Alright. I finally got the 2nd chapter up. I apologize for the delay, but I've been sick this past week and can't really stare at a computer screen for overly long...
As always, I appreciate the reviews/favorites/alerts.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time: Echo Uchiha, Toasty Warrior, saveme57, ZeroTail29, Lunar-Ice-Wolf, maxslayer10, Kyuubi loves NaruSaku, maliousdei, Nutt Man 117, DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles, jackseaweedjackson, dbzgtfan2004, Goddess of Night Eternal Faith, KrackerJak, Jozern, Blazing CobaltX, Darkrebel9
Echo Uchiha: =) Rhymes ftw!
Toasty Warrior: Itachi didn't have much of a choice, and I'm glad too. I hate writing emo-Naruto =P
saveme57: Thanks =) I hope you enjoy this chapter!
ZeroTail29: I'm glad you enjoyed it! This story is going to be all about mastering sage mode. The third and final part will have Naruto learning/mastering his "jinchuriki mode." (I can't recall the exact name off the top of my head..)
Lunar-Ice-Wolf: =) Glad you enjoyed the first chapter!
maxslayer10: Thanks! =)
Kyuubi loves NaruSaku: The Kyubi is actually going to make a rare appearance this chapter!
maliousdei: Ding ding ding. He now trusts Sakura to the point where he won't believe she would ever hurt him =)
Nutt Man 117: You'd figure Naruto would learn not to draw Sakura's wrath by now. Silly jinchuriki =P
jackseaweedjackson: Thanks =) I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!
dbzgtfan2004: /e salutes
Goddess of Night Eternal Faith: =) Ya... Naruto isn't always the smartest person in the world. He better beg for mercy once Sakura reaches him =P
KrackerJak: Hahaha =P And don't forget that Naruto is terrible with genjutsus, I think that he was able to recognize being in a genjutsu and break out of is testament to his faith in Sakura!
Jozern: Thanks =) Glad you enjoyed!
Blazing CobaltX: Nah, Naruto had to pass his test. Besides, writing emo Naruto is not a fun time =P
Darkrebel9: I'm glad you enjoyed "A Jinchuriki's Husk" =) The genjutsu was used to show how much Naruto had grown since Husk and was used as a transition between the two stories =) Hehe, I don't count your comments as flames. You're giving me your honest opinion which I truly appreciate =) I don't think I'll have any OC's in this part, except maybe introducing the new Akatsuki members near the end of this one. But thanks though!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and Naruto would've gotten to interact with Minato more when he redid the Kyubi's seal. Also, Kakashi would have some sort of love interest!
Now, onwards to the second chapter! Please do enjoy, "A Jinchuriki's Strength" - Chapter 2: A Good Team
Itachi's lifeless eyes watched as Naruto threw one of his father's kunais at him, and then disappear in a flash. Right before Itachi could bat the three-pronged kunai away with a kunai of his own, Naruto flashed directly to the kunai with a blue swirling sphere in his hand.
"RASENGAN!" Itachi looked down in shock as the swirling sphere tore into his stomach and sent him flying backwards into a tree.
The undead Uchiha calmly picked himself up, as his body began repairing itself.
"Your timing with the hirashin is impressive Naruto-kun. Unfortunately it is impossible to kill me. No matter how good you are with that technique, you cannot beat the edo tensai."
Naruto smirked as he summoned a shadow clone. "Let's put that to the test." The jinchuriki held out his hand, and with his clone's help formed a rasenshuriken.
"As much as I would like to prolong this fight to test just how much I've grown this past year, I'm already in enough trouble with Sakura-chan as it is. I'm going to put an end to you now before she gets here, then I can try to play dumb."
Before Itachi could respond, Naruto whipped the rasenshuriken at the Uchiha. Itachi jumped to the left and barely avoided the attack, but his eyes widened in surprise when the rasenshuriken expanded and exploded. The undead man was thankful that Kabuto's technique prevented him from feeling pain as he watched tiny microscopic wind blades cut his very chakra network to pieces.
Sakura swore at her boyfriend as she ran through the forest. After I get you away from Itachi I'm going to make you regret being a baka… Sakura's fist tightened and she pushed more chakra into her legs.
