Uranaishi

Onyx and Ivory

Hoshiko heard her companion shift on his futon, the blankets rustled as Hoshiko turned her head slightly from staring out of her window. The sun had barely risen over the village of Hanabira, casting a dewy glow over the village. Hanabira wasn't like Konoha; it was a slow start here. If they were back home, vendors would already be opening their stalls and the people would already be out and walking, going about their daily chores and activities, here the streets were empty and it was silent. It was peaceful, Hoshiko could see herself living here one day.

She chuckled to herself at the thought, Itachi would probably tell her that she'd get bored of a quiet village, which was true, but one could hope.

Itachi roused from his sleep as he sat up on the futon, he blinked away the crusted sleep in his eyes a few times before looking to the parallel futon, the sheets were made and Hoshiko was missing from it.

"Sleep well?" Hoshiko asked him. Itachi turned to the sound of her voice, seeing her sitting on the small windowsill.

"You're awake early." He stated.

"I didn't sleep much," she admitted with a frown. She turned her head back to the window, peering down into the street. She heard Itachi stand from his futon as he made his bed quickly.

"You should've woken me."

"What good would that have done?" Hoshiko said with a scoff. Itachi studied her body language for a few seconds. Her arms were crossed, her back hunched and bags were under her eyes.

"You're worried." Itachi stated nonchalantly, not meeting her gaze.

"No I'm not," Hoshiko retorted with a frown. "I'm suspicious."

"Of what?" Itachi asked.

Hoshiko faced him once more, a quizzical expression on her face, "You're awfully chatty this morning, yesterday I couldn't get a whole sentence out of you." She stated sarcastically as Itachi held her intense gaze. When she knew that Itachi wasn't going to say anything else she sighed in irritation. "The old woman. I've been thinking about what she said to us."

"She gave us valuable information on the families of the missing children," Itachi reminded her.

"Why now though? Why didn't she tell the Chuunin team that came here?"

There was a pause from Itachi, "Maybe she was afraid."

"Why tell us then? She couldn't have known that we are Shinobi. This whole mission doesn't make sense to me."

"They never normally do." Itachi said with a smirk. Hoshiko rolled her eyes at him as she pushed off the windowsill and went to sit at the table, Itachi followed. "All we know it that we have to find a Shinobi in this village that may be linked to the disappearances. Surely someone here has seen something."

Itachi took a seat at the table with her as they looked over the map of Hanabira that they had acquired from downstairs in the reception. They scanned over the layout of the village.

"We should start by splitting up, go to the places where the children disappeared and ask around there if anyone saw any Shinobi in the area a day or something before the disappearance." Itachi explained as he marked out the destinations on the map.

"Isn't that a bit risky?" Hoshiko asked. "Shouldn't we stick together?"

Itachi looked conflicted for a second before he shook his head, "I'm guessing this was the reason why we were chosen for this mission."

Hoshiko frowned at him, trying to understand what he was getting at as she continued to give him a blank stare.

"We're both in the age range of the missing children. We're both in ANBU so if anything should happen we should be more than capable to take on the perpetrators if needed by ourselves. We might even be able to draw them out if we split up."

"That's a lot of 'ifs'." Hoshiko mused.

"You doubt your abilities?"

"No!" Hoshiko argued, her brows knitted together in frustration.

Itachi smirked at her reaction as the girl seethed silently at him. His gaze returned to the map, "You take these ones, and I'll take them." He said pointing to the easterly ones for Hoshiko and the westerly ones for himself.

"What should we do if we find them or we get into trouble?" Hoshiko asked as Itachi folded up the map and placed it into his bag out of sight. He turned back to her and met her gaze.

"Flare your chakra, and if we're in trouble send up a Katon" Itachi instructed to her as Hoshiko nodded in compliance. "We'll meet back here in two hours."

Hoshiko strolled through the streets, her hands clasped behind her back as she gazed around at the scenery around her. The street she was on was full of stores of fruits, vegetables, meats and trinkets. She wished that she could stop and admire everything around her, but she was on a mission, maybe after this was all done she would return here one day. She never really got out of the village anymore since she was a Genin. The last time she had been outside of the village had been for her ANBU exam, which had ended in disaster; but she was determined to make sure that this mission was a success.

