His ears ringing, an almost awake Naruto swiped at the alarm clock next to his bed.
It took him a moment to remember where he was, and he stretched as he sifted through recent memories. They had left hidden cloud 2 days ago, and were currently in a small town, only a day's travel from Oceanside; the next city they planned to visit.
From the looks of the room, Temari had already left, probably to see the musicians. Their current location was named Snocken, which Naruto felt was a very odd name, but Snocken was renowned for its street performers.
He grabbed his bag and headed out the door of their room, intent on seeking his companion. The streets seemed oddly empty as he wandered, and Naruto started to get suspicious.
He passed one or two small musicians, but nothing of interest, and no people. He finally asked someone what was going on, and an old man directed him to stage 6.
Once he arrived, he realized that luckily, it wasn't going to be very difficult to find Temari, as everyone in the town seemed to be gathered in one place. All the girls, at least.
On one of the larger stages that were scattered about the streets, two performers were playing to a crowed of love struck fans and their jealous boyfriends (who liked the music anyway)
The lead attraction was a dark haired guitarist, who played so fast, even someone of Naruto's reflexes was impressed. His instrument seemed like it was going to burst into flame as his hands danced over the strings. Behind him was a larger man who was beating out a steady tempo on a large African drum.
Naruto sighed as he noticed that Temari was just as enraptured as the rest of them, gazing up at the stage, and he took a moment to more closely examine the two performers, as something about them didn't feel quite right…
The drummer suddenly grinned at him in a distinctly sharklike way, and Naruto's eyes widened. It took only a minute for the song to finish, so Naruto had to think on his feet.
He pushed his way to the front of the crowed, turned his back to the stage, crossed his arms, and activated a few fear stimuli, "I'm sorry folks, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the show is over for now."
A collective groan came from the crowed, which started to dissipate, and Temari looked both annoyed and confused. Naruto jumped onstage and grabbed the guitarist's shoulder, "What the hell are you two doing here, Itachi?"
The Uchiha activated his Sharingan for a moment, "Various things, Naruto-kun, but primarily looking for you."
The boy looked confused, "why?…."
Kisame leaned over from his position at his drum, "We'll talk somewhere more private"
Naruto just grabbed his head, "Ok, you guys grab your stuff and I'll take you back to our room."
Both Kisame and Itachi raised simultaneous eyebrows and spoke in tandem, "You did say our room didn't you?"
He glanced at Temari, who was still on the ground in front of the stage and looking even more confused. The Akatsuki followed his gaze, and Kisame grinned, "Already got a girl? You work fast, don't you brat?"
Naruto tightened his grip on his head, "Grab the instruments, explaining will be done later," he turned to Temari, who looked about to speak, "that applies to you too, all will become clear once we get out of the freaking street. I hope."
The genjutsu-ed forms of Itachi and Kisame grabbed their instruments and followed Naruto back to the hotel.
Once they were all standing in the room, the Akatsuki dropped their illusion, and Temari gasped slightly at Kisame's appearance. The drum poofed away to reveal Samehada, but Itachi's guitar seemed real.
Naruto sat on the bed, "Ok, first things first. Temari, this is Hoshigaki Kisame, and that's Uchiha Itachi, who are about to explain why they're stalking me and playing music for donations."
Naruto actually wasn't sure which of those two things he found weirder.
Itachi just leaned against the wall and pulled a stick of Pocky out of his pocket, giving Kisame a look that obviously meant that the shark man would be doing the explaining.
Kisame sighed, "We tracked you down pretty easily, as there aren't many places you can go from hidden cloud. As to why we're looking for you, we were traveling this way anyway, and have been given a mission offer that might interest you …" Kisame gave Temari an appraising look, "and your friend."
That made sense, so Naruto nodded, "Ok, but I'm still not getting the part where two S-Class Nukenins are playing music in the street"
The shark man sighed yet again, "We were given a mission allowance, but we were dropping Kiran off in a village up north, and there just happened to be a Pocky factory there, and coincidentally, it was Pocky appreciation week, and through mysterious circumstances, Itachi somehow managed to 'lose' our money bag and was 'given' a few hundred 'free' boxes of Pocky"
Still leaning against the wall, Itachi smiled to himself, "And, of course, Chicks dig guys who can play guitar."
Naruto had hung his head about halfway through Kisame's explanation, "So the two most deadly men on the planet are broke because Itachi has no self control?"
