"Hello." Someone else speaking
"Hello." Kyuubi speaking.
"Hello." Thoughts
"Hello." Kyuubi thoughts
Chapter 21
The next morning Akira woke up wiping his eyes and looked around only to see Sakura's team still sleeping.
"Where are they?" thought Akira. "They had better not have gotten into any trouble… Naruto is an idiot sometimes…"
Akira slowly walked into the pond and dove into it. The teenager then slowly walked out of the water stretching his muscles. His eyes then saw a little it of movement on his right making him quickly take out a kunai and slowly walk towards the direction where he saw movement. He flattened himself behind a tree and then took a quick peak making him drop his kunai. Right in front of him was Naruto lying on his back shirtless with Hinata snuggled up on top of her boyfriend with his and her own jacket on top of her. Akira didn't want to invade on their privacy but it was absurd to just sit sleep in the opening when enemies were looking for them. Akira soon gave up and decided to let them stay together for a few more minutes while he went to pack their thing's to leave the facility. Naruto feeling like he was being watched quickly opened his eyes and looked around to only see Hinata's head on his chest with a small smile on her features. Naruto for the first time in a really long time was really happy. Last night and today were the moments that he would treasure forever. Hinata soon made a cute noise before nuzzling her head against his chest making him smile some more. Naruto began to gently stroke her cheek making her smile even more before slowly opening her eyes.
"Morning Naruto-kun." She said sweetly before kissing him passionately.
"Morning Hinata-chan." Naruto stroked her cheek once again making her blush. "Come on the others might be worried about us." Hinata nodded and began to get dressed followed by Naruto. The blonde was putting on his flak jacket while sitting down when someone kicked him on the head lightly making him whip around. "Akira what the heck!"
"Your stuff…" said Akira simply dropping Naruto's back pack. Naruto saw that Sakura, Ino and Choji were all behind Akira who handed Hinata her back pack as well. "We should get out of here…" Naruto nodded and the group was on its way towards the exit.
"Wait I forgot to get Kakashi's crest..." said Naruto with his hand's grabbing his hair in frustration.
"Don't worry Naruto-kun." Said Hinata smiling. She pulled out 3 crest. "Sakura-chan gave me one and I took 2 from the jounin's that I defeated." Naruto smiled brightly.
"That's my girl!" he said lifting her up making her blush even redder then she already was.
After about an hour the group soon found a huge gate with the mist symbol on it!
"About damn time! I wanna eat some ramen!" shouted Naruto. He went up to the door and banged on it with his fist. "Open up we're done!" The gate soon creaked open and they saw Natsumi with 2 other jounin's walk up to them. Naruto and Sakura both showed them the statues and 6 crests each.
"Well done…" she said smiling. "I never thought that you all would survive this test being so young… 2 Konoha ninja's and 1 group of grass ninja's are the only chuunin's that are now promoted to Jounin's. Congratulations. Also congratulations on getting your team mate out… 6 teams tried and they lasted about 2 minutes each… You on the other hand destroyed about half of the building" Akira and Hinata both laughed a bit embarrassed. Each ninja quickly bowed to Natsumi who bowed back. "You should go rest up. We will deliver the news to Konoha for you." All of them nodded before exiting the facility and going to the hotel where all of the other Konoha ninja's were waiting for them.
"Congratulations all of you." Said Shikamaru smiling. Asuma went up to his team and congratulated them as well telling them how strong they had gotten.
"Naruto nice job!" said Kiba. "Lucky you didn't run into me or Neji eh?"
"Not really, your lucky you guys didn't run into me!" shouted Naruto. This made Neji shake his head with a small smile while Kiba went up to Naruto and started a shouting match. "Where's Kakashi and the traitor?"
"In the hospital…" said Shino.
"Hey Naruto did you really break 3 of his ribs, fracture his leg and break his arm?" said Kiba. This made everyone look at Naruto in amazement. "Plus he has bruises everywhere and suffered from minor chakra exhaustion not to mention a small concussion."
"I don't know…" said Naruto. "And the chakra exhaustion was his fault."
"I also heard that you traveled nearly half the facility just to fight Sasuke." Said Kiba. Hinata's eyes widened making her turn around and look at her boyfriend who had an embarrassed and fearful look on his face. Naruto then kicked Kiba making him shut up before walking over to Hinata who turned away furious.
"I said I was sorry!" said Naruto hugging Hinata from behind who attempted to fight him off but failed miserably. She smiled slightly but still refused to talk to Naruto who was nuzzling his face in her hair.
"Alright enough of that…" said Neji. Hinata and Naruto quickly pulled back blushing.
