A/N: Late warning: there's slight mention of NarutoxSakura in this story, although that is still debatable. Don't worry…nothing…physical… C'mon, who else here feels sorry for Naruto?


Chapter 3 – "Let me break you from your goal."

"Voreka, you look like you're about to die. What, exhausted already?" Kisame's gruff voice drew her attention to the tall man beside her.

"How many more days?" she murmured, for some reason not wanting Itachi, who was quite far ahead actually, to overhear.

"…" He continued eyeing her, one brow raised. "It's only the first day you've been traveling with us, not counting last night."

Right, but that doesn't ease her in any way. It wasn't that she was getting worn out yet…it was because she had a deadline to meet. She wanted to know when they were planning to release her. Hopefully they will release her, and not kill her. If they effortlessly took out last night's Leaf search squad, then she wasn't going to be thrilled to be up against either, and certainly not both.

"I know. It's just way too hot for me." Beads of sweat trickled down the back of her neck. There were some things harder to endure than others. She really. needed. a bath. Letting out a soft sigh, she eyed the dark figure up ahead.

"Kisame-san, are those eyes of his able to…well…see more things than normal eyes?"

The shark man laughed his booming laugh. "You haven't noticed yet? Yeah, he commands the Sharingan to its full extent!"

"…Sharingan?" she asked, careful not to sound inquiring.

He stared at her dubiously.

"What? You've never heard of the Uchiha clan?"

Voreka raked through her brain.

"…Uchiha clan?"

Kisame scowled. "Girl, what have you? Lived in a tree all your life?"

"Uhm…ha…"

They passed a few minutes in silence.

"So…the rest of this clan…is situated in Fire Country?"

A brief pause before Kisame replied casually, "No, the rest of the Uchiha, 'cept one other, are dead."

Is that so…? Voreka looked ahead of her thoughtfully. "Is that why he's…" She waved a hand, unable to come up with a suitable adjective.

"HA!" Kisame interjected loudly.

Loud enough to make a certain black haired shinobi stop and turn to set his red eyed glare on them both.

"Kisame. Take the lead."

Awww!

With a hint of unease, Kisame obeyed. She saw Itachi say something quiet enough that she wasn't able to pick up, to Kisame, as he passed him.

Itachi evidently wasn't pleased.

He spared her a sidelong look of disapproval. "Keep up, Girl."

Voreka followed after him, careful to maintain a comfortable distance between them. Or at least, as comfortable as it could get.

A suffocating silence descended upon them, so dense that even her accelerated breathing seemed embarrassing.

"I have a name, and yet you don't even address me as 'kunoichi'."

She almost got fooled into thinking that he didn't hear her; he sure took his time in responding.

"…Perhaps you are reckless enough to give us your real name…but you call yourself a ninja…?" He turned his head slightly to stare at her with those empty, cold eyes over his shoulder. "You makeshift females…are pathetic excuses for shinobi."

Inwardly, she flinched at his words. She was determined not to let an outsider undermine her. Yet, unexplainably…-No, it's because…his words directed at her struck true.

"My name is Voreka. I have no other. I am a ninja in heart and soul."

I am not the weak girl I once was…

"…Heh." He commented no further.

That marked the end of their short-lived conversation.

So this Itachi is a…woman-hater?

If so, what did it mean for her?

---

She was absorbed in her own thoughts – not like there's much else to do anyway – when Itachi slowed to a halt. Likewise, she also came to a stop when she saw Kisame waiting with a report.

"Itachi-san, there's a lake right up ahead. Let's make a small repose, ya? You bruised her pretty bad last night."

Although Itachi remained outwardly indifferent to Kisame's request, Voreka felt the tension level rise in the space between the three of them, an electric field which prickled her skin.

"Humph." Itachi's reply, neither consent nor dissent.

"Don't stop for me. I am not weak." She saw Kisame glare at her from behind Itachi, but she had no room for feeling ungrateful. "Do not go easy on me because I am a woman. You'll regret it."

Yes, he struck a nerve. Yes, she was probably going to regret using that tone on him. Very, very soon.

The shorter man took one step towards her.

"…Since we're making good time…" Itachi reached up a hand to brush his bangs away from his eyes as he gazed distastefully at her. "We'll stop here..."

Voreka flashed her spring green eyes at him. Was he deliberately mocking her?

Her blood was boiling. She had half the mind to say – or do – something she would really regret, before he forestalled any attempts.

"Fool. It is not out of consideration for you. Right now, a keen nose can trace you from miles away."

"Tsch. Excuse me for living." I forgot certain cold-blooded individuals don't sweat, but she wisely kept that to herself.

"…Kisame, head back and cover our tracks. We don't need them figuring out where we're heading."