Itachi glared, "I do to!"
Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Really? Kisame said a few hundred boxes of pocky…"
Itachi's eyebrow rose to meet Naruto's, "Getting a bit mouthy, aren't we, brat?"
Unnoticed, Temari had been backing towards the door throughout their banter, and as Naruto and Itachi exchanged smirks, she turned and quickly went out. The other members of the room only noticed when they heard the door slam.
Everyone else stood frozen for a moment, then Naruto went to follow her. As the door slammed a second time, Kisame went for the remote from its perch on a side table and flicked on the TV.
Itachi grabbed another stick of chocolaty goodness and looked up at his partner, "That could have gone better"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Naruto looked both ways in the hallway, and saw the door to the stairwell at his left closing. He ran, and reached the door in four steps, pulling it open. He heard a sound above him, and started to climb the winding stairs.
He didn't rush, but moved methodically. He had gone up 4 floors when he heard the door to the roof, just moments later, he was facing that same door, and he opened it slowly, not wanting to startle the apparently bothered girl.
He stepped onto the roof and winced slightly as the sun hit his eyes. Temari was standing with her back to him, not appearing to be paying attention to much of anything.
When she spoke, it was in an odd tone of voice, "It's funny. I have actually heard of Hoshigaki Kisame, he killed most of Water countries generals and lords. 39 people in all. He also killed most of their guards and attendants, another 127 people."
Naruto was feeling an odd churning in his stomach as Temari slowly turned to face him, "He is a person of very rare variety. He scares me shitless."
Temari's voice rose a notch, "And do you know what? The other one seems even more frightening! I was shaking! Me! The sister of Sabaku no Gaara is afraid of a little girly man with a ponytail."
She finally got fully turned around so she was facing him, "Those two are real S-class criminals, Naruto, and they're really dangerous!"
Naruto suddenly started get annoyed. Even after all their time together, she still didn't understand.
"We are all Nukenin, and we do what we have to. Kisame and Itachi have just had more difficult lives than we have. So they have had to kill more people"
Temari struggled with this for a moment, "So, that makes their killing okay?"
Naruto half sighed half growled, "Sometimes, yes. I didn't see you having moral qualms about killing that leaf hunter who went after you."
Temari glared, "But those two kill just because it's convenient, they're monsters!"
The sore spot had been struck.
Naruto suddenly took a step towards her, "Like me, you mean? You think I'm a monster?"
Temari shook her head, "But you're not normally like that! You only hurt people when…"
Naruto's red chakra started to pulse around him as he took another step forward, "when I need to? When people get in my way? Do you see a difference between what I do and what those two Akatsuki do?"
She lost a bit of her conviction, "yes…"
Suddenly, the chakra started to pulse more strongly, and Temari could feel the charge in the air as the red and blue energy surrounded Naruto.
He had held eye contact throughout their conversation, and his pupils suddenly contracted, narrowing into slits. Temari found herself fighting the urge to take a step back as he again moved slightly closer, his eyes burning into her, as if they could see into her soul.
He took another step closer.
Then another.
There was now only a couple feet separating them, and Naruto's chakra exploded outward.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Two heads snapped upwards, and Kisame muted 'Fear Factor'
Itachi sucked in a breath, "What are they doing up there?"
His blue skinned partner shook his head, "I have no idea, but the brat sure is impressive. I have been thinking recently the his may be even bigger than yours, Itachi…"
Itachi looked at him, "Why would you be thinking about that?…Wait! His is NOT bigger than mine!"
Kisame shrugged, "I really don't know Itachi, I know you pretty well, and have seen you at work, but this kid just blows me away"
The Uchiha was starting to get annoyed, "Kisame, I'll have you know that you have never seen me 'at work', and even assuming you had, its how you use it that's important."
Kisame thought for a moment, "What about that girl in hidden rain? She did a number on you. Your control was pathetic!"
Itachi looked about to seizure, "How do you know about that!"
Kisame looked at his partner oddly, "I was there, remember?"
"You……you……what!"
Kisame nodded, "Since your memory appears to be shot, I took over after you fell unconscious. After just three rounds."
Itachi was confused and horrified at the same time. He didn't remember anything like that…
Kisame continued, "and plus, Naruto has been getting a lot of practice recently…"
"How do you mean?"
"Well, he has been traveling with that sand girl for some time now, and I'd guess they have one or two hours a day to spare. Add that up and you get a whole lotta time"
Itachi was almost hysterical, "Kisame, They're just kids still! How could they have an hour or two a day for that!"
