Hi everyone ... yeah ... this is chapter 39 of the story and I'm currently at 163 reviews when I started this chapter ... yeah ... I can't believe it ... I want to thank everyone who has been reading my story and sticking with me ... I take a while to update but you guys still read and update ... yeah ... it means a lot to me ... enough talk ... on with the story ...
'blah' equals Akatsuki guy's thought
What do You Want!
Last time on The Path to Hokage:
Tsunade replied, "Akatsuki's in Konoha."
Sasuke cursed, "Itachi ...that && ... WHERE THE HELL IS HE!"
"No ..." Ino said, slowly trying to regain her breath. "It ... It's not ... him ... "
"What," Naruto said. "Are you sure? I mean ... who else would want anything to do with us?" He looked at Ino.
Ino took a couple of deep breaths before saying, "I'm sure ... He said ... his name was ... Rei ..."
"Whoever this Rei is," Naruto said getting up, "We're gonna kick his ass ..."
"Naruto ..." Sasuke said, "Don't rush into things ... they want to fight us ..."
"Where's Sakura? And Claire?" Naruto asked.
"They've been captured ..."
Outside the Hokage building, several ninja grabbed their ears when they heard two young Chuunin yell:
"IT'S WAR!"
Sasuke and Naruto were about to jump out of the window to meet their opponent when a note suddenly appeared and landed at Tsunade's desk.
"What's that?" Naruto asked. "Is it information about where we're to meet those idiots.?"
"Yeah," Tsunade said, "They want to meet you at the Jounin Exam stadium. They want you two, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Gai, and me there as well for some reason."
"Well ..." Sasuke said. "Looks like we're gonna pound some serious Akatsuki butt soon ..."
Naruto and Sasuke were jumping to the stadium along with Kakashi, Gai, Jiraiya, and Tsunade. Naruto and Sasuke could only think about Sakura and Claire. Meanwhile, Tsunade and Jiraiya were busy talking.
"Why the heck do they want all of us there?" Jiraiya asked. "There is no way that Akatsuki can take four S - class ninja, and two A - class." Tsunade shook her head.
"I know, but" she said, "I don't think Akatsuki plans to fight us. I should have thought about it earlier, but I think they want us out of the way so they can get something."
Kakashi interupted, "Shukaku! They're after the One - Tailed Biju!"
Jiraiya cursed, "So looks like we're dealing with two Akatsuki members then. We should have left more then Ino back there."
Tsunade tapped her microphone. "This is Tsunade speaking. I demand that all of ANBU get to the Hokage's office and guard the kunai in the golden box. NOW!"
Rei stood in the middle of the stadium. Looking around at the second Akatsuki member, he said, "Where did you keep the chicks?" The ninja pointed to the stadium chairs. The two konouchi were imprisoned in one of Akatsuki's jutsu, the Chakra Barrier Jutsu.
"Rei," the ninja said, "It is time to commence the second part of your mission. Go ... Get Shukaku back!"
Rei nodded and disappeared at the ninja signal.
The ninja turned, "It appears that my opponents have arrived." He slowly turned around to see Naruto and Sasuke glaring angrily at him.
"Who the hell are you, and how dare you mess with our friends!" Naruto yelled. The ninja noticed that Tsunade, Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Gai were also behind them trying to get Sakura and Claire out.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you .." the ninja warned as the four ninja attacked the barrier in hopes of breaking it. They went right through it.
"That was way too easy ..." Kakashi said.
Gai said, "Our YOUTH HAS RETURNED! WE ARE STRONGER!"
"Shut up," Jiraiya said, "Looks like we fell into Akatsuki's hands. We're trapped inside now."
The ninja snickered, "I warned them." He turned to face Sasuke and Naruto. "It looks like you two alone have to face me and the incredible power of my Katsugan."
Sasuke gasped, "The Katsugan!" He took a step back. "The legendary doujutsu that matches the powers of the potent Sharingan!"
Naruto stood in disbelief. "Another Sharingan!"
"No," the ninja said, "Its my own unique bloodline. I took the two most powerful bloodlines and fused them into this. I took the Sharingan and Byakugan, and created the Piercing Eye."
"Rei!" Sasuke said, "What do you want with us!"
"My name is not Rei. I won't tell you my name, but you will call me Blood." the ninja said. Naruto took a step back. Is this guy mental?
Blood continued, "And isn't it obvious? I want to fight you two, and steal Naruto's bloodline."
"Shit!" Naruto cussed. "Does all of Akatsuki know about it?"
"No," he said, "Just me." Naruto sighed in relief. "Not that it will help you. My Katsugan may not be as strong as the Sharingan or Byakugan alone, together they will obliterate you two amateurs."
"O yeah," Naruto took his ready stance, "You're about to see what these amateurs can really do." Sasuke also shifted into this ready stance, Sharingan not activated. 'Hmm ... normal black eyes ... looks like he's conserving chakra ... '
Blood extended one hand, palm up, and said, "Bring it." Naruto and Sasuke charged at him simulataneously. Blood's eyes turned orange, and he noticed that Naruto was slightly ahead of Sasuke, leaving a weak point in their square formation.
Blood, with regular eyes again, sidestepped and extending his arm, grabbed Naruto and rammed him straight into the oncoming Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes opened in shock, but he managed to avoid the tossed Naruto only to receive an elbow to his face sending him back on top of Naruto.
"Get of me," Naruto mumbled, slowly getting up. He looked at Blood in alarm. How did he do that? He outmaneuvered me so efficiently! He's almost as fast as I am! But how did he read my movemtents so fast!
