Hi, guys! There is a three year time skip. The one-tail and a few subsequent tailed beasts have been sealed. Kana is now 15 years old and deadly.

Enjoy, and review with your thoughts please! Thanks.

Chapter 5- Clash

Somewhere isolated and hidden, was a large cave. In this cave, were two real people, and projections of several other individuals. And these people were the most recent compilation of the Akatsuki. No light managed to work into the cave. The only light was the faint glow that each projection emitted. Each projection was stood atop a giant hand shaped statue of what was apparently a demon, and each projection had its own finger to stand on. Facing the hand was the rest of the statue: a demonic-looking face with many eyes.

"Good work, Itachi, Kana…" Leader praised. "We can now seal the six tails…"

"We are so close!" Tobi yelled.

"Shut up, Tobi…" Kakuzu growled. "As treasurer of the Akatsuki's money matters, I can say that our funds are currently leaving a lot to be desired… we have consumed too much money lately."

"Money is indeed important. However, as Tobi said, we are very close now. Only a few more tailed beasts left," Leader reasoned, trying, as per usual, to keep all these immensely powerful Shinobi from aggravating each other too much.

"Since Itachi and Kana have done well with the six-tails, I will send Hidan and Kakuzu to collect the nine-tails. I was going to send out Itachi's squad out, however after remembering your last attempt at the nine-tails, I reconsidered."

Kana stared straight ahead, feeling a little rueful. Their last attempt to capture the nine-tails failed, because of Itachi… she closed her eyes and remembered… back to her twelve-year-old self.

"So, it's this way, right?" Kana had said, pointing at the sign post as they made their way along the path away from the Hidden Leaf. She stopped to check the sign more thoroughly. "This town is where the Jinchuuriki should be? Naruto Uzumaki?"

"You ask too many questions, Kana," Itachi replied shortly, continuing to walk. He still looked consumed in his thoughts, after their encounter with Kakashi in the Leaf.

"But is it? I'm tired of hunting Jinchuuriki already!"

"Yeah. It is."

"Let's go then- we should hurry!"

"Fine, let's run."

A ninja's definition of 'run' is slightly different. They sprinted at blinding speeds, through the trees so that they would remain inconspicuous, and consequently reached the town in just a few minutes. Itachi looked round at Kana, to see that she was quickly catching up to him in the speed department.

"Here we are!" Kana said brightly. "No-one knows we're Akatsuki, so we can relax here, right?"

"Well, if you declare it that stridently, someone might guess," Itachi sighed. "You have decent senses now. Locate the Uzumaki kid for us. After all, he is your individual assignment."

Kana nodded importantly, thrilled at having been given a direct order from Itachi. She closed her eyes and searched through the chakras of every single individual in the vicinity, until she suddenly struck gold. Here was a chakra she had never felt before. If a normal, human chakra was a colour, she'd say it was blue, however the chakra she was sensing now was crimson, dangerous and potent. Definitely the sign of a tailed beast Jinchuuriki nearby.

"It's in the inn, two hundred and fifty yards to the north east," she confirmed confidently, and made her way there immediately, Itachi in close pursuit. "By the way… Itachi?

While they were making their way to the inn, Kana could have sworn she sensed a chakra almost identical to Itachi's. It was nearly the same. The chakra was younger, fresher, but there was a dark veil, a mask of darkness hanging over it, waiting to consume the chakra's centre. It was a chakra shrouded in evil, however it had the same signature as Itachi's.

While pondering over this, Kana noticed that they had arrived. Itachi opened the door of the inn.

"Ah…" he said, looking at a white-haired man in the far end of the reception. "This could complicate things. Jiraiya's here."

"Who's Jiraiya?"

"An extraordinarily powerful Shinobi. A legend. The best I could do in a match with this guy would be a stale-mate."

Kana gasped. "That powerful? Geez, this is unlucky."

"I have a plan to get rid of him while we get Naruto. Jiraiya has a flaw. That flaw will be his downfall."

