A.N-). I am officially a review junkie. I love those things. They make me want to write more and more. *Hint hint, wink wink, nudge nudge*
ALRIGHT!!!: Officially, my whole 'How evil do you think Naruto should be?' and 'What do you think the pairing issues should be?' is over. The votes are in…! And I don't really care. Yes, they influenced my decision, but I had it done mostly to force me to think it out myself and get arguments on one way or another from you guys. Officially, you aren't privy to what the pairing chart will eventually be aside from Naru/Hina, unofficially, I'm just winging it.
ALSO!!! You out there who don't like Naru/Hina! Yes you! And the HATERS!!!: I love you guys. Seriously, I do. You're entitled to your opinion (even if it's wrong :P), but the fact that you've stayed with me long enough to read this is an amazing compliment… or you're a masochist… but I prefer the former interpretation for obvious reasons. For those of you who don't like the pairing because it's overdone, hopefully I have some good news: This won't be a cookie-cutter/standard interpretation of the pairing. While Hinata is as close to canon as I can keep her at the moment, Naruto isn't, they're not going to magically fall in love and have lots of babies. It'll look like one in the beginning, but it'll start to show different shades relatively soon.
Oh, and unless I write otherwise, things are pretty much happening the same as canon. I'm holding off writing everything that's happening because that would just burn me out and make the chapter drag on unnecessarily, but unless I say otherwise, the results are exactly the same as canon.
Alrighties, I just read over my own crap… and it was crap. A number of people have bitched about me following canon too closely… and I find myself agreeing once I gave the chapter a once over after letting it sit a while. It was lacking in awesome-sauce and originality-powder.
As such, I'm yanking the second part of this out till I can rewrite it. Gaara's still going to live, Chiyo's still going to die, but Deidara's probably going to die as well as Sasori.
It shouldn't take me too long to get the 'fight-scene' fixed up, maybe a week or two since I'm sick, but the new improved, deluxe version should be up soon.
Anyways, on with the fic!
Chapter 3 – To Lose a Friend
"Temari-san! And the Konoha team is with you, thank god. We've been waiting, please, this way!"
"Right."
Kakashi had made Naruto set the girls down after they'd taken their last break. When Naruto had (politely) questioned his decision, Kakashi had laid it out like this:
"Naruto, you've been running at top speed for thirty-six hours while carrying a young woman and her pack, we've had two breaks. That's not enough even for you. I won't ask you to let us carry you or to stop for the night, I know you wouldn't listen, but I'm ordering you to take it easier. You also can't carry the girls into a combat situation like that."
After thinking that over, Naruto had reluctantly agreed and the group had run together the rest of the way to Suna.
Now, they were being led through the streets of the hidden village by a Suna-Chuunin.
While the Konoha-nin didn't know where they were going, Temari did, "Wait… I thought Gaara was abducted…? Why are we headed to the hospital?"
"After Kazekage-sama was abducted, Kankurou-san pursued them, but he was wounded…"
"What?! They got Kankurou too?!"
The Chuunin's voice was slightly panicked, "Yes, he was caught by the enemy's poison… and we have no way to neutralize it… at this rate, he only has maybe a day at most…"
The words struck the group hard and Temari's hands balled into fists, "Shit."
"Temari-san, let's hurry," the blonde Jounin turned towards the voice and found the most serious look on Sakura's face she'd ever seen, "I'll examine him."
---
"Kankurou!"
Those in the medical room looked up, finding the unconscious boy's sister and another, pink-haired kunoichi running into the room, the pinkette tossing her pack aside as she did.
A certain degree of relief went through Baki, he was aware of who the pink-haired girl was, Tsunade's apprentice. If anyone could help Kankurou, she could.
Chiyo noticed something entirely different.
Behind the kunoichi and in the doorway, were two ninja, one blonde in armor, but the other…
'Tha-That's…!' "The White Fang of Konoha!"
The aged woman moved, faster than many in the room were even capable of, hurtling towards the startled Kakashi like a demon from hell.
An entirely different kind of Demon got in her way.
Naruto ricocheted off the door frame, his hands intercepting the woman's simultaneous punch and kick with audible thumps. Chiyo used the boy's block as a platform to launch herself back for another go.
There wasn't a sound as the old woman slid to a stop, everyone was just too startled to act.
Well, except Naruto.
"The hell was that for?! We're your allies damnit! Kakashi hasn't done shit to you!" 'Sonuva- This old bat's good, at least A-rank, possibly even S-ranked. But she's supposed to be an ally! I can't use the Kyuubi's power if things get ugly. Damn.'
The look on Chiyo's face was deadly serious, "I remember that time… that White Fang of Konoha…! My son's enemy, I will get revenge for him today!"
"Ah!" realization dawned in Kakashi, also the feeling of 'OHSHI-!' got much more pronounced. If this lady seriously thought she could've killed his dad, he was going to have issues, "No, I'm not-!"
She didn't listen, "There's no use in arguing!" She launched herself at the pair of Konoha shino-
An equally old man was in front of her, his arm blocking her path, "Sister… take a good look, there's a strong resemblance, but he isn't the White Fang of Konoha."
"Huh…?" the older lady looked at Kakashi again, harder this time, there was a brief moment of realization as she figured it out, then, "GYAHAHA!!! No way! I was just pretending to be stupid!!! Haha!"
Despite the general disbelief in the room at that comment, Kakashi was quite relieved.
Naruto though, was bemused, "Neh, Gnarl?"
There was a pause on the other end of the magical link before the aged Minion responded, "Yes Sire?"
"I think I found your soulmate."
Apparently he hadn't been paying attention, because the Minion actually searched about the room, "Really Sire…? Where is she then?"
Naruto pointedly looked at the wrinkled and ancient woman.
"Wha-?! Eugh! Yuck! Sire! What in the world were you thinking?!" Naruto suppressed a grin at the gagging and retching sounds coming from the Minion Master. He was about to make another comment about how perfect she was for Gnarl when his teammate spoke up.
"More importantly," Sakura was happy that the lady wasn't going to attack Kakashi, but more importantly, she was happy that the bullshit was done and she could get to work, "Kankurou-san needs to be treated now."
---
Naruto had known Sakura was a medic first, fighter second. She'd told him as much when he'd taken her aside to get a handle on what she could do now during the bell-test with Kakashi.
But after seeing her make a crater by punching the ground, Naruto had been slightly skeptical.
Now…? Now he believed her.
The pinkette chewed her bottom lip as she worked, a look of intense concentration on her face. One hand rested on Kankurou's stomach as the other hovered over a small incision on his chest. Both her hands glowed with perfectly contained chakra, a soft hum accompanying the work she did.
Namely, pulling the poison, and just the poison, out of Kankurou.
Little half-way clear globules of liquid slowly left the incision to gather in her palm.
'Daaaamn…' Naruto had tried to learn how to do that in his trip with Jiraiya, but he couldn't even begin to do anything like that. Use an ad-hoc lifeforce/mana/chakra pulse to speed up another persons healing a couple times? Sure, he had to stay close the whole time, but he could speed up someone's natural healing.
Pull a poison directly out of someone's bloodstream? No way in hell that was happening.
The girl's chakra pulled away from Kankurou's chest and she held the floating ball of poison in her hand, "Got it!"
"She likes to point out the obvious doesn't she Sire?"
"Shut up Gnarl."
A sigh escaped Sakura, "Phew… heh, I don't think there's any need to worry about his life anymore. I've removed the poison directly."
Temari sighed in relief, falling back against the wall and sliding down, holding a hand to her chest to try and calm her still rapidly beating heart.
The pinkette gathered herself up, this was her element, "Alright. Now I need to make an antidote for the little bit of poison still in his body. We can't relax yet. I'll need you to get a number of things."
