Now it's Personal

"What are we going to do with her, when the Jinchuriki arrives?" asked Kisame as he eyed the unconscious Hyuga currently tied to a tree at the center of a clearing.

"It matters little to me Kisame, but we need her alive for now. When Naruto makes his move, we will strike at him." Stated Itachi as a large claybird landed down beside the two ninja.

"Sasori is dead and Orochimaru has fled alongside his assistant. As you can see I took quite the beating myself." Stated Deidara with anger as he motioned to his bloodied arm hanging uselessly at his side.

"I didn't expect Orochimaru to stick around for long as he was fighting Tsunade. However, I did expect him to have at least grabbed Sasuke before he left." Stated Itachi as he walked over to Hinata.

"So this is the girl…been awhile since I saw her on the mission so long ago." Stated Deidara as he glared at the girl a bit. "I can't wait to get my revenge on that boyfriend of hers."

"Easy Deidara…he will be here soon. I can feel him approaching at this very moment." Stated Itachi as he stopped Deidara from approaching the girl. "She was quite resilient to the Tsukyomi though…much stronger than I expected."

"So you were unable to shatter her mind?" asked Kisame as he felt Samehada vibrate in anticipation. "Samehada says that he is getting very close and there is another with him too…feels like your brother."

"No I wasn't, but I didn't expect my brother to come with Naruto. That changes things greatly for us." Stated Itachi "I will take my brother and then proceed to help you two with Naruto, but I'm sure you should still be able to take him Kisame."

"Don't worry Itachi…besides Hidan and Kakuzu are on their way as we speak." Answered Kisame as he stood up and grabbed a hold of Samehada. "They are here…Deidara get to the sky now."

Deidara quickly jumped to his clay bird and lifted into the sky just as Naruto and Sasuke landed in the clearing with a boom. Naruto had a look of controlled anger on his face as he glared at the Akatsuki ninja gathered before him. His eyes softened as they lingered on Hinata, but they hardened again only a second later.

Sasuke too had a look of controlled anger on his face as he glared at Itachi, who merely stared back at him with annoyance. "Hello Sasuke…here to finish what you started in the Leaf?"

"No…I'm here to kill a murder to ensure he never destroys another life like he did mine. I will never stoop to the level in which you reside Itachi…I will not live my life in hate." Stated Sasuke as he drew his katana.

"That's a pity Sasuke…you could have my eyes without even trying right now. Then perhaps you might be able to stand toe to toe with me." Stated Itachi as he drew a kunai and his Sharingan activated.

"I don't need those eyes to defeat you…I just need the support of my friends." Stated Sasuke as Naruto put his hands on his shoulder.

"We aren't just your friends…we are your new family…brother." Stated Naruto as Sasuke managed to smirk at Naruto.

"Better not hug me Naruto…save that for your girlfriend when we are done here." Stated Sasuke as Naruto smirked back.

"Duly noted…" responded Naruto.

Unknown to Naruto and Sasuke, Itachi was smiling on the inside as his brother turned to the path that would lead to the Uchiha becoming a respectable clan once more. The cycle of hatred that led to it's destruction had finally been broken by his brother.

"Then let us finish this battle once and for all…which is stronger? The power of hate or the need to protect those dear to you?" asked Itachi, but he already knew the answer to his question. "I want you all to stay out of this…I will handle my brother."

Itachi turned and ran deep into the woods as Sasuke nodded towards Naruto and took off quickly after his brother as Naruto nodded back. "So I guess that leaves the two of us then…Kisame and Deidara…been awhile hasn't it you two?" asked Naruto.

"You won't be getting lucky again brat. Last time you caught me by surprise with those eyes of yours." Stated Deidara with a grin as a group of smaller clay birds began to surround him.

"Not to mention that beast of yours...Samehada will just absorb the chakra of your beast if you use it." Stated Kisame with a wide grin as he crouched down.

"Well then if you are so confident…why kidnap Hinata? If you ask me your leaders are afraid of me and that is why they need to draw me away from Konoha." Stated Naruto as he began to create a couple of shadows alongside him, each had the Rinnegan in their eyes.

"I've been curious to what those eyes can do…" whispered Kisame with a grin as he wasted no time as he charged at Naruto. Naruto's shadows quickly spread out as the original activated a warp blade and charged at Kisame.

Naruto didn't get far as he was forced to dodge as several clay birds began to explode around him, forcing him to weave through the explosions as his shadows began to engage Kisame. However, they were quickly defeated as Samehada sucked out the chakra inside the shadows.

