Ok, everybody here's the newest chapter. Don't hate me for creating suspense. You know you like it. J/K anyways enjoy and let me know what you think. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

I don't own Naruto in any way shape or form, but if I did this is how it would go.

CONFRONTATION II

As they all stood there Itachi suddenly flickered. Kakashi quickly wondered if it was his imagination, that was extremely short lived as Itachi spoke from behind them. "Animals have such amazing senses, don't you think, Kakashi?" They all spun around and saw Itachi standing over the cowering ferret. "What does that say about you and your group Kakashi? That an animal has better survival instincts. Whatever it says it's certainly not good." Itachi reached up to take off his Aketsuki hat with the bells and tossed it covering the ferret. He turned around and looked at the four shinobi. They were all tense and ready to fight. He didn't recognize the old hag or the pink haired kunoichi, but they were of little interest to him. "Why are you so tense, I won't kill the ferret. If that's what your worried about." Itachi said nonchalantly. Kakashi and the rest of the group remained tense, the ferret was the furthest thing from their mind at the moment.

Naruto took a step forward, but Kakashi put his arm in front of him blocking his path. He barked out an order for everybody. "Don't look at his eyes! Focus on his feet if you must, but don't make eye contact." Kakashi was already following his own advice focusing on Itachi's feet. This had been the advice given to him by Gai sensei after their encounter with Itachi. Kakashi hoped it would work. Sakura did as she was told, she did not know who this person was or why Kakashi seemed so worried. However she trusted Kakashi and knew that he had a reason for what he said. Chiyo on the other hand had no such feelings. She let out a hmph and continued to look at Itachi saying nothing. Naruto listened as well, hard as it was, he knew first hand how dangerous Itachi could be. Jiraiya was not here to help him this time so he couldn't afford to fool around now. He grudgingly swallowed his pride and looked down.

"How rude. How are we supposed to have a proper conversation without eye contact?" Itachi asked, he then let out a chuckle. "Could it be that you're afraid of me? Is that why you don't want to look me in the eye?" Kakashi did not respond to Itachi's taunting. Itachi looked at Kakashi's comrades and decided to test them as well. "Are you... all... also afraid of me?" He asked.

Naruto couldn't stand it anymore, knowing all he knew he still couldn't take this crap from Itachi. He was about to speak up when suddenly Chiyo spoke up. "What is wrong with you Konoha ninja. This is an Uchiha. We have the advantage here. He can't use his sharingan on all of us at once. It's an eye jutsu he uses so even if he catches one of us. There are other's so we can unravel the jutsu and take him down. Are you ninja from Konoha so pathetic you don't know this?" Chiyo said in a smug fashion.

Itachi stared at her with an icy gaze she met his stare with pride. Itachi said nothing Kakashi was the one who told Chiyo. "This man has surpassed the sharingan that you may have been familiar with. He uses a technique that can take hold in an instant and cannot be broken through any means that I am aware of. This technique is called the mangekyou sharingan." Kakashi said in a conversational tone. He had relaxed somewhat and was quickly thinking of what options they had. Running away was not one of those options.

Itachi looked at his prey now with a bored expression. "Insightful as ever Kakashi. It's too bad that you have already lost." Kakashi started at this comment, but found he couldn't move. None of them could they couldn't even turn around all they couldn't even speak. Itachi took no notice of their surprise instead he turned to pick up his hat and let the ferret escape. "I'm sure you're familiar with the shadow imitation technique. You all were so worried about me that you didn't even notice my clone sneak up behind you and perform the jutsu." What Itachi said was true. There was a clone standing right behind them with four shadow strings connecting him to them, thus controlling them. Itachi then walked up to Chiyo. "You thought you could handle me, but you can't even stop me from laying a finger on you." To demonstrate his point Itachi did just that, he reached out and poked her forehead. Kakashi and the others could only stand there and watch from the corners of their eyes. Their chances of survival were plummeting. Chiyo had to think,there was no way she was going to loose like this to some Konoha scum. Her temper was flaring. "Oh, do I take it you want to face me then?" Itachi asked noting her obvious discomfort. "Very well then." The Itachi clone released the shadow thread and Chiyo was released.

