A Lion's Roar

by swagmoney5

Being reincarnated is an interesting life story, when a child from our world is reborn as Hinata Hyuga, she decided to get off of her ass and give her shot at being a hero. When you have too much knowledge and too much time, the only option is to train and become stronger and to make those around her stronger as well. Survival of the fittest and she wants to help everyone survive.

16. The mission to end all missions

"Shisui-nii wake your ass up!" I screamed as I entered his house with no invitation. He must have still been sleeping because there was a loud thud and some whining coming from his room. Sasuke ran out of the kitchen and glared at me for creating such a racket when he was enjoying the peace and quiet of a time with Shisui being sleep. I was rocking back and forth on my heels and basically bouncing in excitement at my discovery. There was a lot of caffeine in my system that has been keeping me awake for the last 4 days and I may or may not have taken a shot of adrenaline to pump myself up for the next few hours to come. Shisui came barreling down the staircase, not bothering to feel his way down the stairs and instead bumping into everything in his path. He crashed into me and after a bit of fumbling put his hands on my shoulders a big sadistic grin on his face as he squeezed tightly on my shoulders.

"What the heck Imouto, I was sleeping so nicely. This better be good."

" .It." I said proudly and bursting with excitement at every word. Shisui's smile faded then came back 10 times brighter. He kissed the side of my head then picked me up in his arms and spun me around a few times laughing childishly in pure awe.

"You did it! i can't believe it you actually did it! Have I ever told you how amazing you are because you really are amazing. Even more so than 'Tachi-chan right now and definitely better than Emo-suke-chan." Sasuke glowered at the nickname and made us stop twirling. He was annoyed with us because he had no clue what was going on and did not like being out of the loop. He could pretend not to care but Shisui and I both knew that was his main problem.

"What did the freak do now?" His tone was dull in a way only the duckbutt could manage but he failed to hide his intrigue. Shisui and I were both grinning brightly, the excitement I hadn't felt in a long while just kept overflowing out of my body.

"I/She found a way to fix his/my eyesight!" We both yelled out in unison that was almost comical. Sasuke took a second to process the words then his stoic facade broke. His jaw dropped open and his onyx eyes were wide with disbelief. He regained his composure but the joy he was feeling for Shisui was evident and he joined in our glow.

"How?"

"I've been working on the solution since I started training under Lady Tsunade. Actually implanting the eyes would be easy because The sockets are empty and undamaged, it was more tricking the brain into using the eyes to see again and not rejecting them. Once I figured that out, the rest was a cakewalk."

"Hn…Why did you never say anything to me?" Sasuke was annoyed once again but he was also proud of me for finally using my brain for some good.

"I told her not to, I didn't want to get your hopes up if it wasn't possible. Finding a solution was a long shot." Shisui sensed the growing anger in the hotheaded Sasuke and calmed the situation. He pulled us into a hug and for the first time since Sasuke was a kid, he didn't pull away. I dragged Shisui out of his house in his pajamas and headed straight for the hospital, Sasuke in tow.

The preparation for the surgery was not easy by any means, but the surgery itself wasn't overly difficult considering it was an eye transplant. I'd always wondered how easily eye transplants went for the Uchiha (and Uzumaki with the Rinnegan) and just assumed it was anime magic but when Shisui lost his eyes and I got an apprenticeship under the greatest medical ninja ever, I knew I needed to figure it out and help Shisui. Most eye transplants like Kakashi's are relatively 'easy' (again using this term lightly because it requires a lot of medical skill and knowledge of the body) because the eye is fresh and the socket is also not healed so it is readily accepting an eye. The brain is also still wired to use vision heavily with the other senses so it is accepting of the eye and is able to see out of it instantly while supplying the chakra into it immediately.

With the case like Shisui where it has been years his eye socket is not ready for an eye because it has healed itself to compensate for the lack of eyes now and so first we'd have to basically shred his socket to prepare it for transplant. The second main problem I was running into was that it has been so long since Shisui has been able to see that his brain completely stopped sending Chakra flow to where the eyes were and stopped acknowledging that there ever were eyes, so even if we managed to successfully implant the eyes into Shisui, he wouldn't be able to see out of them because the brain would not acknowledge them and no chakra would flow to them making them decay and be nothing more than decoration.

The solution I came up with was to basically Genjutsu his brain into thinking there were eyes all along so that it connects with his brain and can actually process images and colors and to use my gentle fist to forcefully activate his chakra to flow into the new eyes and connect it with his body. The rehabilitation would also involve a nurse forcing the chakra to keep flowing into the eyes every day until it does it naturally.

For Shisui's transplant we had to take a recently dead person, so whoever died in the hospital today and had eyes that would fit the dimensions needed was what he got. I wanted Shisui to get green eyes because he would totally be even more of a lady killer, but alas he said he would beat me up if I gave him any eyes that weren't black. There's nobody with black eyes like an Uchiha and hopefully when we kill Danzo, he'll get one of his eyes back, but for now we got him a dark dark grey eye that was as close to onyx as we could get. The surgery was successful and after a few days of being bandaged, Shisui got to open his eyes.

"I can see, everything is blurry and just blobs of color but I can see. I can't believe it." Tears were pouring out of his eyes and he hugged Tsunade and I in thanks. We not only gave him sight but with time he'd be able to be a Shinobi again. After a bit of rehab, Shisui was able to see people more clear. We gave him glasses for aid and light was still troublesome but with a few more month's he should be good as new.

"Awe Imouto you're so pretty now. No wonder I have to beat the boys off with a stick." He turned his eyes over to Sasuke and looked over his form, a shit-eating grin covering his features. "And you little Sasu-chan still look like a cute little ducky." He pat his head and I laughed my ass off as Sasuke pouted in embarrassment and fixed the hair Shisui messed up.

"Hn. I liked you better blind." Shisui and I laughed even harder. (A/N I felt like a baller writing this. I made a lot of it up but I felt like it worked and helped express how Hinata is actually super smart and when she's not plotting her angsty life, she threw herself into other work.)

—Naruto was the first of Team 7 to say he was leaving. Jiraiya had decided that with the Akatsuki at large, Naruto staying in the village at his current level was not only a threat to himself but to the village most of us devoted our lives to protect. Knowing that it was getting closer to the war to end all wars, it was time to put each and every plan into motion.

Naruto, Shisui, Sasuke, and I were all sitting together in Naruto's apartment. He placed silencing seals around the apartment and we checked and re-checked to make sure everything was secure before we started planning. Sasuke, Shisui, and I decided that before Naruto left we would inform him of our plans, knowing him, he'd go to the ends of the earth to find us and 'save' us if we didn't inform him of everything, and especially on my part, dealing with the Akatsuki who were going after him, we thought he should know. I shut off all the lights and lit up a lantern to shine on my face like I was going to tell a scary story. Naruto laughed and Sasuke got up and turned the light's back on before I could do anymore.

"You know generally what happened in the Uchiha Massacre right?" Shishi asked, starting off the most difficult conversation we're going to have.

"Yeah, Itachi killed everyone and put Teme and Hina-chan in comas." Shisui took a deep breath and explained everything from his side, what was happening with the Coup, his and Itachi's roles, and how Danzo fucked everyone over by trying to kill Shisui. Then I had to explain everything from then on putting all of the pieces together in understanding. Once Naruto understood the basics and that Itachi wasn't at fault for everything we decided to inform him of the plans to take down Danzo and bring Itachi home (I didn't mention the aspect of me hopefully helping the other Akatsuki members because that wouldn't have gone well for me). We explained that Sasuke was going to join Danzo's root program and get close enough to find out everything about him (as well as find Sai and anyone else who we can save from his tyrannical nature), Shisui was providing us with background information and hopefully if everything went well he would have more of a role when it comes to exposing and executing Danzo. My piece was to bring Itachi home by getting close with the Akatsuki, I'd be finding out truly what they want, would be able to find and ruin Orochimaru, and will save Itachi from his death and allowing him to be seen as a hero again.

"Neji might have been on to something, sometimes I feel like fate is trying to fuck with my happiness forever." Sasuke said with no hint of joking. Knowing that we were all separating-Bar Kakashi- was a difficult thing for us to accept. We have been together for a long time, have formed bonds that cannot be broken but somehow life is still fucking with everything and the only way to set it straight is for all of us to in dangerous situations without one another. I had no words, I felt the same way but Naruto being himself wasn't accepting of that.

"Don't be like that Teme. If you don't like the hand fate's dealt you with, fight for a new one. Fight to be happy, together or apart we'll fight right alongside of you." My mouth gaped open, Shisui had a glowing smile on his face as he looked between all of us, and Sasuke looked pensive before nodding in agreement. Shisui pulled us all into a hug, Naruto and I eagerly joining in with Sasuke being reluctant but accepting at out last hug with us 4 until we are all technically adults for Ninja standards.

Naruto was extremely against my role but I reassured him that Itachi wouldn't allow me to get hurt and Tsunade and Jiraiya would never allow me to go if my plan wasn't perfect. Mine was a long-term deep cover mission and we were all ready to bring Itachi home and see Danzo burn in hell before he could ruin anything else for anybody. I was most ready to expose him and watch him wither and die like the piece of shit he is. No way in hell would I let him become Hokage and go unpunished for his crimes, the village would see him for what he is. Naruto was really worried about Sasuke too, Danzo is extremely powerful especially when he has one of Shisui's eyes and we needed Sasuke to not fuck up. The only thing that made it ok was that Shisui joked about how Sasuke would have no trouble acting like an emotionless dick (as long as he doesn't act like a hothead like Naruto drives him to be). Naruto finally understood everything and was furious at Danzo as much as we were, and after lots of convincing and promises of ramen, he was on board with everything.

—

I waited at the gates of the village with a emo Sasuke- who 100 percent refused to admit he'd miss Naruto but still looked more emo than usual,- Kakashi -who was actually on time- was glad Naruto would be safe but sad to see the ball of sunshine leave, Zabuza who was also unwilling to admit that Naruto had grown on him exponentially, and Shisui who saw Naruto as an extension of our odd family.

Naruto came racing over to us breathing heavily and a bright but sad smile on his whiskered cheeks. He went down the line giving heartfelt goodbye's and making promises to everyone, Kakashi even accepted a hug from Naruto without pushing him off. Big bad Zabuza, who is even more masterful at teasing people than Kakashi (who is the most skilled at pissing of people with little effort) morphed his voice to match Naruto's and yelled out an "I Love you Teme-kun dattebayo!" Which resulted in them both fuming in anger and freaking out while the rest of us enjoyed the last of SasuNaru tsundereness. I was the last one and seeing him, knowing it would be the last time for the next 2-ish years made my heart clench. Naruo's cheeks took on a light blush in embarrassment over anything else. I ran and jumped on him, he wrapped his arms around me and I stayed like that for who knows how long.

"I know I promised to protect you and I can't do that gone, but I will come back stronger than everyone and you'll be safe with me dattebayo. You believed in me and I'm going to come back worthy of your praise."

"Just promise to come back to us safe ok? I'll kill you and the Super Pervert if you die so you better fucking not." I didn't know how hard it would be to say goodbye. Naurto was giggling in glee at my tight hug and made me a bunch of promises and exaggerated explanations of how strong he was going to return as. I put my head into his shoulder as I inhaled his scent mumbling about how much I was going to miss him. For the moment I forgot about everything I was about to do and just focused on my best friend, the sun, the only person I know who I truly consider to be 100 percent worthy of the title of a superhero.

