As it turns out, Lady Chiyo had honed her ability to piss people off to such a degree it came almost naturally to her. Having survived shinobi life and reached her eighties was a remarkable feat in itself, but it also gave her the kind of arrogance people from older generations over hold over their younger peers' heads. She was also a Suna shinobi, and being in the business of information for such a long time gave her an advantage over all of us.

The thing is, when she started speaking of tailed beasts and the process of extracting one from a jinchuriki, we all had to pretend we didn't know what she had been talking about. Kakashi told her tailed beasts were an s-class secret in Konoha, but that didn't seem to stop her.

We all had to give it to Sakura, she was really good at pretending she knew nothing, and Naruto did his very best to try and hide how much the topic bothered him, he did succeed for the most part too. But Lady Chiyo continued to ramble on about how tailed beasts were only seen as weapons and tools and would never be treated with respect. She was a conical old lady, but she wasn't entirely wrong either. People, shinobi especially, were quite callous and opportunistic, we were tools, we were not above treating others like one either.

But then she went on to speak ill of Kakashi's clan, and by extension mine.

The old hag had seemingly lost both her filter and her survival instinct because she was quickly stripping two extremely dangerous shinobi of their patience. Not only that but Naruto would not let her continue to speak of us like that much longer, he had learnt restraint, but he had limits. Sakura just continued to run ahead and listen to the woman, patiently gathering each piece of information she provided.

Chiyo was hell bent on tarnishing Sakumo's name, as if Konoha hadn't done enough already, and the same applied to the Uchiha clan.

"I bet the only reason the Clan Killer left you alive is because he had some personal interest in you," she continued "No one survives an event like that if it is not because of pity."

"I think that's enough antagonizing us for today, Chiyo-san," said Kakashi sharply. "I understand you will have your opinions on both Akane and I, but right now we are on a mission and we need to work together, not judge each other."

"Yeah, wouldn't want us to start yapping about your decision to retire now would you?" I added bitterly.

I wouldn't let her speak ill of Kakashi or his father, Kami knew they had both had enough of that to last them several lifetimes. Kakashi had told me about it, once in a drunken stupor when we had both decided we needed a distraction. It had been during one of Naruto's training weekends outside Konoha. Lady Tsunade had taken him away for training, and Kakashi and I had had forty eight hours of peace without a teenager around.

I had asked him about his team before, but he had never told me a thing about his family. He seemed reluctant at first I had realized, maybe it was because the only people who knew what had really happened were now dead, maybe it was because he had never told anyone about it. Whatever the reason, I realized it was bad when he had pulled his mask entirely off and drowned a shot before replying. He didn't bother covering his face again when he looked at me.

It was an incredibly intimate moment, I could see how it all still haunted him, how he regretted being so harsh on his father and resenting him even after his death. He had allowed me to see him, his soul, his hurt for the first time in my life -probably his life as well. His bare face had betrayed just how much it hurt him still and his voice cracked a few times with the emotion of the terrible tale he was telling.

And to have seen Kakashi like that, made what Lady Chiyo was doing all the more infuriating. The only way someone would ever speak ill of Hatake Sakumo ever again was over my cold dead body. But the old woman had no time to respond to my comment, because a presence was blocking our path, a presence I knew, a presence Kakashi knew.

Itachi stood in the middle of a clearing making himself an obstacle in our path. I told everyone to look down at once. Kakashi and Naruto had trained with me enough to know this, but I couldn't have Sakura or Chiyo end up in a genjutsu either. Even if we weren't supposed to know who Itachi was -at least in front of Lady Chiyo-, we all did. Naruto had been to the Uchiha compound enough times to know who he was and what he had done, Sakura was a spy and Sasuke's former team mate, and Kakashi and I had both our share of history with him.

I wasn't glad to see him, and neither was Kakashi. There was only one reason why he would risk meeting us in the open: he wasn't here as a friend.

I placed myself between my team and Itachi, looking him dead in the eye and daring him to throw a genjutsu at me. I was not having a good day and the last thing I needed was him making things more complicated. Yes, he was providing Konoha with information, but he had also told me he didn't intend to ease up on his hunt for Naruto if only not to compromise his cover. To me, information was not worth Naruto's life, and while Itachi was willing to do anything for Konoha, I had decided long ago that the people I loved were my first and only priority.

"Itachi, stand aside and let us through," I warned, my voice low and my gaze threatening. "There is no version of this where we don't get to Gaara."

He didn't smile, he knew me well enough to know when I wasn't playing, this was one of those times.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Akane-chan," he said placidly, knowing that belittling me would only make me angrier. "I am under orders."

