Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

CHAOS

/ˈkāäs/

complete disorder and confusion; behavior so unpredictable as to appear random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in conditions.

If there was anything Obito both hated and loved about traveling with two above-the-age-restriction adult males, it was the fact that alcohol always seemed to be in supply and that with them, he could always get into a bar. The former because, like his perversion, he found that he really liked alcohol, and sometimes took it too far; and the latter because, like his perversion, he really liked alcohol.

Alcohol numbed the body and the mind, and it allowed him to exit his thoughts and just be. He enjoyed that prospect very much—he didn't have to worry about people half as much as he did when sober—and alcohol made everything brighter, everything more fun. With alcohol, anything went. But maybe it was because of that he also hated getting drunk—he didn't like not being in control of himself, no matter how good the feeling was. He knew it was because of the presence of Meiwaku in part, but he also knew he was never a type of person to allow himself to lose control that easily. So he did his best to cut himself off at some point, and he did his best not to do anything he would regret, besides drinking in the first place.

"Ooh, you're cute," said an adult female with a giant bust, which Jiraiya could not pull his eyes off of—well, Obito really couldn't either, honestly. It was quite large.

Obito bit his bottom lip and forced himself to look her in the face, attempting to remember it, but the alcohol made everything blurry and all he could tell was that she had green hair that she pulled back into a tight ponytail and a lot of makeup on her face. She moved from her standing position to straddle his lap, causing his two inebriated companions to make whistles and catcalls. She was warm, really warm, and she smelled quite sweet, too. She barely weighed much of anything, which didn't make sense with those curves but he couldn't voice that. He lacked the mental capacity at the moment. "Wanna make out, cutie?"

"Um… you're nice, but… no… not interested…" he muttered under his breath, trying to calm himself down, specifically his dick. Even though perverted, the reason why he hadn't done anything about his itches with the opposite sex was because he wanted his lips, and the rest of his body, to belong to Hanabi. He would feel like he was cheating on her, should he make out with anyone that wasn't her, or even get touched the way he wanted her to touch him—the way this woman was touching him. It felt wrong. Just wrong. "C-Can you get off… I'm not interested…"

"Oh, come off it. I saw you, looking at my breasts, you cute little pervy boy," said the woman, making Obito's blush grow more. She rubbed his thigh through his pants, but even the stimulation didn't excite Obito any; he didn't let it. Hanabi really had ruined him for other woman, at least in terms of physical contact. She rubbed her breasts, trying to be enticing to the seventeen-year-old, only to still get no reaction from his mind that would allow her to kiss him in any way. Sure, his body reacted in her favor, but he refused to think with his dick. "I know you wanna touch them."

"I… I'm okay…"

"Oh, go ahead, kid," said Jiraiya, his nose bleeding and his signature creepy, perverted grin on his face. "You won't get in any trouble."

"I don't wanna…" Obito mumbled, putting his hands on her shoulders and gently pushing her off. "I'm not interested…" The woman flashed something that must've been something like a smile, and Obito found himself sitting in a barstool within moments, between multiple women, who immediately began to coo at him and rub him up and down. It occurred to him that he was living something close to Jiraiya's dream, but he didn't care at the moment because he didn't want to be living Jiraiya's perverted little fantasies. He wanted to live his own, and not a one of them included being molested by random women in a bar. "I don't want this…"

"Sure you do," said one girl, who nipped at his ear. Another pushed their hand down underneath his shirt, making his eyes snap open, his alcohol-induced stupor practically disappearing at the contact. He'd only let a few people touch his bare skin, underneath his shirt. Anyone else felt wrong, especially these women he didn't know. They were breaching his realms of comfort, and he felt Meiwaku's slightly murderous urges rising in his throat—probably pissed that they were both being made uncomfortable, and if there was one thing Meiwaku liked more than killing, it was his comfort, and Obito's by annexation. He needed to stop this—now, before their blood was on the walls.

A girl gently bit at his neck, and he finally had enough.

