Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and its characters.

Root part 2

Root- Otafuku Gai Base

"Shall we continue?" Hikari asked Kenshin as the others turned to him.

Kenshin maintained a blank silence for a while then he pulled out a map, "I got a message from Captain Inari regarding a suspected breach into Uzushiogakure outpost."

"A suspected breach?" Feng asked, "And we're going to check it out aren't we?"

Kenshin nodded, "It might be a false alarm but in case it isn't that means we have a serious issue."

"How can we be sure that the infiltrator is still in there?" Nin asked.

"We'll have to find out," Kenshin sighed, "Masaru, I know you wanted to train Tsubasa in Uzu but your plans will have to wait, this breach takes the priority," Everyone nodded in acknowledgement. Soon they dispersed out of the base.

With Tsubasa

Tsubasa stood still in a well lit corridor. The floor was wet but the walls were very well designed, not that it mattered to him. What mattered to him was the beast napping behind the golden bars.

"Kyuubi..." Tsubasa whispered.

The beast snapped an eye open with a guttural growl. He then rose to his feets his nine tails twitching and twirling like flames.

"What do you want?" Kyuubi asked in annoyance.

"I want the third tail." Tsubasa replied staring into Kyuubi's bloody slit eyes. There was an intense silence for sometime but then Kyuubi erupted in laughter.

"Hahaha, how about no!"

"Why not?"

"You don't even use the second tail all that often..."

"I'll use your power when I need to."

"FOOLISH BOY! YOU'LL USE NOTHING!" Kyuubi roared, "ONLY KYUUBI CAN USE KYUUBI'S POWER!" Kyuubi's roar made the room tremble, any man in Tsubasa's place would flee and hide in a hole like a rat. But Tsubasa stood still, his blonde hair pulled back by the force of the roar and blue eyes staring into Kyuubi's crimson pair with usual apathy.

They stared at each other for sometime, then Kyuubi groaned, "Boy is it hard to get a reaction out of you. Well I'll give as many tails as you NEED not want, for now tend to your visitor." With that said the fox disappeared into darkness.

The room turned dark in an instant then Tsubasa opened his eyes to find a girl with pearly eyes staring at him.

'Hyuuga Hinata' Tsubasa told himself but remained still in his meditative position expecting her to leave, but she remained.

"Umm... Excuse me... Do you know where Hikari-san is?" she asked.

Tsubasa stayed silent for a while and then replied, "She has left on a mission and most probably won't be back before nightfall."

Hinata murmured a thanks and then left.

"Interesting... she holds a resemblance to Hikari," Kyuubi whispered from his confines.

'They're both Hyuugas,' Tsubasa replied.

"Yes, of course..."

En route to Uzu

Kenshin and team were flying towards Uzu on Falcon summons at super sonic speeds above canopy of Fire's forest. Soon they reached the seashore, crossed the sea to reach a bunch of islands. The Captains tapped their falcons' neck twice, the falcons slowed down as the reach a large island surrounded by whirlpools and pegged by icy mountains.

"We're close to Uzushio," the blue falcon Kenshin was riding alerted, "It's been a while since you visited, eh? Not that there's much left to see..."

"Sora, Is it really so hard to keep your mouth shut?" The silver one Hikari was riding mocked.

"What's your problem Kumo? Kenshin-san doesn't mind, right?"

Kenshin turned to Masaru and asked, "Masaru, can we exchange falcons? Kaze seems like the quieter type," referring to the light green one Masaru was riding.

"Love you too Kenshin," Sora retorted before descending into the ranges.

The others followed suit. They glided and tilted between mountains, avoided many cliffs by inches, braved chilly winds, this went on till they finally reached a rocky platform surrounded by tents. The falcons spread their wings, falling slowly towards the land before they landed on their claws. The riders jumped off as soon as the falcons landed. The falcons cawed before taking off leaving gust and dust behind.

Hikari turned to Kenshin who nodded in reply. Hikari moved forward as veins near her eyes bulged, seemingly straining her pearly eyes. She searched the tents with her Byakugan.

"The tents are a mess, someone was searching for something," she reported, "Probably those two behind the trees. A woman and a puppet."

