Chapter 55: Saints and Sinners

Hello World! Sorry for the late update, it's just with Spring Break I've been very occupied partying. I do hope that you all have been having an awesome Spring Break, I had a little block on how to approach this chapter, but I pulled through with some help from a friend. Anyways hope you guys and gals like this chapter.


* End of Chapter 54 *

He shifted a little bit telling her, "I've been… alive a very… long time. I fought the First Hokage… of Konoha what seems like… a century ago… You really want to know about your past?" Fu nodded her head. Kakuzu kept his eyes on her, "Fine… Twenty Years ago is when I… felt alive for the very… first time… Twenty years ago was when… I saw her… Twenty years ago… when I fell in love for the first time…"


* Twenty Years Ago: Takigakure *

Kakuzu was running quickly through the a forest and jumping over a waterfall to escape his pursuers. He happily accepted an assassination mission from a business man in the Land of Waterfalls to kill a member of the council, he successfully completed his mission, but he didn't expect to fight the five elders and the village chief all in one battle. Though he went in with a somewhat large group, they still didn't last long in the battle. Kakuzu was able to kill the man and made a hasty retreat in the process, but ANBU ninjas and a few hunter-nins were hot on his trail. He was maneuvering greatly and despite missing a left arm he didn't stop once.

He started running along a stream of water and decided that he needed to face them head on other wise they would catch up with him and with his current injuries, a missing left arm, and his chakra was dangerously low it was only a matter of time before he was overwhelmed by them. Kakuzu remembered from long ago where he used to train in secrecy and he made his retreat there. He landed into an open rocky area where there was no water for a few miles and he was going to use this to his advantage. He waited patiently for his pursuers to follow and sure enough four ANBU ninjas and two Hunter-nins jumped from the tree line in front of him. The leader of the group took a step foreword shouting, "Kakuzu! For the crimes of stealing Takigakure's jutsus and the forbidden jutsu, killing the village elders, assassinating a council member, and the deaths of numerous Taki nins! You can either come peacefully or die here!"

Kakuzu began to laugh under his mask shouting back, "Whelps like you cannot even hold your against me let alone kill me. Maybe in a hundred years you can say that." The six Taki ninjas pulled out jugs of water and the water took a sword form and each of the ninjas had swords made out of water but were solid. Kakuzu anticipated this and knew for a fact that they would engage him in a hand to hand battle since using jutsu was out for them. Two ninjas started off rushing at Kakuzu, but Kakuzu's shirt ripped open and his two of his masks appeared on his chest opening their mouths they shot out a fire and wind combo attack at all the ninjas killing the two who charged at him blindly.

The other four got away and they began their assault. Kakuzu saw two men running toward him and his masks opened their mouths to attack again, but this time the combo attack was less than what he expected. The fire/wind combo shot out not as big as the last one since he was low on chakra. The two ANBU jumped over the attack and saw the masks in Kakuzu's chest go into his body.

Kakuzu made use of what he could and pulled out a kunai to fight with his one arm. The two Hunter-nin joined the fight against Kakuzu. The fight lasted awhile and it was down to just Kakuzu and one of the Hunter-nins, he sustained a few more wounds from the ANBU and Hunter-nins, but still he fought on. He dashed at the Hunter-nin and grabbed him on his face and held him off of the ground, the Hunter-nin stabbed his sword down and hit Kakuzu right in his leg. Kakuzu ignored the pain and slammed the ninja's head into the ground and a mask appeared out of the stitches in Kakuzu's right ribs it opened it's mouth and a spike made of dirt shot out of it's mouth impaling the man in his chest killing him.

Kakuzu stood up and his mask went back into his body, taking two steps away his vision blurred for a moment and he thought, 'They coated the water with a poison. Shit I'll lose my hearts in a day at this rate.' He began running quickly despite he was speeding up the process, he made it to an open area and his legs gave way and he collapsed on the ground. One of his masks broke off from Kakuzu's body and fell down dying. He continued to crawl away despite losing a heart, the poison affected his motor skills and he finally collapsed on the ground. He rolled on his back and looked up at the sky saying, "I couldn't destroy the village… Now I die here…"

His vision faded slowly, but before his vision failed him completely he saw a blur stand over him and a voice that could belong to an angel speak, "Don't worry I'll take care of you."

