Redone
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Max ran from tree to tree, once again her old team mate had been spotted and she had been sent to 'gather info on their plans', she was glad it hadn't been called research.
It had been a few weeks since the Snow mission and the leaves were falling as September had come. What she didn't expect was Deidara instead of Kisame. Out of all the Akatsuki members Max liked Deidara and Itachi the best since she knew them the best and Deidara wouldn't try to kill her every time unlike Kisame.
"So who killed the fish or did you have a craving for sushi?" asked Max as she walked into the clearing that the two missing ninjas were currently sitting in.
"He was to close to one of my bombs, unfortunately he didn't die, un," said the blond innocently, only for it to change to a smirk.
"So baked instead of flash fried, interesting, so how are you two?" asked Max they chatted for a while, until they got onto a subject that had been bugging Max for a while.
"Itachi why are you still wearing nail polish?" she saw his face turn a bit pink.
"He lost another bet," smirked Deidara.
"Oh and there was me thinking he liked wearing it, which bet did he lose"
"He reckoned that I wouldn't blow up Kisame again, supposedly because Kisame had been in a bad mood and would have killed me for it." Max shook her head slowly and turned to Itachi.
"You're never going to learn, don't make bets with Deidara and don't try to prank me, it's on the list," said Max.
"You still have that thing," asked Itachi disbelievingly.
"Yup and I've been updating it," said Max as she drew it from a pocket and showed it to him, Deidara looked confused so Max explained.
"When we were younger we made a list of things it really wasn't wise to do like making fun of Itachi's hair or trying to outsmart me or stealing the third Hokage's porn." Itachi gave her a look causing Max to realise what she had just said. "Did I say third Hokage's porn? I meant Kakashi's porn," she amended laughing nervously.
"Only you, Max, would know everything that can be used for black mail even on the influential leaders," said Itachi.
"Yup, I have some nice pictures of Naruto and Sasuke. Oh before I forget, the bumblebee doesn't need us, in fact after the last time he saw us I don't think he wants to even hear our names, but if you want black mail on him then I have some." Once again Deidara looked confused. Itachi understood that the bumblebee was Dumbledore and he wasn't hiring them again.
"The bumblebee?" asked Deidara
"Old joke," explained Max waving it off.
"So what black mail material do you have on Itachi, un?" enquired Deidara dodging the kunai throw at him, Max quickly moved as well as she opened her mouth to answer and another kunai stopped her.
"Aw I wanted to tell him some of the funny things that happened," pouted Max. She got a glare for her troubles.
"Deidara, make him lose bets more often and I'll tell you a few of his supposed secrets," Max proposed, Deidara smirked and they shook hands. Itachi groaned, this would not bode well for his reputation.
"I don't suppose I could talk either of you two out of it?" asked Itachi. Max was giggling, who would have thought these two missing nins would be able to chat like a bunch of teenagers.
All too soon they had to part ways, before she left she surprised Itachi with a hug and before Deidara had a chance to escape, she grabbed him in a hug too.
When she returned she headed home after handing in her mission report, she pitied whoever had to read it, her hand writing was no better than it had ever been.
At her house she saw Laura dissecting a rat next to the current one were a pile of rats of varying shape size and colour. Max rolled her eyes, it was better than a cat though.
"Do you have to do that here, can't you dissect it somewhere like the headmasters office, where did you get the rats anyway." Max suddenly didn't want to know when she saw the glint in Laura's eyes. "Did you send some poor group of genin to catch some rats?"
"Don't be stupid, though I might next time… Anyway, I sent that green kid with the bowl cut hair and shiny teeth." Max sighed in relief seeing one of the rats hearts she had an idea, she quickly picked it up and threw it at Laura. Direct hit to the face.
Max was doing her victory dance when she got hit by a rat's bladder. Both of them froze. They quickly scooped up a pile of rats and their organs and dashed out to continue their war. Many ninjas got hit and many bystanders who Max and Laura didn't particularly like.
Max was soon sent on another mission to check out some strange things going on in the south mountains. It was late at night when she headed out and made it to the bottom of the mountains in no time at all. Looking up using FA she saw something in one of the caves.
Sighing she started to climb, the chance of her getting back soon had lessened. Most ninjas would have jumped up the mountain using chakra. Max didn't she liked the experience of climbing just using her own power.
She reached the cave and looked inside, nothing out of the ordinary, a bunch of moss stone walls jagged edges. Something caught her eyes, a group of niches in the wall. Ninjas had probably stopped here at some point so it could have been one of them sharpening a weapon.
The stone the cave was hollowed out from was the best kind for sharpening weapons. What really caught her attention was the distance between them. They were in groups of four with the same distance between them. She but her fist up to a set of markings and found they were slightly further apart than her knuckles.
