Between Love and Apathy chapter 16

I do not own Naruto okay? I am so sorry this took so long to come up with but I swear I will finish this story. I hardly ever read ItaKona fics where they have a family, so I am going to finish this so it will be on the internet's collection of said fanfics. So I hope you enjoy this chapter, I worked really hard on it. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Konan patrolled the perimeter on her watch. Both Pein and Itachi had wanted her to take it easy and reduce the amount of duty she was preforming. She was about seven months along now and she showed her delicate condition, even though she didn't want to let others know about it. However it was getting harder for her to hide the pregnancy from everybody. Even when she wore her cloak, which she did more often, most people could tell that she was pregnant. Knowing this, Pein and the rest of the Akatsuki had to bring in The Rain Village's top ninjas to help guard the village and Akatsuki's hideout. Despite this, Konan insisted that she would be an active part of Akatsuki until the child was born. Rumors were abounding that Konoha and Suna had an alliance they had started to try and fight the Akatsuki. Their progress was being hindered by the objections of the other Kages and Villages. Many were too afraid to do much of anything to be of any real help. Without that support, there was no way Konoha or Suna could attack the Akatsuki

Itachi then walked up to Konan and kissed her on the cheek. "Your shift is over. Pein-sama wants you back at headquarters."

"Okay. Be safe." Konan said.

"You know I will," Itachi said. "Now go back to the headquarters."

"Okay, I will." Konan said waving back to Itachi who was walking back to the border to begin his patrol. While she was determined to help Akatsuki, she knew her pregnancy was making it harder to each day. Pein was determined that the child she was carrying should live. It was Uchiha Itachi's child after all. This child was going to be born with the Sharingan and would have the skills and intelligence that Akatsuki needed so desperately. If all that was left of the members were Tobi, Hidan and Kisame and the leaders Pein, Konan and Itachi were the smart ones, and then the Akatsuki were in little position to run anything. They kept ahold of Ame, the Rain Village, by the old image they had when they were first collecting the Tailed beasts. However, if that illusion was to spread to the other nations, then they needed a powerful force to back it up even more. All this planning with the child was not going to come to pass for years, decades even. Pein always said that for them to rule and end war forever; they needed to plan for decades ahead.

"Anything new?" Pein asked as Konan went inside the headquarters.

"No." Konan said. "The villagers told me of rumors of an attack plan by Konoha and Suna."

"Really? They plan to attack us? We killed many of their prominent villagers who opposed us." Pein said.

"I know." Konan said. "However Suna is reluctant after they nearly lost two members of their ruling clan in our last confrontation with them. We may have lost Sasori to them. They lost Chiyo however, an important village elder. That makes Suna's possible action pretty much invalid. Konoha will be on their own."

"So we have little to worry about so far." Pein said. "Off topic, how is the baby doing?"

"Oh," Konan said taken aback that Pein was showing what seemed to be genuine interest in the child. "It's fine. Itachi says it's getting to the point where he can officially determine the child's gender. He says it looks like a boy but it is not until seven months along that he can use the Sharingan to see the chakra movement."

"That's good." Pein said. "Should be a good looking baby."

"I hope he looks like Itachi." Konan said looking at her bump.

"Well, he would be handsome even if he takes after his mother." Pein said. "Go take a well-deserved rest."

"Let me know when Itachi comes back." Konan said as she headed to her and Itachi's bedroom.

"I will." Pein said.

"Thank you Pein-sama." Konan said.

