In Spite of it all (BOOK TWO)

Chapter 17

Naruto POV~

Something was off. 

I was on my way to the Leaf village when I realized that something. was. off.

I was just about to henge and go into a village for a merchant disguise (what else?) when I stopped. 

Something was very off.

"Stop saying that over and over you are driving me to insanity."

'But something's wrong.' I slid back onto the tree branch from where I was about to jump down, 'I can't put my finger on it.'

Kurama growled, "I know what you mean. Something's happened. But the one thing you can do is shut up and watch out and leave my poor mental health intact."

'Hehe. Sorry?'

"Are you?"

'Not really.'

I took his advice, though, and waited. I didn't want to come out of hiding just yet. I had a bad feeling, the kind that made my skin crawl and my stomach clench.

I learned long ago to listen to my instincts. Right now, they were basically screaming "WATCH OUT."

An instant later, the chakra on the tree to my left shifted, and I leapt back with Kurama's chakra powering me. In less than a second, three large shuriken imbedded themselves in the spot I was standing. 

Adrenaline and Bijuu chakra flooded into my system as I took in the situation. The masked man from the lake was standing on the spot where I was just a moment before. Another figure rose up from the branch, two large branch like objects around his black and white form, donning an Akatsuki cloak.

"Hm. Your worries weren't unfounded." Kurama snarled. He was being defensive again. This masked man truly made him nervous.

"Naruto Uzumaki." he said, his voice much deeper and drastically different than how it was last time we'd seen him. "How interesting. You happened to be in the same area as Pain when he chose to betray me."

Chose to betray him?

I...didn't know what to think about that.

"Who are you?" I opted to ask. 

The man hummed, "You can call me Madara Uchiha."

My brain stopped for a second. 

"Madara Uchiha?" I repeated, raising and eyebrow.

'You've met Madara Uchiha, right?'

"I have." 

'Is that him?'

"Nope. He's the same guy from 16 years ago, but his chakra doesn't feel like Madara's. Similar, but not exactly the same. Madara Uchiha's chakra was...much more powerful." 

I stopped asking him. I was reminded, then, that Kurama was fucking scary, especially with the pure hatred dripping in his voice.

"Oh well." I hooked a couple of kunai around my fingers, just in case. Whether or not he was really Madara was confirmed now, and while I didn't know who he really was, I couldn't worry about that now. "I assume you're here for me?"

So many questions were running through my head, the first one being How did he find me? 

He regarded me coldly. I could see a glint of red through the one eyehole of his mask. Sharingan?

"I suppose. It wouldn't have been ideal to capture you so soon but you've stirred up quite a bit of trouble." he answered.

"Well shit. More evidence to my Gedo statue theory."