A.N. *Walking on to the stage cheerily* Hello there, didn't see you. How're you doing? *ducks a bottle* Seriously, that's a little overboard, don't you think? I was only out for a little time…

*Lone voice from the back of the stage* You call that a little time! When I get my hands on you…

*Shifting guiltily* Well, I was busy, all right! I was watching Bleach, and Hetalia, and… *sweatdrops* I'm not making this any better for me, am I?

*Crowd nods*

*Gulps* Well, take this. *Offers completed chapter, before bowing theatrically* Now do what you will.

*Crowd lynches the figure* Aiiiiiiiiiiii!

Well, here's chapter 14. Apologies for the delay, was experiencing a severe bout of writer's block. Anyway, I'm back, and that's what counts, isn't it?

This is a rather action biased chapter. Hope you like it. Please review!

Disclaimer: Neither Naruto, nor any of its characters belong to me. After all, I'm not quite crazy enough to pair Chouji with Karui. So yeah, they all belong to that Kishimoto bloke, may god grant his bereaved sanity the rest it deserves.

Chapter 14 : Immortals and a Stray Cat

…

You might be a big fish in a little pond
Doesn't mean you've won
'Cause along may come a bigger one

Lost! - Coldplay

…

This was, undoubtedly, an odd way to wake up. There was none of the drowsiness, the dreams, the half frozen muscles…

Wait. This wasn't Konoha. But no, he had left Konoha behind. Was this Uzu? No, the temperature felt wrong…

Wait… It wasn't so much that the temperature was wrong as it wasn't right. He couldn't explain it, but the very air that brushed against him felt… wrong.

Naruto stood up, and the sense of unease increased. You simply couldn't switch from asleep to awake like this, at least he couldn't. Some ninja who had been out in the field for too long were rumoured to only fall into a half-asleep state, but he definitely wasn't there yet…

He was going around in tangents. Shaking his head to clear up the strange ringing in his ears, he looked around to see where he was, absently noting that he seemed to be having way too many out of world experiences lately. Maybe he should look into toning it down, right after he found out where the hell he was this time…

His eyes widened in shock. It was a vast nothingness that surrounded him, a curtain of insubstantial whiteness, cloying, swirling, suffocating… Yet it seemed annoyingly familiar, as if some distant part of his soul was aware of it. Somehow, even as he thought about it, he seemed to reach some sort of vast truth, only to have it slip away, like mist in the sunlight…

"Brat."

If only he could understand… It was so frustrating, he knew he was on the brink of knowing what this place reminded him of, but it continued to evade him…

"Brat!"

Suddenly, through the clouds of swirling white, there appeared a figure. Indistinct, it nevertheless moved something within him, seeing that indistinct silhouette. Running through the clouds, searching for it seemed futile, but he did it anyway, running toward the figure that always seemed just out of reach…

"Brat, get up!"

A flash of colour. Resolutely chasing after the figure, Naruto could only ponder as to the brightly coloured arm-brace that had temporarily shown through the mist. After all, it was not often you met someone who wore something so vividly orange…

"BRAT, GET THE HELL UP!"

Naruto's eyes flew open as he jerked awake, staring into the tearful face of Jiraiya as his knee had reflexively shot forward, hitting Jiraiya in the junction between his legs, but he hardly cared for the wails of the downed pervert. That momentary glimpse of orange still burned in his mind, like the face of a friend he shouldn't, couldn't, have forgotten. And whatever it was, it was important in a way that he just couldn't grasp.

…

It was two weeks into the aimless wandering that they were doing, and the odd troop had fallen into a pattern. The sun shone obnoxiously, the wind blew, scattering the ashes of their meager campfire, the birds sang their annoying songs in their insufferably shrill voices, Ero-sennin cried like a baby while holding his privates…

Ah, yes. A typical morning.

"So, awake yet, Naruto-kun?" The mischievous undertones in that stately voice - that unique combination could belong to only one person he knew. He sighed.

"I'm up, Ghost Lady," he grumbled, poking his head out of his tent, wincing at the sunlight. His head hurt. Maybe he shouldn't have dispelled all those clones at once? It hurt almost as much as the day after that time that Shikamaru had smuggled some sake into the class at his father's urging that the world became much less troublesome with it. Needless to say, not much work got done that day, and according to Shikamaru, his mother had been extra troublesome. Shikamaru had never accepted any advice from his father again.

He frowned. The headache must be making him delirious; his concentration was acting like Gai on a sugar rush, and the blood pounding in his own head made him feel like he had an Akimichi in his head, chewing on his brain.

He groaned when the smell of forest seasoned venison drifted in the wind towards him. They were travelling light, living off the land whenever they could. However, that didn't mean that it cut into their training time. Mito had the knack to turn even the most mundane of tasks into a training exercise. The deer, whose meat was currently tempting him sorely to leave the comfortable nest that his futon made, had been caught by him in an hour long chase, with one of his hands bound behind him and only a kunai as his weapon.

Even through the constant travelling, both Jiraiya and Mito had made sure that his training wouldn't suffer. They usually travelled in short runs, stopping for hours in small clearing in the dry forests of the Land of Hot Water.

