Lies in the Past, Danger in the Future

by Zorback32

Hinata lost everything that day. What she was doing with her life now could hardly be called living, in fact a better phrase would be simply not dying. It did not matter that she was recognized as heroine, it did not matter everyone adored her. Nothing mattered anymore. However a certain Sage offers her a chance to make everything right but what will Hinata sacrifice in return?

11. Chapter 11

Warning: this chapter contains graphic violence, gore, and a brief torture scene.

x-x

Chapter 11: Dark Sands

Despite the close proximity of the explosions, none of the shinobi here were panicking. Every single one of them, including those who had not yet reached adulthood, was already a war veteran and had seen their share of conflict. Panic was a reaction that did not occur easily for them.

Gaara pressed his hands to the floor and sent out a pulse of chakra, causing the surrounding desert to spawn sand cats that would attempt to detect any enemy presences. However, after several minutes, the sensory technique failed to locate whoever it was that had attacked the central tower. Some of the other shinobi saw Gaara show a look of concern, which set off alarms in their heads.

But the first signs of true panic only appeared among the collective when a clay bird flew right into the center of the room. Gaara's sand reacted automatically and enveloped it before it could explode. But it had survived long enough to erase all doubt in the minds of everyone present about who had caused the first explosion.

"They're here," Gaara said ominously. He then turned to face Baki and ordered, "Send every member of the Exploration Group out to locate all of the participating teams and evacuate them from the Demon Desert immediately."

"Yes, sir," Baki replied. "But what about you, sir? You're one of their targets!"

"And I am also the only shinobi in Suna who is strong enough to fight these adversaries, Baki-sensei. I must remain here."

Baki sighed, betraying his unspoken thoughts about his former student stubbornly standing his ground against the Akatsuki. Thankfully, Gaara chose not to call him out on those thoughts. "Very good, Kazekage-sama. It will be done as you command."

"Evacuating all the teams?" Shizune asked; the satellite connection to Konoha had not been shut off yet. "You're planning to cancel the Chūnin Exams, Gaara-sama?"

"I have no choice, Shizune Katō. This attack by the Akatsuki will generate too much controversy once word of their appearance here gets out."

"Naruto is going to be so upset when he gets back to Konoha only to find out that he's going to be denied a promotion again," Shikamaru observed as he moved closer to Gaara. Then he asked the necessary question, "How did the Akatsuki even get here, Kazekage-sama?"

"I was observing Fū earlier with my sand eye, but she noticed me and forced me to cancel the technique," Gaara explained. "That must have given our enemies the opportunity they needed to get inside the Demon Desert. But to make it this far in the first place..."

"They planted a mole among your shinobi. Probably more than one," Shikamaru finished Gaara's realization.

"It seems I will be forced to request the aid of your village yet again once the current crisis is over. But for now, you must get your friends out of here. Temari," Gaara ordered his older sister.

"Got it," Temari replied, using her tessen (war fan) to quickly blast a hole in one of the walls. Once the opening was made, she set the tessen down and dragged Shikamaru over to her, gesturing for him to sit down on the tessen.

"This is such a drag!" Shikamaru complained as Temari pushed them out of the tower and used her tessen to glide along the air currents. Their escape came at just the right time, as another explosion rocked the tower and sent most of the remaining occupants into a panic as they rushed to escape.

And a few moments later, the cause of their panic appeared. A blond teenager wearing the Akatsuki robes was sighted riding atop a large clay bird, which Gaara knew right away was not modeled after any species that were native to Kaze no Kuni. A large bang kept his left eye hidden from view.

"So," the figure riding the clay bird, Akatsuki's terrorist bomber Deidara, said as the bird slowly approached the tower, "did you appreciate my art, hm?"

Gaara remained eerily calm as he turned towards the few who were still present inside the tower. "Hokage-dono, I would request that you allow me to handle Deidara alone. You are aware that he is a long-range fighter and will likely rely on attacks from the air, far from where you can reach him."

"That's fine, Kazekage-dono," Tsunade replied, cracking her knuckles. "Akatsuki always come in pairs, after all." Once she said that, Deidara's partner came into view. The new figure appeared to be hunched over and walking on all fours.

"Always the fanatic, Deidara," the blond's partner spoke in a hoarse voice. "What would you have done if you had made the mistake of killing our target with the first salvo?"

"Don't lecture me, Sasori, my man!" Deidara yelled. "What better way was there to enlighten them with the beauty of my art, hm?"

"The only thing that idiotic attack accomplished was to prematurely alert our enemies to our presence. Your obsession with your inferior art style has ruined our stealth and now we only have a limited amount of time before the Demon Desert is swarming with reinforcements. You couldn't even take anyone out with those bombs! Next time, think before acting." Deidara was about to turn this into another of their full-blown arguments over which form of art is superior, but while both of them remained focused on each other, Tsunade took advantage of their bickering and crashed down on Sasori, slamming a chakra-boosted fist into his back.

Only to do no damage whatsoever as Sasori dissolved into sand and reappeared some distance away.

"A sand clone?" Tsunade wondered aloud.

"I see that taking the position of Hokage has not affected your recklessness in battle, Tsunade of the Sannin," Sasori chided the Slug Princess. "Let's make this quick. Thanks to my foolish partner, there's no time to savor the rare opportunity to defeat two Kage at once."

"Aren't you the confident one, talking so casually of your assumptions about the outcome," Tsunade shot back. "You know enough about me to know that I absolutely can't stand losing. So you should already know that you picked the wrong fight today."

"I beg to differ. Deidara may be a fool, but he is still a useful one. And I am sorely disappointed by your reactions. Nonetheless, you may yet prove to be a valuable addition to my extensive collection of puppets, even if you're not on the same level as my favorite puppet, the Third Kazekage, who I kidnapped and killed over ten years ago."

The claim from Sasori sent Tsunade staggering backwards. "W-What did you say?"

"Unfortunately, his boasts are completely accurate," Gaara spoke up. "Sasori of the Red Sand is my village's most infamous traitor, responsible for the murder of my late father's predecessor. His skills with puppetry are unmatched by anyone in the Five Great Shinobi Nations, and it was with his puppets that he earned his moniker during the Third Shinobi World War, by dying the sands red with the blood of his enemies. Sasori is the only puppeteer who has displayed the ability to use humans as puppets. But the murder of the Third Kazekage isn't even his greatest feat. This criminal is responsible for killing an entire nation single-handed."

"It is good to see that my accomplishments have not been forgotten by the pathetic people of Suna," Sasori said. "But as for you, Tsunade, I cannot allow you to live long enough to learn anything else." Tsunade barely had time to jump away as a metallic scorpion tail emerged from the sand behind her and attempted to impale her.

"Tsunade!" Gaara shouted, only now starting to panic. However, his words were drowned out by several clay birds exploding at close proximity, forcing his sand to react automatically to block them.

"Hey, pay attention!" Deidara yelled at the Kazekage. "The art show is just getting started, yeah!"

x-x

Fū quickly jumped away from the silver-haired Jashinist, propelling herself backwards with the wings of her Nanabi (Seven-Tails) chakra cloak. While the detection of negative emotions wasn't one of her abilities, the sinister aura coming from that man had been impossible not to feel.

'What the hell is with this creep?' the mint-haired jinchūriki raged inside her head. She did not have time to find an answer to her question, as the Jashinist quickly reappeared behind her, denying her a chance to escape.

"Where are you going, pretty? Let's have some fun!" the man laughed, flashing Fū a sadistic grin. He raised his scythe—hacking off a few limbs was still allowed, provided she lived long enough to be killed by the Akatsuki's extraction ceremony—and knew from the speed Fū had used in her first escape attempt that she would not be able to dodge this hit.

Luckily for her, she didn't need to.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted. In his fixation on Fū, the silver-haired Akatsuki had failed to maintain situational awareness, allowing the blond to appear at his side with a Body Flicker and slam the blue orb into his gut, blasting him several meters away. However, despite the direct hit that was lethal to most who were struck, Naruto's enemy seemed more annoyed than injured when he dug his heels into the sand and stopped moving.

"You're gonna regret that, kid," the Jashinist growled. "I'm gonna chop you up into little pieces and make the bitch standing next to you watch!"

"Go ahead and try, punk," Naruto shot back, cracking his knuckles and giving his foe a predatory grin. "I've been waiting for a chance to beat one of you freaks down for a long time." While he did mean those words from the bottom of his wounded heart, in reality Naruto was only saying them to bait his opponents, hoping Fū would take the chance to escape and get Hinata away as well. Then, once he had the Akatsuki's undivided attention, he would work out his own escape plan. The problem was getting both of them to focus on him and him alone.

"Keep calm, Hidan," the silver-haired man's partner, the one with the green eyes and mask, advised. "It's your fault for letting your guard down around the other target."

