The next day, we headed off toward the Leaf village. It would not take long to get there, but they insisted on complaining anyway.

"Can't you just shimmer us there, hmm?"

"I could, but that would defeat the purpose of this exercise"

"What? I'm f***ing dying from walking half of the continent!"

"Can't we find a nice spot in the shade to rest"

"You are such fainéants, it has only been five hours"

"Worst 5 hours of my life"

"Are we there yet, hmm?"

"No"

"Are we there yet, hmm?"

"No"

"Are we there yet, hmm?"

"Does it look like we are freaking there!?"

"………Are we there yet, hmm?"

"If you ask again, you will not be getting there at all"

"So how much longer is it?"

"Only a mile or two more"

"Should we be wearing a disguise or something?"

"No, the security system isn't exactly the best"

"And we will be staying the night" I stated, not expecting such an answer back.

"In the f***ing village!?"

"Yes, you have a problem with that?"

"No, no, it's cool"

"Wouldn't they know who the Akatsuki are by now?"

"Doubtful, they are not too quick with these things"

"Then why are you wearing your hat?"

"Because they know me. Unfortunately my reputation precedes me all too well here"

"Doesn't it do that everywhere"

"Yes, which is why I am a master of Genjutsu, to cover up my reputation in the eyes of others, or just because that is my specialty. Does everyone remember the mission plan?"

"Yes, let's just get on with it"

A slight Genjutsu on the guards and we were in. I dismissed them to do whatever they wished until 3. I was promenading around throughout the training grounds and just the urban town. After my little walk, I decided to head off towards my old house. I walked right in and there were actual signs of someone living there.

"Seems Naruto finally caught on"

I strolled through the halls until I found my old room. I opened the door to find that everything was cleaned up, but still where I had left it. This took me by surprise, I figured he would have cleaned it out or something.

"You like it? I left it alone for you"

"Naruto, you surprised me"

"Ya, I have that effect on people. Hope you don't mind, I cleaned it up"

"Actually I am quite surprised you cared enough"

"I didn't just say that to say that you know"

"I see. Good luck to you"

"You're leaving so soon?"

"I have things to take care of, remember"

"Oh…I still haven't given up"

"But you are gaining the wisdom of a future Hokage, and not taking me on right now? Very smart move"

"But there will be a day when I do"

"To that day I say, koukatekimen. I hope you will be ready for what you are in for"

I shimmered back over to the park, to find Itachi there waiting for me.

"So what have you been up to?"

Just checking in"

"You know how dangerous that is"

"I can handle myself, you know that"

"Yes, and I trust you. Just tell me next time"

"I can do that. Let us go to the ramen place, we should be meeting them there soon"

It was about time to check in on the group. I had told them to meet us back at Ichiraku ramen. We walked the two hundred yards over to the ramen place, still with minimal disturbances.

"Twenty four bowls of miso"

They all just sort of looked at me in astonishment.

"Well are you going to order?"

He brought my ramen, it looked delicious.

"Let us see if I can still do this"

I cracked my neck a few times, and did the same to my fingers. I grabbed my chopsticks and started the feast. They gawked in awe at the sight. I was too busy scarfing down delicious ramen to care.

"Mariah…Mariah…MARIAH, hmm!"

I quickly glanced over at him, he was pointing to his head. I slurped down the noodles I had in my mouth and felt my head. My damn hood fell off.

"Crud…"

T"I knew you were the only one to love my ramen this much"

"Well, I cannot go without this stuff for long, it is too awesome"

Itachi handed me my hat back because I switched it a while ago for a hood. I embarrassedly put it on. I love my hat, but it is not fun to fight in…you cannot move well without the stupid bell dinging.

"So you guys think it's safe, hmm?"

"Well Mariah and Itachi ate theirs"

"Should we?"

"Just try it you guys!"

They reluctantly started eating it, then it kicked in and they actually looked like they were enjoying it.

"Wow that was awesome"

"Some real good eats, hmm"

"Just like the old days. So you guys want to spar or something?"

"Ya let's f***ing do it!"

We all headed off to the training grounds, how nobody noticed is beyond me.

"So who wants to go first?"

I cracked my knuckles really loudly so they could hear. Then it was silent. They should know by now, I do not use Taijutsu, it was just psyching them out.

"At least one of you has to want to fight"

Finally Deidara stepped forward, or was shoved to be precise.

"This should be quick"

I led them over to the training grounds, since there was nobody there; I figured it would be fine.

"Watch closely, it will be over in a minute or two"

I walked over to the other side of the field and waited for him to make the first move. He reached into his pocket and got out some clay. He sent a little bird towards me and I easily blocked it with a kunai, which kept going past it and right into his arm.

"Alright, time to get serious"

I shimmered behind him and used a low powered Rasengan to push him over to the other side of the field. I just did that so that I could get enough time for my next bit. I pulled my hand back and charged a Rasenyari, full powered, but not deadly. I ran at him until I got close enough to launch it. Right as I got into range, he jumped off the tree and went flying behind me, but that is not enough to stop me. I quickly turned around and threw it at him. He obviously did not know it was a projectile Ninjutsu also. A direct hit, as usual. These fights were getting more boring as they went on.

