You guys are awesome!
Sorry this chapter took so long to put out, but there was one part that fought my Beta and I for some time. But now that it's finally done, I was able to finish this chapter out.
Without any more delay, here's the next chapter. Chapter 44: The Titan and the Turtle
Slowly the dust dissipated, revealing a giant red skeleton that looked to be made of fire. Standing inside it, Itachi couldn't help but murmur the name of the ultimate Mangekyo technique. "Susanoo." The curved three bladed wind mill of his Mangekyo spun as he glared at the Konoha nin. "Prepare yourselves."
There was a moment of stillness between Itachi and the Konoha ninja as the dust drifted to the ground. Susanoo dissipated, the giant skeleton fading into nothingness as Itachi deactivated his Mangekyo. Then, by some silent signal, they exploded into action. Naruto led the charge, seeking to close the distance between them as quickly as possible. Using the forward momentum of his charge, Naruto snapped his open hand towards Itachi's chest, chakra glowing ominously in his open palm.
Watching the hand move towards him, Itachi knocked it off course with the blade of his hand. Still, the Uchiha's eyes widened at the speed of the attack. Naruto Uzumaki had gotten faster, much faster since the last time they had fought. The Uzumaki's fist snapped forward with enough strength and speed to break Itachi's jaw. Deflecting the strike before it could hit, Itachi wondered for the briefest of seconds why Naruto was standing in place, and not moving to attack from different angles like the Uzumaki normally did.
Abruptly the Uzumaki leapt up and threw a kick towards Itachi, who ducked the attack and leapt up in the air to counter. Still in the air, Naruto suddenly twisted to the left, and just behind him, a dozen thin, but deadly ice spears shot through the vacated area. Itachi frowned and his sharingan blurred. Time seemed to slow down as he fed more and more chakra into his bloodline. Given that his momentum was still moving upwards, Itachi was unable to dodge out of the way of the ice spears by simply shifting his weight.
Reaching out, the Uchiha snagged the nearest ice spear, pulling it close enough to wield properly. Ignoring the cold numbness that began creeping up his hand as he held the spear, Itachi expertly deflected all of the other spears. Knocking the last spear aside with a flick of his wrist, he hurled his temporary weapon aside, jerking his hand back as the ice erupted into lethal looking spikes.
As he was landing, Itachi spotted Sakura and Hinata closing in, the Hyuga beginning to weave the handsigns for a lightning jutsu, while chakra scalpels began to form on the pink haired kunoichi's hand. Darting a glance over at the technique Hinata was completing, Itachi quickly ran through the calculations of the possible remaining handsigns. Blurring his hands through the exact same technique, he analyzed how much chakra she was pushing into the technique, and copied the same amount. Both of their hands snapped onto the final hand sign.
Two bolts of lightning forked outwards, stretching out to meet each other. For the briefest of moments, they struggled against one another, before canceling each other out in a harsh static buzz, bright light flashing across the clearing for the briefest of moments. Sakura, who was standing to the side of Itachi, flicked her wrist downwards the moment he took his eyes off of her, dropping a kunai with a special seal paper attached to it to the ground. Squeezing her eyes shut, the pink haired kunoichi activated the 'flashbang' seal just as Itachi turned in her direction. Light seared in Itachi's eyes, and for a moment, the Uchiha was blind.
Aware of his vulnerability, Itachi hurled himself backwards to avoid any attacks. Still, he felt Sakura's chakra scalpel slice into his robes and the sting of pain as they grazed his chest. Pain bloomed from the tiny cut a heartbeat later, and as he rapidly blinked away the spots from his eyes, the Uchiha wove the handsigns for a specific medical jutsu designed for removing injury poisons.
Pulling the infected blood out of the cut with a well hidden wince and a flick of his wrist, Itachi barely had time to deflect Naruto's hammer fist, stopping the blond's fist from caving in his skull. Then, Hinata and Sakura arrived as well, and Itachi had only time to strain his eyes and block the attacks as they came. A very small part of him marveled at the flawless teamwork they possessed, forcing him to move faster and faster, to defend against each attack that opened him up to another person's strike. Without the prestigious power of the Sharingan, Itachi knew that he would have died several times over. The four ninja became nothing but blurs as they exchanged close combat techniques and short range jutsus.
Kisame frowned as he backhanded Nurari, the blow knocking the Sound ninja to the ground, "Come on." The swordsman paused to grab Kiho's arm and shove it downwards as the Sound ninja was about to fire, causing him to shoot the ground, "You are supposed to be an elite squad." Still holding Kiho's arm, Kisame tossed him in the path of a sound beam fired by one of Rinji's bats. "I've seen Genin put up more of a fight then you lot." His fist slammed into Nurari's face again. "So do something. Anything. Surprise me." His foot snapped out, slamming into Nurari's side, throwing the unfortunate Sound ninja a half of a dozen feet away. Nurari whimpered and Kiho groaned in pain from where he was blasted by the bat.
A hooded figure standing in the shadows at the edge of the clearing smirked at Kisame's aggravated tone. "Well then, Kisame-Kun, if that's what you want…" There was the faintest flash of light reflecting off of glass as the figure raised up it's hands in the hand sign of an activation seal, "...Let me grant you your wish…"
There was a muffled scream amidst the cracking bone and the crackling of tendons from behind the shark faced ninja. Resting Samehada on his shoulder as he casually turned around, Kisame felt a bloodthirsty grin slowly forming as he watched Gozu's body jerk and twitch as a cursed seal began to spread across his skin, sealing ink bleeding across the Sound ninja's body like an oozing wound. Muscle and bone rippled under Gozu's skin, reforming and strengthening; destroying and rebuilding.
"Ummm...Senpai?" Tobi's curious voice sounded from behind him, "Something is wrong with these guys." Kisame shot a quick glance over his shoulder. Tobi was sitting on his haunches as he peered at Nurari and Kiho who were also twitching as a similar curse seal spread across their bodies.
"Wrong?" Kisame's grin widened even more, "No, this is what I was waiting for." Cracking his neck, he began to feel the seductive siren call of bloodlust begin to sing in his head. "Tobi."
"Yes Senpai?"
"Pick one of the Sound ninja. That'll be your target. The other two are mine." Samehada quivered in excitement as it felt it's master's battlelust growing, the sentient sword eternally hungry for more chakra.
"Hmmmm…" Tobi tapped his mask as he twisted to examine Nurari and then Kiho, then back to Nurari. "Who does Tobi want to fight?" After a moment, the masked man nodded to himself. "Tobi take that one." He extended his arm to point at Kiho, "And Tobi will use his awesome ninja skills so well that Itachi-Senpai will have to notice Tobi."
