...Hello?

Yeah I know, it's been a long, long hiatus. I didn't have any inspiration, even if I had a general idea of what I wanted to write, and college. Now I'm done with college after 4 years and have started a job and I felt like writing this story again. I'm not going to promise anything about the posting schedule because who knows when I'm going to put this story on hiatus again. However, I planned the story up until the war.

I thought it would take me 3 days to do it all. A week after and I have this huge War arc to go over, but the rest is planned.

Because of I haven't finished planning everything, I'm not going to say anything about pairings yet, especially concerning Shisui. I have also decided not to write two endings for Itachi and Shisui but to write a single one instead that I feel is way more suited for Akane and her journey. My mind on the ending won't change, but as in life, relationships can last or not, feelings can be complicated, so keep that in mind.

To any old readers, I hope you'll find your way back to this story well in spite of the...2020 situation. To new reader who discovered the story when it was on hiatus, I saw you and thank you for following and liking this story! Of course, sorry for the long wait, but...well, that's how it is.

Sorry for anyone who gets lost and confused in the story, even if to me it's clear, the way I write it and how often I add information can be too much. Because of that, would you like a sum-up of the story up until the Shippuden era, which starts in this chapter anyway?

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own the OCs in this fic, the rest is Masashi Kishomoto's. Sorry for any spelling mistakes or any OCCness.

Character age:

Akane, Itachi: 21

Naruto, Sasuke: 15 / 16

Shisui: 24

Kakashi: 30

"I think it's Sasori and Deidara. I kinda hope it's them to be honest. I don't even know if Hidan has been stitched back together."

"I hope not," Sasuke commented my out loud thinking, finishing his onigiri. "I'm good, let's go." I got up after him and we were off once again. "Do we really have to go to Suna first?"

"I'm not good enough to detect them just like that. We need Intel."

"I get that, but with Seihitsu and Garuda we could search the area."

"We don't know where to search Sasuke, it would be a waste of time and energy." He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

The wind kept lashing my face. It had started.

The fight with the Akatsuki had started.

On the fourth day, early in the morning, we entered the desert of the Land of the Wind. It wasn't hot yet, but it wouldn't be long before I started to feel the effects of the weather on my body. The sand kept itching me under my feet, but we didn't stop running and it kept sliding in my shoes. The sun was already high in the clear sky.

I stopped dead in my track, sliding on the road one foot before the other when a chakra appeared out of nowhere. Sasuke stopped too and grabbed his sword.

Then, in all his bad guy glory, a certain someone swirled into existence in front of us. How I wanted to smash his orange mask in the ground with the club.

"Akane..." Sasuke whispered to me.

"I know." He still did not have the Akatsuki cloak. "Hey, what's up!?"

"Tobi is a good boy!" he exclaimed in a high-pitched, ridiculous, voice. He embraced himself and almost curled up on himself. "The teeth make you scary, but Tobi is a good boy!"

"No, Tobi is very naughty boy." I closed my eyes when I saw the mask blushing. Was that a genjutsu? "It sounds a lot more sexual I intended to. Tobi is not a good boy."

"No no no! Tobi is a good boy and Tobi will be a part of the group soon! Tobi will really be a part of the group!" I narrowed my eyes at him. Was he trying to give me a message? The message being he will officially appear on the radar soon?

"Your mask is dumb," Sasuke stated plainly, as a matter of fact. Tobi pressed his hands on his cheek, obviously scandalized.

"Tobi's mask is beautiful, it makes Tobi mysterious!"

"What do you want?" I had his attention once again. My heart missed a beat at the brief flash on red within orange.

"Tobi's senpais told Tobi he should stop you to make good impressions! You young lady," he pointed an accusing finger in my direction, "you have been misbehaving a lot!"

"What, did my father ask you to tell me this? 'Cause if that's the case, tell him I hope he falls head first in a hole, get a major concussion and internal bleeding, breaks his spine enough for him to be paralyzed and rot in the beaming sun for days until the flies come get him." Tobi leaped back.