The now identified Hidan turned to his partner and frowned. "Are you shitting me, Kakuzu? Why didn't you step in if you knew he was going to throw a sucker punch?"

"Your rage and psychotic tendencies are not assets in this situation," Kakuzu reminded Hidan. "You cannot give in to your bloodlust in this fight. Our mission is to take both of these jinchūriki alive." Hidan clenched his scythe, but said nothing, knowing that Kakuzu was right: the mission had to come first, even though the cost was Jashin's displeasure. "The Nanabi comes from my former village, so I will deal with her. You can handle the Kyūbi. But he must still be alive when you're done with him," Kakuzu stressed with no subtlety whatsoever.

"Fine," Hidan mumbled. But during the interruption, the pair hadn't noticed that Naruto took the opportunity to make several dozen Shadow Clones, placing most of them in front of Fū to give her a buffer. Naruto hoped this would give Fū enough time to make her getaway as he charged at Kakuzu...

...but Hidan stepped in and made his effort meaningless.

"How dare you ignore me, heathen!" Hidan yelled, kicking Naruto in the head and making all of his clones dispel at once. Naruto tumbled across the sand and groaned, feeling a slight headache from the impact. "You think you can pull that shit and get away with it?" the Jashinist kept ranting, delivering a second kick to Naruto, this time impacting his gut hard enough to make him cough up bile. "As if! I might not be allowed to kill you, but by the time we're done here you'll be begging Jashin-sama to grant you death!"

x-x

Gaara poured more chakra into the sand cloud he hovered on, increasing his speed and altitude as he attempted to draw Deidara away from the Demon Desert or at least, away from where any of the genin teams were likely to be holed up. This left Tsunade alone with Sasori at the now-deserted central tower, continuing to dodge Sasori's scorpion tail.

"Tsk," Tsunade muttered. "This is really annoying!" she yelled as, pulling a page out of Naruto's handbook, she stopped dodging and stood her ground for the next attack. The tail jabbed at her with incredible speed, but she twisted her body slightly, enough to make it miss by about fifteen centimeters. Before Sasori could retract the tail, Tsunade grabbed it with her right hand.

"Now get lost!" Tsunade screamed as she yanked on the tail and reeled Sasori in. Her left fist smashed into the puppet master's face, but to her surprise, his entire body shattered into numerous fragments of wood and metal, the metallic shards sparkling in the harsh sunlight as they scattered over the desert floor.

'A puppet? That body was only a puppet?'

"While I am upset that you destroyed Hiruko so quickly," Sasori muttered, his voice no longer hoarse, "such a feat is expected from the Fifth Hokage." Thanks to that one punch, he'd been forced to abandon Hiruko before it connected and now appeared in his true form, an unnaturally young teenager with messy red hair and still cloaked in the Akatsuki robes.

Tsunade grimaced as she pulled some of the shards that had hit her out of her right arm and tore off part of her shirt to act as a bandage. "I'm gonna break you next, and when I do there won't be any pieces left to pick up." She slammed her fist into the sand, generating shock waves that temporarily disoriented Sasori. Then she pushed chakra into her legs and rushed in with enhanced speed, attempting to strike before her enemy could respond. However, when her punch connected and the sand was sent flying she was surprised to see that another puppet had blocked the hit, and as she stood in the pile of wood left behind by her hit, she stared down the face of a third puppet, and this one looked eerily familiar.

"What the—"

"Iron Sand: Scattered Showers," Sasori calmly said. Magnetized sand began pelting the Slug Princess at an accelerated rate. Since the attack occurred at point-blank range, Tsunade was unable to get out of the way in time and took most of the full force. Four of the projectiles were still lodged into her stomach when the attack ceased.

"Haha..." Tsunade laughed between groans of pain as she pulled out the projectiles. "Are S-rank missing ninja all talk these days? That hit only barely hurt!"

"It will be much more painful in a few seconds, Tsunade. You're already starting to look ill."

"What are you—" but then Tsunade felt what Sasori was implying. Her skin started to show discoloration and her legs wobbled, rapidly losing strength. "That sand was poisoned?!" she coughed out.

"All of my puppets and other weapons utilize a metallic poison of my creation in their attacks," Sasori explained. "My many battles against other Suna-nin have confirmed that there is no antidote in existence for my poison. You're already starting to feel the effects. The poison is attacking your muscles and destroying healthy tissue. Any moment now, you will be fully paralyzed. And in three days' time, the poison will finish its job and kill you."

"We'll...see about that," Tsunade struggled to say, her voice raspy as her hands glowed green and she tried to extract the poison.

"Deidara was right about one thing. You have no appreciation of art. But his claims that beauty is only found in brief flashes are misguided. True art is supposed to endure throughout the ages, to be appreciated by many generations after it is created. Most of my victims are prime examples of this. After I defeat them, I transform their bodies into puppets while they're still alive. The Third Kazekage is the most exquisite piece in my collection, retaining the Magnet Style kekkei genkai possessed by the Kazekage's clan. I look forward to adding you to my collection as well, Tsunade of the Sannin."

"You can forget about it! Your views on art are revolting and I won't let you desecrate me like you did the rest of your victims!"

"The flawed thoughts of an unenlightened mind. Only a rare few are able to grasp the true essence of art. Deidara, at least, is able to appreciate and respect this truth. Now then, time to finish this." Sasori tugged on the chakra threads connected to the Third Kazekage puppet, making it expel two masses of iron sand of opposite magnetic charges. "Iron Sand: World Order!" he shouted, forcing the masses to merge and create hundreds of charged spikes branching off irregularly. Tsunade, in her weakened state struggled to dodge the spikes that rained down on her, and ended up being trapped in a small space by several of the spikes.

"This is the end for you, Tsunade." Sasori started moving closer to finish the job, when...

"Sasori, my man! Look out!" Deidara yelled from atop his clay bird. Sasori turned to see what his partner was blabbing about this time, only to see massive sand waves rushing towards him.

"Sand Tsunami!" Gaara shouted. The rolling sand was already too close for Sasori to avoid. Knowing there was no escape, he jettisoned a small cylindrical object from his body just before he was helplessly swept away by the waves. The sand waves also weaved between the needle sphere he'd just made and swept most of it away as well, thereby allowing Tsunade to escape from his prison.

"Sunagakure will see justice served on this day, Sasori. Giant Sand Burial!" Gaara pressed his hands down against the sand and sent out several pulses of chakra, compressing the sand and crushing everything buried beneath it.

"That seemed...a bit too easy, Kazekage-dono," Tsunade groaned, shakily making her way towards Gaara once the shock waves ceased. She did not get a chance to show her relief that Gaara was still alive and well, as Deidara became enraged by the sight of Sasori's apparent destruction.

"You're going to pay dearly for what you just did to Sasori, yeah!" Deidara howled. He revealed a small statue-like bomb kept underneath his robes and activated it with the Seal of Confrontation. The statue rapidly expanded as it dropped towards ground level, its arms slowly extending outward.

'This is a great problem,' Gaara thought as the statue continued to expand. 'I expended too much of my chakra trying to keep Deidara stalled. Coupled with my attack against Sasori...'

"What are you doing?!" Gaara shouted.

"The Ohaku C3 is a prime demonstration of my art, a flash of brilliance that will outshine the sun!" Deidara continued howling. "There's no escape, yeah! Cry your heart out in your last moments, because my art...is an EXPLOSION!"

'An explosion of that size...it will severely damage the desert's ecosystem and kill most of the genin who are still here! I cannot allow it to happen!' In full-blown panic, Gaara summoned the last of his chakra reserves to call upon a large-scale defense to block the explosion before it could go off.

"Wind Style: Sky Sand Defensive Wall!" Gaara slammed his hands down onto the desert floor to infuse the surrounding sand with Wind chakra. He then raised his arms, and the sand rose with it, forming several pillars underneath a giant sand shield which enveloped the explosive statue.

In the next moments, the world violently shifted. Despite his best efforts, Gaara had not been able to completely contain the explosion with his sand. Deidara's boasts that the flash would outshine the sun had not been exaggerated; for a brief moment, everything turned white, then when the flash faded much of the sky above them appeared to be engulfed in orange flames. The blast wave from the explosion nearly toppled Gaara, and caused the central observation tower to collapse, burying Tsunade in rubble. And much of the sand shield turned to glass and started crumbling, its shards raining down all around the battle site.

After the explosion ran out of energy and faded, the wind was still howling violently and whipping up a new sandstorm to spread out in every direction across the Demon Desert. Gaara was exhausted and struggling to remain upright. His equilibrium was still disturbed by the explosion, which his sand shield had absorbed just enough of to prevent major damage to the desert. It would be some time before he could know if he'd also managed to prevent casualties. But there was a more pressing issue: Deidara was nowhere to be seen. Gaara had no choice but to envelop himself in his personal sand shield to recoup.

