Naruto felt the surge of chakra first, it was startling enough for him to drop the dango he was eating. The chakra felt familiar, yet mostly alien to him. It was not the feeling of human chakra, but still different from the malicious nature of the Kyuubi's chakra. An explosion instantly roused him from his thoughts, and he estimated it came from about five or so klicks from his vantage point on the tree he was lounging on. From his position he could see the explosion rip apart a large building from within, creating a new entrance.

Naruto found himself bounding towards the building despite knowing he should not involve himself in conflict. Jiraiya warned him not to look for trouble, even if they were in the Land of Lightning legally, they would not doubt punish Konoha ninja more harshly. The Sannin was also keying in on some details about the Akatsuki with one of his foreign contacts, and Naruto knew jeopardizing an important contact would earn him more than just Jiraiya's ire, yet he swiftly headed toward the explosion, nonetheless.

Naruto needed to find out what that chakra was and who was using it.

It only took him a few minutes to reach his destination. He slowed down and quietly approached the area, hiding behind trees on his way there. He could hear the sound of a battle occurring, the clashing of metal, and the stench of sweat and blood. He could also feel that undecipherable chakra thrumming. Naruto snuck through some of the debris from the broken wall until he found a good vantage point to view the action without exposing himself.

His blood nearly boiled when he saw the printing of red clouds on the midnight black cloaks.

'Calm down, calm down!' He urged himself mentally. He refused to allow the Kyuubi's chakra to seep out and expose himself. Taking in a deep breath, he viewed the battlefield more intently. He somehow missed it before because the distinctive cloaks of the Akatsuki members caught his attention first, but he could not believe he did not see this hulking beast immediately.

The creature was fire. The blue flames licking out every which way from its core, surrounding it and creating a form that mimicked the shape of a cat. It had two eyes, one green and the other yellow, as well as a mouth filled with sharp teeth. Two large tails swung vigorously from behind it. He could feel the unknown chakra emanating from the beast.

The creature was in battle with one of the two Akatsuki members. A man with grey, slicked-back hair, wielding a multi bladed scythe. The other Akatsuki member simply stood in the background, seemingly satisfied with watching the battle and avoiding any attacks directed his way. The beast let out a concentrated ball of flames from its mouth toward the grey-haired ninja who barely dodged it, the attack singing the hem of his cloak. The ball of chakra smashed into the ground, erupting and spewing heat. Even though Naruto was many feet away from the action, he could feel the searing heat flush against his skin.

The fighting Akatsuki member threw his scythe at the cat-like creature and made contact with its blue body. Naruto noticed that he was using a chain that attached to the end of the scythe. The beast retreated and the scythe slid out cleanly from its body. The Akatsuki member pulled on the chain and returned the scythe to his hand; however, he kissed his teeth in disgust.

"Might need some help Kakazu, this kitty is a bit too quick for me to land a blow on the host body."

"It's like clockwork with you, you ask to do things alone and then cry for help when you can't do it. Are you a child Hidan?" The member known as Kakazu stepped forward, settling beside Hidan.

"Oh, shut it!" Hidan spat.

Naruto started preparing himself and quietly summoned several clones. The beast was struggling to land attacks on the single ninja, he knew it was not be able to handle two.

"Next time, just leave the Jinchuriki to me."

Naruto nearly gasped. The chakra…no wonder. He did not understand why it did not hold the same malevolent energy as the Kyuubi's chakra, but he would deal with that later. Naruto heard the sound of coils being unwound and peeked his head out to see that Kakazu's forearm had detached from the rest of its body, black tendrils still connecting it to the arm, and was speeding toward the two-tailed Jinchuriki.

The cat beast dodged and began preparing another blast of fire chakra when Kakazu's second arm wrapped around the beast, attempting to contain it. The beast struggled against the arm and its threads crowding it and was nearly free with the first arm also wrapped itself around, double locking it.

"Quickly, Hidan!" The threaded shinobi ordered his partner.

"Giant Rasengan!" Naruto and his clones jumped out from their cover and slammed the spheres into the chests of each Akatsuki member, surprising them both. The attack engulfed the two shinobi in its swirling chakra and flung them across sinking them deep into the stone wall on the other side of the open area. Some of Naruto's clones threw kunai with attached exploding tags into the holes in the wall that were imprinted by the bodies. Naruto shielded his eyes from blinding light emitted by the tags as they exploded in unison.

