Chapter Three

Unlikely Alliances: Naru's Rescue

The moment she asked the stupid fox what his name was, it was the beginning of their understanding and him telling her his origins, she started to feel that he spited being trapped in a dark place, but that didn't mean he had to hate so much. It was a miracle she was even alive after all those times she hated a person so much and almost killed them herself.

Her dead father had said he could rework the seal only once, and next time she sprouted Eight-Tails, there would be no one to keep her the way she was. So she needed all the help she could get.

She didn't even get to see what her own face looked like, but her entire body would be enveloped with such a powerful emanation of golden flames that licked all over. She didn't even own the long cloak that flared behind her; black markings swirled over her stomach and in other places along her body.

This was a controlled version of the Nine-Tails chakra, an advanced stage of the usage. It was called the Kyuubi Chakra Mode.

With this AND Sage Mode, I can be close to a goddess on earth!

Don't go boasting now, runt. Look where that loud mouth landed you.

Yeah, yeah, but thanks to you, I can try and bust out anytime I want. Today was the day I mastered it, Kurama!

The fox groaned. Yes, you did, and I'm taking all the credit - but don't you forget you wouldn't have made it to Sage if not for the toads, Kurama said, clearing his throat.

Naru smiled at no one in particular. "If only Pervy Sage could see me now."

She let herself sink back to normal, but because she saw something she anxiously waited for that was the only highlight in this hellhole - in the mouth of the enemy, what the hell - which old man Danzo thought to just keep around for the hell of it, but she learned it was because he knew it was one of her weaknesses. In the early days of locking her up, she would scream and scream at them to let her out...

...only for her favorite Instant Ichiraku to be lowered from the top of the mountain before her cage. She had to be careful to avoid touching those bars because they were placed with sealing tags that suppressed the tailed beast.

But before she could grasp the steaming cup and chopsticks, the strings holding the tray suddenly jerked, and the entire thing fell to the bottom which was none other than the top of the Hokage Tower. Naru shrieked at the top of her lungs, ignoring the shouts above that intruders had come. Maybe I should be happy that Captain Yamato and Sai aren't my guards after all. That old creep took two more of my friends away.

"NOOO, NOT MY RAMEN!"

She jumped back when the intruders lowered themselves down before her entrapment, on a giant white bird that looked like it was made of clay. Angrily, she growled through her teeth at the sight of those three. "You guys!" Naru snarled, clenching her fists.

First was Kisame Hoshigaki, the shark man who threatened to cut her limbs off and devour her chakra.

And how could she forget that blond asshole - the one who kidnapped Gaara and hauled his temporary corpse around like it was nothing?

Last but certainly not least: Itachi Uchiha. The one she hated most of all of them. Pain she had because he destroyed her village, killed all her friends - but after understanding, he restored their lives at the cost of his own. This man...this one was responsible for what became of Sasuke, Orochimaru coming in second to first place.

"Well, look what we have here," Kisame said with a leer. "The Jinchuuriki child herself."

Forgetting about her fallen ramen for the time being, Naru started. "I'm NOT a child, Fish Face," she snapped, putting her hands on her hips. "And what are you three doing here? Finally going to do to me what you all did to Gaara and the others like me?" Now that my village is out of order under a tyrant who issues death on any who oppose him, limits free will, and what else is there? Oh, yes, sometimes burn down homes if it suits.

Deidara huffed and threw his ponytail behind his shoulder. "We're here to just spring you out, that's all, un. Your Kazekage friend hired us to rescue you from this living smoke bomb. So, you wanna stay here and die without release or come with us?"

What the...what the hell? Was this a sick joke? Were they trying to lure her into a false sense of security or what?! "Why would Gaara do such a thing after what you all did to him?"

"Naru," Itachi intoned sternly, "there is no time for questions. Do you want to stay here and die without hope - or come with us?"

Those were almost the exact words he said that day in the inn - and then Kurama interrupted. You don't see it in those red eyes of his that he means it? I can smell it off of him, Naru.

Now she found herself looking into those bloody eyes of his - those eyes that trapped you whether you looked in or not, the power in that one, single finger in addition - and she saw the beast meant it. Calm, collected, and devoid of any traps. She sensed his chakra, and that was when she noted how...icy clean it was. She didn't even think she'd have it in her to sense someone's essence like this! It was all that time I spent training that I learned so much more without much help - except you, Kurama.

Naru grinned as a clever idea came to mind. "If I say yes, will you make up for knocking off my ramen?" she asked sweetly, which made her laugh now when she saw the dismay on the faces of Kisame and Deidara.

"Yes. As much as you want." How was it that Itachi gave in so easily? "Now step back so we can break this barrier. It clearly binds tailed beasts. Deidara!"

