Author Note

Hello there and welcome to another chapter of Accursed Brothers.

I'll be brief about the Author Note, because quite frankly, I don't wish for you to waste time reading this and jump right to the chapter. I won't spoil the surprise, though. To sum up, last chapter, Naruto and Sasuke choose to implement their skills during their week off. Tsunade had decided to stay in the village and went to Kakashi to create a special branch of medic-nin fully equipped to handle field duty. At the end of the week off, Sasuke and Naruto decided to have one last kenjutsu spar, before Sasuke headed home for the day, satisfied about his skills' progression. However, Sasuke wasn't aware of Orochimaru's movement to capture him through his elite forces.

Wonder what will happen, huh? Me too; let's check it out!

Chapter 10 – The unexpected

Beta: Kyuubi123

At night, the exuberant and full of life hidden village in the leaves became a quiet and tranquil place. Crickets could even be heard all throughout the village, indicating that save for the shinobi responsible for making routes around the village, the rest was surely sleeping in their comfortable beds. Just as it was heaven for the local population, it was hell for those who planned on invading the village for whatever reason. With the place being dead quiet, any noise could easily alert Konoha of intruders. With this thought in mind, the elite four moved as quietly and effective as they could while after the unsuspecting target, just like their leader Orochimaru taught them to do. If not for the sannin's knowledge of his home village's operations, it would be extremely tough to enter without alerting attention.

Eventually, Sasuke stopped walking and looked around for a while, before walking inside the Uchiha Clan Compound where his apartment was located.

It was only his instincts that allowed him to grab a kunai fast enough to block four shuriken that would have impaled his back. His eyes quickly caught the blur up in the trees, before the blur was gone. Sasuke followed suit, before he landed on a rather thick tree with enough space to walk on the limbs. The full moon was up, thus allowing him some light against his attackers. When no attack came, he wondered what the first attack was about if there wasn't a second one. He was about to activate the Sharingan when a person appeared in front of him. He had blue hair, wore a gray outfit and was carrying a giant scroll on his back. He saw the same insignia from the ones that invaded Konoha and immediately went on high alert.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?" The man in front of him smirked at the question.

"Uchiha Sasuke, I am Sakon, one of the members of Orochimaru-sama's elite force and he has ordered us to take you with us. This village is no doubt holding you back; Orochimaru-sama is prepared to train you."

Sasuke looked at the man for a while, wondering about the words spoken. Trained by a sannin no doubt would make him strong, stronger enough to deal with Itachi for good. Sasuke had received training from Jiraiya briefly and couldn't deny the results. However, while the offer was to his advantage, Sasuke had the feeling that he would be better where he was now. The image of Naruto, his sensei and Jiraiya appeared smiling at Sasuke. Aside from that, if these goons are really Orochimaru's elite, then they wouldn't mind in having a showdown here. Sakon saw a smirk in Sasuke's face and believed for a second that he wouldn't be wasting much time convincing the brat to go along with the group. Even if they managed to infiltrate the village, it didn't mean that they could waste time here.

"I don't plan on leaving the village, so you can go back to Orochimaru and tell him to leave me the hell alone." Sakon stopped smiling and was about to open his mouth when another voice came alive.

"Forget it Sakon, we don't need to get this fucker's consent. He is alone against us." The owner of the voice appeared from the shadow next to Sasuke, also with the sound insignia. She wore a white outfit and had red hair.

"You think that just because you have the numbers advantage, you can defeat an Uchiha?" Sasuke said surprising Sakon, before he saw Sasuke form a taijutsu stance.

His Sharingan was also activated.

"I guess we can waste a few minutes of our time showing how much Konoha is holding you back." This time another voice as a man with six arms appeared next to Sakon.

Also another figure appeared next to the girl, this one a larger man.

Sakon was the first who charged, but Sasuke just evaded, before blocking a strike coming from the fat guy. The sudden pain in his arms was evidence enough that blocking was ill-advised. The guy with six arms was next, but with Sasuke's sharingan, the Oto elite might as well have eight arms and it wouldn't make a difference. The Uchiha had to thank those times trying to hit Naruto and failing miserably. Compared to him, these guys were child's play at best. The members of the Elite found it frustrating that they couldn't use their full strength in the village, from fear of alerting the Anbu troops. However, Sasuke didn't have that fear and even went through hand seals.

