Inevitable
Chapter 22

Silence fell amongstthe special talking toads as two ninja randomly appeared out of nowhere. Sure,they recognized and trusted the two ninja, but it wasn't often that a humanappeared at Mount Myōboku without being reverse-summoned.

"Hey guys! How'sit goin?" the youngest of the two smiled.

"Naruto, Jiraiya,what brings you here?" a small old frog greeted them, breaking the tensionbetween species. The other toads kept hopping along with their day as thewhite-haired sannin talked with the elder a bit.

"Fukasaku, hownice to see you," he smiled. "You wouldn't mind if Naruto and I had asmall battle here, would you?"

"No, not at all.Just make sure you don't break anything too badly and fight in the mainclearing as you did when training with me," the old toad gave hispermission. Naruto grinned and bent down so he could look at Fukasaku properly.

"Thanks!" hechatted excitedly. "I've been waiting for a match like this for a longtime!"

"If it's alright,would you allow me to watch? I would like to see how far you've both gotten insage jutsu. After all, that's why you came here,isn't it?"

"You'reabsolutely right," Jiraiya smirked. "And we wouldn’t mind youwatching. It will be an epic battle."

The elder toad nodded."I would expect nothing less from you two." They walked (or inFukasaku's case, hopped) over to an arena where they could start the battle.The toad stepped back and watched as the two ninja froze and focused ongathering nature energy.

A few seconds later, ared/orange colour gathered around Naruto's eyes. Jiraiya's nose grew bigger andnew red lines appeared on his face, covering his eyes. He also gained a whitebeard.

Their eyes flashedopen and all Fukasaku could see was a blur as the men raced at each other,ready to battle.

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"Sai, what thehell are you doing?" Sakuramarched up to the socially awkward ANBU Root member. He was currently asking aman if he could have his daughter. The man looked as if he was about to punchthe poor boy in the face.

"I don'tunderstand what I'm doing wrong. Every person I approach with the request totake their daughters ends up hurting me or yelling at me," he shrugged.

"Sir, I'm verysorry about my friend. He doesn't really know any better," Sakura bowedslightly to the man in apology. He glared and walked away, taking his childwith him. She turned to him with fire blazing in her eyes. "Besides, I'llpunch you myself!" she raisedher fist and Sai started to panic before her knuckles collided with his chest,sending him flying across the thankfully unpopulated path.

She then marchedtoward him angrily. "What do you think you're doing? People think you're apervert! Almost as bad as Jiraiya!"

"Why would theythink that?" Sai groaned, holding his chest as he stood up, wincingslightly due to the bruise that was forming on his back from crashing into theground too.

She shook her head andsighed. "You don't just go around asking people if you could have theirdaughters."

"Well I can't askfor their sons, I need their daughters specifically."

"Why isthat?"

"I want to capturethe innocence and peace of a young kunoichi, though any civilian child canqualify too."

"You idiot,"Sakura shook her head. "Even if you have non-perverted intentions, youhave to word it differently, like maybe 'can I borrow your daughter for an artproject' and make sure that the parent knows it's strictly for that."

"I see… Thosebooks aren't helping me much anymore. I apologize, Hag," he bowed hishead. Sakura's eyes darkened for a moment before she calmed down again. Thoughshe knew he meant well, being called 'Hag' still got to her a bit.

"Sai, could youplease replace a better nickname for me? And something that isn't insulting?"

He saw the forcedsmile on her face and remembered that she didn't like his old nickname for her."Okay Sakura. I'll think of something else." He thought for a moment."Hey, would you be willing to bemy model?"

"I'm an eighteenyear old Jonin, not an eight year old, if you haven't noticed."

"I have noticed. You're too tall to beeight, and your voice isn't really high," he said, studying her.

"Anything elsethat makes me obviously not eight?" she wondered how the boy’s mindworked.

"If you arereferring to womanly features like hip and chest size, it's hard to tell thedifference. Especially when you wear that Jonin outfit. It hides the littleamount of femininity that you have other than your face and hair."

"JERK!"Sakura yelled, loading her fist with chakra and punching him across thevillage.

