This chapter is dedicated to all the wonderful readers who sent me notes of support. *Bows deeply* Domo arigato.

"What the hell is going on here?" Naruto said as his eyes flattened into a confused glare.

"I'm member of Akatsuki and I've come for that super cool new chakra of yours." Naruto instantly fell into a fighting stance and activated his Tamagan. As the slitted, purple eyes revealed themselves Tobi cocked an eyebrow in interest. "So the rumors were right. I wonder if your clone will have the same doujutsu."

"Like I'm gonna give you a chance to find out, asshole! Tajuu: kage bunshin no jutsu!" Instantly there were five hundred more Narutos in the area, which came as quite a shock to Kakashi and the others when the clones appeared in front of them.

"Naruto!" Kakashi said. "What's going on?"

"That Tobi guys is a member of Akatsuki!" one of the clones answered.

"Tell the real Naruto we're coming to help," Kakashi commanded.

The clone saluted. "Roger!" he said before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Kakashi turned to Hinata and Sasuke. "Looks like we don't have time to go for help after all."

Naruto smiled when the clone's information reached him.

Tobi, however, had an incredulous look on his face as he surveyed the clones and folded his arms. "Isn't that cheating?"

"You're kidding, right?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

"It's like, six hundred to one. That's not fair."

"Geeze, what are you? Five years old. Don't be such a baby," Naruto countered.

"I am not a baby! I'm a ninja! And you're rude! Katon: Bakufū Ranbu no jutsu! (A/N- Fire release: Blast wave wild dance)" A huge spiral of fire bust forth from Tobi's mouth, creating a deadly vortex which destroyed about twenty clones in one shot.

Naruto managed to jump out of the way but the instant he landed Tobi burst forth from the ground, sending Naruto high into the air. Naruto yelled in surprise but quickly recovered and managed to flip his body around to the point where he was able to land on his feet.

Naruto's clones all dove for Tobi at the same time. "Katon: Tatsumaki (A/N- Fire release: tornado)." A tornado of flames spread from Tobi's mouth as he spun in a quick circle, destroying more than a third of the clones as he went.

Naruto immediately charged back toward Tobi, making a sugikon bomb as he went. He formed a rasengan around the bomb and threw it at Tobi's midriff.

Tobi dodged to one side easily. "Ha ha. Too slow. You really are an idiot," he said with a superior tone.

Less than a second after his bravado Tobi was kissing dirt thanks to the real Naruto landing on him with the rasengan sugikon bomb.

The explosion threw Naruto backwards but the damage was less than the last time he'd used it because he had built up chakra in front of him as a shield to absorb some of the blast. He rolled to a stop just as his friends emerged from the trees.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled as she ran to his side. As soon as she reached him she began looking over his wounds and healing them as quickly as she could.

"Hey, Hina-chan," Naruto said with a tired smile.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata said with worry.

"I'll be fine. Just finish healing me so I can get back in the fight," Naruto said with a reassuring smile.

Hinata took a quick, calming breath. "Okay."

"There really isn't a fight to go back to," Kakashi said to Naruto's right. He pointed at Tobi...who had many broken bones and was unconscious. It would be a miracle if he lived.

Sasuke frowned in thought as he looked down at Tobi. "Why would Akatsuki accept such a weak member?"

Kakashi thought for a second. "By my count there were only three Akatsuki left after all the members we've defeated. Two now that this guy's down. Pain must be desperate. Either way, we need to get back to Konoha."

"Dad, I need to get back to Naruto-kun. We're a team. And I've been training every day for months," Kazehana pleaded with her father.

Soyokaze picked up his teacup, took a sip and set it down. It was several seconds before he replied. "I know you're ready, Kazehana, I just don't know that I am." He looked up at her with worry in his eyes. "When I saw you in that hospital bed all my mind could do was replace it with a grave."

Kazehana's expression softened. "Dad...I'm ninety eight years old. You've raised me well, but I'm an adult. You can't protect me from everything forever."

Soyokaze sighed. "Are you sure about that?" he answered weakly.

Kazehana smiled and hugged her father with her long, serpentine neck. "Yes, but I'll always need you."

Pein stood next to Kisame in the trees several hundred yards from the Konoha group. Kisame was fuming.

"That idiot!" He turned to Pein. "I told you he wasn't reliable!"

Pein was the picture of calm. "We'll simply have to take care of this ourselves." He looked over at a young man standing next to him who looked identical to Naruto except that he had Kushina's red hair. "And when we capture Naruto you will finally be complete, Oturan."

Oturan looked up at Pein. "Yes, father."

TO BE CONTINUED...

I know. I know. it's insanely short after a year of nothing but I was very anxious to get something out to you guys. This chapter is finally here for several reasons. I'm finally healing from all the trauma I've been through and I've finally finished writing my original novel. But the biggest reason I can write again...is all of you. I've gotten so many well wishes, letters of encouragement and so much love from my readers. You guys have no idea how much strength you've given me. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Each and every one of you who wrote in to support me are amazing. *hugs*

Now I need to explain the thing with Tobi. I always loved Tobi's character. I was actually pissed when they revealed him to be Obito. So I decided Tobi will be Tobi and Obito is staying dead. Madara will NOT be making an appearance. Neither will Nagato, Konan (I find her paper jutsu to be stupid) or Zetsu. They don't exist in COLAD. Pein is his own character as well. I haven't really decided what to do with his abilities yet but I'll come up with something. And there will be no NO rinnegan. I hate it, hate, it hate it.

One of the things that kept me from writing for so long was catching up on the manga. I thought reading it would give me some ideas on what to do next but, and I don't care if this sounds arrogant, the only thing I learned was how NOT to write Naruto. The final battle was the most awful, over bloated, over God modded, piece of shit I've read in a long time. I haven't WTFed so much while reading a manga I liked in, well, ever. And then, after over 100 chapters of that bullshit, we only get ONE fucking chapter of epilogue? I wanna slap Kishimoto for that one. I didn't get my Naruhina confession OR smoochies. We didn't even see Naruto get sworn in as Hokage for cryin' out loud! :(

*Heavy breathing* Okay. I'm done with my rant. Sorry I was so virulent but I've been needing to vent about that for weeks. Anywho, I will try to get the next chapter out soon but I make no promises. I'm not predicting more than another five at most.

And for those of you who may be wondering, yes, Oturan is Naruto spelled backwards.

I have a request to make of you guys. I need beta readers for my novel, desperately. I would like one guy and one girl so I can have a rounded gender opinion. I would prefer it if you're very good with grammar but it's not a necessity. If you're interested please email me at songbird21 at charter dot net. Here's the title of my novel and the summary:

"Bloodline of Atlantis"

Samantha is a 19 year-old taijutsu instructor with psychic powers. On her 20th birthday her mother tells her the family secret: She is descended from the people of Atlantis and it's the readon she has powers. Sam is happy but soon discovers the secrets of her bloodline could cost her the lives of the people she loves...

You guys can read the first 6 chapters on fictionpress dot net. (I use the same pen name on there) If you wanna read beyond that you'll hafta buy the book when it comes out. ^_~