Chapter 68 The hunt is on

-Konoha-

Anko had to admit that despite things with the Sand and Sound at the chunin exams, things were slowly getting better. The village rebuilding was going nice, although you could still see black ribbons on some stores or windows. Those were signs of those that lost someone that everyone in the village knew what it meant it wasn't just for morning but also to show the sacrifices some families made and should be honoured and respected.

Her own apartment was fixed up, although she still stayed over at Kakashi's place. It was bigger after all and with Naruto gone they could have the whole place to themselves. She actually kept a few things over at his place after her apartment was fixed just in case she needed them. It was odd, she never really considered ever getting serious about anyone. No one had seemed like the right guy to her but with Kakashi, well things seemed more natural to her.

They had fun, enjoyed a lot of the same things, he was laid back but he was serious when he had to be, the training she did with him in the mornings showed that he took to being a ninja was serious. She was even learning a few new things as well. He had his secret side that he showed no one, well no one but herself at least as she returned that.

At first she felt that it was just friendship she had with him, then a bit of lust years later but now, now she was really thinking this was what love felt like. She looked forward to seeing him, missed him when he was gone, oh sure she got pissed at him sometimes. Like that annoying habit of picking his toe nails when he was barefoot or never putting the seat down when she was over. Seriously why couldn't he remember that one little thing?

At any rate life was good she figured, currently she was walking down the streets, eating the last stick of dango that she bought, her other arm linked in Kakashi's as he was reading one of his books with his free hand. She had to admit that they must have made for an interesting pair walking down the streets.

"Oh look what we got here," Anko smirked.

"Asuma and Kurenai huh," Kakashi said not taking his eyes off the book.

Anko looked up at him, "Okay one of these days you'll have to tell me how you can know what's around you while reading that thing, you only got the one normal eye."

"Maybe one day I'll tell you," she knew he was smirking under his mask, knowing him for so long she could tell the small shifts and folds in the mask to tell by now.

Anko looked ahead as she grinned mischievously, "Want to mess with them?"

"You really want to mess with two of our closest friends for the simple enjoyment of watching them get embarrassed simply because they seem to be taking their time in realizing what's between them?"

"I take it you're in then?"

"Of course," He put his book away as she tried not to smile too much. She loved how he loved picking on those two as much as she did it was just so much fun winding them up, especially Kurenai. Honestly the woman obviously had a thing for Asuma so why not just go out there? When Anko realized that she liked Kakashi more than a friend she had started her plans to seduce the man, which had worked. Hell she figured Asuma was interesting and would be more interested if she showed some kind of sign.

Who said that men had to make the first move after all?

"Ah look who we have here," Asuma smiled with his hands in his pockets and a small cigarette in his mouth. It was unlit as Kurenai never really cared for smoking, both Kakashi and Anko wondered if he even noticed that he didn't smoke around Kurenai.

"Konoha's most talked about couple," Kurenai smirked.

Anko rolled her eyes, "Yeah right we're not all that talked about. There have to be more interesting couples than us."

"Not really," Kurenai shrugged. "At least not as colourful as you two are."

"True but looks like we might have competition," Kakashi said as Anko tried her hardest to keep her poker face she could lie like the best of them at times but damn Kakashi took it to an art form.

Both Kurenai and Asuma gave them blank looks, Anko took it from there.

"Well you two are on a date together aren't you?"

Oh the expression on their faces was priceless, Asuma coughed out as Kurenai blush as she looked away. Before they could deny it Kakashi jumped in to take the next shot.

"Well it's about time, I think people were wondering about when you two would start dating, I mean they've been talking for awhile now." Kakashi said with a shrug in his usual laid back attitude.

"Cool, hey Kurenai does this mean we can double date? Never tried that before but it might be fun." Anko gave a giant fake smile.

"People talk about us?" Asuma paused as he looked to Kurenai, he saw the red eyed woman lock her gaze with him and her face got a bit redder as she tried to hide her face from view. He had to admit she was a very beautiful young woman and they did get along. He just didn't think she wanted anymore more out of it.