Kakuzu stirred in his sleep and he woke up, sitting up quickly he looked around and noticed that he was in nice looking room, sleeping on a expensive looking bed and he looked at his wounds to see that they were all bandaged up. Even his missing arm had been wrapped up. Though his chakra was still low he forced himself to stand up and he reached for his ninja pouch and saw that not only was it gone, but his clothes were too and instead he was wearing brown kimono pants, but no top. He walked to the door and slid the door open and to his amazement he saw a beautiful garden, he walked into the garden and looked around for any sign of life. He finally found someone sitting next to a koi pond.

He moved slowly to the person and he saw said person stand up to turn and look at him. He saw that it was a young woman wearing a pink expensive kimono with a long white kimono going over that, she had long brown hair, brown eyes, fair skin and he couldn't take his eyes off of her. She smiled at Kakuzu and asked, "You awake good. I was afraid that you wouldn't make it, that poison in your body was a bother to get rid of."

Kakuzu regained his senses and asked, "Who are you and where am I?" The woman giggled, something he found attractive. She walked a little bit closer and said, "My name is Ayaka Kusabana and this place is a sacred area. It was created a very long time ago after Takigakure's founding, I found you while I was gathering herbs for medicine" She asked him next, "Tell me why do you have stitches on your body and especially on your face?"

Kakuzu reached up to his face and felt his skin and not his mask, "Where's my mask?" Ayaka walked up to him and grabbed his hand that was covering his face, "You shouldn't hide behind a mask and if you don't want to tell me about the stitches then you don't have to, but I would like to know your name." Kakuzu took his hand off of his face and asked her, "My name is Kakuzu... Do Taki nins or anyone from the council come here?"

She shook her head saying, "No only the elders or on a rare occasion someone on the council… No one but them and they only come here once a month." Kakuzu was a bit confused asking, "Why would the council members come here? Who are you to them?" Ayaka had a few tears roll down her face and Kakuzu acted on impulse by moving his hand up and wiping away her tears something that he wouldn't do. Ayaka smiled saying, "Thank you. I am a guardian. They needed someone to watch over a gift we received a long time ago and they needed people with high chakra reserves and specialize in sealing. I'm not that great at sealing rituals, but they said it didn't matter."

He looked around and asked, "What is it you are meant to keep here?" Ayaka didn't mind telling him, "A demon… Rather that's what they call it." Kakuzu was immediately surprised and asked, "By any chance was this gift given from Konohagakure?" She looked at little amazed and smiled, "Yeah it was. How did you know?"

Kakuzu shook his head and said, "Never mind…" Ayaka grabbed his hand and said, "Well let's go find something to eat, I'm sure your starving." She started to head for the kitchen while holding his hand. Kakuzu let himself follow Ayaka into the kitchen, he couldn't understand how she trusted him. She didn't know if he was a murderer, a thief, a rapist, or an enemy of Taki, but she didn't ask anything aside from his name and about his stitches. She was smiling practically the whole time, up until when he asked about the elders.

* Normal Time *

Kakuzu was still laying on the ground telling Fu, "From that moment on… I knew that the creature in the sanctuary was a biju… and I knew if I got ahold of it's power, then no one… would stand in my way. I would wipe out Takigakure and then… Konohagakure, but I didn't take the power." Fu was kneeling down next to him listening intently, "I didn't take the power, because… during my stay at the sanctuary to recover from my wounds she was the only one who treated me like a… human and not some kind of monster. Even before… I took the Earth Grudge Fear… I was treated like a monster, I had no one and as I grew up I needed… no one. Ayaka was different though. I feel in love with her... twenty years ago, but didn't tell her until two years after."

Fu asked him, "What else?" Kakuzu looked at her and continued, "I never left the sanctuary even after my wounds healed, she was alone like me and something inside me told me not to leave her in the dark. So I stayed and became her bodyguard…. and eventual lover."

* Eighteen Years Ago: Sanctuary *

Kakuzu was wearing a brown kimono with the right sleeve of his kimono was gone, but the left side was still there and he wasn't wearing his mask. He avoided being seen by the elders and the village chief by hiding in the sanctuary's underground vault where the Nanabi was being kept. The elders would come by to bring Ayaka food and fresh water that would last her for the month. They never checked the vault on any occasion and said they didn't need to.

