NARUTO
Nox Noctis Ingredior
The Ame Orphans
"You know me," the masked, self-proclaimed Madara Uchiha spoke, glaring at the hooded woman with hate burning in his one visible Sharingan eye. The cloaked figure however, did not flinch one bit. "How is it that you know me…?"
"Because…Madara Uchiha is long dead, for that I am certain," the woman replied, tilting her head at the masked man. "Yet… here he is… standing before me like a ghost. A disgusting, bubbling, mass of hatred and malice…"
"But how can you be sure I really am or not Madara," the man asked, lowering his head, and pointing towards her, making sure she was always in plain sight of him. "You were born years after my time…Uchiha. No being in this land has knowledge of me."
"A full blooded, genius, adult Uchiha, well versed in the Sharingan, is a highly dangerous and fiercely perceptive opponent. Your lies and deceit will not work on me," the hooded figure replied, remaining where she stood. "My eyes see more then you can ever dream of."
"An Uchiha who survived the massacre all those years ago," Madara mused, giving the woman a bit more of a look over. "I was sloppy… because I seemed to have missed one. Still…I have very little knowledge of you; a female Uchiha who bears a mutated version of the Sharingan, an Uchiha unworthy of existence. You are an abnormality, a rogue ninja… an unknown anomaly. Name yourself!" He voice climbed to a degree of nervousness, and he was also becoming more demanding by the second.
This being seemed to scare him more then anything else in the world.
The woman chuckled and reached up, tiling her hood a little and flashing her strangely colored Sharingan, the tomoes spinning in her iris.
"You've finally met someone whom you have no knowledge of whatsoever," the figure giggled, showing no fear whatsoever. "It's starting to become clear to me now. You are nothing what you used to be. You are not Madara… you are just a puppet…"
The eyes behind the swirl-pattern mask flinched, and a sudden jolt in his chakra alerted the woman to danger.
"We're done here," the masked man stated, and in a blink of an eye, lunged at the young woman, Sharingan widening as he reached out to grab her.
The hooded figure responded instantly, a cluster of kunai suddenly appearing out of her right sleeve in between her fingers. She threw the barrage his way, only for every single blade to pass right through him. She stepped back, just as Madara was within arms reach, his hand inches away from the side of her face. He obviously had the intention to unmask her before he destroyed her, and it was these two things she was never going to let him do.
The moment his hand was barely millimeters away from her face, she acted. The cloaked Uchiha suddenly began pulling back, fading away in a matter of speaking. Her body dematerialized in the form of cubes, which vanished away from her one after the other, before completely vanishing in the blink of an eye. She vanished into thin air right before Madara's eye, the masked Uchiha blinking in shock as his hand grabbed nothing but air.
"WHAT?"
All of a sudden, a hand appeared out of nowhere and wrapped itself around Madara from behind him, palm extended. Before he could even react, a ball of fire formed inside the palm and exploded outwards, just as the rest of the owner's body reappeared behind him. The blast of flames scorched the masked Uchiha, and was blown back about twenty meters from the fire ball.
Clothes burnt, and masked cracked, Tobi furrowed his brow and glared angrily at his target, which just stood passively where she reappeared.
"Teleportation?" Madara stated, easily recognizing the type of technique. "But that was no ordinary teleportation… she just appeared solid for a moment, but then broke apart… maybe some sort of reality manipulation. Whatever it was… I've never seen it before in my life…"
"Bunkai Teleport," the woman stated, stepping forward. "A technique that is beyond even you, coward…"
Madara just glared at the woman, who responded to his threatening glare with a swipe of her hand movement, and all of a sudden, a cluster of weirdly shaped kunai appeared in her left hand. They were oval shaped, with grooves in them and jags, with the symbol of Uzushiogakure stamped on the sides of each of them.
The masked Uchiha responded in kind to the appearance of these blades in kind, throwing both hands out and falling out of the sleeves of his pure black cloak, chains unraveled and fell to the earth, followed by scythe like blades on the end of each of them. The duel Kusarigama chains hung out loosely, and with a simple swiping movement, sent both of them flying at his target. They slashed through the air and coiled around the hooded Uchiha several times before nailing themselves into the ground, trapping her.
