NOTE: Sorry for the delay. I have no excuses... other than being sick and tax season and life. Anyways, please enjoy!
Oh yea... because of concerns about my story being removed, I have added this story on . So if need be, you can always find me there. Same username. :)
WARNING: YAOI/MPREG/FOUL LANGUAGE/TORTURE/OC/OCC DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.
Let's Make Babies
Chapter 4
-FLASHBACK CONTINUED- -2 weeks after Deidara set off for his mission at one of the Akatsuki's hideout- Back from his mission, Itachi rapped on the door of Pein's chamber through which he could hear mutterings and worried voices. "We're back." The mutterings died down and silence reigned for a few minutes before he heard a "come in." Itachi opened the door to see the solemn faces of Pein and Konan and wondered what had happened. "We've brought back the scrolls you wanted." Kisame took out the scrolls from within his cloak and threw them over to Konan. "Thanks for your hard work," replied Konan with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes as she caught the scrolls. Pein looked over at Itachi and Kisame with a pensive look on his face. "Good work, you two. I'm sure you've earned yourself a good break. There's an onsen we found not too far away from this hideout. Feel free to use it. Itachi, if you could, please stay a little longer." Kisame turned around, giving a backhanded wave. "That onsen sure does sound good right now. I'll see you later Itachi." When Kisame's padding footsteps were heard no more, Pein spoke up. "You've been gone a while so I'm sure you don't know. We sent Deidara on a simple scouting mission near the Kirigakure village and he hasn't returned yet. Based on our opinion, he should have returned at most a week ago, but it's already been two weeks and we fear that he has either been captured or killed. Konan has already spoken to our most reliable sources in the hidden villages and there's been no news of him in Kirigakure or the other hidden villages for that matter. So, we think that someone not belonging to the hidden villages has taken him. Or... he's been murdered. Considering you're the fastest ninja we have and you have the sharingan, we think it would be best if you went to find him and bring him back, dead or alive." "Why would you send him on a solo mission in the first place?" Pein sighed. "He begged and begged to have a mission not involving his newest partner, Tobi. Saying he would quit Akatsuki if he had to put up with him any longer. Konan couldn't stand how pitiful he sounded so, I gave in. It's regrettable," said Pein, shaking his head. "But what's done has been done. I know you've just came back from a long mission but, can you find him Itachi?" "Yes" Itachi knew how important it was to find out the status of ninjas who went MIA (missing in action) after having been an ANBU captain. He also understood why they wanted him to do the searching as he was probably the most experienced, and the most capable with his sharingan and speed. "Thank you Itachi. You may go now," said Pein. "Please find him Itachi," pleaded Konan. Itachi nodded before turning around and heading out the door. He walked the rest of the way to his room and got about 3 days worth of food and gear ready before lying down on his bed to take a little break. From what Pein told him, he could already tell this was going to be a long and rough mission. No news was always the worst kind of news for a ninja. It meant that you would be searching in the dark for who knows how long. Not to mention, this was regarding the loudest, most outspoken and youngest ninja in Akatsuki. For there to be no news at all meant that the enemy either hid him well or they had given him a silent burial. Itachi looked around his room before closing his eyes and exhaling deeply. He wished he could rest longer, but if he did, he'd probably fall asleep. In a few minutes, he was all geared up and ready to go. On his way out, he ran into a half-naked Kisame coming back from the onsens who waved at him. "Yo, leaving already?" Itachi merely nodded as he walked by. "Well, good luck on your mission then," said Kisame as he continued walking to his room. Without so much as an acknowledgement, Itachi left their hideout and darted straight into the trees. If no news of Deidara could be found in the hidden villages or near civilization, he would head to the remote areas. His first stop being the Iwayama (rocky mountain) range north of here. He could probably reach there in a few hours at this speed. He activated his sharingan for a few seconds and then deactivated it, noticing no chakra sources in range. Continuing like this for the next few hours, he reached the Iwayama range before taking a break. The place was quiet and showed no signs of human life. Sitting on one of the bigger trees, Itachi took out his small meal; some onigiri, ninja pills and water. A small breeze rustled through his raven locks as he took in the tranquility of the valley before him. It was peaceful - something that he no longer could enjoy since Deidara and Tobi joined. Having finished his meal, Itachi got up from his perch, taking one last look at the scenery before returning to his mission. He continued like this for days, roaming the continent