Chapter 12: An encounter of the Akatsuki kind

Chapter 12: An encounter of the Akatsuki kind

"Be reasonable Tsunade-hime" pleaded a certain Gama Sannin. The group of Konoha shinobi had been in a local bar in Tanzaku city where they had finally caught up with the Slug Sannin Tsunade and her apprentice in the medical arts Shizune. Tsunade, despite her old age didn't look a day over twenty five and had long blonde hair tied into two pig tails with a very large rack – as Jiraiya often described it. Her apprentice Shizune was a woman of natural beauty with short black hair that fell neatly around her face and pale, porcelain like skin. She was also well known to hide her figure under a black kimono, much to Jiraiya's dismay – a man needed his research if he was to earn a living.

Jiraiya had been arguing with Tsunade about returning to Konoha to take up the position of Hokage for the better part of a few hours, however, the buxom woman was adamant in her stance about never setting foot in Konoha again.

"Being Hokage is just asking to bite the bullet" she would say "every one of them died for nothing at all, I'd rather take my chances with gambling money at a casino then gambling my life by taking that position" she explained. This comment already caused one Mitarashi Anko, who was immensely fond of the late Hokage to dislike the Sannin already. Genma and Kakashi couldn't have possibly cared less about the situation, the former merely sitting at a nearby table with a senbon needle in his mouth while sneaking peeks at Shizune while Kakashi was immersed in his newly obtained 'Icha Icha' special edition, signed by the author 'Jiraiya-sama' himself!

Anko, on the other hand, during all of this deliberation was brooding in private and anyone who tried to make a pass at her in the bar or even so much as tried to speak with her earned themselves either a knee to the groin or several kunai thrown at them from the resident temperamental beauty. The thoughts that were currently plaguing her mind were mainly regarding the conversation she had overheard the two senile old goats from the council and the words a certain 'S-class' criminal said to her. Uzumaki had known instantly her insecurities and had pointed them out so bluntly that she now wondered how she hadn't visibly winced when he did so, and when she asked herself that, she realized that it was because of her friends back in the village like Kurenai, Asuma and Morino Ibiki, the interrogation specialist. However, most of it was because of her undying loyalty to her Hokage, the Sandaime, who now laid dead, his soul taken as a price for an attack used against her former sensei – just another reason to hate the snake bastard. It was Sarutobi who listened to her when Orochimaru had used and abandoned her and it was him that gave her the chance to prove herself – and she believed she more then did just that by taking one suicidal mission after another and coming back successful – but it seems that no matter what she did, she would forever be mistrusted and scorned. Some hateful part of her wished that her former sensei had accidently summoned Manda over Koharu and Homura's homes and squished them to death – she was sure she wouldn't have missed them.

"You might as well go back because there is no way I'm going back to that village" she heard Tsunade yell back at Jiraiya, her face a deep scarlet as she was flushed with indignation "and even if I did return, it especially wouldn't be to put a large target on my back and get myself killed thank you very much" she finished, crossing her arms over her chest in a very child like manner and glared. Anko had had enough of this woman, who she had once idolized as a young kunoichi – who didn't? – for being a perfect example of what Kunoichi everywhere should strive for, now however, she could see how wrong she was.

"Ero-baka" Anko called, using her pet name for Jiraiya once she had realized what his secondary job was exactly – though she'd never let him know that she too read his works – to get his attention. She allowed herself a small smirk when she saw not only Jiraiya but Kakashi too bristle at the title "I'm going for a walk, it's obvious this 'has been' thinks the world revolves around her so I say if she wants to drink and gamble for the rest of her life, let her, it's not like she's the only one to have precious people close to them die" she said blandly as she walked out of the bar, one hand in her trench coat and the other holding a Dango stick as she nibbled on the greatest food known to mankind.

Tsunade, after the comment, was visibly seething and was quite angered, which was quite obvious if the broken table beneath her hands was anything to go by. Jiraiya mentally groaned at what the hot headed snake mistress had unintentionally done. Knowing her reputation and personality though, he was inclined to believe it was quite intentional and now he had to deal with a stubborn and pissed off Tsunade.

"Just who does that bitch think she is?!" Tsunade seethed, glaring at the door Anko had just walked out of. Jiraiya just didn't have the balls to tell her what Anko said was pretty much right, mainly because he knew that if he did, he most definitely wouldn't have the 'balls' to do so again.

"That bitch, as you put it, is Mitarashi Anko and though I don't want to admit it for health reasons, she has a point Tsunade" seeing her getting ready to pound him he looked at her with his most serious and intense glare, halting her advance "sit DOWN Tsunade!" he shouted, and she did just that, looking at him with a puzzled glare, but a glare all the same "I've had enough of trying to talk to you as if you were a child – you aren't the only one to have suffered loss and tragedy in Konoha. It's time you understand that people have had it worse off than you and are still trying their best to protect the villagers so that others do not experience the pain that they went through!" he said, his voice raising slightly as he continued which got the attention of the two other male Jounin as well as other occupants of the bar who were casting them weird glances.

"How dare you" began Tsunade, her voice dripping with venom "How dare you speak to me like that, you have NO idea what it's like…" before she could continue, Jiraiya slammed his hands into the table causing even the Slug Sannin to start in shock – Jiraiya was not one to anger easily.

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"I have no idea?" he began, his eyes narrowed "Need I remind you Tsunade-hime, you lost your brother and fiancé because they both died protecting the village, I lost my wife, my daughter because my enemies wanted to hurt me! At least you had the pleasure of knowing your precious people died for a noble cause, but can I say the same?!" Jiraiya asked, letting his bottled up emotions come to the surface.

