Itachi knew he had only a few fractions of a second before Tsunade came to her senses and tore him in half like wet tissue paper, but a few fractions of a second was far more than he needed.
Just as the clarity was starting to come back into the Hokage's eyes, Itachi delivered a sharp chop to her neck and she crumpled.
In that moment, it was as if time stopped completely as the multitude of spectators tried to figure out what was going on and the various shinobi were frozen by Itachi so casually holding the unconscious Hokage, daring anyone to make an aggressive move.
Not wasting time, Temari and Kisame started different sets of hand seals while Naruto let his mind slide into semi-awareness, and granted the Kyuubi partial control.
It was an odd feeling to voluntarily give up his body, because he was still aware, but he perceived everything as if through a haze and was watching his own body do things he wasn't telling it to do. Had the situation been less serious, he would have found the sensation amusing.
Allowing himself to revel in having an actual body, even for just a few minutes, the Kyuubi grinned to himself and spoke in a darker version of Naruto's voice, "I have to do 236 hand seals, and I need my ass covered, so no screw up's"
Naruto's body started to move, and for just a second or two, all three were forming seals.
Temari was the first to finish her jutsu, and as soon as she started to whip open her fan Naruto and Kisame took steps back, still forming seals, to get out of the line of fire "Kaze Nenshou no Justu!"
As had been planned, she aimed intentionally high, so the superheated blast of air only skimmed the crowd, knocking a few people over and singing a few hairs. It was, however, plenty to send the citizens into a panic.
It took only moments for chaos to break out, and in this time Kisame finished his seals, "Kirigakure no Jutsu"
The group formed a tighter circle as the mist rolled in, and the ball was in the opponent's court. As he had a tendency to do, Itachi immediately analyzed the situation.
The Kyuubi was slightly clumsy controlling Naruto's, so it was the Uchiha's prediction that it would be about a minute and a half before the jutsu was complete. He still had the Hokage as a hostage, but he knew from personal experience how fast the ANBU would organize a counterattack.
Up in the trees at the edge of the mist filled field, Sasuke was finding himself conflicted. His original plan had been to just run away on his own as soon as he'd thrown the weapons, but now he was feeling the tug of his conscience. It wasn't with regards to any of his rescuers, as Sasuke had not doubt that one way or another, Itachi and Naruto would make it out alive. Instead, he found his concern focusing on a white haired medic-nin who was currently being restrained below him.
As much as it irked him, Kabuto had always been a loyal servant, and now he was in desperate need, with no one else to help him. Sighing to himself, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and jumped off his branch.
He fell through the air without so much as a whisper, and once he could see the backs of three figures he coiled his whole body up like a spring. Once he was only a couple feet above them, the jounin felt his presence and started to look up, but he exploded into action, driving the left jounin back with a blow to the jaw and sending the right jounin reeling with a kick to the stomach.
Even after this little acrobatic display, he hit the ground running, and after realizing what had just happened, Kabuto followed a few steps behind him. When the two of them reached Itachi, he barely even acknowledged them before starting to speak.
"Kyuubi needs another minute to finish his jutsu, and the ANBU will make an assault in 16 seconds. Temari will take the Hokage while Sasuke, Kisame and I deal with the ANBU."
Kabuto looked slightly confused, "what do I…"
"You," Itachi said abruptly, "stay here and don't get in the way. Are there any problems with the plan?… No?… Good."
Temari had the blissfully unconscious Tsunade quite literally dropped into her hands, and moments later she felt the approach of a group of high-level shinobi.
Hefting Samehada, Kisame grinned, "Here they come…"
Sasuke glared at his brother, "I can't believe I'm doing this"
Itachi relaxed his body in preparation for combat, "Naruto would rather we not kill people, but do what you must…" he paused for a second, "GO!"
They dove into the mist.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Immersed in fog, Kisame lifted his sword with two hands and went into a stance reminiscent of a batter awaiting a pitch and spoke in an exaggerated announcers voice, "Now we have Kisame at bat…"
He felt a disturbance in the mist, and swung, catching an ANBU in the chest and sending him flying back from whence he had come.
The shark man sunk into his stance a second time, "That's a home run folks!…lets see if he can do it again"
Moments later, a second ANBU advanced more cautiously. Kisame again swung, but his opponent danced just out of range.
Thinking he had caught his adversary off balance, the ANBU darted forward, only to realize he had underestimated the speed at which Kisame could reverse his swings. The second ANBU found himself flying backwards, and the shark man continued with his announcer's voice, "Unknown to the other team, Kisame is a switch hitter! Another home run!"
The squad commander, moving very carefully, made his way through the mist toward Kisame's position, followed closely by the rest of his team. He raised his hand as a signal to stop, and advanced the last few yards alone, trying to catch a glimpse of the blue skinned man through the mist.
