Chapter 85 Bad Blood

(sorry for late chapter should I release new novel while also continuing this one if you want me know then comment if you do so then I will make it if no then it's for another time I guess but not it's all up to you guys and I also not this that note single of you of you have given review or ratings to my novel so I do ask you to give review and please at least grant me 5 comments.)

Kisame Hoshigaki looked at the boy across from him as he adjusted his sword Samehada across his shoulder. The young teen in front of him showed no fear or hesitation that was just fine by him. Kisame preferred enemies that didn't wet themselves in front of him. Those that came at him with full force always gave him a slight thrill after he defeated them.

Kimimaro's body was covered in the black lines of his released state as more of his bones grew out of his body. In this state he was much stronger than before every physical ability he had was enhanced, even his senses were enhanced. He dug in his feet before kicking off and charging forward, he had to finish this quickly he was running out of time. The man only stood his ground as he swung the weapon he carried. He had no idea what it was, it looked like it might be a sword but it was rounded instead of having an edge to it and it was all wrapped up in bandages.

Kimimaro jumped forward to attack him with his bone spikes on his arm, the larger blue skinned man was a lot faster than he thought. As the man ducked under the attack his sword swiped torso on the side, the pain he felt wasn't normal as he jumped back to look down. What he saw was that instead of a cut the side of his body looked like it had been dragged over gravel for a mile.

"Heh, didn't know that my sword Samehada doesn't cut huh?" Kisame grinned. "My sword shaves kid which is a hell of a lot more painful. It let's more blood flowing too but not too quickly so you won't just bleed out like a stab or a deep cut. All that exposed nerves from the torn away flesh hurts to I bet."

"Pain is nothing to me," Kimimaro pushed past the pain he had lived with pain from his medical condition that was killing him. But he had to protect himself from that sword before he could complete his mission. Forcing the bones out of his torso he wrapped them around his vital areas like armor. Then he forced them to form a large lance around his left arm as bones came out of his back.

"Oh now there's an idea, good on you kid." Kisame grinned he always liked a good opponent. The boy rushed him as he slashed with his sword as it clashed with the bone lance. He noticed that although his sword shaved off some of the bone, it was a thick and strong. That was one of the weaknesses about his sword, against flesh it was great but put it up against armor and it took time to shave it away.

Well that only made things more interesting for him, besides he had plenty of other things to try out. So he decided to see how the boy would handle a less than normal attack approach. He might have been primarily a water jutsu user but there was an earth skill he did know. He suddenly went into the ground and moved around it like water. This was the Earth Release: Subterranean Voyage jutsu, an ability to move through the earth like a shark, in fact he liked to place his sword out of the ground like a shark's fin.

Kimimaro hadn't expected an attack from the ground, he dodged to the side to avoid him and knew that attacking through the earth would be problematic. But he had a way around this as he thrusts his fist into the ground. With a cry he forced more and more of his bones form him into the ground around him. The field soon became littered with large sharp bones coming out of the ground in all directions. If he was using the ground as a way to move around then he would simply take that away from him.

Kisame shot out of the ground to land on the curve of one of the bones. There were a few rips in his cloak, that had been a close one there. This kid had a few surprises in him after all maybe he could take it up a notch to see just how good this kid could be.

It was time to take it up a notch, "Deal with this one kid. Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!" He jumped down and thrust his sword into a safe area of the ground. A geyser of water came up as the area was suddenly filled with water.

Kimimaro suddenly found himself swimming in water as he was being weighed down by all the extra mass on himself. He had never been in water while using his bloodline limit, it was awkward to move around and the lance was dragging him down.

Kisame thought it was time to let his little pets have a treat. He cut a thumb on his sharp teeth as he summoned up a few sharks. They could smell the blood from the wound he had given the boy earlier as they started to circle him. He wanted to see how the boy would handle this, either he might die from lack of oxygen or the sharks might kill him. Unless the kid could fight them off then he would deal with the boy himself.

The sharks started to circle tighter as the first one made an attack he blocked it with the lance as the shark tore into the bone. Its teeth sunk into it as he attacked the shark with his other hand sending the bones into the shark's head. It went away like most summon animals but that left other sharks to deal with. They suddenly all started to attack him, from all kinds of angles, his bones were helping to protect him but his lungs were burning and he had to do something.

