Chapter 10: The Akatsuki Strikes
"But where's the proof Sarutobi?" One of the village councils, Koharu asks.
"I don't have any yet, but I'm almost certain of it." Sarutobi responds
"But how can this possibly be a murder? The Sunagakure elders said he died of a heart attack." Stated Homura, another one of Konoha's council.
"Yes I know, but considering every criminal in our prison and in the bingo book have fell to the same fate, something tells me that there has to be some sort of explanation behind this." Sarutobi answers.
"Well if there is indeed someone behind these murders, then we need to track them down and have them arrested immediately! I would have been fine with them killing criminals, but the murder of a kage is a high offense! We could be next!" Danzo Shimura exclaims.
"Yes I know Danzo, but I need to prove their existence first and I have no idea how to do that. So I will be having Shikidai Nara on the case, as he is one of the villages most intelligent shinobi." Sarutobi says
"I agree, if anyone can figure this out, it's him." Koharu agrees along with everyone else as the council meeting was officially over.
It had been a couple days since the Chunin Exams and everyone was still on edge due to the sudden death of the 4th Kazekage, but most people just brushed it off as a heart attack, which it actually was.
"You sure killing the Kazekage like that was a good idea? Hehe, now you've got everyone feeling uneasy." Says Ryuk, tailing behind Naruto as he sits in the library, training his brain.
"Good, soon they'll catch on to my pattern. Then every village will be on alert, then everyone will know fear. The criminals anyway." Naruto quietly responds.
"I must say, I'm pretty intrigued as to how you'll go about your plans from here." Ryuk says.
"Just wait Ryuk, soon the whole world will be governed by the ones people hated the most." Naruto responded as he continued reading. After a few hours he left the library, making his way to the ramen shop where he would meet Sakura.
"Naruto! Glad you could make it." Sakura says.
"Well of course, I said I'd show up for lunch right?" Naruto responds as he orders one bowl of Ramen and Sakura does the same.
"Congrats on ranking up to chunin, I saw your fight with Neji by the way. I knew you would win." Sakura says.
"Thanks Sakura, same to you. And yeah, Neji, although strong, needed some sense knocked into him." Naruto says.
"I feel bad for that Gaara kid though, wasn't the Kazekage his father? Poor guy must be devastated." Sakura says saddened.
"Yeah...I'm sure he's tearing up about it." Naruto says laughing on the inside.
"Hey so where's Sasuke? I thought he was gonna join us." he adds.
"Yeah, he should be here soon. Oh! There he is!" Sakura exclaims as she points to the right to see Sasuke walking up to them.
"Naruto, Sakura. Good to see you guys again." Sasuke said.
"Same to you Sasuke! I'm glad you're doing better now!" Sakura says excitedly
"Good to see that you're late." Naruto says sarcastically
"Tch, whatever. I'm here now." Sasuke responds as he sits in between the two and orders a bowl of ramen.
"So what were you two talking about?" He asks
"We were just talking about the chunin exams." Sakura responds as Sasuke begins to frown.
"The Chunin Exams...It still pisses me off that Gaara dropped our match. I knew he was strong and heard what he did to Lee. I know he wasn't afraid to fight me, so what did he think I was weak? Dammit!" Sasuke says with anger in his voice
"Relax Sasuke, Gaara probably just lost interest in the whole thing. You know he's kinda weird." Naruto says
"No...He was all too excited to fight you when we first saw him...So why wouldn't he at least try to fight me to get to you?" Sasuke wonders
"You know, it did seem kinda weird how the Kazekage died like that out of the blue just after Gaara quit...And how Gaara just stared at him moments before he died...it just seemed off." Sakura said
"What do you mean by "off"? Naruto asks
"I don't know...it was just kinda weird, that's all." Sakura said
"Yeah...that was pretty strange." Sasuke added
"Well, I'm gonna head out now. It was good catching up with you guys." Naruto said as he paid for his meal and began to leave.
"Take care Naruto." Sakura said waving him off
"Later." Sasuke said
As Naruto was walking off, Teuchi, the owner of the Ramen shop, rushed out the door chasing after a man.
"Stop you thief!" Teuchi yelled at the man as he kept running. Sakura amd Sasuke both looked at each other and nodded before rushing after the thief. The man kept running as fast as he could, but just as Sakura and Sasuke were about the stop him, a power line came off and shocked the man, electrocuting him to death.
"He's dead..." Sakura said reaching the scene
"Serves him right for stealing, thank you kids for trying to stop him. Consider your meal on the house!" Teuchi said as the kids still looked somewhat disturbed
'Something isn't right...' Sasuke drowned in his thought
And as shinobi arrived on the scene to retrieve the man's body, a distance away by now, there was the faintest smirk on Naruto Uzumaki's face.
As Naruto was making his way back to his apartment, his former teacher Jiraiya approached him.
"Yo, pervy sage! Good to see ya again." Naruto exclaims.
"W-Why did you call me that?" Jiraiya said
"Cause you're a sage and a pervert, duh." Naruto said casually
"I'm not a- you know what? Nevermind. Anyway it's good to see you too Naruto, congratulations on rising up to the rank of chunin as well. I heard about your match with Neji, I'm truly proud of how far you've come." Jiraiya says congratulating the boy.
"Aw, thanks pervy sage!" Naruto says with a grin on his face.
"Speaking of the chunin exams, the Hokage assigned me to locate Tsunade, another one of the Sanin, in order to heal Rock Lee's injuries. Would you like to accompany me in finding her?" Jiraiya asks.
