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Winter Release	By : Cepheus Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1260 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
Note: when I said they
had a week to find Naruto, I meant it. But Naruto was asleep for most of the
week, and still he didn�t recover completely because of the seals on his body.
So when Naruto was awake, a week had passed.

Thanks to all the reviewers! And
thanks to my BETA Silent in Nightmares!

Cepheus: OC warning. OC warning. Leader of Akatsuki in this chapter! Be up for a
shock!

��

Rating: M (or is it some more?)

Summary: Clich� Plot: Naruto�s friends find out
about Kyuubi but don�t reject him for this. Akatsuki captures him whilst he�s
training with Jiraiya, but the Fox can�t be removed from his body; and before
rescuers come, Naruto finds himself in an interesting situation with a certain
Uchiha genius� (ItaNaru, ShinoKiba, NejiShika)

Warnings: yaoi,
boy x boy relationship, angsty, torture, and such.
Mental as well. Flames will be used to warm up food. OC
warning as well.

Disclaimer: Not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto
does.

�Talking�
�Thinking�
�Flashbacks, memories, dreams�

��

Winter Release

Chapter 11: Death

A last, agonizing cry shot out in the air, filling every spot, reaching
deeply into every heart, and every soul, crying out hopelessly.

For the last time, before he let darkness claim
him forever.

�I�m sorry��

And then, nothing more�

� but silence.

No pain, nothing.

Only a comforting darkness, and he welcomed it.

��

Thinking about it later on, Kakashi
knew he could have done nothing to prevent this from happening; he knew too
well that lazy teens could be very stubborn.

And Shikamaru was no exception.

When leaving Konoha with Gai, the
team of ANBU (consisting of the nezumi masked one and his three subordinates,
respectively the inu, tori, and hebi masked ANBU) and Neji, who�d been informed
about the urgency of their mission, Kakashi found himself deep into another
kind of trouble he wasn�t up to facing, and would have gladly evaded.

A certain Shadow user standing next
to the gates of Konoha, shoulders slouched against the wall, who
approached them with his back pack ready the moment he sensed them coming near.

That was unexpected, mostly because
no one knew about their mission, and Neji hadn�t told his lover about it, but
more so because Shikamaru stared at them, and asked (more like demanded) to come with them. This came
even while he wore a grimace that practically yelled �it�s so troublesome!�
whilst showing the worry with his eyes.

Quoting the said shinobi exactly,
Kakashi could do nothing but sigh lightly: how
troublesome.

Normally, the silver haired Jounin
would have never let a Chuunin, especially one not used to long term missions,
join up without having warned the Hokage like this, but (being in a hurry to
reach the Tsuchi no Kuni) he could not afford to waste time in discussions.

Naruto needed them, and this was a
serious matter, not a child�s game. It was to save the blond, yes, but it was
also to prevent the Akatsuki from having the Kyuubi under their control.

It might sound cold, but a ninja�s
life was not based on feelings, even though all shinobi knew this was wrong. It
was a matter of priorities, and even knowing saving Naruto was the first one,
the one coming right next to it was keeping the Akatsuki�s hands away from the
demon.

And normally a simple, curt no
would have sent the one asking back home whining, but not in this case.
Shikamaru was really stubborn, and he was not up to be sent back. Especially
with such convincing arguments that took no time for him to come up with.

Kakashi wondered why Shikamaru ended
up being lazy, stubborn, and a damn genius all
together. This was just plainly upsetting. Kakashi was a genius himself, but
he�d always acted the way that was expected of him, not the opposite.

Whether this was a bad thing or a
good thing, he still wasn�t sure.

�You are not going there to fight,
but to get Naruto back without getting hurt. I can act as a backup, and create
a plan to make sure they won�t retaliate,� the Nara stared at Kakashi without being afraid
of his one�eyed glare.

The Nara simply knew he had to go with them, at
any cost, and besides, he would really be useful; he may not be as strong as
the Jounin were, but he had made his own progress from when he was younger, and
he would not be a burden for group of more expert shinobi.

�Gai�sensei is not good at planning,
and both Neji and you, Kakashi�sensei, are used to short battles� he reasoned.
�The ANBU team has a strong battle power, but can�t use the Earth Country at
its best because they don�t know its morphology. You need a serious ambushing
plan, or at least a backup one if you are spotted before you manage to get
near.�

Kakashi bit his lip. There was no
time to argue, and he had the sinking feeling Shikamaru would follow them
muttering �how troublesome� if Kakashi were to deny him permission to come.

So he had no choice but to allow
Shikamaru to join in. Really. No choice.

