Tsunade tucked her response into Pakuun's collar. "Now. I'm going to give you the exact words of my orders. When the rescue squad reads the letter, be sure it matches up. Are we clear?" She said as she placed the small dog onto the window ledge he came from.

Pakuun nodded sternly. "I'm all ears." One of his ears twitched in emphasis.

"I cannot accept the request you have given me. If you had a message that does not fit this response, it means that someone has intercepted our path of communication. Stay on original course and try the best you can." She spoke clearly and slowly, as if giving a speech to the entire village. She turned her head to look at Shizune. "I hope you got all that, because if I say it again I'm sure I won't use the same words."

Shizune nodded with a smile, her notepad in hand as she dotted her last I and crossed her last T. "I got it all."

The hokage turned back to the Kakashi's hound. "And you?"

"Loud and clear, Milady." Pakuun said, stretching his legs as preparation for his long journey ahead of him.

Tsunade reached forward and opened the window for the dog. "Hurry, Pakuun. Avoid being seen."

With a nod, Pakuun was out of the window and running for the trees.


"TOBI IS A GOOD BOY. I WROTE DOWN ALL OF ITACH-SAMA'S INSTRUCTIONS." A man, or so he was… labeled, yelled while flailing his arms around with a small red notepad in hand.

"Shut up, Tobi." Another man said, snatching the immature boy's notes out of his hands. A bright green eye went across the page, inspecting his counterpart's 'words of wisdom' as he labeled them. Ignoring the childish illustrations drawn on the page, the man with a mask on the lower portion of his face chuckled slightly. They were instructions on how to cast strong genjustu on summonings.

"What does it say, Kakuzu?" A dual toned creature spoke, his voice high-pitched. He looked more like vegetation than man.

Kakuzu rolled his eyes then brought chakra to his hand. Small snake-tongue-like threads came through his fingers and sliced the small notebook into microscopic pieces. "It was nothing. Just silly notes on shit we already know…"

Hearing Kakuzu's words, the man in the orange mask sniffled. "Already… knew?"

Zetsu and Kakuzu turned to look at their childish companion, half annoyed.

"TOBI IS A GOOD BOY. HE TOOK NOTES ON EVERYTHING. MHM, YES SIR HE DID." The child-like Akatsuki whined, throwing his arms up as if being accused of not being a good boy.

Zetsu sighed.

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "You couldn't pay me enough to go on another mission with this twerp." He mumbled.

They continued walking through the forest for a couple hours when Zetsu stopped. "This is where we should wait. I can sense their little rescue party in the ground quite a ways away from here." He looked to the left. "Their communication puppet will surely cross through this point to reach them." The bi-colored man sat leaned against a tree.

Tobi threw his hands up. "Golly gosh, you mean we can stop walking around now Mr. Zetsu?" He turned from Zetsu to Kakuzu. "MR. KAKUZU? CAN TOBI SIT DOWN NOW?"

Bringing his hands to his eyes, Kakuzu pinched the bridge of his nose. "Shut up." He sat on an abandoned tree stump. "Perfect time to start counting money."


"GET OUT OF MY DAMN BED." Kisame's baritone voice boomed as he walked back into his suite with a half eaten chicken wing in hand. He almost regretted his tone of voice when he saw two innocent green eyes peek out from beneath a sheet, cotton candy hair framing them.

He came in and set a brown paper bag on the desk where Itachi was sitting, reading something. Instead of picking a fight he knew he was going to lose, Kisame continued past Itachi and directed his attention back at the pinkette wrapped in his blankets. He looked at the bed beside his. "A WHOLE DAMN BED AND YOU CHOSE MINE?" Beady eyes fell to the mess of his belongings on the floor beside his bed.

Sakura's eyes slowly went to the bed beside her then quickly back to the Mist-nin. "Well… I wasn't going to share w—"

"Flattering as it is that you want to hop into bed with me, Pinkie." He made sure to turn his attention away from the fact Itachi looked up from his scroll at that. "I assure you, Itachi here is more your type than I am."

