Hey guys. Here's the next chapter. This one will kind of be boring for those that actually know the canon and characters because it's kind of an information chapter, but I feel like this is also necessary for the story. So, I hope you still enjoy it.

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It took about a week for Kurama to heal Naruto enough so that Naruto could make the journey back to Konoha. It only took them about a day, and Naruto was actually surprised at how close they were to the village. He was a bit surprised that no one had found him in the month that he was missing, but after Itachi explained that the barrier also made the cabin invisible, it all made sense.

Naruto beamed as they walked through the front gates of the village. "Man, it's good to be home again."

Shikamaru smiled and squeezed Naruto's hand. "Yeah, it is. I'm sure Shikadai will be glad to see you again. He actually took your disappearance harder than I did. I bet he'll be clinging to you even more now."

"I'm sure he'll want to be around his sister more," Naruto replied and looked down at the sleeping child in his arm.

"Naruto? Shikamaru?" they heard a man call out as they passed the gate.

"Hey, Izumo, Kotetsu," Naruto said as if he had never been gone.

The two men ran out of the guard station and up to the two. "Where have you two been? Everyone's been worried sick," Izumo asked.

"You had the baby?" Kotetsu asked.

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah. Meet Kairi." He held the girl out just a bit, removing his hand from Shikamaru's to make sure he didn't drop her.

"Wow, she looks a lot like you, but why does she have red hair?" Izumo asked.

"My mom had red hair. I guess I passed the gene onto her. You know, after meeting my mom's chakra, I've always wondered what I would look like with red hair."

"You'd look pretty weird. We're so used to you having your blonde hair," Kotetsu said.

Everyone laughed.

"You'd better get to Lady Tsunade's office and let her know you guys got away from Itachi," Kotetsu said.

"Yeah, Shikaku's been working like crazy to try and find you guys. I think he's spent more time at Tsunade's office than his own home at this point," Izumo said.

"We didn't get away. He let us go," Naruto said.

"Huh?" the two men asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Izumo cried out. "He's an akatsuki. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're not dead, Naruto, but..."

"It's a long story that I don't feel like explaining twice," Shikamaru said. "We've been traveling for a while and I'd like to get home."

"Right," Izumo said and the two men took a step back. "We're glad you guys are back."

"We're glad to be back," Naruto said as Shikamaru took his hand and pulled him away.

They made their way to the hokage's tower, but didn't rush, and got the ok to enter Tsunade's office. Shikaku looked at them wide-eyed before walking over and pulling both of their heads to his own. This surprised them a bit because Shikaku never really showed this type of affection before, at least not in public.

"Are you two ok?" the older Nara asked when he stepped back.

"Yeah, we're fine," Shikamaru said.

"Naruto, you had the baby?" Tsunade asked, eyes wide, as she walked up to them.

Naruto beamed at her and saw Shikaku smile at the girl. "Yeah. She came about a week earlier than you said she would."

Tsunade frowned. "I want both of you at the hospital and checked out. Actually, I'll take you myself so I know you went," she said and pushed the blonde out the door.

"But... Hey, Granny, stop," Naruto protested and looked back at his husband, who just smirked at him as he and his father followed behind.

"No. I won't, and will you stop calling me Granny? You're way too old to keep pulling these jokes," Tsunade scolded.

Knowing Shikamaru was following them, he turned back around and let Tsunade pull him along. "But that's what you are. You're an old... Oww."

Tsunade pulled on his ear. "Finish that sentence and we won't just be checking you over."

Naruto chuckled nervously but nodded. Shikamaru stepped up next to him and took his free hand. The two explained what happened as they walked, Naruto starting first by telling them what Itachi did and said, and by the time they got to the hospital, they had reached the point in the story about Itachi's plan.

"So, he's the one that sent that letter," Shikaku said. "Knowing that, I think we should..."

