Serendipity

Chapter Thirty-Five

Itachi stood outside of the Konoha train station that sunny Saturday morning. He had been working hard all month, and Pain still wasn't letting up on his punishment. He understood, he deserved it. That didn't make it any less stressful. Pain had also mentioned that he had a new task for them this coming Monday, but that was for then.

Right now, he had other problems to deal with.

Like this date with Saisu.

Itachi felt a twinge of guilt. He had been ignoring Sasuke since the boy had asked him out on a date. Clearly, they hadn't set a date or time, and he should address this with him, but he was a coward. He would rather run away than do anything about it. Itachi had that deep gut feeling that he wasn't going to be able to reject Sasuke. It was inevitable that he'd be taking him out on that date.

Maybe he would feel better if it was on his own terms. Yeah, he would get some control over this if he chose the date and time and let Sasuke know. Perhaps this Monday, he couldn't keep running away.

With that thought in mind, he paused just where he had been asked to meet with Saisu. The man still wasn't there. He took out his cell phone to check the time but found that he had just made it on time. Giving the benefit of the doubt that Saisu was running late, Itachi found a bench and took a seat. He had a few text messages from his friends, all asking if he was sure he didn't want to hang out with them.

Saisu was more than welcome.

Yeah, no. After what happened the last time, Itachi didn't want Saisu anywhere near his friends. Besides, this was his mess, he would deal with it. He just had to find a way to make Saisu realize that they weren't going to work out.

Although, if he was being honest. Going out wasn't exactly what he wanted to do on the weekend and his time off. Going back to basics and training meant that Itachi wasn't going to be allowed any extra work time. Those who did work on Saturday and Sunday did so to complete any ongoing case, or an emergency case, or to patrol the area. It wasn't usually a mandatory thing for them, but it was a help to other authorities.

Dismissing his friends with a, it's okay, we have plans for a date today, he checked his emails and read over a file for a case that was open for anyone to work. Cases like those were usually sent to everyone in case anyone came up with any ideas as to what it could be. These cases were missing person cases.

Or sometimes even cold cases.

In most instances, the missing humans or demons went missing without a trace and might never be found. Other times it took years, and when they were found it was lucky if they would even still be alive. Most of these cases were deemed with possible death due to the age that the person went missing.

Itachi read through them, despite knowing that it would frustrate him how hard it was to solve. There were crumbs for clues, impossible even for the best detectives in the world. Sometimes even the supernatural wasn't the reason behind it. Horrible human beings existed as well.

Before he knew it, half an hour had passed him by and still no sight of Saisu. He decided to call him, but it went to voice mail. He sent a text and then got up, walking away to look at the shops that littered the area.

Two hours later found a panicked and out of breath Saisu rushing into Konoha train station, searching for Itachi. He cursed under his breath when he didn't see him where they had promised to meet.

He took his phone out, ready to call Itachi. He was mad and was about to give him a piece of his mind. How dare he not be where they had promised to meet?

"Hey,"

He jumped when he suddenly heard him. Saisu turned his head and gapped when he saw Itachi. The man was drop dead gorgeous. Even in his casual black shirt and jeans, he was something else above anyone.

It made his swallow thick as he rushed to wrap his arms around him.

"Itachi, there you are!" he cheered. "I thought that you had left,"

"Yeah," Itachi muttered, flinching when Saisu's grip on him hurt. He dislodged himself from the man, putting distance between them. "So, where are we going?" he asked. He gestured for Saisu to walk beside him.

Saisu had been the one that planned this outing. He claimed that there was something that he wanted to show him.

"What do you mean, where are we going, you're the one that is supposed to take me out to romantic places, such as these," Saisu brought out a bunch of pamphlets. Each designated to different activities that you could do with friends or a significant other, depending on what kind of experience you wanted to get out of it.

Itachi let out a breath, taking the pamphlets to sift through. There were a few different museums, aquariums, and experiences with animals. They were great and all, except for the fact that neither of them was prepared to venture on a day to some of these. Yeah, it was a definite no to any amusement park.

"Would you like to go here," Itachi pointed to the Natural history museum. He thought it had a little bit of everything that the other pamphlets offered. It would also be a calm environment so they didn't have to worry about anything they might have needed to pack for an outing.