Mito usually took over during the day to day training, when she would run him ragged with ingeniously torturous 'training' that she had devised, while Jiraiya, in line with his notoriously lax attitude, would often slip away in the mornings after breakfast and not appear until dinner, considering the odd challenge he gave Naruto as his contribution to the training. Not that Naruto minded; being the only apprentice of Uzumaki Mito was a full time occupation, and he needed the downtime that Jiraiya gave him. That woman would probably kill him one of these days, with one of her crazy training methods that she forced on him.

And if he knew her, she was not likely to excuse the morning's training on account of the splitting headache he was suffering from. Which meant…

"Naruto-kun…" Uh oh. Naruto tensed, his body reacting reflexively to the glee in that singsong voice…

He barely got his head out of the way of a translucent kunai aimed at his head. As he scrambled away, Mito materialized where he had been a second ago, her hand snapping out to retrieve the kunai. She sniffed slightly, before zoning onto his position, a sweet smile on her face. "Too slow…" She said sweetly, sprinting towards him with a strangely boneless grace.

He pulled back again, just managing to escape another kunai that nearly nicked his ear as it flew past. "Come on, Ghost Lady…" He whined, ducking as another kunai almost took his head off, "At least give me time to get ready!"

The smile widened, and this time two kunai flew at him, prompting him to leap back with a startled yelp. His heart thudded in his chest. That was too close. His headache was getting worse…

"The enemy isn't going to wait for you, Naruto-kun…"

'I know that!' He wanted to shout; but he instead decided to save his breath, shaking his head once again as he tried to clear it. A second later, he was paying for his momentary inattention when a line of pain seared across his chest, specks of blood splattering his front as he contorted to allow that kunai to pass without digging into his body. And damn, it hurt.

Mito had the nasty, underhanded habit of putting various innocuous poisons on her kunai. And judging by the pain flaring through the cut, this was not the numbing kind.

Thanking his lucky stars that he had some weaponry at hand, Naruto reached inside the arms of his tee shirt to grab a pair of his own kunai, holding them in a reverse grip as he fell into a stance. From what he saw of Mito, she was determined to spar now, and when she was determined she usually got it. Naruto knew that much from living with her for almost four months, and this scenario was more common than he preferred it to be.

Mito landed in front of him, her eyes blazing with enthusiasm that she rarely showed as she swung her own kunai by the loop in its hilt. "Woke up, Naruto-kun?" She asked, the slightly teasing lilt in her voice not detracting in the slightest from her deadly appearance.

"Did I have any choice?" Naruto retorted, lowering his own stance in anticipation, kunai crossed in front of his face. He must have made quite a comic figure, he reckoned, barefoot, in a tattered tee shirt and shorts, and barefoot. His bleeding shirt stuck to his chest uncomfortably, and the stinging in his chest only served to make his headache worse.

Mito's right arm tensed and Naruto leaned back, when a twig snapped under his foot, and Mito sailed towards him.

The first swing of the kunai managed to come within inches of his right ear before he managed to deflect it, but Mito used that momentary lapse to slip within his guard. Furiously backpedalling, Naruto deflected each and every stab of the kunai, using his strength to push Mito away as tried to gain some space. Damn, but she was fast when she wanted to be, a graceful dancing whirlwind of pointy steel and blood that would have been captivating had it not been your blood that arced around her blades.

"Naruto-kun, you are not attacking yet," Mito noted mildly, sneaking in yet another underhanded swipe that Naruto barely fended off, only to have a foot plant itself firmly in his gut.

All the air was knocked out of him as he sailed backwards, cleaving a line of destruction in the shrubbery surrounding them before he crashed into a tree, getting his breath knocked out of him for a second time. "Do I have to force you, again?"

He gritted his teeth as he struggled to his feet, ignoring all the splinters that were digging into his back, leaving slight trails of blood trailing down his shredded clothes. His eyes narrowed as Mito strolled forward, twirling her kunai and looking totally at ease. "All right," he growled out, glaring at Mito, who cocked her eyebrow in response. "It's a fight you want it's a fight you'll get!"

"Chakra Chains." He breathed out, as a veritable net of chains materialized around him, enclosing both Mito and him in a vast golden dome. Even as Mito's own illusionary dragons flittered around her in reply, he grinned through bloody teeth. He had been waiting for this for a long time – to test out his complete repertoire against a powerful opponent who was suited to face him. Mito, as an illusionary/assassination specialist, was the best possible challenge for him.

The calm was stifling – in a welcoming way. If that made any sense to him, he didn't know, but he felt all of the pains in his body (and he was feeling quite a variety) numb. In the preparation for a battle, offering his body as a platform to a higher reward, pain in the body was trivial as his focus narrowed down to Mito, the slight movements in her wrists…

The air was charged, the silence loud as he crouched, the chains surrounding the area pulsing in unison with his heartbeat…

Mito took a step forward.

In an instant, his chains multiplied, obeying the motion of his hands as they poured forth, a tsunami of metallic gold crashing into Mito. Mito extended her arms in response, causing a pair of shimmering dragons to materialize briefly before they roared defiantly as they were swallowed up, out of sight within the spiked chains raining down on it.

