## Outside of Konoha ##
"This isn't very graceful yeah" Deidara said, tired of waiting in the trees, hidden from sight.
"Be quiet Deidara" Sasori reprimanded. Both Akatsuki members were outside of Konoha walls, waiting for their contact to arrive. The problem was that both of them had rather short tempers and waiting wasn't something either liked to do.
"I'm just saying. These tree huggers have no respect for art" Deidara grumbled. Sasori was about to reply when two shinobi dropped in front of them.
"Deidara and Sasori?" Torune asked.
"We are here. Don't keep us waiting anymore with worthless questions" Sasori replied harshly. Both root shinobi said nothing but merely started walking towards Konoha with both Akatsuki members in tow.
"This way" Torune said, leading his group through a more quiet entrance other than the main gates. Torune and Fu led the Akatsuki members through the barrier the covered Konoha without raising any type of alarm.
"Where are our marks?" Sasori asked, making both root members stop walking and turn to stare intently at Sasori.
"We do not need to remind you of your deal with Danzo-sama, do we?" Fu asked, with a dangerous tone in his voice.
"We will keep our end of the deal. We will draw the attention for the dragons into Kumo in exchange for the bijuu" Sasori explained and Fu nodded, resuming their path towards their objectives.
Minutes later both Akatsuki members and the two root shinobi were standing outside of the Senju compound. They were standing a bit away so they didn't get detected. "My bugs tell me that the dragons are still in there, along with the Ichibi and the Nanabi" Torune said.
"Let's go then" Deidara said, rising form the ground but was stopped by hand on his shoulder.
"Don't be foolish" Fu warned. "There are five seal masters living there. Anyone not authorized to enter the compound would be reduced to ashes before he could even cry in pain"
"We must wait for them to leave. I will interrupt the Ichibi from getting called and from there you will take charge understood?" Torune asked and both Deidara and Sasori nodded.
## With Kakashi ##
Kakashi was jumping from roof top to roof top, his form blurring through the buildings as he made his way to Yugao's apartment. A few minutes later Kakashi found himself standing at her front door. Unlike other shinobi, Yugao had a small apartment in a building shared with civilians.
Yugao was one of the few shinobi whose house building was shared. Most shinobi preferred their privacy and usually lived in single, separate houses. This of course didn't apply to the clans. Then again, clans were usually big families and not random strangers all living together in the same building, split only by a few walls.
Kakashi knocked on the door and waited patiently for a reply. Seconds quickly turned into minutes and Kakashi knocked once more. Getting no response Kakashi leaned in, placing his head on the wooden door and listened for any sounds coming from the interior.
"Strange" Kakashi thought as he kneeled on the ground, standing a few inches away from the door lock. He went to his pockets and retrieved a small case, no bigger than his own hands. He set the case on the stone floor and quickly unrolled the fabric to reveal a few shining metal tools.
Kakashi nearly felt like whistling as he took a thin metallic lock pick and introduced the tool into the lock. Kakashi listened and felt for the clicks as the lock's pins were placed in the right place, allowing the tumbler to rotate freely. Kakashi pocketed his tools and opened the door.
The first thought that came through Kakashi's mind was amusement. Shoes tucked away in a corner, two swords hanged neatly in a nearby wall, a small shelf filled with books, no empty room for more and surprisingly enough, no books lying around the house other than the bookshelf.
"Still the same old perfectionist" Kakashi thought to himself walking towards the room and silently opening the door. His sharingan came to life as he gazed in the darkness of the bedroom and saw nothing more than an empty bed. Kakashi went to check the remaining rooms but found no evidence of Yugao. All of her clothes and equipment were still here so he ruled out defecting.
Kakashi was closing the door out of the apartment when his nose caught a familiar scent. "Hayate...that explains her absence in her home" Kakashi thought with a grin as he closed the door and made his way towards Hayate's house where he was sure he would find Yugao.
It took only a couple of minutes for him to reach his new destination. Hayate's house was an ordinary house but unlike Yugao, Hayate lived alone in the building. Kakashi approached the door and like any good neighbor, he politely knocked on the door and waited from someone to answer.