Meanwhile Sasuke, Karin, Jugo and Suigetsu were heading out of their fortress they hid out in as part of Team Hebi. Sasuke had felt like it was time for his team to head out and make more of an active role searching for Itachi. Partially this was because deep down, in a level he would not admit even to himself, he cared about Naruto. Naruto was the only person he really could connect with. However, him being an Uchiha, he had a certain face he had to present to Konoha and could not let Naruto in. When he heard and confirmed, in ways that he could without Konoha lording over him, that Naruto was dead and the demon extracted, he knew he needed to avenge Naruto as well as the rest of his clan. He had intensified his training since he heard about that. After seeing Jugo, Suigetsu and Karin's skills improve as well and how far they had come with their progress, he knew it was time to head out and take the battle to Itachi. The plan was to follow the last known path that Itachi was known to be at and see what the locals knew and could or would be willing to tell them. Anyone would know Itachi Uchiha when they saw him; it was telling he had been there that many locals were not willing to do. Sasuke was also planning on using his former Konoha connections to get him closer to Itachi so he could get his revenge. Looking at the foliage of the area, Sasuke could tell they were getting close to the border of the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers.

"Konoha is not too far away." Sasuke said. "A few days walk and we should be there."

"But Sasuke," Suigetsu said sitting on a rock, cleaning his sword. "You are the only one of us from there dude."

"Yes, and I did not leave on the most pleasant of circumstances. However, I think I can take advantage of the state of the village now." Sasuke explained. "It has been a few months since Naruto was captured and killed and from what intel I have gotten, Konoha is desperate for any help they can get. That is what we will offer them. We may only be a team of four, but with our skills, they would be fool to refuse the use." He said flashing his Sharingan.

"Us?" Karin asked. "Would they think anything of us offering help? Based on our past we wouldn't be much appreciated there. They have valid reason to suspect ill will of us."

Sasuke looked up, thinking about the situation. None of his team had permission to enter Konoha. Karin, Jugo and Suigetsu would be seen as invaders. They could be put to death or be captured as prisoners of war and interrogated. Maybe that is what they need to be, interrogated. I know it is rough on them but they would show that they can be at least the enemy of the enemy to Konoha. They are fighting a losing battle. Sasuke thought. Sasuke knew that his team would not hurt or attack the village if he ordered them not to and he knew that he was going to have to swear that they would not plot against Konoha. Just saying that however, would not be enough for people like Ibiki, the head of interrogation and torture in ANBU in Konoha. Ibiki was likely to interrogate each member of Team Hebi separately anyway. Sasuke knew he was going to get the toughest interrogation to prove he had not sold out the village but the rest of his team was going to be interrogated hard as well. Best get them ready for the bad news. Sasuke thought. "You do realize that Konoha's interrogation force will want to question each of us separately and they are not going to be easy. No matter how desperate they may get, they are not going to let just anyone in."

"I expected something like that." Jugo said as he popped a food pill. "You are right, no matter how desperate they may get, they are not going to let just anyone in and we are some of the last people they would let in on a good day."

"Yes that is the case." Suigetsu said. "Won't they be harder on us for being from the Sound Village and worked and served Orochimaru?"

"Quite possibly." Sasuke said. "So we have to show them that we have true loyalties to the village. Play up the experiment victim card if you can. That may win you some sympathy. They may be harder on me than you guys."

"Because of the fact you abandoned them?" Karin said. Karin was sort of glad that Sasuke abandoned the village. It was like they were destined to meet. Her love for him, ever since the Chunin exams, grew and grew each day. She was now his second in command with a special protection he swore only to her and now they were heading back to the place that brought them together.

"Exactly." Sasuke said.

The sun was starting to set. It was at this time that Karin suggested they make camp for the night. No one was following them and the forest of the Land of Fire was not being patrolled like Sasuke thought that it was going to be after an attack by the Akatsuki and the capture of the Nine Tailed Beast. That could only mean that the village was in complete and total utter chaos or there were more important places in the village that they needed the forces. Either way Sasuke knew that he could use this opportunity to his advantage. This just reinforced the idea he had that if he could prove that he was still loyal and did not reveal any secrets to other villages that they would want his help. He had killed Orochimaru and gathered intel that could be of real use to them anyway. There would be little reason why he would not be taken back. He was an Uchiha after all and the Sharingan was a weapon often associated with Konoha, even if it was a trait of the Uchiha clan. He would then tell them of his new team and how they would be valuable assets to Konoha and have them go through the interrogation process to prove where they were willing to lay their loyalties and then use Konoha for all they were worth in his plan to kill Itachi. Home village meant little to him; all he was after was revenge.

