Chapter 25: The fight begins!

"I doubt this is all of them." Ibiki commented as he finished tossing the last dead body to the pile of human carcass. Before them was a mountain of dead bodies belonging to the ninjas suspected of being in league with Orochimaru. If Inoichi hadn't decided to run off to save his little princess, this process would've gone a lot smoother.

"Agree. Let's keep looking." An aloof voice said, with hands tucked inside his pockets, and mask covering half his face.

"You aren't worried about your baby genins?" Ibiki asked.

"Aren't you talkative today?" Kakashi asked before flickering away.

Of course, he was worried. But it did not make sense to him as to why the Hokage left the clan leaders to handle the children's wellbeing while leaving them with the grittier job. No matter, Kakashi continued to circle around the perimeter, making sure to catch anyone trying to enter or leave the village.

"Kiba!" Tsume ran towards one of the dogs which carried his bleeding and unconscious boy. But her own body came to a halt, preventing her from advancing and cradling his body. She wasn't the only parent today that was going to grief over the state of their child. Because the Hyuga and the merchant's daughter had also been injured. And their wounds seemed more severe than her son.

Hiruzen looked over at Tsume. His last spoken commands had asked her to aid him in battle, but right now he was considering going alone.

"Let's go Lord Hokage." Tsume said, catching him somewhat off-guard. Hiruzen nodded while also feeling relief that he did not have to let her off her ninja duties just to care for her son.

When Sasuke woke up, it took time to process the situation. He was in darkness. And nothing of how he came to be there made sense. Where was he anyways? That thought quickly didn't matter when his head throbbed in pain. He ignored the pain and slowly got up while feeling his surrounding, the feel of wood against his skin and the unmistakable smell of moss and leaves made him realize he was hidden away inside the oversized tree.

He growled in anger directed at himself. He had let his guard down. And the moment he did, he was rendered useless by the meek girl. Sasuke reached out and felt around for the exit, and managed to make it outside the tree. He wasn't sure what time it was, because it was always dark in the forest of death.

Sasuke took a step outside while reconstructing memories of how he got here.

"Hey, Sasuke." Sakura motioned him to hurry over to her. He finished tinkering the last trap before standing up and dusting himself. And hurried his way towards her. But Sakura wasn't alone.

"What is it Sakura? You got a plan?" Sakura nodded. "Well?" Sasuke asked impatiently while ignoring the presence of the other girl.

"Promise not to call me stupid and get mad at me okay?" She said in a jokingly manner. Her words made his thoughts start racing. And soon he became preoccupied, hypothesizing ideas that Sakura might've come up with.

Dark flowing locks moved past him and soon Hinata was out of his sight.

"Sakura." He warned her over stalling at a critical time like this.

Sakura held her gaze steady with his. "I'm sorry Sasuke…"

It dawned on him a second too late what consequence would follow. He spun around, already been struck five times by the gentle fist. The last one, however, knocked him unconscious.

Shino was in a similar situation, where he was forced to recollect how he got here. It began when he eavesdropped on the girls' conversation. And in mid conclusion, Shino had already decided that he would offer to play the role of Sasuke.

Sasuke's body was lifted and carried by Kiba while Akamaru remained inside his jacket. Using the Byakugan, Hinata spotted a location far enough to drop off Sasuke, but close enough to make it back. And during their absence, Sakura went as far as suggesting she be the one to transform into Sasuke. Naruto argued that he should be the one to do it.

Shino dropped down from the tree between the two. With strong resolve, he showed off the shadow clone technique. It was a feat he had been saving for the Chunin exams. Something Sakura seemed impressed with, so as to mediate the situation she ordered Naruto to back down. Sakura reluctantly agreed that Shino should take the role.

He had merely offered only because he evaluated the chances of Naruto or Sakura surviving if they were to be capture by Orochimaru. The chances were low.

And that's how Shino came to be in this situation. He was half strangled by the Silver-haired guy who he met before at the written exams. What was his name? Kabuto? Shino remembered that Shikamaru had noticed something was off about him. Why did the lazy guy turn out to be right? He hasn't been murdered yet and attributed this to the enemy believing that he was Sasuke.

