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Chapter 4: Ambush!

-Unknown Location-

Tobi once again sat alone in a cavern, going over the current situation in his mind, and so far everything was going according to the plan. The Tsuchikage had sent a large elite force with a lot of his most skilled shinobi in pursuit of the Kyuubi, and among those in the force were most of the ANBU patrols usually guarding the Yonbi and Gobi. Now getting close to the Jinchuuriki wouldn't be a problem with the meager defenses left protecting them. All that was left was for Zetsu to confirm when the assault unit went too far past Iwagakure's border that they wouldn't be able to help once the Akatsuki made their move.

Speaking of the devil, at that moment the flytrap-like man materialized out of the ground. He turned to Tobi, ready to inform his leader of the development of their scheme. ''The force hunting the Kyuubi is already on the seas of the Land Of Lightning giving chase to the Jinchuuriki. At this point even if they were to turn around and come back they would not get here in time to save the Yonbi and Gobi'' reported black Zetsu in his deep monotone voice like always.

That was what Tobi had been waiting for. It was the moment to start making their move. ''Now is the time. Inform the others to be ready to act. But have them wait for our signal. The attack has to be a coordinated effort if we want to capture both Jinchuuriki at the same time''

''Will do, Tobi. They are already on standby, some of them are restless to start'' Said white Zetsu with his usual cheery disposition before submerging himself and his black half on the ground after just arriving.

Tobi stood up, ready to leave too. Even if he wasn't part of the operation he still wanted to see the performance of the Akatsuki members, albeit at a safe distance of course, as it still wasn't the moment to reveal himself to the world.

-Sea of The Land of Lightning-

The cold breeze of the foggy night could be felt on the ship, but Kitsuchi didn't even pay attention to the uncomfortable weather. A lot was at stake on their success to pay any mind to it.

The Iwa commander stood motionless on the railing of the wooden ship, showing and air of confidence and authority to help the morale of his troops. For Iwa Shinobi like them who were used to always fighting on dry land, the climate conditions were unfavorable. Not only was the environment bothersome, but most of the time they didn't even have land for their earth based Jutsu, and the only times they did was when they passed by the occasional small island. This meant that they were fighting at a slight disadvantage when it came to their Jutsu repertoire. Still, even with that handicap, most of them were Jounin, and that meant that almost all the Shinobi in their unit were proficient in more than one element, and some Shinobi like Akatsuchi could expel rocks from their mouth created with chakra. Also, they had members of the Kamizuru clan, and they didn't use a lot of element based Jutsu because their clan techniques were based around manipulating insects, not unlike Konoha's Aburame clan, except that they specialized in the use of bees. And speaking of which, some members of the Kamizuru clan were using their insects to scout the location of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and the Sannin to ensure that they were still on the right track. With the mist covering their advance, they were safe to get close and get the upper hand with a surprise attack. Their ship should be bigger anyway, they rented a big warship from some mercenaries and the Jinchuuriki was traveling in a small fishing ship; they would have the advantage once they started raiding their target.

A member of the Kamizuru clan was just receiving some of the bees he had sent out to scout, and after gathering the intel his small Summon had brought him he went straight to Kitsuchi. ''Captain Kitsuchi, we are only half an hour away from our target, if it wasn't for the mist we could have a visual already''

Kitsuchi gave out a deep sigh, knowing that a battle would soon break out. He quickly composed himself and called out to his men in authority. ''All of you, prepare for battle! We will soon reach the Jinchuuriki and Jiraiya of the Sannin. If you have anything you need to do to properly equip yourselves, now is the time!'' Everyone started digging through their ninja tools and grabbed any weapons they tough they may need.

Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi were on the lower deck finishing their preparations. Akatsuchi was nervous about the mission, he had never been against a foe such as Jiraiya, and the prospect of fighting the Sannin wasn't too appealing for the plump boy, so he tried to relieve some tension with small chat. ''What do you think of this, Kurotsuchi? Aren't you a bit tense, or scared for that matter?''

The tomboy turned to look at her friend with an excited grin. ''Scared? not a chance. This is the biggest mission I have ever gotten, and if we succeed we will deliver a fatal blow to Konoha. Besides, we have a large force of strong Shinobi with us. Even just you, me, and dad would be a force to be reckoned. With these many people here there is no way we can fail. And on top of that our targets are an old man and an inexperienced Jinchuuriki, how hard can it be to beat them with our forces?'' said the girl with the confidence she was known for.

Even with his friend's reassurance, Akatsuchi didn't feel any less nervous. ''I hope you are right, Kurotsuchi. The Sannin are supposed to be some of the strongest Shinobi in the world. And we are always told to be wary of Jinchuuriki regardless of their experience''

The girl gave an unconcerned huff. ''We'll be fine, you worry too much, Akatsuchi'' Said the girl as she finished strapping her sword to her waist.

Akatsuchi decided to drop the subject, knowing that he obviously wasn't convincing his friend about the dangers of the mission. He instead focused on something else that caught his attention. ''By the way Kurotsuchi, that's not your usual sword is it? I have never seen it before'' he said pointing at the sword on her hip. It looked like it had seen some use as the handle was worn out even if it still seemed solid.

Kurotsuchi put a gloved hand on the handle and took the weapon out of the scabbard. ''Oh this. Yeah, this was my mother's. I had it stored away. I didn't want to use it until I became Jounin and was skilled enough to honor her memory'' She explained while examining the blade with a tender look as the blade showed the reflection of her pink eyes.