"Get the fuck off of me," he growled in a venomous voice, one filled with anger. The three women—damn, from the amount of hands he'd felt; he thought there had been more—all flinched, stepping away from him in a second. Obito glared at them, his brown eyes displaying his ferocity at being sexually harassed by these three beautiful women as he fixed shirt again, getting up from the barstool and walking back over to the giggling, drunken messes that were Jiraiya and Naruto.

"Let's get outta here," he grounded out, taking his irritation out on his two mentors, who blinked blearily, and shrugged, both of them getting up and groaning as they stretched. The women glared at him, much to his irritation, and he snapped at the two males to hurry up.

"Jeez," mumbled Naruto, almost on the verge of incomprehension, "You're acting like Sasuke. All rude and shit. You guys really are related."

He frowned and turned his glare to his teacher, not liking Naruto's way of breezing past his obvious discomfort. "I just got molested, sensei."

Naruto shrugged. "Yeah, but they're hot, so it hardly counts."

Obito's eyes narrowed as Jiraiya nodded in agreement.

"…Sensei, sempai; you're such fucking morons."

As they walked back to their inn, Obito was glad to not have to speak with either drunken idiot, not because he didn't want to talk to them, but something in his stomach rumbling made him afraid that if he opened his mouth, he would puke. The alcohol's buzzing affect, due to Meiwaku's anger with the situation, had basically faded upon being molested by those women, but he felt like he was going to be physically sick. In addition, his temple was throbbing, like his brain was trying to break past his skull. His eyes couldn't concentrate on one thing for too long, so everything was supernaturally shiny and incredibly blurred. Even walking was causing him a degree of effort—all he wanted to do was collapse. And his neck… his neck was on fire. Absolutely on fire.

He was very glad when they opened the door to the inn, allowing him to almost immediately collapse onto his futon. He grabbed the pillow, holding it tightly against him as he curled up due to the fact that his stomach was killing him, too; not just his damned neck. Naruto, however, thought of this action much differently.

"Obito," he said, putting his hand hesitantly on Obito's shoulder. He turned his head slightly in order to be able to see Naruto over his shoulder. "Sorry. I know that you're uncomfortable with that kind of stuff, even though you're a giant pervert. I kinda forgot, because you're sometimes like Jiraiya with your, um… pervy-ness. So, I'm sorry."

Could he speak? Would words make him chuck? He opened his mouth, and he could almost feel the bile creeping up his throat. He snapped his jaw shut—no, no he couldn't speak. "Hn," he responded, turning back around and curling in tighter. He knew it wasn't a good response to give, especially when Naruto was trying to apologize, but damn; he just wasn't capable of any other response. He heard Naruto swallow dryly, and he took his hand off of his shoulder. He wanted to sit up and apologize to Naruto, but he suddenly couldn't think of how he could do so.

All he could think of was how to go to sleep. I'm… sorry…he thought as his eyes slid shut and sleep claimed him, all the while not noticing the seal on his stomach that was giving him the bad stomach pains to begin with.

Usually, when a Konoha shinobi is coming home for the first time, they report straight to the Hokage's office. They are quick to come back into the norm, and they are intent on bringing themselves back into their Hokage's good favor; despite whether or not they'd actually left it to begin with. This unspoken rule was not mandatory, but one thing Tsunade had learned in her eight-year tenure as the Hokage was that she expected it. She awaited it, and she was definitely surprised when she didn't get it.

She looked between the two present Sand shinobi, her eyebrows rising by each quiet moment. She'd been expecting Shizuka to be with them when they checked in with her, but much to her own shock he wasn't there. Shizuka was someone she would expect to do such—she knew he abided by rules—so it was easy to see why it was shocking that he wasn't there. Gaara sighed and sat down in the chair positioned just for him in front of her desk, a chair he'd sat in way too often, in his own opinion.

"Shizuka went to the hospital," he said after a good ten minutes of silence. He turned to Matsuri and gestured for her to stand closer to him. "Since we are both rather unfamiliar with standardized Leaf protocol, I saw no reason to make him accompany me here."

"It's not in the protocol. It's not really required," Tsunade said, snapping out of her daze. "It's just… expected. I'm used to my shinobi coming to see me as soon as they come into the village. I though Shizuka might've known that already."

