AN: A quick update, all your reviews inspired me to write quicker. More on Sasori's mission and Deidara/Sasuke/Suigetsu interaction. I am aware that I've been seriously lazy with replying to reviews but they are the reason I keep writing, so thank you.

Deidara pulled his cloak around himself, it felt heavier than usual. He was aware that he was asleep but the more he moved, the more he started becoming aware of his surroundings. One of the first things he really took notice of was the cold. Not only was it cold, it was wet. Deidara tried to pull his cloak tighter against his body only this time he realized it was saturated. The tongues on his hands spat out the water indignantly. "What the hell un?" Deidara sat up and his blue eye blinked with confusion.

"Good morning, Deidara." Suigetsu said with unusual cheer.

Deidara grunted and stood up. His cloak weighed him down and Deidara then noticed the various water bottles laying around. All of them empty. Deidara looked at Suigetsu who grinned and took a sip of the water bottle he was holding. Deidara stripped his cloak off with a dead calm expression and dropped it on the ground. It squelched. Deidara then focused his attention onto Suigetsu who was beginning to look worried. When Deidara took his cloak off, his hand snatched some clay out of the bag on his hip. It burped out a small spider and Deidara flung it at Suigetsu. The spider detonated.

Sasuke returned five minutes later, after hearing the explosion, he left the stream. Sasuke wasn't overly worried though, it was unlikely there were intruders. Sasuke entered the old shrine and looked at Deidara who was sitting on a rock eating instant ramen. Suigetsu was no where to be seen. Sasuke rose a brow at Deidara who smirked. "Where is Suigetsu?"

"Oh, he's around un." Deidara said airily, using his hand to make a sweeping gesture around the shrine. Sasuke saw Sasuke's clothes and cloak in a pile. The cloak was in pieces and very singed. "What happens if he evaporates un?" Deidara asked with interest.

"I do not know." Sasuke then noticed the water bottles that were all lined up on a rock, the sun was beaming down against the water bottles. "I'm sure he deserved it, but I'd prefer if you didn't kill him."

"I wasn't going to kill him, just make him sweat a little un." Deidara jumped off his rock and went outside to the water bottles. He undid the lids and tipped all the water out. Once he emptied the last bottle, Suigetsu reformed him body.

"Sasuke, he's trying to kill me!" Suigetsu crossed his arms. "Fucking psychotic blonde."

"I'm sure it was completely unprovoked." Sasuke deadpanned.

"Well, I may have drenched him, but he overreacted!" Suigetsu threw his hands in the air but he couldn't hide his mischievous grin.

"You're giving me a headache." Sasuke rubbed his temples and sat down. "How are we getting into Konaha? Using a henge won't be enough. We will need I.D's."

"I know. I sent your brother one of my birds asking for information on a family that lives outside of Konaha. Of course, we will have to dispose of the family because it might be suspicious if two identical families show up in Konaha. But as long as Itachi doesn't decide to be a complete fuckass then we will be fine un." Deidara replied then he sighed dramatically. "I should have send an exploding bird un."

"Why do you hate Itachi so much?" Suigetsu asked. A white bird fluttered into the shrine and perched on Deidara's shoulder. A scroll was clutched in the clay claws of the bird. Deidara removed the scroll and dismissed the bird. The scroll was blood sealed so Deidara bit into his thumb, splitting the skin open and swiped his thumb across the seal. Inside were I.D's, information on the family, photographs and a note. The note was from Itachi and a photograph was stuck to the bottom of it. Suigetsu and Sasuke watched as Deidara's previously calm face turned furious and various shades of red.

"This is why un." Deidara passed the note to Suigetsu haughtily.

Deidara, I know how you struggle to use even mediocre jutsus so I selected a suitable family for you. I feel even you can pull off Tanuka Mai. Good day. -Itachi.

The photograph at the bottom of the page was a female with blonde hair and blue eyes. Her eyes were a darker shade than Deidara's, as was her hair. She looked almost frail, definitely completely feminine. Suigetsu started to laugh but on seeing Deidara's face he cut it off and ended up snorting. Suigetsu handed the paper to Sasuke who remained emotionless but Suigetsu could see the amusement in his dark eyes.

