"Koyuki, Koyuki quick you need to put this on." Mayumi whispered with urgency. Koyuki mumbled tiredly as Mayumi shook her awake, they had been traveling for hours and the steady rock of the carriage had drifted Koyuki to sleep. She stared groggily at Mayumi but upon seeing the frightened look on her face her ninja instincts kicked in and she was fully awake.

"What's going on?" Koyuki put the cloak Mayumi shoved into her hands and took out a kunai from her backpack.

"Akatsuki." Mayumi whispered. "Ryoma wants everyone out of the carriages."

"Don't worry everything will be alright. Watch." Koyuki made quick handsigns and Mayumi watched with surprise as Koyuki's hair turned black, her eyes changed to grey, her skin slightly more tanned and a scar going from her cheek to her neck.

"Wow, how did you do that?"

"Transformation jutsu. I can alter my complexion any way I please. Come on." Koyuki jumped out of the carriage and looked around until she spotted Ryoma. She walked pass the other circus people until she got to Ryoma who looked at her but gave no indication that he didn't recognize her. "What's going on?"

"Akatsuki is nearby, four of them." he told her. Four...even she wouldn't be able to fight against them. She tried sensing their chakra but it was almost impossible for her, she could just make out the chakra signatures; they were hiding themselves extremely well. "I know they're hiding their chakra, almost as if they were to attack by surprise."

"So what do we do?" Koyuki asked.

"We do nothing." he ordered and then walked to the edge of the trees where he took out a blood red scroll and placed it on the ground at the edge of the trees. Not two seconds later four people showed up at the edge of the trees, wearing black cloaks with red clouds and Koyuki had to stop herself from gasping as she saw Itachi and Kisame step out of the trees along with two Akatsuki members she had seen in the bingo book. Hidan, the crazed religious for a god who needed murdering and bloodshed to be satisfied and Kakuzu, a mercenary who is immortal and is perhaps older than the third Hokage. Itachi had his sharingan deactivated so he wouldn't be able to tell the dark haired girl looking at him wearily was Koyuki under a transformation jutsu.

"Ryoma-san." Kakuzu drawled as he picked up the scroll and placed it in his pocket. "It's been a while."

"We have what you came for, so take it and leave." Ryoma growled.

"Now now what about the hospitality." Kisame smiled, "I'm sure you can spare a few minutes."

"We are behind schedule, we need to be in the next town by midday in two days." Ryoma argued.

"Well too fucking bad old man." Hidan replied. He held a large scythe that had three blades and he pointed it at Ryoma. "We travelled all the way her. The least you bastards can do is offer us something to fucking eat. And of course some entertainment." he added looking at Koyuki and liking his lips but Koyuki merely kept her chin up and gazed calmly back.

"We don't have time for that." Itachi replied. "If we must eat then we'll eat but that's it."

"Who fucking put you in charge Uchiha." Hidan hissed but Kakuzu had heard enough.

"That's enough Hidan. Now, you have your workers get everything ready while we eat." Kakuzu ordered. Koyuki could see Ryoma was angry at being ordered around but she knew he wouldn't do anything that would endanger his family so with a sigh he accepted.

"Mayumi, you and Hyosuke get some volunteers and start getting the crates ready. Kiyoko," he turned to Koyuki, taking her circus name of when she had amnesia. "You start getting the food ready and prepare a small performance for them."

"Of course." Koyuki gave a small bow and got busy. After ordering the cook and a few of the performers to get changed they set up a few large pillows and carpets for the ninjas to sit.

"Hey!" Koyuki turned and saw Hidan point at her. "I want her to serve us drinks and give a little show."

Koyuki's eyes narrowed and looked at Ryoma.

"She's not-"

"I didn't ask for your fucking opinion I want that bitch to perform!" he snapped. Ryoma sighed and with a very apologetic look nodded at her and she went to change. She had to clench her fists to stop herself from grabbing a kunai and sticking it down Hidan's throat. She saw Katsumi and the other girls that usually served the ninjas during the shows changing. When Katsumi saw her glared bu when Koyuki dropped the jutsu her eyes narrowed in fright and looked away. Koyuki rolled her eyes.

"I need you to help me change...that Akatsuki asshole with the scythe wants me to perform." she said and Katsumi looked at her incredulously, slightly acting like her former self.

"We can't exactly cover your scars with what we have to wear you know."

"I'll worry about that you just help me change." Koyuki drawled.

