In a cave, eight people were meeting. they were just shadows of what they truly were.

"Any sign on who the Konoha jinjuriki is?" one asked, his voice fuzzy. another figure, whose red eyes glittered in the dark hesitated,

"No, Leader-sma. either Konoha is keeping it well hidden or the kyuubi has yet to manifest."

"Were you not apart of Konoha's ANBU Corp?" another sneered, a singler blue eyes slitted in mocking.

"I was not apart of the elite. i was an ANBU leader, but not one of the Hokage's guard." The red-eyed one returned.

"Itachi, You and Kisame are to return to recon then, Sasori, Deidara, there is a mission statement heading your way, Hidan, Kakuzu, continue your current mission, as well as you, Zetsu." the image of the leader flickered out, as well as the woman sitting beside him. soon, all of the fuzzy shadows flickered out of existence.

A few miles off, two men awoke from their trance. Itachi Uchiha, and Kisame Hoshigaki.

" 'Tachi?" Kisame rumbled.

'You heard leader-sama, we must continue our recon mission…" he trailed off, and glanced around, looking out over the forest. Kisame couldn't sense it, but a terrible dread gripped Itachi's heart, for the kunochi he had begun to care for.

many miles away from the two Akatsuki members, Naruko was beginning to wake up, having slept fitfully through the night, she felt healed back to her previous strength. she stretched and looked around, the others were still asleep, the fire was out and it seemed that the food was gone, as was the crawled out of her bedroll and silently made two clones. one went to get water, one went to fetch firewood, and naruko went to gather food. she water-walked and pulled her katana from the sheath she had in her hand, she hadn't resealed it the day before. she watched carefully and gradually speared ten fish, so each of their party could have two. she returned to camp to find the fire going, and two big bottles of water. she nodded, and the memories from her clones returned to her. she made one more, to scout, and then begin cooking the fish. as the fish cooked, she went ahead and packed her stuff up.

Sasuke was the first to wake. he found naruko sitting against a tree, there were ten fish on a stick over the fire, the oil from their flesch sizzling into the flames. naruko seemed to have packed up, resealed her stuff and was now reading her little orange book. he frowned, but a yawn overtook him and he stretched. Naruko looked up,

"Morning, 'Suke." she said softly, "Two of those fish are yours. there are rice balls in the bag next to the fire, thats breakfast." Sasuke frowned, he hadn't had anyone make him food for a long time. he shrugged, and thanked her as he pulled two fish off the stick, he coated his hands with protective chakra as to not burn himself.

The process was repeated with Sakura, then kakashi. they were a little happier about the free food though. after they had all eaten, they woke Tanzua and gave him his food. they sat round him, and after a few moments, he became uncomfortable.

"Wh-what?' he asked.

"You had two A-class chinnin criminals after you. they were ninja, on a c-rank mission we are only supposed to face bandits." Naruko pointed out.

'That means.." kakashi growled, "You lied." tanzua began to shake, then started wailing.

'Please have mercy! I can't afford to pay for an A-rank mission! our country is being pillaged and destroyed and our only hope is to finish this bridge." they listened as Tanzua launched into a deep story about Gato and his men capitalizing the Waves country. they thought a moment when he was done. Naruko stood up, and unsealed her Katana, and then strapped it to her waist.

"What are we waiting for?' she said in a barely audible tone. her blue eyes were fiercely angry, and her shoulders rigid.

"What do you mean baka?" Sasuke drawled.

"What I mean is, we are finishing this mission, and tanzua will pay us for an A-rank mission, wont he? after his bridge is built?"

"Oh of course i will!" he trilled.

"Then lets go." Kakashi stood, and looked back at the other two. Sasuke thought a moment and nodded, standing up, if the Dobe wasn't scared, then neither was he. Sakura stood up, in her head, she told herself that she would go as far as Sasuke would, bout out loud it was:

'We're strong enough, so I'll follow."

The team walked for a while, then took a boat ride across the sea to an island of land. they passed under a half finished grand bridge.

"Thats impressive." naruko nodded.

"Thank you," Tanzua preened, "it is the best work I have ever done."

After they got out of the boat, they started walking through the trees, and soon, a thick mist began filtering around them. Naruko scented the air, channeling a small amount of Kurama's chakra as to be able to use her fox-like senses.

"Duck!" she cried, and drug Tanzua down by his shirt. Kakashi leaped back, and Sasuke pulled Sakura down. a sword, taller than naruko embedded itself in a tree, and s tall man with bandages over the lower half of his face jumped onto it,

"How could you tell I was coming, Kunochi?" his voice was a rumbling growl.

'How could I not? Your Kiri stench is overpowering." she hissed, her canines were longer, her pupils sharper, and whisker marks more defined, as she had accidentally drawn on more of Kurama's chakra in fear.

"Well, you are none of my concern.." he turned, "Kakashi Hatake, the copy-cat ninja, now you, are worth my time."

"Futon! Wind palm!" She shot a gust of compressed air at the man, Zabuza Momochi. He was knocked off his Sword, and the sword was dislodged and stabbed into the ground near him.

"Maybe I was wrong…" he snarled, and pulled himself up by the handle of his sword, "I'll kill you first." he wrenched his sword out of the ground, his biceps flexing, naruko got in a stance and smirked,

"Bring it."

Ok, i have been Trying to post more often,l and I hope that hasn't downgraded my writing at all. thank you, . I have quite enjoyed your reviews, even though they're not always kind. your criticizem has helped allot :D You are definitely one of my favorites.

-Ari the Fox