'His sword is destroying my shadows by disrupting the chakra? I guess I have to use physical attacks against him again…' thought Naruto as he rolled up his sleeve to reveal a familiar summoning tattoo.

"Haven't used this guy in awhile, but I am much better at using him than last time." Stated Naruto as he summoned the massive Kubirihocho. Naruto swung it around a few times before he sank into his shadow with a smirk on his face.

"Where did he go Deidara?" asked Kisame as he sank into a defensive stance. He would not let the kid ever get the drop on him.

"Surprise!" yelled Naruto as he phased into view right beside Kisame, who barely brought Samehada to his side to block the blow. Surprisingly the attack pushed the larger Kisame back a foot due to its strength.

'How can he be that strong?' pondered Kisame as he blocked an overhead strike that caused him to lose ground once again.

"Kisame! Jump back!" yelled Deidara as he launched a group of clay birds at the two, but they all exploded in mid air as a hail of black needles struck every single one of them.

From the ground two shadows were smirking at Deidara as one began to shift into the form of a giant eagle, that the other jumped up upon. The eagle took off and the clone on top began to shot balls of air at Deidara's clay bird that he resided on.

"Damn! Take this you Brat!" yelled Deidara as he reached into his pouch and threw hundreds of clay birds at Naruto's shadows. The shadows flew high into the air as the one riding the other, shot a Shinra Tensei at the birds causing them to explode.

Deidara had a line of sweat fall down his face as he saw his attack easily defeated by Naruto. Deidara quickly began to gather his clay in order to create his most powerful clay creation.

However, Naruto's shadows weren't giving him a chance to use his most powerful jutsu against him. They continued to try and score hits using any of his most powerful attacks on Deidara, but the Akatsuki member was still able to keep away.

Back on the ground the original Naruto and a annoyed Kisame continued to trade blows on equal ground using their blades. 'How is he able to keep up with me!' thought Kisame as he jumped back and stared to run through a few handsigns.

"You may be able to keep up with me now…but it ends here!" yelled Kisame as he started to spew out massive amounts of water that began to submerge the ground they were standing on.

Naruto just smiled as he put one of his hands on the water and watched as it all began to lose it's chakra that was being absorbed into him. Kisame was shocked as pretty soon every ounce of water that came from his mouth was gone in an instant.

"You aren't the only one that can render jutsu useless." Stated Naruto with a smirk as he suddenly appeared behind Kisame and slashed him deeply along the back. Kisame was able to jump back before more damage was done and healed himself using Samehada.

"Damn…how can you be beating me?" demanded Kisame as he shot multiple water balls at Naruto, but Naruto just sliced through each with ease. Naruto jumped back and began to charge blue energy into his hands.

"Take this you fish faced bastard!" yelled Naruto as he fired a blue bolt of energy at Samehada, who just smirked in response as he brought Samehada up in defense. However, his smirk was wiped off his face as the ball of energy impacted Samehada and exploded, sending him across the clearing and into a tree.

Kisame slowly got up as he used Samehada to heal the wounds created by the blue energy. "How did you do that? Samehada absorbs all traces of chakra!" yelled Kisame as Naruto smirked.

"Yeah…you see that attack used no chakra at all. Most of my modified techniques require a fusion of energy to work correctly, but some like the Psionic Blast require no chakra at all to use. So prepare yourself Kisame…for I will have that head of yours." Stated Naruto as he put his sword in his right hand and activated his warp blade in the left.

"Damn…most of my techniques won't even affect him." Muttered Kisame as he was suddenly forced to jump away as another Psionic Blast nearly hit him. He had no time to recover though as Naruto was already upon him.

Luckily Naruto's sword arm was now weaker as he only used one arm, but Kisame could feel Samehada's cries of pain as the Warp Blade impacted into its scales over and over again.

There took a standstill as a massive explosion sounded off just over their heads. They looked up to see Deidara standing on a massive clay dragon with an insane grin plastered on his face as he stared down at Naruto.

"I finally got them! Now there's only you left to experience my art!" yelled out Deidara as the dragon opened it's mouth.

Both Naruto and Kisame's eyes widened in surprise as a smaller dragon shot forth directly at the two of them. "What the hell!" yelled Kisame as the dragon impacted into the ground right between the two of them with a massive explosion.

When the cloud of dust cleared Kisame was seen on the ground bleeding heavily from a gaping hole in his chest as Samehada's chakra struggled to revive him. Naruto was no where to be seen as Deidara scanned the ground for any sign of him.

"HAHAHA I FINALLY KILLED HIM!" yelled Deidara, however to his surprise, the sun was suddenly blocked from his view by a massive eagle that flew above him. "But I destroyed that thi…" yelled Deidara before he was interrupted by a glowing green blade sticking out of his chest.

