Disclaimer: It's the usual, I don't own anything bit.
Three days after the attack on Konoha, the Sandaime convened a meeting of his advisors, the council, the jounin, and all other important individuals. None had any idea of why the Hokage had called his leaders together, but they came nonetheless. When the Hokage said jump, it was best to answer with how high. Kakashi could sense something big was going to happen. Meetings of this caliber weren't called often and even the Fire Daimyo was present, having stayed the past few days in the village at Sarutobi's behest, citing this meeting as the purpose. The Daimyo had nervously agreed.
"The Fire Daimyo?" Asuma asked, sitting next to Kakashi. "Something big's about to happen." He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. The action caught the eye of the Daimyo and he nodded with a smile to the former Fire Guard. The Jounin responded with a deeper nod, as close as he could get to a bow while sitting. "Any idea what's going on, Kakashi?"
"I was hoping you could tell me," the scarecrow answered. "He's your father after all. If anyone knows how he thinks, its you."
"Che. I gave up trying to understand him years ago." The bearded shinobi snuffed out his cigarette on the wood floor and swept the ash away with one hand. Sarutobi and his two old teammates entered the room. "Speak of the devil. We're about to find out."
"What's this about?" Hyuuga Hiashi asked the second Sarutobi sat. The wizened leader, scratching at the bandages on wound he'd sustained on his arm during the altercation with Orochimaru, smiled like a grandfather surveying an impatient grandson.
"Straight to the point, Hyuuga-san?" The Hokage asked.
The clan head indicated the assembled shinobi. "We're all curious, Sarutobi-sama. I thought it would be best to cut the political posturing and get right to the point."
"That's no reason to violate decorum," Homura said sharply. Sarutobi silenced his old teammate with a hand.
"It's alright. Curiosity is a natural thing when a meeting is unexpectedly called." The Sandaime pulled out his pipe, tamped tobacco into it, and lit it. He seemed to choose his words as he took a pull on it and exhaled the fragrant cloud of smoke. In the back, one of the Inuzuka sneezed. "Very well, Hiashi-san," the old leader said finally. "We'll do this your way. I'll cut past the political crap and get to the point." He seemed to shed years of his old frame and become the powerful and wise leader that the assembled shinobi had grown up under. "I called this meeting to announce my resignation as Hokage."
The reactions ranged from stunned silence to loud calls for an explanation. Sarutobi silenced the outbursts with a hand. "This was not a decision I came to lightly and I am particularly reluctant to leave my post in light of recent events, however, I cannot get past the fact that I am an old man. As I told Orochimaru, I am the oldest and most rotten timber of the roof that shelters our great village. It's time that the mantel of Hokage was passed down to the next generation."
"Who then?" Anko asked. "Who do you choose as your successor?"
Sarutobi caught Jiraiya's eye. The sage was standing in the back of the room, leaning against the wall, arms crossed. The white-haired pervert shook his head resolutely. The Sandaime sighed. "I was hoping that Jiraiya would take the robe of Hokage, however, he told me in no uncertain terms that he would not, under any circumstances, become the Godaime."
"So who?" asked an ANBU commander. "The next person who would be suitable would be Kakashi, right?" The jounin looked startled at the endorsement. His eye went from half closed to two thirds open, a sure sign of his shock. Sarutobi smiled.
"He's certainly a contender, but not who I had in mind. There is one other, one more qualified than Kakashi, or even…certain others in our village." Kakashi smiled inwardly. That 'certain other' would be Naruto, the son of the legendary Yondaime and the student of Jiraiya, just as the Yondaime had been before him. Given time, Naruto would indeed be very qualified to be Hokage. But, the Copy Nin agreed silently, there was one more.
"Tsunade," he muttered. In the silence it was as if he'd screamed it.
Sarutobi nodded. "Yes. Senju Tsunade, granddaughter of the Shodai and grandniece to the Nidaime. Of us all, she is most certainly the most qualified to replace me, even more so than the Yondaime in terms of blood claim to the title."
"But no one knows where Tsunade is," Asuma said. "How will we have her as the Godaime if she isn't even in the village?"
"Jiraiya has said that he will go and return Tsunade to us," Sarutobi answered.
"What of the rumor that said she promised to never return?" Shikamaru's dad asked. "You can bring her back, but if she won't stay, then we're back to square one."
