The Mizukage seemed to sense her unrest.

"You're worried about your uncle aren't you?"

Atsui's head drooped; this conversation suddenly became very awkward. Atsui couldn't even make eye contact with her.

"I'm just worried about how he will take it. This is a pretty drastic change, and he may not be too happy about it. What if he won't let me go?"

Lady Mizukage got up from her desk and approached Atsui, placing her hands on her shoulders. She gave Atsui an assuring smile.

"That's why I'm going with you. To interfere with this mission would mean treason against the village and serious consequences would have to be put to action. I will come and see to it that he understands the seriousness of this situation."

Atsui felt better about this now. She was so relieved that she would not have to break this bad news to him alone. He would have gone ballistic, and who knows what he would have done to her if they were alone.

"Thank you Lady Mizukage, for everything and I really will try my best."

"I know you will. Now, could you go downstairs and wait a few minutes while I get ready?" She asked.

"Of course and thank you again." Atsui bowed in dismissal and left.

"I can't help but feel awful about making her leave her friends Lady Mizukage. She has grown to love them like they were her own family." The academy teacher expressed.

"I know, but this will be good for her and it was the only way to get her out of that maniac's reach without it seeming to obvious of my trying to get her out of there. Have your teams found any evidence at all that I could use to convict him without putting the entire clan in potential ruin?" Her conversation quickly directed to the ANBU member.

"Nothing, he may be an animal, but he is an animal who knows how to cover his tracks. I'm sorry Lady Mizukage."

She let out a grumble of dissatisfaction.

"This plan will have to do for now, and from what I've heard from my good friend Lady Hokage; I'm sure Atsui won't have much trouble making friends."

Atsui was right; her uncle really hadn't taken the news well. She and the Mizukage had been standing before him for nearly and hour now as he raved about his rights of the family.

"You can't just come in here and start sending my clan members to some other village who can't even control their own shinobi from destroying their village! Atsui is part of my clan! I will not allow you to just waltz in here and take over!" he roared at her.

"Kushin! You WILL let her go, you WILL not interfere in anyway, and you WILL! Stop yelling at me. As the Mizukage, I have the higher power here, not you." Lady Mizukage remained calm, but there was definitely an ice to her tone now.

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN AND CAN'T DO! I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE! And as far as I can see…" He shouted as his bloodline began to boil. Their clan's trademark glowing symbols began to crawl up his arms.

"I'm the one with the higher power!" He gave a devilish grin.

Atsui began to shake. This conversation was taking a turn for the worst. She had never seen him this scary; ever! She shyly hid herself behind Lady Mizukage, who was having very little trouble standing her ground; not even flinching at his threat.

"Atsui…" She quite calmly said.

Atsui jumped a little at the sudden attention of her presence in this heated discussion.

"Y-Yes Lady Mizukage?"

"Go collect you're things. You'll stay with your friends tonight and set out tomorrow."

"DON'T YOU DARE MOVE ATSUI HISAKATA! OR YOU'LL REGRET IT!" He barked at her.

Atsui stood there terrified. She desperately wanted to get out of there, but it would be suicide to invoke her uncle's wrath while in his current state. Suddenly something gripped her shoulder, making her jump. She looked to see that it was Lady Mizukage's hand.

"Its okay sweetie, just go get your things. I will finish up here and I'll walk you to your friend's house."

Atsui knew she could trust her and decided to do as she told her. She slowly moved towards the door. Kushin became blind in fury, seeing that he was losing this fight.

"YOU TRECHROUS LITTLE WRETCH!" He roared, grabbing one of the nearby decorative vases and threw it in her direction. The Mizukage reacted. Suddenly appearing before the flying vase, she blasted her fist through it causing it shatter before it could come within five feet of Atsui.

"Go Atsui, I'll be done in just a second." Lady Mizukage reassured, then turned to Kushin.

Atsui hesitated.

"GO!" She shouted this time.

Atsui quickly shut the door and ran for her room. She flung herself inside slamming the door shut behind her and leaned up against it. Her heart was racing from the terror of being in the middle of it all. Tears started to stream down as she cupped her hands to her face and began to cry.

