Why hello there!

Another week, another chapter, closer and closer to the end of this fic.

Anyways, without further ado, I think I will like this story a lot more when I don't have to work on it every other day of my life.

Chapter 84: Beginning of the End

Obito hadn't exactly been caught off guard by Naruto's entrance, but to say he'd been entirely prepared for the teen to break open their ceiling, sending rubble pouring down on them from above as he was landing, and just generally sowing chaos throughout the area would, likewise, have been false.

He immediately went about knocking the Seven-Tails Jinchuuriki out, for he certainly didn't need to be dealing with that on top of the Nine-Tails as well. She passed out rather quickly, but just before she was fully knocked unconscious, Naruto managed to get a few words out to her.

"Don't worry, Fu. We're here, now."

Nearly the moment after he'd said that, he was upon the both of them, channeling a Rasengan into his right hand and holding it out in front of him. The Jutsu forced Orochimaru back, though Obito stood his ground, turning both Fu and him intangible as he back-pedaled.

He allowed Naruto to sail through his body, and, in the interim moment before the man could recover, he passed the Seven-Tailed Jinchuuriki over to Orochimaru. If all went well, they could still take a chunk of her chakra that way.

Naruto clicked his tongue upon the roof of his mouth at seeing that, and swung right for Obito's face, trying to get through to Orochimaru himself.

Obito dodged back with ease, the strike never even coming close to hitting him…

And yet his face was knocked back as if he'd taken the entirety of the blow.

To say he was shocked would be an understatement; completely unprepared for the strike as he'd been, Obito was rather easily struck twice more, Naruto's fists connecting with his jaw and his stomach. Finally, he managed to recover from the shock of being punched in the face and turned himself intangible.

Still…

He studied Naruto's form quickly, trying to find exactly what it was that had allowed the teen to extend his reach. He found what he was looking for not a moment later, as he noticed the way the man's eyes glowed an almost mystical indigo, along with the orange markings surrounding them.

Sage Mode… He growled in annoyance. So… he mastered it, then?

He could win this fight; that was the first thing he made sure of. Regardless of the teen's newfound strength, Obito was far stronger than him even still. If he could get a handle on his Frog Kumite's range, he could begin dodging it as if it were a normal blow, which would certainly give him the advantage in a one on one.

…But this was far from an even fight.

A fireball rained upon his location, and even if he'd shifted into intangibility, it did briefly prevent him from seeing anything at all. When the smoke cleared, he found himself surrounded by four figures.

Two he recognized easily enough; Hinata Hyuga he'd fought during his trip to the Waterfall, and Jiraiya of the Sannin was one of the few ninja on the entire planet that could match someone like him. The third, a young woman with brown hair and a scroll drawn into her hands, he would readily admit he had no knowledge of, though from the way she played backfoot to the others, it seemed he'd no reason to know her, for she appeared to be the weakest of the bunch.

Still… In a fight against both Naruto Uzumaki, and Jiraiya of the Sannin, when he had no idea how many more might be coming to reinforce… Obito was fairly sure the proper tactic here was a speedy retreat.

"Orochimaru, fall back." He spoke to the man just as he allowed himself to begin sinking into the floor below. "This is no place to be fighting them."

The man laughed as he too began to melt into the floor below himself, the Seven-Tails sinking with him. "I was thinking the same thing. Still…" He smiled up at his old teammate. "It's good to see you again, Jiraiya. It's been an awfully long time."

"You're… alive!?" Jiraiya seemed momentarily rooted in place by the shock, which was likely the only thing that allowed Orochimaru to escape. "Wait, get back here!"

But it was too late. By the time he reached his quarry, both he and Obito had already disappeared from the room, and deeper into the base.

/-/

Naruto swore as he narrowly missed hitting the top of Obito's head as the man entirely sunk into the concrete below him.

"Don't worry too much about that one, kid." Jiraiya spoke to him, patting him on the shoulder. "Even if you had hit him, it would have just gone through."

He knew the man was probably right, but that didn't make him feel any better.

"Hinata," He turned towards the Hyuga. "Can you see where those two are headed with your Byakugan?"

She nodded as she stepped up, and the veins around her eyes protruded. She took perhaps 15 or so seconds, but eventually turned back towards them with her eyes back to normal.

