Wah, sometimes I truly wish I had a job. Okay, I've had one until the owner decided to take new assistance and I was thrown out. Oh well, it doesn't matter, I'm quite happy as it is. But money is a luxury.

If you wonder what I mean, then I was looking at one of the Naruto headbands in the Science Fiction bookstore close to my school. (Guess how many hours I spend there.) They are the only ones who sell Manga in English (Swedish translation really gives me the creeps) and other things as well. Wah, I want one! I want one! It costs 238SEK however, that's more then half of my monthly money I get from my parents (400), to say, I buy it, I can't survive for a month. (cries)

Okay, I can't get Naruto out of my head at the moment. Falling deeper into the fanship of no return. I heard that the science fiction and fantasy bookstore (only in town) has started to sell hitaiates, and other Naruto related stuff. I'm just without money at the moment. And, I am hooked up on 9tails, which is a Swedish Naruto fansite where you can play matches against each other, and I am currently a B-rank shinobi.

See what I mean. I am horrible stuck in this.

(starts whacking her head in despair onto the keyboard, but not hard since she can't afford a new one.)

Anyway, here is the next chapter, and remind me to stop writing these ridiculous long notes every time, because I have a feeling I am writing the longest notes on

Shitza

Ps: Lately there has been many who wonder how I can stay original, how I write so good and why still this story partly can seem improvised. So, I can summon an answer up here and now. To say, how i write. Like JK Rowling would say, I read a lot, much inspiration come from reading. I also find inspiration in daily conversations, what i learn in school and from locations I visited. Take for example, the forest (which we have loads of here). Like only Friday, I was walking home during sundown, and walking home I pass a smaller forest. The rays of sunshine was shining between the trees making them seem magical, and then add someone (perhaps a girl) philosophising about life in that sunshine. I have another way of writing, that more appear here, and that is deciding a few events which will happen, with important events in between and then just sit down writing, almost, writing down the first things that appear in my head. I find it easy to write down my thoughts, sometimes though I can spend hours on writing three lines, and sometime an hour writing five pages. It's completely different.

And the reason you may find me original at some points is because i hate copying. Okay, inspiration is one thing, copying is another. Besides, I love surprising and it's more surprising if you write something you don't expect. For example, take Kabuto in the last chapter. You have seen him many times, you know there is something about him. The reason I gave him this transformation is because he says, in the anime, it's a good thing that the old blood within me didn't awaken. I asked myself, what blood? I added it to his past of being the only survival and boom. We have my version of Kabuto.

Chapter 28

The Burning Leaves,

Confronting Evil

Lee hated it really. To be left behind, to not know how his friends were progressing. To only hear second words coming. To never know anymore. Sitting on a mouldy tree stump he sighed deeply. Not even Tsunade knew all details, though he was second after her to hear the news. But even news took a while to reach back. The village had started to attack even the messengers now. Many pieces of information never made it back.

And then it came...

Lee had walked up to Tsunade to perhaps hear something new when Genma arrived, carrying the news.

"The battle is progressing. The Mini Sannin Trio has gone to push Kabuto, but we don't know much of their progress since they decided to keep the battle outside the village walls. They seem to have things under control though. And team Eight has gone to clear out the bandits. As far from what I've heard they have been successful keeping them away from us. Team Ten has picked up some unusual trails, though what they are up to we don't really know until someone reports it. And lastly, Tsunade-sama, Neji has gone to finish of that orange-head by himself."

That surely became news. "He has what?" Lee said highly. Tsunade seemed to think along the same lines.

"The orange swirl attacked Gai, and you know Neji's nowadays higher respect for his sensei as well as his protectiveness of his friends. Orange-face did some sort of Genjutsu on Gai, trapping him into something we are yet not sure of what it is. Neji and Tenten chased after him, however halfway Neji told Tenten to go back to Gai and help him instead. We don't know how the fight is progressing, it was Tenten that told me to tell you before coming here. She is worried Neji has taken water over his head this time."

