After a long, stressful flight, Hanara had finally caught sight of Naruto. Itachi and a shark-like man that reminded her of a picture of one of the Seven Swordsmen were not too far behind, but she wasn't going to tell Sasuke that.
Pho disappeared once Sasuke and Hanara jumped off her and in front of the door to Naruto's hotel after bowing to them. Once she was gone, Sasuke hurriedly knocked on Naruto's door.
"Aw, what do you want now?" Naruto yelled from behind the door, "She dumped you already?"
Sasuke groaned and kept knocking, "Idiot."
"I heard you the first time!" Naruto sighed. They heard the lock click.
Naruto threw the door open and stared at Hanara and Sasuke, confused, "Sasuke? Hanara? What are you doing here?"
"Someone's coming after you." Hanara said hurriedly, "They want to-"
"Heh. We've been found out, Itachi," a voice behind them drawled.
The three children stiffened. Sasuke and Hanara turned around and saw a blue-skinned man with a purple, scaly, sword on his back along with a man who was no doubt Itachi Uchiha a few feet behind them.
"Hey! What's going on!" Naruto exclaimed, noticing the negative energy radiating from Sasuke.
"Hard to believe that a child like this is holding the Nine-Tailed Fox, isn't it?" the shark-looking dude smirked.
'Wait... they're wearing black cloaks with red clouds. Are they the Aka something or the other that wants all the tailed beasts? And that sword with scales... I can only think of one sword that matches that description. Samehada. He must be Kisame Hoshigaki, the Tailless Tailed Beast.'
Itachi ignored Kisame and addressed Naruto, "You're coming with us, Naruto."
"Like hell he is," Sasuke growled, "I'm not letting you take another person from me, Itachi!"
'Gah, he's an idiot. Honestly, what sane Genin challenges an S-ranked shinobi, let alone two?' Hanara sighed and started getting ready for battle, silently activating her Byakugan. She had some blood on her thumb still, so she started to form hand-signs for the summoning jutsu slowly behind her back. If Naruto noticed, he didn't say anything.
"That kid's a feisty one," Kisame commented, "Come to think of it, he looks a lot like you. Do you know him?"
"He is my little brother," Itachi replied, gazing at Sasuke with indifferent eyes.
"That's weird," Kisame said, smirking again, "Because the way I heard it, your whole clan was slaughtered. By you."
Sasuke started shaking and his hands balled into fists.
'Welp, he sure knows how to rile someone up.'
"Itachi Uchiha, I hope you're ready to die!" Sasuke snarled as his hand got covered in lightning, "It's just as you said. I've fostered my hatred for you all these years. I've lived my life to see you die! It ends here!"
Hanara's eyes widened, 'No way. He's challenging them right now and using Chidori, which is a frontal attack. Anyone knows that frontal attacks are not the way to go when you're up against someone stronger than you. Is he insane?'
Sasuke started running towards Itachi at full speed. Hanara formed chakra strings and attached them to Sasuke with one hand and slammed the other one on the floor, stopping Sasuke and summoning Pho in one fluid motion. The phoenix stared at the scene confusedly but didn't make a sound.
Naruto's eyes widened, "Wow, Hanara! I didn't know you were that fast!"
'You sorta have to be, if you're learning the Gentle Fist.'
"Let. Me. Go. Hanara." Sasuke commanded through gritted teeth.
"And what? Let you go up against your brother, who is an S-ranked shinobi that could kill you without a second thought if he wanted to? Not to mention, Kisame Hoshigaki, one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist who has also been called the Tailless Tailed Beast, is right there." Hanara said sarcastically, "He's in a whole other league compared to Zabuza, whom you just barely beat with Kakashi on your side, no matter how Naruto tries to sell it. Besides, his sword Samehada can lick every single drop of chakra from your body. Anyway, no Genin can go up against 2 S-ranked shinobi with a frontal attack."
"Someone's done their homework," Kisame grinned.
Hanara ignored him and turned to Sasuke, who was still struggling against her chakra threads, "If you're going to be a liability, I'll send you straight back to the Leaf Village on Pho."
"You said that you'd help Naruto not get killed," Sasuke said angrily.
