Chapter 18 – Standoff: Akatsuki vs. Fracciones

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[Unnamed Rest Stop, 20 Miles West of Konohagakure]

Current Time…

Kisame and Itachi had stopped at a small rest stop en route to where Naruto's after they had infiltrated Konoha and discovered his location. As they secretly discussed their plans to cature the shinobi they unaware of the fact that Tiraran, having spotted the Akatsuki members when they went to the Jinchuriki Crater, stood outside the small outlet as she waited for Jango, her partner, to arrive. He arrived ten minutes after her message, which she sent after spotting the S-rank missing-nins, had reached him; Jango had taken a few minutes to send a warning to Konoha before he Sonidoed towards Tiraran's location.

"Are they in there?" Jango asked as Tiraran simply smiled before she responded.

"Yep and they should be leaving in a few minutes," Tiraran replied.

Sure enough the two Akatsuki members had left the small rest stop as they continued their "search" for Naruto; after a few more miles the Fracciones, in order to get their target's attention, release some of their Reiatsu.

"Well, I guess they've finally decided to roll out the welcome wagon for you, eh, Itachi? Why don't you two come out of hid-" Kisame said as he turned around to face the pursuers; he stopped speaking, however, when he saw that the pursuers were already out in the open. Itachi, having gotten some intel on what to expect of their "target", realized who these two were the moment he got a good look at their opponents.

"That attire... so you're the two followers of Naruto Uzumaki, the jinchuriki of the Kyubi," Itachi said as both Arrancars unsheathed their zanpakutos.

"So you know who we are. You should know, then, with whom you're dealing with, Itachi Uchiha," Jango said as both Kisame and Itachi took off their straw hats.

"It would appear that our reputations precede us," Kisame said.

"I guess they do, fish man," Tiraran said, not knowing that Kisame did not take kindly to such remarks.

The Kiri missing-nin fixed his glare right at the female Arrancar who, as a further insult to Kisame, had bracelets on both of her wrists that were made out of teeth and claws of 10 or so different predatory animals... including a prominent shark's tooth on the left bracelet# There was a reason that she wore those bracelets, though Kisame obviously wasn't aware of this.

"You better watch what you say, little girl, or you might just find your head as Samehada's newest chew toy," Kisame warned her as he gripped the hilt of Samehada. Tiraran simply looked at the missing-nin with an innocent expression.

"Really? It looks like your sword would make a better soup than a weapon; how could it ever hurt anyone?" Tiraran said in a playful tone; that little insult was more than Kisame's pride could handle even with Itachi next to him.

"Why don't I show you, you little gaki," Kisame hissed as the bandages that were wrapped around Samehada, or at least, the bandages that were still bound to the sword, came off, revealing all the blue scales that formed the "blade" of the infamous weapon.

The Monster of the Hidden Mist, as Kisame was also known, then charged towards the 28th Arrancar and, once he had closed the distance between them, made a vertical chop aimed at the Tiraran's head; to the missing-nin's shock, however, he found that his target had somehow vanished without him even noticing when he saw that Samehada struck the ground. Kisame attempted to locate his opponent as he placed Samehada on his shoulder; Kisame's attempt to locate Tiraran ended, however, when the Arrancar herself made her presence known.

"If you were trying to hit me with that attack then you need to work on your aim with that toy; you could yourself killed otherwise," she teased; Kisame looked behind his back, where Tiraran's voice was coming from, to find that she was already behind him, the tip of her blade now pointing at the Akatsuki member's back.

Strangely enough, Kisame's irritated expression was now gone, having been replaced with a face that screamed excitement.

"You're actually much stronger than I thought, gaki; I have the feeling that I'll have to go all out if I want to defeat you," he said before he managed to create some distance between himself and the Numero.

Tiraran simply smiled at this.

"You're willing to go all out for me? If that's the case then I should at least be nice enough to do the same," she said.

Tiraran, to Kisame's shock, then stuck her blade to the ground before she then got one her right knee and closed her left hand into a fist, save for her middle and index fingers which she placed on the ground. Kisame didn't realize that he should have stopped Tiraran at that moment as the Arrancar was about to release her zanpakuto; by the time that Kisame realized that Tiraran was planning something it was too late.

"Hit your mark, Cazadora (A/N: Spanish for "Huntress")," Tiraran said before a large column of emerald green reiatsu with a black outline emanted around her...

[Elsewhere]

While Tiraran and Kisame were fighting their respective partners had already begun their battle as Itachi attempted to end the battle quickly with his MS; unfortunately for him Jango, having witnessed what Sasuke's MS could do, was able to counter every attack Itachi threw at him by keeping his eyes closed and relying on a combination of his Pesquisa and Sonido to detect and dodge the all of the Uchiha's attacks. Itachi realized that he was outmatched by Jango and, due to his limited chakra reserves and weakened endurance, he knew that he couldn't fight the Arrancar off forever and, to be perfectly blunt, Itachi wondered why he bothered fighting such a opponent who was only attempting to keep him away from Naruto; Itachi had no real intention of capturing the jinchuriki and, in fact, had every intention of making sure that his mission would be a "failure". The only reason that Itachi had even gone to Konoha was to make sure that Danzo, the leader of the Konoha Anbu organization Root, would continue to honor his promise to not harm Sasuke.

Itachi got out of his train of thought in time to dodge another Cero; before the Uchiha had time to counter, however, he found that Jango had already gotten behind him and was barely able to block a slash from the Arrancar's zanpakuto with the kunai knife that he had been using during the entire battle. Despite the lapse in their powers, however, Jango shared his opponent's lack of arrogance.

