Hope you enjoy! ^_^

I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.


Glares, Drawings and Traitors


Ami frowned at Sai as Naruto rebuked them while they made their way towards their destination.

The pale boy's attitude hadn't improved in the slightest.

Although, she could understand that it was always uncomfortable to be stared at, which Sakura and the blond had been doing to him all through the trip so far. She meanwhile, simply refused to speak to, or even look at him.


"That settles it! You're no good!" Naruto cried.

Everyone on Team Kakashi froze. Yamato turned to look at Naruto.

"You're the biggest asshole I've ever met." the Jinchuuriki growled.

Sai stared at the blond silently.

Yamato had chided the blond for his attitude towards Sai, but to be quite frank, the whiskered boy couldn't have cared less, and was quite blunt about expressing that fact.

"Hey, hey. You can't just ignore the team's well-being and say that, Naruto. Trust and teamwork are the most important parts of a team. Kakashi-san must have taught you that. You are the members of Kakashi-san's team, so what's up with that?"

Naruto snarled. "This guy is not a member of Team Kakashi! The last member of Team Kakashi is Sasuke! He's just a replacement to fill in while Sasuke's not here! I won't accept him as a member!"

"Good." Sai piped up, "That puts me at ease as well. Someone who betrayed Konoha and joined Orochimaru… I don't want to be put in the same group as trash like that."

Naruto clenched his fist and went to fly at Sai, but Sakura thrust an arm out in front of the blond.

"It's true that teamwork is important." the pink-haired girl said, "Sai, Naruto doesn't know you too well, so he may go too far sometimes. Sorry. Please forgive Naruto."

Ami rose her eyebrows. She hadn't expected that from the Medic-Nin.

"Sakura-chan…" the blond mumbled.

Yamato sighed in relief. 'At least the girls aren't too hot-headed…' he thought to himself.

The raven pulled his lips into another one of his disgusting smiles. "It's fine. There's nothing to forgive."

"Is that so? I'm glad!" Sakura said, smiling.

Ami smirked. She knew her friend well.

Sai skidded several metres across the ground on his ass after receiving a hard blow from Sakura's fist right in the jaw.

The pink-haired girl hadn't even put Chakra into the attack.

"You don't have to forgive me." Sakura growled, jade eyes narrowed as she glared at the raven.

Sai wiped his mouth. "You got me... with that fake smile."

"You don't know a thing about Sasuke-kun. You have no right to say things like that. If you say anything bad about him again, I won't hold back."

Naruto swallowed hard, feeling nervous even though the pink-haired girl's words weren't even directed at him.

Ami's smirk widened. 'Hopefully Sai will be a bit more docile from now on.'

"I understand. I won't say anything bad in front of you. Still, fake smiles can be used in such a way… I'll remember that."

Naruto snarled. "You just got punched, what the hell do you think you're saying?"

"The best way to pass something bad is with a smile." The raven got to his feet. "Even if it is a fake smile. Everyone will get fooled by that. That's what I've read. It looks like it doesn't have much effect when I do it though."

'Probably because you smile like a creep.' Ami thought, wrinkling her nose as the boy attempted emotion again.

Naruto went for the raven, and Yamato made several hand signs, bringing up a huge wooden cage behind himself.

"If you three take it much further, it will be troublesome." he said, clearly annoyed, "We have little time to get to the Tenchikyou. Still, we should be able to solve this with a little detour."

Ami stared, fascinated. She had never heard of anyone being able to use the wood element before.

"Now, here's my proposal to you. You either spend a day beating each other up in the cage, or we take a detour to a hot springs town. You don't know me very well, right? I like doing things nicely… but I don't really mind terror either."

Ami shuddered at the man's glare.