"Yeah get a roo-" began Kiba but he was interrupted when Neji covered his mouth.
"Don't even think about finishing that sentence…" said Neji giving his fellow comrade a death glare making Kiba gulp and Akamaru whimper. Neji then looked at Naruto. "We leave in the late afternoon when Sasuke and Kakashi get released from the hospital so get some rest."
Naruto soon took Hinata's hand and led her out of the room bidding his friend's farewell. Hinata who was still refusing to talk with her boyfriend soon felt 2 arms surround her waist and felt Naruto's warm lips touch her own making her blush. Hinata pulled away about after a minute and smiled. But her smiled quickly faded when she saw people staring at them as they walked by making her hug Naruto.
"Come on let's get something to eat huh?" said Naruto sensing her nervousness. Hinata nodded and went to a ramen bar that Naruto saw the first day they had arrived while holding his hand tightly.
By the time Naruto and Hinata returned to the hotel the entire group was finishing up their packing including Sasuke and Kakashi.
"Hey!" shouted Naruto. Everyone except for Sasuke said hi. Even Kakashi said hello surprising Naruto greatly. Naruto ignored Sasuke's death glare and turned to his former teacher.
"Congratulations Naruto." Said Kakashi smiling. "I know that you've hated me for all of this time but if it mean's anything… I'm proud of you and I knew you could do it…" Naruto was surprised to hear all of this coming from his former sensei and thought hard.
"Thanks Kakashi…" said Naruto. "But it wasn't just me… It was a team effort." Naruto smiled and looked at Akira who was standing next to Shikamaru. Naruto then looked at Hinata who was hugging him from the side. Kakashi nodded proudly at what he just said.
"Well let's get moving peoples…" said Kakashi. "Got a long way back home." Everyone nodded and lifted their back packs and moved out of the hotel.
They traveled a fairly good distance before they set up camp next to a nice lake. About half an hour after the ninja's got the fire starting Yumi appeared before them smiling.
"Congratulations you guys." She said bowing to them. Hinata smiled at Yumi and went up to her and started a very funny conversation making both of them giggle several times. "Oh Akira did you tell him yet?"
"Oh crap I totally forgot…" said Akira. Everyone looked at him with confusion. "It seems we found our first demonic artifact." Everyone's eyes widen when he pulled out a blue gem. Everyone including Sasuke paid attention to its constant glowing.
"We need to get this to Konoha as fast as possible so the village can protect it." Said Asuma. Everyone nodded in agreement. "Let's get some rest." Everyone soon retired in their sleeping bags except for Naruto, Hinata, Akira and Yumi.
"How are you feeling Akira-kun?" asked Yumi. Akira was surprised to hear the suffix after his name since only Hinata used it.
"I'm fine. Hinata-chan removed the poison and I only need a day's rest to move." Said Akira smiling. "Thanks again for saving me." Yumi nodded her head smiling.
The four soon got into an interesting topic about their lives but the most amusing subject was Naruto's jokes and prank's that he pulled on the village of Konoha. When the sun was rising the group set out once again to continue their journey home reaching it 3 days later. The group stepped through the gates just as the sun was falling when 2 anbu member's appeared in front of them telling the group that the Hokage wished to see them.
Naruto opened to door to see Tsunade look up at him and smile.
"Congratulations all of you." She said. All of the newly made jounin's bowed to their Hokage.
"Oh Oba-chan I hope you have a good place to hide something…" said Naruto confusing and angering the Hokage all at once making everyone but Naruto back away.
"Alright brat… I'm going to let that slide… Now what are you talking about having a safe spot to put something…" she said. Akira stepped forwards and put the blue gem in front of the hokage making it glow blue. "Is this the…"
"Yeah Oba-chan we found the demonic artifact!" shouted Naruto. Akira hit him on the top of the head.
"Shut it! Your too noisy plus don't you mean Hinata-chan, Yumi-chan and I found it while you were off doing something stupid… Again!" Naruto shut up after hearing his best friend words.
"Yumi how long do you think HE will be away." Said Tsunade.
"He isn't back yet?" she asked a bit worryingly. "Strange… He should be back soon." Sasuke looked around and saw that he was the only one confused at what they were talking about. Sasuke then caught sight of a small ring on her finger that had a symbol on it. An Akatsuki symbol… "Well you should be hearing from him any moment now…"
"Thank you everyone…" said Tsunade nodding her head. "Everyone except for Naruto, Yumi and Kakashi may leave… Congratulations once again." Everyone bowed before leaving the room. "Well look's like we got one… 6 left assuming that the Unknown ninja's haven't taken them yet…"
"Which is very unlikely." Said a cold deep voice.
