But no sooner had he said this, Naruto threw several smoke pellets, that he had discreetly taken out while Itachi and Kisame were talking with one another, and threw them at the two missing-nins.
Acting fast Kisame quickly brought up his bandage sword, believing they were projectiles.
But no sooner had he done this the pellets exploded and covered the surrounding area in smoke.
Shortly after the smoke dissipated, Kisame and Itachi discovered that both Naruto and Sasuke were gone.
"Their gone!" said Kisame.
"It would seem so" Itachi replied.
"Do you know where they went?" Kisame asked, since Itachi still had his Sharingan activated.
"Yes" replied the elder Uchiha, "It would seem that Naruto-san created a clone of himself and had it take my brother away, while he went a different direction."
"So he ran off?"
"More likely he using himself as bait, given how he knows we're after him. He also probably sent his clone, not only to take my brother to safety but to also find help."
"Well then, I guess we should hurry" replied Kisame with an amused tone, who was actually looking forward to the "hunt".
Itachi of course did not reply and together the two Akatsuki members took after the blonde boy.
Shortly after going after Naruto, Itachi and Kisame caught up with the blonde boy in a small clearing.
"Heh, looks like this is where it ends brat" said Kisame after he and Itachi caught up.
At this Naruto just smirked and said, "Your right" just before he exploded into a puff of smoke revealing he had been a clone. The next thing the two Akatsuki members knew, they found themselves unable to move, when they looked around they saw several seal tags, which were hidden under a Genjustu.
Upon seeing the seal tags, Itachi quickly realized that Naruto had caught them in Kekkai Kotei Fūin (Four-Corner Immobilization Seal).
At the same time Itachi also noticed several exploding notes underneath him, which had also been hidden under the same Genjustu as the seal tags.
Before he or Kisame could do anything to escape the trap, the exploding notes activated and the two nuke-nins were enveloped in a large explosion.
"Did I get them?" Naruto thought to himself as he hid in a nearby tree and waited for the smoke to dissipate.
As the smoke faded away, Naruto saw the bodies of the two Akatsuki members lying in a small shallow crater.
Remembering his battle with Orochimaru in the Forest of Death and how the Snake Sannin had tricked him, Naruto remained suspicious and stayed hidden in the tree.
Naruto's instincts of course proved to be right on the money, as moments after the smoke from the explosion dissipated, "Itachi" and "Kisame" faded away, revealing that they had been illusions.
"Shit Genjutsu, I knew it!" Naruto thought, but before he could do anything a Kunai with an exploding note tied to it flew past his right ear and imbedded itself to the trunk behind him.
Acting fast, Naruto quickly jumped out of the tree and into the clearing, right before the note exploded and destroyed the tree.
After Naruto landed on the one the ground the real Kisame and Itachi appeared in front of him, a few meters away.
"Fuck, I should have known they wouldn't fall for a trick like that" Naruto thought angrily as he eyed his opponent carefully while at the same time wondering when help would arrive.
As the two Shinobi stared down at Naruto, Kisame prepared to move forward but was stopped by Itachi, who held out his arm in front of the former Kiri Shinobi.
"Wait Kisame, I will handle this…alone."
Surprised by this, the swordsman turned to his partner.
"This isn't like you Itachi, why the sudden interest?" Kisame asked, since it was unusual for Itachi to get involved like this. Who would normally stay and watch from side-lines and let his partner take on their opponent/s by himself.
"I wish to test the boy's calibre myself" replied Itachi without taking his eyes off Naruto. "Before Konoha was founded, and during the great Shinobi Clan wars, the Senju Clan was the only Clan who possessed the power and skill to oppose mine. I want to see for myself the boy's ability."
"Heh, well if you're so interest, why not?" replied Kisame, who smirked since he thought it would be interesting to watch.
As Itachi slowly walked towards, Naruto did not know if he had lucked out or if things had gotten worse, as he had heard that Itachi was good.
"Come Senju Naruto, show me if you're indeed worthy of being the heir of your Clan."
Knowing he had no choice in the matter, Naruto drew his Katana, once Itachi was close enough he moved forward to attack an attempted a series of high speed sword slashes. But each time, Itachi would calmly avoid his slashes by a small margin, without any effort, as if the blonde was moving slow.
"Is this all you're capable of?"
Becoming frustrated with how easily Itachi was avoiding all his attacks, Naruto decided to try something else.
He then used his Nagareru Mizu (Following Water) technique to switch his katana from his right hand to his left at high speed, behind his back.
Unfortunately, the elder Uchiha saw the attack coming and jumped back, evading the slash.
Undeterred Naruto moved forward and swung his katana in a diagonal slash and used his Mizu no Atsuen technique and switched his sword from his left hand to his right in mid swing, hoping to catch Itachi off-guard. But again the raven haired teen saw what Naruto was doing with his Sharingan and easily evaded his slash by jumping back.
After successively evading the sword slash and landing several meters away from Naruto, who had also jump back, increasing the distance between the two of them. Itachi performed a series of high speed hand-seals and thought "Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique)!" before spitting out a massive ball of fire.
With no time to waste, Naruto quickly channelled his Chakra into his Katana and converted it into Wind. He then swung his sword in a downward slash and yelled "Surasshu-fū (Wind Slash)!" creating a crescent shape blade of Wind, which sliced right through the massive Fireball, causing it to dissipate.
Before Naruto could even capitalize on his advantage, he was immediately put on the defensive again by Itachi. Who after evading the deadly Wind attack counter with his Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Sage Fire Technique) and shot out a volley of small fires.
Surprised by how quickly Itachi counterattacked and by the speed of his Ninjutsu, Naruto knew he couldn't avoid all the fireballs, given how he only had seconds to act.
With no time to waste, Naruto prepared to perform the only technique he knew that could successfully block the fireballs in time.
As the Fireballs drew closer, Naruto turned his blade sideways, and began to channel his Wind Chakra into the blade. He then proceeded to spin around at high speed in a clockwise direction, creating a large swirling dome of Wind around himself, and blocked the attack.
No sooner had Naruto used his Kaze no Bōseki (Spinning Wind) technique to block Itachi's Fireballs. A large blade of Wind erupted from the spinning Wind dome, and expanded outward, nearly severing both Itachi and Kisame from their lower halves. Who only managed to avoid the Wind blade by jumping up into the air.
After releasing the Wind blade, a now dizzy Naruto began to slow down.
"UUUhhh mmaann, not again, I think I'm going to hurl" Naruto thought, who was now standing in a small crater created by his Jutsu, and tried to steady himself.
At the same time Itachi and Kisame landed back on the ground and stared at Naruto with a mixture of surprise and fasciation. Before glancing around at the trees around them, where many of them had fallen after Naruto's Wind blade had cut through them.
"That must be the Wind Jutsu we heard about?" Kisame remarked. "…The one that he supposedly created and based on the Hyuga Clan's Kaiten (Revolving Heaven)."
"It would seem so…" replied Itachi who raised his left eyebrow with intrigued. "A remarkable technique, especially if what we've been told is true."
