The author's note at the end of the last chapter was meant for a different story. Sorry for the confusion, although I would like to thank anyone who actually reviewed.

Sakan bent over and coughed up blood, holding his hand over the bleeding gash that ran down his side. In his weakened state, he was unable to dodge the kick Tsunade aimed at him. Sakan was sent flying through the air, hitting a large rock and spitting up more blood.

Not giving Sakan a chance to recover, Kakashi attacked. Using kunais, he sliced more cuts on Sakan's chest. Blood gushed from the new wounds, staining the grass underneath. He could barely use any jutsus, since Jiraiya had placed a seal on him. Now, more than half of his chakra was sealed away, and if he tried to break the seal by force, the seal would sap away his life energy, thus killing him.

Sakan couldn't escape either, since there were four enemies and all of them were powerful ninjas. He needed a miracle.

"Not so high and mighty now, hunh, Akatsuki?" Gai grinned down at him.

"Better to have been high and mighty than never have been at all," Sakan retorted.

"What did you say, Hoshigaki?" Tsunade slugged him in the chest. Hard.

Blackness pressed in on Sakan's vision, threatening to engulf him, but Sakan fought back, resisting unconsciousness or death.

Fumetsu. This was all Fumetsu's doing. I should send a messenger shark to the rest, but I would definitely die if I try. Running away isn't an option since there are four of them; two being part of the Legendary Sannin, one being a Sharingan wielder, and the last one…I don't know what the hell he is. I can't win this battle against them. Seems like all options lead to death.

"I can't believe the shark knows how to think!" Tsunade mocked.

"At least it's something you can't do," Sakan snapped back. Tsunade raised her fist to hit him again, but was cut off by Jiraiya.

"Tsunade! Don't waste your chakra with blows. Let's seal him and bring him back to Konoha for interrogation!"

Sakan snorted. "I've already made my decision, and I'm sorry to say that it doesn't involve me seeing Konoha!"

"What?" Kakashi's eyes widened.

Sakan had already started to form hand signs, making the Konoha attackers jump back to avoid what they thought would be an attack. They were surprised, however, when all Sakan did was spit out a tiny shark. The shark landed in a water bubble, carrying a scroll in its mouth, and sped away in the direction of the Akatsuki base.

"How did he break the seal?" Jiraiya shouted.

"I didn't break it," Sakan grinned, blood spurting from his mouth, "I merely fought it, withdrew some chakra, and performed a jutsu that allows me to send messages."

"Didn't you know that struggling against the seal saps away your life energy?" Kakashi was disbelieving.

Sakan fell to his knees. "Heh. I knew that. I'm not an idiot. And don't forget, I chose this path." Still smiling, he collapsed on the ground and did not move.

"He's dead?" Gai stared at the limp clone.

"I can't believe that a member of the Akatsuki chose to die in order to protect his comrades…if they consider other members comrades," Tsunade murmured.

Jiraiya straightened up. "Anyway, we're still taking his corpse back to Konoha. Let's go."

Tenchi, Kisame, and Konan were jumping through the trees when they saw something blue darting towards them. Halting, they peered warily at the shape, rushing forward once they realized it was one of Sakan's messenger sharks.

Kisame dispelled the shark with a swipe of Samehada and took the scroll. "'Fumetsu is a traitor. Don't come any farther. It's too late'," he read out loud. Grinding his teeth, he continued to run in the direction the messenger shark had come from, Tenchi and Konan at his heels.

The three skidded to a halt at the edge of the pond just as Zetsu emerged from the ground.

"Watch where you're going!" Black Zetsu snapped at Tenchi, who had almost stepped on him.

"Sorry!"

"He's not here…" Konan murmured, walking onto the surface of the lake.

Tenchi noticed Kisame crouched over something on the grass. Walking up as quietly as he could, he peered over Kisame's shoulder and saw blood splattered all over the grass like a painting done by a little kid.

"We really were too late," White Zetsu sighed sadly.

"So Sakan is dead as well."

"Yes, Leader-sama," Konan confirmed.

"What about his body?"

"Since there was no sign of a corpse, I'm guessing that the assailants took any dead with them."

"I wanted to eat the corpses!" White Zetsu complained.

Deidara whacked Zetsu's head. "This isn't the time for that, hmm!" he snapped.

"Thank you, Deidara," Pain said coldly. "Everyone is dismissed. Use your time now to mourn for Karasu and Sakan." He turned and left the room. We have already lost two of our friends.

Itachi stood at Karasu's head, thinking back to the day he spoke to her about the Mangekyou Sharingan.

"You kill your best friend."

"Kill…my best friend?" she repeated, eyes wide.

I held her gaze. "Not only must you kill him or her, you must also feel the pain of the murder. Would you do it to gain power?"

She remained silent. I could tell she was thinking, so I decided to give her a little time.

"I still don't have a clear understanding of what the Mangekyou Sharingan does, however…" she looked me straight in the eye, "I would never kill my best friend for power. My only goal in this lifetime is to protect those that I acknowledge as my comrades."

"You fulfilled your dream, Karasu," Itachi whispered, gently resting his hand on his apprentice's frozen one.

Ningyou's tears had long dried, and she sat in her room gazing up at the sky.

"And also…" she leaned in a little to whisper in my ear, "you like Nendo, don't you?"

I blushed. "What! That's not true!"

"Then why are you blushing?" she smirked. I was speechless. Since when did Karasu smile?

She clearly took my silence as confirmation for what she said. "I knew it." She turned to leave the room.

I grabbed the nearest thing, which was my pillow, and threw it at her. "Don't you dare tell anyone!"

"Sure." She left.

Ningyou buried her head in her arms, fresh tears cascading out of her eyes from the memory. "Karasu…please, come back," she begged/sobbed, even though her heart knew that was impossible.

Karasu was never coming back.

"Get a hold of yourself, Tenchi!" Itami shook her friend's shoulder firmly but gently.

"I failed my partner…" Tenchi muttered, tears falling from his eyes.

"You didn't fail anything, Tenchi," Itami contradicted gently, "Listen, one of these days before our five years are up, we're gonna find Orochimaru and avenge Karasu and Sakan, ok? We will make sure that Orochimaru understands the pain he sent us through."

"And Fumetsu," Tenchi added.

Itami smiled slightly. "Yes, and Fumetsu."

"The clones are very shocked, not to mention some of our members as well." Pain stared out the window at the pouring rain.

"The sky weeps as well." Konan stood beside her partner.

"Hopefully, the clones will be able to recover quickly."

"Do not expect too much from them, Nagato. This is their first time experiencing the pain of losing someone precious to them." Konan's voice had become sad.

"Like Yahiko." Pain closed his eyes and bowed his head, "But then again, this is the true meaning of war."

No announcements this time. Thanks for reading and reviews are appreciated!