Sleepless D: Second chapter, hope you like. Peace out.

It has been just over a year since the fall of the Leaf village, nearly all of the Shinobi controlled lands have fallen, only small lands at the farthest borders remained in power. But the Sin forces grew in power every day, already rebuilding the damage they caused and some people accepted their rule, no crime, no poverty, no enemies at the borders if they don't consider Sin forces their enemy. There is still bad blood for lost of family and friends, even favoured rulers.

Some rumours have spread that a few Daimyo have escaped and have gone undercover; there were even rumours that the Lightning Nation was defeated by a single man, a General of Sin. When that rumour spread, a couple of surviving Nations put down arms and allowed their leaders to fall. The Earth Nation was only managing to stay in power, strong forces and destroying paths so enemy movement would be slow. The Wind Nation was holding out surprisingly well, the Sin forces weren't use to the hostile environment the Wind Nation has, the rapid temperature changes and the barren lands.

At an area near oceans that the Sin forces landed on at the mainland, a large town that's under construction stands there. The town looks to be mostly focused as a port town with some housing estates, although there seems to be a large army facility near the centre. The Sin forces filled the building and guard round the streets. Though there are several thousand forces crossing the area outside the town while citizens of both the Shinobi lands and those that came overseas. There is a large bridge which goes across the sea and stops at an island across the sea. The island was one of the first nations to fall, it is on occasion known as the Wave Nation, but the names of the Nations weren't used as often anymore.

Back at the centre of the town, at the military facilities, a group has come together inside the building. The group of people wore black and white cloaks and were within a room with seven stone seats sat in a circle and four even larger stone seats that watched over the circle. Only four of the seats were filled in the centre, and two of the large seats were occupied. "Call forth...Mark Frey." One of the occupants of the larger seats orders, sounding serious yet bored at the same time.

"Of course Dan, Dimensional Rift: Time Release..." The other occupant in the large seat says, showing himself as Strife.

A blue ripple above the centre of the circle appears, soon having a man fall and hitting the ground. The man yells in pain and blood splatters on the ground. He slowly gets on his knees, showing Mark Frey, the same wounds and appearance as he was the day he was taken by Strife's ability. "W...What h...happened?" Mark asks, having been talking with Strife during the Hidden Leaf Invasion and taken here.

"It's been one year, two months and thirteen days since you were taken by Strife; we're here to examine your evidence." The first man on the large seats informs him.

Mark looks round, recognising the four in the seat. Beel, Captain of Gluttony, Hiro, Captain of Lust, Midori, Captain of Wrath and Mamoru, Captain of Greed. Mamoru has brown, untidy hair, a small beard, an open vest that shows a very muscular torso, he also has metal gauntlets and boots and seemed bemused. "Hey there Mark, long time no see my friend." Mamoru says. "If this turns out well, I'd like to have a fight with you again." Mamoru says in bemusement. "Heard you fought Lucian who had his blade out, surprised you survived, best fight I had in years."

"What's...going on...?" Mark asks, pain filling through his body.

"You are a traitorous swine! You killed our own forces and dared attack Lucian!" Beel yells, rage printed on his face and is about to stand up to attack him.

"Calm down!" The first man yells, making Beel stop in fear. "Mark Frey...you are prosecuted for the following: attacking of a fellow comrade, betrayal of our...God, killing of your own soldiers, allowing the enemy to escape and causing several of our own soldiers to rebel against us. However, I have been watching you for years...you showed promise, but you never believed in our...God." He says and looks down. "We are allowing the Captains to take vote on whether or not you should be punished or not. Should the vote favour you, you shall not be executed and we'll decide your final fate. Should it be against you...well...since you had been a loyal soldier of Sin, we may grant you a quick death. Your Lieutenant, Atama will take your place and the spot of the Lieutenant shall be Kaien." The man informs Mark.

Mark looks up in confusion. "W-What happened...to Ryusuke?" Mark asks, remembering his second Lieutenant and he should be the first Lieutenant if he loses his position.

The man sighs. "Ryusuke has gone off the grid, along with some of our other forces; they're being hunted as we speak." He tells him. "Back to business...Lucian and Levia have already voted for your dismissal and didn't attend to this, the others shall vote for your innocence...should it be even, I shall take the final vote." He informs him.

Mark coughs hard, confused and angry, a large amount of pain going through his arm as he was still bleeding. "I vote for his release." Mamoru says, chuckling. "I like having those enjoyable fights." He says, gaining a sigh from some of the others.

"I vote for release." Midori says, gaining his attention and was thankful that his rival voted for his innocence.

"I vote for the traitor to be killed!" Beel yells. "No man should fight a comrade!" Beel yells in anger.

Mark is nervous, looking at Hiro and saw him chuckle. "I vote for him to be free, it'll be fun to see him try and kill one of us again." Hiro says, looking at Midori and made a kissing face, but made her look repulsed.

Mark sighs, grateful that he was safe and looks at the last man, never actually seeing the man, but saw him look to the roof. "Mark...as your vote is equal...I hereby...condemn you to death." He states, sounding disappointed and made Mark's heart stop in shock.

Midori and Mamoru were shocked by this, about to complain, but a pressure of the man's power skyrockets, soon seeing the people in the black and white cloaks fall to their knees as well. "But...I...this God ...it is horrible! We kill innocent...people!" Mark yells, ignoring the power in anger and his wounds stops bleeding. "This God is a fake! He's more of a demon than a God! A God doesn't kill innocent people!" Mark yells.

