Twelve Souls, One Way

Chapter 5: The Masquerade – Part Two (Escape!)

By: The Demonic Ninjas 3

BETA Read By: featherdreams

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! Or future references and scenes from My Sassy Girl

Summary: Haku has been resurrected. Zabuza is still dead. To ressurect him he will be accompanied by the most unusual companions! From the loveable Naruto and the 'great' Jiraiya all the way to the notorious Itachi! Parings will be listed as they appear.

Pairings: The first pairing of this story appear! It's ... NaruHinaKiba! ... ok not a pairing...but a love triangle...

Author's Notes:

I really, really, really apologise for not updating for almost … half a year?!

Anyways, I noticed that I received quite a few anonymous reviews, which irritated me a bit; however, since the anonymous reviews had some feed back I am ever more grateful. Arrigatou!

Since I am unable to reply to you messages I must address them in my author's notes. If you do not wish to read them, please skip down to the next ruler. Thank you.

Bilyjoebob – I apologise that Kisame was not depicted to your liking; however, it will be hard to remove him from the story as he is one of the 12 zodiac people.

Synsacra – I have only modified Kisame's personality a little bit. I have attempted to keep Itachi's personality. I apologise for making Kisame a fool and I will attempt to modify him to your liking. I will attempt to make him more mature and sensible.

Sona – Thank you gor reviewing and giving me both positive and negative feeback. I have attempted to make up a reason for Kisame's out of character attitude. I hope it suffices.

I once again thank all my reviewers. I really wanted to discontinue this fanfiction as a result of the lack fo reviews and support, but there was a sudden wave of people placing this fic on alert and favourites as well as the sudden burst of anonymous reviews, thus I decided to write one more chapter. Depending on how well this chapter fairs, I may or may not update. Once again, I thank everyone for their support.

The Demonic Ninjas 3


The ANBU guards jumped out from the shadows as they whipped their shurikens at Kisame, who easily stopped the attack by removing a toothpick from his mouth. A sudden burst of chakra propelled the ANBUs back into their original positions by the wall. SLAM! Two of the ANBUs broke their backs; the others could barely steady themselves by the wall.

Kisame smirked. 'This is going to be fun. I don't think Itachi will scold me for using only 10 of my sword's ability.' Kisame released his genjutsu to return to his shark-like appearance. He whipped his toothpick into the air and as gravity began to take its affect on the toothpick, it came crashing down, transforming into his notoriously huge sword Samehada.

With his sleek shark movements, the Renegade mist ninja caught his prized weapon lightly in his hands and gave it a swing, causing the people around him to scream as they felt themselves being ripped apart into pieces. Luckily, an ANBU had already anticipated Kisame's actions and grabbed Konohamaru out of the way.

"Are you alright?" The ANBU questioned worriedly. The third Hokage's grandson nodded frantically. The ANBU ruffled Konohamaru's hair.

"That's good." A hint of relief was heard in the ANBU's voice.

"How about you?"

"I'm fine." The ANBU answered curtly. But in reality, there was a gigantic gash across the ANBU's back as he had blocked the heavy blow dealt from Kisame's sword. The wound was bleeding uncontrollably.

"I want you to run out and not turn back." The ANBU's voice was steady and calm. With a momentary pause the ANBU pushed Konohamaru into the crowds. "Go!"

Konohamaru nodded and ran into the chaotic crowd, disappearing into the masses of people.

The ANBU fell to the floor. "Damn that sword is good."

The ANBU's mask cracked open, revealing a bloodied face.


Inoshiki scanned the crowds searching for his daughter, but it was a futile attempt. There were people running and screaming everywhere. "Great! Why the hell is the Akatsuki here?"

Suddenly a pink blob caught his eye. It was Sakura.

Ino's father ran up to her. "Have you seen my daughter?" Sakura shook her head. Beads of sweat washed down her face as she attempted to mend the injured ANBUs' wounds.

"I think I saw her with one of the guests, but that was half an hour ago…" With that quick statement, Sakura turned her back on Inoshiki. The young medic nin needed all her concentration to be focused on her patients. Sakura closed her ears from the outside world and delved deeper into the patient at hand.

