Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters!
A/N: I just had a crazy idea and thought it might be fun to write it out.
Everyone met at the Konoha gates ready for action. All had been called separately to meet for a mission, details to be explained later. Shikamaru Nara, of course, would be leading the group. With his IQ of over 200 and his ability to assess any situation and come up with multiple plans for every scenario, the group would always have the tactical advantage.
Once everyone had gathered, Shikamaru began to explain things. He sighed, "Alright, first thing to get out of the way, this is a stealth mission. That means that even if we see the enemy, we are not to engage them in combat. That means you, Naruto, Kiba."
"Hey! Don't pin me with that guy!" Kiba pointed wildly at Naruto.
"What do you mean that guy?!" Naruto growled back at Kiba.
"Troublesome," Shikamaru dismissively muttered under his breath.
Luckily Ino stepped in between the two loose cannons, that had just proven Shikamaru's point. "Hey guys, calm down. Just let Shikamaru finish, that way we can get going faster, alright?"
Kiba and Naruto exchanged one last glare before complying and turning their attention back towards Shikamaru who sighed again and stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"Okay, Lord Jiraiya has been tracking a group of S-rank criminals in an organization known as the Akatsuki. For once it seems they might be all together in one location, here in the land of fire," Shikamaru continued.
"The Akastuki? Isn't that the group that..." Sakura suddenly felt her heart sink and she couldn't finish the rest of her sentence.
"That's the group that Itachi Uchiha is a part of!" Naruto shouted out.
Itachi Uchiha's younger brother Sasuke Uchiha was both Naruto and Sakura's former teammate, before he left the Leaf village in search of vengeance on Itachi for murdering everyone in their clan. Both Naruto and Sakura held a partial grudge against Itachi for pulling Sasuke away from them. Neither of them could help the fact that they had so many mixed emotions about this mission already.
Shikamaru lowered his head slightly, "Yes, Itachi Uchiha will be there with the rest of them."
Sakura's fears were just confirmed. They hadn't seen Sasuke in almost three years. And now, they were going after the man who had tortured Sasuke with haunting memories since he was eight. The same man who had led Sasuke down the path of vengeance and drove him in his quest for greater power. This wouldn't at all be easy.
Sakura looked over to Naruto to see if he was thinking along the same lines. But to her surprise, Naruto seemed fairly calm, oddly enough. He had a certain determination in his eyes, but his aura of infuriation had died down.
Sakura's eyes softened on him, but there was still a somber sadness mimicking all her upturned emotions. In the years Naruto's been gone, he really has grown up some. She thought to herself.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Ino let her head lower slightly. Everyone was silent for a brief moment before Shikamaru went on.
"Our plan is not to confront them. We are only confirming the location of their current hideout. The last thing we want to do is attract their attention and be dragged into a battle."
"If we aren't going to fight them, then why are there so many of us?" Tenten interrupted.
"If the task was really that simple, I would have only brought team eight and Neji along. But if all of the Akasuki are really in one location, we'll need all the help we can get in case we do end up in a battle. Normally a mission like this would be given to jounin or even ANBU, but with the shortage of able ninja lately, the Hokage had to make do." Shikamaru sighed again. "It'll be troublesome, but we'll have to do it."
"Then what's the plan of action?" asked Neji who was standing with his arms crossed and his usual stoic expression in place.
Shikamaru reached into his weapon pouch and pulled out a map of the fire country. He crouched down to spread it out on the ground and everyone huddled around him to look.
"Lord Jiraiya has narrowed the location down to about a 15 square kilometer radius," he pointed to a circled area on the map, southwest of the village. "It will take a little longer than a day to reach the area. Once we're there, we'll split up into four groups to scope out a quadrant. The groups will be led by Neji, Hinata, Kiba and Shino. After three hours, we'll all meet back where we started. If anyone finds anything, you will report back to me and we can regroup. After our jounin senseis get back from their missions, Lady Tsunade said she would send them after us in case we need more help. Everyone clear on everything?" he looked around for confirmation from everyone.
As soon as everyone had acknowledged their understanding, Shikamaru rolled up the map and led the group off in the direction of the circled area.
