Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...

Note: Well, here's the new chapter. Wow, I was actually able to update faster. Anyway, thanks again for the reviews. Hope you people like this chapter too (after all that intensity, i needed to create some "fillers" to tone the intensity down a bit)

Normal - narration/conversation

Italics - thoughts/voices in one's head

Italics and Bold - jutsus

plur: i'm happy you found that meeting to be pretty intense, hehe.
Liliath: haha, thanks a lot! reviews really drive me to write and create better chapters!
PersonaJXT: well, i updated a little faster this time. hehe, don't worry, each chapter brings us closer to the next NaruHina meeting!
Joel: hehehe, thanks for the review! youma's are strong, but even the strongest have weakness, right?
Chocobaby: well, Naruto joined a group that was cool, so he had to learn a few cool stuff, right?
Donut-Nin: don't worry, you'll be seeing more of Asuka soon enough. but for now, consider her to be a part of the 'mystery people' (much like Koujiro and the silver-haired man).

Anyway, here's the new chapter!

-
Shikamaru paces to and fro impatiently, waiting for Temari's results from the medical ninjas. He had thought that she had just lost a lot of blood due to the kunai which was lodged in her stomach; he had not realized that she also a few broken bones to go along with it.

"Oy, Shikamaru, calm down," calls out Chouji, who was sitting down on the bench and looking at Shikamaru with worry in his eyes.

"Argh, I'm a jounin, and I'm supposed to make sure that my team comes back in one piece. I always knew that it was going to be this troublesome, but that girl, if it wasn't for that troublesome girl, I wouldn't be a jounin."

Chouji looks at the medical room and then looks at Shikamaru thoughtfully.

"Shikamaru's changed so much since Temari came... he was always so lazy, but now…"

The door of the medical room suddenly opens, and Temari steps out of the room. She looked weak and needed to support herself using the door, and Shikamaru runs over and starts helping her walk.

"You lazy ass… what are you doing here? You should have gone to the 5th!"

Shikamaru sighs and looks at Chouji, who was eyeing them thoughtfully.

Chouji grins. "Hehe, no worries, Temari. I already went to the 5th in place of Shikamaru and told her the situation. She's already sent all the jounin and chuunin that she could spare towards the Hidden Sand. Shikamaru was too worried for you leave." Chouji's grin grew even larger, and lets out a little snicker.

Temari smiles. "Heh, you idiot. I don't need you worrying over me." But she continues to lean on Shikamaru.

After a few minutes of walking towards the Hokage's office, Temari looks up at the clouds, and speaks out again.

"I wonder what happened… in Suna…"

Shikamaru looks at the clouds as well. "I'm sure… everything's alright…"

But Shikamaru wasn't confident with his words. Something told him that there was something wrong.

"Damn, what a troublesome feeling. I wonder, what HAS happened at Suna…"

-

Naruto looks around at the large room where almost all the Akatsuki members were meeting.

"How boring… I wonder why He had to call all of us this time?"

Naruto yawns and stretches his hands high up in the air while doing so. Koujiro, who was sitting right beside him reaches out and taps him on the shoulder.

"Naruto-kun, it's rude to yawn so openly at a social gathering," Koujiro says with a smile.

"Ahhh, Koujiro-san, it's soo boring here… I thought we were being called for a new mission, but all I get is having to sit here with all these people."

"So what's so wrong with sitting with us, huh? You almost never go these meetings anyway," Kisame answers with a harsh voice.

"Hehe, look who's talking, yeah? You almost never come too anyway, Kisame. Plus let's add the fact that you're usually late, and you can never come with an excuse except 'I was sharpening Samehada…'" Yomi jokingly states.

"Yeah, Yomi's right, you've never ever come early or on time… Sharpening my Samehada my ass, your Samehada doesn't cut, it shaves!" Meimi jokes out loud.

All the Akatsuki members present were either chuckling silently or laughing out loud, Naruto being the loudest one.

"Kuso, why do you guys always make fun of me? Why don't you make fun of Hibiki? He looks more like a freak than I do," Kisame says in a hurt tone.

At the word 'freak' the gigantic member of Akatsuki suddenly stands up and slams his hands on the table.

"Say that again, shark boy, and I'll make sure this fist of mine embeds itself right on your face," the gigantic man says out loud.

"Oooooohhhh!" cries the whole Akatsuki group, apart from Kisame.

"You wanna fight, Stone freak?" Kisame draws his Samehada, and readies himself.

"Fight, fight, fight, fight!" chanted the Akatsuki group, Naruto and Meimi being the loudest chanters of them all.

"Bring it on, you Mist reject!"

"If you're going to fight, at least have enough courtesy to not do so in this room. We don't want Him to see this room trashed before we can even begin the meeting," Itachi says calmly.

"Stop being such a goody-two-shoes, Uchiha. Let them fight wherever they want. They'll be the ones who'll be punished anyway," Girochi states while excitedly waiting for the fight to begin.

"Yeah! Yeah! Fight!" Meimi chants out loud.