Inoshiki continued to rush through the crowd. His mind was racing as he began to wonder WHERE his daughter would be. Would she be like Sakura, attempting to heal the wounded? Or is she stuck in the bathroom, still unaware of the dire situation? Then, a dreadful thought came to mind. Kisame was an Akatsuki member. Akatsuki members work in pairs. Kisame's partner is Itachi… Where's Itachi? …If he didn't find Ino soon, who knows what will happen…

An abrupt screaming was heard and Inoshiki couldn't believe his eyes. Out of all the situations that Inoshiki could have conjured up in his mind, he had hoped this one would never happen. At the far side of the room stood his daughter Ino in the hands of the Sharingan master, Uchiha Itachi. In a clear and prominent tone, the ultimatum was uttered.

"If anyone moves, she dies."

The room became dead silent.


Ino gasped in dismay as she watched the ANBU numbers begin to dwindle under the sword of the self-proclaimed "Hoshigaki Kisame, S-rank mist ninja and member of the Seven Mist Swordsmen." The crowds were in absolute anarchy as jounins attempted to direct the guests out of the room.

"Are you going to keep your promise to Asuka?" A majestic and seductive voice breathed lightly into Ino's ear, causing her to squirm a little bit uncomfortably. A shiver had shot through her spine as she spun around to come face-to-face with the man who claimed his name to be, Sugahara Riku.

Ino attempted to swallow her fear as she stared into the dark eyes of the enchanting man. She nodded in consent before she realized what she was doing.

'Riku' smiled. "Now follow my instructions and everything will be fine."

Ino took a deep breath and felt her body being twirled around in one moment, and the next, a cold silvery object was touching her pale neck. Ino had instinctively closed her eyes out of fear as she heard 'Riku' bellow, "If anyone moves, she dies."

At that moment, Riku's mask fell to the floor and the blood-red Sharingan eyes glowed in triumph. She gasped in horror as she realized who this man was. It was Uchiha Itachi, the very man that caused Sasuke to become so cold and distant.

Ino was now a hostage and there was no way out. She had made a deal with the devil without even getting anything out of it. From the distance, she noticed her father, his eyes widening in horror. Ino's stomach tightened as only one thought ran through her mind.

Goodbye… Father…

Itachi's eyes locked onto Kisame's as they reached an agreement telepathically. Itachi was about to whip a shuriken at the window to create an escape route when a green blur stopped it. The green blur landed on the floor revealing a green-clad ninja with fuzzy eyebrows and a mushroom haircut.

'A younger version of Gai-san?' Itachi wondered, bemused by the fact that the boy had been courageous enough (or stupid enough) to stop his escape.

"Release Ino and leave." The young green-clad ninja spoke forcefully. Suddenly, his sensei was behind him.

"You don't think that you can come back to Konoha and leave unscathed, now do you, Itachi?"

Itachi gave the green-clad duo a taunting smile as he suddenly vanished and the glass ceiling was shattered.

The two Akatsuki members had escaped, along with an extra hostage. Both Ino AND Lee had been snatched by the renegade ninjas.


The cool and welcoming wind rushed by Itachi and Kisame's faces. Ino and Lee both lay limp on either side of Itachi's strong arm lock. Both had been knocked unconscious during the escape to ensure no complications. The two renegade ninjas were in the heart of the Konoha forest that would lead them out of the Fire Country.

They stopped for a moment to wait and see if Haku and Jiriya would be able to track them down. It was a risk for the Akatsuki pair to remain within Konoha territory, as it could entail a capture, especially since they held the two young chunnins as hostages, but they had to take the risk. After all, it would be harder to regroup with Jiriya and Haku outside of Konoha.

Itachi placed Ino and Lee by the base of a tree and stretched his arms as if they were tired.

"Why were you such a fool, Kisame? Everything would have moved along perfectly had you not exposed yourself. Your only job there was to eat."

"Hmm… who knows? Perhaps it was fate that caused me to do that." Kisame chuckled to himself.

