It feels like forever since I updated this! It probably has been forever; sorry for that. Oh, and yeah, after this, hopefully I'll be getting to Youkai High. But we'll see. Just so you know, there's going to be more Itachi in this chapter than Naruto, I think, so I hope you aren't disappointed with that. If you are, then I'm sorry, but you'll just have to deal with that.

Trapped

Reunited, Or Meeting For The First Time?

Anyone who had met Uchiha Itachi would call him a patient man, and they'd be right. He was very patient.

Then again, everyone had a limit to how much patience they had, and Itachi was reaching his. Anyone who had been around Tobi would be low on patience too.

"Itachi-san! Itachi-san! Itachi-saaan!" Said annoying man's loud voice cut through Itachi's thoughts, causing a dark eyebrow to twitch.

"Tobi, I've told you before not to come into my room many times already, and yet you insist on breaking that rule. What could you possibly want now?" Itachi asked coldly, his black eyes flashing Sharingan.

"But Itachi-san, Zetsu-san sent me to you!" Tobi whined, skipping over to where the lost-nin was leaning over a scroll.

Itachi sighed, moving back to look at the man in the mask. "Alright then, what is it Zetsu wants with me?" He asked with deadly calm.

Tobi waved his arms at his sides. "Well, Tobi isn't too sure. Zetsu-san said something about a new herb that induces sleep, but Tobi doesn't know what that has to do with Itachi-san. So Tobi was sent to get you!"

Itachi stood with a nod. "I see; thank you, Tobi. I'll go see him now, but I want you to stay out of my room until I return. You have my permission to go bother either Kisame or Deidara."

"Yay!!" Tobi cried and raced out of Itachi's room, yelling at the top of his lungs.

Itachi just shook his head. That guy was so weird. He made his way out into the hall, looking left and right; for a moment, he forgot where Zetsu's room was. Then he remembered; the infirmary. He turned left and walked down that way, but before he got to the end of the hall, he turned right, only to continue down another hall. Zetsu's room was at the end of the hall. He knocked softly, waiting, and within moments Zetsu opened the door.

"Oh, good, you're here. I assume Tobi told you what I wanted you for?" Zetsu asked, although his question was nearly overrode by his black half saying, "Oh, great, we get Mr. Stoic today. Wonderful."

Itachi shrugged; he only answered the white half. "He just told me about a new herb. You didn't really expect Tobi to remember a message, did you?"

Zetsu motioned him inside. "I suppose not. But he was right about that. I found a plant called the Braeden Leaf. It means "from the dark valley," if you're wondering. It induces a sleep-like trance during which time the one in the trance-like state is extremely susceptible to jutsus. It would be the best type of herb to use on Tobi when you work on removing the intruder from his mind."

Itachi nodded, and studied the plant held in a glass container on Zetsu's worktable. It was a dark red color, with light purple veins. The outside of the leaves, the border of the plant, were the same light purple. The stem, though, was the natural green it was supposed to be. It was very pretty, although it looked deadly. The border, the light purple around the leaves, had jagged edges that looked sharp enough to cut if you grabbed them.

He looked up at the cannible, nodding appreciatively. "So, it'll work? Would I have to take some as well, or just Tobi?"

Zetsu shook his head. "Just Tobi. Although, we have to be careful not to give him too much. His body is small, and if we do give him too much, it could kill him." "Ooh! Let's do it, let's do it! He doesn't deserve to live! And then, when he dies, we can eat him!"

Of course, both of them ignored Zetsu's black half.

"When will you have it ready by?" Itachi asked, running a finger along the glass.

"It's ready now, if you want to go ahead and get this over with. You'll just have to go get Tobi so we can do this."

Itachi nodded. "I'll get him now. Get everything ready for us, and make sure it's right. I don't want to have to do this again."

Already, Zetsu was turning to do the work. With a shrug, Itachi left the room, and followed the trail of Tobi's chakra to the man-child's room, where Tobi was laying on his back on his bed.

"Tobi; come. We're ready to remove that intruder of yours."

Tobi immediately hopped up. "Are we going to Zetsu-san's room, then?" He asked happily.

"Yes. You go on ahead; I have to get the scroll with the jutsu from my rooms, alright?"

Tobi nodded and rushed off; finally, finally he wouldn't be connected to that boy with the darkness clinging to him!


"Kit, your thoughts are wandering again."

Kyuubi's voice brought Naruto back, and he shook himself. "What? How'd ya guess, Kyuu?" He asked, not even bothering to deny it. When he didn't get an answer, he looked over at the kitsune youkai, and snorted, quickly covering his mouth with a hand. There was Kyuubi with bright pink fur and a flower crown in his hair, wearing a lilac tutu. It was the funniest sight ever!

Kyuubi twitched, growing more annoyed by the second. "Naruto, if you do not change me back this instant, I will not stop until I have complete control over you, mind and body, and I will do obscene things to you as long as I'm in control!" He was yelling at the end of his threat.

Naruto laughed hesitantly before quickly waving both arms, willing Kyuubi back into his normal, orange form. Yep, that was definately better, not to mention safer to look at.

