This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Naruto, which is trademarked by Masashi Kishimoto. Everything aside from the original characters are created from the wonderful mind of Kishimoto.
Most of the following unrecognizable are original characters of mine, please bear with me I am still in the process of making the character profiles for an even better visualization.
Also, comments, suggestions, criticism, even just simple messages are welcomes, please feel free to message me anytime.
Thanks for readitng!
Chapter 3: A Clone for A Clone
It had been a while since the small group assigned to rescue the fifth Kazakage from akatsuki. They had already left the sandy desert and now find themselves immersed in lush green forests. Misaki frowned, the akatsuki were not to be taken lightly. They were strong but didn't rely in the confidence of their strength as they still pushed through on dragging Gaara out of their lands and risk being spotted early, and it seems she wasn't the only one who had noticed this as Ayako had begun gritting her teeth once again in anger.
"Damn, how far did they drag Gaara?" she said, Misaki noting that the farther they had gone and the longer time had passed without them finding Gaara, the angrier and the more agitated she got.
'Note to self: Make sure that the two of them would have a proper length of time and space for their reunion or else she would be in this sourly mood for months.' Misaki thought as they continued to trek the forest. In truth, she with how long Gaara has been gone, she did not have the confidence to assure Ayako of the certainty that they would still be able to rescue Gaara. It had happened in the best that they would try to rescue a jinchuriki alive, however, they haven't been successful thus far.
Misaki didn't want to raise Ayako's hopes so high, only to have them crashing down at bullet's speed. However, she wasn't ready to give up hope just yet, no matter how hopeless the situation already is.
"Naruto, can I ask you something?" Sakura's voice broke through not only Misaki's but everybody else's thoughts as they continued to advance towards where Pakkun had relayed Gaara was. Sakura waited a good while until Naruto's attention was focused on her.
"Since when have you been targeted by the Akatsuki?" Sakura asked, Naruto was so taken aback with Sakura's question that it took him a moment's silence before muttering about not knowing and going on ahead of the group.
"There was that one time when two people from the Akatsuki, that came to Konoha in order to make contact with Naruto, but that was three years ago, and they have only started making a move now. I don't know why?" Kakashi explained as he matched Sakura's pace. Misaki could clearly remember what happened that day. The day where she and Naruto were left alone by Jiraiya in the hotel and had opened the door to not only one, but two S-ranked criminals from the notorious group of criminals.
"Why did they wait three year?" Sakura asked, noticing the obvious gap between the contacts.
"It might be because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't, because Jiraiya-sama was always hanging close to Naruto" Kakashi speculated out loud. Misaki was about to correct him of whatever reason the Akatsuki had hung back for three years, but lady Chiyo had already beat her to it.
"Based on the information I acquired, there apparently is another reason, there is quite a bit of preparation involved, if one's gonna draw out the Tailed beast that's sealed within people, and my guess is that they have encountered difficulties with that" Chiyo theorized, impressing both Misaki and Ayako at how close the old woman is with the truth behind Akatsuki's hiatus.
"You're actually close to the truth. In order to be able to harbor immense power, they needed to procure a container with equal, if possible greater strength, and the nine tails was simply too strong to be conquered three years ago" Misaki explained the dilemma Akatsuki was faced with long ago.
"What is this tailed beasts you're talking about?" Sakura asked.
"What?! You're Tsunade's disciple and you don't even know that?! Konoha has a nine tailed fox" Chiyo exclaimed.
"The nine tailed fox is considered top secret in Konoha" Kakashi explained Sakura's lack of information.
"well that' not surprising, I guess" Chiyo speculated before Ayako had enough of the old relic and butt in.
"A tailed beast, refers to the beasts with tails. Long ago, our village had a one-tailed beast, that's the shukaku sealed inside of Gaara." Ayako said, her voice ranging from annoyed, sad and angry as she spoke.
"So there are other tailed beasts beside those two?" Sakura proded.
"Yeah, there are a total of nine tailed beasts in the world. They had special characteristics as each one differ in the number of tails, hence their given names. Each beast carry immense power and in the world of shinobi, they were used for military purposed by hidden villages around the world. They competed to get their hands on them, but no one was able to control that kind of power, one that surpassed even human capabilities." Ayako explained further.
"We're still not sure why they wanted such immense power or even how they think they are going to control not only one powerful uncontrollable beast, but all nine, but we figured it was up to no good." Misaki re-counted years three years' worth of travel and research materials.
Their group continued running through the vegetation, until wind blew past them and Ayako instantly knew that an enemy was up ahead.
