Two cloaked figures moved silently through a darkened passage, lit only occasionally by the flickering fires of sparsely placed torches. Their feet made no sound against the dusty, well-worn ground despite one of their number's apparent interest in their surroundings; his head swivelled occasionally, eyebrow quirking at the seemingly uninteresting locale. The other simply strode forward with measured, confident steps, his red eyes smouldering beneath their wide-brim sugegasa.
"So… come here often?" One finally spoke up, breaking the previously comfortable silence; at least in the opinion of his companion. At his lack of response the larger man simply continued on, chuckling lightly to himself as he glanced about the tunnel again. "I never realised Konoha was so easy to break into." He placed his hands up by his head, displacing the large wrapped object strapped to his back. "Just a nice, quiet stroll down a passageway." He grunted, hands returning to his side. "Bit boring if you ask me." He glanced at his companion only to see him continue on stoically; it wasn't like the man to rise to his casual conversation so he was surprised when his dulcet tones graced his ears.
"Exit tunnels like these are common for ANBU operatives" He intoned softly, continuing on before his companion could make a wise-crack, "for all of the villages." The larger man nodded with a roll of his beady eyes, grinning to reveal a row of sharpened teeth.
"I suppose you'd know." This time his partner remained silent and they continued on for another good few minutes in that manner.
"You know," The larger one started up again, much to the silent chagrin of his companion, "I thought you'd have a bit more to say, what with coming home again." At that the smaller one grunted, his features not changing in the slightest.
"Konoha has not been my home for over six years now, this is simply a mission." He responded coolly, not a hint of emotion seeping into his tone; that only seemed to make his companion even more determined to get under his skin though. Before he had a chance however the youngest of the pair raised his hand. "Stop, the exit is just up ahead, we will have to be discrete from here on." The blue-skinned of the pair grunted but acquiesced all the same; he suspected his partner just wanted a bit of quiet.
They made it up and out of the old abandoned ANBU tunnel just fine with the use of a subtle earth jutsu and quickly concealed themselves in the shadows of the late-evening streets. However oddly enough there wasn't even a hint of activity around them, no civilians, no shinobi; the streets were eerily empty.
"So this is Konoha during a war huh." The bigger one muttered under his breath, glancing about curiously; something seemed… off with how easy this had all been so far. No ANBU patrols to run into, not even a hint of trouble getting past the barriers; even with his former-Konoha companion he expected a bit more resistance.
"I would not know." Was his partner's only reply. "Now quiet Kisame, the ANBU holding cells are this way." The former Kiri-nin waved the Uchiha off as the two slunk through the streets, flitting between shadows without a whisper. Once again they were unnerved by lack of apparent defences in place around the village, easily slipping into the non-descript building that served as a holding pen for some of Konoha's more sensitive 'acquisitions'. By this point Itachi practically knew something had to be wrong; several ANBU standard orders had been breached with the lack of general security and they should have at least had to deal with a patrol by now.
"I had the foresight to send them away." A quiet, toneless voice seemed to answer their unspoken queries as a certain redhead made his presence known. Instantly Itachi and Kisame's muscles tensed, although they showed no outward signs of it.
"Naruto." Itachi acknowledged with a slight tilt of his head, as if they were just old friends greeting after a few weeks apart and hadn't last seen each other at the end of the others' kunai.
"Wouldn't want to get some poor little ANBU involved in the big-boy games after all." The former captain continued on as if he hadn't heard the man he used to consider a brother, his face looking rather bored for facing down two of the most dangerous nuke-nin to grace the elemental nations.
"So you're the famous second coming of the flash huh?" Kisame finally spoke up, casually tossing aside his sugegasa to reveal his blue-toned skin and gill-like tattoos. "I expected you to be bigger…" he titled his head with a toothy grin "…maybe a little bloodier; the nickname doesn't quite fit." The redhead regarded the enormous man evenly, his eyes never straying toward the slowly rotating Sharingan of his former friend.
"Kisame Hoshigake." He intoned blandly, as if reading a target out of a bingo-book; it seemed to be most of a confirmation than an actual acknowledgement of the man's presence.
"The Jinchuuriki is not here, is she?" It wasn't really a question and Itachi's tone reflected that.
