Disclaimer: Dual release! check BTB as well.

"What the hell just happened?" Questioned Sasuke as he looked at the place his best friend had stood moments ago. "What was he talking about?"

Jiraiya had been heavily contemplating the same thing for about a minute before Sasuke had found his voice. "Sasuke, can you Hiraishin to Naruto? Maybe he has been taken somewhere."

Sasuke closed his eyes and focused on Naruto, trying to target his reverse summon seal. Sasukes eyes went wide and his body tensed. "No. He doesn't have any sort of beacon I can pull through to."

"Then I need you to go back and inform the others that Naruto has been captured and you need to tell Zabuza and Itachi to get their ass to Uzu." Stated Jiraiya solemnly. "I'm going to investigate the city and try to find some answers before I head over myself. Zabuza can get Itachi into the catacombs, under the fountain. They can begin their search there."

Sasuke nods and disappears, most likely using the beacon on the Hokage's guardians.

Jiraiya gathered some chakra and summoned a battalion of search toads. "I'd like you all to search for any signs of life in that village. Be careful, as there could be more traps in the village."

Jiraiya entered sage mode and began his trek into the ghost town village. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he got farther and farther into the village, waiting for even a single chakra signature.

As he made his way toward the Kage tower, he began to see fragments of a seal around the base of the building. He looked them over for a few moments before coming to the conclusion that they were too scattered to make sense of. He then crossed the threshold into the building. It too was lifeless, though unlike the rest of the town, the offices had a few dead bodies inside, mostly Anbu with the rest being jonin. Jiraiya walked up the stairs and came to the Tsuchikages office, where he found Kitsuchi.

He was a grisly sight, his throat slashed and a kunai in his hand. After getting over his shock, Jiraiya continued into the office, finding that the desk had been cleared off with a note sitting in front of the dead Tsuchikage.

'To whoever find this.

I, Kitsuchi of Iwa, have been under some form of control of by an unknown entity for the last two years. During that time, I have committed several great crimes that have been a stain on my countries name. I'm finding myself less and less conscious during these actions, with most of the recent kage summit completely clear from my memory. Currently, I am locked in my office with no way of escaping, while an imposter is rallying my people to the bunkers. I have lost. The man who controls me is an uchiha, roughly my height and wears a mask similar to the Uzumaki spiral. I cannot take back what I have done, and I feel my control waning. He is currently preparing the villages ultimate defen'

Jiraiya reread the note several times, his mind wandering. Jiraiya again looked over the former Tsuchikage, the blood pooling down his shirt and into his lap, tears still in his cold, lifeless eyes. He had died recently, less than ten minutes ago.

'An Uchiha...'

-Konoha, Branches headquarters-

"What do you mean disappear!" Shouted Zabuza as he looked to his future son in law. "What you are saying doesn't make and sense, people don't just disappear."

"Well, Naruto does know the Hiraishin." Stated Kakashi, his eye looking toward Gai. "Is it possible that seal just sent him somewhere with a chakra blocking seal? Maybe he is with the toads?"

"No, he was gone. Hiraishin leaves a faint amount of chakra when it's used, he disappeared, no chakra, no anything." Stated Sasuke before looking to Zabuza. "Jiraiya wants you and Itachi in Uzu ASAP to search the catacombs. You remember how to get to them?"

Zabuza just nodded and got up from the table. "C'mon Itachi, we need to get a move on."

Itachi left with Zabuza, taping Sasuke on the Forehead as he moved past him. Sasuke took a moment to gather himself before he looked up to the remaining branches. "Someone needs to act as a interim Hokage, And we need to get word to the other villages."

"I'll go talk to lady Tsunade, she has the most experience in this sort of predicament." Stated Shizune as she moved from her spot quickly, obviously uncomfortable with the current situation.

"I'll tell the girls. Naruto would kill me if we left them out of the loop. They can inform the other kages." Stated Sasuke as he got up from the table. "Kakashi, asuma, Gai, can you set up some patrols? We couldn't sense anyone in the village, there is a chance that Iwa plans to attack while the village is leaderless."

-Konoha's Interrogation department-

Both inoichi and ibiki were shocked when a toad appeared in the middle of the offices and began hopping toward the dissection labs. The interrogators followed the toad and watched it hop up on the end of a table, before its mouth opened impossibly wide and a human being was spit out. They approached, only to be shocked to see it was Kitsuchi, his throat cut and a scroll in his mouth.