While all this was happening with Naruto and his group Gai and his team were facing a powerful rival as well. After Tenten had sand and Temari had gone down after her Gai had opened the sixth celestial gate. His physical abilities were exponentially higher now. When he took off toward Kisame it was at a speed the naked eye could not follow. Kisame was no pushover though before Gai got to him Kisame had raised his sword above his head and brought it crashing down. Gai met the sword with his fist. The force of the impact sent waves flying over the water. Gai suddenly disappeared from in front of Kisame. He reappeared in the air besides Kisame and unleashed a powerful punch. Kisame was barely able to bring his hand up in time to block the punch and even then the force of the punch still drove him to his knees. Gai didn't stop moving however, he spun his body around and delivered a devastating roundhouse. Kisame was barely able to bring his sword up to block the attack. Once again it proved almost ineffectual as the kick sent him sliding backwards. Kisame was barely able to keep his balance. He immediately knew this man was a worthy opponent and to be taken seriously. Kisame looked up to see Gai once again launch himself towards him. That would be the last thing Kisame would see though as a small scythe lodged itself in his skull up to the hilt.

The moment Gai had launched himself at Kisame the first time Temari broke the surface of the water. She did not see the fight between Kisame and Gai as she was quickly opening her fan and setting Tenten on top of it. She turned around and saw Kisame go down to his knees from Gai's punch. She quickly formed a few seals and summoned a scythe. She had only put Tenten on the fan enough so that she wouldn't sink again. As soon as the scythe was in her hand Kisame was flying in her direction with his back towards her. He came to a stop a few yards away from her. As soon as she saw the opening though she jumped Kisame seemed to pause a moment before beginning to get up. That was all she needed. In that moment she sealed his fate. Gai came to a stop directly in front of her. Causing waves. The water level began to decrease as Kisame fell forward. This caused Tenten to slide off the fan and begin sinking again. Gai saw this immediately he quickly realized the situation and closed his celestial gates before diving in after Tenten. Temari who had her back to Tenten did not notice this and was unaware of what Gai was doing. Her attention was focused on the body that had fallen in front of her and was also sinking.

Leaving this scene we move to a forest and a more peaceful setting. Jiraiya was setting out food for everybody. He called to Hinata and Kiba. "Hey you two, can you guys do me a favor and finish setting everything up for lunch over here? I need to speak with Shinno." He asked. Hinata nodded and went to do as she was asked. Shino raised his eyebrows in interest. He remembered his earlier conversation with Jiraiya and was curious as to what he wanted to talk about. Jiraiya stood up and waited for Shino to stand as well. Once he was standing Jiraiya led the way into the forest away from the little camp they had set up for lunch. Shino followed him.

Once they had left Hinata looked at Kiba. He was not getting up to help her and she had been somewhat annoyed with his behavior lately. She saw this was a good a time as any to talk to him about it. "Kiba...why aren't you helping me out? The quicker we do this the more time we have to rest before we start traveling again." She then awaited for his response.

Kiba looked at her trying to find the best way to explain himself. He already knew why it was just the words he was having trouble with. He was to proud to really think about what he was going to say so he just blurted out the answer. "He's not our leader, I don't have to listen to him. No way would I listen to someone so full of himself." He then mocked Jiraiya. "After all he's a legendary sannin...whatever let him do it himself." Kiba finished off with frustration showing through his voice. He hoped that answered her question. The more he thought about Jiraiya the less he thought he liked him.

Hinata had half expected his answer. To have it confirmed did not make her task any easier. She put down the plates she had been setting and looked at him solemnly. "Why are you doing this? Acting like that?" She asked.

Kiba looked at his childhood friend not really understanding what she meant. "What are you talking about? I'm just being honest." Kiba said in a totally clueless manner.

