Chapter 37: The Akatsuki Moves! Second Invasion of Konoha!
Sasuke left his clan's temple, eager to find Naruto and get his death over with, but the inner turmoil was painful. Naruto had always been there, at his side, growing fast and even able to match him now. He and the blond jinchuuriki had a strange bond, a rivalry, friendship, and mutual respect, but at the same time they were near complete opposites, Sasuke was cold, dark, calculating, and brooding, while Naruto was warm, open, headstrong, and exuberant.
'Can I really kill Naruto?' Sasuke thought to himself as he walked through the crowded streets of Konoha, it had not even been a year since the invasion, but the village was back to normal. The Uchiha looked around, everyone was happy. 'Can I really do it?" Sasuke pondered once more, looking to the sky.
A knock was heard on the door.
"Enter" A brooding voice responded.
"Itachi Uchiha, reporting." Itachi said as he opened the large steel door and walked into the dark room, "I have news of Orochimaru's move, he has attempted to recruit my younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha."
"And what do you suppose we do about this?" The leader of the Akatsuki asked.
"I suppose that we take him in, teach him." Itachi responded, hoping that the leader would allow this.
"I agree to this, he will become Kisame's partner, and you will be placed with the other new member."
"I object, I wish to take him under my wing, that way his Sharingan can grow quicker."
"No, giving his history of hating you I do not think this is a good idea. I refuse."
"Nagato!" Itachi growled, a rare slip of his facade, "I will go to Konoha myself and retrieve him, and then I will train him. I'm taking a leave of absence and when I return, Sasuke will take my place as Kisame's partner."
"Once again I refuse, but you may go and retrieve Sasuke, then bring him to Kisame and explain that you will be a three man cell." Nagato responded, "Oh and Itachi, do not use my name again."
At this an orange haired ninja with an Amegakure headband with a scratch through it, and metal rods through his nose and ears, along with two purple eyes with rings in them, appeared, holding a hand out towards Itachi and shouting, "Almighty Push!", sending a wave of energy at Itachi, who wove around it and pulled a kunai to the ninja's throat.
"Get your dog off my back Nagato, or I'll destroy it." Itachi growled, his three tomoe Sharingan swirling as he activated it wordlessly.
Nagato pondered the threat for a moment before the orange haired ninja disappeared, "Very well, go and retrieve your brother, and he will decide whether or not to be trained by you or the snake."
"If the snake survives." Itachi said, walking out.
"Fool, If you kill the snake then he will be reborn, with more power than ever." A new voice came out through the shadows. A man with black spiky hair and a gi like Gohan's emerged. He had a handsome face and no noticeable flaws. He was muscular and toned, with a perfect build. He was perfect in every way. His eyes were completely black except for the many white orbs in them, each representing a different constellation. His right arm was blank, but his left arm had four tatoos on it, a blue dragon that swirled around it, a blue tiger, a blue rabbit, and a smaller blue dragon. The man radiated power.
"Zodyak, I would much appreciate it if you didn't listen in on my conversations." Nagato said.
"I apologise, I just find that man interesting, so much potential, but so little time to achieve it, I wonder if he would allow me to help him?"
"No, Itachi will do as he pleases, and when he dies he will stay dead." Nagato said, he didn't want Itachi to be ruined by this man, he respected the ninja too much.
Naruto and Gaara walked through the streets of Konoha, looking for any of Naruto's friends.
"Kiba!" Naruto yelled out, the Inuzuka looked over and saw Naruto along with Gaara.
"Naruto, what's up with the sand guy?" Kiba asked, Akamaru barking along with his owner.
"We're looking for people to be his friend." Naruto answered.
"I hope we can be great friends, Kiba." Gaara bowed, speaking slowly and sounding awkward.
"Yo, stop with the formal stuff, I'll try out being your friend, but remember Akamaru too." Kiba said.
"Of course. I hope we can be friends as well, Akamaru." Gaara looked towards the small dog, reaching a hand out. Akamaru went and smelled him, licking one finger and then moving away.
"Looks okay to him." Kiba smiled, the small dog jumping into the front of his ever-present jacket. "So, I was just about to go meet up with Hinata, Shino, Goten, Videl, and Trunks, you guys down?"
