Shinigami no Kage

by Ilessthan3Yaoi

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto - son of legends, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki... and the apprentice of the Shinigami? Thriving in the darkness sure does have its advantages... [Yaoi, Blood, Gore, and Violence. Dark!Naru]

11. Akatsuki

Title: Shinigami no Kage

Rated: M

Category: Naruto

Genre: Adventure/Romance/Horror/Humor

Beta'd By: Nobody~

Rated For: Blood Gore Swearing Lemons

Pairing: Multi-pairings

Summary: Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto - son of legends, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki… and the apprentice of the Shinigami? Thriving in the darkness sure does have its advantages... Kami have mercy on the poor souls he'll reap. [Yaoi, Blood, Gore, and Violence. Dark!Naru]

Heart-chan: *nervous laugh* Oops. Nevertheless, enjoy~

~YaoiLemons~

Chapter 11: Akatsuki

The moon was on its decline yet still bathing the world in its white, seductive glow. Darkness reigned and shadows danced as the people of the island slept on. Upon the roof of their hotel sat a figure, decked in dark clothing. His pale skin almost seemed to glow in the moonlight. His face was blank but his eyes stared up at the moon, dancing with worried emotion. Silently, a taller figure appeared behind him. He didn't react as the newcomer sat next to him. They sat quietly with each other for a while before the taller man hummed.

"A penny for your thoughts?" he questioned. The pale man stayed silent, continuing to stare unblinkingly at the moon. The tall man almost thought his partner wouldn't speak, but the pale man sighed.

"What's your biggest fear, Kisame?" he asked, finally looking over at the swordsman. Kisame chuckled and turned his face up to the sky.

"I think my biggest fear is to be without purpose… to be lost and wondering without knowing who I am and what I live for." He let his eyes swivel back towards the elder Uchiha. "It's not like you to ask such a personal question, Itachi." The raven sighed again, shaking his head softly.

"I believe that I am living your nightmare," he replied quietly. His voice was very soft and vulnerable as opposed to his usual condescending tone. "May I confide in you, for a moment?" Kisame nodded and Itachi looked back up to stare at the moon. "My will to live has always been fueled by my need to shield my brother from the horrors of war and bloodshed. Though, I suppose you can say I failed," he muttered. "After the Massacre, my motive changed only but a little. I wished to play the part of the villain and drive my baby brother to hate me, to grow strong feeding off of that anger and hurt. When the time came for us to duel and he was able to part me from this world, I would go willingly, knowing that he was strong enough to protect himself. With my dying breaths, I would bestow onto him the truth behind the Massacre and all the wisdom I've gathered in my time. Unfortunately," the raven paused slightly and a frown marred his features. "Sasuke is already aware of the truth. I fear that our curse will run him into his grave."

"How did he find out?" Kisame asked.

"Our target, Naruto, seems to know about quite a few of the skeletons in Konoha's closet." Itachi sighed again, his brows furrowing.

"Wait, wait, wait, back up, Itachi," the swordsman interrupted. "What does Konoha have to do with any of this? And what is this curse you speak of?"

"The leaders of Konoha were the one's who ordered me to eliminate my clan." The blue-skinned man fell into a shocked silence. "I'm very worried, Kisame. People of my clan have always been extremely emotion-driven. My intention was for all the anger pooled in my brother to disperse after he killed me. Now… his anger has been turned on Konoha. I'm not sure how he wants to exact his revenge, but I do know that it will drive him insane. That is the curse of the Uchiha."

~YaoiLemons~

Naruto sat on the balcony of their hotel, watching the sun peak over the horizon and bathe the world in bright, brilliant light. Sasuke clambered out the room soon after, sleep still evident in his eyes. The young raven yawned, leaning on the railing. "You seem troubled," he muttered, his voice still gruff with grogginess. The whitehead sighed dramatically, glancing over at his teammate.

"I try to mask my emotions but it seems as though you can read me like an open book," he whined. The raven leveled him with a flat look and the playfulness drained from his face. "It's going to happen today," he murmured. "Don't fight at your full capacity. Just do what you have to. Whatever this is… it's going to be big."

"Good morning, youthful Genin! Rise and shine! It's time for the exams!" the two heard from inside the hotel. Sasuke yawned again, blinking the moisture away from his eyes. He tucked his face in the whitehead's neck, grunting.

"Just a month ago, you were telling me not to worry. Now, you're all worked up. How exactly am I supposed to feel, hm?" he questioned, his voice light. The whitehead pulled away from him and glared.

"Sasuke, this is nothing to joke about. I'm sure you're unaware, but dying is fucking painful," he clipped, a flash of the Shinigami's glowering face appearing in his mind's eye. "It's something I'd rather avoid." The raven snorted, turning away from the young deity and stepped back into the hotel room. He glanced over his shoulder, his mouth curling into a cruel smile and his eyes swimming with an emotion the whitehead couldn't decipher.

