The night went by peacefully, no sign of any enemies trying to jump them while they slept. Akemi started to wake up, seeing that everyone else was packing up and shuffling to get ready to leave. She sat up and yawned, stretching herself out a bit before getting up. Shisui was the first to notice the blonde finally wake up. "Sleep well?" he asked, glancing in her direction.

"The ground was not very comfortable." she complained, putting her hand on her lower back. Shisui chuckled, shaking his head a bit at her.

"You should have taken the tree. It was at least a little nicer." he looked at her like he was going to say something else, but was interrupted by Itachi. "It is time to head out."

Akemi groaned softly, not prepared for the long walk they had ahead of them. The route the missing-nin had given them apparently had a few transfer checkpoints on the way. They were going to check those out, and hopefully, manage to liberate a few of the prisoners. She followed the Uchihas to where Genma and Kiyomi were already patiently waiting, ready to get moving.

Genma was currently annoying Kiyomi by asking her about her strengths. He had never worked with her and had only ever heard about her medical skills. Switching his senbon from one side of his mouth to the other, he thought of another question. "So, if you're a Senju, does that mean you have all that crazy chakra control like Lady Hokage?" She sighed heavily and turned to face the Uchiha's, not wanting to answer the brunette man.

"I am a medic. Of course I have above average control over my chakra."

"That wasn't what I asked. Are you strictly a medic-nin? Or can you do other stuff? Is there some kind of secret Kekkei Genkai for the Senju clan?" he continued trying to get something interesting out of the quiet girl, but all he got was a harsh glare.

"I am mostly sent with a team as a medic." Noticing Kiyomi's growing aggravation, Itachi stepped in, "Enough Genma. You will see her skills soon enough. There is no need to continue to pester her. We need to get going." Kiyomi sent him a thankful look before adjusting her medicinal pack across her shoulder.

Akemi stood toward the back of everyone, giggling a bit as she watched Genma harassing her dark haired friend. She was bound to smack him sooner or later, and she kinda wanted to see it. Itachi led everyone, walking down the path with everyone else close behind.

The blonde stayed behind everyone, sighing quietly as she walked through the morning sunlight. She couldn't help but feel a little jealous of Kiyomi, who seemed to get nothing but attention and praise from the rest of the team. Even when they were in the academy and doing missions as Genin she always excelled at everything. It was kind of frustrating, but she obviously wasn't going to say anything to anyone. She was only there to see the mission through to completion, so she could go home.

Kiyomi noticed a look on her old friend's face. A look that she was all too familiar with. She let a soft sigh leave her as she fell behind the others to walk with the blonde. Sticking her hands into her front pockets and looking straight ahead, she spoke softly to the girl. "I know that face, Akemi." Kiyomi gave her a sideways glance. "You know I don't mean to."

The dark haired girl winced slightly at the irritated look coming from the blonde and looked away again. "Trust me, I do not like the attention. I hate feeling like I must always live up to everyone's standards just because of my name."

Akemi frowned, making a point to look to her other side. She hadn't honestly expected her friend to recognize how she was feeling. She figured she'd forgotten after not interacting for so long. She wasn't sure if that made her feel better or worse about the whole thing. She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest as they walked. "I've spent so much time working my butt off for the position I'm in, and the one time we're back together it feels like I've taken a huge step back." she said, obviously a little frustrated.

Kiyomi became quiet, not knowing exactly how to respond. She didn't realize that her very presence made her feel that way. She looked down at her feet as they walked. "Hey! You guys should stop being so antisocial and at least walk closer to us!" Called Shisui. She felt Akemi look once more at her before huffing and walking faster to get away from the girl.

Sighing softly, Kiyomi kept her position from behind, feigning the reason being she was keeping an eye on things from there. She felt terrible. Akemi had always been her best and only friend, yet because of their differences, they had faded so much from each other's lives. She continued walking, lost in her thoughts.

