Idea time! I dunno how or why, but I just got this idea and couldn't erase it from my mind! It takes everybody's favorite villain organization and turns the tide in their favor, I hope you enjoy. I did add a Naruto and Hinata (barely in there) relationship because I needed one last effect to make the story whole, I hope you appreciate it.
Disclaimer: I am not an owner or a profiteer of the Naruto name, characters, story, or anything. This fiction is made, not for profit, but for the fun in making it, the joy for others in reading it, and for the ability to see how far my mind can reach without breaking the reality! (Cause we obviously need reality, I mean where else could we order our pizza from?)
This takes place many years after the time skip (can't have it happen during the story right now, can we?) And yes, Naruto's friends know about the Kyuubi.
Key:
Internal Voice talk (only certain people can hear)
Outside Kyuubi talk (to somebody besides Naruto)
"Normal talk"
'Thought talk' (only Internal Voice can hear)
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Naruto woke up with a start lying on the cold floor and a throbbing headache."Huh..? Where am I?" He looked up to see a statue, but not just any statue it was a large statue with it's hands cuffed, it's mouth gagged with a bit, and a blindfold. His eyes grew wide as he noticed that there were nine eyes on the blindfold, eight of them open. This was exactly what Jiraiya had warned him about. It had something to do with Akatsuki's plans, but he didn't care, he wasn't planning on staying long enough to find out what was going to happen to him.
He tried to stand up, only to find that his arms and legs were tied and his fingers seperated to avoid hand signs by a piece of wood placed between each finger as well as rope around each individual finger at the base. "I see the brat's awake, about time, too." He heard from the back of the room, opposite the statue. He turned his head to see something he had dreaded for years. Before him stood every Akatsuki member and even Orochimaru's body which had been reformed after his death by his faithful servant Kabuto no less.
"It's about time you woke up child. I was afraid we would have to do this while you were still asleep, and last I checked the lethality rate tends to be a bit higher when the subject is asleep." A man with spiked hair and gray eyes said as he inspected Naruto. "I guess it's about time we finally met, I'm Pein. I am the leader of Akatsuki." Naruto's eyes widen and he could hear the Kyuubi growling and thrashing inside.
This place, the other eight are nearby! This is a terrible place to be! We must both run, our lives are in danger! He heard the Kyubi say to him. 'Gee, you couldn't tell by the giant statue and those nine Akatsuki guys standing right behind me?' They don't matter, we must go! Naruto didn't look away from the man who had come closer to examine him, even as he listened to Kyuubi grow more and more frantic, something Naruto had never seen.
Naruto refused to speak to the man and tried to keep from looking him in the eyes, if Itachi was afraid of this guy, who knows how much worse this guy could be. "So this is the great Uzumaki Naruto, I was expecting something greater from the Kyuubi container." He said.
"Do you know why you are here Naruto?" He said as he examined the boy. Naruto remained silent glaring at him angrily. "I'll take that as a no." Pein said as he smiled. "What you hold inside of you is Kyuubi no Kitsune, the nine tailed fox demon. The most powerful of the nine tailed beasts is the one you hold inside of you now, the nine tailed fox, Kyuubi."
Naruto's eyes widened slightly, but beyond this he showed no sign of change. 'Kyuubi's really so powerful...?' Naruto was amazed to say the least. Yes, I am, but it matters not. We must escape now or we may never see the light of day again. The Kyuubi responded.
Pein's expression remained the same as he continued. "The others, Ichibi, Nibi, and Sanbi are powerful to legnths that make many of the world seem insignificant, but they hold little power to that of the greater tailed beasts, even Hachibi no Hachimata, the eight tailed snake holds not a flame to the Kyuubi. Normally such power would be left wild and uncontrollable, but these demons are able to hold that power without losing that control." Naruto's glare didn't change, but he couldn't hold one question back.
"Oh, yeah? Then why did Kyuubi attack Konoha?" Naruto said accusingly.
Orochimaru's grin seemed to widen in vile satisfaction as a few glares were turned towards him. "Originally we had asked Orochimaru to join our ranks with his promise to have a way of controlling these demons, but his promise held little merit since his 'demonstration' led to the Kyuubi's temporary insanity with one of his many seals backfiring against him. If not for the Yondaime of Konoha, we most likely would have had to have given up completely on the whole plan. We certainly do owe him our thanks." Pein said with that growing smile.
Of the many things Pein said and did, the thing that enraged Naruto the most were his words of the Yondaime while holding that damn smile. "Stop smiling you bastard!" Naruto started fighting his bonds. Pein did lose his smile, but it was replaced with a frown that chilled Naruto to the bone. "Don't even bother, the only way to get out of those things is to use a jutsu, and we've emptied your body of chakra down to the bear necessities so don't think your Rasengan can get you out of thise one." Pein said.
