Tortured Uchiha [CURRENTLY EDITING]

二九

         "No," I said. "I already explained to Kakashi's team that my assistance stops here. If the Akatsuki get suspicious, I can divert their attention and hold them off, but I can't remove those tags."

       "I understand, your assistance is most appreciated," Gai turned to his team. "Team Gai, let's go with the full power of youth. Scatter!"

       The radio team branched off into the directions told by the Hyuga. Naruto watched each member leave while he murmured Gaara's name. No doubt Naruto felt the pain of Gaara's extraction. I sighed, why would Itachi agree to something like this? How could such a gentle child that opposed war, join an organization that wanted to start one? Itachi's motives still puzzled me; I just hope that they're stopped before they get to the Kyuubi.

        Kakashi's radio collar hissed with static and Gai's voice came over to alert him that the tags were removed simultaneously. Kakashi reached to rip off the fifth on the boulder ordered his team to use the 'buttonhook' entry technique.

      The buttonhook entry was similar to a boundary overwatch; one Shinobi moves through the doorway with their back to the wall whilst the other waits and guards. After the entry's deemed clear, the second Shinobi moves through the doorway to press themselves up against the opposite wall.

      Its behaviour is usually performed at doorways or windows whereas stacked movement typically occurs when the team is paralleling a wall. I hadn't used the technique since being with Kakashi in the ANBU―I would simply guard the shattered doorway and divert attention, no doubt from Pein's chosen team to protect Gaara's husk.

      I placed one hand on the Nagamaki between my shoulder blades and swept one hand down my cloak to part it so it allowed more movement. I could tell from the voices inside that Deidara and his scorpion partner were inside, we were too late.

      "Well then," Deidara chuckled. "Which one of you is the Jinchuriki, un?"

      Naruto's chakra spiked, alerting me to the Kyuubi. I turned from my position at the gateway to see Naruto's blue eyes change to crimson. 

       "You bastards," Naruto seethed. "I'll fucking kill you!"

        You never change. 

       "I'll take the Jinchuriki un," Deidara craned his neck to look at the entrance where my shadow cast darkness in the void of light. "Oh Shinko–Chan, it seems like Itachi didn't kill you after all. It seems like my bet's still on with Hidan then, yeah."

       Did they know that Itachi swapped his body with a corpse from Sunagakure? It wasn't a reanimation jutsu, but some kind of body-transfer technique that I'd never seen. I pulled the Nagamaki from its sheath and stabbed it into the ground in front of me, resting my forearms on the hilt.

       "You're making a big mistake Deidara," I said as his clay creation swallowed Gaara's limp body.

        "Un, you'd know a lot about mistakes," Deidara smirked.

          "At least mine won't get me killed," I tore my blade from the ground and leaped into the air as the bird took off.

        It was a lure to get Naruto out of the way. Deidara knew that if he had Gaara's body, Naruto would follow him to the ends of the earth until he got it. Naruto, however, was still possessed with rage.

      "Kakashi," I landed on one of the wooden beams that were stuck between both cliff-faces. I turned so that my back was to Deidara and removed my mask to show that both of my Mangekyou were on display, Kakashi flicked up his hitai-ate and nodded towards me. We'd use a tag-team attack with the Sharingan.