AN: this chapter times skips to the time when Tsunade is Hokage. She just got done healing Sasuke and Popori is going to check in on him.

I walk into the hospital with hope. The new Hokage has arrived and she is supposed to be an excellent healer. I'm expecting her to have healed Sasuke's injuries by now, but she might have gone to Lee instead. Both need her help, so I don't know who she tended to first.

I ask the medical Shinobi at the front desk where Sasuke is and head in the direction she points out to me. When I go in his room, he's sitting up by himself, head resting against the wall while his eyes are closed. For a moment, I think he's sleeping and am about to leave, but his eyes open and flicker to me.

I smile at him, "How are you Sasuke-kun?"

He stares at me for a moment, and then grins. "I'm a little stiff from lying in bed for so long, but other than that I'm fine. Lady Tsunade said that I would be able to move around again in a few days."

I'm glad. I haven't had down time with Sasuke in nearly two months. With all the hectic blazing everywhere, there hasn't been time for it.

"It's funny. I thought I was the one hospital bound. Bedridden, even." I chuckle darkly to myself.

I get a flash of memory from one of my missions. The mission was a success of course, but not without a price. I had come home with a hole in my palm the size of a kunai's width at its biggest. For good reason, I had attempted to catch the weapon flung at me to protect the woman we were transporting. But unfortunately, the kunai had gone right through my entire hand. It was painful, the blade ripping through each of my highly sensitive nerves in my hand.

Sasuke grins thinly at me, "That's only because you're a showoff."

I roll my eyes, "Well someone has to do it." I joke.

I'm walking with Shikamaru and his father to the Hokage's office. Neither of us has met her yet, and we have been called by her for the first time. We're both Chunin now, so we have been spending a lot of time together just on missions. Plus, we spend time when we have time off. We know a lot about each other; but that's a good thing. For missions' sake.

"I can't believe the new Hokage is already making us work," Shiky complains.

I cross my arms, "Well I can't believe Naruto got to go get her! That's so unfair!" I complain back. Spending so much time with Shikamaru Nara takes a toll on a person.

He sighs, "I still can't believe it's a woman."

I roll my eyes and look to his father as he comments on how without women, none of us would be here. I chuckle as I see Shiky flinch at his father's words.

"I don't think he appreciates your analogy," I inform him.

Shiky and I head into the office as his father waits outside. When we step in, I see a dark haired and eyed woman holding a pig standing next to the desk, smiling at us. The chair is faced so that the person sitting in it has a view of Konoha.

A voice sounds from the chair, "Shikamaru Nara, Popori Ikame, nice for you two to join us finally."

I bow to the piece of furniture, "My apologies, Hokage. Shiky-kun here walks so slowly, and he can't walk and complain at the same time so that took even more time."

Shikamaru rolls his eyes at me then places both hands behind his head, letting me do all the talking.

The chair turns to face us, revealing a young, busty blond woman. She has a small jewel on her forehead and a smirk playing on her lips. "Popori, please, call me Lady Tsunade."

Shiky and I both blink, "You're the new Hokage?" He asks skeptically.

I elbow him in the ribs, willing him to be nice. "Don't be rude," I mumble to him. I turn back to Tsunade, "What he means to say is that you look young compared to our last Hokage."

Somehow, Naruto bursts into the office and yells pointing at Tsunade. "Don't be fooled, you guys! She's really a grandma! She uses fancy jutsus to keep her looking so young!"

I'm pretty sure both Shiky and I look to him and sweat drop at the same time. I throw a shuriken at him and pin him to the wall.

"Naruto, don't be rude. Once again I apologize Lady Tsunade." I bow to her then give her a look as if to say 'boys, what can you do?'

She was about to kill Naruto before I got to him. "Nice reflexes." She comments. I thank her and she continues. "This is Shizune. She is my personal assistant."

Shizune smiles and says hello then lets the Hokage continue. We both bow to her politely.

"Alright, first order of business." Tsunade begins.

"Not the first," Shizune corrects her.

Tsunade rolls her eyes and mumbles, "Debts don't count."

"You gamble?" I ask, concerned underneath my smile. Shiky and I share a quick look, and then turn back to her.

Tsunade shakes her head in denial. "Not anymore, I've kicked the habit!"

Naruto is struggling to get away from the wall, "Whatever!" He yells.

I throw another shuriken and it hits him between the legs. Naruto stops struggling and glances down, blanching.

Tsunade glares at him, "Well back to what I was saying. Shikamaru, I'm putting you and Popori on traffic duty while Genma and Raido are out on a mission."

Shikamaru groans and begins to complain, but I elbow him again to get him to stop. "We'd love to be of service, Lady Tsunade."

Traffic is a boring job. No one comes in or out all day, so Shiky and I sit at the booth with nothing to do. Eventually, we run out of things to talk about – well at least all the comfortable things – and he soon falls asleep.

Without Shiky to talk to, I am extremely bored with nothing but my thoughts. I start to think of all the things that have happened in such a short time. But mostly, I think of why Sasuke was in the hospital.

~Flashback~

I remember that day clearly.

I was perfecting a new move of mine. I punch the ground and everything within a hundred yard radius gets electrified. I hadn't named it yet, and that was what was on my mind when I saw them walk by.