Once the elders would leave Kakuzu would come out and continue his training in the garden. He had told Ayaka about who he was and what he did, but she didn't seem to mind it at all, she was more upset with that the village didn't see him as the hero he was, instead he was branded an outcast and imprisoned for his failure to assassinate Hashirama Senju, he found her more beautiful when she was mad. Kakuzu was able to train peacefully without the worry of being seen here since it was considered a holy place and no Taki-nins were allowed here.

Kakuzu was training and Ayaka was watching him blushing every time he made eye contact with her. The two didn't realize until it was too late that they had a visitor, "Hello Ayaka-chan."

Kakuzu immediately spun around and bolted toward the foreign voice and saw a woman at least in her early forties. The woman was wearing a kimono like Ayaka and there was some resemblance between them. He was ready to punch out with as much power in his fist, but the woman ran through a few handsigns shouting, "Water Style: Sword of Water! Water style: Water Prism!"

Two jets of water shot over to the woman and she reached her hand out letting the water harden making a sword while the second jet shot underneath Kakuzu in a triangular formation and then surrounded him making a prison trapping him. Kakuzu retaliated by allowing one of his masks to break through his shoulder. The Eagle mask popped out and opened it's mouth shooting a wind attack that destroyed the water prison, he leapt out and made a single handsign allowing his skin to harden using his Earth Spear jutsu. The woman was prepared and waited for him to get closer, but a wall of water shot up separating the two. Both Kakuzu and the mysterious woman looked over and saw Ayaka holding her hand out saying, "Kakuzu it's alright. This is my mother Nanao Kusabana, mother this is Kakuzu."

Nanao held her hand holding the sword out and let it revert back to water, "So your the infamous Kakuzu of Takigakure." Kakuzu merely nodded. Nanao walked over to her daughter and asked, "What exactly is he doing here?" Ayaka rubbed the back of her head telling her, "Well I didn't like being alone here anymore and I asked him to be my bodyguard, he didn't object and he's been staying in one of the extra rooms." Nanao looked at Kakuzu and asked him, "What are your intentions toward my daughter?"

Ayaka blushed saying, "Mother me and Kakuzu are just-"

"I love her."

Ayaka paused and looked at Kakuzu who's eyes were looking dead at her, "Call me ignorant or a fool, but I fell in love with you a long time ago Ayaka, I just couldn't bring myself to admit it. At first I thought I liked you as the first friend I've had, but time went on and I wanted to do everything in my power to protect you." Kakuzu walked over to Ayaka and lifted her chin to look at him, "Your the only one to treat me like a human and not as a monster, you see me as a hero where others saw me as a useless tool. Whether or not you return these feelings to me doesn't bother me, I will protect you until my death. I promise." Ayaka was awestruck that he actually confessed his feelings for her. Her heart was fluttering was an understatement, she gulped somewhat loudly and said in a stuttering voice, "D-D-D-D-Do y-y-you r-r-r-really f-feel t-th-that w-way?"

To answer her question he leaned foreword and kissed her right on her lips lightly telling her, "Yes." Ayaka's whole face was a bright red color and she brought her hands up to her cheeks feeling the warmth coming off of her face. Nanao watched the whole interaction breaking in, "Kakuzu, the love you have for my daughter cannot be properly returned." Both Ayaka and Kakuzu looked at the woman, "What I mean is that Ayaka is destined to seal the Nanabi no Kabutomushi into Takigakure's next jailor." Kakuzu looked from Nanao to Ayaka who was looking down in despair. Nanao walked over to Ayaka and hugged, "Kakuzu, she knows why she is here. In three years the Nanabi will be sealed inside a baby of the villages choice, when I stayed here I had to do the same, but the jailor they chose was useless. He ended up dying of a disease and we extracted the beast and locked it away here."

Ayaka broke away from her mother and ran over to Kakuzu and buried her face in his chest sobbing a little. Kakuzu asked, "I see now, they are going to wait for a strong ninja family to produce an heir and have her seal it inside the baby." Nanao nodded and said with no emotion, "Yes, what they want her to do goes against who Ayaka is. The new sealing method they have drawn up could result in the infants death, Ayaka protested the use of this new method, but they didn't listen. The older sealing method had the risk of weakening and the beast could be let loose."

