3

Naruto carefully avoided any scouts he sensed, friend and foe alike, not wanting to be troubled with convincing them not to follow him, as he darted between the trees and maneuvered his way around roots that protruded from the ground and low-hanging tree-limbs.

He'd already sent Katsuyu back to Tsunade, figuring that she would need all the chakra she could get and he didn't want to waste it. At the moment, Naruto was already almost three quarters of the way there and he knew that by the time Tsunade heard what he was planning from Katsuyu he would already have found Pein. She wouldn't be able to send him any backup and that sounded fine to him. He didn't want anyone else getting hurt on his account.

He was suddenly wrenched from his thoughts as he sensed a group of three scouts coming his way. He stopped and dove into a thick bush that provided some cover and suppressed his chakra until they passed.

He could've taken them out, but then he wouldn't have had enough chakra to face Pein if it came to a fight. Naruto jumped to a branch about ten feet up and, from there, jumped from branch to branch towards Pein's chakra signature. He would let Kyuu take over the fight if he had to.

xXx

Sasuke was amazed at how well Naruto hid his trail.

Even with the Sharingan, which he could use amplify his already superb tracking skills (not to brag, of course), he could barely pick up on the blond. It was like tracking a regular villager, because he could barely see any chakra remnants. No one else, except for maybe trackers like Kiba and Akamaru or perhaps someone with the Byakugan, would have been able to find a trace of him.

Sasuke followed what he could of Naruto's trail until it suddenly disappeared. After about a minute of looking around, he picked it up again, finding remnants of chakra in the form of light impressions of steps on the branches of the trees above him. As he pursued it, the trail switched back and forth a many more times between the branches and the ground.

However, he was fairly sure that they were getting close to wherever Naruto was going, because the trail wasn't switching between the trees and the ground anymore. Naruto was running in a straight shot along the ground and was either slowing down or already at his destination; the trail was becoming fresher with every step Sasuke took.

xXx

Naruto slowly stepped into Pein's hideout, which turned out to be a large paper tree, through a hole that had opened in the side when he arrived. It closed behind him and he stood there for brief rest, looking around and scanning for traps, talking to Kyuubi all the while.

She'd managed to heal most of his smaller cuts and bruises as they had traveled, even though she was irritated at Naruto for not allowing her to come out to destroy the last Pein clone.

I still don't see why you couldn't have let me play, kit. The fox muttered unhappily.

And if I had let you? You would have destroyed what was left of the village!

So? In the cage within his mind, he could see the Kyuubi pouting and if he hadn't been trying to talk seriously to her, Naruto would have burst out laughing. She rarely pouted and it was a strange sight.

So, I don't want you to destroy the village. Do you really want to have a reputation worse than you already do? Naruto replied, trying to reason with her. He'd said as much many times before, but she never seemed to remember it.

Not particularly… she said.

Then why don't you try to help the village for once? Maybe they'll eventually make a holiday celebrating when you saved them instead of when you were sealed away and removed from their lives.

Naruto had grown to know the fox fairly well in the past few years and knew a few of her wishes, those besides getting free of Naruto, at least, and this was one of them. The thing was, Kyuubi wanted to be loved, or at least revered. Not hated or feared like she was now. But even if that was really true, he had yet to figure out why she had attacked the village in the first place, because she would never answer his questions about her past.

Yeah… you're right… She mumbled

What was that? I didn't catch it. Naruto thought, grinning inwardly, still on the lookout externally.

I said: YOU'RE RIGHT! She sent Naruto reeling with her internal shout and he had to struggle to withhold his giggles.

She sighed. You're so immature, kit.

Yeah, yeah. Why don't we get back to dealing with Pein now?

Fine, kit.

Having nearly triple-checked that the way was clear during his short conversation with Kyuu, Naruto walked down a narrow hallway and into a very large room. There he found the last Pein waiting for him. He was attached to a strange device and looked emaciated. From the waist up, Pein's chest was bare and the top half of his cloak was hanging at his waist over the belt that normally held it closed. Konan was standing behind him in the cloak that basically declared she was a member of the Akatsuki.

