A/N: Hi, everyone! This is indeed the last chapter - thank you so much for all the support and reviews! It's been so much fun writing this, and I hope you've enjoyed The Right Path to Konohagakure! Thank you again!

Chapter 11: And Hats A Rap

Kisame and Itachi had crawled back to the rental house and freshened themselves up, resting for the remainder of the day. Admittedly, Kisame didn't mind that; he thought he deserved a break, since it had been non-stop work for so long.

He slept like a log, not waking once and barely waking the next morning. However, when he remembered it was his turn to pull the strings, he shot out of bed and hurried downstairs to prepare the plan. He really wanted to prove Itachi wrong and show him that the disguises could work. He also didn't want to return to Pein having failed. He knew Itachi wouldn't be thrilled if that were the case...

Kisame stayed awake for ages, for he'd actually woken much earlier than he'd thought, drinking his tea and planning out how things should go. Itachi came downstairs and took his own cup of tea. They were both silent, unable to voice their fears of this being their last chance before failure. Kisame knew Itachi would take failure hard; he'd struggled when the Sharingan, and even the Mangekyo Sharingan, hadn't affected those two idiots at the gate.

Kisame finally finished his tea, as did Itachi. They looked at each other.

"What do you think Pein will be like?" Itachi asked, playing with his cup.

"He'll be bloody furious," Kisame shuddered. "He won't let us do any missions for months, and we'll be a laughing stock. All our authority will be gone. We'll be on cleaning duty – Sasori will get a kick out of that, since somehow, he's managed to stay out of that his whole time in the Akatsuki."

"So have I," Itachi said quietly, possibly thinking of the horrors of cleaning duty.

"Oh," Kisame said.

That frustrated Kisame, considering he'd joined the Akatsuki after Itachi. He'd thought that since he'd ended up on cleaning duty for a day, then Itachi may have been on for several times. However, it appeared not. Kisame silently envied him for his ignorance of cleaning - especially the bathrooms.

"I guess this is our last chance, then," Itachi said. "Are you ready?"

"You and I both know that's a silly question to ask," Kisame said. "You can only know you're ready if you've done it before and if you can predict the future."

Itachi smiled. "Then maybe I'm not ready."

They were just about to leave, when the landlady came in with a letter addressed to them. Kisame suspected it was from Pein and took it with a polite "thank you". He opened the letter.

"Dear Itachi and Kisame," he read aloud. "Zetsu has done more research and has discovered that Naruto Uzumaki is a boy of twelve years. Apparently he is loud, with bright blonde hair and blue eyes. He wears orange. You couldn't miss him. Signed, Pein. Well, I guess that gives us our target…"

Kisame folded the letter and stuck it in his pocket. The two of them left the rental house, and then donned their hats. They lowered them to hide their eyes, and then walked down the path. It felt like the path to Hell rather than Konohagakure, and Kisame wondered if their fear for Pein was the equivalent of most employees' motivation.

Kisame walked straight towards the gates and saw that it was definitely the same two Shinobi. He kept his confidence and headed straight for the gates.

The two Shinobi walked up to greet them. Izuma and the other guys; Kisame didn't know his name.

"Well, hi there," Izuma smiled. "What brings you to Konohagakure?"

"We're travelling merchants," Kisame swallowed.

"I swear I've seen those cloaks before," the other gate Shinobi pondered.

Kisame felt his heart in his throat. "It's our business logo."

"Must be a pretty big logo," he laughed then. "We'll just have to know what's in your bag."

Kisame had completely forgotten this instalment of their defence.

"I have biscuits I was going to take to the bakery," he said, taking the biscuits out.

"What about that sword strapped to your back?" the other gate Shinobi asked suspiciously. "Can we take a look?"

Kisame put on mock offence. "Unfortunately, it needs to stay wrapped. I can't unwrap it until I reach the client I hope to sell it to. You see, it's antique, and very expensive, so damaging it just isn't an option. I don't want to take risks."

"Yeah, OK," the guy was barely listening. "So, what about you?"

"We're told to travel in at least pairs, just in case if we get attacked," Itachi explained, an old theme Pein liked them to stick to.

"Sensible," Izuma said. "Now, what about those biscuits?"

Kisame handed over the basket. Izuma peeked inside and inhaled.

"These smell delicious," he said, appearing distracted.

It gave Kisame an idea.

"Try one," he insisted. "There's plenty there, and once I sell the recipe, then the baker should have an endless supply…that is…if they choose to buy it…"

Izuma took a biscuit and bit into to it. He chewed and then his eyes widened.

"These are incredible," he gasped. "Kotetsu, you have to try one."

The other gate Shinobi, 'Kotetsu', took a biscuit and bit. He took nodded in approval. Itachi pushed Kisame on the back and they walked past, leaving the biscuits and the travel bag behind with the two Leaf Shinobi, who were so engrossed in the delectable biscuits they took no notice of Kisame and Itachi. Kisame couldn't help but notice that, this time, they hadn't mentioned ID at all... He wondered how many Leaf Shinobi had ID themselves...

They rounded the corner. Kisame felt a slow smile stretch across his face.

"Wait until Pein hears we got through with only hats," he grinned.

"I have to hand it to you, Kisame," Itachi said, looking away. "Well done. I shouldn't have doubted you."

"Thank you," Kisame shrugged. "But remember, we still have a mission to complete."

Kisame smiled. Now that they knew what the Nine Tails Jinchuriki looked like it would be more than easy to find him.

Kisame couldn't help but remember how he'd always thought those biscuits truly were special.

He also couldn't help but think that the sweet, innocent landlady who had given the biscuits to him had aided in a criminal infiltration to Konohagakure, one of the Five Great Nations.

~ The End ~