However, her hand with her kunai was still free, and after feeling the chains wrap around her, she threw them at the masked man. But unlike a regular kunai throw, the moment the blades left her fingers, they broke the sound barrier in mid-flight, and with a crack of lightning speed, struck Madara repeatedly, who crossed his arms over his face to shield himself from the barrage that sent him off of his feet.
He was flung into a tree, blades sticking into him one after the other, with several of the knives thrown slicing straight through the chains that bound his target. The Uchiha female managed to wiggle out of them, and stepped out of the clearing, approaching the pinned man.
"You're getting slack," she spoke. "Not ready for this confrontation?"
The man huffed and glared heatedly up at his opponent, his mask cracking even more from the kunai lodged in his forehead. The cracks in his mask spread.
"I am not done with you yet, Abomination," Madara growled. "I only came out here to find out what that strange chakra signature was. And here I find a long, lost, Uchiha wandering the forest."
"Correct," the woman replied. "I wanted to draw you out, so that we could meet face to face. Know your enemy…"
"I'll ask again; who are you?"
"We will meet again one day, shadow of the moon," the woman said, raising her hand towards the man. She then held up three fingers to emphasize the words to follow. "We will see each other three times…" She lowered one of her fingers. "This is the first time."
"…"
She then lowered a second finger…
"The second time we meet will be where you die…"
She then lowered her last, index finger.
"The third time we meet will be on your death bed," she stated.
Madara stepped away from the woman, becoming incredibly disturbed by her words, but was not able to show it visually due to his mask. Lowering his head, he then suddenly began to vanish as he usually did, his body becoming sucked in a whirlpool like fashion into his eye, vanishing into a miniature black hole. His mask fell away from his face before he disappeared; landing on the grass the exact moment he completely vanished.
The woman lowered her hand and walked towards the mask. She swooped down and picked it up, holding it in her right hand and analyzing it.
After looking at the fractured shell of a mask, she shrugged and tossed it aside, where it struck a rock and shattered.
"Everything has its time…"
Back at Uzushiogakure
"I could go for some ramen right now!" Mia sang, while dancing around the combined Konoha and Kumo Shinobi Teams with seemingly boundless energy. Her singing and giggling were kind of making the rest of them feel tired, since she had so much energy to spend and the whole ordeal was a little bit exhausting for a full day's work. "Ramen! Ramen! Ramen! Ramen! Bowl of noodle soup I love! YAY!"
"Geez, you already ate all our protein bars and everything else we had on us," Ino groaned, watching as the girl skipped around her. "If you want something else to eat, you're just going to have to wait till we get back home."
"I know, I'm just thinking about Ramen!" the girl continued to sing, kicking up sand as the group finally made it to the ocean. As soon as they cleared the forest and ruins and made it back to where this all started, everyone was relieved.
Sakura, who was still watching the young red-head bounding around them, grinned and nudged Naruto, who glanced over at her.
"You see that?" she asked.
"See what?"
"That's a happy, go-lucky you as a girl?" Sakura exclaimed.
"HEY!" Naruto shouted, earning a grin from the pink haired girl, who grabbed his arm and hugged him close.
"I'm just joking…" Her tone was easily recognized as amused, and she followed this statement up with an apologetic kiss on the cheek. "I like you just the way you are."
Just as Naruto and Sakura were sharing a smile together, Ino unexpectedly leapt onto his back and hugged him, almost making the boy stumble. Although, he did give off a rather surprised yell when she nuzzled him cheek to cheek, inconveniently putting her head between his cheek and Sakura, who was just as stunned by her actions.
"Yo! Whatever it is you two are doing now, I want to do it as well!"
"Ino-chan…" Naruto groaned, grinning.
"Ino-Pig!" Sakura huffed, folding her arms.