"Orochimaru, now that you're here this should take less time. You remember the deal we help you if you help us." Itachi said as he turned to the leader. "We must begin now, our little 'distraction' in Konoha will only be able to give us two days at best and we spent one day carrying him here. We don't have the time to place a barrier like we did before, so we must act now if we are going to finish this." He said. Pein nodded before beginning his speech.
"Members of the Akatsuki, today is the day we finally complete our objective. We've collected eight of the nine and here before us is our final goal, the ninth tailed beast and the most powerful of them as well. It's time to finish this once and for all. Everybody take your positions and begin immediately." All of the nine nodded and leaped over to their corresponding finger with Hidan appearing at his corresponding finger as well.
"Ah, Hidan, how nice of you to join us." Kisame said as he noticed the appearance of Hidan's astral projection. He simply nodded as he watched from his finger.
The room drew into a silence as each member began to focus more and more. Naruto tried more and more to break the ropes holding him down. 'Kyuubi, help me! Give me some of your chakra so I can use the Rasengan and get us free!' Naruto said to his literal inner demon. I... Can't... I have no chakra. There's a seal on the floor holding my chakra inside of me! I can't control it! I can release it, but the seal won't let my chakra flow through you!
'Dammit! There has to be something! Anything!' He thought as he pulled more and more on his restraints as they started to dig into his wrists. I'm sorry, we can do nothing. He heard the fox say.
Naruto closed his eyes as he started thinking about everything he learned in hopes of finding something. He thought of everything he learned from Jiraiya, Kakashi, and all his friends. Nothing, he was held down efficiently and tied up perfectly. He could wait for his chakra to recover, but by then it would be too late.
"DAMN IT!" He yelled in frustration and anger as he pulled more and more, sure that his wrists would be scarred.
All ten Akatsuki opened their eyes as they chanted the same jutsu. "Sealing Technique: Illusionary Dragon Nine Consuming Seals!"
Then he felt it, the jutsu had begun. He could feel something being pulled at his stomache and looked down to see a string or red chakra being lifted into the air as the piece in the statue's mouth began to open.
The red chakra began to flow more and spread as creatures began appearing at the mouth of the statue. Naruto could only stare in horror as nine dragon shaped wisp-like creatures started to drift towards him. He tried to crawl and wiggle away from the creatures but to no avail. In seconds they surrounded him and circled for many seconds before attacking his stomache, limbs, and head.
Naruto screamed in pain as the dragons began pulling chakra from his whole back until finally the pain disappeared and a cold feeling enveloped him. He couldn't hear or see anything, but he could feel the dragons still nearby. He knew it would have been too easy if it ended there. This was supposed to take three days with only nine, with the full crew it would at least be a day, and he knew it.
His suspicions were only confirmed as they attacked once again pulling more and more draining something from him that he couldn't describe, all he knew was that it was part of him and taking it out would kill him.
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He came into the village in a daze as he tried to figure out what was going on, but he couldn't quite remember anything. Everybody gave him strange looks but he didn't understand why since he couldn't even remember his own name much less who they were and what he had done. All he knew was that he was supposed to be here for something important. One of the guard looked at him and smiled. "Hey, Naruto!"
'Is that my name?' "Um, hi?" The girl gave him a strange look as she walked up to him. "So are you going to see the Hokage and inform her on the results of the mission or just stand there all day?" She asked.
He looked at her curiously. "I... Um... Who are you?" He said as he looked strangely at the girl, she gave him a scared look. "N-Naruto? Quit kidding around, it's me, Tenten." She said as she examined him. "We've been friends for years." She added when he didn't change his expression.
"I'm sorry, but I just don't remember." He said. Tenten's expression changed from scared to concerned. "Neji. Identity check." She said to the boy standing behind her. His eyes seemed to change as he examined Naruto. "It's Naruto, but... Something's off. I think he's low on chakra and appears to be under a genjutsu, I can't break though, we need to get him to Tsunade." Neji said. Tenten nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke with Naruto after grabbing his hand.
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The pain was unbearable, he could feel every movement, rip, and tear the creatures made and it was too unbearable for him to even open his eyes. He didn't need to open his eyes to know that the ghostly dragons were ripping and tearing away red energy from his body. They didn't tear flesh but it hurt just the same, possibly even worse than if he had been having flesh being torn apart. I can barely feel your presence anymore, it seems we've finally lost, it was an interesting life. Goodbye, Uzumaki Naruto.
A white hot searing pain shot through his whole body for what felt like an eternity before it disappeared, leaving a cold empty feeling. "A-am I dead?" He finally opened his eyes to see himself in the same cavern. "Strange, even with everybody here this should have taken much longer." He heard from one of the cloaked figures.
"It was not our doing that the demon was taken so easily. It appears it's given up to save it's tenant. Almost heart warming." He heard Orochimaru say before he laughed that evil cackle of his. Naruto finally started looking at his body and couldn't believe his eyes. It looked somebody had literally ripped the skin off his stomache. He laid his head back again looking up expecting to die.
