"Talking"

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 26: Reunions Really Do Suck

If Anko could choose one reason why she quit ANBU, it would be because damn Itachi had screwed everything up and made Naru-taichou into a delusional small ball of anger. Their team had split up, and the whole dynamic had been destroyed.

She knew that Naruto loved their team more than anything. He was given a team to prove that he could mature into a great leader. Of course, from what she understood, he was quasi-supervised by Hayate, who joined ANBU just to be on the same team as his little brother. That man was one of the most compassionate Anko had seen, and his death had hit her pretty hard when she heard the news. They weren't always on the best of terms, but Naru-taichou didn't like fighting in the team, so they never outwardly displayed their annoyance for each other. What could she say? Snakes prey on lizards after all.

Well, she hadn't expected much contact with her team after she left. Who knew what had happened to Itachi; Naruto had delved deeper into ANBU, and Hayate had rejoined the normal forces as a tokubetsu jounin like her. She never talked to him again for obvious reasons, but she had slightly hoped she would see her captain once again.

Then it happened. A little less than two months ago, he appeared in the Forest of Death tower as a little blond gaki, and now, he was treating her to dango.

Looking across the table at her dango date, a young man with brown hair and amber eyes smiled. One thing Anko hadn't known was that after she left ANBU, Naruto had become closer with the fox and had taken to learning its tricks, including shapeshifting. The kunoichi had never heard of humans shapeshifting before, but after seeing Naruto, she really wanted to try.

Anko bit off two dango from her current stick and gave the brunet a stare which she hoped conveyed how weirded out she was with this situation.

"So, why'd you call me out here?" Exchanging pleasantries wasn't one of her strong suits; she was more of the get-right-to-the-point kind of person.

"What? I can't treat you to afternoon tea and dango after not seeing you for so long?" His voice sounded genuine, but his eyes spoke differently.

She narrowed her eyes. "What changed? You haven't talked to me in five years."

Biting the empty stick in his mouth, Naruto proceeded to ponder in such a sad way that it was starting to get on her nerves. "After my last job, some things happened. It got me thinking that we hadn't gotten together in a while, and I really wanted to see you again. I miss everyone together, but another one is now lost…"

What were these weird vibes she was getting from her captain? Anko had no recollection of Naruto being so sentimental or some shit like that. Well at least he wasn't cursing. It was a bad habit of his when he was annoyed, which implied that he was currently not annoyed. Thank goodness for that.

"Don't give me that bullcrap. What's the true reason?" There was no way that delusional ball of anger had turned into the creepily smiling man across from her.

"Whatever do you mean?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I just told you the reason. I only told you the truth. I wanted to see you again."

"And it has nothing to do with wanting to stalk your old friend?" she asked in that I-obviously-know-what-you're-doing tone.

"Why would I stalk you when we're already meeting up Anko-chan?" His eyes twinkled in a way that was starting to really get on her nerves.

She rolled her eyes at him. There was no getting what she wanted when it came to this boy. "Fine. So, what do you want to talk about?"

"I'm leaving Konoha."

Resisting the urge to jump out of her seat, the kunoichi responded, "What?!"

"I'm tired of the people in this place, so I'm going to go on my own journey. You want to come with me Anko?"

This didn't make sense to her. Naru-taichou wasn't the type to abandon Konoha. He was loyal to it like a dog to its master. There was no way he would leave, let alone offer to her to come along.

"For how long?" She couldn't believe she was actually considering this, but she couldn't just leave Konoha. No matter how terribly they treated her, it was still her home and where her loyalties lie.

"Hm… Not sure yet." The brunet gave a smile which spoke of both excitement and mischief. "I want to go hunting, but I don't know how long it will take."

Hunting… What would he be hunting? Perhaps the better term was who would he be hunting? Why would he invite her to go hunting with him? If it was who she thought it was…

"Why me?" she asked as he stood, leaving enough cash on the table to pay for both of them.

Naruto gave her a genuine smile, the kind where his amber eyes sparkled. "Because Anko, you are you." He turned such that she could no longer see his face. "I'll see you again at the river." With that he left and disappeared into the street.

She yelled out in frustration. Nothing made sense with him! Putting her head down, she tried to ignore all the sounds around her. She ignored an annoying genin question his teacher, ignored her best friend going on a date, and ignored the two men who left the tea house.

Well, there was no time like the present! Naru-taichou had said to see him at the river, so that's what she would do (and she wasn't going to apologize for taking the long route either).

To borrow the words of a Nara, this was troublesome. Kakashi hadn't really expected Uchiha Itachi of all people to show up in the village. He had asked Asuma and Kurenai to follow the Uchiha and his companion, Hoshigaki Kisame, but he was worried that it would be too much for them to handle on their own. He was right.