Inside, he couldn�t but smile.
Naruto really had good friends, after all.

Shikamaru was the one in the middle
as they moved towards the Tsuchi no Kuni, and as they went on without stopping
to rest, Shikamaru couldn�t help but stare at Neji, he and the Hyuuga
communicating through gestures.

Being together for years now, they
had managed to get to know each other so well they could communicate using
simple gestures that, to others, meant nothing, but to them were like a complex
speech.

�Are you sure about this?� Neji�s
eyes could be chillingly cold most of the time, unreadable for anyone but a few
selected people, but Shikamaru was one of those few. He could understand
perfectly what the older teen was thinking, or feeling.

And it had nothing to do with his
genius.

Shikamaru let his lips curl upwards
slightly before nodding almost imperceptibly at him: yes, he was sure.

Naruto was his friend, and Neji was
his lover. He felt compelled into going with them in the first place; besides,
he believed in what he�d told Kakashi. He would help the group plan a good
backup in case they were found out, or a good strategy if they were lucky
enough to reach the Akatsuki without being spotted.

There was nothing more important for
him than his friends, after all; he would put everything on the line for them,
as they would do for him.

Anytime.
Moving through the forest in a
straight line, Neji checked around with his bloodline ability for any trace of
enemies, hoping nothing would come against them in their search; he had been
informed of the short amount of time they had to reach Jiraiya�sama in the
Earth Country, and he hoped to arrive before anything could happen to Naruto.

The blond had helped him overcome
his obsession with Fate, and he wanted desperately to help his friend.

Even if they were now aware of the
hatred that followed Naruto everywhere he went, they knew no one could notice
just how much Naruto had done for the village. No one noticed that Naruto was
indeed loved, and respected by the strongest ninja, and by his friends as well,
and that he would do anything for his village.

Naruto was loved because he had the
gift to warm up their hearts; he had the gift to make everyone his friend, no
matter who that person was� from a killer like Gaara, now a reliable Kazekage,
to a person like Tsunade, who had wanted nothing to do with Konoha anymore, and
that now would have died for the village.

Naruto never turned his back to the
place he felt at home. To the people that lived there.

Even if they hated him, Naruto
forgave all of them.

And both Shikamaru and Neji knew
they would now show Naruto that they were not going to give up on him, either.

��

Though it took the group three full
days to reach the Tsuchi no Kuni (running at full speed with a few stops to
rest a little, and to sleep), they knew that finding Naruto would be an
entirely different thing.

They did not know where he was taken
to, or if the Akatsuki had already started the extraction of Kyuubi from him,
and, worst of it all, they still hadn�t found Jiraiya, even though they were
around Iwagakure, and were scanning the surroundings in search of the familiar
chakra signature.

They worked skilfully, once in a
while flaring their chakra up, with caution so as not to attract too much
attention.

For once they did not care to be
noticed by the local ninja, since Iwagakure had recently signed a steady truce
with the Sand, and Suna was in a good relationship with Konoha thanks to Gaara
and Naruto.

And truth to be
told, when a group of Tsuchi no Jounin had stopped them, demanding to know who
they were, Kakashi had gladly asked for their help in search of the Akatsuki. It was not a secret one or more of the
Nuke�nins were from Tsuchi no Kuni, so the Secret Village of Iwa had its own
grudges to settle; the Tsuchikage, three hours after the Jounins reported to
him about the Leaf Nins� mission (though Kakashi hadn�t revealed the whole
truth about it) sent to them four high rank ANBU as a backup.

Kakashi knew better than refuse help
when the whole Akatsuki was involved.

So now the
�rescue team� included eight trained ANBU, four for each village, and the
remaining group of Kakashi, Gai, Neji, and Shikamaru. It was not an ambushing party
anymore, because time was already running short �more so than before, anyway.

It was on the southern borders of
Iwa that they finally met up with Jiraiya, who had picked up their familiar
chakra signature together with the unfamiliar chakra of the foreign ANBU, and
had appeared in front of them.

Kakashi noticed in that moment that
Jiraiya didn�t look cheerful at all. He was aware that the Sannin could get
serious when it was required, as he himself could, but he�d never seen him with
such an expression before.

There was a grim darkness in his
eyes that betrayed his feeling of uselessness, and his determination to get
Naruto back at any cost; he looked like someone who blamed himself for what had
happened, and Kakashi knew the white haired man would do anything to bring his
apprentice back, and that sight alone fuelled in his heart the same fire.

He was not going to go back to
Konoha without the boy, that for sure. Naruto was part of his team, and someone
he�d grown to care for. Someone he had been forced to care for, despite his
fear of finding his loved ones dead.