It couldn't just be a normal animal as it was too high for any animal to reach except maybe bears but claws don't make groves that deep. It was getting dark outside and Max decided to sleep for the night but only light sleeping in case what ever made those marks came back.
She was drifting of to sleep when a strange noise startled her.
"What the hell!" she yelled in surprise, she got up and headed to the entrance where the sound was coming from, what she saw shocked her. A blue police box had materialised outside. The door opened and a man stepped out in the middle of what appeared to be an explanation of where they were. The man stopped when he saw Max standing with her arms crossed tapping her foot.
"Do you know what time it is? It's too early to make noise," growled Max truth was she didn't like being disturbed especially at 6 in the morning. The man looked taken aback. By the looks of it he was the tenth doctor but his companion hadn't come out yet so when it was she couldn't tell.
"Sorry, the time must have shifted a bit." Max rolled her eyes; it sounded too much like Kakashi's excuses.
"So what are you doing here?"
"Exploring, I don't suppose you know where the nearest village is or what it's called," asked the doctor.
"The nearest village is Konoha a few miles north." By this time the door had opened again and the doctor's assistant exited the box. Max identified her as Martha.
"So what were you two doing in a box that small," Max grinned, the doctor looked shocked and Martha didn't know whether to laugh or be indignant.
"It's bigger on the inside"
"That's what she said"
"Grow up," said Martha.
"Tried and failed"
"I'm Martha and that's the Doctor, what's with the metal plate with the swirly leaf"
"I'm Max the plate is a sign of my village in which I'm a ninja"
"Can you two be quiet? Wait, did you say ninja?"
"Yup"
"That Konoha I haven't been there in ages. Which Hokage is there?"
"The fifth"
"What happened to the fourth?"
"He died saving the village"
"Well we might as well head to the village and say hi to the new Hokage"
"How do you plan on getting there?"
"Same way we got here," said the Doctor tapping the box.
"I'll race you," challenged Max, she knew it could travel in time and she planed on using it to her advantage. She was always up for a race.
"Are you sure, you said it was a few miles"
"Yep. First to get to the tower wins"
"Ok"
"Just let me grab my stuff," said Max as she disappeared into the cave; she sealed the items into a scroll to lighten her load. She emerged and grinned.
"Ready?" The Doctor nodded
"Go," said Max as the two time travellers headed into the TARDIS. Max looked over the ledge and jumped. As she fell she saw the side coming closer, as she contacted it she used chakra to push off and leapt through the trees. She used chakra to enhance her speed and reached the village in record time. She appeared in the Hokage's office shocking Tsunade and the Doctor.
"You cheated you travelled through time," accused Max.
"Now how do you know it travels through time." Max realised she had slipped up.
"You can't have gotten here faster than me in a box, and when you stepped out of it the first time you said you got the time mixed up," amended Max, the doctor gave her a strange look.
"I thought you were on a mission," asked Tsunade.
"I was until I was rudely interrupted by these two"
"You seem to know these two people," said Tsunade implying Max should at least introduce them.
"Oh right, Tsunade this is Martha and the Doctor. Martha, Doctor this is the fifth Hokage and slug Sannin"
"Please to meet you," said the doctor politely.
"May I leave? I don't want to be here, I just want to finish my mission," asked Max, Tsunade nodded and Max shushined out.
She headed back to the mountain ready to finish what she started this time hopefully no one would interrupt her, she wanted to get home and sleep. Fate was not on her side.
Up ahead were Itachi and Deidara and if the rate they were heading in her direction was anything to go by they had noticed her. Max swore and diverted towards the west trying to avoid them with any luck they would get the hint.
They didn't. Max swore again and suppressed her chakra and moved faster slowing down at random points to mislead them in where they would find her. It didn't work.
"Damn you Itachi for knowing my tricks," she hissed as she tried to think of a new plan.
She cursed the Doctor if he hadn't of turned up then she wouldn't have walked out of that cave and she wouldn't be in this mess. She waited for the meeting knowing it was going to happen, whether she wanted it to or not.
"Why me?" she moaned at that moment the two missing nins made themselves visible to her.
"Don't you love us anymore?" sobbed Deidara melodramatically.
"No I hate you with every fibre of my body," said Max sarcastically.
"I love you too, un," said Deidara slinging an arm around Max's neck and the other around Itachi who looked like he was going to kill someone.
"Deidara, what did you do to Tachi-chan, he looks like he's going to explode," Max said innocently watching in amusement as Itachi developed a twitch.
"Don't call me Tachi-chan," growled Itachi.
"You know you love it," said Max grinning. Itachi shivered, that kind of grin was never good especially when she had been annoyed less than a minutes ago. Poor Deidara was oblivious to the potential impending doom.
"So why have you picked this day to see me?" said Max in a false sweet voice while her mind was plotting.