"He might've, but he has been gone for four years, Tsunade-sama," Gaara supplied, "Unintentionally, I've been filling his head with Suna protocol. I've used him on quite a few missions back home, missions that have been quite successful thanks to him. It seems our customs are much different than that of here. It might take him time to readjust to life here."

"Possibly," agreed Tsunade, going into her desk drawer and pulling out a singular scroll. "How was the training? Successful?"

"I believe so. He already had a good emotional control, Tsunade-sama. All I did was sharpen it more. It's very hard to make him feel fearful now, and even harder to really piss him off. And his swordsmanship is above-par. I've also taught him a few techniques involving the sand, which he is quite good at as well. He has a better chakra control now, as well. His skills on a team are also good—he has the capacity to become a leader someday." He pulled out a scroll from his robes, handing it over to the Hokage. "These are notes from my sensei and chief advisor, Baki, and his wife about Shizuka's progress over the past four years. It's full of very good words about him, especially on the topics of swordsmanship and the medical arts. He's helped our medical centers greatly. In fact, he was offered two jobs there before he left."

"Sounds like he is doing well," said Tsunade, nodding as she handed Gaara her own scroll. "These are notations and documentations of every sighting we've had of Kabuto in the past four years. This scroll is the first in a series of twelve, each one holding upwards of a dozen sightings. Each sighting was a note scribbled by our shinobi and sent back to Konoha, and each one ended with one of our shinobi being found dead on the outskirts of a village. They're not always the same villages, either."

Gaara opened the scroll and skimming through it. "We interrogated the messenger before we executed him. They refused to tell us any information—they'd placed a seal on their own tongue so they couldn't tell a thing about Kabuto, or even if they had been making contact with him. Our trackers couldn't keep find any indicator of a second party the messenger would be bringing the info to."

Tsunade sighed. "Many searches I laid were the same. No ANBU was able to find any trace, not even my best trackers in ANBU."

"Do you know if Kabuto was collecting info about the Nara boy?"

"No, I don't. I have reason to suspect, due to the fact that after your messenger turned up dead, Naruto's mysteriously disappeared, but there was no concrete evidence. I believe he was, so I cut off any information I was sending to Naruto concerning either Hanabi or Shizuka." She turned in her chair. "It's frightening me, however, that it looks like Kabuto has seemingly no concrete plan of attack. He simply does."

"I don't know what he's doing," admitted Gaara, "But my objective is to keep Shizuka safe. I care about my student. His safety is my concern."

"Spoken like a true sensei," said Tsunade with a smile. "I don't think Naruto will have a problem with you doing that, when he comes back. I received word a couple of days ago from him with one of his toads that he was on his way back to Konoha."

"So he found him?"

"I believe so. He was very vague in his note, so I assume that for the moment, he's unsure on whether or not to trust me, which makes sense when the fact that I'm keeping the status of two of his former students a secret from him is taken into consideration. But he wouldn't come back if he hadn't found Jiraiya, dead or alive. Naruto is not that type of shinobi." Tsunade turned back around, propping her feet up on the chair, her golden eyes finding Gaara's jade ones. "How long can you stay here for, Gaara? I think I'll need your help."

"Unfortunately, probably only a month at the very most. I can come back after a few weeks. It seems that Kankurō is going to be married within the next few months, with luck, so he'll be staying more often than I am from now until the wedding. He knows every detail of what's going on, as does Temari, so either of them can come for me in case of emergency."

Her eyes widened slightly. "You told them?"

The only thing that showed his surprise with that sort of statement was his quick blink. "Of course. I've always been honest with them, even when I believed I hated them. Why would that change?"

"Don't you worry about them spreading the information to anyone?"

"To be completely honest, the only people my siblings would ever tell are people who could only help us find the answer. I wouldn't get very mad if they told them."

"This information is sensitive."

