Chapter One

Disclaimer: I own Naruto as much as all of the other people writing fanfics about him.

Warning: Some language if I feel like it, a very large amount of yaoi, a few pairings that you don't see every day, a strange plot, a demolished world, and a few deaths, but no bashing at all.

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Ino Yamanaka huffed a she saw that yet another young couple was ready for her to take their order. Really now! She had just finished catering fourteen tables and had shown another five families to their seats in the last three minutes. She was working harder than all the other waitresses put together!

But does that mean she has the privilege to sit down and take a breather?

No.

You can't stop working until all of the customers have left. I don't care if your fingers fall off, I want you to keep working and I mean it!

That same little speech had been given to her countless times when she had been a small child, and it didn't help that it popped into her head every time she was about to slack off. Darn her parents for having the nasty habit of repeating themselves... well, repetitively.

Ino sighed as she heard her name being called by the young couple again.

Weaving through the people who were not so patiently waiting for a table, she somehow made it to the couple's table, took there order, and clipped the small piece of paper to the metal pole outside the kitchen for the chef to see.

Ino had been working this job for half a year now, simply working as a waitress in this busy restaurant. This wasn't exactly her top choice of the perfect job, either. No, the reason why she had applied for this job was that this restaurant was on one of the most popular and reputable airships in the world, the Rasengan, owned by none other than the richest man alive, Arashi Uzumaki.

The Rasengan was what you might call a cruise air ship. The amazing machine regularly shipped people in the highest class possible to countries all over the world, seeing as how that was the only way to get to the other countries.

Ino didn't understand it, but apparently, over three hundred years ago, there was a massive earthquake that created a chain reaction of earthquakes all over the world, basically rearranging the face of the earth and causing massive catastrophic meltdowns all over the world. But, seeing as how three hundred years have passed, the technology was where it was before the earthquake, if not farther along, and more advanced.

But Ino didn't really care about what happened three hundred years ago. What she cared about was what was going on now. Like those cute military guys coming in through the doors right now.

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Kyuubi sighed as he walked into the restaurant with the rest of his squad. He really didn't want to be here, but alas, he had gotten direct orders from Sarutobi himself to guard this ship.

Supposedly, this particular airship was transporting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise and artifacts. That "rumor" alone made the Rasengan a perfect target for air pirates. Particularly the Akatsuki. They seemed to be making more and more raids lately.

Kyuubi and his close friend, Araj, sat down at a table near the door, just in case they were called for help. Kyuubi nervously sat back in his chair before running his hands through his thick, red-gold hair and pulling it into a loose ponytail on the top of his head. He really should have gotten it cut before he came onto the ship, but he just couldn't get himself to part with his long hair.

"Calm down, son. It isn't as bad as you think."

Araj had been Kyuubi's friend ever since he had joined the military. The man was in his late fifties, with silver streaked brown hair, warm, chocolate eyes, and a comforting smile. That is, until he was fighting against an air pirate. Then the man was the scariest person Kyuubi knew. Araj had also fought every single air pirate group known to mankind, except for the Akatsuki that is. That was pretty much the only reason the man had agreed to come with Kyuubi on this mission.

Kyuubi smiled crookedly. "I doubt I would be nervous if I was as excited as you."

Araj laughed good-naturedly and reached across the table to playfully yank on Kyuubi's hair. "That's right, son. Maybe you should try to see the good things in times like these. Besides, I would give my right pinky to have that young lady over there lookin' at me like that."

Kyuubi turned to the left, following Araj's eyes. There was indeed a young blond waitress, most likely in her mid teens, looking shyly in Kyuubi's direction. When she saw that he was looking back at her, she blushed heavily and quickly turned her head, returning to her work.

Kyuubi blinked a few times before turning his attention back to Araj, who was currently looking at him amusedly.

Kyuubi scrunched up his face. "What? You know I'm not interested in women."

Araj smirked at his comrade's comment. "Well, I hear that there are a few good lookin' young men around here too."