"Heh." Kisame chuckled at Tobi's enthusiastic tone, "Good luck with that." Noticing that Gozu had stopped twitching, Kisame turned back around to face his opponent. "This is where the fun begins…"
Gozu pushed himself to his feet with short abrupt movements. His previously shredded arms and hands were now a mass of twisted scar tissue, and his muscles twitched as they expanded and contracted. Despite this, he felt like he could take on the world. Clenching his fists, he felt his body ripple as he partially turned his body into softened stone. "I'll bring your head to Guren-Sama." His voice was quiet, rumbling like two stones sliding together, "I'll make her happy." Without waiting for a reply, he hurled himself at Kisame. Naruri, the curse seal turning one of his eyes black with a sickly yellow pupil, hurled a massive glob of his special grey slime at Kisame from behind.
Spinning to block Gozu's haymaker with Samehada's flat side, Kisame quickly sped through the handsigns for a simple one handed water jutsu, and blasted out a stream of high powered water from his hand a moment later at Nurari's slime. Gozu's fist slammed into the sword with tremendous force, causing Kisame to slide several feet back. Planting Samehada in the ground, the swordsman blurred through the handsigns for one of his specialized water techniques. Spinning on his heel as he completed the last hand sign, Kisame spat a ball of water at Nurari. As the water rocketed at the Sound ninja, it twisted and rippled, transforming into a large, hungry looking shark made of water. Alarmed, Nurari dived out of the way of the attack, activating his ultimate technique as he did so. Vanishing from sight, the Sound ninja breathed a sigh of relief at being able to use his invisibility to hide from the monster that was attacking them.
With Nurari temporarily occupied, Kisame was free to focus on Gozu. Gozu, upon seeing that his teammate had disappeared, sucked in all of the air he could while running through the handsigns as fast as possible for his earth technique. Spitting a thick stream of mud at Kisame, he hoped to immobilize the missing nin. Kisame just simply raised Samehada, seemingly unconcerned about the stream of chakra laced mud heading in his direction.
The mud slammed into the bandaged blade, and instantly broke apart as the chakra holding it together was absorbed. Eventually running out of breath, Gozu ignored the taste of dirt, and gasped for air as he attempted to guard himself from any counter attack. Kisame charged, almost instantly reaching Gozu's location. Swinging Samehada with surprising quickness, Gozu barely had time to bring up his hands before Kisame batted him away. Blood splattered across the dirt as Gozu was thrown back six feet, part of his arms torn open by Samehada's brutal scales.
The Sound ninja surged chakra to his limbs, the combination of adrenalin and corrupted chakra allowing him to easily ignore the pain radiating from his arms. Taking two massive steps forward, Gozu leapt in the air towards Kisame, his fists growing six times its normal size, "Just die for Guren-Sama."
Tha-whoom. Tha-whoom.
"Wow." Tobi twisted his torso to look behind himself at the holes Kiho's metal slugs had blown into the tree, "That was a strong attack mister." Ignoring the fact that he would have had several holes blown in his chest had he not been capable of making himself incorporeal,Tobi continued, "What else can you do?" He paused, tapping his chin in thought, and completely ignored several slugs phasing through his skull to blast holes in the tree behind him, "Itachi-Senpai has a really cool skeleton technique that is on fire. Can you do that mister?"
Rapidly loading his gauntlet with explosive rounds, Kiho spiked his chakra and triggered the secondary function on his gauntlet. White smoke poured out of the small tube under the main barrels and formed into a serpentine head a moment later. Smirking as Tobi tilted his head in curiosity at the technique, Kiho shoved his hand forward, directing the smoke technique to attack Tobi's location. The smoke snake slammed into the ground next to the orange masked ninja, blanketing the immediate area with thick impenetrable smoke.
Unloading all of his explosive rounds at Tobi's last location, the ground shook as multiple explosions blew apart the area where Tobi had been standing. Heat washed over Kiho, and he felt himself start to relax slightly, feeling reassured in the knowledge that the strange orange masked man was surely dead.
"That was a really strong attack mister." Tobi's voice filtered through the smoke, and Kiho froze. Pushing chakra to his limbs, his hands moved faster than they ever had as he reloaded and fired every explosive round he had at the voice's location. Ears ringing as he finally exhausted his supply of explosives, he waited to see if the enemy survived that explosive barrage.
There was movement in the smoke. Raising his gauntlet, Kiho aimed at the shadow that was bobbing in his direction. Then...Tobi skipped out of the smoke. "My turn mister." Happily skipping in Kiho's direction, Tobi seemed to not even notice the multiple metal slugs passing through his incorporeal form.
Click.
Kiho triggered the second barrel on his gauntlet.
Click.
He triggered the third, fourth, and fifth.
Click. Click. Click.
Now terrified by the masked man skipping towards him, Kiho turned and fled. "Where are you going mister?" The words only made the marksman sprint even faster.
"He's a monster." Suddenly Tobi appeared in front of Kiho, a simple kunai held out stretched. Skidding to a halt, Kiho froze for the briefest of seconds as the incorporeal knife entered his chest. Tobi's lone visible eye flashed dark red and Kiho felt indescribable pain blossom in his chest.
"Mister?" Tobi tilted his head as blood began to leak from the hole in Kiho's chest, the now corporeal kunai splitting the Sound ninja's heart in half. Kiho hit the ground with a meaty thud. "Awww." Tobi's shoulders slumped sadly, "He's broken." Brightening up a moment later as he remembered that he could now go watch Itachi, he started to hum a happy tune and skipped away, leaving the rapidly cooling body behind him.
Hinata's hand cracked with blue-white electricity as it blurred towards Itachi's chest, and the Uchiha swept his left hand across his body to deflect it, while his right knocked Sakura's chakra scalpel away. His right leg snapped out to block Naruto's low kick, and then raised his knee to block the follow up kick. Using the force of Naruto's attack, Itachi pushed himself backwards, his hands blitzing through the handsigns for his next technique.
Flicking his wrist, Itachi hurled three kunai at each of his targets while he breathed in. Breathing out a continuous stream of fire that swept the area a moment later, his hands blurred through the handsigns for an area of effect genjutsu, the fire technique hiding his movements. The Konoha team dodged the kunai, and leapt free of the flame thrower jutsu's radius. Dropping the genjustu on the area they would land in, Itachi finished the second genjutsu, placing it on himself. A moment later an illusionary copy of himself raced off to attack Sakura Haruno, the one he had deemed the weakest link. Itachi stayed motionless, the second part of the genjutsu he placed on himself hiding him for the moment as he assessed his opponents' new skill sets.
