New Enemy: Akatsuki - 5

'He's here! I don't know why but he's here!' Sasuke quickly rearranged his priorities to accommodate the current circumstances, 'And he's looking for Naruto! Why? I've got to find him! This may be my only chance!'

Recalling Naruto's most favored spot in the village, Sasuke checked in at Ichiraku Ramen and was disappointed to see that he was not there. He settled for information on his whereabouts instead, "Where's Naruto?"

Ayame blinked up at him, "Hm? Naruto-kun? He may be with Haku-kun and Gaara-kun."

Team 2. He left.

Find Haku and Gaara. Find Naruto. Find Itachi. Kill Itachi.

It was all so clear yet every second felt like forever as he ran, desperate to find some sign that would direct him to his objective and his chance to avenge his clan.

Gaara and Haku, thankfully, were nearby and on their way to join Sakura and her company. Sasuke leapt in front of them, startling Haku and annoying Gaara. He kept it short because he didn't have time, "Where's Naruto? He isn't with you?"

The red haired boy gave him an incredulous look, "What business do you have with him?"

Sasuke glared at him, wondering if he'd end up killing someone before he got his hands on Itachi. Haku was more helpful though and gave a warning look to his friend, "No, Sasuke. Naruto went out of town with Jiraiya-sensei to find our replacement Hokage."

"Where?"

Gaara really wanted to punch him. What the hell did he want with Naruto? Naruto was too good to socialize with scum like Uchiha, at least in Gaara's opinion.

"At Tanzaku Quarter…" Sasuke left abruptly and Haku trailed off as he spoke, finding his behavior a bit alarming, "I think it would be fair to say that something is very wrong."

"What was your first indication? When he showed up or when he spoke to us?"

Haku sighed, seeing his point, even if it was very sarcastic and uncouth.

"I'm going to see what he wants with Naruto-kun," Gaara announced, suspecting trouble, "Keep an eye on Temari and Kankuro until I get back."

Haku nodded, "Hurry."

Gaara disappeared in a whirlwind a moment later.

*

Itachi followed Naruto as he raced over the rooftops. Kisame bulldozed a path for them with his zanbato, making short work of the hordes of shadow clones buffering them.

'Looks like I jinxed it…' Kisame figured, amused that Naruto had deceived them into a false sense of security. Now it was a matter of capturing and silencing the runt before more jounin arrived to stall them.

Itachi formed a shadow clone of his own and sent it to retrieve the pesky jinchuriki while a dozen blondes attempted to tackle him after shoving Kisame into a gutter. His kage bunshin exploded on the adjacent roof, knocking Naruto onto a balcony and destroyed the last of his clones.

Naruto took note of the maneuver, 'He can make his shadow clones blow up? I am totally gonna learn how to do that!'

The blonde boy returned to the top of a building where Kisame had been waiting, and ducked the oncoming swing of his gargantuan sword, "Suck on this! Rasengan!"

The shark-like ninja's eyes widened in shock as the spiraling sphere of chakra clipped him on his side and sent him flying into a brick wall on the opposite side of the rooftop.

Itachi stood nearby on an air vent, watching interestedly as Naruto rounded on him, "Your power is impressive for your age. I was not expecting it. You truly are all that remains of the Fourth Hokage."

"Dirt-bags like you have no place talking about people as great as him!" Naruto howled indignantly, his fists clenching.

"I had nothing but respect for that man." Itachi told him.

Though it was supposed to be a compliment it made Naruto's blood boil. Naruto formed hand seals and created more kage bunshin, ready to put the Uchiha in his place.

*

Jiraiya had a feeling he was getting closer to Naruto after seeing Sasuke run past him on the street for no explicable reason. He had not anticipated the Akatsuki to be hunting for Naruto so soon, but he was certain his young pupil had received enough training to hold his own against them at least for a little while. 'And if Sasuke's here that means he must know what's happening right now, or that knows that his brother has arrived, at least…' Jiraiya followed after the Uchiha survivor, keeping track of his movements as he weaved through the crowds on the street.

*

Kisame had attacked Naruto and his clones head-on while he had been distracted by Itachi. The blade grazed his shoulder painfully as it hacked through the kage bunshin surrounding him, beginning to feed on his chakra.

'When he gets close it's like I can't feel my chakra!' Naruto ducked back away from the sword, wondering what jutsu he could counter it with. He rushed through hand seals before Kisame could get close again, swiping his thumb over his bloody shoulder, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A frighteningly large battle toad appeared with a puff of smoke, crossing blades with Kisame as he growled in frustration. Naruto had proved to be a more capable shinobi than he had originally thought.

The blonde boy turned his attention to Itachi again, more interested in fighting him, 'This is the guy who killed all those people…he's Sasuke's brother.' His expression was one of righteous fury, 'I'll make him pay for what he did!'

It hadn't taken Sasuke long to catch up with the scuffling ninja on the rooftops. He had only had to follow the trail of rubble they left behind them. Naruto felt his jaw drop in horror as Sasuke appeared on the left side of the building, declaring vengeance on his older brother.

This changed things, Naruto noted. He watched Sasuke form the Chidori, and pondered if perhaps he would actually be able to kill his brother as he intended too.

He had a feeling he wouldn't.

"Sasuke wait! He's too-!"

Naruto's cry went unheard as the younger Uchiha charged across the roof towards Itachi, screaming one word that summed up all of the feelings he felt for his brother, "Die!"

Itachi side-stepped the attack with precision timing and grabbed his brother's wrist. His face was illuminated by the crackling light of the Chidori. The light puttered out as Itachi broke his brother's arm with minimal effort, oblivious to his cries of pain.

