Chapter 28: Furious Outbreak

Chapter 28: Furious Outbreak

Madara stared at the flying blonde as he clenched his fist. Deidara smirked as he prepared an explosive discreetly, "I'm not going to die from your ancient ass yeah." He could see his words were just fuelling the Uchiha's already fiery temper.

Swerving on his transport, he threw his clay explosive at the sharingan wielder. Madara smirked as he shook his head before jumping out of the way and avoiding the ensuing explosion. He ran to the nearest building before beginning to vertically scale its walls as Deidara threw two more explosives at the leader of the Akatsuki.

Madara retrieved two kunai from his torn cloak as he flung them at the incoming explosives. The blunt end of the weapons connected sending the explosives to the base of the tower. Deidara was slightly surprised at the skill displayed as the resulting explosion of Madara's actions toppled the large building as it began to fall towards the blonde criminal.

Madara moved around the collapsing tower before running across it swiftly and gaining distance on Deidara. The blonde criminal was quick to realise his plan as he formed another two of his explosive artworks before flinging them near the end of the tower and destroying it.

Madara continued his advance disregarding the fact that there was no path left for him to run across. He jumped off the tower before landing on the newly destroyed piece before taking off again directly towards the missing-nin in the sky.

Deidara turned on his transport to gain some more distance but Madara rapidly formed hand seals before shouting, "Katon Karyu Endan!" Placing his right hand in front of his mouth to control his attack, he shot a large flame in the shape of a dragon directly towards his opponents transport.

Deidara was taken by surprise at the sudden action as the large bird of clay was engulfed in flames from the Uchiha's technique. The heat intensified as his transport slowly began it's descent to the ground with him in the middle of the flaming bird. He formed another small bird sculpture before throwing it high into the air. A large smoke cloud enveloped the area as Deidara launched himself from the midst of danger to his newly formed transport.

Madara was falling to the ground as he saw the blonde inching closer to his new bird of clay. He withdrew two shuriken before throwing them hardly at his former subordinate. Deidara clasped the ankle of his transport as he turned to see the two shuriken approaching him. He flipped from underneath the bird to land on top avoiding one shuriken but moving into the path of the other one. He did a last second twist as the shuriken grazed his ribs before he landed on top of his transport.

Madara spat towards the ground before he reached into his ragged cloak and pulled out a sharp wire. He tied part of it to his wrist before attaching the other end to a kunai and throwing it at the moving target in the sky. Deidara continued flying before he ducked as Zetsu flew over him failing to kick him as he had planned. The green haired criminal didn't relent as he recovered and sent a punch towards Deidara's stomach and connected. The blonde recoiled as he felt the devastating blow simultaneously forming a clay explosive. Zetsu recognised his attempt as he jumped backwards off the transport however Deidara didn't abandon his idea as he threw the art piece at the yellow eyed criminal.

Zetsu's face remained expressionless as the sculpture soared straight into him and impacted resulting in an explosion. Deidara laughed as he saw the direct hit, "You're nothing but an overgrown plant yeah." He mocked Zetsu's shinobi skills as the smoke slowly cleared from his body revealing the Venus fly trap surrounding his body completely sealed up.

Deidara raised an eyebrow as the structure slowly opened revealing the unscathed form of Zetsu. He didn't have time to dwell in anger as he heard a thump in his transport. He swerved on his bird quickly preparing a few more explosives as he saw the kunai implanted in the clay bird's side.

Madara pulled on the wire now directly connecting him to the clay bird as it began to pull him inwards to his target. Deidara began to throw multiple explosives at the Uchiha as he dodged them and they went into the various buildings destroying them.

The blonde smirked as he manipulated the clay in his hands into small spiders and let them loose on the sharp wire connecting his transport and the Uchiha. The clay spiders scurried across the wire rapidly, approaching Madara.