He heard the deep growling coming from a few meters away and turned to face the two tailed beast. The blond Konoha-nin could sense the anger and confusion displayed in the beast's eyes. Naruto dismissed his clones and then raised both his hand, palms facing toward the Jinchuriki, in a sign of peace.

"I came to help! I'm like you!" Naruto explained, wondering if the beast could understand him.

"You are Jinchuriki?" The beast's voice was surprisingly leathery smooth.

Naruto nodded, "Yes! I just want to help!"

The beast narrowed its eyes at the shinobi. "I have questions, but they can wait. I don't think they are finished."

On cue, Hidan crawled out of the hole, burn marks, heavily bleeding cuts, and bruises littered his body. There was also a large hole in his chest where the Rasengan had landed, yet somehow, he was not dead. Even more striking, and frightening, was that he sported a large grin.

"What the fuck?" Naruto was shocked the man had not been killed.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't our lucky day Kakazu. A two for one deal! Ain't that what you love you cheapo?"

The second member also escaped his hole looking far more annoyed than his partner. His cloak had been shredded apart and Naruto could see the grotesque nature of his body. Various stitchings lined his body, and, from his view point, Naruto could see that there were masks attached to his back.

"The bastard killed one of my hearts." The ninja hissed. "I can't even take his because we need to extract him."

"Uh oh, looks like you made Kakazu mad." The grey-haired shinobi cackled. "Angering him is almost bad as angering Jashin-sama!"

The threaded shinobi grunted as the masks expunged themselves from his back. Each formed a small beast consisting of dark tendrils.

"Ugh, disgusting!" Naruto couldn't hold his thoughts to himself.

One of the masked creatures slumped over, its mask cracked. Letting out a whimper, it became motionless.

"Wow, never seen your heart die before. Looks gross, all limp and shit." Hidan commented, poking the dead creature with his scythe.

"I'll handle this, Hidan."

"No way! I want some fun too." Kakazu's partner quickly rebutted.

"You, start using your powers. I don't think we can handle them as regular shinobi."

"I don't…alright fine. Let's end this quick." Naruto was hesitant to use the Kyuubi's powers, but he was not about to die here because he feared his tenant. He had too much he needed to accomplish.

"Grahhhhh!" Naruto roared, forcing the Kyuubi's chakra out from its owner. The malicious chakra bubbled and swirled around the blond shinobi, forming a cloak of blood red chakra. Three tails sprouted behind him, and his features became more animalistic, with black marks staining around his lips and eyes. His eyes became ruby red with his pupils shifting into slits.

Yugito gave the boy a once over, feeling the malicious nature of his chakra seeping out from his cloak. It was a type of chakra Yugito had not felt in many, many years. The type of charka that extruded the deep seated hatred between host and bijuu.

"You…which number are you?"

"Nine tails." Naruto grunted, his voice now far more coarse and gravelly.

"Yet, you only go to your third tail?"

"It's all I can control!" Naruto belted out angrily.

"I see…get ready nine. They will approach soon."

"It's Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki."

"…you can call me Yugito. I'm not sure about the scythe wielder's powers, other than his ludicrous ability to take damage, but it seems the other one has multiple hearts. At least one in each mask, and maybe one in himself."

Naruto nodded toward the fully powered jinchuriki and tensed his body in preparation for the fight.

Hidan was the first to move, rushing Yugito, his scythe drawn. Naruto intercepted him, sharply kicking his hand, knocking the scythe away, then used his chakra cloak to form an arm to grab the man and fling him at his partner.

Yugito already prepared a ball of pure fire chakra which she launched toward the Akatsuki duo.

Kakazu calmly sidestepped to avoid his partner's thrown body, who crashed into the ground, bouncing several times, and flashed through several hand seals.

"Water Style: Great Jet Stream!" One of the masks open its mouth and a surge of water rushed out of it. The stream of water collided with the searing ball of fire chakra. Both attacks neutralizing each other, however they created a thick steam that clouded the area. Fortunately, neither jinchuriki needed their sense of sight to battle properly.

