A/N: Yup, I've finally updated.
Warning: While technically she doesn't swear in the english dub I prefer Tayuya when she swears. Also, this chapter will take everything you thought you knew and change it.
Disclaimer: I only own Hitori.
At Naruto's request I visited Sasuke with him. I was expecting a short visit where I would nag Sasuke to hurry up and heal, but that plan went out the door when I saw Sasuke's face. The moment he heard Naruto's voice his eyes revealed dark emotion. It reminded me of the chunin exams after he woke up with Orochimaru's mark. Naruto didn't seem to notice it and babbled on like a loon until Sasuke challenged him to a fight. Under normal circumstances I would have approved. Hell, I would have wanted to join, but I knew the look on Sasuke's face was dangerous. Against my better judgment I decided not to say anything purely because neither Sasuke nor Naruto would've listened. Instead I followed them up to the roof to watch in silence.
It was impossible to describe the fight accurately. Not because it was complicated, it was incredibly simple with barely any ninjutsu at all. The part that was impossible to portray were the emotions that it stirred up. I did nothing but stand still and watch with unwavering eyes until I saw Sasuke with the chidori and Naruto with rasengan. I knew there was no way the match was 'friendly' anymore so I rushed to knock Naruto away because Sasuke was in the air so I couldn't stop him. Before I could get there Kakashi appeared and threw each of them into a different water tower.
With Kakashi sensei there I knew I was no longer needed. I glanced at him and he nodded signifying that he agreed so I decided to walk over to see Tsunade in hopes that she would agree to train me more. She set me to work on healing some fish and promised to train my dodging skills when she had the free-time. I thanked her and decided to distract myself by engulfing myself in my work.
It was evening by the time I was done training and I realized there was something I had to do. I walked to the exit of the village where I saw Sasuke with a bag headed out of the village. "So you're really planning to go, huh?"
"It's none of your business, Hitori."
"It is if you're planning to go to Orochimaru. Do you realize that he…" I stopped talking midsentence when I felt a piercing pain in my head.
(Third person POV)
Sasuke was surprised when Hitori clutched her head and crouched down in pain, but not nearly as much as when she stood up with an emotionless expression saying, "Never mind, I'll take you to Lord Orochimaru."
"What do you mean?"
She glared at him fiercely, "I don't have the time to explain it right now. Do you want to go or not?" Sasuke nodded. "Then let's go."
Hitori lead the way until they met up with the sound four. Tayuya was the first to speak. "What the fuck!? Doesn't Lord Orochimaru think we can handle this shitty mission ourselves!?"
"Tayuya, girls shouldn't – " Jiroubo started but Tayuya cut him off.
"Shut up, fatass!"
"Guys." Sasuke finally spoke. After being pulled back from their bickering the sound four kneeled in front of Sasuke. "What's with the change in attitude?"
Sakon answered, "It had already been decided from the moment you abandoned the village you would become our new leader. Please forgive the rudeness we displayed earlier."
Sasuke sneered before turning to Hitori, "And what part do you play in this?"
She glared, "I was something of a spy for Lord Orochimaru. Now if you don't mind we should get going." Sasuke glared right back at her before turning sharply and commanding the sound four to move.
Shikamaru had been called into the Hokage's office way too early for his liking. His eyes widened when Lady Tsunade told him that two of team seven's members had abandoned the village but were spotted by ANBU. It was way to troublesome for his first mission leading a squad, but he couldn't refuse.
He first went to recruit Naruto who barely held himself back from punching the lazy chunin in the face. Naruto knew that Sasuke wasn't quite stable, but Hitori? She hated Orochimaru!
Shikamaru had to break the blonde from his thoughts so he could round up the rest of whatever team he was having. Obviously the next logical choice was to get Choji. He knew how to work with the boy.
Shikamaru had already sent for Kiba, but he didn't know the full details of the mission. Shikamaru explained while they headed toward the gates and he was just as shocked as Naruto. He had trained with Hitori, and she was practically part of Team 8 with how much time she spent with them. He knew just as well as Naruto how much Hitori despised Orochimaru. He had to bite back his tongue to keep from calling Shikamaru a liar, but that didn't stop Akamaru from growling at him. "What a drag." Was Shikamaru's only response.
Shikamaru thought himself fortunate when he ran across Neji before making it to the gates of Konoha, and knew that he had his team assembled. He briefed them quickly about their formation before heading out.
When they reached the clearing in the forest that Orochimaru told them about the Sound Four stopped Sasuke, "We've gone far enough."
"What is it?" Sasuke demanded.