"What the... is that... Kyuubi?" Naruto looked up to see a giant red ball of chakra with lighter red energy wrapped around and inside of it being lifted up with a stream being carried towards the statue by the dragons. "He's... wow..." Then without warning some of the lighter red energy around the orb started to fall back towards Naruto, onto his stomache where the hole was. He instantly felt relief as the familiar feeling of his skin reforming came back to him. "Thank you, fox." He said before he passed out.
"It seems the demon has taken quite a liking to you. Oh well, it's not like it will matter in the long run. All of us will rule the world and now that all the demons are under our control, you'll be just another slave beneath is." A woman with a flower in her hair said.
Deidara looked troubled. [ 1 He may have been a member, but it wasn't by choice and while he liked having money and power, to him there was a fine line between just plain powerful with a little fun, and evil. He played around that line often and did a few less than admirable things for money, but this was worse. Deidara looked at Tobi and saw that same look, even through the mask he constantly wore, they had been partners for a long time so they could read eachother quite well.
They both knew this day would come when they actually achieved the goal, but it didn't feel right still. They enjoyed being a member and being among the most powerful men in the world, but they didn't want to be evil. Sure he was a terrorist for hire, but that's simply like being a mercenary for hire, not the bad guys themselves.
Worry not, Deidara. You were asked to join Akatsuki for a reason. Deidara's eyes went wide as he realized who it was.
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Tsunade had called Kurenai to her office and had since been waiting patiently as she watched Kurenai examine Naruto. "He's under some genjutsu, that's for sure, but..." She continued to examine him. "But what?" Tsunade asked as she stared at the two, Naruto looking confused the whole time.
"This is one of those jutsu that only the victim can break. Naruto repeat after me and do exactly as I do, okay?" Kurenai said as she looked Naruto face to face. He nodded. "Nezumi, Usagi, Inu, Saru." She said slowly as she did the hand signs. Then she tapped her forehead and he did the same. Instantly realization of everything dawned on him.
"Granny Tsunade!" He said, this time dodging the blow aimed for his skull. "I'm... Not the real Naruto... We have to go now!" He said as the Godaime's eyes widened. "What do you mean? What's going on?"
Naruto sighed to calm himself down. "Naruto was attacked a couple days ago I think. The leader of Akatsuki made a copy of him using one of his people as a sacrifice and used a genjutsu to block my memories. They're going to rip Kyuubi out of him like they did with Gaara!" Alarms instantly went off and the Hokage quickly set about getting two teams together for the mission.
"It took three days with Gaara, we musn't assume it's still the same since they have more tailed demons now, if they're after Kyuubi. I'm going to send Gai's old team and Kurenai's old team. They are best equipped for this situation and their whole teams are in the village." She said. Kurenai looked at Naruto curiously before voicing her question.
"So if you aren't Naruto, who are you?" Kurenai asked. Naruto just shook his head. "I don't know. All I know is that they restrained the real me and the human sacrifice, and the next thing I know this guy in a cloak does some weird jutsu, and suddenly it felt like I'm looking in a mirror cause I was looking at myself being held by a weird guy in a cloak like Itachi's! I tried to get free, but Itachi did something to my head, and the next thing I know, I'm waking up outside of Konoha and couldn't remember anything." He said.
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"What the hell is going on!?" Orochimaru said as the jutsu continued. "This was supposed to be the easy part!" He said as he watched the scene that had begun. The red chakra had taken the shape of a fox and began fighting back against the dragons. "I refuse to give in to weaklings like you, snake." The being said as it turned to Orochimaru.
"Don't worry. It can't get to us now. It's still under the influence of that seal." Pein said as he nodded to the floor's seal. "The only things that can take it beyond that seal are the dragons from the statue." Shiro, Kakuzu's replacement, added as he grinned. "Don't be such a chicken, Orochimaru." Orochimaru turned to Shiro. "What did you say!? I will kill you when--"
"ENOUGH! Focus on the task at hand, both of you" Pein commanded. Both turned towards the center once again and continued after giving eachother a venomous glare. All were oblivious to the movement close by as they continued to draw the Kyuubi in.
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"Jiraiya, get in here. I know you're out there." Tsunade suddenly said without looking up from her paperwork. There was a sigh from outside the window before the said sannin stepped inside. "I take it you heard everything?" She said as he sat down in a chair. "Yeah, and it sounds like leader's jutsu. And if what you say is true, I think I better go ahead with Naruto. We need to move as soon as possible and the two of us can handle everything. Right Naruto?" The toad sage said as he looked at Naruto.
Naruto shook his head. "No, I can't explain it, but I feel weak... Almost like I have no chakra, see?" He said as he tried to focus some chakra into his palm for a Ransengan, instead getting a sphere no bigger than his thumb before it disappeared. "I see..." Jiraiya said. "He must not have wanted his own tool to fight against him. I'll go by myself then." Before anybody could stop him he was out the window again.
