AN: Oakey Dokey my true and loyal fans! I would like to thank especially almostinsane-san, Pooh Bear Is My Hero-san, and Alcucius-san for the loyal reviews! You all rule! Same with the others that I did not mention! It is nice to know I do not totally stink! (winks). So anywho, this is going to be a play by ear for a bit until I have a full grasp on what I want to do with Akatsuki. (Yes, my goal is to destroy them but the point is how to go about DOING it) (winks). SO just bear with while I get plans for both sides together!

Lee: Hey Kiki-chan

Me: Hmmm? What Bushy brow?

Lee: Why don't you have more scenes with me and TenTen?

TenTen (walks over): Yeah!

Me: (sighs) Because this is mainly Nar/Hin. But you two do get a special moment in this one.

Lee/TenTen: Oh good!

Me: Sigh, only if I owned it there would be A LOT more romance…oh well, back to the old keyboard. Oh and thanks again Pooh Bear Is My Hero-san for sending over Neji!

Neji: Yeah, thanks.

Me: HEY! Be grateful that I'm not one of those psycho fan girls!

Neji: But aren't you are a fan girl?

ME: I'm a fan yeah, and a TOMBOY, but no not one of your psycho fan girls.

Neji: You're still psycho.

(WHACK)

Me: I admit I am crazy but Psycho is going TOO far.

Neji: Oh yeah that makes a world of a difference.

Me: shush you, the chapter is starting.

Neji:….Whatever.

Together we are unstoppable! Believe it!

Chapter Twelve

Akatsuki's plan: The mystery starts to become clearer

It was early morning and Sasuke was standing out on a balcony looking over Kohona. His raven hair blowing gently in the wind. Suddenly he heard a noise and turned to see a pair of bright green eyes greeting his onyx eyes. She smiled and handed him a warm cup of tea.

"Here, my mom made some of her morning tea for you." She smiled. Sasuke had spent the night at Sakura's place for by the time they got back, Sakura's mum wouldn't hear of Sasuke walking home so late. So he crashed in the guest bedroom. ((I know some of u people, get those dirty thoughts outta here!!!))

"Thanks." He said, taking a sip of tea and glancing back over his home village.

Sakura from behind wrapped her arms around Sasuke's middle and Sasuke placed his free hand on hers.

"It's nice to be home."

"Hmmm."

"Come on Lee!" chuckled TenTen as she and Lee spar.

"Alright fine, you asked for it!" The green beast made for a quick swipe to knock TenTen over but she jumped back then charged forward to punch. Lee then jumped out of the way and blocked TenTen's kick; he twisted her leg to make her fall. She moved quickly out of his range and made to attack him. Lee went to block but Naruto who had just got up, called out to Lee. TenTen made a direct hit; her fist meeting his chin sending him flying.

"Oh Lee! I am sooo sorry are you okay?!" said TenTen rushing over to help Bushy brow up.

"Yes. I'm okay." He said getting up.

"Naruto look what you made me do!" complained TenTen glaring at the blonde as she wiped the dust off her boyfriend's jacket.

"Sorry." Said Naruto scratching the back off his head.

"It's okay TenTen-chan; I should have been paying more attention to you."

"Yeah, I'll….I'll just go get some breakfast." Said Naruto at the glare that TenTen was giving him, and made a break for it.

"TenTen…" said Lee.

"What? I was just kidding." Grinned the weapon master. Lee smiled and loved how the morning sun made her brown eyes shine even brighter. She saw the look his was giving her and kissed him gently on his chin.

"Does that make it feel better?"

"Much." He smiled as he pulled her closer to him, drawing her into a sweet kiss.

Neij walked towards the two and noticed that they were kissing. He snickered at the site.

"So do you two want some alone time or are we going to train? I can come back later." He chuckled, as the two quickly turned their heads to look at their teammate. The two blushed slightly. TenTen cleared her throat and said,

"Very funny Neji. Come on let's get started."

"Where is Naruto by the way?"

TenTen and Lee glanced at each other and Lee chuckled,

"She chased him off."

"I did not I only glared at him! Serves him right for distracting you." She said playfully smacking him.

"TenTen, any glare that you give would make anybody run for the hills." Smirked Neji who quickly went quiet when he looked at TenTen again.