Sasori strode through the forest with quick efficiency. The light was streaming through the trees and it made dappled patterns across the forest floor. It was still at least two hours before the sun would begin to dip beyond the horizon. Sasori wouldn't rest though, if he walked through the night then he could reach Kusagakure by midday. Persuading Kusa to ally themselves with Akatsuki was far more important than gaining Bird's alliance. Kusa, though a small ninja village still had two powerful clans. Both clans had a similar trait. Twins. Zetsu's clan sealed their twins together to prevent the evil side from causing havoc. Later, the Soma clan stole the idea of the jutsu and began to merge their twins together. The Soma clan altered the jutsu so the stronger twin had the main body and the weaker twin shared the body, only allowing the weaker twins head to show. Sasori didn't like either clan, both were unpredictable, ruthless and constantly at war with each other.

Up a head, a twig snapped and Sasori instantly froze. He listened intently but heard no further noises. Sasori moved on, albeit more cautiously. Behind him, leaves crunched and branches were rustled. Sasori didn't move into a defense position, he continued on. Acting oblivious to his followers. From what he could tell, there were at least four. They were no more than chuunin level. They weren't concealing their presence well but Sasori supposed, if he were a lesser ninja he may fall victim to them. One was in front of him, and three were closing in from behind. Sasori felt their presences draw nearer.

"The element of surprise only works if you don't give yourself away." Sasori drawled. He still made no effort to change his stance, he stood now, casually. He didn't reach for a weapon either. Sasori felt it would be over kill against his opponents.

"This is our forest. Either pay us for using it or we will kill you." A rough looking male leapt out of a tree and landed in front of Sasori. The male was at least thirty with rusty colored hair and a thick beard. His skin looked leathery and very weather exposed. Scars littered his face. Sasori couldn't see a hitai-ate but he sensed chakra. Definitely a rogue nin, most likely having deserted his village ten years ago, Sasori guessed.

"That won't work for me." Sasori remained casual whilst the rogue nin shifted uneasily at Sasori's demeanor.

"Too bad, there's no choice, see there's one of you and lots of us." The man looked around and the three other people joined them. Two females and a male. Sasori kept his composure but inside he was slightly unnerved. The two females were nearly identical. Both had dirty blonde hair, though it could have just been filth rather than the colour, their eyes were a deep brown. One female was more frail, her body was slimmer and sickly looking. The male was identical albeit a frailer version of the man that confronted Sasori.

"Lots? Four hardly counts as 'lots,' I will gut you where you stand." Sasori reached into his cloak and wrapped his hand around the handle of the katana he purchased in Bird. The four rogue nin instantly moved into defensive poses.

"The forest hides its own." The more frail female said.

"They will come and we will tear you apart. Piece by piece." The second female said, her voice filled with sadism.

"I'm terrified." Sasori deadpanned. "While we're waiting for them, I will make good on my word and gut you all." Sasori pulled his katana out of it's saya and held it in front of him. The light reflected off it and Sasori marveled at it's design. In a flicker of motion Sasori dragged the sharp edged weapon from the middle of her collarbone down past her navel.. Her clothes were cut through with a neat cut. Almost flawless. The shirt was split straight down the middle. The material flapped slightly. The skin was severed cleanly, showing muscle and tendons. Sasori parted the muscles with another flick of his kunai. This time from below her breast bone and back down to below her navel. The muscle and tendons gave away easily and visera and intensines fell out of the opening. They hit the ground with a soft squelch. The frail twin grabbed the gaping wound, trying to pull her insides back into her body. She gaped in shock then fell dead. Sasori moved back to his previous postistion. He had moved so fast, taken the life of the frail girl that her company hadn't even moved to defend her.

"You...what are you?" The remaining female asked with horror. She dropped to her dead twins side. "Kainashi, I will revenge you."

"Kachi, leave. Without Kainashi it will be too dangerous for you to fight." The stronger looking male said.

"No, Ganjou." Kachi replied with steely resolve. Sasori took their moment of hesitation and speech to slice his kunai across the neck of the weaker male. Sasori knew, that these rogue nin were from the Soma clan, mostly likely having deserted it, being opposed to their twins treatment. Sasori had heard rumors of twins fleeing the clan but the rumors were dismissed quickly. The Soma clan were ruthless with their ruling. They wouldn't hesitate to destroy the twins if they ran. These sets of twins must be skilled to avoid their clan for so long. Even so, Sasori felt they were no match. Killing the weaker twin meant that they couldn't perform any healing jutsu on their stronger twin. The frail twins were mostly support for the stronger one. Sasori was only aware of one twin pair that both had strong twins. Sakon and Ukon, Orochimaru had kidnapped them when they were seven.