Certainly, she had gotten used to several kinds of glares in her life; the shut-up-or-I'll-smack-you glare from Sakura, the lazy you're-a-pain-in-the-ass glare from Shikamaru, the I-know-you're-right-but-I-still-don't-like-it-and-I-will-sulk-as-much-as-I-can glare from Naruto, the you're-annoying glare from Sasuke, and the what-do-you-mean-you-won't-colour-in-this-picture-with-me glare from Sora, her teacher, but this glare was different. This was the kind of look you would see on the face of a creepy puppet from a horror film that would sneak into your room at night and murder you with a chainsaw or the like, and as appealing as beating the shit out of Sai would be, hot springs were very refreshing.


Ami sighed, closing her eyes as she submerged herself up to her chin, Sakura beside her.

'I have to try and get along with this guy.' she thought, 'Sure, he's a weirdo, but who in my life isn't? Gai and Lee are overly-energetic lovers of green spandex and orange legwarmers, my teacher is someone more childish than me, my cat opens doors and knows more passages in the dorm than I do, my sensei constantly and shamelessly reads porn in front of children, so surely there must be room for a half-naked guy who smiles like a creep and likes talking… about… penises… or maybe that's just too far… I'm beginning to understand how Neji and Tenten must feel… Gai and Lee might be headstrong oddities, but at least they're nice people. Sai meanwhile… pretty much called me a whore as soon as we met... I wonder what Sasuke would think if he knew what we replaced him with.'

She got a sudden image in her head of the Uchiha with a look of absolute horror and offence on his face as Sai asked him about his penis with a smile.

Naruto's voice interrupted her thoughts as it carried clearly over from the other side with an angry yell.

"Stop looking at it! You're always talking about 'penises, penises'! Shut up, damn it!"

Ami snorted along with the other women who burst into laughter.

Meanwhile, Sakura's head vanished under the water as she blushed scarlet, embarrassed for the boy.

"If you do that, it's more obvious you know him." Ami sniggered, wincing when the rosette pinched her in the side.


The group had ended the evening with a tremendous feast, of which most of them had never seen.

And amazingly, Yamato paid for it all.

Poor Kakashi wasn't being missed in the least.


Ami was currently prostrate in bed, but got up upon Sakura's rising, her only reason for lying-in being that she hadn't wanted to wake the other girl, who thankfully wasn't a terrible roommate with poor sleeping habits. She still remembered, plain as day, sharing a tent with Yamanaka Ino on a mission once, only to discover that the blonde slept with half-open eyes, along with the occasional kick, accompanied by sleep-talking.

Needless to say, she got no sleep when sharing with the Yamanaka.

Sakura opened the window and poked out her head. "It's such nice weather today… huh…? Hey, Ami,"

"Mmm?" the girl replied, running a hand through her hair.

"Sai's outside."

"…Is he dead?"

"…No."

"…Damn."

The brunette rolled over, and hopped up, trotting over to the window curiously.

The pale boy was standing on the edge of a pier over a stream, looking around himself for several seconds before settling down and beginning to rummage through his bag.

"I don't trust him." Ami said quietly, "Let's go see what he's doing."

"I'm sure it's nothing bad." Sakura said, "You just don't like him."

"That's an understatement. Nice punch yesterday, by the way."

"Thanks."

The two girls quickly got dressed and headed outside to where Sai was sitting.


The eyebrows of the kunoichi lifted as they made their way closer to the boy and saw what he was doing.

"So you draw?" Sakura smiled.

Sai turned his head and gave her a disinterested look. "Is there something you want?" he asked tiredly.

"I neither like nor trust you." Ami said, "So I came to see what you were doing. Now that's done, I'm leaving."

Sakura spun the brunette back around as she turned on her heel. "Ami. Don't be like that."

"Why not? I don't like Sai and Sai doesn't like me. That or he has a weird way of showing it. There's no reason for me to stay."

"You're teammates who should get to know other." the pink-haired girl said, temple bulging as she smiled brightly, fist tightening at her side, and Ami, picking up on the obvious warning signs, obeyed silently.

Sakura walked over to the boy and leaned down to take a look. "Your mouth is foul but you have a delicate part too, huh?" she smiled, "Unexpected."

