Chapter 14

"Hurry Kisame," Itachi whispered to his comrade. The two Akatsuki members had been running through the dark forests of the fire country for the past three hours. They had decided to retrieve Sasuke at an earlier time but they were called in for a meeting by their leader. Since Sasuke was branded a traitor of Konoha, killing him wasn't a crime at all. It's not as if the older Sharingan wielder cared much for his little brother, but the death of his little brother would be a giant thorn in his plan. He had not told anyone of his plan except for Kisame. Since the mist shinobi was always tagging along with him, he figured it wouldn't hurt to tell him.

"So, what's the plan, Itachi?" asked Kisame. Itachi continued running with hundreds of thoughts circling his mind. He didn't even look at his comrade while he answered.

"We infiltrate the village, unnoticed, and by that I mean no killing," he started and heard a sigh from the shark-like man. "My intuition tells me that they're probably interrogating that kid for some information against us. That being said, he's probably being held in a very secluded place, probably under the watchful eye of Ibiki Morino. I'd say he's also being guarded by some ANBU, those can be evaded with ease. My only issue is Uzumaki."

Kisame cringed. Yeah, that blond kid was really starting to piss him off. It wasn't just those accursed kunai blades that protected him, it was that self-righteous attitude that he wanted to crush so badly. But Itachi was probably right. Naruto wouldn't just leave Sasuke guarded by some measly ANBU squad. Even that shrimp should know that Konoha's ANBU aren't all that great and could easily be thwarted by someone with the proper skills. But Naruto wasn't the first problem, it was getting in. Kisame glanced at Itachi. He must know a means of sneaking into that village without alerting anyone. Sure it was night time and they had the advantage in terms of getting inside undetected, but that could only last for so long. Konoha may be full of idiots, but idiots with eyes and ears that would eventually spot them if they even stepped on a tiny tree branch.

"Itachi, why not just incapacitate them? I don't mean kill them but just knock them out. Infiltrating the village is one thing but escaping with your brother without even alerting that blond brat would be a miracle," said Kisame. Itachi's peripheral vision told him that Kisame was a bit concerned. If the Uchiha was as much an idiot as half the ANBU force, he wouldn't have been worried. Kisame continued... "If it was just Uzumaki that we had to worry about, I'd be a little less concerned, but those kunais of his will be able to detect us for sure."

Itachi nodded, he was right after all. Damn those three floating piles of metal crap! They probably detected their presence by now, as they weren't that far away from the village. Naruto alone was a problem, his kunais were another problem, and adding the fact that he would most likely alert the entire village if he and Kisame were spotted was a very big problem as well. Itachi was known for massacring a whole clan of shinobi but not for escaping with his life against a dangerous Jinchurriki and a village of fairly talented shinobi. Forget a mere clan of them, they were now against a whole village. Itachi sighed and stopped running, Kisame did the same and looked at his partner. Itachi looked at the distance before him. Konoha was probably another few hours of travel, so maybe a new plan should be run. Itachi sat down on the tree branch and contemplated his next move.

Team Uzumaki continued to jump from tree to tree. It had been a whole three hours since they departed from the village. Hinata had her Byakkugan activated, scanning the area constantly to keep her team safe. Sensing no danger at the moment, Naruto's black kunai blades vanished some time ago. Kakashi looked onto the distance, wondering if his former student's hunch was correct. If it was, and Obito was truly alive, the copy-nin would impale him with so many questions that his brain might explode from the stress. Where had he gone? Why hadn't he returned to the village? And most importantly, if he really was alive and wanted to leave the village, why didn't he say good bye? Were they not friends? Friends don't just leave without saying good bye, so why did he? Naruto sensed the uneasiness of his former sensei. It must have been hard to put all of one's fate on a simple hunch, but there was no way he could be wrong. All of the facts were there. Tobi's name, his mask, his unwillingness to show any other part of his body, and most importantly, the location of his Sharingan eye, the opposite of where Kakashi's was located. He was about to think about it a bit more when his three kunai blades appeared, circulating him as they would if there was danger. The rest of his squad witnessed the sudden appearance of the kunais and instantly readied themselves.

