The Kitsune in the Leaves

by Raziel777

Sonic and Naruto Crossover! A mysterious group of ninjas show up in search of the chaos emeralds, sending Sonic into the greatest battle of his life. And when Tails awakens the spirit of the Legendary Nine Tailed Demon Fox, all Hell will break loose.

14. Vengeance from the Grave

Wow…I finally finally finally got to update! So sorry for the delay. I've been distracted lately and I wanted to make sure this one came out good. Well, you've waited, so now I've unleashed this chapter upon you. Please enjoy!

Authoress Rachizzle: Okay, I know what you're talking about. I really do. Truth is, people were not meant to read stuff off of computer screens. I wish this were a book too. Big stories with long chapters do tend to be my favorites. They tend to be the best written and have the deepest stories. Not always, but often. Anyway, there's no way I could actually sit down and read them all in one sitting. I only read a little bit and come back later. A chapter this size would probably take a day or more to finish. Most authors are nice enough to put in some kind of break usually in between scenes, so you don't get too lost. I do this too with those gray bar things. When you see them, that means a scene just ended. It's a good time to leave and read the next part later. I don't even plan on writing long chapters. They just end up coming out that way. It's mostly because I have a lot of characters to write. Now a bunch of people have told me that they like the long chapters so I won't all of a sudden stop writing them, but I promise I will try to throw in a few short ones if I feel they work. In the meantime, I strongly recommend not reading this stuff in one sitting. Use the line breaks to mark things and take your time. It wont get deleted or anything. Also, I included a recap of the whole story in a nutshell this time for you and anyone else who doesn't get the whole long story. I hope that helps. By the way, it's awesome that you were able to find the all the good lines, even in such a huge chapter. Anyway, thanks so much for still reading and reviewing. I know it's been hard on you and you can keep saying the same stuff as much as you want. All these long chapters is a lot of work. I'll definitely write some shorter ones, too. I promise.

Lycropath: Thanks. I'm glad you liked Deidara and the chocobo. This fic will probably have Tails training with Jiraiya and the story will end with Tails becoming the next Toad Sage where he sits a top a big toad, drinking ad continuing the Icha Icha series. The Chaotix are making an appearance soon. This is going to turn out to be a very crowded fic...

Dragon Man 180: Thanks! I cooked up the idea when I was thinking of ways for Naruto to interact with the new Kyuubi. At some point, the motorcycle idea hit me.

TheShamanMaster: Thanks! Glad you liked the fights and poor Deidara and Tobi getting pwned. I'm sorta feeling bad for Deidara though. I'll have to be nicer to him next time he shows up.

star's dreams: Thanks :D Heh heh. Glad you liked the Shikamaru humor. Sometimes, it just sucks to be him. Thanks for waiting and here's the next chapter.

oOo-Kaede Higuchi-oOo: Who doesn't love chocobos? They're so awesome. And yes, Kyuubi did say "cool powers." And poor Shika is subject to the most troublesome lines. Poor guy...

captain deoxys: A NaruHinaSaku triangle would be interesting. I'm pretty chilled about pairings so I could write whatever people want. NaruSaku is nice, but I think I feel the NaruHina. There os going to be something going on with the Kyuubi and the negative energy. It does sound awesome.

Zohaku: Thanks! I'm really happy you felt Deidara come alive. This next chapter is important for Sasuke's story, but that's all I can say for now. Pein will be coming and he'll reveal the six paths soon. It's gonna be nuts!

Insane-Squirrel: Thanks! Keep dancing because there's gonna be some NaruHina.I can't do Brawl in this fic, though. Maybe in another story.

: Yeah, there's still pairings in this. ShikaTema is there and there will be NaruHina. That's the one I got asked for the most and I like it a lot anyway. For Sonic pairings, there's KnuxRouge and I think Ill do ShadAmy. I'm open to any requests.

Angelus-alvus: Thanks! Glad you're loving it. Go chocobos!

Imcool34567: Yes, there is more. Lots more!

kilatails: Sai's a pretty hateful character. I can see why people don't like him, but I think he's lots of fun to write and I just had to do an artist fight between him and Deidara. Don't worry about him anymore. He had his big fight, so he won't be making such big appearances anymore.

belletiger: I don't know why Kishi didn't do a Sai vs. Deidara fight. It makes so much sense. Too bad Deidara is dead. I don't thing I could bring myself to killing him. FF7 is Deidara's favorite game, for some reason. He loves birds so he must love chocobos. Pein and all the Akatsuki are showing up. So will Suigetsu, Karin, and Juugo. And I have no idea why Kishi did that to Tobi, but writing him as an idiot is tons of fun!

DUDE: Thanks!

Scorch the Hedgehog: Thanks for pointing that out. That sounds like the kind of error I would make, so I went looking for it and found it in Chapter 8. It's fixed now.

Rorre: Yeah, another anime/game crossover. Yay for narutards! It's not Sonic/Naruto/FF, though. Cloud and Sephiroth won't be stopping by to say hello. I just like to throw in some fun cameos every now and then.

Aura Chocobo: Wow! Thanks for taking the time to write that long review! I'm really happy that you like seeing Tails kick some ass. That's probably one of the big reasons I wrote this. Your suggestion is heard loud and clear and I couldn't agree with it more. I will aim to at least cut the waiting time for the next chapters in half. I have lots of great ideas I can't wait to put up here.

Garra of the desert: Here you are with the new chapter! Sorry for the super long wait!

SexyShadowGirl: Hey there and welcome aboard! I know how much it sucks when people don't continue their fics, so I promise that I won't ditch this story. I have a lot of things planned out many chapters in advance, so I won't leave all those ideas behind. This fic is going to stay.

TC chan: Thanks! Sai does have a talent for stealing the best lines. I know I'm also dying for the manga to reveal more about Pein and Madara's backgrounds. I planned out some parts with Pain and I'm really excited to be writing Pein into this story. In the meantime, you'll catch a glimpse of Pein here. And yeah for mist ninjas. One or two of those guys might show up, here.

Morph: Oh, yeah. I will be adding more Sonic characters. The Chaotix are definitely coming in and I'm adding Nack the weasel and more obscure characters will make appearances like Bark and Bean. Cream also has an important part in this fic.

---

ANBU Investigative Report

by Yamato

This mission began after ANBU received information that Orochimaru had traveled to the extra planar realm called Mobius. His goal was to collect seven mystical artifacts known as Chaos Emeralds. He brought his newest apprentice and missing Konoha nin Uchiha Sasuke to help him find the emeralds and kill whoever possessed them. The Super S-Rank mission had two objectives: To find all seven chaos emeralds before Orochimaru could get hold of them and to capture Sasuke and return him safely to Konoha. With the latter goal's personal connection in mind, it was decided by the Hokage to dispatch Uzumaki Naruto from Team 7 to rescue Sasuke. The team was organized and led by Nara Shikamaru of Team 10. A squad of thirteen members was sent to Mobius, guided by Kakashi's ninken, Pakkun, whom had prior experience with the emeralds and could recognize their scent. Due to the severity of the mission the squad brought together the combined teamwork from Team 7, Team 8, Team 10, and Team Gai, informally known around the village as the Konoha 11. In addition, a joint effort with Sunagakure was agreed upon, sending the Kazekage's sister Temari to be assigned to the group.

Following Pakkun's nose, Shikamaru split the members of his team, sending them into the city of Robotropolis, the heart of the Eggman Empire, ruled by the dictator Dr. Ivo Robotnik. There, they encountered Shadow the Hedgehog, a powerful being known as the Ultimate Lifeform, skilled in the manipulation of chaos control, Rouge the Bat, a skilled thief and a secret agent working for the Guardian Unit of Nations, and finally, the two tailed kitsune, Miles Prower, alias "Tails." They came with the same mission in mind: to retrieve the chaos emerald before Orochimaru could get them. Before our team arrived on Mobius, Orochimaru had already struck, fatally injuring Knuckles the Echidna, sacred Guardian of the Master Emerald. Under Orochimaru's orders, Sasuke stole Tails' chaos emerald and nearly killed him. By the time they found Orochimaru in Robotropolis, he already had three emeralds and challenged Shadow for the two more. Sasuke went to duel with Shadow, both came close to killing the other. When circumstances gave Sasuke the upper hand, he stabbed Shadow with the Sword of Kusunagi.

It was then that we made our most important and unexpected discovery. Tails revealed that he had the ability to unleash the demonic chakra of the Kyuubi. There's no question that this was the same chakra that should be sealed inside Naruto. Somehow, Tails was able to enter the Kyuubi's prison seal and communicate with him at will. It was at that moment that Kakashi and I immediately deployed ourselves as backup. Kakashi showed that his Mangekyou sharingan could also open a portal to the worlds. Upon arrival, we saw that the small kitsune was able to cripple Sasuke even in his activated cursed seal. Before any of us could intervene, Sasuke disappeared in an explosion, leaving no body behind. While Kakashi tried to subdue Orochimaru, I arrived to suppress the Kyuubi's chakra and return Tails to normal. Orochimaru took that time to escape, but not before blowing up the entire mechanical city. We teamed up with the Mobians and decided to regroup with the rest of the team in Station Sqaure who went there to seek out the remaining emeralds.

When we reached Station Square, we found that Naruto and the others had befriended the legendary hero of Mobius, Sonic the Hedgehog. That same hedgehog also turned out to be best friend, mentor, and older brother to Tails. While we outnumbered Orochimaru, we were unable to capture him due to a collision with Dr. Robotnik, bent on getting revenge for the loss of his emeralds. Although he was defeated easily, the situation worsened when we found out that the Akatsuki arrived to capture Tails and Naruto. Deidara, the missing nin from Iwakagakure, used his explosive jutsus to lay siege upon the city. While Deidara's objective was to capture the kitsune and possibly the chaos emeralds, Orochimaru cared nothing for Tails or any jinchuuriki and attempted to kill Tails and Naruto. Determined to protect his best friend, Sonic confronted Orochimaru with all seven chaos emeralds gathered together. Orochimaru showed that he was skilled enough to place Sonic under a genjutsu and forcibly transformed Sonic into Super Sonic. Under Orochimaru's control, Super Sonic was ready to kill Tails and Naruto and everything else in his way. Kyuubi understood the threat and still unable to give over all his chakra to Tails, he went back to Naruto and transformed him into the demonic four tailed Kyuubi stage.

An all out war ensued, resulting in the city almost being leveled with casualties resulting in the hundreds. It took our combined effort along with our Mobian allies, but we managed to bring Sonic and Naruto back to normal. We were then able to turn the tables on our enemies. Orochimaru was struck down with Super Sonic's power and Kakashi has reported that he may be dead, although no body was recovered. Sai, meanwhile, cornered Deidara and prevented him from escaping, but he couldn't capture him. Deidara was only beaten when Naruto returned and teamed up with Tails to destroy his jutsus. After his arm was severed and his chakra drained, Deidara ran away with his partner, Tobi.

While recovering from the battle, we located the team to the G.U.N Federation's underground fortress outside of Central City. Tails and Naruto should be safe from the Akatsuki there. G.U.N declared Akatsuki to be a terrorist organization and they have made it a top priority to monitor Akatsuki's activities. Aside from Deidara and Tobi, Tails has reported that Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi are also on Mobius. It is likely that Itachi was able to use the Mangekyou Sharingan to teleport his team to Mobius. The whereabouts of the other Akatsuki members are currently unknown. With all seven chaos emeralds in Sonic's hand, we can focus our attention primarily on Akatsuki. Kakashi summoned Pakkun to bring Sonic, Naruto, Tails, and the rest of the team to our base where we will gather to prepare for the next mission.

---

Chapter XIV: Vengeance from the Grave

For some people at the meeting, it was a new experience to be debriefed of their mission by a little wrinkled pug dog. Sonic tried his best not to laugh. Unfortunately, his self restraint sucked and his stifled chuckling ended up infecting Tails, who sat next to him. For Pakkun's part, he wore his most serious face yet. For Sonic, that only made the scene even more priceless. Shadow helped to balance the mood in the room by looking extra pissed off. Partly because he didn't get what the faker thought was so funny and partly because of what Pakkun had to say.

