AN: Here is the next chapter, fresh from my mind and fingertips. Nicely manicured fingertips I might add…lol. Sorry, I was just realizing what a pain it is to type with my nails done. I hope this chapter does not turn out to be too confusing, please feel free to complain if it does. There is a lot of jumping around here but I think I kept things separated fairly well.
This is my way of saying sorry for the long break over the holidays. I wrote a long chapter, at least for me, and tried to get it out quickly without losing quality.
"It's almost time to make our move." A dark shadow said, speaking to 11 other shadows of different shapes and sizes. The only clear feature was their eyes.
"We're finally going after the leaf Jinchuuriki then." A bored voice asked from the darkness.
"Yes, do you have something to say about that?" The original voice inquired.
"No, not at all. Don't be surprised if I take a little side trip." A chuckle came from the shadow closest to the bored voice.
"Whatever, if it doesn't take away from the plan you're free to do as you wish." The original voice said with finality to it. "We move tonight." It said as all the shadows slowly dissipated.
The hidden leaf village was very quiet, most of its residence sleeping. Night had fallen a good 5 hours ago and the moon beamed down its dim light from the sliver of a crescent that seemed to float in the sky. Four figures slowly made their way into the streets, preparing for their job.
Suki slept lightly in her room, having gone to bed early in preparation for a mission the next day. When a light breeze blew across her cheek she immediately woke, instincts kicking in. Her window had been closed when she had fallen asleep.
Her eyes fell on a dark figure standing in the corner caught her attention. "Amazing, you're gorgeous even disheveled with sleep. I'll never forget how soft that long hair of yours is."
Suki forced her muscles not to tighten but she could not help the lump that formed in her throat or the goose bumps that rose on her skin. This explained how someone had gotten through her protective jutus. There was little that would hold this particular ninja back. It felt like forever since she had heard that voice. "Is that all you ever saw in me, a pretty face?" she asked, stalling while she tried to form a plan. She was clearly outclassed by the ninja in front of her, not to say she could not put up a fight.
A cold laugh, laced with a vindictive tone came from the corner as the figure moved closer. Itachi Uchiha appeared in the little light that came from the window. "If you were just a pretty face I wouldn't have bothered with you. You have strength, intelligence and experiences which make you quite unique. It's too bad you couldn't keep up with me, I was so hoping you would. I always thought we were a good pair."
It was Suki's turn to laugh, almost with cruelty. "Ha, you can't even admit the truth. Some nin you are, hiding things from yourself. It'll be your down fall."
There was a pause in the Uchiha's steps, one so brief you would miss if you weren't looking for it. "Now you've got me intrigued. What it is you know about myself that I don't?"
"I'm not telling you, you'll have to figure it out yourself. Pity you will figure things out too late. I look forward to seeing the look on your face." Suki said, pushing herself quickly out of the bed and into a defensive stance.
The whole time her mind had been running full throttle, trying to figure out what was going on. Were the Akatsuki making their move? Was this simply a distraction?
"We haven't seen each other in years and you want to fight? The girl I remember would have greeted me with a hug and a kiss." Itachi remarked.
"The girl you knew is now a woman and she doesn't see the person she would love to show her affection to. You're nothing but an empty shell who only looks like the Itachi I knew." Suki said, still stalling. If she tried to escape he would most likely stop her.
"I guess you're right, I'm not that weakling any more. I'm so much more, but of course you already knew that. You always saw my potential, saw me like no other. We could have been happy." was his reply.
"No, I never quite had the same hunger for power as you. You mistook my ambition to be strong and an inspiration as a thirst of power. We could have been happy perhaps….if I had been as emotionless as you. Then again…that wouldn't allow for being happy now would it?"
"Enough of your preaching; that always did annoy me." A smirk crossed his face as her face changed from strong and defiant to one of shock. A sharp pain was engulfing her; its source was the mark on her shoulder. The pain was piercing, like being hit with many kunai at once. She let one cry of pain escape her lips before pushing the pain back to its source and regaining control of herself.