"They're descending rapidly. I don't think we'll be able to catch either of them using the available routes, but I can guide us to the fastest ones, if you'd like?"

He shook his head. "No. Let's stick to the plan. The four of us will be in charge of retrieving the Jinchuuriki. Hunting down the Akatsuki themselves… we'll leave that up to Sasuke's and Kakashi's teams."

All three of those with him nodded, even as he himself sighed out.

"Still… I'm not sure why I'm leading this team, Pervy Sage." He muttered. "I mean, don't you have a helluva lot more experience than I do?"

The man laughed. "Sure, but at the same time, I'd say these two here," He gestured towards both Tenten and Hinata. "And the others all trust you more than they do me. And trust? Immediacy of follow-through and whatnot? That counts an awful lot more than strength or experience on a mission like this."

He supposed the man must have been right, which, despite everything else, at least forced some confidence into him. He couldn't afford to be unsure of himself here. No, there were people here who needed him to be strong above all else.

He would not betray that.

"Well, I suppose it's a bit too late to be worrying about that. Hinata, can you start searching for the Jinchuuriki? It's likely they'll all be located in one spot."

The girl nodded, her Byakugan activating once more.

"I don't see anywhere obvious, but I think it'd be a good idea to follow those two, at least on their general route. It's likely they'd go straight to the Jinchuuriki, to try and steal them away before we can protect them."

He hummed in acknowledgement of that. "We'll go with Hinata's idea. Stay focused, everyone."

They all gave confident expressions as he turned towards the black corridor just beyond them.

"I get the feeling this is going to be a long day."

/-/

The alarm blaring on overhead gave Kisame the feeling that maybe, just maybe, their base was under attack.

He wasn't sure he particularly cared, given that he hadn't been given any orders to march or anything, but at the same time, they'd been told a week or so ago that the Leaf might be dropping by at some point…

And if he could encounter that Haku kid…

He licked his lips, jumping up out of his bed and drawing Samehada onto his back.

It, much like him, stirred restlessly.

"Don't worry…" He told it, as he rounded a corner, and hurried towards the distant sounds of combat he could hear. "I'm sure the both of us will get what we're looking for."

It didn't take them all that much time to stumble across the proverbial scene of the crime. Standing above the bodies of two Akatsuki soldiers (who were really just mercenaries they paid to watch the prisoners and go out on more minor missions) was the man of the hour himself, Haku Momochi.

Zabuza's kid.

"Well, well, well." He spoke, swinging his sword back into his hand and bouncing it rhythmically atop his shoulder, standing cockily before the few Leaf ninjas. "Fancy meeting you all here."

Haku turned to look at him and clicked his tongue as he saw who it was. Almost immediately, a hand on his shoulder reached out to keep him back. For once, however, Haku didn't seem all that into charging right at him. If anything, he was the more casual of the two of them about this.

Kisame didn't particularly care.

"Are you sure about this?" The blonde who had reached out to Haku… who Kisame was pretty sure had been his little girlfriend or something back when they'd last fought, asked him rather seriously. "There's no shame in backing out if you don't think you can–"

"I can." Haku ended that line of conversation, turning towards the rest of his group (Itachi's brother, Sasuke, blondie, and three teens he was fairly certain he'd not seen before) with a confident smile. "Leave him to me. Sakura is likely still here. The rest of you should go looking for her."

Kisame smirked, deciding to answer that question for them. "She's down below in the dungeons. Three flights west. One flight north. Straight shot after that. It's big and lit by torches. It's quite the journey, but unless you're an idiot, you can't miss it."

All six of those he was facing turned to look at him oddly.

"Why would you…" A guy with decently long, spiky-black hair asked him.

"Because the sooner you're all out of my hair, the sooner I can fight this bastard!" Kisame tilted his head to the side, gesturing towards the stairs. "Go on now, listen to your buddy."

They all seemed rather angered by that, but Haku held a hand out in front of them to stop them from advancing on him.

"He's right. Go, you guys. I'll catch up with you all after I've handled this."

Kisame waved at them as they left, laughing quietly to himself as Haku stepped up, idly flexing his fingers in a rhythmic pattern. He found himself quite amused by that, as he'd been doing something similar not to long prior.