"Everybody halt" she yelled out, and almost immediately, everybody stopped running and reverted to an on guard position.
Ayako and Misaki had assumed the anterior position of the whole group, Misaki's hand already on the hilt of her sword attached to her back, both of them already averting their gazes from the blood stained eyes of his.
"Uchiha Itachi" Naruto muttered, Misaki guessed that even though Naruto had prepared himself that he might be able to encounter Itachi since they were after the very group that he was also a member of, but reality is always different from expectations, no matter what the case is.
"Everybody, I don't care what you're personal business is with this guy, but don't try and dare look into his eyes" Ayako announced to the whole group.
"So he's the brat who killed his entire clan" Chiyo said looking back to Itachi, whilst actively avoiding his eyes.
"It's been awhile, Misaki, Kakashi-san, Naruto" Itachi greeted the familiar faces from the group as if he was an old friend, who had just missed replying to a couple of letters,
"You bastard! Not just me, but even Gaara too! I will destroy you guys" Naruto growled, his anger getting the best of the entire situation. Misaki had outstretched her arms in front of Naruto stopping him of whatever he plans to do.
"Naruto, I know you have immensely improved, however don't take lightly to who your opponent is" Misaki said, not taking her eyes of her enemies' form, for she wasn't confident to let him out of his sight.
"Misaki!" Ayako said as Itachi began raising his hands.
"I know" Misaki said finally pulling out her sword.
"Let's go" Ayako said rushing towards Itachi before he can use his hands to form any sign, with Misaki following in suit, sword drawn out.
Ayako had raised her dominant fist, posed to strike, however, at the last moment, she disappeared, leaving a miniature petal-filled twister hitting Itachi, who jumped back, but still got hit half of the blistering winds, the seemingly soft petals scratching as it hit him.
However he wasn't fast enough to dodge Misaki, who disappeared before his eyes and appeared behind him, giving him a flying kick that sent him a couple of meters away before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"Tche, just like him to initially confront an enemy with a fail-safe" Ayako said materialized next to Misaki, not trusting their eyes to scan through their surroundings for his eyes might be lurking everywhere, waiting for them to search for him.
"There!" Misaki pointed at the black cloacked Uchiha standing in front of the rest of the group. Ayako was quick to run towards her comrades, but was not prepared for another Itachi blocking her almost kicking her, if it wasn't for Misaki appearing her just in time to push her out of the way and use her arm to block his leg.
'This clone is different´ Misaki thought as she pushed Itachi's leg away. Even though strength and taijutsu were her weakness, it was also Itachi wasn't also known for his strength nor his stamina.
However Itachi is very smart, and he knew how to utilize what good he has and still emerge as victor in a battle.
"Ayako! Don't take your eyes of the enemy" Misaki scolded as she summersaulted farther from Itachi and landed on one knee next to Ayako.
Misaki frowned at the Itachi in front of her, no matter how close he was to the real Itachi, he was still some sort of copy and no way near the caster of the technique. As Misaki can recall, she was no match against Itachi's technique nor battle experience, however if there was something she bested Itachi with, is speed and stamina, and she was well aware Itachi is familiar with her fighting style.
Misaki planted her feet firmly on the ground, with both her hands gripping tightly on her katana. The copy Itachi's eyes frowned at her new stance, preparing himself for whatever she has in store for him. Itachi knew Misaki's fighting style relied on her speed, and he knew that she was going to use it against him.
Misaki bolted on her feet, but instead of lunging at Itachi, she darted in all different directions surrounding Itachi. Itachi followed Misaki's movements well tried to follow Misaki's movements, but with how fast she was going, Itachi can barely keep up, even with his sharingan.
If he was struggling to follow her every moment before, it was almost visually impossible to keep track of Misaki when she was moving too fast, she had begun creating after images of herself.
Once Misaki deemed that Itachi was distracted enough, she stopped all at once, revealing four shadow clones within the after images. Itachi barely had the time to dodge Misaki's shadow clones, which pushed him back a few paces back. Barely, but he still managed to evade and terminate Misaki's shadow clones.
"You're not getting off that easy! Wind Release: Prison of Petals!" Ayako slammed her hands on the ground, and suddenly petal filled twisters started bolting up the ground, trying to imprison Itachi into one of the twisters, who found the twisters way too easy to track with his sharingan compared to Misaki's after images.
"I can track your moves with my sharingan" Itachi the copy told Ayako, who just stared at him with a mixture of victorious and mischievous look.