The man vanishes; someone grabs Mark's shoulder, making Mark scream in pain, feeling like his life force was being sucked out of him while something burnt his shoulder. "Don't...ever...call him a demon...I know demons...and he isn't a demon!" The man says, smashing the side of Mark's head, knocking him out.

"Man Dan...You really are brutal when you have to be." Strife says, putting his feet up and looks at the roof.

Xxxxx

Mark coughs hard, feeling pain through his body, his head splitting like he was hit in the head. He pushes himself up, soon trying to stand up, but his legs wouldn't allow him and he just stays on his knees. Beads of sweat run down his face and feels small pebbles fall from his face from where he was laying. He looks around, seeing nothing but darkness, but he hears movement, something that wasn't an animal and wondered what was going on. "Hello?" Mark calls weakly.

"Another prisoner...Seems powerful as well..." A voice came, making him confused as the person had a young voice, emotionless and hard to tell if it was male or female.

"Who's there?" Mark asks, hearing more scuffling.

"We're what you'd call prisoners...traitors...realists...make your pick mate." Another voice came, obviously a male this time.

"Your aura seems familiar." A new voice came, dark and croaky. "Who are you?" He asks.

"Mark Frey...former Captain of Sloth." Mark says, hearing yells of anger and a dark chuckle.

"Zabuza Momochi, former ANBU and Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist, this is Haku and Takumi...there are others, but they're in separate cells." Zabuza says in reply; rather have pleasantries since it's been weeks since they got someone new.

"Mist village...that was...I was there when it fell...I was forced to kill the leader..." Mark says, making everyone quiet.

"You were the one to kill him?" The first voice asks. "Zabuza wished to kill him first." The person says.

"Yeah, that is true, and we were to help him, right Haku?" The first male voice asks in bemusement, almost like.

"Takumi...don't push me." Haku replies, slightly annoyed by Takumi's light mood and makes Takumi chuckle lightly more.

"So why are you here...since I didn't think that a Captain would become a prisoner from his own people." Zabuza says, chuckling slightly.

"I turned against my own in the middle of the invasion of...the Leaf village I think the locals called it." Mark tells them, trying to remember everything. "So...were you captured during the invasion of the Mist?" Mark asks his fellow prisoners, feeling some killing intent from most of the others.

"We fled, knowing the village was done for...we fled and fought small groups of the Sin forces for several months. However, in the end, we were captured...taken by surprise by a small force and one of the Captains being there. We'd have died, but the Captain knocked us out...can't remember who it was, female with black hair." Zabuza says.

Mark thought for a second, but shook the thought from his mind, wondering what he should do. 'Should I try to escape...but how? Do I just wait for...death to come?' He ponders. "We've got time to kill...want to keep talking?"

"Sure...why not." Zabuza says, being relaxed as he has been waiting for the right moment, wondering if his other followers were within this building.

Xxxxxxxxxx

At a mountain, several hundred miles away, a small, makeshift village stands halfway up the mountains, some toads' stands at each corner of the village. Jiraiya knew of a village that was here for years, however, nearly all the residence have either left or died by old age, he brought everyone that was with him from the Leaf village.

The living residents were busy building houses for everyone, their few numbers and short supply made it difficult. The people did try to live normal lives, but they knew there was little hope for that if the Sin forces kept advancing. The children of the Leaf were assisting people every way they can, after mourning their loved ones and friends. Jiraiya even makes them do the hardest chore, like carry heavy objects, farming chores and quick trips around areas, building their bodies.

Naruto Uzumaki, Rock Lee and Kiba Inuzuka were doing very well in those areas, sometimes complaining, but they did find they were getting stronger. The girls and Shino were less effective since they don't have the body to lift, or in Shino's case, explains that his clan doesn't specialise in muscle endurance.

Jiraiya did provide some training about being a ninja for them, but since Jiraiya wasn't good on judging when they're pushing too hard and accidently knock a few out. But the students hardly complained in that area, knowing that they need to train, and that training so they can take revenge for what they've lost. Their home, their family, their friends, 'their' life time supply of ramen, whatever their reason for training; they try their hardest so they can achieve it.

Anko remains by herself most of the time, doing scouting and occasionally coming back covered in blood and some weapons for the villagers to use. Jiraiya is more serious than he's ever been, continuingly thinking of the village he left behind, his Sensei and wondering if Tsunade is alright. But every time he looks at Naruto, he lightens up and hopes that things will be alright, knowing Naruto is the son of two of the strongest ninja of the Leaf, Kami rest their souls.

As for the individual students, Naruto seems less bright and smiles a little less than his friends remember. He does whatever training he can do, believing that he sneaks out without detection at night to train, but Jiraiya, Anko and Hinata notice this and feel sorry for him. But Naruto keeps his dream in mind on becoming the Hokage, not knowing if that title is gone forever, but he believes that he can still achieve it.

Hinata, she is more quiet than usual, wondering if her family ever made it out, wondering if her bodyguard Ko is alright and her sister. She does cry on occasion, but she has become friends with Sakura and Ino, giving her some comfort and she feels the occasional happiness when she's close to Naruto, rarely talking, but happy when they do.

