Kisame stared into the tree line as he waited for his strange partner to return. When he finally emerged, Itachi's eyes seemed to sparkle a dusty undertone.

"You seem…happy."

"But I am, Kisame," Itachi seized his arm," Let's get a drink to celebrate the occasion!" As he allowed himself to be led to town, Kisame mulled over how he'd explain Itachi's behavior to Pein. He doubted saying he'd been hit on the head would be sufficient, as Pein was no fool. Drugs weren't a likely route either. Sick? Yeah, that could work! If he threw in that Itachi had been hit with a genjutsu too this could work.

He watched as the trekked towards the tavern and wished he had the ability to throw something. Some fool was going to ruin him!

"Kisame," he thought, gritting his teeth, "you better see through this deception soon."

Mizuumi dried her eyes and began the lonely journey to the Leaf Village once again. Sixty miles were left of her mission and then she could return home a hero.

"Are you lost?" Mizuumi's heart leapt. A voice sharing striking similarity to the one of her squad's killer resounded around her like the sound of water dripping in cavern.

"No," she held her voice level despite the pounding in her chest.

"No? Very well, find the way to the Leaf Village yourself."

"…Ok, I'm lost." The voice's energy changed. It almost felt as if it was trying not to laugh.

"A laugh?" Mizuumi thought, "Does that mean that the voice is…human?"

"It's this way, follow me."

He could scarcely suppress an exasperated chuckle. Mizuumi intended to complete her mission, which he thought was noble, but had no idea as to how she should get there.

"It's this way, follow me."

"Where are you?"

"Look behind you," he sighed. Mizuumi wheeled around and jumped back when she saw him. Her surprise turned to rage a she took in his features. Suddenly he felt this was going to be a long trip.

The boy she locked eyes with was the perfect image of "KU", and his eyes were the same ones she'd seen peering at her from out of the bushes. His hair was raven black with a few strips of grey and was tired back in a long low ponytail. He wore the same black cloak with red clouds as the person she'd seen before when she thought about it, the three of them were the same age. It sickened her that someone so young could kill so ruthlessly.

"You!" The realization hit her like a tidal wave, "You're the one who killed my squad!"

"It wasn't me," the voice stated simply.

"You sure look the same to me," Mizuumi seethed.

"If I were him, don't you think you would have shared their fate by now?"

"True enough," Mizuumi conceded, "So who are you then?"

Kisame wished he could wake up from this nightmare if in fact it was one. Seeing Itachi guzzle down alcohol like he'd done so his whole life when before the night before he'd never seen Itachi eat wasn't helping things.

"Please tell me this is just a dream," Kisame begged mentally, "Right now I'd be thankful to be under genjutsu." Kisame was losing his mind.

Kisame was staring at him strangely. Did he suspect the truth so soon? He'd hoped that using the girl as an excuse would hold out longer, but at this rate that option seemed to be fizzling like a bomb ready to go up in flames at any second. He had known from the beginning it would end quickly, but now was when he began to realize the major flaw in his flawless plan.

He didn't want to disappear again.

He'd hoped this wouldn't come up, for he hadn't had time to come up with a disguise yet. If his appearance wasn't a dead giveaway, then his name would be.

"You need not concern yourself with who I am but with the identity of your squad's killer, and the only way to find that out is to find him."

"I don't know how to track him!"

"But I do."

"How?" Mizuumi challenged.

"He…has something important to me."

"So you want revenge," he noticed it was more a statement than a question, "What's in it for me?"

"Don't you too crave vengeance?"

"Yes."

"He's headed towards your village in the morning. We should get moving so we can beat them there."

"How do you know?"

"Enough questions, let's go."

Kisame stared at Itachi until he noticed him it took longer, and he naturally blamed the alcohol.

"Need something?" Itachi asked smiling. The smile sent a shiver down Kisame's spine. Itachi never smiled.

"Time to go, Kaito."

His heart, or more properly, Itachi's heart, skipped a beat. He knew, but how could he know his name? Kisame raised an eyebrow.

