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Chapter 3

She sat at her window sill looking at the report while she dried her long pink hair with the soft beige colored towel. Ino had certainly done her work well, the report had details to even the minutest, it was good to know that Sakura had chosen the right person for the job.

The neatly written script explained the history and structure of the village, reasons for everything and the main shinobi to look out for. As far as Sakura could see the only people she really had to look out for were. Itachi Uchiha heir to the Uchiha clan and ANBU captain, Kakashi Hatake the famed Copy nin, and Tsunade the Fifth. All of them closely related to team 7, the team she was joining. She sighed, she had literally thrown herself into the enemy ranks by joining the trouble team of Konoha. And she thought it would be a relatively easy mission.

Even so, it meant that she could keep an eye on them as well. She casted a wary eye toward the wall opposite of her, knowing that her masks hid behind the tatami screen folding door, and propped up kimono. There was more than one reason fire lord had wanted her to go on a mission along with this one, she had been asked to look into the case of Danzou and check the loyalty of Konoha. Although she understood that he was a big factor of Konoha, the Fire Lord did not like him from the reports that were given, which meant she had to do a little snooping. The only question was who to choose for this mission?

Kage, was meant for the shadows, but in all essentiality her first mask was too much like an ANBU that if she were being pursued by others like that the possibility of her being caught were high, as Kage was famed for merely killing a mass number of villains but not particularly special in any way. Watanuki the April fool was out, too many unnecessary movements that were meant for being flashy. She thought about the others, and their personalities, and as much as she thought about it there was only one who could fit the bill, and that was Enmu(mist) of the Kiri village.

Through Enmu she would be able to infiltrate ROOT without any problems, Enmu was master of infiltration and espionage, and that was the character most suited for this mission. As for the loyalty of Konoha, she found that it wouldn't be difficult to discern that. She flipped to the nest page that thoroughly described the people she was concerned about in general. All of them exceptional and at one point in the ANBU forces at one point, then again all of the best went through ANBU one way or another, Sakura knew because she was one of those few, how else would she be able to garner such a famed reputation through her nine different ANBU selves?

The last time she had read in the bingo books she or her ANBU selves were wanted by all, either for hire or to eliminate. Even so, she had never been caught, and she would like to keep it that way. There had been times when she had been close to being caught but, she had escaped, thus the reason why she was here today. She swung her les off the sill, putting the information away in a summoning scroll. She tapped various places in the floor, in a series of pattern-like taps, as expected the floor opened up, and she placed the scroll in the little hide out.

She had rigged hr apartment to have little secret hiding places like that since, it was out of the question if she were to go outside to hide things. She was after all not on her own terms. She glanced at the clock, Ino was going to be there soon, she was going to do her mission tonight, and Ino was her alibi, not that the girl knew. Quickly she slung on her 'Enmu' outfit, and summoned a bunshin to take her place, they clasped arms and Sakura let herself transform into a dove, her messenger birds.

The clone tied a blank piece of paper to her leg and set her free, whispering a small 'good luck' to the wind.

~(Itachi)~
He strode through ROOT, case files in hand making yet another delivery to the wayward faction of the ANBU division, he never liked visiting ROOT considering that people like Danzo were here. The old man still resented the fact that he never got the position as third Hokage. Itachi didn't see why Konoha had not wiped out this faction all together, in Itachi's eyes they were just a loose end that needed to be tied up from the previous war.

Even so they had their uses, that is in bloody assassination, Itachi had spent a little time in ROOT and their mission were short from massacres all of them designed to get rid of nin who were competing with Konoha for power in the fire country. They were the people who handled the darker side of Konoha, but that didn't make Itachi like Danzo, in fact Itachi barely tolerated the old grave robbing man. It was no secret that he had stolen Shisui's right arm and sharingan. Itachi could feel Shisui's chakra off of the old man which made Itachi not like the man even more. He was disgusted, the dead were meant to be left in peace, and if the sharingan weren't enough, the old man had taken Hashirama's DNA implanted into his other arm.

Danzo was the center of conspiracies of Konoha, and dint know how to leave a situation well enough alone, it was no surprise that Orochimaru had worked with him at some point before becoming an S-class criminal. Even so the old man had his uses, which is why Itachi mildly tolerated his existence, although there were some times where Itachi felt that they were better off without the old man, unfortunately no one had enough proof to prosecute the wayward member of the Hidden Leaf village, after all, all of the ROOT members revered to him as if her were a god and covered up for him.