The old lady, Chiyo they'd said, stared at Sakura, "… you're a lot like that Slug-Woman… that a girl like you would come…"
Sakura seemed to miss the emotion behind the title 'Slug-Woman', either that or decided to take it as a compliment anyways, she smiled at the retired kunoichi, "Yes, Tsunade-sama is my teacher, and she's also the one that told me to come here."
The older woman was quiet for a long moment before her brother spoke up, "Sister… time really is slowly flowing by…"
"Of course it is, it never stops, not for any of us," Naruto sent a look the Siblings way, "Not for us, not for the Akatsuki, and not for Gaara. We have to be ready to leave as soon as Sakura-chan is finished making as much of that antidote as she can."
Tsunade stared at the winning lotto ticket in her hand as she waited for the team. She'd had a bad feeling about Team Kakashi's mission and Naruto's request for a Tracker-Nin or two was perfectly reasonable, they just hadn't had any.
Then she'd found the next best thing.
They might not be a dedicated Tracking Team like Naruto had wanted, but they did have a Hyuuga. That should be enough to fill the slot Naruto had requested… he had wanted a Hyuuga over anything else after all.
"Alright, is the reinforcement team ready?"
"YOSH!!! We are more than ready! We explode with the Youthful Fires of YOUTH!!!"
"… you're really stretching it Gai…"
Naruto sat across from Sakura, watching her mix up the antidote with interest.
He loved learning useful stuff, it used to be he only got excited about learning Jutsu, but once Gnarl had beaten it into his head that more Jutsu (Gnarl had actually said spells at the time) didn't necessarily make a better Hokage, the giddiness had spread to other topics, as long as it was useful.
Apparently, a lot of things could be useful once you learned them to a certain degree of proficiency. For example, he'd spent a couple clones on learning how to sew well enough to patch up his clothes in the field, he wasn't good at it by any stretch of the imagination, but he was good enough to fix a tear in his jacket or such.
Little stuff like that, or cooking, drawing, or tea ceremonies (That was only useful when you didn't want to look like a dumbass in front of nobles). It was all useful once you were proficient with it, he didn't have to rely on ration-bars in the wilderness, nor about giving away his position by summoning himself back and forth from the Netherworld. He wasn't an artist by any stretch of the imagination, but he could give someone a recognizable sketch of something he'd seen, like a new enemy nin to look out for.
Little, useful stuff like that.
And now he was trying to learn something about making poisons and antidotes.
Now, this was the advanced of the advanced, Sakura was really damn good at this stuff, and while she did her best to explain it to him, there was only so much she could do right now.
She'd been surprised and flattered that he'd wanted to learn at least a bit of the arts that she'd learned, and had happily walked the blonde through the steps she was taking. She'd lost him a number of times, he just didn't have enough basic knowledge in the craft to keep up, but Naruto was making notes on what to look up or ask her to explain more thoroughly later.
He never expected to be as good as her at this stuff, it was part of her specialty, but he expected to be proficient.
He also expected to get better at using poisons than her.
The Green Minions were immune to poison, even capable of absorbing it into their skin if they so desired. If Naruto could cover an area with a spread of airborne poison, his Greens would have a major advantage over almost any opponent. The only way it could be better was if Naruto was able to become immune to the poisons himself… maybe a mask like Kakashi's, only made of a Green's hide…?
"Neh, Gnarl…?"
"Yes Sire…?" this time the Minion's response was quick, if a bit hesitant.
"Mah mah, it's not another joke or anything, it's a serious question."
"Ah, what is it then Sire?"
"How hard would it be to make a mask out of a Green's hide?"
"Hmmm…" Naruto could just see the gray goblin-like creature scratching his chin, "Well… I'd have to say it depends on what kind of mask you're making Sire, though I don't see why you'd want their smelly skin near your face…"
"Well, doesn't their skin absorb poison like the Red's absorbs fire?"
"Yes Sire, it does."
"Then why not make a face-mask out of it to keep airborne poisons from reaching my face?"
Naruto felt the surprise on the other end of the magical link, "That's…! That's actually a very good idea Sire! There's of course the issue of making the mask permeable, but if it works then…!" Gnarl cackled, "No more stupid Overlords getting killed because they don't understand the words 'Poisonous Gas' or 'Don't go near that plant'!"
The blonde blinked and did his best to keep his confusion off his face. He'd known there were other Overlords before him of course, and he'd known that a large number of them had died because they'd done stupid things or at the hands of misguided Heroes… but some had walked into a field of poisonous plants…?
What idiots.
Gnarl was still ranting to himself, "-and no more having to rely on a slew of greens just to get through those blasted jungles! BWUAHAHA!!! I can see it now…!" The Minion sighed wistfully at whatever image it was appearing in his mind, at which point Naruto decided to interject.
"Neh, Gnarl?"
"Ah… yes Sire?" of course, the old Minion showed no sign of having his fantasies interrupted.
"Are you going to get started or what?"
"Ah! Of course Sire!" as the link began to fade, Naruto could hear the older Minion shouting out orders, "Moldy, get me Stinky, Stabbers, and Reek! You, get me Giblet! We've got work to do and some Greens to skin!"
Ah, so he was going to use Stabbers as a test subject? Good, Stabbers never listened when Naruto told him not to stab civilians. Naruto had been trying to think of a suitable punishment for the Minion, but being skinned alive sounded good enough, it also would be useful if it helped make Naruto that mask.
The Naruto almost started trying to make up the mask design in his mind before he forced it back, he was watching Sakura make the antidote, that was his task right now and he wouldn't deviate from it. The original would know about the idea when he dispelled anyways.
Because as that Naruto forced himself to watch his teammate make the antidote, several other clones were doing 'village-keeping' around Suna.
Meeting people, saying nice things to said people, flirting with some, spying on others, learning about the village in every way he could. Some clones were in his 'Naruko' form, others in a less obviously 'him' version of himself. The village was still on high alert after the Akatsuki's attack, so the clones weren't getting very far, but he was still learning about the village as a whole.
It was the same technique he'd developed in Iwa, perfected in Kiri, and qualified in Kumo.
He liked to call it 'Mind-Rape Your Sorry Village's Secret's no Jutsu'.
Suna was getting the 'nicer' version.
---
The original Naruto was still in the hospital room, slowly stretching each of his slightly sore joints, "Once Sakura-chan is done with the antidotes, we should get moving."
"One moment Naruto," Kakashi moved towards Baki, the ranking Suna-nin in the room, "Um, excuse me, there is something I'd like to ask. What became of the pursuit of the Akatsuki after that?" the white-haired Jounin indicated the unconscious Kankurou.
"Kankurou went after them alone… there were no others," the Suna Jounin had the decency to look sheepish.
Kakashi's glare was disapproving, "… then, have we completely lost them?"
Baki was saddened and shamed to admit it, but, "… yes, we have."
The brief spike of irritation was quickly suppressed beneath Kakashi's façade of complete indifference and laziness, "Mmm… well, could you please guide me to where Kankurou-kun was fighting? Even if I don't look like it, I'm an expert tracker-"
Naruto blinked at that, 'Oh yeah…, I forgot that damnit, shouldn't have though. Memo to self: Kakashi can track. Remember it dangit.'
"If even a small amount of their scent is left behind…"
"That's… not necessary…"
Everyone in the room turned to the unexpected voice as a shaky Kankurou forced himself to sit up, "There are two enemies, one abducted Gaara. You should follow Gaara's scent. Even assuming they split up, the other caught a piece of their clothing on Karasu's hand."
The collected ninja stared at the unsteady Jounin for a long moment before Naruto spoke up, "Well damn… you kick some serious ass, man… you make Suna look good."
The teen's sister rushed to his side, "Kankurou! Are you okay?!"
"Yeah… I'm feeling a bit better now…" He stared at Naruto for a long moment, first trying to recognize the changed blonde, then in confusion.
