TammyHybrid21: (I'm sorry I didn't say this earlier, but get better soon :3) Lol, I've had a story released where Naruto had MPD on my Natsumi account, but I deleted it because it never made it. Yeah, fuck being stealthy when you can crush the land with giant footsteps! Who needs stealth? Sorry about the timeline thing…? Dunno what to say about that. Sasuke isn't really up to anything, he just fed Minato bullshit. Kind of. I guess. Not sure. Thanks for your review :3

Recommended songs: BURN IT DOWN by Linkin Park and Lost in the Echo by Linkin Park.

Original chapter word count: 5.3k~ (almost beats my new record, which is 5.6k~)

Enjoy my calamitous chapter :p

Chapter 10: Eight Birds—Two Blades

Two weeks later…

It was an evening the guards of Suna couldn't exactly erase from their minds. A sand storm had just passed, so it was still cloudy and dark. But the sun peeked through just above the rolling hills and mountains to expose its dusk light. Baki, who just so happened to be guarding along with Kankuro, saw it. But it wasn't beautiful—it was…ominous. Foreboding.

Kankuro blinked, scanning the light it emitted. In the center of all the red—with the slight tint of orange—was the blinding sun. He looked at his sensei, and fellow jōnin, with a frown. "It's practically the color of blood."

Baki could only nod.

Sending the jinchūriki out on a mission was rather risky nowadays. The attack on Konoha two weeks ago made the Kage's paranoia worse. Figuring out who two of the three division leaders were made it skyrocket, some even worse than others.

Temari—the Rokudaime Kazekage, promoted only recently after Baki stepped down as a filler after Rasa's death once she reached eighteen—was one of the the "worse than others". This specific client made it difficult to choose a ninja that is on-par with Hatake—the suicidal Hatake.

She had no shinobi like that, because they were all dead. The only other person who could take the mission was Gaara and she sure as hell wasn't risking him; not when war was breathing down their necks. Kankuro was an option…but he was an A-ranked jōnin. Almost S-ranked, but not quite there. Plus he wasn't suicidal.

The Rokudaime wasn't stupid; no matter how high paying it was, she couldn't be shorted on shinobi, suicidal or not.

She huffed reluctantly, and put it in the pile of papers where it was to be secretly passed off to another village. It was a system they developed, and it was worth it. The money would be split as evenly as possible between the original village the mission was assigned to and the village who took it.

Temari turned her head to the small round window of the Kazekage's office. The sky's were cloudy, but said clouds were dispersing to reveal the dark evening sky. From over the sandy walls, however, she saw the red light of dusk. It was an unnerving shade of red, too. It reminded her of an odd color of blood.

Her eyes narrowed. Something wasn't right, if the red sunset was anything to go by. She scanned the tops of the walls, her mouth twisting into a frown. Where are the top wall guards…?

She sensed fast and frantic movement, whipping her head towards the door just in time to see Kankuro barge in. He was panting, his Kabuki face paint was smeared, and his right arm was mangled—a shattered and defective piece of his scapula stuck out to prove its mangled status. "Akatsuki!" he shouted with wide, fearful eyes. "Akatsuki are here—they're attacking Gaara!"

Temari stared in shock, shooting up and out of her seat. "What?!"

"Baki's dead!" he continued. "A-and Gaara sensed the trouble—smelled the blood—and came to help! He's locked in a battle just outside the entrance with Akatsuki! Sis, we—we have to do something! He's gonna die!"

"Calm down. I'll go there myself," she said, standing up and briskly marching out of her office. She looked at Kankuro, "Go straight to a medic-nin." She turned her head towards all of the shinobi guarding her office. "Everybody in this tower: Evacuate the citizens! Spread the news that Akatsuki is here! ASAP!"

All of the shinobi scattered, and ran off towards the exit, a medic-nin hurrying to perform a quick emergency first-aid surgery on Kankuro. Temari grabbed her fan, and ran out of the Kazekage's office. She rushed through the streets, racing past some citizens and fellow shinobi before taking to the roofs. She easily reached the entrance, noting all of the dead shinobi that were scattered in pools of blood.

She jumped up, spreading out her war fan all the way up to the third circle with a menacing glare towards the two Akatsuki members who dared to try and steal Gaara. "Fūton: Tatsu no Ōshigoto!"

