Naruko had made her decision. No matter what Shikamaru advised, she was going to reveal the truth to her friends. Unfortunately, simply deciding to do so didn't make it happen. She was determined to get this all over with in one go, and with her friends split onto three different teams, it was proving exceedingly difficult to get them all in the village at the same time.

It got to the point where she was strongly considering leaning on Minato to help her out with the scheduling. Instead, Naruko returned from a mission one morning and found, to her surprise, that Ino and Sakura were already there. She wasted no time setting up a meeting for noon that day, not wanting to risk a departure. So she found herself waiting in an empty training ground as her audience arrived.

Hinata and Kiba were the first two there. Well, three counting Akamaru. For the longest time she hadn't even considered telling Kiba. She still wasn't exactly thrilled with his personality, as he'd yet to get over the immature reveling in the fact he was on a team with two good looking kunoichi. Even so, Naruko had come to respect that when it was really important, you could hardly ask for a more reliable or loyal teammate. So she felt he deserved to know the truth, even if she gave it even odds that his mouth would leave her regretting that decision before this was over.

Ino and Shikamaru arrived shortly thereafter, and one look at the latter told Naruko she was right to tell Ino to drag him here by force if necessary. Considering the major role he played in this, there was no way she was letting him weasel out of this. Naruko soon began wishing that Ino had been the last to arrive, as her friend was showing patience was not her strongest point as she pressed for details as to why Naruko had called them there. Finally, Naruko did spot Sakura coming in the distance, but frowned when she saw that young chunin was not alone.

"What are you doing here?" she yelled out to Sasuke, not even waiting for him to reach the group.

"When Sakura announces she won't be able to make a training session because she has something important to discuss with you, that tends to grab my interest," he responded coolly. "Especially when I have an idea of what this is about."

"Well, you're not invited, so get out of here," Naruko insisted crossly.

"Considering who you're telling, do you really think I won't be able to find out exactly what you had to say even if I'm not here?" Sasuke asked with an arrogant smirk.

Glancing over at Ino and Sakura she saw the former putting on her best poker face while the latter was refusing to meet her gaze. For reasons Naruko couldn't understand, the two of them were just as crazy for Sasuke as ever. Still, if she really drilled it home to them that she didn't want them to say anything to Sasuke then she could probably trust them to keep quiet, assuming Sasuke didn't get too manipulative. Ah forget it. There was a good chance he'd find out somehow or another anyway, and arguing just gave her more time for second thoughts.

"Fine," she sighed. "You can stay. Kiba's already here anyway. Telling you can't be any worse than telling him."

"Hey," Kiba complained, but Naruko ignored him, wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.

"Anyway, I called you here to make a confession," she began. "I came to the village under false pretenses. At first I was working for Naruto, put here in an attempt to acquire as many of Konoha's jutsu as I could."

From the looks on their faces, she'd caught everyone but Shikamaru off guard with that. It was Kiba who first recovered enough to talk.

"You were what though, four at the time?" he asked. "No one's going to call a little girl doing a favor for her big brother a spy."

"Yeah," Sakura agreed. "Especially when you did side with Konoha over Naruto."

"That doesn't mean much," Sasuke interjected. "Considering Naruto's actions were part of a Konoha ploy all along, Naruko could have just been acting out her part at his bequest."

Sasuke didn't look at all guilty suggesting that right to her face. Although she had no idea where he came up with that notion, as Naruko knew for a fact that Naruto's actions had been quite sincere.

"Where do you hear a story like that from?" Kiba asked skeptically, mirroring Naruko's own thoughts.

"Only from the Sandaime himself," he answered smugly.

Naruko didn't know what game the old man was playing that would make him say that, but Naruko decided it wiser not to correct him. It might make Sasuke jump to the wrong conclusions and pester her about it, but how was that any different from how he normally behaved?

"Whatever her brother did, Naruko isn't like that," Hinata declared surprisingly firmly. She wasn't as meek as she used to be, but Hinata would never be mistaken for a boisterous person. So the strength of her support right now was quite touching, although Naruko wondered if it would withstand hearing the full story.

"The situation is more complicated than you realize," Naruko declared, cutting into the debate and setting things back on track. "I'm not really Naruto's sister, half or otherwise. I'm actually a special type of permanent clone he created. So I was fully aware of the implications of what I was doing, even back then."

Naruko could hardly believe she'd gotten through that as eloquently as she'd managed, and it was no surprise that even her earlier admission hadn't prepared them at all for this revelation. Once again, Kiba was the first to find his voice, even if his inclusion was almost an afterthought, she still was filled with trepidation about what he had to say.

"Wait, so all your memories and knowledge were from Naruto?" Kiba asked curiously.

"Yes," Naruko answered, not sure where this was going.

"So you're basically a guy trapped in a girl's body?" Kiba asked. "Does that mean you really do like girls?"

Naruko had been giving her teammate far too much credit. Even after all this time he'd still just come right out and ask that? Meanwhile Hinata was turning beet red, as if all the shame Kiba should have felt for saying that had somehow transferred to her.

"All the memories I received from Naruto have long since faded," Naruko answered sharply. "I've only ever known this body and I'm perfectly comfortable in it, thank you very much."

"Still, your original psyche was based off of Naruto's," Shikamaru interjected. "That must have had a huge impact on the formation of your current personality. So it really doesn't answer his original question."

"After the bombshell Naruko just dropped on us, you two idiots focus on this?" Ino snapped loudly at them, speaking up after holding her silence far longer than Naruko would have anticipated. "The real question is why she's been lying to us for years?"

Naruko cringed at the accusation, having feared just such a response.

"That's because I told her to," Shikamaru answered, holding his ear as if to protect it from another high volume verbal assault. "She's been wanting to tell you from the beginning, but I kept making her put it off because I just knew you'd make my life miserable once all this got out."

Naruko was surprised to see the boy voluntarily sticking his neck out like that, but it did little to calm Ino.

"So you trusted his advice over your own friends?" Ino demanded of her. "You kept everyone else in the dark?"

"I told Minato-sensei," Naruko answered weakling, stumbling over what to say. If there was some secret right answer, however, this wasn't it.

"Of course you did," Ino told her sharply. "But you didn't trust us enough to tell us as well."

"I trust you completely," Naruko insisted, a sense of panic really starting to sink in as the whole conversation continued to deteriorate. "I just wanted time to prove you could trust me."