"So, kid, are you finally ready to fight me for real?"

Haku nodded slowly as he held the Executioner's Blade up in front of him, taking cautious steps towards Kisame.

"I am…" He shook his head, basing directly into his eyes with a harsh expression. "I have prepared for this moment for over three years. I have trained and practiced. I have bled and come near dying. I have sharpened my skills to the upmost degree…" He held his sword perfectly straight in front of him, and the tip was only an inch from Kisame's nose. "Before, I would've said it was all to kill you… but no, that's not all of it. So that you can no longer threaten the people I love, I will defeat you here. I will kill you where you stand."

Kisame found himself laughing again; so giddy was he.

"Well then… I'd hate to keep you waiting!"

He charged forward, slamming Samehada against Kubikiribōchō.

"This is it." Haku confirmed as he pushed back against him. "The last time."

Kisame's smirk only intensified.

"May the best bastard win, ey!?"

And two of the seven blades of the mist squared off once more…

For what would be the final time.

/-/

A commotion awoke Sakura up from out of the nap she'd been partaking of. A shuffling of the guards at their cell door seemed to communicate some modicum of nervousness.

Something was going on. That, Sakura could tell for sure.

Exactly what it was… well, that remained to be seen. She stood up and walked over to the shoddy looking door that barred their cell. She couldn't see very much out of that, for she only really had a single, perhaps six-inch hole to look through, but from what she could see…

An explosion went off at the back side of the prison complex, sending multiple Akatsuki guards spiraling to the floor. Those that remained were quickly picked off by a single ninja, who wielded in his hands blades formed from chakra, utterly annihilating them by cutting into their tendons and muscles.

Finally, when he'd cleared the last two guards, those standing in front of their door itself, he looked up at Sakura with what seemed to be a reassuring expression.

"Hey, Sakura." Kabuto smiled weakly. "I've come to bust you out."

She couldn't help but ask a few questions about that, mainly…

"Uhm… Aren't they just going to kill the three of us when they figure out that you've broken us out?"

Kabuto laughed lightly as he stepped into their cell, and immediately walked to Itachi's side. "They might, were they not dealing with something a bit more important than us. Rest assured, Naruto and the others are keeping their hands full for the time being." Sakura's eyes widened. "We need to take advantage of that and meet up with them."

"Kabuto…?" Itachi's voice was weak and scratchy as he allowed the man to help him up. "How do I look?"

Sakura wasn't sure why his appearance would be at all relevant, but from the concerned look on Kabuto's face, it seemed to mean something to him.

"I'm afraid… You don't look too great. You're far too pale, and your overall complexion is weak."

Itachi nodded after a moment. "I suppose… That's to be expected."

"Itachi, don't worry about it… you could still–"

The blind man smiled at his compatriot. "Don't worry, Kabuto. I accepted my fate an awfully long time ago."

Even Sakura could read between the lines on that one.

"Is… is Itachi… dying?"

Kabuto didn't give any real affirmation, but then again, he didn't exactly look hopeful either. "He's been dying for the better part of five years now. But… Losing as much of his blood as he did when his eye was stabbed out, and when Tobi took the other, has put immense pressure on his body; whose immune system is already working on overdrive to try and fight off his disease. Not to mention neither of those wounds were ever treated for infections, and… well, it's a miracle he's still up and walking."

Sakura grimaced. "Is there… Anything I can do?"

Kabuto shook his head. "There's nearly nothing anyone could do. At best… I could probably give him another year or so to live, provided he heals through his injuries… but… he's…"

She got what he meant.

Even still, even past his fate being held in front of his face for all to see, Itachi didn't even hesitate.

"For now, we should focus on meeting up with those from the Leaf. Any and all talks about myself, or my disease… Those can come later."

She admired the way that the man could simply soldier on, for she didn't think she would have been strong enough were she placed in a similar situation. She nodded and followed behind Kabuto, who was doing his best to keep Itachi on his feet, what with him still acclimating to walking while lacking his sight.

They traversed through the base quickly, or, well, as quickly as they could, anyway. They did their best to entirely ignore as many guards as possible, though Sakura couldn't help but notice that there were an awfully lot more of them around than there'd been a few days prior.

