Disclaimer: No more how hard I wish, I will never own Naruto or any of the characters. Only Kai and my little OC village.

Chapter 4: Secret's Out, You're Cool with Akatsuki

Author's Note: Guys, I'm not good with fight sequences, like at all, forgive me.

Kai felt like she was racing against time, which technically she was, but this time she feared that she wouldn't make it. The rapid thumping in her chest it was from the anxiety building up in her at the thought, the mere thought of losing them. Kakuzu and Hidan. When Pein had told her what had happened, how south things were going for her two teammates she'd gone running to find and save them.

From the minute he walked out of her room she'd known danger was rising. Of course it was always rising when one of them went out on a mission because no matter how strong they were there was always a possibility that it could be their last mission. She was adamant about this not being their last mission. She needed them. They were two of the missing pieces that were making her feel whole again. They were her lovers, her teammates, but most importantly her friends.

She remembered the arguments she and Hidan had. The laughs and sinister jokes they told each other. She remembered the financial lessons from Kakuzu, which was one of the only times that she could truly see his human side. Such affection and care when he talked about money. God that man loved his money. She refused to let those good times stop here. She would bring both of them back no matter what happened. Leaping from tree branch to tree branch she paused only for a minute to close her eyes and search the land for their familiar chakra signatures. She found Hidan's first. His chakra was fluctuating. She could sense the small amount of fear in him, but most of all she could sense the anger pouring off his body. Which wasn't really a big difference concerning him.

Kai ran off in his direction. It was getting harder and harder to feel her feet beneath her. It was almost like she was flying at this point. In the distance, she could see it. She could him briefly. Strung up by wire and some Leaf shinobi standing before him. Did he even recognize she was coming? Was he expecting her? Did he have some kind of trap? All these questions building up in her head. She needed answers just as badly as she needed to save Hidan.

She decided that instead of running head on, she would attack from behind. Quickly masking her chakra she ran off in the opposite direction. Readying a shuriken in her hand as she approached her target. His hands began moving and it was only then that she noticed the paper bombs that were tagged all over Hidan. He was planning to blow up the immortal man. Kai's normally beautiful and calm face slid into an aggressive snarl and springing from the leaves in the trees she launched the shuriken at the boy's head. He dodged it, which she expected, but it didn't matter because he'd jumped right in front of a clone that kicked him and sent him flying back into a tree.

The original Kai stood away from Hidan's hanging, cursing figure now as she examined the situation. There was a giant whole beneath it, most likely for burial. "Kai! What the fuck are you waiting for!? Get me the hell down from here so I can kill that little son of a bitch!" Hidan yelled at her.

"Really Hidan?" She hissed. "I bet this is probably the same reason you're in this mess! Your stupid hot headedness! You can't ever think before you do something can you!?"

"Are you kidding me right now?! We don't have time for this shit!"

"Who, the heck, are you?" Kai heard. The voice speaking to her now was raspy. Probably the boy recovering from the blow. Kai peered at him from over her shoulder.

"My name is Kai Miashi. I'm Akatsuki, as you can see, and I'm here to save my partner. That's all you need to know." The silvery eyed woman turned and began to slowly approach the dark haired boy. She kneeled in front of him and allowed her eyes to ghost into a stark white. His own brown eyes widened in return.

"W-what is that?!" He gasped.

"This, is my kekkei genkai. The torinnegan. Beautiful, isn't it?" Kai's hand slowly moved towards the boys head. He'd fight back if he could, but he couldn't. He couldn't move his limbs. He was entranced by her. 'Release him' her voice echoed in his head. She was entering regions of his mind that he didn't know existed, she was controlling him. She was manipulating him. She stood and he stood with her facing the silver haired Akatsuki member who was smirking smugly. His hand was shakily grabbing a kunai. Was he actually going to let this man go? Apparently he was because he couldn't seem to stop himself as he sliced through the wires.