"I'm only following your lead, Naruto." The reaper glared hard and his lips pulled into a sneer. Suddenly, tendrils sprung from Sasuke's shadow, aiming to skewer the Uchiha. Then, Naruto gasped softly, his eyes widening in shock. Sasuke turned to face him fully, his face set neutrally, and observed the dark crimson chakra that materialized in front of the tendrils. The tendrils themselves had paused mere inches before the red chakra, as if they weren't really intending to wound him, only to scare him. Cold blue eyes met spinning red ones and the raven smirked mockingly. Naruto launched himself off of the balcony railing, colliding with Sasuke and grabbing him by the collar.

"Just what the hell is your problem!" he shouted. The older boy stayed quiet, that unknown emotion still dancing in his intimidating eyes. The whitehead shook him, gritting his teeth. "Answer me!" He was suddenly shoved into the balcony door, pain sparking in his back, but he was distracted by the practically desperate kiss planted on his lips. Sasuke pulled away, his eyes back to their smothering onyx, and he hovered over the reaper, their height difference making itself known. Then, the raven stepped back, loosening Naruto's grip on his collar, and exited into their hotel room without another word. Naruto continued to lean against the door, letting out a shaky breath.

Fear.

Sasuke was afraid.

~YaoiLemons~

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the final rounds of the Chunin Exams!" The light chatter in the stands turned into a full-blown roar of excitement. The stadium was packed to its capacity, the number of attendees triple that of the Preliminaries. The redheaded announcer grinned down at the remaining Genin. "This round of the Chunin Exams is much different than normal. You will be fighting two-on-two, tournament style. The round is not over until both opponents are defeated. If your partner goes down but you still win, you may pick one of the defeated Genin to substitute as your partner. This substitute has to be able to fight. Understood?" he asked. There were various noises of agreement and the man nodded. "Alright, good. Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Shin, Sabaku no Temari and Nara Shikamaru, stay down here. Your match is first." The brunette genius groaned loudly and his blond partner shot him an annoyed look. The other Genin filed away into their designated waiting booth in the stands. The proctor stepped onto the lowered platform and was, along with the Kage, raised into the glass spectators box. The two duos spread out onto two sides of the arena and Shikamaru sighed.

"I'd be just my rotten luck to have to fight you, Naruto," he said. Temari gave him another annoyed glare.

"Quit your complaining, lazy ass," she barked.

"She's afraid of you." Naruto looked to his right, raising an eyebrow at the auburn-haired boy. "I can sense emotions. When my sensei announced our match, her fear spiked. Now that the brunette one is expressing his reluctance to fight you, she's even more afraid." The whitehead smiled a malicious smile, his eyes twinkling in mirth.

"Fear tactics it is," he snickered.

"Sabaku no Temari and Nara Shikamaru versus Uzumaki Shin and Uzumaki Naruto! Hajime!" Instantly the two Uzumaki boys shot forward towards their opponents. Temari whipped open her fan and swung it wildly at the white-haired boy. Naruto put his arms up, shielding his face from the attack. When he was close enough, he jumped high into the air, flipping over her. He landed right behind the blond, twisting to aim a high kick at her head. She jerked out of the way, moving to jump away, but she growled when she found that her ankles were bound to the ground by black ropes that sprouted from her shadow. She yelped when her fan was kicked out of her hand and curled up when she was kicked in the stomach. Another kick connected with her head and her world erupted into stars. Next thing she knew, she was falling backwards, Naruto standing over her with a vicious smirk, and she was enveloped in blackness. She landed hard on the ground, the bindings on her feet gone. Temari stood abruptly and looked around, but she couldn't see a thing. She stretched her arms out, feeling the oddly textured walls, and then gasped in absolute horror.

The walls were closing in on her.

She hastily yanked a kunai from the holster on her thigh and began slashing wildly at the walls. She couldn't tell if she was making progress in the pitch-blackness and panic settled in her stomach like lead. The blond could feel the wall behind her touch her back and she swung more frantically at the wall. Soon, it got too cramped for her to swing and she stabbed at the wall before her, even as it brushed against her arms. "No!" she shouted. "Stop! Please stop!" she begged, the kunai slipping from her sweaty hands. She pressed her hands against the walls, as if it would stop them from closing in on her. Her head was spinning and claustrophobia made her feel like throwing up. "I forfeit! Please, just stop!" She sagged in relief when the walls stopped. Temari was squished from all sides, the walls almost having begun to be her second skin. She was panting hard and shut her eyes, not that it made much difference, resting her wet forehead on the wall before her.