There was suddenly a burst of smoke in the room making them all alert. But what the saw next shocked them completely. Right in front of them was the s class criminal who slaughtered his entire clan… And he was covered in his own blood from several cuts and bruises.
"Itachi-san!" shouted Yumi helping him sit down. Tsunade quickly went over to him and healed the ninja. Yumi looked around. "Where is Kisame-san?"
"He's gone…" said Itachi. He gave her a blood stained forehead protector that had the mist symbol on it with a slash running across from it. "We encountered 2 Unknown ninja's… But I did manage to find the location of the artifact…" Yumi slowly took the forehead protector and clenched it tightly…
"How?" she choked out.
Tears were beginning to show in her eyes making Naruto feel sad towards her. Even though Kisame was a criminal and wasn't that social he was still part of Yumi's team and was in a strange way her friend.
"Right now she feel's as if she's losing precious people in her life making her even more lonely." Thought Naruto.
Itachi took a breath and began to explain the encounter with the Unknown ninja's.
Flashback
Kisame was panting hard while on one knee with his Samehada keeping him balanced. The missing nin had several wounds that were bleeding and he began to realize that they were taking its toll on his stamina.
"Damn him…" cursed Kisame under his breath. His opponent was breathing a little bit faster but all in all he was in good health with very low damage done to his body. Yamato still had a Samehada and was resting it on his right shoulder where he smiled at the wounded missing nin.
"Come now Kisame… Are you so tired already?" said Yamato tauntingly.
Kisame slowly got up and stood up as straight as he could and took a quickly glance at Itachi who was obviously doing better against his opponent then he was. Itachi had just kicked Koga in the chest and struck him in the head while still in mid air. Koga took the blows and lunged at Itachi hitting right in the chest with his kunai. Koga's eyes widened when there was a huge explosion hitting him head on and making him fly into the air landing on the hard sand several feet away.
"Damn was too careless…" thought Koga. "Can't believe I fell for that kage bunshin explosion."
"Don't even underestimate me for a second!" said Itachi kicking him into the air before landing a punch right in the chin making him spit out blood. "Mangekyou Sharingan!" Koga quickly away and concentrated on Itachi's feet. "Seems like someone taught you how to fight the sharingan not that it matters…" Itachi ran towards Koga and attempted to hit him but it was quickly blocked and countered making Itachi flip backwards just in time to prevent being kicked in the head.
"Itachi-san we have to get out of here!" shouted Kisame kicking Yamato back.
As much as Itachi didn't want to he had to admit that they weren't winning and if this fight continued any longer then Kisame would be defeated soon and he would have to deal with 2 Unknown members which was really too much for him.
"Let's go Kisame!" said Itachi calmly even though he was bleed from his arm. The Uchiha quickly dodged Koga's punch and grabbed the Unknown's arm throwing him with all of his might sending him several feet back. Itachi was running away with Kisame following him.
"Itachi-san!" shouted Kisame. Itachi looked back while still running and saw that Yamato's Samehada suddenly began to shift form's until it became a very long whip! Yamato quickly chased after them with Koga behind him and let his whip fly catching Kisame in the neck stopping the missing nin. "Go Itachi-san! Tell that brat I'm sorry…" With that Kisame turned around to see a kunai head straight for his neck. Itachi saw a glimmer in the sun as a piece of metal landed right in front of the Uchiha. Itachi picked up the bloodied forehead protector and began to run away.
"You won't get away that easily!" shouted Koga. The Unknown ninja jumped into the air while Yamato made a humongous sword. Itachi jumped into the air as well and suddenly turned around to meet both of his opponent's with his eyes closed.
"Katon Kuroi bakufuu no jutsu!" (Black fireball technique) Itachi opened his eyes quickly and blew a huge stream of black fire right at the ninja's! What surprised Itachi the most was their reaction time! Both ninja's began to perform seal's at lightning speed.
"Suiton Suiryuudan no jutsu!" ( Water Dragon Blast technique) shouted both ninja's.
Suddenly 2 huge dragon's made of water came out of the sand surprising Itachi greatly for only the most skilled water users were able to make water appear from pure chakra. Both water dragons soon collided with Itachi's black fire holding it at bay for a while and blowing a thick grey smoke throughout the area. But it gave both Unknown ninja's enough time to run away from the destructive fire jutsu that pretty much melted the sand. When the smoke cleared both Yamato and Koga looked around to see only endless sand…
"Not bad…" said Koga.
End of flashback
Yumi was in tears now and couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"No…" she whispered. "He can't be…" Itachi just looked at the girl with his cold eyes and kept silent. Naruto put a hand to her shoulder but she shook it off clutching the forehead protector with both hands. "I'm losing everyone… I'm sorry."