The orange haired criminal used his unoccupied hand to form hand seals as he shouted, "Katon Ryuka No Jutsu!" He expelled a flame from his mouth which travelled across the wire hastily enclosing the spiders made of clay and heading for Deidara's transport.

The Uchiha cut the wire from his wrist before falling to one of the many tall structures in the city and began to run across it. Deidara shook his head as he saw the incoming fire, "Not again yeah." He reached to the side of his clay bird and gripped the kunai before putting all his strength into it and removing it. However he wasn't quick enough to let go as part of the fire burned his hand.

His momentary distraction with his burnt hand was all Madara needed as he jumped from the top of the building he had run up to Deidara. The blonde criminal was too late to react as the Uchiha grasped his burnt hand before viciously ramming a kunai into the hole in his palm with which he manipulated clay. Deidara's eyes went wide but he refused to scream out in pain as he brought his fist towards Madara's head.

The Uchiha smirked before moving around the art appreciating criminal and planting punch into his grazed ribs. He followed it with another to his chin before planting a hard elbow to the back of his neck sending him to his hands and knees. The leader of Akatsuki didn't relent as he put all his fury into a sickening axe kick into Deidara's back. The criminal went face first into the back of his clay bird as pain echoed throughout his spine. Madara pulled out an explosive tag before planting it onto the clay bird's back, "I thought you'd like to go out with a bang."

His said his last words to Deidara before jumping off the bird towards his partly decimated city below. He turned in midair to face the transport as it exploded leaving a large cloud of smoke. His menacing smile was removed from his face as he saw a figure behind the smoke falling towards the ground. The smoke slowly vanished showing the now large form of Deidara which was full of clay. He looked directly into the Uchiha's eyes, "We're all going out with a bang yeah!"

Madara realised the volatile state of the criminal as he quickly landed on the ground and raised a wall of fire to encircle him. The descending form of the criminal in the sky exploded tremendously as it sent a tremor throughout the city and a wave of destruction spread in all directions. The buildings and city that money was spent on to build was obliterated as Deidara unleashed his most devastating technique.

The ensuing wind and carnage nearly decimated Madara's defence as he concentrated to keep it active. Feeling the force on his defence lessen, he released the flame to reveal his city. He looked at the ruined buildings and burning flames scattered in different places. He closed his eyes trying to control his anger as Zetsu slowly unveiled himself from the ground next to him.

The green haired Akatsuki looked over the carnage, "A suicidal technique."

Madara sighed to calm himself as he opened his eyes, "Find the ring." Zetsu nodded as Madara took off in pursuit of Naruto and Tobi.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tobi ran across the hard rock as he saw the forest ahead. The surrounding area was nothing but rugged terrain which had absolutely no vegetation and the forest looked more like a graveyard as the trees were ghastly and tall giving the sense of evil. He jumped onto the trees before beginning to jump across the branches whilst thinking of what Naruto had told him. "He's crazy."

Naruto smiled as he heard the black haired male, "That's kind of what I thought."

Tobi shook his head, "You shouldn't have come, the last thing we need is for him to get the Kyuubi."

Naruto looked towards the ground as it passed him like a blur, "I wanted to end it…I only expected two of you there at the time."

Tobi laughed, "I made the tracks so clear, it should have been obvious that it was more than a simple trap."

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he felt extremely tired, "Yeah…"

Tobi recognised the sombre mood of the genin, "Don't worry about it." He continued jumping across the branches as he neared the border of the country.

Tobi quickly faced towards his left as he saw a kunai fly towards him. He jumped out of the way towards the ground before a blur appeared in front of him and tried to slash his arm. The attack was stopped moments before connecting as a hand grasped the wrist of the sword handler.

"There's no need for that Sasuke." Jiraiya let go of the black haired teen's wrist as he sheathed his sword and stared at Tobi.

Naruto was surprised as he heard the voices and took in the sight of the shinobi standing in front of him. Sakura stared in shock at the devastated state of the jinchuuriki as she rushed towards him, "Are you alright?"

