A/N: I definitely don't own, just playing with characters. I love all of the Akatsuki and hated to make Deidara such a really bad guy, but I kind of had to. Kisame, however, I feel that he is probably a little more mentally stable and honorable. After fighting with Itachi for so long, I'm convinced he had to pick up some honorable traits...
They traveled in silence until daybreak, Neji had finally stopped pushing them so hard and decided that they had put enough distance between them and the compound.
"We will set up camp here, the cave should provide adequate shelter and cover. We are near the border of Rain, and we can't be too careful, so I want us to take shifts of lookout, two at a time. I'll need one of you scouting the perimeter constantly and the other on watch. We need the extra eyes so close to enemy territory. Naruto and I will take first watch, Sakura and Kakashi on second watch. Kinuko you have the night off, you need to rest and heal to continue traveling."
Kinuko opened her mouth to argue but Sakura nodded in agreement with Neji, "Hai, my medical jutsu did most of the work, but your body is exhausted from the repair. Get some rest."
Kinuko clenched her jaw and her eyes flared with suppressed anger, "Fine."
Neji and Naruto took off to begin watch and scouting. Kakashi slapped Kinuko on the shoulder in a friendly gesture to which she responded with a tight smile before setting up camp.
Kinuko had passed out quicker than she had expected, but was woken up by the sounds of kunai clashing. On alert, her eyes flew open and she realized she had slept the whole day, the sun was beginning to set.
To her left was Neji, byakugan activated, and Naruto on her right, feet bouncing.
Kinuko immediately masked her chakra as Neji spoke "Akatsuki members, two of them. Kakashi and Sakura have them engaged. We got too close to their border. We need to plan a distraction to get Naruto out of here, we can't let them obtain the jinchuriki."
Kinuko nodded, the sleep quickly fading from her as she slid her katana on and quickly swallowed a soldier pill, handing one to Neji and Naruto as well.
"I can't let them fight alone, I have to get out there!"
Naruto poised to spring into action but Kinuko clenched his shoulder firmly in her hand, "We will all be fine, Naruto, but if they manage to capture you they will kill you. We need a plan, quickly. Neji, which members are they?"
"It's Kisame and Deidara. Kisame has his chakra sucking sword and Deidara is airborne on one of his exploding clay birds."
Kinuko thought quickly, if anything, she was good at distractions.
"Naruto, you need to create clones, plenty of them so that you get far enough away before they determine the real you isn't among them. They won't expect you not to show up to the fight, it is our largest advantage to get you out of here."
Neji agreed, "You're a day's travel at most from the Land of Lightning, get there and you will be safe under Killer Bee's protection. Get word to the Hokage. We will be right behind you. Go!"
Naruto seemed torn but did as told, taking off in one direction while hundreds of his clones joined the fight.
Neji turned to Kinuko, "We have the element of surprise. Sakura has engaged Kisame on the ground and Kakashi is fending off Deidara, but we have to be mindful of Deidara's clay bombs even as we step. Do you think you can get close enough to Kisame to defend with your katana and use your bloodline limit to bring him down? He's got too much chakra stored in that sword to try to outlast him, even if there are four of us."
Kinuko chewed her bottom lip at the thought and then nodded, "It's worth trying, can't say I've ever had to try and kiss a shinobi in the middle of a sword fight but I'll give it a shot."
Neji nodded, "Be careful."
They were off silently, going in opposite directions to approach their opponents.
Kinuko came upon the battlefield between Sakura, Naruto's clones and Kisame. The earth was destroyed all around the area due to Sakura's lethal fists which gave Kinuko plenty of hiding spots. She kept her chakra masked, trying to find an opening, watching Kisame wield the huge sword in one hand as Naruto's clones tried to pelt him with Rasengans. She gulped, silently drawing her katana, not realizing that in person, Kisame was really huge and so was the sword.
Sakura let out another earth shattering blast and Kinuko took the opportunity, using flying earth as cover until she was upon Kisame, but he was so fast he had blocked the attack even with the element of surprise on her side.
Their swords clanged in a spark, pushing Kinuko back a few feet and throwing her katana out of her hands. She spun into Kisame which he wasn't expecting, moving as fast as she could to press the length of her body against him, grab his startled blue face, and kiss him.
She was surprised she was able to land the kiss on his mouth, he was so much taller than her and incredibly fast for such a large shinobi. The kiss lasted only a couple of seconds, until she felt Kisame's free hand grip her hip and push her off of him. He chuckled and she quickly darted a few feet back in surprise, landing next to Sakura and grabbing her fallen katana.
