A Truth…

Team 0 and Ren walked through the forest on their way to where Ren said Luna was kept but, as it grew darker they agreed to camp for the night. Itachi took it upon himself to watch Ren while Dairuko and Natsuki went for firewood.

"Natsuki?" Dairuko said as he threw a log toward Natsuki who sliced the log into several small pieces to be used as firewood.

"Nani?" Natsuki responded.

"Why is Itachi here?"

"What're you talking about?"

"He might get in our way."

"Dairuko, it's Itachi he won't get in the way."

"We both know the risks of this jutsu and so does Itachi."

"You should trust Itachi more."

"I trust him enough to know that he would attempt to stop our plan."

"The plan only happens if Ren is lying to us."

"He is."

"Dairuko, I would love nothing more than to plunge my sword through Ren's chest, but I can't have you jumping the gun."

"We help him, he leads us to Orochimaru. If we're lucky, we kill them both."

"Or we kill Ren if he tries to betray us now."

"I remember…"

"Is something wrong, Dairuko?"

"No."

"You're a terrible liar, Dairuko."

"It's just… A small part of me wishes to save him or find some good in him but the rest of me wants to kill him just because of what he did to us."

"Dairuko, there's only so much faith you can have in someone like Ren."

"I know… I can dream, can't I?" Dairuko smirked.

"Yeah, just keep them realistic." Natsuki gave a light laugh as they entered the camp.

"What were you two talking about?" Ren asked.

"Whether or not it's possible to get my own harem." Dairuko said.

"I fail to see how we are related."

"I know… I'm clearly better looking than you."

"Uchiha-san, I need to use the little boy's room." Ren said and Itachi walked with him into the bushes until Ren stopped. "You don't trust me do you, Uchiha-san?"

"Dairuko and Natsuki might not have seen your performance with Hokage-sama but I did, and I know exactly what you are doing."

"And what am I doing, Uchiha-san?"

"I'll wait to see how things play out, if you make one wrong move, I'm taking you out."

"Oooh aren't you scary… the Uchiha name may scare the weak willed but you don't scare me, Uchiha Itachi." Itachi and Ren stared at each other in silence when a stone gargoyle landed next to Ren then disappeared in a puff of smoke. "They haven't moved Luna."

"We move at dawn." Itachi stated and returned with Ren.

All four shinobi slept with one eye open that night but once it was dawn, all four left as if they had been a team for years. They found the hideout in no time at all thanks to Ren, and proceeded to plan their attack.

"I don't know where they're keeping Luna exactly, but I'd guess the top floor or the lowest level." Ren stated.

"Best course of action is to split up and search top to bottom." Natsuki said.

"I'll go with Ren." Itachi said and before anyone could argue Ren spoke up.

"I accept it."

"Then let's go." Itachi and Ren left first while Dairuko and Natsuki quickly glanced at each other before following after them.

The four of them walked into the hideout and it looked like nobody had been there in years- it was completely abandoned.

"This is a pretty amateur genjutsu." Dairuko said and all four of them dispelled the genjutsu and saw they were surrounded by masked ninja. "Now this will be fun." Dairuko cracked his knuckles then everyone took their respective fighting stances.

Dairuko's fist filled with chakra as he smashed the ground at such an angle that a shockwave went straight in front of him, resulting in half the ninja being knocked back while the other half jumped to avoid it. Natsuki ran into the crowd and began cutting them down in a shower of sparks and sounds of steel meeting steel until one of the men stabbed her in the back, but she then turned into crows. The crows reformed above the crowd and took the form of Itachi, who performed some hand-seals and blew a giant fireball into the crowd while at the same time the Itachi who was still on the ground performed the same fireball jutsu which then burnt everyone in its path until it reached the first fireball causing an explosion, incinerating anyone caught in it.

"Where'd the girl go?!" one of the shinobi- who dodged Dairuko's initial attack- exclaimed while they were all still in the air. A kunai was suddenly thrown in front of him with a tag that read, 'Hi there' written on it. The ninja then looked up and saw Natsuki standing on the ceiling.

"It's a-" before the guy could complete his sentence the kunai blew up.

Natsuki made two clones that appeared on opposite sides of a large group of ninja, then performed identical hand-seals and both 'Natsukis' said "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu." Two water dragons appeared and crashed into each other causing water to fall everywhere. Natsuki jumped off the ceiling with a Chidori blazing in her hand and a smirk on her face.

"Chidori Spread!" Natsuki exclaimed as she slammed her chidori into the ground, electrocuting everyone in its path thanks to the water on the ground.

"Kuchiyose: Dragon Totem Jutsu!" Ren said as he summoned two dragon head totem poles from the ground. "Burn them to ash." Ren snapped his fingers and the totems blew fire.

"If that's all you guys got, you might want to just hand the girl over now and spare any more bloodshed." Natsuki said.

"So the stories of you three are no joke, I see you've got an extra teammate too, impressive." A hooded man, clapping his hands, appeared. "The Senju boy's head alone is worth enough for my men to live in luxury for a while."

"If you want my head come get it, bitch." Dairuko said as he beckoned the man. The hooded stranger just smirked and disappeared in a puff of smoke, just as a fresh horde of enemy ninja appeared.

