The wait is over! Finally we have here the sequel to The Ninja Way! Let my birthday be commemorated by a glimpse into a surprise development with the Akatsuki.

I do not own Naruto


PROLOGUE

As always, rain fell unceasingly upon Amegakure. Villagers went about their business regardless of the downpour - they were long used to it. Far above the grey metropolis, in the mouth of a large grey statue with its tongue out malevolently, a lone figure sat upon the outstretched tongue.

Wearing a cloak of black patterned with red clouds, grey-purple, ringed eyes stared out at the village intensely. He blinked on hearing footsteps behind him and merely turned his head to the side in acknowledgement.

"Konan, what news?"

A woman stepped out of the shadows, dressed in as similar cloak. Her pale, petite face stood out in the rain and heavily lidded amber eyes stared aloofly ahead. Soft, pastel blue hair gathered in a bun atop her head, was adorned with a white origami rose made of paper. "Pein." She spoke in a muted voice. "The Mizukage has been killed successfully. Zetsu has heard that Terumi Mei is to be the Yondaime Mizukage."

"Very well." Pein spoke quietly. "The other tailed beasts are our priority now. The nine-tails shall be kept for the last. Begin reconnaissance on all the tailed beasts."

Konan bowed and burst into a flurry of paper that gracefully fluttered away above Amegakure. After the last of the paper was out of sight, the orange haired leader tilted his head sideways again, spotting another shadowed figure standing at the back of the statue's mouth.

"Pein."

"Madara."

The two greetings exchanged were almost silent under the rain. The newcomer stood at the back of the mouth of the statue, wearing a simple black cloak but what stood out on the person, was his bright orange mask that was shaped like a swirl, converging into a hole where his right eye would be.

Suddenly, the wind around them changed, making them look up. Instead of falling to the earth, the rain's path was breaking and getting swept sideways due to the abruptly powerful surge of wind swirling near the outskirts. With no words exchanged, the two shinobi disappeared from their spots to appear where the wind was uniting in a weak form of a tornado.

"GYAAAAAH!"

Startled, the men looked up to see a figure plummeting from the sky. Pein extended a hand and immediately slowed down the figure's descent. Slowly, the figure touched the ground in a curled up ball.

A hand came out and hesitantly touched the earth. "I'm...I'm alive?" Ignoring the two shinobi staring at him, the boy gave a huge sigh of relief "Oh man, I thought I was a goner! But how the heck did I survive?"

Just then, he realized the presence of two other people and looked up nervously. When he saw them clearly, his mouth fell open. He blinked rapidly, rubbed his eyes, slapped himself and mumbled "It's a dream...I'm dreaming..."

"Where are you from?" Pein asked in his deep voice, startling the boy.

The boy stared at the two of the silently, wondering how to answer. He was gangly and thin, a pale look to his skin. Crow black hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat and light blue eyes widened when Pein spoke. "Answer me, boy." The Leader demanded.

"I...uh...I'm not sure you'll believe me..." the boy mumbled, his voice growing smaller and smaller towards the end.

"That's not up to you to decide." Tobi chirped, flailing his arms dramatically.

The boy stared at him for a minute, a laugh spurting out but dying immediately on seeing Pein's impassive face.

"He seems nothing special. Must be a wind release jutsu gone wrong." Tobi concluded, nodding to himself.

"Dispose of him." Pein spoke briefly, turning to go back.

The boy panicked and cried out "I have information! I have useful information that you could use to capture all the tailed beasts!"

The two men froze and turned towards him sharply. The boy smirked inwardly, formulating a plan quickly. "I...I can tell the future and I know of Akatsuki's goals." Remembering something, he added "If you think I'm lying, Uchiha-san's Sharingan can confirm that."

The two men were in silence for a long time and the boy felt dread fill him by the minute. Would they consider him too dangerous to live? Gulping, he closed his eyes in case someone suddenly sliced his throat or stabbed him. "You will tell us all that you know."

Pein's baritone voice boomed out in the silence, scaring the boy who toppled sideways with a yelp and his hands over his head. "Huh?" when he discovered he wasn't dead, he looked up to find a Rinnengan and a Sharingan gaze trained on him. "Oh yeah, sure! Anything you want!" he blabbered quickly.