"He's going to die before his time if he keeps doing that." Tsunade said.
In came Gai, Neji, Tenten, Lee, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino soon after. "We're here Lord Hokage." Gai said as he bowed with the others. "Please don't bow. I need you to take this mission. Naruto's been kidnapped and one of his..." she looked at Naruto for a second trying to figure out the best way to explain it. "clones, escaped. We need as many people as we have to head for the Akatsuki's hideout once more to rescue him like we did Gaara. We can't waste any time. Gai's team has knowledge of their whereabouts so they can lead, now you must go before something terrible happens." She said as she handed Gai a folder with the mission specifications. They all nodded and left as quickly as they could with Naruto right behind them.
"I hope they make it." She said. "Tsunade, is everything alright? Everybody who came in just ran by like the Kyuubi was after them." She said as she stepped in while holding Tonton. Tsunade gave her a sad look and sighed "Everything's just fine, Shizune." She said, obviously lieing.
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Akatsuki was used to seeing demons fighting the jutsu after the last three, but this was incredible. It was fighting back like nothing they had seen before, but it was still a losing battle. "I cannot lose! Especially to creatures as weak as you!" The barrier the seal created around the Kyuubi was temporarily visible as the red chakra fox blasted all the sides and filled the whole seal with the chakra. "You better be careful with the youkai chakra Kyuubi, wouldn't want to roast the tenant, would we?" Pein said as he stared directly at the fox.
The waves of chakra against the walls of the seal started to subside as the dragons began attacking the fox's legs and neck. "Ah, that's more like it. Now be a good kitsune and let the dragons take you to your new home." Kisame said as he watched the Kyuubi struggle against the dragons.
"I would rather die than let worms like you have my power!" The Kyuubi said as it directed a blast of pure red chakra at Kisame which pushed the barrier of the seal towards him for a second before it bent back in as a dragon bit down on the Kyuubi's neck and pulled it towards the statue.
A couple of the members frowned at what they had seen. The seven and eight tailed demons had taken a shot or two at the barrier when they ran out of hope to fight the dragon spirits and none of them had ever been able to do what the Kyuubi had just done. It was amazing enough that the stronger demons could fight back.
It didn't matter though, the Kyuubi had lost when it did that. As soon as it turned it's attention to Kisame instead of the whisp like beasts attacking him, they attacked his limbs, neck, and body and pulled it into the statue. "There, now was that so hard?" Kisame said as the Kyuubi was dragged closer to the mouth of the statue. It turned to look at him one last time as it came between the two hands before one final blast escaped the control of the dragons frying Orochimaru who was between the two and Kisame as they stood on the left pinky and ring fingers. The others could only watch in horror as the two barely stood on their cooresponding fingers.
"The bastard fox just couldn't go down quietly." Shiro said as he saw it finally being drawn into the mouth tails first. The eyes glowed for a second before the final eye was lit and stayed open showing that Kyuubi was successfully sealed. "Somebody take care of those two. Please come here." Pein said as he left the chamber. Hidan faded away with a grin, satisfied that he had gotten to see what he had gotten to see something while he still lay underground. Deidara and Tobi nodded to eachother and followed Pein along with the girl.
Orochimaru and Kisame were laid on the ground near Naruto as the remaining members examined the two. "Orochimaru got the worst of it since he was between them, he's a goner." Zetsu's white side said as he examined Orochimaru, his black side agreeing. "After the many times he cheated death too, oh well." His black side added.
Shiro stood over Kisame as he looked over him. "Looks like the fishstick's gonna be fine. Kisame, you really are lucky Orochimaru was bribed into this or you would've been deep fried for sure." He said. Kisame shakily raised his hand to get Shiro to come closer. Shiro kneeled down and moved his head closer so he could hear what Kisame had to say. CRACK! Kisame had raised his other hand and let it drop on the other man's head in a fist. "That's... for... the... fish... stick... com... ment..." He said as he took shaky breaths.
Shiro stood back up with a good sized lump on his head. "Yeah, he's gonna be just fine..." He said as he glared at Kisame. Itachi sighed to himself as he watched the others. His eye sight may not have been the best from constant use of the Sharingan, but he could see stuff like this coming almost a mile away. He noticed Naruto's body still lying
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"Takara, I need you to bring me eleven soldier pills." Pein said, the girl nodded and left with a smile. "Okay, just don't forget me when the fun part comes." She said as she left the room. [ 2
"As for you two, is everything set Deidara?" Pein asked Deidara. "Yes, Leader. The only thing left is--"
"Wait, what are we doing? I was too busy watching Kyuubi fight the dragons, Deidara." Tobi said. Deidara was about to get angry, but instead smiled. "I figured as much, it sounds just like you. I will tell you what I know, un." He said to Tobi. Tobi nodded and listened intently to his partner.