"Course we are!" Naruto shouted, grabbing Gaara's wrist.
"Actually, I must be going, I'm supposed to meet the Hokage to discuss a treaty." Gaara said.
"Why isn't the Kazekage doing it?" Naruto asked.
"He is, I am the Kazekage." Gaara answered.
"WHAT!" Naruto was flabbergasted, Gaara was his age, but already the Kazekage, leader of a whole country!
"I was elected after our last meeting." Gaara explained.
"Cool!" Naruto squealed.
"I hope to see you later, Naruto." Gaara said, walking off towards the Hokage tower.
"You too Gaara!" Naruto called. "So, where are you meeting the rest?" Naruto asked.
"Training ground 9." Kiba answered.
"I'll go with you, I've got business around there anyways." Naruto said and the two were off. They soon arrived at a forest, "I've got something to look for, so I'll find you guys after." Naruto said, nodding to Kiba as he took off.
"See you then." Kiba yelled, then took off towards his friends.
Naruto wandered through the woods, completely lost. He had no clue where he was, or what he was looking for besides the fact that it was a house. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, making a dozen clones. "Okay, each of you split into two and then go search the forest for the house, when you find it dispel so that I know where it is."
"Yes sir!" The dozen clones then became two dozen, and then there was a flurry of orange and Naruto was all alone.
"I'll go search too." Naruto thought, going up to a tree so he could get a better view, he saw the footprint of a large fox, 'Kurama?' He asked the demon.
"I remember this, the night that Madara used me to attack the village thirteen years ago." Kurama said.
"So Madara attacked the village?" Naruto asked.
"You're changing the subject, I do not want to talk about that." Kurama said, "Follow the footprints backwards, that should lead you to the house."
"Thanks Kurama." Naruto said, following the large footprints, he came upon a gigantic house, large floor to ceiling windows adorned the front of the house and there was an Uzumaki swirl above the door. There was a mailbox that said Namikaze though. Naruto was amazed by this, and forgot to dispel his clones. He walked up to the house, it looked perfect, a blend of modern and traditional, there was no dust in sight either. Must have been a seal in place that kept the place clean.
"This place, it's amazing." Naruto smiled, walking up to the property and taking the key out of his pocket, causing an invisible blue barrier to make itself known, only to collapse and allow the blond entrance. He walked up to the door and it swung open, as if welcoming him. "If only I could live here." He said, it wasn't like he couldn't, but he didn't want to stay away from the village too often, not until he made Jounin anyways.
Naruto walked past the main area, ignoring it and going into a long hallway. He walked towards a large room, opening the door to reveal the master bedroom, a large window above the head of the bed, the bed itself was a large king-sized bed with orange bed sheets, a yellow pillow, a red pillow, and a large orange comforter. "This must've been mom and dad's room." Naruto commented, then looked around, the room was filled with shelves upon shelves full of scrolls. Separated into category. D-Rank Ninjutsu on one, and then the next was C-Ranks, followed by B-Ranks, then A-Ranks. There was a fifth shelf that was not even close to full labeled S-Ranks. Naruto noticed that there was five colors of scroll as well, red -Katon- blue -Suiton- green -Fuuton- yellow -Raiton- and brown -Doton- then there was three shelves labeled Fuinjutsu. The Fuinjutsu scrolls were labeled under three categories, Beginner, Adept, and Master. Then there was one shelf that was not very full dedicated to Genjutsu. There was also another five shelves dedicated to Taijutsu, no labels though. Finally there was a whole wall, around fifteen shelves in total, each shelf was labeled as History of The World. Naruto also noticed that there was a desk in the last clear spot on the walls, and the desk had three scrolls on it, each was completely black. 'What are those?' Naruto thought to himself as he walked towards the desk, taking the closest black scroll and unraveling it, revealing a scroll of the likes Naruto had never seen before, the scroll was just a large seal, no writing or anything like that.
"Kit, leave that scroll alone!" Kurama growled, he recognised that seal, it was an ancient and powerful seal, one that allowed the user to traverse time. How had Minato made that seal, it's secrets were lost to time.
"Why, I wanna know what it does." Naruto objected.
