Ok here is the newest installment!! For those of you that like my writing, dont be shy i know your out there, please check out my other two stories! They have been getting very little attention because they aren't labeled Naru/Hina haha. I apologize for this fairly short chapter, but i didnt think it made sense to go into the next chapter. Anyway, my other stories are By Any Means Necessary, and Broken. Please check them out!

"Sasuke

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked tentatively.

"Naruto?" Sasuke replied, almost as if he was unsure who had asked.

"Yeah, it's me. Good to have you back, buddy." Naruto walked forward, his hand out, to shake hands with his old friend. Sasuke took his hand, and shook it.

"What happened, and what are these?" Sasuke asked, as he lifted his arms to get a better look at his new wings.

"They look like wings." Shikimaru pointed out flatly. Sasuke didn't respond with the enmity that would've been typical for him, but rather with a tone and expression of wonder.

"Wow..." He raised and lowered them, looking at them in awe. "I feel...stronger. Faster. A lot stronger..." He tucked his wings to his back, and put a foot on the windowsill.

"Sasuke, where are you going?"

"I'm going to try them out." He leapt out of the window, and fell earthward. Naruto rushed to the window, watching him fall.

"Sasuke!" he shouted as he narrowly approached the ground. Sasuke's wings shot out, halting his descent, and he arced upward, gliding in the sun. He was flying almost vertically now, and he stopped in the sky, directly between the sun and Naruto's vision. He spread his wings wide, then it appeared as if he was treading air, like a swimmer would water. He leaned backwards, then when he was horizontal, he rolled over, heading back towards the inn. He stopped just short, then climbed back in. He stopped in the middle of the room, and he dropped to one knee. The wings retracted, and the mark faded from his body, receding back into the wound around his neck. He climbed shakily to his feet, twin holes in the back of his shirt.

"Sasuke?" Shikimaru and Naruto asked simultaneously.

"I feel fine, better than fine, actually. The curse mark, it was like...a heavy burden, and now it's gone. I'm free. Free enough to fly." Sasuke said with a slight smile. It wasn't a smirk, or any combination of happiness and another emotion, he was just happy.

"So it's agreed, we need help. We can't bring down Orochimaru alone." Shikimaru said. The group stood outside of the village later that day. The same road sign pointed towards several nations.

"Right." Everyone else said in unison.

"I've been thinking, and it may be in our best interest to recruit help from other nations, get other ninjas. People who don't like Orochimaru, or the village hidden in the sand. Unfortunately, we have a lot of ground to cover. I think our best option is to split up, into three groups of two."

"Alright, sounds good. What will the groups be?" Naruto asked. He looked over to Sasuke, and then to Hinata, like he didn't know who he wanted to be paired with.

"I've been thinking about that too. I think, the best groups will be like this. I'll go with Chouji, and Ino as a result of being with Chouji. We've worked together for a long time, so it will be a strong group. The second group, will be Sasuke and Lee. Their specialties balance out, Sasuke has a lot of skill in ninjutsu, and ranged fighting, whereas Lee is up close and personal. The final group, is Naruto and Hinata." He paused briefly, looking upward, as if he hadn't come up with a reason for the two to be together besides the fact that it would give them time to well, be together. "Naruto is extremely powerful, but his skills of observation are poor. Hinata balances that." Everyone nodded. Hinata blushed.

"So...we are splitting up? To recruit more ninja to defeat Orochimaru?" Lee asked.

"That's right." Shikimaru responded. "The next objective is to appoint locations, to each team. You guys will head in that direction, and recruit ninja from the hidden villages there. If you can, try to talk to the respective Kages and garner their support. That is your mission."

"I'll go to the land of waves. I have strong ties there, and a bridge named after me." Naruto beamed proudly.

"Good idea. Try the hidden mist village as well. It's near there, and you helped kill one of their most notorius rogue ninjas, Zabuza, so they might be friendly to you. Sasuke, Lee, I want you two to go to the village hidden in the clouds. I think Sasuke's new wings might impress them a little, and after that, go to the land of stone. Lee, I think your sheer physical power might do the trick there. The rest of us will go to the village hidden in the sand, and investigate their involvement in the destruction of konaha. Orochimaru was masquerading as the Kazekage, and I think there had to be something funny about it. Alright guys, at this moment, we split up. You know your missions, now go, and do them."

"Lord Orochimaru, will he really be a suitable substitution to the Uchiha boy? I know you need a new host, since the loss of Kimimaru, and then Sasuke, but he won't be ready in time."

"He will do fine, and I can wait a few years. Besides, when we are both ready for the process, he will be far stronger. Training with a sannin for three years isn't worth nothing, my dear Kabuto." Orochimaru looked at the small boy, writhing on the ground. He had brown hair, goggles across his forehead, a yellow shirt, and a scarf around his neck, which he was clutching as he screamed in pain. "He, and his two friends, will be trained. They will not likely survive the mark, but he will. The grandson of the third hokage should be an extremely suitable new protege." Orochimaru began to laugh maniacally. The room illuminated slightly, and three children could be seen rolling on the ground. The other two, one boy; with brown hair, glasses, the same goggles, and a blue shirt with a white stripe down the center, and one girl; with orange hair in two sharp points, a red and pink shirt, also sporting the goggles. The screaming from the three suffering children seemed to enthrall Orochimaru even further.

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