"What so we're just going to hand ourselves over?"
"No, you idiot."
"What about me? I still want to fight, even though I'm no longer a jinchuriki." Gaara stepped forward.
"For now."
"What?"
"If you want... there is a way for you to become a jinchuriki again."
"But they have Shukaku."
"Gaara, you're not seriously considering it are you?" Naruto shouted at him.
"It's his choice. Besides, Shukaku needs a jinchuriki, and Gaara is compatible. The fact is we can't allow the Akatsuki to have even one of the tailed beasts. I was planning on taking him back."
"But that would mean you know the sealing jutsu?" Sakura asked her.
"No. I don't." She folded her arms and closed her eyes. "It was the fourth Hokage who performed the sealing jutsu on you, Naruto. It was his own special sealing jutsu, and sadly it died with him. My father was the one who sealed Matatabi in me, and his method died with him. It was Lady Chiyo who sealed Shukaku in Gaara..." everyone looked down in sadness. "I wasn't going to seal him away."
"What?" Naruto was growing more agitated. "What do you mean you're not going to seal him, then how will we keep it under control?"
"He! Not 'it', he! He is called Shukaku. And we won't be 'keeping him under control' like he's our property." She was clearly very upset.
"I..." For once, Naruto was speechless.
"Do you see Matatabi causing any problems?"
"No but..."
"I removed my seal long ago."
"Are you crazy?!"
"Show them, Matatabi." At her request, Matatabi appeared in a small version of himself, he lay on her shoulder.
"That's... one of the terrifying tailed beasts?"
"Everyone, this is Matatabi. He's the two tailed fire cat. He made himself smaller by only manifesting a small amount of chakra."
"H-h-hi..." Naruto looked like he was going to pass out.
"I was around five years old, and I was roaming the world alone. The only comfort I had was the voice in my head, which I knew was Matatabi. I remembered how he was forcibly sealed inside me..."
"Did you also remember the destruction he caused, the lives he took?" Itachi questioned.
"Yes, I remember when I first met him how he didn't attack me too, how he told me back then he was just defending himself." She stroked Matatabi, who began purring. "Anyway, it was a lonely life... but also it wasn't. I was never really alone because of him. But I always felt guilty. So I found a way to remove the seal. It was painful. I almost died. Matatabi, do you remember what happened next?"
"I remember feeling the earth under my paw again, the breeze of fresh air through my fur. And you laying there, covered in your own blood, struggling to breathe. I asked you why you would do that, why would you sacrifice yourself to free me? And you told me that it wasn't fair. You said noone should ever have to be trapped, or alone. And you were already on the brink of death, you didn't want me to die with you. You said... I had been a good friend to you, and you wanted me to live my life for both of us."
"And you really are, Matatabi."
"I'm really what?"
"A good friend. You could have left me there to die, but instead you stayed, you saved me. You put yourself back in my body voluntarily and stayed with me ever since, when you could have left at any time."
"You taught me friends don't abandon each other. Plus I had to make sure you'd stay out of trouble."
"Well you've done a terrible job!" Senji joked. They all laughed.
"My point was, if we can get Shukaku back, there may be a small chance we can convince him to join us again."
"This is a sand spirit that tormented me for years, wouldn't let me sleep, always saying if I fell asleep he'd kill everyone."
"I know, but remember what you were like a few years ago, you enjoyed killing people, you thought it was your purpose. But look at you now." She smiled. "You've come so far. I believe that once day, the tailed beasts and us can work together."
"You really think you can convince all the tailed beasts to cooperate?"
"Some of them already do."
"Huh? How do you know?"
"You think I've just been doing regular missions these past three years? I've known about the jinchuriki for a very long time and I finally tracked them down."
"Well then, what are we waiting for?!" Naruto became excited. "I wanna meet them all!"
"All in good time, Gaara still has a decision to make."
"You're letting me choose?"
"Duh... it's your body, your choice."
"If you really think you can convince him to cooperate..."
"I've done it once before, remember?"
"Then I say let's do it."
"Yes! I knew you'd be on board!"
"But how are we going to do this?"
"Well, that's where Itachi comes in. He's still a double agent. I mean, as far as we know, the Akatsuki don't know he's actually on our side. They now know that I will fight them. Let me explain that one, I had to promise not to interfere with their plans in exchange for being able to see my brother now and again. Obviously that promise didn't mean anything once they took Gaara. They won't trust me again, in fact I'd bet they'd try and kill me on sight. Plus, being a jinchuriki, they'll come after me eventually. They got Matatabi's previous jinchuriki."
"Yeah but I'm sneaky and managed to escape!" Matatabi boasted.
"Yeah, you did." She patted his head.
"Imma go back in for a while now, was good meeting you all at last." Matatabi went back into Saori's body.
"It's a great feeling..."
"What is?" Naruto asked her.
"Being able to tell everyone what I am. Not having to hide it anymore. I'm sure Matatabi feels the same." She smiled. "I can finally show everyone 'this is me'! I don't have to hide in the dark anymore. And you taught me, Naruto, that I shouldn't be ashamed of who I am, because there's people that care about me, people I can call my friends, true friends who love me, knowing what I am! People who know the real me and Matatabi."
"All that power and you treat him like a common house cat." Saito pointed out.
"Hey, he loves it!" Saori gestured. "He loves his belly rubs and sitting by the fire and chasing paper balls around the house."
"Spoiled."
"I mean... he is a cat after all, tailed beast or not, a cat is a cat, no matter how big or powerful." She laughed. "If he had an issue with it he'd have said by now."
