Burning Winds

"Jinchūriki are rather interesting," Pein mused out of the blue. "Their souls are connected to the bijū, and their lives are connected like tied ropes: cut one side and it all falls down."

Konan frowned, looking up from inspecting Uzumaki Naruto's battered and half-dead body. "What do you mean?"

"Hm, nothing," Pein mumbled. "Begin the sealing, waste no more time pondering."

"Aye, aye, sir!" Zetsu chirped. "Pein...you realize that with only five members, the sealing will take a week at most, right? He has a point! We could be in big trouble if Konoha interrupts!"

"Which is why I am going to order you, White Zetsu, to dispatch as many clones as possible," Pein stated. "Hold off approaching shinobi and kill them if they get within fifteen hundred meters of the hideout."

"Sir, yes, sir! Very well then." Both Zetsu's disappeared for a few brief moments before rising from the ground again. "All clones have been dispatched."

"Good. Now we can officially start the sealing." Pein grabbed Naruto's body, throwing him out in the middle of the dark clearing that posed as Akatsuki's main base that resided in the heart of Amegakure no Sato. Pein performed the tiger, snake, rat, ox, dog and ram hand seals. "Fūinjutsu: Genryū Kyūfūjin."

The statue's jaw dropped, ten blue dragons snaking their way to the unconscious blonde. Upon contact, they turned into a clump of red. Naruto's mouth and eyes opened up wide, and the red bubbling chakra spilled out of his seal, ripping away the Kyûbi's soul from his body as the demonic statue took back what was once its own.

"Has Naruto been found yet?" Hatake Kakashi questioned the ANBU from his hospital bed.

The rabbit masked female ANBU shook her head. "I'm sorry, Rokudaime-sama. He has seemingly disappeared off of the map. The search is getting difficult to continue, though. We've been doing this for seven days."

Kakashi sighed heavily, staring out to the fallen ans half-built village from his hospital bed. The attack on Konoha has been devastating. Tsunade was put into a coma, Shizune died and Naruto was taken by Akatsuki for the bijū he held. Almost all of the civilians were dead and half of the shinobi and ninja of the village were either a bloody corpse or simply injured. Kakashi took the position of Rokudaime before Danzō could even move his muscle jaw to 'negotiate the position'. How Kakashi survived his affair with Pein was a mystery in its own, but he was here.

"Your...orders, sir?" Rabbit asked hesitantly.

"...Rest for a few hours. Everyone who is able enough to carry themselves is to help around," Kakashi ordered. "Dispatch all able ANBU to protect what remains of Konoha."

Rabbit nodded, a grim look forming on her face under her rabbit-like mask. "...Yes, sir." She took her leave via shunshin, her grim expression still adorning her features.

Not even a second later, the door slid open. Haruno Sakura stepped in, a clipboard and pen in hand and a lab coat over her shoulders. She smiled sadly, her green eyes glazed over with exhaustion. "How are you feeling, sensei? Any headaches?"

Kakashi gave her an eye smile, shaking his head. "Only when I stay up for an hour too long."

"Sensei, you shouldn't even be up for that long," Sakura scolded. Her eyes narrowed. "...Are you reading Icha Icha?"

He snickered nervously, giving the pink haired chûnin double eye smiles. "Maybe..."

Sakura sighed heavily, writing something down onto her clipboard. "Is there anything else that I should know? Are there any other rules you're breaking...?"

"Nope," Kakashi replied. He dropped his eye smile, his face turning serious. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, all my injuries are healed up," Sakura murmured absently.

The temporary Hokage shook his head. "You know what I mean, Sakura."

She stopped writing, her brow furrowing. The kunoichi was obviously troubled. "Well, I...I'm...I'm more confused than worried, in all honesty."

"How come?"

"I keep wondering," Sakura mumbled, "...why didn't anyone...help Naruto?"