"Tsunade, it seems that all the shinobi that my siblings and I could possibly get involved exclusively deal with sensitive information. We could only benefit from their aid." He pushed up and off of the chair, his facial expression not changing once. "I'm going to be staying at the Nara house for the time I'm here. Kankurō is supposed to be with us, though more often than not he'll probably be at the Hyūga compound. Matsuri will also be at the Nara compound. You can, therefore, find us there. I want you to give me full detailing of Shizuka's living situation by nine o'clock tonight, as well as what he will be doing now that he is back in Konoha. Can I trust you to give me that much?"

"I'll send Shizune," she said, nodding.

"Actually, I'd prefer it if you sent Shiranui Genma," said Gaara, shaking his head. "Shizuka has told me a lot about him, so I'd like to take the opportunity to make sure this knowledge is fact." Gaara bowed politely. "Thank you, Tsunade. I shall see you tomorrow."

He nodded at Matsuri, who stood to the side and allowed the Kazekage to pass before she followed him out the door, quietly closing Tsunade's door behind her. Tsunade relaxed—she always tensed up around Gaara, it was completely unintentional—and got up, walking over to her window and opening it before she poked her head out, leaning as much as she could out the window in order to get confirmation.

"How much of that conversation did you hear, Genma?" she asked tiredly, staring down at the lazy Jōnin. He looked up, swishing his usual senbon around his mouth. He betrayed no emotions except for boredom, but she knew he had to be feeling more than that. Genma was just an excellent actor sometimes. Reading underneath the underneath was truly necessary with him.

"I heard all of it." Genma jumped up, landing in a crouch on the small edge of Tsunade's awning. "I was wondering if you knew I was there."

"Of course I did." She didn't bother to lie. "What's your opinion?"

"Shizuka's living situation, the fact that the Kazekage wants to talk to me, or the fact that Kabuto is seemingly targeting Shizuka and his friends?"

"The entire thing, mostly."

"Well, the living situation is easy—he'll be staying with me," said Genma, not batting an eye. "The day after ANBU found his apartment raided, I moved his possessions over to my home. He's already familiar with my apartment, and he's familiar with me, so I don't see there being much a problem on that front. I was also expecting Gaara wanting to meet me—he cares about him. Shizuka tends to have that kind of affect on the people he comes across, to make people care about him. It only makes sense that he's grown to care about Shizuka, especially with the fact that an S-class criminal like Kabuto has put his eyes on him. Gaara probably wants to see how far I'd go to protect Shizuka."

"How far is that?"

Genma sighed. "Shizuka… he's more than just my best friend's little brother. I've known him since the day he was born. I was there for many of his firsts. He's like my own little brother. I consider him to be flesh and blood." He stood upright on the awning. "I'm gonna go get him from the hospital. Knowing him, he'll probably lose track of time in there. He's probably the only kid I know that likes going to the hospital." He yawned and pushed his hands in his pockets. "I'll come at eight-thirty for a scheduling outline for him, as well as Shizuka's re-registration documentation. I bet the last thing he'll be remembering to do tonight would be to come here for his papers."

It wasn't until Genma left that Tsunade noticed that he'd—very skillfully—avoided answering her question.

"Obi-chan…"Obito sat up in his small bed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He felt like he wanted to go back to sleep, but upon looking up at the curtains and seeing the sunlight shining through them, he realized how late it was. Besides, his mother was calling him—and the last thing he wanted was to ignore Okaasan's calling. So he got up out of his warm bed, shuffling his tiny feet forwards until he reached his mother's bedroom. He opened it, already calling his mother, nd then he was promptly stopped in his tracks.

Blood ran down the walls, bright red and abundant. Every available inch was covered with the sticky liquid, even the doorknob he just couldn't pull his hand away from. The bed's blankets and sheets had been ripped to shreds by what had to have been an animal—but couldn't have been an animal. It just couldn't be an animal. His dark brown eyes widened to see a bloodied figure standing in the middle of the room, the sheer amount of blood making his locks stick to his forehead and stop Obito from being able to see his face. The figure was about his height, and possibly his age, too—which was why he was especially terrified to see an unrecognizable person in his grip, his face too beat up for Obito to discern his identity. The person was definitely older than he was—in fact, he was an adult—and he was also a shinobi of the Earth, if the symbol engraved on the metal of the forehead protector wasn't lying to him.