"It's your name, remember?" Kisame gave him a look. Kaito mentally kicked himself for forgetting that Itachi used his name as a disguise. Paranoia wasn't something he needed to succumb to if he was to accomplish his goals.

"Of course. I was just thinking. How about we stop by the Waterfall Village?"

"Why Itachi, I never took you as one to exceed orders like this. Where is this personality coming from?"

"I've had a change of perception so to say. If we crush the village, their spirits are sure to follow."

"Heh, you just don't want to go on another one of these missions."

"True enough," It was true; Kaito didn't want to waste precious little time of such repetitive tasks.

Itachi led Mizuumi through the crowded streets. She was slower than anyone he'd ever worked with, and he felt sorry for the Leaf Village for having her village as their ally.

"I'm hungry," Mizuumi complained, "can we stop to eat?"

"Be quick. We need to reach the village before they do." Mizuumi ducked into the restaurant where she'd had her last meal.

"True enough," a voice of strong similarity to his laughed from the restaurant next door. Itachi turned his head so he could gaze into the next building, a tavern. Inside, sitting next to the window, were Kisame and his imposter.

"What do you see?" Mizuumi whispered, having come back outside.

"My target."

Kaito felt Itachi's gaze burning into him like a hot iron. He turned his golden eyes calmly towards him. Had he been around longer, he'd have known what he was experiencing when he locked eyes with Itachi was fear.

"Kaito, let's go," Kisame urged as he rose to his feet. Kaito turned to follow.

"Kaito!" He whipped his head back around. Itachi held his gaze with such hate that it was unnerving, "Is that your true name. Kaito?" Kaito gave Itachi his signature smile.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

The alcohol must be getting to Itachi, for he was talking to a window.

"Kaito, let's go," Kisame repeated. Itachi didn't argue, he just followed him out.

"Who were you talking to?" Kisame demanded once they were outside the town. Itachi smiled, his eyes another richer shade of gold.

"Didn't you see her? It was the waitress from the last restaurant.

"No seriously."

Mizuumi was waiting outside for her partner, ramen in a Styrofoam cup. As she sipped the noodles out of an opening in the lid, someone bumped into her. He wore a black cloak and a tan straw hat.

"My apologies madam, its dark and I couldn't see you there." The man tipped his hat and went on his way. When he finally came back from his exploit, Mizuumi's partner appeared troubled.

"Didn't go as planned?"
"No."

"You know, I still don't know your name."

Itachi suppressed a sigh. There was no way he'd get her mind away from his identity, and judging by how stubborn she was he figured Mizuumi just might figure it out.

"If you know my name, you wouldn't like it," Itachi hoped she was a dumb as her decisions and that a subtle hint would get her to leave him alone.

"I could tell that much."

"Enlighten me," he was curious to see how absurd Mizuumi's theory could be.

"The people who attacked us were Akatsuki, and you're wearing the same cloak which means you're an Akatsuki as well," Mizuumi appeared to be thinking hard as she continued," Your headband denotes you as a Leaf shinobi, and from my knowledge only one Akatsuki has come from the Leaf."

"So who am I?" Itachi's heart raced. Finally, she had had an intelligent thought!

"No clue, your page is missing out of my Bingo Book."

Itachi had to once again suppress the urge to laugh, only this time out of hysteria. That close and the fool still had no clue! Children these days were becoming more oblivious than the last. At the back of his mind, Itachi wondered if Sasuke was still clueless. Maybe when this was all over he'd pay him a visit.

They set up camp in one of the first clearings they saw. Mizuumi realized with a stab of anguish that it was one of the clearings Kaiba had suggested. Maybe if Yuki had listened the attack wouldn't have happened.

"We followed you all the way here for this purpose. You couldn't have avoided it."

"How did you-?"

"You're thinking too loud."

"At least I think!"

"Clearly not enough."

Kisame took the first watch so he could observe this person who he'd decided couldn't possibly be Itachi. The first sign had been the personality change, and the second was his eyes. They say the eyes are the window to the soul, and to him Itachi's had always been hazy and unreadable due to everything he'd seen. He'd never allowed any light to reach the depths. This person's were gold and seemed to hold an untainted light somewhere within. It was so easy to read the person who they belonged to that it was hard to believe he had no idea who they were.

