AN: If an insane demon was heading towards your village, what would you do? Konoha, we have a problem. I don't own Naruto. Keep reading and reviewing.

Chapter 7: Home?

Something is familiar about this area. If only I could remember… dead… No, no time to remember. Keep following scent. Keep running. Kill them… why kill them… dead… yeah. Kill them. Naruto ran after the faint scent of death and evil, coming ever closer to its source, still a fair distance away. His mind was clear, or more correctly, blank. His mind only contained one thought, to follow the scent and kill anyone who got in his way and then kill the source of the scent. Then he could… what will I do? No, no thinking now! Figure it out later… follow, then kill. Naruto had been following the scent all night and most of the day, but at a much slower pace then he had done the past day. He no longer needed to run, his mind had no thoughts in it besides "follow" and "kill". He would find the one he wanted, though he had no idea or wanted any idea of why he wanted him, and then he would kill him. Naruto continued on his path. Over the next hill he saw something… very familiar. It was… a town. Strange… it reminds me… no, find and kill. The town was still a fair distance away, so it would take a while to reach it. Again, he found the trail and followed it.

Tsuande stood on the city gates with three jonin elite and another kage. Kakashi Hatake stood reading his most recent novel, though his mind was far from the images in the book. It was on his former student, the next Hokage, and the demon he could sense coming closer to the village. Shikamaru stood with his hands in his pockets, tracking in his mind the path of his friend. Temari, with her large fan on her back, stood next to Shikamaru, waiting. Gaara, the Kazekage, stood with his arms over his chest and his trademark frown on his face. He had stayed after the wedding to visit his… friends… and have diplomatic talks with the Hokage. When he had arrived that morning to ask about the large explosions he had heard last evening, he had noticed that the Hokage was almost as nervous as people he had once killed… right before they died. Fear. He could smell it exuding off of her. She had told him of Naruto's untimely disappearance, but…

"Naruto went on a mission recently. He is going after the Akatsuki, the group that those two who attacked you a while back were from, in attempt to stop their attacks on him and his wife. While on it something happened. I don't have much information, but that explosion was his doing. Now no one knows where the hell he is, or if he is even alive."

"… Naruto is alive."

"What?"

"I… can sense his chakra… but…" Tsunade wanted to hear the next part, but suddenly a frog appeared on her desk again. Gamakichi, but this time he didn't look like his cheerful self.

"Hey, old lady. Bad news, good news time. Naruto ain't dead. That's the good news. The bad news is that he thinks Jiriya, Shizune, Sakura and Hinata are dead. He has… gone pretty much insane. Jiriya told me that he… massacred the entire city of Sound. No survivors. None. And then he found Kisame, who is now dead, but Jiriya thinks Naruto picked up his scent and is following it. Right now, he told me to warn you that Naruto is heading in this general direction, and he is obviously not in his right mind. I mean, Jiriya said that he totally slaughtered the citizens of Sound, not just shinobi, but women and children."

"…This is… not good." Gaara knew Naruto's nindo. He also knew that it didn't include the merciless killings of innocents.

"I think that that would be an understatement, Lord Kazekage."

"More then you might think… if he is truly mad from grief of his wife "dieing" then he would be more dangerous to this city then any invasion. If his thinks that we are… in his way… he will not hesitate to do to this village what was done to Sound."

"What should we do?" Tsunade was about to call all ninja to arms when Gamakichi spoke up again.

"Well, Jiriya said that he and his group are catching up to Naruto slowly. They don't think they will catch up before he reaches the city, though."

"Hmm… if Naruto sees Hinata… he will probably snap out of it… no guarantee though…"

"So we stall him… you!" She addressed the ANBU guarding the door. "Get Hatake Kakashi in here, now. And, get Shikamaru."

"And Temari." The ANBU were off to gather the people.

"Two Kages, three Jonin. Do you think it will be enough?"

"No… but we will slow him down."

