Kisame was fucking strong.

Both he and Deidara were brash, and reckless, and proud, and although Deidara was a relatively good tactician in battle, Kisame caught me at every turn.

I didn't even want to go full Bijuu on him, despite the temptations. If I released too much of Kurama's chakra, I'd only be feeding him more power. The last thing I wanted was for him to turn our own chakra against us.

That stupid sword was sentient, from the looks of it. It jumped at every bit of chakra like a starving dog, sucking in whatever scraps it could find. Kisame let it. Whatever chakra Samehada ate was his to use after all.

I whirled around as a swirl of water threatened to overtake me from behind. A wall of Kurama's chakra shoved it back, only for me to be face to face with Kisame. His beady eyes fixed onto mine just as I reflexively jumped back. A smirk pulled at his lips, revealing a glint of jagged teeth.

I stopped just in time as a landmine threw up a spray of dirt.

"Art!" Deidara yelled as he flew around on his clay bird. 

I felt my lip beginning to curl in irritation and pushed it down reluctantly. If I lost my cool, there was no way I was winning this fight.

Then Kisame turned into a shark.

Water was everywhere at this point. He managed to flood the entire area, the water being deep enough that I couldn't even touch the bottom when I stood in it.

He leapt in and out, his water sharks darting around with him in an attempt to corner me. I didn't like that it was closer to working than I hoped, especially with Deidara dropping bombs everywhere and limiting my movements. I couldn't fight Kisame and keep an eye on Deidara the whole time.

"Ey, there he is!"

Kurama's chakra flared around me in an automatic response at the new voice. I turned just in time to see Killer Bee and a small group of Kumo shinobi. I was occupied enough by Kisame and Deidara that I didn't even sense them coming.

"YOOOOOO!"

I had the sense to move out of the way as Killer Bee transformed. A massive eight-tailed ox-octupus rammed into existence, and much of the water that Kisame tossed around crashed through the forest.

I took that opportunity to transform as well, Kurama's chakra wrapping around me and forming his avatar.

"His sword, Samehada, eats chakra. Keep that in mind." I told him, and from there on there was no conversation. For someone who I barely met, Killer Bee and I cooperated in battle well.

Killer Bee could hold his own. I knew that. It would also be easier to eat mine and Kurama's chakra since my tailed beast transformation was just a chakra avatar, which worked well in flexibility and varying uses but only made it easier for Samehada to eat my chakra. Gyuki's transformation was more solid. 

With the help of the remaining Kumo ninja, we managed to get Deidara surrounded. He couldn't drop bombs to big because of the risk of harming Kisame, and he began to get desperate when he realized he was trapped. Still, he was dangerous.

And then the fucking Raikage arrived and the damn bastard decided fuck my teammate and dropped a C3, which was massive.

"Baka-yarou! Kona-Yarou!" Killer Bee shouted.

"Transform back, Bee!" I yelled, and thankfully he listened, albeit with a pause.

In a flash of panic, I located each of the shinobi around me and tossed up a blanket of Kurama's chakra over us, dense and strong, to shield us from the blast.

The bomb exploded, and the bang ripped across the air and tore at my eardrums relentlessly, enough that I almost let go to cover my ears. A flash of light blinded me for a moment, and I blinked spots out of my eyes. The blast weighed down on the chakra heavily, and I struggled to keep it layered despite the battering.

At last, the bomb dissipated. Deidara was worn down enough that I was guessing he wouldn't drop another of that size anytime soon, and deemed it safe enough to drop the shield. Kurama's chakra whirled back towards me, and I fell to my knees, gasping for breath as my ears rang distantly. 

The other shinobi stared at me in shock. I didn't blame them. I did just cover everyone from a massive explosion by myself.

Thankfully, they immediately fell back into battle and by the time I caught my breath Kisame was headless and Deidara vanished. I sensed his figure retreating in the distance, and I could literally feel the anger and reluctance rolling off him in waves. How typical of him. 

I found it strange that Kisame was beheaded already, but didn't question it too much. 

In the heat of the moment, I managed to snag the Jinchuriki of Kokuo right on time.

My blood froze and my stomach curdled when I realized he was dead.

Nobody's POV~

"Weak as ever, Zetsu." Kisame said haughtily. He was looking down on his 'dead body' as it transformed back into white Zetsu.

"It served its purpose." Zetsu said, sounding almost exasperated as the two of them left the area.

Tsunade POV~

I breathed a sigh of relief when Kakashi returned, everyone still alive and well. If anyone had been a second later, there may have been casualties on this mission.

It was reckless. I know it was.

Then I got a message from Naruto saying that the Jinchuriki of both the Four-tails and the five-tails were dead, and felt another oncoming headache squeezing my temples.

Now the only Jinchuriki left were the Jinchuriki of the Rokubi, Nanabi, Hachibi, and of course the Kyuubi, the rest of the Bijuu either captured by Akatsuki or roaming around out there somewhere, vulnerable to the Akatsuki if they were to be targeted.