Katon Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Mythical Phoenix Flower Technique)

The Oto elite saw the dozen fireballs coming at them and managed to evade, before the woman started to play a flute. Sasuke was about to strike at her from close range, when his body felt numb all of a sudden. He saw the other enemies smirking at him, moving to capture him. Sasuke snarled at the sound based genjutsu, but he couldn't move his hand to break it. He was beginning to look around him hoping to find something to replace him with when the sound of the flute ended abruptly just as the man with six arms moved to strike Sasuke in the back of his head. Sasuke managed to escape and even land a fierce strike on Kidomaru before grabbing his sword. Everyone looked at what happened to Tayuya when they saw a blond ninja looking person holding her bridal style. The woman was far too busy with Sasuke to notice Naruto coming from behind and using the hilt of his sword to knock her out.

"What are you doing here, Naruto? I don't need your help." Naruto smirked as he saw the other three moving to attack him. Sasuke stopped them long enough for Naruto to give her to five clones and rush to the Hokage, their sensei. The real one stood next to Sasuke as they faced the three elite of Orochimaru. Sasuke stood side by side with him, while looking at the enemies. "You still hadn't answered my question, dobe." Naruto smirked at his partner, while remembering the side mission given by the Hokage.

Flashback on

Right after arriving from the mission to retrieve Tsunade of the Sannin, Naruto was called in the Hokage's office. At first, he found it weird since they had already reported what happened in the mission and Naruto was dismissed for the entire week. Naruto was already considering his next training regimen when an Anbu arrived in his home with the news. When he got inside the Hokage's Office, he was surprised to find his sensei and the Godaime Hokage as well as the Sandaime Hokage.

"Please come in Naruto, we wish to discuss an important thing with you." Naruto nodded, before Kakashi began to explain what he wished of Naruto.

After hearing what his sensei wished of him, Naruto was surprised.

"You want me to spy on Sasuke, sensei. How come?" Kakashi took a few seconds to consider his words carefully as Naruto used the word 'spy' a bit out of proportion.

"Spying is a bit of a strong word to describe it Naruto, but I will explain to you a couple things first. When Orochimaru attacked your team in the Forest of Death, he branded both you and Sasuke with what we call the Cursed Seal. It amplifies the shinobi's speed and power at the cost of sanity. I know that the fox managed to usurp you two from the sannin's control, but that doesn't mean that Orochimaru won't make a move on Sasuke. Ever since he was loyal to the village, Orochimaru desired the Sharingan. Now that the opportunity presented in Sasuke, we are afraid that Orochimaru might attempt to kidnap Sasuke for his eyes. What I'm asking of you is not to spy on him, but merely to keep tabs on him from time to time to ensure that Orochimaru doesn't try anything. In fact, this assignment was mine before I was nominated to the position of Godaime. Now, I'm counting on you, Naruto."

Naruto heard it all and understood where his sensei was coming from.

"I understand sensei; I'll do my best to keep pissing the teme off from time to time. Do you know how Orochimaru plans to do it so I can be ready?"

This time Sandaime came through and explained.

"An excellent question Naruto-kun; rest assured that my old student Orochimaru wouldn't be here personally to collect Sasuke. The wounds of the invasion are too fresh, thus he won't risk coming unless he's sure we wouldn't expect him to. We believe he will be sending a couple of his elites to face Sasuke. However, any sort of confrontation would alert the Anbu, so they won't come here expecting to use force. If something does happen, do not forget to use every means possible to signal your position. With your amount of chakra, it won't take long for someone to feel it and move instantly." Naruto nodded with a smile on his face, before leaving the office.

Flashback off

"I thought about coming over once more and repeat the ass whooping from this afternoon but I came to save you instead. I thought you'd be grateful, though." Sasuke snorted. "Now, shall we make some noise?"

Sasuke didn't know what Naruto meant by that, before Naruto molded a lot of chakra while moving through hand seals for a wide range jutsu.

Fuuton Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough Technique)

The strong burst of wind was enough to force the enemy to scatter as the tree they were standing on were ripped to shreds, not to mention the loud noise that came with it. Sakon immediately cursed the brat for his intrusion. No doubt, that jutsu was felt from a mile away. Their time window had just shortened and they had to move quickly and capture Sasuke. Orochimaru would certainly be pissed when he heard that Tayuya was captured, but he hoped that bringing the sharingan to him on a silver platter was enough compensation. Looking briefly to his peers, Kidomaru and Jiroubou activated their first level cursed seal, before looking at their opposition with a smirk on their faces. It didn't last though when they saw both Naruto and Sasuke activating their cursed seal as well. The appearance though surprised the Oto Elite. Sakon would be quick to demand answers, but time was of the essence. Sakon was alone with Sasuke while Jiroubou and Kidomaru teamed up to face Naruto.

