Howdy, I hope you're all prepared for chapter 10! If not, grab a beer/preferably a Corona and some chips and sit that ass down! Not a beer lover? Get yourself a Malibu and coca cola. Not a Malibu lover? Well…hmmm….some wine then or perhaps some other alcoholic beverage? (We're allowed because it's almost summer :P)
To everyone who reviewed: thanks for all the positive messages you left behind, it's great to know that people like this story. That said, I also enjoy constructive criticism, I always try to improve the story and when people point out the flaws, it makes it all the more easy for me.
Same goes for all the alerts I got: thank youuuuuu!
Anonymous reviewers:
Whiterose: I know! Go team…Naruchi? Correction, go team Itachi/Naruto!
Also Sakura bashing, I can do that no problem ;)
Naruto11: I'm pretty sure that the ending of this story will surpise everyone, when I came up with the ending I was like…Damn, didn't even see that one coming:P (makes a lot of sense right?)
Starlight1701: you ask and I shall deliver! Ps: thanks for the review Weeeeeee!
Trigun: I can understand why you feel that way, but you must realize, there's a timegap of seven years between Naruto's disappearance and the events that are now taking place. I can assure you though that neither Sakura nor Sasuke won't get away that easily, got a lotttttt planned for them *insert evil laughter* (same goes for Kakashi). They may be back with the rest of Konoha 12 but they had to do a lot to earn their trust again, first flashback will be seen in the next chapter.
Unfortunately this chapter isn't Beta-checked because Fantomodrako is swamped with all sorts of stuff. (You still rock though ;) )
So that means that grammar etc. won't be that good. That said; Let please let me know if you find something that doesn't make any sense.
Disclaimer: If I owned the story I would've made Naruto a super badass! But unfortunately I don't own Naruto; I just borrow the Naruto universe for entertaining purposes ;)
I Will Become A Ghost Chapter 10
~Chapter 10 Twisted Truth~
Ghost leaned on his new katana which had blood all over it. He panted heavily as he tried to regain his composure.
Night had come and gone, which meant that they were fighting for well over 10 hours. Things didn't go well, they had lost a lot of men and as time progressed, more and more Holders arrived on the beach. Akatsuki and the Hunter could stand their ground, but the regular shinobi didn't stand a chance.
He stood up and sheathed his katana; he walked towards the command post, ignoring the battle cries around him. The wind blew through his blonde hair, he had long removed the hood from his head; it narrowed his view too much.
His facemask had been scorned by a fire attack revealing a part of his lower face. He ducked underneath the flaps of the tent and noticed Pein, Mayu, Micheru, and Itachi.
"Whats the plan?" The blonde asked.
Pein walked around the table on which laid dozens of maps and battle plans. "We've lost well over half of our forces; our enemy however hasn't shown their true power yet.
It was then that a voice boomed over the battlefield. "Rome where are you! Bring me Rome now!"
"What was that?" Micheru asked.
"What did you do this time Rome?" Ghost asked, feigning annoyance.
Rome ignored him and was about to check it out when Mayu spoke up.
"Ghost, check it out, take anyone you want with you, but Rome stays here, I don't want him out there. We don't want to bite the guy's bait."
Ghost nodded, but didn't take anyone with him as he walked out of the tent.
"Rome!"
He saw Kisame who was walking towards the shouting man as well. "Sushi, you can go, I got this."
"Yeah and let you have all the fun with him, I don't think so."
Ghost just grunted and pushed himself past all the battling men and women to the front of the beach where a tall broad man dressed in red with a steel mask covering his face. In his hand he held an axe.
Ghost stopped in front of the man and eyed his mask. He noticed the red glowing eyes behind the slits and frowned.
The masked man gave the Hunter a look. "You're not Rome."
Ghost crossed his arms. "My name's Ghost, who are you? And why are you after Rome?"
"I remember the name, your one of those Hunters, none of our scouts survived a battle against you, except for one, you're a dangerous man!" The man chuckled, "I'm one of the lieutenants, Lord Kenpachi sends me to make sure that Rome will die."
Ghost stretched the muscles in his arms. "I can't allow you to do that."
"You can't stop me, even if your blue fish joins in."