Naruto sent out another arm of chakra to grab the water style mask and drag it towards himself, preparing a Rasengan in his other hand. The mask tried to struggle out, but Naruto was too quick and drove the ball of chakra into the mask, crushing it and killing another heart.

"Fuck." Kakazu's voice pierced through the steam. "Can't mess around with these kids Hidan, they killed another heart while I wasn't paying attention. Get the fuck up."

"Damn, I can't see shit! Do something old man." The zealot whined.

"So, fucking useless Hidan." The man flashed through hand seals. "Wind Style: Pressure Damage." This time the masked creature with wings blasted out wind chakra. It was easily dodged by the jinchuriki, but Naruto realised they had simply used the technique to clear out the steam.

"Ahhh, much better. Now, time to spill some blood for Jashin-sama." The grey-haired zealot snarled. He once again rushed Yugito, this time bare handed. The fully formed jinchuriki meet with a swing of its paw. The Jashinist let the paw collide into him, but gripped onto it, not allowing the cat-beast to send him flying. He stubbornly stuck on as the beast swung him around.

Naruto began to approach the two, planning to separate the Akatsuki member from his fellow jinchuriki, but was halted by the two approaching masks. One flying above him and the other approaching from the ground in a run. The flying mask shot out bursts of wind chakra at Naruto, which he easily avoided. Naruto ran at the ground-based mask and maneuvered around a strike from it. The blond then jumped on top of it and used it as a leap board to reach the wind-based mask in the air. Wrapping his chakra arms as well as his tails around the flying mask to limit its movements, Naruto began to use his physical arms to rip off the mask.

However, he heard the crackling of a lighting style jutsu and was shocked to see a spear of lightning headed towards him and the flying mask. Naruto, bounced off, expecting the attack to hit the wind-based mask, but underestimated its agility, which allowed it to narrowly escape any damage.

"You're a slippery kid, I'll have to kill you myself." With that statement, the two masks retreated towards their master and fused back with Kakazu's body. Tendrils erupted out of the man, splitting several of his joints and limbs as the threads slipped out imitating a marionette like creature.

Naruto started forming a Rasengan when a feminine scream pulled his attention toward the Jashinist and Yugito. The hulking, chakra emanating beast was gone, in its place a blonde-haired female wearing a purple blouse and green pants, several cloud designs appearing on them. A freshly bleeding wound was on her side, soaking through her blouse and darkening its tone.

The Akatsuki member had also undergone a transformation. His skin was now pitch black, with what appeared to be white face paint in the design of a skull covering him. He was standing in a strange symbol made of blood. The Jashinist had a blade impaled in his side, all the way to its hilt.

"Don't play around Hidan, knock her out quickly!" Kakazu barked at his partner.

"I know, but all I have is this stupid knife, right now. Might take a bit. If I accidently kill her, Pain is going to have my head, y'know?" Hidan drew his small blade out of his side and brought it slightly higher before plunging it in his body again.

Yugito once again yelled out in pain.

"Yugito!" Naruto called out in trepidation.

"The bastard…he's hurting us both at the same time somehow." Yugito huffed between painful breaths.

"Nuh, uh, don't spill my secrets little kitty." The zealot sneered before pulling out his blade again, and quickly plunging it into his other side, making sure he avoided the vitals. He then viciously ripped the knife upwards until he hit his ribcage. This time Yugito fell to her knees, the pain too much for to handle on her feet. Blood was beginning to form a small pool beneath her.

"Enough!" Naruto gnashed at Hidan, furious at the damage he was doing to his fellow jinchuriki.

Naruto crouched and placed his hands on the floor, then he sprinted in a quadrupedal manner towards the Jashin worshiper.

"As if I'd let you." Scoffed Kakazu as he flashed hand seals. "Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"

The giant blast of wind chakra rushed towards the sprinting shinobi. Naruto did not halt or escape, but rather turned his head towards the incoming attack and roared.

The primal scream was infused with chakra and negated the wind attack. Kakazu was momentarily stunned by the display and Naruto was able to slam into Hidan, gripping him and rolling away from the circle. He pinned the zealot's hand behind his head to stop him from further harming himself, and by proxy Yugito. Naruto began to make another chakra arm to pin down the grey-haired shinobi so he could deal with Kakazu when he felt two legs strongly wrap around his waist. Naruto tried to pry off the Jashin worshiper's legs from his back, but Hidan was steadfast in his hold.