Once the blond brat was finished, they would move to capture Sasuke and be gone before the Anbu show up.

Kidoumaru was quick to make quick hand seals and spit spider webs from his mouth that trapped Naruto inside. Jiroubou was about to move and silence the brat when he saw Naruto using wind chakra to slice the spider webs. He didn't waste time and quickly used the mud slice technique. Jiroubou went along with the river while Naruto charged with extreme speed to finish the man. Naruto was surprised when a considerably sized spider came inches from piercing his lung but managed to use his sword to deal with the arachnid. It was just to get them time, since Jiroubou recovered from the mud slide technique. Quickly summoning three kage bunshin to even the odds a bit, Naruto charged at Kidomaru with the rasengan in hand. The six armed shinobi smirked at the attempt and focused chakra to his defense mechanism. When the spiraling ball of energy hit him however, Kidomaru found himself surprised to hear his defense crack under the pressure. He was sent flying at the nearby tree.

Naruto didn't have time go after him as Jiroubou waved through hand signs.

Doton Doryuu Dango (Earth Release: Mausoleum Earth Dumpling Technique)

Naruto saw the gigantic ball rolling towards him. Not thinking of anything to use to block it, Naruto didn't waste time and used a replacement technique with one of his clones. He still received the image of being smashed by the boulder, but Naruto was glad it didn't happen to him. Jiroubou snarled at this brat's annoyance. He didn't know what happened to Kidomaru, but he guessed it was due to the strange blue ball that the blond hit him with. Jiroubou wanted nothing more than to use cursed seal level two and deal with this mess for good, but that would go against Orochimaru's orders as well as attract even further attention. When Sakon appeared by his side, though, Jiroubou considered the worst.

"We have to leave. We can't risk getting captured as well. Anbu are coming." Jiroubou nodded and grabbed Kidomaru before they quickly vanished just as a squad of Anbu arrived to inspect what happened.

One with the lion masked approached Naruto who was taking care of Sasuke's wounds, asking for the report. Naruto recognized the man from his clones' memories.

"Orochimaru's elite came to kidnap Sasuke. I was nearby and helped him against them. I managed to capture one of them and sent my clones straight to the Hokage. The rest of them just left." The lion masked Anbu just nodded and gave the signal for his team to track the enemies down, while he helped Naruto take Sasuke to the Hospital. Yamato's team was nearby when they saw Naruto's clones carrying an unconscious Oto Shinobi. The captured shinobi was taken to Ibiki for questioning. Yamato quickly checked Sasuke's status and realized that the boy was having trouble breathing normally. He then placed Sasuke on the ground for a quick assessment.

"What is wrong, Anbu-san?" Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke.

"It appears that Sasuke was poisoned. I'll need to give him an antidote before taking him to the Emergency Room."

Naruto and Sasuke nodded. The Uchiha did find it strange how his movements were slower after the enemy managed to draw blood with a kunai. Of course, Naruto couldn't help but mess up with Sasuke a bit.

"Gee teme, you have to up your game. Getting beat up all the time isn't doing you any good."

Unfortunately for Sasuke, the antidote supplied by Yamato worked by using pretty much all of Sasuke's remaining chakra to expel the poison, so the Uchiha was too weak to come up with a suitable response to the jab. He limited himself with a simple 'screw you Naruto', before blacking out. Naruto smirked at the weak come back. He thought for sure that the Anbu had laughed as well, but the mask saved the man in the end. Naruto followed the Anbu towards the Hospital, where the Anbu went inside and called a medic-nin to help Sasuke before vanishing to report to the Hokage about what happened. Naruto chose to stay in the hospital until Sasuke was recovered.

===At the Hokage's Office===

Hatake Kakashi was alone in the Hokage's Office as he went through the necessary documents he needed to memorize.

One of the perks of not having a family to go home to allowed him to focus his entire time in either his assignments or his readings. Kakashi right now was focusing on the journal passed by the previous Hokage. The journal was first created by the Nidaime Hokage. Pretty much all the major events in Konoha's history were in the journal. Being the Yondaime's student and the Sandaime Hokage's most trusted Anbu Captain, Kakashi was aware of the journal's existence. He knew most of the contents that occurred when he joined the Anbu forces, but it was nice to read the events written by the Nidaime Hokage. Kakashi admitted not focusing much on him throughout his career, but now that he had access to the man's journals and even some S-ranked ninjutsu and genjutsu material, Kakashi couldn't help but admire Senju Tobirama.

