A/N: quick edit to some mistakes I made, thank you again to my beta Loki_Chaos_God

Prologue:

Tsunade sat tiredly at her desk, as Hokage, she unfortunately had to sit in this Kami-forsaken room all day.

"Why did I agree to take Hokage, all I do is sit and do paperwork!" she screamed for the umpteenth time. Glaring at the stacks upon stacks of reports lying about on her desk, Tsunade sighed. Smirking, the Hokage glanced quickly around the room and listened intently. Good, she thought, sounds as though Shizune is not at her desk outside, time for some sake!

Reaching softly into her bottom desk drawer, Tsunade quietly removed her sake bottle along with a shallow dish. Pouring herself a shot's worth of the enticing liquid, Tsunade quickly stole a glance around the room once more before downing the contents of the bowl.

"Hokage-sama?" asked a voice from behind the door.

Spluttering, Tsunade quickly shoved the bowl and bottle back into her desk, "Yes Shizune?"

Settling her elbows upon the desk, Tsunade watched as her assistant and friend Shizune entered her office with another stack of the dreaded reports.

"Here are the reports from Kakashi-sama and Naruto-kun along with the rest of the gennin who chased Sasuke. You might want to go over this first before you start on that bottle again."

Hanging her head, Tsunade silently beckoned her assistant forward. Upon having the offending articles placed in front of her, Tsunade couldn't help but think about her favorite blond, Naruto had become more of a little brother to her. She couldn't help but think of how hurt he had been when Kakashi brought him back to the village two days prior. But the physical damage was nothing compared to the emotional turmoil the young Uzumaki was now going through. Picking up the first report she barely paid attention to it while she continued to think about the young man that kept entering her thoughts.

She was thankful that Jiraiya had decided to take the boy to train; this would help them all in two ways. One, bring the cheerful and bumbling Naruto back to the village, and two that of which was of greater need, help young Naruto gain strength in order to fight not only against Orochimaru, but against the Akatsuki.

Why, why does this young man have the worst of lives? Naruto has done nothing but help this village, and yet he has been shunned and hated his entire life. Now add in these Akatsuki who want to capture him and kill him and somehow use the Kyuubi for their hidden purposes.

Sighing yet again, Tsunade decided that it was time to head to the gates and meet her former perverted teammate before he takes the main reason she returned to Konoha away for training. Pushing herself away from the desk, the Godaime Hokage took her green robe from behind her and wrapped it around herself, then moved quickly through the door, heading for the main gate.

Passing through the village, Tsunade couldn't help but feel pride in the people of Konohagakure. Even with the loss of the Sandaime, along with the invasion of Orochimaru, the citizens and shinobi continued on with their lives, showing the 'Will of Fire' that the Third referred to constantly with pride. Though her mood began to darken the further she went. Banners were hung in some of the shops, along with people openly celebrating the fact that the 'demon' would be leaving the village today. Idiots… Naruto has sacrificed more than any in this village. Hell, I'm surprised the boy has even stayed within these walls and still remained loyal to Konoha with the abuse and hate that has surrounded him throughout his life.

Darkening her mood even further than it was, it seemed it was not Jiraiya's day as his fellow sannin and Hokage came upon him leering through some fencing around one of the public bathhouses. Tsunade couldn't help but stare at first as she watched and listened to the giggles that came from her former teammate as he wrote in a notebook while watching his 'studies' for his books.

The only warning Jiraiya had was the sound of feet shuffling and knuckles cracking before he found himself flying through the air towards to gates, being chased by the screams from his oldest friend, as she barreled behind him to keep up the beating.

"You damned pervert! How many times will I have to kick your ass before you realize peeping is not tolerated! If you weren't taking Naruto with you to train, I'd break every bone in your body!"

As the Toad Sannin rolled along the roadway, he was barely able to stop himself from plowing into the main gates of the village. Shaking his head, Jiraiya slowly begins to regain his bearings only to see Tsunade stalking him from further up the street.

"N…now Tsunade, let's not get hasty here…" Jiraiya began to beg. Yes, he was one of the legendary Sannin, one of the most powerful shinobi currently alive, but he would always cower when his friend came after him with that much killer intent rolling off of her.

