Not a bad set up. I like how you went into the possible future of Naruto and bring Sauske back to Konoha. Pretty impressive. My story is not as long as yours but I am working on it. You should read it sometime. If you do, could you please review it? I would appreciate it. Maybe you could give me some pointers on how I should write it or continue/ change the storyline. It's your choice if you want to or not. I'm not making you do anything you don't want to. Well, until some later date.

When will you update~

He knows what? HE KNOWS WHAT?

The suspense is killing me! Don't tell me you've given up on this fanfic, have you? Any possible way I could persuade you to continue? Cookies? Part of my book? More cookies? Pics from anime convention?

I'm so glad to see an update. I thought you've given up this fic. You kinda left a cliff-hanger though. Now i'm all curious as to what's going to happen.

Wow, I'm confused now. Kaiya and Hakai? *brain hurts* It was good though! I love that song, it's from Spirit right?

Beautiful, slow, compassionate, those are the very words that describe this chapter. After such a hectic, well coordinated, exhilarating, and thrilling show of thunder and lightning by the ANBU and the Ataksuki...after that tidal wave of energy, that waterfall of power, and that maelstrom of destruction, you settled down the temper of this story with such a melodic chapter, that seemed to have such a quiet nature to it. It was a chapter, one in which that had the subtle details that define the beauties in life, like love, caring, determination, and hope, all bathed in an ambient nature of peacefulness.
No one needs to go far to see where these details are coming from. Kaiya's tears, her closeness to Hakai, her caring nature towards Sasuke, Sasuke's recovery, his flashbacks, the lullaby, the training, the playing around...all of it screams the real things all heroes want to protect. They all want to protect that which is sacred in their lives, and that is happiness, the type of happiness granted by unselfish behavior. The act of healing, of conversing, of sharing, that kind of unselfish behavior.
But, there is another unselfish type of behavior and that is the one very well defined by the actions that these ninjas have to always undertake to make sure that they protect that sacred state of happiness and peace. It is the peace after war and bloodshed that is most cared for, and that is the state which is most sacred to warriors, and the actions in which to protect that peace is the unselfish type of behavior, in my opinion. Its a circle! They fight to protect the happiness that grows out of the peace from a previous fight.
Your story shows this like no other. Constant battling, constant engagements, flashbacks of horrible nightmares, anguish, the pain of wanting revenge, loneliness, loss, all these things the ninja suffers just to protect the kind of elements that are present in this chapter. Beautiful chapter!

You remember that I mentioned about how your pure action chapters are utterly amazing, to the point where I try and imagine every fight scene just to get the right scene down in my head? Well, I guess this chapter does the exact same thing...BUT 10,0 TIMES MORE! You had more close calls, more run-ins, more encounters, more jutsus, and physical attacks, more tension, suspense and bolt riveting action in each second than most of your chapters combined! And I guess I'd have to expect that when we're talking about Konoha's finest versus the most notorious, most highly regarded, most highly feared, and elite of all missing-nin!
Akatsuki in itself is an ensemble of the most powerful ninjas of their time, and the fact that their goals and methods of mission executions, are in the intellectual levels of experienced Kage's speaks volumes for how efficient and how dangerous the group really is! The fact of the matter is that Akatsuki are powerful ninjas, both mind and body and 'something' of a phenomenal entity all their own!
Konoha's finest are pretty darn up there! We're talking about physical attacks faster than what the brain can process, to the point where kicks are almost invisible! And we're talking about genjutsus and ninjutsu attacks, plus strategies that could place a 3 man ANBU team in the equivalent line of an entire army of soldiers! These guys are prodigies themselves, both of hard work and natural skill, and for them to all be amalgamated onto a single team only means we're dealing with the elite of the elite!
Now clash those groups together, no matter the number or the size, and you have a real war waging between only a few people! This is like placing two countries against each other, considering their skill and knowledge. Imagine what would happen if they collided! Wait a minute...I don't have to! You just covered that aspect PERFECTLY! It was utterly perfect, and way up there, to the point of total recognition! Awesome job and Awesome Chapter!