Soft mint green eyes turned into hard, jagged emeralds. "And please enlighten me as to how so."

Not backing down from a challenge, Kisame paused from picking up his belongings and Samehada and leaned against his giant sword. "We know more about you than you think, child."

"Kisame." Itachi interjected.

Sakura forgot the Uchiha was in the room. She barely acknowledged him, instead her attention and gaze was hard on her fish-like acquaintance.

"What are you talking about? I've only been with you a couple of days…" Her voice trailed off as she threw her legs over the side of the bed to turn off.

Kisame chuckled and returned to picking up his belongings. "Nothing, Kitten. Go back to sleep." He said as he picked up his last bag and brought it over to a chair where Itachi's bags were, aside from the one that he kept with him on the desk as he read his scroll.

Sakura opened her mouth to argue, but a much better idea crossed her mind. Her eyes went to the brown paper bag sitting on the desk beside her archenemy. She nodded her head in agreement with her thoughts and slipped her ninja sandals back on. Just as she stood up though, Itachi stood up as well. Fearing he read her mind or something of the sort, she sat back down on the bed. He didn't say a word, just simply nodded to Kisame and quickly made his way for the door. With how abruptly he left, she'd be shocked if he didn't leave something behind. But that didn't matter to her; she laid down on the bed and let out a sigh.

"We're about to have a little fun, Kiddo." Kisame said, a shark like grin playing on his lips. He caught Sakura's inquisitive stare and then the glimmer of fear in her eyes. He took a step in her direction and she completely sat up on the bed as if to protect herself.
Catching her motion, he realized what she thought his intentions were.

"Now, is that really how you think of me? Busting a move on my partner's toy?" He cackled as he continued towards the desk with the brown bag he put down earlier.

Sakura blushed a bit, realizing he probably thought she was full of herself. Wait. TOY?

"I'm no one's toy, Fish head." Her voice was hard, her light blush and small smile gone.

Kisame didn't turn around. "Call it what you will then, Kunoichi." His smile still present on his face, he took out the bottle of sake from the bag.

Well. I guess he was two steps ahead of me on this plan. Sakura smiled at that.

Relaxing on the bed, she brought her feet up to sit criss-cross. "Is this what S-Rank Criminals do in their spare time?" She said nonchalantly.

He took out a cup and filled it up. "Heh, this is what everyone does in their spare time, youngin."

Not everyone drinks. She rolled her eyes. Only low-life, lonely, angry, stupid men and trashy women…excluding Ino.

Before she knew it, Kisame was holding a glass in front of her.

"Here."

What the hell?

"Oh, um.. I'm not old en—"

Kisame lowered the glass to put in her hands. "What are they going to do? Find you and kill you?" He laughed a bit at his only statement.

Taking the glass from his hand, she smiled a little. "I think that position is already taken by Itachi Uchiha."

He laughed loudly at that. "Kunoichi, if Itachi wanted to kill you he wouldn't have me and those other buffoons on full alert to guard your stupid little ass while he's gone." He took a drink and continued laughing.

Guard me? Sakura's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, but she regained her composure. "I doubt that."

Rolling his eyes, Kisame set the drinks down and made his way towards the wall they shared with the other Akatsuki.

He began banging on the wall loudly. Sakura was surprise is didn't break with the force he was using.

"HEY, GUYS!" Kisame yelled, "What are we supposed to do while Itachi is gone?"

It was quiet as Sakura waited for a response, but as soon as she heard the voice she knew who it was.

"To make sure nobody gets in or speaks to his perfect fucking princess over there." Hidan yelled back, annoyance evident in his tone.

Making his way back over to his cup he sat down, he threw up a hand with his thumb pointing back at the wall. "See? There ya have it." He picked up his drink and took a sip. "We're supposed to protect you."

Eyeing him, she began to wonder. "From what?"

