Living a Lie

Chapter Two - The Great Escape

Two days later, I was called back to Tsunade-sama's office.

I gave her my decision. "I will accept the mission." My reason: to help Naruto and the village. Whatever information I gather at the Akatsuki would most likely prove extremely valuable to the ongoing efforts of bringing down the lethal organization. I was nervous about it, but I was also extremely excited. If I were to be careful, I would come back whenever Tsunade-sama decided with the experience of living as a spy with the most notorious missing nins of our time. Even thinking about it gave me quite the adrenaline rush.

Tsunade-shishou nodded gravely. "I had a feeling you would be brave enough to do this. Shizune!" she called.

The shorter girl ran in and gave a quick bow, "Hai, Tsunade-sama?" TonTon oinked seemingly at Tsunade.

"Go fetch Shikamaru."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama!"

That day, it had been planned that I would be safer among the Akatsuki as a missing nin, and in order to make that convincing, I would need to do something believable and separate from the village. I would need to take on missions from villains and nobles alike in order to make a name for myself. Plus, I would have to run and hide from the ANBU.

Inner was beginning to regret our decision.

Honestly, so was I. But, I put on a brave front and went along with it. There was still a chance to turn back, but I wasn't really all that keen on taking it. Somehow, I decided I didn't like the way 'coward' sounded when it was in reference to me.

My training went relatively smoothly. By the time Tsunade-shishou was done with me, I was fairly certain I was the one of the strongest and most skilled med nins around. When I was finished with my two-week's worth of espionage training, I was quite confident that I was now very good at lying and sneaking around and keeping things to myself. I even learned a jutsu that could block off certain areas of the mind to prevent people (namely interrogators) from poking around where I didn't want them to, plus it was so subtle, it would be like camouflaging those certain parts so it was like they were never even there to begin with. Of course, I could only use it sparingly, because if too much was missing, it would be suspicious. Ibiki-san said it could become very useful

Speaking of learning new jutsus; Tsunade-shishou taught me how to send messages without needing a pen and paper. This jutsu was a wind-based one that carried verbal messages to the intended receiving person, which meant that I didn't have to worry about hiding messages in specific locations to hope that they were found soon by the person who was supposed to get it. I perfected this simple jutsu within a week.

While I was busy training, Shikamaru, being the genius that he is, spent a good chunk of his two weeks figuring out all the details of my super defection.

I got home early on the last day of my training and took a nap. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep well, but I managed. I set my alarm clock for 10:30 (at night). That would give me a half-hour to get everything that I needed ready, plus grab a quick bite to eat, because God only knew when I would eat next.

I had a dreamless sleep, which, in hindsight, was probably the best one I had ever had. I woke up revived and feeling refreshed; I was ready to start the biggest lie of my life.

I snatched up my khaki back-pack and stuffed in a few changes of clothes (enough to last a week) in my basic style: a red shirt/tank top, pink skirt with open sides for moving comfortably and without restriction, and black spandex shorts. I also packed in an all black outfit, just in case. I pulled on my black fingerless gloves, brushed my hair, and pulled on my sandals. I shoved in as many kunai and shuriken I thought would be necessary as extras, and then opened my medical kit and stuffed a quite a few rolls of bandages, a few surgeon's tools, some antiseptic ointment, and some hand sanitizer. I hate feeling dirty, so I always have some hand sanitizer on my person. I'd definitely like to avoid getting sick, thank you very much. Being out on the road, in the rain, with a head cold didn't sound very appealing.