Hoshiko passed by a man and woman, both held hands together as they chatted quietly about something.

"I can't believe you spent that much on a silly reading!" The woman hissed at her partner as the man shrugged his shoulders.

"She was offering a deal, and has she ever been wrong before?" The man replied back.

Hoshiko paused in her stride, glancing over her shoulder as she continued to watch the couple as they travelled further away from her, she could no longer hear their conversation but what she had heard intrigued her.

A fortuneteller? She thought.

It was nearing the two-hour mark of her search and nothing had turned up, she had been to both sights, asked around about any suspicious activity in the days before the kidnapping but everyone said the same thing, 'No'. She had even used her chakra senses to see if there was any residue from a jutsu that was probably used to go into the tunnels below them, but nothing turned up.

Hoshiko walked down the street that the couple had come from, her head looking left and right at the stores, she was searching for something but wasn't ready to admit it to herself about what she was actually searing for.

It wasn't until a voice from behind her made her stop.

"Are you looking for me?"

Hoshiko turned, confident that the voice who had spoken was in fact aimed at her. What she saw had her eyebrows shooting up into her hairline. The woman before her was young, maybe just out of her teen years; her hair was long and blonde, the colour of sand. Her eyes were a dark inky black. Her face was youthful and wrinkleless; she was dressed in a long flowing dress with a shawl wrapped around her shoulders.

"And you are…?" Hoshiko asked with a bark.

The woman laughed, covering her mouth with one hand as she waved the other at her teasingly, "You've always been a suspicious one, haven't you." She stated to her.

Hoshiko frowned at the woman, looked behind her, she saw the name of the shop and cut her gaze back down to the woman.

"You're the fortuneteller?"

The woman giggled, "Were you expecting an old woman, grey hair and wrinkles?"

"Pretty much." Hoshiko shrugged.

"Sorry to disappoint," she said with a kind smile. "Would you like to come inside?" She offered, pointing to her shop as Hoshiko stood back with her arms crossed.

"No offense, but I don't really believe in this sort of thing."

"You must have, why else where you looking for me?"

"I wasn't—!"

A look from the blonde woman silences Hoshiko as she clamps her mouth shut.

"Maybe I can help you with your mission?" The woman offered her. Hoshiko knitted her eyebrows together, how did this woman know about her? Was she behind it? "I didn't mean it like that," she continued, studying Hoshiko's face.

There was a standoff between them, Hoshiko not moving an inch as she used her chakra senses and scanned around the area, she was making sure that no Shinobi were lying in wait in her store to ambush her, she wasn't about to take any chances.

"Fine." Hoshiko complied.

The woman brought her into her shop; it smelled strongly of a fruity fragrance. The blinds were drawn at the windows and dozens of candles had been lit around the room, them being the only light source for their eyes to see with. At the front of the room was a small desk, a little notebook and a metal safe, probably for her money from readings that she gave out. In the center of the room was a small table, a long candle in a holder and two pillows on either side of the table.

Hoshiko removed her shoes as the woman did the same, setting them aside as she took a seat at the table, flicking her long blonde hair over her shoulder. Hoshiko stood awkwardly at the entrance as she cast her gaze around the room.

"What troubles you?"

Hoshiko smirked, "Shouldn't you know that already."

"I'm not a mind reader," she stated simply. Causing a blush to erupt over Hoshiko's cheeks. "I'm simply able to make sense of one's choice of path. Be that in life or love."

"Love?" Hoshiko questioned, walking forwards until she was at the table. She sat down, folding her legs on the pillow.

"I mainly tell people about the one they fall in love with," she pointed to a painting hanging on the wall. It was of the woman, the words around her sayings things like 'find the One', and 'The heart chooses'. There was a price underneath as Hoshiko felt herself blush once more.

"I don't have that kind of money with me," she admitted in defeat, her voice barely a whisper.

