Naruto Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Author's Note: 'Pre-read' by One Azn Dragon and Yurusane. Short chap and might be rushed, heh... You know me... Might be revised, just to be sure.

---

"Report!"

Naruto bowed shortly. "Mission failed, Hokage-sama." Naruto took his mask off. "A sudden appearance we didn't anticipate has ruined execution."

After a long story from Naruto, Tsunade sighed and told Naruto to go home. She summoned a messenger bird to fetch Kakashi.

Surprisingly, the Jounin arrived in her office almost 7 minutes later. "I was close by." He explained before he bowed. "You called for me, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade simply stared at him. "Report, Hatake Kakashi."

Kakashi nodded his head. "The mission failed. You presumed wrong about Uzumaki Naruto. He can be defeated by the Akatsuki after all..."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "I see... Elaborate, then."

--- Flashback

'This guy is too dangerous to be here right now!!' He screamed in his thoughts. 'Shit! Shit! We have to finish this off quick!'

Shino and Deidara seemed to be equal on fighting terms, when Naruto arrived. "Shino!" He performed a few handseals. "Doton, Doroku Gaeshi!"

Deidara snarled as one of his Clay Bugs exploded against the Mud Barrier Naruto created to protect Shino with.

"Uzumaki-taichou..." Shino's voice came from the thousands of bugs around. "Head back; I have the situation under control. My bugs smell a lot of blood where the others are..."

Naruto's eyes widened. 'I knew it!' The masked blonde turned away and vanished again. Shino watched how Naruto left the mask behind.

'A purpose...'

---

Walking the Road

Chapter 5: Failure

---

--- Flashback

Naruto appeared in the former battlefield, to see blood everywhere. Kakashi was still fighting Zetsu, but he saw Neji leaning against the tree, panting as if his life was depending on breathing. Naruto's eyes widened at all the blood on Neji's body. 'Shit...'

He looked the other way to see Hidan laughing maniacally and that he was... staring straight at him. "Ah, you finally appear again, little demon! Now, watch my technique!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes as Hidan performed a long set of handseals. He noticed Chakra surrounding all of them. 'That looks like a very dangerous technique...'

Sakura was on the ground, panting slightly, unable to continue, a pool of blood slowly forming underneath her body, while Shikamaru had chosen to jump in a tree, but Naruto saw that the tree branch seemed drenched because of Shikamaru's blood.

"Keppan, Toriawaseru!" Hidan screamed out, his appearance transforming into something similar to Death itself.

Naruto's eyes widened in realization as he turned back to Hidan instantly. 'Blood Seal? Don't tell me...' Naruto dropped to his knees in sudden pain.

Hidan chuckled as he was standing a circle much larger than Shikamaru remembered him standing in. "Oh yeah! You feel that? I sport a lot of wounds thanks to your comrades. Now, you feel all of my wounds as well! Not only you, but all of you! I've gathered all of your blood, since it's just lying around here." He explained.

Indeed, Neji's and Sakura's blood was on the ground, Shikamaru's blood was on the tree and Naruto's... "As for your blood. I've saved some from our previous encounter..." He showed Naruto a small bottle of blood. "So I can always hurt you whenever I see you..." He whispered in sadism.

The only one not affected seemed to be Kakashi. But he was too busy fighting Zetsu.

Hidan chuckled madly as he pierced himself through the stomach. Naruto screamed in pain, while the others lost consciousness.

"They should be glad..." Hidan annoyingly let out. "To be able to escape pain like that... But you..." He turned to Naruto. "Are less fortunate!" He yelled as he pierced himself again, this time through the chest, barely missing his own heart.

Naruto writhed in pain, fumbling around on the ground. Hidan smirked at all the mess around him. "This was a great party... However, I have to end it some time, don't I?" He readied his scythe and aimed it at his own head.

"My, my... Uzumaki Naruto on the ground... I never thought I would be able to see that."

Hidan turned his head at the sudden voice. "Who?"

Zetsu also turned towards the newcomer, after squatting Kakashi away like a fly. Kakashi landed on his feet and also looked up at the new arrival.

"I see. Sabaku no Gaara." Zetsu let out. "The saved Jinchuuriki."

Naruto coughed out blood, while Hidan turned to him again. "Whoever the fuck that is... I'm ending this." Hidan ended the battle by piercing his own head with the scythe.

Nothing happened.

Hidan screamed in pain and immediately looked downwards, after removing the scythe from his forehead. To see that his circle on the ground was no more.

"I have removed your seal from the ground, Akatsuki." Gaara let out as he appeared next to Naruto. "We have arrived at the point where you heal yourself, Naruto."