The sound of a explosion went off a little ways in front her. Sakura leapt high into the air and saw a familiar explosion of wind chakra.
The rasenshuriken… Sakura sped towards the explosion. Just be ok baka… I'll be there soon.
Naruto stared at the crater where Itachi's motionless body lay. Shit, I can feel Sakura-chan's chakra. She's close… Hopefully she didn't see the explosion from my rasenshuriken… Naruto started to walk towards Sakura's chakra signature.
"Impressive technique, I can see how that technique was able to beat Kakuzu. Unfortunately for you, it seems that the edo tensei can even heal even damage to my chakra network, it was a good thought though Naruto-kun."
"No way…" Naruto muttered as he turned around. As the jinchuriki feared, Itachi was walking out of the crater, his body putting itself back together.
"You should run away from me Naruto. You are now more powerful than me, but you cannot beat me. Don't throw your life away here, you're the only one who can beat Madara." Itachi advised, his body almost fully repaired.
"No… I can and will beat you. I can free you." Naruto replied as his fist tightened. Damnit… Even with my increased training, I can only use the rasenshuriken five times before I drop out of sage mode… My clone seems to be doing fine, so for now I can depend on it to restore my nature chakra…
"I appreciate the thought Naruto, but you cannot. Now hurry up and get out of here. The only reason I'm not attacking you right now is because I'm resisting Kabuto's control, but I'm not going to be able to resist much longer."
"No…" Naruto growled stubbornly. "I know the truth. I know why you slaughtered the Uchiha. I know why you joined the Akatsuki, and I know why you spared Sasuke. You don't deserve this; you're a hero of Konoha. I will save you."
Itachi sighed. "Still overly stubborn I see. Very well, prepare yourself, I'm about to lose control."
How am I going to beat him… I could try the kage bunshin hirashin ring… But if he survived the rasenshuriken, I doubt that will stop him.
"Katon" Itachi's voice interrupted Naruto's thoughts. "Gokyaku no Jutsu." The undead Uchiha launched a massive fireball towards the jinchuriki. Naruto leapt into the air to dodge the fireball, but Itachi quickly appeared behind him.
He's fast… The startled jinchuriki thought as Itachi's fist flew towards the back of his head. The blonde disappeared in a flash, reappearing next to the kunai he had thrown at the beginning of the fight.
"I forgot how fast you were Itachi. But you can't beat me with speed now." Naruto confidently called out. Before the future hokage could boast further, Itachi appeared behind him and elbowed him in the back.
Damnit… He uses kage bunshins too… Naruto skidded across the ground a few feet before he used a hand to flip himself up into the air and safely land on the ground. I need to buy some time to figure out how to beat him… I could use the kage bunshin hirashin ring. There's no way he would be able to touch me, but if I just keep flashing around that would use up a lot of chakra…
Itachi flickered in front of Naruto, and launched a kick at the side of the jinchuriki. Naruto caught the undead man's foot, jumped into the air and twisted his body to throw Itachi into the ground with his sage-enhanced strength.
Before the Uchiha could react, a three pronged kunai thudded into his shoulder. In a yellow flash, Naruto was before Itachi with a large rasengan that was being orbited by several smaller rasengan orbs.
"FUTON: GENSHI RASENGAN!" The blonde roared slamming his atomic rasengan into the undead Uchiha's body.
The main orb began tearing apart Itachi's chest as the smaller orbs continued rotating randomly tearing into the rest of his body.
Naruto leapt backwards as his newest rasengan exploded. That should buy me some… A volley of shuriken embedded themselves into his back. Naruto's shocked eyes glanced behind him to see Itachi throwing more shuriken at him as his body regenerated.
What the… Naruto was too surprised to dodge the shurikens that were flying towards him. Before the shurikens could hit him, the earth rumbled and an earth wall rose in front of him, which protected him from the deadly weapons.
Before he knew it, the shuriken were being picked out of his back.
"I told you not to fight Itachi you baka. But you ignore me, and what sight am I greeted by when I finally make it to you? You with a bunch of shurikens sticking out of your back, and more shurikens headed towards you to finish you off." Sakura growled in annoyance, but Naruto caught the concerned tone in her voice.
"Ne… sorry Sakura-chan. He just caught me off guard with a genjutsu there." Naruto replied as he felt his girlfriend's soothing chakra heal his shuriken wounds.