When she asked Kabuto, he hummed out in agreement. "From what I've seen, Obito had some of the lower-rung members go and hire as many mercenary groups as they possibly could to come and act as fodder for this very attack. Paid them really well." He shook his head. "Unfortunately, that means their numbers have more or less quadrupled. Not to mention every single member of the Akatsuki's present in here."

That particular fact drew her attention. "Actually, about that, what are we planning on doing if we run into one of the Akatsuki?"

Kabuto had the nerve to laugh. "Not quite sure. Perhaps plead for our lives?"

She glared at him.

"In all seriousness, I think we don't exactly have a better option than to cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, let's simply assume that we won't run in anybody, and go from there."

She could respect that answer in a roundabout sort of way. It wasn't the most inspiring of things he could've said… but it was the truth, at least.

It was as they rounded another corner that a figure dropped from out of the roof above them. Said man looked right at them as he landed, and let out an indignant laugh, as if both offended and amused that they'd try something like this.

"How annoying." Obito Uchiha clicked his tongue. "Well then… I'm afraid I've very little time. Would you like to kill yourselves? It would certainly save me a few seconds."

None of them seemed all that keen to volunteer. Obito simply sighed.

"Fine, fine." He cracked his neck. "Have it your way."

Sakura took a fighting stance and prepared to utilize… well, utilize nothing at all, given that she had no real offensive capabilities without her curse mark besides the few simply Jutsu she'd been taught by Kakashi nearly four years ago now, and the couple of Jutsu Tenzo and Anko had taught her to master the Wood Style, another thing she had no access to, now. She supposed she could try and make something up on the spot with her decent natural control over chakra… but she was drawing a blank on that particular front.

Her imagination had always been one of her weaker points.

Still, before she and Kabuto could charge in, and likely get themselves killed rather quickly, Itachi held his arm out in front of them.

"Keep going."

Her heart skipped a beat.

"W-What!?" She turned towards him, frankly flabbergasted. "What the hell do you mean keep going!?"

"Quite frankly, I'm with Sakura on this one." Kabuto stepped forward as well. "Saying 'you'll be killed' would be an understatement. You have absolutely no chance in this fight without the ability to see. You've barely even gotten used to walking! We are not leaving you here to buy us an extra five seconds!"

Itachi actually had the nerve to laugh.

"Don't worry. I have no intention to die here." He spoke quite simply. "After all, that's my Mangekyou Sharingan in his left eye. I need to get it back."

Sakura felt some feeling shoot up the back of her spine at that, as if some part of her had recognized something about his words were wrong.

"I wasn't aware you had the ability to figure that out even without the ability to see…" Obito seemed incredibly suspicious, and it was only then that Sakura realized he'd pointed directly at him as he'd said it, pointed directly at the man's eye, which Itachi, down both, shouldn't have been able to see at all. "Just how did you know I'd already implanted your eye?"

Itachi smirked, in a way that seemed to betray that he had an ace up his sleeve. He took a single step forward and reached up towards the bandages around his eyes.

"My apologies, Sakura, Kabuto, for not telling you about this earlier." He spoke as the wrappings fell away. "But just as before, I had no idea where watchful eyes may've been lingering. And so, I acted in absolute secrecy, under the cover of darkness."

As the bandages fell away, and Sakura got her first good look at what lay underneath them, she found that what was there shocked her even more than what would've been.

For in his left eye-socket…

"So…" Obito muttered, evidently taking this far more seriously than he'd been just a moment prior. "I suppose this answers my question as to just where Shisui Uchiha's second eye went. It wasn't in his corpse when I found it at the end of the river…" He laughed dryly. "I suppose it could've only ever have been you, couldn't it… Itachi?"

Itachi Uchiha, a Mangekyou Sharingan that wasn't his own blazing in his right eye-socket, shot an easy smile over at his relative.

"I was surprised when you stole my eye before but left me alive." He shook his head. "I realized then that you must've not known about Shisui's final gift to me. That you must've thought me rendered entirely helpless. Know this, Obito…"

He took a step forward, even as chakra seemed to glow around his body, creating an intimidating aura, despite his missing eye, despite the power he now lacked.

"This time… I will not go down so easily."

Obito sneered.

