Chapter 26

"You have to move faster than that," ordered Baki. "I know you're tired but you need to push through the exhaustion or you're wasting your time and mine."

"Baki-sensei, I am trying. My speed and endurance both have been improving, haven't they?"

"Yes they have, but if you really intend to petition the council for your jounin promotion already then you need to be the shinobi of our village," said Baki. "You still haven't shown me that you deserve to be jounin, now pick up the pace, Gaara."

Off to the side Naruto, Kakashi and Jiraiya watched Gaara finish his morning routine with Baki. As soon as Gaara finished. they would get lunch and then train for the rest of the afternoon.

"He's in a mood today," mumbled Naruto.

"I would be too if I watched my student lose to you on a daily basis too," said Jiraiya.

"Kakashi-sensei loses to me every other day, doesn't that bother you too?"

"Excuse me, how often did you say I lose to you?" asked Kakashi, lowering his book to glare at Naruto.

"Once a week?" asked Naruto, the hopeful tone in his voice betrayed the fear that he'd just made Kakashi angry. He didn't like Kakashi when the man was angry.

Kakashi's glare remained. "That's about right."

"And you both lose to me on a daily basis," said Jiraiya. "So both of you shut up already."

"You're no fun, Ero-sennin," pouted Naruto.

"That's enough for today, Gaara. Go," said Baki, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

Gaara joined the group a few minutes later after packing up his gear from training. "Last day until you leave, right?"

"Yeah, we should have left two weeks ago but we were making really good progress," said Jiraiya. "How has the neru-seigen fuuin (sleep control seal) been working for you?"

"Good, it is still difficult to fall asleep but at least I can without worrying about Shukaku-san going on a rampage," answered Gaara. "He is still very... angry with you."

"Not unexpected," said Jiraiya. "Though I imagine he is more apoplectic with rage than just angry."

"Kurama's even annoyed with you but only because he has to listen to the jackass howl and rage about it," said Naruto. "Which in turn really annoys me cause I get to hear about it from Kurama all the damned time."

"I am sorry he is so difficult," said Gaara.

"Not your fault," said Naruto. He clicked his tongue in annoyance as Kurama started on another rant.

"Ah, here you are Gaara-chan," said an elderly woman, leaning heavily on a staff as she approached the group.

"Chiyo-obaasama?"

"Hmph, to think we would trust Konohagakure shinobi to train one of our own. Such an insult to our pride." She was irritable to say the least.

"They are our allies and after everything our people did to them they did not seek revenge. We owe them our respect," said Gaara calmly.

"Maybe," giggled Chiyo. She then looked hard at Jiraiya. "You're the perverted one, right?"

Naruto burst out in to laughter at the look on Jiraiya's face.

"Yeah, I suppose I am but so is he," said Jiraiya, pointing at Kakashi.

"You know summoning, right?" asked Chiyo.

"Yeah, what's your point? I'm not teaching him to summon toads if that's what you're thinking," said Jiraiya calmly.

"As if I would ever let a Sunagakure shinobi sign such a contract," said Chiyo. She then reached inside her robes and pulled out a scroll which she unfurled and set on the ground before her. "Gaara-chan, these are the contracts our village holds that are currently unclaimed. Choose one."

Gaara blinked in startled surprise. "But Chiyo-obaasama, these are usually reserved for senior jounin. Why-"

"You are one of the few that may be able to summon a boss because of the ichibi I sealed inside you. This is my apology for the hell I made your life and also my personal 'fuck you' to Konohagakure. Now choose one," explained Chiyo, ignoring the frowns from the Konoha shinobi watching.

"And you expect me to teach him to use it after that?" asked Jiraiya.

"Yes," said Chiyo, giggling. "You will or I'll have you all killed here and now."

The group became aware of all the watchers on the surrounding rooftops as she said it.

"I see," said Jiraiya, clearly unhappy. "Well, pick one Gaara."

