I do not own Naruto (i am not that smart).

"Talking" will be done with the normal font.

'Thoughts' will be done by Italic.

Hi again. I will have him meet a lot of the main characters from the leaf but no pairings with them so don't ask. I am considering it for the future but it's a stretch. Although it is good to have a bit of romance in the mix. If you give me some good pairings (that make sense) i might consider it a bit more.

Chapter 6- Home.

'Hmm, I feel like I got no sleep at all.' Kazumu woke up the next day still in the Leaf villages Hospital, not feeling any better than before. 'I don't think I could even activate the Rinnegan I'm so weak.' Kazumu looked across the room to see Shikamaru sleeping in the bed next to him. 'I guess he's pretty intent on keeping his promise to Naruto.' Kazumu faced the other way and tried to go back to sleep.

"...Hello?" This was a new voice. It sounded like a girl. "...Wake up"

"Quit whispering in my ear." Kazumu said still half asleep.

"How ungrateful! After me and Choji came here just to see you!" Kazumu turned to face his new visitors.. He was still really sleepy.

"Hi." Kazumu sounded half dead with that response.

"Not 'hi'! I'm still mad you." The girl who was whispering in Kazumu's ear was blonde with her hair in a ponytail. She had bright green eyes and she wore all purple with her stomach exposed.

"Heh. The nurses are sure looking pretty today." Kazumu was definitely out of it from his injuries but the now blushing girl had no idea.

"Uhh W..what did you say?" She was pretty surprised and her whole face went bright red.

"Snap out of it Ino. I told you to come to meet him, not date him." Shikamaru stepped in.

"He's the one who called me pretty!" As she said it she went back to blushing.

"He's clearly half-asleep and really unwell Ino." The other person was a guy who had long spiky brown hair and he was, well lets just say his appearance was robust to say the least.

"Who's this f-" Kazumu's mouth was closed shut by Ino and Shikamaru.

"That word is taboo around him." Shikamaru urgently whispered in his ear.

"Hey what was he saying?" He asked with a slight hint of anger in his voice.

"Oh nothing, nothing at all!" Shikamaru and Ino said together.

"Oh, that's good then!" He was pretty easy to fool.

"So who are you people and why are you waking me up." Ino's expression went sour.

"How rud-" Shikamaru nudged her out of the way.

"Be quiet, I didn't tell you guys to come so you could fight." Shikamaru sighed. "Ok, as you may already know I'm Shikamaru Nara. This here is Choji Akimichi. And the one who woke you up is Ino Yamanaka. They're my team mates."

"Hey! You made me sound bad!"

"Well you did wake him up." Shikamaru stopped there. "So what's your name?" Kazumu hesitated. Itachi once told him that because of all the villages not knowing he exists, he's at a clear advantage, but for once he didn't seem to care that much.

"I'm Kazumu." He said it bluntly, trying to make out a smile as he introduced himself.

"Just Kazumu?" Choji was wondering about the lack of a last name.

"Yes. I don't really have a family. Itachi and Kisame just found me." The three of them remained silent to the mention of those names. "Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I'm used to saying their names without any real problem. I'm kinda forgetting what we Akatsuki do."

"But you aren't like them. You saved Gaara didn't you?" Ino asked. It sounded like she was looking for a ray of hope that he wouldn't go back to the Akatsuki after this.

"I guess so. The main reason I did what I did was-" He couldn't finish his sentence just thinking about what happened.

"I'm guessing it was Naruto?" Shikamaru got it right away. He couldn't hide it from him at all.

"How did you know that?" Kazumu was pretty surprised

"Because Naruto has gotten to us all one time or another."Choji said to the still dumbfounded Kazumu.

"He has that effect on everyone." Ino added.

"Hmm. Well it got me hook, line and sinker." Kazumu seemed down about it.

"Don't think about it too much, just work on getting better."Shikamaru said as the three of them headed for the door.

"Bye Kazumu!" Ino and Choji seemed so happy to meet him. Kazumu simply waved back to them.

"I'll be back later. Just try to go to sleep." Shikamaru closed the door behind them leaving Kazumu all by himself.

