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Naruto had been left to work on regaining his chakra control. Kabuto had shown him the water walking excercise and told him to do it until he could stay on top for an hour. Naruto sighed. This was a setback in his plans. Kabuto had made sure that he wouldn't so much as get to see another jutsu until he could do it. He reasoned that he did need good chakra control to do what he was planning on doing, but getting it was going to take a while. He fell through the water again. It didn't help his concentration that he had a giant chakra fox laughing in his head.
He was so preoccupied with his training that he didn't notice them until they were practically on top of him. He dodged half a dozen shuriken and spun around, falling through the water again "Damn it!" He looked for his attackers. There were two shinobi in straw hats with strips hanging from them and black coats with red clouds. Naruto recognized one when they looked up.
"Itachi, why are you here?"
Itachi said "You're coming with us."
Naruto said "No, I'm not." He glanced around. He was sure Kabuto, Orochimaru, or someone reporting to them was watching him.
Itachi frowned "I'm not going to take no as an answer. If you will not come willingly, you will come unconscious."
Naruto was frustrated. Orochimaru had spies all around. He couldn't talk to Itachi, not if he was going to gain the trust of the snake. He said "I've decided to join the sound village. I chose not to join Akatsuki."
Itachi looked the boy in the eye. There was something going on underneath the surface. Who looked around, taking his eyes off the enemy when it could get him killed? His sharingan spun.
Naruto found himself tied to a crucifix with Itachi in front of him. He said "Where am I? Is this a genjutsu?" He thought that it was, but it wouldn't dispell.
Itachi said "This is tsukiyomi. We will be here for the next 72 hours and you will tell me what you're up to."
Naruto said "It's not going to take that long, but how long will it be out there?"
"Less than a minute."
"Impressive technique."
Itachi said "It's an ability of the sharingan."
"Oh."
"Talk."
Naruto said "Right."
Around a minute later, outside, Naruto staggered backwards. Itachi struck out at him. He cried "I'm not going with you!"
Itachi scowled. "Then I'll take you by force." He ran at him, performing handsigns, hitting him with a fireball and sending Kisame behind him with his sword. Naruto just managed to dodge them both. He said "You won't take me alive!" and activated the seal. Naruto swung out fast and caught Itachi on the shoulder, spinning him around and knocking him into a boulder. Then Kisame attacked. Naruto mostly dodged, wary of the sword. Then Kisame had him trapped and swung his sword...
Itachi said "Stop, Kisame." Kisame stopped. Itachi said "I used up too much energy on the tsukiyomi."
Kisame looked at the kid "He doesn't look like somebody whose just been tortured."
Itachi said " The curse seal restored him, for now. We'll be back, later." He turned and left. Kisame followed.
When they had gotten a ways away, Kisame said "You were the one who said the leader would kill us if we came back without the kid..."
Itachi said "I'll talk to the leader."
Kisame looked at his partner and shook his head "I'm holdin' ya to that." They shushined.
Naruto made the curse seal recede and panted. For good effect, he fell over like he had passed out. He was tired anyway. It drained him using the curse seal, but keeping control over it at the same time.
Kabuto and Orochimaru had seen the whole thing through the vision of a henge'd bushin of Kabuto's. "Ku ku ku ku look at that."
"It seems he has passed out."
"He was tortured by the Uchiha."
"Why did he leave? It seemed he was intent on taking the jinchuriki."
Orochimaru said "He used the tsukiyomi. It takes a lot of energy."
Kabuto frowned. He still didn't like this.
Orochimaru said "And you said he wouldn't be loyal."
Kabuto frowned again. 'I still don't think he is, but it is true that he did not leave when given a chance.' "Perhaps you are right, Orochimaru-sama."
"Go get him and put him in his room."
"Hai." Kabuto left and picked up the boy, dropping him in the room and leaving.
Naruto thought 'I wonder if he's realized that I've faked being unconscious yet.' He waited to open his eyes until he could no longer hear the footsteps. 'I hope that satisfied them of my loyalty. I don't want to have to go through all those excercises and then have to spend all that time getting him to trust me.' He decided to be still and think for now, in case he was being watched. He was up the next morning, back on the water, training to get back his control. He spent the next week on it.
Meanwhile...
Itachi and Kisame made it back to the Akatsuki hideout.
Kisame said "Ok, you go tell him."
Itachi said "Fine." He went off to see the leader. Kisame went to his room, nervous, expecting to be summoned by the leader any second.
"Come in, Itachi."
Itachi went in.
The man turned around in his chair "I do not see him, Itachi. You have one minute to explain yourself."
Itachi said "He will come, leader-sama."
"I wanted him here now, Uchiha. Where is he?"
Itachi restrained himself from flinching at the growing anger in the leader's voice. He was dangerous to piss off. "He is with Orochimaru right now."
"What?!"
"Let me explain..."
The leader listened to the plan Itachi told him. His anger became replaced by growing interest and satisfaction. 'An interesting plan you have there, nephew. You seem to have taken more after me than your father.' He said "That is fine. When his plan comes to fruition, I want you to make sure he gets here without any trouble, understand?"
Itachi nodded "How will I know when..."
The leader interrupted "I will take care of that. Go." Itachi left the office. He wondered why he was so intent on bringing back the jinchuriki. Yes, they were capturing the vessels, but it seemed almost...personal. He went back to his room. Kisame stopped him on the way.
"So..."
Itachi said "I took care of it. You can relax."