"Hey… who are those two?" Isaribi suddenly asked, jogging up alongside Naruto, Sakura and Ino. The three Genin looked up in surprise, staring off into the direction the purple haired teen was. Anko, Killer Bee, Lee and the other members of Team Samui also joined them, while the Sage of Six Paths danced around in the background. Aside from her, everybody else looked across from the very edge of the ocean touching the sands just a few paces in front of them, towards the horizon where the Land of Fire was.
"Who do you see?" Anko asked, putting her hand over her eyes.
"Look! There are two people on the water right in front of us, and they appear to be walking on it!" Isaribi continued, looking up at the adults. "Can't you see them?"
"Yes, I see them!" Ino exclaimed, getting a better view by clambering on top of Naruto's shoulders, having been on his back. The boy allowed her the crows nest view, as he too examined the channel in front of them. "Hmm… I can't make them out though…"
"But they are definitely walking towards us," Sakura also said, stepping closer and trying to get a better look at the distant figures. "Hmm… walking across the channel… why didn't we think of that?"
"We did," Karui said, drawing the pink haired girl's attention towards her. The red head shrugged. "Technically we sprinted across and around to get ahead of you. The ocean was calm anyway…"
"No kidding," Sakura mumbled.
"Focus guys," Omoi interrupted. "We don't know who those two are or what they want, but if they are heading in our direction, walking across the water no less, then that means we are their target."
"Are you sure about that?" Karui asked her teammate.
"Positive," Omoi replied. "Apparently, nobody else comes to this island, or has for years, so what possible motive could they have for walking across the ocean towards us…"
"Well, they've clearly spotted us," Anko stated, flicking her wrist with a kunai shooting out of her sleeve. "If they want trouble…"
"Whoa, calm yourself down, Mitarashi Anko…" Killer Bee said, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Won't wanna make a careless mistake, yo!"
"Believe me, I don't intend to…" Anko said, reaching out and taking Isaribi by the shoulder, gently leading her to stand behind her.
"Neither do I," Naruto replied, also flicking his right wrist, his hidden blade shooting out from under his sleeve.
The group waited, and watched as the two figures walking across the channel drew nearer. It was when they were within range that the two shinobi teams could clearly make out significant details about them that Naruto got the shock of his life. He stepped back, Ino hopping off of his shoulders as he took a defensive stance, a hardened glare forming on his face. Everybody else responded characteristically to his sudden change in mood, and readied themselves.
The black cloaks with red cloud patterns could not be mistaken.
"Akatsuki…" Naruto whispered.
In just a few minutes, the two Akatsuki members were in clear sight and effective medium combat range, and stopped on the water, glaring at the two Genin teams under their wide-brimmed, tassel lined straw hats.
Silence fell, save for the light waves of the channel landing against the shoreline and the seagulls cawing in the distance.
The ringing of the ornamental torque hanging from one of the pair's hats broke the quiet, and Naruto stepped forward.
"What is it that you two want?" the blonde demanded.
"Oh… an excellent way to start!" Lee exclaimed, quite literally breaking the mood of the conversation, and making Naruto scowl hilariously ahead of him at the fume-lit icebreaker. "With lots of fire and heart! Keep it up!"
The two Akatsuki members looked around the island briefly, as if scanning for any ambushes, before glancing back at the group, and analyzing it. Eventually, the two of them reached up with a free hand and removed their hats. They tossed them aside, revealing two very unfamiliar faces to the group. Not even Naruto recognized them.
The taller one on the left had orange spiky hair and tanned skin, with blue eyes and the Hidden Rain Village headband stretched across his forehead, a clear scar carved across it. He also had a single, large piercing in his right ear, a small, black bar that pierced the top and bottom of the lobe. His companion had short blue hair with a white, paper flower in her hair. She had fair skin, mascara, a bud piercing under her bottom lip, and the same piercing her comrade had in her right ear. Furthermore, both of them looked intimidating as hell, particularly the orange haired one, who stood quite tall, and looked to have a solid build, even with his cloak on.
"We are looking for one of our former comrades," Yahiko spoke.