Deidara was the one to answer her question on the other side of the wall. "From God knows what, yeah." His voice was muffled due to the wall-interference, but she could understand him. "Probably from my handsome, good looks, hm?" He joked.

Sakura smiled as she heard a rumble on the other side of the wall and a bit of cursing. She assumed Hidan probably knocked the blonde over the head and now they were tumbling on the other side of the wall. She guessed her assumption was correct because she heard the Jashinist yell something about get off him, he's going back to sleep with much more colorful vocabulary and a mention of the word ugly.

Focusing her attention back on Kisame, her tone was a little playfully. "That's great and all, but what's going to protect me from you guys?"

Smiling, he picked her drink up and shoved it into her hands. "Not a damn thing, Kunoichi. Not a damn thing." With that, he downed his glass and sat back down on the bed.


"KAKASHI SENSEI IF YOUR DAMN MUT DOESN'T GET BACK HERE SOON I'M GOING TO ROAST HIM BEFORE HE CAN EVEN RELAY HIS MESSAGE." A blonde haired, orange clad ninja yelled shaking his fist.

"Shut it Dobe." Sasuke mumbled.

Hinata twiddled her fingers. "H-he has a point. P-pakuun has been gone for quite some time."

"What did you expect? He had to go all the way back to the village guys…" Ino defended. Shikamaru and Lee nodded half heartedly at this. Really, it just looked like their heads bobbed, taking in her statement and partially finding it to be accurate.

"Pakuun is a trained Ninja Hound." Guy began standing up. "He seems to be about as late as his master, eh Kakashi?"

"Perhaps he…" Kakashi started.

"Got lost on the road of life?" Sasuke, Sai, and Naruto finished his sentence, annoyance evident in their tone.

Kakashi raised his hand to scratch the back of his head nervously. "Ehhh. Heard that one before guys?"

Guy boomed with laughter at his old rival's antics. Apparently even Sai knew all of his old tricks.


"PSSSST."

Kakuzu did not open his eyes.

"PSSSSSST. MR. KAKUZU."

"What." The masked-nin refused to open his eyes to see the orange-masked child annoying him.

Tobi poked his nose. "Mr. Zetsu said it's time to get upppp!" He whispered loudly, like a child during a fire drill. "You've been asleep for hoooours." Tobi whined.

"Zetsu." Kakuzu called boredly, his voice still a bit sleepy.

There was a strange sound of the Earth crumbling nearby, but the masked Akatsuki did not open his eyes still. The bi-colored plant-man appeared from the ground.

"The boy does not lie, Kakuzu." The man's high-pitched voice said. "The creature is approaching."

Sighing, Kakuzu swung his legs over the log he decided to nap on after Tobi annoyed him that he'd "hurt his butt bone" on the tree stump he was counting his money on. He closed his eyes tightly, as if trying to memorize what the darkness of his eyelids looked like before opening them. He stood up and took out a kunai and sliced his thumb. He rubbed his blood on two trees, one on the far left of the forest, the other on another more right. "There. The pup ought to catch a whiff and jump somewhere between those two trees, right Zetsu?"

"Yes." The reply sounded more like a hiss.

"NOW, NOW. WE MUST STAY VERY QUIET." Tobi announced loudly.

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "Tobi. Would you like to play a game?"

"TOBI LOVES GAMES, MR. KAKUZU! LET'S PLAY, LET'S PLAY!" The child-like man threw his arms up in the air and sat excitedly on a tree stump.

The masked-nin looked at Zetsu and smirked a bit. "It's called the quiet game."

"How do we play? Mr. Zetsu, have you played this before? What are the rules? What does Tobi do?" Excitement was flooding in the boy's voice.

"You shut the fuck up." Kakuzu said coldly, hoping Tobi understood what he was getting at.

Tobi did. He put his arms down. If it weren't for his mask, someone would probably see the sadness that filled his face. He crossed his legs and put his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. He mumbled something about being a good boy.