A move which would turn out to be his undoing. Too late, Gaara noticed that there was white clay embedded inside his shield.

And it was the last thing he saw before the clay detonated.

x-x

Fū managed to put three hundred meters between herself and Hidan before she realized she would have to stand her ground against Kakuzu. The two foes were disturbingly similar despite their ideological differences and intense hatred for one another. But Kakuzu seemed even more sinister than his partner. It was in his eyes and the way he carried himself.

Then there was also his forehead protector, with a large scratch running horizontally through the center. Fū recognized the symbol on the metal plate as the symbol of her home village.

"This monster is from Taki?" Fū wondered. "How did the elders even let someone like him exist?"

"The elders of Taki," Kakuzu snapped at Fū, "had no say in the matter, seeing as I killed them all after they betrayed and imprisoned me several decades ago." Hundreds of thick, gray tendrils started sprouting out from Kakuzu's flesh and wrapped around Fū, forcing her out of the air and leaving her immobilized. Then Kakuzu's entire body turned stone-like and he delivered a devastating headbutt to Fū, giving her a concussion as she fell into the sand.

"Normally I wouldn't bother with someone as young as you, since you don't have any sort of bounty on your head. But my organization wants the bijū that's inside of you, and I must follow orders. So let's make this quick. It won't matter if you hit me with your full power. Even the First Hokage couldn't kill me, so there's no chance of you walking away from this fight."

In any other situation, Fū would have answered that taunt with a snarky remark. However, her head was still ringing from the blow Kakuzu dealt her when his body hardened from using the Earth Style: Earth Spear. She knew she had to do something, but she still wasn't able to make her body answer any of her commands.

"So be it." Kakuzu growled. "Experience another taste of my Earth Spear!" he yelled, slamming his fist into the sand and generating a shock wave. Fū barely managed to take flight before the shock wave would have hit and rendered her immobile long enough for Kakuzu to land his next attack. As she struggled to regain her faculties, she scanned the surroundings for her enemy, but found that he had vanished after his attack.

'This monster...is way too strong,' Fū observed. 'If that attack had connected like the first one did, this fight would be over.' Desperate to turn the tide, Fū exhaled a blinding powder from her mouth, spreading it around for several hundred meters and hoping it spread far enough to blind Kakuzu and give her a chance to escape.

"Kegon, Yōrō, if you can get this message in time I could really use some help!"Fū silently yelled, her message carried by a howling wind. Even with the maximum amount of bijū chakra she could control, she knew her chances of winning against the S-rank missing-nin who betrayed her village, a monster who had fought against Hashirama Senju and survived, were slim to none. She hated the thought of potentially having to sacrifice her teammates just to be able to run away, but Shibuki had stressed the importance of exercising caution and staying out of any situation where her condition as a jinchūriki would be exposed to any enemies of Takigakure. But clearly it was too late for that; Taki's most infamous traitor already knew about her and was doing everything in his power to capture her.

Fū finally managed to locate Kakuzu after about a minute of scanning the desert. Not wasting any time, the mint-haired girl weaved four hand signs—Boar, Ram, Dog and Rat—and emitted webbing from her hands, launching it at her target and intending to immobilize him. However, Kakuzu had seen through the tactic without even looking at Fū, and right as the net would have landed on him, he dissolved into water.

'A water clone?' Startled, Fū turned around only to find that the real Kakuzu was enveloped in the threads that had attacked her earlier and took on a hideous, octopus-like form. His range was greatly extended in this form, easily allowing him to use the tendrils to bring his opponent back down to earth. Fū didn't have time to react before the massive tendrils extending from his mouth wrapped around her neck and yanked her out of the air. Their grip on her quickly tightened, and despite the chakra cloak Fū still wore the tendrils easily foiled her struggles to break free.

"What...how..." Fū choked out, unable to form a coherent sentence.

"Surprised? This is the power of your village's strongest kinjutsu, the Earth Grudge Fear. I can freely detach and reattach any of my limbs at will using the many tendrils woven throughout my flesh. The tendrils can also be used as dozens of additional appendages, and they are strong enough to keep you at bay even in your present state.

"Attempting to blind me and then immobilize me was a decent tactic, considering you're only a novice. Your control over the Nanabi is greater than I expected, given the incompetence of your elders. If they'd had the brains to help you gain more control over that power, you might have given me trouble. But you are not the first jinchūriki I have fought in battle, nor will you be the last. And this kinjutsu gives me all the tools I could ever need to put you down.

"You'll lose consciousness any second now, and when you do, your chakra cloak will vanish. I won't have any need of my stronger ninjutsu. Mission accomplished."

'No way...this can't be how it ends! This WON'T be how it ends!' Fū raged. In her refusal to succumb, she did something Kakuzu completely failed to anticipate. She drew on more of the Nanabi's chakra, spawning another two tails and changing her cloak to a dark red color.

Now in her Version Two state, Fū let out a guttural roar as the tendrils around her neck melted from contact with the more corrosive chakra. Kakuzu pushed himself backward to avoid further injury; his close proximity to Fū had started to cause his flesh to burn off. He may have been one of the most durable members of the Akatsuki, but even he could not survive close proximity to an enraged jinchūriki for long.

"Hmph...well, this is a large hiccup in the plan. But now you might actually be worth my time," Kakuzu growled.

Still in his long-range mode, he reactivated his Earth Spear technique and sent his tendrils out to attempt to pierce through the cloak. All this did was enrage Fū, who was appearing to glide across the sand as she closed in. Kakuzu noted that the extra power she drew on had increased her speed by ten times, but at the cost of overwhelming most of her rational thought. She had become a creature of pure rage. And Kakuzu was disappointed in her. He'd heard stories of jinchūriki who had attained perfect control over their bijū, namely Yagura and the two possessed by Kumogakure no Sato (the Village Hidden by Clouds), so he couldn't help but feel disappointed that this jinchūriki's control was lacking.

Kakuzu quickly found himself grappling with Fū, and was continuing to be pushed back. His reinforced skin was resisting the effects of the Nanabi's chakra, but it wouldn't protect him for long. He swatted Fū with his tendrils, attempting to break the grapple, but she only kept moving forward.

Then his eyes widened as a sickening crunch sound rang in his ears. Fū had lowered her head and clamped down on his chest and bit hard, tearing through the stone skin and piercing one of his hearts. Kakuzu went completely still for a moment. In her present state, Fū was not able to realize that Kakuzu had not been killed by her Bug Bite, so when he went still, she released him and flew away.

Only when she heard the sound of shattered porcelain, indicating that one of the two masks still on Kakuzu's back broke, did she sense that she had made a grievous mistake.

"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!" Kakuzu shouted. The Wind mask on his left shoulder released a concentrated stream of wind of such intensity, that even in her present state Fū was forced back. She dropped down to all fours and dug her heels into the sand to resist the force of the wind Kakuzu expelled from his mask.

"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!" Now the Fire mask on his right shoulder activated, spewing a high-powered stream of fire which combined with the still-ongoing Wind attack. Fū howled in agony as the dual attack struck, enveloping her in a blaze that even her current form could not endure. The Nanabi, in a last-ditch effort to preserve itself tried to force even more chakra into her network to change her form yet again, but with the relentless fire-wind stream from Kakuzu consuming its host at the same time as its chakra, Fū had reached her current limits.

Kakuzu sensed this as well and broke off his attack. When the flames surrounding Fū vanished, he observed that the bijū chakra surrounding her was rapidly vanishing, and once her skin was visible again he saw that she had moderate burns spread across much of her body.

"Now the mission is accomplished," Kakuzu grumbled to himself as Fū fell unconscious into the sand. He was about to move to pick her up when his ring pulsed with foreign chakra. Recognizing this as an urgent message from Pain, the Akatsuki Treasurer sat down in a cross-legged position and allowed his leader to initiate the Astral Projection Jutsu between them.

"Kakuzu, status report," Pain ordered through his projection.

"The Nanabi has been captured, but subduing its host was more difficult than I anticipated. My chakra reserves are depleted and one of my hearts was destroyed in the fight," Kakuzu said.

"We have made a critical error by sending too many members to the same location. Locate Hidan and fall back immediately. Rendezvous with the other teams at our hideout in Kawa no Kuni (the Land of Rivers)."

"Understood."

x-x

Naruto's situation against Hidan was arguably worse than Fū's had been against Kakuzu, despite facing the weaker opponent. Hidan, for the time being not blinded to the necessity of keeping his adversary alive, had strapped his Triple-Bladed Scythe to his back and was relying on raw taijutsu instead of bukijutsu (weapon techniques), but despite the severe handicap he placed on himself Hidan still started the fight with an overwhelming advantage.

