Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Naruto series, the only characters Akumu, Jigoku, and Tengoku are my characters.

{Before the Destruction }

"Akumu, get up." Orochimaru yelled. I tried my hardest to lift my numb arms to raise my beaten body. Blood slowly dripped down my arms, the wounds were already healing but they still burned like acid on my skin. I finally positioned myself on my knees when I felt my strength slowly returning. Lifting a shaking leg, I placed my hand on the ground letting my foot steady itself against the solid ground.

"Yes Master Orochimaru." I said wiping the blood from my face as I nodded at him. I put my hand on my knee and pushed myself up, waiting for my leg to give way underneath me I cringed as my newly sprained ankle hit the floor. Panting heavily, I waited for his next command, praying for some relief to make its presence known.

Kabuto, Orochimaru's head medical ninja, then ran in the training arena and whispered something in Orochimaru's ear. In his excitement however his whisper came out as more of a normal toned voice, "Orochimaru-sama, I have located the remaining Uchiha boy. He's old enough to be taking the Chunin exams and with Kakashi as his teacher there's no way he won't be participating."

"Akumu," Orochimaru said looking at me. I looked at him; a shiver ran through my body as if something wanted to escape as I waited to hear what he wanted. "Prepare dinner for the three of us while we attend to some Leaf Village business. I bowed silently lowering my red eyes and stiffly walked out of the room.

I waited outside the doorway until I heard their footsteps fade away into the darkness of the other side of the training arena. I instantly fell to the floor in a heap, 'these training exercises are getting ridiculous.' I coughed, my lungs feeling like they were filled with cement. I breathed in the damp air and rested allowing myself to gain some strength before moving once more.

"Akumu?" a familiar voice called. My eyes struggled to focus in the darkness as I tried to figure out who called my name. I felt a hand gently help me up and set me against the wall for support. "Is he training you hard again? Man I remember when you first showed up here." He laughed and leaned against the wall beside me. "Go figure one of the people you hated most when you first got here is now an inseparable part of your team." He smiled.

I laughed happily, holding my ribs as if they would break from my fit. "Yeah Jigoku you always had a way of getting the better of people." I jabbed him playfully in the ribs, "That's the reason I couldn't stand you when dad brought me home." He smiled and offered me a hand, his blue eyes warm and inviting, I gladly took it and we walked down the deserted hallway together.

"What would pops think if he knew lil' Akumu was being escorted around his kingdom hmm?" Jigoku smirked as we entered the little kitchen where I was to make dinner for Kabuto and Orochimaru. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the sink to grab the medical kit from under it while Jigoku rummaged through the cabinets to find some food to start cooking. He turned and held up some old packages of rice and made a disgusted face, "Why does he insist on eating this stuff? Where's the meat in this place anyways?"

"You're always welcome to take care of our rat problem but we aren't about to go hunting them for you." I said tossing him a pot. He grabbed it and stuck it in the sink with the water running and turned to look at the directions. "You're not much of a cook I see."

"They put the directions in English?" he complained.

"Not much of a scholar either then." I laughed taking the box from him. He pouted and turned off the water as I read the directions out loud. "Boil water, add rice and cover, then remove from heat; still covered, and let cool. Fluff and enjoy." I said smirking as I tossed the box back to him. His glare grew as the box opened in midair and fell over him and into his reddish-brown hair. I immediately slapped my hand across my face to hide my laughter, but I'm fairly sure that he knew what I was doing when my face turned red and I fell twitching to the floor, my black hair falling around me exaggerating my beet red face.

"Laugh all you want Red, I'll get you back yet!" He cried bolting out of the room. As soon as his feet passed the threshold I burst out laughing. I could hear his growl as tears rolled down my face, until my laughter filled my own ears and hiccupping I stopped laughing. I got up holding my sides with a big smile on my face as I set the water on the stove and turned the gas on and lit a match. Carefully I stuck the match under the pot until the now lit flame nearly burned my fingers. I bent over to make sure it was lit then grabbed a chair from the table and pulled it over to the counter to check higher up shelves.

"Darn him for leaving, I'm too short for this," I grumbled grabbing at what seemed like air itself in the cabinets. I placed my hand flat and jerked backward feeling something furry run between my fingers. I grabbed at the cabinet door but continued falling backwards until my foot was barely on the chair. I pushed off with my foot and managed to crash into the table with my back instead of my head. "AIYAA!RRR!" As I tried to get up I heard a sickening crack and my eyes must have been the size of plates as the table beneath me cracked and fell.

"Hehe." I heard as I tried to get out of the mass of wooden table parts around me. I looked up to see Jigoku spinning a screwdriver in his hands with a satisfied smirk on his face. I growled and bolted after him as he ran down the hallway.

"I'll show you! Come back here you wicked piece of HELL!" I growled running after him. I heard his laughter echo around the corner and abruptly end. I skidded around the corner and ran right into him stuttering before someone. I punched him and tackled him to the ground. "I'M GOING TO STRANGLE YOU!" I yelled shaking him violently.

"AKUMU." Someone demanded. I slowly stopped shaking him and turned to see Orochimaru standing with his arms crossed and looking at me disappointedly. Without breaking eye contact I got off of Jigoku, who was now bleeding and shaking on the floor, and stood before Orochimaru with innocent eyes. "What is this about?"

"He dumped rice on himself then to get back at me laughing at him he made the table break." I said quietly.

"You broke the table?" Orochimaru glared at me.

"No! I swear it wasn't my fault, Jigo, he made me fall onto the table and loosened the screws so it would collapse!" I pleaded.

"You still broke the table Akumu." Orochimaru argued.

"But Dad!" I cried.

"No 'buts' Akumu. Clean up the mess and go to your room for the rest of the night." He said and glanced over my shoulder at the semi-bloody pulp that was Jigoku. "And Drag him to his room as well. I'll have Tengoku go out and get us food. And all three of you will report to my office in the morning."

"Dad!" I cried again but he stared into my eyes and held up his hand notifying me to stop. He turned and whispered something to Kabuto who vanished into a purple mist.

"Goodnight you two." Orochimaru said before he too vanished. I turned around and glared at Jigoku. He looked up at me and then avoided eye contact.

"Why must we do this every Monday night Jigo?" I growled at him. He smiled up at me.

"Simple, it's fun getting on your old man's nerves without him getting mad enough to send us to the gallows." Jigo said standing up. He dusted off his pants and I punched him hard in the chest. "Ouch!" he rubbed his chest gingerly, "Oh yeah, the bruise you left from last week was fading, I wanted to get it renewed." He smiled and I punched him again but not as hard.

"You sure now how to manipulate people," I said starting to walk towards my room, "Every time you make me break something it's always my fault." I nudged him with a slight smile. "You still have to teach me that one."

"Of course dear, all we have is time around here." Jigoku laughed. Within minutes we were going our separate ways and all we had to look forward to was tomorrow morning.