"Orochimaru is definitely alive," Pakkun stated, his gravelly voice rang out in all directions in the vast hi-tech war room so that everyone seated at the round table heard him. "The Hebi Sannin suffered some severe injuries from Super Ino Sonic, but he only faked his death. Most probably he wanted to lie low, leaving us to fight the Akatsuki for him. He's weakened now, but he'll strike for the chaos emeralds when the first opportunity presents itself."

Kakashi briefly lifted his nose out of his Icha Icha book to face the blue hedgehog seated across the table. "Sonic, since you're the one safeguarding the emeralds that means you're going to be his number one target."

"I heard he likes little boys. Now he wants little hedgehogs?" Sonic grunted. "What do you think I should do about Oro?"

"Strike him first," Kakashi said, snapping the book shut. "We have to find his hideout and catch him before he has the chance to plan. I want all our Konoha teams to assemble for this mission. Essentially, this is an assassination mission and we need to hit Orochimaru hard and fast. Outnumber him and take him down while he's still weak."

"Agreed," Yamato spoke firmly. "The Akatsuki tend to pull back for awhile after a mission whether they succeed or fail. This allows them to receive instructions from their leader and carefully plan out their next move. That gives us time to focus our attention on Orochimaru. We won't have a chance like this again."

"The President has charged G.U.N with leading an investigation on the Akatsuki to track their movements," Rouge said. "I spoke to the Commander and he will allow us to give you whatever information we can dig up on these guys while you concentrate on Orochimaru."

"Are you all right with that, Rouge?" Knuckles asked warily. "Snooping after the Akatsuki?"

"I also contacted the Chaotix. Vector said he's interested in working on the case and Espio has a lot lf knowledge on how ninjutsu works. I'm a ninja too, Knuxie." Rouge said. "The world's top secret agent, remember? In a few days time, I'll give you all the juicy details of their evil organization. I'll even bring you a nice Akatsuki cloak as a souvenir."

"I don't really do cloaks," Knuckles waved his hand dismissively. "You can give it to Shadow."

Shadow snorted. "Can we just get back to talking about Orochimaru?"

"It didn't take long for me to sniff out his hideout," Pakkun continued. "He set up a base for his Mobius operations right here on South Island."

"Sonic, you've raced through the zones on South Island countless of times, haven't you?" Kakashi asked. "You would know them better than anyone. Would you be able to guide us to Orochimaru's hideout?"

"Why not?" Sonic shrugged. "Just tell me who else is coming along."

Naruto slammed his fist down hard on the metal table. "I'm going for sure! Sasuke's dead because of that creep and he's gonna pay! Sakura-chan is coming too. Right, Sakura-chan?"

"But Naruto," Sakura protested. "You just recovered from your Kyuubi transformation and on top of that, you're arm is still healing from those jutsus you used."

"No worries, Sakura-chan," Naruto grinned widely. "I never felt this good in my life. Shadow healed everything in no time using those chaos powers of his, right Shadow?"

Shadow let out an irritated Sasuke-like hn. "It was nothing. I spent a hell of a lot of energy trying not to kill you before. All that work would've gone to waste if I left you to die again."

"Ano, we appreciate all your help, Shadow-kun," Hinata bowed her head to the dark hedgehog. "I'm happy that you took care of Naruto-kun and I so quickly."

"Either way, it's good to see you're a practical thinker, Shadow," Kakashi said dryly. "Of course, with your abilities and your ties to the chaos emeralds, we'd like to have you aboard our mission, too."

"Count me out," Shadow folded his arms over his white furry chest.

"You're not coming?" Sonic asked in surprise. "What's the matter, Groucho? Don't want to belong to any club that'd have you as a member?"

"I'll chaos control over when I feel like it, but for now, I've spent way too much of my energies healing everybody and I'm exhausted. It's not the way I'm used to manipulating chaos energy. That aside, I don't feel like teaming up with you losers right now."

Sonic shrugged. "If that's how you feel…," he turned back to Pakkun. "So where are we going anyway?"

The pug motioned a paw to the computerized map grid on the wall screen. "Orochimaru has set himself up an underground base here on South Island, a remote location called Labyrinth Zone." At that word, a single region on the map lit up, indicating its location. "You've visited that zone before, haven't you, Sonic?"

Sonic froze. He knew that particular zone well. Too well.

"Labyrinth Zone? Damn, I hate Labyrinth Zone."

"It doesn't take a genius to tell that Labyrinth Zone is a troublesome place," Shikamaru observed. "So what's its story?"

"Labyrinth is the single most hated zone on all of Mobius," Tails explained. "It's an ancient dungeon maze submerged underwater. According to legend, it was one of the first places the chaos emeralds were discovered, which is plausible since the zone has a large deposit of magic crystals."

"Of all places, the creep had to pick that nightmare fish tank as his hideout," Sonic moaned. "That was the only place I ever seriously thought I was gonna die."

"Now, Sonic. I'm sure we all hate water zones just as much as you do," Kakashi said calmly. "I hate it when my book gets wet. But that doesn't change the fact that Orochimaru is down there and he's plotting something very nasty…for you."

"How nasty are you talking about? Nasty as in—"

"Soniiiiiic! Where are you?" Sonic winced as the obsessed voice of Amy Rose as it was coming down the hall behind the closed doors.

"Oh, no," Sonic groaned and buried his head in his hands. "I'm so not in the mood for this right now."

Sonic started to panic as he heard Amy's boots thumping on the floor in the outer hall, becoming louder and closer. She was moving in fast and he was cornered.

"I've got to hide somewhere. Think, Sonic. Think!"

Sonic's eyes darted this way and that way, until he saw Akamaru sleeping in a corner. Then a light bulb went off in his head.

"Nobody tell her where I am, all right?" Sonic instructed. Just as the door to the war room creaked open, Sonic ran up to the big white dog.

Sweat poured down his face when Sonic caught a glimpse of the pink hedgehog coming in. With no time left to spare, Sonic pried open the unexpected dog's mouth and climbed inside. His jaws snapped shut and Akamaru awoke with a start just as Amy burst inside.

A perplexed look covered her pink face. Sonic was nowhere to be found.

Kakashi buried his face back into his book, where he felt it belonged. From what he saw, he did not want to get involved in this.

"That is so weird," Amy scratched her head in confusion. "I was so sure I heard my Sonic's voice. Wasn't he just in here?"

Nobody answered. Nobody knew what to say.

When Amy was a safe enough distance away, Akamaru couldn't handle the spiky blue ball bulging in his mouth anymore and spat the blue hedgehog out. Sonic tumbled onto the floor, every inch of him dripping with slobber.

"Worth it. Totally worth it," said Sonic, swiping the saliva from his eyes.

Everyone present could only stare gobsmacked at Slobber Sonic.

"I think we've wasted enough time talking. Clean yourself up, Sonic. We're leaving immediately."

"Think of it this way. Can Labyrinth Zone really be any worse than Akamaru's mouth?"

Moments later, as the team gathered outside the fortress, Sonic noticed that Knuckles was standing alone, doing nothing. Rouge had already flown off on her own mission, so this was the perfect opportunity to talk to the big guy.

"Hey, Knuckles. I was just thinking."

"There's a first…"

"Very funny, Knucklehead. You know that once we finish Orochimaru, the chaos emeralds will be safe, right?"

The echidna shook his head. "The emeralds will never be safe. Even after you defeat Orochimaru, someone else will just come along and try to take them."

"That's my point exactly, Big Red. They're just gonna keep on comin'. It's starting to get frustrating."

"Nothing can be done about it. You know the deal."

"Yeah, but actually I was thinking," Sonic took a breath as he got ready for what he was gonna say next. "Maybe this time we should just ditch all these emeralds and forget about them once and for all?"

"Excuse me?" Knuckles asked, shocked at Sonic's suggestion.

"I'm serious. Let's give them away to the Leaf Ninjas or something. They can take it back to their planet. Let somebody else worry about it for a change."

"You can't be serious…"

"I can when I realize what a joke our jobs are," Sonic said heavily. "I've had my fun being Super Sonic. It's getting real old and I'm bored. I also don't like having to worry that someone is going to make me transform into a psycho killing machine. When you get right down to it, these chaos emeralds are so…troublesome."

"Sonic, we don't even know what would happen if the chaos emeralds are separated from Mobius. If they're gone, it could affect the fabric of our universe. Do you want to risk that?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I just had to say it, though," Sonic sighed. "Then again, after you've faced a guy like Oro, how bad can everyone else be?"

"You tell me once you've come back. I, on the other hand, am going back to my island. The Master Emerald needs me."

"You're not coming, either?"

"Guardian duty calls. I'm not going with you, but that doesn't mean I won't help you, so catch," Knuckles tossed what looked like a tiny green chaos emerald into Sonic's hand.

"The Guiding Star Gem?" Sonic asked, recognizing the golden star pattern etched in the emerald's surface.

"Use that if you're in a really serious jam. Normally, I wouldn't give you an item like that, but I know what you're up against," Knuckles said in a dangerous tone. With that, he broke into a run and then glided away.

"Knuckles isn't coming with us?" Tails asked as he walked up to Sonic. "We're really being deserted, aren't we? I guess it's just you and me, Sonic."

"Yeah? I was pretty sure Amy would try to tag along."

"She's still pissed off at Shadow for breaking her favorite hammer," Tails said. "She's got nothing to fight with."

"Even so, when has that ever stopped Amy before?"

"She also said that you're not exactly at you're best when you have to deal with water zones. She said she was going to stay behind and torture Shadow instead."

Sonic couldn't stop grinning. "So my hydrophobia finally did some good. I'm not really that big an ass when I'm down there, am I?"

Tails shook his head. "No way, Sonic," Sonic nodded approvingly. He could always count on Tails to be on his side. "Big asses can float."

---

Getting through the entrance of Labyrinth Zone was easy enough. After they journeyed out of the civilized zones into more remote territories, Sonic showed them the entrance to the deep underground Labyrinth: A vast cave with the statues of demonic creatures greeting their arrival. The cavern mouth breathed out a thick cool mist and a winding stone stairway beckoned them into the dark subterranean realm below.

A billowing sandstorm created by Gaara blew around the dungeon's entrance. Gaara and Temari had set themselves up to guard the cave's only entrance. For the sake of the mission, nobody else would be allowed out to enter or leave without getting past them.

By the time everyone descended to the bottom of the stairs, a small bar of light from above was the last they would see of sunlight for the rest of their jounrey. From there on in, the dungeon was illuminated by the soft glow of the crystals growing from the ceiling and the floor.

"They call this place Labyrinth Zone for a reason," Sonic said in a low voice as he looked glumly at the lake of water that washed in front of his feet. "It's definitely a zone and the labyrinth part is pretty true, too. There is a sick amount of twists and turns these tunnels take that go underground for miles. Don't expect to find any stairs. You're gonna have to jump to get around. Once you take a path, it's very hard to turn back. The walls can move and have a way of shifting and changing positions, so you can never really tell where you are."

"So where do you think Orochimaru is hiding out, huh?" Naruto shouted out loudly, creating an obnoxious sounding echo that bounced all around the walls.

"Stop shouting," Sonic hissed. "Here, you use your indoor voice."

"What are you talking about? This is how I always talk," Naruto said, just as loudly.

Sonic's teeth started to grind. "I'm right in front of you. Just because I move faster than sound doesn't mean I can't hear it."

"Sheesh, you're acting really pissy today," Naruto grumbed. "I thought you were supposed to be cool."

"Uh, Sonic's just a little anxious 'cuz he can't swim," Tails tried to explain.

"You've never been down here before, Tails, so I don't expect you to understand, but I'm anxious because we've just entered the biggest death trap on Mobius. I'm anxious because this place can kill you in a thousand ways. Go too fast and you'll get crushed or impaled by spikes. Go too slow and you'll drown. And don't ask me how, but somehow I managed to get hit by fireballs underwater. Did I mention how freezing this water can be? There's actually a colony of penguins that live down here. It can get so cold that—"

Tails ran up to the water and leapt in. The huge splash that ensued interrupted Sonic's speech after soaking him from head to toe. Tails was happily doing a backstroke across the water.