"...Jinchūriki live hard lives," Kakashi murmured. "People either see the demon, and fear them, or they see the power, and want to abuse it. They find it very hard to find real friends, ones that would see the humanity in them. The shinobi and civilians see the demon in Naruto, and fear him. However, Akatsuki see the power in him, and nobody cared enough to save Naruto from the fate of a jinchūriki when they get caught."

All of a sudden, an ANBU ran into the room, breathless. "Sir, we have detected high levels of bijū chakra in Ame!"

"The Kyūbi's?" Kakashi asked.

"There is no mistaking it." The ANBU sucked in a deep and shaky breath. "It is very likely."

Sakura, Sai, Yamato and Kakashi jumped from branch to branch, focused and ready for any kind of considered combat. They were slow; they had to be. Kakashi was still recovering from getting a nail to the head.

Ten blurs of white jumped out, but Sakura didn't hesitate to bash their skulls; a sickening crack filled the air, and the white things fell to the ground.

"What are those things?" Sai asked. "Are they clones?"

"They aren't Kage Bushin, their signatures don't feel like it," Yamato said. "They feel individual, but they're all the same."

"It's probably some freaky jutsu they created. Don't it bother you," Kakashi said. "Focus on getting Naruto back."

"And we are, Rokudaime-sama," Sai stated.

"ANBU have been taking down Ame's forces, so it should be easy to get to Naruto." Kakashi's cold tone made Sai shut up rather quickly.

"We are heading into the heart of Akatsuki, sensei," Sakura pointed out. "What about Pein?"

"He is likely weak from his attack. Thanks to Naruto, he is down to two bodies, his own and the Deva Path," Yamato pointed out. "I'm not sure about the other members, but it shouldn't be too problematic...or at least, I hope so..."

Sakura pursued her lips. Hold on, Naruto, we're coming...

The body of Uzumaki Naruto dropped as the sealing finished. Without question, the hologram of Tobi disappeared, taking his leave without another word. Konan jumped down from her place and Zetsu took his leave via sinking into the stone. That left the young blonde Uzumaki and Pein.

"Now the world," he murmured, "...shall know pain." He jumped down from his spot, desummoning the complete statue as it sunk back.

"Will we let the boy live?" Konan asked softly.

"Whether or not he lives or dies is completely up to him," Pein responded. "He will be too weak without that bijū inside of him. We shouldn't worry about it too much."

"Whatever you say." Konan sighed, and dissipated into multiple sheets of white paper.

Naruto grit his teeth together, the pain that the extraction left behind still lingering in his entire body; each cell screamed at him to just stop, and for a few moments, he was tempted to just stop.

"Naruto!"

The voice of Sakura carried to his ears, and he turned his head, twitching from the ridiculously massive amount of pain it caused. He grit his teeth even harder, both out of anger and pain. They didn't...

"...hear me, Naruto?"

The blonde didn't reply, he just continued staring with blank and glazed over eyes. A tickle on his chest as Sakura started using Shōsen Jutsu.

They didn't even bother...

"...Low pulse...death...Rokudaime."

The voices were fading from Naruto's ears; his vision was blurring, dark shades of color becoming one blurry shade of black.

"...dying...save him...!"

"Calm down...no..."

The blonde's cerulean eyes slowly trailed over to the last voice. The voice of Nakamagoroshi no Kakashi. His iris's hardened, turning into a deadly glare. Kakashi's eye slightly widened when he stared into the cold blue eyes of his student. He knew that glare: the glare that said "die".

Sakura sniffed, feeling the blonde's heartbeat become fainter and fainter by each passing second. She swallowed nervously, sweat dripping down her brow as she attempted to keep her best friend and team mate in the world of the living.

"...How is he?" Yamato asked softly and hesitantly.

"H-he's barely alive..." Sakura whispered. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She sobbed. "He...he's practically..."

"...Dead." The word rolled off of Kakashi's tongue as he stared at the memorial stone. "I apologize sensei...I failed you..." His eye trailed over a third name. "I'm sorry...can you forgive me... Naruto...?"

Don't expect much from this.

Peace! :3