Once Kyuubi was back, he brushed himself off with his muzzle and turned to look at Naruto with a sharp gaze. "Now, Kit, would you like to explain what has captured your thoughts so insistantly?"

Naruto turned away, conjuring up a cute little weasal plushie to cuddle while he talked. "Well, it's weird. A few minutes ago, I had a really bad feeling, like I knew something bad was going to happen. I still have that feeling, only it's worse now. I can actually feel something tugging at me; only, it's not really at me, it's more at my mind. I don't like it; it feels like it's trying to make me lose myself." He hugged the weasal plushie tighter, burying his face in its soft fur.

Kyuubi didn't say anything; instead, he sent his consciousness seaking, trying to find the disturbance Naruto had spoken of. There it was; at the very edge of his mind. It appeared near that door...That's it! He turned to Naruto, frowning before forcing the plushie to disappear. "I know what it is; it really isn't as bad as you think. It's near the door to Tobi's mind. I think he's found a way to remove the link in between your consciousness and his."

Naruto jumped up at that, feeling something akin to happiness and horror. "Really?! How is that possible? Should we go check it out?" He asked, already up and running.

Kyuubi sighed and rushed after him; no sense in him running and possibly getting into trouble. He followed the trail all the way up to the door, where he found Naruto staring at the Tobi kid, who seemed to have a taller shadow standing behind him. Kyuubi frowned; swirling red eyes watched he and Naruto closely. He wanted to snarl, but didn't risk it, in case this new person was dangerous, and attacked them. After all, attacking Naruto in his mind would kill him.

"So it's true? You found a way to seperate us?" Naruto asked eagerly, practically jumping up and down with excitement.

Tobi nodded, perhaps just as eagerly. The shadow behind him kept a strong hand on his shoulder, making sure they never broke contact. "Yep! It was..." The shadow squeazed his shoulder in warning. Tobi quickly changed what he was going to say. "It was my friend who actually found a jutsu to do it. But what are you going to do, Naruto? I noticed that you're trapped here, at least it seems so. You can't leave, can you?"

Naruto turned sad, before quickly smiling. "Nope! But it really isn't so bad! I've been here for years! I don't remember how long, but it's been a while. Although, I would like to get out. I can't remember what the real world looks like." He looked downcast, and Tobi moved as if to go foreword, but the shadow restrained him.

Tobi sighed, his one visible eye in the mask moving behind Naruto to Kyuubi's large frame. "Big guy over there. Do you know where your body is? Your real body, that is?"

Naruto looked behind him at Kyuubi, who shrugged. "I don't know. But I'm guessing you're probably in a hospital somewhere; someone was bound to have found your body that day."

Naruto looked confused. "There's no way anyone would do that! They all hate me! I'm probably still in that park!"

Kyuubi gave him a look, as if to say, "Are you really that stupid?" "Kit, listen. If your body were still in that park, you'd be dead. You're obviously in a hospital, and someone's keeping you alive. How or why, I don't really care. But you and I are alive, which means, Tobi, or Madara, whoever you are, he's in a hospital in Konoha, our village."

Tobi nodded, turning when the shadow pulled at his shoulder. "Okay, thanks! And don't worry, Naruto; I like you! A lot! In fact, I think you're pretty cool! Which is why we're going to try to help you! So just wait some more, and work on that justu of making people see in your mind only what you want them to see. It's coming along nicely!" Tobi stepped through the door, the shadow after him; it seemed to dissolve in the air after them.

Kyuubi grinned and looked over at Naruto, but the kid seemed mororse, rather than happy. "Kit, what's wrong? Aren't you happy?" He asked, a little worried.

Naruto shook his head. "Great; now we'll never see them again! I liked him; he was weird, but he was funny, and now that he isn't connected to me, I'll never see him again!" Naruto felt his eyes burn, but he didn't want to cry, not again.

Kyuubi sighed and lowered his head, nuzzling Naruto affectionately. "Don't worry, kit. You'll see him again; I promise. Just remember what he told you; he likes you too."

Naruto shook his head, but only half-heartedly. A small flicker of hope was burning in his heart, a hope for the long-sought affection of real humans, when he'd only been hated before.


Tobi opened his eyes beneath his orange mask, staring up at Itachi with the one eye visible. He smiled, but the weasal couldn't see it. Zetsu was standing off to the side, wondering what had happened.

Itachi stared at the probably beaming boy, before sighing and closing his eyes. "Fine; I'll help you help the kid. But you're finding out what hospital he's in, you're going to take care of him, and you're going to tell Leader-sama about him and teach him of the Akatsuki."

Tobi nodded eagerly. He'd found a new friend, one who seemed really nice, and now even Itachi-sama promised to help him! This was great!

Wow, it seems like I've been writing this forever. Seriously, I have. I had most of it written like a week ago, and then I forgot I was typing it. But, ignoring that, in the next chapter Naruto's going to wake up! Of course, before that, most of the chapter will be all Tobi, finding him, but yeah. So, review please, and I'll try to update much quicker this time!

Ayame