"Rumors say that he has been in this area quite recently," Konan followed up. "We believe our colleague has left some baggage behind, and we have come to retrieve it…"
Naruto was a little bit surprised at that answer as were everybody else, who were now looking about the beach in response to the statement, as if looking for a particular person gone missing. Of course, as far as they could see, they couldn't find any traces of 'somebody' else.
"Let me guess… Orochimaru?" Naruto asked.
Both Akatsuki members locked onto him, and glared. They glanced at each other once, before turning back to him, choosing to focus attention on the source in front of them.
"Do you know where he is?" Konan asked.
"Not a clue…" Naruto flatly replied.
"Yet…you seem to have a certain amount of Intel concerning the subject matter at hand… details and information on the person we are searching for," Yahiko led up, tilting his head at the group. "How curious…"
"My master has been hunting him for years, so I've been on the receiving end of a lot of his stories of heroism," the blonde said, furrowing his brow. "If you want information, go ask him… although… I should tell you now that it will be just as difficult to find him as it will be in finding your other quarry…."
"And who might your master be?" Yahiko asked.
Naruto hesitated, and looked up at Anko, who shrugged at him. The others just listened, with Killer Bee sizing up the newcomers standing on the water. Mia on the other hand, seems to have become more preoccupied with the shells on the beach, and was at the moment, making a rather impressive sand castle behind them.
"I'd rather not say," Naruto said, clearing his throat awkwardly. "He'd prefer to remain anonymous…"
"Please tell us his name," Konan spoke, lowering her head at the boy, but still speaking calmly. "We do not feel like interrogating people today… so be compliant, or we will use force."
Rather then starting a war with these two that could very well destroy the island they were standing on, the blonde opted to be more inclined with answering their questions. Any way was better then dying here.
"Fine then," he sighed. "His name is Jiraiya: Great Sage of Mount Myobokuzan…"
The two Akatsuki members visibly flinched at the name and stepped backwards a couple, with Naruto and everybody else raising an eyebrow at their reactions. The unease was quickly picked up, and the two teams began drawing up various conclusions.
"Heard of him, huh?" Samui said.
"Everybody knows of Jiraiya," Sakura smirked, tilting her head at the pair, "One of the most formidable and successful ninjas in all of shinobi history. If you've heard of him, you will definitely be trembling in your boots."
"Really?" Anko mumbled, looking up in thoughts trailing off from her. "Hmm… not really the impression I'm getting of him at the moment…"
"Master Jiraiya," Konan spoke, looking up at her teammate, who also looked down at her. "That's a name I haven't heard in a while…"
"The Great Toad Sannin…" Yahiko murmured. "Intelligence on him has been light, but from what we have gathered… he has been getting around quite…a…bit…?"
The orange haired man then suddenly became distracted, when he spotted the red haired, attractive woman outside of the group, literally running rings around the shinobi in front of him. Konan also reciprocated this curiosity, and was a bit put off by the person her teammate turned towards.
Naruto, Anko, Killer Bee and pretty much everybody else also became sidetracked by their extra baggage's antics, and watched as the red haired, half-demon, stopped close at the water side to their right, where she then focused great attention on a fiddler crab crawling across the sand at her feet. Both sides observed as she laughed outright happily down at the little creature, before squatting right beside it.
The Sage and the crustacean seemed to stare at each other, making a brief analysis of the sight before them, and becoming even more interested in the other.
Mia giggled and extended her hand down to it. "Hi! I'm Mia!"
The crab surprisingly returned the handshake without any pinching whatsoever. It audibly clicked and made small bubbly noises that Teams 7 and Samui could hear from the sidelines.
"Nice to meet you, Larry!"
The crab clicked and gurgled some more.
"Really? Why thank you! You are looking very handsome yourself!"
The crab waved its claw around, frothing loudly and clicked at the end.
"Yes, I do work out…"
As the two unlikely individuals continued talking, everyone, including the two Akatsuki members, developed animated sweat drops on their heads, and stared with mixtures of disturbed and bewildered expressions on their faces.
