Disclaimer: The characters are Masashi Kishimoto's property, I own the OCs.

Characters age:

Akane: 9 (42)

Itachi: 9 (25)

Shisui: 13

Naruto / Sasuke: 4

Kakashi: 18

December marked a turn in the war. Kumo had gotten to our border, no news of how it was in the Land of Frost and Land of Hot Waters coming to us. High-ranking shinobi were sent to the borders more often than not, which sadly gave me plenty of time to work for my Seal Master Exams. I could make Immobility Seals, which would paralyze someone or a limb depending on how I was applying it, from my bare hands. Explosive Seals were still harder, but I had removed my right glove so I could use both.

"You must be wondering why I have summoned you here." I blinked at Minato-san and exchanged a quick look with Kakashi.

Then I looked at Itachi's team, who was as confused as we were.

"You're going on a mission together, but it is really two missions. Both A-rank, I would send other shinobi on them if I could, but all our available forces are already out." Minato-san looked up at Kakashi, then Itachi's sensei. "You're all headed to the Land of Grass. We have received words Kumo had sent shinobi there, most likely to gather allies. Intercept them, make them talk and try to bring one back to Konoha for T&I to make them talk. Team 2, you're in charge of making sure this remains an issue among shinobi. Keep civilians and the Land of Grass away, the last thing we need is Kusa to join Kumo. Kakashi, you and Akane will focus on the shinobi, intercept them and make them talk." Then, his blue eyes narrowed on Yuki. "Itachi-kun is going to be your second-in-command, value his opinion as such. Understood?" The guy nodded begrudgingly. "You're leaving tomorrow at dawn. Kakashi." Kakashi accepted the scroll. "Dismissed."

Itachi dragged me to the weapon shop against my will.

"Itachi I want to hug Naru!" I whined. He glanced sternly at me.

"It's an A-rank mission, we're getting ready." I rolled my eyes.

"Don't you want to spend time with Sasuke too?"

"Once we're done here." He was stubborn and would not budge.

He also was not in the mood for my awesome jokes as we were shopping from the scolding looks he'd give me.

"Itachi, can you just…chill?" I asked him once we were outside. "I bought enough supplies for a year."

"He didn't mention the length of the mission." I raised a brow as Itachi frowned at the ground. "He doesn't know how long it is going to take, so we have to be ready for everything." I put my hand on his shoulder.

"It's going to be fine, I'm sure. We're super strong, aren't we?"

"None of us has gotten all of our skills back," he reminded me in a harsh whisper. I pointed at my head.

"But we have brains." I took a step back. "Now spend time with your brother, your parents and rest. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"You too." We went our separate ways. Naru was annoyed to have me on his back, he was four already after all, and Kushina-san was fussing over me.

The next morning, she hugged me tightly, Naru between us, as I was on the doorstep. Minato-san stood a little bit behind. Once Kushina-san let go of me, he knelt in front of me and put his hand on my head.

"Be careful, and listen to Kakashi, okay?" I nodded.

"I know." I put my bag stripes on my shoulders and checked my shoes. "I'm off then."

Itachi was already there, as well as his sensei and Shinko. He eyed the katana strapped to my back with interest.

"I showed it to you."

"You told me about it," he denied, taking it out of its sheath. He inspected it briefly before putting it back.

"Jealous?"

"Is it hard to use considering your size?" he retorted with a thin smirk.

"Hilarious, really." We left the village once everyone was here. The second we walked through the gates, there was no teasing in Itachi's eyes anymore, he was in total mission mode.

So was I. We were all quiet. We reached the Land of Grass at the end of the day as Shinko and Tenma were…going at genin-speed.

"How are we going to find them in the whole country?" Shinko asked everyone as we were eating dinner. I pointed my thumb at Kakashi.

"Let him handle it."

"If they want allies like Hokage-sama said, they should be around Kusa," Yuki-sensei pointed out. I nodded.

"The first step is to gather information," Kakashi stated. "The best course of action is to hide the fact we're shinobi and go in village to see if they know anything or if we hear anything." He looked down at me. "I trust you to make Chakra Concealing Seals for everyone." I nodded. "If it comes to it, Itachi and I can use the Sharingan to gather information directly from someone's mind." Tenma made a weird face. "Once we get a lead, we'll think about the next step." Itachi's sensei seemed to want to argue back but didn't. "The girls will be with me."

The next day, as we reached the first village. There was nothing. Shinko and I would stick to Kakashi, the girl telling me she was hoping Tenma was going to be nice.

