"Pervy sage was here, wasn't he?.. where is he gone?" Naruto asked
"Leave him be..." Tsunade said opening the scroll. As soon as she read it, she was shocked 'what?! How could this happen? I'll have to do this as soon as possible but for now Kakashi will take care' Tsunade stood up "everyone to the mission hall".
In the hall..
There were many people sitting in front of team Kakashi and Hokage was in middle of them. Iruka Umino, Naruto's closest thing to family was sitting next to Tsunade.
"Ehhh! that mission.. no thanks.."Naruto shouted in denial of mission giving disgusted look.
"Eh.. what kind of response is that? Well!?" Tsunade said giving irritated look.
'Please Don't talk so selfishly.. she'll get angry at me' Kakashi said in his mind looking at Naruto.
"Gah.. Naruto, you haven't mentally matured at all.." Iruka spoke at Naruto's behavior.
"Sorry sensei, I'll sort him out" Sakura grabbed Naruto to shut him ' I-idiot you have no idea how terrible she can be' inner Sakura shouted at him.
"Third was more sensible than you.." Naruto said while being choked.
"SHUT UP YOU PUNK!" Sakura shouted while tightening her grip on Naruto.
"It's bad! Lady Hokage"a women came running inside
"What is it?"
"Lord Kazekage of the sand has been captured by the organisation called Akatsuki" she said and handed message to Tsunade. Everyone in the hall were shocked.
"What?!" Naruto was shocked.
"Two members of the Akatsuki attacked the sand village" women said.
"Gaara!" Naruto clenched his fist and suddenly his chakra level started rising, this created a rise in air pressure in hall. Sakura was slightly pushed away just by pure chakra, but this chakra belonged to Naruto and not the nine tails. The floor started breaking apart and broken pieces of floor were rising above their level near Naruto.
"Naruto calm down!" Kakashi said grabbing Naruto's shoulder but It wasn't working.
Detecting sudden spike in chakra level, Anbu black ops showed up. Looking around the hall, Iruka ran to Naruto and standing in front of Naruto, he pleaded "Naruto please calm down!"
Naruto finally calmed looking in Iruka's eyes. He looked around and saw the cracked floor "I'm sorry" in low voice.
"Alright.. team Kakashi, you have a new mission" said Tsunade, holding the message "you are to go immediately to sand, find out the situation and relay it to konoha.. after that follow the orders of the sand and back them up"
At the village gates..
Tsunade and Iruka followed them to the gates, to wish luck.
"Do your best Naruto!" Iruka said smiling at Naruto
"Yeah" Naruto replied without turning.
"Off we go Lady Tsunade" Sakura waved Tsunade.
Suddenly Jiraiya appeared out of nowhere "yo! Going on a mission, eh Naruto?"
Naruto didn't gave any reply and continued to look down 'it's not like him.. umm more importantly' Jiraiya thought and then moved towards Tsunade until he reached her ear "bad news Tsunade, sand's Kazekage-" Jiraiya spoke in very low voice, so that Naruto couldn't hear but was cutoff "I know, and I'm about to send these guys there now"
Jiraiya moved away and called Naruto to speak with him alone " be very careful when it comes to the Akatsuki"
"They have got something against me so this time I'm going after them" Naruto spoke with determination.
"Yeah, you've gotten stronger and all.. but when you feel as though you're about to loose control, get a grip on yourself are you'll cause chaos" Jiraiya warned Naruto "you are short tempered Naruto.. I know, you know this but.. don't use that jutsu"
"I know.." Naruto's expression changed.
Walking away Jiraiya said "Kakashi make sure that he doesn't do anything stupid"
"Yeah"
Naruto turned to leave and called for Kakashi and Sakura "Kakashi sensei Sakura lets get going"
"W..wait for me, will you!" And with that being said, Sakura also took off. Now all three of them were out of everyone's sight.
In sand village...
"This kind of poison is new to us. We haven't found any kind of antidote" said a medic to Baki who was standing right next to Kankurou, who was lying in bed. He was kept in room which was in Kazekage's tower.