Tsunade had her head lowered in shame; of course she knew of Jiraiya's past, she was the one that had to inform him of their deaths. It didn't mean he had the right to speak to her like that though! Right? As much as she wanted it to be true, she could only turn her head and curse under her breath, because for all his character faults, Jiraiya was the stronger of the two to remain in Konoha and continue being of use while she, like some insolent little child, ran and tied to drown her pain in sake and gambling.

"I'm sorry…" Tsunade began and Jiraiya let out a non committal grunt letting her know it was ok "But I still don't want to become Hokage" she said, to a now listening group "You think I didn't keep tabs on the village while I was gone? I know what they have done in regards to the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and now that they know he is strong, they make him out to be a criminal when they have no right to do – why would I want to lead a village of old and decrepit fools?" she asked and Jiraiya had to admit, she had a valid point.

"To change the ways of those 'old and decrepit' fools" he said, with a grin at the description of the elder council of Konoha "besides, not everyone in the village is like that, which is why I still hang around to protect it, so long as there are people in Konoha that a worthy of my protection I will put my life on the line to do so – you should do the same, being that you're one of the Sannin" he explained with a shrug before continuing "besides, I'd take the job if I wasn't needed to travel around to gather information for my spy network" he said getting a glare from Tsunade and Shizune.

"You mean your perverted book baka" Tsunade grumbled under her breath causing Jiraiya to grin "that too, besides, if I were to be forced to become Hokage because you couldn't I'd just have to legalize peeping on the hot springs, what WILL all those innocent girls do when all my faithful readers take up my favourite pastime?" he asked with a grin, dodging the stray sake glass thrown in his direction.

If Tsunade's glare could cause random objects to spontaneously combust, Jiraiya's privates would have exploded right there, however, seeing as she was no Uchiha or had no special bloodline, she just settled for a super punch that sent him crashing into the wall.

"Give me a week to think about it, now leave me alone" she grumbled, taking a seat beside her apprentice again who was grinning slightly while the three Konoha shinobi left the bar, Kakashi still absorbed in his book not having even said a word while Genma cast several more glances at Shizune, who blushed under his scrutiny and cast several looks back of her own.

"I wasn't expecting you so soon…Itachi-san"

Two figures, both wearing large black high collared capes that covered most of their bodies and straw hats that had pieces of material hanging down from the sides of them, covering their whole face when combined with the cloak, were standing not twenty feet from Naruto and Haku. The red clouds adorning the cloaks gave away that these people were members of the Akatsuki, the very organization that Sasori had trained him to resist and possibly destroy.

The shorter figure had no remarkable features from where Naruto was observing, save for the fact that he had a pair of glowing red eyes with three tomoe seals in each one shining from beneath his hat. The other figure, which towered over the shorter one, had a large sword like object wrapped in bandages fastened to his back and two beady eyes. Naruto knew instantly who these two were, Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame, two dangerous 'S-rank' criminals and he also had a vague idea what they wanted also, which was not good, he knew he should have destroyed it – they must have tracked him down using it somehow.

Naruto looked over to the larger figure and tilted his head in curiosity "If I had known we were having show and tell Itachi-san…" began Naruto sizing up Itachi's partner "I would have brought my pet fish also" this got an immediate reaction as he heard growling coming from Kisame followed by him grabbing the hilt of his large bandaged sword. Immediately, when Itachi moved to restrain Kisame, Naruto's fingers twitched, not that either of the missing-nin noticed.

Naruto heard a muffled snicker to his right signifying that Haku believed his joke was funny. He then realized with a start that Haku would have known Kisame from his past with Zabuza while hanging around with the seven swordsman of the mist.

"Oh? Zabuza's pet brat is still alive? So it's true that you're not dead – I heard rumours of course but I just figured that some useless orphans who killed his own parents would have had the decency to die when given the chance" Kisame said, with a shark like grin. Naruto wasn't one to usually let insults get to him but Haku was a different matter entirely, he never did get over his childhood like Naruto had so, thinking quickly, he found a way to calm down his partner.

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"Really Kisame-san, you are most definitely not one to talk about parentage when your mother procreated with some species of shark to get you and your beloved partner killing the better majority of his own clan – how did that work out by the way?" Naruto said, enjoying the fact that Kisame took such insults about his mother to heart so much if the increased growling was anything to go by, seriously, the man was too shark like for his own good. Haku seemed to have relaxed slightly after the jab also, and Naruto pat himself on the back for a job well done.

"They died because they were fools – as will you if you do not cooperate, powerful you may be, but you are no match for me Naruto-kun" Itachi said, without the slightest hint of arrogance, perhaps because he actually believed that rubbish, Naruto thought.

Seemingly ignoring him, Naruto pressed on "But your mother seemed so nice, I mean, why kill her at all?" Naruto asked, already having figured out the answers to his questions long ago.

"I did not kill my mother" Itachi responded with a slight edge to his voice. Ah, a touchy subject then, Naruto thought.

"Well, regardless, she's now dead and you had the power to stop it but didn't" Naruto said with a shrug "so much for the all powerful Uchiha Itachi"

"Some of us" began Itachi "had the pleasure of knowing what a mother's love feels like" he said, with as much passion as you'd ever hear from the Uchiha prodigy, which was very little, but it was still noticeable.

"Too true Itachi-san, I was never able to feel that, though it was not by choice…" Naruto said, sounding upset, making Itachi grin. Naruto was still a child and will always be a child, regardless of his strength "but then again, not all of us could have had the pleasure of loving your mother, and believe me, I would have loved to love your mother" Naruto said, cocking his head to the side and taking on a mock thoughtful pose while enjoying how Itachi's body went rigid at the comment "I've seen her picture in several different records I have procured and I must say, you are definitely one lucky man Itachi-san to have had the honour of loving that woman" Naruto said, a hint of amusement lacing into his voice and by the small lump from within his cloak reaching down to his leg, most likely for a weapon, Naruto was certain he had hit a soft spot with him.

