Our group left the scene almost immediately after.

I could describe our journey to Taki as boring but not unfortunate. Nothing happened, but part of me wished for anything to happen. Any random encounter to spice things up, yet I wanted nothing out of the ordinary. I wanted to stick with the plan as I didn't want stupid and totally avoidable risks or problems.

The days passed at a rapid pace. The only difference I subtly took notice of was that Fu kept her distance from Suigetsu whenever she didn't need to talk to him. But since it didn't affect our group cohesion or raise any problem, I paid little attention, as she was technically keeping her word.

But that boredom gave me time to think, and the very thing I understood was that I really missed sleeping on a big comfy bed. Sleeping bags, despite all Fu's improvements, still pale in comparison to a proper bed.

And my mind reenacted my fight against that kunoichi many times, thinking about what I could have done differently, playing different scenarios. My sharingan perfectly recorded it at every detail, it was just amazing to understand and remember everything with such precision.

From the exact face Suigetsu made when my Sharingan flared up to the recent fight. An idea came to mind with such a perfect memory. What if I read books with my Sharingan? Or even just take a glance at them. There were too many uses for that kind of photographic memory.

That hypothesis I put to test one day when it was time to sleep, Karin had the bingo books with her, which she happily lent to me when asked.

Mentally preparing myself, my Sharingan flared up and to my surprise, it was difficult to read in the night's dark and my reddened vision didn't make it any better. I couldn't see any words as they were incomprehensible, making me give up after a while. I had to admit it was a stupid idea to read in the middle of the night with no reliable source of light.

The next day in the morning, I tried again as my team was making all the necessary preparations to continue with our journey. Sitting atop of a tree with the sunlight directly above me, giving me a clear view of the book compared to the other night, my Sharingan activated, returning to the red vision and trying to read again.

An endeavor that resulted easier to accomplish thanks to the solar illumination, reading only the first page and then skimming through the entire book, only glancing at the pages. It was a quick look, and I closed the book, letting my eyes rest and stopping my Sharingan.

I immediately recalled the pages and their content, but as a very detailed picture, and having to read that mental picture was strange, but it was possible. It is best described as a word puzzle that became easily readable after putting everything together, but it felt less efficient than reading, and I perfectly engraved the only page I read in my mind. The profile of a random Ame missing-nin, and I knew all the details from his appearance to his crime, which was colluding with rebels groups against the Ame regime.

Even with the little disadvantage, all the pros overshadowed it. But for the moment, it didn't seem to be much use to me with all the potential fights I will face, yet I could use it for espionage and intel gathering since it was beyond perfect. But for those tasks, I had Karin, who had ample experience. Jiraiya and Tayuya could also provide information if asked, but I couldn't fully trust them.

When I had more time to meditate, I could think of better uses, but I had a schedule to keep, and my team was finishing with their preparations, giving me the signal to return and resume our way to Takigakure.

Fu happily took the lead for most of the morning and, as expected, nothing happened within that time frame. Everything was just too peaceful and silent for my liking.

The jinchuuriki suddenly stopped, and we followed soon after. She had a distinct look on her face before she dropped to the ground, where she slowly walked in circles around a thick tree. She leaned closer for some reason, only to move her attention to another tree.

I couldn't understand what she was doing, but I said nothing as she might have her reasons and I had mild curiosity.

"We will reach Taki outskirts in a day." She finally announced.

"Are we that close? Man, not going to any town sucks. I feel lost!"

"The insects are different, mostly native to Takigakure, which is enough for me to make a guess."

"Do we need to enter the village? So we can prepare proper disguises for everyone." Karin asked her.

The jinchuuriki brought a finger below her chin in thought for a short while before shaking her head. "Unless you really want something from the village, there is no need since my old home is on the outskirts."

"Good grief, the faster we leave the better." Suigetsu commented.

"Stop being impatient Suigetsu." Karin tried to chastise him, but it didn't even reach him as he was more focused on stretching his limbs.

"I just want a nice place to crash for a while. My outstanding success in collecting Kiri swords got me tired."