Sakura, she still morns the loss of her family, but she's determined to train and has been helping and studying under an Herbalist. Ino still wonders if her family is safe, praying every night that they are, trying to practice her family's Jutsu since she was only taught the basics a few times, but works with Sakura whom was her best friend. The two still wondered about Sasuke, wondering if he's alive, if he's easily killing the Sin forces, but the image of Sasuke seems to be harder to remember for them.

Kiba and Akamaru trained hard, not as much as the others, but he believes his family is strong enough to hold their ground, missing them, but he didn't show it. Shino, he found the training a little difficult since he was never trained this way, but he ensured that the small hive within him grew strong and they're ready for any battle. Lee found it difficult, but Jiraiya discovered his disability in chakra and lets him focus in Taijutsu, hoping that he'd at least be a decent Shinobi since that seems to be his dream.

Xxx

It is night time, Naruto is breathing hard, he is trying to do the basic Jutsus that he was taught in the Academy, but he has difficulty with them before and now wasn't any different. Naruto looks at the pathetic excuse of a clone of his, his eyes emotionless as he walks away; feeling exhausted and staggers a little as he walks away. 'Why can't I use that? Why does everything I do seem to be not enough?' Naruto wonders, his chakra coils burning from overuse.

He fails to notice Hinata hiding behind a rock, watching him train and fail in Jutsu's the academy teachers taught him and some basic Jutsus that Jiraiya gave them. After a few seconds, she saw Naruto sit and lean against a tree, she soon sees that he has fallen asleep and smiles slightly. She came from round the rock and walks over to him, seeing Naruto breathing slowly; she places a blanket over him and hopes he'd be alright.

Hinata fails to notice the elderly man Jiraiya, sitting on a large toad, watching them and he sighs. 'Looks like people are already accepting each other as family...' Jiraiya says to himself, already seeing them help and occasionally laugh with each other, hoping that they'll find peace of what they lost.

A person lands near him, not having to guess that it was Anko. "Hey..." She says, sitting next to him and seeing Hinata quickly walking back to the hut she shared with the others. "Tell me something, those midnight trips you take, you're just killing Sin forces...right?" Jiraiya asks her, looking and seeing some bloody bandages on her.

"Yeah...I'm trying to get any information on them, or hoping that I'm keeping others safe by killing them." Anko says, her eyes tired and looks at Jiraiya. As her hand glides over particular weapon she got from the man who saved her life six months ago.

Flashback

Anko was low enough on chakra that any Ninjutsu would kill her via chakra exhaustion, and there are six more Sin soldiers left. "Damn it..." She whispers in frustration. "Of all the times...to be too low on...chakra, now has got to...be the worst." She stated before feeling her leg shoot in pain when a bullet grazes her leg, making blood splatter across the tree she was near and her leg gave way to the shock of the shot.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Wondered a rifleman. He smirks slightly at the sight of Anko, seeing her breathe heavily. "Not bad looking...if you remove the blood, the sweat and the clothes." He states, gaining a couple of laughter from the others.

A man wearing cleaner and tighter uniform then the others walks forward, looking at the woman with hate in her eyes. "Kill her." He orders.

The other men look surprised by this. "Aren't our orders to capture any hostile heathens Sir?" One of them asks.

"One doesn't matter, kill her." He tells them.

"Can't we just have a little fun with her Sir? I haven't had any action since I left my wife back home." One of the men says.

"No, I ordered you to kill her." The Officer tells them, hate in his eyes.

"Come on, just a little-" Began the man, but the Officer pulled out a pistol and fires at the man's head at point blank range.

Blood and brains splatter across the area, shocking the other men and made them back away. "Kill her." He orders.

"...Sir! You just killed Derik!" One of the riflemen yells.

"Why don't you kill the bitch if you want her dead so badly?" Another yells.

"She doesn't even deserve to have the privilege to be killed by an Officer. And he was refusing orders." The Officer stated, glaring at Anko as if she isn't worth living in the same world as him.

Anko feels anger towards the man, but that is soon filled with fear as the other riflemen aim their rifles at Anko, aiming to make her unrecognisable. Anko closes her eyes, wishing she had killed a few more before she died. Shots were heard, echoing around the world and Anko flinched in fear, but nothing seemed to happen.

Anko reopened her eyes to see a man with fair skin, brown hair and ice cold blue eyes wearing a black leather duster, wide brimmed fedora, sleeveless black T-shirt with demonic skull, a pair of blue jeans and combat boots holding a revolver. "It seems I'm finding myself more and more reasons to be glad I deserted such slime." He stated as he reloaded the weapon.

Anko looked at him and then round the area, soon spotting three riflemen hiding in the bushes, but they wore red versions of the Sin uniform, walking out and taking the weapons of the blue uniformed Sin forces. "What...why did you just kill your comrades?" Anko asked in confusion.

"We're not comrades anymore." The man stated.

"Then why are they wearing practically the same uniform?" She asks in confusion.

"It allows us to recognise each other during a skirmish!" One of the riflemen says, smiling a little too brightly.

"...It was their idea." The pale man stated.

"Okay...Do you feel any remorse at all for killing former comrades?" Anko then asks.

He looked her dead in the eyes and asked in an emotionless tone. "Would you?"

Anko laughed dryly. "Well aren't you a heartless-oomph." She soon realised that this seemingly heartless monster was kissing her so she tried to resist. She stopped when she, much to her surprise, found out that there was much more to this kiss than she thought. She could feel his hopes, dreams, fears, and even feelings of love?

