"Stop, Naruto! What do you think you are doing?"

Naruto snapped back at Sasuke in anger. "What do you think I'm doing? Of course I'm going to Kirigakure! From what they said, Pain must have done something to Kirigakure, and you, of all people, should have known what he can do!"

"Just calm down and listen to me first, idiot!" Sasuke said patiently, grabbing the shoulder of his friend and fellow jonin. "First, are you going to run all the way to Kirigakure on foot? The village is literally on the other side of the map! Even if you run with all your speed there, you will exhaust yourself completely before you can even do anything; not to mention you will probably have to face the most powerful member of the Akatsuki if that's the case! Do you really want to do that and throw yourself into the hand of Pain again? Besides, you really think that Pain would sit there and wait for you to come to Kirigakure to get him? Even if you managed to arrive there without burning yourself off, Pain would have already left the village long before that already!"

Sasuke's reasoning completely shut Naruto up. He gritted his teeth.

"I know, but... we cannot just sit here uselessly without being able to do anything! Everyone in Kiri is in need of our help... not only Utakata-san, but also Zabuza, Haku-chan..."

"I know," Kakashi walked towards him while pulling his hitai-ate down, covering his Sharingan up. "But I think the wisest move for us right now is to return to Konoha as quickly as possible and report this to Lord Hokage. Maybe in Konoha right now, they already realized the problem and sent other teams to support Kiri. If not... well, we would be able to let Lord Hokage know to send force for Kiri as soon as possible. Konoha is actually the village closest to Kiri geographically anyway."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Kakashi sighed. "We have to wait for Sakura to be done with her work first. It's a person's life we're talking about here."

Naruto blinked. "Well, if you want to report to jiji... I think there is a much faster way to do it."

"Team Gai and Team Anko, reporting for duty, sir!"

Hiruzen looked at the eight shinobi in front of him with grim eyes. "Good, you are all here. I want you all to pack up and get ready for an S-rank mission as soon as possible."

The sudden declaration of the Hokage made every member of the two teams jump.

"Why such a sudden mission, Hokage-sama?" Tenten asked nervously. "And what kind of S-rank mission requires two whole teams of jonin and chuunin? Usually as far as I know, a mission like that takes at most one jonin team."

The Hokage nodded at them and said in a serious tone. "You're right. It's because this is not a normal mission. Your mission is to go as fast as you can to Kirigakure to see if there is anything happening to them. After that, if it is confirmed that the jinchuriki of Kirigakure was kidnapped, you will, together with Kirigakure force, track down and apprehend the kidnapper and rescue the jinchuriki."

Answering him was a blink coming from Karin.

"But isn't Sunagakure the village the Akatsuki is attacking right now, sir? Why do we need to go to Kirigakure if that's the case?"

Hiruzen and Jiraiya looked at each other.

"Actually, this is just what we thought of based on logic and instinct, from what Team Kurenai and Baki of Suna told us," the Hokage admitted with a sigh. "But it seems the attack on Sunagakure might just be a distraction. For what reason, we don't know, but if we don't do anything now, it might be too late."

"So you're giving us this mission because of something you thought of on a hunch?" Anko raised an eyebrow. "That's not like you at all, Hokage-sama."

"It is so unyouthful of you to doubt the instinct of someone like Hokage-sama!" Gai howled at the kunoichi. "Even if you don't want to go on this mission, I, Might Gai, the Beautiful Blue Beast of Konohagakure, together with my team, will still take it and will do our best to complete it!"

Anko shook her head. "Seriously, do you even know what you're saying? I know you're enthusiastic about missions, but going on something like that without even a proper explanation is just unreasonable!"

Fuu raised her voice hesitantly. "Um, sensei, I don't think..."

Right at that time, there was a loud knock on the window of the Hokage chamber. Everyone's head turned towards the source of the noise, and they all blinked when they saw a toad slapping its webbed hand at the glass.

"Gamaden?" Jiraiya hastily opened the window to let the toad in. "Why are you here?"

"Naruto sent me here to report to you about the mission in Sunagakure, sir!" the toad answered while jumping into the room. "The invasion of Sunagakure has been repelled, but turned out it was just a ruse of the Akatsuki to prevent us from assisting Kirigakure when their leader attacked the village!"