She then left the room in a run. Naruto was about to run after her but Tsunade stopped him shaking her head.
"Give her some time." Said Tsunade. "Even if Kisame wasn't the nicest person he was still a team mate to her and in her eyes a family member." Naruto looked at the closed door then nodded. "I'll send a message to the Sand Kazekage and see if they will help us." Tsunade soon called for a bird and took a few minutes to write some things down into a scroll including the location of the demonic artifact and sent the bird flying.
"Itachi I suggest you go somewhere and rest for the time being… And make sure your brother doesn't see you." Said Tsunade. Itachi nodded then got up.
"Whoever you are sending… They better be strong and capable of working well together. You're going into Shuukaku's cave…" He then left with a poof of smoke.
"Naruto… How will you feel if Shikamaru would take command of the mission." Said Tsunade.
"Sound's like a good plan. He did well last time." Said Naruto.
"Good meet up with him here in the morning to select your team." Said Tsunade. "I will have everyone's files ready." Naruto nodded.
Scene change
Yumi was running to no where in particular when she soon arrived on top of the Hokage monument. She passed by a tree and soon saw the entire village just as the sun was beginning to set. The Akatsuki member smiled a little seeing the lights begin to flicker on in the village below as it prepared for the evening. Yumi soon saw down on top of the Third Hokage's head and let her feet dangle. She soon felt a hand touch her shoulder making her turn around and see her own reflection.
"Hey Akira…" Yumi quickly looked back at the village wiping her eyes.
"Hey you okay?" he asked sitting down next to her.
"I…" Yumi began but she stopped.
"You can tell me…" said Akira softly rubbing her back. Suddenly Yumi shot at Akira and buried her head in Akira's chest surprising him.
"Kisame died while looking for that demonic artifact." Said Yumi sniffing. "He was like a brother to me… I mean he wasn't the nicest and sociable guy but he still talked to me when I was alone… All of the Akatsuki was family to me… And now only one of them is left… Why does love evade me so much…? Can't I keep someone precious for jut a little while?"
"I know how you feel." Said Akira still rubbing her back. "I lost my father… And I have actually been out of contact of people since then… Kind of a coincidence that we are all together huh? Naruto, Hinata, you and I, we all know what being lonely is like and love just seems to evade us until we go and find it…" Yumi kept her head buried in his chest while she listened at everything he said.
"I guess a lot of people know how I feel in this place…" whispered Yumi.
"Yeah… You're not as alone as you think you are." Said Akira. "We're here for you." Yumi looked up at Akira who smiled at her. She then leaned in and kissed him softly in the lips. Akira tensed up a bit from her touch. Yumi soon realized what she was doing and quickly pulled back.
"I'm sorry." She said quickly apologizing but she was soon interrupted when Akira moved his arms from her shoulders to her waist pulling her forward and kissing her making Yumi close her eyes in pleasure as she pulled him down on her…
Scene Change
Naruto yawned as he walked into his apartment after meeting up with the old hag when he was suddenly grabbed and pulled towards a small body who hugged him tightly making him stumble backwards and slamming the door shut.
"Hey Hinata-chan." He said smiling while hugging her back.
"I missed you." She whispered nuzzling her head against his chest.
"I've only been gone an hour Hinata-chan." Said Naruto smiling.
"I know but still." Said Hinata smiling. She soon pressed her warm lips against his.
Naruto returning the kiss gently lifted her up and carried her to the bedroom where they continued to kiss for another hour and soon enough fell asleep in each others arms.
The next morning Naruto went into Tsunade's office to see Shikamaru already there.
"Hey Naruto." Said Shikamaru smiling. "Some mission we have here…"
"Yeah..." said Naruto.
"Well now that you are both here." Said Tsunade. "I have already filled Shikamaru in on the current situation. Shikamaru you're going to be in command of this mission, Naruto here will help you decide on a team try to limit it to 7 people since the normal 4 may be a bit too small." Shikamaru nodded.
"We could always just get the more experienced Anbu member's and such but we don't really know them so we won't work well together. Our friends are just as strong so we should stick with them." Said Shikamaru.
"Agreed." Said Naruto. "Well who should be first… Yumi would be a good idea since her aura's will help the group. I also want to take Akira since he is strong and a good team player." Shikamaru nodded. The jounin put 2 tags that had the names Yumi and Akira on it at the center of the table.
"How about Neji?" asked Shikamaru. "He's pretty strong and has the Byakugan which should be a good help as well." Naruto nodded and put Neji's name underneath Akira's. "Choji or Kiba?"