Shinobi could die, he knew this, and
still, he didn�t want to be hurt anymore. But now, with his genin team, he�d
started putting his faith in someone again.

Shikamaru and Neji both stared with
respect and fierce determination at the adults around them, the two of them
feeling that they would do everything possible to show they were worthy to be
there to help their friend.

They were all determined and ready
for action, and worried for Naruto, so no one noticed the Konoha ANBU Team
leader tense, and clench his fists, trying to keep his cool. He was stuck in
this mission (a pointless one, if he were to voice his opinion), because he was still unable to believe someone could care
for a demon.

Hadn�t the village already showed
what they thought of him when he�d been left to burn in his apartment, with no
one helping apart from those foolish boys?

Still, someone thought he was worthy
of being saved.

How disgusting�

He would prove them wrong� if the
demon wasn�t already dead by the time they arrived, anyway. No one could
change, especially not a demon that had almost destroyed Konoha, and killed
their loved fourth Hokage.

�What are they doing here?� Jiraiya
asked Kakashi, pointing towards the Tsuchi ANBU whilst leading the group of
ninja north.

The silver haired Jounin let out a
sigh, �I would have never refused help, not when dealing with Akatsuki;
besides, we knew there was at least one Rock Nin in the organization. The
Tsuchi would have never backed away from this opportunity.�

Jiraiya nodded thoughtfully,
wondering just how strong the enemies could be if Itachi was one of them, and
they already knew he was as strong as Kakashi, if not even more so. Spotting
the two younger teens he frowned, having recognized two of Naruto�s friends,
and again he turned to the copy�nin.

�Neji is a Jounin now, Jiraiya�sama,
and we thought it would be helpful, especially with his Byakugan� as for
Shikamaru, we were unable to stop him from coming,� Kakashi scratched the back
of his head sheepishly, but did not smile. Despite them being young, he had
faith in the two teens.

Jiraiya felt a spark of rage but
said nothing; this was not the time to start pointless arguments. The serious
look in the Copy�nin�s eyes told him everything he wanted to know, and his
anger subsided.

This was an out of ordinary group,
placing together even different villages to fight against a common opponent.

There again, Akatsuki was out of
ordinary as well.

�Where are you taking us
Jiraiya�sama?� Neji and the leader of both ANBU squads jumped near them, and
watched the Legendary Sannin expectantly.

Jiraiya didn�t even turn whilst
replying, �We are heading towards a deserted zone in the north of the Tsuchi no
Country, some miles from here directly behind those mountains. I found a strong
amount of chakra gathering there, and even though it�s well masked, it still
leaks out for the most powerful shinobi to feel it� I am sure it�s them.�

One of the Iwa ANBU (who had a
strange black and grey mask, vaguely resembling a parrot),
jumped to Jiraiya�s side, motioning towards the mountains for a passage they
could take to get on the other side.

�How�s the territory on the other
side?� Kakashi asked to the ninja.

�There is a deserted area with caves
made by the natural conformation of the rocks and ground, one of the
attractions of this Country,� the ANBU leader answered curtly. �It�s never
visited in this period of the year, and most of the smaller caves are closed, and
the bigger one is in the middle, among many others.�

Jiraiya and Kakashi nodded, whilst
Gai, who had been strangely silent up until now, simply stared ahead.

To him, looking at the smiling face
of the blond was a reminder of both Lee and Gai himself when he was young. The
same burning flame was in both teens, even though life was doing its best to
force them to retreat, but they never backed away.

Naruto, just like his Lee, would
surely become a great ninja, finally respected. Gai would never let anyone
stand between their dreams and them.

Every one in the rescue team had
begun to feel the massive amount of chakra coming from far ahead, like a
nagging feeling that something big was going on, and (even if the majority of
the group didn�t know what was actually happening) no one dared to
underestimate the danger they were heading towards.

Truth be told, the way the Earth
shinobi showed to Jiraiya and the others reduced the distance between them and
the Akatsuki quickly, even if, by the time they reached the deserted area, it
was already around midnight.

�We need to stop and rest a little, otherwise not one of us will be able
to fight at his best against them,� Jiraiya lifted his hand, and ordered the
group to stop. Everyone followed his order without complaining, seeing the man
as the older and the stronger one among them. Jiraiya nodded, and motioned them
to camp down for the rest of the night.

�Not to mention,� he had to add after a moment, �I
am sure the extracting is already started, and I know for sure that using their
linked jutsu forces them to work together using a great amount of their chakra.
Attacking after a sleepless night will prove useful for us and we need every
little advantage we can have.�

��

Three days.