Part of Suki was angry with herself for letting him play with her like this. She began to prepare to several things at once. If she wasn't fully prepared she'd never accomplish anything against Itachi. She heard him speak as she thought each move though.
"You're stronger than before. That is very good Suki. Looks like I'll have to resort to more traditional methods." Before Suki could look away she was imprisoned in the world Itachi had fashioned for her.
Naruto was in a deep sleep when something woke him. Sitting up in bed he scratched his head, trying to figure out why he felt so bothered. It finally struck him, as he processed that it was a woman's scream, which had awoken him. A scream that sounded familiar, a scream from two doors down.
Before his still waking mind could process what was happening he was already on his feet and grabbing his gear from where he had thrown it on the floor earlier that night. He quietly made his way out the front door of his apartment, now in full ninja mode. The woman who lived next door was standing looking worried just outside her door. Naruto motioned for her to be quiet as he creped along the landing toward Suki's apartment.
He noticed that her window was open and slowly slid into a position to look into the bedroom and figure out what was happening. Though he'd like to burst in, Suki had drilled it into him that it was best to assess the situation first. She'd be angry if he made that mistake, especially since it sounded like she was involved.
Naruto recognized the Uchiha immediately and realized with horror that Suki was currently caught in one of his genjutus. Turning to the woman behind him he whispered instructions to alert as many shinobi as possible and to sure that Kakashi the copy ninja was told to come quickly. Making several shadow clones he prepared to face Itachi and hold him off until assistance arrived.
Kakashi woke to someone pounding on his door. Quickly he pulled himself from his bed and made his way to the door. He often slept in his clothing because he never knew when something would come up. Opening the door he found a young looking ninja, probably genin. "Kakashi-sensei, the village has gone into high alert. There are intruders in the village."
"Where are they?" Kakashi questioned, suddenly fully awake.
"Not fully sure sensei, there was something about some apartments downtown."
Kakashi was running away before the boy had even finished his sentence. Could it have been Naruto's apartment complex? Stopping for only a moment he summoned Pakun and then continued with the dog at his side. "Kakashi, what's going on?" the pug asked as he kept pace with this ninja partner.
"I need you to go to Tsunade-sama and relay a message. I think it's possible that the Akatsuki are making their move to capture Naruto tonight. I'm on my way to where some action was reported. It's possible that this was at Naruto's apartment complex." Kakashi replied, not missing a beat in his running.
Pakun turned quickly and made his way toward Hokage tower while Kakashi continued toward his destination. When he arrived it was pretty clear that something was going down. The sounds of a fight came from an upstairs window. What surprised him was that this apartment didn't belong to Naruto but to Suki.
Everything had suddenly changed. Suki looked around herself and saw smoke, people running and screaming and a loud rumbling in the distance. The sound of crying made her look down and find a little blonde baby boy lying in her arms. "No…no…" she whispered, realizing now what was happening.
Her Uncle appeared out of nowhere, reaching for the baby in her arms. "Suki, thank you. How is she?" He questioned. Though she wanted so badly to speak her body followed the motions it had taken that day. Her eyes filled with tears and she shook her head. It was his turn to whisper his disbelief.
"Don't worry Uncle," she felt the words leave her mouth as they had on that fateful day "I'll look after him." He nodded, kissed her on the forehead and ran off to do what he must. Suki watched as the scene from her final moments with her Uncle played out.
Suddenly everything changed again. She was watching a group of men kick at something. Things looked odd, like something was blocking her full view. Her hands reached up to feel the mask that had once been familiar. AMBU, but what would bother her about this period? One of the men below shifted and she finally realized what they had been kicking. A small blonde haired boy…Naruto.
She felt herself spring and quickly dispersed the group. Poor little Naruto was shaking. This was before he had learned to deal with the horrid situation well…as well as a boy could. "No…no…I don't want to see this. Dam it!" she screamed pushing against the illusion as best she could. This was compatibly easy to handle seeing than what she knew was coming if she stayed stuck here.
