Copyright: Take what you will from this, but I own nothing...sadly...

"I have a question sensei."

"What is it Sakura?"

"How did the enemy find us?" Sakura inquired, "Your Four-Pillar House technique is warded against detection right? How has the enemy found us?"

"Maybe they couldn't sense the house, but they tracked us here." Shikamaru guessed, "Rogue shinobi often recruit former hunter-nin for their ability to avoid detection themselves. With that in mind, it shouldn't hard to see how they got the drop on us."

"Let's not forget about the rain either." Yamato added, "They're using it to hide their scent and movements. Which means that they came here planning for a fight. Choji and Shino, you're on the front, Shikamaru, you're with me, and Sakura cover our rear. If you see a pattern, call it out so we can shift formation, understood?"

"Hai."

"Then stay tight and stay alive."

"Hey Hinata..." Naruto knew that this wasn't the best time, but she deserved an answer from him.

"What is it Naruto-kun?"

"About what happened when Pain attacked and you were hurt...thanks."

"You would have done the same for any of us-"

"I remember what you said." Naruto couldn't look the girl in the eyes, he had no idea about how he was going to respond to her confession, "I don't know if I have the answer that you want...but...you still deserve one."

"I understand if-"

"It's not that I don't it's just...I'll tell you all about it when this is over...I have to think over a lot-"

"As cute as your conversation sounds, I need both of you to focus." Kakashi reminded the two shinobi as he brought the team to a halt, "Hinata?"

"They're close." Hinata reported, "At least three dozen and some are moving in."

"Right into the fire..." Kakashi muttered, "Lee, you're with me. Naruto, we're going to need that Sage Mode of your's. Hinata, guard Naruto and keep an eye on the perimeter. Tenten, find cover and pick your targets."

"This won't take long." Naruto said as he entered his meditative stance with Hinata posed in front of him. Tenten leapt into the trees while Lee took up his stance next to Kakashi, "Leave some for me, alright?"

"No promises." Lee boasted with a confident smirk.

"Here they come! two'o clock!" Hinata warned just as Lee and Kakashi moved to deflect a surge of kunai that were thrown in their direction. One of said kunai was tagged with an explosive seal which caused Lee and Kakashi to jump to the side to avoid the explosion, "They're coming at you through the fog!"

"Got it!" Kakashi slashed his knife through the throat of a would-be attacker and threw him into another shinobi. Said surprised shinobi was caught off guard when Kakashi pierced through his chest with a chidori and slapped his head with another seal. Acting on the warning of the sharingan, Kakashi threw his recent victim at a group of enemies in time for his tag to explode and kill them.

Meanwhile, Lee effortless beat down his attackers with the grace of a dancing leaf. Even without a sharingan, his hardened senses enabled him to react to the smallest gesture that his opponents made with foot and fist breaking bone and flesh until the gust cleared to reveal several fallen enemies lying at Rock Lee's feet.

Tenten further added to the carnage thanks to several well aimed kunai and a summoned myriad of weapons which left many more enemy combatants fallen and pierced with many weapons.

"Hinata?"

"Three'o clock, Nine'o clock and...underneath!" Hinata leapt up in time to avoid the swords that stabbed upwards from the ground and countered them with a Vacuum Palm into the dirt which blew three enemies out into the air. Five more shinobi leapt out at Hinata which were taken down by a few gentle strikes which left them both paralyzed and powerless.

"Ready." Naruto stood up in Sage Mode and choke held an incoming shinobi and slammed him into the ground, breaking the man's skull as Naruto caught a kunai and threw it at a ronin who was about to strike Hinata from behind.

"I would've gotten him."

"Sorry Hime..." Naruto caught himself saying just as Kakashi motioned for the team to reassemble with their enemies appearing to fall back into a semi-circle around their enemies, "Scared?"

"They'd be dumb if they weren't, you are the kid that took out Pain." The apparent leader of their enemies said as he emerged from his intimidated, but unyielding men. He appeared to be at least five years older than Kakashi with a red-moon shaped tattoo that arched from his bald dome down to his shaven chin. He was dressed in a custom made vest and evidently well equipped for battle, "Small world, ain't it?"

