Well at least I managed to get this chapter out relatively on time, it bugs me when I post late into the afternoon. I actually quite like this one, this is one of the times I'd been thinking about since early on in part 1. Now if I play my cards right, epic times may very well be just ahead.

Disclaimer: Place your bets, scrawny little teenager vs giant demonic monster! Ah hell, we all seen Devil May Cry 4, we know that don't mean much.


Mistakes of the past

"Ha ha ha!" cried the children, their faces lit up with excited glee as they went about their little game. Five young boys, running around in ecstasy as they took their chances to kick at the other child huddled up on the ground before them. Out here in the darker cracks of the land, there was no one there to see them. "Get him, get him!"

The eyeless boys continued their fun with the crying boy, poking fun at the awkward appearance which instigated their cruelty. His almost completely shaved head showed faint blond hair, and his blue eyes were wide open as he tried to keep himself from yelling out at the top of his lungs. So far this had been the worst yet; these beatings had been coming on and off ever since he and his family had moved here. He had guessed it was a routine thing, to pick on the new kid. But he was becoming pretty sure that they were growing more brutal each time, just how long was this to go on?

Then, just as he questioned himself that, the children stopped. Uncertainly, he looked up at them, were they going to drop something on him? But rather than that, their attentions were drawn elsewhere, in a direction close to the village nearby. He looked up to that place, his gaze fixing on the silhouette a small distance away from where they were. Suddenly the five boys ran off, darting past the yelling form of the huddled boy's older sister.

"Wait, get back here!" the older sister cried, whipping around as she tried to grab out at one of the boys. But they slipped past her grasp, fleeing back to the village of Tsuchigakure not too far away. For a moment she continued to call after them, but when she realised she was being ignored, she gave up. Turning around, she made to go to her little brother's aid. But to her surprise, her younger sibling hurried to his feet, before running off in the opposite direction. "Wait, Dei-chan!"

But Dei-chan ignored her, his tears nearly blinding him and the blood pumping through his ears keeping him from hearing much. But he did feel hot, and not the kind of hot caused by the sun. He was angry, and ashamed. "Oneechan!" he thought, as his little feet pounded against the hard rock. "Why are you here?"

He was ashamed to be seen like that in front of his sister; that was why he had run all the way out here in the first place. But she must have gotten worried about him and come to see what was going on. But even though he was glad he was no longer being beat up, he felt even worse about himself now.

He broke out from the valley out onto a ridge, opening out onto a grand seen of canyons and valleys below. But he scarcely noticed this; his mind was in too much of a flurry to really pay attention to that. He fell down onto his knees, and let out all his pent up anger in the form of punching the ground and screaming.

"HAAAAH!" he bawled, as his fist struck the hard ground. He repeated those cries many times, his knuckles going numb and starting to bleed from repeated stress. But he didn't care, this was the only way he could let out all his anger. Punch after punch after punch, until the ground was stained by the blood of his hands. However, to his shock he was stopped by a rough hand; there was no way that was his sister. Looking up, his eyes widened in shock at the giant crouching next to him. "W-who are you?"


Deidara smirked to himself as he let his nostalgia drift away. He settled his attentions back upon the person at the workbench, his old sensei Han. That giant kept his eyes dead ahead, but was listening closely as he waited for someone to speak. Since there was no reason to deny him that, Deidara decided to go on and start things off. "Either you've been getting sloppy, or you're getting old." he said, looking around the sculptures and paintings again. "These kinda look like Rei-chan, are you forgetting what she looks like or some-"

He was cut short however as Han suddenly got to his feet and whipped around. He held a small axe in his hand, one for chopping wood, against the side of Deidara's neck. There was no denying it; even though his face was half covered by a mask of that same armour, his livid magenta eyes were glaring at Deidara in a fit of rage. Naruto and Gaara, who had both made to stop him, froze in tension as he stood there, grand and foreboding.

