WAH! Sorry >) So I finally decided to update again :P School's out! Whoo hoo! Expect more updates >P

Previously...

Kireina and Kakashi herded Team 7 out the door and they spent the next two hours buying clothes to replace the ones Kireina and her boys had lost in the fire. After dropping off their stuff at Kakashi's house and packing the bare essentials, Team 7 minus Sakura headed toward Konoha's East Gate. Sakura met them there and gave Kireina the medical kit she had received for her birthday from Sasuke and Naruto.

"I've already filled it with everything you'll need. I figured this would come in handy when dealing with 'S-class' criminals," Sakura informed Kireina.

Kireina smiled, "Thanks Sakura-chan. When we come back, I hope you'll be a magnificent medic nin!"

Sakura gave Kireina a hug, "I promise."

Kireina turned towards the guys, "All right then. Time to head out!"

Sakura watched them leave Konoha and disappear into the forest before turning back to the Hokage's office.

Continued...
"Do you know where Akatsuki is?" Kakashi asked Kireina as they jumped from tree to tree.

Kireina nodded, "Yes, but one of my summonings told me that there's a new organization of real S-class criminals. They too think Akatsuki is a criminal organization so they have declared them their enemy. They named their organization 'Kurotsuki'. It's supposed to be a play off of Akatsuki's name."

"Black Moon? What is it about moons that attract criminals to them so much?" Kakashi mused.

Kireina shrugged, "No idea."

Just then, a silver hawk with bright blue eyes swept in front of Team 7. The team halted their running.

"What is it Mizuno?" Kireina asked the hawk.

The hawk, which was apparently a girl, replied in a startlingly musical voice, "Three Kurotsuki members ahead."

Kireina nodded, "Thanks Mizu."

Kakashi glanced at Kireina, puzzled, "Why is your hawk's name 'of the water?"

Kireina winked, "You'll see."

Mizuno led the team quietly through the forest foliage. Kireina silently activated her Byakugan and peered through the tree trunk.

"Okay guys. Naruto, you stay with me. Sasuke go with Kakashi around to the other side. When I send Mizuno into the clearing, she'll give the signal and that's when we attack," Kireina instructed.

Kakashi and Sasuke stole quietly around the unsuspecting Kurotsuki members and with her Byakugan, Kireina could see them taking positions in trees. Kireina softly nudged Mizuno who flew into the clearing and landed on one of the members' shoulder. Kireina heard the man talk to the bird.

"Hey! Where'd you come from?"

Mizuno opened her mouth as if to reply but instead of words, a stream of water spat out of her mouth and hit the man full force in the face.

"What the-! It's a summoning!" One of the other members yelled.

The three men in the clearing scrambled for their weapons but were slightly too late when Sasuke's "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu" hit them. Naruto performed his favorite seal and produced four Kage Bunshins (Shadow Replications). Kireina and Kakashi hung back waiting to jump in when needed. As they expected, the Kurotsuki easily dispatched the four Bunshins. One had a slight burn on his arm from Sasuke's previous jutsu. Sasuke pulled out his favorite weapon, the Fuuma Shuriken (Giant Ninja Star) and leapt into the clearing and began fighting with him. Although Sasuke was skilled, the man he was fighting was an S-class criminal, so he would obviously put up a good fight. Naruto was fighting another one and the last one, obviously the leader, stayed back to observe his subordinates. Naruto swept his leg under the man who easily dodged it but was caught by surprise when Naruto's other leg swung out and tripped him. Naruto flipped on his hands several times and each time one of his swinging legs would hit his opponent. Sasuke held his Fuuma Shuriken in front of him to parry the scythe his opponent had pulled out. When he suddenly pulled away, Sasuke immediately crouched into a defensive position. His opponent grinned before beginning to perform a string of seals quickly. Kireina quickly recognized the jutsu the man was about to perform and quickly did some hand seals in the shadows of the trees. She knew Sasuke wouldn't be able to dodge it so she had to protect him somehow. Just as the man unleashed his "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu", Kireina finished her seals and quickly sent her Earth Dragon to push the Giant Waterfall back. The man jumped back in surprise.

"What! You didn't do any seals! How could you do that?" he screamed in outrage.

Kireina decided that now would be a good time to reveal herself. She dropped out of the tree she was in and crouched in front of Sasuke.