"Don't worry, I won't be charging you for this reading. I only wish for the safe return of the village children," her smile was kind and sincere.

"What's your name?" Hoshiko asked her.

"You can call me Aishi."

"I'm Hoshiko." The young girl replied.

Aishi held out her hand, signaling Hoshiko to extend hers, she did so hesitantly as Aishi gripped it tightly and flipped it over so that her palm was facing upwards. Aishi tenderly traced her fingers over Hoshiko's palm.

"You carry a heavy burden on your shoulders, one that you shouldn't carry alone…a dark shadow looms behind you constantly." Aishi met Hoshiko's gaze as the younger girls eyes were widened slightly. Aishi continued, "The road is long, and full of holes, you must be careful to navigate them, unless you want to be lost forever in the dark abyss. Overcoming obstacles is your strong point, and you should remember that, it will save you more times than you know."

"That doesn't sound very pleasant," Hoshiko sighed as Aishi released her hand. "It didn't give me any information on the missing children."

"Didn't it?" Aishi questioned with her eyebrow raised.

Hoshiko was silent as she went over Aishi's words, trying to figure out if she had given her any clues about it, the main thing that Hoshiko was worried about was this shadow that apparently loomed behind her, she couldn't figure out what that was meant to be. The one thing was clear to her was the first part, the burden. The burden of her Mizukiri, of the knowledge of Kakashi's past, she had been keeping it to herself. Aishi was telling her to open up to someone, but how could she possibly do that? Telling someone that she had the ability to take people's memories at will was a scary thing, and Hoshiko was scared of her powers enough as it was.

"I have given you your reading," Aishi said to her with a small incline of her head. "You are a strong girl, Hoshiko. Remember that, I believe you can figure out whatever is in your way, trust in yourself."

Truth be told, Hoshiko was more confused now then before. She was thankful nonetheless, even if she didn't really believe in having your future told, it could all be a stinking heap of garbage for the most part. And really, none of what Aishi had said had given her any clues about the missing children.

"One more thing," Aishi said. "Seeing as you're here already, would you like to know about the one you will love?"

"What?" Hoshiko squeaked, embarrassed. Aishi gave her a charming smile.

"All women want to know about the one they will fall in love with, don't you want to know?"

"No!" Hoshiko retorted instantaneously. Her cheeks becoming increasingly hot just by thinking about what Aishi could do. She was fourteen and an ANBU, she didn't have time for love, she had to focus on her mission. Love could come later, if it ever did.

"What is the point of life if there is no love in one's future?" Aishi remarked.

"Lots of things, love doesn't make the sun rise; and it certainly doesn't dictate my life." Hoshiko said stubbornly. Aishi chuckled at her.

"You are not the least bit interested?" Aishi rose from the table and went to the back door, opening it up and disappearing for a few seconds. When she returned, in her hand was a steaming cup, the steam curling up into her face as Aishi set it in front of her. Out of her dress she pulled a little bag and handed it to Hoshiko.

"If you wish to find out, take the tea leaves from the bag and place them in the cup. Drink the tea and hand it to me."

Hoshiko stared at the unmoving cup, with her intense gaze it was like she was waiting for it to sprout legs and arms and dance around the room. With a quick glance to Aishi who was sitting patiently Hoshiko reached for the bag and took a pinch of tea leaves in her fingers and sprinkled them into the cup.

"How did you make it so hot so quick?" Hoshiko asked as she watched the tealeaves float to the bottom of the cup.

"I had one prepared just before you arrived." Aishi said with a knowing smile.

"I thought you weren't a mind reader, how did you know I'd do it?" Hoshiko questioned.

"I'm not, but I had a feeling that you would've given in eventually. Your curiosity is a strength in you, but it is also your greatest weakness sometimes."

"Thanks." Hoshiko muttered sourly.

Hoshiko placed the cup to her lips and drank deeply, tasting the sweet tea as I glided smoothly down her throat. When it was almost empty Hoshiko titled it back and swirled the extra water in the cup. Once she was finished she handed it back to Aishi who was waiting with an open hand.