"Lying to us is a funny way to prove that," Ino fired back. "Are you even telling us everything now, or is there more you're hiding?"

Naruko winced at that. There was obviously things she was holding back, regarding Naruto and Minato's origins, and she desperately wanted to reveal it all to Ino to try to salvage there friendship if there was still any chance of that. But Minato had sworn her to secrecy regarding that, and her training and self control proved just barely enough to resist the temptation.

"There is more," she admitted, "but I've told you everything I'm actually allowed to say."

"And we're supposed to take your word on that?" Ino queried sarcastically. "I mean you've given us so much evidence of just how honest and forthcoming you are."

"What she's holding back is probably related to the Yondaime himself," Shikamaru posited in an attempt to pacify the angry blonde.

"Actually, my money is on it involving Orochimaru," Sasuke countered.

"You know, you may actually be right," Shikamaru replied thoughtfully. Even in the midst of the depression that was setting in she could almost see the wheels turning in his head and had to wonder just how much more of their secrets he'd manage to piece together out of seemingly nothing.

"I don't care who it's about," Ino exclaimed loudly. "Since you're not ready to stop holding back and tell us everything, I don't want to hear it. Until that changes, I'm out of here."

Sparing Naruko one more angry glare, Ino stormed off. She started after the other blonde, but Sakura grabbed her arm, stopping her from doing so.

"Just give her some time," Sakura said. "She's probably more upset that you didn't tell her first than she is that you kept secrets to begin with."

"She's mad that I went to Shikamaru instead of her?" Naruko asked slightly confused by the thought. "He'd already managed to ferret some of it out himself. Plus, I don't actually care what he thinks about me."

"Thanks for that," Shikamaru muttered from where he sat, although Naruko couldn't actually tell if he was really offended.

"I know that, and Ino probably even realizes it herself," Sakura continued, "but she can be really pigheaded at times. Don't worry though. She'll come around eventually. If she takes too long, I'll pound some sense into that thick head of hers."

"I can talk to her too," Hinata offered helpfully. "I know how hard it can be to admit certain things to those you care about."

Naruko was touched by how her two friends were supporting her so readily. After Ino had exploded, she'd really feared the worst. She couldn't truly be happy with the result as long as the estrangement lasted, but with Sakura and Hinata backing her up, at least she could hold it together and try to win her final friend back.

"Meh, you're all just over-thinking it anyway," Kiba declared. "You have to trust your instincts. She's one of us. What does it even matter the circumstances behind that?" Akamaru barked in what she assumed was agreement.

Well, that was good news. Even if she personally cared more about Ino's reaction than Kiba's, at least there didn't seem to be any hard feelings on her own team, which bode well for her continued survival. They weren't exactly doing D class missions anymore, and teamwork was essential if you didn't want things to go horribly wrong. Of course just when she was starting to cheer up again, Sasuke had to butt in, as he stood up and made his way closer to her.

"You're probably too much of a mess to get anything worthwhile out of right now," he told her. "But make no mistake, you will be hearing from me again shortly, and now that I know you're not in the dark, I'm not going to leave you alone until I have the answers I want."

With that Sasuke departed as well, but unlike with Ino, Naruko had no intention of stopping him. Their most recent reduction in numbers didn't last long as Sasuke was quickly replaced by a new figure. Much to her surprise, Minato was now standing in front of her.

"I'm sorry to cut this short," he began. "I gave you more time than I probably should to finish this, but a mission has come up that's somewhat urgent. I hope you're feeling up to it."

"A mission could be just what I need right now," Naruko informed him, actually relishing the thought of something else to focus on. Not rookies any longer, both Sakura and Shikamaru knew enough to make themselves scarce, leaving Minato free to address his team without anyone else to overhear.

"That's good to hear," he replied. "As for the mission, we invited the Kazekage to Konoha for some diplomatic negotiations. However, he was scheduled to arrive hours ago. I believe something may have happened to him and need the three of you to search for any clues as to just what that may be."

"If there's anything to find, we'll find it," Kiba boasted, not an emptily for once given they were one of the most effective tracking teams out there despite their inexperience. "Still, if it's only a few hours they're probably just stopping to see the sights or something on the way."

"That would be ideal," Minato replied. "But the negotiations were just a pretense to begin with. We had intelligence indicating the Kazekage was being targeted. As you're aware, Suna was greatly weakened during the failed invasion. We simply felt Konoha could offer better protection, but used the ruse in case he didn't agree."

"Weakened or not, who could target a kage in the middle of his own village?" Kiba inquired.

"A criminal organization by the name of Akatsuki," Minato answered. "They're some of the most dangerous ninja in existence, so yes, they're capable of doing just that."

"Are you sure we can handle the mission in that case?" Hinata asked nervously.

"They're professionals," he told them. "If it really is Akatsuki, I expect they'll be long gone by the time you arrive. You're job is to merely find what evidence you can of a fight and any clues as to who was involved. Suna will not take kindly to their leader disappearing and we want to pass on whatever information we can to avoid the blame falling on us. Still, this mission is not without risks. If you do encounter anyone, I'll let you use your own judgment as to how to proceed. That said, I strongly suggest that judgment leans toward discretion."

Naruko was still curious as to just what Akatsuki was after, but she had an idea of what that might be. "Is the Kazekage a jinchuriki?" she asked him.

"Whatever you heard, I hope it was from Naruto," Minato said with a frown. "Because everyone who knows enough to guess that in Konoha should know how to keep their mouths shut better than that."

"It was from Naruto," she confirmed, which seemed satisfy Minato.

"Yes he is," the man finally confirmed. "Although I hope the three of you realize that all of this information is top secret. No one else hears this without authorization. Now, the three of you need to move out while the trail is still fresh. They should have been taking the main road from Suna, so start your search there. Dismissed."

Nodding, all three of them set a quick pace toward the path that would lead to Suna. In little time they were out of the village and speeding and speeding through miles of road. Naruko did her best to stay focused on the mission, not just as a distraction from other concerns, but because if Akatsuki really was involved, she couldn't afford anything but her undivided attention on the task at hand.

"So how much do you know about this Akatsuki group anyway?" Kiba asked, proving Naruko wasn't the only one with her mind on them.

"I know that their primary goal has something to do with the Biju," Naruko answered. "And if rumors are true it was founded by Uchiha Madara."