Kakuzu patted Ayaka on the top of her head asking, "Why couldn't she return my feelings properly?" Nanao looked at her daughter, but couldn't see her eyes since her face was still buried in Kakuzu's chest, "Ayaka tell him." Kakuzu looked down at Ayaka waiting for her to tell him why. She slowly looked up and told him, "Since this new sealing method uses precision and a number of seals to back up the other, it requires the life of the one performing the ritual."

Before Kakuzu could ask Nanao said, "The reason I survived the last sealing ritual was because we used an inferior sealing method and it wasn't as precise, but after all these years they have perfected the method and even then it is still a risky procedure." Kakuzu wrapped his arms around Ayaka and asked her, "Why don't you run away?" Ayaka shook her head and Nanao said, "Because this is how Ayaka is. Everyone has their pride and promise, Ayaka is no different. When she accepted the job as a priestess she took an oath to do what needs to be done and Ayaka isn't the type of person to go back on her word."

Before long Nanao finally noticed the sun setting and she told the two, "Kakuzu… Both you and myself should not be here, both of us have a price on our heads that Takigakure will try and collect. I will take my leave and see you both tomorrow, but I suggest you think long and hard about what you will do Kakuzu." Nanao suddenly vanished in a blur leaving the area. Kakuzu watched the woman leave and he tells Ayaka, "Come on let's get you inside before you catch a cold."

Ayaka nodded and then looked up to Kakuzu saying, "Can you stay with me tonight?" Kakuzu just stared at her as she continued, "I don't want to be alone tonight." He takes her hand and starts to walk leading her back to her room, "Of course I will Ayaka."

* Normal Time *

Itachi and the others were listening in on the story, but he had to ask, "Everything sounds like it's going good, but what happened later?" Kakuzu took a deep breath, "That night… we shared more than just the room… The rest of the years followed and I would still hide away from the elders and the council and since your grandmother Nanao… was considered a wanted criminal of Taki… she hid away visiting Ayaka when she could…"

Fu had a few tears in her eyes asking him, "What happened to her then? What happened to mom and you?" Kakuzu saw her tears and told her, "When Ayaka turned twenty-three we found out she was pregnant… with you Fu." Getting a little bit of his breath back he was able to speak better, "The look on her face when she found out she was pregnant filled me with pride. She was so happy that she asked me what I wanted to name you, I told her Fu as a girl and Kaito for a boy. Life was going good and Nanao would vista more often and I used a specialized puppet I sewn together to look exactly like Ayaka to fool the elders until I could properly think of a way to get us both out of there, but that was until it happened…"

Everyone listening tensed up listening to the next part. Kakuzu closed his eyes saying, "During the final month of Ayaka's pregnancy I left for a moment to get the midwife from a nearby town, but I never got there because I stopped halfway there and I looked in the direction of the sanctuary for a moment… I ran back when I saw black smoke coming from the direction of the sanctuary."

* Fifteen Years Ago: Sanctuary *

Kakuzu was now running back to the sanctuary after he could clearly see smoke rising from where the sanctuary was. He was using all his chakra to get to where Ayaka was, along the way he could see Nanao running in the same direction, "Nanao!"

Nanao looked behind her and saw Kakuzu running next to her now, "Kakuzu why are you here?" Kakuzu shouted, "I was getting the midwife, but stopped halfway when I saw the smoke!" Nanao asked him, "Did you feel the surge of power?"

Kakuzu asked, "What do you mean!?" Nanao told him, "They probably unlocked the vault holding the Nanabi, no doubt the beast unleashed some of it's chakra as a threat." Kakuzu was no longer in a mood to talk, but he continued running faster and faster than he ever had before. When he finally reached the burning sanctuary and he dashed for the home despite it up in a blaze. He ran to Ayaka's room knocking the whole door down shouting, "AYAKA! WHERE ARE YOU!?!?" He quickly left the room and kept searching every room in the house. When he found no trace of her inside he ran outside and saw Nanao using her water jutsus to put out the fires.