When they came out and headed to Akatsuki Koyuki had changed her appearance again. When Akatsuki finally spotted them Hidan whistled and even Kisame gave a grin showing his shark like teeth. They wore golden bras with veils attached to the straps and they wore either golden fabric bikinis or shorts with ruby anklets and bangles with their hair loose and chained crowns adorning their heads. Koyuki was one of the ones wearing shorts and while she was grateful for the one small mercy she was not entirely thrilled with showing so much skin to the enemy. Her jutsu was covering her scars well and her disguise was fool proof just as long as Itachi didn't activate his sharingan. The first few minutes they danced to the beat of the music, swaying their hips, doing back flips and showing their flexibility. Dinner arrived as a few of them, Koyuki included stopped dancing and served them drinks. Koyuki served Kisame first and the shark man gave her a sharp tooth grin.

"I gotta say, that scar makes you look quite beautiful," she shark man replied. "How did you get it."

At first Koyuki said nothing but after Katsumi nudged her and sent her a glare Koyuki responded.

"A couple of thieves attacked my home when I was little and killed my parents. I barely managed to escape with my life."

"I would have slaughtered those who harmed that pretty face." Hidan replied. "My god does not appreciate harming those of excellent beauty especially if they are capable of exquisite sacrifice. You look the type."

Koyuki did not reply at this, merely ignored him and moved to serve Itachi but before she could tip the jar over and pour he grabbed her wrist. Koyuki tensed, ready to attack but Itachi merely moved her hand and the jar away from him.

"Itachi doesn't drink," was Kisame's response. "it would be better to just serve him some tea, any will do, extra sweet."

This Koyuki already knew of course, she'd been over at the Uchiha's and helped Mikoto make tea plenty of times to now exactly how Itachi liked it. She didn't say any of this except nod and make the tea. The moment Itachi tried it his eyes slightly narrowed and his grip on it slightly tightened. No one noticed this of course, not even Koyuki who had been called back to dancing. It was exactly the same type of tea his mother used to make, down to the amount of sugar and the extra spoonful of honey. He looked over at the dancer and activated his sharingan. Right away he could see the chakra flowing in the patterns of the transformation jutsu and he could also see the person behind it.

Koyuki he thought. So he had been right, when he received orders from Pein to meet up it Kakuzu and Hidan with Kisame and realized which circus it was he knew he'd meet Koyuki and Kakashi's relatives. What he didn't expect was to find Koyuki with them. That is until he focused his sharingan on the place he knew the curse mark was located. It was much calmer and wasn't eroding Koyuki's chakra like it had been when they fought a few months ago. But in order to be sure he had to talk to her, now how to do that he had no idea yet.

His answer came a second later when Hidan grabbed Koyuki by the waist and pulled her to him and kiss her neck. Koyuki retaliated by kicking him in the stomach and uppercutting his chin.

"Get your filthy hands off me your pervert." Koyuki growled. Hidan wiped blood from the corner of his lip with his thumb and smiled.

"I like a whore who fights back." then proceeded to backhand her so hard Itachi heard her neck crack as she fell to the ground. "Lets see if you're so fired up when I'm done with you bitch."

"Hidan!" Everyone turned to see Itachi looking at Hidan with his sharingan activated. Koyuki's eyes narrowed in fear, thinking Itachi would blow her cover but,

"That's enough, we have what we need." Sure enough Ryoma was approaching with Keiko next to him.

"We have your order in a carriage ready to go...what's going on here?" Ryoma asked realizing Koyuki was still on the floor.

"This little bitch-"

"Nothing." Kakuzu replied. "A simple misunderstanding that we apologize for." The three Akatsuki members stood up and gave Ryoma a small bow with their heads. "Our leader thanks you for your services and you will continue to have protection by our leader."

With that they left and Koyuki finally stood up.

"Are you alright?" Keiko asked with worry but Koyuki retreated from her reach.

"This is nothing." Koyuki replied in a monotone voice. Once she had made sure Akatsuki were out of ear shot she glared at Ryoma. "So what did you give them in return for protection? Weapons? Information on other countries from ninjas too drunk and mesmerized by your dancers?"

"A lot of ninjas don't realize that even describing a bird only found in their village we can gather plenty of info. Or the missions they take." Ryoma answered.

"Then you can forget about heading to my village." Koyuki hissed. "The moment we get there I'm telling the Hokage-"

"And have us all killed?" Ryoma asked and Koyuki froze. "They would descend on us and kill us without mercy. Maybe even torture us even though we know nothing about Akatsuki except that they wish to end the tyranny of the ninja who abuse their power.

"Is that really what they told you?" Koyuki scoffed. "They kidnapped the Kazekage who gave me shelter when I left Konoha, he was kidnapped and almost killed just to get the one tailed demon that was inside him. His brother was almost killed, and now they are also after my teammate who carries the nine tail fox. Tell me something, is it right for them to hunt down people who'd tried so hard to fit into this world and make a difference only for Akatsuki to ruin it and destroy everything? Are you willing to take part in destroying and entire nations with families and good people just so you don't get robbed of a few pennies and treasures you don't really need?" Without waiting for a response she turned her back on them and left. Ryoma had ordered for everyone to rest so there were a few tents that had been put up. But Koyuki kept walking to the carriage that she and Mayumi had been in, she wasn't there but Koyuki's stuff was still there. She grabbed it and started running into the forest, after a mile she stopped on a thick branch and sat on it.