Kakashi's eyes narrowed when his nose smelled something metallic. "Blood" Kakashi concluded as he took a step back and kicked the door open, blasting the wooden door right of the hinges. The house was a mess to say the least, there was blood everywhere and signs of a small battle.
Kunais and shurikens on the floor and walls, the tables were destroyed along with the chairs, pieces of the walls on the ground. Kakashi quickly searched the house for any signs of Yugao or anyone else. The amount of blood that was sprayed around the apartment was too much for someone to survive.
He chose to follow his nose, trailing the scent of blood to its source. Kakashi quickly reached another door, presumably to Hayate's bed room and decided to take caution. Something had happened here as it wasn't pretty. Kakashi stealth approached the door and slowly pushed it open, the wooden frame creaking ever so slowly
"YUGAO, HAYATE" Kakashi shouted as he saw his two comrades lying on the ground, in a pool of their own blood. He quickly rushed to their side, hoping that they would still be alive. Kakashi gingerly brought a finger to their neck and sighed in relief when he felt a pulse, a weak one at that but a pulse nonetheless.
"K-kshi" Yugao muttered weakly, barely able to part her lips. Hayate seemed to be in even worse state, completely unconscious. They were lucky to have fallen unconscious with their wounds facing the floor, somewhat stemming the blood flow.
Kakashi did a quick overall scan of the room and found another person lying in a nearby corner with a sword driven through his chest. "An assassin" Kakashi mused in thought, noticing a single white mask on the attacker's face and simple ANBU clothing.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu" Kakashi said, making a clone of himself and hoisting Yugao over his shoulders, with one hand applying pressure to her wounds. Kakashi's clone did the same with Hayate as both dashed towards the hospital. During their way, Kakashi made another clone to inform the hokage that someone had targeted her bodyguard.
While Yugao was jounin and one of the best, there were far more likely targets for an assassination inside the village. Everyone knew that Yugao was an ANBU but a mere few knew that she the Hokage's bodyguard. Just thinking that someone had found their identities and made a move on them was troubling enough.
## With Akatsuki and Root ##
"NOW" Torune shouted as the four members stormed the Senju compound.
Gaara was about to respond to Naruto's summon when a swarm of bugs burst from the ground, ripping through the wooden floor. "Fuuton - Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough)" Gaara took a deep breath and unleashed a powerful gust of wind, breaking the swarm and pushing the insects backwards.
Without a second thought, Gaara jumped towards the window, smashing the glass and ending on the outside of the Senju compound. Sand started flowing freely from his wrists seals as it started crushing the flying bugs. "Bugs are a specialty of the Aburame Clan and Fu-chan" Gaara thought in confusion as to the person responsible for this attack.
"KATSU"
Gaara's eyes widened when a white bird appeared right in front of his face and started glowing. He barely had time to shield his face as he was blasted back, his sand skin cracking slightly due to the explosion. Gaara cursed beneath his breath as he twisted midair and landed on the ground.
BOOOOM
The ground beneath Gaara's feet suddenly exploded, covering his form in smoke. "All done" Deidara smirked, coming down from the sky on top of his clay bird. His cocky smirk was quickly wiped from his face when the smoke cleared and instead of battered Gaara, he found a solid cocoon of sand on its place.
"Akatsuki is it?" Gaara asked rhetorically as the sand cocoon opened slowly to show his neutral face. "You are either very brave or very stupid to attack the one of the five great elemental nations on broad daylight" Gaara said, stepping on top of a small chunk of sand and started floating into the air.
"Hn" Deidara was not happy his plan hadn't worked. Now he had to actually fight the Ichibi Jinchuuriki. "Looks like my plan failed" Deidara grumbled in disappointment.
Gaara was about to reply when they felt the ground starting to rumble. Gaara's eyes widened when he felt a massive spike of chakra and his head snapped to his left just in time to see a wall of the Senju compound being blasted open by a small bijuudama. "BASTARD" a deep voice came from inside the compound as Sasori came running from inside.
Fu stepped outside slowly, in her five tailed jinchuuriki state. Piercing green eyes, dark blue chakra cloak. The ground cracked as Fu shot forward, heading straight towards Sasori. Gaara's eyes followed Fu as her bijuu empowered fist crashed into Sasori's form, obliterating the Akatsuki member into pieces.