I took a long drink from the sake bottle and wrote a message to Naruto.

If no one else was going to offer protection to Naruto and the Bijuu, it was the least I could fucking do.

Shikamaru POV~

Asuma was alive, the team was safe, the two Akatsuki members we were sent after were defeated, and now I could finally. Just. Breath. 

It was a pain in the ass, but I didn't get to laze around for long. Something was bothering me.

Sasuke was never very social, but I was observant enough to see that he felt things deeply, if he felt things at all. Sasuke never was one for expressing emotions. He kept them bottled up, which I wouldn't exactly call healthy, but's that's what he did.

Anyone could see that ever since he became friends with Naruto, he began to open up more. If anything, he would at least begin to treat everyone else like people instead of mere stepping stones. Even if they took forever to realize it, they formed a strong bond, which was good for both of them since both Naruto and Sasuke had psychological problems.

So, that being said, it was very unusual for Sasuke to seek anyone's help in anything, or even to approach people in general. Of course I would be surprised to see him coming up to join me in cloud-gazing.

I turned my head as he walked up the stairs to the roof. He didn't just hop up here like most ninjas would. He walked. Up the stairs. Slowly. That was the first sign that he wasn't up here to send a message or inform me about a mission.

Without a word he came over to me and sat down, not making eye contact the entire time. Strange, because we were in exact opposite positions last time something like this happened.

After a couple minutes of silence, I poked the elephant in the room. "Hi, Sasuke."

"Hn."

I turned my head slightly to look at him. He was staring at the ground, hair shadowed by his eyes. I don't think he knew, but it was pretty obvious he was trying to ask me something and just couldn't find a way to say it.

"You know, if you want to talk, I'm all ears."

This prompted a reaction, a slight one at least. He shifted slightly and began to speak. 

"I'm going to tell you something, on the condition that you don't tell anyone else without my permission and don't interrupt or judge me until I finish."

Well, this was interesting. That depended on what he wanted to tell me. After the recent mission, though, I still felt like I could take on the world, so I said, "My lips are sealed."

And so, he spoke. "I met Itachi on the mission." and from there, proceeded to explain about his encounter with his brother, up until the time he approached him while he was on watch on the night we head back. The edo tensei part was important, and it would probably be best if everyone knew about that so they expected it, but then this little encounter with Itachi would come to light so I could see why he kept quiet until he came to me.

Despite my promise, I have to admit the flash of anger I felt when he said that he followed Itachi and that was the reason he was delayed in coming to our aid. A second later and Asuma could've died.

But I listened silently, like I said I would, and by the end I snuffed out my anger.

Sasuke was in distress. And, because I wasn't an asshole, I didn't blow up on him. 

"So you came to me to ask what you should do next?"

Sasuke twitched, the closest thing to a flinch I'd ever seen from him, but the way he held himself, loose and dejected, said it all.

I sighed and gazed up at the sky. "Thank you."

He turned his head slightly, "For what?"

"I can understand why you'd chase after your brother. You thought he was dead. But thank you, for leaving whatever business you have with him behind to help us. We would've been killed without you."

Sasuke stared at me from the corner of his eye for a moment. We sat in contemplative silence until he stood and began to walk away. Wordlessly, he left.

Once he was gone, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to smile.

"Troublesome."

Naruto POV~

Killer Bee was literally amazing.

With a personality so contagious, no wonder he and Gyuki became fast friends.

"I could say the same about you, ya know." Kurama mumbled in the back of my head. "That's probably why you two get along so well. You're basically the same person."

'Oh, shut up.'

"That fool, thinking he could fight us! So uncool!" Killer Bee said.

"He stood no chance." I winked and bumped fists with him.

"You two get along like a house on fire." Gyuki was saying, Kurama agreeing fervently.

It wasn't long before they had to go. The Raikage was a busy man, after all. 

Also, sometime during the fight, Kisame's sword decided fuck this guy and is now Killer Bee's sword. 

These things always happen when I'm not looking.

Samehada must've really liked the taste of Bijuu chakra, and Killer Bee was more than happy to feed the sword bits of it occasionally. Kisame must've been a bitchy master. I had to admit, though, Samehada suited Bee quite a lot.

Once the Cloud shinobi left, I just stood in place for a moment, allowing myself to take a small breath.

"Not so fast. When was the last time you slept?"

'...'

"You can't lie to me, Naruto. It's been a while. You're exhausted. Take a nap before you go."

'We don't have time for a nap. There's things to - '

"You. Are. Exhausted. Take a quick nap, at the very least to restore your own chakra reserves and let your body heal. You just fought, and you used more of my chakra now than you ever had before all at one time. I'll keep watch and stay in contact with the other Bijuu. For now, rest."

I stood indecisive for a moment, before sighing in defeat. 'Fine.'

I couldn't argue with Kurama anyways. If I disregarded him, he would probably forcefully drive me unconscious. It wouldn't be the first time it happened, and I made sure that the last time stayed the last time.

Kurama woke me a couple hours later with a letter from Tsunade.