It was all just too painful to hold in anymore. She didn't want to leave Uzu and Amaya, they were always there when she needed them, and they knew how to make her forget her troubles. She didn't want to leave the village either. She had grown up here, and no other place could possibly compare to being home then here.

But she couldn't just let her village down. It was selfish of her to choose comforts over the village's alliance with this other village. She would be putting so many lives in harms way. She would be putting Amaya and Uzu in danger.

She wiped her tears away and started to get her stuff together. It wasn't an option; she had to go. It meant protecting the ones she cared about. She placed the last few things in her bag and took one last look over her room to make sure she had gotten everything. It had only been this morning that she had been happily sleeping in her bed and now she would probably never see it again. With a last sigh of despair, she shut the door behind her.

She and Lady Mizukage walked down the path to Uzu's house. There was total silence except for the sound of their foot steps along the ground. That was okay; Atsui really didn't feel like talking anyways. Uzu's house came into view with what looked like two people sitting on the porch. As they got closer, she noticed it was Uzu and Amaya. Uzu was the first to spot them. Leaping off the railing he had been sitting on and ran part way. But came to a halt as he noticed how upset she looked. A bolt of worry came to his face. Amaya came walking up behind him and gave her the same reaction. Atsui couldn't stand it anymore. She ran up and clung tight to them, letting herself cry again.

"Atsui? What happened? Are you okay?" Uzu frantically started asking questions. Atsui just pulled them in closer and let the tears run.

"Would it be alright if Atsui here stayed the night? She has had a rough day, and needs to be with you guys. I'm sure she will explain the situation to you."

Lady Mizukage patted Atsui on the shoulder.

"It's going to be okay Atsui, you're doing a very brave thing that will help both our village on the leaf village out. We could not even begin to thank you. I'll send a few ANBU Black Ops with you for part of the journey, okay? Please take care."

With that she left.

"Atsui?..." Amaya asked worriedly

Atsui pulled away and wiped her face on the sleeve of her jacket.

"I'm sorry I made you wait again, and I guess I better tell you what's going on."

"Oh its okay we don't mind. How about we go inside, have a nice cup of tea and you can tell us what happened. Sound good?" Uzu said pulling her in for another hug.

"That sounds really nice, thank you."

Atsui told them everything that she and Lady Mizukage had discussed. Uzu and Amaya sat there letting each detail slam into their hearts.

"How long are you supposed to stay there?" Uzu asked.

"I really don't know. Lady Mizukage said I could come back when I have completed my training, and she said I could visit when I have some down time there." She replied before taking a sip of her tea.

"So it's not all that bad. You could still come visit us!" Uzu tried to stay optimistic about it, but deep inside he didn't want her to go at all. How was he supposed to make sure she would be safe and happy when she was miles and miles away with total strangers?

Amaya couldn't help but feel the same way. Her dear friend had had enough trouble today, and this just seemed to be the last straw.

"I know this is for the village and I want to do anything I can to help but…" her eyes welled up with tears again.

"I really don't want to leave you guys. I'm so scared. What if I just end up being a burden to them and fail our village in the process?"

Amaya scooted over and pulled her friend into a comforting hug.

"You're never a burden Atsui. You're a good person with a good heart and mind. I'm sure they will see that, because you show it every day here. Uzu and I will miss you dearly, but we understand that you're doing this for our benefit."

"Yeah Atsui, we know you'll do a wonderful job helping them out, and you can always write to us and tell us how your doing and all the new people you've met. Not to mention you can tell us about all the new fighting moves you learn too!" Uzu said optimistically.

"Thank you guys! I love you guys so much." Atsui smiled. That had taken a huge weight of her shoulders.

"Now I say we head to bed. You've had a pretty stressful day and could probably use some rest before you head out." Uzu pointed out just as she let out a yawn.

"My point exactly, I'll go set up the guest beds for you and Amaya."

Atsui laid there staring up at the ceiling. Tomorrow she set out for the Leaf Village. She wondered what it would look like. What the people were like and what their lives were like.

She began to go over everything that she had learned in the academy about fascinating place. There was so much: the clans, their famous three sannin, something about a 4th's legacy and the defeat of a great demon fox. It was all so exciting. Sleep seemed impossible, but she eventually closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.