The problem wasn't that the Konoha ninja didn't have weaknesses, each of them certainly did have several that he could have exploited, but the other members of Team Eight made up for those shortcomings. Their teamwork was practically flawless, and the few gaps that they had were covered by Haku. "In that case…" Itachi's eyes narrowed, "I will have to take out Naruto Uzumaki first. He is the most dangerous. After I deal with him, I can incapacitate the others." Feeling pain spike behind his eyes for a brief moment as he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, the Uchiha readied himself, pumping chakra through his limbs as he began to weave the handsigns for his next technique. He had to time this just right, or risk the Kyubi appearing.
Sakura swept her hands up to the side as Itachi attacked. Her attacker's hands blurred, and the pink haired kunoichi found herself barely keeping up. "Sakura-Chan," Hinata tense voice called, "You are fighting an illusion.." Instantly acting on the information, Sakura spiked her chakra and broke the genjutsu. A moment later Hinata realized that Itachi had placed an area of effect genjutsu on the battlefield, and alerted her teammates.
Naruto instantly spiked his chakra before releasing it in a pulse, shattering the genjutsu like glass. The world instantly shifted, showing the real image of Itachi finishing the last handsign for his jutsu. Three fire dragons blazed into existence, rocketing towards Hinata, Haku, and Sakura. As soon as the dragons began to move, Itachi shot forward. The dragons would occupy the others for ten seconds, with an outside guess of fifteen. It was more time than he needed.
With the added power of the Mangekyou, the Uzumaki seemed to be practically standing still as he brought up his arm to block Itachi's palm thrust. Turning the palm strike into a grab at the last moment, Itachi grabbed Naruto's arm with his right hand. Slamming his left foot onto Naruto's front foot, the Uchiha's left hand barreled into the blond's stomach. As the Uzumaki hunched forward slightly, Itachi released Naruto's arm and reaching forward, grabbed the back of the blond's head. With a savage jerk, he twisted Naruto's head to be directly facing his. Surprised bright blue eyes stared into the spinning windmill of the Mangekyou.
"Tsukuyomi."
Naruto's world went black.
Red light filtered in from behind Naruto's closed eyelids. Opening them slowly, he gazed out into strange world he found himself in. White and black dominated the world around him, what would normally have been dark colors were now the purest white. And what had been light was now the deepest dark Naruto had ever seen. And suspended above it all was a red moon, the color reminding him of freshly spilled blood.
Attempting to take a step forward, the Uzumaki found himself bound. Unsure if he always had been bound and just not aware, or if he had become bound when he tried to move, Naruto glanced over to his right to confirm what he already suspected. He was bound on black wooden cross, just like Fifty-Eight had described. "So this means I'm stuck in Tsukuyomi."
"Naruto Uzumaki." Itachi materialized in the desolate plain of Tsukuyomi, "You have become quite the thorn in Pain's side. As the leader of the Akatsuki, his problems are our problems." Stretching his hand out to his side, it took a mere thought to create a sword. It was a plain weapon, almost crude in its design. Its hilt was unadorned and the blade did not shine. The tip of the sword was jagged, the edge standing out in sharp contrast to the rest of the otherwise forgettable blade. It was a weapon created for a specific purpose; it was created to cause pain.
"Before we begin," Itachi tilted the blade to give his prisoner a better glimpse of what was to come, "Answer my question: Why do you fight? What drives you?"
"I fight to protect those I care about. They protect me, care for me, and love me. They accept me for who I am, not who they believe I am or could be. They see me for...me." Unflinching blue eyes met Itachi's. "How could I do anything less than give them my all?"
The Uchiha was quiet for a moment. "You know," Itachi silently marveled at the cruelty of the world, "In a different life I believe we could have been friends."
"It's not too late." Naruto's eyes bored into his, "It's never too late to change your fate."
Itachi barked out a chuckle, the sound both harsh and slightly broken. "You're wrong. I have already chosen my fate long ago, and I must see it to the end. Sasuke will be given a better life." His hand slowly tightened around the sword's hilt. "And that is why I must do this. Know that I take no pleasure in hurting you."
Itachi took a step forward.
A shadow suddenly appeared above the Uchiha, rapidly growing larger by the second. Instincts took over and Itachi leapt backwards, the sword held defensively in his hand.
A massive paw made of caustic bright red chakra slammed into the ground. The Kyubi's massive form towered above the Uchiha, blocking his path to Naruto. "Hello Meatsack. Are you prepared to die?"
Despite himself, Itachi took a step back. This wasn't his doing. What was happening?
The chuckle from the Nine Tails was deep and monstrous. "I can guess what you are thinking. You are wondering how I am here. It's quite simple." Kurama's dark smirk widened, "You pulled my container into this world of shadows and illusion. But...Naruto is my container. I am always with him, and will...defend him." Nine tails flared out behind the Kyubi. "But you do not control me. Here...in this place you created, this dark reflection of your own mind, you...will...feel...pain." His paw raised up once again.
It slammed down.
The ground shattered.
Pain exploded inside Itachi's mind.
The world snapped back to the normal world, and Naruto felt his head start to swim at the abrupt change. Itachi fared worse, pain blossoming in his skull as blood began to leak from his eyes. Staggering back, he saw movement out of his blurred peripheral vision. He lashed out, and felt bone crack and give way.
"Guren!" Yukimaru's cry of anguish echoed across the clearing, "Don't die." The green haired teenager skidded to his knees next to Guren's body. Jagged bits of bone jutted out from her chest, and blood had begun to soak her the front of her outfit. "Don't die." His hands trembled as the hovered over Guren's body, unsure of how he could save her. "Please don't die." "Oh Kami."
"Please don't die."
Guren did not move. Tears began to spill down Yukimaru's face, and as he frantically tried to remember anything he knew about first aid, a dark and vindictive thought slithered through his mind. His mind lashed out, grabbing onto the quiet consciousness of the Three Tails. "Kill." It was a command made of equal parts rage and hate.
The Three Tails stirred.
Anger began to build, and a roar began to roll inside it's massive chest. The seals holding it in place began to flicker. Chakra chains burst out from Hokona, wrapping around the massive beast. Trapped, the Three Tails' rage continued to boil, it's thoughts consumed with the singular desire to kill and destroy. The ground shook as a terrible roar rumbled out of it's chest.
An aura of dark blue chakra began to slowly haze into existence around the Three Tails. The seals holding it back began to flicker wildly as the Biju strained against the invisible bonds holding it down. Sweat beaded Honoka's brow as she pushed herself to her limits to hold the creature back.
One of the seals flickered defiantly one last time...then died.
One by one the seals winked out of existence, and with each one, the Three Tailed Demon Turtle moved just a bit more. Soon it was only held back by Honoka's chakra chains. It took a step forward. The chains strained. Another step. The chains were at their breaking point.