Tsunade was twirling the documents she was golding to a minimal size of paper ball. "What on Earth is that Hyuuga thinking!" she said angrily tossing it to the corner, where it crumbled up in flames, clearly reflecting her anger.

Lee was as confused as her. Of course, he had Neji had gotten along much better during the last few years, but this was something he had not believed would happen. Still wearing a sort of distant gaze in his eyes he walked over to the door, looking down at the dancing leaves in the wind.

"Neji... what are your hopes really?"


"Jyuukenhou: Hakke Nihyaku Goju Rouku Shou" (Jyuukenmove: Eight Trigrams 256 Palms.)

Tobi's eyes widened as the attack hit him. 2 hits, 4 hits, 8 hits al the way to 256 hits. The pain coursed through his chakra system as the system slowly closed down. Now Tobi was scared! Who or what was this... monster?

The wannabe Akatsuki dropped to the ground, and started to squirm as Neji slowly advanced. However, before the Jounin could pick him up, Tobi chuckled slightly. Purple smoke fumed from under his coat.

Neji immediately backed away, not wanting to know that closely if the fumes were poisonous or not. His legs acted out from experience, and it was a good thing they did, because seconds later Tobi started to cough violently from within. A minute later the orange-faced man appeared outside his own fumes. His hands seemed a bit greener then before.

'Idiot' Neji thought.

Tobi did a few seals, looked straight at Neji before disappearing into thin air. The Hyuuga stopped for a moment as he couldn't help feeling really sick. His whole body was burning, he felt as if his blood had started to boil, his heart beat frantically, pumping for blood that barely made it through. The air in his lungs however came with a chill that made his bones freeze all over, and he couldn't move.

Above all, he could hear Tobi's laughter. The swirl-face was laughing his head off, not believing battles could be won this easily. He was laughing so hard, he didn't notice himself lifting the Jutsu slightly, due to lack of observation. It was all Neji needed to remove the Genjutsu, shutting down his own system completely for a split second. Tobi was taken off guard, as the Hyuuga heir advanced quickly.

"Hakke Kusho!" he said holding his hand before him. A wave, like a cannon ball, flew at the Akatsuki wannabe who had not time to dodge. It hit him square in the chest. Neji speedily sneaked below him, kicking him into the air. Using Kage Buyou he sneaked up behind Tobi, who was flying defencelessly across the plain. Giving a sigh he smirked. Putting his palm to Tobi's back he murmured a last destructive force. A move he was quite proud of himself, for having been the creator of.

"Katadzuke buyou no hanabira!" (Finishing of the dancing flower-petal.)

Neji could feel the chakra drain from his body, sneaking into his opponent, coursing through the veins. One by one, the tenketsus closed, Tobi's chakra molded together with his, to return to the earth. Tobi's eyes widened, as he tried to move away, but they were still in air and he would not be able to do anything with no more sources of chakra left. Yet the truly faithful blow came when the chakra left his vital organs, such as lungs, liver, heart etc. A shinobi, who had drawn chakra many times before, did not survive without it because once you have molded chakra it cannot stay undone. It becomes a part of you, and slowly melts together to one. Letting your body draw chakra is useful, since it strengthens the organs, making a shinobi stronger then you or me. When they say they are out of chakra, they really have used only 10 to 20 per cent, because the rest the body takes. However, extracting all that chakra 100 per cent kills you. Because once everything is gone, the heart stops beating, the blood stops flowing and you stop breathing. The Eight gate is one of the few method that does so.

And this.

Tobi died almost instantly, cursing him into the end. Neji, completely drained of power, left only with enough to keep his heart beating in his chest fell to the ground. But he was smiling. Looking up to the sky he couldn't help to think how ironic life was really. Once in his life, he would never had thought about things like this. He would have ignored it, minding his own business. And now, here he lay after a glorious victory against an opponent that really should have been too hard for him to defeat. It just proved that he was a genius, or a real idiot. Like it mattered, life was complicated as it was.