Naruto just grinned cheekily at him, "'Sup?"
"Kankurou," the young man turned towards the voice, apparently not immediately recognizing it in his half-awake state,"Are you completely sure that one of the two you followed was Sasori?"
'Sasori… that sounds real familiar damnit… why?' Naruto scowled, he wasn't as good with names as he'd have liked, unable to call up the information he certainly had to go with the name Sasori.
"Chiyo-baa-sama and Ebizou-jii-sama?!" the shock and awe in Kankurou's voice was obvious, and Naruto made note of it, but the Siblings ignored the Jounin's tone.
"What about it… Kankurou?"
Kankurou looked away from the two older shinobi, his voice solemn, "Yeah… it was Sasori of the Red Sand… he said so himself."
A punctuated silence followed that comment, Naruto thinking to himself, 'Sasori of the Red Sand… Sasori of the Red Sand… why does that sound familiar…? Where have I heard his name before…? Ah yes, Sasori of the Red Sand… 'the man who destroyed a country with his puppetry techniques'… shit…'
"… Sasori of the Red Sand…?" Kakashi didn't know the name and title like Naruto did, he was even more in the dark than his blonde student, "May we hear more about this Akatsuki? Please."
The Suna-nin in the room exchanged a glance, but it was Naruto that spoke up, "I know a little… Sasori of the Red Sand: S-ranked defector from Suna. Grand master puppet designer and user, supposedly destroyed a country with a technique of his."
Blue eyes swept the group, "Am I wrong?"
It was Baki that answered, "… no, you're not…"
"Good, did you get the information on Deidara that we sent you?" Baki nodded and Naruto continued, "Even better, then we have an idea what we should be up against and…" He trailed off, getting a far off look in his eyes for a moment before his attention snapped back to the other ninja in the room, "Alright, Sakura-chan just finished making three doses of the antidote for Sasori's poison, she'll be here in a couple minutes to give one to Kankurou, after that we should get going."
---
"Alright, you should be fine now," Sakura stepped back from the formerly poisoned Jounin, "Now, until the paralysis ends, please don't move. Get some sleep."
"Good, if we're ready then we should get on our way."
Kankurou stared at the blonde, remembering his brother's words, how the armored young man had changed him, made him into someone who knew the value of people… who set Gaara down his path to become the Kazekage.
"Uzumaki Naruto…" the blonde paused in settling his blade more securely on his back to look at the formerly poisoned Jounin, "Please… save my little brother."
The smirk on Naruto's face was simultaneously reassuring… and absolutely terrifying on some level, "Don't worry. This isn't just my friend that I'm saving, as future Hokage, there's no way I can pass up the chance to secure an advance favor from the Kazekage. Leave it all to me."
---
Baki scowled slightly as the Konoha-nin got ready to leave the hospital, "If you wait just a bit, we can have high level ninja here as well."
Only later, while filling out the paperwork on the mission, would Kakashi realize that Baki had been speaking to Naruto, and that Kakashi himself had deferred to the blonde. Much the same way he would've if he'd been following another, not so different, blonde that he hadn't seen in sixteen years.
When he would finally realize how easily and unconsciously he'd turned over command of the mission to the (then) Gennin, a completely natural feeling of terror would rush through Kakashi. He would calm himself after an hour or two of controlled panic, but once he did, a conversation he'd overheard would come to mind.
Back when Kakashi was still a Gennin, the Third Hokage had still been an active ninja, and the shinobi that had coined the Saidame's second title, God of Shinobi, had been discussing it with someone else.
"God is real, and he's a Konoha-nin. Now if, after a moment of contemplation, that statement feels you with a feeling of dread… don't worry, it's completely natural."
The similarity between the feelings aroused by that statement and the ones he would have upon realizing how easily he'd passed command to Naruto would be uncanny.
At the time though, Kakashi was just proud that Naruto actually considered the offer, his eyes closing briefly in contemplation. But as the boy opened his mouth to speak, Temari decided to make her presence known.
"I'm going too."
"Temari, stay here and work on the defense of the country border," the fact that someone would tell Temari that despite her intense gaze was surprising enough, let alone who had said it, "Of the Shinobi of Sunagakure, I am more than enough."
---
"Gnarl? Nevermind, she's not your soulmate, she's too cool for that."
"… I don't know whether to be relieved or insulted Sire…"
"Hm, let's go with relieved, that's safer for both our healths."
---
"B-But Chiyo-baa-sama-!" Temari was startled.
"That would be too much for you…" Baki was as well, but seemed resigned, Kakashi had a feeling she'd be coming with them regardless.
When the old woman literally leapt off her perch from atop the hospital, Kakashi's fears were confirmed, "Don't treat me like an old woman!!"
"HOLY SHIT!! SHE JUMPED!!!"
The old shinobi landed solidly right in front of his team, and while Kakashi gave her a disbelieving look, Naruto was staring at her in wide eyed astonishment and Sakura outright recoiled from the (probably) crazy lady.
But when the woman looked up, Kakashi knew they weren't dealing with a crazy old lady. They were dealing with a retired legend, a shinobi that, in her prime, had been on par with the likes of Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-sama. The look on her face was deathly serious and terrifying in more ways than one.
"I've wanted to give my cute little grandson some love for quite a while now."
Naruto blinked at that before the corner of his mouth twitched and he asked in a surprisingly deadpan voice, "Any chance we could turn it into a group hug?"
He actually felt kinda stupid at the moment, he'd totally forgotten that Kakashi had access to nin-dogs. Sure he'd told Gnarl about it, but he usually didn't think too much about it considering the man had never gone for a boss summon or such.
Now though, they were following after Kakashi himself, the man leading the way with his enhanced sense of smell.
It'd just taken a quick mental message for the Minions to be up in full arms, Naruto wanted to be ready for a fight. Odds were good that they'd either run into the pair themselves, or someone left behind to delay them.
Naruto wouldn't let himself be delayed. Whatever it was they wanted with Gaara, he wouldn't let them do it.
He'd hit them hard and fast. He'd go One-Tailed right of the bat and would scatter the area with Greens and Browns supercharged by his power. If that didn't break them, he'd get behind them and use his enhanced power to push them back into the invisible Greens and his team. He doubted even an Akatsuki could survive being forced into a Rakiri and Sakura's superstrength, let alone whatever it was the old lady did.
The blondes advance planning was interrupted by a hesitant cough from Sakura, "Naruto… can I ask you something?"
Despite her serious tone, he couldn't help himself, "You just did, but I guess you could ask another…"
Her lips twitched into a smile, "Idiot… but… seriously… how long have the Akatsuki been targeting you?"
Naruto was slightly surprised by the question, "I… honestly don't know…" He scowled slightly, "At least three years though, Itachi and Kisame attacked me back when I went with Jiraiya to find Tsunade-obaa-chan…"
Kakashi picked up where he'd left off, "They'd infiltrated Konoha in order to contact Naruto… they haven't made a move since then though, and I can't quite see a motive behind that…"
Sakura scowled, the water beneath her feet splashing particularly loud that leap, "Why would they wait three years?"
Kakashi landed with little more than a 'tap', despite moving at almost full tilt, "Possibly, they couldn't take action rather than choosing not to," the Jounin leapt again, leading the group and continuing his sentence in mid-air, "He had Jiraiya-sama at his side the entire time…"
Naruto shook his head, "No, I doubt that was it… Jiraiya-san's scary as hell when he's serious, but not that scary. I doubt Jiraiya-san could've beaten Deidara and Sasori fast enough to keep someone else from grabbing me earlier on in the trip… especially if they've got someone that can take down a Kage…" The blonde paused to take another leap, making just a decibels more sound than Kakashi, "I'm thinking there's some difficulty in what they're planning on doing."
Sakura gave the boy a look, "I thought you said you didn't know…?"
