Orochimaru cackled with glee, eyeing Kaneki and the Hokage without any sign of fear or worry. He pulled a scalpel from within his robes, twirling it between his knuckles with expert skill.

"Too bad your skin can't be broken with something like this," Orochimaru sighed. "But I have something that just might work..."

Kaneki narrowed his eyes, his kagune seeping out of his back to surround him protectively. Without warning, Orochimaru ran at them. His scalpel barely missed Kaneki and a red tentacle shot at him to impale him. Orochimaru contorted out of the way, leaping backwards with a cackle. The grin quickly slid off of his face though, a black rod piercing through his shoulder, making his left arm hang limply at his side.

Orochimaru turned in the direction from which the rod came, his grin falling to a frown when he saw his face.

"Pein," He growled with a forced grin. "How unpleasant."

"I can safely say the same about seeing you again." Konan scoffed from beside him, paper swirling around her to form what looked like a pair of wings.

"At least now I have a chance to finally take those eyes!" Orochimaru hissed, lunging for Pein.

"No, you don't." Kaneki said, part of his kagune heading for his legs.

"Orochimaru-sama!" One of the men keeping the barrier up exclaimed.

Orochimaru's eyes swept over all of his opponents, and biting his lip he growled in frustration. 

"Take the barrier down!" Orochimaru screamed.

The purple cube slowly began to disintegrate, Orochimaru backing away slowly. Kaneki lunged for him, ready to rip out the bastard's throat. Kabuto intercepted, coming out of nowhere with his scalpel raised. Kaneki reached out to bat the tool away, however, he felt a sharp pain in his forearm. Warm blood dripped down his arm from where the scalpel connected.

"It worked..." Kabuto gasped, staring at the scalpel in awe.

Orochimaru cackled. "So this wasn't all a loss."

Kaneki stared at his arm in dismay, focusing his attention on it so it could heal.

"Not so fast!" Konan exclaimed, rushing Orochimaru in a flurry of paper.

Snakes shot from his sleeves, blinding Konan, allowing them to make their escape. When all the venomous snakes had been killed, they were long gone.

"Shit," Kaneki hissed, cradling his arm. "That fucking hurt."

The Hokage sighed. "I'm getting too old for this, and too soft."

Pein glared at where Orochimaru once stood, turning to Konan.

"Go and see how close the others are, they should be close by now," Pein ordered. "I ordered Zetsu to give them my orders two days ago."

"Got it," Konan nodded, taking flight. "I'll meet up with you later!"

Kaneki stared at Pein in confusion. "The others?"

"Yes," Pein replied. "Itachi, Sasori, Deidara, Zetsu, Zabuza, and Kisame."

"They're all coming here?" Kaneki asked.

"I figure that this is a good chance to get into Konoha's good graces." Pein nodded.

"I appreciate the help," The Hokage sighed. "How can I repay you?"

"I don't know at the moment," Pein hummed. "I'll let you know what I want later."

"Alright," He nodded. "I owe you that much."

"By the way Kaneki," Pein said. "Welcome to the Akatsuki."

Kaneki smirked. "This wasn't the welcome I was expecting. So what, do I get a matching cloak too?"

"Yes," Pein said. "Later, but now we have to stop the sand Jinchuriki." 

"Shit," Kaneki hissed. "That's where Kana and Naruto went."

"Don't worry so much, Hidan and Kakazu are with them," Pein said. "And we're going to help them right now."

"I'm going to go help my jonin," The Hokage sighed. "Kakashi and Gai could use some help."

"Right," Pein agreed. "We'll meet up later."

~~~~~

"Shit!" Hidan yelped, his arm twisted at a disturbing angle in the grasp of the sand beast.

"Hidan!" Kana exclaimed, using her Kagune to cut off the sand limb that held him.

Hidan came tumbling down, landing on the ground with a hollow thud and an exclamation of pain.

"Idiot," Kakazu hissed, pushing out both his fire and wind hearts. "Get up dumbass."

"Guys!" Naruto exclaimed. "Gaara's falling asleep!"

"Not good!" Hidan screamed.

"Hey, Uchiha brat!" Kakazu exclaimed. "On the count of three make the biggest fireball you can!"

Sasuke grunted in agreement, making the hand signs and sucking in a large breath of air. Once Kakazu reached zero, his fire heart launched a giant fireball at the same time as Sasuke, Kakazu's wind heart stoking the flames and engulfing the Ichibi's feet. The beast squealed, hopping around in an attempt to put out the flames.

"What the fuck?!" Hidan shouted, enraged.

"We're barely hurting it!" Haku exclaimed, his senbon proving to be quite inefficient.

"This is bullshit!" Azumi agreed.

"My jutsu aren't doing any good!" Choji grumbled.

"Guys! I have an idea!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Just do it!" Kana exclaimed, trusting in Naruto's ability.

Naruto made frantic hand signs, summoning as much chakra as he could, tapping into the Ninetails chakra. There was a puff of smoke, easily the size of Shukaku. Everyone couldn't help but stare in awe.

~~~~~

Konan soared over the village, wincing at the chaos around her. Huge snakes crushed buildings and the people in them. Bodies were strewn about, some of the bodies missing parts or entire halves; a torso here, a leg there. 

She landed at the gates of Konoha, standing before the rest of the Akatsuki.

"So, what do we do?" Kisame asked, showing his sharkish grin.

"Orochimaru has already fled," Konan sighed. "But his snakes are still here crushing the village, along with plenty of enemy Oto and Suna shinobi. Eliminate them."

"Right!" The group echoed.

"Take care of the enemy and then meet up!" Konan exclaimed, taking flight once more. "Good luck!"

Kisame slung an arm around Itachi and Zabuza, smirking coyly at them. 

"What'd you say we make this a little competition?" Kisame suggested.

"I'm out." Itachi sighed.

"I'm in!" Zabuza cackled. "Rules?!"

"Snakes don't count!" Kisame grinned. "Shinobi kills only, the winner buys the loser a new set of kunai!"

"I want in!" Deidara whined.

"Fuck off!" Kisame grunted. "This is between old rivals."

"Will you challenge me Sasori old man?!" Deidara asked hopefully.

"No, idiot." Sasori grunted.

Kisame bolted into the village. "Ha! I got a headstart, losers!"

"No fair, Fish-Face!" Zabuza howled, running after him.

Itachi shook his head. "Is this really what S-rank criminals act like?"

"Apparently," Sasori shrugged. "Now come on, we have work to do."

"Wait for me!" Deidara howled.

Zetsu talked to himself, seemingly forgotten. "Well, we should get going too."

A/N

I've been so stressed lately, feels good to take time to myself and write again... Sorry that the chapter is a bit short, but I want to save the end of the battle for the next chapter. The Akatsuki are finally all together again! I know y'all missed their interactions so I decided to bring them in, rather than waiting for the Chunin Exams arc to end. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Byeeee!