Saisu made a face. "Is that where you want to go to?" he asked in disdain.

Itachi frowned, "I thought we were here because you wanted to go out," he reminded. There was no other reason Itachi would be out here. He'd be home, reading a book or something if he was allowed to. His friends usually took a lot of his time as well.

Saisu rolled his eyes, "look, I'm trying to get you to take me out. Otherwise, you never initiate anything, so is that where you want to go?"

Itachi paused in walking, a bit of bitter anger bubbled into his chest, but he swallowed it down. "I wouldn't mind going there," he said.

"Great, then there is where we will go," Saisu said.

"What..." Itachi shook his head, "Never mind," he muttered. There was no use in asking any questions when everything was clear. Instead, he led Saisu into the train station, where the man proceeded to complain as to why Itachi didn't bring his car. Itachi would have reminded him that this was his idea, he was the one expecting Saisu to have things in order, but instead he apologized and asked him if he wanted to end the date instead.

Saisu considered it before saying that he was okay.

The man then shamelessly said he had brought no money, so Itachi paid for their tickets. The train ride was filled with Saisu complaining about how crowded and annoying it was to have to take the train. Itachi ignored him for the most part, taking out his phone to look at the area that they were heading to. There were a few restaurants around where they could eat once they were done. He then purchased the tickets online and reserved a small tour time.

He was hoping that they would have a smooth day and be able to enjoy the exhibits without feeling too lost. It gave him a semblance of control about what was going to happen on their date.

Saisu groaned loudly, "Are we there yet?" he asked, annoying the other passengers at this point.

"It will be another twenty minutes," Itachi said with an amazing amount of patience.

This same fine Saturday found Suigetsu climbing the steps to a fancy hotel lobby, looking around before shooting Karin a text. The woman made an excuse that she was running a bit late and to give her five more minutes. He scoffed under his breath and made his way to one of the comfortable couches.

Lavish is what this place was.

His eyes darted to all the faces around him, realizing that some of them were famous. He swallowed nervously when he noted security looking around for any stragglers. A group of girls with heavy bags and cameras tried to sneak in and were promptly kicked out, but not without kicking and scratching. Apparently, someone they were fans of was inside of this hotel. No doubt some pop idol.

He stood when he saw Karin enter the lobby through the main elevator. She grinned widely, meeting him halfway into a fragrant hug. She always smelled like she had bathed herself in some sort of perfume, soft like a rose.

"Damn, long time no see," She greeted.

"That's on you," Suigetsu gave her a sharp grin in return. "You're the one who disappeared to follow some guy to another place, far-far away from me,"

"Hey, I fell in love okay. You can't blame a girl," Karin smoothed her dress. "If anything, it's been kind of hard to get away from him and his crazy ass family," She complained, "I've been trying to meet with you for a few weeks now,"

"Right, you mentioned needing to ask me something important," Suigetsu crossed his arms. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," She looked over her shoulder before tugging Suigetsu forward, "Let's walk and talk, I don't need them looking at us, freaks you know," she said in a low whisper and Suigetsu looked around in apprehension.

Just what kind of freaks was she hanging around with?

They decided to head to their favorite cafe and sit down to talk in a private booth. They each ordered a drink and a sweet pastry before Karin pushed her phone towards Suigetsu. The white-haired man glanced down and scrolled through the messages and pictures shared.

"We have to talk about this cat,"

"Kitty?" he wondered.

Karin had asked him before if he thought this cat could be Kitty. He had not said anything to anyone about it. The last thing he wanted was to give Itachi false hope about a cat that just happened to look like his missing one. The man had been through enough heart break as it was.

Itachi and Saisu had finally made it to the museum and walked through a few exhibits in the tour that he had booked, but despite it being interesting, Saisu was clearly bored. Itachi felt like he was dragging a complaining child with him, making it hard to enjoy the little tidbits of information that they were being given.

"Do we have to go with them?" Saisu asked.

"I thought you might enjoy getting a bit of knowledge since we were here," Itachi said.

"Not really, it's boring and my feet are starting to hurt. Can we just sit for a moment?" Saisu looked around for somewhere to sit.

"We haven't been here for that long, are you sure you..." Itachi flinched, feeling embarrassed when Saisu let out a loud groan. Everyone suddenly turned to them, looking either annoyed or concerned about what might be going on.

