And here's part two! Enjoy!

Water Style: Destructive Water Spout!

Karasu's water jutsu caught Sakan by surprise, and he was thrown to the floor. With a grunt, he pushed himself back up and swung Samehada. Karasu ducked and knocked Sakan's feet out from under him with a swing of her foot. Sakan landed on the ground again, but this time, he took advantage of his position. Seizing Karasu around the ankles, he threw her towards a wall. However, Karasu spun in midair and landed with her feet on the wall. Nearby, Itachi and Kisame watched the training session.

It had been three and a half years since the clones had made the bet. The clones were now even more powerful than their originals as long as they were motivated.

Karasu's hair had been cut. Not too long ago, she, Ningyou, and Sutetchi had gotten into a scuffle with a patrol of Sand Ninja. In the midst of the fight, Karasu had gotten some of her hair sliced off. Later, she cut the rest so it would even out.

Ningyou had built stronger puppets, even inventing a new poison that stumped Sasori. She and Nendo still argued about what true art is, and she had become best friends with Karasu.

Nendo had taken to flying around on his clay birds, and Deidara would occasionally challenge him to a battle. The battles mostly ended in ties, but Nendo still won more often than he lost.

Itami, with the power of the Deva Path, had to train in a different place than the rest of the replacements. Her Banshou Ten'in was stronger than Pain's, and her Shinra Tensei could destroy an entire mountain.

Tenchi's control over paper had grown. His paper clones were tough, and he could use paper to spy on others. This ability was discovered when Shiro found a piece of paper stuck to his hair, and Tenchi knew everything that Shiro had done since the paper got stuck.

Fumetsu still got into daily arguments with everybody else, especially Hidan. Sometimes, she and Hidan would fight, and Kakuzu and Sutetchi had to stitch up the wounds, muttering curses under their breath.

Sutetchi had learned ninjutsu as well as controlling his threads. His main element was the earth style since Kakuzu himself was good at using earth style techniques.

Kuroi and Shiro spent most of their time outside spying on the Five Great Nations. Since Zetsu was the Akatsuki spy, his clones had also taken on the role.

"She's really close," Itachi murmured to himself as he watched his apprentice practice. Kisame turned to his partner.

"What's the matter?"

"You remember what I told you about the Mangekyou Sharingan?" Itachi asked.

"Yeah. You said that it is much more powerful than the normal Sharingan, you need to kill your best friend to awaken it, and the usage of it will eventually lead to blindness," Kisame recited.

Itachi nodded absentmindedly. "Karasu is different."

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind." Itachi looked away.

"Woah!" Sakan's cry diverted Kisame's attention. A flock of crows were flapping their wings in Sakan's face. Karasu was nowhere to be seen.

"You taught Karasu genjutsu?"

"Yeah," Itachi said, "But that's not genjutsu. It's just a crow doppelganger."

As if Karasu's skill wasn't enough, Sakan's frustration grew as the crows refused to disperse. However, before he could do anything to send the crows away, he heard Karasu say, "You lose."

She had snuck up behind him and was pointing a kunai at his back. If he moved, she could easily stab him. He sighed, "Looks like I still can't beat you."

"Maybe next time," she answered, grinning slightly. Over the three and a half years, she had become more open to her friends. She smiled more often and made some jokes now and then, although most of her jokes were directed at Fumetsu.

"Are you done?" Tenchi peeked into the room. "Leader-sama has called a meeting."

The foursome followed Tenchi to Pain's room where all the other Akatsuki members were waiting. Once they were all settled Pain started to speak.

"I feel that we have gotten off track with all the things that have happened the past four years. We must go back to pursuing our goal. The Akatsuki pairs must head out again by tomorrow, and return to the tasks they were working on. I will pair the clones up. The pairs of clones will be as follows: Karasu and Ningyou, Sakan and Tenchi, Nendo and Itami, and Fumetsu and Sutetchi. Kuroi and Shiro will remain here."

A variety of reactions followed the speech.

Karasu and Ningyou smiled at each other since they were best friends and worked well together. Sakan merely gave Tenchi a nod while Tenchi barely responded. Nendo eyed Itami thoughtfully. He knew her strength and didn't think that she even needed a partner. Kuroi and Shiro shrugged. Fumetsu and Sutetchi looked as though Pain had just told them to eat a dead rat.

"Why can't I have a different partner?" They shouted at the same time.

"Because as Kakuzu's clone, Sutetchi has a very bad temper. When he loses it, he tends to kill anything he sees. Since Fumetsu is immortal, I won't have to keep assigning Sutetchi new partners every five days. Now get ready!" Pain dismissed the meeting.

…

"Our job is to make money for the Akatsuki…" Ningyou tried not to sound disappointed.

"You expected something more exciting, didn't you?" Karasu understood her friend's feelings. She, too, had wanted to have a different task. Something that was like her mentor's job, which was to capture the Jinchuriki for the Kyuubi.

"You can still make your job exciting," Sasori came in, holding a bunch of weapons and scrolls. He separated them into two piles, most of the scrolls were given to Ningyou and the rest was Karasu's for the taking.

"Itachi says that you shouldn't overexert yourself, and if you find anything that will be useful to the rest of us, tell Leader-sama immediately," he turned to Ningyou, "The same message goes to my apprentice as well."

"Thanks, Sensei," Ningyou said, "But how can we make this job more exciting?"

"In Konoha, the Land of Fire, there is a group of people known as the Twelve Guardian Ninja. Their heads are worth a large amount of money. There are also collection offices hidden all over the place. Once you have killed one of them, you should go to a collection office and claim the money," Sasori explained.

Ningyou brightened. "So we may get to fight after all!"

"Don't get too excited. The Guardians are tough," Sasori scolded Ningyou, "I think you two should go with weaker bounties first and let Kakuzu and Hidan handle the strong ones."

Ningyou looked like she wanted to argue but thought better of it and nodded reluctantly. Karasu watched the argument with an amused look on her face.

…

Once outside, Karasu activated her Sharingan, and she and NIngyou leaped into the trees.

The clones have set out. Wait 'til you see the reactions of the Five Great Nations when they see the clones.