"Crimson Moon Hiroto..."

"Copy Cat Kakashi, I heard you were dead."

"I got better." Kakashi casually replied while the newcomer snorted with a wide grin, "You're not here for pleasantries. So don't waste my time with pointless mystery."

"We're shinobi, mystery is part of who we are."

"You are not shinobi. You're just a deserter who kills for money."

"What can I say? Murder is good for business." Hiroto pointed to Naruto, "I'll be brief, I'm here for the Uzamaki's. Hand them over and we won't have to fight."

"Uzamaki's?"

"You didn't know kid? You're descended from one of the strongest clans in the world." Hiroto laughed while Naruto leered at the mercenary, "Least they were until their village was destroyed. There's a high bounty for anyone who can turn in an Uzamaki, like you and the Uchiha's slut."

"How did you know about Karin?"

"I had a strong hint from a reliable source that you just confirmed." Naruto slapped himself while the mercenary laughed again, "Tell ya what, let's make this simple for both of us. Hand over the girl and I'll let you keep the blond brat. Otherwise, me and my boys will have to take both and a few other trophies."

"She's our prisoner so that's not going to happen and as for Naruto..."

"You clearly have no idea about who I am." Naruto spoke for himself, "So quit your posing! Do you really think that you can take us on with only the five of you?"

"I've been fighting wars since before your pop was ever born. I'm not stupid."

"Could've fooled me." Naruto boast as Hinata gulped, "What is it?"

"More incoming...a lot more..."

"Hold up a finger for every five that you see." Kakashi didn't react when Hinata held up every finger on both hands, "For a second, I thought this was gonna be easy."

"One Uzamaki is worth a lot on the Bounty Boards...but two? I had to share the winnings with someone." Hiroto admitted while the Konoha Shinobi prepared themselves for the nearing assault, "Sure, most of them will die. But that's on you isn't it? Besides, the more you kill...the more money for me."

"That's assuming you survive." Kakashi pointed out as his arm was charged with the lightning chakra of the Raikiri, "Your sentence is overdue anyway."

"These are some of Konoha's finest." The unseen intruder noted from atop of the house created from the Mokuton. The mercenaries were clearly outmatched despite their greater numbers with only the jonin-level missing-nin and ronin actually putting up a decent struggle.

Meanwhile, the intruder could use the molecule structure of this house to keep himself unnoticed.

The intruder appeared inside of the house where five of the enemy had entered and had cornered a small boy with a long scarf.

"Tell us where the girl is and we'll let you have a turn." One of the mercs taunted the brave child, "You ever been with a woman, boy?"

"Do you count?" The intruder smiled as the leader of the shinobi was clearly aggrevated by the boy's smart mouth, "Wait? You're not a woman? Why's your hair so long?"

"Kill him. Kill him violently." All five shinobi proceeded to cover the boy from toe to head with kunai. The boy gasped for life as he fell to the ground and the mercs decided to kick and beat the dying boy. Suddenly, the boy breathed his last and vanished in a gust.

Behind his enemies, the very alive and unharmed Konoha genin spewed a stream of gunpowder from his mouth that consumed the shinobi. The boy then ran through another series of handsigns before firing out a stream of fire that took the form of a dragon. The dragon's head and claws bit into the ash cloud to ignite it and resulted in a violent explosion.

"I need to be careful around him." The intruder noted as the five shinobi cried out in sheer agony and pain from the first degree burns that covered their bodies and had melted their very faces, "Shouldn't be hard."

The intruder sank back into the wooden floor and moved over to where the boy was recovering from using several high-level jutsu in a row. After the intruder made a single handsign, a root seized the boy by his neck and a flower bloomed which sent a fume in the air around him. When the root released the boy, he fell to his knees grabbing his neck and gasping for air.

The intruder then reappeared behind his target, the prisoner of the konoha shinobi who appeared to be waiting for an opening to escape amidst the chaos of the outside battle. The intruder made a single handsign which caused another wooden root to wrap around the redhead's waist as a pool of mood caused her to sink up to her hips.