"What's the matter Itachi-san? Do you disagree? You did say that you had the pleasure of knowing what your mother's love felt like, surely you know what I speak of" that was it and Itachi suddenly, in a fit of what Naruto could only explain as emotionless rage, he tossed his hat to the side and with his right hand tossed three kunai while with his left, he followed up with four shuriken in Naruto's direction.

Taking that as a go ahead from his partner, Kisame too threw off his hat to reveal a blue shark like visage and a row of pointed razor like teeth before charging at Haku, his sword, Samehada resting on his shoulder as he did so. As Kisame charged at Haku he used his impressive strength to swing his blade down and hit Haku only for him to disperse into a water clone. Sensing where the water user had gone off to, Kisame immediately sped off in that direction, leaving Itachi and Naruto to have the clearing to themselves.

Naruto was made painfully aware about his one true weakness while fighting with Itachi and that was taijutsu, it seemed that the Uchiha prodigy knew that too if his relentless assault on his person was anything to go by, he rather hoped though that the assault was a product of his taunting though as an angry Uchiha Itachi is a stupid Uchiha Itachi which makes a Happy Namikaze Naruto. All Naruto could do to avoid being pummelled was pump chakra into his limbs to increase his speed and reflexes, though he knew that was also a double-edged sword against the Sharingan as the bloodline limit could see chakra and with him lacing his limbs with it, it allows the Sharingan's prediction abilities to have full effect. Using this to his advantage, he completely suppressed all chakra in the right side of his body while using his left to lead Itachi to an opening, and as expected, the Uchiha threw a hit in that very place. Taking the hit in stride, Naruto grabbed on to the offending leg and used the momentum catching it gave him to spin on his heal and aim a kick at Itachi's head. The results were not as he would have liked them though as the Uchiha prodigy merely caught his leg – it was for that very reason that Naruto was here in this very city, had he known the secret to Tsunade's legendary strength, he very much doubted the Uchiha could have caught his leg, let alone be in the same vicinity as it.

Both fighters, not wanting to remain caught as they now were, flipped away from each other to catch their breaths. That was all the time Naruto needed and with a twitch of both hands; two large fireballs came hurtling at Itachi from over both his left and right shoulder, giving him only two avenues of escape. Caught momentarily by surprise, Itachi took the exit that Naruto hoped he would in charging right at the puppet user and from the ground between Itachi and Naruto came one of his hunter-nin puppets with a sword raised ready to slice at Itachi – but the man was not heralded as a genius prodigy for nothing and Naruto observed with mild curiosity as Itachi's eyes morphed into a shuriken shape instead of the tomoe before his puppet burst in black flame. Ah, so that was the famed Amaterasu fire of the Uchiha clan, said to burn for seven days and seven nights and only usable by those with the Mangekyou Sharingan – however, impressive as it was, Naruto knew that it required a massive amount of Chakra to use, so, either Itachi was still underestimating him or he was angered enough to not consider that fact. With a grin, Naruto took the hit that Itachi gave him in the gut allowing him to burst into a cloud of smoke – he had created a 'Kage Bunshin' and switched places with it using Kawarimi.

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From his hiding spot, Naruto caught his breath as quietly as possible, not wanting to let the Uchiha know where he was. His resolve to now learn the secret behind the slug sannin's super strength growing all the more when he realized how outclassed he was in a Taijutsu match, which was just unacceptable.

Back in the clearing, Itachi cursed himself for being so foolish as to waste so much chakra by using his Amaterasu attack on a mere puppet and now, he suspected, he will pay for that mistake. The blonde Jinchuuriki was just able to, somehow, get under his skin with ease and he suspected he was not the only one to fall for such taunting. He had to give the boy credit though, he may not be a match for the Uchiha in taijutsu but his evasion skills and tactical planning were on par with the late Sasori, which was a compliment in itself seeing as Itachi respected the puppet master's genius, even though he would never admit it.

Suddenly, two blurs shot out from the trees surrounding him and two more figures dressed as hunter-nin began to attack him with a katana and two wakizashi respectively, it was then that he realized that Naruto had created human puppets by using the hunter-nin Konoha no doubt sent after him, that thought brought a small grin to his lips, it was quite amusing that the boy's enemy was giving him weapons to use in combat.

Performing several quick hand seals, he launched a Gokakyu no jutsu at one of the puppets while he defended against the other with two kunai, locking both Wakizashi at the hilt while he attempted to kick the puppet away, however, he didn't manage that before its mouth opened and shot several poisoned senbon in his direction, which he dodged by ducking low and swinging around with his left foot and raising his right to come around and kick which would have worked if the puppet he was sure he had destroyed hadn't come at him at ridiculous speeds and grazed his shoulder with its Katana.

Itachi cursed under his breath and got out of there with a well placed Kawarimi just before both puppets released a large cloud of poison right in the area Itachi was just crouched in. Naruto, from his hidden spot in the trees above the fight grinned slightly; this fight just got a hell of a lot easier. By simply sending one of his puppets in accompanied with a shadow clone that was transformed to look like his other one, he was able to trick Itachi into wasting more chakra to destroy the clone while he engaged with the other – it was then that Naruto waited for the perfect time to strike with his hidden and still in tact puppet. This was the reason clever Kugutsu users were so dangerous, they rarely needed to expend much chakra and all they need to do is graze you with one of their weapons for their poisons to take effect, and as of right now, Itachi has a debilitating poison coursing through his veins that will quickly cause his movements to become slow and difficult. This fight just turned in his favour.