With a curt nod, the shark man complied. Not before tossing an inscrutable glance her way.

Itachi was already moving ahead, walking. Voreka trailed after him. She was left with him again. Did she dare to attempt an escape? How was he able to detect her when she'd hidden last night?

The lake. It was…beautiful. Serene and inviting in the glowing afternoon sun. Itachi sat himself down cross-legged against the trunk of a tree next to the gentle lapping of water against the shore.

"Must you?" Folding her arms, Voreka looked down at him defensively. He answered by a way of a lingering stare on her face, emotionless. Then he leaned back and closed his eyes, dark dense eyelashes casting a miniature shadow on his cheeks.

Tsch. Fine.

He didn't seem to be someone who would…look…but…the thought didn't comfort her. Dropping the scroll on the ground first, she waded into the water up to mid-half, she was thankful to find that the lake was warm, heated by the sun during the long hours of the day.

Voreka pulled off her tunic, tossing it beside her in the water for a good soaking before washing. Her other garments soon followed. Gathering her hair to one side, she bit down an urge to glance back. It wasn't that she was shy. It was because she would need to drop her illusion if she wanted to wash herself.

Which she did, walking deeper into the lake as she allowed her adopted disguise dissolve. Chest-deep in water, she came face to face with her reflection. Her hated traits which branded her as a human with a tainted bloodline.

Her irises were like sheets of pink ice, her hair blades of newly sprung grass, and her lips the red of a blood dawn. She reached out a hand and clutched the surface of the water, distorting the reflection of her face.

Slowly, she sank down to her knees, completely submerged in the water so that she wouldn't have to see her image.

I'm sorry, Mezhari-chan, I can't take you with me…

Damn! She came back up for air, breaking the surface of the water with a gasp for air and wiping her eyes. Why did she remember that just then? Did his words really affect her that much?

Brushing back clusters of wet hair, Voreka glanced back over her shoulder, to find that her guard was no where to be seen. Not that she was fooled into thinking he wouldn't know if she tried anything.

He had left his robe on the bank of the lake.

She searched her surroundings, thinking perhaps he was taking his own little swim in the lake, but there was no sign of the man. The closer she drew to shore, the more apparent it became that he meant for her to make use of his robe. Voreka shook her head, unsure of what to make out of the matter.

This man…

URGH!

Abruptly, she fished out her clothes with great splashes of water, which were floating unimpressed around where she'd shed them. She was huffing by the time she dragged herself out of the lake, fully dressed and dripping water everywhere.

Don't pity me…

Using unnecessary force, she tugged her clothes into place. Then she flung her hair back, out of the way.

Don't belittle me…

…or I'll…kill you.

Calming down a little, she passed her hands over her body, molding chakra into her raven haired, green eyed mask. Not only that, but her size also shrank, bestowing on her the illusion of her being several years younger than she actually was. Nineteen and still a Chuunin of her village, which was not at all seen to be uncommon…since most of them are outsiders who have been accepted into the Night. Because most of them were…

She left the thought unfinished. Twisting her hair in her hands, she tried to wring out as much water as she could. With one hand, she picked up the scroll by one end of it, and his…robe…thingy…with her other hand. One corner of her lips twisted up in a smirk. Or it may be a cloak, considering how it practically swam on him. The point is she didn't think it did his malignant image justice.

Sharingan…Voreka thought to herself as she set out to look for the man, or men. I wonder if he can see past my disguise, since my genjutsu had no effect on him. Unless that was his clone I unknowingly targeted. Damn it. She needed to find out more.

She would need to get closer to Kisame.


"What did he do? Throw you into the water?" The shark man chuckled, obviously amused by the thought of that. She gave him a look.

"No, I was disguising myself as a twig in an attempt to get away, but he somehow saw through my brilliant disguise and sent shuriken at me. So I fell in the lake," she lied, exaggeratedly.

"AHAHAHA!" Kisame ruffled her hair as she sat sprawled out on the grass next to him, completely messing it up. "You should know better than to try that, now," he joked, humoring her. "None of your genjutsu will work on him."

Is that so? I see.

"Where is Itachi-san, by the way? I have to return this to him." She held up the black cloak with the strange red clouds on it. Kisame was quiet in thought for a moment.

"He lent you his cloak?"

"No way am I wearing it, though. Besides it being his, it also looks funny – sorry, it looks funnier on him though." She took in his expression. "Naturally, he's standing right behind me."

"…Naturally," his cool, unhurried voice confirmed.

She made a mental note to watch her back.

Turning around slowly, Voreka met his eye. Without his cloak, she was able to take in his strong arms and his well-muscled but slim torso. She rose, not liking having to strain her neck to be stared down upon.