"You also can't go dying on me; I won't accept that. Don't let that stupid snake bastard scare you anymore, you're way too cool to let that keep getting ya down."

"I promise not to die Naru-kun." His strong arms were holding me tight enough that I could feel the outline of his abs and each muscle contract with every breath and movement. He smelled of Ichiraku and being there with him, in his arms as my best friend-the blonde ball of sun who was going to save the world someday-reinstalled my determination to do whatever it takes to keep him safe. "I love you blondie. When you get back, we'll finally have that battle."

"I love you too Hina-chan." Naruto placed his lips on the top of my head where my Seal should appear-warmth spreading from the spot and tingling down to my toes. His surprisingly soft lips stayed there as my arms tightened my grip on him for the last time in what seemed to be forever. I memorized the feeling of his Chakra, the way he smelled, every detail of his tanned face, the whisker markings on his cheeks, the almost insanely bright yellow of his wild hair. The shape of his lips when they quirk upwards and form that familiar foxy smile that brings mischief and happiness everywhere he goes. He pulled away with his blinding smile back on his face and raced off to follow after the Toad Sage, his right hand up in a fist as he disappeared from sight.

I was standing in Tsunade's office as we stared one another down.

"Lady Tsunade, it is time." She sucked in a deep breath and opened the classified case with my name on it. It had the details and preparations for my long term mission to not only save members of the Akatsuki and to bring them safety within the village, to find my father and Orochimaru, and my part of the plan to expose and destroy Danzo- A plan which Tsunade and Jiraiya were both way too onboard with. She picked up her pen and signed the 3 separate covert and infiltration missions with only slight hesitation.

"Jonin Hinata Hyuga from this point forward you are on 3 long-term missions assigned and only known about by the 5th Hokage, Jiraiya of the Sanin, Kakashi Hatake, Naruto Uzumaki, Shisui Uchiha, and Sasuke Uchiha. You are to not inform anyone else of the details of the mission. You are only able to let your closest friends and family know that you will be going undercover for a long period of time. Do not let this information get out or you will surely be killed on the spot. Pack up your stuff and leave the village tonight, as of now, you are considered a Rogue Kunoichi to everyone but the aforementioned. If you are going to fail the mission or your life is in danger, you are to abandon the mission and return home where the details of your mission will be revealed and you will no longer be considered a rogue. Your main mission is to be completed within a 3 year timeframe and everything else soon after. Is this all clear?"
"Yes M'lady." She reached her hand out and gripped my shirt in her fist, pulling me to be eye to her.

"You listen here brat. In no way will I accept you dying so you better not. I didn't train you for nothing so you better not get caught. You are like a daughter to me and if you go and kill yourself I'll pound you into the next life. Good luck Hinata." She leaned down and gave me a kiss on the forehead- right where my Strength of 100 seal should be showing up hopefully soon- as well as the materials she was aloud to provide for me. I pulled out the letters from my pouch.

"Please give these to everyone when I leave." My voice shook slightly, I needed to leave everyone behind for now but it's harder than I thought it would be. Lady Tsunade gave me one more hug and we took one last shot together for the time being. As soon as I left her office my first stop was Ino's house. Her and Choji were hanging out so I gave them both massive hugs and told them I'd be gone for a little while on a mission. My next stop was to say 'goodbye' to Kiba and Shino but I think they both noticed something was up by my vague goodbye and firm hugs. I said goodbye to Neji, Lee, and Tenten together when they finished early morning training with Gai. Neji pulled me aside and I gave him a larger hug than normal saying he was a perfect big brother and I loved him. He wasn't stupid and knew what was going on slightly. I gave him some small details when I told him he was the leader of the clan. He needed to know I wan't a threat and we left it at that. For the first time, he called me Imouto and I was so giddy with happiness at the best possible goodbye I could have received from the princely and stoic big brother. I stopped at Shikamaru's house next and found him laying in a tree in the clearing of the Nara woods. I hopped on the tree branch he was on and hovered over him, blocking the sunlight from absorbing into his tanned skin. He opened one eye and lazily looked at me before letting out a big sigh and moving a bit to make room for me to sit beside him.

"What's up with you today?" He drawled as he moved his arm haphazardly over my shoulders to get more comfortable.

"I'm leaving for a while." Both of his eyes opened and focused on my face to watch my every reaction. His eyebrows furrowed and i figured he had a general idea of what was going on. For a long time, I've been going over hypotheticals of what to do in situations when you were faced with criminals and how to handle them. Each scenario fit members of the Akatsuki as well as other rogues I was probably going to encounter at some point. Lately though, it has become darker in situations and I have been trying to figure out the best ways to handle finding and destroying Orochimaru and Kabuto. I have been leaving clues in it to lead Shika to understand why I'm doing what I'm doing without having a breach in my mission, he's smart enough to figure it out on his own and plan accordingly for whatever situation is thrown at him.

"You're not seriously thinking of going after him?" He questioned in his dry tone of voice.

"Damn, you got me." I let out a weak chuckle. "I have a mission and won't be home for a while, this is goodbye for now."

"What a drag, making me worry like the troublesome woman you are. Remember what we talked about, don't act stupid and reckless. If you're doing what I think you are, don't break even for an instant play the game with everything you've got. Take that bastard down and find your dad. I'm not happy about you letting the darkness in, but don't let it overwhelm you." His hold on me tightened and the aroma of his woodsy scent enveloped my senses. The hand behind his head was now crossed over his chest and intertwined out fingers as he traced shapes into the palm of my hand with his thumb. We lay on the branch and looked into the sky pointing out the shapes we made out in the clouds. It was calm and I held onto the moment as long as I could. By the time it reached late afternoon I knew I needed to leave to be able to say goodbye to everyone. I pushed myself out of his arms and prepared to jump down when my body locked together and I was frozen in place. I was forced to take a step back and the shadow possession was released. Shika turned me around with his hands and pulled me into a hug. "Make sure you come back to me, to the village it would be a drag if you die." He whispered in my hair. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled away. Before he released me, he leaned down and put his lips over mine for the second time.

Once again my mind went into overdrive at someone who wasn't supposed to like me kissing me. He knows I'm leaving but was still wanting to kiss me and for the life of me I can't figure out why. Did I actually create my own Harem, this might fuck up everything with having not only Sasuke and Naruto but Shika liking me too. I know it's wrong, but we're young and I don't know how to feel, all I know is that I'm leaving one of the people closest in my heart and kissing him makes my heart flutter in an obnoxiously girly way.

His kiss was calm but he was surprisingly dominant as his warm lips enveloped mine, moving me at a slow rhythm like we were the melody of a song. In the swiftness only possible as a trained ninja we jumped from the branch and I was pressed up against the base of the tree. (A/N Shika is 14 and Hinata is 13 for now so it's not crazy inappropriate cuz I know plenty of ppl who did worse at this age. I kinda messed up the timeline but did it on purpose so don't worry.) One of his hands tangled in my hair and the other one was holding onto my waist. Although slow, he expressed all of his passion through his lips. Shika was saying goodbye through the kiss and I was promising to come home safe, no words were necessary. We'd known one another long enough to speak even through new actions like now. His tongue slowly made it's way to my lips and before it escalated any more, I pulled away giving one last look before sprinting away full speed. All the words I wanted to say were in the letter he'd receive tomorrow.

I stopped outside of Kakashi's flat after confirming he'd be home sleeping off a solo mission and fixed my messy hair and made sure my involuntary blush from my previous adventure was gone. I picked the lock and strutted inside making sure to slam the door loud so he would wake up. He slowly walked out of his room in a tight black tank top -his toned arms and ANBU tattoo on full display further confirming he really is one of the hottest leaf ninja even without his face on display-(A/N he really is tho like damn Kakashi is the hottest of them all. Sasuke and Naruto aren't close behind him lead village wise) and pajama pants. His headband was gone and his silver hair flopped over his forehead, his grey eye looking at me in mild confusion for waking him up. He was favoring his left leg slightly meaning he probably got injured but with his track record there was no way he was going to the hospital if he could help it. Anytime the hospital was even mentioned around him he made like Houdini and pulled a slick as fuck disappearing act to avoid the place that had nurses hit on him and that just overall he hated being in. I pushed him to sit on his couch so I could heal him while we talked.

"Maa Maa, what did I do to earn a visit from my favorite female 'soldier' when she knew I was sleeping." Both of his eyes closed into a slightly teasing smile to match his airy and unassuming tone. I rolled my eyes and laughed a bit. Since we are no longer his cute little Genin he has taken to calling us his little soldiers.

"I'm your only female student Bakashi."

"Details" He waved his hand lazily.

"I'm leaving tonight." Kakashi's slouched posture didn't change in the slightest but his muscles tensed slightly and his open grey eye was sharper peering down at me. He was one of the only ones in the inner circle who knew of my past and my real goals-all of them- and he's surprisingly been the most outspoken on me not leaving on this mission. We've but heads on this and there has been an underlying tension between us since then. He doesn't want me to go rogue, to go into the darkness, to be somewhere he or anyone else cannot be to protect me. "I know you don't want me going into such a dangerous mission but frankly I don't give a fuck. I'm going and before I leave I need us to be on good terms, for you to accept me going on this mission. You of all people know why I'm doing what I'm doing so please… I'll even buy you the next issue of Icha Icha if you stop being so obnoxiously passive aggressive." A large hand placed itself on top of my head and ruffled my hair, his chuckle resonating through the room.

"Do you promise?" His eye twinkled with childish glee and he let out a girlish giggle before getting a bit more serious, the tense air was thankfully gone. I'm not mad, I just don't want to lose another person close to me. I don't like the Idea of you leaving but I know at this point I can't stop you. Remember not to die and don't act like an idiot, you have a tendency to do that sometimes." (A/n Kakashi is one of the hardest characters to write for sometimes I feel like I make him to OOC in a bad way)

"That never happens." The grin on my face blossomed and I felt content with his hand on my head. The suffocating feeling of the most easygoing person being mad at me was never a pleasant one. "Can you summon your dogs, I promised bull I'd bring him a treat before I leave and Pakkun promised to let me touch his paws." I clasped my hands together and put on my best puppy dog eyes that seemed to work on him the best.

"Maa maa You spoil them too much, Bull never stops talking about you."

"That's because he know's I'm the best and one day he's going to leave you for me." Kakashi placed his hand over his hear dramatically.

"You're so mean little soldier. My pups love me too much to leave me." Kakashi summoned them and asked them who was better. All of them walked over to him except Bull who like the loyal boy he was came to me and placed his massive body in my lap like a lapdog. I gave Kakashi a smug smirk and fed Bull an extra treat and accepted some kisses from him. Like a big happy family (they named me their honorary mother and treat giver) and played with our little murdery children, Bull stayed in my lap the whole time. Pakkun wasn't lying when he said the pads of his paws were soft, they were like pillows! When it was time to leave, Kakashi gave me a hug and a very loving head pat and ruffle of my hair. I even got to touch his. I kissed his cheek as well as all the dogs and left. The weight of each goodbye was weighing heavier and heavier on my chest, the thoughts of Itachi and my father were what kept me going forward.

I took a deep breath and opened the door with a large black and white uchiwa fan on the front of it. Both Uchiha who took residency there were outside at their own personal training ground. I made my way into their kitchen and brought out a few pots and pans to make a simple recipe of dumplings with cabbage, a light amount of chicken (Since Uchiha don't ear red meat), carrots, and cooked it while I made a side of rice and had soy sauce on the side for flavor and dipping. I made enough to take home for Neji, Hanabi, Zabuza, and Hiashi too. I'm still not a good cook per-say but this was simple enough and after 6 months of practice I damn well better be good at making it. The aromas filled the kitchen and the food was almost fully cooked when the boys returned home.

