New chapter, finally! Yeah its been a couple of weeks...lo siento.

Thanks for reading and reviewing!


Even as Sasuke followed the ragtag group of four, he felt a loneliness in his chest and an ache in his throat like there was a stone caught in his trachea. He had to slowly breath around the pain, knowing if he could let himself cry it would disappear, but he was unable to allow tears to fall. Instead he gripped the straps of his backpack, hefting it higher and resolutely looked at Sakura's heels several feet ahead.

Itachi had come alone with Shisui to sneak the three pre-teens out of Konohagakure. His kaa-san had been unable to safely leave the compound, being watched too closely by Root. . Sasuke had almost cried then, but Itachi had given him a long look, both of his long-fingered hands on Sasuke's shoulders before tugging him in for a hug. Any tears that had clung to his lashes were absorbed by his brother's shirt as he shut his eyes and let himself be enveloped. When he had stepped away, Itachi had handed him the jutsu filled scroll saying, "You're no longer a child, Sasuke. Be quick, be clever, and be careful. After you complete your mission, you can come home. Maybe you'll be taller than I am then."

Sasuke couldn't give his brother a smile at the quip. He just solemnly took his backpack and supplies, strapping his father's blade on his hip and a new kunai pouch on his thigh. The old house was as dark and dusty as always, and in the gloom Itachi's sharingan watched him as he prepared.

Sasuke's voice had been breathy as he said his goodbyes. "T-tell Kaa-san I love her, and if you see Tou-san, if he is ever released, that I love him too. And Izumi, she is like a too kind sister, and Mayuri-san who still grows tomatoes in her garden for me, and Haruto-kun who was always so eager to have me teach him what I learned in the Academy, and Riku-san with his bitter tea he always shared—"

Itachi had cut him off. "They love you, otouto. They won't forget you."

He had looked at his feet then, studying the dirt stuck in his toenails. Itachi wouldn't breathe a word of him to his family, he couldn't indicate he knew anything about Sasuke's whereabouts.

Giving Itachi another hug, Sasuke had whispered, "I don't want to ever be taller than you, nii-san."

In his backpack, Sasuke carried a tarp and blanket, a sharpening stone, a scroll of Uchiha jutsus, a small pot for cooking, extra ration bars, and a letter from his mother that he had yet to read. Ahead of him, Sakura was walking quietly, probably also lost in her own thoughts. She had had no one to say goodbye to as they left. Itachi had hugged her, but the only one she was close to in Konoha now was Izumi, and due to the other girl's old wound, she wouldn't have been able to easily sneak out of the compound. Sakura had no letter, no jutsu filled scroll, no weapons passed down from family members, and no word from their classmates as they didn't know Sasuke and Sakura would be leaving.

Beyond Sakura was Naruto and Shisui. Sasuke still heard the surprise and desperation of Naruto's voice echoing in his ears as he said Shisui-nii when the older escapee had appeared behind Itachi. Apparently they had been in the same cell for the last five years, and while Sasuke also thought of Shisui as Shisui-nii, he felt that title now belonged to Naruto more. It wasn't resentment that he felt toward the blond, Sasuke knew whatever horrors they faced in the Root prison must have been horrible and they'd been lucky to find sympathy and friendship as cellmates, but he did feel slight jealousy, that Naruto didn't have to face the outside world alone yet.

The other boy would soon, enough. In two days, Shisui would be leaving them for his own mission. But Sasuke couldn't bring himself to cut him some slack. While Naruto was up quietly chatting with Shisui, Sasuke and Sakura were alone and miserable and afraid.

Sasuke grit his teeth and turned his thoughts to their mission. They were to head toward Wave, and follow the ghostly breadcrumbs left by the two elusive Sannin, Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama. Old Konoha will need them to make its last stand. Itachi and Shisui explained the importance of the mission, and when Naruto had expressed a cold vehemence on wanting to just assassinate Danzo and let the government fall apart, Itachi's face had turned a pecurliar grey while Shisui gravely stated why that wouldn't work – the Hokage had chosen a loyal and powerful successor ready to continue his reign.


Kakashi was remembering a certain lesson given to him from Kushina-nee while he was in ANBU. The memory of it was vague, unlike when he was in a heated battle, he kept his hitai-ate over Obito's eye and so it was not recorded with the sharingan. But he remembered the way the sun glinted in through the kitchen window above the sink and shot her red hair aflame. Kushina had kidnapped him as soon as Kakashi left the ANBU headquarters, somehow informed of exactly what his next mission entailed. She pranced over with two bowls of steaming ramen and sat across from him, her face turning more serious as she blew on her serving, and Kakashi felt his spine straighten as he realized she wasn't just up to her usual nosiness.