"My pet will stay just where he is" Ghost said as he ignored the creepy glare Kisame was giving him and formed a few hand signs. "Fūton: Atsugai!"
A massive tornado attacked the Lieutenant before it released its compressed energy and blasted the Lieutenant away.
Ghost was about to lower his guard when he grabbed a kunai and used it to block the incoming projectile's that came from the sandstorm look-alike that had erupted from the jutsu.
"Impressive" The man then launched at Ghost who had barely enough time to raise his kunai to block the incoming axe. Ghost retaliated by slamming his fist in the man's face.
The Lieutenant staggered back before he managed to recompose himself and attacked Ghost head on.
Ghost threw his kunai at the man who easily dodged it. The Hunter ran forward and in one swift motion, he let himself fall to his knees, effectively sliding underneath the axe and behind the man, he then grabbed his katana and twirled around, swinging his katana at the man's legs at the same time.
The Reaver saw it coming and jumped over the attack and gave Ghost a solid kick to the face.
Ghost fell on his back and groaned before standing back up; He tilted his head and grinned. "Is that all you got?" And with that both the Lieutenant and Ghost launched themselves at each other, weapons making similar motions.
xXx.
Mayu looked from the cliff at the edge of the forest. "This battle is over. We lost."
Pein gave a single nod. "We have, call the retreat."
Rome sighed. He signaled the man at the command post and gave a nod, moments later the tent burst into flames, not only to destroy any sensitive material but to signal all their men to retreat as well.
As orders for retreat were being shouted in their headsets, there was one man who ignored the call and kept on fighting.
"Ghost, Let's go!" Kisame shouted as he marched towards the two fighting men with difficulty, the mass of fighting shinobi was hindering his movements, especially when kunai and shuriken flew all around him.
Ghost jumped back and looked at Kisame, his eyes changed from blue to red, having thrown his glasses away moments ago. "Crap," he then looked back at his opponent who stood there casually. "I guess our match is over for now Lieutenant."
"And you think I'll just let you leave? Guess again." And with that the Lieutenant dashed towards Ghost with the intent to smash him into the ground.
Ghost smirked and held his hand before him, aimed at the Lieutenant, "Chakra…Push!"
Surprised by the sudden attack the Reaver couldn't dodge it in time and the attack blasted him away and landed in the water.
"Let's go, let's go!" Ghost shouted as he made his way up the small slope surrounded by the retreating shinobi.
At was at that moment that all the water jutsu users appeared on the cliff and used a variety of water jutsu's that slammed the incoming enemies away, narrowly avoiding the shinobi.
Once the last shinobi reached the top, the shinobi who were proficient in earth style jutsu's planted multiple walls to slow the enemy down.
Ghost sprinted towards Pein and. "That trick gave us a couple of minutes at the most, we have to move now."
"Agreed, we've already sent the wounded men to Takigakure, we'll go that way." Pein responded as he signaled Itachi to relay the message.
Micheru butted in, "What about Iwa? We can't leave them behind!"
"We already informed them before we headed this way; if they listened to us then they have already evacuated most of the villages."
"And you actually think they will follow the advice of one of the Akatsuki?" Micheru bit back.
"Now is not the time, we'll solve this later, let's go now!" Rome joined in as he ran past them and looked over the cliff as he saw that slowly the Reavers were recollecting themselves.
Ghost nodded and quickly sheathed his katana before following the others, quickly followed by Mayu and Micheru, leaving Pein and Kisame standing at the cliff.
Kisame grunted. "It seems they have won the first round." And with that he followed the rest.
Pein stayed silent before he turned around and disappeared.
xXx
Kenpachi stood on the deck of his flagship 'the Skeleton', and gave a satisfied sigh after hearing the reports. They had taken the beach in Earth country and the main fleet was on its way to wave country.
The assault on Earth country was merely a diversion to distract the defending forces, and it had worked, not only had they delivered a painful blow to their numbers they had also gained but they had also established a foothold in the region, the assault on Iwagakure wouldn't be long now.
One thing that bugged him though was that his Lieutenant, T'ak had failed in taking out Rome, and instead had fought Ghost, who he had let get away. 'These Hunters are getting on my nerves, and what's worse is that they joined up with another group called the Akatsuki. They need to be taken care of now.'
