A/N: Before I start this chapter I would like to wish a Merry Christmas (although it's belated) and a Happy Boxing Day to all my followers and favorites. Thank you so much for making me have the psyche to persist in writing this story until this chapter. I didn't expect it to be this long honestly, so I owe you guys a lot for your continued support. Continue enjoying my story and I promise I will definitely continue making it worth your time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. If I did Sakura-chan would definitely be Naruto's waifu;)

The Hideout

In the Hideout

Hoshigaki Kisame was patting Samehada on his lap, which had fallen soundly asleep a little over an hour ago. This always happened after the capture of every Jinchuuriki that Kisame captured alongside his former partner (Itachi), due to Samehada having to take in large amounts of chakra all at once during the fights. However, this time Kisame didn't really have much trouble when capturing the Jinchuuriki in question (Naruto), since Sasuke had already taken him out. Staring at the spikey blade on his lap, he assumed that Samehada was bored due to his lack of activity over some time now. Kisame himself had an assignment to go and capture the Eight-Tails in a few minutes, so he readied himself and stood up, waking Samehada in the process. However, something caught his attention as he stood up, and he closed his eyes to try and sense the feeling again.

There was no mistake. 7 chakra signatures, among them recognizing the copy-ninja, Hatake Kakashi, were standing a few feet away from the hideout. The other 5, he surmised, must have been fellow Konoha shinobi, and judging from their chakra levels, were all chuunin, with the exception of one jounin among them. "Well, well, " Kisame remarked, his face breaking out into an evil grin, "seems like Konoha misses its old pet already. I didn't expect them to send out a rescue squad this early. Well this might be interesting. I guess I can go out and give them a greeting." Kisame began walking towards the entrance to his lair, when suddenly a whirling sound appeared and Madara appeared in front of Kisame.

"Where do you think you're going, Kisame?" Madara asked him, in a serious voice than normal. Kisame, slightly taken aback by Madara's question, replied, "Where? There are some flies in front of the cave and I thought I would head out there to exterminate them. Unless," he stopped briefly, waiting for Madara's interjection, this appeared almost immediately after the pause in his sentence, "No. I know there are intruders in front of our hideout, but I don't want you to go out and greet them just yet. That would take out the fun of everything, wouldn't it? Besides, what kind of an idiot ends a party before midnight? Just stay at your quarters and wait for them to come to you. I believe you were always the kind who enjoyed the hunt, right?" Kisame looked at Madara then smirked, before nodding. Madara then added, "I've already instructed Sasuke and his team to stay put, and I've sent Zetsu to the other hideout since I fail to believe they only sent one rescue team, so it would be in our best interests not to have too many unwanted guests." Madara then teleported away, leaving Kisame going towards Samehada. Once he placed himself next to Samehada, who still seemed to be asleep despite Madara's appearance, before patting him on the head and saying, "You'll be out of your boredom soon, Samehada. I assure it."

In another section of the hideout, Sasuke was seated on a raised section of rock, his sword brandished in his lap, and looking down at nothing in particular on the ground. However, immediately he noticed that the chakra signatures had gotten closer, he looked up facing the direction towards the group. His Mangekyo Sharingan was activated, and he muttered to himself, "All of you are going to die here. This is simply the difference in power between us."

Outside the hideout, Kakashi's group

The group of seven was currently crouched on the ground in a circle, looking at Kakashi who was at the middle. Sakura had no objection to this, since she knew that Kakashi had relatively more experience than her in battle and leadership, so she didn't really mind him taking the lead in such a situation. Tsunade put her as leader of the team in name only, so she didn't really have much say in this situation. Kakashi, who was observing her to see if she had any opposition, smiled to himself when he noticed her calm facial expression, then proceeded to clear his throat,"As you may all be aware, or for some of you who may not be aware(he looked at Kiba, who had the same mindset as Naruto)., the enemy may well be aware of our current position," Kiba was a little surprised at this, but Kakashi continued, "Our enemies are all S- class criminals in the bingo book, so it goes without saying that they have really extraordinary senses. I already sent out one of my shadow clones to see if they had placed any traps in front of the hideout, or barriers like the hideout they used when they captured Gaara. Oddly enough, there was nothing of the sort. It's safe to assume that they may be waiting for us inside the hideout. There isn't really much of a choice here, so let's proceed in a closer pack than we were in as we were heading here. Be on the lookout for any traps or foreign objects, they may act as triggers for their traps. Dismissed!"

