Wow its chapter 13! Yeah that's right we're that far into this story…. Just to tell you all, I have gone ahead in my story…. And created a vague outline so you should expect about 25 chapters total for the story so we have a bit of a ways to go before we're done so have fun and read up
Disclaimer- Yeah yeah I know I don't own the rights to Naruto but I am thinking about buying the rights to the phrase "Believe it"
After a refreshing night's rest Atashi started to plan her next course of action. Having no idea of her current position, she deemed that gathering information was on a higher need. Being that she was in a foreign country, she needed to appear more civilian-like, that meant ditching her current clothing. She wasn't very fond of the gothic styled clothing that she had picked up. Furthermore she needed to know how long she had been unconscious from the time she had fainted in sand to the time she had awoken in the forest. If she had to guess she would have said four days minimum but that was just an estimate.
With a sigh she rolled out of the king-sized bed bring the blankets that wrapped around her body with her. Freeing herself from the binding covers, Atashi hit her forehead protector, sending it across the polished wooden floor face-down. Soon it lay in the corner hidden by the long drapes. Catching a glimpse of her body as she passed the mirror, the girl decided that she was good to go, besides her totally wrinkled clothing.
Breakfast was her first order of business, and it was found easily in the restaurant next door to the inn. Over eggs and toast, the ex-diplomat conversed with a waiter as there was no other customer that early in the morning. They discussed current news, well the waiter told her current news and the kunoichi would respond to his statements. For the half hour they talked, Atashi subtly eased information from the unexpecting man. At the end of the half hour, three separate groups of people poured into the establishment. She was soon abandoned by her companion, as he had to serve the new arrivals.
Rolling her shoulders back, the kunoichi dropped her payment onto the table and made to exit the building. As she was about to enter the outside world again, the waiter who she had been talking to caught her wrist. Resisting the instinct of snapping his wrist, the ex-diplomat watched as he placed a neatly folded piece of paper into her palm before giving her a wink and returning to his duties.
'What could this be?' Atashi glanced back at the building before unfolding the parchment. As fast as it had been in her hand, the paper was on the ground crumpled into a ball. 'Do I honestly look like I would be old to go on a date with you, idiot? I'm a freaking fifteen year old for god's sake! Stupid pedophile.'
Still flustered, Atashi entered a clothing store for women.
No one was at the front of the store, so she guessed that they where somewhere in the back , doing whatever it is that store clerks do. As a ninja, the black haired ninja's taste in clothing was vastly different from a civilian's, which usually promoted bright colors and super long or super short lengths for the skirt and dresses. Not ideal for a kunoichi unless it was modified for use in battle.
She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, " I will live if I wear civilian clothing. A key point in being a ninja is to master the art of deception., so be a freaking master of deception and pick out some damn clothing."
Her hand shot out and picked out the most random article of clothing and brought it to her. The clothing turned out to be a knee length baby blue skirt. Cringing, the kunoichi proceeded to the next rack to pick out a top that would match the bottom.
Letting her hand randomly pick out clothing turned out rather well because it actually matched, which made the girl cringe even more physically. Shoes were a slightly different case, since it would be hard to walk around in a pair of geta. Unfortunately since it was a civilian clothing store she was limited to geta or high heels, neither of which were her taste, but she still selected a pair for the sake of her disguise.
Walking to the counter with her purchases, the clerk just appeared out of nowhere behind the desk. " You had no trouble finding anything within our store this morning," the clerk asked ringing up the price tags. The kunoichi shook her head watching as the woman folded the clothing neatly on the counter. "Very good the total is 4840 yen."
As Atashi sorted the needed bills onto the counter, the cashier placed the clothing into a medium sized rectangular box. Placing 4900 yen on the counter onto the counter, Atashi silently seized the box and left the store.
Now that her clothing problem was out of the way for a while, the kunoichi picked her next move in information gathering. Integrating another shinobi would be the easiest and the most difficult at the same time, but getting any good information out of a civilian was just as hard. 'This is one of those days that I despise being a ninja.' Huffing in irritation the black haired kunoichi proceeded back to her lodgings, trying to plan her next plan of action as far as information gathering went.