"She's… safe." Naruto finally replied, stepping further out of the shadows of the dimly lit hallway and into a casual, unconcerned slouch worthy of a Nara.
"Soooo… You're a Jinchuuriki." Anko started up cheerily, if not with a hint of uncertainty as she stared across the room at the mint-haired girl seated on the couch. Fuu's feet and hands were bound and there was a Chakra-supressing collar around her neck so all she could really do was glare at the overly-chipper violette.
"I heard you met Naruto at his chuunin exams?" Anko ventured again, feeling incredibly awkward having to play host to a woman who not a few days ago had tried to kill her boyfriend, yet supposedly was a good friend of his. He had just dumped her on the couch this afternoon, telling her to watch over her until he got back without even telling her why. Fuu merely continued her piercing glare, rolling her shoulders to ease the discomfort of her restraints.
"Wanna play cards?" Anko asked, before chuckling sheepishly as Fuu's look finally changed into one of incredulity. The verdette glanced down at her restraints before glaring back up at the girl. "Right, right… no hands." The two women once again lapsed into an awkward silence; with Anko in the room though it couldn't last for long.
"So you're a Jinchuuriki?"
"I won't let the Akatsuki have her, so this is as far as you go." The redhead stated resolutely, his lazy posture vanishing in an instant as he straightened himself up, a tri-pronged kunai appearing in his hand faster than his opponents could blink.
"Well-"
Kisame was cut off from his snarky comment as he was suddenly and violently pulled out the way by Itachi, a flash of silver steel slicing through the space where his neck had once occupied with a visible whine of displaced air. There was a moment of stillness before, in the same moment, a hair-thin slice appeared in the wall behind them and forms of Naruto and Itachi vanished into a red flash and a murder of crows respectively.
"I see you're as fast as ever Naruto." Itachi monotoned softly, Sharingan spinning calmly to pick out the locations already marked out by the redhead's hiraishin; there were more than a few.
"You're still a fan of your illusions as well I see." The redhead responded glibly, sword already sheathed in a movement that only Itachi's Doujutsu picked up. Beside him Kisame rubbed at his neck with a mildly sheepish grin before slinging Samehada off his back with a vicious grin. Itachi's lips only quirked downward for a single instance.
"You know of the Akatsuki?" The Uchiha intoned with less inflection than a bored Nara, trying to buy the pair a bit of time to think their way out of this situation while hoping Naruto still had a bit of a conversational streak with his enemies.
"Jiraiya decided to fill me in when he felt I was 'ready' to know." The redhead air-quoted with a snort, his posture outwardly relaxing in a bluff Itachi knew all too well; Naruto never truly relaxed in these situations.
"That does sound like the Toad Sage." Itachi agreed, mind whirling as he considered every exit out of Konoha and which would be best for escaping his former friend and teammate. The options were worryingly slim now that Naruto had mastered his father's famous technique.
"Yeah, and he also told me what he knew of the Akatsuki's current line-up, which is why I knew that Pein…" Only Kisame showed a hint of surprise at Naruto knowing the name of their leader "…would send you to retrieve Fuu." The redhead's eyes darkened slightly as an almost invisible pressure settled on the corridor. "Nobody knows the village better after all." The pressure from Naruto's chakra was nothing to the two S-rank, but the slight shimmer around the redhead's body spoke of his barely restrained emotions.
"Kisame we should retreat; we are in a disadvantageous position here." Itachi urged quietly, hands already flashing through signs in a hurried but coordinated blur. His grand fireball technique roared down the corridor, singing the walls and creating a partial vacuum in the confined, underground space. It was a fairly standard attack, one he was sure Naruto could dodge in his sleep; however that was not its purpose. He simply wanted to see how ingrained the hiraishin seals were into their tagged medium. He received his answer when Naruto appeared back in the corridor with a rather extravagant crimson flash.
"Retreat?" Kisame seemed genuinely hurt by the comment, even if his sadistic grin said otherwise. "I'm hurt you think me so inept Itachi-san." He growled happily, the bundle in his hand suddenly exploding outward to reveal a six-foot long stretch of jagged and vicious-looking blue scales; a sword in the vaguest sense of the word. "I've always wanted a crack at the bloody flash, ever since I heard he took Kushimaru's head."