They each had plenty of time to think while they traveled through the trees the fire country was famous for. Of course, no one felt as many strong emotions surrounding this mission as Naruto and Sakura, but they weren't the only two who felt concerned.
Team ten, who consisted of Shikamaru, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi all understood the danger of the Akatsuki. Each of them would prefer not to fight the Akatsuki, or even to encounter them at all.
This was the first mission Shikamaru had led his fellow Academy graduates in since the Sasuke retrieval mission, which had resulted in an utter failure. He was determined to do better as a leader for this mission, but more than anything, he didn't want to put the lives of his comrades on the line for the sake of the mission. He only hoped this wouldn't effect his judgment.
Ino and Choji could sense Shikamaru's tension and they understood what he was feeling. Both tried to push their own mixed emotions aside in order to be there for him. So they kept light conversation with Shikamaru throughout most of the trip to give him other things to think about.
Team eight: Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga, and Shino Aburame had not heard much about the Akatsuki. Kiba was openly fired up at the chance of getting to go head-to-head with S-ranked criminals. Hinata and Shino were normally both quiet people, but each spoke up against Kiba's remarks, reminding him of the seriousness of the danger the Akatsuki presented. Especially sense none of them had ever encounter the Akatsuki before.
Rock Lee, Neji Hyuga, and Tenten had only heard about the Akatsuki from their jounin sensei Might Guy. Guy had come to Kakashi Hatake's aid once when Itachi and Kisame had infiltrated the Leaf village. Based upon what Guy had told them, the Akatsuki's strength was undeniable. Their extra year of training compared to the others wouldn't do them much good. They knew there wasn't room for error against such formidable opponents.
They camped the night outside and arrived on scene at close to mid-day. At this point, they all halted their hopping from branch to branch to get further instruction from their leader.
Shikamaru passed out wireless communicators to the four group leaders. He put one in his own ear and then turned to everyone. "If no one finds anything, we'll meet at this stop in three hours or so. Naruto will go with Neji, Choji and I will go with Hinata, Ino and Lee will go with Kiba, and Sakura and Tenten will be going with Shino. Neji's team will take the north quadrant, Hinata's will take the south, Kiba's will take the west, and Shino's will take the East. If you find the hideout, make sure your presence is unnoticed and fall back. I will coordinate so that we can all meet by the hideout. Once we've confirmed their location and that they are all present, we will return to Konoha."
Everyone grouped together, ready to take off in their different directions. "This mission sounds boring," Naruto said a little softer than usual. But of course, everyone still heard him.
"Aw come on Naruto, everything can be exciting if you have the passion of youth!" Lee's eyes were aflame with the 'passion of youth'.
Naruto only grunted in response. "Yeah Naruto, besides, avoiding bloodshed should be preferable to an all out brawl," came Choji's bellowing voice.
Shikamaru smiled at his best friend, "Couldn't have said it better myself Choji. Alright, let's go."
On the order, everyone sped off hopping from branch to branch through the trees. Neji and Hinata both activated their byakugan and each team was now searching their quadrants.
While Neji's eyes were focused on looking for chakra, his mind was elsewhere. He hadn't seen much of Naruto since he had returned from his journey. Naruto didn't seem all that different to him, but he knew that he must be much more powerful than before. After all, he had been training under Jiraiya, the legendary toad sage and the once apprentice of the Third Hokage. Although Naruto seemed less annoying than he used to, his behavior was still somewhat childish. This was of concern to Neji, especially if he had to partner with Naruto for this important mission.
"Naruto," Neji kept his eyes forward.
"Hm?" Naruto turned his head to look at Neji.
"What will you do if we are the ones to find the Akatsuki hideout?"
Naruto turned his head back to view what was forward. "I won't do anything. I'll wait for you to tell Shikamaru that we found them, that's all."
Neji wasn't convinced. "And if you see Itachi?"