"You are a gift from Kami Imouto I'm sooo hungry Sasu-chan was being sooo mean to me today and wouldn't go eat Dango with me and I can't just go alone!" Whined Shisui as he came beside me and rubbed his cheek against mine and stuck his dirty fingers in the pot of dumplings, shoving one in his mouth. Sasuke scoffed and made his way over to me putting food on his plate as he questioned me with his eyes. Once we had our food and were eating I spoke up.

"I'm leaving tonight."

"Is it really that time already?" Shisui questioned, he's asked to take my place more than once but with everything going on, I cannot let him do it. He strives for peace so much and I wouldn't let him be pushed into the darkness anymore that he has been. "Ohh Imoutoo I'm going to miss you so much! Make sure you kick lots of ass and if you get hurt I will punish you severely. Dressing you like a doll will seem like child's play compared to what will happen if you're injured." His voice was teasing as always (even though I knew he was serious and I would be in big trouble if he knew I got injured) and he had such a loving smile on his face. I was sitting nuzzled into his arms (his body still a lot longer than my small one making me feel like a little kid), the safe feeling of my peace-loving 'brother' enveloped me as he gave me lessons on safety and made me go over every inch of the plan until he was sure I knew it through and through. Shisui picked me up like a baby and carried me to his room, grabbed a scroll, and walked back downstairs. I laughed the whole way, enjoying the feeling of being a child again.

He opened the scroll and inside was provisions. There were some of his old clothes for me to wear at a moment's notice (it was mainly warm clothes for when I'm somewhere not hot like Konoha), a set of new Kunai, chlorine tablets (water purification tablets), a large pack of Akimichi ration bars, more money than I'd know what to do with, a few letters for Itachi, and a letter for me. Shishi also pulled out a box and there was a small ring to go on my pinky finger with a crystallized Uchiha symbol and Shisui's chakra infused in it so he could send his messenger birds to find me wherever I am. I put the ring on the same hand Gaara's sand bracelet was on. The flower was beautiful but overtime it morphed into a bracelet of sorts like the one he gave me earlier on which was nice because it was easier than carrying around a sand rose all the time. After Shisui helped me carefully seal everything back into the scroll, he hugged me tightly as if he was afraid of letting me go. Being the ADHD boy he is, he chatted nonstop bringing up anything and everything we talk about to make up for the lost time that is about to ensue. He also finally told me how next month he was being reinstated as a Jonin.

He told be that he and Zabuza are still betting on my romantic involvement but instead of just two people, they are making bets on everyone and when people will confess. It seems like I might have actually started a harem, even if it's only for shits and giggles to them. And now that Itachi will hopefully come back, he is close to the top of the list on confessing. The ammo Shisui and Zabuza would get to tease me mercilessly if they found out about Sasuke and Shikamaru would destroy my life and hopefully Sasuke keeps his mouth shut, I still need to fully process my feelings but it will stay on the back burner now (it's not like I don't love all of them, I just don't know in what ways and maybe they are just hormonal or something like all teenagers are) and whatever happens, happens.

Shisui gave me one last hug when Sasuke came in. With a sly smile and an eyebrow wiggle, he sang out to us.

"Have fun lovebirds."

Sasuke instantly came and sat down, pulling my head into his lap and running his fingers through my hair. It was a calming action for the both of us, one that we have done since childhood. His long fingers mindlessly braided and un-did small braids in my hair as we talked about everything plan-wise. Once all of the planning was over, the atmosphere was lighter once again and we sat watching looking out the window at the crescent moon in comfortable silence.

"Hey duckbutt?" I called out enjoying the slight twitch that his eyes do at the nickname.

"Hn." His stupid language, I finally realized I've spent so much time with him that I can differentiate the differences in each of his stupid grunts. Sometimes we would have a full conversation where he would grunt answers and somehow I always knew what he was saying. I've basically gotten him down to a science, a science that Naruto understands now too. Either way, it's annoying.

"Dammit for once can you talk like a normal person. If you talk in your stupid language one more time tonight I'm going to beat your pretty-boy ass senseless." I was glaring up at him but with the calm feeling of his hands still in my hair, it turned out more like a pout. He raised one of his eyebrows in a mocking manner and his pale lips turned into an arrogant smirk.

"Hn. Freak." Which translates to 'give it your best shot freak' and I pushed myself out of his lap and ran to the kitchen where Shisui's desserts were stored. I quickly grabbed what was most likely a pack of cookies and ran, Sasuke coming after me. I manuvered effortless across the room and jumped over the couch. When Sasuke came into a range where he couldn't dodge me no matter what, I pounced on him. I moved fast and the sudden change in direction was enough to stun him so that I could pin him to the ground. I was pressing my weight against him and using chakra in my knees -to stay planted to the floor- and chakra was infused in the hand that had his arms pinned to the ground so that he was unable to fight back. I grinned deviously and brought the sugary treats to his mouth. I sent a shock into my hand and he opened his mouth just enough for me to oh so violently shove the food into his mouth. My empty hand went over his lips to keep hi from spitting out the food and I laughed at furrow of his brows, his face contorting to one of pure disgust.

"Swallow it Duckbutt. I'm sure Naruto has taught you spitters are quitters." His eyes widened in rage and in a move Anko must have taught him, he cancelled out my chakra in my knees and swiftly flipped our positions. There was a deadly glint in his eyes as he swallowed the snack and licked the last bit of sugar off his lips, gagging at the sweet taste. Even being pinned, I was laughing victorious at pissing him off and getting him to eat his least favorite food.

"You're. So. Dead." His coal eyes locked with my lavender ones. There was a hint of red reflected in his eyes but we stayed locked in our staring competition. I blinked first and his eyes flickered over my body. I knew exactly what he wanted next and started thrashing in his grip violently. He held strong and I was beyond annoyed at how much stronger he had become. Normally I'd be set free by now if Naruto wasn't helping him.

"Don't you dare. You fucking asshole I swear I'm going to-" I was cut off as laughter bubbled out of my lips. I was squirming underneath him as he used one of his hands to tickle me. I couldn't stop laughing and it was making my abs hurt. Tears were streaming down my face and I was gasping for breath and begging him to stop (while throwing in insults that were barely understandable through my laughing). Sasuke and Naruto found out about me being ticklish on a mission. We were babysitting little kids after tickling them, they wanted revenge and decided to tickle us. Naruto we already knew was ticklish so he dodged the little heathens with his life. Sasuke did not like to be touched and one glare was all he needed to get them to stop. I on the other hand didn't think I was ticklish. I wasn't in the last life and thought that transferred over to this life… I was so mistaken. I felt bad so I let them catch me and one second in I was laughing my ass off. Before I could get them to stop, Naruto and Sasuke decided to tag team and pin me down letting them relentlessly run their fingers over my underarms and sides until I was ready to piss myself. I vowed them to secrecy and promised to kill them if they tried to tickle me. Sasuke being the ass he is was mad at me for feeding him cookies so this is how he enacted revenge.

He finally felt like I'd had enough and stopped, letting me catch my breath. He was quietly laughing at me as I gasped out curses at him. He had a content smile on his sharp features as his body stayed hovering over mine. His eyes seemed to trace each feature of my face and the longer it continued the more his smile diminished, leaving him with a blank face and pensive eyes. He leaned his forehead against mine, bangs brushing against my cheek as he stared into my eyes. Finally he rolled off and laid next to me, pulling me against his chest.

"What's wrong?"

"I feel like I'm losing everything all over again. Naruto and you are gone, I'm going to be in the ANBU, I need revenge, Itachi needs to come home and have his name praised but is it worth us splitting up like this?" He was talking lowly, more to himself than me I think. It was a moment where he wanted me to know what he was thinking. He wanted to understand why he felt like he was losing his family all over again. There was a battle with his brain, he wanted us to stay together and wait for Naruto to come home and be Team 7, but he needed Itachi to come home, needed Danzo to die but having us split up was hard, he felt like he would lose us if we left him, he felt like he would be alone like when the massacre happened and he thought we were all dead. I grabbed his hand in mine and he squeezed it tightly.

"You're just being broody. We're all going to be together soon, I don't want to be away from you guys either but this has to happen. You aren't losing anything, if anything distance makes the heart grow fonder and when we all are together again it will be even better than before."

"Hn I'm not brooding." I punched his arm at the Hn and he smirked. I finally stood up and together we walked to the door. Before I could leave, he took his index and middle finger and poked me in the forehead . My eyes widened and he shut the door in my face.

I went to my final stop… home. My room was barren from me packing away everything and hiding it and I packed up everything I could travel easily with. My bag was on the center of my bed and I placed the last few scrolls inside of it. I grabbed the leftover food from dinner and placed it in the fridge knowing it would get eaten by Hanabi and Neji within the next few days. It was already late and Hanabi was sleeping. Zabuza was off on a mission for a possibly few more days so as much as I wanted to say goodbye I couldn't. I left him an extra long letter because of that. I walked into Hanabi's room and laid on the bed next to her, running my hand over her hair as she slept softly. I placed a kiss on the top of her head and carefully left my present out for her. A special kimono and doll dress (fucking Shisui) were 2 things of mine she absolutely adored and so I laid them out on the floor next to her bed so she knew they were hers now. She would do them better justice than I did and would have something of mine to wear while she grows up away from me. I wanted to say goodbye when she was awake but I just couldn't. Her big doe eyes, her sweet shyness. If I saw her like that I don't know if I could leave her so I waited until she slept. I would be easier for both of us, less tears. She shifted a bit and blinked open her sleepy eyes.

"Nee-chan you're home?"

"Hai goodnight my Hime. I love you and promise to be back home someday. I love you so much." She was sleepy and didn't understand my words, just falling back asleep with a small smile as she mumbled out.

"Night. I love you too." I kissed her again rushed out before I could cry. I grabbed my backpack and flashed to the gate of the village. Taking one last look at my home, tears freely flowed down my face as they shined brightly against the moonlight.

Dear Panda-kun,

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to respond. Congratulations on becoming the Kazekage, I knew you could do it. You are more deserving of it than anyone else I can think of. You are going to learn some things about me soon and I need you to understand that they are not true. Please believe me when I say everything I'm doing is for a reason, for my dreams and goals to come to fruition. I need you to burn this letter as soon as you read it. I am going to be undercover in a dangerous situation so I will not be able to see you or write to you for a while. I can't tell you how proud I am of you and all you have accomplished. I owe you so much, as much as you say you learn from me, I have learned so much from you in return. You are amazing Gaara and I love you so much and even if I am not there I am protecting you within the shadows. Do not worry about me. I promise as soon as it is ok I will contact you again. You will understand everything in time and I wish this wasn't goodbye but for now it is. Lead your people like the person I know you are, I believe in you.I love you so much and will miss your letters.

Love,

Hinata

After I had left Konoha, Sasuke joined the ANBU under the control of Danzo Shimura. To convince Danzo to trust him and let him into his branch of the ANBU Sasuke said he waned to join for revenge on the murderer of his family, pretending to still think it was Itachi. He knew he had to be stronger and the only way to be strong enough to defeat the man who is the main reason for ruining his big brother's life. The only way to get this strength is to work under one of the strongest ninja in Konoha, one who will train him to defeat his bother and if he gained that power, he would in turn protect the village. Danzo being the greedy bastard he is agreed to taking Sasuke into the foundation knowing he had another powerful Uchiha pawn to do his bidding, and one day gain another eye from. Sasuke began his training immediately and his plan to get close enough to know everything about Danzo began.