"You fucked up kid." Hidan sneered at the blonde shinobi.

"Naruto, behind!" Yugito coughed weakly from her position. She was now sprawled on the ground. Her hands attempting to pressure her wounds on one side.

Naruto craned his neck to see behind himself and stared in despair as a spear of electricity quickly snaked its way towards him, nowhere to run.

Naruto blinked. When he opened his eyes, he saw fleshy skin surrounding him and Hidan. Before he could take any other details in, the sound of jutsu colliding with the flesh startled him. He saw the flesh indent itself from the pressure caused by the attacks, but it was not penetrated.

"Don't worry, those techniques won't pierce the toad esophagus."

"Pervy-sage…" Naruto was delighted to see his teacher. However, the stoic stare the great sage gave him made Naruto aware of the trouble he was in.

"We'll talk about your stupidity later. Let's finish these goons off."

"Oi, where the fuck are we, you assholes?" The foul mouthed Akatsuki member snarled.

"Your deathbed, scum. Naruto leave him here." Hidan began to sink deeper into the flesh, forcing him to release his leg lock on the younger shinobi.

"Hey, hey, hey! What the fuck are you doing to me?" Hidan started screaming in fear as half his body was engulfed by the flesh.

"Pervy-sage we can't kill him, it'll affect Yugito as well!" Naruto explained.

"Seems like he's a Jashinst, from what I know their rituals need blood sigils. She'll be fine if I kill him here. Now let's deal with the other one before he kills the girl." Jiraiya opened a hole in the toad esophagus and the mentor and pupil exited, leaving behind the still screaming Akatsuki member.

"Damn it." Naruto muttered as he released the chakra he stole from the Kyuubi. He nearly fell over from exhaustion but helped himself balance by placing his hands on his knees. "Getting too hard to control. I might have gone four tails if I kept it up." Naruto told his teacher before he even asked for an explanation.

"Can you still fight?" Jiraiya knew he could beat the lone Akatsuki member by himself, but it would be much easier if his pupil was still able to fight.

"Yea, I've got enough chakra, but using the nine tails chakra for so long's got me tired." Naruto did not lie to his teacher but hid the severity of his exhaustion.

Jiraiya nodded at his pupil, "Lets end this quick then."

"The Great Toad Sage…Jiraiya. You have quite the bounty on your head."

"A bounty doesn't mean much if you can't cash it in." Jiraiya sneered at his opponent.

Kakazu laughed. "I suppose that's true. But don't underestimate me. I'm not a weakling like Hidan."

"Naruto," The toad sage whispered to his protégé, "flank him and watch his back. He's going to try and escape even though he's talking big."

"Okay pervy-sage, but just so you know he's got three hearts. One in each mask and then he's got his own." Naruto explained Yugito's observation to the sage.

Jiraiya nodded grimly. The Akatsuki were a strange group of people, having multiple hearts did not surprise Jiraiya, but it did disgust him.

Kakazu grunted and spat out more tendrils from his mouth. The threads also burst out from the open joints in his body and back, forming eight thick limb-like extensions from his body, along with many extra thin fibers surrounding him.

The teacher and student duo advanced on the remaining Akatsuki member. Kakazu whipped several of his tendril limbs at them. They danced around each attack, approaching without halting. Naruto peeled off from his teacher and quickly summoned a clone to check up in Yugito. The real body pivoted and began flanking Kakazu.

The Akatsuki member noticed this and, while sending all eight limbs to occupy Jiraiya, shifted his lightning mask toward the blonde shinobi and sent another spear of lightning at him.

"Woah!" Naruto yelped in surprise as he quickly summoned a clone and leapt off its back to avoid the attack. He summoned another clone in midair and used the clone to swing the original body swiftly back onto the ground. The boy landed and continued his stride without halting his momentum.

Kakazu was too busy handling the toad sage to attempt another attack on the jinchuriki. The Sannin spat several fire balls at the Akatsuki member, who had no choice but to leap to avoid taking damage.

"Rasengan!" A clone of Naruto was waiting in the air and slammed the attacked into Kakazu sending him back flying into the ground.