After a minute or so, Naruto finally steadied himself, but no sooner had the world stop spinning for Naruto. He found himself under attack from Itachi, who appeared in front of him and punched him in the stomach, and followed it up with a forward kick to the face that sent Naruto flying back.
Recovering quickly Naruto flipped himself back onto his feet, where he then saw Itachi moving towards him.
Acting fast Naruto tossed his Katana up into the air and then kicked the base of the hilt with his foot, sending the blade speeding towards Itachi. Who easily sidestepped the flying blade and continued towards Naruto, while the Katana stabbed itself into the trunk of a large tree.
Seeing that Itachi dodged his Katana, Naruto tried to punch Itachi with his right fist, only to have his arm caught by the elder Uchiha before being swung around and sent crashing into one of the fallen trees.
Intending to finish Naruto, a set of Shuriken suddenly appeared out of Itachi's right sleeve, who then threw the projectiles right at the blonde boy.
But just as the shuriken hit the Senju heir, "Naruto" reverted into a wooden log, revealing that he had replaced himself at the last second.
Realizing what Naruto at done, Itachi scanned the area for the blonde, where hail of Kuani erupted from the surrounding trees and converged on the Uchiha prodigy at high speed.
But just before they could hit him, Itachi disappeared within a blink of an eye and reappeared in mid-air.
As Itachi hung in mid-air, two more Kunai appeared out of one of the trees and flew straight for him. But before they could hit him, Itachi took out two of his own Kuani and threw them, hitting the flying projectiles with pinpoint precession and deflecting them.
After blocking the Kunai and landing back on the ground, Itachi immediately found himself under attack by another hail of Kunai, but again avoided them by flipping backwards.
After Itachi had avoided all the Kunai, had learned the locations of all his attackers in the trees.
Before any of them could even throw anymore of their projectiles, Itachi jumped into their air again and preformed a mid-air flip, where two more sets of Kunai appeared in his hands, which he then threw. After which he then took out two more Kuani and threw that at another pair of Kunai that he had thrown and sent them flying towards them, hitting the kunai dead on and deflected them, causing them to go in a different direction.
By the time Itachi had finished, all eight clones that Naruto had created and hidden in the trees were destroyed at almost exactly at the same time by Itachi's Kunai, which hit them all in the middle of their forehead, with frightening precision. (Image Itachi kunai training in Sasuke's flashback in episode 129 of the orginaly Naruto series)
Hiding behind a nearby tree trunk, Naruto watched with disbelief as Itachi destroyed all his closes a single move.
"MMaann, I gotta learn to do that" the blonde thought who could not help but be in awe of his opponent's skill. But before he could comment further, Naruto was forced to move when he heard the whistling sound of Shuriken flying through the air.
Acting on instinct, Naruto quickly jumped to his left and narrowly avoided the deadly Shuriken which imbedded themselves into the tree.
No sooner had he escaped the Shuriken attack, Itachi appeared in front of him.
Knowing he needed to do something, Naruto formed a single hand-seal, creating several earth clones and had them attack Itachi, hoping they would buy him enough time to attempt another Jutsu.
When the clones attacked, Itachi easily dispatched them in the space of only a few seconds with a series of well placed Taijutsu moves, but by the time he had destroyed the last clone, Naruto had finished his hand-seals and disappeared right before Itachi's eyes.
The next thing the Uchiha knew, a tree sprung out behind him, where it branches wrapped themselves around him, preventing him from moving. After which Naruto emerged from the trunk with a Kunai in hand and prepared to stab the elder teen.
"Magen: Jubaku Satsu (Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death)…impressive" Itachi thought, who was intrigued that Naruto could use such an advance Genjutsu.
But before Naruto could deal the finishing blow, the elder Shinobi used his Sharingan to see through the Genjutsu. He then used the Kyō Tenchi-ten (Mirror Heaven and Earth Change) technique on Naruto, resulting in the blonde being caught in his own illusion.
"What the…?" Naruto thought when he found himself caught in his own tree bind illusion and Itachi standing in front of him.
With only seconds to act, Naruto quickly cut himself with his own Kunai, causing enough pain to allow him to break free from the Genjutsu, and narrowly ducked under a punch from Itachi and rolled around behind him. But before he could try anything, Itachi preformed a reverse kick to Naruto, which Naruto barely blocked by raising his arms, but was still sent flying back into tree.
"Idiot!" Naruto thought angrily after he hit the tree. "Damnit, I forgot that Sharingan could see right through Genjutsu."
After recovering from crashing into the tree Naruto looked up as saw Itachi slowly walking towards him.
"That was very good Naruto-san, you have excellent reactions, but sadly such jutsu like the Jubaku Satsu are pointless against me."
"Well then try this!" cried Naruto where he performed three quick hand-seals and slammed his hands onto the ground before yelling "Mokuton: Mōkushōku (Wood Release: Wooden Tentacles)"
After yelling this six long wooden tentacles emerged from the round and flew straight towards Itachi.
Unafraid of the approaching wooden tentacles, Itachi calming jumped back and formed several high-speed hand-seals and spat out a gigantic ball of fire.
Within second the Fireball hit the wooden tentacles and exploded, destroying the wooden tentacles and created a small crater between the two Shinobi. But before the smoke from the explosion could die down, Naruto fired several wooden spikes from his hands which hit Itachi right in the chest.
Just when Naruto thought he had got the elder Uchiha, "Itachi" exploded into a murder of crows, revealing that he used Karasu Bunshin no Jutsu (Crow Clone Technique) to replace himself.
Once Naruto realized that he had hit the wrong Itachi, he began to search for the elder teen, but before he could even defend himself. The real Itachi appeared directly behind him in a mist-like fashion and kicked the blonde boy in the back, sending him flying forward.
As he flew throw the air Naruto flipped himself around and used his Banmuchi (Vine Whip) technique to create several vines, which appeared out his right arm and flew towards Itachi. Who actually looked slightly surprised when he saw the vines erupt from Naruto's arm.
Acting fast, Itachi sidestepped the vines and cut them with a Kunai, which appeared out of his sleeves and into his right hand.
After Itachi avoided and cut his vines, Naruto struck again, where the moment his feet touched the ground. He formed several hand-seals and yelled "Konoha Kamisori (Razor Leaves)!" causing hundreds of leaves from the surrounding trees to break off their branches and fly straight for Itachi, like a massive wave of spinning shuriken.
Surprised again by Naruto's technique Itachi formed a single hand-seal and exhaled a massive stream of fire, which incinerated the chakra enhanced leaves within seconds and flew towards Naruto.
Seeing the flames Naruto countered by using his Mokujōheki (Wood Locking Wall) technique, creating a wooden dome that protected him from the Fire technique.
Shortly after the flames from Itachi's attack died down, Naruto had his wooden dome retreat back into the ground, where he then saw Kisame standing next to Itachi.
"Just great out of the frying pan and into the fire" Naruto thought, as he tried to figure out what he should do next, now that Kisame was with Itachi again.
