AN: Chapter title: The Search Interrupted: Sidetracked Part 2.

"What happened here?" While all three Shinobi were of the same mind, only Fu put voice to her thoughts.

The only way to describe the land around them was with one word: Devastated.

Craters stretched across the land, smoke and dust may have long stopped lingering in the air but the stench of what could only be death swept over them all. That and burned flesh.

Perhaps it was better to call what was in front of them a slice of hell instead of simply title it as devastated.

"That's what we're here to find out." Jiraiya looked to the two Shinobi with him. He didn't know for certain if his hunch was right but he recognized the work of at least one of the people behind it, had heard the rumors already even if he had stayed on the move. 'The Hidden Stone's mad bomber, master of Explosion Release, and holder of one of their stranger Kinjutsu: Deidara.'

The pockmarked ground was clue enough that he had been one of the mysterious Akatsuki mercenaries to involve themselves here.

'Only question is why. The only place worth noting is the Hidden Grass and, last I heard, they're still focused on tearing themselves apart with their civil war.' The white haired Shinobi spared another look to the two Shinobi with him. 'What can I get these two up to while I look around?'

"Naruto, Fu. Keep yourselves out of trouble." Jiraiya figured they would do the exact opposite as he headed deeper into the once battlefield. "I've got to see to a few things out here."

He wasn't exactly a stranger to some of the surviving samurai and Shinobi, a fair number who were able to manage it were already approaching him.

The blond and mint-haired Shinobi he had left behind watched him be swept into a group and taken into one of the smaller tents. The largest one on the once battlefield turned roughshod camp was clearly a medical tent.

'We're wasting our time here.' If the situation was different, Naruto would already have left back to their abandoned campsite, had perhaps spent this latest stop spending time catching up on what he could of his Legion's reports. As it was, he had no idea how long the Toad Sage would be here. 'We could spend anywhere from just a few hours to a few days here.'

He wanted to scoff.

'This is no search. We merely follow his ridiculous whims, let them lead us in circles.'

"What are we supposed to do here?" Blue eyes cast themselves around the devastated grounds, the rough camp created. Despite the poor quality, it reminded him of the countless plans for camps he had drawn up with his Legate for his Legion, the long nights spent on hypotheticals, possibilities. All to ready his Legion for the future glory they would claim.

It was a better use of his time than this aimless wandering.

'The Toad Sage only wastes my time out here.' His rage was enough for his eyes to flash from blue to red, briefly display his fury at his circumstances.

His green haired companion didn't do much at his side. If he had bothered to look at her, he would've seen that her eyes were dull. Almost lifeless.

'The Grass Fruit must've been looking here. But that doesn't explain why the Grass Flower is in the same camp.' Even if damaged, the two banners were recognizable. The fact that they were haphazardly raised, set side by side at the front of the camp, was concerning. 'I don't recognize half the samurai banners here either. That means they're not from the Land of Iron. Not a group of ronin either, too orderly. They must've been hired for this job. Even if they're no names to me, they've been hired for strength above anything else. And they've been just as devastated too. By the same enemy.' If she could, she would bite at her lip but she couldn't.

She had a role to play. Even if the thought, and the worry it brought, wouldn't leave her:

'Are the Akatsuki mercenaries really this powerful? Are they this dangerous?'

Orange eyes stared where Jiraiya had gone off to.

'Are they all supposed to be as powerful as someone like him? Is that the other reason why Hisen wanted me to travel with him: To keep me safe from them?'

The blonde next to her scoffed, seemed set to wander off a moment later.

"I won't waste my time here." He was heading back the way they had come, likely intended to head back to their old campsite and…Fu figured the blonde would busy himself with glaring at a tree or something. It was pretty much all he did, glare at stuff and talk about this all being a waste of time.

'And I've got to deal with this fucking ray of sunshine still.' She still had that other part of her mission to accomplish, both of her hands grabbing his arm before he could leave. She didn't have to force a frown on her face, she just needed to dial it up to ten.

"You can't just leave me behind Naruto! We're supposed to stick together."