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," Jiraiya answered the Nara, speaking for the first time. "It won't be easy. That's not a rumor you heard. She did promise to never return. This place holds too many ghosts for her. Her brother and lover were killed in the war, along with a lot of her friends, including Minato and Kushina, but I think it will be easier than we realize to get her back."
"Why?" The Fire Daimyo asked, raising an eyebrow.
Jiraiya smirked. "I'm taking Naruto with me." The tension in the room went through the roof.
"The Kyuubi?" A jounin Jiraiya didn't recognize asked. "You gonna threaten her to return with the beast? Good plan." Kakashi and Jiraiya both slammed the man into the wall before he knew what hit him.
"Enough!" Sarutobi thundered, but he was ignored, and he understood all too well why. Naruto was like a second grandson to the elderly leader. If his station hadn't been a factor, Sarutobi would be right over there with his student and Kakashi.
"If you ever talk about Naruto like that again," Kakashi growled dangerously, "I'll introduce you to Naruto myself and let you repeat that little comment to his face. And I guarantee his methods will be more humiliating than anything I could do to you." The two legends let the jounin drop to the floor in a heap.
"And to answer before you even ask," Jiraiya added to the room at large, "I'm taking Naruto to train him and for one other reason."
"What would that be?" Sarutobi asked with a smile, though he already knew the reason. Jiraiya had explained it to him the previous day. Of all the people in the room, only Jiraiya had known what Sarutobi was going to do ahead of time and that was only because the old man had approached the Sannin to ask him to be Godaime.
"Naruto can convince people," Jiraiya answered with a smirk. "The kid makes you want to bet on him. He could make even the most cold-hearted bastard want to lay down his life for a friend. I'm hoping that seeing Naruto will make Tsunade throw her lot in with Konoha."
"And the fact that he looks like Nawaki doesn't hurt either," Homura mumbled to the Sandaime.
"Are we all in agreement?" Sarutobi asked. The room's occupants nodded. "Good, then it's decided. Tsunade shall be our Godaime and Jiraiya and Naruto shall retrieve her." The meeting was adjourned and the shinobi left to get back to rebuilding the village.
Outside, on the village wall, a pair of men in black cloaks with red clouds on them surveyed the trashed village. One man, who looked like a shark that decided to walk on land (and, in his partner's opinion, smelled just the same) grinned, showing off a mouth full of teeth filed to wicked points. A massive bandaged sword was strapped to his back. "Well, ain't this a shame," the man said with a chuckle. "The great Konohagakure, done in by one of it's own. Is it making you feel all nostalgic?" A hirai-ate, the metal plate wickedly gashed, was just visible under the woven grass hat, called a kasa, that he wore.
The other, shorter, man didn't reply immidiatly. He was dressed in the same manner as his comrade, minus that huge sword, and his hirai-ate showed the stylized leaf of Konoha, violated by a deep line through the center of the etching. His eyes were piercing. They seemed to look right through a person and they were oddly colored. They were red, with the distinct comma-like marks of the Uchiha Sharingan. "This place isn't so easy to finish off," the second man remarked softly. "It will take more than what has happened here to break the will of its people."
"You always say the nicest things, Itachi," the shark-man said sardonically.
Uchiha Itachi, the butcher of the Uchiha Clan and one Uchiha Sasuke's elder brother, didn't dignify with an answer. Instead he turned and dropped off the wall, landing with only the faintest rustle of cloth and the gentle tinkle of a bell, which dangled from a thread on his kasa. His partner had a bell just like it. The shark landed right next to him, just as silently, despite his bulk.
"You sure the Kyuubi's in there?" The shark man asked.
"Positive, Kisame." Itachi answered, a soft note of irritation in his lilting voice. Kisame shivered. Itachi was one of the most powerful shinobi in Akatsuki, despite his tender age of twenty or twenty-one, Kisame didn't know which. He'd been a captain of Konoha's ANBU from the time he was thirteen. Of course, that had been before he'd butchered his own clan, to a man, and fled, sparing only his younger brother. Kisame never knew if Itachi would answer a question or if he would bury a kunai in Kisame's spine. "Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki, will be there for certain."
"He'd better be," Kisame, one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, fumed. "My feet are killing me."
Itachi didn't spare an answer as he led Kisame around the village wall and up into the mountains that sat behind the village. There they found a lone sentry near a small gate, who was easily dealt with by Itachi's specialty, genjutsu, and let themselves into the village.