"I defeated the three of you at once without even trying. And now you would mean to fight me alone, and down an eye!?" He barked out a laugh, but even Sakura could tell it was forced. "Don't make me laugh! You've nothing to threaten me with."

"But I do." Itachi shook his head. "Several things, even. I will defeat you here, not just for myself, and not just for those relying on me," Sakura gathered that he was referring to the two of them. "But for those who still hold out hope that Obito Uchiha will come back to them."

None of the rest of Itachi's words had so much as phased Obito, but those last few… they'd caused him to flinch backwards, to quite literally recoil away from him.

"You… Itachi Uchiha…" He ground his teeth together. "Fine… I'll face you. I'll kill you, even. Having both of Shisui's eyes… that'll certainly help in my pursuit of a perfect world."

"Sakura, Kabuto, get out of here." Itachi spoke, and this time he sounded like he meant it. "Find those who've come for you. I'll take this one."

Sakura bit down on her bottom lip. Even with this new eye that he held now, to think he'd suddenly be able to turn it around with just that…

"Are you sure you've got this?"

He smirked, before, suddenly, a rush of energy poured off of him. An orange chakra, one that seemed similar in shade to Naruto's Nine-Tails chakra, began forming around his body. It took the shape of a large, skeletal hand on his right side, and ribs that ran down his body, covering him and, seemingly, protecting him from harm.

"I'll win." He spoke in a way that seemed to leave her no opportunity for doubt. "Go."

And for some reason, as Sakura and Kabuto ran down the opposite hallway…

She found she believed him.

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15 minutes after forcing Obito and Orochimaru to retreat from the four of them, Naruto, Jiraiya, Hinata, and Tenten ran down what seemed to be a central corridor in the middle of the Akatsuki's main base.

Where exactly they were… Well, Naruto would admit he didn't quite know that, but he had a general idea. They'd begun their infiltration on the western side of the base, and as they'd been running eastward for nearly the entire time they'd been in here, Naruto imagined that put them smack dab in the middle (or at least closing in on it) of the compound.

They'd run into the occasional guard, most of whom seemed more like mercenaries, poorly trained and rather easily felled, than anything, but even with that being the case, said persons had forced Naruto to use some of the Sage Chakra still hanging about him.

He could maintain his state for what felt like an unlimited time, but he couldn't gather any more chakra without sitting still. Without that luxury, given they were rushing their way through an enemy base, he was relying on the four clones sat outside, who were busy gathering as much of the stuff as they could to pass to him when needed.

Technically, Fukasaku had told him to cap out at two… but he thought he could take that a bit further.

At the end of the corridor, the four of them stumbled upon a massive amphitheater-like space. At its heart, against the back wall, was a massive statue of what looked to be some kind of humanoid figure.

But there was something… Off about it. It had nine eyes, for one, two of which were open, and seemed to stare right at him, following his steps as they moved forward into the space. Its hands jutted out of the ground as well, as if encased in the rock itself. It didn't seem… alive… but there was something hauntingly real about it.

It was then, however, that Naruto keyed into a bad feeling, the hairs on the back of his neck sticking straight up, and he gave the signal for his unit to disperse.

They flew in opposite directions as a rocket exploded in the spot they'd just been in. Naruto himself turned around in mid-air, which gave him just enough time to dodge a few sheets of paper flying directly at him. As he ducked underneath them, they exploded on the wall behind him, utterly eviscerating the stone.

He landed with a relieved breath, before scowling up at the new figures who'd just entered the room.

"Sensei." Pain spoke, completely ignoring the three younger members of their band as he stared directly at Jiraiya. "It's been an awfully long time. Four years, is it?"

"Just about." Jiraiya sighed out as he cracked his neck, wincing slightly. "Sheesh, Konan, I can't quite move like I used to while training you three. I'd appreciate it if you'd go a bit easier on me."

Said woman did not even smile at her former mentor's quip. "My apologies, teacher, but I cannot."

"Yeah… thought as much." Jiraiya turned back towards Hinata and Tenten. "You guys keep moving. Leave these two to us. Focus on meeting up with Sasuke's and Kakashi's teams."

They nodded, not at all complaining about that, even if Naruto were pretty sure he was technically the leader of this team, which meant he probably should've been giving those orders out… but, well, Jiraiya had basically said everything he'd wanted to, so he decided to simply shut up for the time being.