"They are not alone Fu-chan. Be careful" Gaara warned, remembering the swarm that nearly overwhelmed him earlier.
"Let me out…I want to play to" Shukaku yelled from inside Gaara's mind.
"This is no time for jokes. They are attacking us and Konoha isn't responding. Fu's attack should have drawn a lot of attention" Gaara replied and Shukaku frowned.
"I haven't used this body in years" a voice broke Gaara from his thoughts as his eyes turned to the new voice. "Sasori of the red sand. I wondered when you would show your face to us" Gaara said.
"You are well informed Sabaku no Gaara" Sasori replied, stretching his wooden limbs.
"We know more about your organization than you could ever hope to think" Gaara said. Fuu slowly made her way towards his side as more sand started pouring from his storage seals.
"Fu-chan, are you in control?" Gaara asked towards his partner in bijuu form.
"Yes" Fu snarled at the Akatsuki members.
"Go" Gaara said, raising a wave of sand as Fu roared and dashed forward. Deidara's bird quickly flew high into the sky, out of range from Gaara's sand. Sasori disposed of his Akatsuki cloak to reveal his puppet body. From his back came several metal blades that blocked Fu's punch.
ROAAAR
Fu roared, releasing a shockwave that pushed Sasori backwards and cracked the ground from the pressure. Sasori skidded through the ground until he stopped. "Tsk" Sasori sighed beneath his breath as he took his favorite puppet. Things weren't supposed to be like this, there wasn't supposed to be a battle in the first place.
"Satetsu Shigure (Iron Sand Rain)" Sasori's puppet, also known as the Sandaime Kazekage opened his mouth, releasing a cloud of black grains of iron. "Satetsu Kesshū (Iron Sand Gathering). The iron sand started compressing into high-density shapes, the size of small houses as they hovered in the air.
With a flick of wrist, Sasori commanded his puppet to send the barrage of chunks of iron towards Fuu. Fuu watched as the weapons of iron quickly approached and she bent her knees, disappearing from her position with a loud swoosh sound. Sasori took an involuntary step back when he lost track of Fuu.
He caught movement in the corner of his eyes and formed a metallic sheet of iron in front of him, just in time to block a bijuu powered fist from Fuu. Her punch connected with Sasori's defense with a loud bang, the sound reverberating through the air, a testament to both the power of the strike and the sturdiness of Sasori's shield.
"KATSU" Deidara yelled as dozens of white clays bombs surrounded Fuu and exploded. Deidara narrowed his eyes and scoffed when he noticed Fu completely enclosed in sand, protecting her from the blast.
ROAAAR
Sasori's eyes widened in shock when the sand dome opened and a bright glow emanated from the inside. "BIJUUDAMA" Fuu released a tailed beast bomb at point blank range.
When the smoke cleared there was no puppet or puppeteer to be seen. Fuu took a whiff of the air and her head snapped to the sky where she saw Deidara flying on his bird with Sasori next to him…with a missing arm.
"We cannot fight them head on" Sasori said, looking at his missing arm. "They have too much raw power for either of us"
"In that case" Deidara grinned as his hands flew to his bags on his legs. He took out a big chunk of clay and started molding it. "C3" Deidara yelled, throwing his creation into the sky. With a single hand seal his creation increased in volume, taking the size of a small building and started plummeting to the ground.
Gaara's eyes widened at the sheer magnitude on the incoming clay meteorite. "A bomb of that size would destroy a chunk of Konoha" Gaara thought in panic, raising his arms to the sky. Sand started pouring out of his wrists seals like rivers.
"Kūsa Bōheki (Giant Sand Shield)" Gaara said as the sand started covering the Senju compound. A giant shield started forming itself mid-air, right on the path of the incoming explosive.
BOOOOMMMM
The explosion lit the sky and Gaara gritted his teeth, pouring more power into the shield to protect the village from the blast. Once the explosion had cleared Gaara took a deep breath as fell to his knees. He poured too much chakra into the technique to defend the village.
"Give some chakra" Gaara said to Shukaku, huffing as he kneeled on the ground for support.
"NOW you want my help" Shukaku snarled at his jinchuuriki.
"Please" Gaara said and Shukaku scoffed.
"Fine…but it will take a while to replenish your chakra reserves. Even with me helping" Shukaku replied and allowed some his chakra to seep into Gaara's network, slowly refilling his reserves.