"If it isn't the woman who killed my little brother." Itachi called out, interrupting the pair. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect him from Madara."
"If it makes you feel any better… he thanked me for stopping him just before he died." Sakura replied, her eyes finding the dead eyes of Itachi for the first time.
"So he was saved in death… That's good." Itachi mused with a small smile on his face. His face returned to its impassive look quickly. "Hopefully you can talk some sense into Naruto-kun here. He refuses to flee from this battle."
"I won't back down!" Naruto growled as his fists tightened. "I WILL save you."
"Naruto…" Sakura said softly as she placed her hand on his cheek. "Let's say that you somehow manage to stop him, what's to stop Kabuto from reviving him with the edo tensei again?
"I… I don't know Sakura-chan." Naruto replied as he stared into the emerald eyes of the woman he loved. "But that's not going to stop me from trying!"
Sakura sighed. "Sorry Itachi, but it looks like we're not going anywhere. This baka is too stubborn for his own good. Once he sets his mind on something, he refuses to stop."
"This is unfortunate… Naruto I know you can counter my speed with your hirashin, but can you say the same for your girlfriend?"
Naruto looked at the undead Uchiha, eyes full of confidence. "Don't worry about Sakura-chan, she'll be just fine."
A warmth filled Sakura's body as she smiled at her boyfriend. He always had complete confidence in her, she shuddered to think where her confidence would be without his presence in her life.
"I see… Well you two should prepare yourselves then, I'm about to lose control again."
"Sakura-chan… I was wondering if you would mind staying at the edge of this fight."
"What? Why? I thought you had faith that I'll be fine." Sakura huffed as she fought the urge to bash her knucklehead into the ground.
"I do, but Itachi uses a lot of genjutsus, and many of them are so subtle I don't realize what they are. You can tell me when I'm under a genjutsu, and you can observe Itachi. Maybe with your medinin knowledge you'll be able to spot some sort of weakness of the edo tensei."
"Fine." Sakura grunted. He didn't want her out of the way because he was afraid she would get hurt, he was actually thinking strategically. "But I'm not just going to stand around and do nothing." The Godaime's apprentice leapt backwards away from her knucklehead.
Itachi flickered out of sight, reappearing right behind her. Sakura dodged his strike and a warm feeling went through her body as Naruto flashed to the seal on her body. Itachi's dead eyes betrayed his surprise as Naruto caught him upside the jaw with a powerful uppercut sending the undead Uchiha flying into the air.
Naruto flickered out of sight and appeared right in Itachi's flight path. A powerful kick to the Uchiha's back sent him straight down into the ground. Naruto flung a three pronged kunai right next to Itachi's side and flashed down to the Uchiha.
Naruto crouched by Itachi's side and placed his hand on the Uchiha's shoulder. "Now that Sakura has entered the fight, I think it's time I stop holding back." The jinchuriki removed his hand from Itachi's shoulder, leaving a seal in its place.
Itachi's dead eyes regarded the seal with a curious look.
"Hirashin level two." Naruto explained as he formed a rasengan in the same hand that had just placed the seal. "You've lost."
Naruto went to slam his rasengan into Itachi, but the Uchiha replaced himself with a log. The undead Uchiha flickered behind Sakura and impaled her neck with a kunai. To his surprise, the girl simply turned into a swirl of cherry blossom petals.
"A genjutsu…" Itachi muttered. He didn't have much time to ponder the new development as Naruto flashed to him and sent a knee into the Uchiha's gut which forced Itachi to double over. The jinchuriki quickly followed up with a punch to the back of Itachi's head, flattening the man against the ground. Naruto threw four kunai into each of Itachi's arms and legs to prevent the undead man from moving.
"Naruto that's a genjutsu!" Sakura called as Itachi's body transformed into crows, which began swarming around him. Before the crows could overtake him, Naruto flashed to the real Itachi and rewarded the Uchiha for his genjutsu by again knocking him to the ground. For the second time, Naruto bound Itachi to the ground by impaling his arms and legs with kunai.
"Sakura-chan, have you figured out a way to stop him yet?" The blonde called over his shoulder to his girlfriend.
