Beyond Ambitions

by thephaw

Chapter 6: Converging Paths

Sounds of growling, explosions and yelling were heard in the distance. Naruto realized he was he was being carried by someone and he didn’t know who it was. He tried to speak, to look at who was carrying him, but all he could do was look up to the sky. Echoes of voices were heard all around him as they moved.

“Don’t let it get closer to the village,” he heard a voice yell.

“We need to hold it here until the he arrives,” screamed another voice. Naruto had no idea who they were or where he was.” More screams and yells were heard as another explosion sounded off in the distance.

‘What the…?’ thought Naruto as the person carrying him came to a dead stop. Naruto’s vision was suddenly filled with a giant fox. ‘KYUBI!’ he thought as he blacked out.

When he regained consciousness, he saw a man with spiky yellow hair. There was a Konoha forehead protector on his forehead and he wore a red cape tipped with a white flame design at the bottom of the cape. The man smiled at Naruto who couldn’t do anything but lay there. Naruto recognized the yellow-haired ninja as the Yondaime and he realized there was still somebody carrying him. Naruto tried to say something but all he heard from himself was crying. He was transferred into the arms of the Yondaime. ‘The hell…,’ he thought, ‘I’m a baby?’ The Yondaime turned Naruto over so that he faced the ground. ‘Huh?’ thought Naruto. The ground was moving and it looked like red fur was growing from it. Finally, Naruto realized they were on the Kyubi when he heard growls echoing around them. Suddenly, he felt something enter his back and come out through his stomach. The pain he felt from it was great. Naruto tried to scream but, again, all he heard from himself was crying. Somehow, Naruto was able to look down at his stomach and he saw a transparent arm reaching out of his stomach, grabbing the ground of red fur. ‘What the hell is this?’ he thought as he watched the arm pull out what looked like the spirit from the Kyubi. The arm, holding Kyubi’s spirit, pulled back into him and he found himself engulfed in the Kyubi’s huge spirit. Now, the pain he felt in his stomach was unbearable as the spirit around him was pulled in towards his stomach. The pain was too much for Naruto to bear and he found himself trying to scream. Then all of a sudden…

…Naruto woke up, sweating. ‘Just…a dream,’ he thought, panting. Finally calmed down, the memories of his mission flooded back to his mind. “SASUKE!” he yelled out as he remembered the fight against his rival. Naruto looked around. He was on a bed in a small room. There was a table beside him and on it was a little note. Naruto got up, picked up the paper and read it.

Welcome,

We here at Wave Country Inn hope that you enjoy your stay.

‘What the…?’ he thought, ‘an Inn? Did Sakura and Lee leave me here?’

“So…you’re finally awake,” said a voice from the doorway. Naruto looked over and reached for a kunai when he saw Itachi. “Don’t worry,” assured Itachi, “I’m not going to kill you. If I had wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already.”

“What the hell do you want?” asked Naruto angrily.

“I’m here to tell you something you might be interested in,” replied Itachi.

“Huh?”

“It's about the Kyubi inside of you.”

A look of surprise appeared on Naruto’s face. “The kyubi? What about it?”

“If you want to know, you will have to come with me. If not, you may return to your village, empty handed. The decision is yours,” bluffed Itachi attempting to persuade Naruto with a choice. Itachi knew that he needed Naruto for his plan to work.

Naruto was intrigued. The kyubi inside of him had grown dormant over the past year. He didn’t know why, but, he could no longer draw upon the kyubi’s power at will anymore. In fact, he didn’t even know if it was still there or not. However, Naruto was still suspicious of Itachi. He was, after all, the man who betrayed Konoha and killed Sasuke’s entire clan. “How can I trust you?” asked Naruto.

“You’re alive aren’t you? Also, the other two members of your team should be heading back to Konoha by now with my brother. I could have killed them if I wanted to.”

“That doesn’t prove I can trust you. How do I know that they’re alive? For all I know, they could be dead and you could just be lying.”

Now Itachi was starting to get a bit annoyed. There was no way he could prove he didn’t kill Naruto’s team-mates. Plus, being an S-class criminal, Naruto couldn’t exactly trust his word. “Doesn’t it feel like the Kyubi isn’t there any more?” asked Itachi.

Now Naruto was surprised. ‘How would Itachi know about that?’ thought Naruto. “How did you know?” he asked.

“As I said before, I’ll tell you all I know if you come with me.”

Naruto considered the offer. “Where exactly are you going?” he asked.

“…wind country,” he answered, “…to the Akatsuki.”

“But what about Konoha? I have to help defend the village. There’s no way I’m going with you knowing that Konoha might be attacked by the sound and your organization.”

“We were only after you. As for the sound, I’m sure Konoha can handle them.”

Naruto didn’t believe it. “Hah! I could care less about the Kyubi knowing that the village is in trouble. There’s no way I’m going with you knowing that Konoha is being attacked, even if it’s about the kyubi.” he stated as he headed towards the door.

Itachi considered knocking Naruto out and taking him by force or using the sharingan to hypnotize him. However, he thought it best to gain the blond boy’s trust so there would be no conflict later on. “I’ll give you another offer,” said Itachi, “I’ll come with you to Konoha and help drive out the sound in Konoha. However, you must come with me afterwards to the Akatsuki.”