Hinata wasted no time in telling him exactly what she meant. "Don't you care about the mission, about us. Jiraiya-san means us no ill will and is doing what he thinks is necessary. Whatever you want to say... Jiraiya is one of us for now. We are a team Kiba, you have to trust him like you trust us. If one of us died on the mission what would your explanation be?" She said in a calm voice. Kiba was stunned by her words and knew her well enough that she was only telling the truth. "I...I don't want that to happen and I would hope that you could put aside your pride so we can work as a team. The Hokage trusts this man and we should do the same. We don't know how hard this mission might be, even though it sounds simple, we don't need to make it harder." She paused and thought if there was anything else she could say. A few other thoughts crossed her mind, but she couldn't bring herself to voice them. So she finished talking "Kiba, please...try to trust Jiraiya-san." After she finished there was a long pause. She then went back to finish what she was doing.

Kiba sat there silently digesting what Hinata had said. He didn't ever know if she meant to make him feel guilty, but she did a damn good job of it. He looked at the situation and saw that she made a good point. He didn't have any real reason not to trust Jiraiya or listen to him other than the fact that he had hurt his pride. The more he thought about and it was hard for him to admit it. He only had himself to blame. Even though Hinata hadn't talked much she had given him much to think about. He got up and walked over to her. Akamaru raised his head, but put it back down when he saw everything was okay. Kiba got down on his haunches, he began trying to help Hinata. She noted this and gave him a soft smile. Kiba couldn't take it anymore. "I..." He cleared his throat and tried again. "I'm s-s-sorry... you're right. I'll try to trust Jiraiya." Kiba said.

Hinata always felt awkward in situations like these. "Ano, you don't have to apologize Kiba-kun. Ano... it's okay." She felt like she should say something, but she had no idea what. Instead she just finished setting the food and lay down to rest. Kiba decided to lie down as well. He walked back over near Akamaru and lay down.

Not a long ways from where Kiba and Hinata were resting Jiraiya had found a small clearing where he and Shino sat to have their talk. Jiraiya thought this would be the hardest conversation so that is why he chose to speak with Shino first. When they had both gotten comfortable Jiraiya took a deep breath. "Shino, maybe I should have had this conversation with you earlier, but with all that was going I hope you can understand. I hope you don't hold it against me." He paused for a while Shino didn't know if Jiraiya wanted a response, but none was forthcoming. Shino wanted to know what this was about as soon as possible, Jiraiya sounded serious. Apparently Jiraiya didn't expect a response because after a while he continued. His voice sounding more normal. "Shino, a while back I ran into someone and they asked me a favor if I ran into you. He also told me you were going to be a great shinobi one day. After dealing with you I can't say I disagree with you. I don't know much about the Aburame clan or their techniques. So there isn't much I can teach you. I can offer advice if you ever need it, but you are already more than capable. I assume you already know who it was that told me this about you?" Jiraiya asked. Shino did not really dare to voice his thoughts in case he was wrong so he just shook his head. Jiraiya saw this and chuckled. "I don't believe you Shino. I think you know who it was. I won't waste more time than needed though. It was Shibi Aburame." Shino felt his emotions rise at the name of his father, it had been a long time since he had seen him. "I don't know what he's up too or why he's doing the things he thinks he needs to do. However I thought he was a good man so I agreed to do this favor." Jiraiya was now digging into his pockets and pulled out and envelope and a small scroll. He held out the envelope to Shino. "Take it, it's from Shibi." Shino took the envelope hardly believing Jiraiya. However he knew Jiraiay had no reason to lie so he took the envelope and put in one of his pockets he did not want to read it in front of anybody. Jiraiya continued talking as he unrolled his small scroll and formed some seals. "This is also from him." He said as he finished his seals. In front of him smoke was clearing and there was a small round gourd. "You know how to use it already?" Jiraiya looked at Shino with interest waiting for an answer.

Shino remembered discussions he had with his father where he told him about the gourd and it's uses. It was during one time in particular that he remembered when they were walking through the forest. Shino was a few years younger and looking up at his father. He asked. "Father, what is your gourd for?" His father didn't turn to look at him, but Shino could see him smiling. Something rare that Shino treasured.

