Trust

Elsewhere...

Two figures wearing plain clothes strolled down a path.

"This town you speak of, where is it?" Kisame asked.

Upon asking, the man beside stopped walking.

"Hmm?" Kisame saw the man beside him point over to a particular direction.

"It's after that post," Itachi replied.

Kisame's eyes traced the direction Itachi pointed towards a post where two people sat down. They seemed to be guards that watched over the people who entered the town that Itachi had spoke about earlier.

Kisame and Itachi were heading over to the Hidden Sand, after the recent Akatsuki meeting, the two followed through on the orders by wearing plain clothes that helped the two blend into the crowd, with Kisame also working on transforming his pale blue complexion to a normal looking skin tone.

"STOP!!"

Itachi's eyes shifted over to the direction the shout had emerged from. It was the voice of a woman, she seemed to be chasing after a masked man...

The guards nearby readied themselves to face the man running towards their direction.

"Stop, Or we'll use force," One of the guards ordered as he raised a bamboo stick against the man.

"Get out of my way," The masked man made use of his agile footwork and slipped past the two guards.

At this moment, Kisame's attention was drawn by the sound of Itachi's footsteps.

("He's acting personally?") Kisame was surprised to see Itachi walking towards the man.

("huh?") The masked man's attention was drawn as well.

("Whoever it is that gets in my way, they won't be able to stop me,") The masked man reassured himself as he continued to run.

However, the next moment the masked man froze as he suddenly saw Itachi appear in front of him.

("Wasn't he a few meters away from me,")

("Even if he was fast, it is impossible to cross that distance in a second...")

Itachi looked at the masked man and then at the small package the man held in his hand.

"Hand it over," Itachi said in a calm voice.

"Hmph," The masked man threw his fist at Itachi.

(Bang!)

Itachi caught the fist in his hand.

"Impossible..." The masked man blurted as he stared at Itachi's emotionless face.

"Hngh!" The man grunted as he tried to pull his hand back, only to see it was grasped in a rock solid hold within Itachi's palm.

"Damn it!" The masked man then reached into his pocket. (Poof!) A smoke ball was deployed.

"No!" The woman nearby shouted as she suddenly realised that the only chance to grab that man had slipped away, however Kisame on the other hand had a light smile.

Soon the smoke cleared up with the masked man on the floor and Itachi with the small package in his hand. The woman's expressions changed from that of shock to happiness. She quickly ran over towards Itachi's position and lightly bowed to him.

"Thanks for taking down the thief," The two guards who were behind her also bowed down at the same time.

Itachi looked at the sound woman,

"Take me to your shop," he said.

"You know my shop?" The woman reacted.

...

"Ah, Its you boy," an old woman greeted Itachi at the back of her shop.

"Mom, You know him?" The girl asked.

"Of course,"

"He's a regular," The old woman replied as she drew out some white powder from a packet.

The girl looked at Itachi with a discerning gaze,

"How come I don't know him if he's a regular?" The girl asked.

"Of course you wouldn't know,"

"His orders are custom made,"

"There ain't no prescriptions," The old woman said as she mixed and mashed a bunch of herbs in a small pot.

"huh?" Kisame's interests were piqued.

"Boy,"

"It was good that you took care of that man on your way here, or we would have been missing this ingredient," The old woman said as she opened the small package and added some of the contents into a mixture that she was preparing.

"Go around the town for a while,"

"By the time you're back, it'll be ready," The old woman said with a smile.

Itachi lightly nodded at the old woman's suggestion.

The old woman's daughter accompanied the two till the outside entrance of the shop.

"Bye," The daughter waved her hand as the two left.

A while later Itachi looked at a restaurant at the end of the street.

"We are going to eat," Itachi suggested.

Kisame followed Itachi's suggestions and the two grabbed their seats.

The restaurant was filled with customers who wanted a good spread of food in the nice warm afternoon. As the two waited for their orders there were gossips regarding the sand colosseum.

"I heard the new venue was personally being constructed by the sand's no.1 Chūnin Gaara, and the fourth Kazekage,"

"It is almost 90% complete,"

"A father and son team huh?"

"Father?"

"You mean...?"

"You must have been sleeping under a rock!"

Heated conversations continued as the two stared down at their tables.

"Itachi," Kisame called out.

"The medicine, you want to know about my illness," Itachi asked in a straightforward manner.

Kisame knew Itachi was suffering from a chronic illness, but he never quite knew what it was. He then looked at Itachi.

"We are partners, Don't you think I should know how much you can fight before you need a break?" Kisame asked.

Relationships between criminals were professional at best. If one got involved too much, it would sometimes lead to a dead end for either party. Itachi looked at Kisame for a second, following which he gave a light nod.

