Widowmaker

Chapter Twelve

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A/N: In the last chapter, when I was "sobbing in despair" over the fact that only a tenth of people who have this on Story Alert actually review, I was only 18.6 serious. XD I appreciate every single review I get, really. I'm so embarrassed to have sounded like a whiny baby!

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"Please, Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto shrieked in a broken voice as his head tottered around on his shoulders.

Sakura gripped harder, her fingernails biting into the pale skin on his neck. She wrung his neck, screaming every curse she could think of. Kabuto's eyes rolled around in his head as the dizziness he was experiencing threatened to knock him unconscious.

"Let me defend myself!"

Orochimaru listened to his henchman's complaints in bored impatience. "Oh, very well. It's not amusing anymore anyway." He waved Kabuto off with a flick of his wrist.

Not three seconds after Orochimaru's consent did Sakura find herself flat on her stomach, her arm twisted painfully behind her by Kabuto's rough grip. "You bastard!" she cried, trying to free her arm, but to no avail.

"How would you like to see what it feels like to have your neck wrung like a chicken?" he taunted.

Sakura's head jerked around to stare over her shoulder at his smiling face. She gulped.

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"This is some bullshit."

"Oh, come on, Lee; it's for the mission!" Naruto snapped. Next to him, Shikamaru yawned and rolled his eyes at Lee's temper tantrum.

Lee gritted his teeth. "Fine. I'm a team player."

"So gallant of you," Sasuke growled, staring down at himself. "But I'm not, and this is some bullshit!"

Kakashi and Neji stood off to the side, observing the scene with interest.

Sasuke was picking at the arm guards of his ANBU uniform with extreme distaste. The beaver mask was some distance away where he had spit on it and thrown it aside. Five minutes was wasted breaking Lee and Sasuke apart before they killed each other after that silent show of disgust from the Uchiha.

Lee was picking at Sasuke's black scarf which was wrapped around his head to cover his lower face. He was resisting the urge to touch his hair which was covered in sticky tree sap to spike his hair back like Sasuke's. The only non-black item of Sasuke's on his body was the assassin's sword on his back which had a red and silver sheath; that made it the only item of Sasuke's that Lee somewhat approved of.

"It's obvious I'm not Uchiha!" Lee ranted, fairly spitting out Sasuke's surname.

"Of course, it is," Sasuke added in a condescending tone.

Kakashi was quick to step in before another fight broke out.

Shikamaru sighed in a tired manner. "Look. It's obvious because we're right in front of you, halfwits!" He smoothed back his hair and took a breath before focusing on Lee. "When you first enter the cave alone, you will look like Sasuke from a distance, enough to draw Kabuto out."

"And by the time Kabuto reaches you and realizes you're not Sasuke, Shikamaru will have come in. Kabuto will have no choice but to defend himself from you and Shikamaru," Neji finished, giving Lee a "duh" look.

"Are you two going to be crybabies or help us rescue Sakura-chan?" Naruto challenged.

Sasuke and Lee stared at each for a moment before looking in opposite directions with a "hmph."

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Kabuto stared up at Sakura in a satisfied manner. Her hands were roped together—the rope was already cutting off her circulation as was evident from her purple fingertips--and the rope was looped over the top of a tall rock.

Blood dribbled from the corner of Sakura's mouth to drop fifteen feet before splattering on the dirt floor. Her head hung limply to one side, poorly supported by her right shoulder. One eye was swollen; it would probably be swollen shut, but it was hard to tell since both of her eyes were closed in blissful unconsciousness at the moment.

"Bitch," Kabuto spat before turning away to go sit on another rock. He glanced at Orochimaru briefly. "When is he coming anyway?"

Orochimaru's fangs showed in a display of a 'smile.' "Soon."

Kabuto sighed inwardly. Why was Orochimaru-sama even bothering with Sasuke still? There were other, more powerful ninja who would make better bodies for him. Itachi Uchiha was even better than Sasuke. But, for some reason, Kabuto got the impression that Orochimaru was scared of Itachi.

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Lee grumbled to himself. He didn't like to admit it, but Sasuke's sword was considerably heavier than a standard ANBU sword, and it wasn't doing great things for his balance in tree-hopping. Because of his lack of balance, his jumping speed was only half what it normally was.

"Hey, grandma, you're laggin'!" Naruto yelled over his shoulder as he jumped with the rest of the unit some ways up ahead.

"Is my sword too much for you?" Sasuke added in a carefully concerned voice. However, looking into the assassin's laughing eyes (he still refused to wear the ANBU mask), it was obvious that he was far from concerned.

"Enjoying this, killer?" Lee snapped back, speeding up a little.

"Of course I am! It's a stroke to my ego to know that I'm the only one who looks good with that hairstyle!" Sasuke yelled with a mean laugh.