"No, Shikaku, you need to go," Naruto interrupted as a nurse took Kairi from him. He frowned as she walked out of the room with her, but had to remind himself that they were home and safe, then Tsunade told him to lift his shirt. "Itachi really is on our side. I know it. He was telling us the truth."

"We think," Shikamaru said. "Naruto, he's been with the akatsuki for twelve years. I'm sure he's learned how to lie and hide it."

"You said you would consider it since he let us go. He even took down the barrier to prove to you he was on our side," Naruto said. He cringed a bit and his face went a little red when Tsunade squeezed one of his pecs and milk dribbled out of his nipple.

"I see the mammary glands are still active. Have you been having any issues breastfeeding?" Tsunade asked as she moved on with her examination.

"No. She seemed to get enough. I think," Naruto said as he watched Tsunade's hand.

"How did you have her?" Tsunade asked.

Naruto's blush deepened. "Uh, f-from behind."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at that. "Shikaku, I may need you to leave for a minute," she told the man, then looked back at Naruto. "Flip."

Naruto looked over at Shikaku who just crossed his arms and turned around. "I won't look."

Naruto blushed even more, stood up to pull his pants down, then laid on his stomach. He buried his face in the pillow as Tsunade probed his hole with her finger, embarrassed beyond belief that she was doing that, and in front of Shikaku no less.

"I don't sense any damage. I take it Kurama healed you?" Tsunade said as she pulled her finger from him.

Naruto nodded and quickly flipped back over, pulling his pants up. "Yeah, it took about a week for his chakra to heal me enough to make the journey."

"He still seems more tired than normal though," Shikamaru said.

"To be expected after a birth. It normally takes a woman months to recover. You're lucky Kurama's chakra sped up the process," Tsunade said. "You can look again, Shikaku."

The man turned back around, face as blank as usual. "What does Itachi want from this meeting?" he asked, getting back on topic.

"He said he wants to explain everything, come clean, and that he wants to return to the village. I'm not so sure we should trust him, but," Shikamaru said when he saw Naruto was about to protest, "I think we should at least hear him out. If we can take out the akatsuki like he's proposing, then it would be good for everyone."

"Taking out the akatsuki is a pretty tall order," Tsunade said.

The door opened and Naruto beamed when he saw the nurse bringing Kairi back in, and quickly took the girl back when the nurse got close enough. "She is in perfect health. No problems that I could see. We should get the test results back soon," the nurse said and, with a nod of confirmation from Tsunade, left the room again.

"When is the meeting? Itachi said he set a date and time, but never told us when it was," Shikamaru asked.

"In two days," Tsunade said as peered at the small girl in Naruto's hand. She smiled as she ran her finger down the girl's cheek. "We've been going back and forth on whether we should actually show up for it or not."

"Please. Give him a chance. I really do believe that Itachi is telling the truth," Naruto said, then looked down at his daughter. "He showed me what happened the night he killed his clan. He didn't want to do it. I saw the hurt in his eyes when I accused him of killing innocent women and children."

Tsunade looked over at Shikaku for a moment, what looked like a silent conversation happening between the two, before she sighed. "Alright. We'll meet up with him, but we are not going unprepared."

"Agreed," Shikaku said. "I suggest at least two Anbu teams, and I would like to be present as well."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Tsunade said before she turned back to Naruto.

Naruto smiled up at her, then held his daughter out. "Want to hold her, Granny?"

Tsunade glared at the boy, but then looked down at the sleeping child before plucking her from the blonde's arms. "I suppose I don't mind being called that if I can be her sergeant grandmother."

"Of course," Naruto said happily. "Pervy sage is her sergeant grandfather, so it only makes sense for you to be her sergeant grandmother."

Tsunade blushed, and Naruto had to wonder if she secretly liked the pervy man even though she would never admit it.

"I'd also like to go to the meeting," Naruto said.

"No," the three chorused at once.