"You look worried Sasuke. But don't be. My master won't let any harm come to you." The silver haired teen whispered in Sasuke's ear. As a cue, the bushes parted. And out of the bush came Orochimaru and his large snake summon.

His presence made Shino's blood grow cold. The implications of this could only mean that Choza…didn't make it. Shino had known fear. But never like this. He was overwhelmed by Orochimaru's killing intent. Blood splattering out of their teammates' bodies kept replaying in his mind. And it followed with an image of Shino suffering the same fate.

Shino hadn't known he was such a coward before today. Why did they have to get involved? He wanted to drop his transformation disguise and lead Orochimaru to Sasuke himself. But knew even that would get him killed even faster. He reminded himself that to be a ninja was to take actions for the sake of the village. A Sharingan on the enemies' hand would mean defeat. He wasn't sure how he found the time to admire Sakura for acknowledging the bigger picture.

"Kabuto, you may let him go," Orochimaru said. "It's time to leave this place." He turned to Sasuke with a disturbing smile. "As for you Sasuke, I need you to climb inside its mouth," Orochimaru spoke. "Go on. Don't be shy." Orochimaru said after the snake opened its mouth.

Kabuto crossed his arms and signed. His impatience started to show.

"Lord Orochimaru, I think it's time to do it. That way he is yours no matter the outcome."

"I was thinking the same."

Vague and cryptic conversations was never a good thing. And Shino did the only thing that made sense, he spun around and ran.

With a single hand gesture, Orochimaru stopped Kabuto from chasing after Sasuke.

"It's impossible to run away from me." Orochimaru reminded his pupil before disappearing in a flash.

He caught up with Sasuke in less than five seconds. And quickly struck him, pinning him against a tree. He forced his head to the side and bit him down, as though he was a vampire.

Sasuke screamed.

Three chakras had made themselves known a moment too late. The interruption had Orochimaru's attention. It was the Lord third Hokage and an Inuzuka mounted on a large beast dog.

Upon releasing the boy, Sasuke's body slid down the tree, while pressing his palm against his bleeding neck. He felt instantly weaken by pain.

Orochimaru knew that if Sasuke survived through this fever, he would seek him and his power. So now, all Orochimaru needed to do was escape and wait. He would have rather capture Sasuke so that in the event the boy didn't survive, he could at least take the Sharingan eyes. But a move like that would be too risky because right now Orochimaru was weak and in no position to protect the eyes from another organization with interest.

Hiruzen mounted off the dog and dropped in front of Orochimaru. He took off his Hokage cloak and hat and tossed it aside to reveal a full suite of dark ninja armor.

Orochimaru skillfully dodged an attack from Hiruzen and flipped away, putting distance between himself and his teacher. He then tilted his head towards the sky and opened his mouth. A snake that could be mistaken for his tongue, slithered half way out his mouth. And like an inception, said snake opened its mouth and pushed out a sword out of its own throat.

When Tsume saw this, she immediately mounted off her beast dog and joined the fray. She drew her favorite twin blades and charged at Orochimaru. Her blades slashed a large snake in half. It had jumped in the way of her attack to give Orochimaru the time he needed to summon the snake sword.

Orochimaru licked the sword, imbuing it with poison. He dashed forward clashed weapons with the Inuzuka. Upon being this close to the female, he recognized his opponent right away. Those markings on her face were unmistakable. It was Tsume, now the leader of the Inuzuka clan. This was too great to be true. Maybe he could get a critical hit and finish her like he did with Choza, the head of the Akimichi.

The next clash of swords ended with his stuck between her two crossed blades which stopped him in place. He was then shoved back with brute force.

"Tsume stand down and aid the Uchiha boy. I'll take it from here." The Hokage said right away as if reading into Orochimaru's intentions.

She didn't budge and continue to growl at Orochimaru as though she was a ferocious animal. Hiruzen should've known he was speaking to an angry parent ready to take revenge.

Sasuke screamed, while doubled over on the ground, hands now clutching his arms while small, almost microscopic insects started to surface and flee his body.

