Rain began to fall on the valley as the last ebbs of the battle faded. Steam coagulated into thick low cloud that dropped into the valley. There was an eerie calm over the valley as it faded to reveal scarred land beneath.
The ANBU team regrouped. Naruto found the other three with his eye, and joined them quietly. Hare jumped a little when he saw Naruto.
"You need to stop being that quiet Lion."
Naruto saw no reason to, but it was etiquette to lie about such things.
"Sorry."
That was right wasn't it? Talon shrugged.
"Well, we need to start tracking them. We do not engage them; we stay far away and find out where they are taking that Junchuuriki."
Naruto nodded and activated his Byakugan.
He could see the figures moving off in the distance in no particular hurry. Their captive was slung unceremoniously over a shoulder by the swordsman.
He moved and the ANBU team followed his tracking. Shadowing was easy enough when his targets were not looking for them. Although what Itachi had told him was troubling.
A group of S-ranked shinobi were looking for him. Now Itachi knew who he was. At least Itachi was not directly against him for the moment.
He ducked into more cover as he followed at close to his maximum range. He checked the sun briefly. They were heading southwards, so could be about to go into Grass. Ame or even the borderlands with Suna.
The rock was slowly changing as they followed their prey, and soon storm clouds drew in on the horizon.
Their prey was tireless, and so were the ANBU. The rain began to fall and Talon's voice crackled in his headset as Naruto relentlessly followed.
"Naruto, regroup. They're heading into Ame and following there is a bad idea. Ame is not a nation friendly to intruders."
Naruto checked his motion.
"Surely we need more detail that simply the nation they operate out of?"
He heard the sigh into his earpiece.
"Yes, but that is not our mission scope. This is above our level."
"We're black ops. What level is higher?"
The sigh was deeper and more frustrated.
"Politics. We head south into Suna and get back into Konoha as soon as possible. Akatsuki have been identified as a dangerous threat, and so we need to get the info back. Plus Iwa just lost a Junchuuriki. Reporting that is part of our mission."
Naruto felt compelled to go on but fought it. He wanted to follow and hide and scope for another three years, it felt natural now.
He nearly moved towards the rain, and stared at the city that was on the edges of his vision. It almost seemed to beckon to him.
He could go in, and hide, and maybe he'd find more redemption.
He recalled Itachi's words to him. The man's vision and purpose. He had to think logically and leave the place alone.
With a final glance, he stopped himself and returned to his team.
The winged figure watched him go out of the rain before taking flight. Wings flapped gently to propel her back towards the high towers of Ame's main cities.
The intruders had been spotted the instant they had touched the outer reaches of the rain, although it had taken longer to really spot them. The one at the front was elusive.
They had left, and she had not needed to engage in conflict with them, which was pleasing. She did not give battle lightly.
Still, the fact that Itachi and Kisame had been tracked back to Ame would displease the rest of the group. Now Ame would undergo some investigation from whichever village the shinobi were from.
They were probably Konoha shinobi given that Suna barely existed anymore and nobody else had the proximity. The one country where they didn't know where the Junchuuriki was at all.
She flapped gracefully through a high open window and settled on the ground, the wings unravelling and unstitching into a thousand sheets of paper. She shook the worst of the rain from her cloak as she turned to the other figure there.
"Pein-sama."
The other figure nodded to her.
"Konan. What of the interlopers?
"They retreated shortly. I believe they were a Konoha ANBU team."
The figure showed no emotion at all.
"They are of no concern. Itachi and Kisame return with the second Iwa Junchuuriki. We are going to perform the sealing soon."
She nodded. They had to gather the beasts for peace. She regretted that violence was ever necessary for their task.
They began to walk to the great sealing chamber beneath the tower. Citizens of Ame bowed or ducked out of their way as the God and his Angel walked amongst them. Murmured whispers of praise followed them.
The great chamber was empty and vast, fully a hundred metres deep and at least a few hundred metres in every direction.
A figure at the bottom of the chamber placed their hands on the ground and summoned the statue. Soon the others would arrive.
They took their positions on the outstretched bone fingers as the other members of Akatsuki arrived. She knew them all, although each wasn't what you could call a friend. Akatsuki wasn't really a place for friends.
