"Sakura, hurry up or we'll be late!" Naruto yelled at her, dragging her to leave. Beside stood Yamato and Sai, who watched closely but didn't help out.

"Sakura, who exactly are you hoping to see coming?" Yamato asked out of curiosity.

"Me." Itsuko appeared behind them, leaning against part of the gate with her hands crossed.

"Captain?!" Yamato yelled in shock and confusion.

"Itsuko sensei!" Sakura shook off Naruto's hand, a delighted expression emerged on her face.

On the other hand, Sai got his guard up. His fake smile faded, his eyes narrowed and his hands were ready to draw out his sword anytime. Itsuko noticed it in an instance.

"Who are you?" Itsuko asked, her guards up too. For unknown reasons, she knew that he meant trouble and she didn't like it.

Sai took a deep breath, faking another smile. "You can call me Sai. I'm part of the Anbu."

"I believe you're not part of the Anbu. Perhaps Tenzo doesn't know, but I know the Anbu enough to know who's part of it and who isn't." Itsuko looked over at Yamato, glancing back at Sai.

Sai cursed in his head, he was warned about her but he didn't think he'd meet her in this type of missions. "From the ROOT. You don't have a list for that do you?"

"I don't." Itsuko replied, walking off ahead, ignoring the rest who called out for her.

'It should have disbanded as soon as Danzo was killed. Possibilities are Danzo had planned his death all along.' The thought of it made her annoyed and angered. There was probably no one she hated more than Danzo.

"Captain, are you here on a mission?" Yamato speed up his footsteps, catching up with Itsuko.

Itsuko nodded. "Is he supposed to be a replacement? I don't like him."

"Captain, please don't be like them. Lady Tsunade specially requested me here for this mission and to keep an eye on him."

"Give me five minutes, Tenzo." Itsuko suddenly said, stopping her footsteps. They all looked at her oddly, confused about the current situation. Yamato sighed helplessly.

"I'm supposed to be called Yamato." He said before performing a couple of hand signs. Wood emerged from the ground, isolating Sai and Itsuko in a room.

"Captain Yamato, what's this?!" Naruto exclaimed, only to have his mouth covered by Yamato's wood. Sakura had a worried look but didn't open her mouth, knowing the consequences.

"Captain wanted five minutes." Was Yamato's only explanation.

Meanwhile, Sai was on guard, prepared to take any attack that comes at him. "What's this isolation?"

Without a word, Itsuko activated her Mangekyo Sharingan, charging at him at full speed. Only barely being able to dodge away from her, Sai's delayed reaction towards her Sharingan allowed a quick eye contact. It was all Itsuko needed.

He immediately dropped onto the ground, his back leaning against the wall. He had a calm facial expression, like he was just having a peaceful nap but in reality, he was under Itsuko's genjutsu.

Itsuko took a deep breath and gently placed her hand on Sai's head, allowing herself to enter his head, looking into his memories.

It was complete darkness, no memories, nothing. It was blocked off, Itsuko had expected that too. She performed a few simple hand signs, easily unblocking his mind. Just the simple doings brought back much unwanted memories for herself. She shook her head, telling herself not to think about them.

As she continued to dig in further, she discovered his past and... Yuuri. She knew she would find something, she was confident in fact.

Leaving Sai's head, she performed another set of hand signs, removing his memories of the five minutes. She existed the wooden room and did the same for Naruto and Sakura.

"I owe you one, Tenzo." Itsuko thanked him, sending him a salute before teleporting off. Yamato returned a salute despite Itsuko had already left. He sighed again, making his way to bring Sai over, lying him down beside Naruto and Sakura who were both unconscious too.

-

"Tsunade-" Itsuko spoke as soon as she arrived at her office but her brain went blank and her words came out as a huff at the sight of him. Ibiki. She sent a resentful glare at him.

"I need your help."

"Miss me already, Sunshine?" He gave her a glance, a lazy grin emerged on his lips as he raised an eyebrow.

"No, Teddy Bear." She rolled her eyes. The last two words came out as a mumble but Ibiki managed to catch them. Itsuko took a deep breath, cursing under her breath. She hadn't expect this scenario to actually be happening, not right now.

"Are you two flirting right here? You two?" Tsunade interrupted the tension that was building up slowly but surely. Ibiki's grin widen as he shot a mischievous glance at Itsuko.

Itsuko took another deep breath, blinking. "No." They both chorused, much to each other's shock. Tsunade raised an eyebrow in disbelief. She'd seen their rivalry and hatred for each other but not this. The explanation she came up with was that they were probably really close friends in the past and those were nicknames they used to make fun of each other. She didn't know that there was much more behind simple nicknames.

"Anyways, what was it you wanted to talk about, Itsuko?" Tsunade brought up, once again breaking the hostility building up through the silence.

"The ROOT hasn't dismissed, they have a new leader. His name is Yuuri. I plan on getting rid of him." Itsuko said with confidence, not the slightest hesitation.

Tsunade sternly glanced at her, "even if he took up Danzo's place, he hasn't done anything wrong. You'll be committing murder."

"As long as that place exists, trains of misfortune would be coming our way. Call it murder, assassination, slaughter, a crime, whatever you want to and I'll still do it. Besides, he's an Uchiha, he's supposed to be dead." Bitterness filled her eyes, she had already found her prey and wasn't going to give it up.

"What do you mean? All the more reason he shouldn't die, the Uchiha clan is already going extinct." Tsunade slammed her the table, shooting up from her seat.

Itsuko shot her a sharp glare, sending a chill down her spine. Tsunade's statement had really provoked her. "I could care less about the clan, it'd be better not existing in the first place."

"Kozaki, track down his location for me." Itsuko commanded before turning to Ibiki. "We'll get this done with by the end of today."

She was determined and they all knew, she was going to stop at nothing.