Another step.
With a sound similar to breaking glass, the chakra chains snapped. Honoka cried out as she was thrown back by the backlash.
Now free of its bonds, the Three Tails moved forward, water gathering and swirling in it's jaws as it's chakra rose ever higher. Spotting some of the humans in front of it, the massive globe of water held in it's jaws began to boil.
The hair on Naruto's neck stood up, and a flicker of chakra from Kurama cleared his mind. Turning, he beheld the Three Tails in all of it's furious awesome glory. Instantly recognizing that it couldn't be reasoned with in it's current state, and even more importantly, it was about to attack, the Uzumaki raced forward, placing himself between the rampaging Biju and those he cared about. "Grab Guren and Yukimaru. Everyone get behind me."
Not taking his eyes off of the giant beast in front of him, Naruto watched as the water began to froth and bubble inside it's jaws. "They won't make it to the treeline in time." Bright blue chakra began to flicker along his form as he wove the hand signs for the earth technique he was preparing to use. Holding the last sign, the Uzumaki began to charge the ground around him. Dimly aware that Itachi had retreated and Hinata, Haku, and Sakura were behind him, along with Guren and Yukimaru, he waited for the Three Tails to attack.
Three heartbeats later, the Three Tailed Demon Turtle unleashed a focused tsunami.
Naruto's hands shot downwards and slammed into the ground, shoving his intent, chakra, and will into the earth around him. With a deep rumble, a towering triangular shield made of seemingly impenetrable stone and hardened dirt emerged from the ground. With a thunderous crash, the water attack slammed into the shield. The air became almost scalding as two rivers of water blasted past the sides of the shield, the attack split by its triangular shape.
Cracks began to form on the shield as the Three Tails increased the water pressure. "No you don't." Naruto surged his chakra, pouring even more into the shield. The seemingly unstoppable water stream did not abate, and the blonde Uzumaki was forced to convert more and more earth into his shield. The water carried the Demon Turtle's roar, the sound shrill and terrible.
Yukimaru closed his eyes and attempted to calm the Three Tails. Reaching out mentally to it's mind,, he attempted to wrap his mind around the monster. Unlike before, it was not calm. No, it was a raging tempest. Unrelenting pain lanced through his mind as he tried to push back against it's overwhelming presence. A moment later the painlessness of unconsciousness welcomed him.
Sweat began to bead on Naruto's forehead, and he grunted as he felt his massive chakra reserves quickly draining. Slowly the crashing sound from the water began to abate. It slowed to a mere stream, then a trickle before petering out. Almost staggering as the lack of chakra caught up to him, Naruto turned to those behind him. "Sakura-Chan, take Guren and Yukimaru away from here and try to heal them." The pink haired kunoichi nodded as she hefted the two unconscious bodies onto her shoulders, "Hinata-Chan and Haku-Chan. Guard Sakura-Chan." Both of the them nodded, their faces reflecting their determination. "Honoka-Chan. Once I've beaten the Three Tails, we'll need to seal it. See if you can't figure out a sealing array that will hold it while it's unconscious." The Uzumaki kunoichi nodded, her mind already going over the various arrays she knew.
The kunoichis retreated. Once they had gotten to the edge of the clearing, Naruto leapt over the massive gorge the Three Tails' attack had left in the ground on either side of his earth shield.
"Are you ready Kurama?"
"Isobu seems to have forgotten what real power is." The Kyubi grinned darkly, "Let's...remind it shall we?"
The Jinchuriki of the Nine Tails took a step forward and a bright chakra cloak burst into existence around him. Two tails shifted in the nonexistent wind. Sensing the challenge and the potential danger, the Three Tails roared, the sound wave blasting chunks of dirt and stone away from its massive bulk. Naruto felt a dark grin threatening to cross his face. The ground cracked beneath Naruto's feet as he shot forward in a blur of yellow and red.
With a thunderous BOOOM he slammed a brightly glowing rasengan into the Three Tail's head. It's head jolted slightly and it let out a roar of surprise. Spines grew out of it's armor, seeking to impale Naruto. Leaping backwards off of the Three Tails' massive head, he narrowly avoided being skewered. Landing onto the ground and rolling to absorb the impact, the Jinchuriki's red-blue eyes assessed the situation, darting to different areas on the giant turtle, attempting to spot a weakness. "Isobu never was the strongest or the fastest out of all of us, but he was by far the toughest." Kurama peered closely at the image he was seeing from Naruto's eyes. "My normal method of obliterating my enemies won't work here. While I don't care about anyone on this island, your precious people are far too close to use a Biju Bomb."
Swinging its head from right to left, the Three Tails eventually found it's target. Stomping on the ground, a massive wave of razor sharp water blasted towards Naruto. Recognizing the danger, the Jinchuriki poured chakra into his legs and crouched. Uncoiling in a lunge, he hurled himself high into the air, above the water blast. The water hit the edge of the clearing and barreled into the treeline. Trees snapped like twigs and the ground blasted away.
Focusing his chakra, Naruto wove the handsigns for the Wind Dragon. Launching the attack, he used the backblast to carry himself further away from the Three Tails. His feet touched the ground. The Wind Dragon slammed into it's target.
Hurricane winds blasted outwards as the technique detonated, and Naruto slammed his hands onto the ground, pushing chakra deep into the earth to hold himself in place. The wind howled and buffed him. Feeling his clothing start to ripple and tear at the sheer force, the Uzumaki gritted his teeth and forced even more chakra into the ground.
After what felt like a lifetime, Naruto felt the wind die down. "Note to self: Never use that attack while allies are around." Dust, ground stone, and water vapor clouded the area, reducing visibility to almost zero. Stretching out his senses, he detected a high pitched hissing noise that was rapidly moving in his direction. Vaulting into the air, the Jinchuriki barely avoided getting sliced in half by the massive water blade that Isobu scythed across the now destroyed clearing. Pain spiked from Naruto's left shoulder and arm.
Glancing down, he stumbled as he landed, momentarily occupied by the sight of his exposed shoulder bone. The high pressure attack had sliced through the meat, not giving it time to bleed. A moment later blood began pouring from the horrific wound. Letting a snarl pass his lips, Naruto dug deeper within himself, feeling muscle and skin regrow as a third chakra tail manifested. Unsealing his swords, the Uzumaki blurred forward towards the beast that had hurt him.
Creating several dozen glowing chakra chains, he directed them towards the Three Tails, seeking a weak point. Blitzing into the Biju's side, he slammed the two swords into the tough muscles behind one of the leg plates. The muscle didn't so much as twitch. Snarling, he pushed more and more chakra into his arms, increasing their strength tenfold. Red chakra began to flicker along the blades, and runic looking seals lit up along their length. He sliced forward.
