Hey! It's been a while hehe...

First of all I'd like to say that I don't think the reviews of a story are the best place for promoting another one.

Anyways, here's chapter 33! I hope you like it, and remember:

I DO NOT OWN DBZ NOR NARUTO.

Asuma walked through an alley behind an old neighborhood. Next to him, a jounin of long black hair and intense red eyes kept his pace while her sight was focused on the trees and flowers that could be seen at the exit of the alley. She'd always been interested in plants, so she couldn't avoid getting distracted when she passed next to some.

"Oh, you're seeing the flowers again." The son of the Third Hokage scratched his nape, uncomfortable as he'd been talking alone for the past couple of minutes.

Kurenai looked back as she covered her mouth, snapping out of the trance the plants had set her into. "I'm so sorry."

"No problem, don't worry." He waved off her worry, even though he did feel ignored. "I told you that we need to hurry as I have to meet my team soon for a new mission."

"Oh, but can't you arrive a little bit late? Like Kakashi does every time." Kurenai laughed softly.

Asuma followed by laughing himself while he shook his head in denial. "No, I can't."

The pair finally exited the alley, reaching the side of a river close to the east walls of the village. Previous Hokage had avoided to build there so the river, which was the main source of water of the Leaf, wouldn't be contaminated or blocked. For such, the river was only surrounded with vegetation and a small concrete path that led back to the urban part of the village.

However, there was something different about said path, and that was noticed by the jounin of the red eyes. She put her hand in front of her companion's chest while she focused in trying to figure what was off. Asuma immediately started looking at every direction, although he was unable to spot anything.

"There." Her hand finally got away from his chest, shifting its position to point towards the end of the path. "It should turn to the right, towards the bridge, and there is no path that takes to the bridge."

It was true, Sarutobi noticed how, even though the bridge was there, the path continued forward and didn't take the turn it should. He scratched his beard while he thought of the possibilities.

"Genjutsu, isn't it?"

"It is." Kurenai coldly answered as she did several hand signs, closing her eyes before disabling the effect of the genjutsu. Their suspicion was confirmed once the path did seem to connect with the bridge. "Go out, we already discovered your genjutsu."

"Water Style: Great Water Dragon."

Asuma reacted immediately, grabbing his companion by her waist and pushing her forward with as much strength as he could gather. His effort proved useful as they successfully evaded the attack of the water dragon, which faded into a puddle of water right after hitting the ground. Sarutobi stood back up, spotting the user of the water dragon jutsu.

A tall man, with a black cloak with red clouds in it, went out of the river, facing the two jounin of the Leaf. His skin was blue and he even had gills, though in spite of that he still had blue and spiky hair on his head and a nose. His headband had the sliced symbol of the Village Hidden in the Mist. He smiled once he recognized the jounin, showing off his fangs.

"Akatsuki..." Kurenai plainly said while a drop of sweat went down her forehead. "Maybe even an ex-swordsman of the Mist."

"He wields the Samehada, so it does seem like it." Asuma added as he discreetly looked for anyone that could be with him. They're always in pairs, or at least that's what Jiraiya's inform said. I hope Kurenai manages to find him or her, we cannot risk a surprise attack.

The man of the blue noticed the movement of the eyes and realized what he was trying, which got a laugh out of him. "The name's Kisame, it's nice to meet you," he bowed, "son of the Third Hokage."

"I see you've done your research." Asuma said as he threw his cigarette away, it being stepped on by Sarutobi to avoid a fire.

Kurenai started to look in every direction, every time more erratically than before. She didn't manage to find anything, not even a trace of any genjutsu. Could it be that a member of Akatsuki went there by himself? It surely didn't made sense. Did that mean that Jiraiya's information is wrong? But even if it was wrong, wouldn't it be irrational for someone to enter the Leaf alone?

"You seem to have done your own too." He grabbed the sword he held on his back. It was big compared to the normal size of an average sword, but specially wide. It was also covered by bandages, leaving only the handle visible. "You know about my Samehada and you're desperately looking for my partner."

The red-eyed jounin was caught off-guard by the realization of the swordsmen. She tried to ignore it and look for the other one, but she knew she'd made it really obvious.

"So you do have a partner," Asuma replied as he grabbed his trench knives from the frontal pockets of his vest, closing his fists with them on and putting them in front of his face, "I knew it didn't make sense for you to come alone."

Kisame shook his head with a grin on his face. "I wouldn't recommend you engaging in a bukijutsu battle against a swordsman of the mist."

"What did you came here for?" Sarutobi firmly asked, ignoring the previous comment from the shark man.

"We came here for the Nine-tales, of course." A grim, though familiar voice filled the leaf jounin's ears. From the floor, the figure of the assassin of the Uchiha clan emerged. Long, black hair falling from both sides of his face, barely reaching his chin. He wore the same cloak as his partner, though the neck of it was opened on his own. His headband had the symbol of the Leaf, though sliced in half.

