AN:
cardcaptor eternity: Well, I agree it does sound kind of cool- and it's not that I'm looking for something that literally means dusk- but it's just I ended up liking the name enough to give up, I mean I found a few cool ones too. I decided the gain from a better name wasn't worth the loss of readership from people who got their update to a different story name than they remember, and cause it works as is- as they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it… besides, again, personally, I'd want to do the research for myself- I'm just stubborn like that. heh, I almost ended up renaming it at Naruto Shiroi (white, but elements in the kanji refer to the brightest point of dawn, since I was looking at dawn as more a twilight hour rather than its brightest point…) either way, thanks for the thought, but I've grown attached to the name, and the popularity it's gained…
xXxKIxXx: originally yes, but honestly, by now I'd forgotten, heh, I have a tendency to use characters and names in from my original stories in my Fanfiction- in fact a lot of my original characters started as Fanfiction characters that I liked so much I took their subplot and fit it into my original timeline. Zorn's name bounces back and forth between Zorn and Zane, sometimes he's Zane, sometimes his brother is- I'd have to check back to my original notes to be certain, but I think it's originally Zane and Zack. In fact Shiev is originally Shirei, but since I have a different version of Shirei already in the story, I stole her sister's name for her, and dropped her. But the reason I take my original plots and fit them into Fanfiction is it lets me play with them as sort of a rough draft…
DarkRavie: I always like Itachi myself, but I've sort of really attached myself to this progression of him, Me:Itachi Smirk: - Naruto:Shudder:
Serenity Maxwell: That's more what I saw at first, but you never know, somewhere under that crutch may blossom a true flower of love… We'll see as I write it… Besides, no matter how it forms, any love can become true love- and that's not just my hopeless romantic speaking, it stems from a more than a few conversations with other people happy in their current relationships after several failed ones.
Cardcaptor Eternity (2nd) (Deitachi): . where did I use Kazuku instead of Kakuzu? I already addressed the Oorachimaru issue... Deidara is an actual mistake though... Edit: found the one Kazuku problem- must've been a typo, fixed it and the Deidara thing… Also- as I didn't finish scrolling down because I saw the extra line as the end of the review- I didn't catch that this was you again until after I sent a reply… o,0; sorry…
Naruto Dusk has crossed 20k hits!
Holy cow my author notes are long this chapter 0,o;
End AN
"So tell me again why we're taking a team of six into Rain and calling small?"
"Because we're a team until the Chuunin exams are over," Naruto pointed to himself, Sakura, and Matsuri, "Itachi knows the way, and both you and Gaara are fellow Jinchuuriki, who should see this."
"Until the Chuunin exams, so what happens after that," Sakura asks.
Naruto turns with a flinch. "Ah- I don't mean it like that, I will come back… I'm not Sasuke."
Sakura smiled, but weakly, "I know you will, but, we'll we ever be a team again, Sasuke- Sasuke may never come back to us, even if we bring him back to the village, I know now. And you, you're destined to become Hokage- eventually…" Sakura looked down, "Where does that leave everyone else…"
"Where does that leave you," Naruto smiled reassuringly, "Even if we never again work together after this, we'll always be Team Seven. Sasuke's forgotten that, but we'll remind him."
"Shh," Itachi motioned for everyone to follow him. "Our guide will meet us further in, but until then we'll have to be very quiet."
"Guide," Shirei asked in a hushed voice.
"They're not very trusting; it took ages for me to convince them I wasn't just going to turn them in when I learned everything I thought I could."
Shirei frowned, "Even less reassuring, they're not going to try and blindfold us are they?"
"Not anymore, once they knew I was able to retrace the entire path step by step, they stopped bothering."
"Oh, how did they know?"
"I led the way blindfolded," Itachi smirked as he turned to face Shirei. Who again frowned, but turned away towards the others…
lyLYlyLYly
'So, he's bringing them,' Lyle smiled as he spotted the group coming past the one way mirrored corridor towards the main entryway. He looked straight at Itachi, and must have stared for too long, because Itachi looked back and smiled with a nod. Lyle turned and ran off quickly to meet them at the site.
Lyle stood waiting as Itachi led the group into the waiting chamber-
"AH! It's you!" Naruto observed loudly.
Lyle posed somewhat dramatically with a scoff, "I thought it might be you. I was very surprised to see a Jinchuuriki in the Chuunin exams."
"I'm full of surprises," Naruto said in a jokingly dismissive tone while rubbing his nose.
"Full of something alright," Sakura said, intentionally ruining his moment and pushing past him.
Lyle turned towards Itachi, "Our leader wishes to save you time, we're not leaving our home, and we won't release the demon to you just yet. We've been working on something with it for quite some time, and the plans enter final stages in about two weeks."
"She realizes I'm not longer in a position to hide your activities."
Lyle nodded, "Come back after the exams, we'll be more receptive then."
"Promise me one thing then, in that time you'll keep your activities back, so no one else can trace you."
"We planned that the moment whisper of your absence reached us."
Itachi nodded, "Then I won't press the issue until my return."
As they left Shirei turned to Itachi, "That was a waste of a trip."
"Not entirely, we learned they have plans for the demon, most likely they will attempt to make a Jinchuuriki."
Gaara looked up, "And you don't wish to prevent this?"
"The only way of doing so would bring Akatsuki's attention to this place, and I really don't wish to do that. Besides, living right under the shadow of Akatsuki's leadership, they are unlikely to treat a Jinchuuriki in such a way as to cause a scene."
Gaara was only somewhat satisfied by that remark, but let it drop, he was beginning to suspect Itachi was perhaps more pig-headed than Naruto, only quieter.
Sakura looked from Gaara to Itachi and only began to relax when Matsuri came up to Gaara and wrapped her arm under his. Sakura then turned more of her attention to Itachi. "We're just gathering the Jinchuuriki as well now aren't we? What happens when we succeed, after we defeat Akatsuki."
"Then it's up to the Jinchuuriki, they can go back to their respective lives if they want. But as long as Jinchuuriki exist, there will be people trying to use them; seeing them only as a means to an end."
"Your own goals aren't any different, are they."
"No, I suppose not, aside from the fact I'm asking, not taking. But Akatsuki is an extreme. The Leader plans to create weapons of mass destruction using the powers of the demons. I don't know if this is through the demons themselves, or through Jinchuuriki."
Sakura stepped a little closer, trying to see his face as he answered her questions, "Why do you always call Akatsuki's leader 'The Leader', don't you know his name?"
"His real one, no, even Kohan calls him by his self-invented name, Pain. He thinks of himself as evolved behind his humanity into a state of godhood. So you might imagine why I refuse to call him by the name of an invented deity."
Sakura looked down until they reached the end of the tunnel they'd been traveling, then Itachi spoke again, "We should hurry, if we want to make it back to the exams in time…"
AN:
Sorry for such a short chapter, but I want to start the battles fresh, so don't worry, more action to come in the next chapter…