Disclaimer: I do not own any wrights to Naruto or Shadow Skill. I merely use their characters and themes for entertainment purposes.
No more than a day ago did Naruto and Hinata left for Plains Country. And during that time Jiraiya received the most disturbing news he got in years. The Akatsuki had reformed and according to his contacts they were on the move to capture Naruto because they still believed he had the Nine Tails sealed inside of him. When got the news he drop was he was doing, his notes for his new book, and left for the Hokage Office.
When he arrived he did not even waste the time to inform the guards he was going in. He merely yanked open the door surprising both the Third and the Fifth that were in the room. The Third was giving, her pointers on how to organize her paperwork since she had always been terrible at it, so Jiraiya had caught them just as Tsunade was about to sign off on an A-class mission. They were surprised by the sudden intrusion of the perverted Sannin, "We must send a team after Naruto and Hinata at once!"
The two behind the desk exchanged a look of confusion and Tsunade asked, "Why should we do that?"
"I have received information from some of my contacts about a threat to Naruto," Jiraiya said. "According to my sources the organization Akatsuki is after him."
"I thought you said that Akatsuki disbanded?" the Third asked.
"They were," Jiraiya answered, "But they heard that Naruto was still alive. And from previous information I had gathered, about them wanting the Kyuubi, I can guess that because they heard Naruto was still alive they could commence with their plans."
"Guards!" Tsunade called. Two Jounin that were outside the door entered, "Have Anbu Team 4, the best tracker in of the Hunter-nins, and Gai and Kakashi report to me immediately. Tell them I have an important mission for them."
"Yes Hokage-sama," the guards saluted and disappeared.
Once they left Jiraiya asked, "Why are you sending that many?"
"Akatsuki are S-class criminals," Tsunade answered, "And though I have faith in our shinobi I am not taking any chances. Akatsuki must have heard about Naruto's power, and thus they will send their best, and more than one or two"
"So you are sending our best to intercept them," the Third concluded, nodding in approval.
"Correct," Tsunade said. Just then the summoned shinobi and a nin-dog appeared. "I am sending all of you on a Class-A mission. There are currently an unknown number of S-class Missing-nins after Uzumaki Naruto. You are to track him down warn him of the situation and assist him if he already engaged in combat. While tracking Naruto down Inuzuka will be in charge, but during battle command will be shifted to the senior ranking Jounin, that means Kakashi, Gai then you Sasuke. You are to leave at once."
"Yes Hokage-sama," the seven Shinobi chorused.
Two days away from Konoha Naruto and Hinata are traveling at a leisurely pace, well leisurely for the seasoned shinobi. They were actually in no real rush, although Naruto was excited. He was only a couple of weeks away of finding living blood relatives, something he had wanted for his entire life. Naruto had brought along his Hunter-nin equipment because of the duel nature of the mission, but because this was not the main focus of the mission he just wore his normal Jounin outfit.
Hinata was also a bit excited by the nature of the mission. Well excited may have been the wrong word. Anxious would be more appropriate because she was nervous for this was the first time she would be representing the Hyuuga Clan, not to mention entire village. Just before the two had left Hiashi had met them outside of the Hokage Office and explained a bit more detail about her role in the mission. Hiashi had explained that as the heir to Hyuuga Clan she was to negotiate the details of the treaty. It turns out the Savil tribe has been a bit uncomfortable about opening trade with Konoha, with good reason. In fact it was only through Jiraiya's yearlong contact with the tribe that they agreed. But they insisted that Konoha send the representatives this time, other stipulations they insisted upon was that Naruto come an that Konoha send someone that could assist them in dealing with a Konoha Missing-nin that had been giving them trouble.
When Hinata asked why she was selected, her father explained that as the future leader of the Hyuuga Clan she would have to, on several occasions, represent the clan and Konoha in a diplomatic fashion and this was a good a time as any to begin. The fact being that once the Savil tribe had heard about Naruto being alive, Hiashi and the rest of the Council were informed of Naruto's relation to the tribe, were somewhat eager to meet with the village.
"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, "Are you worried about meeting the tribe?"
"I guess a little," Naruto answered. "I kind of wonder what kind of people they are. Ero-Sannin did not give much information about them. All he said was that they were not shinobi but they were pretty good fighters that many of the people in the west respected."
"I guess that's why Plains Country does not have a Hidden Village," Hinata commented.
"I guess so," Naruto agreed. "It's odd I guess, I have never met them before and I'm already nervous about whether or not they will accept me."
"I'm sure they will Naruto-kun," Hinata assured.
"Thanks Hinata-chan," Naruto smiled. "Why don't we stop in the next town for the night?"