"If we don't hurry, then I'm afraid he won't make it. 3 days at the most" said another medic.
"Then I have no choice but them.." said Baki and left.
With Deidara and Sasori...
"You are late Sasori my man" Deidara said with an irritating tone cause he would always get same thing from Sasori.
"Don't get so irritated. We've got your target *one tails* after all" Sasori said hiding inside his puppet (A/N: appearance is same as in shippuden) "Now it's my turn. But I don't know where it is. It'd be much easier if it comes to us"
"Yeah! Speaking of which, which kind of Jinchuuriki is he" Deidara asked while walking towards their rendezvous point.
"I don't care as long as I get my Jinchuuriki"
"Sasori my man, village hidden in leaves is the closest to sand" Deidara started
"Hn.. what of it?" Asked Sasori knowing that Deidara would want another Jinchuuriki
"I was thinking-" Deidara was cut in middle.
"Don't even think about it, Deidara. As per the orders, we are not to go to the leaf village. It's Itachi and Kisame's task to get nine tails Jinchuuriki and nobody else is to interfere. Those were strict orders"
"Fine fine.. I get it!"
Elsewhere..
Naruto saw Temari ahead, on their way to sand. Naruto was about to give her a call but then suddenly "Temari!" Sakura shouted and everyone landed near her.
After a while of explaining situation to Temari.
"What! " 'Gaara' "I had a bad feeling.." her expression changed to sad one.
"It will take 3 days to reach sand village from here.. lets hurry" said Kakashi and everyone started in the direction of sand.
...
Two elderly persons were standing right next to Kankurou's bed. One of them is lord Ebizou and other one is lady Chiyo "poison is my specialty.. but even I don't know of this.." said lady Chiyo after 2 days of continuous hard work in developing antidote. Even she gave up the hope of Kankurou's survival. "Sasori has gotten better than ever"
"What should we do then?" Asked Baki, afraid of losing a powerful jounin.
"Well.. the one who has more knowledge of neutralizing poison than me is.. the slug queen of konoha, princess Tsunade.. during the great war she came up with an antidote to all the poisons that I created and mix them immediately.. all you can do is call her here for help" said Chiyo
"But she's the Hokage now, she can't leave the village so easily.. and even if we were to ask her, it would take 3-4 days to reach the sand from leaf.. but we've sent request for a specialist team.. it's taking all of our strength, waiting for them"
"Stop relaying on others, you've become careless with your own training and this is what becomes of it"
Suddenly the door to the room opened
"KANKUROU" Temari shouted and ran towards Kankurou and Sakura behind her. Naruto and Kakashi were still at the door and entered the room.
'Tha.. that's'"the White Fang of the Leaf" lady Chiyo saw Kakashi and said as loud as she can.
"Eh!?" There was a question mark on Kakashi's face
Suddenly Chiyo jumped and tried to punch Kakashi but before she could reach Kakashi, with lightning fast speed, Naruto appeared in front of him blocking her punch with his left hand.
After she saw that the boy blocked the punch, with another (left) hand she punched Naruto but it was also blocked just by two fingers, specifically index and middle fingers.
'This boy.. he's good' Chiyo thought and then she kicked Naruto in face and flipped away from him, but Naruto didn't even flinched.
He was just standing there like it was nothing.
"Why are you attacking Kakashi sensei, you old wrinkled hag!" Naruto said with hint of anger.
"I remember that time.. the white Fang of the leaf..! My son's enemy.. I'll get revenge for him today" said Chiyo
"No no...I'm not" Kakashi started in his defence but Chiyo interrupted
"There's no use in arguing" and she got ready for attack but Ebizou got in between and stopped her.
"Sister take a good look.. there's a strong resemblance but that's not him.."
"Eh!?" She stared for a while "no way.. I was just pretending to be stupid.. gyahaha.." and started laughing.
