Author's Note If you are reading this I would like to thank you. This is my first fanfic so don't expect Stephen King or Samuel Taylor Coleridge writing but I hope that you will find it good at least. Once again thank you.

Disclaimer There is going to be some coarse language and violence in this story.

I take no credit for most of the characters and the setting. These belong to the original creator Kishimoto Masashi.

The Akatsuki's Revenge

Chapter 1: Returns and Departures

A blonde boy trudged his way down the beaten road. He was struggling to walk due to several injuries he had suffered in his fight with his best friend/rival about two days earlier. Every step threatened to open the wound he had treated using the medical jutsu that Sakura had taught him just before he had left. Still he had only used it on his life threatening wounds as well as those of the Uchiha that he now carried on his back. With every step Naruto Uzumaki could feel more blood spilling out of random stab wounds he suffered. He had almost passed out several times on the road.

"Damn it why isn't the Kyuubi's chakra sealing those wounds," he muttered to himself. He knew it must have been something that Sasuke had done during there fight but he couldn't tell or remember what it was.

As he was lost in thought, Naruto almost didn't notice that Sasuke was beginning to regain consciousness. The Uchiha began to twist and and struggle, rousing Naruto from his thoughts. Naruto put him on the ground and took a sedative pill out of his survival bag. He didn't like doing this to Sasuke but it was the only way he could get him back to Konoha without another conflict. He slipped the small purple ball into Sasuke's mouth and forced him to swallow. Within seconds he stopped moving and fell into unconsciousness.

Naruto picked him up and slung him over his shoulder and began to walk at his somewhat slow pace. He knew that they had to be close to the village or so he hoped. The sedatives were wearing off faster sand he only had three left and in his present condition he stood no chance against Sasuke if he woke up. As this very thought passed through his mind he could see Konoha's gates and outer wall rising up over the trees.

"Finally," Naruto exclaimed, "I thought I would never get back." No more than thirty minutes later Naruto passed through the village gates and promptly passed out.

xxXxxXxx

He awoke in a hospital bed completely disoriented. As he began to sit up he felt extreme jolts of pain in his extremities. He fell right back onto the uncomfortable hospital bed. As his head hit the pillow he heard Sakura's shrill voice yell, "Hokage-sensei hes awake."

Oh crap, I'm about to get an ear full from obaachan, Naruto thought to himself but out loud he began to start a conversation with his friend and former crush Sakura, "Hey Sakura-chan, long time no see." He coughed at saying this. Evidently they weren't able fix my pierced lung, he thought.

Before Sakura could say a word in response, Tsunade, the Godaime-Hokage, pushed her out of the doorway and began to berate him for sustaining such injuries and for not taking backup. He was used to this berating and even gave them numbers. Lecture number 242 again, jeez you'd think she'd have figured out that I don't pay attention to her during these rants anymore. He thought and when he finally figured that she was done He blurted out "It's good to see you again too obaachan."

It was almost three days before he was well enough to get out of his bed. During that time he inquired about Sasuke at every opportunity that he got but he never did get a straight answer except for the clichéd answers of "he's fine," or "you don't need to worry about it." but now that he could walk they couldn't ignore his questions or else he would just follow them. He finally got a straight answer from one of the random medic-nin roaming the halls. "The Uchiha guy, he was transferred out of here to a prison cell two days ago as secretly as possible. Last I heard the Godaime- Hokage was taking care of him personally."

"Thanks," Naruto yelled already almost out of earshot of the medic-nin. He had to get to the prison to check up on Sasuke before anyone else (especially Morino) got wind of him being back in the village.

xxXxxXxx

In the prison tower Naruto frantically searched for Tsunade, knowing that if he could find her he would find Sasuke. He climbed up the stairs as fast he could until about three steps from the next door he ran headlong into Tsunade's fist. "What the hell are you doing out of the hospital, Naruto." she yelled.

"I was looking for Sasuke and I heard he was here with you." he yelled exasperatedly.

"Well you were right he is here and he still hasn't woken up," she said with a look of sympathy on her face, "so You should probably just go back to the village and enjoy today."

With a quizzical look on his face he asked her the obvious question, "Why?"

"You really are an idiot aren't you" she said mockingly, "its your birthday you moron." Naruto just stood there staring at her, How could have I forgotten my own birthday, but I can't just leave Sasuke here alone. "Don't worry I'll stay with the Uchiha and make sure he doesn't leave."

Naruto felt relieved at the of the Hokage staying with Sasuke but still he was hesitant about leaving as he made his way down the spiral stair of the prison tower. Once he was at the exit he did decide to leave but he would be back first thing in the morning.

xxXxxXxx

Naruto made it back to his small apartment at about midday. He changed out of his hospital robes and put on his trademark orange and black outfit. He left his apartment after a cup of ramen was safely in his stomach. Of course he was going to pay a visit to Ichiraku Ramen within the hour so he made sure his gama-chan was full. He paid a visit to his friends (at least the ones who weren't out on missions) before he left to go to his favorite ramen restaurant. It took closer to 3 hours to catch up with his friends so by the time he did reach Ichiraku it was closer to the evening than he would've hoped. He sat down hoping that Teuchi-san hadn't forgotten how to make his favorite flavor. But as he sat down he didn't smell anything cooking or anyone even working. Damn, must be their day off, Naruto thought, but maybe if I stay here they'll show up and cook up some ramen for their favorite customer. Naruto waited close to 4 hours but no one had shown up and he had fallen asleep. When Naruto woke up it was dark out and he thought that he had best get home.

