4

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

The first thing Naruto thought as he heard those words and felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise was,

Now what?

Across the room, he saw Konan stopped walking and they both turned towards the source of the voice to find a tall man standing against the wall to Naruto's left. There was an orange mask covering everything but one eye and he wore the same uniform as the members of Akatsuki did.

So he's in the Akatsuki too?

No.Kyuubi growled. This one is stronger than any of them.

You know him? He asked her, alarmed at her sudden ferocity.

Madara.She growled out. Naruto had the momentary thought that pulling answers from the Kyuubi was a very hard thing to do.

Who?

An Uchiha. He holds a Sharingan.

What?! But I thought all the Uchiha except for Sasuke and Itachi were all dead!

This isn't just any Uchiha. He's one of the blasted founders of Konoha…grrr…I knew I should have killed him when I had the chance!

Wait! That Madara?! When did you meet him? I thought he was dead.

She ignored his questions. Be very careful. This man is dangerous even to me.

Even without her warning, he knew that he should be wary. Naruto could feel the man's power practically pouring off him. His body had already subconsciously settled into a fighting stance.

Do you want me to come out? You can't take him alone.

No. Don't come out until I'm in real trouble. I want to see his abilities first.

She growled again, baring her fangs. Don't be foolish. You know you can't take him in the state you're in.

Yeah, Yeah. Let me see what he wants first. Although I doubt he's here to talk.

Be careful, Kit.He nodded internally.

"Who are you?" he asked loudly.

The man tilted his head but stayed silent.

"He's Tobi, the person me and Pein reported to. The real leader of the Akatsuki." Konan answered in his stead and then directed a question at him. "Why are you here? Weren't you going to wait at headquarters for us to bring back the Jinchuuriki?"

Tobi? Naruto thought questioningly, but Kyuubi didn't answer him.

The man, Tobi apparently, chuckled darkly. "And a lot of good that would have done me." Konan flinched. "And to answer your question, Naruto, my real name is Uchiha Madara, not Tobi."

So he really is Madara.

Kit, I don't like this.

Why? Are you scared? Naruto teased. In the back of his mind, anxiety roiled, messing with his nerves. Seconds ago, Kyuubi was ready to fight, now she was changing her mind? What could possibly be so scary to such an ancient demon? But Naruto kept his thoughts to himself.

Kyuubi scoffed. No. I just don't think that we'll be winning this fight too easily.

I don't either, but even if we tried to leave do you really think he'd let us?

True enough…

"Uzumaki-kun? Is Kyuubi talking to you about me?" Madara questioned with a tilted head.

Naruto just stayed silent. He wasn't sure how to answer.

"Heh… I guess that's a yes."

"What do you want, Madara?" Naruto said, growling slightly.

"You should already know the answer to that, demon vessel." The man stressed the last two words, confirming Naruto's fears.

"Yeah… I was just checking."

Yep, that's a no on the 'letting us go' part, Kit. What are you gonna do?

Why don't you try to think of something, instead of leaving it up to me? If he gets us, we both die.

How about run?

Geez… I didn't know you were such a coward. And, no, I don't think running's an option either.

Kyuubi only mumbled.

xXx

Sasuke watched from the hallway as Madara called out to Naruto.

He was very surprised (and not in a good way) to find that Madara was far more powerful than he had originally thought. Sasuke read Konan's lips as she explained who Madara was to Naruto. He had immediately known who the man was, considering he knew what the situation was. He had been a little confused at first, since the woman had used the name Tobi instead of Madara, but then he understood when Madara corrected her and introduced himself. Despite the mask, the man's voice carried further than one would think.

He saw Naruto slide into a slight fighting stance when Madara appeared. The blond ninja tensed moments later when Madara questioned him about Kyuubi and guessed that Naruto's demon had told him the danger he was facing.

He caught a flicker of movement at his feet and looked down. There was a line of papers with writing being formed on them. Sasuke looked up at Konan and saw that she was looking straight at him. She nodded her head at the papers at his feet and he looked down to read the sentence written there.

You are a friend of Uzumaki-kun's, are you not? Shake or nod your head in answer. Sasuke hesitated a second before he nodded his head.

Good. Madara is here to take the nine-tails. I cannot let that happen. We must protect him.

He nodded his head again. Sasuke was marveling at the quick change in allegiances but he read on as more words were formed.

I can bring this place down on top of him but we have to get Uzumaki-kun out of here first. I will leave that up to yo-

Sasuke's attention was taken from the paper at his feet as he felt a large surge in chakra. As he looked up, he realized that it was coming from Naruto.

He couldn't tell where the blond got it from. Naruto should have been out of chakra and it didn't feel like Kyuubi's. It didn't even remotely feel like it belonged to Naruto.

