Hey guys I'm back! For those of you who didn't see the hiatus notice on my profile, I was being overwhelmed with school so I postponed writing fanfics till the end of May. But anyways… on to important stuff!

The results are in! The votes are as follows:

Crack: 5

Plot: 2

Half and half: 4

I choose: 1

So thanks to everyone that voted, looks like most of you still want crack but with a little bit of plot and not much angst thrown in. I will do my best to please you! Aaanyways enjoy the chapter and we'll get this thing a rollin! Mission Impossible has returned!

Oh and I think I abused the poor line button… ah well, it'll get over it.

Chapter 7

It was quiet in the base the next morning. Today was the day they were all going to set out on their missions. Even when the Akatsuki was given low-ranked assignments, they knew from experience that anything could happen. A C-rank mission could turn into an S-rank in the blink of an eye. An enemy that at first seemed to be a lowly Chunin could reveal themselves to be a highly skilled Jounin, or even ANBU.

There was a sense of camaraderie among them as they prepared to leave – for how long differed between them.

Konan had called them together that morning and changed up a few things. Zetsu and Tobi had already left early as they do on every mission, Itachi was given contacts instead of glasses and seemed to have finally reverted back to normal (sort of) while Kisame was somewhat mentally stable again, Hidan was spending some quality time with his newly returned scythe and Kakuzu was slowly getting through his money withdrawals, and Deidara was loading his bags to the brim with clay while Sasori did a few check-ups on his puppets.

Konan and Pein sat together on top of the base in silence, watching the sun slowly make its way into the sky.

"You know," Pein said, the orange light reflecting off his eyes. Konan turned her head to look at him. "Those idiots have really grown on me."

The kunoichi smiled, looking back to the sky. "Looks like we got our family back, even though it wasn't exactly the way we planned. Right Nagato?"

A ghost of a smile passed over Pein's features. "Yeah."

Tobi grumbled under his breath as they made their way to Otogakure. "Who does that woman think she is? Chasing me around with Pein's apple peeler… I gave him that apple peeler. I'm the true leader of the Akatsuki, she should know better than to use her evil demon woman powers on me…"

Zetsu sweatdropped.

"Danna!"

Sasori sighed, turning slowly around until he was facing Deidara.

"Hey Danna, can I put some of my stuff in Hiruko, un?" he asked hopefully, gesturing to the giant bag he was dragging behind him. Sasori's eye twitched.

"I told you not to bring your entire store of clay with you, brat!"

Hidan deadpanned. "I forgot my toothbrush."

Kisame stared at the plastic object he held in his hand. "Hidan forgot his toothbrush."

Itachi facepalmed.

Hidan frowned. "No there was definitely some other shit I forgot about…"

Kakuzu growled. "Why do I feel like I've been forgotten about?" He swung back and forth from the tree upside down, trying to loosen the rope tied around his leg. "Damn you Hidan!"

"Nah it probably wasn't too fucking important," Hidan shrugged, continuing on to Yukigakure.

Pein sweatdropped. "Is that Kakuzu hanging from that tree over there?"

"FUCK YOU STUPID SQUIRREL GET AWAY FROM ME! I WILL FIND YOUR LITTLE SQUIRREL HOUSE AND STEAL ALL YOUR ACORNS AND SELL THEM! FOR MONEY! …I want my money…" Came the distant voice.

"…yep, that's him…" Konan replied.

Deidara huffed, bored out of his mind. The bag of clay he was carrying now was significantly smaller than the one he had before. "So how much further is it to Amegakure again? Don't we have a base up there, un? It rains too much in that village. Your art sucks, Danna. That bird is giving me an evil look, un… I hate Itachi. Did you know his name means weasel? I don't like weasels. How–"

"For the love of kami just shut up already!" Sasori almost yelled, eye twitching furiously. Deidara raised an eyebrow.

"But you never answered any of my questions, un. Eep!" The blonde jumped out of the way of Hiruko's tail, which seemed to have accidentally tried to impale him.

"Just… be quiet brat…" the puppeteer said slowly.

And so Deidara was quiet.

For about fifteen seconds.

"How much longer is it until nightfall, un?"

"Gaaahh!"

Little did they know that someone was following their every move…

Hidan sweatdropped. "Oh my fucking Jashin I finally remembered that one important thing that I forgot."

He turned around and started running back to the base.

"My hair gel!"

Itachi and Kisame walked in comfortable silence for the most part, one of them making an occasional comment every so often. It was a little past noon now, and they still had a long way to go until they reached Konoha.

Suddenly the shark nin stiffened, and the Uchiha let out a small sigh.

"'Tachi?"

"I know." Itachi closed his eyes, then snapping them open again. "Mangekyou Sharingan!"

Kisame whipped around, drawing his sword and pointing it towards their opponents. "Hope you guys know who you're dealing with," he said, grinning and flashing his dangerously sharp teeth.

Kakuzu stalked down the path angrily, disposing of the last of the rope that was connected to his leg. "I'm gonna kill Hidan the next time I see him…"

Hidan zoomed by. "Hi fucker, bye fucker!"

The masked nin blinked, taking a minute to register what just happened. Then he turned around, running after the Jashinist. "HIDAN YOU BASTARD!"

Pein growled. "I'm going to kill those two, immortal or not."

Zetsu blinked, staring at the giant… thing that stood in their path. "Uhh…" both sides said simultaneously.

Tobi glanced at it for a moment, ceasing in his mumbled rant. "Ah I see," he nodded sagely, stepping towards it. "This is one of the gates of Rashomon, said to be able to stand up to nearly every attack thrown at it. Orochimaru, along with some guy named Sakon or something, are the only shinobi known that can summon it. I've never seen one in person."

"Are we going to phase through it or teleport to the other side?" white Zetsu asked, still hesitant.

Tobi waved his arm. "I got this." He formed a hand seal, gathering up his chakra… and then got sucked into the ground.

"Ha! That bitch deserved it!" black Zetsu laughed, looking down at the place where Tobi had disappeared.

"You're mean today," white Zetsu observed.

"Fuck you," black Zetsu growled.

White Zetsu sighed. "Let's just find Tobi."

Sasori twitched. "Deidara, kindly explain WHY THE HELL YOU ARE IN HIRUKO WITH ME!"

The two artists were squished uncomfortably together in the small puppet, and they barely had any room to make any kind of movement. Deidara shrugged. "There's people following us and I feel safer in here, un."

"You feel safer in – wait what the hell? ! There's people following us? !"

"Yep. They've been stalking us for like two hours now, un."

"…"

And here we begin to see the start of the plot! Mwuahaha. I hope you guys aren't too mad about the long wait for this. But it's summer now and school's almost out so I'll have waaaay more time to write, yay! Plus now that I've got a plot going it will be so much easier to write chapters for this. Anyways click on that spiffy new review button down there and leave me with a few words, mkay? Next update will come quicker, I promise!