"So this was a trap." Ren said which earned him a glance from Team 0. "But how did they know I'd get you guys?"

"We can ponder all these questions later. For now, let's kick some ass." Dairuko said.

Itachi closed his eyes for a second then opened them with his Sharingan activated. He performed some hand-seals then slammed his hands onto the ground but, nothing happened.

"Was that supposed to do something?" Ren asked then did his own hand-seals "Kuchiyose: Stone Gargoyle Jutsu." He said and a swarm of gargoyles began flying out of what looked like a bottomless pit, which then attacked the masked ninja.

"Chidori Tree." Natsuki said as she shot a Chidori spear from her hand then spread her fingers apart and the spear created secondary spears that impaled all the unfortunate ninja caught within the spear's reach. From a bird's eye view, it bore resemblance to a tree with a lot of branches and the impaled bodies looked like leaves.

"Jump!" Dairuko ordered then Natsuki and Itachi leapt to high ground while Dairuko filled his fist with chakra again and almost destroyed the ground, knocking everyone on the ground off balance including Ren who recovered quickly. He then saw Dairuko jump up to where his team was and followed suit.

"Is it ready?" Natsuki asked Itachi.

"Yes." Itachi answered simply and a sound of wings flapping became audible. Itachi extended his arm as a countless number of crows came flying through the front door, each one with Sharingan eyes.

Itachi swiped his arm right and the crows flew right, pecking and scratching at the ninjas' faces and masks, Itachi then swiped his arm left and the process was repeated then finally he raised both his arms up causing the crows to swirl around like a tornado, lifting up all the enemy ninjas. Once they were at the maximum height Itachi clenched his right fist and punched the ground with the crows following his motion they slammed into the ground, destroying it.

"Wow… impressive." Ren said.

"That move never gets old." Dairuko fondly added.

"Dairuko and I will search the lower level." Natsuki said.

"Right, Ren, you're with me." Itachi and Ren jumped to the doorway and walked through when one of the wounded shinobi grabbed Itachi's arm. Itachi snapped his neck then continued walking with Ren.

The two continued until they reached the top floor where they saw Luna in a cage.

"Luna!" Ren exclaimed but she didn't answer as she appeared to be unconscious.

"So the mighty Ren does care about someone." The hooded man from before said.

"Let. Her. Go."

"And if I don't?"

"I'll make you suffer before I kill you."

"Aren't you scary?"

"You have no idea." Ren activated his Curse Mark and Itachi activated his Sharingan.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu." Itachi said.

Dairuko and Natsuki jumped down the hole Itachi's crows had created. As they walked through halls they began to hear the subtle sound of whimpering.

"This may be a dumb question but, do you hear that?" Dairuko asked.

"I hear it." Natsuki answered and they continued walking until they entered a large room when a bright light blinded them.

Before Dairuko or Natsuki's eyes could adjust they were hit by a powerful wind based jutsu that caught them in a gust of wind that knocked them to opposite sides of the room.

"Ah shit, that stings!" Dairuko said as he looked at his tattered clothes then he saw that not only were he and Natsuki separated, but they were also surrounded again. "How many of you guys are there?"

"Just one." The masked man said.

"I see someone doesn't know how to count." Dairuko said then the ninja surrounding them took off their masks one by one to reveal they all looked alike.

"What the hell is this?" Natsuki asked on the other side of the room.

"This."

"Is."

"The."

"Ultimate."

"Clone."

"Jutsu." A different clone said each word.

"Then bring it." Natsuki said.

"Bitch." Dairuko added.

Natsuki performed her hidden mist jutsu and instantly disappeared from sight then one by one they dropped dead while Dairuko began working on crowd control with powerful punches knocking clones off balance or knocking them into one another.

"Silver Fang Dance!" Natsuki exclaimed then summoned a second sword and began spinning her swords hilt to hilt at such a speed it appeared to be a circle of death or as Dairuko had once put it 'the circle of slicing awesomeness'. Natsuki started walking forward with an elegant dance-like movement that instantly turned deadly when clones within a meter radius started dropping like flies as Natsuki made her way towards the middle of the group and at the same time Dairuko grabbed the most unlucky clone and used him as a battering ram while he charged through the crowd until he met with Natsuki in the middle of the crowd.

"Doesn't this guy ever run out of chakra creating all these clones?" Dairuko asked.

"He won't need to." Natsuki said then turned to Dairuko and covered her left eye.

"I get it." Dairuko smirked then performed the dragon hand-seal while Natsuki stood with her back against his with the tiger hand-seal. They performed a series of hand-seals with Dairuko ending with the tiger and Natsuki with the dragon hand-seal.

"Chakra Synchronisation Technique."
"Chakra Synchronisation Technique."

Dairuko and Natsuki said in unison and Dairuko's right eye changed colour to Natsuki's grey while the latter's left eye changed to Dairuko's brown.

"Now we will defeat you." The siblings said.

"You'll need more than an eye colour change and weird talking to beat me."

"Look at our faces. We want you to take note of everything on our face then tell us… do we give a fuck?" The siblings said with a straight face then they began to move forward. "This will be fun."