"Good work, Kakuzu." Zetsu's high voice rang. "Now, put a chakra masking jutsu on the boy. I must continue with this before the dog is able to pass through our grasp."

Without a word, Kakuzu made his way over to Tobi's stump, his hands performing the proper signs. Zetsu sunk into the ground and within second his head popped out of both trees his comrade marked. While he felt his two counterparts' chakra signatures disappear, he felt a small indication of Pakkun make its way closer to him.


The air was heavy with tension. Pakkun wasn't sure what it was. He continued to jump from tree to tree, taking less travelled trails to try and avoid meeting anyone that would want to tamper with the Hokage's communication. He assumed it was just his nerves, but he was unaware he was being watched.

He continued jumping through the trees swiftly, trying to sense anyone in the vicinity. No one seemed to be around. There was a strange scent, but he was unsure of what it was. It smelled like blood, but there was no clear indicator that someone had been in this area. There were no remnants of a battle. The small dog kept jumping.

Something caught Pakkun's eye, but it didn't strike fear in him. As he closed in on the scent of iron blood, he caught sight of something yellow quickly fade to crimson on a tree. For a split second Pakkun panicked, thinking it was a trap of some sort. The strange marking on the tree possessed strange black markings that looked similar to the Sharingan, but the figure or whatever it was quickly disappeared and a calming feeling came over the small dog, who figured it was just a rush of relief. He carried on through the trees feeling much calmer than he had when he began his mission back.

After about 20 minutes, though, Pakkun's fears and paranoia came rushing back out of nowhere. He felt like he was already three quarters of the way to Kakashi, but suddenly he felt like he had been running in circles. The small dog noticed certain landmarks he could have sworn he passed. Instead, he continued on, ignoring it. He didn't want his fears to keep him from delivering Lady Hokage's message.


Zetsu sunk back into the tree, a yellow eye appearing on the tree. Since Zetsu was clearly in tune with the Earth, he was able to only allow his eye to appear on the tree. Knowing the contrast of his bright yellow compared to the woody forest would catch the small dog's attention, he made sure to try and put himself straight into Pakkun's assumed line of vision. As the hound summoning made its way closer towards Kakuzu's marked trees, Zetsu adjusted himself to slide into the tree closest to in front of him.

After about five minutes of awaiting his actual presence, the small dog came into sight and Zetsu waited. Kakashi's summon continued through the trees on edge, clearly. He was looking around suspiciously, evident that he picked up on the scent of blood the Akatsuki planted. Noticing that his eyes began scanning each tree in the area, Zetsu readied himself to capture the dog's attention. A minute or two lapsed, and suddenly small beady brownish-black eyes found bright yellow. The Akatsuki quickly switched his eye color and entrapped the animal inside of his faux Sharingan genjutsu.

"Kakuzu. It is complete." The dual toned Akatsuki's voice was heard before he was seen. But shortly after Zetsu's voice began, he slowly made his way up from the ground in front of the masked-nin. In front of Zetsu, Kakuzu's harsh green eyes stared at him as he held a kunai to Tobi's throat. The sight did not surprise him though; silence was key for this operation to work and Tobi knew nothing of silence. The best thing to do would have been to scare him into being quiet. If anything, Zetsu commended Kakuzu's ability to refrain from slitting the child's throat. He was not a patient man, Zetsu knew, and for him to of lasted this long with Tobi on their squad, much less the organization, was an amazing feat.

Kakuzu released the orange-masked man harshly, throwing in to the ground in front of Zetsu. Quickly and ungracefully, Tobi made his way to his feet and threw himself onto the vegetation.

"MR. ZETSU I'M SO GLAD YOU CAME BACK." He turned around, a finger pointing at the green eyed Akatsuki. "HE WAS GOING TO KILL ME, MHM. HE WAS." An over exaggerated crying tone overtook the little man. "TOBI IS A GOOD BOY." He cried as he slid back down to the ground around Zetsu's feet.