Haku was not fairing so well in his fight against Kisame – the man's sword could absorb chakra and cut through a lot of his Ninjutsu like they were nothing. The only type of Ninjutsu he knew other then his Hyouton were his Suiton and the Futon jutsu he learned from Naruto and given how the large shark man was relentlessly charging at him not giving him time to perform seals, he didn't think he would be able to hold out for much longer.

"You see that brat" Kisame commented with a shark like grin "You can't stand up to someone as powerful as me" he said, while dodging some of Haku's senbon that came hurtling at him at almost untraceable speeds "You may know about Samehada's abilities because of your little friend Zabuza, but even he was never good enough to take me on, what makes you think that you could possibly be good enough" he taunted while making hand seals to perform his next jutsu.

"Suiton: Bakusui Shouha"

From Kisame's mouth came torrents and torrents of water that formed a humongous wave that moved at ridiculously high speeds towards Haku, ready to devour him whole if he didn't get out of there. Haku knew of this jutsu and would like to know it someday, but he wondered why Kisame would use it, surely he would know that it would give him the advantage? Perhaps he didn't know the extent to which Haku could control his bloodline – regardless, it wasn't a mistake Haku was going to allow Kisame not to regret.

As the wave of water came crashing down on him, he used his bloodline to manipulate the water in the wave to leave a small opening for Haku to pass through to avoid the harmful part of the wave before he appeared behind the wave unscathed. He then turned around to watch as the wave crashed against the cliff they were near and join with the river close by to flood the area and make it a proverbial lake.

Now standing atop of the lake, Haku regarded his opponent with caution. To be able to create a lake of this size with no previous water source was downright scary – this guy probably had more chakra then Naruto did, which was not a pleasant thought at all.

"Finally realizing how outclassed you are gaki?" taunted Kisame, much to Haku's delight, the more he spoke, the more time Haku had to think of a plan. There was no way he could use his bloodline abilities, the man already knew how they worked and how to counter them. Any projectiles he throws are simply blocked by the big sword he can swing around like it weighs nothing and using Suiton jutsu was pointless when your opponent was better versed in them, even if you can use them better. He could only think of one thing he could use to aid him in this fight and it is one of the main things he had learned after joining with Naruto – he just hoped that Kisame was still underestimating him.

"You think that this time I gave you will be enough to think of a plan to beat me?" he asked with a shark like grin before flicking the bandages on his sword off and letting them fall to the ground revealing the true form of ­

Samehada's blade which was very much like shark skin with the scales protruding sharply giving it the ability to shave the user's opponent. Without further warning, Kisame charged at Haku and brought his sword up to swipe horizontally only to have Haku dodge. Kisame then followed up his swipe with a knee strike in the area Haku dodged in while Haku barrel rolled to the side to avoid the strike, still using his chakra to remain balanced atop the water.

Using speed that was surprising for the large man, he disappeared in a blur only to appear behind Haku and perform a vertical slam with his sword. As soon as he dodged, Haku pumped Chakra into all of his limbs while charging lightning type chakra in his hands and appearing behind Kisame using Shunshin. Once Haku appeared behind Kisame, he jabbed the shark man behind his neck, attacking his nerves and finally, giving him the advantage he needed to win the fight.

Haku wasn't surprised when Kisame tried to swing his Samehada behind him in hopes of striking Haku down only to move his right leg instead in an awkward fashion and losing balance.

"What the hell…" began Kisame only to be cut off when Haku performed more hand seals and activated another of his new techniques – the chakra scalpels. Kisame's eyes widened, knowing how dangerous the technique could be if the user got in close, so he began to jump away only accidently drop his sword when he attempted to do so, unintentionally trying to use his hands to jump when he should be using his legs. Kisame didn't have time to get used to this new condition before Haku was on him again quicker then ever before – Kisame wasn't an 'S-rank' shinobi for nothing though and he was still dodging most of the attacks while getting used to how his body was now functioning but in the process of doing so, Haku had scored two clean hits on the shark man, severing the tendons in both of the shark man's arms.

Haku leapt back as the water they were standing on finished draining away to regard his opponent "Kisame-san" he began "I have rendered your limbs useless, please leave before I am forced to kill you."

Usually such a statement would cause the shark man to let out a bellow of laughter but he really wasn't in a position to be doing so now that the brat had pretty much rendered his limbs useless. With one final curse, he grabbed Samehada in his mouth and used Shunshin to disappear from Haku's sight and head to the meeting point he had agreed upon with Itachi should they fail in their mission.

Haku let out a sigh of relief; he didn't have much chakra left and didn't know how long he could have kept fighting for if Kisame had remained. Shaking his head slightly with the promises to gain more strength so he wouldn't be caught flat footed like that again, he headed in the direction he left Naruto at fighting the Uchiha, hoping that his partner was ok.

Mitarashi Anko was still in a shitty mood after having ditched the old hag of a Sannin with the rest of her team mates back in that bar about an hour ago. Honestly, couldn't a kunoichi get a nice serving of Dango and eat it in peace without having some crazy old lady ruin it by merely opening her stupid mouth.

With a sigh, she continued to walk around the city and taking in the sights. From the way Jiraiya was talking to her, it would take more then a few hours to convince her to become Hokage – not that she cared either way. She had lost any respect for the village the second she heard those old windbags talk about her like she was worthless, even after all that she had done for them. Her, Mitarashi Anko, the one who would volunteer to do missions that others wouldn't dream of doing due to their shitty survival rates and the one to succeed completing said missions over and over again.

Suddenly, she stopped walking mid stride when she felt a pulse of chakra, it wasn't large but it sure as hell was familiar and immediately her thoughts went to thinking about what the hell he was doing here and why she was so unlucky to literally keep running into the bastard.