Tsunade wasn't having as great of a morning as her younger ninja were. A chunin dropped off some reports and they weren't too encouraging. Tsunade read the report then showed it to Jiraiya. He too read it then read it allowed.

"Akatsuki has gotten another demon, the two tailed cat it is believed…Not good."

Tsunade snorted.

"No, ya think? From the looks of it they now have six demons! Six Jiraiya!"

"My guess is if they now have six, they are going to go for a seventh, easy one that they know is around?"

"Uh huh, my thoughts exactly."

"Truth be told, said Jiraiya giving the report back to Tsunade,

"I'm surprised they haven't tried getting Naruto sooner, though…after Hindan and Kakuzu got totally beaten by Naruto and Shikamaru, maybe it isn't a big surprise. They probably rethinking how to get to him, and seeing how Orochimaru just got cut down…"

"They probably are…." Said Tsunade tilting her head up and looked at the ceiling. Her amber eyes showing that she was in deep thought.

"You know, we need to add in another factor…"

"That now Sasuke is back, Itachi may become a big factor in this."

"Are you going to have Sasuke go on or leave Sai?"

Tsunade glanced back to her old friend and said,

"I am going to have him go on. He is probably the only one besides maybe Naruto that could fight him. I am going to actually have Sai and Yamato do some missions for me though…I may assign Yamato with Shikamaru and them because Asuma isn't l00 better yet. While I get Team Kakashi and Team Asuma to go on some leads that we have. They aren't very good but they are all we got to go on right now."

Jiraiya nodded and said he had to go as well.

"Alright, see you later."

Just as Jiraiya left, Tsunade smirked at the sanin's retreating back and said,

"Oh, and if you were thinking about swinging by the hot springs before heading out don't bother, I plugged up the hole. And if you try messing with it, well, I'll leave that as a surprise."

The white haired ninja didn't turn around though it was very obvious the way he jerked that was exactly what he was plotting. He only could shake his head as he opened the door and left.

When he went to leave the room completely, Shizune didn't look up from her papers as she said,

"Don't bother checking the swimming hole either; Guy's team and Naruto have been training there lately so no pretty ladies Jiraiya-sama.

The sanin could only glare at Shizune as he left; Shizune and Tsunade chuckling as he did.

"Shizune, could you please get Kakashi to get his team, Sai, Kurenai's team and Asuma's with Yamato to come here please?"

"Sure thing."

Kakashi sighed and started searching for everyone. He found Sai, Sakura, and Sasuke training together, Yamato was already back at Tsunade's office, so all he had to find was Naruto and Kurenai's team.

By the time it was 11:00, Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru, Ino, Choji and Kiba had joined Naruto and the others for training matches. They were playing at the moment a sort of "hide and seek" to practice their stealth.

"Why are we practicing this?" complained Naruto who was teamed up with Shikamaru and TenTen.

"Easy, because you especially suck at it." Grumbled Shikamaru.

Naruto glared at his friend before turning his head back looking out for Kiba and Neji.

Just as they had spotted the two, and went to jump at them, Kakashi poofed right above them and practically yelled,

"THERE you are! I've been looking all over for you guys!" Kakashi must have known what they were doing for Kiba and Neji immediately looked up to see the four of them and laughed while Kakashi looked at them with an amused eye.

"You guys are so got!" laughed Kiba.

Naruto whipped around and yelled at Kakashi with his typical humorous fashion.

"NICE GOING! DON'T SNEAK UP ON US LIKE THAT!"

"Hey Naruto, you now own me two ramen!" laughed Kiba some more as Akamaru came up behind him wagging his tail.

"Sorry about that, but the Hokage needs us in her office." Said Kakashi chuckling at his former blonde student.

By this time every one else had come out from where they were hiding and were standing under the tree that Naruto, Shikamaru, and TenTen were still sitting in.

"Is it Akatsuki?" asked Shikamaru lazily.

The copy cat ninja shrugged.

"Probably. She needs you, Naruto, Ino, Choji, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino.

The group nodded and the mentioned ninja headed off.

"Well, I'm going to go home and train." Said Neji, walking off. TenTen and Rock Lee looked at each other and smiled.

"So…what do you want to do now my youthful beauty?" smiled Lee.

TenTen giggled then kissed him on the cheek.

"You're it." Laughed TenTen running off with Lee not far behind.