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Gai knew they weren't going fast enough to make it in time. He read the report word for word out loud as they moved as quickly as they could towards the place they knew Akatsuki was hiding. "We need to go faster!" He said out loud. "Gai, not everybody can move as fast as you. We're going as fast as we can." Kurenai said as the others ran beside her.
Gai ground his teeth as he tried to think of something. "The how about Lee and I go ahead. We can move faster than the rest of you and we can hold our own against them until you arrive." Gai said. "It's not something I would recommend... But if we really are that desperate... do it." She replied. Gai nodded and stopped as well as Lee. Everybody looked back to see why they stopped, but were suprised when they heard two loud bangs and two blurs shoot by ahead of them.
"Good luck, you two..." Kurenai said as they continued forward.
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Deidara watched as a nicely dressed man he had never seen before came into the chamber with the statue in it. He examined the face of the statue with great admiration. "Well well, all nine finally came together. Time to put the finishing touches on. All of you must now stand on your corresponding finger once more." The man said.
Shiro gave the man a strange look. "Exactly who died and made you the boss? We only follow the leader." He said to the man. The man turned to Shiro with a grin on his face.
"Ah yes, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Satoru, the man who introduced Pein to this statue and the ten rings as well as the use of them." The newly introduced Satoru said. "I'm the one who helped Pein achieve this goal, now all I need is for the ten who hold the rings to stand on the right spots while I use a jutsu of my own, and then the rings' true purposes will finally be revealed." He said as he once again turned to the statue.
Shiro looked on dumbstruck as he watched the man across from him. "What do you mean the 'rings' true purposes' we already know what they do, they 'control the fate of the tailed demons', right?." Shiro said using Pein's exact words. "That's right. Well, I guess we don't have to worry about explanations." He said.
Pein came in with the other three behind him. Takara looked at the new face curiously. "He's kinda pudgy, are you sure that's him?" She asked Pein as they looked at him. "Yes. We have run into a problem though. We are short one ring. Zetsu, I need you to retrieve Hidan's ring from him. It shouldn't be too hard to find. It's near the place Shiro's ring was retrieved from, a quarter of a mile north by northwest or where Kakuzu died. Once we obtain it we can successfully complete our mission." Pein said. Zetsu nodded and shifted into the ground as he used his jutsu to travel.
"In the mean time, I have here ten soldier pills, everybody take one. Ita--er Shiro, give one to Kisame and Orochimaru." Pein said as he looked to the rest of the group. "Yeah about that... Orochimaru's dead." Shiro said as he pointed to the roasted body on the ground next to Kisame. "We're short two members. Sure that Satoru guy can take one person's place, but we're still one person short." Shiro added.
Pein thought for a second before turning towards Naruto's sleeping form. "No. We aren't."
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Naruto awoke to find himself staring into a set of gray eyes. "It's good to see you're awake, Uzumaki." Naruto tried to get up but found himself still strapped to a chair in a room with only the two of them and a blue haired girl with brown eyes behind Pein. "We were starting to wonder if you were ever going to regain consciousness before it was too late. We have need of your assistance." Pein stated as he looked Naruto dead in the eye.
The blonde became enraged as he started kicking and fighting while stuck to the chair. "And what makes you think I'll help a bastard like you!?" He yelled as he kicked and squirmed in his chair wishing he could maul the older man. The girl behind Pein changed expression from blank to outright pissed before she charged to the chair intent on beating him within an inch of his life.
"Wait!" She stopped just short of putting her fist into his face. "But... Didn't you hear what he just called you!? Nobody should--"
"It's okay, I'll say what I came to say. It is his choice whether he accepts or not. Go, I can handle it from here." Pein said as he continued to stand above Naruto. Naruto glared at the two as they stared at him before the blue haired girl walked out of the room.
Pein waited til after the girl left before he spoke. "If you choose to listen, I'll say what I came to you to say, free you, and let you choose whether to aid us or not. If you choose not to listen... I'll leave you here to wait until we're done." Pein said. Naruto glared at him. He didn't want to be stuck to the chair the whole time either way so it was obvious he should at least hear him so he could get away.
"Okay, but after you're done and I say no, you better let me outta here!" Naruto said. "Deal." Pein said with a satisfied look.
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Lee and Gai had been running for what felt like forever until they arrived at the familiar cave entrance. "There appears to be a barrier seal here... It will take some time to remove, Lee rest while I try to work on this seal. It should be down before the others arrive." Gai said as he began going through hand seals before placing both hands on the cave entrance's wall.
An hour later Kurenai finally arrived with the others. "Gai, status report." Kurenai said. "There's a barrier here that I've almost taken down. I'm sure there's another. Neji, Hinata, could you two look through the wall to see inside?" Hinata and Neji nodded and looked inside. "I see another seal and another one being made by... Itachi. He can't see us through the wall, but he's farther inside setting up a final seal. It's harder to break than the others" Neji said as he looked deeper inside the tunnel.