Shibi began to speak in a gruff voice sunshine shining of his sunglasses. "Your perception is good Shino. You still have much to learn though." Shibi looked at his son and ruffled his hair. "You only have a small amount of chakra right now Shino. So you have to have the insects live solely in your body. However there will come a time when you will have enough chakra to feed your insects with ease. The insects eat as they please once you are ready you will have to discipline them to consume only the chakra they need and not to be gluttonous. This gourd" He said pointing to the gourd with his thumb. "serves many purposes. It gives you a place for your insects to reside while not in your body. This saves you chakra so that you can also perform other seals and not rely solely on your insects. For the most part you and your insects can take care of most situations. There's times though that you will need chakra where the insects won't be able to help you. There are many situations you may encounter, but I won't list them all because you have to be ready at all times and if I told you, you would look for signs and focus in on something instead of taking everything in and making your decisions. That Shino is very important." Shibi then fell silent and walked on.

Shino waited a few seconds and when he saw his father wasn't going to keep talking he spoke up once again. "You didn't finish your explanation dad. What other purposes does the gourd serve?" Shino asked.

Shibi chuckled once again and spoke. "You're right Shino. Aside from providing you with chakra it allows you to keep more insects." Shibi said.

Shino wondered if that was all and asked the question on his mind. "Is that all? Dad." Shino stopped and looked at his dad waiting for the rest of the answer.

Shibi stopped and looked back at his son. "No you are right Shino there is one more purpose." He paused and looked at the curious expression on Shino's face. He loved his son and his hunger for knowledge. "It also serves as a badass accessory that makes you look cool." Shino looked at his father with a curious expression. Shibi walked back to his son and ruffled his hair again. "You need to lighten up sometimes Shino. If there are any more purposes you may be the one to find them. I'm sorry Shino, but that's all I can tell you." Shibi said. He then turned around and went back on his way. Shino followed him.

Back in the clearing with Jiraiya. Shino responded to the question. "Yes, I have the basic idea." He reached out and took the gourd Jiraiya was now holding in front of him. He said this was a completely unexpected discussion and left him with many questions. His curiosity didn't allow him not to ask at least one. "How do you know my father?"

Jiraiya looked at Shino and thought about if it was wise to tell him that he and Shibi had been drinking partners before. "We met around town Shino...same as you and your other friends." Shino was now very suspicious he was about to ask more questions when Jiraiya cut him off. "Heres a strap for the gourd you can use. So let's go back to camp now. We still have a long way to go." Jiraiya then turned around and started walking towards the camp. Leaving Shino to get up and follow. Shino smiled this reminded him of his father. He thought to himself (I guess I should try to lighten up a little bit.) Jiraiya stopped a little ways ahead of him and without turning back said. "I know this might not mean much coming from me, because you don't know me well yet, but your father really did care about you. Even before asking me this favor he always spoke of how special you are." Jiraiya then kept walking headed back to camp. Shino didn't say anything, but what Jiraiya said did mean a lot to him. He then followed Jiraiya with many thoughts going through his head.

PREVIEW

A battle with Itachi, is Chiyo going to die? How will Naruto and the others get out of this mess? Where are Rock Lee and Neji?

RSO

dragonman180- I hope I didn't disappoint. I don't think this will be their final confrontation, but still hopefully you're still happy with how he was dealt with. Damn it, I knew I was wrong. At least I spelled it right this chapter.

Danny- I'm glad I kept Hirai around as well. Later on she's gonna have a bigger part and I plan to develop a cool backstory for her as well. Age, I was thinking between 14-15. What do you think? I haven't said yet all I said was that she was younger than Temari so I wouldn't mind any suggestions. Yeah she would probably love riding frogs with Naruto. lol. Thanks for letting me know. Hmm I don't think last chapter was too short. Hopefully we won't have any trouble. Yeah salt on a cut sucks. OH I GOTCHA! You skimmed through the chapter huh? Hirai isn't with Naruto, Chiyo is and Hirai is taking care of Kankarou. ummm... I think that's it for now. I got a feeling I'm forgetting something. LOL.

yui-lion-demon-kik-cat-...-that's a long name. good night.

narashikamaru21- don't worry, I won't spoil your story for anyone else. Well, hopefully what I write isn't one of those scenario's. I would hate to ruin the story for you. I'll do my best to challenge the imagination. Yeah NaruHina rocks. (They have Naruto and Hinata plushies. I never knew that.)

causeiambetta- Thanx alot that really means a lot to me. Sometimes you wonder about your story and comments like yours are always encouraging.