Zetsu attempted to ignore Tobi's childlike tantrum. He averted his eyes from the small mess of a man in front of him and looked back at Kakuzu. "Anyway…" He began taking a step away from the crumpled mess that was Tobi. "The communication puppet is caught in Itachi's jutsu."

Kakuzu looked down at Tobi on the ground, his voice somewhat irritated, but Zetsu knew it was not irritation towards him, but instead Tobi's childlike 'innocence.' "Tobi." He began, his voice rude. "Do you have the note?"

Tobi looked up, his mask facing his bully. "Of course Tobi does, he wouldn't let Mr. Kakuzu down." With that, the boyish man rose to his feet and crushed his gloved hands into his robe's pocket. He pulled out a folded slip of paper and held it annoyingly in front of Kakuzu's eyes.

Narrowing his bright green eyes in irritation, the Akatsuki snatched the note out of Tobi's hands. More irritation flooded him and his childlike comrade crossed his arms over his chest cockily. He unraveled the note and allowed his eyes to scan over it. After about a minute, the silence was broken as Kakuzu extended his arm and knocked Tobi into a nearby tree. He allowed the note to float to the ground angrily as he dropped it, mumbling something about 'the little shit can't do anything right.'

"Got any paper, Zetsu?" It was more a command then a question judging by his rude tone of voice.

Luckily, he did. Although he did not fear Kakuzu, he knew it was unwise to get on his bad side. He handed him a small notebook he had confiscated from Tobi a couple of days ago, thinking it would come in handy. Due to the fact that Kakuzu eradicated the last notebook the child brought along, he was right.

Taking the notebook roughly, Kakuzu stepped off in the direction where Pakkun was trapped in their genjutsu. Although in his mind he was still moving full speed ahead, the small dog was not moving at all. When he awoke though, he would simply have a feeling déjà-vu and probably continue on his way.

If anything, the genjutsu would calm the little shit… Kakuzu thought angrily as he made his way over to his marked trees.

As his teammate went to continue with the plan, Zetsu bent down to pick up the note Tobi supposedly messed up.

HI. THIS IS LADY SUNADAY OF KONOHA WILL YOU PLEEZ SEND BACK LIKE HALF OF YOUR FRENDS. BE A GOOD BOY K̶a̶k̶u̶z̶u̶ Kakashi!

Chuckling, Zetsu ripped up the note and let the pieces fall back to the ground.

If you want something done right, do it yourself. He chuckled a bit more at his thoughts as he looked at Tobi playing dead in front of him and then sunk back into the ground.


"And that's when I said, you're supposed to put the water in the bowl!" Kisame hiccupped, spilling a little of his sake on himself and then passing out.

Sakura giggled at the man as she downed her own glass. He was drunk. Drunk off his ass.

Now all I have to do is get out of the room before Itachi gets b—

the doorknob turning gave her a clear indicator that her plan was ruined. Itachi was back from where ever the hell he went. Where did he go again? Sakura thought about it for a minute, then realized even if Itachi was personable and enjoyable, he surely wouldn't have told her anything.

Stepping into the room, her assumption was right. The raven man stepped into the room, his eyes scanning the room before falling to her. A pondering look went to his eyes when he looked at Kisame lying on his bed asleep, but he relaxed a bit when he noticed the bottle of sake in his hand. His eyes went back to the pinkette in front of him, but he did not speak. Itachi turned back around and sat at his desk. He began to look through his bag he brought with him that he had placed on the desk upon their arrival to the inn.

All she needed now was for him to have a little to drink just like his little friend, which was going to be difficult. Itachi Uchiha did not seem like any sort of alcoholic.

"Itachi.." she purred.

"Hn." He didn't even turn around.

NOW WHAT DO WE SAY? She panicked.

You are a trained kunoichi. This is supposed to be your strong suit. ANBU Sakura interjected, attempting to give herself a pep talk.