"NO! It is uncontrollable!" Kurama growled. "That scroll allows for time travel, which is most likely how your father knew that he would die the night you were born. But the issue is that it is nearly uncontrollable, I do not wish for you to use this scroll, or any black scrolls your father has around here until you are stronger."
"Fine, no black scrolls." Naruto sighed, winding up the scroll and putting it back. "Maybe a jutsu or two then." Naruto went to the A-Rank section and grabbed two green scrolls. Then walked out of the room, "Not in here though." He smiled as he closed the door behind him.
He walked down the hall a little more and saw another room, opening the door he saw that the walls were painted orange, and there was a large crib that had been painted orange as well. The entire room was littered with toys, most were toy toads and that made Naruto smile a little as he knew that Jiraiya and his father had held the toad contract before he was born, and had most likely planned to give Naruto possession of the contract anyways. He closed the door and continued down, walking into a large bathroom. Unlike the rest of the house, this room had no windows, and wasn't painted. Instead it was a pristine white room. The bathtub was large enough for an Akimichi to have extra room, and the shower was separate. The sink was beautifully cleaned and there were two toothbrushes in a cup on the counter, along with a garbage can that was striped orange, red, and yellow.
Naruto walked out of the room, and exited the house, once again ignoring the main room. He didn't want to see that right now, he wanted to try learning a new A-Ranked jutsu. He opened the first scroll, the jutsu was called Wind Clone Jutsu. Naruto instantly began to practice it.
After half an hour, he could make one proper clone. "Wind Clone Jutsu!" He shouted, making one clone of himself, he threw a kunai at it and exploded into a miniature tornado. Just as Naruto was about to try and create two clones at once, a mixture of memories smashed into him.
Naruto's clone ran through the woods, looking for the house, looking to the side the clone saw a large snake, which lunged and bit at him.
The memory was repeated another twenty-three times, except the snake was different each time, and so was the location. Naruto instantly ran out of the confines of the house and towards where Kiba had told him they were meeting up, hoping to reach them before any snakes did.
"Kabuto, are the ssssnakes in possssition?" Orochimaru asked his white-haired assistant.
"Yes sir, and so are the Oto-nin. We await your orders to attack Konoha." Kabuto replied, fixing his glasses.
"Very well, attack." Orochimaru was giddy at the prospect of having Sasuke Uchiha as his next host body.
Naruto met up with Kiba's group relatively easily with his superior sense of smell. He saw them in a circle, surrounded by Oto-nin.
"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, flying from a tree and smashing the ball of chakra into one of the Oto-nin, causing surprise in his enemies and glee in his allies.
"Katon: Dual Fire Dragons!" Goten and Videl shouted, each making a large dragon of fire that merged together into a swirl of flames and flying towards a large Oto-nin, charring the man.
"Eight Trigrams: Thirty-Two Palms!" Hinata yelled, flying at another Oto-nin, "Two palms!" a dual thrust into the woman's chest, "Four palms!" Another one, "Eight Palms!" Four more, "Sixteen palms!" Eight more, "Thirty-two palms!" Another sixteen and the female Oto-nin flew towards a tree, smashing into it.
"Fang-Over-Fang!" Kiba yelled, him and Akamaru swirling together into a large twister and smashing into an Oto-nin, knocking the man unconscious.
"Insect Sphere." Shino said, one hand held above his head, a large ball of beetles whirling around, he threw his hand towards an Oto-nin, who was instantly covered in the bugs and left near death.
"Raiton: Electric Burst!" Trunks shouted, running behind a female Oto-nin and smashing her with electricity before delivering a powerful knee to her face, knocking her out.
The Konoha-nin regrouped in the middle, still outnumbered 3:1 "Time to even the odds!" Naruto shouted, "Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He made twenty shadow clones, one for each unmarked Oto-nin. "Engage!" He screamed, causing every Konoha-nin to attack their enemy, leaving them unconscious. "We should get out of here." Naruto said, leading the group out of the forest while ordering his clones to search for any snakes in the area and kill them.
Itachi entered the Hokage's office, shocked to see Tsunade standing in front of the passage that he used.
