A small white bird glided smoothly over the buildings of Konoha, giving a perfect view of the chaos underneath: the empty streets covered with rubble, wisps of smoke rising from decimated houses, pieces of buildings cracked off and jagged, and the frantic behavior of the shinobi who were out looking for the two responsible for all of it. Once they had noticed the bird, groups of jonin and anbu worked together to try and force it down, from mud bullets to fireballs, just about everything had been launched at the flying nuisance. Eventually, a jolt of lightning from one of the shinobi struck the wing of the bird and it came crashing down, just barely missing the academy building. Dozens to ninja immediately surrounded the fallen bird, cautiously waiting for its rider to emerge.

"Be careful! We don't know how powerful he may be." One of the jonin warned.

Once the dust from the crash cleared, a figure could be seen walking out of the wreckage. The man was blonde with one eye hidden by his hair, a frown was plastered on his face as he approached the shinobi.

"Some Konoha nin want to fight me, hmm?" His eyes glinted and a smirk spread on his lips. "Bring it, un."

The streets were completely abandoned except for those strange human-like beings that crept from building to building. They would break open the doors and, disregarding the ear-piercing shrieks, scanned the faces of the civilians and children huddling in the rooms. Upon not finding what they were looking for, they would leave and move on to the next building, house, or store. If anyone was brave, or rather, foolish enough to attack the creatures, they would be killed quickly and without pity. Sometimes it was stabbing, other times it was decapitation, other times still it was slicing. Though the beings didn't seem to have the goal of killing, they certainly showed no hesitation in doing so if someone was in their way.

Naruto was hiding under a desk with a few other children when he spotted a familiar face out of the corner of his eye. Near the back wall was a girl with short blue hair, knees drawn to her chest and body shaking.

He hurried over to her and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped a little and whipped her head around to look at him. She relaxed a little when she recognized him and even managed a small smile.

"Hey, Hinata, are you ok?" He asked, concerned.

"I-I can't find my f-father." She pulled her legs closer to herself. "I-I came to the festival w-with him and m-my cousin and I... I can't find them!" She cried.

He was stunned, what was he supposed to do? Maybe try and comfort her?

"It's ok, we can find them after this is over. I'm sure things will be fine." He assured her shakily.

"R-really?" Her shaking began to lessen.

He nodded with a smile.

"Yea! The anbu and jonin are super strong! The bad guys have no chance against so many of them!"

Hinata smiled softly and nodded in agreement.

Bam

Everyone jumped and looked towards the door. There stood an expressionless, hunched woman with sickly pale skin, she stepped into the small store and swept her glassy eyes across the frightened civilians.

Naruto was frozen like everyone else, that is, until his heart stopped when her gaze landed on him. His entire body became paralyzed as she began a rythymless, crooked walk towards him. She stopped in front of him and reached a thin, pale hand down towards him. She grabbed his neck and lifted him up with inhuman strength then turned and walked out of the building, his struggling seemed to have no effect on her.

"Naruto!"

She had just stepped out of the doorway when a voice screamed for him from behind. He glanced back and saw Hinata running towards him. His gut told him to stop her but all he could do was yell.

"Stay away Hinata!" It came out more like a croak.

She didn't hear him.

The woman grasping Naruto's neck turned to look at the girl who was running full speed at them. With her expressionless mask still in place, she unsheathed a small dagger behind her back. The moment the girl came into arms reach, she thrust the blade forward.

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and turned away instinctively, he could only brace himself for the scream.

Except there was no scream. Instead of the sickening blade-to-flesh sound that Naruto was dreading, the sound that came was the screech of metal against metal. He opened his eyes to see a blur of white and, next thing he knew, he was on the ground. Quickly regaining his composure, he quickly stood up and scurried a safe distance away. Looking to his right, he saw that Hinata was a few feet away from where she stood a second ago. He rushed towards her and pulled her away, she was visibly shaken and kept a tight grip on his arm.

"Are you ok?" He asked frantically.

She nodded very slowly, almost as if she herself were unsure.

Naruto turned back to the sickly looking woman and, to his shock, saw that she was locked in battle with someone else.

"Sensei!"

Both women used a short blade and they moved with such speed that it was difficult to follow. With a single quick swipe, Nina cut the woman's head off. No blood was seen as it toppled to the ground.

Everything was still for a moment before the head twitched and began rolling. It moved behind the still upright body and stopped.

A split second later, Nina had blocked the jab of the headless woman's dagger. The body continued moving as quickly as it had before, swiping and ducking as if it was fully intact. It wasn't until Nina jumped behind the headless woman that the body suddenly collapsed to the ground, this time it remained motionless.

She stared at the fallen body with no sign of pity.

"What a nuisance, those chakra strings." She muttered before walking over to Naruto and Hinata. "Are you two alright?" She asked softly.

Naruto was in shock. What in the world had just happened? How did the head start moving in its own? What in heaven's name was going on?

"I'll explain later, for now we must hurry. There will be others coming for us soon." She turned and started towards an unknown direction.

"W-Wait! Where are we going?" Naruto demanded as he ran to catch up, Hinata running after him.