"I need you to be quiet." The intruder held his hand over the girl's mouth before she scream and kept it there as she sank further into the newly summoned pool of mud, "Where is Sasuke's body?"

"Futon: Rasengan!" Upon completion, Naruto allowed his spiraling technique to be grabbed in the jaws of Kakashi's Raiju. The Raiju then sped towards Hiroto who used an armored cloak to ward off Tenten's ball-n-chain and threw back Rock Lee just as the Lightning Beast smashed Naruto's rasengan into the shinobi's head.

"That's new." Kakashi stated as the lightning enhanced spiraling orb of wind chakra cut down the shinobi into a consistency similar to chili. Then the real Hiroto emerged from the trees, pursuing a wounded Tenten as Lee moved in to cover her, "A clone."

"When you've been around as long as I have, you learn a few things!" Hiroto stated as he pulled on the chain that wrapped around Tenten's leg and threw her into Lee who reflexively turned to catch her, "!" The mercenary threw out a series of crimson chakra shuriken that hit Lee in his side and threw him and Tenten onto the ground.

"Still just as strong..." Kakashi grimly complemented as Hinata moved to heal Tenten while Lee brushed himself off and stood daring the mercenary to come closer, "His kekkei genkai is the Hijin Kessō (Blades of Blood). He adds his chakra to his own blood and uses it to attack his enemies. Be careful, he can also use your blood for his technique and if that happens, you won't be able to avoid or defend against it."

"Stop spoiling the fun!" Hiroto shouted as he blocked a punch from Naruto and broke the boy's neck. As the clone dissipated, the real Naruto kicked the man in the stomach and aimed a newly formed rasengan for the man's chest. The attack impacted and caused the mercenary to cough blood onto Naruto's face just as gust appeared and a different victim looked on in sheer terror.

"A Substitution jutsu." Naruto growled and grabbed an attacking shinobi by the neck and broke his neck without even looking, "His own men..."

"The kid's not bad...that was a close one." Hiroto complemented just as a creature that Naruto recognized appeared from a nearby tree branch, "Enjoying the show?"

"Mission accomplished, fall back if you still want payment."

"But we haven't gotten the brat-"

"We don't need him, at least for now. I got what I came for." Zetsu said to Hiroto as he vanished into the ground.

"So you were hired by Akatsuki."

"Really? Guess I am moving up in the world." Hiroto leapt back from Kakashi's lightning wolf and blew on a whistle around his neck, "Boys! We're falling back to the way-point! Keep up or shut up!"

"Don't let them escape!" Naruto shouted as one of his shadow clones drove one of the enemy shinobi into the dirt and Naruto used a rasengan to bash in the man's skull, "They're with Akatsuki!"

"Naruto! Let them go!" Kakashi ran over and held onto Naruto's shoulders as the markings on the boy's face appeared to enlarge on his skin. "The Kyubi's battle lust is starting to overwhelm him..." "Chasing them may lead into another trap, we've already won."

"Have we?" A calmer Naruto asked when his eyes widened in realization, "Konohamaru!" Naruto ran back into the house followed by Kakashi and swiftly found the sobbing boy being healed by Sakura with five shinobi on the ground nearby. All were severely burnt, but only one was still breathing due to Sakura's work.

"I'm sorry..." The boy apologized despite the severe blood loss, "I let you down boss..."

"What happened?"

"I just got here...he was grabbing his neck, gasping for air." Sakura explained with tears flowing from her eyes, "I can't find Sasuke's body or Karin..."

"They were taken." Kakashi concluded and spotted a burnt spore on the floor, "Zetsu...Hiroto and his men were a distraction...they wanted us to think that Naruto was the primary target and then Zetsu snuck in and grabbed Karin while we were occupied."

"And Sasuke?"

"I'd rather not think about it." Naruto agreed with Kakashi's assessment while the genin began to breath more easily, "What happened here wasn't your fault, no one blames you. Zetsu is someone that even I would've had serious problems with."

"He cheated...least the other guys fought me fair and square..."

"Welcome to the shinobi world, Konohamaru." Naruto said to his charge, tensing at the idea of this boy burning four shinobi to the state that their corpses were even as Naruto looked upon them. Not to mention the survivor, who may not last the night, "Least you got to see some action."

