"Itachi! Hey, Itachi!"
Itachi's eyes snapped open to see Kisame shaking him awake.
"You baka! You fell asleep! She escaped!" Kisame was shouting at him.
"She did?"
"Yeah, she did!" Kisame exclaimed while picking up Samehada and resting it on his shoulder. "Now hurry up, we gotta go find her."
"...Why?"
"Why?! WHY?! You mean you just intend to let her go?!"
"Why waste our time? She has nothing on us other than our current location. She doesn't know where we came from, where we're going, or what we're doing. Going after her is a waste of time. She probably has no more useful intel than any other leaf ninja we happen across."
Kisame sighed. "Alright, Itachi, have it your way."
"Masuyo, do you mind telling me why you were a day late returning from a simple message delivery mission?"
"Well, you see, Tsunade-sama..."
Masuyo scratched the back of her head. In her mind, she was arguing with herself.
Just tell her, 'I ran into Itachi Uchiha and got held up!'
But I told Itachi I wouldn't tell anyone!
He's an enemy! Why should I listen to him?
He's my friend!
He WAS my friend!
But-
"Masuyo!" Tsunade exclaimed.
"I, uh, I ran into . . . an old friend."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "An old friend?"
"Yeah he . . . doesn't live around here. And I hadn't seen him for a while. I didn't intend to be held up as long as I was, but I couldn't just leave, you know? I apologize for the extra time."
Tsunade sighed. "It's fine, Masuyo, just, try not to let it happen again, hm?"
"Hai, Tsunade-sama."
Masuyo left the Hokage's office and walked back to her apartment. She made herself a cup of tea and sat on her couch, looking out her window. She couldn't stop thinking about Itachi. Something was off with him. It didn't make sense. No matter how good of friends they had been back at the academy, why would someone who had killed his family simply let her escape? Something was weird, and Masuyo was going to get to the bottom of it.