Itachi did believe that the old man would meet his downfall soon, for better or for worse of this village, and Itachi felt that the old man knew it as well, and was panicking why else would the old man kick his movements into high gear rather than the cold calculating movements the old man was known for doing. It disgusted Itachi that the man just wanted to feel the power of Hokage even if for a few moments. Itachi suppressed his chakra, making sure to keep it to himself; he already knew he had people following him from the shadows as a silent escort. Even so, that set him on edge, and he kept his chakra close so that he could feel for any malevolent movements.

His footsteps barely echoed off of the walls but they still produced sound, he turned the corner to the case files unit. He didn't like the darkness around him and the fact that more than two or three people were following him with such persistency. The old man was certainly being careful, but the blatant paranoia meant, that Danzo was up to something. He opened the door, more darkness greeted him. Even so he felt something off with the air, it was barely noticeable, but he felt another presence in the air, watching him. It didn't feel like any of Danzo's men, this one felt more powerful and quiet. He took a step into the room, his allowing his eyes to bleed red. He gripped the scroll case files, and threw them hard to his far left.

He looked to that side, and saw a shift in the air, someone was certainly there and had dodged the fly scrolls, from what Itachi knew none of the ROOT members would ever try to attack him, and this one seemed to try and blend in with the atmosphere, if Itachi hadn't been paying attention he knew that he would have missed this particular invader. Itachi reached for his kunai, a bit surprised someone had the skill and gall to actually break into ROOT, a well known ANBU facility. Itachi felt the spike in the air, as the tension rose, the faint chakra signature still muffled.

Even though this intruder was getting information about ROOT, he or she was still an invader, and had to be dealt with at once. Itachi threw the kunai and began their fight. He watched as the genjutsu dropped, a mask slightly grey with faint outlines of roaring waves came to view, he felt a subdued, breeze chakra greet him. Blank mask, with waves up one side, a hooded shirt and long gloves as was the standard ANBU gear, but Itachi knew that this wasn't a comrade. If he recalled correctly, the one standing before him, was the infamous, Enmu of the village hidden in the mist.

~(Sakura)~

She dodged the incoming kunai, which came at her at a high speed. She pulled out kunai of her own, she had been surprised to find that Itachi could see her, but at the same time it was expected. She kept her movements breezy like the wind, appearing in and out of sight hoping to stall him until she got to the door. She didn't think that she would be fighting two Uchiha in one day. Even so, she knew that this battle and the little warm up she had with Sasuke and Naruto were not in the same league, it couldn't be classified as that.

Uchiha, Itachi was also a well sought after nin as well, she had even heard that the Akatsuki were considering on asking whether or not to join them. She knew that any chance she gave him he would try and kill her, and/or bring her in for questioning neither of which she was willing to happen. She jumped up to avoid another barrage of kunai, he was closing in fast and at this rate she knew she was going to get caught. He allowed no opening from the left and right. If she were just Haruno Sakura she could have surprised him by creating a chasm in the ground but, that was not a piece of information she was willing to give away.

She jumped back darker into the recesses of the darkness where it was pitch black, and then she created a clone and transformed herself into a kunai. The clone picked her up and threw her at the Itachi as expected he dodged. She flew through the door way and used the speed to bounce off the wall, she retained her normal shape, and began to soundlessly run down the halls, halfway out she felt the recordings of her battle come into mind, she was thankful the clone had lasted that long.

She slipped into her genjutsu, a technique that made anyone who looked at her not see her, she ran silently past many ANBU rushing to the scene were Itachi was fighting, he truly was a formidable opponent, if she had to fight him head on she wasn't too sure of her abilities to defeat him. A situation she did not appreciate in the least. She found a nearby door, and went through it, going to the outside, to safety after closing the door with a sound click.

~(Itachi)~

Truly like the mist, unattainable, and mysterious, Itachi stood among the remains of many important documents wondering what it was that their enemies wanted with the documents stored in this room. "Uchiha-sama." Came a quiet greeting from an ANBU who had quietly come to approach him, from the tone they were wondering what had happened, useless buffoons.

"You had an intruder here, ANBU, what's wrong with your security tonight?" Itachi asked picking up a kunai that had been thrown by Enmu of the mist, the owner's chakra was slowly ebbing away decreasing the likeliness of tracking him or her down. But, Itachi knew that the owner was long gone, it was an impressive to know the person had distracted him with just a clone, and at the same time it made him mad. "Intruder?" the ANBU asked an edge of incredulity in his voice, Itachi turned his crimson gaze on the ANBU before him, "Yes, an intruder, Enmu of the mist as a matter-of-fact. Now, why would Enmu want to look through ROOT files?"