"Do I get a bonus for a high kill count?"

"They were at least chunin-level, so...yeah, you'll get a suitable bonus."

"Never thought that I'd be seeing you again, Karin." Now paralyzed, the girl could do nothing as the scaled monster that called itself Kabuto looked down upon her within a barely lit cave, "Did you really think that you would just slip away unnoticed? Not this time."

"Not that I'd blame her, she's good at slipping away." Kisame stated, his sword holding down a dark skinned captive with white cornrows, "Better than her boyfriend was at his job anyway. Seriously, he had one job and I ended up having to tie up that loose end myself."

"As soon as my other half returns, then we can proceed." White Zetsu said while the mercenary shinobi nearby counted his earnings, "Is that sufficient for your services?"

"Very..." Hiroto replied, his ax still stained with the blood of his men, "Maybe I should've held off on offing those useless pieces of fodder and showed em the money that they'd never have a share in."

"If ya didn't need them, then why do you hide behind them?" Kisame asked the mercenary, "At least you had the decency to kill them yourself."

"Not that I care, but do I hear judgement?"

"Now...now...we're all winners at the moment." Kabuto said to the remaining members of Akatsuki, "As soon as Tobi returns, we'll have everything that we need to continue with the plan-"

"Tobi will not return." Everyone in the room stared in shock at Zetsu's report, "He was killed by Konan."

"Pain's woman? How?"

"He had gone to Amegakure to retrieve Nagato's corpse and the Rinnegan." Zetsu explained to the listening missing-nin, "But Konan was waiting for him. They had a brief, but very destructive battle that not destroyed nearly all of Ame's northern area. Tobi used every trick in the book, his intangibility technique, fire jutsu and even used both Izanami and Izanagi."

"Konan must've really put him on the ropes for him to use both Uchiha kinjutsu."

"But it wasn't enough." Black Zetsu finished as he materialized into the cave carrying the late leader of Akatsuki, "Fortunately, Konan was weak enough for me to pry the location of Pain's body and here we are."

"Where's Konan?" Kisame's brow rose as a dull scream of terror sounded from within the black creature, "Guess you had to get the intel somehow."

"She now understands the full penalty for treachery and begs for death. I like hearing her beg and her moans, so I think I'll listen to them for a few months or even longer if I keep liking them." Konan's muffled moans of terror were further quieted when the two halves of Zetsu reunited, "It's rare that we have a lasting meal like this anyway."

"I thought that you preferred the dead?"

"Prefer is a good word, but we can more nourishment from a living meal though it's more troublesome." Zetsu widely smiled as Kisame spat, "Problem?"

"Better a clean death than pointless torture. Least that's my preference." Kisame pointed Samehada to Nagato's body, "Tobi's dead, but we have the Rinnegan. Now what?"

"That's why we have dear Karin." Kabuto bent down to the terrified girl and licked her cheek as she screamed, "Don't worry dear...I'm not going to kill you. We have...other uses for you."

Author's Notes:

Damn it Konohamaru! You had one job! Now Karin's about to have bad things done to her by Akatsuki!

Yeah, I'll admit to dropping a bridge on Tobi. But this is for the best. His canon victory over Konan and his very existence are both based on contrivances with the latter causing the plot to collapse in on itself. Better to get rid of him now so that I can give his character space to more deserving characters like the true villain of the series.

Now for an omake:

"Well that escalated quickly." Kakashi said to sum up their recent battle, "I mean that fight really got out of hand, fast."

"We took it up a notch!" Kiba exclaimed as Akamaru gnawed on a femur bone.

"We did didn't we?"

"I burned five people alive."

"I saw them!" Naruto high-fived the jovial Konomaru, "Kono killed people!"

"Was that your Karyū Endan?"

"Yeah! I covered with them my uncle's ash technique and set the ash on fire with my grandpa's jutsu!"

"Konohamaru, I've wanted to talk to you about that." Kakashi handed a small note to the genin, "That's the name of a great post-battle psychologist that you should talk to. It's sounds great now, but burning people alive for your first kill is going to manifest as PTSD later, so you might as well start while you're ahead."