For three entire days, the eight
members of the Akatsuki had performed the most powerful and secret jutsu,
directed by their leader, not stopping to rest or eat, never stopping from
pushing their chakra out, moulding it with their seals and will, their
attention divided between their task and the surroundings, waiting to see if
anyone would come.

Forty�eight hours straight,
releasing the chakra that wasn�t even their entire reserve, concentration on
what they were doing because everyone knew that, if anything went wrong, they
would be all dead.

Sitting in a circle, trying to find
the most comfortable position to sit in while straining their bodies to the
minimum, they performed (one after the other) every step of the powerful jutsu,
breaking through each phase with hand seals, chakra releases, and moments of
apparent quiet to allow their different waves to synchronize together, and
reach their target.

For all this time, even if their
concentration was partially fixed on the strain they were going through, they
were aware of what was happening to the Jinchuuriki in the middle of the
circle, as they tried to strip him of his demon; one of the strongest, indeed,
the most powerful of the Bijuu.

Fleeting thoughts passing through
their minds, not staying long enough to dwell on, the members of the Akatsuki
were aware that their blond captive never lost consciousness through the whole
excruciating ordeal, not even under the massive amount of sheer pain the
extraction provided to his young and untrained body.

They could hear his cries, his
piercing screams ragged by pain and tears, and, in the darkness which they were
used to, they all could see his body twisting and thrashing around, the
bindings on his arms and legs preventing him from standing up and attacking
them.

Not that, after so long, he would
have had the strength to do so anyway, because the chakra was being drained
from him as well, in order to feed the jutsu that would take away his life as
well at the end of the process.

But not one of the members of the
most feared organization of the shinobi world would have expected that weak,
loud boy to be able to stand the agonizing pain through the entire ordeal, not
just feeling it, but also keeping his
consciousness for three days; his cries and screams had died down in the last
uncountable hours, drained out with his life and chakra, eaten by the darkness,
but they knew he was still conscious. He was still desperately, and hopelessly,
fighting against death.

Any normal person would have died
already, because of the pain, but, being a Jinchuuriki, he would not die until
the demon was separated from his body; but still, every other vessel had given
up in the first hours of the process, letting themselves
go to unconsciousness so as to stop the tremendous pain, so as to not face
death.

All of them, including the second
strongest, Hachibi no Orochi, had bent down before them, each and every of them
loosing their spark of will when seeing death approach.

Many with a lesser Bijuu were
stronger than this child, many fought but, in the end, not one resisted, not
one stood facing them all the way.

Not one could bear the pain for more
than a day.

And there he was, the bearer of the
fearsome Kyuubi no kitsune, comparably the weakest of all the Jinchuuriki, who
never lost consciousness; until the end, he took the pain, and showed a great
amount of will and determination.

It had nothing to do with the demon
inside him, but, with his own unending stubbornness and strength, he showed his
capturers that he was indeed more than just a vessel; he was a promising
shinobi� though he was going to die.

It may have been a waste for him to
die this way, but none of them cared as they continued the jutsu that would
take his life away, together with his sealed demon.

No life was more important than
their purpose of collecting all the demons. And, after having taken Kyuubi,
they would go for the remaining one, the weakest �Ichibi no Shukaku.

But the Akatsuki leader, throughout
it all, was impressed.

Then, when time was finally up, the
earth started rumbling, covering the sounds of the blond boy�s cries, covering
everything but the roar coming from anywhere and everywhere, as an evanescent
glow coming from the giant being in
front of the Akatsuki members started transferring its light to the blond
teen�s trembling body.

Under their waiting eyes, the seal
on Naruto�s stomach began glowing a crimson shade,
turning and twisting, slightly fading away as the glow from the statue started to pull the demon from
Naruto�s body.

The jutsu was finished, and, as
everything but the rumbling fell into silence, the nine figures stopped and
stared, some emotionlessly, some curiously, some hungrily, as the glow grew
bigger and more brilliant, throwing shadows on the walls around them,
lightening the cave with its powerful brightness until they could see clearly
what was happening below the pillars they had been sitting on for the past
three days.

The ground trembled stronger, the
glow intensified, and with it came a last, piercing cry from the blond, a cry
that threw a shadow inside every member of the organization �a cry that went
noticed but uncared for, dismissed as the last scream of a dying soul.

Then everything stopped. As silence
fell once more in the cave (seeing as Naruto finally lost consciousness), something
else happened.

Something�
unexpected.