Sakura walked up next to him and peered down at Itachi. "I'm sorry Naruto, but I haven't seen anything. I really don't think we can beat him."
"Damnit…"
Naruto looked into Itachi's eyes, and swore as the brother of his deceased best friend again substituted himself with a log. Naruto felt Itachi's cold hand grab his arm and fling him towards a tree. The jinchuriki instantly flashed to Itachi's side and stabbed a kunai clean through his neck.
Unphased, Itachi twisted around and caught Naruto in the gut with his knee. Kunai in hand, Itachi slashed the blonde's throat with a kunai. To the Uchiha's surprise, Naruto disappeared in a large red flame.
"You've gotten to be quite good with genjutsus girl." Itachi complimented Sakura as Naruto reappeared behind him, putting him in a full nelson lock.
"You two make a good team. Naruto is strong enough to keep the enemy engaged while you use your mastery in genjutsu, which just so happens to be one of Naruto's few weaknesses, to help Naruto from a somewhat safe distance. You are also able to heal him if he should get hurt in battle, and with your strength you can attack from a distance by punching and stomping the ground." The undead Uchiha observed in his monotone voice.
"But that's not what makes you such a powerful team. Naruto seems to have found a way to hirashin to you making you nearly untouchable. His stamina makes him a perfect guardian. Your excellent chakra control allows you to not just tell Naruto when he's in a genjutsu, but you can also easily channel your chakra into him dispelling that genjutsu. You both compliment each others' weaknesses perfectly." Itachi complimented.
Sakura's eyes widened as she recognized the position Naruto had Itachi in. Channel chakra into him… That's it!
FLASHBACK
"Then I thought… so that's how it is. Well it's just perfect since I can't move." Naruto said with a grin to a horde of children surrounding him. Sakura smiled softly at her blonde teammate. 'He's so great with kids…' She thought. Naruto was so busy after saving the village that she hadn't really had a chance to get the full details of his fight with Pain. She listened eagerly as the powerful blonde continued.
"I closed my eyes and let my body go limp as I remained perfectly still, drawing nature chakra into my body, which the the Preta Pain restraining me absorbed from me.
"Upon seeing my body go limp, that idiot Pain thought that I was submitting. Instead, I opened my eyes with a grin as Preta Pain's body began to transform." A cocky smirk was present on Naruto's face. Sakura, not fully understanding nature chakra failed to see the significance and looked on questioningly as her favorite knucklehead continued.
"Instead I opened my eyes and said, you know, nature chakra is really hard to control. That stupid Preta Pain restraining me transformed into a stone statue!" All of the children "oohed" and stared at the village's savior with awe-filled eyes.
Sakura looked at the jinchuriki with a proud look on her face. "Leave it to Naruto to come up with a surprisingly ingenious method of getting out of a seemingly impossible situation." She whispered to Ino who was standing next to her.
FLASH IN
"Naruto!" Sakura called out. "Remember how you defeated Preta Pain? Try that on him!"
"I can't do that Sakura-chan, Preta Pain was absorbing the chakra from my body, Itachi is not." Naruto answered with a disappointed look in his eyes.
"Treat it like you're channeling your chakra into someone to break them out of a genjutsu, except use nature chakra into him instead of your chakra." The pink-haired girl explained.
"Sakura-chan… you know I'm not very good with that." The blonde replied as Itachi struggled against him. Sakura walked up to Itachi and used her chakra scalpel to sever all the tendons in his arms and legs, rendering him temporarily paralyzed while the edo tensei worked to repair his body.
"You can do it Naruto. I believe in you." Sakura shot her boyfriend a confident smile, which in turn elicited a smile from the future hokage himself.
"YOSH! I'll do it Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled in a tone eerily similar to Guy and Lee's. The jinchuriki closed his eyes and began channeling nature chakra into Itachi. Come on… focus… The blonde thought as a bead of sweat dropped down his forehead.
Itachi felt the nature chakra entering his body and smiled. His body instinctively attempted to control the nature chakra. For now Naruto simply wasn't able to channel the chakra into him quick enough to overwhelm the former Uchiha prodigy.
"You need to channel more into him Naruto! He's managing to control the chakra!" Sakura said nervously as an orange hue began to surround Itachi's eyes.