Akatsuchi looked at her with a kind look, imagining how much the blade had to mean to the girl. ''Don't worry about a thing, you are a great Kunoichi. I'm sure you will have no problem honoring her memory''

Kurotsuchi put away the weapon and coughed in her hand, knowing that she probably showed more vulnerability than she intended. ''Well, that's enough of that. This is not the time to be getting mushy. Come on, we are just about to engage the Konoha bastards. We can't be down here when that happens'' She said as she started going up the stairs to the upper deck.

Akatsuchi went after her and soon joined everyone, with his worry returning at remembering the upcoming fight.

Naruto shivered at the cold air. He was getting tired of this weather. He hadn't seen so much mist since his fight with Zabuza, and he couldn't say that he had missed it. ''Ero-Sennin, are you sure that the giant turtle was around here? It's cold as hell out here and I can't see a damn thing'' Said Naruto before sneezing loudly.

Jiraiya was leaning on the railing, trying in vain to spot anything around them using the small telescope that he usually used to peep at girls with. ''You heard the old man that lent us this ship. He said that he saw an immense island around these parts that seems to come and go as it pleases. If that's not an island on a turtle I don't know what else could explain that. Unless it's a haunted island or something''

Naruto bleached at his master's words. ''A h-haunted I-island? Like with g-ghosts and stuff?'' And now that he thought about it, maybe the haunted island would explain the mist and the cold. Now his shivering got even worse, and not because of the bad weather. He started pacing from one side of the deck to the other, looking scared and on guard for anything suspicious.

Jiraiya gave an exasperated sigh and turned around to scold naruto. ''Would you quit that!? You are such a superstitious brat, you know that?'' He put the telescope away and regarded naruto with an incredulous look. ''Ghosts aren't real, naruto, I was just joking. Seriously, what kind of shinobi gets scared of that?''

That got the Jinchuuriki to stop pacing and tried to act tough in an effort to save face. ''Scared? me? Of course I'm not scared, Ero-Sennin! Who is scared? Uzumaki Naruto is scared of no ghosts'' He finished with a rather unconvincing smile, which only made Jiraiya look at him with a deadpan expression, obviously not believing him at all. Suddenly Naruto perked up. ''Hey Ero-Sennin, look! I can see something! Could it be the island?'' He said while pointing at the distance.

The Sannin got a curious look and glanced over where naruto was pointing at, and he could indeed see a silhouette through the mist. However it wasn't big enough to be what they were looking for, but it was still rather big, but that was probably because whatever it was, it was close. Soon the silhouette revealed itself to be a large ship, at least ten times the size of their own. Jiraiya narrowed his eyes in suspicion at the ship's abrupt appearance.

They both stared at it for a moment before they heard the ship's crew yell. ''Charge!'' ''Get those Konoha scum!'' suddenly a large squad of Iwa Shinobi started raiding Jiraiya and Naruto's ship.

Jiraiya widened his eyes in alarm at the unprovoked attack. ''Oh hell no! Naruto, prepare to fight, this is an ambush!'' Yelled the old master at his pupil.

Naruto looked equally as shocked before snapping himself out of it and formed a single hand seal for his favorite technique. ''Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!(Multiple Shadow Clone technique)'' In an instant, their small ship was bursting with copies of Naruto. The doppelgangers charged with a battle cry, clashing with their enemies mid-air and matching their numbers. Soon Jiraiya joined the fray along with Iwa's strongest members of their unit, and the sea became a battlefield.

-Iwagakure no Sato-

Ohnoki was restless knowing the delicate mission that he had entrusted his son and granddaughter could put Iwa in a terrible position should it go awry. It made his nerves eat him from the inside, he didn't even care about his stacking paperwork for his mind was so clouded with worry over the success of such a delicate task. He only hoped that Kitsuchi's fears didn't come true.

Suddenly one of his Chunin entered through his door with urgency. ''Tsuchikage-Sama! There's an emergency, you should come immediately!'' the young man was so worked up that he didn't care to ask for permission to enter.

Ohnoki jumped in his chair at the intrusion. ''What's the meaning of this? You better have a good reason for barging into my office in such a manner.'' said Ohnoki, angry at the disrespect of his subordinate.

Even his leader's foul mood didn't deter the young man from his haste. ''It's Han and Roshi, sir! Something is wrong with the Jinchuuriki.''

The Tsuchikage got upset upon hearing that. ''What do you mean about that?'' demanded the diminutive man.

Ohnoki followed the Chunin to the roof, and he could, in fact, see a great amount of smoke coming from two different locations in the distance: Roshi and Han's cabins. ''They are battling, they wouldn't be using that much strength otherwise.'' Said the Tsuchikage in worry. For them to be fighting just when he had recalled their ANBU patrols had to mean that someone was waiting for the perfect moment to go for both of them at once, it couldn't be a coincidence; someone planned this. ''Call all the available Shinobi we have, we need to protect the Yonbi and Gobi! I'll be personally going to help Roshi, you and the rest help Han!'' said the Tsuchikage in a hurry to the young man.

Before the man could reply, Ohnoki noticed two small white clay spiders crawling on both sides of the Shinobi and widened his eyes, recognizing that particular Jutsu. The small man floated away with his gravity Jutsu just as the small arachnids detonated on the Chunin he had just been talking to. The resulting explosion was big enough to blow a good part of the roof they were standing on, and the only sign that the young man had been there was a shower of blood and gore. Ohnoki looked with shock at what just a second ago had been one of his Shinobi.