He ripped off his brown kimono and unleashed all four of his masks shouting, "FIND AYAKA NOW!!!" The masks all leapt into the air and went separate directions to look for Ayaka. Kakuzu ran over to Nanao telling her, "She's not in the house." Nanao looked around, "What about the vault?"

Kakuzu immediately ran through a few handsigns shouting, "Water Style: WATER FANG BULLET!!!" Kakuzu used the entire pond water and shot a spike of water at the ground ripping it up letting it dig underground. Once the giant hole was made he jumped down and looked at the vault and saw that the metal door holding the artifact with the beast sealed inside was ripped open. He frantically looked around and saw a a few burnt bodies laying around the ground, but what caught his attention was a piece of a white kimono, immediately realizing that it was a piece of Ayaka's kimono. Nanao leapt in after him and she ran over to him looking at what he was holding.

Nanao felt tears well up in her eyes, but they both left the cave like area before the roof collapses on them. After awhile the fires died out and both Kakuzu and Nanao were standing in what used to be the garden looking at the destruction caused by the Nanabi, Kakuzu's masks returned and merged back with him. Nanao was holding the white cloth in her hand asking Kakuzu, "What will you do now. If she was down there when the Nanabi unleashed it's power, then it's highly unlikely that she survived." Kakuzu clenched his fists till blood dripped out from his fingernails digging into the palm of his hand, "I'm going to destroy Takigakure for this." He turned around and started to walk off, but Nanao stopped him.

"Kakuzu destroying an entire village would solve nothing. There are families in that village that had nothing to do with the elders wanting to unleash the Nanabi, if you destroy the village and they live then they will come under attack sooner or later by one of the smaller villages. Something Ayaka wouldn't have wanted." she stepped in front of him to see his face and was amazed to see tears strolling down his face, but his expression didn't change, "Kakuzu I don't know how you feel in your position, but I understand the pain of loss." Tears were going down the woman's face, "Ayaka wouldn't want you to sacrifice yourself for her sake."

Kakuzu didn't bother wiping away his tears as he said, "Then I'll continue on her work, if the Nanabi isn't here then it means the Takigakure has it. I'll find a way to hide the beast away so no one can use it, I'll make sure that when I find out who the demon is sealed in to save them from the fate of death." Nanao placed a hand on his shoulder saying, "We need to go before Taki-nins come through here and try and capture us. I know a place in Kumo that we can use to recover."

Kakuzu looks at his missing left arm and says, "First things first. I need a new arm. I promised Ayaka that I wouldn't use my abilities to take from someone else anymore, but now I need to if I am to finish her work." Nanao understood and the two blurred out of the area so they wouldn't be seen by the ninjas who were on their way.

* Normal Time *

Fu was completely in tears now and Shino was trying to comfort her. Hinata was being comforted by Ten-Ten, Gai and Itachi were the only ones with emotionless expressions. Kakuzu said, "I thought she died when the Nanabi was let out of it's cage, but when I was told that the Nanabi was sealed inside a girl named Fu Kusabana, I knew it was no coincidence. The only ones who could know what happened that day would be the council, the elders, the Nanabi…" Kakuzu paused for a moment then he glanced over to where the sounds of battle were, "And Tobi…"

Itachi asked, "What?" Kakuzu explained, "Tobi used his Mangekyou Sharingan on the village chief, he could've dug into the man's memories and seen what happened." Fu asked, "You mean your partner might know about what happened to mom?" Kakuzu nodded and said, "Yes, but Tobi will not give up without a fight even when he's outnumbered. Though he acts like a child he is still a ninja and will kill himself before he is captured."

Kakuzu then began to cough viciously and blood shot out of his mouth with each one. Fu immediately dispelled her Straight Jacket jutsu, the wooden restraints around Kakuzu cracked to pieces and Kakuzu was released from his wooden binds, "Funny Fu that I was no match against Wood techniques." Fu sat him up a little bit and hugged him asking, " I was like you and mom, up until I met Shino-kun, Hinata-chan, Naruto-nii, and Itachi-sensei. You were alone after mom disappeared, but I won't let you be alone again dad." Kakuzu was able to say, "Thank you my daughter, but this is as far as I go." Fu hugged him tighter not wanting to let him go yet, "You can't go yet dad, I still want to know more about you and mom. Don't leave me."