There was a sweat to Deidara's brow, caused by the shock of the sudden assault. But this soon came to pass, though he still seemed nervous he managed a half cocked smile as he looked over Han's outstretched arm to his face. "Alright, guess I should have seen that coming, yeah?" he asked, before allowing his expression to relax to an unintimidated look. "Alright, I'll admit that was a little tactless. Hell, from what I understand, you probably blame me as much as you blame him, am I right?"

Han flinched as Deidara said that, his eyes narrowing slightly as he gave an accusing stare. After a moment's thought however, he lowered his axe and dropped it on the floor. But even in that case he was unwilling to let his guard down; his hands were balled up into fists as though he was trying to resist throwing them into Deidara's face. To distract himself, he turned his eyes over to Naruto and Gaara; it was clear he was wondering about this situation, even if the person directly in front of him was of greater concern.

"I suppose cutting to the point isn't gonna work." Deidara muttered, placing a hand on his side as he let out a deep sigh and closing his eyes. Then he stepped aside, raising his other hand to gesture to the two boys standing behind him. "These two are Sabaku no Gaara and Uzumaki Naruto." he said, before opening a single eye to look at Han blankly, but curiously. "They're both Jinchuriki, just like you."

Han glanced at Naruto and Gaara, his brow raised a fraction in mild surprise. But almost instantly his attention returned to Deidara, glaring fully at him once again. Naruto and Gaara couldn't help but look at each other; were they seriously being disregarded just like that? They watched the exchange between Han and Deidara; just what were they walking into?

"You don't mind this, right?" Deidara asked, his expression turning uncertain and sceptical as he folded his arms. For the first time he seemed to be showing something deeper than his usual attitude. Han seemed to notice this, but whether he cared or not was a complete mystery. "We get you out of Iwa, you help us out, and you can do what you like. Look for Rei-chan, whatever it is that you want."

If Deidara intended those words to convince Han, he was sorely mistaken. The tall Shinobi took a threatening step towards his former pupil, grabbing him by the cloak and literally lifting him off his feet. Deidara grabbed at Han's wrist, but the large nin's grip was much too tight for him.

"Alright, fine I get it!" he exclaimed, glaring back at Han for his roughness. Han didn't seem to be satisfied with those alone however, he tightened his grip further to make his point clear, something which seemed to succeed. "Look, Kirai is trying to hunt me down! He finds me, we find Rei-chan, how does that sound?"

Han hesitated as he heard this, words that made sense to him. His moment of slacking grip was enough for Deidara to knock his hand out of the way and get back on his own two feet. He then gruffly turned around and stepped past Naruto and Gaara, before pausing to look over his shoulder. "I get Rei-chan back, and you come with us, deal?"

Han, who had been staring at one of his nearby sculptures, turned his eyes over to Deidara. He studied his old pupil's face for a few moments, before giving a small nod of confirmation. Deidara returned the gesture, before he turned and headed out of the cave. Naruto and Gaara, uncertain of what else they could do here, turned around and followed him.

"Hey, what happened back there?" Naruto asked, as he and Gaara caught up with the fast walking Deidara. Both the Jinchuriki were caught in a state of confusion; hadn't they come all this way to convince Han to join them? Yet in this situation it seemed more like they were getting into a fight between him and some other people.

"He won't talk to us like this, it's no real surprise." Deidara explained, as they made their way towards the exit of the cave. He was speaking in a tone not very befitting of him; he was clearly in a foul mood from the reunion he had just had back there. "If he's like this, he'd probably have just attacked you from the start without me there. Luckily I can get him what he wants, so we've got a shot… hm."

This new was hardly encouraging to hear. Naruto knew that Iwa nin were renowned for their toughness, but this was more than he had expected. In retrospect his thoughts were probably naïve. He had been under the impression that the Jinchuriki were disloyal to their villages, and would take any chance to leave. But he supposed this case was true too; there could be other ties aside from village ones.