"Naruto, there's no way we're letting you anywhere near that man again," Tsunade said. "What if things don't go so well? He could whisk you away, take you to the others, and extract the nine tails from you before we even get a chance to track you down."

"That won't happen," Naruto said.

"But it could," Shikamaru said. "It's better that you stay here with Kairi and Shikadai."

Naruto crossed his arms. "Yeah, cause that worked wonders before. You do remember that Itachi took me while I was on my way to Shikaku and Yoshino's, right?"

Tsunade looked down at Naruto, then over to Shikaku. "What do you think?"

Shikaku stared into Naruto's eyes, and Naruto gave him his best pleading look. "Please. I feel like I need to be there."

Shikaku closed his eyes and sighed. "It may help to have him there."

"Dad..." Shikamaru started, but Shikaku just held up his hand.

"I'm not saying it's the smartest idea, but he's already established something with Itachi. While I'm sure we could conduct the meeting without him, it might benefit us."

Shikamaru frowned and crossed his arms. "If he's going, then I am too. Mom can watch the kids."

Naruto smiled and looked up at Tsunade, knowing she would have the final say. "Granny?"

Tsunade looked from Shikaku, to Shikamaru, then finally down at Naruto. "Alright, but at the first sign of trouble, Shikamaru is getting you out of there. You're still recovering, and I'm sure Kurama's chakra isn't completely back to normal either."

Naruto nodded. "Deal."

Tsunade sighed and handed Kairi back to Naruto. "Alright. Get out of here. I'm sure your son is dying to see you again. Just let me know if something does come up, or if you have trouble breastfeeding."

Naruto smiled and swung his legs over the bed, then looked over at the older Nara. "You want to hold her, Shikaku?"

Shikaku smiled and walked up to the blonde, carefully taking his granddaughter in his arms. "Not much of the Nara genes in her," Shikaku commented.

"I think she's got his nose," Naruto said.

Shikamaru shrugged. "It is what it is. I'm just glad she's healthy."

"Well, you do have your mini-me at your parents' house," Tsunade said.

Naruto got up and grabbed Shikamaru's hand. "Come on."

Shikamaru chuckled as he kept up with Naruto's fast pace. "Slow down, Naruto. He's not going anywhere."

"I just really want to see my baby."

"He's not a baby anymore," Shikaku said as he fell in step with the two, after Naruto slowed down.

"He'll always be my baby, Shikaku, no matter what age he is," Naruto replied, a smile on his face.

"Spoken like a true mother," Shikaku said.

When they got to the main house of the Nara compound, Shikamaru and Shikaku let Naruto go in first. "Shikadai?"

"Mommy!" he heard the boy scream and then quick footsteps follow. The boy ran toward him so fast that Naruto was afraid the boy would fall flat on his face, but he didn't.

Naruto squatted down and held out his arms and Shikadai hit him so hard that he fell back on his butt. "Hey, baby," Naruto said as he petted the boy's hair.

"Mommy, mommy," Shikadai cried as he snuggled his face in Naruto's shirt.

Yoshino came towards them, tears in her eyes. "Naruto. I'm so glad you're ok. We were all so worried."

Naruto smiled up at the woman. "I'm fine. I had Kairi," he said and tilted his head toward Shikaku, who was still holding the girl.

Yoshino walked over to her husband and peered into the blanket that held the girl, then took her from Shikaku's arms. "She's beautiful, Naruto."

"Yeah, she is." Naruto felt Shikadai look up. "You want to meet your sister?"

Shikadai nodded eagerly and Naruto stood up, picked the boy up, and walked over next to Yoshino. "Kairi," the boy said and beamed up at Naruto. "That my sister!"

"Yes it is," Naruto said and kissed the side of his son's head.

They all went into the living room and Yoshino sat down on the floor and laid Kairi on the floor. The baby fussed a bit when her blanket was removed, but after seeing all the new people around her, she just laid there.

Shikadai crawled down from Naruto's lap when the man sat down on the couch and knelt down next to his sister. "Hi, Kairi," he said loudly in the baby's face.