"Well, I have to say, there is definitely a first time for everything. What were you planning to do, kiss me to death pretty little kuniochi?"
Kinuko locked eyes with Sakura in confusion as they heard yelling from above, "Hey! What the fuck, Kisame? I'm up here fighting Leaf shinobi and you are down there kissing the fucking kuniochi, yeah? Kill all these damn clones and get the kyuubi container and let's go, yeah!"
Kinuko took the moment to talk low under her breath, "Naruto is on his way to Bee, we can't let them destroy all of the clones too fast so Naruto gets enough distance between us. I need to switch opponents with Neji, it's either Kisame's shark features that are immune to my poison or the chakra in the sword burning off the poison, I'm no help to you with my skills. Can you hold out for a few?"
Sakura nodded, brow furrowed in anger as she tightened her gloves, "Oh yeah, I'm gonna wipe the ground with his fish ass."
Kinuko took the cue to dart into the cover of the trees as she used her ANBU signal to call Neji to her.
Within moments Neji was by her side, "Are you alright?"
Kinuko nodded, "You're hand to hand combat skills will better serve fighting Kisame. I was able to use my bloodline limit on him and absolutely nothing happened. If the poison from a deathly bloodline limit can't slow him down, none of my poison jutsu can, but I suspect Deidara isn't the same. Kisame is incredibly fast for someone so large, be on your guard."
Neji nodded, "Hai. Deidara is clever and will land a clay explosive on you the first chance he gets and it's so subtle you won't know until it's too late. Keep your chakra monitored and immediately rip off any foreign chakra you feel."
"Hai."
Kinuko watched Deidara on his bird, Kakashi and Naruto reigning down attacks on him until a Rasengan and Chidori tore a hole in the bird and it exploded in the air, Deidara coming to land on the ground. Kinuko took a deep breath and disappeared underneath the ground, coming out of the earth underneath Deidara and releasing a poison cloud jutsu from underneath him, grabbing onto both his ankles from her position underground to keep him submerged in the poison. She saw a tongue wag on his hand and an explosive jutsu flying towards her face just in time for her to pull out of the earth and jump backwards before it exploded. She wondered momentarily if she landed her lips on one of those mouths on his hands if the poison would absorb through his body the same way.
"You must be new to this ragtag group, yeah? So Kisame is greeted with a kiss and I get a poison cloud, kuniochi? That just doesn't seem fair."
Kakashi narrowly missed Deidara with a kunai as Deidara ducked out of the way. Kinuko checked herself for explosives but so far hadn't sensed any that landed.
"We can definitely even the playing field, handsome. I'm a lover, not a fighter. Come a little closer and I'll kiss all three mouths."
Deidara seemed stunned for a moment, dodging a Rasengan from Naruto's clone, before he chuckled.
"Damn kuniochi, you must think I'm stupid. You don't belong in this fight, Kisame might be too damn blind to have seen it but we all know this ain't your area of expertise. Get your pretty little ass out of here."
Kinuko faltered for a moment, but then suddenly his comments made her angry. She might be trained for seduction missions, but she was just as useful on the battlefield. She wasn't ANBU because of her looks nor her bloodline limit.
She had her clone attack him from behind, charging forward with her katana she had laced with a poison jutsu. She managed a swipe down one of his arms before an explosive threw her back. She heard him hiss, the poison working its way into his system and cutting off chakra networks in his arm. Kakashi took advantage of the distraction and lit up Deidara with a katon jutsu, but as soon as the fire hit, Deidara had implemented a substitution jutsu.
Kinuko immediately drew her katana and crouched low, one hand on the ground to keep track of foreign chakra signatures underneath her feet. Still not detecting any explosives and trying to pinpoint the real Deidara, Kinuko felt the breath knock out of her unexpectedly as an explosion near Kakashi went off in a large cloud of smoke and flames, throwing her into the air.
She felt an arm grab around her out of the air and set her on her feet, fully expecting it to be Kakashi she turned to find Deidara smirking.
"That fucking hurt yeah?"