Hinata gasped in horror as she fell backwards. "What is it Hinata? What did you see?" Kurenai asked as she caught her student. "I-I saw Naruto!" She said still looking horrified. "Is he dead? Have they taken 'it' out of him yet?" Kurenai asked Hinata. She didn't move or speak, instead she simply stared ahead horrified. "Hinata speak to me!" Kurenai ordered. Hinata looked at Kurenai. "It can't be him... It can't..."
"I got it, the first seal is down!" Gai said as a circle with a pattern inside appeared in the air and broke apart. Kurenai nooded and laid Hinata down on the ground. "Naruto, take care of her, I'll go take care of the next seal." She said as the Naruto 'clone' took the girl. Hinata looked at him with pained eyes. "Naruto, you wouldn't... would you? W-would you actually help them?"
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Naruto had placed Hidan's former ring on his left index finger and stood atop that statued finger as the other Akatsuki members watched him. "How the hell did you get the kid to do this...?" Kisame asked as he forced himself to stand after being carried to the finger he was to stand on. "Let's just say that Naruto and I have a mutual agreement." Pein said as Naruto glared at him.
"Now be a good boy and eat your medicine." Shiro said as he tossed a soldier pill to Naruto. He ate it without hesitation. Satoru grinned in satisfaction. "Now, we can begin. Everybody aim your rings towards the center eye. As soon as all ten of us have done so we will feel slight exhaustion as we lose some chakra. It will pass after a few minutes, then I shall finish the ceremony."
Everybody nodded as they stood on the finger of the ring they held, Satoru taking Orochimaru's place, even as the snake's body still lay on the ground nearby. Each pointed his ring at the statue, Naruto being the only one to hesitate. As soon as he did he felt his knees shake. It felt like his whole body had lost the ability to even hold itself up, but he managed to do so.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Satoru, Tobi, and Kisame were unable to hold themselves up, but kept their arms raised towards the statue nonetheless. Itachi hadn't even flinched when the effects came over him, but it was obvious from the strained look on his face even he had felt the effects. As suddenly as it had come, the feeling disappeared leaving them sapped of chakra, but still there.
Satoru stood panting since he was unacustomed to such draining effects, but still held his grin. "Now, for the final jutsu to end it all. Forbidden Technique: Divine Ten Rings Jutsu!"
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Naruto carried Hinata until she was able to stand on her own two legs as the others continued to work on the second seal. "Naruto..." Naruto looked at Hinata as he was holding onto her. "Yeah, Hinata?" He said as he looked at her curiously. It had been the first time she hadn't been shaking or almost crying when she spoke. She stalled for a second before she shook her head. " I... Um... Nothing." She said with a tell-tale blush.
"That's the last one before we see the chamber." Kiba said as he saw Kurenai break the second seal with Neji's help directing her to the weak points. "There they are!" She said as she came close to to the end of the sealed path.
"Wait... Is that... Naruto!?" She yelled as she looked through. "He's helping the Akatsuki!" She yelled again. "I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes!" She said.
"No. Naruto would never do that!" Hinata yelled. Everybody turned to see Naruto and Hinata standing behind the group. "I would never do anything to hurt anyone of my friends, and I would never help those bastards!" Naruto yelled in his semi-defense. He looked at Hinata with a sad look in his eye.
He knew what she wanted to say now, but knew the words were not meant for him. "Hinata, tell the real Naruto what you wanted to tell me earlier and you'll make his dreams come true. Goodbye." Naruto began to pull on every resource of chakra he had as he began to mold it in his hand... All of it, including the chakra he needed to live.
Hinata's eyes went wide as she saw the shaky sphere and the shuriken shape around it take form in his hand with the help of the other hand before he ran by the others and rammed it into the sealed hall way. "Wind Release: Spiraling Shuriken!" He smashed the ball into the invisible wall and held it there even as cuts and gashes appeared on his arm, but he pushed it more and more until the barrier shattered and he flew through into the chamber with the others chasing after him.
They rushed inside as Hinata ran to the dying Naruto on the ground. "Why didn't you disappear like the normal shadow clones?" She said as the others started to run towards the middle of the overly large chamber. "I'm not the real Naruto or any of his shadow clones... With a friend like you, I wish I was. Go help him before something bad does happen to him." He said before giving her the famous Naruto smile and closed his eyes as exhaustion took over.
Hinata nodded and laid him down gently before running after the others. As soon as she caught up though, he hopes were destroyed. The statue was engulfed in flame.
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Pein heard the impact and shattering of the barrier and smiled. It was about time somebody came to the rescue. Satoru finished the jutsu. "It's done, just as you asked Pein." Each of the Akatsuki members kneeled with his ring touching that finger, having been told that that was what they were supposed to do at the end of the ceremony.
That was the sign. Five pale insects crawled onto their victims and created giant explosions which covered the statue's hands engulfing Itachi, Kisame, Shiro, Katsu, and Takara. The other five leaped away just as the explosions went off, saving themselves from the fiery death.
