Okey dokey, Chapter 21! Here we go guys! Nothing new to report on my end...how are all of you?

Shikamaru remains out of action after his battle with Kimimaro and Udon as the gang scrambles to find Tsunade, the only one that can fix him. I'd go into more of a summary but that's pretty much it! Enjoy!

"Hit me."

"Ma'am, you have 19. The dealer suggests you stay."

"I said hit me." The busty, blonde woman said in a tone that suggested violent repercussions if she was not obeyed.

"I know that tone…"

"No one made you come, Jiraiya. You chose to follow me."

"If I'd known you were going to gamble all day and night, I wouldn't have."

"There's the door." Tsuande pointed behind her. Jiraiya lazily followed her finger, and then his eyes opened wide.

"Kid?! What are you doing here?"

"We need her help!" Naruto shouted.

"What? Where are the rest of them?"

"Back at the village you left us at! Shikamaru needs her help!"

"Tsunade, the kids need your help. I'm guessing a bad fight?"

"Yeah! He won't wake up!"

"Later, I'm gambling."

"Ma'am, you bust." The dealer said as he turned over a six of hearts. He gathered the chips she had lost with a monotone glare.

"Damn…" Tsunade said as she lowered her head to rest on her hand. She tossed a few more chips at the dealer, and he dealt a new set. "Hit me." Tsunade said as she turned a pair of sevens. The dealer was showing a king and a queen. The dealer turned a four for her, and she grimaced. "Hit me." The dealer nodded, and dealt the next card, an ace. She sighed heavily. "Hit me." He nodded once more, and dealt another card. Tsunade closed her eyes as he turned it over and set it down.

"A king, mad'am. You have 29, you lose." A well-dressed man came over to the table and whispered in the dealer's ear before walking away. "Mad'am, the house requests that you pay your tab now. You are quite significantly in debt."

"Of course, let me get my checkbook. Jiraiya, dear, watch my things." Jiraiya looked confused as she stood up and walked away.

"Tsunade, come on, we've got to get to Shikamaru!" Tsunade ignored the clone, and walked out the door of the small gambling hall. Jiraiya waited quite some time, and his expression slowly changed from confusion, to contemplative thought, to anger, to rage, to fear. The well-dressed man came back.

"Sir, it would seem that your lady friend has left. We need you to pay her tab." Jiraiya's jaw dropped as he was shown the bill.

"Are you sure that's the right number of zeros?" Jiraiya said as he shakily wrote the number on a check as tears streamed down his face. They both nodded, and he continued to cry. He walked out of the room with his head hung low, dragging his feet. He took a deep breath, and looked around for Tsunade, who was nowhere to be seen. He rolled his eyes, and started walking towards the village Naruto said they were at.

Tsunade and Naruto's clone walked down a dirt road across an open plain.

"That wasn't very nice of you, leaving pervy sage with your tab."

"Kid, when you've been friends as long as he and I have, you don't get upset about petty bills."

"Oh, ok…" Naruto said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Lady Tsunade, how nice to see you." Kabuto said as he appeared some thirty feet further down the road.

"You're Orochimaru's henchmen, aren't you?" She said.

"That's correct. How fortunate, introductions can be skipped."

"I wouldn't try anything risky. You know who the kid is." Tsunade said as she nudged her head towards Naruto.

"I'm perfectly aware of the clone standing next to you." Kabuto said as he hurled a kunai that caused Naruto to puff into smoke. Tsunade closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Do not try to bluff with me, Lady Tsunade."

"That wasn't a bluff, I thought he was the real thing…." She said out loud. "What do you want?"

"I want you to fix my arms, Tsunade, dear." Orochimaru slid out of the ground, to stand next to Kabuto.

"I already turned you down once, Orochimaru, and my answer remains the same. They wouldn't want you to bring them back."

"Ah, but you haven't even heard my latest offer. Now that you aren't with Jiraiya or that pesky demon fox, it's less of an offer and more of a demand."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Uh-oh…" Naruto said as he stood under a shady tree with the others.

"What is it?" Hinata asked.

"One of my clones just got beaten by Kabuto…Tsunade might be in trouble, Jiraiya isn't with her."

"Great…" Temari said with a sigh.

