Author's Corner: There are some things that kind of shock me about fanfiction at times. One of them was when I was looking at my locations for hits and found out that someone was reading this from Antarctica. I am seriously impressed that someone from Antarctica would be reading this story. I...hope that with this and penguins they have a great time.

There is something that I would like to complain about a little: I was on Tvtropes and found my story on it (which I'm completely thrilled about) but on it, someone had said that I 'trampled good ideas and shoved character development in the reader's faces' How? No, seriously. I want to know. There is nothing more valuable than constructive criticism. I want to write professionally, and I know it sounds totally selfish, but if you have something you don't like TELL ME! I am not ErinoftheCullenClan or Tara who wrote 'My Immortal'. I won't bite your head off for saying things that I'm doing that are weak. As long as you're not rude, I'll think about what you say. I might not agree, but I will consider it.

I've also been looking over the first chapter and thinking about how eventually I really need to rewrite some parts of it (like the Hyuuga scene and probably put more of a foreshadowing about Madara's involvement so things don't seem ridiculously convenient) to make them more up to standard. Also, since the manga has, in a lot of ways, spun off of my ideas, I'm going to have to make this even more AU then before. I'll try to incorporate as much as I can, but I'm going to keep with my outline overall.

We're getting to the end of this Arc, so get ready to say goodbye to this chaos. The aftermath will be dealt with shortly, and I'm going to incorporate one or more of the filler arcs that I found acceptable into this.

Thoughts on the manga: This is so much fun! So much character trauma is on the way. I love it! Itachi-sama, please come to your senses at some point and tell Sasuke that he's an idiot. I won't even ask you to kill him. Just humiliate him! Please?

I would like to congratulate newboy for coming up with the closest answer to the Orochimaru problem. There were other people who saw it coming, but they didn't review last chapter, so I'm just going to commemorate him.

Disclaimer: Pryotra owns no part of the Naruto franchise. She continues to make these statements because this is the only time that she is able to refer to herself in the third person without sounding either pompous or completely insane.

Thanks to Ibby-kun (MegaB) for all his hard work as beta!

When the sword of rebellion is drawn, the sheath should be thrown away.
-English Proverb


Sakura was starting to get irritated by the fact that the two kept dodging. The only thing that they had going for them was their speed. The kid with the weird things on his arms might have been able to fight, but he needed more time than Sakura was giving him. Same with the girl. She needed to set up her attack, and Sakura wasn't going to let that happen.

All she needed was one like mistake. One little slip up or underestimation. Well, looked like she'd have to make one. Sakura made a motion like she had lost her balance for just a second, in in that second, the boy's eyes moved towards his teammate.

"So, do you think she can fight now," the boy asked the girl sarcastically.

"Oh, would you shut up," she growled.

"This was your brilliant idea," he shot back.

"Shannaro!" Sakura cheered as she managed to punch the boy's gut.

The boy flew back and crashed over the bridge towards where Haku was. It was hard to tell with the mist that Haku had called up.

"Zaku!" the girl looked over to where he had just been only to have Sakura appear in front of her.

"Teammates shouldn't fight with one another," she said, cracking her knuckles, "It distracts them. You're really Genin aren't you?"

"What's that got to do with it," the girl spat, "I'm just as tough as you are!"

Sakura laughed a little bit.

"Your boss doesn't train you much if you think that," she said, "Now, get your friend up, and stand in front of me. If you move like you're going to escape, I'll brain you."

"They'll find a way to escape," an old woman's voice said.

Sakura whirled around to see the old woman from before, Chiyo-san or something, watching her.

"I know but-hey, what happened to the guy who'd never heard of respecting his elders?" Sakura started and interrupted herself.

Chiyo watched her and nodded to herself about something.

"He disappeared. I managed to fight him for a while, but he refused to fight," she broke off, muttering to herself about what she was going to do to him when she found out who he was, "I'll tell you this, that boy was no Konoha nin."

"Why...are you telling me this?" Sakura's eyes narrowed behind her mask.

"Because you're invading this city," the old woman shrugged, "And because you actually thought about someone beside yourself. At my age you start to notice the selfishness of others. Consider it something of a reward."

Sakura had the feeling suddenly that that old woman would have been just fine without any help. All Sakura had done was make her...interested. Well, there was nothing that Sakura could do but wait and see what happened. That and watch like she was going to do with prisoners. It was pretty clear that Chiyo was going to tag along.

Sakura turned back to the girl and Zaku, who had been pulled up. They stared at her apprehensively.

"Orochimaru-sama's going to use us as test subjects once he figures out that we've failed," Zaku muttered, "Kabuto will probably use us for that freaky resurrection thing that he's been working on in his spare time."

"Resurrection thing?" Sakura said, walking up, "That sounds fascinating. You'll have to tell me all about it once Haku's done with your friend, and we have time to question you."


Shino was getting kind of heavy. Good thing they were almost there

Sasuke bit back the curse that was working its way out of his mouth, and decided to use his anger for a more productive purpose:

"Oi, Shino," he said, "If you don't tell me how you know about Naruto and me, I'm going to drop you."