"Itachi is the reason Sasuke left the village. I may want to hate him for Sasuke and although I wish I could share Sasuke's burden with him, I can't. I can't hate the man, because he hasn't done anything to me. I've tried to hate him, but no matter what, I just can't. If I hated him, I would carry Sasuke's burden with him, but Sasuke doesn't want me to do that. He thinks he has to carry everything on his own, and the weight of his burden is so crushing, it's hard for him to stand. But Sasuke has always stood on his own, and he never let anyone help him. I know that if I were to kill Itachi, Sasuke would never forgive me. And then I'd never convince him to come back. The only way for Sasuke to feel like he's avenged his clan is if he kills Itachi himself."
Naruto then turned his head back to look at Neji again. "But, I will bring Sasuke back, without him killing Itachi. Kakashi-sensei says that vengeance only leads to emptiness. So I'll bring Sasuke back, and teach him what my senseis have taught me. Pervy Sage, I think of him as a father. And he has taught me that even if your real family is gone, you can still have a new family. As long as you accept them as your family."
Naruto's expression was full of determination, but also the slightest bit of longing. Neji truly wanted to believe that everything Naurto had said was true. He hoped that Naruto really would bring Sasuke back, not for Sasuke, but for Naruto.
Meanwhile, the other groups were more focused on what they were doing at the moment. Shino's group was exceedingly quiet, as none of them really knew each other all that well. But for the time being, it was probably better for them to be silent as they didn't want the Akatsuki to find them before they found the Akatsuki.
Hinata's group was being very productive, as Shikamaru had mapped out the best route for them to search the entire area the quickest, using Hinata's byakugan.
"The edge of our quadrant should be within my range now," Hinata informed Shikamaru and Choji.
"Good, we can change directions to the left now," Shikamaru guided.
"Right," Hinata nodded and they all changed direction with proficient formation.
Kiba's squad was also fairly quiet, they would only talk in hushed voices. Kiba and Akamaru would often exchange looks after sniffing the air and then change direction slightly.
"Do you smell something?" Ino finally asked.
Kiba turned so that Ino and Lee would be able to here him without having to raise his voice. "Yeah, there are definitely people out here, but we can't be sure who they are. Akamaru and I have never smelt any of the Akatsuki before."
"Then do you recognize the scents?" Lee asked, also with an unusual quiet voice for him.
"No, so I guess that means we might be hot on their trail," Kiba grinned.
As they neared the origins of the scents, Kiba could make out ten distinctive odors.
"There should only be nine Akatsuki members. There were ten members when Orochimaru was a part of the Akatsuki, but he left a long time ago now," Ino pointed out.
"Ino, your forethoughtfulness is very youthful!" Lee screamed in a whisper. Ino gave him a weird and annoyed look, which Lee promptly ignored. Or he was just oblivious.
"There are definitely ten people, and I don't recognize any of their scents. We'll be right by them in a minute; I think we should slow down." Kiba and Akamaru both took in longer sniffs of the air as the team slowed to a stop.
"There's a clearing over there, and a mound of rocks," Ino pointed in front of them and to the left as she spoke in a whisper that was barely audible.
"Alright, without Neji or Hinata's byakugan, we can't see if it's really them in there. I'll let Shikamaru know we've got something," said Kiba.
"Right," both Ino and Lee nodded together.
They settled onto a thick branch where the truck of the tree hid them from the view of anyone who might be in the direction of the rocks. But that also meant that they couldn't see the rocks either.
"Shikamaru," Kiba spoke in a low voice into the communicator.
"I hear you Kiba," came Shikamaru's reply.
"My team's found something, there's a mound of rocks in a clearing and I can smell ten people in the area."
"Give me the coordinates of your location and I'll alert the other teams."
Kiba did as Shikamaru said and the last of the other teams arrived about half an hour later. Neji and Hinata had both deactivated their byakugan as they made their way to Kiba's location, as to not overuse their eyes.
"Okay, Neji, Hinata, take a look inside that rock structure," Shikamaru whispered.
"Byakugan," the two cousins said in unison to activate their eyes.
They both immediately focused their attention on the rocks. "I see a boulder that covers an entrance, and a passage way. This is definitely a hideout of some kind," Hinata spoke.