'Does that Naruto really have that kind of effect on people?' Kazumu went back to sleep thinking about this.

"..."

'What is that sound.'

"...I guess I'm just worried about him."

'What?' He slightly opened his eye to see there was a girl sitting next to him.

"I'm still really grateful that you didn't fight Naruto and helped instead." She had such a pure, innocent voice.

'Who is this girl? She sounds angelic. Huh that's weird of me to think. I must be getting soft.'

"Although the only way I can thank you is like this. I couldn't say this straight to your face. I'm n..not strong enough socially. You almost gave up, your life for this. What could I even say?"

"Hello would be a good start." Kazumu replied to the girl, who didn't realize he had recovered enough to be conscious.

"You're awake!" Kazumu opened his eyes to see who she was but by the time he looked she was already gone.

"Ok 'that' was weird. I just want some sleep." Kazumu tried for the second time today to go to sleep.

*Nudge*

'Oh god what now.'

*Nudge nudge*

"Ok I'm up what is it!" Kazumu yelled and got up to see a girl with long blue hair and white eyes. She seemed to be shaking from Kazumu's outburst.

"I c..came to say-" She finished her sentence short.

"I'm sorry, I'm just really beaten up. What is it you wanted to say." The girl was a lot calmer after Kazumu's apology.

"I came to say sorry for waking you up and speaking to you while you were unconscious!" She was really quick saying this, like she was ripping off a band aid, trying to do it as quickly as possible.

"It's fine, I know its hard for you." The girl gasped. "It's not easy being socially awkward I bet. Hell 3 years ago I couldn't even speak yet." She chuckled a bit from this. "That's better."

"I'm Hinata Hyuga." She said still embarrassed. "What's your name?"

"I'm Kazumu." He seemed to enjoy meeting this girl.

"I...I'll see you around!" Hinata then ran out of the room.

"Ok, if I get another visitor like that I have a feeling I'll be up all night!" Kazumu then tried for the third time today to sleep. 'What is it with the people in this village? They're being so nice to me. Hmm, it doesn't feel right. No, that's not it. It's more like this is a new felling to me. Itachi's village. Hmm.'

"Kazumu! Wake up!"

"Lady Tsunade we should really wait!"

"I'm sick of waiting. There's an Akatsuki member in our hospital and he needs to be dealt with." Kazumu slowly got up again and rubbed his eyes. He looked up to see the Hokage glaring at him. There was also another woman next to her along with several other ninja he hadn't seen before.

"I would complain but this is surprisingly the best I've felt all day." Kazumu didn't care too much about the presence of all these ninja with their stares all directed at him.

"There are two choices you have now Kazumu." The Hokage spoke up again. "Give us the answers we need or we will get them ourselves!" She was desperate for information on the Akatsuki.

"I have nothing to say, I've already told you my loyalties remain with the Akatsuki." All the ninja gave Kazumu a dirty look. "But I have a feeling that's not want you want to hear is it Tsunade?" Even with all those around him, he taunted her to her face.

"Well have it your way." Kazumu noticed a man who resembled Ino walk over to him.

'I don't like the looks of this, I have to try and use the Rinnegan now!' Kazumu took a handsign and all the ninja took a defensive stance. 'If i can just manage to-' "Preta Path!" The Rinnegan was active and charka began seeping out of every ninja in the room, freezing them on the spot. 'Wow these guys are so powerful. I'm going to be completely recovered at this rate, i just have to be sure not to hurt anyone, the only reason I'm doing this is they won't let me go.' Kazumu snapped out of it the second he was ready to escape. "Deva Path! Almighty Push!" He knocked all the Leaf ninja aside and blew of the wall in his room. Just before he jumped out the window he looked back at them all. "I'm sorry." He said under his breath as he bolted out. 'What is up with this place it's huge! I can't see any exit at all!' Before he could realise it there was an alarm sounding throughout the whole village. 'Dammit, can't they just let me go already.' Kazumu began to run around the village aimlessly wandering from place to place. 'I'm still stiff from lying in bed so long, I have a feeling even if I did know where the exit is I wouldn't reach it.' Kazumu was suddenly grabbed from all sides and carried through the air. "Let me go! Just leave me alone!"

