Heh heh, this is one of those chapters I've been waiting for for a long time now. Someone commented that the last one was rather "lacklustre". Well I doubt the same thing could be said for this one. Topping it off with one that reached almost 5000 words, I'm considering raising my minimum word count per chapter from 4000 to 4500. Well, we'll see if this length streak continues before I make a decision like that. Anyways, I'm just waiting for the rant from one certain person. You know who you are.

Disclaimer: Anyone else think Hidan and Pein are contrasts?


From the sky into the night

The three figures sat silently at the bar, looking into their glasses with solemn expressions. All around them there were people enjoying the afternoon, eating at tables or drinking with their friends. But the crowd were as well as silent to these three at the moment. None of the sounds of speech or other such noises reached their ears. For the moment their attentions were only on each other, and the time that would soon be arriving upon them.

Rei looked up from the bar to her father, and then to Deidara on his left. She had been shocked to see him at first, but didn't shun him away as he had thought she would. However they hadn't talked either, even though both of them had spent time thinking of what to say. "This… this place is nice." she muttered feebly, looking down into the glass in her hands once again.

"I wouldn't bother remembering it; it won't be open for much longer." Deidara replied, hiding a smirk behind his hand as he watched the barkeep from the corner of his eye. This one was a new guy; the old one had apparently quit quite suddenly and headed off for Tanzaku Town in search of a "safer position". Not feeling the least bit guilty, Deidara drained his glass and looked up at the ceiling, before letting out a tired sigh. "Guess I better get going, Sasori hates it when I'm late."

Han and Rei both watched Deidara as he rose to his feet, watching as he flashed them a grin and began to pass by. But before he could make any distance, Han grabbed him suddenly by the arm. Deidara looked over to his old sensei, taking begrudging not that even when sitting down the older man could look down at him.

The two stared at each other for several long seconds, exchanging things that weren't spoken in words. Han's hand slipped away after a moment longer, but he held the stare. Deidara did the same, but let his expression grow into a full on grin to combat his sensei's hard look. "Y'know, you look weird without that heavy armour on, yeah?" he said, before continuing on. But the look that he'd shared allowed him to do one more thing. "Take care Rei-chan." he said, giving a wave as he made for the door.

"Oh, you too Dei-chan." Rei said, blinking in surprise as Deidara's waving hand twitched. She hadn't realised what she'd called him, or maybe she just didn't think of it. In either case, she continued to watch as Deidara finished his wave and stepped out of the bar, before disappearing from sight. Then, after a few moments of watching, she dropped her gaze, before looking up again at her father. Han looked back at her with a raised brow, noticing her hesitance. "…T-Touchan, do you have to wear that in here?" she asked with a slightly embarrassed look. "It's hard to recognise you with that mask on anyway."

Han blinked in surprise at the request his daughter made. He hadn't even noticed he was still wearing his kasa, so used was he to wearing it. But he wasn't about to turn his daughter down, so with a smile he took it off and laid it down on the now empty chair beside him. With that gone, he ruffled his brown spiky hair and reached behind his neck, pulling out the long ponytail hidden inside his clothing. The hair fell down all the way to the small of his back, and was just as messy as the shorter hairs on his head.

Rei looked at his now more familiar self with a smile, and once more her eyes began to tear up. This had been happening to her a lot since the reunion, now was actually the first time she'd had the courage to ask anything of her father. "I really don't get anything from you, do I?" she asked, tilting her head a little so that her dark, straight hair fell down to the bar's surface. Han could only smile in reply; he had been thinking such a thing for many years now.

Other footsteps could be heard as someone who drew Han's attention walked into the room. Rei looked behind her with a curious expression, seeking the person who her father had noticed. "Hey uh… you crying again?" Naruto asked, as sensitive as ever. He had walked in with a grin on his heavily bandaged face, but after seeing Rei's eyes his smile had turned into a questioning look. Rei had been the one to put him in the state he was in; her knowledge of first aid had been more than a little surprising. Aside from that, Naruto's healing ability meant that even though his body was still fragile underneath the layers of gauze, he was able to walk easily. Having said that, he had been sleeping quite a lot. "Yo, Han-san, how's it going?"

Han gave Naruto a tired look, it seemed Naruto still hadn't given up on trying to get a word out of him. Ever since they left the village Han had been tasked with guarding, where Naruto had tried a rather… unorthodox method getting him to talk, was henceforth treated with silence. As it would seem, Han didn't appreciate the finer arts of Naruto's perverted transformation technique. In fact, rather than earning a few words, what Naruto was given was what could only be politely described as a powerful sedative… in the form of a fist to the gut. Well at least then Naruto got to hear a cry of rage, that was something right?