"Itachi-san." She held out his cloak to him. "I don't need. your consideration."

A tense moment passed, none of them moved. Finally, he reached out a hand and took back what belonged to him.

"I'll remember that."

It was so faint that she could've easily missed it, but she was too absorbed in staring at his jaw, the smooth curve of his neck to miss it. For an instant she thought she saw the man's lips curl up in the barest hint of a smile.

"What did you find out about our pursuers, Itachi?"

"…Five teams of four, getting further from here." Itachi turned sideways to Kisame. "Good work."

"Bah. I thought we took care of them last night! What, are they new ones?"

She sneezed. They were in shades of trees, after all. She ignored the stares she received.

"…No," Itachi replied, turning back to Kisame, "backups, it looks like. They're not giving up the Yamanaka scroll that easily."

Her ears perked up.

"Really? I didn't think they had enough manpower to spare after the invasion by the Sand."

"…That is exactly why…they can't afford to look weak now." Itachi turned his vivid red eyes on her, wide-eyed. She gulped. Was he…angry at her?

"Well! I suppose it was a good thing you ran into us, then, right, Voreka?" Kisame let out a sinister chuckle.

"I-would've-been-able-to-sneak-away-successfully-if-it-weren't-for-that-most-misfortunate-incident," she claimed in a low monotonous voice.

"You're underestimating s, Girl."

Voreka inwardly flinched at the tone.

"…They would still be able to track you down," Itachi added, with the even, certain voice which was characteristic of him.

"I would've been able to deal with them," she countered confidently.

His eyes narrowed just slightly, but it was obvious that he didn't believe her.

"You were knocked out by Kisame alone."

He clearly wasn't going to let her live that down, was he?

"Gah-That-…that was because I-…" Voreka clenched her fists, aware that there wasn't a valid excuse for underestimating her opponent.

"Well then, I say we have a rematch sometime! Kukuku." Kisame ruffled her hair again, and she struggled dignifiedly to remain upright under the pressure. She took it as a warning to shut up.

"…We'll move out at nightfall," Itachi changed the subject completely. "They are still too close for us to relax yet." He paused. "Kisame, you keep watch."

"Understood."

Whistling a little song, Kisame leisurely made his way out of sight. Itachi didn't look at her again. He slipped on his cloak, laying down against the trunk of the tree and closing his eyes.

For thinking that I am weak, you still are wary of leaving me alone with Kisame, aren't you? Tsch. She smiled to herself. That's right, because next time, I won't lose.

Careful not to get any water on the scroll, she untied the string which bond it together and spread it out on the ground. She hadn't been deceiving herself into thinking that learning a stolen jutsu would be easy, but it was required of her. It was required of all of them who wanted to become Chuunin.

As expected…a lot of these instructions, I'm not familiar with. This will take a fair bit of guessing to get the hang of it. She sat down cross-legged on the ground. The first step stated was to clear her mind of all disruptions, since the mind-body switch jutsu revolved around a great deal of willpower. Normally there wasn't one bit of a problem with her doing just that – she'd been trained in all of the basics of ninjutsu and genjutsu. Except this time…

She creaked open an eye, frowning as she glanced behind her. "I feel you trying to burn two holes into the back of my neck. Or are you telling me I'm not supposed to be practicing jutsu in your presence?" she asked sarcastically.

He remained in the exact same position she last saw him in, except for the fact that his eyes were on her, vacant and unsettling.

"You are a Genin."

Her glare faltered. It wasn't even a question. How did he-

The sound of falling trees distracted her. Both of them turned to the turbulence.

"What is-" What looked like the gigantic form of a stocky ninja flexed and started sending punches earthbound, no doubt where Kisame was at the moment.

"…You can wait here."

Voreka got up as he moved past her, taking one step at a time, unhurriedly towards the commotion which was going on without them. Hmm…but he said 'can', didn't he?

It was an opportunity to observe their fighting styles, and she wasn't about to miss that.


"I see…so that's how you were able to find us. Kukuku." Kisame tightened his grip on his sword. "I think I'll get rid of the mutt, first."

The canine growled menacingly, and his mistress took up a defensive stance beside him.

"I remember now. Someone managed to cut my arm last night. No wonder you didn't fall for the traps. Too bad, now I'll have to get rid of you!"

He lunged at them, deflecting kunai out of the way with swings of his large katana.

Unfortunately, there was a great deal of obstacles in getting to the mutt. He had to use Samehada to haul himself aside, off the ground, as two flights of shadows narrowly missed him. Obviously it wouldn't be a good thing to be caught by those. He braced himself and used both arms to block a giant fist, tearing the soil open beneath his feet as he stood against the pressure. With considerable effort, Kisame heaved the punch aside just as the shadow user made another attempt at him, and then ducked down as shuriken sailed overhead. This will be bothersome, yeh.

