Apologize

A.N - Thanks for not leaving cranky reviews!

Sorry for not updating for so long...but I'm not really motivated...yeah, you've probably heard that before...but it's the truth... -.- I also re-wrote chapter 1 and 2. More to be done later.

Last time I checked, I had over 60000 hits on my story...wow...that freaked me out a little. So, I wish to thank everyone who reads this. Thankyou for reading my crappy story!

LightningStreaker - I know I know! I shouldn't have Naruto so happy...and stray so far from the plotline...but, I didn't want to skip straight into Akatsuki Naruto right away...but, now, we're here! So, no need to worry!

RunDiamondRun...not the owner of Naruto.

All reviews are read and taken into account! You don't have to review though.

--

"Hmmm...so now we've got Naruto in the Akatsuki? What an interesting turn of events...eh? Itachi-san?"

Kisame and Itachi were in the kitchen, having returned from their mission.

"Now you don't have to worry about stealing Naruto away. He's already here."

He said, getting a cup out of a cupboard, located above the sink. Itachi was still a little suspicious about it all. He seemed to of got in a little easily.

"Well, now all we have to worry about is Kaoru's Jinchuuriki, right? This should be easy."

The tap he had his hand on was turned, making water come out and into the cup. Itachi said nothing as he thought.

Flashback

"Well, we're all here."

Spoke the voice of the Akatsuki Leader. All current Akatsuki members were stationed around his desk, which included Konan, Kaoru, Kisame, Naruto, Itachi, Deidara, Tobi and Zetsu at the back. 9 members in total, which wasn't too bad actually.

The reason for them not being in the traditional spot of the statue was simple. Everyone was there in the Akatsuki base at the time, so, there was no need for calling them there. Kisame continued to stare at Naruto, still wondering why he was there.

"As you may have noticed, Naruto is now here. And you may be wondering why he is here."

"Yeah, why is he here?"

Kisame asked, probably the most curious one out of them all. Tobi nodded excitedly.

"Oh hey! I remember you! You called Zetsu-san aloe vera at our fight! Hello Naruto!"

This was actually true. During the time when Naruto was seeking Sasuke, he met up with Tobi. And, sometime later into the fight, Zetsu appeared, speaking of how Itachi was badly injured, and almost about to die. But, he had also said the same about Sasuke. Naruto had gotten angry, and called him aloe vera.

Naruto never saw the Sharingan Tobi possessed, for he had jumped off too quickly. It was there Naruto found Sasuke, and brought him back.

Naruto said nothing as Tobi spoke.

"Shut up Tobi. We don't need your pointless comments, hm."

Deidara said irritated to his ex-partner. He always seemed to know the wrong buttons to push.

"Everyone be quiet. The reason Naruto is with us is so to accomplish his goal. After this goal is completed, he will relinquish the Kyuubi to us."

"Ohhhh...really?"

Kisame said, a grin plastered on his face.

"And what is this goal exactly?"

He asked. The Leader spoke simply.

"You will only find out if Naruto wishes to tell you."

No-one said anything after that for a while. Pain began to speak again.

"Now, Kaoru, you know where you must go. Go to the village where your Jinchuuriki is. Tobi, you go with her. She's your partner from now on."

"Hai, Leader-sama."

Kaoru was heading off towards the village of where her Jinchuuriki resided.

"Ok then! Right!"

Tobi yelled in his high pitched voice, exiting the room with Kaoru.

"Deidara, Naruto, you two will be going to assassinate someone in the town of Sabirucho, near Sunagakure. His name is Atshushi Nobusuke. He's learnt about some of the information on Akatsuki, and we need him gone."

Deidara smirked.

"Ok then...hm.."

Naruto nodded.

"Okay."

Both of them exited aswell.

"Itachi, Kisame, tomorrow, you two will be going to Orochimaru's hideout. You're going to reclaim his ring that he took with him."

"Oh really? But there are so many hideouts...which one do we look in?"

Kisame asked.

"Apparently, his ring is located within the major base in the Sound Village."

Kisame nodded, his sharky grin sticking out within the dark room.

"Sounds good enough. It's not like there will be anyone to bother us there...too bad."

He said, exciting the room. Itachi followed, not before taking a quick glance at the Leader, his curiosity about Naruto increasing.