"Itachi Uchiha, the greatest traitor to Konoha since Orochimaru himself, I should kill you where you stand." Tsunade growled, three ANBU appearing from thin air next to her.
"Lady-Tsunade, I do not mean to intrude, but I must ask for an audience with Hokage-Sama." Itachi bowed politely.
"I am the Hokage." She growled, stepping forwards.
If Itachi was shocked by that, he did not show it, "I did not hear of Lord-Sarutobi's passing, my condolences. But if you are the Hokage then you know of my work correct?" He asked.
"I do not, but I would love to hear of it." Tsunade said.
"And I will tell you, once the ANBU leave." Itachi said, staring Tsunade down.
"And if they don't leave?" Tsunade retorted.
"Then I will use a Genjutsu and force them to." Itachi responded, moving his hand, causing each ANBU member to look at the ring on his finger, and then fall asleep, "Like that." He said.
"Fine." Tsunade picked them up and dropped them out the door, "Now let's hear it."
"Make the other ANBU leave." Itachi pointed towards a corner of the ceiling where no one was visible.
"You heard the man." Tsunade said, causing a dark shadow to quickly leave the room.
"Very well, as you should know, the Uchiha massacre was a mission that was given to me by Danzo, and approved by Lord-Sarutobi." Itachi began, "Once I completed it, I was ordered to join the Akatsuki and report to the Hokage what their plans are." Itachi said, "And that is what I am here to do."
"And just what are their plans?" Tsunade asked.
"Akatsuki's plans are simple, we wish to recruit Sasuke Uchiha and train him, I then plan to have him kill me and merge our Sharingan together, then have him rejoin Konoha." Itachi said, "But first I must kill Orochimaru, who is planning to invade the village and take my brother for himself."
"Orochimaru already tried that!" Tsunade yelled, not believing Itachi.
"Watch." He said, then he disappeared as Shizune burst into the room.
"Lady-Tsunade, we're under attack by Oto-nin!" The black haired woman shouted, "And Orochimaru is leading them!"
"Gather the Shinobi!" Tsunade yelled, "Order the Genin to bring and civilians to the shelters, sound the alarm bells!"
"Right away!" Shizune ran out, and Itachi reappeared.
"I will go and intercept Orochimaru, and deal with him myself." Itachi said, "I bid you farewell Lady-Tsunade." Itachi said, disappearing in a flurry of crows.
"Dammit." Tsunade cursed, walking out of her office towards the war room.
Naruto flew into the war room along with the other Chunin and Jounin, while the Genin helped the citizens into the bunkers. He spotted Sasuke near the exit furthest away from him. The blond knew he couldn't move around with such a large crowd, so he just stayed focussed on his raven-haired friend.
Tsunade and Shikaku Nara -The main war strategist- were giving out roles to everyone.
"Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Shikamaru Nara, you three will be on the move, ensuring that any civilians left are brought to the shelters immediately, understood?" Shikaku asked.
"Understood." Was the unanimous answer.
"Move out!" The Nara head ordered.
Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sasuke immediately flew out of the building, with the raven-haired shinobi taking off in the opposite direction.
"SASUKE!" Naruto shouted, "COME BACK!" He ran after his best friend.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered, following Naruto.
Naruto followed Sasuke towards the edge of the village, where a large force of Konoha shinobi were engaging an even larger force of Oto-nin. There were jutsu flying around everywhere, along with shuriken and kunai. There were bodies littering the area that the ninja were battling in.
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, finally catching up to the raven-haired shinobi, "Stop, we have to go rescue civilians!" He grabbed the boy's shoulder.
Sasuke shrugged him off, turning away, "Leave, I no longer wish to associate with you." Sasuke said.
"Sasuke, stop let's go!" Naruto ignored his friend.
"You idiot!" Sasuke shouted, knocking Naruto to the ground, "What don't you understand?" He screamed, turning so that Naruto could see the tears forming in his eyes.
"What's wrong Sasuke?" Naruto stood up, looking directly into his friend's eyes.
"I need to kill you." The Uchiha said, his Sharingan swirling as they activated. He swung his left hand forwards, a kunai that Naruto hadn't seen poised in Sasuke's hand ready to slit the blond's neck.