"My kunais are sensing something they don't like. It's faint, but I can sense two huge chakra signals, but they're using a jutsu to conceal their chakra," said Naruto. The rest of his squad nodded. The blond narrowed his eyes. It must've been Itachi and Kisame who his kunais were sensing. Who else had chakra signals so strong that even a concealing jutsu was having a hard time containing what it should be containing? A second later, all three of Naruto's kunais pointed to his right side. Naruto glanced at his squad as they split into two separate squads. Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura in one team. Shikamaru, Lee, and Hinata in the other team. With a flick of the hunter-nin's wrist, his teams went in separate directions.

Itachi opened his eyes and slowly looked to his sides, Kisame did the same. Kisame reached for his Samehada, Itachi pulled out several shuriken. In a sudden flash, two of Naruto's kunai blades were launched at Kisame, who parried them both with his huge sword but still continued on relentlessly attacking him. Kakashi appeared behind Itachi and stabbed him on the side, only to see a wooden log where Itachi's body used to be. Itachi appeared above Kakashi and was about to impale him with shuriken when Naruto's third kunai blade appeared and repelled every shuriken. Lee jumped out of the trees with several shadow clones, and barraged the Uchiha with a flurry of attacks. Shikamaru stood from the back and formed his shadow possession jutsu. Two shadows stretched from his form and grabbed his targets. While held captive, Hinata formed a shadow clone and performed her eight trigrams: sixty four palm jutsu on both of them. Shikamaru released his jutsu and began panting, as whatever happened to his captives happens to him. Sakura ran to his side and began applying her medical ninjutsu on him.

As Itachi and Kisame fell on their knees, the kunai blades that were attacking Kisame, returned to Naruto's side, who stepped out of the shadows. The blond hunter-nin looked at his captives. It shouldn't have been this easy to capture them. Itachi and Kisame were no match for his kunais but something was off. Naruto narrowed his eyes at them. Itachi and Kisame smirked an vanished in a puff of smoke. Naruto and his entire squad widened their eyes. Suddenly, their vision started getting hazy. Kakashi unveiled his Sharingan eye and looked around him.

"We're under a genjutsu... but how did this happen without us knowing?" Kakashi asked the squad and himself. Naruto looked at his squad and nodded. At once, they all performed the "kai" jutsu, the genjutsu was instantly dispelled. The blond looked around him. They were exactly were they were while they fought the Itachi and Kisame genjutsus'. One of Naruto's black kunais appeared before him and pointed behind him. The hunter-nin turned and caught a kunai that was heading straight for him. For the second time, Naruto's eyes widened.

"A paper bomb!" He shouted. Immediately, he grabbed one of his floating kunais, slid the other kunai through the tip of his own, and sent it to the sky. The kunai exploded a couple of seconds later. Naruto's black kunai returned to him, joining the other two in a constant protective, circling dance. The squad stood still for a few more seconds, waiting anything else to happen, until Hinata twitched her head. With her Byakkugan active, she was able to see two figures sprinting from behind them, going towards the village. Hinata quickly turned around and dashed towards them, the entire squad following suite.

"Hyuuga-san, what is it?" asked Lee. Hinata turned to her comrade.

"Itachi and Kisame are headed for the leaf village, and they're going really fast!" she exclaimed and then turned to her squad leader. "At this rate, Uzumaki-sama, we won't make it in time to help the village!"

Naruto nodded and turned to Kakashi. This was supposed to be a mission to help his former sensei to find his long lost friend. But in a split second, it turned into a rescue mission, but not just any rescue mission. The lives of many people in the leaf village depended on their success. Knowing already what his former pupil was thinking, Kakashi nodded his head. Obito could wait, it's not like he was going anywhere anyway. The Konoha-jounin looked away. His first obligation was to the safety of his village. Naruto nodded as well and grabbed two of his revolving kunai blades. He threw them forwards and jumped on them, riding on them like a surfboard, using his chakra control to plant his feet firmly on the blades.

"Hatake-san, Lee-san, you two will come with me. We must stop Itachi and Kisame at all costs," Both Konoha-jounin nodded. "The rest of you, find a different entrance to the village. Alert Tsunade-sama and every shinobi that you can find. Escort all gennin and non-shinobi citizens to safety!"

Hinata, Sakura, and Shikamaru nodded. "Understood!" They complied as they split into a different direction. Naruto looked back at his two remaining comrades, who were slightly lagging behind. He couldn't really blame them at all. His kunai blades, although larger than other kunais, moved faster than light. So of course this speed was no problem for them, even with a passenger riding atop. Naruto looked ahead of him. The village was still a long ways ahead. He assumed that they'd arrive right after Itachi and Kisame, as they weren't that far behind. The hunter-nin silently ordered his kunais to go a little faster, his worry for the village increasing. Lee and Kakashi picked up the pace as well.