For a moment, Naruto dared to hope that that had been it. That only made him feel stupider as his chains began to disintegrate, before a cool voice spoke from behind him. "Was that it, Naruto-kun?"

Turning, he found himself face to face with Mito, who stared back at him coolly, a hint of a sneer on her face. Absently detaching the seemingly infected chain links so that it did not spread to the dome, he stared at her in shock.

"Wha- But – How can you use chakra like that!" He finally managed to stutter out, "I should have felt the chakra drain!"

Mito smirked back at him. "Did you really think I'll be content to mooch off you after the Sasuke fiasco?" she retorted, her dragons flickering into view as they coiled around her hypnotically. "What do you think I was doing in the archives when I was in Uzushio?"

Snapping out of his momentary shock, Naruto flexed his chains as he fell back into his stance. "Even then, what did you do to my chains?"

Mito's chains whirled faster, totally obscuring her one second and completely disappearing from sight the next, making Mito, already translucent, appear to flicker in and out of view. "Did you really think that illusions were the only power of my expression, Naruto-kun?" she asked in return, shooting a cocky smile his way. "Think about what I said, Naruto-kun. Each expression has two abilities, one passive and one active."

Naruto stared at her, flabbergasted. This was a totally novel concept, and he wasn't sure he liked it. He already had too much on his plate at the moment, but he couldn't bear to leave a potential strength unused…

"Your own chains have a passive ability, the one that you use all the time, you know," Mito continued her impromptu lecture, "their solidity. Your expression is one of the only tangible expressions, you know. Their active ability, the power to channel seals, you have only used unintentionally during the Shinigami episode." Her stare pierced him. "My own has the passive ability of channeling illusions, but my active ability…"

With scarce warning, Mito threw her hands to the sides, and the dragons shot out in every direction, neatly piercing every one of the larger chains that formed the dome, "…is to destroy the structure of any chakra structure it encounters."

Naruto stared bug eyed, as the vast golden dome covering the area crumpled like a house of cards, a black wave spreading through the points that had been pierced and the chains themselves disintegrated like ashes in the wind.

For a moment, Naruto stilled. Then he began to laugh. Roaring with laughter, he hunched, staring at Mito through his bangs. "You really are the best match for me, aren't you, Ghost Lady," he finally muttered, a smirk tugging on his lips. "I'm ready, Ghost Lady. Let's dance."

…

Dodge.

Twist.

A strange scythe, emanating a strange aura, cut through the air accompanied by its wielder's mad laughter. A large fireball from his silent companion followed almost silently in its wake.

She ducked hastily, throwing herself into a somersault as her hair shriveled in the heat of the fireball and the scythe passed mere inches under her feet. Her shoulder, already suffering from a hastily dodged fireball, stung as she rolled on it, the rough ground digging into her burnt skin painfully. There was no time to turn back, to retaliate… she had to run. Maybe she would lose them at some point, and it wasn't like she was going to run out of stamina, the thrice damned cat took care of that at least.

Why, oh why had she even taken this mission in the first place? It had been one disaster after another. First the target had seemingly had prior notice of her arrival. Then, she had botched up the assassination jutsu, which had led to a mad chase through the mansion, dodging the grunts that had somehow known how to find her all the time. And she had not gone a mile from finally escaping them before the two wierdos in black and red cloaks had come out of the woodwork to attack her.

Worst of it was the fact that she was not even supposed to be here. With her obvious problems in the stealth department and her preference for fire release and explosions, she was obviously not the type of ninja that was routinely called upon to perform assassinations. In fact, the only reason she had been on this mission was that she had needed a mission of this type on her file for her promotion to jounin – some antiquated law about jounin being proficient in all areas. Well, that had worked out well, she thought wryly.

She wouldn't usually flee, especially since it seemed that these two were planning to capture her alive. But on top of her exhaustion from her earlier battles, she could also feel that these particular ninja were beyond her means to defeat, even with the meager assistance that the demon cat gave her. So here she was, trying to evade the two unknown shinobi who she just couldn't seem to shake off.

Instincts screaming, she just managed to jump up to avoid a wide sweep of the scythe. She gritted her teeth. The two shinobi were playing with her, like a demon before eating its prey, and she was finding that being the prey was something that she didn't like it. At all.

Being chased, fearing for her life… It brought back memories, of a time when she had feared for her life daily. She shuddered as she nimbly somersaulted over a wide beam of crackling lightning. Her life under the Third Raikage's iron hand was something she would rather not remember.

A mad cackle came from the man carrying the scythe. "Afraid, are we, girly?" He leered, a disturbing smirk on his face. "Run! Let me enjoy the chase, little kitty cat!"

For a moment she faltered, the words bringing back memories she had long tried to suppress.

"…So how are you today, my little kitty cat?"

She shivered involuntarily, before she shook her head, trying to regain her equilibrium. She couldn't falter here, not now with so much at stake. If she could just get to Kumo now, she would be declared a jounin; perhaps then she would get the same acceptance and respect that Killer Bee, the Hachibi jinchuuriki got in Kumo.

