"There, it's all done."

Kaya sat down after everyone had helped fix the last balcony. It had been two days since they started rebuilding the village and Pain had not suspected a thing, he presumed that Sasori really was training her. She looked at Sasori, he was as exhausted as she was. And the others weren't any better.

"We still have a bit more to do," Kakashi said.

Kaya looked around and nodded. The village was looking a lot better but it still had a bit left to get fixed. It wouldn't take more than a day to finish. Then she could get back to actually training and getting better at fighting to become an S-ranked ninja like the rest of the Akatsuki.

"Well, well," came a voice. "Is it just me or is Kaya and Sasori actually working with village ninja to rebuild a village?"

Kaya flinched, she recognized that voice. She remembered it from when he was once with the Akatsuki. He had joined up with them a few days after she did and when she was 10 he left because he tried to take over Itachi's body and failed.

She slowly turned her head up to look at him standing on the village wall. Why is he here? She thought. What does he want now?

She gazed into his vicious eyes and looked at his long black hair and evil smile. She looked at Sasori, his eyes had fear in them, and she could feel her heart pounding. He looked back at her and she felt like she was stabbed with a kunai. They were both scared of this ninja, he was a missing-nin from a village called, Konohagakure, and he was also one of the three legendary ninja. The other two were Jiraiya and Tsunade. But Kaya knew that this guy meant bad news, not just because he was a lot stronger than Sasori, or even Pain, but because he could blow their cover and probably destroy the village and make them rebuild it again.

"Who the heck are you?" Kaya heard Katana say. She looked at her sister, she didn't look afraid of this ninja. Just wait until she figures out how strong he is, she thought.

"Orochimaru!" Kakashi spat.

"Who?!" Katana asked him.

"He is one of the legendary ninja, trained by the Third Hokage in Konoha," Kakashi explained. "But he is now a criminal, who wants revenge against Konoha because he was not accepted to be the next Hokage after the death of the Second Hokage. Then he was exiled for trying to fight for the place."

Kaya clenched her fists. "What are you doing here, Orochimaru?!" she growled.

"Ah, Kaya, nice to see you again," he smiled. "You look a lot stronger since the last time I saw you."

"You don't," Kaya mumbled.

"Get out of here!" Kaya heard Katana growl and the black and blue haired girl ran forward.

Kaya looked at her. "Katana, no! He's a legendary ninja, remember?"

"I wouldn't care if he was a snake ninja!" Katana called over her shoulder. "He can go jump!"

"He is a snake ninja," Kaya sighed and ran after her.

"Kaya!" Sasori yelled. "Don't!"

"I'll bring her back!" Kaya called back and used her lightning speed, growling as Katana did the same.

Katana sped forward and Orochimaru jumped down from the wall, ready to face her.

Kaya panicked, he was going to attack her!

Katana lifted her hand and clenched her fists. She threw her fist forward to punch Orochimaru but he merely pushed her arm to the side and slammed his palm into her gut, it was glowing blue, and his hand threw her back to the others, over Kaya's head. Katana landed on top of Kiba.

Kaya looked at Katana, stopping in her tracks.

"She has lightning speed as well?" came Orochimaru's voice and it sent shivers down Kaya's spine. "Could she be your sister by any chance?"

Kaya spun around and Orochimaru was right in front of her. She jumped back with shock but he grabbed her shoulder, he leaned his head forward. "Do you fear a fellow Akatsuki member?" he whispered in her ear. "Oh and by the way, I want this village."

Kaya couldn't move, her body started shaking with fear and she flinched when he started laughing. She tried to move her arm but it wouldn't move due to her fear.

Orochimaru's hand moved from her shoulder to her neck and his grip tightened.

Move! She thought to herself. Move you fool! MOVE!!!

Her arm moved and she grabbed a kunai out of she pocket on her left leg. She drew it up but Orochimaru spotted it and punched her in the stomach and threw her backwards, she dropped the kunai at his feet.

