"Naruto, are you alright?!" Kakashi asked.

"Wha-What happened?"

"You were caught in a genjutsu, but you're going to be fine. We all funneled our chakra into you and broke the hold."

"I don't get it," Naruto said. "Where did his shadow clones go?"

"Neh… he hasn't made any shadow clones, Naruto…" Hoshi said.

"Yeah, all of a sudden you just freaked out and started shooting your rasengan at nothing. Don't you remember any of that?"

"You're saying… I was already in the genjutsu?"

"It seems Itachi's not relying solely on his visual genjutsu…" I murmured.

"I think it's about time for the main event. Better get it together, Naruto," Kakashi said.

"Hey, snap out of it will ya?" Sakura said, putting her hand on the side of his face.

"Come on, Naruto. I'll show you how it's done."

"Kakashi…"

I felt the shift in his chakra as he turned towards me, "Stay back for now. Keep an eye on Hoshi and Sakura."

I nodded.

"Woah! What a dodge," Sakura said. I felt the chakra from Itachi's jutsu close by but could also feel Kakashi weaving his way through it.

"He's not done yet!" Kakashi yelled.

I sensed another large sum of chakra heading our way and jumped back into the trees, sensing that the others had done the same. I sensed more chakra building in the palm of Kakashi's hand as well as Naruto's before there was a huge explosion.

"What happened? Did he do it?"

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled.

"Sakura, calm down. He's fine… but…" I frowned, still sensing a third powerful chakra. I sighed, "It seems Itachi is okay as well…" I opened my eyes, seeing Hoshi beside me and Sakura and Chiyo nearby.

"Sensei…" Hoshi said quietly as fog thickened around us. "This isn't-"

I took in some of the chakra and relaxed on instinct as it swirled with the rest of Kakashi's chakra within me. "It's not genjutsu. It's Kakashi's."

He sighed.

"Considering that the mist is betting thicker, so we all need to focus now. You must keep you attention firmly placed on Kakashi's presence."

"Right, I will."

"Kakashi, can we please stop this childish game of hide and seek?" Itachi called out.

Kakashi walked out. "Sure, why not?" He threw kunai at Itachi, but Itachi dodged and did fire ball jutsu, blowing away the fog.

Kakashi hid under the ground and punched Itachi. Itachi grabbed the back of Kakashi's neck and Kakashi grabbed the back of Itachi's.

"Don't tell me Kakashi-sensei is caught in Itachi's genjutsu."

I smirked slightly.

"It all makes sense. Of course my genjutsu has no effect on you. Because you are a shadow clone," Itachi said as Kakashi crawled out of a hole in the ground.

"Attack him and my shadow clone! Now, Naruto!" Kakashi yelled. "Sorami! Back him up!"

I grabbed several kunai from my pouch, not wanting to get hit by Naruto's attack. I tossed the three kunai quickly, Secret Koike technique: Kojin no jutsu! I channeled the chakra into the kunai and they lit up, hitting Itachi just before Naruto.

"Giant Rasengan!"

"I-incredible," Sakura gasped.

"My word, what power."

The rest of us walked over. I stared blankly at the body. It wasn't Itachi.

"What on earth?"

"When we were fighting him I could feel something was off."

I kneeled down beside it, placing my hand around his wrist. It wasn't Itachi's chakra, though some of Itachi's chakra was still present. I frowned, moving my hand up to his chest and feeling the chakra there but it was the same.

"I don't get it, what happened?"

"It has to be… some kind of jutsu," Sakura said.

"But that man…" Lady Chiyo said.

I glanced up at her as I slowly pulled my hand away. "Lady Chiyo, do you know this man?" I asked.

"I do. His name is Yura. And he's a jonin from our own village."

"A sand shinobi?"

"What does this mean?"

"I wish I knew. The poor fool, he went missing after Gaara was abducted during all the disarray…"

"Is it possible he was a spy for the Akatsuki?" Sakura asked.

"No. He served on the council for four years."