'Fuck, I was barely able to get the Earth Style technique off to defend myself. This is a lost cause; my chakra is low, and I can't handle the Sannin by myself. I'll have to abandon my hearts so they can distract them while I escape.' Kakazu thought morosely.

"Giant Rasengan!"

Kakazu was forcefully roused from his thoughts as he barely dodged the Sannin's technique. The jutsu was almost twice the size of his pupil's version. Kakazu expelled the two masks from his body once again, sending them both at the toad sage on a suicide mission. Turning around to escape, he saw the other Konoha shinobi waiting for him, standing in the way of the exit.

'The kid shouldn't be much trouble without his bijuu's chakra.' Kakazu rushed the lone shinobi.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Several clones appeared around the blonde. He began forming another Rasengan.

"Not likely, brat!" Kakazu hissed as he detached both his forearms and sent them at the clones knocking them out and forcing the one forming the Rasengan to leap away. Naruto just smirked.

Kakazu felt a force slam him from behind, forcing him to the ground. Two kunai pierced each of his shoulders and he heard multiple hissing sounds.

"Fuuuuuc-" The immortal shinobi's words were cut short as the three exploding tags detonated together shredding his body apart into chunks that rained in the air.

"Ugh, that's nasty!" Naruto groaned in disgust as he covered his head from the parts and blood falling from the sky. Turning to his teacher, Naruto saw that he had already dispatched the last two hearts. Naruto was unsure how much damage they could do without their original body anyway.

Instead of meeting up with his master, who was checking on the toad esophagus, Naruto sprinted toward the wounded kunoichi. His clone was bandaging the girl with the superficial medical knowledge he had.

"How is she?" Naruto asked his clone.

"I don't know man. She passed out. I used disinfectant and wrapped the wounds, but they were deep. Some of them are still bleeding. I think we should get her to a hospital." Worry was thick in the clone's voice.

Naruto nodded at the clone and dismissed it. Naruto felt a tug on his shoulder and Naruto turned around to receive a harsh slap from his master. Naruto took it with a grunt, but said nothing, simply rubbing his cheek.

"You idiot, what in hell were you thinking!? You could have easily gone into four tail mode, or worse you could have gotten yourself killed! Why did you leave the town when I told you not to? How could you try and fight Akatsuki without me? Better yet, why didn't you even send a Shadow Clone tell me!" Jiraiya was fuming at his pupil. The boy had done plenty of stupid things during their three-year journey, but this was by far the most suicidal.

"Sensei," Naruto appealed to him with the rare use of a respectful title, "You can beat me, you can yell at me, you can do whatever you want to me, but please do it after I take her to a hospital."

"The nearest hospital is in Kumogakure, it's too far, not to mention how much trouble we will be in if we bring a busted up jinchuriki back with us. We are Konoha-nin, the best relationship we can get with Kumo-nin is tolerance! If we are lucky, we might get jailed, but who knows what they might try and do to us." Jiraiya tried to plead with his student. "Take her to the village, they can handle it."

Naruto shook his head and placed the girl on his back, carrying her piggy back. "I'm not risking it, not going to let her die because she didn't get proper treatment."

"She's a jinchuriki she will be f-" Jiraiya was unable to finish his sentence as Naruto leveled him with a venomous glare. The toad master winced internally as he knew he shot himself in the foot with that assertion.

"Direction, distance." Naruto muttered as he shuffled Yugito in the easiest position for him to move.

"Look at you, you're not even going to make it." Jiraiya's voice thick with concern for the boy. He was swaying unsteadily on his feet. The Toad sage knew that using the three tailed form in such an intense fight would drain him like nothing else.

"I'll make it! Please tell me the direction and how far." Naruto nearly growled at his sensei.

Jiraiya sighed in defeat. "Northwest, forty klicks." Jiraiya ran a hand through his spikey hair. "At least tell me why you are doing this."

Naruto stared into his teacher's eyes. Jiraiya could see the determination burning within him. "She's just like me, hunted just for existing. It makes me sick. Other people might not try to help her, but I will sensei. I'm going to get her to a hospital, that's a promise!"

Jiraiya closed his eyes, mentally exhausted by his student's resolve.

"Alright, let's go."