Naruto had already attempted several methods of defense and distraction. The first wave of Shadow Clones had all been dispatched with a single hit to each; Hidan effortlessly weaved between them and even jumped over several of the clones, displaying tremendous agility and dexterity. The sandstorm that was enveloping the area had been dissipated by the very arrival of his enemies, taking away another possible means of defense. Naruto was quickly growing desperate in his efforts to stall for time in the hope that Fū had managed to escape with Hinata.

But apparently that had been too much to ask for. Naruto was pushed back again, but this time he tripped backwards over something soft. Naruto checked for the offending object and to his horror, he found that Hinata was still collapsed in the sand.

'No! Where the hell are you, Fū? Why didn't you get Hinata out of here?' Sure, logically he shouldn't have expected someone who wasn't a friend to have aided him, even if that someone was from an allied village. But Naruto still felt an overwhelming betrayal from Fū's decision to ignore both her teammates and his during her flight away from this desert. And he was becoming increasingly frantic, knowing it was all on him to figure out a way to get Hinata, along with Kiba and Shino if he could find them, to safety.

'There's no other way. I have to use the fox's chakra if I'm going to be able to protect her,' Naruto resolved, kneeling down on all fours. Judging from how badly he was getting kicked around, he didn't think the two tails of chakra he could willingly call on and control would be enough to gain the upper hand long enough to get his friends out of danger. But he was out of options.

'I just hope Hinata doesn't wake up to see me like this and hate me for it.'

Sand swirled violently around Naruto as the malicious power of the Kyūbi surrounded him, quickly engulfing his body in an orange cloak. A pair of chakra tails lashed through the air as he slowly rose to his feet, boring into the Jashinist's purple eyes with his red, slitted ones. Hidan, however, wasn't in the least phased by this feeble attempt at intimidation.

"Is the unbeliever getting desperate so soon?" Hidan taunted, and bellowed out a vile laugh. He unstrapped the Triple-Bladed Scythe and rushed towards Naruto. However, this time Naruto struck first and landed a vicious punch with a chakra arm that sent shock waves through the desert and sent Hidan tumbling backwards by almost fifty meters. The Jashinist shook off the hit, showing momentary surprise from allowing himself to take another hit that wasn't self-inflicted. He had also dropped his scythe during his tumbling, but a quick tug on the metal cable that was attached to the scythe put it back into his hand, and he rushed in again.

Naruto sent another chakra arm to attack, but Hidan used the scythe to propel himself into the air and jump over the arm, landing about a meter to the right of where it shot out at him. This bought Hidan another second of forward momentum before Naruto tried repelling him again, this time sending out several chakra arms at once. Hidan found it slightly harder to avoid this wave, but he was still the most agile member of Akatsuki and so it was little surprise that he dodged them all without that much difficulty. When he landed, he withdrew his second weapon of choice, a retractable spear, and placed it into his left hand while bending to the side to avoid yet another chakra arm.

"Why must heathens always be so damn boring?" Hidan jeered. "Entertain me, for a change!" Then he rushed back in, only to find that Naruto had vanished.

"Now where does that punk think he can hide?" A few seconds later, he got his answer when a pair of chakra arms burst up from beneath the sand, catching him by surprise and managing to restrain him successfully.

"Is this entertaining enough for ya, freak?" Naruto snarled as a huge orb of chakra formed in his hand, using the Kyūbi cloak in place of a shadow clone to stabilize it. "Giant Rasengan!" he shouted, slamming the orb into Hidan's midsection. However, Hidan had managed to wrestle his left arm free and thrust it forward at the same time as Naruto attacked. Hidan didn't bother trying to evade the chakra orb and let himself be sent flying. However, the internal injuries he sustained were negligible and did not hinder his combat abilities.

Naruto, on the other hand, had Hidan's spear piercing through his left lung. He snarled louder as he yanked the spear out, and the Jashinist observed as he charged back in that the injury, while lethal to most people, was already repaired. The only thing it did to the jinchūriki was slow him down for just a few seconds.

However, those few seconds were enough time for Hidan to notice a very important detail about the way Naruto was fighting.

'The jinchūriki is trying to protect someone,' he realized. He caught a glimpse of a young woman lying in the sand, evidently unconscious. 'This might allow me to atone for my sins against Jashin-sama bysparing him from my ritual.' Hidan blazed past Naruto, performing a frontal flip right over him as he dodged yet another set of chakra arms, and rushed at his next victim. Naruto tried to get Hidan away, but he was knocked back by a strong kick to his chest, leaving the jinchūriki unable to stop the Jashinist from getting to his target.

"Now, what do we have here?" Hidan mused, yanking Hinata out of the sand by pulling on her hair. The violent action made Hinata cry out in pain, and her eyes flicked open for a split second, long enough for Hidan to take notice of the Byakugan. "Trying to save your teammate, eh? And a Hyūga bitch, at that! Jashin-sama will be most pleased with this sacrifice," he said as he licked the tip of the largest blade of his scythe and pressed it to Hinata's neck.

"Don't you dare hurt her!" Naruto yelled. "I'm the one you're after! Leave her out of this!"

"I don't take orders from infidels," Hidan coolly replied. "And you shouldn't concern yourself with her until after you join her in hell."

"The only one here who's going to hell is you! Let her go so we can settle our fight!"

"Nah, it's more interesting watching you get worked up while you're helpless to save your teammate." Hidan laughed as he took in the increasing anger on Naruto's face. "Don't tell me you have feelings for this girl? Oh, that is hysterical! A jinchūriki, of all people, actually loving someone! If that isn't the most absurd thing I've ever seen from an unbeliever!"

"Let. Her. Go," Naruto demanded again, his voice dropping several octaves below its normal pitch as he slowly enunciated each of his angry words.

Hidan gained a sinister sparkle in his eyes as Naruto's reactions only confirmed his prior observations. "If there's gonna be any chance of me listening to you, first you're gonna have to do as I say. Lose the chakra cloak," he ordered. Naruto instead started moving closer, intending to blitz Hidan and liberate Hinata from this situation; this only made the Jashinist press his scythe harder against Hinata's neck, breaking the skin and allowing a small trickle of blood to drip down. "One step closer and she dies. I said lose the cloak, you son of a whore!" Naruto was further enraged by Hidan's profane demands and the sight and smell of Hinata's blood, but reluctantly managed to force the Kyūbi's chakra out of his system. "Now drop to your hands and knees."

"And why the hell should I do that?" Naruto snarled. He was not going to play any of this evil creature's twisted games. "So I don't get to watch you kill her?"

"Someone's finally catching on!" Hidan laughed. "There's only two things that matter in this world. Faith in Jashin-sama, and the ecstasy he allows his faithful to feel when we kill in his name!" Carefully shifting Hinata in his grip so his scythe wouldn't kill her prematurely, Hidan licked the blood off the tip of the blade. This caused his appearance to undergo a drastic change, as his skin turned black with while bone-like markings and the symbol of Jashin appeared underneath him.

"It's a pity she won't be awake for her righteous death," Hidan said with obvious disappointment as he threw Hinata to the side. "Pain and suffering should be savored to the utmost extent!" He raised his scythe and prepared to stab himself in the heart. However, just before the blade could pierce his chest and transfer the fatal wound to Hinata, it stopped abruptly. In the second it would have taken Hidan to fulfill his sacrifice to the wicked god he served, Naruto appeared directly in front of the Jashinist and stopped the blade using just the palm of his right hand. Blood flowed freely from where the scythe pierced Naruto's skin instead of Hidan's, and in that same moment, the jinchūriki underwent a different kind of transformation.

"What the fuck?!" Hidan yelled. In the next second, Naruto yanked the Triple-Bladed Scythe out of Hidan's hand and pushed him out of the symbol's borders. He then tightened his grip on the blade and overloaded the scythe with chakra, causing the weapon to shatter and sending wood and metal splinters flying in every direction. Naruto had already healed the damage, while Hidan was left looking like a porcupine coated in blood; but since Naruto had pushed Hidan off the symbol before shattering his scythe, none of the damage was transferred to Hinata. Hidan could only stare at Naruto, utterly dumbfounded as his signature weapon was destroyed and his jujutsu (curse technique) was rendered useless since he no longer had any tools he could use to transfer damage to his victim.

Hidan involuntarily took several steps backward. Seeing how the tide of this battle had turned, he had started to panic. Naruto's aura had shifted, but he wasn't calling on any of the Kyūbi's chakra. But his eyes were still changed. The Jashinist started shaking as the sight of Naruto's red irides and black sclerae, glaring at him with an expression that held nothing but rage, burned itself into his immortal mind.

"You just made the biggest mistake of your life."

x-x

Deidara smirked as he landed on the sand and stood over the bloody and broken Kazekage. The constant attacks from his C3 had given him the perfect diversion to plant some of his detonating clay inside Gaara's absolute defense. However, he gave himself a few moments of silence, and not to celebrate his victory. Gaara's actions at the end of the fight had been noble, and he respected that, though he had not been above taking advantage of them to complete his mission.