"It's not an impressive story, Sasuke-kun," Shino said, "And, as I told you, I have no intention of betraying you."

"That's nice," Sasuke said.

They were almost at the designated area for the wounded and any civilians that Kinen found. As Sasuke jumped out of the trees, it came in sight. It mostly looked like a group of people, mostly standing, some sitting, against one of the walls that enclosed Konoha. Good thing for them that the explosion and the smoke that showed one of the walls being breached was on the other side.

For a moment, Sasuke looked for familiar faces. Haku and Sakura weren't there, so they must have run into someone on the way. He was surprised to see the face of Shizune, who was wearing a black outfit with sleeves that covered her hands. Well, it wouldn't have made sense to have what she usually wore. Heels would have been a very bad thing in this kind of a fight and Tonton would have probably gotten herself killed.

Shizune looked over at Sasuke, smiled in a forced kind of way, and indicated him to set Shino by the purple haired former ANBU, who was nursing a badly cut shoulder.

"You're as stubborn as I remember you," Shino sighed as he was abruptly set down (more like dropped), "When we were children, I wanted to see which of our classmates I wanted to be in a team with. While I knew that I had little control the selection, I also knew that there should be people who I should actually wish to work with. The best way to see how people truly are is to see what they do when faced with something weaker than they are."

"You used one of your bugs didn't you?" Sasuke said, not bothering to mention that it was a completely stupid thing to use in that kind of a test. Shino wouldn't have understood.

Sasuke didn't remember much about that clan, but he did remember that they didn't really see bugs the way normal people did.

"Yes, they were spiders I believe. I had not been permitted to use my own bugs for something like that at the time. They were still getting accustomed to my body,"

Sasuke didn't say just how disgusting that sounded.

"The girls mostly behaved the same way. They screamed and killed them. Hinata-san did nothing and allowed it to go its way, and I don't believe that Sakura-san noticed it. You watched yours but killed it the moment that it touched you. The one who acted differently was Naruto-kun. He actually saved his spider. Before that, I had paid him no attention. My family saw him as something of a nuisance, and I

considered him loud and untalented."

That would be the Kyuubi at work. The thing had a habit of making just about anyone dislike Naruto on the spot. After sensing its Chakra in the Forest of Death, Sasuke could see just how that was possible. No living thing would be able to stand the feeling unless it was used to it. It was probably lucky for Naruto that they had been forced together.

"After that, I had hoped that I would be teamed up with him. When I saw you again," Shino continued, "I recognized Naruto-kun by the whisker marks on his face."

Sasuke hoped that the Kyuubi would spend the rest of its existence in the stomach of one host or another. Being digested.

"I assumed that since he was alive, that you were also all alive. It seemed to be a logical conclusion, but at the same time, I wasn't sure what I should do. It was clear that you had no wish to be found out, but I wasn't sure what your motivation was."

"So you kept your mouth shut and dropped little hints. That was stupid," Sasuke said, Shizune looked like she was busy with someone else.

Shino was quiet and then nodded, "You're probably right, Sasuke-kun. Your white-haired friend did look rather murderous sometimes."

"Oh, it wasn't Kimimaro you needed to worry about. He would have just killed you quickly. You should have worried about Haku. He would have been the one to drug you, slowly get all of the information that you knew out of you and then returned you to Konoha completely addicted to something that only he could give you so that you'd always be a source of information and keep our secrets."

Shino stiffened a little.

"Your friend sounds...rather frightening,"

"He's a closet evil mastermind,"

"I see,"

They were both silent for a moment, and Sasuke spoke again, "You were the one who gave us that note, right?"

"Yes, I wished to assure you that I wasn't an enemy. I had decided when I met you again that I would help you. My family disagrees with many of the reformations that Konoha has been through, and I am acting as an...emissary."

So he was basically there to make a possible political alliance that the family could ignore if they failed as a single rebellious child. Clan politics...

Sasuke bit down the surge of annoyance towards Naruto that he felt for a moment. It seemed that the only reason that Shino was even going to join that was Naruto, and the feeling of jealousy was very much there. Sasuke shoved it down and reminded himself that Naruto also had Kyuubi.

He supposed that it evened out in the end. Besides, it wasn't like he would have changed anything.

It was then that Sasuke realized something strange in retrospect: he hadn't seen much of the Uchiha clan other than Yumi since the invasion had begun.


Hinata honestly felt a little guilty as she and her sister ran with Hayate through the streets. She honestly hadn't ever really thought of Hanabi that much after she left. What she had thought had been that she would grow up to be strong, cold, and everything that her father wanted. The idea that Hanabi had been miserable had never even come to her.

The idea that the Branch Family was a bomb waiting to go off had. The fact that they had taken advantage of the fighting, when the Hyuuga wasn't necessarily paying enough attention to use the Seal, or attack in a group so that they couldn't tell who to use it on, was something that didn't surprise Hinata.