It was then that one of his officers walked up to him, "sir, here are the latest reports," He handed over a file. "Is there anything else, sir?"
"Those Hunters and Akatsuki are becoming a nuisance, I want you to form up a team of our best men, merged of course, and send them into the hidden villages, I want them to gather more information about our 'friends. Once that's done I want them to eliminate all the Hunters and Akatsuki members, Rome above all." Kenpachi calmly stated before walking off the deck, heading to his cabin.
xXx
Itachi stopped when he landed on the next branch and held his hand up, "Someone's coming."
Ghost landed next to him shortly followed by, Pein and Kisame and the remainders of their forces landed on the ground and out of view. "But who?"
Moments later a group of Anbu appeared in front of them, weapons drawn. "Identify yourselves!"
Kisame laughed. "Can't you see? I'm wearing a black cloak with red clouds, take a guess…"
Ghost had to restrain himself from smirking and instead remained stoic. "We don't have time for this, Anbu, I don't know from which village you're fr…" Ghost trailed off when he saw a particular Anbu with greyish hair.
Ghost smirked. "Well well it seems like Hatake has rejoined Anbu, got tired of teaching brats?"
Said Anbu stepped forward and took of his mask; making himself known that he was indeed Kakashi. "We've been looking for you; Lady Tsunade decided to help out even after the stunt you pulled
Itachi couldn't help but smile despite the tough battle they had. 'How can they not know that Ghost is actually Naruto, He looks almost exactly like Minato, but then again his whisker marks are gone so that might be the reason they don't put two and two together.'
"Too late, we already lost the fight; they're probably now looking for us, so it's wise that we keep moving." Hawke said as he walked to the front panting heavily, he still wasn't recovered from his near death experience a couple of days earlier.
Kakashi slid his mask back over his face. "Lady Hokage wishes to talk to both Ghost and Itachi, after that our village is open for the rest of your forces to resupply, also, she wishes to speak to the person in charge."
Mayu stepped forward, I'll follow you back to your village then, but first we need some volunteers to stay in the Earth country and offer any help they may need."
Ghost was about to speak up but Mayu interrupted him.
"No not you Ghost, you heard the Anbu; you're expected in Konohagakure."
"I must object, Mayu-sama, the meeting can wait." Ghost said as he held his ground.
"No Ghost you'll head for Konoha, and that's final." Mayu ordered with a tone that left no room for argument.
Ghost glared at her. "Yes… Ma'am" Sarcasm and anger laced his voice.
It was then that Robatsu spoke. "I'll head for Iwa then."
"I'll join you Robatsu." Rome said as he walked over to him.
"Someone's gotta cover your backs; I guess it has to be me." Uesari said with a grin.
"It's settled then, once your successful in the evacuation, or if the battle's lost I want you to head out immediately, understood?"
The three nodded and headed towards Iwagakure.
"The rest of us will head for Takigakure, Itachi go with them to Konoha, Kisame you'll join him as well." Pein ordered.
"Let's go!" Mayu said and then quickly followed the Konoha Anbu.
Ghost briefly glanced at Itachi and sighed before he followed in Mayu's footsteps. 'This is going to be a long week.'
xXx
Couple of days later, Konoha
Hinata stood in front of the main gate, flanked by two squads of Jounin.
A Chunin jumped from the roof and landed in front of her, "Lady Hinata, The group is four minutes out."
Hinata gave a short nod. "Good and what about Anbu squad seven?"
"They just left the Hokage's office and are heading for the Anbu headquarters."" The Chunin answered.
"All of them?" Hinata asked. Ever since the announcement that Itachi Uchiha and Ghost were coming back to the village it caused quite a reaction among the civilians and shinobi. Sasuke however didn't take it quite well; in fact he was already halfway on his war path until he was cornered by Tsunade and was ordered to contain himself, until the shinobi world was back at peace, or as peaceful as it could be.
"Yes, everyone"
Hinata smiled at the Chunin and dismissed him. She still couldn't believe that Sasuke had actually cooperated, maybe it was because of the short fight they had when the two S ranked criminals had come for an alliance.
It had caused a lot of worry that two S ranked shinobi could take on the Hokage, an Anbu squad and two advisors, and win. Maybe that had cleared up his mind.
It was then that the group walked through the gate.