Gohan returned to Naruto's apartment after his first session at the hospital, getting electroshock muscle stimulation to keep his lame arm in top shape. The nurse had said that he was to return every week for a two-hour session, if he wanted his arm to stay the way it was. At first Gohan had been skeptical, since two hours had seemed a little short, but after feeling the muscles constantly twitching as hard and fast as they could, he had to admit, he could feel it. It felt like he'd gone through a one armed workout. Inside the apartment, he got a surprise. Naruto was on his bed, jumping up and down on a stuffed rucksack, apparently trying to get the thing to close. Gohan wasn't sure which would happen first, the bag closing or Naruto splitting a seam because he'd overfilled it.
"Hey Gohan!" Naruto called. He lost his concentration and landed wrong. Gohan winced as the blond faceplanted into the hardwood floor of the threadbare apartment. "OW!"
Gohan shook his head. Naruto would be fine. His head was just as hard as Gohan's. "What're you doing?"
"What? Oh, you mean this?" He gestured to the bulging blue book bag. "Ero-sennin stopped by earlier. I guess he wants to take me on some errand that Old Man Hokage gave him."
"The Sandaime?" Gohan asked. "What's he want you to do?"
Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I dunno. I wasn't really paying attention. I think it was something about going to look for some old fart named Tsunade." Gohan frowned. Tsunade was the name of the one who was supposed to be able to heal his arm. Maybe he could…
"Sounds like fun. Can I come?"
Naruto bounded off his bed, where he'd renewed jumping. "Let's go find Ero-Sennin and find out!" He said exuberantly and led Gohan out the door to find the perverted sage.
Kakashi leaned against a wall outside a teashop. His nose was buried in his Icha Icha books, but his mind was anywhere but on the smutty storyline. He knew it by heart anyway, but the strangers in the shop were much more interesting. They'd caught his eye as he wandered the village. They wore dark cloaks with high collars and red clouds and each wore a woven grass hat with paper side strips to conceal their identity. 'These must be the rumored Akatsuki,' Kakashi thought. 'I thought they were just a myth. Guess even rumors can be true. Dammit, I'm not gonna be able to handle this alone.'
Asuma and Kurenai walked down the street toward him. Kakashi nearly fainted with relief. These two would be the backup he needed. Asuma stopped. "Kakashi? What're you doing here?"
Kakashi was all too aware of the gaze of the cloaked men on his back. "Reading," he answered lightly holding up the gaudy orange book. The men stood, paid their bill and left, leaving half-drunk mugs sitting on the table. Asuma and Kurenai nodded and took to the rooftops in pursuit. Kakashi sighed, wishing Sasuke wasn't under house arrest so Kakashi didn't have to worry about this kind of thing, but with the testimony of Gohan, Sakura, and Shino, the Sandaime had had no choice. Sasuke was under house arrest until further notice, pending the results of an investigation about his unprovoked attack on the injured saiyan boy.
"Akatsuki," Kakashi muttered. Not much was know about them, aside from the rumors that they were an organization of S-class missing-nin and they were after the Bijuu of each village. "If it is them, then there's only person who could've gotten them into the village with no one noticing." He sliced his thumb open and molded the seals for a Kuchiyose. A puff later and Pakkun appeared.
"What's wrong, Kakashi?" Pakkun asked, scratching an ear with his paw.
"Go tell the Sandaime that Akatsuki's in the village and that he's with them," the jounin told his puppy. "Hurry."
"You got it," the pug answered and vanished with speed and grace of a veteran shinobi. Kakashi turned and left to chase down Asuma and Kurenai.
"I would prefer if Gohan-kun remained in the village," Sarutobi said. Naruto began cursing and demanding explanations and ranting about how Sarutobi didn't know what he was talking about. The Sandaime sighed as Jiraiya rubbed his temple. Gohan and Naruto had found Jiraiya without too much effort, but the Sannin had said to get the Hokage's permission first, which had led up to Sarutobi's answer.
"Why?" Naruto whined.
Sarutobi sighed again. "Naruto, Gohan-kun is injured. He has to keep up with his therapy at the hospital and he can't do that if he's wandering around looking for Tsunade with you."
"Aww come on," Naruto complained. "It won't take long!"
"You don't know that," Sarutobi said sharply. "Kids these days. Naruto, Tsunade is a Sannin, just like Jiraiya and Orochimaru. She's been out of touch for years and she's an experienced kunoichi that doesn't want to be found. Do you think this will be a mission that will be done in only a few days?"
