It was surprising and at the same time worrisome that it took an hour for Gaara to clean the entire desert from Deidara's clay mines. With that threat gone my summon was no longer necessary so I dispelled the control I had on it and before it could mutter a single word of his anger, I sent him back to his land.

It made me wonder how he managed to do so without being detected or raising any alarm.

But I didn't sit idle, in the time Gaara was working I discussed with Karin with my plan and options how to deal with the new menace. And as expected she didn't waste any time to point out problems and outcomes, or how to improve them.

Also recommend terrible plans, we both had our faults after all.

She pushed her glasses before releasing a long sigh. "The main issue would be if they are working on a three cells team instead of two, not necessarily the three together but one watching from afar and intervene when necessary with a sneak attack that can be fatal."

And considering his hatred for what I'm, it would be way too brutal when given the opportunity.

"With him in the picture we wouldn't be able to move or lower our guard even a second, and since those two are immortal he would be way too reckless in our fight. There is too much to lose if that was the case."

I could picture my fight with Kakuzu and him exploiting the fact that he is immortal or his relative perfect defense or Hidan reckless fighting style to kamikaze himself with Deidara's stronger bombs.

"Should we abandon the plan then?" Karin looked at me to the eye waiting for my answer.

I only shook my head.

Abandoning the plan would mean to completely abandon Fu to her fate and allow Akatsuki and the idiot of Obito one step closer to success.

"I must find a better way to deal with the third one."

"Don't you think it is very optimistic to think that you can fight and defeat both?"

"My sharingan won't lose." My glare quickly overpowered her to the point she stepped back.

Yet I quickly realized such mood swings wouldn't do any good to me and my vision returned to normal before rubbing my temples trying to ease some tension. "Besides his strongest defense means nothing against my lighting if we were to fight in open combat."

I grabbed the hilt of my Kiba blades to show her a crucial item for my plan to succeed.

"Yet, you used to have some hesitation to fight Kakuzu alone not long ago."

Karin was quite the perceptive one, I was having doubts about fighting Kakuzu face to face and cooking up plans to dispatch him from afar or in a single strike.

My fight with Kisame really gave an enormous boost in confidence with my strength or it only stroked my Uchiha arrogance and unconsciously started to think like one.

"Don't ask many questions." I need not add more issues on top of the others again. "And plans never survive first contact with the enemy."

Karin was silent for a moment, looking around before she adjusted her glasses. "I know, but I think we should ask the Kazekage help on this one."

"Now that you mention it he has shown a lot of interest in finding Deidara." I took her words into consideration, and in fact that was a very good idea to deal with our current issue.

"I think it is a matter of pride." She was quick to speculate.

But, I was quick to dismiss as well. "His reason doesn't matter as long as he can keep that madman off my back."

"You should ask him, he had been sitting there for a while now." She pointed with her hand at the direction where I turned to see the Kazekage peacefully meditating while the sand slowly moved around him.

I slowly walked up to him but before I could speak he turned to look at me. "What do you need Uchiha?"

I stopped right on my tracks."Your assistance to get rid of Deidara."

He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds. "I had been looking for him for a while now and found no traces of him in my desert."

Those weren't good news. "What if he is using his giant clay bird to move around?"

He closed his eyes again, pondering the idea for a short while. "That is a possibility, or he isn't here."

"Will you help then?"

"I will kill him when I find him." His words could easily cut any surface and he wouldn't make that death painless, that I was sure of.

"Just look at the sky for any sign of a storm, that's when you know he will be around." I promptly turned around to return with my team, but Gaara seemed to have other ideas as his sand blocked my path.

"You seem to know when they will strike Uchiha." His words made me turn and face him again, he was looking directly at me trying to pierce my soul through my eyes.

Looking to the eyes of an Uchiha was a risky venture.

"Is a rough reference." I quickly replied.

But Gaara didn't seem to accept and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. "I want to know if you want me to help you."

It was obvious that he wouldn't relent with his demand, despite days ago he accepted my terms to keep everything relatively under secrecy.

But with the new situation at hand I couldn't just be stubborn, I needed his help to keep Deidara off my back so I could solely focus on my fight with Kakuzu.

I kept my silence for long seconds, weighing the cons and pros before I sighed, releasing all the tension that was building up in me.

"After the exams are over, they will wait for the Jinchuuriki to leave your borders to strike, or at least that's how it is supposed to go."

He simply nodded and returned to his meditation. "I will be looking at the sky."