Tobi let Naruto go, slowly placing him on the hard ground. Naruto looked at the pink haired medic as she had a stern expression on her face which was over come with worry. He smiled as he realised that they had come after him, "Better than what I could've been like."

Sakura's hands began to glow as she began to observe the broken arm of Naruto. Tobi looked at the kunoichi before speaking, "There's no time for this. You're going to have to heal him once he's safe."

Sasuke looked at Naruto as Kakashi addressed the masked shinobi, "Jiraiya-sama's informant."

Tobi scratched his head observing the calm shinobi before turning to face the frog hermit, "It's been a long time, Jiraiya-sama."

Jiraiya smirked, "You've been found out."

Sakura held Naruto as she spoke to the criminal, "Arigatou, for helping him."

Tobi gave a nervous laugh, "He was my student at one time. A teacher always looks after his students…" He turned to face Jiraiya giving him a thumbs up as he remembered what he had been told by the legendary sannin, "…right?

Jiraiya coughed, "Yes, that's right."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he kept his hand on the hilt of his sword, "Student?"

Tobi was interrupted from answering as Jiraiya spoke, "Hai, he's the one I told you about earlier; the missin-nin who helped train Naruto in genjutsu."

Sasuke nodded in acknowledgment while Kakashi asked his question, "What's the current situation? I doubt you managed to escape without any worries."

Tobi folded his arms, "Seems like Akatsuki was being used as a cover up for the plans of one person. He'll know by now that Naruto's missing and will be on his way here."

Sasuke walked over to Naruto as he looked at the jinchuuriki. He gave him an awkward smile before helping him up, "Is it just him?"

Tobi shook his head, "There are two of them and Deidara can't hold them off for long. Zetsu alone would be trouble for him."

Jiraiya thought over what he had been told, "So you're being helped by another one of Akatsuki."

Tobi scratched his head, "Yeah, only problem is that there's another Akatsuki but I'm not sure what side she's on."

Naruto looked in the direction of Tobi as he heard him, "Did she have blue hair?"

The black haired Akatsuki nodded, "You saw her?"

Naruto put his right arm around Sakura to support himself better, "She's already dead."

The others remained silent as Tobi answered him, "Oh…I kind of liked her."

Jiraiya ran a hand through his hair, "You like everyone…time to get going."

Kakashi looked at Pakkun who had remained quiet through the conversation, "We can take it from here."

The dog raised his paw before disappearing in a plume of smoke. Jiraiya walked over to Naruto before taking him off Sakura and supporting him. Team 7 took off into the trees as did Jiraiya with the jinchuuriki on his back. However as he landed on the branch he stopped, looking back at Tobi who was still on the ground, "Let's go."

Tobi stayed quiet for a few moments before speaking, "You go ahead…I'm going to try and delay them as much as I can."

Naruto's eyes widened, "Nani? You're going to get killed, stop being stupid and let's go."

Tobi began laughing as he heard the words of the genin, "I didn't think I'd ever hear you say something like that…" He sighed before showing them the ring on his hand, "He needs this…if I'm with you, there's no way he's going to stop chasing you. But if I can delay him long enough then he's probably going to head back..." He stared at Naruto, "With only two of them, I doubt they can extract the Kyuubi before the bijuu are released. He's just going to kill you to get rid of it…I need to buy you enough time to get to Fire Country."

Naruto sighed, "We'll worry about that later."

Jiraiya stopped the blonde from continuing, "He's right…" Naruto looked at his mentor with a disbelieving look, "Have you forgotten about his own struggle Naruto?"

Naruto was left speechless as he heard the frog hermit. Jiraiya closed his eyes, "This is his way of making up for his past…" He opened his eyes to look at his companion, "Hopefully your heart is a lot lighter than before…everything you've done to help me and Naruto…you have my deepest gratitude."