"Heh, looks like the kid is better than we thought?" Kisame remarked, since he had been watching the fighting and like Itachi was surprised that Naruto could use plant-like techniques.
"Indeed" replied Itachi, "It would seem that his Mokuton Bloodline limit is more advanced than even the Shodai Hokage-sama."
"Looks like the leader was right when he ordered us to take him" said Kisame.
"Leader?" Naruto thought in surprise.
"Yes" replied the former Uchiha heir before looking directly at Naruto's eyes.
"You've show remarkable skill for someone your age Naruto-san" spoke Itachi. "I dare say your skill rivaled if not surpassed even my own when I was your age. But the time for games has now ended and I will offer you one more chance to surrender peacefully"
"Thanks but no thanks, surrender isn't in my vocabulary" answered Naruto as he prepared to fight.
"Heh, I like this kid's guts" Kisame thought, who then grinned at Naruto.
"Very well then, you had your chance" replied Itachi.
Not wanting to give Itachi anymore of an advantage than he already had, Naruto made the first move and created a clone of himself. After which he then formed several hand-seals and thought "Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Style: Violent Water Wave)!" and spat out a massive stream of water, while the clone converted the Chakra in its hand into Lightning, electrifying the water.
With little time to spare, both Kisame and Itachi jumped away to avoid the electrified wave of water and covered the ground in a thin layer of water.
After jumping away from water attack, Itachi landed on branch of a nearby tree, looking over Naruto. Who stared right back at the Uchiha, and looked directly into his eyes.
After a moment or two of staring, Naruto made the first move and preformed several hand-seals, and spat out three large balls of water from his mouth.
Seeing the approaching balls of water, Itachi avoided the attack with little effort and then appeared right in front of Naruto. Who narrowly ducked under a forward punch from Itachi where his clone appeared on the former Konoha-nin's right and attempted a leg swipe in the hope of getting the Uchiha off his feet.
Reacting quickly, Itachi jump into the air and evaded the clone's leg swipe and then kicked the clone hard in the face, causing it to puff away.
No soon had he dealt with the clone, the real Naruto appeared behind him and attempted to hit him with a straight forward punch that was enhanced with his super human strength.
Seeing Naruto out of the corner of his eyes, Itachi easily ducked under the punch and then hit the blonde with a reverse elbow to the chest, followed by a reverse heel kick to the face. That sent the spikey haired blonde flying backwards.
But as soon Itachi had kicked him away, Naruto recovered and formed a single one handed hand-seal and cried "Kai!" activating a small seed below Itachi, which Naruto had dropped when the elder Uchiha kicked him away.
When Naruto activated the seed, the small seed burst opened and several dozen vines wrapped himself around Itachi, pinning his arms to his body and preventing him from moving.
After vines had wrapped themselves around him, Itachi noticed several buds around the vines, which began to bloom around him.
"What is this?" Itachi asked calmly as he looked up at Naruto, who hand landed back on his feet and was now smirking.
"A new Jutsu that I've been working on for a few months and have only just mastered" replied Naruto. "I call it Rīchi no Shushi (Leech Seeds)." (A)
"Rīchi no Shushi?"
"Just before you kicked me away, I drop a small seed, which I had created from my body" explained Naruto. "…When activated the vines from the seeds will wrap themselves around the nearest person to them and restrain them."
"Also…"continued Naruto, "Once an opponent is sufficiently subdued, the vines would siphon the person's Chakra and use it to fuel the buds on the vines, filling them with Chakra, causing the buds to bloom into flowers. This has the added benefit of weakening the person further and limiting their ability to fight back, your also the first person I've ever used it on."
"I see…an impressive technique, I can understand why people hail you as a gifted and talented Shinobi" replied Itachi, who showed no sign of concern. "But I would advise you to take a closer look at yourself Naruto-san."
"Huh?" said Naruto not fully understanding until he looked at himself and suddenly found himself wrapped up in his own vines, which were draining him of his Chakra and siphoning them into their buds, which were already blooming.
"What going on?" Naruto asked, who couldn't understand what had happened, since one minute Itachi was right in the front of him wrapped in his vines. The next, the teen was gone and now he was wrapped in the vines. "How did you do this?"
"Heh, it's simple brat, you were under one of Itachi's Genjutsu, which caused you to be caught in your own Jutsu"
"But when?"
"From the first moment you looked into Itachi's Sharingan, you were caught in his Genjutsu, which caused you to be captured in your own Jutsu" answered a grinning Kisame, who stood a few feet away from Naruto.
-Naruto OST Hidan Theme-
At that moment Naruto looked up at Itachi, who was still standing up on the tree branch from earlier, indicating that he had never moved from his spot.
As Naruto looked up at the elder Uchiha, the sun began to shine through the tree leaves, given Itachi a heavenly like appearance as the light shone around him.
"This battle is over" said Itachi as he looked down at him from the tree branch, "You've lost."
In that instant, Naruto fully understood the gap between him and Itachi, who seemed to tower over the Senju heir.
He also now understood what it was like to face against a true master of the Sharingan and why it and the Uchiha were so revered.
"Th-This guy…he's on a completely different level…I can't even touch him!" Naruto thought with fear. "It's as if he isn't even trying."
As Itachi looked down at him with his calm emotionless eyes, Naruto began to feel like an ant, who was looking helplessly up at a giant that was preparing to crush it, somthing that not even Orochimaru was able to make him feel .
Unlike the Snake Sennin, who toyed with Naruto in the forest of death and took some of his hits. Itachi avoided and blocked all of Naruto's attacks with ease, as if he wasn't even trying.
-End Naruto OST Hidan Theme-
After about a minute or two, Naruto collapsed onto the ground, as the vines continued to absorb his Chakra and siphon them off into the buds, which had nearly fully bloomed.
"Damnit, I need to do something, otherwise I'm finished" thought Naruto as he tried to struggled to free from himself from his binds, but was too weak to do anything.
Realizing what was happening to Naruto, Itachi quickly jumped off the tree branch and made his way over to the blonde and cut the vines off him, knowing that if the vines absorbed all of Naruto's Chakra, he would die.
But as soon as he freed the blonde from the vines, Naruto using the last of his remaining strength and tried to punch Itachi. Who caught effortlessly caught the punch and lifted Naruto up so that he was looking directly into the blonde's blue eyes.
"Enough, I've grown tired of this" said Itachi, who then activated his Mangekyō Sharingan and said "Tsukuyomi."
No sooner had Itachi said this Naruto immediately found himself in a completely different world with a red moon hanging over him casting a red light throughout the world, and a cloudy atmosphere, giving the world a blood-red appearance.
Moments after arriving in the world Naruto saw Itachi appear in front of him.
"What's going on, where am I, is this some kind of Genjutsu?"
"Yes, this is called Tsukuyomi which allows me to create an illusionary world where I can do almost anything to my opponent for however long I wish" explained Itachi. "In other words, in this world, I am god."
Before Naruto could respond, he quickly found himself bound to a cross, which seemly appeared out of nowhere.
"What are you going to do to me torture me?" Naruto asked as he tried to struggle from the binds, he even tried to summon the Kyuubi's Chakra, but for some strange reason could not.