Kairi's lip quivered and she let out a loud wail, which caused Shikadai to move away and look up at Naruto, tears in his eyes.

"You have to be a little quieter around her right now," Naruto said.

Shikamaru sat down next to Naruto and draped his arm over the blonde's shoulder. "She's still not used to you, so you accidentally scared her."

Shikadai looked back down at his baby sister. "I sorry, Kairi. I sorry," he said as he gently patted her tommy.

Kairi settled down a bit, but cried out again when they heard another loud voice.

"Naruto! Shikamaru!" Ino's loud voice rang out.

Shikamaru cringed a bit. "In here, Ino."

Ino, Choji, Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru walked around the corner. "You had the baby!" Ino shouted, and Kairi's cry got louder.

"Shhh," Yoshino tried to console the child as she picked the girl up and rubbed her back.

"Way to go, Ino. You scared the kid," Kiba said.

"Are you ok, Naruto?" Hinata asked as the five walked over.

"Yeah. I'm ok," Naruto replied as Hinata sat down on Naruto's other side.

Choji and Kiba opted to stand next to Shikamaru, and Ino and Akamaru went over to Yoshino. Akamaru sniffed the baby, which made her start to fuss again. "Will you get back, Akamaru," Ino said as she pulled the dog away.

"Hey, he's just checking her out," Kiba berated. "He's gotta get her sent so he can recognize her."

"How'd you guys find out we were back?" Shikamaru asked.

"From Izumo and Kotetsu," Kiba said. "We were just getting back from our evening walk and they stopped us and told us, right, Akamaru?"

The dog barked quietly in response.

"After that, I went to tell Hinata, she went to tell Ino, and she went to tell Choji," Kiba continued.

"We came straight over, Hinata using her byakugan to see that you guys were here instead of your house," Ino said.

"Though we kind of figured you'd be here, since this is where Shikadai was," Choji said.

Yoshino put Kairi back on the floor since the girl had calmed down, and Akamaru walked over and sat down by Naruto's feet, which was a little ways from the baby's head.

"She's so adorable," Ino said as she sat down next to the girl. She put her finger in Kairi's hand and the girl grabbed it. "Nice to meet you. I'm your Auntie Ino."

"Me try. Me try," Shikadai said as he put his finger in Kairi's other hand. The girl grabbed it and he beamed at her.

"Now you'll have two sisters you can play with," Naruto said, referring to Mirai. Since she was his goddaughter, it technically made Shikadai her godbrother.

"Crap," Ino said loudly, which made the girl jump. "Oh, sorry, Kairi."

"What?" Naruto asked, sitting forward a bit, worried that something happened to his daughter.

"We forgot to tell Asuma and Kurenai," Ino explained.

Naruto let out a breath of relief and sat back. "We'll go see them tomorrow," he said.

"You don't want to overwhelm her with too many people yet anyway," Yoshino said.

They all sat around talking with each other, Shikadai eventually curling up in Naruto's lap again since his sister was being passed around, but once Kairi started to get fussy, Shikamaru decided it was finally time to head home. Everyone said their goodbyes, Choji saying he was going to let Asuma and Kurenai know they were home, and promised to meet up again in a few days.

The next day, Shikamaru and Naruto had their hands full with Kairi and Shikadai. While the boy did want to spend time with his sister, he was hanging off Naruto quite a bit, leaving Shikamaru to mostly take care of Kairi. The man didn't seem to mind as he and Naruto agreed that he would go back on missions again until Naruto felt like he was 100% back to normal and ready to go out again, then they would switch and take turns taking care of the kids.

Naruto wondered if Shikamaru wanted to take care of Kairi more anyway so that the girl would become a daddy's girl, like Shikadai was a mama's boy.