I love this chapter for the fact that the main...um, I guess, idea, covering it, in my opinion, was creating the 'building up' or preliminary sequences, which tend to always precede some form of a massive battle. This is so visible considering that 'someone' had helped Sasuke find the trapdoor within the castle, giving the team the opportunity to attack the opponents through a hidden entrance, and that Hakai had assembled Konoha's finest in an effort to try and thwart any potential deaths on the side of the ANBU team, and finally, with Emasi jetting through the landscapes to try and intercept his friend! With so many sequences happening at one time, all centered around the inevitable encounter with the Akatsuki, it's just so stunning, because the entire thing just means that something BIG is going to happen, and the fact that the ANBU are now face to face with 3 Akatsuki elites, just proves it!
What I also loved was all the smaller details in the chapter, used to get the story riled up! One of them was Hakai's dislike of Gai's sense of discretion, which was funny, and another was what the 3 Akatsuki members said to Sasuke to get him in a state of agitation. But my favorite one was the one describing Hakai's insane speed. Even though the recollection of the past was supposed to show Hakai's generally incredible speed, it had also shed much light on Hakai's dark past. It showed that he had morals because he felt bad for his actions, but that he also had a lot of rage as well, so much so as to kill everyone in the village! It was crazy, because this dark recollection of the past showed that even through the horribly lurid times, something good can happen, like the bond between Hakai and Emasi.
I guess, for a chapter designed to bring intensity for the next chapter, this one is really crazy! Amazing Chapter!

I enjoyed reading your story! I'm only at chapter 3 so it will take a while for me to catch up.

This is Akierin, I just don't feel like logging in. POOR HAKAI! Aw he is the best! That was so touching I almost cried for him. Keep writing!

Wow, this was an extremely tense chapter. And I mean, extremely! More than the action or the ambiance with which I think of this story, you have also covered, as I have already mentioned before, a darker side of story telling. What I'm talking about is the insane amount of suspense and tension. I remember your other chapters had this very feature, but this chapter seems very defining and very precise in terms of nailing this one very intriguing feature. More than anything, it really darkens the story to a whole new level, as your other chapters have done, but for some reason, this one seemed a be lot more effective.
I mean, nothing went wrong, there were no problems, and there weren't any deaths, but even still, this chapter was eerie in a sense. And to prove it, I look no further than the characters themselves. You had Sasuke being uptight and nervous, a state I usually never see him in, but that seemed so natural. You had Emasi get angry at his family, for the first time, and burst out with rage against an adviser for Hakai, due to an action by someone he considers his younger brother. You had Hakai fall under the influence of a group he vowed to leave behind in the past. And finally you had Hokuro reveal a very moral, very hurt side of himself, when he couldn't let the fact that he had killed his teammates, fall behind. All these different characters, all showing more facets of their personalities, really deepens their existence and gives them more life!

Those states that they were in, those very states that seemed to oppose their usual demeanor, were very necessary for this chapter, in my opinion. Because these characters have barely been portrayed in this way, it really does show the immense change in the atmosphere of the story! That's the pure suspense I was talking about! Suspense does that! Suspense always precedes some inevitable and very drastic, dramatic event, and as a result, changes the people we know them to be, because the potential situation (that everyone is in suspense about) calls for it.
Amazing Chapter! It made me realize how much of a powerful element suspense and tension are!

AAH! Why do authors like to end with such...cliffies?! (*CRIES*) Well, thank you for updating! I am still trying to figure out how authors can get the time to typs so much... ^-^!

OMG that was the best fight scene I've ever read in my life! GO HOKURO AND HAKAI! Okay, I had to get that out. Please update soon!

The amazing thing about this chapter were the vastly different natures flying around the story, and though the time lines may have shifted twice or more, the way those different natures were stitched together to form this chapter were pretty incredible!
Of course the first nature I'm talking about is when the Konoha ANBU were trekking through the Blood Pledge Forest. With it already encompassing a dark and gloomy atmosphere, any other dark entity would only heighten the suspense running through that part of the chapter. And indeed there were darker entities...the figure in the dark that Sasuke had caught on to, and that Neji immediately reacted to, the sword in the ground leaking charkra and that dark raven perched on the tree. The way it was all described really intensified the suspense already there.
BUT THEN...A total whip around in the other direction as Takao's birthday was being celebrated! That was awesome! It felt so peaceful and warm, with a strong sense of family even though not many of the people present were even related. And the fact that there was so much support and love and friendship running through every single member present really made the scene beautiful!
BUT...a total 180 degrees and beyond once again! How Hakai's newly developed situation blended into Hokuro's time in the past, that was one of the stitches I was talking about, because that transition was so smooth! The action, the suspense, and the incredible amount of horrific scenes, really demonstrated the dark nature of this story! All I can say about this part of the chapter was that it was the other spectrum of the ninja world that's rarely been seen before.
Incredible as the situation was, I highly doubt any of the intense fear and danger present would have ever been so high, had it not been for the words you were using to describe the situation. The raven ninja's eyes, the method of execution of the previous two jounin, the really horrible torture that the investigative jounins had to go through, and ultimately their clean execution by their friend. The words you used, really defined the importance of what was being read! Incredible Chapter!

Well, he lead them striaght into a trap... I hope that they DO come out alive... (*Gulp!*)