Feng unsheathed a pair of Wakizashis and took a stance, followed by Kenshin and Masaru who unsheathed their katanas. Hikari took out a pair of Sais and Nin a pair of kunais. Only silence could be heard for two whole minutes yet not a soul could be seen or heard. Then suddenly a blue haired woman wearing a slashed Ame headband around her neck and a black cloak with red clouds appeared on a tree branch in front of them.

"Akatsuki? Here?" Feng whispered.

"You may call out the other one," Kenshin called out to Akatsuki ninja. In response a hunchback appeared. He was wearing a similar cloak, a straw hat and a mask.

"The hunchback's Sasori of the Red Sand, but who's this lady?" Masaru asked out loud.

"You may call me Tenshi," Tenshi replied, "Now answer our question, where are the Uzumaki vaults?"

"Umm... maybe in Uzushiogakure?" Masaru replied with a cheeky grin causing Sasori to growl.

"Two against six doesn't put you in good odds Akatsuki-san," Nin pointed out, "It will be us interrogating you,"

'Not to mention we ourselves are yet to find them,' Hikari thought to herself.

"True..." Sasori replied staring intently at Masaru and Kenshin, "Numbers matter..." Ten marionettes pounced upon Root members, Kenshin and Masaru reacted quickly flinging ink upon puppets which formed patterns and then set them ablaze leaving nothing but ash.

Tenshi was about to attack but Sasori held her back, "Ah, so you two are Uzumakis. Search for the vaults may have been a failure but this wasn't a total waste of time."

Nin replied with a grand fireball as Feng added speed and power by blowing a strong wind technique into the fireball, but the giant fireball was rendered useless by Tenshi who sealed the fire in a paper. The Akatsuki members were then sucked into a portal. The Captains couldn't help but remain stupefied for a minute.

"So...what exactly did Sasori mean by 'this wasn't a total waste of time'?" Masaru's courtesy.

"He probably wants to make new puppets out of you two," Hikari stated, "Intel on him says he likes doing that," before anyone could reply, "Oh! Captain Inari is here with his team!"

Just then a man wearing a hooded cloak and tiger mask arrived followed by twenty five men wearing the very same outfit.

"Is everything alright here?" Inari asked.

"Where were you?" Nin questioned Inari.

"We split up to search the mountains. I didn't leave anyone behind because there is nothing of importance at the camp..." Inari explained himself, "We found nothing so we returned here."

"Oh."

"So, did you find something?"

"The intruders were two Akatsuki members, Sasori of the Red Sands and a blue haired woman called Tenshi. We know Sasori but about Tenshi we only know that she's a rouge ninja from The Village Hidden in Rain and somewhat skilled in sealing. They escaped using some space time technique," Masaru filled him in.

"Oh..."

"Let us leave," Kenshin said before summoning the Falcons they rode earlier.

"You guys go ahead, I've got some work with Inari," Masaru replied. The others nodded and flew off. The other agents went back to tents leaving Masaru and Inari alone. Inari led Masaru to his tent. Inari took of his mask and hood revealing his features. Inari had whitish skin, messy black hair and sharp black eyes.

"So, I guess you won't be training Tsubasa in Uzushiogakure now," Inari asked.

"Wouldn't want to bring him under Akatsuki's radar, I guess that's a huge relief for you, isn't it?" Masaru replied in a cold manner.

"What? Why would I-"

"Inari, I know about her..." Everything stopped moving for Inari. Masaru continued, "You'll have to forget her."

"I can't Masaru, I love her."

"Ninjas of Root love nothing but Konoha..."

"I haven't forgotten my duties Masaru! Being with Nami-chan isn't distracting me from them."

"Danzo-sama won't see it that way. You have to forget her or else-" Inari grabbed Masaru's collar.

"OR ELSE WHAT?" Masaru slaps Inari's hands off his collar.

"I just delivered two children for execution, you can only imagine what could happen to you and your lover. And you know well you can neither fight us nor hide from us."

Inari grit his teeth in frustration, "I've kept this information from reaching Danzo-sama and people likely to report to him," Masaru reassured him, "But that doesn't mean he won't come to know. So it's best if you chose between Konoha and Nami."