Kurenai however glared at the a couple in front of her, Anko was bad enough on her own but when Kakashi joined in they were evil. She could feel the heat in her face and was tempted to pull out a genjustu but thanks to Kakashi's sharingan it might be useless anyway. Oh she would get them back for this she vowed that much. Kurenai could feel Asuma's eyes on her and it only made things worse, yes there was just something about the man that she liked but they were friends, professionals...plus what if he said he didn't feel the same way?

Kakashi was amused at the sight of the two of them, was that how he and Anko had been like? No, he was pretty sure they were slightly different, Anko he knew had actually gave him signals to go for it and he didn't regret it at all. She really made his life more full, he hadn't felt like this since he had been raising Naruto. Sure at first it had been hard but there had been moment that made it all worth it.

The times he took his first step, first words, first day of school and how excited he had been. Moments like that had filled his life with great moments and he knew they weren't ending. But with Anko, those moments seemed to be coming around again. He was enjoying the day until he caught something in his vision.

In the tea house on their left there were two men in strange clothing sitting down with straw hats on, just from their clothing and demeanour he could tell that they weren't travelers or from the village. They were too tense, too on alert and he could smell something was off on them. His nose might not be powerful like the Inuzuka clan but he could smell the strange scent of fish, ocean, blood from one of them. Also he could picked up a bad feeling about them, years of battle experience he could feel something was wrong with these two.

Plus they were trying too hard to blend in, they weren't talking or looking around, they were trying to avoid being seen. It would have worked on most but in a village of ninja this was a huge risk. Whoever they were he wanted to know and it might be best to get some reinforcements too.

"Well we shouldn't be keeping you two, after all you two have someone to meet." Kakashi told them.

There was a brief moment of confusion between the three of them before they noticed how tense Kakashi seemed. For a moment Kakashi was hoping that they might not noticed but soon they got their guards up and noticed what he had noticed. All three sets of eyes flashed to the two men sitting there.

"I guess you're right, by the way do you know what that meeting later today will be about?" Asuma asked.

Kakashi shrugged, "Not sure, although it could be about Sasuke." Kakashi noticed the slight twitch in one of the men, he had a theory as to who one of them might be but he still wasn't certain.

"Well, we will get going we don't want to be late," Kurenai said as both she and Asuma quickly vanished.

"I think that's our signal to continue on."

"Good," Anko smiled taking his arm. "Because now that we're alone let's go find some fun for just us."

As Kakashi and Anko, the two black figures waited before leaving their drinks and moving on silently, as moved through the village. They were passing by one of the streams of water that feed through the village when Asuma and Kurenai leaped out of nowhere in front of them. The two men stopped without a word.

"Well looks like Kakashi was right about these two being up to something," Asuma mused to Kurenai and then looked at the two men. "Alright what are you two doing in this village? Identify yourselves right now."

"Looks like the jig is up," The taller one said as he took off his hat to show a blue shark face under it. He was grinning with sharp shark like teeth with eyes that looked like they hungered for blood.

"Yes it would seem so," The other said as he pulled his own hat off his sharingan eyes showing to both Leaf ninja. Itachi's Konoha forehead protector with the gash slashed through it showing who he was.

"You!" Kurenai's eyes widened, it was obviously Itachi Uchiha there was no mistake about it. He looked so very much like Sasuke and those eyes, those were definitely sharingan eyes.

"Itachi Uchiha," Asuma said as he got his trench knives ready, this was not some simple infiltration mission by another village. This was serious, Itachi was a prodigy at such a young age and the fact he killed an entire clan with the exception of one small boy, you couldn't let his guard down you did and you were dead. He watched as the young man undid his coat.

"Looks like they still know of you here," Kisame smirked. "then again with your reputation I would be surprised if they didn't."

"And you are?" Kurenai asked.

"Kisame Hoshigaki," Asuma supplied, "Also known as the Monster of the Hidden Mist, one of the former Seven Swordsmen."

"You make is sound like since I'm not part of that group anymore that my skills aren't still as sharp," Kisame was slightly annoyed that the woman hadn't known who he was but he wanted a piece of the beard guy first. The man had blades of his own and he could feel the need to use Samehada on this man. He pulled the large bandaged sword off his back as he got into a fighting stance.