"No, something much worse" Itachi replied.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked and immedtiately got his answer, when his mother suddenly appeared in front of Itachi.
"Kaa-chan?"
"Naru-chan…" replied Tsunade before Itachi brought up his Kunai and slit Tsunade's touch, causing her blood to spill out before Itachi dropped her on the ground.
"KKKAAAAA-CCCHHHAAANNN NNNOOO!" roared Naruto as he struggled against his binds, but could not break them.
"Starting now, I will kill everyone you care about for the next seventy-two hours straight."
After dropping Tsunade onto the ground Shizune appeared in front of Itachi who then slit her throat and dropped her to the ground like Tsunade.
"NNNEEEEE-CCCHHHAAANNN…! YOU BASTARD!" yelled Naruto who once again tried to break free of his binds.
After Shizune, Itachi continued with systematically killing everyone Naruto cared about, from Jiraiya, Kushina, Yamato, to the Sandaime and all his friends.
Once Itachi was finished a distraught Naruto looked down at the bodies of all the people he cared about. Who stared back at him with their dead eyes, asking him why he didn't protect him, and why he just stood there and watched.
"NO, NO, NO, PLEASE STOP IT, PLEASE!" pleaded Naruto as tears began to form in his eyes.
"What is wrong Naruto-san, there are still seventy-two hours and fifty-nine minutes left" said Itachi, before he started the process all over. "I wonder how much longer your mind will be able to last?"
"NNNOOOO!" cried Naruto as he watched everyone he cared about being killed by Itachi over and over again.
After what seemed like an entirety in the illusionary world, but was only a few seconds in the real world. Naruto let out a horrified scream, much like Sasuke did, before Itachi dropped him.
"First your brother, and now this kid… and people say I'm a sadist" Kisame thought with another shark-like grin.
"Please, Please, Stop!" begged Naruto as he grabbed hold of Itachi's leg, "…no-more."
"Well I'll be, the kid is still conscious; I thought for sure he would have been knocked out after experiencing Tsukuyomi?" commented Kisame as he walked over to his partner. "Guess he's tougher than we thought…Although you should be more careful Itachi, you know how dangerous it is if you use those eyes of yours too much."
Itachi of course remained silent and pushed his hair aside as the wind blew it into his face.
"Well, looks like we can finally leave with the kid" Kisame said, but before Itachi respond to Kisame statement. The surrounding Water suddenly erupted into a large swirling water sprout around Naruto, forcing both Akatsuki members to jump away from the Senju heir.
Moments after the water sprout erupted, several crescent shape blades of water erupted of the swirling vortex and flew towards Itachi and Kisame at high speed.
Acting fast, Itachi skilfully evaded the Water blades, while Kisame used Samehada to slice through the speeding Water blades.
"Senkai no Mizu (Swirling Water) and Bunkatsu Mizu (Splitting Water)" Itachi thought recognising the two techniques.
Once Water sprout died down and flooded the surrounding ground with Water again, the two nuke-nins noticed a new arrival standing between them and Naruto.
This person was a medium tall woman, with long red hair that fell down to her back and wore black Shinobi pants and a green Jonin jacket and carried a long Katana.
"Just great another nuisance" said Kisame with a slightly annoyed tone.
"It's been a while hasn't it Kushina-taicho, or would you prefer Kitsune-san?" Itachi asked when he saw his former ANBU captain who was glaring angrily at him.
Itachi had of course already guessed who it was when he first saw Senkai no Mizu and Bunkatsu Mizu, since Naruto did not have his Katana and was too weak to even use the techniques. Hence it could be only one other person, given how the sword style was only known by two people, counting Naruto.
"You know her Itachi?" Kisame asked.
"Yes, her name is Uzumaki Kushina, my former squad captain when I first joined ANBU, she was also an old friend to my mother."
"Oh, so this is the infamous Buraddi Shinku no Ikari (Bloody Crimson Fury)" Kisame remarked with an interested look, since Kushina was well known to the Shinobi of Kiri. Not only because she was one of the last remaining members of the famed Uzumaki Clan, but also because of her unique sword style.
"Itachi!" hissed Kushina angrily, "You've got a lot of nerve showing your face here after what you did!"
"Heh, looks like your village hates you about as much as my village does."
"Kushina-sensei" said Naruto who was struggling to stay conscious and glanced up at his teacher. "What are you doing here?"
"I was looking for you, since I wanted to talk to you about something" answered Kushina without taking her eyes of the two Akatsuki members. "That's when I found your clone carrying an Sasuke, where it told me what had happen."
As Kushina stared at her opponents, the red head could not think of a worse situation, since as Itachi former captain, she knew how skilled the Uchiha teen was. Who became the youngest ANBU captain in the history of Konoha, at the age of only thirteen, something that had been unheard of until then. He was also a true master of the Sharingan, with few rivals even when his Clan was still alive, and she had no doubt that Itachi had only gotten stronger since then.
She was also very familiar with Kisame's reputation, given the couple of run-ins she had with certain Kiri Shinobi over the years.
From what she had heard, Kisame was easily the strongest member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū and wielded Samehada, the strongest of the seven swords of Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū.
Also according to rumours she had heard, Kisame possessed superhuman Chakra levels, surpassing even Kage level Shinobi, which gave rise to his other moniker O o Motanai Bijū (Tailed Beast without a Tail).
All in all, given who she was up against, Kushina did not like her chances, even if it was one on one.
Originally she had gone looking after Naruto to talk to Naruto about her remarks back before the preliminaries and wanted to apologies for what she had said and tell Naruto that she had not meant what she said. But when she met with Naruto's clone when it was carrying Sasuke, she quickly raced over to help him.
"Kushina-sensei…B-Be careful…D-Don't look into his eyes" mumbled Naruto slowly who was fighting hard to stay awake.
"Don't worry I know" said Kushina, as she held her Katana up in a sideway angle over her head and used the side of the sword to act as a mirror and let her watch both nuke-nin.
It was a technique which Kushina had developed in the event that she ever came across her former subordinate. Since for the Sharingan to cast a person into a Genjutsu, they must have direct eyes contact.
It was of course difficult to fight like this, but with enough training and practice one could get use to fighting this way.
"You're going to pay for not only what you did to your Clan, but also for attacking my student!" Kushina spat angrily, while at the same time thinking. "His eyes are still the same as before, but then again he's a true heir of the Sharingan…" as she stared at Itachi.
"You should know that I've already sent word to the Hokage" said Kushina. "So you have two choices. Either you both leave now or stay here and fight, where it won't be long before your surrounded by ANBU, and believe me neither you will want to be here once Tsunade-sama arrives and finds out you attacked her son."
"Your concern is unneeded Kushina-san, for we will already have left Konoha by the time the ANBU arrive" replied Itachi. But then notice his partner lifting his massive sword from his back and walking towards Kushina.
"Kisame what are you doing?" Itachi asked when he saw his partner walk forward.
