Sasuke Uchiha done had a pretty good idea as to where his brother Itachi Uchiha would show up to face him in the epic battle they were both waiting for so many years and that is where he was headed with the rest of Team Hawk at this very moment.
Naruto Uzumaki's rather large team had also set out in the same direction having picked up small traces of Sasuke's scent but due to some very cleaver thinking on Karin's part, Naruto and his pals were chasing dead-ends since Team Hawk had Juugo's birdy pals flying around with small straps of Sasuke's clothing in order to distract the Hidden Leaf members because they were fully aware of them trying to find Sasuke and take him back to their Village, Something no member of Team Hawk wanted.
While traveling throughout the woodland area to get to the hideout where Itachi sent a message to Sasuke to meet him at; One of Naruto's many clones just happened to going by in the opposite direction spotting Team Hawk by complete accident. Sasuke took it upon himself to use his Chidori taking out the clone in one quick movement but not before the clone registered their whereabouts sending that location to the original Naruto Uzumaki.
"What the hell was that?" asked Suigetsu as the clone disappeared before their eyes.
"You idiot, It was clearly a Shadow Clone...Geez, use your brain for something other then pissing me off." answered Karin before reaching over and slapping Suigetsu.
"I knew it was a Shadow Clone you stuck up Bitch, I meant more like who was it?" responded Suigetsu before ducking behind Juugo getting out of Karin's reach.
"That's enough you two, Forget about him, He doesn't matter...Just keep moving." commanded Sasuke who was in front of them hanging onto Charlotte Faith. She knew exactly who that was and something inside of her was telling her to seek out Naruto for some reason.
Once they reach the area where Itachi's shadow clone told Sasuke to meet him, Karin started to warn them of a massive amount of chakra she felt nearby and it was coming at them quickly. No sooner then she said that another member of the The Akatsuki Organization, Itachi Uchiha's partner Kisame Hoshigaki appeared.
"Hey, I know you." called out Suigetsu while staring down the blade Kisame held in his shark like hands for it was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist's blade, The one called Samehada or Shark's Skin.
However Kisame seemed to ignore him as he said instead:"Only Sasuke may go behind here...Itachi's orders, So that's way It's gonna be...All the rest of you are welcomed to stay here with me and I don't want to have to fight you but I will if you try to do anything."
"Oh come on Sasuke, Let's just take this fool down and go after Itachi together." tried to reason Karin.
"No, All of you stay put...This vendetta is mine alone to bare Karin, All of you have done your part by getting me here but the rest is up to me and me alone." Sasuke then took off behind Kisame leaving the rest of his team behind to go battle his brother which was long overdue.
Suddenly Suigetsu called out a challenge to Kisame, Wanting to pit his Executioner's Blade against The Shark Shin. Kisame who knew Suigetsu from way back when was more then delighted to accept and thus those two want into battle right then and there. While they tested out the power of their blades Charlotte Faith used their distraction to slip off unnoticed on her own because every since she seen Naruto Uzumaki something inside of her would not stop nagging her to go find him.
Both Team 7 and Team 8 had met up together once Naruto filled them in on the location his clone spotted Sasuke Uchiha and now they stood in a clearing of sorts about to head into the very same wooden area where Team Hawk was headed. They were standing there discussing the best route to take when every one of them heard movement along the trees in front of them.
The Ninja Hound Akamaru barked up a storm before rushing off knocking his master Kiba Inuzuka onto his backside. He raced up to one of the bigger trees barking up at it only for the sitting dark cloaked figure to raise her hand putting her finger to her lips shhhing him, instantly the big dog want silent.
Naruto Uzumaki could feel his insides burning as he got closer to Charlotte Faith, The Nine Tails was trying his hardest to take him over and Naruto had to fight it with all he had. Faith being who she is was fully aware of the Kyuubi's plan so as the cloak of charka started to form around Naruto threatening to take him over she looked away from the big white dog below her to the teenager who was already at 4 tails as Yamato struggled to contain the 5th tail from coming on out.
"Return" called out Faith and just like that the tails receded back into Naruto turning him back into a teenage boy rather then a mini fox demon.
"What the hell is going on here and Akamaru get back over him right this minute boy...She's the enemy for crying out loud!" demanded Kiba as he stood up rubbing his bum. Only his dog ignored his demand and stayed right where he was near Faith wagging his tail staring up at her from below.