Gaara approached Chiyo and took a knee to see the available contracts.

"Naruto, take a look," said Gaara, motioning his friend forward.

"Cool," said Naruto excitedly as he joined Gaara.

"Scorpions could be good, especially in the desert," said Gaara.

"Yeah, but what if you're not in the desert? I don't know much about scorpions but would they be any good in a jungle or swamp?" asked Naruto.

"I met the previous holder of the scorpion contract," said Kakashi. "He also died that day when the scorpion he summoned killed him because it was in a bad mood."

"Wow," said Naruto.

"Hmm, what about spiders or coyotes?" asked Gaara.

"Coyotes are a great summon," said Jiraiya. "Good trackers in any environment and pretty decent in combat too. Spiders are again very finicky and require a large blood sacrifice to summon. Speaking of blood, how are you planning to bleed to sign a contract?"

Gaara frowned.

"Wind flow chakra," said Naruto as if it was obvious. "It would get through his sand easily enough, he just has to be careful not to cut off a finger."

"That might work but first you need to pick a contract to sign," said Jiraiya.

"What about the hyenas?" asked Gaara.

"Have you ever seen a hyena in the wild?" asked Kakashi. "They are as likely to eat you as they are their own kind."

"What do you think Naruto?" asked Gaara.

"I'd say coyotes, from what's here and what Ero-sennin said they seem like the best choice," said Naruto.

"Then coyotes it will be," said Gaara.

Chiyo nodded and released the seal on the scroll causing a large scroll to emerge. "Take that and do what you want. It's your responsibility now." The old lady then rolled the scroll back up and walked away without another word.

"She's weird," said Naruto, shaking his head.

Gaara picked up his new contract and looked to Jiraiya. "Now what?"

"Lunch," said Jiraiya, "Then we'll head out to one of the more open training fields. I'll get you started but it will really be up to you to learn your summons."

Lunch was rushed as the group generally wanted to get to work early today. So when they were assembled on one of the flat plateaus that served as a training ground, Jiraiya began his instruction for the day.

"Well, seeing as today Gaara is going to be learning summoning, it's about time you improved your summoning, gaki," said Jiraiya.

"What are you talking about? I can summon Gamabunta can't I?" asked Naruto.

"Would Gamabunta be advantageous in a hallway or small room?" asked Jiraiya. "Of course not. You need to learn to summon the smaller toads that are also good in combat."

"How do I do that?" asked Naruto.

"Practice," said Jiraiya. "Think of it as chakra control exercise. Too much and you get Gamabunta. To little and you get a tadpole or Gamakichi and Gamatatsu. And while those two are getting bigger they are young and lack combat skills."

"Oh," said Naruto, frowning.

"So that is your plan for today, get to it," said Jiraiya.

"I'll try to help him," said Kakashi, turning to follow his shoulder was grabbed by Jiraiya halting him.

"He's got that," said Jiraiya. "You need to improve your own summoning. Specifically, the big dogs, maybe even the boss."

Kakashi sighed. "I was afraid you were going to say that."

"It'll help you increase your chakra capacity too, so get to it," said Jiraiya.

Kakashi sighed and marched off to find his own open area to summon in.

"Now for you," said Jiraiya. He bit his thumb drawing blood and drew a line on his palm. "First here are the hand seals. Inoshishi, inu, tori, saru, hitsuji, kuchiyose no jutsu (boar, dog, bird, monkey, sheep: summoning technique)." A toad as big as Gaara appeared, it wore arm braces and a large chest plate.

"Your turn," said Jiraiya, sitting down next to the toad and handing it a jug of sake then pulling out a jug for himself.

Gaara nodded nervously. "How much chakra do I use?"

"Experiment," said Jiraiya, taking a long pull on his jug of sake.

Gaara nearly growled in frustration. He felt very strange learning from the sannin. He was used to seeing teachers give close step by step instruction. So to have Jiraiya show him something once and leave him to his own devices was strange. And yet also really great. He discovered so much about his own ability and his creativity this way. Still, it was strange.