He shook his head slightly, "I don't… I suspect, but it's barely more than an educated guess… whatever it was they were going to do, they must've decided it would be easier to go with Gaara with Jiraiya-san guarding me… and to recalibrate or whatever probably took time."
It was then the old lady spoke up, "Well… from what I've gathered, there are other reasons," the team looked at Chiyo as she continued, "It requires considerable preparation to separate a Bijuu from its host. I assume that is what hampered their effort."
"Bijuu…?"
Naruto jumped on the question as quick as he could without being obvious, "It's what's in Gaara, remember the giant sand thing he turned into during the Chuunin exams?"
The pinkette nodded and Naruto continued, "That's one of the Bijuu, the Shukaku. They're beasts made of pure power, embodiments of nature if you will. They're each pretty much their own self contained natural disaster," Naruto purposefully put a thoughtful expression on his face, "If they went from trying to get me to trying to get Gaara, they'd have had to switch their preparations around completely…"
Sakura looked slightly suspicious, so Naruto did what he usually does best, distraction, "I mean, I know Gaara's awesome and all, he couldn't've become Kazekage if he wasn't, but I'm on a totally different level! They probably decided it would be easier trying to suck the extra awesome out of Gaara than suck out all of mine!"
He grinned wildly at the pinkette, "I mean, which one would you rather suck on Sakura-chan? Me, or Gaara?"
The kunoichi blinked once, twice, then flushed a bright red, "Naruto-!!! Y-Yo-YOU PERVERT!!!"
Even as Naruto went skipping along the surface of the water from the force of Sakura's punch in an only relatively controlled tumble, he couldn't help but grin.
'Operation: Embarrass-Sakura-enough-to-cause-reflexive-anger-and-make-her-forget-about-what-we-were-talking-about! is a success!'
---
Thankfully, Sakura was still mostly in 'Mission-Mode' and all it took to get her to stop trying to kill Naruto was a stern look from Kakashi. She was still huffy, but that was understandable, it had been pretty bad, in more ways than one.
It was a very transparent attempt to change the subject, that had only worked because the pinkette had a hair-trigger temper in regards to perversion (especially Naruto's), something the blonde was very thankful for at the moment.
Kakashi knew exactly what Naruto had been avoiding having pointed out, and that Chiyo probably suspected, thankfully, Kakashi couldn't tell her unless Naruto did, and the old lady didn't seem to want to bring it up again.
He hadn't had a chance to gauge what her reaction might be to the revelation that he contained the Kyuubi, he didn't want to do it while they were on a mission either… he wasn't even sure that he wanted to tell her… ever.
Naruto didn't want to risk one of his few real friendships by rushing to expose his secret.
The blondes thought processes were brought to a halt when Kakashi stiffened. Immediately, Naruto's hand went to the hilt of Maelstrom and chakra began gathering in his free arm even as the Jounin called for a halt.
Then Naruto saw him.
'Oh crap.'
Uchiha Itachi.
Sakura was confused, Chiyo was wary, Kakashi was just about as ready to crap his pants as Naruto was.
Naruto tuned out the voices of his comrades as he slid into a crouch, his right hand at the hilt of Maelstrom over his left shoulder, his left hand held out straight towards the ground, "Uchiha Itachi," it was a greeting.
He noted Sakura's shock and brief amount of fear, he also noted the bemusement of Chiyo, but they were ignored in favor of listening to the S-ranked missing nin speak.
"It's been a while… Kakashi-san… Naruto-kun." Blank, emotionless, terrifying in many ways.
Naruto shifted to the front of the group, placing himself between Itachi and his allies, particularly his friend, though he made sure not to make it particularly obvious that he was between Itachi and Sakura, he made sure to keep his voice even as he spoke, "Quite true Itachi-san… though I must admit, I'm surprised you're here… I thought you were after me, not Gaara…" he felt anger leaking into his words at the end of his sentence before he cut it off.
"Okay, this could be bad, Gnarl! What do we have on Itachi?"
"Almost nothing Sire-" the aged Minion's voice stopped when Itachi began to shift.
"Everyone! Don't look directly at his eyes! It's dangerous!" Naruto didn't doubt Kakashi for a second, his eyes snapped to the center of the man's torso.
Sakura asked the question the team thinking, "Then what should we do?!"
There was a pause, Kakashi shifting some and putting Sakura at the center of a triangle of Naruto, Chiyo, and himself, the simple unconscious reflex born during war: Protect the Medic.
"Judge his movements from the movements of his body and feet," the older nin paused, "His Genjutsu is actually part of his Doujutsu, in other words, a vision-type. You should be fine if you avoid eye contact."
Everyone did just that, keeping their eyes on the man's waist, Naruto had to stifle a reflexive movement of his eyes when Itachi kept shifting his hands upwards, muttering a soft curse. Sakura though, was the one to actually say it, "That's… really difficult…"
Naruto heard Gnarl mutter in his head, "See…? She keep stating the obvious!"
Before the teen could reprimand him, the other old fart of the group spoke up, "Hmmm… the Uchiha clan…" Naruto's eyes flicked over to Chiyo, "It's been a long time since I fought a Sharingan… well, there's no reason to be overwhelmed. There are a number of tactics that can be used to fight this Doujutsu."
"Really…? I've fought it a couple times before, aside from getting behind them and staying there I couldn't find any…"
"Exactly," the old woman smiled toothlessly, and her voice changed, obviously quoting someone, "'If it's one on one, surely flee, but if it's two on one, take the rear."
Naruto gave the woman a curious glance and she continued, "If it's two on one, even if one gets caught in the Genjutsu, the other can get behind the opponent. If the real body is hit, then the Genjutsu will be unraveled. Even if that's impossible, they can cancel the Genjutsu off of their companion themselves. That is, if there's multiple opponents, one can divert their attention, while the other can get behind the enemy and attack the blind spot of the Sharingan."
"I see…" Naruto could hear the hope in his teammate's voice, and he hated to burst her bubble, but he had to.
"Problem: When the Sharingan user is fast enough to keep out of range and catch others in the attack…" that was a problem on its own, but Kakashi had more to add.
"Bigger problem…" Naruto's eyes flicked over to the Jounin in surprise before returning to Itachi's waist, "That's okay for normal Genjutsu… but his Genjutsu is much more troublesome…"
The two women's eyes went to Kakashi, though Naruto kept his own the strangely polite missing nin. Why was the man waiting? They were discussing ways to kill him and how to avoid getting caught in his attacks, why was he letting them talk? Strategize? Plan?
Why hadn't Itachi hit them with a normal genjutsu? Or ninjutsu?
What was his angle?
"Itachi's Doujutsu surpasses the original Sharingan, the 'Mangekyou Sharingan'. If you're struck by it, the Genjutsu will affect you in an instant," the memory of meeting Itachi and Kisame popped into Naruto's head, specifically, the point where he'd had Sasuke pinned against the wall. One moment, Sasuke had been struggling and fighting, the next, he'd slumped against the wall. 'Shit, he's right.' "There's no canceling it."
"Hmph, what a troublesome person…" "Dangerous is more like it Sire, he's not after the old bat," "What in the world is he…?"
The missing nin began speaking again in that monotone of his and Naruto had to resist the natural urge to bring his eyes to the man's face, "That's Kakashi-san for you. That, after being affected by my Tsukuyomi only once."
"That's not all…" Naruto seriously hoped the Jounin had some good news this time, his tone implied it wasn't bad at least, "After you used that Doujutsu, you became weary and immediately left the fight. Besides the fact that it requires a considerable amount of chakra, it also presents a great risk to your eyes as well… doesn't it, Itachi?"
"Well analyzed… given that you only fought me once…" Again with the polite yet creepy monotone. Man that was getting on Naruto's nerves.