"Isn't he supposed to be long dead?" Kiba queried. "If the organization is that old, how come we're only hearing about them now?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," she replied. "I can't tell you anything about the current membership or much of anything else of use."

"How did Naruto know about them?" Hinata asked, breaking her way into the discussion.

"He has an interest in Biju as well," she explained. "So it was inevitable they'd cross paths eventually."

"Is he a jinchuriki himself?" Hinata inquired as a followup, almost causing Naruko to miss a step.

"No," she told Hinata simply, which was technically true even if he was very similar in nature to one.

Still, Naruko was starting to develop a rather strong distaste for keeping things from her friends. She was determined that as soon as she got back to Konoha she was going to press Minato for permission to tell them everything. For now, she needed to focus on the mission as something was tickling her senses just barely in range of her being able to pick it up.

"I think there's something going on ahead," she warned her team.

"Are you sure?" Kiba asked. "I'm not getting anything."

A surge in power from the direction she was sensing made the point moot, as she was sure Hinata and Kiba both easily picked that up.

"Let's go," she ordered as she picked up her pace. It looked as if they might just be in time after all. She just hoped that was a good thing. Naruko tried to force that thought aside. She had faith in her team, and they'd be aided by the Kazekage and whatever guards he brought with him that were still alive.

Given they were running along a road with nothing but open plains along it, Naruko feared they'd have no cover on their approach, ruining the opportunity for a surprise assault. Geography, however, was on their side as the road went up an incline just before the source of the powerful energy she assumed was the Kazekage drawing on the Biju's power.

Reaching the peak of the hill, she saw Gaara and his two siblings. Planning to get the jump on whomever they were fighting, she was shocked to find no sign of the signature Akatsuki cloak. Instead, there stood two people near the bottom of the list of those she expected to see. Naruto and Anko of all people.

She stopped in her tracks trying to make sense of the situation. Gaara's sister, Temari, was out cold, and his brother, Kankuro, appeared to barely be able to stand, being surrounded by broken pieces of his own puppets. Gaara still looked uninjured, as did both Naruto and Anko. Had Naruto already chased off Akatsuki?

"Reinforcements?" Gaara asked bitterly, only confusing Naruko further. "Don't think that will change my mind."

"It doesn't have to be like this," Naruto replied to Gaara, keeping an eye on Naruko but otherwise ignoring her entrance. "I assure you I can remove the Ichibi without harming you. We can then disperse the creature preventing Akatsuki from getting their hands on it for years to come. It's the most surefire way to stop them."

"It's power is needed to protect my people," Gaara answered firmly. "I won't give it up to you or Akatsuki. If they do try to take it from me, then I will end the threat permanently for you."

Well, at least they were kind enough to give her a good idea of just what was going on here. Naruto was meddling into things he shouldn't be.

"Our orders are to see the Kazekage reaches Konoha safely," Naruko announced. "If you don't cease your current aggression toward him we will stop you by force."

"Do you want to teach the brats to mind their own business, or should I?" Anko asked Naruto, her body language making it crystal clear she preferred the latter.

"I suppose it's better to let you handle that than keep dealing with the Suna contingent," Naruto mused. "Maybe if your opponents are from your own village you'll at least think twice about using moves designed to maim them."

"No promises," Anko replied as she started making her way toward Naruko.

She was in for a surprise if she thought she could handle them by herself. Unlike Naruko, Anko wasn't even a full jonin. Naruko was confident she could win even without her team's support. Naruto was a much larger concern, but if they finished this quickly, they might just be able to handle him with Gaara's help.

With that plan in mind, she didn't wait for Anko to make the first move, instead sprinting toward the woman herself. It was a testament to the rapport they'd developed that Hinata and Kiba didn't even miss a beat as they moved in to aid her.

Anko stood her ground and prepared for the upcoming collision due to Naruko's charge. It never came, as the whole maneuver was simply a feint, as became evident when Naruko pivoted a few feet from Anko, changing course and circling around to Anko's right. While she was moving, she was already preparing blades of wind which she shot off at Anko from point blank range.

She worried momentarily that she might have gone too far, as the technique could be quite deadly, but Anko managed to weave around them even with how little room she had to do so. At the very least it didn't exactly leave her in the best defensive position, a situation Kiba and Akamaru were already attempting to exploit as the pair charged in side by side along the same path Naruko had originally taken.

Off balance as she was, Anko was forced to retreat a few steps to avoid being overwhelmed by the teen and his large canine companion, backing her toward where Hinata was waiting for just such an opportunity. The Hyuga girl thrust out her palm at the undefended back, leading Naruko to speculate the fight might already be over, given what juken could do with a blow like that.

A puff smoke put a quick end to that idea as Anko's body was replaced by a writhing mass of snakes all lunging at Hinata. Thankfully she was able to start a kaiten spin quickly enough to defend herself, destroying the summons in a second puff of smoke. It was a good thing Hinata had been the one to spring that trap Anko had probably been leading them into right from the start. Naruko quickly located Anko standing in the grass a short distance away, smirking at them. She'd underestimated the woman. It had been foolish to think she wouldn't improve herself in her time away from Konoha.

"Watch for any other snakes hiding in the grass," Naruko ordered. "Those summons were probably waiting there all along until Anko switched places with a kawarimi. And don't hold anything back this time. Hit her hard with everything you've got."

"You little twerps were holding back against me?" Anko asked in response to Naruko's orders, her smirk turning a bit less friendly. "I don't take kindly to brats barely out of school looking down on me like that."

Naruko ignored her, instead waiting as Kiba and Akamaru each popped a pill, beginning their transformations, a much more extreme one in Akamaru's case. When both of them were visually indistinguishable, Naruko began another assault. Naruko was fortunate that both Minato and she were best suited to the wind element, as he'd been an excellent source of new jutsu. She now put his training to good use against Anko, sending an assault that would be deadly even to most ninja against her.

Meanwhile, Hinata was engaging in close combat while Kiba and Akamaru's gatsuga created a constant threat of severe physical trauma for their opponent. Their teamwork was in top form today too, which was a relief because Naruko couldn't afford to hold back in fear of hitting her own teammates. She'd been worried about Kiba, as he'd been sloppy in training lately, but he always seemed to be the type that thrived in actual danger. He must have recognized this as such as he was fighting better than she'd ever seen him before, somehow being more ferocious while still staying perfectly in step with their practiced assault pattern.

