Disclaimer: I am just a fan. I do not own Naruto
Chapter 20: Sasuke's Revenge, Akatsuki's Hawk
The wind blew harshly as if it were being exhaled by some violent demon. Sasuke's eyes widen in disbelief as his brother advanced. Itachi walked slowly and deliberately towards his brother, his arm held up his hand reaching. Sasuke wanted to scream, but a mixture of fear and anger paralyzed him constricting his throat. Every part of him was utterly useless; it was all he could do to stand. So this is how it was to end. All of his efforts were for naught. Itachi labored for breath as his eye sight blurred. Sasuke had truly grown since last they met, but still there was one last lesson he wished to impart upon his brother before he died. Sasuke had resigned himself to death when Itachi reached him, closing his eyes he accepted what was to come. He was surprised when he felt the slight pressure to his forehead. He had thought the final blow would be more painful. Sasuke slowly opened his eyes to find his brother's bloody index finger at the center of his forehead. Itachi looked into his brother's eyes and smiled slightly before he felt himself floating. "I guess I won't be sharing that lesson with you after all. Gomen Sasuke, I didn't want it to turn out this way. Naruto, I leave it to you to bring Sasuke back." Sasuke saw his brother slowly moving passed him. Itachi's blood trickled down Sasuke's nose and forehead and worked its way into the tear ducts of his eyes causing him to blink. It was then that reality came rushing back to him and he saw his brother fall. He couldn't believe it. He should be dead, but wasn't. He had finally avenged the death of his parents, the death of his clan. It was over. He thought he would feel elation at the death of his brother, but there was nothing. He was numb.
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The pit in Naruto's stomach grew even larger as Tsunade-sama handed him a scroll and told him of Jiraiya's mission, encounter, and disappearance. "I'm sorry Naruto." Tsunade said. "This was left to you by Jiraiya. I was told it was some kind of key. What that means I don't know, but it's for you and not me to decipher." Naruto's mind was whirling a mile a minute. It was hard to hear what Tsunade was telling him. Every part of him was numb.
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Jiraiya drifted in and out of consciousness slumped against the trunk of a huge pine tree. He had lost a massive amount of blood before he could stop the bleeding, and it would take sometime for the blood replenishment pill to be effective. Willing himself to stand he continued his journey towards the mountain home bequeathed to Naruto by his grandfather. It was the closest safe haven he could think of where he could recuperate from his wounds, and avoid any unwanted attention. It also had an extensive selection of medicinal herbs and medical supplies. Kenichi Uzumaki had been very meticulous in his homes creation. In truth a man could survive there indefinitely without single contact from the outside world, but it was Naruto's grandfathers one and only vice to make small trips from his home to Suna so that he was not as he felt completely alone.
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Shizune entered the Hokage's office anxious and on edge. Tsunade told her she was not to be disturbed under any circumstance while she was with Naruto, but the information given to her by ANBU could not wait. "Forgive me Tsunade-sama I know you did not wish to be disturbed while you talked to Naruto, but ANBU has just reported sighting Sasuke and I thought you would want to have the news right away." The atmosphere was charged with raw emotional energy, between the news of Jiraiya and the new intelligence on the whereabouts of Sasuke. Naruto's mind was racing through his emotion trying to find equilibrium. "Shizune assemble Team eight along with Kakashi, Sai, and Sakura and have them ready to deploy upon my orders." Yes Hokage-sama." Shizune said closing the door behind her.
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"How do you do it Master? I have tried and tried, but I just can't seem to quiet my mind?" Haguru said. "That is where your problem lies." Kenichi replied "Huh?"Haguru blurted. "You try where you should not." Kenichi elaborated. "I don't understand what you mean Master." "Of course you do Haguru, you understand what it means to be quiet and you are rigidly holding on to its definition. To begin to quiet your mind you must accept what is. Do not perceive your thoughts as positive or negative, but accept them for what they are and let them go the same way they came, unbidden." "I'm just not cut out for this Master," Haguru interrupted. "Do not perceive your feelings as positive or negative, accept them for what they are and let them go the same way they came, unbidden." Kenichi continued. "Simply do what you do best Haguru." "Which is?" He asked. "Persevere; persevere until your perseverance becomes the stillness, because it is in those moments of stillness you will find the clarity of purpose one seeks whenever hard times fall upon you."