Isobu cried out in pain as it felt something slice into it's front leg, and it kicked out. Some dim part of it's brain recognized it's older 'brother's' chakra signature, but that part was drowned by the overwhelming desire to kill. Stomping again and again, it sent out shockwaves of water that obliterated the area around it.
Haku couldn't stop the worried frown from appearing on her face as she stared down Itachi, Kisame, and Tobi. Surprisingly, they weren't attacking. Even more oddly, Itachi had reverted his Sharingan to it's three tomoe state. Still, Haku, Honoka, nor Hinata took their eyes off of the group. In the distance, the ice user heard the thunderous crashing of the battle between the Jinchuriki of the Nine Tails and the Three Tailed Biju. "Please stay safe Naruto-Sama." It was a desperate prayer as Haku watched for the slightest hostile movement from the Akatsuki.
"You disappoint me," Itachi finally spoke, his voice flat and monotone, "Haku Yuki." Haku blinked, confused by the Uchiha's words. "There are stories in Mist of how the Yuki Clan used to wield ice like a painter wields a paintbrush. How they could turn the landscape to a cold and unforgiving wasteland with a single gesture…" Itachi's shoulders lifted slightly in a shrug at her look. "You are not my concern. Given that Naruto Uzumaki is currently engaging the Three Tails, I cannot intervene."
"We could always just chop them up." Kisame pointed out, the slightest hints of a bloodthirsty grin edging his face. "I'm sure it won't take long." His hand reached up to touch Samehada's hilt. Hinata, Haku, and Honoka tensed.
"No." Itachi didn't take his eyes off of the Konoha ninja, "Our orders were specific. We do not need to waste any of our energy fighting needless battles." It went unsaid, of course, that the last thing they needed was a vengeful Jinchuriki hunting down their organization.
"Fine." Kisame disappointedly pulled his hand away from the hilt. Turning back to the Konoha shinobi, he smirked. "You don't know how lucky you are…" Resisting the urge to attack as he heard another massive BOOOM in the distance, the swordsman waited for the fight between Naruto and the Three Tails to end.
Nurari pressed his back against the tree trunk and struggled to catch his breath, attempting to stifle the - in his mind - thunderous gasps of air. He had tried to attack Kisame after activating his invisibility technique, but Kisame was too powerful. The terrible greatsword the missing ninja wielded had nearly torn Nurari in half several times. Pain still radiated from the wound that a mere scrape of the blade had caused. After taking the injury, Nurari had reactivated his invisibility technique and fled the battle. Rinji had also fled, heading in a different direction.
That had been ten minutes ago. Breathing slowly, Nurari felt his heart beginning to calm down. He had always wanted to escape, and now was his chance. Carefully peeking around the tree, he searched every shadow for the terrifying form of the missing ninja who had practically torn Gozu apart. After searching for what seemed like forever, Nurari breathed a sigh of relief. He was safe. Taking a step forward, he prepared to leave, barely daring to hope that he was going to achieve his dream of escaping the living hell that was Sound.
PAIN. Paralyzing pain.
Pain shot through Nurari's body and he felt himself tumble to the ground, unable to move a muscle, unable to even scream. A shadow slowly approached, and had he been capable, Nurari would have trembled in fear.
"Going somewhere?" Kabuto inquired, the innocent question in stark contrast to the malicious grin shining darkly from inside his hooded form as he held up a handsign, "I'm sure you weren't running from battle."
Nurari twitched, unable to respond.
"Heh." Kabuto chuckled slightly, "You don't have to tell me. I know what you were doing. Why do you think I recommended you for Rinji's squad?" Dropping the handsign that was activating the pain portion of Nurari's cursed seal, he continued. "I was well aware of your desire to leave Sound. Kiho and Kirigiri also dreamed of the same thing." Nurari made a small noise, the sound equal amounts of pain, confusion, and terror.
"I can't have Rinji succeed in his mission." Kabuto explained as his hand began to glow a sickly green color, "So die knowing this: Your death helps those infinitely greater than you." Light reflected off of the Sound medic's glasses as he knelt down next to the feebly struggling Nurari. "This won't hurt...much."
Naruto slammed into the side of the crater, feeling his spine snap. The destructive blasts from Three Tails had worn away the ground until it had created a massive crater that it was now standing in the center of. Naruto had tried all of the damaging jutsus he knew, every element and type of attack, but Isobu's armor blocked them all, and after he had gotten that sword attack in, the Three tails had created too many blasts to allow Naruto to try another sword attack. The Uzumaki began to fall limply forward towards the ground as blood flowed from his punctured back.
"No. I refuse to die here."
A roar pulled deep from his chest, the defiant sound echoing. Chakra exploded from his body. Bright red chakra wrapped around him like a shroud. His wounds sealed with a hiss, and his bones fused back together. A fourth tail sprouted from the cloak.
The Jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Demon Fox landed in a crouch. "I'm done playing nice." The ground beneath his feet split apart in an explosion of rock and dust as Naruto launched himself upwards towards the Three Tails. With a grinding snarl a rasengan spun into existence, glowing blue swirling in the orb.
Reacting to the danger far too late, Isobu could only let out a pained scream as the spiraling attack slammed into its shoulder. Grey armor cracked. Pushing himself off of the massive shoulder before the Three Tails could retaliate, Naruto landed at the farthest edge of the crater. Flexing his hand, another rasengan spun into existence. "Know your place, Isubo." It was a breathed snarl.
Slamming the attack into the same shoulder again, Naruto watched the cracks slowly spread, spider webbing outwards as he leapt backwards, "That's how I sometimes defeated Isobu before. I just beat Isobu into unconsciousness." Kurama nodded in satisfaction. "It's going to learn that it is not allowed to attack my container."
Blurring through the handsigns for a wind bullet, the Uzumaki felt the air around him shift and begin to rumble as he converted a titanic amount of chakra into wind chakra. He fired the bullet.
Blazing with whitish-blue light, the condensed attack crossed the distance between them in an instant. Lancing into the Three Tails' shoulder, there was a split second roar before the armor blasted apart with a thunderous CRACK that echoed across the landscape.
Roaring in pain and wounded fury, Isobu's mouth snapped open. Chakra began to gather in the shape of large ball inside of its open maw, and a heavy presence tried to push down the Uzumaki.
"Naruto." Kurama urgently reported, "It's trying to create a Biju Bomb. If it completes and fires that technique, it will obliterate everything within a mile. You have to stop it!"
"Right."Naruto felt the intoxicating power of his four tailed form threatening to cloud his mind. Pushing it away, he glanced around, his mind racing on how to stop the Three Tails.
