Hello all of my lovely readers! Sorry I haven't posted in forever. Again. But it's summer now! Yeah!

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been reading this fic, and thank you for everyone who has been reviewing as well. This is my first fanfic that I've ever written, and so it's really encouraging to know people actually like it.

So in thanksgiving, and since it has already been a YEAR since I first started this story, I thought I would sit down and actually write up a plan for the rest of this fanfic. I have planned 2 or 3 more chapters before this fic is completed, so be looking out! Also, since it's the summer, I'm going to be setting a goal for myself -

*sighs and braces self for commitment*

I will post every Monday from now on.

There it is!

If you have any ideas or suggestions for the story, feel free to message me and I'll see if I can incorporate it in.

Enjoy!

"Umm, Sasuke?"

"Hmm?"

"Why do we have to bring this guy along again?"

Sasuke sighed as Orochimaru began circling around Zuri, eyeing her up and down while she nervously continued walking.

"You'll see when we get there," was her sensei's only response.

Suigetsu was only glad Orochimaru wasn't stalking around him, so he kept behind Jugo - a safe distance away from the reanimation, hoping to use his orange haired friend as a kind of meat shield in case anything risky happened. He was not excited about seeing his former captor that he previously thought dead.

"Sssssuch a niceeeee….. bodyyyy," Orochimaru hissed as he gazed upon what he presumed was the last female Uchiha.

Zuri pretended not to notice his odd comments and gestures.

"Why are we going to Konoha?" she asked, running up by Sasuke's side who didn't respond, but kept looking forward cooly.

"Why is Ochimu so creepy?" she asked, purposefully getting his name wrong to get some kind of reaction out of him.

Silence.

"Aren't we going to the battlefield? Why are we going the opposite way? Aren't we going towards Konoha? Why are we going there?"

Sasuke had to remember Madara's words about not hurting Zuri, and decided not to slap her. "Listen, we're here," he said instead, relaxing his hand. "Orochimaru, is this the place?"

For the first time since the weird snake-man was summoned, he left Zuri's side, deciding her frail body wouldn't be of any use to him. At least not after some heavy experimenting - something he didn't really have time for at the moment.

While the guys were off doing things, Zuri got bored and decided to go look around to find Karin at the jail-house and finally try to help her escape. Sasuke didn't seem to notice her leave, or care too much, since he was too fascinated with some mask thing Orochimaru was chatting him up about.

As she wandered around the streets however, she realized quickly that she did not remember where anything was, even the old ruins she was just at. Deciding to keep on wandering until she found her way out of the maze of streets and buildings, she noticed that it was all deserted - almost as if it had been stopped in time, just like before, only even more still. Then suddenly out of nowhere, a large bundle of red hair burst forward from an alleyway and crashed into her, slamming them both down hard on the paved road.

"Oh, you're not Sasuke," said the voice from on top of her, and Zuri desperately strained herself, trying to see who the face was in the dark.

"Y-you know Sasuke too?" she asked, in an attempt to stall for time. The petite figure on top of her was strong enough to hold her down.

"Duh, it's me. Remember? Karin."

"Karin!" she shouted, clamouring up from the ground to hug her.

"Pfft. Giving me hugs when you left me in jail and never came back!" Karin seemed grouchy, but not too angry. Perhaps this was the way she was?

"I'm really sorry Karin! I wanted to come back but I got in trouble by my older brother."

Karin dusted herself off and held a hand down to help Zuri up. "No worries. I managed to get out all by myself. Of course by using my cunning tricks and charming disposition!" She gave a face as if to demonstrate, although it seemed too dramatic to be appealing at all. Zuri kept that to herself though.

"Now that you're here though, you can lead me back to Sasuke," she said to Zuri.

"Umm, I would, but I think I'm lost. I know he's somewhere here in Konoha though."

Karin sighed and began to head down the street, Zuri following close behind. "I guess it can't be helped. I can kind of sense his chakra right now though, so I can try to lead the way." Karin had actually thought that Zuri's chakra was Sasuke's. There was no denying the girl was an Uchiha, although if she was honest with herself, Zuri's chakra seemed a lot warmer than his. The two took off down the road.

"So, why do you want see Sasuke so badly?" Zuri asked after a while. "Wasn't he the reason you got sent to prison?"

Karin's face turned the color of her hair. "What? Why would you even ask that! It's not like I like him or anything. Stop getting the wrong idea and jumping to conclusions! Geez."

Zuri sweat dropped.

"So… you don't like him then?