"In one corner, we have the Mist reject…" Naruto starts.

"I'm not a Mist reject! I prefer to be called a 'Mist rebel'…"

"Pfff…yeah, whatever…" Yomi says while trying to stop his laughter.

"The Shark-look alike with a bad-ass attitude, Hoshigaki Kisame!" Naruto announces.

No one claps nor cheers.

"Ahem, ahem, and in the opposite corner, we have the ex-Stone Guardian, the fr—"

Hibiki coughs a little and gives Naruto a deadly glare.

"Ahem, I mean the guy who stands 7 feet and 2 inches with arms dangling down like a monkey, the master of taijutsu, Yatsumi Hibiki!" Naruto announces yet again.

Still no claps or cheers.

A few seconds later, the whole group bursts out in laughter, including Kisame and Hibiki.

"Having a lot of fun, aren't we?"

Everyone suddenly stops laughing and looks at the newcomer. Upon seeing the long silver hair, everyone quickly takes a seat. There was silence for a few seconds, no one even daring to talk out loud.

"Uhhh, is this really how quiet meetings are around here?"

Naruto leans forward and sees Asuka, who was standing behind the silver-haired man.

"Ahhhhh! Asuka-chan! So nice to see you!" Naruto shouts out loud.

The silver-haired man looks at Naruto and smiles. "As energetic as always, aren't we Naruto?"

Naruto grins and looks at the Akatsuki group, apparently looking at him like he was some weird creature who had just appeared out of nowhere.

"What! Why's everyone looking at me!"

Koujiro leans forward and whispers in Naruto's ear. "Don't mind them too much, Naruto-kun. It's just that… no one's actually been that friendly with Him, and for Him to smile and joke around… it's not an ordinary event."

The silver-haired man takes a seat at the head of the table, and motions Asuka to sit in one of the empty chairs.

The silver-haired man begins. "Well, it's been a few days since Girochi and Kuroro's failed operation at the Sand. As all of you may know, Kuroro was killed in that particular mission."

"That weakling… I told you, you should have sent me, then that operation would have been a success…" Itachi begins.

"That doesn't matter, Itachi. It was good that I sent Kuroro out, because I was able to judge how weak he truly was… And a shinobi as weak as him doesn't have the right to live, let alone be a part of our group."

"Hmph, that guy was the weakest in our group anyways, and he was a replacement for one of the previous members who was killed during another mission," Hibiki says with scorn.

"Yeah, He was killed by two Leaf jounin, namely Hatake Kakashi and a man our sources have named as Maito Gai, who were both on a mission then," Yomi states.

The silver-haired man smiles. "Yes, we can't have members that are so easily killed. We need to be a group containing the ultimate ninjas if we truly want to achieve our goal. Anyway, Uruha Asuka, please stand up."

Asuka complies, and looks around nervously.

"From now on, you will be a part of Akatsuki's main group, namely us nine. Congratulations, Ms. Uruha."

Asuka's eyes widen with surprise, and she suddenly looks at Naruto. "But… but why not put Naruto into the main group? He's not a part of the main nine, isn't he?"

The silver-haired man leans back and joins the tips of his fingers together. "Well, he isn't really a part of the main group, so we can say that he isn't exactly part of the Akatsuki Nine. However, he is a special case. We all consider him to be our equal, and he is, in essence, a part of Akatsuki as a whole.

"Anyway, Asuka, please sit down. The main point of discussion here is the fact that Orochimaru has now obtained Gaara of the Desert. We have lost a youma manipulator, and this may become a little troublesome for us. If Orochimaru gains full control of Gaara's body and his powers, it will put the Hidden Sound at an advantage. Orochimaru's next move will most probably be the destruction of the Hidden Leaf, thus this may mean that the other hidden villages may strike an alliance with Sound just to destroy the Leaf and the Sand.

Meimi suddenly interjects. "Hm, I really don't get this. You're making it sound like the Leaf is so important that it should not be destroyed. If they wipe the Leaf out, then let them! That's one less village to worry about."

The silver-haired man closes his eyes, and, after a few seconds of silence, opens them again. "Quite right, Meimi. If we allow them to destroy Konoha now, then that WILL be one less village to think about. However, we cannot let this happen. That village… is significant to our goals. We will need that village for the final step of our plan."

Koujiro looks straight the silver-haired man, and for a second, Naruto senses a slight killing intent in those green eyes. That feeling didn't last for long, but the intent was so powerful that it made Naruto's hair stand on end.

"What the heck! Normally, when a person glares at me with killing intent, I'm not even fazed at all… but this intent, it wasn't even aimed at me, but it made my hair stand on end… it was so strong…"

The silver-haired man didn't seem to notice, and continued on. "Therefore, we must change a few of our plans. We will create some problems with Sound's alliance with the Hidden Stone and Hidden Rain, and we must also convince the Hidden Cloud and Hidden Mist to give a large portion of their attention towards Sound, and away from the Leaf.