"Is everything okay?" the tour guide asked. They were obviously tired and just trying their best to complete their job.

"Itachi please!"

"Sorry, he's tired." Itachi apologized. Their tour guide smiled pleasantly and told them that there was an area just outside where they could take a seat. Thanking him, Itachi led Saisu to the area and they took a seat.

Saisu let out an exaggerated sigh at being off his feet.

"We should go eat something," he said.

Itachi turned to him with another frown, "We have yet to enjoy the museum..." Itachi started to say, wanting to say that there were a few exhibits he wanted to see. The look on Saisu's face was enough to let him know that the man didn't care to hear it.

"Yeah boring," Saisu rolled his eyes. "It's good that you're cute and all Itachi, because this was like the worst thing you could have chosen for us."

"I..." I asked you if you were okay with this, is what Itachi wanted to say but bit his tongue instead. "Yeah, sorry." he deadpanned instead. Damn it, how many times had he apoligized to this man already? Itachi was starting to hate himself for it.

"It's okay, I forgive you. What do you say we go and get something to eat?" Saisu asked, getting on his phone to look at the restaurants available. "We can have something yummy, there is nothing beetter than that."

Itachi quietly bristled, upset that he had paid for them to look through the exhibits and he was regretting it. It wasn't so much the money that he had spent, that was nothing to him. It was the fact that he had been trying to make Saisu happy that got to him. He had tried to be considerate and made sure their date went without a hitch.

Although, he wasn't sure why he ever bothered trying.

Maybe a part of him did want to see if they could have a good relationship. Maybe he wanted to see if this was going to go somewhere. Maybe it was guilt that he had accepted a date from someone else when this guy here was supposed to be his boyfriend. But instead, he was reminded that Saisu was just someone he wanted nothing with.

"Can we try this place?" Saisu asked, showing Itachi his phone with the location. It was a soup shop and just the sight of it told Itachi that Saisu wasn't going to like it. But there was nothing that he could do, he decided to bear it.

Itachi shrugged, "sure," he agreed, "let's go."

Suddenly it was like Saisu had energy. The man was on his feet bouncing up and down like a ball. The two left to try the food at the restaurant of his choosing. Only for him not to be happy and ask if they could go somewhere different. They must have tried everything that the area had to offer before they were making their way back.

Itachi found himself counting the seconds, wishing for their date to be over.

"Kitty," Suigetsu whispered, but then shook his head. He didn't know the full story here. "What's the meaning of this?" he asked.

"This is the reason that I came back," she said, her eyes trained on her drink. Suigetsu raised an eyebrow, confused. "My boyfriend is the twin brother to Uzumaki Naruto. Yeah, the future Hokage." she said, closing her eyes as she took a sip. Somehow saying those words weighed her down more than anything.

Suigetsu's eyes nearly bugged out of his head, "What, how come you never told me!" he demanded.

"I wasn't allowed to...or better said, Menma hates the fact that he is even the twin of Uzumaki Naruto. He's been so anal about never mentioning their association to each other, so I kept my mouth shut, but that has changed suddenly," She sighed, looking up at Suigetsu with stress clear on her face.

"Why?" Suigetsu asked, prompting her to continue.

"I have no idea. He is keeping something from me, and I am not sure how to breach that conversation with him. It bothers me," Karin bit her lip and picked up her fork, poking at her pastry. She didn't want to fight with Menma, that was the thing. She hated being the one to want to talk about heavy topics and she was tired of him avoiding it and getting angry over it.

Suigetsu took a deep breath and scrubbed his face with both his hands. Nothing was clicking in his head as to what this had to do with Karin and the cat in the photo.

"So, what do you suspect has changed?" he asked her.

"This," she gestured to the picture of the cat on her phone. "This is literally what has united Menma and Naruto together. They are looking for this little creature. From what I gather, Hinata and Naruto adopted it when they had been unable to get pregnant or she had lost her first pregnancy, I don't have the clear details obviously,"

"What, he's been keeping you from getting too close to learn anything about the family?" Suigetsu guessed. He knew how it was. You started dating someone and you had to expect some form of emotional baggage that they carried with them. Especially those partners that brought in heavy boundaries that made it nearly impossible to breathe around them.

They were the worst.