Hinata straightened her posture and walked to the group. She could spot Itachi and Ghost right away, the blonde hair she had memorized since the day at the jounin exams; she found his hair strangely familiar, also his sunglasses was a dead giveaway.
"Welcome, my name is Hinata Hyuuga. I'm here to escort you to Lady Hokage." She greeted as she bowed to the newcomers.
Mayu bowed as well quickly followed by Micheru. "It's a pleasure to meet you Hinata, my name's Mayu Sun. and the young woman next to me is Micheru Sun." She glanced to Ghost, Kisame and Itachi but they just remained motionless, Ghost only crossed his arms to defy Mayu even further.
"Excuse the behavior of my companions, they should know better." She glared at Ghost before turning her attention back to the Hyuuga.
"That's quite alright, we're used to it by now," She said calmly. "If you'll follow me, as for the Anbu squads, you're expected at the headquarters."
The small group walked through the streets, headed for the Hokage tower. Ghost saw the villagers giving them frightful glances. He smirked, "Don't enjoy it too much, Kisame."
Kisame who was grinning like a madman let out a single bark of laughter. "Like you aren't."
"Maybe just a little," Ghost saw a kid crossing the street in front of them; the kid then turned to the group and waved happily. It was then that a woman ran towards the happy child and qucikly dragged him of the streets.
The other civilians from the sides of the main road stayed as far away from the passing group as possible. They whispered and pointed at mainly Itachi, clearly remembering him from the Uchiha massacre.
It didn't go unnoticed that a few pointed Ghost as well.
Ghost saw the ordeal and felt amused. "Don't you just love fear?"
"People like you make me feel sick." Hinata said between clenched teeth, eyeing the blonde Hunter.
"Luckily I don't care." Ghost said with a smile that made Hinata narrow her eyes.
Ghost then slowed his pace until he walked next to Micheru, "You know, you never told me that you were related to Mayu."
"I figured everyone knew by now, but then again when I was introduced into the group you weren't there yet. Hmm well now you know." Micheru said with a happy look on her face, while deep inside, she felt somewhat disturbed by Ghost's comment moments before.
Ghost focused his attention back on the road and noticed that they had almost arrived at the gates of the Hokage tower.
The Anbu in front stopped them. "Lady Hinata, I presume that these are the guests?"
Hinata nodded. "They are"
"They know that drawing their weapons is prohibited?"
Kisame stared at the man. "Of course we know, now step aside, we don't have all day."
"Mind your manners, Hoshigake." Mayu snapped.
They stepped through the gate and went inside, as they had guessed there were shinobi guarding the halls as well as the stairs leading to the office.
"I guess they're scared that we'll try something again." Itachi said as he was the first to follow Hinata.
"Just safety precautions, would you have expected anything different after what you both did last time?"
"You're right, next time when you try to arrest us; I won't do something as stupid as running away." Ghost replied.
Hinata's interest peaked at those words.
"I'll just kill them instead."
"Ghost! Shut your mouth immediately!" Mayu ordered, with a laughing Kisame on the background.
"We're here." And with that she knocked twice on the door before opening it.
"Lady Hokage, our guests are here." Hinata said with a short bow and left, but not before sending a glare at Ghost and Kisame, whom both in turn smirked at her.
Tsunade stood up from behind her desk and walked to the group. "Welcome to Konoha, I'm Tsunade. And the two men beside me are Shikaku Nara and Jiraiya, one of the Sannin."
Mayu gave a short bow. "My name's Mayu Sun and this is Micheru Sun, I don't think I need to introduce the others though."
"We've met before." Tsunade stated somewhat coldly.
"Unfortunately" Ghost added.
Mayu chose to ignore the remark. "Lady Hokage, I assure you that both Ghost and Itachi will keep themselves in check.
Tsunade nodded. "Even though we had our differences in the past, we now have a common enemy, and while I refused the offer earlier, I'd like to reconsider and have the land of Fire join with your group against this enemy."
Mayu smiled. "We're glad to hear that, we can use all the help we can get and with Konoha participating, I'm sure that we'll be able to turn the tide."
xXx
After talking to the Konoha specialist Shikaku as well as Jiraiya they had gotten up to speed about the invasion.