It seemed that he'd become stronger than the last time they'd met.

Much stronger.

xXx

Well, since he's not going to let us go without a fight, why don't we bring the fight to him?

That's fine with me. Let's get this over with.She sounded unsettled.

I only had enough time to build up enough energy on the way here for one sage mode.

Yeah…I know

Naruto shifted forward slightly. At least he knew how to approach Madara. Because he'd searched for and fought against Sasuke and also because he had a Sharingan-user as a sensei, he'd had many experiences going head to head with the Sharingan. But then, that was about the only thing going for him.

"Are you planning to fight me?" Madara asked. He sounded amused.

In answer, Naruto activated his sage mode.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Several Naruto clones came into existence and began to rush towards Madara with shuriken and kunai in hand. They spread out as they reached him.

Two came at him from the back, two from the front, and one each from the left and right. One of the clones jumped into the air above Madara and pulled out a kunai with a paper tag attached while the other six suddenly launched their weapons at their target.

Madara flipped backwards over the two behind him, grabbing the kunai and six-bladed shuriken that were aimed at him as he went. He quickly sent the weapons back at their owners and dispatched two clones. As they disappeared in a cloud of smoke he turned on his heel fluidly to avoid another barrage from the remaining five.

The Naruto that had pulled the paper bomb suddenly slung it at Madara. As he did this, the clones on the ground all jumped at the Uchiha and tried to pin him down, but Madara simply jumped backwards once again and the clones all disappeared as the bomb exploded where he had been moments ago.

Oi… this bastard's quick.

As Madara landed, two more Narutos appeared, seemingly from nowhere, holding twin Rasengans.

"This is a fun warm-up, Naruto-kun. But is this actually your best?" Madara asked as he placed his hands on top of the wrists of the two hands holding the Rasengans and directed their attacks at each other. They too disappeared in puffs of smoke.

"Not yet!" the original Naruto appeared above him with a Rasen Shuriken. Madara looked up at him seemingly lazily, and then suddenly disappeared.

Where'd he go?!

Behind you, Kit!

"Shit!" he muttered. He tried to turn with his attack still in hand but Madara's fist suddenly appeared in his line of sight and made contact with his left cheek. Naruto's Rasen Shuriken dissipated along with his natural chakra as he was thrown across the room against a solid wall of paper.

Naruto groaned silently, unable to make a sound with all the air suddenly gone from his lungs. Clutching at his stomach out of reflex from the impact against the wall, he rolled to his side on the floor. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Madara walking towards him casually. He struggled to his feet.

"You're going to accompany me whether you like it or not. Just give up." the man stated. Combined with his mask, the effect that his stoic words had was frightening. But it only made Naruto's hackles rise. Like a wild animal who had been cornered.

Naruto pulled out his last kunai and charged him. "Fuck you!"

Madara sighed. "Fine. We'll do it your way."

He put his hands together and quickly formed a series of hand signs. The fingers of his right hand began to glow. Madara ducked inside of Naruto's swing and brought his hand to the blond's stomach.

"Five-pronged seal!"

Naruto went flying backwards and crashed into the paper wall once again, but he was up faster this time. He made a hand sign and… nothing happened.

"Huh? What happened?" Naruto asked, confused as to why his chakra was not responding. He vaguely remembered the same attack being used on him before… and the same effects.

"I sealed your little fox away so you can't make this fight any harder than it needs to be. By using my seal on top of the pre-existing one your own chakra is unbalanced," Madara explained as he studied his manicured nails mockingly."Therefore making my job that much easier."

Naruto growled. "Arrogant bastard!" he lunged at the man in front of him again. He was thrown back again.

With great effort, Naruto managed to get up once again, panting heavily.

What do we do now, Kyuu?

I don't know, Kit. But he's right. I can't help you out of this one. I could overpower the seal, but you'd be knocked unconscious.

Damn! Naruto cursed a few more times in his mind before coming back to reality and warily watching Madara come closer to him.

"Now. I think it's about time that you took a little nap." Madara raised his fist to strike.

Naruto just stood there. He was too exhausted to put up any resistance without chakra reinforcing his movements and he swayed on his feet as he waited for the blow, but it never came. Hearing a fleshy-sounding clank of metal against a human body, he opened his eyes to see the figure of a man with a katana in hand standing before him. Madara's bare fist lay against the flat of the blade.

"You were just going to let yourself get hit? That's not the dobe I know." came a familiar voice.

Naruto's eyes widened. He guessed that he'd been so focused on Pein and Madara that he hadn't even thought to check for other ninja in the area.

As he recognized the countenance of the man that stood in front of him the name came out in a soft whisper of disbelief.

"Sasuke…"