"Bingo," she assured him and smiled.

"And yet I asked you several times over if this was really the guy you wanted to spend your life with," Suigetsu stabbed his pastry.

Karin snorted, "I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and I have real feelings for him, it's just that it's been bothering me,"

"The secrets he keeps?" Suigetsu guessed again.

"Yeah," She sighed and took another sip of her drink. She then reached into her bag and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Suigetsu took it from her and read the flyer. There was the picture of the cat, Missing and a name.

Ramen.

"Ramen?" he asked.

"That's the name of that kitten there," Karin gestured once more to her phone. "The thing that gets me is that how many cats have those red eyes. When I saw it, I thought I was looking at Kitty." She said.

"Not many and I should know. Kisame spent days looking through internet posts and animal shelters in search of another cat that had the same looks and found nothing. It was a bit misguided, but he wanted his friend to feel better even if he had to find the perfect replica to trick him into it," Suigetsu smiled softly as he thought about his husband.

Karin pursed her lips, "I'm envious of you, little fish," She whispered, looking away in shame as she said it.

"Huh, why?" he asked, startled by her admission.

"I wish I could look that way too...when I think about Menma it just hurts. You look so bright and happy when you think of your man, it's...yeah," She shook her head. Suigetsu reached for her hand and offered a smile.

"Hey, you said you were working on it right, so long as you're still willing and he puts some effort on his part, someday you two will reach the same place as well," he assured.

"It's exhausting," Karin admitted, head falling forward. "I just sometimes wish he'd let me in more and trust me,"

Suigetsu remained quiet, not knowing what to tell her. There was no way of knowing if things were really going to be okay. He sighed and intertwined their fingers, offering her his strength and support.

"Well, do you think is worth it to keep fighting for what you do have?" he softly asked.

Karin nodded, no hesitation. "Of course, I am willing to try if he will allow me," she said, but there was also a lot that her eyes said that she didn't. Suigetsu wasn't going to press her for it. He was confident that his friend knew what it was that she needed to do now. If she happened to fall, he was here to help her pick up the pieces.

"Good luck," he smiled.

"Well, enough of the sappy stuff, the real reason I even brought this cat up is because I need your help searching," she said. "Neither of those dumb nuts want to listen to me about the cat being potentially Kitty who belonged to someone else. Obviously, Ramen in a whole other entity," she rolled her eyes.

Suigetsu shrugged but took his phone out to compare. He had a lot of pictures of Kitty that Kisame had sent him. Comparing the two felt idiotic, it was the same cat no matter how they looked at it.

"So, we have to find this damn cat if we want to learn anything of what might be going on," Suigetsu muttered. "A few years back Itachi's mom came to visit and after she left, she took Kitty with her. Itachi confronted her but she claimed she had no idea where he had gone and since then Itachi has not spoken to her,"

"So, within the time frame that Itachi lost Kitty, the cat somehow ended up in Senju and was adopted by Hinata and Naruto," Karin finished and the two looked at each other with slightly wide eyes. "That's fucking crazy right,"

"Crazy as fuck," Suigetsu agreed, "I just can't wrap my head around how Kitty would have made it to Senju, that place is so far from here,"

"Well, Itachi's mom might have the answers to that," Karin said.

Suigetsu wasted no time in calling Kisame. They needed to talk to Itachi's mom so they could fit in all the missing puzzle pieces to this mystery.

Itachi felt drained as he got home later that night. He walked into the living room where Kisame, Suigetsu, and an unknown red headed woman were all crowded. They had a phone between them and froze when they saw him.

"Oh Itachi, you're back!" Kisame loudly announced, jumping to go join his friend. Suigetsu and Karin scrambled with the phone.

"I'm back," Itachi muttered, raising an eyebrow. He didn't have the energy to ask them what they were up to. Clearly it was up to no good. He had just spent the last of today trying to get rid of Saisu with any excuse, he didn't care for what they were doing.

"Glad that you are, have you eaten?" Kisame asked, wrapping his arm around his shoulders and directing him towards the kitchen.

"No," they heard Itachi say.

There was a gasping cry from the phone making Suigetsu and Karin feel sympathetic to the woman who was on the line with them.

"Is he doing fine?" Itachi's mother, Mikoto asked.