It also didn't really surprise her that the rebellion, as spontaneous as it was, was being badly crushed.

"Hanabi, where was Otou-sama?" Hinata asked as they ran.

"Closer to our complex..." Hanabi said, breathing evenly. She would probably be more powerfully gifted at the Byakugan than Hinata was without the Tenshi Byakugan. "I think he went the opposite way."

Hinata nodded.

There was a blur of motion and Kakashi landed next to them.

Hinata had only seen him when he was in a more or less amiable mood. Now he was completely serious, and the single Sharingan that Shizune had told her about was very much visible. Shizune had said that the only time that he showed that eye was when he seriously intended to kill someone. If he wasn't taking an opponent seriously, he wouldn't show his eye.

"Where's Rasen?" He asked. Looking over the three of them.

"He's busy with a civilian," Hayate said, "How are things going?"

"Badly," Kakashi said, his eye narrow, "Between the joint invasion and ROOT we have our hands full. The Uchiha clan's keeping a low profile right now, but some of its police are out. They're probably planning something, or reorganizing themselves. I'd imagine Fugaku's death would have come as a surprise to them. Danzou still hadn't attacked himself, but it's only a matter of time."

"Gesshoku!" Hinata looked up to see the forms of Jiraiya and Tsunade, supporting Orochimaru land in front of her.

Everyone jumped back a little.

"Jiraiya-sama?" Hayate said, stepping another pace back, "...why are you carrying Orochimaru?"

"We need to make sure of something. During our battle, he started to act strangely. We want to see if there's anything...wrong with him...if you know what I mean," Jiraiya said, looking shifty.

"Is there a reason why you can't just say you want to see if there's a seal on him? You're kind of making it sound...dirty..." she said softly.

Sometimes she forgot just why Naruto called him Ero-sennin.

"What Jiraiya means is that we want to see if there are any seals on Orochimaru. Can you see anything strange?" Tsunade asked.

Hinata nodded and felt the slight pull as the Tenshi Byakugan activated, and she focused on Orochimaru's Chakra system. It was...strange...the pathways seemed very strained and twisted somehow. Then Hinata focused on his head.

"There's something on his head...it looks like it's around his brain," Hinata muttered, "I've never seen anything like it, but it's...sending signals to the rest of him and blocking something else. I...I think it's some kind of seal, but I haven't heard of this kind."

"I have," Hayate's voice made all of them jump. He smiled a little bit and added, "Jiraiya-sama's report about Akatsuki mentioned something similar."

Kakashi suddenly nodded, "I remember. One of them is rumored to be able to use seals on some of his underlings so that they can infiltrate villages. Is that what you're talking about?"

Jiraiya crossed his arms and cocked his head to one side, "Seal...oh, yes that one. It's a variant of a puppet technique and..."

He trailed off and looked at Orochimaru wide eyes.

"I'll take it off, but I don't know how much damage it's already done to him. I-it might kill him," Hinata said, ducking her head down, trying to pretend that everyone wasn't staring at her. This was making her more nervous than she had felt in years.

Tsunade and Jiraiya looked at one another, and then nodded.

"Do it," he said in a voice that was more gentle than she'd heard from Jiraiya in her life, "He would have preferred it."

Hinata nodded.

The last time that she had destroyed a seal was when they were children. Hinata had learned to see Chakra, but she had not been all that active in taking seals off and on. It wasn't something that was necessary all that much, and that made this even more stressful.

Hinata also had the sinking feeling that if she did something wrong, she would kill him.

It was like unraveling a very large piece of thread that had gotten tangled up in an enormous knot, but she didn't have the scissors that it would take to cut it. Hinata gently traced the trail of the seal with her own Chakra the way that she had done for Neji all those years ago. As she traced the paths seal's marks, she saw it disappearing, but felt much more drain than she had before.

Something banged to Hinata's right.

"Don't move. Keep your focus," Kakashi said, "We'll take care of everything else."

Hinata nodded, "Alright, give me just a little more time."

She didn't need all that much. Just a little. The knot was starting to slowly unravel, and she was starting to see what looked like some kind of core, almost embedded into the brain. Hinata gently tugged at the knot and the core, and felt it slowly give.

There was a rush of energy, and the thing dispersed the way Neji's seal had, and Hinata fell to her knees, breathing hard.

And a kunai landed right in front of her.


It was strange, but this wasn't the real ROOT.

Sai ushered Ino and her cousins up the stairs of the flower shop to the family's living quarters, ignoring the sound of the person at the door. There was a little surprise waiting for him when he got that door opened.

"Something's wrong," Sai said at last, he wasn't smiling for the first time that Ino had seen him, "I know ROOT. They don't act like this. At least...the fully initiated don't."

"What do you mean?" Ino had a dismissive tone in her voice that said she didn't think Sai knew that he was talking about, "I recognize some of those masks. They're the same guys who've been hanging around since the war with Iwa."