Kinuko pointed her katana at Deidara's neck to which he clucked disapprovingly and pointed at her chest, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Kinuko glanced down and saw a large clay spider adhered to her clothing over her heart. She sucked in a breath and glanced around to see where Kakashi had gone to which Deidara answered her wondering eyes, "Your masked friend is taking a little nap courtesy of my beautiful explosive art, yeah. He won't be joining us any time soon, little kuniochi, so I suggest you point that poisoned katana somewhere else before I make you explode all over this forest, yeah."
Kinuko focused her attention on Deidara and sheathed her katana on her back, clenching her jaw in anger at her predicament. "What do you want, Deidara?"
Deidara smirked, and in an instant had Kinuko pressed up against the tree as she struggled, the arm she had sliced obviously weak under her protests, "You're a feisty little bitch, yeah, and my arm fucking hurts and I just got this thing replaced! Stop fucking struggling!"
In the distance a trap explosion of Deidara's detonated, which reminded Kinuko that he could do the same thing to her within seconds. She tried to calm down and look for Naruto's clones.
She felt Deidara grab her chin and breast roughly and her eyes shifted focus quickly back to Deidara, "What do you want from me?"
Deidara leered at Kinuko, and she recognized that look from other men. It was the look of a man who liked to dominant a woman forcefully, to make her feel pain and to suffer. She had seen that same look in the eyes of her previous target.
"Oh little kuniochi, I think you know what I want. You fucking hurt me, and now I want you to pay the price in a way befitting of your trade, yeah. And if you try and fight me, I'll fucking blow you up in beautiful little kuniochi pieces."
Kinuko bit her tongue to the point she swore it was bleeding, tears gathering in her eyes. She wasn't on a seduction mission, she hadn't prepared for what this man was going to do to her. She wasn't undercover with all the cards in her own hand, with the promise that she was going to destroy her target and seek retribution.
She felt her fitted ANBU top tear down the middle, her breasts exposed to the cool air and the clay spider that had been on her clothing moved to lay on her skin under her left collarbone. She gritted her teeth and tried to prevent the tears, but they fell down her face in parallel streams. She felt Deidara's forearm cutting into her windpipe as he pressed her into the tree with his arm, her face forced to turn sideways as he squeezed at her breasts with his other hand.
Emerging from the trees she saw the massive form of Kisame, his sword slung over one shoulder. She sucked in a breath, How much worse could this have possibly gotten?
Kisame emerged from the battle victorious over the two Leaf shinobi, having left both of them knocked out on the ground after he had figured out the real Naruto wasn't amongst the clones he had destroyed. He was on his way to aid Deidara when he locked eyes with the kuniochi who had kissed him, tears streaming down her cheeks as his teammate was forcing himself upon her, her top torn off and a clay explosive nested under her collar blade.
His blood raged as he rushed upon the scene, "Deidara, what the fuck do you think you're doing?"
Kinuko was shocked, she hadn't exactly expected Kisame to try and come to her aid.
Deidara stopped what he was doing but left his forearm pressed against her throat, turning to address Kisame, "She poisoned my fucking arm with her katana, yeah, I'm getting my payback."
Kinuko watched as Kisame sneered, stopping to stand a couple feet away, "You planning on raping a woman for besting you in battle? Maybe instead you should work on your evasive skills and maybe have some honor. Get that fucking explosive off of her before you blow all of us up and let's get out of here, the kyuubi container isn't really amongst them, the real one is long gone. I knocked out the other two Leaf shinobi so they won't try to follow us, but we need to report back to Leader."
Deidara narrowed his eyes at Kisame in anger and turned to Kinuko finally, taking his anger out on her as he moved his forearm to squeeze her throat and wrench her face to his as his free hand pulled the explosive off and tossed it into the forest with a 'boom'.
"I'm gonna remember your pretty little face kuniochi."
It happened faster than she was prepared, Deidara moved in for a quick, bruising kiss, catching Kinuko off guard. She activated her bloodline limit as quickly as possible but then Deidara was pulling off already. She watched him smirk at her and then suddenly his eyes rolled and his hands lost their grip on her. She took the opportunity and raised her foot up and kicked him square in the chest, sending him flying a few feet. He landed in a heap, not moving to get up.
Kinuko turned to Kisame quickly, moving one arm to cover her exposed chest and the other hand reaching out in a pleading 'stop' sign.
"I promise I didn't kill your teammate, he should only be out for an hour, three at most. I won't put up a fight, you can take him and go and I won't pursue, you have my word."