"Be quick Kisame," Itachi told him. "We have to hurry and nothing too flashy, we don't want to draw too much attention."

"Fine then," Kisame nodded and dashed forward towards Asuma.

Asuma managed to dodge the large object he figured it was a sword of some kind but being all wrapped up like that it couldn't hurt too much. He planned to get in under the attack and with his knives try to counter attack. What he didn't know was that the sword Samehada wasn't a blade that slashed or stabbed, it was a sword that shaved the flesh away. He noticed the bandages somehow coming off the tip as Kisame pulled back.

The sharp pain in his arm like something was trying to claw away at his arm to the bone. He managed one slash of his own before pulling back the stinging pain told him that he was bloodied but not too bad. He could still move the arm but looking at the tip of the sword it was a nasty looking thing. It looked like nothing but sharp teeth in the form of a sword.

"Huh?" Kisame noticed the slight sting on the side of his face. There was a slight cut there but he was sure he pulled back in time to avoid the attack. Then he noticed the chakra on the blades, they gave the man a slightly longer reach with the weapons. He only grinned at that, it was a nice trick that could have killed you if you weren't fast enough to pull away the first time it happened.

Kurenai formed hand seals as it looked like she was up against Itachi. She seemed to fade away into the wind from one of her genjutsus. Itachi just stay motionless as though he wasn't concerned at all, which he wasn't. Slowly a tree appeared to grow behind him, branches coming out and wrapping around him. This was the Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death, a very old jutsu that was passed on since the creation of the village. Kurenai seemed to come out of the top of the trunk as though she was coming out of water, a kunai in hand.

She was going for the kill, she had always heard the rumors of Itachi and she had always wondered what kind of ninja he was but that fact that she caught him off guard was a source of pride for her. She went in for the kill when suddenly she found herself trapped in her own illusion looking at Itachi.

'What? A counter illusion, when did he do that!' Her mind frantically tried to come up with an answer. This man was beyond her skills, she knew that now. She saw him pull a kunai of his own as he readied to kill her. She thought it had been too easy and the passive look on his face told all, this was nothing for him. It hurt her pride slightly, she was one of Konoha's best genjustu user, in fact she wanted to be the best but this man had blow away her skills as though they were nothing and also sent the same one back at her.

This man was frightening good. She quickly bit down on her lips hard enough to draw blood, hoping the shock to her system would knock out the genjutsu. She quickly found the tree gone as she jumped back to get out of range of the kunai and hoped for a slight breather to gather her next attack. But Itachi was too quick, she saw the kick coming but she knew that she wouldn't be able to dodge it. Raising up a hand to defend she took the hit but the power behind it was amazing.

She cried out as the kick sent her over the railing and she soon found herself over the water, gathering chakra into her feet she landed on the water.

"Not bad taking that hit," Itachi's voice suddenly said behind her. Her eyes widened as she spun around shocked by his speed. She wasn't even aware that he had moved and yet he was now behind her. "But unfortunately for you..."

"This is the end for you," a new voice said behind Itachi as both Itachi and Kurenai saw Kakashi standing there behind them both.

"Kurenai!" Asuma shouted out as he saw her in trouble.

"You shouldn't look away," Kisame chuckled as Asuma took his sight back to his opponent. He knew that was a rookie mistake but he had been too worried about her, if Kisame had attacked he would have been wide open.

Kisame brought up his sword and suddenly turned around to block the fireball that came at him from behind. The Akatsuki member leapt back to get into a better position seeing Anko arrive.

"Damn it, I thought I had him," She huffed she had tried really hard to sneak up behind him. "Hey Asuma I can't believe you let this guy get such a hit on you like that, that arm any good?"

"Good enough although what kept you two?" He replied with a grin.

"You'd think flagging down an ANBU and getting him to bring reinforcements would have been easy, damn guys are tricky to track down when you actually need them." She sighed.