"No one messes with my little brother and gets away with it," Kireina said in a deadly cold voice.

The man sneered, "Little missy, do you know who you're dealing with? The Kurotsuki are not people that will be easily beaten. Give up while you can."

Kireina barked slightly, "No, I know perfectly well who I'm dealing with. The question is, do you know who you're dealing with?"

Before he could reply, Kireina spun around and yelled, "Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou!" When she was done closing his tenketsu, she infused her hand with silver chakra and thrust her palm at his chest. The man flew back and hit the tree, dead. Kakashi had gone to help Naruto and that left the leader.

He shook his head, "He was a new recruit. Don't expect me to go easy on you, lady."

Kireina smiled slightly before slipping into the Hyuuga family fighting style, 'Wouldn't dream of it."

"So you're a Hyuuga, eh?" the leader walked amiably toward Kireina.

Kireina shrugged. The leader stared at her before bowing, "My name is Seina. The Kurotsuki call me Ryuudan though. It's a pleasure to finally be able to battle with someone worthy of my attention."

Kireina snarled, "Cut the small talk."

She whipped out the chopsticks in her hair and threw it to her right. The Seina in front of her disappeared with the poof and another one stepped out of the foliage with a look of mild surprise. He was merrily spinning the kunai she had thrown on his forefinger.

"Hmm, you saw through my Kage Bunshin," the man commented mildly.

Kireina straightened, "You really don't know who I am do you?"

Seina shrugged noncommitedly, "No, not really. I've been a criminal since I was 12. I'm 25 now. I don't know much about what's going on in the rest of the world."

"What level were you when you became a criminal?" Kireina questioned.

Seina grinned maniacally, "I was already a chuunin. I'm that good. Are you starting to rethink you're decision about fighting me? I won't go easy on you."

This time Kireina shrugged, "That doesn't matter to me," she straightened up and a gleam entered her eyes, "I had already been ANBU captain of Sunagakure for a year when I turned 12. I would go easy on you, but your subordinate tried to kill my little brother. That in itself, is something I cannot let go unpunished."

If Seina was surprised at this declaration, he made no show of it. Instead he merely slipped into a fighting stance and stated, "Then don't."

Kireina stayed where she was. 13 years as an ANBU captain had taught her to wait for the opponent to attack if you had never fought him before. Seina sped towards her and threw a fist experimentally that she easily dodged, but she didn't expect to be swept to the ground with a swipe of his left leg. As fast as she fell, Kireina jumped up again. She easily flipped out of his fighting range. When Seina ran at her again, she held her hands up, palms facing him. A few feet before he reached Kireina, he bounced off an invisible barrier. Kireina easily took advantage of this and punched his arms and legs with chakra infused palms. Seina shuddered slightly on the ground. When he tried to move his arm, nothing happened.

"What did you do to me," Seina gasped.

"I'm a medic nin as well. I know the nervous system very well. All I did was send chakra to cut off your nerve signals temporarily," Kireina replied.

"How did you stop me?"

Kireina shrugged then methodically began closing his tenketsus, then doing the same thing she did to Neji, she delivered a well-placed Gentle Fist attack to his chest. Seina flew backwards about 30 feet, stopping when he hit a tree. He coughed weakly and blood splattered out of his mouth onto the ground. Kireina took a kunai from her hair and began twirling it with ease. Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke watched her to see what she would do. Kireina all of a sudden stopped spinning her kunai and stuck it back in her hair. Instead she concentrated chakra to her right index finger.

"Chakra Enjintou (Chakra Scalpel)!" A thin sharp blade of silver chakra grew out of Kireina's finger. She calmly walked over to Seina.

"Your subordinate's attack would have wounded my little brother greatly and I have no doubt that after Sasuke fell, your friend would let him die slowly. So I'm debating whether or not I should let you die slowly or kill you quickly."

Seina gulped visibly. Kakashi tensed and covered Naruto and Sasuke's eyes. They may be 16, but there were some things that didn't need to be seen if it could be avoided.

Kireina sighed, "I never was good at torture. I'll make this quick."

True to her word, Kireina sliced the man's neck easily with her silver blade. No blood appeared, but Seina made a gurgling noise before slumping over. Kakashi removed his hands and Sasuke and Naruto blinked in surprise to see their enemy dead but with no blood.