Deidara smiled as he watched his handiwork, watching as many more explosions around the statue killed those who had managed to survive the initial blasts his first creatures had made. "My art is exciting, wouldn't you say? So awe inspiring and yet so fleeting." He said as he saw the many explosions dance over the statue.
Naruto jumped again as he realized he jumped in the wrong direction and tried to land near his friends as they made their way into the chamber. The explosions seemed to be destroying what was left of the statue one piece at a time. And everytime he moved there seemed to be another explosion nearby.
Finally he managed to get away from the statue with one final leap as an explosion appeared underneath him.
Shino's bugs appeared out of nowhere and cushioned Naruto's fall as he was pushed off course by the explosions. "Thanks Shino!" Naruto said as he waved to the group below who were now in fighting stances while they stared off with the remaining four. "Wait! Don't attack them!" Naruto jumped in front of his friends with his arms spread. "They aren't the bad guys!" [ 3
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Neji, Tenten, Shino, and Kiba had lined the chamber with explosive tags on the ceiling and walls as Lee, Gai, Kurenai, and Hinata talked with Naruto and the remaining Akatsuki members and company. "So care to explain what exactly just happened in there?" Gai asked. "I thought they were the enemy."
"Actually the leader of Akatsuki was never the enemy." Naruto said. Pein nodded and smiled as he talked. "My mission from my country was to capture as many of the tailed demons as possible so they could have an advantage if they were to declare war or if they needed to accomplish many A-Rank missions in a short time with the fewest resources."
"I couldn't do it though... Ninja may be tools, but we're still human too, and if Amegakure controlled the nine tailed demons it would have become corrupt. So instead I looked for a way to get rid of them. That's when I came across this man here." He motioned towards Sotaru. "He's a demon specialist and when I came to him he told me about a statue said to contain demons and said he had a way to purify them once they've been captured. He also told me that we needed ten people of admirable chakra capacity who would be able and willing to fight the demons or their tenants on equal grounds."
Sotaru stepped up. "The rings I designed are made to draw chakra to the statue after changing it to mikyo chakra, that is to say, divine chakra, the kind used to kill most demons. The demons under normal circumstances cannot be beaten without somebody wearing those rings and cannot be truly defeated outside of the statue even with that power. The statue has a one time use that amplifies mikyo chakra and fills it completely killing any demons within it."
Kurenai's eyes went wide. "Did you say, kill? You destroyed the tailed demons?" She looked in bewilderment to Pein who simply nodded. "We couldn't let any one country control the beasts, nor could we allow them to roam free and destroy as they wished. The Kyuubi himself went mad with power after Orochimaru tried to simply seal the beast."
Naruto looked at Pein curiously before voicing his question. "Why did you recruit such evil people into your organization?" Naruto asked, bringing to head the biggest question in everybody's mind. Pein looked troubled as he looked back at Naruto. "It wasn't meant to be that way at first. I recruited him as well as the many others because I had to find ninja who were powerful and held no allegiance to a nation, sadly this meant missing ninja."
Pein looked away in guilt. "When I realized that the only powerful missing-nin would be power mongers... I did the only thing I could, I searched for ninja who wanted to wield the power of demons and told them that we would take the demons for our own. I tried to find others who would do it selflessly which lead to Hidan, but even he became corrupt. Then I heard of Deidara, somebody who might help but was not an evil person. I asked Itachi to 'persuade' him to join and I would inform him later of the truth." Pein looked to Deidara and bowed low. "I apologize for the grief I caused you Deidara."
"It was nothing, un." He said as he blushed while looking away.
Hinata finally spoke up. "W-what about Naruto... Even if you told him everything, he wouldn't join you, your organization destroyed his closest friends..." She said gathering her courage to try to speak.
"Ero-sennin, er, Jiraiya told me everything himself." Gai's eyes went wide. "How could he have told you everything, you were inside the complex the whole time." Gai said as he tried to understand Naruto's meaning.
Naruto looked down as he explained. "He was there when Pein told me everything. He used his ultimate hiding jutsu to get in and out to talk to Pein one last time. He talked me into helping purify the nine tails and the others. He was the reason Akatsuki knew what they did, only Pein knew it was Jiraiya giving the information, though. He tried to direct Konoha towards the people who would be hurt so they could help them when they needed it. The pervert did what he could to help, but as usual he wasn't anywhere near helpful."
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Many miles away Jiraiya sneezed loudly. "Heh, some cute girl must be talking about me. Don't worry, wherever you are, I'll be joining you soon!" He yelled with a perverted look on his face as he continued his trek to the next village.
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"And you destroyed the demons at the cost of all those innocent lives, is that how you justify what you did?" Kurenai said. Pein looked down and nodded. "They could have done much more damage if they were to continue to roam free.
"So what now?" Tobi said as he stepped up next to his partner. "Deidara was a mercenary for hire to begin with, but you and I... Pein, we have no country to go back to." He said as he looked to the older man.