Naruto had sorrowful look in his eyes before he smiled at the black haired male, "Arigatou…niisan."

Jiraiya took off leaving a stunned Tobi as he heard Naruto's words. He turned around before sitting on the ground. He had a smile across his face behind his mask as he spoke in a whisper, "I owe you both a lot more…for giving me a family."

Flashback

Naruto struggled to read his scroll as he scratched his head. The sun had set long ago as the sky twinkled with stars. He was seated on a log a few feet away from a bright fire. Across him was Tobi who was messing around with something in his hands. A couple of meters away from them was Jiraiya who was giggling every few minutes whilst writing up the final version of his latest Icha Icha novel.

The jinchuuriki let out a heavy sigh, "You suck at writing up explanations and I can't understand this well. You could help you know."

Tobi looked up from the half complete sculpture in his hands, "I do? I liked my explanation, it took me nearly a day to write it up the way I wanted it."

Naruto threw the scroll to the ground, "I learn better the practical way."

Tobi laughed, "Don't we all? It's better you learn from a scroll, it might help you in the future if you learn such a skill now." He gave a big smile when he finished.

Naruto observed the weird object in his hands, "What's that?"

Tobi held up the deformed piece of art, "It's going to be my mask. I've got this whole new idea for my genjutsu. I'll use it to manipulate people's actions and they won't even know. As soon as you look at it, you're caught."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Why would someone want to look at that crap?"

Tobi coughed, "That's not nice…I'm not finished yet."

Naruto fell off his log backwards as he landed on the grass behind him and stared at the stars. The minutes passed by as he thought of useless things before he spoke, "Why did you run away from Kusagakure?"

Jiraiya stopped writing as he looked up from his book. He turned to face Tobi who was visibly a little shaken, "You don't have to say anything."

Tobi shook his head, "It's okay." He placed his unfinished mask on the ground as he began to speak, "I've never known my parents…I was abandoned at birth."

Naruto winced as he heard him since he never knew of his parents either.

Tobi rested his elbows on his knees before resuming, "Since I had no guardian, the leader of our village was free to decide my fate. I was taken in by him and by the time I turned 3, I was being taught how to become a shinobi. It wasn't much of a life really. They trained me to become the leader of their new shinobi unit who would carry out only the hardest of missions. I took over 4 years ago when I was 14. We were sent on a lot of missions to get rid of unwanted people and my most recent mission was to assassinate the feudal lord of Earth Country."

Naruto sat up as he looked at the missing-nin, "Your last mission."

Tobi nodded, "I got inside his compound with relative ease but when I found him…I couldn't do it…" He looked at Naruto with visible sorrow in his eyes, "…I saw him playing with his daughter…she was so happy…I didn't want to take that happiness away from her…" He looked at the ground, "I know what it feels like to be alone and have no family…I didn't want to be responsible for making someone else feel the way I did."

Naruto's insides panged with familiarity, "You ran away after that?"

The black haired male resumed, "It made me question everything I've been doing…I wanted to quit as a shinobi but I wasn't allowed to because of all the effort they spent on me…I ran away but they sent hunter-nins after me…I ended up killing them, those who were my comrades at one time." He put his hands under his chin, "I lost my eye in that battle…and a day later I met you."

End Flashback

Tobi stopped reminiscing as he looked upwards at a branch whereupon stood the leader of Akatsuki. He rose to his feet, "I was beginning to wonder whether Deidara had actually managed to finish you off." He laughed as he finished.

Madara looked around before once again settling his eyes on the former Akatsuki, "The Uzumaki is gone. Trying to buy time are you?"

Tobi grabbed his Akatsuki cloak before throwing it towards the ground, "Your ideals of what a shinobi must be…it goes against everything I believe in. I won't let you harm Naruto."

Katon Karyu Endan - Fire Release Fire Dragon Flame Missile

Katon Ryuka No Jutsu - Fire Release Dragon Fire Technique