"I've been watching you for some time now..." He panted after breaking the kiss. "And have found myself admiring your beauty." Anko touched her lips before looking her saviour in the eyes who asked. "Do you still believe I'm a heartless monster?"

It was his turn to be surprised as she kissed him with intense ferocity. "I don't know...but you sure are an insane bastard, that's for sure." She says with a small smirk and leans towards his ear without using her bad leg. "You could prove me otherwise." She whispered, licking his ear a little with a strange snake like tongue.

They spent the next two hours going over what the other knows about the patrol movements and patching Anko's leg up. The man then stood up and stated. "You should leave; otherwise, you'll be late and suspect something."

Anko looked into the icy blue eyes of her saviour and asked. "Could you tell me your name before I go?" The man's features softened so slightly that you wouldn't notice it unless you were looking for it.

"I'm Ryusuke Kenta." He informed her with a bow and extended his hand. "May I ask yours?"

Anko was surprised by the gesture before smiling and giving him her hand. "Anko Mitarashi, The Snake Mistress." He then kissed her hand, but was then flicked in the head for doing that and she bided farewell and vanished in an explosion of leafs.

Flashback End

Since then Anko and Ryusuke had met multiple times over, and had even become an actual couple three months ago. He had even given her a revolver which was hand crafted just for her, although she doesn't fully understand the revolver. She then turns to the Toad Sannin. "You have one guess on where I get the weapons from." She tells him, chuckling slightly and made Jiraiya chuckle as well.

"Well, that's a bit too obvious...want a bit of sake?" Jiraiya asks, showing that he had a bottle and a couple of glasses.

"Can't say no to one of those." States Anko and takes a glass and watches as Jiraiya pours some sake in her glass. "So...why did you take these brats? And I'm surprised that you took this many kids to train." Anko says.

"...I thought that it would be best to have some of the Leaf village's young are capable of standing their ground...and if I was going to take one child to train, might as well take all." Jiraiya says in a chuckle.

"Yeah...wait, you were only going to take one? Why? Which one?" Anko asks, looking at him strangely as she downs the glass of sake.

"...Naruto, he's the child of...someone I know." Jiraiya tells her, making her slightly confused. Naruto wasn't the shiniest penny of the bunch, or better to describe him, as blunt as a broken pencil.

"You sure you want him? Cause there's better brats out there..." Anko says, spotting Naruto and remembering him trying to do Clone Jutsu, laughing at the memory.

"Don't worry...I know he's got hidden potential...and it wouldn't be fun to train someone that can handle themselves already." Jiraiya says, gaining an understanding nod from Anko. "Would you mind helping me train these kids?" Jiraiya asks, making her look at him in confusion.

"Me train? No way...I'm not a teacher." Anko laughs.

"And what about me? You must know my fantastic reputation!" Jiraiya laughs, pouring another glass of sake.

"That's true...But why would you want me to help you train these brats?" Anko asks, taking another swig for the sake.

"Well, you were trained by...you know, and you stand out from most of the Kunoichi and Shinobi back then." Jiraiya says with a chuckle, seeing that Anko is relaxing now.

"Sure, why not then, I can make those brats into followers of mine." Anko laughs, making Jiraiya sweat a little.

'Kami, that'll be horrific.' He says to himself.

Xxxxxxxxxx

It's been a few weeks since then, Mark sits in his prison cell, breathing heavily and coughing hard. He has learnt that this cell or maybe the entire prison absorbs any power, whether it's being used or not. Mark's eyes have slowly adjusted to the darkness, but he knew that if he looks into direct light, he might be blinded permanently. He feels around his wound, knowing that it had healed, but remains sore, wondering when his time would be up.

Something opens, making Mark confused and sees a dark light from above, hurting his eyes, he squints and sees someone up there drop a person into his cell. '...That explains why my I had a headache when I woke up...' Mark says, looking, but became confused since the person didn't move.

"Search the body." A voice came, making Mark look up, recognising the voice but the trapdoor closed too soon.

Mark rubs his head in pain, the light hurting his eyes and seeing the body, knowing that the person was dead. "What was that about?" Zabuza asks, having seen what happened and is confused.

"...Not sure." Mark replies, looking through the body and found a small sword, a key and a piece of paper, but he couldn't see if anything was written on it. "But I think I found a key..." Mark says, making the person and several others scuffle towards him, hearing metal clanks and knew they were pressed up against the bars of their cells.

"A key to what?" Takumi asks, making Mark wonder and staggers towards the door and opens it.

"A key to the cell...but I have no idea where I am." Mark says, having only explored the cell.

"Open the gates for us." Zabuza orders, making Mark nod and unlock the cell to where Zabuza's voice came from. "Great, now open the other cells, best cause havoc." Zabuza says.

After several minutes, all the cells were open and several people stand in the darkness, some weak by not moving for so long. "So...is that a sword?" Takumi asks, seeing the sword in Mark's hand.

"Yeah...why?" Mark asks.

"Give it here." Takumi orders him, making Mark was suspicious, but gave it to him anyway.

"Zabuza Sensei, I have a sword now, we'll kill everyone." Takumi laughs.

"Wait, shouldn't you be as exhausted as us?" Mark asks him, seeing everyone just out of breathe by standing alone.

"No...I don't rely on Chakra." Takumi chuckles, seeing Zabuza standing near the metal door that lead upwards. "Zabuza! Step back, I'll take it!" Takumi laughs, charging towards the door and swings several times at the door.