"You're indeed a very strong shinobi to have survived this battle for so long in spite your condition, Uchiha-san," Jango said; Itachi, despite his exhaustion, remained unfazed.

"You're not that bad yourself, though I'm more surprised by the fact that you show no real concern over your friend; it appears that she's already been forced to a great amount of her power," Itachi said to which Jango simply smirked, though his mask "fragment" hid this expression.

"I'm not worried about her safety because she wasn't forced into using that power by your partner; she's a free spirit in almost everyone way, right down to her battles and for her to fight on her own and not use her full power is something that has never happened. She's never showed any restraint in using her abilities unless either myself or Naruto-sama are within visual range; in other words, Uchiha-san, she's using her full power because she wants to. In any case she's actually stronger than I am; so if anyone is in any real danger it's your partner," Jango said which surprised Itachi; if she was only using full power against Kisame out of habit, and if she is truly stronger than the opponent he was facing now, what would happened if she had been here fighting him?

Itachi at that moment decided that, with the battles going downhill for both him and Kisame and having already learned where Naruto was, they had to fall back since he wasn't looking for a full-blown battle against Konoha. He had already conversed with Danzo so the only thing left to do was to botch his official mission and report back once he had done so; unfortunately for Itachi he couldn't tell the Fraccion any of this and, as a result, the Arrancar had no intention of letting him get away.

Jango and Itachi were so focued on each other's movements that they hadn't noticed that someone else had been closing in on their location until he made himself known.

"It's been a long time, Itachi," a familiar voice, to both Itachi and Jango, said.

Both combatants turned their attention to the source of the voice... which was none other than Sasuke.

"Sasuke..." Itachi thought with a great deal of sadness even if he didn't show it.

Jango was rather surprised by this development; not only was Sasuke's arrival unexpected but, since he had been told by Naruto of the young relations with his opponent, though not to it's full extent, the young Konoha shinobi was exhibiting a greater amount of confilct in his body language than the Numero had expected.

Sasuke turned his attention to the Fraccion.

"Jango, I need to confront him myself. Fall back," the "last" member of the Uchiha said.

To Sasuke's surprise Jango agreed to do it; even though Sasuke and Jango attempt, with a great deal of success, to improve their forced relationship (they both are often forced to deal with each other given their relationship with Naruto) the tensions between the two that had formed the day they met were stil present. The only reason that Jango had agreed to Sasuke's request was because Naruto had warned both him and Tiraran of the possibilty of such a situation occuring should the Akatsuki decide to have Itachi come after him; if this situation should occur and either of the Arrancars were caught in the middle of it Naruto had told his Fracciones to honor Sasuke's request to confront his brother alone should he make such a request and to only intervene should his teammate's life be in danger.

After Jango had gotten far enough that he couldn't hear either him or Itachi the young Uchiha turned to face his brother. If this encounter had occured a few months prior Sasuke would've undoubtedly attacked his older brother without hesitation; with everything that has occured in that time, however, Sasuke was simply unsure of what to do. Sasuke knew that Naruto had not been lying to him when he told Sasuke the truth behind the fate of his clan there was still a chance, in Sasuke's mind, that Naruto might've been wrong. The only way he felt he could confirm the validity of his teammate's words beyond any doubt was now in standing 20 feet in front of him.

Itachi had, like Jango, noticed the signs of his brother's internal conflict and, unaware of either the circumstances behind Sasuke's hesitation and his growth as a shinobi, tried to push his brother's psyche to its breaking point as he was still determined to have the Uchiha Clan's name redeemed with his own death.

"I let you live so that you can have a chance for revenge, for a chance to surpass me, and this is how you repay me? You're a disappointment, Sas-" Itachi said before Sasuke interrupted him.

"You can drop the act, Itachi; Naruto told me everything," Sasuke declared.

Itachi, though only reacting to this on the outside by raising an eyebrow, suddenly had a sinking feeling regarding the meaning of Sasuke's words take root in his gut.

"Everything? What do you mean by that, I wonder?" Itachi asked; though he still seemed unfazed by Sasuke's declaration he couldn't but wonder what the blonde-haired shinobi had told his brother...

Next Time - The Predator or the Prey: Tiraran vs. Kisame

A/N # 1: I apologize for the delay; though I don't like to give excuses for anything there are two reasons why I have taken soon long:

1. I have been preoccupied with my classes at FIU; 3 of my 4 professors, in the biggest display of irrational thought that I've witnessed as of now, decided to give the classes papers of 10 to 15 pages two weeks before the semester ended. I was barely able to submit these papers minutes before they were due as the papers were very difficult even for me.

2. When I had finally finished the aforementioned papers I decided to make yet another Naruto/Bleach crossover called "Naruto - Shinigami on the Prowl" and, as such, it took a bit more time to actually begin writing this chapter; this also means that the alternating cycle of updates for my stories has changed. Updates will now be made in the following order:

1. Kitsune of Las Noches

2. The Maelstrom and Deathberry

3. Naruto - Shinigami on the Prowl

I apologize for the wait and I hope this chapter was worth it.

A/N # 2: I apologize if you wanted to see more of Jango's abilities; I don't plan on having him reveal as much of his powers, however, until the story reaches Part 2 (AKA during the Shippuden timeline) since I have to work them out a little more and because of both his personality and the story plot.

A/N # 3: If you're wondering why Naruto is not in this chapter he won't reappear again until either the end of Chapter 20 or Chapter 21.