"What in the world is she doing?" Ino asked.
"She appears… to be talking… to a crab…" Karui continued.
"Should we be concerned?" Isaribi also asked, blinking.
"After the day I've had, I'm not sure if I should even care anymore," Naruto stated.
Yahiko and Konan just stared, looking at each other, then back. After a minute or so, Mia let the crab go on his way, before looking up towards the two new bees. When she saw them, she blinked as she examined their appearances and choice of clothing, before smiling happily, getting up, and running towards the two. The Akatsuki pair became incredibly troubled when she skipped across the water, and leaned right up into their faces, making them lean back a bit and stare oddly down at her.
The peculiar red head smiled and held her hand out to them.
"Hi! I'm Mia!"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
Nothing happened for the next few seconds as the playful Sage of Six Paths waited eagerly for a handshake, and Yahiko and Konan continued to look at the abnormal female from head to toe, with great intent and caution. Team 7 and Team Samui were absolutely bewildered by the woman's antics at this point. They were all aware of the sudden danger that had just stepped onto this land's shores, and Mia was getting right up to them, face to face, without a care in the world. This was beyond insanity.
However, she continued to act as casually and happily as she would with anybody else, and smiled in a friendly manner towards the two S-Class shinobi.
It was until Yahiko eventually did shake hands with her did a development actually occur between them.
"It's so nice to meet you…" Mia said, shaking his hand enthusiastically.
Yahiko frowned, noticing the pigmentation in the woman's eyes, as well as recognizing elements of the attire the person wore. At first he was inwardly struck with disbelief, but refused to show this reaction outwardly. Instead, he calmly relinquished his hand from the female, as she went on to shake hands with Konan, and smile politely at the pair.
"You possess the Rinnegan…" Yahiko pointedly said, glaring into the woman's eyes.
The girl nodded.
"Yup!"
"Who might you be, exactly?"
"I just told you… I'm Mia!"
The members of Team 7 standing behind her fell over at this, with Killer Bee just shaking his head in disbelief. Yahiko cleared his throat, before continuing.
"You wouldn't happen to be related to a person named Nagato… would you?"
"I have no idea who he is!" she replied happily.
Yahiko just frowned and nodded to her. "Well… it has been a real pleasure to meet you… Mia…"
"It was nice meeting you too!" Mia replied, before turning heel and walking off to go explore some more.
Shrugging the incident off as an inconvenience, Yahiko refocused attention on the group. Konan remained passive at his side, staring after the estranged woman.
"You have some… interesting…company…" Yahiko stated.
"You'd be surprised," Naruto replied.
"We already have one who possesses the Rinnegan on our side… we do not need another," the man continued, before glaring in Killer Bee's direction. "Our plans do not include such factors, nor are we concerned in investing time in them. However… we do have our orders to follow…"
Konan turned back to face the group, and refocused attention on the spiky haired blonde.
"Tell us where we can find Orochimaru, and we will let you go with your lives…"
"We have nothing to do with that scum outside of stories and rumor," Naruto said, stepping forward again to better reassert his position. "Now just leave us be…"
"I'm afraid that's out of the question," Yahiko said, flicking his left arm and holding it out. Suddenly, a large Dadao blade suddenly flew out of his cloak. It was abut his height in length, and it seemed highly unlikely he was able to keep it hidden inside his cloak and draw it with such a spring loaded action. Twirling the blade, the orange haired man propped it on his shoulder, while continuing to eye his targets. "We came here for a reason, and until you give us Orochimaru's location, I will not let up…"
Team 7 was starting to look a little bit more worried, while Team Samui took their threats to act with more caution. Anko and Killer Bee however were not having any of this, and immediately leapt forward in defense of their students. Blades drawn by both shinobi, the Snake Jonin and the Guardian of Kumogakure landed on the surface of the water in the shallows, and took defensive stances.
"Back off," Anko glared.
"If yah wanna leave this island still alive, yah better turn around, or prepare to die!" Killer Bee stated, twirling his two blades in either hand.