"What was the silver blade Nee-chan had?" Sasuke asked.

"A Chakra blade. It doesn't cut the skin, instead it goes through it and cuts the muscles, tissues, and arteries beneath the area cut. Your sister cut his jugular vein so he died instantly," Kakashi answered grimly.

Kireina held a hand out and Seina was lifted up by an invisible force. She set him next to his comrades and performed the proper seals for "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" and set the pile of bodies on fire. When the fire died out, Kireina turned towards the guys still watching her.

"I'm sorry you had to watch that," she apologized.

Kakashi nodded then turned, "Come on. We've lost time having to deal with them. The sooner we get to Akatsuki, the better. I have a feeling we'll be getting visits from higher level shinobi sent by Kurotsuki."

Kireina nodded.

Barely even 10 minutes after the group had started off again, Kireina and Kakashi both felt the approaching danger. Kireina closed her eyes and began counting under her breath.

Her eyes shot open after a few seconds, "There are eight of them closing in all around us."

Kakashi nodded. He began performing seals before Kireina stopped him.

"Matte (Wait). Let them come and think we haven't sensed them. They'll underestimate us and it will be easier to eliminate them."

Kakashi hesitantly put his hands down before nodding and starting to walk again. However the four of them remained on guard to parry the attacks that were sure to come. Without any warning, one kunai shot towards Kakashi who easily caught it and threw it straight back in the direction it had come from. There was a groan and then a short pause before several more kunai flew towards the group. Kireina knew it would be impossible to block or dodge all of them. Her hands flew through seals before she stretched her right arm out to the side and with a sweeping motion, moved her left arm in an arc above her head from right to left.

"Kaze no Enchou (Dome of Wind)!" A dome of wind built up around them in the directions Kireina had pointed out and immediately disabled any attacks.

Following the kunai were the owners of the kunai. Kireina twisted her right arm in front of her and the wind from the dome of protection blew around her arm. With a wave of her arm, the wind that had been collected was blasted out blowing the attacking ninjas away. The other three stared at her.

"What was that?" Sasuke finally asked.

Kireina smiled sheepishly, "A jutsu I developed. I only wanted to hold them off for a bit longer. They'll be back soon. For now though, let's continue walking."

The little group set off again, but once again after not even 30 minutes, the ninjas that had tried to attack before were back again. This time they were more cautious. Kireina and Kakashi slipped into fighting stances while keeping Sasuke and Naruto covered. At first the attackers only threw shuriken and kunai, but after seeing how easily the two jounin deflected the attacks, they stopped and just attacked all at once.

Kakashi grunted slightly as he caught the fist of one attacker with one hand and ducked his other punch. Lashing out with his leg, he flipped him on his back and with a quick swipe at the throat with a kunai, the attacker was dead. Sasuke and Naruto were both holding their own pretty well. The Kurotsuki had sent higher level ninjas this time around, but Sasuke and Naruto were both very near the jounin level anyway. Kireina was fighting one kunoichi with her right hand while her left hand quickly made seals. The Goukakyuu she performed got rid of 2 shinobi in front of her. 3 down, 5 to go. Sasuke stabbed the man he was fighting only to have the man disappear in a cloud of smoke. The man snuck up behind him and grabbed Sasuke putting a kunai to his throat.

"All right! Nobody moves," he ordered.

Sasuke struggled but the man only tightened his grip and pressed the kunai to his neck drawing a thin line of blood. Kakashi and Kireina hesitantly put down the kunai they were holding while Naruto popped his clones.

Kireina held her hands out, "Please. Give him back." Her tone had a sort of pleading quality to it.

The man seemed to think about this for a second before answering, "No! I think I'll take him back to Kurotsuki. We could use a recruit as skilled as him."

Kireina shook her head, "You can't. No. Please. I'll give you anything."

The man debated this in his head quickly, "Anything?"

Kakashi protested but Kireina shot him a sharp glance before turning back to the man. "Yes. Anything."

"Trade with him," the man sneered sinisterly.

Kireina knew this was coming and readily agreed. At least this way, she knew she could escape. Sasuke however, would be unable to. She edged towards her little brother and his captor making sure to show she had no weapons. Which was a lie, but the man didn't need to know that. Once Kireina was in his grasp, the Kurotsuki man pushed Sasuke to Kakashi who quickly grabbed Sasuke before he could try to go back to save Kireina. When Kireina saw Sasuke was out of harm's way, her eyes glinted. She held her right hand out and silver flames danced in her palm teasingly.

