| "I see humans, but no humanity." | Unknown

Sakura, Kakashi, Yamato, Sai and Naruto were already gathered when Kota and I arrived. Naruto was laid back and carefree like usual. Sakura was getting on to Naruto for not being more alert. Sai merely observed the conversation between the two. Yamato looked from Kakashi to me with a smile. I think that out of all the people I know, Yamato and Gai want Kakashi and I together more than any other.

I offered a polite smile. "Sorry for being late."

Naruto stared at me. "You were even later than Kakashi. Well, he was actually on time today, but still. He beat you here."

"Yeah. Apologies, Kakashi-san."

"You're a leader on this team as well. Don't worry about it." He simply replied.

"What's our mission?" Naruto asked.

I remembered the briefing that Yamato, Kakashi, and I had yesterday with Tsunade. She informed us about Akatsuki and their whereabouts. We are to gather as much information as we can about their plans.

Kakashi replied. "We are going to do some information gathering."

"About what?" Sakura joined in.

"Akatsuki."

"You know, Nara," Naurto began and lowered himself to Kota's level, "does this dog of yours actually do anything?"

"You got something to say, boy?!" Kota replied.

"For one, he's a wolf. Two, he can actually do a lot. He's helped quite a bit on missions when you were goofing off, Naruto."

"I was just wondering. I've never seen him do any techniques like Akamaru."

"Not all animals can use chakra like that clan's dogs. They are bred that way. Kota is from the wild, and has no skills in that area."

Kakashi looked out into the forest. "Are we ready?"

We all spoke in unison. "Yeah."

"Let's go." He took off down the road. We all followed suit and burst into the trees.

"What's the first city again?" I asked.

"Hidden Village of Sand."

That's a two days run. I looked back to Sakura. "You remember the way to increase a companion's speed?"

"I remember, but I haven't been able to control it properly."

"Why's that?" I asked, but I already knew the answer.

"I'm not like you with detecting my surroundings that don't have chakra."

I smiled. "You don't have to be like me, Sakura. Be yourself. You'll find your own way soon. Until then, I will increase our speed."

I inhaled deeply and exhaled. I moved my chakra to my feet. I could feel faster. I exerted my own chakra into my companion's feet. We had already tripled our speed.

I heard Naruto over the rush of wind. "How are you able to do this?"

Luckily Sakura answered for me. "It's multiple chakra control. From what I've read about it, only a few ninjas in history have been able to do something like this."

"What do you mean?"

"She's using her own chakra to increase our speed. In other words, she's exerting her chakra into our feet."

"Wow. How difficult is it?"

"Like I said, not many shinobi have been able to master this. The hardest part is applying it in real time. Practicing isn't all that bad, but when you are surrounded by trees, it becomes more difficult."

"Why is it harder in a forest?"

"The chakra control requires the highest level of concentration. One mess up and the exertion stops. Not just that, but you have to detect oncoming trees, so that you don't hit them."

"Why can't you just see them at that speed?"

"With the highest level of concentration, most people close their eyes to improve their chakra control with something like that. I can't because I can't sense the trees with a simple feeling."

"What about Nara? She's doing just fine."

"Nara has keener senses than I. She can sense something with barely any chakra."

"Oh. I see. Don't worry, Sakura. You'll get it."

I heard Sakura mumble under her breath. "I doubt that I ever will understand it."

Naruto heard it as well. "Sakura, Nara told you that you'll get it, so that means you will."

We traveled for a few hours, and I could feel my chakra level depleting. Kakashi looked back and signaled for us to stop. I stopped my chakra flow and we all landed.

"We will rest here for a while. We're almost there anyway."

"Are you sure?" I asked with short breaths.

"Yeah. You're below half your chakra level, aren't you?"

"I'm around forty percent."

"Forty percent?!" Naruto yelled out. "Just how much chakra do you have?!"

I jumped to the forest floor and took a drink of water. I sat down with my back to the tree trunk.

"Do we need to make anything for food?" Sai asked.

"Let's just collect some fruits." Sai nodded his head and the others split off to search for food. Kakashi jumped down to where I sat and merely stood before me.

"What? You're not tired?" I asked with a smirk.

"You're the one who put forth most of the effort." He replied.

"It's a long journey, so I thought a little speed boost wouldn't be a bad idea."

"It wasn't. We are almost going to be two full days ahead of schedule."

"Anything I can do to help." I smiled up to him.

He didn't say anything for a few moments. "Nara, you do know that you have helped us out a lot over the years?"