"Sorry Itachi, but you had your fun with the kid, now it's my turn"
"We should not waste any more time than we already have Kisame, you heard Kushina-sana, and we did not come here to fight a war."
"Heh, Don't worry so much Itachi, this won't take long."
"Do not underestimate her Kisame, if you fight her head on, it won't be without serious cost."
"Well let's just see how good she really is?" said Kisame and he raced towards Kushina, who also moved forward so to make sure that Naruto wouldn't get caught in the fight.
Within seconds the two Shinobi clashed sword, where a battle for dominance erupted between the two.
"I going to enjoy shaving you up" grinned Kisame as he used his superior strength to push the woman back.
"Shit, this guy's strength could rival Naruto's" Kushina thought as gnashed her teeth in frustration and struggled to hold Kisame back, where Kisame's sword began to shave her left shoulder.
Realizing that in a battle of strength she would lose, Kushina quickly decided to change tactics.
Using Kisame's own momentum against him, Kushina lifted her Katana in a diagonal angle and took a step to her right, causing Kisame to fall forward and his sword to slide down to the ground. After which she then kicked the former Kiri swordsman in the back of his leg, causing the blue skinned man to fall to his knees, where Kushina then head butted him in the nose, and breaking it in the process.
"Damn you…" growled Kisame before he was forced to leap back to avoid a lethal sword slash from the red headed Jonin.
"Tsk, not bad…" Kisame said as he wiped the some of the blood from his nose away with his right sleeve. "But then again, I shouldn't expect anything less from the famed Buraddi Shinku no Ikari. I even heard that you had a run in with two old friends of mine a while back, maybe you remember their names Kushimaru and Jinpachi?"
"I remember them, and they deserved what they got!" retorted Kushina as she narrowed her eyes angrily. Since this was not the first time she had gone up against a member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū.
About a year ago, back when she was still in ANBU, Kushina had been assigned on a protection mission for the Fire Daimyo's son during a trade talk with the Daimyo of Umi no Kuni (Sea Country).
Not long after the talks began, they were interrupted by Munashi Jinpachi and Kuriarare Kushimaru, better known as the Hijō Konbi (Heartless Pair) due to their collective cruelty towards their targets and opponents.
The two had been hired by an unknown to interrupt the talks and kill the Fire Daimyo's son, preventing any new trade links between Hi no Kuni and Umi no Kuni. It was only recently that the learned that the now deceased shipping magnet Gato had been the one who hired them, in the hope of keeping the new trade links from happening, which would have reduced his shipping business with Hi no Kuni.
But the two Kiri-nin's attempt was halted by Kushina, where after a long hard battle; she defeated and killed the two infamous Shinobi.
Afterwards Kushina became recognized as a skilled and powerful Shinobi Swordswoman in Kiri and the rest of the Shinobi world. Not only because of her defeat of the two swordsmen, but also for her unique sword style.
"Oh I've no doubt they did, but still, I sort liked the two of them, they knew how to have fun, even if they were two idiots who spent most of their time arguing with one another."
"Enough talk" snapped Kushina, where she channelled her Chakra into the blade of her Katana and drew some of the Water around her. She then swung her blade in upward angle and yelled "Bunkatsu Mizu!" creating a crescent shape blade of Water, which travelled at phenomenal speed towards Kisame. Who split the speeding Water blade in half with his massive sword.
But as soon as he had done this, Kushina appeared right underneath him with her sword in mid-swing.
"What the…?" said Kisame, who was shocked by Kushina sudden burst of speed and realized that the woman had used the water vblade as a distraction so that she could catch him off-guard.
Acting on pure instinct, the former Kiri Shinobi jumped back and narrowly avoided the horizontal slash, which left a large horizontal cut on his cloak, directly above the one Naruto made earlier.
"Shit she's fast" muttered Kisame, before Kushina sped towards him and attempted a left handed slash, which Kisame narrowly blocked with his sword.
But no sooner had he done this, Kushina used her Nagareru Mizu (Following Water) technique and switched her sword from her left hand to her right behind her back with lightning fast speed, slashing Kisame left arm. Who avoided having his arm cut off, by moving to his right at the last second.
Seeing this, Kushina quickly spun around and preformed a spinning kicked, which Kisame somehow blocked with his injured arm and pushed the red haired woman back several meters away.
After landing back on the Water covered ground, Kushina saw Kisame racing towards her.
With only seconds to act, Kushina quickly dipped the tip of her blade into the Water and cried "Mizu no Kagayaku (Glittering Water)" as she swung it across the ground and created a small thin wall of Water in front of her.
Moments after Kushina created the wall of Water; Kisame swung his giant sword and slashed right through the Water wall and "Kushina" revealing that she had been a reflection created by the light and Water.
Realizing he had been tricked, Kisame quickly bescanned the field for the red headed Jonin, but as he turned around he suddenly saw a long blade burst out of his chest.
Glancing back, the former Kiri swordsman saw Kushina standing behind him, holding the sword.
But just when Kushina thought she had killed the former Monster of the Mist, "Kisame" reverted into Water, revealing he had replaced himself with a Water Clone.
Moments after realizing that Kisame had replaced himself, Kushina jumped backwards, allowing her to avoid a powerful down ward slash from Kisame. Who appeared directly above her.
After evading Kisame's attack, Kushina raced towards the shark-like man and used her Mizu no Atsuen technique in the hope of catching Kisame off-guard. But this time Kisame was ready and knew what to look out for from his scuffle with Naruto earlier on.
So when he got glimpse of Kushina switching her Katana from her right to her left hand, he knew what to do and stopped the attack by catching Kushina left wrist when she was in mid-swing.
"Heh, I gotcha now" grinned Kisame as he brought Samehada down Kushina.
"Don't be so sure of that!" Kushina retorted before she kneed the taller man hard between the legs, causing the man's eyes to widen slightly in pain before halting his attack and buckling over slightly.
"Hmph, Kushina-taicho has always been unorthodox when it comes to fighting" Itachi remarked, after seeing Kushina kneed his partner in the groin. Who then followed it up with another head-butt to Kisaime's face and a spinning heel kick that sent the former Kiri swordsman's skidding across the Water covered ground.
"You're going to pay for that" Kisame growled and he struggled to get back up onto his feet, while ignoring the pain from bewteen his lega and from his nose, which was bleeding again.
"Damnit this bitch is tougher than I gave her credit for, the speed of her attacks are on a completely different level from that kid. No wonder she was able to defeat both Jinpachi and Kushimaru?"
Before long though Kisame's frown turned into a grin and licked the blood from his bleeding nose, "Things have gotten a lot more interesting."
"For such a big guy, he sure moves fast" Kushina thought as she stared at her blue skin opponent, before glancing at Itachi and then the barely conscious Naruto.
"I need to finish this fast, as the longer this last the more likely Itachi might decide to intervene and there's no way I can take the both of them on by myself."
Wanting to finish this quickly, Kushina raised her Katana up to her face, so to have the flat side facing her. She then began to gather up the surrounding Water around her, creating a small whirlwind of Water droplets around her.