"I believe that would be Charlotte Faith of the Land of Steel, Kiba and you are right she is considered an Enemy of her country allot of people are looking for this young woman...She's wanted for Theft and Murder and is also considered highly dangerous, So do not underestimate her." said Yamato as he moved over to check on Naruto, He couldn't believe how easy this woman controlled the Nine Tails when he could do nothing.
Faith pulled back her hood reviling her face to them since they done knew who she was there was no point in hiding her appearance any longer. After the gasps want away she attempted to speak again, however before she could say anything Kakashi Hatake moved closer towards her making her put on hold what she was going to say.
"I'm Kakashi Hatake of the Hidden Leaf and I am the Captain of this squad...As the Captain, I feel it is my duty to ask why you came out here when you knew good and well that you are being haunted...As matter of fact, It is part of our duty as Leaf Ninja to arrest you on sight due to our agreement with the Iron-Fist Kingdom."
At the mention of the Iron-Fist Kingdom, Faith stood up as her panic started to take a hold of her. She quickly looked about her for any signs of Christian Fate and his Knights.
"Not going back...None of you understand..." She didn't say anything after that.
The Royal Knights may not of appeared near her but someone else did, Another member of the Akatsuki, the masked man Tobi.
"Hellooo There, My name's Tobi...Nice to meet you, Faith...We heard so much about you in the Akatsuki that I just had to meet the real you for myself, HeeHee"
He appeared hanging upside from the branch above her head coming face to face with her which scared her enough that she lost her balance and fell out of the tree she was in, Luckily for her Akamaru was still down below and he moved under her letting Faith land on his soft furred body instead of the hard ground. She quickly rolled off the dog as to not hurt him any more than was necessary and sat there beside him petting his head looking up at the newest person to join this little conversation.
Kakashi Hatake signaled both his teams to be on guard, then he moved even closer to Charlotte Faith now that the Akatsuki was involved because he had a feeling that she was not apart of them and from the way Tobi was talking his feeling was correct. It almost sounded like he was there to recruit her into the Akatsuki Organization.
"Ooohhh Look at all the Leaf Ninjas...Faith, surely you are not thinking of leaving Sasuke for these bunch of weirdos." called out Tobi from up in the tree where she was just minutes ago.
"What Sasuke, You're apart of Sasuke's group?" asked Sakura Haruno.
Faith looked at the pink haired girl and nodded her head yes before finally standing up from her fall. It was no big deal for her because she was used to it being the klutz that she was. She stood there taking in all the people surrounding her and that's when she noticed Hinata Hyuga had her Byakugan activated.
Charlotte moved like the wind grabbing up the unsuspecting girl by the white cloak she was wearing like all the rest of the Leaf Shinobi; freaking her and all the other Konoha Ninjas out."Sorry, It's just...Your eyes...Never seen anyone else...With my eye..." Faith released her and then reached up pulling her eye-patch off showing Hinata her own Byakugan educed eye.
"T-That's N-Not P-Possible...O-Only the Hyuga Clan are S-Supposed to have Byakugan..." Hinata said in her soft shy voice.
"Look at the rest of her eye Hinata, It's like my Sharingan, scar and all...Someone surgically implanted that eye into her, It is not of natural causes like yours." of course that came from Kakashi Hatake who had the very scared eye he was talking about out in plain sight.
Charlotte Faith didn't respond to that but the expression on her face was enough to let everyone there know Kakashi's words had truth behind them, Faith just put her eye-patch back over her eye and moved away from Hinata Hyuga this time going to Kakashi Hatake instead. She studied his eye for a long while, at one point she reached her gloved hand up almost as if she was going to touch his face only for at the last second to bring it back down as she turned away from him to face Naruto Uzumaki for Faith heard the call of the Nine Tails in her head.
When she turned around she also seen the Nine Tails taking over Naruto again, it was already at 6 tails and in almost complete control of Naruto. As a matter of fact very little could be seen of the boy all that was recognizable was that of the tailed fox sitting on his hind-legs baring his fangs at the other Ninja especially the woodstyle user Yamato and the Masked Akatsuki member Tobi both of which the Kyuubi disliked for various reasons.
As Charlotte was walking to the Nine Tails, Yamato was behind her readying his hand signs to try and restrain the Kyuubi with his wooden prison when he felt Kakashi Hatake grabbing his hands stopping their motions.