Kisame was starting to get nervous about his partners mental health, "We both used to train for 8 hours a day, and we weren't much older than them, Itachi. We knew Naruto's chakra reserves would grow larger than ours, and I know your chakra control is almost perfect, so there's no need to get so touchy about it. I was just joking, sheesh."
Everything in Itachi's mind suddenly clicked into place, "We were talking about chakra size?"
His partner stared at him, "What did you think we were talking about, Itachi?"
Itachi was silent, and a look of understanding suddenly passed over Kisame's face.
The shark man burst out laughing.
Itachi clenched his fists, "Dammit! Its not funny, Kisame! …… Fine then, laugh away, I'm going to go see what's going on"
Kisame followed, still snickering, "Well, I now know why you got your ass kicked in that fight with that rain jounin last year…tsk tsk, Itachi, picking up chicks before missions is not a good thing"
Itachi swore at him from the hallway.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Temari found herself in a maelstrom; her senses overwhelmed completely by such huge amounts of chakra, and her skinned burned from the heat. She felt like she was standing inside a hurricane, yet wasn't being lifted off.
But through it all, she could still see those burning red eyes. Naruto took a final step closer, leaving only inches between them. His fangs had grown longer and his face markings darker, when he reached a hand up and grabbed her shoulder, she could feel claws.
"How about now, Temari-san? Do you think I'm a monster now?"
Temari opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. The figure in front of her was reminiscent of uncountable similar experiences with her brother. Every time Gaara had lost control, she had run as fast and far as she could.
But there was somewhere a part of her that wouldn't let her do it, and that same part of her was saying something, something that was very difficult to hear, but if she listened hard enough…
Naruto almost jumped when Temari suddenly reached up and grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him closer. The fox boy felt his menace draining away as her eyes lost their fear, and stared defiantly back into his.
When she spoke, it was just above a whisper, "You try to drive me away, but why? Why do you react in anger?"
Temari went on, thinking aloud, "You're trying to protect yourself. Your afraid I might hurt you so you withdraw, hiding behind your facade. I spent my whole life dealing with a person who did the same thing, and every time he put of his defenses, I ran away."
Naruto opened his mouth, but found himself incapable of speech as Temari slowly leaned her body on to his, still whispering, "But now I'm stronger, and there's a flaw in your defense. If someone has enough courage, they can exploit it"
The fox boy's mouth was dry, but he forced words out, "an…and what i..is that?"
"Your defenses won't force me away if I can get close enough to you"
She took a deep breath, then pulled his body fully up against hers and kissed him.
Naruto was frozen for a moment, but slowly felt that familiar and pleasant tingling run through his body. He relaxed and reached one arm round the small of her back.
Over at the still open door to the roof, two figures stood watching.
Kisame looked down at Itachi, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but are those two making out in the eye of a chakra storm?"
"hmm," Itachi said in acknowledgement
"How long do figure it'll be before Naruto drops from chakra depletion?"
Itachi pulled out his watch, "I'd say about ……7……6…...5……4……3……2…...now"
Temari gasped as Naruto suddenly went limp and the chakra around them dissipated.
She quickly laid him out on the roof and put her head to his chest, and was relieved to hear slow steady breathing. She sat up and felt a presence beside her.
Kisame crouched down and hoisted Naruto over his shoulder, "Well, well, it appears our little friend was too 'distracted' ", Temari blushed, "and wasn't paying attention to his chakra reserves. It's not to bad, though, so he should be up after a nights sleep."
The shark man stood up, and started to head for the stairs. Itachi just stood in the middle of the roof, and watched as Temari stared up at the sky. After a few minuyes, she slowly walked over to him, "You," she said, "have killed a lot of people."
Itachi nodded
Temari looked down at her feet, "I…want you to tell me why. I want to know why you kill people."
Itachi's expression didn't change, "Why do you wish to know?"
"Because I am a missing nin…but I don't understand you people yet," Temari looked to Naruto's unconscious form, held by Kisame like a sack of potatoes, "I don't understand yet…but I want to"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
The dark avenger stood atop a building, his various minions surrounding him. In his right hand he clutched a newspaper, and he seemed relatively lost in thought.
His foremost minion stepped forward, the sound forehead protector he wore glinting in the light, "So, what are we going to do?"