Some family they are, cowards. she thought bitterly. Mom it's a good thing you're not here to see how low grandfather has fallen.

"Koyuki."

She unsheathed her katana and swung it only to hit the tree trunk behind her and when she turned her head to the tree in front of her she saw Itachi. She pulled her katana from the tree and held it in front of her ready to attack but Itachi merely looked at her, she had dropped the jutsu half a mile before so her was able to see the scars on her body and the anger in her brown eyes.

"Where are your other comrades ? I'm already in a bad mood and I really want to take it out on someone."

"We went our separate ways, we have other assignments." was Itachi's response.

"Why didn't you give me up?" Koyuki asked, still not lowering her katana. "You used your sharingan and you could clearly see that I was using transformation jutsu."

"I needed to talk to you." he answered.

"Fat chance!" She snapped and attacked him, before she reached him he flickered away and she only had a millisecond to turn and avoid a punch to the stomach. They landed on the floor facing each other.

"Don't be stubborn." he said and Koyuki scoffed.

"I really doubt you want to talk to me, maybe finish the job you didn't get to finish eight years ago." she motioned to the scar that went from hip to her cleavage and Itachi looked at it before he sighed and stood up straight.

"I did not do that." he said.

"Don't lie! I remember you slashing me with your katana after you killed my mother!" Koyuki screamed.

"I replaced your memories." he replied. "I would have thought that after Orochimaru broke the seal of your curse you would have regained all the memories Kakashi had sealed away. I was wrong."

"What are you talking about?" Koyuki asked. "What memories?"

"The night of the massacre," Itachi answered. "everything is not as it seems."

"Then tell me the truth." she hissed.

"I cannot, you must find out the truth for yourself." Itachi activated his sharingan and Koyuki felt herself get dizzy. "You, are the only one who can keep Sasuke from the dark path he's heading to."

Koyuki raised her katana and jumped him, but before she could even land a hit her vision went black. Next time she came to she was awakened by her head hitting something hard.

"Ow!"

"Sorry Koyuki, you know, you really need to let your Hokage know about fixing the streets. There's a lot of pot holes."

At the mention of the Hokage she sat up and realized she was back in the carriage she had been in with Mayumi before the Akatsuki arrived.

"How did I end up back in the carriage?" she asked Mayumi.

"What do you mean? Ryoma found you fast asleep an hour later in the carriage after the Akatsuki left. We just assumed you had been there the entire time."

Koyuki remembered her conversation with Itachi and when he made her black out, he must have taken her back to the carriage without anyone noticing. Speaking of which, she looked down at herself and realized she was in her Konoha uniform.

"Did you find me dressed like this as well?"

"Yeah," Mayumi replied. Koyuki felt anger flare up in her chest.

If that bastard dressed me I am so going to kill him! Koyuki thought.

"Naruto!"

Naruto looked down to see Kakashi signaling him to get down from the waterfall. He instructed his clones to keep training and jumped down, Konohamaru joined them as well with Atsuko on his back fast asleep.

"What's wrong Kakashi-sensei?"

"We just got word that Koyuki is back."

"She's alright?!" he asked with relief.

"From what the anbu told me she's fine, Tsunade's waiting for us in the Hokage tower." Kakashi answered.

After Naruto dismissed his clones they headed top speed towards the Hokage tower, by the time they arrived Atsuko was slowly waking up as they made their way down the hall.

"Were are we going?" he asked.

"It's a surprise Atsuko." Konohamaru replied with a smile. When they arrived and opened the door Koyuki was standing with her back to the but as Atsuko had no trouble recognizing her as he jumped from Konohamaru's back and ran to her.

"MOMMY!" Koyuki turned in surprise and opened her arms for Atsuko to jump into them.

"Atsuko!" she hugged her son tightly to her as he buried his face in her hair and she felt his tears on her neck.

"I missed you." he sobbed and she smile and kiss his hair.

"It's alright I'm here." she replied softly. "I'm here."

"Welcome back Koyu." Naruto smiled.

"Thank you so much for taking care of him." Koyuki told the three of them. Atsuko had stopped crying and only sniffles came out of him as Koyuki wiped his tears away. "Did you behave?"

"Yes." he answered. She gave him a small smile. "Mommy, are you not sick anymore?"