Only then I finally left towards my team who were waiting for my return except when I was getting close Suigetsu closed the distance between us rather than wait.

"Yo Sasuke! Big guy here wants to say something." He pointed at Juugo who had a small brown bird resting on his head.

When I reached him he calmly broke out the news. "Takigakure team has left towards Suna."

As if my body was splashed with a bucket of cold water I was taken aback by the news.

"That was fast." I thought that the whole thing was a survival test, or it was a capture objective?

"They might have a trick under their sleeve." Karin brought up a possibility to think upon.

Perhaps Fu had some ability to communicate with insects which helped her to reach her objective faster? Or maybe the Bijuu inside her had something to do with it?

Questions and more questions without answers.

However, with her back at Suna she was relatively safe and away from the reach of the Zombie brothers and Akatsuki, in other words it wasn't necessary for us to stay outside in the wild.

"Let's go back."

We all headed back to Suna, after experiencing the comfortable bed (with a little extra), would have led into a very uncomfortable night and a lot of sand which I really grew to hate.

Since it was a long day, we all went to a popular restaurant but didn't stay only bought for take over since the tiresome day left us more needy for proper accommodations to rest, besides I wanted to eat on my bed.

However, as I unlocked the door, a very cheeky redhead relaxing on our couch greeted my vision.

"Oh, you brought dinner." She calmly stood up and stretched her limbs.

It was my instinct to make my hand grab the hilt of my blades as fast as possible whenever an unwanted surprise came to me.

"How did you get inside?" I immediately asked because I knew for a fact that the owners of the whole building explicitly declared how good the security was, they even wrote it in the contract, the high level of security the building complex had.

Tayuya only flashed a toothy smile. "I have my ways to bypass rustic security measures."

I frowned, it was clear that Jiraiya taught her more than she let herself know and she had more tricks under her sleeve.

My eyes quickly scanned our surroundings but failed to find anything out of place in the vicinity, my stance relaxed but I couldn't just drop my guard.

"You wouldn't bother us without a reason." After all, our first encounter made it abundantly clear how she didn't act without reason.

She shrugged. "True, I was relatively near Suna after the call for reinforcements and since I was here, I dropped to say hi."

Almost immediately, my face contorted into a deep frown. "How did you even know that we were staying here, better said how did you even know we were here?"

Tayuya looked at me as her lips slowly formed a long knowingly smile."I work in a spy network and for a spymaster, I don't need extremely detailed information to put two and two together to deduce stuff."

That reply didn't sit well with me for many reasons.

If she could know my location with ease then what would stop other spies to also discover my location as well? Yet at the same time Tayuya was a special case since she personally knew my team but for the rest would only matter of time to be as informed and quick to recognize any of us as a team.

Even Jiraiya's spy network's loyalty could be questioned.

The stress was building up once again, so annoying.

The issues would be discussed later because I soon realized that at the moment I had a new source of information.

"Then did this network pick up news of Deidara's location or at least last sight of him." Any bit of information might be useful to resolve such a mess.

Tayuya stopped her taunting attitude while her smile disappeared from her face, she held her chin while looking at the roof for a couple of seconds.

"The last confirmed sight was in the Kazekage's kidnapping, then only rumors that he had been moving around Iwa, is quite surprising that a guy like him can be that good at covering his tracks."

That information was practically useless, but at the same time it was very optimistic to even think that they could get any information on the Akatsuki since Zetsu was the superior spy and counterspy ever in existence, if it wasn't for him and Nagato then others would have found out the base of operations sooner.

I had to rub my temples to ease some tension. "Other Akatsuki members?"

"Kisame killed an entire squad recently, the saggy hag is livid right now."

I literally was there to see them die, that wasn't new to me at all.

"It was a mistake to send no names against him."

"They could have easily beat the shitty attitude out of you."

I raised an eyebrow, there was no need to even look at my teammates to know that they also shared the same sentiment regarding her bold statement.

And her shitty attitude time had run out, the slight amusement from her actions turned into annoyance, a thing I really didn't want to deal with at the moment.

"Anything else you need to tell us before I kick you out of here?"

Her attitude also had a drastic change as she rolled her eyes before handing me a small note with something written on it."Ugh, still an asshole, if you have a chance, drop by at this place because someone wants to speak with you."

"Someone?" I read the address but I did not understand where that place could be and I could tell she wanted me to go to that address alone, something that didn't sit well with me, especially after what she pulled on us in our first encounter.