He waited for them to get just close enough and then throughout his body sent massive bone spikes all over the place. All around him bones shot out impaling all of the sharks, he also sent one massive one below himself to propel himself up out of the dome of water. He gasped as he broke the surface as ahead of him Kisame jumped out of the water and standing on it.

"Well I'm impressed not many could make it through that," Kisame readied his sword as he looked at the kid. "Ready for the next round?"

Kimimaro was there motionless looking at him not moving, Kisame grinned as he rushed forward and with a swing slammed his sword into the side of the kid's head but the boy made no move to dodge. That actually threw Kisame as there was no reaction. He pulled the sword away and still no reaction as he leaned down and took a closer look.

"Damn, it's no fun when they just drop dead like this," Kisame muttered seeing the kid hadn't shown any signs of life even the bleeding had stopped as there was no heart pumping the blood. If he had to guess the kid had died somehow right after he broke the surface. He had no way of knowing that the boy was dying and pushing himself like he had had just used up the last flames of his life in a moment.

Kisame let the water go away washing away leaving the boy in a tower of bones he looked at the area. The whole area was littered with wet bones with the boy on high. He wasn't normally one for contemplating matters but he had to admit the scenery did speak to some part of him. He looked up to where the kid was and grinned.

"Well you were fun kid, too bad you kicked it so soon it would have been fun to finish this." Kisame told him before heading off to see if Itachi had more luck.

-Orochimaru and Jiraiya-

The two sannin had been battling each other, throwing everything they could at the other. Jiraiya had to admit that Orochimaru hadn't slowed down in the years since they had been both young men fighting in the war together. Hell the guy had even picked up a few nasty tricks, well that was fine by him, he might have gotten old but he learned a lot himself. He was a lot more durable these days and he had gotten a lot more tricks up his sleeve.

Still it was a hard pressed fight as the area around them had been decimated by their conflict. Trees were uprooted, overturned or just obliterated. Small fires were still forming but with all the mud, slim and swamp that covered the area it wouldn't spread. Jiraiya had tried to use those techniques to slow down Orochimaru as everyone was slower in mud and swamps but the man was more of a snake than man sometimes as he just slithered his way across the battlefield.

There were hundreds of small snake corpses littering the area that Orochimaru had used but Jiraiya had dealt with it in a very flashy and explosive way. Kakashi would have been impressed by the battle if the stakes weren't so high. He had to keep hidden in the hopes that in the right moment he would be able to jump in at the right moment.

It was hard to keep his concentration, molding the chakra was taking a toll on Kakashi. He wasn't an Uchiha so it was always difficult to use his sharingan eye but what he was doing was pushing beyond anything he had ever tried in battle. There was still a lot he didn't know about the sharingan, a lot of the secrets died with the Uchiha so Kakashi had to learn a lot as he went. The technique he was using was something he had only used once in practice and that laid him into the hospital for chakra exhaustion.

Still it was the only shot, he had spent years getting stronger and hoping that he could use this. He felt the chakra slowly getting into his closed eye, he could feel the shift and change in it. The day that Rin died he felt it change like this, when he tried to replicate the feeling it had taken him weeks. Now he was rushing trying to get this technique to work. If he did pull this off he was going to train himself so that he could do this a lot better in the future, something told him he might need it later on.

Finally he felt it, it was a strain on his body but Kakashi could feel it. He opened his closed eye as his Mangekyo Sharingan was formed. The red eye now had a whole new black symbol, three long lines that became points, each point curving to the right to merge back into the base of the next line. Kakashi hoped that he would get an opening soon because just holding the eye like this was a major strain.

Jiraiya took a moment for a breather, there was a small calm in the fighting now as both of them were gauging the other. He had to admit that Orochimaru hadn't slowed down in the years they had last been a team but he had learned a few tricks to keep ahead of him. Although he also hadn't seen Kakashi in awhile, he knew the man was still here and most likely had something up his sleeve. He would have jumped in at any time if he could so Jiraiya had tried to drag things out.

He had already heard sounds of other battles in the distance so the kids were already having their hands full. He hoped that whatever Kakashi had planned it would end the fight sooner, maybe if he got Orochimaru talking it would allow for Kakashi to strike. That old snake always did like the sound of his voice.