"Soooo, what's up granny-sama?" said Naruto as he and the others walked into Godmine's office; Naruto was loosely holding Hinata's hand.

The blonde hokage glared at her soon-to-be-replacement and then asked Shino to close the door. Hinata gave Naruto a look to tell him to behave as Shino walked over and stood behind the two.

"Alright, now that we are here, I can give you all your new assignments."

She looked over the lot before continuing.

"First, Sai, you will be getting your own special mission with Neji and TenTen, and therefore Sasuke, you are formally reassigned to Squad Seven. Sai, Shizune has the details so if you could go see her please."

Sai nodded and left.

"Next note, due to Asuma's injuries, Yamato will be the temporary jonin for your team." She said nodded toward Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji.

"Now for the mission, we have got some new leads on Akatsuki, not too great but lead none the less. I want Squad Seven and Squad Ten to do the main work and Team Eight, you will be back up for them if needed. First things first though, here is all the information that we've got on Akatsuki, so you know what you guys are dealing with."

"Is it that pile?" asked Sakura point at a very tall pile of papers.

Tsunade looked where she was pointing and sighed,

"I wish, that's my in box, those beside them are all we have which is not very much but, it'll give you guys who haven't battle Akatsuki an idea what they are like."

"Yeah, nasty, hard, and evil." Grumbled Naruto.

"To sum them up in a nut shell, yeah that's sounds about right."

"But they're no bakas either. To be able to hold out this long shows that they aren't just run of the mill thugs." Said Shikamaru, thinking about Hiden who was right now a rotting head in a hole in the ground.

"No they are not." Said Sasuke as he thought of his brother. Tsunade glanced at Sasuke then said,

"Sasuke, if you don't think you can…"

"I can and I must. I'm probably the only one who would stand a chance against my brother."

Hinata looked at him startled.

"Your brother?"

"I guess I should warn you guys about my brother Itachi." Said Sasuke looking at Naruto and Sakura who both nodded.

"Go on Sasuke."

"Itachi was or is my older brother and also the reason why he and I are the only Uchiha left."

"You mean he's the one….?" Gaped Choji.

Sasuke nodded somberly.

"He did it for he believed it was the only way to gain a special ability of the Sharigan. Though he may have had other reasons, I don't know. He kept me alive I think out of spite, or to see if I would become like him I'm not really sure." He said, thinking about what Naruto had said back at Orochimaru's hide out.

"He came back here two years ago or so to take…"

"The kyuubi out of me." Said Naruto finishing Sasuke's sentence for him.

"So that's why you left?" asked Shikamaru putting the pieces together. Sasuke nodded.

"Yeah, to take up Orochimaru's offer of power so I could become strong enough to kill my brother."

"Yes well, enough about the past, let's just worry about that later, you guys need to go and read all of this." She said handing them the scrolls and reports.

They nodded.

"I guess that we'll have to put off our lunch date." Sighed Naruto looking at his indigo haired beauty.

"That's okay Naruto; we can do it another time." She said smiling gently.

Just as the group went to leave, a thought came to Naruto and he turned to Tsunade,

"Hey Tsunade-sama, do me a favor."

"What's that Naruto?"

"Don't leave me with all your backed up paper work."

"Of course Naruto, I won't."

She watched the group left she smirked to herself.

"Not too much of it at least...heehee"

The group retreated to the Hokage library for some privacy. They sat in a circle and slowly read though the little information that Tsunade had given them. At one point Shikamaru fell asleep and Ino glared at him then smacked him to wake him up.

"It's hard enough to read all this without you snoring jack ass." Grumbled Naruto not looking up from what he was reading though he was smiling. Kakashi sighed and closed the scroll that he had been reading.

"So, what have we learned?"

"That Akatsuki is mysterious." Yawned Kiba.

"And we've got three of them not counting Orochimaru." Said Shino in his calm voice.
"They all have rings, they wear them on different fingers and we have three of the rings, and they look like they are meant to channel chakra." Said Ino stretching.

"They really like colleting demons." Sighed Choji.

"And their goal it seems to be is to cause and fund wars with the demons so that smaller ninja villages will gain more power; in the long run they could easy take over." Finished Shikamaru.

"Yeah, I think that about sums it all up." Chuckled Kakashi, smiling at the group.

"I don't get it though, how can they control the beasts?" asked Kiba looking at Naruto.