Masaru left Inari behind with that ultimatum. He summoned Kaze and rode back to The Land of Fire. Meanwhile Inari was going through an agonizing inner-turmoil as he stared at his lover's photograph.

Root- Otafuku Gai Base

Tsubasa was standing with his tanto out and covered in crimson chakra which formed silhouette of a fox with two tails. Calm and composed, he was surrounded by five shadow clones also using Kyuubi's chakra.

They attacked at once each trying to grab Tsubasa with claws made from Kyuubi's chakra. Tsubasa waited till the arms got close. He jumped high at the last moment and threw multiple wind blades that were red from Kyuubi's chakra. The clones just swatted them away as one used this moment to sunshinbehind Tsubasa ready to slash him with lightning charged tanto but Tsubasa swatted it with his tail causing the clone to puff before even hitting the walls.

When Tsubasa about to land, the remaining clones attacked with a barrage of kunais propelled by wind chakra and tagged with explosive tags. Tsubasa reacted swiftly by swatting the kunais back at the clones with his tails. Before the clones could react the kunais exploded covering them in smoke. As soon as Tsubasa landed a clone emerged from the smoke and dashed towards him with its lightning charged tanto. Tsubasa charged towards the clone, the clone swung its blade but Tsubasa ducked under and slashed at it forcing it to cartwheel over his blade. The clone tried stabbing Tsubasa but Tsubasa parried it and this led to a series of intense swordplay.

"The girl is watching you," Kyuubi mused from his cage, referring to Hinata Hyuuga who was watching Tsubasa train from behind a doorway at a safe distance.

'I know,' Tsubasa replied as he parried a strike.

"Not concerned about a ninja yet to prove her affiliation to Root finding out about your abilities? For all you know she could be the old monkey-kage's little spy..." Kyuubi mocked.

'Danzo-sama would see through her,' Tsubasa rebutted as he blocked a strike, 'Will you lend me another tail now?'

"How about another hand instead?" just then a chakra claw emerged from Tsubasa's abdomen and grabbed the clone crushing it, "See, you don't need a third tail."

Tsubasa took in some breaths before making three Kyuubified clones.

"Excuse me," Tsubasa and his clones turned to Hinata causing her to flinch, "Your shoulder is cut," Tsubasa checked his shoulder and found it bleeding.

"Thank you," Tsubasa replied before taking a stance.

"Wait!" Tsubasa turned to her causing her to flinch again, "Shouldn't you, you know, rest?" she stammered out.

"I have self healing powers and even if I didn't I won't have that time to rest on the battle field," he replied.

"Why do you fight for those... those horrible people?" she asked, "Don't you have a family or... uh... friends?"

"No and in Root neither matter."

"Oh."

Tsubasa faced the Kyuubified clones again his cut completely healed, just then the clones lost their chakra cloak and puffed away confusing Tsubasa and Hinata.

"Yo, kiddos!" Masaru greeted them followed by Kenshin and Hikari, "Yeah Tsubasa, change of plans we're going to my base."

Tsubasa marched of the training ground as his chakra cloak dispersed followed by Masaru.

"I'll take my leave, Hikari-san," Kenshin told Hikari who nodded and then caught up with Masaru who was waiting in the corridor. They walked towards the exit together.

"Any reason you didn't leave with the others?" Masaru asked.

"Why didn't you report Inari to Danzo-sama? What makes you believe Inari will stay in Root?" Kenshin asked.

"Inari has been a loyal soldier for as us," Masaru reasoned, "Look I really respect Danzo-sama's law but why lose a good soldier over a small mistake?"

"Danzo-sama wouldn't see it that way," Kenshin rebutted, "Sometimes I doubt your loyalty to Root."

"He won't leave," before Kenshin could counter, "And if does I'll kill him with my own hands."

"And if you don't then I will slay him and then you," Kenshin warned and Masaru nodded in reply. They reached the exit where Tsubasa was waiting for Masaru. They summoned their falcons and flew off in different directions. At the same time in the training ground, Hikari was with Hinata.

"Well? Have you thought about it?" Hikari asked harshly, making Hinata flinch.

"It's not like I have a choice do I?" Hinata replied, as Hikari raised an eyebrow.

"Well, then let's continue with your training," Hikari slid into a stance and Hinata took hers waiting for the other to charge.