Not able to contain her curiosity, Anko headed off quickly in the direction she felt the chakra spike from, positive her team mates wouldn't follow as they wouldn't recognize his chakra like she did. Anko had the ability to be able to recognize chakra signatures after minimal exposure; it was something one picked up after doing as many missions as she had and getting as much experience as she had. Uzumaki's was refined and always controlled, which was why it was hard to track because hardly any of it is leaked out to be tracked in the first place.

Arriving at a clearing, she saw something that made her eyes go wide with shock – the first time she met the boy, he had fought against Orochimaru and handed him a most embarrassing defeat, this time, he was fighting against Uchiha Itachi, the most dangerous missing-nin from Konoha and the person who single handily slaughtered his clan, a clan of powerful shinobi in their own right, in one night.

Concealing her presence as best she can, she continued to watch the fight from the shadows, having just witnessed the Uchiha get snagged by one of his puppets.

Itachi looked at Naruto, not showing any expression on his face but panting heavily. Naruto too was slightly winded but he hid it well. Naruto was nowhere near as tired as Itachi, but he was still outclassed and he didn't intend on continuing this fight longer then it was necessary, especially when shinobi nearby could sense his presence and come ­

to investigate what was going on – very much like Mitarashi-san had decided to do, if the smell of snakes was anything to go by. If it were Orochimaru, the fool would probably be cocky enough to try and confront the both of them and he'd probably hide his presence better.

"Itachi-san, you have been infected with a poison that will slowly hinder your movements until you are practically paralysed" he explained to the panting Uchiha "unless you wish to die and have your eyes sent in a gift package to your little brother, I suggest you escape with your partner who has also decided that a temporary retreat was the best strategy".

Finally getting his breath back, Itachi stood at his full height, noticing the extra strain on his body while performing such a simple task – Naruto wasn't lying "It seems I have underestimated you Naruto-kun" conceded Itachi "know that next time that will not be the case and next time, we will be after more then just the ring" he finished before disappearing in a swirl of black fire.

"Tch" scoffed Naruto, having heard that same threat many times before only to have his enemies die by his hand. He knew very well though that underestimating Uchiha Itachi and the Akatsuki would be very foolish and if there was one thing Naruto could say Sasori repeatedly beat into his head it was to not act foolish or get cocky. There would always be someone out there that is stronger then he is and he should never stop preparing himself for that very person less he wish to die.

"Anko-san" Naruto called out to the field, shocking a certain Jounin "you can come out now, my visitor is long gone already"

Just then, Mitarashi Anko strutted out from her hiding spot behind the tree seemingly without a care in the world but any trained shinobi could tell she was on guard. Haku too, chose that time to arrive on the scene, causing Naruto to nod in his direction, the closest he would ever come to actually letting out a sigh of relief.

"So" began Anko, eyeing Naruto curiously "is this how we're going to meet every time we see each other? You fighting 'S-class' shinobi?" Anko asked with a grin "It's almost like you're trying to impress me Uzumaki-san" she said, now with a sultry smile on her face which didn't affect Naruto in the slightest – if there was one advantage to stealing the late Hokage's stash of porn novels, it was most definitely desensitizing himself towards such actions.

"Namikaze" Naruto corrected her, much to Anko's confusion.

"Come again?"

"My name is Namikaze Naruto, not Uzumaki Naruto" he repeated, making sure she understood "I would appreciate it if you never referred to me as that again" he said, deadly serious.

Slightly caught off guard by the serious tone of his voice and thinking where she had heard that name before she nodded her head in a dismissive manner. She also inwardly cursed at how easily he threw off her advance like she was nothing – nobody was able to do that, maybe he was just gay? I mean, his company seemed to be a fruit so him being one wasn't that much of a stretch.

"So, what are you doing around these parts anyways?" asked Anko "Technically, I'm supposed to kill you on sight but I have better things to do to waste my time" she also didn't want to die, which she thought was inappropriate to say right now give that it was probably a compliment in some way "I also couldn't help but notice that the clothing worn by your two puppets seemed oddly familiar" she said, pointing to the two hunter-nin puppets flanking Naruto and Haku wearing the Konoha hunter-nin uniform.

With a shrug Naruto took out a scroll and sealed his puppets away again "Apparently some fool from your village's council thought to assassinate me with the use of hunter-nin, those two you just saw were two of the four of one of the teams that tried" he said with a shrug "I figured it was appropriate that I used them as my tools given that they forced me to kill them in the first place" he said to a shocked Anko.

"Wait…those two used to be…PEOPLE?!" screeched Anko in a shocked tone, memories of her old sensei rising from the depths of her mind and how he used to use shinobi in similar ways.

"Mostly" he conceded "I remove the entrails, blood and skin, and leave only a few pieces of the body left inside before 'rebuilding' it with numerous mechanisms and what not" he explained dismissively "that way the puppets have their own chakra system and can use any techniques they had known in life" he said, sounding almost excited at the prospect of talking about his puppets.

Nodding slowly while Haku stood in silence not too far off, still slightly queasy after he remembered the process of making said puppets. Anko could see the benefits, she still didn't like the fact that they could have been someone she liked or at least known. Somehow knowing what was going on in her mind, Naruto elaborated "Not that it matters, but I do not kill innocents Anko-san" explained Naruto "I especially do not turn innocents into puppets. Three of the four from the team that tried to kill me and…expressed their dislike of my person met their end and became my tools. The ­

fourth, one Inuzuka Hana, was released back to Konoha to deliver a message to this 'Danzo' character that should I encounter another team of hunter-nin, I will kill him myself" he said before pausing for a few seconds, seemingly in thought "I would have made him a tool for my use also but the old cripple would be quite useless…"

Anko looked on in shock, Hana was definitely one of the people in the village she would classify as a friend and she just found out that she was lucky enough to escape the fate of becoming a puppet. She was interrupted from her thoughts when the older boy snorted in amusement.