Kyuubi blushed and sputtered at his friend's remark. "Araj! You don't have to announce that to the whole world, you know."

The man sighed, rubbing his forehead with the palms of his large, scarred hands. "I know, son. I just think that maybe you should find yourself a nice woman... okay, man... and settle down instead of chasing after air pirates. I know you want to avenge your father and all, but this isn't a game, son. "

Kyuubi's face fell. When Kyuubi had been four years old, his mother had left him and his father to fair for themselves. And for a while, they did. Quite well, too, seeing as how his father had been in the military himself and had been making quite a bit of money at the time. That is, until his father got sick and had to take an airship to Japan to see a doctor when Kyuubi was eleven. That had been the last time he had seen his father, when he was waving good-bye to him as he walked onto the airship. The man had even promised to bring him back a souvenir, but the only thing that Kyuubi had received was the ring that his father had gotten from his dad. His family's only heirloom, and he had received it when he was eleven.

A few years later, he had learned that the man who had killed his father went by the name of Orochimaru, leader of the Oto Air Pirates. And from that day on, he had made a vow that he would find this man and kill him with his own hands for what he did to him.

That had been eight years ago.

"Araj, I know that this is a dangerous life, but I would never forgive myself if I didn't kill that -."

Kyuubi's sentence had been cut off as the microphone in his ear suddenly went off, and he could tell by the look on Araj's face that his earphone was also screeching a warning.

Both of them stood up and briskly walked out of the restaurant and into the command center of the airship.

All of the military members that were on the ship were already there, except for the small handfuls that were stationed at random points through out the ship. They were crowded around a large man, Zabuza Momochi to be exact, as he was giving them orders.

"The Akatsuki have been spotted fifty miles away from here. Be prepared to fight, and be prepared to die. These people are not playing, and we are going to show them that neither are we. We need fifty men along the corridor leading to the cargo hold, we need another ten men to get all of the passengers to their quarters, or lock them in the dining hall. Apparently, the Akatsuki are planning to board in the -"

"Sir!"

Zabuza scowled darkly and whipped around to look at the man who had interrupted his commands.

The small, military uniform clad man flinched as he saw Zabuza's look, but he swallowed the lump in his throat and continued. "Sir, the Akatsuki air ship has landed on the top of the Rasengan, sir! They are starting to board, sir!"

Zabuza's eyes widened. That fast?! "Shit! Men! Get to your stations! Protect the cargo and the passengers! Move!"

Kyuubi glanced at Araj, and saw that the man had a wicked grin on his face. Kyuubi himself was really, very nervous. These air pirates were notorious for killing every person on the ship just for the hell of it. When Kyuubi was researching the group, he found that normally, they got hold of the cargo within the first ten minutes of boarding the ship. Instead of leaving, they stayed on the ship as long as it took to kill every single living person, even if it took four hours. And then after that, they evacuated the ship, went back to their own, and then they would blow the lifeless chunk of metal up.

Araj and Kyuubi ran down the long, metallic halls that were scattered through out the whole ship until they got to the corridor that lead to the cargo hold. Apparently, they were the first people there, and judging by the screams that they had heard on their dash there, they were going to be the only ones.

"Calm down, son. We aren't going to die. All we have to do is kill them first."

Kyuubi snorted before moving his hand to the clip on his belt to unsnap the small, metal tube that was hanging from it. The metal tube was about five inches long, and solid metal. Flicking his wrist, the pole extended to about seven feet. When the pole stopped growing, wicked blades slid out of one end, forming a lethal weapon that resembled a multiple bladed scythe.

Araj smirked at Kyuubi's weapon of choice. That staff had been the kid's fathers. Araj himself took out some high power tonfa blasters. Those baby's had some kick to them, and if someone tried to take them away, all he had to do was swing them around and hit the person with the blades that he had attached to the back of them.

Kyuubi smiled as he saw the plan formulating in Araj's head. It was what they normally did. Araj took them out from afar, and when they got too close, that's when Kyuubi would get them. This strategy had saved their butts multiple times.