Pein stepped in. "No, I'm going to a country, but it's to pay for what I did. I knew I would have to pay for my actions, even if they were in some ways just. And I will not accept a punishment-free sentence. The organization I created has killed many innocents and I as their leader am subject to punishment on their behalf." He said as formally as he could while stepping forward towards Kurenai and Gai while holding his hands out to be tied.
Lee grinned. "Pein, you are an honorable man for accepting responsibility. I wish you luck should you ever have need of it. Gai-sensei, I will help the others finish placing the explosives." Lee said before leaving the company.
"You may not be evil, Deidara, but you are still a wanted criminal." Gai said as he watched the explosives expert. "I must ask you to come with us."
Deidara grinned as he watched Gai look at him seriously. "I'm sorry, I can't go with you. Tobi and I still have business to attend to in the world, goodbye, un." The area was filled with miniature explosions shooting dust into the air as Deidara escaped with Tobi in tow. Pein just smiled as he saw them leave even through the dust. "Goodbye and good luck to both of you."
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The group were on their way back to Konoha after searching far and wide to find Deidara and Tobi to with no success. They had destroyed the chamber so that nobody would be able to find even the remnants of the demons before leaving. Satoru had gone back to his nation, being neither an Akatsuki member nor missing ninja of any sort they had no reason to detain him. They had been walking for many hours as the different people formed groups where they began to talk.
Pein had been seriously talking with Naruto for a while. Naruto argued that his actions didn't deserve death like Pein had kept saying while Pein argued that his actions deserved a grim fate and that he would gladly take that punishment. They had both started to agree that the decision should fall to the Konoha council before Pein smiled to himself. "What? Did I say something funny?" Naruto asked as he saw the amused expression. "No, I simply believe that somebody would like your attention more than I at the moment." He said as he nodded his head behind Naruto.
Naruto turned his head to see a blushing Hinata. "N-Naruto, I w-was just... I um..." She began to stamor now that she had her crush's attention. "Yeah, Hinata?" Naruto asked as he saw her faltering.
She sighed to herself before she remembered the other Naruto's words. 'Tell the real Naruto what you wanted to tell me' Hinata looked at Naruto with a determined look. "Naruto, I l-like you very much, more than a friend." She said as quickly as she could before she hugged him. Naruto looked confused and blushed as he tried to figure out what exactly just happened. He looked up to see a few of the people watching him with hopeful looks. Then he looked back down to see Hinata's indigo hair.
"Hinata..." He said as she continued to bury her face into his chest. He didn't wait for a response before he hugged her too. "I like you, too, Hinata." He said as he hugged her tightly, tears on the edge of his eyes as he felt truly happy.
Tenten and Kurenai smiled. "It's about time." They heard Neji of all people say. The girls gave him a strange look as he shrugged it off.
----------Three Years Later----------
The man looked at himself in the mirror as he got ready for the day's festivities. "I don't know how I let that kid talk me into this." He said as he slid on a white shirt after checking the seal on his chest. "I don't even like going to the villages, it's just too much work." He said as he finished getting dressed. "I know I said I would do this if he ever managed to get the old man's approval, but I didn't think he would actually be able to do it." He said as he sighed to himself.
"Well it could be worse, could have no way of getting there quickly, un." His blonde-haired friend said. He just so happened to come the day before with his friend, just in time to help and watch. "So how does it feel to be in a tux?" The masked friend said as he stepped in the room. "Terrible, an the worst part is this damn tie." He said as he began to pull on it slightly.
"Well we better go now or we'll never get there in time."
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Naruto couldn't believe his eyes or ears. This was the best day of his life, the day he had never expected to ever see. "I do."
"By the power vested in me by the village of Konoha, I pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride." The priest said as the two kissed causing the crowd of his and her friends to cheer.
"Way to go, Naruto!" "Great job, Hinata!" "Have fun you two!" "Yay, Hinata!"
Naruto and Hinata turned to face the front door of the building while Pein smiled at Naruto from the back. Movement caught Naruto's eye as he saw two black cloaked figures disappear through a window in the corner. Naruto gave his famous grin as the others continued to cheer. He held her hand in his as he and his new wife made their way out of the church.
This was the beginning of a great new life for Naruto, and he was glad he could share it with Hinata.
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Ta-Da! My longest one-shot to date and it's not half bad in my opinion, though it didn't turn out the way I thought it would. I hope you enjoyed it, R&R Please.
1 : That's right Deidara fans, I kept him alive. Don't read if you haven't read the manga. After Orochimaru's supposed death (Kabuto sacrifices himself to bring Orochimaru back in the long run) he didn't go after Orochimaru under orders from Pein to not pursue him, and with Tobi helping him out with his little rage problem.
2 : I know that isn't her real name, but at the time I wrote this, she had no name or personality, so I used an OC name and personality of my own choosing.
3 : In case you read this ahead before you go to the next chapter, it's nothing but situation explanation and what exactly just happened.