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"This is who you told me about, Itachi?"

"Yes."

"This is—"

"Hatake Kakashi." Kakashi finished for the ginger, holding a fingerless-gloved hand up in casual greeting.

The former Konoha ninjas had traveled through the night all the way to Amegakure, where the Akatsuki headquarters was hidden. Due to the rain, both Kakashi and Itachi were drenched as they stood before the leader of the ninja world's most wanted organization. For a hideout, it was pretty spacious and airy despite it being underground.

The ginger's ringed eyes narrowed slightly, "Sharingan no Kakashi?" He inquired, purple eyes focused on the silver-haired man.

Kakashi pushed up his forehead protector, exposing the brilliant crimson of the sharingan. "The one and only." He confirmed.

The ginger nodded thoughtfully as a blizzard of papers engulfed the whole room, gathering at his left. First the knee-length black sandals, then the black Akatsuki cloak with red clouds and finally the newcomer's face. She had a labret piercing and wore blue eyeshadow over her gray eyes. Her blue hair was worn down to her shoulders and she wore a paper flower in her hair. Kakashi's sharingan recognized this as a unique ability that he couldn't copy.

"Sharingan no Kakashi?" She asked, her facial expression neutral as she scrutinized the man. After a few moments, she turned to the ginger, "well, Pein?"

Pein nodded. "Do you have them here, Konan?"

The woman gave something to him, turning to look at Kakashi with the same neutral expression as before. Kakashi stole a quick glance at the Uchiha beside him, seeing that he had a more or less neutral expression as well.

Pein and Konan moved to stand before Itachi and Kakashi respectively. "Now..." Pein murmured.

"You remember the agreement we had, Pein-sama?" Kakashi's attention shifted to Itachi who stood beside him.

Sharingan stared into rinnegan for a long moment before the ginger replied. "Yes. Akatsuki will not act directly against Konoha as long as you – and Kakashi – are members of the organization."

Kakashi raised his eyebrow; Itachi had really thought of everything here. Not only had he managed to massacre his clan to ensure the safety of the village, he had made sure that it wouldn't directly be harmed by the most wanted organization in the world.

Once the Uchiha nodded, Kakashi turned back to look at Konan and Pein continued, "this will be proof of your membership to Akatsuki." Motioning for Itachi to hold his right hand out, he slid a ring onto the teen's ring finger.

When he pulled away, Itachi lifted it up to eye level to study it. There was a single kanji character written in black, surrounded in red. "Shu," he commented, stating the name of the kanji.

Instead of presenting Kakashi with his ring, Pein turned to Konan, who in turn motioned for Kakashi to raise his left hand, which he did without question. The woman slipped the ring on his ring finger and stepped away. Taking a look, the former ANBU read the black character in the middle of the yellow circle. "Nan," which meant south.

"Congratulations. You're now official members of the Akatsuki." Pein told them in a monotone voice. "You two will be partners. Await further notice, until then, you may do whatever you wish." Turning around, he left to wherever he usually passed time.

The former Konoha ninjas looked to the remaining person, Konan. She gave a little sigh, but didn't disappear like Pein did. "I'll show you your rooms." Beckoning for them to follow her, she led them out by the door they had come in from.

Kakashi caught Itachi's gaze and held it for a few moments as they followed Konan; he seemed to be asking if his senior was ok with this. He answered the question with a smile before turning back to follow the blue haired kunoichi. Reaching up, Kakashi slipped the forehead protector over his left eye, not wanting his sharingan to eat all his chakra up, making a mental note to train with Itachi and figure out how to either deactivate it or at least tone its power down a little more so that he wouldn't have to keep covering it all the time.

Konan took her time walking as she navigated through the dark corridors absentmindedly. She knew that the two newly recruited ninjas were more than capable of finding their way back out if she just hurried through, but rushing wasn't exactly a part of her. Although it had not even been a day, the news of the Uchiha clan's massacre had already reached Amegakure. She knew that it was Itachi who had killed his clan and was smart enough to deduce that Kakashi was probably the one who had aided him in this and therefore joined Akatsuki as well. It was well known that Kakashi was a powerful ninja renown for his use of the sharingan and could be a valuable asset to Akatsuki. Then they would be a step closer to world peace.

Soon they came to a flight of steps, which she merely jumped up. She didn't feel like climbing steps today. The two men followed her example and continued to follow her faithfully. Now they were overground, though the corridor was still dimly lit. Most of the inhabitants preferred it that way – no matter how seldom they were actually in.

Walking down towards the end, she opened the second last door on the left, "This is for Kakashi," then she turned to the one adjacent, opening the door as well, "and this is for Itachi." Having done her job, the kunoichi turned to leave. "Welcome to the gang," she said over her shoulder. As when they first saw her, she left in a flurry of papers, easily navigating back to her partner's side.

As usual, Pein was staring out at the village where the rain always fell on. Konan allowed a fleeting smile to grace her lips as the last piece of paper melted into her cloak, but just as quickly as it had come, it was gone.

"And? What do you think of them?" Pein turned around to face his partner, regarding her calmly.

Konan shrugged. "They won't betray us, for sure." She replied. What did she think of them? She hadn't really seen them for long enough to know. If the rumors were true then they had obviously got the best deal here. "And now Akatsuki has two of the three great dojutsu." The kunoichi added.

The ginger in front of her nodded, "the two most skilled wielders of the sharingan. I'm expecting a lot from them." Tomorrow the other members of Akatsuki would be returning and they could finally discuss and get a move on starting the plan. He had heard that Kakuzu had killed his partner again and needed yet another replacement. Orochimaru and Sasori were quite near, at the border of the River country and they would probably be back first. The two were quite an efficient team; perhaps he would send them to take care of the Nanabi.

"Why don't we send Kakashi and Itachi?" Pein's gaze suddenly snapped back to Konan, who had tilted her head in question. Once more she had guessed exactly what he was thinking. "We can test them like this."

Pein nodded; what Konan had said made sense. In fact, it made perfect sense that way. Not only would he be able to test their strength and teamwork, he could test their loyalty this way. "Then we will send them to capture the Nanabi. Thank you, Konan."

The kunoichi bowed her head, "no problem."

A/N: Is this ending a little better than the other one? I hope so. I didn't plan for too much PeinKo... it just sorta... happened? XD;

Also, I would like to know what people think if I bring in a couple of OC's... would it ruin the story? Please, please comment and tell me what you think.

… Or I won't update any more. ^^