The Angel's Ambivalence [Naruto]

TAA Special: Road to Ninja

"My name is-" And then he was rudely smacked into the ground by one of the Akatsuki members. I clamped a hand over my mouth so I wouldn't laugh. "OW! My name is Naruto Uzumaki, you rude bastard! I'm a ninja!"

"He's also an idiot," Mitchell muttered, a sigh in his voice.

I could practically feel Sakura seething as she barked through the communicator, "Seriously, what is he doing!? He says he's a ninja, but he charged right into battle! What a moron!"

"Well, guess he's a perfect decoy," Kakashi-sensei decided. "Ryuu?"

"We can't take them out all at once," Ryuu replied in his usual monotone. "They're too strong. We'll have to take them out one by one. We separate them, and then we take them down. Everyone got it?"

There was a chorus of "yeah's" that sounded through the communicator, and I nodded. I didn't even realize that I hadn't spoken until Shikamaru's voice called out, "Minxie?"

"Oh! Right, sorry," I muttered, grinning sheepishly. "I forgot you couldn't see me, and I nodded..." I heard what sounded like a bunch of people facepalming, "Don't judge me! But I got the plan, bro. I got this."

Ryuu sighed at me. "Whatever. It's now or never."

Naruto was pulled out of the field by Choji's expanded -and huge- hand. I couldn't hear them very well, but I assumed he and Ino were scolding the hyperactive blonde shinobi. Choji wasted no time, using his expanison jutsu and rolling into the field.

Pain was dealing with Shino's bugs, and Kiba hit the orange-haired leader head on by using his Fang over Fang jutsu. Hinata and Rin fought with Konan, while Lee and Guy-sensei dealt with Kisame. Mitchell, Josh, and Kylie faced Kakuzu. Luna used her senbon needles to fight with Sasori. Tenten and Neji went after Hidan, and after seeing my brother's nod of approval, I jumped into action with him.

It was an unspoken agreement. The two of us were going to deal with Itachi. Or, better yet, we were going to figure out what the hell was going on.

I took out my katana, striking at the my former sensei. He deflected the attack with a kunai, making our weapons clash against each other.

"Itachi, what the hell is going on?" I asked, but he wasn't talking. He grabbed my elbow and chucked me off to the side.

I quickly scrambled to regain my footing, rolling over into a kneeling position. When I looked up, Ryuu was fighting with Itachi in my place.

"Itachi-sensei, what are you doing?" my twin brother questioned, pushing the older man back with his sword.

Again, Itachi didn't answer him. He merely pushed Ryuu back and kicked him, sending him flying. Ryuu landed on his feet next to me.

"I don't think that's Itachi-sensei..." I mumbled, my eyes narrowing at the possible imposter.

"No, I don't think he is," Ryuu agreed quietly. "So that means we don't have to hold back."