She landed with a thump next to Sasuke and cringed. She slowly sat up and saw Orochimaru laughing. She nearly felt sick when she saw his long snake tongue come out of his mouth and grab the kunai that was on the ground.

He threw the kunai with his tongue and it hit the barrel she was leaning her back against, she turned her head slightly to look at it directly beside her face.

"This guy is ticking me off!" Katana growled and got up, running at Orochimaru again.

"Katana, don't!" Kaya called and went to get up and run after her but Sasori and Sasuke got up and grabbed her.

Orochimaru made hand-signs and pointed his arm forward. Four snakes came out of his sleeve and went for Katana. She dodged out of their path and continued running for Orochimaru.

"Katana!" Kiba called and got up, running forward.

"Kiba, stay back!" Kakashi yelled but the boy kept running, Akamaru right beside him.

Kakashi growled and went after them, Ebisu followed.

"Come on, guys!" Naruto called to the others. "Let's go kick snake butt!"

Naruto waited, but nobody got up. "Come on, guys!" he said. "This guy could destroy the village, and you won't do anything to try and protect it. Being a ninja is all about defending against other ninja and completing missions that could save people's lives."

"It is, Naruto, but-"

"But nothing, Sakura!" Naruto said. "We're on a mission and we need to protect these villagers! We can't just sit back and let all our hard work go to waste. We helped rebuild this village! We gave the villagers new hope! And you're just gonna sit there and watch it all go down the drain?"

"We feel the same way!" Shino said. "But look how strong that guy is. There's no point trying-"

"What!?" Naruto exclaimed. "You mean you're not even gonna try! A real ninja wouldn't say that! A real ninja would get up and go into battle no matter what! No matter how tough, no matter how impossible it may seem, a ninja would fight even if the odds were stacked against him! A real ninja never gives up, and I'm not going to give up, even if I fail the first time. There's no point in giving up if you don't even try! I won't give up because I'm going to protect this village no matter what!"

Kaya nodded and shook away Sasuke and Sasori to standby Naruto's side. "He's right," she said. "Orochimaru is strong, we know that already. But if we all don't try and defeat him, this village will get destroyed."

Everyone looked at one another and Kaya heard a bit of murmuring. Kaya looked over her shoulder and saw Katana, Kiba, Kakashi and Ebisu trying to fight against Orochimaru. She turned back to the others. "What Naruto said is all true: A real ninja never gives up no matter what. And a real ninja won't give up without trying. I might not be from a village, but I'm still a ninja. And like you, I worked hard to rebuild this village. I'm not just gonna sit back and watch this village get destroyed after everything we've done. If Orochimaru wants to destroy this village....."

Kaya looked at each of her friends, Neji, Hinata, Shino, Tenten, Rock Lee, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, Chji and Ino.

She clenched her fists. "Then he's gonna have to get through me first!"

Sasori looked at Kaya, her eyes shining. Her words seemed to reach the others, as they stood up, muscles tense and ready for a fight.

"So....." Kaya smiled, looking at them. "Who's with us?"

They all nodded and Kaya turned around, looking at Orochimaru. He was able to fend off all four of the ninja. But can he fend off all of us? She thought with a smile.

"We fight together," Kaya said. "That's the only way this will work."

She took one step forward before she raced across the ground at full speed, running straight for Orochimaru.

Katana and the other three jumped back to catch their breath but they saw Kaya race right past them. Orochimaru knew Kaya was coming for him and he put his hand out, throwing it forward and getting her in the stomach. She fell backwards at his feet and she looked up at him, he looked back at her. "You can't defeat me," he said. "I know all your tricks. You can't hurt me."

Kaya's eyes widened as he brought out his long tongue and went to hit her but she rolled to the side and it hit the ground. She got up hands on the ground, got up and got a little distance away. She noticed her friends coming forward, ready to fight the snake ninja. She made twelve hand-signs. "Fire style, Twin Fire Dragon Jutsu!"