"Seems you weren't lying about not slowing down there," Jiraiya told him with a grin. "Although you still have those bad habits of yours in a fight, can't stop showing off being one of them."

"This from the man that always tried to impressed Tsunade," Orochimaru smirked back at him. "All these decades and you still can't get over her, that's just pathetic."

"Says the man that hasn't had a relationship in...ever," he shot back. "Plus you do remember what Tsunade looks like, any man would wait forever to climb those mountains in her shirt."

"Always the perverted fool," Orochimaru sighed. "I think if it wasn't for that you would actually show promise."

While this was going on Kakashi finally had his opening as he started to use a technique that he had only used once before. This time he felt more control but it was taking everything to keep it going. He focused on Orochimaru but it felt like his eye was being pulled in other directions like trying to steer a boat on a river with different streams.

Then he saw it the small dark whole was forming but it was a little off, he was aiming for Orochimaru's upper torso and head but it was moving lower no matter how much he was trying to keep his original aim now he was just trying to keep whatever this was on Orochimaru's body.

Jiraiya was running out of things he knew that would push Orochimaru's buttons, that was on advantage to their old friendship he knew exactly what irritated him. That's when he saw it a small dark hole forming around Orochimaru's legs as a vortex slowly started to form around it. This was certainly not something Jiraiya was expecting as he had never seen anything like this before.

Orochimaru looked down as well when he noticed Jiraiya's eyes focusing on something and saw the surprise in them. That's when he heard the swirling sound and also felt a tug on his legs. Looking down he saw a small vortex forming as the pulling sensation got stronger and stronger. His eyes widened knowing something extremely dangerous when he saw it, he would focus later on what happened and what caused it when he was safely away from this thing.

He tried to move away but the pull was getting stronger and stronger, he put all his effort into jumping but already his body was being pulled into the vortex. His body was being pulled apart and if he didn't act fast than he was going to die. He hadn't come this far to just die from something like this as his mind came up with only one option. His mouth opened as fingers came out pulling it wider than humanly possible as another him started to come out of his own mouth.

This was a special body replacement technique he had developed himself it allowed him to regenerate his entire body by shedding the old one like a snake's older skin. The only problem was that this would take most of his chakra but that was a small sacrifice. He leapt out of the mouth of his 'old skin' just in time to see it pulled into the vortex.

"Nice try, if I had been a little slower that might have killed me," Orochimaru smiled in triumph over his old friend.

"Somehow I doubt you can do that again so soon either," Jiraiya wasn't sure if Kakashi could pull something like that off again or not. So he was going to bluff this out, the kids could be in trouble and honestly this battle could go on all day long between them. He wasn't as young as he used to be and already his knee was acting up a little.

"Oh trust me I can keep going but I think an old man like you would need a rest," Orochimaru could feel his chakra levels were too low for a prolonged battle. In his current shape a prolonged battle wouldn't be in his best interest and although he wasn't sure what kind of jutsu was just used on himself, he couldn't take another one if it was possible.

"As much as I've enjoyed this, I think our final battle is in another time and place." Orochimaru told him as he took a step back into the trunk of a tree as he slowly merged into it. He was going to retreat for the day hoping that Kabuto had enough time to get all traces of his base here cleaned away and for the Sound Five done with their own missions.

"Damn slippery bastard," Jiraiya muttered and looked for Kakashi. The man came out of his hiding spot his eye covered and looking a little pale. "You okay?"

"Yeah but that took a lot more out of me than I thought," Kakashi told him a little winded. "I'm going to have to train myself to use that more than just once and to cut the time down to how long I can use that."

"Interesting technique you got there," Jiraiya told him. "But let's get going I think the kids might be in trouble as well, can you move?"

"Try to stop me," Kakashi told him standing up he knew it wasn't over yet and he would push himself into the grave to make sure his team survived.

-Elsewhere in the forest-

Tayuya stood her ground on the tree branch as her fully released seal had changed her into a stronger but more demonic looking form as her three Doki monsters flanked her. She had her flute pressed up against her lips as she played her notes. They rushed out towards their target as Itachi stood there silently watching them. It was only when they were just on top of him that he moved like lightning.

With only the minimalist effort he was able to dodge and avoid their attacks. They were large and fast for their size but he was faster. He danced among them as Tayuya played her flute as fast as she could to increase their movements but he was always one step ahead of them. He jumped onto the trunk of a tree sticking there as his cloak folded back around him.