Asuma and Kurenai came over with Mirai to meet Kairi and express how glad they were that Naruto and Shikamaru were back and ok. Kurenai and Naruto talked a bit about the birth and also about Mirai's first birthday coming up, while the men talked about the akatsuki and the upcoming meeting with Itachi, which would take place the next day.

Jiraiya showed back up as well, pulling the blonde into a tight hug. Naruto smiled as his godfather held him, assuring the man that he was fine, then told him everything. When the man heard about the meeting, he insisted that he'd join them and stayed at their house in one of the guest rooms.

The day of the meeting made everyone a little anxious. Shikadai would not let go of Naruto for anything, and it took everything Yoshino had to keep the boy from running after them when they left, and Kairi would not stop fussing. Both children clearly felt the anxiety their parents were feeling, although Naruto had a feeling that Shikadai didn't want them to leave because they just got back from being missing.

The meeting place was a small village that had been destroyed a few years back, and they were sitting in what they assumed was the village's leader's old office. Tsunade sat at the end of the table, away from the door, and Shikaku sat on her left, Shikamaru sat in between his father and Naruto, and hadn't let Naruto's hand go since they set foot in the room, but Naruto didn't complain as it seemed to help the man stay calm, Jiraiya sat next to Naruto, and Shikaku had asked Kakashi to come along as well, and he was sitting next to Jiraiya. Naruto was talking with both Jiraiya and Kakashi about something, and he also noticed how his husband's knee hadn't stopped bouncing ever since they sat down.

Everyone tensed and looked toward the door when a knock sounded and Itachi and Kisame walked in.

"You brought Kisame with you?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. He stopped me as I was leaving, asking where I was headed," Itachi said as he took the seat closest to him, Kisame sitting next to him.

"So, is he under the power of your sharingan?" Naruto asked.

Kisame frowned. "No. I'm not. I came here of my own free will."

"Kisame realized that I manipulated his memories about where you were, and wasn't too happy about it," Itachi said.

"I don't really have loyalties to the akatsuki or to Pain. I joined the group because I was bored and figured I'd find some fun with them. When Itachi told me he was making a plan to betray Pain, I thought it sounded fun."

Everyone but Naruto narrowed their eyes at the shark man. "And how do we know we can trust you?" Tsunade asked.

Kisame shrugged. "If I do something you don't like, I'm sure Itachi here will put me in my place."

Itachi nodded. "I will. I won't let this meeting be a failure."

Naruto looked over and saw that Shikamaru, Shikaku, and Tsunade were looking at him skeptically, but none of them said anything more about it.

"Shall we get started," Itachi asked.

"Not quite yet," Tsunade said. "We are still expecting a couple more people."

Itachi raised his eyebrow, but when the door opened again, two dark skinned men walked in. Naruto recognized the symbol on the taller man's hat as the Raikage's symbol, and when he looked over to the other man, he wondered if that was Killer Bee, the jinchuriki of the eight tails.

"I see he's already here," the Raikage said in a deep, rough voice.

"A, Bee, welcome. Please," Tsunade said as she gestured to the empty seats to her right. "When I learned what this meeting was going to be about, I figured they, as the only other ones with a jinchuriki, would want to be involved."

The Raikage glared at the two akatsuki members as they took their seats. "I thought you said it was only Itachi we were meeting up with?"

"I apologize for not informing you all of Kisame joining me. I assure you, I didn't realize he would want to join me," Itachi said.

"Hey, the more the merrier," Bee said with a wide smile.

Naruto smiled too. "I agree. The more people we have for this plan, the more successful it will be."

"Itachi," Tsunade said, to get everyone's attention again. "Why don't you explain why you called this meeting."

Itachi nodded and told them what he told Naruto, about the coup, the order from the Third, his undercover mission, and how he had been gathering intel on the members.

"So that was your big secret," Kisame said.

"Yes. Over the years, I've learned a lot of valuable information that I believe we can use to take down the others," Itachi continued. He pulled out a scroll and summoned several folders before sliding them to Tsunade, Shikaku, the Raikage, and Jiraiya. "I wasn't sure how many people would be attending this meeting, so I apologize for not having enough."