"You can't take on the four of us alone! We are ninjas of the Leaf! Where is the other missing nin?"

As if on cue, a shadow flitted over the small clearing which was their battlefield, as a blanket of clouds passed under the sun. All gazes were fixed on the smaller figure calmly making his way to stand next to him.

"T-that's-!"

"Uchiha. Itachi." another Leaf completed the exclamation for the first one.

Itachi glanced at each of the four Leafs, eyes pausing on the super-sized ninja towering above them. "…You deal with that one."

"Spread out, and don't look at his eyes!"

Kisame leaped aside as a giant foot came down towards him. The ground shook. Taking care of one ninja would be easy for him. He was more concerned about Itachi taking on three at once; they haven't had to chance to rest properly from the action the previous night. "I'll have to end this quickly," he said to no one in particular. "Yo, fatso! Is that the fastest you can move?" he taunted. It earned him a loud roar of rage and a scary looking face as the Leaf ninja shot another punch down at him. Kukuku.

Lifting his sword with both hands, Kisame waited for the right moment before the punch reached him to swing it upwards, shaving off the chakra which surrounded his opponent like a second skin. The effect was instantaneous. Depleted of his chakra, the Leaf shrank back to his original form. "Much better," he commented with his bloodthirsty grin.

---

So that's it… No wonder he wanted me to draw out my chakra before he used his sword on me last night. Voreka bit her lip, thinking. He can only suck away the chakra already summoned and leaking through, can he? Right, she'll just have to find a way to deal with that.

Upon turning to observe the other missing nin, she found him surrounded by the three other Leafs. The dog was behaving strangely, barking violently at something which she couldn't see, and his mistress was trying to calm him down. She realized he had used genjutsu on the nin dog, and she didn't even see him forming seals.

Wait. How is that possible?

One of the Leafs attacked using a ninjutsu, forming great talons of shadows which pierced through the motionless Itachi. The black cloaked man melted into shades, revealing that it was a clone. The next thing she saw was the same ninja who performed the shadow technique flying backwards into his comrade.

H-he's too fast for me to follow.

Itachi lowered his leg slowly, having just delivered that powerful sidekick, hindering two of his enemies. The kunoichi and her dog went at him. He turned, drew in a deep breath, and breathed out a great stream of fire in their direction. And it was literally a stream of fire. Itachi stopped and inhaled air back into his lungs. The fire didn't as much as burn as to disintegrate anything in its path. What was left was not burning trees, but a dark scorched path where the fire had gone through.

This man…Dangerous…

Barking, the dog tried to drag his coughing mistress out from under two toppled trees. Just as Itachi started to make his way towards them, the other two Leafs attacked from behind, appearing out of thin air. Even though they were armed, it was clear that they weren't a match for the red eyed man in terms of speed. With a back-sidekick too fast for the untrained eye to follow, Itachi sent the first one flying back – again – and single-handedly grabbed the weapon hand of the second man before he could use it. Their eyes met. She wasn't sure what she missed, but the Leaf crumbled before the missing nin. He didn't get back up.

"Shikato!" the concerned shout rose up.

"Kisame," Itachi commanded, making his sidekick pause from clashing blades with his own opponent. "We're leaving."

"Damn," Kisame grumbled. "Must you leech every drop of joy from my life?" But he obeyed, albeit reluctantly, vanishing from the deadlock he and his opponent had their weapons in. No one came after them.

From up in the top branches of the tree where she could see everything, Voreka raised an eyebrow. Did she hear right? That was unexpected. It looked like Itachi could've easily finished off the remaining Leafs, and Kisame was starting to overpower his weary opponent. So why the retreat?

"Girl, come."

He was indicating to her. She gazed down at them both, many thoughts going through her head all at once. There was a small flickering to his eyes, as if it were difficult to keep them open fully.

She dropped from the tree, careful not to let anything show on her face. It was barely audible, but it was there. Itachi was panting softly.

He led the way, leaping ahead with steady, swift motions which belied any fatigue. She and Kisame followed suit. Voreka sneaked a glance at the shark man beside her. His mouth was set in a thin line, and he kept his eyes on the man in front of them.

I see…Itachi-san is not without flaw. There's something up with those eyes of his… She smiled to herself. Itachi had unwilling showed her a weakness by allowing her to tag along. Then again, if he didn't, he would probably have to waste some energy hunting her down again, and that doesn't look like something he'll want to do right then.

He probably thinks I'm not capable of exploiting that weakness. She considered it, and then put it aside somewhere in the back of her mind to dwell on later. We'll see about that.

Operation stage one cleared.