Itachi rolled his crimson eyes. "More like you wanted to cause trouble. I think you were hanging around Tobi too much."

Kisame laughed out loud. "Maybe…"

There was a silence as the Akatsuki duo waited for their companions.


An emergency meeting was held on the spot within the banquet hall. It addressed all physically able ninjas of chunnin rank and higher to attend. Haku was obliged to attend since he was technically a ninja from the Tea Country. A few of the ANBU guards were still alive, and by chance, the female guard that had permitted Jiriya and his guests to enter had survived. Automatically, the ANBU recognized Haku.

"You, were you not Itachi and Kisame's supposed sister?"

Haku bit his lip nervously. He appeared almost shaky as he spoke.

"I-I n-never realized t-that…t-that t-they…" Haku broke down on the spot, supposedly unable to control himself. Haku was playing the role of Asuka after all. Asuka was a minor ninja from the mini tea country who had just found out that her brothers were not, well… her brothers. Haku's acting skills had just peaked.

"I-I should have realized that s-something was wrong when t-they had not ret-turned for three days f-from their hunting trip…" Haku sobbed.

The ANBU raised a questioning eyebrow.

Haku pretended to take a deep breath. "We were on our way to Konohagakure to visit relatives and we usually t-took turns foraging for food. T-the Tea Country is quite f-far from Konohagakure. One of the foraging trips was for Riku-ni and Ryuu-ni… T-they left for three days. I had almost believed that t-they were dead… and was about to head to K-konohagakure myself w-when my brothers re-appeared out of the blue. I-I was so happy… that I didn't realize that it might not have been them…" Haku stopped and permitted tears to fall down his cheeks. Quickly Haku brushed away those tears and stood up, eyes shining in defiance of his shame.

"I wish to help you in any manner possible to destroy the Akatsuki members." The ANBU saw the passion in Haku's eyes and nodded.

"Your story appears to be genuine. Very well, your help will be greatly appreciated."

The ANBU did not realize that the passion was not for the "revenge of her brothers" but for the "success of his quest". Either way, Haku had won her trust.

Jiriya walked out from the crowd of ninjas and whispered something into Tsunade's ear. Tsunade shrugged.

"Fine." The Gondaime turned her attention to the crowd of ninjas in front of her. "I want everyone to split up in squadrons of four. Asuka and Neji, you two, shall work with Jiriya and Naruto. Inoshiki, Gai, Chouji and Shikamaru shall form Group 2…" Tsunade continued to group the ninjas in squadrons of four.

Haku released a sigh of relief. He was beginning to worry about how to connect back with Itachi and Kisame and getting out of Konoha without being noticed. Haku closed his pallid eyes and hoped with all his might that his quest could at least succeed in the Konoha stage.


All of Konoha's ninjas stood in front of the Hokage's building, listening eagerly to the instructions. Jiriya's frogs and Kakashi's dogs had been sent ahead to whiff out the Akatsuki trail. The news that came back was mixed. For some odd reason, the dogs were unable to track anyone's scent because it was everywhere at the same time; however, the frogs managed to figure out that the Akatsuki duo had headed west.

Jiriya turned to the crowd of ninjas in front of him.

"Alright, according to our information, we should head west." There was a sudden pause in Jiriya's speech.

"Since the dogs were unable to catch the Akatsuki trail, we'll need to split into even numbers, just in case this is a trap."

Low murmurs were heard amongst the ninjas at the thought of splitting up the forces.

"Four groups shall head north, another four south, and four groups for the east and west. We do not know the motives for their infiltration, so stealth must be taken."

There was another momentary pause.

"Each group has a set of four scrolls. Each of the scrolls are labeled with a kanji term of earth, heaven, water and fire respectively. The earth scroll, when opened, will release a yellow firework, signaling for a need to regroup. The heaven scroll, when opened, will release a white firework, signaling that you have lost our target's trail. The water scroll, when opened, will release a blue firework, signaling that one of your teammates has been wounded. If one of your teammates is wounded, leave one member of your group behind and a medic team shall be sent your way as you continue the mission. And finally, the fire scroll, when opened, will release a red firework, signaling that the targets have been captured. Does everyone understand the conditions of the mission?"