"We must hide. They are looking for you." She stated.

"What? But why? Who?" He blurted out.

"I'll explain later." She repeated. She glanced back at Hinata and continued without a word.

"Inside." Nina instructed as they reached a small wooden house, they were far away from most of the village in an area that was sparsely used.

"Wait, this house?" Naruto asked. He recognized this house, this was the one that had the rumor about a witch that lived there.

"Inside." She repeated more firmly.

Naruto gulped and quickly opened the door to the house, motioning for Hinata to follow him.

Five minutes later, the door opened again and Nina entered the small cabin. Naruto looked up from his chair and the questions immediately began.

"Sensei what's happening? Who's causing all the explosions?" He asked.

Nina took a seat on the edge of her bed and let out a breath before answering.

"The village is under attack and the Akatsuki are the ones responsible. Two members entered the village gates a while ago." She explained.

"What did that woman want?" He asked again.

"That woman was not what you think she was. She was not alive. One of the Akatsuki members uses a type of technique called puppetry, controlling puppets from a distance using chakra strings."

It took a minute for Naruto to process this.

"She... she was a... puppet?" He was absolutely shocked. "What are the Akatsuki doing here?"

"Considering the puppet attacked you specifically, I would say that they're after you."

Again Naruto was stunned.

"...me? But why?!"

"More specifically, they want the Kyuubi inside you. I don't know what their intentions are but it must involve using its power for their own benefit. Most likely they are planning to harness its abilities in one way or another. That's why I brought you here, you must stay safe until they're taken care of. Of course, you are welcome to stay as well, Hyūga-san." She turned to Hinata who jumped at the mention of her name. "Speaking of the Akatsuki," Nina stood up and walked over to the door. "I must go help take care of them. I set a barrier around this place so no one will be able to enter while it's up. Do not leave. I will be back soon." She instructed before leaving and closing the door behind her.

Naruto and Hinata sat in silence as they both tried to understand what was happening

"...are you hurt, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked quietly, her hands were trembling ever so slightly.

Naruto shook his head.

"I'm ok, what about you?" He asked. "You must be pretty scared, what happened back there and all..."

"No I'm fine!" She reassured quickly.

A silence settled between them again.

"Um... do you know that lady, Naruto-kun?" She asked quietly.

"Hm? Oh yea, she's my sensei. She's really cool." He smiled as cheerfully as he could.

"Oh, she seems nice." She said with a small smile.

"Yea, and she's strong too, I learned a lot of stuff from her." As he shifted in his chair, something under the desk caught his eye. He leaned sideways to get a better look at it and saw that it was a book. It had a leather cover and seemed to be very old. There was something written on the cover that he couldn't quite make out from where he was.

He hopped off the chair and squatted down to get a better look, Hinata mimicked his movements and knelt next to him.

"What does it say?" She asked softly, tilting her head at the old book.

Naruto squinted.

"The... O...tsut..suki Clan?"

Nina quickly made her way through the village, her eyes focused on the streets below for either of the people responsible for the attack. She had been so focused on the ground that it wasn't until something zipped past her that she realized one of them had to be in the air in order to drop the bombs. She turned to look at what had flown past her and, to her surprise, it was a large, oddly shaped bird. The person standing in its back didn't seem to notice her. She assessed her options: would she take care of the bomber or the puppetmaster first? She reasoned that the latter already knew that Naruto was gone but the one with the bird didn't seem to have realized it yet. They may decide to bomb the whole village if they knew Naruto was far enough away to stay uninjured, and with that in mind, Nina settled to deal with the bomber first. She pushed herself off of the roof of a nearby building and landed softly on the tail of the bird.

The man seemed to notice the shift of weight and glanced behind him.

"Not another one un..." He sighed. "Hey! What do think you're doing?" He yelled at her. He frowned when there was no reply. "I don't like to hurt girls, but if you get in my way you'll end up just like your friends, hmm."

They both fell silent and stared each other down. Then in an instant, she vanished.

"Eh?" He glanced around, but she found him before he found her.

A hard kick to the back sent him flying forward and he was barely able to grab hold of the bird's tail before he fell off. Pulling himself back onto the still flying creature, he reached a hand into the pouch at his side. He almost couldn't see her as she dashed towards him and before he knew it, his free hand had blocked the punch that was aimed at his face. She flipped back and he wasted no time in charging at her with a kunai in hand. The attack missed as she ducked under his arm and grabbed a hold of it. With a good twist, the man was sent off the edge of the bird.

"What the hell!" He yelled as he plummeted through the air.

The bird immediately went diving after him, Nina stumbled in surpise but was able to stay on its back. She pulled a few slips of paper out and stuck them onto the creature's back. She jumped off and landed on the roof of the hospital a few meters below.

An enormous explosion made everyone flinch and look in its direction, the people who dared to take a look outside saw small pieces of what seemed to be clay showering down from the sky.

A loud crash was heard as Deidara hit the ground, large cracks forming beneath him.