"You don't have to lie" said Haku "you killed one of them because of what he said about your precious Pocky"

Naruto paused for a moment before nodding "I admit that may have been the case" he conceded, much to Anko's shock and somewhat amusement "he should know better then to do something as sacrilegious as that" he said with a shrug "he paid the ultimate price" Anko found it hard to contain her amusement seeing as how she probably would have done something similar to anyone that insulted her precious Dango, which then reminded her of how this little punk thought Pocky to be better then Dango – kids these days were crazy.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" asked Anko, not that she didn't appreciate it, for it was surely interesting, but she was somewhat suspicious of his motives. Did he intend on killing her to keep the information he let slip secret? She very much doubted she could take him, especially with his partner, but she'd be dammed if she didn't go down without a fight.

"I'm telling you this" began Naruto "because I know you are becoming disillusioned with Konoha and wouldn't tell anyone what I told you anyway" said Naruto, much to Anko's shock.

"Do not look so surprised Anko-san" he began "I told you what I told you during my visit to Konoha for a reason, one for my own amusement to see if my words could have any sort of affect on your psyche" he said, holding up a finger at the enraged Anko at having her feelings toyed with for someone's amusement "two was because I think you have the potential to be a fine shinobi and you are wasting it tying yourself down to some pathetic village, especially one as pathetic as Konoha" he said, holding up a second finger and shocking Anko even more – did he just compliment her on her skills? – "and lastly" he began, holding up a third finger "oh…never mind, I already said that it was for my amusement, my mistake" he admitted, causing Anko and Haku to face vault directly into the ground.

Recovering after her visit with Terra Firma, Anko dusted herself off before looking at Naruto with irritation "You never said why you were here though" said Anko "being in the same location that the Snake, Slug and Toad Sannin would be in is a bit much to be considered a coincidence" she said, looking at him with interest.

"You presume correct Anko-san" replied Naruto "I am here for many reasons" he conceded "the main of which consists of discovering the secret behind Tsunade-hime's legendary strength and incorporating the technique into my own fighting style" he admitted, surprising Anko and Haku, who had not known that "another reason I am here is to kill Orochimaru when he shows himself" he conceded getting understanding nods from Haku and Anko, I mean, who wouldn't want to kill him? "and finally because I am very much out of Pocky and I must restock" he said, with a small smile causing, once again, Haku and Anko to face vault.

Once Anko recovered, she looked at Naruto as if sizing him up for something before beginning "You know, the 'secret' behind Tsunade-sama's legendary strength isn't much of a secret to those who have had contact with any of the Sannin" she said, coyly, a plan formulating in her mind "I could…impart said knowledge onto you…for a price" she said, sauntering over to Naruto's position making Haku blush slightly at her provocative movements and Naruto raise an eyebrow in amusement.

"And what price is that Anko-san?" asked a clearly amused Naruto, which annoyed Anko slightly, this kid must be gay, no one could resist her charms like this!

"Hmm…" began Anko tapping her chin with her index finger and going into a contemplative stance "I suppose I could tell you if you showed me how to use that Doku Bunshin of yours" she said, her grin could have possibly split her face if such a grin was not so common on her beautiful features.

Naruto eyed her casually, knowing he didn't care much if the girl knew that technique – it's not like it was extremely hard to learn, it was more the fact that people lacked the imagination or the drive to invent new techniques, preferring to acquire them off others; though he really couldn't say much given that he wanted to learn the secret behind Tsunade's legendary strength just as much.

"I have a counter proposition for you" began Naruto, making Anko frown, one jutsu for one jutsu was fair enough of a trade, he was just pushing it now "you seem to underestimate the complexities behind the Doku Bunshin and its mechanics if you merely think it is classified as one technique" he said, pulling out a scroll from his pouch and unsealing another scroll from within it "for the Doku Bunshin can be classified as many techniques as the number of poisons you know how to create with chakra" he explained, holding out the scroll for her to see.

"For the knowledge of how to use my first original technique, I would like to know the secret behind Tsunade-hime's legendary strength and any information you can give me on Orochimaru's Ten no Juin" he said, smirking internally at ­

the shock on her face "I know how it works, what I need to know is how it effects the user along with any information regarding its creation – for I already know how it works" he explained to an infuriated Anko.

"Why should I tell you that so I can have it come to bite me back in the ass later when you start making your own army of mindless drones using it?!" she all but yelled, making Naruto smirk.

"As much as the idea of something 'biting your ass' seems appealing" began Naruto, causing only Haku this time to face vault and Anko to glare murderously "I pride myself on being a Fuuinjutsu specialist and to be considered as such means that I like to know as much about seals as possible, which I do not given that I need to know what I ask of you" explained Naruto "If I really wanted to use it, I already could, all I need to do is procure the source of the original and I can begin administering as many as I wanted – given that I haven't done so yet, you can rest assured knowing that I won't use the knowledge to further any of my nefarious schemes" he concluded with a small grin of amusement at his own sarcasm.

Anko seemed to consider his offer for a while before nodding "give me the scroll first" she ordered, making Naruto snort.

"The knowledge in this scroll is known by no one else and I don't even know if your information will be of use to me" he countered "Tell me the secret behind Tsunade-hime's strength and if I deem it worthy, I will hand over the scroll regarding the information about my technique which you can then follow up with telling me about the Ten no Juin; agreed?" counter offered Naruto.