The circle disbanded and the group of shinobi began proceeding slowly to the entrance of the hideout. Kiba and Lee were continually punching their fists in air, psyching them for the battle that lay ahead. Sakura, who was tightening her gloves, looked at the duo and smiled to herself a little. Those two almost had the same personalities as Naruto, with Lee always pushing himself to the limits in his training just like Naruto, and Kiba being as loudmouthed and brash as Naruto was. It was no surprise then, that they were more determined to save Naruto than the other males in the group, having spent more time with him than Sai. Looking at Sai, he had a serious expression on his face. Sakura felt a little intimidated, and almost immediately, Sai looked towards her. "What's wrong, Sakura? Do I have something on my face?" Sakura chuckled a little at her teammates out of context question, before replying, "You're too tensed up Sai. Relax a little. We'll definitely rescue him. I promise," smiling at the end of her statement. Sai looked at her, contemplating something, before thinking to himself, "What makes you go so far for him? Could it be, as Neji said?" But he decided not to ask her, since it really wasn't a good time. Sakura looked at Sai, and mentally thanked Naruto for making him friendlier than he was in the past. A little over three months ago she couldn't have imagined having this conversation with Sai.

Neji was at the front of the group with Kakashi. This came as no surprise to Sakura. He was also a jounin like Kakashi, so the two of them led the way ahead. A little behind both of them, was Shikamaru. Lazily having his hands in his pockets, he proceeded ahead of Sakura, Lee, Kiba and Sai, maintaining a slightly fast pace in his steps. He was also determined to rescue Naruto, remembering the words he told his father, "When I'm with Naruto, he makes me want to follow him." If Naruto was no longer in the village, Shikamaru felt like it would become a dull place to live in. Not that it wasn't already dull being a ninja, but he wanted some sort of excitement in his daily life. Naruto and Chouji were examples of what he was looking for, and therefore both of them were necessary in the village. They were among his first friends, after all. Shikamaru smiled at himself a little as he recounted this, a smile that did not go unnoticed by Sakura. "You've changed all of us, Naruto. Me too. I don't want to imagine a life without you. Therefore, I am definitely bringing you back," Sakura told herself, for what seemed to be the umpteenth time that day. Now seeing the entrance to the cave, the group hastened their steps a bit, hope flickering in their hearts.

Gai's group

Might Guy proceeded into the trees with an air of urgency, leading the trio behind him deeper and deeper into the vicinity of the woods. According to the information he had, the hideout was supposed to be closer to them now. Stopping on a nearby branch that had a group of birds (which suddenly flew away due to Gai's sudden appearance); he looked behind him to see if his team was catching up to him. They were quite a distance away, he noticed, and sweat dropped at the thought that he may have been too excited and moved faster than the rest of them. After what seemed to be 5 minutes, Hinata and Shino landed in the tree opposite his, and stopped for a while to catch their breath. Ino arrived a few minutes later. She was panting furiously, and collapsed almost immediately next to Hinata, who caught her. "Ino-san, are you okay?" Hinata asked her. "I-m f-i-n-e," Ino stammered between huge draws of breath, " Gai-sensei, cou-ld y-ou be a l-ittl-e s-lo-wer, or my y-o-uth will d-ie be-fore I e-ven ge-t marrie-d," She turned towards Gai. Gai sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, before apologizing to Ino, "Sorry, sorry, I may have gotten a bit carried away. But don't worry your youth won't run out so easily. Not until we've rescued Naruto though," he concluded, flashing one of his trademark thumbs-up at her. Hinata beamed at this, and Ino couldn't manage but smile a little at this too.

Shino however, maintained his usual expressionless face. He then asked Hinata, "Hinata, use your Byakugan to look a few feet ahead from here. I've already sent out my kikaichuu to scout the area, but they seem to have come across something since I haven't received any feedback from them." The group suddenly seemed puzzled at this revelation, and Hinata wasted no time in activating her Byakugan. Focusing her vision ahead of her, she looked and suddenly gasped in surprise before shutting her eyes. Guy suddenly rounded on her, "What is it, Hinata? What's wrong?" Ino, who had recovered most of her energy and managed to stand up on her own, shot a concerned glance at Hinata. She opened her eyes and then asked Shino, "Shino-kun, how many kikaichuu did you send out?" Suddenly surprised by this sudden question, Shino looked at Hinata tentatively before answering, "35. Why did you ask?" Hinata shook her head before saying, "I saw 35 mounds of what looked like a white substance on the ground quite a distance away from here. I think they may be your kikaichuu."

Shino frowned immediately at this revelation, and Hinata understood. To him the kikaichuu were like a family to him, and he always got angry if even one of them was killed. Even during practice sessions with Team 8 he would always berate Kiba in case he almost hit his kikaichuu when he was practicing his dynamic marking. Shino looked at Guy-sensei, and, with an air of urgency in his voice, said, "We must hurry." He then shot ahead of the group, ignoring Ino's calls, and the trio followed behind him, with Ino mumbling to herself, "Hmph! Boys!"