''Long time no see, old man. Did you miss your old student, un?'' called a cloaked figure in the sky, riding what appeared to be a giant white dragon made of clay

If Ohnoki hadn't been angry before, now it was a certainty. ''Deidara. I knew it was you, I could recognize your Jutsu anywhere.'' The small man glared at his former pupil.

The blond man grinned mockingly at the old Kage. ''And here I thought that you would be happier to see me. I was in the neighborhood and decided to take a moment of my time to visit my old home. Everything's looking good over here, you have done a great job of keeping things in check, Ohnoki. However, this place is missing my touch. But no matter, that's nothing a couple C1 won't fix, un.''

Ohnoki leveled himself with his attacker using his gravity Jutsu and took a glance at the attire of his former student. ''That cloak...so You are a member of Akatsuki now?''

''A little slow on the update, old man. I have been a member for a while now, un.'' Said Deidara, careful to keep his distance. He knew better than anyone that you shouldn't underestimate Ohnoki.

The Tsuchikage knew about the Akatsuki, they were a mercenary group that always performed splendidly and practically never failed an assignment, and they were incredibly cheap to boot. Ohnoki himself had used their services several times in the past, as he couldn't argue with the results they delivered. But being under attack by them made him feel like a fool for ever associating with the bastards. The undersized man crossed his arms over his chest and demanded answers from his former soldier. ''Stop fooling around! what do you and your accomplices hope to gain from this? Why are you targeting our Jinchuuriki?''

Deidara gave a dry laugh at Ohnoki's questions. ''Ha, like if I would tell you something like that. But enough chatter, weren't you going to help your precious Biju right now? Come on, don't mind me, you go ahead. Well, that is if you don't care to leave me here while I give Iwa a new makeover.'' Said the blond man while he started molding more explosive clay with the mouths in his hands.

The small Tsuchikage's eyes narrowed in barely contained rage at the actions of the man. ''I always hated your cowardly way of fighting, Deidara. But I never expected you to fall this low.''

''See how much I care. Try to keep up, old timer, un.'' And so Deidara gave a sharp flip on his dragon and quickly started circling Iwagakure, all while dropping his bombs on civilians and ninja alike, their screams of terror and agony filling the air.

''I'll have your head for this, Deidara!'' Yelled a now vivid Ohnoki, and started giving chase to the mad bomber, maneuvering through mountains and buildings as the self-proclaimed artist continued to bomb the city. ''Take this, you fucking traitor! Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu!(Dust Release: Detachment Of The Primitive World Technique)'' a small conical light started forming between the old Kage's hands, before expanding in a straight and large beam of light going directly for the terrorist.

Deidara halted brusquely the advance of his giant clay dragon, barely dodging the beam. Relief washed over him at avoiding such a deadly Jutsu. As the Tsuchikage's former student, he knew that technique destroyed at a molecular level. If he was hit by that there was no chance of surviving. ''Damn, that was a close call. Way too close for comfort. I think I really pissed off the old man this time, un.'' he didn't plan to stick around for long anyway. He just needed to buy some time for Sasori, Kakuzu and Hidan so they could finish capturing the Yonbi and Gobi. Thanks to the missing patrols usually guarding the Bijus they were discovered only after they were halfway done with their fights, but they still needed just a small distraction to avoid any risk of anyone getting there in time to save the Jinchuuriki or give chase once they got them. And that task had fallen onto Deidara, as he had the best mobility out of all of them, and was also the most slippery. He just needed to keep Ohnoki and the rest of Iwa busy for a short while. But at least as long as he stayed in the skies the rest of the Iwa ninja couldn't do anything but defend themselves from his explosives.

Ohnoki knew that Deidara was stalling for his comrades, but he couldn't leave Iwagakure unprotected to the assault of the crazy blond. If he had to choose to save his village or his Jinchuuriki, he would choose his village a thousand times over. ''You'll regret ever showing your face here again. The next one won't miss.''

Deidara clicked his tongue in worry, if he kept running away he would eventually be caught, so it was time to start defending himself. ''Don't think you can't take me on so easily, you old bat. Let's see how you like a taste of the greatness of my art, un.'' The large dragon turned around and went straight for the old Kage. The clay creature started spitting small birds made of clay that started homing on the small man. Deidara also started making exploding birds made of clay, and soon a large flock of the small creatures started swarming Ohnoki until he couldn't keep dodging for long and few of them managed to reach him. Deidara made a single hand seal and yelled ''Katsu!'' causing a large explosion. However, instead of the charred remains of Iwa's beloved leader, what fell was a rain of small pebbles. ''a Rock Clone. Where did he go?'' while looking around for any sign of the Tsuchikage he caught sight of a bright light coming from down below. He widened his eyes and quickly did a barrel roll, but was just a bit too slow and the next Jinton beam obliterated the left side of his dragon, along with his arm.

The mad bomber started a free fall while yelling bloody murder due to his missing limb, but he quickly got his bearings and made a large bird of clay with his remaining arm holding on to it. He couldn't afford to get to the ground or he would get ganged up on by all the Iwa forces. ''screw this! This is long enough, I'm getting out of here.'' Deidara started gaining altitude for his next and final Jutsu, pulling out a small clay statue that had an open mouth and wing-like arms wrapped around it. ''I'll make you pay for taking my arm, old man! or rather, your precious village will! I have a special gift just for you. My C3 will make a burning crater out of Iwa because art is an explosion!'' The Akatsuki member proceeded to drop the statue over the village, and as soon as he did, the statue became huge and extended its arms as it continued its free fall.