Rather than yell at him Karin thought about his idea. "Well, your idea isn't bad per se, it has been a while since I slept in a nice comfy bed."

"I don't want to sound rude, but I also want a nice bed." Fu also expressed the same thing.

"Don't worry, I will follow your lead." Jugo added his support.

"So what do you say, Sasuke?" Karin turned to me with expecting eyes.

"The idea is tempting but I'm currently worried about something."

"You are worried?" Suigetsu became interested along with our jinchuuriki as they came closer, waiting for an explanation.

"We have been within the borders of the Fire Country for days and killed foreign shinobis. We also witnessed civilian massacres, but not a single squad from Konoha came looking for us. Don't you find that strange?"

For our fight alone, the area should have been buzzing with activity, an event that wouldn't go unnoticed by Karin's sensory abilities.

The redhead gasped. "You...are right. Is very strange now that you mention it."

"Maybe we are good at covering our tracks?" Fu tried to explain with her limited knowledge.

"We can cover our tracks as much as we want, but the clans of the Inuzuka or Aburame can still find us if they put effort." Karin was quick to shoot down the possibility, besides those two clans weren't the only ones who could find us.

"Not only that, but Tayuya would have been around nagging us the whole time for answers." I added since she and Jiraiya always found themselves around us in our recent travels. It was impossible that they wouldn't know of our presence in the fire country and our little skirmish. Better said they would already demand answers for all those civilian deaths, or at least an invitation for an audience to give a proper report of everything to clear any suspicions from us.

Yet nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

"I know her very well. She wouldn't waste an opportunity like this." Karin was finally understanding my train of thought and my growing concern, turning into her worries as well, with her face shifting from calm to distressed.

"Now you understand why I'm worried?"

She nodded.

"We should gather information as soon as possible." She set a new urgent objective to complete, but her eyes flickered to different light and turned to face me. "But where? We are very far from any city leaving us Ame, which might get us killed since not a single spy from the Orochimaru network returned from that place, and then to the north is Takigakure."

"What about Kusa? Is not that far from our position." Fu suddenly interjected in our discussion.

"No, we won't go to that place." Karin shot down her idea without hesitation.

"But why?" She tilted her head to the side.

"Because I'm a deserter? And I hate them?" Karin snapped back, her expression suffering a drastic change as she glared daggers at our jinchuuriki, who felt the change and stepped back in surprise.

"I'm sorry." Fu acted exactly like when we met at Suna.

Karin's face softened and let out a sigh. "No, I shouldn't push my frustration and anger on you."

"You hypocrite." Suigetsu suddenly spoke up.

"YOU are a totally different story!" She yelled back.

"Fu is a missing-nin in Takigakure, we have no access to that village." I had to step up before those two descended into endless childish bickering.

"We can send Karin alone since she knows how to do all this information stuff."

I thought for a moment about the idea, but I shook my head. There was an extra factor in play that we couldn't ignore.

"Kiri probably already got an update on us, thanks to those who managed to escape. It could be risky for her to wander alone. And going in a group will get us unwanted attention." I didn't have any evidence to support my claim, but Taki could send their full might to claim a bounty on my head if Kiri gave them an update and put a decent bounty.

"But we always went to cities in disguise or not and nothing happened...at least nothing really harsh." Suigetsu easily gave out his discontent on his damaged pride, downplaying our encounters with Jiraiya and Gaara, and his twitching lips didn't help his case.

Karin stepped forward before I could say a word to him. "Because, unlike those towns or the big villages, Takigakure is a small, hidden village. They are very strict with their security and immigration policies."

"Let's just bypass the security, I'm sure our friend here can help us." The shark-boy pointed at Fu, who was surprised for a second before giving us a sheepish smile turning into an awkward staring contest for a couple of seconds. She was the first to give in and rub the back of her head with an embarrassed laugh.

"Well, I do know of certain passages, but I was the only one using them as far as I know, so they probably destroyed that route or are waiting for me to use them." Her explanation shot down Suigetsu's terrible ideas.