Itachi side-stepped the hooded man's punch before countering it with a body blow followed up by a leg sweep then Ren came from behind Itachi and kicked the hooded man with a running kick, sending him flying into a wall.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu." Itachi said and blew three dragon head-shaped fireballs at the hooded man. Ren made his way to Luna who lay unmoving.

"She has a pulse, but it's weak. We need to leave now." Ren said as he picked Luna up and began carrying her out.

"R-Ren…" Luna said weakly.

"Don't talk. I'm taking you home now."

"No, Ren, it's-"

"Move!" Itachi exclaimed but before Ren could react he was stabbed through the chest.

Itachi looked at the hooded man and noticed the sword that had stabbed Ren came from the hooded man's mouth. Ren clutched his chest then looked at the hooded man with dawning realisation.

"Orochimaru…" Itachi stated.

"Ren-kun… Itachi-kun." Orochimaru said cordially as he took off his disguise.

Natsuki delivered a powerful somersault kick on a clone then Dairuko leapt into the air and did his Windfall kick knocking several clones into the air while Natsuki appeared above him with Chidori active in both hands.

"Chidori Rain!" Natsuki exclaimed and fired a series of Chidori senbons at the clones.

"We think you should give up." The siblings said both having a matching smirk on their faces.

"KILL THEM!" The main guy ordered.

"We believe it's time we finished this." Natsuki gave Dairuko her sword and Dairuko stomped the ground causing shockwaves, he then threw Natsuki's sword at the main guy who dodged it easily but, while he was in the motion of dodging, Natsuki appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her sword then impaled him through the chest.

Dairuko walked toward Natsuki as the clones began disappearing when he noticed one of them get a second wind and charge toward Natsuki causing Dairuko to lunge forward and push Natsuki out the way but the clone only placed his palm on Dairuko's chest then disappeared.

"What was-" Dairuko started but disappeared in a puff of smoke and Itachi stood in his place.

"Itachi?" Natsuki asked confused.

"How did I get here?" Itachi asked and Natsuki shrugged.

"Dairuko disappeared and now you're standing here"

"I was standing in front Orochimaru-"

"Orochimaru's here?"

"Yes the hooded man from before was Orochimaru in disguise he stabbed Ren through the chest when we found Luna."

"If you found Luna…" Natsuki looked to the end of the room to where the whimpering came from. "Then who's there?" Itachi and Natsuki exchanged glances then continued through the door "Holy shit."

"-that?" Dairuko continued then realised that he wasn't with Natsuki anymore instead he was next to a wounded Ren and a dead woman. "What the fuck?"

"Hmm… it seems my pawn hit the wrong target." Orochimaru said.

"Orochimaru… we finally meet," Dairuko took his fighting stance. "'s a shame after this it won't happen again."

"You would probably be able to best me… but if you do that then you'll die too, as will everyone in this place."

"What are you talking about?"

"So this is where you get them from." Ren said as he stood up.

"Get who from here?" Dairuko asked.

"His test subjects, he keeps them here until he needs them."

"Impressive, Ren-kun."

"There're so many people here." Natsuki said as she and Itachi looked around. There were all types; men, women and children. The sight made Natsuki sick to her stomach. Itachi sensed this and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We'll save them, Natsuki." Itachi said.

"Of course we will and then we'll go help Dairuko." Natsuki said.

"If you kill me, Dairuko, this whole place, your teammates and my test subjects- all destroyed." Orochimaru said, shrugging a shoulder slightly.

"You bastard…" Dairuko gritted his teeth.

"I remember when I first laid eyes on you, Dairuko… I never expected you to become so powerful."

"You make it sound as if you've known me for years."

"But I have… I was there when you were born."

"As if I'd believe the words coming out of your mouth."

"It doesn't really matter whether you believe me or not, you're coming with me."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because if you don't, I'll destroy this place." Ren said from next to him.

"Ren, how can you still be loyal to that thing? He killed Luna!" Dairuko exclaimed.

"Because… Orochimaru-sama did me a favour by removing that weakness from my life."

"I'm not sure who's worse, you or it." Dairuko spat and pointed to Orochimaru who just stood there with a serene smile on his face.

"Come quietly or Natsuki, Itachi and all those innocent people die."

"…Fine…" Dairuko growled.

Natsuki broke the lock on the third cell when she felt a mixture of sadness and disappointment wash over her.

"Dairuko…" Natsuki trailed off.

"Is something wrong?" Itachi asked.

"Dairuko's in trouble… I can feel it." Itachi looked at Natsuki and saw her eye colour was different.

"You used that jutsu."

"We had no choice."

Itachi sighed before making a clone.

"I'm going to get Dairuko, you stay and free these people."

"But, Itachi-"

"We don't have time to argue, if Dairuko is somehow killed, you will die as well… he's probably where I was before I ended up here with you." Itachi said before turning into crows and flying off.

"Dairuko, you'd better stay alive 'cause if I die I'm going to kill you again." Natsuki muttered.

Itachi arrived in the room but it was deserted, there was no sign of where they had disappeared to either. "Where are you, Dairuko?"