A strong wave of chakra exploded
from the figure of the lifeless blond, slamming with tremendous force against
all of them, almost making them fall from their pillars of stone.

Under the confused gazes, the giant,
human�shaped figure that was calling the demon out of Naruto cried out, the
sound echoing terribly in the wide cave; a sound that was inhuman, a sound that
was so piercing and deep, it was completely unmistakable.

There was no way to stop it, no one
expecting it.

Holding both deep and high pitched
tones (as if being made of many voices from many different souls all crying out
at the same time, every voice chorusing the others, every voice complementary,
every voice part of the others), the cry reached the Akatsuki members just as
strongly as the chakra release had, and caused their pillars to shatter under
their weight, the sound so utterly enormous that no one could think or do
something against it.

Something had gone wrong, but it
hadn�t been their seals or work.

They had done everything perfectly�
So what had happened?

There was no time to think because,
as the scream vanished into silence, leaving behind the group of nine shinobi
all dazzled and deaf, the darkness enveloped everything again, and then,
nothing more.

They stood in the seething silence
for what felt like hours, until their ears could hear more than just a dull
thump and the whistling echo of the cry.

�What the hell was that, un!� a
weary voice called out, lightly trembling. There was no echo, as if it had been
eaten away by the inhuman cry.

There was no giant being anymore,
there was no light, there was nothing but their crumbled pillars and them,
standing shakily on the ground, completely confused by what had happened.

A hiss followed the question, and
then, confused voices asked the same again, no one coming up with any
explanation.

The darkness was once again
shattered, this time by a much smaller and weaker light, which still hurt the
eyes of some of them.

There was confusion.

There was frustration; after all
their work, something had gone wrong.

But most of all, there was fury.

The weak light was coming from one
of the figures� hands, who was holding up a small ball of flames so it could
light up a little of the cave without risk.

The flame towered over the
non-responding, and seemingly lifeless, corpse of the Jinchuuriki, as nine pair
of eyes stood together to stare down at him.

Blood trailed from the corner of his
eyes and mouth, and from other parts of his body. His pale complexion and the
bruises all over his frame where there for the men to see, but other than that,
no visible wounds.

No injury that could bleed.

And his chest was moving up and
down, a light breathing coming out of the slightly parted lips.

The Jinchuuriki was not dead.

Their jutsu had not collected his
demon.

And on Naruto�s belly, standing as
if mocking their useless work, was the Yondaime Hokage�s seal, now surrounded
by a new series of signs and kanji, pulsating as if under the effect of a strong
chakra.

Still existing.

Still sealing
the Kyuubi no kitsune away from their reach.

They had failed.

��

Reaching the cave area, the first
thing that the Konoha ninja and the Iwa ninja felt was the huge amount of
chakra seeping and curling around the place.

The area was bare of any vegetation
apart some small, lone bushes and shrubs, and everywhere there were rocks. The
group of caves was in the middle of the empty area, the bigger one standing
amongst the smaller ones, their pale, brownish colour mixed with yellow, red,
and dark brown.

They certainly were amazing to stare
at; it was obvious what attracted people there in the first place, but none of
this was in the rescue team�s minds as they searched for something that wasn�t
subtle anymore, now that they were so near.

The chakra gathering in there was
almost visible; the faltering of the air around the caves was obvious, and,
even though they didn�t know exactly what was happening, they all could feel
that something was going to happen.

Gai, who had left the group for a
moment with one of the ANBU, returned with a frown, staring directly at
Jiraiya, �Jiraiya�sama, there are four seals protecting this place, with a
diameter of at least three miles, the centre of which is the bigger cave down
there,� he pointed towards the place where the chakra was gathering. �We will
need to destroy all of them in order to enter, and we need it to be done in
synchrony or it won�t work��

Jiraiya (whose eyes had been fixed
on the caves, his thoughts reaching out for Naruto, wishing it was not too
late), nodded, and divided the thirteen of them in four smaller groups, each of
them seeking out one of the seals.

The one on the north was placed on a
tree, flickering with blue electrical chakra, and Shikamaru, Neji, and Kakashi
stared at it, preparing to destroy it.

The one on the south was reached by
two of the Tsuchi ANBU and Gai, and was placed on a large rock near a little
valley.

The one on the east was found by the
leader of the Tsuchi ANBU and by two of the Leaf ANBU, under a large bush that
was hiding it. They found it easily though, by detecting the spark of chakra.
It looked like the Akatsuki, even knowing someone would come, had not protected
the place sufficiently, maybe believing they would be able to finish the jutsu
before being attacked by the rescuers.

