DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, but it doesn't hurt to dream, right?

"hello"- speech, common jutsus

"hello"- thoughts, other Japanese words (hope they're right though)

"hello"- Kyuubi talking, or some other kick ass jutsu

Thanks goes to all my reviewers, and thanks for all the answers to my question of beta-readers…anyone interested? MSWord spell check can only do so much. So if you are interested, please send me a private message.

rasengan86 – I was choosing whether to have Jiraiya or Kakashi do it, but I thought it weird for Jiraiya to suddenly drop in on them while they were training and besides, he's out there doing his "research".

Fic Slayer – I took your advise to heart and changed the summary.

ExtremeDiva4 – Naruto'll wish he was dead for the next few chapters.


Naruto: Chapter 5 – Akatsuki's Lair

His eyes opened. He heard water dripping…the place was dark, dank and filthy, but still familiar. He slowly made his way along the corridors. HE wanted to meet with him. That was the only reason for his being here. Making a final turn, he comes upon a vast opening. And far beyond, a large metal gate stood. Majestic. Overwhelming. Intricate. Fearsome.

The only thing keeping the gate from opening was a meager piece of paper with a seal written on it. And then….HE appears. Eyes red as blood, filled with malice, mischief and mayhem. Large gleaming orbs unrelenting as the moon in the pitch black of night.

"Are you now so reluctant to see me? The only friend you had ever since you're beginning?"

"You're no friend of mine. You've caused nothing but pain for me. Why have you summoned me here, Kyuubi no Kitsune?"

"Fool! Have I not given you power? Have I not healed you? Saved your life countless times? You would do well to bow down before me in gratitude." The beast's evil chakra would glow intermittently from its body as each angry word was spoken.

"If death is the price to release me of all this pain, all the hurt, then I would humbly accept it. Better to have felt a day's worth of sheer happiness than endure a life long of suffering!"

The beast chuckles. "Death…that I could easily give you, but in no degree will I allow my existence be erased by the utter whims of a weak juvenile like you."

He thought that this conversation was pointless, so he began to walk away.

"They have you now. And in having you, they also have me."

Not bothering to turn around, he asks "Who is they?"

"Akatsuki."

He quickly turns around in surprise. "That's impossible! How? When?!"

The eyes with long black slits for irises blinked deliberately. "You'll see soon enough." And with that, the great beast turned about, and moved further into his prison, leaving an anxious Naruto to himself.


Clan Nara's Forest

Sakura had finally finished patching up Asuma's wound. Thinking now of Naruto and the others, she faced Shikamaru and said "That should do until we get Asuma-sensei back to Konoha. I've got to go back to Kakashi and the others."

Shikamaru nods in assent as he gestures to Sai, "Help me carry him." They put an arm over each of their shoulders, lacing one arm behind Asuma's back and moving their free arm to support Asuma's thigh in a fireman's carry and slowly made their way back to the Hidden Village of Leaf.

Seeing that the 2 guys were now in rhythm for the carry, Sakura headed back to the first battleground. The first thing she noticed upon her arrival was the huge crater with the dead body right smack in the center. "That large concave at his back must be the cause of death…broken, no, severed spinal column…wait. What am I doing?!" She scolded herself for even hesitating to aid her comrades. She looked around and spotted Ino, healing an unconscious Kakashi while Chouji supported him from behind. Yamato, nor Naruto could not be seen.

She quickly walked towards Ino and asked "Where's Naruto and Captain Yamato?"

Ino looks at Sakura with worried eyes. Then it hits Sakura. Something was wrong.

She grabs Ino by the shoulders and forcibly shakes her fellow medic nin as if doing so would make Naruto suddenly appear and stop her. "Where is he?! Where has he gone to?!" She could not, will not accept the notion of Naruto dying. A single tear broke free from Ino's eye, and with it fell all of Sakura's hope.

"We….we cannot find him. Captain Yamato is still out searching for him…he….he just disappeared." replied a tearful Ino.

Sakura looked at Chouji, wanting him to tell her Ino was mistaken. But the words never came. She steeled her resolve, and hope rekindled within her. "Where was Captain Yamato headed?"

Chouji looked at her and said "Further north east. Pakkun is with him. They left about…"

Sakura didn't wait for him to finish. She jumped away, leaving the three other shinobi behind. "Naruto…don't leave me."

Yamato had been following Pakkun for some time now, but only going around in circles, wider each time as they returned to the starting point of each circle, each moment adding to his anxiety. Night was fast approaching. It was now four hours since the battle. He cursed himself for focusing his interest on the incredible effects of Naruto's jutsu, gaping at Kakuzu's breaking body like a stupid child.