Kisame watched in interest at what had unfolded before him. They had fought four of Leaf village's shinobi and the pretty little kuniochi was the only one left standing. Apparently, Deidara had greatly underestimated her in his fight and had paid for it. Kisame said nothing, but watching the kunoichi struggling to cover her full breasts and obviously scared for her life, his heart clenched. At the very least, he was a ninja who lived by a code of honor.
He sat Samehada down against a tree and unclasped his cloak. He pulled off the sleeveless black fitted shirt he wore underneath and held it out to her, "Here, cover yourself."
Kinuko watched with bated breath as Kisame sat his sword down in silence, staring at her with what she thought was sympathy. She saw him remove his cloak and her heart started to race, surely he hadn't stopped Deidara's attempts only to force himself on her. Within seconds his shirt was off and he was extending it to her. She looked at him confused, her heart still racing. "Here, cover yourself."
Her heart finally slowed down and she took the garment, turning her back on Kisame and pulling the shirt over her, the large top dwarfing her so she tied a quick knot in the bottom and turned back around.
She took a moment to look at Kisame in the silence, without the cloak she could clearly see the bulging muscles she had imagined he donned from carrying a sword so large. He had gills on his deltoids, his skin a light blue color she found interesting. He was huge, his stomach flat and ripped with muscles and he had probably half a foot at least in height on her. Between Deidara and Kisame, she was surprised he was the nobler of the two as he looked like he could have his way with just about anyone if he so chose.
She bowed her head and lowered her eyes, "Thank you."
His voice brought her from her thoughts as he chuckled, "So, I guess you were planning on kissing me to death after all, little kuniochi. I imagine if Deidara had held on a few seconds longer he probably wouldn't be waking up at all, am I right?"
Kinuko's eyes shot up to Kisame in worry, it was obvious he had carefully watched how Deidara had lost consciousness.
She took a deep breath, the cat was out of the bag as she jutted out her chin, "He would have deserved it, he's trash for what he tried to do. I'd be doing the world a favor."
Kisame just laughed, which she hadn't expected. She wondered if he held resentment for trying to do the same to him, "Thank you, for stopping him. I'm in your debt."Kinuko bowed her head again.
"What's your name, little kuniochi?" Kinuko looked up, not expecting the question.
She thought momentarily of giving him a fake name to hide her identity, but couldn't bring herself to be dishonorable to someone who had helped her maintain her own honor, "My name is Takora Kinuko."
Kisame smirked, "Kinuko, hmmm? You have an interesting kekkei genkai I've never seen before..."
Kinuko stared into Kisame's eyes, wondering what he was after with her just standing there chatting like they weren't enemies. Kinuko answered with silence.
Kisame pointed to Deidara's form, "Will he remember what you did to him?"
Kinuko followed Kisame's finger to see what he was talking about. Kinuko sighed, picking up her fallen katana and strap and slinging it across her back to busy her hands, "I would imagine so."
Kisame swung his coat back on and picked up his sword, heading towards Deidara's body, "A word of advice, watch your back, Deidara has a vengeful streak."
Kisame swung Deidara's unconscious body over his shoulder with ease, Samehada resting on his opposite shoulder, "Keep your word and don't follow, your comrades will live to fight another day." And then Kisame was gone.
She moved quick after those moments, gathering the bodies of her unconscious teammates and taking them back towards the cave where all of their food and shelter still lay untouched. She assessed their injuries, wrapping bleeding arms, hands, and legs with bandages and using what little medical chakra she could wield to try and close wounds. She was working on cleaning the last of the blood off of Sakura's forehead when Neji started to come around.
"Neji, it's Kinuko, don't sit up too quickly you've been unconscious a few hours."
She watched as Neji moved slower, pulling himself to sit up. She handed him a canteen of water and a hot bowl of soup she had made.
"What happened?"
Kinuko explained everything to Neji, leaving out parts of her conversation with Kisame, and then re-explaining everything again once Sakura and Kakashi woke up. After Sakura regained strength to heal everyone, they departed to the Land of Lightning to catch up with Naruto. After a day of weary travel, Bee and Naruto met them at the gates, Naruto shrieking at everyone for taking so long.
Kinuko again, had to explain everything that had happened to Naruto's waiting ears, to which he responded by clenching his fists in anger, "That Deidara, I'm gonna kill him!"
They left for Konoha the next day, Kinuko deep in thought by the events that transpired. By the second day of her silence, Sakura ran in time with her to see what was troubling her new friend.
"Kinuko, are you alright?"
