AN: I'm sure this is sounding really old, but again I'll beg for reviews. If you love it so far, then say so. If you hate it and think I'm the worst writer ever, say it. But whatever you write as a review, please tell me why. I would like to thank NiebieskiLis for reviewing. That's my first review on this and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thanks for noticing that by the way. To answer your question, Sarutobi, Kakashi, and possibly also Jiraiya know about it, but they would never tell Naruto. Naruto himself doesn't know about it. They wouldn't tell him to protect the village. They would fear his anger would cause the Kyubi to surface like never before...But you never know. He might still find out. On with the story and again, please read and review.
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An hour had passed and Kosuke along with the rest of Team Seven had finished gathering their supplies. They headed towards the gates of Konoha to meet up with Team Kurenai, who had beat them there by only ten minuets.
"Kurenai..." Kakashi greeted. Though Kurenai tried not to show it, she seemed a bit distraught at the possibility of losing Asuma. Kakashi had an idea of the relationship between Asuma and Kurenai but neither of them would ever admit to it.
"Morning Kakashi." Kurenai replied, trying not to sound sad. She knew a ninja who let their personal feelings get in the way would not be as effecient in battle. "Kosuke, let me introduce you to everyone." said Kakashi.
"This is Kurenai. She's the leader of Team Kurenai." Kosuke bowed respectfuly. "Ohaio, Kurenai-Sensei." he greeted. "The one with the ninja hound is Kiba Inuzuka. His ninja hound is Akamaru." Kiba smirked smugly. "Welcome to Konoha."
"The one with the glasses is Shino Aburame." Shino made no move of any sort, except to simply reply "Hello." Again Kosuke bowed. "Nice to meet you." he greeted. "And the last of their team is-" Kosuke finished for Kakashi. "Hinata Hyuuga. Nice to see you again. Here's to hoping the mission goes well."
"Kosuke, before we head out, you should take a moment to familiarize yourself with your team mates and their abilities. Naruto is average with taijutsu and has mastered the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu. Sakura has excellent chakra control and is also decent with taijutsu. Sasuke's Sharringan allows him to copy other ninjutsu and he's a master of the Fire Style.
"For Team Kurenai, Kiba is a master tracker. Both him and Akamaru have an incredibly sharp sense of smell. They're best with taijutsu and ninjutsu. Shino is also an excellent tracker. He can use his bugs to either track or attack. And Hinata utilizes the Byakugan, her families Kekei Genkai, to spot targets miles away. She has excellent chakra control and is best with taijutsu and ninjutsu."
Kosuke nodded. "Thank you Kakashi-Sensei. Now, I think it's necessary for them to know my abilities." Kakashi and Kurenai both nodded in agreement. "I am Kosuke Madarame, Fire Style master including fire clones. I'm also a Black Zodiac master, an experienced swordsman, and I have a summoning jutsu.
"I have been instructed to investigate anything that could be too dangerous to you, so please don't hesitate to ask. I was once a Hidden Flame ANBU after all." Everyone nodded and Kakashi turned to Kurenai. "Now that the introductions are done, shall we go?" he asked.
Kurenai nodded and the nine of them set out. "We'll go on ahead to try and track them." Kurenai said as her and her team picked up speed and pulled away from the group. "I'll go with them. If the enemy attacks, they'll be more likely to attack them."
Kakashi had no problem with that. Kosuke was just doing as he had been instructed. "Naruto, go with him." Naruto nodded and flew off with Kosuke and the rest of Team Kurenai. "Do you really think that's a good idea?" Sakura asked.
"They'll be fine. Someone from our team has to stay with him. Naruto will do just fine." Kakashi replied. "Do you think Naruto will really know the right thing to do?" she asked. "No, I think Kosuke will though. And Naruto will have his back, whatever happens. It seems those two have grown closer over night."
The two teams moved like this along Team Asuma's projected return path for several hours. Kiba and Akamaru had been well on the scent of their trail for hours, but still they saw no sign of anyone.