Pakkun suddenly stops before him and said "I'm sorry Yamato. I cannot find one trace of Naruto's scent anywhere else but at the battlegrounds."

Yamato nodded dumbly. Hearing the words, but resisting it. Not wanting it. He sensed a presence fast approaching, but he didn't care. It didn't matter. His senses dulled as he stared off into the distance.

Sakura nimbly landed beside him. Worry clearly showing in those emerald green eyes. "Any signs?" she asked hopefully.

"No….not a single one."

That was when Sakura broke. Falling down on her knees. Uninhibited tears streaming down her cheeks as she unleashed her despair. Nothing mattered. Nothing mattered anymore.

Yamato kneeled down, hugging the crying kunoichi. "We will find him…I promise…we will find him." said Yamato…but finding it difficult to believe in his words himself.

He stood up, gathered the pink haired kunoichi in his arms, carrying her back to Kakashi and the others before finally heading for Konoha.


Somewhere. In a dark and sinister cavern

His head hurt and throbbed, threatening to burst apart. His body ached a thousand places over. He was lying down on a bed made of straws. It was with great effort to open his eyes, and in this stupor he looked around, trying to discern his surroundings. His eyes fell open black robes…with red clouds on it. He looked up to gaze at the face, and into the eyes. Red, with black swirl drops. Sharingan eyes.

"He is here! He's here right before me! Come back! Come back to the light!!"

Naruto lifts his hand, reaching out for him…desperately wanting to save him. "Sasu…ke"

Then darkness surrounds him again. The hand drops down, stripped of strength.

Itachi looks on. Unmoved by the gesture. He turns about and locks the door behind him.

They would be waiting.

He walked along the pathway, torches lighting his every step. Stalactites hanging ominously far above him…threatening to reach down and skewer him, but they did not. The upside-down spires held firm.

He reached his destination. The meeting was to be held in one of the many make-shift rooms that this huge cavern possessed. Inside were the rest of the members of the organization called Akatsuki.

He, Kisame, Deidara, Zetsu, Tobi, Mariko, and the Leader were all that was left of the original 10. Itachi seated himself on the nearest empty chair, and waited.

The tension in the room was apparent. After all this time of being together, each member still felt the need to gauge and study the shinobi beside them. Noting for traces of fear, anger, joy, anxiety, adoration, grief, or hate. Any sign of the seven emotions is a sign of weakness, and in the way of the nindo, this was simply unacceptable. Especially amongst such powerful company, except of course Tobi. That fool of a shinobi. Because of his silly clowning, he of all the members had the least amount offace or respect.

"So we finally have the nine tails, yeah." pointed out Deidara, finally breaking the silence.

Tobi started counting off his fingers "That leaves only 3 more bijuus to go right? Let's see we got the 1 tail from that sand kid, too bad Master Sasori got beaten. Master Kakuzu and Master Hidan got the 2 tails from that chick, too bad they got wasted trying to get this kid. In the end, it was thanks to Master Zetsu. Deidara and ME got the 3 tails, that was totally cool by the way…"

Deidara noticed the missing title of respect and coldly glared at Tobi.

"Silence Tobi. We all know the score" said the Akatsuki Leader not unkindly. "How is the boy?"

"He was starting to awaken, but drifted off to unconsciousness again." replied Itachi.

The Akatsuki Leader nods once then addresses all that were present. "We are currently VERY short on members. With only the seven of us left, it would be imprudent and disastrous to extract the bijuu's essence from the nibi,sanbi and especially the kyuubi."

"Huh? How come?" asks an eager Tobi.

"In order to perform the Genryuu Kyuu Fuujin (Complete Nine Mystical Dragon seal), we would need to summon the statue. The summoning itself is quite taxing. After which we then extract the essence of the bijuu." said the white side of Zetsu. "As for the extraction, we will need to match the exact amount of chakra the bijuu possesses. With our present number of members, we only reach up to approximately eighty percent of the chakra amount of the nibiafter summoning the statue." continued the black side of Zetsu.

"Well said Zetsu," complimented the red-haired leader. "Kakuzu and Sasori's downfall was a great setback for us. If they were still present, we'd have had no problems in extracting the nibi and the sanbi.Shigata ga nai,neh…I guess we'll have to find replacements."

"Kisame, Itachi…you will resume the tasks of Kakuzu and Hidan, bounty hunting for funds. Target the less popular profiles from the Bingo book, preferably criminals so investigations on their deaths will only be half-hearted. I want for us to remain low key for now. Two strong hidden villages cooperatively attacking us is the last thing we need. Deidara, Tobi…you're task for now is to locate and if possible, capture the hachibi. If capture is not an option, call the rest of us for aid."