Tsunade then turned to Ghost who was softly talking to Itachi. "Why couldn't you tell us about this after your battle against those two at the arena?"
Ghost stopped talking and turned his attention to the Sannin. "Like any of you would've believed me." And with that he turned his attention back to Itachi and continued where he left off.
Tsunade glared at the man. "Mayu, you can use our village as your base of operation should you want that of course."
"That sounds like a good plan, Konoha, is a great place and not too far out of reach of the other countries."
Tsunade sat back down at her desk and grabbed a stack of papers. "Good! I'll make the arrangements to have a place set available for you, I got one question though, I know everyone's identity within your group, Kisame Hoshigake as well yes," she said after catching Kisame's eyes. "I don't however know Ghost's real identity; would it be too much to ask for his? I can't trust people behind hoods, glasses and facemasks."
"It's not going to happen, Hokage, so get over it." Ghost grunted before Mayu could even speak up.
The Hokage turned to Mayu who hesitantly looked to Ghost.
"Ghost, does it matter that much to you?" Mayu asked.
"You know the answer; I'm not giving up my real name, as for my sunglasses, why does it bother you that much if you got Hatake who wears a facemask and his headband over one of his eyes, hmm?"
"Kakashi I trust, you I don't."
'Damn she got me there.' Ghost sighed and took of his glasses and ripped of his damaged facemask; he winced at the bright light, which didn't go unnoticed by Mayu and Micheru, "Happy now?"
"Very…" Tsunade said sarcastically before trailing off when she saw the spitting image of Minato. "Minato?"
'Oh boy'. Ghost placed his sunglasses back on, covering his blue eyes and shook his head. "No I'm not Minato, I just resemble the guy, now could we go please, I need a drink to get this crap out of my head."
Jiraiya who saw the whole ordeal, stood there gaped as well, the man looked exactly like Minato!
Tsunade managed to recollect herself, "Yes, uh, P-please follow Jiraiya, he'll show you to one of the hotels."
Jiraiya waved with his hand to follow him and then walked out the door.
"Ghost, do you have a moment?"
Ghost turned back to Tsunade and was seriously tempted to ignore her and walk out the door, but instead spoke up. "What is it, Hokage?"
Tsunade waved the others to continue and then turned her attention back to Ghost. "When we last met, you told me that Naruto's dead. Did you just make it up to see me suffer or were you serious?"
Ghost felt a pang of pity for the woman, until he remembered that she gave him a sentence that in his eyes was worse than death. "I wasn't saying that to hurt you. Naruto is dead." He lied.
Tsunade's eyes filled with tears. "H-how did he die?"
"He died in a battle against Orochimaru's henchmen, Me and Itachi met up to assassinate Orochimaru and found Naruto with the same intent, we all partnered up and tried to sneak in, it all went downhill and eventually were surrounded." Ghost sighed. He never had to lie about how he died. "We managed to fight most of them off until Orochimaru joined in and went toe to toe with Itachi, leaving Naruto and me against the rest of his forces."
Ghost walked to the couch in the corner and sat down. "Eventually he just couldn't handle it anymore and succumbed to the amount of enemies.
Flashback
Naruto walked to the edge of the forest and crouched. It was the middle of the night. He was wearing a dark blue cloak that covered the rest of his outfit. (A/N: The same cloak Naruto and the rest uses when they are going to look for Itachi in the series, only dark blue)
"You're right on time" A voice softly said.
Naruto twirled around and saw a man standing he had last seen two years ago. "It's good to see you again Itachi, how have you been?"
"I've been fine, how have the last two years been for you?" Itachi said as he crouched down next to him and reached for something inside his cloak.
"Not too bad, I met up with your friend Hawke, he took me under his wing and trained me."
"He was the one who gave me the information about the Unknown's that are coming," Itachi laid something on the ground what revealed to be a map when he unfolded it. "Alright, the camp has a large fence covering every inch so simply jumping over it will be out of the question since they'll spot us right away, we got a lot of patrols as well, I doubt we'll be able to slip inside without noticing the guards. "
Naruto nodded as he studied the map as well as the actual camp in the distance. It was built in a clearing in the forest, and was covered by a Genjutsu. "So you want to hit the camp hard and fast?"