Ohnoki looked in horror at the large figure. Fearing for the safety of his people he used the Jinton once more and fired it at the statue, tearing a huge chunk of it. However, the rest of the statue detonated soon after and the inferno that enveloped the sky could be seen for kilometers.

Once the explosion died off, The old Tsuchikage took to the air once more to evaluate the damage done. He managed to trigger the explosion high enough that the radius of it damaged only the taller buildings, but still the shockwave was so strong that most of the surrounding structures got big parts of them blown off, and adding the rest of the C1 bombs Deidara had been using, there was virtually no building in Iwa that hadn't received some sort of damage. And speaking of the mad bomber, there were no signs of him anywhere, obviously, he used the last Jutsu as a distraction to cover his retreat.

Ohnoki's ire was palpable. He had been unable to protect his Jinchuuriki, his village, and his people. He continued to watch the damage done when one of his ANBU reached the roof of the building he was floating over. ''Tsuchikage-Sama, we suffered heavy casualties in the center and west side of the village, and we still don't know the status of the Jinchuuriki! Your orders sir?'' Asked the masked Shinobi, anxious for the answer of his leader.

''Gather all the able Shinobi you can find and look for wounded. Forget the Jinchuuriki, we must have lost them by now; attending the injuries of our people is more important at the moment.'' said the diminutive man in resigned anger, knowing that they lost and the enemy had gotten what they wanted. The hatred in the man's eyes could have chilled to the bone anyone that met his gaze. ''Akatsuki, I'll paint the streets red with the blood of your members, that I promise you.''

-Sea of The Land Of Lightning-

The ocean was littered with the remains of what used to be a fishing boat, and there was the occasional Iwa corpse here and there. Even the warship that Iwa had used was in a poor condition by the ferocity of the skirmish. The only thing keeping the battle even was Jiraiya's prowess and the sheer number of Kyuubi enhanced clones that Naruto could make, and even then, the two Konoha Shinobi were starting to be overwhelmed, having had more than a few close shaves. The situation was so critical that Naruto had been forced into his Chakra Cloak, which made him sport a bubbling red aura of Chakra in the shape of a fox, had his canines and claws elongated, made his hair wilder, his whiskers thicker, and his eyes red and slitted.

Kitsuchi was impressed. He knew of Jiraiya's strength but he never had the chance of fighting the man until now, not even during the war did the occasion present itself, but he had never expected the Sannin to be this strong. The man had managed to repel almost everything they threw at them, and the sheer amount of Shadow Clones that the boy could make was insane, but he could notice that both of them wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer. Even if the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki seemed to have almost unlimited chakra, Jiraiya did not, it was only a matter of time until he dried himself out. ''All of you, keep them on the defensive! They can barely hold on, victory is almost ours!'' All his troops reorganized themselves and started preparing another round of attacks.

Jiraiya noticed their attack pattern and knew what to expect, but he also knew that he and his pupil were in trouble if things kept going at this rate. There was no choice, he would have to use Sage Mode. Not only did Sage Mode improve all his abilities tremendously, but it also let him save his own chakra by using natural energy from the environment. Besides, having Shima and Fukusaku helping him would be a great asset. ''Naruto, I need you to cover me for a moment, use more of the Kyuubi's Chakra if you can, but I need them off my back!'' Yelled the Sannin to the feral boy.

''You got it, Ero-Sennin!'' Naruto focused for a moment before a second tail of Chakra materialized behind him. With the increase of the amount of Chakra, Naruto could also feel the increase in the Kyuubi's influence over him. His demeanor became more savage, and after creating a dozen Shadow Clones they all gave a mighty roar. Due to the Kyuubi's Chakra powering them, the clones battle cries were so powerful that they caused small tidal waves that disoriented the Iwa Shinobi. Taking advantage of the chaos they made, the Chakra Cloaked copies jumped towards their enemies with red spheres of compressed circulating Chakra in their hands. ''Rasengan!(Spiraling Sphere)'' Most of the Iwa Shinobi managed to dodge the assault, but the few that didn't, met their end in a giant explosion of water that the attack leveled in the collision.

The massive attack made the Iwa ninja lose sight of their targets in the mist when they were forced to retreat a great distance to avoid it. They stopped for a moment trying to relocate the two Konoha ninja when out of nowhere a small stream of high-pressure water dismembered some of their ninjas, forcing the Iwa Shinobi once again to dodge to avoid being skewered.

From the mist emerged Jiraiya, but his appearance had quite a few changes. He was now sporting a goatee, a big warty nose, and webbed hands and feet. And aside from his change of appearance, he had two small old toads on his shoulders, one seemed to be a male and the other a female, and both were wearing small capes fitting for their size. The male toad was green and had a white mop of hair, large eyebrows, and a goatee. And the female toad was a lighter shade of green and had short wavy purple hair. The blond boy was nowhere to be seen, most likely he fell back to avoid getting in his master's way.

''I think a got a few of them, Jiraiya-Chan.'' Said the male toad, now confirmed to have been the cause of the stream of water.

''Seriously boy, why are you always summoning us in such annoying places? Salt water is bad for our skin, you know.'' said the female toad, annoyed at the Sage.

''I'm sorry Fukasaku-Ojisan, Shima-Obaasan. I'm in a bit of a pickle here, I can't fend these guys off and protect Naruto at the same time all by myself.'' Said the Sage, somewhat embarrassed at being scolded by the toad, but soon gave the Iwa Shinobi all his attention once more. ''Now you bastards, I'll show you what happens when you mess with the great Jiraiya!'' Boasted the old pervert while making a dramatic pose, which earned him two punches to the face, courtesy of his amphibian friends.