Naruto was on his training trip with Jiraiya where he was learning what it takes for him to be a frontline fighter as a seal master. Naruto doesn't know his full lineage but after talking when we were younger and telling him about Uzumaki's being seal masters, he's been set on learning it (along with all of his other crazy skills and one's he's going to develop later on. He's gonna be even more god-like). Haviing Jiraiya teach him was the best thing possible, especially since now that I suspect he's learning the Flying Thunder God technique. From what he explained, he's working on a technique that produces seals from his chakra to basically reverse summon himself to each seal and one day will get it to be as fast as the Yellow Flash. He's not only working on seals, he's working on trying to contact Kuruma and trying to control the massive amounts of the angry foxes chakra. The process was difficult and more often than not Naruto would lose control of the fox and need it to be sealed away before he unleashes too much power and kills someone or himself.

With all their students gone Kakashi, Zabuza, Shsui, and Anko have formed a temporary team to be the perfect assassination unit that isn't ANBU. Kakashi has been working furthering his Sharingan with the aid of Shisui, he'll probably know how to use the Mangekeyo by now. He's also working on new lightning releases to incorporate into his attacks. Zabuza is still excelling in his swordsmanship and is finding new ways to take someone out with a giant ass sword, as well as how to speed up his water attacks and incorporate them into his Silent Killing technique. Shisui is just being himself, regaining the title of Shisui of the body flicker once more. He really doesn't need the Shairingan to be fast, at this point he's probably faster than Gai. Each member of Team 7 is off doing their own thing and that leaves me….

There's a map held in my left hand as I stared up at the small yet beautiful gold gate of a civilian village located between Konoha and Kumo. The village is called Gōrudo Village which seems to fit perfectly. It's been about a week since I left and with luck that rivaled none other, I encountered some bandits who mentioned something about 4 ninja from Otogakure, one of whom had 6 arms. This was the lead I was looking for and with a bit of snooping and a few well placed threats, the bandits told me that they were heading to Gōrudo Village to find something. If I could get the sound 4 to tell me where the hell Orochimaru was, or at least a hideout or two, I'd be closer to finding my father. I was dressed in civilian clothing and because I was on the trail of Orochimaru's henchmen, I had in brown contacts to hide my defining Hyuga trait. I was suppressing my chakra back down to that of a normal Genin and entered the village filled with people fluttering about.

A woman in her late 40's came over to me with a kind smile on her tanned and sightly wrinkled face. She was exuding mom vibes in her kind and gentle movements. There was the slightest hint of sadness in her eyes and she was carrying a bag full of different medical remedies that seemed to fit for someone with pneumonia.

"Hello my dear, I'm Himiko what brings a cutie young lady like you to our village?" I put a small smile on my face not wanting to let the bloodlust that I was feeling through.

"I'm just passing through and need a place to rest before I finish my journey back home to my father. If it wouldn't be too much of a bother Himiko-san, can you please show me to a place to stay."

"Oh yes of course dear." She began walking forward and I followed. She chatted with me, asking me questions about myself (which I answered in the most vague ways possible) and my family and telling me about different things to do in the village before I leave. Himiko smiled and greeted all of the stand owners we passed by, they were all kind but each of them looked at her in such pity that I finally couldn't take it.

"Himiko-san, I don't mean to overstep boundaries but like that's a shitload of medicine you're carrying. Who is it for?" Her kind smile faded slightly and her grip on the bag tightened as she raised one hand to clutch at her chest.

"It's fine, I was waiting for you to ask. The medicine is for my son, he's been very sick and the doctor's we've seen cant fix him or are to expensive to heal him so I've been trying everything. I just worry he won't make it, he's so young and his health keeps declining." There was a tear that escaped from her deep green eyes. I huffed in annoyance at myself, here I am aiming to kill some people but I can't help but get caught up in a mushy sob story. Some kind of rogue I am.

"If you don't mind. I could take a look. I'm extremely versed in medical ninjutsu and can hopefully heal him." She looked at me skeptically but there was a glint of hope on her face. "Besides doctor's are a waste of time anyways, most of them are greedy assholes who only heal for the fortune and fame of it all." She let out a laugh of agreement and changed directions.

"Thank you Hinata-chan. I do not have much to give you but please." She grasped my hands in hers. "Please help my son to the best of your ability." I nodded and followed her inside her house and into a bedroom. There was a small boy with extremely pale skin laying propped up with pillows on a bedroll. He was visibly sweating and the cold towel on his head seemed to do nothing. The blankets were pulled up to his chin and he opened his eyes- a dull green compared to the vibrancy of his mothers- and he smiled a bit.

"Mama" He said quietly then broke out into a fit of coughs that made his body shake. His coughing was wet and I could tell they hurt by the wince and glassiness that formed in his eyes. His mother rushed over to him and smoothed his hair down whispering kindly into his ear as he tried to catch his breath.

"Ko my sweet boy, this nice girl is Hinata-chan. She's going to take a look at you and see if she can help your coughing not hurt so much ok buddy. Can you be a good boy for Hinata-chan?" He nodded weakly and gave me a sweet smile that was so bright compared to his sickly form. It looked so much like Hanabi that I couldn't help but give a grin back to him as I kneeled down by his side.

"Hi Ko-kun, I'm going to put my hands over your tummy and they are going to glow green. It might feel a bit weird but it's nothing bad. Can you lift your shirt up for me?" I did my best to talk to the 4 year old like the child he was. He moved his shirt up his chest and I placed my hands over his stomach and ribs. I activated my Byakugan and looked only down to his inner organs. His lungs were filled with fluid that had to have been there for months, it's not a difficult thing for me to fix, but medical advancements for non-ninja at this point are still pretty primeval. The blue aura in my hands flickered swiftly from blue to green and I went to work. I used my chakra to slowly enter his civilian chakra coils making sure to do even less than I normally would. Once his body seemed to accept my chakra-he giggled when it was happening so I knew he wouldn't react badly-I began to surround his lungs and use my chakra to coat the fluid and bit by bit I pushed it out of his system, having it come out through his chest and placing it in the bucket beside me. After 6 or so times, I had all of the fluid removed and began to heal the damaged tissues of his lungs. 20 minutes later I was fully finished and managed to get his fever to break as well.

"Alright Ko-kun, I'm all done. When you wake up, you're going to be good as new and can go back outside and play!" His eyes shined and he pulled me into a small hug.

"Thanks you Hinata-san, you are super awesome."

Ko was sleeping from exhaustion and to have his immune system fight the rest of the battle and throughout his rest, his face regained some of his color. I talked with his mom and she cried into my shoulder in pure joy.

"You really are an angel Hinata-chan." My heart clenched at her words. An angel, no way in hell. Not anymore. She insisted on repayment and so I got me a nice bag of cookies for the road. Himiko gave me directions to a hotel and lay down beside her son as I slipped out the front door.

—

The tip of the Sound ninja 4 being in Gōrudo Village was not wrong but it wasn't right either. They were already gone by the time I had arrived and I didn't figure that out until day 2. IT was working out though because when you've seen enough action movies and spent enough time formulating plans like I have, finding information about a man with 6 arms was not that difficult… if you knew where to look. For almost a month I have been tracking Kidomaru (mainly because he has the most defining features other than Sakon and Ukon but lowkey if he wore a cloak he'd look relatively normal in the crazy world of ninjas). They are gathering something for god knows what, probably ingredients to make something for Orochimaru to switch bodies because Kami knows that it is not just a simple ninjutsu. T

he problem is they seem to hit up each village I have gotten confirmation of them being at, at random. I want to look for a pattern to figure out their next movement. I'm no Shikamaru but with nothing but my drive to find them right now, analyzing possible patterns they are following is seemingly easy. That's the issue though, there are so many possible patterns they are following that I could just be right from my initial glance and they are moving at random. Knowing Orochimaru is a genius in his own right, he could have them move in a pattern that is so random it seems like it isn't anything but is actually a real pattern. That also means he could be letting them move randomly but have people think it is a pattern making me search for a pattern that isn't actually there: it's a perfect application of the Gambler's fallacy. It's one or the other and I have to be right or I'm back to square 1.

The one thing I started to map out by their movements was the empty spots, not having them go there right now (this is solely if the snake thinks people are tracking him, which he probably knows they are even if he doesn't know its me) might mean those areas are where possible hideouts reside. Either that or the hideouts are hiding in plain sight and I'm missing something. I'm hoping the former but it's most likely the ladder. I've been moving nonstop and as luck would have it, I was at an underground bar and some rogue ninja had loose lips, letting it slip that he heart the sound ninja 4 split up for the time being to do something important. That was a perfect opportunity for me, instead of dividing them myself, they did it for me. Although I was looking for Kidomaru first, the man- after a few drinks and a bit of seductive whispering because ninja men like companionship as much as others (praise Lady Seiko once again for her Kunoichi training)-he told me about how the big one was in the red light district a village no more than 30 a 30 minute sprint from here.

Swiftly, I poisoned the man's drink and pretended to go to the bathroom, slipping away and headed at breakneck speed to the red light district of the civilian village the man talked about. Jirobo is probably in his early 20's but is an ugly SOB inside and out so getting ladies, especially one's like normal Kunoichi's who are fixated on looks (*cough* Sasuke *cough*), is not his forte. I'm guessing the only way he can have stimulation that isn't by his hand is through places like red light districts where looks don't matter as much as money or protection or whatever people are willing to sell sex or drugs for. That works out for me, if a man like him is off guard- thinking more with his dick than his head- I can hopefully get him alone and in whatever means necessary get information from him.

Dressed in a low cut kimono with thigh high slits, I walked through the red light district, ignoring the whistles of drunk men and women. I sauntered my way into a bar that I'd deduced was where most men picked up hookers, girls running from their problems to have 'fun,' people looking to cheat, traitors spilling secrets about their hidden villages, and drug dealers. The lights were dim yellow ones but it made the mood fit for people trying to seduce one another. The bar was surprisingly nice, everything was made of dark stone and if it wasn't in the red light district and I wasn't out for blood, I'd probably enjoy the beauty of it. There were people everywhere but I snagged an optimal seat at the furthest stool in the corner at the bar. It gave me full access to see everything around me. The bartender came up and I asked a drink of whatever tasted the most fruity and least alcoholic. He didn't even bother to see if I was of age, not like my clothes and chest made me look young or anything.

I mapped out the doors first, exits were necessary if things went awry; there were only 2. I looked around the bar searching for Jirobo. There were men and women ranging from their 17's to their 70's, everyone in their own conversations and many were seeming to be doing shady business with one another. Another drink was placed in front of me. I quirked my brow at the bartender but he said nothing. A hand with rings way to big to look cool was placed on my shoulder, I followed the hand up the suit and was met with a man who looked like this world's equivalent of a Yakuza boss who does his work behind the scenes. His hair was black and slicked back, he had beady brown eyes, a scar on his cheek, and a lecherous smirk on his lips.