"Please…" sobbed the man as the bloodstained child pressed his fingers into his cheek, his tiny fingernails easily breaking through the flesh and making more blood weep down the man's cheek and onto the floor. "Please, let me go. Let me go."

"WHY?" Obito couldn't stop himself from shivering in fear at the sick tone that the boy's voice had. He could tell that he enjoyed killing. He could also tell that this man, begging for mercy and forgiveness for whatever sin he may have committed, wasn't going to be let go. No… he was going to die. He was going to die a painful, horrible death; he could tell at the young age he was at, and yet… he couldn't move. He couldn't do a thing? Why couldn't he do anything? "WHY SHOULD I LET YOU GO…?"

"Have mercy…" begged the man.

"You and your friends didn't have mercy."

"I'm sorry! Please! Let me go, please! I won't tell…!"

"You won't. Because you're not leaving." The boy moved quicker than Obito could catch onto, and in a flash, the man's tongue was in his small hands, still twitching, and probably still warm. The man made a loud gargling sound, his mouth filling with blood. The boy let him fall to the ground, sitting on his chest as he watched with great interest the man's slow, agonizing death.

"Obi-chan… he's the last one." His mother's voice. Where was she? And why was she calling this boy Obi-chan? He was Obi-chan. And why was she… helping him? Egging him on? Supporting him? What was his Okaasan doing?

"Okaasan?" he asked, his eyes widening when he realized that his voice came out of the boy's lip at the exact same time. The boy looked up, pushing his sticky, bloodied hair up and out of his face in the process in order to get a good look at the person whose mouth he apparently shared. Obito shivered to see his face on this boy, and even his eyes—his Rinnegan, his Sharingan.

"Okaasan," Obito repeated, this time out of pure fear as his body began to shiver. The boy in front of him, indeed, said the same thing at the exact same time, but he smirked, getting to his feet and walking over to Obito, picking up a bloodied kunai knife off of the ground.

"You," the boy forced him to say at the same time, pointing at him with the kunai, "You're holding me back. If you're gone, I will have this body." He pressed the sword against Obito's belly, and Obito couldn't stop himself from silently crying, his eyes wide with terror. The Sharingan could foresee no possible way out, and the Rinnegan refused to do anything—he wasn't calm enough. Surprisingly, the bloodied version of himself echoed his tears, but his eyes were filled with happiness. "If you're gone, I can kill all I want." He pulled back his arm, holding the kunai high above. "If you're gone, this body is all mine!"

He couldn't hold him back anymore. He opened his mouth and screamed… "Obito." …the kunai made its way down, striking him in the neck, close to his shoulder, and spilling his warm blood across the floor. He still screamed, grabbing the other boy's arm, trying to stop him from pulling up his arm anymore. The boy decided that Obito's fighting irritated him—so he pushed the fingers of his free hand into the large wound he'd made in him… "Obito, wake up!" …and made Obito cry out in pain, and in terror, as he made the wound wider by scissoring his fingers, making more blood drip down in rivulets over his fingers and Obito's arm, making the torture that was pain expanding… "OBITO, WAKE THE FUCK UP!"

Obito snapped into consciousness, sitting bolt upright and pushing himself off of the futon at the same time, ignoring the pain of landing on the ground and pushing himself into a corner, holding up his hands, chakra surrounding the appendages. A hand touched his shoulder, and he simply reacted, striking the person in the throat with a sharp jab with his right hand, and then thrusting the heel of his palm into their jaw, throwing them back a meter or so. Coughing punctuated the air, coughing that he hardly noticed due to his state of panic. He couldn't honestly tell if the person who had attempted to touch him was trying to help, nor did he care. All he felt was fear—fear that his body was going to be taken from him, fear that he was going to be killed for his body.

"I don't wanna die," he said in a rushed voice, pushing his forehead against the wall, "I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die. I'm not ready to die. I don't wanna die. Please don't make me die."

Gently, a hand touched the sweat-slicked nape of his neck. He began to lash out again, only to get his hands caught by a larger pair. "You're not gonna die," soothed a masculine voice as a hand pushed off his hair from his sweaty forehead. "You're not gonna die. I'm not gonna let that happen."