Kisame said "But..." Itachi turned to glare at him. "Okay, I believe you. It's just weird."
Itachi said "Don't mention it anymore. Understand?" Kisame nodded. Itachi went into his room.
In sound...
Kabuto watched Naruto. He was sitting down on top of the water and he had been there for quite a while. That he was sitting impressed him. Sitting down was so much harder than standing. Not only did you have to release chakra from you feet in as steady stream, but from your legs as well. He looked at the timer he had set. An hour and ten minutes. He went out.
Naruto kept his eyes closed, though he heard Kabuto approach. "Has it been an hour already?" He opened his eyes when Kabuto was standing in front of him and stood up. "Can I do something else now? I could do this in my sleep."
Kabuto thought 'arrogant brat.' He said "What do you have in mind?"
Naruto thought 'I'll have to start off small.' "How about some medic techniques, Kabuto-san?"
Kabuto looked at the boy. What was he up to? Medical techniques weren't his style. "Why? You don't need help healing, the kyuubi does that."
Naruto said "I meant the other ones."
Kabuto smirked "I see. Well, shall I demonstrate then? How about shosen jutsu?"
Naruto said "Mystical Palm technique. That's used for healing, isn't it?"
Kabuto said "It can be used to cut as well, transforming the user's hands into weapons. Shall I demonstrate?"
Orochimaru walked out "Demonstrate on a dummy. I don't want you damaging him internally. It will take too long to heal."
Kabuto said "How about a bushin?"
"Fine."
Kabuto turned to Naruto. "Make a kage bushin." Naruto did. Kabuto looked at the bushin and motioned it in front of him. "Shosen jutsu." He hit the bushin about six times. Naruto just got to see the dozens of cuts develop and the blood starting to come out of the mouth when the clone dissipated. Naruto flinched despite himself when he recieved the memory. It was a brutal technique. He asked "But you'd have to know exactly where and what you were hitting to do fatal damage."
Kabuto said "I do."
"How?" Naruto asked, though he suspected he knew.
"My medical books."
"Can I see?"
"Why?" Kabuto looked at him suspiciously.
Naruto said "I won't be able to do the technique right if I don't know where to hit."
Kabuto said "When are you planning on using this technique?"
Naruto said "When sound invades leaf again."
Kabuto looked at Orochimaru, who frowned. "Where did you hear that?"
Naruto said "Nowhere. I had some time to think while I've been training my chakra control and you were testing Leaf's strength before, right?" He looked for a reaction from Orochimaru, who showed none. He went on "And my fight with Gaara messed things up and you decided to recruit me. I'm assuming you're still going to invade."
Orochimaru smiled "Astute child. I wouldn't have expected that amount of reasoning from you. Yes, I am. Does that bother you?"
Naruto said "Everyone from Leaf hates my guts. Why would it bother me?"
Orochimaru laughed. Naruto asked "Orochimaru-sama...when are you going to resurrect my father?"
Orochimaru said "After the invasion."
Naruto thought 'Crap. That'll be too late.' He said "Wouldn't it be better to do it before? Can you imagine the looks on their faces when they see that one of their greatest heroes is under the control of one of their greatest enemies?"
Orochimaru laughed again "I like the way you think."
Kabuto looked at him. Why was he trying to convince Orochimaru to do it beforehand? If it was for that simple a reason, he could show off to them later. He kept his mouth shut, though. Orochimaru seemed to be satisfied with the loyalty of the jinchuriki, even if he was not.
Orochimaru said "Right before the invasion then."
"When is that going to be?"
Orochimaru smirked "Don't worry. I'll let you know. Kabuto, let him see your medical books, but make sure he stays out of my library."
"Hai, Orochimaru-sama. C'mon, gaki."
Naruto followed Orochimaru. He wasn't happy with his answer, but he could still make it work.
With the 11 nin from Konoha...
All had finished with their missions days ago and met up near Sound, but they couldn't find even Orochimaru, much less Naruto. Neji and Hinata had been working on it since they met up yesterday. There was some kind of shielding up around the buildings that kept them from seeing anything farther than the walls.
Hinata said "He's got to be in there somewhere."
Asuma said "We can't just rush in. There could be an army in there. We have to come up with a plan."
Shikamaru said "We need a way to infiltrate the buildings without getting caught. The walls wouldn't be shielded unless there was something behind them, though, so we need to be careful." He thought and turned to Shino. "Shino, could you send a few of your bugs into each building to conduct a search?"
Shino nodded. "I can do about six buildings at a time that way."
Shikamaru nodded. "Do that."
Sakura asked "What then?"
Shikamaru said "We can't do anything until we know where they're keeping him."
Ino asked "What if they find our camp before then?"
Kurenai said "They won't. This cave is well dug into the side of the cliff and I put up a genjutsu too."
Shikamaru said "But not on the surrounding area. The rest of us, excluding Shino, should stay in the cave."
Kiba said "Easy for you to say, ya lazy bum."
Shikamaru sighed "Believe me, I'd rather be outside looking at the clouds than in that stuffy cave, but it's not safe. Sound is rumored to have a good surveillance system and if we get caught, this mission being terminated is the least of our worries." Kiba paled and so did some of the others as they realized the meaning of his warning. The others followed him back inside the cave. Shino stayed outside, controlling his bugs. 'Uzumaki Naruto...we will find you.'
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So, what do you think? RnR and let me know. Ja ne.