Kuso! Naruto thought as he felt Itachi getting stronger. His body had nearly fully recovered from Sakura's chakra scalpel. The jinchuriki dispelled his clone he had burrow under the ground at the beginning of the fight, replenishing his nature chakra.
Naruto gritted his teeth and began pushing all of his nature chakra into Itachi's body. With Naruto's poor chakra control, only a small amount was channeled into the undead Uchiha's body.
"You're doing it!" Sakura cheered as Itachi's body began to transform.
"You're free now Itachi." Naruto whispered to the Uchiha as the nature chakra overwhelmed him and he transformed into a stone toad statue.
Naruto released the statue from his hold and fell forward as his now sapphire eyes clearly showed his exhaustion. He had channeled every ounce of nature chakra he had in his body, as well as nature chakra he absorbed while restraining the undead man.
Sakura caught him before he could hit the ground.
"You stupid baka!" She yelled, lightly bashing Naruto in the back of his head. "You're lucky you're in such terrible condition or else I would put you in the hospital myself!"
The pink-haired member of team 7 hugged her knuckledhead to her chest and a few stray tears fell into his hair. "Don't you ever do that again. You hear me? I was afraid I was going to lose you." She scolded, stroking the back of his hair.
"Hehe. I can't promise that Sakura-chan. It worked. I've found a way to beat the edo tensei." The blonde replied with a lopsided grin as he pointed towards the toad statue.
Sakura responded by lightly smacking her blonde in the back of his stubborn head. "I would advise against that future Hokage-sama. I will put you in the hospital for weeks if you try it. Now come on, we need to go back to the temple. You're way too exhausted to fight anyone right now and I don't want you to be in any danger."
The Yondaime's legacy smiled as his girlfriend pulled him up, and quickly wrapped her into a hug.
"No need to walk." He boasted, trying to mask the exhaustion that had been present in his voice earlier.
"Naruto, no! You don't…" Sakura growled in annoyance as she felt the all too familiar pull on her body.
"Have enough chakra to use the hirashin right now." Sakura finished. She felt Naruto's body collapse against her. "Naruto? Naruto?"
Sakura looked down at her boyfriend with a look of anger, worry and strangely enough pride. "You baka…" She whispered as she picked him up. "Now you went and gave yourself chakra exhaustion. You're going to be out for a while…"
Sakura sighed as she scooped her knucklehead up bridal style and carried him to their shared room in the temple. Not being the first time the temple attendants had seen Sakura carrying Naruto like this, no one gave her a second glance.
Arriving in their room, Sakura placed the blonde down on their bed and lay down next to him, nuzzling her head into his chest and wrapping her arms around his waist.
"You're lucky I know how to take care of someone suffering from chakra exhaustion or else you be spending the next few days in the hospital instead of our room." Sakura huffed to her unconscious knucklehead.
"Kakashi, what's the status on the messenger falcon we sent to the Lightning temple?" The hazel-eyed hokage asked one of Konoha's most powerful jonin.
"Well Hokage-sama…" Kakashi drawled flashing an innocent one-eyed smile. "It seems there was a delay in sending the messenger falcon. Shikamaru passed the duty off onto a team of genin whose jonin sensei was out on a mission… The genin were unable to find the falconry so Shikamaru is on his way there right now to send the message."
"Damn lazy kid…" Tsunade growled. "And what kind of ninja doesn't know where our falconry is? Make those genin take a test on all of Konoha's different buildings. If they don't pass the test they have to go through the academy all over again!"
"Hai Hokage-sama." Kakashi replied, as he left the office to find someone to go tell the genin team their fate.
Damnit… Once news of Kabuto's seemingly invincible undead army spreads, there is going to be a lot of unrest in the village. Naruto… we need you hear as soon as possible to calm down the villagers before they do anything stupid in their panic-induced state…
Sakura lay in bed, softly stroking Naruto's hair. It's been a day now; you should be waking up soon baka. But you still won't be able to leave bed. A blush overcame Sakura's face as perverted thoughts swam through her mind. Damnit… no. He's in condition for that!
She frowned at Naruto as she checked his chakra levels. You should have recovered more chakra by now… I guess transferring nature chakra really took a lot out of you.