The ANBU leader took another step forward, and Kisame, only a couple of feet away, swung with all his strength. The ANBU went hurling backwards, and moments later Kisame heard the sound of bodies colliding. He took a few steps and saw a conked out commander on top of his swirly-eyed team.
He smirked, "There it is folks! Kisame scores a grand slam!"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Elsewhere in the fog, Itachi and Sasuke had their own ANBU to deal with.
So far, things hadn't being going so well, as the two brothers kept getting in each other's way. Their fighting styles were similar, but just different enough that their rhythms conflicted with each other.
Sasuke landed next to his brother and his eyes darted left and right. They were surrounded.
Itachi could feel the ANBU closing in, "You know what our problem is, Sasuke?"
Sasuke glared, "What?"
"We're focusing on our differences, rather than taking advantage of our similarities," as he spoke, Itachi regressed from mangekyou to normal Sharingan.
Itachi started to tap his foot to a silent beat, and Sasuke rolled his eyes, "You can't be serious, I haven't done that exercise since I was six years old"
Itachi's foot taping became more insistent, and when a kunai whizzed by Sasuke's head, he reluctantly started to tap along with his brother.
When they had been young, they had been taught that the best way to fight with someone else was to perfectly synchronize everything you did. The way they had been told to achieve this was to, right before combat, get their internal rhythms to line up by tapping their feet in time.
The ANBU were approaching, but as Sasuke focused on the beat, he could feel his heartbeat and breathing change to match his tapping foot. He started to hear the tapping in his head, and soon his foot stopped moving, and the silence told him Itachi's had as well.
His whole body now seemed to be operating on that beat in his head.
Tap
Tap
Tap
Itachi and Sasuke shifted their positions so they were back to back
Tap
The mist swirled and the attack began
Tap
Sasuke tossed a kunai into the air while Itachi sent an ANBU flying with an uppercut
TapItachi grabbed the Kunai from the air while Sasuke exchanged blows with another ANBU
Tap
Itachi went into a low spin while Sasuke jumped into a spinning kick, Itachi dragging his kunai across the thigh muscles of Sasuke's opponent and Sasuke kicking over his brother's head to send yet another ANBU away with broken ribs.
Tap
Itachi reached behind him into his little brothers pocket and grabbed one end of a coil of wire, Sasuke grabbing the other a moment later
Tap
Itachi and Sasuke sprinted away from each other, keeping the wire almost taut between them
Tap
Sasuke curved left and Itachi right, running in a large circle
Tap
The two brothers passed each other, forming a quickly tightening loop of wire
Tap
The both felt something catch at the same time and increased their speed, not willing to let their victims get away
Tap
They looped around again and met each other in the middle, then ran side by side until the wire was pulled as tight as it would go. Within the mist, four ANBU were caught in the razor sharp wire and were trying to free themselves
Tap
Itachi passed his end to Sasuke, who flashed through some seals
Tap
Sasuke held both ends in his right hand, "Yorozudori!"
Lightning arced over Sasuke's body and tore down the wire. For a few seconds, the wire crackled with energy, and Itachi could feel his hairs stand on end while he was ten feet away.
The energy subsided and Sasuke dropped a still smoking wire to the ground.
"That," he said breathlessly, "is a jutsu I invented to use on you"
Itachi looked on calmly, "Yorozudori……ten thousand birds……I don't suppose there's any point to checking on our ANBU friends?"
Still out of breath, Sasuke laughed throatily, "With that much electricity going through them, they'll be out for at least a few days"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Outside the mist, Kakashi watched.
It was like a wall of white, dividing the field in two. On one side was mass panic as the citizens of Konoha pushed to get away, and on the other side was absolute silence.
Two full squads of ANBU had already been deployed into the fog. There had been the sounds of combat, a large surge of chakra, and now nothing.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Kyuubi had been mentally counting his seals as he went; to be sure he hadn't missed any
232…233…234…235…236…done!
There was no jutsu name called, but Naruto, who had been just starting to enjoy not having to tell his body what to do, suddenly found himself slammed back in control just in time to feel a wave of chakra emanate from Seirei Kirite.
Next to him, Temari and Kabuto shivered.
Kisame, Sasuke, and Itachi immediately felt the wave and rushed back towards Naruto.
Within seconds, the great chakra had covered the entire village, and then it vanished.
The chakra was gone, yet every person in the village, shinobi or otherwise, felt something was wrong with the air.
Outside the wall of mist, a major assault was being readied, consisting of over 100 shinobi. Most of the villages ANBU and a large number of jounin were prepping and being hastily briefed.
Everything was silent for a few more seconds, and then a great unearthly howl resonated through the village, causing every man woman and child to freeze in their tracks.