"It's fine. We can share," Tsunade said as she opened the folder. Her eyes went wide. "This is information on the akatsuki members."

"Strengths, weaknesses, and jutsu capabilities. Everything I've gathered on each of the members is in there," Itachi said.

"You've even got me in there," Kisame said as he leaned over Kakashi's shoulder to read the file in front of Jiraiya.

Naruto smirked as he saw Kakashi sweatdrop. "Can you please step back," the copy ninja asked.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry," Kisame said as he returned to his seat.

Naruto leaned closer to Jiraiya to peer into the folder and noticed that Shikamaru was doing the same with his father. Hidan, Kakazu, Sasori, Deidara, Kisame, Itachi, Tobi, Zetsu, Konan, and Pain. Their pictures were all on the top of their respective papers, and all the information Itachi mentioned was listed below them. Wait, did that say Hidan was immortal?

"You put information about yourself in here as well?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes. I figured that it wouldn't be a complete report if I didn't add myself. I am a member of the akatsuki too, and I've learned a few new things since leaving the village," Itachi replied.

"This is going to be very useful in coming up with a strategy," Shikaku said.

"You think you'll be able to come up with something to take all these guys down?" the Raikage asked.

"Between me, Shikamaru, and Itachi, we should be able to come up with something," Shikaku said as he handed the file to Shikamaru.

"I'd like to help, if I can," Jiraiya said.

"Of course," Shikaku said. "You've been gathering your own information, so I'm sure your help would greatly improve our odds."

Naruto looked over and saw the deep frown on Shikamaru's face. "What's wrong?"

"These guys are way more powerful than I ever imagined. It says Hidan's immortal, and his partner Kakazu has five hearts?" Shikamaru asked and looked up at Itachi.

"Don't ask me how they do it, but yes. Hidan cannot die, no matter what you do, and Kakazu has five beating hearts inside of him. Four of those hearts can also be expelled from his body to form creatures that can all act independently from Kakazu," Itachi explained.

"Yeah, if he loses a heart, he steals it from the shinobi he was fighting, or some poor sap that happens to be around," Kisame added.

"I'm glad none of our teams came across those two before now," Tsunade said. "There's no way we could've beaten them without this information."

Naruto shuddered at the thought of going up against them even with the information they had.

"When you say nothing can kill Hidan, you mean absolutely nothing?" Kakashi asked. "What if we took his head off?"

Kisame huffed. "He's even more annoying. Yells until Kakazu sews his head back on."

Naruto looked over and saw the wheels spinning in Shikamaru's head. He knew his husband was already forming a strategy for how they could beat these two.

"Yo, this Deidara guy sounds like a blast. We need to take care of him real fast," Bee rapped out.

A narrowed his eyes at Bee. "I thought I told you to stop that rapping."

"Sorry, Bro. It's just how I flow," Bee replied.

"He's not entirely wrong, though," Kisame said. "Deidara uses explosives to fight. He uses clay which he then molds into any object and then expands it to any size before he detinates it. They can crawl, fly, or slither, depending on what he creates, all on their own. His most powerful clay is C4."

"Sasori is his partner, so you would have to deal with him as well," Itachi said.

"Sasori is a sand shinobi. He uses puppets and is a puppet himself, but likes to hide in a larger puppet," Kakashi read out.

"That guy never did sit right with me," Kisame said. "Way too moody."

"We know about Pain from when he attacked the village," Tsunade said. "But why are there multiple pictures of him?"

Naruto looked over and saw that Pain's page did have multiple pictures, but one of them stood out the most. "Why does that guy have red hair? All the others have orange."

"That is Nagato, Pain's real body. He uses his rinnegan to control the dead bodies you see in the pictures. After the attack on Konoha, he had to find new bodies to replace the ones you destroyed."