Before the reign of the Sandaime began, Tobirama had a lot on his plate to deal with; both external and internal affairs. At the time, the Uchiha Clan was demanding more from him and according to the journal, even threatened to leave the village. Tobirama's prowess in the ninja arts wasn't his only skill. His political prowess was duly noticed as he created the Konoha Military Police Corps and placed the Uchiha Clan responsible for keeping the peace inside the village. He was also trading blows with the Nidaime Raikage at the time. In fact, the only reason the Nidaime Hokage was killed was because Ginkaku and Kinkaku of Kumogakure were unhappy with the Raikage's decision to form an alliance with Konoha and attacked them. Kakashi was surprised to see in the Sandaime's first insertion that it was due to Tobirama's sacrifice that day, that he, Danzou and a few others were alive.

Kakashi passed quickly through the Sandaime and Yondaime's notes, since he was involved in a lot of these events. Yamato quickly kneeled in front of his desk.

"Hokage-sama, Orochimaru had sent his elite to kidnap Uchiha Sasuke." Kakashi was immediately alerted, but Yamato continued. "Uzumaki Naruto happened to be on the scene quick and together they managed to hold off the enemies long enough for my team to arrive. Naruto even managed to capture one of them and we just sent her straight to Ibiki for questioning." Kakashi released a sigh in relief, being glad that Naruto had complied with his order and kept tabs on Sasuke. As he left the office towards the hospital, Kakashi made a mental note to take a look into the village's defenses. There was a side project sitting in his desk about the creation of a sensitive barrier that would be erected throughout the village's perimeter and worked nicely to pinpoint where the breach occurred. It was time the project was sanctioned.

===At the Hospital===

Once Kakashi arrived at the Hospital, he quickly greeted the staff that was in attendance. Even if his official nomination was only due in two days, everyone already knew that he was the Godaime Hokage. That and the fact that Sakumo's son wore the Kage's robes on top of his jounin outfit just like his sensei did when he was Yondaime Hokage. When he opened the door to Sasuke's room, Kakashi was surprised to see Naruto there looking at a scroll while waiting for a sleeping Sasuke. The young chunnin heard the door opening and looked up from his scroll to see his sensei in the Hokage's outfit.

"Hi there sensei." Kakashi nodded with a smile on his face as he approached Kakashi's bed.

"I heard that you two were busy this lovely evening. Who was it that came to get him?" Naruto closed the scroll and got up from his chair.

"There were four in total and I think their description matched the ones that lifted that purple barrier when Sandaime-jiji and Orochimaru fought. They had the cursed seal as well, sensei." Kakashi nodded as he looked at Sasuke. According to the report, Sasuke was poisoned. However, it appeared that the staff managed to extract it fully, since Sasuke's breathing appeared normal. He then turned to Naruto and saw that the boy was reading some material for earth ninjutsu. Kakashi smirked at his sensei's son. Naruto's improvement rate, since he began training for the chunnin exams, was staggering to say the least. Before then, he didn't even know his elemental affinity. Now, not only was he proficient in the wind element, but was also practicing a second element. There was no doubt in Kakashi's mind how proud Minato-sensei would have been at seeing his son progressing.

"I appreciate you staying here Naruto, but I'm afraid Sasuke will need higher level security, if they come back. You can go home now."

Naruto nodded with a smile on his face as he walked towards the door, before stopping as he remembered something he needed doing.

"Sensei, ah do you know where I can find a waterfall in Konoha? Ero-sennin said that the next step in wind manipulation was to slice a waterfall, even if I still can't believe it's possible." Kakashi smiled at the comment.

"Well, wind manipulation is tough like that. As a matter of fact, there is one I can think of but it's located inside the Forest of Death. I'd recommend against going there, but I think you're quite familiar with the region." Naruto scratched his head in embarrassment upon getting caught by his sensei, though he wondered if perhaps Anko decided to tell him about his weekly training regimen. The chunnin simply nodded and vanished from the room, earning a chuckle from Kakashi just as the Anbu team arrived to provide security for Sasuke.

As soon as the Anbu team took their position inside Sasuke's room, Yamato also entered and kneeled in front of Kakashi.

