Chapter 10. After a good long while, finally chapter 10. I know it took too long. Procrastination! I swear! And…well…not enough inspiration. And the computer hates me. So..yeah. Long chapter for your sakes.
Disclaimer: Standard. I don't own Naruto.
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Itachi scanned the cave once more with his sharingan eyes, then turned to Kisame who still had an unconscious Sakura in his arms. "I have to admit, this turned out better than expected.." he said with an amused look.
He went inside the cave and Kisame followed. After a few moments of walking, Kisame noticed they were going through a tunnel leading downwards. To the sides were doors that resembled walls and some torches that looked like they hadn't been lit in years. Reaching a dead end at last, Itachi pushed open the door to his left. Inside there were some rope, some kunais, a walkie-talkie and other supplies. He smirked, then pushed open the door to the right. There were chains on the wall, ready for any prisoner.
"What's the plan, Itachi?" Kisame said, putting down the girl so she looked like she was sitting, leaning on the cave wall. Her head rested down, her face covered by her cotton candy hair.
"First of all," Itachi said, turning to Kisame and throwing the walkie-talkie to him. "Go bring back some reinforcements…nearest village must have some shinobis we can hire. Take some of the Akatsuki funds, I could care less. And bring Deidera, too." Itachi pointed to the walkie-talkie. "See if you can find anybody using that thing. It might prove useful."
Kisame grinned and looked over to Itachi. "What if it's the kyuubi and his pals?" he said, wondering how Itachi will react. Itachi, however didn't react any differently.
"Stall them." He simply stated. "Make sure the kyuubi and the kyuubi alone comes here."
"What about the girl?" Kisame said, his thoughts immediately remembering the pink girl he just set down.
"That's what the kyuubi and his pals are coming here for," Itachi said. "In the clearing a few hours ago, the shadow clone gave itself up without a fight for the girl. And the girl tried to rescue him in return. There's a great chance that the real kyuubi is going to try and rescue her back." He stopped, then continued. "Konoha is also famous for not leaving any shinobis behind. I doubt this one is an exception."
"And if she wakes up?" Kisame said. "This girl is a little rebel. She won't take the news of being a prisoner kindly."
Itachi's eyes began to glow red. "That's what the Mangekyu Sharingan is for."
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It took a while to realize it, but Sakura eventually realized that she was lying on a cave wall. Her thoughts and memories rushed into her head as she opened her eyes slowly. It was a dark room and Sakura wondered what she was doing here. If anything, she was a prisoner right now and needed to escape. Sakura stood up and felt the wall. It was solid hard rock, but some areas were sturdy and brittle enough to…
BOOM!
The noise echoed, but Sakura didn't care. She just made a hole through the wall, and a pretty big one, too. The wall fell down to reveal a tunnel. Just as she was about to make her first step out into the tunnel, a portion of the wall in front of her slowly went backwards. The portion actually looked like a cut-out form of a door. Sakura realized it was. As the door went backwards, it revealed a room behind it. And from that door stepped out Itachi, with his red eyes. Sakura had no chance to protect herself and fell into the power that was the Sharingan.
Sakura knew it was a genjutsu right away. The room around her turned red and she was chained to a tombstone with her name on. Five Itachis appeared before her, and they all drew their swords. Sakura wanted to shout something out, but she couldn't speak. She wanted to attack, but she couldn't move.
The Itachis unsheathed their swords. Sakura felt an immense pain after that as all five Itachis plunged their swords into her at different places. So this is the power of the Mangekyu Sharingan. Horrible.
After all five swords were plunged in deep, they withdrew their swords and disappeared. Sakura sighed, hoping this was over with. The whish! sounds, however, proved that there was more to come. She looked up to see one more Itachi than last time. They took out their swords once more, plunged them into her, pulled them off and disappeared.
And this continued again and again in her mind. Sakura tried to handle the pain, but it became harder as each increasing blow happened. And the time between the blow into Sakura and the pulling out of the sword became slower, causing more pain. Every blow became unbearable, and Sakura was surprised how she could just sit there, chained to the tombstone.
Itachi watched Sakura, his Sharingan activated. Sakura was on the floor, kneeling, her eyes blank and her face full of terror. He smiled a terrible smile; his plan was going perfect. He turned to the shadows and shouted, "Kisame!" The blue man appeared from the shadows that Itachi had faced.
"Pick up this girl and chain her up in the room over there," Itachi said as he motioned Kisame to the room where he had seen chains on the walls. "The Mangekyu Sharingan will keep her busy for a while."