Itachi heard this and knew that although Kakashi behind him now had a kunai poised against his neck if this dragged on any longer they would be in real trouble. Sure he had killed his entire clan but that had been from surprise as he had silently done it. This was going to get busy and with an entire village of ninja alert and out for them it wouldn't be pretty. It looks like he might get more complicated then expected.

"Well let's get this party started then," Anko smirked as she flung out her arm and under it dozens of snakes shot out from only she knew where. They snakes reached out impossibly long as their venom fangs were ready for action.

Kisame only grinned as with one swipe of his massive sword he slashed them away. He was also ready for when Asuma jumped in, as he was using Anko's opening move as a distraction. Kisame twisted around and with his left leg kick hard behind him as he felt the impact against Asuma. The leaf ninja to his credit saw the blow coming and managed to get his arm up just in time to block. But the kick was insanely strong as Asuma felt himself pushed back from the force of it. He ducked and jumped back from the follow up attack of the giant sword.

Kisame decided to take it up a notch as his hand flew with blinding speed into several hand seals.

"Water release: Shark bullet jutsu." The former Mist ninja said as water started to form into spinning pillars from the steam as they went for his two opponents. He was surprised however when the same jutsu was used at the same moment and cancelled out his move.

"What the hell?" Kisame noticed that there was a new Kakashi standing with them. He looked at that one and noticed that there was still one on the water with Itachi. 'Bastard copied my jutsu already.But is that a shadow clone or the real one?When did he even do that?'

Anko looked at the Kakashi next to her, even she was surprised he had switched out with a clone already, at least she thought he had switched out she wasn't too sure. "I could have handled that you know." She told him.

"I know but just call me overprotective, besides we can't screw around with these two just in case." Kakashi told her not taking his eyes off Kisame.

Over with Itachi he had seen all of this and was a bit impressed with the man, well two could play it that game. He looked at the Kakashi in front of him on the water and with a sudden move he had shurikens in his hand but this was just the faint. The real attack would be his own water attack, but to his surprise Kakashi jumped back with a word of warning to Kurenai as he put up a water barrier around himself.

When the water came down, Kakashi soon found another Itachi waiting for him from behind, a kunai already ready at the neck and ready to strike.

"Impressive, although you aren't an Uchiha you've mastered the use of the sharingan that so few of my clan could have. You don't just relay on its power but use it to enhance your skills as it was meant to be used. It's a pity my clan couldn't learn from your example but they were weak, full of fear and bitterness." Itachi said with still no emotion showing in his voice. "Isn't it true that my own father once petitioned to have that eye of yours removed?"

Kakashi did know about that but the Fourth had supported Kakashi as the sharingan would still stay within the village. Some of the Uchiha hadn't taken well to that but at the time Kakashi hadn't cared. "So what are you here for? Is this about Sasuke then?"

"No although I am interested in his development," Itachi told him. "But we're here for something bigger, tell me Kakashi, where is the Legacy of the Fourth?"

Asuma and Kurenai were confused but Anko who knew the full story looked to Kakashi in the water and saw his reaction to know what Itachi was talking about. For Kakashi his eyes widened but soon narrowed. They were after Naruto, after his own son and Kakashi felt a cold fury that he hadn't felt in years slowly rise up out of him. He controlled it but he was close to letting loose on this man, threatening his son was not something you did.

"You'll never find out from me," Kakashi's form on the river suddenly turned to water and fell. Kisame was surprised to see a water clone, apparently his village had lost one of their unique jutsus, well it wasn't like he cared about that place anymore. He watched as Kakashi's real form was under the water as it gave the woman a weapon. Suddenly he jumped out grabbing the woman as the Itachi close to them exploded.

Kisame was surprised the man knew that it was not only a shadow clone but an exploding one, now he had a pretty good idea who the clone and who the real Kakashi was and the one he was facing was the clone. He rushed forward using the explosion as a distraction sweeping his sword in a wide arc. They jumped back of course which was what he was counting on as with his free hand he threw a kunai at the fake Kakashi before the clone couldn't change direction in mid air. The kunai struck dispelling the clone as Anko and Asuma landed on the water next to the real Kakashi.