On the other side of the arena, Shikamaru was hard-pressed to avoid his redheaded opponent. The boy was fast, always one step ahead of his shadows. At the screams of the Suna girl, the Uzumaki faltered, cringing. He went stock still suddenly, and his eyes widened. Shikamaru lowered his arms to his sides, opening his hands. Shin unwillingly copied his movements, his blade clattering to the ground. The two turned their heads to the whitehead calmly sauntering over to them, a smirk on his face. The brunet observed them both with calculating eyes before heaving a long sigh. He canceled his kekkai genkai technique, a hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck and his eyes slipped close. "Troublesome," he groaned. "I knew this match wasn't going to go our way. Oh well, I forfeit." There was some booing in response to his decision, most of it coming loudly from a certain teammate of his, but he merely opened an eye, staring up at the Kage booth.

"Winners! Uzumaki Shin and Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto let the shadows tightly wound around the Suna Kunoichi's body flutter away and vanish into wisps. Shin grinned widely at him, holding up a fist as he crossed over to the reaper from retrieving his sword.

"Alright, Naruto! On to the next one, huh?" he enthused. The reaper smirked, bumping fists with the other boy.

"Of course," he responded. The two Uzumaki retreated back to their booth, taking a seat. Naruto glanced over at his raven-haired friend, leering. "Think you can do better than that, ne, Sasuke-chan?" Sasuke didn't reply, however, keeping his eyes locked forward. A tense silence blanketed over the two, and anger started to pool in Naruto's being, splashing about him like magma in an active volcano. He set his lips in a thin line, trying to swallow the hurt that threatened to overcome the anger. He wanted so desperately to lash out at the raven, scream and shake him till the Uchiha was dizzy, but he restrained himself.

"Would Uchiha Sasuke, Tsuyaki Mu, Hyuuga Neji, and Duto Rin come down to the arena please?" The young Uchiha stood stiffly from his seats, brushing past Naruto without a glance. A feral scowl pulled at Naruto's lips and he growled at being blatantly ignored. He watched as the raven met up with his indigo haired partner and the two of them calmly descended the stairs.

'So that's the game he wants to play? Fine,' the whitehead snarled in his head.

"Kit, you saw it yourself. He's afraid."

'So fucking what?! My life is on the line, yet he wants to go and act like some spoiled brat?' Kurama sighed to himself, rolling golden eyes in exasperation. With a flick of a great tail, he allowed his youkai to wash over his host, soothing him. Naruto unwillingly relaxed, tuning in to the match taking place below.

The two doujutsu-wielders were trading quick blows, blurring through a deadly dance. Sasuke seemed to be on the defensive, hastily dodging the jabs aimed for his tenketsu. He was fairing well against the angry Hyuuga, although not able to predict the brunet's moves like in his fight with Mizunami. The two jumped away from each other suddenly, panting softly. "Give up, Uchiha." The raven scoffed at him.

"You must really be desperate to try to use your words to stop me. I'm not a spineless fool, Hyuuga, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't underestimate me."

"It's only your destiny to fall. Just like how your once-great clan fell to your brother's feet in a single night," Neji sneered. Sasuke's Sharingan spun dangerously in return. "How can you expect me to take you seriously when your teammates are so obviously weak and pathetic?"

"Weak and pathetic?" the Uchiha echoed. "Are you forgetting that it was my teammate who saved all of our lives in Nami? I also doubt any Shinobi who can take down a crazed Jinchuuriki practically unscathed is weak and pathetic."

"Naruto is a monster himself. Only monsters can fight monsters," the brunet sniffed. Slowly, a maniacal smirk spread across Sasuke's face and the three tomoe in his eyes spun quicker and quicker until they took the form of a unicursal hexagram, a small five-petaled flower spinning inside of them.

"Ah. I suppose you're right."

From the other side of the arena came a crazed laugh and the two Konoha ninja jumped out of the way of a huge boulder. Mu landed on top of the boulder, a white-bladed katana in her hands. She looked unscathed although her hair was out of its usual bun and, instead, was cascading down her back. "Sasuke-san," she called softly, her eyes never leaving her male opponent. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Mu. Thanks for asking," the raven replied. Neji gave him another mocking smirk.

"As I said, pathetic. Fate will name me victor today." His hands clenched into fists. "Only the true geniuses will be allowed to advance."

"Princess! Your attention is supposed to be on me, not that handsome, little partner of yours!" The three ninja didn't react to the jive of Neji's temporary teammate.

"Perhaps you should shut your mouth and fight, Hyuuga!" Sasuke shouted, speeding towards the brunet, effortlessly ducking under the Iwa Genin that shot towards Mu. Neji slid into his clan's fighting stance flawlessly, blocking all of Sasuke's rapid punches and kicks. Pale eyes narrowed at the small bursts of dark red chakra that would flare up around Sasuke whenever the Byakugan user would attempt to close his tenketsu. The Uchiha jumped up in the air suddenly, tossing down handfuls of kunai and shuriken at the brunet.