"That's sounds good Naruto-kun," Hinata answered.
Not far from the two three figures dressed in black cloaks observed. "There's only one with the target," the tall one said. "I was hoping to have some fun on this mission."
"Do not underestimate them Kisame," the middle one said. "The girl appears to be the heir Hyuuga Clan, and according to our information she is quite skilled. And the target can apparently fight on S-level."
"Yeah," the third said, "He is the one known as Shadow Claw, yeah."
"Alright, Itachi," Kisame relented, "But I am looking forward to giving Samahade a taste of the Ninetails chakra."
"Deidara," Itachi said, "Send one of your birds to observe them." Didedra complied by making a clay bird about the size of a songbird and sent it off to the village.
"Why did you do that?" Kisame asked.
"So we know when they leave the town," Itachi answered, "We are still relevantly close to Konoha, if we cause problems in the town they will hear about it and send a rescue team. We do not want to draw attention to ourselves at this time."
That night the seven shinobi that Tsunade sent out to assist Naruto were speeding through the forest following the Hunter-nin and his dog. "Akamaru says if we keep this pace we'll be able to catch up with Naruto and Hinata by morning. And since we're short on time there will be no rest. If you're feeling tired just use the solider pill I gave you."
"Do we have any information on those that are after Shadow Claw?" one of the Anbu asked.
"Unfortunately no," Kiba answered, "S-class Missing-nins are unpredictable in the power and jutsus they know."
"So in other words everyone stay on your guard," Gai said in a serious tone.
The next morning Naruto awoke and noticed that Hinata was not in the bed next to him. The two rented a room with two beds instead of two rooms in order to save money. The only uncomfortable moment came was when the two decided to change to go to bed. Both were unsure as to who would go in to the bathroom and who would change in the room. After about an hour of indecision Naruto had to use the restroom and that solved the problem.
The next morning Naruto was the one to awaken first. He had not had an easy sleep he always felt that something was watching him the entire time. But whenever he would look around all he would see is the occasional bird. Because he figured it would be better to get dressed before Hinata woke up and avoid the confusion of the previous night Naruto went and changed in the bathroom. When he came out Hinata had woken up as
well. "Good morning Hinata-chan," Naruto greeted.
"Good morning Naruto-kun," Hinata returned.
"You should get dressed, then we'll go get some breakfast," Naruto said. Hinata nodded and went into the bathroom to change. Naruto began to gather their equipment and pack their bags when he glanced out the window and noticed a bird. He stared at it for a minute because it looked similar to ones he had seen earlier. "No," he thought, "Not similar, the same." Naruto's eyes widened in shock the only reason a bird would continue to follow them is if was some how being used to spy on them. He calmly went back to packing their things to try and make it look like he had not suspected anything. When Hinata came out, she was surprised to see all their stuff packed. Naruto met her gaze, with his back to the window and mouthed, "We need to leave we're being followed," the asked, "You ready?" Hinata nodded and the left the hotel, soon after they left the town entirely all the while keeping their guard up.
The three Akatsuki members waited as their spy returned. The clay bird seemed to have a silent conversation with its creator for a few minutes and dissolved, "They've left the town, yeah," Diredra said, "Let's go get them, yeah."
"Yes let's go," Itachi said, "And Kisame remember we need the boy alive."
"What about the girl?" Kisame asked.
Itachi was silent for a minute, "You can kill her, but keep the eyes intact they could prove useful later." Kisame nodded with a predatory smile.
Outside of town Naruto and Hinata were moving at a slightly faster pace than yesterday. They were making their way to an open area so they would have a better chance at spotting any attack that came. Hinata with her Byukagan activated was keeping an eye on their backs while Naruto was watching their fronts. All of a sudden Naruto caught the sent of a shark, someone with clay and a strangely familiar yet different at the same time. This caused him to stop and Hinata as well. Looking around Naruto tried to pinpoint the source and found that it was right in front of them. Just as soon as he noticed three figures in red and black clocks appeared. "Why are you following us?" Naruto asked.
"We are hear for something that you are in position of," the one with the medium height answered. "Our organization wishes to speak with you, Shadow Claw."
"I some how doubt that I would enjoy that meeting," Naruto responded, "So I'll have to decline." He and Hinata dropped back into their combat stances waiting to see what the three would do.
Kisame took his sword off his back and took an overhead swipe at Naruto. To his surprise Naruto was able to block the massive blade with a curved combat knife he pulled out from his back. His surprised did not last long as he smiled and pulled back on the sword tearing at Naruto's shoulder.