"Hokage-sama, we couldn't find the others. It appears that Orochimaru has briefed them on how to avoid our capture. We suspect that they went through the same route they used to invade." Kakashi nodded, already taking this conclusion as the only possible hypothesis. Even if Konoha had made a discovery by capturing one of them, Kakashi would have wished to rid Orochimaru of as much aid as possible. This way, Kakashi wouldn't need to worry about these men going against his student once more. Sasuke may be strong for his age, but Kakashi had doubts if he could take on Orochimaru's men. Kabuto for instance was close to Kakashi's level and Kakashi didn't even know about the rest.

===With Naruto===

The next day, Naruto jumped through the fence separating the village from the Forest of Death and went straight into looking for the waterfall that Kakashi said existed.

Naruto wanted to find Anko and ask her for directions, but he couldn't find her anywhere in the village. After two and a half hours, he heard someone whispering about an A-ranked mission that Anko was sent to. That meant that he was all alone now, which was perfectly fine. From what he remembered from the forest of death, when he got close to the central tower, he recalled hearing a faint noise of water running close by. With that in mind, Naruto went straight to the tower, while dealing with some oversized bears along the way. As soon as he got there, he followed the noise, until he reached a gigantic waterfall that was practically hidden by dense foliage that managed to block the majority of the sunlight, with the exception of a few beams. The scenery was beautiful as the small sunlight was illuminating the water. It was quite a sight to behold as the water was sparkling.

Naruto almost felt ashamed for disturbing the natural flow. He was about to strip his clothes off and summon as many kage bunshin as possible when he heard a familiar voice yet again.

"Hey there brat, what are you up to, I wonder." Jiraiya appeared behind one of dense trees at the top of the waterfall, earning a groan from Naruto. He was hoping to train in secrecy. Jiraiya dropped down and landed in front of his favorite student with a smile on his face. The smile was even more pronounced as Naruto was openly frowning at him. "Imagine…I woke up this morning and decided to take a nice and quiet walk when I see my favorite student get inside the Forest of Death for kami knows what." Naruto kept frowning, though as he imagined only two scenarios for Jiraiya to appear in front of him. One, the pervert followed him here or two…the only one who had knowledge of Naruto's whereabouts told Jiraiya to be here.

"Did sensei ask you to be here, Ero-sennin?" Jiraiya was even making his exaggerated poses as he talked. When Naruto questioned him, though, he stopped.

"What…am I not allowed to be here with you? Now that you're a chunnin, you think you're a big hot shot." Naruto wasn't deterred by the questions and kept staring at Jiraiya waiting for the answer.

"Yeah, he did. Though it's only valid seeing as what you're attempting is something very hard and very dangerous. Mastering one's element is only achievable through hard work and years of experience. You do have the Kage Bunshin that can increase the pace of learning, but that doesn't mean you can use it all the time. Plus, with my experience, I can give you pointers here and then." Jiraiya was in town for the official nomination, so he figured he could see the blond student once more. When Kakashi said where he was, Jiraiya went immediately inside the Forest of Death to search for Naruto and help him with his training. He owed Naruto way too much for not being there for him growing up. The chunnin let out a sigh in dismay and nodded at the perverted sannin. He supposed it was no big deal in the end. After stripping to only his boxers, Naruto summoned his clones and immediately went to work on slicing the waterfall.

===With Kakashi===

Currently in his soon to be office, Kakashi and the Sandaime were debating an important matter. Hiruzen was surprised that Orochimaru would move so quickly and was happy to know that Naruto showed up to help. He shared Kakashi's fear about Orochimaru not relaxing until he had the sharingan. Now, they must form the heavy assault team and for that to work, Anko must receive demonic chakra so that her cursed seal can be used in Konoha's favor. Another matter was finding a fourth member that could act as support for the group, perhaps a genjutsu user. Kurenai was out of the question, since she was the sensei of Team 8 and even if she wasn't, her range of assignments doesn't cover heavy assault.

Kurenai just didn't have the chakra or the stamina to keep up.

There were other candidates, but neither satisfied the criteria. Kakashi had a few choices in Anbu, but Hiruzen advised against it. To do so would weaken the Anbu units.

"First we need to solve the issue with Anko's seal Kakashi. Once that's done, we can figure out who to place as fourth member. I trust you'll place the leadership of the team to Jiraiya?" Kakashi nodded.