Both jounin couldn't help but to flinch at the mere sight of Itachi Uchiha. Asuma was the first to recover his composure, giving the opposing couple of Sharingan a firm look to deal with. This inspired the second leaf jounin, who only needed a nod from his partner to make the first move. She made several hand seals, which worked as a signal for Asuma to jump on the black-haired shinobi.

Itachi moved to the side and evaded the attack without much effort, but Sarutobi merely kept on running towards the man of the blue skin. As the trench knives clashed against the sword, Uchiha suddenly found himself submerged in a totally dark space. He recognized the jutsu almost immediately, and he couldn't say that he expected it.

"I was kind of disappointed when you failed to locate me through my own genjutsu, but it seems that you do know advanced genjutsu." Itachi said as he moved forward, where he'd last seen the red-eyed kunoichi. "I hope you keep the pace." He softly said, making hand seals at the same time.

The dark space faded, though he was still unable to spot the jounin. He looked back and noticed the fight between Sarutobi and his own partner, but that wasn't what he was looking for, so he didn't bother watching them. Once he turned back, Uchiha saw a fist at scarce centimeters from his face. He bent down slightly to evade the punch, and then aimed a kick toward her ankles to unbalance her.

Kurenai jumped just in time, taking the little time she knew she had and making several hand seals while she was still in the air. Then, she disappeared into a bunch of flower petals. Itachi sighed at the sight of the petals.

Close to them, Asuma was struggling to keep up with the swordsman, whose weapon he barely managed to contain. His trench knives were really useful in short range fights, but it was difficult to get close to an enemy with a sword that alone was able to block many of his attempts. His opponent knew it, although he also knew he'd have to get close at times if he wants to kill the Leaf-nin.

Kisame grinned as his opponent took a step back. He aimed his sword to the opening between his arms, towards his chest. Asuma managed to put one of his trench knives on the way, barely blocking the attack thanks to the concentrated chakra in his weapon. Kisame started laughing softly as he saw the blue chakra coming out of the weapon, but his laughter was suddenly interrupted.

"Kisame, it's time to go." Itachi announced, blocking a kick from Kurenai with his forearm while looking at his partner.

"What?"

"I said it's time to retreat, it isn't convenient for the mission if the entire village comes after us." Uchiha explained, still holding the leg of the kunoichi. However, he finally used it to throw her into the river, even against her efforts of trying to get her leg out.

The man of the blue skin jumped backwards and put his sword on his back. Itachi disappeared into a bunch of crows, which confused Sarutobi. And as he turned back, Kisame had left the place as well. Asuma then jumped into the river to help Kurenai, though he found out that she managed to step on the water before falling.

"We have to inform the rest about this." Kurenai said once she saw her partner's face. "Itachi Uchiha is back in the Leaf."

"Asuma is late? That's weird." Ino pointed out after standing for nearly an hour waiting along her teammates.

Chouji ate the last one of his chips, starting to realize how much time his sensei had actually taken. "Something must have happened, this is completely out of character from him."

A leaf fell from the tree in which they were standing under, using its shadow to handle the heat of the day better. The leaf landed on Shikamaru's forehead, which caused the latter to grab it and throw it away. He sighed before standing up from the floor.

"I guess I'll be leaving then, some more sleeping would hurt." He blinked as he turned to the opposite direction where his teammates were standing. To his surprise, the first thing that got in the way of his sight was Asuma's face.

"You're going where exactly?"

Gohan couldn't help but to burst out laughing at his teammate, and the others were sure to follow the saiyan. Shikamaru went from surprise to annoyance as the laughter filled his ears.

"Anyways, I'm sorry for being so late, but an urgent matter presented itself." Sarutobi explained while he ignited a cigarette, which he used to smoke after explaining himself. "And for such reason we'll be going on a mission along Team Guy outside the village. For now, however, we'll go on the original mission as the other team is already busy with another mission."

The saiyan stood up, shaking off the dust that had gotten into his gi. Then, he asked what the mission was about. He didn't feel specially enthusiastic, specially as he expected the typical ninja mission that would involve killing someone, or at least fighting someone. The invasion didn't leave him with the best sensations about shinobi and the system of where he lived, and walking through destroyed neighborhoods, and seeing the impoverished villagers.

Asuma noticed something from merely looking into his onyx-colored eyes. Something not particularly positive. "We'll be helping in the rebuilding of a neighborhood in the outskirts of the village."

To Sarutobi's surprise, the saiyan's eyes became brighter, slightly so, but still enough to be noticed from a considerable distance. Gohan, for once, was excited about a mission. One of the things he enjoys the most is helping people, in whichever way possible. He hated the sight of innocent people suffering.

"And when are we starting?" The saiyan asked with a slight grin on his face.

"Oh, I see you're enthusiastic about this one," said Asuma, who was smiling as he finally saw his student with great enthusiasm about a mission, "that's great. We are going right now, so get ready."

So that was the chapter! What did you think about the short battle at the beginning? What about the missions? Feel free to leave your opinion in the reviews! (Feedback is really appreciated as I'm still new at writing hehe).

Anyways, I'll try to post next chapter as soon as I can, but I don't really promise anything. I've been really busy recently.

See you soon, and have a nice day!