"I can't imagine letting the nine tails... or rubbing its belly..." Naruto cringed at the thought.
"Maybe one day." She smiled. He thought she was joking but she wasn't. "We keep getting side tracked. Right, everyone back to my house!"
They all went with her, she had one of the biggest houses in the village. She brought out some scrolls and began devising a plan. There was a knock at the door.
"Just come in, it's open!" She shouted.
"Who's that?" Sakura asked.
"You'll see in a second." As she said that, he walked in.
"Why you gotta call me over at this time? What a drag."
"Hey, Shikamaru!" Naruto jumped up.
"Oh, hey Naruto. Saori, you didn't tell me there'd be so many people here."
"Surprise. Anyway, Shikamaru is here because as you all know, Shikamaru is a great tactician and so I've asked him to help devise as many plans as possible, not on his own obviously... we need to have the one with the highest potential as plan A, then descending in probability of succession..."
"It would help if I had some knowledge of the enemy."
"Yeah, that's what we are here for. Itachi, if you would?"
"Step one, know the enemy, step two, devise a plan, step three, have a back up."
"And step four?" Naruto asked.
"Initiate plan A, obviously." Itachi seemed as annoyed with Naruto's idiocy as Sasuke is.
"On with step one, please. We don't have time to explain everything to you, Naruto. The Akatsuki are probably targeting another jinchuriki as we speak. But first we need to get Shukaku back."
"As I was about to say, before I was interrupted..." he gave Naruto a sideways glance. "I have already informed the Hokage of all this information, as part of my condition for being allowed back into the village on a temporary basis. Firstly, there is myself; Itachi Uchiha, from the hidden leaf, my speciality is genjutsu, I have a sharingan, obviously, and when someone looks into it they will be caught in my genjutsu.
"And you're vegetarian." Saori teased.
"How is that relevant?" Itachi asked.
"Just thought everyone should get to know you more!" She laughed. Itachi sighed loudly and continued to inform them of all the members names, where they were from, their speciality and any kekeigenkai they possess. "You've already met Deidara and Sasori, though Sasori is now disposed of so we needn't worry about him anymore."
"I still feel bad... that was Lady Chiyo's grandson, he made the puppets that Kankurō uses... I just wish... it didn't have to be this way."
"I know, but it can't be helped." Itachi tried to comfort her. "Think of it this way, he's one of the ones who kidnapped and killed Gaara."
"I know you're trying to comfort me, Itachi, but remember, you're also partly responsible for killing Gaara!"
"Yes, and I'm sorry."
"If you weren't my brother, I'd have killed you by now." Her tone was serious and somewhat menacing, she's never spoken to him like that before.
"It's not something I wanted to do."
"Then promise me." She said coldly. "Promise me next time you're in the position where they want you to help them kill one of us, you won't do it?" He remained silent. "Promise me!"
"I promise."
"Fine. Carry on." She breathed in deeply to calm herself and regained her normal demeanour. "Itachi will carry on as normal, as one of the Akatsuki. Should any of us find ourselves in battle with him, engage as normal."
"Wait so we still have to fight Itachi?" Sakura didn't understand.
"Yes, we still need him to be a double agent. Until Shikamaru and I manage to come up with a solid plan to retrieve Shukaku, I want the rest of you to carry on with training as normal."
"Everything as normal then?" Sasuke said.
"Yes, which brings me to you, Orochimaru you may as well come out now!" She shouted to the empty space behind the group. Out of the shadows he appeared with an evil grin on his face. "I know what it is you desire, you told me all those years ago. But for now... I ask that you join our side. You were once Akatsuki but now they consider you an enemy. An enemy of my enemy is my friend."
"You once told me you don't have enemies, just people who walk a differe path than you. What's changed?" Still grinning menacingly.
"The lives of the people I care about most, the future of my village is at stake."
"I can see this is very important to you. However, don't expect me to be an active participant."
"Actually, I was going to ask that you continue training Sasuke." As she said that, Sasuke turned in shock.
"Think about it. Sasuke trained by Orochimaru, Naruto trained by Juraiya and Sakura trained by Tsunade. Three ninja trained by the legendary Sanin. It makes them valuable assets for this."
"Very well then. Sasuke, if you will?"
"Yeah, let's go."
"Wait!" She stopped them. "Sasuke... Happy birthday."
"A few days late."
"Yeah I know, but I wasn't there for it, so I'm saying it now."
"Yeah, not every day your little brother turns sixteen." Itachi added.
"Sorry there's no cake or anything, but maybe once this is all over we can celebrate properly?" She smiled.
"Don't make a big deal of it." He smiled back. He was still trying to be cool. They left together to continue training.
"It was 23rd day of the seventh moon for those who were wondering."
"Wait, so Sasuke is just going to leave again? I thought... we just got him back." Sakura looked broken, like she was beyond crying.
"Don't worry, he won't be gone long. I just need to make preparations for the two of them to be allowed to return to the village, on a cautionary basis of course, they can't just be pardoned like that. Same with Itachi. For the time being, Itachi and Sasuke, when he returns, will live with me. So I need to go sort some stuff out here to accommodate them, I'll catch up with the rest of you to see how your training is coming along in the next week."
"I'll give you a hand here." Itachi told her.
"By that you mean watching Princess Gale." She scowled.
"Well, if you insist."
"I was joking!" They all laughed and went their separate ways. Over the following weeks they trained harder than ever.