"Usui!" Ganjou looked down at his dead twin in horror. "You will pay for this." Ganjou growled out in anger. His eyes fell to his fallen twin. "Mark my words, by night you will fall to the forest. You will fall to us." Ganjou slipped back into the deep green foliage followed by Kachi.

"I hate people wasting my time." Sasori muttered out to the now empty clearing. He eyed the corpses with disdain and bent down to the body of the fallen male twin. Sasori wiped the blood of his katana on the shirt of the dead male. Sasori stood up wearily and walked away. Sasori wasn't going to waste his time tracking down the two remaining twins. He knew, without a doubt that they would be back. There was no point wasting his time by tracking them down.

The moon was sitting heavy in the sky but mostly the light was blocked out by the thick foliage of the trees. Sasori could still see well enough that he didn't need to stop for the night. He had slowed his pace down so he could navigate over tree roots and any other unseen obstacle in his way. Sasori pushed a branch out his way and an owl ruffled its feathers and took flight from above him. It hooted out into the night. Sasori listened carefully, crickets were chirping noisily in the distant. It was a comforting sound as the crickets would begin to fall silent if anyone moved towards Sasori. Another hour fell away and the moon moved steadily across the sky. Sasori's hand was moving to his katana before, he had hardly registered even doing it. Four people landed in front of him, two on either side and two more behind him.

"The forest has come to claim it's intruder." A male rasped out, his skin was entirely black. He then made a noise, a chirping noise like a cricket and he grinned.

"Fool, thinks he can trick the forest, thinks he knows it." A female with black skin chuckled darkly.

"He's Akatsuki, he'd know Zetsu." Another male spoke up, his skin was a milky white.

"Zetsu is a bad plant. Needs to be uprooted and burnt." The black male growled.

"You are rogue nin are you not?" Sasori rose a slim red brow. "How are you any better than Zetsu?"

"Be that as it may, Zetsu represses his twin. He's no better than our deranged clan." A female with white skin said haughtily.

"Our clans may be at war in Kusa, but out here, in the forest." One of the two identical males to his left side said.

"We're allies. We protect our own." The other twin finished. He looked more frail and then he stepped into his twin. His body was absorbed into the stronger twin's body. Two pairs of arms came out of the stronger twin's side and the frail twins head emerged from his twins back. "I will watch you back, I will be your extra arms, brother."

"I'm tired of this," Sasori feinted an attack to the four Kouba clan nin in front of him. They moved into a defense pose and the two behind him ran at him. Sasori swung his katana behind him. He felt it rip through skin but didn't have time to see whether it was a fatal attack. Sasori defended himself using the katana and grabbed a scroll from his cloak, he summoned his Copy Nin puppet. The blank eyes of Kakashi stared ahead. Sasori sent his chakra stings to Kakashi and attached them to various joints of the puppet. Sasori then sent a thicker chakra string to the sharingan eye. After experimenting, Sasori found that the sharingan could be activated but it needed a large charka supply. It was difficult to use though because it was like having a third eye. The sharingan read the opponents moves and sent them back along the charka string to Sasori. Not only could he see what was in front of him, the sharingan was supplying the moves of all his opponents.

Sasori blocked an attack from behind using an image from the sharingan and then slashed his lethal katana across the face of an attacking female. She gasped and clutched her bleeding face, her twin leapt into her body and begun to heal her quickly. Sasori tried to stab his katana through her chest but a vine wrapped around the katana and pulled it out of Sasori's grip. Sasori swore and dropped to the ground in a roll to avoid a cloud of kunai. He came out of the roll and ran up a nearby tree then leapt out of it and picked up his katana. A face was beginning to form in the tree that he jumped out of and Sasori stabbed the katana into the tree. A black body fell out of the tree. The female gasped for her last breath then fell silent. Her white twin dropped out of the tree from above Sasori, her face full of rage. Sasori stepped out of the way and sliced the katana from her hip bone to shoulder. The white female lay against her twin.