Gaara used a bit of wind chakra flow on a kunai to cut his thumb open again and draw blood. Swiping it across his palm he did the hand seals slowly to ensure accuracy. "Kuchiyose no jutsu," he said as he pressed his palm to the ground. A small puff of smoke revealed a coyote pup. It's ears were floppy and it's eyes closed. The little pup yawned and squirmed but didn't go anywhere.

"Not enough chakra," said Jiraiya, slightly slurring already.

The pup disappeared in a puff of smoke a moment later.

Gaara nodded to himself. He repeated the process doubling the amount of chakra he used. "Kuchiyose no jutsu." A large puff of smoke revealed another pup though one much more active.

"Yippee, I was summoned. Oh wow, look at that frog, is it food? Am I going to battle with him. I hope he doesn't sit on me," the hyper little pup rattled out quickly.

"No battle little one," said Gaara, kneeling down to meet the little pup. "I'm Gaara, your new summoner. What is your name?"

"I'm Yasei (Wild)," the pup said. He was brown with a black belly. "It's so cool that we have a new summoner. Papa says we haven't had a summoner in years. Am I going to be your familiar? Can I be? Please, please, please, please-"

"Easy there," said Gaara. "I don't know anything about familiars. You're only my second summon."

"Aw, okay," pouted Yasei.

"I promise to think about it," said Gaara. "Now, how long can you stay here?"

"Until I run out of chakra," said Yasei.

"And how long is that?"

"I don't know," said Yasei. "I've never been summoned before. Can we play a game or something?"

Jiraiya pulled out a rubber ball and rolled it to the little fella unexpectedly.

"Ooh, what's this?" asked Yasei as he bounced around the ball and swatted at it playfully.

"It's a ball, you can play with it," said Jiraiya.

"Really? Thank you!" howled the little pup.

"Meanwhile, keep summoning," said Jiraiya, looking at Gaara. "The little pup will make things easier when meeting some of the older ones. They tend to appreciate it when you're nice to their kids and are a little more friendly as a result."

"That is good to know," said Gaara. He repeated the process doubling the chakra again. "Kuchiyose no jutsu." A large puff of smoke revealed a pup with the exact opposite coloring as Yasei.

"Taira! (Calm)" cheered Yasei, forgetting the ball for a minute.

"We got summoned?" cheered Taira. "This is so cool. But why did you get summoned first, that's not fair."

"I'm the oldest so it's only fair," said Yasei haughtily.

"Hello, Taira, I am Gaara."

Taira looked at Gaara sharply. "How come you summoned him first? I'm so much cuter than he is."

Gaara smiled softly. "It was not on purpose. I am still learning to summon. You and Yasei are brother and sister?"

"Yip, we're the twins of our litter," said Taira.

"So you have more brothers and sisters?" asked Gaara.

"Yip, four more, three brothers and one sister," answered Taira.

Jiraiya rolled another ball to Taira who completely lost interest in Gaara.

"Where are you getting those?" asked Gaara.

"Left overs," said Jiraiya as if that would answer everything but only left Gaara confused. "Okay, so you've connected to a hunting pack summon. Until you summon all of them you won't be able to summon any others."

"So I have to summon the other four? But I used double the chakra that it cost to summon Yasei to summon Taira."

"Like I said," hiccuped Jiraiya. "You have to summon all of them or dismiss those two. However, you've got a good opportunity here. If you can make a hunting pack like that your familiars they would be a very good summon to work with but it's your choice. As to why it cost more chakra, you're actually summoned Yasei and Taira because they are connected as are the rest of their brothers and sister."

"So I would need to use six times the chakra I used to summon the hunting pack?" asked Gaara.

"Probably," slurred Jiraiya.

Once more Gaara repeated the process, this time with the increased chakra. "Kuchiyose no jutsu." A large, widespread cloud of smoke dissipated to reveal four more pups.