With a mighty swing—right when she hit the entrance—a large tornado swirled into existence from her fan, Gaara pitching in and adding blades of sand to the technique. The two members easily dodged, one of them sticking to the sandy walls and the other jumping out towards the eternal hills of the desert.

Temari narrowed her eyes, joining her brothers side with the fan behind her back. "You alright?" she asked.

"Nothing new," Gaara stated apathetically. But his eyes narrowed. "They're stronger than anticipated, though."

The Rokudaime simply nodded. There are only two. From what Minato-dono has told us, they're put in three man teams. "Where's your third member?"

"Seems like they're already informed, hm," the blonde haired one said. He sported a menacing grin. "No point in hiding, Hashimoto."

"Damn. Would've been awesome if they didn't know…" a brunette grumbled as he pulled himself out of the shadows. Literally. He stood up and brushed himself off. On his fair skinned forehead was a red diamond, popping out against his dark chocolate brown hair and black eyes. He had bandages wrapped around his hands, and a small pony at the nape of his neck. He narrowed his eyes. "How do you know? Akatsuki is an organization of secrets and power."

"That's our secret," Temari said sharply. "I take it you are here to steal my brother, no?"

"Well of course we are, dip shit!" Deidara seethed. "Because we totally came here for fucking ice cream, hm!"

Hashimoto turned his head towards the blonde. "Please don't lose your temper this early in the battle, Deidara-san," he said calmly. He looked up at his third team mate, who had orange hair and brown eyes. "Jūgo-san…"

Jūgo made no sounds as he softly landed next to Hashimoto, dark markings spreading across one side of his face. His left sclera was black, and his iris had turned an ominous shade of yellow. He grinned, the side of his face and body turning into rock.

Hashimoto put his hands on his hips. "Go all out. Just don't take the lady. She's mine."

In a bout of speed, Jūgo leaped forward in a blur of orange and black, shouting as he aimed for Gaara's head. Deidara stuffed his hands on his clay bags, and joined the fight with Jūgo, throwing spider bombs behind the boys back only to be blocked.

Temari was about to leap into action, when she was stopped easily by a warning punch from Hashimoto. She winced and jumped back, her eyes widening as she saw the mini crater he had created. Monster strength? Just like Tsunade-san?! Shit…!

"Don't look away!" Hashimoto shouted excitedly, aiming bandaged knuckles straight for her chest. She jumped back, but coughed while grunting in shock; she had felt the force behind his punch, and her skin throbbed from a forming bruise.

I need to keep my distance, she thought. The Kazekage jumped back a few feet, making sure to keep her distance from the village and the missing-nin in front of her. She brought her fan around her, picking up air currents along the way as she charged up her chakra. "Daikamaitachi no Jutsu!"

Air currents collided as she swung her fan, creating sharp and powerful vacuum pockets that raced for Hashimoto. He ducked and spun out of the way, dark eyes widening as he watched Temari throw more than twenty shuriken up in the air. "Fūton: Senkō Hanabi!"

They were enveloped in wind, and were brought down on the medic repeatedly, a majority of them managing to hit him. It continued to hit him more than a few times, two being in his shoulder, five in his left arm and three in his thigh. Temari smirked, but it soon disappeared when he pulled the shuriken out, performing Shōsen Jutsu on his injured shoulder wound.

"Oh no you don't!" she shouted. She lifted her fan again, more chakra flowing and charging up. "Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu!" A single large blade of wind raced towards Hashimoto; it was big enough to slice through the sandy walls of Suna, even.

His eyes widened. He attempted to back away, but failed miserably. The jutsu sliced into his gut, blood flying out of the wound. He grunted as he fell back, rolling roughly around in the sand. He stopped right when he was on his back, a stream of blood dribbling down from the corner of his mouth joined by a small pool of forming blood.

Deidara snorted when he saw the scene. "Idiot," he murmured.

Temari slowly and cautiously made her way to him, a kunai in her free hand for precautions. She hit him with her fan, but gained no reaction. She heard an explosion, and a shout of painful dismay that sounded a lot like Gaara. Her eyes widened. She turned around, but instantly regretted it. A sharp pain shot through the middle of her shoulders, another following in her right upper leg and her entire rib cage. She fell, crying out in pain upon impact.

"All of your ribs are broken, you're poisoned, and your right femur is broken," Hashimoto's voice sounded. But there was no pain in his voice—just an apathetic tone.