Roughly three hours of walking later, the group arrived to a small village not far off from Kusagakure, the Village Hidden in the Grass. Shisui and Akemi's stomach growled loudly as the smell of delicious ramen wafted through the air towards them. "Itachi~..I'm hungry. Can we get food before we do anything else?"

Akemi looked over at Itachi, for once hoping that they could just focus on the task at hand. She sighed a little when Itachi reluctantly agreed that they could make a food stop. She stayed quiet as they made their way to the ramen shop nearby, taking a seat at the table. She watched as the boys all ordered something, declining when the man running the shop got to her. Usually she could eat a lot, but today in specific she just wasn't feeling it.

Kiyomi, also wishing to just get this mission over with, decided that it would be good to get some Intel. She never ate much on missions aside from the occasional Soldier Pill to keep up strength. She leaned over closely to Itachi and spoke lowly, "Would you mind if I went to gather some intel? This is one of the stops the man gave us." Itachi nodded his head in agreement, but before she could leave he spoke up, "Akemi should go with you. It would be good to have two instead of just one." Sighing, Kiyomi nodded and turned to the blonde who was now standing behind her chair.

Akemi, who was within earshot of the two, nodded without really saying anything. She started to walk away, looking around at the shops and everything around them. She stayed silent for a minute, before sighing and shaking her head. She was going into work mode. Mainly to ignore how she was feeling about the whole Kiyomi situation.

"So, where do you want to go first?" she asked, because it was her that suggested they gather intel. She spotted a little cafe-like area, where some sketchy people seemed to be hanging out. She nudged Kiyomi and started to make her way over. She slid quietly into a seat at a table, conveniently close enough to kinda hear what they were saying. She acted casual, looking over at the menu to decide what she wanted.

Sitting down and also picking up the menu, Kiyomi listened in to the people seated a bit away from them. The lanky blue haired man spoke first, "Have you heard that Daitsu-sama is cracking down on quality of the merchandise?" Kiyomi's eyebrow lifted as she glanced at Akemi from over the menu. The waitress came and took their orders, which was just two waters and a light sandwich.

The large burly man groaned and sat back in his seat, taking a sip of his drink. "Fucking yeah. All he wants is fucking blondes and dark haired ones. And he wants them to have a fighting spirit. We ain't gonna get that unless we go after kunoichi. And we gotta be careful of that shit. I mean we ain't, but a bunch of C-Rank shinobi. How the hell are we supposed to find kunoichi with those fucking qualities?"

"Man, I don't know… But we need to figure it out, and fast. He wants the next shipment ready to go before tomorrow night." one smaller man said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat. The waitress brought the girls their tea and sandwiches and they politely thanked her. As she took a sip, Akemi noticed the thinner man glance in her direction, and the slight nudge of the guy next to him's shoulder.

The blonde took a bite of her sandwich, making eye contact with her friend. "We should go ahead and hurry up so we can get some shopping done." she said, soon feeling the whole table's eyes on them. She had an idea, but she wouldn't dare speak it anywhere near these guys. It would blow their cover entirely.

The girls finished their sandwiches and tea, leaving the money for their bill on the table and making their way out of the cafe. They kept walking, making sure the group of guys weren't following them. She stopped her friend in an alleyway, a grin plastered on her face as she turned to her. "Ki, I think I just found us our opening." she said barely above a whisper, still not sure who could be lurking.

Kiyomi gave a rare grin to the girl, "I think I know exactly what you're thinking. Let's get back to the others. We should let them know what we found out as well as our plan." The two girls then made their way back to the three boys and took a seat. Akemi still sporting her grin and Kiyomi even showing a smile. Genma and Shisui looked on in surprise. "What's got you two so happy?" Genma asked. The dark haired girl let her smile widen slightly, "We got the intel we needed."

Itachi gave the two a small smile himself. He was relieved that they were able to find something this soon. "And Akemi has a wonderful idea on how we can get directly to Daitsu Hitomi." She looked over to the blonde and nodded at her to explain the plan.