After an hour or so Sakura made preparations and removed the poison from Kankurou "Kankurou's fine for now, no need to worry about his life. Now I have to make antidote for what little poison that remained in his body. I need certain things" said Sakura taking lead role in situation.
Meanwhile in konoha..
"Team guy your mission is to go to the sand village and give support to team Kakashi" said Tsunade and dismissed them.
While Sakura was busy preparing antidote, Kakashi was busy in examining the remains of Kankurou's puppets.
"Temari I need all the informations on those two Akatsuki members that sand has collected so far.." asked Naruto
"Understood..!" She knew about Naruto's strength more than Kakashi and Sakura. She knew Naruto will ask her about it. After some time she got two scrolls that contained all information about the two who attacked sand.
After a while..
After learning about Akatsuki Naruto came back to see Kankurou and Sakura. To be more specific Naruto never made any plans or followed them, he would always go on instincts alone.
Meanwhile, Kakashi found Akatsuki's trail and team was ready to move.
The antidote that Sakura made, worked well on Kankurou and he returned to his consciousness.
"So Kankurou are you sure that one of the two you followed was Sasori of the Red sand?" Asked Chiyo
"Yeah.. it was him, he said it himself" said Kankurou with his head down.
"Sasori of the Red sand.. huh?" Kakashi confirmed "may we hear more about the Akatsuki?" And demanded more info.
"Right let's hurry" Naruto said stretching his body and getting ready.
Kankurou looking at his hand, past memories ran through his head, like Gaara saying that he wanted to become just like him, Naruto Uzumaki.
"Naruto Uzumaki" Kankurou called and Naruto turned to hear him "please save my brother" Kankurou pleaded
"Leave it all to me, I will save Gaara no matter what"
Granny Chiyo was standing in front of door in an unknown place. She unlocked the door to the room and took the two scrolls out of a certain chest.
"Are you planning to take those two?" And Ebizou
"I've lived too long as well.. for there is nothing better to fight him, than this"
Team Kakashi were out of the Kazekage building ready to leave for Gaara's retrieval mission.
"We'll send reinforcements as soon as the situation in village stabilizes" said Baki
"I'm going too!" Shouted Temari
"No Temari you can't. You have to guard southern wall. If word about Kazekage gets out foreign lands will try to attack and we have to be prepared"
"What! no way! Gaara is abducted and I'm not going to sit around and do nothing"
"Temari, you stay in village, I will go!" Granny Chiyo said standing on top of a building.
"But lady Chiyo that would be too much for you" Baki said looking at granny who was on top of a building.
"Don't underestimate me" Chiyo said jumping.
Elsewhere in cave..
"How long it's gonna take? My shoulders are getting stiff" said an unknown man which was just a projection of his real self, standing on fingers of big statue. There were nine of them standing on different fingers.
"Shut up Hidan!" Said figure beside him.
"It's been just one day. More two days to go from now on" a man said who had a ripple pattern in his eyes.
Team Guy
"We've been running for an entire day, I'm tired let's take a break already" Tenten said while jumping through forest.
"Tenten, you lack discipline" Lee said turning back to Tenten.
"... !" Neji sensed a presence
"Wait Guy!" Pakkun said standing on a branch of a tree.
"Pakkun!"
"Akatsuki had abducted Kazekage and they have headed towards river country, team Kakashi is on their way. Follow me, I'll explain everything on the way"
Elsewhere ..
Zetsu who was hiding in a tree, felt the presence of chakra heading in the direction of hideout. Zetsu is more of a sensor type than a combat type. He sensed the chakra from several kilometers away.
In cave..
"Enemy from konoha is approaching our hideout" Zetsu stated while extraction of beast was proceeding.
On hearing this, leader of Akatsuki sent a man to stop them or rather buy them some time for extraction.
With team Guy..
"Someone's coming!" Pakkun said turning back while running through rocky plains.
"Byakugan!" Neji started searching for proximity and as soon as he found it, he shouted "behind us!" and everyone stopped to take a look.
*boom*and something came out of ground wrapped in bandages. It was moving towards group at great speed. Before it could hit the group, everyone jumped away. It collided with rock boulder behind them.
