When Forces Collide

The Fires of Darkness

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

“Shitabininaru, why did you want me to be seen by that…thing?” Uwabame asked. “He will only go and tell Seiryoku and Mamushi where we are and the we’ll be attacked!” The other woman laughed.

“That is the point. Why else would I have you do what I did, hmm?” The gold eyes seemed to laugh at the snake’s situation. “We need them to seal them do we not?”

“But…”

“They will come, and they will fall. With their sealing, the other tailed beasts, too, will fall. They rely on Seiryoku and Mamushi to protect them. We should be able to finish them off easily.” She approached the captives and knelt beside one of them. “I wonder what Seiryoku will do when he sees you, eh Tsunade. I wonder if the great kyuubi no kitsune will be able to put things aside in order to protect those he and his host cares about.” Gold eyes laughed at the woman. “I wonder what he’ll do if he…”

“Shut up! He is a ninja, he will not eat out of your hand!” Tsunade shouted at Shitabininaru. “He’ll never give you what you want. I know all about you now, and I know what you did, and are still doing. Naruto won’t do what you want him to do. He’s…” Tsunade was cut off when Shitabininaru grabbed her by the throat.

“Oh he’ll do it, one way or another. He will surrender his life to me.” She smirked. “Just wait, you’ll see what he’ll do.” She released the woman.

“He… you…” Tsunade started before Uwabame knocked her unconscious.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do that.” Uwabame said with a cruel smile.


“Are you certain you saw them at the old Akatsuki headquarters?” Kurama asked.

“For the millionth time, yes.” Kabuto said. “Uwabame is a certainty, and where she is, Shitabininaru is rarely far away.”

“So the real question is why she allowed herself to be seen, then? I doubt that she would have allowed herself to be seen normally, so why did she do it then?”

“Shuichi, if I knew I’d tell you.” Kabuto said. “Who knows what runs through her eight heads?” He looked over at Orochimaru longingly. He still held strong feelings towards the snake, even though both the snake and the fox had told him in no uncertain terms that his advances were unwelcome.

“This could be a trap. It wouldn’t be the first time that someone placed something that was so obviously a trap that its ridiculous.” Kurama said.

“I know what I saw.” Kabuto said.

“I don’t dispute that, however I do disagree on running straight in. There are too many possibilities, most of them screaming ‘trap’.” The kitsune said with a sigh.

“They have Tsunade-baa-chan!” Naruto cried. “We can’t go back without her!” Kurama looked at Naruto.

“You would rather risk your life without knowing more information?” Kurama asked. “That is the best way to end up dead. I’m surprised that Seiryoku is allowing you to go through with this when he could potentially die.”

“He doesn’t have a choice.” Naruto said. “Tsunade is like a mother to me and I’m not going to let her be harmed by them. I’m not going to let her be harmed by them. I’m sure that you’ve never had such a problem so I…”

“Don’t talk about something that you don’t know.” Kurama said. “My real mother was used against me in a tournament that I took part in. I was forced to do what the blackmailer said, at least at first, because I didn’t know if he was serious or not.” Naruto stared at him. “That is the reason why I can’t understand why you would willingly do that. I’m sure that Tsunade wouldn’t be happy with you either. I suggest that we go back to Konoha to get reinforcements. At the moment we have one full team and three quarters of another. They have more than us, even two makes things more difficult. I’d be much happier if Yusuke, Hiei and the other two Uchihas were present, giving us eleven to their eight.”

“While we’re there, we’d be better getting Sabaku no Gaara with us too.” Orochimaru said. “It would be useful to have as many of our tailed allies with us as possible.” The others agreed with the Sannin.


The group travelled back to Konoha to get their extra members before travelling back towards the old Akatsuki headquarters. When they got there, they saw that the entire building had been rebuilt, and it was bigger than ever. “I thought that I destroyed this place.” Hiei said. “The dragon razed it to the ground, I’m sure of it.” A giant fireball was suddenly dropped in front of the group. The fire pulled away to reveal a four headed dragon. “Hn, what a problem. Leave this to me.” The short apparition said, discarding his cloak. “Be good and watch.”

“So the little boy is wanting to play.” The dragon said in the rumble of his voice. “I won’t go easy on a squirt like you.”

“Expect the same courtesy from me.” Hiei said. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Other Konoha ninjas stepped forward to try and offer their assistance, but Kurama called them to a halt.

“Don’t underestimate Hiei.” Kurama’s quiet voice said. “He is far from defenceless. I would hate to be that thing. He’ll need more than four heads to keep up with Hiei’s speed and skill. As for fire…” The kitsune laughed. “Hiei is a demon of fire too. Ice cannot harm him, and fire is his element. Just sit back and watch the show. Hiei is experienced enough to know if he can handle a situation or not, trust me on that.” Kurama’s eyes moved to watch the fight. “Never underestimate Hiei, Yusuke or myself. Our ninja skills may not be the best in the world, however we all have out own special abilities that this world has little experience in dealing with. None of you have seen everything that the three of us can do in full.”