Kisame looked down at the girl on the floor, bent down, picked her up and walked towards the room that Itachi had shown him. Reaching the room, Kisame put down the girl and realized that the chains on the walls were too big for her. He put her down on the floor, found some extra chains and chained her whole body. Before leaving the room, he looked at the kunoichi one more time. Sakura was kneeling on the floor, her whole body chained to absolutely nothing in particular, just wrapped around her so she wouldn't escape. She was leaning a little forward, so her hair was covering her face a little. Kisame knew that under the cotton candy hair was the terror-faced expression from the Mangekyu Sharingan. Even after its taken its toll on you, it affects you. But it affects the user more. Kisame chuckled a little, and then got out of the room. Itachi was outside of the room, and Kisame almost ran in to him.
"Did you contact the others?" Itachi asked quickly.
"Yes," Kisame said. "Deidera said he had something in store for Konoha, to stall them a little. Hired ninjas are surrounding this cave as we speak, ready to kill. Also...I have located the rescue team for the pink girl over there..." he pointed to the spot where he had left Sakura.
"How many?" Itachi asked quickly.
"Four are accompanying the kyuubi," Kisame replied. "I'll have the hired ninjas take out the four."
"Excellent," Itachi said, not bothering to question Deidera's plans. "Sent them out immediately. Now all that's left is to wait…"
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"Damn it, can you people rest any faster?" Naruto shouted. He was on the grass floor, shouting at the rest of his teammates who were around him, resting on some trees.
"I'm sorry, Naruto, but we need a rest," Shikamaru replied in his monotone. "At the pace you set us on, we're a little bit tired. How troublesome." He muttered those last words, but Naruto still caught them. Suddenly, a sudden trembling around his leg got Naruto's attention. He took out of his pocket the walkie-talkie given to him, and pressed his ear. Someone was trying to contact them, but all he heard were "Zzzzt" sounds.
Neji noticed it, too. He walked a little bit closer to Konoha and listened.
"Help!" that voice sounded like TenTen. "---ZZzzt---Konoha---ZZzzt---under attack---Zzzt---explosives---ZzzZz----Sakura---"
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto shouted as he heard the pronunciation of his best friend. He rushed to where Neji was, grabbing the walkie-talkie from the prodigy's hands and jumping a little bit closer to the direction of Konoha. then he pressed his ears and listened. This time, it was Kiba's voice.
"Konoha is under attack---Zzzt---Bark bark!"
"This is bad," Shikamaru said, appearing next to Naruto. This scared Naruto enough to fall backwards, throwing the walkie-talkie in the air. Shikaru caught it.
"This is Shikamaru, how's the situation over there?" He said, speaking to the walkie-talkie.
"Shikamaru," Ino's voice rung out. "There are shinobi running around from--Zzzt---and a giant bird--Zzzt--explosives. TenTen's throwing kunais at it. Lee has already knocked out---ZZzt---and Hinata and I are running around everywhere healing--ZZzzt---"
"Do you need us over there?" Neji said, taking the walkie-talkie from him.
"No, I can handle it, Neji," TenTen's voice said, the sound of explosions in the background.
"Indeed, the power of youth will prevail," Lee's voice was heard.
"G-go rescue S-sakura-san," Hinata's voice whispered.
Neji turned to face his teammates. "You heard them," Neji said. "We have to rescue Haruno as quickly as possible."
"This attack on Konoha is probably a diversion to get us to go back, reducing the number in Sakura's rescue team," Shikamaru said, then smirked. "I guess they didn't think Konoha's ninjas were tough."
"Let's go already!" Naruto shouted. "Sakura-chan might be in greater danger! Shino, lead the way!"
Shino nodded and jumped to a nearby branch. The others followed, one by one, with Neji in the back. He, however, was looking around everywhere with a doubtful face. A few meters behind him, Sasuke frowned. The prodigy was on to him.
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"Konoha is under atack--ZZzt---"
Itachi's attention turned to the walkie-talkie in Kisame's hands. Kisame looked at it, too, and nodded. "Deidera has already begun his plan," Kisame stated. Itachi nodded.
"What about the hired ninjas?" Itachi asked.
"They've been sent just now," Kisame said, pointing to the outside of the cave. "Fifteen of them, assassin ninjas. Ten of them are outside of the cave, waiting."
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"Neji, I need you to use your byakugan up front," Shikamaru said. "I have a bad feeling..."
Neji did as he was told, and his eyes widened. "Fifteen ninjas up front. Seven of them 16 meters northwest. Three of them 20 meters north. Five of them 17 meters northeast."
Shikamaru turned to Sai. "Might want to send some birds up there with explosive notes, Sai," Shikamaru said as Sai nodded. He took out his ink and his sketch pad, and then stopped at a nearby tree. The rest of the team continued until they saw fifteen small black birds flew over their heads.
"Stop for now," Shikamaru said. "Let's wait until Sai catches up. Neji, look up ahead. Did they fall for it?"
Neji activated his byakugan. "Five of them are knocked out," he stated. "Two ninjas northwest, One north and Two northeast. The rest have scattered and are moving around too much for me to pinpoint exactly where they are."