Zetsu snarled. Hidan was smashed into a tree by sand coming from Gaara. "I have observed this battle... He needs my own blood to be able to do something to me. He won't be able to get my blood." Gaara said. "Leave this one to me, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto took a few seconds to heal himself, while Kakashi and Gaara turned to their opponents. Sakura, Neji and Shikamaru were out, it seemed. 'Ugh... this hurts.'

Naruto knew the basic methods of Medic Jutsu; you had to know that, being an ANBU Captain and Jounin Captain. He jumped over to Sakura first, who seemed to have more wounds than the others. But thinking logically, Shikamaru and Neji would have about the same amount of wounds. But once Sakura was in a better state, she could help with tending to the others.

After a few minutes, they were all in stable condition. The fights around him were no longer close to him. Gaara had forced Hidan to move away from this area, while Kakashi had done the same thing.

Naruto's eyes widened at a sudden Chakra Presence behind him. "Hello, Naruto-kun..."

Hello, Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame...

---

Shino was forced into his normal appearance, no longer having the large amount of Chakra he needed to keep up the appearance of a swarm of insects. He knew Deidara was getting tired as well.

"Not bad, Konoha Shinobi." Deidara let out. "However, the stage has been changed now... Now that you are like that, yeah..."

Shino's eyes widened as he realized that the ground he was standing on, the tree he was leaning against... they were all clay...

"Say Boom..." Deidara whispered as he did a single handseal.

'The Mask...'

---

Naruto was panting when Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame appeared. "You seem to be out of breath, Naruto-kun." Itachi said with a grin. "Surely, these weaklings have not tired you out?"

Kisame chuckled. "Heh, so disappointing, Uzumaki-san. Long ago, you had beaten us all into the ground, using your Demon's Chakra. But now, you seem exhausted, while not even facing the two strongest of the Akatsuki!"

"Self-proclaimed, you mean." Naruto let out, already showing signs of recovering. 'Damn, Neji and the others are in trouble if their wounds aren't tended to quick...'

Itachi's eyes narrowed. "I see... You have little of the Kyuubi inside of you. The only ability you have gained from the Youkai is... Rapid Recovery, hm?"

Naruto chuckled. "And guess what? I'm recovered as we speak!"

Itachi vanished right on time, but Kisame was too late as Naruto hit him on the back of his neck, meant to knock him out cold. But Kisame was no normal Shinobi and merely snarled. As the Shark-like man turned, Naruto was no longer there.

Naruto appeared in front of him and he could barely sense Itachi somewhere up the trees. "Not bad, Kisame... You've been working on that, hm?"

Kisame popped his neck, ignoring the pain. "You still fight like that, I see."

Naruto jumped backwards to create space for the sudden appearance of...

---

"What the hell?" Deidara frowned. "Where did that filthy insect go to?" The clay user said to himself as the entire area was filled with smoke created by the explosion.

And then, his eyes widened.

"Deidara from the Akatsuki... right?"

---

Zetsu suddenly jumped away from Kakashi, who was ready to prepare for an attack from his opponent. Kakashi's Sharingan read confusion on Zetsu's face. "My apologies, Hatake Kakashi. You've proven to be quite the nuisance. However, more important matters have just entered this forest..."

Kakashi grew more confused when Zetsu seemed to sink into the ground, fleeing from the scene like that.

'What's going on?'

---

Itachi and Kisame were having a hard time against the speedy Naruto. Kisame was panting, his sword no longer in his grasp. Itachi, which was rare, wasn't attacking Naruto constantly as he was being forced to defend at times as well, his Sharingan too slow for the Flash-like movements Naruto owned.

Shino was sitting against the tree, bleeding from a massive wound from Kisame's sword. The bug user had suddenly appeared on the field the other three were fighting on a little while ago.

The fight was lasting longer than all of them had expected, but they both had stopped now and Naruto knew why.

"It seems you've just lost a comrade to another comrade..." Naruto whispered. He had a few wounds from Itachi on his leg and arms.

Kisame snarled. "Just leave it be, Itachi. This is a chance we shouldn't waste; we can finally kill this little brat!" Kisame said as he grabbed his sword, which was stuck in one of the trees nearby.

"No, Kisame. Even now, chances of being victorious seem to be slim." Itachi relayed. "Now, with this, things are more complicated."

"Why did he have to come at this moment..." Kisame glared at Naruto, before snorting. "Consider yourself lucky, you bastard. Not many walk away from us alive."

And then Itachi and Kisame disappeared. Gaara was already back where Naruto and the others were as Hidan had vanished with the others as well. "Who?"

