Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Move!" she shouted to the other squad. They did so hurriedly as a massive ice spike rose beneath their feet. The redhead, like so many others, didn't stand a chance. The other six ANBU backed away from the attackers' bodies as hundreds of thousands of millions of icicles rushed towards the corpses, butchering them beyond recognition.

Chapter 28 – Pursuit

Karin stood by the door, worriedly watching for Suigetsu, hoping and praying that he was alright. When he finally appeared, cradled in Tomoko's arms, she screamed and ran to him.

"Suigetsu!" she cried, taking him from Tomoko and hugging him tightly.

"Karin…" Sakura said, walking over to her. The redhead shook her head and held him tighter.

"Karin," Sakura said more firmly. "Are you going to heal him, or am I?" That brought the kunoichi to her senses. She carried him indoors and laid him on an unoccupied futon. Realising that he was unconscious, she looked to Sakura, tears streaming down her cheeks. The pink-haired medic laid her hands on the unconscious man's chest and directed her Chakra to his wounds. Karin watched as a gash in his cheek closed, not even leaving a scar. It wasn't long before Sakura had finished, she backed out of the room and went to check on Itachi. To her delight, he had just woken up.

"How are you feeling?" she asked. He grinned.

"I'm surprised at how well I feel, all things considering," he said. Sakura smiled back at him. Mikoto and Tani started at the sound of his voice.

"So you've woken up," Mikoto said. "That's good. According to Shizune we nearly lost you."

"I'm not surprised," Itachi said. "They were tough. How's Itachi?" He could tell immediately that the news wasn't good.

"They took him," Mikoto said simply.

Hotaru and Surin walked in.

"Where's Mum?" Hotaru asked Sakura.

"Next door," she replied. "Your father was just brought in."

"Is he okay?" Surin asked, noticing her use of words.

"He should recover," Sakura said. "But he had some pretty serious injuries." The two Hōzuki children looked at each other and ran from the room. A minute later, Naruto walked in.

"Is anyone going after Itachi?" Mikoto demanded.

"Um, no," Naruto admitted. The females looked furious. "I don't have anyone to send, dattebayo!" he defended himself hastily.

"Send me and my squad," Mikoto said. Naruto looked as if he was about to argue. "You've kept me back from the fighting, let me do something useful!" she pressed. "And if they think they can get away with kidnapping my father and brother and nearly killing my uncle, they've got another think coming!" Her ferocity made Naruto waver slightly.

"How many of the ones that attacked us are dead?" her uncle asked suddenly.

"Five," Sakura replied.

"So that means that three are still alive. The odds are in Mikoto's favour, then," he said. Sakura looked furious.

"You can't be agreeing with her!" she said.

"She is ANBU," Itachi pointed out. "And they outnumber the enemy." Naruto nodded.

"You're right – and besides, we're forgetting something." The others looked at him in puzzlement. "Arisu," he said. "With that rare Kekkei Genkai of hers, she might well be a match for them on her own." Sakura looked doubtful.

"But…" she said. "Don't you think you might be underestimating the enemy?"

"There's a girl with eight eyes and six arms," Itachi broke in. "I didn't even get a scratch on her. I don't know who else survived, but the one that really brought me down was a young boy – but if he's still alive, he's injured."

"Let us go!" Mikoto pleaded. "And you forgot Hana. She'll make it easy to track them – or did you forget her Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu?" Naruto nodded.

"You've convinced me – now go, before your mother stops you, dattebayo!" Mikoto fled the room, grabbing her mask as she went.

"I don't believe you, Naruto!" Sakura stormed. "Letting her go like that! If they could take down Itachi and my son, it's likely that they can take down an ANBU squad!"

"You overestimate me," Itachi said tiredly. Sakura was about to retort, then realised that he was asleep. She instead chose to glare at Naruto.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," he said quietly. "But she wants to punish them for taking her brother and father, much like Sasuke was years ago. Even if I hadn't given her permission, she would have gone anyway – she's got your determination, remember?" Sakura sighed and started to calm down. Tears splashed down her face.

"But I'm scared of losing her. They've already got Itachi and Sasuke – and nearly killed him -" she gestured towards her brother-in-law. "- I don't want to lose everyone."

Naruto embraced her as her tears intensified.

"You won't lose everyone," Tani said. "Uncle's not dead, and chances are I'm not about to go haring off after them." Sakura looked at her gratefully.

Mikoto ran to the bridge, where she knew her squad were, as fast as she could. When she got there she saw eight, mutilated beyond recognition, bodies. Arisu was standing amongst the carnage and Mikoto knew that it was her work.

