Naruto Shippuden: Swan Song

Chapter Eleven

The Calm Before The Storm

"Naruto.. Where are you?" Sakura said to get the blonde's attention. But he never turned around to acknowledge her.

"Don't worry, we can do this together. Just turn around!" Sakura told Naruto. But still no response. As she finally caught up to the blond, everything went dark.. Then red clouds surrounded the area. As she turned around Naruto, he shattered like glass. Nothing but dust remained of Naruto. Then suddenly the orange masked Akatsuki member appeared and instantly fire surrounded Sakura's body. Screams of agony came out of Sakura's vocal cords; the screams were so unbearable that even she couldn't handle it. Then light came out of nowhere, signaling Sakura that this was only a dream.

BAM

After her brief screaming episode, she laid there resting on the hospital bed. But she still felt very agitated, that dream foreshadowed her fear and despair. She woke up, having a pounding headache, and her emotional turmoil didn't help making it any more better.

"I'm still useless; I shouldn't have been caught off guard like that." Sakura mumbled under her breath.

"And now, he's gone." Sakura said with a pained face. She lie back down, and stared at the ceiling of the hospital. An hour passed, and suddenly a nurse came by.

"Well, it looks like you're going to be ok, you can leave the hospital today. The nurse said. This was very good news for Sakura, but just when the nurse left, Tsunade appeared.

"Tsunade-Sama, what are you doing here?" Sakura asked. Tsunade pulled out a chair and sat beside Sakura's bed. Tsunade was relieved when she heard that her student was alright. She softly smiled at her student.

"That's not important, but I have some good news to tell you." Tsunade said. Sakura's spirits went up; she was hoping that it was something about where Naruto is.

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

"We've found where the Akatsuki is, it seems like they are in Amegakure." Tsunade said. Immediately Sakura faced her sensei in the eyes. Right then and there Sakura got up from her bed.

"So what are we waiting for, let's go!" Sakura said. Immediately Tsunade's happy interior turned to sorrow.

"Sakura, it's not that simple." Tsunade said. Instantly Sakura went back on her bed.

"See here Sakura, we can't just go full frontal and attack their base without a plan. Amegakure's defenses are the strongest in the ninja world. Going there undetected is next to impossible, plus our numbers; we don't have enough ninja to even make an attempt." Tsunade spoke. Sakura knew she was right, it seemed like that the village were low on ninja.

"Then what are we going to do?" Sakura asked.

"Wait until we have a decent amount of ninja. Until then, all we can do is wait." Tsunade bitterly said. Sakura was already getting emotional; her frustration was now reaching a boiling point. Time was something that Naruto just doesn't have.

"But that can take days; weeks. Time is something that we don't have, Naruto is going to die if we don't do something immediately." Sakura said. She was now challenging Tsunade's decision.

"Sakura! Think rationally, if we go over there with our numbers right now, it will all be in vain. It's just not possible!" Tsunade said with a raised voice. Sakura knew better to not disrespect her sensei. But if Konoha doesn't act quickly, everybody will die in vain. Akatsuki will take over the world, and the world is theirs for the taking.

"Look here, Yamato's dead, and more than half of our Anbu soldiers are wiped out. It's only you, I, Kakashi, and other Chuunin are available for combat. First of all, we don't know how to get in there undetected. Remember the book Naruto found pertaining the Akatsuki members, Pain the Akatsuki leader has the Rinnegan." Tsunade explained to Sakura.

"What's the Rinnegan?" Sakura asked.

"A doujutsu. The most powerful doujutsu in the ninja world, his eyes can see everything. That's how Jirayia got into battle with Pain, because Pain knew he was there even if Jirayia got in the village virtually undetected." Tsunade explained some more.

"So even if we got in there virtually undetected, we will be caught either way. That's why we need more ninja." Sakura said.

"Now you're starting to understand what I'm trying to say here. Sakura, I know how much you care for Naruto, but you can't let your feelings cloud your judgment. Naruto would never have wanted you to die in vain. So please give me more time. Can you do that for me Sakura?" Tsunade said to her apprentice. Tsunade was right, Naruto wouldn't have never let her go charging to a dangerous place like that blindly. Sakura smiled at her sensei.