After a second, the door collapses and most of them were nearly blinded by the light on the other side. After a minute, they got use to it and walk up the stairs, finding more stairs. "We best move." Zabuza says.

After a few minutes, they reach another door, opening it, Mark, Takumi and Zabuza walk out first, looking round and seeing more cell doors and spots a few guards standing in the corridor. They look and are in slight shock by seeing the three, seeing Takumi holding a weapon. "Who the fuck are you!?" One of them yells, quickly preparing a rifle, but Takumi laughs.

"Bring it bitches!" Takumi yells, charging at high speed towards them, moving pass them and skids to a stop, leaving the guards in shock. Blood explodes from them as limbs fly off before they hit the floor, leaving Mark staring in shock. Takumi was only in his teens, having messy, black hair and several scars on his back, he wears oversized, camouflaged grey trousers and is barefoot and shirtless. "Too easy." He says, smirking darkly.

"Where the hell did you find this kid?" Mark asks, shocked by how capable Takumi is, despite his age and this power sucking prison.

He looks at Zabuza, seeing that he is much larger than Mark, confused that his teeth which are shark like and looks more evil then he seems. "He was raised and was going to be a replacement for the Swordsman of the Mist." Zabuza tells him.

Haku walks out, wearing a ruined shirt and trousers; Haku has long, black hair, around ten years old. He is slightly confused since Haku looks like a boy, but looks like a girl as well; however, he didn't question it and looks to see the others moving up the stairs. "We'll have to move quickly." Mark says.

Zabuza raises his hand. "No...We thank you for freeing us...but right now, I need to get my sword and my other followers." Zabuza tells him.

"You sure? Want any help?" Mark asks, feeling exhausted and wonders if he could help them in anyway.

"No...You best get moving..." Zabuza tells him, charging down the hall while some of the other prisoners follow him. The others run in different directions, soon hearing chaos shortly after of screams of pain. Mark curses and begins moving, but his legs gave out, hitting the floor and coughs hard, wondering why they were moving easier than him, but he considered that they probably gotten use to this than him.

Mark breathes deeply for a few minutes, trying to gain whatever power was in him, but he couldn't find any and curses, getting up and staggering towards where Zabuza ran. After he went round a corner, he became shocked, bodies scatter across the area, blood staining the walls and a few metal doors were destroyed and a few fearful prisoners peek out the door. He hurries down the hall, soon picking up a revolver and moves, seeing more bodies and surprised that the prisoners were killing this many so quickly.

Xxxxx

Several minutes has passed, Mark finally reached Zabuza and his group, but they lost several prisoners and most were covered in blood. They are now a few levels higher than before, finally reaching a large room with several controls and bloodstains. Haku searches the area while Zabuza was looking at a control with several buttons on it. "Zabuza, found the list of prisoners." Haku says, looking through the list. "They're all here." Haku says.

Mark takes a breath, exhausted from moving this much. He looks around and soon spots several decapitated bodies in the room, realising that they are where the blood came from. The other prisoners soon collect the Sin force's weapons and head out to different corridors. 'They're causing chaos...' Mark says to himself, knowing that Zabuza is brutal, but then again, he knew that most of the prisoners here were prisoners of war in the surrounding areas. 'Chaos to escape and save their comrades...' Mark then says to himself.

"Good...we'll release them all, save everyone and rescue our men." Zabuza says, spotting the emergency release button and smashes his fist into it, causing the base to shut down for a second, red lights flashing on.

"Emergency, prisoners are released, all guards, go through procedure three, seven, nine and thirteen." A voice over the intercoms says.

"What procedures are those?" Zabuza asks, knowing Mark is with them.

"I don't know Zabuza, I don't run the prisons." Mark tells him, looking at a body and bends down, pulling out a revolver and holds it.

Zabuza sighs. "Fine, we'll be leaving to get our people, you can follow if you wish Mark." Zabuza says, looking and spotting a surviving guard and grabs him.

Zabuza smashes him against the wall. "What are you...doing?" Mark asks, becoming a little confused by his action.

"Finding out where my Executioner Blade is, now tell me where it is." Zabuza orders and smashes the guard in the gut. "Where is it!?" Zabuza yells.

"W-W-Weapons...a-are k-kept in t-the w-weapons locker...i-it's on t-the s-sixth l-level..." The guard says in fear.

Zabuza chuckles and drops him, leaving him on the ground and seeing the guard trying to crawl away. "These guys defeated the Mist village?" Takumi asks in slight surprise.

"We are skilled in military combat, trust me." Mark tells him while making Zabuza look at him. "These men are probably just taken by surprise. If you met any high ranking members, it would be a different story." Mark tells him, soon feeling something familiar.

"We best get moving, Takumi, you're with me and we're heading for the sixth floor. Haku, you're to find our people and head for the top." Zabuza orders and looks at Mark. "You can follow us if you wish; we owe you for freeing us." Zabuza tells him.

Mark kept getting a strange feeling and looks at them. "You go on ahead...if we should meet again; I would hope we become allies against our common enemy." Mark tells them.

Zabuza nods in response. "Alright then, and if we both die, I'll be sure to see every one of these bastards are taken with me!" Zabuza yells, picking up an enemy sword and charges out of the door and rushes down the prison, soon having a dark aura coming from him as a few guards were trying to escape the area.

"How is his power this powerful after being spending time in this prison?" Mark wonders aloud, wondering if their power is different to his people.

