Chapter 14: Meeting

Team 4

Kisame struggled to keep the three bodies in his arms afloat. He had long since transformed into his shark like body and could easily swim through the water but it was not as easy when you were carrying three people who could not breathe underwater. By some miracle Gai was also swimming as he was not on a boat anymore and his seasickness had subsided.

The waves were still rough and extremely high, less than it was before when the typhoon was there but still considerably high, and it was difficult keeping the heads of his teammates above the water. He was carrying Ino, Shikamaru and Shino. Gai had Chouji on his back. The typhoon was now quite a distance away but was still causing the ocean to toss and turn.

Kisame swam on, wanting nothing more than an island to pop up. He didn't know whether the brats were alive and Ino had sunk pretty far down before he had got to her.

Kisame and Gai continued for a long while more, the sea becoming gradually calmer the further away from the typhoon they swam. Then another miracle happened; a large chunk of wood that was supposedly from their boat floated their way. Kisame, thanking whatever god was looking out for them, sped along with Gai until they reached the chunk and put the four unconscious bodies on it.

Kisame pushed the makeshift boat through the water while Gai immediately started the reviving process on Shikamaru who, in a few minutes, started coughing up large amounts of sea water but remained unconscious. There was a huge purple bruise on Shikamaru's forehead as well. Gai then started on Ino, who took longer than Shikamaru but woke up nonetheless. She coughed up sea water and blinked a few times before rubbing her eyes. When she looked around she drew in a shaky breath and started panicking at her friends states as well as being on a chunk of wood instead of a ship.

Gai ignored the blonde and continued on with Shino who took the least amount of time to revive than the other two and was sitting in no time. Chouji was just unconscious but was still breathing. Gai gave a sigh of relief that no one was lost during the whole ordeal.

"So the brats are fine right? I don't know where we are but keep on the lookout for any islands." Kisame said. Gai could tell he was exhausted but it was understandable, who else could swim directly through a typhoon?

"Right, we have to find one soon. All our supply scrolls are gone." Gai stated.

….

Kisame didn't know how long he had been pushing the boat but he damn sure needed a rest. It felt as though he'd been swimming for ages. All the younger ones were awake now except Shikamaru but after whatever hit him they doubted he would be awake anytime soon. The waves were also much calmer now and almost peaceful.

All of a sudden Gai gave a cheer and pointed to the left.

"Island Ho!"

"About damn time."

….

The island the team arrived on was lush with greenery but they could see no sign of humans living there, in fact it looked as though humans had barely been there. The only sign that there were once people was a half sunk ship that looked as though it had crashed into rocks.

"Wow I'm exhausted. You guys should be happy I saved your butts." Kisame said with a grin.

"Yeah, thanks a lot. I'm going to try to get rid of the bruise on Shikamaru's head. It looks really bad." Ino said with a smile and then headed to Shikamaru who was laying a few metres away. As soon as Ino was done healing the Nara he woke up with a start, almost knocking his head into Ino's. He regretted his decision though as he felt a headache arrive. Then he remembered the cause of it and what caused that.

What surprised Shikamaru was that now they were on land, not a raging sea but on land. The downside was that they were now without a boat to get to their objective.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving so I'm going to go look for something to eat." Chouji said, standing up and dusting himself off.

"A fine idea! I will accompany you!" Gai shouted and marched into the forest ahead of them with Chouji following close behind.

"We should probably move further away from the sea in case high tide comes in."

"Good idea."

The remaining four moved towards a few large trees to their right. Kisame sat down and was about to fall asleep when his eyes snapped open. He then started talking to himself much to the amusement of Ino but the fish man seemed relieved. He then got into a comfortable position before closing his eyes.

"Weird."

"That's an understatement."

….

Team 6

"What do you want?"

"Why so scornful Kakashi-san? I haven't done anything to you." Tobi teased the white haired shinobi.

Kakashi begged to differ. He just knew the masked nin was responsible for everything that had happened so far. He narrowed his eyes at the sharingan gazing at him from the one hole in the mask.

"Where are my teammates? What have you done with them?" Kakashi asked fiercely.

"Relax, I'll give you some info to help you calm down. They're looking for you and they're all fine. In fact, if you remain right at this spot they should find you in a matter of minutes."