"That's exactly what I thought. If we both use Kage Bunshins and swarm the camp, that way we'll both sneak in his underground hideout and search for Orochimaru," Itachi softly spoke as he folded the map and put it back in his cloak. "Also, because no one can know you're working together with someone of the Akatsuki, you'll need to henge you're hair and your whisker marks. And I've got a spare cloak as well just to make sure."
"Sounds good"
Itachi reached for a scroll inside his cloak and opened it before summoning the items. Lying on top was a folded cloak and a straw hat.
Naruto shed the cloak he was wearing, revealing his dark blue shirt and pants. He then grabbed the Akatsuki cloak and put it on. He looked at himself in the reflection of a small pool of water. "I always wanted to wear one of these, it looks awesome." Naruto said with a grin.
"You're the first one who ever wore an Akatsuki cloak, who isn't a member of our organization." Itachi said with a rare smile.
"Yeah, well the cloaks may look good; the people wearing are still bastards."
"You'll get your chance one day," and with that Itachi stood up and motioned for Naruto to follow him, discussing with him the best course of action.
They walked for about five minutes before they both split op to opposite sides of the camp and waited.
Naruto was crouched behind a tree and could easily spot several squads patrolling inside the camp. He was waiting for Itachi to get into position.
He heard a twig snap and two voices softly talking beside him so he slowly turned around and saw a patrol walking past him, a couple of feet away.
He then, slowly took more cover behind the tree and put his hands to his mouth, and made a perfect imitation of a chippering bird and made the sound three times with short pauses.
It was used to tell the other person to wait with the attack until the coast was clear.
Naruto eyed the patrol, they weren't paying attention to the sound he made and mentally sighed in relief.
After waiting for a couple of minutes he made the bird sound again.
He held his breath and waited. He heard an owl in the distance and knew that it had to be Itachi, he was beginning his assault!
He put his hands together and formed a sign "Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Two large clouds of smoke covered a small part of the forest, raising the alarm of the nearby camp.
"Let's go!" The real Naruto shouted and started sprinting towards the camp, followed by hundreds of clones.
The shinobi inside the camp formed two long lines just outside the camp, roughly the same length of the incoming clones Naruto and Itachi were sending. They grabbed their shuriken and started hurling them towards the invaders.
The real Itachi ducked underneath one of the shuriken and countered with some shuriken of his own, following his example were his clones who grabbed a kunai or shuriken and threw it towards the men in front of the fence.
Screams of pain filled the night.
xXx
Naruto flicked his wrist and the kunai in his hand flew towards a stumbling wounded man trying to get away. "They never stood a chance."
Itachi snapped a man's neck and then stood up, "They must've sent out a distress signal, we have to hurry."
They ran towards the entrance of the underground hideout, which was at the center of the camp.
"How are we going to get through that, knowing the snake, he's probably reinforced the doors with chakra."
His question however was answered soon when the large steel doors opened.
"That's going to be a…" Naruto started before his voice got caught in his throat.
"Problem" Itachi finished with a mildly surprised look on his face as he saw the very large group of shinobi standing there.
Naruto reached for his pouch and grabbed two kunai. "We have to go through them if we want to reach Orochimaru."
Itachi copied his movement and grabbed two kunai of his own, after sending a short nod to Naruto he dashed towards his opponent, his temporary black haired teammate quickly followed.
Itachi easily sidestepped the first attack and effortlessly blocked the second, he gave a low swipe with his feet and knocked one of his many opponents on the ground, without hesitating for a second he stabbed the downed enemy without even looking at him.
Naruto in the meantime had finished off his second foe and made a couple of Kage Bunshins and was picking off his targets one by one but still at a much slower rate than Itachi.
Even though both Naruto and Itachi were putting up quite a fight they were slowly pushed back by their overwhelming numbers.
Itachi and Naruto were both capable of handling Chunin ranked opponents, but when their enemies teamed up, it became too much.
Naruto panted heavily, he swiped the sweat of his forehead and looked at Itachi, who wasn't in the same state he was, but still was showing exhaustion. "Now what?" Naruto managed to spit out.
Itachi was about to answer when someone else butted in.
"Kukukuku, Itachi, why are you of all people after me?" a pale man said as he stepped forward.
"You still have something that belongs to us, Orochimaru." Itachi lied calmly, covering the real reason they were there.