"The water's really nice today, Sonic. You're gonna be fine," Tails promised.

Sonic sighed. "Don't kill the mood, Tails. Robuttnik's Jaws robots are gone, but a predator could still be lurking in the depths to drag you under and eat you. That's just one other thing about the most dangerous zone of all time."

"That's preposterous!" Shino interrupted. "Never before have I heard such blatant exaggeration. You can't seriously believe that this is the most dangerous zone ever."

"Hey, Shino. Have you been standing there the whole time?" Naruto asked innocently.

"You're very hurtful, Naruto…" After a quick moment of sulking, Shino turned back to Sonic. "My bugs have surveyed the other zones and I have seen that there are far worse ones than this. Marble Zone, for instance, is a scorching landscape with unstable crumbling ruins practically sinking in a river of lava. I predict that we would face a forty percent greater mortality rate if our party were to venture into that zone."

"So you think lava is worse than water?" Sonic challenged. "Well, if you like statistics so much, then I'll tell you that more people die by drowning in their toilet bowls than they do by falling into volcanoes."

"That's because they are more idiots than there are volcanoes," Shino countered.

"No, he's right, Shino," Kiba interjected. "Akamaru almost lost his life that way. I remember it happened years ago when he was just a tiny puppy and I brought him to school for the very first time…" Kiba then turned and glared viciously at Naruto. "And then Naruto went and flushed him down the toilet!"

"That was forever ago and you're still mad at me for that?"

"Baka! Do you have any idea how badly Akamaru was traumatized that day?"

"It was an accident! I thought he was a white turd!"

"I knew you'd give a lame-ass excuse like that, but damn! That's the most idiotic one yet!"

"What else do you want?" Naruto threw his hands up in the air. "I said I was sorry!"

"Enough of this foolishness," Shino said forcefully. "Let's just get this over with." Having said that, Shino disrobed his cloaks, revealing his unbelievably ripped six pack, he walked up to the waters. "These obstacles will not be a challenge. I will send my bugs to scan every nook and cranny. They will allow me to navigate this so called maze."

"Team 8 specializes in survival. We know how to handle places like these," Kiba boasted. "Don't forget that Akamaru can swim like a beast. Besides, if a bunch of penguins can survive down here, then we should do just fine. In fact, we'll probably be the first to find Orochimaru."

"Yeah, you do that," Sonic said, "but since I'm one of the only Mobians to go through this maze and come out alive, I'll give some advice. First—"

Sonic stopped when he heard a loud slurping sound bouncing off the walls. The ancient tunnels seemed to amplify the slurp sounds to make them extra disgusting. It didn't take long to find the culprit—Naruto absently slurping up a cup of ramen.

Sonic sighed tiredly. "Stop slurping so loudly," Sonic snapped.

"Sorry, I guess I do that when I'm really hungry," Naruto replied and went right back to his noodle slurping.

Sonic's face fell into his hand. They hadn't even gotten in the water yet. "It's not a good idea to eat right before swimming. It causes all kinds of problems."

Naruto shrugged and tossed away his empty ramen cup. "Oh, I never planned on doing any swimming. I've got the perfect jutsu for underwater travel."

He lightly bit his thumb and slammed his hand on the ground.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

The markings of a summoning circle spread out from beneath Naruto's palm and smoke exploded into the air, giving entrance to one big fiery red toad dressed in yakuza garb.

"S'up, everybody," the toad greeted.

"Say hi to everyone, Gamakichi."

Gamakichi, one of Naruto's most frequent summons, used to be able to sit on Naruto's head. After three years of growth, the frog had grown at the same rate as Akamaru. Now, he was like the toad samurais that Jiraiya summoned. He even sported a fancy katana strapped to his back. A sign of an honorable rank in the toad kingdom.

"You got bigger, Gamakichi."

"That's cuz' it's been forever since the last summon. What's going down?"

"We need to travel underwater," Naruto said, "so could we all climb inside your mouth and have you swim us through this zone?"

"What one of my pop's pipes did he give you to smoke? My stomach ain't got the stuff to take you all in. I can do it, but I can only hold a maximum capacity of two people. You and someone else."

"That's it? Only two people?" Naruto murmured. "I knew I should've summoned Gamatatsu."

"Screw the yellow fatass," Gamakichi snapped. "He'd get so hungry that he'd digest you."

"Just pick someone, Naruto," Kakashi said. "Choose someone who can help navigate you through this maze as quickly as possible."

"Okay… so who here is good at navigating?" Naruto scratched his head thoughtfully. "Byakagun can see through walls and stuff so that's a good power. I guess I could pick either Hinata or Neji. Being alone with Neji sounds too intense for me, so that would mean…"

Somebody's face in the group was getting red. Very very red.

"Hey, Hinata! You wanna come take a ride with me in the frog?" Naruto finally asked.

Hinata could only stare blankly at Naruto as her face now became as red as Gamakichi's skin. A-ano…um…I…"

She tried to get her mouth to say 'yes,' but no sound could come out. Her mind and heart were overloaded and overheated. There was nothing she could say at a moment like this.

She would get to be alone with Naruto-kun inside the belly of a frog. It was a dream come true.

"Let's go, already! I ain't got all day," the toad growled and without waiting another second, a long sticky tongue shot out of his mouth and wrapped itself around Hinata's waist, forcefully slurping up the poor girl inside. Naruto ran in just before Gamakichi closed his mouth and entered the water.

"Don't faint again, Hinata," Naruto's voice was heard like a muffled echo inside the frog. "We need your eyes."

"It looks like their transportation is solved," Kakashi said. "Neji, have your team take the opposite route of Naruto and Hinata's. That will assure that we will cover all blind spots."

"Understood," Neji nodded.

"Sakura, since Hinata is with Naruto, you should fill her spot in Shino and Kiba's team."

"No problem," Sakura said as she stared dreamily at Shino's body.

"The bugs fine tune up his muscles," Kiba whispered in Sakura's ear. She wasn't sure whether to be amazed or grossed out at that.

Kakashi then turned to Sai. "And you will act as scout using your artistic talents."

"Meanwhile, I will send out some wood clones to hide and keep watch at key locations," Yamato said.

"So that's about it," Kakashi finished. "Sonic, you're obviously with Tails and I'll lend you guys Pakkun to give you a hand."

With that, the teams scattered in all directions, leaving Sonic and Tails to themselves.

"So, Tails? Did you bring your Kyuubi Mech with you? Maybe you can turn it into a Kyuubi sub or something?"

"Sorry, Sonic. I wish I did, but it got trashed in the fight, so I left it in the shop. I want to take some time to examine it and see its limits. Next time, okay?

Sonic heaved the gloomiest sigh in the world. "It can't be helped. So what do you think? Should I start slowly with my feet, or just jump in head first?"

"Take it easy, blue boy," Pakkun spoke up. "You don't have to go underwater. I hate swimming also, so I found us a way through that doesn't involve any H20."

Sonic spun around with an open smile wide enough to swallow the pug whole.

"Tell me!" Sonic demanded hurriedly.

"Orochimaru is bound to have thousands of snakes crawling all over the place. Some of those species of snakes are strictly land reptiles, so they can't survive in water. Orochimaru must have built a conduit for the snakes to travel through the Labyrinth while avoiding the underwater hazards."

"And that way should lead us directly to Oro's hangout," Tails concluded.

"Sweet!" Sonic shouted with joy and lifted the little pug dog high into the air as he danced. "Oh, Pakkun, I could kiss your ugly wrinkly face!"

"Don't even try it," the pug said and sank his teeth right into the hedgehog's black nose.

"All right. Let's just go," Sonic said nasally as he pressed onto his injured nose.

As they departed, nobody noticed a strange creature materializing through the stone ceiling.

Seeing all, but unseen, the creature his amongst the vines, the massive mouth of what appeared to be a venus fly trap concealed his face. Beneath the plant's mouth, he had the face of man and a cloak of a black cloak with red clouds. Even if one were to get past the venus fly trap to behold his real face, the inhumanity would not end there. The man had two faces. One black and one white. A pair of shimmering golden eyes stared out of the two sides of his face. They were the all seeing eyes of the Akatsuki's scout, Zetsu.

"Hmmm…" he asked himself in a raspy voice. "Who should we follow first?"

---

Deep in the lower catacombs of Labyrinth Zone, a young silver haired bespectacled man made his way down the dank dark hallway. Nothing was there to light his way but the soft glow of the magic crystals growing from the walls. That was one of the reasons why Yakushi Kabuto chose this zone for his master's Mobius base. Besides for the sannin's penchant for subterranean lairs, the crystals exhibited unique healing properties that were of great fascination to the medic nin and they were a miracle for Orochimaru's current condition.

As soon as Kabuto opened the door to his patient's room, the dark hallway was swathed with bright light. Kabuto entered to find himself in a vast oval shaped chamber. His glasses reflected the colorful lights of the biggest and brightest crystals taken from around Labyrinth Zone. He personally collected them and set the most powerful into the ring shaped lake in the center of the chamber.

At the far edge of the pool, his master, Orochimaru leaned back with the lower half of his body submerged in steaming, bubbling waters. His eyes were closed as he soaked up the rejuvenating waters.

"How is the regenerating crystal bath doing for your wounds, Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto asked.

Orochimaru had sensed Kabuto's coming in the distance and his yellow eyes flared open as he gazed towards the chamber's entrance where his personal medic nin arrived. Kabuto waited in silence to be beckoned inside, and strode in holding clean bandages and his own potent medicinal balm.

"I believe that it won't be long before I can regain my full strength," Orochimaru said in a relaxed tone. "I won't require much more medical attention."

"That is good to hear. Is there anything else I can get you then, Orochimaru-sama?"

"Yes, Kabuto. Tell me what news do you bring me from the surface world?"

"It's as we predicted. Akatsuki teams were seen roaming the countryside. So far, two teams have moved to capture the two tailed kitsune. Currently, he still eludes their grasp."

"Ku ku ku. Perfect. I do hope that young Miles Prower does not fall into their hands. We wouldn't want that to happen at all."

"There's more…" Kabuto stopped to think and choose carefully choose his next words. This was the kind of information that Orochimaru to kill the closest of his subordinates. For sure, Kabuto was invaluable, but even Orochimaru was knwon to let his anger get the better of him. "I've…verified the reports and it's certain that all the members of Akatsuki are here on Mobius right now."

Orochimaru sat in uncomfortable silence to let the news sink in. And it was the kind of news worth killing Kabuto over, but at this time, the snake lord knew that now was not time to be so excessive. "All of them, you say? That's not good. So in addition to Itachi and the others, we must also worry about him," Orochimaru paused to look around as if the topic needed to remain in utmost secrecy. "That must mean they've captured most of the bijuu. They're coming close to the final stages of their plan."

"It's not safe for us on this planet any longer," Kabuto stated nervously. "We have to leave as soon as possible."

"Do not worry that much, Kabuto. Our business on this planet will soon be finished. The chaos emeralds are so very close. I can feel them."

"Yes, that was the other news. Sonic the Hedgehog has entered the Labyrinth. He and the Konoha teams are looking for you."

"Excellent. Now we have the opportunity to take back the chaos emeralds and foil the Akatsuki's plans at the same time."

"How do you mean?"

"We'll kill those two Kyuubi brats and make our escape just as I take the chaos emeralds back from the hedgehog. That way, I'll have all the power and without the Kyuubi, Akatsuki will be ruined. They will try to confront me, but by then it will be too late, ku ku ku ku ku ku."

"A bold move, Orochimaru-sama, but how will we be able to pull that off against these formidable opponents?"

"Leave Sonic to me to handle personally. As for the jinchuurkis, I will allow my men to take care of them. They must have split up into groups to find me. Your job is to monitor everything and give me updates."

"As you wish," Kabuto bowed his head.

"You can come out now, Suigetsu," Orochimaru called out.

At the Snake Sannin's call, a pillar of water rose up from the pool. It took the shape of a human, slowly changing from clear liquid to solid human flesh. The new figure even formed clothes for himself, white pants, and a purple vest.

"I take it you called me here for some lame assignment, Orochi?" Suigetsu asked.

