Chapter Fourteen: Beast

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.

Author's note: A mistake was made in the last chapter. It is Sanjuro who Orochimaru was in league with not Shenlong. I get them mixed up because they are both like me.

He looked back at the compound he had once run his operations and felt a twinge of sadness to see it burning in the autumn sky. Pein looked at the pitiful sight of the men he had with him, his army, which had once been more, but the fire and surprise attack by Orochimaru had decimated them to a short number. That would have been the place of his death had he not been warned by Noh, the woman who loved him, but also loved another. The air burned the hair in his nostrils as the ashes of the compound covered the area in a smoke, another depressing sight. Still she was in the back of his mind, like a song that kept playing in the back of his head when he wasn't thinking of something. Did she really not know how much control she had over him or was she just playing him to her tune? Then again, she had asked Orochimaru, not asked begged, Orochimaru to let him know of the attack and to let him get to safety. The trees were covered in black by the ashes, just like the sky, and everything around him looked like death. To his right was one of his most trusted members, Mugen, who was another legendary swordsman who had gone rogue and come into the services of the Akastuki. Mugen was tall, at six inches over six, and had wild black hair that was hanging down his neck in tussles.

"What do we do now sir," asked Mugen, who was probably the only person he could trust if he could trust anyone. "It seems that Sanjuro is in league with Orochimaru and those who were with Shirro are now on Orochimaru's side."

"Don't worry," replied Pein as he looked out into the black sky with his spiral eyes. "Most of those in the group were spies for me, reporting on each plan he came up with. Plus there are more members out there, hopefully some who will reject Orochimaru. Besides, they all pale in comparison to Uzumaki-san."

"But he's only been on his first mission with us," retorted Mugen with his raspy voice. "Most of the others are more experienced than him."

"Experience and power are two different things, Mugen," said Pein as he walked on, not bothering to turn to face him. "That boy has taken on ANBU type missions and has killed more Akastuki members than most of the great villages. I doubt Kakashi could beat him now, since he is more in sync with the Kyuubi than ever."

"But where will he stand, Pein-sama, if Orochimaru offers him a chance to join with him," asked Mugen as he ran to catch up.

"We can only wait and see what happens. It is up to the gods now."

Shenlong had gotten faster and stronger now that he transformed and he was even catching Sanjuro by surprise, not that Sanjuro minded because he was having the time of his life. The nodachi that Shenlong wielded swept forward in a horizontal flash that Sanjuro had to jump back to avoid. This, however, backed him into a tree so that he was out of room to dodged and if he blocked, he would be put on the defensive, a dangerous place to be since all Shenlong had to do was keep attacking until his defense wore down. Checking his options, Sanjruo decided to use a shadow clone to help on a two on two attack. Shenlong simply swung his sword around, catching the two Sanjuro's off guard and they were too weak to block the attacks. The sword cut through both of them, but all Shenlong was rewarded with was a puff of smoke. Shit, thought Shenlong. He used two shadow clones meaning that he is somewhere nearby. He would have to wait for Sanjuro to make the attack, a strange turn of events since Sanjuro had only been reacting to attacks. Now that he was switching, Sanjuro would be even more dangerous.

The first attack came in the form of a katon no jutsu, which was easily dodged by Shenlong, but it was followed by a hail of shuriken and kunai. Using his speed and sword, Shenlong deflected each attack, but it left him open to Sanjuro's surprise kick to the side, knocking him to the ground. Regaining his balance by spinning back up, Shenlong took a defensive stance as he waited for the next attack. He knew he didn't have enough time, his of showing his true form was running short. He could only maintain it for so long until he was forced to change back. Pushing the chakra into his feet, Shenlong ran up one of the trees cutting up braches and grabbing them in his hand. He then threw them into the ground in a circle that surrounded them. He then summoned his ravens to grab a few feathers and then charge them with chakra right before he threw them at his opponent. A normal person would have deflected the feathers, but Sanjuro was too cautious and opted to instead, dodged the feathers, which exploded on contact. This, however, did not get him out of hot water as he landed to close to one of the sticks that were stuck into the ground. The sticks set off a chain of explosions that did little damage to Sanjuro, but it gave Shenlong an opening to exploit. The opportunity to take advantage of the blind spot never came because Shenlong's time was up and the limit set on his true form kicked in as he started to transform back into his human form.

"Damn it, now I got nothing," cursed Shenlong with a smile. He was now at Sanjuro's mercy.

"Well should I kill him or should I not kill him," asked Sanjuro to someone Shenlong couldn't see.

"Just give a serious wound and leave it up to fate to see," said a voice that sent a shiver down Shenlong's spine, he knew that voice. It was the one that had haunted his nightmares from the memories of his years of torture. "I would much rather see one of my experiments develop further and he seems to be the best one."

"Yeah I guess your right Orochimaru," replied Sanjuro as he brought his sword down, cutting into Shenlong's chest.