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With Kakashi

The sun had begun to set in the west horizon. Orange rays scattered across the almost cloudless sky. Kakashi lay flat on his back with his backpack as a pillow and his left leg dangling over the side of the large branch he was laying on. He was busy examining the ring he had successfully stolen from the female Akatsuki. The kanji 'Haku' carved on the purple diamond caught his attention. "What is the meaning of this?" he wondered out loud.

The jounin was so caught up with the ring that he didn't notice the presence of another shinobi nearby. The shinobi sneaked closer and closer and still he failed to notice it. Kakashi examined the inner side of the ring. At first glance, it was as though nothing was there. But Kakashi was no ordinary ninja. He possessed the Sharingan, one of the last of its kind. He noticed a miniscule writing under the diamond base, but because of the darkness still couldn't make out the words exactly.

But his attention was diverted almost instantly when the sound of leaves rustling became louder and in a matter of seconds, he was surrounded by sand. The sand didn't trap him like Gaara's sand, but it was making him difficult to breath. His vision was also blurred by the mini sandstorm and he began to cough violently. Suddenly, a hard blow landed on his back. Another one hit him square in the face. In the sand, he can't determine which direction the attacks came from. A final kick to his torso knocked him out cold.

With the Konoha Folks

Tsunade stared wide eyed at the stacks of paperwork. "Why again did I accept this Hokage position?" she sighed heavily and reached the one at the top. "Group 11 had successfully captured the escaped cat, Taro. Do I even need to know about that? 1 lost cat will not make a difference to the village," she mumbled incoherently. More and more D-ranked mission reports were tossed aside. Her concentration of crumpling mission reports and tossing it aside was disturbed by a fast rapping on her window.

"Damn it, Jiraiya! How many times did I have to tell you, use the door! Have some respect, will you?" her old teammate had to cover his ears from her shrill voice. "I'll remember that next time, but you have to listen to this. According to my sources, one of the members of Akatsuki had left the base and now moves alone. It is our chance for us to extract information because they usually work in pairs. And to think that Orochimaru had his eyes on this particular member, it is our golden opportunity," the Fifth Hokage was listening intently to him by this point.

"Anymore information, Jiraiya?" she enquired but he just smirked and sat down in front of her. "The best part is, this member is near to where Hatake Kakashi is right now,". "You must be joking! Kakashi is far from a fit condition to get involved in a battle, especially with an Akatsuki member!" Jiraiya didn't even flinch when she slammed the table with her fist. "He did before, and he said she is not as dangerous as the other Akatsukis,". "Did you say 'she', Jiraiya? Akatsuki have a female member?". "I also had just known this fact. Surprising, isn't it? This will make our battle more interesting. Let's see if the others will come out if we use this one as bait," He quickly got up and left through the window with a mysterious smile.

Tsunade blinked a couple of times before rummaging through the reports once again. Once she had found the paper she wanted, she ran out of the room and called out to Shizune. "Shizune, send in Uzumaki Naruto, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, Tenten and Nara Shikamaru. Immediately!" the younger woman was startled by her command that she had let go all the scrolls she had been carrying in her arms. The hall was a mess but thankfully Tsunade had retreated into her office. Genma who was standing nearby approached to help her collect all the scrolls. "No, Genma. Please summon Naruto, Team 8, Tenten and Shikamaru as fast as possible. The Godaime is in one of her foul mood again. It must be something very important," he nodded in understanding and transported to the location he was sure Naruto would be, Ichiraku's.

As expected, Naruto was there and to his relieve so does the rest of Rookie Nine and Gai's Team. "Naruto, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Tenten and Shikamaru. The Hokage wants to see the six of you immediately," Naruto groaned because he wanted to eat more ramen. And to think that today everyone is treating him to it. "What does Tsunade-baachan wants? I am having one of the best moments of my life!" Tenten rolled her eyes. She was ready to go, Kiba standing next to her, Shino next to him. Shikamaru muttered "Mendoukusai," under his breath while Hinata had stood up and stood next to Tenten. "I don't know. Probably another mission, I guess. Well, I have some important matters to attend to. You guys better go fast, she did not look really happy," Naruto stubbornly continued eating ramen, and even reaching for Hinata's unfinished bowl of ramen. It took the combined effort of Kiba and Tenten pulling him and Rock Lee and Sakura pushing him off the table to get the hyperactive ninja to move.