Kinuko looked to Sakura, removed her ANBU mask and smiled softly, "If you mean about Deidara, yeah. I would say it's what I should have expected from Akatsuki, but that's not true, Kisame wouldn't have stepped in if that was the case. I'm trying not to think about Deidara, I was fortunate that the events were stopped where they did."
Sakura glanced at her friend as they continued leaping through the trees, "Then what's bothering you? You've been silent ever since we left the Land of Lightning."
Kinuko paused before answering, "I wonder if it will be the same when I fight other shinobi on the battlefield, if someone else will attempt what Deidara did."
Sakura's fists clenched, "I don't know, Kinuko. Neji shouldn't have asked you to use your bloodline limit during an Akatsuki fight, they are s-class missing nin and we had no idea how your technique would work. We're lucky you tried it on Kisame first rather than Deidara, I've always noticed Kisame pulls on his strikes and punches when he's fighting kuniochi, and I'm glad all he did was push you away. If that had been Hidan or Deidara, you might have lost your head or been tagged with an explosive."
Kinuko found that information interesting and wanted to learn more about the Akatsuki, "How many of them have you fought?"
Sakura thought for a moment, "We've encountered all of them in one way or another, except for the one they call Leader. Sasori was my first fight, the puppet master Grandma Chiyo and I defeated. Then there are Hidan and Kakuzu who are partners, the Akatsuki always seem to travel in pairs. Hidan's practically immortal we think, he calls himself a Jashinist. He's got a really bad mouth and he has a reckless fighting style, probably because he can't be killed as far as we know. He wields a huge scythe, like a grim reaper and he can look pretty damn scary when he uses some jutsu that turns him all black and white like a skeleton."
"What about the others? If I'm hanging around you guys it seems I need to know all I can if they keep coming after Naruto."
Sakura nodded in agreement and tapped her chin. "Kakuzu is creepy, you could pick him out of a crowd. His whole body is stitched up with some weird like strings or tendons, I'm not sure, it's just disgusting. He can detach body parts and still use them. Then there is Deidara, you've seen what he can do. Kakashi-sensei ripped his arm off at one point using the Sharingan, I don't know how in the world he got a new one. Deidara is all about his beautiful explosive art, he's definitely a nut case. His partner, though, usually isn't Kisame. I'm thinking since we were so close to the border perhaps they were dispatched or just roaming around the area, because usually Deidara is with a member they call Tobi."
"Tobi? I haven't heard of him before."
Sakura nodded, "Yeah, I guess he is new. He really doesn't fit in with the group in my opinion, he's always laughing, joking, and acting childish. He wears an orange mask with one eye hole and he's incredibly tricky. He's so fast and elusive, no one has ever managed to land a hit on him. Then lastly, there is Kisame and Itachi. Kisame doesn't usually pull out all the stops in one battle, his jutsus seem to be limitless. I've seen him flood battlefields in the middle of a dry field and of course, he was one of the Seven master swordsmen of the mist. They say his sword, Samehada, is sentient and chooses who can wield it based on their chakra, and apparently it's known to be the strongest of the seven swords. Kisame can summon 1,000 sharks, can fuse with Samehada to be undetectable to chakra scanners, and can trap people in water prisons. They call him the Tailed Beast without a tail; he absorbs chakra from his sword and it's virtually endless. I've asked Tsunade before about his appearance, and apparently his gills are functional, and he looks the way he does because Mist experimented on him as a child."
Sakura sighed, "And then, there is of course, Itachi. I'm sure him being from Leaf and a former ANBU, you probably know all about him. Whenever we've encountered him, he's held Kisame back from engaging with us and we generally avoid an all-out fight, and I don't know why. Itachi is an enigma, no one knows to this day why he did what he did."
Kinuko absorbed everything Sakura told her, "Thanks for the intel, I definitely need to practice with you guys on the training fields when we get back so we can learn to work together strategically. Your earth shattering technique worked great to shield me for a surprise attack, next time I need to implement a poison jutsu instead of throwing myself at a man to kiss him."
Kinuko laughed in good spirits and Sakura smiled and chuckled, "Yeah, the look on his face when you launched yourself into his arms was priceless."
They both laughed and Kinuko cheered up, drawing herself out of her negative thoughts.
They traveled back towards Konoha in friendly chatter throughout the rest of the trip. After arriving in Konoha, they all reported to the Hokage to tell them of the mission's success and their run in with the Akatsuki. During the de-briefing, Tsunade had a thoughtful look on her face that concerned Sakura.
