Warning!!! Manga Spoilers Ahead!
Sorry, I totally forgot to put this on the first chapter :) Anyways, even if you haven't been keeping up with the manga, it's ok! The story should still make sense!
Chapter Two
Wake
Sakura just stared at the spot Itachi had disappeared from, as if looking at it long enough would bring Naruto back. No, she thought. No! He can't be captured that easily!
Slowly, she got up from the spot she had been thrown to. She calmly jumped from the branches onto the ground, where Kakashi was leaning over Sai's unconscious form. Sakura simply walked by them to a nearby tree. Kakashi watched warily as she brought her fist back, which was swirling with chakra, and punched it.
The tree cracked all the way through at the point where Sakura's fist made contact. It dislodged itself from the ground and flew into the tree behind it, cracking that one in half, and hitting yet another tree directly behind it. By the time gravity caught up with them, at least twenty trees had been pulled from the ground, and were lying on their side, creating a huge gap in the forest.
Kakashi watched as Sakura destroyed half the forest---in one punch---, and then fell to her knees. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed, the tears flowing uncontrollably. After a few minutes, he stood up and walked towards her. He knelt down and put his hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Sakura," he said gently.
Sakura turned and gazed into her former sensei's face. His eyes---both of them--- were clouded with the emotions she felt: sadness, anger, grief.
She quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and stood up. "We're going after them." It wasn't a question. Her voice shook a little, and she was surprised when Kakashi shook his head.
"But, Naruto……!" She started to protest, but Kakashi grabbed both her shoulders looked at her sternly.
"Think, Sakura!" he said fiercely. "What chance would we have of finding Naruto now? First of all, we have no idea where the Akatsuki are at the moment. They have defiantly relocated since the incident with Gaara!
"Second, it would be just you and me, against all of Akatsuki!" Or at least, what's left of them, Kakashi thought. "Do you honestly think we can beat them all?
"Finally, what about Sai?" Kakashi gestured to Sai's unconscious body. "Unless you know medical Ninjutsu of the mind, he won't last very long! Are you willing to let him die?"
Sakura looked away, ashamed. Of course he was right. Even if they went after Naruto and somehow found him, they would probably only end up getting themselves killed.
"Hey," Kakashi said gently. Sakura looked up. The expression on his face softened. "I know you want to help him now. I do too. But there are other things that need attending." He looked at Sai again. "Your teammate, for example."
Sakura nodded.
Kakashi dropped his hands from her shoulders and looked at her kindly. "We'll find him. We'll bring him back." He put his hand under her chin. "Have faith."
Faith won't save Naruto, Sakura thought. But she knew Kakashi was only trying to comfort her, so she said nothing.
Kakashi dropped his hand and turned towards Sai. "Guess we better see the extent of the damage."
Sakura just nodded again, and dropped down to examine Sai. Even when he was unconscious, his face held no expression; no pain, no fear, nothing. He looks dead, Sakura thought, and immediately checked his pulse to make sure he wasn't.
Sakura stood up. "We need to take him to Tsunade-sama."
Kakashi nodded. He picked up Sai, and they set off back to Konoha.
Itachi arrived in front of the entrance to their latest headquarters: a large cave, similar to their last one, only with specially made rooms to act as prison cells. Itachi had cast a high level Genjutsu around it to make it look like part of the forest that surrounded their center of operations.
Itachi's breathing was labored; he was still fighting for breath when raised his ring to prove it was really him. He then proceeded to walk through a tree---or at least, that's what it would look like to a passer by.
Kisame was leaning against the wall, waiting, as Itachi slipped through the barrier. He grinned. "Well, well" Kisame said. "It seems you were able to get the Jinchūriki?"
Itachi said nothing, still winded from the battle.
Kisame noticed Itachi's condition and smirked again. "You overused your eyes again, didn't you?"
Itachi just stood their, panting.
Kisame scoffed. "Figures."
Just then, something buzzed and crackled beside them. Itachi and Kisame turned to see the digital outline of their leader, Pain, appear before them. All around him, the rest of their team materialized, using the same astral projection.
"Hey, you got him?" Tobi was the first to break the silence. "Awesome!" he squealed happily.
Kisame sighed. Tobi still hadn't grasped the whole "evil organization" thing.
"So," Tobi continued, undaunted by Kisame's obvious disapproval. "When are we gonna do the extraction thing?"
Again, Kisame sighed.
"Now" their leader replied simply.
"Now?" Kisame exclaimed. "But we don't have enough people left! We need six ring bearers in order to extract a beast of such power!"
Wordlessly, Pain pointed to Tobi.
"WHAT?!" Kisame yelled. "He doesn't know--"
"Kisame!" Itachi cut him off. "Calm yourself."
Kisame fell silent, still fuming.
"Well then," Pain disappeared for a moment, and then his tall form appeared on the hand of the statue. "If we are done fighting, shall we begin?"