"He claims he's doing fine, but we wonder," Suigetsu said. There was no other way to explain what was going on with Itachi anyways. The man was just too secretive.

"Anyways, back to when you go rid of Kitty," Karin prompted.

After calling Kisame, the three returned to the house to meet up and decide if this was a good idea. Reaching out to the woman that had hurt his friend was not something that Kisame was so ready to do. Although he did know her number. It took some convincing, that this would help Itachi, for Kisame to finally give in.

They had called her and just introduced themselves before Itachi had entered. They hadn't expected him to return home so soon.

"Well, that day I took Kitty with me. I just wanted to get a reaction from Itachi but..." she paused. "I might have mailed him out with some important packages," She tried to recall. She knew she was sending out something that Fugaku had asked of her. She has been so distraught since it all happened that at this point all she cared about was knowing if her son was doing well. "They were supposed to be gifts to the children of important clients"

"Senju?" Karin asked.

"Uh...no." She answered.

"Where to?"

"Suna," Mikoto answered. If she recalled correctly.

"A post had to pass through one port to another that might explain how Kitty would have been shipped from that location." Suigetsu guessed. He had seen a program on how the post worked and sometimes mail got sent from one location to another just to be sorted and then sent off on its proper way.

"A stop to Senju, someone must have found Kitty and sent him to the animal shelter, where Hinata and Naruto adopted him,"

"Senju animal shelter," Suigetsu muttered before his eyes widened. He had a sick feeling thinking of that place and it just clicked in that second. "That's the place that was being used to traffic hybrid demons." he snapped his fingers. "Kisame mentioned that Deidara and Sasori were taking on the case because he and Itachi weren't being allowed to do much of anything. He was glad that they were staying put, as well as determined to find Kitty,"

"Have you found him?" Mikoto sounded hopeful.

"Maybe," Karin grinned, "We might have a lead as to where that little creature might be,"

With assurance that they would continue to take care of Itachi, they hung up the phone and turned to each other.

"Kitty must have realized that Hanabi was coming to Konoha and snuck into her bag," Karin concluded like it was clear logic.

"The fuck how would a cat realize that Hanabi was coming back to Konoha, or that Itachi would be in Konoha," Suigetsu rolled his eyes.

"Because of this," she said.

She showed Suigetsu video feed that she had stolen off Menma. She had done some snooping herself. In the film, there had been a long-haired white hybrid cat, transforming into a human form. He placed the cat in the trunk, in the bags that Hanabi had packed to go to the airport later that night.

"But how would that person know that Kitty would want to go back to Itachi, much less to put him in the bag?" Suigetsu questioned.

"I have a theory that since this guy is a cat human hybrid he probably understands whatever language cats have. Kitty must have missed Itachi and mentioned it to him in that way and well, here you go, they have a reason for this!" She pointed at the video freeze frame. "The guy was just tryng to help a sad Kitty."

Suigetsu raised a skeptical brow, but he could find no fault in her reasoning. It was the only logical thing that made sense.

"Ah, Kitty chose Itachi out of everyone else then!" Suigetsu cheered. "He has returned for Itachi, but then where is he?"

"I think he got lost, I mean judging the time frame it's been about five years, and Itachi moved," she threw her hands around the new large home that they owned. Suigetsu gasped, eyes wide as he sat up.

"I think I know where we will find Kitty!" he announced and Karin grinned, pleased. Finally, a proper lead to everything.

It was finally the end of a hellish month.

Sasuke, along with the other trainees had undergone a series of tests that not only pushed them to their limits, but it had also seemingly broken some of them. Thanks to the intense training they had to sit down with someone and talk about whether they felt that they could continue. Juzo was a hard man, there was no knowing what he was thinking and kept them all on their toes.

What mattered now was that Sasuke had made the cut. He was officially part of the team that would continue training for field officers. Along with him only five others had made it. Everyone else had been bumped down to class two, for officers that would work within the team but would not lead one. These officers had the choice to work within a group, undercover investigations, and initial interrogations.

Sasuke would be training to receive cases once they had been established. Like Itachi he would get a partner and would work in basically everything. He would do what class two offer, on top of other responsibilities, and that alone sounded scary. But he was more than ready to take on the task.