She let out an angry scream out as she finally removed herself from the horrible images from her past.
Then she was in her apartment, something yellow and orange stood in front of her and it was yelling. Her mind began to unfog and she realized this was Naruto. Dam it, what was he doing here? Didn't he know he had probably done exactly what they wanted him to do? She blinked rapidly for a moment as a wave to dizziness hit her, side effect of Itachi's technique. How long would she be able to stay in the fight?
Naruto charged at nothing with his rasengan. Sigh, he'd fallen into a trap. When he came close again, she grabbed him and forced chakra into him, hoping to disband the genjutsu. His eyes became focused and he looked at her confused. "Genjutsu" she said, keeping her eyes on Itachi without meeting his eyes.
Naruto straightened out and stood at her side. "Let's try to avoid that, ok." Suki said, now worried not about herself but the boy next to her. It didn't matter what happened to her now as long as Naruto got away. "Interesting, even Kakashi couldn't break free of my Sharingan. I must know your secret." Itachi commented casually.
"I know you and your techniques too well, what would you expect?" Suki replied, disgust in her voice.
"If you know me so well, why are you still fighting. You've never been able to beat me before." His bored voice came.
"I not sure I've ever had the proper motivation." Suki said, forming a series of hand signals quickly. As she released the chakra for her attack she said "Kaze no Yaiba" and a blade of wind was flying in Itachi's direction. He, of course, dodged it.
Naruto created some shadow clones and together the two of them kept Itachi moving, making sure he never got to close as they couldn't look up to block close range attacks. They couldn't get at him though and he wasn't backing off.
One of Naruto's clones came flying at her. "Sorry Naruto." She said, as she caught the cone and redirected it's momentum away from her. The clone crashed into the wall and Naruto cringed with its memory.
"Suki, I honestly have no grudge with you. Stop defending the boy and I promise you no harm." Itachi said, trying to sound comforting and convincing.
"Now why would I do that? Letting you get what you want is the last thing I'd do." Suki yelled, throwing a set of kunai at him laced with her wind chakra. What she wanted to say was that Naruto was too precious for her to give up but, she didn't think now was the proper time to express that. They were quite deadly, if they ever hit their target.
Kakashi used a chakra-laced jump to reach the floor he wanted and made his way to Suki's open bedroom window to assess the situation. It must have been someone powerful to get past Suki's protective jutsus. Naruto and Suki were fighting someone in Akatsuki uniform; it only took a moment more for Kakashi to recognize which member it was. This wasn't good, not good at all. Judging my Suki's movements she was trying to keep Naruto close. How had they kept the fighting from leaving the confines of her room? What was she playing at?
Kakashi entered the room, throwing a good number of weapons, hoping to surprise Itachi and create an opening through which to reach Suki and Naruto. He reached them easily, taking a defensive stance. "What in the hell is going on here?" he inquired of the blonde woman next to him.
"I pretty sure he's just playing with us, he's not even really trying to do damage." Suki replied.
"Waiting for something then?" Kakashi questioned, trying to figure out the opponent. His eye was taking in everything it could.
"Most likely." Suki said, dodging yet another attack.
"The point of this then?" Kakashi asked
"To mess with me, I think." Suki answered, looking over at Naruto, who seemed to holding up but had used a good bit of chakra.
"Why are you defending the demon so heavily?" They heard Itachi inquire, "After all, you both lost greatly because of it."
Suki could literally feel the anger rolling off Naruto now. He needed to calm down, if he didn't the fox would come out and they couldn't afford for that right now. "Cool it please, Naruto. Keep your emotions in check." She instructed in a firm voice.
"Wait for an opening and get out of here, the both of you." Kakashi said, knowing the sooner they got Naruto out of there the better.
"I'm not going anywhere!" were the twin replies of both Naruto and Suki.
"Just do it Suki, you can come back and help after, if you must." Kakashi ordered, not really likening the idea of either of them in danger. Besides, though she was holding her own he sensed that something wasn't quite right with her. Still, she could handle herself, and he had to trust that.