"Orochimaru." Naruto whispered as he walked over to Shino and did basic medic Jutsu. "It seems our mission failed..."

"Indeed..." Kakashi sighed as he joined Gaara and Naruto at Shino's side. "But we should consider ourselves lucky..."

Naruto nodded. "This many Akatsuki Members. I'm surprised we all could hold on this long."

--- End Flashback

"Orochimaru being there was a real surprise. His new ability seems to worry the remaining Akatsuki Members as well." Kakashi said. "To me it seems their biggest priority is to get rid of Orochimaru."

"Kakashi..."

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade's gaze was very serious. "You didn't see any of them use any... Youkai Chakra?"

Kakashi's eye narrowed. "Yes, another thing that worried me... Also, my opponent, Zetsu, was not really going fully out. Naruto's opponent was troublesome because of his ability, but when all of them left, he didn't seem winded at all, even though he had fought Gaara after fighting Naruto."

---

"It's true. He seemed to be playing with me."

Naruto looked confused as they were both sitting on a hill overlooking the five faces of the Kages of Konoha.

"He left saying he would see all of us soon again."

"It sounds like they knew it would go like this."

Gaara nodded. "I assume the same. Although the others seemed to be rather shaken by his sudden appearance."

"Damn snake bastard." Naruto uttered. "If only I could just kill him."

"It is known that they now share the same attributes as we did before the Youkai extraction." Gaara stated. "It is rather... alarming, to see them as powerful as this even without things like Suna no Tate..."

Naruto nodded. "I wonder, though. Perhaps they lost it?"

Gaara shook his head. "No. they weren't exhausted at all, while we were."

Naruto sighed. "Looks like we have to get stronger again... I thought I couldn't get any stronger than I am right now."

"Your opponent had a special ability to deal with you easily. He seems to be an unfortunate opponent for you. So, include me in your mission next time. He will be my opponent next time." Gaara offered. "For now, my presence is needed in the Sand. I doubt the Akatsuki will make a move towards our Countries. We will protect each other's Village, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto nodded his head. "Hell yeah..."

---

She was waiting for him to walk away for over an hour now. The two of them shared a past, sure, but to talk so much?

Anko jumped down to join Naruto as he started to walk home. "Ne, Uzumaki-taichou? How'd the mission go?" She asked cheerily.

Naruto wasn't surprised by her appearance and simply answered. "We didn't accomplish it." He hesitated as he looked at her. "Orochimaru appeared."

Anko's eyes widened. "What?!"

"It need not concern you, Anko-chan." Naruto calmly let her know. "Something about this is all strange, though."

"Can you sense them?" Anko's eyes were narrowed. "Can you sense Orochimaru?"

Naruto shook his head. "Even though my senses have become a lot more advanced, sensing people far away from Leaf while I am in Leaf is difficult. And Orochimaru has always been good at hiding his Chakra."

Anko angrily nodded her head in understanding. "Damn him... "

Naruto smirked. "They are underestimating us, though... Hokage-sama doesn't know how strong our team has become. I will request my team to hunt down Akatsuki, along with Gaara, Hatake Kakashi, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuga Neji and Aburame Shino. In my eyes we and they... are the best Leaf has. The Akatsuki will be dealt with."

"And Orochimaru too." Anko added.

"We will leave tomorrow, Viva-Captain. Let the others know immediately." Naruto turned on his heels. "Orochimaru has angered me a lot... I will go see Tsunade-sama now."

Anko nodded her head, trying to ignore the Killer Intent coming from Naruto.

---

Ami grinned as they were all assembling in front of the Konoha Gates. "This is great, isn't it, Ino? This has gotta be the biggest mission we've ever had!"

"I'm a bit nervous, though. I've seen what Akatsuki can do..." Ino said, remembering Asuma Sarutobi's death.

"There is no need to be afraid." Hyuga Hanabi joined in. "We have Uzumaki Naruto and Aburame Shino. It also seems Hatake Kakashi and Inuzuka Kiba are joining us. Also..." She grinned. "Hyuga Neji-nii-san."

"Yeah..." Anko confirmed as she appeared behind Hanabi, her hand already on the younger one's shoulder. "We will infiltrate with two teams. Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuga Neji and Uzumaki Naruto. The three of them form a team. The other team is us guys and Hatake Kakashi, Aburame Shino and Gaara. Gaara will be the Captain."

"Huh? But why just the three of them?" Ino frowned.

Ami chuckled. "Those three have become legendary together. Naruto has told me a few stories about their missions... They had beaten Kisame, Itachi and another Akatsuki guy with just the three of them. One had died that day too. Those three together are stronger than the Sannin together were way back..."