"Woah" Deidara shouted, forcing his clay bird to bank left all of a sudden as a tailed beast ball barely grazed them. Deidara started evasive maneuvers as Fu started firing multiple bijuudamas against the bird, trying to bring them to ground level. She looked towards Gaara and saw him slowly regaining his breathing.
"GAARSAN" Gaara's attention turned to the incoming voice as two anbu squads arrived at their position.
"Reinforcements?" Sasori rhetorically asked. "It was bound to happen with all the ruckus you made" Sasori said towards Deidara who huffed in defiance.
"Does it matter?" Deidara grumbled. "Let's just take the jinchuurikis and be done with this"
"H-help her" Gaara said, slowly regaining his breathing. Gaara watched as one anbu group dashed after Fuu and before Gaara could explain what was happening, one of the anbu slapped a bijuu suppression seal on Fuu's body. Fuu roared as Chomei's chakra was suppressed and the link to her bijuu closed off.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Gaara yelled as the remaining anbu squad tried to the same with him. Gaara was lucky to have his sand that automatically pushed the anbu back. Gaara's mobility was still impaired by the heavy usage of chakra and he didn't have many options left. Whoever these anbu were, they were in working with the Akatsuki.
Gaara was forced to jump backwards as the anbu group engaged offensive actions against him. "What is happening?" Gaara thought as he dodged another sword strike. His eyes turned towards Fuu's unconscious form, her body being loaded into Deidara's bird.
"Konoha has been compromised. And the rest of the group was drawn into another battle" Gaara thought, pondering his options. Two Akatsuki members along eight anbu members were too much for him now that he was drained. Gaara did the only thing he could in this situation, he channeled what chakra he had available and shunshined away from the battlefield.
"Oi" Deidara yelled when he noticed Gaara disappearing in a tornado of sand. "The Ichibi is running away"
"Forget about him Deidara. We will use the Nanabi as bait, he will come for her" Sasori explained but Deidara grumbled nonetheless before accepting the facts. Sasori jumped on top of Deidara's bird as the two flew away from Konoha, knowing that Gaara wouldn't take long to come after them.
## With Gaara ##
Gaara canceled his shunshin due to lack of chakra, arriving a few miles away from the Senju Compound and collapsing against a tree, taking deep breaths. He looked over his shoulder, scanning his surroundings for any possible shinobi. He could trust very few people if Konoha's ANBU had been compromised.
Gaara looked at the sky and noticed a white bird hovering around Konoha and flying away. Gaara strained his eyes at the bird itself and saw Fuu's limp form on the bird. "I'll need help" Gaara said out loud before dashing towards the only place he knew he would get help to rescue Fuu.
"What's taking so long?" Gaara asked towards his bijuu.
"Well excuse me for not being able to flush your system with chakra like the Kyuubi" Shukaku snarled.
"Just keep giving me what you can" Gaara replied, trying to avoid conflict with the raccoon and his mood swings. Gaara stood up, having regained his breath and run off towards the Aburame Compound. The shunshin was out of the question, he had used what little he had left to get away from the Akatsuki.
## Aburame Compound ##
"Push them back into the woods" Shibi yelled to his clan. All of a sudden his compound was being swarmed by two anbu squads.
"Hijutsu: Mushitatsumaki (Insect Tornado)" Shino said as the bugs surrounded the enemy and started spinning around them at high speeds. As the tornado was spinning, each bug took a bite of each one of the ANBU. It was mere moments later that the ANBU were all but disintegrated.
"It's done" Shibi said taking a deep breaths and falling to his knees. "ARGHHH" Shibi suddenly began yelling in pain and fell to the ground, squirming in pain.
"Father!" Shino yelled, rushing his father as well some members of the clan.
"What's happening?" some member asked, clearly wondering what was happening to their leader. Shino laid his father flat on the ground and ripped his chest's clothes to display a growing purple spot in the middle of his chest.
"Rinkaichu (Phosphorus Destruction Insect)" Shino simply said, ignoring the gasps of everyone around them. Rinkaichu, a rare breed of nano-sized, venomous insects that destroy the body's cells, causing excruciating pain in the process.