Slowly, the Rokudaime turned her head towards the Akatsuki member. Her eyes widened in shock. All of his wounds were gone, the only proof of them existing being the tears in his cloak and the smeared blood on his chin that originated from his mouth. The red diamond on his forehead was gone, and he sported a grin. "How…?" she managed.

"I'm a medic," he replied simply. "I have regenerative techniques, lady, so if you thought I was dead then you were wrong in so many ways."

"Stop monologuing!" The voice's owner was Deidara. "We're finished here, hm! So act like it."

Hashimoto laughed—actually laughed. But it was bitter. He looked at Temari with a stoic expression. "Bye," he said.

He walked towards the other two, jumping up on the large owl that Deidara had made somewhere in the time during his fight. His right arm was crushed, and he was bruised. Jūgo had a gash over his chest and a stab in his arm along with minor bruises, but that was all. Soon, they took off, leaving behind a desperate Temari and a chaotic Sunagakure.

Deidara grinned wildly. "Success, hm."

Kirai was feeling disgusted. Absolutely disgusted. He was looking over the reports sent in by all seven teams, all reporting their catch that had spread throughout the week. Nearly all of the jinchūriki were captured, Kushina being the only remaining one left. Most of the informants and medic ninjas died along with three frontline members.

Oto, Deidara, Orochimaru, Konan, Nagato and himself were the only remains of his division currently. Hashimoto, Saki, Kabuto and Yū were the only ones left of the medic division. Atama's division was practically nonexistent. Only Sasuke, Samui and Jūgo remained along with their leader.

Shukaku, Niibi and Sanbi were already absorbed—Yonbi was currently being extracted, and Gobi was in line.

He honestly didn't like it, and thus, his disgust. Soon he'd have to go after Kushina. Minato's wife, Naruto's mother, his sister figure.

Kirai slapped his files closed, standing up from the desk. The remains of the frontline division, Atama, Yū, Sasuke and Hashimoto were down at the basement with the Gedō Mazō, said statue finishing claiming the Yonbi. He still had quite a few days left to plan his reluctant attack, but he didn't want to think about that shit.

So he did what he usually did.

He walked.

Eleven days later, Pain's office…

"Why are you wet?" Pain asked.

Kirai looked at him. "I walked."

"For how long?"

"Eleven days," he stated bluntly. "I walked through the entire village for eleven days."

Pain simply blinked and scanned him before sighing. "Have you heard?"

"Yes. Sasuke, Saki and Samui left because of their spy status," the division leader replied. "How many did they kill?"

"Only Oto, Hashimoto, myself and you three division leaders remain," Pain informed him. "They killed Orochimaru, Jūgo, Konan, and Deidara, but by the end of the battle, they were pretty beat up." He closed his eyes. "It's your turn to capture the Kyūbi. Are you ready, Kirai?"

The masked man simply nodded.

"Good. You'll be going alone, we're short on members and we can't protect ourselves spread out," he said. "If you lose yourself to your DID, I don't care who you kill. Just keep the jinchūriki alive or else you'll suffer. We aren't losing so many members so quickly after only a month deep in the war just to wait for nine years. Am I understood?"

Kirai nodded stiffly. "Yessir," he mumbled out.

"Good. You are dismissed."

The pained Uchiha disappeared in a swirl of Kamui, teleporting all the way from Ame to the Hokage's monument in Konohagakure no Sato. He instantly suppressed his chakra signature, feeling sadness, anger, regret and seldom self-hate choke him as his throat tightened. He was on the spike of Minato's hair, his dual wielding tachi's on a belt with the swords at each side of his waist. He had a gunbai with him, but it wasn't Madara's this time. He had it custom made.

Reluctantly, he stretched his senses in a search for the Uzumaki. He felt multiple chakra signatures, a few of them he was familiar with. But Tsunade, Naruto, Kushina, Kakashi, Gai and even Minato weren't in the village. A Kage Bushin replaced Minato, and it was low on chakra. Figures. Why did I even go here in the first place?

To lure them by ripping out Konoha citizens' throats, possibly…?

Kirai flinched, using Kamui again. He teleported to Turtle Island, a place where many jinchūriki had went to to attempt to control their bijū, and a place Atama told him a jinchūriki will very likely be hidden.

He landed on a hollow spike, looking around. He had landed on the entrance—his intended spot. Two Kumo shinobi were staring at him in shock, one scrambling up and stumbling away, only for his head to be ruthlessly teleported off. The other was frozen in shock; but he, too, easily died as Kirai stabbed his tachi into the mans heart.