Unbeknownst to the pair, their landing on the water's surface created a ripple, which spread outwards across the calm water, before making contact with Yahiko and Konan's feet. The orange haired Akatsuki member flinched and, twirling his sword, thrust it out and jabbed it in Killer Bee's direction.
"You are the container of the Eight-Tailed Giant Ox, the Hachibi," Yahiko stated.
This statement caught Killer Bee and Anko off guard. The shock could clearly be seen written on their faces.
"Hey! How'd you know that?" Killer Bee asked in surprise.
"You have an incredibly dark, potent, and immense chakra signature, opposite to, and corresponding with a second, incredibly flexible lightning chakra nature, also quite powerful," Yahiko replied, calmly and smoothly. "The Eight-Tails is nestled within your stomach by a Iron Armor Seal… most difficult to remove. Being the second most powerful Jinchuriki, you have an incredibly high level of chakra, almost on par with my own. A high S-Rank shinobi…" He then pointed towards Anko. "You have an unusual fire chakra nature, incredibly high, easily an A-Rank combatant."
Killer Bee and Anko looked at each other, and then back at the orange haired man. Konan remained silent behind him, whereas Team 7 and Team Samui watched with extreme caution and with slight surprise from behind their senseis. Naruto was shocked, looking between Yahiko and Konan. So far, he has witnessed incredible perceptive abilities by the two Akatsuki members, which exceeded even his expectations of them.
Yahiko brought his sword back and propped it onto his shoulder. "Conclusion; I will be able to fight on par with the Hachibi if he was to unleash the demon from within him, but at this level, both of you are as good as dead…"
"How the hell can you know that?" Anko asked, raising her kunai up a little bit more.
"My companion is in a league of his own, far above your level," Konan stated, looking over the ninja on the beach. "By stepping onto the water, you have given away your strengths and weaknesses…"
Anko flinched. "So that's it… the orange haired one must have a Water Nature Chakra, and has mastered it to such an extent that he can immediately judge a person's chakra level just by them coming in contact with his element," the purple haired woman thought, furrowing her brow. "He is dangerous…"
Yahiko frowned. "Now… on to business…" In the blink of an eye, a wave of water formed around him and swiftly moved in a circular motion. A booming whip-crack was heard, and suddenly a narrow stream of water shot out from the man's right. The torrent of water shot at a high velocity straight at Killer Bee, striking him full on in the stomach and pushed him at sonic flight across the beach and straight into the forests behind the group. An explosion and a shockwave followed, making everybody stagger and effectively scatter.
The clouds of dust rising from the forest in the aftermath eventually revealed the results of the attack. A large gash was drawn along the beach and formed a gap in the trees, where Killer Bee had torn through in his flight.
"SENSEI!" Karui shouted. Samui, Omoi and everybody else rounded on their teachers' attacker. Anko and Naruto especially took up positions at the front lines, before being accompanied by Lee and Samui, all four of them forming a defensive line.
"Stay right where you are!" Anko shouted.
"I intend to…" Yahiko replied, raising his hand. With his sword still locked in his palm, he extended fingers towards the group.
All of a sudden, Sakura, Ino, Isaribi, Karui and Omoi were lifted off of their feet, and flew straight towards the Akatsuki, Naruto didn't have time to react when all four of them suddenly stopped in mid-flight right in front of the orange haired shinobi, who continued to keep them suspended in the air. Naruto and the others who weren't targeted watched horror struck as their teammates withered in the air, their limbs flailing strangely, as if the fluids in their systems were being warped and distorted under the Akatsuki member's control.
Anko, Lee, Naruto and Samui could only watch as their friends remained where they were, struggling to breathe where they were hung. The two Akatsuki stood in wait, but Konan was a little bit uncomfortable with the method her partner was using.
She had seen it before, and it didn't end well…
"On your knees," Yahiko stated.
"Stop it!" Samui shouted. "What are you doing to them?"