"He is going to be here within the hour. Where could Jiriya be?"

"Calm yourself, Lady Tsuande. They can't get here any faster if you worry." Kakashi put away his book. He and the rest of the Jonin and Chunin in the city had helped gather the people in the tunnels underneath the city and seal them there. The reason why was a "invasion drill" and most of the people bought it, seeing how they had suffered from invasions in the past. The only reason why they had stayed out was because they were the most likely people Naruto would recognize.

"Worrying is exactly what I plan on doing until everything goes back to normal…"

"Nothing is going to go back to normal." Gaara spoke for the first time in the presence of the rest of the group. "Naruto thinks he killed his wife, and even though that isn't true, he has now slaughtered an entire hidden village. He is going to suffer for that, even if he manages to regain his sanity. Killing mindlessly… the guilt is enough to drive one to suicide. Naruto will not be the same person you knew when this is over."

Everyone remained silent at that. Each knew instinctively that he was right, though each was hoping that Naruto would bounce back as he always seemed to be able to do.

"Shikamaru, Temari, Kakashi, when you see Naruto he probably won't look… the same as he usually does. This is classified information and it does not travel anywhere else. Orochimaru attacked Naruto a while ago, inside the body of Sasuke Uchiha, which you all know. Naruto killed him, but was forced to use the same jutsu the Third and Forth used… on the reanimated corpse of his father. Normally, this uses the soul of the user, but in this case, because Naruto contained the Kyuubi's soul, the death god only needed one and he had two. The Kyuubi gave Naruto all of his chakra and then his soul was taken, killing the Kyuubi. The chakra had an… odd side effect. Naruto will resemble a nine tailed fox when you see him. It is normally under a complex genjutsu I taught him. His tails and every part of him are deadly, so be very very careful."
Each person nodded, keeping there thoughts to themselves. Naruto came closer.

"Alright, check in!" Iruka had taken it upon himself to lead the "invasion drill". Tsunade had informed him a little on the situation. They had just finished sealing the entrances to the underground tunnels and were doing a final check to make sure everyone was in. The walls of these underground corridors were thick and hard. They also had seals etched into them.

"Sensei, why are there drawings on the walls?"

"They were put there by the first Hokage when he made these tunnels. The seals are special so that no chakra escapes the walls. It makes it so no one can pick up the chakra signatures we make when we are in this tunnel."

"Oh…"

"Iruka! We have a problem."

"What?"

"Four chunin are missing."

"What? Who?"

Hinata could see her home. Close… too close… Running all day had made them all tired. Hinata popped a soldier pill before continuing down the path Naruto had forged for himself through the forest. Please… Naruto… don't do anything you will regret later. Hinata remembered all of death she had seen in Sound, caused by Naruto's hands. She could help him. I need to find him! They could all sense Naruto now, his chakra was flaring and hadn't stopped since the attack on Sound. He is close! Hinata pumped as much chakra as she could into her legs. Behind her, the three other members of her team were either gasping for air or drained completely. They still ran, not just for Hinata and Naruto. The fate of Konoha might be at stake here! Hinata suddenly sensed something else… something… not quite human. And it wasn't above ground.

"JUMP!" Instantly and without thinking, they all followed Hinata's example and jumped into the trees.

"Earth Style: Ant-Lion Trap!" A massive hole appeared in the earth, quickly expanding to create a pit of quicksand. In the center of the constantly expanding sand trap was what could only be described as a giant toothed mouth. Hinata looked inside of it with her Byakugan and saw the head of a man. But those jaws… they are also a part of his body. The man jumped out and canceled the jutsu, seeing how he wasn't going to get any of the shinobi. That is a dangerous jutsu, it would have gotten all of us in less then a second.

"We are here to make sure you do not… interfere with the bosses plan." Sakura was surprised to see that only one side of his mouth spoke, as it was split down the middle with one half being white and the other black.