A blinding flash of lighting and the scream of a thousand birds tore from behind him. Kakashi's chidori tore through the body of a Soma nin. The puppet's fist emerged from the back of the male. Kakashi ripped his fist out again, blood and gore dripped off it. Sasori didn't need to turn around to witness it, the sharingan was still delivering images to him. Ganjou, the male from earlier lashed out with his own katana and Sasori deflected it with his own. Sparks flew off the clashing metals. Sasori's katana was superior and he broke Ganjou's katana with ease. Ganjou flung the katana to the side and came at Sasori with fists. Sasori cut one of Ganjou's arms off with a blank gaze. Sasori's katana was ripped away from his grip again, he snapped Ganjou's neck with ease and looked around for his katana. A black male grinned at him cruelly.

"You will lay forgotten on the forest floor, the plants will claim you. You will be food for,"

"Enough, your threats are time consuming." Sasori eyed the carnage around him. Three nin remained. Two from the Kouba clan and Kachi, the female from the Soma clan. Kakashi's sharingan brought him the image of Kachi swinging Sasori's katana at his head. Sasori spun around and grabbed it with his wooden arm. The blade slammed into the wood and Sasori closed his fist around and pulled it away from Kachi. From behind him the black Kouba male and his white twin merged together. Vines wrapped around their arms and legs, joining them together. They lashed their vines at Kakashi and Sasori pulled his puppet away from them. Kakashi's chidori started crackling and Sasori sent him after Kachi. The female fell quickly to the lighting fast attack. Only the Kouba clan nin remained. Sasori dismissed Kakashi and he held the katana in front of his body. The vine tried to strike him but Sasori cut through them, he flickered behind the Kouba nin and sliced his head off. Sasori surveyed the area, all his attackers were strewn across the forest floor. Their blood soaking into the musky earth. Not one of them moved. Sasori's eyes drifted shut and he collapsed amongst the gore.

Deidara held up his ruined cloak disdainfully. Sasuke used a katon jutsu to dry it only Suigetsu attacked Sasuke and the Uchiha spat out a large fire ball in surprise. Deidara sighed and threw his cloak with Suigetsu's ruined one. Deidara had blown it up earlier, along with Suigetsu's body. Deidara didn't want to face Kakuzu. Deidara left the confines of the shrine and walked over to Sasuke and Suigetsu. "We're leaving, henge now un." Deidara used henge to turn himself into a middle age man with dark brown hair and matching eyes. Suigetsu haughtily formed a hand seal and his body began to change into the blonde female. Deidara had refused to take that form as did Sasuke. The henge was complete and Suigetsu gave Deidara a disgruntled glare. Sasuke had changed into a younger boy, a ten year old with dark blonde hair and brown eyes. Sasuke still managed to pull off an unattatched face, his eyes distant.

"You make the worst child, Sasuke." Suigetsu sneered at the young boy. His voice was high pitch in the female form.

"He's right, Sasuke un." Deidara's voice was more gruff than usual. "Children are meant to be...joyful or some shit un."

"We'll tell people his cat just died." Suigetsu smiled and ruffled Sasuke's hair. Sasuke grabbed Suigetsu's hand and flung him against the ground.

"Cut it out you two, children don't fling their parents against the ground un." Deidara picked up a bag and flung it across his now broad shoulders.

It took an extra half a day to reach Konaha due to Suigetsu's frequent stops. All their tempers were beginning to wear thin, Suigetsu snapped back all his answers in the shrill voice of Mai and Sasuke refused to speak to either of them. Deidara was finding it hard to move in a more bulky body and he strongly had the urge to blow something up. Along the way, Suigetsu and Deidara killed the family they were posing as. Suigetsu had almost gleefully killed the crying ten year old boy. Sasuke had stayed outside. Deidara looked up, the large walls of Konaha loomed into view and pink cherry blossom flowers swirled in the wind. The three posing family members strode to the gate. A guard ninja halted them.

"Can I see your I.D's?" He asked, holding out a hand impatiently.

"No problem." Deidara held back his 'un' and retrieved the I.D's of his 'family. The guard looked over them and waved them in with a friendly wave.