Hidan fell to the bottom of the pit and whipped his cloak off ridding himself of all the paper bombs. He jumped out of the pit in the ground and grinned at Kai. Boy was he happy to see her. She always seemed to have perfect timing.

While Hidan was marveling over how lucky he was, Shikamaru was reeling about what was to become of him. If he died here, he would never be able to keep his promise to Asuma sensei and look after Kurenai and their child. Was Lady Tsunade right? Was his revenge mission way too soon?

"Shikamaru." She said quietly. "You know of the jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki, correct?" Shikamaru found himself shaking his head yes. "I see. Are you friends with this boy?" Once again he found himself nodding. "Right. Then, I will let you live. Only because I made a promise not to hurt Konoha or Naruto. If I were to kill you, I would hurt him. But head my warning Shikamaru. Do not play with my teammates lives again."

"Shikamaru!" Someone screamed. Three pairs of eyes looked to their right, left, and straight ahead of them to notice a pink haired girl and a dark haired, deathly pale boy running straight for them. More Leaf shinobi.

"Stop!" Kai yelled arming herself with a kunai. "Come any closer and I'll kill your friend." It was a bluff, but it wasn't like they knew that.

"What do you want with Shikamaru?" The pink haired girl questioned.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm protecting my partner." The blonde scowled.

"Protecting your partner? That lowlife asshole killed our sensei," she retorted, "he doesn't deserve to live!"

"Aw boo hoo bitch! Fuck you!" Hidan spat. "You little Leaf shinobi keep crying over spilled milk! Get the hell over it! So I killed that ugly bastard, you act like you don't have blood on your hands!" Sakura gasped at the outburst from Hidan. Was he trying to compare her to him? Because screw him if he was. She was nothing like him and how dare he even try to make the match.

"He's right. There is a comparison." Kai said reading the girl's mind. "You kill 'bad' people, because it's your job. We kill people in general because it is our job. We are all just following orders and trying to accomplish a common goal. You kill to keep your village safe, we kill to get what we need to eventually make the world a better place. World peace. Wouldn't that be nice Sakura Haruno? Sai?"

"How did you?"

"I don't have time to explain my visual prowess to you all. Ask Naruto about it, when you return to your village. At this moment, I must save my other teammate. Hidan, let's go. Get your scythe."

XXX

So things weren't quite going the way he'd planned when he got here. His first rasenshuriken had been a fail. Now Naruto was trying to figure out just what the hell he was gonna do. He was beat up, he was tired, his body ached all over, and this guy was strong. What would happen if he couldn't pull it off? Would they all be killed? He couldn't disgrace Asuma like that. He couldn't Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru down. They were counting on him to kill this bastard.

It was settled then. He would do it again. He would play it smarter. He created more shadow clones and faced his opponent head on. The threads completely taking over this man's body now. He was a demon, a monster. But Naruto wasn't going to let that stop him. He didn't even see it coming. The fake out, the overhead attack. The impact. He could feel his rasenshuriken tearing through the flesh of his enemy.

And then he felt a familiar presence. A presence that overwhelmed him with doubt and questioning. Was it her? Had she come back to save this man? Naruto waited for the smoke to clear before he turned around and sure enough standing in the middle of the battle arena was the woman from before. With her, another Akatsuki. Most likely the partner of the Akatsuki he'd just hit. Did this mean Shikamaru, Sakura, and I, were they all dead?

"It's you!" He pointed. The sudden movement made his body quake. That jutsu took a lot out of him. He collapsed to his knees feeling his lids grow heavy. No, it was entirely too soon for him to pass out now.

"Naruto." She said somberly. Even through his haze, he could see her eyes. They were void of emotion this time. No pupils, just white. He dropped his gaze. He knew the sharingan well enough that he figured he probably shouldn't look at her directly either.

"You-you've come to take your friends huh?" He questioned. He knew what her answer was without even needing an answer.