Eyeing him with distrust, Anko just nodded before pulling back her hand and taking a lecturing tone before continuing "The secret behind Tsunade-sama's strength is rather simple in theory, it is the practical application of said knowledge that some find to be most difficult because their useless asses don't have enough chakra control to perform it" she said, finishing her little introduction in a crude manner making Haku snort and Naruto grin.

"All one must do is concentrate as much chakra as possible at the Tenketsu of the limb you intend to strike with and build it up in that single Tenketsu before releasing it all upon impact, which then creates a huge impact and thus, Tsunade-sama's legendary strength is formed, though I doubt your dumb ass self could manage it" she said with a grin, hoping to anger him, little did she know that he was the sole master of that game.

Naruto frowned before nodding "That is rather simple yet brilliant, I feel somewhat ashamed that I didn't see it sooner" he admitted as he walked over to the tree. Once he stood before the tree he held out his hand and looked at his index finger intently as if concentrating on it and after a good ten seconds of doing so he simply tapped the tree with his finger. If what the two observers expected was for nothing to happen, they were definitely shocked at what actually did come to pass.

The three, of what used to be the tree, had split quite easily in the middle causing it to become nothing but splinters instantly as Naruto struck it with his finger. Naruto had to fight back a huge grin at the result of his actions; that was just awesome!

Haku looked on in shock at his partner's action. If at one point Haku would have said that Naruto's weakness was Taijutsu, which would definitely not be the case when he mastered using that technique in combat – he would have to work on the speed in which he could store the chakra in his Tenketsu though. He was slightly put off though by the fact that he probably didn't have enough chakra to use such a technique efficiently in combat, though, he was perfectly content with using his chakra scalpels while fighting.

Anko had to fight hard to keep her jaw from hitting the ground at the display. Sure, he hadn't mastered it yet needing to get to the point where he could gather chakra in any limb instantly and being able to release it on impact not to mention being able to do that all instinctively in combat, but he had just mastered the hardest part after ONE GODAMN TRY!

"I thank you Anko-san, your information was most useful" he said before tossing Anko the scroll he had held in his left hand. Immediately, Anko greedily opened the scroll to see the most complicated notes she had ever seen.

"What the hell is this?!" she all but screeched, having no idea what most of these 'big words' she found in the scroll meant. Naruto on the other hand had to hold back at a snicker at her reaction.

"Those are my notes on my technique Anko-san" he said, sounding amused "Surely you didn't believe a combination of Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and Dokugiri no Jutsu would be so simple?" he asked with amusement "They are two 'A-class' techniques and by combining them, I believe the control and chakra necessary would make the technique labelled at least an 'A-rank' on its own, if not 'S-rank'" he admitted, causing Anko to grunt showing her annoyance.

"So" began Naruto "How exactly does the Curse Seal affect its host?" asked Naruto causing Anko's eyes to darken before she responded "It feeds off of your deepest and darkest desires" she said softly, her eyes glazed over as if she were remembering something a long time ago "it not only feeds off of them but it feeds them in return, giving you promises of power constantly and whispering sweet nothings into your mind, suggestions, cruel ones, come constantly as if you had another voice inside your mind" she said, causing Naruto to frown but listen regardless "it gets so bad ­

sometimes that you almost want to do what the voice says in the hopes that it will just stop, but in some cases, if used on those who genuinely lust for power, it will cause them to act on those impulses more so then they would have without it" she said, while placing a hand over her own seal "not to mention the fact that Orochimaru" she hissed the name out like it was a disease "can physically harm or kill you through it if he is close by…" she said before trailing off as her eyes grew wide.

"Hmm" began Naruto "you seem to have realized the reason why your superiors sent you on this mission" said Naruto with no amusement in his voice, not wanting to insult the woman in this state "makes one wonder if they are in cohorts with Orochimaru himself" Naruto theorized quite correctly in Haku's opinion who still chose to remain silent.

Anko herself seemed to be trying to control her rage and Naruto could see that it would be a problem if she unconsciously tapped into the curse seal's power. So, decided on what his best coerce of action would be to stop her train of thought, he did the one thing that would divert her anger.

He grabbed her left tit.

Haku, who had barely seen Naruto's hand move, started inching away from his friend. He knew the reasons behind why he chose to do what he did after seeing Anko's reaction to the news about her superiors, but he doubted the woman would listen to reason before killing him that is.

Anko froze when she felt someone grab her tit and looked at the perpetrator to find an indifferent Naruto without his hat on still and his robe opened to show his face holding her breast with one hand while he casually read a book she despise from the other, 'Icha Icha Paradise'.

Anko felt her eyebrow twitch in annoyance at his behaviour and her mood didn't change one bit when he casually let go of her breast to turn the page before replacing his hand where it just was a moment ago, but not before giving her tit a nice squeeze.

"Hmm, just like Hitomi's…" she heard him mutter under his breath, the action caused her face to flush in fury which Naruto seemed to be oblivious to. Haku by now was hiding behind the tree wanting to avoid the explosion that was sure to happen while Anko's hand went to her kunai pouch, thoughts of castrating certain blondes, good looking blondes if she was honest with herself, but castrating them nonetheless.

Naruto peered out from behind his book to see the angry Anko glaring at him and to her confusion, he nodded in satisfaction and pocketed his book, his hand didn't leave yet though until one final squeeze which Anko had to fight real hard not to moan from. Naruto looked Anko in the eye and Anko had to hold back a scared reaction at the sight of his red slitted orbs before she finally exploded and began attacking Naruto with all the pent up anger, hurt, fury, agitation and sadness that she kept bottled up.