And there it was: one of those miniature animals - no, two - and they were shaped like little versions of the big bird the trio rode on...and the explosion blinded her vision but was enough to ensure the impact needed to shatter those bars and the tags. "Hurry, jump on, un!" Deidara shouted to her.

On impulse, she dashed forward and leaped on, and the bird was off into the night.

~o~

"The Jinchuuriki escaped under our noses."

He stated it plainly and simply as he personally surveyed the damage done, but by the time he arrived following the sweep of the mountain - his face with the mouth modified to imprison that monster disguised as a mortal girl, who happened to be the child of the Yondaime - Naru Uzumaki was long gone. It was witnessed that a "great bird" had left the site, so no one had a clear look of the creature.

He hissed through his teeth. Someone sprung their Jinchuuriki loose, and they were going to pay with their lives. And it was a good thing that there would be traces left behind for their sensors to identify, or their scientists who put the particles under the microscope.

Danzo shook his head, aware of the two behind him who he now wished he posted as the girl's guards - no, the creature. Because these two had been her friends and now back under his orders as long as he was Hokage of this village. Everything that had been Lord First and Second, then Hiruzen, Minato and finally Tsunade was now his. This was how you ran things: with the extremes to keep everyone in line. Especially the civilians.

Anyone who said otherwise would face imprisonment or death. Their one-time heroine was a prime example that dampened their spirits.

But now she was out there, and if she returned, he was certain he was finished. I am still the Hokage, so there is still time.

But no one knew where Uzumaki was. That was why he turned to the pale boy. "Sai, you know what to do."

"Yes, Danzo-sama," Sai answered monotoned, difficult to read as ever. He trained the lad and others before and after him to be like this, so he didn't know if he should be on his guard. Same with Tenzou.

~o~

"So, why would Gaara agree to let you guys free me?"

Naru still couldn't believe that her friend - whom she was glad was still well and didn't forget about her - would agree to these criminals' terms, whatever they were, just to help her get away from her home which needed her more than ever, but Gaara must have had a reason. Uchiha said they were changing their ways, but why should I believe so easily?

Apparently you have no choice now. You have to keep going forward, Kurama told her, wise as ever. The fox was right, so what was she going to do now that she was free at last?

Make the best of it, that was what. She still had enough of that left. Just like right now when they were in the air, and she saw the entire landscape if not even the tiniest details. It was a treat after being in prison for one year! If circumstances had been different, she would have been laughing and spreading her arms out on either side, shouting that she could fly. Besides, it wasn't like the red-eyed demon himself had a sense of humor, unlike Fish Face - but what about that blond bastard this thing belonged to?

When they got to the Sand Village, Gaara would explain everything once she was safely delivered. There was no doubt he and the Council would want to hear her side of the story before anything else.

"You should ask him that yourself once we get there," Deidara said smartly from the front, being the "driver" of this giant bird, "but he had no choice like we didn't when Itachi decided to interfere. Like I really care as long as I get to use my art!"

Kisame grunted. "Single-minded as always, he is," he told Naru. "'Art is an explosion' - I pitied Sasori when he was still among us. Makes you wonder how two different artists put up with each other."

"Same reason I put up with you all this time," Itachi said bluntly, eyes flickering over to where she and his partner were, and now that she thought of it, Naru wished she was seated close to him instead of the one with the nasty sword that hungered for chakra. Made her wish she had a special weapon like that, if it were compatible with her.

Deidara snickered at the exchange, then announced they made it to the spot that was promised to her, but they couldn't stay. Naru felt her soul lift at the sight of the Ichiraku stand on the mountain pass. It was world-famous; there wasn't another like it in the world, besides the one back in the Leaf. "You guys have to try it, too!"

~o~

The sight of the young woman aroused something in Itachi. His memories consisted of a round-faced, whiskered child in orange and blue with a long, messy mane of sunlit hair, then onward to a teenager who had cut her hair to her shoulders and switched to orange and black - but this time there was a significant change. Her clothing was dirty due to being locked up, but it appeared she still spent her time training with what limited resources she had; her weapons had been taken away from her.

He wanted to know how she maintained that newfound strength, since he detected a new fire in her eyes. Even now, she doesn't let anything stop her.

Right now, they paused at none other than the Ichiraku stand, but they couldn't stay for long. No doubt Danzo had ANBU and Jounin looking for their missing Jinchuuriki.

"Makes you feel bad for those who haven't had a chance to enjoy ramen like this!" Naru said happily as she slurped down the sumptuous meal whilst Itachi was the opposite, Deidara taking his time at first before he eventually dug in, and Kisame snickered at the show.

"I didn't think I'd enjoy something as delicious as this!" he declared.

"Un, that's right! I feel like I could go for seconds!" Deidara agreed with a shine in his eyes as if he were on the topmost cloud in the sky.

