If you don't know that I don't own Naruto by chapter 21 of this fic, you have massive problem. You can hate me all you want for my lack of update for awhile but hopefully I can get it going now. But you don't want that, you want ItaKona goodness, so enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Six months had passed since the villages of Konoha, Kumo and Suna had declared war on Ame and the Akatsuki. The summit had been a long and rough discussion between the three nations. All three nations had the same goals- defeat Akatsuki. Break the hold they had on Ame. Try to acquire allies for the upcoming war. This was much easier said than it was done. Most of the council there had a agreed on the goals, but in what order to execute them was up for debate. Suna had wanted to gather more allies first as Akatsuki had already captured the respective villages' jinjurki in an overt way. They had proved they had the strength if not the skill to capture high profile targets. They also had the entire village of Amekagure backing them. The citizens were fed up with being a battleground for other countries' wars and saw Akatsuki, if not reluctantly, as a way to end that. Kumo just wanted to destroy Akatsuki and Konoha wanted to destroy Ame so that in theory they would stop backing Akatsuki and force them out of the nation. Eventually it was decided all three nations would work to destroy Akatsuki who were pretty much the government of the village. They would still have to convince Ame they needed to be rid of Akatsuki.

However, there was always a way for Akatsuki to find the plans that were headed their way. Spies that had been placed by Sasori before his death made their way into the meeting halls of Sunakagure as background roles like janitors and maintenance staff. Konan had also slipped some chakra filled paper into the offices that could then be sent back to Ame and the Akatsuki headquarters on her commands. As a new mother, she was worn out from just keeping up with baby Sasuke's needs but she had to play her part in the upcoming war. Itachi was kept to the border of Ame to patrol for enemy forces. It was with great insistence (one could call it that) that Pein ordered Itachi to the border. Konan had agreed to the plan to spy using her paper butterflies but the information retrieval required a bit of chakra and with baby Sasuke's new found love of NOT sleeping at night, she was exhausted. Pein wanted both Itachi and Konan to stay as safe a possible so baby Sasuke would not lose either of his parents.

Konan had just rocked baby Sasuke back to sleep when she heard the door creak behind her She pulled out her kunai, ready to attack to defend her child from the intruder when she lowered, noticing it was Itachi coming in the room.

"How is the mission coming along?" Konan said as she placed baby Sasuke in the crib.

"Boring. Nothing is happening at the borders." Itachi said. "I guess I should be happy nothing is happening but still. We're at war."

"That's true." Konan said. "Pein-sama is adamant about us staying here for the child."

"Hopefully we never have to use that weapon." Itachi sighed. He knew all too well what one Tailed Beast could do to a village, let alone all nine of them. It has to be there, it has to be ready. You saw what happened when the Nine Tails attacked, and Sasuke was a baby then. Funny any time a baby named Sasuke is born, Tailed Beasts seem to attack. Itachi thought as he looked at baby Sasuke as he slept. He had grown so much since he was born, but things were not going too well. The war was a long and slow battle. Sure wars had gone on for years before but this was different. Kumo, Konoha and Suna had agreed to try do a long and drawn out battle blocking anything from going in to Ame and starve out the people because supplies were weak. Instead of being able to use this for their support, the people actually retaliated against Konoha, Suna and Kumo. The other ninja villages were not quite ready to ally with either side yet, but they were preparing their forces for any battles that crossed into their territories. As with any secret a village would try to keep, it got out that Akatsuki had captured the Nine Tails and they had completed the weapon. This was enough for the other ninja villages to stay out in fear they would use it.

Meanwhile, back in Konoha, Tsunade read the war reports with frustration and rage. This is not working! Ame is still getting support, some believe from the villages not taking part in the war, bastards, and we cannot break through their defenses! Tsunade had believed that a siege like was agreed upon would not work. The odds were that since all the Tailed beasts had been captured, the longer the war went on, the more likely that Akatsuki would see an opportunity to use it and bring the entire world under their control. She took a deep long drink of her sake and then yelled, "SHIZUNE!"