"I wasn't…" Itachi trailed off when he noticed Kisame was taking no notice of him, already charging down the hallway with a look of childish excitement plastered to his features. Samehada screeched as the blue giant scraped the unwieldy blade down the length of the hallway. It seemed to chatter excitedly as he swung it in a powerful arc that no normal human should have been able to dodge, at least in such a cramped space.
"Bit out of your comfort zone Hoshigake-san?" Naruto asked curiously, hand under his chin as he crouch on top of Kisame's blade, once again proving he was no normal human by flashing onto the swordsman's famous weapon. He back flipped off almost immediately, simultaneously dodging a not-so small hail of fire-enshrouded shuriken and the spikes on Samehada suddenly thickening in an attempt to skewer his feet. Kisame's grin only widened, if that was possible, as he planted his blade against the floor.
"Cocky aren't we kid?" The former Kiri-nin growled out without the normal threat that laced his voice; if there was one thing he appreciated it was a worthy opponent. He did however seem a tad annoyed Naruto refused to meet his eye, although that was more to do with the fact that Naruto was focusing on the pairs' feet. It was the one place on Itachi's body he was almost sure the Uchiha couldn't cast his Genjutsu from. It was a bit hindering but his reflexes allowed him to anticipate their movements in a somewhat bastardised form of Gai's counter to the Sharingan.
"Only as much as I need to be." The redhead shot back with a smirk, only to tense as Kisame and Itachi began running through hand seals together. It seemed the two weren't going to try and take him on one at a time.
Itachi's technique was first, being the faster of the two with his hand seals, "Water release: water fang bullet." He called out in his soft tones, the deadly technique rapidly spiralling up instead of at Naruto. It smashed right through the ceiling of the corridor at the same moment Kisame finished his own technique, drawing in a massive breath as he paused on the snake seal. He didn't even call out the name of the technique, simply spouting out an absurd volume of water from seemingly nowhere that rapidly rushed both down the corridor toward Naruto and up out of the fresh hole his partner had created.
A few moments later and Naruto flashed onto the roof of the ANBU holding cells, shaking out his now wet hair with an irritated expression. This was why he hated missions to Kirigakure, it was such an inconvenience being wet; it weighed him down and chilled his muscles. He quickly observed the damage only to sigh in relief, with most of the water channelled up the surrounding streets were only flooded instead of destroyed like the pressure might have done otherwise. Pulling a scroll out of one of his pouches he quickly smeared some blood across the seal and threw it into the water. Almost immediately it began to drain away into the scroll like Naruto had pulled some invisible plug.
"Aww, didn't you like my re-decorating?" Kisame snarked as he appeared across from the redhead, Samehada lazily resting on his shoulder. He didn't give the redhead enough time to respond though as he suddenly shot forward at speeds that belied his bulky form. However when the Naruto his blade sheared through merely smirked his beady eyes widened.
Itachi watched on impassively from an elevated position as the clone of Naruto violently exploded outwards in a familiar technique he himself had taught the redhead. He probably should have warned his partner but it seemed unnecessary when Kisame jumped back from the smoke cloud, only a little singed for the trouble. The Uchiha merely assumed Samehada had absorbed too much of the clone's Chakra for the explosion to have done much damage.
"Damn, your friend is beginning to piss me off Itachi." Kisame growled as he glanced about at their surroundings; the stoic Uchiha was about to correct him when Naruto beat him to it, appearing a few feet away on the rooftop dancing from foot to toot, noticeably dry.
"That traitor's no friend of mine Sushi-roll." Both combatants missed the ever so slight twitch in Itachi's eye, too focused on one another as they were. "Now move aside, I don't really feel like dicing you up today." His violet eyes drifted in the direction of Itachi, still not meeting the Sharingan's lulling gaze. "I was trying to have a nice reunion here with a former teammate." It seemed that was the last straw for Kisame as the large man chuckled lowly, a familiar expression crossing his face that Itachi had come to recognise as the nuke-nin becoming serious.