"Yes sir. Jiraiya-sama will also train them to their full capabilities. He requested to take the team to a training trip before taking assignments, which I happen to agree with since both Sasuke and Naruto are being targeted now. With them on the move constantly, neither Akatsuki nor Orochimaru will make a move and Jiraiya-sama's presence is enough to keep them away." Hiruzen nodded at the plans. It seemed like the best idea. He also imagined that Jiraiya wouldn't like to be in Konoha for longer than a week. Hiruzen grew quite tired of his student's constant attempts in blaming the spy network he created.

"When is Anko supposed to arrive from her mission?"

"According to the message she had sent, Anko is scheduled to return this afternoon; apparently the mission was over-ranked and the mission parameters were met when she defended the client from a C-ranked missing-nin from Iwa. I shall call for Naruto and Jiraiya when she comes back." Hiruzen nodded, before taking his leave for the time being. He found himself smiling more often now that the amount of paperwork was now handled by someone else with let's say more patience than him.

===With Naruto===

Inside the Forest of Death, a bunch of blond replicas were scattered around the base of the waterfall as they focused their best to slice the waterfall.

Naruto had been at it since this morning and so far the only accomplishment he was able was splash water at his face. He was molding wind chakra through his hands, but to no avail. Frankly it was very frustrating. The sun was close to setting and he couldn't even see the light at the end of the tunnel. Sighing in dismay, Naruto released the clones and returned to where Jiraiya was sitting, while scribbling something in his notebook. As soon as Jiraiya heard Naruto's foot steps outside the stream, he looked up to see the chunnin's resigned expression as expected. Apparently, Naruto was under the impression that his bunshin were enough to overcome years of training in a day. In a sense, it was an important lesson for the kid.

"Any luck?" Naruto groaned at the question, knowing that the perverted sannin was watching the entire time.

"Nothing…the only memory I have acquired is how to throw water at my face over and over." Jiraiya smirked at that and went back to his notes as Naruto was busy gathering his energy.

"Mastering an element takes years kid, you can't hope to master in a day." Naruto looked at the pervert whose attention was solely on his notes. He looked at the kid for a while, before placing his notes back inside one of his jacket's pockets. "You should instead try to perfect your already learned skills for the time being. How are you with the kekkai techniques and the earth techniques?" Naruto looked at the pervert once more, before placing his hands together in a praying manner and releasing chakra for his barrier. Jiraiya looked at it for a while, before throwing a shuriken at it. The projectile was instantly deflected, earning a smile from the sannin. The kid had been practicing.

"Okay, so you were practicing. Now what about your earth techniques?" Jiraiya asked for Naruto to get up and do hand seals. Jiraiya saw the smirk too late, though.

Doton Doryuu Taiga (Earth Release: Mud River Technique)

Before the sannin could protest, the land where he was seating was transformed into a mud river and sent the pervert straight to the river stream. Naruto chose that moment to laugh hard as he saw the look of anger coming from what a wet Jiraiya that emerged from the river. Naruto just smirked at the pervert before shrugging his shoulder at his temporary sensei. Eventually, though, Jiraiya's mouth began to quirk into a smile. It didn't take ten seconds for student and sensei to laugh together as Jiraiya couldn't help but remember the fun times he had with another blond shinobi twenty years ago. It didn't help any that he saw Minato's young face in Naruto's right now.

Before he could say anything, an Anbu sunshined close to their location and told them that the Hokage wanted to talk to them.

===Inside Anbu Headquarters===

Located deep within the Anbu Headquarters, was the Anbu Torture and Interrogation Department, led by Ibiki Morino, the man who proctored the first phase of the Chunnin Exams.

Ibiki was quite famous throughout the elemental nations for his techniques in mental torture and psychological warfare. Personally trained by Inoichi Yamanaka, Ibiki was considered a sadist, one that enjoyed breaking the defenses created by his victims. Today was considered a special occasion as the man had received a gift that came in last night. Apparently, Orochimaru's elite group came in hoping to capture Uchiha Sasuke. The group suffered the interference of chunnin Uzumaki Naruto who happened to be on the scene and was able to capture one of the enemies to be brought for questioning. Information on Orochimaru's whereabouts and plans was considered a personal assignment by Ibiki, since he didn't get much from the chunnin traitor Mizuki last year. As he walked throughout the empty hallway made of black granite floor and white walls, Ibiki made a mental note to thank the one who granted him this marvelous gift.

Once he reached the chambers of Torture and Interrogation, he opened the first door that led to a dark room with a large mirror. Once inside, he could see his gift lying unconscious inside the room next to his.