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"Naruto with everything that has happened I won't ask you to go after Sasuke. The decision is yours." Tsunade said. "There is only one choice for me right now and that is to keep moving forward." Naruto said slowly and deliberately making sure he kept his tone level and removed from emotion. "I will go prepare myself and join the others, but after this mission I am going to search for Jiraiya and bring him back. Dead or alive he deserves that much from me." He said exiting the Hokage's office. "For his sake he better hope he comes back dead." Tsunade mumbled to herself praying for him to be alive and well, although the anger she felt towards him at the moment for making her promise to keep his mission a secret from Naruto, and for disappearing and causing him more pain left her wanting to kill him herself.
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Zetsu appeared before Madara. "Uchiha Sasuke has defeated his brother Itachi." "What an unexpected turn of events." Madara exclaimed. "I was sure Itachi would be the victor. Perhaps this is fortunes way of favoring me." Madara said reflectively before continuing. "Itachi never really did trust me after all which made our dealings somewhat difficult. Sasuke on the other hand might be a little more malleable." "He seems to me to be the exact opposite. His hatred towards his brother has given him an unpredictable and volatile nature. His murder of Orochimaru has proven that." Zetsu said in response. "On the contrary his hatred makes him very predictable and I shall use it to further my goals." Madara said smiling coolly. "If that is your choice, than we should move quickly to retrieve him because Konoha has sent a retrieval team after him." Zetsu informed him "Don't worry about the retrieval team I will handle them. You just go and retrieve Sasuke for me." Madara ordered before vanishing.
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"His scent is growing stronger this way." Kiba informed the others as they sped through the dense forest on the Eastern Outskirts of Konoha towards the Uchiha's ancestral home before the formation of Konahagakure. "Sasuke now that you have your revenge is it over or is it too late for everything to go back to normal?" Sakura thought bumping into Naruto as the Konoha retrieval came to an abrupt halt. "NAARRUUUTTTOOOO!" Sakura yelled before falling silent as her eyes rested upon the figure of a masked man who wore the garb of Akatsuki leaning against a tree. "Aaaagh Konoha ninja what is Tobi to do!" The masked Akatsuki member exclaimed in surprise. "Tobi is it? Do you mind letting us through we are kind of in a hurry." Naruto asked politely. "Wow, so nice, but Tobi would get into a lot of trouble if he just let you pass." "It was worth a shot." Naruto said as he leapt at Tobi thrusting a rasengan held in his right hand at Tobi's stomach. "Direct hit," Naruto thought until he flew through Tobi as if he wasn't there. Landing on the branch of the nearest tree Naruto tried once more to make contact with Tobi and again he flew straight through. Seeing that his attack had no effect, Naruto released his rasengan and joined Kakashi while Kiba and Shino tried their best to score a hit on Tobi to no avail. "I could have swore I made contact with him is he some type of shadow clone?" Naruto asked as Kiba and Shino rejoined the group flustered by their failure. "As far as Hinata or I can tell he is real. The last attack by Kiba and Shino has led me to believe that this Tobi character can make him self intangible." "No way, that's impossible" Kiba spouted. "It would answer the question how he escaped my kikaichu." Shino interjected. "Right," Naruto said forming some marking clones as he ran towards Tobi. "Naruto wai…," Sakura began but was cut off by Kakashi sensei before finishing. "Naruto will be fine let him go." "But Kakashi sensei he is being reckless attacking before we have a plan in place." Sakura said indignantly. "I don't think so Sakura. I am pretty sure he is giving us an opportunity to confirm our hypotheses and hopefully through our observation we can find some way to counter such an effective skill." How can you be sure Kakashi sensei?" Kiba asked. "It was in the look he gave me as he ran off." "I suppose it won't hurt if we let him take over for now," Kiba said nonchalantly. "Besides it will give me a chance to see if all the stories I have heard about him are true or not."
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"I don't think we should move him just yet." Zetsu said to himself. "The battle has done him more damage than we guessed. It would be wiser to heal him first." "Well get to it, the sooner you heal him the sooner we can go.