Sai returned the facial expression. "That fake smile again. Do you still wish to hit me?"

"Yeah, a little." Sakura said, allowing her face to harden slightly, a slightly dangerous note ringing in her voice. "…Joking!" she giggled, "I just came to see what you were doing. I wondered what it could be."

"You also don't trust me?" the raven questioned, glancing back at Ami, who was staring off in another direction before narrowing her eyes at Sai upon sensing his gaze.

"Ami's just a little bitter." the Medic-Nin smirked, "Don't worry about it. She'll get over it."

"Not if he keeps being a shit." the brunette growled.

"…I see." Sai said, looking back at his artwork.

"You're out here, I thought it might be the scenery, but… this is abstract."

"What's the title of this picture?"

Glancing at the swirly pattern, 'Toilet, by Sai the Shit' came to Ami's mind. She looked away again, though she observed him through divining.

Sai was silent.

"You haven't decided yet?"

Sai made another fake smile. "Who knows?"

"What do you mean 'who knows'?" Sakura exclaimed, "The name of this picture, the title of it! You must have something in mind. I won't laugh, so tell me!"

"It's nothing like that." the raven replied, lips still curled in a faux expression. "I've drawn thousands of pictures, but none of them have a title. Neither does this one."

"Usually a picture has a title, doesn't it?" Sakura asked. "A portrait has the title of the person it's of, but other pictures have titles too. Your feelings or emotions…"

The crayon in Sai's hand stopped moving, and Ami's head turned at the loss of movement. "In truth, even if I wanted to, I couldn't give it a title."

Ami stepped forward curiously as the boy continued.

"I don't feel anything. I have no emotions. Nothing."

The water-user narrowed her eyes. 'With his eyes, it's believable.'

Her head turned round as Naruto approached behind them.

"Figures." the blond growled, "No wonder you say such insensitive things all the time. We're going soon. Captain Yamato told me to call you." He stalked over and glanced over Sai's shoulder at the picture. "That picture's nothing big." he sneered.

"True." Sai smirked. "Just like your penis."

Sakura placed a hand over her mouth to hide an embarrassed smirk as Naruto's face turned beet red.

Ami didn't laugh, but bit the inside of her cheek.

"I'll say it honestly and blatantly; I hate you!" the whiskered boy shouted, spit flying from his mouth, jabbing a finger at the boy, "If you have a problem, stop making that fake smile and do something about it! I'll fight you any time you want!"

Sai closed his sketch pad.

"You wanna fight?" the blond demanded.

"'Problem?'" Sai repeated, turning to smile at the boy, "I don't have a 'problem'. I really don't think anything of you."

'Clearly you don't have enough respect for him to not insult him.' Ami thought, frowning.

"Please go ahead. I'll be there right after I've packed." the pale boy said, gathering up his art supplies.

"I'll help." Sakura said, picking up a small picture book. "Huh...? This isn't a print… Did you draw this too?"

"Yes." the black-haired boy said, taking the book from Sakura as she handed it to him.

Sakura beamed. "A picture book, huh? Looks interesting!"

Naruto sniffed.

"Can I have a look at that while we're on our way?" Sakura asked.

"I can't allow that. It's not finished. Besides, this never leaves my hands. This is my brother's treasure, after all."

'He just said he drew it, though….' Ami thought, confused, 'What does he mean?'


As they left the bath house, Yamato turned to the younger members of Team Kakashi. "Everyone, you getting along better now?" he asked, smiling.

Sakura chuckled nervously.

Ami shrugged slightly.

"Why would I be with someone like-" Naruto began to grumble, but stopped at a terrifying glare from Yamato.

"Maybe I should have gone for terror, huh?"

Naruto retreated as far away from the man as possible. "D-Don't worry! We're best buddies now!" he said, laughing nervously.

"Naruto-kun seems to be having fun." Sai smiled.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura exclaimed in disbelief, "That's definitely a forced smile."

"Is that so?" Sai said, seeming genuinely surprised.

Ami glanced from Sai to Naruto.

The blond had a grimace that would scare small children on his face.

"'The best way to pass something bad is with a smile.' you said so yourself!" the pink-haired girl chided.

Sai turned and attempted a simper. "Oh, I did, didn't I?"

Sakura's face contorted into a grin so forced that if there were any more effort put into it, her face might shatter.

Ami sighed.

Sakura would burst at least one blood vessel before this was over.


Making their way further towards their destination, the shinobi stopped suddenly as their captain halted.

"What's wrong, Yamato-taichou?" Ami asked, brow knitting.

The man turned and walked into the grass. "This way. Hurry!"


The others followed obediently, and together got further and further into the forest.


"Why'd we come all the way out here?" Naruto muttered.

"Yamato-taichou, what's the meaning of this?" the rosette demanded, "The path we were taking was definitely correct! Taichou!"

"Tsunade-sama must have told you." the man replied.

"What's he talking about?" Naruto questioned.

"The Intel Sakura got might be a trap." Yamato explained, "The Akatsuki may be waiting in ambush in Tenchikyou. It's a distinct possibility." He turned to the blond. "Naruto-kun, they're after you."

"It couldn't be…" the boy mumbled.

"I think the probability of that is low, though." Yamato continued, "But still, we best be careful. From here on, we're going to travel in a way as to avoid being spotted."


"This place should be good." Yamato said, looking around himself in the small clearing as crickets made noise around them, the night almost jet black bar a thin silver crescent and stars. "We'll be sleeping her tonight."

"What?" Naruto exclaimed, "Come on! If we need a place to sleep, there was a nice place just a little bit back where we could-"

"Everyone stand back." the captain said, clasping his hands together before making several hand signs. "Mokuton; Hichuuka no jutsu!"

A massive wooden cabin with two stories burst from the ground before them, displaced earth flying down on the shinobi.

Yamato sat happily on the roof. "We'll be setting camp here tonight!"

Ami gawked as Sakura mumbled beside her; "This is hardly camping…"


Not only was the building large on the outside, it was massive on the inside, too. Two huge wooden staircases on either side of the first floor led upstairs, and the room for the four younger shinobi was also very spacious and even had a sliding door that lead out to a balcony (though there was a complete lack of furniture).

Sakura set up beside the window, Sai and Naruto on opposite sides of the room, and Ami, feeling slightly sorry for Sai (considering that Naruto had looked at the black-haired newbie like a smelly dog when he went to sit next to the blond) arranged herself in the corner between him and Sakura.


Yamato lit a piece of wick in some oil as Sakura closed the shutters over the window.

"Everyone, please gather here." he said, "Also Sakura, there's something I'd like to ask."

"What is it?" the girl asked politely.

"About Sasori of Akatsuki… I wanted to ask earlier, but we agreed not to speak of such things yesterday. So tell me everything tonight. You're the only one who saw Sasori, after all."

"Yes." the girl said in understanding.

"I've read the files from Suna, but still, if he has any habits or outstanding personality traits, please tell me everything about them in detail."

"Why are you asking that?" Naruto asked, confused.

"The spy in Orochimaru's ranks is expecting Sasori at Tenchikyou." He held up some pictures of the deceased Akatsuki member (killed by Sakura and Chiyo, of course). "We might be found out right away, but we'd best approach them transformed as Sasori."

"If Sasori doesn't show in Tenchikyou, the spy might not either." Sakura said.

"That seems highly probable." Yamato agreed.

"Then this whole mission would be pointless." Naruto growled.

"Spies have to take great risks, after all." Sai said, "It means he will be extremely careful."

"So, will Yamato-taichou be transforming?" Naruto asked.

"That's the plan." the armoured man said, "Sasori was moving in this puppet, after all. I'm the most suited as a user of wood techniques."

"That's correct." Sakura agreed.

"Also, just in case it's an Akatsuki trap, I'll go in alone first."

"Judging by his way of saying it and the fact that he was near death, I'd say he was sincere." Sakura said, "We know there was a spy named Yuura in Suna."

"Still, we need to be careful, just in case. Until I give the signal, please stand by."

"In any case…" Sai piped up, "that spy must be an extremely resourceful person."

Ami's hands clenched into fists.

"Let's do it." said Naruto.

"Well then, let's get down to business." Yamato said, "I'll get into the details of this mission. Since our objective is capture, we must under no circumstances kill the target. Not even if we get into combat. If he dies, important information will be lost. Also, the point of this mission is not to fight, it's recon. It's a delicate mission, so I'll move in first. You four will be back-up. The plan is simple. Step One: I'll attempt to intercept the target. Step Two: In the case that I am unsuccessful and get into combat, you will engage the enemy as well. I will give the signal. In the case that Step Two takes place, we will operate in a buddy system."

"'Buddy System'?" Naruto questioned.

"If one of the pair moves in, the other will be backing him." the man explained. "That's the basic idea. You didn't know?"

"Oh! That, that!" Naruto chuckled nervously.

"Pull yourself together." Sakura chastised.

"We'll decide those Buddy teams now." Yamato said. "Team one is Sakura, Ami and myself. Team two is Naruto and Sai."

The boys locked eyes.

"I'm counting on you." Sai smiled to the glaring blond.

"Yamato-taichou! Why? Why am I teamed up with him?" the blond protested, sticking a finger at Sai again, but silencing at another glare from the wood-user.

"Is something wrong?" Yamato asked quietly, dangerous stare chilling Naruto to the bone.

"N-nothing…" the boy mumbled.

"Glad to hear it."

"Umm.. Yamato-taichou?" Sakura spoke up quietly.

"What is it?" the man asked pleasantly.

"If we're forming teams, I think Naruto and I would work better together. We've been working together a long time, and we know each other's abilities pretty well."

"I can work with Sai." Ami proposed, "I don't mind. I agree that Naruto should work with you and Sakura, Yamato-taichou."

There was silence a moment.

"Sakura." the captain said after the pause, "You are the only medical ninja on this team. We can't afford to let you get injured, so you're staying with me."

The pink-haired girl lowered her head. "…I understand."

"And the reason Naruto and I can't swap?" Ami probed.

"There's no reason for you to. Naruto and Sai get along fine now. Don't you boys?"

"Y-yes sir…" Naruto mumbled.

Ami's mouth became a thin line, but she said nothing.

"Now," the armoured man continued, "as Sai said before, we have to assume that this enemy is highly skilled. Any slip-ups in teamwork could cost us our lives. I've got plenty to say on that subject, but for now, we'll focus on the mission." He walked to the sliding door to the balcony and looked outside. "We don't know the exact location of Orochimaru's hideout, but that Akatsuki spy should be heading to the bridge around this time."


Ami scowled at the raven-haired boy before her.


They had just gone through a team simulation of what would happen at the bridge that Yamato had organized for reasons besides practise; to smooth out teamwork and analyse their skills and abilities with his own eyes, but the drill could have gone better. In short, Sai had tied up Naruto with a fake Yamato (who was acting as the spy) using an ink snake imbibed with Chakra (as apparently most of his jutsu included a technique involving ink drawings on scrolls), and run off to find the real one by himself. Sakura had ripped the snake to shreds and Ami pursued Sai, whom she quickly found tying up Yamato with an ink rope. Naruto had demanded the pale boy's reasoning, and Sai had told the blond that his hot-headed actions had slowed down the mission a lot, and that he simply did what was most efficient.


"I'll never accept you!" Naruto barked, stomping away, "Not as a friend, a comrade, or a member of Team Kakashi!"

"I wonder what Sasuke-kun would have done." the pale boy leered, "Would he have protected you whilst fighting? After all, you consider him a member of Team Kakashi and a friend."

Ami bit her lip. Naruto wouldn't hold back forever.

"That is, assuming you can still call someone who betrayed his village and seriously hurt you 'a friend'."

There was silence.

Naruto started to quiver and Yamato was just about to confine the Jinchuuriki, when he spoke.

"I'd do anything for my friends." the boy said in a low voice, turning back to the foul-mouthed artist. "Even team up with you."

"Why does he care about Sasuke-kun so much?" Sai asked, perplexed, as he watched Naruto walk away and lean against a tree.

"Sasuke-kun's sort of like a brother to Naruto." Sakura explained.

Ami nodded. "That's a good way of putting it. You understand that kind of relationship, don't you Sai? Considering that you yourself have a brother?"

"Actually, no. Not at all." the raven said.

The girls frowned.

"Remember when we talked about giving titles to my drawings? I don't have feelings."

"…What do you mean you don't have emotions or feelings?" Sakura inquired.

"It means exactly what it sounds like." the boy replied.

"But you can at least imagine what it would be like if your brother suddenly disappeared, can't you?" the pink-haired girl demanded.

"I suppose so, yes. My brother's already dead."

Ami shivered.

Sai hadn't sounded sad when he told them that unfortunate fact.

Nor had he sounded happy, or even angry.

He simply said it.

No more and no less.

"Then how can you-?"

"Maybe I should've tried to look like that?" Sai wondered aloud, looking at the despondent Naruto before them.

"What are you trying to say?" Sakura asked.

"Well, when my brother died, I wasn't sure what kind of expression I was supposed to make."

"Supposed to make?" Sakura mumbled, before her face contorted to rage and disgust, Ami looking down at her feet beside her.

'I was accepting of death at twelve years of age.' the brunette thought, 'But this guy is just plain sick.'

"Let's end the conversation here." Yamato interjected, "We need to get moving."

The raven boy turned and walked past the girls to pick up his bag.

"Sai, to be honest, I want to beat the hell out of you now." Sakura said quietly, "I warned you that I wouldn't hold back if you insulted Sasuke-kun again. The only reason I didn't do anything was because Naruto said he'd work with you, despite the way you keep insulting Sasuke-kun. So, if you'll help save Sasuke-kun, then I can't hurt you, regardless of what type of person you are."

"Sakura-san, towards Naruto-kun…"

The pink-haired girl looked at the raven.

"Yes, you're nice to him. I've read about that sort of action before, but I have no idea what would make someone want to do it."

Ami walked off in disgust, following the others.

"Guys, let's get moving." Naruto called, "This'll all be pointless if we don't make it there by noon tomorrow."


The Konno felt a drop of sweat slide down her cheek as she hid behind a moss-covered rock with her teammates. They watched while Yamato made his way towards the dark-cloaked man waiting on the bridge, hood up to hide his face, the wood-user disguised as Sasori, bells jingling from his straw hat.

Yamato reached the hooded figure, and the shinobi gasped when the spy turned their face towards them.

'…Kabuto?' Ami thought, shocked, 'But I thought he was one of Orochimaru's most loyal henchmen?'

The two men seemed to be speaking, but due to the strong wind (which was also the reason they had been able to get so close), the young shinobi couldn't hear a thing.

Naruto was getting agitated, muttering hushed complaints about the captain's actions, or rather, lack of, and Sakura quietly rebuked the blond that Kabuto was no pushover, and caution was necessary, Sai chipping in that if he was too cautious, they could lose their chance by arousing suspicion.

Ami watched carefully, and her heart leapt into her throat as Yamato whipped out a kunai from under his cloak, Orochimaru simultaneously appearing behind Kabuto. A large snake wrapped around the bespectacled boy, but he escaped, jumping down to beside the Sasori look-alike.

The snake vanished in a bang of smoke that was quickly blown away.

"What do we do?" Naruto asked, growling slightly.

"We just wait until Yamato-Taichou gives us the signal." Sakura replied.

Ami was quivering.

Sai looked at her blankly. "I've read in a book that people shake when they're frightened. Weak little bitches don't belong on the battlefield." he said, smiling falsely again, "If you're scared, you shouldn't be here."