"The fire ball jutsu. It was created by the Uchiha clan. It was their specialty. That attack was the real thing," Kakashi said. He looked to me.

I nodded, "It felt like Itachi's chakra, but I never made physical contact so I can't guarantee it was all his… now some of his chakra is still present but it's overwhelmingly this man's own."

Chiyo looked towards me, "That's quite a talent you have. With that and the jutsu you used with those kunai."

I stood, wiping my hands on my pants. "As it is my kekkei genkai, I would hope so."

"Just as I thought. They were trying to stall for time," Chiyo said.

"That's an impressive jutsu they've got."

Hoshi frowned, his eyes narrowing more at the body.

"For them to use a jutsu like this to stall us can mean only one thing. It's worse than I thought. The extraction of the tailed beast is already begun."

I frowned and sighed. If all this was just to delay us… they must be close to finishing or they would have stayed longer and fought harder…

"We're out of time," Kakashi said. "We need to get to Gaara right away."

"Wait, hold on," Sakura said. "What do you mean by extraction?"

"They're after the shukaku. If they can draw out the one tail, they can create a new jinchuriki."

"Jinchuriki?" Hoshi asked.

"I told you, didn't I? How the tailed beasts have power beyond all reckoning? And how every land has tried to use them as military weapons? The jinchuriki is the name given to those that control that power."

"But earlier you said-"

"Not for lack of trying. There were of course those who tried to harness that great power for their own purposes. Attempting to control the beasts by sealing them away inside of people. By doing so, they hoped to suppress the tailed beasts great power and then bend that might to their will. And the ones with the tailed beasts sealed inside of them such as our own village's Gaara, are known as jinchuriki… Jinchuriki yield unimaginable power thanks to their resonance with the beasts they carry and if you count Gaara then there have been 3 jinchuriki in the history of the sand village those far." She summoned a puppet bird, handing it a scroll and making it fly off towards the village.

"There were several wars fought using the jinchuriki, weren't there?" Sakura asked.

"That's correct."

"And the people who become jinchuriki-!"

I placed a hand on her shoulder and she glanced towards Naruto who was looking down.

"Alright then. How are the tailed beasts extracted?"

"A couple of things are needed. A sealing jutsu strong enough to counter balance the tailed beasts power, and a lot of time. But for things to reach that point, then the jinchuriki…"

"You mean…" Hoshi started.

"That's right. Once the tailed beast is extracted… they die. The others I mentioned, the jinchuriki who came before Gaara, we extracted the shukaku from them as well… and both died as a result."

Sakura looked away, tearing up slightly.

"You always were quick to cry, huh, Sakura?" Naruto said. "Hey, don't worry. I promise I'm gonna save Gaara."

"Don't you get it?! Naruto, I'm concern-"

"We better hurry," Naruto interrupted, walking away.

The rest of us quickly followed after him.

"Neh… cripple-sensei?" Hoshi asked after a while of silence.

"Yeah, punk?"

"How could you tell Itachi's chakra was used?"

I felt Sakura and Naruto look at me as well. Even Chiyo seemed to keep an ear open.

"When someone is placed under a jutsu, it leaves a sort of footprint. My clan specialized in chakra. We have the ability to take it and manipulate it. As such, I am hyper aware of the chakra in a person's body. So if a jutsu has been cast on someone, and there is a footprint there, I can sense it and pull that smaller amount of chakra to the forefront to try to recognize it. I can get a general idea without touching a person, but through physical touch with certain areas of my body that are better equipped for manipulating chakra, I can essentially do whatever I want with the person's chakra, as well as store the footprint to determine in case I run into it again."

"I've never heard of a clan that could do that before…" Sakura said.

"Probably because the rest of my clan is dead or in hiding without the trait."

"You there! You're from the Koike clan then?"

I nodded. "You've heard of them?"

"There were a few of you in Suna. They were very skilled ninja, if not annoyingly proper."

Kakashi laughed and I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, they could be like that sometimes."