"Pein. Have you decided to surrender?"

"Do you really think I would?" Pein smiled amusedly and Naruto shrugged.

"I'm not sure."

xXx

Sasuke came upon Naruto just as he entered the paper tree. He tried to reach him but he was too far away to get to him before the opening closed. He growled in frustration. He studied the surface of the tree and then began to concentrate chakra into his hand, creating controlled lightening, not unlike the Chidori, although it was of a lower intensity.

He jabbed his hand forward and the moment it and the surface of the tree met, the paper began to sizzle and burn, creating a rapidly expanding hole for him to enter through. When he released the Chidori and stepped into the tree, he found an empty hallway.

Sasuke sighed. He had hoped that Naruto would still be on the other side of the paper wall, but that must have been too much to ask for. He sighed again and suffused his feet with chakra so that he could walk quietly and not be discovered as he moved down the hallway, cautious for traps.

As he reached the end of it without incident, he found that the hallway opened up into a massive room, the size of one of the larger training grounds in Konoha. And in the middle of it stood three figures, apparently engrossed in conversation. One of them was Naruto, who was facing away from him and who had evidently not sensed his chakra yet. If he had, he likely would have turned towards him by now.

The other two must have been Pein and Konan, if he remembered the descriptions given to him by Kabuto correctly. They were positioned so that they couldn't have not seen him but they didn't alert Naruto to Sasuke's presence. They must have assumed that he was with Naruto…

Well, that or they just didn't care.

Sasuke had learned many things about the Akatsuki from Orochimaru, since his recently deceased mentor had once been part of the group. He'd learned most of its members' names and abilities as well as Akatsuki's goals. He knew that Konan was the paper master who had created this entire place. Moreover, he knew that no one besides Konan knew what Pein's full powers were. He decided to stay back for a bit.

As he was still at the entryway into the room and the three of them were almost on the other side of the room, he was too far away from them to hear most of the conversation but Sasuke was pretty sure as to what the conversation involved. It was the same as usual; Naruto had done that on every major mission they'd ever gone on. Trying to turn his enemy into a friend. The only person it had really worked on was Zabuza, and that had been met with very limited success. Namely, the man's death.

It's not going to work, dobe, you'll only hurt yourself.

After a few more minutes, he was quickly becoming tired of waiting and was beginning to reconsider reading their lips with his Sharingan, chakra loss or not. But by the time he finally decided to activate his Sharingan, Pein suddenly lifted his hands to form one hand sign after another.

Naruto tensed at the action and Sasuke's eyes immediately spun with the Sharingan, but Konan just stood behind Pein, staring at him, almost sorrowfully. By the tilt of Naruto's head, Sasuke could tell that he had directed a questioning glance at her.

"He's not attacking you." She said. There was a pause and Sasuke could guess what Naruto had asked when she answered. "Watch and see. No harm will befall you. Quite the opposite actually."

Naruto believed her, apparently, because his muscles relaxed. Sasuke was not as easily convinced; he held his stance. Suddenly a bright light shot from Pein, filling the room the room. Sasuke withheld a grunt of pain as it momentarily blinded his enhanced eyes. When his eyes recovered, he saw a barely breathing Pein lying on the floor.

"What did he do?" Naruto shouted, rushing to the man's side.

"Your friends, the ones killed in our attack, are now back among the living." Sasuke read Pein's lips as he spoke slowly. "My dreams of peace are now yours. I pass them onto you." He breathed his last words. Konan's paper slowly encased Pein's body.

"His dreams were my dreams, Uzumaki-kun. Please take care of them." She said.

He nodded slowly and she slowly walked towards the exit of the room with Pein's body in tow.

Well I'll be damned. It actually worked this time. Sasuke shook his head in disbelief. He began to step forward to alert the now stiff-backed Naruto to his presence but stopped when a cold voice rang throughout the room.

"Hello, Uzumaki-kun, I do hope you'll be staying for a while."

Two words ran through Sasuke's mind as his Sharingan spun.

Uchiha Madara.