End Flashback

The tap was now turned off, Kisame drinking the water that had come from it.

"...Well, today seems to of taken an interesting turn of events."

"...Yeah."

Was all Itachi said, short and quickly. It was then he retreated to his room.

Naruto and Deidara's POV

The new partner's were both standing outside the hideout, Tobi and Kaoru nearby. Deidara put some clay into one of the mouths on his hand.

"Well, good luck, Naruto-chan."

She quickly studied her nephew. He was wearing the full Akatsuki uniform now. The cloak, hat, the pants that all guys of the Akatsuki wore, and a fishnet shirt, hidden underneath the black outer garment. She studied the headband around his forehead - a large slash now bared itself through the middle. All that was missing was the purple nail polish. Naruto nodded.

"You too, Ba-chan."

"Good luck Naruto-senpai!! I hope your first mission goes really well!!"

Tobi yelled at Naruto. All Naruto did was nod, staring a little bit.

"Hey, Naruto. Get over here."

As the blond turned around, he saw a big clay bird poof out of what seemed nothing. He recognized the bird from the encounter he'd had with him when he was trying to get Gaara back. A gust of wind blew past at that moment, Kaoru and Tobi jumping of, Deidara also hoping onto the bird.

"...Gaara..."

The red haired's name echoed within Naruto's head, and sort of dazed him out a little.

"Hey! Naruto! Get over here! Hm!"

Deidara spoke louder and more sternly, snapping Naruto out of his daze. He quickly made his way over to the other blond. Deidara held his hand up, motioning for Naruto to get on the bird.

"Well, get on."

Naruto nodded, a small "hm" vibrating from his voice box. He swiftly jumped onto the bird, wobbling only slightly, quickly sitting down. Naruto took notice to the nail polish.

"Do we really have to wear nail polish?"

Naruto asked, speaking more to himself rather than too Deidara. Deidara turned to him, a small "hm?" now vibrating from his voice box.

"Yeah. It's apart of the uniform."

"Oh..."

--

The newly accommodated pair were standing on a hill, close to the town of Sabirucho, the bird they were flying on gone.

"Let's go."

Naruto and Deidara both started walking towards the town.

"We're going to stay at a hotel to night, ok? Understand? Hm."

Deidara stated to Naruto.

"Why? Why can't we just get him now?"

"For one, it's getting dark now, and by the time we get there, it will probably be dark, hm."

He paused for a second, looking at Naruto.

"And, we don't even know where he lives right now, so we have to find out some information, hm."

Naruto said nothing else as they continued to walk towards the town. Then, he realized something.

"Hey, Deidara?"

"What? Hm?"

"How exactly are we supposed to get in this town and not be recognized? I mean, I can understand we have to wear a uniform and all, but, I think all the towns in Wind Country know about the Akatsuki.

And I think this town would too, because if that guy we're after knows about us, well then I think the rest of the town would know too."

Deidara stared at Naruto, a little speechless. He was surprised his partner could think about something like that.

"Hm...well what would you know? The guy who screams and charges first does have some brains."

"...Well, what do you propose we do?"

Naruto began to think about what he could do to not get caught. He came up with a few things, but, he found flaws in all of them.

"Well, I have one idea..."

He said, trailing off with his sentence. Deidara expected him to say something afterwards, but he didn't. He was waiting for him to speak, but, after a while, he got irritated, so he said something.

"...and this idea would be?"

"...It involves genjutsu. It involves us casting genjutsu, so we both look different and sneak in. It's simple."

"...Sounds like a pretty good idea, hm. But, genjutsu's not really my forte, so, unless you can do it on both of us, you're going to have to think of something else...hm."

Naruto thought for a minute. Could he use transformation on two people? He could do it perfectly on himself, but, he wasn't actually sure if you could even do the transformation jutsu on someone else, let alone do it while you're doing it.

"...Well, let me see if I can do it on two people."

Naruto formed the seal.

"Henge!"

With a poof of smoke, he turned himself into what people had dubbed, Naruko. Deidara was kind of surprised and uncertain. Both looked at each other, both with the same expression.

"...I have to turn into a girl for a jutsu, ok? Now, let me see if I can do it on you."