Naruto locked eyes with the nukenin, seeing in them a challenge, or a compromise, or something that dared him to save Sasuke from a worse fate should he choose to do nothing.

'I can't believe this, it's like a hostage situation now…' Naruto stood very still while he watched Sasuke weakly struggle to free himself from his brother's grip, 'It's me they want, Sasuke shouldn't have gotten involved! But…if I don't do something that bastard will kill him for sure!'

Bored of Naruto's hesitance to intervene, Itachi proceeded to ruthlessly beat his brother, breaking through his blocks and sending him crashing to the concrete of the roof, taunting the jinchuriki to put an end to it.

"Just stop it!" Naruto roared, unwilling to surrender, but knowing better than to attempt to rescue Sasuke, "You'll kill him! He's your brother! Why would you-?"

Itachi carelessly tossed Sasuke off the side of the building after he had gone limp, and Naruto decided that risking himself was his only option. Three shadow clones materialized and caught the younger Uchiha as he fell, pulling him back to the safety of the ledge.

Itachi made a move to destroy the clones that had rescued Sasuke and Naruto raced ahead, unaware that Kisame had at last dispatched the troublesome battle toad he had summoned. He was hot on Naruto's tail with his sword raised to slash.

Kisame was blindsided by a Rasengan that hurled into him from behind, knocking him into the cluster of air vents ahead of him with a painfully loud crash. 'I am sick of this attack!'

"Back off you miserable fish-face!" Jiraiya snarled, intent on finishing the Mist nukenin. His hair would turn pink before he let the Akatsuki lay a hand on his student!

Naruto turned, grinning, glad to see his sensei had caught up.

Itachi, meanwhile, had eliminated the last of the clones that had been defending Sasuke. The younger boy lay helplessly on the roof, his eyes dim and dispirited, 'It's just like last time…I wasn't able to do anything then and I can't now. I'm not strong enough…'

He felt a hand close tightly around his throat, lifting him into the air. Itachi was disappointed in Sasuke's lack of ability, "Sasuke, there is not enough hate inside of you to kill me. I thought you were serious about challenging me?"

His air supply was cut off and Sasuke made a vain effort to struggle until a blast of sand had barreled into Itachi, forcing him back to the edge of the building. Sasuke collapsed down to the roof again, his energy depleted.

Gaara folded his arms and stood beside the crumpled mess of an Uchiha that was next to him. He glowered ahead at Itachi, uncertain of what was going on, but still sure that he was an enemy.

Itachi swiped the sand from his cloak with only half a mind, "You are an enigma."

The red haired boy decided to hear him out before crushing him, "You can tell?"

"For someone who hates Sasuke as desperately as you do…there really is no cause for you to save his life." Itachi's powers of observation were alarmingly accurate, but then again, Gaara's loathing for Sasuke was rather easy to spot.

Gaara smirked, "If anyone is going to kill him, it's me."

Naruto noticed Gaara's arrival shortly after Jiraiya had rushed over to him, making sure he was in one piece. Kisame, terribly aggravated by being throttled to easily, returned to Itachi's side and glared venomously at Jiraiya.

Itachi made note that they were outnumbered and decided it wasn't worth the trouble, "Kisame, we're leaving."

The two nukenin leapt down into the alley below to make their getaway, and Jiraiya pursued them, only to find that they had vanished. They had left no trace that would indicate where they had fled to and Jiraiya paced around in the alley by himself for a few moments, supremely pissed.

'Unbelievable! Can't get a goddamn break with these kids…' His eye was twitching uncontrollably, 'First Naruto being cornered, then Sasuke pokes his nose into our business and of course the sand kid just has to save the day! What if they realized he has the Ichibi? Is it worth him jeopardizing himself at a time like this?'

Although he knew it was unlikely that Itachi and Kisame had recognized Gaara to also be a jinchuriki, it would only be a matter of time before they came looking for him as well.

Jiraiya had finally calmed himself down after a short while, just in time to notice a ninja racing down the alleyway towards him, "Dynamic Entry!"

A kick in the face sure brought him back to his senses.

It was only after his surprise attack did Gai realize he had ambushed the toad sage. He did sincerely apologize but, naturally, Jiraiya didn't want to hear it, "You're a bit late Gai, the party's over! And why the hell did you kick me? Do you know who I am?"

A raucous on the roof reminded him that there were still serious matters that needing tending to. Gai followed after Jiraiya to the top of the building, still sheepishly apologizing for his mistake.

Naruto had managed to pull Sasuke in an upright sitting position, but he was drifting in and out of consciousness. It appeared as if the psychological damage done to him had arrested his physical functions. Gaara, as usual, was far less worried over the matter and was more concerned over Naruto's welfare.

"Gai, take Sasuke back to Konoha to get his injuries treated," Jiraiya instructed, fishing through his gi for his pipe, "Boys, I need to have a chat with you two right now."

Gai promptly left with Sasuke slung over his shoulder and Gaara and Naruto gave their attention to their mentor, wondering what exactly had happened.

"Neither of you are hurt are you?" The toad sage inquired while lighting his pipe, "Those two could have easily killed you, you know. They are S-Class criminals."

"Kisame got my arm pretty bad, but it healed up a while ago," Naruto displayed the tear in his jacket where blood had dried but his wound was completely mended, "What the heck did they want with me, Ero-sensei? All I did was-"

"It's not about what you did, Naruto, it's simply about you in general," He took a drag and then nodded his head to the red haired boy, "And you too, Gaara, believe it or not. This time they only came looking for Naruto, but you won't be far behind on the list, I'm sure…"

"What are you talking about?" Gaara questioned, impatient with Jiraiya's chatter.