Chapter 36

The alarms were blaring, putting the guards in the prison quarters on edge. In a cell in the front, Zaku loudly crowed at the guards.

"I told you. I told you all that Lord Orochimaru would not abandon us! He's coming for you all and we will burn this village to the ground!" he shouted. Kin, who was in a separate cell, stayed quiet. Unlike Zaku, she was beginning to have doubts about the reason Lord Orochimaru was coming for them. She only had these thoughts after her talk with Dosu last night. It was an eye opener to her.

***Flashback***

"What are you talking about?" Kin demanded. She was glaring a hole right through the bandage shinobi. She wasn't the only one. Zaku was also glaring a hole through him.

"How dare you betray Lord Orochimaru?" Zaku hissed.

"He betrayed me first." Dosu stated.

"You don't actually believe those lies. They are just saying those things to break us. There is no way that Lord Orochimaru sent us as a test, to be killed by Sasuke Uchiha." Kin said. Dosu turned to look at them, his lone eye staring right at them.

"They aren't lying. You two were knocked out already but I saw it. I saw the Curse Mark on the Uchiha. I heard him, glad to test the power of the Curse Mark on me. We weren't sent to be heroes of the Sound. We were sent to die for Orochimaru's new soldier. I refuse to be used like a pawn. I will show him that he made a mistake in sending me to die." Dosu said with conviction. Kin could see that Dosu was serious. He was really serious. Could he truly be telling the truth?

"You damn traitor! I'll make you pay for your betrayal!" Zaku shouted. That's when the guards came in and grabbed Dosu. Kin would look at Dosu who looked right back at her. They would stare at each other before he was led out of the cells.

***Present***

Kin would think about that look for hours. Even the explosion did not banish them. Was Orochimaru just using her? Were the Leaf shinobi telling her the truth? If they were, why did Orochimaru want her? Was he going to kill her? Her thoughts were interrupted when the door was thrown open. It was Ibiki and several guards. The scared man looked at Zaku who glared at him and Kin who looked afraid. Ibiki turned to the guards.

"Get them ready to move. We are going to an ANBU facility." Ibiki ordered. Everyone nodded and went to secure the two. Once secured, they were being moved. However, when the door opened, a paper ball rolled in. It would be seconds before a flash and a loud explosion rocked the room. Everyone was sent flying and hit the ground hard. When the smoke began to clear, Kabuto began to enter the room. He was dragging something, which turned out to be someone. It was Dosu, bloody and beaten but alive.

Kabuto looked around and saw that two were dead and the others were injured or dying. He made his way over to Zaku who struggled to stand. He released Dosu to make his way over to him. His hand glowing green and he put it on Zaku. The boy looked at him with some surprise.

"You? You're with Orochimaru?" Zaku asked with shock. Kabuto just smiled.

"Do not worry. I don't hold any grudge about the first stage. It help to sell your story. I need you to watch over that traitor. We are going to take him with us to face Orochimaru." Kabuto ordered. Zaku nodded and made his way over to Dosu, giving him a kick. Kabuto made his way over to Kin, who was on her knees. Kabuto made his way over to heal her but she backed away from him. Kabuto looked at her with some surprise.

"Come on Kin. We have to go." He said. Kin did not listen and took another step back. He could see that she was looking for a weapon. This did not phase Kabuto and he looked ready to pounce on her. That's when he heard something. It was a canister with its pin removed. Kin was suddenly grabbed by Ibiki who covered her ears. The canister exploded, creating a flash and a high pitch sound. Kabuto felt this feeling before when Dosu attacked him during the first stage. However, the pitch was higher and Kabuto could barely hold his lunch down. The same was for Zaku and Ibiki. Kabuto crawled over to Zaku, blood coming from his ears.

"Come, we have to go." Kabuto stated through clench teeth. He grabbed the two boys and used a seal-less Body Flicker to escape. After a while, the sound stopped and Ibiki began to relax. He would soon pass out from the attack, leaving Kin alone. She would not be alone for long as the ANBU arrived. Kin immediately surrendered to the group without incident.

XXX

Kabuto healed Zaku's ears from the attack. He had already healed himself with his ability so he focused on Zaku. They were miles outside the Leaf Village, currently making their way to the Sound Village. After he was done healing Zaku, he made his way over to Dosu who was still unconscious. He healed him but only a little. He just needed to be alive to face Orochimaru. Zaku would glare at the downed ninja.