Kakuzu lifted his hand and patted her back saying, "I won't, the heart I gave you was mine… When I saw you in Oto I began sending life force chakra from my other hearts into that one, so right now my heart is that of a fifteen year old. You will live a long normal lifespan. Oh before I forget, your grandmother is in the Land of Lighting hiding out in brothel called 'Flower Maidens', ask for Nanao and they will take you to her." Fu broke apart from him for a moment and brought her hand over her new heart, Fu then said, "Thank you father and I'll go see her as soon as I can." Kakuzu words started to become faint, "Fu… I'll tell… your mother… you said… Hi… I'll see you… hopefully not… soon… I love you… Fu……." Kakuzu's eyes closed, but he forced out one last smile and his breathing came to a halt. Fu laid him down and then collapsed on his chest crying. Shino could only hug her to try and comfort her the best he could.

Itachi and Gai looked at each other and nodded in approval. Itachi grabbed the med pack that was laying next to Hinata and he took a soldier pill and ate it, Gai however told everyone, "Stay put, we still need to capture an Akatsuki ninja." Gamatatsu told the two, "I can take you both there. I can sense my brother's chakra easily." Both the jounin hopped on top of Gamatatsu's head and were immediately heading toward where Naruto was fighting.

Ten-Ten and Hinata turned around and they watched their sensei's leave to go to where the battle was.

Shino pulled Fu into a hug saying, "We'll take him with us. I always keep a blank scroll with me in case I find a worthwhile insect, but we'll seal him inside it instead and give him a proper burial in Konoha." Fu choked out a few words, "Th-Th-Thank y-you Sh-Sh-ino-Kun." Shino was able to reach over and pull a scroll out from his ninja pouch and hands it to Hinata.

Without another word Hinata takes the scroll and begins the process of writing down the necessary writing for the sealing method, something that is basically taught in the academy for storage. Hinata bit down on her thumb to allow blood to come out and she begins to write everything down with her blood, then she hovers her right hand above Kakuzu's body and her left hand over the scroll and begins the sealing. Kakuzu's body then vanishes in a puff of smoke and a new seal appears on the scroll showing that the sealing process was complete. Hinata rolls the scroll back up and puts the scroll in Fu's ninja pouch saying, "I put the scroll with his body in your ninja pouch."

Fu regained herself and thanked Hinata. Both girls smiled at each other, but the pressure of an unknown chakra engulfed them. Ten-Ten immediately asked, "This chakra feels like that day at the Chunnin Exams, only five times stronger." Fu recognized the chakra similarity and said, "It's Naruto-nii he's using his demon chakra, but I've never felt chakra like this."

Hinata activated her byakugan and searched the area for Naruto immediately finding him, but she told the others, "Let's go now!" Ten-Ten, Fu, and Shino followed after Hinata who grabbed the med pack and started running toward the source of the power. Hinata directed the others through the swamp and she saw Gai, Itachi, Neji, Lee, Gamakichi, and Gamatatsu standing there watching the battle, she also noticed that Gamakichi was holding both Benihime and Shuusui. Shino called out to Hinata asking, "Hinata what's wrong?" Hinata told them, "We're close."

The four ninjas landed a few feet away from the rest of the team and quickly joined up with them. Ten-Ten went next to Neji asking, "What's going on?" Neji didn't even look at the others only pointing in one direction. Ten-Ten, Hinata, Shino, and Fu all looked to where he pointed and saw Tobi wearing only his black pants, his entire upper half was exposed showing his muscled body leaving his right side with various scars, his mask were gone and he held the characteristics of an Uchiha. There was a scar around his right sharingan eye though his left eye was closed.

But it was who Tobi was looking it that captured their sight. Naruto or what they could make out as Naruto was standing some ways away form Tobi, everything from what was a tail to his face was completely solid in what was chakra and blood, his eyes lost it's characteristics and have become empty glowing circles, long fox like ears, and a more demon like appearance then they have ever seen. Naruto had five tails waiving behind him, but what stood out the most was a second figure that was conjoined with Naruto at the base of his spine.