The words themselves, however, were shocking, hinting at their knowledge that she was a jinchuuriki; it was a secret meant to stay strictly within the upper echelons of Kumo's hierarchy. According to Killer Bee, the current Raikage's adopted brother, even the Lightning daimyo only knew that it was a kunoichi who had the Nibi, not any particulars.

These men were security risks, not to mention that they were apparently very strong; according to her fledgling chakra sensing, the covered man had more chakra than even the Raikage. On top of all the other things that had gone wrong…

She couldn't bring these people back to Kumo; they were clearly too strong to fight without bystander casualties, even if she could outrun them that far, which was on the unrealistic side of doubtful. Maybe she could force the first tail to manifest, but then she still didn't have the element of surprise, seeing as her pursuers apparently knew who she was. Anyway, since she couldn't flee and couldn't hide, that left only one option that would leave her with at least a small chance of survival. On top of that, she wanted to kill the white haired man. No one, no one was allowed to talk to her like that anymore.

Gritting her teeth she spun around, smoothly evading another lazy sweep of the scythe to face the two. The white haired man leered back at her, while his companion simply looked annoyed as he stepped forward. "Nii Yugito." He drawled in a bored monotone, as if irked by having to be there. "You will come with us."

…

Did her traps ever stop? Naruto felt his sense of danger flare again as he leaped from his latest temporary hideout. He winced slightly as an instant after his escape; his previous hideout was utterly demolished, in a blaze of explosive tags and fire jutsu. If he had not been intently watching for it, he would have missed the illusionary dragon that coiled around the explosion, fishing for anybody escaping the explosion.

He was getting tired. The faux-battle had lasted for over three hours already, and the tempo was, if anything, increasing. He had tried absolutely everything, from spanning Rasengan to clone ambushes to kunai, shuriken but everything he used never worked, for one simple reason. Mito was too fast.

It was obvious it was chakra enhancement of some kind, but whatever it was, it was making him feel like he was moving in slow motion. Worse was the fact that she was obviously holding back; she did not go for any obvious kill spots, instead simply pressuring him constantly. His body was littered with the marks of near misses, countless kunai scratches that were steadily delivering their poisonous payload into his bloodstream.

At this point, his frustration was beginning to mount. He was in an attrition battle at the moment, and to his utter disgust, he was losing; something that had never happened before to him, chakra powerhouse that he was. What infuriated him even more was that it was not because of Mito's reserves which, even unnaturally created as it was, was immensely dwarfed by his own reserves as a jinchuuriki.

But it was a hollow advantage, as he never seemed to find a way to utilize his greater reserves against his ever elusive foe. Mito's attacks mocked him; keeping him on the defensive and making him waste his energy dealing with repeated sneak attacks that he just barely avoided. His chains were utterly useless at the moment, as he didn't have the expertise needed to channel seals through them, and their use as a barrier, spear or flail was completely negated by the fact that Mito's dragons could disintegrate them. And that was another thing.

The dragons. Naruto had never, ever, been more fed up of a single technique than he was of that shimmering, disgustingly graceful chakra expression. It was virtually invisible, meaning that they would sneak up on him when he least expected it, making him wary of any lull in the battle and contributing to his mental fatigue.

A slight blur caught his eye at the edge of his vision, and Naruto leapt, shooting out a chakra chain to anchor him in the air as a dragon swept below him. Grimacing slightly, he pulled himself onto one of the rare trees in the area. True, it made him all the more visible, but unless she wanted to bombard him with long distance attacks forever she would also be unveiled in the attempt. He was seriously getting tired of her disappearing act; he would have probably lost already if it hadn't been for his sense of smell – it was the only way for him to detect her that she had not blocked yet.

"Ne, Ghost Lady," he yelled, exasperated. "Don't you think that's enough hide and seek for one day?"

Silence answered him, and he was almost ready to leap back down to flush her out himself when a voice spoke in his ear. "I could have killed you right now, you know?"

Lashing out behind him with a chain instinctively as he turned, he found Mito, looking faintly amused as she disintegrated his chain with a well aimed dragon.

"Oh, Shut up," Naruto groused, scowling back at her, before staring down, resigned, at his body. "Damn," he muttered, poking at his tattered shirt, which was hanging on by a few scant threads. "I'm going to run out of clothing at this rate, Ghost Lady."

Mito smiled slightly. "We can go shopping later, Naruto-kun," she smiled sweetly as he sighed in relief, "if you have the money, you know."

Naruto twitched, before he turned to glare at her. "Why do I have to pay for it, dattebayo?" he growled, incensed. "You were the one who cut it up!"

"Me?" Mito questioned looking back at him innocently, eyes twinkling in mirth. "Why Naruto-kun, all you had to do was dodge! Why do you blame me?"

Naruto stared back at her flatly. "I hate you." He would have elaborated it further, had it not been for his headache spiking at that exact moment, driving him to his knees as he clutched his head. "Ouch."

His head felt like it was going to split, and finally he knew what was causing the headache, for even if he wanted to, he could not ignore the uncomfortably hot chakra scorching through his chakra coils.

He tried to yell out a warning to Mito, but the pressure in his head was mounting… His vision faded to black.