Aishi's inky eyes darted quickly around the cup, obviously seeing something that Hoshiko would have no idea about.

"I see…a man with a heart of stone and eyes stained with blood—"

"What?" Hoshiko interrupted. Her mind immediately jumped to conclusions. Eyes stained with blood. That could only mean one thing…

"You and him are fated to walk the same road, but complications will throw you off. A betrayal will break you."

"Are any of my readings ever going to be happy?" Hoshiko grumbled.

"I see a tragic sacrifice, only seeing as one when the road ends."

"What does that mean?" Hoshiko asked, her head hurting from all this information. She was right to not believe in this sort of thing, it was complete nonsense, both of her readings had been dark and filled with betrayal, was she ever allowed to be happy?

"In time, you will come to understand the true meaning of love."

The sound of the door opening behind them caused Hoshiko to jump.

"Found you."

Hoshiko turned, her mouth slightly parted in revelation as she stared at the new visitor. Itachi closed the door behind him, the candlelight casting dark shadows across his face as he continued to keep his gaze on Hoshiko. Hoshiko met his onyx gaze, her mind thinking back to what Aishi had just told her.

'Eyes stained with blood.'

Sharingan.

His keen eyes glanced over at Aishi as he gave her a nod out of respect; Aishi returned it with a kind smile.

"It's past the two hour mark," Itachi said to her, a slight annoyance to his tone.

"Gomen, I got sidetracked." Hoshiko said. Standing from the table and turning to face Aishi once more. "Arigato for the readings."

"You're welcome, I hope they will be of use to you in the time to come." There was a knowing twinkle in Aishi's eyes as Hoshiko knitted her brows together in confusion. She hated being this confused, she liked things explained simply to her, she hated having to solve riddles and puzzles, Itachi did enough of that already, she just like some straight answers for once in her life.

"What were you doing?" Itachi asked her as they walked back to the inn. Hoshiko was a few feet away, her hands shoved into the pockets of her pants and her head downcast as she stared at her feet as they moved.

"Nothing, it doesn't matter." Hoshiko replied quietly.

"She was a Uranaishi, wasn't she?" Itachi guessed. Hoshiko found herself nodding. "Did she say anything useful about the missing children?" Itachi asked. Hoshiko's head shot up, looking over to her right.

"You believe in that sort of thing?" She questioned.

Itachi didn't meet her gaze but simply smirked, the corner of his mouth turning up, "My Obaasan used to be like her, she would have my Oka-san drink a cup when she was pregnant with Sasuke and I and she would tell her what gender we would be."

"Was she right?"

"Of course not," Itachi chuckled. Remembering fond memories. "But it didn't stop her from trying. I was supposed to be a girl and Sasuke was meant to have a twin."

Hoshiko laughed loudly, picturing Itachi as a girl.

"Why do you believe her then?" Hoshiko asked, motioning to the store that was behind them.

"Because I believe that there are people out there who believe they are true Uranaishi; and my Obaasan did get one thing right."

"What was it?" Hoshiko asked, curious.

"That my Oka-san would only have two children." Itachi said with a smirk directed at Hoshiko. The smaller girl found herself grinning at his words.

As Itachi turned away from her and looked ahead, Hoshiko's smile dropped. She thought back on all of what Aishi had told her, about her fate or destiny and also about her love life. She didn't want to believe in a superstition, she liked to make her own destiny and not have anyone tell her otherwise, but she couldn't shake the feeling that maybe she was right, and maybe there were some truths to the words that she spoke. Only time would tell.

Hoshiko entered the room first and collapsed on the futon, her face pressed against the pillow as she sighed deeply and shut her eyes. Even though it was only nearing midday she was exhausted. The mission was taking a lot out of her.

"I have a lead." Itachi stated.

Hoshiko shot up, standing on her bed with her finger pointed at him, "Why didn't you say anything, baka!" Hoshiko hollered as Itachi walked over to the window and glanced out.

"I couldn't on the street. We don't know who might be around," he said simply, emphasizing the fact as Hoshiko realized this and lowered her hand.

"What did you find out?"