"Sire… I believe I have an idea…"
"Yeah?"
"Summon some browns and throw them at him."
"… that… might actually work… it depends on whether his eye thing can be activated reflexively or not, but regardless…"
The beginnings of a plan were forming in Naruto's mind as Kakashi lifted his hitai-ate, revealing his still-closed left eye, "Itachi… how far has your eyesight deteriorated?"
Naruto watched the slight twitch to the missing nins fingers, the subtle shift, he was surprised, badly. Good. Hopefully (as unlikely as it was) his surprise would get him to make a mistake.
"Kakashi-san… impossible, you…" the blonde could feel the cord of tension between the two former ANBU go taught before the lazy and lackadaisical mask Kakashi wore over his physical one suddenly slammed down.
"Well! Last time I was unprepared, but, I'm not like that this time. This won't go the same way it did last time."
Naruto couldn't agree more, "Kakashi's right Itachi-san… you might've just picked a fight you can't win…" he intentionally twitched the fingers gripping Maelstrom, he couldn't tell whether Itachi caught it or not (probably did with that blasted Sharingan) but he could feel Kakashi's eyes slipping to him (thank you Sharingan).
The teen grinned at Itachi's waist, "I'm a whole lot stronger now bastard! And Kakashi-sensei knows all your tricks! No way you can win this fight!"
While he shouted, he tapped out a quick message on Maelstrom's hilt to Kakashi: I spam clone and summon you flank. He didn't think Itachi was fooled by his shouting, nor did he think he'd hid it well enough that the missing nin's Sharingan couldn't catch it, but he could hope.
He'd assume the man had of course, but he could hope.
"Heh, don't get cocky Naruto…" the Jounin shifted, his foot tapping twice subtly, standard 'yes' for subtle communication between konoha shinobi.
Naruto began to slowly clench his free hand, gathering the chakra for a summoning.
Then Itachi's body shifted and he made a noncommittal sound, Naruto's eyes flicking to the finger pointing at him as the man spoke, "We'll kindly ask you to come with us… Naruto-kun."
"Yeah right, not likely Itachi-san." "Neh Gnarl? What do you think? Got any snappy comments for that?"
There was no reply.
"Gnarl…? Gnarl?!" Naruto's eyes widened in surprise before they narrowed. 'Genjutsu. Damn.'
There wasn't much that could break the connection Naruto had to the Minions, it was telepathic and magical, so chakra could be slung around to disrupt it, there weren't any materials in this world that could inhibit it, and it couldn't be dispelled period.
But messing with his head could interfere with his end of the bargain.
Whenever someone else's chakra entered his head, the seals on the inside of his headband stopped registering Naruto as, well, Naruto. And the magic wouldn't work for anyone else.
'No response from a Minion means I'm in a Genjutsu. Itachi probably caught me in a regular Genjutsu technique rather than his Mangekyou version sometime. Shit. While I'm trapped in this he's probably killing my friends! SHIT!'
Naruto forced himself to remain calm with effort, he knew only one good way that he could break Genjutsu from someone as strong as Itachi, that was to gather a massive amount of chakra at the center of his seal, press it as tightly as it would go, then let it quite literally explode. The chakra-shockwave would break any Genjutsu within a sizable area.
Problem: It took a while to gather the chakra.
Solution: Distraction! Stall stall!
Problem: How? Acting stupid will just give Itachi an opening. He's too… Itachi not to use it.
Solution: …?
Naruto had no idea. Talk to him maybe…?
'Wait… talk to him…? Talk to him!'
The chakra began to slowly collect as Naruto tilted his head to the side, "Neh, Itachi-san…?"
"Hn?" 'Wow… that's about as articulate as Sasuke-teme was for a long time…'
"You don't strike me as someone to have the desire to just up and kill your family Itachi-san… why did you…?" 'Wow, that was real smooth… if he doesn't stab me repeatedly for that I'll be happy.'
The representation of the missing nin in the illusion was silent for a long moment, and Naruto almost wondered whether them man could talk in the Genjutsu, but then, softly, he spoke, "They were weak, they were not worthy of the Uchiha name."
Naruto paused in his gathering of chakra, 'That… that wasn't his normal speech… he usually maintains a damn good monotone, but there was something different in his voice that time… but what?' He forced himself to resume his gathering of chakra, "Now that doesn't sound right… then why ever would you leave Sasuke-teme alive?"
The man's fingers actually twitched. Like, Naruto had gotten the unflappable Uchiha Itachi to twitch!
Hot damn! He was on to somethinghere!
"I mean, if you're killing the clan because they aren't worth the name, then why leave Sasuke-teme alive? He showed less talent than you, less than even some others in the clan… so I'm not buying it…" Naruto went over what little bit he remembered of his brief encounter with Itachi as he started compressing the chakra he'd gathered, "You told Sasuke-teme that his hate wasn't strong enough… you want Sasuke to hate you…"
Itachi's fingers flexed outwards just a bit before slowly curling back in. 'Out? Surprise? Startled? I'll risk it.'
"You want him to hate you… like you hate yourself… don't you?" this time his hands twitched and clenched ever so slightly. Naruto was taking a gamble here, and a big one, but if it paid off…
Naruto's eyes rose to Itachi's, piercing cerulean blue met equally intense blood red.
And nothing happened.
"You want him to be strong enough to kill you… don't you Itachi-san?"
The slow, barely controlled intake of breath was all the answer Naruto needed.
"You didn't want to kill the Uchiha did you Itachi-san?" the blonde was taking shots in the dark, he'd hit something here and he was running with it. The way the missing nin's eyes twitched slightly to the side encouraged Naruto to continue, "Something made you kill them… didn't it Itachi-san…?"
"… you have changed haven't you Naruto-kun…?"
Now Naruto knew he was on the right track! "What was it Itachi-san…? Why did you really kill your clan?" the missing nin's eyes narrowed, Naruto decided to back off a bit, stalling was no good if it goaded your opponent into attacking you, "Why do you serve this new organization?" less angry eyes, kay, follow that, "Do they have something you want…?" His eyes twitched to the upper left, Neji had called Hinata on that hadn't he-? What had it been?! Upper left was… suppressed memories? No… upper left was… bad memories! That was it! Looking to the upper left was remembering bad memories!
They had something he wanted! Probably to destroy if it was a bad memory. This could work! This could really work!
Naruto slowly, deliberately raised his free hand, offering it to the representation of the missing nin in front of him, "What is it you want most in the world Itachi-san? And how can I give it to you?"
Itachi's eyes twitched left and right repeatedly, Naruto had the missing nin cornered with words. This was absolutely awesome! If he could get a handle on the missing nin then he could turn him to his side! He could get both the Uchiha on his side if he played this right! SWEET!
His chakra control faltered.
The ball of chakra forming in his gut pulsed weakly before oozing out quickly rather than in the explosive rush required.
There was no way Itachi hadn't noticed that.
'… shit…'
The missing nin's eyes narrowed at him, and Naruto knew the man had caught on. Whatever push he had gotten on him earlier with his words was lost. The moment, the tension that he'd built, it was gone.
Naruto couldn't help but curse softly as the illusion in front of him dissolved into crows; it was actually a pretty nice visual effect really… or it would've been if it didn't prelude what was likely to be absurd amounts of pain for Naruto.
Caution and subtlety were thrown to the wind as Naruto yanked his hand away from Maelstrom's hilt and clapped his hands together, gathering the chakra as quickly and forcefully as he could. The crows became shuriken (another really cool trick, damn Genjutsu users for getting the cool looking shit). Naruto did his best to ignore his instincts, the honed reflexes, screaming at him to move. To not just stand there and take the mass of shuriken headed at him.
He ignored those instincts and forced the chakra to keep gathering, even as what felt like fifty shuriken slammed into his body, 'This Genjutsu… I can overcome it… I know I can!'