Kyuubi vaguely wondered where the rest of the squad was. There was supposed to be at least 50 other men there with them, but so far, only he and Araj were there. How many of the Akatsuki were actually on the ship? If the screams that they had heard earlier had to do with it, Kyuubi suspected that there were definitely more of the group on the ship than they had thought.

"Hey, kid. You ready to kick some Akatsuki ass?"

Kyuubi looked over at the older man and grinned evilly, hoping that the expression would mask his inner turmoil.

"'Betcha I can kill more of these freaks than you can."

Araj took the bait. "Are you kidding me?! I have far more years of experience under my belt than you can ever hope for, son. It's on. Just don't get yourself killed."

Kyuubi chuckled darkly, quickly getting into the killing mood. "Right back at ya, old man. Here they come."

And did they come. Araj and Kyuubi were extremely lucky that the hall that leads to the cargo hold was so small and narrow, or else they would have had to take down over fifty highly trained assassins at the same time. Now, all they had to deal with was three or four of the black clad men at one time.

Araj immediately started firing his tonfa blasters, taking down the first handful of assassins who weren't expecting them to actually fight back. After all, the Akatsuki had already taken out over half of the military stationed on the ship, and they had only been on board for ten minutes.

The few that Araj had killed were immediately trampled on and kicked to the side by the next few, Araj shooting three of them, but two of the dark men ran past. One went towards Kyuubi, and the other ran straight at Araj.

Araj snorted in amusement. This little guy was stupid! He had seen that Araj had the blasters, and yet he still ran head on towards the man, doing nothing to protect himself from the uranium bullets that were being fired at him.

Araj smirked and fired five shots. All of the shots passing through vital points of the man running towards him, and all went through him to kill five other men that were crawling into the corridor. Araj loved his job. Turning, the man shot a quick glance at Kyuubi, and saw that the teen had sliced the assassin that had been running at him clean in half down the middle while the man was still a good six feet away. Kyuubi caught the man's gaze and smirked. "You may be winning now, old man. But this is just the beginning."

Kyuubi turned towards the entrance of the hall and ran towards it. As he sprinted past Araj, he quickly yelled for the man not to shoot him, before leaping upon the swarming mass that was his enemy and started madly swinging his pole.

Araj looked on in awe as the young man literally sliced, diced, and pureed most of the men. Araj chuckled disbelievingly before cautiously firing his tonfa blasters, quickly taking down the few men that had managed to escape the redhead's swirling dance of metal and death.

Kyuubi was too busy to notice anything other than the task at hand. Araj could have been killed on the spot and Kyuubi would have kept slicing the men. As long as the shadow like figures kept flowing into the hall, Kyuubi would still keep swinging his staff until every last one of them was dead.

Step.

Turn.

Slash.

Twist.

Block.

Spin.

Stab.

Slash.

Kill.

Move and then kill again. It was all that was going through Kyuubi's head until he realized that all of the men that he had been working to kill were lying at his feet, more than dead.

"Aw shit. I think I got carried away again, Araj."

No one, even the person with the keenest eyes, or the smartest person in the world would have been able to figure out which body part went to which body. Chunks of flesh and bone and cloth were strewn around the teen. A severed arm here. A face ripped in half there. Oh look, a lung and some stringy flesh that seemed to resemble intestines.

Long pieces of flesh and muscle hung limply from the many blades that jutted out of Kyuubi's staff, and the red head solemnly reached up and pulled them off before casting them to the ground with the rest of the carnage.

Araj grimaced and walked over to stand next to the teen. "Well, you definitely won the competition, ey son?

Kyuubi stared dejectedly at the mass of limbs and body parts that were strewn around him. "Yeah, I guess I did."

Kyuubi didn't live for the killing like Araj did. But if push came to shove, Kyuubi would most definitely kill to stay alive. It's just that if you don't stop him, it was really easy for him to get out of control, which is one of the reasons why he was constantly paired with Araj, because the old man was one of the few people who could actually break Kyuubi out of one of his... mind sets.