"Yes Mi lady?" She asked as she walked into the Hokage's office nervously. This war was getting to her and wearing her down.

Tsunade grabbed her necklace and sighed. She gave it to Naruto thinking he could actually achieve the goals her brother and Dan wanted to. But he was captured and killed. It was the same fate that had happened to Gaara but only this time there was no one who knew a revival jutsu like Lady Chiyo did. The only one who spent enough time with her to learn it was Sakura and even if Sakura could use her chakra as well as she used to, Tsunade would forbid it from happening to save Naruto. She might ask Sakura to teach her that jutsu but it would be a risky proposition. No matter what, they were at war and working with a very fragile alliance going, that would cause deep division if she died just to bring Naruto back to life. He could not handle her duties and Suna and Kumo would not trust a new Hokage if she did appoint one. They would see Konoha as weak and that their Hokage couldn't handle the job and pretty much killed herself. She looked up at Shizune and sighed. "Any reports from the front?"

"None yet mi lady." Shizune said.

"None?" Tsunade asked.

"None, I'm sorry." Shizune repeated herself. "Ibiki has captured a few prisoners from the Hidden Mist Village who were caught at the border of the Rain Village."

"Really?" Tsunade said, startled at this new revelation. She couldn't get too mad at Shizune for not saying it when she asked about news from the front lines, because technically it wasn't and this was not the time to get mad at your subordinates.

"Yes." Shizune said. "He's interrogating them right now but from what they told me, they were caught trying to sneak food and other supplies into the Rain village. They would not say if they were authorized by the Mizukage or if they were simply a rouge band of Mist Ninjas who happened to sympathize with Akatsuki's goals."

"Well I will need to know that as soon as Ibiki knows it. If the Hidden Mist village is supplying the Rain village with what they need when they declared themselves neutral in this war, there will be serious consequences. I will not stand for people who said they want no part in the war giving our enemies supplies! Either declare your allegiance or stay neutral!" Tsunade yelled.

"I will inform Ibiki of your demands as soon as I can." Shizune said. "I do have a request from Sasuke Uchiha."

"What is it?" She asked.

"He requests a conference with you based on some observations he had seen in the field. As Itachi Uchiha's brother and having been on a mission to kill him for years, he was sent in as a lead on the hunt for Akatsuki headquarters, lacking that to capture and or kill Itachi Uchiha."

Good luck with that last one. I swear Itachi was one of the most skilled nin Konoha ever had before the massacre... Tsunade thought. "What does he wish to discuss with me that he can't discuss with anyone else?"

"He wouldn't tell me much just that he needed to talk with you about changes of plans. That's about it." Shizune said. "What should I tell him?"

Tsunade looked at her desk and sighed. It may have been coming time for them to change strategy on this war and Sasuke may have a point to do so. It was seeming as if Konoha's only allies were puttering out and losing faith in the battle they were fighting. Now the villages that wanted to remain neutral are seeming to be supplying Akatsuki. Don't they know that backing out of this war won't stop them from trying to take over the world! Akatsuki won't separate them from the rest of the world because they didn't fight back! Tsunade thought as she tapped her fingers on the desk, thinking of what to tell Shizune. "Have him meet me in my office at 5 tonight. He's in the village in between assignments now, I'll discuss with him what is going on in the battlefield."

"I will inform him." Shizune said as she left Tsunade's office.

Tsunade sighed and looked out the window towards the Hokage Mountain. I don't deserve to be there. Just because the First is my grandfather does not mean a thing. I am the Sannin and I cannot stop the war, I cannot lead my home village out of danger. It all means nothing at this point. But I cannot give up. Maybe there is some hope yet...She thought as she closed her eyes and fell asleep from the exhaustion that she had been facing lately. After a few hours, she was stirred awake by a knock at her door. "Who is it?" She yelled.

"Ummm Sasuke Uchiha. You wanted me to see you." Sasuke said as he opened the door, walking into her office.