"Flaw?"

"You'll see. Watch."

Itachi walked over to a very attractive young woman with long auburn hair and chestnut eyes and began to talk to her. Then he fixed her gaze and pointed his finger at her.

Kana noticed with amusement that Itachi had just put her under a genjutsu, an illusion. The woman smiled blissfully and approached Jiraiya, who practically hit the roof, marvelling at her beauty. Jiraiya put his arm around the woman, and left with her, laughing in joy all the way out, and not even noticing Itachi, who was stood watching by the door.

"Problem solved," Itachi said simply. "Let's go upstairs. You can find Naruto's room."

Kana nodded, still concerned about this chakra she was sensing, the one identical to Itachi's.

They walked up the stairs and along a long corridor, right to the end, where Kana knocked twice on the thin wooden door.

A tiny kid, almost exactly her age, with spikey blonde hair and a stupid look on his face opened the door.

"Sasuke? No, wait… who are you? You look just like Sasuke!" the blonde kid cried. He looked scared.

"I am not Sasuke, no… Naruto, you are coming with us."

"Who's Sasuke? You've mentioned him before!" Kana said urgently, suspecting something.

"That doesn't matter. We need to take Naruto with us."

Itachi reached out to grab Naruto, when the chakra Kana had been sensing grew unbearably close, till she was certain it was right next to her.

"Itachi… Uchiha," someone said.

Kana whipped around to see a young boy, Itachi in miniature, standing opposite them with a mutinous look in his eyes. Actually, Itachi in miniature, but with hair and eyes the exact same shade as hers. It creeped her out to know how similar she looked to a boy with such a dangerous look on his face.

"Sasuke…" Itachi muttered. Kana gulped. He looked sad… no, Itachi looked devastated. But she doubted anyone but her could tell that. The conversation grew more and more heated, and Kana could feel the pressure from Sasuke's chakra skyrocketing. Still, it wasn't even comparable to hers, let alone Itachi's. Itachi kept his power hidden, and his emotions. He simply stared at Sasuke with a blank face, replying tonelessly to Sasuke's taunts.

"I've lived my life for one single purpose, brother, to see your death, you bastard!" Sasuke roared, and gathered a huge ball of lightning in his palm. Sasuke gripped the arm holding the lightning with his other hand, and ran at Itachi, full speed.

Itachi easily overcame Sasuke, grabbing his hand, dispelling the lightning and breaking Sasuke's wrist in the process. Sasuke screamed in pain, and Itachi pinned him against the wall. Kana hadn't seen Itachi this physically violent for no reason. Why towards Sasuke?

"You haven't got enough hate, my brother… and you know what? You never will. You fail to measure your own capacity, and then failed to measure my own. You live your life by what you see as reality, however you are merely blinded by other matters, preventing you from seeing what is important," Itachi whispered, then threw Sasuke to the ground. Sasuke coughed, in pain, and held his broken wrist with a shaking hand. He glared up at Itachi with such hatred, Kana thought he was going to try and kill him again.

"Kana, we're going."

"What about the nine-tails?" Kana cried, pointing at Naruto, who was watching Sasuke in horror.

"Doesn't matter… my job here is done. Come, Kana, let's go."

"What the hell, Itachi? Leader will have our heads for this!"

Kana grumbled all the way back to their base, wondering… Sasuke… Itachi's younger brother. Why did they hate each other so much? Why did they attack each other? And why, after Sasuke showed up, did Itachi decide to leave? So much had confused her back then.

Back in the cave, Kana was observing Hidan and Kakuzu's reactions to the news that they would be doing the nine-tails hunt.

"Yes! I need some more blood… for my ritual, that is. Lord Jashin will be pleased with the destruction I will cause!" Hidan cried in ecstasy.

"Don't go too far, Hidan… the Jinchuuriki must be brought back alive…" Kakuzu reminded him querulously. Hidan sighed, tired of his partner's nagging. "Geez, you and your stupid God…Pointless decimation, that's what Jashin is."