"It's grown attached to me, now if you two would act like two Genin and surrender," Orochimaru said with a sick smile on his face that Naruto remembered from his days when he was still in Konoha. "It would make things so much easier." The Snake Sannin finished
"And why don't you just die, you slippery snake." Naruto bit back.
Orochimaru turned his attention to Itachi's companion, the sick smile still covering his face." So you can actually speak."
"Let's just get this over with," Itachi said annoyed and send glance at Naruto. "Can you hold of Orochimaru's men?"
"No problem, leave that to me." Naruto turned his back on Orochimaru and grabbed a handful of shuriken. "Just make sure he doesn't get away."
Itachi turned his attention back to the snake lover while Naruto engaged himself in a fight with the large group of enemies. "You must realize that you don't stand a chance against me, Orochimaru."
The Sannin walked confidently towards the Uchiha. "Kukukuku, I have the advantage Itachi-kun, you've been fighting my men for a while, it has tired you down, as well as your companion. It won't be long before he succumbs to their numbers!"
"He'll be fine; you should focus your attention on me." And with that he suddenly placed his left hand at his mouth in a particular seal. "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!"
Orochimaru was caught slightly off guard but managed to dodge out of the way of the small fireballs and retaliated with an attack of his own. " Sen'eijashu!" Snakes shot out from his sleeves and went straight for the Uchiha.
Itachi was already prepared and threw the shuriken he had in his hands, hitting the snakes head on causing them to drop dead to the ground before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Orochimaru ran past the smoke and met Itachi halfway, his infamous sword Kusanagi in his hand.
Itachi met him halfway, a kunai in his own hand. He shifted his stance into a defensive one and held his kunai in front of him.
Orochimaru struck first, slamming his sword into Itachi's kunai. Itachi grimaced but held his ground and used his made a fist of his free hand and punched the Sannin in the face, causing him to stagger back.
Itachi used the moment to make his next move, again without making any handsigns. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" A huge fire ball went straight for Orochimaru.
Not being able to dodge out of the way, he dove to the ground, causing the fireball to scorn the back of his shirt.
Orochimaru angrily stood up and quickly made his way to Itachi, awfully resembling a slithering snake.
Itachi charged the snake bastard and engaged him in a close combat fight where a mix of clashing metal and swinging fists were combined, as they unconsciously left the hideout and into the forest.
Orochimaru blocked a low swipe and retaliated with a kick to his side and followed up with disarming the Uchiha using the momentum he created when he kicked him.
After he had disarmed him Orochimaru didn't hesitate for a second and swiped at Itachi's arms giving him a short but deep cut that crossed his wrist.
Orochimaru grinned. "You look tired Itachi-'kun'"
Itachi gave a rare smirk. "Haven't you noticed? I haven't used my Sharingan yet."
The Sannin's eyes widened in fear before he narrowed his eyes and licked his lips like an animal eyeing his meal.
Itachi made the first move when he threw a handful of shuriken.
"I expect more from you Itachi-kun!" and with that he used Kawarimi to dodge the incoming projectile.
Itachi with his Sharingan active could easily track the snake and shun-shined behind him, a kunai slid out the sleeve of his Akatsuki robe and plunged it in the man's back, he then followed up with a kick at the exact same spot the kunai was embedded.
Orochimaru stumbled forward before turning around, his eyes burned with hatred.
Itachi didn't wait for him to catch his breath and focused his chakra before placing his hand in front of his mouth. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
An even bigger fireball then before went straight for Orochimaru who wouldn't be able to dodge in time.
"Doton: Doryūheki!"
Itachi sighed. "Keep your pets out of this Orochimaru."
"Against you? I don't think so, Kukuku" Orochimaru brushed his hand through his hair.
"Lord Orochimaru, we have shinobi from Kusa's outpost inbound, they must've noticed the fighting that occurred here." Kabuto spoke, keeping his eyes on Itachi all the while.
"Have you made the preparations, Kabuto?"
"Of course."
"I'm afraid I have to stop our fight, Itachi-kun." Orochimaru sweetly said, feeling more confident with his right hand man beside him.
"And you think I'll just let you leave?." And with that he was just about to rush towards the two before he was interrupted by Kabuto.
"I'd look towards your companion; he's having a tough time."