The kunoichi was strapped from head to toe and her chakra was sealed for obvious reasons. According to the report he was now studying in preparation to the interrogation, this girl was a genjutsu master, meaning that he couldn't take any chances by not sealing her chakra away; not to mention that she had the cursed seal as well. Ibiki wasn't above using physical torture to get the answers he needed. It just wasn't his style of interrogation. Usually, the physical torture was dealt with by his associate Anko. He believed that the mind was more important than the body, but Ibiki couldn't argue against how effective pain can be in breaking the enemy. Once he closed the folder, Ibiki left his room and went towards the one Tayuya was located.

The interrogation was about to begin. The lights were lit suddenly and Tayuya quickly screamed bloody murder for it. She tried to use her arms to shield her eyes, but found her arms strapped. The image of a person next to her, although blurry because of the strong light, was in the receiving end of her anger and dirty talk.

"Hey you fucking asshole turn off the fucking lights and untie the fuck out of me." Ibiki did smile at the girl for her language. It was amusing.

"You do have a rather dirty mouth, but no I'm not going to agree to your request, kunoichi-san. As of yesterday, you were captured while trying to infiltrate Konoha and capture one of our chunnin named Uchiha Sasuke." For some reason, Tayuya found herself compelled to listen to this man instead of cursing him once again. "Your sentence was emitted the moment you believed you could invade the hidden village in the leaves without dire consequences." Ibiki stopped talking, before walking to a switch close to the door and activating. Tayuya's table was suddenly inclined fast, earning a scream in protest from Tayuya as her limbs were strapped to the table.

"You fucking asshole…" The woman stopped cursing when she was invaded with a strong level killing intent coming from this guy.

"I allowed you a few curses at first, but now you won't talk unless I urge you to talk, am I clear?" Tayuya quickly found that she didn't have access to her chakra and thus couldn't offer any kind of resistance.

Her only defense now was her mind and will to fight against him.

"Now, shut up and listen. Even if your name is still unknown to us, your presence isn't foreign to Konoha. According to the reports, you assisted Orochimaru in keeping up a powerful barrier that allowed him to fight Sandaime-sama alone. If it wasn't for Jiraiya-sama, Orochimaru would have succeeded in killing the Sandaime Hokage. No doubt, this was added to your list of infractions, so your sentence will be far worse than just the crimes you committed yesterday." Now showing himself completely to Tayuya, Ibiki showed a vicious smile, confident that he had her entire attention. "Hokage-sama has authorized me to run whatever punishment I see fit for you and trust me, I have done vile things to criminals whose record is much less extensive than yours. For example, I have given adrenaline shots while at the same time keeping a kunai lodged at each limbs. It's interesting to hear the screams of terror coming from the enemy's mouth."

Tayuya found herself crumbling under the intense gaze and killing intent coming from this man. Orochimaru has taught her many things, but not how to overcome Konoha's interrogation department.

Ibiki even increased the pressure for a while, before releasing it entirely. His face returned to neutral as he observed his introduction experiment.

"As Orochimaru's goon, I trust you're aware of what will happen to you now that you're captured. As I stated before, Hokage-sama has given me authority to carry out your punishment." He saw Tayuya snarling at the man and trying to throw curses at him. His experience, though, allowed him to expect the girl's problems. Without chakra, a shinobi cannot withstand killing intent and thus she had only her mind and will to depend on. Of course, it mattered little in the end and with time Ibiki can break any shinobi, at least those who aren't already damaged by having more experience. For instance, people like Orochimaru would be able to gaze through the procedure, because the man's sanity was in question. Ibiki's method worked nicely for those who were sane. The crazy ones were reserved to Anko's method.

Now it was time to begin phase two of the procedure, information gathering.

"Your fate is in Konoha's hand now. However, there is still the possibility of your sentence being reduced." Ibiki couldn't help but laugh inside his head as Tayuya tried fighting.

"I won't tell you shit." The statement came out with half the strength she wanted and Ibiki only smirked.

"We have means to extract all the information we need from you. Now, of course, if you happen to give it willingly and it verifies, we can consider revising your sentence."

Tayuya was about to open her mouth but had little strength left in her system.