"I'm Naoba and I couldn't help but notice you and I thought it was a shame that a beauty like you was all alone. How about you finish your drink I so graciously provided and we leave here together. A woman like you deserves a man who can buy you the world." The door to the bar opened and my target walked in, his orange hair and large stature standing out like a sore thumb even in a place like this. My eyes narrowed dangerously as he took his seat in the corner opposite of mine. My eyes flickered back to the man in with his hand still on my shoulder. With ease, I removed his hand and smiled teasingly.

"That sounds wonderful but I like my men to be strong and dangerous like that large man in the corner, not some half-baked Yakuza loser like you Naoba." His smirk faded and his jaw muscles tensed as he grit his teeth looking over at Jirobo. They locked eyes and the trap was set. Nothing better to trap a man than to play with their ego. Naoba scoffed and looked me in the eyes.

"Listen here sweet cheeks, I'm Naoba Sanada, Chunin extraordinaire and leader of one of the biggest underground crime rings. I am strong and plenty dangerous, that ugly fuck over there has nothing on me." I tried to hold in my retort, a Chunin who has no chakra presence what-so-ever and thinks he is the shit. What a man. He raised his voice after each word gaining attention of majority of the people here, especially one Sound ninja who looked more and more pissed. I closed my eyes and took one long drink to keep from releasing any KI and continue suppressing my chakra as Jirobo moved closer and closer to us. When he was close enough I opened my eyes and looked between the two.

"Wow a Chunin! Fight him like you so declared and I'll go with the winner and do whatever you want. I'm pretty sure big boy has no problem with it, he seems itching to fight you." When Naoba took a look at the size difference between them, he gulped but kept his arrogant facade as he agreed to the fight. Jirobo wasted no time in accepting too and we all made out way outside unaware of the eyes watching our every move in interest as they followed us to the battle ground.

The fight between Jirobo and Naoba was pathetic to say the least. After one hit, Naoba was out; there wasn't even the need to use ninjutsu. I walked over to Jirobo while pretending to be amazed. All I wanted to do was rip him apart to find his master making it difficult to reign in the KI threatening to blast out. I placed my hand on his bicep and gave him a smile, looking up at him with half lidded eyes trying not to knock myself out for how much of a slutty idiot I felt like. He grinned down at me and seemed surprised that I actually came over to him.

"That was impressive, you really are strong and dangerous. I'm all yours for however long you want me. Let's go somewhere more private." I trailed a line down his arm and he gripped my hand pulling me alongside of him.

"I cant believe you'd expect anything less. You're mine for the night." (A/N I feel like such an Idiot writing this hahaha) Hook, line, and sinker. Get his attention and make him believe I want him so we can go somewhere secluded and I can get the information I need as well as getting rid of one more snake deserving death. We went deep into the forest behind the bar my hands were twitching in anticipation. His Shinobi senses kicked in and he stopped glaring down at me skeptically.

"Why are we in the middle of the forest? We could get caught here." I smirked and his chakra started building up slightly.

"I can tell you like to get a little wild. The anticipation of getting caught makes this all the more exciting." His chakra stopped and soon I was pressed up against a tree as he leaned down to kiss me. In an instant I knocked him off of me with a chakra infused punch and he plummeted through a tree. I was already back on top of him using my hidden Kunai and ninja wire to hog tie him and keep him pinned to the tree. I took out the contacts and activated my Byakugan, hitting him in different Tenketsu to prevent him from using his chakra to enhance his physical attacks.

"You fucking bitch, I'll crush you. You don't know who you're messing with." I jumped and sent a roundhouse to his face, the tree shook and he grunted sinking to his knees.

"I know exactly who I'm messing with. Jirobo of the sound 4. Let's make this simple, you tell me where Orochimaru's hideouts are or I inflict the same pain Kabuto inflicted on me. You've got something that I need back." His eyes widened in recognition and a maniacal smile formed on his face.

"So you're the stupid Hyuga girl who escaped. When I get out of here I'm going to have fun crushing you like we did with your father. He was a tough one to take down." I ignored him talking about my father, there is no way he is gone. The kunai I was spinning around my finger lodged itself deep into his thigh. He groaned and pulled against the tree, the wire cutting into his thick skin.

"I guess asking you something like that was too hard, I've met rocks with bigger brains than you. How about something easy…where are your teammates?" His deep labored breaths did nothing to deter him. He bared his teeth and kept thrashing around.

"I'll never betray my lord like that." I ripped the Kunai out and shoved it into the socket of his shoulder, pushing it around until the I heard familiar pop of his shoulder moving out of socket. He roared in anguish, cursing me out and promising imminent death by his hand.

"Wrong answer. Oh well, I guess I'm not going to get anything from you and torture is no fun when you don't beg for mercy." I pushed chakra into my knuckles and with a hit as brutal as his fighting style, I released chakra on impact and scrambling his brains and cracking his skull. I went through his belongings finding a scroll with the locations the Sound 4 has stopped at and where they plan on going. The guilt I was feeling for killing so mercilessly I shoved deep down, I need to be the darkness to do what I'm doing. I'm not a hero, I can't be, I wont be. This is the only way I'll get my dad back and get the Akatsuki to recruit me so I can save them from the shitty hand's life has dealt most of them.

I put Jirobo's body over my shoulder making sure he wasn't going to bleed on me and walked towards the nearest bounty center. In my bingo book he's worth 500,000 Yen and I need that money for my travels; my next stop being the Canyon located outside Tanigakure. There I should find Kidomaru. Hopefully he'll speak and give me information on the hideouts and my father. I should also rescue Suigetsu and Juugo, I can't believe I forgot about them. Suigetsu is getting fucked over by Orochimaru as much as I was probably, I know he's experimented on by people like Karin and Juugo is just out of luck in the life department, being extorted and Bi-polar. I'm hoping Itachi or I can calm him down enough for him to be able to live his life not in fear of hurting others.

On my journey to the collection office, I once again missed the watchful yellow eyes following my every movement.

The bounty collection office was held underground in a dingy old building that nobody would look twice when passing by; it's a perfect inconspicuous building. The inside of the building smelled of dirt and formaldehyde (probably to keep the bodies preserved for identification, autopsy, and whatever else) it was putrid. I opened the bingo book to Jirobo's page and slammed his dead body on the metallic autopsy bed. An old and burly man wearing a white lab coat walked out of the hallway to the left, going to the opposite side of the desk. He was one of the biggest men I've ever seen; I had to crane my neck to look up at him. His eyes trailed over Jirobo then over me. He raised an eyebrow in disbelief and a humorous smile curved across his scarred lips, a look that seemed off-putting for his hardcore look.

"Soo little girl you managed to take down Jirobo of the sound 4. I do have to say I'm impressed that such a small child was able to take down a person so wanted on the Bingo Book." He moved his face right in front of mine, a smile that reminded me of Shisui's stretching his face. "My favorite part of this job is hearing how people are killed so… TELL ME HOW YOU DID IT!" He screamed in excitement. I briefly explained how I took him out, leaving out majority of the personal reasons. He looked disappointed at the kill since he was probably hoping for some grand battle scene and amazing displays of power.

"Alright little missy, last thing before I give you your reward is I need to know your name and a bit of information so I can send out the word of how Jirobo's death and who did it. Honestly, I was thinking Kakuzu would have been the one to bring him in, that man always goes for the larger bounties." My interest was piqued at the mention of Kakuzu. It's good for me to know that he passes through this area sometimes, I need to find a way to get contact with the Akatsuki and he might be the easiest way to do that.

"Hinata Hyuga, 13, Jonin from Konoha." He flipped through his massive bingo book and stopped at a page.

"Oh so you are already in the bingo book. Not much information on you, but this update will be beneficial. You already have a bounty on you for being an heir but with this, the bounty on your head will increase that much more!" He counted out my bounty while talking and handed it over. With a finger wave, he bid me goodbye and I left quickly just barely missing a foul-mouthed Jashinist and a Large red and green eyed man entering the collection office and inquiring about me. Their interest getting the better of them (Kakuze mainly for getting the bounty on my head or using me for ransom against my clan) so they decided to follow me.

—

I was moving quickly alongside the barrier of Tanigakure making my way to the canyon that supposedly has a rare form of blue ginger that when in combination it is supposed to relieve many forms of disease and sedate most forms of pain. I never actually knew if it existed or not, it sounds too good to be true but I guess Orochimaru heard about it too and is probably sending Kidomaru after it so he doesn't have to feel the pain between the times he switches bodies. Because they are going after the hypothetical herb now, Orochimaru is in a weak state and probably withering in pain. At least I hope so. This means that he is stationary and cannot move hideouts at the moment so if I am able to get information from one of them, I can find him before he regains strength and take him out.

I jumped down the canyon, not the best idea but it works to get down there faster. After falling about half way down, the adrenaline was rushing through my head and I placed my feet against the rocks and pushed chakra to my feet to slow my fall. I was skidding to a stop and when close enough to the ground, I released the chakra and pushed off the wall landing into the grass on the ground. The area surrounding me was otherworldly. Little sunlight reached through the canopy of the trees so the area should have been dark but instead it was glowing. The plants and rock surrounding me were glowing different colors, each flower was literally sparkling with bright pinks and blues. I was in awe, if blue ginger actually exists, this would be the place to find it. The area around me was so dense with chakra, it was overwhelming my senses. I activated my Byakugan and looked around but just like when sensing the chakra, it was burning so bright I couldn't focus on the plants around me without feeling overwhelmed, I had to look through them to be able to see with it on.

I was suppressing my presence as I moved through the scenery. I reached a cave area and decided to check it out. Like other areas around here, there was a thin spindle of spider webs covering the entrance so I pulled out a kunai to cut the spiderwebs around the entrance but they didn't cut through. I realized why a second to late because I was wrapped up and forced into the air by a spindle of thread.

"Fuck, I'm such fucking idiot." A man with 6 arms was sticking to the base of the tree in front of me. His grin was sickening as he looked me over, the smile fell slightly.

"Dammit I was looking for a fun battle but all I got was a puny little girl. I guess I'll just kill you quickly and get it over with. I have better things to do." I grit my teeth and stopped suppressing my chakra, releasing the bloodlust I've been suppressing. He raised an eyebrow and looked more pleased. "Soo you do have some kind of skills, that bloodlust is delicious. We could have had some fun, too bad you're trapped not. My spider silk is unbreakable and I'm on a time crunch to meet back with my team. Ukon is unbearable when I'm late." I activated my Byakugan and looked at the thread, his chakra runs through it completely but at certain points, the thread is thinner where less chakra is flowing through it. It is usually where the thread is the most bent. I pushed out chakra from each chakra point nearest the thinnest part of the thread, sharpening it like a needle and as soon as it reached the thread, I expelled it further and cut right through the chakra bonds releasing me to land on the ground.

"Jirobo is one of those teammates right? I took him out. Lucky for me he told me where the rest of you were heading so I can get the information I need. So tell me Kidomaru, where is Orochimaru now?"