"AHH!" Naruto screamed as the sword ripped his flesh instead cutting it. When he looked at the now exposed blade he saw that it had several teeth like bits along the blade and he quickly surmised that was what caused his arm to be ripen open. Flipping backwards to get some distance from the shark like man Naruto called out, "Blade!" a vertical arc of chakra came from his foot and went towards his attacker. Kisame brought his sword up and watched as the chakra was absorbed. But to his surprise not all of it was absorbed and the remaining power sent him back two or three steps.
Only about three meters away Hinata was fighting Deidara. The Hyuuga was in her Gentle Fist stance waiting for the former Stone-nin to make her move. She did not have to wait long as she saw several small figures appear in the S-class criminal's hand.
Deidara formed her figurines saying, "Hyuugas fight at close range yeah, so I'll have to attack at long range, yeah." With a silent command she sent them towards Hinata.
When the figurines came close Hinata could tell that they were laced with chakra. But that was not what worried her, what she saw on the inside of the figurines did. Explosive notes were at the center of the figures and they looked like they would explode at any moment. "I hope I can pull it off," Hinata thought. When the clay figures got a little closer Hinata called out "Kaiten!" and waves of chakra poured out of her chakra holes forming a shield blocking the explosions that came from the figures.
"You're not bad, yeah," Deidara commented. "But how long can you keep that up? You still can't attack well at long range, yeah."
Hinata smiled a little at the underestimation of her opponent. She had a trick that she learned from Tsunade recently that she had been looking forward to using. She closed her fist and slammed it into the ground with so much force it cause a fissure to head towards her opponent. Deidara was surprised by this outcome, after all what Hinata just did complete antithesis of Gentle Fist. "I know more than Gentle Fist," was all Hinata said, getting into her stance that combined the two Taijutsus she knew.
"Deidara, Kisame," Itachi said, "Regroup, their better than we thought." The two jumped back and rejoined Itachi.
Naruto after seeing whom they were moved towards Hinata to warn her, "Hinata be very careful, these two S-class Missing-nins. And we can only assume the other one is too, so do not let your guard down for a moment."
Hinata nodded then noticed Naruto grabbing his right arm to stop the bleeding. "Naruto-kun I should treat your arm."
"It's already healing, so don't worry about it," Naruto said. "But it will take a few minutes to heal completely and because of how I was wounded I won't be able to use the Language of Martial Arts or Kamui until it's closed."
Back with the Akatsuki members Kisame was seething from the attack Naruto performed, "I don't know how the kid did it but he did a jutsu without hand seals. And on top of that he attacked with enough force so that Samehada did not absorb all the chakra."
"Yeah," Diedara said, "And the girl used more than just Gentle Fist, yeah."
"That is why I called you back," Itachi said. "They are better than we anticipated." Itachi then stepped forward and removed his hat so he could make direct eye contact with the Mangkyo Sharingan.
Naruto finally seeing whom the third person was cursed, "Shit! I was right he is an S-class Missing-nin, but not just any one that's Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother!" Knowing what the Sharingan could do Naruto moved in front of Hinata keeping his eyes away from Itachi's. He moved forward a couple of steps and kicked his back leg out in front of him calling, "Shrapnel!" several bits of chakra came off his foot and in a spread pattern towards Itachi.
Itachi seeing the projected path with Sharingan was able to dodge. But he was not the only target of the attack. Because jumped out of the way, the attack continued to the ones behind him. And while Kisame was able to absorb the attack with his sword, Diedara was not as fortunate and got caught by some of the bits of chakra. The chakra bits tore into her flesh causing several wounds, it was too bad that at that distance none of the cuts were large enough to cause permanent damage. When Itachi landed he was able to catch a glimpse of Naruto's eyes. But that was all he needed and began to pull Naruto into his own world.
Naruto suddenly found himself chained to a pole in some strange red-skied world. "I must be in a Genjutsu. But this is stronger than any I've ever experienced."
"Greetings Naruto-kun," Itachi said. "For the next seventy two hours you are in my world." He then began to torture Naruto inside his mind by having him being stabbed hundreds of times. After forty-eight hours of torture Itachi paused, "You seem to be able to resist my Mangkyo Sharingan. I thought only another Sharingan could do it. It must be do to the Kyuubi in you."
"I've…been…in…some…hellish…illusions…before," Naruto panted, "And…I…no…longer…have…the…Kyuubi." In all reality it was probably not a wise thing to admit to. But even with his better than average resistance Naruto wanted this to end as soon as possible so he would do anything to get out of it.
Itachi taken back by Naruto's admission said, "Very well then." And deactivated his jutsu.