"Interesting, a genjustu that uses sound," Itachi spoke up as Tayuya paused for a second. "You use the flute to carry sound waves that implant the idea of these creatures. I haven't seen sound used to carry genjutsu before like this."

Tayuya didn't like that he had analysed her ability this quickly, most just thought she had summoned monsters not that they were actually a creation of her genjustu abilities. "Well even if you figured it out, what do you plan on doing, ripping off your ears? Once you hear the sound you can't stop seeing them until I stop playing." She started playing against as the three monsters rushed at him.

Itachi stood his ground just as calmly as before but this time he didn't move. Tayuya grinned as her creatures slammed their massive forms into him but then faltered when Itachi's body turned into a group of ravens flying away leaving nothing there. She didn't understand what he had done, she looked around but didn't see anything. She was about to bring her flute up to her lips again but chocked out a cry as she felt the cold metal steel impale her in the back.

She stood there frozen as her body went into shock as she heard his voice behind her.

"Although that is a unique technique you've only developed one half of your genjutsu abilities it seems," Itachi told her one hand on the weapon in her back the other holding her upright. He had hit her kidney which locked up the body from all the nerves being damaged. It was also a lethal blow and she wouldn't last much longer. "Genjustu is a subtle art not a blunt weapon, and you must develop both offensive and defensive, since you only focused on the one you never noticed that you were placed under my own genjutsu as soon as our eyes locked."

Tayuya tried to say something but couldn't her whole body refused to move, she couldn't believe that he had gotten her under a genjustu this entire time. As her strength left her she reverted back to normal.

"Maybe you'll do better in the next life," He told her before letting her fall to her death.

As her lifeless body hit the ground Sasuke and Sakura were the only ones left. Sasuke felt the burning desire to kill his brother building in him but he had no idea what he could do. He knew that he still wasn't ready for this but he had no choice it would seem. He thought about Sakura with him, maybe she could run off and get help if he gave her an opening. At the very least he wanted to make sure someone else didn't die by his brother's hands.

He had been too young to do anything against his brother, he couldn't save his parents or anyone else in his clan, Kakashi had nearly been killed, he was also after Naruto for some reason. Just how much was he going to lose to this man?

"Sakura, when you see an opening run and get Kakashi," Sasuke told her quietly as his brother slowly made his way to the ground.

"I'm not leaving you to face him," She told him although she had nothing but fear in her stomach. This was one of the most dangerous ninjas in the world. But she pushed that fear down because she was a ninja herself and she wasn't going to let fear take over. Even if she did feel like they were about to die she wouldn't let him die alone.

"Sakura," He started but she cut him off.

"No, we're staying together in this," She told him sternly giving him a hard look. "We're a team and we stay a team no matter what."

"You should listen to my little brother," Itachi told her. "I have no interests in you, only my little brother and the two jinchuriki."

"Like hell we'll let you get close to them," Sakura told him trying to summon as much courage as she could not to have her voice crack. She felt she did a decent job since she basically was standing up to what many considered to be a demon that walked among the living.

Sasuke was torn between trying to get her out of here and a bit thankful for her support. He would decide later, if there was a later, what he would feel. "Sakura whatever you do don't look him in the eyes."

Sakura nodded her head as she had avoided Itachi's eyes since he had explained to the sound girl how he had trapped her in a genjustu. Sakura had a little training in that but not to the level of being able to see through a master's skills. In fact she wasn't sure if anyone could touch Itachi in genjutsu skills, at least no one in Konoha from what she knew.

Sasuke had his Sharingans locked onto Itachi but not looking into his brother's eyes. He looked at the body unfortunately that was covered by his cloak but any small movement and his eyes would catch it. He rushed in as he knew his brother wouldn't make the first move, that wasn't his style. Sasuke drew his sword as he heard Sakura was running behind him. He knew from all their training together she would follow up on his attack, which he planned for.

He swiped at him but his brother intercepted the blade with his own kunai. Sakura jumped over Sasuke swinging her tonfa down onto the rogue ninja. Itachi jumped back to dodge the attack as Sasuke took his turn to throw several throwing stars he had gone for when Sakura attacked. This was the best strategy that he could think up. Keep up two different attacks, keep Itachi on the defensive and don't let up. He knew that the chances of winning were still so low that he didn't think that a number could do it justice but this was their best shot.