"Hakkeshou Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven)!" Neji allowed chakra to flow from all of his tenketsu, creating a dome of whirling chakra around him. Sasuke's weapons were repelled in several directions, some back towards him, and with a burst of chakra and a curse, he dodged out of the way of the projectiles. Neji was upon him right as he landed, tapping the raven's shoulders and ankles with deadly precision. Sasuke stalled at the sudden lost of chakra in his feet and arms, giving Neji enough time to settle into another one of his clan's fighting stances. "You're in my range," he declared. "Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)!" He jabbed again and again at Sasuke's body, smirking all the while. He took the technique's finishing step forward, thrusting out his hand. Right before his strike hit, a pale hand plucked his wrist out of the air, gripping it tightly. Neji looked up in disbelief, his jaw tightening in disbelief. "I-impossible!" he exclaimed. Sasuke gave him a nasty smirk.

"Now you are in my range," Sasuke growled, his chakra flaring violently. Neji's jaw dropped as, before his very eyes, most of Sasuke's tenketsu opened back up. The younger Genin yanked Neji up by his wrist and slammed him on to the arena ground with a great force.

Meanwhile, Mu gracefully danced through Rin's attacks, either dodging them or slicing through them with wind-natured chakra. Her opponent had a natural affinity for earth and relied heavily on it and his Taijutsu. The Iwa boy was thin, girly practically, and he had pale lavender hair that fell into his crazed, ice blue eyes. He had very dark circles under his eyes and a piercing through his lip that he kept pulling on with his teeth. His clothing was more casual than combat ready, consisting of a loose, white button-up and bright red jeans.

Mu whipped her sword downwards, slicing a huge boulder cleanly in half. Out of the suddenly stirred up dust came a flying Rin, throwing a punch at the girl with a rock-covered arm. The indigo haired girl calmly blocked his attack with her sword, fighting with the boy for control of their deadlock. "Princess, your hair is absolutely gorgeous up close!" the boy gushed, as if the two weren't trying to kill each other.

"Rin-san, I'd appreciate if you weren't so... unruly. It's mildly annoying," Mu replied quietly. Rin laughed again, dodging easily away from a long leg aimed at his shins.

"Well, Mu-chan, personally I would appreciate if you weren't so boring!" he chirped, his insane smile pulling even harder at his lips. The boy was obviously some sort of psycho – Mu fought off the urge to sigh. "You're so personal and polite, even though we're fighting to the death. Perhaps when I smash your body to a blood pulp, you'll finally get serious!" Rin snarled suddenly, jumping at Mu again. His flight was interrupted by the body of his partner roughly colliding with his own. The two went flying towards arena wall, and Mu swung the flat side of her blade at the two boys, conjuring a large and powerful gust of wind. Neji and Rin whacked harshly against the wall, forming indents in the structure and surely cracking a few bones, and fell unconscious.

"Winners! Uchiha Sasuke and Tsuyaki Mu!" Sasuke let out a slow breath at the declaration, cutting the chakra flow to his eyes. Mu met his gaze, nodding, and calmly made her way back to the competitors' section. The raven followed her, stiffly sitting back down next to his silent teammate. The two never even so much as looked at each other, giving the pretense that they were focusing on the exams, while in reality, they were lost in their own thoughts. Matches whizzed by without an outward reaction from either of them.

'You allowed me into your life, yet think you can walk right out of mine…'

'How dare you, after everything…'

'Sitting here, acting so nonchalant…'

'Think you can get mad at me…'

'You don't know what you do to me…'

'After I let you in and made myself so vulnerable…'

I hate it.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Shin, Uchiha Sasuke, and Tsuyaki Mu – please come down to the arena!" The two stood in sync and turned away from each other, taking opposite routes down. The two descended the stairs slowly, their temporary teammates already in position below.

"Ne, Mu-chan, it kind of sucks that I have to face you," Shin said, grinning. Mu gave him a soft smile.

"Let us do our best, Shin," she replied. The other two Genin finally joined them, standing opposite of each other and glaring unwaveringly.

I hate you.

The unspoken declaration was clear between the two. Fists clenched, hearts ached, anger flared, and logic was drowned out by raw emotion.

Shin glance over at the silent teammates, worried slightly by the copious amount of negative emotions he felt flowing off the two. He shook his head, quietly praying that whatever it was wouldn't result in death.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uzumaki Shin versus Uchiha Sasuke and Tsuyaki Mu! Ha–!" The start of the match was cut off by the deafening screech of a bird. Many looked up, confused by the large, white shape that circled the sky. The screech came again, almost even louder in the dead silence of the stadium.

"That bird…!" someone shouted. "I recognize it! That's a technique Deidara uses!" A wave of worried chatter washed over the crowd as they began wonder why a nukenin would be present at the Chunin Exams. Naruto's blood ran cold and he swore to himself.

'Those two from registration time. I knew their chakra levels were too high to be here for the exam. A band of missing-ninja, here for me… they must be – oh no.'