"Those eyes, you're Hinata Hyuga. You are a perfect opponent for me, your use of the gentle fist is the only technique I know of to free you from my bindings. This is going to be fun! Kabuto mentioned capturing you at some point, he'll be so glad when I bring your dead body back to him. This is revenge for Jirobo." He began to spit out more webs from his throat and I had to keep the gentle fist to cut the webs before they could wrap themselves around me. I pushed off the ground aiming a strike to his chest but he used the threads connected to his fingers and flung himself around the tree and away from my attacks. I landed on the tree branch he was on and continued my pursuit towards the 6 armed freak. I spun a kick at him, flinging my whole bodu into the air and when he ducked to dodge the lead leg, I arched my back and rotated my hips and arms to have my other leg swing around. He wasn't ready for the amount of flexibility and speed this move had, it was a wild technique and having his focus on my lead leg enabled me to land the second hit directly through his chest, pushing the air out of his lungs. I had him against the tree branch and prepared to strike with the 8 trigrams 64 palms but he secreted a hardened version of his chakra spiderwebs to make armor that prevented me from hitting any Tenketsu points. Remembering the battle with Neji, I needed to end this quicker, my use of Hyuga techniques is nowhere near the level of skill he has. Kidomaru is smart, his level of analysis is up to par if not exceeding mine so I need to keep up my advantage of knowing his skills and him not knowing mine by continuously attacking and continuously switching my style of attack. I know I'm going to have to use my gentle fist more so than ever, it will push me past my limits but I refuse to lose and when he is on his deathbed I will find where my father is.

As the armor began crumbling off, I didn't let up. I infused a small point on the center of my left foot with chakra and sent a series of punches to Kidomaru. His 6 arms worked out to allow him to block my flurry of attacks while sending counter hits back for me to have to dodge as well. I sent a feint towards him and so he raised his to block and a kick to counter and I was ready for it. I brought my hands to the ground beneath me and sent my left foot through the opening of his guard, landing a harsh kick to his chin. Right on impact, I expelled the Chakra stored up in the small point on my foot and the attack was string enough it should have shattered his jaw. Kidomaru's neck snapped back and he was sent flying. There was a strong increase in power around me and I looked at Kidomaru. The black markings of the curse mark stage 1 were spread across the right side of his face and body. He was laughing loudly and it sent shivers down my spine.

"You fight with such rage and brutality, I would have been done for without my curse mark activation. Are you perhaps looking to find your father? Thats why you want to find Orochimaru right. This is so much more fun than I thought it would be. I can't wait to crush you, my little plaything." He put more distance between us knowing continuing in close combat would end in me destroying him. He needed to analyze my attack patterns and find the weakness within it. He did the same to Neji and I cannot let this continue to the extent that their battle went to. I need to incapacitate him soon and get information out of him, I cannot let him analyze me any further.

"You're going to tell me what I want to know you fucking reject spiderman." Kidomaru made the familiar hand signs for the summoning jutsu and a giant fucking spider appeared above me. It started spinning a sac and I knew a bunch of tiny spiders were going to come out of it to trap me so before it could finish, I preformed the summing jutsu as well, summoning a beautiful Lion that was about triple the size of a normal lion. She appeared before me and bowed. I bowed in return.

"Hinata-hime I am Maki daughter of Muramasa. What do you need my assistance for?" Her voice was low and soothing but there was an obvious sound of danger when she released a growl.

"Hello Maki, see that big ass spider above us. Please destroy it and any other spider that comes to attack me. Do whatever is necessary I will provide you with whatever payment you would like after this is over. Just be careful Maki." She had what was equivalent to a smirk on her face as she bared her dangerously sharp teeth. She spoke so proper and seemed so put together but the eager look on her face let me know she was excited for the prospects of a battle. The sight of my lion pressured Kidomaru to evolve into the second stage of the cruse mark. His tan skin turned burgundy and he grew devil-like horns at the base of his forehead, his canines were elongated and he ran his tongue over them in ecstasy; he was excited for the fight to continue. Maki put her weight on her hind legs and with a powerful jump, she latched onto the back of the spider and bit into the base of the spider's neck and pulled. The arachnid's head couldn't take the pressure of the stronger feline and it's head came off spraying the spider silk all over the ground. Kidomaru make a bow and sent an arrow shooting through the sac stuck to the tree and ripped it open. At least 200 spiders the size of my hand began falling out of the sky heading straight for me.

I never really had a big problem with spiders, I was afraid of them like any normal person and I would just kill it and be done with it but this many spiders all coming at me I let out a high pitched squeal of "Fuckkkkk" I never thought possible to come out of my mouth. Oh god if Shisui or anyone else ever heard about this I would never hear the end of it.

"What the hell is this? This is so gross MAKI get rid of them." Before the spiders could reach me, Maki released an earsplitting roar infused with wind that sent the spiders sailing and ripping them apart. I turned to Kidomaru with a smug smirk on my face only to be met with one him hiding behind a tree. The amount of chakra in the area prevented me from seeing what he was doing with my Byakugan, but I was at least able to pinpoint his location. I allowed Maki to go back to her realm and began to circulate the limited amounts of my chakra through my body and using it to surround me for better sensory of any incoming projectiles preparing to finish the fight. Kidomaru was behind a tree and pulled back on a bowstring, forming a hardened yellow arrow to shoot at me.

I felt a fast moving projectile moving into my chakra barrier and normally I would use palm rotation to deflect the weapon since it's moving too fast for me to dodge. Instead of protecting me from impact, I sent the chakra to cover the lower right side of my stomach where my appendix is for a protective coating. With a swift thrust of my hips to twist my body and pushed myself into a handstand to make it so that my right side took the impact of the weapon. As soon as it pierced through my side I reached my hand up and grabbed it before it could exit my body thanks to the chakra slowing it down. I let out a grunt of pain as I was knocked down by the force. I grabbed the thread hooked to the fletching of the arrow and with as much strength I could muster, I used a burst of chakra to push myself up the thread until I was face to face with Kidomaru. His face morphed into one of shock at my presence.

"Impressive, you managed to change it's trajectory with your chakra alone. Too bad for you, I'm bored and you are in no state to fight like that anymore. Pity, I was going to tell you about how fun it was to hear the yells of your father when Orochimaru was finished with him and where our hideouts lie; but now, you'll have to die not knowing anything" There was blood pouring out of my side and out of my mouth but I felt no pain. All of it was being overshadowed by the adrenaline and hatred I was feeling. I wrapped his thread around his neck to keep us connected and I sent hit after hit to his body using enough force that even blocking with his arms I shattered the bones in them, relishing in the sound of his bones cracking. We hit the ground making a crater on impact, the shockwave reverberating through both of our bodies.

"You bastard, tell me where the hell my father is! I have you at my mercy now. I've shattered your bones and with no effort at all I can shut down your entire chakra system and make you feel more pain that you can imagine. You've got a brain so use it, if you tell me what I want I will end you quick and painless." I let out yelling almost in a hysterical manner as I hovered over his body.

"I've heard you fought in such an unpredictable manner with the grace and beauty of a dancer but looking at you now, I see nothing less than a barbarian. You lost yourself and lost all rhyme and reason to your attacks, driven by rage will be the death of you little toy. Ripping your body up my thread was a smart way to bring you closer but without medical attention you are going to bleed out. Before yo die just know the rest of us won't give up our master we aren't like Jirobo. I'd rather die but sadly for you, I'm not going to be the one to die here." I was so fixated on his words I barely had time to react, I quickly moved my chakra around my body to mimic the substitution jutsu and managed to get myself out of his attack as he used a blade in his foot to stab me in the back. As soon as my substitution turned into a log, I jumped from the tree heading straight at him. I had no kunai left so I ripped out the arrow in my side and plunged it into where his carotid artery and jugular vein are side by side in his neck. His blood sprayed all over me and began to quickly flow out pooling on the ground beneath him. He let out gurgles and gasps for breath and I moved away to heal myself as I sat and watched for the few minutes it took for the blood to leave his system and the life to leave his eyes.

When the adrenaline was all gone, I'd finally calmed my mind enough to think rationally. He's right about one thing, I wont get information out of any of his teammates so the next best thing is to eliminate all of them. Without his extremely strong pawns, Orochimaru will not get the pain relief he needs and he will have nobody incredulously strong to do his battles for him. He will be losing important puzzle pieces to his success. The person I believe will provide me with the most insight into Orochimaru's whereabouts will be Sasori so any of Orochimaru's underlings are nothing but pieces for me to enact vengeance on. Take away the army, the king will fall sooner or later and when that happens, I will be the one doing it. I will take Orochimaru out and I will save my father from the prison that he got caught in from saving me.

I licked the blood from off my lips, cringing at the taste and got out Kidomaru's bingo book and located the nearest collection office to Ishigakure (where Tayuya should be heading). Before leaving, I went to the glowing blue stream running its course through the canyon and cleaned the blood off of me. I watched in morbid satisfaction at the water turning crimson surrounding me. I went underwater watching the glow of the creatures swimming around me for a few minutes and only when the water ran clear again did I get out. My clothes were ripped beyond repair, the only thing that thankfully survived was my bra. I took a step forward before crumpling to the ground in exhaustion. I found a tall tree and with the limited energy I had left, I unsealed the scroll Shisui had provided me and pulled out a fishnet top, a navy blue tank top to go over it and some standard black Jonin pants. It was nothing glamorous but until I eliminate the sound 4 and join the Akatsuki, this will have to do. I really don't want to pay for clothes I keep ripping in battle.

—

(3d POV) After Hinata's battle with Kidomaru

"Man I thought that collection office fucker was giving us shit when he said a girl took down that fatass Jirobo but watching her fight." The silver haired teenager (A/N Hidan was 21 or 22 during the show so he'd be a teenager right now) licked his lips in sadistic glee as he spoke animatedly to his masked companion. "She was fucking amazing. So fucking brutal, she didn't give a shit about his attacks. There was so much BLOOD. Gah, she watched him bleed out covered in his blood! Lord Jashin would be pleased to have a bitch like her serving him. I think I'm in love you greedy fucker." Hidan rambled on about the beauty of blood being spilled and how he knew she loved it too, how his Lord Jashin would accept her as another willing servant of his world of Chaos. He was excited to provide the girl as a worthy sacrifice to his Lord, but when he saw her take the arrow in the side and use that same arrow to pierce Kidomaru's neck, he was enamored with her. The blood dripping sensually (in his eyes only) down her face and body, how she watched the light fade from his eyes and the blood spurt from his neck. Hidan believed they were the same in their maniacal love of blood and pain, she would be perfect for serving Lord Jashin and in turn Lord Jashin would allow him to be with her. She was perfect and going to join the Akatsuki with him, then she could replace the greedy fucker and they'd spread the religion of Jashin to the world.

They were sitting at the top of an overhang watching the Hyuga girl sleep in the canyon. Kakuzu was deep in thought as he attempted to drown out the obnoxious rambling of the newest (and to him most annoying next to the blonde bomber) member of the Akatsuki and sadly teammate. His immortality is a curse to the notorious teammate killer. Kakuzu was impressed with the girl, he remembered Sasori talking about a Hyuga girl who interested him because of her knowledge or something and now he was starting to understand. She was impressive and extremely young for her skill levels but she also was brash and that made her weaker but she had indisputable skills. Her strength was rivaling if not exceeding his, she was quick and agile, she could use medical ninjutsu, and by the lack of ninjutsu he guessed she was holding back her full skills, showing just enough to kill her opponent in a show of brutality over swiftness. She had a vendetta and he wanted to know what Orochimaru did to piss off the heir of the Hyuga clan, supposedly one of the most calm clans in the Hidden Leaf.

He also was annoyed with the girl, she had killed Jirobo and now Kidomaru. 2 Shinobi on his high list of people he wanted the bounties but the small barely-a-teenager took them from him. Took down two people who should have been out of her league and looked like it was a simple spar-gone-wrong at this point. He was intrigued and was guessing with the interest Sasori showed, and Zetsu who he discovered was trailing the girl, she was either a potential candidate for the Akatsuki or was going to be eliminated. He was hoping for the second option to steal her money, girls were too expensive anyways. He knew though that he wanted to continue watching her before heading out for their next mission, and any information gained would be beneficial to the Akatsuki. Plus if his annoying teammate was fixated on her and her bloody battles, he would stop pestering Kakuzu about his 'greedy old ass'.

