Chapter 19 - Danger from above

                                    

                                          
Naruto stood up, put on his remotely dry clothes, and furiously wiped away his tears. He abruptly stopped moving. "I sense two chakra's coming our way rapidly."
                          
Kurama had noticed it as well. His eyes grew wide and his ears lay flat on his head. The fur on his back stood straight up. "Hide your chakra and stay under the ridge, it's coming from above us." The Nine-Tails replied tensely.
                          
Naruto did as he was told. His chakra now much too low to be sensed. He slowly waited out the ominous feeling of being watched. He knew that the two chakra sources were somewhere up in the air, and he knew they were circling in his proximity as if they were looking for him. He cursed inwardly as the sun was beginning to set.
                          
He felt the two chakra sources coming closer, as they had landed on the ground not too far from his hiding place. It sounded like they had been traveling on a creature with wings. He couldn't use a transformation or transportation jutsu to escape the pressing situation. The rise in chakra would lead the two straight to him. So he waited quietly, his back pushed against the rocky walls.
                          
Suddenly, he was thrown away by an invisible force. He flew forward and landed roughly on the ground about 15 meters further. His ears were ringing and he saw smoke elevating around him. "A bomb?" His confused mind wondered as he grabbed his painfully abraded skin.
                          
"There he is. I told you I could smell him out!" He heard a voice call.
                          
"Ugh, would you stop bragging already, it's not like smelling someone out means anything. It was my explosive art which send him flying." A second voice said clearly annoyed.
                          
"If I have to hear about your art one more time I swear I'm going to kill myself again." The first voice answered crudely.
                          
"Not that again Hidan."
                          
"Are you even sure this brat is a junchūriki?"
                          
"Yes. He's the junchūriki from the Leaf, the Kyuubi vessel. You'll see as soon as his chakra spikes up."
                          
Both shinobi walked towards Naruto, who was crawling back up. "Who are you! And why did you attack me!" He demanded to know.
                          
As soon as he saw their headbands, which carried the symbols of Yugakure and Iwagakure, but with a deep scratch running through them, he feared the worst. "You're missing ninja..." He muttered.
                          
"Even better junchūriki. We are rogue ninjas who work with the Akatsuki." The taller one replied.
                          
Naruto heard him being called 'Hidan'. He carried a giant triple-bladed scythe that looked incredibly dangerous. The other one, who was blond, wasn't carrying anything except for a long black cloak with a red cloud pattern as his partner wore as well, but apparently, he was able to use explosives, Naruto guessed.
                          
"I got to get out of here!" Naruto thought to himself. He'd heard enough about the Akatsuki members to figure out that he was no match for two of them at the same time. "If only I could signal Kakashi somehow..." He mused.
                          
"You concentrate on the fight. I'll take care of signaling Hatake." Kyuubi answered, concern evident in his voice.
                          
Naruto took a fighting stance and awaited his opponent's first moves. He didn't know enough about the pair to attack first. He had to be patient, as Kakashi had taught him. A painful sneer crossed his heart when he thought about Kakashi. "What if I get killed here? What if they take me and the last thing I said to him was 'screw you'." Naruto thought as he choked up.
                          
"NARUTO! Focus on the fight!" Kurama furiously spat at him.
                          
"Right," Naruto said putting his thoughts to the side.