All four cheered and then started asking a cacophony of questions followed by Taira and Yasei charging into the group causing more chaos.

"Calm down all of you," ordered Gaara, causing all of the pups to freeze and lower their heads. "I am Gaara. I summoned you all here. Would please introduce yourselves?"

"I'm Suzushii (Cool)," said an all white female coyote. "I'm the youngest."

"I'm Kuro (Black)," said an all black male.

"I'm Kasshoku (Brown)," said a male with various shades of brown throughout his fur.

"I'm Hipparu (Tug)," said the last male with golden brown fur and a white belly, he was easily the thickest of them just based on size.

"I'm happy to meet all of you," said Gaara. And further conversation was stalled as Jiraiya threw four more balls to the pups causing them to descend into disorder once again.

Jiraiya laughed as he watched them play despite Gaara's displeasure at him causing trouble.

"Okay, so you've met the little ones and made some friends," said Jiraiya. "Now, see if you can summon a big one."

"How much chakra-"

"As much as you can muster and don't be afraid to take some from Shukaku," answered Jiraiya. "And do it over there," he said pointing off in the distance away from him and in the opposite direction of Naruto and Kakashi.

As Gaara walked away, the small pups all followed him pushing their rubber balls along with them and playing as they moved together. He couldn't help but smile as he went.

BREAK

The next morning the group all met at the main gates. It was time for them to leave after spending six weeks in Sunagakure. As expected Jiraiya was a little hungover, Kakashi was reading porn, and Naruto was bouncing around, anxious to get underway.

"It was good to see you again Naruto," said Gaara.

"You too, keep training and kicking ass and I promise I'll do the same," said Naruto.

"You have a deal," said Gaara.

The pair fist bumped and walked away from each other without another word, neither of them needed to say anything else.

It was a long eight days to reach the southern border of Takigakure. It was slow going as they had to skirt around Amegakure by a large margin. A group of slavers in Kawa no Kuni delayed them a few days as well while they dealt with them.

"We should be picked up by one of Takigakure's patrols soon," said Jiraiya, sounding almost hopeful when he said it.

An hour later they arrived at Takigakure and still hadn't come across any patrols. The waterfall marking the hidden entrance to the village was surprisingly unattended. A quick search revealed a couple of blood trails from bodies being dragged away.

"This is not good," said Jiraiya.

"Is is Akatsuki?" asked Kakashi.

"Could be, but I wouldn't expect them to be so sloppy as to leave a blood trail," said Jiraiya as he scanned the surroundings forest and river.

"War?" asked Naruto, nervously checking the surrounding.

"No," said Jiraiya firmly. "Look at the ground, no way large numbers passed through here. I'd say a small team, between two and four members."

"So Akatsuki or nukenin," said Kakashi. "Do you know the way in without escorts?"

"Yeah," said Jiraiya with a frown. "Just do me a favor. Don't let them know that I know."

Kakashi and Naruto both nodded.

Jiraiya dove into the water followed by Naruto and Kakashi. He swam deep below the waterfall to an underwater tunnel and lead them through various twists and turns. Eventually they surfaced in an air pocket to replenish their air only to dive back down again and follow Jiraiya through another series of twists and turns. Finally they came up in a much larger cavern. There were three bodies floating at the water's edge and no other guards in sight.

"Be cautious," said Jiraiya as he climbed up to stand on the water.

Before them were three tunnels. Jiraiya lead them through the leftmost tunnel before another series of twists and turns had them emerging into a very large crater. In the center of the crater, a giant tree was growing creating a sparkling roof of light above their heads.

Nothing looked amiss. In fact everything looked quiet, normal almost except for the missing guards at the entrance. Then an explosion went off near the base of the giant tree causing smoke to billow in the air.

"Let's move," said Jiraiya, running toward the explosion.