It took a while—how long, Obito didn't truly know—but he eventually calmed down, his breathing once again coming back to a better pace, his heart slowing down to its normal speed. He opened his eyes tiredly to see Jiraiya and Naruto standing over him, concern for him obvious in the depths of their eyes. He looked between his two mentors, realization catching up with him—especially when he noticed that Jiraiya was developing bruises on his throat and on his jaw line. "Sempai; did you…?" he said, his eyes widening.

"Get in the way of your hands? Yeah, he did," Naruto answered for him as Jiraiya glared at the Uzumaki. Naruto was oblivious to his look, instead choosing to help the seventeen-year-old to his feet. "What happened? What were you dreaming about?"

"Meiwaku," Obito responded, making Naruto snort softly out of his nose, despite the situation. He'd picked out that name for the other personality, a name he was very proud of in the fact that it'd stuck. What better way was there to describe the other personality than as an annoyance, after all? "He was there, but when he—I—we were younger. He had just killed someone, and he was going to kill me, too, so he could have my body."

Naruto frowned. "Doesn't sound like Meiwaku. He doesn't want you dead." Far from it, he'd found—in their training, they found that the other personality aimed to simply protect Obito. That was all it wanted in life—after all, he wouldn't have been alive if Obito hadn't. So the idea that Meiwaku would try to kill him was slightly odd. Actually, odd was an understatement—it was downright impossible, if Meiwaku was lying—which, as far as Naruto had figured out, it seemed Meiwaku was completely incapable of the prospect. In fact, Naruto sometimes wished Meiwaku would be a little less honest sometimes, because he could very hurtful with some of his comments (Obito had told him everything Meiwaku had said about him once, it was a depressing day).

Obito sighed shakily. The only one who doubted Meiwaku's utmost sincerity was him. "I keep telling myself that, but it seemed real, as if it was really going to happen. It was like I was really going to lose my body to him."

"Ask him if he caused it," said Naruto.

"No," denied Obito right off the bat. "I know he wants my safety, but I still can't trust him. Maybe I'm still scared of him, but right now, I'm not ready to willingly give my body over to him. I won't ever give my body to him. You know that, sensei, you know that." Naruto sighed, but he didn't push his idea. It could only get worse if he did push him on it. "But I'm sure he didn't do it. I don't think, if he would attack me, he would attack me like that. He doesn't strike to be the one to mentally torture me."

"Okay. So it was a run-of-the-mill nightmare?" asked Naruto.

"Not that either. It was vivid. I have no idea what that was, but that wasn't just a regular nightmare." He wanted to speak more, but where the nightmare version of Meiwaku had stabbed him was incredibly painful; almost enflamed, and he wanted to cry out in pain when he had touched it. "I dunno, but sensei, it's really painful right here. He stabbed me here in my dream." Naruto frowned, gently pushing Obito's fingers off of his own neck and staring at it. He bit his lip, his blue eyes taking on an edge Obito hadn't seen before in him. "Sensei, what's wrong?"

"Jiraiya." Both males flinched at the use of Jiraiya's actual name by Naruto, something that never happened. Jiraiya got up, walking up over to the two of them and looking at the spot Naruto was particularly intrigued with. Immediately upon seeing it, Jiraiya became serious, no longer favoring his throat or his jaw. "Jiraiya, is this thingy permanent?" What thingy? Obito thought, growing confused and worried.

"No," he said in a hoarse voice, ghosting his fingers over Obito's neck. "No, it's not. This is something I've seen before, but I don't know enough to be able to do anything about it. We need to rush back to Konoha." Jiraiya stood up, his frown growing. "Right now, at the pace we're at, we'd be there in about a week. We need to get there in days." He pushed aside the curtains of their inn room, looking outside. "We've only been here for two hours. Let's clean up and get out. We need to rush ourselves to Konoha." Jiraiya walked around the futon, picking up his bag. "We need to get out without anyone noticing."

"Why can't anyone notice?" Obito asked, confused.