"Ninja of the world,"a deep voice boomed from atop the clay bird. "We are Akatsuki. And we will bring peace to this world." This declaration got roars of outrage in response, the entire stadium erupting into shouts and yells. "Silence!" the voice growled loudly. "We request only that you hand over certain… individuals. However, today we only request one person." Naruto scoffed lowly, crossing his arms.

"You," came a whisper from beside him. The reaper looked over, his eyes locking with the wide ones of Sasuke. "They're after you. You've been high-strung and worried about a bunch of crazy fools claiming they're going to take over the world? This is what you've been so apprehensive about?!" the raven question, his voice rising to a point he was almost screaming. Naruto nodded mutely. Sasuke snorted rudely and opened his mouth to berate the whitehead, but a peel of laughter from above cut him off.

"Being a condescending asshole seems to be a common trait of your clansmen, un," another voice chimed. "I may not be able to take on your brother, but I'm sure I can rip you to shreds with my art, little Uchiha." Onyx eyes widened at the mention of Itachi and Sasuke's Sharingan spun to life.

"Sasuke," Naruto called. "The Akatsuki is a group of S-Ranked ninja aiming to capture the nine Jinchuuriki… Your brother is one of them." The young raven let his mouth close with a clink of teeth.

"Ah, yes," said the first voice. "Uzumaki Naruto… The Jinchuuriki of the most powerful Bijuu, the son of the Red Death and the Yellow Flash, and, most recently, Konoha's very own Shinigami no Kage… So young yet so dangerous… I'm going to enjoy collecting my bounty when we're done with you." Angry whispers and shouts were alive in the arena again, from Konoha, Iwa, and Kumo ninja alike. Naruto ignored them, smirking cockily up at the now stationary clay bird.

"Oh, you know some much about me. I'm flattered!" A feral grin settled on his face. "However, you got something wrong. The Shinigami no Kage belongs to no one, especially not the peace-preaching, ignorant fools who let Uzushiogakure fall to Kiri and Iwa, yet still wear its symbol as if they actually gave a fuck!" A soft gasp echoed over the stadium from the spectator's box.

"Uzushio," the announcer muttered, his grief stricken voice carrying over the speaker system. "My home, my people, we held out for days, waiting for some sort of aid from Konoha… and nothing ever came." The redhead turned to Sarutobi. "Why?" he rasped. Naruto felt a bitter sense of satisfaction settle over him.

"That one is easy, unfortunately. The Kyuubi was already within Konoha's clutches after he was sealed within the first Hokage's wife. Once my mother, the second Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, was brought to Konoha, Uzushio was of no more use. Uzushio was much too powerful… even for its own ally." A growl rumbled through the stadium, drowning out the noise of the proctor's oncoming panic attack.

"Enough of this!" Ei shouted. "I refuse to believe that this brat is the Shinigami no Kage." Naruto met the dark skinned man's eyes, his expression taunting.

"Oh, Raikage-sama, I was surprised when you set such a generous bounty on my head," he chirped. The reaper couldn't help the maniacal grin that spread across his face at the sparks of lightning dancing about the Raikage's body. He winked. "They say you're the fastest man in the world and you were second only to my father when he was alive. But, tell me, can you catch a shadow?" Ei gave a feral yell and smashed his large fist into the glass wall of the spectator's box.

"Iwa!" Onoki shouted suddenly from beside the man. "It is time for us to take revenge for all of our loved ones slaughtered by that monster called the Yellow Flash! Capture the Namikaze boy and bring me his head on a stake!" Ei whipped around, snarling at the older Kage.

"Absolutely not, you old coot! That white-headed brat is mine to kill!" Hiruzen sighed softly in the midst of the chaos quickly overcoming the stadium.

"Take out anyone who stands in your way – Kumo, Suna, or Konoha – it doesn't matter! Just kill him!" Down in the arena, Naruto watched as ninja of all types began to descend down towards them. Sasuke stepped closer to him until their shoulders were pressed flush against each other, but didn't say a word. Naruto could sense Shin and Mu being teleported to safety just as the first few ninja touched down in the arena. Five orange-haired ninja dropped down suddenly, forming a circle around the reaper and the young Uchiha. They were powerful, he could tell, and they each wore black cloaks with red clouds decorating them.

'Their eyes… I've never seen this doujutsu before,' he thought to himself, noting dully that the cloaked men were fighting off the ninja aiming to take his life.

"The Rinnegan," Kurama said suddenly. "Naruto…"

"…I hope you aren't planning to fight them," Sasuke finished in a whisper, as if he could hear Kurama.