The last seal was placed in the
middle of a small river, onto a rock, and Jiraiya, with the rest of the Konoha
ANBU, was the one preparing to destroy it.

In the same instant (using their
chakra to warn the others about the exact moment they were going to act), all
four groups moved their hands in a complicated sealing technique, and a split
second later, they prepared themselves for the jutsu.

They hadn�t the time to do it.

A loud rumbling reached each and
every of the seals, catching all the shinobi by surprise, the ground under
their feet trembling so fiercely they had trouble standing on their feet. Next came the large wave of chakra, which completely obliterated
the four seals, as if they never existed.

And then, a horrible sound,
something so inhuman and loud that it sent shivers down their backs, echoed
through the area, causing all of them to raise their hands to their ears in a
vain attempt to stop the sound.

This was not something human; this
was not normal.

Something had happened.

The four groups darted forward,
heading from their positions to the centre of the caves, Jiraiya in front,
hurrying towards the main cave with a feeling of dread deep inside him.

No one ever reported about such an
event before, and the man knew the Akatsuki already had some of the other
Jinchuuriki (maybe even them all, apart Naruto and Gaara) but there had never
been something like this reported.

�Naruto, please� be ok�� he hoped with all his might.

In his mind, the echo of the inhuman
scream was still lingering.

The sight of the caves the moment
all of them reached the place left them shocked, wondering what had happened.

The bigger cave was still there, but
everything around it had been disintegrated by the wave of wild chakra, leaving
only crumbled ruins, and craters where the other caves had been; and, as they
stared in disbelief, three shadows appeared out of the main cave, revealing to
be Kisame, Deidara, and Itachi.

Kisame looked slightly pale, which,
with his complexion, was hard to tell, whilst the straw haired Rock nin was looking dishevelled, and was huffing in appreciation
(or what looked like it) in the direction of the disaster around them.

The last of them, Itachi, was
holding something in his arms, reminding Jiraiya of the last time they had met,
when Naruto had been captured.

Only that this time, what the Uchiha
was holding was the lifeless and bloody form of Naruto.

�I am sorry we can�t stop to play
with you, un!� Deidara (though none of the Konoha nins could know who he was) let a smirk grace his face as he
pointed his hand towards them. �I would have showed you the real art, un!�

For a second, nothing looked
different, then a cut appeared on it, and (to the shock of Kakashi and the rest
of them) a tongue rolled out of it, showing a mouth with teeth inside.

Kisame shook his head, and snickered
towards the other member, before glaring with hatred at Kakashi and Gai, �I
would have loved to settle our match once and for all, but this is not the
time.�

But Jiraiya�s and Kakashi�s stares
were fixed on the form of Naruto in Itachi�s arms, not moving, not reacting.

�Naruto!� Neji, without waiting for an order,
activated his Byakugan, and looked for the patterns of chakra in his friend�s
body, but found none. There was no life force moving inside him.

�He�� the black haired teen could
not speak as he backed away, his blood line deactivated, shock clear on his
face. It couldn�t be happening. He must have seen it all wrong. There was no
way it could be like that, no way at all�

There was no chakra pattern he could
see in Naruto, and chakra stopped flowing only if�

Neji let out a whimper. Years
before, he would have showed nothing of his inner turmoil, but things changed
for him. Love and care made him change� started by the same blond boy that he
was now looking at, who showed him how to start the change.

As for Shikamaru, it took him one
glance at Naruto, and one at his love, to know what Neji was trying to say, and
felt his own heart swell at the sight. He simply could not believe Naruto could
be�

No, that was not possible!

�Uchiha!� Jiraiya growled.

Refusing to
acknowledge Neji�s reaction. Refusing to believe, even if only for a moment�

Kisame smirked. This was going just
like the leader wanted.

Even though it had been a shock to
realize their extraction had failed, there had been no time to ponder on what
had happened, or how. They had recovered quickly, and had felt the approaching
chakra signatures, some belonging to shinobi they recognized.

The situation was not exactly
looking good on their side, because, even though they could still mould chakra
and stand, their reserves had been cut short by the jutsu, and now they needed
to rest some time to replenish it.

But feeling the enemies come near,
the members knew they had to react soon.

The figure of the leader had walked
to the unconscious body of the blond Jinchuuriki that had somehow defeated
their jutsu, his eyes observing the new ring of the seal with mild curiosity, then he had turned to Itachi and had ordered him, Kisame,
and Deidara to go meet with the Konoha nins, and to bring Naruto with them.

The man had coldly ordered the three
to tell the ninja that Naruto was dead.