"This is the one I fought," Naruto said, pointing to the picture of the guy with short, spiky hair. "That Konan lady took his body with her when she retreated. If I remember correctly, she wrapped him up in paper."

"Yes. Konan uses a jutsu that lets her control paper. She can even turn her body into sheets of paper. As for that body, it's name is Yahiko," Itachi said.

Jiraiya frowned as he looked at the picture. "I can't believe they turned out like this."

"You knew him, Pervy Sage?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, him, Konan, and Nagato. Tsunade, Orochimaru, and I came across them during the war. I took pity on them and trained them for a few years. I never imagined they'd be the ones behind all of this."

"You said he controls dead bodies," Shikaku said. "So this Yahiko guy is dead?"

Itachi nodded. "Yes. I'm not sure when it happened, and Pain and Konan don't like to talk about it."

"He was already controlling the body when both of us joined," Kisame said.

"They're not bad kids. Maybe if I could just talk to them..." Jiraiya said.

Tsunade shook her head. "I don't know if that would help. It's been years since then. Who knows if they even still respect you as their sensei."

Jiraiya looked crestfallen at that and remained quiet.

"What about this Zetsu guy? There's not much in here about what he can do," Shikaku asked.

"He's a mysterious one," Kisame said. "Really creepy too. He likes to pop up out of nowhere."

"As Kisame said, we don't know much about him. He can travel through the ground and seems to control plants, but other than that, we don't know much," Itachi said.

"Doesn't look like you know much about this Tobi guy either," Kakashi said.

"He's our newest member, just joined a few weeks ago, so I don't have much information on him. I'm sorry," Itachi said.

"They guy's crazy though," Kisame said. "Acts like a complete child. Drives Deidara up a wall." He chuckled.

"Alright, so how should we deal with these guys?" Tsunade asked.

"I'd like to take on this Deidara and Sasori guy," A said. "We from the Land of Lightning can handle explosions, and a few puppets shouldn't be a problem."

"Yeah!" Bee exclaimed.

"Just make sure you study the abilities well," Itachi said. "Sasori likes to use poison in combination with his puppets."

"And Deidara isn't a pushover either," Kisame added. "Though he is a bit of a hothead, so you could probably get him to make a mistake if you bash his art."

A nodded and crossed his arms.

"I think I've come up with a way to take down Hidan and Kakazu," Shikamaru said. "I'd like to lead a team to go after them."

"You're sure?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes. With this information, I think my plan is sound, but I'll run it over with dad and you just to be safe," Shikamaru replied.

Tsunade nodded. "Very well. You can choose whoever you think would be best to join you."

Shikamaru nodded and went back to studying the two sheets on Hidan and Kakazu.

"I'd like to take on Nagato and Konan," Jiraiya said. "I'd like to try talking to them, see if I can convince them to stop all this."

"I don't want you going alone," Tsunade said. "I want you to at least take a team as backup."

Jiraiya nodded, then looked sadly at Pain's page.

"I believe that Kisame and I can take care of Zetsu," Itachi said. "I might be able to convince Tobi to join him as well."

"I'd like to go with you," Kakashi said. He looked back down at Tobi's page. "I don't know why, but there's something about this Tobi guy that doesn't sit right with me."

"You are welcome to join us," Itachi said. "I have gotten a feeling that he was hiding something."

Naruto was a little torn. He wanted to go with Jiraiya and talk to this Nagato guy, he was a sibling student after all, but he also wanted to be on Shikamaru's team to make sure he came back.

"Alright, since it seems like we have a battle plan, I think we should discuss what happens with the jinchuriki," A said.

"What?" Naruto asked. "What do you mean 'what happens with us?'"

"Yeah, I want to know too," Bee said, not rapping for once.

"We can't let you and Bee fall into the akatsuki's hands," Tsunade said. "I suggest we send them somewhere where they will be safe."