from the icy Hyoushou to the desert Sunahara to the Jyurinnoseikyo (forest of death), and detected many different kinds of chakra, but none belonging to the blond bomber. One week later, he was about to give him up for dead when he passed through a town near the Jyurinnoseikyo disguised as a young merchant to pick up some supplies. The place was renown for its weaponry and was a favorite stop for many ninjas. He stopped by a bar and ordered some water, half-listening to the chatter of the villagers when he heard something that caught his attention. "...disappeared this month," said an elderly woman. "That's another one lost this month," sighed another. "I feel so sorry for their families. To lose so many good young men like that in less than a year...how are we going to keep on making good-quality weapons if this keeps up?" said a third. "I don't know," replied the first. "However, if this keeps up, the town will soon be no more." "Why aren't the police doing anything about it?" asked the third. "It's because they can't. If this were normal kidnappings, there would be traces of struggling. But there isn't. They think it's ninjas," said the first. "So... couldn't we hire some to help us with the problem?" asked the second. "We did. But even those disappeared," said the first. "The hidden villages haven't done anything about it?" asked the third. "At first, we hired some rogue ones because they were cheaper. But then, they disappeared without a trace like the rest of the engineers and no one could find out what happened to them. Then we asked Konoha to send in some ninjas, but being as shortstaffed as they were what with Akatsuki and the upcoming war, they only sent in some chunins. The chunins disappeared as well and since then, they've never sent in anyone saying that the case was not something they could help with at the moment with Akatsuki still at large," replied the first lady. "Do you think that this is their work?" asked the third. With a slight shake of her head, the first responded. "No. They can't be. Their goals are the bijuu within the jinchuuriki. What interest would they have in a village that only produces weapons?" The second lady spoke up. "How are you so sure it isn't them?" "My son...he works with the police you know...says the kidnappings doesn't look like their work. Not to mention, one witness, although drunk at the time, said that he managed to see the culprit and his cloak didn't carry the red clouds that Akatsuki is known for," replied the first. The second lady snorted. "So, you'd trust the word of a drunk man? What if it was them in disguise?" The first lady replied sharply, obviously peeved at being questioned. "Even a drunk man can tell if there were red clouds or not on a cloak." "Even so, he was drunk. He could have imagined it all," said the second. Testy silence was all the response the second woman got before she hurriedly continued, " Anyways, if what he said is true, then where do you think they're coming from?" "Somewhere nearby probably. Although other villages have been attacked, ours had the most kidnappings." said the first. Itachi took a sip of his water and debated on what to do about this as the three ladies rambled on with their gossip. So far, he had no luck searching the remote areas on his own. There was just too much area for one man to cover thoroughly and each passing second meant a greater chance of not finding the blond alive. And even though he had no interest in helping this village with their problems, he thought he might try to capture the kidnappers on his own to see if their disappearances had anything to do with the blond's. At least, it was better than searching in the dark. After tipping the bartender, he rented a room in a nearby hotel and waited till nightfall. As he sharpened his kunais, he hoped that there would be a kidnapping soon so he could tailgate one of these kidnappers to their hideout and find the blond there. If not... then he would have to go back to Akatsuki and announce Deidara dead until his body was found. Although he didn't care for the noisy blond, he couldn't help thinking the loss of the blond's skill would not only be a blow to Akatsuki, but a pity in general. Although life wasn't the greatest thing in the world, becoming one of the statistics that never got to live out their life was sadder...but who was he to comment about living a long life. As the sun fell over the horizon, Itachi turned to look outside his window. There were people milling the brightly lit streets and the happy squeals of children along with the explosion of firecrackers reached his ears. It seemed there was a festival tonite, making it the perfect time for a kidnapping. He quickly got his gear ready and left through his window. He searched for the tallest building in the village to have the best view, which happened to be a radio tower. Once he made it there, he activated his sharingan to have a better view of the entire village and waited. For five hours like that, he waited. Until the moon bathed the earth in its ethereal glow and there were but a few drunken stragglers in the street. The night had gotten colder and when a chilly breeze rushed by, he wrapped his cloak tighter around him. After another hour, he was beginning