As they continued to tag team fight Itachi throwing everything they would at him was working better than just himself. Maybe there was something to working together to take down his brother after all. Sakura had no real stake in his grudge against his older brother but she was fighting with everything she had. Sasuke used a fireball next as Itachi countered with one of his own as the fireballs exploded making a blinding light and heat.

Sasuke had to close his eyes from it feeling the heat wash over him, when he blinked his eyes opened he saw the form of his brother a few feet away from himself. He tried to react but everything was just so slow it seemed. His body just wasn't reacting as he wanted it to as Itachi kicked him in the stomach. He felt his blade drop from his hand as the force sent him into a tree. The hard wood slammed into his back making him cry out in shock and pain as before his body slumped against the wood.

He struggled to get up seeing stars as he was trying to force his body to move. The jarring hit had temporarily knocked his senses. He was able to get his legs under him and force himself up still leaning against the tree. He could hear sounds of fighting as he shook his head trying to focus. Then he felt someone grab his neck and hoist him up against the tree.

Now that he was focusing he could see Itachi in front of him holding him with one hand, with the other he had Sakura, his hand gripping her mouth. She was struggling but with his long reach she couldn't hit anything much, he then noticed that his hand was not only covering her mouth but also her nose. She couldn't breath with his hand like that on her face.

"All this time and you're still not motivated enough it seems," Itachi said coldly to him. "I wanted to see if making you angry would give you what you needed to surpass me little brother. You never could the way you were, the old Uchiha way was stagnant and things needed to change. But you showed promise little brother, you weren't like the rest at the moment. I wanted to see those eyes of yours filled with hatred to push you further, to motivate you to become stronger."

"It seems like you might need a bit more motivation," His hand tightened on Sakura as she was starting to move slower from the lack of air. Sasuke felt the tight grip on his own throat tighten as his brother's eyes started to change. He had seen those eyes before, right before his brother had sent him into a nightmare world for three days.

"Maybe I'll make you watch the girl die before I remind you that you need to do better," Itachi told him in that cold clinical way.

Sakura felt the edges starting to darken, she knew that if she didn't do anything she would die and then Sasuke would be all alone against his brother. She wanted to do something, anything in that moment but her arms felt too heavy to lift. Her lungs burned and she needed to breath she had to do something.

"Remember to never give up."

A memory suddenly came to her, from her training with Anko after the Forest of Death part of the chunin exams.

"If you got a weapon use it, if you lose it the weapon find another one. Find a rock, hell a stick if you have to. If you can't find that, use your nails your teeth, never give up fighting. If you give up then you're going to die. So never give up, fight with everything you got, kick, scratch, claw and bite your way to survive if you have to."

She remembered Anko's words and she could only think she shifted her head just enough and bit down as hard as she could. She felt the taste of blood in her mouth but didn't stop she kept biting down with all her strength.

Itachi hissed out and threw the girl away, Sakura landed in a heap as she gasped for breath. He looked at his hand, the girl had bit down pretty hard from the amount of blood, he would have to wrap it up later. "Well that was unexpected, she has a bit of fire in her little brother."

Sasuke saw what Sakura had done, he had to admit he admired that she hadn't given up but she had only bought herself a little time. But he also realized that for this split second his brother was distracted and he had an opening but for what, that was the question. Sakura's bite had given him an idea, Sasuke gripped his brother's wrist knowing that this could end up very badly for him as well but it was worth it. He started to gather up chakra and turn it into lightning in his hands like he had practiced to use with his sword. He was going to sent a lightning bolt through his brother's arm right into him like in practice the only problem was he had never done this with human flesh and it could end up coming back at him.

Itachi noticed at the last moment what Sasuke was up to something and threw him away just as there was a flash and a small crackle of energy. Sasuke hit the ground near Sakura as Itachi looked down at his arm. Although he had thrown Sasuke away it hadn't been fast enough not to take any damage. The left sleeve was ruined as he looked at his arm. There were slight electrical burns on his arm, he tried to flex his arm and hand but even as he was fighting the pain he could barely move it.

The wound wasn't going to be permanent but it would take some time to heal and his arm would be useless for a time. Well that was a lesson for himself never to underestimate someone as he looked to his brother.