Shock spread through everyone in the room.

After a few seconds of silence, Anko was the one who spoke first.

"So, what are you still waiting for? All of you, go prepare and meet up in front of the Main Gate in one hour!"

"Yes, sensei!"

After the two teams had left the room, Jiraiya looked at his teacher. "Do you think it's wise to let these two teams go like that? I mean, it's Nagato we're talking about here; who knows what he'd learnt from the loss against us after three years? Maybe I should go with them..."

Hiruzen shook his head. "I cannot let you be away from the village right now; three of the most powerful teams in the village, including both of our jinchuriki, have been mobilized. If you're away now and the Akatsuki suddenly changes their target again, we're not going to be able to defend against them."

Then the Hokage suddenly stood up from his chair. "But don't worry; I'm not planning to let them go alone."

Teuchi Ichiraku's face brightened up when he realized the man who had just walked into his ramen shop.

"Hokage-sama! What an honor! How can I help you?"

Hiruzen smiled pleasantly while pulling a stool and sat down. "Ah, what else but to have a bite of your delicious ramen? One of the usual, please, Teuchi-san?"

The ramen chef laughed. "Of course, of course! One bowl of deluxe miso ramen, coming right up!"

"Oh and by the way, is Itachi here?" Suddenly, the Hokage asked. Teuchi blinked.

"Well, yes he is; he's at the back preparing the food. Is there any problem?"

The Hokage's eyes twinkled. "Oh, nothing. It's just that I want him to deliver some ramen to Kirigakure. A bowl of Red Moon ramen with naruto on top. The one I want him to send it to is named... Pain. There might be dangers on the way, so I already assigned two teams to go with him, but it might be wiser of him if he prepared weapons, just in case."

Teuchi's eyes also twinkled. "Oh, I'll tell him to make the delivery immediately. Here's your ramen, sir."

Hiruzen smiled, and dipped his chopsticks into the steaming bowl of noodles.

"Lady Chiyo's condition has stabilized. I extracted all the poison in her blood; she will live, but will have to rest for a while before she can recover completely," Sakura walked towards Gaara, who was standing with Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi together with his siblings. The Kazekage gave her a bow.

"Thank you, Sakura. Sunagakure will remember your assistance."

Sakura waved him off. "Nah, don't worry about that. Helping people is the duty of a doctor, you know."

Sasuke stared at her. "You do realize that you are talking to the Kazekage, don't you?"

The female medic blinked. "Err... oops?" she chuckled nervously. "Sorry, Kazekage-sama..."

This time it was Gaara's turn to wave her off. "Don't worry about that. I don't like being called by honorifics except when being in official meetings anyway."

"All right! Then let's go back to Konoha!" Naruto declared. But before he could turn his back...

"Boss!"

Two of his remaining shadow clones landed in front of him with two loud "thud"s. Each of them was carrying something on their shoulders.

"We managed to capture these two when the monster army was retreating," they threw what they were carrying to the ground: two tied-up White Zetsu, with seals all over their bodies which completely blocked the movement of their chakra. "They are actually the only ones we could capture alive. We already sealed their chakra up so that they can't run away; what should we do with them?"

After a few seconds of thinking, Kakashi suddenly said. "Kazekage-sama, can you allow us to take these two back to Konohagakure?"

His students blinked at him. "Why?"

"With the condition of Sunagakure like it is right now, bringing them to Konoha might be a better choice, as you won't have to waste food and drink to keep them alive, and prison rooms to keep them in," Kakashi explained. "Besides, I think every person in Suna will have to focus on restoring the village right now, so no one would have the time to interrogate them for information about the Akatsuki. And Konoha has a whole division of Torturing and Interrogation ready for that job."

"Feel free to do so, Kakashi-san," Gaara nodded. "Now, if you excuse us, I have to go find a way to bring down this dome without it collapsing on Sunagakure and crushing everything. Good luck on your trip back."

Team Gai and Team Anko were leaping from branch to branch in the forest at the east side of the Land of Fire. They had moved at their highest speed, and already crossed a fourth of the distance between Konoha and Kiri. But even with the speed they were moving right now, it seemed it was impossible for them to reach the coast, from which they would take a boat ride to cross the sea before they could reach Kirigakure, before midnight.