''Don't yell on our ears, you moron!'' Chided the couple in unison.

Some of the Iwa Shinobi took advantage of the distraction that the Sannin and his summons were making and started charging Jiraiya head on while doing hand seals for their Jutsu; but in the blink of an eye the Sage was upon them, wielding in one hand a giant blue ball of chakra like the one the Jinchuuriki used moments ago, but this one was several times the size of its user. ''Cho Odama Rasengan!(Ultra-Big Ball Spiraling Sphere)'' Yelled Jiraiya while bringing down the enormous sphere of condensed Chakra on the dozen Iwa Shinobi. The cries of agony of the men were soon muffled as their bodies started disintegrating in the giant orb until nothing was left of them.

Kurotsuchi was in awe at the raw power that the Sannin was showing, she hadn't expected the man to be this powerful. ''Kurotsuchi'' she was taken out of her stupor by Kitsuchi's call and she turned to look at her dad.

When Kitsuchi knew that he had his daughter's full attention he proceeded to relay his order. ''Take our remaining ANBU and go past Jiraiya without being noticed, use the mist as your cover. I need you to apprehend the Jinchuuriki and bring him to us. Once we have him in our grasp we will make a run for it. Jiraiya has revealed his true power, to stay and fight him head-on would be suicide. Our only chance of success is to escape with our target. But be careful, a Biju's Chakra is not to be underestimated, even if its user is not that much skilled by himself, that Chakra is so strong that it makes the boy a threat. '' he told the girl with authority.

Kurotsuchi looked at her father with determination and nodded. ''I won't let you down, dad.'' She called their remaining squad of ANBU, which was about a dozen, and went into the mist and out of sight, intending on hiding from the powerful Sage as they tried to reach their objective.

Jiraiya, nevertheless suspected what they were trying to do, but he wasn't about to go looking blindly for ANBU level Shinobi, but he knew a way to easily find them. ''They are hiding from us. I'm counting on you, Obaasan.'' requested to Shima.

The small summon looked at Jiraiya knowingly and nodded. ''On it, Jiraiya-Chan'' She stuck out a bizarre looking tongue. It was long and thick, with warts all over it, and seemed to have a face with small squinted eyes and a wide grin with sharp teeth. The weird creature-like tongue started sniffing the air, and after a moment, Shima detected a couple signatures, but she widened her eyes in surprise at what she was feeling. With haste, she started elongating her tongue in what appeared to be a random direction. Jiraiya, Fukasaku and even the rest of their Iwa enemies got varied looks of surprise at the weird behavior. The appendage tried to wrap itself around something in the mist that no one could see, and the warts in the tongue started to release an acid substance while trying to catch whatever it had sensed.

Two figures came rapidly out into the middle of the battlefield after just avoiding being melted in the acidic shower. The figures revealed themselves to be two men. They were wearing black cloaks with red clouds, which gave them away as members of Akatsuki.

Jiraiya widened his eyes in worry at the identity of the newcomers, remembering the last time he met them. ''these two again; so this is why Shima-Obaasan looked so worried. The situation just took a turn for the worse.''

One was a very tall man, with gray-blue skin, spiky blue hair, and had what appeared to be gills under his round black eyes. Aside from the standard Akatsuki cloak, he also had a big two-handed sword wrapped in bandages, that at the moment he was resting it against his shoulder while he wielded it one-handed. ''It seems that we have been found out, Itachi-San. Such a shame really, we were planning on killing whichever side was left standing and take the Jinchuuriki for ourselves.'' Said the man with a grin, exposing his sharp teeth.

His partner was a pale skinned man with jet black hair that he kept in a low ponytail and his bangs framed his face. He was devoid of all expression and he had an air of cold serenity about him. But what really stood out were his blood red eyes with three tomoe surrounding each pupil. ''Careful, Kisame. Now that we have lost the element of surprise our mission won't be so simple anymore.'' Said the stoic man to his comrade.

''Heh, silent killing was more Zabuza's style anyway. I'm more of steamroll-through-the-opposition kind of guy.'' Said the blue skinned man, seemingly excited at the prospect of a battle.

Meanwhile, Kitsuchi was filled with dread at the turn of events. Not only did they have their hands full with Jiraiya but now two other monsters decided to appear with the apparent intent of killing everyone there save for the Jinchuuriki.

Jiraiya was the first one to react. He puffed his chest and exhaled a huge quantity of ignited oil. ''Katon: Dai Endan!(Fire Release: Big Flame Bullet)'' the already big flame was made even bigger with both toads using wind Jutsu to enhance the flames. The amount of fire starting to quickly cover the area made the Akatsuki members and the Iwa Shinobi jump to save themselves from burning alive.

Kisame had a wide grin at the intense start to his battle and focused his sights on the Sannin. ''I guess I'll go for the biggest prey first.'' He lunged at the Sage, but before he could reach his intended target, a large fireball forced both him and Jiraiya to split. Recognizing his partner's Jutsu, he turned to Itachi with a puzzled look. ''What's gotten into you, Itachi-San? That could have hit me, you know.''

''Don't fight Jiraiya in his current state, Kisame. He is filled with natural energy at the moment. If you try to absorb it with Samehada you could end up dying. Only a sage can withstand the effects of Natural energy.'' explained Itachi impassively. ''Leave Jiraiya to me, you go after the Kyuubi, he is our number one priority.

Said Sannin cursed under his breath in annoyance. Had Itachi not intervened, Kisame could have taken himself out.