"Now that's a little ungrateful." He knew this voice. He turned his head to see Shikamaru, along with Choji and Ino. "We are going to get you to Naruto."

"Why? What can he do?" Kazumu looked to see the village entrance right in front of them.

"He told me if this happened to bring you to him. He's out on a mission right now so we have some time to get there."They landed at the entrance, putting Kazumu down.

"You mean you guys are going to take me to him yourselves?" They all had bags on their backs, ready for the journey.

"That's the idea. It's a real drag but I did make a promise." All three of them smiled at Kazumu. He was silent for a bit before finally saying.

"Thank you guys." He smiled at them and this wasn't a fake one this time. He was sincerely happy.

"Come on! We need to leave!" Choji was signalling everyone to follow.

"Ok lets head off to the Tenchi Bridge." Shikamaru confirmed the destination and all of them dashed of into the distance, leaving the Leaf Village as quickly as they could. "We need to be fast to evade the ANBU. They'll send them straight away if they suspect that you would go for Naruto." He was carefully thinking about their next move.

"You mean you're going against the wishes of your own village!? And the Hokage!? Just for a promise made by a friend!?" Kazumu couldn't believe his ears.

"Well our friends needs come before the rules." Choji joined the conversation. "We can't break our promise to Naruto just because of this."

"But I hurt so many people in that hospital. Sure I didn't kill them but i don't deserve such kindness if I can't return the favour!"

"Shut up Kazumu!" He was silenced by Ino. "We are getting you to Naruto and that's all there is to it. Even if we have to take you by force."She said this really calmly, it made it sound sincere and creepy.

"Tha-" Kazumu was cut off when several shuriken flew past the group, followed by explosions behind them.

"Paper bombs! We're being ambushed!" Shikamaru yelled as everyone stopped and took a defensive position. The group was all back to back and being approached by four rouge ninja from all sides.

"Don't move guys." Kazumu took charge and everyone went silent. He weaved a single handsign and closed his eyes. "I've got this!" He opened his eyes to reveal the Rinnegan's activation.

"What is that?" Shikamaru didn't know what to think of this. The rouges got closer and closer, but when they leapt for their attack.

"Asura Path!" Several mechanical hands suddenly sprouted from Kazumu's back and he grabbed all four ninja at once. "Human Path!" Using his remaining hand he reached into the ninja's chests one by one taking something out of them that was purple and see-through. After it had been fully removed they dropped to the ground.

"Kazumu, what did you do?" Ino asked hoping it wasn't what she thought it was.

"They're dead. I removed their souls." All three of them gasped and jumped back from Kazumu.

"How are you able to do that!?" Shikamaru stared at the purple ripples in his eyes.

"The Rinnegan. It's one of my ocular jutsu." He de-activated the Rinnegan. "As it stands I have three dojutsu but the Rinnegan is the most powerful."

"What are the others then!?" Shikamaru was determined to solve this mystery.

"Hmm. The Sharingan and Byakugan."

"What!? That's impossible! The Sharingan is an Uchiha bloodline trait and the Byakugan belongs to the Hyuga clan."

"I don't know what to tell you Shikamaru, but it is the truth. Now lets keep going. I don't want to talk about this any more." Kazumu turned away and started walking. The other three followed closely behind him. 'This isn't something I wanted to happen. I wanted my powers to be a secret but I guess that ship has sailed, and that attack. The memories I absorbed from them using the Human Path were out of place. Like they were tampered with so I couldn't read them. I would point the finger of blame to Pein but he doesn't think my loyalties have changed does he?'

"Kazumu we're setting up camp. We won't get there today." Kazumu turned to face Shikamaru and noticed it was pretty dark.

'Heh. Sasori was right I gotta quit the daydreams.' "Yeah that's fine." Kazumu followed them to the camp site and they set up for the night. Afterwards they set up a fire and all sat around it together. It was silent at first. The day had been rough on all of them, also the shock of learning Kazumu's powers had the three Leaf ninja on edge. "Hey guys."