"Kabuto, explain the details of our mission to him."

Kabuto adjusted the bridge of his glasses, partly out of habit, but also to hide the somewhat venomous glare that burned from his eyes whenever he caught the "waterboy" in his line of sight. Along with Sasuke, this guy was one of the few of Orochimaru's subordinates that had no fear for his master. It was scandalous in his eyes for anyone to speak to Orochimaru-sama in such informal terms. A sure warning sign of betrayal in his eyes. But more than his rudeness, Kabuto despised the row of razor sharp teeth that made it look like Suigetsu was about to lunge at his throat at any second.

Suigetsu actually was thinking of lunging for Kabuto's throat at any second.

"Essentially, Orochimaru-sama wants you to assassinate a number of troublemakers that have invaded our base," Kabuto began. "There are a lot of them. Most are effectively jounin level…"

"Leaf ninjas?" Suigetsu interrupted.

Kabuto nodded. "They're coming and they brought some native Mobians with them. Take out as many as you can, but remember that you're number one priority is to kill Uzumaki Naruto and the two-tailed kitsune, Miles Prower. Only that can assure the Kyuubi's destruction."

Suigetsu shook his head. "It's hard to believe that they actually sent poor old Sasuke sailing up the river. Poor Karin will be so disappointed. She always had her eye on Sasuke. You must be pissed too, Orochimaru."

"It may seem that way to your water logged brain," Orochimaru said with a smile. "But I promise you that things aren't always what they seem."

"Whatever, I'd just better get my reward you promised me."

Orochimaru motioned for Kabuto to produce the desired reward. He nodded and unrolled a specially sealed scroll on the floor. Suigetsu watched with hungry eyes as Kabuto released the seal in a puff of smoke.

"Orochimaru-sama always keeps his promises," Kabuto said as he stepped out of the fog, presenting Suigetsu with a gigantic sword, heavily wrapped in bandage cloth.

"Sweet," a murderous grin appeared through Suigetsu's teeth. Like a ravenous beast, he tore into the bandages with his sharp teeth, revealing one of the biggest and baddest swords to ever grace the ninja world.

Kabuto stepped back in horror, but Orochimaru merely grinned in amusement. To him, it was like watching a child greedily opening up his birthday presents.

"Kubikiri Houchi, (Head Chopping Cleaver) Momochi Zabuza's one of a kind sword. It's hard to imagine it in the hands of somebody other than the big guy, but it's for the best that it gets used again rather than just rust in the ground."

Kabuto cast his eyes on the mist nin doubtfully. "Are you sure you can hold that big thing?"

"Hey, I know I'm not a tank like Zabuza or Kisame, but I trained for years in the combat of big ass swords. With weapons like these, you've got to learn to be like water, to flow and crash all with the right balance."

"Don't be overconfident," Kabuto said. "There are a lot of enemies."

"Are you kidding?" Suigetsu asked with a sharp grin. "We're in Labyrinth Zone. This place was practically built with my name on it. They don't stand a chance. I do hope there are strong opponents, though."

"If you are satisfied, then you may go," Orochimaru finally said. "Our enemies have already arrived. Just remember to kill them quickly and bring back their heads. Time is of the essence."

"All right, I'm off," Suigetsu said and hoisted sword over his shoulder as he walked off. "By the way, Orochimaru, whenever you see Kabuto adjusting his glasses, he's really flipping you off."

"Your subordinates seem to get more insolent with every passing day, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto sneered.

"Ignore him," Orochimaru said dismissively. "Hozuki Suigetsu…that murderous boy will one day become the greatest of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and it will all be because of me. Guided by my power, he will reach that goal."

---

Sonic pushed a loose tile out of the way us he dug out of the dirt filled tunnel. Even the musty air was a welcome breath after burrowing through winding snake holes.

"About time we got out of there, huh, little bro?" he asked as Tails and Pakkun emerged from the hole. "You have no idea how good it feels to go al the way through Labyrinth Zone and still be dry as a bone."

"Are we there yet?" Tails asked, scoping the surroundings. Digging through the snake holes brought them to he upper regions of the dungeon. They stood on a high platform with the rivers rushing far below them. Standing across their platform was the carved statue of a demon's head with its mouth opened wide. A tall waterfall rushed out of its mouth and flowed straight down hundreds of feet to the watery bottom.

"Orochimaru can be found through that cave entrance," Pakkun said, pointing to the demon's head. "Once you go inside, it's a long, but dry stairwell all the way to the bottom. This is just one of the many snake entrances."

"Niiiiice!" Sonic's tongue sizzled with excitement. This whole trip was a major breakthrough for all hydrophobes everywhere. "Pakkun, you simply rock."

"I'm not trained for combat situations like these, so you guys are on your own while I report back to Kakashi." Pakkun said as he broke into a run.

"Come back and guide us through these zones anytime," Sonic waved goodbye, then turned to Tails. "So I guess all we gotta do is go into that inner area and it's straight on to Oro's party, huh?"

"Yeah...I guess so..." Tails muttered with a far off look. The hesitation in his voice was unmistakeable.

"You look worried, Tails. Everything all right?"

"There's a lot of mist coming out of that cave," Tails said. "Looks kinda creepy."

Sonic glanced to the cave entrance where there was a thick, soupy mist coming out and filling the air. "Yeah…but I don't think that's the only thing coming out." He squinted his eyes to make out a human figure approaching. Someone with an oversized sword strapped to his back.

"Damn! You guys are really fast. I didn't have to come looking for you at all. All I had to do was walk out that door."

To quote a friend of mine…" Sonic began, "This looks like it's going to be troublesome."

"Miles Prower," the swordsman's voice was grim as death. "I have come to take your life."

"Another one of your friends, Tails?" Sonic asked.

Tails shook his head. "I have no idea who that is, but he's the second shark tooth guy with a giant sword I've seen. Maybe he's Kisame's brother?"

Suigetsu rolled back his head and laughed. "Kisame's brother. Heh. That's rich. Sasuke never told you about me? Hozuki Suigetsu? That's not cool," the swordsman shook his head. "Then again, he never talked liked to talk about anything."

"I don't know what you're deal is, laughing boy," Sonic said, "but Tails doesn't have any time to be captured."

"That's good," Suigetsu crouched into an attack stance. "I'm not here to capture you. I'm here to kill ya."

"Not while there's a breath in my body," Sonic grunted, placing himself in between Tails and the swordsman.

"Yeah," Suigetsu revealed a lethal smirk. "You're right." He let go of the sword to create some rapid hand seals.

"Suiton: Bakusuihou!" (Exploding water cannons)

A highly pressurized jet stream shot out of the water with enough speed and power to slam into Sonic's gut and blast the hapless hedgehog into the air, throwing him all the way down, where he crashed into the water and sank like a stone.

"The hedgehog's down," Suigetsu murmured, pulling the oversized katana back into his hands. He seemed to swing it about with ease. "Looks like you're next."

"SONIC!" Tails turned his wide eyes to the spot where Sonic disappeared then to the oversized sword in the white haired killer's hands. He had to save Sonic. Tails ran off in the opposite direction, preparing to dive down into the water and swim after his hydro challenged bro.

He would've made it in had Suigetsu not jumped into his way and threw his sword down on the fox. The sword trapped the kitsune's head with the blade's inner hole. Suigetsu spun the sword around, throwing Tails back against the wall.

"I didn't dunk your pal into the water just so you could go save him," Suigetsu said. "The whole point was so that you and I could fight without any distractions. I want the first victim of my new sword to die in a swordfight, so if you've got a sword, I'd suggest pulling it out now."

Tails held up both empty hands. "Does it look like I have a sword that huge on me?"

"Then you'd better pull something out of those two tails of yours that can match my Kubikiri Houchi. Otherwise, gaze well upon my blade, little kit. The guy who previously owned this sword was my senpai, Momochi Zabuza. His name means 'Never Cut Twice.' Let me show you why."

---

Zetsu felt part of his mind and soul pulled from his body and brought into another underground cavern. In the darkness of the cavern, Zetsu watched as eight ghostly figures flickered into existence. A pattern of dim rainbow colors shimmered across their shadowy forms. All that was clearly visible were their eyes that glowed brightly in the darkness.

One of the nine Akatsuki figures took a stand in the center. Few of the members ever saw their leader in person and the astral projection did little to give away his identity, save for an outline of spiky hair and that pair of grayish blue eyes with multiple layers of concentric circles.

"Zetsu, what is the position of the two tailed kitsune?" the Leader asked, his deep voice sounded distorted and hollow.

"He was separated from Sonic the Hedgehog. The kitsune is fighting alone against a subordinate of Orochimaru. His name is Hozuki Suigetsu."

"Suigetsu? Ah, there's a guy I never thought I'd run into on Mobius," Kisame said wistfully. "Now he's competing with us over our goal."

"I must see this with my own eyes," the Leader said gravely. The others already felt a charge of chakra gathering around the multilayered irises in his eyes as his hands came together for a jutsu.

"Tomegane no Jutsu," (Telescope Technique)

The Leader produced a small crystal ball in his shadowy hand. Focusing his chakra into the ball, he activated the very best spying technique. It was a jutsu originally created by Konoha's Third Hokage to keep a protective eye over the village. Its secrets were eventually passed down to the Akatsuki Leader for a much darker purpose.

Inside the crystal ball, all around could clearly see and hear Tails flying through the mazes of the Labyrinth. At times, the white haired swordsman would also come into view when he got close.

"It cannot be stressed how serious our mission is," the Leader spoke. "That is why it was necessary to relocate our entire organization to Mobius. We must capture this kitsune at all costs."

"Orochimaru knows this, un" Deidara said. "That's why he is purposely trying to kill the kitsune so that he could screw with our plans. The yellow eyes bastard is afraid of us, un."

"Maybe, but I think he's afraid of the little guy himself," Kisame proposed. "We know he can display some fearsome powers, but besides that, the kid's been learning ninja techniques for a few days now and he can already hold his own against a murderer like Suigetsu."

"Kisame-dono is right, un," Deidara said. "I saw his eyes as we fought. He was strong, possessing a passionate heart. He had to be in order to defeat me."

"Anyone could've wasted your patsy ass, Deidara-chan," Hidan, Priest of Jashin, a man with fiery purple eyes said. "I still don't think this little runt is worth all this fuss."

"No matter what his current level is, it's still too risky to leave his life in Orochimaru's hands," Itachi broke in.

"Meaning someone needs to bring him in so we can keep him safe," the Leader said.

"All right. Then I'll go," Hidan offered. "I still don't think much of this kitsune, but it gives me the chance to kill Orochimaru. What better to spread the word and the might of Jashin?"

"Forget about it," Hidan's partner, the masked ninja Kakuzu spoke. "This isn't the time for you to be thinking about your religious matters. We're too busy collecting the funds for our organization."

"More of that boring shit?" Hidan scoffed. "Do I look like a banker or something to you?"

"Listen to Kakuzu, Hidan," the Leader said. "Like it or not, your team is in charge of making the money we need. Our stay on Mobius has presented us numerous opportunities to increase our income that Kakuzu has taken advantage of. But besides that, you said it yourself that you don't care about the kitsune's life. That kind of attitude could ruin the mission."

"If you want to send me back on the mission, I'll go," Deidara suggested. "I have the most experience fighting him and I haven't displayed all my artwork, un."

"No. You've contributed your part by giving Mobius a reason to fear Akatsuki, but now, let's the leave the jinchuuriki's capture to someone else."

"That's Leader's way of saying you screwed up big time, Senpai," Tobi said.

"Shut your mouth, Tobi! The way I see it, everything that went wrong is your fault. When we're active again, there's gonna be some changes in our team!"

"If it's a sex change you're talking about, then I think you can skip that step, Senpai."

"Perhaps Itachi and Kisame would make the wisest choice selection," Zetsu added. "Kisame knows this Suigetsu person the best. Itachi may also be interested in going. While investigating Orochimaru, I've uncovered some curious information about Itachi's brother."

"Oh, the foolish one?" Tobi asked. Even with the full mask on, the excitement in his voice showed that he was very interested in Zetsu's words. The same could not be said of Itachi.