"Of course I don't!" she said, as if coming to the conclusion herself. "I just want to see him so I can squeeze an apology out of him. That's all."

"Then what?" she asked innocently.

"Hmm?"

"Then what will you do?" Zuri clarified. "After Sasuke apologizes to you."

Karin frowned. "I guess I haven't thought that far."

"You don't have any family to get back to?"

It was also an innocent question, but Zuri really wanted to know if they shared a similar family situation. She wondered how many people out there have lived lives similar to herself.

"No… I guess," Karin responded. "My only family for the longest time was a man… who's dead now…"

Zuri immediately felt for her. "So what do you do when you're lonely?"

Karin smiled sadly. "Idiot. You don't just ask people stuff like that. But… I guess if I had to answer… I'd say that my friends have become my new family. They help me not to feel so lonely." She was mostly referring to Sasuke, but she wasn't going to tell Zuri that.

The Uchiha nodded. She could understand that way of thinking.

At that moment from somewhere up on a hill, the pair could see many dark figures emerge onto a street. Zuri thought they all might have been prison guards, since they were all enormous shinobi, but Karin instantly recognized Sasuke's chakra and nodded in confirmation. Zuri began to run up to meet them, although Karin had a sneakier plan. And she made Zuri follow along.

They both stealthily climbed up an adjacent hill and hid in a bush, waiting until the right time - whichever time that was - but when the figure that looked like Suigetsu began to run away, Karin burst out from their hiding spot, not even bothering to give the signal to Zuri.

For being so small, Karin was actually pretty fierce. She jumped all the way from their respective hill to the next, and in one bound, sent a flying kick straight to Suigetsu's face, which burst into water. Zuri followed behind more calmly, and sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Oh hey, who are these guys?" she asked, approaching her sensei and staring in wonder at the four men whose chakra seemed to be radiating off of them.

"Another Uchiha?" asked the huge silver haired one.

"And an Uzumaki it seems," replied one with long black hair.

Zuri noticed they all seemed to have the same eye's as her elder brother. Before she could ask about it any further however, Karin interrupted.

"You Uchiha's are so unreliable, ya know?" she shouted at Sasuke from the spot where she was still pulverizing Suigetsu's half liquid body. "First, Sasuke stabs me and leaves me for dead. Next, Zuri ditches me in a prison and never comes back. What is it with you people!" she looked as if she was about to come over and hit him too, when he gave her a cold blank stare and said -

"Sorry."

Karin didn't look happy with this answer, although there was little she could do.

Zuri took the time to get in a question. "N-now what will you do?" she asked. "Now that you have your apology." She really wanted Karin to stay. Perhaps they could be like sisters?

Karin looked uncertain, but when Orochimaru told her she had to help them on their mission, she more than happily obliged, and Zuri was relieved.

"Well now that that's over, let's get going to the battlefield," chimed in one of the four new guys.

"That's a long way though, isn't it?" Zuri asked, looking over the beautiful landscape of Konoha from the top of the hill they were on. The wind was cold.

"Well that's why we'll get a ride," Sasuke replied. He thought Zuri was annoying, but he was getting used to her presence. Maybe one day she could be useful to him - especially since she was an Uchiha and had the 'eyes'.

He reached over to her and placed an arm around her waist, and that was the last thing she could remember before she was swept away.

When Zuri opened her eyes, the scene before her was horrifying.

Bodies littered the earth and blood covered the rest of the landscape. It was enough to make her hunch over and puke. When she had first encountered her elder brother Madara, she had sensed something like this coming from the village where he was. Was Madara really capable of something like this? she wondered. When she looked back up again, she realized that she was alone. She saw the back of Sasuke's head as he disappeared through the dust and straight into -

An ear-splitting roar cut through the temporary deafness she was experiencing, and she gazed up in horror at the monstrosity before her.

The monster in front of her could not even be described in words. Everything inside of her, every fiber of her being, was telling her to run away. Run far, far away.

But.

Didn't her sensei just run straight towards that thing? And it was more than likely her elder brother was there as well. She sighed, realizing that she could not just leave and run away to safety. Besides, didn't she want to be on the battlefield just earlier that day?

Holding her breath, she walked slowly towards the monster and the fighting shinobi, stumbling over debris, tossed rocks and fallen trees on the way there. She didn't know what side she was on, or which side she should be on, but she decided she would just try to be as useful as possible to anybody who seemed to be in need. It was the least she could do while she thought up a plan to find her elder brother, and then try to think up another plan for as to what she would actually say to him once he was found.