"You're right, now I see what I need to do for Naruto. Thank you Tsunade-Sama." Sakura said. Now reassured, all she can do was wait.


It has been two days since Naruto has been captured by the Akatsuki; there stood Pain as he patiently waits for the final Jinchuuriki. His sinister eyes mirrored the almost always raining village. Pain was one of the destined children of the ninja world, the prophecy said of two children; one brining peace and salvation to the ninja world. While the other brings chaos and despair throughout the land. His eyes now widened with sinister anticipation, his eyes now sensed the other Akatsuki members coming to the village.

A few minutes passed by, now everybody was here. Except for one;

"Where's Zetsu?" Pain asked.

"Dead." Kisame said nonchalant. Pain was very displeased by their answer. Now it was going to take even longer to extract the nine tailed fox.

"I though I told you that we can't afford for any of us to get killed. Konoha could already be on their way here!" Pain yelled at the shark faced man.

"Hey, let's calm down here. Zetsu was only our garbage disposal man, nothing else." Madara said to calm Pain down.

"Well, we don't have time to lollygag here, let's just get this over with." Pain replied to Madara.

And that's what they did. Everybody did a couple of hand signs, a few seconds later a tall, horrifying statue appeared. It was menacing enough to make Satan quiver in fear. A few minutes passed by when the statue suddenly spewed out of it's mouth a blue aura. It was ghastly, it wasn't pleasant, it enveloped the unconscious blonde ninja, and it started to suck out a red chakra from his body. Now the easy part was over for Akatsuki. Since their organization was now cut down by four, it was going to take longer than usual to extract a Bijju from a Jinchuuriki.

Naruto was now days away from his possible and somewhat inevitable death. He was unconscious, dreaming about how his life came about.. It was bittersweet, the first twelve years was hell on earth, constantly being beaten to death by angry mobs. But ever since he became a full fledged ninja, his life was beginning to turn around for the better. Although those days before he left from the village, Naruto still had his ups and downs. He gained some people to care about his well-being, he gotten stronger not only physically, but mentally and spiritually. His friends and his precious people guide him through those rough patches. Ever since he got back from his absence, it seemed like it was only going to get better, there were only three bad events that happened to Naruto, the first two failed attempts of brining Sasuke back, and the death of his former sensei; Jirayia. But even though those events happened to him, the positives outweighed the cons. He finally had his Sakura-Chan, and he has even gotten stronger than he ever thought possible.

All in all; if he dies right now, he will lived with no regrets. He never thought he would've gotten this far, and he is very appreciative for everything. His whole life was now flashing before his very eyes, reliving the major events in his life, unknowing that he was now being sucked up by Akatsuki.

He didn't felt a thing.


There she was, staring boldly at the great blue yonder, thoughts racing through her head. Sakura was now able to make an attempt at Amegakure. Reinforcements from Sunakagure were here, a total of thirty soldiers and five of her comrades were standing behind her. Everyone was here for one purpose; to save the world. And Naruto had to be saved from his captors in order to do that. Kiba, Shikamaru, Ino, Neji, Lee, and last but not least; Hinata, they were there to help Sakura out, and especially Naruto. And for good measure; Tsunade, Kakashi, and Gai was there as well. They all stared at Sakura's back, they were wondering what was going on her mind. I mean they do have a basic idea of what's going on in there; it was Naruto that they were thinking. But they didn't know the specifics or her feelings. They were all ready, their plans burned into their memory. Sakura turned around to face her backup;

"Are you ready Sakura?" Tsunade asked her student. Her bold green eyes gave her the answer.

"I'm ready." Sakura replied.

"C'mon people, let's save our dear comrade!" Lee shouted with all his fiery youthfulness.

"Right!" Tsunade said as they all started to run towards their final destination, death was imminent to them, and failure was very possible. But that doesn't stop them; their appreciation for Naruto was unmatched and unstoppable. Sakura froze in her tracks, deep in thought.

'Hang on, we're coming for you Naruto-Kun.' Sakura thought to herself before she disappears and tries to catch up with the rest of the group. The battle of the future of Konoha and the ninja world was about to begin.

-End Of Chapter Eleven-