"I see," Itachi gave a slight nod. "Very well, but it will take time to get to Labyrinth Zone. Tails could easily be dead by then."

"He will not die," the Leader said, his strange eyes focused more intently on the crystal ball. "As long as I have my own eyes on him, I will decide his fate."

---

Sonic thrashed wildly against the dark waters that threatened to drag him down into the murky bottomless depths. He had to get out. Not just to breathe, but to save Tails. No way could he leave his little brother alone with that shark fanged butcher.

Sonic could already hear the dreaded countdown playing in his head. 5...4...3...2...1...0. Through the strength of will alone, Sonic pushed his body upwards and breached the surface, gasping for oxygen. Even with the deepest breath, he could barely get any air. Heaving short breaths, he struggled to reach out and brace himself against a wall.

Sonic coughed hoarsely, expelling some water he swallowed. And some blood.

"I'm bleeding internally," Sonic realized as he wiped the blood from his mouth. "The pressure from that water jutsu must've scrambled my insides pretty good."

Sonic scoped out his surroundings, realizing that he had no idea where he was. Of course, after taking the plunge, he had to get sucked through an aqueduct to another section of the zone. Now, he had no way of finding Tails and Suigetsu and he couldn't move on his own. Going Super Sonic was impossible at this point. His injured body had nowhere near the energy to sustain those chaos emeralds. He was out of options. He was either going to die in this messed up zone or get rescued by Naruto or somebody should that big frog happen to be swimming by.

Sonic was left lying there in the water all alone. Tails and Suigetsu were gone. Worse, the hedgehog scanned his surroundings and found saw, just as he thought, he had no idea where he was.

The ancient chamber laid deathly quiet with only the echoes of water droplets plunking into the underground sea. Only the strange carvings of animals and monsters on the walls came to keep him company. No frogs. No noisy ninjas.

"I'm sorry, Tails. Just try to stay alive for me, okay?" That was the last thought Sonic had before slipping into unconsciousness and sinking back into the sea.

Had Sonic stayed awake, he would have seen not just a frog, or everyone's favorite noisy ninja, but a ship coming this way. A ship being captained by a young raccoon girl with bright blue eyes set against her deep orange fur. She sailed her ship (she called it that, but it was actually just a dinghy) towards the floating hedgehog as she hummed various pirate songs to herself. She stopped abruptly as soon as she spotted a blue hedgehog lying in the water.

"Man overboard!" the boat's sole occupant wailed as she hurriedly sped the boat up towards Sonic.

The raccoon girl over the edge of the boat and poked the blue hedgehog. Not getting any response, she rolled him over, getting his face out of the water. "Hey, I recognize you. Aren't you Sonic the Hedgehog? The Keeper of the Seven Sparkly Gems?"

"No…they're called…Chaos Emeralds…" Sonic said bleary eyed, slipping in and out of he waking world.

Marine shook her head and sighed. "Some mates just weren't cut out for a life of adventure at sea," She grabbed his arms and pulled him out of the water and onto the boat. "You shouldn't lie around like a barnacle for too long out here. These be shark infested waters," she warned.

"Who…are you?" Sonic asked weakly.

"Ahoy there!" the raccoon girl introduced herself with Narutoish exuberance. "I'm Marine of Seagull Island at your service, matey! I'm here because I sail wherever the wind takes me." She frowned suddenly, "Although there's very little wind in this place. I've been lost for awhile. It's been getting lonely here what with me being the captain without a crew. There's not even any pirates to fight down here. Hey! How'd you like to join my crew. We'll set sail for amazing adventures!"

"I've got no time for that. And I've got way worse enemies to worry about than pirates. Orochimaru's out here somewhere and I've got to stop him."

"Orochimaru?" Marine's ears perked up in shock. "The dreaded White Snake? Well, why didn't you say so in the first place. We'll set sail to the white snake's hidden cave right away! Onward ho!"

"Well, at last some luck has finally come to me in this gloomy zone," Sonic smiled to himself as he laid back on the boat.

"Save your strength, me swabbie. That's an order form your new captain," Marine said as she set sail. "You're gonna need to stay strong for the biggest adventure of your life."

Sonic chuckled inwardly. "Marine, you have no idea."

---

Tails felt like his head was spinning. He had been doing this chase through the winding pathways of Labyrinth Zone, going up and down, swimming, running, and flying, anything to get away from that maniac with the sword. Swimming away turned to be the worst idea of all. That guy swam faster than a shark with rocket boosters attached to his fins. Even Tails' swift doggy paddling action wasn't enough to shake him. He found that the best course of action was through flight and so Tails panted heavily as he propelled himself up a vertical shaft. Below him, Suigetsu bounced along the walls in hot pursuit, the heavy sword barely slowing him down. At least Suigetsu was also slowed down by the traps coming out of everywhere.

"Don't you know how to do anything but fly away?" Suigetsu called up. "I heard that Kisame lost to you."

Tails didn't say anything. He didn't even turn back. His eye caught the sharp glint of the blade and that was enough to for him to spin those tails faster. The last thing he needed was to look into his eyes and face the mist swordsman's vicious killer intent.

In between the heavy panting, Tails still managed to smile. Sonic was still alive, after all. He managed to feel out his chakra in tjhis zone. His chakra sense wasn't fine tuned enough to know where Sonic was, but he was alive, that much was certain. And if Sonic was alive, there was still reason to fight.

Tails finally reached the top of the shaft and turned a corner. Suigetsu was close behind, but Tails hopped on a switch on the floor that sent a stone door coming down, sealing the mist swordsman behind.

Suigetsu glowered at the offending door. No way in except via the switch on the other side. He didn't appreciate these obstructions. And he definitely didn't like that someone was using the ways of the Labyrinth against him. He might've been able to revert to a puddle of liquid and seep through the bottom crack, but he was too pissed off and it felt much better to just raise the sword high and swing it through. In seconds, the thick door crumbled into a pile of rubble and Suigetsu made his entrance at the edge of the shaft. When he entered the upper level, Tails was nowhere in sight.

Suigetsu stared down the upper level and frowned when he saw that the corridor wasn't straight at all. He was surprised that the little kitsune was able to put this much distance between them. Orochimaru was most likely getting impatient at this point. He sped up, his sword drawn and ready. He raced through the corridor and turned without even slowing down.

And then he stopped abruptly when he found the corridor ended with nothing but a sharp edge and a drop all the way down another straight shaft. Waiting for him at the precipice was the little fox he was looking for. He hovered into the air so that his stare was level with the eyes of the killer swordsman.

"So you finally stopped running. Nowhere to go, eh? Are you finally ready to die?"

"I'm tired of running. Sonic's not dead and I don't plan on dying today, either."

Tails whipped out a small scroll. He sent a bit of his chakra into the unrolled parchment, creating a cloud of smoke. Suigtsu readied his attack stance, prepared to counter any shuriken or other weapons the demon kitsune might throw his way.

The last thing he expected was for a shotgun to emerge from the scroll and fall into the little demon's hands. Tails was actually hoping that Shadow would come along to see this technique of his. He was sure the dark hedgehog wopuld approve. With one quick pump, Tails aimed the long barrel directly at the mist nin and fired.

Too fast to doge, Suigetsu took the shot to the chest, blasting a gaping hole right through his body.

Water, not blood, splashed everywhere.

Suigetsu staggered back. His face looked strained as he mentally sent water flowing to the bullet hole, returning him back to normal.

Tails tried not to look too surprised. Suigetsu immediately took advantage of that to attack. Even before the wound finished closing up, he lunged forward and slashed at the fox. With the barrel still smoking hot, Tails pumped rapidly and fired. One side of the swordsman head exploded on impact. Tails flinched back as a cool spray of water, instead of hot sticky blood, soaked into his fur.

Suigetsu's shark grin turned vicious, as his razor-pointed teeth bared in a snarl and he lurched over in preparation to strike. Tails stepped back, he gun shaking in his hand. His sharky grin was creepy enough, but it was downright freaky when combined with a huge hole in the head where his right eye should've been.

"I know you must be bugging out. After that crazy attack of yours not killing me," Suigetsu said as his face melted into liquid and reformed everything back in place. "In the last few seconds of your life, you'd better find a way to kill me, but just so you feel better, I'll just tell you that hurt like shit."

Suigetsu swung the massive Kubikiri Houchi in a huge arc. With a quick burst of fiery red chakra, Tails sprang above the sword's range and flipped over Suigetsu's head. While still caught off guard in mid swing, Tails pushed the gun barrel into his back and pulled the trigger.

This time, Tails fully embraced the refreshing wave of water that washed over him. What made even happier was seeing Suigetsu nearly blown in half by the close range shot. The mist nin groaned in agony, trying to reshape his mutilated body and at the same time, trying to hold onto his sword.

One quick tail whip ruined all that and Suigetsu was thrown off balance where he slipped off the edge pf the platform and plunged all the way down the shaft. From above, Tails smiled and perked up his ears to hear an angry scream that ended with one satisfying splashing sound followed by the less pleasant sound of human flesh being impaled by a bed of sharp spikes.

"Did that kill him?" Tails wondered. Peering over the edge, he saw Suigetsu had fully melted into a puddle and dripped off the spikes. Slowly, Suigetsu strained to summon his chakra and pulled his liquid form to once again take on the right shape.

Suigetsu was now visibly pissed. So much so that his liquid body might very well have come close to reaching a steaming boiling point.

"Should've guessed not," Tails thought glumly.

With his body repaired and whole again, Suigetsu stared straight up the shaft, his misty eyes piercing into the blue eyes of his fox prey.

Suigetsu's shark grin returned in full measure.

Gripping tightly the massive cleaver in his hand, the mist nin slung the huge sword onto his back and rapidly threw his hands to perform his next seal. A brilliant silver aura radiated from Suigetsu's body and sword as he poured out all his chakra to take control of all the Labryinth's waters.

"Ryoutou Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" (Double-headed Water Dragon Blast Technique)

The sea came alive and sprouted two enormous roaring dragon heads that both went lunging for Tails. The tsunami rose up in is serpentine form and came after Tails with bites powerful enough to snap him in half and with crushing force strong enough to smash his bones to dust.

A glowing aura of red chakra surrounded Tails as he took off in a burst of speed as the snaking dragons reared back and dove after him, their monstrous jaws snapping just behind his tails. The fear instilled in Tails from the deafening roar behind him only fueled his adrenaline and gave him an extra speed boost. The dragons reached out for the fox with liquid claws that scraped along the stone walls as they chased, sending shattered stones and debris flying everywhere.

"If this keeps up, they could bring this entire zone down," Tails thought as he dodged the hail of deadly projectiles on his chase.

Labyrinth was never a place where one could run forever and Tails soon found himself pressed against a stone wall with nowhere to go and the snapping jaws of the dragons closing in. Tails had no way to counter it and not enough chakra to protect himself. He shut his eyes tight and held his tails up as a shield, bracing against the wall for the incoming impact. The roaring that reverberated in the fox's ears was deafening as it came closer and louder.

Just when he though it couldn't get any louder, everything fell silent.

Tails opened his eyes to see the dragon heads had stopped only inches away. They remained there frozen in place, their hollow eyes staring right at him. Suigetsu looked just as perplexed as Tails. Both felt an eerie presence surrounding them as if someone was watching them.

Gazing upon all with his crystal ball with his swirling eyes, all the Leader had to do was stretch out his open hand and the jutsu was under his control. With just a little bit more focus, he sent the jutsu back against its user.

The dragon heads turned their heads back against Suigetsu and simultaneously surged towards the swordsman. They dove down and caught the white haired boy in their jaws. He was completely trapped in the jutsu as the dragons continued on and plunged headfirst into the Labyrinth walls. The resulting clash created an explosion of water that tore the thick walls of stone asunder. Kubikiri Houchi was thrown from his hands as Suigetsu was driven back by the aquatic impact.

"NOOOOO!" the swordsman shrieked as he was separated from his precious zanbatou. Suigetsu tried to pull all his chakra to take command of the raging waters, but they refused to respond, now guided by a hidden eye and an unseen hand. One of the gods favored Tails this day, Suigetsu thought. Whoever this god was, it was not letting Suigetsu go. As the chakra saturated waters tore down the Labyrinth's structures to dust and rubble, Suigetsu and Tails were tossed into a sea of chaos and went tumbling down a bleak abyss.