"All right, let's take a break here tonight. It's dangerous to cross the forest at night when we cannot see anything."

Stopping under a particular large tree, Anko said. The other members of the squad blinked.

"Isn't it a little bit early to stop, Anko?" asked Gai. "I can still go a little bit more."

Anko nodded. "I know, but the other members of the squad cannot. Besides, if we are going to assist Kirigakure in their search for the jinchuriki, we cannot afford to exhaust ourselves by running like crazy to the village. And..."

The other shinobi blinked and waited for her to continue, but no other sound came from her.

"And?" Finally, Karin asked.

"And I'm hungry!" Anko finished cheerfully, earning a face fault from the other squad members. "Now you all, go make a bonfire and find some water! We'll be here, setting up camp!"

"Anko-sensei is still weird even after three years, huh," Fuu whispered Karin when they walked away from their sensei.

"You don't know anything, Fuu," Karin whispered back. "Seriously, I always shudder when imagining if instead of Iruka-san, she went and married Gai-sensei..."

"That's a terrifying image, indeed," Fuu nodded, shuddering.

Then the two young kunoichi jumped when they heard Anko's voice whispering right next to their ears.

"Oh? Are my cute little students talking bad about me behind my back?"

They bolted in utter fear.

"You also realized, right? That's why you sent the children away."

Anko answered the sudden question of Gai with a smirk. "As much as I hate to say this, I was once a student of Orochimaru, you know."

Then without a warning, two snakes lashed out from under her sleeves, aiming at something behind the shadow of a tree nearby. And just as the jonin expected, someone jumped out of his hiding place, hastily retreating from the snakes. But there was no way he could escape from the taijutsu master; with a mere leap, Gai closed the distance between them, ready to deliver a brutal roundhouse kick to the shadow's face...

Then his feet halted their way abruptly in midair when he realized who the hiding man was.

"Ah."

But unfortunately for him, even though his kick was stopped, his body, flying on the air, didn't.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

"Poor trees..." Anko winced.

"So why are you stalking us, Itachi?" Anko went straight to the point, after the three had settled down under the tree, next to the bonfire the teenagers had made.

"Hokage business," was the only answer coming from Itachi, making the female jonin's eyebrow twitch.

"Uhm..." Fuu asked hesitantly. "I know I'm not supposed to ask, but what is the mission you are assigned? Because as I remember, you're not allowed to take missions anymore, right?"

"Actually, I'm not on a mission."

The jinchuriki blinked. "Then..."

Itachi raised a scroll he stored in his pouch up. "I'm just a humble ramen deliverer, on my way to deliver a bowl of ramen to the leader of the Akatsuki at the request of Lord Hokage."

Everyone facefaulted.

"I can't believe you could say that without even changing your expression," Karin deadpanned.

"Yeah. Who the hell would believe that you are delivering ramen when you're armed to the teeth like that..." Tenten also muttered. Indeed, right now Itachi was wearing his ANBU armor with his tanto strapped on his back, and two ninja pouchs full of weapons on his belt, not to mention kunai holsters tied at the sides of his thighs too.

Ignoring the youngsters, Gai turned to Itachi with a serious face. "Itachi-san. You used to be in the Akatsuki; do you know about what they are going to do with the jinchuriki after capturing them?"

"They are going to extract the Tailed Beasts from the jinchuriki and seal them into a statue," Itachi answered. "After having their Tailed Beasts extracted, the jinchuriki will die, as tearing the Beasts out of their bodies is just like ripping their chakra network apart; no one can survive that, as far as I know."

"How much time do they need to fully extract a Tailed Beast?" Anko suddenly asked. Itachi pondered.

"From what Pain told me before I defected from the Akatsuki, it would take three full days to fully extract and seal a Tailed Beast. But that was when they had the chakra signal of every member there with their rings. With Kakuzu and Hidan dead, and Orochimaru and me defecting... maybe it would slow the process down. I guess we will have a little bit more time."

"Wait," Juugo suddenly raised his voice. "Orochimaru used to be in the Akatsuki?"