Kakashi quickly formed hand signs and sent a ball of fire at Itachi. Suki was mildly impressed as she pulled Naruto with her in an attempt to reach the window. Kakashi must have picked this up with his Sharingan as he was lightning natured not fire. It was almost ironic that he had probably picked it up from an Uchiha. She paused at the window and threw a barrage of weapons, creating shadows to increase their chances of hitting their target. Itachi's Sharingan would probably undo her efforts, but she had to try.
"Why did Kakashi-sensei want us to leave?" Naruto questioned, upset that he had been asked to leave a fight. Suki grabbed his wrist and began dragging him away from the buildings. Naruto's questioning continued, "Where are we going?"
"They are after you Naruto, that's why we had to leave. We're going to find better protection." Suki replied as she continued to drag the boy behind her.
"Why protection?" The boy continued
"Because my guess is there's more Akatsuki around here and it would be a good idea to have more than the two of us for protection Naruto." Suki said with a hitch in her voice that went unnoticed by the blonde. It wasn't that she couldn't fight but, very few could take on Akatsuki members and she refused to lose him.
She was straining to fight the dizziness that had threatened to overtake her ever since Itachi had used his Sharingan on her. Judging by Naruto's clarity when fighting earlier, Itachi must have used a lower level illusion on him.
Suki set her eyes on the Hokage tower and increased her speed. An explosion behind them worried her but she could not stop moving. Eventually, the pair made it to the tower and quickly made their way up the steps and to Tsunade's office.
In the room were ninja of all ranks and abilities and Tsunade was barking orders. Everything fell silent as the two entered. Tsunade was simply happy to see that they were ok, the others were trying to figure out who this strange woman was for they had never seen her true looks.
"What's going on here?" Tsunade finally spoke up to ask.
"Akatsuki attack Hokage-sama." Suki reported, "We just came from a fight with Itachi Uchiha in the downtown apartment area. Kakashi Hatake is currently dealing with him."
Without a word Tsunade nodded to a group of ninja and they were gone, presumably to support Kakashi.
"So they broke into your apartment?" The older woman inquired of Naruto.
"No actually he broke into hers." Naruto answered, indicating Suki.
"It's unimportant Tsunade-sama, I promise to explain later."Suki said
Nodding Tsunade turned to another team that had been gathered. Suki recognized the Nara boy at its head and the blonde girl who was quite close to Sakura amongst its members.
"I want you to stay with Suki-sensei and Naruto. Shikamaru, you and Suki come up with a plan; your goal is to keep Naruto away from the Akatsuki members attacking the village. If anyone comes after you, stick together. Understood?" Tsunade said, giving her orders.
The group nodded at Tsunade and left the room. They found an empty room and stepped in to make a plan. Suki realized all eyes were on her. "If you think now is a great time for a story I'm happy to tell but honestly I think it can wait." Suki said, indicating her new looks.
"I agree." Shikamaru replied, eyeing her despite what he said. After a moment, he averted his eyes and placed his hands his famous thinking circle.
"What are we doing here sitting around?" Naruto asked, "Let's go help the village."
"We're supposed to be avoiding the enemy Naruto." Ino yelled irritated with him already.
"I never said fight the enemy." Naruto replied. It surprised everyone that he replied calmly and not it his usual loud manner.
"Hum, he has a point."Shikamaru said, giving Suki a meaningful look. She was confused for a moment before she began to understand.
"The village is short ninja and we don't know just how big the fighting is going to get. Perhaps we take the place of those working on civilian security so they can take our place and fight." Suki said slowly, forming a plan as she went. It was perfect, kept Naruto away from the fighting but busy and help the village.
Shikamaru and Suki nodded at each other and lead the others from the room. It was time to get serious.
Well? What do you think? Will Naruto be able to stay out the fight?(If you say yes your deluding yourself.) A cookie for anyone who can guess what Suki thinks Itachi hasn't realized. I didn't spell it out but I have something in mind. It's a little abstract but then again…not so much, depending on who you are.