…

Mito jerked back as the Kyuubi chakra, which had in the course of the journey become completely suppressed due to the chakra chains finally integrating with the seal, flared out in a pulse of crimson red. Then Naruto raised his head, and Mito blinked as he stared back at her with blood red orbs, decorated with vertical slit pupils. Mito started; it was the Kyuubi.

The Kyuubi directed a deranged grin at her. "Why, if it isn't Senju Mito," a raspy voice growled, tasting the words as if measuring her as food. "What an honour to meet you again, not."

Snorting as Mito tensed, her illusionary dragons peeking out of her voluminous sleeves, he continued with a snort, "Put those paltry lizards away – If I wanted to kill you, believe me, those won't protect you."

Gritting her teeth, she glared back at the Kyuubi. "I don't care how you usurped control, you miserable beast," she hissed, "But go back to where you came from, and bother him no more."

A high, cold laugh answered her. "Now why would I do that," the Kyuubi asked rhetorically, before he stiffened for a moment. Frowning, he stared down at himself before he turned back to Mito, looking somewhat amused. "No matter. It seems that the boy is already resisting, and with the additional strengthening those miserable chains provide, the Shinigami's seal won't let me out for long."

Mito understood what the beast was implying, but it still did not make it any less worrying. "Then why did you force your way out in the first place?" She challenged, her dragons steadily coiling around her arms in a silent challenge.

The Kyuubi cracked a malicious grin at that. "Ho?" he said, looking somewhat amused. "Do you mean to say that the great Senju Mito didn't sense all the demonic chakra in the air?" Ignoring Mito's gasp, he continued, "Though it stands to reason that you didn't know, seeing as you wore out the boy when something like that is on the horizon."

He favoured a disgruntled Mito with a devious grin. "Though I suppose I must thank you. Even though I was trying to reach the boy all morning, I never could emerged hadn't it been for you driving the boy to chakra exhaustion."

Now that the Kyuubi had mentioned it, she did feel the demonic taint, coming from somewhere quite close. It was a cloying, unpleasant and dense chakra as all demonic chakra was wont to be, but it was much less dense than the thick hate clouded waves of chakra coming from the demon possessed body before her. A sudden epiphany struck her.

"You know what the demonic chakra belongs to." Mito declared, intently searching the Kyuubi's expressions for clues. For his part, the Kyuubi didn't seem to care in the slightest for the scrutiny as he nodded, his deranged grin again on his face.

"Mata…" The Kyuubi swallowed the word he was about to speak, before starting again. "Nibi was always the favourite among my siblings."

Mito fidgeted impatiently, a deep frown on her face. She as curious as to what Kyuubi had been about to call the Nibi, but now was not the time. She needed to find a way out and she needed it fast… "Say what you need and leave, Kyuubi."

"I don't prefer your company any more than you do mine, chakra shade," Kyuubi snarled at her, sharp teeth glinting with promise. "But keep a civil tongue on that head when you're speaking to your betters."

Grunting in annoyance, Kyuubi continued. "From the way the chakra has been flaring all day, Nibi seems to be in trouble, and she seems to be heading this way. This is just a warning, Senju. Both the brat and Nibi better be all right when this is all over."

Mito stared at the beast, shocked into silence. She had to admit, it was mixed with some disbelief that it had presumed to order her about. However, she was more concerned about the fact that the Nibi was coming their way; Even though it was the second weakest of the bijuu, any bijuu was not good odds to face alone, even for her late husband. And she was hardly at full power; she could fight just as well as she used to, but her chakra capacity was hardly anything to boast about in this form.

On top of that, Kyuubi seemed to think that the Nibi needed to be protected, something both baffling and alarming if true. For if the beast was facing something that could possibly defeat it, what chance did they have, especially seeing that the pervert had disappeared once again, off to see one of his 'contacts'. Tsunade had told her that all the tailed beasts were sealed though…

Maybe it was a jinchuuriki? That would make it both easier and harder to save them; Easier since all they would need to do would be to spirit her away, and harder because if it was a jinchuuriki from a hostile country they could probably attack her. It was not her favourite scenario to protect someone as they tried to kill you. But if some group was methodically collecting all the jinchuuriki, she didn't really like the prospects of even one beast falling into their hands…

She nodded at Kyuubi. Kyuubi grunted an acknowledgement, before his body seemed to shudder. Looking down again, the Kyuubi clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Che. Looks like my time is up." He said as his piercing feral gaze caught hers for a final time. "Remember, Senju. Don't disappoint me."

A moment later, Naruto's form slumped, almost falling over if it hadn't been for Mito hastily catching him. Blurry eyes looked up at her with some surprise.

"Umm… Ghost lady…" Naruto whispered hoarsely, "what happened?"

Mito's eyes softened a fraction, but she still didn't speak. What could she say?

'Sorry Naruto-kun, the Kyuubi broke free to have a conversation with me, he sounds quite civilized too, really! Oh and by the way, we've got a tailed beast that's probably getting attacked right now, who the Kyuubi ordered us to protect!'