He teleported the bodies away, putting leaves over the blood and silently hoping that no one would notice. His senses stretched again, and a sad smile spread across his face. Sure enough, he felt the chakra signatures he was looking for, along with quite a few others: Temari no Sabaku, Darui, A, Mei, Jiraiya, Kankuro and Ōnoki.

Kakashi, Gai and Naruto were with Kushina by a waterfall, and Minato, Tsunade, Jiraiya and the other seven newcomers were on the other side of the island, many chakra signatures in between.

Without a single movement, ten versions of him appeared in a pop of smoke. "Let him out," he ordered, "and fight the others, keep them occupied. I will handle Kushina."

They all nodded, and disappeared in blurs of speed. He, too, took his leave, heading towards the four who were by the waterfall with conflict and reluctance.

It took him longer than expected, but he knew that he had to hurry. He was already in place himself, along with one other Kage Bushin hiding deeper in the shadows of the trees. The clones were engaging the Kage and company. One clone dispelled to relay information to him, and Minato had managed to escape his techniques. He had used Hiraishin right when the clone dispelled barely a second ago.

Kirai was hiding in the trees, and before he could even relay a second thought, Minato appeared next to Kakashi. He glanced at Kushina. "She has to hurry. Akatsuki is here."

Their eyes flew wide. Naruto spoke up, "Where are they?!"

"Kage Bushin's pursued us," Minato replied as he looked around, "so I'm assuming he's here…"

"Dammit, dattebane!" Kushina suddenly shouted. She growled in frustration, standing up and glaring at the waterfall. "Stupid hate."

"Kushina, Naruto, go inside with Gai," the oldest Namikaze ordered. "Now."

The red haired kunoichi frowned, but her son yanked her into the falls, the green clad jōnin following up from behind. As quickly as they disappeared, Kakashi and Minato pulled out their weapons. "We know you're there," Minato spoke, "so there's no use in hiding."

Kirai hesitated, pulling out a kunai of his own and swinging the loop on his right forefinger thoughtfully. His chakra was completely suppressed to the point of where only someone like Tobirama could sense him with his sensory jutsu, and his Mangekyō was spinning wildly.

Go on… he encouraged himself darkly, …not much harm in saying "hello", right?

At that thought, he jumped down from the high tree branch, kunai at his side as he stood at the edge of the clearing. He felt a sadistic grin twitch at his lips, but he fought it down. He wouldn't be naïve and say "give up and hand over the Kyūbi", because he knew that they wouldn't. They wouldn't even consider it. Especially Minato.

Suddenly, his hands started shaking, and before he could even process the movement, his world went black.

Minato and Kakashi, on the other hand, just saw the division leader standing there with shaking hands and signature Uchiha eyes. Eyes they recognized. Both of them felt downed, but they knew it. The logic Sasuke brought to them had made sense the moment they saw his eyes—his Kamui eye pattern.

The Edo Tensei'd division leader moved his arm, hunching over as he started laughing madly. He held his right wrist as the bitter laughter echoed, his fingers tightening in his clutch as madness clouded his eyes. Under half a minute later, it stopped rather abruptly, the obvious grin he wore making the look in his eyes worse. "Why the fuck are you even trying?!" he asked as if they were insulting him just by trying. "Ha! Haha, it'll be way too fucking easy to cut you two down! A walk in the park, I tell ya'll little shits."

Kakashi stared at him, trying to look impassive and not doing a very good job at it. "You're Obito…" he started, "…right? So why are you doing this?" He paused for a moment before he looked years older than necessary, "…Unless…this is your other self."

Kirai leaned forward, putting his right leg back and pointing his kunai at the two. He chuckled darkly, his eyes glinting evilly, "Well aren't you a smart one. Obito, as he is right now, can barely hurt a fucking rock. He's too broken, because he's so fucking soft. And the bastard who revived the three of us is gonna fucking choke on his own blood once I find him!"

Minato's eyes narrowed. Kirai instantly caught it. He had no reason to rush, and he was practically dead. Fuck being stealthy, he thought, might as well beat them down now, it just means freedom sooner rather than later.

"Do you know who revived you?" the Yondaime asked.

Kirai's eyes narrowed. "If I knew that, I wouldn't even exist," he snarled, "and Akatsuki wouldn't exist, either. He could be dead, for all we know! Could've been one of the many bastards who didn't survive. Hell he could be Kakashi. Or Naruto. Maybe even Temari! Nobody knows right now, so don't question it."