"Oh yeah, this one's mine Itachi, I don't care what history you have." His grin turned positively savage as he pointed Samehada at the redhead. "I hope you don't mind if I make the bloody flash live up to his moniker do you?" The Uchiha simply exhaled slowly, knowing nothing he said was going to hold his partner back now, Instead he returned to scoping out their surroundings, wondering why no reinforcements had arrived yet; surely Naruto didn't believe he could take them both on, it was too suspicious. They were near the boundaries of the village sure, but still…
"Kisame, be cautious." He tried to warn, for all the affect it had on the Kiri-nin as the man suddenly blasted forward, swinging Samehada forward with all his strength. Surprisingly Naruto actually parried the blade, catching it between scales with his own tanto. Itachi recognised it scratch-for-scratch as the one the redhead had used when they were still both in ANBU; the Uchiha couldn't even remember where he had abandoned his own. The redhead seemed to struggle under Kisame's strength but at least kept the unusual blade from cutting him.
"Well, you're stronger than Zabuza, that's for sure." He ground out, suddenly vanishing in a crimson flash. The sudden lack of resistance only put Kisame off balance for a moment before he swung Samehada around again, deflecting a glancing blow from the speedster. He was ready to counter only to have Naruto vanish again; Itachi could see what the redhead was doing and it didn't bode well for Kisame; he remembered how Naruto would scope out his opponents strength and reflexes in this exact manner.
"Hardly a compliment kid, I could beat that muscled-up idiot with one arm." Kisame shot back with a smirk, glancing about for any flashes of red that would give away his opponent's position.
"Move." Itachi intoned blandly, causing Kisame to jump back just as Naruto appeared right where he had been standing, tanto held in a reverse grip and tri-pronged kunai thrust forward.
"Not too fast though are you?" Naruto grinned, flashing off again so only his voice remained on the roof. "Kushimaru was more of a challenge than you, at least he…" He appeared behind Kisame, causing the man to swing at nothing as he suddenly appeared atop Samehada again, lashing out with a vicious kick that nearly broke the fish-like man's nose "…could sort of keep up." Kisame growled angrily, flashing through hand seals and slamming his palms down only to remember all of his water had been taken away.
"Don't get riled up Kisame." Itachi once again offered 'helpfully' from the rooftop; he knew better than anybody just how good the redhead could be at getting under people's skin. It was the main reason Shisui lost a lot of spars against the Namikaze. Thankfully the Kiri-nin seemed to take his advice on board, taking a calming breath before scouting out his surroundings.
"What is he doing Itachi?" He called up, knowing the Uchiha had the better perspective with his elevated position and Sharingan. Itachi merely arched an eyebrow as he glanced down, inwardly still wondering about the lack of reinforcements.
"I thought you did not wish me to interfere?" He shot back blandly, only to receive a toothy grin as Kisame's reflexes took over and he blocked a downward sweep of Naruto's tanto.
"You know me so well partner." He growled out, staring into Naruto's violet eyes with a hungry energy as he pushed back against the Namikaze's blade, easily overpowering him. Naruto flipping back casually, shifting his stance a little as he nodded up to Itachi without actually looking at the teen.
"Might want to be careful there; he's been known to betray his partners…" He flashed suddenly onto Samehada again but Kisame had the foresight to lean back from the sweeping kick. He tried to reach forward and grab the offending leg only for Naruto to flash once again down the street "…when the whim strikes." Kisame growled at how easily the redhead was closing the distance between them before noticing Samehada squirm uncomfortably in his hand. The blade was drawing attention to the dark seal imposed on its scales which quickly glowed and vanished as Kisame willed the blade to absorb the Chakra from it.
"Oh, you noticed?" Naruto questioned nonchalantly, hand entering his pockets as the other sheathed his blade. "Shame you forgot…" Kisame suddenly felt a blinding pain ring inside his skull as he found a knee encompass his vision "…the one on your face." The next few seconds felt like they were stretched out into minutes for the Kiri-nin as Naruto proceeded to vanish and reappear what felt like a hundred times, each time landing a vicious or well-placed strike somewhere on his body. When he finally ceased the assault Kisame was still very blue, but a whole lot more black.
