Chapter 5

City in The Sand

Two years later…

Itachi

In one of the many secret forts that Akatsuki has held in secret, Itachi and Kisame, his partner for four years now, walked through the quiet passageway. "Geez, I hope we get this meeting delt with quickly." Kisame groaned hefting his giant sword. Itachi just stared at him silently.

Of all the people Itachi had witnessed over the years, his partner Kisame was the most interesting. The man had this insatiable thirst for blood and carnage and it only seemed to grow out as the years went on. He also had this appearance that seemed to look like a shark, with sharpened rows of teeth and marks on his face that were a reference of gill slits. And the sword he carried, known as Samehada, was a weapon not to be trifled with by normal standards.

But the Nine are not exactly normal, are they? Itachi asked himself in his mind.

In not only four years, Itachi had risen through the ranks. It was only in a month that Akatsuki were so pleased that they made him one of the Nine leaders and partner to Kisame Hoshigaki.

Walking into the center of the cave the other Nine, or rather their silhouettes, were all there. Even in the shadows,Itachi could tell them all apart.

Kakuzu and Hidan, or the Zombie Brothers as Kisame refers them to, stood to the far right. No one really knew what Kakuzu looked like aside from the glowing green eyes that could be seen in the darkest of night. Hidan was the loud mouth that just simply couldn't be killed. He had once told a story about how he had survived a thousand blades at once. Itachi really didn't care. And so they were known as the Zombie Brothers for the shear fact that no one knew how to kill them.

To their right stood Sasori and Deidara, The Artful Strokes. Both believed that their views had been a view of art. Sasori, who was always hunched back, believed that his art should be displayed through that of a puppet. His partner Deidara, who had lost an eye from unknown causes, believed that art should be that which explodes all at once.

Zetzu was a mystery. None knew who he was; the only thing people did know is that he is the master of reconnaissance. He was also the only one of the Nine that had no partner.

And standing in front of Itachi, was Pain and Konan. Those two especially, were shrouded in mystery. The only thing that could be seen was Pains eyes that seemed to penetrate through your very being. He was the chairman of the Nine and the official leader. He had this deep yet wise voice that would go right through your very being. His partner Konan, would always stand to his left and stayed silent during most meetings. Although there were a few times when she would speak, they were extremely rare.

"Is everyone here?" Pain asked in a deep yet calm voice. We each nodded. "Good, it comes to my attention that Kakuzu and Hidan have caught the Gobi." He said looking at Kakuzu and Hidan.

"It wasn't that hard." Kakuzu said in his raspy voice. "Easy for you to say, asshole! You weren't the one being attacked, as always!" Hidan complained making Kakuzu glare at him.

"Enough!" Nagato declared stopping the argument. "Whether or not, you accomplished your mission. Now we must extract the Gobi and The Piece of Eden from the host." He said making both nod as Kakuzu tossed the tall armored body into the water.

And after that minute the body began to hover over the body of water and each member raised their arms. Soon their rings began to absorb the energy from the man's body and each had seen the silhouette of the Gobi be absorbed into the statue. Absorbing all of its essence, the Nine dropped the body into the water.

"That is three in which we have absorbed. The ones known as Matatabi, Saiken, and Kokuou. Only four more remain." Nagato announced.

"What is our next move?" Itachi asked him. Of all the ones Pain had respect for besides Konan, Itachi was the only other. "We move into Suna, the City in the Sand. You and Kisame will deal with it."

"The Sand City," Kisame groaned at the news. "Me and sand don't really go all that well."

"Wpuld you rather face the sand, or me?" Pain asked again. Kisame just grinned, "Even I'm not that fucking retarded."

"Good. You'll be heading out by sunrise tomorrow. We'll report back in week's end. Meeting adjourned," Pain announced and each member left.

Naruto

I lied in the passenger seat of Cell 8's jeep, looking out at the mountains as we drove to our next destination. Cell 8 had turned out to be the best cell of my generation. Sasuke had lightened up after our first mission and even acknowledged me as a rival. Don't honestly know if that's good or not, but at least it's a start. Sakura had surprisingly changed her tune as well. To where she actually apologized about being too hostile and shallow. Sadly for Sasuke, I was placed as Kakashi-sensei's second-in-command of the cell.

I honestly thought we were doing good all in all. I had also kept in touch with Akiko and Jushiro as the years went on. Aki actually loved the gift I gave her. I was hoping to see her again before the cell's next mission. But… no luck on that department, because we were sent out just a day ago. We were instructed to head out to Suna, one of The Order's main cities where the Kazekage was stationed. We were instructed to protect the Kazekage's son who was a… 'special case.' I could tell that there was something the higher ups weren't telling us, but what, I didn't know. It wasn't in my right to question orders. And so we went to our next assignment, no questions asked.

As I fell asleep, I could feel someone shake me softly, waking me up from my dead sleep. "Naruto," I heard and saw Sakura's face in front of mine, making me jump a little. "Jesus Christ, Sakura! We're close but not that close." I complained as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh grow up. We're in the city." She said as I got out and looked around. It was instantly hot and I felt out of my element. But there were skyscrapers so huge; all I could do was gape. Then I looked in front of the jeep and saw a mansion much like the one Grandpa Saru worked at as Hokage. "This the place?"

"What do you think?" Sasuke asked sarcastically.

"Asshole," I said under my breath as we walked in. As we did, we ran into four different people. One was definitely the Kazekage, his stare alone was sending chills down my back. The oldest boy next to him had the same face as him but his hair was brown while his father's was reddish. The girl, who seemed the oldest, was blonde with a mischief grin on her face as she looked at me and Sasuke, but she had to be a good two or three years older than us. Then there was the small boy, but something about him seemed familiar… and dangerous. Just one thing though; I never met the boy beyond today. "Lord Kazekage," I heard Kakashi-sensei and we all bowed respectfully before him.

"Rise, Master Kakashi. A man of your stature has no need," He said in mature tone, and we all stood back up. He looked at his children and back at us. "I need you to protect my youngest son. I fear there are," He paused for a second and looked directly at me and then back at Kakashi-sensei. "People who wish to take him."

Kakashi-sensei seemed to understand and nodded. "We'll do our best, my lord." He told him in a calm tone.

I walked up to the other teenagers. "Hi, my name's Naruto Uzumaki," I said respectfully. It was Sasuke's turn for introduction and soon Sakura tailed behind us.

"Kankuro Sabaki," The boy said with a smirk. "Temari Sabaki," The girl grinned. We all looked at the boy who couldn't be no older than us, but I was the only one to walk up to him. "My name's Naruto. What's yours?" I asked with a friendly smile and the boy looked up with this reclusive look in his eyes. "Gaara," He said in this deep and sad tone. "Gaara Sabaki of The Sand…"

Introduce characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto