(A/N) I'm not sure if Gaara still canonically has Shukaku, but I'm saying that if he did lose it then later (when it reformed) he went out and got it back. Also, Breakthrough is up there with Ft. and Snow Fairy.

Bingo Book Entry: Hiretsuna

Threat Level: S
Ninjutsu: 8/10
Genjutsu: 6/10
Taijutsu: 4/10

Village of Origin: ?
Status: Flee On Sight (chunin or lower) Attack On Sight (jonin or higher)
Known Crimes: Murders (252)

Combat Style: Mid-range ninjutsu user. Uses slime and acid. Two stages of power-up, first from cursemark and second from (presumably) the sixtails.

Notes: Unknown village of origin. Old reports indicate he was a B-rank criminal, but after meeting with Orochimaru bumped up to an A-rank due to cursemark. Believed to be the jinchuriki of Saiken the sixtails, created by Orochimaru when the tailed beast reformed and increasing his status to S-rank.

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The next few weeks went by unbelievably quickly, almost a blur to Kame as he worked on bonding with the spiders, practicing puppetry, and (failingly) learning to use his cursemark. While Kame was unable to even get stage one, Haku had managed to unlock her second stage almost immediately and now spent almost all of her time training with whichever one of the Sound Ninja Four was at the base. The size increase, horns, fangs, and claws that emerged when she used the mark had taken some getting used to, but now he simply saw them as another one of her characteristics (if that made any sense).

Besides the disgruntled, middle-aged Himei, there were three others that Kame got to meet: Sankuryu, who behind the mask was actually a twenty-something year old man with black hair and eyes, wearing a Hidden Stone headband with a line scratched through it. In person, he was just as off-putting, always restrained and speaking very little- although, Kame suspected that the missing-ninja had taken a liking to Haku, because whenever she wanted to train with him he was always ready to go.

Another one was Seikaku, a perpetually blindfolded woman of indiscernible age, very thin and with long brown hair. Something about her seemed familiar, but given that she was even less keen on speaking than Sankuryu was, Kame didn't have a chance to pursue his curiosity. The final member of the four was a large, greasy, fat man called Hiretsuna, who spoke far more than anyone wanted him to, usually about terrible things. Of all the people Kame had met in the Hidden Sound, only Hiretsuna was what he had expected: a man who boasted about killing and seemed to enjoy human suffering. His stringy green hair and yellowed teeth disgusted Kame almost as much as his attitude.

Midway through the month, he'd approached Kame and Haku with a wide grin splitting his face and brandishing a booklet. "Here ya go, kiddos. It's official- yer one of us now!" He'd then wandered off, cackling to himself, while Kame looked at the book. There was blood and something else splattered on the cover- Did Hiretsuna kill someone to take this? No, who am I kidding, of course he did. Wait, this is the newest international bingo book… I wonder if…

They flipped through to the end and found what he'd been dreading, entries for him and Haku. Kame was listed as a C-class missing ninja with a reward of two hundred thousand ryo on his head and standard orders to attack on sight. Ouch, he thought, only C-class? Come on, I'm at least- then he remembered his first mission, and being confused when an enemy ninja had cared about their rank. Oh, now I get it. It took longer to find Haku, because she actually wasn't listed among the C or D class missing-ninja. She was listed as A-class, a reward of four million ryo on her head and standing orders to 'capture on sight, retreat at first sign of tentails.' However, their sadness at the visual confirmation of their betrayal was immediately replaced with glee at having a complete list of all the official missing-ninja. While not explicitly forbidden, children were discouraged from reading the bingo books, and neither Kame nor Haku had ever had a chance to get their hands on one of the elusive things.

It served as good entertainment when they weren't training- which is to say, a very small amount of the time. After nearly a month of the nonstop training, Kame began to grow impressed with his own growth, but also apprehensive of when Orochimaru would decide to send them out. Every time the sannin requested their presence, Kame was sure that the order would come: to kill an innocent person, to burn a village, or to tear a family apart… he wasn't afraid that he wouldn't be able to do it, he was afraid because he knew that he would do it.

Finally, the day came. After training with the spiders and returning for his cursemark training, he found Orochimaru waiting with Hiretsuna and Seikaku standing behind him. As Haku came into the room as well, he nodded and spoke. "You have trained… enough. Your first task is to begin immediately."

Kame forced himself to ask the dreaded question. "What… what is… who do we have to kill?"

Hiretsuna laughed at that. "Kill? I wish, kid, but nah, this one's just a boring-"

Orochimaru raised a hand to silence the obese man. "If things go according to plan, we will not have to kill anyone. If things go awry, as they always seem to, then you two, Hiretsuna, and Seikaku will assist me in the murder of several Kage. There will be a-"

What. Kame had to take a few moments to register what Orochimaru had said, but when he found his voice he more than made up for the lost time: "What? How do you expect me and Haku to take on Kage!? We're strong but not that strong and if you expect her to use the tentails after she said she wouldn't and we're criminals so the Kage would never just meet us so then are we-" he had to pause for breath, which was long enough for Orochimaru to reassume control.

"Interrupt me again and you won't be able to speak for several days." Kame nodded, subdued. "We are not entering this meeting with the intent of killing the Kage, merely of discussing matters of… common interest. The larger villages, with their power balances and hunger for tailed beasts, will not be present."

"Then who?" Haku asked.

"The Hidden Rain, Hidden Stone, Hidden Grass, Hidden Waterfall, Hidden Sound, Hidden Star, and Hidden Whirlpool villages have called a summit." Hidden Sound? So is Orochimaru still counted as a Kage of a village that no longer exists? "You two will accompany me to this meeting, and perhaps even go to some of these villages as emissaries." No killing, so… as far as first missions go, I guess this one is all right.

"Okay, Lord Orochimaru. But…" Kame wasn't sure how to say what he wanted to without risking the unpredictable and insane missing-ninja's anger. "Uh… why Hiretsuna? This is a diplomatic mission, right?" At the sight of Hiretsuna narrowing his eyes, Kame backtracked rapidly. "I mean, I'm sorry, it's just that you seem to enjoy and be skilled at killing, so for you to be included in a mission that doesn't involve it is…" Stop babbling like an idiot, Kame.

Hiretsuna winked at him. "See, this kid gets it. Now, if we just went straight to the killing, then I would understand. Oh, and by the way, loving the attitude; you get ten suck-up points."

Orochimaru's mouth twitched a little bit towards a smile, but immediately returned to a look of deadly seriousness. "Hiretsuna is essential in our negotiations." Kame wanted to ask further, but the man was already flashing through a set of seals. "Now, we've wasted enough valuable time. During the summit, remain silent and do not speak unless I specifically order you to, understood?" Kame and Haku both nodded. "Excellent. Now, Group Reverse Summoning Jutsu!"

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I am never, ever going to get used to that, Kame thought as the reverse summoning spat him out in a dark room. Whoever invented it clearly had no idea of how it would feel to get grabbed by your spirit and then pulled across the world in milliseconds. He straightened up to see Orochimaru already stepping forward up to a doorway, Hiretsuna and Seikaku following behind him. Once the doorway opened and all five of their group stepped through it, Kame froze up a little bit- they stood in a round room, arrayed in a circle about a table with seven spaces, and in the spaces sat Kage.

Kame could see that each Kage's seat had a symbol carved on the stone table before it, which he used to identify them. To the left, the Takikage of the Hidden Waterfall was smiling faintly and staring off into space, seemingly completely zoned out of whatever was happening in the room. He looked positively ancient, the oldest person Kame had ever seen, with a long, trailing beard and a full head of white hair. Behind him stood three Waterfall ninja dressed in black robes, with scythes strapped to their backs. All of them wore another symbol emblazoned on their clothing- Wait, I know that. The upside-down triangle inside a circle… where have I seen that before…

As Orochimaru took his seat, Kame's eyes drifted over to the woman to their right, the Hoshikage of the Hidden Star village. The woman had short-cut blue hair and piercing yellow eyes that were perpetually narrowed in discontent. She looked deadly serious, glancing around the room distrustfully. Probably warranted, Kame thought, considering she's the only one who didn't bring guards.

To the right of her sat the Jettokage of the Hidden Whirlpool village, a tired-looking bald man with sunken eyes. He had two shinobi standing behind him, although they were fully cloaked with all of their features hidden under heavy black robes and hoods. The last occupant, directly across the table from them, was the Amekage of the Hidden Rain- probably the strangest occupant of the room. His face was hidden behind an intricately carved steel mask, and the one hand he had on the table appeared to be some sort of mechanical prosthetic. His four followers, all dressed in the same Rain uniform, wearing the same ANBU masks, and standing with the exact same posture, were completely unmoving. Humans don't stand that still. Either their training must be intense, or…

The Hoshikage broke the silent standoff. "Alright, with you here, Otokage, that just leaves the Grass and Stone representatives. What's taking those idiots so long?"

A reply came instantly when she finished talking in a measured and evenly paced voice from the Amekage. "They will not be coming. Their villages and people have been assimilated."

The room broke out into a clamor as everyone responded differently, but calmed down until Orochimaru had the floor. "Do you have proof of these claims? The Stone and Grass wouldn't just fall overnight, and especially not without someone hearing about it."

Again with the immediate response, the Amekage showed no hint of any emotion. "The villages remain intact. It is their leaders who have been converted to join us. Soon they will announce an official merger between our three lands." He raised a hand, and two of his followers stepped forward and removed the masks to show their faces. Kame had never seen the Kage of the Hidden Grass or Stone, but the collective responses told him all he needed to know.

"Amekage, did you plan to inform us of your plans to absorb two other villages?" The Hoshikage looked extraordinarily annoyed.

"It was unnecessary."

The Takikage suddenly leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at the two ex-Kage before speaking in a oddly gleeful voice. "This is an affront. If you don't get those perversions out of my sight, I will-" No, that's not gleeful, it's… zealous?

Orochimaru slammed a hand on the table. "Enough!" As all four of the other Kage turned to him with disbelief that he would dare to order them around, he continued talking. "The Hidden Rain's military movements, at least for now, are not relevant to the subject of our discussion. In fact, this may well be a turn of events that help us all in our true objective." No one spoke to challenge him yet. "The Tanikage is far stronger than I anticipated." What does the Hidden Valley have to do with this?

"Bah, you're just talking him up 'cause you lost to him." The Hoshikage was completely unimpressed.

Orochimaru turned sharply towards her and dropped into a threatening tone. "Let us not forget that I am the only one here with not one but two jinchuriki."

The other Kage all looked taken aback when he mentioned having two of them, while Kame was just confused. Two? Who's the other one, besides Haku? The Amekage didn't move from his position, but the voice trailed from the mask, still impassive. "How did this come to happen?"

Orochimaru pointed at Haku. "She is the jinchuriki of the tentails who attacked the chunin exams, loyal to me now. As you can see-"

He was cut off when the Hoshikage raised a hand and a laser streamed forward from it, crossing the room instantly towards where Haku stood. Kame's heart skipped a beat as he saw it punch a hole in the wall behind her. Haku… but she was unharmed, having dodged to the side, her spiraling cursemark having spread out onto her body. Stage one let her dodge it in time, thank god. At the sight that Haku had avoided her attack, the Hoshikage made a noise of disgust and sat back further in her chair.

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think that wise when I have both of my jinchuriki in this room?" Does that mean Seikaku is a jinchuriki? Or- god forbid- Hiretsuna...?

Hiretsuna smirked and leaned forward. "Just say the word, Lord Orochimaru. I bet she'll drop the damn smirk if I melt it off her face…" A wide grin showed all of his yellowed and uneven teeth. So it is him. I remember there being a slug tailed beast, right?

The Hoshikage was unimpressed. "I was testing your claims."

"Well, now that you have finished your testing, we should proceed." The Hoshikage didn't make any more offensive moves, so Orochimaru continued. "The Tanikage was able to use the Domination on even a jinchuriki, ruling out that plan. Our only remaining option is a combined assault, which-"

The Jettokage spoke for the first time, his voice coming out pained as though he was fighting an injury. "-will happen after we finish our primary objective in this alliance."

The Amekage chimed in. "First, we must attack and gain control over the great nations. Then, you may have your revenge on the Hidden Valley village."

"By then, it may be too late." Orochimaru spread his hands in a gesture of diplomacy. "The Tanikage has already wiped out three lesser villages, and my spies have word that he is planning to strike again. Any of you could be his target."

"We will not take further action until the Hidden Sand has been assimilated." The Amekage moved for the first time, leaning back and removing his hand from the table in finality.

"Neither will the Hidden Star." The Hoshikage crossed her arms.

"My Lord's will is for the Hidden Stone to be purged." The elderly Takikage grinned widely and spread his hands in a helpless gesture. "I will not aid you in any war until His earlier command is made reality."

The Jettokage remained silent, but with the three denials Orochimaru bitterly sat back and hissed in annoyance. "You all fail to see the immediate danger."

The Hoshikage scowled. "No, you fail to understand how the great villages have sucked away all of the ninja work. In times of peace, there is little enough to go around, and when clients from our land go to the Hidden Cloud-"

Orochimaru talked right over her, turning towards the Amekage. "When will you begin your assault upon the Hidden Sand?"

"When the necessary strength has been gathered."

"And how long will that take?"

"It will change depending on available ninja work, as well as any developments that would aid construct production."

Orochimaru was clearly annoyed, but sat back and nodded nonetheless. "When you have a set time, inform the alliance. I'm sure that several of the people here would be willing to aid you in return for future reciprocation." The Amekage nodded, a fast and controlled movement. "Does anyone else have any plans they wish to put forward?" Nobody spoke. "Then I will return to the Hidden Sound."

Orochimaru made a handsign and the room disappeared. Oh no, not again-

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As they arrived back in the Hidden Sound, Kame suddenly felt a massive wave of emotions come crashing down onto him. Wait… those were Hidden Villages, legitimate Hidden Villages, who were plotting with Orochimaru to destroy the Sand. Orochimaru even promised to help the Hidden Rain in their attack! Kame rose to his feet quickly and whipped around to face Orochimaru. "You never said anything about attacking the Hidden Sand!"

"Tread carefully, Kame…" Orochimaru's tone was dangerous, but Kame didn't care.

"You used Haku like a weapon. Are you going to try to use her against Gaara, too? Set her off in the town like a bomb? You're conspiring with dangerous villages full of shinobi to start a massive war!" Kame thought about what had happened in that room. Why wasn't I upset? They were… wait… "You put me in a genjutsu to repress my emotions, didn't you!?"

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. "Ignoring your incredibly insubordinate tone for the moment, you have no idea what you're talking about. I am in that alliance because I require their assistance to take out the Hidden Valley village, and-"

"Why!? The Tanikage was the one who managed to stop Haku from killing all those people! I've only met a few people from that village, but they've all been good. I can't believe you would destroy the great nations just to kill one specific, innocent village, and-"

Kame stopped talking when a snake shot from Orochimaru's sleeve and wrapped around his neck, cutting off most of his airflow and lifting him off the ground. Another snake bound his arms and another one his legs, leaving him hanging there and unable to do anything but struggle. Orochimaru's killing intent swamped through the room, and his voice took on a dark tone. "You seem to have forgotten who you're speaking to, you insolent little child. I have killed more innocent shinobi in my lifetime than would fit inside the Hidden Valley village and I will likely kill that many again.

"You presume to question my decisions? To reprimand me in my own base?" A searing pain tore through the cursemark while Kame's struggles grew weaker from lack of oxygen. "You are not my advisor, not my equal. You are nothing but a villageless shinobi that I used to get what I want, and like all the other shinobi I have used, once I can done with you I will leave you behind. If you ever challenge me again, I will kill you." Kame's vision grew spotty, but the snakes receded and dumped him onto the floor. He gasped for air as the searing pain retreated slowly into his cursemark.

He heard Orochimaru and the other shinobi leave the room, but still didn't move from his sitting position on the floor. Once he was sure that there was no noise from anyone left in the room, he curled up his knees to his chest and allowed the first little sob out to join the tears streaking down his cheeks. Like a dam inside him had broken, Kame began crying in earnest, hating himself for it but unable to stop. I was so stupid to think that things were going to be okay. I lied to myself about this place, about these people, about what was going to happen. I dumped Haku and myself into this mess because I couldn't face reality. Orochimaru isn't secretly a nice guy, he's always been this way, and I just failed to-

Kame's thoughts were cut off as Haku moved from hiding behind him to sit down and wrap her arms around his body, legs trailing off to the sides and head resting on his shoulder. She spoke softly, reassuringly: "I've been so selfish… I should've been paying more attention to what you felt. I leaned on you before, but now you can lean on me. We can get through this if we just rely on each other, instead of you shouldering all my pain and getting nothing in return."

No, that's not true, Kame wanted to say, but his voice failed him. I never had it as bad as you, and you shouldn't worry about me. However, instead what came out of his mouth was a quiet, mumbled, "Thanks."

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"Now, Kame, pull harder on the cursemark. Grab the power and take it." Orochimaru's tone was the same as always, lazy on the surface but with an undercurrent of malice, showing no sign that he even remembered the previous day's events. Kame reached inside himself and felt the cursemark. I have to do this. The cursemark, though, was… it's like I'm shoving my arm down into a hole, but the thing I want is just outside where I can reach. He strained harder and harder, but like every other time he'd tried to do it, the power retreated more and more the closer he got to it. "Kame!"

The Sannin's raised voice sent a pang through Kame's mind, a memory of his punishment last night, and in his panic he pushed forward out of his comfort zone, more than he'd known he could. Something inside him snapped and then snapped again, and suddenly, his field of view shattered into brilliant colors. What the hell… am I going crazy!?

Orochimaru smiled his dead-eyed smile. "Finally- you even went straight through stage one to stage two. Now, this is the first time I have attempted this particular cursemark, so tell me what you are seeing."

"I'm… I'm not seeing." It wasn't Kame's vision that had changed, it was almost as if a new sense had opened up inside of him. The same sort of feeling that he got when he bonded with a summon animal was filling up his mind from all directions, giving him complete sensory overload. The floor, the walls, they all shined and screamed and stank more intensely than he could cope with. Orochimaru was like a brilliant sun, far too much for him to even be near, much less look into.

"It's… is this chakra?" As seconds went on, the feelings dulled. The new sensations grew weaker until Kame could think again. It's like I was in the dark for my whole life, and then I saw the light for the first time. If I get like this every single time I activate it, then… "I can feel the chakra around me, somehow, the ambient stuff all over the place. It was overpowering at first, but now I can manage it… better." He turned his inner eye to face Orochimaru and winced once more as the Sannin's signature remained too strong to look at, at least for a few seconds.

"Do you feel any side effects? Try to describe what you are going through to me."

Orochimaru had a lot of chakra. "I'm focusing on you… you have a strong signature, a lot of chakra… the area around me is weaker. Haku is…" Kame trailed off, at a loss for words to describe what his friend's chakra looked like. "Haku is blank. She doesn't even have a chakra signature… although, inside her, I can sense…" The tentails, or the chakra-hungry fragment of it, was a black vortex that threatened to suck him in.

"What about your own chakra? In stage two, you should be able to manipulate it at will now." Kame felt within himself. This is somehow even stranger. It's like… it's like a new limb. He tried to push out the chakra in a line before him and it gingerly reached forward. Okay, now to the left. The chakra curved off to the side. He reached forward and prodded Orochimaru with it, trying to see if the Sannin would react.

Orochimaru looked down to where their chakra met. "Good, I can feel that. Now that you've opened up stage one and stage two, you should be able to feel and move your chakra. We will resume these lessons tomorrow." Wordlessly, he sank down into the floor, leaving Kame and Haku in the room. I guess it's time to go practice with the spiders, Kame thought. He turned to summon Kumokafu, but froze when he saw Haku staring at him.

