The Lost Heir

14

"Kotoamatsukami..." Gaara opened his eyes and took stock of the situation around him. The Leaf ninja were currently winning. Sickened, he raised an arm and watched as his sand flowed around him, swirling until he formed into two giant hands. He stood impassively, willing the Sand with his chakra alone to smash into the many Leaf ninja, crushing and killing them instantly. Behind him, Danzo smiled. His perfect timing with Shisui's mangekyo Sharingan had led to the capture of the Sand jinchuriki. Sure while he'd like to have gone for the Kyuubi jinchuriki, Naruto was surrounded by strong shinobi so they couldn't push their luck with that one. That being said, Kisame was currently fighting them, and by the looks of things, winning in the water bubble of his jutsu. As Gaara raised an arm, a kunai came flying out of nowhere and he watched as his Sand automatically came in to protect him. It didn't move. Gaara panicked and ducked, the kunai sailing over his head, forcing the unsuspecting Danzo to take cover.
"So you are a traitor to the Leaf, Danzo." The aged voice of Hiruzen said. Danzo looked up in surprise.
"How did you get away from Kisame?" He asked. No one had ever escaped Kisame's jutsu unless he allowed them to escape. The old man's eyes gleamed.
"That's a secret." He said. He disregarded the Sand that Gaara attempted to use to crush him, merely side stepping it at the last second to avoid it. Hiruzen threw a shuriken at Gaara.
"Shuriken shadow clone jutsu!" He said as he formed a hand seal and immediately, the shuriken multiplied, forcing Gaara to raise his arms to move his Sand. It didn't move and Gaara yelped as he had to roll off to the side. It was weird. Shukaku! What's going on with my Sand!? Gaara yelled in his mind.
"I'm forcing my chakra through it to stop you from using the Sand, and to disable your mother's automatic Sand defence!" Shukaku replied, grumpily. Gaara frowned. Why!? I need it! Gaara retorted.
"That Danzo guy placed a genjutsu on you that I cannot break! You are fighting the wrong people!" Gaara hesitated, but shook his head stubbornly.
"Then you leave me with no choice..." Shukaku said as he forced as much chakra through the seal as possible, shocking Gaara into unconsciousness and taking control of Gaara's body.
"You might have gotten my vessel with that Sharingan trick, but you forgot about me!" He laughed crazily, as he underwent a partial biju transformation, forming giant limbs made out of sand. Danzo took a step back as he analysed the situation. He was about to face the biju, not the jinchuriki. He grit his teeth. His kotoamatsukami couldn't be used all the time but because of Hashirama's DNA that was implanted in his right arm, he was able to shorten the time, but it still wasn't available. He looked at Hidan.
"We can't fight right now. It's too dangerous." Danzo said and Hidan bit back a retort, and refrained himself from cursing. Their leader had specific reasons for indicting Danzo into the organisation and putting him into the inner circle. The two akatsuki signalled Kakuzu who allowed his hearts to return to him before they vanished in a shunshin.

-----

Kisame grinned as he watched the motionless Kyuubi jinchuriki. It was a big fight but underwater, he held all the advantages. The Kyuubi jinchuriki had tried to protect Karin, Lady Mito, and Lady Tsunade but now he was helpless and ready for the taking. He smirked and closed in for the kill, the samehada infused body he had making him swim rapidly, singling out Naruto's body due to his chakra signature. He grinned triumphantly as he neared the boy.
"You are mine, Naruto Uzumaki!" He cried out in glee as he wrapped his arms around the unconscious boy, draining away at his chakra to keep Naruto in a state of helplessness. Suddenly there was a poof as it disappeared.
"Shadow clone!?" He said in confusion. Then there was a brilliant flash of golden light and suddenly, chakra chains erupted all around him, encircling him, and locking him in place. He turned his head to the side and saw a triumphant looking Lady Mito with a big smirk on her face, while Karin had her eyes closed and had her right hand in a hand seal, focusing her chakra and creating a small pocket of air for her, her mother and the unconscious Naruto to breathe in. He grinned, his sharklike features making him seem even more deadly. Already, the chains were slowly losing their power as he absorbed the chakra.
"Where's Tsunade..." he muttered before turning sharply to the right as he sensed her chakra signature. She was rapidly approaching him and her diamond seal on her forehead was already activated, the marks having spread out around her single fist. Kisame gulped. He may be a chakra absorbing monster, but even he knew that the absorption of chakra didn't happen instantaneously on impact from a chakra enhanced punch. Tsunade roared in the water as she slammed her super concentrated chakra fist straight into Kisame's stomach, the impact folding him in half, disabling his water prison shark dance jutsu immediately and sending him flying through the air, landing in a broken heap on the arena ground below next to his akatsuki compatriots.