In his time with Itachi, Sasuke had gone on various missions. He had seen everything that Itachi would have to do and honestly, he was excited to learn and do it for himself. It just sucked how much work it was. But that was work and right now, it was the last thing that Sasuke wanted to think about.

He groaned softly as he stretched his achy body and dragged himself out of bed. He ran a hand over his face before kicking off the bed sheets. He felt bone deep exhausted. He hoped that this weekend he could get enough rest because he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to face Monday at this point.

"Good morning, Sasuke," Kimimaro greeted and Juugo gave him a nod.

"Morning," Sasuke slumped face first into the kitchen table making his brothers smirk at him. They knew how much trouble he was having. Sasuke might have learned to keep up with Kaguya and her training, but this was a whole new beast. Even they were a bit apprehensive of Sasuke's new schedule.

"Boy sit down properly," Chiyo scolded as she entered, plates filled with food on each hand. She set one for Kimimaro and the other for Juugo, eyeing the small raven.

Sasuke slowly sat up and sighed heavily. "Happy," He rolled his eyes, his head falling back on the chair he was sitting on. Chiyo's eye twitched in annoyance.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked, shaking her head at Sasuke's attitude.

"He's fine," Kimimaro assured. "Just upset that he didn't properly ask Itachi out, like how do you mess that up," he laughed, making sure that Sasuke knew he was being teased.

"Shut up!" Sasuke snapped up. A sharp glare directed at Kimimaro. Damn it, they never failed to tell him what he did wrong. What sucked was that Itachi had been super busy this past month and hadn't allowed them to talk. Sasuke hadn't had a chance to set a time or date and at this point he was thinking he wasn't going on a date with Itachi at all.

Life just sucked sometimes.

On the other hand, there had been complications and delays to Hinata and Naruto coming out to meet with Hanabi. Sasuke was well aware that Neji, Karin, and Menma had flown out to help her in their stead, but they were relentless.

Pain hadn't said anything as far as he knew. The man had been understanding and accommodating in aiding for their search and meeting their needs. It kept Sasuke from transforming into Kitty at all. The last thing he needed was them finding and taking him back. He had to be careful with his face too, he had foolishly shown it to Menma in his quest for revenge. It had been a stupid move on his part, but he was dealing with it.

"Yeah, yeah, young and stupid the lot of you," Chiyo huffed. "Breakfast Sasuke?" she asked.

"Yes please," he answered her, and she went on her way to fetch him a plate.

"Are we doing anything today?" Juugo asked.

"On a Saturday?" Kimimaro asked, perplexed about that idea.

Sasuke groaned, "Sleep," he muttered.

"I was just wondering since Sasuke mentioned needing a few supplies," Juugo smiled softly, amused at how lazy his lover and Sasuke were.

"Oh right," Sasuke sucked in a breath and nodded, "Okay some shopping but then sleep,"

"Sounds like a plan," Kimimaro concluded.

Chiyo returned with a plate full of eggs and pancakes for Sasuke. She then went about her normal day, tea and watching her programs. Sasuke finished his breakfast and then the three changed their clothes and headed out.

They grabbed the supplies Sasuke needed for work. A few new outfits, even one for Sasuke's date with Itachi despite Sasuke lamenting that it might not even happen. Kimimaro assured him that it would have to happen at some point, even if he messed up the first time.

After that they stopped for lunch at a ramen shop and finally headed home where Sasuke landed face first, tired, into bed and slept the rest of the day away.

On Sunday, he woke up late, but he felt more refreshed. He stayed home playing video games with his brothers before calling it a day. He felt relaxed and ready to face whatever was coming at work. He purred softly to himself, thinking about Itachi. Thinking about seeing him made him feel motivated.

He slowly closed his eyes, recalling his soft memories of Itachi holding him and reading to him, so close to his ear. Cuddled safely in the hold of his arms. Sasuke self-soothed himself to sleep. His dreams were filled with Itachi that night.

Monday morning brought together the new team of six to faced their added instructor.

Idaten Kyusuke, the man who had claimed he'd be teaching the second group exclusively looked them over before he started the lesson of the day. Juzo hung back, seemingly busy with something that had pulled him from his usual class. After a few hours of training and getting established with their new regime, the team was asked to line up.

They were then paired.