Somehow, she had a feeling that would not be a suitable reply. So instead, she helped Naruto to his feet, palming one of her trusted kunai, while reaching inside her kimono for reassurance. Hopefully she wouldn't have to use it this time; she preferred to use it as a last resort. She seemed to be pulling too many of her aces out as it was…

A blaze of chakra erupted in the distance, midnight blue flames spreading in an ever widening circle, heading towards them. Through the explosion of killing intent and smoke, the first thing they noticed was a female figure, wrapped in a turquoise chakra cloak, that crouched facing away from them, hissing in challenge at an unseen enemy.

Naruto, who had just got to his feet, gaped in shock. "Ghost Lady…" he began hesitantly. "Is that what I think it is?"

Mito smiled mirthlessly as she observed what was going on carefully, searching for any sign that they had been detected. "If you're thinking a jinchuuriki suddenly burst out of the woodwork, you're probably right." She stated drily, looking at Naruto out of the corner of her eyes. "Can you fight?"

Looking at his clothes speculatively, Naruto grunted an assent. "Did you heal me, Ghost Lady?" he muttered, eyeing his body through his tattered clothes with a hint of disbelief. "It's like I was never injured in the first place, and I could have sworn I was running low on chakra before I collapsed…"

Mito shifted guiltily. "I'll tell you, you know, later." She said evasively. "Right now, we have to focus on whoever's attacking a jinchuuriki so frivolously, and still maintaining the upper hand, as the state of our blonde friend down there implies."

Naruto frowned at her, before shaking his head. Dismissing the subject as not urgent, he turned to stare at the dissipating smoke cloud veiling the jinchuuriki's opponents from their sight, but as no more attacks seemed immediately forthcoming, so he turned his attention instead to the feral figure below them.

It was a tall girl, who looked to be in her early twenties and was dressed in a dark grey two tone uniform that somewhat resembled Konoha's ANBU armor. Her hair, though blond as Mito had said was much milder than his had been, reaching an almost green shade in the harsh sunlight. Knotted and tied into a simple wrapped braid that fell down her back. Her profile, what little he could see from his view hinted at feline eyes and an oval face. She also seemed to be grimacing in pain, the cause of which was apparent as the smoking ruin that was her combat vest's right shoulder. Naruto winced in sympathy; burn wounds were never fun.

Ending the temporary lull in what seemed like a long winded chase, a large and rather peculiar scythe tore towards the girl, startling both him and the figure below. The girl hunched, facing the oncoming scythe defiantly as she let loose a roar empowered with her bijuu, creating a sudden air pressure that tore at the surroundings. Destruction followed in the wake of the pressure wave, leaving shrubs uprooted and throwing the incoming scythe back in the direction it came from.

Naruto tensed, preparing to jump into the fray, when a hand clamped down on his shoulder holding it in a steady grip. Naruto stared at her.

"Not yet." Mito hissed out of the corner of her mouth, eyes fixed on the scene below. "We still don't know who she's facing, and if we just jump in she's likely to attack us as well."

"But-"

"Whoever's attacking her is strong, Naruto-kun." She interrupted him, "strong enough to attack a jinchuuriki in the open, without any apparent trap." She looked into his eyes for a moment, as if what she had said had a deeper meaning, before she returned to the scrutiny of the scene below. Echoing her, he turned back to watching the jinchuuriki, his thoughts awhirl with disturbing conjecture.

Truly, who did he know of that would willingly attack jinchuuriki knowingly? There were the people who considered almost being killed a challenge of course, the nuts like Gai-sensei, but it was generally considered suicide to go against a jinchuuriki using their bijuu. After all, Gaara did not have such a fearsome reputation for nothing. That these people were willing to do so, and drag it out, told him a lot about the type of opponents his fellow jinchuuriki was facing.

"Well, this looks like a fair pickle, doesn't it?" A deep voice rumbled from beside him. Heart pounding in his chest, he twisted around to face this newest threat. Damn it, was everybody going to get the drop on him today?

Instead of the mysterious assailant that was attacking the jinchuuriki girl below him, what he got instead was a yawning toad sage, slumped against a nearby bough with his hands behind his head, looking utterly relaxed.

"Ero-sennin!" He fumed, glaring at the unrepentant man as Mito nodded in acknowledgement of his presence. The man in question waved back at him cheerily.

"Hello brat. Didn't expect to meet up with Akatsuki so soon…" Reaching out with an armor plated hand, Jiraiya proceeded to tousle his hair with a grin on his face. "Though with your track record, brat, maybe I should have expected this."

Naruto shrugged off his hand irritably, turning away from the toad sage with a huff. Below them, the jinchuuriki girl was now on the defensive, using what looked like extended claws emerging from her fingernails to tear apart the fireballs spewed by a strange masked creature. Whatever it was, it was definitely not a shinobi.

As soon as Jiraiya had mentioned Akatsuki, Naruto had stiffened. He remembered the Akatsuki very well… Cold fish like eyes and a bloodthirsty maniacal grin set on blue skin… Blank eyes that contained a sinisterly swirling Sharingan… The suffocating, unbelievable pressure of their chakra bearing down on him…

"Huh, so he's here." Jiraiya stated conversationally, breaking him out of his reverie with a start. Mito turned towards Jiraiya at the declaration, her faintly interested gaze falling on him intently.