"Yes I did." She said getting up and walking over to Sasuke. "I want to hear your suggestions for how this war should go. As you know, we are making no progress and we suspect that the neutral nations are helping Ame with supplies."

"HA!" Sasuke laughed. "It's not just supplies. I have seen ninja from the neutral nations sneak into Ame and once there, they don the headbands and garments of ninja from the village. None don the Akatsuki outfits because of the influence they have on the village. But they sneak in and fight for Ame. I have found a few ninja I knew were from the Hidden Mist village. Suigetsu had identified them for me."

"And are they rouge Mist nin or on there on orders?" Tsuande asked.

"Didn't know. Couldn't find out at all. They would not talk." Sasuke said. "But I think we need to make a grand move to get into Ame quickly and break the Akatsuki's hold. I would be able to get in and kill Itachi finally." Sasuke said. He was using Konoha and this war to get into the fight and be able to finally kill Itachi, thinking that he would be exposed to what would be out there in battle. There was even rumors that he had caught some sort of respiratory illness that would be fatal, so that the process of killing him won't be as hard as Sasuke was thinking. Sure he would like a battle at Itachi's full strength to fight and avenge the Uchiha. But Itachi had to die. But dragging the war out would make Sasuke's chances decrease if the rumor was true.

"I agree. What should we do?" Tsunade asked. "We have allies."

"So does Ame. We just made formal alliances, they have back-door alliances, we know they made some offer to Hidden Mist ninja, but what I don't know. So if they are using secrecy, so can we. No need to be all pretty, nice and formal." Sasuke said, darkness falling in his voice. "Listen if you want to play Ame's game, I will run the operation, free of the chain of command. You will have complete deniability. It is obvious that the rest of the villages don't trust me. Most of Konoha does not trust me. I don't care." Sasuke added with anger in his voice.

"Karin and Juugo seem to be doing good work in the hospital." Tsunade added.

"They still are not trusted like Sakura or the others." Sasuke said. "I plan on taking my team and heading into Ame undetected and then into Akatsuki. For a price."

"I can name what your price will be." Tsunade said.

"I am the one who gets to kill Itachi Uchiha." Sasuke said simply.

"Obvious." Tsunade said. "Now go and organize the covert team. I request you leave Karin here at the hospital. You can take Juugo."

"I guess that is acceptable." Sasuke sighed.

"Now, I want you to assemble your team and get them ready to head out in two days. You are given free reign over it as long as none of this can be traced back to me." Tsunade said.

"You will never know what I will do." Sasuke said walking out the door, slamming it behind him.

Within a few hours, a butterfly landed on the window beside the bed in Konan and Itachi's room. "Paper Spying Jutsu." She said as she made a few hand signs. The butterfly then turned into pages of regular paper with every word that was spoken at the Hokage's mansion. "This needs to be taken to Pein-sama right away. She headed through the halls of Akatsuki's hideout to where Pein was looking over a map planning the next moves for Akatsuki. "I have some plans from Konoha."

Pein took the paper from Konan's hand and read it over. So this is their plans, attack us outright hard and fast and Sasuke, Itachi's brother, is planning to lead this covert group. I think we need to make better offers to the Mist and also to make sure that this group has hell heading into our village. But it would be better to cause everyone attacking us trouble. Pein thought as he read over the intel again. "Konan-chan, call up all available Akatsukis and tell Kisame to take a break from his envoy to the Hidden Mist recruiting for our side. We may need to activate the weapon."

"Really?" Konan asked in shocked.

"Really." Pein said.

"I will follow your orders Pein-sama." Konan bowed.

"Good. And our first target will be Konoha." Pein said as he placed his fist on the table. "Let's see how well that force can fight when they have big problems of their own."

So how was that? Good? Bad? Long? Short? Let me know in a review. I apologize for the long update but you know what, life sucks. If I had my way I could work on this all the time but life and writer's block has tons of other plans. Sasuke is heading into Ame, Pein is activating the weapon on Konoha. How will this change things? You'll have to read on. So remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

otherrealmwriter

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