A split second later, he hears something light drop, he spins around, ready to shoot the revolver, but stops when he sees the person's face, becoming surprised. "Atama? I don't know why you're here friend...or are you my enemy?" Mark asks.

"I am still your friend Cap...Mark." Atama says in reassurance, he wears a white robe that covers some thin armour, specially made to make no noise. He is...was Mark's Lieutenant and Mark believed he was going to be Captain sometime soon.

"Aren't you supposed to be Captain?" Mark asks, glad that his Lieutenant remained loyal to him.

"I'm not a commander...I follow, Kaien was going to be Lieutenant next, looks like he'd be Captain." Atama says in nervousness. "And I heard what they do to make you Captain...I don't want to go through that Sir."

Mark nods, understanding that since he knew that Captains are put through hell to obtain powers and even a close case of Immortality. But they are mortal like any other, and it takes a considerable amount of money and powers to even give one person that ability to keep their youth and powers high. "Kaien? I haven't seen him in awhile..." Mark says, remembering his friend and was pretty much close to all those actually under his command, knowing that Kaien is good at strategies, but hopes that they don't end up fighting each other.

"Yeah...but we've got to leave...this prison break is going to cause the entire town to go block the prison off since we're at sea." Atama says, taking a breath and Mark notices that he is becoming exhausted, wondering for a few seconds. "If we're lucky, the Sharpshooters won't be focused yet...or the escapees provide cover as we run." Atama says with a small worried nod.

"Prison riots and attempted escapes in prison blocks 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10..." A voice over the intercoms says, making Mark sigh.

"Looks like the prisoners are drawing attention to themselves." Atama says, knowing this is going to cause chaos.

"Starting Purifications in prison block 1, thirty-four lives detected...Purification complete, zero survivors." The voice says.

"Wait, what?" Mark says in slight shock.

"Purification, in case what you guys did happens. It eliminates all people in them, good or bad, there are escape routes and safe areas...but sadly, there may be none. We have to leave quickly!" Atama yells, quickly grabbing a bag and threw it at Mark.

Mark takes a breath, looking through the door and seeing prisoners fighting even harder and some guards running for their lives. "This is the first step of the revolution...I will make them suffer for the lives lost!" Mark yells, rushing down the corridors which Atama following.

Xxxxx

After several minutes, nearly all the prison blocks were Purified and the two former Sin members manage to get outside. The area round them is just a flat surface that stretches for a few hundred yards with several guards and several dozen prisoners running round, killing off several guards. At the corners of the roof, towers are seen with a few guards on each of them, holding rifles and firing repeatedly and killing off several prisoners. Mark looks round more, seeing the edges fenced off and prisoners pushing against the fences, hoping to knock them down while other prisoners start climbing or shooting at the sharpshooters. The ground shakes, explosions soon heard and they see a bridge that attacked the prison tower to the mainland destroyed, making them realise that they're on the roof and it's impossible to escape through that means. On the positive side, Mark is finding it easier to breathe now since the inside of the prison remains absorbing powers.

"Where do we go now?" Mark asks, seeing that they weren't going to the mainland by that means, seeing water everywhere else and made it difficult to swim for that distance after spending several days in prison.

"There should be escape boats for the guards somewhere, should it have been too overwhelming during a prison escape and await the arrival of a Captain." Atama informs him, seeing the guards and prisoners fighting for their lives.

"Captain? Which Captain?" Mark asks, not sure if he can take a Captain in his present condition.

"Captain Beel should be coming sometime soon." A voice came from behind him, he was in shock, not noticing someone behind him and turns to see who it was, but the person smashes their fist into Mark's face, making him stumble away.

"Mark!" Atama yells, but a split second later, a ripping sound came and Atama screams in pain.

Mark regains his balance, looking and becomes horrified by the sight as his former Lieutenant hanging by the back of his neck, blood dripping down the claw like marks across his body. "Atama!" Mark yells, but he soon coughs as his powers decreased rapidly, soon seeing someone drops next to the attacker. He looks carefully and recognises them both. "Lieutenant Tai...Lieutenant Vermin..." Mark says, never having fought by Vermin's side, so he didn't know his ability, but every time they met, he felt weaker.

Vermin chuckles, wearing a messy, black overcoat with stains on it; he has black eyes and a hood that covered his hair. "Former Captain Frey, I'm surprised that your influence made this future Captain turn against our God." Vermin chuckles, smashing his fist into Atama, making him yell and cough up blood.

Mark is worried, knowing that if the wounds that went through Atama weren't treated soon, he'll bleed to death. "Let him go..." Mark orders, his anger building, wondering if he can take on two lieutenants in his present condition.

Tai chuckles, squeezing his grip and Mark could see the pressure on Atama's neck, knowing that Tai is one of the best and strongest hand to hand combat fighters in the Sin forces. He is surprised when he spots that his left fist has claws coming from his knuckles. Tai is wearing a messy black suit, uncommon for usual fighters. He also has his eyes covered by shades and has messy, black hair and trimmed beard. "Why should I? He turned traitor, in fact; I could kill him right here so he doesn't suffer." Tai says, lifting Atama even more. "Hard to believe he was your replacement..."

Atama is breathing quickly, feeling pain and trying to not pass out. Atama focuses what power he had left, causing his wounds to smoke, his hands glowing blue. Tai spots this and becomes confused, taken by surprise when Atama kicked backwards, making him let go. Atama took this shot to spin around and sliced through the front of Tai's face, sending blood to fly as a shallow cut runs between his cheekbones.

