Please read and review. I love reviews. Thanks! :)

Sakura cancelled the jutsu to find Tsunade shouting orders. "Tsunade-sama, what's going on?!"

"I don't know yet but it felt like an explosion! Help Shizune prepare for incoming wounded!"

"Hai!" Sakura answered.

Nothing could have prepared the Godaime for what she saw when she got to the roof of the hospital. Near the hokage monument an area of the village at least eight hundred feet across was completely destroyed because a one thousand foot high tree had burst through the street. Its roots, which were all as thick around as an average tree trunk, snaked outward from its base.

"What the hell? This is mokuton (Wood jutsu)!" Tsunade said in disbelief.

"Tsunade-sama!" called a female voice to Tsunade's right.

"Who did this?!" Tsunade asked Anko as she landed next to her.

"Akatsuki! There's a..." Anko's words were interrupted when a section of one of the mammoth roots exploded outward and several ninja came through the hole after the debris.

One of the combatants was a man who looked to be in his mid thirties. His red-orange hair was spiked and his forehead protector was engraved with the symbol of Amegakuru. His Akatsuki cloak fluttered in the wind as he turned back toward his attacker and unleashed another round of giant tree roots that knocked all six Konoha ninjas into the air. Two of them hit the ground hard but the other four were spared when a giant rainbow colored chakra hand caught them mid-fall.

Tsunade's eyes widened when she saw that hand. Not wanting her son to face Akatsuki alone she leapt off the roof but when she landed on street level she was blocked by a man with pale blue skin. Her eyes flattened into a glare. "Kisame."

Kisame wasted no words. He shot forward and swung his sword at Tsunade. Tsunade leapt backwards, charged her fists with chakra and threw punch after punch at her enemy.

Naruto lowered his fellow ninja to the ground and turned to the mokuton user, his doujutsu activated.

"Naruto-kun. There you are," the man said calmly.

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto demanded.

"My name is Pein. I'm the leader of the Akatsuki. I have an offer for you."

"What?" Naruto said in confusion.

"I came here to get you. If you come with me quietly your village will be spared."

"Yeah right. I know how that goes. I go with you then you destroy the village anyway!"

"Believe what you wish, but you are coming with me, one way or another."

Sakura was inserting an IV line into the arm of an injured ninja when Tobi spoke to her. "You can't win you know."

Sakura didn't bother to look at him. "Don't talk to me. I need to concentrate."

"Sensei is strong."

"So are the people of this village," Sakura said as she hung the IV bag on a metal pole.

"Not strong enough. Sensei's going to destroy this evil village and then he's going to make it so no more kids hafta lose their parents," Tobi said proudly.

Sakura looked up. "You really believe that, don't you?"

"Yeah I do. I've been helping to make the world a better place. Tobi is a good boy."

Sakura's expression became one of pity. "Tobi, I've been inside your mind. I...I know what happened to your mom."

Tobi stiffened.

"I understand you're trying to do what she wanted. I know you're trying to be a good boy but...you're not. You're killing innocent people. Good boys don't kill innocent people."

"It's only for a little while. After that no one else will hafta die...ever," Tobi insisted although the growing knot in his stomach told his subconscious he was uncertain.

"Tobi, what if the person who killed your mom walked up to you that day and said that she died for a good cause. Would you've cared?"

"I..."

"You would've hated that person. You would've wanted them to die." Sakura glanced out the window. "And now...you've become that person."

Tobi's eyes widened. "No! N-no! Tobi is a good boy! A good boy!" he said, digging his nails into the sides of his scalp. "Tobi is a good boy," he finished softly.

Sakura's heart went out to the broken man in front of her. She gently pulled his hands away from his head. "Not yet. But you can be. I promise."

Tobi looked up at Sakura, tears making their way down his cheeks. "How?"

Sakura smiled. "Stay with us. We'll help you."

Oturan watched the fight below with little emotion. Most of his brain power at that moment was devoted to trying to rationalize killing thousands of people just to remake the ninja world the way Pein wanted. "So if five thousand people die but it means that millions more can live, then that makes it an acceptable sacrifice...right?" he asked himself quietly as Naruto threw about twenty sugikon bombs at Pein. Movement a little bit away from the fight caught his eye. There was a black-haired woman running down the street toward the safety of the tunnels. Oturan's eyes focused more when he saw she was holding a baby in her arms. The gears in his head spun wildly. After a moment he leapt off the hokage monument and headed for the woman.

The woman protectively held her baby closer to her body when Oturan landed in front of her. She pulled some shuriken from her jacket and threw it at him. Her eyes widened when a kage bunshin vanished in a puff of smoke. In that same instant the baby was pulled from her arms and she saw Oturan standing fifteen feet away. "Give him back!" she cried.

Oturan didn't flinch. "You should be grateful. I'm saving him from your evil and from death at the same time."

"What are you talking about? I'm not evil! Please! I love my baby. I would never raise him to be anything but good!" the woman pleaded.

Oturan's resolve faltered a bit. This woman seemed to be telling the truth but...what about everything he'd been taught? Was it all a lie? "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

A tear rolled down the woman's face. "I don't know how to convince you, but you look like you think you're doing the right thing. You're not. Taking a baby away from a parent who loves him is wrong."

He hadn't expected tears. Did evil people cry? No. There was no way she was evil. It was at that moment he knew he'd either been lied to or his father just didn't understand what the situation really was. He sighed heavily and held out the baby. "Take him."

Fresh tears wetted the woman's cheeks as she gratefully took her son back. "Thank you."

"Just make sure I don't regret it," Oturan said stiffly. He leapt away and headed toward the battle. His needed to talk to his father.

...to be continued.

I really hope this fight comes out well. I have NO idea what I'm gonna do as far as Kisame's battle moves are concerned. I consider about 80% of his attacks to be way over powered and refuse to use them. This means I need to come up with all new attacks. *Drops head to desk* Why do I do this to myself?

So that's all the COLAD stuff. My book is published on Kindle! The print copy should be available soon. You can find links to my books' store page in my profile as well as a link to my writing website for all my original stuff.

You can read the first seven chapters of my novel ("Bloodline of Atlantis: The Triple Psi") on fictionpress dot net. Just run a search for Songbird21 or Bloodline of Atlantis and it should come up :)

Here's the summary of my novel:

Samantha is a 19 year-old karate 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 reason she has powers, but she soon discovers the secrets of her bloodline could cost her the lives of the people she loves...