Two men in long black cloaks and straw hats strolled by me. The cloaks had red clouds on them, and the hats had tiny bells hanging from them. They looked at me as I looked at them. The taller one behind snickered. I smirked back at him.

I know trouble when I see it.

I wasn't aware at the time, but we had all stopped walking. I stared in the opposite direction that they did. I could feel the immense chakra pooling off of them. I don't know how they managed to get into Konoha, but I was sure they weren't let in warmly.

"Where you two boys heading?" I asked, the smirk still playing on my face.

Neither of them spoke for a long moment. I was beginning to think they weren't going to speak at all when the taller one spoke in a menacing voice. A voice that I knew could only be bloodthirsty.

"We're stopping in for a visit."

I laughed whole-heartedly. I didn't care that I looked like a fool. I did it for a purpose. As I tilted my head back and clutched my stomach, I saw the eyes.

Itachi.

When I was in control of my laughter, I spoke again. "Well, if you need anything, here's my card." Then I dropped my bomb and ran like hell was chasing me.

My bomb was special. I had made it myself and still use them. It's a spherical device that, when triggered, sprays needles in every which direction. I was, and still am, very proud of it.

I ran as fast as I could to find Sasuke. His older brother was here, and that couldn't be a good thing. Not at all. When I found him, I was out of breath. I bent over and panted and managed to wheeze out one word. "Itachi."

His eyes filled with a mixture of wonder and hatred as he asked coldly, "Are you sure?"

I nodded and told him what I saw. When I was done and had my breath back, he spoke seriously.

"Alright, let's go find him. If you see him, come get me."

I bite my lip then ask, already knowing the answer, "What if you get to him?"

His eyes hardened as he said, "Then he's dead."

We headed in different directions, trying not to look suspicious and draw attention to ourselves. I found them first, thankfully. Itachi and the other man had thrown away their hats and had revealed their faces. They were fighting Kurenai, Asuma, Kakashi, and Guy Sensei.

Itachi's partner had shark-like features. He had blue skin, gills, beady eyes, and sharp teeth. He also had a big ass sword.

From the looks of it, Kurenai and Asuma's first worries were avoiding the Sharingan. Kakashi was kneeling on one knee and looked like Itachi had just used it on him. Guy was fighting with fish-face. I heard the shark say something about Naruto and turned and bolted to find Sasuke again.

Once I found him I whisper-screamed, "They want Naruto!"

We both ran to Naruto's hotel room. When we got there, we headed in on different sides, in hopes that we would have better odds that way. I got to Naruto first. Itachi and the shark were in front of me.

I took a quick breath then sprinted and ran up the side of the wall past them. I jumped and twisted in mid-air, placing myself between Naruto and the two men.

Shark spoke in an agitated voice, "Look Itachi, it's that brat. She got me with that damned needle bomb. I'm killing her."

Before he could advance, Itachi stopped him. "Settle yourself, Kisame."

I took out two kunai, "Yeah fish face. Don't get your pants in a wad. Next time, I'll make sure not to hit your money maker, 'kay?" I winked at him, only getting a growl in return.

"Popori!" Naruto said.

"You awake back there? I couldn't tell!" I said turning to wink at him.

Sasuke appeared behind us, at the end of the hallway. His Chidori lit up the room as he said, "Brother." Itachi didn't respond.

I smirked in bloodlust, "Let's do this!" I ran at Kisame at the same time Sasuke charged at Itachi.

Itachi caught the blow despite the power of it. "Impressive." I muttered to myself.

I turned my attention back to the shark and lunged at him, my weapons pointed at his throat. He easily kicked me to the side, sending me flying through a wall. I jumped back up as he charged at me, his sword ripping through the wall like Sasuke's Chidori did. I leaped over his swing and turned, kicking him in between the shoulder blades.

He grunted, but didn't falter his footing. I sent both kunai flying at the back of his neck. He laughed evilly as he ducked and turned. He swung his sword, and it hit me square in the stomach. I fell to my knees and coughed. Blood shared space with my saliva.

I smirked up at him, "Pretty blade you got there. Does it have a name?"

He smirked back at me, "Samehade, now time to die, you brat."

"Nice name for a death toy," I commented, jumping back up again. "But you have to admit, no brat could be this persistent."

I glanced to see Naruto staring in shock as Sasuke gets the shit beat out of him. I grunted in frustration. I looked back to Kisame.

"Hey fish face, why do you want the nine-tail?" I asked randomly.

This question surprised him but he doesn't answer. He just hit me in the chest, sending me flying into Naruto. My clone knocked the blond down and I jumped onto Kisame's back. I stabbed his shoulder with a kunai before he can throw me off.

"You little runt!" he bellowed at me.

"Naruto! Get out of here!" I got up and grabbed Sasuke by the arm and dragged him down the hall a ways.

Before I could turn to fight both of them to the death, something shielded us from impending doom. I had no idea what it was, but I sure as hell was glad it had popped up.

~End Flashback~

AN: w00t. did ya guys like it? I love Popori. she loves fighting so much. And she's so honorable. The next chapters will focus on Sasuke's defection, so watch out, cause Popori is definitely involved to a high-degree.

Sorry if I'm not doing a good job on anything, but I'm just writing what plays out in my head.