"Indeed I have. I'm sorry that you went through all this trouble, but you'll be leaving empty handed today." Naruto collapsed on his stomach. His chin was the only propping his head up. His vision blurred more. He blacked out as her noticed her hand raising towards his friends. He came back to and noticed the bright light that came from her palm. He blacked out again. He came to one more time to see his friends unconscious and the man picking up Kakuzu while she held his scythe. Then he blacked out for good and they were gone.

XXX

Naruto woke up in the hospital. Tsunade was in his room staring down at him. He could read her eyes. She wanted answers.

"How do you know her?" Was first. Naruto went on to tell her about the confusing night he'd had when she'd appeared out of nowhere and just talked calmly to him.

"What is her name?" Was next. Naruto told her that he didn't know, she'd never told him.

"Why didn't you tell me Naruto?" Was the final question. Naruto didn't know what to say to that at first. After a moment of silence he told the blonde Hokage that he just didn't know how. He didn't know how to make it as innocent as it was without someone thinking he was lying, imagining it, or a traitor because it would be his luck.

"Well, at least you're all okay." Tsunade said.

"Huh? All of us? Even Shikamaru and the others?" He asked. She nodded. "Kakashi sensei? I thought, I saw her, but, granny Tsunade I'm confused. I swear I saw her use some type of jutsu and kill them."

"No. She used a jutsu alright, but she didn't kill them. She just knocked them all unconscious. Shikamaru and the other two were unharmed. Shikamaru just finished telling me about her kekkei genkai before I came to check on you. It's a strong visual prowess, but he doesn't know everything about it. Sakura said that the girl, Kai, Shikamaru called her, told her to question you about it. So spill, what do you know?"

Naruto gulped. He knew he wasn't in any kind of trouble, but just talking about it weirded him out because it reminded him of how out of control he was whenever she was around.

"Her eyes, when they're all white, it's like she's got a mixture of the byukugan, the sharingan, and the mind transfer jutsu from the Yamanaka clan. She can see everything, she can enhance her skills, and she can control your mind." He explained. "But, there's a limit to her ability. If she overuses her eyes she can fall into temporary paralysis and even just using them makes her extremely exhausted and vulnerable." He remembered her words. "I don't imagine she uses them a lot."

"Hm, I see." Tsunade said. Her eyes were closed and she gripped her chin nodding thoughtfully. "It's the torinnegan. When I was younger, I was always told that it was a fable, a myth. What it actually is, is a forbidden eye jutsu belonging to the Miashi clan. It's extremely effective, but the user can only possess these eyes for 30 minutes at a time before undergoing the paralysis which lasts for a total of 15 minutes."

"Hey, granny? Do you know anything about this chick? Anything other than her kekkei genkai?" Naruto asked hoping for answers to some of his own deeper questions.

"Well, I know that she's the rogue ninja that Tsugakure has been searching for, for months now." She informed him. "She's wanted for the murder of their Kikage. Rumor has it, if she isn't found and brought to justice they'll annihilate her entire clan for conspiring with her."

The blonde boy's eyes widened with disbelief. Was she serious? What he was hearing sounded awful. How could they judge a whole clan based on the actions of one person? It wasn't fair.

"Granny Tsunade, you can't let them do that. You can let Tsugakure kill all those innocent people because of her!" Tsunade sighed at the young boy.

"Naruto, there's nothing I can do. It's none of my business and don't you think I've tried? The Kikage just won't listen to reason. He's furious at his brothers' death and he wants them to pay. This doesn't affect the Leaf in any way so I can't get involved. Besides, we've got bigger things to deal with. Like your new jutsu for instance. I examined your body and your chakra network while you sleeping." She stopped there leaving her next statement open. Naruto could feel the anxiety creeping up his throat. What was it? What was she gonna tell him? Whatever it was, he knew it was bad.

"Naruto, I'm afraid I can't allow you to use that jutsu anymore." She said somberly with her head hung. "It's killing you and if you use it again, you'll only continue to shorten your lifespan. I won't allow that to happen Naruto. Do you understand?" The nine tails jinchuriki didn't respond. He was crushed. This new jutsu, the rasenshuriken, it seemed like a sure fire way to finally be stronger than Sasuke. Strong enough to bring him home and now he couldn't even use it. Dammit, why was life so unfair to him?