"Gwaahh! She's scary! Tobi's scared!" I rolled my eyes. Seriously? He was starting to be annoying. What was he playing at? Did he get some kind of satisfaction from others' reactions? "Tobi is just here to keep you occupied and keep you from going to the hideout in the Land of Rivers to the east of our position." He pressed his hands where his mouth probably was. "Oh no!" I elbowed Sasuke in the ribs.

"Go, go now." He seemed to hesitate at first, but left nonetheless. "So, what the fuck do you want? And don't you feel ridiculous acting like that by the way?" He shrugged.

"I do what I have to do," he replied in his regular voice. "You've been causing ruckus though, that is true."

"Me? Nope, I don't see what you're talking about. And anyway, you work with my dad so screw off."

"It's..." I didn't let him finish his sentence that I continued ranting.

"And anyway, you ask me to join you when my dad is in your little group already!? Do you seriously think I would have stayed!? There would have been a fucking parricide before the end of the day!" I dodged a kunai. "Hey!"

"You didn't let me finish what I was saying."

"My Stockholm Syndrom won't be transferred to you. It's for Yagura only. Don't order me around."

"Should I cut your tongue off like you did for Hidan? Although, I have to say it's nice not to hear him screaming all day long." I raised a brow.

"His partner didn't take the tongue? I threw it at him when I saw him."

"It's not the question."

"What do you want? I'm not joining."

"I know, I wanted to warn you." I frowned.

"You? Warning me?"

"You have not been the most discreet for the past year. I can guess the reason you know how the Akatsuki is after the bijuus, but what I want to know is if you know why." I shrugged.

"No matter what it is, it's not good for anyone. No need to be a genius to figure that out."

"True I suppose. In any case, you're the Akatsuki target now. You and Sasuke. Kill on sight, preferably by Kisame. If I'm correct, you have a score to settle with him, don't you?" I didn't answer but stared at him for a long time.

Then, just as he appeared, he disappeared. I pondered over what had just transpired from that...meeting. I was now a target, not even as a mean of pressure on someone but just because I was considered as dangerous, I guess. Hoshigaki-san had apparently been asked to erase me.

And for some reason, Obito told me. Sure his timing clearly indicated he wanted to slow us down, but...why would he come and tell me that?

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. There was no time for that right now.

I teleported to Sasuke.

"Stop!"

"Kakashi-sensei, we don't have the time to stop again!" Naruto barked at him curtly. "Gaara..."

"I know, but when I say we stop we stop!" Kakashi replied more calmly, yet his voice was tensed. They jumped down in a clearing. Naruto's red eyes widened at the sight of the man in front of them. "Ushio-san."

"Hey, long time no see." He showed Naruto with a sign of the head. "You grew quite a lot."

"Let us through!" Ushio made a face.

"No can do."

"Who is he?" Sakura mumbled quietly. Chiyo wheezed next to her.

"I have never seen him in person, but this man is called Uzumaki Ushio. He is from the Hidden Mist and almost became the Mizukage but defected years ago."

"Twenty years ago to be exact." He made a step to the left, enough to avoid Naruto's punch. He grabbed his wrist and almost missed Kakashi's Raikiri just centimeters away from him. "Oh shit." He teleported away. Kakashi's hand dived into nothing whereas Naruto looked all around him.

"Where did he go!?"

"Fuuton: Slicing Whirlwind Technique!" A whirlwind appeared out of thin air in front of them and rushed at them. Pieces of the ground started to detach themselves and joined the whirlwind, like nearby rocks, leaves or even branches.

"Quick, behind me! Doton: Earth-Style Wall!" And earth wall rose from the ground. The whirlwind connected with it in a loud 'bang', chunks of rocks flying around them.

"Kakashi-sensei, what's the plan!?" Sakura screamed over the sound of the wind.

"Ushio-san won't let us through just like that, Jiraya-sama and him had a hard battle in Kiri. We have to make him retreat. I think Sakura you should destabilize him by breaking the ground, it will give us the element of surprise."

"Sounds interesting all of this," a snarky voice commented from above them. Immediately, Kakashi pushed his female student toward Naruto and Chiyo as chains wrapped themselves around him. "Suiton: Explosive Water Dragon!" Ushio spat the dragon from his mouth. From this distance, the damages would be too important.