Shikamaru nodded. "Neji and Sai," he said as he singled them out. Sai, who was trying to catch his breath, had made it to a nearby tree. "Both of you go in front. Neji, alert Sai whenever one is too close, at least, say, 4 meters distance. Sai, you send your creatures after them to lure them out, and we'll do the rest."
Neji and Sai nodded. Neji turned up ahead, and he looked back at Shikamaru. "Five ninjas getting closer from the northwest as I speak."
"Get ready, guys," Shikamaru said as he took out a kunai. Naruto, Sai, Neji and Shino nodded.
A few moments later, Five ninjas with a crossed out rock headband appeared in front of them. They were all chuckling. "These are the brats we're supposed to kill?" one of them joked. He took out a kunai. "Too easy."
He quickly stopped and his eyes widened. "Why you..." he muttered as he looked down. His shadow was now connected to Shikamaru.
"Heh," Shikamaru smirked. "Easy, are we?" He put his hands in the air. "Come on, guys, finish them off."
Naruto smirked as he activated his kage bunshin no jutsu. Three Narutos appeared next to him. "Rasengan, you guys," he said, and they all nodded. Rasengan! One enemy was down. He turned to the one that Shikamaru had gotten a hold of.
"You want me to take care of him?" Naruto asked.
"If you insist," Shikamaru said. Naruto ran with his kage bunshins and they all started beating up the traitor ninja.
"Nothing beats good old butt kicking," Naruto said as he clapped his hands. He turned to the others. "How are you guys doing?"
"Seen worse," Sai said as he crossed his arms. A rock nin fell to the floor next to him. There was ink over him and many open wounds. Nearby was Shino and another body on the floor. There were bugs on top of his.
"Byakugan! Hakke Rokujuuyonshou!" Neji called as he pushed thirty-two strikes on one opponent. He fell next to Neji after he finished.
"Neji, don't you think that was a little too much?" Naruto asked him. Neji shook his head.
"After sixteen strikes, he was still standing," Neji stated. He looked up ahead. "Two north, Three northeast."
"Everyone, stand your ground," Shikamaru said, looking around. His teammates nodded and they waited. A minute passed and nothing. Five minutes came and passed.
"Neji, what's going on?" Shikamaru asked, glancing at the prodigy.
"They're ahead on a tree branch 3.2 miles away," Neji said. "Looks like they're waiting for us."
"That's it!" Naruto shouted out from where he stood. "I can't take this! I'm going ahead to save Sakura-chan!" He started running up north.
"Naruto, get back here!" Shikamaru shouted from where he stood. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into!"
"Don't worry, I'll be alright," Naruto shouted as he jumped into a tree branch and jumped to another. Shikamaru growled and looked at Neji.
"What's happening up there?" Neji asked him. Neji turned to the direction Naruto had run and activated his Byakugan.
"He's running up ahead," Neji said as he watched. His eyebrows furrowed. "What's this?"
"What is it?" Shikamaru said as he glanced to Neji.
"Naruto just passed by them and they didn't do anything," Neji said in a serious tone.
"Then that means..." Shikamaru started.
"Naruto is running into a trap." Sai finished. "We're dealing with the Akatsuki, which means.."
"Everyone!" Neji suddenly shouted to them. "They're advancing to us. Get ready." He eyed something in the bushes, running ahead. "Shikamaru, there's also a figure running up ahead behind Naruto. Looks like the Uchiha if you ask me."
"What's he up to?" Shikamaru asked. Neji shrugged.
"I dunno…if he's friend or foe," Neji said. "Just in case, I'll call backup."
"Good," Shikamaru said. "Someone has to go ahead and follow Naruto as backup, in case he runs into trouble." He turned to Sai. "You go ahead. Follow sneakily and attack whenever Naruto's in trouble. Got it?" Sai nodded. "Good, now go." Sai took off.
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"Haruno Rescue Team, calling backup," Neji's voice rung out in the walkie talkie.
"This is Konoha's Handsome Green Beast talking," Lee's voice said. "We'll be on our way."
"We also have a problem," Shikamaru's voice was heard. "We're being attacked by five rock nins—"
"More coming—" Neji interrupted.
"And the dobe has gone ahead to rescue Sakura by himself," Shikamaru continued. "Sai has gone as backup."
"Come as quickly as possible," Shikamaru said.
"We're on our way!" Lee's voice said and then all was quiet.
Itachi looked at the walkie talkie near him and turned to Kisame. "Looks like it's working," he said to the blue man-fish. "Send some more ninjas to distract the kyuubi's backup. I'll meet up with him here. If anyone else comes, Kisame, it's your job to dispose of them." Kisame nodded.
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Yes, it took forever. Procrastination sucks. But this chapter is long enough to make up for it. Reviews loved and Replied to, all the time.