The pinkette looked around and lay down on the bed sloppily and ran her hand across the bedspread. "Why don't you uh, come take a load off?" She realized her confusion and irritation was getting the best of her by her tone. "You look awfully tired over there." She wanted to mentally slap herself. "I mean, you've been out for a while, and you just came back…" By the end her voice was a little smoother and sultry, but she felt like an idiot. It had been a long time since she was forced to go on a seduction mission. Being the Hokage's apprentice, she was a little above going out and using her body to work her ways.

To her surprise though, the Uchiha set his bag down.

YESSS. Her inner self's contentment broke through and she found herself smiling on the outside.

Itachi pushed his chair out and stood up.

It just keeps getting better!

He turned around to face her, an unreadable expression on his face. She smiled at him in the most seductive way she could, although she kind of looked like she was in pain from her lack of experience. One of his eyebrows rose at her.

ShitShitShit. Okay. Stop trying so hard. Her inner self coached.

He began walking towards the bed, never breaking eye contact with her. His Sharingan was activated, but Sakura doubted he was going to use some sort of genjutsu on her. Not with him being interested and what not.

Or so she thought he was.

He leaned down to where his face was almost touching hers. They stayed like that for a couple of seconds, Sakura's eyes unbelieving and her breath hitched, but then he stood back up straight. She was confused, but not for long as she noticed what he had been doing. Itachi began putting on his cloak that he had evidently forgotten.

HE WAS JUST PICKING UP HIS FUCKING CLOAK? Her face burned with anger, mostly because he just rejected her.

A small smirk found its way across his lips and he pulled his cloak on all the way and headed for the door. She watched him, eyes like daggers. As he reached for the knob, he finally spoke.

"I'll have to pass on that, Cherry Blossom."

He opened the door and stepped out. The small click on the door notified her that he had left.

Who the hell does he think he is! Inner Sakura boomed as the pinkette sat up from her position on the bed. She looked down at what she was wearing. Maybe he wasn't interested in kunoichi?... Who was she kidding? This man was a trained assassin. It's not like the infamous Itachi Uchiha would be interested in some commoner or civilian. She sighed.

Wait. Why was she upset? Better,

WHY AREN'T I MAKING MY MOVE?

Quickly, she threw her legs over the edge of the bed and stepped over a drunken Kisame. She walked towards the door then thought to herself.

Really? A ninja? Using the front door?

She turned back around and made her way to the window. Thankfully, it was unlocked. She stuck her head out and looked down to see how far the drop was, rain pelting her candy colored head. Figuring she could heal any damage done to herself from the fall, she plunged out the window. Once at the bottom, Sakura looked around to see if Itachi was around. He looked like he had important Akatsuki plans if he needed his cloak.

She took off into the trees at top speed, hoping to find a way to her comrades or some way to get home.

Author's Note:

Don't worry, I'm still alive! Not a lot of Itachi in this. SORRY. He will be next chapter. With lots of ItaSaku GOODNESS. But Tobi makes me heart warm. I promised he'd show up. I loved his little note to Kakashi. ;) ANYWAY, I cannot believe Naruto is ending. Like, I can't handle it. I always knew it would end, but now it's like, set in stone. It's like I found out my favorite pet is dying of a terminal illness. I got the pet knowing it would die eventually, but now I know when. I'm sure the ending of my childhood will be great. I mean, a great show/manga deserves a great ending. But ANYWAY. Read & Review. I lovelovelove your reviews. They make me want to keep writing this. I'm not saying this to solicit more reviews, but the more reviews I get the more likely I am to update. I'm really not trying to solicit your opinions (or am I?) (NAH), but they are most def appreciated. I think I have a pretty good idea on where to go for next chapter, but any suggestions would be nice to hear & maybe incorporate. I'll be a little quicker on my update, hopefully! SO PLEASE, READ & REVIEW.

LOVELOVELOVE,

ERVictson

xoxo.