After everyone was done, Tsunade spoke up, "Neji, Naruto, you are dismissed and I need you to find Sai and Yamato and tell them to report to my office immediately. The rest of you be back in my office in 15 minutes."
Everyone filed out, Naruto ushering everyone to Ichiraku's for a quick bite of ramen as he pushed off finding Sai and Yamato to Neji. After a quick lunch they said their goodbyes to Naruto and reported back to Tsunade's office, finding Yamato and Sai waiting outside as well.
"Enter!" Tsuande's voice boomed.
They all filed in, Kinuko giving a nod to Yamato and Sai in greeting.
Tsunade sat behind her desk tensely, "I have a mission for you. After these recent developments, I see an opportunity. We know, as Jiraiya is undercover in the Hidden Rain village, that the Akatsuki are protected behind its walls and you've confirmed that again by getting close to their borders."
Tsunade sighed heavily and glanced at Kinuko and then looked away, "Deidara is hungry for Kinuko's blood right now and will jump on an opportunity to attack her. We can't pass up this opportunity to draw out an Akatsuki member and take them down. But, at the same time, we can't be obvious that we are using her as bait and rush into their territory. It sounds like Deidara realized the type of work Kinuko did as soon as he saw her."
Tsunade looked back to Kinuko knowingly.
Kinuko sighed and Sakura looked between the two, finally catching on, "Are you kidding me?! Kinuko doesn't want to do those kind of missions anymore, Shishou! How can you ask her to do that, what was the point of putting her on our team only to toss her back into that!"
Tsunade slammed her fist down and the desk cracked, "SAKURA! Don't you think I know that?!"
Tsunade gained some composure and calmed down, "Kinuko, I'm sorry. I promise you this will be the last one."
Kinuko lowered her eyes and nodded, "Hai, I understand."
Tsunade went on to discuss the details, and the more she spoke the more betrayed Kinuko felt. She promised me I didn't have to do this anymore, not after the last mission.
"There's a bar that Jiraiya confirmed the Akatsuki frequent on the outskirts of the Hidden Rain village. There is a hidden mist nin that is a regular there that has been abusing the dancers in private, one that Jiraiya wanted to personally take out but couldn't get close enough to him without revealing himself. I want you to use that mission as your cover until Deidara makes his appearance. The rest of you are probably wondering why you are here. Kinuko can't take out Deidara alone, but she can lure him to you. Sai you are an ideal opponent to face him in aerial combat, Sakura to battle him on the ground, Yamato if you can use your wood technique to give cover from explosions, and Kakashi to use your sharingan if there is no other way to destroy him. I think it's going to take all of you to take him down, but one less Akatsuki member is one less threat to this village and to Naruto."
Tsunade was met with silence, Sakura was clenching her fists in anger to try and keep her mouth shut and Kinuko stood still, anger, betrayal and hurt coursing through her.
Tsunade held a scroll out, "Kakashi, you will be acting as captain. Here's your mission scroll, I'll need you to depart in two days, it's a two day travel to the location. Yamato, I'll need you to place an emergency locating seal on Kinuko in the instance she can't safely make it to your location while trying to lure out Deidara. She'll need to be able to activate the jutsu quickly, so make it as simple as possible."
Yamato nodded and moved forward to Kinuko, "Where would you like it?"
Kinuko glanced up at Tsunade before answering, "Since I'll be saved no shred of decency, you'll have to hide it. I'll need it on the back of my head, can you do that?"
Yamato nodded, "Hai."
Kinuko turned around and split her hair down the middle, gritting her teeth when Yamato's palm slapped down on her skull to activate the jutsu. The stinging subsided after he let go and she turned and nodded to him in thanks as he showed her the hand signs necessary to activate the jutsu, "Cow, horse, tiger, bite my thumb, blood on my head, got it. If Deidara manages to bash my head in and I use the signs will it still work then?" Kinuko said in the most sarcastic, stinging voice she could manage.
Yamato's eyes went wide, "Umm….well, I suppose."
"KINUKO!" Tsunade yelled.
Kinuko bit her cheek.
Kakashi spoke up, "Is that all, Hokage?"
Tsunade nodded, "You're dismissed, but Kin…"
She didn't even get to finish as Kinuko's form disappeared in a flurry of green silk.
Tsunade bowed her head in defeat.
Sai broke the silence, "So, who's the new girl?"