Tsunade took a deep drink of sake. She had the elders have Danzo arrested and imprisoned for attempted treason and espionage. He was under daily interrogation but for some reason unknown to everyone involved, Ibiki could not get any new information about Danzo's plans to sell Konoha to Orochimaru than they already knew. Something weird was going on and it was straining Tsunade. The elders only imprisoned Danzo on the belief that they would get the information he would have about the whereabouts of Orochimaru. As a former Akatsuki himself, Orochimaru was one step closer to the criminal gang who had captured their jinuuriki. Garra had kept regular correspondence with Tsunade but it was little help for her. While he was good at consoling her about the loss of Naruto, the situation was different and they could pull little for the experience. Besides, there was no one who knew the technique to bring people back to life like there was for him. Chiyo was dead, the only person who knew the secret. She had managed to seal off the intelligence Konoha had so that she was the only one who could access it, and any request for the littlest bit of secret intel and knowledge the village had would have to go through her.

However, the situation at the hospital with Sakura was a strange and tough one for one of even her skills to beat. The poison was stronger than the one Sasori had used on Kankuro that Sakura had been able to treat. All they could do was use Sakura's antidote to draw out and weaken as much of it as they could. Sakura was healing physically pretty well. She could get up, walk around, eat, and even train with weapons like she could before she was poisoned. However, she could not perform ninjutsu, genjutsu, or her healing arts like she could before. Sakura was a chunin now but she was performing in those sections like a genin or even a ninja academy student. Apparently the poison had a fail-safe built in somehow to keep the victim from ever getting back to the state they were before they were attacked by it. It kept attacking a person's chakra network so that it could never function well again. Even the top scientists and medics could not figure out what was going on.

"Lady Tsunade?" Shizune said as she opened the door.

"What is it?" Tsunade said looking up at Shizune, the frustration showing in her voice. Her face showed lines where she did not sleep and the stress was keeping her from being able to look young as she always did before.

"We just got this correspondence today. It was sent by a hawk. Only thing is, our decoders don't know if this is to be believed or it is a hoax." Shizune said handing Tsunade the message.

"Let me read it." Tsunade said. "'Your honorable Godiame Hokage Tsunade, this is Uchiha Sasuke. I know of your loss of Uzumaki Naruto. I also know that a kunochi named Haruno Sakura was injured in the attack. Do not ask where I found this out, an attack by Akatsuki never goes in silence. No village even one as powerful as Konoha can keep something like that a secret. I have recently killed the S-ranked criminal known as Orochimaru who cursed me to be his slave. With his death, I and my team of three other nin are free to do as we see fit. After the attack we all decided to offer our services to Konoha to help you rage a proper war on Akatsuki. My other teammates have skills that would be of great use to you that no other nin in Konoha has. Do you have a candidate to be one of the Hidden Mist's Seven Swordsmen? Do you have a chakra sensor? I do not think so. I do and they will swear their loyalty to you and follow your orders. I will be at the gates in three days. I await your response.'" Tsunade put the letter down.

"What do you think?" Shizune asked.

"Seems legit. Keep our best Jonin at the gates to guard and wait for them. Once they arrive, summon Ibiki and Inochi. We need to make sure they are honest. If they are, they will serve us." Tsunade said as she took another drink of sake.

"Yes mi lady!" Shizune said as she walked out of the Hokage's office.

Wow, longer than I thought that would be. Anyway, how was that? Good? Bad? Boring? A Cliffhanger in a way? Let me know in a review. I know this took a while to come up with and once again I am sorry. So remember to read, (well you just did) and to review. Anyway, ciao for now,