Sasuke was paired with Chinoike Chino, a short girl with neck length spiky light blond hair and violet eyes. She looked young for her age, but she was in fact eighteen years of age and came off cold and calculated. She only ever let herself smile and relax around her friend, Nowaki.

Fushin Nowaki, a man with neck length green hair and gold eyes was paired with Kumo Karyu, a man with long bluish-purple hair, brown eyes, and a strange pale complexion. The two of them had very competitive personalities. Nowaki being a bit more childlike to fool you at first, friendly even, you had to be careful with him. Karyu didn't hide that he was an asshole at all.

The final team were the twins, Kiri Gozu and Meizu. They had shoulder length wild dark brown hair that fell in two bangs on each side of their heads and sharp black eyes. Juzo had decided to pair them together since it was said twins worked best together and he was willing to see if that statement was true.

These weren't permeant teams, of course, it was just what they had decided based on the abilities that they had seen of their new students. For now, it was tentative.

"We like how each of you is progressing, so we thought it would be fun to give you guys an experience on how our current employees are. The level that we wish for you to someday reach, if not above it." Kyusuke announced, a smirk coming over his face as he said this. He turned his body to show that Juzo was walking towards them, behind him were Kisame, Deidara, Sasori, and Itachi.

Sasuke softly gasped, lowering his gaze to the ground.

The group was dressed in similar clothing, all black shirts with mesh collars and black sweatpants tucked into black boots. Sasuke had been hoping to see Itachi, but not like this. He felt shy all of a sudden.

"Hello everyone," Juzo greeted, "Allow me to introduce some of our staff. From left to right, we have Kisame, Deidara, Sasori, and Itachi. They will be training with you guys today and showing you a few techniques. If it works out, we will continue to work with them twice a week for the next month." Juzo crossed his arms. "Let's see, for Gozu and Meizu, I think you two would benefit from Kisame showing you a few things."

"You should add Deidara to their team as well," Kyusuke suggested. "Their work in explosive weapons might benefit from his input."

"You're thinking strategy?" Juzo asked.

"Of course,"

"For Nowaki and Karyu, I think a strategist like Sasori would do well for them." Juzo said.

"And lastly Itachi will join Chino and Sasuke in their training," Kyusuke finished, "He is able to help you both with developing and using your special abilities to full potential,"

Sasuke tried his best to hide a smile, feeling lucky that Itachi would be here to train with him. This was his chance to show off what he knew and impress Itachi. He forced himself to focus when Juzo started to lay out what they were going to be doing. His eyes widening along with the others of his group when they were told that before any of them split into their respective teams, they were each going to face a two-minute battle with one of their employees.

Two minutes sounded like nothing but could feel like such a long time depending on what was happening in the span of that time. It felt intimidating to have to face someone that had been called powerful by both Juzo and Kyusuke. The two trainers had spent the last month knocking them around and making them feel useless. To think that these two men considered others strong felt intimidatingly scary.

Sasuke didn't even need them to tell him, fuck it, he knew firsthand how powerful these men are.

"Do we really have to do this?" Deidara suddenly complained, "Pain can't be serious about us fighting with babies," he rolled his one visible blue eye and flicked his blond hair back. This caused the said babies to bristle and glower at him. He hid a secret smirk as he got a rise out of them. It wouldn't be any fun to fight someone that was scared.

Now they were itching to fight.

Babies that were standing confident and imposing, baring their fangs. Ready to prove themselves.

"Well, your complaining is one way to motivate them, Deidara," Kyusuke smirked, "Why don't you go first. Gozu, step into the field" he directed. Deidara stuck his tongue out in disgust and threw his hands open to show two additional tongues. This caused Gozu to blanch at the strange display of mouths on this blond.

Now that was freaky.

"You're a mouthy one, aren't ya," Gozu tentatively smirked, trying to up his confidence.

"Amongst other things, un," Deidara chuckled, making his way into the field. Gozu shifted, showing that he had special mechanical arms, ready to dispense his weapons. A cheap trick if you asked Deidara, but then again, no one was.

He had to remember that he wasn't supposed to hurt any of these kids. Damn Pain, when he said that they were literally going back to basics he wasn't expecting this to be part of it.

"Begin!"

"Come at me, show me what you got!" he goaded, prompting Gozu to launch the first attack.

Sorry for the delay on the story, I blame Huskerdust brainrot.