"Hai!" The Konoha ninjas replied in unison.

Jiriya nodded as he felt the contagious passion of the Konoha ninjas. He turned his attention to Tsunade.

"We're ready."

Tsunade nodded.

"Alright! As shinobi of Konoha, we will retrieve our young chunnins back and capture the Akatsuki duo! Mission Commence!"

With Tsunade's final command, the Konoha ninjas dispersed into the night, determined to succeed in their mission or die trying.


The unsettling shadows draped over Jiriya's scout team that consisted of Naruto, Haku, Neji and, of course, Jiriya. The frog sannin led the group, followed by Naruto, who was then followed by Haku, and finally Neji pulled up the rear, trailing behind the group with his Byakugan to ensure the safety of his team.

Unexpectedly, blood-curling screams could be heard in all directions. At the same time fireworks of all colors began to light up the night sky. Jiriya stopped in his tracks. It sounded as if banshees had been let loose in the Konoha forest.

"What's going on?" Naruto exclaimed, clearly horrified as he covered his ears from the excruciating pain that the noise brought.

"Is this a genjutsu?" Haku asked curiously.

"My Byakugan is being distorted. I just see people dying." Neji spoke in the most nonchalant manner he could muster as he turned off his Byakugan from the horrific sight.

Jiriya bit his lip.

"We stepped into a trap…"

"What do you mean?" Naruto yelled. His panic was practically tangible.

"Our target is Akatsuki… Uchiha Itachi…Hoshigaki Kisame…" Haku spoke softly. His mind began drifting.

'A genjutsu master." Neji spoke bluntly.

Jiriya used his right fist to punch his left palm in frustration as he cursed his stupidity.

"Damn! We forgot to account for the fact that the dogs may not have sensed the Akatsuki trail because the whole thing is a trap! Being a genjutsu master, Itachi must have casted an illusion over all of Konoha forest!"

"What?! NO WAY!" Naruto exclaimed. "There's no way he has THAT MUCH POWER!"

"He IS the Uchiha prodigy who assassinated his whole clan. Anything is possible." Neji replied bluntly, as he grabbed a kunai in order to stab his leg and snap out of the illusion.

Jiriya quickly grabbed the weapon out of Neji's hand.

"Don't be foolish. Why do you think so many are screaming in pain? Perhaps everyone is doing what you are doing, but really they're stabling their comrades to death. I've seen a jutsu like that before. It is possible that Itachi is using such a jutsu to eliminate his enemies."

Neji bit his lip in irritation. 'Then what do we do now?"

"Neji, can you check behind us to see if there is a possibility that this isn't an illusion?"

The Hyuuga nodded in obedience, but the result was negative. There was no end in sight for the forest even though they had only entered the forest for 5 minutes.

'Then we shall head straight to see what we can do. Remember, stay together, Itachi might try a genjutsu that will lure you away from the team."

"Hai!" The young chunins replied.


The banshee-like screams echoed throughout the forest. A smug smile played across Itachi's face. His trap worked! The Uchiha prodigy had misled the dogs, but had permitted Jiriya's frogs to find him.

Itachi had then sent an encrypted message to Jiriya to have as few people as possible in the mission to find the Akatsuki duo and had instructed Jiriya to head in their dirction, while misleading the rest of the mission teams. As much as Itachi had disliked the idea of killing unnecessary innocent lives, he had to kill his pursuers. Either he was killed, or they were killed.

The Uchiha assassin had casted the very genjutsu that Jiriya had been speaking of. All the men in the forest were killing their comrades in a desperate, but futile attempt, to escape the genjutsu. A cool and subtle breeze rushed by Itachi. A small chime of bells rang from a distance. Itachi smirked. Jiriya's team was fast approaching. It was time for the Akatsuki pair to snap back into action. Placing a sleeping jutsu on the unconscious Ino and Lee, the Uchiha prodigy passed his hostages to Kisame and signaled to head out and meet Jiriya.