"What a shit Village, everything's falling to pieces." Suigetsu grinned, on his henge form it looked off putting. Mai's body didn't seem to be able to form to a cruel smile.

"Hn. Idiot." Sasuke's voice sounded tiny but still dead of emotions.

"Kouta, why don't you go to the toy store un?" Deidara asked, looking at Sasuke pointedly.

"Fine. Watch what you say. Speech impediments are uncommon." Sasuke warned and then wandered off.

"So, what are we going to do, bitch?" Suigetsu looked around with boredom.

"For the love of Kami, if you don't want me to bottle you up again, start acting." Deidara grabbed Suigetsu around the waist and marched him into a small tea shop. Suigetsu wrapped his arm around Deidara and dug his fingers into Deidara's skin. Deidara retaliated by applying pressure with his larger hands. Suigetsu pulled away from him but Deidara forced him against his side.

"This fucking sucks." Suigetsu muttered.

"Stop making it more difficult then un." Deidara whispered back with annoyance.

"You two." A voice called behind them, making them turn around. They were on guard, ready to flee. "You dropped something." An kunoichi pointed to a photograph. She bent down and picked it up. "Is this your son?"

"Yes, Kouta is our boy." Deidara replied, reaching out for the photograph.

"He's very cute." She smiled. Deidara elbowed Suigetsu in the ribs when he snorted with amusement.

"Thank you." Deidara nodded his head, wishing for the kunoichi to shut up.

"You make such a lovely family, and your wife is so pretty." She continued speaking.

"Oh, I'm nothing much." Suigetsu gushed, "I think myself so lucky to get a guy like this." Suigetsu wrapped himself around Deidara who flinched and squirmed uncomfortably. He licked Deidara's face when the kunoichi glanced at someone passing by outside.

"I hope to find someone one like that. Well have a nice day." The kunoichi picked up her tea and left the store. Deidara pushed Suigetsu off him.

"What the hell un?" Deidara dropped his acting.

"You told me to act, dear." Suigetsu grinned evilly.

The two disguised males sat down at a window seat. Suigetsu had a large milkshake and Deidara, coffee. They sat in an awkward silence and sipped at their drinks. The time passed slowly and finally Suigetsu obnoixiously slurped up the last of his milkshake. "Let's go find Kouta." Deidara said, standing. The chair squealed against the floor and a few people turned their heads to look.

"Think he's had enough time?" Suigetsu questioned as they left the store.

"Doesn't matter, I don't want things to look suspicious un." Deidara and Suigetsu headed towards the Hokage's tower. They reached the front desk and they tried to look panicked. "Can you help us?"

"What's the matter?" Asked the bored receptionist behind the desk. Her eyes hardly even shifted up from the magazine she was reading.

"Our son, we can't find him." Suigetsu simpered in Mai's voice.

"We have a missing boy here, found him wandering around the hospital. Name's Kouta, he yours?" The receptionist still looked bored but she tore her eyes from the article she was reading.

"Yes, yes that's him." Suigetsu let out a sigh of relief. Deidara felt it was over exaggerated but the receptionist didn't notice. Deidara was pretty sure they could whip out their Akatsuki cloaks, providing that they still had them and she still wouldn't notice. Rather than going to collect Sasuke herself, the receptionist picked up a head set and asked for someone to bring him down. An elevator opened a few minutes later and Sasuke, in his disguised form stepped out. A shinobi had a hand placed on Sasuke's shoulder and Suigetsu could see the anger in his eyes at being touched so casually. Suigetsu ran forward and hugged Sasuke. His running was almost not an act, Suigetsu didn't want the shinobi touching Sasuke. He knew how the Uchiha hated contact. The squirming form of Kouta pushed Suigetsu away.

"I'm fine, really. I just wanted to look around." Sasuke said, his voice surprisingly convincing.

"Don't ever wander off like that again, you scared me so much," Suigetsu's voice was way too fake but no one noticed.

"Thank you for looking after him." Deidara nodded his head and steered his 'family' out of the Hokage's tower.

"Why the hell were you in the hospital?" Suigetsu asked once they were out the door.

"Because, idiot, Tsunade works at the hospital." Sasuke's demeaning comment was still blunt but less so in the tiny voice.

"The bitch with the big tits, right?" Suigetsu asked.