Araj put his hand on Kyuubi's shoulder and roughly squeezed it. "Come on kid, we gotta go see if anyone else survived."

Kyuubi nodded forlornly and looked ahead with sudden determination. Right, they had to go and make sure that the Akatsuki didn't gain complete control of the ship.

He and Araj set off. Their first destination was the restaurant to make sure that none of the passengers had been killed. Whenever the two would run into a black clad figure, Araj would shoot them so that Kyuubi wouldn't have to worry about going into another one of his deadly rampages.

In the back of his mind, Kyuubi wondered what had happened to the sweet looking blond girl who was working in the diner. Even though he hadn't been the least bit attracted to her, Kyuubi hoped that nothing had happened to her or the rest of the passengers.

"Hey Araj?" Kyuubi's breathing was getting a bit heavy as killing all those men and running around the huge airship was finally taking its toll.

Araj looked down at the teen. "Yeah?"

Kyuubi was silent for a minute, and then shook his head. "Never mind. Just promise me you won't die? I don't think I would be able to handle it. Losing you."

Araj looked surprised for a second before his features relaxed into a look that radiated kindness and sincerity. "Don't worry, son. I won't."

Kyuubi looked at him and then nodded, excepting the older man's reply.

A few minutes later, the two of them found themselves outside of the restaurant. The route that they had to take in order to get to the diner had been teaming with Akatsuki assassins, but they were lucky not to run into one of the top nine of the group. If either Kyuubi or Araj had run into one of them, together or alone, they would have been instantly dead.

Araj and Kyuubi stopped right outside of the room, hearing nothing that signified life coming form the large room. Araj unhooked his tonfa blasters form his belt and nodded to Kyuubi, who had simultaneously swung his staff around behind him, read to lash out with it if necessary.

Kyuubi shook his head to the side, getting a chunk of his fiery hair out of his eyes. He couldn't afford to have his hair obstructing his vision right now. He'd probably lose a leg or an arm because of it. How heroic.

Kyuubi cautiously pushed the swinging door open and peered inside. His eyes immediately opened and he jumped back behind the wall near the door, Araj instinctively doing the same thing.

A man dressed in a black trench coat with red clouds scattered all over the flowing piece of cloth. Araj and Kyuubi immediately knew him to be one of the elite Akatsuki. Following him was one of the lower ranked assassins. The man was obviously nervous about being in the presence of one of the elites, but he apparently had some sort of important news as the fidgety man kept following the elite until he stopped walking a few paces outside the still swinging doors.

"What do you want?"

The man's voice made Kyuubi, Araj, and the jittery man flinch. Not that the sound was horribly ugly or anything, just that the cloaked figure's voice was drenched with malice, hatred, annoyance, and boredom. Obviously, the man really didn't care for being aboard the ship, and the low ranked assassin that was bugging him was delaying his retreat back to the main ship.

"I hope it is about the group that was sent down to the cargo hold. Have we obtained everything?"

"W-well sir. It i-is about the cargo, sir. I-it appears t-that all of the m-men that w-we sent down there t-to get it w-were killed."

The elite turned his head to glare at the small, twitching man standing before them. Kyuubi held in a gasp as he had a direct view of the man's face. He was gorgeous! Scary as hell, but more beautiful than any woman he had ever seen.

The man had long black hair that was pulled into a low ponytail at the nape of his neck. Slightly long bangs fell to the side of the elite's face, delicately framing blood red eyes and a pale, flawless face. Two lines stretched from the inner corners of the man's eyes, down to just below his cheekbone. The elite's pale pink lips were set in a grim line, and his eyes flashed maliciously for a second, his features promising death to the lowly assassin if the small man didn't bode good news.

"By whom?"

The smaller man was starting to shake violently. "Some of o-our men have s-spotted two men leaving t-the cargo hall. O-one with red-blond hair, r-really young looking. T-the other is an o-older man, graying-brown hair w-with a lot of experience under his b-belt. A-at least according t-to the recent info digs."