But for it to be like this… Naruto couldn't help but think it strange. The attack from Kirai, the person who has this Rei girl as a companion, wasn't that odd? First off, what were the odds of meeting someone so connected to their mission, someone they had before met by chance? This just seemed too irregular to Naruto, could that really be coincidence?

As they stepped out of the cave and into the sunlight, Naruto looked up at Akira and the others. They had gathered on the cliffs of the path they had previously walked, looking down at Naruto with lolling tongues. For some reason, Naruto recalled the time that he had been given the pups by the old dog Inudaibun. He remembered leaving a cave with those six puppies in tow, and looking out to see Kirai with that girl, that strange girl he recalled. "How is it that they're here now?" he thought, as the three of them began descending the rocks.

"So what now?" Gaara asked, looking at the back of Deidara's head as they took off and leapt from boulder to boulder. Naturally he was facing none of the concerns that Naruto was facing, chances are he had either worked it out already or just didn't care. It was fortunate then, that he could at least focus on the task at hand.

"Before we can get him to even hear us out, I have to atone for a little something I did a long time ago." Deidara replied, looking back at the red haired boy with a flat expression. Both Naruto and Gaara had a feeling this was to do with that thing that Deidara hadn't wanted to talk about before; it must have been annoying for him then that it would be an issue now. "What we need to do is draw Kirai out into the open. We're gonna have to take him on if we want to get Rei-chan and Han."

Naruto, who was listening closely, thought for a minute about how they would go about doing such a thing. In all honesty he hadn't the slightest idea. When Kirai had confronted them it had been a rapid attack. Most likely then he would be trying a different approach; preparing a trap for them. "How are we gonna get him to come to us?" he asked, when he had given up his attempts of figuring it out on his own.

Deidara seemed to take a moment to think about that himself. He raised his hand and looked to it, watching as the slit opened up and the tongue inside lightly licked his palm. A slow smirk spread across his face as he got an idea, showing that expression to Naruto and Gaara as he looked over his shoulder. "We'll just have to give him an opportunity he can't resist." he said, with a keen glint to his eye.


Fuu slowly lifted herself from her knees to her feet, having finally caught her breath. She reached over and brushed the mud off her legs, mumbling to herself about being dirty. Her body was covered in a hot sweat and she was pretty sure she smelled. But she didn't want to stop training just yet; she would go on until she could go on no more.

"You know, not many people will survive for long if they have to stop for a breather like that."

Fuu looked behind her, her brow raised in surprise at the source of the voice. Yagura was walking towards her, his hands deep into his pockets and his eyes looking like someone who had only recently woken up. She quickly turned around to face him, slipping her dirty hands behind her back embarrassedly. "Morning Yagura-kun!" she called, smiling quite happily at him.

Yagura came to a stop as he drew a few metres from her, taking a closer look around at her handiwork. True enough, she had dealt considerable damage to the surrounding dummies, but that wasn't actually a good thing in this case. "Y'know, a good Shinobi can kill an opponent without spilling blood all over the place." he said, as he slowly turned around to look at the wreckage. Quite a few of the dolls had been knocked to the ground, while others were in pieces. "You realise we'll have to waste time repairing these things right?"

"Huh… I…" Fuu murmured, before looking around herself. It took a moment for the full weight of this statement to hit her, and when it did it knocked off any feeling of self satisfaction she had gained from her vigorous training. "No way!" she complained, hanging her head and arms despondently.

Yagura cocked a brow at her, before he began walking again. As he moved past her, he raised his hand and lightly thumped her on the arm, surprising her into looking back up. "You were going about this the wrong way anyway." he said, glancing over his shoulder to the currently surprised Fuu. "If you're surrounded, the enemy isn't gonna just stand there while you cut them down. The idea is to take out as many as you can in a given time, before making an escape in another set time, that make sense?"

"Uh… I guess." Fuu replied, though her blank look suggested otherwise. She lightly touched the spot Yagura had hit her, but her attention was to his words. Now that she was being told it, she was annoyed that she hadn't seen it herself at the time. "So then… should I try it that way then?"