However, the explosion never came. The dragon barely started glowing that it was sucked in a swirl. Ushio pursed his lips and looked down and the immobilized jounin.

"Hey you, since when do you have the Mangekyou?" Kakashi glared at him, the curves in his eye going back to the regular Sharingan.

"SHANNARO!" The ground broke under them, his clone vanishing, like the chains.

Kakashi jumped away as Ushio jumped back in a backflip. He widened his eyes when, still in the air but his feet getting closer and closer to the ground, two Narutos were in front of him, a rasengan in their hand.

"Giant Rasengan!" The attack reached its target and sent him flying in a massive rock.

Once the smoke cleared out, they walked closer to the body.

"What is..."

"His name is Yūra," Chiyo told them sternly, "he was a jounin and advisor of the Kazekage. How did he find himself in this situation?"

"Maybe a spy for the Akatsuki, it would explain how they left so easily."

After Chiyo sent a message to her village, they were off again.

"Kuchiyose No Jutsu!" In a puff of smoke, Seihitsu appeared. I jumped on his back as Sasuke was already on Garuda. "Come on Seihitsu, I'm pretty sure at some point you will sense Naruto's chakra."

"Understood."

"When a bijuu is extracted from a jinchuriki, the jinchuriki dies, don't they?" I nodded. "Do you think they are done already?"

"I hope not. I hope Tobi blocking us didn't jeopardize everything. And this encounter was yesterday. Damn, faster Seihitsu!"

"I'm going as fast as I can," he replied calmly to me. I exhaled slowly. Seihitsu was good at staying calm no matter how frustrated I could be.

My heart was pounding hard in my chest. All of my feelings were mixed. I was going to see Naruto after almost two years and a half but Gaara was in serious danger so I could not exactly focus on that and…

"There's a fight. I smell explosives and a strong and unpredictable chakra. Five kilometers in front of us and they keep moving forward." I frowned.

"Hey Sasuke, it's possible they split up. You've already faced Deidara, you okay with handling him?"

"Yeah, my lightning release can neutralize his explosives anyway. Now I can take the fight in the air I don't think I'll need the Mangekyou."

"Don't get cocky though, you never know." He scoffed.

"I know."

"Seihitsu, tell us right away if you start feeling other people." When we were about two kilometers from them, he growled.

"I smell poison further away." I frowned.

"Sasori. Sasuke!"

"Don't die." On this, Garuda dived in the deep ditch on the right. I looked down. There was a river and thick wooden pillars joining the two sides of the ditch.

Seihitsu kept running, his paws sending dirt flying each time they touched the ground. Sasori was the first Akatsuki member to bite the dust before, hopefully it would be the same this time around, and Deidara would die today too.

"How far are we?"

"Not so much anymore," he told me. He stopped abruptly in his leap and landed heavily on the ground, my hands clenching his fur as an explosion was heard in the distance. "The fight is almost over." He started to run briskly once again.

After a few minutes, the river down below widened into a small pond and Seihitsu jumped down, before climbing the rock wall. Once we were on it, I rode down of Seihitsu and told him to go home, which he did after pushing his big muzzle in my cheek as a way to tell me to stay careful.

I crept toward the huge hole in the ground, which from the state of the scenery was not here not so long ago. I peeked inside what used to be a cave. Sakura was in a bad shape, Chiyo too, but also Sasori. There were too many puppets on the ground for me to count. Then, Sasori was blocked against the wall. I couldn't hear what Sakura said, but she turned her back to the enemy to talk to Chiyo. It was enough for Sasori to get up in another puppet and charge at Sakura. Two other puppets went to stop him, so fast I barely saw them, but Sasori avoided them and put some distance between them.

Huh...the situation was bad. He totally saw them coming but Chiyo and Sakura were completely depleted from their chakra and stamina. From where I was, I could see the shaking of Sakura's body as Sasori was telling them something.