Atama is about to attack again, but a shot is heard. Mark looks and stares in shock, seeing Vermin holding a special made pistol. Atama stumbles away, blood running from his chest now, two more shots followed and Tai yells in anger, backhanding Atama and sent him flying. Mark sees his friend fly, smashing through the railing and falls into the sea and splashes into it. Several seconds pass and nothing emerges from it, only replacing some of the water with blood. "Pathetic, didn't know he specialised in repairing the human body. He'd have been deadly as a Captain with the regenerative ability maxed out." Vermin states and looks at Mark. "Sadly, what we did would've caused instant death since I heard Tai snap Atama's neck and I have a nasty habit to aim for the main arteries, so he's gone forever, all because you couldn't wait like a good boy."

"Fucking bastard might've ruined my good looks." Tai complains, rubbing his nose while ignoring Mark as he lowered his head.

"You worry about non-existing things Tai." Vermin chuckles and gains a glare from Tai.

Mark just stands there, the loss of his friend going through his mind and his heart seems to stop for a second, the heart suddenly increases rapidly and his blood starts pouring through his veins faster than they could handle. The air pressure increases rapidly and the two Lieutenants focus on Mark once again, surprised by the energy that he is currently giving off. "What the fuc-" Tai began to say, but Mark vanishes and a fist collides with his face, making him fly back, but he quickly regains his balance and lands on the ground before sliding back a few feet. "Now that was good!" Tai laughs, blood falling from his shattered nose and popped lip.

Vermin is in shock by this, knowing that Mark should be suffering power loss from being in the prison for so long, not to mention his presence. Mark does a sweeping kick towards Vermin, but Vermin manages to dodge and back flips away, taking aim with his pistol and fires, hitting Mark and smirks. This is soon replaced as Mark shots towards him again, smashing into Vermin and crashes through several people, both guards and prisoners before hitting a tower in a corner. Vermin coughs in pain, about to try and escape Mark's grip, but he feels a fist connect with his gut, sending him flying and crashing through the tower, sending both guards and a couple of prisoners climbing it to fly off.

Vermin coughs up a little blood and his eyes blurs for a moment, his vision quickly clears and sees Mark about to jump, but he chuckles and he spins in midair. "Striking 10: Falling Kinsmen!" Vermin yells, having ten unique looking pistols come from him. He rapidly grabs each one, firing rapidly towards Mark, both hitting him and missing him, continuously firing each pistol ten times until they ran empty.

Mark remains standing, surprising Vermin greatly and is soon in shock when Mark shot up, smashing his fist into Vermin's chest and causes him to fly into the sky and disappears. Mark soon lands on the prison's platform, the guns soon hit round the ground near him while he ignores some of the guards and prisoner's shocked faces before they began fighting once again.

His eyes becoming blue as his power slowly increasing. It suddenly stops when a powerful fist collides with his side, feeling a large amount of pain as Tai punches with his clawed fist and causes blood to seep from his side. Tai swings a few fast punches, causing more pain while Mark starts to block, but Tai is surprisingly stronger and has to attack while Tai attacks. Mark sees Tai smirk when they hit each other and caused both of them to fly back.

Tai chuckles and spits out a little blood. "You kicked Vermin's arse like he was nothing, but you didn't kill him...I am surprised that you managed to regain this much power after leaving though Mark.

Mark glares at him, his fist soon glowing blue, making Tai chuckle as his fist glowing orange. "You killed my friend...I'll kill you!" Mark roars and charges forward, faster than before and Tai smirks, charging forward as well.

They charge at full speed, soon colliding and cause a massive explosion and a flash of light which was lavender. Two smoky objects shoot out of the lavender flash. One collides into a guard tower, destroying a large section of it and causes the tower to fall and fall into the sea while the sharpshooters scream. The other shot over the sea and town and crashes into a forest a few miles away.

At the smoky remains at the remains of the guard tower, Tai coughs and shakily pull out a cigarette, placing it in his mouth and lit it. "F-Fucking bastard...p-pulled e-ev-every m-muscle...in m-me..." Tai complains, knowing that Mark was a Captain for a reason, still shocked that he was that strong after the amount of power he lost in this prison. "V-Vermen...b-be-better get b-back s-soon..." Tai says, seeing most of the guards dead and prisoners escaping, looking up and seeing a small dot in the sky and knew he is coming down.

Xxx

Near the bottom of the prison's periphery, a rather large boat rocks in motion of the sea. Zabuza is standing there, holding his Executioner Blade while Haku, Takumi and several others were on the ship already, moving an abnormally large metal crate, soon showing that is a prison. "Careful now!" Takumi yells, sitting on the crate and taps it. "Don't want to piss of the big guy, right?" Takumi asks with a smirk, holding a unique looking katana and two sheathes attached to his back.

"Looks like Mark was sent away by...whatever that was." Zabuza says, thinking for a second as he wraps his face with bandages. "Might even check to see if he's alright." Zabuza says with a smirk.

"Are you sure Zabuza?" Haku asks in confusion.

"He saved us the hassle of trying to escape our cell." Zabuza says, sitting down and taking a breath, soon hearing the engines roar as the boat began to move. "We can at least owe him to make sure he's alive."

"Very well Zabuza." Haku says and walks towards the wheel to direct the ship.