Turning to the blue-haired woman beside him, the Akatsuki Leader said, "Mariko-san, you're now assigned to the task of managing finances."

"Do you want me to start looking for possible recruits?" asked black Zetsu of the Akatsuki leader.

"Yes. That would be a good idea. I already have 2 in mind, but it is always best to have spares" smiled the Akatsuki leader mischievously.

"Questions?"

There were none, so the meeting was dismissed. Kisame was muttering something about finally being able to kill as he and the members began to exit the room, the Akatsuki leader addressed Mariko and said, "Mariko-san, look in on the boy…we might have use for him very soon."

Mariko's deep blue eyes looked steadily into quiet, orange eyes and replied, "Yes, Master Kazama."


Konoha. Godaime Hokage's Office

Kakashi and Asuma were immediately brought to Konoha hospital so treatment of their injuries could be attended to immediately. Yamato went ahead to Hokage tower to give the battle report. Upon entering the office, Yamato was greeted with a cheerful Tsunade.

"I heard that the 2 Akatsuki members were defeated. Good work, Yamato!" said Tsunade. "That'll show Akatsuki we are not to be trifled with!"

"Yes, Hokage-sama, the 2 Akatsuki members were defeated, but after the battle, we could not find Naruto anywhere." said the former ANBU captain with a straight face.

Tsunade's smiling face darkened into anger. The soft eyes became hard, the air in the room becoming instantly heavy, humid, and difficult to breath.

"Tell me everything. Ever since you left here to train Naruto up to the time the battle was finished."

Yamato proceeded to report to her verbatim. Leaving nothing unsaid, even including the boy's antics, the ramen for lunch, the visit to the secret room, the arrival of Sakura and Sai, the jokes Naruto shared along the way to the battle, the death of Kakuzu, the search of him and Pakkun, till the return to Konoha with the injured Kakashi and Asuma. It had taken him a good 45 minutes to finish his verbal report. All the while, Tsunade was silent. The perfect listener.

When Yamato had completed his report, Tsunade looked down, closed her eyes and sifted through all the words that she had heard.

"Naruto…did you leave? There is no reason for you to leave. There are people here that care for you. Jiraiya, Sakura, Kakashi, Yamato, Iruka, the rest of the Rookie 9, and me…too few."

"No." Tsunade didn't realize she had spoken the last word aloud. "Few, indeed…but are there. Will always be there for him."

Gathering strength from this knowledge, she looks up at Yamato and said, "Call the members of Team Asuma and Team Kakashi here. I want to listen to their reports." Then facing Shizune, she said, "Send word to the rest of the 20th legion to return immediately and assemble at the roof deck of Hokage Tower for a massive search and rescue operation. Assign 10 members of the ANBU to look for Jiraiya. Now go!"


Akatsuki Lair. A few hours later.

The pain in his body had subsided, and the headache was totally gone. Naruto was now conscious, but still kept his eyes closed. He sensed another presence in the room, and not wanting to alert the other of his condition, he remained still, not even tensing his body. The other person was very close to him. He was naked from the waist up. His body covered with perspiration. The other person's face, a few inches from his abdomen, the breathing, calm and intermittent, cooled his skin, raising goose bumps where ever breathe touched.

"Probably looking at the Shiki Fuujin seal on my tummy," thought Naruto.

Suddenly, he felt two soft but deft fingers on his neck, searching for his pulse.

"Open your eyes. I know you are conscious. Your heart beat rate jumped up just now. Were you thinking of attacking me?" said a feminine voice.

Naruto opened his eyes, already knowing the other was expecting an attack. His advantage of surprise now gone. An attractive woman with blue hair, deep blue eyes, and in Akatsuki robes stood before him. He remained quiet, giving the woman a piercing stare, willing her to speak first. But the woman didn't say a word, and after a few seconds had passed, she smirked, turned around, and headed for the door.

Zetsu and the Akatsuki Leader were right outside the room, waiting for Mariko's assessment of the boy's condition.

"Are you certain this is how you want to proceed?" asked the white side of Zetsu.

"We'll see. As of the moment, we have both of them in captive. All it will take is to find a reason for them to fight for us, and besides, you are still going to search for other possible members."

"Yes, but we have always picked S-class missing nin. The girl I can accept, but the boy…" the black side of Zetsu left the sentence hanging, not wanting to overstep his boundaries.

"What is his current ninja rank?"

"Genin"

"A genin yet able to defeat Kakuzu…interesting, don't you think?"