"This is where it ends" said Kushina with a deadly look, where she then brought her left middle and index fingers and ran them across the side of the blade.
"What's she up to?" thought Kisame who readied his bandage sword.
"Is this another move for the Arasuijin no Mai (Dance of the Raging Water Goddess)?" Naruto thought when he saw the whirlwind of Water droplets surround his teacher, given how he was unfamiliar with the technique.
"Could this be…?" thought a curious Itachi, who raised his left eyebrow.
But before he could warn his partner, Kushina raised her Katana over her head and yelled "Jinsoku Mizu (Swift Water)!" as she swung it down to the ground.
No sooner had she done this, a powerful invisible Wind-like vortex erupted from Kushina blade and flew towards Kisame at frightening speed.
Sensing danger from the attack, Kisame quickly swung his sword down and sliced through the attack, where the only thing Kisame felt from the attack was a gentle breeze that blew past him.
"Heh, nice try, but petty little attack like that won't work on me" said a grinning Kisame as he slowly walked towards Kushina.
"Are you sure about that?" Kushina asked.
"Huh?" said Kisame, who stopped in his tracks before his cloak burst into shred and a shower of blood exploded from his body hundreds of small cuts appeared around him. Causing the the former Kiri-nin to fall ground, where his blood mixed in with the Water.
"B-But how?" gurgled Kisame as more blood formed in his mouth before she spat it out.
"I believe I told you not to underestimate her Kisame" said Itachi, who appeared in front of his comrade and prevented Kushina from finishing him off.
"What was that attack?" asked the wounded Kisame.
"That technique she just used on you was Jinsoku Mizu" answered Itachi.
"You know it?"
"I've heard of it back when I was still in ANBU" replied Itachi. "The technique involves the user drawing the surrounding moisture in the air and any other Water source to create hundreds if not thousands of small spinning blades of Water, which are too small to see by normal eyes and can shred an opponent to pieces. From what I have heard of the technique, it comes in two forms, one for close quarters and one for long range, which is what she used on you. Given the width of the attack, and the number of Water blades, which makes the attack up, even your sword cannot protect you from harm."
"Heh, Guess she got me good with that one" replied Kisame, who then stood back up, shocking both Kushina and Naruto.
But what was even more shocking to the two was that all the cuts on Kisame's body were now healed, where were it not for his shredded clothes and the blood the covered his body. One would think that he hadn't been wounded at all.
"What the hell?" thought Naruto, "Did he use some kind of medical Ninjutsu?"
"I beginning to understand why they call him a monster" the red headed Jonin thought to herself as she stared at the former Kiri swordsman. Who had a large shark-like grin, as he heaved up his massive sword onto his shoulders. "But how on earth did he recover from his wounds so quickly, even though he didn't receive a direct hit from my Jinsoku Mizu. He should've been out of action from the wounds he received."
"You should consider yourself fortunate Kisame, from what I have heard, Kushina-san once used that technique to wipe out an entire platoon, made up of twenty Kumo Shinobi, shredding them into pieces" said Itachi. Who knew if it were not for Samehada's unique abilities, Kisame would either be dead or at the very least incapacitated from his wounds.
"Well you needn't worry I finish this quickly" replied the former Kiri-nin as he tore off his now ruined cloak, revealing a dark sleeveless shirt paired with matching pants, which were also torn up slightly from Kushina'a attack. With the shirt and pants, he also wore a simple waist guard, with striped arm and leg-warmers.
"No, we have no-more time to waste, we will take her together and end this quickly" stated Itachi. After which the two nuke-nins readied themselves.
"Just great back where we started?" muttered Kushina angrily as she too readied herself.
Not wanting to give her opponents anymore of an advantage Kushina went on the offensive first.
Once she was close enough, she attempted to remove Itachi's head from his shoulder with a horizontal slash, but missed when the Uchiha teen sidestepped the slash.
Seeing an opening Kisame brought up his own sword and swung it at Kushina's head, but before his sword could reach the red headed woman. Kushina ducked underneath the large sword and rolled forward. After which she then turned around and fired a Chakra Chain from her left free hand, which wrapped itself around the former Kiri swordsman.
"What the…?!" cried Kisame before Kushina pulled on the chain and off his feet and swung him around into a nearby tree.
Moments after doing this, Itachi appeared behind her and preformed several high speed hand-seals before yelling "Katon: Hōsenka Tsumabeni (Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson)!" After which he unleashed a volley of shuriken with one hand, and at the same time, exhaled a blast of fire, which infused with the shuriken.
With only seconds to act, Kushina quickly dipped the tip of her Katana into the Shallow Water and created a small wave of Water to extinguish the flames around the Shuriken and then deflected or dodge the projectiles with little damage.
But no sooner had she dealt the Shuriken, the red headed Kunoichi was sent flying by a strong double kick to the face.
Recovering quickly, Kushina preformed a mid-air flip to land on her feet, but was forced to move again when Kisame appeared above her, and tried to spilt her in half with a powerful downward slash from his sword.
Seeing that he missed the Konoha Kunoichi, Kisame looked over to where the former ANBU captain had landed and saw her kneeling in front of Naruto. She then stabbed her Katana into the ground and was started to form a series of high speed hand-seals before slamming both her hands into the ground.
"What she up to now?" Kisame thought with a frown and quickly got his answer, when several dozen Chakra Chains erupted from the ground and began to wrap themselves around him.
"Shit!" cried Kisame before he used his sword to cut through the Chakra Chains, but no matter how many he cut, several more would burst out of the ground to take their place.
Realizing he was in a hopeless situation, Kisame tried to move away from the Chains, which quickly followed after him.
At the same Itachi also found himself under assault from several Chakra Chains and was forced to move away.
"There's nowhere you can run" said Kushina where she had her Chains pursue the two nuke-nins wherever they went.
To make things even more difficult, they were confined to the clearing thanks to Kushina. Who used her Chakra Chains to create a barrier around them.
As the two Akatsuki members continued to dodged the various different Chakra Chains. They soon found themselves trapped with the backs to the barrier and facing several dozen Chakra Chains that were about to impale them.
Seeing the situation that they were in, Itachi activated his Mangekyou Sharingan, knowing of only one technique that could save him and Kisame in time.
"Kisame move back" warned Itachi before he said "Amaterasu! (Heavenly Illumination)" were a massive blast of pitch black flames erupted from his right eye.
"Within seconds, black flames enveloped Kushina's Chakra Chains and destroyed them.
"Impossible!" cried Kushina, before saw the black flames heading straight for her and Naruto.
Quickly realizing the danger she and Naruto were in, Kushina wasted no time in cancelling her few remaining Chakra Chains along with the barrier and took out a scroll from her pouch.
She then quickly opened it up, revealing it to be blank.
Placing the scroll on the ground, Kushina formed three quick hand-seals and slammed her hand onto the ground and yelled "Fūka Hōin (Fire Sealing Method)!"
After shouting this, a large seal appeared on the blank page of the scroll.