Pein turned away again, walking briskly "Tobi, make sure our guest, is well attended to."

"Of course." The voice that came from the mask this time, was deep instead of the comical one that came before. "We're going to have a very long talk, aren't we?"

The boy shivered but tried to hide it, obediently standing beside the masked man. He felt his consciousness slip away as his surroundings became a swirl and disappeared.


A few thousand miles away, in Konohagakure,

Crack!

"Hm?" Tsunade glanced at the cup of tea that had suddenly cracked at the bottom. She frowned heavily at that and reached for her drawer, taking out a lottery ticket from it.

After scratching it out, she scowled when she saw she had won. A small amount, but she won something nonetheless. 'What could this mean...?'

Before she could ponder on it, there was a knock on her door to reveal Shizune. "Tsunade-sama, Kakashi-san is here to see you."

The Hokage nodded and pushed the thoughts of the cracked cup out of her mind. "Hokage-sama." Kakashi bowed in greeting. "I've come to give my report on my jutsu's progress."

Tsunade immediately performed a swift set of hand seals and soundproofed the room. Then she gestured to him to continue. "It seems that her theory is very much possible."

She gasped and stared at Kakashi, who nodded solemnly. "Do you know what this means, Kakashi?" she whispered in a strained voice. Not speaking, he simply nodded again.

Clearing his throat, he said "However, it is nearly impossible for me to control the time period. The farther we go, the more chakra it requires. If it exceeds 2 years, then I do not have the needed amount of chakra."

"Yes, that is a problem. Leave that to me. You concentrate on controlling the time period." Tsunade concluded, looking at him from over her interlaced hands. "Oh and, how is your subject?"

Kakashi's eye-smiled "Considering he went back a month on the first trial, Gekko-san is quite well, just a little disoriented." Tsunade chuckled and they fell into silence until he spoke again "Ano Hokage-sama..."

Tsunade sighed, knowing what he was going to ask. "I'm sorry, Kakashi. The Anbu haven't gotten any close to finding Orochimaru's lair."

Even though his expression didn't change, she knew that Kakashi was deeply dejected by the news. Ever since that time, he still kept tabs on Naruto. But his other two missing students...there hadn't been any news of them since then.

The sky had grown dark grey, preparing to cry upon Konoha any minute. Kakashi was once again at the memorial stone and there he stayed even as the sky opened up and poured down on him. He sighed deeply 'This isn't the rain Konoha needs now.'

What Kakashi didn't know, was that Konoha's Hokage wasn't the only one making active efforts in hunting for the lair. Tsunade glanced at the most recent scroll she had received from the Kazekage himself. It seemed that the quiet Jinchuuriki had his heart touched by Ame as well and had offered any help possible to aid Konoha in their search.


Cold winds howled and hurled through the sand of Sunagakure, but it made no difference to the lone, red haired figure standing at his balcony. "Gaara."

The figure turned around, blinking his jade eyes silently. "Dinner is served." Temari spoke quietly and retreated out of the room. Gaara didn't move from his spot. He turned to watch the dust storm developing on the outskirts of the village. But all that came to his mind were brilliant amber eyes streaked with blue. Their interaction had been brief, but along with Naruto, she had given him something to think about.

But her sunny smile had given him warmth that he hadn't felt for a very long time 'If I could, but see that smile once more.'


"Naruto! We have to go for dinner!"

"Yeah! I'm coming, ero sannin!"

"Shut up and hurry up, brat!"

"Go die of a nosebleed, ero sannin!" Naruto grumped out and continued scrounging through his bag for his money pouch. He had learnt not to leave it with Jiraiya around. His fingers touched a corner of a paper and he pinched it out.

His expression softened on seeing the photograph in his hands. It was of him and Ame at the ramen stand, celebrating after Naruto got his hitae-ite and Teuchi had volunteered to click a picture of theirs. The photo was dog eared and quite creased, but that didn't make a difference to the bright smiles in it.

"Ame-chan..." he mumbled and sighed deeply. Seeing her mischievous and confident smile, he grinned "I know you'll be okay."


A thousand miles away, a pair of sharp, amber eyes snapped open in the darkness.


Ta da! Thank you for waiting so long! It's Shippuden where the fun starts

~Blu