Then silence reigned for a while as we were thinking of ideas to solve our current problem, except for Juugo, who was more preoccupied with a small brown bird, which he was tenderly caressing its head with a single finger.

Karin's face brightened up as her eyes shined with glee for a second, giving her reason to clap both hands to get everyone's attention. "This might be a long shot. We can go through the main road and encounter caravans or merchants. They would gladly provide us with information, and knowing them they will ask for a fee which we can easily pay."

I wanted to kick myself for not thinking of such an obvious answer. It was a good idea even with the low odds. Whenever we have the chance, I might buy her a treat for her exemplary work.

All the time we were traveling through thick forests for the easier terrain for us to move through like normal shinobis while normal people with their caravans used the built roads, commerce and trading always moved between cities.

"Let's go then. The sooner we learn what is happening, the better." Suigetsu was the one who took the lead and jumped towards the nearest tree, leaving the four of us behind, but we didn't follow.

Our redhead facepalmed and turned to our jinchuuriki, who was also surprised by the swordsman's uncalled initiative.

"Bring that idiot back."

Juugo was the one who located the main road connected to the Takigakure control point showing how useful his ability to communicate with the fauna was. Without him, we would have wasted an entire day to find it by ourselves.

However, after arriving, it was a long empty road, a possibility we anticipated beforehand, leaving us with the two options; wait or walk south to reduce the distance which whoever could pass through.

But before we could pick our plan, Karin was quick to pull out her old desert cloak from the storage scroll and handed it to Fu, who was confused at first but understood after a quick explanation.

She didn't complain except for the leftover sand that was in the cloak, causing her discomfort to her exposed skin. Just like that, we would avoid problems with the occasional Taki patrol, since it hid all her unique features.

Hours passed as we walked, the sun slowly disappearing in the horizon and we didn't find another soul coming our way. It felt disheartening and frustrating that it would force us to wait and waste a day to get something so easy as information and why nobody was showing up.

Traveling routes shouldn't be empty.

We could have moved like we always did but it could have gotten us into trouble with local security and if we left the road and moved between the trees we could have easily missed any potential meeting.

Juugo and Karin were constantly looking for people with their own respective abilities all the time, but with no luck. I was getting ready to call it a day and rest as setting up camp at night was difficult compared to when one still had natural light to work with.

But that thought became secondary when Karin perked up and ran ahead of us. She was surprisingly fast; I didn't have time to ask her or try to stop her from running ahead of us but since we couldn't leave her alone, we followed her and soon after understood her excitement as we saw her speaking with a small group of three riding a carriage pulled by an ox.

However, as we got closer, I couldn't help but notice that the ox had a lantern tied to its right horn. It was an oddly cute detail.

Yet that was all I saw since Karin returned to my side with a troubled expression as she was chewing one of her nails, I was hoping that it wouldn't be anything extreme but my hopes were low, she never till this very moment showed such expression.

But instead of talking, she pointed at the forest and went in that direction where we followed, as we didn't want that group of people to hear us. With the night approaching, the forest was slowly showing the creepy look of silent forests where anything could lurk around.

She took one deep breath, and her tense expression softened a little. "I finally discovered the reason and I don't know how I should feel about this."

"Spit it out." Suigetsu demanded, as he was uneasy with the suspense.

"Akatsuki attacked Konoha."

My heart skipped a beat as a knot formed inside my throat, the world around me feeling slow and trying to bring me down until I could fully process what she just said to us. Instinctively, I ended up using Juugo to support myself.

I just watched how Suigetsu started yelling along with Fu, then everyone pointed accusatory fingers at each other, sewing even more discord, yet I couldn't hear anything for some reason. I was just watching a silent scene for who knows how long, but watching how their expression deformed in anger made it clear they weren't subtle, and eventually they would bring unwanted attention to us.

"Enough." I stepped between everyone with both hands extended to create even more space before my gaze turned to Karin who was panting trying to recover her breath, Suigetsu showing off his sharp teeth and Fu had her arms crossed, looking away as if she had been wronged.