As Tsunade reached back to (hopefully) slap some sense into Jiraiya, three ANBU shunshined beside her.

"Hokage-sama," a dog-masked member addressed his leader.

Slowly taking a breath to calm her anger, Tsunade turned to the ANBU captain before her.

"What is it?"

"There's … been a disturbance at the Uzumaki apartment."

Tsunade and Jiraiya both begin to pale, gathering his thoughts faster than his counterpart, the Toad Sannin spoke first. "What kind of disturbance, where is Naruto?"

Lowering his masked face, the ANBU captain spoke softly. "This might be better if you were to see his apartment."

Before the captain had finished his suggestion, both sannin had shunshined away. As fast as they could run, the two arrived at the apartment complex that housed their blonde friend.

"…Oh Kami…" Tsunade paled further as she came upon the door, or what used to be a door hanging ajar from the frame. Slowly, hesitantly, the two began to move in, meeting the other ANBU that were already there as the messenger squad landed behind them.

"Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama…" Turning, the sannin were greeted by the worried eye of Hatake Kakashi. Nodding, the three began to move further into the apartment, or what was left of it.

Jiraiya couldn't help but hold back the tears from the remains of the battle spread around before them. The entire apartment seemed to be a battlefield. The entire living area was destroyed; no piece of furniture left intact, but what drew the 5 eyes of the newcomers was the blood, all the blood splashed about the room. Tsunade watched as the medic-nin arrived to begin working on the blood samples left within the room as the ANBU seemed to be completing their inspection.

"Well!?" Stormed Tsunade, all those within the room flinched; this was not only their Hokage arriving on a crime scene within her village. This was a woman who found Naruto not only a valuable shinobi, but also treated the young man like a son.

"Hokage-sama, what we have discovered is that within the last hour, two men broke through the door and engaged Uzumaki. From what we can tell, somehow they were able to keep young Naruto from using any of his more… destructive jutsus. Through the altercation, it seems that the two subdued him quickly, more than likely by a form of genjutsu." Spoke the captain in charge.

Tears began to trail down the 3 non masked ninja within the room as one of the medic-nins turned to the group upon finishing her blood work.

"Hokag-"

"Forget the formalities; tell me what you've found."

"Hai, we found that the majority of the blood within the vicinity is that of Uzumaki Naruto's, we found traces of another's. It will take a few minutes for us do decipher whose blood it belongs to if we have it on file."

Nodding, Tsunade turned to see Jiraiya sitting on the bed holding what looked to be a piece of torn fabric, tears openly falling down his face. Moving closer, Tsunade couldn't stop the gasp that erupted form her throat as she saw what was on the dark fabric; within the black cloth, there was a design of what looked to be a red cloud.

"…Akatsuki…" Though Tsunade wanted to scream with all of the hate and anger she felt; all she could do was whisper the name of the organization which shown interest in young Naruto not that long ago. Kakashi was barely able to catch his Hokage as she started to fall to the floor, her body wracked with sobs.

"Jiraiya-sama…?" Turning his gaze from the offending cloth in his hand, the toad sannin noticed the medic-nin who had spoken to Tsunade moments ago.

"Report." He growled. This was not Cali's day, not only had she had the Hokage herself fuss at her; now she could see nothing but anger in the arguably strongest shinobi within the walls of the village.

"Sir, we've found out who the blood of the other sample… his name is Hoshigaki Kisame."

Sighing, Jiraiya softly wiped the tears away as he grumbled, "Well that explains the genjutsu."

Tsunade got up and lifted her fellow sannin off of the bed using her Herculean strength, "What do you mean?"

Shaking his head softly, Jiraiya removed Tsunade's hands from his vest, "If Kisame was here, then his partner came along with him. It means that Uchiha Itachi was here as well."

"Then we have lost him… We have lost our Naruto," cried his oldest living friend softly as she buried her head into his shoulder letting the tears fall.

"Not yet we haven't, I'm going after them!" Shouted the Toad Sannin, as he removed Tsunade from his shoulder and began to move through the doorway.