The ball of chakra had grown larger, blackness slowly coloring the edges.
His plan decided, Naruto spun on his heel, racing up the craterside. Somehow knowing that the Biju Bomb was nearing completion, he neared the top of the crater. Slamming his foot on the edge, Naruto hurled himself upwards and backwards, arching his back as he flew back towards the center of the crater.
The Biju Bomb was almost fully engulfed in blackness, it's size growing by the second.
Naruto's hands ignited into glowing chakra-flames, blue and red chakra flickering like a hungry fire. Shifting all of his weight to his right shoulder, the Uzumaki rotated into the air, facing downwards. Looking down he saw the Three Tails' head below him, the Biju Bomb almost the same size as it's head.
The Three Tails' breathed in.
Naruto's palms snapped to face the sky. Wind chakra blasted out of his hands. He streaked downwards.
The Biju Bomb began to vibrate as it reached it's maximum capacity.
With the force of an angry god, Naruto slammed into the Three Tail's head, his hands unleashing devastating force on its upper jaw with a thunderous, echoing BOOOOM.
The maw slammed shut, trapping the seething orb of energy within.
The Biju Bomb detonated.
The Isobu violently jerked and shuddered as the explosive energy of its ultimate attack raged unchecked inside it's body. Pain, indescribable pain, wracked its form. Blissful unconsciousness began to edge at it's mind. Taking a staggering step forward, the pressure on it's jaw built and built, until Naruto could no longer hold it shut. Snapping open with enough force to crack it's jawbone, fire belched out of its open maw. The water in the crater turned to steam, cloaking the area in dense fog.
Naruto was thrown violently upwards when the Three Tails' jaw snapped back open. Pain seared along his body as the inferno engulfed his form. Bursting out of the flames as he continued to fly upwards, he looked down at the fog covered crater before numbly noticing his cracked and charred skin. Time seemed to reverse itself as his skin rapidly healed, the burnt skin disappearing as swiftly as it appeared.
Idly noting that a sizable portion of his clothes had been heavily damaged, the Uzumaki made a mental note to unseal his spare set as he plummeted into the dense fog.
Falling into the dense white fog, the Jinchuriki snapped his head towards movement. The massive eye of the Three Tails stared at him, and Naruto met the gaze unflinchingly as he noticed it was slowly closing.
Within the special mindscape that the Biju could meet in if they locked gazes, Kurama glared at Isobu. "What the hell was that?"
"Sorry." Isobu pushed its legs under itself, trying to make itself as small as possible. "I...just got so angry."
"That's no excuse. You tried to kill my container." Despite being contained behind a ring of seals, the Kyubi practically loomed over the Three Tails. "You should have been stronger and resisted Yukimaru's influence."
"Sorry." Isobu ducked it's head in shame, "I'm so sorry Big Brother."
"..."
Kurama glanced away with a muted snarl. "Apology accepted." Heaving a massive sigh, the Nine Tails turned back to Isobu. "You need to be stronger. Most humans aren't like Naruto. They will exploit you for their own gains, not caring if you are hurt in the process."
"But I'm not strong like you Big Brother." Isobu shuffled it's legs miserably, "I'm not fast or smart like the others. I just want to not have to fight."
Seeing the Isobu's pitiful state stirred something deep within Kurama. A feeling of fierce protectiveness flared up, and Kurama found itself reassuring Isobu. "You're not that weak. You forced Naruto to go all the way to his fourth tailed state. That's pretty good."
"R-Really?" Isobu risked a glance upwards, barely daring to hope it's big brother didn't hate it for being weak, "You really mean it?"
"I said it, didn't I?" Kurama gruffly replied, feeling distinctly outside of it's area of expertise. "Don't worry. Naruto is smart. He'll figure out a way to seal you into some kind of special scroll or item. You won't have to fight anymore if you don't want to."
Unconsciousness was rapidly setting in for the Three Tails. "He'll do that?" Isobu blinked several times, trying to stay awake. "Ever since I found my container dead at my feet, I've hidden away from the world. It will be…" It's eyes drooped for a moment before it forced them back open, "Nice to not have to worry about having to fight anymore."
"Don't get all emotional on me." Kurama barked, but the sound came out softer than he intended.
Smiling the best it could, Isobu craned its head up to look at Kurama. "Thanks Big Brother. I'm glad that you still care about me. I was worried that you hated me for being to passive." It's eyes drifted close.
"Heh. Stupid Isobu." Kurama carefully avoided analyzing the emotions it was feeling, "Don't worry. Naruto and I will protect you."
With a massive thud the Three Tails slammed into the ground, unconscious before it had hit the ground. Flickering his chakra in a specific pattern, Naruto informed his team members that he had defeated his target. Closing his eyes, he pushed away the intoxicating feeling of power that enshrouded him. Breathing out slowly, Naruto let go of the chakra cloak, feeling the Kyubi's chakra dissipate. With the last of the power circulating in his system, the Uzumaki snapped his arms out and blasted the fog away with radial wave of wind chakra.
"Naruto." Kurama wasn't sure what it was feeling, "Can you help Isobu?"
"Let me see what I can do." Trotting over towards the crater wall, Naruto created a dozen clones with a moment of concentration. "See what options we have on sealing Isobu. If necessary, we can seal him into scrolls temporarily until we find a more permanent solution."
The clones saluted before breaking into smaller groups to begin drawing up ideas.
"You don't have to do that Naruto-Kun." Tobi's voice suddenly sounded from on top of the Three Tails' head, "Tobi will take the Three Tails off of your hands." The masked head nodded several times. "Tobi will take good care of it."
Naruto spun on his heel at the sound. "I don't know who you think you are," He leveled his uncompromising gaze at Tobi, "But you aren't going to take Isobu."
"That's a really scary look." Tobi's eye widened, "But Itachi-Senpai would be unhappy if Tobi let you take the Three Tails, and Tobi wants Senpai to notice him."
"Well then." The red chakra cloak flickered into life around Naruto, "Come try and take him."
"Tobi doesn't want to fight." The orange masked man waved his right hand in front of himself frantically, "Tobi just wants you to watch a magic trick…" Reaching under his cloak, the masked Akatsuki member pulled out a second mask. It was orange like his current mask, but had thick black lines running horizontally across it, and two of the lines bent around the lone eyehole, framing it with their rounded edges. Holding it up to his face, Tobi innocently asked, "Want to see a magic trick?"
Naruto stared at the mask, unable to shake the feeling that he had seen it somewhere before. Then...the pain started. It crawled up his skull, the migraine increasing with every heartbeat. Muffled sounds and indistinct images flitted through his mind, memories that were not his threatening to push him down. His hands flickered between the image of his own hands and those of another.