"The clone was pretty close! Guys, let's move!"

"Temari and I will stay here. No point in putting Shikamaru in danger." Konkuro said, and the others nodded.

"You mean to tell me she was only two villages over?" Sasuke said with a sigh.

"I guess so! We had better hurry or we might not have a sannin to fix Shikamaru!" Naruto shouted, and the group continued.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Yes, you see…my sources tell me one of the leaf brats was badly injured and they would logically turn to you. That boy will not wake up again unless you heal my arms, Tsunade."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because Kabuto and I will kill you if you don't."

"Resorting to violence, Orochimaru, when we are such good friends?"

"Don't attempt to toy with me, my dear. Decide now, heal my arms, or die."

"Can you give me a minute?"

"Decide, Lady Tsunade." Kabuto said angrily.

"Fine…" Tsunade said with a sigh. "Come here, I'll fix them." Tsunade began to walk towards them.

"I thought you'd see it our way." Orochimaru grinned as he walked closer. Kabuto remained unconvinced at the sudden decision, and so he walked with his master.

"Lord Orochimaru, I doubt she is going to fix them."

"Kabuto, you worry too much." Tsunade took one of Orochimaru's arms gently into one hand, and looked it over carefully.

"This doesn't look good, Orochimaru, what did you do?" Tsunade said.

"You already know what happened, no doubt." Orochimaru grinned.

"Jiraiya gave me an abbreviated version."

"I'm sure he did."

"Kabuto, relax. I may not like Orochimaru very much, but I do like being alive, and even in his weakened state, I can't kill the two of you."

"You are certainly wiser than that oaf, Jiraiya." Kabuto scoffed.

"Jiraiya is far too distracted by his pursuit of women." Orochimaru said nonchalantly.

"Oh, come on, Orochimaru, tell me how you really feel." Jiraiya said as he appeared next to Kabuto with a rasengan in his palm. He thrust it into the child's ribs, and he was thrown a hundred feet away. Tsunade reared back with a mighty punch, aimed for Orochimaru's skull. He seemed to split into two completely separate Orochimarus, and they each slid away from the pair of sannin.

"Took you long enough." Tsunade said as he shook her hands. "I had to touch him."

"Well you stuck me with that tab, so I figured I'd let you sweat." Jiraiya smiled, and faced Orochimaru.

"Jiraiya, what an unpleasant surprise." Orochimaru scoffed.

"It has been too long." Jiraiya said. "Your student there is quite resilient isn't he?" Jiraiya noted as he looked over at Kabuto, who was beginning to stand up.

"He is a medical ninja, second only to our dear Tsunade here."

"So is that why he wanted to kill her, so he wouldn't be second best?"

"Kabuto is quite…devoted to my cause, like most of my servants. He was greatly insulted by her refusal of our offer."

"Whatever. You aren't going to slink away this time, Orochimaru."

"Who says I would want to? That Nara boy has become almost as powerful as his father. I see no reason to leave you alive so that you can fix the boy, so he can steal my arms right back, even if I should get them fixed. We intend to kill the two of you here and now." Kabuto stood next to his master. His breathing was slightly labored, his shirt was torn, but he seemed otherwise unharmed. Jiraiya seemed stunned.

"I began healing my wound before your jutsu came into contact with my skin, and as you know, healing jutsu just amplify the bodies natural ability to reproduce cells, so in a sense, I made an extra dense layer of skins to protect myself, and even those cells began to repair and reproduce as soon as you made contact."

"That's quite innovative of you, Kabuto, but it uses a lot of chakra, I bet."

"I've got plenty to spare."

"Are we going to stand here all day, or are you going to actually fight a battle, Orochimaru?"

"I would have fought you last time, Jiraiya, if it weren't for the Fourth Hokage's little experiment."

"He's not an experiment, that was his son."

"How noble of him, he couldn't defeat the beast himself, so he trapped it within his son to torment him for the rest of his days."

"That's a big part of being a leaf shinobi Orochimaru, self-sacrifice. You never got that, and that's why you could never become the Hokage."