"You wouldn't understand." the brunette replied, eyes locked on Orochimaru, "You can't learn everything from books Sai. I'm not afraid. I just really want to murder that man."

Naruto too, was growing agitated.

Kabuto rose a hand and charged it with Chakra, looking as if he was going to fight Orochimaru, but instead span round, slicing off the faux-puppet-user's head. Yamato sprang from the disguise, clutching his bleeding arm. Orochimaru shot snakes at the captain, but Yamato used a wooden replacement.

The was at least half a minute where neither side moved, staring each other down, though they seemed to be talking, and Yamato suddenly gave the signal.

The four shot out from behind the rock and landed in front of the man, Naruto's eyes blazing scarlet slits.

Orochimaru smiled foully. "I suppose we can play around for a bit. We'll see whether you've gotten stronger than Sasuke-kun."

Naruto's jaw clenched as his whiskers darkened. "Give Sasuke back!"

Sakura, Ami and Sai turned to look at the boy in shock as red Chakra began pouring out from his body.

"We can't simply 'give him back', Naruto-kun." Kabuto said calmly, pushing up his glasses, "Don't you get it yet? Sasuke-kun came to us of his own free will. You got too attached to him. Be a man and stop dwelling on the past."

"Shut your fucking trap, Four-Eyes!" Sakura snarled, "I'm sick of your attitude! You have no idea how Naruto feels!"

"If you're so intent on finding out where Sasuke-kun is, you'll have to force it out of me." Orochimaru smirked, "If you can, that is."

The wood beneath Naruto's feet splintered as he shot for the snake-like enemy with terrifying speed, clawing him across the face and sending him flying back into the trees on the other side of the long bridge before any of them even realised what was happening, a long stream of a dust cloud forming behind the man as he hurtled back through the forest.

The bridge swayed heavily.

Naruto, ears and a tail of unpleasant red Chakra fully formed turned slowly to look at Sakura, who held a hand in front of her mouth, jade eyes wide with shock, having never seen Naruto so possessed with fury and evil before.

"Naruto-kun, your power as a Jinchuuriki has grown a lot." Kabuto said, glasses glaring in the sunlight, "The Kyuubi's Chakra is getting stronger by the second."

Orochimaru came walking out of the forest, white face peeling off. "You're very much the Jinchuuriki now, aren't you, Naruto-kun?"

The blond bristled.

"It makes perfect sense now." the pale criminal said, walking towards them, eyes on Yamato. "That's why they placed you in charge of him. It appears my experiments have benefited Konoha after all."

'Experiments?' the girls thought, turning to their captain.

"One would think that my old village would be more grateful to me!" Orochimaru said, smiling grotesquely, "Don't you agree, my adorable little lab rat?"

Yamato scowled.

"Who is this man?" Kabuto asked.

Orochimaru placed a hand on his disintegrating face. "It's an old story, one that happened while I still lived in Konoha. The only shinobi in history who could ever use Wood Element techniques, and could ever control Bijuu like they were his pets was the First Hokage. And I wanted that power. I stole DNA samples from the remains of the First Hokage and implanted them in sixty children as an experiment. Oh, their bodies rejected the DNA so violently! They all died in a storm of thrashing and spasms. Just as I was preparing to clean up the mess and record my findings, someone stumbled upon one of my other experiments, and I was forced to leave the village. That, of course, meant my labs had to be abandoned. I assumed all sixty children were dead." He removed his hand, revealing mended skin, a disgusting smile on his face. "I had no idea that one actually survived!"

'And that one was Yamato-taichou…' Ami thought, narrowing her eyes at the snake-like man before them as the puzzle pieces slotted together. 'Does that mean Yamato-taichou can control Jinchuuriki too?'

"I see." Kabuto said, "So in other words, we'll be able to observe the long-term results of your old experiment."

"I'd be much more interested in testing how strong my Sasuke-kun has grown." Orochimaru said, "By pitting him against Naruto-kun."