Of course, there was the distinct possibility that the Jutsu itself hadn't been the cause of Han's rage. Ever since Naruto used it, Rei had also been rather shy around him, maybe as a result. Even now she averted her gaze, her cheeks reddening as she fixed her attention to a bottle lined on the wall. "Good evening… Naruto-san." she said, trying to keep her voice from showing her embarrassment.

Naruto squinted at her as he sat down, he hadn't really any idea why she acted so cold around him. He had lost consciousness before he could see her expression back then. "Deidara gone?" he asked, looking between the two curiously. Rei gave a quick nod before looking up at Han, who had rose to his feet. She began to rise herself, but when Han put a hand on her shoulder and smiled to her, she settled back down. Then he departed in the opposite direction of Deidara, going towards the bathrooms.

Rei looked around as Naruto took a seat beside her, even though the stools were fixed to the ground she couldn't help but feel he was a little close. Though that could be true in any case, even Han being near made her nervous. However, Naruto broke that feeling by saying something she found rather strange. "Hey, can I get a glass of water, and an onion?" he asked, raising his hand to the barkeep.

"A- an onion?" the barkeep repeated, giving Naruto and uncertain look. "Are you sure about that?" he asked for safety sake. When Naruto grinned and nodded in reply, the barkeep placed his dishtowel down and headed through to a door behind the bar. He was gone for a few moments, but when he returned he had in his hands the items Naruto had asked for. "Here you go sir."

"You eat raw onion?" Rei asked, as Naruto thanked the barkeep and accepted his requests. It seemed like a strange thing, from what she knew even a little onion could be overpowering. But a whole one? That seemed outright strange to her. Then again, this boy had been burnt alive to the point where he couldn't move, yet here he was now sitting in a bar with a grin on his face.

Naruto lifted the onion and looked at it closely, before tossing it in the air and catching it. "Nah, I hate vegetables." he said, as he raised his free hand into a single seal. Then, once he was ready, he brushed his finger across the surface of the onion, until he had gone all away around it. To Rei's surprise, the onion fell into two perfect halves, which Naruto held aside from her. "Still, if you're crying then it's better if I am too. Don't want people blaming me for it or anything."

Rei wore a surprised look as Naruto turned away from her, then raised the onions to his face. She and the barkeep blinked in alarm at his foolishness. She uncertainly raised her hand towards him, a worried expression on her face. "Um… Naruto-san?" she asked, placing her hand upon his shoulder before she'd realised what she'd done.

Naruto then surprised her again by turning around, his face screwed up tight. Tears streamed down his face at an alarming rate, soaking his bandages and dripping off his chin. "I… I…" he said, his voice quivering from the burning sensation in his eyes. "I think I just did something stupid!"


The cold stone floors were hard on his knees, and the bonds on his hands were much too tight. The dampness in the air was affecting his throat terribly, and the low pressure to it was making a ringing in his ears. Coupled with the fact that he had been like this for hours, he was falling into the pits of despair. But he was a Shinobi after all; if he couldn't keep through this for a mere few hours then he would have no right to go by such a name.

The sound of a door opening stirred him from his thoughts. He raised his head quickly, the chains binding him to the wall rattling from his sudden movement. The flickering torches on either side of the room served to show him his visitor, even if the light quality was poor. But looking at that person, the imprisoned Shinobi paled.

A man had entered the room, one bearing a large black cloak adorned with red clouds. Long orange hair fell down around a slashed Ame headband, framing the heavily pierced face that looked upon him with grey rippled eyes. The black studs in his cheeks and chin, along with the slanted bar through his nose were each reminiscent of a certain person that the imprisoned Shinobi was unfortunately aware of. This was one of the many bodies of Pein, the one known as "Human Realm".

That Pein closed the door behind him as he stepped into the room, not taking his eyes off the prisoner for a second. He moved closer to the person with a remarkable expression that showed both listlessness and cold command. "So it was you after all, Kohaku-san." he said, as he placed his hand upon the shaggy pale blue hair of one of his highest ranked underlings. "I wouldn't say I'm all that surprised."

"I wish I could say the same, Pein-sama." Kohaku replied, giving his leader a serious but unthreatening look. Pein however had no interest in words of denial; he had all the proof he needed and more. If that wasn't all, he now had answers to some questions that had been troubling him for a while now. His grip tightened on Kohaku's head, his eyes losing focus as he stopped looking at the immediate world.