"No," the reaper replied. A war had practically broken out in the stands, causalities involving ninja and civilians alike. The slaughter was indiscriminate, as if the people were fighting just because. Jutsu were being thrown left and right, and screams of pain and suffering quickly replaced the shouts of excitement not minutes before. Naruto guffawed, his laughter misplaced and insane in all the chaos. "And such is human nature – inferior, weak beings, playing god as if they have the right to determine who's worthy enough to live and die." He smiled a cruel smile, his eyes bleeding red as Kurama's youkai began to flood his pathways. "Self-righteous creatures too… claiming to get revenge on a man who simply reciprocated their actions. It's so funny!" Sasuke let his eyes swivel over to his friend, his expression reflecting complete indifference.

"Naruto, not to interrupt your soliloquy, but how exactly do you expect us to get out of here?" The whitehead chuckled.

"Sasuke, we aren't going anywhere."

"I'm not leaving you," the raven ground out.

"They're after me, not you. If you don't make yourself a target, you won't have anything to–" Red, cat-like eyes widened in shock as Sasuke nonchalantly chucked a kunai coated in his odd, dark red chakra at the white bird. Within seconds, the bird exploded, sending a powerful gust of wind over the vicinity as an aftershock. Sasuke met Naruto wide eyes with his lazy Sharingan ones, smirking.

"Well, I have made myself a target. Besides, the blond seems to be not-so fond of me. Now then, mister Shinigami no Kage," Sasuke made a sweeping gesture with his arms. "Lead the way." The Jinchuuriki stared at his teammate silently for a while, and then chortled loudly. He wrapped his arms around the raven, pressing their bodies impossibly close together. Sasuke boldly sealed his lips over the shorter boy's, allowing his eyes to slip close even as the world around them fell into disarray. They pulled apart with a soft smacking noise.

"Away," Naruto murmured against Sasuke's lips, tendrils climbing over them from their overlapping shadows. "We shall go."

~YaoiLemons~

Red Sharingan eyes stared apathetically at the battlefield that had once been a peaceful civilian island. "Ninja sure do leave a nasty impression on the world," he said to himself. He stood from the tree he was resting against, sauntering noiselessly into the main town of the island. Bodies were strewn all over, some charred, others a bloody mess, and others with their skin limp and drooping from some sort of water jutsu. Out here, the civilian causalities weren't as great – many Konoha ninja ushered out as many civilians as they could as per the instruction of the old Hokage. Itachi's expression was blank, however, inside, he was highly impressed by the sight before him. 'All of this death and carnage… over one boy,' he thought. 'He didn't even have to lift a finger… I suppose he truly is the apprentice of the Shinigami.' The elder raven paused in his stroll, sensing a familiar chakra signature behind him. He turned slowly to the large, black shape rising from the ground, tensing ever so slightly. The blackness peeled away to reveal his younger brother, embracing intimately with the source of the disorder. Demonic eyes zeroed in on him and the young nukenin could practically feel the playful smile that was present on the whitehead's face.

"Oh, look at who we've found," Naruto said, giggling almost like a child.

Itachi's eyes widened and he gasped softly – Naruto had his head tucked safely underneath Sasuke's chin, his hands grasping the taller boy's shoulders. Sasuke had an arm draped almost possessively around the whitehead's waist. Sasuke turned his head to look over his shoulder, his eyes spinning lazily with their intricate and unique shape. The two looked completely unaffected by the death around them, their glowing, red eyes making them look demonic. "Little brother," he whispered. Sasuke tightened his grip around Naruto, his spinning eyes narrowing. "You watched me slaughter our entire clan, yet you stand here embracing death himself in the midst of all his carnage." Itachi cocked his head to the side softly. "I do believe you are not right in the head." Naruto roared with laughter and Sasuke scowled, shoving the cackling boy away from him with a growl.

"Cut the shit, Itachi."

"There are no feces present to be cut, otouto." Naruto let loose another loud snort of laughter, clutching at his sides. The younger raven ignored his teammate, meeting eyes with his brother. "I told you to come to me when you had eyes like mine," Itachi stated, admiring the unique shape of Sasuke's Mangekyou. "I see you've done as instructed." A dark, haunted look settled in the younger Uchiha's eyes at Itachi's statement and he shuffled closer to the quiet whitehead beside him.

"Not exactly," Sasuke said quietly. He blinked and his eyes were back to their normal onyx color. "That doesn't matter though. I know the truth, Itachi, about our clan and the reason behind that night." The elder Uchiha sighed slowly through his nose, cutting the chakra flow to his eyes.

"Do you now?" he murmured softly, running a hand through his raven locks. His gaze shifted over to the reaper who was observing their surroundings, as if looking for something. "Your… friend has to leave." Naruto chuckled, grinning.

"No, it's alright, I get it." He slowly began to sink into his shadow and Sasuke turned to him abruptly.

"You can't leave! They're after you!" He reached for the reaper, but black tendrils slapped his hand away.

"They are," Naruto said casually. "But I can afford to die. You can't. Besides, your brother is here. So you stay with him like a good little boy and I'll be back later." Pale hands clenched into fists and Sasuke glared at the quickly disappearing Jinchuuriki.