They were hitting Anko hard without letting up, but their former examiner didn't seem to understand the concept of a defense, no matter how much they pressed her. Or at the very least she considered the best defense to be a constant supply of surprise counterattacks and dirty tricks. Even though they appeared to have the upper hand, there were far too many close calls for Naruko's comfort.

Not that Anko's strategy wasn't taking a toll on her own body, as she was already sporting several shallow cuts along her arms from where she'd chosen to try to eviscerate Hinata rather than deal with Naruko's own wind blades attack. Even as determined as she was to stop Naruto and Anko, her intent had never been to seriously injure another Konoha ninja, but the way Anko was fighting, Naruko feared this may turn into a fight to the death, regardless of her wishes.

Well, if that had to happen, she was glad that it was looking to be a fight they would win. Anko kept proving to be far more skilled than Naruko had anticipated, but four against one was obviously just too much for her. But she couldn't get careless. It wasn't always the stronger side that won, and Anko was good at being surprising. This was evidenced almost as soon as the thought had crossed her mind when Anko foreswore her frenzied assault for once and leaped back, firing off a fire jutsu as she did.

While breathing out the stream of fire, she swept it back and forth in front of them, creating a wall of flame that blocked her from their vision. Immediately her team backed away from the fire, Kiba and Akamaru temporarily halting their gatsuga to appraise the situation. As insane as she was, they were probably expecting the same as Naruko, that she would jump through her own fire in an attack meant to catch them off guard. Instead the fire died down and they saw Anko still standing behind it, smile unbroken by the fight so far.

"You're actually pretty good," she said pointing at Naruko. "Your teammates on the the other hand, aren't anything special."

This earned twin growls from Kiba and his temporary doppelganger.

"You work well together, I'll give you that," Anko admitted, then starting moving as she continued. "But I bet if I really try it's not too hard to finish one of them off."

Naruko's heart skipped a beat as she realized Anko was headed straight for Hinata while giving off a killing intent several times larger than any she'd yet sported this fight. She was completely serious now and fully intended to kill Hinata. Not about to let that happen, Naruko fired off several wind blades while running on an intercept course. Anko easily weaved around them without losing a step, and continued to do so no matter what Naruko tried.

Giving up on that strategy, Naruko devoted her entire focus on speed, determined to reach Anko in time to defend Hinata, but to her dismay, Anko's own speed surpassed any she'd yet shown and it became clear that Naruko wouldn't catch her in time. She was silently willing Hinata to run from the other woman, as Anko was already being too close for a verbal warning to have any effect.

Whatever talents Hinata did possess, telepathy wasn't one of them, as her friend showed no sign of doing so. She was probably preparing another kaiten, which was not nearly as comforting a thought as it should have been.

Anko had already seen the defense several times in the fight and she wasn't stupid. The defense was not invulnerable, and if Anko didn't think she could break it, she would have gone for Kiba instead. Add to that the fact that her already impressive killing intent was growing by the moment, and Naruko's fear was fast approaching panic levels.

With Anko only a few feet from Hinata, and Naruko charging in from the side several feet further back, she was becoming desperate, putting everything into firing off one last barrage of wind blades. They wouldn't reach Anko in time to stop her attack, but Naruko hoped that it might get through the bloodlust that was practically radiating from Anko and force her to break off her attack for her own safety. In the state the rogue tokubetsu jonin was in, Naruko doubted she'd even notice anything outside of her prey. Still, that sliver of hope combined with the desire to make Anko pay in full if she harmed Hinata pushed her to give everything she had in this final assault.

As much as her mind railed against the thought, she fully expected to see some secret attack of Anko's overcoming Hinata's kaiten while Naruko's own jutsu tore the treacherous woman to shreds. Instead, Anko pivoted 90 degrees with astonishing agility, barely having to dodge any of Naruko's wind blades that had all been aimed at where Anko would be if she'd continued her current path. Meanwhile, the desperation of her own attack had left her woefully unprepared to defend herself.

Naruko's own momentum carried her closer to where Anko was lashing out with a fist glinting in the light from the three well polished kunai held between her fingers like a set of claws. Naruko had fallen completely for Anko's trap and now could think of nothing to prevent herself from being cut open. As upset as she was that she'd probably just gotten herself killed, she was still relieved that it wasn't Hinata who would pay would the price for failure.

The tips of the blades were only inches from her chest when they suddenly flew off to the right without so much as cutting her clothing. For an instant, Naruko thought that Anko had pulled her attack after all, until she saw it wasn't just the fist, but Anko's whole body that was flying off, tumbling briefly before Anko righted herself and skidded to a stop a couple dozen yards away or so. There was little confusion as to what had caused it, as Hinata was standing in the space that had previously been occupied by Anko, fist still extended.

"That was awesome!" Kiba called out enthusiastically, from where he'd been attempting his own rescue of Hinata. "But how did you know she was going to change her target? She'd looked seriously determined to kill you."

"That's what I'd like to know," Naruko added, eying Anko warily from where she stood, hesitant to try to press their advantage until she was sure she wasn't falling for another of her ploys. "You didn't even try to defend yourself. If she hadn't changed course, you could have been killed."

"It was her eyes," Hinata answered a little sheepishly at the combined praise and concern she was receiving from her teammates. "They were a little too focused. If she'd really be planning to attack me, there would have been minor movements in her focus as she searched for weaknesses and tried to anticipate how I would react. My father trained me to notice things like that, so I was pretty sure she wasn't going to actually attack me."

"So, how many tenketsu did you just close off?" Naruko asked her, hoping Hinata had just put Anko at a serious disadvantage.

"I was too concerned with stopping her attack to do much in that regard," Hinata answered apologetically. "But I doubt she'll be able to use any chakra in her right arm for a while."

"Hah, only you could say that as if you'd done something wrong," Kiba told her, growing a large smile. "We already had her on the ropes, she's all but beaten now."

"I would like to remind you of something you seem to be forgetting," Anko cut in. "I enjoyed playing with you, but I never actually had to beat you to win."

Naruko instantly knew what she was referring to. Their goal had been Gaara. She'd been too focused on her own fight to spare any attention to that one, but could Naruto have really beaten the Kazekage this quickly? Or was this simply a ploy to get her to look away? The moment's hesitation cost her whatever chance she may have had to defend herself, as she was bowled over from behind, having her face planted in the grass.