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"Father, you'reback earlier than expected," Sasuke greeted, looking up from his dinner.

"The same goesfor you," Fugaku replied, barely paying attention to his son as he grabbeda plate full of food that Mikoto had saved for him and left to eat in hisoffice.

"Hey, say somethingto your son," Mikoto whispered, seeing Sasuke's annoyed expression at hisfather blowing him off yet again.

"While yourbrother is away, you must be the pride of the clan in his place. Do not bringshame to this family," he said before leaving the room that was now filledwith tension.

"Ah, what hemeans is keep doing what you're doing," the Uchiha woman forced a weaksmile. "I'm going to go clean up his office before he finishes eating. Youknow how he loves to work in a clean place…" she walked off.

Sasuke sighed and gotup, leaving the house to go replace Kakashi. At least his old sensei wasn't acomplete disappointment among older men. Soon, the Uchiha district was behindhim as he ran towards his team leader's apartment. He knew not to go toNaruto's house, since he sensed Jiraiya's chakra when he got into the villageand felt his and Naruto's overwhelming chakras disappear.

Once he reachedKakashi's home, he knocked on the door but sensed no one was there, so hedecided to go to the Hokage to see if she knew where the man was. While walkingto her office, he ended up seeing her in the halls of the Hokage mansion.

"Lady Tsunade,"he bowed.

"Hey brat,"she smirked when she saw his eye twitch. Aah, she loved teasing the youngUchiha. "Did you need something?"

"Yes. Would youhappen to know where Kakashi is?"

"Kakashi's at thelake," Shizune answered. Sasuke had barely even noticed she was therebefore.

"Thank you,"he said before running off to the lake. Once he got there, he was surprised atthe sight of his old sensei petting a walrus from a bridge.

"Oh, heySasuke," he greeted. "Wanna come pet Maiya?"

"…."

"What's wrong?She won't bite, if that's what you're scared of."

"No, I'm justshocked that for once, you weren't lying about where you're going," theUchiha activated his sharingan to make sure the aquatic animal wasn't anillusion or a transformation. Nope, it all checked out. "What's a walrusdoing in Konoha anyway?"

"I have no clue.Mikuno just asked me to watch her walrus for her while she was away. It's agood thing we ended the mission when we did; Maiya was feeling reallylonely," the white haired Jonin patted the creature and made a few cooingnoises.

"How did I notknow there was a walrus here," Sasuke mumbled to himself.

"Hey, would yoube a good little boy and swim with her? I don't want to catch a cold rightnow."

"What aboutme?!"

"You have Itachior Amejisuto or even your parents to take care of you if you do. I only haveSakura and Tsunade," he sighed. "Maybe Sakura will be able to heal mewith her love."

Sasuke punched him,sending him flying into the water where the walrus happily swam circles aroundhim. "Great. My sensei is a pedophile. You truly take after Jiraiya,"he shook his head.

"I waskidding!" Kakashi yelled as Sasuke walked away, disappointed that he hadno adult males that he could manage to stay around freely for more than fiveminutes.

"No youweren't," he called back, deciding on looking for Shino or Shikamaru. Atleast they weren't complete morons.

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"Amejisuto, it'stime to wake up. Pain is calling for everyone to gather in five minutes,"Itachi poked the sleeping brunette, who groaned and opened her eyes.

"Why didn't youwake me up sooner then?" she asked as she got up, brushed her hair and putit in a high ponytail before throwing her cloak on over the clothes she sleptin.

"I thought itwould be best to let you sleep as much as you could. By the way, we're still allowed to train aslong as we don't try to escape, alright?"

She looked at him andnodded. "It'll feel good training again. I felt the effects of loungingaround for two weeks when we were on our mission."

"I did too. Now,let's go," Itachi hugged Amejisuto before taking her hand. She blushed andlooked at their intertwined hands. "I liked when we did this. It feelsnice," he explained.

They walked to themain gathering room where most of the other Akatsuki members were alreadygathered and waiting. "Finally! You lovebirds took forever!" Kisamesaid.