He saw many of them stiffen, even though he had lost track of Enmu of the mist his/her infiltration gave them enough leeway to investigate ROOT, hopefully halting Danzo's next plan of action and allowing them to raid the base, Itachi turned keeping the lone kunai in hand as a reminder to get back at this 'Enmu' person Itachi did not like being tricked, it was not an often occurrence. Itachi touched his arm gently pulling away to find a lone scratch the clone had inflicted on him. Enmu had been a fierce fighter. "A report will be filed, ANBU. Prepare for a full out investigation in a few days." Very gently Itachi opened the door and closed it leaving the ANBU to boil in their fear.

Itachi, walked down the street, uncomfortable with the situation at hand, first the girl and now Enmu, how much of coincidence? He had thought that this 'Sakura' person was suspicious, but whether it was his shinobi sense or plain curiosity, he didn't know. For now he would have to watch and wait, he had found that no matter how stressful waiting could be it was often the most effective way to find information. Too bad he hadn't given Enmu a bad wound if he had he could differentiate between Sakura and their lovely Mist nin.

~(Sakura)~

She transformed into a squirrel and scaled the wall to her apartment, the window left opened by her clone, the lack of sound indicating that Ino had gone home by now. That had been a close call, but she had gotten plenty of information, a pity that it had only been the tip of the proverbial iceburg, but it looked like, Konoha would take some action and look into ROOT. She hoped a little of that information would come her way. Hope however was a vague concept so she wouldn't put must trust into it. She leapt into the opened window and scampered to a dark corner away from the open window to transform. Simultaneously her bunshin disappeared.

She leaned against the cool wall of her room and sighed taking off her mask. She would have to be more careful nest time. She hastily changed out of her clothes into the safety of pajamas letting her bounded hair go free, messing it up slightly so that if anyone knocked she could claim that she had been sleeping. She hid her ANBU mask and outfit back behind the tatami screen, she then took one of the blanks scrolls and wrote down all that she remembered, she hadn't read much before Itachi had interrupted her but she did know that a lot of the cases were the same. Why were the missions so bloody? Why were there current movements to contact the Akatsuki? Why contact the Kiri village? There were so many factors she didn't know, but all of them weren't pointing in a good direction at this rate she might just have to assassinate Danzo of ROOT and take out his followers.

She stretched and hid the scroll in the compartment in the floor before resetting all of her traps with a single flare of her chakra then slipping into bed where she would ponder some more. From what it looked Danzo was planning another crackpot scheme to take over Konoha, although she and her parents had no part in the ninja wars, she knew of them very well. Danzo was probably one of the straws that broke the camel's back when it came to that war, the Fire Lord liked peace in his realm and that didn't exclude the shinobi world, She stretched and turned over, to close her eyes, the investigation warranted more snooping, and it seemed that Enmu would be worked out a little more than she had thought. She curled into the warmth of the blanket, and slept.

She woke to the early sun and a knock at the door. She opened her eyes aware, to everything around her there were two nin outside her door neither of them were Naruto or Sasuke, she knew this would happen so she had set up the alibi with Ino, she rolled out of bed and put on the face of exhaustion from her clones memory they had drunken a lot of sake. She ruffled her clothes and faked a yawn before unlocking the door while sending her chakra in to disable her traps, "Yes? Who *yawn* is it?" she looked up into a pair of black eyes; she stiffened, as she spotted him along with the ANBU member behind him.

"May I help you?" she asked nervously as if she cared about her current appearance. "Haruno, Sakura, where were you last night?" she looked nervously at his dark piercing eyes, in reality she was used to such confrontation, even as the Fire Lords advisor people try to look down at you even if you were behind a tatami screen, she was used to this sort of pressure and there was no way she was going to break under it, "Drinking with Ino. Why?" She smoothed out her hair pretending like she was composing herself, into nin mode even though she was dressed in an oversized t shirt and a pair of short shorts. She squared her shoulders and looked the older Uchiha straight in the eye giving nothing, in all technically she had been drinking with Ino.

"Last night we had a break in at one of the ANBU headquarters." He said still looking down at her. "And, I suppose you suspect me?" "I wouldn't be here if I hadn't." She gave a slight smile, "Well at least you're being honest about it." She took a step back, "If you'd like we can discuss this inside, I have a feeling that if you stay out there you might darken the day of the citizens who are working outside. Don't want to make them nervous right?" She nodded her head in the direction of the ANBU behind him. "Especially if people like that are going to be with you. I don't really want to be ostracized in the village after just a day here."

She watched as the two stepped into the darkened little apartment, a dangerous place to have them, but she had confidence in her concealment skills Enmu was for stealth, and she was the main instigator to all of these tricks. Gently she closed the door not bothering to reset her traps; she wouldn't want any of the two behind her to see them. She turned and walked to the kitchenette and began making some tea, "So. How shall we begin?"

Yay! Next one! I'm cranking these out pretty quickly it's only been two days since I started this series too!!

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