A ball of fire came out of her mouth and formed the shape of a dragon. It opened its mouth and shot towards Orochimaru. The snake ninja laughed. "You won't hurt me with that."

"That's what you think," Kaya smiled as Orochimaru jumped into the air to dodge the dragon. She knew the second one would hit, it couldn't fail.

Orochimaru sensed the second one but to Kaya's relief, the fire dragon hit directly, sending him flying to the ground.

Orochimaru growled and glared at Kaya. "Kabuto! Sayuri! Get down here!"

Kaya froze. There were more people to fight?!

She looked up and saw two people standing on the wall, a guy and a girl. The girl looked to be Kaya's age. With long black hair, a plain white shirt and black pants with a kunai pocket on her right leg and a shuriken pouch on the left side of her waist. The guy had silver sort of hair with weird clothes, like Orochimaru.

They jumped down and stood by Orochimaru, who got up.

Kaya blinked at the girl. She didn't look pleased. She looked really upset or something.

Kakashi looked stunned. "Sayuri!?"

The girl looked back at Kakashi, and looked at the ground.

"Sayuri, we knew that Orochimaru put the curse on you, but why are you with him? It's been years." Kakashi asked.

"She chose to come with me," Orochimaru laughed. "She wanted power, and I offered it to her."

Kaya watched Sayuri's expression, she suddenly looked angry but Orochimaru couldn't see because her hair was hiding her face.

"Sayuri!" Katana exclaimed.

"Hi, Katana," Sayuri murmured. Orochimaru glared at her and she didn't speak again.

"She was loyal to the Leaf Village!" Kakashi growled at Orochimaru. "She would never choose to leave!"

"Oh but she did," Orochimaru smiled, looking at the ninja. "And I see you have two criminals among you village ninja."

Kaya and Sasori froze on the spot as all eyes turned to them.

"What!?" Choji exclaimed.

"What is he talking about?" Shikamaru asked.

"They're part of a group called the-"

"Armaterasu," Kaya interrupted, remembering one of Itachi's attacks. Then she ran at Orochimaru. "Enough talk. Let's finish this!"

"Kaya!" Sasuke called.

Kaya kept running and Katana followed, running side by side with her sister.

"Katana!" Kiba called.

Kaya and Katana ran at Orochimaru and, at the exact same time, pulled a kunai from the pockets on their left legs and held it in front of them the same way.

Orochimaru smiled and made hand-signs. They came straight for him.

A fireball flew at them but in a split second, they both separated and ran in opposite directions around him. Before Kabuto or Sayuri could even move to protect their master, Katana was on his left side and Kaya on his right, kunai to his neck, their arms crossed over each other at the back.

"Make one move and we'll kill you," they said. Orochimaru looked at them both, their sapphire eyes glaring at him furiously.

Kaya and Katana were suddenly pulled back and Orochimaru grabbed their kunai.

Kaya looked at her sister, she had snakes holding her arms, and she wasn't much better.

They looked over their shoulders, Sayuri was there, the snakes body's half in her sleeves. She was so quick! Kaya thought. Is she really that skilled?

Katana threw the snakes off of her and went for Orochimaru again. Kaya got up, tore the snakes away from her and went for Sayuri. If she was an old friend of Katana's, she didn't want to hurt her. But she could get her out of the way.

"Come on everyone! Don't just stand there!" Kaya called.

On her command, everyone ran forward and the battle continued.

Orochimaru growled. "Alright. Let's make this even."

Kaya's eyes widened. No!

Suddenly, more ninja jumped down from the wall, and the battle was even.

The fight went on and Naruto came to help Kaya with Sayuri but it didn't work. They both got thrown away. Sayuri walked up to them, her eyes shining with regret. "I'm sorry," she whispered and made hand-signs.

"Sayuri, wait!"

The girl stopped and Katana ran over. "Don't do it," Katana said.