He wanted to research on the causes
of the failure, and had wanted to experiment on the new seal. Anyhow, the blond
boy intrigued him as nothing had before. He wanted to take him away without
have to worry about the Sannin trying to track them down.

Besides, the Kyuubi was still
somehow residing in his body.

It took him no time to place on the
blond a chakra hiding jutsu; he�d worked on for years to shape it to the point
of perfection. No one would ever be able to see underneath it, not even someone
who could detect chakra signals in a body.

After having done that, the leader
disappeared, as did the rest of the members, leaving behind the three to take
care of the Konoha nins.

Itachi stared at Jiraiya with his
crimson eyes, face just as emotionless as it had always been, but made no move
to use the Sharingan. Instead, he roughly grabbed Naruto�s hair with his hand,
and showed the shinobi his pale face.

�Too late,� he said, his voice low.
�He is already dead.�

Time seemed to stop there.

Jiraiya and Kakashi, who had both
been Naruto�s senseis, could only stare at the
lifeless face of their student, dried blood on his cheeks and chin, the white
of death already crawling on him.

Naruto.

�I am going to become the next Hokage datte bayo! Because that�s my
dream! Believe it!�

In a flash, his happy face passed in
front of them, ocean eyes shining with mirth and warmth, smiling, fox�like,
after having proved he was strong one more time.

Naruto� was dead.

Everything shattered around them.

Without turning back, the three
Akatsuki members turned away and disappeared with a jutsu.

��

Cold.

The first thing that hit him was
just how cold he was.

Then, he felt something hard under
his body and stiffened, feeling the cold seep into his body more, now that he
was trying to move.

He felt heavy, and was reminded
strongly of when he�d felt the same, back when Itachi had showed up at Konoha,
and used the Tsukiyomi on him.

Shifting again, Naruto felt his
consciousness resurface slowly, and groaned in pain. His eyelids felt just as
heavy as lead, and his entire body hurt so much it was a miracle he could still
think rationally.

Fighting against the darkness and
the drowsiness curling around his mind, he managed to blink an eye open, and
found his sight to be blurred and unfocused.

Where was he?

He tried to calm himself down,
reassuring himself that it was nowhere dangerous, and he let his breath calm
down from its erratic gasps, feeling his chest hurt less than before as he took
deep breaths.

Finally, the throbbing in his head
disappeared, and Naruto could fully open both
his eyes. Above him was what looked like the top of a cave, the rocks a dark
greyish colour, and the air cold.

Something in him recognized this
cold, as it was different from any other he�d experienced before.

Finally gathering enough energy, he
fought the pain and the dizziness to sit up, and was shocked to find himself
looking at a huge cage with a strange, faint red and blue glow around it.

With a startled gasp he recognized
where he was, and why that cold seemed familiar. He was inside his mind, or, to
be accurate, in front of Kyuubi�s sealed cage.

His mouth had a bad taste in it, a
disgusting mix of vomit, blood, and sand, and he wiped it away with the back of
his hand, noticing the cuts on his skin, the blood, and the dirt covering his
whole body.

Then he felt no more than shock as
he realized something important.

If he was still staring at the seal,
and at the dark form on the other side of it, it surely meant Kyuubi was in
him. He had not been extracted�

But that also meant he was still�

�Yes, you are still alive,� spoke a deep, grumbling voice from the depths of the cage in front of
him.

Naruto was confused.

He�d thought he would die. The pain
had been strong, stronger than anything he�d ever felt before, and he had known
all the time that he would die, just to have Kyuubi taken away and used against
Konoha and the rest of the world by the Akatsuki.

But there he was, staring at the
demon kitsune, and he was alive.

Feeling like shit, but not as much
as he would have thought.

�Why� how� what�� he couldn�t put on
a straight thought, his mind still too confused and dizzy to really understand
the meaning of it all, but it looked like the demon understood.

Bloody red eyes appeared among the
shadows, staring down at the blond, shuddering teen without expression.

�Something flared up against the jutsu� Kyuubi stated. He was not explaining, he
was merely saying what had happened. But his eyes held something inside that
made Naruto stop trembling. �The seal
changed�.

Naruto gulped, feeling his sore
throat hurt because of it, and blinked.

�So� there is no way you are going
to leave?� he felt himself ask.

Stupid question; it would only make
the demon angry, he thought.

To his surprise, Kyuubi merely
snorted.

�This seal seems even stronger than the other one. It looks like it
activated itself, feeling something act up against it.�

Naruto felt uneasy. It had been
three years since his last conversation with Kyuubi, and, even if he remembered
the words he�d spoken to him that time, he still felt uncomfortable.