Naruto thought about it for a while. If Konoha IS attacked, having a dangerous S-class criminal helping the leaf wouldn’t be a bad idea. Also, he wanted to know what was wrong with the kyubi inside of him and he was curious to see the rest of the Akatsuki. “Hmm…I accept your offer,” said Naruto.

“Good, here…” said Itachi, handing Naruto an ominous looking black cloak with red clouds imprinted on it, and a straw hat. “…You must wear these while in Konoha.”

“Huh? But why?” asked Naruto.

“I don’t want to draw attention while we’re there. It would be bad if I were found in Konoha. After all, I am a criminal am I not? Also, it will allow you to leave Konoha easily afterwards since nobody will know you were even there.”

Naruto still didn’t trust Itachi, but he agreed with the Uchiha’s logic. “Alright,” agreed Naruto who started to put on his new outfit.

------

Sasuke was still lying on the field, reading the scroll over and over again, still debating whether or not to return to the village. His first choice would be not to go back to the village. Sasuke wanted to find this…Kairi that Itachi told him about in the scroll. However, he didn’t have any leads or connections to the Akatsuki except for his brother. Then there was Orochimaru. Over the past year, Sasuke noticed that the sudden lashes of pain on the back of his neck have become stronger and more frequent. Sasuke didn’t know when Orochimaru will try to take over his body again but he knew it would come soon. Itachi and the fifth said that Orochimaru might attack the village. If so, it would be his chance to end this curse seal business and kill Orochimaru. After all, he still had his revenge to accomplish, and being the egocentric person he was…there was no way he would let go of his revenge. Even if he did fail to kill Orochimaru, the fifth said she had a way to remove the curse seal anyways. ‘Looks like I have to head back to the village,’ he thought to himself as he sat up. Sasuke got up. The field he stood on once had lush green grass. Now, it looked more like a burnt up barren wasteland. Smoke was still rising from the charred Earth and the trail of molten rock that Naruto’s fire clone created had finally cooled down. The fog had cleared up and Sasuke realized that it was still only the afternoon. Looking around, he finally noticed the two ninjas that were lying beside him. He recognized Sakura right away, her pink hair a dead giveaway. He then took a look at the black haired ninja beside her. ‘Hmm…green jumpsuit, thick brows. It must be…Lee,’ he concluded. ‘Kuso, they’re still out cold.’ Sasuke picked them both up and headed for his house.

------

Tsunade was at her desk. There was a hint of worry in her eyes and in her office stood all the jounins in Konoha.

“As you already know,” started Tsunade, “both the village of the sound and the Akatsuki are on the move at the moment. I’m still not sure about the Akatsuki or their intentions but the sound definitely look like their preparing for attack. It looks like Orochimaru has gathered quite a large force of shinobis. According to our intelligence reports, there will be over a hundred sound shinobi attacking, most of which will be chuunin level but expect many jounin level ninja as well. Not only that, several of our own jounin are still out on missions. Kakashi and Kurenai are still on their mission and won’t be back for a few days. Gai and Asuma won’t be back until next week and neither will Naruto, Sakura, or Lee. Neji and Shino should be returning from their mission tonight. Expect Hinata and Shikamaru to be back since they are the ones spying on the sound. Also, I have sent some scouts to locate Jiraiya.”

“But that still only leaves us with eight jounins and forty-eight chuunins if the sound attack today,” said Shizune, “Also, seeing how Orochimaru failed his last attempt, he will no doubt be more careful and will not likely underestimate us.”

“Your right, Shizune, but there isn’t much we can do in this situation. Konoha’s forces have been dramatically weakened since the last invasion from the sound and six years wasn’t enough to bring us back to the strength we were at before.”

“Then what do you suggest we do?”

“Our first priority, as always, will be the evacuation of the civilians to the designated evacuation areas. I’ll have three ANBU squads patrol the perimeter outside of Konoha to set up traps in the outlying forests. The other two ANBU squads will be put on standby until an attack commences.”

“What are “we” going to do?”

“Since there is such a large force of sound shinobi, I have split our forces up into large groups. Each of you jounin will lead a group of six chuunin. Once Neji, Shino, Hinata, and Shikamaru return, there will be eight groups of seven. Each group will be responsible for a section of the village as indicated here,” she explained, holding up a map of the village. “Remember to help out the groups around you if needed. The groups have already been assigned and the chuunin are awaiting just outside the hokage monument. Once you have your groups set up, inform the civilians in each area to prepare for evacuation, but don’t start evacuating them until we know that an attack is imminent. Remember that we’ll have to do this fast to avoid any casualties.”

“What about you, hokage-sama?”

“Me? I’ll be helping out groups here and there. Also…” she continued, as her expression grew even more serious, “I’ll face Orochimaru.” A look of concern flashed across the jounins faces but Tsunade just smiled. “I’ll be fine,” she said, imitating Naruto’s confidence. “If there aren’t any further questions, please start immediately, we can’t afford to waste any time.

“HAI!” they all said before they left.