"Arisu! Hana! Taiki!" she called. Her three squad mates looked at her. Arisu looked very angry, she noticed. Hana had minor injuries and Taiki was tending to his arm.

"What are you doing here?" Hana asked.

"We've got a new mission," Mikoto said, approaching them. Arisu scowled.

"Unless it's assassination, I'm not interested."

"Itachi's been kidnapped, and we're going to get him back – and yes, Arisu, we get to kill people." The ice ninja's face lit up in morbid delight.

"So we're tracking Itachi?" one of the dogs asked, making Mikoto jump – she hadn't noticed them.

"Yes."

"So we're on a mission to save your brother," Arisu said. Mikoto nodded.

"The ninja that have him are very strong – they nearly killed Uncle. In fact, if Shizune had arrived any later, she wouldn't have been able to save him," she said.

"Where was he taken from?" one of the dogs asked. "It'll be easier to pick up the trail from there." Mikoto nodded and led the way to where she sometimes trained with her uncle. When they got there, they were stunned by the amount of blood.

"One… Two… Three… Four… Five bodies," Arisu counted joyfully. "If there were two squads then that means that three are still alive." The others nodded in agreement. The dogs started sniffing around and it wasn't long before they could identify which pools of blood belonged to Itachi. Mikoto looked at how much there was in despair.

"Animals!" she muttered angrily. Undeterred, the dogs found and led the ANBU along the trail that the attackers had used. They moved quickly. Silently, but quickly. All four were wearing their masks, but there was no mistaking the dangerous aura that surrounded them.

"We're catching up," the lead dog whispered. "At least one of them is injured, so that'll be slowing them down. It would also appear that they're carrying Itachi, which is also slowing them."

Mikoto was inwardly seething; she could only imagine how beaten up her brother was if his captors were having to carry him.

"Don't worry," Taiki said. "They're probably either carrying him because they've knocked him out or because they don't want him running off." Mikoto smiled at her squad mate, slightly reassured by his words. They fell silent and followed the dogs for hours. The sun set, but their targets carried on so they didn't stop to rest.

By morning they were hot on the heels of their targets. The lead dog stopped, prompting the ANBU to do the same. Up ahead, they could hear voices – they were so close.

"I think Uchiha's waking up," one said – a girl.

"You're right, Io," another girl said. "How are you feeling, Aoto?"

"I'm OK," a boy said. "You can put me down, Aina."

"But…" the second girl, Aina, said.

"It might be a good idea to," Io said. "We have company. What timing." There was a groan, from Itachi, Mikoto realised. "Shut up." There was a thud. Mikoto balled her hands into fists. How dare they hurt her brother.

"You didn't have to punch him," Aina said reproachfully.

"I thought you said that Yanafu said to bloody him up," Io sulked.

"Fine. Just don't kill him. Ruiizu-chan won't be happy if you do that," Aina replied.

'Bloody him up'? Mikoto thought furiously. That's my brother you're talking about!

"Come on out!" Io called. "I know you're there – I can sense your Chakra." The ANBU glanced at each other and nodded in agreement. They stepped out to where they could see the three followers – and the Akatsuki followers could see them.

"ANBU," the spider-like girl commented. "Could this possibly be that ANBU that she was talking about?" From the voice, they could tell that she was Io.

"Maybe," the silver-eyed girl said. "That one has the same hair as Uchiha," she said, gesturing towards Mikoto. That was Aina.

"I thought that she said that his sisters were on missions so they wouldn't be back until at least today," Io said.

"Well either way it doesn't look like we're going anywhere without a fight," the young boy – Aoto – said. Io nodded in agreement, then grinned, showing her needle-like teeth. Mikoto watched in anger as she dropped Itachi onto the ground – he landed in a crumpled heap.

A wave of water splashed towards them, but Arisu created a barrier of ice so that it didn't touch them. All four ANBU drew their katanas.

"Defensive," Io commented. "What a pain." Arisu grinned wickedly.

"Who said anything about me being defensive?" she inquired. Before Io could respond, a giant icicle erupted from the ground beneath her. Io dodged with frightening speed.

"You'll have to do better than that," she commented gleefully. Mikoto touched the ground lightly. A monstrous chasm opened, heading towards Aoto. He jumped into the air, only to be caught by her fireball. Water surrounded him, dousing the flames. Realising that it wouldn't be an easy victory, Mikoto activated her Sharingan. She removed her mask so that her vision wasn't impaired. Io grinned.