She righted herself as quickly as she could, but she found Naruto had already knocked Akamaru out cold, with the poor dog having returned to his own form and now stood over where Kiba lay flat on his back with a foot resting on Kiba's chest and a sword pointed at his neck. A quick glance made it doubtful they'd be receiving any help from the Kazekage, who was still conscious, but struggling unsuccessfully to even stand. Hinata hadn't been touched in Naruto's attack, but was frozen in place from the sword's implied threat.

"Just give up and go home," Naruto ordered her. "You can't stop us, so there's no need to get yourselves hurt."

"Don't worry about me, just stop him," Kiba called out, not attempting to free himself despite his words.

"No need to be so dramatic," Naruko told him. "He's not going to seriously hurt you no matter what we do."

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught Naruko's attention, and she started to call out a warning, but it wasn't in time to stop Anko from sneaking up behind Hinata while she was focused on Kiba.

"You may be right about Naruto not having it in him," Anko agreed from where she now stood behind Hinata with a kunai pressed against her neck, "but I hope you're not foolish enough to think I'd hesitate to slice her neck open."

To emphasize her point, she drew the blade across Hinata's neck, creating a shallow cut that began to bleed. This drew an immediate growl from Kiba, who might have inadvertently done far worse to his own neck as he thrashed about if Naruto hadn't been so quick to adjust the positioning of his sword in reaction.

"Let her go! You already have me!" Kiba cried out in fury.

"Just go and finish up with sand boy over there," Anko directed him. "I'll make sure our own brats behave themselves."

Naruto nodded and release Kiba, walking over to where Gaara had yet to succeed in the simple act of standing up. Naruko glanced over to where a completely dejected looking Hinata was being held prisoner. Knowing Hinata, she was probably more depressed over putting her team in this situation then worried for her own safety.

Naruko considered for a moment trying to complete the mission anyway. After all, ninja were trained to put their lives on the line, and they were both from Konoha, so Anko might still be bluffing. She tossed that notion quickly enough, however. Anko didn't strike her at the bluffing type when it came to killing. And even if their victory was assured, Naruko wasn't certain she'd be able to sacrifice Hinata to achieve it.

Nor was their victory at all assured. On the contrary, with just the two of them against Naruto and the surprisingly skilled Anko, if the outcome was at all decided it was most certainly not in their favor. She'd just have to stay out of this and console herself in the fact that Naruto had no intention of actually killing Gaara.

Still, even if her mission had only been reconnaissance, and they might even bring Gaara back alive, she couldn't consider this anything but a failure.

Naruto approached the Kazekage, feeling a little guilt at the glare the beaten up village leader was giving him. He'd been pleased to see the boy had done so well for himself after Naruto had improved his seal, even if he couldn't be certain just how much of that he could take credit for. Now he was coming back to strip the Biju from him completely, and it didn't sit quite well him.

He was only halfway back when he sensed a new arrival appearing out of nowhere behind him. Spinning around, he confirmed that Madara had indeed teleported in, and was now standing in the middle of the whole group, once again wearing that odd mask of his.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, feigning more surprise than he truly had.

"Come now," he replied. "We both have an interest in the Biju. Is it any surprise we'd cross paths from time to time?"

"Well, you're too late," Naruto announced, turning around and sprinting to Gaara, already starting a set of hand seals. "You're not getting this one."

As expected, Madara's presence winked out for a second, undoubtedly on his way to grab Gaara and teleport off, much as he'd done with the Nibi's host. Too bad for him that such an act was exactly what Naruto was hoping for. He'd just come within ten feet of Gaara when Madara had reacted, which put him in range of his new jutsu. Raising his palm to the air, a translucent blue dome appeared around Naruto and Gaara.

If it worked as planned, the field should affect Madara in such as way as to prevent him from teleporting for a few hours. If their luck was good, it might even react rather violently to his attempt to teleport inside while it was up. He'd see how that went in just a moment. Only Naruto quickly realized that Madara had not, in fact, appeared where he'd anticipated, but instead rematerialized even further back from where he'd previously been.

Spinning to face him as quickly as he could, Naruto was just in time to see him stab Naruko in the back with a needle. His former clone struggled weakly for a couple of seconds to retaliate before falling completely limp. A reaction that got nearly twin cries of 'Naruko' from her two teammates.

"Relax; she's fine," Madara declared as he lifted up her limp form. "This is just a little something Sasori whipped up for me that will keep her out for a few hours."

The two teens relaxed slightly at this, but still watched tensely, Hinata not even seeming to notice that Anko had released her, and was doing her best to sneak up behind Madara.

"As for you two," Madara declared, teleporting a dozen yards away with Naruko just in time to avoid Anko's attempted to stab him in the back and glaring at the slowly fading blue sphere, "that's a rather nasty looking trap. I can't imagine it would have gone well for me if I'd attempted to nab the Kazekage instead of the girl. It almost makes me wonder if this whole thing might have been planned for my benefit."

"The jutsu is certainly for you," Naruto admitted. "As for the rest, we were here first. You're the one who claimed it was just a coincidence that you showed up."

"No, I don't believe that," Madara replied. "You can actually sense Zetsu somehow, can't you? I'm not sure how, but that must be the case. So you figured out he was spying on you and planned this out hoping I would jump in to stop you."

Naruto sensed the slight disturbance in the ground's natural chakra begin to speed rapidly away in response to Madara's words, causing Naruto to curse silently. Thanks to the man being too clever by half, Naruto's mistake had given away both their advantages. He now knew about their new jutsu, and they could no longer feed his little spy exactly what they wanted to.

"Unfortunately for you, I was more interested in this little prize here," Madara continued, holding up Naruko's unconscious body. "One person with close ties to two of people most likely to interfere with my plans. You can keep the Ichibi as your reward for reminding me not to underestimate you, but if either you or the Hokage get in my way again … well I probably won't kill her right away. Still, let's just say that she won't appreciate your determination."

Not even waiting to see how they reacted to his threat, Madara was gone.

"Well, that went well," Anko said dryly. "Anyway, at least finish up with the Suna brat over there and let's move on to the next one. With him teleporting all over the place, we're already at a disadvantage. We can't afford to waste any time."

"Wait," Hinata called out to them in distress. "You're not going to go after other Biju are you? You heard what he'll do to Naruko if you do."