"Shut up, Kakuzu! I swear, you're going to irritate me too much soon…"

"You shut up, or I'll crush you…"

"Ah, come on. You know can't kill me! You forget that sometimes…"

"Quiet," Leader said blankly.

"Ah, not you too!" Hidan complained. "I'm surrounded by heathens!"

"Shut up Hidan… we're off. First stop: the Fire temple…"

Their projections disappeared. Kana assumed they had deactivated the projections and headed off the collect the nine-tails. Shortly afterwards, the rest of the groups' projections phased out.

"Kana… let's go and train," Itachi said, breaking the tense silence afterwards. Kana smiled blissfully, then check herself back into being staid and grim. Don't smile… ever… she was thinking furiously, and consequently her face grew an amusingly pained expression. The Akatsuki was a real pain sometimes, the emotionless thing and all. She had come to comprehend over the years why Itachi was such a sombre guy sometimes; it just wasn't allowed. Leader believed that Akatsuki members should be stern and solemn and focused, something that Kana had worked on, but not succeeded.

Kana was about to agree fervently, but revised her thoughts. She cleared her throat pointedly. "Sure, okay. My taijutsu needs some work anyway."

"Taijutsu? Your genjutsu is slightly more lack-lustre, Kana…" Itachi speculated, not looking at her.

"We've been through this before. I am not a genjutsu-type Shinobi in the first place, so genjutsu is a little off the cards for me. I can break free of a genjutsu, and I can do the demonic hell-viewing technique, and most other skills like that, so I should be okay. My taijutsu needs some work- I got injured on our latest assignment, the six-tails' capture. That would not have occurred if my taijutsu had been superior," she replied forcefully, trying to get her point across.

"Alright, alright… let's leave here, then."

"I'll second that. This king of hell statue is creeping me out, to be honest."

OOO

ITACHI'S VIEW

Itachi had to hand it to Kana. She was good now, really good. As good as Sasuke? Maybe. Traces of her innocence still remained, but all doubts within herself were eradicated. An air of confidence was about her in a way that it wasn't before. Yes, the cute way she asked a torrent of questions all the time, but Itachi could tell he was no longer her superior. They were equal in rank, and Kana was now completely certain of herself. He couldn't help but feel some guilt over having made her into what she was, a tool.

"You're being too hasty, try not to get over confident," he reminded her breathlessly after yet another tiring round of taijutsu. He wiped the blood off a small cut on his face, and took off his cloak.

Kana looked down at herself. Several rips had appeared in her cloak, and she sensed that maybe one of her fingers was broken. She touched it just to make sure, and her finger twitched in pain.

"It's true that you have the speed and power necessary to pull off this series off attacks, but if you can't see my counter attack, then it is unrealistic in a real battle situation," Itachi scolded.

"I know that," Kana retorted, visibly stung by the painful truth. "But you have the Sharingan. You can see everything with those eyes. I'm virtually blind compared to you…"

"I wouldn't quite say that." He looked down, a small smile playing around the edges of his lips. Kana was definitely not as blind as she thought. The effort of keeping his true intentions at bay was engulfing him; there was no way he could let even Kana, the person closest to him, know about his true nature. As much as his heart wanted him to burn his Akatsuki cloak and run back to the village, and tell everyone that it was his mission to exterminate his family, the small, realistic voice inside his mind told him no. He had joined the Akatsuki to keep an eye on it, and would continue the role of being his little brother Sasuke's enemy until the moment he died.

But Kana was beginning to suspect him day by day. He supposed that Kana had a clear, unclouded mind that could see his real self, right from the beginning. If she said anything now, then it could have detrimental effects.

Abruptly, Itachi realised that he felt rather ill. Over the last couple of weeks, he had been feeling a little under the weather, but thought nothing of it. Right now though, he was struggling to stand up, and his chest felt uneasy, weak and wrong.