Naruto recoiled at the rebuke, but didn't say anything more and the fight seemed to leak out of him. "Fine," he fumed after a moment. They were just turning to leave when Pakkun jumped through the window, skidding to a stop on Sarutobi's desk and sending papers everywhere.
"My paperwork!" Sarutobi moaned. "Great. I'm gonna have to start all over again and reorganize everything!"
"Sorry," the pug apologized, not sounding very sorry at all, "but that will have to wait. We've got a problem."
"What would that be?" the Kage asked, laments about paperwork forgotten.
"Akatsuki's in the village," Pakkun replied. "Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma are going to engage them. Kakashi thinks that Uchi…" he threw a glance back at Naruto and Gohan, the only two who didn't need to know what was going on. "Kakashi thinks that he's with them."
Sarutobi seemed to be as still as the statue of his face on the monument, but it was only for a second. "Well that changes things," he said finally. "Gohan-kun, you may go with Naruto if you would like."
"Why the sudden…" Naruto started.
"Alright, you got what you wanted," Jiraiya said, eyes never leaving Sarutobi's pale face. "Let's get going. We've got a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time to cover it in." He steered the kids from the room.
"Why the sudden change?" Pakkun asked.
Sarutobi slumped in his seat, wishing his pipe was handy. "I'm getting too old for this," he lamented for the second time in only a few days. "I let Gohan-kun go to get Naruto out of the village as soon as possible. If it is Akatsuki, and if it is indeed Uchiha Itachi with them, then things are very grave indeed. Naruto has to get out before the Akatsuki find him. I sent Gohan-kun with them because he's probably a match for them. Naruto will need the extra protection, even if Gohan-kun is injured."
"Wait, you said probably," Pakkun pointed out. "Does that mean he isn't? Gohan's not exactly a weak person."
Sarutobi was silent before he answered. "Each one of the Akatsuki," he said finally, "are either as strong as Orochimaru or stronger than him. Gohan-kun is not yet a match for Orochimaru, but if he could break his second seal, he could be, and maybe even more than a match, but it means that as he is now, Gohan-kun is probably incapable of defeating an Akatsuki, but for now, he would be able to at least slow them down long enough for Jiraiya to back him up."
"I see," Pakkun said. "You sent Gohan along as a delay for the Akatsuki."
"Yes. He doesn't have to stop them. Just slow them down enough for Jiraiya to stop them. And if the rumors about them traveling in pairs are true, then Jiraiya will need all the help he can get, especially against Uchiha Itachi." Sarutobi steepled his fingers and stared at the grain of his desktop. Abruptly he stood and pulled of his Hokage robes and hat, revealing his armor underneath it. "Take me to Kakashi," he commanded.
"Yes sir," Pakkun answered. He leapt out the window and vanished across the rooftops, Sarutobi right next to him.
"That was a close one," Kisame said some hours later as the two Akatsuki duo, chakra depleted and weakened, dashed up a river, their sandals splashing as they hit the water's surface. "I thought we were done for when the Professor showed up."
Itachi's dark eyes, devoid of the Sharingan for the first time Kisame could remember, flicked over his shark-like partner then back to their path. "Our escape was certain," he answered. "With Kakashi-sempai incapacitated by Tsukuyomi and his son injured by your Samehada, there was nothing the Sandaime could've done to pursue us. All we have to worry about now is Konoha's ANBU."
"Oh," Kisame answered sarcastically, "is that all? All we have to worry about is the best Special Forces in the shinobi world? And I thought we'd have it easy."
"Quiet. You'll make their job easier."
"We didn't even get to see if the fox brat was in the village!" Kisame went on, whining like a little kid. "I wanted to see if he was any good. I mean, he did beat down the Sand kid and helped bring down Zabuza. He can't be all that bad."
"Naruto-kun is not in the village," Itachi stated, surprising Kisame with his certainty. "He left just after we got there with Jiraiya of the Sannin and one other, probably someone Naruto-kun's age."
"How'd you figure that one out?"
Itachi's lips quirked up in what might've been a smirk, but it was too faint to tell. "I read the lips of the dog as it spoke to Kakashi-sempai, just before he lost consciousness."
"If the brat's out of the village, it makes our job easy!" Kisame crowed. "All we gotta do is swipe the brat and go!"
"You truly are a fool," Itachi snapped, in a rare display of anger. "Jiraiya is with him. Do you think you could take down a Sannin?"