"Sasori, my man!" Deidara yelled at the sand, breaking the silence. "How long are you gonna hide, hm?"

"You talk too much," Sasori snapped at Deidara as he emerged from what was left of the central tower. The bomber knew that the puppeteer had transferred his organic core to another puppet body.

"You allowed your main body to be destroyed."

"A calculated risk. The Hokage was bound to lose consciousness from the effects of my poison sooner or later, so I did not see the point of wasting additional chakra in the fight. Protecting my core from the blast was more important."

"So basically, you let me do all the work, hm?" Deidara accused his partner.

"Once again, I am surprised that your inferior art was able to defeat the Kazekage. You continue to act too brashly in your efforts to one-up me. Had your tactics, if they can be called that failed, I would find myself being forced to clean up your mess yet again."

"You've got a lot of guts saying that when you let them destroy both of your favorite puppets! You not only lost Hiruko, but the Third Kazekage! Then there's the fact you let your main body be destroyed by Gaara! You took quite a beating in that fight, yeah!"

"Unfortunate losses, though they can be replaced in time. Now prepare the two Kage for transport."

"Don't you two ever shut the hell up?!" a very unwelcome voice shouted right as Deidara was about to have his C1 transport bird pick up Gaara in its talons, and just moments later, Tsunade burst free from the rubble of the central tower. "Seriously, your bickering is worse than Orochimaru's fangirls!" Deidara and Sasori turned to face each other with a pair of blank stares.

"I thought you had her dealt with, hm?" Deidara taunted Sasori.

"The poison should have done its job by now," Sasori muttered.

"You underestimated me," Tsunade cut in, quickly appearing in front of Deidara. "Big mistake." She tried to punch a hole straight through the bomber's chest, but Deidara quickly performed a Substitution with a Clay Clone he set aside, while Sasori reeled himself back with the stinger cable installed in his abdomen which he'd wrapped around a nearby boulder. It was only after dodging Tsunade's attack that they noticed her appearance had changed. There were several black markings stretching along her forehead and cheeks, signifying the activation of her ultimate iryōjutsu (medical technique), the Mitotic Regeneration.

"When you hit me with your poison, Sasori, my body was already beginning to purge it," she bluffed. In truth, she had managed to extract some of the poison, but there was still enough lingering in her system that the activation of her kinjutsu would only buy her a few more minutes of combat time before she truly became incapacitated. "Your failed attempt on my life ended with your best puppets getting turned into scrap. You gambled big and lost.

"Oh, and by the way, both of your art styles suck ass."

"That does it!" Deidara snapped. Sasori, for once, was in agreement with his partner; one does not insult both of their views on art and expect to live. Deidara launched a swarm of detonating clay minions while Sasori used both of his palms as flamethrowers to attack Tsunade.

"Eight Trigrams Palms Rotation!" a new voice yelled, its owner stepping between Tsunade and the Akatsuki and repelling the latter's attacks with a powerful revolving half-sphere of chakra expelled from his body. Annoyed, Deidara tried to send out more bombs, only to find that there was no clay left in his pouches. Before he could run back to his clay bird to cannibalize it for more material, he felt a sharp pain in his lower back and tumbled across the sand for several meters.

"Ow! Dammit! What the hell is going on?!" Deidara shouted.

"Dynamic Entry!" the second attacker yelled. "Cower in fear, for your evil deeds shall be punished by the Power of Youth!" He stood at an intimidating height of 184 centimeters and was dressed in a green jumpsuit, orange striped leg warmers and standard-issue Konoha flak jacket. He also sported a bowl haircut and thick eyebrows, along with maddeningly white teeth. In short, he looked utterly ridiculous.

"Great..." Deidara groaned as he struggled to get back to his feet. "Who the hell is this clown?"

"Hahaha! It is time for you to regret your mistakes, Akatsuki! For you now face Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey, Might Guy!" And to top off his triumphant speech, Guy flashed Deidara a smile that caused his teeth to give a proverbial ping.

"I do not believe that this is an appropriate time for your usual clichés, Guy-sensei," the first of his students who still stood in front of Tsunade said as he brushed off his white kimono-shirt and navy-gray apron.

"There is never an inappropriate time to indulge in our burning passions, Neji-kun," Guy replied. "We must always embrace the flames of our youth!"

"I really can't believe this guy..." Deidara muttered to himself. "Why isn't my partner dealing with him?"

"That would be because he is facing off against my exceptional students! He is no match for our youthful spirits!"

"Well said, as always, Guy-sensei!" another voice shouted. Tsunade groaned and Neji winced as Guy's favorite student, who was practically a clone of Guy in terms of appearance as he had the same bowl haircut, thick eyebrows and green jumpsuit, entered the fray.

"Can you please focus, Lee?" Neji hissed. "This is the Akatsuki we are dealing with, after all."

"We've been trying for how long to break him of his habits, Neji?" the last member of Guy's team, a young brunette in a high-collared white blouse and puffy pants who had her hair done up in buns and carried a large scroll on her back, remarked as she appeared next to her Hyūga teammate.

"Clearly not long enough, Tenten." Neji shrugged.

"Dammit, Sasori! Where are you?!" Deidara snapped, growing increasingly annoyed with the newcomers to his fight. About two seconds later, a shadow appeared above him and he got his answer when Sasori fell down from the sky, and Deidara scrambled to get out of the way before his partner landed on top of him.

Neji, seeing that his team's opponents were temporarily incapacitated, rushed over to where Tsunade stood. "Are you alright, Tsunade-sama?" he asked.

Tsunade shook her head. "Not even close, Neji. I only have a few minutes before Sasori's poison overwhelms my iryōjutsu and renders me unconscious. And Kazekage-dono is in even worse shape than me."

"Oh no..." Neji turned his head slightly to make sure Gaara wasn't in his Byakugan's blind spot and confirmed what Tsunade said about the Kazekage's current condition. He then said through his wireless radio, "We need to end this fast, Guy-sensei. Both Hokage-sama and Kazekage-sama are in serious condition and require medical attention."

"Then fast we shall be, Neji-kun," Guy responded. "You and Lee-kun will face off against the puppeteer. Tenten-chan and I shall deal with the blond bomber."

"Guy-sensei, would it not be better for Tenten to be partnered with me against Sasori, while you and Lee deal with Deidara?"

"An excellent question, Neji-kun, but the answer is no. Lee-kun's taijutsu style is identical to mine and so we would not be able to compensate for each other's weaknesses. Furthermore, Deidara is capable of aerial combat and I will require Tenten-chan to play the role of support with her ranged attacks to keep him grounded. But you and Lee-kun, combining your Gentle Fist with his Strong Fist, complement each other perfectly and should be able to overwhelm Sasori with your valiant efforts of hard work."

"Ah, yes, Guy-sensei!" a Lee who had tears streaming down his cheeks howled. "You thought this out perfectly!"

"I knew you would be able to see it, Lee-kun!" Guy howled back, giving his favorite pupil a thumbs up. Neji and Tenten just sighed; while they would always question most of Guy's antics, the results of his training could not be denied. There was a reason he was the strongest taijutsu expert in Konoha and very possibly in the entirety of the Shinobi Nations, after all.

"I've heard enough of your chatting!" an enraged Sasori yelled. "I didn't want to resort to using this, but you have left me with no choice." He removed his cloak to unveil his true form. Tenten reacted in horror to seeing the various mechanisms and compartments that were placed where vital organs should have been.

"Dear God," Tenten gasped. "You turned yourself into a puppet?"

"Would you like to become like this too?" Sasori asked in reply. "To have a body that does not decay, and can be rebuilt over and over? Having released myself from my mortal coil, I have become eternal, and now stand here as the ultimate expression of my fine art. Perhaps I will give you the chance to understand, after I defeat you here." Sasori reached behind him to pull out a scroll from the holder attached to his back and unrolled it, forcing chakra into the scroll to unseal a large number of human puppets he kept stored away. He then opened the compartment on the right side of his chest and began weaving enough chakra threads to be able to control all of them simultaneously.

"Behold the art that is responsible for taking down an entire nation! Secret Red Move: Performance of a Hundred Puppets!"

'The amount of chakra threads he is producing to control those puppets...it's impossible for any human to achieve!' Neji silently observed as he entered an advanced Gentle Fist stance to begin repelling the onslaught of puppets.

"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams, One Hundred and Twenty-Eight Palms!" Neji shouted, unleashing his counterattack. As Neji fended off dozens of puppets with his clan's taijutsu, Lee quickly removed his ankle weights and used them as nunchaku, taking full advantage of the flawed coordination in Sasori's puppetry and striking down several more with his no longer inhibited speed.

"Don't leave me out of this!" Tsunade yelled as she joined Lee and Neji in fending off Sasori's ultimate attack, throwing one punch after another to smash every puppet that tried to land a hit on her.