On the way back to his tiny abode Naruto noticed that some of the villagers were giving him more hateful glances then they did even when he was a kid. He decided it might be best if rushed home. As he arrived he noticed the door was ajar. As he pushed it open he saw that his home had been ransacked and vandalized. He took several steps back in revulsion and he bumped into a large bulky man who grabbed him and held him so tightly that Naruto couldn't catch his breath and eventually passed out.

xxXxxXxx

As Naruto regained consciousness he noticed that he had been tied to a tree a short distance outside of the village. The small clearing was lit by the dim, flickering light of torches. He heard numerous people shouting but he was still too out of it to make out any faces in the crowd or make out any full sentences but what he did hear he didn't like. He heard shouts like "lets just gut the bastard" or "cut his head off" and the most vivid scared even Naruto. But a loud man screamed to the crowd, " We will not kill him but we will have revenge on both this bakemono and the Kyuubi that resides within him. They are pinned to this tree and here they shall die. Twice have they have been responsible for the destruction of Konoha and now we shall have retribution. We wash our hands from our crime and shall let this divine rain wash away the boy's blood." Naruto tried to struggle but then he noticed that he was pinned to the tree with blades driven through his body so that he would bleed out. The loud man finished his preaching with a simple instruction, " Now go home my friends and never speak a word of what occurred hear tonight." Naruto then passed out due to the blood loss that he suffered from the blades.

xxXxxXxx

Naruto awoke still groggy from his ordeal and blood loss when he realized he was still pinned to the tree. He struggled as hard he could but all he managed to do was restart the blood flow. It was then that he noticed two men standing in front of him just watching him. He thought about asking them for help but he found that he couldn't even speak. He managed to clear his vision though which was an accomplishment in itself. Through his now clear vision he saw the two men in a clearer light. The two wore large high collared black cloaks with red clouds at the bottom. One's head was contained in a plant like outer covering while the other's face was covered by a mask with a small hole on the right side of his face for his eye. They were Akatsuki.

"He appears to have awoken," said the plant like being to his partner.

"So it seems Zetsu, so it seems." The man in the mask said.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Tobi and this is Zetsu," the man said obviously directing it to Naruto. "It seems that you could use our help."

Naruto looked up and managed to spit out "You're Akatsuki why would you help me, you've hunted me down for years." Naruto was gasping for air at this point.

Tobi began to speak again, "Well, Akatsuki has been strapped for members since you and the other Konaha-nin managed to kill all but me and Zetsu over there. So I'm going to offer you a position in the new Akatsuki, we could use powerful shinobi such as you."

"I... would... never... betray... my... village... and join you." Naruto gasped.

Tobi began this time sounding more smug than before, "You don't need to betray your village they betrayed you first. You would've given your life to protect them and look where you are now, dying pinned to a tree. And not only did they go after you but they killed all those close to you. Kakashi Hatake, Iruka Umino, and everyone else you ever cared about; they are all dead." Naruto just stared at him in disbelief. "I know that you're in pain both physically and mentally right now. I can make that all go away, if you just join me. You can make them pay for what they did to you."

Naruto was shocked at this revelation. No, they can't be dead, they just can't be. Maybe I should go with him, Maybe... maybe. "I'll join you." he said quietly and then he passed out.

But what Naruto couldn't see was Tobi's sharingan spinning rapidly.

xxXxxXxx

Slowly the two Akatsuki members pulled out each blade one by one until Naruto flopped off of the tree and onto the ground. Zetsu broke the silence by asking, "So how long do you think the hypnosis will hold him in our ranks?"

"It doesn't need to we just need it to hold long enough to breed a hatred strong enough in the boy that he will hate Konoha on his own. That should take us 7 years and by then we should have the new Akatsuki ready ro annihilate any who appose us."

As the two turned away with their 18 year old charge a lightning bolt struck the very tree that Naruto was bonded to. The three figures vanished while the tree was burned into oblivion.

xxXxxXxx

fast forward: 7 years later

Two mysterious men appear in the trees surrounding Konoha. They are wearing high collared black cloaks with red clouds at the bottom and wide-brimmed hats that hide their faces at a glance. One was a short stout man who looked like he preferred to crouch rather than stand and the other was a more average height and somewhat on the thin side.

The short stout man began speaking to his companion, "Well senpai we have arrived."

The taller one looked at his companion and with a sadistic grin said, "Yes, Yes we have."

Glossary

Godaime: refers to the fifth generation or in this case the Fifth Hokage (Tsunade)

bakemono: monster

Kyuubi: nine tails

senpai: senior

Final Note: Well I hoped you liked it. Sorry about the length but I wanted to get the backstory out of the way so that with the next chapter I could get into the meat of the story. My original plan was to leave out the final Zetsu and Tobi (a.k.a. Madara Uchiha) conversation but as I read it I thought that I hadn't made clear that Tobi was messing with Naruto's mind. And again Thank you for reading.