Moving his hand slightly upwards to touch his forehead which once had been significant with a symbol he could feel the tears flowing. If his father could just have seen him now? Would he have been proud? Would he have cheered him on, saying how proud he was over him? The longer it had been since he died, the less and less he could really remember. His father's last words to hi lay in a case at the mansion. His father had in his youth told him, he wanted Neji to be born as a Head Family member. Now, he was one. Now he was the heir to the great powers within the clan. But he could not help wondering. Did life want more of him? Fate always came when it was least wanted.

Little did he notice, moment later, strong arms carrying him away. Two other Jounin came to collect Tobi's corps, all three seemed astounded that a young Jounin had been able to take him down by himself.

It was how Tenten and Gai came to see him, being carried gently back, treated like a hero of the village. Tenten immediately hurried over to him, while Gai stayed quietly behind. He could not believe his eyes. Nor the evidence that lay before him. But he had always believed in his subordinates' powers. He never gave up on people he trusted.

"Neji." he said quietly as he volunteered to take the unconscious teen back to the camp. "I really wonder if you tried to prove your loyalty to me, the village and friends? I think, you wanted to prove to yourself you could trust yourself."

The Jounin smirked to himself.

"Anyway." he said gently touching the younger teen's hair. "Thank you for doing it."


The wind was gently touching their faces, long strands of hair danced before the blood red eyes as it searched yet another abandoned area for clues. Oh, how he envied those Hyuugas and their God-forsaken bloody Byakugan which surely would have made this mission a lot easier to complete. Summoning more chakra from the black creature that shared his body, his eyes changed shape to a more deadly form. He just needed to find a small trail of chakra, yet it's not easy to find the right feather on a bird. Scanning the area, more time then it was worth, he sighed and moved away. Walking slowly to the other cross on the map. It was a shopping area not far away. They were smart enough to let Kabuto and that idiot Tobi take care of the more annoying matters in the village. If they hurried, they would have finished these matters before anyone knew they were here.

"Itachi!"

Itachi stopped suddenly in his tracks. Kisame soon joined up beside him. The sanbi-claimer was holding what looked like a small tuff of something red, shining slightly into gold.

"So, it's somewhere here then." Itachi said with a secretive smile on his lips.

Kisame nodded, clutching his hand around the red thing, whatever it really belonged to. The blue Akatsuki smirked before disappearing leaving his comrade to continue the search. Itachi walked slowly down the road. On his way he passed many familiar sights. He stopped by one of them, a swing he had visited really long ago. As he stood there, the past crept up on him like a mist over his mind...

Memory

It was really long ago, he wondered if Sasuke remembered it. His brother had only been four back then, he had been as old as nine. Their parents hadn't been home that day because their father was, like always, out on a mission and their mother took care of a Genin team, training them day out and day in. His mission was to take care of his brother, and make sure he was all right. He didn't have any training, since his sensei, Zen-sensei, a thirty year old Jounin with power of marionettes, had been injured during their last mission, a B-Rank mission. Itaci was the only one who had returned without injuries, except for a shallow gash on his shoulder. His other teammates, Yin, a light-manipulator and Kisa, a animal-transforming kunoichi, were also at hospital, like it mattered to him? He didn't care about them, since he was the strongest in his team, in some ways stronger then their sensei.

Sasuke was sitting watching his brother from the swing. His feet dangling in the air, as the younger Uchiha sat humming silently to himself. Something Sasuke often did, why no one knew, was to just look at his brother without saying a word. Itachi smiled at his brother, it was those days he still wore a true smile, before hurrying behind to start pushing the swing. Back and forth, back and fourth, the young Sasuke was shouting of joy. Itachi pushed harder, yet careful to not let his brother fall.

Afterwards they had spent the afternoon looking at the sky. Itachi had laid, resting his back on a Sakura tree-trunk while Sasuke rested his head on his brother's shoulder.