Anko nodded her head. "They share a never-ending streak of accomplished missions. I've never seen them work, but Tsunade called their team invincible, a team that never failed..."

---

Hyuga Neji's eyes were red.

Inuzuka Kiba's eyes were red.

Uzumaki Naruto's eyes were red.

And yes... Akamaru's eyes were red.

They fought a battle together, creating maximum synchronisation. All of their senses were enhanced. Akamaru even took orders from the other two. The three of them together were like completing Youkais...

One battle had forced Naruto to use a Jutsu to keep them all alive. Instead of giving his life energy, Kyuubi's essence flowed through theirs... This had happened before the Akatsuki attempted Youkai Extraction on Naruto. Only when Kiba and Neji were with Naruto on missions, could they use Kyuubi Chakra.

Hyuga Neji's Byakugan was far more superior with them, than on missions without them. The smallest details were easy to see for him. Everything moved in slow motion.

Inuzuka's Kiba's control over his senses had become extraordinary. If he tried, he could smell and track down a single person on the other side of the Country, with Kyuubi's Chakra. The same for his hearing.

Uzumaki Naruto wasn't different on missions with them. But he knew that the two of them could back him up on dangerous missions such as these... He felt sorry for Neji that he had been wounded that badly by Zetsu before...

But Zetsu was a troublesome opponent... Things will not repeat themselves from this point on.

"Time to get wild..." Naruto uttered maniacally.

Neji, Kiba and Akamaru nodded their heads and moved in high speed, ahead of the other team.

"I've got their scent." Kiba said after a minute.

"I can see them." Neji added. "But... there are far more people than we expected..."

Naruto grinned. "No worries." The three of them stopped. "We'll let Gaara's team go ahead. The only problem for me is Hidan. Gaara will deal with him."

Neji shook his head. "No, you should know..."

---

"They have spotted the enemy." Gaara suddenly let out. "As expected of those three. We will go ahead from here on in. Hatake Kakashi, you are best suitable to deal with the Akatsuki Zetsu. I alone will face Hidan."

Gaara turned to the others, looking over his shoulder. "Yamanaka Ino and Ami will deal with Kakuzu. Hyuga Hanabi and Mitarashi Anko will deal with Uchiha Itachi. Aburame Shino will deal with Hoshigaki Kisame, your bugs will make his Sword useless. The Akatsuki Member left is, presumably, Deidara."

"As things are, they outnumber us. So the battles will change. The original planning is as I have told. I should be able to deal with both Deidara and Hidan, until the others appear."

And then, Gaara stopped, as he had spotted Naruto and the others.

"Change of plans." Naruto said. "We might have a problem now..."

Gaara's eyes narrowed.

---

Mitarashi Anko, Poison Specialist and assassin. A dangerous Elite Jounin who could quite possibly be a match for Orochimaru now. Other special skills were silent-killing and ability to change shape... very snake-like. Also knows Genjutsu.

Yamanaka Ino, telekinetic and telepathic. A danger to those unprepared. She could take control of another body without any problem, unless fighting Chakra Powerhouses such as Akatsuki Members. Also Medic-nin.

Ami, Kenjutsu Specialist and Taijutsu Specialist, having an Absolute Defense. A true danger because of her ability to use gravity as her weapon. She can make the gravity around her opponent lighter or heavier, making it easier for her to fight.

Hyuga Hanabi has developed the Senshin-Byakugan, the Advanced all seeing White Eyes... She can see the outcome of a fight thanks to seeing a single wound. But she has learned never to assume too quickly. Also Medic-nin.

Gaara knew their qualities thanks to Naruto. Quite the formidable team, he had to admit. Kunoichis like these were rare. The four of them could probably dispatch even him... They would not be a liability.

"I did not expect him to be there along with the others..." Naruto said. "It seems Orochimaru has become the Akatsuki Leader. He has taken the body of the Akatsuki Leader, so to say. The bad thing is... Sasori of the Red Sands has been revived. Not only him. Tobi and Yakushi Kabuto are there as well. I clearly remember killing Tobi, though... I've called out for help from two other persons. They should arrive here shortly. Until then, we will discuss how we will infiltrate their little base..."

---

"Who, then?"

"Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuga Neji, Hatake Kakashi, Yamanaka Ino, Hyuga Hanabi, Ami, Mitarashi Anko, Uzumaki Naruto and another of which I only sense bugs, but it has been confirmed it is Aburame Shino. Two other Shinobis are approaching us. The Legendary Jiraiya and Maito Gai."

Orochimaru chuckled. "Thank you, Zetsu. Let's put an end to their existence... They are the only ones who stand in our way now."

---

TBC