"You're not looking so good there Sushi-roll." The redhead smirked as Kisame's eyes refused to focus for a few moments. He finally regained his bearings, lashing out with Samehada only for Naruto to flash across the street, lazily resting against a wall. "Maybe you should slow down." The follow up slash was once again dodged as this time the Namikaze appeared on Kisame's other side, still leaning casually on a wall. "Relax a bit, maybe have a rest." Kisame's eye merely twitched as he brought the full force of Samehada down on the redhead, only for it to hit nothing but the ground, cratering it instantly.
"Hold still you little runt, or I'll give you something to dodge." He growled, eye twitching sporadically; however when he spotted Naruto up on a rooftop, feet swinging over the edge as care free as could be, something inside of him snapped.
"I wouldn't do that." Naruto sang tauntingly, only to flash away as a tonne of scaly death tried to lodge itself in his head. "I'm warning you." He waggled his finger like a parent might to a disappointing child. "It's a bad idea." He jibed in a whimsical tone as he once again infuriatingly avoided Kisame's swing with the ease one might in a spar against a genin.
"That's it kid, screw subtlety." Kisame shouted, a vein on his forehead pulsing dangerously as he slammed his hands together.
"You call this subtle?" The redhead chuckled as he glanced about at the ruined street they were fighting in, or at least he appeared to be looking at the damage.
"Yeah laugh it up; enjoy you're last moments." The fish-man growled as he completed his hand-seals in a combination Naruto recognised and unfortunately for Kisame, had been waiting for. "Water release: Great exploding water colliding wave!" Far from his previous technique a veritable ocean of water spewed from Kisame's mouth, rapidly forming into a tidal wave as it only continued to expand. However as the shadow of the enormous mass of liquid bared down on the redhead he looked unconcerned, even a little disappointed.
"I warned you." He muttered, lost against the roar of Kisame's technique as he raised a single half-ram seal. Instantly four tags, placed around the street Kisame had been lured into by his enraged assault, glowed as invisible lines of Chakra snaked out between them. "Uzumaki-style: Four pillar prison seal." Even Kisame faltered as the massive influx of Chakra suddenly roared to life, a thick purple barrier springing up not only between him and the redhead, but all around him in an all-encompassing cube. By the time he knew what was happening it was already too late and his technique had completely filled up the inside of the cube. Unfortunately for him it didn't stop there; he had already expended the Chakra, there was no stopping the technique.
Naruto watched, cringing slightly from outside the barrier he was maintaining as the water pressure within the cube only continued to grow. Kisame, trapped inside by his own technique, convulsed and writhed as his body was crushed mercilessly. Inside the cube the former Kiri-nin found himself actually smirking as his vision blackened and blood escaped his mouth in little pink swirls. He always knew his anger would get the best of him one day, and as he glanced up to the rooftop where Itachi had been watching the fight only to find it empty he sighed, nothing but bubbles escaping his constricted lungs.
'Figures…' And then he saw nothing but black.
Itachi never looked back as he quietly strode away from the village, hat returned to its place on his head. However he did pause, for just a moment, as a breeze caught the edge of his robe. It was just for a moment though before he continued on, blazing red eyes set forward and sugegasa lowered to shade his features.
"Sorry Kisame." He sighed slowly as he vanished into the shadows of Konoha's famous trees, his voice just a whisper on the wind.
"Sorry… Naruto."
Naruto sighed in irritation as he held up a paper seal to the side of the glowing barrier, watching as the water drained, in his opinion far too slowly, from inside.
"Did you manage to tag him?" He called out to seemingly no one, only for a shadow to slip out of a nearby wall, their presence previously indistinguishable from the surroundings.
"Sorry Tai- ah, Naruto, he seemed to notice something when I got too close." Komachi apologised nervously, fiddling with one of the senbon she usually kept in her hair. It had been her job to try and sneak up on Itachi and stick him with the same kind of tracking seal Naruto had used on Guren. Konoha needed to know where the Akatsuki was based, even if Naruto had to set aside his personal feelings regarding his former friend. However getting close to the Uchiha scion was like passing under the gaze of an apex predator; even for Komachi it felt like every time she got even remotely close those swirling red eyes were locked right on her.