"I'm sorry," Naruto told her, truly meaning that, "but this is much bigger than one person. If I can find a way to rescue her, I will, but Madara simply has to be stopped."

"You can at least hold off for a little while, right?" Kiba pleaded. "Just give us some time and we'll find a way to save her."

"I can't promise that," Naruto told him, "but I will at least do my best to keep Madara from realizing I'm acting. Now you have a mission to finish, don't you? Just give me a minute with the girl first. Anko was a little too rough with her."

"She called me a slut," Anko said with a shrug. "I had to do that on principle. Anyway, aren't you forgetting something? You still need to extract and disperse the Ichibi."

"I never liked that plan to begin with," Naruto told her, as he leaned over Temari and let his energy sink into the girl, healing her wounds. "I kept quiet and played along hoping to trap Madara, but the ploy failed, so I'm letting him go. Besides, the Ichibi is the weakest of the Biju by far, and as you can see, Madara didn't seem terribly concerned with it. I say we let the Kazekage keep him. One more tool to use to stop that madman."

"That'd be a great plan, if we hadn't just beaten the guy up," Anko noted. "I doubt he's exactly in a helpful mood."

"Well it's true I'm not exactly thrilled to be attacked like this, I understand Madara is the greater threat," Gaara answered calmly, at some point regaining enough strength to stand and shakily make his way over to look down at where his sister was starting to stir under Naruto's administrations. "If you are aiming to stop him, then I will aid you as I can."

"Well then, it's no skin off my back if that's how you want to do it," Anko told him. "As long as you explain it to Harumi later."

"Fine," Naruto agreed, not too worried about that. "Anyway, I'm done here, so let's move out."

The two of them did just that as Naruto fell into deep thought, pondering just what their next move would be. Somehow, they needed to find a way to force Madara to stay and fight despite blowing the trump card intended to do just that, and they were running out of time to find a solution.

Madara reappeared in the large cave that was serving as Akatsuki's base. Currently, an unusually large contingent of members were present, although the reason was quickly clear. Two of the teams had successfully completed their missions, which explained the presence of Kakuzu, Hidan, Sasori, and Deidara. And of course Kisame had been the one assigned to guard their base.

"Four and seven, huh?" Madara noted with approval, spotting their pair of unconscious jinchuriki captives. "A very nice start."

"Who is that?" Kisame asked, pointed to where he held Naruko. "I don't remember her being one of the jinchuriki."

"This is the bait for little trap I'm going to set up," he answered with a smile, not that anyone would see it behind his mask. "Chain her up with the others, I'm going to start preparations for the extraction."

After handing over the girl, he began to do just that. Most of the real preparation he'd been working on for years. Researching ways to improve the jinchuriki seal for starters. But the most difficult part was adjusting his own chakra coils so that his system more closely resembled those of the Biju. If all went well, he'd merge at a level that surpassed that of any jinchuriki in history. The power of the Biju would be little more than supercharging his own chakra. No separate power source. No annoying side effects. And most importantly, he'd be able to access very nearly the full power of a freed Biju, rather than the fraction of it that a jinchuriki could normally use.

Even with just the pair in front of him, he would have enough power that he would no longer have reason to fear the likes of Harumi or the Yondaime. Perhaps not even Naruto. Unlike Harumi, he didn't know the depth of what that man was capable of. That combined with his unique ties to the Biju worried Madara. Maybe he was making a mountain out of a molehill, but his caution may have just saved his life in their most recent encounter, so he wasn't going to get reckless now.

It didn't even take an hour before are the seals were properly set up and everything had been double-checked. The six present members of Akatsuki were now gathered around the female jinchuriki captive who held the Nanabi. He was about to begin the procedure when he was interrupted by Sasori.

"You're going to settle for the Nanabi?" he asked. "I thought you'd want nothing less than the Kyubi for yourself. Perhaps you should let one of us have this one. I'd be more than willing."

"There's no need for me to be that greedy," he told them. "Besides, this is the first time I've put the theory of this new seal in practice. I'm confident that if anything is off I can make last minute adjustments on myself, but for anyone else, it may not go as smoothly. I'll work out the kinks on myself and have a much safer process for the remaining Biju."

Of course no matter what he did, they'd be killed outright without the chakra coil adjustments he'd been making to himself. But he had to keep them from turning on him for now, as he wasn't certain he could take all five of the assembled men at once. At least not without getting the prisoners killed in the process.

Well, if worse came to worst, he could grab the Nanabi's jinchuriki and teleport out. Maybe he could even get more prisoners, but he expected this lot would kill them the instant he left with the first of them just to spite him. Which would leave him the unenviable prospect of losing the other two captives and having to reproduce all the work he'd done in the cave to facilitate the process, so he was hoping he could still talk them down.

"I'd be willing to take that risk," Hidan declared. "It's not as if it would kill me if anything went wrong."

He could tell at a glance that the group was turning against him. He shouldn't be surprised they weren't dumb enough to trust him completely. Still, he figured it was a close thing, so he might still have a chance to save this.

"Fine," he told them as casually as he could. "If one of you wants to risk it, you can have the first shot. Anyone want to contest Hidan going first?"

When no one did he set to work creating a seal on Hidan. While the rest of them watched carefully, as he expected, none of them knew enough of seals to catch on the little trick he'd just worked out. The Biju would only pass through Hidan on its way to Madara rather than being sealed in him. Madara was counting on the feeling of the power passing through him would convince him it was working as intended, at least until it was safely sealed in himself.

Activating the seal, it began to work just as planned. The girl housing the Nanabi woke just long enough to let out one scream before going permanently still. Meanwhile the power began to flow into him, and Hidan gave no sign he was in any way the wiser. Just when it should be finishing up, however, the power actually surged, growing to a painful level. Madara had no idea what was going on until a laugh in his head tipped him off that this was the Kyubi's work.

"Something's wrong," Hidan declared, sounding a little nervous despite his oft proclaimed immortality.

Kyubi's assault continued to increase in ferocity, and Madara rushed for any idea of how to save himself. He hadn't planned for any way to quickly stop the procedure, never dreaming he'd need it, and he doubted he had more than moments until he was completely overwhelmed. He was preparing for the end when the attack halted even more suddenly than it had begun. The reason soon made itself clear as Hidan fell to the ground.

"He's dead," Kakuzu declared, shock evident in his voice.