Kosuke had been in the lead with Kurenai and the others right behind him. He dropped out of the canopy and stopped dead in his tracks, startling the others. "Something wrong Kosuke?" asked Kurenai.
"No. I just thought it might be a good idea to check out the map and figure out our location. Last thing we need is to go missing now." Kurenai nodded and pulled out the map. "At the rate we're going, we ought to be about here." Shino said, placing his finger down on the map.
"We should be about ten miles out, north, north east of Konoha. We're about a third of the way between Konoha and the other village." Kosuke glanced over to Naruto. "Hey Naruto, why don't you relay that information to Team Seven for us."
"But Kakashi has asked me to stay with you." Kosuke sighed. "Fine then we'll go together. Everyone sit tight. We won't be long." Naruto and Kosuke took off in the opposite direction they had been traveling and soon caught up to Team Seven.
"Everything alright?" Kakashi asked. "Yeah. We had just stopped to look at the map and decided to relay our current position back to you." Kosuke replied. "And?" Kakashi asked. "About ten miles north east of Konoha. A third of the distance to the other village has been covered."
Kurenai took out a small jug of water and took a drink before passing it around to the rest of her team when suddenly everyone seemed to vanish. She seemed to be caught in her own worst nightmare. But to the rest of the team, she appeared to be in great pain.
"Kurenai-Sensei? Hey what's wrong?" Kiba was getting worried. This was looking like an attack. Suddenly something hit him hard and he went down. Whoever had done it seemed to be gone now. Shino and Hinata looked at eachother, thoroughly confused.
Before Shino knew it, he was out too, and Hinata activated her Byakugan just in time to catch a glimpse of someone striking her from behind, also sending her to the ground. When Kosuke and the rest of Team Seven caught up, they were gone, all except for Kurenai.
Kakashi went to Kurenai, trying to shake her out of her haze. "Kurenai! Snap out of it." Kurenai shook her head, trying to come to her senses. "What happened?" she asked before noticing the rest of her team had gone missing.
"Where are Kiba, Shino, and Hinata?" she asked. Kakashi shrugged. "I was about to ask you the same thing. I don't suppose you would have anything to do with this?" Kakashi asked, turning his attention to Kosuke.
"No. They were all here just a moment ago before we came to report in." he explained. "He's right. He had nothing to do with it." Kurenai confirmed. "It was like I was trapped in a nightmare, being forced to endure years of pain and suffering."
"Tsukiyomi." Sasuke muttered, just barely loud enough for everyone else to hear. "What?" Kurenai asked. "Tsukiyomi is a genjutsu created by the Mangekyo Sharringan. My brother Itachi is the only Uchiha left who has it."
"So you think Itachi is behind this?" Kakashi asked. "Can't say for sure if he masterminded it, but he was definately involved. And by the way, looks like they left a note." Sasuke said, pulling the note from the kunai that pinned it to the tree.
"Note reads 'If you want to see your friends again, follow the snakes.' Strange though, I don't see any snakes." Suddenly, a swarm of snakes moved out of the trees and down to the ground, following a set course. "Hold back. I'll check it out." Kosuke said.
"Fire Clone Jutsu." Kosuke formed the appropriate seal and had his fire clone move ahead to follow the snakes. They led him to a very large cave. The clone moved into the cave slowly, carrying only a kunai for defense if necessary.
As the clone moved deeper into the cave, he saw the three from Team Kurenai who had been kidnapped, along with the four from Team Asuma. Moving deeper into the cave, the clone could identify no immidiate threat, but his gut feeling told him they were there.
The clone stabbed himself with the kunai and poofed away, immidiately giving Kosuke the images it saw. "They're there. All seven of them." Kosuke said. "How do you know? Can you be certain?" Kosuke nodded. "My clone saw them. We should advance with caution."
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The group landed in front of the cave Kosuke's clone had followed the snakes to. "Alright, let me check this out. All I ask for is cover. When I'm sure it's all clear, I'll signal you." Kakashi and Kurenai nodded and Kosuke proceeded.