"Karin, be more specific, give me names."

She adjusted her glasses and took another deep breath and exhaled. "Days ago two members from the Akatsuki attacked Konoha again even if no damage was done to the village. That type of blunder spread far and wide across the nations, damaging their reputation."

The world of politics was definitely in play. Terrorists should pose a threat to supposed juggernauts despite they weren't by any means a normal group, that didn't matter to the eyes of the rest. "Akatsuki wouldn't attack such a powerhouse without any proper reason, is not how they operate but that doesn't answer my first question."

"It had to be Deidara. Nobody else had blonde hair and Tobi was accompanying him but he just appeared out of nowhere with Hidan's head on Deidara's clay bird and they flew away. Is just too crazy to even believe." Karin explained, trying to understand something that would be impossible for a rational mind like hers.

But it made perfect sense to me, Deidara pulled everyone's attention to deal with him and prevent collateral damage and Obito easily sneaked inside whatever facilities they kept that stupid head locked and retreat through his stupid portal.

I gave them as much information as I possibly could without causing an uproar and I warned specifically about Obito's ability, yet they didn't take proper countermeasures for it.

"Useless!" I lashed out against a random rock on the road, kicking against a tree causing it to ricochet and disappear between the trees, wanting to release more of my anger I stormed off to wherever that rock landed to keep venting on it.

Yet someone grabbed my hand, pulling me back from my anger, forcing me to suppress that anger as I couldn't take it on anybody. Even less on Karin, who shared my concern for the future.

With deep breaths, I calmed myself so I could think with a clear mind and soul.

"Sasuke-kun, Hidan will absolutely tell everything about us." She released my hand after noticing my change in demeanor.

"I know." That sadist freak would gladly say everything and give as many details as possible to get his revenge, and Zetsu could even give him a new body.

"What are we going to do?"

Her question got me into deep thought, Nagato would rip me apart for ruining his plans if Obito didn't catch me first inside his pocket dimension which was a death sentence without the Mangekyo and the best-case scenario Itachi will be sent to neutralize me but I didn't want to face him yet. Also, with their attack, they would be marked as a terrorist organization with no doubt, making it even more difficult for them to move outside their boundaries.

But that alone wouldn't stop them, it meant nothing to Zetsu who would actively search for us, and there are really very few places to hide from him, places which I didn't have access to. And with Fu tagging along we would instantly become the primary objective.

To say we were in a precarious position was an understatement. The Akatsuki could be already on their way to attack us.

I could only think of one short-term solution, but I had doubts if it was truly the correct choice.

But first I had to be clear of our changes of plans. "Fu, I'm sorry but we can no longer go to your house."

"It's a shame, but I understand." Fu dropped her shoulders along with her gaze but didn't object as she turned and tried to leave us to discuss alone.

My hand reached for her and stopped her from continuing. "What you left is very important to you?"

"...No, nothing of importance."

Her hesitation to reply was enough for me to know whatever she wanted to retrieve held significant importance to her and I didn't want any deep resentment growing in her, but she still opted to lie to me.

"We will come back one day, I promise." I declared before returning to the group while Fu remained alone with her thoughts. She had much to think about.

"We need a plan fast." Karin spoke up while the other two nodded in agreement.

I bit my lip while deliberating to tell them my plan. Being the group leader really had some disadvantages. I could feel my mind screaming to use our situation to my advantage to lure out Itachi while my reasoning yelled to hide and prepare.

I took another glance at my group, who were looking at me in silence, waiting for me. They expected an answer, and I needed to give one fast.

Their safety mattered to me.

But I was an Uchiha.

AN: Hello all! This time it was quicker and I'm happy and well since I reduced the work I put myself, like working on three chapters of total different stories was difficult but done at the end of the day. I finally got my skyrim story out, "Pursuing a lost Legacy" and then I just need to flesh out a bit more for my original story, but it is almost over so workload is severely reduced.

Thanks for reading like always and hope you enjoy!