Ink's Notes:

GUESS WHO'S GOING ON A VACATION? IIII AAAAAMMMMM

So I'm throwing an update at you guys before I go. Hope you like it!

Chapter Forty-One

Tsunade had just finished doing her paperwork for the day when Kakashi arrived in her office, through the door for a change, looking exhausted and frustrated in more ways than one. After a moment taken to process the scene before them, Shizune pulled up a chair, and the man plopped down in it, catching his breath. He suddenly looked about ten years older, the way his posture was so strangely telling of his current state. Tsunade stared at the man in thought, before motioning for Shizune to leave the two of them alone.

Tsunade gently moved the papers off to the side in an orderly stack before she rested her arms on the desk and stared at Kakashi. He was still composing himself, and based on his disheveled appearance he'd been running for several days nonstop, and had gone so far as to disregard such trivial matters as moving tree branches out of his way and keeping his clothing in one piece. That was… unusual for the man, which meant that something had happened, and she wasn't sure if she liked what that theory suggested.

She'd sent Kakashi, Sai and Naruto to catch up with Sakura and her group to get a gauge on their progress, and determine what truth there was to the claim that Root had made about said group running into Sasuke. Based on his posture and current state of being, something had happened, and she needed to know what it was. But the man was still exhausted, so she would give him the time he needed. At least he was reporting straight to her and not waiting until the morning, or something equally as idiotic.

Kakashi finally composed himself enough to look like a shinobi again, then looked up at Tsunade with a solemn yet serious expression. "Naruto has locked himself in his apartment, and Sai is reporting to Danzo," he simply stated, then lifted a hand to stop Tsunade from speaking so he could explain. "We found Sakura's group and confirmed that they'd encountered Sasuke, but despite hurrying to where they'd left him, there was no sign of him there. Chances are he's been taken captive by Akatsuki, and Naruto is frustrated that he failed to save him again, as well as the fact that Sakura seems to have given up on him."

"Sakura has…?" Tsunade frowned. That seemed strange of her. The last she'd heard, Sakura was just as determined to bring Sasuke back to Konoha as Naruto was, so to hear that she'd given up on him was… jarring, to say the least. She rested her chin on her hands, staring Kakashi down. "And Sai? Why is he reporting to Danzo?"

Kakashi rubbed his head. "Marco and Edward are the same person."

"I know," Tsunade glared at him. If that was the only reason… "He explained and showed that to us. He was hit by a jutsu meant for one of his clients that turned him into a phoenix."

Kakashi looked to the ground, muttering. "I was afraid of that," he groaned. Tsunade blinked a few times, staring at him and motioning for him to elaborate. "Their group had expanded when we ran into them. They'd picked up a lot of the people they were looking for, said there were two left to find. But, when I wondered what jutsu he'd been hit by…" Kakashi stared her dead in the eyes. "One of their companions spoke up, and she started saying something about him eating something, before two of the others cut her off by covering her mouth. She corrected herself to say 'a fruit that was a test to see if jutsu could be transferred through food' or something along those lines, but even if that were possible, it doesn't match up with the story we were initially given."

"So you think that he's lying?" Tsunade asked.

"I think he's not being entirely truthful," Kakashi responded.

Tsunade rubbed her temples. Sakura was the one who'd given them most of their information on the strange man who was able to turn into a phoenix, which meant that either Marco had been lying to her when he told her, or she already knew about the entire situation and had some reason to keep it from them. She wasn't sure which potential situation was worse, especially since she couldn't get a good read off of Marco - he held a generally calm and level atmosphere around himself that almost made him feel lazy, but there was always something just beneath the surface that she could never quite pin. Having something like that as an enemy... "So what do you think we should do? We need to locate them before we even do anything."

"They're heading towards the Land of Water," Kakashi informed her. "We told them that one of the people they're looking for might be there, so they'll have to head over that way to find them."

Tsunade nodded. "…Get some rest, then assemble a team to confront them. You'll be leaving as soon as you're ready."

Kakashi nodded, then made his way out of the room. It was only once he was out and the door was closed that Tsunade pressed her fingers into her desk with enough force to pierce it from frustration due to this new development.

The large white bird soared down towards the waves below, flapping its wings a few times for stability as it got closer and closer to the waves. Once it was only a few feet above the water, it leveled out and glided into a cove hidden by the rock formations that surrounded it from all angles aside from a small portion of the sea. With another wing beat, the bird moved deeper into the cove, touching down on the stone that marked where it ceased being a cove and began being a cave. A man with blond hair that covered one eye and was tied into a high ponytail dressed in a black cloak with red clouds hopped off of the bird's back. The bird itself, acting surprisingly animalistic for an animated chakra construct, ruffled its feathers and tucked its head into its wing, apparently sleeping while it waited for its creator to return. The man in question walked deeper into the cave, where several other figures dressed in the same outfit were waiting.

The blond skimmed over his fellow Akatsuki members. Kisame, Itachi, Konan, Leader, Tobi, and Zetsu. Now that he was here, they were all assembled.

"Deidara," Leader greeted him, motioning for him to join the small semi-circle that they'd formed to discuss matters while awaiting his return. It vaguely resembled the formation that they would use while communicating over wide distances, and it would be almost nostalgic if it weren't for the fact that they had business to attend to. Deidara moved over to them at a brisk pace, looking over the assembled party with an overdramatic flair.

"Where's the baggage, un?" he asked with a slick smile, largely directing the comment at Itachi.

"…Sasuke is not baggage," the Uchiha muttered under his breath in response. "As far as where my brother is, he's over there."

