"You failed?" Pein asked calmly. Deidara nodded.
"Where is your partner?" Pein asked again.
Deidara shrugged. "She said she was sick or something."
"You don't find this the least bit strange that she is suddenly sick? It's obvious she's lying. Get her over here now," Pein ordered. Unsurprised, Deidara went to another part of the base and knocked on the door. No response came. Deidara opened it and walked in.
The whole room was pitch black. Deidara sensed her chakra in the bathroom. Knocking on the door to it, Deidara said, "Leader's asking for you."
No response. Then some muffled coughing.
"You okay?" Deidara asked, opening the door, cringing a little. Please don't be naked.
Akane was kneeling on the floor, coughing. In her black robes, she almost blended into the bathroom if it weren't for the small candle she'd lit. She glanced up at him with a murderous glance.
"Get out," she stated. Deidara bit his lip and shook his head. He steeled his nerves and knelt in front of her. Her eyes were glassy and her throat when she spoke sounded like she had a cold. But ninjas didn't get colds.
"You're sick, aren't you?" Deidara asked. Akane didn't respond; she stood and walked away. Deidara caught her wrist and she looked at him in disbelief.
"How long?" Deidara asked, not letting his voice break. She simply stared. Taking her wrist back, Akane walked to the meeting room where Pein was waiting for her.
Everyone noticed how simply sick she looked, but no one commented. They were either too unnerved by it or didn't care enough. Deidara followed behind.
"You failed to get the Kyuubi?" Pein asked her. Unfazed black eyes met with angry purple ones.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Iwa attacked that day and I had to make sure they didn't take the Kyuubi. Killing them was the only option. But by the time I'd located the Kyuubi, I was low on chakra and there were two seasoned Sharingan wielders," Akane sighed. "Right now, I believe it is wise to spy on them to gauge their skill levels and then strike accordingly. That jinchuuriki grows more and more powerful by the day and having Uchiha Itachi and Hatake Kakashi around and the youngest Uchiha with him makes the issue ore pressing to take him down when he's weakest."
"Then go," Pein flicked his wrist. Akane nodded and walked outside with Deidara following.
Halfway on the trip to Konoha, Deidara and Akane stopped at an inn. Akane wove a simply genjutsu around the innkeepers to keep them from knowing S-Rank nuke nin were there.
The outside baths might not have been unisex, but that didn't matter to criminals. Slipping into the bath, Akane noticed how she felt two pairs of eyes staring. Undoing her hair with a senbon, she flicked at the other chakra source.
"How interesting to meet you here," Akane sighed and relaxed in the bath with Deidara glaring next to her.
"Same," the peeper replied. Jumping over the fence, Akane saw him clearly. Jiraiya with his useless research.
"Go, on, Jiraiya. Go back to Konoha and tell them you've got two nuke-nin dangerously close to Fire Country's border," Akane said. As she looked into the mist, she noticed how her vision was a bit hazier than she had expected. Blinking and then squinting, she noticed how her vision wasn't normal.
"Tell me why you're here then," Jiraiya ordered.
"I'm sure you're already well aware," Akane said.
"Go away and die, stupid toad," Deidara snarled and readied his hands to weave signs. Jiraiya narrowed his eyes.
An escort mission. It was three Chuunin's mission. The three people squad consisted of Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Yuko. A frail woman who is some leader of a large farming village that's been attacked by failed nuke nin. These nuke nin are shinobi who left their village and then asked, "What do I do now?"
By nightfall, the group had stopped at an inn. To their delight there were outside baths. Stepping into the water, Sasuke and Naruto got the feeling they were being watched.
"Do you feel that?" Naruto asked quietly. Sasuke nodded. Activating his Sharingan, Sasuke looked around.
"See anything?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shook his head. Naruto sighed.
On the girls' side, Yuko found another girl.
"Hello," Yuko greeted. The girl turned around and smiled. She had light purple hair and green eyes.
