The Hunt Begins
Dairuko had his bags packed and ready to go at a moment's notice even though Jiraiya was still talking with the elders about Tsunade being the next Hokage. The waiting was getting to Dairuko; if he had known what this woman looked like he'd go find her himself while Jiraiya played politics with the council of elders. A knock on the door got Dairuko's hopes up but when he opened the door it was none other than Konoha's knucklehead ninja Naruto.
"Hey there, Fox Boy what's up?" Dairuko asked while leaning on the door frame.
"My name is Naruto get it? N-A-R-U-T-O!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Alright then 'Naruto' what's up?"
"Where's Ero-sennin? He promised to train me."
"He's out playing politics with the elders on who should be the next Hokage."
"Well it should be obvious... me." Naruto said while pointing to himself with a toothy grin.
"Keep dreaming kid... the person Jiraiya's putting through will make mince meat out of you with one finger."
"Pffft I'd like to see him try."
"It's a she."
"Well I'd like to see her try."
"I would pay to see that happen."
"Pay to see what happen?" Jiraiya asked as he showed up.
"Tsunade mop the floor with Whiskers over here using only one finger."
"That would be a sight to see wouldn't it, and it might just happen, we got the green light to find my old teammate."
"Well it's about damn time, let's go."
"HEY!" Naruto exclaimed "Ero-sennin still needs to train me." Jiraiya thought for a while knowing that Naruto won't give up until he agrees to train him; and knowing that Dairuko would run through them both if they delayed. He made the only choice he could.
"Alright, Naruto go pack your things we're leaving in 15 minutes." Naruto ran back to his house instantly to start packing. "Don't give me the stink eye, Dairuko, you should go say goodbye to Natsuki and meet us at the gate in 20 minutes."
"You mean 15."
"You and Itachi are going to have a little discussion."
"How do you know that?"
"It's you and Itachi doing separate things, there's always a discussion."
"Fair enough." and with that Dairuko left for the hospital.
Dairuko got to the hospital only to be bombarded by some old friends (mostly good looking nurses) before arriving at Natsuki's room where she lay- still unconscious - a sight Dairuko will never get used to nor does he want to. He took Natsuki's hand in his and like last time gave her a kiss on the forehead before calling Itachi who was outside by the window.
"You tell anyone about this and I will tell the whole village about that time you did karaoke."
"You wouldn't dare."
"Try me... 'Tachi." they stared each other down.
"You want me to stay and watch over her don't you." Itachi finally stated.
"Was that supposed to be a question? Besides someone has to stay here for her when she wakes up. 'Cause you know she hates being the one left out of missions, so you being here might just calm her down."
"I didn't need the whole explanation, Dairuko I was planning on staying anyway for the same reason... she's as restless as you are."
"Hahaha very funny."
"Not everyone is a comedic idiot like you, Dairuko."
"Teme." It was at this time that Dairuko realised he had only 3 minutes left to get to the gate. "KUSO!" and Dairuko set off, jumping straight through the open window and running as fast as he could.
As Dairuko ran toward the gate he bumped into someone wearing a hat with jingle bells on them; and a black coat with red clouds however, Dairuko had no time to stop so just yelled sorry to the stranger and carried on running. When he got to the gate Jiraiya and Naruto were waiting with their travelling bags.
"Dairuko." Jiraiya said.
"Yeah sorry I'm late and all but-" Dairuko was interrupted by Jiraiya.
"What do we have that you don't?"
.
.
.
And then it hit him "Travelling bags... OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!" he screamed "Naruto hold my jacket." Not waiting for a response, Dairuko threw his jacket at Naruto who caught it, but both him and the jacket still fell to the ground.
"What is this thing made of?!" Naruto complained and Jiraiya helped him move it.
"Weights, Fox Boy." Dairuko said as he got into a running position and took off like a bullet, his take off even sounded like a gunshot.
"Whoa, Ero-sennin he's faster than Gejimayu and- what are you doing?" Naruto asked because Jiraiya was covering his eyes. Naruto then looked ahead and a whole cloud of sand and dust flew into his eyes causing him let go of the jacket he and Jiraiya were holding, which fell on his foot forcing him to scream in pain and hop around.
No less than a minute later Dairuko was back with his bag ready to go.
"Thanks for holding my jacket, Naruto." Dairuko said as he put his jacket on like it weighed nothing and the three of them set off to find Fifth Hokage.
Back in the village Asuma and Kurenai were battling two unknown men in cloaks, one carried a sword and the other wore a mask with one eye hole.
"Tobi, take care of the woman, he's mine." the shark man said nodding his head in Asuma's direction.
"Okey-Dokey, Kisame-senpia." Tobi responded as a tree appeared behind him and branches wrapped around him. "Oh this is not good." Kurenai then emerged from the tree, kunai in hand.
"Let's end this." and brought down her kunai on Tobi.
"OH NOOOO!" Tobi screamed and in the next second he was free.
"Psych!" he exclaimed and laughed at her before trying to punch Kurenai who dodged causing Tobi to lose his balance, she was about to counter with a low kick but Tobi just sank into the ground and launched himself out directly under Kurenai's chin knocking her over the railing and onto the water.
"OW!" Tobi exclaimed while clutching his head.
"What is it, Tobi did she wound you?" Kisame asked once he got some distance between himself and Asuma.
"No, I hurt my head."
