Previously in Veils of Deceit. . .

"So Ouroboros has Kyosuke and Cho." Itachi stated, taking the files as he stood and threw them on the desk. "Everything on Ouroboros I have. Although I doubt they're be of any help."

"How are we going to find them –" Sasuke shoved the rest of the files to the floor. "– if we have nothing to work with?"

"Aniki's right here." came Aki's voice from behind him.

"Tanigawa village." Itachi announced. "We can make it there by this time tomorrow if we push ourselves."

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. (But the OCs are mine!)

NOTE: I know it's been forever since I updated, but I guess it's better late than never. I hope you enjoy!

Veils of Deceit

Chapter Ten

The Beginning of The End

Part One

There was no difficulty in breaching Ouroboros's hideout once they arrived and found there were no guards present. Actually, in Sasuke's option, it was far too easy to get inside the building. It had him more on edge than usual as they traveled down a dimly lit corridor. His gut kept telling him it was a trap, but he forced himself to ignore the feeling and continue moving forward. His son was there. . . he wouldn't leave without knowing one way or another.

An intersection came up and Itachi had them pausing. Itachi pointed forward while staring at him, then pointed to himself before pointing down the left corridor. They were splitting up into two groups of three. With a curt nod exchanged between him and his brother they separated - Itachi, Jun, and Yuuto turned down the left corridor while he, Miki, and Ruri continued down the one they were on.

It was eerily quiet, except for the sound of heavy breathing coming through the headset they all wore. He vaguely suspected that it was Miki, but didn't linger on the thought as they turned down another corridor. The lighting was worse than the previous one with two working wall lights on the right and one flickering light on the left.

A faint noise came from up ahead, which had him stopping and looking at all corners with his Sharingan. There was no sign of anything and the noise had disappeared. He took two more cautious steps forward and the noise returned, but too low to hear properly. He reached back and yanked Miki to him by the collar of his cloak, issuing an indignant yelp from the other man. "Breath more quietly." he ordered Miki next to his ear. He received a nod in returned, and almost instantly the annoying breathing coming through the headset lessened sufficiently.

He returned his attention back to the direction where the noise had come from and took another step forward. The noise was back and now he could tell that it resembled a growl. Still, there was nothing else in the corridor. The only thing he could deduce was that it was hiding around the only turnoff there was.

Keeping his eyes on the turnoff, he began to walk toward it. The growling grew in volume the closer he got. He halted in his tracks several feet away when a clawed hand shot out and grabbed onto the wall. The claws embedded themselves in the stone wall without fail and then curled in to draw back, creating four deep lines in the wall. He took a slow step back and summoned a kunai from his wrist sigils, feeling the danger even if the chakra was concealed.

"What the hell is that?" Miki whispered.

"You found something?" came Itachi's voice over the headset.

No one responded as a head came out from around the corner and a molten eye was revealed. It was in that moment that an enormous wave of chakra crashed into them. Sasuke's eyes widened at the swirls of the familiar green chakra that extended violently outward. No. . . A boy slowly crawled on all fours out from around the corner with lips snarling and saliva sliding and dripping off his chin. Not my little boy. . .

Kyosuke stopped in the middle of the corridor, back hunching in a defensive manner and claws digging into the hard floor with a single tail protruding from his backside. There was no recognition in the animalistic features of his son, only the primal instincts of the Bijuu seemed to be what was left – no glimpse of Kyosuke could be seen at all. What did Ouroboros do to him?

Another flare of chakra snapped him out of his induced shock and he ready himself for what he could tell was going to be the fight for his son's life. Because he couldn't lose him. . . He couldn't lose either of his sons.

Itachi noticed the light was brighter in the corridor they were traveling down than the last one. It was a vague acknowledgment before the loud breathing of who he presumed was Miki thankfully quieted down after Sasuke threatened him. Then Miki's voice came over the headset, "What the hell is that?"

"You found something?" The only response he received was the enormous wave of chakra that exploded outward. Kyosuke. . . Screeching static burst from the headsets, resulting in all three of them to yank them from their ears. Once it stopped, Itachi put his ear piece back on and said, "Takai, what did you find?" When there was no reply he cursed, figuring the overflowing energy destroyed the devices. He removed the headset and placed it in his pocket for possible later fixing. "They're no use. We'll have to go back."