The Sound Four all began to laugh eerily while staring at Sasuke which obviously grated on his nerves. Hitori scoffed at their efforts to scare him. She knew that they were annoyed with Orochimaru's obvious favoritism of him so they did anything in their power to feel superior. "Are you gonna tell him or what!" She sneered.
Sakon grinned maliciously, "Before we go any further you will have to die just this once."
"I must die… once?" Sasuke was obviously paying attention to their word choice.
Sakon chuckled while pulling out a vial of black pills, "You will take on of these 'awakening' pills."
"What's it for? Awakening from what?" Sasuke still didn't entirely trust these ninja.
"That mark on your shoulder is only a first stage curse mark." Tayuya explained, "But those pills will stimulate and magnify its power making it a level two."
"The only problem," Sakon took over the explanation again. "Strengthening the curse mark will also increase its effect on your body. Such a rapid change will kill you at once. And so to ensure you survive to the second stage we must give your body time to accustom to it… Several hours at least. Of course even with all these preparations you'll still have to die."
Sasuke considered their words, "So I'm dead. What'll happen after that?"
"Not to worry." Sakon placed the pills in Sasuke's hands. "My friends and I will cast a barrier ninjutsu so you'll only be in a state of half death."
"And I'm supposed to trust you guys so this half-death doesn't end up being the real thing?"
Kidomaru finally spoke, "Listen Sasuke, we're Lord Orochimaru's personal bodyguards. This is what we specialize in."
Hitori watched with disinterest while Sasuke took on of the pills. She jumped out of the way as The Sound Four immediately set to work on the barrier then followed closely behind when they were off again.
They had barely gotten on the road again when they ran into two Leaf Village shinobi. Hitori waited in a tree while the sound four faced off against them. One of them recognized the four from the invasion so they were shocked when they saw Hitori with them casually. Hitori recognized the proctor of the final round of the chunin exams when he questioned her, "What are you doing here?"
"Enjoying the show." Was her simple reply never showing any discernible emotion on her face. She didn't even flinch as the Sound Four ruthlessly brought the two of them to a near-death state before setting up camp a couple kilometers away.
As soon as they were comfortable with traps littered throughout the forest Hitori spoke, "Having trouble with a couple of jounin? I thought you were Lord Orochimaru's personal bodyguard."
"What the fuck, Hitori! You couldn't even pass the chunin exams!"
"Tayuya." Jiroubo began to warn but shut up with a warning glare from the red-head.
"My mission wasn't to protect his precious cargo. I was simply there to gather information. Besides, your genjutsu is nothing compared to mine." Tayuya glowered at her in response.
Before long their camping trip was interrupted by Shikamaru and Neji. Hitori sat on Sasuke's container while the Sound Four taunted the leaf ninja. Tayuya scoffed at her, "Get the fuck off of there!"
"I'm not doing anything to it." Tayuya gritted her teeth and turned back to Shikamaru and Neji.
When Shikamaru tried to fool them into thinking they were the only ones Kidomaru used his threads to pull Naruto, Choji, and Kiba next to them. As soon as they were there Naruto shouted at Hitori, "What the hell, Hitori! I thought you hated these guys!"
"Yeah!" Kiba added, "I thought we were friends."
Hitori stared at them with a fierce gaze, "You guys are real idiots. Perfect for Konoha."
It wasn't long before Jiroubo had them in his earth barrier. As she left Hitori had a small smirk on her face. He was going to underestimate those ninja and she knew it.
When Jiroubo came back Hitori quirked an eyebrow. "What took you so long?" Sakon asked.
"It took longer to eat those losers chakra than I thought."
"Listen fatass, it's your job to carry that container. You piece of shit!" Tayuya scolded.
"Okay."
Hitori nearly smiled when his response was so simple.
"Well, well, Jiroubo." Kidomaru mocked, "aren't you awfully easy going today."
"So what?" He shot back harshly.
Hitori stopped along with Tayuya, Sakon, and Kidomaru. Kidomaru pulled the container off his back, "Well, it's just that I won't be handing this over to you." He tossed it to Tayuya, "Because you're not the real Jiroubo!" The fake Jiroubo moved forward with a kunai and Kidomaru laughed, "I'll be taking care of this one, you guys go on and I'll catch up."
After half an hour Tayuya was getting impatient. "I didn't expect much from that fatass, Jiroubo. But what the hell is taking Kidomaru so long?"
"You know how he likes to play." Sakon answered.
"That always freaks me out." Tayuya held back a shudder. "He plays too much and goes into level two."
"Yeah, but once he's in level two it won't last long."
Even after the sun set neither Jiroubo nor Kidomaru appeared. And once the sun had risen it was the leaf shinobi who showed up. "Hitori I still don't understand what you're doing here!" Naruto shouted. "Grab Sasuke and bring him back with us!"