"It's alright, it was a long shot to begin with." The redhead sighed, masking his disappointment; he knew better than anyone that it was no easy task sneaking up on an Uchiha, never mind Itachi. "I'll just finish up here and go report to Hiruzen." Komachi nodded quickly, inwardly glad just to be done with this assignment, despite the failure. However as she left another ANBU seemed to materialise into position, taking her place. If anything the boar-masked man seemed even more nervous than her.
"Ah Namikaze-san. I have some knews." Naruto raised an eyebrow, not taking his attention off the cube he was still draining. "It's about the chuunin team we sent to the Ta border; your former squad. The Hokage thought it best you know."
Ami heard her groan echo around her as she blinked her eyes open, instantly regretting it as the light pierced her retinas like hot pokers. Taking a moment to get used to the swimming sensation in the back of her head and take stock of all the aches across her body she eventually managed to prop herself up on her elbows, taking in what appeared to be a cave through blurry vision. She glanced about, noting the campfire a short distance away from her before her eyes naturally drifted to the man stoking it.
"Ahh!" She could help but shriek as she caught sight of his face, or what appeared to be his face in her disoriented view. It looked more like some kind of demon than any kind of man she knew, with a gruesomely stretched grin and a single, evilly winking eye. She jumped back only to immediately regret it, forgetting the demonic visage as pain lanced through her side. It felt like her chest had been caved in, only to be re-set and caved in again.
"Woh woh, take it easy." The man finally noticed her conscious state, crossing the distance between them faster than was natural only for Ami to scoot back even more. She pushed the pain to the back of her mind as best she could in order to escape the monster but it still showed on her face. After a moment of confusion the man's single visible eye, a deep obsidian black, widened in realisation and he pulled at his own face. Ami realised it was a mask at the same moment he tossed it to the side carelessly, a sheepish grin passing over surprisingly handsome features.
"Oh, sorry about that; sometimes I forget I'm even wearing it." He muttered, more to himself than to her. It took a moment but Ami's vision did clear enough to get a good look at him. But beyond her initial assessment she didn't learn much. Untidy black hair fell about his face and it looked like he had been growing it for a good few years as it tumbled messily across his right eye, obscuring it. He chuckled again, rubbing the back of his head in a way that reminded Ami far too much of Naruto.
"Don't worry about the mask, it's just something I wear to scare the locals off." He sighed, staring out the mouth of the surprisingly spacious cave they occupied. "Sometimes it's a bit too effective; I like my privacy as much as the next guy but…" He trailed off, seemingly realising he had been rambling as he noticed Ami's incredulous expression. "But ah… are you okay? I found you washed up on the beach, pretty banged up. I wrapped you up the best I could but, ah, medical… stuff, was never really my strong suit." Ami looked down, noticing her chest and a few of her larger wounds on her arms and legs were wrapped up.
"…Thank you." She finally managed in a somewhat hoarse voice; taking the hint the messy-haired man quickly scrambled across the cave, returning with a flask of water for her. As she drank she noticed a neat stack of her clothes off to one side, only then noticing that she seemed to have been changed into thankfully dry spares she kept with her equipment. Noticing her look she almost wanted to laugh as the man turned a virulent shade of red, averting his gaze.
"I-I didn't look, promise!" He squeaked, making Ami chuckle slightly as she finished her drink with a satisfied sigh.
"Who are you?" She diverted, quick to move away from the idea of any 'looking' or lack-thereof. Anko would have been disappointed in her for not at least trying to tease the man over it but she was too sore and too tired to care.
"Ah…" He also looked thankful for the change of subject, grinning nervously as he ran a hand through his dark hair "…just your friendly neighbourhood hermit." He seemed a little evasive but Ami could excuse a little eccentricity from the man who probably saved her life. A rather awkward silence seemed to press down on them for a few moments before Ami's stomach rumbled, echoing uncomfortably in the spacious cave.
"Right… food." The man nodded, scrambling up and away towards a few crates to the back of the inlet. Ami sighed thankfully before looking about the space she found herself in, trying to glean just where exactly that river had carried her. She never noticed the man take a subtle glance back at her, his left eye swirling for a moment into a deep scarlet. By the time she looked back though his visage was back to sheepish as if nothing had changed, hand once again submerged in that shock of black hair.
"Well I have um, fish… or fish."