"Hi, I'm Yukimi," the girl smiled. She looked to be about ten. Yuko smiled fakely and stepped into the water.
"You have a funny smile," Yukimi said.
"You should go home. We're being watched," Yuko said, her eyes hard. Flinching, the girl left. Wrapping a towel around herself, Yuko grabbed her kunai and called out into the surroundings.
"I know you're there. Come out," Yuko commanded. No response. She threw kunai at where she felt the eyes staring and to her disbelief, there was no one there.
"I said come out," Yuko said patiently. No response.
Yuko got dressed. She noticed two other baskets with clothes in them and took them. Walking to her room, she saw Sasuke and Naruto.
"Yuko, did you feel like you were watched?" Naruto asked.
Yuko paused, weighing the consequences of telling him or not. She shook her head.
"Maybe it's just our nerves," Sasuke sighed. Naruto nodded.
As the two boys slept, Yuko stayed awake.
The trees swayed with a light breeze. The moon shone down onto a figure. The pond nearby chirped with crickets and other night bugs. Blue eyes slowly opened. The head in which the eyes were planted firmly lifted and looked around, showing signs of being confused and then calm with a calculating look.
The mouth below the blue circles moved, "I knew I was being watched. Who's there?"
Below the figure's head was a body with four limbs branching out. Behind the figure was a tree. Two limbs moved against the tree. The blue circles looked down and with the bright moonlight light brown ropes were there.
"I'd prefer you dead," a voice called.
"How do you know me?" the figure narrowed the eyelids, covering most of the blue circles.
"Yuko, were you told nothing?" the voice was calm, but mirth rang through every word. Yuko didn't like this position; she could feel seals suppressing her chakra and ropes that bound her civilian-like body to the tree. She couldn't feel the small weight of her kunai or shuriken holster. She looked down and noticed she wasn't wearing her normal clothes. It seemed she'd been stripped of her seal-infested clothes. Yuko didn't care at the moment.
"I know that my brother is over there. That is all I needed to know," Yuko stated.
A small smile. "You really were told nothing."
"What do you mean by that?" Yuko narrowed her eyes.
"I mean that there is much more to you than you think. However, if I divulge this to you, you must take back a message to your Hokage," another figure stepped out.
Blue eyes met with black ones. Pale skin seeped out of the cuffs of sleeves and the collar. Then black hair washed down the black cloak.
"Uchiha Akane," Yuko said. "It isn't important whether you tell me or not." Even as she said this, Yuko felt a strange sensation; she wanted to know. Yuko didn't know what to do with this.
"If you don't want to know, that's fine. But you will carry this message," Akane said. She appeared in front of Yuko before she could blink and red eyes met with blue ones.
Akane began to cough more. She couldn't help the sound carrying; it was getting worse. Looking up, she saw something move.
"Akane, we need to go," Deidara urged. Akane looked up as two Konoha nin came to grab Yuko.
"You were watching, weren't you?" Naruto glared. Akane closed her eyes and felt Deidara lift her.
"You can't leave! I haven't killed you!" Sasuke yelled out. Akane glanced over at him and her younger brother flinched. Then his face morphed into an angry and hate-filled one. Akane frowned. Itachi…Shisui…did you not get through to him?
Lightning crackled around him and Deidara's bird flew past him with Akane on it. Akane began to cough more and eventually slipped into sleep.
"Hokage-sama, I have one more thing to tell you," Yuko said after Sasuke and Naruto left.
"What?" Tsunade laced her fingers together.
"I know Sasuke mentioned encountering Uchiha Akane. Jiraiya-sama also had. She sent me back with a message to you," Yuko said uneasily.
"What is it?"
"Orochimaru is a problem to both us and her organization. If we take him down, she'll leave Konoha and its assets alone," Yuko said.
Tsunade sighed. "Is that all?" Yuko nodded. "You may leave."