The third giveaway was his hair. Itachi's was raven black besides a few streaks of grey, but this person's was a solid cobalt blue even in intense sunlight.

Their chakra was the same, their voices were the same, but they couldn't be the same. The night was so crisp and clear it too almost couldn't be real.

Mizuumi decided she'd take the first watch so she could try to figure out her partner's identity. She knew he'd have some sort of identification on him, but it was clear that it would be well hidden.

She ran through a mental checklist of tactics that were physically possible. He was taller than her, and he was undoubtedly faster too. Being an Akatsuki meant he had much better chakra control than her and he wasn't afraid to use it. He was too strong to fight, but maybe she could trap him if forced into an altercation.

Itachi hoisted himself onto a high up branch in one of the trees that surrounded the clearing. Mizuumi had taken first watch because she obviously planed to find out his identity tonight, and he was taking every precaution to combat that chance. Itachi smiled to himself, wondering what she would think of him after she found his I.D. that he'd accidentally dropped while climbing the tree.

Mizuumi twirled a kunai absentmindedly around on her finger. She waited five minutes, then ten, then fifteen, and after thirty minutes she decided her target was asleep. She crept forward in by painstaking inch until she was standing beneath the tree where he was sleeping. She took one more step and heard a crunch. Her whole body went rigid. Heart thundering, she refused to breathe while she listened to the forest around her. Nothing stirred the air but a faint breeze. Breathing normally, she looked down. Under her foot was a shiny plastic car with a picture of her partner on it. Next to his image was one word.

"Dante?" She rolled the word around in her mind for a moment. It was an unusual name and certainly not the first one that came to mind. When she looked at him, he seemed more like an Itachi to her.

Kaito had no dreams that night because sleep never came to him. He could feel two eyes burrowing into him as if gazing into his soul. This feeling, like all the others, was new to him, and he didn't know how to resolve it. Itachi's comrade was becoming dangerous.

Kisame once again allowed Itachi to take the lead through the forest that morning. According to him, they'd reach the Waterfall Village by dusk, and because Kisame had never been there, he didn't question Itachi's knowledge.

True to his word, Itachi led them to a clearing within sight of the village before night set in.

"We should split up for this," Itachi began sketching a map into the dirt with a stick, "I'll take the west side, you'll take the east, and the village gate will be the divider."

"How about we stick to routine and have me take the west?" Kisame challenged.

"No, I must take the west."

"Why do you want the west so much?"

"There's something on that side that I need."

"Very well, take your west."Kaito shuddered. Kisame didn't like breaking routine like this. He'd challenged him and knew he was different than Itachi. He'd have to deal with him soon or he'd be destroyed. Kaito pulled a notebook out of Itachi's pocket and began writing in it. It was Itachi's journal, but he doubted that he'd mind.

Itachi woke up to Mizuumi prodding him in the side with a giant stick.

"Time to get up, Dante," she had such a self assured smirk on her face that Itachi wanted desperately to inform her that that wasn't in fact his name, but that he'd glued his picture onto the I.D. last night. Instead, he played along and pretended to search frantically for his I.D. holder in his cloak. He sighed dramatically.

"Hand it over, Mizuumi."

"Hmm….no, I don't think I will."

"And why is that?"

"I don't feel like it." Itachi easily lifted her up and slammed her into a tree with one hand. With the free one, he placed a kunai against her throat.

"Feel like it now?"

…..

After retrieving his I.D., Itachi and Mizuumi hurried towards the Waterfall Village. They arrived late in the afternoon and camped out in a clearing near the village gate.

"Why don't we just go inside?" Mizuumi asked.

"We'll get caught in the attack too if we don't wait out here."

"But my brother's in there!"

"Then we'll just have to make sure we succeed."

Meanwhile, Kisame was getting cold feet.

"Pein may not like us taking a side trip." Itachi turned to him, his eyes an intense gold.

"Then we'll just have to make sure we succeed," Itachi smirked.

That night, the raid began.