Noticing the toad markings on the edge, ibiki pulled it out and began reading it. "Inoichi and Ibiki, sealed at the bottom of this letter is Kitsuchis apparent suicide note. He claims to have been controlled into his actions over the last few years, and claims that he sometimes had control. I need Inoichi to scan his mind, he hasn't been dead long. Ibiki, head a team to study his body and see if any long term damage from drugs or jutsu have damaged anything, particularly the chakra coils going to his hands.

This is of top security clearance only, bring Tsunade in.

Jiraiya."

"What the hell happened!"

-19 hours later, Hokage's office.-

Tsunade sat in the chair, the remaining branches and inoichi surrounding her. It had been a trying day for her, and the fact that she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. 'Who would have thought that I needed that big lug in my bed just to fall asleep. I hope he gets to uzu soon, I can't take this Hokage shit.'

Sasuke approached the table first, his face burnt and bruised. "I have taken the 'Liberty' of informing the other kage and Temari. Mei didn't take it very well. The secret is contained, but it won't be long. Akatsuki has that spy and I wouldn't be surprised if they were already on the move."

"Zabuza sent word that he had reached the ruins about two hours ago, Itachi is searching with his sharingan while Zabuza searches cavern that he and Naruto had found." Stated Kakashi. "Other than that, Anbu patrols and have been sent."

"Our teams have all been prepped into wartime status." Stated Asuma. "I told them all it was incase Akatsuki attacked while Naruto was gone with Jiraiya."

"Good." Agreed Tsunade, her eyes bloodshot. "Inoichi and ibiki have some troubling news."

Inoichi stepped forward into view and cleared his throat. "Roughly twenty hours ago, the deceased body of Kitsuchi was brought to us by one of lord Jiraiya's toads. His cause of death was a kunai slash across throat. It was self inflicted and Jiraiya found a suicide note near the body."

The rooms eyes went wide.

"The note had mentioned that he did not feel he had control. In fact, he claimed that the head of Akatsuki, than that claims himself to be madara, was the one to control him." Finished Inoichi. "Upon inspection, the final probe of his mind showed that his conscious was nearly torn to shreds. Ibiki had found that his brain had chakra burns over a majority of the frontal and parietal lobes. This form of mind control was known to be done in the clan wars, overloading a part of the brain and forcing it to function in ways that we abnormal."

"How long was he being controlled?" Asked Gui.

"The note said he noticed it almost two years ago, but the burns were more recent, most in the last six months. It's the working theory that Kitsuchi had been fighting the control and the madara impostor kept amount up the chakra to make him comply." Stated Inoichi. "The rest of his body is even more strange. Chakra lesions of his chest and legs, those were just an hour or so before death. A huge amount a chakra was sent through his system, enough to power a city. We currently believe that it was Kitsuchi who had cast that jutsu that absorbed Naruto."

"He didn't have that much chakra though." Stated Kakashi as he contemplated the source of the power.

"The villagers had been used as a sort of impulse battery. From Jiraiya's reports, they were all in the caves under the village when the jutsu went off. The toads report 100% loss of life." Stated Inoichi as he pulled out a scroll, laying out out on the table. "Jiraiya says it's a ghost town, and that we should fill it with Anbu to keep looters and missing nin from taking it over and destroying evidence that he may need. The toads are currently watching it with Gamabunta sitting in the park next to the Hokage tower."

"Fine. Sasuke, Kakashi will gather the most trusted Anbu we have, you will bring them there and will supervise. Use the communication tubes if you find anything that may help." Commanded Tsunade, Sasuke nodded and disappeared with Kakashi. "I want everyone it T.I. Working on Kitsuchi. I want him to be hamburger meat if it means we get our answers. Inoichi, shizune, go get me answers."

Tsunade waited patiently until everyone had left the room, before she reached for the bottom right drawer, hoping that her Sensei's stash of alcohol was still in place, or if Naruto had at least replaced it.

Upon pulling the false bottom out of the drawer, Tsunade found an inexplicable steaming hot bowl of fresh ramen. 'Yep. J don't know why I even hoped for something different.'

-Unknown Location-

Kakuzu had lived a long and very eventful life. He had found that when the nations grew quiet, something big had usually happened. He stood among the remaining members of Akatsuki, their leader missing and zetsu was panicked.

"He's gone missing." Stated the white half of Zetsu, the black half missing as the plant man stood on one leg. "Leader has gone missing, along with the Kyuubi jinchuuriki."

"What do you mean missing?" Questioned Kisame, his shark like features deepened by the introduction of bijuu chakra. "He disappears all the time. I'm sure he is fine."

"No! Black zetsu says he is gone. He can't be found." Panicked white zetsu.

"Well, then I suggest we elect a new leader."