End Memory

Sasuke had probably repressed that memory since long, but Itachi could never forget. No matter how much he hated Sasuke, for still living. For not giving up and understanding his own boundaries. For always chasing after him, when their roads crossed.

He still loved him, as a brother.

But at the moment he had other things more important to think about. Making sure no one saw him, he whistled a low tune. Two small shapes ran up to him, carefully keeping their distance.

"Dango! Pocky! I have something I want you to do."


Naruto didn't know what to do, if he would freak out, curse himself or simply just go out there and let fate have it's own course. He was a mouse trapped in a mousetrap, and no knowledge of where people were at the moment.

"I know you're here, demon!" the snarling voice said. Naruto froze. His hand traveled slowly down to his kunai pouch.

A sudden rustle in the leaves told him that Sasuke had entered the scene. At least, he wasn't alone.

Naruto turned away from his hiding, spinning he sent two kunai that embedded themselves into Kabuto's shoulder. The creature howled in anger, raging after him. The blond Jounin made a couple of seals, four copies of himself appeared beside him. The clawed hand went straight into his chest, but Kabuto was out of luck. The clone vanished in a puff of smoke, and when the monster started to look around, Naruto's clones had sped of in different directions, a tactic of confusing it.

It worked quite well.

Sasuke saw his chance, with the bewildered beast not able to decide in which direction to speed of to, he took out a scroll from his sleeve. The scroll was made of snake-skin, it was one of the artefacts he still had from his training with Orochimaru, and it was something he wanted to give back to Kabuto. Making a few seals, dragon, boar, bird, tiger and rabbit he drew two fingers across the closed scroll. An explosion of symbols rained down , chasing after the misshaped creature. It surrounded him entirely.

"Paemfuu no Jutsu!" (Snake seal technique. OBS: Paem is Korean, not Japanese.)

The black marks formed themselves into a gigantic snake head, biting down into the flesh. Several red symbols, the symbols for pain, spread over Kabuto's body. Smirking Sasuke completed the Jutsu, by making the seals of the snake twice, and then finishing with the seal of the sheep.

Kabuto howled in pain. While the beast was busy in pain, Naruto returned, a clone by his side. Closely followed by Sakura. It seemed as if the two of them had something planned. Naruto held out his hand, as the clone helped him to form the Odama Rasengan. The strike hit Kabuto's shoulder, sending him soaring to the ground. Sakura followed shortly, with one of her killing punches.

"We did it!" she said in relief as a flow of blood escaped the beast's mouth. However, she was wrong. Kabuto got back to his feet, not caring about his wounds. His thirst for their blood seemed to be stronger then his care for his own health. Sakura was blown back, soaring into one of the trees, her back smashing the bark, which flew into splinters.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto screamed in shock. The pink haired medic nin however got shakingly back to her feet. Pulling her forehead protector tighter around her head she smirked.

"What was that, couldn't feel it." she said teasingly, however her movement spoke differently. That blow had indeed hurt, her back was probably sore of bruises. Kabuto stormed after her, either because she was closest to him or because a part of his human side couldn't take the insults. Or both.

Sasuke and Naruto hurried after. Sasuke seemed quite miserable that his Jutsu hadn't taken more effect then it had. Kabuto was moving flawlessly, and the three shinobi chasing him were growing more and more tired.

If they did not finish soon they would be beast-dinner.

Sakura signed for the two boys to withdraw. Knowing the beast would chase after them if they did, Naruto decided to let his clones bother it while they went back to plan ahead. Calling forward a dozen clones the three shinobi escaped to a nearby meeting-spot. A big boulder placed on a small hill. No one knew who had put it there, and no one knew why. It was the hill of mysteries, the stone itself held drawing of old war strategies. Pictures of shinobi armies, where there were several units moving into different directions, strength and stamina in the middle, while there were two quick flanks that moved swiftly by the sides surrounding the enemy's escape route at the front. Escaping strategies, such as splitting into two units, switching places to escape further and further away, one step at a time.