As they moved several more explosions sounded, each slightly more muffled than the last. "They are moving deeper into that tree," said Kakashi.

"We provide assistance to the Takigakure shinobi, we're allies so they shouldn't kick up too much of a fuss. If it's Akatsuki, we eliminate them with extreme prejudice," ordered Jiraiya, getting two nods in response. Parallel to them, several shinobi were also racing towards the tree. A few acknowledged the Konoha shinobi with a slight nod but continued without inhibiting them.

As they reached the base of the tree it was chaos. Dead bodies and injured shinobi strewn about, and a few buildings in collapsed states.

"Okay, Naruto, get some clones to start patching these people up as best they can," ordered Jiraiya.

"Roger that," said Naruto, spamming clones to start helping.

Jiraiya went to one of the injured shinobi and asked, "What's happening here?"

"Suien," said the woman as she tried to tie a tourniquet around her wrist above where her hand had been taken off. Jiraiya saw the woman's hand kept slipping as she was losing grip strength due to loss of blood.

Jiraiya helped her tie off the tourniquet before she lost too much to talk to him.

"Suien was a nukenin," said the woman. "He was our strongest shinobi after Shibuki's father passed. He thought he should have been made leader instead of Shibuki-sama. Maybe he should have been. Instead he became a nukenin and swore revenge. Now he's come to collect. He's after the Eiyu no Mizu (hero water)."

"Is he alone?" asked Jiraiya, seeing the woman was starting to lose consciousness.

She slightly shook her head. "Three others, Amegakure nukenin I thi-," she mumbled as she finally faded out.

"We're going stop Suien and his people," ordered Jiraiya.

"Kakashi, you're with me," said Jiraiya. "Naruto, don't let any of them escape that entrance." Jiraiya and Kakashi both ran inside the tree while Naruto and his clones continued providing assistance where they could and policing dead bodies where necessary.

Minutes later another series of muffled explosions rang out through the entrance Jiraiya and Kakashi had used. Naruto had to really strain not to go in after them to help but he had his orders. Plus Kakashi and Jiraiya were totally badass.

It was silent again for a few minutes, then more explosions. It continued that way for maybe an hour. Then a very silent thirty minutes followed before Naruto finally saw three shadows moving from the entrance.

"Thank kami," Naruto sighed in relief as he recognize Jiraiya and Kakashi. Kakashi was dragging four bodies behind him while Jiraiya was helping a limping young man. "What's his favorite nick name for his brother?"

"'The shit flinger'," answered Jiraiya, equally relieved that nothing had happened to Naruto while they were gone. Jiraiya set the young man down next to some of the other injured.

"Thank you again. You have probably saved my village," said the boy.

"Shibuki-san right?" asked Jiraiya.

"Yes, how did you get here?" asked Shibuki.

"Found a kid playing near the entrance. When we saw the guards were missing he showed us the way in. Didn't catch his name and he ran off as soon as we got in the city."

Naruto could tell that Shibuki knew it was a lie but apparently did not care given they had just saved his life and probably his village.

"I see, thank you again," said Shibuki. "What are you doing here?"

"We're looking for your jinchuuriki. Speaking of which, why the hell wasn't he or she guarding the hero water? The shodaime hokage gave you a bijuu for exactly that reason. Now answer before I go back and tell Konoha and they come back with an army," demanded Jiraiya. He was very angry if his killing intent was anything to go by.

"She's... she's gone," stuttered Shibuki, fearing for his life.

"Gone? Gone where?" he demanded grabbing Shibuki by his collar and lifting him into the air.

"She was banished a week ago," said Shibuki, not daring to meet Jiraiya's eyes.

"This is a diversion," Kakashi interrupted. "The Amegakure shinobi plus the timing. Akatsuki is making their move on her right now."

"Where can I find her?" demanded Jiraiya furiously.

"She's been lingering in a mangrove southeast of the village entrance. Maybe an hour at a civilian's pace."

Jiraiya threw the boy to the ground. "We're going."