As she reentered her room, the ninja instinct in her took over searching the room for any immediate danger. Her face became red in embarrassment and frustration having just remembered the traps she had set up the night before. Atashi was conviently lucky that she hadn't set any off, rolling off the elevated sleeping space and throwing her forehead protector across the floor. 'Just goes to show that I'm favored by the gods when I least need their favor.' Quietly she went to work, disarming every trap just in case someone non-ninja came in, like a maid sent to tidy any of the guest rooms.
"I need to be more careful in what I do, I am a civilian after all," the female shinobi murmured to herself packing away the last of the materials used to make her traps.
It was nearly ten o'clock and the outside streets were busier than they had been an hour before; merchants offering their goods, women haggling with sales clerks to lower prices, children begging their shopping mothers for candy.
Drifting from the window, Atashi shook her head, letting the dark locks drift into her vision. Brushing it back behind hr ears, she approached the bed and opened the box that contained her new clothing. 'I hate blue. I hate skirts. I hate life….. Oh god. I sound like am Uchiha and look what happened to them, both missing ninja, one of them with Orochimaru. Not Uchiha. Not Uchiha.' Shaking her head gently, she placed the lid back on and walked out of the room in silence.
Coming to the entrance to the hotel, she pressed against the wall hearing a familiar voice, "Have you seen this female?" Cautiously, she peered around the corner finding the ever persistent grass nin leader had been able to track her here. 'Crap, no the best of luck for me today.'
The receptionist leaned over the counter, examining the picture held in front of her face. "Hmmm… she does look slightly similar to the female that checked into the inn last night… perhaps a little younger though."
"That wouldn't surprise me. This picture was taken a little over four years ago."
Still pressed against the wall, the kunoichi slid silently back down the hall and into her room. Once in her room, Atashi stripped off her clothing in a flash pulling on her new clothing as fast as she had discarded it. While pulling up her skirt, she stumbled to the bathroom and dropped her head into the sink., turning the facet on to wet her short blackened hair. An indiscreet pounding resounded through her room as she wrapped a tan towel around her head tightly. "One moment! I just washed my hair," she yelled gathering her scattered clothing from the floor and shoving it under the covers of her bed. Outside the room's window, she could feel the presence of several shinobi clinging to the building's sides. 'Damn like a cornered rat with nowhere to go.'
Crossing her fingers for luck, she padded across the room and opened the door. "How may I be of assistance," she mumbled timidly rubbing the hem of her shirt between her fingers.
It was that grass nin leader… again. He seemed hesitant to finding the trembling female before him. "E-excuse me, miss. But I thought that this was my friend Akat's room."
He turned to leave barely hearing Atashi's whispering voice questioning, "Akat?"
"Hai. A very dangerous missing ninja who was last seen heading in this direction."
"I fear I do not understand, shinobi-san."
The shinobi rubbed the back of his neck smiling nervously, "Well you see… you both look an awful lot alike." Out of vest, he pulled a small leather black book, a bingo book. Inwardly, Atashi smiled triumphantly, 'Perfect'. he turned the pages and stopped before handing her the book.
Taking the book, she quietly read the information that was written about her. Atashi's pale complexion turned ashen as she nearly dropped the paper back.
"It is rather shocking isn't it? Well sorry for disturbing you." The female didn't move or speak as the grass shinobi left mumbling under his breath about false alarms.
She could hear her pulse in her ears, beating at a deafening volume. Closing the door to her room, Atashi slid to the ground in shock and horror, the printed words burnt into her memory.
Ichimaru Atashi.
Missing Ninja of Hidden leaf for two years.
'This can't be happening. Its just a really bad dream. Oh god…. What happened to me?'
Atashi blacked out only to later find herself on the roadway into Konohagakure, the Hokage monument barely visible in the distance. Her mind remained a blank, as she stared at the rising gate from under the brim of her hat.
'What am I even doing here? If I'm caught I'm as good as dead, but as a missing ninja where else can I go? I'm so confused and to make matters worse, Siren isn't responding to me at all. What to do… What to do…'
Three shinobi flew past her at break neck speeds, sending the missing nin's hat into the warm air. Frowning in frustration, Atashi caught the domed headpiece, placing it back onto her messy black head. 'And if I'm recognized for being an Akatsuki member… I'm not even going to open that door.'