It was time to put their heads and experiences together, three heads were better then one anyway. Putting one more clone to make sure Kabuto wasn't picking up their trail, they bent their heads together starting to discuss said matters.

The earth shook beneath them as conclusions were made. Strategies were put, and a bait was decided, though Sakura looked quite gloomy when Naruto shook awake, his last clone having been destroyed. The three of them split immediately. It was time to bury the beast, alive!


"Ino, stop!"

Three pair of feet stopped once they landed on the branch before them. Ino looked questioning at Shikamaru, who had been the one to tell her to stop. Chouji did too, the Akimichi Chuunin looked up, further ahead to see smoke coming from the western section of the village.

"Shikamaru, is that?" he asked. Shikamaru nodded. Team ten had left the actual battle in suspicion of even more foul matters, and it didn't seem that Shikamaru had been wrong to suspect someone behind this attack more then the orange-swirl and creepy guy. No, he had been more then correct to say, that Akatsuki were after something. Something that was kept in this village, and they probably needed a huge diversion like this to get the focus away from their true intentions. Needless to say, Shikamaru wasn't surprised to find a shadowy figure bent over what looked like a hole in the ground. Ino and Chouji understood immediately what their friend was planning. Ino made a few seals, pointing er fingers together she said: "Ninpou: Shinfuugin no Jutsu." (Ninja Technique: Mind Domination Technique)

The figure stopped, stood up and turned around. However, this mind was extremely hard to dominate and Ino, no matter how good she had become of this technique, couldn't keep the Jutsu for long. A minute later it broke, and the figure smirked looking at them. Expressionless dark eyes, stripes looking like gills, blue hair and blue skin. Hoshikage Kisame.

"Ino?" Chouji said bending down to make sure she was alright. Oh, sure she was, just pissed of that someone had dominated her so easily.

"Looks like we have no choice." Shikamaru concluded. "Ninpou: Kage Nui!" (Ninja Technique: Shadow Sewing Technique.)

The shadow around him extended, shooting out in thinner tails to hold down Kisame. Ino smiled warmly, happier now that one of their techniques seemed to work better. Chouji helped as well, growing his arms to hold the freak. They needed him for questioning, sadly they couldn't kill him yet. Not until Shikamaru had a few answers.

However, as the all-eating Chuunin touched him, he withdrew his hands. They had been badly wounded by the contact. Kisame smirked, showing them what had caused the damage. Thin, almost invisible needles placed all over his body and clothes. You couldn't see the difference with your eyes, but you sure felt them. A small puddle of blood appeared on the ground.

"Do you like it?" Kisame asked, his white teeth shining in the sun. Chouji didn't look near as amused as the Akatsuki member did. Shikamaru looked troubled as well. It was getting harder and harder to hold the Jutsu stable, because Kisame was fighting back, meddling with his chakra. If they did not do anything smart soon... Shikamaru eyed the huge sword with a glimpse of anxiousness. No, he did not want to end his days being sliced up.

Ino got the message. Shikamaru released the Jutsu while the nimble kunoichi threw a poisonous smoke bomb. The three of them backed immediately, regrouping. Shikamaru hurried over to whisper something in Chouji's ear. The boulder Chuunin nodded, enlarging his body third times the size of a normal man. Kisame eyed the larger form with interest, wondering how much delicious chakra he would probably get from that.

Meanwhile Ino was preparing a string of poison dipped kunai. When Kisame wasn't looking she threw them all, letting them rain down. Kisame stared lazingly at them, not moving. "I got him!" she said in a cheer.

Of course she did not know how wrong she was, and she had during the fight completely forgotten that each Akatsuki members possessed a biju of their own. Kisame smirked, seeing their shocked faces, letting the power run through his veins. Ino backed, the kunai she sent bounced of the shell of chakra.

"Damn!" she swore, hiding into the trees around. Kisame stared at his hands, an aura of chakra surrounded him, three tails. Shikamaru didn't need to calculate steps right now, he knew they would never be able to capture that thing. However, through his experiences he had learnt that if you worked together, you could accomplish miracles. Though this was rare, he couldn't see any other possibilities. Fleeing was impossible, Kisame was hungering for them, and they had nothing to bargain with. It was just a last fight that could decide this.