Moments after the seal appeared, a large pale blue vapour emerged from the seal, and quickly enveloped the Itachi's black flames, (just as they were about to hit Kushina), and sucked the flames into the scroll.
Once flames had been sucked into the scroll, a symbol for seal appeared in the centre of the seal. After which, Kushina immediately rolled up the scrolls and tied up tightly so that it would not be unsealed.
"Well I'll be...! Never thought I'd see the day where someone actually stopped you Amaterasu!" Kisame remarked with an impressed look. "She's even better than you said."
"Indeed" the Uchiha prodigy replied, "But then again I would expect nothing less from someone of Kushina-senpai's calibre."
"That was too close" muttered Kushina, as she started to pant heavily, since her last attack had used up a lot of her Chakra and beginning to feel the strain of the battle.
Seeing that Kushina was nearing her limit, Kisame decided to move in for the kill and raced toward the red haired woman with remarkable speed.
After crossing half the distance between himself and the two Konoha-nins, Kisame lept into the air and swung his massive bandage sword down on Kushina's head. Who wasted no time in grabbing her student and Katana and jumped from their position, narrowly evading the large sword, which made a large hole in the muddy ground.
But moments after avoiding Kisame's attack, Kushina was hit in the chest by a kick from Itachi, causing her to drop Naruto, who finally lost consciousness.
Recovering quickly, Kushina brought up her Katana to block several Shuriken which had been thrown at her by Itachi. Who used them as a distraction to allow him to move in close on Kushina, who barely managed to block his Kunai stab, resulting in a battle a dominance between the two.
As the two continued to struggle with one another, Kisame maneuverered around Kushina and attempted to shave her across her back with his sword.
By using the flat side of her sword as a mirror, Kushina was able to see Kisame approaching her from behind and countered by creating several more Chakra Chains. That sprung from her back and shot at Kisame, forcing the nuke-nin back.
After which Kushina had the Chains maneuver around her and attack Itachi from both sides, forcing the former ANBU captain to leap back.
Once she forced the two Nuke-nins back, Kushina retracted her Chakra Chains and preceded towards Itachi, hoping to press her advantage and attack Itachi before he or Kisame could strike back.
Within moments Kushina was right in Itachi's face and after ducking under his Kunai slash, she sliced the raven haired teen in two with on clean slash, severing his lower body from his upper body.
But as soon as she had cut Itachi in half, "he" exploded into a murder of crows, which flew around her until they moved to attack her and turned into a dozen Shuriken at the last second and piercing her arms, legs, sides and back.
"Ack! Damnit somehow he was able to cast me under a Genjutsu when I accidently glanced into his eyes, right before I cut him" Kushina thought as she fell to her knees and pulled out the Shurikens from her body. But before she could pull them all out, the real Itachi appeared in front of her and attempted a reverse heel kick to her face.
Acting fast Kushina jumped back, avoiding the kick by a hairs breath.
But no sooner had her feet touched the ground, Kisame appeared behind her and shaved her back with his shark scaled sword.
"AAAgggaaaaa!" cried Kushina in pain as she felt the sword shred through her flak jacket and her skin.
After final hitting Kushina with his sword, Kisame followed through with a strong kick to her left side. That sent the red headed woman tumbling across the ground and landing in a small crumpled heap near the unconscious Naruto.
"Well it was fun while it lasted, but I guess this is where it ends" said Kisame with one of his trademark shark-like grins.
"It would seem so" said Itachi, who walked over to his partner.
"So what should we do with her?" asked the former Kiri swordsman as he glanced at his partner.
"Kill her" replied Itachi without any remorse, "Given her abilities she could pose a dangerous threat to our plans later on."
"Heh, my pleasure" replied Kisame as he heaved his sword back onto his shoulders
At the same time as the two Akatsuki members were talking, the barely conscious Kushina slowly dragged herself over to Naruto.
"I can't let them take him" thought Kushina, knowing she needed to protect her student at all costs.
Once she was close enough to Naruto, Kushina used the last of her strength to create several Chakra Chains, which sprung from her bleeding back.
Before either Itachi or Kisame could do anything to stop her, Kushina's Chakra Chains formed a small barrier around herself and Naruto, preventing them from getting to the two Konoha Shinobi.
"Shit we got sloppy, she's formed a barrier around herself and the brat" said Kisame with an annoyed frown. When he tried to push his hand through the small barrier, but was pushed back.
"It would seem so" replied Itachi while staring at the barrier with his Sharingan, "…And it would seem that she has erected a powerful barrier at that, it will not be easy to break."
But before either men could make any attempt to bring down Kushina's barrier. The two nuke-nins sensed a powerful presence above them.
Looking up they quickly saw a shadowy figure falling towards them like a meteor.
Acting fast, both Kisame and Itachi jumped away from the barrier, where as soon as they did a large explosion erupted, filling the clearing with a cloud of dust.
"What the hell is it this time?!" Kisame asked as he and Itachi landed on a large tree at edge of the clearing.
"Trouble" replied Itachi with blank expression.
When the dust cloud finally began to dissipate, the two Akatsuki members soon saw a large newly formed crater right in front of Kushina's barrier, with a single figure standing in the middle of it. One whom both Kisame and Itachi recognised instantly, since this person was none other than the famed Slug Princess of Konoha, Senju Tsunade.
"Tsunade-sama" said Kushina as she looked up to the elder woman.
"Kushina…how's Naruto?" Tsunade asked without taking her eyes of the two Akatsuki members, who jumped off their tree and stood in front of the female Sannin.
"He's fine, he's just unconscious…" replied Kushina, "But I think Itachi used some kind of Genjutsu on him."
Nodding to this, Tsunade then glared angrily at the two nuke-nins.
"You're going to regret what you did to my son!" snarled the furious woman.
At the same time, Jiraiya and the Sandaime appeared out of the forestry and flanked Tsunade.
Upon arriving at the scene, a large frown appeared on the Sandaime's face when he saw the Uchiha traitor. "Itachi…what are you doing here?"
"This could be trouble" thought Jiraiya, who knew how dangerous both Itachi and Kisame were, and that was just when they were alone.
"Well this certainly complicates things, the Sandaime Hokage and two members of the Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninja)" Kisame remarked with a slight frown before griining a little.
"Agreed" replied Itachi as he stared calmly at the three Kage level Shinobi.
"You two sure have got a lot of guts showing your faces here" said Jiraiya with a serious look.
"Jiraiya-sama" said Itachi as he turned to the famed Toad Sage. "I'm assuming that you were the one who told Naruto-san of us?"
"Heh, Guilty as charged" the white haired man replied with a smirk.
"Looks like things have gotten a lot more interesting" said a grinning Kisame. Who looked eager at the chance in taking on three such famed Shinobi and lifted his sword off his shoulder and pointed it at the three Konoha Shinobi.
But before anyone could make a move, Itachi spoke.
"That's enough Kisame, we're leaving…We did not come here to start a war; any further fighting would be pointless."
"But what about the kid?" asked Kisame, since the only reason they had come to Konoha was to kidnap Naruto.
"We'll leave him…for now."
