A/n: Bonus chapter as an apology

have fun

"Look. Guys, we'll explain everything when she wakes up, okay?"

"No! I want an explanation now!" Sasuke's voice was too loud in her ear. "Itachi practically killed us, and--"

"He knew Masami would get away," Kakashi's voice was gentler, and a whole lot closer than Sasuke's had been.

"What?"

"Who do you think he copied that jutsu from?" Kakashi asked. A hand brushed the hair away from her face, and she let her eyes flutter open.

"Kakashi?" he looked down at her, worry creasing his visible eye.

"Feeling better?" he asked. She blinked, trying to remember what happened. "Your head lost a fight with a tree."

"Oh."

"Left a pretty good dent in the tree too," he muttered. It was then that Masami realized that her head was in his lap. She tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness made her lay right back down.

Her eyes suddenly went wide. "Naruto? Where's--"

"He's fine. You're not."

"Sasuke?" the boy's face appeared in her vision.

"I'm fine," he said, sounding thoroughly annoyed. "What happened?"

"Kakashi, you explain. I'll jump in later," he sighed heavily, playing with a strand of her hair.

"Hokage-sama found out that the Akatsuki were moving on Naruto again," he started. Masami heard the other two teenagers sit down opposite Sasuke. "So she sent us out on that B-rank mission to get us out of the village. She hoped that by doing that, she'd make it harder for them to find us."

"She ordered us to get lost on the way back," Masami put in. The three teenagers gaped at them.

"So that was all an act?!" Sakura shrieked. Masami nodded, then decided that it was a back idea when her stomach rolled.

"Pretty much," she said, smirking. "Except the fights over the map."

"I don't believe it!" Naruto shouted. Masami groaned, and Sakura punched him on the arm. "Ow!"

"BE QUIET!" Sakura shouted.

"Both of you, shut up," Kakashi snapped. "Or go somewhere else."

"Kakashi-chan, be nice," she murmured, catching the hand that was twirling her hair.

"Why would he use something that he knew we could get away from?" Sasuke asked. Kakashi squeezed Masami's hand.

"He probably didn't care about you getting away, Sasuke. He didn't want to kill Masami," Kakashi said. She squeezed his hand, closing her eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"He was my Captain," she opened her eyes again and fixed her gaze on him. "My first year an a half in ANBU black ops, he was my captain. Kakashi seems to think he had a crush on me."

"More than that," Kakashi muttered darkly.

"Shut up and let me finish," she tried to glare at him, but it hurt. He rolled his eyes, but didn't continue. "Apparently what confirmed it was. . . that night," Sasuke's eyes widened.

"Stupid Itachi," she muttered under her breath. "Forgetting reports, leaving his mask. What's with him lately?" she turned the corner and stopped, the first body at her feet. "What the--" she broke off when she saw the next one, and her feet moved on their own. She recognized these people. They were all of the Uchiha clan.

"Itachi!" she shouted, then cursed herself. Her friend could take care of himself, it was herself she should be worrying about. She finally reached his house and walked in to find his parents lying dead on the ground.

She turned and ran out into the street until she found his little brother, unconscious in the middle of the street.

"Oh god," she dropped beside the boy, gathering him up in her arms. "Sasuke," she gasped. He was still breathing. She scrambled to her feet, holding the small child as she raced to the hospital.

She told the nurses what happened, and they immediately sent for the Hokage. He talked with Sasuke, and came back looking grim.

"The boy managed to tell me it was Itachi before he passed out again."

Masami jumped to her feet, fists clenched. "No! He couldn't have! Sensei, it's just not possible!"

"I'm afraid it's very possible Masami," he said, eyes dark. "and it is what happened."

"I'm going to find him!" she said, stalking over to the door. The only move the Hokage made to stop her was to place a hand on her shoulder. She looked back at him.

"Masami, you will only get yourself killed."

"He's my friend, sensei," she replied. "I'm not going to let him go that easily."

"And if he did do this?"

Masami swallowed looking nervous. She thought of the entire clan, their blood staining the ground. Of the little boy now left without a family. "If he did this, then he's going to pay."

She waited. Sitting on top of the gate in her ANBU black ops mask, she watched for him.

