Hey guys! Sorry about the rather long wait, blame school, haha...

Anyways, it turns out that the leader of Akatsuki: Pein, not Pain. So, I'm going to change it. I know, I should've checked before! Oh well, it must be the scanlation I'm reading...

Sorry it's rather short...ah well, this is basically the set up for chapter 4, which will be much more exciting!

Chapter Three:

Kidding Ourselves

The nine-tails chuckled as it withdrew its chakra from Naruto. "Wasn't that fun?" it asked.

Naruto said nothing, still in a state of shock after being possessed.

The demon laughed again. "Well, I thought it was fun."

Suddenly, the iron bars and the corridor disappeared, only to be replaced once again by darkness.

Naruto hit the ground hard, being dragged back to reality. He still couldn't move. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't even open his eyes to see where he was.

He thought back to what had just happened; after the Kyuubi had taken over his body…….he couldn't remember what had happened. It was just a blank.

He heard a faint mummer of voices, but he couldn't concentrate on what they were saying. Naruto finally gave up, and felt his consciousness leave him as he slipped back into the shadows.

"Well, now" Pein was the first to recover. "Wasn't that interesting?"

"Oh, yeah!" Tobi yelled. "VERY interesting!" He looked back at Kisame's unmoving form and chuckled quietly.

"So, it seems we have some work to do if we hope to safely extract the nine-tails." Pein looked at Kisame. "Itachi" he said. He jerked his head in Kisame's direction. "Go make sure he isn't dead."

Itachi obediently jumped to the floor, next to Kisame, where he checked his pulse and his breathing.

"He's alive." Itachi reported, without looking up. "Just unconscious."

"Good." Pein looked down at Naruto, who lay on the other side of the statue, also unconscious.

He surveyed the group. "This will take longer than originally planned," he announced. "Certain…….measures must be taken to ensure this operation is a success."

Itachi rejoined them on the statue, leaving Kisame on the floor. "Measures?" he repeated.

"Yes." Pein looked at Naruto again. "The Kyuubi is still much too strong. Extracting it now would surely mean a painful death for all of us.

"Therefore, we must weaken the vessel, in order to weaken the demon." Pein turned his gaze to Itachi. "I will entrust that job to Kisame. When he wakes up, tell him that, as long as he doesn't kill the boy, anything goes."

"If he wakes up" Tobi said hopefully.

"Another factor we must consider" he continued, ignoring Tobi's crude remark, "is the boy's hold on the Kyuubi. Even with its power at a level we can manage, if the Jinchūriki's will is too strong, we won't ever get it out of him. I trust you can fix that, Itachi?"

Pein looked at Itachi sternly. "Just don't overuse your eyes."

"But," Zetsu said, speaking up for the first time, "wouldn't it be easier to simply break the seal?"

"No!" Pein said sharply. "We must be able to move the Kyuubi into the statue with the seal still intact. If the seal was ever broken, the nine-tails would break loose at its full power! If that ever happened, the boy would die, and we would have no means of re-sealing it! It would kill all of us! Weren't you listening?"

"Well, there's no need to be snippy about it." Zetsu's darker half sniffed.

Sakura's fist hit the desk so hard that it split down the middle. "What do mean, we're not going?!" she screamed.

Tsunade scowled at the broken desk. "That was the desk used by the Shodai, you know."

Sakura ignored that. "They've got Naruto! Right now! They're going to……" she couldn't bring herself to say it. She thought back to what happened to Gaara, and shuddered. "We don't have much time! We need to send a team out NOW!!"

Tsunade stood up angrily. "Last time I checked, Sakura, I was the Hokage of this village!"

Sakura said nothing, still fuming.

Tsunade sighed and turned to look at Sakura. "I know how worried you are about him." she said, her voice becoming gentle. "I am too."

Sakura still kept silent, this time out of shock at the Fifth's words.

Tsunade smiled sadly. "I'm sure there isn't a person he's met who hasn't been affected by him.

"I'm sorry, Sakura. But for the Hokage, the village always comes first, no matter what my personal feelings may be. Most of the active shinobi are out on missions of their own. I just can't afford to send out enough ninjas to help Naruto, and still protect the village."

Sakura looked away, and noticed for the first time that Shizune, holding Tonton, had entered the room. Judging by the shocked look on her face, she had just found out about Naruto.

"Don't worry, Sakura" Tsunade put a hand on her shoulder. "He's stronger than you give him credit for."

She sounds like Kakashi, Sakura thought. Why can't we do anything for Naruto, when he needs us most?

She turned away, realizing that she wasn't going to get anywhere here.

Tsunade watched as Sakura walked out the door, not saying a word. When she was sure she was far enough away, Tsunade sank into her chair, and put her head in her hands. She looked over a Shizune, the horrified expression still etched on her face.

"Am I doing the right thing?" Tsunade said quietly.

This seemed to snap Shizune out of her trance, and she looked over at the Hokage.

"I mean, putting the Village before Naruto?" she continued, her voice shaking a bit.

Shizune sighed sadly. "The decisions of the Hokage are tough, aren't they? Besides, you said so yourself: Naruto can hold his ground. You made the right decision."

Tsunade rested her head on her arms. "Then why does it feel so wrong?"

If you have me on your story alert lists (LOVE YOU GUYS!:) , then sorry if you get two emails... in the excitement of adding a new chapter, I forgot to edit! So, yeah, I'll try not to do that next time!

Shodai: First Hokage

yeah...that's the extent of my japanese knowledge...:P

Anyways, reviews appreicated! Constructive criticism encouraged!

SNK