"We have an island that I was going to send Bee to," A said. "We were assessing the situation before we sent him there since it would take a couple weeks to get there. Naruto's, of course, more than welcome to join him."

"No way!" Naruto yelled as he stood up.

"Yeah, that's not cool, ya fool," Bee complained.

"I won't argue with you about this, Bee," the Raikage said. "You're going to the island and that's final."

Tsunade nodded. "And Naruto will too."

"I want to help too!" Naruto cried out.

"You will help, Naruto," Shikamaru said as he took the blonde's hand again. "By staying safe."

Naruto pulled his hand from Shikamaru's and crossed his arms, a pout on his face. "I'm not just going to sit around while you guys risk your lives for us."

"I don't want to just sit around either," Bee said.

"I believe the two jinchuriki are the best way to ensure the akatsuki's defeat," Itachi finally spoke up.

Shikamaru glared at the Uchiha. "We are not putting them in the line of fire."

"Agreed," the Raikage said.

"You don't get to decide that for us," Naruto said.

"You haven't even fully recovered yet, Naruto," Tsunade said. "You said it yourself on the way here that Kurama's chakra was still replenishing. You would only be a liability to whoever's team you're on."

Naruto felt hurt. "I can do this," he said, giving Shikamaru his pleading look. "Please."

Shikamaru sighed and turned away. He never could resist Naruto's pleading face, and Naruto knew it. "He could join the team I'll put together."

"I won't be left out either," Bee said.

The Raikage sighed. "Looks like we both have stubborn jinchuriki."

Tsunade chuckled. "Seems like it."

"If you've all decided, we'll go back and tell Pain that we found leads on the two jinchuriki," Itachi said as he stood. "Kakashi, you'll meet up with us in about a week. I'll send you the location."

Kakashi nodded. "So we'll have about a week to prepare."

"Shikamaru, will you be ready by then?" Tsunade asked

Shikamaru nodded. "I've already got an idea of who the teams should consist of."

"Good," Tsunade said, then looked around the table, her eyes landing on Itachi and Kisame, narrowing her eyes. "This better not be a trap, Itachi."

"I assure you, it's not," Itachi said, looking the woman in the eyes. "I want this to work just as much as you do."

"Same," Kisame said. "I didn't really like where we were heading anyway. While capturing the tailed beasts has been fun, I think it's a waste to kill them."

"They're not killing them, only the jinchuriki. They are collecting the beasts for a reason Pain hasn't explained yet," Itachi said.

Shikaku frowned. "Can you figure out why they would be collecting the tailed beasts?"

"I'll try, but I haven't been able to get Pain to tell me yet," Itachi said. "Honestly, it feels like Pain isn't the true leader of the akatsuki."

"Who do you think is?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," Itachi said. "I will try and look into it more." He turned to Tsunade. "If this all works out, would I be allowed to come back to the village?"

Tsunade frowned and looked toward Shikaku, who just nodded. "I'll look into the order that the Third gave you. If I can find evidence of it, then I'll allow you back. However," she said as Itachi nodded and started to leave, "I can't guarantee that you will be welcomed back with open arms, and we'll need to take precautions."

"I understand," Itachi said, then turned to Naruto. "I hope that you will give Sasuke another chance as well."

Naruto crossed his arms and frowned. "He had his chance, but if you can get him to stop being a jerk, then maybe."

Itachi gave him a small smile, then turned and left, Kisame following.

"This is going to be a long couple weeks," Kakashi stated.

-------------------------

And that's it for that. Again, sorry if this one was boring for some of you. I only plan on doing the fighting with Shikamaru and Naruto, so I'm sorry for those of you that wanted to see some of the other fights. I will reference them so that you know the outcome, but I'm not confident in my ability to write for that many fight scenes, so I'm gonna stick with the Kakazu and Hidan fight. Plus, Naruto will only be in that fight and I've been sticking with his POV so it didn't seem right to switch it up now... Even though I've been really tempted to do Shikamaru's POV at times... Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you in the next one.