I crouched and went through hand seals. As I gathered the water chakra required for the Wild Water Wave technique, I infused it with wind chakra. Sasori barely made a step forward my jutsu sliced the ground between them, attracting all of their attention of my. I waved.

"Has anyone ever told you you were annoying Uzumaki!?" Sasori yelled at me. I shrugged and jumped down.

"I embrace it." I walked between him and the other two. "You don't seem like the kind of guy who likes surprise but...surprise!" I peeked above my shoulder. "Leave you two, you're in no shape to continue this fight." Sakura opened her mouth to reply something but decided to stay quiet. She put the grandma's arm on her shoulder and they left.

"You know, I should thank you for something Uzumaki." I raised a brow.

"Hidan?" He nodded. "I gave the tongue to Kakuzu."

"And thinking he would not 'forget' it is sheer naivety." There was a growl in the back of my throat, just wanting to come out, but I contained it. He already knew he could rile me up easily, no need to give him that satisfaction.

"So, how do you wanna do it? I'm full of energy and your army is in a million pieces, so how do you want to do it?" He stared at me. For once, it was not boredom, it looked more like frustration. Finally, he smirked.

Damn, he was attractive, there was no doubt about it.

No Akane, it's not the time nor the place to have this kind of reflection.

"The smartest choice would be..." he trailed off, before jumping on the edge of the hole. "See you later Uzumaki."

"Hey!" I yelled after him before following him. "Aren't you even waiting for your partner!?"

"If the Uchiha is after him, Deidara will die today. He's the kind to die young," he replied coldly to me. I had some trouble hearing him because of the wind in my ears, but I did anyway and couldn't help but agreeing. From what the Bingo Book says, Deidara was two years younger than Dai, Itachi and I.

"And you're not helping!?"

"I couldn't care less." I chased him for hours, attacking him sometimes but he avoided easily.

I stopped dead in my track when we reached the border with the Land of the Rain. He stopped too and turned his head to look at me from above his shoulder.

"I guess our discussion is over for today." I cursed under my breath as he ran straight in Akatsuki territory as I stayed back in the Land of River.

As I was making my way back, I found myself face to face with Sasuke.

"Hey, you're alive!"

"Deidara's dead, I am a hundred percent sure. Sasori?" I averted my eyes and I heard him growling. "You let him go?"

"I wasn't expecting him to run away." Although, I could have caught up with him if I had really wanted to. Maybe deep down I had not wanted to face Sasori just now. Seeing him so defeated he ran away to safety had been satisfying enough for me and I had not thought about the consequences of him getting out of here alive. "How did it go?"

"Let's head to Suna, I'll tell you on the way."

Garuda dived down and soared just above the water, creating ripples on the surface of the river. Sasuke put one knee on the back of his summon, the Sharingan burning in his eyes. It should not be long until he saw the obnoxious member of the Akatsuki, or at least hear his bombs.

Faint sparks started to crackle around his sword. Firstly, he would destroy his clay. From the surroundings, Deidara would be flying on his mount, whatever it would be this time. As he thought, barely a minute later Sasuke heard an explosion.

The sparks intensified. Then, a small dot appeared in his sigh. Shortly after, he heard someone bragging.

"GIVE GAARA BACK!" He heard Naruto screaming. Sasuke squinted and saw a redhead in the beak of the clay bird.

"Up!" he ordered Garuda, who obeyed immediately. Before the hawk flew above Deidara, Sasuke jumped down.

"Wh…" the blond Akatsuki started as Sasuke slashed his lighting sword at the neck of the bird, Gaara falling toward the river. Naruto followed him, not even giving his teammate any attention. "YOU!"

"Hn." Sasuke landed on a wooden pillar, Kakashi joining him promptly. The Uchiha slashed in thin air, a blade of lightning going to the bird to slice him once again. "Raiton: Chidori Blade! Now his clay is useless."

"I'm guessing Akane went to Sasori?" Sasuke nodded without letting Deidara out of his sight. "I'll go to Naruto, you can handle him?"

"Yeah." Kakashi left and Sasuke looked at Deidara, standing on the water. He jumped down to face him. "I believe we have unfinished business. Las time you left."