-Unknown location-

Shisui looked up at Madara, his eyes wide. "Grandfather, do you feel it? That man is gone, and so is Naruto. I can't feel either of them."

Madara, for his part, smiled. "Then we can prepare our next move. Get ready, we are going to pay konoha a little visit."

"Delay yourselves." Stated the red haired man. "The masked one is gone forever, but the Godaime Hokage will return. Do as you wish, but the new impostor and the thief of bodies must be stopped."

"When will the Senju return? As much as this challenge excites me, I feel he is needed." Stated Madara, his eyes boring into the red headed man. "Your father invented the jutsu. Can you get him back."

"That is not the question you should be asking." Stated the red haired man.

"Where did they go anyway?" Questioned shisui inquisitively.

"That, Shisui, is the right question."

-Ruins of Uzu-

It had been almost forty years since he has been in the land of the swirling tides on business. Jiraiya remembered when he had been tasked with accompanying Mito and his Sensei to the village, the way the Uzumaki lived with seals and how they had such a lively culture. Now it was nothing but old ruins that failed to even glimmer the beauty that this village used to hold.

Jiraiya knew better than to reminisce about the past, choosing instead to head straight to the center of the once great village. The Great Fountain of Asanta, named after the woman who had it built. Not even Mito had known the fountain had contained the fabled Crypt of Uzu. According to Zabuza, Naruto had only been able to find it after being possessed by the last leader of the Uzumaki, Jin.

Jiraiya took a moment to look down into the waters, seeing the bottom clearly, no cavern in sight to the toad sage, who remembered clearly that Naruto had said that he should look here. Jiraiya once again entered sage mode, somewhat shocked to sense Zabuza standing almost directly below him, his chakra fluctuating wildly. With no time to spare, Jiraiya dove into the water and went straight for the bottom, trying to feel a trap door or an overhang that would allow safe passage into the catacombs.

It took a few minutes of Jiraiya resurfacing and heading back down to find it. A small, no more than four foot wide hole what looked like there was nothing there. He had found it when his hand disappeared through the bottom of the fountain. Swimming into the hole, Jiraiya dropped headfirst onto the ground of the cavern, bouncing off the Rock and tumbling into the wall.

"Why didn't you take the big one?" Questioned Zabuza as he motioned behind him, revealing a huge opening at the mouth of the cavern.

Jiraiya glared at the man, not finding any humor in the comment. "You didn't see that, now have you found anything?"

"Yeah, but I can't make heads or tails of it." Stated Zabuza. "C'mon, hopefully you can."

-Konoha's Interrogation-

Inoichi continued to probe the quickly degenerating mind of Kitsuchi, finding more fragments that continued to paint a disturbing picture of how he had been manipulated and controlled. The most distorted memories seemed to have been from the days after onoki had died. Almost immediately, the masked man had appeared, with great promises of helping Kitsuchi raise Iwa to the top of the ninja world. In some of the fragments he seemed kind and peaceful, while in others, he was vicious quick to anger. The only recurring element of the man was the red of his Sharingan eye and the orange mask.

Past that, the memories became more sporadic, large chunks of time missing and confusion were common during this stretch. Inoichi determined that the mind control used had been fought against, forcing this man to use more and more force. Kitsuchi had fought hard against this man, but he lost in the end.

It was then that Inoichi recovered kitsuchi's Last memories. Kitsuchi regained consciousness just after the village pulsed blue, and he watched the mask man slowly disappear, and Kitsuchi's mind once again became clear.

"Damnit... How did none of us see it?" Questioned Inoichi as he re-watched a few fragment memories. "Just like the mind control jutsu of my clan, but less refined... Was it out jutsu that caused this?"

"I take it you have found something?" Questioned shizune as she halted her dissecting of kitsuchi's chakra pathways.

"The letter, he was no lying. The jutsu used was an old Yamanaka technique that was used in the time of madara Uchiha. It was banned do to long term damage to the victim." Stated Inoichi grimly. "It's a wonder that he could even function."

"That matches his pathways. His body suffered a huge chakra backlash near the time of his death." Stated shizune. "Did master Jiraiya say anything about the jutsu he used when lord Naruto disappeared?"

"No, but maybe i can find it in his memories..."

-Namikaze Compound-

Azumi had been quiet for almost twenty four hours, something that would cause most people who knew him to react joyously, but Shisui knew better. His adoptive brother had only acted like this when Naruto had been in the coma after fighting pain.

Shisui and Remi had kept an eye on the boy, who would shift periodically between mediating and sleeping. Neither wanted to interrupt their jinchuriki teammate, and since yugito was in Kumo, the didn't want to risk azumi reacting negatively if the accidentally provoked him.