"Yes," Itachi nodded. "After defecting from Konoha, Orochimaru joined the Akatsuki, where he was partnered with the notorious traitor of Sunagakure, Sasori of the Red Sand. In there, he once attacked me to steal my body in order to acquire the Mangekyo Sharingan, and after failing, he ran away from the Akatsuki, taking his ring with him. I heard before joining, he also tried to take the Rinnegan from Pain without success. I think that's the reason Pain let someone like Orochimaru join the Akatsuki; he knew that someone like Orochimaru cannot harm him no matter how strong he is."

What Itachi had just said gave the other shinobi a chill to their spines. They had heard about how strong Pain was from Naruto, but if someone like Orochimaru, of all people, had to fear him...

"Still, if what Itachi said is true, we will still have some time before they can finish extracting the Tailed Beast from the jinchuriki," Finally, Anko said. "I'm just not sure if we can manage to get there before they finish..."

"Oh, we don't have to worry about that," Itachi answered her. "With their home base in Amegakure exposed, I doubt they will bring the jinchuriki all the way there to extract. And Kirigakure lies on an island far away from the mainland; there is almost no way to reach there without flying overnight or going by boat. And they would want to do the extraction as soon as possible just in case Kirigakure sends someone after them. So my guess is, they will choose a secured place not too far from Kirigakure; maybe on an island nearby to complete the extraction. And if we can reach the coast before noon, I have a way for us to reach Kirigakure before midnight tomorrow."

The hawks carrying Team Kakashi, together with their two prisoners, arrived at Konoha at midnight.

"Team Kakashi reports, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen stood up from his chair in the Hokage chamber. "Good job, Team Kakashi. What did you manage to find out during the mission?"

"Most of the things we got were already reported through the toad we sent to you, Hokage-sama," Kakashi answered. "However, before leaving the village, we managed to capture these two, and Suna gave us permission to bring them back and interrogate them for information."

Hiruzen looked at the two sickly white creatures lying at his feet. Then he nodded.

"Good. Bring them to Ibiki; let's see what we can get from those things. Well done, you four; go home and take a rest. You deserve it."

"Wait, what about Pain and Kirigakure?" Of course, Naruto was the one who protested first. The Hokage chuckled.

"Don't worry, Naruto. I already sent two teams to Kirigakure right upon receiving your report. They are on their way to the village as we're speaking right now, and I assure you they are more than capable."

"Even so," Naruto insisted, "I'm not going to sit here to wait! Even if I cannot join the teams to go after Pain, please let me go to Kiri! I have to make sure that my friends there are all right, and help they however I can!"

Hiruzen threw a sharp glare at Naruto.

"I understand how you feel, Naruto, but I cannot let you go right now. This is not the time for a total war; mobilizing all the most powerful shinobi of the village to one location is not a wise idea. You, of all people, should understand this best, Naruto. What if the Akatsuki decides to switch their target towards us again?"

What the Hokage said was so true Naruto couldn't find any word to retort. He couldn't do anything else but nodding unhappily.

"Um... so who did you send to Kiri, Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked.

Hiruzen pondered for a few seconds. Then he smiled.

"I guess letting you know won't do any harm. The teams I sent were Team Gai and Team Anko, and I also sent backup after them, so you don't have anything to worry."

"Team Gai and Team Anko?" Sasuke exclaimed. "Isn't that Fuu's team? Do you really think it's wise to send a jinchuriki after the ones who are after her?"

"You don't have to worry about that."

Everyone turned towards the window, where Jiraiya was leaning on right now with a bright smile.

"I was the one who taught Fuu; I understand how good she is," the Toad Sage continued, still with the big grin on his face. "Trust me; Pain is not going to like what's going to hit him."

Morning came so fast it felt like just a blink of an eye to the Konoha shinobi.

Before the sun rose from the horizon, they were already on their way out of the forest, and they would reach the coast in less than two hours.

"It seems we are going to make it after all."

Itachi looked up. The sun was going higher and higher; noon was coming. And right now, they were running along the coast.

"You said that you have a way for us to reach Kirigakure before midnight if we arrive here before noon, right, Itachi-san?" Tenten asked. The Uchiha nodded.

"Yes. And we're going to get there very soon. Oh, it seems we have arrived."

The group was standing in front of a small dock. The warehouse on the dock was full of goods ready to transport, but there was only one ship there, and it's not running; no one seemed to be working to load the goods on the ship, either ("Must be because of the attack to Kirigakure," Itachi thought).

Instead of entering the dock, Itachi walked