He was ready to turn around and head back to where Sasuke was when a shrill scratching, like nails on a chalkboard, rang through the air. A slow leak of familiar chakra had him facing down the hallway at the approaching figure. Cho walked slowly with only a thin hospital gown covering her small frame and her long black hair loose, obscuring her face. Even from a distance, he could see the blood that ran from between her thighs and down her legs, leaving a small trail on the floor behind her. Nausea twisted his stomach at the many different scenarios that could have occurred for that to happen.

Instinct had him restraining Jun from rushing to Cho, whose chakra gradually rose the closer she got. The chakra thickened, becoming visible and swirling around her in a golden spiral. The power of her Bijuu. . .

His body tensed when she stopped several yards from them and cocked her head at a strange angle. Her hair parted, revealing the violet color of her right eye. He could see the basic primal instincts within it's depth and their presence apparently proved a threat by the lifting of her lip, a snarl forming. They were in trouble. Going up against a Jinchuuriki powered by their Bijuu was never an easy task. It was more like a dangerous game of roulette, never knowing if you were going to live or die. It made him wonder if Ruri was right and Ouroboros somehow anticipated their quick arrival. Or they were merely convenient for some twisted experiment they were conducting.

Either way it still posed a problem on how they were going to subdue her without getting themselves killed. He just had to get close enough and pray his Sharingan would work on a Jinchuuriki other than Naruto.

A sharp dodge and a roll forward brought Sasuke right next to his son only to have to flip himself back from a chakra swipe to his torso. The flow of deep green chakra smashed through the wall to his left, tearing down a good portion of it. He landed on his feet a couple yards down the hall and cursed under his breath at his inability to get the right angle. It was like the animal knew he was trying to subdue him with his Sharingan.

Fear. . . It pumped thickly through his veins and caused some of his actions to become reckless. He was truly afraid of not winning this fight against his own son. He needed to win. There was no other option. He was forced to move again and while he evaded the chakra blows he summoned two windmill shurikens from his wrist sigils, secretly attaching shinobi wire to them. When he crossed paths with Ruri he signaled to her for a distraction, which in turn she signaled to Miki to do the same.

Miki formed hand-seals silently and then slammed his fist straight into the floor. Upon impact a whirlwind of sleet and ice exploded outward, causing the temperature to drop drastically and visibility to decrease to near blinding with the poor lighting. Normally both would be a disadvantage – even if it was just minor – to a shinobi, but a Bijuu-empowered boy it didn't affect at all. But he didn't expect it to. It was the chakra that was infused in the sleet and ice that he was relying on to help cover up his presence.

With his Sharingan he caught sight of Ruri gathering a large amount of chakra into the palms of her hands where a few dozen senbon lay. The act effectively caught the attention of Kyosuke and at the same moment as she threw the senbons, he threw his two windmill shurikens. While Kyosuke dealt with the senbons the windmill shurikens twirled around Kyosuke, tightly binding him with shinobi wire.

He knew that wouldn't be enough to subdue him, but before he could take any other action, Kyosuke's chakra lashed out. It resulted in the bindings snapping like they were nothing and the floor to crack until the it collapsed from under their feet.

"Let me go." Jun demanded from where Itachi was restraining him.

Itachi simply said, "No."

Jun gave an inhuman growl and increased his struggling. "Let me the fuck go."

Losing his renowned patience, Itachi jerked Jun so he could glare at the boy in the eye with his activated Sharingan. "That isn't Cho right now. Nanabi won't hesitant to kill you."

Jun's face fell then, revealing the vulnerable boy that lived underneath his fierce facade. "But it's Cho."

He knew what he was really trying to say. Jun couldn't stand the thought of hurting Cho. He could understand by observing the relationship that Sasuke and Naruto had, but he's learned quite early on that fate was a cruel woman. "Sometimes you have to hurt the one you love."

His words had Jun stilling while his face hardened, showing none of the emotions that just seconds before flooded his features. That was good. Jun would need that resolve to fight against Cho and not get himself killed.