"You shall go no further." This time the black side of his face spoke. "We will devour you and your souls…" The giant flytrap like man was forced to move as Shizune threw a swarm of needles at him. Sakura was charging with her fist cocked.

"Go, Hinata and Jiriya! We will take this weirdo!" Sakura threw the punch at his face, only to gaze in awe as the trap shut and completely blocked her punch. He didn't even flinch.

Naruto knew he was here. Where he was, he had no idea, but the smell ended here. He sniffed around the small clearing, finding where the scent disappeared to. He stopped at a large rock. Not big enough to be a boulder, just a rock in the ground. A perfectly ordinary rock. Naruto drew back his claws. Underneath! His hand smashed the boulder into fragments. The boulder had been covering… nothing. Naruto gave a small look of surprise at the lack of a hole or anything that would lead to where the smell was coming from. Once again, this time with even more rage, he struck the earth underneath the spot the boulder had been on. He didn't even need to touch the earth, the second his chakra touched the spot a large stairway appeared under his feet, leading into darkness. Naruto smiled wickedly. First I kill the bastards in here, than I can leave… leave to be with her. Naruto fingered the kunai that was still imbedded in his shoulder. Yes… no reason except her. Now it is time to kill… them… Naruto ignored the spiral staircase and jumped into the darkness.

"Lord Kazekage, I can't sense Naruto!" Gaara nodded at Tsunade's statement. He could no longer sense his friend, either. Before any of them could react, Gaara leapt off of the city wall in a surprising display of agility for someone who never moves in battle and began running towards the point he had last sensed Naruto. The others quickly followed.

"What do you think you can do, little girls?" The obviously insane Akatsuki member had just caught Sakura's most powerful punch in one hand. He says his name is Zetsu. How can he be so strong? He smiled wickedly on one half of his face, while the other remained impassive. "I could kill you both right now, but I like to play with my food!" He threw Sakura into Shizune, sending both crashing into a tree. The ninja began doing hand signs.

"Why don't you want to play? I never have any fun. Earth Style: Mud River!" The ninja put out his hand as a gusher of mud sprang forth. It rushed at the nearly unconscious med-ninjas, threatening to crush them into the forest of trees. Zetsu wasn't surprised to see both of the ninja turn out to be logs.

"Now you come out to play." He turned around to catch a poisoned needle in midair and fling it back. Shizune had barely a chance to gasp before rolling out of the way of her own needle. Sakura appeared on the opposite side of Zetsu and did a few hand signs. He hands began to glow blue.

"You might have a hard shell, but this will pierce it!" She yelled out as she charged again, this time using clones to try to hide her real presence until it would be too late for Zetsu's organs and chakra system. He smirked at her attempt before sinking into the ground. What? Sakura looked around as Shizune came out of the bushes to join her. The instant Shizune was out in the open Zetsu made his move. He suddenly appeared behind the experienced med-nin. Sakura tried to yell out a warning as the massive jaws positioned themselves silently around Shizune's head.

Hinata hoped her friends were able to handle the S-ranked ninja. Jiriya had stepped up the pace again, trees seemed to blend together at their speed. There better not be anyone else in our way! We need to reach Naruto, now! Hinata had her Byakugan on, and that was the only thing that saved her.

"DIE!" A massive, jagged ice crystal appeared in Hinata's way, and the only reason she didn't impale herself on it was because she had already changed directions. She continued to run at the Akatsuki robe wearing ninja. Jiriya ran up to the ninja with his hand extended. "Rasengan!" The Akatsuki member managed to jump out of his way, barely missing having a head removed. The hat dropped off in the process of jumping away, revealing an attractive woman with light blue hair. Jiriya stopped and prepared to fight.

"Hinata, go to Naruto! I can take care of her. Besides… she would be excellent research for my next novel."

"Bastard!" The woman charged Jiriya, who positioned himself between Hinata and the ninja.