"Konoha," Naruto uttered. "Hold on, I'm on my way..."

Tsunade, the seemingly young yet slightly senile Hokage, continued to stamp more and more documents. It's like every time she finished a stack, Shizune would bring in another stack. The blond Hokage had no idea what kind of sake she drank that would force her to take the job, but oh well, it brought her back home so that was enough of a reason. The village that once belonged to her grandfather, was now hers. But being in charge of an enormous village like Konoha didn't come without responsibilities, a word that she would have loved to have erased from the dictionaries of the world. The citizens and the rest of the shinobi, entrusted their lives to her capabilities, a trust that isn't bestowed upon just anyone so easily. On the day of her coronation, she made a silent pledge to herself that she would protect the very birthplace of her late brother, boyfriend, and grandfather. Tsunade sighed as she finished a stack and looked to her side, only to see another three stacks of papers to be stamped, approved, signed, or declined. Being Hokage was no walk in the park indeed. The blond stood from her seat and stretched. Suddenly, something snapped inside her mind as she looked outside the village. Something was about to happen, she could feel it, she just didn't know what was coming.

Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai, all sat at a dango shop with Iruka, Shaori, and Anko. It was quite boring when they didn't have any gennin whining at them for a mission or a sparring practice match. Of course, Anko never exactly felt such a feeling, as she was never given a gennin squad, nor did she want any. Kids weren't her cup of coffee anyway. Gai sipped his tea in silence. Ever since becoming professional shinobi, Neji, Ten-ten, and even his favorite pupil Lee, were always off on their own, doing missions and facing new challenges. It wasn't that he was worried about his students, he knew they were all perfectly capable of handling themselves, but he had actually thought of them all as his sons and daughter that he never really had. Being too busy with missions and all, they never really got the chance to have a decent chat in a while. Shaori looked at her colleague and looked down at her dango. She too missed her daughter. Ever since becoming one of the top medic-nins in the village, Sakura was needed at just about every minute of her life. Such responsibilities left no openings in her schedule to spend time with her mother. The Cherry Blossom Assassin sighed. Kids grew up so fast these days, it's so hard to keep track of them. Anko, seeing her two colleagues in the dump, decided to try and cheer things up. But before she was able to approach them, they all sensed two powerful chakra signatures coming their way.

Asuma and Kurenai nodded. They were still quite a distance away from the village but they were approaching rapidly. All jounin looked at each other and vanished either in puffs of smoke or swirls of leaves. Kurenai, Asuma, Gai, Iruka, Shaori, and Anko, reported to the Hokage's office. One by one, they appeared behind Tsunade, who was looking to the distance of her village. The blond Hokage turned to face them and smiled.

"It's good you all came as I was about to call for you," She said. Each of the jounin looked up to face her. "I suppose it's safe to assume that you sensed two very powerful chakra signatures on the way. I have reason to believe that they are Akatsuki members, as I don't know very many shinobi who possess colossal chakra like that, excluding Jinchurrikis."

"Hokage-sama," asked Iruka. "We have to escort the citizens away to safety. I predict that this is going to be a rough fight, and since Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, Shikamaru, Lee, and Hinata, went on a mission earlier, it might turn out to be quite a brawl without them."

Tsunade nodded her head. "Alright then. Iruka, Anko, and Shaori, gather all citizens, gennin and academy students, away from the village. If you can find some other chuunin who can help, then recruit them as well."

Iruka, Anko, and Shaori, nodded and vanished. Tsunade then turned her attention to Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai. "Asuma and Kurenai, I need you both to escort the council away as well. As much as I hate those old fools, they are still a part of our village. Gai, I ask you to locate Jiraiya. He's probably peeping on some women in some hot springs or something. Bring him here. After you finish with that, locate as many jounin as possible and alert them of our situation."

Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai, also nodded and vanished. Tsunade turned around once more to gaze at her currently peaceful village. In the next couple of hours, it wasn't going to be so tranquil anymore. Gai sprinted to the nearest possible hot spring, in search of Jiraiya. He was one of the few shinobi of this village that could possibly stand up against those two Akatsuki members. The green clad jounin moved as fast as his feet could carry him, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, until he arrived at one of Konoha's most famous hot springs. There, he found Jiraiya, just walking out of the place with a sad expression on his face. Gai approached the aged old sannin. Jiraiya's head perked up when he sensed Gai's chakra signature coming to him.