Kisame grinned at how all the little ducks were lined up. With a blur he disappeared and reappeared next to his partner. "So how much time do you figure we got?"

"Not long unfortunately," Itachi looked at them all. "It looks like I won't be able to hold back on using 'that' on them."

Kakashi's eye widen as he had a feeling what Itachi was going to use, he had only heard stories but it there were stories of a more powerful version of the sharingan. "Everyone close your eyes!"

"What?" Asuma looked to his friend.

"Are you insane?" Anko yelled at him. "Why the hell would we do that? We can take them there are four of us and only two of them."

"Anko please do it now!" Kakashi yelled at her and for the first time Anko felt like she was struck by how Kakashi said it. He had never yelled at her before so whatever it was had to be serious. She didn't like this though, in fact she was comfortable with hating every single part of it. But she trusted Kakashi and she would put her life in his hands if he asked it.

The three leaf ninja closed their eyes as Kakashi closed his original, leaving his sharingan open, it was his only chance against what might be coming. He would die to protect his son but he also if he could take Itachi down. Jiraiya had told him about the Akatsuki before he had left with Naruto and the others, he knew what they were after, and that his son was in danger. If possible he would take them down with him, as a father it was his duty. Plus he had three others right here to protect if he could.

Kakashi watched as Itachi's eyes changed, as the sharingan turned into what looked like a three pointed shuriken. This had to be the Mangekyo sharingan that he had only heard about, this was something that he bet hardly anyone had seen.

"Let's see if you can survive this," Itachi told him as he locked eyes with Kakashi.

Suddenly Kakashi felt himself pulled by a strong force almost like his someone was reaching inside of him and pulling him inside and out. He blanked out, coming around Kakashi found himself in some strange world. The place was all red and he soon found himself on a wooden cross, he tested the bonds and he was surprised to find how real everything felt. He knew it wasn't but this was the most realistic feeling genjutsu he had ever felt.

Normally a genjutsu would appear to be more like real life to help confuse a person but for this one it was so powerful that he figured it didn't have to even try to look like the real world. He had already tried the usual methods to trying to break free of a genjustu but so far nothing was working.

"Welcome to the world of the Tsukuyomi," Itachi said to him as he seemed to appear out of nowhere. He looked strange, almost like a photo negative version of himself to Kakashi. "In this world I control everything you will tell me where the boy is."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed at the young man, "Doubt it."

"If you say so," Itachi pulled out a sword and ran it through Kakashi's body.

Kakashi cried out feeling the cold metal as it sliced through his body, he had felt enough wounds in his life to know the feeling of cold metal going into the body. It really did feel real as suddenly he was fine. Looking down he saw the wound was gone. Itachi appeared again and once more the sword went into his body. This would happen over and over again as Itachi explained how he would feel this for three days.

Suddenly he felt like he was living the same moment over and over again, he saw many different version so of himself with many version of Itachi. Somehow Kakashi was experiencing everything they did all at the same time. It was like how a shadow clone worked only in real time. Time seemed to stretch out as nothing but the same pain over and over again, like his whole world was being engulfed by pain.

-One Day, Three Hours and twenty-two minutes later-

How long had he been here? Kakashi couldn't know anymore, everything blended together now. It was hard to think straight, so much pain for so long it felt like he had lived like this for his entire life, that he was born into life of nothing but pain and suffering.

How many stabs? How many cries of agony had been torn from his lungs?

All the pain in his life didn't add up to this, it was tearing down his mind, his soul, he felt like he was holding onto his identity by bloody finger tips and if he let go he would call into a black abyss as his mind was totally destroyed. But something kept him going, something kept him strong enough to keep hold. His son, his team, his friends, Anko...they were all out there. He kept hold of that thought, kept it as close to his heart as possible to help him give him the strength.

He wanted to just let go so many times, to just let it go and end it all but those thoughts kept him going, they were the only thing keeping him going.

"I'm surprised you've lasted this long," Itachi told him. "We still have a couple of days together, maybe we can try something else to help loosen your tongue."

Kakashi weakly raised his head not sure what he was getting at, the only thing he knew was that this was the first break he had from his torture since this began.