"ROOT has three divisions based on experience and power level," Sai recited the lesson he had learned so long ago, "The first division is made up primarily of children that have been recruited by the organization and adults that do not show any particular talent. Their purpose is to be the most visible in any attack. The second division is made up more of Chuunin to low ranking Jonin-level members. They are not called to attack as often, but are very numerous and well organized. The final division is the true ROOT. Danzou's elite who all other divisions aspire to become. They are rarely seen, but are on level, or perhaps stronger than, the old ANBU. So far, what we've mostly seen is the first division, and a small part of the second. Most of our enemies have been the main families and the joint Suna-Oto invasion."

"You're saying that...ROOT's counterattack hasn't really begun yet," Ino said at last.

"No, it's begun, but they are scattering and tiring their enemy because he attacks completely. ROOT is much, much bigger than it used to be," Sai said, "We need to get to the safe point where I can get a message to the others."

Ino looked very hard at Sai.

"How do you know all this...who are you really?" she said.

Sai smiled at her, "My name is Sai, Miss Gorgeous. I made it up myself. I used to be a member of ROOT, if you can count their war orphans. They teach you a lot of things there, and I have a very good memory."

"Your mask is wrong," One of Ino's cousins, a little girl named Ai said, narrowing her eyes at him in a very un-childish look, "ROOT all has animal masks."

"Yeah," Hoshi, the other one said, clinging to her cousin, "I see them every day!"

"Well, this isn't my ROOT mask. I was only six when we left. I never received one," Sai said, "It's a very depressing story, and I don't really want to tell you it. Now, all we have to do is get to the top, and I'll get you to the point that we set up. You'll have to stay there."

"My...father..." Ino said softly.

"He was fine when I saw him last," Sai smiled, neglecting to mention that that was quite a while ago, and he had received the message to get her from another source. At the moment they couldn't afford to be worried or thinking about anything else but survival.

They ran up the stairs, only stopping once when the door downstairs was forced open and their heard the sounds of a startled noise and a hissing, growling sound that didn't sound at all human. Ino looked back for a moment, but Sai kept her going.

At the moment, everything was going the way he wanted, but that ROOT nin would probably get past the guard faster than he wanted.

Sure enough, the sound was starting to tell him that the ROOT nin was starting to gain the upper hand.

Sai didn't say anything; he just nodded up the stairs and pointed. They needed to move faster.

Inochi had told Sai about the panel that led to the room. (In the linen closet of all places.) And when he reached the door, he opened it.

"Miss Gorgeous, how do you open the passage?" he asked.

Ino blinked, shook her head, muttered something under her breath that sounded like 'stupid' and pressed one hand against one of the shelves, pulled the shelf and the pushed one of the walls in the side.

It opened with only a small click and swung behind them.

"If you try any other method the traps will activate," Ino muttered. She sounded like she was remembering something.

"Did your father tell you that?" Sai asked.

"Yes," Ino looked down, "He said I should always be careful. I never thought..."

She stopped talking, putting her head down.

"You never think you'll need something until you do," Sai said lightly.

The passage wasn't well used. It was dusty and old with signs of ill repair and a few rotten looking places. The house was older than it looked, but Inoichi hadn't seemed to have thought that he would have ever needed to worry about this thing. Well, it had been a very long time since Konoha had actually been attacked by enemy nin. Even the Kyuubi assault had just been that. Sai supposed that people started to believe that invasions happened to other people.

It was kind of foolish though. If they were going to have a coup...it might have been smart to be prepared for the worst. Or maybe this was perfectly prepared to look like this. Sai did notice that their feet weren't leaving any kinds of marks on the dusty floor. So it was either painted to look that way or it was a genjutsu.

Sai suddenly felt so much better.

The sounds from behind them had stopped for the moment, so the ROOT nin was probably looking for them now. The panel had given them a head start, but Sai needed to get Ino and the kids to safety before fighting him.

If he didn't, the girls would have killed him. Or worse.

The children were starting to whimper and cling closer to Ino. Sai looked behind them, but didn't hear anything yet.

"How much further?" He whispered.

"Not much," Ino hissed back.

There was a sound behind them, and Sai smiled wider.

"You go on ahead, I'll catch up in a moment,"

"Oh no you don't," Ino grabbed his arm. "What happens when they're outside waiting for us?"

Sai hadn't thought of that. He hadn't been hearing much outside the building, but it could easily be a trap. After all, Ino was a valuable hostage. The clan head's daughter as a ransom was pretty sure to make the family stop, and Danzou would be sure to have Ino killed and replaced. There was that one clan who could make themselves look like anyone. Maybe Danzou had recruited them.

Throwing caution to the winds, Sai and Ino picked up one child each and started to run. The footsteps behind them started to gain speed, and there was something starting to shine ahead of them.

They both ran out into blinding light, and for a moment, Sai was too blind to even be able to attack. It was a good thing that his own attacks had taught him how to fight when he couldn't see properly. The sound of someone moving to his right made Sai move to one side and take out his sketchbook, and, hoping that whatever he had chosen was nasty, activated the technique to bring it to life.