"Then what do you want?"

"Nothing at all. Just came to tell you that it would probably be best if you turned back, unless you want something to happen to your precious students." His reply was icy and Kakashi knew he wasn't joking.

When Kakashi didn't reply the masked nin continued.

"Especially the one with the pink hair and the jinchuuriki, you seem to have a soft spot for her and that blonde. Wouldn't want anything to happen to them, now would you?"

"Leave them alone! They have nothing to do with this!" The white haired shinobi was inwardly panicking and trying to change the masked shinobi's intentions at all costs.

"Maybe not the pink haired brat but the jinchuuriki has a lot to do with everything."

Kakashi's eyes widened and he stood silent, taking in the information. He knew he should've been on Naruto's team. Why was he so stupid?

"Now I can see there's a war going on in your head so I'll just leave you to think about what I'm saying. Remember the lives of those two are in your hands."

Kakashi didn't even react when the masked nin disappeared. All he could think of was that his pupils were in danger and there was not a thing he could do about it.

….

Itachi was the first to spot the white haired shinobi amongst the snow. He stood out with his attire though his hair blended in fairly well, but when they landed Kakashi seemed to be deep in thought about something, troubled even. Before they could ask what was troubling him he spoke.

"Naruto's team is in trouble. We have to go back."

Asuma and Kurenai glanced at each other.

"To travel back would take days and would be even more dangerous. What's making you say that?"

"Madara just came to me." And then Kakashi explained the whole thing to them.

"So it's go back or have someone injured or killed? What a threat." Asuma said, taking a drag on his cigarette.

The group stood in silence for a while before Itachi starting speaking to himself, or rather, answering to someone. The team watched him curiously as he replied to the imaginary voice in his head. Kakashi was the first to know what was going on.

"Itachi-san it would probably be best and safer if you did that on the bird." Kakashi said and Itachi nodded.

Itachi jumped back onto Sai's bird and sat down cross-legged before closing his eyes.

Team 3

Shizune was tired. No, that was an understatement. She was exhausted. She didn't know why and healing Tenten didn't help her much. They gathered no information from any scrolls in the building as it was all just old scrolls of reports and finances. Surprisingly the one who was most frustrated was Neji, who had been worrying about his friend as well as helping Shizune. The Hyuuga would snap at anyone who made comments and frown for no apparent reason.

Shizune had sent a message to Tsunade a few days ago and had received a reply yesterday stating she would be there in a few days. The blonde would then explain their plan of action from then. The medic hadn't told anyone about Tsunade's visit yet but rather wanted it to be a surprise.

Then Hidan would also disappear for a few hours and come back all bloody but would be happy. Of course no one complained as having him gone was a blessing. When he was a in a good mood he tended to talk a lot about his adventures to, surprisingly, Tenten who would listen contentedly as she had nothing else to do but stay in bed. No one wanted to risk her fever going sky high again so she had to remain in bed for a few more days for her own safety. During this time Hidan would blab on and on about anything and everything until he talked Tenten to sleep. Sometimes he wouldn't even notice the weapons mistress had fallen asleep and would continue speaking.

Kakuzu was happy that it wasn't him who was being targeted by the jashinist's chatting but instead by someone who actually cared. Tenten was especially curious when Hidan had spoken about how he got his huge weapon. Hidan, who was now happy that someone was that eager, told her everything, from the smallest detail. Neji had tried to sit in during one of those times but quickly got bored or annoyed and left them to go and help Shizune but would sit with his female companion when the zealot was out hunting his sacrifices.

Shizune yawned and decided it was time to head to bed. Just as she was passing the room where Kakuzu was in, she heard him speaking. This was confusing as Hidan was with Tenten and Neji was reading more scrolls. She peeped her head around the door only to find no one else in the room besides the miser. He seemed to be answering to someone. Shizune thought about what was happening and quickly came to a conclusion.

'Of course! It must be Pein talking to him.' She swiftly ran back to the room where Tenten was and saw Hidan was replying to no one in particular as well. Hidan rolled his eyes to himself, as if he was annoyed by something, and sat down cross legged on the floor. When Tenten asked him what he was doing, he didn't reply.

