PROLOGUE: Warning

HI! Thanks for reading this, you help a lot. I'm not new to the Naruto fandom I've known Naruto for a long time, but I'd just like to say hi to my fellow Narutards out there. HIIIII! :D

This is a story about the jinchuuriki. It wanna boost their popularity! They are awesome guys after all. I mean, come on. They're nine kick-butt amazing shinobi with a powerful ally locked away inside of them that could be used to wipe the battlefield in AWESOME.I dunno if this is supposed to be AU or whatever, but, honestly, I have no clue. All I can say is that the jinchuuriki here in this story ARE ALL ALIVE. Even if they died in the Naruto series (when he was twelve) they DID NOT DIE HERE. Pein in this story, (SPOILER) has not yet captured a single Bijuu yet.

I don't know if this has pairing too. For now, it has NO OFFICIAL PAIRING. This is just some action-adventure fic. If there are pairings, I'll tell you as I go along the ANs. I don't put "sama", "kun", and "san" and "chan" etcetera in my dialogues. I also don't mix my English here with Japanese, but I do use the Japanese names of the villages and the –daime Kage names. Just think of the lines as subtitles in the anime. Oh, and some names have the accented "ō" like "Rōshi" and "Kokuō". I've replaced it with "ou" to make it simpler. So you'll see "Roushi" and "Kokuou". Also the double u (uu) to replace the accented "ū" in "jinchūriki" etc, so that'll become "jinchuuriki".

As always, reviews are respected and welcomed warmly. Drum roll, ladies and gents, I present to you my first Naruto fic!

Disclaimer: What you want, you can't have. Simple as that, right?

PROLOGUE: Warning

Pein sat on an elongated balcony of a building overlooking the gloomy city of Amegakure. Occasional breezes passed by and went through his orange hair, but none were able to capture a glimpse of relaxation from him. The smell of the winds signaled a strong rain to pass by the village, but he didn't stir. He didn't move. He just sat there with an elbow on an upraised knee, looking down unto the mesmerizing pipe patterns below.

A young lady with blue hair stood a few strides away from him, the winds blowing stray strands of her locks to her face as she swept behind her ears. The breezes became too strong that she even had to struggle to prevent herself from being blown away. She tried to step forward, but before she could move, Pein's voice stopped her.

"Don't come closer…"

Konan sighed then stayed still, letting the winds ruffle her Akatsuki robes. "What troubles you?"

Pein remained completely silent and still as if he didn't hear her.

She had do muster up all courage to call him by his real name and speak again. "Nagato…What…troubles you?"

After a long silence, Pein answered. "I know what keeps me like anxious like this…the Bijuu."

Now it was Konan's turn to stay silent.

"The Akatsuki haven't even captured a single one!" he thought aloud. "Is that not shameful? A god like me cannot capture a single beast!"

"You must have an idea," Konan said. "You cannot give up that easily. The real Nagato I knew never gave up."

Pein took a slow yet sharp inhale, making his shoulders rise in tension and making Konan quiet, instantly regretting saying such. Then after another long pause, he spoke.

"You're right."

He got up and walked towards Konan, not even meeting her eyes, then stopped once his left shoulder brushed against his right. "Gather all the Akatsuki members at the Five Barrier Seal Cliff," he commanded. "Tell them this is a meeting of great importance, tomorrow at dawn. Do not disappoint me."

He walked past Konan and disappeared within the village's maze. She stood still, her eyes downcast. The predicted rain started pouring drizzle on her.

"N-Nagato…" she whispered slowly as she closed her eyes, "N…Nagato…"

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

Tsunade sat shocked in her office as she read reports sent from ANBU spies who were scattered all over the Land of Fire. She kept rereading and rereading them, because she couldn't believe what she was reading. But what was printed there was true, and she had to face it.

"The Akatsuki…are back?"

"L-Lady Tsunade?" Shizune stuttered beside her.

Tsunade shut the report scrolls. "Send letters to the Five Kage.

"Regarding what?"

"The Akatsuki are back. And this time they aren't backing down, so…" She put her elbows on her table. "I'm afraid we had to do this, but…"

Shizune's eyes widened. "No. No no no no. Lady Tsunade, we all agreed we wouldn't use that except for last resort! It's too risky!"