"W-well, I really don't know. I don't have very much control over the kyubi, I mean, I can tap into the kyuubi's powers but only up to the third tail after that it's not only too much for my body but the kyuubi starts to take over my conscious as well. At point, only Yamato's special technique can stop me."

"Second," said Kakashi

"We have of yet seen them using the beasts from what I get from Jiraiya report, they probably seal them away some where until they need them."

"How many of them do they have?" asked Ino.

"From the looks of this…" said Hinata looking at a scroll in her lap.

"It is believed maybe five or six"

"And what I remember from legend, there are only nine beasts." Said Yamato taking the scroll from Hinata to look at.

"Crud, if there are only nine…" gulped Sakura.

"They are getting close to their goal" said Sasuke with his eye brows narrowed.

"Yes but remember, they just had two of their members get creamed." Said Kakashi standing up to move his stiff muscles.

"They probably are regrouping not to mention the fact that Orochimaru just got killed. They maybe are rethinking their immediate plans."

The group nodded.

"So…were are we going to go first?" asked Sakura.

"Well, the closest lead is a village were it was rumored a girl with the two-tailed cat demon lived. She maybe where we want to go first."

"Sounds good to me." Said Naruto.

"Right, so tomorrow we will move out. Kurenai's team will stay here and join us if need be." Added Yamato. The three nodded.

Naruto and Hinata were walking slowly back to the Hyuga compound after eating a meal at Naruto's favorite food place. Hinata didn't say thing and she didn't have too. Naruto kept glancing at her and saw her somewhat sad face. The fight with Orochimaru kept flashing in her mind.

"What would I do if…?"

"Hinata-chan?"

The Heir of Hyuga clan stopped in her tracks to look at her blonde boyfriend. His eyes were looking at her with a questioning look.

"Y-yes Naruto?"

"What's wrong? Are you worried about the mission?"

Hinata sighed and then nodded looking into his beautiful blue eyes.

"I-I guess I'm still a little shaken from what happen with Orochimaru and that…you know with Akatsuki wanting the kyuubi…" Naruto nodded understanding what she was saying. He very tenderly placed his hand on her face and went nose to nose with her so he could look right into her pale eyes.

"Hinata, I swear no matter what happens I will come back to you and with the others. I won't leave anyone behind. Just make sure you believe in me."

"But I do believe in you." Said Hinata desperately hugging him close.

"Then what's the problem?" he said grinning.

The two stood their for a moment, embracing each other. Naruto loved hugging Hinata close for he loved her sweet blueberry scent. He rubbed his face in her silky hair then kissed Hinata on the cheek.

"And with you for back up, there is no way I could lose!" he smiled his foxy smile.

"I guess your right." She smiled back. Naruto and Hinata kissed deeply before departing.

"Don't worry Hinata, I will never leave you alone like that." Thought Naruto walking slowly home, thinking about his love's sweet smell.

---------------

OKAY! That was an info chapter obviously. I probably will update next Sunday so I can see If any new info about Akatsuki comes out in the next new chapter of Naruto (the latest one ROCKED btw Chap 342), if not I'll just wing it.

Me (at computer) Oooo, review! (reads it) YAY! Thanks Poor bear is my hero-san! Glad u liked my little Lee/TenTen story! It was my Valentine gift for u for your great reviews and equally great stories! Heehee. Oh hey Neji, Pooh bear says to behave yourself!

Neji (walks over and reads it): Behave?! I act any way I want to!

Me: Enough of that! Like the writer said DON'T BE RUDE!

Neji: Whatever.

Me: Keep that up and I'll force feed you Vegemite!

Neji: Vegemite?

Me: Aussie spread. Very salty.

Neji: Okay fine.

Me: Alright, oh here have one of my home made chocolate chip cookies.

Neji: They probably taste like cardboard.

Me: They do not! Everyone says that mine are the best! Oh just eat one.

(Neji takes one and finds out that it is great but his big pride won't let him say so)

Me: Well?

Neji: They're not the best I've ever had.

Me: (growls) Whatever. (walks away leaving the plate of cookies)

(Neji looks around then takes the lot of them and stuffs them under his shirt and tip toes off)

Naruto: Uh? HEY WHO TOOK ALL THE COOKIES?!!!!!!

LoL, Kiki