So, this chapter is a little different than all the others, for the first time, it's not all in Mitsuki's point of view, and I thought it was important to get all of this information out, and I figured this would be the best way. So enjoy, because most of your questions are about to be answered.

Itachi Uchiha was currently seated in the village hospital, sifting through medical files. Mitsuki's... condition, whatever it was, was definitely abnormal, and after sifting through all the files in the library, he speculated that perhaps here was his best bet. Her medical diagnostic would probably come up as some sort of disruption in the flow of chakara, so he searched those files first. Considering his rank, it wasn't difficult to gain access to these files, but so far he hadn't come across anything of significance.

There was an incident of a boy being born without chakara, a boy being born with excess chakara, a series of studies on the chakara fluctuations of the nine tailed host, but none of them bore any similarity to Mitsuki's condition. For the first time in his life, Itachi Uchiha was at a loss. He wasn't sure how to proceed, until an idea struck him. Perhaps the village documents, shinobi reports, and medical records had nothing of importance, but there was one other place he had yet to look.

The Uchiha library.

Old tombs, handwritten scriptures, strewn about. Despite there neat and organized appearance, the Uchiha library was a bit of a wreck. It was mostly composed of old memoirs, all the Uchiha techniques being passed down by word of mouth. They were much to cautious to put there secrets down on paper. So Itachi sat, and began sifting searching for anything of significance that could explain Mitsuki's... condition.

"Kakashi, I realize that you're upset, but know that it was not given on my order." The Hokage answered in that usual wise tone that came with age, but Kakashi could see the strain that he was under.

"I understand Hokage-sama, but I am more than certain that she knows she was being followed, whether or not she has discerned why most likely has to do with her level of involvement." The Hokage nodded, listening to Kakashi. He had high hopes for him.

"And just how involved do you think she is, Kakashi?" Kakashi shuffled his feet, and ruffled his hair, shifting awkwardly.

"We haven't uncovered any evidence that indicate her involvement in the murders." Kakashi replied after a moments hesitation.

"That wasn't what I asked Kakashi. What do you personally think her level of involvement in these circumstances are?" Kakashi hesitated again, and took a deep breath before replying.

"I... I don't think she knows. When I first informed her of the murders, she seemed generally surprised, and since then I've been dropping hints, introducing her to secret routes, in the hopes that she would share them and lure the suspect into our trap." Kakashi purposely avoided saying Orochimaru's name, knowing just how repulsed the Hokage was by the monster his student had become. "Nothing of the sort has happened. I've spoken with her, and she hardly seems like the killer type, she hardly seems like the type that Orochimaru would even take a remote interest in. I've fought against her, I've trained with her, and certainly she's an adept shinobi, and I'm sure she'll make the rank of jounin or even anbu but..." Kakashi paused not sure how to proceed.

"But what?" The third replied, generally curious as to what Kakashi had to say.

"It just doesn't make sense. She has no extraordinary abilities, she possesses no bloodline limit, furthermore she comes from a civilian bloodline. I feel like we're missing something important. Why her? There are several stronger shinobi out there so why her?" Kakashi hardened his eyes and thought. There had to be something they had overlooked, some minute detail. "When was it that he began training her?" The Hokage frowned thinking back.

"I'm not sure of the exact date, but it was about a year and a half ago that he approached me about leaving the village with a pupil for training purposes." Back then he had allowed it not thinking twice. "She left during the time of the shinobi murders, and while they were out of the village the murders continued to happen. I imagined that she was just some sort of alibi, and that it was an elaborate set up so that our suspicions would prove false. He could not be the killer because he was away when the killings were happening. Perhaps he continued training her in order to keep up disguises?" The Hokage speculated, speaking allowed. Kakashi frowned.

"I thought that too, but the level of interest he has in her far exceeds that of a decoy, and this asking to take her away on a mission? Are you sure you should have approved that?" Kakashi stated, feeling a little uncomfortable leaving Mitsuki alone with Orochimaru.