"I'm impressed little brother, you've learned a new trick." Itachi told him.

Sasuke got to his knees as looked over at Sakura, "You okay?"

She nodded and looked to Itachi knowing that they were still in trouble. She had no idea how they would survive this but with only one hand he wouldn't be able to make any kind of hand seals but he still had those eyes and the rest of his body. He was an elite ninja and one arm might not slow him down too much.

Itachi started to move towards them but suddenly stopped as he started to look to the left. Both young chunins looked to see two more figures showing up. It was Gaara and Naruto who arrived and both of them paused seeing Itachi there.

"Oh come on not another one!" Naruto shouted out seeing the black and red cloaks. "Huh, hey he's got Sharingan eyes!"

"That would make him Itachi Uchiha," Gaara told him he had read up on a lot of ninjas in the bingo books. Mainly from trying to prove his own existence by killing strong opponents plus Itachi was one of the world's most infamous ninjas. Not just anyone could boast about killing their entire clan in one night.

Naruto stiffened at the name and looked to his two teammates, they looked a little worse for wear but they looked okay. Itachi looked a little worse but still this was the guy that not only killed his friend's family but also put his father into the hospital. Part of him knew that fighting even one member of the Akatsuki wouldn't end well but the other part wanted to really punch that guy in the face a few times.

Itachi stood there as he took stock of the situation, he had two jinjuriki here and two chunins judging by the vests that Sasuke and the girl wore, both of who were getting up and getting ready for a fight. There was also the fact that his arm was useless, it wouldn't give him too much trouble if he took out the two Jinjuriki quickly enough. But the problem was that he needed both of them still alive and that would make things more difficult.

That is until he saw Jiraiya and Kakashi show up, then things got a lot more complicated. Kakashi he had dealt with before although he got the feeling he might not fall for the same trick so easily. As for Jiraiya well that was a man that he wasn't sure he could take on a good day now that he couldn't use his arm for the moment he wasn't looking forward to fighting the man figuratively with one arm tied behind his back.

The odds were not in his favor in this, it was time to find Kisame and leave.

"I see our time if over, see you later little brother hopefully next time we meet your eyes will be a little stronger looking." Itachi jumped away as he started to make his getaway.

"Hey where do you think you're going!" Naruto shouted out making like he was going to take off.

"Naruto!" Kakashi shouted at him in a commanding tone making the boy freeze in place. "Let him go, we have other matters to deal with and we're in no shape to give a chase."

Kakashi turned to Sasuke and Sakura, "Are you two okay?"

"I think so," Sakura told him as Sasuke nodded but he didn't look happy about letting Itachi go but he wasn't sure they could take him at the moment. There would be another time that he knew that much and he was going to be ready the next time he met up with his brother. He just hoped he had the time needed to get stronger but something else got him thinking.

Fighting with Sakura made him wonder if there was another way, maybe there was something about having strength in numbers. It was certainly something to think about for the future as he picked up his sword. He was also going to try and work more on some new lightning techniques.

"Anyone seen my brother or sister?" Gaara asked looking around seeing them missing. There were blank looks as everyone looked at each other.

"I think they're coming," Kakashi said hearing movement of two people quickly making their way towards their position. Although he wasn't too sure it might be a good bet as Itachi wouldn't double back with his partner at this point, at least he hoped not.

They waited until Temari and Kankuro showed up looking a little out of breath and a little ragged from their own battle it would seem.

"Hey what did we miss?" Kankuro asked.

"I think it's time for a little debriefing," Kakashi said looking at the two dead Sound ninjas in their area.

"Yeah we got two more ourselves," Temari said seeing what he was looking at and that they wore clothing in similar style to the ones they had fought.

"We kind of left one behind," Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"What, why?" Kankuro asked, "We got ours."

"An Akatsuki showed up," Gaara commented. "He was dealing with him when we left."

"Okay I think we really all need to compare notes." Jiraiya said rubbing his head as he got the feeling they might have really stepped into something. At least everyone on their side seemed to have come out unharmed for the most part. That was a plus in his books but it really was bad luck that they had ran into Akatsuki of all times in a mission like this. They had not just one but two boys they were after as well both were underprepared for such an encounter.

He was going to have to think about what to do about that for the future.

Next up Chapter 23: Wrapping up the Mission