Then… the skin began to peel off the side of his face.
'Wha-?' Naruto stared as bits of his tanned skin pulled away from his body, he could feel his epidermis leaving him, 'That's… that's just freaky!'
He didn't know how he knew, but he just knew that there was dark skin beneath! He knew there was something there he didn't like! He didn't want to know what was being revealed, he didn't want to know! He forced his chakra to gather faster, to compact tighter, to press smaller! He had to get out of this Genjutsu now! The skin stopped peeling away and Naruto screamed.
'Sasuke-teme-?! Wha-?! But how?! Damnit! It's Genjutsu! Genjutsu! Ignore it! Doesn't matter how creepy it is that half your face is the teme's! It's just in your head! Ignore it!'
It was suddenly a lot harder to ignore when his own hand grabbed his throat and began to squeeze.
Then it spoke! The thing that was half his own face spoke! "You didn't stop me from leaving. You couldn't stop me from leaving. I was out of control. You won't bring me back. I won't let you bring me back. I'll keep doing what I want regardless of the consequences." Panic rose in Naruto as the hand tightened around his throat despite his best efforts to pull it away with his other hand.
'No-! NO! I can stop all this! I know I can! I can make it better! I can-!'
Movement. At his chest there was movement. His cuirass was pushing forward, his chest was moving, bulging. Pink?! Why was there pink?! "Why didn't you stop Sasuke-kun…?" 'Sakura?!' "Even though I trusted you… you couldn't keep Sasuke-kun here… and it hurt me… why did you let him hurt me…?"
'No! I didn't mean to let him hurt you Sakura-chan! I swear! I didn't know any better then! I know better now! I won't let him hurt you again Sakura-chan! I won't let him! I-!'
Shifting. His scarf was shifting! No! Not anymore! He couldn't-! A mess of white hair shared his scarf with him now.
"You couldn't protect your comrades could you?" 'Kakashi-sensei! I tried-!' "Even though I had faith in you… you couldn't keep him home…"
He couldn't breathe. It wasn't just the hand on his throat. He couldn't breathe. 'Stop-! Stop! STOP! Stopstopstopstop-!'
Then a voice came from his hand. His hand! "Why…?" He stared at his hand and a black rimmed eye stared back, "Why didn't you save me? Why didn't you stop by my village? I thought I was your friend…"
'I made a mistake but I'm fixing it. I made a mistake but Im fixing it. ImadeamistakebutImfixingit! ImadeamistakebutImfixingit!!'
His shoulderplate! Stop moving stopmovingstop! No more! Black cloth became dark-blue hair, a pale face and paler eyes lifted out of his shoulder plate to stare accusingly at him, "Why didn't you stop Neji? Why Naruto-kun? You could've stopped Neji from hurting me… why didn't you stop him Naruto-kun?"
'I-I-I-I-I-I I'm sorry! I-!'
---
It stopped.
Just like that, it stopped. In a rush, Naruto was Naruto again, not some hodgepodge mess of everyone he'd ever failed.
"SIRE! Thank Evil! Sire, are you okay?!"
"Naruto! Are you alright?!"
He blinked, then blinked again, processing the information his senses were sending in. Sakura and Chiyo were beside him, their hands pressed tightly against the flat plates of his shoulder-guards. He could feel the tingle of their chakra leaving his body and the padding expand as they pulled back from him. Kakashi… Kakashi was leaping back from an exchange with Itachi.
'Just a Genjutsu… just… just a Genjutsu…' "I… I'm alright now…" Naruto swallowed, somehow he'd ended up standing with his hands hanging loosely at his sides, "Watch it though… he doesn't just use the Sharingan to cast Genjutsu…"
"Right… are you ready Naruto…?"
The blonde drew in his courage, tossing aside his reservations and fears, those were for another time, another place. Here, now, he had an opponent to fight. Fear had no place on the battlefield. He stepped away from the kunoichi and his hand went to his shoulder, "Yeah… Kakashi, I'm ready," Maelstrom came out, the black blade soundless as it cut through the air.
Itachi shifted into a ready stance of his own and Naruto let the chakra start to surge down his free hand. He gripped Maelstrom's handle tightly as he held his other hand out before him, palm down. With his Ōdachi held out at his side, tilted slightly forward, he was as ready as he could be. He could summon a slew of Minions of any color with but a thought, Maelstrom could snap up in front of him in an instant.
'Your move Itachi.'
Itachi moved.
His hands slapped into a tiger seal and he drew back, breathing in deep, "Get behind me-!" Naruto's hand dipped an inch and he thought the color.
Red.
His hand was coming up even as the dense ball of flaming death exploded out from Itachi. Smoke burst into existence in front of Naruto as the ball carved a trench into the dirt. The fireball broke against the Reds that had come into existence in front of Naruto. The flames parted like a stream before a stone.
"-now!"
Naruto felt Sakura press against his armored back and he grinned. Even though he felt like just a bit more and he'd be missing some eyebrows, the flames had been stopped. He watched the last tongues of fire get sucked into the skin of the Reds that he'd summoned.
'If all you're going to do is Genjutsu and fire techniques… you'll never win Itachi-san…'
Naruto grinned.
---
'Wha-What are those?!'
Sakura gaped at the things Naruto had summoned. They weren't frogs, which is what she thought he summoned, rather… they were like little demon, gremlin, things…
Red, that was the first thing she noticed. They were red. And scrawny. They were only about half the height of a normal man, and they were humanoid… just not any kind of thing she'd seen before. They looked to be little more than bone, muscle, and red leathery skin. They each had a pair of horns on the sides of their heads, but each pair looked different, maybe it was like fingerprints for them or something…?
She was surprised they were all wearing a weird set of what looked to be a modified Kumo Chuunin vest and a pair of armored shorts. Sakura had never heard of Summon Uniforms.
She didn't recognize the things, but she would've just flicked her eyes to them and back to the fight if that was it.
No, Sakura gaped at the summons because of what position they were summoned in.
They were standing on each others shoulders in a summon pyramid!
'How the hell'd he do that?!'
Naruto shifted slightly and Sakura's attention snapped back to him. The moment she heard 'Get behind' Sakura had reacted, remembering the plan when fighting Kakashi-sensei, she'd assumed Naruto was going to drop to a knee and shoulder the blast aside with pure chakra again.
She'd been wrong, but not about getting behind her teammate.
Now, as the smooth plates of lacquered leather and steel moved beneath her hands, Sakura stepped back. The blondes voice was soft and controlled, and all the more terrifying for it.
"Minions… attack."
The war-cry the things made was the opposite of stealth, it was loud and annoying, yet it also made her want to laugh. It just sounded silly.
Sakura didn't think they were a joke. Not when they laughed at a fire technique from an S-ranked missing nin. And especially not when they screamed a battle-cry and charged at him. The pyramid of summons came crashing down in an uncontrolled mess, but the things from the top just rolled to their feet when they hit the ground and the ones at the bottom just ran forward.
A mass of red ran at Uchiha Itachi and screamed.
The missing nin's hands started to come up again but suddenly flew back to his sides. Without the Sharingan or some other Doujutsu, Sakura could only fully process what happened next after the fact.
Kakashi-sensei exploded from the ground in front of Itachi with a flying uppercut, but missed the Akatsuki member. Itachi grabbed Kakashi-sensei's arm and redirected the punch to the ground and tried to punch Kakashi-sensei with his free hand. Kakashi-sensei blocked, but in the process Itachi brought himself face to face with the masked man.
Sakura was worried for the briefest of moments, fearing Itachi had trapped Kakashi-sensei in a Genjutsu, but her fears were dispelled quickly.
"Naruto! Now!" Kakashi-sensei, the real one, pulled himself out of a hole in the trench carved by Itachi's fireball.