Ino, who was hiding among a mass of branches and Chouji, who was keeping a low profile both saw the commands coming from the Chuunin's hand signals. They clearly said: "We have no choice, let's do it!" Both looked shocked at first, before pulling of a wide smile. If they were about to die today, then they would die in such a battle, it would make Konoha as proud of them as the trio could possibly make it.


"Shugohakke Rokujuuyon Shou" (Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)

Using strings of chakra Hinata, together with the rest of team Eight, kept a wall that shielded Konoha from the attacks they guarded the village from. About twenty steps away from her, Akamaru was fending of a bunch of second grade shinobi, violently throwing one off, that had climbed upon the dog's back. Kiba was using his Taijutsu moves solo this time, like it made any difference? They had defeated the three worst gang leaders, and the rest turned out to be nobodies in fighting. Shino was letting the bugs feed on his opponents. One by one, the enemy was taken down effectively. The two boys were in deep concentration, yet Hinata couldn't keep wondering how everyone else was doing it, and she was worried for her niisan, Neji. She knew he could be a little more hotheaded these days, and knowing these bastards (though she did not describe them as bastards) would probably have said something to offend him. He took his new place among the Clan in deep value, and she knew he would become a much better Clan leader then she would ever be. Not like he agreed.

He knew her as well.

Meanwhile unknown to her, Neji was taken back to the camp, where Tsunade and Shizune hurried to meet them. His wounds were serious, and though they were not at the hospital, or could go anywhere near it, Tsunade was an expert medic and it didn't take long for her to fix a temporary hospital tent where he was in care of one of the medic units. Though he was not close to death, his condition was stable, the team kept a close eye upon him. Gai told Tsunade the story of what had happened, though he could not give her details, he could say that one of the Akatsuki had been wiped out and it was Neji's doing. Tsunade walked into the tent, took a closer look at Neji before shaking her head. She could still not believe that story, and she didn't want to wait to hear Neji's version (though he was out like a burnt leaf). It truly amazed her that someone so young had managed, what so many older then him dreamed of.

Once Neji would wake up he would receive all gratitude he could receive, and his name would be written down among the Konoha legends. Tsunade looked at Tenten, who had been quiet all this time. Smiling she wondered if not all of them would be a legend among themselves.


Two small faces looked into the blood red sky. It was starting to eve, and their father had told them, before he went out for business, to find someplace safe. Currently, they had found a safer spot, where no one saw them, under roots and earth. Their father would come back for them, and take them back to the small house they lived in. They were both five and three years old, very young and too young to take care of themselves in any way. The oldest, Uchiha Dango took her little sister Pocky by the hand.

"Don't worry. Daddy will be back soon. No one can beat our daddy."

TBC

000

(Laughs like a maniac)

Dango and Pocky are name of food, or generally sweets. I can just imagine Itachi creating their names. Hahahaha...

Anyway, it really seems school is catching up on everyone, because I had a review drop all of sudden, as well as reading drop. Oh well... this chapter is done and what is done is done and if you think I am being unfair to anyone in the story, then I hope you forgive me. By the way, I hope you remember I have mentioned this will not be M-preg, however me, like Sasuke, wants the Uchiha bloodline to continue. Well, this chapter solves a lot of those problems as well.

Oh yeah, and before i forget. In two weeks I won't be home again. (watches her readers crying.) I am going to Madeira for a week, over autumn break, everyone in the house are so sick of Swedish (gray) autumns that we decided this year to refresh ourselves. So, no updates that week (44)

Well, that's all from me. I could have written more on this fic at the moment, but I would probably have forgotten to add Dango's and Pocky's last saying.

Shitza

(She was mighty sugar high after she wrote this. Been drinking Fanta, and Fanta adding Shitza means enormous gigglishness.)