"Ugh..." He groaned, sitting up and rubbing his head. He looked up to see the same woman standing a few feet in front of him. "Hey! What was that for?!" He demanded.

"Brat, couldn't you even keep your poor excuse for art flying?" A voice from behind him growled.

"Sorry, Sasori un. Ran into some trouble." The blonde stated as he stood up.

The man named Sasori didn't seem very pleased, but this time he was looking at Nina.

"You're the one who broke my chakra strings." He stated with what must have been a glare. "Let's see if you're good enough to join my collection." From behind the hunched man appeared a puppet with vivid blue hair, it charged at her with unblinking eyes and stunning speed. A stream on tiny senbon needles shot out of the puppet's sleeve, flying faster than eyes could follow.

Nina jumped up, managing to avoid all of them except one that tore the hem of her sleeve. She dashed towards the puppet and when they were close enough, it swung an arm at her. She ducked and ran straight passed it, her eyes locked with the puppetmaster's. Her stare was broken by another puppet that appeared before her, it drew the sword from its side and slashed at her neck. Jumping to the side, she dodged the blade and tried to knock it out of its grip, only to be stopped by its other hand. She turned her arm to grip its wrist and kicked the elbow, effectively snapping the arm in half. Knowing that the injury wouldn't deter it for long, she slipped past it and again headed for the one named Sasori. Only he wasn't there. The spot he had just been was empty. In her moment of hesitation, the second puppet lunged forward with its sword and plunged it into her back.

For a moment, everything was still before she vanished into a puff of smoke. When it cleared, she was gone.

A loud cracking noise was heard right before Sasori jumped out from a tree, Nina emerging after him. They both landed on the ground, facing each other with obvious distaste. Wasting no time, she dashed towards him, he dodged a kick and ducked under a punch and managed to avoid all of her attacks. With the rustling of his cloak, a long, bony tail emerged and swung at her legs. She jumped and lunged at him again. The tail blocked her way as it jabbed at her neck, shuriken flying out of its sides. She knocked away all the blades that came near her and, with a chakra infused fist, struck the tail as it swung towards her.

Snap

The end of the tail clattered to the ground.

Everything seemed go quiet.

After a long moment of silence, Sasori pulled back and the tail retreated, disappearing behind him again. Though she couldn't see his face, he seemed to frown.

He turned and began walking, or rather, dragging himself, away. Nina stared at the short, hunched form of the man as he returned back to his partner who had just finished constructing another large clay bird identical to the one that had been destroyed.

"Brat. We're leaving." Sasori stated as he jumped onto the bird.

The blonde stared at him questioningly.

"What, un? But we haven't got- ?"

"Now."

The blonde frowned, clearly not agreeing with the man, but jumped onto the back of the bird nonetheless.

"Fine, but you're explaining it to Master, hm." He said. The bird suddenly came to life, flapping its wings and throwing up dust as it rose up and flew away, soon completely disappearing from sight.

"What happened?!" Tsunade yelled at the assembled jonin. "Why didn't any of you intervene?! The woman could have been a civilian!"

The shinobi didn't dare look her in the eye, but one of them had the courage to speak up.

"Lady Tsunade, the woman was undoubtedly a shinobi, and a skilled one too, she was able to d-"

"Quiet!"

The man immediately fell silent.

"I don't care if she was a shinobi, she's not one of our own and it wasn't her responsibility to drive off the Akatsuki! None of you did your job today, instead you let what may have been a foreign kunoichi do it for you!"

No dared to make a sound.

"Get out!" She yelled.

The jonin quickly shuffled out of the office, eyes glued to the ground the whole way.

Tsunade sighed angrily and sat back in her chair with arms crossed. An anbu wearing an owl mask appeared in front of her, kneeling respectfully.

"Report." He stated evenly.

Tsunade sighed again and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"What?" She demanded.

"Our members reported feeling as if they were under a genjutsu while surveying the interactions between the Akatsuki members and the woman. The Investigations Branch confirmed that a genjutsu had been casted over the area surrounding the battle." He informed monotonously.

Tsunade crossed her legs and rested her head in her hands.

"So we don't know what she really looks like. Or if she was even a woman." The Senju stated tiredly. "Well this is just great."

"However," The anbu spoke again. "The genjutsu seems to have been casted hastily and may have skipped over some of the civilians in the nearby buildings."

This caused her to look up.

"So if someone who was unaffected had been looking outside..." She mumbled slowly. "Then we could get information on who the person really was!" She quickly stood up and began scribbling something down. After a minute of concentration, she handed the paper to the anbu member. "Start organizing a interview of all the civilians in the buildings surrounding the battle areas, they should still all be inside so hurry!" She commanded.

"Yes, ma'am." The man bowed and disappeared, paper in hand.

Tsunade turned and looked out at the village, a worried frown plastered on her face. She stared at the broken streets and torn buildings. She watched as civilians began peeking out doors and windows, seeing if it was finally safe to come out. She saw shinobi in green vests dash around the village and console those who were scared while tending to anyone who had been injured.

Among the waves of anger and frustration, one thought stood out.

'This won't happen again. They'll pay.'