"It could have been a coincidence…"

"Perhaps …but he is young…and malleable…"

"How do you plan on making them join us?"

The Akatsuki Leader smiled emotionlessly. "By giving them a reason they can't refuse…"

The door behind them suddenly opened. "My lord, the boy is awake," said Mariko while stepping outside the room.

The Leader looked at Mariko for a moment, faced Zetsu again and nodded in dismissal, then he turned about and entered the room, closing the door, leaving him and Naruto alone in the room.

Naruto studied the Akatsuki robed man in front of him. He was tall, with crazy orange eyes and reddish-orange hair. He held a quiet atmosphere, but Naruto also sensed something else. This man was strong…very strong, but he was guarding it fiercely, not wanting others to know of his true strength.

"What do you want with me?" asked the blonde shinobi, knowing that lack of caution would be a deadly mistake.

The man didn't reply, but his eyes fell on the Shiki Fuujin mark on Naruto's stomach.

"The Kyuubi…" thought Naruto. Unable to bear the silence any longer, Naruto thought to hell with it and formed the seal for Kage Bunshin noh jutsu.

"That's pointless. I put a seal on your back. It prohibits the wearer from using chakra."

Naruto ignored the words and tried summoning a hundred clones to help him…but nothing happened. He looked at the man hatefully and reached for a kunai in his weapons pouch, but only managed to grab a handful of air, the pouch missing.

"You aren't very smart are you?"

"Shut up!!" shouted Naruto, not caring anymore. The futility of the situation angering him.

The man suddenly formed a seal and gazed intently at Naruto's eyes. Naruto noticed the orange eyes started becoming blurry and thought "Damn it…genjutsu?!"

Mariko had walked with Zetsu to the rear part of the cavern and now stood before a long glass tube. The tube was ten feet tall and was five feet in diameter. Inside, a naked, light-brown haired kunoichi floated unconsciously in an eerie light green liquid.

She was the jinchuuriki of the 2 tailed demon, Nekomata. Mariko accessed a nearby control panel and punched some controls.

Suddenly, the light green liquid began to descend, the tube's liquid content being flushed away by thick connecting tubes at the base of the make-shift prison. It had now been some time since they had captured her, but her body had not aged one bit, the preservation cell working flawlessly.

The tube was now completely drained.

Mariko punched in some more keys, and the glass wall began to slide down into the ground. Once completely gone, Zetsu walked up to the lying girl and carried her, bridal style, to a room much similar to that of Naruto's and laid her down on a similar bed of straws.

Mariko then proceeded to clothe the girl with the outfit she was wearing when she was captured, excluding her weapons pouch and village forehead protector.

She was clasping the girl's brasserie, and one could see on her back was the chakra-blocking seal that was also placed on Naruto's back. When the girl was fully clothed,

Mariko exited the room and locked the jutsu reinforced door, leaving Nii Yugito to wake up alone from her long slumber.


Somewhere. Near the hidden village of Sound.

Hundreds of bodies of unconscious shinobi were scattered across the large expanse, all wearing the symbol of Otogakure on their forehead protectors.

Sitting down on the backside of a large bodied ninja was Uchiha Sasuke. His Kusanagi blade was unsheathed and pierced to the ground. He had defeated all these ninjas, and yet, they weren't able to leave a mark of injury on him.

From a distance, the great snake sannin, Orochimaru, and his medical assistant ninja, Kabuto looked on. They had witnessed the victory of the sharingan wielder with mild surprise.

"How do you expect to kill Itachi if you didn't even kill one of them?" asked Orochimaru while gesturing at the fallen ninjas.

"I will show him no mercy…even if he begs on his knees," replied Sasuke coldly. "Is that it?"

The snake sannin replied with a nod. Sasuke stood up, pulled his sword from the ground and sheathed it, heading for the nearby underground base of Orochimaru.

Kabuto remained silent all this time, not trusting himself to speak.

"I am called a genius, but I was nothing compared to him when I was his age," thought Orochimaru. "It isn't long now.Soon, you'll be mine…" he smiled deliciously.


Country of Fire

Members of the 20th legion had received their instructions from Tsunade and were now scouring the entire Fire Country for Naruto while the 10 members of the ANBU were out looking for Jiraiya.

They had searched for 5 straight days without rest, but to no avail.

No traces of Naruto nor Jiraiya were ever found.


Finally! All the characters are now set.

FYI for those not knowing of the 20th legion. They are a legion of Jounins and chuunins assembled by Tsunade for the sole task of eliminating any Akatsuki member that enters the Country of Fire. The team consisting of Asuma, Shikamaru, Kotetsui, and Izumo were members of this legion. 'Till the next chapter!!