"I know!" Tsunade yelled back, leaning forward. "But we can't afford to lose more lives. We have to. Send them letters."

Shizune bowed. "Y-Yes, Lady Tsunade."

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

Two figures were entering the Land of Fire's forests. One had a brown headgear around his red hair with the Iwa forehead protector, the other with a bright red wide brimmed hat covering his entire visage in shadow, and he had a very tall figure too. They stood in front of the entire canopy.

"Are you sure this is the place?" the first person asked.

"I'm positive," the second person said, lifting his hat a little. He had a very deep voice, compared to the older one which belonged to the first person.

They entered the forest, and continued to travel tediously through the foliage. They ran and jumped and felt like they were running fast, but it was already noon faster than they knew it, and it seemed like they didn't make any travelling progress at all. They were probably lost, heaven knows.

"Are you sure about this, Han?" the first person asked again. "It seems we're just going in circles!"

"Patience, Roushi," the second figure, Han, retorted at him, looking back at the man called Roushi. "I know where I'm going."

"We shouldn't delay this! You know that the Tsuchikage want us to be in Konoha by the end of the—"

"Stop."

Roushi immediately ceased movement as Han said it and held up his hand. He stood on a tree branch while Han stood on a bough not far from him. Roushi was just plain confused as of that moment.

"Oh, Roushi complained, crossing his arms, "so I made you mad now, huh?"

"No," Han said, his eyes darting across the treetops. "I…sense someone."

Roushi put his arms down. He tried to listen for a shinobi, but all there was in the forest was the chattering of squirrels and the loud cries of the cicadas. Nonetheless, the two Iwa jinchuuriki stood still. Roushi slowly reached for a kunai.

Bad mistake.

From the treetops, a burst of sparkling yellow powder flew towards Roushi. He was aware that powder like this had the ability to blind, so he shut his eyes quickly. But he inhaled some of it, giving him a heavy cough. While his eyes were closed and his body was (temporarily) immobilized, a young girl with mint colored hair and yellowish orange insect wings sprouting out of her hips flew towards Roushi from the treetops and tackled him to the ground before Han could even notice. She held a kunai to Roushi's throat and he was still preoccupied by his cough to struggle out.

"Hey!" she threatened. "You better not bring another kunai out again, or I swear, I'll—"

She was tackled by Han to the side before she could even finish. She slammed into a tree, and Roushi got up just in time. He quickly bound rocks around her feet so she couldn't fly away. Her wings vanished into golden powder, and she kept her kunai into her white clothing and adjusted the red container straps criss-crossing in front of her chest. To Roushi and Han, she looked vaguely familiar.

"Hey, wait a minute," Roushi said, still with a slight cough. "Aren't you the girl from Takigakure? Fuu?"

"Uh, yeah," she said with extreme "isn't it obvious" in her voice, even showing them her forehead protector which was tied on her right arm.

"So why'd you attack me?" he asked, crossing his arms. "Aren't you supposed to go to Konoha too?"

"Well, yeah, I was," she explained. "But I wanted to know if some people were coming to Konoha too, so I waited. And I thought you were a threat. Sorry."

Roushi sighed and released her feet from his rocks. "You're good to go, I guess."

Han walked up to her and tipped his hat. "My apologies that we weren't acquainted that….properly." Here he held out his hand. "My name is Han, jinchuuriki of Kokuou the Gobi. A pleasure to meet you, Fuu of Takigakure, jinchuuiki of Chomei the Nanabi."

She smiled and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, Han."

"Now c'mon," Roushi said to both of them. "Let's get going."

Han nodded and led the way as Fuu made another pair of wings and flew after them.

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

Tsunade entered a room, an interrogation room, with Shizune. It took the Kage a while to see if their plan would be super-ultra-risky or just plain risky. In time, all of the four (three) Kage agreed to the plan. Tsunade counted all the jinchuuiki. There were nine, weren't there? But when she entered the room, she shook her head. There were only five of them there.

"Lady Tsunade.." Shizune tried to speak. "There are only five. Will that work?"