"Never assume that your enemy is dead…" stated Naruto as he pulled his blade from Deidara's chest and kicked him off his bird.

Deidara hit the ground with a thud as he struggled to close the wound in his chest as Naruto landed only 10 meters away from him.

"You are pathetic…you care little for your allies and that is why you have lost. Kisame is in no position to help you now due to your own actions." Stated Naruto as he approached Deidara, who had managed to get on his elbows.

"Damn you! I will not die like this!" yelled Deidara as is body slowly turned to Clay as Naruto made to finish him off.

The clay clone blew with a force of a tonne of dynamite that blew a huge crater into the ground. Kisame was blown away by the blast as Samehada finally finished healing his wounds, but he was too exhausted to continue. Deidara finally reappeared holding his bleeding chest as he smirked at the destruction he had created.

"You really though that would defeat me." Asked Naruto as a single tree was revealed to still be standing. It was the one holding Hinata and it had been defended by a blue shield of energy that was surrounding Naruto.

"How?" asked Deidara as Naruto just smirked as he created a clone that freed Hinata and took off with her on his shoulders.

"SHE ISN'T GOING ANYWHERE!" yelled Deidara as he shot a couple of clay projectiles at Hinata, but they were intercepted by a wall of black shadows.

"Your fight is with me coward." Snarled out Naruto, but he was forced to duck as a massive scythe passed by his head.

"Will you look at this pussy? Haha he thinks that he can defeat the Akatsuki by himself! What a dumbass!" yelled a white haired man, who was wielding the large triple-bladed scythe.

"Calm yourself Hidan…this one is the container of the Kyubi. Leader has already expressed us to use caution when facing him." Stated a third voice as a tanned man with teal eyes jumped into the clearing. He was covered in stiches that ran along his entire body, but most were covered by his robes.

"Shut the hell up Kakuzu! I can do what ever I want and that limp dick leader can't do shit about it!" Yelled Hidan as he turned back towards Naruto and raised his scythe above his head. "Jashin will enjoy feasting on your soul brat!"

With that Hidan charged at Naruto with frightening speed, but Naruto easily followed the attack with his eyes. Just before the scythe hit him, a shadow rose from the ground and blocked it using Kubrihocho. The real Naruto smirked as he shot an air bullet directly into the gut of Hidan, breaking a few ribs on contact , which sent him flying across the clearing.

'Freaking piece of shit brat!" yelled Hidan as he jumped to his feet as if nothing had even happened. He charged once again, but this time Naruto summoned a few shadows to deal with Hidan alone as he worried about the rest of the Akatsuki members in the clearing.

"How are you Kisame?" asked Kakuzu as Kisame grunted in pain as he regained his footing.

"Samehada is struggling to repair the damage done to me by that bastard." Stated Kisame as he glared at Deidara, who merely rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I may be more of a hindrance in this fight."

"Then sit this one out…we don't need any of you getting in the way." Ordered Kakuzu, but Deidara wasn't hearing any of that.

"NO he is mine and mine alone! Don't get in my way!" yelled Deidara as he prepared to send a few more clay creations at Naruto, before Kakuzu appeared in front of him and knocked him out with a punch to the stomach.

"Leader still has use for you Deidara…" stated Kakuzu as he turned to look at Naruto. "Now come with us Shadow Fox of Konoha…"

"Hmph…you guys just keep coming don't you?" asked Naruto as he activated his Warp Blade. "If you want me…come and get me." Stated Naruto as he sank into his shadow.

He jumped out of Kakuzu's shadow and made a lunge for the nin's chest, but he was intercepted by a couple of large pieces of sticking that came from Kakuzu's hand. Before he could be wrapped in the stitching though he cut through it with his warp blade.

"Drilling Air Bullet!" yelled Naruto as he hit Kakuzu from point blank range with his attack. Kakuzu flew across the clearing, but as he hit the ground he burst into a puddle of water.

'Naruto! This is Kakuzu of the Many Hearts!' yelled a voice in his mind that he recognized to be the voice of the residential chakra of his father 'He fought the Nidaime Hokage years ago and survives by replacing his heart with the hearts of shinobi that he has killed. He has one heart for every one of the five elements!'

'So he can use all five elements?' asked Naruto as he felt his father nod in affirmation.

"Well it's a good thing that the Rinnegan allows me to every element too." Stated Naruto as he created two more shadows. He was currently at his limits for his shadows as he had one taking Hinata away and two currently battling Hidan in a close range melee.