As Sai's eyes adjusted he saw two ROOT members. One from the first division and one from the second, looking at Sai's three tailed tiger wolf. While a good hit would usually dispel them when he wasn't putting a lot of Chakra into them, they usually had an intimidation factor that gave him time to summon something else.

Sai opened his book again, looking at the eagle drawing and brought it out. It appeared underneath all of them and brought them sharply up, giving Sai a good view of everything around them.

The South section of Konoha, where one of the walls had been torn down was in flames, there was...what looked like a giant cat with two tails rampaging around. The other sections were in better condition, but it looked like something was going to happen. The crowd around the Hokage Monument was starting to thin out, and it looked like there would be a decisive victory for Kinen or the Suna-Oto alliance.

Danzou would attack from there. Sai had been taught before in ROOT that the best thing to do was to give the enemy a brief taste of victory before snatching it from them.

"What-what is this" Ino gasped out Sai had almost forgotten about her and her cousins.

"I guess you could call this defying gravity, Miss Gorgeous."

He had really wanted to say that ever since that time in the flower shop, but the times that he had envisioned saying it had usually involved him reaching out to her from one of his birds, and this sounded slightly random. Still, it was better than nothing, Sai supposed, hopefully Ino remembered where that came from.


Konohamaru had been all but carried through the streets to the Hokage Monument, and now here he was, right in front of Danzou and his counsel. Well, part of his counsel. Uchiha Mikoto, baring a grim look, was there in the place of her late husband.

"What is wrong, Tsume-san," Danzou asked, turning to face her. Kiba, who had been there to make account of himself after Kakashi's betrayal, ran up to them.

"Mom, what's going on?" he ask, "We haven't seen Shino or Yumi since everything started, and I'm not allowed to fight! Ibiki says it's because my loyalties-"

"Hokage-sama," Tsume said, putting one hand and Kiba's shoulders and one on Konohamaru. "Konohamaru-kun here has important news,"

"And what is that?" Danzou asked, his eyes fixed on Konohamaru.

It was the first time that he had really been close to the man. While his family had seen Danzou every so often, Konohamaru had usually been sent to play in his bedroom by his uncle Asuma while everything was talked about between those two. Without Asuma there, it was honestly a disturbing thing to look at the imposing figure.

Where was Uncle Asuma anyway? He hadn't seen him at all since the battle had begun.

"I-I," seemed to be the only thing that wanted to come out right now. Konohamaru took a breath, closed his eyes and started again, "I saw Hyuuga Hanabi talking to two strange ninja who were wearing masks. She seemed to know them and called them "Onee-san and Neji-nii-san."

It all seemed to come out in a rush, and Konohamaru panted a little at the effort.

For a moment Danzou was completely silent, but he looked at Konohamaru hard.

"Are you sure about that, Konohamaru-kun?" he asked.

"Y-yes, Hokage-sama," Konohamaru gasped out.

"It appears that not all of the Senju clan is traitorous," Danzou said softly, "Konohamaru-kun here is still loyal to his home. Inuzuka-san, make sure that he has a place here to wait out the battle. It appears that the missing children that Iwa kidnapped as hostages were found. I suppose that either Iwa decided that the children would be better slaves or the children themselves attempted to escape but only made it into someone else's power."

"We have to find them and capture them," Tsume said.

Kiba ran up behind both of them, his eyes much wider than Konohamaru had ever seen them.

"Mom-"

"I cannot afford to waste the lives of loyal men and women for the sake of a few misguided children," Danzou shook his head, "From the reports coming from my men on the field, they have had training. There are too many problems. The Nibi container managed to escape and is causing trouble, and even with the counterattack, this is too much of a gamble without attempting to capture anyone. Kill them on sight."

Tsume stiffened, but bowed.

"Yes...Hokage-sama," she said, "Kiba, come with me. You too Konohamaru,"

Kiba fell into step behind his mother as Konohamaru ran behind him, taking one look behind him at the impassive Hokage. What had he meant that not all of his clan were loyal? It was only him and Asuma now. Everyone was always saying what his grandfather did wrong! Now they were even calling him disloyal!

"Kiba, stay here with Konohamaru," Tsume said, not looking behind her.

"But, Mom, maybe I can-" Kiba started.

"No," Tsume's voice was harder than it usually was, "I don't want you out there right now,"

"But if Hinata and Neji are there-" Kiba started again.

"Do you want to kill your old friend?" Tsume snapped.

Kiba jerked back like he had been struck.

"You heard the Hokage. There's nothing that can be done. Even if you capture him, he'll be executed," Tsume's hands were in fists, "I'll go look for them along with the rest in the counterattack."

"But...the Hokage...Naruto...I..." Kiba was struggling.

"There are times when being a ninja means following orders that you don't like. I remember just how upset you were when those kids were kidnapped, even though you didn't want to admit that you had been friends with the village outcast, Uzumaki Naruto. I won't let you face him now. You'll have to face it one day...but..."