"Jiraiya-sama, Hokage-sama has called for you to her office. Something is about to commence in Konoha," he said.

"That old prune asked for me? What in the world did I do this time...?" he asked Gai. "Well, I'll be on my way now, Mite."

With that said, the toad sannin fazed out of sight. Gai nodded at his accomplishment and evacuated as many villagers as possible. Jiraiya appeared inside Tsunade's office and leaned on a wall with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed. It's not like he didn't sense what was going on. If anything, he probably sensed it earlier than any of the others did, save maybe Tsunade of course. The old sannin sighed. And here he thought he would be able to enjoy his day, doing that one thing that he enjoyed the most... but oh well. Keeping that Uchiha kid here as a prisoner was bound to attract Itachi and Kisame's attention one time or another. Although he didn't know about their plan, there was no way he could allow those two to obtain Sasuke. If they wanted him back so badly that they would infiltrate a whole village of shinobi on broad daylight, it must be important. Tsunade turned to face her colleague.

"They're coming, Jiraiya... get ready. We can't let them take Sasuke," said Tsunade. Jiraiya nodded, not even looking at his Hokage.

Naruto, Kakashi, and Lee, continued their sprint to Konohagakure. Naruto's remaining black kunai blade appeared in front of him and pointed to his right diagonal side. The blond hunter-nin acknowledged it, turned his head slightly to face Kakashi and Lee, and nodded to them. Both Konoha jounin nodded as well and moved to the direction that Naruto's kunai blade pointed to. With Kakashi and Lee no longer following them, Naruto ordered his kunais to go faster. Whatever it was that his kunai blade sensed, it wasn't good. He didn't have the Byakkugan but he was able to sense two more chakra signatures, going towards Konohagakure, and they were fairly big ones too. Not only that, but they felt familiar. Naruto shook his head. Whoever they were, Kakashi and Lee would take care of them. The blond was completely focused with intercepting Itachi and Kisame. As he moved onwards, his black kunai pointed to his left. Something was coming from his left, but he couldn't care less. Several shuriken and kunais appeared and were about to impale him when his black kunai destroyed them all.

"Whoever you are, leave now. I'm not in the mood to fight you," said Naruto, focusing his attention to reaching Konoha. A second later, a clay bird was seen flying behind Naruto. "Deidara? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Me? Just came to play with my favorite blond friend. Besides, we have to finish what we started back in Sunagakure, ne?"

The clay artisan dropped several clay bombs at Naruto, but he evaded them all, save for one. The blond grabbed his black kunai and parried the last clay bomb to Deidara, who evaded it as well. Shit... he didn't have time for this. If Itachi and Kisame reached the village and obtain Sasuke, their only lead to Akatsuki's plans and location would be lost. Not only that but there weren't many Konoha-nin in the village that could stand up to their power, so he had to get there as soon as possible. Naruto cringed. He seriously didn't have the time to be messing around.

"Come on, Uzumaki, play with me for a while," said Deidara, as he flung more clay bombs and shurkien at Naruto, only to have them blocked and parried by his black kunai blade. Naruto pushed his kunais to go faster, but Deidara's bird was able to go a little faster too. Knowing that it would be difficult to focus where he was going with that lunatic there at his back, Naruto knew that he had no other option but to fight. Naruto slowed down and eventually stopped. He continued to levitate on his two black kunais while allowing the third one to revolve around him, in case he needed it. Deidara caught up with him in a matter of seconds. Naruto crossed his arms over his chest as he glared at the Akatsuki member. He would have to deal with him before reaching Konoha.

"Finally, Uzumaki wants to play, huh?" Deidara mocked.

"It's not like you're giving me much of a choice, you know," said Naruto. Both shinobi glared at each other. Naruto formed several handseals at a lightning fast pace. Deidara smirked and did the same. "Well, let's get this show on the road, eh Deidara?"