"He doesn't belong to you!" Naruto snarled, two more tails sprouting from his body. "Don't talk about Sasuke like he's some toy that you own!"

Ami swore as several bands of dark red Chakra shot up high into the air, flailing about the boy as the red Chakra intensified, splinters of wood and pieces of leaves being lifted up into the air, orbiting around the boy.

She shielded her eyes from the wind. It felt as though the air was burning.

The railing split and the wood beneath Naruto's feet was destroyed as the Chakra that had been swinging around receded back into the boy's body.

"Interesting." Orochimaru smirked.

The water-user clenched her fists tighter. 'Naruto can barely control that Chakra. If he grows another tail, I'm sure that things will get very bad very quickly.'

The boy released a terrifying roar that sounded more like a terrible beast than it did his own voice.

Kabuto went for the boy, hand charged with Chakra, and Naruto turned on him, shooting a blast of pure Chakra at the silver-haired boy from his mouth. Kabuto went airborne, shooting to the other side of the bridge into a tree, slamming into Sakura on the way, the girl going flying and hitting her head off the ground, as the bridge's middle shattered under the blast.

The bridge started to fall apart, Sakura unmoving as she slid across the wooden surface, further and further towards the edge.

"Sakura! Get up!" Ami cried, "Or you'll fall off the bridge! GET UP!"

Orochimaru leapt off the crumbling bridge back onto solid earth, running into the forest, and Naruto followed.

"SAKURA!" Ami screamed again.

"Sakura! Answer me!" Yamato yelled.

There was no reply.

The brunette swore foully as she realised that she was unconscious.

The bridge jolted again.

Yamato formed a seal and created several large timbers that burst from the cliff-side, trying to hold the crumbling structure up, but it was too heavy.

"SAI! SAVE SAKURA! I CAN'T REACH FAR ENOUGH!" Ami screamed to the raven.

Sakura slipped off the edge.

"SAI! CATCH HER!"

The pale boy pulled out a scroll and quickly drew a bird, before bringing the artwork to life and leaping off the bridge down onto its back.

He flew straight past the rosette, not even looking back.

Ami's eyes widened in horror as the girl plummeted towards the water below.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Ami roared.

Yamato quickly made a long strip of wood, miraculously grabbing hold of the pinkette. He sighed in relief.

Ami was quivering with rage aimed at Sai. 'I'LL KILL THAT HALF-NAKED BASTARD THE NEXT TIME I SEE HIS UGLY FUCK OF A FACE!' she thought, angry tears trickling from her eyes as Yamato hauled Sakura up, laying her down in front of them both.

A massive explosion could be seen in the distance, presumably where Naruto and Orochimaru were battling, and the brunette's head snapped round towards the commotion, observing the gigantic dust cloud before turning back around to Sakura, who Yamato was trying to wake up.

"Sakura! Hey! Sakura! Wake up!"

The girl's eyes slowly opened and Ami sighed in relief as the girl sat up, telling them that she was alright, before wincing and clutching the back of her head.

"Hey." Yamato said, calling for her attention.

"Excuse me. I'm fine now." Sakura said apologetically, before staring around in confusion at the destroyed bridge. "How…?"

"It was Naruto." Yamato explained.

"Naruto?"

"He's on the other side of the bridge with Orochimaru." the captain explained.

Ami glared at the narrow stream of black smoke rising up in the distance, then took to the sky, searching the air for their traitorous teammate.

Yamato made a wood clone of himself and sent it across the valley to the other side, and the duplicate made a wooden defence for itself as a huge gale burst from the forest, entire tree trunks and branches flying through the air like paper.

Above him, Ami went sailing back under the force of the blast, spinning in the air, just managing to catch and balance herself before she hit the ground on unsteady feet, falling over. She cursed in pain and frustration. "I can't get near! I'm not good enough at flying yet!"

Once the gust stopped, Yamato's clone came out from behind the shield and headed into the forest.

Ami swore, biting her lip.

She wasn't sure who she hoped had made that wind.


I hope you enjoyed! :D