That death had saved Madara's own life, as it had broken the link between him and the Kyubi. That whole thing had been too close. If his underlings had been a little less belligerent, it would be him lying lifeless on the floor.

"When you said it might not go smoothly, you weren't kidding," Kisame exclaimed.

"No, that was an attack by the Kyubi," Madara informed them. "I had no idea this was possible, but apparently the Biju share some connection that allowed him to use to Nanabi as a proxy for his strike. It seems we won't be able to make use of any of the other Biju until the Kyubi is taken care of."

"So what happened to the Nanabi?" Sasori queried, ignoring the dead Hidan to focus on what he really cared about.

"Dispersed by Kyubi in the process," he lied, having succeeded in sealing the beast in himself. "It should reform in a few years, but we've lost access to it until then."

"Convenient," Kakuzu declared suspiciously. "You don't get your way and the person who opposed you winds up dead? I say you were just afraid of one us getting the power of a Biju before you. Captured Kyubi or no, I don't expect a long life for anyone else who tries to collect their share of the prize before you. Not that it will be much longer than anyone who sits around and lets you go first."

Madara wished he could just kill the man right there, but Kyubi's attack had not left him unaffected. He'd come very close to death, and despite having the Nanabi, he was quite weak for the moment. Once he'd rested, however, he should have little need for any of these men.

"I'm as upset by this turn of events as you are," he claimed. "If you trust me so little, then leave. I'm the only one of us capable of extracting and resealing the Biju. So if you're convinced I'm going to kill you, there's not much point in sticking around. As for me, I'm going to start planning how to deal with the Kyubi."

Quickly teleporting away to a hidden spot only he knew of, he focused on recuperating. With the Nanabi secure, he was now far more powerful than ever. But this was only just the beginning of his plan.

Feeling a surge in the deeper parts of his inner being, Naruto stopped in his tracks, a fact that was immediately noted by Anko.

"What is it?" she asked curiously.

"The Kyubi is doing something big," he answered. "As best as I can tell, it's in reaction to Madara capturing one of the Biju, but I really don't know any details."

"Figures. How are we supposed to compete with someone who can jump all over the place whenever he wants?" Anko complained.

"We're probably not lucky enough for the Kyubi to finish him off for us, but at the very least, his attack helps us in another way," Naruto announced. "I now know exactly where our rogue Uchiha is. We may just be able to get the drop on him for once."

"Nice," Anko replied, clearly relishing the thought. "Just give me the details and I can send a snake off to tell Harumi and Itachi."

"No need," Naruto informed her, as he finished a rather complicated technique and sent off his message. "I just told Harumi everything they need to know."

"Long range telepathy?" Anko asked, raising an eyebrow. "Your bag of tricks really is endless isn't it?"

"Well, I haven't depleted it yet," Naruto answered with a smirk. "Anyway, Harumi hasn't quite got the hang of sending replies yet, but she'll have received the message loud and clear. So let's get going. If we get there before he leaves, we may be able to end this today."

Hinata followed closely behind Kiba as he burst into the Hokage's office, for once not trying to hold back his brash behavior. They'd barely taken the time to hand off the Kazekage and his siblings before sprinting here. Currently, Minato-sensei and Kushina were both present, not looking quite sure how to react to the interruption.

"Naruko has been captured," Kiba declared loudly. "We have to get her back."

"What?" Kushina cried out. "What happened? Was it Akatsuki?"

"It was a man they called Madara," Hinata answered. "He just appeared out of nowhere, used some sort of poison on Naruko, and then … they were both gone. Kiba's right, we have to do something."

"Everyone just calm down," Minato exclaimed, I can't do anything without more details. What happened with the Kazekage? Did Madara say anything that might indicate where he's going? Just tell me everything."

Hinata did just that, trying to get it finished as quickly and efficiently as possible so Minato-sensei could tell them how to fix everything. Despite frequent interruptions from Kiba adding in his own comments and Kushina insisting she go into further details on some points, she was soon through and waiting for Minato's orders.

"As much as I hate to say it, there's nothing we can do," Minato told them. "We don't know where they are, or what their next move will be. And before you ask, we can't even give in to their demands. We must do our best to stop Akatsuki regardless of the situation."

"Minato!" Kushina admonished him sharply at his last statement, giving Hinata some small hope she might change his mind."

"What?" Minato replied defensively. "You know that Konoha couldn't survive if it gave into demands as soon as someone took a prisoner. I don't like this any more than you, but that's how it is."

"I know that, as much as it drives me crazy right now," she admitted, quickly dashing Hinata's brief hope. "But there was no need to tell them that. This is hard enough on them as it is."

It seemed Minato-sensei and Naruto both planned to ignore the ultimatum. In which case, what hope was there for Naruko?

"I disagree," Minato answered. "They're both ninja of this village. They deserve to be told the truth, and I trust them to handle it."

"Well, here's something else that's the truth," Kushina exclaimed. "I don't know how yet, but I promise you that I will get Naruko back safely. And you can rest easy because I don't break my promises."

Hinata expected Minato to admonish her again for making such a baseless promise, but instead he was just looking at and smiling as if he completely believed her. It almost made Hinata want to do the same, but it was hard to have blind faith in a situation like this.

"Great," Kiba declared, seeming more sold by her vow than Hinata was. "Is there any way we can help?"

"You can start by having yourselves looked over at the hospital," Minato answered. "I can easily see that neither of you came out unscathed. I'll let you know if we come up with anything."

Nodding, the both of them left. As they walked out, Hinata continued to fall further into despair. If she'd only been better none of this might have happened. If she hadn't let herself be captured by Anko, perhaps Naruko would have been in a better position to defend herself against Madara. Now she may have lost Naruko, and on top of that, she faced the guilt of not even having appreciated her properly. Earlier that very day, when learning of Naruko's origins, she'd thought how it might have been nice if Naruto had chosen to make a male clone, instead of just being thankful for the best friend she could ask for.

"It's not your fault," Kiba declared, interrupting her thoughts in such a timely manner it was almost as if he'd been listening in on them. "Besides, you heard Kushina. We're going to get Naruko back. Not that I'm going to sit around and let her do everything. I'm already working on other angles."

Hinata was about to ask him what he meant, when they left the building and the question was answered for her. Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, and Sasuke were standing around Akamaru looking at them expectantly. She'd wondered where the large dog had gone off to.