"What are you doing?" the man demanded.

Kireina smirked slightly, "Killing you."

With a swift backwards thrust, Kireina shoved the ball of fire into the man's leg. She easily broke free and pulled a kunai out of her hair, stabbing it into his heart. As soon as Kireina had freed herself, Kakashi had pulled out four kunai and whipped them out in various directions. Not expecting an attack, the Kurotsuki were unprepared and all the kunai struck true. When the last man sunk to the floor, Sasuke ran towards Kireina. She grabbed him up into a fierce hug.

"Namino-san, you had no need to sacrifice yourself you know," a voice said, "I could have easily taken him out."

Kireina released Sasuke, "Of course Itachi and please, just call me Kireina. We do share a little brother."

Itachi stepped out of the shadows a kunai twirling idly in his hand. Sasuke and Naruto started at the sight of him still not used to the fact that Itachi wasn't the bad guy anymore. Kakashi merely pulled out a book to start reading only to have it fly from his grasp into Kireina's who threw it away. Kakashi pouted slightly.

"That doesn't work when your face is 75 covered," Kireina scowled.

Kakashi's eye curved slightly before he turned to Itachi. "We've been looking for Akatsuki."

Itachi nodded, "Our base is very near. We heard the fighting and I recognized the chakra so I came to see."

"Itachi, Leaf's going to war against Cloud. We need your help. Tsunade-sama asked us to come get Akatsuki," Kireina explained, "We left this morning. Tsunade-sama predicts the Cloud will attack by tomorrow if they haven't already."

Itachi nodded, "All right. I'll tell the group to start heading out, but traveling in a large group will be too noticeable. Allow me to split them up into smaller groups. It will only take a minute."

Kireina nodded. Itachi turned and disappeared back through the trees. A second later he was back with Kisame by his side. The blue skinned shark man grinned at Team 7 and greeted them before introducing himself. The enlarged group set off quickly. They ran into a few Kurotsuki along the way but with a few swings of the Samehada, they were able to continue. Kireina summoned Kyuune, Daisuke, and Yuki. While Itachi and Kisame guarded them, Kireina quickly healed her teammates.

"Did you get hit anywhere?" she asked Kakashi.

Kakashi gestured at a wound at his stomach. Kireina winced, "Can you take your vest off?"

Kakashi complied and Kireina gently lifted his shirt up until his wound was revealed. Silver chakra surrounded her hand and she pressed her hand against the wound blushing slightly at the contact. Kakashi watched her face and worked hard to keep his face straight. Kireina dropped his shirt.

"There! All better," she beamed, "Anymore?"

Kakashi shook his head, "Reina, I've been meaning to ask you. How come your chakra's silver?"

Kireina glanced at Sasuke and Naruto who were sitting on Daisuke and Yuki to check if they were listening.

She patted Kyuune's fur briefly before answering, "It's because of my seal and some other things. That's why all of my summonings are silver. I used to have black hair but when I received the seal, the streaks appeared."

Kakashi nodded before hopping off of Kyuune and joining Kisame to ask him something. A few seconds later, Itachi dropped onto Kyuune in front of Kireina.

"Itachi, you scared me!" Kireina started.

Itachi inclined his head slightly, "Gomen (Sorry) Kireina-san. I have something to ask of you."

Kireina nodded, "Sure, ask away."

"What is your relationship with Hatake Kakashi?"

Kireina blinked in surprise, "We're just friends."

Itachi looked thoughtful, "Maybe you should consider being more."

Kireina groaned, "Not you too."

Itachi looked at her in surprise, "Well, if I'm not the only one, then maybe it is something worth considering."

Kireina sighed, "Okay, okay. I'll think about it."

Itachi nodded and right before he leapt off the fox's back, Kireina grabbed his arm, "How old are you Itachi?"

"I will be turning 21."

Kireina nodded, "I'd like it if I could be your older sister as well."

For once, a look of surprise entered his face before he allowed himself to smile slightly, "I think I'd like that too."

Kireina released his arm and smiled. The peace was shattered though when Mizuno appeared, out of breath.

"What is it Mizu?" Kireina asked worriedly.

"Cloud just attacked!"