Itachi gazed at how amazed Naru was when she looked upon the men from the organization who wanted her Kyuubi, then saved her from Danzo's clutches, but here they all were: enjoying a simple meal of world-famous noodles and miso, as if nothing was going on, but no one forgot the dire circumstances. He hadn't done anything like this in years, but when he and Kisame had only each other, they couldn't afford such luxuries. No one in Akatsuki could, but things were changing under his watch.

First hadn't been easy following the attack on his village. That meant when he heard that Pain attacked it, he had to deal with Madara - the man behind the god of Akatsuki's acts - so that he could take it from here. Enough was enough. It was no surprise that Madara, the man who had been his clan's leader and the other founder of the village who all but ended up erased from history yet survived his final fight with the future Shodaime Hokage, wouldn't go down without a fight.

Susano'o did the trick. The man outlived everything from his usefulness and his madness.

I needed help to finish our own people off on orders, since I couldn't do all of it alone. The only thing we ever had in common was that we loved our brothers...but mine isn't the one I remember. It's my fault, but it harkens much longer.

He knew that he and the girl - no, woman - would have to talk about Sasuke eventually, but right now wasn't a good time. And given how late it was, with one more day's journey that was tomorrow, it didn't hurt to pause someplace away from here for a night's rest. They would cross Fire Country's border when their meal was over. She had to be exhausted after the events.

"Can't believe you guys must have missed out on something like this," Naru told them after a second bowl, and that was as far as it would go. But she must not have eaten much in the cell. Damn Danzo and those beneath him who treated her the way they did...

"Yeah, we don't have anything like this where I'm from, and even if we did, indulgence is something we make for ourselves behind closed doors, un," Deidara stated, brows coming together to form a straight line. "Don't matter what it is either."

"And as for me, it's everywhere combined with competition to slew over," Kisame chimed in, pushing his empty bowl away.

Itachi by this time had halfway finished, his appetite lost until it was regained, having been more interested in listening rather than caring about his own stomach. "Never once caught my attention, but this..." He felt a slight tug in contrast to his own words. "...this puts a bit of a smile on my face."

Her face seemed to fall as she seemed to realize that these men were not the monsters she thought they were, but she didn't know everything. "Sorry to hear that," she said quietly, standing up and stretching. "This was all I could have in my life based on my allowance from old man Third would give me. I was always treated by Iruka-sensei who was like a big brother as well. I mean, who doesn't like to be treated by someone who makes you feel like you're family?" Her eyes glazed. "And I never knew what it was like to have a real family until I met him, Kakashi-sensei, Pervy Sa - I mean, Jiraiya-sensei," she added, earning snickers from Kisame and Deidara, Itachi giving a quiet smirk to one corner of his mouth. "And Sakura and the others."

She didn't even mention Sasuke's name, but it was there.

"...well, well, I think I see what she did to Zabuza and Haku so long ago," Kisame said finally, his face somber and distant. Deidara pursed his lips as if trying not to blubber.

Itachi, on the other hand, was stricken to his core and wouldn't show it. It was more than just a habit that he would confide with her on their own time. A leader should never reveal his inner demons even though he had history with his subordinates.

~o~

Too bad they wouldn't be back to this place even when they did go back to Konohagakure. She had such a great time that made everything worthwhile. She even felt so good telling the boys about herself, but when she asked about them, she got evasive answers, but it was hinted with two of them.

Deidara's old home had nothing but pleasure behind closed doors. Must have been a bunch of prudes, or something like that. "They didn't understand my style at all," he did say, however. "Just tolerated me, and only a handful really liked me - but it wasn't like those things triumph in the end. At least, I wasn't lucky in that department."

But it seems something else happened that caused him to defect, and he won't talk about it.

Kisame wouldn't either, though he said that he had no choice but to kill the members of his division due to their intel at risk of leakage - and the one they were up against had been none other than Ibiki Morino. Naru supposed she should have been angry since this was one of her own, but there would never be no history between her nation and theirs. To think she and Gaara had once been at odds.

That wasn't all: Kisame's superior had been the one selling out his own village to enemy nations, so the shark man murdered him and had no choice but to take Samehada for himself. To make matters worse, the Fourth Mizukage who was the vessel for the Three-Tailed Turtle at the time, rewarded him for his loyalty, but by then, he realized how much of a world he lived in. One that was filled with lies upon lies, which he loathed more than anything.

"If there is anything I prefer, it's honesty."

Just what I want in this world. What all of us should have if things should be better than they are now. At least we all get somewhere.

But that still left Itachi who didn't say a word and set to work on getting the fire ready.

Don't know what to say, but I am so happy so far. XD Thank you all for your support so far! Feedback appreciated as ever.