Konohamaru didn't really understand the conversation, but he did remember the name Naruto from his classes. He had been one of the children who had been kidnapped by Iwa. Konoha had started a retrieval mission that had escalated into war, but then when Konoha finally prevailed, they found out that there were no records of what had happened to the children, just as there were none of the assassination of the Hokage.

To this day, Iwa refused to admit to the kidnapping or the assassination, and most people thought that it was a branch that was rebellious. Still, what was done was done right? And even though Iwa didn't have the records, you never knew.

Kiba opened his mouth but stopped and hung his head.

"I understand," he muttered.

"Good. Look after him," Tsume said with a last look behind her and running off.

Kiba watched her go and gritted his teeth. Then he turned to Konohamaru.

"Go talk to my cousin, Kou, the guy with the white dog over there. He'll take you to the designated safe spot for your family," he said.

"But you're supposed to come with me!" Konohamaru pointed, "A man never goes back on his word! Taiki-nii-san told me that."

"I didn't promise did I?" Kiba grinned, "I have to talk to an old friend." For a second his smile faltered, "Taiki..." he muttered, "I'm such an idiot."

He took off without another word, leaving a confused Konohamaru behind.


The three remaining Oto nin hadn't taken the death of their teammate well.

They had been obviously shocked when they realized that Kimimaro hadn't incapacitated the fat member, and that he was going straight for the rest of them without so much as looking back to check on the damage that he had done.

They seemed to have some kind of misguided notion that people fighting them wouldn't kill them, but going for the kill themselves was alright. Kimimaro had every intention of stripping them of that little fantasy.

Why did everyone always assume that just because they were allied with a city that was known to be relatively more merciful than the other cities wouldn't kill?

Well, Kimimaro supposed that Naruto would have probably not killed them. Haku definitely wouldn't have, but the others more or less depended on the situation. Sasuke would probably torture if the person in question had hurt someone who he cared about.

The spider boy was shooting golden pseudo kunai at him at a very fast rate. It really was too bad that Kimimaro was faster. The two headed one looked like he was going to get in close though.

"Tarenkyaku!" one of the heads roared, sending far too many kicks for one body.

Kimimaro stepped back, using one of his whips to wrap around the boy, trapping him, but before Kimimaro could finish what he had started, the spider kid attacked again.

"I think we just met our Boss character," He grinned, spitting some more of the gold kunai, and making Kimimaro jump back. It didn't make him let go of the whip. It was too bad that he was smart and was keeping out of Kimimaro's way. It would have made the whole thing so much easier.

It looked like he was going to have to go about things one at a time.

"Would you stop with your stupid RPG analogies?" one of the heads snarled, "Trash is trash, even if it's tough trash!"

"Both of you, shut up!" the girl yelled, "Fight. Now. Focus."

Both boys swore at her.

"Trash, am I?" Kimimaro asked, "We'll see."

The two-headed one was trapped for the moment, but he could still use his legs, and he had a look that told Kimimaro that the two-headed kid was planning something. Well, he wasn't going to walk into a trap. Particularly when the person couldn't keep the glee from his eyes.

Kimimaro whirled and made a jump towards the spider boy jumping up the tree to meet him before he could jump away.

There was a sudden piecing note ripping the air, and Kimimaro almost didn't land on the branch. The whole world felt like it was spinning, but from the looks of it, the spider guy was having the same trouble staying balanced.

"Tayuya!" he screamed, "Stop helping me, wench!"

"Deal with it, Kidomaru!" Tayuya snarled.

Kidomaru overbalanced, falling off of the branch towards the ground, and Kimimaro jumped after him, closing his eyes and focusing on the feeling of his skeleton.

"Tessenka no Mai: Hana."

The bones on Kimimaro's wrist grew out, spiraling around one another until they created a spear that somewhat resembled a flower. Kimimaro pointed it at the center of the boy's skeleton.

They both crashed to the ground, and Kimimaro slowly stood up, opening his eyes and looking at the two remaining.

"Two down," Kimimaro muttered.


It was easier in some ways to fight the Kyuubi-Sora as opposed to normal Sora. He was definitely stupider this way, and Kyuubi was, hopefully, not having as easy a time controlling him as it seemed.

At least that was what Naruto thought from the way that he wasn't nearly as uncontrolled as he had been when he was human.

Maybe it was because Kyuubi was actually smart and worked with a strategy other than kill anything that moves and rip it into little bitty pieces.

There was another roar and the thing sent more energy out at Naruto, but Naruto disappeared with a puff of smoke. Without Sasuke or Shino this would be hard, but it was easier to face the Kyuubi when it was outside of him than when it was inside. Still, he needed a good plan on very short notice.

While Rasengan was his strongest technique a full facial attack hadn't really done all that much. He needed to tire him out some more. Even more then the bugs had been draining Chakra out of him this entire time. If there was enough Chakra drained out, he would get exhausted and Fuzzy Wuzzy wouldn't be able to keep up the connection.