Rubbing the pale scarred skin of her left wrist to comfort her, Atashi planned her next course of action. The best she could think of was also the most dangerous, that being talking directly to the Godaime Hokage about the situation at hand. The two problems with this plan was Anbu plus Godaime equals a very dead Atashi. Aspiration took over as the kunoichi heaved a heavy breath. 'As dear Shikamaru would put it… How troublesome.'
The gate towered into the air as the ex-diplomat passed through, having had her bags thoroughly by the guarding shinobi. They had let her pass, of course that was only because she had long ago discarded the cloud covered cloak in an open fire, her weapons no longer being on her with the exception of the single kunai concealed on her inner thigh and last but not least, having her forehead protector cleverly hidden beneath her shirt. If the shinobi had searched her on the other hand… she guessed that she would have hunter nin and Anbu on her trail. The delicate situation she was in was very dangerous.
'As much as I want to blame this on the Kazekage, I can't. Therefore all the blame is onto Orochimaru. Hebi-teme no baka.'
Even though she had only just entered the village, Atashi could feel the faint flairs of chakra throughout the village, and the faint smell of ramen that caressed the breeze. Despite the combined attack of Oto and Suna on Konoha, a month or two after her disappearance (turns out that Orochimaru lured the Kazekage away while he was still injured from their fight, killed him and then disguised himself as the Kazekage) the village hidden in the leaves had thoroughly recovered. The missing nin had to say that nothing felt better than returning home after not seeing it for over two and a half years (although she still didn't recall any of the time she had spent as a missing nin).
The green eyed shinobi could feel her stomach aching to ingest food after her day and a half of fasting. 'Some ramen sounds like heaven at the moment,' she thought rubbing her stomach through her blue shirt. After a brief bowl of ramen at Ichiraku, Atashi formulated a plan to surveillance the Hokage tower as best top determine how to peak one-on-one with the Godaime.
On the way to the Hokage tower, her plans gradually changed as she decided instead to use the help of a familiar someone who she still hoped held trust in her.
The presence of a certain Suna kunoichi in Konoha was a surprise at first but then again it was standard procedure to having foreign ninja representatives at exams like the better known Chuunin exams. The fiery blonde was with one Nara Shikamaru and they appeared to be very close (if you get what I mean huh? Lol).
Tailing behind the couple was not a problem at all as it was a market day and anybody could just happen to be going in the same direction. Even though Atashi was not a genius with an IQ of two hundred like Shikamaru, she was most defiantly not a dunce. Even if Temari hadn't noticed her, Shikamaru certainly had and he was doing his best to lure the following ninja to a less crowded area. Seeing the two of them disappear into an alleyway made Atashi hesitate knowing that the confined space and lighting would make an ideal place to perform a shadow bind, but at the risk of losing Temari and then being reported wasn't a better option.
Slipping into the narrow way, Atashi found that the two shinobi had in fact waited for her, and as she expected, Shikamaru used his shadow bind technique to render the black haired kunoichi immobile.
"Who are you and why were you following us?" Temari demanded of the disguised female. Even at ten feet the ex-diplomat could hear Shikamaru mumble under his breath, "Troublesome Woman."
Snorting at Shikamaru's response, the trapped Kunoichi shook her head, 'Well neither of them have changed in the time that I have been missing.'
A cool sensation formed around her neck and tightened almost instantaneously, "Answer the question." This time it was Shikamaru that spoke. Focusing her attention downward, Atashi noticed that the tightening force around he neck was in fact Shikamaru's shadow bind.
"Glad to see that you actually put some time into improving your technique Shikamaru."
"Do I know you?"
"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?"
The straw headgear landed on the dirt pathway having had the Shadow bind fling it off, "Uchiha," Shikamaru guessed watching as Atashi's hair settled into place.
"I am not one of those self-centered god-complex traitors!"
"Atashi-chan?"
"Temari, do you have to call me chan? I thought that we already went over this once."
"Atashi! It is you! Everyone thought that you were dead but I knew somehow that-"
"Dead? Why would anyone think that?"
"Yes. Here and in Suna you have been recorded in our books as deceased. I mean we found a corpse and…. And I was one to examine and dismember the body." The crystalline blue eyes flashed in fury as Temari stepped in front of Atashi and slugged her in the mouth. "Who the hell do you think you are! Impersonating a dear acquaintance of mine. Do you have some sick sense of pleasure doing things like this!" Another hit to her face, this one clipping her left eye.