"Choji…" said Naruto. "I want Kiba to come as well but he the kind of close ranged fighter that need's a lot of space which we might not have. Choji on the other hand can move around in any environment." Shikamaru was surprised by Naruto's analysis and nodded agreeing with his fellow jounin.
"I want to choose the last person Naruto…" said Shikamaru. "Now don't get mad at me or anything but… I think Hinata should go with us as well." Naruto looked down at the 6 names in front of him. "She's a powerful medical ninja and we could use that skill if any of us were to get hurt. Plus she's a powerful fighter." Naruto was thinking.
"What about Sakura?" Said Naruto.
"She doesn't have the combat experience. Hinata knows how to fight in bad situation's like the time you crashed Orochimaru's plan." Said Shikamaru. "Plus Sakura doesn't know half of the healing jutsu's that Hinata knows. I don't want to send your girlfriend with us believe me I would hate it if Ino was going with us too but I'm just saying that we could use her help. Hinata could really boost our group's chances of survival and such." Naruto soon agreed after several minutes of thinking. Naruto soon put Hinata's name under Choji's.
"She would probably break my arm if I told her she wouldn't be able to come…" thought Naruto.
"So there we have it…" said Shikamaru. "There's our 7 man team for this mission."
"I'll assemble everyone right now so you can brief them." Said Tsunade telling several anbu members to go find the jounin's and tell them that she wanted to see them. Within an hour the room had Tsunade, Jiraya, Naruto, Shikamaru, Yumi, Akira, Neji, Choji and Hinata.
"All of you will be going into a dangerous mission." Began Tsunade. "All of you are going to be going into a lair near the sand village that was once occupied by Shuukaku and take an artifact that contains a huge amount of his power that he used to use as a back up. I have already spoken to the Kaze kage who has granted his permission to let you go. He also said someone will meet you there. Shikamaru will be in command of this mission. You are some of the best ninja's Konoha has to offer. Not only because you are strong but because you can work together and you will do the right thing by not letting anything stop you. You leave tomorrow morning." Everyone bowed and were about to end the meeting when the door suddenly burst open and Sasuke came into the room followed by Lee.
"Sasuke-kun stop!" shouted Lee. "I'm sorry Hokage-sama he tried to sneak past me and by the time that I got to him he opened the door." Tsunade nodded smiling a little knowing that Lee tried his best.
"Something you wanted Sasuke?" asked Tsunade. Sasuke looked around to room to see several of his fellow Jounin's.
"You!" he said behind his gritted teeth. His sharingan activated eyes were concentrated on Yumi who looked at him with confusion.
"What?" she asked.
"You're apart of the Akatsuki! Where's my brother?" Said Sasuke. He began to walk up her when Naruto blocked his path.
"I don't appreciate you talking in that tone to my friend's traitor." Said Naruto.
"Shut up dobe! Making friends with Akatsuki members are you that stupid!" shouted Sasuke. "If you won't tell me you bitch I'll beat it out of you!"
Sasuke suddenly vanished from Naruto's view and went right for Yumi who didn't have time to react. Sasuke's fist was inches from her face when a hand blocked Sasuke's attack. Sasuke looked at the person who held tightly onto his fist.
"Why would you defend her…" said Sasuke.
"None of your business…" said Akira darkly. Sasuke felt a strange feeling in his heart… It was as if Akira was staring him down planting fear into Sasuke's heart even though he couldn't see the teenager's eyes. "Now I see why Naruto hates you so much and you're really starting to piss me off now too…"
"She's a criminal and a bitch!" shouted Sasuke. "She knows where my-" Sasuke was interrupted when Akira shoved his knee into Sasuke's stomach and grabbed his head slamming him into the window making Sasuke fly onto the roof of the next building.
"You don't know anything about her! Don't you dare call her those things!" shouted Akira. The boy jumped after the Uchiha who was slowly getting up on a roof nearby. Akira soon landed on the same roof making a small crack underneath him.
"Akira! Sasuke!" shouted Tsunade from the top of the Hokage tower.
Akira waited for Sasuke to get back up.
"I'm going to put you right where you belong…" said Akira angrily. "Right back into the hospital bed…"
Thanks for all of your reviews once again and I'm really glad people like this story. I tried to make each Unknown member have a unique ability and I hope you like them. I guess Sasuke's ability to pick his fights just sucks… Next chapter should be coming in soon. As for the torture chamber I thought it was appropriate because Jounin's have to be able to not reveal information. Plus Kakashi couldn't do much since he was helping the mist with the exam. Naruto might have let Sakura off a little easy too but I kinda just wanted to get that out of the way.
Next chapter will be Akira vs. Sasuke.