The whole building shoot and what sounded like a cave-in could be heard from the distance. He could guess that it was the others dealing with Kyosuke. He hoped they were dealing with only Kyosuke and no one else. He couldn't ponder on that problem for long, because his own problem shifted her chakra ominously, grabbing his complete attention.

Cho's back hunched and she hissed at them threatening. Then she charged.

Itachi roughly shoved Jun to one side where Yuuto stood while he dodged in the opposite direction. Deftly he brought out a dozen kunai, loading them with chakra before throwing them at the threat. The kunai caught fire after a series of hand seals as they barreled toward her. She opened her mouth and screamed out a stream of compressed chakra to the counter them. His eyes widened at the chakra for not only annihilating the kunai, but continuing on to him.

There was no time get out of the way. He took the blow fully to the chest, sending him crashing through the wall behind him and knocking the wind right out of him. He attempted to slow himself down by twisting his body and digging his foot into the floor, but it didn't stop him was colliding into the next wall that stopped him completely. Pushing himself up, he softly gasped air to regain his breath.

He looked down the path his body created and saw Jun and Yuuto fighting Cho, but he could clearly tell their movements were hesitant. That was going to get them killed. He got to his feet and without thinking too much on what he planned to do he began to form various hand seals. An inferno came to life, circling his body as it grew in intensity to where it filled the entirety of the room he was in. He waited until both Jun and Yuuto were enough out of the way where it might not harm them too badly and whispered, "Jaken Fenikkusu no Jutsu."

The fire flooded forward, vibrate phoenixes forming along the way with a loud bird cry, and raced towards its target. Itachi calmly walked after his jutsu back out into the corridor. He glanced to his right and saw Jun and Yuuto sprawled on their backs with Jun's cloak on fire.

With a colorful string of curses that sounded suspiciously like, "Fucking pyros." Jun took came of the fire while Yuuto commented, "A little warning next time."

The phoenixes crashed into wall after wall chasing after Cho, who was fast and agile evading it. Although the phoenixes were relentless in their chase and soon it caught up with her, engulfing her in its flames with blinding intensity.

Pushing a large boulder from on top of him, Sasuke emerged from the rubble. He accessed the damaged to himself as he stood and, besides the gash on his upper arm and the ache in his leg, nothing seemed to be broken. He threw away his Wolf mask that broke in half in the collapse and then focused his gaze on his son, who remained unscathed and still raging.

He could feel his Sharingan spinning rapidly and it was the only reason he noticed Miki a couple yards to his right push his way to the surface with a loud, "Son of a bitch! I thought I was a goner." Miki got himself completely out before he asked, "Where's Tara?"

Sasuke had no idea, and at the moment, he didn't care. He knew he was suppose to, but all that matter right then was the boy in front of him. Kyosuke was his family. Everything else was trivial to that.

Without answering Miki, he shrugged off his tattered cloak and with his chakra concentrated in the soles of his feet he sped straight toward Kyosuke. He purposely waited until the last second to dodge the oncoming attack with a twist of his foot to speed in the opposite direction. He used his speed to keep ahead and dodge the various attacks that were directed him; going in different directions and being unpredictable with his movements.

Suddenly he took a turn and headed straight for Kyosuke. He grabbed his chin in a vice hold, ignoring the pain from the chakra burning him, and forced those golden eyes to stare right into his. The next second Kyosuke slumped unconscious in his arms while the wild chakra diminished, resulting in the area to fall in an unsettling silence.

It took him a moment to let himself release the breath he was holding at finally having his son in his arms where he could keep him safe. He gently brushed the sweat madden strands from Kyosuke's forehead and stared down at the relaxed features that just seconds before were distorted in vicious snarls. Then he pressed his forehead against Kyosuke before leaning back and kissing the skin there.

He gathered his son up in his arms and turned around to where Miki and Ruri were standing. He wasn't surprised to see Ruri alive, she was hard to kill. She came up to him and swiftly began to paint sigils on Kyosuke's skin to suppress his chakra. She then moved on in an attempt to heal his hands of the chakra burns, but he brushed her aside and started down the destroyed corridor to where it sounded like the others were fighting.

"Takai." she voiced in a tone that he guessed was suppose to be threatening.

