Naruto's Mission

32

A short chapter today. In hindsight, I realise it's not a good idea to let your assignments pile up til the last day. Because I pulled so many all nighters trying to complete that stuff on time which I did. Thankfully. So sorry for the inherent bad quality. Hope you can forgive and like this chapter.

The pair walked down the road. Everyone in the organisation had been recalled back to the hideout. Kisame looked at his partner. Itachi looked the same as always. He was silent, his collar high, showing only the top half of his face. His Sharingan blazed intimidatingly.
"Itachi... lighten up." Kisame said. Itachi turned his head to look at him.
"We are here." Itachi said as they turned a corner, and suddenly, the hideout was right in front of them. They walked inside, and was immediately assaulted with the loud arguing from Kakuzu and Hidan, while Sasori and Deidara were simply watching. They both noted with intrigue that Sasori didn't have his Hiruko puppet anymore. Pain, Konan, Zetsu and Tobi walked out.
"Madara... why now?" Pain was saying. Tobi merely turned and looked at him.
"It's important." Tobi said and then everyone gathered around. Pain stepped forward.
"It has come to my attention, Uchiha Itachi, that you are acting as a spy for Konoha." He intoned. The akatsuki all stared at him in shock, perhaps the most shocked was Kisame. Itachi said nothing, merely staring back at him, Sharingan meeting Rinnegan. There was a small clink, then two kunai clashed together. Tobi stepped forward. The akatsuki stepped back. They hadn't even seen Itachi move to throw a kunai to counter Tobi's throw. Tobi put his hands together and formed a tiger seal.
"Fire style! Fireball jutsu!" Much to the surprise of everyone, the fireball simply went through his orange mask. Itachi brought his own hands up into a tiger seal.
"Fire style! Fireball jutsu!" He replicated, a similar fireball being shot out from Itachi's mouth, clashing against Tobi's. Both simultaneously dispelled their jutsu and dashed forward, throwing shuriken and kunai at each other, while perfectly countering each other's projectiles. The others simple watched. A Sharingan on Sharingan battle. No one, not even Kakuzu had ever witnessed such a battle. It was Tobi who landed the first real decisive blow. Kisame was shocked. All the times he'd sparred playfully with Itachi, he'd never been able to land such an easy hit the way Tobi had just done. Itachi took the kick to his face, flipping backwards. Tobi sensed his opportunity and rushed forward, his arm outstretched. He need only to touch Itachi and he would have won. He saw the chakra buildup in Itachi's eye too late. Itachi opened his eyes to reveal his Mangekyo Sharingan, spinning and a black flame was immediately summoned right on Tobi's mask. Itachi brought both his hands up and formed the tiger seal once more.

"Fire style! Fireball jutsu!" He pushed in a great deal of chakra into his lungs and exhaled, sending a giant fireball to engulf Tobi. The akatsuki stepped back, knowing that Itachi was probably the strongest one of them, by virtue of his bloodline. Engaging him would not be a suitable idea. Pain didn't move. He knew Tobi was strong enough to defeat Itachi. He didn't want to antagonise the situation any further than it had already been. Itachi stopped his onslaught as soon as his Mangekyo Sharingan couldn't detect Tobi's chakra signature anymore. Then he felt it. A sharp stabbing pain, cutting cleanly from his lower back and protruding out of his upper chest. He coughed blood and looked down at the sharpened iron pipe that was there. Sasori looked away. As much as he hated to admit anything, Itachi had been the one he tolerated most. Silent, and not boisterous, Itachi respected everyone. Deidara grit his teeth. To see his 'rival', of a sort, defeated so easily by Tobi made him feel hollow on the inside, as if he wasn't strong enough. Even Hidan was quiet. Itachi had been a strong, quiet yet commanding respect kind of person and everyone respected him. He made capturing bounty targets for Kakuzu so easy too. Kisame was affected the most. Itachi was wise, and while they may have shared similar troubled pasts, he recognised a kindred spirit. His watched silently. Lowering his sword from his shoulder and stabbing it into the ground as a mark of respect. "We don't know what kind of people we truly are until the moment before our deaths. As death comes to embrace you, you will realise what you are. That's what death is, don't you think?" Itachi's words echoed in Kisame's mind and his throat felt dry. For Kisame, it didn't matter that Itachi had betrayed them. He died for something he was fighting for, and doing it at the most dangerous level of work, by being a spy, Kisame had nothing but respect for him. Itachi's mouth opened and closed, no sound moving, his eyes glaring defiantly at Tobi's singe eye visible through his mask. Tobi yanked the pipe roughly out of Itachi's body and he collapsed. Tobi moved forward to pry Itachi's eyes out when he cried out and jumped back, narrowly dodging the black flames.
"Amaterasu..." Tobi seethed.
"What's the matter?" Pain asked.
"He booby trapped his own eyes. They'll automatically use Amaterasu if they make eye contact with me." Tobi said as he turned around and walked away. The remaining Akatsuki looked down at Itachi's crumpled corpse before walking away, paying their respects silently. Pain looked at Konan.
"I guess we will have to deal with his dead body. What better way than to make him one of my new paths?" Pain said as Konan wrapped her paper around his body and lifted it up into the air behind her, following Pain to their personal room. The other akatsuki members shuddered. They were in essence making a zombie out of him. Even the zombie duo were a little grossed out.