The inhuman screams of betrayal and pain continued to fill the air.


Jiriya and his team meandered carefully in the forest, being extremely cautious of their surroundings. After all, they had entered the domain of the genjutsu master. Unexpectedly, a few bushes nearby began shifting nervously.

"Battle formation!" Jiriya ordered as the four shinobi grouped together in a protective circle so that their backs were facing each other.

Out of the bushes limped a badly beaten up Sasuke. His face was long and sullen with pain and grief.

"Help!" Sasuke pleaded as he fell on his knees in pain. Blood was pouring out of a wound on his left side.

"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed as he attempted to run over to his long-lost friend, only to be held back by Neji.

"This is an illusion Naruto! Get a grip on yourself! Sasuke wouldn't waltz into Konoha randomly! He's with Orochimaru, remember?"

Sasuke began coughing up blood.

"Itachi… He's too strong… I need to avenge…Help…"

Naruto continued to struggle to escape the Hyuuga's strong grip on him.

"Sasuke went to avenge his family! He's seen Itachi! Damnit! LET ME HELP HIM!" Haku's eyes carefully scanned the surroundings, as he saw a small rat coming closer into view. Haku smiled. They were actually able to regroup within Konoha safely with all their targets.

"Neji-san," Haku spoke informatively, "Perhaps this is the real Sasuke that you speak of."

"The chances of that is 0.001 Asuka-san. Sasuke would not be here. Does it not strike you oddly that Sasuke would appear right when we're searching for Itachi? He is most likely a distraction."

Suddenly, a kunai came flying in Neji's direction, nearly grazing his cheek.

A voice was suddenly heard, bellowing from within the forest.

'Sasuke-kun. You've run long enough." The voice was evidently Itachi's.

"Damn it! Neji! LET ME HELP SASUKE! HE'S GOING TO DIE!" Naruto's eyes turned into a fiery red as he burst out of Neji's hold and ran towards his nearly dead friend.

"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke smiled weakly. "Arigatou." With lightning quick movements, Sasuke hit all the pressure points to knock Naruto unconscious. At the same moment, Haku had punctured Neji's pressure points with his needles, catching the Hyuuga as he fell limp in his arms.

"Itachi-san, are we ready to go?" Haku questioned politely to "Sasuke", who had disappeared, and in his place, appeared Uchiha Itachi.

"I've actually been ready for quite a while now. Kisame!" Itachi replied as he called out for his partner from his hiding position.

Kisame walked out from behind a tree with the unconscious Ino and Lee carefully placed on either shoulder. A rather bored expression was plastered on the mist-nin's face.

"I expected some more fighting from the white-eyed boy and the fox-kit." Kisame spoke plainly as he turned his attention to his partner. "But I'm ready."

Itachi nodded as he analyzed the expressions of his comrades' faces.

"I have already organized our escape route. Just follow me. We should be able to get out of Fire Country territory before daybreak. Let's go!" Itachi spoke confidently as he quickly led the way out of Konoha and the Fire Country. Haku complied as he watched Kisame begin to sweep away their footsteps.

"Let's get out of here." Kisame commented as they followed through the escape route. "I'm sick and tired of Konoha. They're just too nice."

Haku chuckled. "It's a lot different from our Mizugakure. It's…too peaceful…I feel guilty for disturbing that peace."

"Bleh. Konoha will always be Konoha. They'll be able to restore the peace." Kisame replied.

"I hope you're right." Haku's eyes trailed away.

"Well, at least you got what you needed." Kisame comforted Haku.

The young hero nodded. The Konoha stage had been successful, even with the small complications. It was time to meet the new stage on his quest for the zodiac items.


End of Chapter!

BanZai! Chapter 5 has been completed. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I cannot ensure that I will update in a weeks time or even in a month's time, but I will attempt to update as soon as possible. After all, I have three other fanfictions to update.

I once again thank my supporters for continuing to support this fanfiction.

Thank you for reading and I hope you review.

Sincerely,

The Demonic Ninjas 3