The Shark-like man put on a face of disappointment at having to sit out the main brawl. ''No fair, I always get the boring jobs. But I guess it can't be helped.'' He sighed before resigning himself to his task. '' Fine, I'll leave these guys to you then. I hope that the Kyuubi puts a bit of a fight at least.'' He left so fast that only a blur could be seen when he took off.

Both Kitsuchi and Jiraiya looked worriedly in the direction the man had left, knowing that their daughter and godson respectively, were over there. But as they were about to give chase to the Swordsman, a large curtain of black flames blocked heir path. They looked at the remaining Akatsuki member, knowing that he must have been the cause of such technique.

'That's the same Jutsu he used three years ago to escape my Gamaguchi Shibari(Toad Mouth Bind)' remembered the old Sage. At the time, he had been forced to seal those flames away as they didn't seem like they could be put out.

''What is that? I have never seen a fire like that before. It's even burning on water.'' Thought Kitsuchi in bewilderment.

All the remaining Iwa Shinobi, Itachi, and Jiraiya looked tensely at each other, and in an instant, all three factions started the skirmish once again in an effort to make an opening to go help their respective allies.

When Kisame reached Naruto, the boy and his clones were already engaged in a fight with a squad of ANBU and a short haired Kunoichi. As soon as he arrived, everyone stopped fighting and turned to look at him in surprise. ''Hello there. I'll be taking the Kyuubi now, but you are free to try to stop me, make it worth my while.'' The blue skinned man told them with a predatory gaze.

The ANBU looked extremely wary of the former Kiri ninja, while Kurotsuchi didn't know yet what to make of the odd looking man.

In contrast, Naruto seemed ready to tear apart the Swordsman. While influenced by the Kyuubi, seeing someone that was part of the organization that made him live in worry of being hunted down was more than enough to make his blood boil. He remembered how easily the swordsman had subdued him three years ago, but he sure as hell wasn't going down without a fight.

Naruto created even more Shadow clones. And along with the ones that were fighting the ANBU a moment ago, they rushed at the Monster of Kiri, claws and Rasengan at the ready to tear him to shreds.

Kisame's grin got even wider at the boy's aggression. He avoided their swipes with ease and dispelled them with a slash of his own soon after, and all while he parried the Rasengans with his sword, dissipating them as he absorbed the Chakra powering them.

Kurotsuchi took advantage of the blond distracting the Akatsuki member and signaled her ANBU to capture the boy. ''Now's our chance! Go for the Jinchuuriki!.'' The Shinobi complied and made their way to the Chakra cloaked boy. They split up into two groups, one group jumped into the air, preparing a Water based Collaboration Jutsu, while the one on the ground posed to strike with their blades to incapacitate their target.

Naruto first focused his attention to the ANBU preparing to lunge at him with their swords. He gave a sharp turn of his body, smacking his attackers with his Chakra tails, knocking them back as blood flew from their wounds. He then looked up as he heard the remaining ANBU finishing their Jutsu.

''Suiton: Mizurappa!(Water Release: Water Trumpet)'' Yelled the Iwa Shinobi as they launched a large jet of water from their mouths as they descended upon Naruto.

The Jinchuuriki took a deep breath and gave a loud roar, producing a large shockwave that neutralized the water technique and sent the users flying. He didn't get any respite, however, for as soon as he got rid of the ANBU, Kurotsuchi flanked him and started using her Kekkei Genkai abilities. ''Yoton: Sekkaigyo no Jutsu!(Lava Release: Quicklime Congealing Technique)'' The girl spat a large ball of quicklime from her mouth at the orange-clad Genin.

Naruto attempted to side step the slimy substance, but he wasn't quick enough and one foot got encased in it. He momentarily tried to shake it off, but the quicklime started to harden like concrete at the contact with the water he was standing on, effectively trapping his leg and hindering his movement at having to carry the mass glued to him.

Kurotsuchi saw that her ANBU were starting to come back, having finally recovered from the previous attacks. Feeling confident in having a backup, she pulled out her mother's sword and charged Naruto, intending of cutting his tendons to subdue him. But in an instant, Kisame appeared between her and the boy after finally finishing off the clones. He gave a powerful slash with Samehada that she just barely managed to block with her own sword, but still the force of the blow sent her flying and she crashed into the water and sank into the ocean at the brutal throw.

The ANBU looked in worry at the quick dispatch of the Tsuchikage's granddaughter. ''Lady Kurotsuchi!'' They proceeded to surround the Monster of Kiri, ready to get revenge for the girl.

Kisame glanced around him in boredom at the Iwa Shinobi. ''You are annoying. This isn't fun anymore, you are all a bunch of weaklings.'' He wasn't smiling anymore, all in all, he seemed to be done playing around. After a moment, all the Shinobi circling him attacked at the same time, stabbing their blades into the vital organs of the Akatsuki member, which coughed up blood and rolled his eyes into his skull.

The ANBU gasped in surprise when the seemingly dead Kisame turned into water as they were holding him in place with their swords. ''Suiton: Daikodan no Jutsu!(Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique)'' when they heard the technique they turned around too late to see a giant shark made out of water approaching them at high speed. They didn't have time to dodge as the giant water creature crushed them all in his jaws with a large chomp. All the ANBU were swallowed by the shark as it dived into the water taking them along and leaving a stunned Naruto face to face with the Akatsuki member.

''h-he took them out as if it was nothing.'' thought Naruto in horror at the strength of the shark-like man.

