Inevitable
Chapter 27

Soft, wet drops fellfrom the gathered clouds in the sky. The atmosphere of Konoha was melancholic,and it was as if nature itself was crying for the loss of the highly respectedSarutobi descendant.

Most ninja and quite afew citizens were gathered on the top of the Hokage mansion. Usually, funeralsweren't held there, but Tsunade insisted on letting it take place due toAsuma's great influence and high achievements.

The people closest tohim were standing in the front of the crowd. Their tears blended in with therain that dripped down their faces, disguising the pain. Most didn't enjoycrying, but it was hard not to when a loved one died.

Kurenai was crying thehardest, cradling her stomach and weeping that the baby growing inside of herwould never know its father. Ino was bawling; her whole body was shaking as shecried almost as hard as when he actually died. Choji was trying to stand asstill as he could but the occasional sob made him appear as if he was jumpingevery few seconds. Shikamaru was one of the only ones who succeeded in stayingstill and keeping quiet as tears ran down his face.

"And we will allremember Sarutobi Asuma as a brave leader, a strong teacher and a wonderfulfriend," Tsunade choked back a sob before stepping away from the shrineand into the crowd as they started to line up to put flowers, pictures andother small gifts on it. After a while, the crowd started to dissipate, leavingonly Kurenai and Shikamaru standing there.

"He asked me tobe your child's sensei," the teen broke the silence. Kurenai looked overat him with mostly dull eyes.

"We both agreedthat we would want her to be under your care as she grows up," shereplied.

"I'll doit."

The woman looked overwith slight surprise. "You decided so quickly?"

"It's time for meto grow up. Asuma-sensei taught me the real goal as a Konoha ninja - to protectthe king," he walked closer to her and placed his hand on the small bumpon her belly. The kunoichi smiled faintly.

"I'm putting mychild's future in your capable hands."

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"What a fittingday for rain," Itachi mumbled, sitting down against a tree in the traininggrounds.

"Why? Didsomething happen?" Amejisuto asked, taking a seat next to him afterreplaceing as dry of a spot as she could.

"I don't know,but the atmosphere is depressing enough to make rain the suitableweather," he mumbled, looking up and closing his eyes to enjoy the feelingof rain on his skin. The brunette laid her head on his shoulder. She inhaled deeplyand smiled.

"I love the smellof rain. It's so fresh."

They sat in silence,enjoying the small water droplets that fell lightly on them. The tree they satagainst protected them from being completely soaked but still allowed a bunchof smaller drops to pass through the leaves.

"I'm surprisedKisame hasn't been running around screaming for joy yet," Ameji joked.

"I wonder if hewould transform even more into a shark when touching water that isn't part of ajutsu like mermaids have to be wet to have fish tails," Itachi chuckled atthe thought.

"Maybe we shouldask him sometime," she smirked. "Or just dump a bucket of ocean wateron him."

They laughed for awhile before settling down and enjoying the peace of the rain, though it stillfelt like a sad day for a reason unknown to them.

"Hey, if youaren't going to train then get out of the training fields," Kakuzuinterrupted the silence.

"Are you going totrain?" Itachi asked.

"No. I'm alreadyas good as I'll ever get, which is better than pretty much everyone," hebragged.

"Then you shouldstop being such a hypocrite," the Uchiha said as he closed his eyes andcontinued letting the rain fall on his face.

"Sorry Kakuzu,but you aren't our leader or me so I doubt he would listen to anything you tellhim," Amejisuto shrugged. "And I'll always stick to Itachi sinceHidan and Orochimaru scare me and I don't want to run into them alone."

"Fine. I'm notallowed to hurt either of you, so count yourselves lucky that I'm not mad anddecide to break the rules," he walked away.

"Well, that waspointless," the brunette sighed.

"You're afraid ofOrochimaru and Hidan?"

"I have a feelingthat Orochimaru would take any opportunity to dissect me and Hidan … Well Iwould just rather stay away from him when I'm alone."

"Understandable,"Itachi agreed.

After another hour orso of sitting there in silence, the rain started slowing down even more anddisappeared completely. The fields around them were now visibly muddy andslippery, and as they walked back to the hideout, they almost fell severaltimes due to the lack of use of chakra for balance since they didn't want towaste any of it on something normal people could do without it.

The Akatsuki leaderwas waiting for them at the entrance. They both stopped in front of him and bowed.

"Pain," theygreeted.

"Both of you comesee me in the main office once you're all cleaned up," he ordered beforewalking away. The two looked at each other and shrugged, though Ameji had tohide her uneasiness. Pain still scared her slightly, though she knew heprobably wouldn't hurt her, especially if he wanted Itachi to stay in theAkatsuki.

They went straight totheir rooms, walking barefoot the whole way there due to their shoes beingmuddy, and quickly cleaned themselves up and took showers. Once they werepresentable, they left to go replace the leader.

He ended up being inthe main office like he said with Konan and Orochimaru, who made Amejisuto takea step back, hide slightly behind Itachi and grab onto his hand.

"You wanted tosee us, Pain?" Itachi entered the room. Amejisuto did too after a momentof getting over her shock and unease.

"Yes, I have atask for you two," Pain started. Konan stepped forward and gave them apicture of a young teenage girl with long purple hair, blue eyes and a purple Kusagakureband on her arm.

"Her name is SuttefaniSoule. You will replace her, and you will capture her."

"Is she aJinchuriki?" Itachi questioned.

"No, but sheknows a lot of information about us and needs to be interrogated. We can't killher just yet," Pain said, hiding a true motive.

"She isn't on amission right now, so she should be somewhere in Kusa. I will replace and informyou on her whereabouts if she ends up being sent away, but I'll leave replaceingher in the village for you," Zetsu smirked before fading away into theground.

"Now go. You havetwo weeks," the rinnegan user ordered. The two Konoha ninja bowed oncemore and ran out of the room. They already had things packed in theteleportation drawer for missions that they weren't expecting, so they justleft the hideout straight away in the direction of Kusagakure.

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"And just whereare you three going?" Tsunade stared angrily with her hands on her hips,making her look like a small barrier and stopping a few shinobi.

"You knowperfectly well, Hokage," Shikamaru said dully, having suspected the blondeof catching on to them leaving.

"We have to go," Ino stepped forward,not showing her fear of being punched back to the flower shop.

"He was oursensei. W-we need to avenge him," Choji stuttered slightly, doing the sameas Ino but less successfully.

The old woman sighedand pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Even if I was willing tolet you go, there would be no way you would be able to do it with just thethree of you. There needs to be a four-man squad."

"That's why I'mvolunteering to go with them, Lady Tsunade," Kakashi appeared in front ofthem.

The blonde glared athim for a long time before sighing. "Fine. Just please don't getyourselves killed." She watched as they bowed and left, leaving herpraying that she wouldn't lose another so soon.