Kosuke drew his sword and cautiously entered the cave. He didn't apply the Fire Style to it though sense he wanted to avoid detection. Keeping his senses sharp for chakra use, he ventured deeper into the cave, only to notice the seven ninja held to the wall by snakes.
When he was certain everything was clear, Kosuke created a fire clone and sent it to get the rest of the group. Kakashi and Kurenai moved in with the others and also saw only the ninja pinned to the wall.
"I'll get them down." Kosuke said, forming hand seals. "Fire Style, Fire Ball Jutsu." he said, burning the snakes off of Hinata first. "Hinata...Hinata, can you hear me?" he asked. Hinata slowly opened her eyes.
"Kosuke...Where am I? What's going on?" she asked. "No time for that now. If you are able, please use your Byakugan and keep an eye out for enemies." Hinata stood and nodded. She didn't feel too bad, so she activated her Byakugan.
"Sasuke, help me burn the rest of them down." Kosuke instructed. Sasuke nodded and in a few moments, they had everyone free and were in the process of trying to bring them back to conciousness.
"Two targets approaching from the mouth of the cave. They appear to be ninja." Hinata informed. Everyone was awake and ready now. They were going to have to fight their way out. The first face they saw was that of Itachi Uchiha.
"You bastard. What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked, pepared to fight. Then the second face came into view, the face of the sadistic Orochimaru. "Allow me to explain. You're all free to go, except the nine tails brat."
Then it dawned on Kakashi. Everyone else were to be traded in exchange for Naruto. It didn't occour to him that Itachi might team up with him. But as the gears continued to turn, he couldn't figure out how they knew the Hokage would send Team Seven.
"No one's going with you." Sasuke said, dashing towards Itachi, who easilly dodged the attack and brought an elbow to the back of his head. "Sasuke!" Sakura screamed out in horror. "Bastard!" Naruto spat.
Itachi must have hit him pretty hard, because Sasuke was out cold. Naruto growled. "You're dead!" Kakashi grabbed him by the collar and stopped him before he could attack. "Naruto stop! You are his objective!"
"Lemme go damnit! I'm gonna kill him!" Kakashi held tightly, not letting him go. "Remember the bridge in the Land of The Waves? You used the Nine Tailed Fox's chakra against Haku. Itachi is part of an organization that desires that power.
"By order of the Hokage, I am obligated to do what is necessary to keep that power out of the wrong hands." By this time, Naruto had clamed down a bit, enough to catch most of Kakashi's explanation.
Reluctantly, he withdrew from the fight. "Sakura, you grab Sasuke. Kiba, she'll need a distraction. Shino, clear a safe path for them. You guys are our mission objective. Go!" Kiba prepared for his attack with Man/Beast Mimicry.
"Fang Over Fang!" Kiba attacked the two ninja giving Sakura the distraction she needed. Shino created a wall with his bugs and infused it with chakra to box out Orochimaru and Itachi. "Wake up!" Naruto said, shaking Sasuke awake. "C'mon, we're leaving Sasuke.
Jumping to his feet, Sasuke moved out with everyone else and Kiba barely had enough time to withdraw. It was thanks to Kosuke that they were able to get away smoothly. Itachi turned and headed out after them, leaving Orochimaru and Kosuke to clash.
What no one had noticed was that Kosuke had sent out three fire clones to split up the three teams until he could catch up. The three team leaders reluctantly allowed it, comforted only by the knowledge that Kosuke would know the location of each clone, and vice versa.
Orochimaru grinned sadisticaly behind his sword which was now locked against Kosuke's. "You fool. Do you really think you can all get away?" he asked. "My clones will take care of them in my absence. Besides, now you are my only opponent."
"Fool. He'll send his own clones after them, you know? Itachi is no amateur." Orochimaru remarked. "Yes I know. But then it will be clone against clone and he'll be easy to defeat. The odds are against him, two out of three."