"There's a man, he isn't a Shinobi but its rumored that he hires them to do his dirty work." Itachi said. Hoshiko clenched her fist and ground her teeth together.

"What kind of person kidnaps innocent children?" She ground out. "What else is there?"

"Just that the Shinobi he hires aren't from Konoha, the man I spoke to didn't recognize the emblem on the forehead protector."

"Well that's something, at least we don't have to suspect one of our own anymore," Hoshiko shrugged as she sat down on her futon, her legs crossed and her head resting on her hands as she thought about where they would go from here. "Did they say where this guy lives, or has his base?"

"No one knows. It could be in a village or it could be somewhere out in the forest. It has to be near the entrance to the cave that we found." Itachi said as he fished around for the map of the landscape as he began brooding over it.

"We need to get on the inside, it's the only chance we'll get to figure out where he is and why he's doing it." Hoshiko said. A plan was forming in her head as she slowly looked over at Itachi. The Uchiha was reading over the map but paying attention to her.

"But how…no." Itachi said firmly as he met her gaze, figuring out instantly what Hoshiko was implying.

"It's the only way, Itachi!" Hoshiko retorted, standing up and walking over to him.

"You will not use yourself as bait, Hoshiko." Itachi stated firmly to her, straightening his back and towering over her. Hoshiko didn't back down. With her silvery eyes set in determination she spoke.

"You said it yourself. There was a reason why we were chosen for this mission. This is the reason! You were saying today that we might lure them out by being alone."

"Luring them out and willingly being bait are two very different things." He replied.

"Then how else are we going to find them? We can't sit around and do nothing, this is the only way!"

"There are other options."

"No there aren't. Do you have such little faith in me that I can't do this?" Her voice has quieted, her eyes softened. "I want to do this, Itachi."

Itachi held her gaze, he hadn't held her gaze for this long in a while and he realized why, Hoshiko always showed her emotions through her eyes. Even if her face was set in stone her eyes always betrayed her, and he could see that she wanted to do this, and who was he to stop her?

"Ok…"

Hoshiko thought she had misheard him; she blinked a few times, standing there silently as she waited for him to laugh and tell her that he was joking, but he remained staring at her stoically.

"Really?"

He nodded, "You're right. It would be idiotic of us to not use our position to our advantage. I believe that you can do this."

Hoshiko felt a smile creep over her face, she felt pride well up in her chest at his words, finally, he had actually said something about her skills and he was trusting her enough to do this.

"I wont let you down."

"You wont."

Hoshiko fidgeted in her navy blue yukata. She had gone out to buy it with the meager money that she had, she couldn't be seen in her Shinobi gear, she looked like a girl who could handle herself, and for this to work, she had to look helpless. She had brushed her hair out, letting it down over her shoulder as she glanced over at Itachi who was staring at her out of the corner of his eye.

"What?" She barked at him.

He shook his head, turning his attention back out the window, "Nothing."

Night had fallen. After all their evidence gathering, three out of the four kidnappings had happened at nighttime, it was their best bet for the Shinobi to be out looking for their victims.

"I'm ready," Hoshiko said with a determined nod. Itachi turned his back on the window, folding his arms over his chest.

"Remember to keep your chakra masked for as long as you can. If the Shinobi sense even the smallest amount of chakra from you they'll know something is up."

"Yeah I know," Hoshiko said with an eye roll. "Be all damsel in distress and everything. Don't put up a fight, figure out where the hell I am and try to get all the children out safely."

Itachi scoffed, "I'm glad you think this is going to be easy."

Hoshiko smirked, "When is anything I do ever easy?"

There was a pause between them, uncertainty hung in the air as Hoshiko cleared her throat and ran her hands down the cotton material of the yukata. She had to admit that she was pretty comfy, but it wasn't ideal for her to fight in if it came to that; luckily she had on underneath a tank top and her ninja shorts in case she needed something more maneuverable.

"If they do appear," Itachi suddenly said. Making Hoshiko raise her head to meet his onyx gaze. "I'll tail you. I wont engage unless you send me a signal. We want to do this with the least casualties as possible."