It wasn't. "No." And he continued on in his stride. Physical pain he could tolerate, it was easy. It was losing the boy in his arms that would kill him and his youngest son. He had to make sure he was all right. And the only way to ensure that was to get him back to the Compound and have him examined to find out what the hell Ouroboros did to him. It was all he could do. . . hope in a way he hasn't had to do in a long time and pray the outcome wouldn't destroy him.

Ruri probably had something else to say, but Miki interrupted her with, "Just leave it alone." and followed him.

The flames blazed brightly, even as they began to slowly dissipate, but in an instant the fire extinguished altogether with a surge of chakra. There stood Cho on all fours with a chakra tail swishing sporadically behind her and looking far more feral. When she moved she wasn't even seen until she was upon them ready to end their life. What followed was a chaotic mix of avoiding deadly blows that was becoming more difficult with every passing second. Cho made it impossible to throw any counter attacks, not with her using every second to keep them too busy to keep themselves alive.

Distantly he felt the other group approach, then the rise of Sasuke's chakra like he was performing a jutsu. Several seconds later shinobi wire burst forth from the floor and wrapped tightly around Cho, binding her to one spot. He knew it wouldn't hold her. At most he had a couple of seconds before she forced her way out of it.

Shoving off the wall he just landed on, he landed in front of Cho. He yanked on one of the wires around her neck and jerked her head in his direction where their eyes connected. The next moment she fell limp, the only thing keeping her up being the wires. Jun quickly went to her just as the wires began to loosen and retract, catching her in his arms.

Sasuke, Miki and Ruri walked out of the shadows and into the only dim light that remained in the corridor. He felt a sense of relief wash over him at the sight of Kyosuke in Miki's arms. At least now he knew for certain that now they had both Kyosuke and Cho back in their custody where they would be kept safe. He visually checked the other three over and saw only superficial injuries, other than those they appeared to be fine.

Ruri continued forward, kneeling down to the fallen Cho while Jun glared and grabbed her hand when she tried to begin the process of painting the necessary sigils. "Jun. . . let her." he ordered, and it took a long moment before Jun released her to allow her to paint the same sigils that were on Kyosuke's skin to suppress her chakra.

"How's Kyosuke?" Itachi asked.

"Alive." Sasuke answered. "Any other damage won't be known until we're out of here and back at the compound." Itachi nodded in acknowledgment of the truth in that statement. "Cho?"

Itachi turned and stared solemnly at Cho as she was being carefully positioned on Jun's back with the help of Yuuto. "Alive." he answered in the same manner. Although he wasn't sure if she'll want to be after she returned to herself. Because whatever happened to her to cause the bleeding. . . it was nothing good.

He sighed and ordered out their formation. "Kyosuke and Cho are to remain in the middle while Tara and Zurui (Yuuto) take the rear and Takai and I take the front."

They all got in their positions and began to retrace their steps back to the main entrance. It was quiet. Far too quiet for the chaos that transpired just minutes before. Were Ouroboros just going to allow them to leave with Kyosuke and Cho after they went through all the trouble to get them? As they turned down another corridor both Itachi and Sasuke stopped in their tracks because of the two chakra signatures making their way towards them. Two chakra signatures that were sickly familiar. He knew it was too easy.

A sense of panic erupted in Itachi as he lifted his hand to signal the others behind him to stop and be on alert. He glanced over at Sasuke, whose sole attention was focused on the darkness that camouflaged the oncoming duo, then looked back down the corridor.

"Naruto. . ." he heard Sasuke whisper right before the pair slowly came into the dim light, revealing a Fox masked man and Asuka besides him with her hand holding his. She was wearing a new dress, this time a deep blue, with a bandage across her cheek and shoulder where he inflicted the injuries. Her eyes were narrowed and glaring right at Sasuke with such disdain on the surface that it almost covered the fear and longing.

She smirked, an expression that mirrored Sasuke's own perfectly. "Hello father."

It was then that Itachi moved and grabbed the syringe hidden in his pant's pocket before swiftly jabbing Sasuke in the neck, injecting him with a powerful sleeping agent. Sasuke automatically grabbed his arm and looked back at him in the exact same way as Asuka had. . . with betrayal. But there was no other way. With the body of his Abikaasa right in front of them Sasuke would never allow anyone to harm him nor would he consider leaving. There would be no reasoning with an Uchiha protecting their Abikaasa.