"I assure you that Orochimaru doesn't care about you, so any restraint on your part to divulge information is unjustified. I know for a fact that when you were captured, no one of your unit bothered to try and save you, meaning they don't care about you either. Now, I present you the opportunity to come forward with the information about them, but you're reluctant to reveal them, even though if given the situation, they would gladly sacrifice you to get what they want." Tayuya's eyes were already threatening to get watery as she knew this man was right in every word. Her memory of what happened yesterday came full force and she knew that no one cared about her. The images of their leader laughing at her pain when he injected the cursed seal in her system; the sadist look on Kabuto's face when he experimented on her abilities for genjutsu. They didn't care about her.

Ibiki turned towards the door and walked away. Before leaving the room, he turned his neck and looked at his detainee.

"I see your answer is final, so I won't bother getting the truth out of you. I'll take care of you momentarily."

Ibiki was about to walk, when he heard a faint noise.

"W…wait, I'll talk…" Ibiki stared at her long and hard, before closing the door and taking out a notepad.

"Start with your name…"

===At the Hokage's Office===

When Naruto and Jiraiya appeared inside the Hokage's Office, they saw Hiruzen, Kakashi and Anko there as well waiting for them.

"I apologize for interfering with your training, Naruto, but we called you here in regards to something Jiraiya shared with us that occurred during your trip to find Tsunade-sama." Kakashi started, earning questioning look from Naruto. "Jiraiya stated that you managed to fuse the fox's chakra with Sasuke's cursed seal, thus ridding him of the negative influence of the seal, more precisely, Orochimaru's influence." Anko appeared reluctant about the idea, having suffered too much in the past because of the seal. However, the most experienced in the rooms could tell that despite the cold reluctance, Anko was hiding feelings of hope that Naruto would be able to cure her of this disease. Naruto nodded at his sensei and Godaime Hokage. He looked at Anko and saw the same seal that Sasuke had.

"You want me to do it to Anko-nee as well? I'd have to check if the damn furball is okay with it first." Everyone nodded, while Naruto closed his eyes.

When Naruto did it for Sasuke, the fox was much faster and had approved it. However, this time, Naruto was taking more time talking to the beast. When Naruto flinched suddenly, everyone in the room tensed. It didn't help matters any that Naruto was inside the Hokage's Office Building and any problem would affect those inside. When Naruto opened his eyes once more, it was clear that the boy had a tough conversation with the fox.

"Damn furball…well at first he was against the entire idea, but he said he wasn't in the mood to help anyone and said to leave it alone. For some reason, though, when I informed him that it was Orochimaru's doing, the furball changed its mind. Apparently, Kyuubi doesn't like those who attempt to control him." Kakashi nodded and then turned to Anko who still looked troubled by going through with it. It was understandable, he assumed. Sasuke went along with it, because he didn't know about the fox, aside from what was written in books and scrolls. Anko was old enough to remember that fateful day and even remember how the fox's aura felt like. They all did, actually.

"Anko…" Kakashi said awakening the woman from her inner wonderings. "It's up to you to go through with it or not. No one is going to force you."

Kakashi knew that Hiruzen would have said the same thing. Hell, the man was against the entire idea when it was presented to him. Anko nodded and then turned to her little brother.

"What happened to Sasuke when he received the fox's chakra?" Naruto looked at her for a while.

"As soon as the energy gets in contact with the seal, the fox's chakra envelops your entire body. Sasuke began to scream in utter pain and agony, but I could see that he was fighting every step of the way. He fainted after five minutes withstanding the pain. When he woke up the next day, I could see that something was different with him, but I don't know what passed through his mind then or what he focused on to get through it." Anko nodded still looking undecided when she saw Jiraiya taking a step forward.

"Sasuke has one enemy we all know about as do you, Anko. His entire source of pain is directly linked to his brother's actions. Yours are focused solely on Orochimaru."

Anko nodded and stood silent for some time, before looking at the Hokage this time with resolve. Orochimaru had ruined her life and is still was, because of the seal. Every time, she looked at the seal in the mirror, Anko remembered the day when Orochimaru branded her with it. When Orochimaru appeared in the second test, the seal reacted and reduced her movements. She had to use her will to control the seal, while at the same time focusing on battling the vile man. For quite some time, Jiraiya and the Sandaime attempted to rid her of the seal but to no avail. Orochimaru's influence was directly linked to the seal, thus not allowing them to do anything. Now while the cure was risky – the fox's chakra, Anko now saw a possibility of ridding herself from Orochimaru's influence for good. She only nodded to everyone, earning a nod in recognition from Kakashi.

"We'll use the tower inside the Forest of Death for the procedure. We cannot do it close to the village and risk creating chaos among the villagers."

Author Note

Okay, I'll stop right here.

Tell me what you think.