"That's the idea" Misaki said behind him, Itachi turned to face Misaki, but it was too late, because even before Misaki spoke, she had already ran her sword through the clone of the man she once held so dear.
It took Itachi a few seconds to realize what Misaki had already done.
"You didn't hesitate, like you did before" he said.
"I had to make a choice, it was either you or Naruto" she replied and Misaki swore she could see a trappings of a smile, however, the technique erecting the clone had already faded before she could even see a smile she had long wished to gaze upon once more, turning into another man's face, one she wasn't recognize.
Misaki and Ayako watched as Itachi's façade disappeared into another man's face before returning to rendezvous with the rest of the team. When they got there, it seems that they too were up against the same kind of clone.
"Damn it, it was a total waste of time, he was just a clone" Ayako said, hands fisting as she stared at another man that was used in place of Itachi.
"That's exactly the point, they were letting us waste our time" Misaki said staring at the body, a shinobi, probably one from Suna that was reported missing right about the night of the attack.
"If they are stalling us like this, that can only mean one things, they are already extracting the tailed beast" Chiyo said as her brush glided across the small scroll in her hands. A look was exchanged between Misaki and Kakashi and in that instant, as if they weren't separated for years, as if they didn't reconcile just days ago, both parties had understood each other's message.
"We must move quickly if we want to save Gaara" Kakashi announced amongst the group, garnering everybody else's attention.
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The entire group had been running for a while, at a considerably slower pace, compared to their pace before encountering the fake Itachi, and it had begun to worry Misaki more than anything.
"We'll take a rest here" Kakashi suddenly announced once they have reached an appropriate clearing, making everybody turn to him.
"The hell" Misaki had barely gotten away from Ayako's way when she marched up to Kakashi, mirroring exactly what Naruto was doing. Misaki shook her head at the two's antics and similarities, laughing how two people who have never met before mirror each other so well.
"The hell do you mean stop?"
"Weren't you the one who said we don't have that much time?"
Ayako and Naruto yelled at Kakashi at the same time.
"We are going to go up against the akatsuki tomorrow, and compared to our pace before meeting with the fake Itachi, we have gone slower" Kakashi explained, and once again the two had found themselves unable to argue against the logic presented before them. Misaki sighed and placed hands on each other's shoulders.
"He's right, and that one was a fake Itachi, we need to be better than our best if we want to stand a chance" Misaki explained to them, slightly tightening her grip on their shoulders before breaking away, and just like that the two blond hot heads began to take word and prepared to rest for a while.
As the group rested, Misaki opted to rest on the tree branches, while staring intently at the direction they were heading. Somewhere out there, Gaara was enduring the shukaku's extraction. Misaki felt her heart miss a bit when she imagined Naruto in Gaara's place.
"You know, if there was one thing you have gotten better at, is how you mask your feelings" Kakashi said ruffling her red hair, making Misaki smile at the nostalgia of the gesture.
"You were worrying about Gaara, and dreading to see the day that it would be Naruto in his stead aren't you?" Kakashi said sitting beside Misaki. Misaki laughed, even at an older age, Kakashi can still read him like that perverted book he always carries with him, no matter where he is.
Misaki didn't answer, not because she didn't want to, but because they both already know the validity of the answer between them.
"Don't worry, Naruto may still be a knuckle head, but he has gotten a lot stronger" Kakashi smiled at her, trying to comfort the worry stricken girl.
"Besides, you have no doubt gotten stronger too" he added, Misaki smiled at him, it was unlikely of Kakashi to be the optimistic one, but she'll take it.
"You know, you're acting more and more like a father day by day, are you sure we're not going to be chasing after little Hatake babies soon?" Misaki chided, and just like that, she was back to her normal self.
Just a little while after Kakashi and Misaki's heartfelt moment, Kakashi soon woke everybody up in order to continue their pursuit of Gaara, and everybody was back on their feet in order to rescue Gaara, no matter how helpless the situation.
Not long after that, they have approached a river between two cliffs, and just as Pakkun had scented out, with the rest of the Konoha nin dogs, this was indeed the hideout the akatsuki had dragged Gaara to.
When they got there, it seems that Team Guy had already beaten them to it, as the whole team of four stood before a gigantic boulder with a huge seal attached on their front.
"Yo!" Kakashi announced their arrival, making the rest of the team aware that they had finally entered the scene.
"You're late Kakashi!" Might Guy greeted back.
"As if you were expecting anything other than being late from him, Guy-sensei" Misaki jested
"Hey, hey seriously what team are you on? Sorry to keep you waiting, we encountered something troublesome along our way" Kakashi defended.