"Maybe," Tsunade said, trying to keep an optimistic spirit. "We have to try. They might add up as we go along." She eyed all the jinchuuriki. "Well? Aren't you going to introduce yourselves to each other?"

Before any of them could protest, a young girl with mint green hair spoke.

"Hey, my name is Fuu!" she said cheerfully. "And I'm Chomei the Nanabi's jinchuuriki!"

The other jinchuuriki sighed and proceeded to continue.

"I'm the Gondaime Kazekage," Gaara said, crossing his arms. "My name is Sabaku no Gaara. I'm the jinchuuriki of Shukaku the Ichibi."

"My name's Nii Yugito," said a woman with blond taut-bandaged hair and a purple blouse and black pants. "I'm the jinchuuriki of Matatabi the Nibi."

"The name's Roushi," a man with a brown helmet like gear on his head said. "My Bijuu partner's Son Goku the Yonbi."

"My name is Han," said a tall man with a wide hat dressed in red. "I am the host of the Bijuu Kokuou the Gobi."

"Five," Shizune counted. "We have five out of nine jinchuuriki."

"Who are the other four?" Tsunade asked.

"Let's see," Shizune said, looking at the papers she was holding. "There's the Sanbi, which has no jinchuuriki. Utakata is a missing-nin from Kiri with the Rokubi is also one. There's the Raikage's brother Killer Bee with the Hachibi, and our very own jinchuuriki."

"Uzumaki Naruto," Tsunade answered.

"Lady Hokage," Fuu asked, "if I may interrupt, what did you call us here for exactly?"

"Ah, yes," Tsunade said, returning to topic. She turned to all the jinchuuriki. "Do you people know about the threat known as the Akatsuki?"

Everyone (except Han) stiffened up at the word "Akatsuki".

"Of course we do," the woman known as Yugito finally answered. "I've heard about them. They're a dozen of S-rank missing-nin targeting the Bijuu."

"Why?" Fuu asked.

"To resurrect the Juubi," Roushi answered, "but that's only a theory."

"Well, that's that in a nutshell," Tsunade said. "They're trying to capture the Bijuu from you."

"What did you call us here for, Tsunade?" Gaara asked.

"Well, the other Kage and I had an idea," Tsunade said, then turned to Gaara. "No offense, Kazekage, for leaving you out."

"None taken," Gaara urged a continuation.

"Well, I've talked with the Kage," she said, "and so, we agreed on a last resort plan. Since the Akastuki are more powerful than the usual shinobi, we need shinobi even stronger than them to fight them back. And that's you."

"Us?" all the jinchuuriki said at the same time.

"Tsunade, you're not thinking this through." Gaara retorted. "You're putting the jinchuuriki in the most dangerous position they could be in. There's a bigger chance and risk that the Bijuu could fall into their hands."

"Not to offend you, Lord Kazekage," Han spoke, surprising some because he rarely spoke. "But I think that the Hokage is right here. If us jinchuuriki keep hiding away, it'll make us seem weak in the Akatsuki's eyes. If they think us weak and cowardly, they would see us as easier prey. This power of the Bijuu is a weapon used to gain victory, for if nobody could defeat the Akatsuki but us, who will?"

Gaara stayed silent.

"So it's settled then," Tsunade confirmed. "We heed the Akatsuki's warning of the capture of the Bijuu and confront them with nine of the strongest shinobi in the entire Ninja World with the aid of the Bijuu themselves." She put a hand out. "Who's with me?"

Fuu walked towards Tsunade and put her hand on hers. "I'm in!"

Roushi walked and put his hand. "I'm in this too."

Han bowed and put his hand, yet said nothing.

Yugito sighed and put her hand. "For the sake of the Ninja World, Matatabi and I shall cooperate."

Gaara put his hand as well. "I give my cooperation not only from Shukaku and I, but also from other fellow jinchuuriki not present here today."

"We heed the warning," Tsunade finished, "and we shall claim victory. We shall name the group of the jinchuuriki 'The Shouri', which stands for 'victory'. May the hunt be won at the hands of the beasts and their tamers. We fight the hunters using the power of the beasts themselves."

The jinchuuriki repeated her last words as they slowly absorbed their meaning, carving it into their hearts.

"We fight the hunters using the power of the beasts themselves."