While Sasori kept Lee, Neji and Tsunade occupied, Guy and Tenten gave chase to Deidara as he retreated back towards his transport bird to gather more detonating clay. Having seen just enough of the way Lee was fighting against Sasori, Deidara knew he would be at a serious disadvantage against Guy if he allowed this battle to continue on the ground, and tried to take off. However, Tenten quickly stopped the bird from flying out of reach.

"Rising Twin Dragons!" Tenten shouted, unsealing hundreds of projectile weapons from two of her smaller sealing scrolls and guiding them to hit the C1. Both wings were sliced off, causing the clay bird to crash after rising only a few meters into the air. Frustrated, Deidara bit off a piece of the bird's head and picked up one of the stray kunai from Tenten's attack, using it to fend off Guy while he attempted to create a distraction that would let him get away long enough to create a Self-Destructing Clone that would end the battle in an instant.

However, Deidara ended up being the one to get distracted first, as an ill-timed communication from the Akatsuki leader was forcibly initiated.

"Can't you see I'm a bit busy here?" Deidara yelled at the astral projection of Pain.

"A retreat order has been issued to the other teams. Fall back to the designated rendezvous point at once," Pain commanded. "We will attempt to claim the Ichibi at a later date."

"Whatever." But right after the message ended, Deidara saw the opportunity he needed. During Deidara's momentary distraction, Guy had apparently instructed Tenten to move back, and was now shrouded in visible chakra, clearly wasting time to charge an attack. 'Idiot.'

"Daytime Tiger!" Guy shouted, crashing down on Deidara. Much to his consternation, the one-hit kill attack enabled by opening the Gate of Wonder only "killed" another Clay Clone.

"We need to get back to the others now!" Tenten shouted. Guy had already rushed back to where the central tower used to be before she finished speaking, leaving her to sigh in exasperation as she played catch up.

Back at the center of the Demon Desert, Lee, Neji and Tsunade were starting to be worn down by Sasori's almost endless assault of puppets; he even went so far as to reattach chakra threads to pieces of the puppets that were already destroyed so they could be used to extend the performance. Sasori had also received the retreat order from Pain and was now only stalling for time as he waited for his partner to return and display his art which, while it would always be inferior to Sasori's, was currently the more useful style.

"Are you ready now, Deidara?" Sasori yelled, turning his head to glance at the sand to his right. A shadow clone of Deidara emerged from the sand with the Earth Style: Hidden Mole Jutsu.

"Sure am, my man, but this is the last time I ever follow your lead, yeah!"

"We'll see about that." Sasori detached all of the chakra threads, allowing the puppets to fall to the ground. His opponents saw that as the opportunity they needed to take him down, but it was already too late for them. Sasori vanished in a Body Flicker, leaving Deidara alone for his performance.

"Such fools, all of you," the Deidara shadow clone mocked Tsunade and Team Guy. "Everything you saw up until now was just the preview. The true art show is happening in this single moment. And true art...is an EXPLOSION!"

They could only stare in horror as Deidara inflated himself like a massive balloon. Tenten was the first to realize that he had turned himself into a human bomb and scrambled to construct some means of shelter from the explosion. But by the time she could unseal enough weapons to do so, a brilliant flash of light blinded her, and then everything went silent.

x-x

The Jashinist had absolutely no idea how he was going to respond to this shift in the battle. In the span of just a few seconds, Dark Naruto had successfully exploited one of his biggest weaknesses, taking advantage of the slow attack speed of the Triple-Bladed Scythe to blitz him and break the link between him and his Hyūga victim. Worse, the jinchūriki had destroyed his scythe, and with his retractable spear nowhere to be found, it was pointless to make another attempt to perform his jujutsu.

That is, if he could even get the chance to do so.

Before he could figure out how to react, Hidan found himself surrounded by a small army of shadow clones, which Dark Naruto conjured without using the needed hand seal. The rage that was in the original's eyes was magnified many times over, and for the first time in a long time, the immortal started to feel fear.

"This is what happens to filth who try to harm my friends," all of the Dark Narutos growled at once as the original picked up Hinata and tenderly stroked her hair. Not only did their voice keep ringing in Hidan's ears, it was also spoken directly to his mind.

"What the hell is this?!" Hidan yelled as he tried to jump back and fight his way out. However, not one of the blows that he managed to land as he frantically searched for a weak point to break through were strong enough to cause any of the clones to dispel. He was effectively trapped. 'When did this asshole get enough chakra to make this many shadow clones without using his bijū's chakra?' He kept trying to force his way out of the circle, but despite his incredible agility the circle of clones just wouldn't break.

And then his situation grew infinitely worse. The original Dark Naruto appeared in front of him, having handed off Hinata to a clone to hide her away, and the rage directed at Hidan grew exponentially stronger as a pair of chakra orbs appeared in Naruto's hands. Then three clones stepped out from the circle, also preparing the same attack as the original.

'Shit!'

"Rasengan Barrage!" Dark Naruto howled, slamming both orbs into Hidan's midsection and launching him towards the other three clones, who rapidly pelted their enemy with their orbs. The simultaneous impact from the clones' attacks caused Hidan's body to twist abnormally before sending him flying out of the death pit they created in this patch of desert. But even though Hidan was no longer encircled by clones, by no means was he actually free from them.

'Time to see how this bastard likes the pain from the new jutsu Yuzuki taught me,' Dark Naruto thought with a malicious grin on his face, a grin accompanied by bloodlust even stronger than that which was mandated by the Jashin faith.

"You'll pay dearly for this, heathen!" Hidan yelled as he bounced back to his feet. "You won't escape from Jashin-sama and his divine judgment!"

"That's where you're wrong," Dark Naruto spat. "See, your belief in this stupid Jashin or whoever, it's not gonna save you. Right here, right now, I am your God. And I will be the only one passing judgment." Chakra again started building up in his hands, but this time it carried a Wind nature and was concentrated at each of his fingertips. At the same time, all of his clones also built up Wind chakra and extended their arms out, aiming the rapidly forming projectiles at the immortal.

"Wind Needles!" all of the Dark Narutos shouted. Despite his agility, Hidan had absolutely no chance of avoiding any of the needles fired at him. Every single one found its mark, slicing through Hidan as though there was only air where he currently stood. Within five seconds, Hidan's Akatsuki cloak was completely shredded, and his grey pants were in a similar state of disrepair. His body was ridden with innumerable cuts along with several prominent holes in his torso. Additionally, part of his left ear had been sliced off, forcing his appearance from activating his jujutsu to revert to normal.

But what shocked Hidan the most about this barrage is not that he had been hit, much less hit so many times. It was that the injuries he racked up from the thousands of projectiles fired at him were taking longer to heal than they should have.

'How could this punk inflict so much damage? Just what in Jashin's name is he, to be able to push me this far?!' Hidan screamed inside his head. But he was not given even a single moment of respite as a cold and burning sensation engulfed his neck. Hidan was slammed into the sand, then lifted back up and held in the air. He looked down to find that the burning feeling was the result of direct contact with one of the tails of Naruto's chakra cloak, which now sprouted four tails.

'Four tails? He can control that much power from the Kyūbi? Once I get out of here I'm going to sacrifice that Zetsu prick to Jashin-sama for giving me such shitty intel!'

However, despite being utterly helpless and internally raging over his helplessness, Hidan started to laugh maniacally. Dark Naruto, hearing this deranged laughter, began having serious doubts about this particular Akatsuki member's sanity.

"Whatcha waiting for, kid? Go on, do your worst! You can't kill me! And once Kakuzu gets done taking his time with that Nanabi bitch, you're gonna be—" Hidan was cut off by a vicious punch from a chakra arm. He screamed in pain, but was quickly silenced as the tail wrapped around his neck tightened its grip and crushed his vocal cords.

"Did I give you permission to speak, you piece of trash?" Dark Naruto spat. He slammed Hidan back into the sand several times with his tail, then slammed a pair of chakra arms down on Hidan's back for good measure. He waited several seconds before lifting the Jashinist out of the sand, contemplating what his next action would be.

"Your immortality is actually an advantage for me. It means I can freely torture you and inflict immeasurable pain far beyond what anyone else could possibly feel, and you'll have to suffer every last second of it. Now let's see here...should I start by ripping your eyes out of their sockets?" Dark Naruto shook his head, quickly dismissing the first idea. "No, I want you to see everything I do to you. Perhaps a different vital organ? Maybe I'll just ignite your flesh and concentrate the flames until only your bones are left? Or would it be better to mutilate you beyond all recognition?" He couldn't really decide how to start. He kept pushing aside thoughts as soon as they entered his head. Nothing seemed good enough for this particular scum.

At least not until Dark Naruto noticed one specific injury. Hidan's absurd healing factor had tried to repair the other wounds, but Dark Naruto quickly realized the Jashinist could not regrow an amputated limb.