"GO!" Hinata ran off, knowing that she was close.

"Wa…!" Sakura couldn't get anything out as the jaws quickly closed around Shizune's head. It was nearly closed when the Zetsu was sent flying by a massive chakra strike to his gut.

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!" A blur was all that could be seen, huge chakra waves coming out of Zatsu's back. "64 strikes!" Zetsu was sent flying by the last hit. In midair he was met with a swarm of weapons the size of with he had never seen. Thousands of shurikin and kunai, as well as many other sharp and deadly looking objects sped towards him, though they all looked like they would miss. His smirk at his enemy's bad accuracy suddenly turned into a look of shock.

"Konoha Destroying Whirlwind" Zatsu's face was suddenly smashed in as a heavily weighted foot collided with his face, sending him into a tree and the waiting path of the weapons. He had only a second to try to sink into the tree, but the first needle struck him in his left eye. Loosing concentration he was soon impaled over every square inch of his body. Zetsu had breathed his last. Team Guy had come to the rescue.

"The amazing hero was in a stand off with the amazingly beautiful woman. Their eyes met as they clashed. Each knew this could be their final moment in life, or maybe the beginning of a new one."

"Will you just SHUT UP?!" Jiriya had just barely gotten under the woman's skin… just barely. Their kunais clanged as they jumped into the air again, only to be met by the other in a stalemate.

"Oh, come on. You have to agree that this is excellent material for the next Icha Icha novel. Come on, admit it. Now if you just surrendered then maybe I could show you how the rest of the story goes…"

"Shut up, pervert! You're almost 60!"

"I am only 55!" They clashed again, this time the enraged female managed to push Jiriya back and into the dirt.

"Die! Water Style: 10,000 Ice Needles!" The air around Jiriya was suddenly filled with needles of ice. Jiriya's body disappeared, revealing a log. "Damn you, old man!"

"I told you, I am not that old! We could still have a relationship! Age doesn't matter to me…" Jiriya came out of the trees with a hurt look on his face.

"Shut up, you annoying hermit!" She had finally prepared the finishing blow. After scattering water around the area with her last attacks, she was ready. It took too much chakra if she created ice directly. "Now you will die. Water Style: Frozen Decapitation!" Jiriya was suddenly out of ideas. Around him, and all over the area, thousands of swords had formed. Each floated in midair, beautiful as only ice could be, but controlled by the ice maiden of the Akatsuki. The setting sunlight shone through the blades, sending rainbows across the clearing. It was a beautiful place to die. Jiriya was suddenly regretting going easy on the Akatsuki member. He was out of plans or even witty remarks.

"Come now, you know it never would have worked out between us. Now be a good old pervert and just die." Swords came flying at Jiriya, who held his kunai, ready to fight to the last. He blocked one, then another. Their blades were locked and Jiriya could only stare as a third blade came at his neck. He closed his eyes, ready for the end. I am sorry, Naruto. When nothing happened for seconds, Jiriya risked a peek at what should have been his death. Nothing, all of the swords were gone. Jiriya managed to hold in his vomit as he stared at the body of his opponent. It was… gruesome. The head was mostly gone, the stomach had holes in it, and the bugs… Bugs? Shino appeared in front of the sennin.

"…She is dead. I came to help. We all felt Naruto and then they had us do an… invasion drill. My insects have not had this kind of feast in a long time. Thank you for saving her for me.

"N… no problem…"

Hinata had made it to what appeared to be a stare case leading into the depths of the earth. Naruto, I am coming. Wait for me!

AN: Sorry, if you were expecting more of a fight from Akatsuki, wait for ONE MORE CHAPTER. It is far past time for the leader of the Akatsuki to die a horrible death at Naruto's hands... hehehehe... Ok, so I have already decided that there are going to be three more chapters and an epilogue. They will be long chapters. REVIEW PLEASE! I like seeing people write stuff, even if it is just flamers.