He formed the seal once again, trying to think of how he could put a transformation on Deidara. He tried to remember something about chakra control at that moment; see if one of his Aunt's advices would help. One tip did work, so he tried to do that.

"...Henge!"

He did what Kaoru said, and the transformation on Deidara worked. Not much had changed though, considering Naruto was only trying to get a girl Deidara. But, the face was looking more female now, and his ponytail was slightly different.

"...I don't know what you did, but I guess you can do two transformations at once, yeah?"

And what would you know? A girly voice.

Naruto nodded, and released both transformations. Deidara grinned.

"Well, now we only have to wait for tomorrow...and see what that brings."

?? POV

"I'm surprised you got him here...and so quick and easy too."

"It's true. I didn't think he'd come this easy either."

Two people spoke to one person.

"Well, he's here now. So there's no need to worry."

"But, I just have one question."

The one person who was standing up turned around to the person sitting down.

"And what's that?"

"What do you plan to do now?"

He sat down near the other two.

"I plan to manipulate him a little more, just to make sure he's going to stay."

The other two people nodded. The other smirked in self-satisfaction.

Naruto's POV

"...Here again?"

Naruto was within his dream, and he appeared to be in the same mist space where he was 3 months ago. He'd been having repeated nightmares about what his "friends" said, but, this felt different somehow.

"...You always got to be happy..."

"Huh?"

A voice echoed, but Naruto couldn't tell where it was coming from. No-one had said this in previous dreams, so, this must be new.

"It was always you who got to be happy..."

"What? Where is that coming from?"

He began turning his head faster, trying to find somebody.

"Hello? Who's there!?"

"You were the only one who achieved happiness...you always came first..."

The voice became clearer in direction, and Naruto figured it was coming from behind him. He turned his body in a turn, only to discover someone he never thought would be standing there.

"...G...G...Gaara?"

Naruto choked out, struck with disbelief that Gaara would be standing there.

"No-one ever thought of me...I never got to be as happy as you...no-one needed me...and yet...people needed you..."

Naruto was dumbstruck. He didn't know what to say. In all of his other visions, Gaara had never before appeared.

This was something totally unexpected.

"You took your friends for granted...that why they hate you...you never appreciated the love they gave you..."

Naruto flinched back slightly.

"No...no that's not true!"

"It's your entire fault why they hate you...why they despise you..."

"S-shut up!"

"You'll never find friends again...no-one will ever care for you...need you...love you..."

"SHUT UP!"

He went to throw a punch at him out of blind rage. But his effort was in vain as it once again went straight through the figure of Gaara. His tears had already started, and he wouldn't even bother with trying to hold them back.

Lee came and took the place of Gaara. Naruto turned to "him", a low glare hanging on his face.

"You've come to talk badly of me too...haven't you?"

Naruto didn't actually expect Lee to reply, but for once, one of the people that appeared actually replied to him.

"Why would I pass up the opportunity?"

Naruto's eyes widened, as Lee grabbed his chin, turning him around.

"You truly are an idiot, Naruto. You kept going after Sasuke, when you should have just worried about yourself. Didn't you hear him when he said he cut the bonds between you two? You should have just left him.

He doesn't appreciate it. But, it's not like it matters. You're just a weak little Jinchuuriki."

"Oh shut up!"

"Why? Because it's true? You couldn't do anything with that power of yours. You couldn't stop Sasuke, you couldn't save Gaara, and you can't do anything with that power.

Do you think you'll able to destroy Konoha? Do you honestly think you'll be able too? You'll probably chicken out. You could never destroy those people...you could never do it."

"Yes I can!"

"Oh yeah? Prove it. You've done nothing. You're never going to destroy Konoha. You don't have enough hate for that village. You lack hatred for anything."

"...!"

Flashback

"You are weak. Why are you weak? Because you lack...hatred..."

End Flashback

"You say you are strong Naruto...you say you can destroy Konoha...prove it...prove it to me..."

"!!"

"...Prove it."

Naruto shot up, once again his brow covered in sweat, and slightly panting.

He let himself calm a little, and his breathing began to return to normal. He sat in silence, unsure of what had happened.

"...Did that really just happen?"

He expected the Kyuubi to reply, but nothing came. At least something would be nice.

"Kyuubi?...Hey, Kyuubi!"