"Ah, just in time. Leader's got control of this one," Zetsu said.

"He's really tearing this place apart," said the black side of Zetsu. "I'm a little worried that the poor Tails isn't gonna survive this."

"That's his style. The Leader is very thorough," the white side of Zetsu replied. "But I wouldn't worry. He'll guide the kitsune to safety."

"Compared to his eyes, it makes you feel useless sometimes, doesn't it?" Zetsu's black side added.

---

For all the work Sonic put into portraying Labyrinth Zone's badass reputation, Naruto was taking this dungeon crawl easy. He sat comfortably (as comfortable as it could get in a frog's insides) while Hinata navigated the tunnels with her Byakagun and Gamakichi swam defensively against the traps that seemingly popped out of every nook and cranny in the dungeon. He dodged the swinging flails, swam aside from the piercing spears, and he stopped just to go "What the Hell…?" when some angry looking statues stared spitting underwater fireballs at him.

"I hope I get something good to eat out of this, Naruto," the toad grumbled sourly. "You always summon me for the biggest crap jobs."

"I'm not surprised you want food," Naruto said. "That's all you frogs ever talk about."

"That's not true. We also talk about smoking and drinking. Speaking of which, I'm stopping to take a sake break. I'm so thirsty."

"Fine. I need to take a piss anyway."

At this point, Hinata's face had gone way past red, beyond even purple, all the way to Sonic the Hedgehog blue.

"Wow, Hinata. You can change colors better than a chameleon," Naruto observed. "Maybe you should come outside, too. Get some air."

Hinata nodded. "Th-that's a good idea, Naruto-kun. I'll keep looking around and I'll tell you if I sense anything."

The toad's mouth opened and the two shinobi stepped out into a vast open chamber where the only floor available was the lake of water. Naruto ran off to find the right spot to do his thing while Gamakichi did as he said he would and removed a ceramic bottle hidden in his vest.

"Would you like to share a drink with me, Hinata-hime?" the toad offered thoughtfully, holding out a drinking saucer.

"N-no thank you," Hinata rapidly shook her head. "That's all right. I need to stay as alert as I can."

She refused the sake for good reason. Hinata's sensed picked up on something.

Something was coming.

"Wait, Naruto-kun, Hinata whispered. "Do you feel that?"

Naruto and Hinata fell silent as Hinata focused her vision. Soon they both heard a low rumbling sound slowly growing louder and louder.

"Naruto-kun, I'm sensing a huge chakra spike coming form nearby."

"What kind of chakra?" Naruto asked.

"There's a few different kinds all mixed together in one place. I think it's because somebody just cast a very high level jutsu. The Kyuubi's chakra is there, too. Then there's…something else."

"So Tails is probably in a fight with someone. He should be all right, but what was the third chakra you mentioned?"

"I don't know, but it was different from anything I've never felt before."

"Whatever it is, it's making the walls shake like crazy," Naruto pointed to the stone walls that were trembling along with the ominous rumbling sound. As the walls started vibrating, tremors started to shake loose the centuries old rock.

"Naruto-kun! Get back!" Hinata shouted. She saw what was causing the rumbling. She saw it coming right at them.

The wall exploded violently, releasing a furious gushing stream from the hole. Not only did that wall explode, but the walls and ceilings in the layers above them all came crashing down.

Gamakichi quickly snatched Naruto and Hinata in his tongue and swallowed them whole. He dove deep down into the water to escape the avalanche.

"We're getting the hell out of this effed up zone!" the toad swore.

"No! You gotta take us back," Naruto protested. "We don't know what caused that explosion. It might be important."

"As you wish," Gamakichi shook his head mournfully. He swam up to the surface and spat the shinobi pair from his gut. Naruto and Hinata returned to be drenched in a shower of rain and mist. They looked up to see that the explosion had torn a hole all the way to the top of the zone, exposing them to the open sky.

"It's not raining because of the weather," Hinata noted. "It's the remnants of that huge suiton jutsu that created all this destruction."

"Where'd that huge explosion come from, anyway?" Naruto asked, but Hinata's attention was elsewhere.

"Is everyone else okay?" Naruto asked.

Hinata started to scan around, examining for any nearby signs of life.

"Naruto-kun, I hear something else coming."

Naruto bent his ear in Hinata's direction, trying to see if he could pick up whatever Hinata was hearing over the rushing waters when suddenly, he heard it, too.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Then they heard another noise.

"Get back here, fuzzball!"

Naruto looked up towards one of the busted holes in the wall where an orange fuzzball came flying, screaming all the way down until it plopped right on top of Naruto's head.

"Tails?"

"Look out! It's a crazy shark guy with a sword!" Tails exclaimed as he clung to Naruto's head for dear life.

Soon after said crazy shark guy with a sword came tumbling down a waterfall and splashed into the floor at Naruto's feet.

"This must be the shark guy, but where's his sword?" Naruto asked.

"Up there!" Tails shouted and leapt off Naruto's head. A dark shadow cast itself above Naruto as the massive cleaver came hurtling down and crashed on top of Naruto's head.

"Get your filthy hands off my sword, punk!" Suigetsu snarled as he snatched the sword's handle. "I've got to finish this job and decapitate that demon kitsune's head.

When his vision cleared and he got back up, Naruto instantly recognized the late Zabuza's sword in the white haired stranger's hand.

"Isn't that Zabuza's sword? How come you have it? And why are you trying to chop off Tails' head with it?" Naruto asked as he nursed the large bump on his head while suspiciously eyeing the swordsman. Although he just met the guy, Naruto got a pretty good idea of what kind of person this swordsman was, just by looking at the way he bared his teeth.

"Too many questions at once, kid," Suigetsu said wearily. "I just got this thing back after that jutsu screwed me over. Orochimaru's gonna go apeshit when he sees what happened to his zone. And I still have to kill—Hey, I recognize you," Suigetsu paused so that he could meet Naruto eye to eye. "Yeah! You're the Kyuubi vessel and you're also Sasuke's old buddy, right?" he sent the tip of the sword to rest gently right on top of Naruto's nose. "I've been looking forward to finally fight you."

"You'd better get back, Tails," Naruto said, not taking his eyes off Suigetsu. "Go hide with Gamakichi. From here on, me and Hinata can fight this guy. You up for that, Hinata?"

Suigetsu didn't even notice the white eyed girl until he picked up the faint crackling of chakra emanating form her hands. Even though he knew how dangerous Hyuuga nins were, this girl's face appeared far too sot and innocent to be taken seriously. Naruto, on the other hand, was a name frequently mentioned in Orochimaru's base.

"I have to admit, I'm a bit low on chakra at the moment, so I'm gonna take you as seriously as I can, even thought you're probably just some stupid gaki."

"Rasengan!" Without preamble Naruto instantly produced a swirling Rasengan ball in his hand. But instead of attacking head on, he thrust into the water, creating a whirlpool that span across the chamber.

Suigetsu lost his balance and fell backwards into the rushing whirlpool. He stabbed the great sword into the churning rapids, using it to anchor himself.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" he declared loudly over the rushing sounds of the whirlpool. "Not 'stupid gaki.' Remember that!"

"You're crazy, man," Suigetsu replied with a beaming smile. "I like that."

The white haired swordsman said no more. But his smile spoke volumes. With a raging killing intent coming from each sharpened fang, Suigetsu charged across the spinning vortex.

Naruto jumped back out of the sword's range and pulled a spear out of the wall. He held the weapon in an offensive stance, the pointed tip aimed against Suigetsu.

Hinata activated her Byakagun and her eyes lit up with the white fury of her clan. Even from afar, Suigetsu sensed the blue flames of chakra rising from her body, prepared to deliver the stinging touch of the Jyuuken style.

Suigetsu smiled again.

"Kisame's gonna be so mad when he finds out that I killed you. He'll have to live with it, though."

From above, they formed three points of a triangle. The three fighters stood, swirling along the whirlpools' spiral, but perfectly balanced, their weapons drawn and ready.

Suigetsu with his giant sword. Naruto with a spear. Hinata with her open hands, blazing with chakra.

"I'm going first," Naruto shouted. "Back me up!"

With both hands on the hilt of his sword, Suigetsu twisted in midair and swung the sword in a deadly jab. Naruto surged forward and thrust his spear. Sparks flew as the metal grated together. Suigetsu pulled back for another swing, hoping to bisect the blonde across the waist. Naruto ducked clear of the sword's arc, but just barely. As big as that sword was, it moved fast. Suigetsu kept his word that he was fighting seriously and he was not a weak swordsman at all. No, Zabuza's sword could never be wielded by normal shinobi.

Naruto ducked and dodged and circled with perfect rhythm and his attacks with his spear were swift and unreadable, swiftly piercing through Suigetsu's defenses. The spear flashed in his hands like a bolt of lightning, threatening to strike past Suigetsu's sword and run him through. The mist nin smirked at the thought. Just let him try.

In the heat of the battle, Suigetsu left no time for Naruto to start sending in the Kage Bunshins. If he tried to form the seals, his hands would've been chopped off instantly. Naruto knew he would have to do this alone until he could create some distance. Since that was taking too long, he opted to finish this himself. Leaping above another powerful swing from Kubikiri Houchi, Naruto lunged downward for Suigetsu's opening.

Suigetsu swiveled out of the spears path just in time as the sharp tip cut off a few locks of his hair. "You're not used to fighting as only one guy, are ya?" Suigetsu asked. "That'll cost you."

"All the more reason to finish you now!"

Neither prepared to hesitate, they both shot forward simultaneously, clashing again violently with sparks flying through the air.

Tails watched the two of them as they weaved through intricate swings. He could still summon another gun, but he wasn't the kind of shot where he could do it without hitting Naruto.

As Naruto continued to thrust, Suigetsu whirled back, switching to fight with the sword one handed. With his now free hand, the swordsman gathered chakra into his hand and instantly created a sword made of pure water, Holding Kubikiri horizontally to block the spear, he slashed with his water blade, slicing Naruto's spear in two.

Naruto pushed back just in time before he was cut to ribbons with both swords.

"That's something Sasuke taught me," Suigetsu smirked. He started to get the idea that just mentioning that name made Naruto go wild.

And Naruto was ready to go wild as he tossed the broken weapon away as he faced the doubly armed swordsman. It was time to see what a Rasengan applied directly to the face could do.

"Better stop smiling with those freaky teeth of yours, cuz my Rasengan will knock them loose!" Naruto snarled with a new ball of energy already swirling in his palm.

Suigetsu sighed. "You weren't listening, dumbass."

Naruto ignored him and continuing to race across the whirlpool. Rushing in even faster, Naruto became a blur of orange and black. While his teeth didn't have quite the same effect, Naruto wore his own smirk as he envisioned the Rasengan cracking open Suigetsu's jaw and scattering his shark teeth everywhere.

Suigetsu sneered at the upcoming Rasengan. He liked his teeth right where they were. They were a sign of pride in the ruthless Hidden Village of Mist. To those who had them, they were a symbol of a master craftsman in the art of swordsmanship and murder.

And so Suigetsu had his own plan for what would become of his teeth. And when he saw that blue spinning orb come within an inch of his face, he strained his neck out of the way at the last second. As the Rasengan rushed past his face, Suigetsu bared his fangs and sank his teeth into Naruto's hand.

For a second, Naruto could only stare in shock. Then he pulled his blood soaked fist out of the guy's bite and howled in pain. Upon losing control, the Rasengan dissipated into nothingness.

He bit him! This guy was a biter. And he wouldn't let go. Suigetsu's murderous grin was now complimented by the blood that trickled between his teeth.

"It's easy to be a cold blooded killer when no one can make you bleed your own blood. For somebody good like you, I might just chop off your arm and leave the rest of you to die another day. Sorry, but Orochimaru won't give me a reward unless I kill you, meaning that dumb head of yours is gonna have to come off now."