"Itachi… are you alright? You look sick. Should I call to Zetsu? Maybe he can tell you what's wrong," Kana suggested.

"Why would Zetsu know?" Itachi said, grinding his teeth together to stop himself from coughing. Suddenly, a sharp pain in his chest ensued, followed immediately by the uncontrollable urge to cough. He couldn't hide his weakness anymore and put his hand over his mouth to cough. Slowly opening his eyes, Itachi couldn't register what he saw for a few seconds. He had just coughed up blood? That was never good.

"What is it, Itachi?" Kana said suspiciously. Itachi hastily wiped his hand on his trousers.

"…Nothing. Nothing at all."

Inside, he was panicking slightly. If he was coughing up blood, that was a sure sign of disease, a pretty bad one, too. He needed to keep a watch on this. If he should die of this disease, then all of his plans would go to waste.

ONE WEEK LATER

Itachi felt the familiar tug in the back of his mind, and closed his eyes.

"What is it, Leader?" he asked.

"Where is Kana? She should be connected with our projections right now," Leader said, disregarding Itachi's words. Itachi had long gotten past the irritation of Leader's habit of doing this, though he did still think it was rude.

"I think Kana is trying to resist the connection," he guessed. Kana was, in fact, standing right next to him, but with her eyes wide open and her arms folded in quiet defiance.

"Thank you for grassing me up, Itachi…" Kana grumbled, and gave in to the connection.

"Anyway, can I go on and explain what the situation is now?" Leader questioned. When there was no response, his projection nodded and continued. "Hidan and Kakuzu are yet to have returned from their assignment."

"What? The Zombie Combo? So much for being immortal!" Kana whispered sarcastically.

"How did this happen? Losing two members in one blow could be a real problem," Itachi said.

"It was Kakashi Hatake and the Nine-tails jinchuuriki's platoon. They are very strong now. Naruto Uzumaki is no longer an ordinary boy. Jutsu that were beyond the reach of the legendary Fourth Hokage are now within his command, and he has many friends. He managed to kill Kakuzu in one blow. Hidan was taken care of by other platoon member, a mere Chuunin," Leader explained, sounding a little regretful of the group's loss. His voice sounded even more dead than usual.

"So I'm guessing you want our team to go after the nine-tails? Since we are the strongest team on the Akatsuki, apart from you and Konan, of course," Kana said confidently. She seriously respected Konan, simply because Konan was the only other woman in the organisation.

Itachi sighed. Not another stab at the nine-tails. He was glad, however, that it was taking this long to collect the tailed beasts. The Akatsuki's plans were being slowed enough by Naruto's team, with Itachi not having to intervene very much, to his relief.

"No. I do not yet believe that they are both dead. Kakuzu possibly, but Hidan? As a result of the crude experiments of his religion, Hidan was granted with something shockingly close to true immortality. He won't be taken down too easily. You must go and retrieve them both; if you run into the Leaf Shinobi, you kill them there and then, but remember, leave the nine-tails jinchuuriki alive."

"Aw, sweet! Leave it to us, Leader."

"Cut out that ridiculous slang from your speech, Kana. It's infuriating. Clearly Itachi didn't stamp that out of you," Leader snapped. "Now, go."

"Yes, sir!"

"Shut up, Kana."

And at that moment the connection was broken.

Itachi opened his eyes. Feeling a sudden jerk in his chest, he bent over and started coughing once again, feeling dizzy.

"Are you really sure you're okay, Itachi?" Kana pressed, clearly concerned. Itachi straightened up apologetically, and his expression turned concrete.

"Why do you care so much about me, Kana?" he said quietly. "You are a fierce warrior with a smart mouth and a brassy demeanour, but… the only person you have ever showed this side of you personality to is me. Why?"

"Because…" she began throatily. "Well, after Tobi took me away from my little village, I felt so scared. And though you are an emotionless, strict sensei, I always knew there was a nice side to you. Always."

Itachi's eyes widened. He stopped breathing momentarily.