"Kakashi, where am I?"

Kakashi's head snapped up as he saw Anko there across from him in the same position he was in. It couldn't be the real Anko, it just couldn't. It had to be a trick, she wasn't here, she was outside of this place.

"Kakashi what's going on?" Anko asked him looking around. "I was waiting for you to tell us what to do next."

"Anko?" Kakashi asked weakly.

"I couldn't help it," Anko told him. "I opened my eyes it was just for a second."

"A second was all I needed." Itachi appeared and thrust the sword into Anko's body. She screamed out as Kakashi was forced to watch the woman across him being stabbed. Kakashi tried to struggle, he yelled at him to stop and cursed at him. She cried out again and again as he was forced to watch him slowly kill her. Part of him hoped it was just a trick but she was too real, thoughts of Rin and Obito and how he couldn't save them flooded his mind.

Over and over it happened, Itachi would switch between them. Anko begged for it to stop, for Kakashi to do something, anything to stop it. Kakashi had thought that it couldn't have gotten any worse but it had.

-A few seconds later (Real Time)-

"Kakashi what's going on?" Anko asked he had said to close their eyes, Itachi said something and now Kakashi was silent the entire time. "Kakashi?"

She asked again not liking at all that he wasn't saying anything.

Kakashi looked around and for a moment he wasn't sure if he was out or if this was just a new level of torture. To let him think he was out and then pull the rug out from under him and start it all over again. He felt like hell, in fact he was pretty sure he had just gone through the closest thing to hell that a person that was still living through could have gone through.

"Impressive, you're not only still with us but were able to hold on for the full time," Itachi told him. "Your reputation is well deserved but every man has their breaking point. Tell us where the boy is or else I'll put your friends through it as well, and trust me, they won't survive the experience."

For a brief moment Kakashi actually thought about it, how could he put anyone through that, plus Anko was here. Here could still hear her screaming in his ears. He bit down hard on his lip to cause it to bleed. In the end he couldn't tell him anything, he couldn't abandon Naruto. He may not be his son by blood but he was his son in all the ways that really mattered.

"I won't tell you anything," Kakashi said as the world seemed to swim around him. His vision was blurred as the final thing he saw was the water rushing to his face.

Anko heard the body hit the water and she just knew that something horrible had happened. Although Kakashi told them not to open their eyes she couldn't help it. She did and saw Kakashi sinking into the water. She cried out as she rushed over to him, she pulled him up so that he wouldn't drown. She shook him a few times calling out his name but he was completely out cold.

Anko had no idea what that bastard had done to him but Kakashi was in a bad way but she didn't see any wounds on him.

"Aw look at that," Kisame chuckled. "Maybe I should end them together and make it all poetic."

Kisame readied his sword when a slash landed between the two groups.

"Now what is it?" Kisame said getting slightly annoyed as a new figure appeared.

"It is I, the Noble Green Beast of Konoha, the one and only Maito Gai." The green clad warrior spoke to them. "Everyone open your eyes."

"What?" Asuma asked him.

"Kakashi told us not to open our eyes." Kurenai told him.

"It's okay," Gai said full of confidence. "Just look at their feet, I've trained with Kakashi for so long I found that fighting someone with the sharingan is to not look at their eyes. So I focused on the feet, you can tell what a person does by now they use their feet."

"Okay if you say so," Asuma opened his eyes with Kurenai as they looked at the feet. "Although it's not as easy as you said Gai, you've actually got training in this."

"I know but I saw the ANBU gathering up, so we only have to delay them for a few minutes." Gai cast a look to Anko holding up Kakashi. "Anko take Kakashi to the hospital, we can handle things here."

Anko looked torn between helping them and getting Kakashi help, she was really worried about his condition there just wasn't anything normal about it.

Itachi narrowed his eyes, things were getting too complicated now. But one thing was for certain, the boy wasn't in the village. They had already searched the place and not only that, when someone was worried about someone their eyes would unconscious look to wherever they were. Even if he had no idea where the boy was in the village his eyes would have shifted even slightly to where he thought he was. His sharingan would have picked up on the slight movement.

