Another Chance

A New Teammate

"Hey, I'll be your new teammate."

Itachi watched as his crow flew away, shocked by the sudden interruption of the silence by a voice who was no doubt the replacement for Jūzō Biwa and Orochimaru. Itachi turned and looked at her left little finger. Yup, as he expected, it was the girl the leader had told him about.

Itachi stood up from his spot on the docks. His new teammate was a swordsman. Her two katanas gave off hints of chakra and Itachi could see the faint outline of a tanto hidden inside her black robe with red Akatsuki clouds.

"Eh... do you talk?" Itachi's teammate asked questioningly after Itachi stared at her for over two minutes in silence. Itachi walked by without sparing another glance. He got all the information he needed to know from the initial observation.

"No, I don't." Itachi replied, he swore he could feel Shisui rolling around at wherever his corpse was at his terrible joke. The newcomer was confused about the reply.

"I'm Ariya Tenkawa, the Akatsuki recruited me for my sword abilities. What about you?" Ariya asked and moved quickly to catch up to Itachi. "You are Itachi Uchiha right? They say you killed your entire clan. You have the Mangekyo Sharingan as well?"

Ariya waited patiently for an answer. After two minutes of walking in silence she gave up and walked quietly. Of course she would get the worst possible partner out of the group. Maybe if she got Kisame as a partner the conversations would be more fun. Ariya felt like she was talking to a tree.

"We are meeting up with Kisame and Sasori to recruit Deidara." Itachi called out to Ariya who was a couple meters behind him. He hid his major concern over the fact that she knew what a Mangekyo Sharingan was, Itachi chalked it up to Madara telling her.

"I know, the leader told me before I came here." Ariya shot back with a slightly annoyed tone. She was met with Itachi turning his head. The Uchiha sent shivers up Ariya's spine as she watched his three tomoe Sharingan morph into a Mangekyo.

"How good are your sword skills?" Itachi asked and Ariya brightened up. She was glad to have a conversation point with Itachi.

"I was considered the best swordsman in Yukigakure." Ariya replied with a smile and heard a chuckle come from Itachi.

"In that case, you are completely useless in a fight." Itachi mocked Ariya, "Yukigakure is only good with technology and ice manipulation."

"My ninjutsu was enough to get me to a jonin. However, I need ice to be present or there to be a lot of water, otherwise, I can't use my ability since I don't have enough chakra to produce the water myself." Ariya stared at Itachi after speaking. He just silently walked along. "My sword skills are a lot better than you would expect. I can promise that I won't drag us down in a fight."

"Good, I won't let it happen again." Itachi said sounding relieved. Ariya tried to look at Itachi's face but the Uchiha was expertly obscuring his face with his hair.

Itachi did not say a word for the rest of the walk despite Ariya's constant attempt to start a conversation. She gave up an hour into the walk after realizing that the Uchiha would rather not speak.

Upon arriving at the designated meeting spot and seeing Sasori along with Kisame, a puppet and a blue shark-human hybrid, who were under the shade of a tree. Sasori spotted the two and spoke in a monotonous voice laced with irritation.

"We have been waiting for two hours, why did it take you so long? What if Deidara had already left?" Sasori growled to the two, Kisame just watched Sasori waste more time by arguing.

"I didn't want to run." Itachi replied quietly and looked towards the entrance the temple. Ariya was more interested in the sword Kisame had.

"I see, better not to waste any more time. Let us proceed to Deidara's last known location." Sasori calmed himself after realizing that arguing with Itachi would be pointless.