XXX

Deidara's mood soured immediately upon Kakuzu and Hidan's return. He watched Kai as she worked to heal Kakuzu's injuries slowly. The man seemed to be in a lot of pain to the blonde boy's pleasure. Whatever jutsu that kid had used on him did some serious damage. Kakuzu would out of commission. For a while too. Now there was just the matter of Hidan walking around perfectly fine. Well, not perfectly, but he wasn't in any way too far injured to recover quickly.

If they would both just die, then he wouldn't have to sit back and share his love for Kai with them. It would just be between he and Itachi and everyone knew that Itachi was ill. He would die of his own accord sooner or later. Maybe from sickness, maybe from Sasuke, Deidara didn't care, but he just wanted the older Uchiha gone.

"Hey little girl," Hidan teased, "why don't you make yourself useful and fetch me a fucking sandwich. I'm starving over here."

"Get your own sandwich asshole and I'm not a girl you idiot, hn." Deidara snorted. Kai leered at the two from over her shoulder before turning her attention back to Kakuzu. Deidara didn't care to watch this process any longer. He quickly walked off down the hall and to his room, ignoring Tobi's cries to spend time with him along the way.

When he entered the room, Sasori was seated on the floor cleaning one of his newest puppets. The short blonde dropped to the floor next to him most ungracefully and began watching the puppet master. It took all of 2 seconds for Sasori to get upset with him for staring.

"Oh c'mon Sasori, my man. I just wanna watch, hn. Nothing interesting going on out there anyways." Deidara smirked.

"Nothing interesting? I find Kai's healing techniques quite interesting." Sasori didn't have a soft spot for Kai like his younger counterpart, but he acknowledged the girls power and strength. After all, it was her who reanimated him after his defeat at the hands of the pink haired kunoichi from the Hidden Leaf and Granny Chiyo.

"Whatever. It's only interesting when she's healing cool people like you…or me. Never anyone else."

"Really Deidara," Sasori sighed, "you sound like a child throwing a tantrum. Grow up. She's in love with Itachi anyways."

"So screw him too. What does she see in him anyways? He's like…a grandpa or something! There's nothing interesting about him, he doesn't do anything cool, he doesn't appreciate good art, he's an idiot! Hmph, I have so much more to offer her, hn."

"Other than your sexual desires, what can you offer her?" Deidara's eyes narrowed towards the messy red haired man/boy. Sasori was always a critic. He was a critic of Deidara's fighting style, he was a critic of Deidara's art, he was a critic of his hair and he was a critic of his 'uproarious' behavior.

"Happiness, hn." He bit. The blonde believed the words very much too. He wasn't as oblivious as everyone seemed to think he was. He was very observant and he paid attention to the little details that others overlooked. He could tell the difference between Kai's fake laugh and her real laugh. He could tell her slight body signals that described when she was happy, sad, pissed, horny, annoyed, bored, or when she just didn't give a crap. Whenever she was with him, she was only ever happy. She never fake laughed and she never seemed like she was uncomfortable.

There were numerous times, that he'd kept track of, where she would be watching television with Zetsu and would shift uncomfortable in her spot when he'd start talking about being hungry or when his dark side would argue with his light side. Or like the time when Sasori looked at her and outright told her that she would make a wonderful puppet to add to his collection.

There was also the time when Kisame had tried making a series of jokes that no one was laughing at, and out of sympathy, she stood there with him and laughed at them all no matter how stupid they were. He could even see the slight twitch of her eye when Tobi started to really work her nerves, unfortunately then he would apologize and claim to be a good boy and her mood would change and she would instantly forgive him for his annoying childlike tendencies, but fact of the matter was, she never got angry or annoyed with Deidara. She never had to fake her emotions and she trusted him. They had a bond. A bond that he coveted. A bond that he wouldn't give up for anything.