Tears of pain welled up in the Kunoichi's eyes as she spat blood to her side, "What the hell are you talking about Temari? I am Atashi and I sure as hell have never been dead."
"Lies!" Another well aimed punch to the face.
Judging by the numb stinging sensations, Atashi guessed that she was going to have a rather large black eye and a bruised jawbone. "Punching me isn't going to change the face that I am Atashi."
The Suna representative raised her hand to lash out again when Shikamaru's hand latched onto her wrist. "Enough Temari. We will hand this over to the Anbu interrogation department. They can and will get to the bottom of this."
Now whether or not Shikamaru noticed this or not but the fist that was enclosed around Temari's wrist was also the one that controlled the shadow bind that wrapped around Atashi's neck. So while he was calming the troublesome female down, he was unknowingly cutting off oxygen and blood flow to Atashi's head.
Having absolutely no way of catching the seventeen-year-old's attention, Atashi opted for her second option of simply just passing out.
When complete consciousness was regained, Atashi found herself strapped down to what seemed to be an examination table staring straight up at an entirely blank ceiling.
The good news was that she could no longer feel any pain on her face. The bad news was the two faces that now loomed in her eyesight. Ibiki and Genma-sempai.
"So you've finally awoken then? Well let me say this then; this can be done the easy way, you give up what information you have and we don't torture you or you can be stubborn and tell us nothing until we torture you and then you tell us all we want to know. I recommend the first option but the second always makes for better entertainment."
'Well Ibiki is still the psychotic bastard he always was and Genma-sempai is still the quiet brooding one with no upfront opinion about anything.' "I'll answer any and all of your questions as truthfully as I can."
"That's what I thought you'd say," the taller interrogator stated crossing his arms over his chest, "Who are you and what is your purpose here?"
"My name is Ichimaru Atashi and I have come here to speak with the Godaime regarding the time I spent in Suna as a foreign diplomat."
Hands slammed down onto either side of Atashi's head, causing damage to whatever equipment she lay on. Genma's eyes showed restrained fury as he leaned down closer to the seventeen-year-old's face. "I don't know who the hell you are, but to intimidate my adopted sister's face and continually claim that you are her is just too much. You disrespect her image and all that she had worked for."
"I am Atashi!"
Genma took the senbon from his mouth and held it between his fingers, "This conversation continues to go in a circle. Answer the question or I'm afraid that my hand might slip and you'll lose all sight in your right eye." Enforcing his threat the testy shinobi placed the tip of his senbon against the top covering of her eye near the iris.
Atashi remained silent, staring at her adopted brother. He was very serious and it was scaring Atashi. If she told the truth, she would get hurt. If she lied, she would make talking to the Hokage even more complicated and farther from reality. 'Then again I could just claim that I was under the pressure of either lying or losing an eye. … I think that they could understand my point of view if they tried.'
As she opened her mouth to speak, a door… or was it a window? Well something slammed open and out rang the fifth Hokage's voice. "What the hell is going on here," she demanded. She stood directly behind Atashi's restrained body, for the kunoichi was unable to see the angered blonde woman.
"Hokage-sama," both of the men bowed, Genma quickly pulling his senbon away from the seventeen-year-old's face.
"I asked what the hell is going on here." by the sound of her voice, Tsunande had either been pulled from her drinking, pulled from her gambling, awoken from a very nice nap or had not ordered an interrogation. Of course, a combination of those options was also possible, or so Atashi deemed knowing that the Godaime had a very short fuse.
"We are interrogating a prisoner captured by Nara Shikamaru and the Suna diplomat Temari. It seems the girl continues to claim that she is the deceased Ichimaru Atashi."
Biting the inside of her mouth, the black haired girl managed not to roll her eyes at the scared ninja's comments. 'I'm only claiming what is true you dolt. Aren't these Anbu people supposed to be human lie detectors or something for crying out loud!'A pair of hazel eyes stared down into green. Silence enveloped the room as the two females refused blatantly to blink.
"Hokage-sama," Atashi sighed addressing the older woman.
"What?" she practically growled watching the younger female for any acts of hostility.
"You do know," Atashi paused searching for the right words to use in this particular situation, "You do know that you're giving Ibiki-san and Genma-sempai a good view of what's down that low cut shirt, right?"