Lady Mito dropped to the ground, exhausted as did Karin. They had used up almost all of their chakra to protect the Prince and stop Kisame from capturing him. Lady Tsunade wasn't faring much better. She'd poured in most of her chakra from her seal into that punch and it certainly worked. Naruto lay beside them on the ground, unconscious from his fight with Kisame. They both looked up when the tell tale sounds of the sharkskin blade dragging itself along the ground made its way to their ears. Samehada reached Kisame and the hilt extended, wrapping around Kisame's body. Tsunade watched in shock and also intrigue as Kisame stood up, his body healing rapidly from the potentially fatal wounds he'd received. Kisame grinned and cracked his knuckles, before the four akatsuki began to walk forward.
"Ichibi is a lost cause for now. Get Kyuubi then we go." Danzo said as they quickened their pace, knowing that they'd reach the exhausted party of Konoha nobles before the Leaf ninja would. Before they could reach them though, a familiar long black haired Uchiha landed between them, holding out his katana and his Sharingan blazing.
"Itachi..." Danzo muttered, frowning slightly as he realised that Itachi would be able to stop them.
"Let's retreat. Itachi is too strong for us in our current state." Danzo said. The other three looked at him but said nothing. Danzo would tell them about Itachi later no doubt. It was a feint however, as Danzo turned to move, he ducked and allowed Orochimaru to leap forward, thrusting his kusanagi sword straight at him. The four akatsuki scattered, leaping off to the sides to try and flank the Konoha nobles so that they'd be forced to give up Naruto. Itachi grimaced as he looked at the odds before him.
"Five against one..." Itachi mumbled as he leapt back to stand directly in front of Naruto. Orochimaru leapt back as well, and Itachi's Sharingan blazed and began to spin as he looked at all of the enemies. Orochimaru was teaming up with the akatsuki? Itachi could barely comprehend as Orochimaru released a seal on his arm, slipping on the akatsuki robe that was sealed inside. So they make it look like Orochimaru is doing his own thing, but he's actually akatsuki... so that Orochimaru would draw our attention. Too bad it didn't work, but it almost did. Itachi analysed as he glanced at the five akatsuki. His Sharingan begun to swirl when he noticed they had all built up chakra.
"Lightning style! False darkness!"
"Fire style! Searing migraine!"
"Water style! Super shark blmb jutsu!"
"Wind style! Great breakthrough!"
"Wind style! Pressure damage!"

The five akatsuki combined their ninjutsu attacks and the resulting maelstrom of jutsu simply obliterated the ground around them. They didn't relax however, as out of the smoke, emerged a red skeletal structure complete with a gourd and a mirror. Orochimaru and Danzo both cursed and stepped back, the other akatsuki members looking at them for clarification.
"The Yata mirror, capable of negating any damage and the Totsuka blade, able to seal anything it touches away." Orochimaru said.
"Coupled with the Mangekyo Sharingan's susanoo, it's the ultimate defence..." Danzo added in. They looked at Itachi who was still standing in the same spot, the susanoo enshrouding the wounded Uzumaki and Tsunade, protecting them from any damage. The akatsuki quickly looked at Orochimaru who rapidly flew through several hand seals. Several Leaf Jonin and Chunin leapt forward, casting their ninjutsu at the akatsuki, but they vanished a second before they were hit, courtesy of Orochimaru's jutsu. In doing so, the akatsuki had gotten away, without what they had come for, and they failed to see Itachi collapse several seconds after they had left.