At least, that was what Naruto was really hoping for.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, and dashed along with the five clones to ignore the tails that were trying to attack them. The flat, almost human head tried to bite at them, but Naruto kept away, attacking with a kunai and then jumping back.

"Come on," Naruto muttered, "Keep on attacking."

The tails very suddenly stopped and Naruto cut the thing and jumped back. It wasn't attacking anymore, just growling and watching him.

Naruto tensed.

Could Kyuubi read his mind since it was in Naruto stomach?

No, that was impossible. If it had, it wouldn't have gone this far.

Unless it wanted to enjoy taking victory just when Naruto was almost there.

That sounded like something it would like.

Then he had to do something different, and do it so that it was completely spur of the moment. That way, even if Kyuubi did hear him, it wouldn't have time to do too much.

The Kage Bunshin all attacked in unison, and Naruto dropped down from one side with two more Kage
Bunshin with him to attack. The Kyuubi-Sora didn't seem all that interested in attacking with more than its tails and all of them shot out at Naruto, impaling him.

And covering him with water.

"Rai Bunshin!" Naruto yelled from behind the last one.

The second Bunshin exploded into lightning covering the Kyuubi-Sora. It let out a strange screaming cry and looked up to see Naruto running towards it with a Kage Bunshin right behind him.

"Odama Rasengan!" He yelled, slamming the ball of swirling energy into the thing's side.

There was another eerie high pitched scream, and the Naruto watched as the transformation slowly reversed. The reddish Chakra slowly receded, and Sora's battered form, the skin raw and bleeding started to appear. There was a final swirl of energy and for a moment, Naruto could see the Kyuubi's form etched into the energy as it surrounded him and entered his body.

Naruto was panting hard, and he slowly turned away, jumping to a tree, landing unsteadily and hopping to the next one on all fours. For the first time in his life he wished he had one of Sakura's soldier pills on him. His whole body ached and his head was spinning.

"Chakra exhaustion is the worst," he sighed, "and Baa-chan's going to yell at me for this..."

Someone landed in front of him.

Naruto looked up and sighed. Kiba and Akamaru. Both fresh and ready for a fight. Naruto had a few more Kage Bunshin in him he supposed.

"I followed your smell, Taiki. Or...Naruto," Kiba breathed.


Being near water made it so that Haku could attack all the better. After all, ice was just a blend of air and water Chakra. If there wasn't enough water, he couldn't use his techniques. Liquid water actually made it so that he had less Chakra being burned, which was a good thing.

Dosu moved to attack and for the first time noticed something.

"What's with my arm," he muttered.

"Those senbon have a drug on them that numbs the muscles. I've also struck you in places in the arms that have slowed the signals to your brain," Haku didn't mind telling him.

Dosu cursed, "I still have my melody arm!" he said, and he moved that slowly, for the first time noticing the senbon in his shoulder.

"You really planned this out didn't you?" Dosu asked.

"I don't want to kill you, Dosu-san," Haku pressed, "Just surrender."

"I can still fight!" Duso yelled.

Haku sighed and the ice that Dosu was close to spiked out very quickly until there was one of them imbedded in his arm.

"I told you that I was holding myself back just to talk to you," Haku reminded him, "I really don't want to kill you, Dosu-san, but if you make me, I will."

"I'll do it," Isaribi said softly, "I don't mind it as much as you do."

Dosu looked between the pair, and looked towards the bridge. There hadn't been many sounds coming from there after an explosion. It looked like Sakura had gotten a hit in, and that would have ended the battle.

"Your teammates can't help you, and you can't even move anymore," Haku said, "Isaribi-san, I don't think that it's necessary to kill him, I'll knock him out and we can take him to the place where I assume Shizune is."

Isaribi nodded once, and the scales seemed to recede into her body. Haku smiled a little.

"I'm glad that Tsunade-sama was able to help you," he said.

"...It's thanks to you..." Isarabi said, looking away, "If you hadn't told me about her...and brought me...I never would have been able to look human again, but...I'm glad it isn't gone."

Haku blinked, "Really?"

Isaribi nodded, "I think that...it's a part of who I am...and...I shouldn't forget what happened...or that it...didn't make me a monster."

Haku smiled slightly and turned to Dosu, taking out another senbon.

"Don't worry, Dosu-san, this won't hurt all that much,"

His arm was numb anyways so it didn't matter much.


With his new prisoners in tow, Gaara headed back towards Nara Shikaku and his group. The Suna group had basically retreated the moment they had seen Gaara win against his siblings, but Oto was still there.

Temari, Kankuro and Matsuri were all bound by Gaara's sand which allowed them to walk, but that was about it. Well, they could talk, too.

"What are you going to do, Gaara," Kankuro asked nervously, "...we...didn't have anything to do with what Dad did. You know that, right? We never harassed you. You remember, right?"

Gaara turned to look at his brother. Actually, Gaara couldn't remember ever having actually spoken to Kankuro. Their father had kept both of his normal children as far away from Gaara as he could, and it had only really been by chance that he had spoken to his sister.