She began by using her Sen'eijashu technique to release several snakes from her sleeves and bite Naruto in many places all over his body, some of which no man wanted to be bit, ever. She then followed that up by throwing as many of her kunai as possible at his withering form which was still recovering from being bitten in the privates. She took a sick joy in seeing him being punctured like a pin cushion by her attacks, but she didn't stop there. She then followed that attack up with several kicks in places Naruto would rather not mention as well as kicks to his face, ribs and back and Anko finally finished with an overpowered 'Ryuka no Jutsu' at his corpse. Satisfied with her workout and stress relieving exercises, she began to walk off only to feel a presence behind her as she felt the tell tale signs of Genjutsu being dispelled from her. She honestly should have known better then to think that she could kill him so easily but she just didn't care at the time and her anger probably clouded her ability to sense being placed under a Genjutsu. She then frowned remembering what Naruto had told her in the forest of death in a patronizing way about controlling her emotions.

"I trust you got everything out of your system" Naruto asked in a bland voice. When he received a fake grin and a nod in response Anko was shocked to find herself slammed up against the tree with Naruto holding her by the scruff of her trench coat, any ideas of escape completely leaving her mind when facing the glaring red slitted eyes of Namikaze Naruto and the unreal killer intent spilling off of him.

"Good, because you will learn to control your emotion in the future and if you should ever succumb to the curse seal's influence, subconsciously or not, I will kill you myself" he said in a deadly tone before leaving the clearing using Shunshin no Jutsu, his tracks covered by a gust of wind leaving a shaken Anko still leaning against the tree scared out of her mind – and it wasn't easily that Mitarashi Anko got scared.

Anko then spotted Naruto's partner come out of the bushes and walking up to her as he healed the bruise that was forming on her chest. Confused by his actions, she was about to ask the masked shinobi what he was doing before his voice cut her off.

"I'm sorry for Naruto-kun's behaviour" began Haku "but you must understand that he sees a lot of himself in you, or rather, his situation in you when he was once living in Konoha" he explained and seeing Anko's confusion he elaborated "Naruto was found on the outskirts of Konoha by his late sensei beaten to near death and tied upside down from a tree branch when he was at most six years old…he was treated the same way, if not worse, then you are now ­

in Konoha and seeing you almost succumb to something like the curse seal made him upset, almost like doing so is an insult to himself" explained Haku before he removed his mask and smiled at the woman after he finished healing you.

"When you told you why he was telling you about our motives and didn't mention the third one, it wasn't because he was trying to be funny" Haku explained "he just didn't want to tell you that he respected someone of your strength to be able to stand up to the village's prejudices for so long the way you have without snapping where he could not, which is also why I think he got angry when you almost succumbed to the Curse Seal's influence, he didn't want you to give in and you almost did" he said before beginning to walk off.

"Think about what I said" said Haku before he too disappeared using in a puddle of water in the ground that mysteriously disappeared after Haku was gone leaving a thoroughly shaken up and contemplative Anko behind in the clearing.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the wait on the update, I had a ridiculous virus affect my computer that literally deleted all important system and .exe files that made it pretty much useless so as well as losing all my other writings…and homework – not sure which I was more devastated with to be honest – I bought a new hard drive and reinstalled all the important things I needed from scratch… like World of Warcraft which pretty much took up my entire day given that I had to get all the patches and all my mods again…

In other news… anyone that wants to use anything from my story is more then welcome because saying I own anything I write is plagiarism in my book anyway, sure the ideas regarding the information might be original but the bulk of it is taken from Naruto anyway. It would be nice to have my ideas credited but I really don't care, knock yourselves out.

I must also admit that I enjoy reading what people think will happen, especially when they act like they're so sure. I don't want to say that it makes me all smug and what not but that would be a lie. I wont' be telling anyone anything about the future of my story, you'll just have to read and find out – it will make for a better read, I promise.

To those people who asked what fic had Naruto and Nanao-chan paired up that I was reading, it's on my list of favourites in my profile and I think it was called 'tangled in death'. It's good, you should check it out.

Also, I had somewhat of a hard time writing the fight scenes between team Naruto and Akatsuki members especially since I didn't want to make them able to beat them too easily. I hope how I wrote it conveyed the point that they were underestimated which is why they 'won', not because they were better. If Itachi went all out Taijutsu on Naruto and not wasted chakra on using Ninjutsu or Amaterasu, he would have owned his ass eventually. Also, if Kisame just assaulted Haku with his sword and not given him time to devise a plan, he would have shredded his ass to bits.

On another note, the 'joke' about Itachi's mum, Mitoko, I so got from my own thoughts. The woman is gorgeous and in my opinion the best looking female character in the Naruto universe. I also think some of the hottest anime characters besides her are Shizune, Motoko Aoyama, Tsuruko Aoyama, Nanao-chan, Kurotsuchi Nemu and Kikyo from Inuyasha. I believe a pattern is able to be devised from that list of females about what I think about hot anime girls (though Winry from FMA and Yoruichi from Bleach are still up there in hotness imo, if not at the top).

That's all for now, review more peoples, I judge the 'leetness' of my fic by the number of reviews even though I probably shouldn't…

Next chapter should be up within the week if not sooner.

Adios.

Extra Author Note:

People, I showed something in this chapter that clearly shows WHY Naruto doesn't use his Kage puppets liberally, think...

Itachi: Hello Shodaime-sama puppet!

Shodaime puppet: Merr, i'm massif and i'm going to kill you with trees

Itachi: Amaterasu...PEACE PUPPET!

Yeah, he won't be using them liberally so please stop asking, it gets annoying.

­

I also had someone review saying that grenades and flamethrowers are out of the naruto universe, well, no... Grenades are simply balls with explosive notes attached and flamethrowers are a mixture of gas and a small fire... if they can't create fire artificially in the Naruto universe, i would 'lol'. Not that they'd make much of an appearance on the Kage puppets, but Naruto will stock them in his temporary human puppets from here on out, as well as other contraptions I can think up.

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