The tall elite was obviously not happy with the reply. "Do we have possession of the cargo, or do we not?"

"W-well... no. Not a-at the moment."

The man glared. "Send a radio transmission to every member on this ship. Tell them to get to the diner now. Once they are here, bring the five military men we found in the control room. We are going to kill one passenger every minute until we have the cargo and have killed those two men. Do I make myself clear?"

The small man nodded his head rapidly, and reached for the small hand radio that was latched to his belt. Kyuubi heard the man squeak out what the elite had told him. Word for word.

After that, the cloaked man into the pocket of his cloak and whipped out a long knife, quickly and effectively severing the head of the quivering little messenger. The loss really didn't matter to the Akatsuki. The man hadn't aided them in any of their recent missions, and he had actually started to screw things up around the headquarters. Better get rid of the nuisance now instead of having to clean up the mess of blood later on.

Kyuubi and Araj held their breath as they watched the man walk away, admiring his ability to walk so elegantly while still emitting an aura of death.

Kyuubi looked at Araj and nodded.

"We should try and get the passengers."

Araj nodded back. "We should probably stay to try and get the other military. After all, they are our men."

"Right."

Kyuubi crept his way back to the now motionless doors. This time, he made sure that no one was going to randomly walk out of the room before pushing the doors open all the way and silently walking inside the room.

Kyuubi and Araj were met with an empty, lifeless room. Though, there were definitely signs of life, and struggle, strewn all around the room. Tables were upturned, chairs were smashed and chunks of splintered wood were scattered all over the floor. Food and drinks were smeared on the wall, and long forgotten plates and dish wear were broken and shattered on the floor.

Kyuubi stared disbelievingly at the once happy and cheery room that he and Araj had not too long ago sat in and enjoyed the wonderful food.

Scanning the room, Kyuubi's copper eyes rested on one of the doors that led to the kitchen. Carefully walking over to it, he looked inside and immediately found what he was looking for.

Every single person that was in the diner at the time that the Akatsuki had boarded were tied up in groups of eight or nine, jagged looking pieces of cloth were tied tight around their eyes and none of them made a noise. Most likely because the cloaked man that had just been inside this room had told them not to, and the passengers seemed to know who they were being held hostage by. Which in this case, was a really, really, good thing.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

Kyuubi froze at the cold voice behind him. Whipping around, he came face to face with a high ranked assassin, but thankfully not one of the elites. Quickly scanning the room, Kyuubi saw that Araj had quickly ducked under a canopy of upturned tables, and was intently watching Kyuubi and the other man in case he suddenly needed to intervene. Not that he doubted Kyuubi could handle it himself.

Kyuubi however, was still a little surprised. He hadn't heard anyone coming, but he supposed the man wasn't a high rank assassin in the Akatsuki for nothing.

"U-um. Hello."

Kyuubi saw the man squint through his mask. "Wait a second. Aren't you one of the men that took out all of our troupes that we sent down to the cargo hold?"

The shift in Kyuubi's facial features was the only thing that the other assassin needed to answer his question.

"Hmm, you are, eh? Well, I better get a promotion for killing one of the most wanted men of the ship right now. So you-!"

The last bit of whatever the man was about to say was cut off as he let out a shaky gasp. Kyuubi watched as the blade of a knife slid through the man's head, coming out to the left of his nose, before quickly retreating as the man sank to the ground, dead before he hit it.

Kyuubi looked up and was about to thank Araj for helping him when he realized that the person who had just killed the man on the floor wasn't Araj, but another assassin.

Kyuubi noted that while he and the previous dark clad figure were standing there, about one hundred or so mid ranked assassins had come teaming into the room, and how Kyuubi didn't hear them, no one will ever know.

Kyuubi swallowed thickly. "Oh, fuck."

Araj took that moment as the perfect time to jump out form underneath the tables and unhook his tonfa blasters, firing and killing a good chunk of the assassins. He didn't use uranium bullets for nothing, you know.