A knock on her door interrupted Sakura's thoughts. "Sakura-san?" A man asked on the other side of the door. The Godaime's apprentice huffed in annoyance as she disentangled herself from her unconscious boyfriend, and walked to her door. Opening the door, the kunoichi was greeted by a temple apprentice with an envelope in his hands.
"This just arrived to you from Konoha by falcon." The man explained handing the envelope to her. His duty done, the apprentice turned and walked down the hall.
"Thank you!" Sakura called after the man who simply nodded back in her direction in response.
This isn't good. Shishou wouldn't use a falcon if this wasn't important. This could be trouble.
The pinkette opened the envelop and unfurled the letter.
Sakura,
We've gotten a report that Kabuto has mastered the edo-tensei. Sakura smirked. "Gee really?" She sarcastically called out to no one in particular. He's raised an undead army, and we've confirmed the revival of all of the deceased Akatsuki members.
We've kept this information from the villagers, but we won't be able to forever. Eventually they will find out about this. With Madara still a threat, and this new undead army I fear the villagers will react poorly. We need Naruto's presence here to reassure them that they are perfectly safe.
After his fight with Pain, the villagers trust Naruto's strength completely. His presence here will calm down the villagers and will hopefully prevent any panic-induced riots.
You two need to return immediately. Use Naruto's hirashin instead of going by foot. Not even Naruto can defeat the edo tensei, so I don't want to risk him being attacked by any members of Kabuto's undead army.
Return immediately.
Tsunade
The Godaime's apprentice sighed as she grabbed a piece of paper and began writing.
Tsunade-sama,
We already know of Kabuto's use of the edo tensei; Kabuto revived Itachi and sent him after Naruto. I wanted us to run, because there's no way to beat the edo tensei, but that baka felt bad for Itachi and wanted to free him from Kabuto's control.
But we figured out a way to stop the edo tensei. Naruto channeled nature chakra into Itachi's body. Thanks to his poor chakra control he had to pour every ounce of nature chakra he had into Itachi so enough would enter his body that he couldn't control it.
As a result, Naruto passed out from chakra exhaustion. His chakra levels are stabilizing slower than normal so we will not be able to leave for at least a few days… if not longer. We will hirashin back to Konoha as soon as Naruto's chakra levels return to normal.
Sakura
Sakura put the letter in an envelope and formed a familiar cross seal. "Kage-bunshin no jutsu."
"Take this letter to the falconry and have it sent back to Konoha." Sakura ordered her summoned clone. "Then check to see if Naruto's gifts are in yet."
The Sakura clone simply nodded and left the room. Sakura walked back over to their bed and returned to her spot of cuddling with her unconscious boyfriend.
"Please wake up soon Naruto…" Sakura whispered as she laid her head down on his chest.
It had been two days since the messenger falcon was sent to the Lightning Temple and Naruto and Sakura were still not back. The falcon should've been able to make the trip in about a day…
"Tsunade!" Koharu greeted in a stern voice as she and Homura barged into her office. "Why isn't Naruto back yet? I thought he was able to hirashin back instantly."
Tsunade sighed. She was expecting this. "I'm not sure exactly, but…"
"You're not sure?" Homura asked in an unbelieving tone. "You're not sure where one of the last remaining jinchuriki is? Not to mention our most powerful shinobi?"
Before the elder council members could say anything else, a cat-masked anbu dropped into her office. "Tsunade-sama, we just get a letter from Sakura Haruno."
The hokage grabbed the envelope and quickly tore it open. While she would never show it in front of Koharu and Homura, she was very worried that Sakura and Naruto weren't back yet.
She read the letter and sighed. These two aren't going to like this…
"Well?" Koharu asked.
"Apparently Kabuto sent Itachi after Naruto."
"WHAT?" Both council members yelled.
"Calm down. Naruto wanted to free Itachi from Kabuto's control so Sakura and Naruto fought him." Tsunade explained.
"This is why we never should've agreed to that damn training mission! There's no way to beat the edo tensei, it is too dangerous for Naruto to be out of Konoha right now!" Homura seethed.
"Actually, Naruto and Sakura figured out a way to beat the edo tensei, and that's why they aren't here right now. Naruto channeled nature chakra into Itachi transforming him into a stone toad statue." Tsunade said with a proud grin.