"Why me? Of all people why couldn't Deidara get stuck with him instead?" Kisame complained to himself then performed some hand signs. "Water Style: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu." A water shark appeared, heading straight for Asuma when a kunai with an explosive tag was suddenly thrown at the shark, which detonated before it could reach Asuma. "What? Who threw that?"
"Me." a voice said and Kisame felt a kunai pressed against his throat.
"Impressive you were able to get behind me, whoever you are."
"Uchiha Itachi, and you are Hoshigaki Kisame, one of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shuu."
Itachi then felt something heavy on his shoulder as 'Kisame' turned into water.
"A Water Clone... I should've seen through that." Itachi appeared behind Kisame again "Oh wait, I did."
"Tobi, kill the woman!" Kisame ordered and Tobi was off, an Itachi clone followed in pursuit.
Kurenai stayed where she was as Tobi came at her at which point the Itachi clone turned into crows and reappeared in front of her.
"NOW!" Itachi exclaimed and Kakashi jumped out of the water and grabbed Kurenai then the Itachi clone blew up as Tobi got in range.
"You planned this." Kisame said and elbowed Itachi in the stomach before bringing his sword around to behead the Uchiha who brought up a kunai in time to block the swipe. The force of the swipe alone knocked Itachi off his feet but he used his free hand to turn it into a jump and landed on the railing just as Kisame was coming down with a overhead slash Itachi jumped off the railing. "Tobi!" Kisame called out and Tobi emerged behind Itachi with a mine set to detonate, in a second Itachi kicked the mine into the air, turned forward to see Kisame coming at him sword ready; Itachi turned into crows to avoid it and Kisame's attack would've killed Tobi had he not used his intangible jutsu.
As Itachi began reforming he grabbed Kisame's collar and threw him over the railing to Kakashi and Kurenai. Itachi then sent Asuma to help the two deal with Kisame while he dealt with Tobi.
Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma attacked Kisame simultaneously; who fended them off with a combination of taijutsu and kenjutsu. Kurenai managed to get Kisame trapped in a genjutsu.
"Kakashi." Kurenai said.
"Chidori." and Kakashi ran toward Kisame ready to end this fight once and for all.
Meanwhile Itachi was struggling to actually land a blow on Tobi due to his intangibility and constantly throwing mines at him until Tobi just vanished. Itachi looked toward Kakashi and the rest and he knew what was coming.
Tobi appeared with a mine right in front of Kakashi just before his Chidori hit Kisame, causing an explosion that sent all three jounin flying. Kisame and Tobi reappeared afterwards just as Asuma began to stir. Kisame brought up his sword and Itachi began making his way to save Asuma.
"Dynamic Entry!" a voice Itachi knew well- thanks to Dairuko- called out making Kisame look up just in time to have a foot hit him square in the face, not even cheek just full face sending him flying.
"Gai-san." Itachi said as he arrived.
"No need to thank me, it's all in a days workout." Gai said giving a thumbs up.
"Why you little..." Kisame snarled.
"Kisame, give up. More shinobi will come and you will be outmatched so come quietly and tell us why you are here." Itachi said trying to settle this without any unnecessary deaths.
"Sorry, Uchiha I'm afraid we can't do that. Tobi, come we're leaving."
"Buh-bye now." Tobi sang while waving as he and Kisame disappeared. Itachi and Gai were thinking how they could've disappeared without any smoke or the like but Kakashi's cries brought them back to earth.
"He needs medical attention." Kurenai said and Gai picked him up and made their way to the hospital, the other three shortly followed.
"None of your injuries are too bad, you all need some bed rest. Give or take 2 to 3 days." the doctor told Itachi, Kurenai and Asuma.
"What about Kakashi?" Kurenai asked.
"If I'm to be honest, it's bad. I'm surprised he still has an arm."
"I see. Thank you doctor." Itachi dismissed the doctor.
"Who were those guys?" Asuma asked.
"I have a theory, but I will need to speak to my sensei to get confirmation..." Itachi trailed off.
"What's wrong, Itachi?" Kurenai asked sensing something amiss with the Uchiha.
"Nothing really, it's just that... when I was fighting Tobi I saw..." Itachi hesitated.
"What is it?" Asuma asked.
"He... his power was interesting, like nothing I've seen before." Itachi said slowly.
"A Kekkei Genkai?" Gai asked.
"It's possible."
"Either way we need to find those two." Asuma began "Itachi you and Gai will go search the closest villages; Kurenai and I will stay back and alert everyone about black cloaks and red clouds. If they show up here again the whole of Konoha's shinobi will be waiting for them, not to mention two of our best shinobi searching for them." Asuma gave the orders to which Itachi and Gai nodded and left. Itachi couldn't help but feel uneasiness settle in his mind as he thought of his fight with Tobi and what he saw. 'Why were they here? What were they after?' he pondered, his thoughts suddenly straying to Natsuki and her 'kidnapper'. 'So soon after the attack on the village too'.
"Gai-san" Itachi said.
"Hai?"
"I'm going to make a quick detour before we leave, I'll meet you at the gate." he said.
"I see, then I'm off." Gai responded and picked up the pace. Itachi slowed to a stop outside the hospital. He had a few arrangements to make before he left. The sooner they found and detained those black cloaks, the better.
Naruto was left in the room while Jiraiya went to do research and Dairuko went to get some air.
"Stupid meditating... what kind of training is this anyway." He mumbled to himself.
Then there was a knock on the door.