"Take him to the hospital"
"It's too late for that. We would never make in time" Shino replied, ignoring the protests of the rest of the clan.
"S-Shino" Shibi gasped, reaching for his son and bringing his closer. "T-the clan…i-it's up to…you" Shibi whispered, dying and his arm dropping limp to the side.
The Aburame Clan, a clan that valued logic above all, a clan that taught each member to bury emotions, to remain objective on the field. Even having been taught all that, Shino couldn't help but let out a small tear. "Dammit" Shino swore, punching the ground.
"Report the attack to the Hokage" Shino said but neither member moved. "NOW" He snarled, startling everyone around him. The members scattered to fix the damaged that had been done to the compound and to report to the hokage.
Shino sighed and picked his father's body. He didn't need to worry about the Rinkaichu since they went destroyed themselves once the host they fed upon had died. Shino quickly made his way towards the compound, a small walk but it felt like miles.
Shino arrived near his house and looked as the door opened. "Shino?" A female voice appeared on the other side. "Nooo" She whispered when she saw Shibi's limp form being carried in his son's arms.
"SHIBI" She yelled, rushing towards them. Shino stopped and lowered his father to the ground, allowing his mother to envelop Shibi in a desperate hug.
"S-sorry" Shino said, his voice raspy and dry. "They took us by surprise and one the attackers was one of us" Shino whispered, watching his mother swallow herself in grief at the death of her husband.
"H-he's a better place now" Shino offered, feeling completely helpless. He had already accepted his father's death and was trying his best to help his mother.
"STOP RATIONALIZING EVERYTHING" His mother yelled, her eyes red with tears. "HE WAS YOUR FATHER AND YOU CAN'T EVEN SPARE A TEAR IN HIS HONOR"
"Do you even feel anything for us?" his mother asked.
"I would sacrifice anything for my family" Shino replied instantly and immediately snapped to attention. "Stay behind me" Shino ordered feeling a presence rapidly approaching the compound. His eyes looked around until he caught Gaara approaching and the first thing he noticed was his state. Sweat dropping from his face and his chest weaving heavily.
"What happened?" Shino asked, shouldering Gaara so he didn't fell to the ground.
"Akatsuki" Gaara replied and Shino was immediately on alert. "They took Fuu" Gaara said softly and Shino's heart sank. First his father and now Fuu.
"Where?" Shino simply asked but Gaara noticed the slight edge on his voice. Gaara looked to the ground and his eyes widened when he saw Shino's father dead.
"You were attacked as well" Gaara said and Shino nodded. Looks like it had been and joint attack on the clans of the village. Gaara could only speculate on the goal of everything.
"Rest" Shino said and lowered Gaara to the ground.
"What are we going to do?" Gaara asked, finally being able to rest for a few minutes.
"We are going after Fuu" Shino simply said and started walking away. "Wait for me to come back" Shino said and Gaara nodded in acknowledgment.
"Moth-"
"Go" his mother interrupted him. "Give them hell for me" His mother smiled sadly and Shino nodded.
## Aburame Hive ##
Shino arrived at the center of the woods surrounding his compound. He slowly entered the room and made his way towards the center of the room. As he walked, he looked around to see several hives all around the room. Here was where they grew their bugs, and where they performed the ceremony on the newborn.
Shino stopped right in front of a large box. It was just an ordinary box, standing in a simple wooden desk. While seemingly plain, this box had etched a single word on the front.
Forbidden
Shino paid no second thought and opened the box, taking the jar out and gently lowering it to the table. Shino placed a hand on the lid and hesitated ever so slightly, before picking up the jar and smashing it on the ground.
As the jar shattered on the hard floor, a large swarm of bugs burst from it, immediately accessing the threat and completely covering Shino form head to toe in a shroud of darkness. Shino gritted his teeth in pain but did not waver for even a second on his decision.
"You took my father from me" Shino said, dropping to his knees. "But with you, I will rescue Fuu" Shino replied, his eyes burning with fire and the bugs seemed to feel his power and determination.
The swarm slowed down and began slowly flying around him. The bugs started landed softly on him and started slithering their away into his skin. Shino dropped his black googles to the ground and slowly stood up. His skin was now a deep purple and his eyes shining a bright silver.
"Let's go hunting"