Well, there had been one time, and it hadn't really been a conversation. Kankuro had been playing alone with puppets, trying to make them move with Chakra strings, and Gaara had sat down to watch from a more or less hidden place.

"...We were just as bad, Kankuro-san," Matsuri muttered, "We should have known better."

"Who asked you?" Kankuro hissed, "And don't encourage him!"

"I'm not here for revenge, Kankuro. I was honestly surprised to see you and Temari. I am angry with father, though. Where is he?"

Kankuro looked away. Temari gave him a calculating look.

"We don't know where he is. No one's seen any trace of him since the battle started," Her voice was completely calm.

Nara Shikaku dashed up to the group of them before Gaara could respond.

"Sabaku, we need to move out of this area and prepare. I've just gotten a message from Ibiki. Danzou hasn't really attacked yet. These guys were just a precaution. I've already sent a messenger hawk. Now I see why they pulled back so easily."

Gaara looked over at the rest of the rebellion. They looked tired, and there were a lot of injured people. This was bad. They had been outnumbered to begin with. For a while he had thought that even without Danzou dead, the confusion would help enough for them to win.

Gaara nodded, but not before looking up at Danzou's face on the monument, and the group of people that was starting to spread out.

"I don't think we'll have time for that," he said softly, his sand starting to spread out.


Omake: A Scene that Never Made It

While Orochimau was fighting against Jiraiya and Tsunade he suddenly noticed Sasuke fighting Yumi, and his neck suddenly shot out. He had been looking for a young Uchiha boy to try this new seal on, and here one was! Uchiha Itachi-kun's little brother, Uchiha Sasuke-kun! No one else in the clan would have been that young!

Sasuke barely had time to turn as the man shot towards him and bit down on his neck, savoring the taste of victory.

Only...victory tasted like wood. And tar.

There was a puff of smoke and Orochimaru found himself biting into what looked like a railroad tie. He looked up to see Itachi with his younger brother in a vice grip.

Itachi held out one hand. "Mind crush," he said calmly.


Finally done. I really wanted this to be finished earlier, but it didn't work out that way. Blame Naruto's Kyuubi fight. I had to think of something interesting. I really, really hate writing fight scenes. I hope it wasn't too bad.

This chapter is not one of my favorites, but I hope you guys enjoy it. I've been planning it for a while, but it didn't seem to come out quite the way I meant it too.

Now to resolve some other fights and get to the outcome of the whole joy.

Notes:

Orochimaru: Please don't be under the impression that I'm going to completely derail his character. I'm going to derail it, but only enough for my idea to work. I am prepared for being flamed for daring to attempt to do this to a character who is so obviously the villain. Once I finish getting my firefighter suit on, I'll be all set.

Secret Passage: I remember reading in a few places that in real hidden villages the houses usually had trap doors and panels to either attack from, hide, or escape from a sudden attack. Since they were basically a group of assassins that lived on the land of whatever daimyo happened to own it, they couldn't depend on having a lot of help. I would assume that since Ino's family is apparently a older clan, they would have some of these things in their house, more for tradition than anything else. Actually, most of Konoha would probably have these if they were ninja families.

Appearance Changing Clan: Do you remember on of the Naruto fillers where Hinata, Naruto and Kiba went up against a clan that could make themselves a perfect copy of anyone? Probably not. It wasn't the most inspired of arcs, but it's something to use in passing I guess.

Kimimaro's age: Just so you all know, I looked on Narutopedia when I started this fic and Kimimaro is actually the same age as Haku. Which is, in this story and when he died, fifteen. I've gotten a few messages saying that Kimimaro was an adult when he died, but he wasn't. He just doesn't look much like any fifteen year old that I've ever seen. I hope this clears things up.

Kimimaro's fight: The databooks said that he basically Curb Stomped the Sound Four. I'm trying to make it look realistic, but I'm not sure if I did. One vs. four people is surprisingly difficult to make sound like it's even remotely possible.

The Omake: This was the basic gist of a scene that I had planned in one of the earlier versions of the story (without the Mind Crush). I didn't use it for various reasons, but it kind of stuck with me, so I decided to use it as an Omake. You'd be amazed by how much this story has changed from my original conception of it. My first outline had something to do with them being found, brought back into Konoha and made into Team Hatake, thereby to do what lots of fanfiction has done before. Aren't you guys glad I changed it?

Translations:

Tarenkyaku – Multiple Connecting Kicks: Ukon's legs sprout from one of Sakon's and they kick the opponent, tripling the usual damage.

Tessenka no Mai: Hana – Dance of the Clematis: Flower: This is a follow-up to the Dance of the Clematis: Vine. Kimimaro's entire forearm is encased in a giant drill made of bone to attack the trapped victim. The bone is strengthened (through compression and its plaited spiral shape) to become the hardest type of bone the body can produce. The bone resembles a flower, hence the name.

Review!

~Pryotra