Itachi lifted a finger and pointed to the man in question, who had distanced himself from the group as much as possible. Sasuke, who'd been sitting cross-legged and facing the wall, turned to look over his shoulder at the group. He offered them nothing more than a glare and a 'hmph' before turning to the wall again.

Deidara couldn't help but allow his face to slip into a smirk at Sasuke's behavior and directed the smirk at his back, to the point that he almost didn't notice Konan shaking her head in disappointment. "He's been like that ever since he was denied the chance to… how did he put it… 'kill his brother and take revenge for his clan'."

Tobi began bouncing up and down, raising his hand into the air like a student in a classroom might. "Oh, oh! Tobi knows the answer!"

"There was never a question-" Konan started to say, but Tobi cut her off.

"He's also grumpy because we told him the truth behind what happened, and he feels like his whooooole life is a lie now!" Tobi made no attempt to hide the pure glee in his tone, and Itachi pinched his brow while Sasuke almost seemed to gain a visible aura of depression and anger in his secluded section of the cave.

"Moving on," Leader clapped his hands together to bring focus back to himself, using a tone that demanded no further nonsense. "Deidara. What did you discover?"

"They picked up a few more people since Zetsu ran into them, un." Sasuke perked up at the implication. "A little girl with wings, and some blond shipwright. They seem to be heading towards the Land of Water."

"Were you seen?" Zetsu asked, and Deidara shook his head.

"I kept at least a hundred feet back, and used-" he tapped the scope hidden under his bangs, "-to get a look at them through. The pineapple-haired bird man might have noticed something, but the second I saw him start looking around I backed off enough that he figured it was nothing."

At this point, Sasuke had gotten to his feet and turned to face the Akatsuki. "Sakura's group? You're interested in Sakura's group?" he scowled, anger etched into his body. "Why would you be interested in people like that?!"

"Because they're an unknown," Kisame grinned a shark-like grin. "They appeared out of nowhere, and their small ripple has caused a tsunami of reactions throughout the continent." Deidara had to hand it to him, he'd gone all out with the water metaphor.

"Their very presence has been doing things to people, making them react in different ways than they would have if those people hadn't been here," Zetsu grinned. "For instance. If they hadn't run into you, you would still have the other three members of your 'group' by your side, and be well on your way to killing your precious big brother, wouldn't you?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, before he realized that Zetsu was right. Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo had left his side because of Sakura and her traveling companions. Not to mention, based on what they had said, they had only run into him because of Tashigi, who was likely from the same place that they were. If it hadn't been for that – or even, if it hadn't been for the fact that they picked up Tashigi – then the rest of Hebi would still be at his side. But that still raised the question of what kind of people they were, and where they were from, that they were able to do the sorts of things they did.

"Exactly," Leader said, turning to face Sasuke. "We did not want you to face your brother because you have dealt with these people in person." Sasuke's head snapped towards Leader, who turned to look at Zetsu.

"How about this?" Zetsu's mouth split in a grin. "Tell us everything that you can about them, and we'll let you come with when we go to face them."

Sasuke needed no further incentive.

"The Incident With The Rope And The Sea", as Aisa had creatively dubbed it, had brought Perona and Jugo closer to one another. The two spent most of their time together, whether it was training together, enjoying meals together, or just chatting amongst themselves, they were just generally making the best of each other's company.

It was this that brought the two of them to the Phoenix's deck, each carrying a bag behind their backs.

Perona moved hers out first, holding it out to Jugo, who responded by blinking a few times and doing the same thing with his own. They exchanged bags, each taking a moment to register what had just happened.

"You got me a…" Perona looked up at Jugo, who nodded in response.

"When we were in town, and you were showing me that one store… I said I was going to the bathroom, but in actuality I was getting that for you," Jugo looked away awkwardly. "When did you…"

"Horohorohorohoro~ Around the same time, actually," Perona smiled. "When you went to do that, I went ahead and picked that out for you."

Jugo blinked a few times, then nodded and motioned to her bag. "Well… go ahead."

Perona paused, then silently reached into her bag and produced an umbrella with a polar bear charm hanging from the handle. She set the bag down and opened the umbrella, examining it thoroughly – the umbrella was embellished to look like a ferocious black bear. Perona gasped, and had to physically restrain herself from squeeing before she wrapped her arms around Jugo. "Oh, thank you! I love it!" she exclaimed, before releasing him and moving backwards so that he could open his gift, all the while twirling her new umbrella and resting it on her shoulder.

Jugo nodded, taking the hint and carefully removing his gift from the bag he'd been given. It seemed to be a mass of black cloth, but as he held it up to get a better look at it, it unfolded into a black cloak with angel wings that resembled Aisa's on the back. Jugo opened his mouth, gaping at the cloak he held in his hands, before slowly removing the one already around his neck and replacing it with the one he'd just been given. The wings rested perfectly on his shoulder blades, and the cloak was just long enough that it covered his whole body but wouldn't get caught on the floor and torn when he walked.

He found himself unable to form words, instead responding by pulling Perona into a hug of his own. Perona responded by returning the hug, and the two remained there, arms wrapped around the other and allowing their mutual warmth to spread between them.

"YOI!" Marco's voice called down from the crow's nest, and the two quickly pulled away from one another when they realized how long they'd been embracing each other. But when they looked up at him, they found he wasn't looking their way – but rather, ahead of the ship. Taking this as a cue, the two picked up the discarded bags to properly dispose of them, then moved up to the front of the ship where the figurehead was to see what the fuss was all about.

And see it they did – a mass of land had appeared on the horizon before them.

"Land ho!" Marco called out from the crow's nest. "The Land of Water is in sight!"

AND SO, THE THREADS OF THE PLOT ARE STARTING TO BE PULLED! ...yes, we have a plot, apparently. WHO KNEW

-Ink