Naruto fought against the pain, taking a step forward. Now the muffled sounds began to clear, voices he couldn't quite remember shouted, whispered, and cried as they overlapped, creating a deafening cacophony of noise that blocked out all other sounds.
He took another step. His surrondings flickered, images of shadow and hearthfire replacing it. The images rapidly shifted between splatters of blood and explosions of fire. Blurs of fights and death and dying blocked out the present. Dimly, Naruto registered that Kurama was shouting something, but he couldn't make out the sounds.
He took another step forward, and then fell into a memory that was not his own.
"Push."
The pained noise Kushina made was one of the worst noises he had ever heard. But it wasn't a pain he could heal or something he could protect her from. It was the pain all mothers had to go through, and all he could do was hold her hand and stay by her side.
"Push."
Kushina's hand tightened on his own with each contraction. The incredible strength of the redhead's grip was painful, but ignorable. The contractions were coming faster now, some part of him dimly noted, while the majority of his attention was focused on his wife who was giving birth to his son.
"Push."
His son. Even after nine months, it was a heady thought. He had barely allowed himself to dream of having a family, much less one with the most amazing, beautiful, and talented woman he knew. But here he was, about to become a father.
"Push."
He was going to be a father. 'Oh Kami.' He wasn't ready to be a father. What if he messed up? What if he accidently created a seal too close to the child? What if… A feeling of dizziness swam over him. Thoughts of how badly his son could get hurt began to echo in his mind.
"Hey." Pain lanced through his arm as Kushina squeezed on his hand, "Don't go passing out on me now." Abruptly pulled out of his spirling worries, all he could do is marvel at his incredible wife. The warmth and love bubbled up inside him.
"I love you."
Despite her current condition, Kushina still managed to flush, the slight blush dusting her cheeks as she looked away and mumbled, "I love you too, Baka."
It was in that moment that he suddenly understood. It didn't matter that he didn't think he was ready to become a father. It didn't matter that he couldn't guarantee that his son wouldn't get hurt. It didn't matter because he wasn't alone. Kushina, his best friend, lover, and wife would be standing beside him - beside them - the entire time. And with her at his side, there was nothing they couldn't do.
"PUSH!"
His son would have a good life. He would give every ounce of love and knowledge to him. Even if his son couldn't complete a single handsign, it wouldn't matter. Nothing would stop him from loving his son.
"PUSH!"
The newest member of the Namikaze family announced his presence to the world with a healthy cry. The sound was...wonderful.
After the little blond baby was cleaned and checked over, the midwife handed him his son. Staring down at the baby, he felt the missing part of his life click into place. Feeling a swell of indescribable love well up inside as he looked down at his son, he couldn't help but whisper out a greeting to his son.
"Hey there Naruto."
Honoka launched her attack before she was truly conscious of what was happening in the crater. She had seen the Akatsuki member pull out a mask and then Naruto had collapsed. Reacting with every ounce of speed she possessed, she hurled a handful of senbon towards the masked man, and a second later sent her chakra chains at him with a graceful, but swift, gesture. A moment of concentration shifted the seals lining the ribbon-like chakra chains to the symbols for death and fire. Tobi had attacked her family, and would pay for it with his life.
Somehow, despite having aimed directly for his head and vitals, all of the senbon seemed to miss the masked man who was calmly standing on the head of the Isobu. Sweeping her arms to the side, the Uzumaki Kunoichi directed her chakra chains to surround Tobi. Her arms snapped together.
"Wow." Tobi peered at the chakra chains that were sticking through his phased form, "That was a cool attack." The masked man nodded, seemingly unconcerned that had he not been phased, he would have been torn apart by the chains. Simply stepping through the chains like a ghost, Tobi cocked his head to the side. "Do you have any other special attacks?"
Honoka responded by splaying her hands, and the chakra chains exploded in shifting, hungry fire.
But...through the shifting heat, she could make out Tobi still standing there with his head cocked to the side. "That was another awesome attack." Unseen behind his mask, Tobi grinned. "Do you have any more?"
Naruto stared up at him, the baby's young blue eyes squinting slightly as if he was trying to figure out a puzzle. "Minato," Biwako Sarutobi, one of the two midwives, stepped forward, "Kushina wishes to speak with you. I will hold Naruto for a moment while you speak with her."
Smiling at his son one last time, he passed over the baby. Moving to the bedside, he automatically reached out and picked up his exhausted wife's hand, having held her hand in his countless times since they had met all those years ago. "Hey."
"Hey." Despite her exhaustion, Kushina still managed to send a slightly impish smirk in her husband's direction. "You didn't faint..." Her smirk widened, "Like a girl."
Minato chuckled, relief loosening the tension in his shoulders. If Kushina could joke, then she was going to be fine. "You always said that I would look good in a dress."
"Hehehe." Kushina giggled, "And they say you're serious all the time." Stifling a yawn, the new mother's eyes searched the room. "Where's Naruto?"
"Right here." The voice was harsh and unfamiliar. He instantly rose from the bedside, the storage seal tattoo glowing as he unsealed one of his signature tri-bladed kunai with a thought.
But even as he was turning, he heard two thuds as the two midwives' bodies hit the ground. Snapping the kunai in the direction of the unfamiliar stranger, he took in his surroundings in an instant. Biwako and Taji, the second midwife, were laying on the floor, blood spilling from the hole that was centered over their hearts. Behind them he could see several bodies of the ANBU who had been tasked to guard the small cottage.
But most importantly, was the masked man standing in the center of the room. The orange mask had thick black lines running horizontally across it, and two of the lines bent around the lone eyehole, framing the hole with their rounded edges. And the masked man was holding Naruto.
The tri-blade kunai reached the masked stranger's head. Impossibly, the kunai somehow missed the man's head, shattering the glass window behind the masked enemy.
He tensed, chakra cycling through this limbs as he prepared to attack the masked stranger who had attacked his home and threatened those he cared about.
"Hold." He froze as the masked man brought a rusted kunai up to Naruto's face, "Move and your son dies."
"What do you want?" His mind raced, sifting through dozens of plans, techniques, and seals, "What do you want with my son?"
"I want you to chose." He could almost hear the dark mirth in the enemy's voice, "I want you to choose between your son and...your wife."
"Just die." Sakura shouted in frustration as her glowing hand phased through Tobi's chest, "What does it take to hurt you?" Feeling the slight chakra fluctuation from Hinata who was behind her, the pink haired kunoichi lithely handsprung backwards, flicking three kunai with explosive tags on them at the masked man's feet. A moment later they detonated, sending a wave of heat washing over the the area.