….

Team 1

The team was all sitting in a room conversing to each other with the kazekage silently watching his guests and reading a book from a chair in a corner. Kankuro had gone to buy new parts for his puppets and Temari was out training. The group had been waiting for any more letters from Tsunade or signs that Pein was going to state their next move but so far there had been nothing.

The one who was more hopeful than the others was Deidara after waking up numerous times to find death letters next to him. The culprit could only be circled to one of Gaara's siblings but he wasn't going to mention that unless he really wanted to die.

"So how much longer do you think we'll be staying here? I mean we don't know anything about what is happening anywhere at all." Sakura said.

"We have no choice but to stay here. If we went out we'd be captured for sure by those freaks." Naruto replied with a frown.

"B-But if Pein has anything for us to do then we'll have to leave anyway." Hinata stated.

"True. Guess we'll just have to wait and see then."

Then Deidara suddenly perked up and started saying things to someone imaginary. The gang looked at him as though he was crazy but he ignored them. The bomber then stood up and headed towards a large pillow and sat on it muttering 'gonna need this' and crossing his legs. Anyone who spoke to him afterwards did not get any replies.

….

Akatsuki meeting: Main base

Astral Projection

The first of the akatsuki to appear was Kakuzu who was soon followed by a complaining Hidan. Pein and Konan did not need to use their jutsus as they were already in the meeting place with their real bodies.

"Hey leader, you have something for us? It's fucking boring as hell over there!" Hidan's voice was deeper but still annoying.

"You have not yet been informed by the medic?"

"Been informed of what?"

"Then it's fine. She can tell you, just ask her when this meeting is done."

Suddenly Kisame appeared and he did not look happy, in fact he looked anxious. Itachi was next, stoic as ever, and last was Deidara.

"Everyone is here? Good. Now before I say anything else I want you all to explain what has been happening to your teams. Deidara, you first."

"Uh, nothing much has happened, yeah. We got to Suna without much trouble. Soon after we got there, there was a letter from the hokage saying what she was going to do next, yeah. I think she's going to look for someone named Jiraiya. She said we had to wait for more orders from you. That's about it, yeah." Deidara said with a shrug. Pein eyes widened for a fraction of a second before returning to normal when he heard about Jiraiya.

"Good, next: Kakuzu."

"Nothing to report except that one of our members got infected with a fever. We were already close to the base so it wasn't that big of a hassle. There was no information about anything in any of the scrolls as well."

"Itachi."

"Tobi came to one of our members stating that if we don't turn back then other people will be seriously injured or killed, mainly the jinchuuriki and his pink haired friend. He seems to mainly be after the jinchuuriki."

"That is to be expected. Kisame."

"Uh we're in a real pinch over here boss. Our ship was sunk when a typhoon came and now we're on some island who knows where. All our supply scrolls are gone." Pein raised an eyebrow at Kisame's statement.

"No one was lost?"

"No, by some miracle they're all alive. It also looks as though no one had visited the place in a long time."

"Is it possible for you to get to your destination?"

"I doubt it. All we have right now is a chunk of wood from the ship barely big enough for all of us. If we tried building a raft, it could take a long time."

"Then build one. Get to Water Country as soon as possible." Kisame nodded.

"Right. Now you all know Tobi will be starting his plans soon, in fact he came to me as well." Pein said looking at Itachi.

"He tried to make me join his side, but when I refused he left a note saying that I will now face the consequences as well as all the others teams involved.

"Now since that incident has happened I'm going to need everyone to increase their defenses and kill on sight. We have all probably been watched by Zetsu so he will know everything that has already happened and he might even be here right at this very moment in the shadows.

"Deidara, your team has no more to do but will rather return to Konoha and help Shikaku's team investigating. If possible have a few of Suna's shinobi come with." Deidara nodded his head and Pein continued to the next member.

"Itachi, ignore Tobi and continue to your destination." Itachi calmly gazed at Pein and nodded.

"Kakuzu and Hidan, you will soon have a mission to do, courtesy of the hokage."

"Kisame, you already know what to do."

"What will you be doing, yeah?" Deidara asked.

"Finding Tobi."

…

A/N: Yay early chapter :D

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