"Yeah?" Lee replied angrily, hopping to the next branch. "Well, you can take your ego and shove it up your— Ahhhh!" Lee felt the branch slip from underneath him as he fell twenty feet to the ground.

"Oh, shit," Shikamaru muttered. Naruto broke into gut-wrenching laughter, elbowing the smirking Sasuke in the side and pointing down to the ground where a black blob of Lee could be seen sprawled out on the ground. Neji just shook his head.

Kakashi hopped down a few branches before jumping to the ground. He squatted down next to the current Sasuke look-a-like and poked him in the back. "Alive?"

A groan was his reply.

"I really hate that guy," Lee moaned, pushing off the ground and spitting grass out of his mouth. He also spit out some blood and then stood up all the way.

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"We're men! We're men in tightssssss! W-We roam around… the forest looooooking for fights! We maaaaay look like sisssssssiessssss! Bu… but watch what you say… or… um…" Ino trailed off in her song, forgetting the words.

The people around her were all staring, but she either did not notice or did not care.

"Ooooh, Shino's got a lovely b-bunch of coconuts! There-there they are… all s-standing in a row!"

Ino broke off as she fell forward a bit onto the counter.

"I think you've had enough, Ino," Chouji said hesitantly. He gently tried to pry the bottle of alcohol from his teammate's hand.

"D-Don't give me your shit, fat… thing. Whaaaat… h-happened to you anyway? Did your mom fuck a… a rhino… while eating doritos?" Ino slurred, stabbing a finger into Chouji's stomach repeatedly.

"What!" he bellowed, making a grab for her.

Kiba yanked her off the bar stool in time. "H'oooookay. I think Ino's had enough to drink."

"Where's…" Ino paused, looking thoughtful. "Where's Ten… Tenenen… Neneten…" Ino started to sob, realizing she didn't remember her friend's name.

"I don't think she's taking Sakura's disappearance very well," Tenten remarked. She sighed, taking Ino by the arm. "I'll take her home." Ino perked up at that.

"Heeeeheeee… home. That rhymes with… cone. Oh, my Goddddd! Ice cream cone!" Ino broke into a fit of giggles.

Tenten sighed again. She wondered if it was safe to leave Ino unattended for the rest of the night.

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"Riiiight. Like I'm going to authorize that request," Tsunade mumbled, ripping up a paper on top of the pile in front of her.

The Hokage tossed down her pen and swiveled around her chair. "Shizune."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," came the instant response from the Hokage's right.

"Give me the latest report on mission 21-487."

"Unfortunately, Hokage-sama, I have nothing new to report since yesterday. The target has yet to be retrieved. I will, of course, update this report by day's end," the woman summarized quietly.

"Very well. Thank you."

As Shizune bowed respectfully, Tsunade swiveled back around to face the front of her desk. So, they haven't gotten to Sakura yet.

Tsunade stared at the papers in front of her unseeingly. She was confident with who she sent to rescue her pupil, but she wondered if they could also handle the inevitable battle against her old teammate. Could they defeat Orochimaru?

Tsunade did not know much about the assassin's skills, but she knew his family—or lack thereof—very well. If Sasuke was anything like his elder brother, then his skills were to be commended.

Twelve years before, the entire Uchiha clan had been found massacred. Only two bodies were unaccounted for: Itachi and Sasuke, two brothers. After the evidence had been put together, it had been determined that Itachi Uchiha had committed the mass murder, then fled. This event had been very hush-hush.

However, it had been a question for the ages about what had happened to little Sasuke. Had he been an accomplice to the crime? Had he been killed as well, just with his body disposed of elsewhere or destroyed entirely? Had he gone into hiding from his devious brother?

Then, about seven years after the massacre, news of a highly-skilled ninja who had been taken as an apprentice by a Konoha traitor of great caliber had floated past the ears of the elders in the Hidden Leaf village. Orochimaru, ever plotting, had found the person he deemed worthy to be his next body.

To make matters even more interesting, it had turned out that the new apprentice was none other than little missing Sasuke. Konoha had observed him quietly and carefully for a year. Sasuke was even pinpointed for assassination due to him being a traitor to his village.

Not too long after though, Sasuke left Orochimaru to become a hired assassin on his own. The Konoha elders had observed him even more closely and found out he had absolutely no idea who he was beyond "Sasuke Uchiha." His young childhood was a blank slate. For whatever reason, he had lost his memory at the time of his clan's massacre and had run away or been kidnapped by his brother. Due to lack of further evidence, Sasuke had been removed from the Bingo book and just left on observation.

Tsunade tapped her pen on her nose in deep thought. Was he strong enough to take on Orochimaru? Surely not by himself, but hopefully the six of them would be enough.

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A/N: I've been trying to figure out how to incorporate Sai into this fic (he came into the manga after I started writing this story), and I've finally figured it out:D So, Sai will be making a (relatively) important appearance in later chapters. For those of you who don't know who Sai is yet, um… just ignore this message. XD Next chapter soon!