By the time they were done talking to Kankurou, it was night time. Kakashi made the decision to start out early the next morning. It was the logical decision, but it still bugged Naruto. Temari was also obviously trying to contain her irritation at them not setting out right away.

Just after dawn, Temari led the Konoha shinobi plus Chiyo and Baki to a spot in the desert about a kilometer from the walls of Suna. To Naruto, it did not look any different than any other desert spot, but Temari was confident. Temari seemed irritated at Baki's presence. Naruto thought that the man had accompanied them to make sure that Temari did not run off with them.

Kakashi bit his thumb and ran through the hand signs for Summoning and slammed his hand into the ground. A smallish pug dog with a Leaf Badge appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Pakun," Kakashi said, kneeling and holding out the ripped piece of cloak. "I need you to follow the owner of this."

"There's not a person's scent on this, Kakashi-san," the dog said.

"My brother took that off my other brother's kidnapper at great personal cost," Temari said firmly.

"The scent on this fabric is mostly of wood and oil," Pakun insisted.

The three Suna nin shared a look. "The owner of the fabric was a puppet user. Can you find this same scent elsewhere near here?"

"I can recognize the scent," Pakun said. "I'll see if I can find a trail."

The ninken sniffed around for a few minutes before looking off into the desert. "I've found the trail," said the dog.

Naruto impulsively gave Temari a hug. "We'll find him, Temari-san. I promise."

Temari looked at Baki rebelliously before settling her features and saying, "I know you will, Naruto-san."

The blonde girl waved at Naruto, her team, and Chiyo as they followed Pakun into the desert. Pakun led them at a quick walk. Naruto monitored their surroundings with her clones and Byakugan. Hinata did spot checks every ten minutes to make sure that the horned girl was not missing anything.

After they had been following the trail for two hours, Naruto called a halt. "There are two shinobi waiting up ahead right in our path."

"Akatsuki?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto nodded and glanced sidelong at Sasuke. "Hoshigaki Kisame and. . ."

"Uchiha Itachi," Sasuke finished, remembering who the shark man's partner was.

"Will you be able to do this rationally, Sasuke-kun?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke nodded. "I have some things that I need to ask to him about. I won't go off half-cocked." The boy then stared at Kakashi. "I call dibs."

"You're not fighting him alone," their sensei said.

Sasuke grunted and looked at his teammates. "I'm not as immature or stupid as I was when I was a green genin. I'll behave."

Naruto sighed. "I'll take point on Kisame. Last time I encountered them, I was able to stop his sword from draining me."

Kakashi nodded. "I want Hinata-chan to back you up. Even with Samehada's worst ability neutralized, Kisame is no joke." He turned to the Hyuuga. "I want you to hold back as if you were guarding Chiyo-san while Naruto-chan occupies Kisame's attention. When you see an opening, blitz him. Go for the kill. I'll help Sasuke-kun with Itachi. Once you're done with Kisame, between all of us we should be able to capture Itachi."

"I hardly need babysitting," Chiyo grumbled.

"I believe this is the fastest way to deal with these two S-ranked missing nin so that we can catch up to the ones that captured Kazekage-dono, Chiyo-san," Kakashi said firmly. "Once we no longer need you as cover for our plans to deal with Kisame, you may participate in the capture of Itachi, if you wish."

The old woman grumbled her assent.

The five shinobi resumed their progress, continuing to follow Pakun.

When they reached where the two S-ranked missing nin were waiting, Kisame said, "It looks like Sasori-san's spies were right, Itachi-san. Suna sent for help from Konoha." He had a disconcerting shark-like grin on his face. Oddly, both of them did not seem as strong chakra-wise as when she had encountered them while searching for Tsunade a few years earlier.

Sasuke's brother grunted in acknowledgement. His face was completely blank, even as he said, "Do you have eyes like mine yet, Foolish Little Brother?"

"Why would I do something as short-sighted as that, Blind One?" Sasuke said with a smirk.

One of the last things that Naruto and her three teammates had done before Sasuke left on his training trip was to investigate the Uchiha Clan District. Naruto and Hinata had found a secret chamber underneath the Naka Shrine. The most prominent feature in the chamber had been a stone tablet that could only be read with the Sharingan. Interestingly, it had shown more writing when Sasuke and Naruto had used the Rinne-Sharingan. The tablet purported to be written by Outsutsuki Hagoromo, but the Kyuubi was of the opinion that the tablet had been tampered with as it was more slanted to favor the Uchiha viewpoint than it felt its creator would have written. The tablet told the story of the Kaguya and the Shinju and how she was defeated by her sons. It also told about the Sharingan and its variations and how to activate them. Sasuke had been sickened by the Mangekyo Sharingan and what it took to achieve it, but they had discovered its weakness. He had been grateful that Naruto's chakra had given him an alternative that was at least as powerful, if not more so, without having to succumb to the Curse of Hatred. It had mentioned the Rinnegan but not its powers, unfortunately, except for a disturbing reference to the moon and an eternal dream.

"My problems are easily solved, Little Brother," Itachi said without inflection.

"Not if I don't follow your foolish path, Older Brother," Sasuke said, still smirking. Although, to be honest, they had no idea what would happen if someone with the Mangekyo replaced their eyes with those from someone with a Rinne-Sharingan.

"Not that I don't like a good family dust up," Kisame said, "but can we skip to the violence and bloodshed?"

Naruto stepped forward, and said, "One would think you wouldn't be so quick to fight someone immune to your best tricks, Shark Bait."

"I don't know how you managed to withstand Samehada last time, Kyuubi Brat," Kisame snarled, "but I think you'll find I'm more than enough man to handle you. Have you gotten shorter since I saw you last? Maybe we should come back in 15 years when we can at least have some fun before we rip out your Bijuu."