"I have to," Sayuri replied. "It's Orochimaru's orders."

"Sayuri, I know you wouldn't have left the Leaf Village unless you were forced to. You loved training to be a ninja and protecting the village. Please don't do this!"

Sayuri tried to break the hand-sign, but she couldn't. Orochimaru ordered her to attack them, but Katana wanted her to stop. "I have to...."

Katana put a hand on her shoulder. "Come back to us, Sayuri. Orochimaru can't stop you. You're supposed to be on our side. We need you back."

Sayuri looked unsure of what to do. Kaya could see that she wanted to be back with her friends, but she was scared of Orochimaru.

Kaya stood up and took a step forward. "Sayuri."

Sayuri and Katana looked at the Akatsuki girl.

"Listen to your heart," Kaya said. "They need you more than Orochimaru does. I know you can make the right decision."

Sayuri's body shook for a moment, her expression was worrying. Suddenly, her hand-sign broke and she looked up, her eyes shining with determination, her fists now clenched. Katana and Kaya smiled and Naruto stood up.

"So what's it gonna be, my friend?" Katana asked.

"Orochimaru will pay," Sayuri replied and she turned to look at him, fighting against Sakura. He threw the pink-haired girl away and looked in her direction. "Sayuri, what are you doing?! Attack them!"

"No."

The battle stopped, Orochimaru's followers in a line beside him, and The Leaf Village ninja, and Sasori, stood in a line a few metres away. Kaya, Naruto, Katana and Sayuri in the middle of it all.

Naruto stepped back to be with the line. Kaya and Katana stood on either side of Sayuri.

"WHAT!?" Orochimaru exclaimed.

"No," Sayuri repeated. "I won't do it."

"Why not?"

"Because these are my friends," Sayuri looked at them all. "And you tore me away from them. And because of that, I should be fighting with them now. We will take you down......." She looked at Katana, then at Kaya, then back to Orochimaru. "Together."

Now Orochimaru was one man short.

Kaya clenched her fists when Orochimaru made hand-signs. She was expecting something to do with snakes, but she was wrong.

"Aaaaahhhh!!!!!" Sayuri yelled, holding her neck. She fell to her knees.

"What did you do to her!?" Kaya growled.

"She has a curse mark," he laughed.

"What!?" Katana growled, looking up at him.

"She will never be free of me," he explained. "The curse mark will always remain. I could kill her if I wanted to."

Katana's eyes widened and she looked back at Sayuri, crouching beside her. "You bastard," she growled.

"I agree with you, Katana," Kaya growled. "Let's take him out."

Katana stood up and they stood side by side.

Sasori was quite surprised, considering Katana still hadn't forgiven Kaya.

"It's time," they said together with voices so much alike, full of fury, and they quickly made the same hand-signs at the same time.

Orochimaru shrugged, knowing that they wouldn't hurt him.

The two girls put their arms down and balls of Chakra formed in both hands. "For our Clan's special technique."

Sasori looked at Kaya, maybe this was what she had said the night they found her, about the attack she was going to use to kill the Triple-Tailed Tiger.

Orochimaru and everyone watched in silence, no one moving.

Suddenly, Kaya and Katana clapped their hands together at the same time and the balls of Chakra got bigger. "Twin Lightning Dragon Jutsu!" They both faced the ground.

A bright light exploded from the Chakra and the two balls of Chakra began to take shape. They both formed dragons, with yellow eyes. The Chakra became white and lightning crackled all around, coming from the two dragons.

Orochimaru blinked. "You can't hurt me with that."

"Make a bet?" they said, their voices full of malice and they looked up, their eyes glittering with excitement.

The dragons raced forward, toward Orochimaru.

He laughed and went to jump out of the way.

Kaya and Katana made more hand-signs. "Multiply!"

When Orochimaru dodged the two dragons, he just managed to dodge another one. He looked around, there were more dragons, all around him.