"Only two of those things?" she taunted, referring to tomoe per eye. "Your uncle had three."

"So does your brother," Aina chipped in. "Looks like you're weaker than them."

Hana followed suit, allowing her mask to fall to the ground. Like Mikoto, she had only two tomoe per eye. Following the Sharingan wielders' example, the bat and lion masks also fell to the ground. Io, Aina and Aoto were confronted by two pairs of furious Sharingans, steely dark eyes with more than a hint of bloodlust and a pair of determined blue eyes. For the first time, the three Akatsuki followers felt uneasy. Mikoto in particular looked livid. Forming more handsigns, she created a wall of earth, which towered above the young boy before crashing down on him. A wave of water weakly flowed towards her. Remembering what her uncle had said, she dodged it, in no doubt that the waves of water were very dangerous. It lapped at her toe, which instantly felt heavy. She looked down and her Sharingan saw that her Chakra was slowly being absorbed. She glared at the boy, her malice slightly unnerving him.

"Pesky Kekkei Genkai," she muttered, leaping up as another wave of water crashed towards her. The rubble on top of the boy shifted and his head emerged, looking very annoyed. Mikoto sent another fireball roaring towards him, which as before was absorbed by water.

The Ninken ran at Aina, fangs bared. Bored, she swatted them away, jets of water erupting from her fingers to soak their fur. It didn't faze the dogs: they just shook themselves and then attacked again. A sigh could be heard, and then Aina formed handsigns, prompting a water vortex. The dogs howled as they were washed away. Before Aina could finish them off, however, another vortex formed, battering against her. She looked to see Hana glaring at her, Sharingan blazing.

A small stream of ice trickled towards Io, who was somewhat distracted by the larger icicles that were furiously pelting her. Arisu grinned maniacally as the spidergirl was forced to dodge all of her attacks. Every so often, a Chakra-encased fist would head her way which she either dodged or blocked with an ice wall. Io leaped once more, landing on the ice that Arisu had been carefully manoeuvring to ensnare her. Ice crept up the girl's legs as she lost her footing. Up her legs and torso, immobilising four of her arms. Before the Bodifurīzu no jutsu was complete however, the two remaining active fists punched the thin ice, shattering it. Arisu cursed and sent tiny particles her way, refusing to back down or let up her relentless attack.

"You can't win!" Io shouted as she dodged. "Even if you beat me, you can't defeat the Akatsuki. Compared to them I'm weak and pitiful. Ruiizu-chan will annihilate you!"

Arisu scoffed.

"Bring them on. I'm in a bad mood right now." Dozens more icicles headed towards the spider girl, some actually managing to strike their target, drawing ink-blue blood. "You're not even human – you've got blue blood!"

Taiki looked round at his teammates. Each appeared to be handling their opponent so he carefully made his way over to Itachi. The younger boy was in a crumpled heap, blood oozing from numerous wounds. He straightened Itachi so that he was lying on his back and slowly eased his Chakra into the battered body, repairing ruptured blood vessels and torn muscles. Io realised what he was doing and hurtled over to him furiously, but Arisu caused as ice wall to form, surrounding the two males and protecting them. Taiki shut out the sound of the battle and focused on healing his teammate's brother.

Mikoto battled furiously. Why is he so hard to kill? she wondered. He can't be much older than eight and he's already injured! Another wave of water crashed towards her but she evaded it, not even getting scratched. Her eyes stung, and suddenly everything was suddenly sharper and in more detail. She saw the wave of water approaching her and saw where it would go. It made avoiding it so much easier. It took her about a second to figure out what had happened. Her Sharingan had evolved into a fully developed, three tomoe eye. She glared at the young boy, knowing from experience that a glare from a three tomoe Sharingan was much more terrifying than from a two tomoe. Aoto gulped, which increased Mikoto's confidence. She glanced towards where her brother lay and smiled, seeing that Taiki was there and that there was a wall of ice surrounding them. She turned back to the boy and, thanks to her fully developed Sharingan, was able to avoid the wave of water. She ran at him, katana at the ready, and slashed at him fiercely. Aoto screamed in pain but Mikoto didn't stop. He cowered before her blows and sobbed, a pathetic wreak. She didn't stop slashing until there were little chunks of eight-year-old boy everywhere. There was no way that he could still be alive. Once satisfied, she turned to see which of her comrades needed help. Arisu seemed to be doing fine, so she went to help Hana against Aina. Once again, she slashed at the water ninja, forcing her back. The already injured kunoichi tried to perform a Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu, but failed miserably as Mikoto cancelled it out. Realising that Mikoto wouldn't want any help, Hana made her way over to where Arisu was fighting Io.