After collision died, a man stood on the place where once was boulder. He welded something wrapped in bandages, like sword, it was resting on his shoulders.
"You are.." Guy said looking at the person. He was Kisame Hoshigaki with his sword Samehada.
"You know him Guy sensei?" Asked lee
"Who are you?" Guy asked
"..." Tenten
"Ah, it looks like Bizarre Beast is dumb as well" Kisame smiled in excitement "I might as well refresh your memories"
"... wha-what an overwhelming chakra!" Neji was shocked to see the amount of chakra "I've never seen anyone with this much amount of chakra since Naruto"
Kisame threw his sword in air and formed some hand signs "Water style: Exploding shock wave" huge amount of water was summoned by Kisame and with that the fighting started.
With Naruto..
"Naruto can I ask you a question?" Sakura asked as the team was moving through the woods.
"?" Naruto gazed towards Sakura.
"Since when did Akatsuki started targeting you?"
"I don't know.."
"While ago.. two of the Akatsuki members infiltrated leaf village in order to contact Naruto. It's been 3 years since then, they have started moving. Though I can't see the motive behind this" Kakashi explained
"Then why did they wait for 3 years?"
"I assume that they wanted to but couldn't, probably because lord Jiraiya was with him" said Kakashi while running through forest.
"No that's not it. Few months ago we came across Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, and I was still around pervy sage" Naruto said after hearing Kakashi.
"The information I have gives different reasons" finally granny started talking.
"Different reasons?" Naruto asked curiously.
"It takes a lot of preparation to pull out a beast once it is sealed inside a person. That's why they were delayed"
"No that's not it" said Naruto "the Akatsuki is filled with all S-ranked criminals, who are very strong. They are the most wanted criminals in their own village. Like Itachi, he was a prodigy, he become Anbu captain at the age of 14. He killed every single Uchiha except one, that showed extent of his powers. Orochimaru is also a S-ranked criminal. 3 years ago he attacked leaf village and was able to take down the third Hokage. Same goes for Kisame Hoshigaki, he killed his former comrades and teacher without any mercy."
"What? Orochimaru is also a member of Akatsuki?" Asked Sakura with a shocked expression.
"He was, but now he's also a foe for Akatsuki. The reason why he left is still unknown" Naruto explained.
"But what does it have to do with the delay?" Asked Chiyo
"Well.. to gather a team of S-ranked criminals and give them a same common motive is very difficult. For any shinobi, it's like an impossible task. First you have to search them and then convince them to join you. And even after the forming Akatsuki, the most difficult task is to find a Jinchuuriki. They are scattered across the world, some of them left the village and went rogue due to the treatment of people, and one cannot differentiate between a Jinchuuriki and common shinobi. This takes a lot of time to form an organization this strong and to hunt beast. This is precisely why they have to wait." Naruto explained in detail.
Meanwhile..
"There are more incoming, they are from konoha" said Zetsu while sealing was in progress.
"It's bit crazier this time around, Deidara" said the leader
"Well this Jinchuuriki was stronger than other two and moreover they weren't Jinchuurikis" said Deidara in his defence.
"I tried to tell you, your techniques aren't good for stealth mission." Said Sasori
"Hn.. call me crazy, but I remember your traps were bit excessive too, master Sasori"
"What did you say!" Shouted Sasori with a anger.
"Enough both of you! concentrate on sealing.." ordered leader took a look around "now who will go this time?"
"Let me go this time! I haven't found my Jinchuuriki and its driving me crazy" Said a random guy in cave standing on finger on a statue.
"It's Hatake Kakashi with the Nine Tails Jinchuuriki Uzumaki Naruto" said Zetsu looking at Itachi.
"Well then it's decided!" Said their leader.
With team Kakashi...
"Everyone stop!" Said Kakashi as they landed on ground. There was a person standing in front of them in Akatsuki's robe.
"Itachi Uchiha!" Naruto let out with hint of anger in his tone.