Yagura nodded, before taking a slow walk to a tree not far to his left. He turned around and leant against it, before gesturing for Fuu to head to the centre. She gave a quick nod before doing so, soon surrounding herself with the dummies once again. "Alright, you've got five seconds to take out as many enemies as you can, three to get out. Attack only with stabs, aim for the joints and neck."

Fuu nodded, showing she'd understood. While she picked out a pair of kunai from her pouch, Yagura readied to count down the seconds. He watched and waited as Fuu prepared herself, taking another deep breath before she continued training. But as soon as she was ready, she darted off fast, clearly wanting to waste no time.

Her first attack came when she ducked under one of the spread out arms of a dummy. With a quick movement, she stabbed it in the armpit before whirling around to the one on her left. She quickly wounded this dummy in the back of the knee, before running over to the next one. From the distance, Yagura regarded her with folded arms and a cocked brow. He could already see she was going to fail; she was making no effort to move close to the point of escape.

The seconds passed away, and right as the time for taking out enemies reached its end, Fuu predictably turned tail and headed for the quickest exit. She burst past the Shinobi towards the edge of the circle that had been drawn into the ground; the point of exit. However, just as she was about to make it out, several small things darted from above and forced her to stop. To her surprise, a small row of sharp looking twigs penetrated the ground just inside the circle, forcing Fuu to remain inside.

"What?" she thought aloud, looking up into the trees with a creased brow. However when Yagura cleared his throat, she looked around at him with a creased brow. To her surprise, he was fingering some thin strings that were tied to the root of the tree he was standing beside. One of them had been clearly severed, that must have been the cause of the sudden attack. "Yagura-kuun!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands down as she cried out to him. "Why didn't you tell me that would happen?"

"Cos the enemy wouldn't." Yagura replied, a short and simple answer. He straightened up off the tree and headed over towards her, walking with his arms folded and his eyes half closed. He reached her and crouched down, picking up one of the twigs between his fingers. "What made you think the only threats were inside the circle?"

He didn't need to look to know Fuu's expression. She missed vital points, but that was more naivety than anything. That could be worked on later. However her attacks were correct, she fluidly moved from one opponent to the next. That meant what she needed was not fundamentals, but experience. And that was something he could definitely handle.

Letting out a sigh, he dropped the stick and rose to his feet. Looking out into the trees, he took a brief pause before a sudden idea came to mind. "Hey, Fuu." he said, looking over to his right to the listening girl. "I have a little request, you don't have to do it if you don't want to, but I think it'll be a good thing if you agree."

Fuu cocked her head curiously at Yagura; he had an odd look on his face that was an unusual mix of confidence and uncertainty that blended together into something of a cool excitement. He turned his head to look straight at her, meeting his eyes with her as a serene smile slid onto his face. "Let's go on a little trip, just the two of us." he said.


Nagato lifted his head as something caught his notice. He sat up from the pod chair he had been napping in, and looked through the faint purple light to the wall at the other side. The warm air had made him rather drowsy, even now he was half asleep and unable to determine the source of whatever it had been that had caused him to stir. However, after concentrating for a moment he came to realise that it had been his ring that had stirred him; someone was trying to contact him.

"What's going on?" he muttered to himself, as he looked at the glowing green ring. It was a pain that he would have to, but it looked like that would be all the rest he was getting for now. He got up to his feet reluctantly raised his hand into the ram seal as he allowed contact with whoever was calling him.

A moment later a ghost like form had appeared in front of him. It took a moment, but Nagato soon recognised it as Deidara. "Got something to report." Akatsuki's Iwa representative said, speaking in his usual casual but respectful manner. "We've located the Gobi Jinchuriki, but we've hit a snag. The Jinchuriki is reluctant to join, but not impossible to convince. Problem is, doing so will take a little time, and Iwa know where we are. I think we'll have company sometime tomorrow, un."

