A rainy day, like all the others. Whenever he looked at his sad city from the top of his tower, he could not help but think of his friend saying that his city cried incessantly.
With the peace he worked for, he was sure the sun could shine again over his head. By following Madara Uchiha's plan he would succeed. He felt the latter approach silently behind his back, as usual. To believe that he was trying to surprise him constantly. In vain.
"Pain, I have a mission for you," Madara said in the low voice that only Pain could know.
Bread did not deign to look at him. He gazed intently at the tall towers of his city as if to signal to his interlocutor his complete lack of surprise.
"I want you to find a woman," Madara continued dryly.
Pain turned his head toward him, his face expressionless. Madara stepped onto the terrace with a slow step. The dim light of the sky did not reach his face which remained in the shadow, only his dress adorned with red clouds was clearly visible.
Pain, however, had no difficulty in distinguishing his spiral mask, a useless precaution. No one could see them at that height. For some time now he had tended to give a solemn side to his mission orders.
"... what demon is it?" Coldly questioned Pain that this little sententious staging hardly impressed.
"The losses we have suffered lately lead me to think that no one is immortal ..."
"The gods are immortal." Cut off Pain.
A silence that was not serene settled down. With a barely perceptible movement on his cloak, Madara clenched his fists. This annoyance intrigued Pain, who nodded slightly, feigning some submission as a sign of listening. It seemed like a rather special affair.
Madara continued:
"The only way to become immortal is through the blood, to have another perpetuating my teachings, my values and my memory ... an offspring."
Bread did not comment, this kind of concern did not touch him closely or at a distance. But since it had nothing to do with capturing the demons, he still wondered what it was all about.
"I need a woman to ensure my descendants and that of my clan", continued Madara without blinking, " so that one day he can reign again, recover all its splendor of yesteryear without repeating the mistakes of the past ..."
"The past is well known, still, men do not remember it" retorted Pain.
"You must find this woman." he said, ignoring the interruption of Pain.
A silence again, only troubled by the sound of the incessant rain that formed a thin and shiny layer on the stone floor of the terrace. In addition to remaining silent, Pain also remained totally motionless, still staring at Madara with an inanimate gaze. He could not say whether it was due to the surprise or the consternation caused by such a request.
" Why ask me to do such a trivial task, Madara?" he finally said, without the slightest emotion in his voice. "Kyuubi is still at large, I better bring him back rather than play matchmakers. Send someone else."
He did not get an answer from the orange mask. The case was therefore not negotiable.
"You will go to Konoha."
Madara turned on his heels and returned to the building, cutting off any possible protest. Pain, meanwhile, returned to his contemplative observation. The sky seemed to reflect his mood at that moment, it seemed darker and the rain was falling harder.
"AKEMI! WATCH OUT!"
Akemi turned her head slightly to look over her shoulder. No sooner had she seen bright objects come in her direction that she interrupted her race and turned :
"NinpƓ Repulsion!" she exclaimed, making a series of signs with her hands.
The objects were none other than kunais and shurikens. Akemi was the target, but the projectiles appeared to slow down as they came upon her and then stopped a few inches from her face, as if suspended in the air.
The tapered points of the weapons began to tremble and then flew in all the opposite directions to get stuck in the rocky walls that surrounded her on both sides of the canyon at the bottom of which she was pursued.
"They attack from behind the bastards! "She hissed between her teeth, staring at the direction from which the projectiles were coming with a fierce air and a bad smile on her lips. She could see the silhouettes of three ninjas who moved quickly to ten meters.
She performed a new series of mudras:
"Doton - Iwayado Kuzushi!"
A roar was born in the depths of the earth, like a growing drumbeat that touched the soles of her feet. Cracks were heard and when the ground began to oscillate, a landslide tumbled down the cliffs around it and blocked the passage between her and her pursuers, raising a thick cloud of ocher dust that covered her in a breath of air.
Maybe they had been buried, but she was not sure. Akemi remained motionless, scanning the invisible and listening as the red fog dissipated. Her teammates, who preceded her, stopped a little further and looked for her. As she slowly reappeared, they saw no sign of their pursuers.
"Well. Forward!" Kakashi Hatake ordered, "we are no longer very far from Suna."
Akemi did not move right away. Covered with dust, she first shook her long hair in a shade similar to that of the rock that surrounded her so well that they seemed to dematerialize.
Finally she turned around and followed her companions who had already resumed their race. Barely a few meters and they were stopped by a new rocky crack, far this time. The three ninjas turned around. The ground was not shaking, but the noise was getting closer. Akemi watched the landslide that she had created, the pile of rocks began to vibrate slightly.