"You sound just like Sarutobi. You should have heard his pathetic little speech, just before I cut his throat." Jiraiya and Tsunade tensed at this statement. "Strike a chorde, did I?" Orochimaru said with a disgusting grin. He licked his lips with his abnormally long tongue. "I will enjoy killing the two of you." He ran towards them in the typical ninja fashion; arms back, head low. He spat the blade out of his throat, and slashed out at Jiraiya's head, who ducked. Tsunade ran around behind him, and Orochimaru bent over backwards, extending his neck to stab at her with the sword. She leapt back, and then swung out with a violent backhand as Kabuto rushed in, and ducked under the assault. Orochimaru made good use of his sword, despite his lack of arms. He slashed out wide, and Jiraiya leapt backwards, flipping over several times before landing. Orochimaru extended his neck, and Jiraiya was barely standing up straight when it got within range. He bowed his head low, letting his hair capture the blade.

"Needle Guardian!" He shouted, and his hair spiked out, entwining the blade, and stopping it from cutting his flesh. He whipped his head up quickly, pulling the blade from Orochimaru's mouth, and tossing it backward. "This won't be like the last time we fought."

"The last time we fought it was over before it began."

"I'm not talking about after the invasion, I'm talking about when you left Konaha the first time."

"So am I." Orochimaru grinned wickedly. Jiraiya scowled, and ran at Orochimaru, Rasengan ready to go.

"Lady Tsunade, your reputation caused me to greatly over-estimate you." Kabuto said with a grin as he nimbly ducked around her super-powered punches and kicks.

"You don't know as much as you think you do." Tsunade said angrily. "Poison Mist technique!" she shouted, and a green cloud of poison spewed from her mouth.

"Poison Extraction Technique." Kabuto said with a grin as the poison enveloped his body, entered his mouth and nose, but had no effect.

"I heard you learned your art from your father."

"That's correct. He taught me everything there is to know about medical ninjutsu."

"We shall put that to the test." Tsunade said angrily.

"Perhaps." Kabuto said as he avoided yet another brutal attack from Tsunade's super-powered fists. "So, tell me, Lady Tsunade. Are you still a homophobic?" Tsunade's eye's grew wide as Kabuto drew a kunai, and slashed it across his own arm. He then rushed towards the sannin, kunai leading the way, and she stumbled backwards, petrified of the blood. "I see that you are, what a shame."

"You can't beat me without arms, and your precious jutsu, Orochimaru." Jiraiya said as lifted his foot high into the air, before crashing it downward. He missed Orochimaru's head by inches as he weaved in and around Jiraiya's attack. He leapt backwards, and then further extended his neck, aiming for Jiraiya's throat. The toad hermit leapt to the side, and Orochimaru shot forward, snatching his sword in his mouth. Jiraiya quickly summoned a Rasengan, and thrust outward at the exposed neck, shouting the jutsu's name. Orochimaru contracted his neck, speeding back to his body, and the Rasengan missed. He spun on a dime and threw the Rasengan at Orochimaru, who was still recoiling from withdrawing his neck. He bent low backwards to avoid the jutsu, and didn't see Jiraiya leap into the air, rear back with a fist, and begin his descent towards his former comrade.

"Jiraiya, stop!" Kabuto shouted. Jiraiya looked over to see Kabuto holding a bloody knife to Tsunade's throat and he landed harmlessly next to Orochimaru with a sigh.

"Sorry, Jiraiya."

"It's alright, Tsunade. It isn't your fault."

"A pitiful tragedy, that a medical ninja is afraid of blood." Kabuto said with a grin. Orochimaru grinned and walked closer to Kabuto.

"Excellent work, Kabuto. I knew you would come through for me while I held off the oaf." He said with a grin.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"What do you mean this isn't the town your clone was in…" Sasuke asked angrily.

"Hehe…whoops?" Naruto said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"You're losing us the only person that can save Shikamaru, dolt!" Chouji shouted as he bashed Naruto's skull with a giant fist.

"You're such a loser, Naruto…" Sasuke said as he walked away from the group.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Naruto said as he held the spot that Chouji had bashed. Chouji clocked him once more, and he hit the dirt.

"That one is for Ino." Chouji said quietly.

You tell him, Chouji!

Sigh..dontcha just love a good cliff hanger? I know i do. I hope you guys enjoyed it! See you soon!