His chakra control was stolen from him by the beetles which lived inside of him. Every second that went by, more and more sections of Shino's body felt like it was being ripped open. And it was, by microscopic beetle attempting to chew their way out of his chakra pathway.

Everyone's attention was now focused back to Sasuke.

Orochimaru frowned. He knew something wasn't quite right when he witnessed beetles that belong to an Aburame, floating around the boy.

Sasuke disappeared in a puff of smoke. And in his place, was the Aburame boy which Orochimaru thought had fled earlier and left his teammates behind.

"Shino!" The scene was enough to snap Tsume out of her rage. She wanted to save him but he seemed beyond salvation. Shino's body was no longer his. His insects were evacuating from something so horrific that they couldn't simply wait to do it while Shino was dead. They chose to leave while his body while he was still alive. Meaning they were ripping their way from his inside and out.

The sight was too familiar to Tsume, who had seen a lot of Aburame comrades pass away. But this normally occurs while the host is dead. She didn't know it could also happen while they're alive.

The situation was dire, Shibi's kid was in danger. The Hokage wasn't going to wait around anymore. He spoke the commands and perform a single hand seal and summoned Monkey King Enma.

"I'm not surprised that you ended up like this, Orochimaru." The Monkey King said to Orochimaru.

Enma had known about the darkness and lack of apathy within Orochimaru back in the days when he was nothing but a Genin. The Monkey King warned the Hokage about him. He suggested that Danzo should look after him because no matter how ruthless Danzo was, he knew how to tame and control darkness.

That was years ago, and it turns out that Hiruzen did not heed his words.

"It's nice to see you too, Enma," Orochimaru said while backing away with a sadistic smile plastered on his face.

Kabuto had caught up to Orochimaru only to hide behind a bush just to watch the scene. He was close enough to Orochimaru to whisper:

"What are your commands?"

"We retreat for today. We didn't get what we came here for, but we succeeded nevertheless." It was true. He had accomplished several things that would weaken the Leaf Village.

"I warned you that you would regret it. You should've killed him back then." Enma said over his shoulder and looked over at Hiruzen to make sure he was heard.

"We will end him today. Enma, transform!" Hiruzen said.

The Monkey king begrudgingly shifted his form into an adamantine staff. After all those years without summoning him, these are the circumstances which he is summoned to.

A large hive of small insects continuously poured out of the boy's body, darkening everything around him like a fog. Tsume tried and tried again to get close to Shino's body so that she can knock him unconscious. The poor boy was suffering too much while being eaten alive. She couldn't see well but spotted many opened wounds, and blood flowing from said wounds. The beetles tried to fight her off, as she kept slashing them with her claws.

Orochimaru took another step back, and shifted into a stance; legs apart and arms crossed. He bit down both his thumbs and drew blood. Ink marking appeared on his body momentarily before disappearing again. As soon as the marking deactivated, he spoke words of summoning. Kabuto took this opportunity to stand next to Orochimaru as they waited for Manda to appear.

This wasn't good. Enma thought as he saw Tsume and a young Genin located too close to the summoning location of the Titanic-sized snake.

"Come now, Manda!"

A dark blur dashed by and landed next to Shino. It was a short-masked figure, clad in dark robes. The figure didn't seem affected by the beetles fighting him off. The newcomer lifted one hand and swiftly knocked the boy unconscious before picking him up.

He landed at a safe distance with Shino in his arms right as Manda materialized.

Tsume was similarly rescued by her beast dog just in time to avoid being crushed along with all the trees.

"Let's retreat!" The Hokage ordered. He turned around and followed suit, making sure to put a distance between himself and Manda.

"Where are the human sacrifices you promised?" Manda asked. The large purple snake squinted and looked around. Below him was a forest so big, that it covered half his body. And around him were the strong ray of sunlight sending warmth down its body, making its scale shine a beautiful purple color. It was still late in the afternoon, but no human sacrifices in plain sight. This angered him.

"They await you by the village's exit. Do you remember where that is?" Orochimaru asked. Manda looked again, and noticed that beyond the strong ray of sunlight, were the faces of the Hokages. Nothing has changed and no new face was added. It seems that Hiruzen Sarutobi was still alive.