The blonde didn't tug his arm out of her grip, didn't glare at her, but he didn't seem happy.

"Then you can come with me. The time we've spent here is already too much for a Caesar to waste." The blonde seemed set to leave and, if the situation was different, Fu would be of a similar mind and play along.

But this wasn't a chance she could pass up.

Hisen, and Shibuki, had been talking about looking into Kusagakure more than once when they had been screening new missions. The past year alone had seen a major rise in how often they brought up the foreign village. The sudden spike in tension between the Grass Fruit and Grass Flower groups was something they were both growing more and more concerned about. This was a prime opportunity to look into what exactly was going on between the two and why they were openly clashing again.

"We should at least look around ourselves! We've got to find out about the guys who did this so we can beat them up!" She pulled and the blonde didn't resist, let her pull him deeper into the camp.

'I still don't get this guy…' Hisen had told her plenty about him but Naruto Uzumaki was still a mystery to her. Talentless for years before he suddenly mastered a weird variation of the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, one of the more well-known Hidden Leaf's Kinjutsu. Suddenly, he could field thousands of clones at once, could maintain them across entire countries. 'He's a Jinchuriki like me but he feels different.'

Hisen's ongoing theory was that the army of clones was some result of his status as the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails, that the Tailed Beast inside of him was at fault or contributed in some way.

Fu doubted it. She hadn't voiced any of her opinions to either Hisen or Shibuki, didn't have evidence yet, but her intuition told her that the Nine-Tails couldn't be involved.

It didn't add up to what she knew of Jinchuriki abilities. Something she had firsthand experience with.

The One-Tails could gift it's Jinchuriki a powerful Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai and was rumored to possess some Fuinjutsu ability based around the markings that covered its body when released.

The Two-Tails could grant flame-based abilities to its Jinchuriki, all uses of it across all its Jinchuriki denoted by blue flames that burned hotter than most others.

The Three-Tails was water-based in addition to the creation of strange coral its current Jinchuriki was known to use in his rare battles. Or to put an end to one of the many assassination attempts on him.

The Four-Tails was Lava Release, powerful physical enhancement as well. She knew the current Jinchuriki had gained fame during the Third Shinobi World War but had vanished from Iwagakure since then.

The Five-Tails was capable of granting Boil Release to its Jinchuriki. And, same as the Four-Tails, the current Jinchuriki made a name for himself during the last war before secluding himself.

The Six-Tails was known for variations in Water Release Ninjutsu, could secrete liquids of different properties depending on the situation. A strange but robust ability the Jinchuriki had used to leave his village years ago and remain alive despite the best efforts of his pursuers.

The Eight-Tails was the most well-known courtesy of Killer B's sheer skill with it. She had only heard of the man but she never wanted to face him in combat if even half the stories were true of the man able to reach the status of a 'Perfect Jinchuriki'. He had been a match to the current Raikage since they were children.

And the Seven-Tails was insect themed, something she had made use of ever since she had begun training with the beast's power. It had been at the very core of her Ninjutsu and Taijutsu training, month after month of training devoted solely to mastering the abilities granted by the beast after years of learning to tap into its power safely.

But the Nine-Tails, the Nine-Tails was never noted to have provided any ability to either of its two previous Jinchuriki.

Theories ranged on why neither had developed abilities but that was the fact: The two had been jails for the Tailed Beast in the truest sense of the word.

'If his clones don't come from the Nine-Tails than is it because he's an Uzumaki?' He wasn't a full Uzumaki judging by his hair but that didn't seem to matter, didn't impact the titanic reserves of Chakra she could sense from him all hours of the day. Even without the slightest trace of the Tailed Beast's power, his Chakra was still ludicrous for a Shinobi so young to possess. 'Could it be a variation to whatever seal is keeping the Nine-Tails inside of him? Does it use clones to expend any leaking Chakra? Or is it dividing the Nine-Tails across thousands, venting it out that way?'