"Tsk, and just when I was to enjoying myself" Kisame remarked with a disappointed look as he hung his sword onto his back.
"Neither of you are going anywhere!" cried Tsunade as she charged at the two Akatsuki member with startling speed, and hit Itachi right in the face with an enhanced punch.
But as soon as her fist made contact with Itachi's face, the former Konoha-nin and his partner exploded into murder of crows, which quickly faded into nothing, revealing that the two had just been illusions.
"Genjutsu!" Tsunade thought in surprise, before it was replaced with an angry look, "…I was careless."
"Phff, that Itachi brat is good, he must have somehow caught us in his Genjutsu the moment we arrived" said Jiraiya with a frown, before galncing around for any trace of the two nuke-nins.
At that moment Shizune arrived with a large group of Shinobi, which included Gai, Kakashi, Asuma, Yamato and Kurenai, along with two four man teams of ANBU lead by Wolf.
"Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama are all of you unharmed, where are the intruders?" Wolf asked
"We're fine, but the intruders are gone, all of you quickly, go after them, they couldn't have gotten far!" Tsunade ordered.
Nodding, the majority of other Shinobi quickly took after the two nuke-nins, leaving Tsunade Jiraiya, Shizune, Yamato and the Sandaime alone with the wounded Kushina and unconscious Naruto.
"They won't find them, those two aren't your run of the mill Shinobi and won't be caught so easily" Jiraiya commented. Who knew that even in the unlikely event that the pursuing Shinobi caught up to two Akatsuki members, they would be unable to capture them, they were just that good.
Once the other Shinobi left, Kushina lowered her barrier and allowed herself to fall into bliss oblivion, after finally losing consciousness.
After Kushina lowered her barrier, Tsunade raced over to her son to check on her vitals, leaving Shizune to tend to Kushina injuries.
"How's the kid?" Jiraiya asked.
"He's fine" said Tsunade after examining her son. "His injuries are mainly superficial, but what worries me is the mental state."
"What do you mean?" Yamato asked.
"He's in a coma" answered Tsunade who angry look upon her, "…Caused by mental strain from being under a powerful Genjutsu."
As Tsunade lifted up her unconsciousness son, she silently swore she would make Itachi pay, knowing he was culprit for her son's state.
"How is Kushina?" the Sandaime asked in concern.
"Not good I'm afraid" answered Shizune, as she continued to work of the former ANBU captain. "She received several injuries, the most serious in the back and is almost out of Chakra. I'm stabilizing her now, but she needs to get the hospital soon."
"Then you should go, Yamato and I will join the pursuit teams, the rest of you should bring Naruto and Kushina to the hospital" said the Sandaime. "We'll talk on what we should plan next later."
Nodding to this two Sannin and Shizune, took off with Kushina and Naruto, while Sarutobi and Yamato went off in the opposite direction after the pursuit teams.
Outside Konoha, the two Akatsuki members raced through the surrounding forestry, making sure that they left no tracks for the pursuing Konoha Shinobi to follow.
As they raced through the treetops, Kisame glanced over at his partner "Why did we have to retreat? We could've…"
"No we could not" interrupted Itachi. "If we had taken on all three of them on by ourselves, in all likelihood we would've lost. Even if we had somehow won, it would not have been without serious cost to us, especially when you consider the fact that more Konoha reinforcements were on their way and would arrive at any moment. The best course of action was to retreat."
"Besides…Naruto-san's capture is not essential to our plan as of this moment. So we can afford to leave him be for now and wait for another time to retrieve him, one that is more favourable to us."
"Also, I must rest myself somewhere for a while; I used Tsukuyomi twice and was then forced to use Amaterasu" Itachi replied, who looked a bit worn as he deactivated his Sharingan. "It was more tasking than I had anticipated."
Later that night after a long meeting with not only Jiraiya and Tsunade, but also the Konoha Elders, Homura, Koharu and Danzo, over the infiltration of Kisame and Itachi. The Sandaime Hokage finally arrived home.
After checking on Konohamaru, who was fast asleep in his bed, the elder Sartuobi entered his living room and took off his Hokage hat and sat in his soft armchair.
Enjoying the silence in the room, the old Hokage closed his eyes and went over everything that happened today in his head.
Thankfully both Naruto and Kushina would recover, but given her injuries, Kushina would have to stay in the hospital for a bit longer.
Naruto was still unconscious and wouldn't wake up for at least a day or so, since Tsunade wanted to give him time to rest and bring him out of his coma slowly, allowing her to treat the mental trauma.
As the Sandaime continued to go over everything that happened today in his head, he was suddenly brought out of his thoughts by the sound of tapping of something on glass.
Turning to where the sound came from, Sarutobi saw a small black crow tapping on the widow to his living room.
Cautiously, the Sandaime walked over to the window and opened it, allowing the small bird to fly into the room.
After circling the living room once, the small bird landed on the Sandaime's shoulder and dropped a small slip of paper, which it had been carrying in its beak.
When the Sandaime caught the slip of paper, the crow took off and flew out the window and disappeared into the night sky.
Once the bird had left, the Sandaime opened up the slip of paper and read what was on it.
When he finished reading the slip of paper, the Sandaime's face turned ghostly white and he found his hand shaking slightly and his knees going weak.
The note only had three words on it, and yet it had a paralyzing effect on the fabled Kami no Shinobi (God of Shinobi) and filled him with such fear and dread, that he needed to sit down.
As the Sandaime tried to digest what he had just learned, the old Hokage knew what this meant for Konoha and how it placed the village in far greater danger than anyone realized.
"Kami help us all" the Sandaime thought as he glanced down at the note again, which simply said
"Uchiha Madara lives."
N/A.
Well that's it for another Chapter of Hope of the Senju Clan; I hope everyone enjoyed, Naruto connecting with Gaara, the introduction of the Akatsuki and the Sandaime learning that "Madara" lives.
Now as some of you may know the next Chapter will finally reveal the pairing for the story, so people can finally stop bugging me about it after every Chapter.
Again I hope everyone has enjoyed the Chapter and please don't bother asking me to update quick. Quality Chapters for quality stories take time and I refuse to be rushed, so they will take as long as they will take.
Another note, the summon polls has been closed now before anyone asks me which polls won, I will tell you now that will not be reveal which summons won until Chapter forty, which is why I will I tell everyone now, not to bother asking me, since I will not tell. The only thing I will give you that the summons will be slightly different from what people guess, but will still be of the same species that won the poll.
Also please scroll down further if you wish to read the two Omakes I have come up with.
As always please read and review as I like to hear all your opinions on the Chapter or on the story in general. Please note that I will answer all your reviews since I believe that authors should reply to their reviewers. Also note that any suggestions for the story are welcome and will be listen to and I will tell you what I think of them.
Now in regards of my grammar and spelling mistakes, although they may be a problem for people, I'm afraid they cannot be helped and I'm doing the best I can with what I got.
Another thing to note is that flames are not welcome here, as I force no-one to read my stories and if you don't like them then don't read them. Also please note that all flames will be ignored, deleted or the flamers will be flamed back.