"Yes, but I don't see any-" Neji cut himself off as his attention was drawn to something much closer to them. "They're coming, it's the Akatsuki," he pushed Hinata and Tenten off the branch in order to avoid the incoming clay bombs.
As soon as they saw Neji's reaction, everyone else scattered off the branch. "Don't get pulled into a one-on-one fight, they're too dangerous!" Shikamaru called out.
Instinctively, everyone gathered into their usual teams, as those were the people they worked best with. Every team was soon matched up against a pair of Akatsuki. Naruto and Sakura were up against Pein and Konan, team Gai was up against Itachi and Kisame, team eight was up against Kakazu and Hidan, and team ten was up against Sasori and Deidara.
Tobi and Zetsu had both opted to watch from a distance, where they had a perfect view of all the fighting. The Akatsuki quickly dominated the battles, and Konoha 11 was pushed to the defensive.
With Ino-Shika-Cho against Sasori and Deidara, Shikamaru's shadows couldn't reach them as long as they were flying on Deidara's giant clay bird. If they couldn't find a way to get them down and soon, they would be done for.
Choji and Ino knew they would have to buy Shikamaru some time to formulate a plan. They had to provide him with cover. But as Deidara's clay bombs kept raining down on them, they were running out of options. Ino knew that Choji couldn't do much if they weren't on the ground either, so it would be up to her to do something.
Deidara had pushed them back further away from the others. Ino put her hands up in preparation for her Mind Destruction jutsu. As she had it aimed, a clay bomb went off right beside her and she used the wrong hand seal. "Ahh!" she screamed. But then her body went limp and so did everyone else's.
Ino was used to switching bodies, but the amount of chakra she used was too much for her to handle. Whoever's body she was in fell unconscious. Everyone else felt nauseous and lost all their senses for about a minute.
When feeling returned to each person, they felt strange, like they weren't the same as before. But as soon as they had their senses back, they all fell unconscious.
A few hours later, each team's jounin sensei arrived. Kakashi was leading the team, with Gai, Kurenai, and Asuma following.
When they met the battle field, what they saw was devastating. "Are they all okay?" Kurenai rushed over to each of her students checking their pulses. They were each alive.
The other jounins did the same, all with positive results. "Kakashi, look. The Akatsuki are all unconscious as well," Gai pointed out. "What should we do with them?"
Kakashi looked from the fallen Akatsuki to his students. "Our priority is to get our students to safety, doing anything with them could waste valuable time. I didn't expect them all to be unconscious."
"You're right, how are we going to bring them all back? We can't carry them all," stated Asuma.
"We can't leave any of them here and come back later either," Kurenai went further.
They all thought for a minute. "I know!" Gai pointed his index finger at the sky indicating that he had an idea. "Tenten has summoning scrolls, if you use the Reverse Summoning jutsu, we can send them somewhere safe and then summon them back when we return to the village!"
"Like what we did with the scrolls at the chunin exams in the Forest of Death?" asked Kurenai.
"Exactly!" Gai's enthusiasm was showing.
"I think there might be a problem with that," Asuma began. "Tenten uses those scrolls to store her weapons right?" Gai nodded. "Well if we send them somewhere unconscious with a bunch of weapons, that could be dangerous."
Gai cradled his chin with his thumb and forefinger. "Hm, I didn't think of that."
Kakashi decided to break in, "Why don't I just reverse summon them to be with my ninja hounds, they would take care of them for the time being."
"An excellent idea Kakashi! Just what I'd expect from my eternal rival!" Gai threw his arm around Kakashi's shoulders affectionately with a huge grin on his face.
"Okay Gai," Kakashi removed the man's arm from around his shoulders. "Let me do that, alright?"
"Of course, Kakashi," Gai straightened himself out.
Kakashi did exactly what he said and reverse summoned all of their students. They left all the unconscious Akatsuki untouched.
When Konan woke up, she had a piercing headache. Not only that, but she felt really strange. She felt shorter and like her head was top heavy. But her train of thought stopped when she felt a presence she loathed.