They all closed in on him and everyone heard the roar of thunder and Orochimaru's shout of pain.

The lightning disappeared, as well as the dragons and Orochimaru was on the ground, on his hands and knees.

Two hands were placed upon his shoulders. "That was just the beginning," two voices whispered.

Orochimaru looked up, Kaya and Katana weren't by Sayuri's side, they were right behind him.

They pulled him up and turned him around. But before they could move, he made hand-signs. "One more step and she dies," he smiled.

They froze and looked back at Sayuri. They looked back at him, growling.

"Kakashi!" Kaya called, alerting him. "Can any of you ninja do a sealing Jutsu?"

Kakashi nodded and ran over to Sayuri.

Orochimaru's eyes widened and he went to finish making hand-signs.

Kakashi was doing the same thing, only different hand-signs.

Kaya's heart was pounding, it was a race against time to save Sayuri.

Kakashi put a hand on Sayuri's neck. "Curse Seal Jutsu!"

"No!" Orochimaru exclaimed. He wasn't quick enough.

Kaya breathed and the two girls looked back at Orochimaru with a smile. He didn't look pleased. They pulled back their left arms, fists clenched and threw them forward, hitting him in the gut. Then they turned, pivoting on the feet and kicked him in the gut.

They stood up properly and, as if they had practiced together at the Academy so many times, they punched him in the gut over and over again before doing a high kick, jumping back and throwing shuriken.

Orochimaru threw kunai and the shurikens were thrown away. "Who do you take me for?" he growled. "I am one of the Legendary ninja. You can't beat me with simple tricks."

"No, but we're weakening you," Kaya smiled.

"But you're also weakening yourselves," he laughed.

Katana and Kaya exchanged a glance. "I think it's time for our Kekkei Genkai's," Kaya grinned. "What about you?"

Katana shook her head. "I am not using Armato Sumorata."

Kaya's eyes widened. "Why not!?"

"Because, I'm scared to hurt people," Katana replied.

Kaya turned to her, fists clenched. "But your Armato Sumorata could demolish this guy."

"Kaya, I haven't used Armato Sumorata since the day we were separated."

Kaya growled. "And I haven't used my Kekkei Genkai ever. But it's worth a shot!"

"Uh..." Naruto said. "Shouldn't you be fighting Orochimaru instead of arguing-"

"Shut up, Naruto!" Katana and Kaya growled.

The two girls started arguing again and everyone sweat dropped.

Kaya turned around. "Fine, if you won't use your attack, I'll use mine to take him down myself!"

Sasori's eyes widened. The lightning dragon thing wasn't her special attack?

Katana growled and Kaya went to run at Orochimaru but Katana grabbed her. "We don't need to use the Kekkei Genkai's to take this guy out. All we need is fire and water."

Kaya looked at her, thinking for a moment. She nodded. "You're right."

"As always," Katana smiled.

"Not always," Kiba murmured.

"I heard that!"

"Sorry."

Kaya and Katana turned back to Orochimaru and started making different hand-signs.

"Whoa, they argue but then it's over in a second," Ino sighed. "They're weird. Don't you think, Sasuke?"

Ino looked at Sasuke, he was watching Kaya, his muscles tense as if he was going to jump in and help.

"Get the girls," Orochimaru ordered and his followers ran to stop Kaya and Katana.

Sayuri was the first to get up and run to their defense, attacking Kabuto. The others clenched their fists and jumped in, defending the two girls that continued making hand-signs.

Suddenly, their hands stayed in one sign.

"Fire style, Twin Fire Dragon Jutsu!" Kaya said.

"Water style, Twin Water Dragon Jutsu!" Katana said.

Water and Fire started fusing together but the two kunoichi's started making more hand-signs. The same ones. As the water and fire took the form of dragons swirling around each other, the girls finished their hand-signs. "Twin Lightning Dragon Jutsu!"

Lightning appeared and joined up with the fire and water. Three sets of dragons twisted around each other and flew at Orochimaru. He dodged out of the way, laughing.