"You know who's behind that thing?" Naruto muttered, looking at the strange creature that was torching the ground below.

"No. I've heard about this guy though… Kakuzu of Taki." Mito tensed, a soft gasp escaping her lips. Perhaps she knew him? Sometimes, Naruto really didn't know what went on inside her head.

"He's a bounty hunter," Jiraiya continued, oblivious to Mito's sudden interest, "though I didn't know he joined Akatsuki until now…" He eye smiled, suddenly reminding Naruto of Kakashi. Perhaps Kakashi had picked up the habit from him? The Log knew that man didn't have one original thought in his head…

"Anyway, don't worry your pretty little head over this, brat. Let the grownups take care of this."

That remark only deserved one response, and Naruto gave it gladly. It was somewhat satisfying to see the over exuberant man cowering under the combined withering glares of Mito and him…

"That's a jinchuuriki down there, Ero-sennin," Naruto said shortly, watching the battle below with narrowed eyes, "and we take care of our own, dattebayo." Below them, the girl dodged yet another blast from another mask; this time water coming from another mask.

But Mito was right, at least for now. It was not yet time. They would intrude only if it was necessary, and even then, the best that he would be able to do would be to rescue her. The last thing they needed was to let the Akatsuki know who and where they were.

Just then, one of the girl's opponents came into view, a tall thin man who was bleeding profusely from what looked like claw marks across his chest. He had slicked back bleached hair and an insane grin on his face, but what really stood out was the Akatsuki cloak and his scythe. Somehow it didn't seem like the type of person to control puppets.

Somewhat doubtfully, he turned to Jiraiya. "That's Kakuzu?" He asked, pointing at the man, who was laughing insanely as he swung his scythe at the girl, who blocked it with her claws. To his surprise, Jiraiya was looking grim as he studied the newcomer.

"No," he said at length, "This must be his partner. Never thought I'll see him with my eyes." Under his breath, he added, "And I wish I never did. His list of crimes…"

Jiraiya looked at Mito and him, an unnaturally serious look on his face. "If-" Jiraiya paused, looking at Naruto's face. "When we go down to rescue her, whatever you do don't let him get your blood. If he does, you're dead."

Naruto looked at Jiraiya, puzzled. "Why?"

"That's Hidan the Jashinist." Jiraiya answered. "They – "

Mito interrupted him abruptly, a disgusted look on her face. "Don't tell me Jashinism still exists! I thought Hashirama already killed them all off, you know…"

Jiraiya shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know about a religion, but the man can supposedly kill people from a distance if he ingests their blood."

Mito's features twisted into an expression of disgust. "That's them all right," she muttered under her breath, before looking at them intently. "If it comes to a fight, you know, I fight him," she declared. Seeing both Jiraiya and Naruto looking ready to argue, she continued, "Think about it, I'm the only one in the group who won't be affected by his jutsu."

For a moment, Naruto stared at her nonplussed. Then, a slow grin spread across his face. "…because you have no blood! That's brilliant, dattebayo!"

Mito smirked. "Well… Everybody can't be you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded absentmindedly, before pausing, absently noting Jiraiya's futile struggles to contain his snickering. "Hey! What the hell d'you mean, dattebayo!"

…

Yugito panted as she twisted around, performing horizontal flips in midair to avoid the scythe that was coming at her again. Her chakra cloud was flaring as she kept the scythe at bay; she desperately slashed at a fireball that was coming at her. They were playing with her, she knew. She could see from the maniacal glee in those horrifically insane eyes, reminding her of another pair of eyes that had watched her with the same unhinged intensity…

She snarled in anger, lashing out as another of those black tentacles attempted to sneak past her guard. Pirouetting, she struck out with her foot, her toenails extending into claws as it cut right through the tentacle.

"What the hell's your problem?" She yelled, backpedalling as unobtrusively as possible while fending off the unending barrage; her only hope was to draw out the battle, turning it into a running battle while somehow attracting any Kumo shinobi around here. Given some room she had much more of a chance to take them on and actually survive than she did now. She didn't really expect a response however, so she was somewhat shocked when the white haired one, who had been called Hidan by the other, gave her an insanely creepy leer. "Hell yeah! Give me more pain! It hurts so beautifully, doesn't it?"

She choked up in laughter even as the scythe missed the tip of her nose by inches, causing her to jump back hastily. Laughter really wasn't advisable at this point, but she couldn't help snickering hysterically; it was the only thing that kept her from breaking down and giving up. All the time spent, all the years wasted, all the blood spilt, both hers and of others, and it had come to this; She was dancing to the tune of two overwhelmingly powerful ninja, waiting for them to kill her.

"What're ya laughin' at?" Hidan roared, sounding genuinely angry. "You think my religion's a joke, do you? Fuckin' heathen! I'm going to sacrifice you to Jashin!"

"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"

The gravelly voice belonging to Hidan's teammate came from behind him, and suddenly a spear of lightning shot through Hidan's chest, heading straight for her. Without any time to dodge, she crossed her arms in front of her and flared Nibi's chakra, hoping to soften the inevitable blow.