"You are quite impressive Shadow Fox…not many have been able to get that close to me. However, that ability of yours gives you quite an advantage compared to others. It will be quite an addition to my abilities…" stated Kakuzu as he took off his cloak.

Naruto just smirked in response as his shadows shot forward towards Kakuzu. Kakuzu just smirked as he shot his stitching at the shadows, but they just avoided the attacks and cut the ones that did get close to their bodies. However, landing a hit on Kakuzu was another question altogether as he was one of the most experienced ninja's alive. He used a variety of wind and fire techniques to keep the shadows away from him as he scanned for the real Naruto across the plain.

"You are a sly one Uzumaki...it is said that you were a shadow itself. However, I will not let my guard down for a second." Stated Kakuzu as he heard movement from his right.

He turned to see three Narutos charging at him with their warp blades activated. "Too slow! Katon: Great Destruction!" A massive explosion of flames shot out of his mouth and consumed the three Narutos, but Kakuzu knew it wouldn't be that easy.

"Rasengan!" yelled Naruto he jumped out of the ground and tried to shove a Rasengan into Kakuzu's back. However, a blast of air hit him directly from Kakuzu's back.

Naruto flew back across the battleground, but managed to remain on his feet as he stared at Kakuzu's now exposed body. His body was more grotesque than his arms and different parts of him seemed to have come from separate people. Along with that he seemed to have 4 masks attached to his body at separate locations.

"What the hell did you do to yourself?" asked Naruto as he stood up and stared at Kakuzu. Kakuzu just stared at Naruto as his back began to shift as if something lived under the skin.

To Naruto's growing horror his back burst open as three black masses shot out of his back to surround. Slowly the masses of black formed three hulking figures, each with a mask of it's own.

"Do you see this?" asked Kakuzu as the three masked figures took to the sky to circle around Kakuzu. "Each one contains the heart of a fallen shinobi that I killed in the past. With this jutsu I came close to killing one of your Hokages, but I was forced to retreat in the end and by the end of this day your heart will be added to my collection."

When he was finished speaking , all three masks charged at Naruto and began to attack him in unison. Naruto jumped back to avoid a flurry of fireballs that would've burned him badly if he hadn't moved, then he rolled to side as another mask began fire balls of air at him in rapid succession, each one tearing up the ground when they hit. The last mask seemed to be just studying him while he avoided the attacks coming from the other two.

Kakuzu himself just watched the battle with a calculating eye as Naruto dodged, ducked, dipped, dived, and dodged the multiple attacks coming from his air and fire mask. He could make out in the distance Hidan fighting two of Naruto's shadows in a intense melee.

The battle with Hidan and the shadows could be called a stalemate as Hidan was effectively immortal so the shadows could do no damage, but the shadows were more skilled and couldn't be killed either so they were locked in a perpetual melee with no clear victor in sight.

Hidan's battle was of little concern to Kakuzu, who still had to deal with the original. Naruto had been evading his masks effectively, even when the lightning mask had joined the attack on him. However, he still wasn't coming away unscathed as multiple attacks had nearly connected.

"Shinra Tensei!" yelled Naruto to Kakuzu's shock as all three masks were blown away as Naruto dashed across the clearing quicker than Kakuzu expected However, it wasn't fast enough as Kakuzu shot out his tendrils and trapped Naruto before him.

"Risky move, but you weren't fast enough." Stated Kakuzu as he began to squeeze Naruto with his ropes. However Kakuzu's eyes went wide as he felt and indiscernible amount of pain come from inside him. The sound and smell of burning flesh filled his senses as he felt his two hearts melt from the intense heat coming from the glowing blade coming from his chest. "How?"

"The shadow from earlier…the one that ran away with Hinata before our battle began. Once it handed her off to a medical squad, it came here to assist me as it was one of my three remaining shadows." Stated Naruto as he was released from Kakuzu's hold.

Naruto didn't waste time as he flew towards Hidan with his shadow following after him. 'I have to incapacitate him at least…' thought Naruto as he jumped high as his shadow went low and landed a kick to Hidan's jaw before he could react. Hidan was launched into the air straight into the waiting arms of Naruto.

Hidan could do nothing as the glowing Warp Blade cut into his neck like a hot knife through butter. Naruto flipped and landed as he turned to look at the falling body and head of Hidan. Naruto walked up to the head of Hidan to collect, but was surprised as hell when Hidan's eyes opened wide.

"What the fuck! The fucking hurt you prick! How dare you, Jashin-Sama will have your head for this you prick! Kakuzu, get your ass over here and reattach my head to my body before I kill you." Yelled Hidan as Naruto looked at it with a raised eyebrows.