Deidara, Sasori, the Zombie Brothers, Zetsu, Itachi and Kisame. All deadly shinobi in their own right, and working in pairs they could cover what few weaknesses existed.
Kisame dumped the body before the statue and Pein began the sealing.
Chakra ebbed from the stricken Junchuuriki and into the statue. Pein began to speak.
"Another beast will soon be sealed. What beasts remain?"
Itachi spoke in a deep monotone, his eyes concentrating on the task at hand.
"We have now captured the Four Tails, Five Tails, Six Tails, Seven Tails and One-Tails. That means the Two, Three, Eight and Nine remain free."
The other members nodded. Pain continued.
"We know their locations do we not?"
Itachi kept speaking.
"The Two and Eight Tails remain in Kumo. The Three Tails has yet to reform since Yagura's death."
"And the Nine Tails?"
"Remains hidden."
Pain turned to look at Zetsu who didn't look back at him.
"Still? This is taking you longer than I would expect Zetsu."
"The Nine Tails is proving more tricky than we thought. We can find him eventually. He must be in Konoha."
"Do so as soon as this is finished."
Zetsu nodded.
"Hidan, Kakuzu, you will go into Kumo to capture the Two-Tails. Deidara, Sasori, you will travel to Konoha in order to obtain information about the Nine-Tails with Zetsu. You may use whatever force you need to."
Deidara looked pleased about this.
"Itachi, Kisame. Your job will be to capture the Nine-Tails should Deidara and Sasori draw it out and fail to capture it. Wait until then before doing anything more."
Itachi didn't look around, much as he hadn't through the entire process.
"Understood Leader-sama."
The Akatsuki returned their focus to the task of extracting the Tailed Beast.
The journey back had been mercifully uneventful for Naruto and the ANBU team. They had moved with renewed urgency that came with the burden of knowledge they held.
The fact they didn't decided to really wait to and just barged into Tsunade's office, and into a scene of furious debate.
"Give me the damn sake Shizune."
"Get the paperwork done Tsunade-sama."
The ANBU paused in the doorway as they watched Tsunade frantically searching her entire office for the rumoured drink. Was now a good time to back out and knock politely.
Naruto merely walked in and stood in front of Tsunade directly.
Her search paused and Talon waited to see what would happen next. After all, the Legendary Sucker had a reputation for a short temper. He decided to sneak a glance in Shizune's direction instead. She met his gaze with an exasperated expression and a palm to her face.
"What do you want? I'm busy."
"Reporting from our mission Hokage-sama."
The fist was cocked back. Naruto didn't flinch or move.
"We encountered the Akatsuki."
The fist gently dropped away.
"Shit."
"What does excrement have to do with this situation?"
Tsunade went from angry to confused to realisation in about five seconds, with every in-between stage shown on her face.
Talon coughed in a way that sounded suspiciously like he was trying very hard not to laugh as Tsunade sat behind her desk and swept everything off it with one movement. Shizune signed and started picking up the bits of paper as best she could.
"Talon. Mission Report. In full. Now."
Talon gave the report. The few days of travel and finding nothing in Iwa territory were dealt with in short order before he launched into an explanation of the battle, Hare chiming in with his observations of the fight as well.
Tsunade noted it down, a thoughtful expression on her face.
Talon then spoke about the pursuit and his stopping at Ame. Tsunade nodded in satisfaction.
"So Iwa has lost a Junchuuriki. They probably won't tell anyone about that for some time. Ame is worrying though. Shizune, fetch Jiraiya for me, you know where to look."
Shizune left and Tsunade put her fingers together in thought.
"We were lucky that virtually nobody knows who our Junchuuriki is or you might have been in trouble Naruto."
Naruto kept himself in check. He was going to lie to the Hokage because it was for the best. His encounter had to be kept secret.
"Indeed."
"I assume you successfully remained hidden?"
"Yes. I appear not to have been captured."
She nodded.
"Talon, your team is dismissed. I expect a full written report as soon as you can make it. Naruto, I need to talk further with you."
The ANBU left, Talon throwing a short glance back at Naruto who wasn't looking. Tsunade leant over the desk and he kept his eyes firmly meeting her gaze.