After about twenty minutes, he headed for the giant doors. She dropped down lightly in front of him. His eyes narrowed, sweeping down her face and outfit.

"Masami, move," he said, voice low and calm, just as it always was.

"Did you do it?" she asked, slipping the panda mask off of her face. "Everybody thinks you did it!"

"Did what?" he asked. Her hands were shaking.

"Your clan. I saw them. They're all dead."

"Oh," he said. "That."

"Your brother said you did it."

"Well, believe him."

Masami just stood there, stunned. "What? Y-you slaughtered them?" he didn't make any attempt to reply. "Why?"

"A test," he replied with a shrug. "I'm stronger than all of them, and now everybody knows it," he held her gaze. "Now get out of my way," she still stood there, stunned, her mind racing.

"You just killed them to test yourself?" she asked.

He sighed. "Yes. Now move," he sounded as though he were talking to a small child.

She suddenly made a decision. "No," his eyebrows shot up. "You're my friend Itachi, but as a ninja of this village, I can't let you leave."

"I'm not going to fight you, Masami-san. Now, give up and get out of my way!" he looked upset, though she didn't fully understand why. He hadn't even looked guilty when he admitted to killing his family, and now he was upset?

"No," she set her jaw. "I'm going to stay right here. In your way. Whatever you try to do to this village again, I'm always going to be in your way."

"Woah. You actually said that to him?" Naruto asked. "I met him, and he's one scary guy."

"Well, of course I was scared." she said. "The guy had just killed almost his entire family, and I was the only thing left standing in his way."

"So what happened then?" Sakura asked. Masami shrugged.

"I don't know. The next thing I knew, I was in a hospital bed hearing Kakashi yelling at one of the nurses," he sighed.

"He was yelling at a nurse?"

"Yeah. I believe he made her cry."

"She was way too sensitive," Kakashi protested.

"You were yelling at her!"

"Your point?" she let go of his hand and poked him in the stomach.

"Shut up."

"Wait, so he did attack you?"

Masami shrugged. "I don't know. I think he did, but Kakashi thinks that he just used a genjutsu on me, made me fall asleep."

"That would make sense."

"Wait, so you made up this exploding clone jutsu?" Naruto asked. Masami nodded. "Cool! Can you teach me?"

"When we get back to the village," Kakashi said. "We need to head back."

"I thought we were lost," Sakura said.

"They only wanted us to think that," Sasuke said, then glanced at the two jounin. "Right?"

"Well, originally, yes."

"WHAT?!" The three students shouted simultaneously.

"Stop shouting," Kakashi said. Masami tried once again to sit up, but the wave of dizziness stopped her once again. Suddenly, she found herself in the air, held tightly against a rather well-defined chest.

"Kakashi-chan! Put me down!"

"You can't even sit up," he said as Sasuke picked up Masami's pack. "There's no way I'm going to let you try and walk," Sighing, Masami just folded her arms across her chest.

"If you drop me, we're going to have some issues," she said darkly.

Kakashi just chuckled. "I'd never let you fall, Masami-hime."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Can we go now?"

The next time Masami woke up, people were shouting. Miraculously, her head wasn't pounding.

She opened her eyes and found that she was propped up against a tree, Team Seven standing in front of her. Between their legs, she could see two figures. Both wore black cloaks with red clouds. She gasped, scrambling to her feet.

"Masami," Kakashi grabbed her arm as she moved forward. "No," he held her firmly in place, grip tight.

"But--"

"DIEEE!!" the blond boy leapt forward, running at Itachi.

"Naruto! Idiot!!" Sasuke shouted. "Get your ass back here!"

"Naruto! Stop!" Masami shouted. She tried to step forward, but her head throbbed painfully and she gasped, her knees starting to give out. She found herself held against Kakashi. Sasuke and Sakura were running to help Naruto.

She pushed him away from her. "Help them," she stumbled backward, grabbing a tree to keep herself upright.

Kisame swung his sword into Naruto, and Masami silently thanked Kami-sama that the blade wasn't bare, or Naruto would have been a bloody mess. He flew back into the tree next to her, and was joined by Sakura a few seconds later.

The missing-nin from the mist was suddenly in front of her, eyeing her quizzically.

"So you're Umino Masami," she pushed herself up off the tree and managed to glare at him.