Naruto punched Shibuki as the man tried to stand and then kicked him the gut. "Those who would abandon a comrade are worse than trash," he spat angrily, then rapidly followed after Jiraiya and Kakashi.

"If we catch up to them, Kakashi, you and Naruto work together on one of the Akatsuki. I'll deal with the other," said Jiraiya.

No response was needed, the situation spoke for itself. Naruto focused his voice inwards hoping to tell Kurama.

"I already know. I'm trying to search for Chomei as you travel. Once I sense her, I'll point you in the right direction," spoke Kurama inside his head.

Naruto mentally thanked him for helping.

"Kurama is searching for Chomei. He'll tell me if he senses her and where to go," said Naruto as he raced alongside Kakashi and Jiraiya.

Naruto felt his heart quickening with worry. He'd never met this girl but he could not imagine how it would feel to be banished from the place you call home. He feared her life would be snuffed out for something for which she hadn't asked. He wanted so much to let her know she was not alone. These and so many other thoughts continued racing through Naruto's mind as they moved.

"Got her," said Kurama in his head. He projected an image to Naruto of where she was and who she was fighting.

"Kurama found her, veer left," said Naruto. "She's fighting two Akatsuki members. One's a girl that uses paper to create blades and bindings. The other guy is a giant and seems to be able to absorb chakra and techniques, he's got orange hair and his eyes are strange."

"How do you know that?" asked Jiraiya.

"Kurama showed me from Chomei's memory, I guess," said Naruto.

"Naruto, I'm going to use a fire technique to try and split them up, give it some wind," said Kakashi as he pulled up his headband.

"Katon: ryuka no jutsu," said Kakashi as soon as the enemy was in view. The girl was standing back from the fight perched high on a thick tree branch. Standing on a lower branch, the man was holding the girl up by her neck, her struggling all but ended.

"Fuuton: atsugai no jutsu," said Naruto spitting a ball of condensed tornado like winds into the fire increasing it's speed and causing it to magnify to a monstrous size.

The large man with orange hair turned in surprise at the coming fireball dropping the jinchuuriki allowing her to fall to the forest floor. Unable to absorb the fireball he was incinerated instantly much to their surprise.

Unfortunately the victory was very short lived as another man landed on the tree branch next to the woman. This man looked different physically but his hair, and piercing throughout his body were the same as the man they had just killed. This man's hair was longer and straighter where as the man they just killed had short, straight hair slicked back.

Naruto spawned a clone to pick up the girl from the forest floor and move her out of the way.

"I am disappointed," said the man. "I did not think Takigakure would be able to figure out my ploy so quickly."

"They didn't," said Jiraiya as the trio landed, positioning themselves between the Akatsuki members and Naruto's clone that was holding the girl protectively.

Naruto didn't remain idle in the meantime. He'd been spawning clones all around them since they'd gotten a final destination. Two of his clones appeared next to the girl and put a barrier up around them. And two more put up a wind barrier around that.

"I see, Jiraiya-sensei, it has been a long time?" said the man.

"Do I know you?" asked Jiraiya studying the man. Then he saw the girl. "Konan? Is that you?"

"Yes," said the woman, Konan.

"Akatsuki, huh?" asked Jiraiya. "I'm disappointed in you. I had such high hopes for you and those boys."

"Don't you dare!" hissed Konan angrily. "You abandoned us."

"No, I trusted you to find your own paths," said Jiraiya. "But this plan of Akatsuki, are you insane? Nothing good will come of gathering all of the bijuu in one place. Do you even know what you're doing?"

"Yes," said the man. "We use them to create a weapon and destroy every shinobi village. The weapon will become the ultimate deterrent to war and peace will reign or death will."

"So you do intent to resurrect the juubi?" asked Jiraiya.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Konan. "There is no juubi."