Whatever he was doing, it caused Kohaku's eyes to roll back in his skull and his mouth to open slightly. After a few moments of Pein's concentration, saliva slipped past Kohaku's lips and began dribbling down his chin. But of course, this was of no interest to Pein. Instead, his attention was focused on things that couldn't be seen, secrets that were left unspoken. The mind of Kohaku was opening up to him like an old book, telling him stories of which even Kohaku may have forgotten.

This investigation of sorts lasted for a while, with Kohaku's mental degeneration going on and on without a second's compassion. But when Pein's attention returned to the room, the torture seemed to come to an end. He lifted his hand from Kohaku's head, and his former captain collapsed, most certainly dead. Pein watched Kohaku for but a moment, before he turned and made his way out of the room. There were many pests he needed to deal with.


"Ah… damn it." Naruto murmured, as he rubbed his eyes with the base of his palm. In the short time he had held them to his face, the onions had done a marvellous job of irritating his eyes. Right now he looked far worse than Rei did, at least she just became teary every now and then. "Man, I probably look like a wimp or something."

"You… shouldn't have done that then!" Rei replied, smiling apologetically at him. It was strange, though she had been nervous of Naruto before, after he went and did something as peculiar as that, she couldn't help letting her guard down. She almost felt like laughing, but in truth she was still feeling a little edgy. Just how long was her father going to take?

Naruto lowered his hands from his face and rested his arms on the table. He let out a sigh of discomfort as he looked over to the bathrooms, and then to Rei. "Hey uh, I was just thinking…" he said, trying his best to be careful in case he said something that was maybe too personal. "We're all going to the same place, you might even say we'll be living together. It'd be lame if we were all tense and stuff, so you think maybe we could clear the air?"

Living together… for some reason Rei was sure if anyone else had said that she would have felt embarrassed by it. But there was nothing suggestive about Naruto's words; there was a kind of naivety about him that made her relax a little. "Well… I guess that's fine." she replied, shuffling a little in her seat. Once she was settled, she looked at Naruto uncertainly, but willingly. "What… do you want to know?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully, raising his eyes as he considered Rei's question. In truth, there were many things he wanted to know, but few wordings he could think of to go with them. "Well… I guess there is one thing that's kinda bothering me." he admitted, as he placed his hand down again and looked at Rei. "Well, Han-san is a lot older than any of the other people like us that I've met… so what I'm wondering is… why did he stay with Iwa all that time?"

Though Naruto and Rei had been looking each other in the eye, when that question was posed Rei broke contact. For but a moment she looked unsettled again, but soon hid this behind a smile as she looked back at Naruto. "Oh… you see…" she began, hesitating halfway through. "Well… I suppose that the reason would be me."

Naruto raised his brow in surprise at that, even if rational thought should have allowed him to reach that conclusion. Rei turned in her seat to face the bar again, her eyes distancing as her fake smile turned into a smaller, sadder one. "I guess you could say my being born was an order made by the Tsuchikage." she said, speaking for the first time in full, unbroken sentences. "Touchan was arranged to marry Okaasan, who was the Tsuchikage's grandniece. Touchan and Okaasan got on well, they hadn't even been married a year before I was born. But after that, Okaasan was ordered to return to duty in Iwagakure, and Touchan was left to raise me."

Naruto, who had turned his eyes to the front, gave a slight nod of understanding. So then Han was left to raise Rei on his own then? "That must have been pretty tough." he thought, as his expression turned quietly exasperated. He had some idea of what it was like to raise living things, the dogs had taught him something of responsibility. But he was sure that raising a child was a little more complicated than leaving out food, taking walks and flicks to teach them what not to do. "Guess I'll cut him some slack then."

He cast a slight glance over to Rei, noticing she seemed to have said all she was comfortable with. There was also a feeling coming from her, a shy expectance that told Naruto she was waiting for him to return the favour. He leant backing his chair, thinking carefully as he tried to decide what would be ok to tell her. But before he could come to a decision on that, he was met by a sudden backhand to the face.

"OFF GUARD!"

Naruto flew off his chair and hit the ground hard, gasping in pain as his still healing body cried out. Rei let out a small scream of shock as she bounced off her chair and backed off, staring at the assailant with terrified eyes. Naruto however felt no such fear, only anger at being disturbed like this. "BASTARD, I'LL KILL-" he began, before coming to a stop. He stared hard at the person who had attacked him, blinking several times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. "Kisame-sensei?"

The giant blue faced swordsman grinned down at Naruto, reaching out with his hand and grabbing his disciple by his haori. With barely any effort he pulled Naruto to his feet, before giving him a pat on the head that nearly floored the blond once again. "Long time no see brat-" he began, before coming to a pause. He stared at Naruto's face for a while, before his expression turned to something suddenly pitiless and quite creepy. "You been crying?"