-----

Jiraiya sighed and rubbed his nose. Itachi had not gone to meet him at their new rendezvous place. He stood waiting, but Itachi was already a day late. Then he sensed a chakra signature. Jiraiya wasn't a sensor but he could tell it was a powerful chakra. He turned and saw Itachi walked towards him.
"My apologies, Jiraiya-Sama. I was held up at a meeting." Itachi said. Jiraiya narrowed his eyes.
"Who are you? Itachi never addresses me that way." Jiraiya asked. Itachi looked surprised. Then the genjutsu melted away.
"I have many names. Most people know me as Tobi." The orange masked Akatsuki member said.
"You've gotten enough information about us now. I think it's time I put you to an end, considering Itachi has already been accounted for." Tobi said. Jiraiya's eyes widened.
"You killed Itachi..." Jiraiya muttered, powering up a rasengan as they both dashed at each other.

-----

Tsunade walked down the main street of Konoha. Behind her were the rookie 9, although of course, they were no longer rookies. She'd been taking them to review the new apartment buildings that had just recently finished construction. Naruto stopped, and everyone looked at him. On instinct, he turned to face the direction he could feel chakra spiking at, and they all observed a growing swirl out of thin air before a masked Akatsuki man appeared, dropping a body onto the ground. Tsunade suppressed a scream when she saw the long spiky white hair and the familiar body of Jiraiya. Everyone froze. Jiraiya of the Sannin, Toad Sage, was lying dead at their feet.
"I must confess, you have caused me great troubles, Tsunade of the Leaf. But not anymore. I have personally dealt with the spy network, and now we shall be coming for the Kyuubi." The man said before he swirled away, just in time to dodge the chakra empowered fist.
"Jiraiya sensei..." Naruto muttered, feeling warm tears cascade down his face. He stared down at the deceased body of his loving godfather, albeit a pervert, but his godfather none the less. He felt Tsunade wrap her arms around him, and they both shed tears.
"Tsunade Sama... should we move the body?" Shizune asked, shocked that Jiraiya was the dead body on the ground. The fact that he was so strong and so easily killed made the Akatsuki seem frightening. Tsunade shook her head.
"Leave us!" She commanded, shocking the group. "N-Naruto and I will d-do this ourselves!" She stammered through, feeling as though she wanted to give up on the world. Her best friend, although she'd never admit he was, was lying dead at their feet. The group left and Tsunade slowly walked over to Jiraiya's body. As she reached her hand out, Naruto immediately grabbed her and jumped back a safe distance. A cry was torn from her throat as she watched Jiraiya's body burst into black flames, the Amaterasu burning away his body until there was nothing left.
"He even booby trapped his body in hopes of getting me..." Tsunade said as she drew Naruto in for another hug, crying silently as she remembered all the times they'd shared together. Naruto was in a similar state, although he'd stopped his crying.

It was only a few minutes later that Sasuke realised the importance of what Tobi had said. He'd dealt with the spy network personally... which meant... Sasuke held back a sudden sob as he realised that Itachi had been killed. His eyes naturally turned into their Mangekyo Sharingan and he silently cursed the masked man.

-----

At the Akatsuki hideout, Tobi returned with a triumphant grin. He turned to Konan and Pain.
"It is time. They are in a mourning and grief. Strike quickly and get the Kyuubi." He commanded. Pain nodded, and Konan wrapped her paper around them both, flying them back to his room. Tobi grinned under his mask. Everything was going according to plan. He'd even told Pain to keep Itachi's body with him during the assault just to add insult to injury. Tobi watched as Konan flew Nagato and his machine out towards Konoha.
"That weak fool..." Tobi laughed to himself. Manipulating Nagato was easier than he'd ever expected, especially when Konan was always there watching. He turned to walk up to his room, taking his mask off. He faced the wall, and raised his hands.
"It's time... summoning jutsu! Reanimation!" A single coffin rose from the ground. The lid fell down and a ninja clad in red samurai armour stepped out.
"Obito..." he breathed out.
"Madara." Obito replied.
"Is it time?"
"The beginning of the end is approaching. We have most of the tailed beasts. Only the Hachibi and the Kyuubi remain outside of our control now." Obito said. Madara nodded.
"Good."

This chapter is one which I want to speed things up, hence the action and the two deaths. We will be approaching the climax of the story soon... before the end. Things are going to continue to become more chaotic and rise to a head before the final confrontation. :)