Neither responded, Kakashi deep in thought and Minato with a high guard. Kirai grinned, and took the chance to charge them. In a blur of speed, he dropped the kunai and drew his tachi's, rushing forward with the butts of the hilts facing towards him. Minato was fast enough to dodge, but Kakashi was too deep in dismay. He blanched, stumbling in his stance. Kirai had the tachi's at the base of his throat before the Hatake could make another move, blades crossing like an X and ready to cut off the Hatake's head with a jerk of a hand like scissors.

Kirai moved his arms, drawing blood and making Kakashi's eye widen. But Minato teleported behind Kakashi, and teleported back to his original spot where his special three-pronged kunai was stabbed into the ground. Kakashi put a hand over his right neck base, swallowing thickly when he felt blood. "He's serious," he murmured. "He's dead serious…"

"Now is not the time to break down," Minato hissed, yanking his student up onto his feet. He glared. "Break down later, when we break him from Edo Tensei."

Kakashi blinked dumbly, slowly nodding and pulling his headband off of his scarred Sharingan eye. He caught movement and instantly jumped to the side with Minato, just in time to dodge the chakra-enhanced swipe of a sword. Kirai turned his head towards him, ignoring the grass he uprooted from the simple swipe of his sword as he charged them. He swiftly moved his hands, the blades pointing down to his feet as he aimed for Kakashi again.

The Hatake moved this time, clumsily dodging the stab of the blade, dropping down onto the water next to his sensei. He closed his right eye, his Sharingan absorbing every movement much more smoothly. He swiftly dodged the stab to his neck, ducking under a roundhouse kick and jumping backwards when a punch was aimed for his chest. But he winced in surprise when his jōnin vest ripped from the sheer force left behind. His eye widened, as he completely forgot that the Uchiha had crazy good chakra control to use the chakra fist. What.

He was too deep in shock—yet again another mistake he made. He felt a jarring pain in his right forearm, gritting his teeth together. It was unlike anything he felt before. He looked down to see one of the swords was lodged in his arm, the blade being inserted at his elbow. From there, the blade pierced the inside of his arm, all the way up to his shoulder. Kirai snickered darkly, his grin widening as his second blade aimed for his chest, but Minato's special kunai stopped the blade before it could reach the jōnin.

The Akatsuki member tilted his head, his Mangekyō spinning again. He suddenly became intangible, the blades going through the two shinobi along with his body. He quickly turned around, both tachi's aiming for the bases of their necks as he returned to being solid.

"Kushina, now!" Minato suddenly shouted.

Barely a nanosecond later, golden chains shot out of the water, six chains snaking around each of his legs and arms, two around his torso, one wrapping around his entire chest, snaking around his shoulder joints, and another around his entire neck—from the base up to his jaw.

Kirai's eyes narrowed, his Mangekyō still spinning. He was about to use Kamui again, but his Sharingan faded when all of his chakra was drained from him in a split second.

The mentally disordered division leader blanched, gritting his teeth together. Only three people had control over his seals: Kuro Zetsu, Shiro Zetsu and Atama. Kuro was sealed away, Atama takes battles seriously, and Shiro…Shiro was his most eligible suspect, considering he left the mutated human with Minato and Naruto. He sneered. That sneaky bastard, he thought irritably.

The chains tightened around his body until he dropped his swords, said tachi's being collected by Minato as his being got dragged into the cave behind the waterfall. Minato and Kakashi followed, the latter clutching his arm painfully. Shiro Zetsu and Guruguru stood behind Naruto, Shiro completely serious for once in his life. Kushina and Gai were next to Naruto, both with a tense expression.

Kirai mentally cursed as he was chained to a headless jinchūriki statue, glaring at the others. He silently thanked himself for leaving a clone to witness the battle, as it most likely teleported away. The other nine clones dispersed from the lack of chakra. In his memories of the other battles, all of the shinobi were pretty beat up, and he leveled their battlefield quite nicely.

Silently, Minato reached to pull the mask off, but his hand was zapped by lightning. He winced, frowning at the burn his palm harbored as he pulled his arm away. "So you have protective seals. Are you the only one with them?" he asked.

Kirai blinked, staring with irritation. "How should I know?" he snapped. "All I know is that it can absorb chakra to prevent it from breaking."

