A/N: Hi all! First of all, I want to thank everyone who's read and reviewed my story. It's good to know that people are enjoying it. Second, I realize that last chapter didn't have much (or any, really) Taka interaction in it, so...I put some of it in this chapter. Their dynamics are a little odd, to say the least (though not as odd as the One Piece crew...God help me whenever I decide to write a One Piece fic), so I hope I got them right. They're not really a team, so much as Sasuke and his 3 tools/distractions for other enemies. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with them throughout the rest of my story, but I'll figure something out. With that out of the way, on with the chapter!

Red Moon: 暁

2nd Phase: Waxing Gibbous

In a cave somewhere near to Akatsuki's current hideout, 9 figures in black cloaks patterned with red clouds could be seen, gathered on top of the fingertips of an evil-looking statue. 2 of them, Pain and Konan, were merely projections of themselves--translucent figures that existed there as a chakra presence only. The rest, however, were truly in attendance. At the foot of the statue lay the man who was once known as the 8-tail Jinchuuriki, the bijuu's chakra slowly being extracted from his increasingly lifeless body. Sasuke's companion Karin, standing atop the index finger of the statue's right hand, was deep in thought as she stood there, providing Pain with the chakra necessary to extract the demon from the unconscious ninja.

What are Sasuke-kun's real aims? she thought to herself. After he kills the Konoha elders, does he just expect to be able to waltz back into his village and expect acceptance? Has he even looked that far ahead? Ever since he killed Itachi, he's seemed like he's been searching for another purpose. He found one in killing the elders, but what will that really accomplish?

The red-haired girl shook the traitorous thoughts from her head. No, I'm sure he's thought ahead. He's Sasuke-kun! He's the greatest! There's no way he's been acting irrationally. I shouldn't question him. At that moment, a mischievous thought popped into her head. Hmm...maybe I can ask him about his plans at our next meal. It'd be a great excuse to get close to him and slip one of my experimental love potions into his food, and then I can have my way with him!

Suigetsu looked over at Karin and, noticing her evil-looking smile, guessed what she was thinking about. "Karin, think about sexing Sasuke up later!" He smirked as he said that. "We need to focus so we can get this thing done faster!" The kunoichi balked, and repeatedly denied thinking any such things.

While Karin and Suigetsu had their regular back-and-forth name-calling session, Juugo looked on in silence. He never really would understand his "teammates", if you could really call them that. The gentle giant was no fool--he knew that this team was really just a bunch of tools to Sasuke. They were to be used as needed, and brushed aside when they couldn't accomplish their task and Sasuke had to step in instead. Despite this, he still felt himself indebted to Sasuke, so he would continue to follow him, at least until such time as he could either completely suppress his homicidal urges on his own...or remove them entirely. At that point, if it ever came, what he did was up in the air--it was any one's guess where he'd go should he ever master his baser instincts.

He returned his attention to the task at hand. He disapproved of this ritual, but it was what Sasuke wished to do, so he followed suit. He looked over at Sasuke, who was trying his hardest to ignore his bickering companions--and judging by the slight twitch of his eyebrow, failing at it. What are you going to do with this power? Juugo didn't see what Sasuke could possibly need the power of the 8-tails for--after all, he was already the one of the most powerful shinobi around, even with the recent removal of his curse seal. Just what is going on in that head of yours, Sasuke?

"Whew, finally finished!" Sakura exclaimed as she wiped the sweat off of her brow. She stood in the center of Naruto's apartment and surveyed her handiwork. The place hardly looked anything like it had before she had gotten there. She had gotten in via the spare key that Naruto had given her shortly after returning from his training trip. They had mutually agreed that if there was an emergency, it was a lot quicker to just have keys to each other's apartments than it was to have to knock and wait for the other to respond. The blond ninja's apartment had been a total mess, although most of it was due to the funk he had been in after Jiraiya had passed combined with the place never quite being cleaned up from his absence. It had taken her several hours, but she had cleaned up all of the instant ramen cups lying around the house, consolidated all of his junk mail from the two and a half years he had been gone (which he had neglected to do anything with) into a neat pile on his table, and dusted the entire apartment.

After her cleaning expedition, she wandered into the hyperactive future Hokage's bedroom absently. Sitting on the edge of his bed, she spotted Naruto's copy of the picture that they all had depicting themselves back when they were Team 7 on his dresser. This brought a nostalgic smile to her face, as she remembered the simpler times that they had shared before the Chuunin Exam--before Orochimaru and Akatsuki threw a wrench in their lives.

"I wonder where Sasuke-kun is now?" the kunoichi spoke to no one in particular. The 'kun' after his name came more as a habit now than any real sign of affection, what with him being gone for so long and her recent revelation about her other teammate. As much as she missed the raven-haired former comrade, she was thankful for him leaving...if he hadn't she would never have grown as much as she had. Now, of course, she just had to focus on getting him back, so that things could at least resemble those times long past. However, if it came down to it, she would rather have Sasuke remain a missing-nin than have Naruto sacrifice himself for the sake of getting him back.

She gazed back at the photo, a certain blond-haired boy drawing her attention. Naruto...I hope you return soon. At that, she stood and made her way out of the apartment, leaving a note for Naruto on his kitchen table stating that it was her who cleaned the apartment, and for him to come see her whenever he returned. "Maybe I should head over to the Hokage tower, see if Tsunade-shishou could train me or something," she mused. "I've always thought summoning would be a useful skill to learn. I wonder if she could teach me to do it?" She made her way over to her master's office, her mind made up.