It didn't take long for them to reach where Hinata had seen, and the sight that beheld them made Ino cringe. Hinata held her hands over her mouth, and Gai sensei merely shook his head from side to side. Shino proceeded to the nearest mound, and bent over to have a closer look at it. After a few seconds of awkward silence, he suddenly spoke up, "It seems to be the enemy's jutsu. It's a technique that takes over the victim's body and uses their chakra to grow. The source is," he pulled at something that was on the insect's body, "this." Guy,Shino and Hinata moved closer to have a better look at what Shino was holding, but Ino suddenly complained, "I can't see anything!" "It seems to be a microscopic spore," Hinata explained. Ino looked at her in bewilderment, "How can you-"but suddenly silenced herself after seeing Hinata's Byakugan activated. "Never mind." Guy then spoke up, having seemed to have thought about the matter for a considerable amount of time. "This means that the enemy knows we are here. We may be closer to their hideout." At the mention of these words, Hinata looked in the surrounding area and pointed in the direction ahead of where they were. "Good work, Hinata. Let's proceed, but more carefully than before, "Guy advised his team, and the quartet headed towards said direction.

Kakashi's group

The team of seven had arrived at the entrance to the hideout. Neji did a quick scan of the surrounding area, to make sure they weren't being followed, and after ensuring that the coast was clear, advised the group to proceed into the cave. Kakashi led the group into the cave, and Sakura managed to take in its features as they walked ahead. The cave itself was not really a sight to behold. There were stones spread out all over the smooth ground, and at certain sections of the ground there were protrusions of rocks from the ground. These rocks would make good resting areas, Shikamaru thought as he looked at the area. From the roof were stalactites that looked as if they had been there for a long time, considering how they were hardened. Kiba looked disgusted enough as it was, and wondered to himself how the Five Nation's greatest enemy could manage to live in a place like this.

Kakashi however, had more pressing concerns at hand. Why was there no sign of an enemy? Although he was a bit elated that they had not hit any snags as it was, it made him more cautious. He thought that there would have been at least someone who had appeared to confront them, but there was no one. The cave seemed to head on towards infinity, as they could not see an ending, but suddenly they came upon a queer section of the cave.

This section, Kakashi noticed, had been divided into seven paths. The group of seven looked at each other as if wondering where to go from there, but suddenly Sakura spoke up, "I think it would be best if each of us took a path here into the deeper sections of the cave." At once, Kiba looked at her with his mouth wide aghast, then denied fervently, "What are you talking about, Sakura?! Our opponents are the Akatsuki! I think it would be better to head through each of these paths as a team and explore each of them one by one. My nose already tells me that Naruto is on that path," he proceeded to point at the path closest to him, "so I say we should start with that one. Isn't that right, Kakashi-sensei?" he looked at Kakashi in a way that expected him to approve his answer, but to his chagrin, Kakashi shook his head in disagreement.

Kiba was shocked, and as he opened his mouth to ask why, Neji spoke in disapproval, "Kiba, sensei is right. I think what Sakura said earlier has some logic to it. I don't think the Akatsuki will just watch us take Naruto from them without putting up some form of resistance. My guess is that they are probably lying in wait to ambush us somewhere within this cave. Moving in a group increases that risk since we will draw too much attention to ourselves, so operating individually would be in our best forte right now." Neji concluded with an air of finality that left everyone there clearly impressed at his tone of leadership. Shikamaru then spoke up, not making any expression at Neji's remark, "There you have it, Kiba. Therefore, we will all split up here and move our separate ways. Before we leave though- "he saw someone raise their hand in the air- "what is it Lee?" Everyone looked at Lee, who had managed to head to the rear of the group. "Shikamaru, could I be allowed to head to the path where Kiba says Naruto is? I think everyone else should head down the separate paths. I want to rescue Naruto-kun personally. And there's something I want to confirm." Sakura looked at Lee in confusion, and was about to protest before Shikamaru answered, "Very well. Lee you can take that path. The rest of us will go along the remaining paths."

"Before we all leave, as I was saying earlier, there's something I want you guys to pay caution to. Now, as we are dealing with the Akatsuki here there's a chance that they may have planted fake chakra signatures of Naruto within the area to mislead us as to his current location. You saw what happened with Sasuke when we were looking for Itachi. Since such a scenario may happen again, be on your bravest watch and don't fall for anything so easily. Take care and make sure you all survive. I t would be troublesome if you lot died off here since we still need to rebuild the village," Shikamaru finished explaining. Sai let out a hearty laugh, which surprised everyone there, but they soon joined in the laughter, that helped to set a positive mood for them before they set out into their destinations.

Each of the seven then placed themselves at the entrances to each of the routes, and within a fraction of a second they set off into the unknown depths of the hideout, silently praying for each of their comrade's safety.

End

A/N: There's chapter 9 guys. It's taken me four hours to type this, so I'm considerably tired, I'll ask you to forgive me if the ending of the chapter seemed to be a bit lackluster and rushed. Either way I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and thank you all for the support you have given me in writing this. Have a wonderful time reading this.