"Why?"

"…Why?" Kirai echoed. His brow was twitching like crazy, and they had barely started talking. Never mind about the fact that I'm a hostage. This bastard is all kinds of stupid. "How the hell should I know?" He felt a grin twitch at his lips, "Why do the cats like to eat the mice in the first place?"

They all gave him weird looks.

Kirai didn't mind them, though. He glared again. "Exactly. Now, let me go before I rip someone's throat out."

Guruguru jumped on him, his legs wrapped around his waist and arms around his chest. He giggled. "Aw, Uchiha-chan! I missed you lots~!"

Kirai's finger twitched, his vision almost instantly darkening when the mutated human grabbed him. He blinked like crazy, hoping to get rid of the darkness that clouded his line of sight, but he was failing miserably. His eyes darted left and right, feeling panic rise. He didn't like it when he lost control; he savored the moments when he was moving and thinking and killing and interacting and just being his violent insane self.

"Wait, what, dattebayo?! Why are you calling him that?! He's not Obito-nii!"

"Yes, he is," Minato said sadly. "He's an Edo Tensei. I told you about that technique, remember?"

The dead silence that followed made Kirai's vision go completely black, and Obito reemerged. Guruguru pried himself off of the Uchiha, and went to go hug a wide-eyed Naruto.

He blinked in confusion. He had blacked out right before he fought his sensei and friend, so he didn't know what happened; but his memories from the Kage Bushin told him about the fight with the others. Apparently they lost all of their chakra.

I'm a hostage, so they stopped him, he concluded easily after he felt the tight clutches of the familiar golden chakra chains. I'm guessing by the look on Naruto's face that he figured out something shocking.

"Obito-nii…" Naruto murmured.

The Uchiha didn't bother to look at the Uzumaki. He didn't really need to, and he felt guilty. He internally sighed, realization dawning on his mind. Fucking aftermath…

"Obito-nii," the blonde said more firmly.

"Yes, it's me," he snapped. "Happy?"

Despite their knowledge, they all stared in surprise, excluding Shiro and Guruguru. Minato looked at Naruto and Gai. "Can you two leave?"

The youngest Uzumaki opened his mouth to say something, but was sharply interrupted.

"That was an order."

Reluctantly, the two took their leave, stepping out of the waterfall. Kushina looked at Obito with wide blue eyes, her jaw clenched the moment they stepped out. "Why?" she asked shakily. "Why did you use that damn seal? Why did you die?"

The newly confirmed Uchiha Obito blinked. He wasn't sure who was listening in on their conversation. He didn't like it. The place wasn't secure enough, obviously, but he wore a mask that covered his jaw, and even if somebody with a Sharingan watched, they wouldn't be able to tell. The mask was clouded with chakra, so a Byakugan was out of the question as well. But then there was his reviver. He or she could be listening in on him through his own damn senses, and he wouldn't know.

"Well, 'ttebane?!" Kushina snapped loudly, obviously anticipating his answer.

Why would it matter as to who is listening? he wondered to himself. He blinked again, though it was followed with an answer unlike last time. "Kuro Zetsu is evil all on his own," he replied simply. "His very presence could taint holy water. Hell, even demons such as the Kyūbi hesitate against him because of who he is. I don't know his true origins, only he does, but even if I knew I still wouldn't have hesitated. His existence alone forced me to choose: You or me. And I chose you guys over myself. Shiro, where is the clone?"

"Six feet under," he spoke up for the first time.

"And now he's gone into the afterlife as the Shinigami's little pet," Obito finished.

"We still could've killed him," Minato murmured.

"He can split his body up," the Uchiha pointed out. "And he can attach himself to others. That's why Kakashi was there: Kuro attached to him like the little parasite he was. Besides, I was already dying."

Kakashi blanched. "Why didn't you tell us?" he hissed.

"What would the point be?" Obito shot back. "Seven full years, and even sensei couldn't completely crack the seals formula. And besides, I was suffering from long term psychological trauma. Still am, but it's been taken to a whole new level, as you can see."

"We still could've helped you!" Kakashi shouted uncharacteristically.

"And let Kuro Zetsu find me?!" Obito shouted back. "Put Naruto in danger?! Have Kushina captured and let the Jūbi be revived?! C'mon Kakashi! You know better than that! Kuro Zetsu is a fucking devil! He'd kill an infant—a child in the womb without second thoughts! Killing me and Naruto to get to the Kyūbi would make absolutely no difference!"

