Kakashi dodged back as another volley of snakes was released from the mouth of the snake sannin. He'd been fighting with the sharingan for upwards of 3 hours now and exhaustion was setting in. Why now? He'd been out on a normal C ranked escort mission and it appeared he'd stumbled into something he shouldn't have… He couldn't back away now though. They were only 25 miles away from Konoha and Sakura would kill him if he let Orochimaru get away without gleaning some information concerning Sasuke. So he might as well go down fighting against a ninja that was widely acknowledged as one of the most powerful and dangerous that has ever walked on the surface of the earth; than his 17 year old ex-student.

'Why are you here Orochimaru? I wouldn't have thought even you would be stupid enough to come back to Konoha after what you did!'

Come on, stall dammit stall! Where are the ANBU I sent for? I can't last much longer on my own…

'Who said I'm here to molest Konoha? This is merely a coincidence my being this close to my old village… If you were smart you'd let me continue on my way and keep your miserable life!'

10 kunai suddenly flew out at him from nowhere. If it hadn't been for the sharingan then he would be dead. As it was he only managed to dodge 7, the other 3 kunai lodging themselves into his chest to create more deep gashes to accompany the cuts and stabbings he had received so far. Orochimaru hadn't even gotten scratched yet.

'I don't believe you! I will die rather than let you go after what you have done!'

'THAT CAN BE ARRANGED!'

Orochimaru performed a series of hand signs that Kakashi picked up perfectly with his sharingan eye; and which widened considerably when he realised what was happening. Oh shit!

'Fution: Issen Bureido no Jut…' (1)

Orochimaru stopped suddenly as he was hit hard across the back of his head. There was a girl standing weakly behind him.

'Hurt me all you like but you will not bring others into this conflict!'

'Silence you foolish girl!'

Orochimaru backhanded the girl halfway across the clearing where she lay limp like a doll. He turned around to attack her again but was pulled up short by the sudden appearance of over 30 members of ANBU.

'Hah! You think you can take me! Well come on then you pathetic puppies, let's see what you've got!'

'Yes we can take you… You may have more jutsu than us, but we have the upper hand!'

Tsunade was standing next to Kakashi who had finally fallen due to blood loss and was being given medical treatment by Sakura. Jiraiya joined the ANBU on the other side of the clearing, quickly followed by Hyuuga Hiashi and Naruto. Orochimaru's face was livid.

'I won't forget this Tsunade. I'll see you again soon!'

There was a powerful wind that made it impossible to see, and when it ceased Orochimaru was no longer there. His chakra signature however could be clearly read moving swiftly away from the battle site.

'Hokage-sama shall we give chase?'

'No. We have injured and we are not powerful enough yet to fight him on his own terms, we also don't know if the village is secure enough to send of our best ninja. That might have been his plan to weaken us for another attack.'

Tsunade walked over to where the girl had fallen and checked her vitals.

'She's still alive. We'll take her back to Konoha for medical treatment. After all she did just save the life of one of our most powerful Jounin. It's the least we can do.'

'Hai!'

Ooooooo

Bleep. Bleep. Bleep. Bleep. Bleep. Bleep.

White hospital roof tiles blinked into view as the unknown girl regained consciousness. She was vaguely aware of messengers being sent to the 'Hokage-sama' to alert said person of this fact. Ah. Hokage. That must mean she was in Konoha. She was top of her class in politics and was proud of it. At least she wouldn't shove her foot in it. Hopefully.

She checked her chakra levels. Still practically nonexistent. Great; that genjutsu had taken more out of her than she'd realized. Looking down at the armband she wore, she realized it would be useless to try and call for help in the state she was in; and besides she didn't want to draw attention to her home village.

Instead she checked out her surroundings so that she would at least not appear to be a gawking idiot when the Hokage arrived. The room was pretty ordinary as far as hospital rooms go. 6 metal beds with white sheets, 3 on each side of the room, plain functionary chairs lined up next to the beds. Sitting up she noticed 3 masked men in front of her, these must be the ANBU black ops she had read about. Next to them was a man with the lower half of his face obscured by a mask; and his hitai-ate pulled down over his left eye.

'Yo.'

'Um, Hi.'

'So sleeping beauty finally awakes.' A large busted woman in her late 30's barged into the room. 'I'm Tsunade, Godaime Hokage (2) of Konoha.'

'Moriko…'

'Well Moriko-san we'd like to ask you some questions if you don't mind. I've summoned Morino Ibiki, one of our questioners… He's worked up some questions.'

Questioners? Is that a new politically correct form of saying 'you are about to be interrogated so you'd best start remembering…'

A scarred man walked calmly into the room. Moriko studied his face without embarrassment; he'd obviously been burned in the past quite badly. She couldn't help wondering if her village's medicine would have been more effective than the slapshot effort shown in his features. But then again she didn't know the extent of the injuries when he initially got them so who was she to judge?

'You may refer to me as Ibiki-san… And you are?'

'Moriko.'

If they wanted to play 20 questions then that was what they were gonna get…

'Well then Moriko. Why were you in the Land of Fire close to the gates of Konoha?'

'Orochimaru had taken me against my will. It wasn't a conscious decision to appear near Konoha. It just sorta happened.'

'Right… Why did Orochimaru want you?'

'Orochimaru is under the impression that I slighted him when I was younger… It has nothing to do with Konoha and that is all you are going to learn on that issue.'

Moriko's face had shuttered as she thought about her situation and it was obvious to anyone trained in interrogation that she wasn't lying.

'That's Ok. As long as we have your solemn word that the slight that you caused him does not affect Konoha or the Land of Fire. Where are you from?'

Moriko raised shocked eyes to the inquiring eyes of Morino Ibiki.

'You mean you don't know? Tell me. How much do you know about Kagegakure?' (3)

Ooooooo

Wind Release: Thousand Blade Technique – one of Orochimaru's powerful wind techniques; a fierce wind will whip round both opponent and user, blades then form that are impossible to dodge or see.

Godaime Hokage – 5th Hokage (head ninja of Konoha)

Kagegakure – Village hidden in the shadows