"Bored, un," bad move, Max's grin widened.
"Then you can help me with my mission." Before they could protest Max was dragging them to the mountain. She stopped and turned to them.
"What exactly is you mission," asked Itachi.
"Check out some rumours about strange things going on"
"We don't have a choice, do we?"
"Nope." The trio leapt up the mountain Max leading them to the cave. She showed them what she had seen and told them what she thought.
"I think we should stay here for a bit wait and see if anything comes. The marks look recent so if there is anything to worry about then it will be back within the week," suggested Itachi the other two agreed. To pass the time Max brought out a pack of cards and taught them poker gambling with rocks. They agreed that the person who ended up with the most would gain a favour from the other two.
The sun was setting when they heard a noise, each of them prepared for what could be coming. The noise reminded Max of a lion roaring, it reminded Max that on this planed she hadn't actually seen a lion or many of the big cats. Max shook her head to get her mind back on the mission at hand. The sound echoed louder.
On the edge of the cliff they saw a shadowed hand grip onto the ground, the claws sinking into the rock. The other hand reached up copying the first hand. What happened next surprised all of them. The two hands pulled on the ground lifting up what looked like a child, it stood on the edge. The hands looked oversized and from the back of the kid two wings hung dropped down uselessly it was to dark to make out what the kid looked like. They could see its eyes, the purple glowing with a slitted pupil. The eyes locked on to where they were standing.
"Who are you? And why are you in my cave?" asked the kid, by the sound of it the kid was male, form the height he looked about the same age as her.
"I'm Max and I was exploring, I had no idea you could own a cave or I would have gotten one ages ago." The two missing nins were slightly nervous. Max wasn't showing what kind of mood she was in so this could be dangerous.
"Who are your friends then?"
"This is Fred and this is Jim." The kid raised an eyebrow, how Max could tell was beyond them.
"Ok, ok. This is Itachi and this is Deidara, what's your name?"
"I don't have a name"
"Oh, can I name you then?" Everyone turned to stare at Max.
"Umm, ok"
"I shall name you… Michi." They were still staring Max glared back at them.
"So… why is this your cave?"
"I live here"
"Why?"
"Max…" said Itachi in a warning tone.
"What? I kinda am supposed to find out the answer, its part of my job," explained Max.
"I was kicked out of my village no one wanted a freak like me," said the boy Max put away her weapons and walked over to the boy and took him by the shoulders.
"You are not a freak, if you're a freak so am I"
"You don't have wings or claws." Max sighed and dropped her Henge, her ears were now visible.
"I have wolf ears, does that count?" The boy's eyes widened. Itachi was thinking what the Hokage would say if Max brought home another stray.
"Shichibi?" Max's eyes widened from the boy's words, she discreetly looked around and saw Itachi and Deidara looking unsurprised.
"You two knew," she said. It wasn't a question, her voice low and dangerous. Both of them looked sheepish. "When?"
"Chunin exams," was their answer; Max thought back to the second part when she had been sleeping on the roof and her Henge had fallen, she concluded they must have guessed. It was her fault that they found out. She sat down on the floor thinking, her hands in the tiger seal to help her focus.
"So now you know what I am, what are you?"
"An abomination"
"I asked for fact, not someone's opinion"
"When I was born my soul was fractured and a piece was lost, without a full soul you can't live long. My parent knew they wouldn't be able to have any more kids so they travelled to find a solution. It came in the form of a dragon. Before you say they aren't real hear the rest. They made a deal that the dragon could fill up my soul and make it whole so I would live and they would hand over their own souls in ten years in its place." The boy paused as his voice started to rasp, Max handed over some of her water. The boy took it and drank, then continued his story.
"A year ago was the deadline for the trade so my parents honoured their part, but the dragon tried to take my soul away as well. Never trust dragons. I fought it off and fled I didn't know that dragons are weak after doing any kind of soul Justus, so it died. The hands and wings you see are the result," finished up the boy
"Cool, now what do we do?" pondered Max, she opened her mouth but Itachi interrupted her.
"I don't think the Hokage wants another one of your strays," he pointed out, Max's face dropped.
"Damn, I'm out of ideas then, no wait I have another idea, you two can train him, if he wants it." Michi nodded frantically. Deidara and Itachi exchanged looks, and then they saw the pleading in Max's eyes and practically melted.
"Fine but if he can't keep up then we have the right to cut him loose after three weeks," proposed Deidara.
"Deal, I got to go, good luck, have fun, see ya later," Max quickly hugged the three of them and disappeared. Michi looked at them questioningly and Itachi sighed, it was so like Max not to explain every thing and leave it to him.
Meanwhile Max was smirking as she ran back to Konoha. that would teach them to not tell her that they knew her secret. They should know better, especially around her.
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