"I agreed to warn him so that he wouldn't get killed. I never agreed to let you go up against two shinobi way beyond your skill level and killing yourself. Asuma-Sensei only let me come after you so that I'd prevent you from doing exactly this. Itachi and Kisame put Kakashi-Sensei in a coma and defeated Gai-Sensei, Kurenai-Sensei, and Asuma-Sensei. Gai-Sensei is the best taijutsu specialist in the village and Kurenai-Sensei is the best genjutsu specialist. Kakashi-Sensei was a prodigy in his own right and a damn good ninjutsu specialist, not to mention that he was in ANBU from what I've heard. Asuma-Sensei is one of the Leaf's only Wind-Natured shinobi and was once in the Guardian Shinobi 12. His bounty is over 30 million ryo, too. If all of them combined couldn't defeat these two, what the hell makes you think you will?" Hanara questioned.
"Sound logic and all, but what makes you think we won't attack unprovoked?" Kisame asked.
"Oh, I don't." Hanara grinned, pulling Sasuke beside her with her chakra threads, "But, I do know that you are a close-range fighter and I can do long-range no problem. Itachi over there is a genjutsu specialist and between Sasuke's Sharingan and my Byakugan, we'll be able to counter that pretty decently, too."
'But, since Samehada eats chakra, do we even have a chance?'
"A Hyuga that specializes in long-range attacks? Now that's something I want to see," Kisame said, running towards him with his sword in hand.
Hanara released her hold on Sasuke, pulled out a storage scroll full of water she had brought to training, and unsealed it. Her hands immediately flew threw a bunch of hand signs after.
Tiger
Snake
Rat
Snake
Tiger
"Water Style: Water Wall!" Hanara exclaimed slamming her hands onto the unsealed water on the ground. She knew that Samehada could rip through the wall no problem, but that was only there to buy time.
"Sasuke! He's a Mist rouge ninja, so use your fire techniques and I'll strengthen them with my wind. Pho, you can use Fire Style and Wind Style, right? So do the same thing. Naruto, you stay right here. It's you they want. Don't you dare complain." Hanara commanded, pulling out one fan and enlarging it.
But a huge puff of smoke that appeared right in front of the Water Wall Hanara summoned stopped both parties from continuing with their attacks.
"What the-" Kisame started, staring confusedly at the smoke.
Hanara saw straight through it and smirked, "About time."
The smoke cleared and revealed Jiraiya with a toad beside him for everyone else to see, "You don't know me at all, do you? You should have done your homework. Jiraiya, the Toad Sage, falls prey to no woman's charm. Rare beauties drop for me like blossoms in a storm. It isn't in my nature to be duped by the wiles of women. When you've reached the stature that I have, the ladies kneel and worship your awesomeness."
"Ahh! Don't give me that!" Naruto yelled, pointing a finger at Jiraiya, "One wink from a pretty girl and you turn into a mountain of mush! You fell for that like a pile of bricks, Pervy Sage!"
"Mhm," Hanara nodded, "If girls fall for you left and right, why were you peeking on the hot springs while I and Ino were in it? I refuse to believe that you peek on anyone below 18, so you were peeking on the ladies."
"I really wish you wouldn't call me that in front of other people," Jiraiya complained.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Hanara fumed, "We've got more to worry about, like maybe two S rank criminals killing us and kidnapping Naruto for the Fox? We all know that the three of us and Pho don't stand a chance in hell, so help us!"
Kisame chuckled, "Whatever name you go by, Master Jiraiya, I must say, you're a bit of a disappointment. A lecherous old man with the mentality of a child. Honestly, even that girl is more of an adult than you are. It's almost impossible to believe that you are one of the Legendary Sannin."
Naruto looked shocked, "What? You- You already know who he is? Pervy Sage can't be that famous!"
"If you'd paid attention to our history classes in the Academy, Naruto, maybe you'd know why," Hanara told him.
"Uh, don't be fooled by appearances. Or, you know, anything these squirts might say." Jiraiya sighed.
"So, you managed to release the genjutsu Itachi cast on her, then?" Kisame asked, changing the subject.
"What kind of coward would do that?" Jiraiya said, disgusted, "Using their Sharingan to cast a genjutsu on a civilian so that he could separate Naruto from me. I know he's the one you're after."
Naruto gasped. Even though Hanara had already said as much. 'I sometimes wonder if he even listens to me.'
Itachi nodded, "That explains how Kakashi knew, you told him. You're right, Naruto is the prize the Akatsuki is after, and we will have him."