"Leave her Kisame. She's not a threat," Itachi ordered, sending Sasuke flying back to join his friends. Kisame suddenly swung around, his sword slamming into Kakashi. The jounin's body flew and landed next to his students. The three teens were coming back to consciousness, but just barely.

"Damn," he said. Masami pushed herself off the tree, yanking four shuriken out and threw them all at Kisame. He spun and managed to duck them all before swinging his sword at her. She ducked, but it managed to catch her hair.

She felt almost all of her chakra leave her body. She collapsed to the ground, her limbs trembling with the effort of staying off the ground.

"Give up, Masami-san," she heard her former friend say from far away. "Give up."

"Give up and get out of my way!" Her jaw tightened.

"I'm going to stay right here. In your way. Whatever you try to do to this village again, I'm always going to be in your way."

She pushed herself to her knees, and with trembling fingers, she slowly formed the seals she wanted.

Kisame laughed. "Your chakra's almost gone, kunochi. What are you going to do?"

Her body was shaking with exhaustion, but she had to finish it. She couldn't afford not to. "Heaven's gate jutsu!"

Itachi's eyes widened as the blast of chakra threw Kisame back past him and into a tree. He threw a hand up to shield his eyes from the dirt that had been kicked up.

He lowered his hand again and froze. Masami was on her feet. The couple of scratches she had on her face were healing before his eyes. She reached up and yanked the bandage off her head, letting it fall to the ground. The light around her faded, but when she opened her eyes, he could see a pure white light.

It was like looking straight into the sun. He couldn't look her directly in the eyes.

She winked out of sight for a second, then appeared in front of Team Seven, her eyes no longer glowing.

"I'm never giving up Itachi," she said, voice low and dangerous. "And I'm never getting out of your way. You want the boy, you have to go through me. You want to fight Sasuke, you get past me first. And if you really want to kill Kakashi, you're going to have to kill me."

"Do you even know what that child has in him?" Itachi asked. "What he has done to you?"

"I know exactly what he is," she said. "He's a great ninja from the Hidden Leaf. I told you when you left Itachi. Whatever you try to do to this village again, I'm always going to be in your way."

"Very well then," he said.

Her world went dropped away and she found herself in a world of black, white and red. She'd heard Kakashi tell her about this.

"Let me out of here," she said. Itachi moved so he was standing right in front of her.

"I can't do that," he murmured, hands sliding up her arms She tried to step away from him, but there was suddenly a wall right behind her. He pinned her to it.

This wasn't like when Kakashi had pinned her to the wall of his apartment. Then she had been breathless with anticipation and. . . something else.

In this world, she was breathless with fear. A blinding terror of the man she had once respected and called her friend.

"In this world, I control everything. Space, time--"

"Not me," she said, narrowing her eyes in a burning glare. "Whatever you want, I'm not giving it to you."

"Who said anything about taking anything from you? I'm going to give something to you," his hands left her arms and gripped her hips, pulling her against him. She shoved him off and started to run, only to run headlong into him. She bounced off of him and stumbled to the ground.

"I control everything," he said, suddenly on top of her. Her eyes widened in a blind panic. "Remember that."

"Get off!" she broke away, and was suddenly back in the real world. Itachi's eyes widened.

"How--?"

"I told you," she gasped, getting to her feet. "You can't control me!" she moved her hands to the arm warmers and pulled them off, dropping the weights underneath them to the ground. She shed the weights from her legs at the same time, and drew her katana.

"And guess what Captain?" she said, shifting her grip. He raised an eyebrow at her. "I'll bet not even your eyes can follow me now," she seemed to wink out of existence for a second, and then skidded to a stop in front of Team Seven again.

Itachi's eyes widened comically as his Akatsuki robe suddenly fell off of his body in pieces. Next to him, Kisame's sword suddenly vanished.

They looked back up at her. She was grinning, swinging Samehada around her head.

"What?! Samehada!" he sputtered, apparently shocked beyond words. "It's not possible!"

"Oh, it's very possible," Itachi said, narrowing his eyes. "We're leaving."