Kaya and Katana were looking at the ground with their hair covering their face and they smiled.

Orochimaru was confused, until the six dragons separated and flew at him from different directions. He jumped out of the way but they kept coming at him. He was getting more and more tired as he had to continuously dodge the dragons. His followers were getting tired too, so were the Leaf Village ninja and Sasori.

Kaya sighed. This would have to end quickly.

Orochimaru dodged them and crouched down, holding his chest, breathing hard.

Kaya and Katana exchanged a glance and closed their eyes.

The dragons flew up and came crashing back down, twisting around each other and forming one huge dragon. It's jaws opened up and it crashed down on Orochimaru, making a huge crashing sound.

The dragon disappeared and Orochimaru lay there, not dead, but exhausted and unable to fight anymore.

Kaya and Katana grinned. "Had enough yet?"

Orochimaru looked up at them and growled. Then he cringed. "Yeah, for now."

Orochimaru's followers left the Leaf Village ninja and picked up Orochimaru. They glared at Kaya and Katana before jumping to the village wall and taking off into the forest.

Kaya and everyone else breathed a sigh of relief. "That was a close one," Kaya sighed.

"Yeah, so you see why we didn't need to use our Kekkei Genkai's?" Katana growled a little.

"Well sorry for wanting to finish that guy off!" Kaya bit back.

"Are you sure you didn't just want to show how strong you are?" Katana spat.

"Why would I!?" Kaya growled. "I have hated that guy for years!"

"What did he ever do to you?"

"Well for one he tried to take over Ita- Uh.... I mean, Itairu's body," Kaya exchanged a glance with Sasori.

"So was Orochimaru right when he said you were criminals?" Katana asked.

Kaya and Sasori froze, exchanging glances. "Uh..... n-n-n-n-n-no. It's not true," Kaya said.

Everyone looked at her and Sasori, their gazes full of suspicion.

"She's telling the truth," Sasori said. "If we were criminals, why would we help you rebuild the village?"

There was silence for a few moments. Kakashi nodded. "I guess you have a point there," he looked at Kaya looking worried. Something tells me they're lying, but if it's a lie, we'll find out who they really are eventually, he thought.

Sasuke looked at Kaya, wondering if she was really telling the truth. Could this girl really be a criminal? He thought. She doesn't look like one. But then again, her friend, Sasori, does. And their group, as Kaya said, is known as the Armaterasu. Could that be true?

"C'mon," Kiba sighed. "We'd better get this village finished so we can go home."

Katana breathed and smiled before going to follow Kiba. Sasuke walked over to Naruto and Neji and they started moving logs with the cart Kaya and Neji had made on the first day.

"Kakashi," Kaya said. "Is there anything we can help with?"

Kakashi looked around. He looked back at her. "No. I'm pretty sure that we can handle the rest ourselves. You and Sasori should go home. You've been a great help these past few days. Even though you weren't assigned this mission."

Kaya nodded and looked at Sasori. When Sasori nodded and turned around, she followed him towards the entrance of the village.

Katana stopped and looked to see what Kaya was doing and saw her leaving the village with Sasori. "Are they leaving?" Katana wondered out loud as Kakashi walked over to them.

"Yes," Kakashi replied. "Their assistance is no loner needed here."

Katana looked at Kaya, her long black hair flowing with the wind as she walked beside Sasori.

Katana saw Kaya taking a deep breath and Sasori put and arm around her and pulled her close to him like a side hug.

Is she crying? Katana thought. I hope she's not.

She was about to run over but Kakashi grabbed her shoulder and stopped her. She look up at him. "Let them go," he smiled. "You'll see them again."

Katana sighed and looked back to where Kaya was, but she wasn't there. Kaya and Sasori were gone. The risen dust and dirt proved that they ran out of the village and into the forest.

Katana dropped her head and followed Kakashi and Kiba through the village.