"Ever the pacifist, Itachi." Hoshiko sighed as he gave her a stern look. She waved her hand dismissively.

The benefit of them being undercover and under the fake story of looking for their lost brother was that news would've hopefully travelled back to the man who hired the Shinobi. If he got word that another two children were in the village without guardians then hopefully he would send someone to try and get them.

Hoshiko left the inn and took slow and deliberate steps through the village, it was eerily silent, and the only sound coming from the night bugs as she walked. Her silver eyes darted to all the shadows that the buildings made, thinking that she would soon see a pair of eyes staring back at her. She had to remember to calm her breathing and keep her chakra masked; she thought back to the first time Itachi had instructed her to mask her chakra. She had come a long way since then; back then she could only hold it for around twenty minutes of so, now she could do it for hours with ease. It was no problem for her; the main issue was for her to keep her body relaxed.

She was on edge, knowing that Shinobi could be following her at this exact moment made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, she knew that if she came under attack she couldn't fight back, she needed to let them take her; it went against everything she had trained for but she needed to do this, she couldn't screw it up.

The sound of a foot slipping on a tile had Hoshiko's ears prickling, she didn't acknowledge that she had heard the sound; instead she calmly continued walking down the street. She was heading in the direction of a place she knew there were a few tunnels that intersected underneath her feet; she was going to give them more reason to want to take her.

She passed a series of shops, some of them were still open, and one of them was a bar with loud boisterous laughter coming from within. Hoshiko felt the warm air from inside wash over her skin, she felt relief and safe for a split second before she passed by and was thrown into the darkness once more.

It was now that Hoshiko could feel piercing eyes on her, she now knew that she was definitely being followed, it was difficult for her to not turn around and search for the kidnappers, she wanted to confront them right now and demand to know who they were and what they were doing with the children, but yet she still had to keep reminding herself that she was doing this for the children, this was the quickest and easiest way for her to save them all.

In the far distance, in the shadow of an alleyway, Hoshiko saw the familiar face of Itachi. He was pressed up against the wall, hiding away from whoever was tailing her. Hoshiko was worried that he was going to be seen by the kidnappers and their plan would be ruined but he quickly made the hand signals to say that there were two Shinobi on the roof behind her. Itachi had positioned himself in a way that would be impossible for the Shinobi to see him. His chakra was also masked, it wasn't as efficient as Hoshiko's and she knew that if the Shinobi were sensors they would've sensed him by now. They were getting lucky now.

It was by sheer luck that they had managed to lure out the Shinobi responsible, it was also luck that Hoshiko was still very new to the ANBU registry. Even though ANBU files were top secret, sometimes whenever ANBU were sent out on mission's their identity was exposed. No one would know that she was ANBU.

Hoshiko stopped walking, pretended to have a stone stuck in her sandal as she bent down to the ground to fish it out of her shoe, muttering under her breath as she did so. As soon as her head was bent she felt the two Shinobi make themselves known, she tried to keep her chakra under control and pretend to be a simple girl walking on her own at night.

She looked up, seeing a man and a woman standing before her. They were both taller then her. The man had long dark hair and a forehead protector around his neck. His eyes were small and dark, his nose crooked; he had a scar on his cheek as he smirked down at her. The woman had short-cropped red hair, her features were soft but the smile she had sent chills down Hoshiko's spine, her jagged teeth glinting in the moonlight. She also had a forehead protector; her one was fastened across her forehead. Hoshiko frowned at the emblem on the shining metal. It was one she didn't recognize; she had never seen it before.

It was a simple music note.

"Who are you?" Hoshiko asked in a small voice, backing away from the two.

"Doesn't she know not to walk around at night?" The woman teased in a sickly high-pitched voice. Her jagged teeth flashing once more as she spoke.

"You'd think kids these days would be smarter then that." The man said as he lurched for Hoshiko. She stumbled backwards, faking fear as she turned and ran. She pretended to be out of breath, fearing for her life.

She yelped in surprise when the man jumped in front of her, cutting off her escape as she spun around, aiming to double back when the woman appeared, stopping her from moving.

