. I think I missed lunch while napping.”
As planned, the other three members of their team were standing outside of Ichiraku waiting. When Mitsukai’s eyes landed on Kakashi and Sasuke, she had to fight back tears. She had waited so long for this moment and now she didn’t even know what to do. ‘I’m not alone anymore…I have my team back…’

Kakashi nodded towards Miko in recognition and Miko returned the nod. He placed a hand on Mitsukai’s shoulder. “This is where I leave you.”

She turned to him. “What?”

“My assignment is over. Master Jiraya has returned and your sensei is well. You’ll be safe now with them around. I’m not needed anymore.” Miko explained.

Mitsukai nodded. “Will I see you around the village?”

Miko shook his head. “I highly doubt you’ll ever see me again, however I will see you. I’ll always be around, Mitsukai.”

Mitsukai took a minute to process what he was saying then finally nodded. He promptly disappeared and she turned back to her team.

Naruto scratched his head and Sasuke also looked intrigued.

Naruto looked between her and Sakura. “What the heck happened while I was gone? Why did you need him around? Who was he again?”

“Naruto, I thought you wanted ramen?” Kakashi guided the boy towards the restaurant.

“Huh? Oh, I do!!!!” He rushed to a stool.

“Naruto! It’s good to see that you’re back.” The owner smiled while drying a bowl with a towel. “And you brought your friends with you…and your sensei! Is this a reunion?”

“Yep!”

“Well this is a special occasion. Everyone eats at 75% discount." The man smiled broadly.

“ALL RIGHT!!!!”

-------------------------------------

It was dark and the moon hung in the sky. Naruto and Mitsukai sat on the roof outside of her apartment window. He listened intently as she explained everything that had happened once he and Jiraya had left. He had gotten angry that no one took the “Pervey Sage” seriously but at the same time was relieved to know that they had acted accordingly afterwards.

“You know, I missed you guys.” Naruto admitted to her. She looked at him. He continued to look at the sky. “I worried about Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke. I worried about how Sakura was doing…but I was worried about you the most. Knowing that those guys actually did come back for you…part of me wishes I could have been here to protect you. I mean, you didn’t even know what was going on but when Sasuke said that I was in danger, you made sure I was safe. If you hadn’t found the Pervey Sage in time…who knows, huh?”

Mitsukai hugged her knees tighter. Just knowing that things would be okay restored her self-confidence and some of her personal sense of security. “You have a lot of people that care about you. I wish I had people to care about me like that.”

“You do.” Naruto looked at her. “I would never allow anything to happen to you, Mitsy. You’re family.”

She held her breath. ‘That’s what I’ve been saying this whole time…’ “Family?”

Naruto put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. Jiraya had explained to him Mitsukai’s past and her relation to the Akatsuki. Naruto now knew that three people understood what it was like to grow up all alone. “Yeah. You’re the sister I’ve always wanted. Just like Sasuke is the brother I’ve always wanted. Although we’re constantly arguing, we would never let someone hurt the others. We’re constantly competing to become stronger and more skilled than the others also. Iruka-sensei is like my dad; he’s always been there for me. Kakashi-sensei is like my lazy uncle; he’s always late and reading his book.” Mitsukai relaxed and rested her head on Naruto’s shoulder, looking up at him to watch him while he spoke. “Granny Tsunade is my saggy old granny and the Pervey Sage is my perverted old granddad. Konohamuru is my hyper little brother.”

“What about Sakura?”

“Sakura?” He began to blush. “She’s my future wife.”

At this, Mitsukai tried her hardest not to laugh. “Oh, okay.”

“Mitsy?”

“Yeah?”

“…Can I see your face?” Naruto looked down at her. “I promise not to tell anyone else.”

She sat up and looked at him. No one had ever seen her face before. She thought about what he had just told her. He would never want to hurt her…so she could trust him enough to allow him to see the real her. She reached up and gently tugged the mask down. The material fell around her neck and she looked at him. He studied her for a moment then reached out and touched her cheek.

He withdrew his hand after a moment and smirked. “I knew you were pretty.” Her eyes widened then she blushed. “You shouldn’t hide your face. I understand that it makes you look all mysterious and whatnot—“

“That’s not why I wear—“

“—but you’re a nice person once you get to know someone. Leave the being cold and distant thing to Sasuke; he enjoys being like that.”

They sat in silence for a moment. “Maybe one day I’ll stop wearing it completely.”

“And on that day I want us to take a new picture of the team with you included. Deal?”

Mitsukai looked at him. A smile formed and she nodded. “Deal.”