Naruto fought down the rage that attempted to erupt. She had always been sensitive about her height and the fact that she had always looked much younger than she actually was. She knew that her figure had finally started to look womanly and the implication that she looked like she a little kid combined with the allusion to rape ignited her temper. She knew that Kisame was trying to make her lose control—probably an attempt to get her to release the Kyuubi.

"Do you know who my mother was?" she growled out.

"Why would I care?" the shark man said with a grin.

"My mother was Uzumaki Kushina and all the Elemental Nations knew better than to make the Red-Hot Habanero angry! You'll find that I'm my mother's daughter!"

She activated her Rinne-Sharingan to accompany her already active Byakugan and forced chakra into her hair. Tsunade had insisted that she learn how to do it without going "high order." Her hair grew as it separated into ten tail-like locks. She forced chakra into her bones, increasing their density and causing spurs to to burst through her skin in order to protect her from a strike from Samehada's "shaving" action. She caused her left humerus to poke through her shoulder. She reached up and pulled it out and caused her humerus to regrow. She formed her former arm bone into a very dense and sharp sword. This was one of two Shikotsumyaku tricks she had figured out from fighting Kimimaro before he died. The other was his Finger Drilling Bullets. She had also copied some of his sword forms with the Sharingan.

She was confidant that she could stop Kisame from using Samehada to absorb her personal chakra, but thought he might still be able to absorb chakra from her techniques. This left her with a choice between using Shikotsumyaku or Tsunade's strength technique. Since she needed to use the Shikotsumyaku to armor herself anyway, it was an easy choice even though she preferred to use long-range ninjutsu or if she had to get close, Chakra Scalpels or the Rasengan.

She fired off several rounds of Finger Drilling Bullets with her left hand and used Gale Palm to accelerate them. She was careful to end the Wind Technique before it reached the missing nin so that she did not provide Samehada with fuel.

Kisame batted the finger knuckles out of the air with Samehada and laughed mockingly. "You'll have to do better than that, Little Girl."

"Bring it, Guppy," she taunted.

The shark man looked irritated. She guessed that not many spoke down to him like that. He swung Samehada at her. She grabbed it with a lock of hair and tried to yank it out of his grasp, but she did not have the leverage or the mass to do so. She struck at his wrist with her bone sword, but he let go of his grip on his sword. The sudden lack of resistance caused Samehada to go flying, slipping out of her hair's grasp. In the process, the sword's bandages came off revealing that the sword was actually a spiny creature roughly triangular in shape. The sword growled at her.

"Samehada doesn't like you very much," Kisame said. "You won't give her any chakra."

Naruto rolled her eyes. "Excuse me for not helping the scumbag that wants to kill me."

Kisame grinned. "Most people don't talk to me like that."

Naruto grinned like a fox. "I talk to the Kyuubi all the time. Frankly, you aren't that impressive."

I should think not, growled the Kyuubi.

"We'll see if you still think so as you're breathing your last breath and the Kyuubi is our prisoner," the shark man said with a snear.

Kisame and Samehada tried to come at her from both sides. She retreated, angling so that Hinata would have a clear shot at his back. She saw that Kisame and Samehada were getting too close to each other, so she fired Finger Drilling Bullets from her left hand again and formed a Tiger Seal to use her Missile Shadow Clone Technique on it. She sent her hair after the sentient sword to try and corral it.

Kisame vomited up a large store of water to use the Water Formation Wall Technique, which blocked the bullets. Samehada jumped around, avoiding her hair.

Suddenly, the wall collapsed and Samehada disappeared in a puff of smoke. Standing where Kisame had been was a glowing Hinata with a single short, glowing horn growing from her forehead. The glow fade and the horn disappeared. Her eyes remained in the Tenseigan stage, however

"This is not Kisame," Hinata said, confused.

Naruto approached and examined the body at her feet. The obviously dead man had a Sand Badge on his forehead. Naruto knelt down and examined the body.

"Traces of Kisame's chakra lingers in him," she said.

"Some kind of possession technique?" Hinata asked.

"Must be," Naruto answered. She produced a scroll and sealed the body into it. "Let's go help the others. They ran over to where Sasuke and Kakashi were confronting Itachi.

It appeared that the two Uchiha had been mostly engaged in a genjutsu battle with Kakashi trying to strike at Itachi while Sasuke distracted him. Naruto and Hinata spread out and the four shinobi boxed the missing nin in. Chiyo, despite her earlier words, seemed content to merely watch.

"You owe me some answers, Itachi," Sasuke said. "Are you going to surrender?"

"Not today, Little Brother," Itachi said. His chakra flared and then diminished. He collapsed, his features changing as he did. The new figure was wearing typical Suna clothing and Sand Badge.

"I recognize him," Chiyo said. "He went missing during Akatsuki's attack on Suna."

"Kisame was also turned into a Suna nin after he died," Naruto said, "but his chakra still lingered in the dead body. It has to be some kind of possession technique. It copied all of their gear—even Samehada."

"Itachi wasn't fighting at his full strength," Kakashi commented.

Naruto nodded. "Kisame had a little less than a third of the chakra he had when I saw him last. I thought it was odd, but he still had a huge amount, so I didn't put much stock into it."

Naruto sealed the body into another storage scroll. She handed both of them to Chiyo. "As Suna's representative, I think it's appropriate that you take charge of the bodies."

"I suppose," Chiyo grumbled, "since we don't know whether they're traitors or victims."

"Let's continue," Kakashi said. He whistled and Pakun came out of hiding.

They resumed following the pug.