"Running wont help you." The woman hissed hatefully as she reached out and grabbed a fistful of hair. Hoshiko winced painfully as she tugged on her hair.

"Let me go!" She cried out.

"Do it now," the woman ordered to her companion as he nodded and advanced towards her.

Itachi watched from his view from the alleyway. It took all of his strength to not jump out and take down the Shinobi, he had to remind himself that Hoshiko was just acting the part and they needed her to be taken, it was just hard for him to watch the man and woman get away with this. He sighed deeply and counted to three.

They would get what was coming to them, they all would. Hoshiko was capable of this; he had to believe in her.

Itachi watched as they cornered Hoshiko, the woman reaching out and grabbing her hair. When Itachi heard Hoshiko cry out he felt something in the pit of his stomach. Her cry hadn't been fake; they were actually hurting her.

He held himself back, she was ok, she could handle that. If she was really in trouble she would take them out herself or signal him, she was fine.

"Do it now." He heard the woman say as Hoshiko struggled against her. Itachi watched as the man stalked towards Hoshiko. The woman held Hoshiko still as the man placed one hand on her forehead and the other made the rat seal. Itachi activated his Sharingan, his eyes bleeding red just in time for him to see what kind of jutsu they were about to do on Hoshiko.

Genjutsu? Itachi realized as Hoshiko's body suddenly went limp as she crashed to the floor. He heard the two laugh at her unconscious body. The man glanced around quickly; making sure that there was no one around as he bent down and tossed Hoshiko over his shoulder.

Itachi's red gaze studied Hoshiko's chakra flow, it seemed that the type of Genjutsu that they used was a basic but strong one, it only sent the victim into a deep sleep. Itachi knew that Hoshiko could break out of Genjutsu easily enough; it had been one of the things that they had practiced with during their years of training.

Itachi watched as the woman made the Earth release hand signs as she placed them on the ground. He watched the ground open up, the rumbling sound exactly as he remembered it from the previous day when he had found the tunnels. The two Shinobi jumped down into the darkness, the hole closing up behind them as Itachi sighed in worry.

Now he had to tail them, and wait.

He really hated waiting.

Hi guys! Wow I had a lot of feedback for the last chapter! It made me so happy that you guys are enjoying it so much and all have your theories xD well kudos to the ones who guessed that it was...I wont say it just in case there are people who haven't figured it out yet! But still thanks for all your reviews and feedback! Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter, there's two more chapters in this arc and then we'll be wrapping it up and going back to a canon storyline...sort of. And do you think Aishi's reading? I love that part, having Hoshiko not be a believer but still having her fortune told cracks me up xD

REPLIES

0tterlyBored - Welp, you guessed it. To be honest I wasn't trying to make it difficult, but the question is...is that the only thing that's going on here? We'll have to see! Thank you! I know how you feel about the massacre, I do have the whole story planned out and things will be going a certain way. I'm not saying much but I do hope that in the end everyone will be satisfied with the ending as I have worked hard on it to make it different from everything I have read! Kakashi will be making his return, he plays a big part in this story, as well as the other supporting characters. I'm thinking of ways to include Naruto in it if poeple want to see them interact with each other also? Thank you!

Bananarock509 - It doesn't surprise me that there might be similarities between stories, I mean, there are so many Naruto fics out here that it's probably not possible anymore to have a story that doesn't have similar aspect to other fics. But I promise that I came up with this storyline all by myself, I haven't taken anyone's work. I may have used inspiration from fics but i have not copied. But thank you and I definitely will be continuing!

StarshineRose18 - Thank you! I'm happy you think that!

ImagineStories - That slimy bastard! All will be revealed in the next chapter!

NothingNooneZero - Oh gosh thank you! I'm so happy you think that! Here's a chapter I hope you enjoy!

jcwhale2380 - Thank you! Here's an update!

Wow I had a few more reviews then normal for that chapter! You guys inspired me to write so quickly today as I finished this chapter in one whole sitting! (that almost never happens as i am the queen of procrastination)