Kyuubi was a demon, and now that it
looked like he would never get free, and would die with his vessel, Naruto was
scared. There could always be the possibility that the kitsune would try to
take over his consciousness, and kill him from the inside.

Especially now
that he was tired.

Again, he was shaken out of his
musings by Kyuubi, this time by a raw laugh. Yes, the fox demon was laughing
harshly, almost amused.

�I won�t do anything,� he said. He sounded like� he admired Naruto or something. But that
couldn�t be. Their relationship wasn�t like this.

It was�

Naruto had no time to wonder what he
meant with these words, because he felt something pull him away from the cage.

The last thing he remembered was the
red eyes boring into his soul, and the laughter of the demon following him to
wakefulness.

��

He woke up with a start, noticing
how his body felt rested instead of tired.

There was no feeling of pain. No
hurt.

He didn�t even feel stiff�

He was fine.

Blinking confusedly, having been
pulled abruptly out of the seal, and from Kyuubi�s cage, Naruto felt frantic.

He could not remember exactly what
had happened, but he could still feel something tingle in his arms and legs.
Looking down, he saw the sealing binds still in their place.

That only meant�

Even if he was alive, he was in
Akatsuki�s hands.

Freezing, Naruto looked around to
see where he was, for the present moment too concerned about his whereabouts to
worry about his health instead.

Around him he could see some kind of
strange room, with a futon of some sort (which he was on), and the ground was
cold and stony. It looked like the floor of a house made out from rock,
resembling a cave.

Great, more caves.

He must have been in the Akatsuki
headquarters, he mused. So there actually existed one. Jiraiya once told him no
one was sure about it because the members never grouped all together except for
some rare occasion.

To put him even in a worse mood,
there was the oppressing feeling of a seal around the room� (a cage) and especially on the door,
which consisted of metal bars crossed together, just like the one in front of
Kyuubi�s cage.

He was trapped there, and he could
do nothing about it. He couldn�t even feel Kyuubi�s chakra inside him, which he
always felt, even when he didn�t use it.

It felt like when Orochimaru had put
a seal on him, years before, but stronger than that time. Or at least he
thought it was stronger �back then, he hadn�t even known what Kyuubi�s chakra
was like; he�s only felt like something was missing.

Now he felt the same.

Without the chakra of the demon, he
felt weaker and like a part of him was missing. Maybe he�d become too dependent
on the demon during all these years.

Behind the bars of the door there
was a long corridor, hidden in shadows, so dark he couldn�t see anything.

Naruto sighed, knowing he could not
do anything as he was. Removing the seals from his arms and legs would prove
not just difficult, but dangerous as well, because he knew what a seal like
this could do if he tried to remove it.

Even he was not stupid enough to try
with his bare hands.

And about his chakra� it was missing
just like Kyuubi�s, and this was making him feel nauseous.

Deep in thought about how to free
himself and return to Konoha (he believed someone would come and try to help,
but, at the same time, he didn�t want to depend on someone), he failed to feel
the presence approaching.

And still, even if his senses had
not been dulled due to the lack of chakra, he would have found it hard to sense
the man coming.

So he was shocked when a voice spoke
in front of him, so chilling it could freeze even Itachi�s with no difficulty.

Blue eyes looked up to the figure,
whose body was only half covered by an Akatsuki outfit, with no shirt underneath,
trailing down his chest, and up again to his face.

The man (because it was a male
figure) had a well built body, in shape, and the left part of it was covered
with a strange looking tattoo of the deepest brown, tinged with black and grey.

Naruto could not make out what the
tattoo was; it looked like clouds, or something just as faint.

He looked fairly young, maybe on his
thirties, but the blond couldn�t be sure about it, since he had the feeling the
man was both older and younger at the same time. He had short, spiky black
hair, and his mouth was settled in a thin line.

But what shocked Naruto the most,
making him let out a strangled cry, were the man�s eyes as he met them with his
own ocean ones, which widened in realization as he was lost in astonishment.

There was no doubt about it.

Naruto was staring up straight at
the leader of the Akatsuki, that much he could feel by
the aura emanating from him, and his eyes�

His eyes�

They were completely white.

��

Cepheus: sorry if the first part was so jumpy around the
arrival of the Konoha ninja, but it wasn�t really important� I wanted to reach
the Akatsuki part! XD Next chapter, another one of those past
scenes about Itachi. Let�s get something out the closet! And more about the
leader too! Surprised about what I revealed? XD

Review, and you�ll get something nice in next chapter
as well� :P
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Winter Release