The lavender eyed girl woke up the next morning and went off to find her next target. The 'Zombie Combo' of the Akatsuki were trailing her never letting her get too close or too far. Once they decided they had enough information, they'd report back to the base and see what was to be done with the kid strong enough to take down Orochimaru's head pets.

A/N: This is such a dope drawing one of my readers Monique did, Thanks so much for this Hinata beauty! Go follow her at LoveLikeAMelody (IDK how to link profiles so when I figure it out I will)

After collecting the bounty on Kidomaru I knew my name was going to be spread around the nations, the collector already knew who I was when I arrived and the bounty on Kidomaru was even greater than the first. This might be the factor that pushed Tsunade to have to admit me as a rogue and will also hopefully be the adjuvant into getting enough of the Akatsuki's attention so they make me a member. With their help, I will save them and be able to use them to save my father. Entering Ishigakure was a major change for me. It's a village located between Iwa and Suna so the entire area was dry, rocky, and wind. It's basically the most boring place to live possible. The benefit of it is there isn't really anywhere to hide because there is no water or forests for protection which should make finding Sakon and Ukon much easier.

Sakon and Ukon are close combat fighters through and through, not only can they fight together, they can split apart and become two dangerously strong opponents. They also have the summoning of the Rashomon, a basically impenetrable wall, so a large attack can be blocked by them. My best bet is to take them out swiftly. I have no reason to fight them for information anymore, all I want is their blood on my hands so I will just have to do my best for a sneak attack and take them out before they can split, go into the second stage, or summon the Rashomon. The issue with that is I'm pretty sure because one head is in the front and the other protrudes from the back, they have vision on both sides so an attack from the back is likely to fail. The highest chance of success would to either hit them from the side or use a fast long-distance attack that they'll have no time to dodge. Being a puppet master right now would be so helpful.

I traveled through Ishigakure hiding my presence as a ninja while looking around for the creepy ass that is Sakon. Ahead of me in a small tea shop there was a commotion so I went to check it out and proudly parading himself as he sat on and tormented a man was Sakon. His dark purple lipstick stood out against his pale birdlike face. I waited at a store across the way until Sakon left the tea shop. Concealing my presence, I trailed behind him far enough that hopefully he wouldn't notice me. I activated my Byakugan to see his chakra so I could leave and gather my materials before finding him easier next time. His chakra was massive from the two people sharing his body and it flowed in irregular intervals.

The only way I could describe his chakra was aggravated like a feral dog. It moved like somebody who was constantly pissed of at the world and ready to violently attack anyone who passes by him. There almost seemed to be a second chakra flowing through the first, it reminded me of when I'd push my chakra into someone else's coils to speed up their healing. I'm guessing when Sakon and Ukon figured out how to merge bodies, their chakra coils merged together as well flowing both of their chakras together while still separately flowing between them. The second chakra only had a slight difference, it was more slow in its movements and it seemed to have a slightly darker tone like that of a more sadistic person, one who enjoys brutality and pain inflicted on others. Second only to Danzo at this point, Sakon's chakra was disturbing and held so much sadistic malice, even Orochimaru's chakra wasn't as demented as Sakon's. That scares me a bit and is all the more reason for me to kill him.

I stopped following Sakon after getting a close read on his Chakra and headed back to the inn I'm staying at to prepare everything. I opened a clear container with a slightly thick, translucent, dark green poison Shizune had prepared for me earlier. The smell of the poison was so intense like the scent of bleach but stronger. It made my eyes water right away and I had to put on a flu mask to not get sick from the intense smell. I carefully dipped the blades of each of my kunai into the jar of poison and hung them on a ninja wire to dry. I may not have the best aim to kill with any projectile weapons but I'm skilled enough to at least hit a target so even if I miss the kill shot, the fast acting, potent poison Shizune made will finish the kill or at least incapacitate one long enough for me to get in close for the kill. This poison was specially formulated to attack a person at a cellular level, destroying the red and white blood cells so quickly the body shuts down almost instantly and dies within the hour. It is perfect for someone like Sakun and Ukon whose Kekkei Genki works at a cellular level, they will either both die right away or be forced to split so one dies, giving me the opportunity to quickly kill the other. My fingers were twitching in anticipation; I want him dead and I want to send a message. Taking out the final two of the sound 4 is doing just that. I sealed the poison back up and filled my pack with the poisoned kunai.

After a good few hours of scouting the rocky terrain I found Sakon's chakra trail and it led me to the outskirts of the town where he was meeting up with somebody, his purple lips were twisted into a sickening grin. I laid low against the ground, using my Byakugan to see through the boulders I was using as cover. The two headed creep was distracted so I used that as a way to move myself to be on his right side. I slid 6 kunai out of their holder and placed 3 between the fingers in each of my hands. In a quick 1-2 succession I released the kunai on my right hand vertically so they cut off any area for him to jump and the kunai in my left hand spread out horizontally so he couldn't side step away from a hit. I cut off all directional movement so whichever way he dodges he will receive at least a small laceration. When the Kunai were about half a meter away from Sakon, he looked to his right and jumped up and to the left making the kunai impale in his lower thigh. Without hesitation, he ripped it out of his thigh and held it out in defense.

"You've been following me for a while. This attack is annoying me, I was hoping for a good fight but now, I'm going to kill you quickly." I stood up and smirked at him raising my left hand and counting down from 5. When I reached 1, he took a step forward and his breathing became shallow and his body stopped responding. His eyes were wide but then his body started shifting and he split into two with half of his body looking like it was made of stone. "Sorry Sakon, it's attacking at a cellular level so only one of us is going to live. Don't worry, I'm going to kill this annoying bitch where she stands." The green lipped twin turned his body to me as his brother collapsed to the ground. "You fucking bitch, I'm going to enjoy killing you for hurting my twin." He was laughing like a crazed person. I pulled out another two kunai and while Ukon was still regaining his balance from no longer having the poison in his system I body flickered in front of him and enhanced my strength to cut deep into his chest, slashing through the 4 chambers of his heart.

I removed my hand from his chest cavity and it was drenched in blood that was slowly dripping down my hand and spotting the ground around me. He spluttered out a curse then collapsed to the ground as he bled out from his lack of blood being pumped to the rest of his body. I held in a smirk as I looked at my bloody hand, I totally felt like Damon Salvatore or Killua Zoldyck. Sakon was still kneeling on the ground as he clutched at his chest, feeling his cells deteriorate inside of him. I took the bloody kunai and stabbed the soft spot between the vertebra and skull at the base of his neck where his spine meets his skull. Severing his spinal chord his body slumped over in the instant death. Ukon's body will get me less because it is no longer intact but I will still receive pay for Sakon's so I bagged their bodies up and headed to the small town not even an hour away to take out Tayuya.

Besides Jirobo Tayuya is probably the weakest link of the sound 4, her long distance combat and genjutsu is formidable but if she is given no time to react she has no remarkable close combat abilities to fall back on. Like with Sakon and Ukon all I need is a surprise attack and she's done for. As long as she doesn't see me and play her flute she has nothing that can defend her from me. With everything packed up, I went on my way finding Tayuya. When reaching where Jirobo's journal said she'd be, I got an eerie feeling that someone was watching me. As much as I din't want to think about it, I had a feeling it might be Zetsu (aka the one member of the Akatsuki I really don't want to meet because I would struggle with not destroying him on the spot) because he is the top spy of basically anywhere and his ability to go into the ground and be unseen would make him the perfect person to spy on me.

I climbed to the top of a giant boulder mountain thingie and between the cracks of two jagged stones I stuffed my backpack into it so that as soon as I'm finished with Tayuya I can leave this rocky shit hole and go find somewhere more populated and woodsy to stay (maybe something with a festival so that I can at least have fun while I try to gather information on finding the Akatsuki which is way harder than Jiraiya makes it seem). Putting all of my focus on finding and taking out the Sound 4 has been a good distraction but sometimes I realize how alone I am and it plays on my biggest fear of being alone. I don't like it and so as soon as I'm done taking them out I need to find a way to get in contact with the Akatsuki, I'm mainly needing Itachi and Sasori but thats beside the point. I don't want to be alone anymore it's making controlling the darkness within that much harder.

Finding Tayuya was surprisingly easy, red hair (excluding the now borderline extinct Uzumaki clan) is pretty rare so asking around to find a woman with red hair and a shitty personality was pretty simple. She was looking for Ulmus rubra, a slowly dying plant that is supposed to help ease internal inflammation in a quick and efficient remedy. It only grown on rocky terrain and now is cultivated solely in this area. (A/N the plant is real but the description of where it lives is totally fake.) The woman who grows this medicinal plant is tucked away from the town and I'll wait for Tayuya to leave the woman's home and take her out then. My extensive training with Naruto, Sasuke, Shisui, and Kakashi to use ninja wires was going to come in handy. I cannot use them exceedingly well during a battle but to set up a trap is pretty simple. With each of the cracks in the secluded rocky terrain, I placed shuriken tied with ninja wire's around and had the trigger wires tied to my hand's and one wire held between my teeth. I weaved the wires into a star pattern and because I was right outside the Old Lady's home, Tayuya will have no time to see or avoid any of my traps.

The door opened and the red headed girl with her large purple rope around her waist stepped out. She was holding tightly to a bag and her flute in the other hand. As soon as the door shut and she took a step forward, I jumped back, the tension on the wire being strong enough to pull the shuriken out of their resting places and allowing the ninja wire to bind themselves around Tayuya. The shortest wire hd both ends wrapped around my wrists and before Tayuya had a chance to escape, I used the free wire and wrapped it around her neck. I stood behind her and placed my left foot on the small of her back while using strength in my upper body to pull towards me. The force of the pulling and thin, sharpness of the ninja wire became too much and with the sound of ripping flesh, I cut her head off of her body, blood spurted out covering my vision in read and her head rolled across the uneven terrain leaving a trail of blood in its wake. I brought the inside of Shisui's shirt to my face and wiped the blood away from my eyes. I bagged her body up in the same bag as Sakon and Ukon were in and dragged it to the base of the boulder where my things were.

I sat atop the rock and breathed out a heavy sigh. I took out the sound 4 but I'm still no closer to finding my dad. Was all of my ruthless killing for nothing, no I took down important members of Orochimaru's team but I still feel some semblance of guilt for being such a heartless killer. It's like no matter how hard I try to push that side of me down, it still creeps back up and overwhelms me. I watched as the rays of sun danced across the horizon in hues of pink and red. It was beautiful and mesmerizing but made me feel more lonely than I have in months. I was really truly alone right now and it was aching throughout my entire being. I can just imagine Team 7 sitting atop the Hokage monument and watching the sunset and Naruto and Sasuke sat on either side of me and Kakashi chatting with Zabuza or reading his book in a peaceful bliss behind us.

Or I could be with Shikamaru sitting in the Nara forest as we watch the sunset hide behind the trees as we play Shoji or discuss anything and everything while trying not to fall asleep. Late night walks with Akamaru and looking for bugs that only come out at sunset with Shino. Watching Hanabi make dinner and shyly tell me about Konohamaru or something new Lady Seiko taught her. Even training sessions with Tsunade and her saying when the sun starts to set she can drink even if she had been drinking way earlier. A stray tear fell from my eye and trailed down my face stopping at my chin and soon after an overflow of tears were falling. I know I'm doing what I need to do to save my father and help save the lives of the Akatsuki but I never expected how hard the loneliness and being away from the people I love would impact me.