'But there were never any clones before a few months ago. Is the seal getting weaker? Did they manage to change it and keep him alive?' She wasn't a Fuinjutsu expert, couldn't claim to know the telltale signs of a seal unraveling or decaying in strength even if she had lived with one all her life.

The Uzumaki she was pulling by the hand was a mystery she was no closer to working out.

'At least he's different when he's with me. But why?' Fu had expected to have had at least one fight with the blonde by now with how overbearing she was being but that wasn't the case. As irritating as she knew she was with him, like that mess back at the waterfall last week, he didn't seem to ever get that angry at her.

Hisen's reports painted the blonde as an arrogant powerhouse, someone who could say and do what he wanted because he was leagues above his peers in terms of strength. It was what Fu had been expecting. Overbearing blowhards she could handle but the Uzumaki wasn't like that with her.

He had, grudgingly, gone along with everything she had wanted to do before they had left the Hidden Waterfall, hadn't even complained when they had needed to rush back through backstreets to get to the gate to leave on time.

The blonde snapped her out of her thoughts when he suddenly stopped letting her lead him, pulled her back and against him.

"Out of the way!" A trio of litters carrying a pair of Shinobi and a samurai rushed through the space she had just occupied. Blue eyes followed them as they rushed to one of the large medical tents that dominated the camp. Their owner couldn't see the way orange eyes narrowed, the frustration that crossed the face currently pressed against his Flak Jacket.

'And this is new.' Just like back at the waterfall, after he had used Minato Namikaze's technique to break their fall into the water. 'Why is he so protective?'

"What do you know about him?"

Jiraiya had limited information on specific Akatsuki members. Others he had something approaching half-built portfolios. This was one of the few exceptions. Yugakure had put out a detailed intelligence packet on their former Shinobi: Hidan.

It seems everyone in the village wanted the madman dead.

After his own research, Jiraiya didn't blame them.

"He's from Yugakure. A mad follower of a cult of some kind."

"Really?" The injured samurai, half his face bandaged and his chest covered in the same, seemed disbelieving. Jiraiya didn't blame him.

"At first, I didn't believe it either." Jiraiya was lying. The pieces fit together rather easily: Knowing only peace, a child craved war. Knowing only war, a child craved peace. One wished for what one did not have even when it was to one's detriment. It was a strange fact of human nature. "But I investigated it myself. He's a mad man who kills for the sheer enjoyment of it, claims he does it all to serve the will of the deity he worships. Despite his insanity, or maybe because of it, he's earned his status as an S-Rank Missing-nin with the blood he's spilled. He excelled in the Yugakure Shinobi Academy, was considered a top-tier prospect for the village before he went mad and massacred everyone he knew." The disgust in his voice wasn't fake.

A part of the Toad Sage wanted to meet this man, end him before he could massacre another village like he had his own.

To kill one's friends, family, neighbors was already awful. To take pride in it? To revel in all the pain he had inflicted? It was sickening.

"If it didn't come for you…I wouldn't believe it." The man winced as he shifted where he sat, dared to extend his one working hand and reach for the bottle of sake in front of him. Jiraiya beat him to it, poured a saucer for both of them. The man grimaced but accepted the drink.

"If what you said was coming from anyone else, I would be thinking the same." Jiraiya still almost didn't believe it. 'But Iba's no liar. He's one of the most experienced samurai I know. If he's telling me the man can't die then, as impossible as it should be, it's true.'

The two drank in silence. Both considered the words of the other, what had been said and what hadn't been said.

"The Akatsuki came here for that damned Box." Iba spoke only to confirm Jiraiya's suspicions. "That madman, Hidan, complained to the man on a white bird that it couldn't be real, that they were wasting their time here." His broken and maimed arm was clenched at his side, rage giving him the strength to ignore the pain such a motion brought forth. "He dared to call the deaths of my comrades 'a waste of time'."

Brown eyes met his own.

"He killed them and all but spat on their bodies, refused them any honor in the way he fought only to shed blood. Men who fought by my side for years, some for over a decade, and he slaughtered them. He killed them while raving about that 'God' of his. That bastard." Jiraiya didn't hold Iba's rage against him. It was natural. He had been at Yugakure shortly after Hidan had been added to the Bingo Books, had seen the results of the massacre. If the deaths of Iba's comrades had been anything like that, it had been a grisly affair.