"Suigetsu, your stupidity astounds me. Surely you know she was the Hokage un?" Deidara wondered if he was this thick headed when he was sixteen.

"It's not like I pay attention to foreign countries affairs." Suigetsu sniffed, "I was locked in a tank for six years, you tend to lose interest after being unexposed from the world for so long."

"Is that why you're so self centered un?" Deidara shot back.

"I'm not fucking self centered you bastard."

"Enough, people are looking." Sasuke said quietly, two squabbling males fell silent.

They reached a small but nice hotel, it was unlike the ones Deidara usually stayed in with Sasori but Akatsuki's financial status had risen as it slowly took over the countries. There were three floors and a private onsen out the back. Deidara got a room key and the three disguised males headed to their room on the second floor. Deidara sunk into the lush couch with relief. There were no cobwebs or dust piles, the room smelt fresh and clean and nothing was moth eaten. It was definitely a luxurious room compared to what he was used to. There were two beds, a double bed and a single bed. Deidara couldn't request three beds without raising suspicion. Suigetsu could sleep in the bath.

"Can you count?" Suigetsu asked as he surveyed the room.

"It would raise suspicious if I requested another bed un." Deidara put his feet on the small table in front of him. Suigetsu dropped onto the couch next to him. "Did you find out anything, Sasuke un?" Deidara asked as Sasuke moved to the window. He closed the curtains and released his henge form. The other two males copied.

"Tsunade spent a lot of time with patients, mostly people who suffered long term injuries from our attack." Sasuke's voice was steady, he remained by the windows. "There were a lot of disapproval's about Tsunade's decisions. Tsunade went into a room with Shizune and four other shinobi I do not know. From what I heard, they're working with Temari, the Rokudaime of Suna. They have no other country's alliance. Tsunade is either planning to take their chances by killing Itachi and Kisame and fleeing or staying here for longer and finding another way to stand up to Akatsuki."

"We may not have to stay here for long un." Deidara stuck his hand into his clay pouch, he felt his hand mouth greedily bite off clay and chew it vigorously. "Though, until Tsunade's plans are in set in stone we might have to stay. If she decides to take out Itachi and Kisame then it will be swift with little warning un." A bird was spat out of Deidara's hand mouth. It was small sparrow. It flitted around Deidara. "Sasuke, let the bird out."

"What if it's intercepted?" Suigetsu watched the bird fly around the room.

"There's no message attached. Once it reaches Pein, he will contact me un." Deidara held back his shock at Suigetsu proving that he had some brains. Sasuke slipped his hand between the heavy curtains and opened the window enough to let the bird out the window. "Until Pein contacts me, do what you want but stay in disguises if you leave the room un." Deidara stood up and performed his henge again. "I'm going to the onsen un."

"I will come." Sasuke disguised himself as the ten year old Kouta. "Suigetsu, you're not coming."

"Why the fuck not?" Suigetsu stood up, his violet eyes flashing.

"Because, idiot, you are not going into the girls onsen." Sasuke smirked.

Sasori opened his eyes, his head was pounding and he he squinted his eyes shut again. Using the sharingan through Kakashi's puppet body had taken a huge strain on his chakra. Sasori opened his eyes again, this time more slowly. The sun had risen already but Sasori couldn't see where the sun was in the sky. The depletion on his chakra had knocked him out for hours. It would set him back, he had planned to reach Kusa by midday but now he doubted he would reach it before night fall. Sasori sat up, his vision blurred but he forced himself to stand. Sasori knew he should rest but he refused to throw out his plans anymore. He found his container of food pills and swallowed four. The affect was nearly instant, his vision cleared and he could move with feeling dizzy or nauseous.

Sun light filtered down into the clearing and Sasori could see the full affect of last night's fight. He inspected a few of the bodies but they were all too destroyed to use as a puppet. Sasori picked up his discarded katana and cleaned it off before sheathing it. He left the macabre scene without regret. He refused to take any breaks but kept his pace relative slow to avoid passing out. The sun was beginning it's descent by the time he left the forest and reached seemingly endless plains of grass fields. The plains looked larger than what they were, Sasori assumed it was because their lack of features that they seemed endless. It would only take two days walking at most to cross the plains.