"He doesn't hate foreigners you know." I glanced at her. "I'm a foreigner myself. It's just…he's not a fan of people being better off than himself, I think? He doesn't talk about it. You should see him with Itachi-kun, it's very annoying." I was sure.

Apart from Kusa, there was one big town in the country and that was it. The country was not big to begin with, so we reached it. Kakashi summoned three dogs, Pakkun included, and we split up once more. Now it was Shinko, Pakkun and I. Kakashi had his own nose after all, and I was suspecting him to remove his mask and use regular means of transformation to blend in.

"Pakkun, I'm going to take off your ninken identification. People can't know we're shinobi."

"Be careful with it kid." I nodded and put everything in my bag.

"Have you ever done an infiltration mission Shinko?" She shook her head. "I see. Well then, for now we're going to be orphans who have traveled here to escape the war. If there are Kumo shinobi around, then we can blame them for our situation and strike some sympathy."

"That's smart Akane-chan." I shrugged. We both removed our kunoichi gear and forehead protectors.

We didn't have much luck at first, people just looking at us in disgust and kicking us out of their establishments as if we were going to bring them bad luck. However, as the sun was setting in the sky, a nice old lady gave us food for free.

"You fled your hometown then?"

"Yes. There were shinobi, with a cloud, who took over our town near the border." She sighed, her dish towel against her hip.

"I hope they're not here for that." Shinko and I perked up at that. "Don't worry dear, they won't attack children. A few of them went by a few days ago and left quickly. You should head toward the Land of Earth, the other ways aren't safe anymore."

Ame would not join Kumo, it would be stupid of them to try to contact them. Iwa was out of the picture as well if she was telling us to go there. Konoha was where we were coming from, so Taki? The Hidden Waterfall were staying in their place as far as I knew.

"Thank you for your advice." She smiled at Shinko and left. Once we were done eating, we left as well. Reuniting with Kakashi was easy. Yuki-sensei and boys were already there. We left the town and stopped in a clearing. "We have learned they are going toward Taki." Kakashi and Yuki exchanged a quick look.

"Maybe they are going to the Blood Prison to get one of their prisoners out." I widened my eyes. I had forgotten this place even existed. However, it would be troublesome.

"It would be troublesome," Itachi said, voicing my thoughts out loud.

"Let's go toward it carefully."

"What do you think is their plan?" Akane asked him in a whisper the next day. He pursed his lips.

"I am not sure, but I have a bad a feeling about it."

"Huh. Same." Who knew what Kumo was really trying to do?

They couldn't just go to the Blood Prison, so they would stay around it. They stopped for the night.

"We're going to get water," Shinko stated, Akane waiting for her. Itachi started to get up, but Shinko stretched her hand, her palm facing him. "We can go on our own Itachi-kun."

"It's not safe," he retorted.

"It shouldn't be long," Akane said, turning around. They were quickly out of sight, and he was fighting the urge to go find them. They were being reckless, Akane should know that.

With her track record, he was sure she didn't care about being reckless.

"See?" Akane asked him as they were back. "We're fi…" A kunai landed between them all.

Shinko grabbed Akane before she could run to the explosive tag. It blew up, sending dust everywhere before other kunai, all with explosive tags, were sent their direction, destroying the clearing they were in. Itachi covered his mouth to avoid breathing in the smoke and activated his sharingans, sending the man about to kill Tenma in a genjutsu. Their sensei blew the smoke away with a Wind Jutsu, Kakashi re-appearing quickly.

"Where is Shinko?" Tenma asked, looking around in panic. Itachi did as well, noticing Akane was missing as well.

"Maybe they were hit by the blow of the explosions," their sensei suggested.

"Or they ran away." Kakashi summoned his ninkens. He wrote in a scroll and gave it to the Pakkun before putting a tag on him. "Straight to sensei." Pakkun nodded and vanished. "You guys, look for Akane's scent. She should be with another girl."

"Roger Kakashi!"

He knew he should have trusted his guts. It was a catastrophe just waiting to happen. Now the girls were away from them in an unknown situation. He felt like punching in a tree, cursing out loud and desperately looking for them. Once they were alone, he would not miss the chance to scold Akane for this, even if she was not at fault either and then hug her like a mad man.

There was no lead until sunrise, where the ninken that had stayed with them smelled something. It started raining at this moment.