to believe nothing would happen that night. That the kidnappers would pick another night to come by before he noticed an odd shadow in the streets. Itachi trained his Sharingan eyes on the shadow, following its movement through the village. It paused for a moment as though sensing it were being watched and then disappeared. Surprised something could disappear even with his Sharingan trained on it, Itachi stood up to try to find the shadow with a better vantage point. That's when he heard glass breaking east of where he was. He immediately left the tower and sped toward where he had heard the sound only to find a moaning drunken man collapsing against the side of the wall with a broken bottle of beer. The man was slurring and cussing and finally ended up on his back. Itachi stayed hidden in the shadows for a few more minutes. A false alarm? It couldn't be. The timing was too perfect. He observed the man some more as the man had been reduced to groaning on his side, throwing up occasionally, and all the while, cursing under his breath. Seeing nothing wrong and not wanting to risk the chance of being noticed, Itachi left the shadows to return to his post. Just as he was walking around the corner, he heard a slight scuffling and turned around to check again but the man was already gone. He quickly high-tailed it into gear and leaped onto the nearest roof, darting through the town quickly and looking around for the kidnappers. When he finally spotted them, they were already at the outer edge of the village. There were two of them. A kunoichi and a ninja with snow-white hair. Both wearing navy blue cloaks. The captive was tied up securely and hanging limply off the white-haired one's shoulder. The one holding the captive smirked at him before turning around to follow the other into the forest. They wanted him to follow them. But for what purpose? A trap? Even if it was, if he let them leave his sight now, he would be back where he started. With no choice but to follow, Itachi headed off into the forest after them. The two were proceeding at a leisurely pace with their captive, and were probably even deliberately slowing down to make sure he was still following them. Itachi made sure to keep enough distance away so that he could escape if necessary. The group kept at this pace until dawn, when the two finally stopped at a waterfall and leapt down. Itachi hurried over as he lost sight of the two and saw them nowhere to be found. They disappeared again? No, that wasn't it. This was their hideout. He was sure of it. He turned on his sharingan and saw a seal on one of the rocks. Itachi leapt down to the sealed entrance and, while observing the seal, noted that they had let him follow them unscathed. Keeping his guard up, he pressed his hand cautiously over the seal, observing the strangeness of the symbol. It was definitely a protection seal, but not one he had ever seen before. He decided to try using the dispelling jutsu, "kai," which created no reaction. He tried more complex spells, all of which had no effect. After a few more minutes of staring at the seal, he noticed a peculiar marking around the edges that reminded him of the seals he had seen in the ancient scrolls and books of the Uchiha family. He closed his eyes trying to draw a clearer image of the seals he had seen in his head. Even though they were similar, he knew that none of the images he saw matched the one he was facing right now. He decided to try mumbling a phrase he had seen on those scrolls, and to his surprise, the rock grumbled and slid to the side. He immediately felt a surge of strong chakras emanating from within and wondered as to which of them could be an Uchiha since he didn't recognize any of their chakra signatures. Only an Uchiha could have created the seal on that rock. He thought that he had killed them all. The others he could handle - the Uchiha, if there were one, would be more difficult. He stepped into the torch-lit tunnel and the rock immediately slid behind him, blocking out all light. That's when he felt it. He didn't notice it at first because of all the other strong chakras, but this chakra signature was definitely Deidara's. And judging by the weak emission of it, he was barely hanging in there. Making haste, Itachi headed deeper into the tunnel, all the while keeping his guard up for traps or any movement. He walked swiftly through the dark labyrinth, heading for the weakened chakra signature, before finally reaching a heavy metal door through which he could feel Deidara's weakened chakra the strongest and broke the weak lock on the door as quietly as he could. He discarded the broken lock to the side. It was like they wanted him to find Deidara. Itachi slipped into the darkened chamber. Allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness, he walked closer to Deidara and noticed that not only was his chakra force terribly weakened and being overpowered by some blackness but that he was in bad shape. Deidara was a complete mess, his hair lacking its normal shine and various bruises and wounds that wouldn't heal due to the weak chakra. Wanting to leave before there would be any commotion, Itachi reached his hand out to the chains. Before he could take them off however, Deidara interrupted