Parting

Looking at the clothes his smile vanishes. All he sees are a short sleeve dark blue mesh shirt with long baggy black pants and a pair of boots. Seeing this Zitsu turns towards Mei to see if she's joking, but only sees her serious face.

"You're so muscular now, It'd be a shame not to show it off." She smiles sweetly, completely ignoring the look on his face.

He doesn't really care what he wears so he just puts it on. Looking at the boots on the bed he decides to just go barefoot. Setting the boots aside, for now, he grabs Samehada and attaches it to his back.

"Tell me" He looks Mei in the eyes "How's our relation with Nagi and O'uzu Islands to the south?"

Mei's eyes narrow as she hears his words. "Not bad, but not good either. Like you said before you left, I haven't accepted any offers to form alliances."

Zitsu nods his head "I want you to start preparing, in June I'm going to the Land of Fire for a couple months."

Mei frowns when she hears his words. "You just got back, and you're leaving already?"

Walking in front of her he caresses her cheeks "Everything I do, I do because I must." His thumb runs across her soft lips "If I could afford to spend every single day with you I would, but due to the things I've seen I can't do it."

Mei brows sink as she looks into his downcast eyes "Ok then, can you tell me why you are leaving this time?"

Removing his hand he takes a deep breath "The Uchiha Clan in Konoha will be wiped out in a single night."

Mei's eyes instantly bulge "The Uchiha Clan is one of Konoha's main fighting forces. It takes three ninjas to kill one Uchiha without losses to our side, who can possibly kill the whole clan?!?"

Zitsu just smiles at her statement "Two of the three greatest Uchiha born in the last thirty years."

She looks him up and down "What does this have to do with you?"

"To see if I can get any benefits of course!"

"Is that worth risking your life?"

"My life?" Zitsu smirks "Darling, I'm a Sage."

Mei pauses as her mouth opens and closes a few times. How strong was a Sage? She didn't really know.

"I have to go and that's that, try and limit mission outside of our borders as we need to preserve strength."

"What's the point of attacking Nagi and O'uzu?" Mei sits on the bed and crosses her ankles.

Zitsu looks at her for a moment before opening his mouth "The other Nations can squeeze us out. Right now we are the dominant power in the ocean, but if the Land of Waves, Sea Country, and Land of Tea develop it will basically cut us off from the west."

"That's a big if." Mei smiles.

Seeing this Zitsu shakes his head "Not an if but when, it will happen, and we need to prevent it. First, we invade Nagi and O'uzu, then we destroy the Sea Country."

Mei's head lowers as she thinks "Wouldn't it be easier if we took the Land of Waves?" Her head rises as she awaits Zitsu's opinion.

"Not yet" Zitsu counts on his fingers "I have plans for that place."

One of Mei's brows raise as she looks at the smile on his face.

In the next two weeks, Zitsu spent his time with Mei, doing a variety of things. Mangetsu and the other were still completing their missions so he never saw them.

But every day he would go to the pool at the training center while Mei was at her office. He doesn't know why he went, but he always ended up there.

Every time he went Pakura never showed. He doesn't know if he's happy or sad about it, but avoiding her was not the answer.

On June first Zitsu and Mei hug at the entrance of their house.

"I'm going today, but don't worry I'll be back before you know it." Zitsu looks up towards Mei's face.

"Don't do anything crazy or get yourself killed." Her head lowers as she kisses his lips.

"Don't worry, what could go wrong." Zitsu smiles as he pats her butt.

Mei smiles as she pokes him in the nose. Opening the door she heads out.

As the door closes Zitsu's face turns serious as his body suddenly disappears.

Instead of appearing on a boat he appears next to the training center. Looking at his old apartment building he takes a deep breath before his body turns into a blur.

Looking at the door in front of him he slowly raises his hand and knocks.

Silence fills the area as he waits. Soon the sound of locks turning can be heard as Pakura opens the door, not in her transformed state but Pakura herself.