"Yes, someone." She replied as a matter of fact.

"Alright, now get the fuck out of here." I pointed to the exit while placing the note inside one of my pouches.

She remained in place for a couple of seconds before flipping me off with a cocky grin, honestly speaking more than annoying me, it surprised me and amusing me at the same time.

"Bitch." Suigetsu was quick to provoke as expected and completely ignored that she directed that insult to me specifically.

I didn't hesitate to deliver a chop to his head to effectively shut him up. "Don't start."

He only looked at me annoyed but said nothing more and left while Tayuya did the same and closed the door behind her.

There were more things to discuss with her, but that would be on another opportunity since the day was essentially over.

Going to the table, I grabbed my portion and left towards my room to eat alone and enjoy a quiet moment for myself after an endless day and probably reflect about a couple of things.

Yet that way of thought couldn't be more wrong since every bite I was lost in my thoughts about the green-haired Jinchuuriki success in the first phase of the exams leading me to I asked myself if I should approach her in the following days to learn more or just stay hidden until they left towards their ambush to make my appearance.

Both had their own pros and cons, but the biggest con would reveal my identity, which I still wanted to maintain a secret. And if I were to approach her with such a shady appearance might get an unfavorable if not a hostile reaction.

Suddenly making my appearance to save the day would definitely have the best reaction at the very end if my aim was to create good relations without risking much exposure.

And being lost in my own thoughts, I ended up finishing my entire plate, only realizing by the sound of my chopstick making when it touched the bare plate. Despite having a very tempting smell being lost in my own train of thoughts didn't let me enjoy the full taste and flavor of my dinner, what a shame.

But that little regret didn't last long since I heard a knocking from my door before being opened, revealing a concerned Karin slowly approaching before taking a seat on my bed.

I said nothing as I waited for her to start.

"Will you go to the address that Tayuya gave you?" She finally started with a question, since she was the curious type as well of course sooner or later she would ask me about it.

"No." It was a matter of trust more than anything and a potential kidnapping attempt. Also, I suspected that who might show up there.

"Why?"

I turned to look at Karin to the eye. "Karin, why are you so damn curious or insistent with all these questions today?" Even for a perceptive girl like her, it could be considered a little too many questions for a single day.

"Well...you are just odd? I mean, you have been changing your attitude so quickly." "I'm worried that something is bothering you so much to cause these issues."

She was right, everything was pilling up on me so quickly my attitude was being affected. "You are really perceptive, aren't you?"

She smiled as she puffed out her chest with pride. "I cannot overlook minor details or this party might fall into a hole, you know?"

I opted to overlook her indirect insult to my leadership abilities, the only problem my team faced every day was the constant bickering and fighting between her and Suigetsu.

Obviously I couldn't go and talk about how I hijacked Sasuke's body or I, an Uchiha, was having deep confidence issues regarding other shinobis that weren't Itachi.

I took a deep breath before releasing a long, tired sigh. "I fought Kisame to a standstill even if our fight was brief."

"Very few in the world can claim that." She was correct and theoretically speaking, only Guy can truly defeat him in open combat.

My eyebrows scrunched together. "And on paper he CAN defeat Itachi." Kisame eats chakra to increase his own and his power, and knows his abilities very well. "So that means that I'm strong enough to finally beat that bastard?"

Her face contorted into a frown. "That's a rough question."

"Yet I don't believe but I know that Itachi could fend off and even kill Deidara along with Kakuzu, yet here I'm asking for help and worrying for my safety." Mostly my worries came from Deidara's suicidal tendencies to take me down with him.

"Oh, I think maybe you shouldn't worry over future issues and focus on the present for now?" Karin's face brightened as she came up with her rather naïve solution.

"If it was that easy." I rolled my eyes.

She crossed her arms in frustration. "Ugh I really don't know what to say here, share an inspirational story or words of comfort?"

Somehow I found humor in her words and her attitude attracted me quite a lot.

My hand sneaked around her waist and pulled her down while positioning myself on top of her, causing her face to instantly turn into a shade of red as she looked at me.

We both were hormonal teenager, after all.

AN: Time ago I promised that I would put omakes after reaching 1k favs and it soon will reach it by the thing is that I kinda have them but won't post it after reaching the end of the first ARC which will be soon along with an interlude. I hope you enjoy and wish you well in these erratic times.

Stay safe out there.

Neither of us want to see you go hollow.