:: Author: KillerMay ::

Kaede woke up in a dark room. She didn't know time it was and she didn't know what was around her. She did realize that the rope had finally been cut off of her (it felt like they had nicked her too).

She considered screaming again but she assumed there wasn't anyone around to hear her. It probably only end up working against her in the long run. She tried to think of something she could do so she would be able to see. She could always attempt to tap into her Fire Release charka again.

She couldn't remember the hand seals thou—her eyes were burning. They felt like they were on fire. Her initial thought was that they had done something to her. That they were going to torture her until she cracked.

She didn't want to crack, but she was like her mother in that way. Neither of them ever wanted to break down but more often than not, they did.

Now she was crying and it wasn't helping her burning eyes at all. She desperately tried to remember the seals just so she could see.

Eventually, she gave up and looked around the room even though she could see anything. In the far corner (she wondered just how large the room was) she saw a glowing light. Was that... was that charka? She stood up and then she could see it everywhere.

The tears stopped running down her cheeks as she became distracted with that. Once she had calmed down enough, she was able to think clearly and remember the hand seals for a low-key fire jutsu Kakashi had taught her.

She formed the seals and whispered the name of the Fire Release technique. The fire spit out of her mouth and she could see her surroundings for a couple seconds. Mirrors surrounded her. Looking at the mirror, she could see her own charka. What had those guys done to her?

She looked at her continuously burning eyes.

The jet-black color of her eyes had been traded for a bright red. Around the pupil was a circle with what looked like commas coming off of it.

Her eyes were wide and she continued to stare at her reflection even when the fire died out and once again left her in the dark.

:: ::

"But wait, Sasuke! Orochimaru is dead!" Sakura called. He had always been faster than her; she was falling behind. "You killed him, remember?" She didn't want to believe that somebody like that could have her daughter. She could handle kidnappers that only wanted money, but Orochimaru was insane. She didn't want to think about what could happen to Kaede if it really was him...

"Half the people that fought in the fourth war were dead, Sakura," Sasuke replied, blankly. "People coming back to life aren't really that uncommon anymore. He had a lot of subordinates—most of which would gladly trade their life for his." He wasn't liking this. At all. He was going to brutally murder whoever it was that took his daughter and then maybe a few other people for good measure.

He wasn't a ninja anymore though. He wasn't even supposed to perform any jutsu if anyone was around. (He broke that rule a long time ago but Tsunade didn't seem to mind too much—assuming she knew, she was drunk a lot, after all.)

He activated his Sharingan and was instantly (not that he would ever admit it—ever) grateful that Naruto had such an influence over the Hokage. She wanted to sentence him to death. When Naruto talked her out of that, she wanted to sentence him to twenty years in prison with no hope of getting out early and she wanted to seal his Sharingan and charka. When Naruto talked her out of that, she went with only sealing his Sharingan and charka. Finally, when Naruto talked her out of that, she agreed to let him keep both as long as he never used them in front of people. He also wasn't an "official" ninja and couldn't go on mission or anything of the like.

He really didn't mind that though considering he was still a genin in Konoha and if he was stuck with 12 year olds and a sensei painting fences and doing escort missions until the next Chūnin Exams (which Tsunade would be in charge of and would probably choose to not promote him), he might have decided to ram his sword into the elders anyways. Tsunade, too, for good measure.

That wasn't the case though and while he was still borderline psychotic—at least it was only "borderline."