Jiraiya flicked a glance at Obito, his eyebrows furrowed. "Brat. Do me a favor, lift up your shirt." Obito turned around, a confused look on his face. Jiraiya glared at him. "You damaged my throat and jaw, brat. Just lift up your damn shirt." Obito sighed, pulling up the bottom of his shirt and showing his bared torso to Jiraiya, a blush growing quickly on his cheeks. "Remember those girls who were touching you. One of them touched your stomach, under your shirt. Point to where." He frowned, his fingers finding the all-too-sensitive spot, right above his navel. "Look down now; tell me what you see." Obito frowned, and then his eyes widened.

"Is that a… is that a curse seal?" he asked, his worry developing by exponential amounts by the second. "Jiraiya-sempai, when the hell did I get a curse seal?"

"You have two of 'em. Where your neck hurts is where the other one is. They're both temporary forms, given to you by those kunoichi who were molesting you at the back at the bar. Those kunoichi are probably dead by now, and if they're alive, they fully intend on looking for you. These curse seals were fully intended to take your chakra and killing you. That nightmare was Meiwaku's way of waking you up before they could take your chakra. You should be thanking the little asshole, though I personally think he could've picked a better way." Jiraiya threw his pack at him, and Obito dropped his shirt in order to grab it before it hit him. "Now get packed again. We're leaving now."

Obito looked down at himself, his fingers touching the chakra seal momentarily. He frowned, annoyed. How could he have let this happen? What kind of fresh new idiot was he? "How does this come off?"

"I don't know, but don't sleep. It waits until you're in deep sleep to take chakra. We'll try to keep you up until we get back to Konohagakure." Jiraiya turned around, a perverted, creepy look on his face that slightly surprised Obito. "You know, if those girls came over to me and started touching me like that… I wouldn't have stopped them at all."

Obito blinked, staring at him, and Naruto glared daggers at the perverted older man. Obito opened his mouth, his brow furrowing, and said, with a chuckle: "Jiraiya-sensei, you're such a perv."

And Jiraiya couldn't help but chuckle, remembering a time so long ago when he'd said almost the exact same to his own sensei—except it was, of course, under completely different circumstances, but still, the humor of the moment stayed.

Curse seals are an interesting art.

Kabuto knew a lot of things about this world, due to the fact that he was a Konoha ROOT agent and had been required to learn such things, but he hadn't known until he became Orochimaru's spy how the art of sealing truly worked. He hadn't known how it was done, and he also hadn't known the broad spectrum of seals that existed in this world. Orochimaru used what seemed to be tens of thousands of different curse seals in his hideout, and Kabuto, never liking to be unknowledgeable about something, studied each and every single one he could find, figuring out exactly how they worked, and how he could manipulate them himself.

And he also learned how to create them. That had been the most fun Kabuto had; creating his own seals. Mainly it was because of the trial-and-error process he had to go through—he didn't enjoy fucking up, per say, but he did enjoy the screams of pain and terror that each test subject made as he practiced on them. But when he succeeded… he was ecstatic. It was the most amazing rush when it succeeded its purpose, and he had a perfect curse seal to lay on his own gathering.

Orochimaru would hate him so much for excelling at this.

"Did you place the seals on him?" he asked the three kunoichi he'd sent out to the bar he knew Uzumaki Naruto and Nara Obito to be in. The kunoichi all smiled brightly, though hesitantly, and nodded, wanting to please their lord. Kabuto smirked to himself at their naivety. Oh, how innocent these new ones to his flock were. How stupidly innocent. He looked to his side, to the silver-haired boy sitting down on the ground beside his chair, his bright purple eyes showing disdain and irritation at the sight of Kabuto. He knew that his pet hated him. It wasn't a secret. But as so long this boy had that curse seal on his neck, he wasn't going anywhere. He couldn't do anything.

"I have a sacrifice for you, Naito," he said gleefully.

Naito cocked his head slightly, his purple gaze touching each female. "Truly sacrificial? I can do what I want with them?"

"I want their bodies intact, but yes. Yes, you can do what you want. You can rape them if you see fit." The kunoichi's minds began to catch up with what Kabuto was saying, and one moved to run out. Immediately, one of Kabuto's guards pushed them back to where they once stood, making sure they knew that there was no escape.