I looked back to the ground. "Yeah. I guess so."

"You have saved our lives, and the lives of many others. I just wanted to say thank you from all of us, and I never want you to forget how important you are to all of us. Especially me, Nara."

I could feel my cheeks burn slightly. "Kakashi, there's no need to thank me. I am doing my job as a shinobi and that is to protect."

"No, you're not. You're not protecting people because it's your duty or you feel you have to. You protect people because you want to. You want to help end pain and suffering simply because you want to. I just want you know that we are very thankful of you."

"Thank you, Kakashi. It means the world to me."

He pulled his hand out of his glove. I changed my eyes to see what he was doing. In front of my face was his hand with the scar on it.

He gently spoke. "I know it does."

.: :.

After a light rest, I stood up from the ground. I stretched and jumped into the trees. Everyone was ready and we took off. Kakashi told me to not worry about increasing our speed since we're doing so great on time.

Instead, I searched out our surrounding area. We were going after Akatsuki and I knew they wanted the Kyuubi. It's best to be wary and not let our guard down.

We had been traveling for about an hour when I sensed something. It was human and I could tell he or she was trying to suppress their chakra. I stopped and Kakashi looked back to know the reason why I had stopped.

He jumped over to my side. "What is it?"

"A man. No, there are two." I paused. "I can tell they're trying to suppress their chakra to not give away their presence."

"Which way?" He asked.

I pointed to the west. "That way. About five kilometers."

"Five kilometers?!" Naruto yelled out.

"I want to know who they are." Kakashi said.

"It could be Akatsuki." I replied.

Yamato entered. "Yeah. So everyone be on your guard."

Kakashi leapt in the direction I pointed, and we all followed. As we came closer, something felt odd about their surroundings. I sped up to Kakashi.

He glanced over to me. "Something wrong?"

"The trees surrounding the two men are strange. They are trees, but I think they have implanted some sort of jutsu."

"Okay. I'm going to send you in first. You have the least detectable chakra. I want you to figure out who they are. We will be on standby."

"Yes, sir." I leapt forward from the tree in a different direction. They will come from the west; I will approach from the north.

I landed on a branch near the two. At this distance, I can sense more clearly what they are doing, but remain unseen. I changed my eyes to see if they were Akatsuki. When I looked around the tree, I saw the black cloaks with red clouds.

I may have stayed in that position for about ten minutes. Team Kakashi had already arrived. I wanted to yell across the area that their chakra was too detectable to be this close, but it was too late. The Akatsuki had already made their move on the team. I remained in my position. If the perfect time arises, I will strike.

That's when one of the two jumped to my tree and brought down a huge sword. He sensed me?

I jumped backwards into the clearing and faced him with my bladed tonfas drawn. "To think we found you this easily." He smiled.

I gritted my teeth. Had he really sensed me?

The other member laughed behind me. "I told you that she would hide in the shadows and strike at the perfect time."

"No wonder." Said the man with the giant sword. "I didn't detect her at all. Good thing you told me to go around and look for her."

"Then how come I didn't sense you approach me?" I asked.

"Once you entered these trees, I became hidden to you. After knowing how keen your senses are, I made you see what I wanted you to."

How does he know so much about me, and how did he fool me with such a petty trick?

The man behind me attacked first, and I dodged it easily.

.: :.

"You know what else these trees are good for?" I looked up to him as he patted the tree. The other member was behind me breathing heavily. I truly believed that our team could defeat these two.

That's what I thought until he performed his jutsu. I gasped. In the blink of an eye, all the members of Akatsuki appeared around us. I gripped my tonfas with frustration. Why are they all here? Are they all planning on attacking Naruto to obtain the Kyuubi? But they didn't do that with the others…

That's when they all rushed towards me. In a panic, I made the crystal and captured three of them. The others continued running to me. I performed the seals quickly. The dragon armor.

One member attacked first using a fire based jutsu. In order to dissipate the fire, I dropped my tonfas and performed a water wall.

Kisame attacked me with his huge sword from behind. I could only block it with my arm. I pushed it off, and I paused. I was stunned at what I saw. Where the sword attacked destroyed my armor. I've never seen anything attack my armor like this.

He laughed. "You have amazing chakra control. My sword eats chakra when it comes in contact. So, in theory, you shouldn't have any of your own chakra," He paused just when another member attacked. I countered the attack with my wind chakra. Kisame continued, "But, that's a handy armor you've got."

I gritted my teeth again. I looked over to the others of Team Kakashi. Oda and the other man earlier weren't letting them interfere.