''Now that I finally got rid of these pests come with me like a good little Jinchuuriki. If you resist you'll just make it harder on yourself. I have orders not to kill you, but no one said anything about maiming.'' Said Kisame, having lost all interest in fighting an unworthy opponent.

Naruto stared silently for a moment before recovering his determination. He wasn't gonna give up, even if the situation seemed hopeless. That was his ninja way. He jumped at the swordsman with a battle cry, in an effort to claw his face off.

The tall man easily sidestepped every single swing that Naruto threw at him, and faster that the boy could follow he brought his bandaged sword down on the Jinchuuriki's torso. In that single swipe, the sword absorbed all the demonic Chakra that Naruto was expelling, leaving him back to his normal appearance, his red cloak completely gone.

Naruto gasped and got on one knee, barely able to keep himself standing on the water surface. He always ended up tired when the fox's Chakra ran out, but to have him forcefully taken left him completely exhausted. ''what is the deal with that sword? It took so much of my Chakra I can barely move.''

Nevertheless, Kisame didn't give him a moment to catch his breath. He slashed Naruto one more time, wounding him and making him faint due to Chakra exhaustion and the after effects from using the Kyuubi's power. As the boy started to sink into the sea the man grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up to avoid letting him drown.

''Yoton: Sekkaigyo No Jutsu!(Lava Release: Quicklime Congealing Technique)''

When the former Kiri Shinobi sensed the attack coming, he quickly turned around gave it a chop with Samehada, once again absorbing the energy powering the quicklime Jutsu and leaving it useless. He searched for the user of the technique and found the same Kunoichi he had dealt with earlier. She looked annoyed at having been tossed so embarrassingly, and took out her own sword and clashed with Samehada, pressing against the man with all her might.

''You are out of your league, girlie. But you have spunk, I'll give you that.'' Said the Shark man with an amused grin.

She clenched her teeth in rage, she hated being underestimated. ''Shut up, you piece of shit! You just came here to ruin my mission and kill my comrades. I'll make you pay for that!'' She tried to hold her ground, but she was being pushed back fast, and the worst part was that Kisame didn't even seem to be putting much effort into it, and all while carrying an unconscious Naruto on the other hand.

''That mouth of yours is gonna get you killed, girl. So much confidence without the skill to back it up. You should learn your place.'' Said Kisame with his grin returning, finding pleasure in tearing down Kurotsuchi's ego.

Faster than Kurotsuchi could follow, Kisame delivered a hard kick to her stomach, making her stumble and lowering her guard for a moment. The former Kiri Shinobi exploited her momentary stunned state to swing his sword into her chest, wounding her and taking a large chunk of her Chakra.

The tomboy gave a cry of pain and brought a hand to hold her injury, staining her palm in blood. She started having trouble standing because of her Chakra exhaustion. With her current reserves, in a few minutes, she wouldn't even be able to keep water walking.

She looked to Kisame with dread. She hadn't felt this terrified in a long time. In a single attack, he weakened her enough to have her completely at his mercy. Whatever he threw at her next she knew she wouldn't be able to avoid it. The man gave another swing of his massive sword with the intent of finishing her off. She lifted her mother's sword to block it, but she knew it was useless, with her current strength the attack would go through her defense without a problem.

However, before the blade reached her, Kitsuchi rapidly came out of the mist to parry Samehada with a kunai, just barely halting the attack. Soon after, a large golem made of rock pushed Kisame to the side, making him drop Naruto. Akatsuchi appeared from the mist too, dissipating the golem he just used to hit the shark-like man. The plump boy turned to his friend in concern ''Are you ok, Kurotsuchi?''

She looked in surprise and relief at her friend and father, not expecting their intervention. She nodded to Akatsuchi, confirming her wellbeing; the wound wasn't life threatening at the moment but it would have to be patched up soon to avoid becoming so.

Her father had her eyes peeled in watch for the missing Akatsuki member and quickly grabbed Naruto to keep him from sinking. He took a side glance to her daughter to relay her a new order. ''Kurotsuchi, take the boy and go, quickly. The Uchiha and Jiraiya will be here soon, the rest of our forces are keeping them occupied, but they won't last. Akatsuchi and I will try to hold this one for as long as we can.'' He said while handing her the unconscious Jinchuuriki.

She took the boy and carried him with uncertainty, not liking the idea of leaving her father and best friend to face such a dangerous opponent by themselves. Suddenly, Kisame came rushing at them, sword at the ready to cleave them off. Akatsuchi created another rock golem and intercepted the blade while Kitsuchi encased his first in stone with a Jutsu, preparing himself to join the fight. ''Go now, Kurotsuchi!'' Yelled her father in urgency. She didn't waste another moment and took off, not even looking back.

She ran through the mist with Naruto on her back. She could barely keep a decent pace with her low Chakra and the open wound on her chest, but she continued nonetheless. She kept on looking for any place she could hide and rest. After she had recovered enough she would go looking for her father and what was left of their unit, but first, she needed time to heal properly.

After a while of sprinting she started to make out a figure in the mist, and after getting closer she noticed that it was huge. Soon she came to see a large island, larger than any island she had seen until now. It seemed to have a large forest with giant spiky trees that was more than big enough to lose any pursuers. She wondered how she hadn't seen it before, with its sheer size it should be hard to miss, even with the mist. But right now she didn't care about that, she was glad to have found a place to rest.