"Those medicines help me delay my death," Itachi paused.

"..." Kisame stared silently.

"As long as I don't use my Sharingan much I should have no problems facing others," Itachi said in a vague manner.

Kisame had a tacit understanding.

("He doesn't want me to know his limits huh?")

("He's a cautious type,") Kisame analysed.

Soon their orders came in and the two finished their food without so much as a word. On the way back Itachi stopped by to collect his medicine.

The old woman looked up at Itachi.

"Boy,"

"You must take care of yourself,"

"If it was any other pharmacists they would think the dosage of these drugs were meant for elephants or something,"

"Are you sure you are even able to move after taking these drugs?" The old woman asked with concern.

Itachi however didn't answer and only silently took the small bottle of pills from her hands. Seeing this gesture the woman sighed silently seemingly used to Itachi's response to her.

"Thank you," Itachi said following which he took out some cash.

"Keep it with yourself boy, consider it a reward for taking out that thief earlier," The old woman said.

Itachi silently nodded and kept the cash with himself while also storing his bottle of pills securely.

"Let's go," Itachi said as he walked out of the room from the back of the shop.

"..." Kisame stared silently at Itachi making it towards the door and followed him out of the shop. The old woman stood outside her shop as she stared at Itachi's back.

("This boy,")

("His willpower is too crazy, I wonder what kind of burden he has to face every single day and yet pretends to have that I don't care look,")

"aa..." The woman's daughter stared with drool at Itachi's back.

"What are you staring at young lady?" The woman asked.

"He's too handsome," The daughter responded without holding back. "Stop day dreaming and get back to work,"

"With that attitude of yours, no one will take you for a wife," The old woman complained.

"hm..." her daughter frowned seemingly broken from her day dreaming mood, she then looked out again to see if Itachi was still walking away. Unfortunately, Itachi already walked out of her visible range.

"Back to work then, I guess..." The old woman's daughter headed back to take her place in the shop.

—————————————

Land of the waves...

Zabuza and Haku finally made their way over to the Naruto bridge after running on a few errands to get businesses to start branches in the land of the waves. As the two walked towards the bridge, Zabuza and Haku stopped at the same time.

"You've noticed it too, eh Haku?" Zabuza asked.

"Yeah..." Haku stared at the bridge devoid of people.

(Whoosh!)

(Whoosh!) (Whoosh!)

Four people suddenly appeared at the entrance of the bridge.

"If you want to cross the bridge, pay the taxes," A man announced.

"huh?" Zabuza stared at the man.

"Sorry, your tough looks ain't gonna intimidate me," The man in the lead said as he stared at Zabuza.

"Ojouchaan,"

"Why don't you let us show you some good time, Hehe" A perverted man made his way over to Haku.

(Crk!)

"YOU BITCH!!!!" The man screamed seeing his hand which he was about to place on Haku was broken by him instead.

"I'm a boy," Haku said with a somewhat angered tone.

"What the f*ck do you think you are doing?"

"Are you trying to anger my boss?" The man in the lead asked.

"Your boss?" Zabuza asked.

"Gozaburo the Iron Fist," The man said with a proud expression.

"Gozaburo?"

"Who the f*ck is that?"

"I don't care if he's an iron fist or if he's going to fist himself," Zabuza said in a low voice.

"You," The man's finger trembled in anger as he pointed towards Zabuza.

However, the next second another hand put down the arm that stretched forward. "Boss!" The four men beside bowed towards him.

"Sorry about that,"

"My underlings were a bit rude," The man apologized.

Haku stepped forward.

"Are you Gozaburo?" Haku asked.

"Indeed I am," Gozaburo replied.

"What do they mean by asking us to pay the taxes?" Haku asked.

"Oh, it is meant for people who will use the bridge to cross to the land ahead." Gozaburo said with a light smile.

Zabuza felt something snap, However, he soon felt Haku's gaze assuring that he will take care of what was in the front.

"I am afraid I can't let you collect taxes here any longer," Haku said as he stepped forth.

"Oh, I'm sorry but I already have the rights to this bridge," Gozaburo said as he held up some papers.

"What?" Haku and Zabuza were shocked.

"You monster, you threatened the people to do that didn't you?" Haku asked.

"Why don't I show a sample of how I threatened them, huh?" Gozaburo asked following which he snapped his fingers.

(Whoosh!)

(Whoosh!) (Whoosh!)

(Whoosh!) (Whoosh!) (Whoosh!)

Five figures with masks appeared.

Haku froze while Zabuza's face twisted in anger. "Trackers of the Hidden Mist,"