Hiei watched the dragon carefully, he knew that a swipe of claws or a snap of the jaws could be the end of him. The dragon roared its dissatisfaction at the situation, and Hiei took that chance to go in and remove one of the heads, as he had noticed that to roar, the dragon seemed to have to lift its head to be able to vocalise anything. The next sound that it made was a roar of pain and anger as a head fell to the ground. ‘This could be very difficult.’ Hiei thought as he sized up the dragon. ‘The longer the fight, the more chance that it’ll be able to catch up with me. Removing heads will allow less weight to hold the beast down.” He looked at the dragon tattoo on his arm. ‘I wonder…’

‘What is Hiei doing?’ Kurama thought as he watched the apparition. ‘This is no time for wishful thinking!’ Only then did he see black flames start to form around Hiei’s right arm. ‘Is he that desperate? He hasn’t tried to summon the dragon of the darkness flame since we first arrived here more than six years ago, well not that I know of anyway.’

Yusuke was equally as shocked. Unlike Kurama he had been with Hiei the whole time that the group had been in this world and the small fiery demon had never even talked about the dragon that he held. True, he had been there when Hiei had learned to summon a flesh and bone dragon from one of the forbidden scrolls that he had been allowed to look at by the Hokage, but there was no mistaking the distinctive black fire that came with using the techniques associated with the Jagan that was now sealed inside him.


Orochimaru was intrigued by the actions of the fighting demons. “Kurama, what is he doing?” He asked. “I’ve never seen him do that before.”

“He is planning on using one of the techniques that he hasn’t used in more than six years.” Kurama said. “The attacks requires a sacrifice to be able to use. His sacrifice is his own power, but that isn’t all.” Green eyes closed. “One of his attacks is a dragon of ferocious strength and ability. It requires even more caution. If Hiei summons it, there is a chance that it could consume him instead of it’s target, especially after all this time of inactivity.”

At that moment the summoning was complete, and the large dragon formed out of back fire was ‘thrown’ at the other dragon. The other dragon didn’t know what this ‘creature’ was, and prepared to fight against the summoned fiery beast. It’s ignorance meant that the dragon stood no chance when the black fiery maw seemed to swallow it up. As soon as it did so, the dragon seemed to disappear, leaving a young boy in its wake. “I am sorry, but I cannot let you pass.” The boy said. “It is nothing against you, child of fire. I have been told to forbid all that are not tailed demons entry.” His eyes moved over the others. “Mamushi, Seiryoku…” His eyes stopped on Kurama and Kabuto. “What have we here? Two beasts with five tails, so which one of you is Tenrai?” Hiei, seeing that the dragon was now intent on finding out which of the two five tailed beasts was the one that he should allow entry to, attacked, his sword cutting through the boy’s body. The boy coughed blood before he sank to the ground wordlessly. A strange, fiery, glow seemed to surround the body before it disappeared inside e building as though drawn by some unseen force.

“Let’s follow it.” Seiryoku said using Naruto’s body once more. “We may be able to finish them off in one fell swoop.”

Inside Orochimaru, Mamushi only sighed. The kyuubi would never change.

Shitabininaru screamed her frustration. “Two! How could two fall so easily?” The fox threw a vase at the wall, making it shatter into many pieces. “Tsume, deal with them!” She ordered and the two-tailed cat yawned before leaping to the ground.

“Leave it to me, Shitabininaru.” Tsume said when he changed his form. “I’ll make them pay for what they have done.”

“Thank you, Tsume.” Shitabininaru said as she returned to her serene self. “I know that you will make them pay dearly, my neko-chan.”

“Please, mistress, allow me to take them on.” A voice said from the shadows. “Maboroshi was my love, and they imprisoned her in that cage of stone.”

“Very well, Denkou, you shall have your chance at revenge.” Shitabininaru said. “Try not to fail us.”

“I shall not, my lady, you have my word on that.” Denkou said as he disappeared into the shadows.

“Tsume, Sakana, follow him. Make sure that none leave alive.” Shitabininaru said.

“Hai, Shitabininaru-sama!” The two chimed as they disappeared

The group came to a halt at a three way intersection. “What are we going to do?” Yusuke asked.

“Why don’t you start using your initiative, Detective?” Hiei said scathingly. “There are twelve of us and three exits.” Yusuke looked dumbstruck for a moment before it hit him.

“That’s brilliant!” Yusuke said. “Now who is going with who?” It was Orochimaru who answered.

“Well we should have an Uchiha in each group.” Orochimaru said.

“I am not going in the same group as that fox!” Kabuto stated, pointing at Naruto.

“As if I want you to be!” Naruto shouted.

“Calm down.” Orochimaru said. “Kakashi, you have a full team that can work successfully. As for the rest of us…” He looked over the others. “… Fukuro would be best with Yusuke and Hiei, leaving Itachi with Kurama and myself. Gaara should go with Yusuke and Hiei also, leaving Kabuto with us.”

The three groups chose a path each and cautiously entered.