------

Sakura woke up. She didn’t know who knocked her out, but she was still a bit dazed from the blow. She found herself lying on the floor in a small, dank room. The house looked like it would fall apart at any time. There were holes and cracks on the ceilings and walls.

Beside her, Lee was lying on the floor, still unconscious. ‘Where’s Naruto?’ she thought.  Sakura looked through the open door and was surprised to see Sasuke in another room, packing weapons and scrolls into his bag.

Sasuke saw that Sakura was awake and walked into the room. “How are you, Sakura? It’s been a while.” Sakura just stared at him in disbelief. “You remember me don’t you?” he asked.

“Sasuke-kun”

“Ya. Good to see that you’re ok. Lee should be waking up soon as well. Looks like I’ll be returning to Konoha with you guys.” He said in a bored tone.

“Where’s Naruto?”

“…I’m not sure. I think my brother has taken him, I don’t know why.” Sasuke answered as he started to walk away, “We’ll leave as soon as Lee wakes up.”

“Wait, Sasuke!” called Sakura.

Sasuke stopped. “What is it?”

“Are you really coming back to the village?”

“Ya…but don’t get me wrong, I’ll only be there to finish my business with Orochimaru. Once that’s done, I’ll probably be gone again.” He said coldly.

“Why…,” she started, “Why did you leave us Sasuke?” However, in her mind, she really wanted to ask, ‘Why did you leave me?’

Sasuke just left the room without another word.

‘Sasuke…’ she thought. Sakura didn’t know what to say to Sasuke at the moment. She wanted to tell him how much she missed him, how much she wanted to see him again. But now that Sasuke was right in front of her, she was blank. Sasuke was still the calm, collected and cold person he was before. In fact, he had probably become even colder now that he was alone for six years. But even so…even after six years, she somehow still had feelings for the Uchiha. She didn’t know why, maybe it was because of the last time they met. Maybe it was the bit of warmth she felt from him beneath his cold exterior. Sakura decided to sort it out later and she turned her attention to Lee who was just waking up.

“Lee, are you alright?”

“Ugh…Sakura-chan?” Lee looked around. “Where are we?”

“We’re at Sasuke’s place. He’s gonna come with us back to the village.”

Lee sat up. Unlike Sakura, Lee couldn’t really stand Sasuke anymore. Sasuke was once one of his greatest and most respected rivals. But Lee’s perspective of him had changed. During their mission to bring back Sasuke six years ago, Lee had risked his life only to come back empty handed. In fact, both Neji and Kiba almost died for a lost cause and they both hated Sasuke for it. Lee tried to empathize, knowing that he had a curse seal, but he found that he couldn’t. He could, however, put up with the Uchiha until they returned to the village. Snapping out of his thoughts, Lee remembered the fight between Naruto and Sasuke. “Is Naruto alright?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” answered Sakura. “Sasuke-kun said Naruto may have been taken by Itachi.” Both Lee and Sakura were worried about Naruto but they couldn’t pursue the matter any further than worry. They both had Konoha to worry about.

“So, Lee’s awake. We better get going if we want to save your village,” said Sasuke, walking into the room.

“It’s YOUR village too!” said Lee.

“…No, not anymore. Like I said before, I’m only interested in Orochimaru. I could care less about Konoha.”

Lee snapped and rushed Sasuke, landing a punch on his chest, sending Sasuke flying across the room and into a wall.

“What the hell was that for?” yelled Sasuke, activating his sharingan. Lee was about to attack him again but Sakura stepped in between them.

“LEE STOP!” screamed Sakura. “There’s no point in fighting here. Save it for the sound. You two can settle your dispute later.” Lee became calm again and Sasuke deactivated his sharingan.

“Pffft…” Sasuke said, “I’m heading to Konoha. When you’re done messing around, feel free to tag along.” With that, he grabbed his backpack and left.

Sakura noticed Lee’s anger flare up again. “Lee,” she said, “At least try to get along with him until this is all over.” His anger died down.

“Fine,” he said, “We better get going.” With that, they left to follow Sasuke. As they were catching up to Sasuke, something caught Lee’s attention as they passed the burned field. “Wait, Sakura.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“I’ll be right back.” Lee promptly disappeared into the trees. When he came out, there was giant bandaged sword strapped to his back. “I don’t think that guy will be needing this anymore.” Lee said as they continued to follow Sasuke back to Konoha.

------

Orochimaru stood on a building in the sound village, overlooking the large force of shinobi that he had managed to gather and train in the past six years. Kabuto was standing beside him.

“Looks like their ready,” said Kabuto.

“Yes, this time, Konoha will fall and Sasuke will be mine.” Orochimaru directed his attention towards the sound ninja. “My sound shinobi…You have all come far. It is finally time for the great rise of the sound village.” Cheers were heard from the sound shinobi. “You all know what to do. Show Konoha no mercy!” The sound ninja then promptly disappeared, a pleased look shown on Orochimaru’s face. “Come, Kabuto, Sasuke is also heading towards Konoha. Let us head out.” And with that, Orochimaru and Kabuto headed towards the leaf village behind their hidden army of sounds.