Kyuubi gulped down his fear and leaned down and quickly grabbed a hold of his staff that he had set down on the ground when he was searching for the passengers and started swinging madly, not caring if he started another killing spree on his part. They just wanted to make it out of this mess alive.

Araj snorted in amusement, as Kyuubi became the Human Blender once again before flipping his tonfa around to the other side, deciding that he was tired of bullets and that he hadn't used his own blades in a while now.

And that was the sight that the elites were greeted with when they opened the door to the diner. A fanatical red head spinning around like a top, slashing everyone in his way, and an older man hacking at every person in his target zone.

The tall man with the long black hair that Kyuubi had taken an interest in earlier, otherwise known as the infamous Itachi Uchiha, took one glance at the mayhem that was taking place in the room and scowled. Though he did note that even though the old man's fighting skills were very good and that he was taking out a lot of their men, maybe close to thirty or thirty five, the young red head had killed around eighty men with his malicious looking staff, and he didn't look like he planned to stop anytime soon.

Itachi tilted his head to the side and looked at another one of the elites. This one had slicked back silver hair and an evil smirk plastered on his face as he watched the red head. "Hidan, what is the status with the cargo? Do we have it all?"

The silver haired elite, now known as Hidan, looked up at Itachi, his face taking on an air of thought. "Hmm, last I heard, which was about five minutes ago, the newbies still had a good eighth of the cargo left to unload. But they should be done now."

Itachi's nod was almost nonexistent, but Hidan had known the man for most of the last five years, so he immediately picked up on it and the miniscule amount of emotions displayed by that nod.

"Calm down Itachi. Everyone wants to get the fuck out of this stupid shit hole and get back to the island, not just you."

Itachi glared, but kept his eyes on the young man who was still cutting down innumerable amounts of their men. Itachi would have cared a bit less if the men that the red head was killing weren't some of their higher ranked assassins. That, and Itachi thought that with the proper training, the young man could actually become an Akatsuki elite.

With this thought in mind, Itachi glanced down and caught Hidan's attention, nodding to the swirling red head and walked toward the kitchen where most of the passengers were being held.

Casually reaching into his pocket, Itachi's hand withdrew holding a small handful of black, marble sized balls. Maneuvering his hand into the room, he gently tossed the balls onto the floor, watching them roll a few feet away. When they stopped, they started letting out a concentrated version of mustard gas, and Itachi listened with well-hidden glee as the passengers started screaming in immense pain.

Withdrawing his hand from the kitchen, Itachi turned around to see how everyone was fairing.

Kyuubi took a deep breath as he cut down another dark figure, blood seeping out from the nasty gash that opened up across the man's neck. Pivoting his body, Kyuubi managed to take out another four men before he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Raising the staff above his head, Kyuubi spun around only to be met with the eyes of the mysterious elite he and Araj had seen earlier. The man's eyes were bright red, and Kyuubi saw some sort of black symbol start spinning rapidly just before he blacked out.

Araj turned and saw Kyuubi just as he collapsed on the ground in front of the tall elite. Letting out a loud, harsh cry, Araj snapped his tonfa around and launched himself at the cloaked man, blades out front and at the ready. But before he could land a hit, or come anywhere close, he was caught by the gloved hand of the elite, fingers clenched tightly around the older man's throat.

Araj tired not to struggle as he was held a good three feet above the ground, knowing that struggling would only make it harder for him. Though Araj did manage do find the strength to speak.

"W-what did you d-do w-with him?"

The tall man smirked and was about to speak when the shorter man with the silver hair appeared. "Hey, Itachi. Get your fuckin' ass in gear. We got all the cargo. Did you get that little kid already?"

Itachi glared down at the man and pointedly looked down at the ground where Kyuubi lay crumpled at his feet. "Get him, Hidan."

Hidan started grumbling under his breath and leaned down to pick up the unconscious red head. Slinging the limp body over his shoulder, Hidan stood up. "Damn, this little fucker is light!"