"It feels…weird," Tenma noted. It made him frown, like Kakashi and Yuki and they tried to use their chakra but couldn't.

"It's a jutsu from the Hidden Mist, the Mist Rain," Kakashi said in a serious, firm tone.

"Wow…wait, wait, the Bloody Mist?" Tenma repeated in shock, fear evident in his eyes. "Why would they be here!?" Unless they had spies in Konoha, they wouldn't know about Akane so…why indeed?

"We need to get out of the range for now." They started running, following Kakashi and his ninken. The range of the jutsu was big. Itachi ran to Kakashi's level with a frown.

"This jutsu, what level is it?"

"From what I know…Anbu." Kakashi looked up at the cloudy sky. "We don't need that."

The rain stopped after a while, only for a suspicious noise to appear in the distance. There was a cliff in front of them, a steep path going through it. Out of sudden, torrents of water came out of it, coming dangerously fast at them. They all went high in the trees, watching the water destroy many things on its path. When they were back on the now soaked ground, Itachi glanced at Kakashi.

"It was not natural."

"It wa…"

"Sensei!" They turned around to see blood splattering from Yuki's throat. The kunai, blood dripping from the blade, was in his own hand as he fell to the ground, dead, his eyes wide open. Kakashi went to him and checked to see if there was anything weird.

There was not.

"Tenma!" Kakashi looked back, Itachi now holding Tenma's arm, a kunai in it, from doing the same thing.

There was a clap. In front of them stood a someone with a dark cloak over them. They raised their head, showing a white mask with red waves on it, two slits for their eyes. They raised two fingers in front of them and flexed them toward them, Tenma kicking Itachi before going to them, terrified.

Whatever it was this individual was doing, it was strong, and Itachi had never seen anything like it. He couldn't see any chakra threads connected to Tenma, so he was not a puppeteer like Sasori. However, his mask reminded him of an Anbu from the Hidden Mist like Kakashi had mentioned.

Despite the mask, it was not Tobi. They were dangerous though, and as his sharingans were spinning lazily in his eyes, his sensei's blood soaking the ground, he hoped the girls were doing better than them.

"Keep running!" I yelled at Shinko, her wrist in my deadly grip.

Itachi was half right; we were attacked but not when we were on our own. However, we couldn't stop running now. I had no idea where we were going, I just knew the chakra signatures in my back wouldn't disappear. There were at least three, all of them as strong as the guy I had fought in my C-turned-B-rank mission.

I lost track of how long we had been running for, but Shinko just dropped on her knees at some point, panting hard as I could still go on.

"I'm…I'm sorry…I don't have…your stamina…" I pursed my lips and looked up. The sun was rising in the distance, casting an orangish hue on the clouds. Dawn was there.

"Do you still have that seal I gave you all?" She nodded. "Put it on, at least it will hide our chakra a little bit." Apparently, my seals, the Chakra Concealing ones, were too…consuming for genin.

I had not taken that into account, how the stamina played a role in how long you could go on with the seal activated.

I frowned at the sky. It was December, and I had noticed the moisture in the air since we had come to the Land of Grass but…it would snow soon.

I looked around and, with a few leaves removed and thrown on the ground to make it look like we had run past it, or footprints, I made two shadow clones. One took Shinko's appearance, and they ran away.

"Come," I told Shinko in a whisper, dragging her behind me, but it was slower.

We left the main road to enter the bushes and woods. I had lived in this country before, but not in this area. However, I knew that when pines started to be more and more numerous, a cliff had to be close.

"It looks like a bluff," I muttered to myself as I looked at the cliff. We were at the bottom of it.

"If it is, there should be a river nearby, right?" I nodded.

"I think it's safer to try to go back to the Land of Fire, the guys are looking for us right now I'm sure, Kakashi will figure out that's my plan."

"Okay but…a brea…" I glanced at her sternly.

"I'm sorry, but the most we can do is walking." I couldn't sense anyone anymore, but who knew. I didn't have medical seals either as, from what Kushina-san had said, would be too suspicious to have ready, even for me. There were only so many seals we could pretend were inherited when they came from me or what I had learned in Kiri.

Medical seals were a variation of storage seals. The latter was the base, then I modified it to contain medical chakra, and then for precise wounds.

We walked for maybe half an hour before I heard the rustle of a river. Snow had started to fall in the meantime, Shinko shivering beneath her cloak.

I perked up and looked at her when I heard something.

"It sounds like a fight," she whispered back to me. I removed my cloak and put it on her shoulders. I summoned my katana and crept to the scene discreetly.