And of course this statement was very true, causing the Godaime to abruptly straighten up and stare at the two male occupants in the room, both of which were avoiding the fuming woman's intense gaze.
"Hokage-sama please this is an interrogation. I-if you are not going to help us we will have to ask you to leave," Genma mumbled with his eyes still looking towards the floor.'Hehe you deserve it for threatening me and looking down her shirt, brother.'
Tsunande turned back to Atashi who was watching in slight amusement. Pressing her fingers to the female's neck, the Hokage sent out her green chakra to monitor her heart rate and brain activities, a foolproof test to tell whether or not she was indeed lying. "Who are you, girl."
"For the last time, My name is Ichimaru Atashi."
The two males stared at the blonde haired woman as she straightened up and faced them.
"So?"
"This is indeed the person she claims to be."
"Impossible!" Ibiki was furious. "There is no way that that girl is Ichimaru Atashi because-"
"She's deceased. I know. I personally looked at the report given to me from Suna. So the report was either lying to us or the people in Suna got their information wrong because this is Atashi, the diplomat of Konoha to Suna." Atashi wore her 'I told you so' expression as the Godaime unstrapped her from the table. "So, Atashi-chan will you tell me where you have been for the last two years?"
and now the reviews
Suna-Tsuki-Koinu- maybe he was maybe he wasn't lol thanks for the review as always
Jam- …. Do you really want to know if Itachi is going to be included? Ahaha you'll have to read to find out Jazzy Uchiha- why? Because I finally may bring the Uchiha branch into the story? Well if that's the case then you should be really happy in a couple of chapters
Queen.of.Tea- look if you don't like my story then don't read it its that simple Jess- don't sweat it jess I'll be going for quite some time
Raincurtain- it would be a little crazy wouldn't it? Lol maybe something like that will happen but you'll have to read to find out
darklight03- lol as usual I am happy to read your review and you have a lot of questions most will be answered over a couple of chapters thanks for the review and compliments
Neji-kun-naruto- Gaara's where Gaara should be… in Suna lol you'll have your Gaara back next chapter
LynzuSeosima- well it wasn't real soon but this is good enough ne? thanks for the review
IknowPPLonCRACK- its very possible that she is an Akatsuki member… you'll have to continue reading to find out what happened
I'manobody- switch bodies? No but now that you mention that I think I'm going to keep that in mind for my next fic… lol thanks for the review
Fuyun- lol I'm happy you liked the chapter… I thought it was lacking but who knows lol thanks for the review and maybe it was the power of cookies muhahahaha
Element Girls- I'm glad you like the siren hehe I tried really hard to get her a 'good' personality and Gaara will be back soon you can count on it
Wannabe Otaku- I don't feel they are ready for a relationship yet but there will be a moment in a couple of chapters that is close you'll like it I'm sure hehe it'll show up in chapter 15
13thShadowKnight- a girl?... that's strange I don't think I would be telling people that ahaha anyways thanks for the review and are you sure it was Itachi?
Violet- Oh… really? Could you tell me in a private message what they are? Then I can fix them hehe Gaara should be back in about two chapters if I write the chapter correctly
Ghostioanddaigona- hehe I can't tell you yet who it is that rescued her but it will all be revealed within the next five chapters…. I think….. don't mind me I am confusing myself even more thanks for the review
Moonlight- third language good god you have better English than me yeah no doubt that is very strange that your OC is so similar to my own but there are prolly a couple of differences or at least I hope there are thank you for the review I am happy that you enjoy my story so much
EyeoftheTigerKissoftheDragon- 1: possibly 2: maybe I love any triangle hehe thanks for the review I hope to hear more from you in the future
Kira- well thank you I hope you enjoy the new chapter even though it took me a little longer than I expected to update
Blazing Sky- thank you for your review… I must say that you are somewhat close to what happened but you'll find out the whole story in due time until then you'll have to just wait to see what happens won't you?
A/n: sorry it took so long everyone but besides me having no idea where to go with this chapter since it was exceptionally dull and I really didn't want to write it not to mention i actually had to try in school so then i could pass the tenth grade lol. but i hope it was well worth the wait right? Anyways i hopw you enjoyed and as always i cant wait to read your reviews So leave me a review and tell me what you think