Two

Itachi knew there were shinobi following them. It was obvious to both of them, but they kept walking. They switched their path every so often, not too unnaturally that their pursuers would realize that they had been noticed. It was strange, how could they be this stupid to think that they were succeeding in staying hidden...? Kisame feigned a look at a paper.

"Left here, Itachi-san" He murmured acting as if they were still aiming to not draw attention. They turned. He heard the shinobi behind them shift in the same direction.

A sigh escaped Itachi's chest, and he half rolled his eyes. He felt Kisame chuckle beside him. He shut up when Itachi shot a glare at him.

"Sorry." The taller whispered. Itachi softened his expression a bit.

As they walked Itachi grew more frustrated and more tired. He coughed. He wiped the blood that spattered into his hand onto his cloak. He could feel the worried look from his right side. Damn his reputation and damn their pursuers. He wanted to look at his partner and tell him it was ok, that he was feeling fine, just tired. That it was less blood than usual. Instead, he made a small sign to comfort the other as much as possible. He and Kisame had their own way of communicating, it was limited but constantly being added to whenever they had something new to say after a situation. They used it every so often, when they weren't alone or when either of them just couldn't speak aloud or listen for any reason. He still felt Kisame looking at him, less worried now but still frowning.

Damn it. They needed to get rid of the shinobi on their tail. They needed to get back to base, where they would have been settled by now, but because of the idiots following them for about four hours now, that wouldn't be happening tonight.

Kisame let out a grumble. "When the hell are we going to be there, Itachi san?" Hell. Neither of them knew where they would end up tonight. They had been on this mission for almost two months and had been finally heading back to base. Now they would end up having to fight even more. There were four shinobi behind them, seemingly strong but obviously idiots as they hadn't tried hard enough to conceal their presence. Itachi sighed harshly. He signed to Kisame.

'Get it over with'

They turned around in a flash, Itachi's Sharingan flashing red and black, hurling kunai knives where he saw movement, Kisame wielding Samehada, both of them and the sword ready to kill. Three of the shinobi in the trees dropped down, landing catlike on their feet. The fourth fell hard from the branch as the blood came spurting from his abdomen and his leg.

One down.

He could see Kisame flash him a proud grin. Still, he felt stupid for only having taken down one.

They were Mist shinobi. Their headbands shone in the lowering sunlight. Kisame's jaw twitched.

A shuriken came flying at Itachi, quickly deflected by his partners sword. The shinobi were at least smart enough to be looking anywhere but his eyes.

They were still, waiting for an attack. Itachi gave them one. Kunai again, metal on metal as the blade was blocked. He didnt need to hit.

Itachi's glare met the eyes of the one who had evaded his kunai, and she stopped moving immediately. The pain she would feel in that genjutsu would overshadow the pain of the last kunai that hit her heart, but atleast it would end after a moment. For her that would have been a few months.

Two down.

Kisames eyes were on the last two opponents. The both of them looked about 17, too young to win against either Itachi or himself. Poor things.

The two pounced on Kisame. Samehada reacted. She broke the skin on contact with one of the young shinobi. The other jumped over him quickly, seemingly the strongest of the group, a kunoichi with blue eyes and tied up blonde hair. He turned quickly, blocking a kunai that she had almost burried in the back of his neck had he been less careful. He lunged but she jumped over him once more managing to drag her blade over nearly four inches of his back. He roared, not out of pain, but anger that this child had just created a gash through his cloak and his skin. He felt the blood seep slowly down his back and coat the area of the gash on his cloak a shade darker, but all the same, he held out his hand as Samehada jumped up into it and ripped through the kunoichis body.

And that was four.