"A pawn, you're just a pawn," said Jiraiya. "There are only two possibilities in gathering all of the bijuu. One, to unleash them all at once to create chaos and havoc in a plan to grab for power, possibly to create a new major shinobi power. Two, to bind them all together again into the juubi. The man in the orange mask, you know him right? He's an Uchiha, he can control the bijuu and he may believe he even has the power to control the juubi. If that's the case then you're just pawns that have no idea what you're doing."

"Liar," said Konan venomously. "We will make Nagato's vision of peace come true."

"Nagato, where is he? Is he still alive?"

"I am alive and well, sensei," said the man next to her.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes and studied the man again. "The rinnegan, is that really you Nagato?"

"It is," said Nagato.

Naruto suddenly pushed Jiraiya and Kakashi down as another man with some kind of saw blade for a tail swiped over their heads. The man was covered in spikes and looked like some kind of living machine. He had the same eyes.

"Rasengan," said a Naruto clone attacking from behind the man. He moved his head perfectly out of the path of the attack and destroyed the clone effortlessly.

"Rasengan," said another clone as it burst through the ground in front of the man and drove his attack through the machine's head putting it out of commission.

Nagato on the branch next to Konan frowned. "You have already destroyed two of my paths. This annoys me greatly."

"I'll give you this one chance to run," said Jiraiya, something about this whole situation felt wrong to him. That rinnegan aslo made him nervous. "You may have been my students once so I owe you at least that much but you will not get another chance."

Nagato looked around the area. Two of his paths were already destroyed, one beyond recovery. The forest provided too many obscured angles that would prevent him from being able to fully use his remaining paths. The shinobi before him had the advantage.

"Come visit us someday, sensei. You can find us in Amegakure, just ask for god and you will find me," said Nagato. Turning to Konan he added, "We're leaving."

"Just a warning, we will come for her. You can't protect her forever," said Konan. Sheets of paper quickly formed wings on her back. She took hold of Nagato's shoulders and took flight.

"Why did we let them go?" asked Kakashi.

"It's a one time mercy," said Jiraiya. "If one of your students went bad would you offer him a chance to turn back?"

"I suppose I would," said Kakashi. Truthfully, he probably wouldn't try to save Sasuke given the boy's mental disorder but if it were Sakura or Naruto he would give them that chance.

"How is she?" asked Jiraiya.

"Weak," said Naruto. "That guy beat her pretty badly then seems to have drained almost all of her chakra. I don't think Chomei can safely refill her chakra supply, the girl, Fuu, has already used too much of Chomei's chakra already, anymore might kill her."

Jiraiya frowned. "We can't take her back to Taki, its not safe there anymore, not for us or her."

"What about Konoha?" asked Kakashi. "It would be safe for now at least."

Jiraiya frowned again. "Let's get some distance from this spot for now. We can patch her up and get a message to Tsunade, see what she wants to do about it."

BREAK

Hours later the group was well inside the borders of Hi no Kuni and made camp. The girl needed rest to deal with her chakra exhaustion. It was risky to move her as fast as they did but given the circumstances it was necessary.

Naruto, Kakashi, and Jiraiya sat in silence before the camp fire each mulling over what they had seen and experienced.

"How did he dodge my first clone?" asked Naruto, finally breaking the silence. "It was like he had eyes in the back of his head but I didn't see any. But when I did hit him I was right in front of him."

"I don't know," said Kakashi. "I wondered about that myself. And did you see the eyes? All three of those men had the same eyes."

"The rinnegan," said Jiraiya softly. "It's a definite unknown, it's surrounded in legend and myth. No one really knows what those eyes are capable of. I wonder though. The one on that branch, he saw your clone attack from behind him, right? But the one that got him did so suddenly by attacking from a place where he could not be seen before it was too late. I think their sight may be shared somehow."

"Shared, like what one sees so do the others?" asked Kakashi. "That would make sense."

"What about those piercings they all had? Did that have something to do with it?" asked Naruto.