"Not so fast," Masami suddenly had him in a headlock, katana to his throat. "If you ever harm even one hair on Naruto's head, I will hunt you down," she whispered icily. "You lay a finger on him or Kakashi ever again, and I will never stop hunting you. Not even the Akatsuki will be able to protect you from me."

Itachi didn't reply. "If you ever set foot in Konoha again, I'll be there to be in your way," if he made even one move, he was dead and he knew it. So he stayed completely still. "I once respected you. I called you my friend. I considered you part of my family. But the day you raised your sword against your own family, it ended. Whatever we could have had, whatever we could have been ended that second. Because now, I hate you," in a flash, she was standing in front of her friends. The two missing-nins left a few seconds later.

Masami sheathed her katana and dropped, checking the student's pulses first. She sighed in relief. They were all alive.

"What, you're not going to make sure I'm alive?" Kakashi asked, pretending to be hurt.

"I knew you were, baka," she muttered, getting to her feet.

"I'm not an idiot," he said.

"Right. That's why you got your chakra zapped."

"Masami, what did you say to him?" she lifted her eyes to meet his and chewed on her lip.

"I told him that if he ever hurt you or Naruto again, or set foot in Konoha again, I'd kill him," Kakashi's eyes narrowed. She blew a piece of hair out of her face. She never could lie to him. "And that whatever we did have or could have had with each other ended the second he lifted a sword against his own family," she added quietly.

Suddenly, she found herself enfolded in Kakashi's arms, held tightly against him.

She just let him hold her, too tired to feel anything but safe.

She wasn't entirely sure how, but they managed to get back to Konoha. Kakashi refused to let Masami admit him to the hospital when they admitted their students, and left.

Masami sat in the corner, watching the three teenagers. She didn't know what to think anymore. Before they'd left, she'd thought something had been happening with Kakashi, but now he had her completely confused.

She pulled a hand through her hair, and stood, walking over to the window, leaning against the cool glass. She'd left it to Kakashi to report to Tsunade. Since the nurses had put all three teenagers into one room, she hadn't left. It had been three days, and they were still sleeping.

"Masami-sensei?" she turned and met the dark eyes of her student. She didn't feel like moving, so she just watched him. "What--"

"Kakashi and I brought the three of you back," she replied. "You're lucky to be alive at all."

"Itachi. He--" Sasuke sat up.

"He's not going to try for Naruto for a while," she replied, stepping over to the boy's bed. She put a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him back down. "Go back to sleep," she pulled the blankets back up over him and leaned down, planting a soft kiss on his forehead when he started to protest. "Please, nii-chan."

He opened his mouth to reply, but then seemed to change his mind, and just smiled. "Goodnight, onee-chan," he murmured, drifting back to sleep. Masami sat on the edge of his bed for a few minutes before getting up and heading down to the nurse's station. She needed some coffee.

"She told him WHAT?!" Tsunade slammed her hands into her desk. The wood cracked, and Kakashi eyed it warily, wondering if it she would actually break the desk.

"That if he ever hurt Naruto or I again, or set foot in Konoha, she'd kill him," the jounin said, again. Tsunade sighed heavily and flopped down in her chair.

"That's what I thought you said," she shook her head. "I need some sake," she looked over at Kakashi after a few moments of silence.

"She's incredibly powerful."

He nodded slowly, unsure of where the conversation was going. "I know."

"And she cares deeply for everyone in the village."

"Yes. . ."

Tsunade lifted her eyes to look at the jounin. "Would she ever want to be Hokage?"

For a moment, Kakashi wondered if he'd ever be able to form words again. "What?"

"Would she ever agree to be Hokage?" Tsunade asked again. "I'm not as young as I look," she said, getting to her feet again. "And Orochimaru is not going to wait forever to attack Konoha again. I need to have a successor chosen and approved, so chaos doesn't happen, like when Sarutobi-sensei was killed," she looked at Kakashi. "I am not in the habit of explaining myself, so tell me! Do you think that she would ever agree to being the Hokage?"

Kakashi hesitated, then shrugged. "I don't know. Masami is. . . Very difficult to figure out. You can never predict how she will react, because every time you try, she surprises you anyway," he slid his hands into his pockets. "Was there anything else, Hokage-sama?"

She sighed, flopping back down in her chair. "Nah. Go," Kakashi gave a slight bow and headed out.