"The target wasn't there," Deidara groaned back. Sasuke scoffed. He was missing his two arms. It would be easy, even if he had a voice in his head repeating him not to get cocky and stay alert.

With lightning dancing around the edge of his katana, he launched himself at Deidara. The latter avoided the blows as much as he could, until he saw the opportunity to use a clay clone. He let himself fall in the water and swam to the farthest wall before climbing it.

His escape was cut short by a sword in his chest, the blade covered in lightning. Deidara spat blood and stared at Sasuke's red eyes in shock.

"H...how..."

"Shadow clone." Behind, the clone got rid of the clay clone and vanished. "I have to admit Naruto is right to love this technique so much. It's quite useful." Sasuke grabbed his opponent by the neck, pulled his sword out and threw him on a wooden pillar. He went next to him and thrust a kunai in the stab wound.

"What...are you doi...doing?" Deidara managed to say, blood spilling from each side of his mouth.

"Killing you." The answer left smoothly Sasuke's lips, and for a brief second he realized how he had no doubt about killing him. The Akatsuki was bad news, they had to get rid of them as fast as possible. The last time they faced them...they almost lost. They would have if Taki had not arrived.

A seal tag was wrapped around the kunai handle. Sasuke leaped a few meters away from Deidara, who tried to get up. However, with the tiger seal, lightning erupted from the kunai, going over the rock walls. He screamed in agony, his skin quickly being covered in blisters. Then, it blackened and soon, the screams stopped. Five seconds later, the lightning ceased, the seal empty. Sasuke walked to Deidara, whose eyes had rolled back in his head, his body completely limp and fuming. Sasuke wrinkled his nose at the smell of burned flesh in the air.

He didn't waste any second and sealed the corpse in an empty scroll. He barely finished writing 'Deidara' on it that he heard a roar and a wave of powerful chakra. He put his brush, ink and scroll away before jumping back on Garuda to leave.

It was Naruto, there was no doubt about it.

They were barely in sight that he jumped down, ordering Garuda to go home.

There were three tails and Naruto was roaring behind Gaara's cold body. The Kazekage was dead.

"Sasuke don't come any closer!" Kakashi yelled at him, his arms in front of his face to protect him from the demonic chakra.

"I can calm him down!" Kakashi was about to reply but decided otherwise when the pattern in Sasuke's sharingans changed.

The only question in Kakashi's mind, as his student calmed down the other one thanks to his visual powers, was how he got the Mangekyou. Itachi explained to him how someone 'gains' it. Rin had been his trigger, although it took years for Obito's eye to evolve because of his non-Uchiha body.

"Kakashi," Sasuke called him as he laid an unconscious Naruto down next to Gaara. He turned toward his sensei, his eyes back to their onyx color. "Keep it to yourself."

"How did you get them Sasuke?" His student remained silent, a harsh and pained gaze on the ground.

"None of your business."

"Is Akane okay? Did something happen to her?" Sasuke took a deep, slightly shaky he noticed, breath.

"She's fine, I'll join her now. Deidara's dead by the way." On this, he left.

What could have happened in the past two years and a half for him to develop the Mangekyou?

"How well do you see?"

"It's...to be honest I won't pass a vision test." I sighed. It was quick. "Don't lecture me on my use of the Mangekyou."

"I won't, Naruto needed to be calmed down. It's just...annoying."

"You don't say." We kept walking in silence, until he broke it. "Gaara's dead. Everything's changed."

"Hum...I'm not sure." Before, Gaara was alive, he was a key element in the Fourth War, yet he did not have Shukaku anymore.

Maybe someone could pull off something like Okuni-san had for me.

I hoped so.

"Hey." I raised my eyes to Sasuke. "We're both tired, aren't we? We've been traveling nonstop since that toad appeared."

"Your point?"

"Sasori ran away because of that. Deidara was missing his arms and couldn't go that far." I smiled faintly. He was trying to cheer me up about my utter uselessness.

How cute. Sadly ineffective, but cute nonetheless.

Hey! Thanks for reading and leave a review to tell me what you thought of this chapter!

Bye!