There was a sharp burst of chakra as Hinata jumped in the way and struck against the side of the blade with her bare hand. With insanely fast reflexes, Hinata shoved her arm through hollow point in the greatsword and struck Suigetsu's other sword arm. A quick jolt of Hyuuga chakra dispelled the water blade.

"Well now, isn't this interesting?" Suigetsu's voice was cold and mocking. "You're really good. You're element isn't water also by any chance, is it?"

"Yay, Hinata!" Naruto cheered. "Don't be afraid of that guy's sword! You can beat him!"

Hinata's veiny white eyes hardened against Suigetsu's sharky grin. In an intense burst of speed, she flew in with a barrage of strikes. Bright flares of blue chakra bounced off the sword as Suigetsu blocked those deadly Hyuuga hands. To parry against Zabuza's legendary cleaver was definitely a feat. No one had ever done that before in the sword's long bloody history and it surprised the mist nin every time Hinata struck. As they continued to swirl across the whirlpool trading blows, Suigetsu frowned as he realized that Hinata was coming in closer. The intense bursts of chakra that flashed form her hands were so bright that his eyes started to lose focus. Everything started to turn white and blurry.

"How much longer do you think you can block my sword bare handed? You're not gonna last much longer."

"As long as I have to," Hinata huffed. "I'll help Naruto-kun no matter what."

"Try helping yourself and look at your hands," Suigetsu retorted. "They're bleeding!"

Hinata flipped back to gain some distance and lifted up her hands. Every inch of her fingers and palms were covered in throbbing purple bruises and they were drenched in a continuous flow of blood. This whole time, Hinata's hands were so numbed in the fight that she didn't notice it a thing. She regarded her for just a moment, then she snapped back and went back into her fighting stance.

"You can't fight anymore. You've gotten way too weak," Suigetsu said. He wasn't smirking anymore.

"Neither can you," Hinata retorted. "You're almost completely out of chakra."

"Stop this…please?"

"Hinata looks like she's in trouble," Naruto told himself. "This is my last chance to get him for sure!"

Once again, a new Rasengan swirled in Naruto's good hand and the chamber was flooded with another aura of blue light. With Suigetsu locked in combat with Hinata, there would be no avoiding a Rasengan to the head this time. And if he did evade it, Naruto was still going to beat this guy if he had to smash apart this whole dungeon stone by stone.

Still with his sword battling against Hinata's impenetrable defense, Suigetsu eyes glanced up to see Naruto coming in with that annoying swirling chakra ball. He turned back to face Hinata, who continued to put all her strength to repelling his sword.

That's when Suigetsu made his next move.

"Screw this," Suigetsu said as lowered his sword down. "I quit."

"WHAT?!"

Having to discharge the Rasengan and break his charge threw Naruto badly off balance and he came tumbling past Suigetsu and falling flat into the water. Hinata likewise plugged up her flow of chakra. The pressure on the room from all the energy clamed down and the whirlpool finally slowed until the waters resumed their natural state.

Hinata quickly rushed towards Naruto and helped him out of the water. Naruto faced Suigetsu and gave him a look that suggested he was the craziest person in the world. He already thought that when he bt him, but now Naruto was sure that this guy totally lost it. He was a few noodles short a ramen bowl.

"I said I quit. I don't want to fight you anymore," Suigetsu shrugged. "Simple as that."

"The hell? What kind of idiot changes his mind at the last minute like that?"

Suigetsu lazily yawned and leaned his back against the wall. "Sorry, but I just realized how incredibly lame this is. I don't want to play this silly game anymore."

Tails held a finger on his shotgun, just in case. Hinata looked speechless. Naruto quirked an eyebrow.

"Is this some kind of trick?"

"No trick," Suigetsu insisted. Hinata saw that his icy eyes were serious. "Listen, it took me a few minutes to realize this, but I don't want to kill guys like you. Now that I own this legendary sword, I'm on my way to bcoming the greatest of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. When the legendary name of Hozuki Suigetsu goes down in history, people will say that the first victims to die by his blade were a little fur ball, a sweet looking girl, and a moron. Who would be proud of that?"

"I don't get what you're talking about," Naruto gave him what Suigetsu saw as an idiotic stare. "You've made no sense at all since we met."

"It's really simple, baka," Suigetsu grabbed Naruto's head between his hands and craned it towards Hinata. "Does this like the face of a girl I'd want to cut in half and drench my swrod in her blood? Hell, even the sword says it doesn't want to do that."

"Your sword talks to you now?" Naruto asked.

"Don't you know any of the history of Kirigakure? Zabuza was known as the Devil of the Mist, but he wasn't some psycho killer. He was an honorable swordsman who had his own code of mercy. Like when he showed mercy to his closest ally, Haku. Zabuza's spirit still resides in this sword and I've spent enough time with it to hear its voice.

"Ano, Suigetsu-kun," Hinata piped up. "If you don't want to fight us, then who do you want?"

"I need to go take my sword up against some real swordsmen, like Kisame or Orochimaru. It's was a stupid idea to hunt down this poor innocent fox," he went on. "Sure he's a worthy opponent and Orochimaru may have given me an order, but then again, I'm not the type to follow Orochi's orders, anyway and I don't like to be cruel to animals. I'm not that bloodthirsty."

"The hell you talking about? You almost bit off my hand!" Naruto pointed to his blood soaked hand filled with some noticeable teeth marks.

"Let me look at it, Naruto-kun," Hinata offered. "Maybe it's not so bad."

"In retrospect, I could've chopped your arm off instead," Suigetsu muttered.

Convinced that the situation was diffused, Tails hurried up to face the swordsman. "So does a big sword like that have a missile launcher built inside there or something?"

"Don't be ridiculous! Who would have something like that hiding in their sword?"

"For a sword that large, I could probably build one in there," Tails said.

"…We should talk," was all Suigetsu could say. And indeed, the two did step away to further discuss the engineering possibilities within really really big swords, leaving Hinata alone to tend to Naruto.

"What total bullcrap!" Naruto complained wile Hinata started bandaging up Naruto's hand. "I was expecting the second coming of Zabuza. Not…Shikamaru with a big sword."

"Ano, I'm just happy that we were able to end this without anybody getting too badly hurt," Hinata said, looking into Naruto's eyes with a soft smile.

"Yeah…me too, Hinata," Naruto smiled back, but he dropped the smile when he noticed Hinata's hands.

"Hinata," Naruto looked down in surprise, "both your hands are bleeding. You should've taken care of yourself first!"

"No, Naruto-kun. They don't hurt me and I wanted to make you feel better," she explained.

Naruto gently reached for her hands and looked at them. He had zero skill as a medic nin, but every shinobi who fought enough knew what to make of some injuries.

"I think you broke some bones," Naruto said carefully, trying not to scare her or anything. "It's not surprising, though. You fought like a beast!"

"Th-thank you, Naruto-kun," she said weakly just before passing out. Naruto grabbed her in his arms, keeping her from sinking into the water.

"She gave it her all and used up a ton of chakra to fight," Naruto saw. Gazing at Hinata lying unconscious wit her head resting in his lap and no Sakura-chan in sight, he decided the first thing to do was to tend to those hans himself.

"Nuts," Naruto stared uncomfortably at the roll of bandages and Hinata's first-aid kit. "I don't know how to do this healing stuff at all, but I guess I have to."

Tails and Suigetsu were still hanging around discussing swords and Naruto didn't think they'd be much help so he got to work on Hinata's hands. Maybe they could later find Sonic and use some more of those chaos powers on her again. Suddenly, he remembered that ointment that Hinata gave him a long time ago when he fought Kiba in the Chuunin exams. He came out of that match with deep gashes on his arms. Blood was gushing out in spurts, the way he remembered. Hinata's cream worked really well when the fight was over. He remembered how she handed it to him like it was some secret forbidden healing elixir, so it must've been powerful stuff. After he found the exact same looking jar, he applied the goo liberally to her hands and then covered them in bandages.

"That should do it," Naruto breathed easily. He looked at his handiwork and saw that Hinata looked pretty relaxed as she slept against his chest. "I guess it wasn't as bad as thought."

"Zuzu, I think we covered everything important here," black Zetsu said. "Let's check out Orochimaru."

"Blech! Every time I see that guy he does something gross and disgusting. What a complete sicko," the white side groaned.

"I know, but if we don't go, we'll miss out on all the real fun."

---

Naruto sat and waited patiently while Hinata slept against his chest. They were going to continue on after Orochimaru and he wanted her to be at her strongest. He knew that Hinata wasn't the type to turn back or give up, but he also wanted her to be strong enough to kick as much ass as she could.

Tails and Suigetsu continued to talk about ninjutsu and the powerful weapons that could be created with them. Tails still felt a little awkward hanging out with the guy that tried to kill him and Sonic recently, but he was so quick to make friends that those little details faded quickly into the background. "Come to think of it, this kind of thing happens a lot," Tails considered. "It happened first with Knuckles. It also happened with Shadow…and it happened with Shadow again. Then there was the Babylon Rogues, Silver, probably a bunch of other people. Might as well add Suigetsu to the list."

Time passed and the clouds rolled across the sky. The sun soon started to creep out of the clouds, lighting up the gloomy Labyrinth with warm sunlight and sparkling waters. The rays shone over Hinata's face, stirring her from her sleep

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata whispered as she slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw were Naruto's big blue eyes up close and his bright smile.

"Wow, Hinata. That was a quick recovery," Naruto grinned.

Hinata's pale lavender eyes glanced over to her hands. "Did you do this…Naruto-kun?"

"Yup," his grin grew wider. "It wasn't as hard as I thought. I bet you could still fight with those hands. Maybe you should kick a little more, though."

"Arigatou, Naruto-kun, I feel a lot better now." Feeling her chakra returning, Hinata stood up tall and announced with a great deal of strength in her voice. "I want to continue onward and complete our mission."

"Yatta!" Naruto shouted joyfully and punched his bandaged fist in the air. "So are you ready to go with me to kick Orochimaru's scaly ass?"

Hinata's face flushed pink as she nodded. "Yes, Naruto-kun. Yes, I'm ready."

"So am I," Gamakichi declared. "But before we go on…" he held up the ceramic bottle before everyone and shouted loudly so they all could hear him. "We must all drink together as friends."

"Hey, is that the special sacred sake of Myouboku Mountain you mentioned?" Tails asked curiously.

"Don't give him any!" Naruto yelled.

"Quit your belly aching, Naruto," Suigetsu said as he grabbed for the toad's sake jar and took a swig. Naruto grimaced as sake poured messily through his fangs.

"I don't want to see what you look like drunk, either!"

"Oh, I think I'll be staying plenty sober today," Suigetsu said. "We need our minds to stay strong for Orochimaru. If you want to know the real deal, I've been waiting for the right time to betray the snake bastard. Now's as good a time as any and you guys might be able to give me a hand."

Go with you," Naruto snorted into the air. "Forget it. It's gotta be a trick. Go back to your Mist village with your dumb sword. We'll take care of this by ourselves."

"If you don't trust me, you can hold onto my sword," Suigetsu said tossing the sword at Naruto who barely caught it without falling over. "I hope you know how to use it."

"I think we should trust Suigetsu-kun," Hinata said. "Even with Byakagun. I don't think we can find Orochimaru by ourselves. We'll need his help."

Naruto considered the matter, but finally decided to side with Hinata. She had good insight for these kinds of things.

"Smart decision," Suigetsu crossed his arms and nodded. "After all, I'm the only one who knows the location of Orochimaru's secret lair."

---

"Here we are, mate. Orochimaru's secret lair dead ahead."

Sonic couldn't be more happy to have finally made it to Orochimaru's lair. Not just because he listened to the raccoon pirate shout the word "adventure" over a hundred times, but because he was now sailing towards dozens and dozens of golden rings spinning in midair.

"Wow! Look at all this treasure!" Marine exclaimed.

Sonic started slowly, jumping for the lowest rings, but as he felt the life giving energy seep into his pores, his breathing got a little easier, his feet moved a little faster, and soon enough, he was zipping around the place faster than Marine's eyes could follow. All the rings absorbed themselves into the hedgehog's body until all that was left was a few golden sparks. When the last spark faded, Sonic flickered back onto the boat. As strong as he now felt, he wasn't ready to take a dunk just yet.