They had tried multiple elemental techniques, genjutsu, close combat, and even the combat seals Honoka knew. It had been all futile. Each attack simply phased through Tobi to crash against the Three Tail's impenetrable armor. Sakura had checked out Naruto's condition and was dismayed to find out that it was some kind of mental attack that no amount of chakra disruption could break. She was fairly certain it was one of the memory attacks - how could it be considered anything but an attack? - Naruto used to get, but she had no idea what prompted the start of the memory.
As such, they had to believe that their Naruto would come back to them, and they would instead focus on what they could do...such as beating the masked man to death.
Weaving through the three dozen handsigns needed for the collaboration technique as fast as she could, Sakura landed beside Hinata and Haku. All three kunoichi finished the last seal, and as one, slammed their hands onto the ground.
The earth rumbled, and out of it surged a dragon made of rock, ice, and lightning. It's core was as cold as the dead of winter, lightning crackled around it like a terrible thunderstorm, and the rock armor rivaled the work of a talented smith. In unison, the three kunoichi's arms snapped downwards, directing the tri elemental dragon to attack.
Tobi simply stared in seeming wonder at the technique. "It's... amazing." His lone visible eye widened. "Tobi might have to save Isobu from this super amazing attack." The masked man knelt and placed his palm against the Three Tails. As the dragon drew near, his eye flashed crimson.
So what did you guys think? Drop a review and let me know.
On Itachi: Itachi is strong, powerful, and knowledgeable. What he is not, however, is omniscient. He can only learn so much about his opponents, and he can only see things when he is looking at them. As a result, he was caught off guard (thought it was brief) by the flashbang seal. Itachi's fatal flaw (both in canon and in HotE) is his firm belief that he cannot be wrong. Every action he takes he believes will succeed, and he can't fathom a decision that will fail. Certainly something could go wrong, but he can't imagine that one of his decisions or beliefs is completely wrong. As a result, he goes into combat with certain expectations, and well...Naruto tends to do rather unexpected things.
On Itachi's Fight: On a one on one fight, Itachi outclasses any of the Konoha ninja. However, what makes them strong is their teamwork. He isn't weak, but instead their teamwork is just that good. And more importantly, Itachi couldn't go for lethal blows against them. He, for obvious reasons, couldn't make them against Naruto. And since Itachi knows how important the others are to Naruto, he couldn't risk Naruto freaking out if one of them got seriously injured. So he had to stall and wait for a chance to make disabling attacks.
On the Flashbang Seal: In Canon, most of the fights ended up being in either two categories. Either it was a close combat fight between two badass ninjas or it boiled down to the question of who had the biggest jutsu. Given that HotE is moving into more combat arcs, I'm going to be slowly working in more of the former while saving the latter for fights that such an approach makes sense. Expect to see more poisons, weapons, and alchemical concoctions as time moves on. Necessity, after all, is said to be the father of invention.
On Tsukuyomi: Given that Itachi interacts with people inside Tsukuyomi, it doesn't make sense that it's just a more powerful genjutsu. Instead, I changed it to were Tsukuyomi ensnares the target (genjutsu) and then brings them into the caster's mind (granting them control over all of the things happening inside the genjutsu). Given that at mindscape level everything happens at the speed of thought, I felt it better explained why time flows differently there, without making it basically a magic super-genjutsu that it is in canon.
On the memory: In case it was a bit hard to understand, the entire memory is from Minato's perspective.
On the semi-cliff hanger: Originally my outline had quite a bit more content continuing on, but the fights lasted for longer than I anticipated. As a result, I hit the 9k words mark much faster than I thought I would.
To my reviewers direct questions:
Locothehood: That would be spoiling. Originally your first question was going to get answered this chapter, but due to the length of the fight scenes, it will be answered next chapter. Guren will need a solid reason to leave Sound. In her mind, Sound, while perhaps not the perfect place on earth, is the best place to live. She would need to have that fantasy version of Sound shattered in order to defect.
Animaman: I have, in theory, an Uzu arc planned. Granted, some of the events in that arc greatly depend on what happens within the next few arcs, so I can't say for certain what Naruto and co will find there.
King Kroniiclez: That's super unfortunate. I've had quite a few bad times with D&D, but that was after I discovered how awesome a good session could be. On the best of sessions, it's been perhaps some of the interactive storytelling I've ever had in my life. It's too bad that your first time was a terrible experience.
Nin-Guest: One of my main concerns over the "All Three" pairing is that when I spoke to a few people (given that I am a guy and lack certain insights due to that fact) was that they pointed out that there someone have always have feelings of being left behind. However, I think I figured out a way to address those concerns without it being hand waved or feeling artificial. I'm just hoping for one last feedback from someone I know in real life before I commit to the "All Three Pairing". Given that things are much more tumultuous and chaotic this time around vs canon, I see the Akatsuki capitalizing on that, rather than waiting to attack an entire village like they did in canon. So without spoiling anything, let's just say that the Akatsuki are going to be acting more as smart opportunist than they did in canon. You are correct. Itachi's "HotE" weakness is his lack of imagination (thus seal making isn't something he's good at). And yeah, it's my hope to convey that most of the villains in HotE believe that they are doing what is right (no matter if it's actually right or not. It's important that they believe they are doing what is right).
Dragonjek: I'm a rather cynical person. As such, I tend to write rather cynical worlds. Keeping that in mind, cynically speaking, most people would rather believe a lie than painful truth. They would rather hate than learn to forgive. They would chose the many not the few. It's the hero(es) who acknowledge that fact and still strive to make the world a better place. To answer your specific question: At the time of chapter 4, Hinata and Sakura didn't show extreme promise and Naruto was rather limited in his arsenal. By contrast, Team 7 was full of Clan Heirs (good for publicity) and each of them had access to their clan's specialized techniques and/or training. Plus at the time Hinata's father more or less believed she was useless, so her status as a Hyuga wasn't very exploitable. On a personal note, Hiruzen also wanted to keep Naruto safer (as a legacy to his parents, rather than seeing Naruto for himself).
Xnxx: On the one hand you are right. But at the same time remember that these are children you are talking about. I don't know about you, but when I was their age, I didn't assume someone was hurt when I saw them laying down. I tried to write children as children and show how much of a tragedy it is to force them to lose their innocent outlook on life, because child soldiers are tragic, no matter the setting.
Naruto-kun257: Amachi did hurt Isaribi, but Naruto doesn't (subconsciously) consider her in the same category as Hinata, Haku, or Sakura (he did just meet her less than 24 hours before that).
Naruto-kun257: It might be. Google Translate said "Doragon", but I'll have to double check it's just not a mistranslation.