"Naruto move!" Shikamaru shouted, throwing a shuriken in between the two, breaking Naruto from his trance and allowing the blond to roll out of the way.
"Sasuke, why?" Naruto asked.
"So I can kill Itachi!" Sasuke roared, his curse seal causing black markings to form on his porcelain white skin. Sasuke flew towards Naruto, ready to attack.
"Shikamaru, I'll take care of Sasuke, go help any civilians you can." Naruto said, looking at his friend.
"I'll leave it to you then." Shikamaru said, jumping away from the two as Naruto drew his katana and engaged Sasuke.
"Sasuke, you need to stop!" Naruto shouted, trying to be on the defensive as Sasuke attacked relentlessly, now having a kunai in either hand, each coated in lightning-chakra so that they delivered a small shock each time Naruto blocked with his sword.
"I can't!" Sasuke shouted, tears threatening to fall from his eyes and he stabbed a kunai into Naruto's shoulder, then jumped up and flying-kicked it further in.
'Kurama, lend me your strength, I can't beat him alone!' Naruto asked the demon fox, then immediately felt a huge burst of power as a crimson chakra-cloak appeared around him, "STOP!" Naruto roared, so much emotion that he actually made a wave of chakra fly from his mouth.
Sasuke and Naruto now stood about fifteen feet apart, staring each other in the eye.
Itachi appeared in front of Orochimaru, who was at the back of his army. Beside him was his white haired apprentice Kabuto. The two were riding on a large snake, Manda, the king of snake summons,
"Orochimaru, I'll give you one chance to turn around and leave." Itachi said to the pale man.
"Lord-Orochimaru, I believe that he is threatening you." Kabuto said, pushing up his glasses and glaring at Itachi.
"I believe you are right Kabuto, however Ssassuke iss too important to my plansss for the future, I cannot afford to leave now." The snake-sannin said, then turned to Itachi, "Why not help me destroy Konoha Itachi?"
"Because, I dislike violence, and you cause too much of it." Itachi replied emotionlessly, "But if you do not leave in ten seconds, I will be forced to kill you."
"Try me!" Orochimaru flew towards Itachi, his left arm extending towards Itachi's neck. The raven-haired Akatsuki member merely moved to the side, allowing the arm to fly past him.
"Katon: Grand Fireball!" Itachi said, shooting a large fireball from his mouth towards the snake-sannin, who contorted his body to evade it, but Itachi had foreseen this and rushed at him, delivering a powerful kick to the man's side. "Suiton: Aquatic Storm!" Itachi threw his hands to the ground, causing a large tide of water to fly towards Orochimaru, "This is the end, Raiton: Electric Current!" Itachi said, forming lightning over one hand and plunging it into the tide.
The electrified water flew towards Orochimaru, who merely laughed, "Itachi, you aren't going to beat me that easily, Doton: Mud Wall!" The sannin said, then blew mud from his mouth, making a wall, he ensured that the wall curved around him so that no water could touch him, "Kabuto, go!" Orochimaru yelled, jumping upwards and throwing one arm forwards, "Striking Shadow Snakes!" Orochimaru shouted, sending snakes flying from his arms towards Itachi.
"Katon: Fire Dragon!" Itachi spewed a large dragon made of flames towards Orochimaru, the large serpent burnt the snakes and flew at Orochimaru.
"Suiton: Water Dragon!" The two serpents smashed into each other, making a large smoke cloud. Orochimaru then performed a few hand seals, "Enton: Smoke Serpent!" The snake sannin yelled, causing the smoke to churn and turn into a large snake, "ATTACK!" The sannin screeched, the large serpent flew at Itachi.
The Uchiha merely grinned, "Thanks, that will be a useful jutsu to add to my arsenal." He said, moving away from the serpent, "Fuuton: Whirlwind!" Itachi clapped his hands together, creating a powerful whirlwind that shredded the serpent into nothingness, "Ready to go for real now?" Itachi asked, throwing off his Akatsuki cloak.
Sorry it took so long to update. Turns out I actually have feelings and apparently having them sucks. Chapters should be more regular again soon. Don't forget to check out the poll on my profile for any ideas on who Gohan should recruit for his team.