Again, no response. He didn't call again, and just thought. Was that true? It's not like he could say it wasn't, but, at the same time, it seemed possible they thought that way about him.

It had been over 3 months away from everybody, and not once, not once had he had any encounters with any of his old acquaintances. Unless of course you counted that time with Neji at the hot springs, but, there were really no words exchanged between the two anyway.

He was wondering what they were doing. Were they happy? Celebrating he was gone?

"Naruto-kun..."

He snapped his head up, expecting it to be Deidara calling him, but instead, he saw the same man he'd seen the stormy night 3 months ago.

"...!"

"You've had another dream, correct?"

"H...how'd you get in here?!"

He voiced in a harsh whisper, trying not to wake Deidara who was sleeping on the other side of the room.

"It feels disappointing, doesn't it? Knowing your closet friends didn't even believe in you..."

"Who are you?!"

He again whispered, ignoring what he had said. But still, that man went on.

"Have you let go of them, Naruto?"

"..."

He didn't respond right away, not really sure how he should answer.

"Let go of them. You have no further need for them. Just let go...Naruto."

Both kept on staring at each other, Naruto's face showing a slight glare, which turned into uncertainty.

"...Well, I'll leave you Naruto."

And with that, he disappeared. It left the blond in slight confusion, but also left him thinking once more. His memory replayed scenes which had occurred over the past months, ones which had to do with the very first "time", and scenes which went along with what people had said about him.

"..."

He banged his fist up against the wall.

"Shit!"

"...Huh..? What? Naruto?"

Deidara wasn't exactly a light sleeper, but Naruto was loud enough to wake him. Naruto continued to look down, ignoring Deidara.

"You're...you're still awake?"

He asked, rubbing some sleep out of his eyes. Naruto, still ignoring him, fell down on his pillow.

"..."

"..."

"...Yeah well, goodnight..."

Deidara said finally, turning so his back was to Naruto.

"Bastard. He woke me up...hm..."

Naruto couldn't fully understand what Deidara had mumbled, and he didn't fully care at this moment. He really just wanted some sleep right now.

Lee and others POV

"Be careful. The ninja here can be a little dangerous."

Lee warned to his team. Hinata and Neji were both staying with Lee's team, while he was going into the Rain Village. All of them going in would have been too many ninja, and drawn too much attention to themselves (or so they had decided).

Lee gazed over to his team for a second.

"Take them to a town nearby, and book yourselves into an inn or something."

Neji nodded at what Lee said.

"I'll meet you guys there when I'm done."

"Ok."

Neji and Hinata walked off to Squad 3, while Lee headed in the direction of the Rain Village. The clouds began to overhang Lee's head, threatening to start raining at any moment.

"I should hurry with this mission..."

He jumped along at a faster pace, for two reasons. One, was to try and get this mission over and done with, and two, he didn't want to be running and jumping along more trees in the rain.

But of course, like Chance and Lady Luck would have it, it began raining on Lee. Oh well, he was going to make it to the Rain Village soon. He could see the village there, slowly beginning to poke through the trees...

Tsunade's POV

"That went rather well...didn't it, Shizune?"

The current Hokage leaned back in her chair, a smug smart-ass smile spreading across her face. Her assistant nodding too, she too feeling the need to be smug about it, and rubbing it in anybody's face who asked about their current situation.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

A bottle of sake seemed to appear from no-where, as Tsunade chugged it down greedily. She wiped the liquid that remained on her face with her sleeve after she removed the bottle from her mouth, her cheeks beginning to redden.

"They took a little persuading, but, I'm just glad it all worked out in the end."

Shizune nodded to her comment.

"Mm hm! I'm really happy with the final choice too."

Tsunade took another glug of her sake, before continuing to speak.

"I'm not all that happy about the timing of this...but it can't be helped...When should we tell the soon-to-be Hokage about his position?"

"I think we should tell Kakashi-san right away! He needs to know!"

Tsunade nodded.

"Yes...we should tell him now. Shizune, go get him."

Shizune nodded, and ran out the door, off to find the ex-ANBU. Tsunade let out a sigh of relief, happy this was all over. Sasuke wasn't going to be Hokage, and that's all that matters.

--

A.N - Ok! Long time no update, yeah I know.

Oh! You've learnt some brand new things today in this chapter! And if you're smart enough, you'll figure something out!