"Perhaps. But there's still a one in three chance that he'll actually be attacking the right team. And when he destroys that clone, they'll be defenseles." said Orochimaru with a sadistic smirk.
"Which is why I will deal with you quickly and catch up to them." Kosuke pushed him back and knocked back his sword, delivering a hard kick, driving him from the cave. Now Kosuke could see his opponent better and read his movements.
The Itachi clone chasing after Team Asuma had caught up with the group, attacking the person closest to him, which had been Ino, who just barely noticed the attack only a moment bfore the Kosuke clone blocked the attack, countering and sending off the clone in a puff of smoke.
"Hey, you saved me...Uh, what was your name again?" The clone turned to face Ino, who's eyes practically morphed into hearts. "It's Kosuke, and actually, I'm just a clone, but I'm sure my master would have done the same."
"Keep moving, we're not out of the woods yet." Asuma instructed. The clone and Ino nodded and headed off, following the rest of team Asuma. Ino had decided now that she would thank the real Kosuke in person later.
Back at the cave, the battle between Orochimaru and Kosuke was just heating up. "It would seem I'm going to need more power to kill you." he remarked, biting his thumb before running it across his palm.
"Summoning Jutsu!" Suddenly, Orochimaru stood atop a giant purple snake. "What have you disturbed me for?" Asked Manda with anger. "I have a pest to get rid of and I can do it easier with you. It's the little red head over there. Kill him!"
Manda asked no further questions and simply attacked. Kosuke cut his finger on the blade of his sword and ran the blood along the flat surface of the blade. "Summoning Jutsu!" The summoning command etched into the blade glowed red and fire on the sword raged.
Before Manda could strike, he was stopped by the mouth of a giant dragon. The dragon held Manda by the neck just below his head. Kosuke ran down and stood on Manda's head, driving his sword into it several times.
On the last strike, he jumped and drove the blade of his sword into the top Manda's mouth, pinning him in place. "Hold him there, Kaen" Kosuke withdrew his blade from Manda and charged after Orochimaru.
In a single swift strike, Kosuke cut through Orochimaru. But it wasn't really Orochimaru, or so it seemed. He had used a replacement body to make his escape. A moment later, Manda poofed away, as did Kaen. Kosuke sheathed his sword and went after the others.
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Itachi noticed that one of his clones had been dispelled already. But his disappointment was soon replaced with a sadistic smirk, realizing he had chosen the right team to follow. "Now I have you." he remarked as he closed in on Naruto, preparing for his attack.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Kosuke popped up in front of Itachi, preparing his counter attack. "Black Zodiac, Jackal!" The jutsu took affect while Itachi was in mid air, sending him to the ground with coutless lacerations all over his body.
Naruto had seen the whole thing and was shocked at the effect of just that one attack. "Kosuke, what the hell was that?" he asked. "It was an attack from the Black Zodiac. He'll most likely live. But he'll be in a whole lot of pain for the next few days."
"So how'd it go with our scaley friend back there?" Kakashi asked. "Fine. I don't think we'll be hearing from him for a while either. According to my clones, the other two teams are safe, and they are redirecting the teams to meet back up with us. We should be seeing them any moment now."
True to his word, as Team Seven continued on their path, they were quickly joined by Team Kurenai, and then by Team Asuma only a few minuets later. "Sound off." Kakashi ordered. "Team Asuma, safe and sound." reported Asuma. "Ditto for team Kurenai, all are safe and accounted for."
"Excellent. Then let us return to Konoha. We will immediately report to Lord Hokage to debrief the mission." Kakashi instructed. "And no more splitting up." he added. "Understood!" replied everyone.
The trip back to Konoha only took them a few hours. They proceeded directly to see the Hokage. "First, let's start with Team Asuma's debriefing of the previous mission." Asuma nodded and promptly began his explanation.
"We reported to the village along with Team Kurenai. Our team stayed in the village to help defend in case there was an attack. There were none." Kurenai immediately took over for her part of the debriefing for the previous mission.