"No you won't," he ground out. Naruto gave him one last smile before his shadow swallowed him whole. Sasuke growled lowly to himself, turning to face his brother. "How did you do it?" he asked quietly, his voice wavering. Itachi gave him a blank stare. "How did you handle yourself before the Massacre? How could you bear knowing what was going to happen? How did you manage with feeling so useless?" He gritted his teeth, grasping clumps of his hair in his hands. "I'm not even in any condition to fight because I let that stupid Hyuuga close my tenketsu. Even if I wasn't hindered, I'd be nothing but a liability to him." Itachi's eyes softened at the hopelessly frustrated look on Sasuke's face and he crossed over to the younger raven. "How do you protect someone who is leaps and bounds ahead of you?" The elder poked Sasuke in the forehead, effectively cutting off his rant and Sasuke's eyes widened at the pleasantly familiar gesture.

"Relax, little brother." The Genin took a deep breath and nodded softly, his hands lowering to his sides. "You need to go find the other Konoha ninja." Sasuke took a step back from Itachi, as if burned.

"Return to Konoha? After everything they've done to us?"

"You were there before you knew the truth, no?" The younger opened his mouth to protest, but Itachi raised a hand to silence him. "Sasuke, I've been undercover for years and I cannot afford to have my cover blown. However," he paused, turning to stare out into the distance behind him.

"Aniki?" Sasuke called, confused on as to what his brother was staring at. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Sasuke. Come along." Itachi turned fully away from Sasuke, breaking out into a dash, the younger raven following him with a sigh.

'You better come back.'

~YaoiLemons~

"So we've finally found you, Shinigami no Kage." The Jinchuuriki let out a slow breath from his nose, turning to face the two ninja that appeared behind him. The two Shinobi from a month before were standing before him, now in their Akatsuki garb. The taller one eyed him, his odd colored eyes roaming about the whitehead's body. "You don't look any different than the other brats."

"Kakuzu, show some fucking respect!" the silver haired man barked, his crazed purple eyes glaring at his partner. "I apologize, Kage-sama. These heathens don't understand what an honor it is to be in your presence. I am Hidan," he stated, grinning widely at the whitehead. "And today, I am your opponent!" Hidan took off, speeding towards Naruto with his scythe poised above his head. The reaper gritted his teeth, throwing up a wall of shadows to block the strike only for his eyes to widen when the three red blades cut through his wall like it was paper. Naruto jumped away from the nukenin, rolling his eyes in frustration.

"Of course," he muttered. "Yet again, my so-called ultimate defense is triumphed." Hastily drawing Jaakai from his shadow, he rolled under another slash from Hidan's scythe and blocked the next one with his blade. With a start, he remembered the other Akatsuki member and sunk quickly into his shadow to avoid the black threads aimed to pierce his body. He reappeared not far behind Kakuzu to see Hidan scowling at his partner, the threads slowly slithering out of his body.

"Watch where you're throwing those things, shithead!" Naruto was quickly on the offensive again, dodging and blocking the various attacks from the duo.

'The grey-haired one, Hidan, he's not affected by being hurt… and he can cut right through my shadows. What is he?' he thought to himself, pulling Kurama's consciousness to the forefront of his mind.

"A Jashinist… That arrogant fool Jashin was to disband his cult years ago!" Naruto let out a growl as he dodged Kakuzu's fireball only to be zapped with his lightening. With a yell, the whitehead sent a bolt of black lightening back at the older man, using his attack against him. The nukenin dodged effortlessly.

'Who is Jashin?'

"He's a demon who resides in Makai, in the eighth ring. He has a habit of granting humans immortality. In his eyes, anything short of absolute destruction is a sin." The reaper heard a crazed laugh behind him and quickly blocked Kakuzu's punch. He gasped as the man's hand separated from his arm and clenched around his throat, lifting him from the ground.

"Gah!" the Jinchuuriki screamed as lightening shot through his body.

"Forgive me, Kage-sama!" he heard Hidan yell before the triple-bladed scythe dug deep into his back, his blood splattering all over the crazed nukenin. He let out a gargled noise, gritting his teeth around the blood that began to pool in his mouth. He suddenly swung Jaakai upward, cutting the threads of Kakuzu's hand, as tendrils shot up from Hidan's shadow and ensnared the grey-haired man. Ripping the appendage from his throat, he swept around, slicing the cord of the scythe still buried in his flesh. He pumped a portion of what little chakra he had to his feet, bolting away from the two Akatsuki members and panting softly. As tendrils began to rise from his own shadow, he swung his free hand down. Hidan was pulled apart, limb from limb, and his head popped messily off his shoulders. The ball of darkness finally sealed shut around him, keeping him temporarily protected as he watched his two opponents, his shadows acting as a one-way mirror.