"Ah, yes, that's perfect. Let's start by taking away your manhood. Not like you have much use for it, anyway." Hidan's eyes widened as another of Dark Naruto's chakra tails wrapped around his legs, burning away what little was left of his clothing and exposing his genitalia. Dark Naruto flicked his left wrist to access the kunai his counterpart always kept concealed under his sleeve, then channeled Wind chakra into the kunai to increase its cutting power.

The cut lacked anything that would remotely resemble surgical precision. And it sent waves of agony rolling through Hidan as most of his penis, along with his testicles were separated from him, and the vile chakra of the Kyūbi cauterized the wound. Hidan spewed a string of profanities mixed in with intense screaming. But Dark Naruto just gave him a look that was far too similar to the expressions on his own face whenever he performed his rituals.

"Hey, weren't you going to try to make me beg for mercy just a few minutes ago?" Dark Naruto taunted and lessened his chakra tail's grip on Hidan's neck. "How about I give you the same chance? Beg. Show some humility and beg for my forgiveness, and I might just end this quickly and bury you deep under the desert to die a slow death. Whaddaya say, punk? Will you beg?"

Predictably, Hidan's response was to take the offer and spit it in his face—and thus, was exactly the response Dark Naruto desired.

"I don't give a flying fuck if you are a jinchūriki!" Hidan howled. "I'm gonna kill you and it'll be the most—" but before he could finish, another tail forced its way down his throat, cutting off his air supply and igniting his esophagus in a cold blaze.

"Wrong answer." A pair of chakra arms gripped Hidan's arms and yanked on them. Dark Naruto frowned at how resistant his enemy's body was to even the most extreme damage. It was taking much more effort than what should have been necessary to rip Hidan's arms out of his sockets. He would have to settle for slicing them off.

After about a minute of struggling, Dark Naruto heard a sickening 'pop' sound and a muffled scream from the Jashinist, indicating that his right shoulder had been dislocated. Not giving him a chance to fix the injury on his own, Dark Naruto again charged his kunai with Wind chakra and thrust it into Hidan's right armpit. He wiggled it around for several seconds, tearing a bigger hole in the shoulder, and then pulled the kunai towards him, slicing through the shoulder and leaving Hidan's arm dangling uselessly, attached only by a thread.

Satisfied with the damage and seeing that it was taking Hidan too long to repair the increasing damage, Dark Naruto then sliced open Hidan's chest, using his chakra arms to peel back the skin and reveal the immortal's rib cage. Now he wanted to know if Hidan's boasts of immortality were truly accurate, and he wanted to see if he could figure out a way to do enough damage to disprove the Jashinist's arrogant claims.

"Let this be a lesson to the rest of you Akatsuki bastards," Dark Naruto snarled as he prepared to thrust the kunai into Hidan's heart. "No one is to touch that which is mine!" The thrust was made...

...but it did not hit its mark.

"Lightning Style: False Darkness!" Kakuzu shouted from some distance. Dark Naruto was not able to react in time to the attack and was hit square in the chest, forcing him to drop Hidan as he was sent tumbling backwards. With only one usable arm, Hidan struggled to push himself to his feet now that he was released.

"It's about damn time, Kakuzu!" Hidan yelled, breathing heavily as his partner appeared next to him carrying the Nanabi jinchūriki over his shoulder.

"There is no time for our usual arguments, Hidan," Kakuzu said. "We must retreat at once."

"No fucking way! Don't you see what that heathen bastard did to me?!"

"That is exactly why we must obey Pain's orders and flee. Zetsu's intelligence on the Kyūbi jinchūriki was flawed, so we can no longer make a reliable estimate of his full power. Furthermore, I am not at full strength right now. The Nanabi managed to destroy one of my hearts in our fight, so even if I choose to fight the Kyūbi without any restraints on my power, I cannot guarantee a victory." Hidan's eyes widened at the admission. Despite his many arguments with his partner, he knew that if Kakuzu was showing concern it was always for a very good reason.

The two were halted from retreating when Dark Naruto rose back to his feet, appearing to be completely unaffected by Kakuzu's lightning attack. He slowly approached the Zombie Combo, stalking them like a predator does its prey. "Ah, good. Thank you for bringing me the Seven-Tails, Kakuzu. Now if you would be so kind as to leave her here, I might consider letting you, and only you go. You see, I require her for something rather important."

"No," Kakuzu stated flatly. "One, while I see you did some impressive damage to my partner, I am the only one who is allowed to kill him. Two, the only reason you are being spared at this time is because I was ordered to leave you be. And three, there is no amount of money you could possibly offer me that would convince me to hand over the Nanabi."

"That's a shame." Dark Naruto shook his head. "I was thinking that you might have had a place in the new world I desire to make."

"And just what would one jinchūriki possibly want with another?"

Dark Naruto smiled. "My goals are actually very similar to your organization's true goals. What I wish to achieve with the power of the tailed beasts is...a revolution."He proceeded to walk closer to Kakuzu, who involuntarily started walking backwards. Kakuzu recognized an evil aura surrounding the Kyūbi jinchūriki, far stronger than any other aura he had ever felt in his ninety years of life.

"You...what are you?" Dark Naruto was about to give an answer to Kakuzu's question when he abruptly stopped. His light persona had finally realized what was happening and was now trying to wrest control of his body back.

"That's enough! I won't let you use me like this!" Naruto shouted at his dark half.

"Damn it, Naruto!" Dark Naruto shouted back. "Now is not the time! I'm doing this for your own good, y'know!"

"That's a lie! You know this isn't right! Fū is like us! I don't know what it is that you're planning to do with her but I won't let it happen, believe it!"

"You idiot! If it wasn't for my intervention, Hinata would be dead right now! Have you not listened to a single word I've said?!"

"You're the one who isn't listening! How would Hinata react if she sees me like this?"

"She doesn't know what's good for her either. Both of you are too young and naïve! Now give me control!"

"NOOOO!" Naruto screamed, gripping his head and falling to his knees. His eyes had finally reverted to their normal color as he forced both his dark half and the Kyūbi's chakra out of his system.

Kakuzu did not stick around to find out what would happen next and fled, using his tendrils to both carry the unconscious Fū and force Hidan to comply with their retreat order.

x-x

The moment the first explosions went off in the Demon Desert, Yuzuki knew something was wrong. She spotted a team of Suna Anbu rushing towards the desert and, after waiting a few minutes for them to put enough distance that she could follow without being detected, ran after them. She didn't have the necessary clearance to do what she was doing and was showing blatant disregard for Tsunade's orders for her to remain in Suna, but she had to do something to ensure Naruto was safe.

Yuzuki had cursed at herself after the first explosions. This was something she should have seen coming and she felt like a fool for failing to anticipate today's events. Just like in the original timeline, the Akatsuki had been a looming threat over the Joint Chūnin Exams. However, the last time around Akatsuki had not taken the bait offered to them when Tsunade and Gaara hosted the exams, waiting until after the exams concluded to capture Fū and ignoring Gaara altogether for another year. This time, they struck. And by persuading Tsunade to allow Naruto to come here, Yuzuki might well have ruined everything and brought down the catastrophe she was here to prevent that much sooner.

The time-traveling Hyūga remained five hundred meters behind the Suna Anbu, using her Byakugan to keep tabs on them and search for any signs of Naruto and Team Eight as they traveled deeper into the desert. But before they arrived at their destination, all of the Anbu were knocked out swiftly. The movements of their assailant were too quick for Yuzuki to see, even with her Byakugan active. A moment later, Yuzuki had to shield her eyes as sand swirled around her, and the assailant—Itachi Uchiha of the Akatsuki—shimmered into view.

"You are the Hyūga woman who took custody over Naruto Uzumaki two months ago," Itachi addressed Yuzuki. She would have shown a certain degree of shock over this fateful encounter, but she was still consumed with the urgency of finding Naruto first.

"I do not have time for this discussion, Itachi-san," Yuzuki attempted to refuse him. "Naruto-kun is in danger." She tried to move past Itachi quickly, but found her movements suddenly halted as the sky turned red and the sand became ash. Despite having her dōjutsu active, Itachi had locked Yuzuki inside the Tsukuyomi. But when she turned to face Itachi, expecting to endure tremendous psychological torture, she found that he was not making any movements towards her. Moreover, she found the strangest expression in his eyes.

It was as though Itachi was curious about her.

"Interesting." Itachi blinked twice. "You do not consider me as an enemy. Forgive me for taking this extreme measure, but I cannot risk anyone overhearing our conversation. You have information I am in need of and this is the only way to ensure no one else can listen in. For now, rest assured that Naruto is not in any danger. After all, the two of you are not who you appear to be."

