Chapter 5 – Challenging Itachi
"So, that's the bar?"
There were remnants of plaster scattered underneath the hole in the wall. The wall was in the process of repair, a builder squatted next to the wall, slapping on cement. They walked in and sat on one of the single stools, as bartender came up to them. "What can I get you tonight."
"Just some warm sake," Sakura ordered.
The bartender nodded and left, they scanned the bar for any enemies and expanded their hearing. Luckily for them a lot of other customers were curious about the hole in the wall so it wouldn't be to suspicious if they asked. "Here you go that'll be 100 ryo," stated the bartender, as he handed the beverage.
"Ah, here," she handed the money, "by the way just out of curiosity what happened to the wall over there?"
"Yeah, a lot of customers have been asking about that. It happened about last week, 3 people were in a fight, the scary thing was," he lowered his voice, "2 of them were the Akatsuki."
"The Akatsuki?" Sakura asked feigning curiosity.
"I'm not surprised you haven't heard about them, this is a civilian town, they're a bunch of rogue nin, they come here often. However, being a shinobi free area no one suspects a thing, I only recognized them by their cloaks I heard two others talking about them years back," the bartender explained
"That's interesting, anyways we've got to go, I hope you fix that wall soon," Sakura wished, before finishing her sake and leaving, "that's how you get what you want without looking out of the ordinary."
"Hn, why don't you use your wonderful charm elsewhere", Itachi suggested, "I expect to gather a minimum of 3 facts now that we know Akatsuki frequently dispatch here."
"Is that a challenge I hear?" She dared.
"It is whatever you want to hear," he replied tediously.
"Okay the next place is-" she almost choked, had it not been for years of training, "I think you'd have a better chance in there."
"Very well, you can take the club across the road," he smirked at her momentary hesitation, "We will assemble in 20 minutes."
"Okay, stay focussed Kurasu," she joked before he disappeared under the pink and black sign of a strip club.
She turned around and headed for the bar with a goal of gaining the most information, even though the challenge wasn't acknowledged she had every intention of winning.
The club was full, it was only about 6 o' clock at night, and normally clubs fill at around 8. "Oh well, looks like some dirty dancing will be involved," she thought, "Step one, finding the victim."
Scanning the proximity, to her inner delight someone mentioned the Akatsuki whilst talking to his friend and he was fairly good looking. Walking across the floor she sat on a stool near him, making sure to catch his attention and ordered a drink.
Due to the time limit, she decided to make the first move; seductively she advanced the male and tapped him on the shoulder. "I was wondering," Sakura pouted, putting on the innocent act, "If you'd like dance with me?"
Being one of Konoha's most desirable bachelorette wasn't an exaggeration, she's used her body for boundless missions, and so luring this man before her was child's play. "How could I say no?" He smoothly replied.
Leading her to the dance floor, one of the lower, sensual songs played which fit the mood perfectly. Her back was facing him, as his calloused hands were on her petite waist, which were moving in sync with the bass. She closed her eyes and let the music take over, "So what brings you to a town like this?" she asked.
"I needed a break from my job from next door," he answered.
"Oh?"
"Yea, I work at the bar," he paused when she rubbed a bit too low to be innocent, "I spent the day fixing a whole in the wall, luckily my shift is over."
"Oh yeah, I saw that," she breathed, "what happened by the way?"
"Basically a fight between 2 Akatusuki members; so my b- boss says anyways, fought a drunk guy, of course the Akatsuki won," he stuttered, she was effecting him, "one of them had blonde hair and mouths on his hands the other was a short red head, almost childish. I was the only staff to see, my boss was out back"
"Hm," she hummed, "I hope you didn't get hurt."
"Nothing I can handle," he bragged.
"So, where'd they go afterwards?"
"I'm not quite s-sure, they disappeared down the road, when I walked out to see where they were going."
They continued their dancing quietly with the occasional small talk, until the song stopped.
He didn't know how anyone would enjoy this; the room was intoxicating and claustrophobic. Crowds of men gathered around a stage, as provocatively dressed women teased them.
17 seconds, 17 seconds was the amount of time he had to himself before some dancer dressed in black lingerie strutted towards him and offered him a 'good time'. Looking disinterested he kindly declined the offer and refrained from scrunching his nose in disgust. "Okay, let's see," he thought, "someone better have some information or I might have to kill Kana."
At some point he found a seat and continued waiting, something should come up after all. Strip clubs would be a perfect place to transfer information; there were no official officers and lots of dodgy figures that wouldn't be questioned. Yet he's sitting here with no information, and it has already reached the 15 minute mark.
"When are they attacking Konoha," someone whispered.
"Finally," Itachi thought gratefully.
"I don't know," another muttered, "but Orochimaru is preparing something, so get the spies ready."
"Orochimaru again?" the ANBU captain thought.
"Okay well thank you for the antibodies, it'd help his research a lot."
"That was brief and to the point, and hardly informative on my part," Itachi analysed inwardly, "I better not chase them."
If Orochimaru thought they didn't know, it would be an advantage to them. He had 3 minutes left, but decided to cut it short. The walk out was eventful, one of the strippers 'accidentally' groped him, he brushed it off like the well trained and tamed ANBU captain he was. Once outside he took a deep breathe, the fresh air was a relief.
Now he waited for his partner, who was currently exiting the bar. "Ah, I see you're here in one piece," she said.
"Hn," he grunted.
"Prostitutes are people too," his partner reminded.
"Did you find anything of use?"
"As a matter of fact I did, the two Akatsuki members were," she paused for dramatic effect, "Deidara and Sasori."
"Is that all?"
"No, I also found out; after interrogating my first victim, that they also have a spy, and they often come here to meet him or her."
"Okay, the only Intel I got was Orochimaru is on the move against Konoha," he informed, "I am aware it is unrelated to Akatsuki, however any act against Konoha is something to be wary."
She nodded in understanding, but couldn't help the smirk that she won this round in their unofficial battle. "We'll meet up with the rest now, to set up camp," he ordered.
"Ah, the magnificent duo are coming," murmured Ino from the treetop with her partner Sakana next to her.
"If captain heard you…" Sakana trailed off.
"Captain and I are on a personal level. Not that way!" Ino corrected after seeing Sakana's stare.
"Hmm…" he hummed.
They were the first ones to arrive and throughout the mission she learned that her partner was a fairly open person. And that's not saying he's weak, he kept up with her was an achievement and the air of confidence around him spoke for itself. Overall, she wouldn't mind working with Itachi's team again if he was there; sadly she can't speak for him or her team though.
Talking about her team, their captains just arrive to her right, she looked at Sakana to see if he sensed them; of course he did. Now they needed to wait for Ten Ten and Hinata, the plan was to set camp when everyone was here instead of starting when the first team to arrive, because if something were to go wrong, packing up wouldn't be a problem.
Finally everyone was here, her and Itachi jumped down first signalling for everyone to follow. "Okay my team will gather wood and ANBU 4, you'll set up the campsite," he commanded, disappearing before any argument could form.
The rest of his team followed suit, leaving ANBU 4 to their own devices. "I guess we'll set up a tent each?" asked Hinata.
"Okay, I can't sense him, so Kana," Ino started innocently, "how was working with the human ice cube."
Although it looked like Ten Ten and Hinata were setting up the tents, they tuned in when Itachi was mentioned. "Productive but competitive."