"Yes! That's it!" exclaimed the ancient frog as he watched his charge fully channeling the natural energy around him without even the slightest hint of frog oil on his body...or, for that matter, any of the telltale toad features that would manifest themselves whenever the blond ninja's former sensei would use that same energy.

Said blond ninja looked down at his hands in disbelief. He could literally feel the power flowing into and out of him--as if he were breathing the energy in and letting excess energy out just as easily as he would breathe air. "Am I actually doing it?" he questioned aloud. Once he had stopped thinking about it and let his instincts take over, the progress he had made had become tangible. In a little over a few hours, he had completely mastered the flow of natural energy. It was as if he had always known how to do it...all he had to do was let his subconscious take control and help him remember how--and it felt right, like he should have realized from the start that it wouldn't have been a problem to him.

Naruto held out a single hand and began to concentrate chakra experimentally. Effortlessly, the chakra started spiralling randomly, forming a Rasengan in the palm of his hand. He let the chakra dissipate, clenching his fist around where the spinning orb resided a moment ago. "Amazing..." remarked the young shinobi. "I've never been able to make a Rasengan without using up a lot of energy before...but now I can form one one-handed without so much as breaking a sweat."

"Natural energy is a near-unlimited source of power...but it comes at a cost," warned Fukasaku. "If you stay in a state where you can gather it for too long, your chakra coils could burst from a chakra overload, which could end your career as a ninja--or even kill you if it's severe enough."

The hyperactive shinobi nodded, taking in the information. "How long is too long?" he asked, putting a halt to the collection of natural energy in the process.

"Well, that depends on the person," the old frog began. "For most people, it's somewhere around ten minutes or so. After that, you should give your chakra coils enough time to readjust themselves to your normal chakra again."

"Only ten minutes?! You've got to be kidding me!" yelled the boy. "With a limit like that, the only way I could be guaranteed to be able to use it safely is if I only use it for a couple moves!"

"That's only the limit for beginners, though." piped in Gamakichi. "Once your chakra coils get used to expanding and contracting to accommodate the new energy source, it should go up tremendously. The old pervert managed to be able to use it for just over an hour once he got used to it. And then there's your special case...because of that, you should be able to use it for an even longer amount of time, with practice."

Naruto blinked. "My special case...you mean the Kyuubi?"

The wise old amphibian gave the young genin a knowing look. "That's a part of it. The other part lies in your heritage."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. "My...heritage?" He ran over to the diminutive frog, stooping down to look him in the eye. "Do you know about my parents?!"

The frog smiled. "Of course...you mean Jiraiya-kun never told you? They were the Fourth Hokage and his wife, Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina."

For several seconds, the blond-haired shinobi could do nothing more than open his mouth wide in shock. The Fourth Hokage his father? Was the old toad insane? It was impossible! Even...even if he does look almost exactly like him. And even if he has been said to be similar to him, and...okay, so maybe it was possible. But it was unlikely--definitely unlikely. Wasn't it? "You mean to tell me that my...my father is the Fourth Hokage? The one who sealed the Kyuubi in me and died to protect the village?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes," Fukasaku stated simply. "But that's not even why you have such innate talent with Senjutsu. You get that from your mother. Ninjas from the former Whirlpool Country were quite adept at it, though they were few in number. They were so good, in fact, that they were the target of many other clans during--and even after--the ninja wars, simply because their power was feared. That's why your mother fled to this country when she was younger--to escape a raid on her village."

At that, Naruto's eyes grew even wider (if that was even possible). After babbling for several seconds, his mind finally gave in to the shock and the fatigue of training, and consciousness slipped away from him.

As the orange-loving young man's face made contact with the hard ground, Gamakichi winced visibly. "Hmm...maybe we should have told him to sit down first."

Sasuke and the rest of team Taka sped away from the Akatsuki hideout, using Karin's tracking abilities to pinpoint the location of Pain's chakra. He was getting closer, but according to Karin's estimate of where Pain was located and the speed he was travelling, they weren't going to arrive in time to beat him to Konoha.

"Karin!" the Uchiha prodigy shouted. "How close is he to Konoha?"

After focusing for a moment, the red-haired kunoichi turned to her companion and said, "He seems to be stopped right by the gates. He may be planing his attack, or waiting until nightfall." She hesitated for a moment. "Um, Sasuke-kun, if you don't mind me asking...why do you care if he kills anyone from Konoha? I thought you severed your ties with them."

"I hate senseless killing," the raven-haired ninja said. His voice seemed to carry an undercurrent of uncertainty...even doubt. "If there's no reason for them to die, why let him do it?"

"But is there a reason for the elders to die?" questioned Juugo cautiously.

Silence was all the young Uchiha offered in reply.

A/N: Well, that's it for this Phase! What did you think? Yeah, I know it was longer than the first two, but it had to be done...the story just took on a life of its own and wouldn't let me end it any earlier. Also, it fits my theme nicely (purely by accident, I assure you)...and if you still haven't figured it out, look at the story and chapter titles. As an added hint, the next one will be even longer. :P

Be sure to tune in next Phase, when...ah, I'll let you guess for yourselves what happens. Whoever guesses right wins a virtual cookie. Trust me, they're delicious.