Kushina winced, her hands balling into fists. The chains considerably tightened around Obito even further, causing him to grit his teeth and grunt painfully. "Stop it. Both of you," she seethed. "Don't fight."

Obito flinched, he felt the chains tighten even more barely a second later, making his vision darken. He, despite not being an actual live human being, still possessed a poor bastard who was still alive.

Minato frowned when he noticed the flinch. "Kushina, calm down…you're hurting Obito more than necessary," he said quietly.

She turned her head towards him, her face tense when she noticed that she was, indeed, crushing him. She loosened the grip of the chains, giving him an apologetic look. "Sorry…sometimes the chains and my emotions click together," she said.

He simply grunted.

Shiro's eyes widened suddenly. He and Tobi moved back, Obito wincing a third time. The original Zetsu clone looked at the trio in front of Obito. "Move out of the way!" he shouted.

The three looked at him, but quickly moved out of the way when an oversized blue fist came crashing down on the waterfall, destroying the statues to the right of the entrance and crushing the entrance. The fist grabbed a statue, throwing it at Kushina, Minato and Kakashi.

The three dodged easily, Minato's eyes widening when he realized what was going on. He moved; he used Hiraishin to teleport back toward Obito, grabbing the marked Uchiha and teleporting away with chains and all. The Uchiha suddenly gasped, coughing and slumping over when they landed.

Kakashi was the first to panic. "Obito!" He rushed to the Uchiha's side, obviously on the verge of hyperventilation from said panic.

"Hn, he failed miserably," a deep voice said. "Moron."

A blue sword jabbed at the conscious three, splitting them up. Kakashi and Obito were by the entrance of the room towards the back, and Minato and Kushina were pushed off to the side with statues. The sword swung towards the Hatake, the side of the Susano'o's weapon hitting him. It tossed him aside, his head hitting concrete and making him black out by the edge of the clearing.

Obito grimaced underneath his mask, feeling Kushina's chains tighten dramatically and press him against the ground with ridiculous force.

Yū jumped down from the arm, eyes narrowed as he noticed the golden chains. Chakra chains, he thought. And strong ones, at that. I know Atama can break through them with Susano'o, but I'd rather not waste time waiting for the brat to regenerate…

Atama's Susano'o swung its sword towards the other two conscious living shinobi, who easily dodged. The weapon crashed into the statues and cave wall, making it crack and shake. Yū's eyes widened. The ceiling couldn't take the weight of water with such a large crack in it.

A yellow flash out of the corner of his eye made him look towards where the other two Konoha shinobi were at. They reappeared next to the knocked out Hatake, and then they were gone. But the Yondaime came back, reappearing next to Obito and Yū. He raised his three-pronged kunai, eyes solid. "Who is your reviver?" he asked with a steely voice.

Yū sighed, crouching and hunching over Obito, a kunai of his own in hand with an "are you stupid" glare to back him up. "Child, if I knew who it was, I would be gladly tearing him apart and drinking his blood," he said.

Minato blinked, completely oblivious to the crumbling ceiling for a moment. His eyes narrowed. "You're coming with me," he said.

Yū only had a moment to process what the younger Hokage said before he disappeared from the cave with the blonde and Uchiha.

"Fūton: Tatsu no Ōshigoto": "Wind Release [Style]: Great Task of the Dragon"

"Daikamaitchi no Jutsu": "Great Sickle Weasel Technique"

"Fūton: Senkō Hanabi": "Wind Release [Style]: Flashing Fireworks"

"Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu": "Wind Release [Style]: Wind Blades Technique"

"Shōsen Jutsu": "Mystical Palm Technique"

"Kage Bushin [no Jutsu]": "Shadow Clone [Technique]"

One of the longer chapters I've written :D yay!

Hehe. ^_^

Preview:

Naruto was pale with worry, staring into the indoor pond sitting at the shore along with Guruguru and Shiro Zetsu. The place was built in all five rendezvous places at the requests of both Tsunade and Sakura, because it would bring a peace of mind to the stressed and injured ninja. He liked it.

It was also close by the place where Obito and Yū were held temporarily captive.

He sighed, slumping forward. But his somber mode was replaced with alarm as he heard a loud and extremely pained scream. His head shot up, eyes wide with worry, because the scream sounded exactly like Obito.

Peace! :3