The door closed behind Yuko. As the door clicked, Tsunade began to break things. Flicking her wrist, an ANBU appeared.
"Hokage-sama?" Frog asked.
"Get Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi!" Tsunade screamed as her desk splintered.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Frog said.
A minute later, two Uchiha stood in a room full of rubble.
"Hokage-sama, what happened here?" Shisui asked.
"That's not important! Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Yuko encountered Uchiha Akane on their recent mission. She sent a message: kill Orochimaru and I'll leave Konoha alone. I have one problem with this. That is, how long would she leave us alone? Until he's dead?" Tsunade gritted her teeth.
"You want us to spy on Orochimaru? Shouldn't we have Jiraiya-sama spy on him? He's the most likely person to know his whereabouts. Also, Hokage-sama, may I speak freely?" Itachi asked. Tsunade nodded.
"Don't send Uchiha Sasuke or Uzumaki Naruto outside the village until Orochimaru is taken down. Orochimaru can still easily take them down and keep them as experiments with that Cursed Seal. Uchiha Akane also poses a serious problem now that she's reappeared," Itachi said.
"From their report, she's ill," Tsunade said bluntly. The two Uchiha flinched.
"What do you mean?" Itachi asked.
"I mean that she apparently had a terrible cough and was pale. Her partner had to carry her and fly her to their base," Tsunade said.
Itachi and Shisui exchanged looks.
"What would you like for us to do?"
"Aid Jiraiya in reconnaissance. Take him down if you have the chance," Tsunade said. "I'm just glad that there's a silver lining; Orochimaru is the enemy of both Konoha and Akane's organization. And, if you encounter Akane, you can kill her if you can. This mission is dangerous to be classified as Unclassified. Take as long as at most, a year," Tsunade said. The two Uchiha bowed and left.
"Nii-san?" Sasuke asked. "Where are you going?"
Itachi shook his head. "I can't tell you."
"It's S-Rank?"
"I still can't tell you. Sorry, Sasuke," Itachi said. He grabbed his sword and almost all the seals they had in the Compound.
"That's a lot of seals…is it some powerful enemy? Is that why you can't tell me what your mission is?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes.
"Maybe next time, Sasuke," Itachi said and left with Shisui. Sasuke frowned and went into his room.
Shisui saw his friend's face look troubled despite the calm on it.
"Itachi, talk," Shisui said. Itachi didn't give him a pained look; he simply began.
"Akane really loved Sasuke, didn't she? Even now she can't kill him. I…" Itachi paused. "Don't want her to die."
Shisui let him continue.
"I don't want her to die without having Sasuke understand he was loved. I don't want her death to mean nothing. But, I can't do anything. If I reveal the truth, Sasuke might be ostracized. Akane might even come to kill me. Those are only the minor consequences. I just wish that everything could be different and I'd take her place. Akane was always the one whose emotions ate her inside and then she'd either take it out on training or missions. I'm just troubled by this whole situation," Itachi said.
Shisui nodded.
"Me too," Shisui said. "I wish we could be there for her, right?"
Itachi nodded. Then he realized something: she'd die alone. The thought made him nauseous. He wanted to kill whoever ruined their lives and made things the way they were. He hated living this way; haunted by the truth.
Six days later, they found Jiraiya and were outside Orochimaru's hideout.
"Here it is," Jiraiya said, cringing. Then they dashed in.
A/N 1) Well, I hope things didn't seem too rushed or forced together…
2) THERE IS A LINK ON MY PROFILE TO CONFIRM PART 3 OF NARUTO!
Review Replies~
darkhuntressxir – Yep! But Minato is an Edo Tensei so it's debatable if it is 'alive' or not.
Naruto1300 – Thanks!
KoreanKid – Sorry about that.
Karkatsbabe – I'm still crying on the inside. Kishi just had to ruin my life…Oh, by the way, there will be a part 3 in spring of 2015! Also, there will be side-story books not by Kishi.