"What were youdoing in there? Oh wait, I bet I know what it is," Hidan winked. "I knew you guys were secretlynaughty."

The brunette flushedred from anger and embarrassment. "It's not like that, pervert!"

"Stop making themuncomfortable Hidan, yeah," Deidara glared, trying to defend his friend.

"All of you bequiet," Konan entered the room, making everyone (except Hidan) straightenup slightly.

"It's time to extractthe tailed beast from the recently captured jinchuriki," Pain said,walking behind the bluenette.

"What is the nextone, yeah?"

"The six tails.Zetsu and Konan have successfully captured the five tails and we will do theextraction before the next team leaves, which will be me and Konan. Let's go tothe extraction statue," he turned and signaled the rest of the Akatsuki tofollow.

"E-excuse me, butdoes that include us too?" Amejisuto asked.

"Yes. It will gofaster if all members join in."

"Leader, thereare eleven of us and only ten fingers on the statue," Orochimaru pointedout.

"Zetsu is aboutto leave for a spy mission to see where the six tails is. He's the type to movearound and travel, and it will allow you powerful shinobi to do the extraction,"as he said that, the oddly coloured plant man faded into the ground.

"Goodbye,"the white half smiled creepily, sending chills down the Ishi's spine.

The group followed theleader to a large room that didn't have any designs on the walls. It was just ahuge, dreary cave with an odd looking statue in the back. It had several eyes,spikes coming out of it and two 'hands' raised and chained together.

Its size wasintimidating, and even though it was justa statue, Amejisuto was reluctant to get any closer to it. Unfortunately forher, Pain ordered everyone to get on their respective fingers.

"Uchiha, you getthe right ring finger. Ishi, you go on the right pinky," he told them.They hopped up and felt uneasy as a strange chakra flared under them. 'Is this really a statue?' the brunettewondered.

Pain held up his handsand demonstrated which seals to make and what to say to activate the jutsuwhile Konan carried in the almost-dead jinchuriki and placed the body on theground between the hands and head of the statue.

"I'll give youall of your chakra but don't try to escape, alright?" the orange hairedman warned the Konoha-nin before releasing the chakra barriers he placed insidethe two newest members.

The instantly felttheir chakra return of full power. 'Toobad we can't use any of it right now other than to do this weird extractionthing,' Amejisuto sent her thoughts to Itachi.

'Yes, but it isn't a good idea to waste itright now. I have a feeling this is going to use up a lot,' he thought back. She nodded, making Hidan andOrochimaru look at her oddly, before preparing to perform the jutsu in syncwith everyone else.

"Okay, we'reready," Konan called before jumping to her spot.

"Three, two,one," Pain counted. "Now!"

Everyone quickly didthe hand seals and focused on visualising their energy mixing and surroundingthe body, lifting it into the air, and reaching within it to take the beastout. Amejisuto was surprised to see a red fluid seeping out of the eyes andmouth of the body. Blobs of it went up the mixed chakra path to the statue'smouth.

She and Itachi noticedone of the eyes slowly opening. It was a bit creepy, but the Ishi decided toonly focus on getting the entire demon out of the soon to be ex-jinchuriki. Sheblocked out the strange sound of the extraction, the choking sounds that werecoming out of the body and the weird feeling of foreign chakra mixing withhers.

She blocked out theeerie vibe she was getting from the statue, the nervous sensation she wasgetting from the strange looks she was receiving, and last of all she blockedout the thought that she was killing an innocent person that could've been justlike her friend.

'Naruto… How is he doing?' she wondered. 'What about the rest of the Uchiha family? Sasuke? Sakura? Kakashi?Tsunade? Even my mother and Sora! What's happening to them?' She couldn'thelp but worry about all the people she was taken from, and a wave ofhomesickness washed over her. That and guilt once she looked over to the manstanding only a few feet away from her. Guilt that it was her fault they were both involved in killing this poor man, that itwas her fault he was away from hisprecious brother and parents. Sure, he reassured her constantly that it was hischoice to go after her but…

'I wonder how Itachi truly feels about allthis…'