"I've never heard of a Koike Kunoichi though…"

"You wouldn't. As far as I know, I'm the first, last, and only one. As you said, my clan was proper. Proper meant the women did not work as ninja. It was unheard of. My mother was killed when I was still young so I had the pleasure of being able to defy my clan's teachings and beliefs before they sucked me in as well."

"Stop here!" Kakashi called.

"Why?! What is it, Kakashi-sensei? What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"We're taking a short break."

"That's a very wise decision."

"What do you mean?! Come on, you were the one saying we couldn't waste anymore time! If we just lay around here doing nothing, Gaara's going to be-"

"Naruto!" Kakashi interrupted. "Our pace has slowed since we faced off against that bogus Itachi."

I walked towards the two of them, "He's right, Naruto…"

"Ane-chan?"

"If we keep going like this we'll keep slowing down," I said. "But if we rest and take a short break, we'll arrive sooner."

"Keep in mind," Kakashi said, "tomorrow we may end up facing the guys who kidnapped Gaara. We'll need our full strength."

"Yeah, alright I understand."

"Look at me."

I turned my head away.

"Look. At. Me," He grabbed my head, forcing me to face him and I closed my eyes tightly. "I. Said. Look at me!" He screamed slapping me.

My head fell to the side and I didn't bother turning it back.

He grabbed my chin and forced his lips onto mine. His hands felt like sandpaper against my cheek and his lips were chapped and scratchy. He pulled away for a moment to kiss my jaw line.

I stayed still and limp. "Please stop," I whispered. He ignored me, trailing his kisses down my neck. A tear fell from my eye. "Please…" I felt his hand trailing down and a sob left me. "Tenshi… please stop… I do not wish for this. You do not wish for this…"

"I need this, Sorami… please… just let me have this…"

"I cannot…"

He slapped me again. "You don't have a choice!"

I closed my eyes. "What would Kira think?" I whispered. I cried out at the next slap, obviously chakra enhanced. I reached up to hold my face but Tenshi grabbed my wrists.

"You have no right to speak her name! I will kill you! I will make you beg for mercy!"

"I have seen Kira. She would hate you now. She would despise you for what you are doing!"

He punched me hard. "Shut up! Shut up!"

I coughed, trying to get air and breath through the blood pooling in my mouth.

I woke up gasping for breath. Kakashi glanced over at me.

"Are you okay?" He whispered, walking over to me.

I nodded, "Just a… bad dream."

He gave me a look. "Tenshi?"

I frowned but nodded again.

He sat down next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"I'll probably be up the rest of the night… why don't you get some sleep? I'll keep watch."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded, "No use in having you lose sleep when you don't need to."

"Wake me in an hour. We'll leave at a few hours before dawn." He kissed my cheek, leaning his head back against the tree and quickly falling asleep.

I smiled at him, gently brushing his hair back. I leaned my head against his shoulder and sighed. I activated my kekkei genkai, helping me to sense any chakra in a farther range.

I actually enjoyed keeping watch. It was quiet other than the crickets and crackling fire… and Hoshi's snores. The hour passed quickly and quietly. I gently shook Kakashi's shoulder to wake him. As usual for a mission (though unusual for any other time) he was awake immediately. He sighed and stood, stretching his arm a little. Chiyo was already awake, watching the fire.

"Okay, you two, wake up! We're heading out."

The three of them groaned and I smiled lightly at them.

"In a minute…" Naruto said, rolling over. "Just give me a minute more…"

"I thought you were going to save Gaara?" Kakashi said.

Naruto immediately jumped up, "You bet I'm going to save him!"

I walked over to Hoshi who was pretending to be asleep. I grabbed the blanket off of him and then grabbed his pillow. "Some pretending to sleep, punk. We've got work to do!"
He groaned, "But, cripple-sensei…"

"Hoshi," I warned, "do you want me to use you as target practice when we get back?"

He sat up, quickly shoving his things into his backpack and standing. He smiled innocently, "Ready to go, cripple-sensei."

I grabbed his neck lightly, pushing his head down, "You punk."