I flexed my arm and covered it with the armor again. I performed the seals and created the crystals. The members scattered.

"You created this crystal?" Asked one of the members before he attacked me. "Very impressive. I can't wait to have you part of our team." He added with a smile.

I sliced my right tonfa up and he flipped backwards. There were too many of them for me to concentrate on. And this area was affecting my detecting. From the tree jutsu, I was developing a migraine. For this whole battle, I would have to depend on the dragon's eyes.

I saw Itachi among them. His eyes looked sad, but he was the next one to attack. I sidestepped back, but that's when Tobi attacked me form the air.

My body fell to the ground with a loud thud. I attempted to stand to my feet, but to no avail. My body was tattered and torn. Strips of flesh hung loose from my body. I changed my hands into fists. I began to stand again.

With the last of my energy, I caused the crystals from earlier to burst into even more. One of the Akatsuki members was stabbed through the heart. At least I got one of them, I thought.

One of the members grabbed my hair and yanked me from the ground. My body yelled against me from the suddenness. He laughed. "What amazing chakra! Even when you had no chance of winning, you still managed to kill one of us, Nara. Very impressive."

I coughed up blood. "Why are all your members out here?"

"For you, of course." He sat me down on the ground, and in one fluid motion, he broke both of my legs. The new pain coursed through my body. It joined with the previous agony. All of it combined, I could feel my body slowly slipping into unconsciousness.

"Now she can't go anywhere. And she'll pass out from all that pain. Who will carry her?"

Itachi stepped forth. "I will."

"Here." The member tossed me to the ground. Itachi picked me up and pulled me close to him. It was as if he felt sorry for me.

He faced Kakashi. All the members had disappeared. Only Itachi remained. I glanced over as much as I could see and saw the members of my team. They all looked exhausted and to their limit.

Itachi spoke. "Follow us, Kakashi-san, and find out the truth." With that Itachi and I vanished.

.:Kakashi:.

Naruto distracted the enemy long enough for Kota to strike his throat. The black wolf held on to his throat and dug his teeth in deeper. Blood coursed over his teeth, and he snapped the neck. He killed him. The last one of that person. I looked over to Nara and saw the two iron nails disappear from her hands. Her body fell limply to the ground. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes.

I saw an Akatsuki member walk towards her and I flashed in between him and her. I stared at him with my Sharingan waiting for him to make a move. He simply smirked.

"This team is quite amazing, if I may say, Hatake Kakashi." Tobi said.

I gripped my kunai tighter as Sakura and Naruto stood around Nara in a defensive position.

"You actually killed one of us." He said lightly. "That's a big thing, but he was our weakest link. His jutsu was very interesting, but it's nothing now." He looked over to the two dead bodies that belonged to Oda.

The leader continued. "I'll let you live. And for her," He glanced at Nara, "keep her alive for us. She's no use to us dead."

"Why you-!" I heard Naruto's fury rising in his voice.

"What do you need her for?" I asked. I had to know why they needed Nara. There were the main nine tailed demons out there, but the dragon isn't part of them.

He grinned. "The fun is in the mystery." Then he vanished. One after another, all Akutsuki members vanished. I exhaled my long held breath.

"How is she?" I asked.

"It's bad, but she's still breathing. It's very faint…" I felt my heart drop into oblivion.

"Can she make it to Konoha?"

"If I apply quick first aid to her injuries, then yes. We have to move fast, though." She began working on Nara's injuries.

I looked to the ground. "Why do they want her? And why use all members to capture her?"

"Maybe it has something to do with her chakra control. That's what is so well known about her." Naruto said.

Maybe. Are they going to use Nara to control all the Bijuus at once? I looked over to the woman lying on the ground. My heart throbbed. I was useless in protecting her. I gripped my fists.

Naruto placed his hand on my shoulder. "She'll be fine, Kakashi-sensei. There's no need to beat your self up over it. That's not what she would want."

"You're right, Naruto. Thanks."

"That's all I can do for now." Sakura rose from the ground. "Let's go."

"Right." Naruto stated.

I slid my arms underneath her body. I picked her up gently and held her close. "Sakura, use the techniques Nara taught you to increase our speed."

"I haven't gotten that skill correctly."

"Believe in yourself, Sakura. Nara taught you for situations like this."

I watched as Naruto gripped Sakura's hand lightly. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I'll be your eyes." She looked to Naruto and closed her eyes. She began to focus her energy into our feet.

With that, I leapt into the trees and bounded for Konoha. Naruto guided Sakura swiftly behind me.