Shades of Grey

Chapter 69

The next morning the pair met up with Kisame to have a quick breakfast before heading out. For two people who were about to face enemies who were known to be damned near immortal he had never seen such a peaceful pair. He had known when he had first met the kunoichi that she would be good for Itachi, and now he could see how good he was for her too. The sorrow that had been radiating off of her since they recovered her from Deidara seemed to have vanished. Sakura may have changed, but she would survive.

It did not take them more than a few hours' travel to pick up on signs of recent battles; they were on the right track. It should not take them long to locate their targets now. Itachi led them carefully with their presence well hidden. He would be certain that they were the ones to spring the trap not the other way around.

Finally, early in the afternoon they felt several chakras flaring. Sakura cast Itachi a quick glance and he nodded in reply. They had found the two Akatsuki and they were currently in a battle. Silently they watched the pair fighting three shinobi. It was over quick and showed Sakura that this would not be an easy fight. She and her partners worked much better as a team, but the two before them were undeniably strong. All too soon Itachi gave them the sign and they swept down on their prey.

"What is the meaning of this Uchiha?" Kakuzu demanded after dodging Itachi's initial attack.

"The meaning should be clear." Itachi told him. "Your days of immortality have come to an end."

"If the first Hokage of your village could not stop me, you do not stand a chance." Kakuzu scoffed. "Your foolish Uchiha pride shall be your downfall."

Instead of responding with words Itachi released a flock of crows in his direction with shuriken hidden within. A few of them managed to hit his opponent but did little harm. That was fine with Itachi; he just had to toy with him enough to get him to release his hearts from his body.

"What the hell is this shit about?" Hidan asked Kisame who along with Sakura was facing him. "Wait a minute that is the jinchuriki huh? So, Itachi really is ditching Akatsuki for that bitch. Who would have ever thought that mister stick up his ass would have it in him?"

"Shut up." Kisame replied as he removed Samehada from its bindings.

Sakura launched several senbon at him managing to catch him in the arm with two.

"Stupid slut that hurt." The immortal complained as he plucked them from his arm.

Kisame kept him busy deflecting his scythe with Samehada while Sakura dodged about randomly inflicting small wounds on him with her long-range weapons. While the wounds themselves were only a minor annoyance her plan was to dose him with as much poison as she could to see if it would have any effect.

"Damn it." Hidan finally pulled his scythe back to his side. "That whore has been poisoning me. It won't kill me you know?"

"We knew that." Kisame smirked. "But it sure as hell has slowed you down."

With that Kisame was able to rush in and leave a large nasty gash on the other man's side. Sakura was stunned to see that he seemed to relish the pain. She spared a moment to check on Itachi and saw that he had managed to bring down one of the hearts; four more to go. She started to signal Kisame to go help Itachi when Hidan managed to cut the blue man's arm. He licked the blood off and started to make the way to a ritualistic looking circle. That was it, she wanted Kisame out of the fight now. She needed to get Hidan's attention firmly on her and off her partner. Without a word she leapt forward and punched the ground demolishing his circle. She quickly signaled Kisame away; this one would be all hers.

"Fuck that was awesome." The foul-mouthed shinobi offered her a huge smile. "You did that with just your fist. Come on kunoichi show me what you got; go all demon or something."