"Because I can see right through your genjutsu, Itachi. The one that everyone else believes. I believe you are a good person, no matter what you did in the past. I admire you, Itachi, for keeping on going for so long."

Itachi stood, staring at the floor. She knew! He cleared his throat abruptly and turned around.

"Let's go. Maybe the next village will have something."

"Itachi, are you crying?"

"Be quiet, we're leaving."

As Itachi walked swiftly onward, Kana shook her head, as a way of saying I'm not giving up on you, Itachi Uchiha!

OOO

KANA'S VIEW

She looked over to Itachi as he strode at a slightly quickened pace, avoiding her gaze. Why was she the only person who could look through the illusion that he so readily put forth for everyone to see? Itachi put on this blank, impassive disposition, but even a master Shinobi couldn't hide all his emotions. There were still these slight, rare moments where Itachi's guard would collapse and some feelings would escape from the prison of his mind. Especially whenever Kana brought up the Hidden Leaf village, or that mysterious boy Sasuke that he mentioned those three years ago on their way out of the Hidden Leaf. She never had gotten Itachi to divulge exactly who Sasuke was, or why he looked so upset when mentioning him.

Kana shook her head dismissively, telling herself not to dwell on ridiculous, unnecessary things.

Unnecessary things.

"Kana- they're close by."

"I know. Let's go."

The fight was definitely close, but Kana was suspicious. She smelled death in the air. It was too still, too tense. It was definitely over, but who had won? The Leaf Shinobi, or Hidan and Kakuzu? She hoped it was Hidan and Kakuzu, but she felt a little wrong, wishing death on the Leaf Shinobi, Kakashi, the one who had helped her out back when she was in the Leaf village.

"Ugh, get out!" she snapped, much to Itachi's astonishment.

"What was that for?" Itachi said.

"Sorry. I was arguing with myself, haha…" Kana mumbled. "I have a lot on my mind."

"I see. Well, don't do that. You should be focused at all times."

Kana raised her eyebrows in mild surprise. He was acting so serious since their conversation a while back. Maybe she'd touched a nerve. Oh well, it didn't matter.

"By the way… Itachi?"

"What is it now?"

"This kid is going to die when the Kyuubi is ripped out of him, right? Like the others…"

Itachi nodded slowly. "Yes, he is…"

"I… Okay. I just… Every time we seal a tailed beast, when they die, there's this ache in my chest, like, it's pain, but not physical. I know I can't cry, I just can't, but… Itachi, I don't think I like it very much."

He speculated for a second. "…It's alright. We are only human. You have seen many, many people die in your life so far, so many fall… It's only natural that, eventually, you may get tired of seeing people die."

Kana looked up at him in mild shock, but then corrected herself. "Thanks, Itachi…"

They reached an area of terrain that loked like it had been all dug up. A few craters lined a larger crater, which Kana couldn't see to the end of. At the centre stood several people.

"Itachi… let's go and check this out," Kana suggested, having returned to her normal mood.

Itachi nodded, and they both ran down into the centre of the crater, and moments later were greeted with the least friendly welcome possible.

"What the hell are you doing here?" A blonde kid with an insolent face shouted. "Stupid Akatsuki! Well, I haven't got enough chakra to take another two out! Especially you… Itachi Uchiha, you bastard…"

"Hey, don't talk to Ita-"

"It's alright, Kana. Naruto is probably true on that one."

So this stupid blonde kid was the nine-tails jinchuuriki that took Kakuzu and Hidan down? He looked like an idiot.

"We were sent here merely to take Hidan and Kakuzu back with us, but it seems that is no longer possible," Itachi said quietly.

"Well well, Kana. It seems you've gotten even stronger, kid. And even more tied to evil. But still, I think there is goodness inside of you. Just not much innocence, now."

Kana focused for a second. A man was stood before her with spikey silver hair and a mask covering most of his face. He had the same lazy look about him, but this time, he looked a little dishevelled.

It was Kakashi?