Xxxxx

Mark lies in the centre of a large crater, coughing hard as he rolls away, bleeding from a wound to his chest, holding it and wondering where he is. He coughs up blood and begins to crawl out of the crater. He soon makes his way through the forest, not wanting to risk being caught by any Sin forces. He bleeds even more, but he keeps pressure on the wound while some of his body feels like it's about to give out, but he keeps his determination going.

After several minutes, Mark staggers through a slight opening in the woods; he then sees a tree that has to be larger than any other tree he's seen, even those in his homeland. He walks pass it, feeling some aura coming from it, but he ignores it and continues to walk. Several minutes later, he coughs up a small amount of blood, feeling his ribs crack even more and fell to his knees, knowing that he will pass out soon. 'Need to find...a safe place...' Mark thought to himself, getting back up and moves forward.

After several feet, he steps on soft ground and it collapses, Mark yells in shock as he smashes into rocks, roots and soon falls into darkness. After a few seconds of falling, he hits a wet, hard surface that feels like stairs, causing a few bones to break before he rolls into a freezing pool. He soon sinks like a stone; he couldn't breathe, feeling his lungs filling with water, the world becoming darker than before.

His body is soon freezing, yet his insides seems to be on fire and his wounds seem to heal rapidly, soon moving more and manages to get hold of a step and pulls himself out. Mark coughs hard, water and whatever blood he had remaining in his lungs and feels pain by doing so; he looks round, seeing darkness and becomes confused. He looks up and sees the hole he fell through, seeing other light areas and knew they were soft dirt.

Mark climbs up the steps, trying to feel for anything, he touches something made from stone and becomes confused, feeling power come from the stone. He feels the entire place come to life and torches explode with fire, blinding him slightly as he tries to adjust to the sudden light, he looks and becomes even more confused. The area seems familiar, seeing seven stone seats and four larger seats in a line, several skeletal remains in rags, it seems like this place was like his former headquarters. He coughs as he looks round even more, spotting an alter of some kind, but it is in ruins, a seemingly bottomless pond in the centre of the chairs, also seeing a worn down wooden door at the end.

Each step he takes causes the dust and cobwebs to move, wondering how long it's been since any living soul came here. He looks at the stone seats, becoming shocked by something written on the back of them. 'Gluttony: Captain Beel' 'Wrath: Captain Asura' 'Sloth: Captain Kalrow' the first few said, knowing that the others will have the other Ranks of his former army. Although, he is confused when he saw Beel's name, wondering if it's the same one and looks at the others, soon recognising another name, 'Greed: Captain Mamoru'. He realises that his teacher and Beel are from the last invasion, knowing that he, Midori and Hiro were trained under Mamoru.

He then remembers a history lesson that there have been previous Campaigns against the Mortals, the last one being ended by a man named Hashirama Senju. He wonders if this was the last headquarters of that Campaign or if it was a different one.

He coughs up a little more water and wonders what the pond was for, but seeing his wounds and wondering if its purpose was to heal. He ignores it and walks towards the worn out door and opens it, seeing two dark, stone tunnels and wonders how he'll get out. He sighs, thinking of a plan and figures that once he gets out of this place, he'll have to go and find his spear, knowing that it's his best chance of surviving should he face any Captain.

He suddenly pauses, remembering his fallen friend and mourns for him. Upset and promises to make a memorial stone for him.

Xxxxx

After an hour, Mark finds another door after going down over a dozen tunnels, he pushes against it and it opens, leaving nothing but the smell of dirt and mould on the other side. 'Holy shit! It stinks!" Mark yells to himself, finding stairs that lead upwards.

He sighs, wanting to rest and wonders up them. After several seconds, he reaches what looks like a temple of some kind, but dirt, spider webs and bones litter the area. He spots another tunnel leading upwards and moves towards it, leaving the temple and walks down the dark tunnel. Several seconds pass and he reaches large roots and a small opening from above, he climbs up, crawling through the hole and takes in the fresh air.

"Mark Frey...the trail says you went round the tree, not into it..." A voice came, making Mark look and see Zabuza and his group, confused greatly.

"Where did you guys come from?" Mark asks, climbing out and looks around, recognising the place as the giant tree he passed awhile ago.

"We managed to escape, saw you fly in this general direction and came to check on you." Zabuza tells him.

"Thanks for the concern..." Mark says and looks at Zabuza. "We should join forces." Mark tells the former Mist ninja, making him surprised.

"Join forces? And what's your goal then?" Zabuza asks him.

"I have seen what my so called allies call peace...but I have grown tired and I wish...no, I will to bring them to an end, once and for all!" Mark yells, smashing his fist against the tree, causing a small crater to form.

Zabuza chuckles as a response. "Fine answer, we aim to kill as many of the Sin forces, because they destroyed the village I wish to have..." Zabuza says with a dark chuckle and extends his hand. "This will be a temporary alliance, should our goals collide." Zabuza tells him.

Mark looks at it and takes it. "Sure..." Mark says with a smirk.

Xxxxx

Elsewhere, Ryusuke wakes from a dreamless sleep upon sensing the presence of someone he hasn't sensed in over a year. "Good to see you're finally back on the radar, Captain." He then went back to sleep, 'As much as I want to meet up with you Mark, I have other responsibilities, so you'll have to wait.' He says to himself, hearing the footsteps of his men go around, doing their jobs.

Sleepless D: Hope you liked it. Peace out.