In two minutes time, all of them were already in the Hokage's office listening to Tsunade's briefing. "An Akatsuki member had ventured out alone. Your mission now is to-" "Kill him? No way, that's impossible!" Naruto practically yelled in Kiba's ears. "No, your mission is to bring her back alive. We could obtain useful information if this mission succeeds. Remember, Akatsuki work in pairs, but this one does not. Whatever you do, put safety first. Even if she is alone, she is still a member of the Akatsuki, an organization of S-rank criminals. Keep that in mind. For this mission, I appoint Shikamaru as the leader and Tenten you are second in command," Shikamaru lazily caught the scroll thrown by Tsunade and keep it in his vest pocket. "If there is nothing left, get moving!" the six shinobis nodded in unison and left the office for their new mission.

With Konan

Konan rubbed her eyes wearily and looked around. It was long past midnight judging from the quietness and darkness. She slowly sat up from the trunk she was leaning on and stretched. 'Wait, how can I stretch with my limp arm?' she stopped midway and looked at her right arm. The wound that was there before was gone completely. She also felt refreshed and energetic, as though her charka had just been replenished.

She smiled in satisfaction and threw her hair back, letting it dance in the cold night breeze. Her hair was slightly longer than Itachi's, and stopped at her mid back. Its curls gave her a childish and innocent look, she remembered Pein once commented. Konan finally put on a traveling cloak and slung her back pack before started walking again. She had to reach another village before her supplies run low again. And the nearest village right now is the Sand Village. From what she had heard among the members of Akatsuki, the Kazekage is a personal friend of Uzumaki Naruto. Perhaps she will learn any useful information about him, and will lead her straight to Haruno Sakura.

Konan flipped down the branch and landed on a lower branch, she jumped to another branch before sliding down the trunk. Her sharp hearing caught the sound of a kunai flying towards her direction. Before the kunai can hit her, she jumped upwards and grabbed a branch before trying to look out for her attacker. A shower of shurikens came from her back but she was quicker to dodge. Konan flipped down and landed on the ground gracefully. The attacker was still unseen by her azure blue eyes. This had irritated her a bit.

Her hands formed a series of seals before a strong gust of wind blew around her. She let thousands of paper shuriken into the tornado, cutting leaves and branches. By the time her attack finished, nearby trees were chopped down, the paper shurikens impaled everywhere. She snapped her fingers and all the shurikens flew back to her. Some of it had traces of blood on it. 'Human's blood,' she thought to herself and shot her sight around trying to look for the one who attacked her a few moments ago.

"Come out, will you! Don't be such a coward!" she shouted angrily. No response at all. It irked her even more. She had wasted her time on this. Konan spun around to continue her journey to Sand Village but was stopped by footsteps behind her. A young man with gray hair and spectacles was standing there, looking at her with a smile. He got several bruises and cuts on his body, but some of it appeared to be had been healed.

"Hello there, Konan-chan. I'm Yakushi Kabuto. A pleasure to meet you," he held out a hand as a gesture of friendliness.

With Itachi and Kisame

"Is this how I should do it?" Kisame asked Itachi with his eyes never away from the flower. Itachi nodded in approval and straightened out another petal. "She needs your support in her battles, which I guessed she did the same with Leader-sama. Fuse in your chakra into it and she will benefit from your chakra." it was Kisame's turn to nod. "Now, I want to get some sleep. You keep an eye on this flower, and the rabbits. I don't want burnt rabbit as a meal," the Uchiha pulled his thin blanket over and dozed off peacefully. Kisame leaned back and wondered what Konan would be doing right now.

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