A/N: In case you missed it, I added the meaning to the symbol in the title to the bottom of the prologue. On with the chapter!
Red Moon: 暁
1st Phase: Waxing Crescent
In the expansive forest surrounding Konoha that gave the village its name, all seemed still. However, if one looked closely, seven shadows could be seen approaching stealthily amongst the cover of darkness. To the outside observer, they would be nothing but red-and-black blurs, moving through the forest with such speed and purpose that no one untrained in the ninja arts could clearly make out their forms. They were Akatsuki, and they had a mission: to capture the 9-tailed Jinchuuriki, Uzumaki Naruto, and take him back to their hideout so that they could extract the beast and use it for their own ends.
In the lead was Konan, the blue-haired kunoichi who used paper for her ninjutsu, forming it into useful tools and deadly weapons by using her chakra to control its strength, sharpness, and hardness. Following closely behind were the 6 bodies that made up the "god" known as Pain, each covered in strange black piercings and sporting ginger hair. Their black cloaks patterned with red clouds flapped behind them as the wind rushed past their bodies. It was only a matter of time until they reached their destination, and anyone who got in their way would not live long enough to realize just what had hit them.
Haruno Sakura may not have had any problem getting up early to get to missions or the hospital on any normal day, but since this particular day was her first real day off in almost a month, she was more than a little irate when her alarm started blaring at 6:00 in the morning.
Ugh, I thought I turned that stupid thing off, thought Sakura to herself groggily. She opened her eyes briefly, only to shut them again at the intense light of the sun staring her right in the face through her open window. Well, there's no way I'm getting back to sleep now, so I may as well get up.
The young ninja slowly got out of bed and drug herself over to the bathroom so that she could take a shower. Sighing slightly in contentment as the warm water fell onto her skin, she began to think on her little revelation of the previous night. Naruto... It was true that she was in love with the boy, but there wasn't really anything she could do for him while he was off training. Wait a second, she thought. Maybe there is something I can do for him while he's gone. Finally clean, she stepped out of the shower and toweled herself dry. After returning to her room and getting dressed, she proceeded to go to her kitchen and make herself some breakfast.
Maybe I could stop by his apartment and clean it up for him, she mused while munching on some cereal. God knows it's probably a mess with him being gone for so long training with Jiraiya, and then never being home for more than a day or two since then due to more training and missions. The thought of Jiraiya made her once again remember her conversation with her master, as well as Naruto's initial reaction upon hearing about the old perverted hermit's death. This dampened her mood a little. He was in so much pain...I mean, sure, he looked better when he had figured out part of the code, but when he left, he had that smile again.
His smile. It was one of the few constants about Naruto, being as unpredictable as he was. The orange-loving ninja was always smiling, and it wasn't until recently that Sakura had noticed that, most of the time, it was hollow. That smile of his was his automatic self-defense, and Sakura had noticed that he used it a lot, particularly whenever he talked about getting Sasuke back for her. He used it to hide his real feelings on things that troubled him, or at the very least to cheer people up when not even he himself was really cheerful. The pink-haired kunoichi had seen his real smiles (as it turns out, almost invariably directed at her) often enough now to distinguish them from his false ones, and now she worried every time she saw one of the fake ones.
Even more troubling than his false smiles, though, were the rare moments when his smile disappeared entirely. When he dropped all pretense of a facade and let his sadness show on his face for the world to see--that was what scared Sakura the most. He had been like that for a short time after he was told Jiraiya had died, and if Tsunade hadn't told her to leave him alone, she would have ran after him and tried to cheer him up. It had been all she could do not to go and comfort him; she just couldn't bear to see him unhappy.
She finished her breakfast and walked out of the one-bedroom apartment she had gotten after becoming a chuunin (mostly to get away from her overbearing mother). I have to talk to Naruto when he gets back, she decided. I need to make sure he's okay, and let him know that I'm there for him to talk to if he ever needs it. Resolving to follow up on her earlier decision to clean her blond-haired teammate's apartment for him, she headed over towards the other side of the village to the hyperactive idiot's apartment complex.