"I read your report. I scarcely believe it, but I read the whole thing. Shizune has read it at least three times over. However we are both dissatisfied with it. Shizune because she wants more of it to read and me because something was missing from it."
"The document covers my entire time in the base."
Tsunade smiled.
"I need to know what happened on the way back when Hinata's team found you. They found you having what sounded like a seizure in the forest before you blacked out. What happened then? Without those final few hours the report is currently incomplete."
He remembered.
He'd been running through the forests, unsure of what territory he was in. He'd run and run as if an army were at his heels.
Then the shadow clone had burst and...
"Naruto?"
He regained his focus and controlled himself.
"I was returning from the base, and was unsure of the territory I was in. I was hoping to reach a major road so as to navigate back to Konoha.
A shadow clone I had in Orochimaru's base expired and that must have prompted my reaction."
Her gaze narrowed. He realised the explanation wasn't good enough.
"Must have? You sound unsure about this."
"I am unsure Hokage-sama. My memory of the event is hazy. The shadow clone had been under torture from Orochimaru's forces."
He'd known what had done it since the conversation with Talon in the hospital. The pain in his side was flaring up again. He had to not show it this time.
He realised a moment later that trying to hide it from the best medic in the world wasn't going to work. He'd been lucky that Shizune had inspected him the first time.
Tsunade advanced on him swiftly.
"Show me your side."
He raised the shirt and felt the chill air hit the burning flesh. It was deeply uncomfortable. He heard the intake of breath as she examined his side. She drew back, her face turned away from him and shaking.
He realised she was shaking.
"You idiot. You used it. You used the seal. You did that."
She looked at him with disbelieving eyes. Sadness and disgust ran through her face like a shadow.
"And you don't even know what caused you to do it do you? You took the easy way out. Jiraiya is going to remove that seal and you are going to face that memory."
That was unexpected and made him shake a little.
"If I am hiding from it how bad do you think it is? I can remember almost all of the torture inflicted on me by Orochimaru's torturers. What could be worse than that?"
His voice echoed around the room and he realised that he had shouted that last sentence extremely loudly. He felt the shaking course through him like a fiery current.
She looked shocked, her eyes wide. She stopped walking away and knelt, looking into his eyes. He could see the flecks of tears forming a little.
"I don't know. Whatever it is, keeping it in is going to be worse for you. From what Jiraiya has told me, that seal can be broken accidently if you dwell on it too much. If that happens on a mission you will experience it again. That will get you killed. Until you deal with it, you will not go on missions."
Naruto wanted to fight it and run, never stopping to be away from this conversation. So he did.
He was out of the window and into the night before Tsunade could grab him. She looked at the curtains as they rustled gently in the breeze.
Her fist broke the floorboard it hit and had Shizune rush back into the room to find her master kneeling by the broken board, her hand bleeding from the splintering impact.
"Tsunade-sama! What...?"
"He's out there and he's scared Shizune. Get Kakashi, Anko and Talon out searching now. Also fetch me team 8."
"Who?"
"Just do it! I've made a terrible mistake."
That was the tone reserved for surgical emergencies, the tone that was obeyed instantly. Shizune started running.
A/N
So with the manga going pants on head insane, with extremely odd circumstances flying around (Obito, Madara, Orochimaru etc.) needless to say I might modify what is going on later in the fic. Fortunately I haven't written that far ahead so won't be worrying about that for a bit.
For those wondering how much worse things can get for Naruto (and how much harsher Tsunade can look), don't worry. This is probably about as bad as it gets. Things get better from here on out.
I further encourage you all to review and comment, and please, please get an account so I can reply via PM. I try not to have too many A/N so as to avoid bulking the word count with non-story stuff.
This said...to the reviewer called ConcernedCitizen, I feel I need to thank you for your review, because I feel what you've written is some of the best feedback I could have. I apologise (only a bit though) if the story makes you feel uncomfortable, but it's high praise that it evokes proper emotional response from my readers, not just token enjoyment. I hope that the rest of the fic really fulfills its promise. Because (SPOILER WARNING) he is our protaganist. He is the main character. He will get better and win. Because he is the "hero" of the story. If he doesn't triumph, the whole story is worthless. He will overcome his demons, he will rise above all opposition. It may not be a fairy tale victory, but he will win. I just have to make everyone believe it. Dattebayo.