The sun had just dropped below the horizon causing the clouds to be thrown into golden pink colours, as Sasori entered the small village of Kusa. His presence had already made itself known. Two males stalked towards him. A member of Soma and Kouba. The two clans, despite hating each other had joined together to kill the council members and Daimyo. The two clans each ruled Kusa but were constantly at war with each other, trying to gain the upper hand and eliminate each other. The two males stopped in front of Sasori.

"Why is a member of Akatsuki in Kusa?" Asked the white side of the Kouba male. "We should kill him, Akatsuki would taste delicious." The black side added.

"I am here to negotiate terms of an alliance on the behalf of the leader of Rain and Akatsuki." Sasori said evenly.

"Alliance? We have no interest in such things," spat out the Soma male.

"Come, Akatsuki scum. We will discuss this matter elsewhere." The black side of the Kouba male turned and lead Sasori into building in the middle of Kusa. It was on neutral ground for the two clans. Each had a compound on opposite sides of the town. The males entered a small room and the two clan members sat down behind a desk and Sasori took a seat in front. "Why does Akatsuki seek us for allies?"

"The more allies, the less to try and bring us down." Sasori said, his tone held no interest.

"And what's to stop allies doing the same?" The Soma male asked.

"When we crush our allies for betraying us, it will be seen as reasonable." Sasori almost smirked at as the Soma male looked slightly uncomfortable.

"What do you think, Haidou?" The Soma male looked at the Kouba male.

"It depends on Akatsuki's terms." Haidou said, "Akatsuki have done nothing for us. Kill him."

"We don't require you to fight for us. All the Leader asks for is your word that you won't up rise against us." Sasori's thoughts were elsewhere. This was a waste of time. There was no real need to gain any of the small villages alliances. They could all be destroyed with ease if they worked against Akatsuki.

"Then Akatsuki is weak if you're worried about a small village been a threat." Haidou's dark side said unimpressed. "Zurui, do you agree?"

"If we're allies, you will be required to help us, fight for us if we want you to." Zurui said, his eyes were sharp. Sasori knew he was smart, Zurui was already finding ways to use the alliance to his advantage.

"As allies, we will offer our support if it's reasonable." Sasori stated cautiously, leaving no openings for Zurui to turn his words against him. "Akatsuki is not weak, Haidou. Only cautious. Would you have said Ame was a threat five years ago?"

"He raises a point." Zurui agreed, looking thoughtful.

"Yes, we could gain a lot by allying ourselves with Akatsuki." Haidou nodded his head. "Or we could perish because of it."

"It's a risk either way." said Zurui. Someone knocked on the door. "Come in."

"Haidou Sama, Zurui Sama." A young kunoichi bowed. "Your missing clansmen have been found, all slaughtered in the forest."

"Leave." Haidou barked out at the young female. She squeaked and fled the room. "Ironic, Akatsuki shows up and our clansmen turn up dead."

"Yes, isn't it?" Zurui stared at Sasori. The Akatsuki male was preparing to flee, he would not be able to take out a village in his current state. He could rest in the hide out nearby and then destroy the Village in a few days.

"You killed all our missing clan members?" Haidou asked, his voice was guarded.

"Yes." Sasori knew there was no point in lying.

"That is the strength of Akatsuki. To have on person succeed where we failed." Haidou seemed calm. "It's a good faith gesture. We will have fresh meat and our clans secrets will be safe."

"Do you have the paperwork?" Zurui asked.

"Yes." Sasori pulled out the scroll and passed it over. He was almost surprised but he wasn't going to complain. The two clansmen read over it and seemed to agree with the terms. They both signed it then sealed it with their blood. "I will take my leave. If you are in need of help, send a messenger to Rain. Goodbye." Sasori took the scroll back and nodded his head slightly.

"Goodbye, Akatsuki." Zurui was pretty sure the twin's head that was mostly hidden from view just snickered.

There was no respect between them. Not like Toki who had added 'Sama' straight away at seeing Sasori. He didn't care though, all he cared about was only having one more country left before he could return back to Ame and see his brat again.

Kachi: Worth/value.

Kainashi: Worthless/useless/hopeless.

Ganjou: Strong/burly/sturdy.

Usui: Weak/tiny.

Zurui: Cunning/Sly.

Kouba: Plant.