Once More by ItsHardToFindAPenName

Chapter 10: Unexpected

"Wha... what the heck just happened?" Naruto coughed out; the heat around him was making it hard to breathe. Had it not been for Kakashi and Zabuza, with their incredible reflex of jonin-level shinobi, conjuring walls of water around them right in time to protect the three of them, they would have been fried being hit by the fire blast directly.

"Leave it for later!" Kakashi yelled. "Are you all right, Sakura, Sasuke?"

"I'm alright!" The voice of Sakura rose up behind him.

"Haku!" Zabuza also screamed. "What about Haku? Is she okay?"

"Over here!" Sasuke's voice echoed through the fire screen. "She's safe with me!"

"WATER STYLE: WATER STREAM!" Zabuza bellowed, performing quick hand seals. A large stream of water blasted out of his mouth, which wasn't covered by bandages now, quickly extinguishing most of the sea of fire around them, leaving the bridge covered in a cloud of smoke.

A mixture of anger and fear suddenly riled up inside of Naruto. It was not from the boy himself, but from a certain Tailed Beast residing in him.

'What's wrong Chomei-chan?! Settle down!' Naruto asked in panic, trying his best to calm his beetle friend down.

'It's him.' The Seven-Tailed Beetle snarled in a tone completely different from her usual cheery voice. It was full of rage, and there was a hint of fear too. 'I can never forget this chakra signature. This is the one who captured me and Fuu during our timeline!'

"Who had just attacked us? Show yourself!" Kakashi roared, pulling his hitai-ate up again. He was almost out of chakra, but this was a matter of life and death and no moment to be stingy.

From within the cloud of smoke, the masked figure of Kakuzu, missing-nin of Takigakure, stepped out.

Chaos had broken out inside Naruto's belly.

"What the fuck? WHAT. THE. FUCK?" Shukaku screamed, while running around hysterically in a speed quite fast for a chubby tanuki like her. "Why does the Akatsuki decide to strike so soon?"

"Shukaku, calm down!" Isobu snapped. Shukaku turned back and grabbed the turtle's head, pulling him close to her face.

"Calm down?! You're telling me to CALM DOWN?! That man is a member of the Akatsuki, and right now we're stuck with a Naruto who doesn't have any useful jutsu, and cannot even use our power properly! We're dead!"

"Shukaku's right," Gyuki said grimly. "This is the man who single-handedly took down Chomei and her jinchuriki. If we have to face him right now, we're as good as dead. That's if there hadn't been any of his associations around..."

"No, I don't think we have to worry about that."

Every head turned toward Kokuoh. "What do you mean by that?" Goku asked.

"Look at him," the horse answered calmly. "If he's in the Akatsuki, he has to be wearing their signature cloud-shaped cloak, but now he's not. Therefore I assume that he's not in the Akatsuki... at least not yet, and we won't have to worry about his partners."

"But even so, he will be one of the Akatsuki, Kokuoh-nii," Matatabi noted. "He is still a very powerful enemy. And Naruto isn't prepared for an opponent like him."

"I know," Kokuoh agreed. "It seems his target wasn't Naruto, though..."

"Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja, and Zabuza Momochi, the Devil of the Hidden Mist," Kakuzu drawled, cracking his neck menacingly. "It seems that midget didn't give me false information. But Kurenai Yuuhi, the Genjutsu Mistress is not here... No matter, I'll hunt her down later."