Itachi was busy looking for his partner as he expertly dodged the Jutsu his attackers were sending his way. After his battle with Jiraiya of the Sannin and the Iwa ninja went on for a while, his enemies reached the conclusion that Akatsuki was the main threat to take care about. Fighting Jiraiya was difficult all on its own, but fighting the sage and the Iwa Shinobi at the same time was a dangerous business, so he had been forced to flee and attempt to regroup with his partner. When he found Kisame, he was fighting two other Jounin from Iwa, and by the looks of it, he was winning.

Kisame looked as fresh as ever. Meanwhile, Kitsuchi had a couple gaping wounds on his leg and torso, while Akatsuchi was on all fours barely clinging to the water surface due to a deep, bloody injury on his back. When the blue skinned man noticed Itachi he flashed his normal toothy grin, glad to be reunited with his comrade. ''There you are Itachi-San. I was wondering what was taking you so long to catch up, I feared that Jiraiya had gotten the drop on you.''

''We have to hurry, Jiraiya and the rest of the Iwa squad are trying to get us first before they kill each other. Where is the Kyubi?'' asked Itachi impassively, even tough he seemed to be in a hurry he still acted calm and collected.

Kisame put on a sheepish look at the question. ''Oh well, you see, he kinda managed to get away. Some Kunoichi took him and made a run for it, I couldn't follow her while I dealt with these guys.''

''I see.'' If Itachi was annoyed, he didn't show it. ''We fall back then. Jiraiya and the rest will be here shortly. If the Jinchuuriki isn't here there is no point to keep fighting.''

''Like I'm letting you bastards get away again.'' Jiraiya and the two toads finally arrived, closely followed by the rest of the Iwa ninja. Shima and Fukasaku were already preparing their next Jutsu, ''Senpo: Goemon!(Sage Art: Goemon)'' after taking a deep breath, Jiraiya and his two summons spat a combined solution of oil, fire and wind, creating a sea of burning toad oil that threatened to boil the two men alive.

Kisame quickly made some hand seals and spat a great amount of water from his mouth in an effort to counter Jiraiya's technique. ''Suiton: Bakusui Shoha!(Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave)'' The large amount of water coming from the former Kiri ninja became a gigantic wave as it added the water from the ocean to its already massive volume. The two Jutsu clashed with great force, making the sea shift violently as a large quantity of steam rose from the crash.

Jiraiya and the Iwa Shinobi waited a moment for the steam to clear. The conflict had lasted so long that the sun was already up and the mist had started to dissipate too. When the view was clear again they managed to see both Akatsuki members riding two sharks made of water. The creatures were incredibly fast in the ocean water, and in moments the two men vanished into the horizon, leaving Jiraiya and the Iwa platoon in the middle of the sea.

The Sannin and the remaining Iwa ninja stared warily at each other, waiting for their battle to resume. But before such a thing could happen, Kitsuchi stepped forward with a limp and started talking to the toad sage. ''The Jinchuuriki was lost in the chaos, we don't know where he is. We could keep fighting until we are all dead, but right now is pointless to continue. We are willing to back off if you are.'' Kitsuchi knew that it wasn't completely true. While they didn't know exactly where the boy was, he knew that he was still in Kurotsuchi's care. But their first priority was finding his daughter and the Jinchuuriki, fighting Jiraiya was too dangerous and would be an unnecessary waste of time. He didn't think they could win against the Sannin either. So all in all, avoiding further confrontation was in their best interests.

Jiraiya was enraged at the audacity of asking for a truce when they were the cause of this mess in the first place. ''You are the ones that attacked us! You are responsible for separating me from my student and gave the Akatuski the perfect opportunity to attack! So no, you aren't getting off the hook that easily'' The livid Sannin looked ready to slaughter them all.

''Jiraiya-Chan I agree with them, we should focus on finding your pupil instead.'' Intervened Fukasaku before His summoner started the fight anew.

''Pa is right boy, we have no more reason to keep fighting. And besides, finding young Naruto is more important right now.'' Shima tried to reason, thinking the same thing as her husband.

Kitsuchi and his men were tensely waiting for an answer from the Sannin, ready to defend themselves should he not desist.

Jiraiya meanwhile was grinding his teeth in ire. He wanted to get payback for all the trouble the Iwa bastards had caused, but he knew that logically the small toads were right. Finding Naruto was of utmost importance, it had way more priority than getting revenge on his attackers. After a bit of internal conflict, he decided to withdraw. ''Fine. But don't think this is over. The Hokage will be hearing from this, and she will bring dire consequences to you all.'' Spat Jiraiya with venom in his voice before banishing in a Body Flicker.

Kitsuchi and the rest of the remaining Shinobi let out a sigh they didn't know they had been holding, relieved at being alive. However, Kitsuchi soon called out with authority once more. ''No time to rest just yet! we have to find Kurotsuchi and the Jinchuuriki before Jiraiya does, so move it!'' At their commander's order, all the men scrambled to look for the missing girl. But despite looking for hours they couldn't find a thing, they didn't even know where she could have possibly gotten herself into. There was sea as far as the eye could see, so hiding places weren't even nearby. It was as if she and the boy had just disappeared.

Author's note: Finally! I have been writing this chapter for days. This particular chapter showed me something: I'm not good at writing action scenes, at all. that's part of the reason why it took so long to write because it takes me a really long time to word right what I'm trying to express when it comes to action. And even after all the time, it took I'm still not completely happy with how it turned out, but oh well, I'm still learning so I will get better...I hope. I'm gonna start writing the next chapter right away, in the next one we will finally be seeing some Naruto and Kurotsuchi interaction! but they won't be getting lovey Dovey just yet, obviously. So, as always please tell me if you like the chapter, or if you don't like the chapter and if so, please tell how I could improve. So until next time!