Naruto was on all fours with the second figure coming out from Naruto's back, this thing had a long snout, two arms, fox ears, the same empty glowing eyes except his eyes were deep orange color. Naruto's voice then rang out in demonic voice, "Kyuubi you ready to fight?" The more fox looking figure spoke next, "I'M RIGHT BEHIND YOU ON THIS FIGHT."

Tobi kept an emotionless face saying, "So Tobi will be fighting both Naruto-kun and the Kyuubi simultaneously? Tobi really might die in this one." Kyuubi lifted itself off of Naruto's back, but they were still conjoined together and shot it's arms out at Tobi. His two arms got halfway to Tobi, but then broke apart making over a dozen arms. Tobi started by crouching waiting for the arms to get closer, once the arms spread out to surround him he leapt high in the air. Kyuubi's arms changed direction and shot into the air chasing after him. Tobi did a quick series of handsigns, "Fire Style: Azure Flame!" Taking a deep breath he shot out a giant fire ball made of blue flames. Each of the arms were caught in the blue fire and were being forced down or burned.

Naruto looked up and saw that the blue fireball was heading straight for him. Both Kyuubi and Naruto grinned and they both opened their mouths and made the loudest roar they could muster, the shockwave caused by their extreme roar disrupted the fireball causing it to explode. Tobi rode the force of the explosion by watching it with his sharingan and landed safely on the ground.

Kyuubi started chuckling saying to Naruto, "SWITCH WITH ME." Naruto didn't argue and he twisted his body around and Kyuubi did the same, the sound of bones snapping and other noise could be heard and they were now switched around. Kyuubi was on all fours and Naruto was sticking out of his back. Tobi widened his eye and said, "Tobi bit off more than he could chew."

Naruto adjusted his body so he was sitting upright and began to tremble, then all of a sudden blue orbs of chakra shot out of his body and blood orbs too. Soon blue and red/black bubbles were floating in the air, the bubbles soon join together making a giant bubble.

Lee was the first to ask, "What is going on?" Hinata, Neji, and Itachi had their kekkei genkais activated and Itachi told everyone there, "That's chakra bubbles a large amount." Hinata said after him, "The other bubbles are Naruto's blood." Ten-Ten asked, "What on earth is he getting ready to do?" Shino saw that the giant bubble started to shrink, "What ever it is it's getting smaller."

The massive ball of blood and chakra began to compress smaller and smaller Hinata and Neji kept observing as it got as small as a peach pit. Neji immediately came to a conclusion, "With that much chakra compressed to that size the damage could be on a massive scale." Gai looked at his student asking, "Could the damage be that bad?"

Hinata confirmed it, "Neji-nii is right, Naruto is compressing it from a larger sphere into something so small." Itachi announced to everyone, "If the damage is as great as you both say, then we need to get further back." Gamakichi and Gamatatsu lean down letting everyone jump on their backs, all but Fu. Shino shouts to her, "Fu climb on!"

Fu instead started running toward where Naruto was. Shino jumped off of Gamakichi and chased after her. Hinata and Itachi called to them to come back, but their shouts were ignored.

Naruto compressed the massive ball of chakra enough and he opened his mouth swallowing it. The lump in his throat traveled down his chest, stomach and to the spot where Naruto and Kyuubi were connected, it went into Kyuubi's back and sunk into his body. After a moment Kyuubi suddenly expanded looking like a giant round ball, Naruto's body though was still the same. Kyuubi slowly opened his mouth aimed at Tobi.

Tobi started running through a few handsigns as quickly as he could. Kyuubi's mouth opened and flare of light was about to erupt from his mouth, but a wooden pillar hit the side of it's face knocking a massive blast of chakra off course. Tobi finished the handsigns and made a giant dome of earth cover around him five times over.

The energy of the attack shot away from Tobi, but the attack hit the ground after traveling some ways and exploded. Tobi's earth shield shattered and Tobi was shot out of his defensive jutsu, but as a last ditch effort he glanced over at Naruto and made eye contact with him making his Mangekyou Sharingan which looked like a three bladed points that connected with the other. After he shifted to the next stage he shouted, "Tsukuyomi!"