"Wait, I want to see what happens next for myself but stay alert and if the Kyuubi gets any more tails then the 6 he already has, Stop it by any means." Kakashi then let go of Yamato and watched along with the others there as Charlotte Faith got closer to the glowing Fox Demon.
To all of their surprises the Fox started grinning and then began to speak out loud so that every one of them could hear him as well as Faith.
" Well it is not every day I get the chance to talk, Thanks to that damn Wood-Style user and that moron that they chose to be my host this time, Naruto Uzumaki...I swear a rock has more brain cells then that kid but that is beside the point...Master Faith do not trust these mortals...None of them want what is best for you and all of them just want to take advantage of your gifts in one way or another, Especially that damn mask wearing Akatsuki Bastard...I think I hate him the most out all the pathetic humans standing before us...Promise me you will NOT join him for any reason."
Charlotte Faith didn't say anything she just wrapped one of her arms around the Nine-Tails neck before looking up at Tobi who was just standing there watching her every move but the vibe she was receiving from him was unnerving to say the least.
"She must have some sort of Beast Mastery Skill and It's amazing how she can touch the Kyuubi, Why you may ask because there is not a trace of Chakra that me or my insects can detect within her body but yet somehow she has abilities that revile if not surpasses some of us Shinobi that are here right now...Hinata, I bet even you were not able to see any Chakra with your Byakugan."
That came from Shino Aburame who found himself having trouble controlling his own insects due to how close Faith was to him but once Hinata shook her head No proving what he already knew to be true Shino continued talking:
"As I suspected and it would also explain why Akamaru has decided to disobey Kiba...However, all of this is pointless...She has yet to try and attack ether one of us, So I say we focus our energy on the Akatsuki member since their entire Organization is out to destroy the world and the fact that the Kyuubi distrusts him is more then enough for me to take action, Besides wasn't the entire point of this Mission was to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha."
Shino then lifted both his arms high into the air sending out a swarm of insects forming them around Tobi into a bug spear hoping to take away some of Tobi's Chakra. It looked like Shino had been successful in stopping Tobi but once the insects dispersed Tobi appeared completely unfazed laughing at the Leaf Ninjas still up in the tree.
"Ha Ha, That tickled but Ewww bugs why did it have to be bugs...I hate bugs!"
He vanished and appeared near Faith again only for the Kyuubi to swing all six of his tails at him causing him to retreat back up into the safety of the tree.
"He is just toying with us Shino but I do think you are right and we should focus on this Tobi putting Faith aside for now...He clearly came here for other reasons, It's almost as if he is trying to stop us from reaching Sasuke for some reason...Faith, I know you have no reason to trust any of us but could you please return Naruto to his normal form because we are probably going to need his help."
That came from Kakashi who just noticed that the only eyehole in Tobi's orange masked was a Sharingan like his own. Charlotte nodded her head in agreement because unlike the vibe she got from Tobi, Kakashi Hatake was entirely the opposite for some reason so found herself wanting to trust in him.
"Return." demanded Faith and the Nine Tails although it was clear from the look on his demon face that he hated the very idea of having to be back inside of Naruto Uzumaki; his outer 6 tailed cloak dissolved forcing him back into his prison returning Naruto back to his normal self.
Naruto, now laid in Charlotte's arms since she still had her arm around the Nine-Tails before he returned. He opened his deep blue eyes staring right at her, he even managed to put a small smile on his face which made Faith quickly drop him to the ground and she backed away slowly, letting Sakura go to work trying to heal up Naruto as best she could.
After many failed attacks all of which want right through Tobi and just when the Leaf Ninja were becoming desperate not to mention out of options, Suddenly the tree branch Tobi was standing on started to shake and up grew this two toned white and black plant like man wearing the same Akatsuki cloak and the darker side of him started talking loud enough for everyone there to hear:
"The battle is over, Susake was the victor...Itachi is dead, However Sasuke was badly wounded and barley hanging onto his life."
Tobi's voice became deeper and less playful now as he said:
"It seems our time has come to an end Leaf Ninja but mark my words our paths will cross again and it will not be as pleasant...Faith, you may not agree to go with me at this moment, which is fine for the time being because it does not matter for you will join up with Akatsuki when the time comes even if it has to be done by force, then so be it."
With those chilling words Tobi disappeared into thin air as Zetsu want back into the tree from whence he came leaving only Charlotte Faith and the Konoha Ninjas behind.