Kisame blinked in surprise at the anger then frowned. "Guess it won't be so easy, eh, Itachi?" The Uchiha didn't dignify him with a response.
"We'll stop here," Jiraiya said the next day. They'd left Konoha the day before under extreme haste. Jiraiya hadn't even allowed Gohan to pack a bag, which was of no consequence since the boy had his capsules, but the Sannin didn't know that. They had been moving at a fast clip all night and now they were almost thirty miles from Konoha. Jiraiya finally allowed himself to relax a bit. They would be safe for the time being. The Sannin hoped Kakashi bought them enough time.
Now they were outside a bustling town with was in the middle of some festival. Tourists and residents and off-duty shinobi all mixed and mingled, laughing, drinking, and generally having a good time without a care in the world. "You two wait here, I'll get us a room." The pervert moved off into the crowd and Naruto began bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet, grinning like a madman.
"Looks like fun!" The blond said, trying to see as far as he could. The town was nestled in a short box canyon, with walls that were only thirty feet or so high and the far end of the canyon had been shaped by human hands to a gentle slope, allowing the main street to run right through town and into the gently rolling hills and forests behind it. The rest of the town spilled towards the pair like paint, spreading out as it passed the canyon walls. Everywhere they looked, there were paper lanterns, stalls, restaurants and other fun activities. "Hope Ero-Sennin gets back soon."
"I'm sure he will," Gohan answered with a laugh at seeing Naruto's exuberance. His lame arm itched, so he scratched at it absently, noting with a frown the it felt a bit like he'd slept on the limb all night and now it was asleep. He tried to flex the fingers, though he knew it was useless, and all he got was a feeble twitch in his thumb. Gohan sighed. The sooner they found this Tsunade person, the better. He looked forward to the day that he got the use of his arm back.
Jiraiya was easy enough to spot as he came back through the crowd because of his red haori and bright white hair. "I found us a room," he said when the three met up again. "It's that hotel at the end of the street there."
"This better not be some brothel," Naruto said, squinting accusingly up at his sensei.
"Like I'd take a gentle soul like Gohan to a place like that," Jiraiya answered, mussing the hair of his godkid.
"What about me?" Naruto fumed, knocking the hand away. "I'm gentle!"
"Like a flying sledge hammer," Jiraiya shot back quickly. "Right Gohan?"
Gohan laughed nervously at the intense glare he got from Naruto. "No comment, Jiraiya-sama," the warrior answered evasively. He left out the fact that he'd probably seen enough of a woman's body to not be surprised, even if they did get a room in a brothel. Gohan blamed Roshi for that one. The old man left his smutty magazines everywhere.
Jiraiya huffed. "I told you it's Jiraiya or Jiraiya-san. That –sama crap makes me feel respectable and old, neither of which I am." Gohan nodded, but Jiraiya didn't think the kid would do anything else but call him Jiraiya-sama. Whoever his mother was, she'd done a good job of beating manners into his head, to the point it was almost annoying.
"I dunno about the old part," Naruto muttered. Unfortunately for him, Jiraiya overheard him and smacked the back of his head, nearly sending Naruto through the side of a game stall. Finally, after much arguing, fuming, and yelling, which made mostly everyone on the thoroughfare look at them funny, the trio arrived at the hotel. It was a solid place, much like the college dorms that Gohan had seen back home on the rare chances his mother allowed him to go to the city.
"Hey handsome," a woman purred to Jiraiya. Naruto and Gohan sighed when the saw him switch to what Naruto was beginning to call 'Ero-mode'. Gohan tuned the rest of the conversation out, but he did notice when Jiraiya left with the woman, throwing Naruto the key and absently telling the boys to go up to the room and then do whatever they wanted.
"That damn Ero-sennin!" Naruto yelled angrily, once they were safely in their room. He let lose with a tirade of expletives that Gohan was sure Sakura would've punished the blond severely for. Gohan looked out the window, watching the clouds drift lazily past while Naruto continued to ramble on in the background. He never noticed the two men in black cloaks in the stall across the street.
"So's that the Kyuubi brat?" Kisame asked Itachi as they stood watching the young saiyan in the window.
"No," Itachi answered, Sharingan in place. The Kekkei Genkai allowed the user to see the chakra that suffused a human and Gohan's was almost frightening. It was flickering oddly, like a TV with bad static, as if Gohan's chakra wasn't really chakra but something that very similar in nature, to the point that the Sharingan got the two confused. "That's not Naruto-kun."