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"Attack formation Alpha" Naruto barked to his clones. The three marking clones moved to the front of him in an arrow formation digging into their pouches as they did so. "Mark," the lead clone called out when they were twenty five feet from their target. Naruto enveloped the formation in smoke. The clones on the left and right to the lead shot forward flanking Tobi's left and right side. The lead clone jumped on the tree branch directly above Tobi launching a kunai downward. Tobi stepped forward avoiding the kunai when three kunai flew from the smoke cloud one landing in front of Tobi and the other two landing to the left and right of him. Tobi jumped back only to have the lead clone attack him. Tobi side stepped the lead clone's attack countering with a back fist dispersing him. As the cloud of smoke dissipated, Naruto appeared with a ring of senbon hovering above his head. "Ike," Naruto said quietly as he pointed his finger at Tobi. The senbon shot forward in search of their target. Tobi jumped into the nearest tree to avoid the senbon speeding after him only to have them follow him. "The senbon are following." Tobi said to himself. "What an interesting technique. I wonder how he is controlling them." He thought as he leapt, flipped, and rolled to avoid the senbon needles after him not wanting to give away his dimensional rift technique just yet. Searching for the answer to his question Tobi noticed Naruto pointing at him and thought that he had the answer to his dilemma. "Hmmm I see, where ever he points the senbon go." Tobi retrieved a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it from a concealed pocket sewn into his cloak and hurled it at Naruto. Naruto jumped back as the kunai struck the ground in front of him and exploded. Unable to avoid the full concussive force and shrapnel of the exploding tag Naruto received minor cuts and scrapes on his arms and legs as he instinctively shielded his body before being sent tumbling to the ground. Seeing their fellow team mate taken out Kiba and Shino began to move when Kakashi stopped them. "Wait" he ordered. "But Kakashi-sensei Naruto.…," Kiba began. Kakashi cut him off mid sentence. "He is not done let's not waste his efforts by rushing in prematurely. Focus on observing our opponent instead." The team stood down and waited for the next move. The senbon needles fell all around Tobi like rain drops. "Kai," Naruto said seeing Tobi ignore his senbon needles made from explosive tags. Tobi heard a hissing sound before the ground began to break apart BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, the senbon surrounding him exploded. Naruto stood dusting himself off as he stared at the huge debris cloud made by the explosion waiting to see what if any damage he had inflicted upon his opponent.
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Inside an alternate dimension Madara fumed. "A second later and I would not be here." He thought to himself enraged at being tricked so easily by the Jinchuuriki. "He has grown a great deal farther than the reports I have read. I think it would be more prudent to acquire him now. It would definitely be a far deal less troublesome than allowing him to mature any further."
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"ALRIGHT," Kiba yelled. "There is no way he dodged that attack." "A very cunning strategy" Shino noted. "Yes, direct hit." Sakura thought. A kunai flew from the debris cloud hitting Naruto just below the heart as Tobi appeared walking from the debris cloud unscathed. Everyone stood frozen unable to believe what had just happened. "NAARRRUUUTTTOOO!" Hinata and Sakura screamed together in unison. Tobi lifted Naruto from the ground and slung him over his right shoulder. "I think it best if Akatsuki claimed you now." Madara said in an icy manner doing away with the clownish façade he had erected when facing the Konoha ninja. "The time for play is over." He said staring at them. POOF, Naruto exploded engulfing Madara in noxious gas. Madara's eyes began to water as he coughed and vomited uncontrollably. Naruto erupted out from underneath the ground at Madara's feet. Kunai in hand, he slashed at Madara's right side from bottom to top drawing blood from his leg and arm before Madara was able to turn intangible. Teleporting himself out of harm's way a watery eyed Madara stared down at Naruto coughing and dry heaving from atop a tree 100 feet away. Madara willed his body to stop coughing and dry heaving long enough so that he could speak to Naruto. "Well played Jinchuuriki, but mark my words Konoha's time has come and so has yours. You have earned my respect so I have decided to allow you a little more time before we come to claim you. Enjoy it while you can." Madara said before disappearing.
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"Are we ready?' Madara asked Zetsu. "Yes I have healed him enough so that he can be moved". "Good, let us depart before those Konoha ninja arrive." "Yes Madara-sama." Zetsu replied retrieving Sasuke from the ground while taking note of the wounds inflicted upon his leg and arm. "There was one among them who was able to touch Madara-sama, amazing." "SASUKEEEE!" Naruto yelled as he saw his former team mate flanked by the orange masked Akatsuki member and some other weird member of their group. Madara reverting to his clownish persona waved saying goodbye before vanishing with his subordinate and Sasuke.
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"Where am I?" Sasuke asked rising. "Your safe" Madara reply. "Who are you and what do you want?" Sasuke said irritated. "Me, I want nothing. It's what you want which is important." "I want for nothing." Sasuke replied. "Not true, you want revenge against those who murdered your family and destroyed your clan." "I have my revenge my brother is dead." "But your brother wasn't responsible for the death of your family or the destruction of your clan. He was merely an instrument, and your savior. "YOU LIE!" Sasuke yelled. "Do I?' Madara asked stepping out of the shadows.
Next Time: Chapter 21: The Calm Before the Storm, Hurricane Danzo