The blonde raised his free hand in a majestic gesture, and his summons reacted. Sakura felt the call to arms, to attack, to kill, and actually had to fight the brief surge of emotion and impulse to charge at Itachi. The summons had no such reservations.
They suicidally charged straight at Itachi as he grappled with Kakashi-sensei's shadow clone. The missing nin didn't hesitate, shifting and hurling the Shadow Clone away his hands were coming up just as the first of the summons got within five feet of him. Sakura felt a brief surge of power from Naruto and the summon leapt straight at Itachi even as the missing nin threw a kunai at it's chest.
And it exploded.
Everyone aside from Naruto was surprised when the summon just outright exploded like it'd had a couple exploding tags on it. Sakura wasn't surprised enough to miss Naruto switching out with a shadow clone in front of her, but damn!
The first summon exploded, but it wasn't the only one. The rest were soon following after it in, running at the missing nin as hard as they could, screaming joyfully at the top of their lungs before exploding as close to Itachi as they could.
Through the smoke and dust kicked up by the chain reaction of exploding summons, Sakura saw Itachi leap backwards to avoid sudden immolation and dismemberment.
Right into Naruto.
The missing nin's head jerked to the side as he sensed the blonde, but it was already too late. Naruto slammed the soccer-ball sized glowing sphere he held between his hands into Itachi's back.
Even though it hit the missing nin, even though it was several feet off the ground, even though the missing nin wasn't even touching the ground until Naruto hit him with the technique. The shockwave of the attack was enough to carve a circular crater into the dirt behind Itachi.
"W-Wow…"
The initial hit had sounded like the boom her punches would make when hitting something hard and had devolved into the rushing sounds of a tornado.
And as Naruto's shadow clone in front of her dispelled, Sakura got the very distinct impression that the blonde had planned on catching Itachi with that technique as soon as Itachi had thrown the fireball.
'Damnit! No way! I decided I wouldn't be left behind by those two three years ago! No way it's happening again!'
'You really are leaving me behind… aren't you Naruto…?'
---
"Tch, shoulda known he wouldn't go down that easy damnit."
"This… this is…"
Naruto set Maelstrom onto his back once again, an angry scowl on his face as Sakura stared at the corpse with a cross between confusion and disgust, "Was it… a jutsu… or what?"
Kakashi shook his head, "I had a bad feeling about it in the middle of the fight…"
"Neh, Gnarl? You recognize this?"
"Not really Sire. Temporary possession is something I've seen done, even permanent possession… but never something that gave the possessed the abilities of the possessor… we should investigate Sire."
"Definitely, this could be a very valuable ability to have," Naruto scowled at the body as if his glare could force the corpse to give up its secrets.
"He…"
Kakashi and Naruto looked over at Chiyo, though it was Kakashi that asked the question, "Do you know this person?"
"Yeah…" the woman scowled, "He's Yuura, a Jounin from my village…"
This got scowls all around, Naruto hooking his thumbs in his pockets with a huff even as Kakashi muttered, "From Suna…? What does that mean?"
Chiyo shook her head at the partially rhetorical question, "I don't know…"
Naruto watched the gears spinning in Sakura's head, 'Sorry Sakura, brains don't do you any good if you don't have enough information,' "… possibly he was an Akatsuki spy…"
The retired Suna nin shook her head again, "No way… he's been working hard as a leader for over four years now…"
Naruto glanced at the lady before forcing his eyes back to the body, "Unfortunately, that doesn't mean he couldn't have been a sleeper agent…" he scowled at the corpse before continuing, "What's bothering me is how to detect this stuff… and how they made this guy into Itachi like that…"
Sakura frowned, "I don't think it was a henge…"
"It wasn't," the group looked at Kakashi curiously, Naruto knew it hadn't been a henge because he'd actually talked to Itachi in his Genjutsu and no one could imitate the Uchiha that completely, but how did Kakashi know? "This isn't that level of jutsu… the Goukakyou is a jutsu the Uchiha developed, perfected, and use extraordinarily well… that was the real thing."
"Didn't he use the same thing almost as good against you and the pink one Sire?"
Naruto had to restrain a snort as he responded to Gnarl, he didn't want to break the contemplation of the group, "Kakashi's an Elite Jounin Gnarl and has probably been using that jutsu for years. I wouldn't be surprised if he could match a weakened Itachi."
"Ah… though we do know more about this Itachi fellow now don't we?" Naruto could hear the grin in the aged Minion's mental voice.
"Yes… we do… now we have a basic plan to fight the bastard… and an interesting bit of dirty laundry."
"Oh…? What is that Sire?"
"Ah, forgot, you weren't in the Genjutsu… I found out he didn't want to kill his clan and isn't particularly thrilled about working for the people he works for."
"This is wonderful news Sire! Absolutely wonderful!" the Minion let out a positively evil cackle, and for once, Naruto didn't call him on it.
Because he completely agreed.
---
Kakashi spoke up after a moments silence, both in and out of Naruto's head, "It looks like the real one is still at their hideout… his objective was to gather data and delay us… those bastards really do have good jutsu."
Naruto scowled in agreement and Sakura watched her friends face, '… I had no idea you had opponents like these Naruto… how long have you been fighting people like this…?'
'Shannaro! We'll whoop their asses anyways! Doesn't matter how strong they are! We'll just get stronger!'
Sakura agreed wholeheartedly with the suppressed side of her psyche.
Then Naruto grinned, "There's good news though, information gathering works both ways. We learned they have a technique like this and I've now got a good idea how to deal with Itachi if we ever meet up again," his smile faded to a serious look, "But if they were going out of their way to delay us, getting there ASAP is paramount."
"Indeed…" Team Kakashi looked over at the retired Suna nin, "This was clearly stalling. There's no mistake about it, they've already started to extract the Bijuu!" The old woman scowled briefly before a worried look settled onto her face, "Perhaps they wish to use the one tail Shukaku to make a new Jinchuuriki."
"Then we've got to get going now," Naruto settled his scroll more securely on his back as he got ready to leap, but was interrupted by Sakura.
"Jinchuuriki…?"
Chiyo subtly glanced at Naruto, who took it as his cue, "Yeah… the Bijuu were living natural disasters… but people have tried to harness that power for military purposes… by sealing the Bijuu into a person…"
"…!"
"Yeah, the absurd power of a Bijuu is compressed and packed into a person when they're real little so their chakra coils can stand the absurd power," Naruto scowled, "People like Gaara, the Jinchuuriki, resonate with their Bijuu and can use a part of its inconceivable power."
For a moment, Naruto paused, trying to think of a way to divert the conversation from himself, when his mind latched onto something that he didn't know. He turned towards Chiyo, "Thing is, I know it's possible to pull out a Bijuu… but I don't know how… you know something about it though, don't you…?"
The old woman scowled, "If, for just an instant, a sealing Jutsu which releases the exact amount of power to match up with the Bijuu's is used… but to build up that much chakra takes a considerable amount of time. If it's used however…"
The bits of information the old woman had given about this before flashed through Sakura's mind and the pieces fell into place, "You mean…?"
"Yeah…" Naruto answered for the old hag, "If these guys pull Shukaku out of Gaara… Suna's going to need a new Kazekage…"
Chiyo finally turned her head towards them, "Suna has actually had three Jinchuuriki, two before Gaara that contained the Shukaku. When they ceased to be useful to the village, the Shukaku was extracted from their bodies… causing their deaths."
Sakura's eyes went wide, "Then…?!"
"Yeah, if we're going to save Gaara, we've got to get going now," the blonde crouched low and leapt off in the direction they'd been going before. The others followed with only the briefest of hesitations.
But as Kakashi took the lead, Sakura couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something that had just been waved in front of her nose.
A.N.-) Yeys! Another chapter done! Though I'm getting more 'hate' for this stuff than I did before, it seems I'm actually doing good!