"Yeah?" Choji was the first to respond, while cooking some food on the fire.

"Are you...happy living in the Leaf Village?" Kazumu looked up to see a hopeful face on the three of them. 'Why did I ask them that! I'm just giving them the wrong idea.'

"Of course we are!" Shikamaru stood up, and was joined by Choji and Ino soon after.

"We couldn't imagine living anywhere else." Ino said with a smile.

"It's the place we call home" All three of them smiled at Kazumu.

'Home huh? I wonder where that would be for me. I guess I don't have one now, if you could even call the Hidden Rain home to begin with.' Kazumu laid back and looked at the sky. "Sorry guys, today was a bit hard to deal with. I'm going to sleep it off."

"Ok then." Shikamaru threw him a sleeping bag. "We will wake you when we move out tomorrow."

"Thanks." Kazumu staring at the night sky slowly drifted off to sleep.

"..."

'Is someone talking to me again? It feels more like a dream, or a memory? I'm not sure but it feels familiar.'

"Looks like the..."

'I can't make out the sentence. It feels like I'm underwater. My hearings muffled.'

"...was a success!"

'I'm missing the middle part of it. It makes no sense when it's incomplete like this.'

"After all the failures this one worked!"

'What? I don't understand. Who are you?'

"You mean you don't know?"

'Of course not! I've never met you!'

"I'm hurt Kazumu. I really am."

'It doesn't sound that way. Just let me go!'

"You still don't get it do you?"

'Get what? Tell me right now!'

"I OWN YOU!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Kazumu yelled out loud as he woke from his nightmare. 'A dream?'

"Kazumu are you ok?" Surprisingly, even though he yelled loud enough to wake a whole village the only one who did was Ino.

"Yeah I'm fine, thanks for checking on me." She had her hand on his shoulder when she felt something wet.

"What's this?" She looked at her hand to see blood was smeared on it. "Kazumu you're bleeding!"

"What? How did that happen?" He suddenly felt the pain from it like it didn't happen until just now.

"Just turn around for me, I know medical ninjutsu." He did what she said and turned around. "Umm you need to take your cloak and shirt off so I can see the wound."

"Was this your plan all along Ino?" He said as a joke while he did what she said.

"Don't be stupid Kazumu!" She was blushing a little bit but Kazumu didn't notice. He took off his shirt to reveal the injury. He had a massive cut all down his back starting from his right shoulder all the way down near his left hip. "Oh my god! How did you do this to yourself!? There wasn't a single tear in your clothes. I don't understand." Her hands began to glow, coursing with chakra as she put her hands on the wound.

"I

don't know. This has never happened before." The cut was starting to close up thanks to Ino. "Thank you for this, but I really don't deserve it."

"You haven't done anything wrong towards me. Why would you think that?"

"Because, when I escaped from the hospital I attacked all the people inside." He paused for a bit. "And I'm pretty sure one of them was your father." She didn't respond to this for a while. Then Kazumu felt a fist hit his head, but very lightly.

"I forgive you." He couldn't believe it.

"How can you forgive me like that!?"

"Because with my father there they must have been trying to read your mind. I don't blame you for trying to escape that. I'm guessing you have a lot to hide?" Ino made it clear she was talking about the Akatsuki more than anything.

"Not really. I know the powers of Itachi and Pein and that's about it. They don't tell me a lot. They didn't even tell me the extraction of a Tailed-beast kills the host until the last second." He looked back at Ino, she had a very serious expression.

"Who is Pein?"

"The leader of the Akatsuki and my teacher for the last year. He has the Rinnegan like me." Kazumu said this without any hesitance. 'If Pein sent those rouges after me it's safe to assume I'm not welcome any more. Even so, I have to talk to Itachi. He's the only one I feel I need to talk to, well him and I guess talking to Naruto might clear things up for me.'

"Thank you, don't worry you don't need to tell me any more. I just wanted to confirm something."

"And what would that be?"