Itachi turned his attention back to Araj. "Hm. What should I do with you?"

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Itachi Uchiha sighed and walked into the abnormally dark room, walking farther into the dark abyss even as he heard the door click shut behind him.

"Ahh, Itachi. Glad to see you. How was the raid?"

Itachi silently cleared his throat as he focused his attention to where he heard the voice come from. "The raid was a success, Leader. We obtained all of the cargo, and we tallied everything to be around thirteen million dollars worth of jewels, cloth, animal skins, and spices."

Itachi heard a satisfied noise come from the direction he was facing. Normally, the Akatsuki only targeted air ships that were transporting illegal goods, because if it was illegal, it was probably worth a lot of money. But this time, it was a good idea to target this ship.

"Good, good. Now, I heard that we picked up a few extras. Who are they?"

Itachi almost flinched at the harsh voice that Leader had used for the last sentence that he had whispered.

"The young one is Kyuubi. We have not been able to find a last name yet. I brought him with us because I believe that he will soon benefit the Akatsuki."

"Ah. He is skilled then?"

Itachi nodded his head. "Yes. He took out over eighty of our highest ranked assassins in around ten minutes with only a bladed pole."

"Hmm. Then you should train him. Where is he now, Itachi?"

"We have put him in the cell with Uzumaki Naruto."

"Hm. Why that one?"

Itachi shrugged indifferently. "Didn't want the man to be lonely."

Itachi immediately regretted his words when he heard his Leader chuckle maliciously. "Ah, so my little Itachi-kun actually has emotions? How... amusing."

Itachi scowled at the taunting darkness. "Sarcasm, Leader. That is all."

A disbelieving rumble resounded from the back of the shrouded man's throat. "Whatever you say, Itachi-kun."

Itachi was full out glaring by now, not that it affected the Leader. "We put him in Uzumaki's cell because Hidan didn't feel like cleaning any of the other one's."

"Don't worry. I believe you. For now."

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Kyuubi groaned, shakily pushing himself up to a sitting position before groggily rubbing his eyes and forehead with grimy, sweaty hands.

The redheaded soldier opened his eyes slowly, taking in his blurry surroundings for a few seconds before something clicked in his head. Kyuubi's golden eyes snapped open and he frantically searched the disgusting prison cell for his older comrade.

"Araj?!"

Where was he?! All Kyuubi could remember was fighting all of those air pirates, and then some sort of red swirling mass of nothingness. He couldn't remember anything about what happened to his old friend.

"Araj?!"

"Oh! Your awake?!"

Kyuubi heard a shaky voice coming from the corner behind him. Jumping to his feet, Kyuubi vaguely noticed that he lacked shoes, and that his original clothing had been changed with dark cloth pants and an unraveling tunic.

Spinning around, Kyuubi came face to face, or face to a few inches above face depending upon how you want to look at it, with a golden haired teen that looked to be a few years younger than Kyuubi.

"How do you feel?"

Kyuubi looked confusedly at the smaller boy that was standing on front of him. Who the heck was this kid?! And where was Araj?!

"W-Who're you?!"

The blond youth took a startled step back, but quickly smiled and offered a hand. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Who are you?"

Kyuubi's eyes widened when he heard the name. Uzumaki? Naruto Uzumaki?! Son of the richest man alive?!

"What are you doing here?!"

The teen chuckled nervously, raising his left hand to scratch absentmindedly at the back of his head. "Well, you see... seeing as how my dad is the richest man and all... the Akatsuki kinda kidnapped me when I fell asleep in the bathtub a few weeks ago. Kinda pathetic, eh?"

Kyuubi couldn't help but laugh a little at the small teen's stupidity.

"But yeah. And so I am being held hostage here for five hundred million dollars. Ain't that weird? Anyway, who are you?"

Kyuubi frowned a bit. "Well, my name is Kyuubi. No last name. I dropped it when my dad died. Um, I was with the military troops that were posted on the airship Rasengan when the Akatsuki raided it. I guess they took a liking to me or something, because I'm hardly worth anything."