"Wherever there is water, I can control, so long as a shinobi's chakra is inactive and their guard is lowered," Yahiko spoke. "If it is, it gives me complete access to the blood coursing through their veins…"
"They have nothing to do with this!" Naruto roared, stepping forward. "LET THEM GO!"
"Give us what we need and I will let them go," the man replied, still showing no signs of emotion whatsoever. "If you don't… they will die."
Team 7 and Team Samui were practically backed up into a corner, and only within a matter of minutes of being confronted by the Akatsuki pair. Naruto desperately looked towards his friends now being held captive in mid-air.
They were in pain where they floated, and in showed. They were all gasping for air, and looking pleadingly towards their teammates for support. Karui and Sakura made several attempts to reach for their weapons, but to no success. Their arms went the other way, as the pressure in their chests prevented them from breathing, and they were literally drowning for air.
Yahiko awaited a response, the hand he held up keeping control over the suspended children tightening its grip, whereas Konan was looking between her teammate and the Genin he was controlling.
Anko gritted her teeth nervously; sweat pouring from her face as she attempted to come up with strategy to save them, whereas Lee and Samui were desperately thinking of a way to save their friends.
"Fine…" Naruto said, retracting his hidden blades and straightening himself, holding his hands up. Anko glanced at him, watching as her student walked further out onto the water.
"What are you doing, gaki?" she hissed.
"Something stupid," he whispered back. He stopped several meters out. "I'll come quietly if you let my friends live…"
"N-Naruto…" Sakura whizzed, looking over at her teammate through a blurring vision. "D-Don't…" Isaribi and Ino were bewildered by Naruto openly giving himself in to this man's demands to save them; even Karui and Omoi were startled.
Yahiko blinked, while Konan watched the boy with caution.
"Will you give me the information I want?" Yahiko asked.
Naruto gave a silent nod in response.
The orange haired Akatsuki shinobi and his partner glanced at each other, and began mellowing over the boy's offer until they were interrupted by a familiar voice rattling at their heads. The sudden appearance of the voice made the pair jump on the spot.
"What do you two think you are doing?"
The pair looked up towards the sky; eyes widened and sweat trickling down their foreheads. The voice came in on the wind out of no where, and it shook the two subordinates to the core as to who it was that was speaking to them.
The piercings on their right ear gave them a link to their teammate who was able to speak with them, but it was highly unorthodox of their friend to unexpectedly jump in on them like this.
Naruto and the others became a little surprised at the sudden lack of focus of their enemies.
"Pein?" Konan whispered.
Seizing his chance, Naruto charged and lunged at Yahiko, who glanced back at him with an off-guard expression as he saw the blond flying in his direction. He didn't have time to react when a black blade like rod materialized out of nowhere and slashed the air in front of him, the orange haired man whipping his sword around and striking out at the invisible attacker. Konan too retreated when she too was attacked, and in the pair's retreat, control over the four Genin was effectively relinquished.
Naruto, accompanied by Anko, caught Sakura, Ino, Karui, Omoi and Isaribi all at once, swiping through the air. Anko grabbed Naruto's jacket as he used his father's teleportation jutsu, effectively bringing them back to the shore, all of them tumbling across the sand upon landing. When they all looked back, they saw Mia standing at their defense on the water's surface, a black katana held in her right hand and a black shakujo staff held in the other. She was glaring at the Akatsuki pair, who had managed to leap back a distance of thirty meters to avoid being sliced up when she teleported right in between them.
The red headed Sage had managed to land a blow on Yahiko, who had a pole sticking right through his right shoulder with blood leaking out of the entry and exit wound. However, he stood where he was completely unfazed by the weapon sticking through his body.
Mia glanced over to see if the others were alright (particularly Naruto), and smiled when she saw Killer Bee stagger out of the forest behind them.
"Apparently they are not so friendly after all…" she exclaimed.
Karui, after choking back air into her lungs, snarled and shook a fist at the woman.
"YOU ARE SO USELESS!"