It didn't. With the force of a boulder the lightning jutsu crashed into her, and suddenly she was airborne. A moment later her already burnt shoulder hit the ground roughly, and she went rolling along the ground, crashing through trees as a guttural scream escaped her. She could taste blood in her mouth, and her hands, which had fortunately been the only part of her body to be directly exposed to the lightning jutsu were so numb that she couldn't feel anything, even though she could see a jagged piece of bone protruding from her forearm.

For a moment she was paralyzed, muscles tensing involuntarily at the charge as she stared at the oncoming scythe…

When the scythe was mere inches from her face, she pulled up her legs, kicking the blade away as she somersaulted backwards one handed. Even then, her right arm was clearly out of commission; wrenched and burnt at the shoulder and broken at the forearm, she was obviously not going to be able to use it any time soon. Thus she was not ready for it when the pain hit, causing her to yell out, her legs giving out as white hot lances of pain raced up her body.

For a moment, she had dared to hope that the tentacle man (as she called him in his head) had killed his partner in order to get a surprise shot in, though it had faded when that scythe had almost taken her head off, again. Now, looking at them, she found Hidan yelling at his partner, seeming totally unconcerned with the gaping hole through his chest which exposed his innards to the air.

"So, you're still alive?" Both of them turned towards her when she spoke; Hidan's smirk grew wider.

"Fuckin' same to you!" Hidan shouted back with an insane grin. "Ready to play some more, little kitty cat?"

"…kitty cat."

No, it wasn't him, it wasn't, but the pain and the disorientation and the shock settling in took their toll, and suddenly she wasn't seeing the white haired jashinist anymore…

A dark face with dirty yellow hair peering over her as deep set eyes watched her intently… "Hello, my little kitty cat, ready for your training?"

Her vision swam as she groaned, pitching forward into a barely controlled crouch.

"How is my little pet today?"

Blue chakra erupted around her in an uncontrolled inferno, and her world faded to black.

…

"Now."

Both Mito and Jiraiya uttered the word at the same time. In a flicker of Shunshin, Jiraiya was down next to the jinchuuriki, while Mito had gone completely invisible, only the slight light disturbance in her wake showing that she was speeding towards the Akatsuki members. It was just not fair, he thought while idly sitting on the tree branch, that they were keeping him out of the action.

True, he wasn't at their level yet; today's spar with Mito had proved it amply. Still, it felt wrong to sit in the sidelines, and he could fight…

Down below him, Jiraiya had slapped a seal on the convulsing form of the jinchuuriki girl. The erratically pulsing chakra shroud subsided as she collapsed, and Jiraiya hefted her onto his shoulder in a fireman's carry before leaving the clearing and jumping back into the treetop from which Naruto was watching. Unceremoniously dropping the limp form of the girl onto his lap, Jiraiya grinned, slapping him on the back.

"See you later, brat! Just watch over her and stay right here, will you?" Waving cheerfully, Jiraiya skipped down the tree, seemingly oblivious to his scathing glare. He was supposed to babysit her while they fought? Grumbling under his breath, he started turning over the woman who had been dumped on him, only to freeze completely, before withdrawing his hand as if he had been scalded. He could feel his face heating up as he stared at the girl.

She was beautiful. Her feline eyes, shuttered by long eyelashes, were set in an oval face framed by hair the colour of sun dried grass – a shifting yellowish mass of sinuous threads that sometimes shone a grassy green hue and sometimes seemed to be almost golden. Two strands, somewhat shorter than the rest fell across her face, her Kumo forehead protector failing to keep it at bay. Her complexion was pale, though that could be attributed to blood loss, further contrasting her pale pink lips that were slightly open showing sharp, needle tipped teeth as she sagged against him.

For a moment, he stilled utterly, myriad thoughts clouding his head. Her very appearance moved something within him. Was it just the cute factor? He didn't know, though she was cute, that much he could say with certainty. Maybe it was how completely vulnerable and… small she appeared, nestled in his arms while unconscious?

However much he tried to think of her as a jinchuuriki, a fellow sufferer of an unfair burden, he couldn't reconcile that image with that of the woman in his arms. She looked too gentle, too frail to have survived the dangers of a jinchuuriki's life.

He was interrupted from his self analysis when the girl in his arms groaned fitfully, shifting uncomfortably. It took him a moment to realize that the frayed edges of his tattered clothes were sticking into the raw wounds on her body. Reaching a decision, he looped his arm under her knees, lifting her and laying her down comfortably as he could on a nearby bough before leaning over her and removing the metal armor plating that covered her chest. Curse that old pervert, but he knew exactly what to do to keep him out of the fight. There was no way he was going to leave an injured girl alone and unprotected in hostile territory, and there was no way he could assign that to even a shadow clone; they were too flimsy for him to trust in such a delicate situation.

Looking at her now that he had gotten over her initial appearance, he cringed; the wound on her shoulder looked rather nasty, burnt cloth and wood splinters sticking to burnt skin. That wound would need cleaning, and soon. He sighed, carefully cutting away the cloth surrounding the wound. Medicine had never been his favourite subject, or one he was proficient in. He only wished Jiraiya was feeling as annoyed as he was.

Below him the shrubbery burned, casting its ominous light on the body of the unconscious girl.