Naruto frowned a bit at the older man's reply. 'Well, this guy ain't interesting.' "Whatever. Well, I'm going to get a bit of sleep, okay? I've been sitting here for ten hours waiting for you to wake up because I am a nice person like that. So wake me when they bring the food, okay?"

Kyuubi watched as the golden haired rich kid shuffled over to a large lump in the far left corner of the room. Taking a closer look, Kyuubi realized that the aforementioned lump was actually a ratty old mattress with piles of blankets and comforters piled misshapen on top of it. The soldier watched as the teen flopped down on the so-called mattress and was soon asleep.

Kyuubi snorted. Who knew spoiled little rich kids could be so... so... spoiled. Whatever.

Kyuubi took the time to look around and analyze the room that he and the Uzumaki brat were being held in.

The holding cell was a basic twenty by twenty foot room made entirely out of stone. In the far left corner was where Uzumaki's "bed" was, and in the far right corner was where Kyuubi assumed his bed was. Turning around, Kyuubi saw the wall opposite of the wall that the beds rested against had a newly refurbished steel door seated in the middle of the stonewall. In the corner to the left of the door was a small pot that Kyuubi, based on the smell, declared to be the chamber pot.

Aside from that, the rest of the room was completely bare besides the layer of grime and dirt that coated everything.

Kyuubi sighed heavily and was about to make his way over to the lump of blanket that he assumed was his bed when he heard footsteps coming down the hallway outside of the cell. Spinning around, Kyuubi saw one of the elites that he had seen on the Rasengan. The man stood maybe a head above Kyuubi, with slicked back silver hair, and an annoyed smirk plastered on his face.

"Ah. So the little fucker finally woke up, eh? Well, I guess that I have to give you food, huh? You are so lucky that asshole Itachi took an interest in a little shit like you."

Kyuubi stared dumbly at the man as the elite slid two trays of food through the small space in between the bars of the door, miraculously getting them to fir in between the rods of metal.

"Wait, why did Weasel take an interest in me of all people?"

The silver haired elite stared at Kyuubi for a few seconds before breaking out into hysterical laughter. "W-weasel?! T-that is s-s-so f-funny! W-why didn't I t-think of that?!"

And so, Kyuubi stood there, staring annoyingly at Hidan as the man tried to keep his giggles under control. Somewhere in the deep recesses of Kyuubi's mind, he thought it was kinda funny. That, and he didn't realize that the Akatsuki elite's actually had the physical capability to laugh, let alone giggle.

"Ah, that was fuckin' hilarious! And to answer your earlier question, apparently Itachi thinks that you might be of some aid to the Akatsuki. I dunno if he means your knowledge or what. Personally, I don't give a shit about what goes through that man's head, I'd rather not know, actually. Anyway, I've spent enough time talking to you, so I'll be seeing you later. Bye, bitch!"

Kyuubi stared at the disappearing back of the silver haired elite with a look that consisted of a mixture between curiosity, amusement, disgust, and fear.

The red haired soldier forcefully pushed all of his thoughts about the Akatsuki and why he was here in order to concentrate of the plates of food that had been pushed through the door. All it consisted of was a bowl of steaming soup, half a loaf of bread, a jar of water, and some surprisingly fresh looking carrots on both plates.

Picking up the trays, Kyuubi shuffled over to where the golden haired Uzumaki was laying, still asleep, and sat down next to the small nest of blankets before nudging the teen awake.

Kyuubi set the second tray down in front of a sleepy Naruto and then began to focus on his own meal. Guess all he had to do was wait and see what the next day brought around for him. Wither that or the next second as Kyuubi heard a loud crash, whipping his head to the side to take in the sight of Naruto laying on the damp floor, clutching his throat and flailing madly, eerily similar to the reaction one would have if they were being choked.

Only, no one was there, and all Kyuubi could do was watch helplessly as Naruto started to violently cough up blood, all the while kicking at his invisible attacker.

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