When the sun had fully disappeared and the only source of light was the silver glow of the moon I got up from my spot and after checking a map, I started heading towards Yugakure. It is a good place for me to check out because it no longer has the standing of a hidden village and instead is a tourist village where I can gather information through people traveling through, find good food, and hopefully find out more about the Akatsuki and their whereabouts. It's also where Hidan grew up so that might possibly be a good place to go to find information on him since he is one of the ones that I am most excited to meet but also most worried because I don't know much about him or what Jashin really is.

—

(3d Person) At one of the Akatsuki hideouts with Kakuzu, Hidan and hologram Pein and Konan.

After the Zombie combo witnessed Hinata's bloody slaughter of the sound 4, they went back to their nearest hideout and contacted Pein. They gave an analysis on the young Hyuga girl that Sasori had mentioned earlier, Kakuzu having to sew Hidan's mouth shut to explain everything without Hidan getting excited. Pein was more interested than ever in the development of the girl many of his underlings have been intrigued by. Not only that, she was no longer working within the parameters of her village so she was perfect to recruit now. Pain was going to have to recruit her at some point, by force if necessary, because the person in a higher standing than him wanted the girl to be recruited before he's resort to killing her. Something about the Hyuga heiress captivated many and her skills were exceptional, she was going to be a perfect addition to catching the Jinchuriki for project Tskuynomi. Pain ended the conversation telling the Zombie combo their next mission and Zetsu came up from the floor standing before Pain.

"Hinata Hyuga is heading towards Yugakure and is still traveling alone Her skills are that of what Kakuzu and Hidan described but from what Sasori gave us and my observations of her training, she is fucking wimp when she fights for realshe was holding back against Orochimaru's sound 4. She started taking them out in a bloody mess that I wanted to eat to find information on her father who was taken in by Orochimaru after the rescue operation to save Hinata from her months of endless torture. Her main goal seems to find Orochimaru and destroy him as well as saving her- possibly/most definitely dead- father." Pain took in all the information and nodded. His pierced face and Rinnegan eyes turned to Konan who was listening intently as well, hiding the frown on her face at the Idea f=of another person so young enduring so much pain in the world.

"Konan go and recruit Hinata Hyuga. Use the information about her as you wish but remember I do not tolerate failure. When you return she will join the rest of the Akatsuki and they will all meet in person." His baritone voice rang out.

"Yes Pain-sama." Her emotionless voice called quietly and obediently to her childhood friend before turning into paper and dispersing in the air.

"Zetsu go and bring Madara to me, he will officially become a member and team with Hinata as he has ordered." White Zetsu smiled and Black Zetsu scowled haughtily at being given orders but still cooperated and merged with the floor disappearing from sight on his quest to find 'Madara.'

—

(Hinata POV)

I was trudging through the forest reading a book as I was getting closer and closer to Yugakure. My nonstop travel for a few days was finally taking it's toll on me and I as starting to feel loopy. The wind around me blew harshly and there was a massive influx of chakra in front of me. I didn't change my pace or misstep in any way as I started quickly circulating my chakra through my body in preparation of a fight. I activated my Byakugan and snapped my book shut staring at the person hovering in front of me. My mouth gaped open at the angelic sight. Konan had wings made of paper on her back that was making her fly above me in such a graceful manner accentuated by her beautiful face and the pretty blue of her hair and the paper rose tucked into her bun. There was paper swirling around her all connected by threads of her chakra coming from her every pore. I was either going to fight to the death or join the Akatsuki if someone like her was showing up in my presence.

"So Konan, are you like here to recruit me or kill me because you are super calm but like your chakra is super hostile and ready for a fight right now. I'm really hoping for the first option because fighting you doesn't seem all that fun right now. I'd rather not kill you and have Pein come after me for vengeance because there's no way I can beat all 6 paths by myself." Konan's brows furrowed slightly and when I blinked she was in front of me, holding me by my neck with a bunch of paper shuriken aiming at me. I started readying myself for a water jutsu just in case.

"How do you know who Pain-sama is?" There was a dangerous glint in her eyes and like the idiot I am decided to respond in a way that was idiotic to say the least.

"I'm pretty sure you've talked to Sasori and whoever was trailing me already and they've told you that I know too damn much without any reasoning so you asking that question is pointless." I was really fishing to know if I was being followed for real or paranoid but by the lack of argument by Konan I was right on the money. I was expecting her to slash me for my shitty tone but instead she released me and I took in a deep breath of air from the slight suffocation.

"Hinata Hyuga you will join the Akatsuki, we will aid in your destruction of Orochimaru. Decline and I will kill you." I couldn't stop the smile from forming on my face. I finally had someone to talk to (who I wasn't trying to extract information from and kill) and was getting closer to accomplishing my goals. I guess if I want information from Hidan I'll have to ask him myself. Hopefully his desire to talk about his amazing Lord Jashin will overpower his desire to try and sacrifice me. Like he's a big dude and I don't wanna be in that fight.

"Ok, dope, lets go." Her blank orange eyes blinked at me slowly. I'm guessing getting people to join has never been this easy before. She started walking ahead of me and I trailed behind her asking questions to which I got little to no answer each time. Konan walks with the most poise of any woman I have ever seen, even Lady Seiko holds no candle to her elegant way of walking, no, gliding. I was getting more and more tired as we traveled and finally Konan noticed me falling behind. With a few hand seals, her body burst into paper and surrounded me in a swirling tornado. My body was lifted off the ground and I felt my insides moving in a way that was more disorienting than when Shisui body flickered me with him the first time. I felt my mind go fuzzy and I was so exhausted I finally allowed myself to succumb to sleep.

I came back to the land of the living to the sound of rain tapping the roof in a calming melody. I blinked a few times and sat up realizing I was on a bed mat in a place I sure as hell didn't fall asleep in. I took notice of the room, everything was metal and the ceiling was sloped as to allow the rain to fall off which meant that I was at the top floor of the place I was in. I shifted my eyes downward and sitting in a chair facing my bed was a man in an Akatsuki cloak. He had orange hair and thick metal rods pierced in more places than any person I've ever seen. His eyes were grey with a slight undertone of purples and had rings all the way through, no white to be seen. It took me a few seconds to realize who it was and when I did I shot up in my bed wide eyed. His eyes never left me and just continued to gauge my reactions to him as we sat in awkward silence. My saving grace came in the form of Konan as she opened the door with a tray in hand. She placed the tray beside me and I started eating the bread right away.

"Do you fully understand what joining the Akatsuki entails?" Pein's voice echoed throughout the room. It was kind of scary and his power just by his voice was evident.

"Yeah, you have a God complex so I'm to consider you my God or something so I'll call you Leader-sama and follow your orders and will probably be teamed up with someone else. I get a cloak and a ring and I'm probably not aloud to reveal any of your secrets to anyone else or you'll almighty push my ass into a grave." Konan glared at the indirect insult but I could see her lip twitch ever so slightly upward at my calm analysis of my death. Maybe Konan can be my Itachi, super cold but loving big sister. Probably not but that would be awesome. I spend enough time around boys already, having another girl besides Ino would be nice. Pain nodded in acceptance of my answers.

"Come in." He spoke to the door and it was flung open in the most dramatic fashion I've ever experienced. It gives me a run for my money on opening doors unnecessarily dramatic. I looked in anticipation on who was entering and my breath caught in my throat at the orange swirly mask the peaked it's head through the doorway. Memories of getting my ass kicked flashed and I was extremely confused on how everything is going to turn out now that I have THE freaking Obito Uchiha as my teammate. I just have to pretend not to know him, hopefully he still thinks my memories are altered by whatever the fuck Itachi genjutsu'd me with. Swinging his arms by his side, Obito skipped into the room off-key humming a song. He glomped Pein with a squeal and rubbed his mask against the pale cold skin of Pein.

"Oh Pain-sama thank you thank you thank you thank you for finally letting Tobi join the Akatsuki. Tobi is going to be a god boy." Pain didn't even move as Obito clung to him like a Koala, Konan just looked in exasperation. I was giggling into my hand, watching a grown ass man act like a child to Pein was more amusing that I thought it would be. (A/N I'm gonna refer to him as each persona he is playing as kk just so you don't get confused. so Right now he's Tobi.) Tobi heard my giggles and in a speed rivaling Shisui he was sitting on my lap pulling on my hair, his mask right in front of my face. "Ohhh is pretty Hinata-chan going to be Tobi's partner? Tobi likes Hinata-chan's laugh is Hinata-chan a good girl or is she a bad girl that Tobi has to punish." His voice was high and cheerful but I understood the meaning behind his words. He was testing to see if I recognised him ad was going to do something to make him take me out. I grinned at him and pet his hair, he leaned into it like a puppy.

"I hope I'm not a bad girl." I turned my big eyes to Pein and Konan, raising an eyebrow in 'disbelief'. "Is this man-child really my partner? Like he's so damn adorable and everything but am I going to die with an airhead like him?" It seemed to be believable enough a response to act like I don't know who the hell is acting like a child under the mask because Tobi did nothing to kill me even though his hands are still dangerously close to my neck.

"He is your partner and that is final. If you die it is your fault not your partners."

"Hai leader-sama." I replied as I continued petting Tobi's soft hair. My hands were clasped in Tobi's gloved ones and he went onto one knee.

"Tobi promises to be a good boy and not let Hinata-chan die. Hinata-chan is nice to Tobi like Deidara-sempai so Tobi promises to protect Hinata-chan especially from evil snake man." Damn, he has this act down I almost think it's real. I put on a soft smile aimed at Tobi.

"Thanks Tobi-kun, I'll try to protect you too." Konan cleared her throat and handed me a cloak and ring. The ring was large and silver with a blue stone in the middle with the lettering for lion, it was perfect. I slipped it on my middle finger and put the giant ass cloak on, leaving it unzipped.

"Tobi take her to the hideout to meet the rest of the members." Tobi shot up and with his Kamui warped us to the hideout. It felt like my body was flipped inside out than back again as we traveled but whatever. We were outside a rock and I emptied my stomach from the weird space-time travel thingie. When I was done I looked up at him with sparkling eyes.

"That was sooo fucking cool maybe one of the coolest things I've done! How'd you do that Tobi?" He just giggled and put his finger where his lips are to say it's a secret. I kinda wanted to see what excuse he was going to cum up with but was let down. Tobi made 4 hand seals and the chakra barrier around the rock dissipated and it rose off the ground enough for us to walk into the tunnel behind it. As soon as I was inside the winding tunnel that smelled and looked of wet rock, the boulder behind us sunk back into the ground. Apparently everyone was supposed to be sitting in the main room waiting to find out who I am and for most of them meet me for the first time (since apparently they have met Tobi on many occasions). Every step I took behind the dancing Tobi made my heart beat faster. Was I ready to see Itachi again? What was I going to do when I see him again? Was he going to be mad? Would he still be my 'Tachi? My mind was racing and I barely noticed the light starting to fill the tunnel. I only broke out of my stupor when we entered a basic looking living room (minus the rock as wall) and my eyes met the red Sharingan eyes that if I wasn't paying attention I would have missed the slight widening of them (and glare sent towards Tobi).

"Hinata?"