"I'm ready now, Marine. Orochimaru's chambers are right behind that stone door?" he pointed with his thumb to a pair of stone doors, polished white and engraved with the images of snakes, coiling around each other.

"Yup, that's the place. Have a nice time," she started to prepare the boat to sail back.

"Hey, aren't you coming with me?"

"Sorry, mate. Dead men tell no tales, but I heard some deadly tales about this Orochimaru and there are things that lie in the murky depths that a pirate should never mess with. I just wanted to see if I could get here, that's all."

Okay," Sonic leaned his leg on the boat and made sure his shoes were buckled nice and tight. "I'm doing this by myself, then."

"Here," the raccoon girl tossed him a sheathed pirate's sword. "You can at least take my cutlass."

"Keep it, Marine. I don't need a cutlass," Sonic grinned and motioned with his thumb to his spine. "I am the cutlass."

"Take it," insisted the raccoon girl. "It's a sword I got from a cursed treasure horde guarded by a bunch of ghost pirates. It's a lucky magic sword."

"If it's from a cursed treasure, how could it be lucky?"

"I had it on me when I found you, didn't I?"

"Works for me," Sonic shrugged and strapped the sword to his side.

"Well good luck, mate. I hope you stay alive so we can sail together freely out onto the open seas for some real adventure. Maybe someday we will meet again on the Grand Line. I can tell you have the makings of a great pirate in you!"

"I'm surrounded by ninjas everywhere so I guess at least one of us should be a pirate," Sonic grinned.

After they waved their goodbyes, Sonic waited until Marine had sailed out of sight and then he approached the White Snake's entrance.

On the other side of that very door, Kabuto came running up to Orochimaru's side with an urgent look in his face.

"Suigetsu has betrayed you, Orochimaru-sama. The jinchuurikis are alive and they are approaching," Kabuto reported.

"Let them come," the snake master replied casually. "I have made arrangements for just such a scenario."

It was at that moment that Orochimaru and Kabuto heard what sounded like a buzz saw slicing through solid rock. The door crumbled to pieces and Sonic the Hedgehog made his entrance and was met with the last thing he wanted to see—A very smug looking Orochimaru…in a hot tub.

"It appears that our little blue friend has overcome the trials of the Labyrinth Zone and has at last arrived," the snake man laughed.

"Hey, Oro. Good to see you too," Sonic grinned. "The Harry Potter people called. They're looking for a new Voldemort."

Orochimaru shook his head disdainfully. "Still spouting such utter nonsense. Clearly, you know who you are dealing with. I, on the other hand, know everything about you, Olgilvie Maurice Hedgehog."

Sonic visibly shuddered when he heard the mention of his full name. It sounded even worse the way it came out, almost slithered out of the snake sannin's mouth.

"I don't care to know anything about who you are, Oro. I know you think that you're the biggest badass on Mobius, but to me, you're nothing but a speed bump."

"How dare you speak that way to Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto yelled. "It's about time you learned some respect!"

"Enough, Kabuto," Orochimaru said, suppressing a chuckle. He rather enjoyed seeing get Kabuto so riled up for his sake. Seeing that kind of mindless devotion was so heartwarming. It could turn even a highly intelligent ninja like Kabuto into a driveling idiot. Hearing the passionate cries of his followers was like music to his ears. That's why the sound ninjas wore forehead protectors with the symbols of musical notes. That's why he named his realm the Sound village. "Please forgive Kabuto, but he had a point. I didn't allow you into my presence so that we could trade petty insults. I want you to relinquish those chaos emeralds to me now. Do so and I will spare you and the lives of your friends."

Sonic crossed his arms and grinned again. "If I had a chilidog for every time someone said that to me, do you know how fat I would be? Try combining Chouji, Big the Cat, and Robbutnik all into one."

Orochimaru hissed out a low sigh. "A pity, really. We didn't have to do this the hard way. Impudent as you are, I'd much rather have you serve me as one of my elite soldiers. I am the leader of the Sound village, you understand. You, Sonic, would fit in so nicely with my sound theme."

"And what happens then? You're gonna give me a cursed seal and turn me into a werewolf?"

Orochimaru's smirk widened as if to say, "That's not a bad idea."

"Sonic, all I want is I fulfill the original purpose that these chaos emeralds were intended," the sannin tried to explain. "So I will ask you nicely once. And remember, the fate of both our worlds lies in this request. I wish that you give me those emeralds."

"Christmas is a long ways away, Oro, and you've been a naughty snake boy. Settle for seven lumps of coal instead."

"That's enough!" Kabuto shouted. A glowing blade of chakra swarmed surrounded his hand. "You will not address Orochimaru-sama like that. I will cut out your tongue."

Kabuto threw himself into Sonic's path, launching a volley of shuriken. The ninja stars weren't even a distraction as the hedgehog blurred into motion and surged like a blue lightning bolt. The blue blur shredded past them and onwards into Kabuto. The medic nin prepared his lethal chakra scalpel, ready to kill. The blue and purple blurs met and stopped with a loud crack.

Sonic stood in front of Kabuto, the back of his gloved fist planted firmly into the middle of Kabuto's face. A red trail of blood ran down Kabuto's nose over Sonic's white glove. The silver haired boy collapsed into a heap by the edge of the pool, his glasses and nose completely shattered. Orochimaru gave an impressed nod when he saw the fist marks imprinted firmly in the boy's face.

Orochimaru was even more impressed when he noticed Sonic's green eyes had taken a lighter, actually glowing teal hue.

"It's time like these I feel like I should take a few lessons from Shadow," Sonic flashed a grin very different from the usual trademark cocky grin. He turned to Orochimaru, holding up his blood soaked hand. A growing golden aura that shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow slowly started to seep from his skin. It didn't take over his blue fur yet, but the beginning was there.

"Yesssss…It begins. Soon…very soon. That power will be mine! Mine!"

A long snake tongue protruded from the sannin's mouth as he licked the air in anticipation. A mad gleam shined in his amber eyes. At last the time had come. And this time, no meddlesome shinobi or demons would interfere.

"OROCHIMARU!"

An annoyingly loud voice echoed the snake sannin's name across the vast chamber. He turned away from Sonic to see several peculiar looking shadows stepping through a cloud of mist by the entrance—The Kyuubi brat, the Hyuuga princess, the Toad Boss's son, the traitorous mist swordsman, and the two tailed demon kitsune.

"Hey, Sonic!" Tails' eyes were as wide and happy as ever. "I knew you were still alive. I was betting we'd find you here!"

"Tails," Sonic smiled to see his Tails too, but he wasn't too happy about that mist swordsman standing right behind them. "What are you doing with 'Jaws' over there?"

"Long story, Sonic. Suigetsu's cool now. We fought him, but he surrendered."

"I did not surrender," Suigetsu muttered and crossed his arms indignantly.

"And then he gave us his sword," Tails said as he grabbed the gigantic sword's handle in his small hands and struck a cool samurai pose. "Whaddya think? Isn't it the coolest?"

Sonic had to admit it was very cool seeing Tails pose with a sword three times his size, that is, until his arms and legs jiggled straining to uphold the heavy blade. Tails let out a squeak when the seven foot long blade fell from his grip, squishing him underneath it.

"Ku ku ku," Orochimaru snickered. "I see that they sent a group of clowns to defeat me, not real ninjas. It reminds me of my training days with Jiraiya."

"The only clown here is you, Oro," Naruto snapped while he grabbed Kubikiri Houchi. After helping Tails to his feet, Naruto used all his strength to point the blade at the hated snake sannin.

"To hold that big zanbatou at me like that…you've gotten stronger, Naruto-kun. Even without the Kyuubi. Jiraiya has indeed taught you well."

"Hinata, radio for Kakashi-sensei and the others," Naruto ordered. "Tell them we've got Orochimaru cornered."

"Hai," Hinata nodded.

"Naruto, say nothing more to this shithead," Suigetsu growled. "You've got a legendary sword in your hands. Let the blade do its job."

Naruto didn't look back, but if he did, Suigetsu would've seen an approving smile. He was starting to like this mist guy a bit. Enough to take his advice and attack with the zanbatou.

Faster than Naruto could slide across the pool and swing the big sword, Orochimaru already puked out the Kusunagi sword from his bowels. With one flick of the wrist, he parried away the sword with his own slime drenched katana.

"Sonic, we should help him," Tails insisted, pulling on his arm.

"Chill Tails," Sonic said. "This is one of those things Naruto needs to handle alone."

"Don't struggle so much, Naruto-kun. I have no intention of fighting you," the snake man declared. "In fact, I meant to reward you for making it this far."

"Screw that!" Naruto shouted, pushing harder. "You're so full of crap, it's worse than that time I drank that expired milk. Maybe it was you that planted it in my fridge in the first place!"

"What is it that you want?" Orochimaru hissed as the blades scraped against each other. "Did you come just to kill me, brat? That must be the only reason. I have nothing that you want. Not anymore."

"You drove Sasuke to his death!"

"Don't say such things to me, Naruto-kun. Nobody regrets Sasuke-kun's passing as much as I."

"Liar! You never gave a damn about him!"

"Neither did you," Orochimaru spoke slowly, waiting to see those words sink into Naruto's heart. He saw the effect it had on Naruto when he slowly lowered his sword. "If you really cared about your bonds with Sasuke, you would have supported him in his quest for vengeance, but you didn't. I did that. That's why he was so intent in helping me gather the chaos emeralds. With all seven, he could have easily killed Itachi. We could have put an end to the entire Akatsuki organization for you. And with the emeralds, I could easily surpass the Sharingan's powers. I wouldn't have needed Sasuke's body at all. And if I won, I would have gladly returned Sasuke-kun to you. But it's too late for that now."

Orochimaru gave a hard swing with his katana that pushed Naruto back across the pool, back onto the stone floor, and out of his face.

"But then again, perhaps it's not too late after all," Orochimaru said in a gleefully evil tone. "You can come out now…Sasuke."

"Sasuke?"

Suddenly, the earth below Naruto started to crack open. A skeletal hand clawed its way out of the stone floor and latched onto Naruto's leg. Its thin bone white fingers dug in so hard that they nearly reached the bone.

"What the hell is this?" Naruto cried.

Naruto got his answer when the earth quaked open violently and exploded. A figure emerged forth that carried with it the foul stench of burned rotten flesh that hung loosely over the bones. Only after fighting off the urge to hurl did he notice the distinct Uchiha clothing the figure wore. They were reduced to burned tatters, but the Uchiha crest was there on its back. The Kusunagi sword was there on its side. And a pair of Sharingan eyeballs stared straight at him from its gaunt eye sockets.

"…Sasuke?" Naruto stared at his lost teammate, now dead, now alive again.

No recognizable sounds passed through Sasuke's decayed teeth. Just an unholy moan that carried with it the rot of the grave.

As soon as the thing turned its gaze towards Tails, the young fox's fur stood on end as he staggered back.

"ZOMBIE SASUKE!" the kit cried out in horror at the undead thing before him.

"Sasuke just can't seem to let go of his need for revenge. Not even death can stop him. Now, not only does he want to kill Itachi, but you too, Naruto. And then of course, how could he forget the one who really killed him…"

Electricity gathered around his ghoulish body until it surrounded him completely. Even though the name was unspoken, Naruto recognized the Chidori Nagashi technique in action as he watched the lightning channel through Sasuke's body, setting his bones aglow with a pale blue light.

With a speed that belied his withered body, Sasuke snatched a cold clawed hand around Naruto's neck. White hot energy surged into his body and blasted him across the room. With his other hand, he held the Sword of Kusunagi. Sheathing the blade in electricity, he aimed the sword to declare vengeance against his killer.

To Be Continued…

A/N: That line about Sonic turning into a werewolf was said in reference to this new game Sonic Unleashed where Sonic turns into a werewolf, in case you were wondering. Looks interesting. Anyway, an important note: some characters in the manga have not yet fought and revealed all or any of their abilities. In that case, I simply guessed and made up what they can do. I'm very excited for what I'm gonna write next chapter and I'll get to work pounding the next chapter. It'll be up soon. Just wait and see.

Next Chapter: The Undead