Konoha's Lost Kunoichi

The Immortal Revealed

The clay moved in my hands as I attempted to make one of Deidara's birds. No such luck though. It's worse than usual since I haven't been able to focus.

My gaze kept flickering to the clock on the wall, like I've done every five minutes. The uneasy feeling from an hour ago didn't go away, only increased. Even as I made it to the base and to Deidara's workshop, the uneasiness never settled. The urge to head over to Shikamaru is overbearing and I keep on scolding myself for it.

I'm sure he's fine. And even if he wasn't he's more than capable of taking care of himself. I'm busy. Too busy to deal with a 'feeling'.

I've got to learn something before Deidara get's back from his search. But there's that too. The strange thing is, I thought Kakuzu was after the Two Tails Jinchuriki.

His partner is loud as hell, so when I met Kakuzu, I could hear his partner cursing from beyond the walls. Why'd they switch targets?

My gaze wandered over to the clock and I groaned, dropping the clay and letting my head fall onto the table.

God damn it. I don't even know where he is or who he's with. Using that technique I'd surprise him and anyone else with him. Like Choji or even Ino.

They're not supposed to see me ever again. And they're especially not supposed to know that I've been in contact with Nara.

He can handle whatever situation he may or may not even be in.

I know this. But it bothers me. Maybe because he's the only one who knows most of the situation. Over these past three years he's been the only connection to home.

And while I haven't talked to him about the experiments or even the Frenzy, I do talk to him. About normal things. With Sasuke, Haru, and Hawaki, it's always about the plan. What's next. Locations. How to incorporate attacks. It's always revolving around the mission.

Because I can't talk normally with them.

I'll tease them, yell at their idiocy. But they're not from home. And Sasuke is as in the dark as the rest of my friends back at the Village.

Haru and Hawaki are the only ones other then Nara who know. But it's not the same. They treat me as a leader. They'll try to make me laugh, make the situation light, bearable. I appreciate what they do.

But I'm still their leader. I need to project that.

Nara treats me normally. He's my friend, maybe even my best friend. But I'm not his leader. I'm his friend who's on a mission. So he'll talk to me normally, tell me how everyones doing, and listen to me bitch about how annoying Kabuto is.

He's my connection to my brother and my home. He does a lot for me. And while I'd sooner tell Haru and Hawaki the extent of the damage to my psyche, I trust him.

But right now, I'm in the middle of something important. The sooner I learn this, the sooner I can go back to the house. And the sooner Kaname teaches me, the sooner I can continue my search for Itachi. Then the sooner I find him, the sooner I can save him. And then maybe I'll be able to help him and Sasuke rekindle their bond.

Then Sasuke will be saved from his own hatred.

There's so much to do. So much and so little time. I need to save the Uchiha's. Sasuke, Itachi, they're two of the most important people to me, second only to Naruto. I don't have time to waste looking for Nara just because I have a bad feeling.

I know this.

But my eyes flicked over to the clock regardless. Pursing my lips tightly, I glared at the clock before growling out some profanities and shoving some of the clay in the workshop into my kunai pouch.