Azumi meanwhile, opened his eyes and stood, stretching his body and cracking his back. "Mr. Turtle says that he can't feel Naruto Nii-San or the nine tails."

"And just what does that mean?" Questioned the young chunin.

Azumi paused, a sad look on his face. "Mr. Turtle says that the only way that Kyuubi's chakra would disappear like that would be if Naruto-Nii died and kyuubi was being regenerated."

-Oto-

Large chunks of dark purple crystal lay buried and scattered through the compound, embedded in walls, impaling helpless bystanders.

"My, Kabuto, I think this just might be my favorite body of all time." Stated Orochimaru as he swiped his arm, dozens of crystals shooting out of his sleeve. "Are you sure the other additions will function properly as well?"

"Absolutely lord Orochimaru. Guren's body took the upgrades fantastically, even Jugo's chakra seems to function in harmony." Stated Kabuto with a smirk. "Though, I believe the best addition are the eyes. Izuna was just so wonderfully powerful."

"Good. Make sure the sacrifices are ready, the second my old friends in Akatsuki give the opening, I shall attack, and they won't be able to stand the might of Orochimaru."

-Uzushiogakure-

Jiraiya hadn't wasted much time as he walked straight for Tumaki's resting place. opened the coffin and lifted the bedding. "Uzumaki cremate their dead, but the most important ones get sealed after death and the object that holds them get put in coffins. These coffins are then sealed. The fact that the object that should hold Tumaki isn't here means something happened to it, which means someone got into this coffin."

"That's a deep hole." Stated Zabuza as he looked down the seemingly hand carved shaft that had been hidden under the bedding. "How far do you think it goes? We have to be near the groundwater level already."

"It goes all the way to the bottom." Stated jiraiya jokingly as he hopped over the edge of the coffin and began to descend. "Remember, Tumaki made some of the most powerful seals of all time, I'm sure a simple water barrier was almost an afterthought for him. I'd I'm not back up in thirty minutes, signal Itachi and come get me."

"I might me as strong as I've ever been, but you still outclass me Jiraiya, how could I handle something powerful enough to take you down?" Questioned Zabuza.

Jiraiya looked down the hole again and back to Zabuza. "If I was worried about an enemy I'd go about this a bit differently, don't you think?"

It seemed like a mile straight down Jiraiya climbed as he reached the bottom of the shaft. Zabuza's face and the light from the room had disappeared nearly half way down, leaving Jiraiya basically in the dark until he reached the bottom room.

It was like he had climbed into a treasure vault. Scrolls lined every wall in the dimly lit room, the floor was a rough rock surface, chunks of loose debris from the ceiling had fallen on the ground, created small piles of dirt and rock.

Jiraiya scanned the room, finding no labeling system or anything that sorted the shelves, he settled on the three small glass boxes that seemed to draw his eye. Two glowing blue and one glowing an angry red, the table like rock that they sat on had several lines carved into its surface.

'To reverse the time shift, simply lift the box that links the sole you wish to retrieve.'

'Once the box is lifted, the link to the victim is opened, the victim must lift their box to return to their own world, however, their avatar will stay in their own world.'

'At the point of return, the avatar will remain in the affected timeline, the original shall gain the avatars experiences up to the point of the return.'

'This jutsu can only affect the target, any foreign chakras in the target's body do not leave the affected world. Should a jinchuriki be targeted, the bijuu shall be the entity trapped in the glass box, and the targets full conscious shall be replicated in the avatar.'

"So, the red box is Naruto's, as it currently holds the kyuubi." Muttered Jiraiya as he carefully lifted the glass box.

The room erupted into a great white light, the box shattering in Jiraiya's hand. Moments later, the red chakra began to condense, forming a human sized red swirling void on the wall farthest from Jiraiya.

"As time and space twist and turn, the chains are tested. As the chains are tested, the the fabric collapses. It is these collapses that allow the portal to reopen, returning the victim of my retched jutsu."

Jiraiya was shocked when the voice came from the void. The powerful and all knowing voice taking shape in the swirl, as a tall, white haired old man formed from the chakra, the uzu crest carved into the leather chest plate. His dark purple eyes staring through Jiraiya as legs formed under the specter.

The underground room began to shake and rumble, chakra flooded the cavern, forcing Jiraiya to his knees as the weight of the hatred and malice pressed down on him

"Let the eons and the echoes of time howl! I stay locked away no longer! I, Tumaki Uzumaki, am reborn!"

(Like I said, BTB!)