"Sure, why not." Naruto responds.
"Great, then start getting your things packed and meet me at the village gate in half an hour." Jiraiya says as Naruto nods before heading inside his place to get his bag packed before heading out. As they exited the village and started walking down the path, they walked by two hooded figures whom Naruto and Jiraiya both noticed but decided to continue on.
'So...The Akatsuki are finally making their move then...Looks like I need to assemble my brethren sooner than I thought...' Naruto thought silently as they kept moving.
As for the hooded figures, they kept walking until they were sure they were a far enough distance.
"Wasn't that the nine tails?" The one with a sword on his back asked
"Yes, and it seems he's traveling with Jiraiya now...We need to find a way to separate the two. Let's turn around follow them, but carefully." The other one said as the one with the sword nodded as they began to head in Naruto and Jiraiya's direction. However they were faced with Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma coming from the trees as they moved futher.
"So, care to explain why you two have been wondering around the village areas?" Kakashi said
"I think you know why we're here, Kakashi." one said looking at him with sharingan eyes. Kakashi's eyes widened as he immediately got serious and unveiled his shraingan.
"Wait is that...Itachi Uchiha?!" Kurenai said in shock
"Why did you come back to the leaf? To finish Sasuke off?!" Asuma says angrily
"No, we're here to finish the 4th Hokage's legacy." Itachi said leaving the two confused but Kakashi knew exactly what he meant. Jiraiya had told him about the Akatsuki and how they were hunting tailed beasts and how Itachi is one of them.
"Well you'll have to get past us first." Kakashi said
"Your sharingan is just a borrowed gift Kakashi, allow me to show you the real deal." Itachi said as his sharingan shifted into a pattern and put Kakashi deep into genjutsu, rendering him completely out of the fight.
Kurenai and Asuma tried to stop him but it Kisame held them back, kicking Kurenai into a tree and cutting Asuma on his side, injuring him.
"They're done Kisame, let's go before more show up." Itachi said as he and Kisame dashed into the trees rushing away from the scene. Kurenai and an injured Asuma then got up and had to carry Kakashi to the village entrance, where the guards saw them and immediately brought them to the hospital. While in the room, Might Guy showed up a minute later.
"I heard Kakashi got hurt pretty bad, what happened?" Guy asked
"Itachi happened." Kurenai responded
"As in Itachi Uchiha? He's back?" Guy said surprised
"Yep, and it sounds like he's after Naruto. For whatever reason, I have no idea." Asuma said
"Well if this is true we should keep this quiet and and especially not tell Sas...kue..." Guy said as he noticed Sasuke standing right behind him, looking at the floor.
"Itachi...Has returned...And he's looking for Naruto?.." Sasuke said
"Y-Yea but it's fine Naruto already left with Jiraiya so-" Kurenai didn't finish as Sasuke ran off to go search for them, immediately leaving the village after them.
Naruto and Jiraiya eventually landed in a town where they could stay for the night. While they were there Jiraiya had met a woman named Emi who seemed to be interested in him, so he went on a date with her while Naruto went back to their room. While in there, he heard a knock on the door, opening it to reveal a man with sharingan red eyes.
"Naruto Uzumaki, you need to come with us." The man said in a menacing tone.
Naruto looked at the two, the man with the sharingan eyes and the man with shark like skin carrying a sword.
"No, I don't think I will." Naruto said
"I don't think you have a choice boy." Kisame said
"ITACHI!" Yelled a voice from down the hall as Itachi noticed none other than his brother, Sasuke.
"Hey, that kid looks just like you and he's got a sharingan too." Kisame said
"Yes, he's my younger brother." Itachi said as he stepped foward.
"Huh, I thought you had killed all the Uchihas. Guess you still had sentiment for your bro huh?" Kisame said but Itachi just stared at Sasuke charging his chidori.
'So Kakashi's been teaching him...I'm surprised he managed to learn the chidori.' Itachi thought
"I have been waiting for this moment for a long time...To kill you!" Sasuke screamed running at Itachi with his attack, however Itachi effortlessly pushed his chidori into the wall, much to Saskue's shock. Sasuke quickly recovered and tried attacking Itachi but to no avail, as Itachi effortlessly dodged and attacked him, holding him up against the wall.
"After all these years, you're still weak." Itachi said, putting Sasuke in a genjutsu making him relive that dreadful night.
While that was happening, Naruto caught Kisame's attention.
"You had a hand in putting Yagura under that genjutsu didn't you?" Naruto asked
"What? How could you even know about that?" Kisame said
"Doesn't matter, consider this revenge." Naruto said
Within the blink of an eye, Naruto was behind Kisame, holding his head, crushing it as his lifeless body dropped to the floor. Itachi, too shocked to even conjure up words, then saw Jiraiya who had returned from his "date". Itachi quickly escaped, leaving the scene at hand.
"Naruto...Did you kill that guy?" Jiraiya asked pointing at Kisame
"Yeah but that's not important now, we need to get Sasuke to the hospital quick." Naruto said.
Just then, Guy shows up to help fight but sees that it is already over and Itachi has disappeared. Guy assumes that Jiraiya was the one to take out Kisame but neither Jiraiya nor Naruto bother to correct him. Guy then tells them about Kakashi too and decides to take Sasuke back to the leaf to recover while Jiraiya and Naruto continue their search for Tsunade.