Yuzuki sighed deeply. Itachi was already capable of extracting whatever information he wanted from her in a matter of seconds; her only chance to get out of this alive and with her mind intact was to play along while the rogue Uchiha remained amicable. "How much did Danzō tell you? How do I know Naruto-kun is safe?"

Itachi bored his eyes into Yuzuki's as he explained, "I know that Naruto was not supposed to be here. His training journey with Jiraiya-san ended two years prematurely because of you. In regards to your decision to renounce your clan, it is not something anyone loyal to Konoha would do willingly, especially to adopt a jinchūriki who is still held in low esteem by many among the older generation. Then again, that decision would come rather easily to you considering that there were no records of your existence before you registered as a kunoichi. As for Naruto, you will just have to take my word at face value, however little that is worth."

Even though Yuzuki knew Itachi was still loyal to Konoha, this discussion was happening way too easily. But she didn't have the luxury of asking why the rogue Uchiha was being so open with her. She could only remind herself that being face-to-face with Itachi was extremely dangerous, and that if he thought she could become a threat to Sasuke or to her village, he would have her taken down.

Yuzuki sighed again, venting her frustration. "Very well. Make it quick," she said, knowing full well that no more than a few seconds would have passed in the real world by the time the Tsukuyomi ended.

"Naturally. Kisame is already growing suspicious of my absence. Now then..." Itachi's voice trailed off as he moved closer to Yuzuki and stared her down. "What is your connection to Naruto? What are your plans for him?"

Yuzuki was caught in a dilemma. Her single greatest secret (her being a time traveler) had to remain a secret at all costs, but she only had this one chance to convince Itachi that she was not a threat to Naruto and deny him an excuse to take her secrets.

"There is only one thing I have planned for Naruto-kun," she said carefully, "and that is to give him the affection he was wrongly denied. To show Naruto-kun a mother's love, to help him learn to recognize his own feelings, and also to help prepare him better for the threats he must face in the near future. But there is something more important we must address while we're here. I am grateful that you decided to confront me, Itachi-san, because you have given me a chance to speak to you about Sasuke-san."

"I figured that you might know something about my foolish little brother, Yuzuki-san. However, I did not expect you to be so forthcoming."

"There is no time for us to adhere to the shinobi rules right now." Yuzuki sighed, and as she prepared herself for another exposure, images from the vision she had the night she traveled back in time flashed through her mind. "I know that you are a double agent. I also know what really happened the night you damned yourself by slaying your clansmen, starting with your girlfriend Izumi and ending with your traitorous parents Fugaku and Mikoto."

Itachi showed no visible reaction whatsoever to Yuzuki's revelation that she had not only discovered one of Konoha's darkest secrets, but knew details that only Itachi himself or the masked man he'd worked with could have known. "Coming across that knowledge should have been impossible."

"I will not tell you how I learned of this," Yuzuki said stubbornly. "All I will do is give you my word that I will carry this secret to my grave."

While Itachi appeared to contemplate Yuzuki's promise, the tomoe of his Sharingan were whirling rapidly around his pupils. Itachi was debating whether to trust the Hyūga, or to just rip the information out of her mind before eliminating her. He ultimately decided against the latter. "Very well. Perhaps it is for the best that I do not know how you discovered this secret. However, there is one question I must still ask." Itachi paused for a few moments before elaborating, "From what I knew before your arrival, Naruto sought to show my brother the error of his ways and make him return to Konoha, either willingly or by force. However, your arrival may have caused the situation with Sasuke to change. Right now, Sasuke remains in training with Orochimaru, still falling deeper into the shadows as he trains to pursue his revenge against me. Reaching out to him will become more difficult with each passing day. Should Naruto still desire to return Sasuke to Konoha, how far are you willing to go to aid him in this endeavor?"

If this encounter had happened the night Yuzuki arrived in this timeline, her answer would have been an immediate positive. However, after everything she had learned since then she was having serious doubts about whether she should continue to pursue her secondary objective. Knowing how far Sasuke had fallen in the future, Yuzuki was no longer certain that she wanted to allow Naruto any more chances to bring the wayward Uchiha back to their village.

"Please understand, Itachi-san, that I only want what is best for Naruto-kun. If Naruto-kun decides to go after Sasuke-san, I will not stop him. However, I am not convinced that it is in his best interests to continue pursuing his friend. Naruto-kun has already suffered far too much in his life, and by chasing after Sasuke-san he will only bring upon himself more suffering. At least, that is what I believe. So you will have to forgive me for being selfish, but if Naruto-kun should decide to give up on Sasuke-san, I will not feel any sadness," Yuzuki said firmly. It was a bit harsh and more than a little selfish, to choose her own feelings over Sakura's, but then again, wasn't it Sasuke himself who said in that scroll that Yuzuki deserved to be selfish?

Itachi remained silent for several long moments, closing his eyes as he considered Yuzuki's answer. It was exactly as he'd first thought: Yuzuki's very existence had irrevocably altered his original plans. "Disappointing," he said, "but not unexpected. My responsibility towards Naruto only extends so far and is tied too closely to my duty to ensure Akatsuki does not move against Konoha. I cannot force Naruto to continue chasing after my brother. I must find another way to stop Sasuke from becoming a threat to our village." Once Itachi finished speaking, the Tsukuyomi was deactivated and Yuzuki's perception of the world returned to normal. Itachi started to turn away from Yuzuki and was about to leave; however, Yuzuki managed to startle him by pressing a chakra-coated palm against his chest, stopping just one centimeter from striking his heart. The sudden move from Yuzuki, happening right when Itachi's vision started to blur from overuse of the Mangekyō Sharingan, caught the rogue Uchiha so completely off-guard that it caused him to deactivate his Sharingan.

"Forgive me, Itachi-san, but I cannot allow you to leave until I finish delivering my message to you," Yuzuki explained why she had lunged at Itachi right after after the Tsukuyomi ended. "There is a warning you must heed while you still live. You cannot continue to manipulate Sasuke-san as you have in the past. Your current plans for him will fail. If you are to stop Sasuke-san from moving to destroy Konoha, you must come clean with him and trust in his strength while you still can. You must do away with the persona you fabricated to make him foster hate towards you. Otherwise, Sasuke's desire for revenge will only grow stronger when you die, and he will be given a new target for his revenge. The masked man who helped you kill the Uchiha Clan, the one who claims to be Madara Uchiha, will attempt to use his version of the events of that night to take the hate Sasuke-san holds in his heart and turn it against Konoha as part of his greater objectives. No matter what, you cannot allow Madara or his partner Zetsu to get to Sasuke-san. If you fail to take the correct actions now, your brother will be lost forever."

Itachi gave Yuzuki a brief nod, appearing to accept her words too quickly for her liking. He relaxed and smiled, and reactivated his Sharingan as Yuzuki lowered her palm and backed away. "You are playing a very dangerous game, Yuzuki-san, and have revealed far more about yourself than you intended. You would do well to exercise greater caution in the future."

And then he vanished, leaving only a flock of crows scattering away from where he stood and leaving Yuzuki to wonder if Itachi had figured out her greatest secret, and also if she had managed to get through to Itachi and change something in this timeline for the better, for once.

x-x

Editor's Note: Okay, sure, the last update didn't actually give readers a new chapter, but rather focused on fixing the previous chapters. And yes, it had also been a while between updates when Chapter 9 was split in two. And it was probably a mistake to leave an A/N placeholder where this chapter now is. Still, while the author doesn't mind this as long as he knows people are still reading, I am disappointed by the lack of new reviews.

But enough of that. The chapter was very action-heavy this time, with most of the scenes being fight scenes. The next chapter should be the end of the Konoha-Suna Joint Chūnin Exams arc.

Also, both the author and myself would like to make a fanfic recommendation for anyone who's still reading this story. The Flare Blade, who has helped point out and address the issues which were arising in relationship development, has his own ongoing story, titled "Because I Love You - Chasing After You". At first glance, it seems like just another retelling of canon, but The Flare Blade has managed to put his own spin on it that distinguishes it from others. Also, he has done his research, which is more than can be said for the majority of other attempts.

A/N: Hi, guys. Sorry for the late update. It's been hard to write with college taking up my time, and I also had a medical emergency recently so please forgive me. Yep, the chapter was heavy on action this time around and I should point out to anyone who might be offended by certain aspects, I did rate this story M for a reason, so read at your own risk. I promise you that this is not the last dark material you will see by any means. We will be heading into a new story arc soon and it will be rather long, most likely taking up most if not all of the rest of the story. But it will have more action, drama, angst, tragedy, and yes, romance. So buckle up, people. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Please do check out the fanfic by The Flare Blade called, "Because I Love You – Chasing After You" as it is a very interesting tale and I'm sure many of you shall enjoy it. Please review more; I was a little disappointed by the lack of reviews from the last update. I don't make any money off writing this, so I need to know your thoughts to stay motivated!