"Anyone else want to go?"

There was an eerie silence, apparently not one of them wanted to.

"You guys are no fun"

"I'll fight you"

It was a voice I slightly recognized, but I had to turn around to be 100% confident in whom it was, Kakashi.

"Now why would you want to fight me? Do you not remember what happened last time?"

"I know full well what happened, it's an order"

"An order? Ah from the Hokage I presume?"

"Of course and it's directed to every ninja Chuunin and higher"

This was not good, the Leaf village had an awful lot of ninja. If I could just get by Kakashi quick enough, I could just run for it. No sense in getting us all into this.

"You guys get out of here"

"Rai we're not just going to leave you"

"We can handle this together, hmm"

"Wasn't this a teamwork mission after all"

"Teamwork as in get out of here when I tell you"

I tossed one of my kunai over to Itachi.

"You know what to do"

He stared at the kunai for a second and nodded. The others were just in awe that he would willingly leave, but they soon followed.

"Alright now it is just me and you"

"No it's just you and the Leaf village. One person in particular"

"Who…"

"Just you and me"

"Naoki, long time no see. Training with Orochimaru did not go as well as you wanted huh?"

"Actually I learned a lot"

"What about the whole killing me thing?"

"Naruto convinced me otherwise, but I can still beat the crap out of you for what you did"

"So Naruto never told you huh?"

"Oh he told me, and I'm going to fight you for not telling me the truth!"

"Well truth is always stranger than fiction and I did not want to tell you for the Leaf's sake"

"Enough with this useless conversation, it's you and me now"

"You honestly believe you can beat me by yourself?"

"Of course not, I'm not that overconfident. I have a village worth of backup"

"The odds are not in my favor, but the plan will succeed either way", I said to myself quite softly.

"I plan on getting this done without having to ask for reinforcements, Kuwashii Chidori"

She gathered a Chidori in her hand that enveloped the whole field. Dodging the random shocks was hard enough, but she had activated her curse mark too. She had amazing mobility for having such a wingspan. I got hit with a few stray bolts, but backed up enough to charge a Rasenyari. I launched it through the barrage of lightning and it cut through numerous streams. It went right for the epicenter of it all. It hit her dead on her arm, but the lightning did not falter. Instead she dove right at me and hit my stomach. I shimmered off to the other side of the field and touched the corner of my mouth, blood. Ok she was pissing me off now. She came up for another Chidori strike, I grabbed her hand and redirected her into the tree. I quickly ran over there and grabbed her by her neck. I forced her to look into my eyes, casting an almost lethal Genjutsu on her. Afterwards she fell to the ground, unconscious. I heard that all too familiar sound of the chirping birds. It was Kakashi's turn now. I waited until the last possible second to shimmer behind him, Rasenganing his back sending him through a few trees.

"Kage Ninpo: Infinite darkness jutsu"

The surrounding area turned completely black. I stepped into it and I was the only one who could see through the illusion.

"Kaze Ninpo: savage razor wind"

I lifted my hand and directed it towards Kakashi, who was just now getting up. My attack was nearly impossible to dodge and hit him dead on. His clothes had pieces torn off and he was bleeding from nearly everywhere.

"Now is there anyone else who wants to try?"

"I think it's about time for me to try", Sasuke said coming out from behind the tree.

"You realize, one on one will not work on me"

"I see that, that's why it's not one on one, it's six on one. Asuma, Gai, Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba and I"

"Then we will see if this works out with just you"

They all took off in different directions, they seemed to have a plan in place.

"Dynamic entry!", Gai shouted.

He completely missed me and I redirected him to hit Asuma. Kiba used his tunneling fang and just caught the edge of my led. I heard that damn chirping noise again. I turned around and this time it was Sasuke. I was about to dodge it, but I could not move my legs. Shikamaru caught me in a shadow possession while I was distracted. I only managed to get my top half free enough to get a counter Rasengan. I got an aftershock, but mainly missed the brunt of it. I felt a sharp pain through my back, Kakashi seemed to have gotten back up while we were fighting.

"Ninpo chakra paralysis"

I ran towards the mass of people, everyone of them I hit had their chakra networks stopped. I had hit four of them, all that was left was Kakashi and Sasuke.

Why don't you just give up on this hopeless attempt?"

"I do not give up remember. I am going to fight until one side wins"

Pretty much even to the 2 Sharingan users, I really needed to come up with a plan. Strategy was not my strong suit in the heat of battle, so I just had to wing it.

"Fuuton: Moretsu Tatsumaki (Wind Style: Raging Tornado)"

I grabbed Kakashi's and Sasuke's arms and quickly spun them around once, releasing all of the wind chakra I had left thus creating a razor tornado. I jumped back a ways and hoped it would work. When the jutsu dissipated they were all cut up and I thought I had done it. Then I felt a sharp pain in my side as I went flying the opposite direction towards a tree.