Only then did she feel that something was happening under her feet. Their assailants were not dead, it seemed. Hardly had she time to warn her teammates that the wall that had previously protected them began to collapse in a deafening crash. It was at this moment that the break appeared to her visible:
"Run!" She shouted.
The ninjas executed without waiting and went straight into the canyon which seemed endless to them at the moment. Akemi glanced behind her, a breach cracking the ground and engulfing anything that was not attached to the walls, just as she had engulfed the landslide before.
A powerful technique; the crack pursued them at a good pace. Akemi bit her lip with rage. In the land of the Earth, what did she hope to find? From an impulse she propelled herself up to Izumo Kamitsuki, barely preceded by Kakashi.
"Earth techniques," she yelled, trying to cover the chaos, "it looks bad!"
"What? You can't do anything?" Izumo asked incredulously.
For only answer he got a glare, of those who presaged unpleasant moments if he continued his momentum.
Kakashi slowed down to reach their height.
"You two go on, I'm on it."
"At your orders!" Izumo brailed.
Akemi did the one who had not heard, which did not stop her from complying and as they both continued their course; Kakashi slowed down until they could not see him behind them anymore.
"Do you think that's okay to leave him?" Izumo gasped.
The crash ceased, replaced for a moment by strident screeching. Akemi then looked at him with a cynical scowl:
"Yeah, we know Kakashi kind of sucks. I think you should go help him..."
Izumo sighed in annoyance but did not retort. He knew only too well that she should have the last word anyway. It was not worth adding, the conflict that was brewing was already worrying enough to bicker without restraint. The war was imminent.
It was in the air like a nauseating but diffuse smell of which one struggled to identify the exact origin. There was none, no doubt. Only isolated events, apparently, but whose authors all worked for a common goal: the annihilation of humanity for its own salvation.
Akemi felt insignificant in the midst of all these latent political plots and this climate of suspicion. Or rather, she did not feel overly concerned. However, her job was ungrateful and unfortunate that she had to meddle with what did not concern her, from her point of view.
Like this mission, for example, which consisted in analyzing the forces involved, the possible allies, the potential enemies. In small teams, the Konoha ninjas roamed the different countries, gauging the moods of the official but especially unofficial leaders: all these clan leaders who sometimes enjoyed such power that they could overthrow the power in place according to the turn of events.
For these, they had been sent the rogues, Azuma, Anko. For the big ones, the Kage: the politically correct ones, the Kurenai, the Kakashi.
Hence her questions: what was she doing in this team? Diplomacy was not really her forte and it was no secret.
Perhaps it was because her teammates were the only ones who knew how to hold her, what they had already demonstrated in previous missions together.
So it was on the way to Iwa, the hidden village of the Land of the Earth, that the natives showed them immediately which camp they would work in case of conflict. Ninjas pursued them relentlessly to the canyon where their route was likely to end.
"The day declines." Izumo remarked after long minutes of silence.
"Mhh..." Akemi mumbled.
"We'll cross the border and find a place to sleep." he added.
"If you say so." she answered curtly.
Izumo's gaze displayed all the exasperation of the world before resuming:
"What is this time?"
"Bite me!"
"What's the problem this time Akemi?" he cut, seriously annoyed.
Akemi bit her lip with an angry look on her face and then sighed:
"This mission... a fucking waste of my time!"
It was useless to insist. As a former companion, Izumo knew her well enough to know he would never have the upper hand. After an hour of endless running, they managed to cross the border with the Land of Birds.
The sun was shaving the horizon and would soon disappear from the surface. Exhausted, they stopped in the first plain encountered. The advantage was that the wind was much less windy than in the Land of Earth, which would certainly not be one of Akemi's favorite destinations from then on.
It was only after another hour, during which Izumo and Akemi had carefully avoided speaking more than necessary, that a safe, uninterrupted Kakashi arrived with a relaxed step, hands in the pockets.
Interrogating faces greeted him by the crackling fire prepared by Izumo. Kakashi sat in front of them on the dense grass of the floor.
"We are going to Suna tomorrow." Was his only sentence. He lay down then, crossing his hands under his neck as a pillow. He closed his eyes, ready to give himself a well-deserved rest.
"What?!" suddenly thundered Akemi, irascible," that's all? Are you kinding me? We made all this way for nothing and in addition we have to leave again?"
"Suna is on our way. This is our next goal." he replied calmly, without even opening his eyes.
"Ah yes? It's on our way to where exactly? Or do you have other surprises in store?" she continued, still furious.
"It's the mission; Suna then Konoha. Now sleep, we have a long journey tomorrow." he ordered without even raising his voice.