Without saying a word she steps aside and Zitsu walks in.

Looking around the room for a moment his eyes eventually lands on hers. Neither one of them speaks as they just stare at each other.

Suddenly Pakura releases a long sigh "I knew it was a clone." She shakes her head "And a lot younger than me." She gently closes her eyes "I've been fighting my whole life, and I finally felt relaxed and let down my guard. He was there with me every day as I finally got to live for the first time."

Opening her eyes she smiles sweetly at Zitsu "I know you've been going to the training center every day, but I didn't know how to face you." She slowly shakes her head "You're not him, and I can't expect you to feel the same way." She begins to slowly walk towards the door.

Zitsu's eyes follow her as she moves past him.

Opening the door she looks back at Zitsu. "You said to go back to the sand in five years, and I believe you, but I don't have to spend those five years in the Mist." See looks Zitsu up and down one last time as she turns to leave.

Suddenly she feels a hand around her waist stopping her from moving forward. He doesn't speak and she doesn't turn around.

"I love Mei"

Her shoulders tremble slightly at his words.

"But the five years spent with you was real, that's something I can't deny. I don't know how I feel about you, but you have a place in my heart." Chakra flows through his hand as a seal is placed on her hips. "I need time to know how I truly feel, if what we had was a simple wave, or the making of a tsunami."

As he releases her waist she turns around, only to see an empty room. Closing her eyes she takes a deep breath. "Do you really think I can give up on you after you say that? My opponent is a Kage, eh?." A smile creeps on her face as she turns to leave.

[Chakra 24736/81248]

Zitsu appears on the deck of a boat slowly sailing towards a dock. As the crew of the boat see a stranger suddenly appear they do a double take, but before anyone can approach him he disappears.

Stepping on the sea Zitsu uses body flicker to travel the rest of the way. As he moves he stores his headband into his inventory and turns Samehada into a ring with the transformation jutsu.

All he knows is that the Uchiha massacre happens after Itachi turns thirteen. It's the first now and his birthday is on the ninth. So he only has eight safe days to work with, as from the ninth till the end of the year it could happen at any moment.

A few flickers later and Zitsu arrives in the town. This port town is a lot bigger than the one he came through before. The houses are made of brick and the streets paved with stone. Looking at the people walking happily through the village Zitsu doesn't disturb them.

After asking around he finds out he's on the peninsula. Shaking his head he rushes out of the town and towards Konoha. At his speed it would only take three days to reach Konoha, so he takes his time jumping from tree to tree.

"Itachi, I hope you don't let me wait too long."

With his sensory skills, he is able to avoid every patrol sent by the Leaf Village to secure their borders. As he gets closer he sees a wide dirt road headed in the direction of the village. Thinking for a moment he decided to walk along the road.

After traveling along the road for an entire day he caught up to a large caravan.

As he walks closer two ninjas fall back to block his path.

"Is there something we can help you with?" A ninja with short brown hair looks Zitsu up and down.

Looking at the Konoha headband on his forehead Zitsu smiles "I'm just a traveler, I came up from the peninsula and wanted to see the great Konoha."

The other smiles as he hears that "We are going there now, but our mission is to escort this caravan. Hope you don't mind one of us hanging back with you to ease their nerves."

"Sure" Zitsu nods his head "Staying back here with me or up there with them, it makes no difference."

Hearing what he thought was an agreement the ninja rejoins the group, leaving the brown hair ninja with Zitsu.

"What's your name friend?"

Zitsu glances at him before returning his eyes forward. "It's impolite to ask for someone's name without giving your own first."

The Ninja smiles as he scratches the back of his head. "I'm Daikoku Funeno nice to meet you."

Seeing his big goofy smiling face Zitsu realizes how much living in the Mist has changed him, would he be this carfree if he started in Konoha? To just let a random guy tail a caravan he was guarding.

After thinking for a second Zitsu looks at the ninja "Just call me Isobu."