Now he was dangerously conversing with two missing nin, both who had previously killed members of their own shinobi force. After fighting them, he knew that even he couldn't handle Itachi. However, he needed to get the information, and he wouldn't let himself be caught in another genjutsu that trapped him with a torturous Uchiha for three days.

"Are you looking for Sasuke?" If Itachi was here to finish off his younger brother, Kakashi would not let him. Sasuke was now his genin to watch over. He wasn't going to let that murderer get away with killing the only family he had left. The Uchiha clan was not going to go extinct in Konoha.

The Uchiha paused before his eyes narrowed. "No… we are here for the legacy of the Fourth."

There was a pregnant pause from all present. Kakashi hadn't fully believed Jiraiya-sama when he was told that there was an organization hunting the tailed beasts. Jiraiya-sama had warned him to watch out for his blond genin. Now, if only he knew where that genin was so that he could protect him from having the bijuu extracted.

A voice interrupted, "YOU DAMN TRAITOR!"

A surprised "Anko!" came from Kurenai as the kunoichi landed next to Kakashi. The scarecrow recalled that she had been at the tea house too while he was observing the two Akatsuki members. She had been conversing with a young man, who he deduced to be an old friend of hers, perhaps an ex-boyfriend. It shouldn't have been a surprise to him that she had been suspicious of the two men and followed them as well.

"What are you doing here?" she questioned the men.

"Anko, it's been a while," the raven replied.

"Don't act all chummy with me after you ditched us." Kakashi couldn't really understand what the kunoichi meant by that since he wasn't aware that the two were close before.

Itachi continued on as if she hadn't said anything at all. "Like I said before, we are here for the legacy of the Fourth."

It was Asuma who spoke up. "There is no legacy of the Fourth. He died a bachelor when he killed the fox."

That's where he was wrong. Minato-sensei was secretly married to Kushina, and she bore a son. The silver-haired ninja had only met the boy himself this year, but there was no doubt that Naruto was alive and was the Akatsuki's target.

The sound was so quiet that Kakashi almost missed it, but he was sure he heard Anko snort. Could she possibly also know exactly who they were talking about?

"Well, well, it seems they don't know Itachi. Shall we enlighten them with some fun?" the Kiri nin asked and grabbed onto his sword.

Kakashi needed to stall some more until more reinforcements showed up. "I know who you are. You're the Akatsuki." Silence once again rang after Kakashi's statement.

The Uchiha looked alarmed for an Uchiha. "Kisame, have your fun with the other three, but we're taking Kakashi with us."

Faster than Kakashi could react in his worn-out state, Kisame rushed forward towards Anko. However, that was all he did before red flames engulfed him, and he was shoved back.

"Taichou!" Anko exclaimed before pouting. "You're late! I even took the long way."

"Sorry, I wanted to enjoy the show for just a little." That voice was one Kakashi had become well acquainted with recently. Kodanuki, his 'favorite' ANBU, had arrived. He turned his head just a bit to see a taller man with brown hair; he looked nothing like who Kakashi had expected.

"Anko-chan, take the others away, I'll handle this." Anko shuffled over to Kakashi and grabbed his arm before dragging him back towards Asuma and Kurenai. The cyclops watched as Kodanuki turned his attention to the two men in black and red. "Itachi, you traitor, why have you showed your stupid face?"

"Taichou, this is very convenient. I hadn't expected to see you so soon." Was that sadness that Kakashi saw cross the young Akatsuki's face? And he had called the ANBU "Taichou"?

Even if Kodanuki was an ANBU, taking on two S-rank missing nin by himself would be too much. Kakashi still had chakra left. He could help even if he despised the brat. "Anko, let go. I'm going back there."

"No! Na… Taichou said he could handle it. You can't handle them in your state." The purple-haired shinobi had already met up with the other jounin. However, Kakashi managed to wrestle out of her grasp and raced back just as some sort of seal lit the water beneath them. He could hear Anko yelling at him before all sound disappeared.

There was a strange sensation through his body which reminded him of the times all those years ago when Minato-sensei had to Hiraishin him away from an attack.

He landed in a space which seemed void of all life. The first thing he noticed was that it was white, just white. "Where…?"

"Where did you take us bastard!" the voice of Kisame rang out.

"This is much a surprise Taichou. I did not expect you to master time and space jutsu to this extent in your short life," the voice of Itachi followed.

That's when Kakashi became aware of the two Akatsuki members standing only ten or so meters from him and of the man standing only a few meters away.

The man with amber eyes smiled sloppily with a hint of malice tacked on.

"Welcome to my world! Let's play! Kurama says he wants to play with you too. We can play together!"

A/N

To clarify, the tortured man was Kabuto.

Updated: 15/6/20