I widened my eyes at the scene. Two shinobi from Kumo were there, one of them exhausted on the ground, his sword away from him as the other one was about to kill him, two others watching behind.

The issue was, the one about to be killed, who looked around thirteen or fourteen, was no one but Darui. I looked up. Snow was falling harder and harder.

I made a shadow clone who ran to the river and used the Big Waterfall Technique. While they were distracted, I ran to Darui, put his arm on my shoulders and put as much distance as I could. Unfortunately, they destroyed my clone before she could blow herself up and looked at me.

Alright, time to put these Uzumaki chakra reserves to work. I made twenty clones who all went to fight and one that stayed with Darui. I emulated as much chaos as Naruto had told me he would bring with his clones as a genin. I knew they wouldn't last.

What I wanted was smoke. The moisture in the air, in the snow and on the ground was more than enough for my Hyouton. Using the Hiding in the Mist Technique would be weird, but I could replace it with the smoke of the clones. They were quicker than me, but my Hyouton would come to play from my clone to slow them down as I'd go to Silent Killing.

My katana cut through flesh like butter. Only the last one, the one who was close to killing Darui, stopped my blade with his despite being slowed down by the cold. The smoke was gone, and I traded blows with him, metal grating against each other, sparks flying. There was something odd though. He was almost…fighting like a robot, was not pipping a word nor anything. He was on autopilot.

I yelped when I felt electricity run through my body. Shit, somehow, he had managed to use a Raiton Jutsu without my knowledge and use the water to…

I was dizzy, my legs numb. I dodged a fierce kick to the head and dug my katana in the ground, leaning on it to get on his shoulders. He grabbed me and threw me harshly on the ground, making me spit. He took my katana and walked toward me, ready to finish me off. Once he was close enough, I made ice near my foot and put my left hand on it, putting an Explosive Seal on it. It blew up, sending me back with burns on my legs, a part of my shorts burned, but the man had been touched as well. My katana was back in the ground, but he got up.

I breathed out, blowing my disheveled hair out of my face. I sat up, making hand seals quickly.

"Hyouton: Freezing Technique." The ground turned to ice, and he slipped a little. I got up and started moving around, knowing how to control my movements on my ice. I slipped through his legs and spun around, kicking his legs. At least I tried to because he stomped on my ankle, making me grit my teeth and he grabbed me by the other ankle, lifting me up in front of him.

It was enough for me to put my right hand on his chest, placing an Immobility Seal there. He went rigid and I managed to get out of his hold. He fell back and arched his back, to my utter shock, before his eyes became glassy, blood running down the corner of his mouth.

I dissipated the ice and went to him, checking his pulse. There was none. I removed the forehead protector as maybe there was something hidden. Nothing.

I still sealed the body in a scroll and put it in my back pouch, before doing the same to the other two.

"How are you a genin?" Shinko asked me in shock as I limped back to them. I waved that off.

"How is he?"

"Not great, he's exhausted and lost some blood, plus there are bruises that could indicate internal damage. However…" She frowned at the unconscious Darui. "Should we really help him?"

"He was being attacked by one of his own. I have the feeling there is something deeper going on right now and he might know more about it than us."

We took him to a cave in the bluff and I sat down with a groan. Shinko immediately started to take care of me and I relaxed beneath her soothing green chakra.

"I'm sorry Akane-chan, I can't do more," she mumbled, almost sounding ashamed, as she stopped. My bruises were gone but my ankle still hurt.

"That's okay, Uzumakis are tougher than they look." My burns were half-healed as well. "Let's get some rest."

The sun had fully risen outside when Darui woke up, a thin white coat of snow glued to the ground. He blinked several times and looked at his surroundings. When he realized we were from Konoha, he attempted to jump to his feet, only to fall on all four.

"He…" He crawled back against the wall, the kunai in his hand shaking. "Chill, we're not going to hurt you."

"You're Konoha!" he spat, although weakly. I huffed at him and removed my forehead-protector from around my neck, putting it in my back pouch. Darui blinked at me in confusion.

"Here, better? Konoha or not, the ones attacking you earlier were Kumo." He twitched at that. Maybe he had forgotten in the heat of the moment after all. "You…do remember, right?"

"I do," he confirmed, lowering his weapons a little. "Still you're…"

"More than you? You're on your own right now, we've helped, you know in what situation you're in, right?" He glanced at Shinko, who was putting her best mean face on, then me.