In the real world Itachi just landed and all of a sudden Naruto collapsed to the ground. Hinata was able to catch him but was more than concerned as to what happened. Itachi mean while turned to his teammates and said, "He is no longer of any use to us. You can kill him." And proceeded to walk off.
"What ever you say Itachi," Kisame smiled at the thought of feeding his sword and approached the two.
Just before Kisame came upon the two some called out, "Katon: Karyuu Endan!" a dragon made of pure fire rushed in between Kiasame and his targets. When the fire cleared he saw four Anbu, two Jounins and a Hunter-nin with a good-sized dog.
"Naruto are you all right?" Kakashi asked.
After hearing the attack Itachi paused and turned around. When his face came into sight the Anbu Captain removed his mask and revealed his younger brother with his own Sharingan eyes blazing with fury, "Well Little Brother, it appears you've gotten stronger."
"ITACHI!" Sasuke yelled. Normally he was one of the best at keeping his cool when facing an enemy, but after seeing the murderer of his clan. He could not control his rage and charged his brother, "CHIDORI!"
Itachi calmly watched his brother saying, "But you're still not strong enough." He was about to use his Mangkyo Sharingan when one of the Anbu caught what he was doing.
"Captain!" the Anbu pushed Sasuke out of Itachi's line of sight. This however caused him to be caught in the Genjutsu instead. Less than a second later the Anbu collapsed from the affects of the jutsu.
After Sasuke recovered from what his subordinate did, he saw his collapse. "I'LL KILL YOU!" He made another attempt but this time a large explosion occurred because Deidara seeing they were out numbered and weakened used one of her figurines as distraction to get away.
When the smoke cleared Sasuke looked around frantically for his brother and was about to run off when a voice stopped him, "Sasuke!" everyone turned to see Naruto being supported by Hinata address him, "Their gone let them go!"
Sasuke fumed at Naruto's order and stormed up to him, "I CAN'T LET HIM GO."
"Sasuke I know how…" Naruto said.
"YOU CAN'T KNOW HOW I FEEL…" Sasuke stopped when he met the ice-cold eyes of Naruto.
"I think you're forgetting whom you're talking to Sasuke," Naruto said in an even voice. "Your first duty is to your team. You know that."
Sasuke feeling his rage fade said, "Naruto I'm…"
"Don't worry about it," Naruto said his eyes softening, "Lets just get the wounded treated."
Thirty minutes latter Naruto had recovered enough to no longer need assistance to stand. The Anbu member was not as fortunate however, he was still in a coma and there was nothing Hinata could do, "You'll have to take him back to Konoha. Tsunade-sama will be the only one that help him."
"We'll leave right away," Sasuke said.
"And we'll continue with our mission," Naruto said.
"Naruto that is not wise," Kakashi said. "Those guys are after you and will be back."
"No they won't," Naruto said. "They were after the fox not me. And they know it's no longer in me.
"How did they know?" Gai asked.
"It's all right here," Naruto said holding up the scroll he had been writing in for the past half hour. "This is all that happened until you guys showed up. Be sure to give it to Tsuande. Hinata and I still have a mission to complete."
Sasuke knowing the affects of the his brother's jutsu asked, "Naruto are you sure? I know what it can do to you."
"After he learned about the fox he ended the jutsu," Naruto answered. "I only had to deal with about half the affects, and I was able to resist it a little because of my training. So don't worry I'm fine."
"Then we'll be off," Kiba said. "Hinata, it was good to see you again." With that the seven shinobi set off in the direction of Konoha.
After the rescue team left Hinata turned to Naruto and asked, "Are you sure you're ok Naruto-kun?"
"Yeah," Naruto answered, "I'm just tired, that Mangkyo Sharingan took a lot out of me."
"Well then," Hinata said in a commanding tone, "We will rest hear until you are feeling better."
Knowing better than to argue with Hinata when she got like this Naruto complied saying, "Whatever you say Hinata-chan."
After Naruto rested for another day the two continued on their way to Plains Country. It took them another two and a half weeks to finally reach the Country. And as they entered they knew instantly why the country was called Plains Country. For as far as they two shinobi could see there was almost nothing but tall grass gently swaying in the breeze.
"Lets see," Naruto said looking at the map, "According to the last town the main camp for the tribe is about twenty kilometers west of here."
"I wonder what kind of people they are like?" Hinata asked.
Before Naruto could respond a voice to their right answered, "We are modest yet proud people." The two shinobi turned to see a middle-aged man dressed in loose fitting tan shirt and pants, "You made good time Konoha ninjas, and I must say it is an honor to meet you Uzumaki Naruto, I am Jules Tame, your second cousin."