"Naruto, Sakura Misaki!" Lee greeted with glee, at the sight of friends, some he hasn't seen in a long while by now.
"By troublesome you didn't mean me Kakashi didn't you" Chiyo added.
"He certainly did so" Ayako said, earning a hit on her head from Chiyo.
"Sorry to keep you guys waiting" Sakura said as the two groups met halfway.
"Who's the old lady and the new girl" Ten Ten asked as she scanned the other half of the rescue team for the fifth Kazekage.
"Oh, this is Lady Chiyo, an elder of Sunagakure, she will also be our consultant, and this is Ayako, a friend of mine that I traveled with" Misaki introduced their Suna delegates that will be joining them for their mission.
"Now, shall we do this Kakashi" Guy said.
All of the group stared at the hulking boulder embedded on the entrance of the hideout, the only thing standing between them, and accomplishing their mission. However, things are a little trickier than it appears to be.
Neji activated his byakugan in order to prepare the whole team of what is going on inside, they were large in number yes, however one can never be too certain or too prepared when fighting the akatsuki. Meanwhile, Misaki stared at the seal of the entrance, trying to figure out how they can get in.
"What's in there, Neji" they all turned to the byakugan user, who even as he had seen the interior of the cave, still cannot put in words what he had seen, a very rare occasion for someone like Neji indeed.
"Well, then it's something that we have to see for ourselves then?" Lee said.
"That makes things simpler then" Guy said placing a hand on his shoulder before summersaulting a few feet back. Before everybody knew it, Guy charged towards the boulder on full speed, fists ready to take action.
"No wait!" Misaki yelled trying to stop the eccentric jonin, however to no avail. Soon he found his youthful punch unable to land so much as a scratch on the boulder.
"You won't be able to break through that boulder with ease, it's protected by a barrier" Misaki explained, sweat dropping.
"What's our plan?" Lee asked as his beloved sensei approached the group once again.
"First, we have to remove the barrier Lee" Guy said.
"You don't say" Ayako muttered, her palm rubbing on her forehead, as if the huge paper placed on the boulder was just placed there for decorative purposes only.
"How do we do that?" TenTen asked.
"First, we need to figure out what kind of barrier it is right?" Sakura answered.
"What does it look like to you?" Chiyo asked as she, Kakashi and Misaki stared at the word 'forbidden'.
"I have an idea, but I am not really sure, Misaki, call it" Kakashi said.
"It's a five sealed barrier," Misaki said, without even batting an eyelash to doubt her findings.
"I agree" Chiyo said as Kakashi simply nodded.
"What's a five sealed barrier?" Naruto asked.
"It's a barrier created by placing paper tags with the word "Forbidden" written on them in five locations in the area. Meaning other than this tag, there are still other four tags in other locations." Misaki explained.
"How are we going to remove them?" Guy asked.
"We're not going to remove the barrier unless we remove all five tags in all five locations simultaneously." Kakashi added. After that, Neji was tasked to use his visual prowess in order to search for the other tags, a task which he was able to quickly accomplish.
Followed by that, wireless radios were distributed to the five people chosen to remove the tags simultaneously, namely team Guy and Kakashi.
Everybody watched as Team Guy and Kakashi all prepped to set out to locate the rest of the hidden tags, of course it wouldn't be team Guy if there wouldn't be a few out of the blue episodes like Lee screaming at the top of his lungs whilst his microphone, connected to everybody's radios was turned up at maximum volume, or when Guy and Neji had a challenge of will of whether Guy can make Neji join their youthful enthusiasm.
"Misaki, Sakura" Kakashi called out to the two young women.
"Once the barrier is removed, I want you both to punch the boulder as hard as you can" Kakashi said and both nodded.
Once team Guy had dispersed, the remaining members of the team positioned themselves, ready to charge inside and the cave. Misaki and Sakura stood side by side, waiting for the signal, fists already prepared to take action, in a way their master had taught them.
Everybody waited in anticipation as Kakashi finally tore up the barrier seal on their end.
"Sakura Misaki" he yelled as he simultaneously jumped away from the boulder. The two young kunoichi ran towards the boulder and both punched the domineering thing in unison. Making it crumble and soon fall apart in smaller versions, plunging into the waters.
The rest of the team waited side by side as the debris settled down, waiting for Kakashi's signal.
When he finally gave the signal, they rushed in to find the very sight they were dreading to see.
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Third chapter, hope you enjoyed!