"B-But… Kabuto-sama, we served you well!" the kunoichi said, eyes wide in fear as they flitted from Kabuto to Naito. Kabuto chuckled, snapping his fingers for a guard. The guard was by his side immediately, already holding what he wanted. Kabuto took the long knife from the guard, holding it out for Naito to take. The first few times he'd done that, Naito had tried to kill him. The boy knew better than that now—that curse seal was too painful for even him. Naito grumbled and got to his feet, snatching his sacrificial knife out of Kabuto's hands.

"You heathens need to stop fucking taking my damned knife," he growled at Kabuto.

"Prove to me that I can trust you, and I might," responded Kabuto in a cold voice, nodding his head to the kunoichi, who were all trying to struggle to get free. "You may begin your sacrifice, Naito."

Naito scowled. "I want better sacrifices. Better than these cunts. He'd better appreciate the sacrifice if they were better than these bitches."

Kabuto rolled his eyes. Religious fanatics were annoying, but he held his tongue. He needed that religion for what he wanted, and what he would make sure to have. "I promise a better kill next time," he lied.

Naito glared at him. "You are a bad fucking liar, four-eyes," he spat before he rolled his shoulders. "None of you understand what a good kill truly is. None of you have heard His word. None of you understand His message. A good kill would be for me to kill every single fucking one of you. He would love that," Naito said, but moved forwards, pressing his hands together and closing his eyes when he was a meter away from the struggling kunoichi. Kabuto watched with fascination as the boy silently began to pray to his wayward god, the screams of terror of each kunoichi rising with every word they seemed to read off his lips.

The kill was quick, nearly too quick, but it was amazing to watch nonetheless. Naito had a practiced air about his sacrificial kills, a certain grace that Kabuto couldn't help but wonder was in his other target. The bodies of the three kunoichi fell to the ground when the guards let go, their bodies making dull thuds against the cement ground. Naito raised the blood-slicked blade to his lips, his tongue snaking out from between his lips before he said in a slow, menacing, and meaningful voice:

"In the name of Jashin, I accept this kill."

When he licked the blade, Kabuto found himself excited he'd found such an amazing pet, and he was proud that his curse seal was the perfect leash.

OH GOD

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME

WHY AM I SO DARK AND LIKE KILLING OFF RANDOM PEOPLE FOR NO REASON

Okay, in my defense, it isn'tfor no reason. It's for the sake of the plot, but... God. Just... God. There really is something wrong with me. Really something wrong with me for thinking about this stuff for a story, and really something wrong with me for having spent the last few days writing stuff [for this story] that is more dark than this ending (this ending is actually light). People are really going to hate me when you guys read these dark chapters I'm referring to, for what I do to these characters, but it's my story, so IDGAF! lol. It's not like I'll leave it unhappy. It's for the sake of the plot of this story that I will so mysteriously place into it without explanation.

Moving on... I wonder what you guys are thinking about Naito. I think I made his character almost too obvious, but... I don't care. He wasn't going to be introduced until much later, but the lure of bringing him early was too great to ignore. But what do you guys think about him? I'm really curious... :T

Thank you sailormoonangel1, thanks for liking Obito! I put a lot of work into him, and I'm glad that you like him and the rest of my OCs. I try to make them as realistic in the Narutoverse as possible, and it makes me glad to know they're appreciated. Kiba and Sasuke action? Just wait. It will happen xP I couldn't help myself. And thank you PX, for complimenting my writing skills (though I don't think they're all that great) and my choice of pairing Kiba and Sasuke together. I like making weird and unusual pairings. It amuses me to no end, and I like showing people how they could possibly work as a thing.

Next chapter should be up before next Wednesday (today is Wednesday, right?) :) I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope you enjoy your days!

{BTW: that curse seal part I mentioned? I know it doesn't seem important now, the fact that he's creating his own, but trust me. It so definitely is. You'll see. Just remember it ;) }

Also, I've changed the chapter's name (7/18/2013) because I thought 'Chaos' was more fitting than 'Change'.