Jiraiya could only offer the man another drink.

One refused when Iba lifted his hand.

"What a poor sight I must be." The man's smile was humorless, his eyes empty. "Here I am, wallowing in my own misery." He bowed his head, his hand lifted to cover his eyes. "Half my men are dead and half of who's left may never wield a blade again. And yet I complain. My wounds will heal. My strength will return. I still have my life. And yet I complain."

Jiraiya didn't mention the tears that fell to the low table they were seated at.

"I can't even honor my men with the funerals they deserve. There's hardly enough left of them to bury…Even if I could find them, there's not enough of us here to dig through the rubble."

"I can handle it." The white-haired Shinobi didn't hesitate. He didn't consider his mission.

His friend, one of the few friends he had left, needed his help. It was the least he could do.

This was supposed to be a simple intelligence mission. A glorified vacation.

Pretend to be a Medical-nin. Infiltrate either the Grass Fruit or Grass Flower camp. Discover what they knew, what had led to the conflict here. Gather intelligence on the situation in Kusagakure. Break away. Return to Kumogakure. Report back to the Raikage.

It did not involve being caught in the middle of an attack by Akatsuki mercenaries.

It did not involve actually getting stuck serving as a Medical-nin. An overwhelmed one at that.

And it did not involve dealing with what proved to be an endless stream of patients and all of them seemed to be in need of constant care.

'And I can't reveal myself as a Jinchuriki.' Yugito Nii did her best to hide her frustration, took advantage of this short break she had to sit outside the medical tent. 'I should make a break for it but…Jiraiya saw me. I can't leave and risk him chasing me down, intercepting any messages I send.'

The white haired Shinobi had gone as far as to meet her eye, let her know that he knew her true identity.

Behind the dyed black hair, the contacts giving her a pair of dark blue eyes, he knew who she was.

She had been a fool to not better disguise her Chakra, to apply the seal that would further suppress the power of the Nibi.

'Of course, that would also leave me an easy target if anyone here figured me out.' That was precisely why Yugito hadn't made use of such a seal despite being supplied it. 'Dammit. I'm in a bad spot. If I had used the seal, there's no telling what Jiraiya would've done once he spotted me. He may be holding himself back because he thinks I'll level this place.'

Which she would. Unquestionably. If it became a choice between being captured or fleeing while revealing herself, she'd simply kill everyone here. Healthy and injured alike, everyone would vanish in the blast of a Tailed Beast Ball while she fled.

'And those kids with him…' Yugito knew one of them. 'Naruto Uzumaki, the kid who killed Gato. And that girl with him is probably a problem too. Is the Hidden Leaf working with the Hidden Waterfall again? How much did that attack from the Hidden Sand weaken them if they've got her traveling with one of their best Shinobi?' She wanted to leave but she hadn't figured out enough about why the Akatsuki had involved themselves here, why a group of S-Rank mercenaries would concern themselves with the seemingly eternal battle between the Grass Fruit and Grass Flower groups.

With a wince, she stood back up. Her feet were killing her after so many long days.

"Dammit B. Why do you have to be worthless for a stealth mission?" Yugito was sure it was intentional.

Despite how much she just wanted to abandon this mission, come up with a reasonable excuse for the Raikage, she headed back into the medical tent.

And nearly ran right into the blonde Jiraiya had brought with him.

'So this is the kid? He's short.' Yugito nimbly avoided him and the green-haired girl clinging to his arm. "Watch it brat!" She put on the act of an overworked Medical-nin. "And what are you doing here? Get out of here before you get in the way!"

The blonde's blue eyes turned red. Chakra different but familiar enough to her suddenly began to flood the tent.

"You dare speak to me, a Caesar, in such a way!"

The blonde was going for the sword at his side.

Yugito had the perfect way to sum up the situation:

'Fuck.'

AN: 2/5 for this update.