Naruto let out a huge sigh of relief and almost collapsed, "It looks like our friend has made an appearance. We're in the clear…though I'm very tired right now…"
Walking slowly, and followed by Itachi, Kisame, Temari, Sasuke and Kabuto, Naruto made his way towards the edge of the mist. They started to hear yells, screams, and the sounds of general chaos.
When they broke the wall of white and emerged into sunlight, they found themselves faced with a scene that none would ever forget.
Konoha was wrapped in chains.
They were growing from the ground like devil's garden and seemed to cover the whole city, entrapping all its inhabitants in their frustrating metal embrace. Only fifteen feet away, Kakashi himself fought vainly against the chains that restrained his arms and legs.
The copy ninja stilled as Naruto approached him, and attempted an air of nonchalance, "Hello Naruto, come to visit?"
"Just here to pick up an old friend, Kakashi. We'll be gone soon enough."
The copy ninja smiled under his mask, "We will be coming after you…"
"No, you won't, because right now, everyone here is at my mercy. I could kill anyone I wanted, but I'm not going to, and in exchange you are all going to leave me alone."
"And what, dare I ask, makes you think we'll agree to this deal?" Kakashi asked, still smiling
"Simple. I did this jutsu once, and I can do it again. If I'm forced to use it a second time, I may not be so merciful."
With that, Naruto strode past the copy ninja and made his way through the throngs of restrained and pissed off people. He ignored the familiar faces, the insults and the threats, walking resolutely forward.
Behind him, Temari was only slightly unnerved. She could see some shinobi trying to reach for weapons or form hand seals, but the chains always held them back. She was currently fighting off the fear that Fenrir might make one little mistake, and one ANBU would get a jutsu off.
As they approached the edge of the field, Itachi suddenly veered off to one side, making his way over to where he found a certain pink haired girl who was sobbing, her tears rolling off the chains that held her to the ground.
"Hello, Sakura-san"
Sakura's head snapped up in response to his voice, and all the shinobi nearby quieted in an effort to hear what was going on.
Paying no attention to the crowd, Itachi leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Thank you for the meal and company"
With that, Itachi backed away and jogged to rejoin his companions just as they reached the edge of the field.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
They stood outside a small store near the edge of Konoha.
"How much longer," Kisame inquired, "will this jutsu last?"
Naruto leaned against a wall, still tired, "A while yet. Forming the chains is very tiring, but maintaining them takes very little chakra. Fenrir can probably keep it up for at least a few more hours"
"In that case," Itachi said, "I think we should stock up on supplies"
Nods could be generally seen, but Naruto looked to be barely able to keep upright, so Itachi took control of the situation.
"Naruto will rest here, the rest of you, grab whatever you think might be useful."
With that, they set about the systematic looting of the store while Naruto sat outside on a deserted street. Or, to be correct, what he thought was a deserted street.
At first, Naruto thought the wind was just kicking up dust, but then he noticed that there was a whole lot of it collecting. He also realized a moment later that it was not dust, but sand that was swirling around him, and Naruto started to look slightly nervous.
All at once, the sand condensed into a solid form. A solid form that suddenly reached out and grabbed Naruto by the neck and lifted him into the air.
Now most definitely nervous, Naruto grinned, "Gaara……nice to see you again."
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/Author's Notes/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Translation
Yorozudori – ten thousand birds
Kirigakure no Jutsu – Hidden Mist Technique
Kaze Nenshou no Justu – Burning Winds Technique
To be clear before people start freaking out, there shall be no ItaSaku
This chapter was plagued by many delays, mostly due to two things: Harvest Moon and Final Exams.
For those who don't know, harvest moon is a game about farming. Yes, that's right, farming. It also has the honor of being the most addictive game I've ever played, beating out FFX, which used to hold that coveted position. In one weekend, I played harvest moon for 40 hours.
Final exams are a less fun cause for delay, but sadly are somewhat important.
As a consolation for the lack of plot, I give you a little random thing I liked, but knew wouldn't fit anywhere in the story.
/-/-/-/-/-/Bonus/-/-/-/-/-/
Sasuke glared balefully at his brother, "Yo mama's so stupid, at bottom of application where it says Sign Here - she put Sagittarius"
Itachi glared back, "Yo mama's so stupid, I told her Christmas was just around the corner and she went looking for it"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "Yo mama's so fat, her ass has it's own congressman"
Itachi's hands tightened into fists, "Yo mama's so fat, she fills up the bath tub, and then she turns on the water"
Sasuke activated his Sharingan, "Yo mama's so ugly, people go as her for Halloween"
Itachi did likewise, "Yo mama's so ugly, they put her face on a poster for abstinence"
Naruto and Temari were watching with bemusement and confusion respectively.
Temari glanced at Naruto self-consciously, "Those two are brothers, right?"
Naruto nodded, "Yeah"
"So they have the same…"
"Yeah"
Temari paused for a moment and shook her head, "These people confuse me"