Sakon laughed. "Of all the people to be able to make friends I never thought it'd be Hitori."
"What the hell do you mean!" Kiba demanded. "She's a leaf Kunoichi."
Sakon smirked, "Let me tell you a little secret. Hitori doesn't have friends. She can't. She doesn't feel a thing and she hasn't since she was little. We're the sound Four and she's Hitori, all alone. Orochimaru's little puppet."
"Shut up!" Naruto ordered, "She isn't a puppet! She's my friend!"
"Heh, whatever you say kid!" Sakon shouted as he rushed forward to attack. Kiba and Shikamaru jumped in front of Naruto while he created a rasengan. However, Sakon easily took out the two of them and grabbed hold of Naruto's hand, effectively rendering his rasengan useless. That's when Kiba came in and tunneled through Naruto, who was apparently a clone. Sakon ducked underneath the attack, realizing too late that it was their plan. He jumped to catch up with Kiba who was heading straight toward the container and shouted at Tayuya.
Unaware of that she was caught in Shikamaru's shadow-possession jutsu he tumbled into Tayuya while Kiba grabbed Sasuke. "Hitori, come with us!" Naruto shouted.
"Hitori, get the container away from them!" Sakon ordered at the same time.
"How many times do I have to tell you? That's not my job." Hitori replied without acknowledging Naruto.
"Guys, we have to go." Shikamaru told Kiba and Naruto.
"There's no way I can leave Hitori behind!" Naruto growled.
"Exactly!" Kiba agreed.
Sakon stood up and activated his curse seal while Tayuya grumbled at Hitori, "You and your damn job!" They both headed after the now fleeing leaf ninja.
Naruto was still arguing with Shikamaru, "Hitori is just being brainwashed by Orochimaru, just like Sasuke."
"Look, Naruto. She's following the sound ninja who are now following us. We just have to make it back to the village and she'll be with us."
"Fine."
The three of them still set paperbombs because they were confident that Hitori and the sound ninja would only be slowed down. They were still planning to lead them back to the leaf where they could be taken care of and possibly interrogated.
However it didn't slow down Sakon as much as they hoped and he tied Akamaru to a branch with another paperbomb. Kiba ran to save him, but he was blown with the two of them down a cliff. Before Naruto and Shikamaru could figure out what happened to the two of them Tayuya was charging toward them.
They were confused when Tayuya stopped mid-charge and looked around. Before they knew it someone dropped from above and took Sasuke's container away. "Kimimaro." Was all Tayuya was able to say.
"You were taking too long Tayuya. And what of the other three men? This coming from the former Sound Five."
"By now your body should be…"
"My body is too weak to move on its own. I'm using the power of my will."
After a short discussion Kimimaro looked at Hitori, "We should get moving. We'll leave Tayuya to deal with those pieces of garbage."
"Fine."
The two of them had barely been moving for five minutes when Naruto caught up with them. Kimimaro stopped and set the container down. "Hitori, take the vessel to Lord Orochimaru."
If any of the Sound Four had ordered her to do that she would have refused, but Kimimaro… Kimimaro would kill her. She grabbed the container easily despite the fact that her arms were barely long enough to wrap around it and she left with Naruto shouting after her.
She hadn't gotten very far when the container started releasing purple smoke. The creature that emerged could barely be described as Sasuke anymore. As he felt the power growing inside him he began to laugh sounding eerily like Orochimaru.
From there it was Hitori's job to lead him to the sound, not that he had far to go anymore. Nonetheless she guided him to The Land of the End only to be stopped by Naruto. "Sasuke! Hitori! What are you doing!?"
"Naruto." The word sounded hollow in Naruto's ears making him hurt even more. The girl walked toward him and reached a hand toward him and Naruto smiled for just a second before he felt strangely drowsy. Hitori held her hand to his face until he sunk completely to the ground in the rain before turning back to Sasuke, "he won't be following us. Let's go."
They arrived in front of Orochimaru later that night showing no more of his face than Kakashi was. Still, Kabuto would bet his life that Orochimaru had a cruel smirk playing on his lips.
Hitori bowed in front of the man, "Lord Orochimaru." She turned to face Kabuto. "Big brother…"
A/N: Dun dun duuuun. Yeah, I know, I'm horrible. But everything is not what it seems! You guys have known Hitori up til now and obviously I haven't built her up just to take her away like that. But still, I surprised you didn't I? Anyway, the next chapter will clear up some confusions, including her the pain in her head before following Sasuke and the snake bastard suddenly becoming 'Lord' Orochimaru.