"I was never too great at fast paced strategy, especially with unknowns. You realize I would have won if you had not shown up", I said, looking my brother in the eye.

"Well we sent the best and they couldn't get it done, so I had to come and help out"

"It is…not…over"

"For now it is"

My vision slowly faded to black as I slowly slid down the tree.

I slowly opened my eyes, regaining feeling in my limbs.

"Well well, look who is finally getting back to earth"

I quickly tried to swing at him, or at least do some handsigns, but I could not move. I was chained to a wall…hanging like a ragdoll with shackles around my wrists. At least they were smart enough to chain my hands away from each other.

"What is with all this"

I looked over at the shadowy figure in the doorway. When he finally stepped into the dim light, I saw it was Ibiki.

"Your brother thought it was a good idea to keep any chance of escape at a minimum"

"And to send the Leaf's best interrogator?"

"We needed some information out of you also"

"Like hell I am going to talk"

"You'll see it my way soon. Where are the rest of them and what are you planning?"

"I am not going to tell you"

He drew a kunai from under his trench coat. I could see blood on the tip, but the rest gleamed in the stream of light illuminating the room. He held it close to my throat as I struggled to lean away.

"Now answer the question"

"Do your own damn research!"

He was a bit frustrated by my constant answers. I attempted to activate my bijuu's Kekkei Genkai, but nothing. I could not understand…it did not even use .10% of my chakra.

"What the…"

"Oh right, we gave you a poison that blocks your chakra network for hours, even if you wake up. And without any Taijutsu skills, you're defenseless"

I jerked forward and must have reopened some of the internal injuries from the fight earlier. I felt a warm trickle of blood run down the side of my mouth. He drew the kunai again and moved it down towards my gut. After a moment or two jabbed it into my gut. He slowly applied more and more pressure digging deeper into my stomach. I started coughing up more blood as he asked again.

"Just answer the questions and we'll get you fixed up"

"Go to hell!"

He put away his kunai and walked back out of the silhouette of the doorway. When he was finally far enough away that I could not hear his footsteps, I reached into my cloak and got my tracking kunai with my teeth. I jerked my head to one side and threw it against the wall.

"Now I just have to wait"

I breathed a sigh of relief, I did all I had to. After about twenty minutes, I heard footsteps again in the hallway. This time it was a friendly face, Itachi.

"Don't you think you went a little overboard here?"

"Eh I did what I had to", I said coughing up a bit more blood.

"See I should've done this with you"

"Well if I used the Konoha Ryuu: Kami Chisoku (Leaf Style: God Speed) I would have totally owned them"

I cringed in pain a little when he took the shackles off, I had numerous wounds they were resting on. After he did, I fell immediately down onto his chest.

"I knew you would miss me, but this much"

"I cannot really move well right now"

I was trying to hide the fact that I was blushing because of it.

"Well, do you want me to carry you or something?"

"No, how about you just help me"

"You know I really wouldn't mind carrying you"

"I can walk just fine without you!"

I staggered to my feet and took a few steps before I fell over again and he caught me by my arm and stomach.

"Ok fine, I do need a little bit of help"

He pulled my arm over his shoulder and we started running down the hallway.

"So did you get the documents?"

"Yup, Deidara and Sasori are waiting right down this hall. Kakuzu and Hidan are outside with Zetsu making sure we have a straight shot out"

"Good, now when we are ready, we can enable the last section of the plan"

"It will take a while to get there though"

"Just another year or so. Oh hey, did you go and get Skai?"

"I took care of everything, now just relax or you're going to get even more injured. You're bleeding all over my shirt"

"Well, I had to go and be the diversion, otherwise we would not have known where they were"

"True true, are you ok?"

"Ya, I am fine. Just lost a lot of blood, if I pass out"

"You're not going to pass out"

"If I pass out…"

I was not able to finish that sentence because I fell into a state of slight consciousness.

"Alright fine, you're passing out from blood loss"

He stopped running and set me down. After another second or two, he picked me back up, my limp body in his arms. He quickly checked a few medical signs, I was fine, just needed to rest a bit. We finally got outside and found Deidara and Sasori.

"Wow that's brutal, hmm"

"Eh she'll be fine in a few days"

"Yet she is almost passed out and is becoming really pale"

"Look I know her limit, she'll be fine. Now let's get going"

We got back to where Hidan, Kakuzu, and Zetsu were at the gate.

Hidan-"Holy sh**"

"You guys too? It's not that bad"

"Are you looking at the same person?"

"You guys obviously don't know her"

"Apparently, hmm"

We grabbed what we needed to and started on the long trek back to the Rain. It would only take us around nine hours to get over there usually, but it is becoming winter and there is some snow on the ground making running over there a bit more difficult. When we finally got back over there, we checked in with Pein and he walked me back over to our house. We got in the door and he set me down on the bed, being careful not to open any of the other wounds. After he was sure I was ok and comfortable, he lay down next to me and fell asleep.


OMG I'm back!!!!! Lol some people were askin where I was, I will try to add at least one chapter of one of my stories a day. School is starting to calm down a bit and I should have enough time to. ^-^