Tobi hit the ground hard because of the force of the explosion knocking him out and Naruto's head shot back getting trapped inside the Tsukuyomi's attack causing Kyuubi to shift making making the final stream of the attack to hit the ground in front of them making a smaller explosion, but big enough to engulf Naruto and Kyuubi in it.

Fu had her hands together and Shino was right next to her. She had used her wooden pillar wanting to hit the attack into the air and not the ground and didn't expect for the second explosion to be so close. She kept her hands together and made another wooden jutsu, but this time she made a wooden shield that surrounded both her and Shino, but the wooden shield shattered and the two were shot back by the force.

Gamatatsu and Gamakichi leapt as high as they could in the air to avoid the most damage from the force of the smaller explosion, though they were shaken in the air by it. Dust shot into the air engulfing the entire area not giving anyone vision, that is unless you held the byakugan. Gamatatsu and Gamakichi recovered in the air and landed safely on the ground Hinata and Neji saw the whole thing with their eyes and quickly ran over to where Shino, Fu, and Naruto were last at.

Itachi on the other hand used his sharingan to scan for a chakra signal and he found Tobi lodged into the ground. Gai followed him by keeping his hand on Itachi's shoulder allowing him to lead him through the smoke. Lee and Ten-Ten were trying their best as well to keep up with Neji and Hinata through the smoke.

Neji found the unconscious Shino and Fu laying on the ground, Neji checked their vitals and told Ten-Ten who managed to stay with him, "They are both alive. You grab Fu and I'll get Shino, we'll take them back to where Gamakichi and Gamatatsu are." Ten-Ten nodded and picked Fu up and tossed her over her shoulder. Neji did the same with Shino and they stuck together to get out of the dust cloud.

Lee was running alongside Hinata as they ran deeper into the dust cloud. Hinata grabbed Lee by his shoulder stopping him from running and falling into the crater caused by Naruto's attack. Lee was pulled back by Hinata saying, "Thank you Hinata." Hinata said to him, "It's okay, Naruto-kun is down there and he's unconscious." Lee and Hinata jumped into the crater and ran for the center and found Naruto laying face down in the crater, his clothes were destroyed the only thing he had on were his shredded pants. Lee was about to pick him up, but Hinata stopped him, "Wait Lee don't move him yet." Hinata moved her hands over Naruto to begin healing him.

Lee sat down and watched Hinata heal Naruto. His skin was completely red and he could see Naruto wince every now nod then from the pain. He was so fixated on where Hinata was healing that he almost missed wet droplets fall on his back, Lee looked up and saw that Hinata was crying trying to rub her eyes into her shoulders to wipe away the tears. Lee looked from Hinata to Naruto again and saw that his skin color was returning to normal though it was slowly it was surely returning to normal. Hinata's tears kept falling, she was happy that he was alive and well.

After awhile Naruto's skin returned to normal and he stopped wincing and started breathing normally, the dust also cleared which was a good thing. Hinata told Lee that it was okay to move him now, Lee grabbed Naruto and carried him on his back and then they left to go find the others.

Everyone regrouped and Hinata and Lee saw that Gai was carrying the other Akatsuki ninja. Tobi was unconscious, tied up, and with to seal restraint papers on his body, one on his chest and one over his right eye. Itachi secured the packs over Gamakichi and Gamatatsu, he also had Gamatatsu carry Shino and Fu. Lee moved over to Gamakichi and gently placed Naruto on top of him, Hinata climbed on top of Gamakichi and laid Naruto's head on her lap.

Itachi told everyone in there, "Now that this is all settled. Let's go home." Everyone pumped their hands in the air shouting, "Home!" Gamakichi and Gamatatsu started to walk on their fours instead of jumping back to Konoha. Everything went according to plan… almost. Now they were heading back home.


Well the Akatsuki/Konoha/Orochimaru War Arc finally came to an end and I hope you liked it. I will try and upload soon if I'm not to busy. R&R, Stay Gold, Goodbye World!!! Oh by the way don't read beneath this AU since it's a spoiler about the new Naruto chapter if you haven't already red it.

P.S.

Naruto Manga Chapter 489: Kabuto fucking knows the Summoning: Impure World Resurrection and he summoned Itachi, Deidara, Sasori, Kakuzu, and Nagato! That's an overkill right there and he wants to join Madara in the Fourth Ninja War.