The Angel's Ambivalence [Naruto]

Mission Preparations

"You and I walk a fragile line."

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Minxie's POV

"There's a lot we need to talk about," Lady Hokage began, "and we have little time to discuss any of it."

She had gathered Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei and I in her office to discuss our next mission. My mind was still reeling from the week's events, but I went along anyway, simply because it was my duty as a shinobi.

"A lot has happened since you were last here," Lady Hokage continued, looking at me. "Akatsuki members Hidan and Kakuzu were taken down."

My eyes widened. "What? But... But they're-"

"Immortal? Yeah, not so much," Kakashi-sensei answered. "Shikamaru's team took them down, along with our own team."

"And Naruto used that new jutsu Scarlett told me about?" I inquired. He nodded.

I knew it was wrong, but I sort of felt bad that my team had battled without me being there to support them. I felt as if I had abandoned them. I wasn't used to feeling so useless.

However, in all honesty, I prefered not being there. Their opponents, after all, were members of the Akatsuki, and regardless of my ultimate loyalty to the village, fighting them wouldn't have been easy for me.

It made me sick to realize that I really didn't feel anything at the news of Kakuzu and Hidan's deaths. Was I really that heartless? Sure, they were the bad guys, but I had spent two years around them.

A part of me did miss them, but when I reviewed the rest of the facts, I guess it didn't really matter that much. The Akatsuki was a threat to peace and a threat to Konoha, and any move against them was good.

So long as no one involved Itachi.

"Exactly," Lady Tsunade said, bringing me back to reality. "You missed out on your training, which is a major-"

"Don't worry about it," I interrupted. "I couldn't access my chakra because Scarlett was using it to learn the jutsu Kakashi-sensei taught her. She transferred her experience with it to me, and now, all I need to do is make the jutsu."

"Well, that's a relief," Sakura murmured.

Lady Tsunade nodded in agreement. "It puts us at a better advantage."

"You were with Sasuke, weren't you, Minx?" Naruto said, looking at me. Everyone's attention was now on me, and I tried not to feel awkward. "What's he up to?"

"You already know he killed Orochimaru," I said blankly, trying not to arouse suspicion. "He formed a team of three shinobi, excluding himself, and he's planning to... To kill his brother."

"Just as we suspected," Lady Tsunade murmured. "I'd hate to send you on a mission after you just got back home, but... I have no choice. We need you."

"Don't worry about it," I assured. "I kind of want to get my life back to normal." You know, as normal as things can be now that I've kissed Sasuke. "And our best bet right now is to go after Sasuke and stop him from hurting anyone." From hurting Itachi.

"She's right," Naruto agreed. "We need to form a team and get out there! We still have to find Akatsuki members, right, Granny Hokage? If we look for one Akatsuki member in particular, we'll get a sure-shot to finding Sasuke! In other words, our target... Is Itachi Uchiha!"

I felt my stomach churn. Itachi... Itachi couldn't get hurt. I already had to worry about Sasuke trying to kill him, and now my team would be after him, too?