"What?"

Haku seemed to escape her stupor and point at him. "You're… the cursemark made you…" she gathered herself. "The cursemark made your skin white, gave you little horns, and… you have…" she trailed off, just pointing at him.

"What is it?" Kame was afraid now, wondering if he had grown antenna or wings or something.

"You have six more eyes…"

What? Oh, no… he reached up to his head and moved his hands around, feeling the small baby-goat horns that poked from his hair in rows, but passed over them to pat around his forehead. "Why…" The six round, smooth growths seemed to be arrayed one above, one to the side, and one diagonal to each of his real eyes.

"What? They're not that bad, you know…" Haku smiled at him. "At least you don't grow two feet."

"Says you!" It was petty, but Kame wasn't about to admit defeat. "You get cool horns and a tail and claws, and I get to look like a bug!"

Haku scowled at him, crossing her arms, and then shot up a foot as she engaged the second stage of her cursemark. What? Over this stupid little argument, she's going to put herself out of commission for the afternoon? The less a person exerted themselves, the lower the repercussions after the cursemark ran out of energy, but that was only effective up to a certain point- no matter what, a majority of the user's chakra would be drained. Still, now that it's active, I know for a fact that I have it worse.

In the second stage, Haku was actually more than a foot taller, nearly two feet. Given that she was five-foot-two (the same height as Kame) without it, with it activated she towered over him. Wait, why did her clothes grow with her- is it actually a transformation effect rather than a body alteration effect? Her hands and feet became clawed, her teeth changed into fangs, and long horns ran almost a foot and a half long, starting from just behind her forehead. Her skin became black and her hair grew longer. I don't think Orochimaru went so far as to specifically design the transformation… so is it dictated by the person themselves? Or by something in their genetic makeup?

Either way, I clearly win this argument. "See, it makes you look like a badass dragon. I look like an albino spider! This isn't even a discussion."

Haku shook her head. "I'm seven feet tall! And I look like a scary demon!"

"I look stupid! Who's intimidated or amazed by a spider!? I'm probably more scary than you, too- I've got bumpy stuff growing all over my head. Plus, you're still super pretty even with all that… stuff…" Oh no, I said too much… Haku blushed, which looked strange coming from the massive demonic figure, and Kame decided to get out of the situation as soon as possible. "Summoning Jutsu!"

As the smoke cloud cleared, Kumokafu's form emerged. "Well, hey there, handsome. Say, you look a lot more… spider-ey… than usual, but I'm not complaining. Wait, who is-" She turned to take in Haku, then moved a lock of her own purple hair to look at, comparing her hair color with Haku's, and then turned towards Kame with a shit-eating grin on her face. Shit, she knows…

Thankfully, Haku seemed too distracted by his earlier compliment to notice, so he seized his chance. "Hey, Kumokafu, no time to chat, I need to go to the Uebu Abyss." She nodded, making one last knowing glance towards Haku and then back at him, before disappearing.

Wait, if I run out of power, then… memories of the harsh scolding he'd received from Kankuro came to mind, and he frowned. Well, if I have more chakra control when I'm like this, then maybe, just maybe… He tried to release the seal's power before using it all up, allowing the new chakra to seep back into it. After enough of it returned, he felt the physical alterations drop away and watched his skin return to a normal color. However, the sixth sense remained, as did the widely spread seal. Well, that's useful if I end up with extra chakra after being pushed into this state, I guess. Although, I don't think I can drop out of this mode, only from stage two down to stage one. Haku looked at something behind him and waved happily.

Sankuryu appeared in the doorway. With stage one still active, Kame could see that the Sound ninja had the same emptiness as Haku, a void of black surrounded by the dim but present chakra of the natural world. He took her in with coolly appraising eyes, then nodded and began to activate his own cursemark. The last thing Kame saw before vanishing was Sankuryu striding forward in the mantis-like form of his second stage.