"If you trusted me enough to tell me." Kazumu turned his head just enough to see Ino smiling. "There. The cut has been healed up. It might still hurt but it's completely fine." She got up and headed back to her sleeping bag.

"Thank you Ino." He turned to face her but she was already asleep. 'Great. Now I feel even worse. She probably tired herself out healing me. Hmm. I still don't know how I got that cut.' Kazumu laid back down. 'I guess I'll just head back to sleep. I just hope I don't have another dream like that again.' Thinking of this Kazumu fell asleep.

"...so wake up!" Kazumu was kicked out of his sleeping bag.

"Hey! What's going on!" Kazumu rubbed his eyes and looked up.

"We have to go now or we're going to miss Naruto." It was Shikamaru waking him up. Kazumu looked behind him to see the camsite was already packed up.

"Wow you guys are quick." Kazumu got up and brushed himself off.

"Lets just go already, waking up this early is such a drag." They all gathered their belongings and started walking down a path.

"Why are we walking? I thought we had to be quick or we'd miss him." Kazumu faced Shikamaru.

"Because Naruto was on a mission and he would-" Shikamaru stopped talking suddenly. Kazumu turned back around to see what made him stop and it was none other than Naruto, accompanied by Sakura, Kakashi and pale looking boy with short black hair. "Speak of the devil." Everyone stood there in silence. It was like no one knew what to say, or what could possibly be said.

"Hey there Kazumu." Naruto finally ended the long silence, smiling at Kazumu like he had been reunited with a friend he hadn't seen in a long time.

"How did you know my name? You wrote it in the letter yet I only told a few people at the Leaf Village what it was."

"Hehe. This is going to sound funny but I remembered it from when Sasori was yelling at you in the cave." He was grinning his face off, trying not to burst into laughter. "But enough about that. You being here means stuff at the village didn't go so well huh?"

"You could say that. It definitely wasn't pretty." Kazumu said as Naruto faced the other three.

"Thanks for bringing him here guys."

"It's alright Naruto. I did promise you I would." Shikamaru then turned away, dragging Choji and Ino along with him. "Come on they have stuff to talk about." As they left you could hear them yelling at each other.

"How's Gaara?" Kazumu asked Naruto.

"He's great thanks to you." Naruto's face was just so full of happiness. "You did a great thing. "

"Just because he saved the Kazekage doesn't mean he's going to help us." The pale skinned boy stepped in.

"Shut it Sai, you aren't a part of this!" Sakura yelled at him, pushing him aside. She was pretty scary like that.

"Sai was out of line just now, but I can't help but think of what you're going to do now Kazumu." Naruto's happy face was gone, he was a lot more serious now. He was probably hiding it behind a smile.

"I don't know Naruto. I said to Tsunade my loyalties haven't changed but now I'm unsure. I don't know where I belong anymore and it's driving me mad!" Kazumu fell to the ground on his hands and knees. "I've never had people around me who were so nice to me. Who accepted me. I just don't know how to react to it." He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Kazumu don't worry about it. You don't have to go through all of this alone. That's why I wanted to see you again. To tell you no matter what you decide to do, you have my support."

"Even if I went back to the Akatsuki? You would support my decision?" Kazumu looked up at him.

"If that's what you wanted to do, I wouldn't try to stop you. So what do you want to do?"

"I want to speak to Itachi." Naruto didn't respond for a bit, then he stood up.

"Then that's what we're going to do!" Kazumu got up as well.

"What!?"

"We are going back to the Leaf Village for supplies and then we are going to help you get to Itachi." Naruto said this in a way so you knew he was serious.

'This is crazy! Why would he do this!?'

End of Chapter 6.

Sorry for ending it in a weird spot but I have my reasons. Firstly, Naruto helping Kazumu means that this will be a replacement of the Sora story. I never liked it so it's actually nice to get rid of it like this. Next thing is I'm going to have Kazumu replace Sai in the next mission so the team size is the same. There is a few things I still need to go over but I'm working on them as fast as I can. If you have some ideas for me give me a heads up.

Anyway thank you for reading and see you next chapter.