"Team Kurenai left the village to search the surrounding area for the lord of the village. With my team's expert tracking skills, we found the lord in no time and escorted him back to the village. Immediately following, we prepared to leave along with Team Asuma."
Asuma said "Actually, we decided to stay behind for a couple of hours to make sure everything was secure and the village was adequately equipped to defend itself. When we were certain all was well, we followed Team Kurenai."
"Team Kurenai arrived on time as planned, but Team Asuma did not." Kurenai added. Asuma proceeded to explain. "On our way back, we stopped for a brief rest. As we prepared to move out, I felt as though I were being forced to experience a thousand deaths in the time span of a single second."
"Tsukiyomi again." Sasuke remarked. Sarutobi nodded and motioned for Asuma to continue. "That was the last thing I remember." Kakashi took over the debriefing. "Team Seven left along with Team Kurenai to retriev Team Asuma.
"Team Kurenai moved on ahead of us to scout. Kosuke and Naruto went with them to defend, should any one attack. We covered a third of the distance, Team Kurenai stopped for a rest and to look at the map."
"When Kosuke and Naruto fell back to relay our coordinated to Team Seven, I also experienced this Tsukiyomi technique. When I came to, the rest of my team were gone." Kurenai said. "Kosuke's scouting discovered the cave where all seven were being held." Kakashi added.
"Did you encounter any enemies?" Sarutobi asked. "Yes. Itachi Uchiha and Orochimaru." Sarutobi frowned thoughtfuly. "Why would those two be working together?" he thought out loud. Kakashi had a theory but didn't want to discuss it in front of his team.
"Kosuke and Sasuke managed to free the others before those two showed up. Our team and Team Kurenai worked together to get everyone out. Kosuke remained behind to hold off Orochimaru. Unfortunately he couldn't keep Itachi back as well." Kakashi continued.
"The three teams split up and Kosuke sent out three clones to help out, and to keep track of everyone. After dealing with Orochimaru, he caught up and took care of Itachi before helping the three teams reunite. We proceeded to the village from there."
Sarutobi nodded. He was happy the mission had been a success. "Understood. Well done everyone. All teams dismissed." Twelve ninja turned to leave but Kakashi remained. "Something on your mind, Kakashi?" Sarutobi asked.
The rest of his team gave him curious looks but Kakashi told them to go on ahead, that he had some other business to discuss with Lord Hokage. "What's on your mind?" Sarutobi asked. "Something about the mission didn't seem right to me."
"What do you mean?" Sarutobi asked. "Obviously, Naruto was their true objective. The others were to be bartered back in exchange for Naruto." Sarutobi furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfuly. "So the Akatsuki are already after the Nine-Tailed Fox." It was a statement, not a question, and Kakashi knew it.
"The question is..." Kakashi continued. "How did they know you would send Team Seven for the retrieval mission?" Sarutobi knew what he was getting at. "You think Kosuke might have had something to do with this?"
"I can't say for certain at this point. But either he was directly involved or he knows someone who was. Normally, I don't think Itachi and Orochimaru would have a reason to work with eachother."
"So either Kosuke, or someone Kosuke knows, knew I would send Team Seven speciffically because Kosuke is on their team. So you think someone is uniting those two then, one way or the other?" Kakashi nodded. "No doubt in my mind."
"It's an interesting theory. Of course the other problem is, how could they possibly have known I would choose Team Seven?" Sarutobi asked. "I think someone had a hunch and then saw them leaving the front gates."
"Now you're suggesting a possible spy. Or perhaps Kosuke himself is a spy. Interesting. Follow him tomorrow and let me know what you learn. If it's true that he is spying, or that he had anything to do with the abductions, then we'll have to sentence him. Dismissed."
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So what did you guys think? Any mistakes? Any projections on who might possibly be the master mind here? Thanks again to the one reviewer. Thanks for reading, see you next time!