Jiraiya moved to open his mouth, but Hanara got her words out first, "You said, Akatsuki. That's the name of whatever organization gave you those weird cloaks, isn't it? An organization can't just be of two people, so he's not the only one you want. And since you mentioned the Fox... you're going after all the jinchuriki, aren't you? Every single one. Assuming that it's either one per person or one per pair, there are 9-18 of you in the organization. If your leader is smart, he or she probably has rouge ninja from all around the world. If they're all as strong as you two, you pose a real threat to the Elemental Nations."
"You found all that out from our conversation? The Leaf's got one smart cookie," Kisame remarked.
'Having a Nara on your team does that to you. And I suppose being 14 years older than everyone thinks I am does that, too.'
"You should consider going into Intelligence," Jiraiya noted before turning to the two criminals, "You won't be getting Naruto."
"We'll see about that," Itachi said calmly.
"Actually, this is all very convenient," Jiraiya commented, "I can eliminate you two at the same time. The Mist surely wants their sword back."
"Stay out of this," Sasuke growled, "The only one who'll eliminate that man, is me!"
"Go away," Itachi told him, "You don't interest me at the moment."
"Well, get interested!" Sasuke yelled, charging at Itachi with a fist ready.
Hanara took out her chakra threads again and attached them to Sasuke before he got too close.
She looked up at the sky and sighed, shaking her head, "Didn't I already make this clear to you? You're way out of his league right now."
"Stay out of this!" Sasuke demanded, "It doesn't concern you."
"It does concern me," Hanara smiled, "Asuma-Sensei made this my mission's objective: to make sure that you don't run into Itachi, and if you do, to make sure you don't engage him. I'm the rational thinker of my team, after Shikamaru and Sensei. He trusts me to make the right call, and that's all I'm doing. Besides, if you do manage to kill him, what then? Will you get a sense of satisfaction for being the last Uchiha? How do you know he wasn't alone, anyway? Can one person honestly kill the entire Military Police? To me, that whole situation screams of Itachi being the scapegoat, just like my Father was for the Hyuga situation all those years ago, but what do I know?"
"I saw him kill my parents," Sasuke said, glaring.
"That could have been a Transformation, for all we know," Hanara insisted, "But if you want to believe that your brother was a bad guy, go for it!"
"He had the Sharingan and used it on me!"
"As I said, that's all just my speculation. The whole Massacre smelt fishy to me, but what do I know? Even if I thought Itachi was guilty, I'm not going to let you kill him right now. Because clearly, you're stronger than the Copy Ninja, right, Sasuke?" Hanara glared at him, "I get you're hurting and hate him, but you need to think logically! Make Jonin, and then kill him, okay!"
'Besides, his lungs are in a horrible state and I think he's going blind from what my Byakugan can see. If you don't kill him, his body will.'
"Ninja Art: Toad Mouth Trap!" Jiraiya exclaimed, probably having enough of Hanara and Sasuke's fight. Jiraiya's jutsu summoned this pink intestine-like thing all around them.
"Woah! I'm not liking this at all!" Naruto exclaimed, panicking.
"This looks like those pictures of intestines in medical books. Are we in someone's stomach?" Hanara asked.
"That would be disgusting!" Naruto said.
"Trust in my jutsu," Jiraiya sighed. He turned to the rouge ninjas, "Welcome to the belly of the beast. You've both just been swallowed by the great Mountain Toad. He has a sensitive digestive tract, so be careful not to upset him."
Pho started squawking and Hanara looked at her, "What's wrong Pho?"
"I- I don't like this," she forced out as she began to be pulled into the pink intestines.
"You can unsummon yourself," Hanara told her.
Pho didn't need to be told twice, she disappeared in a puff of smoke.
She looked back at the scene only to see a huge hole in the stomach they were trapped in and Itachi and Kisame missing. Sighing, Hanara once again deactivated her Byakugan and chakra threads
"Amaterasu," Sasuke muttered, staring at the black flames.
"You know what it is?" Jiraiya asked.
"Yes, it's a flame that can only be put out once it burns through what it was set on," Sasuke informed Jiraiya, clenching his fists.
Jiraiya pulled out a scroll and made a seal, "Sealing Jutsu: Fire Seal!"
Hanara watched in awe as the previously 'unstoppable' flames got sealed into the scroll, "I guess, despite your quirks you really are a Legendary Sannin."
Jiraiya grinned and straightened his back, "That's right! I-"
"Stop preening, you're not a peacock," Hanara smirked.
Before Jiraiya could say anything, a kunai shot past him and into the wall behind him.
"Dynamic Entry!" a voice yelled.
A bright green blur shot past them and kicked Sasuke in the face, sending him flying back into the wall behind him.