"Undercover work is the most difficult of all, Kakashi. Not because of the acting, or the diligence involved in keeping one's story straight, or the sneaking around to find whatever information you're after. Ninjas are trained for these things since very young, and a genius like you will be exceptional."

She gave a teasing wink at him before growing solemn again.

"When a shinobi is alone for an extended period of time in enemy territory, he will simultaneously forget what he his fighting for and desperately long for it. Do you know what it is? It's family. Friendship. Longing to belong. You will miss your family here, so much that you'll want to belong to your family there."

Kakashi almost snorted but refrained. He was working on not being rude. "We are taught to always remember they are the enemy."

Kushina shook her head and patiently wrapped her fingers around the ramen bowl. "Humans are social creatures by nature. On a long-term undercover mission, you will make friends with the enemy, there is a point when acting bleeds into truth and the charade transforms into sincerity. It is okay, it happens naturally. But at the end of the day, you must base your actions on trust. Do you trust your new friends?"

Kakashi slurped his noodles before replying. "You can't. Because you will have been betraying them all that time…if they find out…"

"Their village will bring them comfort, whereas you will have brought them pain. Traitors are not treated kindly. So, don't get caught on this next mission, Kakashi-kun."

Opening his eyes, Kakashi dispelled the memory. When he had returned from that too-long mission, Kushina had announced that she was pregnant. He had just torn himself away from people he had genuinely liked in a village he had grown to respect and returned to the people he genuinely loved in a village that had only brought him sorrow. He couldn't share and celebrate the news that Minato-sensei and Kusina-nee were having a baby with Rin and Obito, because they were dead, and his enemy-friends were from another hidden village and didn't even know who Minato-sensei and Kushina-nee were and they wouldn't want to hear from Kakashi anyways because he had betrayed them.

Sighing, Kakashi remembered how dismissive and rude he was to Obito when they were kids. Obito was a loser. He was always two steps behind Kakashi, and he forever would be because now Kakashi wasn't sure he could trust Obito.

Kakashi slowly rolled out of bed and grabbed his pack. He pulled the Akatsuki cloak tight around himself before leaping onto the railing of his balcony. The rain was soft and light, and it was not as cold as it usually was. He had asked Leader-sama if he could take a few missions on his own, simple, mercenary work if he had to, and had promised to put the money he earned into savings for when Akatsuki was ready to begin the hunt for the jinchuuriki. His first stop, would be Wave. Kakashi had heard rumors about the business tycoon, Gato, currently in residence on the small island.


Hinata was slipping back to her room after wrapping her knuckles in linen bandages. She had practiced her juuken training that evening, but was now preparing for bed, when she had noticed her father wasn't in his room, but rather slipping out the front door. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she nervously followed him.

The sun was descending in the west, and she knew curfew was fast approaching, but Tou-san didn't seem to be leaving the compound, he was just going to the clan training grounds, specifically one she knew Neji-nii-san frequented. She knew that her father knew that she was following him, nothing could get past the stern man, byakugan or no, but she settled in the cool grass and leaned against a tree as Tou-san sat seiza in front of a training post. She jumped when Hiashi spoke.

"It's gotten worse, Brother. I think the lockdown is going to be made permanent, restricting shinobi movements even more. The pay is cut further every month, and they are limiting the amount of food sold to the shinobi. Root is weakening us. We cannot make a stand now, but the longer we wait the worse it will become."

In a rare show of distress, Hinata's father ripped the grass out of the ground with is right hand.

"Mikoto-san says we should wait, but I learned today that Danzo wants to put all Academy students and retired and active shinobi in the southwestern section of the village. He wants us herded like cows. We will only weaken further then. I don't know if Old Konoha will agree with me that we must act now."

Hiashi signed and sat quietly in front of the post. Hinata felt for her father. With her mother dead and her uncle somewhere in a Root prison or training camp, all he had to advise him were the grouchy elders. She gathered her courage and stood to make her way to Hiashi.

Stopping just behind his right shoulder, Hinata murmured, "Let's go back to the house, Tou-san, before the curfew."

Her father turned and gazed at her with pale eyes, a slight twitching at the corner of his mouth. He looked old and grouchy as usual, but also indescribably sad.