But there was none, one reason why the boy might not be in the village as Kakashi had no idea where he was. They had already had time to search the village with no sign plus the fact that there were rumors of Jiraiya in the area. There could be the possibility that they would have given the boy to him to protect, it was a long shot but the bottom line was that they couldn't stay here.

"Looks like it's time to go," Itachi told his partner. "We can't linger any longer."

Kisame scowled a bit, "They got off lucky then, well I'll remember this as unfinished then."

With that the two of them suddenly vanished from sight using a high level jutsu to escape the area.

Sometime later on the same main road leading away from the village the two Akatsuki members were walking as though they hadn't just infiltrated a major ninja village and caused trouble there. Itachi rubbed his eyes, his vision was blurred ever since he had used that technique on Kakashi. When he first gained this new power it had been amazing but he soon found the drawbacks he had been warned about were getting worse.

Over the last year he had started taking medication to help keep his eyes from deteriorating too much but he could only slow the progress. At this rate he might be totally blind in three years, four at the most if he tried not to use his eyes too much.

"You okay?" Kisame asked seeing his partner.

"I'll be fine," Itachi told him looking ahead of him. They still had a job to do he had a few ideas of who they could ask if anyone had seen the boy leave the village. If he really had left they would find his trail and if they couldn't find him, well they still had plenty of time. Besides they had other targets they could track down and they knew where the boy would return to eventually as well. In the end nothing had really changed for them.

-Elsewhere-

A ninja moved through the woods as he kept his distance from the group he had been shadowing. The man wore the standard clothing for someone from the Sound village as he had been one of the scouts sent to look for Jiraiya. Two days ago he had picked up the trail and he had also figured out which town they were heading to.

It wasn't an easy task, he had been very careful to keep his distance after all Jiraiya the Sannin was not someone you underestimated. Crouching down behind a tree he pulled out a scroll, he opened it and put it on the ground. Next he took a kunai and made a small cut on his thumb and ran the blood against the summoning seal.

There was a small puff of smoke as a snake summons appeared.

He took his report out and placed it on the paper with the snake. "Take this directly to Lord Orochimaru, he's waiting for this."

The snake coiled around the report and disappeared with it, this was a very effect way for Orochimaru's spies operated. All reports went through his summons for speed and security as they would only take them directly to Orochimaru.

The job done he replaced the scroll and the scout was about to move back to his small camp when he felt something metal and sharp pressed against his neck.

"Nice night out isn't it?" Jiraiya asked him.

"How did you!"

"Oh please I knew we were being followed," Jiraiya really wish people would at least try a bit harder when following him. Was it his age that people thought they could get this close and he wouldn't notice it? At any rate it looked like he had found the little scout of his old teammate that had been shadowing them. "Now do you mind telling me why my 'old friend' seems to be very interested in where I'm going?"

The man considered his options, he knew that the Sannin before him would do all kinds of things to get the information out but if Orochimaru ever found out that he was caught and not only that, but talked, well there really wasn't much choice. Without hesitation he grabbed Jiraiya's wrist and thrust his whole body into the blade.

Jiraiya hadn't expected the man to literally throw himself into the kunai, he tried to let go of it but it was already too late. It went into the man's neck as the blood pumped out from hitting the main artery. Jiraiya cursed knowing the man was dead within minutes but he had no way to save him for interrogation. He signed at the missed opportunity as the man's body on the ground slowly started to stop moving.

On the one hand he was glad for no one shadowing them anymore but on the other he wanted to know if this man had reported back to Orochimaru. Well nothing to be done now but he would have to be more on guard now. There was no telling what his old teammate would be up to, plus he was certain that he was close to Tsunade now. With luck he might have tracked her down and drag her back to Konoha, even if he had to tie her up to do it.

He paused at that mental image of her tied up in rope, a perverted grin on his face. 'Oh that's a good one, I got to write that down sometime.' He thought with a perverted chuckle leaving the dead Sound ninja behind. 'Hopefully it won't come to that, if I can convince her to leave before Orochimaru shows up then at least that would be something on our side.'

Next up Chapter 6: Tsunade