Sakura smiled to herself. "When I'm done with his apartment, the idiot won't even recognize it anymore."
"Achoo!" Naruto sneezed, throwing off his concentration for the umpteenth time that morning. He sighed and closed his eyes as he noticed the frog features starting to appear, readying himself for the pain of the old frog's staff hitting him on the head. He's had enough of this...and panicking every time it happened wasn't going to solve anything. The hit never came. Huh?
The hyperactive shinobi opened his eyes and looked down at his hands--there wasn't a single bit of frog skin there. "What happened?" he voiced aloud. "I could have sworn I was starting to turn into a frog again."
Fukasaku smiled and looked Naruto in the eye. "What happened is you're starting to get it."
"Huh? I am?" questioned the blond. "What do you mean? I wasn't even trying to get it when I changed back."
"What he means is, you were thinking too much," answered Gamakichi. The much younger (but much larger) frog gave him a bit of a smirk. "You were too tense. Once you finally relaxed and let go, the energies balanced out on their own."
The young leaf shinobi blinked, still a little confused. "But I thought you said I had to concentrate?"
The wise old frog gazed sagely at Naruto. "You do, but you have to feel the natural energy rather than know it. It needs to be recognized at a subconscious level." He then put a hand to his chin, as if thinking over something. "Also, your body seems to already be accustomed to taking in foreign chakra. It could have something to do with the Kyuubi sealed inside of you."
"Ero-sennin did mention something about the fox's chakra mixing with mine a long time ago. And I guess being able to tap into his chakra at will is sort of similar to this." Naruto thought something over in his head for a minute. "I guess it just works the opposite way for Kyuubi. I have to know that he's there and more or less demand his chakra to use it. This needs a whole different mentality."
Gamakichi smirked again and quirked an eyebrow in surprise. "You're sharper than you look, boss."
The genin gave the large frog an angry look. "What's that supposed to mean?" he yelled.
The frog chuckled. "Nothing, nothing."
Before Naruto could throw any more angry remarks at the younger amphibian, Fukasaku took that moment to step in. "Alright, alright, stop it. Less arguing, more training. Pain won't sit around and wait for you to get strong enough to beat him, you know."
Four black cloaks with red clouds swirled as Team Taka walked into the hideout. Madara, Zetsu, and Kisame were already there, sitting around the room in their self-appointed chairs. Juugo, who had been carrying their quarry, dropped the man on the table in the center of the room. He was unconscious, but alive...for the moment, at any rate. He looked around the room, and noticed that two of the remaining members of Akatsuki, Konan and Pain, were not present.
After the team sat in their respective chairs, Sasuke wasted no time in pointing out the obvious to the somehow still-living older Uchiha who was sitting at the opposite end of the table. "I notice some of you are missing," he started. "Where did you send them?"
"Always observant, aren't you, Sasuke?" said Madara somewhat mockingly. "They're on their way to Konoha to capture the nine-tails."
"They'd better not touch anyone else." Sasuke fixed the masked ninja with a menacing glare. "No one needs to be killed except the elders...and they belong to me."
"You'll have to take that up with Pain. He's out of my hands, now."
Sasuke got up and started walking away from the table. "I'm going to Konoha to make sure things go my way," he said over his shoulder.
Karin, Juugo, and Suigetsu started to get up as well, but Madara spoke before anyone could act. "Wait, Sasuke, it's time for the extraction ritual. I need all of us to do it properly, and he can't do anything until it's over with, anyways."
Grudgingly acknowledging this fact, Sasuke turned back around and reclaimed his seat. "Well then, let's get this over with, then."
Madara gave an unseen smirk under his mask. He's like putty in my hands.
A/N: Well, that's it for Phase 1! Read and respond, and hope you enjoyed it! Keep on the lookout for Phase 2!