"The female Uchiha slashed and slashed at the dodging Aina, thanks to her Sharingan being able to tell where she would dodge to. To her fury, every time Aina was cut, she managed to heal herself. She compensated for the inconvenience by speeding up until her arm was just a blur. Like Aoto, Aina had no chance against the raging kunoichi. Before Mikoto could finish her off, however, a massive icicle rose from the ground, impaling the medic. She glared at Arisu.

"You said I could kill someone," Arisu reminded her sulkily, still battling Io. "And I figured you'd want to kill this one for beating up your brother."

"I was the one that killed Itachi!" the spidergirl boasted. Arisu's face hardened into a scowl.

"Let's both kill her," Mikoto suggested in a fury. Side by side, the two kunoichi charged at Io, forcing the spidergirl to retreat. Hundreds of icicles shot up from the ground at the same time, leaving Io with no escape. One icicle pierced her but didn't kill her.

"All yours," Arisu said to Mikoto, melting all the other icicles. The Uchiha walked over to Io, keeping a firm grip on her katana. When she was in range, Mikoto grinned wickedly. She then slashed suddenly, hacking lumps of flesh out of the girl as she screamed, a furious scowl on her face.

"No-one hurts my brother and gets away with it!" she hissed maliciously as her sword danced in a furious rhythm that only Mikoto could hear. Eventually, like Aoto, Io was just so many lumps of flesh. Arisu removed the wall that was surrounding Itachi and Taiki and Mikoto dropped by her brother's side, breathing heavily. Her Sharingan faded to be replaced with concerned emerald eyes as she held her unconscious brother's hand. Her face white with fury, Arisu, like on the bridge, created hundreds of thousands of millions of ice needles which mutilated what was left of the corpses.

The lead hound sniffed the air.

"Sasuke's nearby," he said suddenly. Mikoto stared at him in shock.

"Is he alright?" she asked, dreading the answer.

"There's no blood," another dog said.

"We can't risk it," Hana said gently, looking at Mikoto. "If Sasuke's nearby then that means we're near the Akatsuki stronghold. We wouldn't stand a chance." Mikoto looked down.

"I know," she said. "It's just that…" she trailed off, looking wistfully in the directions that the dogs were indicating.

"I'll go," Arisu said. Her teammates stared at her.

"Are you insane?" Hana asked her.

"How long have you known me?" Arisu said. "You know I am. But if I can sneak in and luck's with me then I might manage it." Her teammates considered what she said.

"We'll go back towards the village a few leagues," Taiki said. "Where we're less likely to be found. If you haven't caught up in a day, we'll assume that you've failed." Mikoto and Hana stared at him.

"You're agreeing?" Hana asked incredulously. Her boyfriend nodded.

"Have you any idea how much persuading I had to do to get Naruto to send us on this mission?" Mikoto asked. "I really want to try, but Mum's scared she'll lose me too."

"I'm an orphan," Arisu said. "I don't have any family to worry about me if I get caught. Friends, yes, but no family. Let me do it. I want to do something to help you. Mik, I haven't repaid you for saving me from my village yet. Let me do this for you!" Mikoto was taken aback by her unusual seriousness.

"OK," she said. "We'll wait a day." She turned and faced the way she'd come, replacing her wolf mask. Taiki knelt down and picked up his lion mask before Hana helped him put Itachi on his back.

"I'll go with you," a pug said. Hana looked at him in shock.

"But, Eiichi…" she said.

"What?" asked her hound. "Arisu has a better chance of success if I go with her because I can lead her directly to Sasuke – she won't have to search for him. Hana accepted the logic and replaced her owl mask before turning to follow Mikoto and Taiki, who had already started walking. Arisu picked up her bat mask before watching her teammates go, Eiichi at her heels. Once her fellow ANBU were out of sight, she turned in the direction of the Akatsuki base.

If anyone picked up that Arisu was angrier about Uncle Itachi being injured than Itachi jr, it's not for any romantic reasons; it's because she's known Itachi jr for a few years and knows what sort of damage he can take. On the other hand, she doesn't know much about Uncle Itachi and has a lot of respect for him.

I can't help noticing that I've lost a lot of readers (probably because of chapter 26) so I want to give anyone who's stayed with the story a massive thank you – it means a lot to me.

Thanks for reading!

Tsari