"So what about the old bastard?"
Itachi's lips quirked up in a smirk, then flattened down into his normal expressionless face. "He's distracted."
"Good! Then let's get this over with!"
"Indeed." They stood, Kisame hefting Samehada to its place on his back.
The two missing-nin crossed the street and went into the hotel.
"Nice shot, Jiraiya-sama," the woman on Jiraiya's arm cooed to him as he hooked a ring around a goldfish bowl with a casual flick of his wrist. The old pervert laughed heartily, having the time of his life. It wasn't often a woman came on to him like this. Usually it was the other way around and he got slapped or beat senseless, it depended on the woman, for his troubles.
He had no idea the troubles that were about to befall Gohan and Naruto.
Gohan sighed as he rubbed his numb arm again. It was odd. The flesh beneath the hand felt fine, warm and soft as it should, the flesh backed by rock hard muscle, but the arm felt nothing. He couldn't feel hot or cold, pressure, texture or anything. The only thing he got when he tried to move it was either nothing or a feeble twitch and he still felt lopsided. He'd done some training recently to try and balance out his fighting style to compensate, but he hadn't been able to put much effort into it. He quit contemplating his arm and looked around.
"Where's Jiraiya-sama? Isn't he back yet?" Gohan asked.
Naruto shrugged. "I dunno what he's doing." The blond looked thoughtful though. "But it is weird. Usually he gets dumped pretty quickly and comes right back."
As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. Naruto grinned. "See? I told you." The ninja went for the door. Gohan frowned. It was odd. He didn't sense Jiraiya at all. He flung his senses out wide. He could go further with his senses when specifically 'looking' for someone as opposed to casually 'listening'. The frown deepened when he found Jiraiya, on the other side of the village. The two beyond the door were unfamiliar.
"Got dumped already?" the blond called through the door.
Naruto's hand stretched out.
Room service? No, this inn didn't have that. Cleaning perhaps? No, the beds were fully made, the linens crisp and clean. The young warrior's mind wandered back to the meeting with the Hokage. Kakashi's dog had said something that had the leader of the village on edge. Akatsuki. That didn't sound good. It had made Jiraiya nervous for the better part of the day when they were leaving. He was always looking around, furtively, like a shinobi on edge for assault and he was eternally glancing at Naruto, as if to make sure the blond was still there.
Naruto's hand touched the doorknob and began to turn it.
What if this Akatsuki thing was after Naruto for some reason? Gohan blinked in sudden realization. That woman had come out of nowhere. One of Jiraiya's greatest weaknesses was women. He was well-known shinobi and a well-known pervert. Of course anyone who knew anything about Jiraiya would know that.
Gohan gaped as everything came together.
"Naruto! NO!"
"Huh?" Naruto asked, but it was too late. The door was already partway out of its resting place. It was too late to shut it and lock it. The door exploded inwards, dissolving into so much splintery shrapnel. Naruto was thrown into the wall with a grunt. Gohan flickered and blurred as he dodged the flying fragments at super-high speed.
A long white object cut through the sky above Gohan. He looked up only for the briefest of seconds, to know where it would land, then he was out of the way, standing on the windowsill a good four feet back.
The blade slammed to earth, smashing right through the floor. Gohan could hear the panicking screams of the room below. The attacker, a massive man, as tall as Piccolo, pulled the white object, a bandage-wrapped sword Gohan noted, from the floor and slung it carelessly over his shoulder. The man's face was frightful, blue-tinged with beady, menacing eyes, teeth filed to points and marks around his eyes that looked suspiciously like gills on a shark. In fact, the man as a whole looked like a shark. His hirai-ate was the same as Zabuza's had been, but the etching had a vicious line drawn through it.
"Good reflexes," the man remarked with a satisfied grin. "You're better than the average genin. I might actually have some fun." He looked over his shoulder at a person Gohan could just barely see. "Hey, Itachi, do we need this one? Can I have some fun with him?"
The second man stepped out from behind his partner's bulk. He glanced over Naruto and Gohan and both boys were surprised to see the gashed etching of Konoha on his forehead and the distinctive marks of the Sharingan in his eyes. "Hold on for a minute, Kisame," Itachi said, brushing his long slate bangs out of his eyes.
"The Sharingan?" Naruto breathed. "Wait…you're…Sasuke's brother!" He shivered as the Butcher of the Uchiha Clan's gaze passed over him, taking him in and analyzing him without effort or emotion.