Kakashi and Lee continued to follow the direction that Naruto's black kunai pointed at, until they sensed two fairly powerful chakra signatures. Lee threw a kunai to his left, only to hear it clash with another kunai. Kakashi and Lee halted their movements as they turned to face two figures beside them. They both had Akatsuki robes draped on their bodies. One of them looked like a regular fellow with short pink hair. The other one had black hair and an orange swirling thing over his face with a little hole to expose the right eye. Speaking of the right eye, there was a glowing red on it. Kakashi gazed at it with his only Sharingan eye. That was him then, Tobi... or was it...

"Obito...?" Kakashi managed to let out. Tobi moved his hand to scratch his head.

"Ah... so you're Kakashi, eh?" he said. "How's life going, old chum?"

Tears fell from Kakashi's eyes. So it was him, his long lost best friend was right there, in front of his eyes. Too long had he thought that Obito was dead was and he blamed himself for it everyday. But now, Obito was one of his enemies, but that didn't mean it was too late to change him back, right? Lee moved his eyes to the silver headed jounin. Lee could probably never understand what happened to Kakashi but he knew that Kakashi's feelings might get in the way of the battle between these two Akatasuki members. Even though this guy was Obito, it didn't change the fact that they were now on opposite sides. And plus, they had a mission to get to. The safety of Konohagakure was more important than some petty thing as this... at least, it was right?

"Hatake-san, please don't let your feelings override your judgment in this battle," said Lee. Kakashi didn't even look at him. His focus was all on Obito. "I understand that he's your friend, Hatake-san, but we can't die here. We must stop Itachi and Ki--"

"I know that, Lee!" Kakashi exclaimed. Lee was slightly taken aback by Kakashi's tone. "Go and deal with that pink haired guy. Leave Obito to me." Lee nodded and glanced at other fellow. Both he and Lee vanished from sight, taking their battle elsewhere, leaving Kakashi and Obito to themselves.

"Obito... where have you been? I looked everywhere for you..." said Kakashi, tears still flowing from his eyes. Kakashi blinked once and could no longer see Obito. In a flash, Obito appeared from behind him and had a kunai ready to slit the copy-nin's throat.

"If you can defeat me, Kakashi, I might tell you," he said as he plunged his kunai on Kakashi's throat, only to have it puff away with a log in place. Kakashi appeared where Obito used to be and drew a kunai.

"I don't wish to fight you, let's just talk about this. I don't care what happened in the past... just let me talk to you, Obito," said Kakashi. Obito thought about it for a moment and threw his kunai plus some shuriken at Kakashi. The Konoha-jounin parried them all with his kunai.

"I'd rather not, Kakashi. Besides, this gives you something to look forward to if you defeat me, hm?" he said as he charged at Kakashi with two kunais, one on each hand. Kakashi drew out another kunai as well to hold on his other hand and dashed to Obito. If he had to defeat him in battle to get answers, then so be it.

"We're close, Kisame, lets pick up the pace," said Itachi.

"Right, but how long do you think Sasori, Deidara, and Tobi, will hold up against Uzumaki, Hatake, and that green clad freak?" asked Kisame, pumping more chakra on his leaps.

"I'm not sure, but they'll definitely buy us the time that we need to infiltrate Konoha and retrieve Sasuke," he replied without much emotion.

"Heh, that bratty brother of yours should feel honored that we're even doing this for him," said Kisame. Itachi nodded.

"Right, in any case, lets hurry. I know for a fact that Uzumaki will defeat Deidara and catch up to us. Tobi and Sasori should be able to hold off Kakashi and that Lee kid as well. I ordered them to kill if necessary but their main objective is to hold them off," said Itachi as he leaped from a tree branch. Kisame narrowed his eyes.

"I don't get why you won't just let them kill those fools, especially Uzumaki. Besides, why send a weak guy like Deidara to hold off Uzumaki?"

"It's not like i had much of a choice. That fool wanted to handle Uzumaki. I actually wanted him to take on Lee, but he insistent on Uzumaki. If he wants to die an early death against that hunter-nin, it's his life," said an annoyed Itachi.

Kisame could only chuckle.

"I'll never understand that clay molding fool, and I probably never will since Uzumaki might finish him off."

"Yeah, now lets move it, Kisame," said Itachi as he went even faster. Kisame nodded and followed his partner.

Yay!! I finally updated!! I hope this chapter is to your liking because I've had a severe case of writers block and the work I get from school doesn't exactly help at times. There's a lot more to come for this story. Read on you fanfiction reading people!

Odama Rasendori