Sasuke slumped unconscious and Itachi caught him before he could hit the ground. He immediately hand him over to Yuuto without taking his eyes off the threat. "Take him." Yuuto didn't argue with him as he placed Sasuke's arm over his shoulders, but he could tell the gaze that was on him was filled with confusion.

"Who're they? They part of Ouroboros?" Jun questioned, and when no one answered he asked again. "Who the fuck are they?"

"Shut it." came Miki's sharp tone as he came up without Kyosuke to stand on his right while Ruri came to stand on his left. They knew what this situation could turn into. What they might have to do. It wasn't the most ideal time with so many others with them that could easily end up in the crossfire, but there might not be a choice.

Asuka tutted at him, "Bad Uncle 'Tachi, you spoiled my fun. I was looking forward to meeting father." And he believed there was an underlying truth to that.

"Why does she keep callin' him that?" he heard Jun murmur.

"But since you took him away, you can now face the consequences of what you did to me." She pouted mockingly. "You hurt me Uncle 'Tachi. You were even going to kill me. Your own blood. How can that be allowed to slide?" Her pout formed back into a smirk as her unoccupied hand slid up and down the man's arm beside her. Naruto's body. . . "Do you know who this is? This is Kyuubi."

"Kyuubi?" Jun said in disbelief. "The Jinchuuriki of Kyuubi is dead."

Asuka tilted her head in child-like confusion. "I don't know what a Jinchuuriki is. All I know is that he's Kyuubi and he'll protect me."

She didn't even know. Itachi shouldn't even be surprised that she held such little knowledge about Naruto. Ouroboros probably spun her an elaborate fairytale while completely omitting themselves of their sole involvement in his death. Now his very body stood right next to her and she was completely oblivious. "Have you've ever wondered who he was? The person he use to be?"

That confusion deepened further as Asuka frowned. "Why would that matter to me?"

"He protects you." And he wasn't quite sure why either. Why would a mere shell protect another person without being ordered to? He doubted Ouroboros would order him to since they seemed to hold little care for her. Then why would he protect her? Unless. . . the animal still remembers. "Ever wondered why he does? A body that should only hold the basic instincts of the Bijuu. He shouldn't have the capacity to care what happened to you." He paused, taking in the petulant unhappiness that filled her whole features. "But it's the man he use to be that has probably saved you from time to time. Because even an animal will protect its offspring."

Her mismatched eyes widened in realization and her head snapped to looked up at the masked man. Then her head began to shake in denial as she went back to look at them. "No. . . you're lying." But the doubt was all ready placed. "You're lying!"

Wind began to stir and strengthen in the confines of the hallway, but it wasn't Asuka's doing. No, this chakra was Kyuubi's with a hint of Naruto's swirling in it. Asuka pressed herself to the body's side as the gusts of wind increased, blazing red and heating the air.

With the air stirring violently, a plan began to form in his mind. It was a dangerous one. One that could go horribly wrong with such a small space filled with that much air pressure, but the other option was less desirable in their particular situation. Because on the most part he was a reasonable man and he was honest with himself with what his limitations were. Fighting the body that held all of Naruto's taijutsu and ninjutsu skills was a feat he couldn't say he would be the victor in. Even with Ruri and Miki the odds were still not promising.

"Take the others and find another way out." Itachi ordered both Ruri and Miki. "Create one if you have to. Just hurry and get as far as you can away from here."

"What about yourself?" Ruri asked while Miki went to grab Kyosuke from Yuuto, who stood next to the wall where the unconscious Sasuke was on the floor, slumped against it.

"Go." was his only reply as he disregarded her and placed his hands together to begin building his chakra. For a long moment he felt Ruri wait and stare at him, then she moved and her chakra signature retreated after the others.

As he waited the few seconds it would take for the others chakra signatures to get out of his range of sensory, he concentrated a portion of his chakra to the entire surface of his skin in hopes of giving himself a little protection. Then he performed a series of hand seals and ignited the wind with fire.

The fire reacted instantly to the increased oxygen, creating an enormous explosion.