'That was too easy,' he thought. Kakuzu calmly collected his hand from the ground, black threads slithering from his arm to reconnect the hand. His red eyes concentrated on the tall man, Naruto pulled the scythe out of his body with a sickening squelch, wincing. Red youkai engulfed the wound, regenerating the tissue and stitching everything back together. His eyes narrowed as black threads sprouted from around Kakuzu's wrists.

"Awh, Kakuzu, I didn't even have to ask!" came a voice and Naruto's eyes widened as Kakuzu picked up Hidan's grinning head. He dropped Jaakai into the black hole underneath his feet, frowning. He wrapped his free hand around his pendant, yanking it from his neck, and held it near his stomach.

"Kit… what are you planning?" Naruto stayed silent, observing the bounty hunter as he stitched together his teammate.

'I'm not going to make it out of this, Kurama. You need to go to Sasuke.' He could see the redhead's angry face in his mind's eye.

"Like hell I am! I'm not leaving you here to these guys! If they want to fight with the leader of the 9th ring and the strongest of Bijuu, I'll fucking give them one!" the fox roared.

'Kurama,' the reaper warned in his head. 'These guys are no joke. They're strong. Very strong. They have at least five men with those Rinnegan eyes and who knows what they can do with them. We're brutally outnumbered. We have no idea what they are capable of and as much as you want to fight them, rushing into a battle without knowing what they can do is only going to get us in trouble.' The demon lord went silent and Naruto began to pull the fox's youkai into his pendant.

"…Perhaps you're right, kit."

'Ha! Finally overcame that massive ego of yours!' Kurama rolled his golden eyes at the jab.

"They're going to capture you thinking I'm still locked within you. That gives you VIP access to their base to see what they are hiding. After they're done… I'm not sure what they'll do. They're aware you can't die."

'I'll figure something out,' he said to Kurama. Hidan was now on his feet, grinning madly at his shadow ball as if he could see through it. 'Go now, Kurama.'

"I'll leave you some of my youkai. And kit, I'll kick your ass if anything goes wrong," the redhead growled.

'Love you too, foxy-chan.' With a snort, Kurama flooded his being into the pendant for a second time. Hidan lapped at the reaper's blood on his hand and another maniacal smile cracked on his face.

"Mm-hm-hm! Kage-sama! I beg you, give me more, give me more!" Naruto ignored the shouts, closing his eyes to focus. Pulling on what little kuraikai he had, he searched for Sasuke's aura. His eyes snapped open wide when he got a flash of the ten men bounding towards him, all decked in Akatsuki robes. He clenched his eyes shut again in a panic, gritting his teeth.

'Focus, Uzumaki, focus!' The world around him started to slide away and a few small bubbles appeared around him, pictures flashing within them as if they were small movies. Grey eyebrows furrowed and he began to filter out the useless bubbles, pulling desperately for Sasuke's aura. A small bubble floated towards him and, with his spirit body, he reached out. Within the bubble he could see Itachi and Sasuke, the two surrounded by forest. He brushed the edge of the bubble with his fingertip and urged his pendant through it, straining. Suddenly, everything around him disappeared and gave a cry of frustration. Sunlight assaulted his sensitive eyes and became aware of the twelve ninja now standing around him. There were now six orange-haired men, their eyes sending shivers down his back as he felt their power. The one with the shaggy hair seemed to be the leader as he was standing before all of the cloak clad men.

"It seems even you have your limits, Kage-sama," Hidan cackled. His partner allowed a threaded hand to separate from his arm and retrieve the cultist's scythe, dropping it at his feet.

"Try to keep a hold on your toys, Hidan," he grumbled. The other man merely smirked at Naruto. The main orange-haired man raised a hand and Naruto yelped as he was lifted into the air.

'What the fuck!?' he thought, panicked. 'Is he controlling gravity!?'

"The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki," the man called, his voice powerful yet monotone. "You may be a force of nature, but even you cannot stop peace. With your power, all this unnecessary death will be no more. You'll find your job much easier. I'm sure the Shinigami will be grateful." Naruto growled, his fist clenching.

"You will not dare to disturb the natural balance of the world!' he shouted, squirming in his seemingly non-existent hold. "You measly humans are biting off more than can you chew!" The man didn't grace him with a reply and, instead, threw his hand up. Naruto went flying into the air. The man swung his hand down and the reaper accelerated towards the ground at a speed not even Earth's natural gravitation pull could supply.

His world went black.

~YaoiLemons~

Heart-chan: Wow. This chapter is like, six months overdue. Well I'm out of school now, so writing is the only thing I really have to do. Also! I have the storyline (vaguely) planned out in a notebook, all the way up to the point where climax should be. So excited! Review, follow, favorite and the likes. Until next time! *bows* (If you would like to read some shameless SasuNaru smut, check out my one-shot Bloodlust. Its sequel, Addiction, should be out within the next few days~! Go read it!)