Akemi made a kind of grunt before jumping up and disappearing into the darkness around them. Izumo was no longer surprised by this kind of scene but always admired Kakashi's way of dealing with this fury.
It was the same each time: she would go for a walk, calm her nerves running and then come back, exhausted, and collapse. The next day would be a new day, without ever mentioning the quarrel of the day before. It was like a game.
" Who are you ?" one of the guards imperatively asked at the entrance to the Hidden Sand Village, raising his spear in front of him. His colleagues did the same thing in the same movement. Visitors aroused more suspicion by the time running.
"We are ninjas of Konoha. We have an urgent message from the Hokage for your Kazekage." Kakashi retorted.
The guard stared at them for a moment. Izumo looked very young to be in charge of such a mission with this even younger and strange-looking girl as a partner.
The bright color of her hair almost hurt his eyes, and her angry look was showing a most unpleasant side of her.
Only the one who seemed to be the leader inspired respect. Moreover, this face almost entirely concealed behind a mask and that gray hair seemed familiar.
"He wants my picture that one?" Akemi taunted, frowning slightly at the guard. Izumo's slight nudge silenced her. Akemi gave him a venomous look at the possible.
Before any reaction from the somewhat tense guards, Kakashi cut short.
"It's very important. I am Kakashi Hatake, jonnin of Konoha. I have to deliver a message from Master Tsunade."
Without getting rid of his suspicious look, the guard ignored Akemi's remark.
"Very well," he said finally, "please follow us in this case, we bring you to Kazekage."
Two of the guards then left the village watch to take them to the building where the Kazekage sat. They crossed the great wall surrounding the village and came out into what appeared to be the main street leading straight to the Palace. Villagers sometimes stopped to watch them.
"So fucking dusty here ..." Akemi gasped disgustedly.
Kakashi and Izumo were walking in front of her and decided not to pays attention to her futile attempt at provocation; the first, rather amused, the second, rather embarrassed, not knowing what to say or do to excuse her childish attitude.
A few minutes' walk later, they arrived at the Kazekage's building. The guards led them straight to his office where they were immediately received.
Gaara, the Kazekage, looked at Kakashi and then the two ninjas standing behind him. The man had a very respectful attitude and stared down at the ground, almost leaning over in respect. The woman, on the other hand, stared at him shamelessly.
So it's him, Gaara, the former Jinchuuriki of the devil of the sands ... it is true that he is scary...
"Who are they?" the Kazekage asked Kakashi.
Kakashi raised his head, Gaara did not have the habit of being openly curious to his knowledge, but it did not intrigue him any more than the look he was exchanging at the same time with Akemi, whose face showed a defiant expression.
"These are two chunnins from Konoha, Izumo Kamitsuki and ... Akemi Kishiro, specially chosen to accompany me on this mission" said Kakashi.
He did not linger on it, hoping Gaara would move on, but he did not.
"Is there a question you would like to ask, Akemi Kishiro?" he asked in a calm voice.
Izumo imperceptibly clenched his teeth, apprehending what would follow.
"Yes actually ... I wondered if you had recovered from the extraction of your demon. It's said that you usually can't survive it." answered Akemi with a singing tone as if she was announcing the good weather.
"Yes, I'm doing well." Gaara said just as quietly without even blinking at the indiscreet question, " extractions are done very well these days, I thank you for your concern."
Akemi smirked and Izumo relaxed slightly. Luckily the Kazekage was not devoid of humor, it was surely that which would save her.
Gaara picked up the message and read it in front of a still impassive Kakashi. When he had finished, he wrapped the parchment again and put it on his desk.
"You will tell the Hokage that I am going to look at the matter favorably, of course. I will send him my arrangements as soon as possible." he declared.
The ninjas of Konoha had no idea what the message contained, but they assumed that Tsunade, their Hokage, was asking Suna's ninjas for help if Akatsuki attacked the Hidden Leaf Village.
"Very good, Master Kazekage." said Kakashi, bowing slightly.
"You are my guests if you want to rest before you leave." Gaara said.
While Akemi seemed completely uninterested in what was happening around her and was looking out the window, he added:
"The night will soon fall; it is at this time that our village is the most beautiful."
This remark attracted Akemi's attention again.
"... Moreover, the desert is not safe at night, you should stay." he continued.
"Very well Master Kazekage, thank you very much." concluded Kakashi who preferred to cut short the conversation.
He went out, followed by Izumo and Akemi who looked at Gaara one last time with a smirk.
Akemi, all smiles, was already jubilant at the idea of the feast that would certainly reserve their host. As allies, they would be well treated, no doubt.
Izumo exchanged a look of exasperation with Kakashi, who could not hide his amusement from seeing her reaction. There were few moments when she looked so satisfied.