Naruto's brow raised in shock as he rapidly felt fear for his life. Raising his arm to rub his eyes vigorously, he shook his head before his sensei gave him a reason to cry. "Nah, just doing stupid stuff again." he replied, in the hope that would be enough of an answer. He looked up at Kisame again, who seemed to doubt the explanation. Deciding a proper one would only result in another attack, Naruto decided a change of subject was probably best. "What're you doing here sensei?"

Kisame opened his mouth to answer, but before even a word slipped out he was forced to turn his attention elsewhere. The bathroom door up ahead had burst open, Han flying through it as he reacted to Rei's cry. He locked eyes with Kisame and quickly assessed the situation even while still moving. He ran for the intruder, while Naruto and Kisame watched with surprised looks painted on their faces.

"Wait, Touchan!" Rei cried, quickly turning around. She had soon realised that Kisame was not a threat by Naruto's reaction, and so did her best to rectify the situation. Han of course didn't hear her, his eyes were burning in a rage. "It's ok!" she called, reaching out to stop him as his fist raised in the air. Han was ready to charge through, but to his surprise when he tried to run past Rei, her arm succeeded in getting in his way.

Both Naruto and Han's eyes widened in surprise as the white clad nin fell over his daughter's arm, colliding with the blond boy in a blow that knocked him back to the ground once more. "GUAGH!" Naruto cried, as he was met not only with the hardness of the floor, but the weight of the nin on top of him. Though Rei hurried to help her dazed father to her feet, Naruto was in even worse condition. His eyes spun round in spirals as the ceiling spun around. He was pretty sure the two days worth of healing he'd gone through had just been erased thanks to Han's fall.

All around the bar eyes were upon them, not even a whisper spoken amongst the frozen customers. Some had even rose to their feet and moved away from the source of the commotion out of fear of being dragged straight into it. Kisame glanced over from Han to the crowds with an amused look to him, he hadn't shown worry for a moment of Han's spectacle. "Looks like the girl's got some strength behind her." he remarked, with his characteristic grin. Then he looked over his shoulder, jerking his thumb to Han and Rei in a disregarding manner. "These the two you were talking about?"

"Yes." Gaara replied, stepping in from the doorway. He too had been watching the scene with interest, pausing at the door only at Kisame's signal when they'd arrived. There he had remained up until now, with his arms folded and looking rather relaxed. "This is Han-san, the Gobi Jinchuriki, and his daughter Rei-san."

Kisame looked over to the father and daughter again, regarding the two with some respect. Then he fixed his eyes upon Han, feeling a little giddy about seeing someone the same rough size as him. "Hoshigake Kisame." he said, introducing himself for the sake of cooling things down. He jerked his head to Gaara and Naruto, the latter of which was getting back to his feet. "These two are my students, so if they've been acting like idiots, let me know."

Han and Rei looked back at Kisame uncertainly, but after judging the way Naruto and Gaara were acting, they decided to relax. Everyone else in the bar was hardly in a position to say the same however, and the new barman seemed to finally build up the courage to express this. "Please gentlemen… could you not cause so much trouble?" he asked, though personally he was worried for his own safety.

Kisame regarded the barkeep with a cocked brow, it wasn't often that civilian people asked such things of him. For that reason, he gave a nod of reply and sat down at the bar. Naruto and Gaara both took this as indication to do the same, with Han and Rei following shortly after. The barkeep seemed grateful, and soon the crowd behind relaxed down too. Though it took a little while, quiet conversation resumed in the bar, with quite a few words referring to the troublesome group at the front of the bar.

"So sensei, what are you doing here anyway?" Naruto asked, as he leant forward on the bar and looked up at his sensei questioningly. Even though it had been but a few weeks, it had felt like months since he and Gaara had been travelling the land with Kisame, training and generally having a good time. Since then, things hadn't felt quite right. Even with that funny guy Utakata and Fuu causing trouble, the laughs just weren't quite the same. "Where's Itachi-san?"

Kisame raised his hand to the barkeep and ordered a bottle of sake, resting his arms on the bar as he waited for his drink. "Itachi has some business to take care of, so he asked me to stay behind." he replied, as he looked to his longer running student from the corner of his eye. "But there was something I had to take care of too, so I told him I'd be going on ahead."

"Something to take care of?" Naruto repeated, blinking stupidly as the gears in his head slowly turned. He watched as Kisame was given his drink, thinking about how coincidental it was to meet his sensei here. Then a light bulb flickered in his mind, and his brow rose in surprise. "Is that something you need us for?" he asked, looking curiously at Kisame.