"I'm not even going to ask…" stated Naruto as he raised his foot above Hidan's head.

"What the hell do you think you are doing!" yelled Hidan as he saw the foot above his head. This was the first time Naruto had heard this man even have a scrap of fear contained in his voice.

"If decapitating you doesn't work…then crushing you should." Stated Naruto as he brought his foot down on Hidan's head, crushing it with a single movement. "Immortal my ass." Stated Naruto as he remembered all the times Hidan claimed to be immortal to his shadows.

With that Naruto heard an explosion behind him and he turned to face a large blast coming straight towards his shadows. The blast consumed him in less than a second, and any onlooker would say that Naruto seemed to have been consumed by the powerful attack.

Kakuzu stood straight across the destroyed clearing as he stared at the devastated battlefield with an impassive stare. "What a fool…I always told him that he needed to be more careful. Leader will not be happy though…we were supposed to keep the Jinchuriki alive."

However, this was proven false as Kakuzu was hit by an invisible force that sent him flying into a large tree. Kakuzu slowly got up and was surprised to see a slightly burned Naruto standing before him with a warp blade activated.

"That nearly had me…luckily I blinked away before any real damage could be done." Stated Naruto with a smirk as he crouched low in preparation.

"Impressive, but it isn't over yet." Stated Kakuzu as his body began to shift once more as all three remaining hearts were now in his body. Kakuzu became a horrible mass of stitching as his body burst apart and created a large web around his body. Naruto watched in horror as Kakuzu took to the skies and stared at Naruto with his emerald eyes.

"It seems I am in luck…with you being alive I can still finish my mission." Stated Kakuzu as numerous stitching shot at Naruto with terrifying speed. Naruto quickly back flipped away from the majority of stitching and used his blade to cut through the rest as he began to weave his way through the mass.

Finally it seemed Kakuzu's stitching had surrounded him, just before he blinked to above Kakuzu with his blade ready to sever his head. However, Kakuzu immediately sensed him and stitching rushed to restrain him.

Naruto slashed at the first stitching, but blinked away as more wrapped around his ankles. Naruto reappeared in front of Kakuzu only 10 meters away as he shot a ball of wind directly at Kakuzu, but the stitching was already there to shield him from the blow.

'It's like fighting Gaara all over again.' Thought Naruto as he blinked away once more, but this time quite a distance away from Kakuzu with some sweat running down his face. 'Guess I should use it then…'

Naruto crouched down as he formed two shadows to defend him while he gathered his energies. His body began to blow a bluish white as he gathered energy needed for one of his most powerful attacks.

Meanwhile his shadows were launching jutsu left and right at Kakuzu, who was just trying to deal with the two Naruto's that were attacking ferociously with any wind or shadow jutsu. They had even nearly connected numerous times as his stitching wasn't a perfect defense.

His attention was focused so much on Naruto's shadows that he didn't even care for the original, now glowing a bright blue with streams of electricity coming from his body till it was far too late. He watched as both the shadows gave a smirk as they dissolved.

It was at that moment that a bright flash of light filled his vision as lighting bolts arced down from seemingly nowhere with an intense ferocity. Thunderous was the only way he could describe it as his body acted as a lighting rod to the attack. He could feel his insides burn with each strike to his body, and as suddenly as it started, it had stopped.

Most of the stitching had burned away by the lightning and Kakuzu himself smelled of burnt and cooked flesh as he fell to the ground without his stitching to support him no longer.

Despite all the damage he had taken Kakuzu was still alive and with a his last remaining good eye he watched Naruto approach him slowly with his blade activated. "You all made a mistake today."

Kakuzu didn't respond, he couldn't even barely breath let alone talk so he just watched as Naruto stared down at him impassively.

"Before today Akatsuki was nothing more than an organization that wanted my life for what is contained with me, but today I know that idea is false. My life is inconsequential as long as my loved ones are safe, but today you changed everything. You stole my light and expected me to give it up and retreat back to the darkness? Akatsuki doesn't care how many or who they hurt in order to complete their goals…you even attempted to take Hinata and for that one reason I will ensure that you wall fail….I will ensure that Akatsuki will be nothing more than a footnote in the pages of history. I promise you that…" Naruto then stabbed the warp blade deep into Kakuzu's chest as he leaned closer to Kakuzu's ear. "Now it's personal, believe it!"

Naruto was then startled by a massive explosion that seemed to have come from somewhere deep in the forest. 'Sasuke!' thought Naruto as he took off in the direction of the battle.