Mia grinned. "I guess I am…heh…" She glared back at the pair, frowning as she watched the orange haired one grab the pole in his shoulder and simply pull it out. With a splatter of blood, he tossed it aside, and held his hand over the wound. Seconds later, he removed his hand, revealing the wound to be sealed up and fully healed. "You threatened by savior, therefore you are my enemy!"
Yahiko ignored her, and instead, decided to focus on communicating with his other teammates.
"What do you want this time, Cry-baby?" Yahiko asked.
"You know you are not supposed to be hunting down and capturing jinchuriki now… it is too soon for that. You are acting outside of orders!" the voice replied, with Konan also fixating attention on the speaker. "Attacking this early will cost us the element of surprise…"
"We were searching for Orochimaru, Lord Pein…," Konan said. "We tracked him to this land, but have come up empty handed…"
Yahiko glanced towards his blue haired comrade. "Perhaps it's time we rethink our strategy…"
Konan glared back at him, a bit flustered. "You're thinking this now?"
"Who are they talking to?" Sakura choked, staggering back to her feet as Killer Bee returned to the group, clutching his stomach that was visibly badly bruised. Isaribi was visibly shaken, and being tended to by a very worried Naruto, with Omoi being checked on by Samui.
"This day is just getting weirder and weirder," Ino stated.
"We need to recruit more members before we are able to effectively seal the Tailed Beasts away and utilize them," the voice replied. "Both of you will return to Amegakure for reassignment…"
"Hm…" Yahiko smirked and shook his head. "Too soon…"
"Nevertheless, I agree with him," Konan replied, and turned towards Team 7 and Team Samui, looking passed the woman blocking their way. "We will be wasting time fighting it out with these shinobi; they are too stubborn… and they are persistent. I doubt they will give us anything useful anyway…"
"You're just saying that because you don't want me to die," the orange haired man pointedly said, raising an eyebrow at his teammate and smiling slightly. The blue haired woman blushed and looked away.
"Idiot… it's because I look out for you," she replied hastily.
Yahiko chuckled, before returning his gaze towards the stricken Genin Teams and their Jonin teachers. He looked them over for a few seconds, making a few quiet calculations, while also adding the red head that had unexpectedly returned to confront him into the equation. Eventually, he decided that enough was enough.
"Sorry to bother you," he apologized, tipping his head to his now former opponents. "I pray we will not inconvenience you like this again in the near future…"
This had everyone's jaws drop. Their gapes would have gone straight through the floor when Yahiko bowed politely to them before turning heel and heading off. Konan bowed as well, before rejoining her teammate.
"We apologize for wasting your time…"
The two of them vanished when their bodies dematerialized into water, leaving Team 7 and Team Samui shocked, confused and relieved.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Author's Note: Sorry it's taking me so long to update chapters. I've just been so stocked up with work and assignments at the moment, what with this being the last couple of weeks of my first year at university.
There were so many ways I wanted to write out this scenario, and just decided to go with a low level confrontation that really spoke for the two Akatsuki members making their debut in my story at this point: Yahiko and Konan, perhaps two of my favorite characters.
As much as I love the original Pein, because this is an AU, I've redesigned Pein and split the characters a bit, making it sort of an OC, sort of an AU, while still following the original story line. Of course, what made me question the original Anime was, if Madara and all the other Akatsuki members were so powerful, why didn't they make their appearances sooner? It's something I like to explore earlier in my story by introducing these characters.
By taking a look at the original manga and anime, I saw that Yahiko was quite strong himself, and would have excelled a lot in skill and strength if he continued living. The version of Yahiko in my story is an older, more mature and serious Yahiko, all results from past experiences in the Amegakure war. Konan too has gotten stronger herself, and the true leader of Akatsuki… well… you can guess who it is.
In terms of strength, I'd say Yahiko here would be stronger then Kisame and Itachi, but weaker then Nagato.
Oh, and it may also be apparent that I hate Madara Uchiha so much (SPOILERS: even more after he killed Konan in canon). I think he is just rubbish, grossly over powered character like Sasuke in canon. They have no class whatsoever. This may be why I'm introducing another new character, just to balance out the power.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.