"What a surprise, the runt's quicker on the money than usual!" Kisame replied, his grin broadening as he lifted his bottle of sake to Han. The former Iwa nin refused however, and the ex-Kiri nin shrugged. Since he wasn't going to be sharing his sake, he took a swig straight from the bottle before continuing. "I was just counting on a little something, and thought it'd be best if I check up on you."

Gaara looked up at Kisame at those words, privately curious about what that could be. Though his sensei was clearly talking to Naruto, it was also his business in a sense. Normally when Kisame got an idea, things got very dangerous. Naruto too got an uneasy feeling, but this was marred with excitement as he too got an idea of what Kisame meant. But he could never have been prepared for what Kisame had to say next, the question he posed had him so taken aback his eyes widened in shock.

"You ever heard of a place, called "Uzu no Kuni"?"


A cold rain began to dribble down from above, as if the sky itself was losing itself to its own disbelief. The world grew that little bit greyer as the thin clouds grew stronger. The sun had closed its eye, turning its back on the scene as it silently lamented the event being displayed with almost mocking pride. Down below, on that lonely grey ground, one would swear the earth had crumpled upon itself in defeat. The ruins of what had once been a proud, if desolate building filled every direction.

Outside this shattered place, trees burned under hellish black flames, ignorant of the downpour going on above them. Those unearthly flames burned slowly, making their departure from the falling grounds while turning the land to sodden ash. It seemed even they wanted nothing to do with the goings on behind them, and there was once person who could hardly blame them for doing so.

"I don't believe it…" Zetsu breathed, his black and white form protruding from a half broken wall. His eyes were wide and his expression stunned. If not for the rain, the fluid running down his face could almost be mistaken for sweat. Then again, there was every possibility that he was sweating. It would hardly be a surprise, considering what he had just seen. "Itachi… lost!"

To the distance, in front of a monolith which bore a white and read paper fan, two people could be seen. One was Uchiha Itachi. He lay down on the ground without his cloak, his simple shirt and trousers hiding the blood that stained his arms and face. The other was Uchiha Sasuke. He stood with his back against that monolith, his shirt missing and blood streaking down from his forehead. His eyes were half open, looking down at the dead Itachi as his breaths came in heavy lungfuls. Far back, Zetsu continued to watch in horrified disbelief.

"There's no way!" he thought, as something that was definitely sweat streaked down his cheek. He looked on as Sasuke lost consciousness, and fell down on the ground beside the other Uchiha. It was too much to take in, that someone like Itachi could have lost to someone like him. "There's no doubt, Itachi wasn't fighting at full power. He doesn't even look the same."

"Uchiha Itachi… what an interesting person."

Zetsu ignored the person on his right, his thoughts were too many to pay much attention to his fellow observer. Hyuuga Neji paid this no thought however. He sat on the broken wall with a smirk on his face, sneering at Sasuke and Itachi over folded arms. Like Zetsu, he had been watching this fight from afar, treated only with the more spectacular sight as the two Uchiha broke through the roof of the pathetic old building.

Several silent moments passed as Zetsu thought to himself, swallowing hard and taking his time to relax. Neji couldn't help noting this; it seemed Uchiha had quite a reputation inside this "Akatsuki" he had heard tell of. Even when Zetsu shrank back into the wall, Neji still wore that expression. He gave the peculiar Shinobi a moment to leave, before he decided to make his move.

Getting to his feet, he leapt off the wall and jumped across the field of debris as he headed towards the two Uchiha, taking the time he felt he had plenty of. It took him a minute, but when he finally reached them he landed softly upon the ground. He then leisurely began to walk towards them with a relaxed expression, letting his eyes drift over the two brothers lazily.

For some strange reason though, the person he headed towards was not Sasuke. Standing between the two Uchiha, Neji turned his back on his "comrade" and looked to the person who he had never met before. He crouched down on the ground and lightly slipped his hand under Uchiha Itachi's head, lifting it a little as he brought his own head closer. "What luck…" Neji muttered, his eyes narrowing a little as a smile spread across his face. Then something happened to his pale, pupil-less eyes. A faint glow emitted from them, steadily growing stronger and stronger until light blazed out of them. As the illumination reached its highest level, Neji's smile spread into a grin. "Ninigi!"

Itachi's eyes suddenly widened under the uttered word, his dark eyes turning red and a black pinwheel forming from his pupil. Neji stared hard at these eyes, his own dimming and taking on an ethereal glow of a purple mist. That glow seemed to drift in a never-ending circle in his eyes. And slowly, the same thing happened to Itachi.