"I can see you being high rank, but she's obviously a genin." I pursed my lips.

"Alright fine, we were running away from Kumo when we ran into you about to be killed."

"They're alive then?" I raised a brow as he glared at the ground.

"I don't know what happened, but the shinobi against you were…Weird, robotic even."

"I know."

"So, what happened?" He gazed me, suspicious. "Hey, if someone can manipulate shinobi from Kumo like that, they could do the same to us." A flicker of surprise went through his eyes.

"It's not you?" I frowned. "I thought…maybe an Uchiha…we were after you."

"No, we were after you," I corrected him, raising a brow. "We got words you guys were in the country for god-knows-what so we were sent here." It was his turn to frown.

"We were sent here because you were around." We just gazed at each other, slowly realizing what this meant.

"There's a third-party toying with us then?" Shinko asked us, clenching her fists on her thighs.

"I suppose but…what would they get from making two villages fight when they're already at war with each other?" I retorted, scratching my head.

"Unless they thought our conflict was a good opportunity for an experimentation," Darui whispered harshly. I blinked.

It…was possible. But who, Orochimaru? Danzou? The Akatsuki? Would Obito show himself this early? Sure, Minato and Kushina were alive but…

"They're bad new, for all of us." I stretched out my hand to Darui. "I'm Akane, let's help each other out for now." The distrust was still obvious, but he shook my hand.

"Darui. Let's…work together for now, I guess." I nodded with a grin.

As he was eating some rations, Shinko pulled me aside.

"What are you doing?" she asked me in a harsh whisper.

"There's something deeper going on, if we work together, maybe we could make the first step in stopping this war," I replied, in a whisper as well. I sighed at the obvious hesitation in her eyes. "You know, I doubt people in Kumo jumped to the roof when war was declared, if anything, they probably want years of peace and quiet after the Third war, like us."

We ate as well and left the cave. Clearly, the shinobi who were after us the night before had stopped because we had stayed for maybe an hour and a half at the same spot. I doubted it was good news though. Maybe they were regrouping, which would not be good.

We were in a strange, unexpected scenario. I glanced at Darui from the corner of my eyes. His relaxed demeanor was nowhere to be seen. It was strange to see him that young though. I had known him before and we got along great.

Enough to go on three dates together. The second it could have turned serious, meaning I would have moved to Kumo because he was about to be named the Fifth Raikage, I got cold feet. I couldn't bring any man in the twins' lives without telling the man about Itachi. Then, he grew a moustache, and I was glad we had not pursued our relationship.

"Ah! A sign!" Shinko ran to it as Darui and I were checking our surroundings. "'Kannabi Bridge – 20 kilometers north."

"Wait what?" I read the sign as well. It was old and damaged, but it did say 'Kannabi Bridge'. We were not that far from the Land of Fire then.

"Did they rebuild it?" We both looked at Darui. "You guys destroyed it during the last war, haven't you?" I nodded.

"I have no idea if they rebuilt it or not though." Not that it would really matter anyway. I glanced at Darui. "What happened exactly?"

"It was a blur. I think I saw someone, but it was too fast, I was fighting my comrades before I knew what exactly was happening."

"I see." If it was Obito and he was interested in me like before, maybe he'd be sentimental and visit Kannabi Bridge.

I took the lead and headed there. I had no idea of what we were doing. Saying we should team up was good and all, but if it was someone like the Akatsuki or such, then we would be a speck of dust against them.

We weren't at the bridge that I sense people.

"Shit, they're here!" I told the other two, starting running. They followed me.

One landed just in front of Shinko. I was just quick enough to get between the two, the blade of the katana now in my shoulder. I gritted my teeth, fighting the urge to moan in pain as blood soaked my shoulder and grabbed his wrist. I put an Immobility Seal, removed the blade and stabbed her with it in the heart.

She fell to the ground and I put a knee on the ground, my hand on my wound. Shinko started to heal me as fast as she could. If it was not for Darui stepping in with his sword to stop someone, she would have been killed.

"I'm good," I told her once the bleeding had stopped. She wanted to say something but didn't and I stood up.

We were surrounded by Kumo shinobi and from how hostile they were with Darui, not even asking what he was doing with us…they were not themselves.

I was sick of this mission.

Thanks for reading. I hope you have liked it, please do let me know in reviews! Thanks to Amaterasu53 and , even if my Spanish is more than rusty, for the reviews!

Bye!