"I think, all of those bodies were fakes. All of them linked to Nagato, the real Nagato," said Jiraiya. "I remember that boy and his Uzumaki red hair. None of them were him. If anything, they looked more like Yahiko, another former student."

"So the real Nagato was hidden somewhere and controlling them from a distance," said Kakashi. "It makes sense, but I have to say that's a scary ability."

"So if we ever face him again we have to split up him and other bodies he's controlling so they can't see everything we do," said Jiraiya. "It will not be easy."

"You think he can just get new bodies?" asked Naruto, more than a little appalled.

"I don't know. Time will tell. I fear we'll see him again, sooner than we would like to anyway," said Jiraiya. "But I'm sure this young lady will be able to tell us more, won't you?"

Naruto looked quickly in her direction to see her orange eyes open and full of fear. "It's okay, we saved you."

"Where?" she asked softly, it was clear she was afraid.

"We're in Hi no Kuni," explained Naruto. "We needed to put some distance between us and Akatsuki. You're safe now so don't worry."

"Why?" she asked, not looking any less afraid than she was before.

Naruto frowned. "Hold on." He closed his eyes focusing inward. He appeared in his soul-scape and walked the halls to find Kurama.

"Back so soon?"

"Yeah, we need to talk to your sister and her container. She finally regained consciousness," explained Naruto.

"Fine," sighed Kurama. The fox closed his eyes and directly across from his prison formed another prison made of bamboo that was stacked and bound together with dozens of little seals.

"Hello Chomei, I was hoping we could speak to you and your container. Would you mind bringing her here?"

"Just do it sister, or he'll never shut up," said Kurama.

A moment later Fuu appeared.

"Hello Fuu-san," greeted Naruto at her appearance.

Fuu looked surprised. She looked around her and then saw the fox behind Naruto. "You... you're like me?"

"Yeah, it's why we came to find you," said Naruto, smiling brightly at the girl.

Naruto was surprised when the girl latched on to him and began to sob uncontrollably.

"Hey, it's okay, you're safe now," said Naruto, rubbing her back gently in an attempt to sooth and comfort her. Naruto was surprised even still as she held on to him for dear life.

She was pretty he thought, with her green hair and orange eyes. He thought she was maybe a year or two older than him.

"I have suffered enough of these humans' presence. Tell us what you wish and be gone," said Chomei, her voice had a distinctive buzz to it.

"Stop being a bitch. Your container almost died today and you almost got yourself stolen by a poser with father's eyes," chided Kurama.

Chomei buzzed loudly at that. "So be it, tell us what you must."

Naruto managed to sort of free himself from Fuu who was still latched tightly to his arm and didn't seem like she planned to let go anytime soon.

"So those guys that were after Fuu-san, they are part of a group called Akatsuki. They are trying to capture all of the bijuu. We came to warn you both in the hope that it never happens," explained Naruto.

"And why should I care?"

Kurama sighed. He had a feeling that he was going to have to keep explaining this over and over again to all of his siblings. "I think they are trying to resurrect the juubi. There is an Uchiha with them that can control us and probably thinks he can control the juubi."

"If that is true and they were to succeed we would not exist anymore. That is not acceptable," roared Chomei.

"Exactly," said Naruto. "So I need you to work with Fuu-san so you can get strong enough together to defend yourselves."

"I can't... I can't go back there," mumbled Fuu. "I was... I was banished." And with that small statement the girl started sobbing uncontrollably again.

"You don't have to go back," said Naruto trying to calm her. "We're waiting to hear from our hokage but we're trying to bring you back to Konohagakure. You'd be safe there with us."

Fuu sniffled a few times stifling her tears. "Really?"

"Yes, really," said Naruto. "We want to keep you and Chomei-san safe. Akatsuki is really bad news."

"Okay, I'm yours now," said Fuu with a firm nod.

Naruto nodded, thankful that she'd finally calmed down. Then he reprocessed her statement. "Wait what?"