The rest quickly followed suit, and soon, the six remaining Akatsuki members were on the stony hands of the statue.
They instantly made the appropriate hand sign, and Kisame was surprised to see that Tobi actually knew what he was doing.
Naruto was lifted off the ground, and became surrounded by a blue aura. His eyes snapped open, and he opened his mouth, as if to scream, but no sound came. Then, the aura surrounding him slowly began to turn red.
Naruto hadn't been asleep. Sleep was too peaceful a word to describe what was happening in his mind. But he was pulled away from those thoughts and forced to take in his current situation. He had no idea where he was, or what had happened the past few hours. He was only aware of the pain. It took over any and all thoughts he might have had. He tried to cry out, but no sound came. He couldn't feel the ground, but he felt heavy. He felt like someone had stuck their hand down his throat, into his stomach, and was now rummaging around in his soul, screwing up his insides. And it hurt. But Naruto couldn't move. He couldn't turn away from the dark presence that held him.
Then, he was suddenly on his knees, in ankle deep water. He knelt before an all-too familiar gate, with the sign Seal beside the tall, metal bars. There was no light to speak off, only a strange glow that bathed everything in a yellowish glare.
Naruto slowly got to his feet, and saw a large, furry face staring back at him.
"Wow," it said simply. "How did you mange to get yourself in this shit?"
The Kyuubi, of course. "I thought I blocked you from the outside world."
The Kyuubi snorted---or at least, as close as a giant demon fox can get to snorting. "You wish"
"Yeah, I do" Naruto muttered. "So, what's going on?"
"Ah," The nine-tails said. "It seems those Akatsuki idiots are finally trying to extract my power from the vessel." It looked at Naruto. "Namely, you."
Naruto shook his head, trying to rearrange his thoughts. "But…when….how...?"
The demon chuckled. "Of course you don't remember." It eyed Naruto wickedly. "But that doesn't really matter right now. I just need to talk to them."
"What……?" Before he could even think about moving, a long string of red chakra came flying between the bars, and struck Naruto full in the chest.
The shinobi watched as the blue aura surrounding Naruto slowly turned in a purplish colour, then orange, and then stopped when it was fully red.
"Um…." Tobi said warily. "Is this normal?"
Just then, Naruto's eyes and mouth snapped shut again. He lifted his head and look at the person who happened to be directly in front of him; Itachi.
Itachi noticed how Naruto's appearance had changed. His eyes were no longer blue, but red, and the faint whisker marks on his cheeks became darker and more visible. Itachi could see the tips of what had to be fangs sprouting out of his mouth.
"So," Naruto said, his voice distorted. "Uchiha Itachi, eh?"
"What the….." Kisame just stared at Naruto, taking in the sudden change in his features.
"Hm…" Pain said, mildly interested. "It seems the demon is trying to communicate with us."
"What do mean, 'trying?'" The Kyuubi yelled, insulted. "I am communicating with you, you dumbass!"
Pain was speechless. Never had anyone, or anything, for that matter, spoken to him like that. It was rather shocking.
"Now, I want you all to listen closely." The fox surveyed each one of the Akatsuki individually. "I don't mind if you want to take me out of this damn vessel. It would be good to get back into the outside world."
It chuckled at their startled expressions. "Oh yes, I know exactly what's going on.
"And I do mind if you intend to use my power for your own twisted desires. You don't seem to realize my strengh. Even in this weak body, I could destroy this prison and all of you with it. "
Kisame laughed. "Whatever." he said. "Can we just get back to the extraction?"
Suddenly, a line of red chakra---that looked suspiciously like a tail--- shot out at Kisame, hitting him in the stomach. He let out a small gasp of surprise--and pain--- and was thrown off the statue. He landed a few feet away in a heap, where he lay unmoving.
The Kyuubi smirked---a horrible, twisted smile that made his face even more malicious. "I could have killed him easily. Do you now understand just what you punks are messing with?"
Then, the chakra surrounding Naruto turned back to its normal blue, and the aura abruptly faded. Naruto fell to the ground, and when Itachi examined his face, he saw that all traces of the fox had disappeared.
There was a stunned silence, until Tobi whistled. "So, I'm guessing that's not normal?"
Yeah! Chapter 2!
Anyways, updates will probably still be slow, because of school.
Also, the leader of Akatsuki: the manga says his name is spelled Pain, while wikipedia says it's Pein.
I'm gonna go with the manga, thank you.
Hmm...pairings? I don't know yet...I might be able to fit one in...
Yes, I know Tobi isn't that light-hearted in the manga, but I thought, whatever. And he's just lovable, evil Tobi. Yay!
And Kisame hates Tobi here...I don't know why, he just doesn't like him.
YAY! REVIEWS! Not a lot...but I don't care! I love you guys!
Wow, I have lots to say. Anyways, reviews appreciated! Constructive criticism encouraged!
Remember, the more the reviews, the FASTER THE UPDATES:)
SNK