Anyways, now for a bit of a rant on something that a couple people were bothered by: Naruto's Power-Level
I'll admit that, by rights, Naruto should probably be faster than I've made him. By limiting his speed, I was trying to keep him from becoming too overpowered, though in the prologue I set him up to be considerably faster and stronger than he appears.
My bad.
Seriously, I screwed up a bit there.
I would like to point something out though: The level I put him at isn't low. I'm not saying he's as good as Shikamaru is at taijutsu, I'm saying he's about as good as Rock Lee, who specializes in it, and is equally good at using Maelstrom.
It's not an excuse (I think) but here's what my thought processes were:
In my head at the start, I was thinking Naruto would have to develop a totally new style of swordsmanship to use his over-sized weapon since he doesn't have one of the seven swordsman of the mist to teach him. In my head, that meant he'd be really good at using his fists and at using his sword, but only about to the level of Rock Lee with his weights.
Which means in a straight up fight, just fists, one on one, I can expect Naruto to hold his own against Kakashi as long as his *coughCheatingcoughcough* Sharingan isn't out. Win? If Naruto gets lucky he might, but probably not, Kakashi has a smidge of reach and speed on Naruto and lots of combat experience.
This is remembering that Kakashi is single-handedly tough enough to hold his own against both Hidan and Kakuzu effectively by himself for an extended period of time.
I'd solidly place Naruto (as a whole) at an A-rank even without the Kyuubi's power, with its power he's an S-rank that could beat up about half the Akatsuki in a one-on-one fight.
Using my Overlord!Naruto as is, here's my thoughts on him versus each member of the Akatsuki:
Naruto vs Sasori: Naruto, hands down. Sasori's core might get away, but he'll definitely lose. Naruto is effectively immune to his poison due to his fast healing, and Sasori's biggest tricks: 'Lots of puppets no jutsu!' and 'Black Sand of DOOM no jutsu!' are beaten by spamming shadow clones or Minions and a big rasengan or diving underground respectively. Reds absorb the flame from his flamethrowers and Greens absorb poison, what's Sasori got left that Naruto can't beat? Verdict: Naruto hands down.
Naruto vs Konan: Naruto, easily. She turns into paper that cuts people. Naruto's chakra shroud and sword burn things, no contest if she's by herself, wind chakra or not. Verdict: Naruto.
Naruto vs Zetsu: No idea, we know next to nothing about this guy in combat so I'm not even going to guess.
Naruto vs Hidan: Likely Naruto. Hidan could tear through the Minions and could do some serious damage to shadow clones, but a whole lot of Minions could, and would, tear Hidan to pieces once a couple of them got past the scythe. There isn't much that guy can do once he's thousands of itty bitty bits. Verdict: Naruto without a scratch.
Naruto vs Kakuzu: This one's harder, though I'm still leaning towards Naruto. Unless he was combining his elemental abilities, I don't think Kakuzu's attacks would pierce Naruto's three tailed chakra shroud. It'd be a long fight, Naruto would be using clones out the whazoo and Minions would be everywhere, Kakuzu's ranged form would deal with these pretty well all considered, but he'd probably have difficulty dodging all of the exploding Reds and invisible Greens. Kakuzu would probably haul ass once he got down to one or two hearts since Naruto doesn't have an insta-kill like the fuuma-rasenshuriken yet, but it'd be a war of attrition. Kakuzu trying to find the real Naruto to pound on while Naruto spams shadow clones and Minions to wear him down. Kakuzu would probably survive enough to escape, but he'd retreat for quite a while afterwards. Verdict: Naruto by forcing enemy to flee.
Naruto vs Deidara: This is a toss-up, I think it depends on who needs to fight who more. Only Deidara's really big stuff can break through Naruto's three tailed chakra shroud, and a wall of Reds will seriously limit the damage even of those. But Deidara can get away from Naruto's few ranged attacks (even his Kyuubi-powered ones) with relative ease by getting himself high into the air. If Naruto had to fight Deidara, Deidara would eventually retreat after running out of clay. But if Deidara had to fight Naruto, he'd probably whip out enough explosives and landmines to seriously threaten Naruto regardless. Verdict: If it's Naruto vs. Deidara, Naruto by enemy retreat. If it's Deidara vs. Naruto, depends mostly on whether the terrain allows Naruto to get to Deidara. Deidara stands a good chance of winning if there is no way to really get into the sky.
Naruto vs Kisame: Kisame, easily. This guy is the worst opponent for Naruto out of the entire Akatsuki. He's a better swordsman, his sword is probably more powerful and is at least as powerful as Maelstrom, he's another stamina/chakra junkie, he's good at fighting large groups with his water-clones and his sword capable of killing multiple persons with a single swing, he uses water (which counteracts Naruto's fire magic), and his sword can eliminate the Kyuubi's chakra shroud. The only advantage Naruto has are the Blue Minions, which always have aquatic superiority, but that's not much of an advantage considering how many issues Naruto would have with this fight. And Naruto knows it. Verdict: Kisame, either by Naruto hauling ass or cornering the boy and actually capturing him.
Naruto vs Itachi: This one is actually a toss up in my head. Itachi kicks ass, lots of ass, but so does Overlord!Naruto. I'm assuming that the Reds absorb even the black flames of Ametarasu for the purposes of this fic since their ability is magical in nature. Naruto's first instinct when facing this guy is to spam some serious Minions, get underground, and spam shadow clone. If Itachi can catch the original with Tsukuyomi, it's over. Problem: How's he know which one is the original and how does he get to him. Itachi is on a time limit, can he find the original Naruto to kick ass on before he runs out of chakra fighting the clones and Minions? Even ignoring the fact that Naruto (especially now) just wants to talk with the missing nin, I don't know which way the fight would go. (Opinions with reasons why would be interesting, but probably uneccessary)
Naruto vs Orochimaru: Yeah yeah, he's not Akatsuki anymore I know, but I'm throwing him in because he's an S-ranked missing nin and I need as many comparisons as I can get even for my own use.
This one is probably Naruto by Orochimaru not caring enough to continue the fight. With controlled three tailed power being enough to (at least) match the Snake Sannin physically if not overpower him, and similar abilities to pull massive numbers of reinforcements (Minions and Snakes respectively) out of thin air, it's be an epic fight. Orochimaru is the better swordsman and fighter as a whole, he has to be, he's got more experience and has had more time to learn and train, but Naruto has an effectively infinite source of power. Even without area-o'-death attacks or insta-kill techniques, Naruto would still put a hurting on Orochimaru due to the snake Sannin's bad habit of letting himself get pounded on first before taunting and killing his enemies. The Snake Sannin would also have some trouble getting through Naruto's three tailed chakra shroud. All in all, I don't think Orochimaru would be motivated enough to push himself hard enough to beat Naruto, though he stands a good chance of being able to do just that. Verdict: Naruto because Orochimaru doesn't care enough.
Naruto vs Pein: Pein, almost hands down. The guy's got too many Game-Breaker powers in one spot to not seriously screw Naruto over. It'd be epic, it'd be amazing, there'd be absurd amounts of property damage! There'd be explosions! Death! Explosions! Naked Girls…! Oh, wait no… there wouldn't…
Anyways, as cool as the fight would be, I'm saying Pein would win because of the 'That's no Moon no jutsu!' and 'The Force no jutsu!' as well as his ability to summon massive creatures with freaky abilities. Naruto's 'insta-army no jutsu!' really doesn't do as good against Pein's tactics as it does normally. Pein is practically built to deal with armies, Naruto is a one man army (literally).
Scissors beats paper.
I'll add the Naruto with 'actual speed and strength' next chapter. Hope this all makes sense.
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Anyways, Chapter… COMPLETE!!! AUTOBOTS, ROLL OUT!!!
Ja ne,
Andoriol