"However, due to his poor chakra control he had to pour every ounce of nature chakra he had into Itachi so he would be overwhelmed by the nature chakra, and is now suffering from chakra exhaustion. Sakura says they will be back as soon as his chakra levels return to normal."
"Chakra exhaustion? We have a potential crisis and our most powerful ninja is out with chakra exhaustion? This never would've happened if Naruto hadn't gone on that training trip." Koharu scolded.
"Well apparently the training was worth it, if Naruto and Sakura were able to beat Itachi Uchiha revived by the edo tensei." Tsunade countered. "Now if you've said everything you needed to say, please leave. I have other things to do."
"You better hope Naruto gets back soon Tsunade." Homura threatened as the two council members exited her office.
The hokage stared out her window. Please return soon you two…
Kabuto stared at the stone toad statue that was Itachi. Very clever Naruto-kun. I can't just re-summon Itachi because technically his body is still summoned. And the edo tensei only heals the body when it's damaged, but technically Itachi's body is unharmed.
The scaled man smirked as he grabbed the toad statue. I'll just have to take you back and figure out how to undo this transformation Itachi.
Naruto was in a familiar dark place, water on the floor, and a giant cage with a seal on it in front of him.
"If it isn't the weak kit."
"Shut up fox, I'm not weak anymore." Naruto growled.
"Is that so? Then why are you here, suffering from chakra exhaustion after a battle with Itachi? Without his sharingan eyes he wouldn't have been a problem for someone who's strong." The Kyubi sneered.
"Even without his sharingan eyes, Itachi was still powerful, not to mention he was revived by the edo tensei." Naruto retorted.
The demon fox's laughter filled the dank chamber. "Do you really believe that? Trust me when I say this kit, Itachi, revived by the edo tensei or not, is no match for Madara Uchiha. If you try to fight Madara right now he will easily kill you."
"Shut up fox!" Naruto yelled as his fists clenched in anger. "I've mastered the hirashin and I've almost mastered sage mode. I will stop Madara."
"Face it Naruto, without my power you don't stand a chance."
"No! I don't need your power! I will not hurt my precious people ever again." Naruto growled.
"You say that now, but when you fight Madara you will definitely use my power."
"Shut up you stupid fox." Naruto retorted as he walked to the opposite end of the chamber.
I need to wake up soon. The jinchuriki thought to himself.
"Did Itachi succeed Kabuto? Did he kill Naruto?" Madara asked his scaled "ally."
"Unfortunately not, Naruto-kun figured out a way to beat the edo tensei. He channeled nature chakra into Itachi which transformed Itachi into a stone toad statue." Kabuto replied.
"He what? This is why you should've sent your army after him!" Madara seethed.
"Don't worry Madara-sama. My spies tell me Konoha has summoned Naruto back. We can now knock out two birds with one stone."
"You mean…" Madara drawled.
"I will lead my edo tensai army to Konoha and not only kill Naruto-kun, but destroy Konoha as well." The scaled man finished.
"If Naruto has figured out a way to beat your edo tensei technique what makes you think you'll be able to kill him?" The ancient Uchiha asked.
"Naruto-kun is currently suffering from chakra exhaustion. Using his nature chakra to turn his enemy into stone seems to take a large chunk of chakra. So he will only be to stop one, maybe two. He doesn't stand a chance at stopping my entire army." Kabuto sneered.
"Hmm… Konoha is the central location of the shinobi alliance. If we destroy them the alliance will be broken apart. It will be much more difficult for them to move between each other's territories." Madara mused.
"And Konoha is one of the most powerful villages in the alliance, destroying them will be a severe blow to the shinobi alliance." Kabuto added.
"Very well, when will you be ready to march?"
"That depends… will I have the support of the Zetsu army?" Kabuto inquired with a sick grin.
"No you will not. I don't want the alliance to know about them yet. We will use the Zetsu army and the new members of the Akatsuki I've been recruiting to deal the final blow to the alliance."
"Then I will need a few weeks to strengthen my edo tensei before eradicating Konoha." Kabuto answered.
"Get started right away then." The ancient Uchiha commanded.
Kabuto smiled at Madara. "Hai… Madara-sama."
Whew! Finally finished this. Please do review =)