"Itachi, you will be paired up with Kisame once again, and your mission will be to cause a few problems within the alliance of the Hidden Stone and Sound. I'm quite sure that the Hidden Rain will go with Stone, being the larger village.

"Girochi, I want you to inform our other forces to begin an attack on the Mist under the name of the Sound. You will lead that group, but you are not allowed to conquer orkill ninjas.It should only be small skirmishes which will be enough to turn their attention towards the Hidden Sound. Oh, and gather the five remaining Swordsmen of the Mist. I'm sure they will lovetrashing their former village.

"Yomi, you will be going with Meimi, and it will be your duty to go to the Hidden Village of the Moon. There, you must acquire the Forbidden Scroll of the village and then sow some rumours that the Hidden Cloud did it; this may produce an alliance with the Hidden Leaf, therefore fortifying the Leaf.

"Hibiki, it will be your job to gather another part of our forces, preferably those who were once part of the Hidden Cloud. Then it will be your job to attack the Hidden Village of the Grass, andupon doing so,I want you to invade it and fortify your position in that village. I'm quite sure you are capable of doing that. This will keep the Hidden Cloud busy, and it will serve as a decoy, if ever the other villages decide to try to attack the Leaf. Since the Hidden Leaf is larger than the Hidden Cloud, the other villages will have second thoughts on attacking the Leaf, and will instead target the weaker Cloud because of it's loss of an ally.

"I will be going to the Hidden Village of Ice, in order to capture their Scroll of Sealing. That village won't have that much of an impact in the war because of it's distance and it's location."

He faces Koujiro, Asuka, and Naruto. "And as for the three of you, I will be sending you to the Hidden Village of the Leaf. The three of you will protect that village until I give out further orders."

Koujiro's eyes suddenly widen. "I will have to object to your decision. For one, Naruto and I are both known in that village. I am also considered a traitor in that village, and if they figure out who I am, it will cause some problems. Naruto has also been considered a missing nin, and I am quite sure the ANBU will not hesitate to kill him as well. Besides, Naruto's emotions could change if he returns to that village…"

"Koujiro-san." Naruto was surprised that his voice was so cold, but he knew that it was appropriate for this topic. "Don't worry. That village will not affect me in any way whatsoever. I will still be the weapon the Akatsuki wants me to be. No village can ever change that."

Koujiro looks at Naruto with an unreadable expression. He then looks away, and Naruto could feel that there was a slight amount of regret in Koujiro's heart.

"Alright then." Koujiro sounded resigned, and he looked drained.

"Good. Everyone has been given their missions. We will execute this operation two days from now. Make sure that you make the most out of those two days for your preparations. The meeting is dismissed."

-

Neji looked at the destruction outside the walls of the Hidden Village of Sand. Destruction, that is, of the Hidden Sound's armies. Countless Sound ninja's bodies were still lying on the sand, and almost every single one had at least one body part missing. He had never seen so much dead bodies, and he still could not believe that this was the result of just one day.

"So this is the power Orochimaru now possesses, hm, Neji?"

Neji turned around and looked at Lee, who had just spoken up. Lee was also looking at the same scene of destruction that Neji was looking at, and his thick eyebrows gave away the extreme fear and disgust in his eyes.

"Yeah," Neji says quietly.

"Then this means we must start to fortify Konoha before he attacks." Lee then raises his right hand, and makes a fist. "We can't allow Konoha to suffer this fate."

Neji could tell that Lee was afraid. And, in truth, he was too. He still remembered the last time Orochimaru had attacked Konoha. He had killed the Third, who was already considered to be 'The God of Shinobi,' and had wreaked quite an amount of havoc and destruction in the outskirts of the village.

"Now that he has Gaara's body, another attack from Sound could mean our destruction…"

Neji and Lee's reverie was interrupted by the shouting of a girl who was running towards them.

The pink-haired kunoichi, Sakura, stopped right in front of them, still trying to catch her breath.

"Neji! Lee! We need to get back! There's nothing more we can do here, and the Kazekage has formally thanked us and allowed us to go back home. Let's go! I'm sure we're needed there more than here."

All three hurry to the eastern entrance of the village, and find most of the Konoha shinobi ready to go. Gai was also talking to the sand jounin Baki, while Kankurou was just sitting on a rock while speaking with Kiba.

Gai suddenly sees them and smiles. "Yosh! Let's go! We need to get back as soon as possible!"

Baki motions to a few Sand nins, who formed a group. "Alright, the Kazekage has also ordered us to support the Hidden Leaf Village, and we must do so. Remember: I know that this may be hard, but once the major battle begins, we must remember that Gaara is our enemy, and we will have no choice but to kill him."

Kankurou sounded hurt at having to kill his own brother, with whom he had gotten a little closer to ever since the leaf nin Uzumaki Naruto had changed him.

"Yosh! Let's not waste any more time. We must be off!"

-

Author's Note: OK, so this chapter is more of a filler, but I needed to use a chapter to set-up the future events to come. Sorry to all those who were expecting more. Hope you liked it! Review please!