Nagato nodded his head slowly, taking in Deidara's words with surprising calm. He raised his eyes to the large light cover in the middle of the room, watching it as he ran a series of scenarios going with what Deidara had told him. "Well, I'm sure you can deal with this situation on your own." he said, as he returned his eyes to looking at Deidara. "But if he's still unwilling by the time you're done, take him down and bring him to Ame as alive as you can manage."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Deidara replied, slipping his hand onto his waist. It was clear that this wasn't the problem at hand; Deidara was good enough to deal with these sorts of things on his own. "But I think we can get him to agree. There's a person special to him who he wants to find. If we can get her, and ensure her safety, I think he'll be quite happy to come along."

"Well that doesn't have anything to do with Akatsuki, does it?" Nagato asked, a rhetorical question that wasn't missed. In this case it would be Yoinokuchi who would deal with this, since it was the Jinchuriki that was being dealt with. "However, in the case that we do need to bring the Jinchuriki here, I think it would be fine if we "hire" Yoinokuchi to protect this person you speak of."

Deidara chuckled faintly from that idea, looking off somewhere to his right. After a moment though, he decided there was nothing much else to say. "Alright then, I guess I have a busy day ahead of me." he grumbled rubbing the back of his head. "I'll get to it then, and report back when we're done."

Nagato nodded his confirmation, and Deidara disappeared once again. The red haired man gained a feeling of relief; at least it hadn't been as troubling as he'd thought it would be. With a sigh of relief, he allowed himself to slip back into the chair for another rest. There wasn't anything pressing at this moment anyway; cutting Yoinokuchi off from Akatsuki had given him surprising room to rel-

"Are we interrupting?"

Nagato's eyes snapped open, his knuckled halfway to his temple. "Of course not." he insincerely replied. From the floor appeared Zetsu, his creepy form rising like a sprung bear trap getting lifted out of the ground. The black and white Shinobi became a whole figure separate from the ground, but he sure wasn't easier to look at.

The white side of Zetsu had a thin smile on his face; Nagato clearly wasn't fooling him. The black side however was of course expressionless like always. "It looks like there may be some trouble ahead." the white side said, speaking ambiguously for his own enjoyment. "Uchiha Sasuke is now moving to find Uchiha Itachi." the black side continued, spoiling the white side's fun.

Nagato cocked a brow at this, all signs of tiredness suddenly gone. Like white Zetsu had had not but a moment ago, there was now a smile upon his face that also had a certain ambiguousness about it. "Is that so?" he wondered aloud, his eyes distancing as an odd sheen came to them. He took a moment to think to himself, before sitting up. "Fufufufu… keep an eye on him won't you?"

White Zetsu returned the chuckle, the two of them nodding their consent. They, like Deidara, had little much else to say and so chose this moment to leave. However when they were gone, Nagato made no further attempt to get rest. As it was, he doubted he could if he wanted to. Instead, he turned around to make for the door, deciding to-

"Konan?"

He hadn't noticed that his partner was in the room, standing by the door and watching him. She wore a blank, but curious look on her face as she looked back at him. "You seem oddly interested in this." she said, not making any effort to present herself further. "I didn't think the Uchiha really mattered to you."

Nagato let out another faint laugh, nodding in agreement to her words. She was sharp, but it wasn't like that surprised him. "Uchiha Madara was interested in those two." he replied, as casually as if he were talking about the weather. He stepped towards Konan as he spoke, coming to a stop not far in front of her. Looking up just a little, he smiled at her. "He knew more than he pretended; I need to find out just what that was."

Konan looked down at him, seeing sense in his words. But she naturally didn't like it; she seldom liked anything to do with the Uchiha. "You think Uchiha Sasuke is important to this?" she asked, as Nagato opened up the door and began to leave. But he stopped at that, taking a pause before he looked up at her with that same smile.

"…For some reason… I get the feeling that Uchiha Sasuke is the key to everything."