"You couldn't have thought to write a note?" Sakura asked angrily. "I don't enjoy playing twenty questions with a dog, and all we've managed to get out of him so far was that you wanted us and it was about Naruko."

Sakura paused at this looking around and noticing the absence of the person in question. "She isn't ..." Sakura asked hesitantly turning white in fear.

"She's not dead, but she's been captured," Kiba answered, before turning sharply on Sasuke. "And what are you doing here? For someone who claims to not be able to stand Naruko, you sure like to stick your nose in her business."

"You have your mutt interrupt our practice to drag off my teammate," Sasuke replied with a shrug. "What do you expect me to do?"

Kiba looked ready to protest further, but Hinata cut him off. "It's alright, Kiba. He may be able to help us."

"You're right," Kiba agreed quickly. "Anyway, we need to figure out how to locate Naruko so we can rescue her."

"Aren't you supposed to be the tracking expert?" Sasuke asked. "Why didn't you just follow her yourself?"

"Brilliant," Kiba mocked. "Why didn't I think to follow the trail of the guy who teleported away. I'm glad you're here to point these things out."

"Let's stay focused," Sakura said diplomatically before Sasuke could fire back another retort. "Shikamaru, do you have any ideas how we could find her?"

Hinata looked at the boy hopefully. She'd been astonished more than a few times by the reasoning skills of the young chunin, and was fervently wishing that this might be another item for the list.

"Sorry, but I haven't a clue how to follow someone who can teleport around like that," he answered. "Since you already spoke to the Hokage, I assume he doesn't know either, which makes it unlikely anyone in the village does. Unless Ino has a family trick to locate Naruko, I think we're stuck."

All eyes turned to Ino, who'd been quiet so far. This was probably awkward for her, given her reaction to Naruko earlier in the day, but she trusted Ino completely to put that aside and help out when Naruko really needed her.

"At the range we're talking with no idea where she is?" Ino asked rhetorically. "I can certainly ask my father, but I haven't heard of anything that could help with that."

The group fell into silence at that, and you could almost feel an air of depression forming over everyone. It was at this point that they noticed Shino walking over to them.

"I'm sorry about us running out like that," Sakura told him, "but this is really serious. Naruko has been captured."

"I regret to be the one to inform you of this, but it's worse than that," Shino told them. "Naruko is almost certainly dead."

Hinata's cry of shock joined those of her companions, but it was Kiba who drowned them all out with his volume and got off a question. "What do you mean by that?" he asked. "There's no way you could know that."

"The kikai bug I had placed on her has returned," he explained. "It would not leave without my orders unless she'd perished."

Hinata felt tears rapidly forming in her eyes, as she desperately tried to find a reason to refute the claim.

"Is it possible that being teleported would disorient the bug, and cause it to return anyway?" Sakura asked him.

"It's more than possible. That's exactly how they would react to such a situation," Shino answered, leading to a collective sigh of relief among most of the assembled crowd.

"I can't believe you even bugged the Yondaime," Shikamaru declared, instantly recognizing the implications of his confident reply.

"I find it useful to be able to track those I associate with," Shino replied simply, not sounding at all apologetic.

"Wait, this is great!" Kiba shouted out. "This means you know right where they took Naruko! We need to go tell Minato-sensei!"

Running back in the building without a moment's hesitation, the rest of them could do little more than follow after him. Soon, Kiba was again bursting through the door to Minato's office.

"If you don't stop doing that I'll tell the guards to stop you, student or no," Minato told him, shaking his head.

"Shino knows where they took Naruko!" Kiba announced.

"Actually, as I would have told you if you had waited, kikai bugs don't think like humans," Shino responded. "They are unable to give any details of the location where she was taken."

"Then what use are they?" Kiba yelled at him in frustration.

"I do know the direction it came from," Shino answered calmly. "If you can tell me at what time the teleportation occurred, I can calculate approximately where it began its journey."

"It was shortly after 3 PM, Hinata quickly informed him," spirits rising for the first time since this had all started."

"Do you have a map of the Land of Fire, Hokage-sama?" Shino asked.

"Of course," he answered, quickly pulling one out.

"Then I believe Naruko was taken to somewhere in here," Shino told them, outlining a small ellipse with his finger.

"A base right in our own country," Kushina noted. "They sure have guts. I'll give them that."

"I have a station set up with seals for my hiraishin not far from there," Minato announced. "We can be in the marked area searching for the base in less than an hour. We may even get there before he has a chance to setup whatever trap I'm sure he's planning."

"Great! let's go," Kiba declared eagerly.

"You're not going anywhere," Minato told them. "Kushina and I will take care of this ourselves."

"No, you have to let me come!" Ino reacted before anyone else. "After everything I said to Naruko today, I can't just sit here and do nothing! If I don't at least try to help her, I'll never forgive myself."

Minato and Kushina's faces softened at this, and Kiba quickly took the initiative to get his own words in. "Yeah, and we're her teammates," he added motioning to Hinata. "Besides, you promised you'd do everything you could to help her. If you leave us behind, you're not doing everything."

"You know, we probably could take them," Kushina said to Minato.

"No, the level of opponents we're facing is just too high," he said firmly. "I'll take Sasuke, but he's the only one I'm convinced wouldn't just be a liability. The best thing the rest of you can do for Naruko is stay here so you won't be an extra distraction. And don't argue, because my decision is final, and you're only delaying our departure."

Hinata desperately wanted to go as well, even if she'd kept silent, but Minato-sensei was probably right. Still, Hinata joined some other jealous glares directed at Sasuke as he walked over to where Minato-sensei and his wife had turned to gather some supplies from the far wall. She wondered if he might have somehow sensed them doing so, as he stumbled a bit before joining the older ninja. Then Minato quickly grabbed him and Kushina and the three of them vanished.

Author's Notes:

I think the size of this chapter might be a little more to everyone's liking that that little intermission from last week. Also, I apologize on that chapter for forgetting to go and put back in the line breaks on POV changes after the site inevitably eats them. I just uploaded a fix for that.

As for this chapter, yes, my the back story for Madara is quite different from canon. Just remember this is heavily AU. Anyway, the story is starting to draw toward its conclusion. Probably only one or two more chapters (not counting any epilogues) depending on how long the finale gets. Hopefully I can finish it up quickly, because I have another idea I'm dying to start on, but have been refusing to let myself. I'm determined to finish this one before I switch gears. Otherwise, experience shows I may never switch back.