She immediately got up and found a shoe on the floor next to the bed. She grabbed it and turned back to the wall. "Foolish, foolish little creature. Did you think you could escape my notice?" she lurched forward and smacked the shoe against the wall as hard as she could.
When she lifted the shoe back up, she felt satisfied at the sight of the squashed remains of a small spider. That was when she noticed that this wasn't the Akatsuki hideout. In fact, she had no idea where she was. It looked like she was in a girl's room. She looked down at her clothes. They weren't hers.
She saw a mirror on the wall close to the door. She walked over to look at herself. Or maybe at somebody else. She had brown eyes and brown hair that was pulled up into two buns on either side of her head. She widened her eyes at the sight of herself.
When Pein woke up, he noticed the change immediately. I have control over another body? It feels strong, and the eyes... is this the byakugan? He continued to think to himself.
Kakazu's only thoughts on the matter were: this plastic surgery better have been free, and why am I wearing spandex?
Hidan walked through the house he found himself in with him head held low, mumbling to himself.
Hiashi and Hanabi Hyuga were both sitting at the table eating breakfast. "Oh, Hinata. You're finally awake, come and eat with us," Hiashi beckoned.
"Who the f*** is Hinata and why do I have such big tits and cover them up like this?!" Hidan yelled looking down at his chest. He walked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind him.
Hiashi and Hanabi were both stunned into silence with their mouths agape.
Itachi got up to the sound of dogs barking. When he looked in the mirror he realized he was that kid that partnered with the dog... makes sense with all the barking.
He wasn't sure if there was really anything he could do about it, so for the time being he decided he would try and play his role and maybe get information on what had happened. He walked out of the boy's room and down the stairs to a kitchen.
A woman was there, whom Itachi guessed would be the boy's mother, cooking something that smelled like meat. "Good morning mother," Itachi spoke in his usual monotone.
The woman looked back at Itachi with a weird expression. "Kiba are you feeling okay? You don't sound like yourself. Maybe you're still not well from your mission."
She knows something is off, but I have no idea how this kid normally acts. I'll have to keep this demeanor until I learn enough about him. "Perhaps not," was all he said.
Kisame was half awake when he heard the voice of a woman nagging him to get out of bed. He squinted his eyes open slightly and rolled out of his bed. He felt off balance and the first thing he did was look at his gut.
"I'm fat," he said stunned.
"Uh!" the woman who was standing in front of him sounded exasperated. "You are not fat! You're just big-boned! Don't ever say any different, got that!"
Kisame looked up at the plump woman. "You're fat," he stated upon seeing her figure. She smacked him across the face.
"Don't you talk to your mother like that!" she scolded.
Sasori awoke in a girl's room. He blinked at his surroundings. Where am I, and why am I here? He thought as he got up and walked towards the door.
On his way out of the room, he caught a glimpse of his pink hair. When he made his way down to the kitchen, he was greeted by a woman cooking and a man with a star-shaped hairdo. "Kill me."
When Deidara opened his eyes, he noticed something odd. My bangs are on the wrong side! He sat himself up, with his attention on the hair in his face. But as he shifted his weight, he could feel that his chest was heavier than before.
He looked down to find two mounds protruding from his body. He dropped his jaw and tried to make any kind of noise, by no sound came out of his mouth.
Zetsu woke up to the sound of buzzing in his ears. His entire body felt itchy. When he raised his hand in front of his face, he saw a beetle crawl out from his sleeve. As such, he grabbed it by the other hand and ate it.
Tobi heard a knocking on the door. He felt really tried, so he got up with his eyes still partially closed and waddled over to the door, climbing over empty ramen cups and piles of dirty laundry. He opened the door.
"Hey Naruto, glad to see you're wake. I came over to check on you." At the sound of that familiar voice, Tobi's eyes opened wide and he just stared blankly at Kakashi Hatake.
"Are you okay Naruto?" Kakashi asked Tobi.
Tobi realized then that he would have to speak. "Yes Kakashi, I'm fine but I'm really tired so I think I'll rest some more. Bye!" He slammed the door closed in Kakashi's face.
Hmm, that was strange... Naruto didn't call me sensei. Kakashi shrugged and walked off.