"Are you trying to insult my age?" Manda swung his snake tail in anger, causing a destruction.

"Not at all your highness." Orochimaru said, but Manda missed the sarcasm. He slithered towards the village's border. And when he moved he left a road of destruction by merely slithering away.

Once at a safe distance, Hiruzen turned to Tsume and instructed her to make sure Shino gets help. Satisfied with Tsume's compliance, Hiruzen then turned back and climbed an oversized tree while he held Enma with one arm. Once at the top, he lifted Enma and aimed him as though he was aiming a rocket launcher. He locked the target with Manda and released a small breath.

"I'm glad that Orochimaru doesn't seem to know all of your powers," Hiruzen spoke to Enma, who was still in weapon form.

"He's about to find out." Enma spoke to him telepathically to which Hiruzen had no real answer to.

"Enma, expand!" Hiruzen commanded instead.

Enma, in weapon form, elongated. He stretched and lengthened in size, quickly reaching Manda, the snake, who was merely slithering at its own pace. Manda normally lacked a sense of urgency since he hadn't had a real challenge in a long time. Orochimaru had been some sort of challenge, but everyone else was pathetically weak compared to him.

Manda, the snake, thought he heard something and paused. When he turned around, he was shocked to have its breath knocked out of him as though something bigger than him had struck him. Orochimaru and Kabuto clung to Manda as the snake was being pushed back with ease.

Manda slithered its body and twist itself around the weapon. While Orochimaru drew the Snake sword and slashed viciously at Enma who was still in weapon form.

"I won't let him get away." Hiruzen said.

"The snake sword is the only thing that can hurt me!" Enma reminded while trying not to scream in pain.

"Hang in there a bit longer. We must try and pursue. Enma, bring me to him!" Hiruzen tightened his grip on the staff as Enma shortened himself. He traveled towards Manda almost instantly with Enma creating a gravitational pull which helped Hiruzen reach Manda in less than a minute.

Sasuke heard loud sounds of destruction echoing through the forest. Animals and creatures alike were too busy fleeing that they left him alone and did not initiate a fight. Curious as to what could cause such level of panic, Sasuke paused to climb a large tree. He parted the branches of the trees, giving him access to the bright sky and used chakra to stay on his feet.

His eyes widen at the scene. A large snake you only read about in children's book. And a weapon you only hear about in legends. What in the hell was going on? A snake that size can easily destroy a village just by slithering. Maybe that is why that weapon was trying to push it towards the exit. He couldn't wrap his head around something like this happening in the middle of the afternoon outside his village no less.

Sasuke climbed back down and decided to do what the other animals were doing. He fled. He was headed towards the village, and on his way, he found the body of a Jounin he recognized as Chouji's father.

"Damn it." Sasuke cursed. How was he supposed to make it out of the forest today while carrying someone four to five times his own weight? Sasuke grabbed both the man's arms and pulled him into sitting position. He kneeled and tried to position the man's arm around his shoulder. After struggling a few times, he finally managed to pick Choza up. When he took the first step with the man unconscious next to him, Sasuke fell to the side.

He curses out. The entire situation was frustrating. Sasuke admitted dejectedly that he was still too weak.

Unless…

An idea quickly occurred to him. What if he were to use Chakra to help unload some of the burdens? With renewed resolve, Sasuke tried again, and this time, he could jump on a tree while carrying Choza next to him.

Alright, he can do this.

Sasuke picked up the pace once he was comfortable with his ability to not drop the unconscious man. And during his travel, he wondered what came over him. Why was he trying to get this man to safety? Why didn't he just leave him behind? Damn it, it must have been what Kakashi had instilled in their head. Sasuke didn't want to become a scum.

Hey all, thank you for reading again another chapter. I am trying to make this world bigger than Hinata and Shikamaru. Although it is a story about them, I have to touch on the fact that other people do exist in this world. And once I get this out of the way, I will have a clearer conscious when writing particular scenes about the characters. Scenes that won't feel like it came out of nowhere since there was no structure to how they got there.