"So," Jiraiya started.

It was the morning after the festival, which Itachi knew no one wanted to end. He didn't want it to end. It made it seem like everything was perfectly normal. Like his family wasn't dead. Like they hadn't defected from the village he so loved. Like innocence still filled the souls of his beloved sister and Naruto's.

"Tell me why the whole story," the sannin continued.

Itachi relayed what has happened. What the other villagers thought of the death of their Yondaime and his wife, saying the Uchiha was behind the supposed murder. How they saw Naruto and his sister being taken in by the doubted clan, accusing the Uchiha of trying to make Rin into a weapon against their village.

How the clan felt as they were glared at and talked about behind their backs. About the final push that made them want to revolt. What Danzo had ordered of Shisui. Their escape.

"You're telling me that you managed to leave fake corpses and no one in Konoha questioned them?" Jiraiya started to guffaw. "That village has started to deteriorate since I last visited."

"The corpses we have left are of high quality and only the most skilled in anatomy can identify them as fakes," Itachi started. He knew that the village had indeed lost excellence, but he still wanted to be proud of it. "Amongst those rare people are the two of your former teammates. Perhaps they are the only ones left that could determine the falsity."

"Ahh," Jiraiya pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. "I guess that must be true,"

Itachi waited as the sannin composed himself.

"Care to say the reason of why you would come for me when my, or our, village thinks you and the children are dead?" Jiraiya finally said.

"I know, for a fact, that you manage a network of spies, gathering useful information for the village," Itachi started. "Naruto and I still feel strong desire to protect the village that believes us dead. I believe that spying for you will help us do that. Even if Konoha itself acknowledges it not."

"I see," Jiraiya said vaguely. "Well then, I shall take all four of you on to this, if you promise your allegiance,"

"Even though Rin can't technically spy for me yet," Jiraiya suddenly added. "Anyway, your first assignment is to spy in Suna starting tomorrow. That was what I had been doing this past few days, but leads on another, more important matter turned up in Iwa. I shall be heading there now, but don't you worry. Your mission in Suna is C-rank at least."

"You, ANBU operative, can handle such a big, difficult mission, can't you?" Jiraiya ended with a joke.

"What is it about?" Itachi disregarded the joke.

"Just find out if a certain teamate of mine has been in the village," Jiraiya's smile faltered. "If you find nothing in the next three days,... Just report to me. You have techniques on sending messages, right?"

Itachi nodded before Jiraiya went to the direction of the inn to say goodbye to the still sleeping Naruto and Rin. When Itachi reached the room himself, he found no sannin and a Naruto looking out the window, holding Rin in his arms.

Shisui had also woken up and had been fixing his weapons.

"I need to leave soon," Shisui told Itachi. "The Akatsuki won't be waiting for me."

Itachi sighed. There. There was the other thing that worried him.

Akatsuki, the infamous group of S-Class missing-nin. Shisui could fit into their ranks easily. He told Itachi that he gained the mangekyo sharingan during the massacre and combine that with his well-know shunshin. Yes, he was S-Class. But they were ruthless killers. Sure, Shisui killed but he still felt for those who he killed. What if joining that organization changed him?

Before he could say something, Shisui said his goodbyes and told them that he'll check back on them when he could. Then, he was gone with a shunshin.

"Naruto," Itachi turned towards the blond boy who was still looking out the window. Then, he looked at the raven who was sitting on her bed, watching in silence. "Sasuki, make preparations. We will leave soon as well."

Ok. So sorry for the very short chapter. But I did update early.

I couldn't work on it because I have been studying for the upcoming college entrance tests and also filling up forms and what-not. I wanted to tell you beforehand that I will be updating less...

I'll try to update as much as possible but I don't want you to expect... So there.

Thanks for those who reviewed in the last chapters! You made my life wonderful for a few days. :3

Please review. It makes my world a little bit less stressful. :)