The avenger let his gaze sweep over the pitiful remains of a once great military, "We have no choice. I will not allow the last of Orochimaru-sama's legacy to be destroyed by Konoha scum."
The assembled shinobi nodded, and collectively vanished, the only trace that anyone had been there being the newspaper that slowly drifted to the ground. A gust of wind blew over the building, causing the paper to unroll, revealing the headline:
UCHIHA SASUKE CAPTURED! EXECUTION IMMINENT!
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
The next day, Naruto lay in bed, happily eating warm ramen, when he heard arguing outside the room.
Itachi burst into the room, followed by his partner.
Kisame was looking very conflicted, "Itachi! You can't just pull shit like this! What is the council going to say!"
Itachi stopped dead, "Screw the council. Screw our mission. You can tell those old bums whatever you want. I have to do this."
Naruto looked from one to the other, noodles still hanging from his mouth, "What's happened?"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Temari returned to the hotel just in time to hear Naruto bellow: "WHAT! Your Kidding!"
She rushed into the room, and found everyone else sitting around the small round side table.
Itachi was speaking, "I'm quite serious. I didn't spare my little brother all those times just to watch him get killed for coming after me."
Both Kisame and Naruto were looking at him incredulously, their hands simultaneously tapping on the hilts of their swords iout of nervous habit.
Itachi just glared at them, "Why do you two care so much, anyway?"
They both looked at him as if he were dumb, "We're going with you."
The Uchiha blinked, started to shake his head, when Naruto cut in, "Now, either we can have a long painful argument, ending with you agreeing to our coming along, or you could just say 'yes' now."
Itachi sighed, "fine"
Temari started waving her hands in the air, "What? What are we doing?"
Naruto looked up at her, "We're doing exactly what I was hoping to never do again. We're going back to Konoha, to stop the bastard from getting himself killed."
She turned to Kisame, "Translation?"
He hefted Samehada, "Uchiha Sasuke has been captured and is headed for execution. It looks like we're going to save him."
Temari looked skeptical, "We are going to take on a whole village of people to save one person? Four of us?"
All three S-Class nukenins stared, and Naruto nodded, "Well…yeah…Is there a problem with that?"
She looked at the faces around her and sighed, "You males are all freaks. I suppose now we need to start getting ready? Can you two get all your stuff in less than 30 minutes?"
The two Akatsuki nodded and left the room, Itachi grabbing his guitar as he went out the door.
Once they were alone, Temari flopped down on the bed next to Naruto, and leaned up against him, allowing him the space to slide an arm around her waist.
They hadn't spoken since the day before, but there was only the slightest bit of awkwardness between them. Naruto needed to break the ice somehow, so naturally, he just went for the first thing that popped into his head
"You seem to be getting along with Itachi and Kisame today, what brought on this change?"
Temari was only slightly annoyed at his choice of topic, but just shook her head, "We were up late last night talking, we played the question game."
"The question game?"
"Yeah, all three of us sat in a circle and took turns asking someone else a question which they have to answer. It really helped me get used to them, and they're kind of amusing in their own way"
Mildly entertained at the thought of Kisame and Itachi playing slumber party games, Naruto grinned and laid his head back on the pillow.
"Actually," Temari said, "the game might have gone on longer, but Itachi and Kisame got into a little spat."
Naruto grinned wider, "Do tell."
"Well, it was Kisame's turn to ask, and he suddenly got a sneaky look on his face. I don't remember exactly, but his question had something to do with you and 'wang size'. Itachi almost killed him."
Naruto laughed for a minute, and then fell slowly quiet, so the two of the lay in silence, content to just hold each other.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
This chapter was more revised and rewritten than any other I've yet done, but I get the feeling that I can never get it perfect, so this is the final draft.
500 reviews! Far more than I ever expected for my first story, so everyone who reviewed; give yourselves a hug. Yes, even those of you who gave bad reviews. Those help to.
I now have something to admit, despite the many major events crammed into this one small chapter, my favorite scene is Kisame and Itachi's 'misunderstanding'. I know some people might not get it, and some will think I'm weird for writing it, but it's still the one I like best.
How did Itachi learn to play guitar? He used the Sharingan to copy someone elses skill.
I am asking for extra reviews on this one, as I am slightly unsure about this chapter and would like to be told what works and what doesn't.
Next Chapter: A rushed rescue involving a great deal of sneakiness. And explosives. We must not forget explosives.