Sasuke slowly dusted himself off. He turned to Naruto, "Are you alright, Naruto? You look like you've already given up." Naruto smiled, uneasily. He gave Sasuke his thumbs up and turned to Blood.
"Your team work is incredibly horrible," Blood said. "I could see the opening inbetween you two from a mile away." He turned to Sasuke. "I mean really ... How do you expect to beat your brother, if you can't even work together with your teammate?"
Sasuke laughed gently. "What if we weren't going for a hit?" Blood opened his eyes, slightly. "Look at your arm." He pointed. Blood looked to see an exploding tag beginning to smolder.
"O dear, this might be a prob-" Blood started to say, when BOOM! A huge explosion happened, and Naruto braced himself. That was one of Jiraiya's special scrolls. Five times stronger then a regular scroll. There's no way he could have escaped that without taking in some damage.
Naruto and Sasuke walked towards the clouds. The smoke began to clear when they heard a voice mutter, "Amateurs ..."
A shadow lunged at them and kneed Sasuke and Naruto in the heads. They went flying out of the smoke and hit the stadium wall leaving huge craters behind them.
Naruto coughed out blood as he hit the ground, hard. Sasuke faired no better. The dust slowly dispersed from the original explosion leaving Blood standing there with nothing but a torn of shirt and a few scratches.
"You two may have been able to do some damage, but," Blood looked at them reproachfully, "I think your attack caused you more damage in the end." He chuckled, quietly.
"Shut up," Sasuke said."Me and Naruto aren't done yet." He slowly got up, and looking at Naruto saw that he would be out for a few minutes. Looks like I'll be taking on Blood for a couple of minutes ...
This isn't good ... I could wake him up, but then we'd both take damage ... Crap! Sasuke activated his Sharingan and stared directly into Blood's eyes. Blood glared at him, and he began to gather chakra into his eyes. Soon enough, Sasuke found himself staring at the Katsugan.
"You know, kid," Blood started to say, "My orders aren't to kill you. In fact, I was asked to try and recruit you into Akatsuki."
Sasuke laughed loudly. "You really are stupid if you'd ever think that I'd work with Itachi after what he did! I will never work for him!" His eyes seemed to glimmer in the light. "I WILL KILL HIM!" Sasuke's anger consumed him and soon enough, his chakra aura soared upwards.
Blood took a step back. He muttered, "Such incredible chakra! At the mere age of seventeen, this boy has acquired as much chakra as me. Impossible." Blood glared angrily at Sasuke.
"It seems that you match me in chakra capacity," Blood said, "It is unfortanate you choose not to join us. It seems that I will have to elimante you personally. Why send one of strongest for such an easy job ..." Blood took his stance. "It appears that I will have to use the gift Master Ryo bestowed upon me."
Evil chakra began to spread from his body, and two tails appeared behind him. "NINBI!" Blood yelled.
"O crap," Sasuke said. Blood rammed into him.
A young ninja with long black hair and a white face were walking through the forest. Kabuto was following his master closely. He appeared to be cowering in fear.
"Kabuto," the cold voice said.
"Yes, Master," Kabuto replied.
"Why are you afraid of me?" it said.
Kabuto was at loss of words. He didn't want to insult his master. How could he say this? "Um ... Your power ... The Lord of Snakes has such power ... it casts an aura of darkness upon anything close to it."
The ninja smirked. "A fit answer. Just know ... that if you ever turn against me ... I will kill you that millisecond. My newfound power will make sure to that." The ninja continued to walk.
Rei arrived at the Hokage's tower and immediately saw Ino gaurding the kunai. "Little girl," he said, "Don't get in my way. You will regret it later."
Ino smiled and said, "Wouldn't dream about it! But they would." She pointed to a group of 5 ANBU ready to fight Rei.
Rei smiled, "This might be fun."
"Sasuke is taking a pretty bad beating," Tsunade said from behind the chakra barrier.
Everyone nodded. "But is there anything he can do?" Claire asked.
Tsunade shook her head. "Verry little. And until Naruto gets up, he might get killed."
Claire gwas really worried. "Sasuke ..."
Sasuke was panting heavily and covered with bruises when he heard Naruto getting up. "What ... What happened?" Sasuke took another blow from Blood and crashed into Naruto.
"Your fighting an Akatsuki member named Blood," Sasuke sarcastically said. "Now get up!" Naruto slowly got up and took his stance next to Sasuke.
"So what's the situation?" Naruto asked.
"I'm already using the Mangekyou, and it's not helping much against the power of a biju ..." Sasuke said.
"A BIJU!" Naruto said. Damn it!
"It's the two - tailed one." Sasuke continued.
"Shit," Naruto said, "Have you done any damage?" Naruto looked at Sasuke with hopeful eyes. Sasuke slowly shook his head.
"Very little," Sasuke replied. "Now that it's two on one, we might be able lay a finger on him. Can you use Kyubi's chakra and summon three tails?" he asked. "It might be our only chance."
Naruto nodded, "But we also need another plan." He smirked. "And that's just what I have right now. See ... If you do ... and I do ... we'll be able to find an open spot in his stance."
"Sounds good to me," Sasuke smiled. "Let's go."
Notes: Yeah ... so how did you guys like the chapter ... it's one of my longer ones but not by much ... yeah ... so you know the drill ... rate and review ... best drill in the world ... lol ... omg ... I'm graduating in like 9 days ... from eighth grade ... lol ... but yeah ... you get the point ... lol