Itachi turned his gaze towards the fight which he could barely see and noticed that Naruto was kneeling and panting heavily.
"I'll finish you off later." And with that Itachi flickered away.
Naruto struggled to get to his feet. "I-is that all you got…" he managed to say between his puffs of air,
Itachi appeared beside Naruto and helped him on his feet. "Let's go, Orochimaru escaped, and from what I heard, there are Kusa shinobi on their way here. We need to get out of here."
And without another word he grabbed Naruto's arm and swung it over his shoulder, with his free hand he quickly threw a shuriken towards the incoming enemies who had tried to use Itachi's lack of attention to his benefit.
With the shinobi lying dead on the ground with a shuriken in his throat Itachi and Naruto disappeared in cloud of smoke.
- End of flashback-
"And that's how he died." Ghost said as he twisted his version of the failed assassination attempt on Orochimaru.
Tsunade had tried to remain calm and for the first part of the story she had felt immensely proud at Naruto's attempt to take down the snake freak, that even though he left Konoha he still fought against its enemies. But once that thought had died down the only feeling that she had left was sadness.
Ghost stood up and stretched his legs. "Story time is over, do with it what you will." And with that he walked through the door and closed it behind him, leaving a silently crying Tsunade in his wake.
Ghost sighed in satisfaction. 'Pure and utter satisfaction'
xXx
The two days later Kisame walked through the streets with Itachi beside him. "Perhaps we could go to the bar we went last time we were here, when we were looking for Naruto, for old time's sake?"
Itachi smiled. "They did serve some good food and sake."
They crossed the street and walked towards the bar; they pushed the flaps aside and were served with an amusing sight.
Before them sat Ghost, his legs crossed, casually sipping from his drink. Standing at the bar to his right were Neji and Sasuke who were drilling their eyes into the Hunter's calm face.
Sasuke noticed the newcomers and his eyes immediately became red, with three tomoe's surrounding his pupils.
Ghost turned his attention to the newcomers and grinned, he had his facemask removed as well as his hood, revealing his bandana and sunglasses. "Now this just became a whole lot more interesting."
Kisame grinned and sat down next to him, ordering a drink as well. Itachi sat in front of Ghost, ignoring Sasuke's glare. "It has been a while, little brother hasn't it? Last time we met you weren't in a very talkative mood."
Sasuke who had barely managed to calm himself down stormed out the bar before he would do something he'd regret.
"I'd say he's still not very talkative, Itachi."
Itachi ignored him and focused on his drink.
After finishing his drink Ghost stood up waved his goodbye and exited the bar and followed the street, not really caring where it took him. 'Where could Orochimaru be? Word will spread about the invasion in Tsuchi no Kuni, and if he finds out about the Reavers, he'll no doubt try and ally with them.' Ghost sighed and crossed his arms; he held his head low and continued to walk aimlessly. 'Orochimaru has to be taken care off and fast!'
"Ghost!"
Ghost looked up and saw Hawke running towards him, getting awkward looks from the citizens. "Since when did you arrive here?" knowing Hawke had left the village to do some scouting
"I've just arrived this morning, but that's not the reason I looked for you. The others are back; I've just received word from Micheru, their waiting for us at the north gate."
Ghost nodded, "lead the way." And with those words they headed to the gate.
They arrived at the gate after a short walked and walked towards Mayu and Micheru who were crouched down, healing someone lying on the ground.
"Mayu-sama we're here."
Mayu slowly stood up and turned around; her eyes were full of sorrow. She tried to find the right words but couldn't.
"What's wrong?" Hawke asked, already regretting his question.
Mayu sadly looked at Hawke and Ghost and momentarily closed her eyes. "Uesari is dead."
"Wha?" Ghost managed to say, his eyes wide with surprise.
KABLOW!
I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I had a lot of fun writing it.
Next chapter: a Kakashi centric one coming up!
Jutsu list.
Fūton: Atsugai - Wind Style: Pressure Damage
Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu
Katon: Hōsenka no jutsu - Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu
Sen'eijashu – Striking Shadow Snakes
Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu - Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu
Doton: Doryūheki - Earth Style: Mud Wall
Again, if you find anything that is really out of place let me know ;)
Don't forget to send a review when you got a minute!
See you all next time!