As Hinata and Tenten fell back into the next room, Naruto sent a signal to one of his four Shadow Clones. It popped, transferring the energy it'd gathered straight into him, and lighting up his irises with hues of red, turning them a warm indigo as an orange shade gathered around his eyes.

Jiraiya actually glared at him. "Show-off."

He found himself laughing for some reason, even faced with Pain and Konan in front of him… well…

He'd never seen the man beside him go all out before…

And Naruto would've been lying if he'd said he wasn't looking forward to seeing that first-hand.

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Orochimaru melted out of the ceiling a good distance away from his laboratory. Though he could still feel the rumblings of combat in the shaking of the walls, he put that particular thought out of his mind. Right now, his job was to make sure the Seven-Tailed Jinchuuriki's chakra was extracted.

Whatever happened to her afterwards… well, that was far from their problem.

He laid the unconscious girl down on the gurney he'd had set up and grabbed the device inside his outfit. He unfurled it and pushed it down on the girl's stomach. She fidgeted slightly in her sleep, her jaw tightening as her body presumably felt some pain, but other than that, she seemed alive.

Well, he'd designed this device, after all. The chances it wouldn't work as he'd intended for it to, while not zero, were still staggeringly low.

He'd need to hurry, though. Now that he'd confirmed it as effective, he needed to use it on the other Jinchuuriki, before the Leaf and their allies could get to them, and ruin their plan before it could even begin.

Something in his mind, a piece of him that he'd still been unable to identify, tried to ask him once more if this was really their plan.

He had no idea why it would do such a thing.

…He didn't know.

This was his own will. Another piece of him reminded himself.

He nodded.

That made sense. This was a plan only he could've made come to fruition, after all. Of course, Tobi required him to make it so.

Once more, the name Tobi burned at the back of his mind, as if he should know something about that, know better than that. He desperately searched his mind for what he needed to know but trying to remember something he'd forgotten was far more difficult than he'd felt it'd be. The only thing that surfaced was a feeling of ironic rage, as if he'd been outsmarted in a way he couldn't help but feel admiration for, and a voice.

Fear them. The Otsutsuki… Fear them.

He shook his head again, grinding his teeth as he leaned back against the gurney behind him, trying to steady himself.

That voice… he knew that voice.

It was… wasn't it his–

The sound of a thousand birds collectively chirping was the only warning Orochimaru had to dodge. He did so, jumping backwards and narrowly evading the electrically enhanced kunai that whizzed right by where his face had just been a moment prior.

He took in those who'd come to attack him as he backed himself further into his laboratory. He'd have said he were cornering himself normally, but, well, he'd designed this place knowing the Leaf would be attacking soon…

He was far from being backed against the proverbial wall.

"Ah, Kakashi." He practically hissed as he took in the quality of the man's lone exposed Sharingan, one which looked strikingly familiar to– his brain cut off once more as a shock coursed through his body, as if a piece of a memory had been blocked from him. "Keh… and you're here as well, I see."

His old student, Anko Mitarashi, glared daggers at him. "I am. I wasn't aware you were back from the dead." She held out a kunai at him, as if such a thing could ever be considered a threat. "Where's Sakura?"

He shrugged. "She was in the dungeons, though, knowing those three, she's probably broken out of her cell by now. Hell, she could be just about anywhere in this base, for all I know." He shook his head, smiling mockingly. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll meet up with each other again sometime soon. Why, if I find her, I'll make sure I send her right to where you're going."

Anko scoffed as he drew the Kusanagi blade from out of his own stomach, vomiting it up and flicking it once or twice around to get the mucus off. If that bothered any of those standing before him, then they did not make such feelings known.

The other two, Tenzo, he believed the man went by, one of his research projects on the Wood Style, and Guy, the strongest practitioner of Taijutsu from the Leaf, and perhaps the world itself, both took their respective stances as Kakashi channeled yet another Chidori.

He laughed, even as the phantom pain of those missing memories still plagued his thoughts.

"Well then," He licked his lips.

"Shall we begin?"

End Chapter 84

Shall we begin indeed, Mr. Snakeman.

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed the chapter, even if it was mostly set-up for the next few weeks.

See you all next week!