They all gave her a look but she just focused on her son and she was suddenly reminded of Sasuke. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed and his eyes were staring at her with an intensity that she had never seen on a child before and his lips were in a small thin line. This was the look Sasuke had usually given her when he was worried about her and she would have laughed at the similarity if they had been by themselves. But she simply kissed his cheek and smiled.

"I'm not sick anymore."

"Promise?"

"I promise." this time her son smiled and he hugged her tightly.

"Koyuki since you have already informed me I will be briefing them, you can go home and spend time with your son." Tsunade said. Koyuki gave a small bow and left with her son.

"She's not fine is she?" Kakashi asked.

"Konohamaru you're dismissed." Once Konohamaru had left Tsunade informed them of Koyuki's mission. When she was done Naruto ran a hand through his hair.

"So Koyuki's being controlled by the ancestor of our mother's clan." Kakashi sighed. "I thought the legend had been just that, a legend."

"Wait so you knew about this?!" Naruto asked.

"No, my mother used to tell us stories about her ancestors. According to the legend their ancestors are the sage of the six paths and a goddess that fell from the heavens."

"The Sage?! As in the creator of the ninja?!" Yamato asked in disbelief.

"It's hard to believe since there was never any record or rumor about the sage having a family." Kakashi amended.

"Speaking of which...it would seem your mother's clan has decided to perform in Konoha for the first time." Tsunade informed him. Kakashi looked at Tsunade in surprise but a dark look quickly passed through his eyes.

"Koyuki came with them, that means she met our grandparents."

"Kakashi it'd be best to talk to her about." Tsunade suggested and he bowed before disappearing.

"I knew you'd show up sooner rather than later." said Koyuki as she stepped aside and allowed Kakashi inside. Atsuko was playing with his stuffed toys and waved before getting back to his toys.

"Tsunade told me what happened, but I know you didn't tell her everything." Koyuki played with a lock of her hair, the same usual habit she has when she's lying or hiding something.

"They've been working with Akatsuki." she murmured and Kakashi glared.

"And you didn't mention it to the Hokage?! What if they're here to invade Konoha or get intel?!" he snapped.

"Don't you think I've thought of that already?!" Koyuki snapped back angrily. "Akatsuki payed them a visit before we got to Konoha to receive a shipment from them. I don't know what it was and they wouldn't tell me."

"Did you follow them at least?"

"There were four Akatsuki members I couldn't do anything...and one of them was Itachi."

"Did he realize it was you?" he asked nervously.

"At first he didn't I was using transformation jutsu...until he used his sharingan. But the weird thing is, he didn't blow my cover."

"Why?"

"He ambushed me about a few minutes after they had left the caravan, he, told me he had replaced my memories of the night of the massacre."

"What did he mean by that?"

"He said he didn't give me the scar, he didn't try to kill me."

"And you believed him." Kakashi said in disbelief.

"It might have been easier to not believe him if you hadn't sealed my memories away!" Koyuki replied hotly.

"I had to! Whatever happened that day would have scarred you just like it did to Sasuke. You would have ended up the same as him!"

"You don't know that!" argued.

"You would have grown up gathering hatred and revenge for our mother, you would have ended up betraying Konoha just like Sasuke did." Kakashi snapped back. "Look me in the eye and tell me you would of not gone down the same path if I hadn't sealed away those memories."

Koyuki looked at her brother dead in the eye with a glare, and knew with a sickening feeling that he was right. She would have grown up jaded and bitter just like Sasuke and she would have probably left the village with Sasuke to take revenge on Itachi. But there was one thing she was wondering and had never thought to ask until now.

"And what about you?" Koyuki asked and Kakashi tensed. "She was your mom too...how come you didn't go after Itachi?"

"I would have hunted him down till the end of the earth for killing our mother but there was something more important than that."

"What was that?" she asked and Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You. He may have killed her but he left you alive and our mother would of not wanted me to seek revenge and leave you to fend for yourself. You are my little sister, and protecting you became much more important than seeking revenge."

Koyuki smiled sadly at her brother before hugging him.

"You are an awesome big brother you know that?" she mumbled and he only ruffled her hair.

"Unfortunately the sealing jutsu I placed on you can't be undone by me anymore. The seal will undo by itself, I'm sorry."

"It's okay nii-san." Koyuki smiled. "I'll do it on my own, I heard you're teaching Naruto how to do wind jutsu techniques."

"He's getting there, he's using his kage bunshin to increase his experience. Also, I know that our mother's family is here."

"They were working for Akatsuki, they gave them something. Unfortunately I don't know what that is."

"We'll deal with them later," said Kakshi. "For now you get back to your son and get some training done. Akatsuki has been very active lately, it's best if we are prepared."

"Don't worry, next time we meet them they'll wish they'd never mess with Konoha."