Itachi's head inclined ever so slightly. "Yes," he answered. "My name is Uchiha Itachi. Nice to meet you, Naruto-kun and…" he glanced over Gohan just as he'd done to Naruto. Gohan shivered but kept up a defiant front. "I'm afraid I don't know you."
"Son Gohan."
"Nice to meet you, Son Gohan-kun."
"Can't say the feeling's mutual."
Itachi shrugged gracefully. "Understandable, however, decorum shouldn't be violated just because of one's feelings." The Sharingan found Naruto again. "Naruto-kun, I'm afraid I must ask you to come with us." His crimson eyes bored into Naruto's stomach. "You have something we want."
Naruto looked sick as he paled and one hand convulsed on his stomach, where the Kyuubi was sealed, though Gohan had no idea and was left to wonder what the hell was going on that these two shinobi had such a big interest in Gohan's roommate. Itachi extended one hand. "Come with us, Naruto-kun. If you come with us willingly, I assure you, Gohan-kun and Jiraiya-sama will be spared."
"If not," Kisame added, hefting the bandaged sword, "I'll just shear off your arms and legs, kill the other brat, and then tie you to my back and we can leave that way. It's your choice."
"Make the right one, Naruto-kun," Itachi finished. The hand remained.
"Don't do it, Naruto!" Gohan called, shaking the other teen out of the trance he seemed to be in. "Don't let them get whatever it is!" Gohan found himself staring down Samehada's blunt white tip.
"Shut up," Kisame said conversationally. "The squirt's a big boy. He doesn't need your help." Naruto stared at Gohan for a few seconds then strode forward and reached for Itachi's hand. Kisame grinned. "Wise choice, kid."
Naruto slapped Itachi's hand away then lashed out at the Uchiha himself. The kick was easily avoided as Itachi hopped back a half-step. "Go to hell!" Naruto yelled angrily. A red haze began to swirl around him and the temperature in the room shot up a few degrees. "I'm not handing it over to you!"
Gohan grinned, transforming in a burst of light. He wasn't sure how much help he could be, but he wasn't about to let Naruto fight these two single-handedly. Both boys let out warcries as Gohan's aura flared out wider and brighter and Naruto was suffused in boiling red chakra that took on the shape of a fox with long ears and one tail, which split at the tip and divided into two.
Itachi and Kisame were forced back out into the hall by the pounding shockwaves the powers were giving off, contained as they were in the small and confined room. Gohan's eyes flicked over Naruto, narrowing with wonder. He was using that power again, that dark, malevolent power that spread bloodlust through the air. Naruto crouched, the two tails waving, his claws easily gouging the woodwork, his fangs glinting as he growled deep in his throat, making the thickened whisker marks on his cheeks tremble as if alive, predatory cat-like eyes never once moving their crimson gaze from the two Akatsuki. "You ready?" Naruto asked Gohan. The Super Saiyan blinked, but decided that if Naruto had control of himself, it was probably okay to trust his back to the genin.
"Yeah." His eyes hardened into chips of emerald. "Let's do this!"
Kisame took one look at the Two-Tailed Naruto and Super Saiyan Gohan before laughing excitedly. "Finally some action! Hey, Itachi, wanna make this fun and do a two-on-two? I'll take the fox-brat if you wanna take blondie over there."
"I suppose we really have no choice," Itachi answered. "We'll do it your way, Kisame."
"Be careful, Naruto," Gohan said.
"Don't need to tell me twice!" Naruto shouted, lunging at Kisame. The sharkman grinned and swung Samehada. The two collided in a burst of chakra and were thrown into the hallway. Only seconds later, the sounds of battle began echoing down the hall.
Itachi sighed, unsnapping the first few buttons of his cloak. "I apologize, Gohan-kun," the Uchiha said. "Kisame is impulsive sometimes." Gohan lowered himself into a fighting stance, pointedly not looking at the Sharingan. He knew what that thing could do and he didn't need to be hypnotized. He concentrated on Itachi's core, any attack would be seen coming from there. "I see. You know about the Sharingan and thus you watch my center of mass. A wise tactic, Gohan-kun."
"Here's another one for you!" Gohan growled. He spun and thrust his hand at the window. A ki blast erupted from his palm, smashed through the window and arced into the sky. Gohan waited a fraction of a second then clenched his fist, detonating the blast and bathing the village in a bright golden light. He prayed that would attract Jiraiya's attention and get him back to the hotel.