him with a faint hoarse whisper "...tachi." Itachi gazed into those faded blue eyes that were both full of emotion and dead at the same time before they closed. Leave it to the blond to always be so disruptive even on the verge of death. Itachi went back to what he was doing, taking care not to harm the blond any further. He could see that the blond was struggling just to be able to stay alive. After melting the chains using the fire he made from chakra, he lifted Deidara gently onto his shoulder and made his way to the door and out. Itachi was sure that they must have noticed him by now, if they didn't already know after being deliberately led here. He followed the route he took to get in, but stopped when he felt strong chakra signatures heading his way. He quickly turned into a nearby side tunnel, masking himself into the shadows. It was those two. The kunoichi and the white-haired ninja. They were walking swiftly in the direction he had came from, both straight-faced and still wearing the same coal-blue cloak around their shoulders. Not noticing his presence, they rushed past him and when he felt their chakras to be far enough away, he emerged and continued on his way out quickly. As he was making his way to the exit however, he felt someone's chakra standing between him and the exit. If he could avoid it, he would but there was no time to find another exit and there were still the two looking for him from behind. If he could just quickly dispose or escape past the one in front... A lightning blue-haired man stood leaning against the wall of the entrance of the hideout. "So... took you long enough to get here." The blue-haired man stood to face him. "..." "I was afraid you got lost." "..." "Not one to talk are you? Do you like what you see there with blondie?" "..." "Still not gonna say anything? Not even a little bit interested in what is going to happen to you too?" In one quick motion, Itachi made his move then and aimed to strike the other in the neck from the back. "In a rush, are we?" said the lightning ninja while blocking Itachi's attack. "Or would you rather we just talk with our fists?" The lightning ninja turned around with a quick roundhouse kick to Itachi's body and Itachi swiftly jumped back. The blue-haired man then took out his rod and shoved it into the ground, propelling himself at Itachi. Itachi sidestepped just barely from the attack and threw his kunai at the ninja's back, which then exploded. Itachi quickly took this chance to head for the exit, but was blocked once again by the blue-haired ninja. "You're not the only fast one around here, you know?" "..." "You wonder why you couldn't use the sharingan on me?" "..." "It's because we know all about you already from the boss. In fact, we know everything there is to know about Akatsuki." Padding footsteps from behind told Itachi that the others were coming now. It was time for more desperate measures. Itachi started off with a Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire technique, assualting the lightning ninja with a barrage of fireballs that the blue-haired man dodged without breaking a sweat. He quickly followed up with a kage bunshin, throwing shadow shurikens at the ninja while beginning the seals for Susanoo. If the lightning ninja wasn't going to let him go, he was going to have to just create a way out. Finishing the seals, Itachi called forth Susanoo, destroying part of the hideout in the process and sealing his way out. He then released the technique and his Mangekyo, reverting back to his normal Sharingan, and proceeded to take advantage of the chaos to escape. He darted quickly into the forest with Deidara still on his shoulder. Meanwhile, the white-haired ninja and red-haired kunoichi had caught up with the blue-haired lightning ninja. "Where'd he go?" huffed the kunoichi. The lightning ninja pointed off into the forest somewhere while the two turned to face the endless sea of green before turning to face him again. "You just let him go?" yelled the red-haired kunoichi indignantly. "What is the boss going to say? I know you're as fast if not faster than him so you better have a good reason for this. Not to mention, he's handicapped even!" "Shut up for a second will you? Your squawking is killing my ears," said the blue-haired ninja as he rubbed his ear. The kunoichi glared at him, but remained silent nonetheless. "He got desperate. Desperate enough to use Susanoo," said the blue-haired lightning ninja. "Is that so?" replied their boss who appeared from the tunnel of the undestroyed part of the hideout. The three ninja turned to look at their masked leader. "Still, you shouldn't have let him off so easily," said the boss as he directed his stern gaze on the lightning ninja who merely shrugged his shoulders. "It's not like he'll make it far. I can still sense him." "Make sure you capture him and the blond too then." "Right-o boss," smirked the lightning ninja as he darted into the forest. "You two. Follow him and make sure he doesn't screw up." The two silently darted into the ocean of green after the lightning ninja. "I do miss seeing my nephew after all," said the boss to no one in particular as he turned back towards his quarters. ~~~TBC~~~ Please review! And thanks for reading! ^^