I widened my stance in order to cover as much of my team as I could. Lady Chiyo was whispering something about "being too familiar" in the background, but I couldn't bring myself to be concerned with it right then. The old woman could come to any conclusion she liked, but that didn't mean I wouldn't protect my team with everything I was, even from Itachi. Truth was, our paths had separated long ago, and the second he had chosen Konoha over the people he loved had been the breaking point in our relationship, even if I was realizing it just now. I could help him in his quest to protect Konoha, but only if it didn't involve risking the lives of my loved ones.

"Pity, so are we." commented Kakashi drily as he stepped forward to stand beside me.

Itachi smiled, almost mockingly, and even had the gall to chuckle. At this point I wasn't sure he was acting anymore, even his eyes looked like the only thing he could feel for us was contempt.

"So you finally moved on, Akane, I'm glad," he said, still mocking before turning to speak directly to Kakashi. "And you, senpai, you move fast. I guess your patience has been rewarded after all these years."

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Itachi-san." Answered Kakashi cuttingly.

"Oh please, you are too smart a man to play dumb. It does surprise me that she hadn't noticed yet." He stopped speaking only to catch the kunai I threw at him with his index and middle finger.

"Enough with the act, Itachi. This kind of banter is beneath you." I said coldly, still reeling from the conversation.

"Oh and you would know, wouldn't you? Tell me, Akane, how long has it been since I left? A lot has changed, I have changed, and so have you it seems. You would have never been so willing to deny the truth back then."

He rolled his shoulders back as if to make himself taller, more righteous, above us. He smiled again, bitter as only a jaded man could be. This wasn't all an act, he could have simply attacked us without putting up such a show. There was some truth behind his bitterness, there was a final realization behind his eyes. Itachi knew that even if I was risking it all to help him, he had stopped being my priority long ago. He had chosen to protect Konoha and I hadn't. And now, he knew why, because I had found people who would burn the world to ashes for me and not discard me for an idea like he had.

We were only allies, and deep down, that hurt him more than it hurt me. Because where he had always expected me to be there for me and had given nothing in return but dismissal, I had found people who appreciated me like I did them. Itachi was not willing to sacrifice his vision for me and I was okay with that. But he felt betrayed, because even if I gave him allies, healthcare, shelter, information, I would not give him my affection any longer. If he wasn't willing to burn the world for me, then I wouldn't do it for him either. I was done chasing after him like a lost pup.

"I'm done, Itachi," I said when I finally realized what was going on. " Try not to resent me too much for it."

The battle wasn't long, Kakashi and I engaged Itachi with a mixture of taijutsu, genjutsu and ninjutsu, switching erratically from one to the other in order to overpower our enemy. Red eyes from all three parties tried to follow each and every movement made, every hand sign, every twitch, every blow. It was the neck breaking speed of the entire ordeal that made anyone not in possession of a sharingan unable to follow the battle to its full extent. Sakura admitted later that she had never seen such a display of skill from regular jonin.

In the end, Kakashi managed to land a chidori on Itachi, and for a single heart stopping moment, I thought he had killed him. I might not have been willing to go as far to protect Itachi anymore, but that didn't mean I wanted him dead, it simply meant I wanted Kakashi alive more. But the dread didn't last long, because when the dirt cleared, the corpse that was semi buried in the ground wasn't that of the boy I had grown up with, it was a stranger's.

Chiyo concluded that it was some sort of puppet jutsu, and that the body was that of a Suna jonin who had gone missing a few days before. It turns out they had been infiltrated, and there were moles in their ranks as far up in the chain of command as jonin status, which was frightening to think.

Our trip resumed as we tried to clear our minds from the incident. Thankfully, no one commented on Itachi and I's exchange. Chiyo had been suspiciously quiet ever since and both Sakura and Naruto had taken to watching Kakashi and I and exchanging confused glances. Kakashi checked in on me through hand signs, I told him we would talk about it when we got back. The last thing I needed was more distractions, especially those which involved feelings from the parties involved. There was no time for that, we had a Kage to rescue and two s-class rogues to catch. This conversation would have to wait, at least until we were back in Konoha, safe and undisturbed.

I'd be lying if I said the entire encounter didn't shock me. To have Itachi so blatantly dismiss everything and hide behind his bitterness was so unlike him, yet there was a layer of honesty to his words, which was more disturbing than I had anticipated. Itachi had always been a rational person, I would never have expected him to resent me for moving on from the feelings I had once had for him and focus on others instead. He had implied a thousand times that I should do so. So why was he bitter about it now? He wanted me not to love him, and now that I didn't he resented me for it. It wasn't like I would completely abandon him, but if he could choose to put his nation before the people around him, why was it wrong for me to put my loved ones before my nation? Was it a clash of ideas or was it simply the fact that I had chosen not to follow him unconditionally?

As we ran through the forest towards our destination, I couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed at him. Was he really that entitled? Did he really think I could keep supporting him unconditionally without receiving anything in return? It wasn't like I had abandoned Sasuke or done anything to endanger him or his position as a spy inside Akatsuki, so why was he so angry?

I didn't think I wanted to find out.