"I didn't want to edge on his suspicions. If he starts feeling cornered, he'll start becoming more cautious, and we can't accuse him formerly without proper evidence. It may not look it, but this village is still slowly recovering from the Kyuubi attack. To accuse a sannin of the most heinous crimes the village has ever seen will throw the village into an uproar." Kakashi sighed, not enjoying the cautious movements.

"What'd you propose we do?"

"Just... just keep watching." The Hokage replied solemnly. There wasn't much more he could do.

Itachi's eyes widened as he reread the passage again and again, just to make sure he had read it correctly. This was it. Just a few short paragraphs, but it gave him all that he needed to know.

Heading to the royal city of the Country of Earth, is a dangerous journey. It's a long distance to travel, spanning two full moon cycles, and as we were heading there with bribes and promises of peace, our valuables caught the attention of several bandits, and so it was decided that he would avoid the main routes, opting for the quieter side ones, and upon our travels we came across a petty shinobi village, on the outskirts of the country, composed of mostly outcasts.

There had been a landslide ahead, blocking our route and so we were forced to stay in this small shinobi village for a while. We had no qualms with Earth shinobi, we were there for piece, but there was something wrong about these shinobi.

As the only Uchiha on the mission, I was able to pick it up immodestly, two different chakara patterns within the same person, an unnatural abomination if I had ever seen one. We inquired as to what had caused the odd deformity, and they had explained.

The group of shinobi were all members of the same clan. The Ikimono clan,a clan that had been banished from the stone country as the new Tsuchikage took control. The same Tsuchikage we were trying to win favor with.

The reason for the banishing? It had been a clan tradition to mix the chakara of the animals that surrounded them, within the bodies of there newborns, so that when they grew up, there abilities would resemble that of the animal chakara within them. Of course this was a tricky ritual, often resulting in death, and so it wasn't until the newborn had come to a certain age that they would drink from some supposedly sacred concoction that would awaken the animal chakara within them. They would more than likely pass out for days as they underwent the change, most of the time not waking up.

We were prepared to leave the village, not insulting there revolting customs, as they had provided us with shelter as we cleared the landslide, but our leader wouldn't stand for it. On the day of our leaving, he said that we would not be true shinobi if we let abominations like these roam free, and he said we would be doing the Tsuchikage a favor by removing the Earth country of it's trash, and so the great Sannin Orochimaru ordered the mass murder of the ikimono clan, with the hopes that there traditions against nature would never repeated, and we, as shinobi, vowed to never let the atrocities we witnessed be spoken of again.

Orochimaru, diligent as ever, stayed behind to make sure all of the traditions and customs had been properly destroyed, and we proceeded to the Tsuchikage where the peace treaty was eventually signed.

Itachi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. For the second time that day, he was at a loss.

"Good morning Orochimaru," I replied as I came up to the village gates, in too much of a good mood to stop smiling. Last night I had kissed Uchiha Itachi. Oh, let me correct that. Last night, Uchiha Itachi had kissed me. Me and Itachi. Mitsuki Uchiha. Yes, I liked that. I liked that a lot. It had a very nice ring to it.

"You're in a good mood today," he replied smiling, ruffling my hair in that usual affectionate manner he always did. "Excited?" I nodded, smiling.

"I've never been out of the country before. Where are we going exactly?" Orochimaru smiled as we slowly started heading out of the village.

"No where special. It's just a short mission, if all goes according to plan we should be back by in about a week, maybe two." I nodded, enjoying an actual time line.

"So... where are we headed?" I asked, considering he hadn't quite answered it the first time.

"Just to the outskirts of the Country of Earth." I nodded, smiling. My first A rank mission.

And there you have it. For those of you that are a little confused, just think about Yamato, similar things happened to him.

I hope you enjoyed and tell me what you think, I really want to know. This is the idea that's been building, and I'm wondering if I managed to tie everything up nicely. Please review!