"You're too much, Jiraiya-sama," the woman, Keiko she said her name was, laughed as she and the Sannin shared a jar of sake. He'd just finished telling her a story that wasn't particularly entertaining and she was laughing as if it was the funniest thing in the world. He frowned, sighing inwardly. This wasn't what he'd had in mind. There was something wrong with this…
"Hey! What's that?" A patron asked. Jiraiya turned to look out the window. Sitting over the village like a flare was a massive ball of glowing energy. It floated for the ground then vanished just as fast as it appeared. Jiraiya frowned. That was a ki blast. It could only be Gohan, who was at the hotel, so what would he be doing sending a blast like that? It was more of a signal than anything.
He turned to the woman. "Sorry, Keiko-chan," he said, standing and laying down some money to pay for the sake. "I have to go check up on my student and his friend."
"Don't go Jiraiya-sama!" She called latching onto his arm. "Please stay with me!"
"Sorry, I can't." He pulled his arm from her grip and moved for the door again.
Keiko rammed a knife into his back, her eyes vacant and blank. Jiraiya's haori and scroll fluttered to the ground, devoid of its occupant. The woman had just enough time to blink before a hard tap made her pass out. "I thought so," the Sannin muttered. "Genjutsu." He frowned. "And I fell for it. Dammit!" He pulled on his haori and scroll and dashed back towards the hotel. "Naruto, Gohan, please be alright!"
Naruto slammed into the wall of the hallway with a sickening crunch, the fox's chakra fading from his body as Kisame's sword, devoid of bandages thanks to a swipe from Naruto's claws, rippled and writhed, as if it had a life of its own. The blade was the same bluish color of Kisame's skin and it exactly like its name implied. It had devoured the youki with only a flick of the Akatsuki's wrist. "Too bad, squirt," Kisame gloated, shouldering the weapon again. He wasn't even breathing hard. "Give it a little time and you'd really be something. Unfortunately, you won't get that chance."
He advanced on Naruto.
Gohan grunted as Itachi slammed him into the wall at the other end of the hall. Their fierce taijutsu battle had led to this point, but Itachi was swift and used his Sharingan to keep ahead of Gohan, constantly battering the warrior from his bad side.
"Impressive, Gohan-kun. I can see why Orochimaru marked you." His finger jabbed hard into the Cursed Seal on Gohan's neck, making him wince. "But remember this." He leaned in and whispered into Gohan's ear. "I'm more powerful than Orochimaru." Gohan met Itachi's eyes by instinct from the sheer shock of the revelation. Too late he realized his mistake as Itachi's eyes shifted into another form.
"Tsukuyomi."
Gohan felt himself fall into Itachi's eyes and the world went black.
Well things have gone to hell in a hand basket for Naruto and Gohan. Now, there's something that needs to be addressed. Again. I think I might have said this way back in chapter 1 or some other earlier chapter, but since people either don't read my author's notes or decide to ignore them regardless, I'm gonna say it again. I keep getting reviews that say, in essence, "You're retarded! Gohan's too weak and you've overpowered the Naruto people way too much! Gohan could destroy a planet without transforming and....blah blah blah, etc, etc. you get the idea." To those people who've decided to send me that type of review, I say only this.
"No shit Sherlock."
I'm well aware that Gohan could decimate the entire shinobi world with a wave of his hand. You think I didn't consider that when I sat down to write this story? There are those who've said the same as the above but have acknowledged the fact that I did what needed to be done, and to those people, I thank you for at least either seeing my side of things, or at least letting me know in a way that isn't too obnoxious. To those who absolutely hate this story, have come this far into it, and cannot wait to send me a review that says a variation of the above STOP! Right now, quit reading, and hit the link to take you back to the homepage. It takes less effort and it doesn't waste your time writing the review, nor does it waste mine by having me read it. I do read all the reviews I get, even if I don't say anything back.
I'm sorry if this was a little harsh, but my patience has finally given out and this is the result.
So I've said my piece. Please heed my wishes and just click the link back to the homepage if all you're going to do is write a review that yells at me for the whole power thing and nothing else. If you're going to criticize constructively or you're going to just tell me what you like about the fic, by all means, proceed onward. I look forward to reading your reviews.
Do not make me repeat myself again in a future A/N.
Sincerely,
~WingedFreedom622