"We should kill him. We already know that he betrayed us." Zaku sneered.

"Do not worry too much Zaku. Orochimaru will not allow his betray to stand. He will do much worst to him than death. He will also reward you for staying loyal Zaku. Do not worry, everything will be alright." Kabuto said with a smirk. Zaku just nodded and accepted it. He missed the smirk of Kabuto turn sinister.

XXX

It would be two days before Kin was brought before the Hokage. She was led by ANBU to his office. When they entered, Kin saw the man who saved her from Kabuto and three old people. She figured the one wearing the kage hat was the Hokage. She was led to a seat and her guards walked away from her. All was silent for a while before the Hokage spoke.

"From what Ibiki has explained to me, you resisted when Kabuto came for you. I would like to know why?" Hiruzen asked. Kin just looked around for a minute but decided to cooperate and answer the question.

"Dosu said that Orochimaru betrayed us. That we were used to test the Uchiha. That he has the Curse Mark on him. He was so sure about that and I began to question if he was right. Also, I'm not as naïve to believe that I wasn't going to get punished for my capture. That's just the way it is in the Land of Sound." Kin explained. The elders just nodded at that.

"Your teammate was not lying to you about Sasuke. Your master did mark him. Luckily it has been dealt with." Homura said.

"Either way, we what you to confirm some things that your teammate said before he was captured." Koharu said, cutting to the point. Kin nodded slowly. Ibiki walked up to her.

"Dosu mentioned something about the Sand. What did he mean?" he asked.

"Orochimaru made an alliance with the Sand. We were told to help the Sand genin team if they needed it but we were also told to keep far away from the red head. Apparently, he's kind of unstable. I do know that whatever is going to happen, it's happening during the last part of the exams." Kin said.

"How do you know about that? Would Dosu have told us the same if we were still questioning him?" Ibiki said.

"It is probably the latter. Zaku, the guy who went willingly, has a friend who is just as twisted as he is. He mentioned the plan to him and he was all excited about getting a chance to prove himself. He didn't tell Dosu because he would have told him to keep quiet." Kin said. Hiruzen and the elders were very concerned about what they learned. The fact that such a thing was possible could happen. It only meant one thing in their mind. War was coming. Hiruzen fixed Kin with a glance that scared her.

"Is there anything else that you can tell us? Anything at all?" he said sternly.

"I've told you everything I know! I swear!" Kin exclaimed. Hiruzen looked for any deception but did not find any. He relaxed before facing her again.

"Very well. For the time being, you will be under 24 hour surveillance in an undisclosed location. This will only be until we deal with the threat. Just know, that you will be tried for your actions." Hiruzen said and made a motion. The ANBU came back and took Kin away. Once the door was closed, the three elders looked at each other.

"I knew that the Hidden Sand did like the fact that we were getting their missions but to go as far as to betray the alliance," Homura said.

"Rasa has clearly gotten desperate if he is resorting to this." Koharu added. She them let out a sigh and faced Hiruzen. "Perhaps we should get 'him' involved. He might have some ideas on how to deal with this."

"No. If we were to meet, it would not be a pleasant conversation. I know that it was him who gave Naruto that jutsu and right now, I do not need to hear his ideals on what a ninja should be. We will plan and deal with ourselves for now. Call in all the jonin and chunin. We need to have an emergency meeting."

XXX

Kiba and Akamaru were trading blows in the back yard. The transformed pup was keeping up with the real Kiba but it was only slightly. They had been going at it for a while before the both of them began to do hand seals.

"Lightning Style: Depth Charge!" Kiba shouted. Both he and Akamaru were covered in lightning. They both prepared to launch forward at each other. They shot forward at impressive speed before turning into drills.

"Lightning Tunneling Fang!" the two attacks clashed, causing a blinding light in the area. That's when one of the Kiba's was sent flying and hit a tree. The other Kiba disengaged his jutsu and ran to the other. When he got to him, a puff of smoke revealed that it was Akamaru.

"Aw man, I'm sorry Akamaru. I guess we went a little too far with our spar." Akamaru whimpered a little but he barked that he was okay. The two decided to rest for a while. "You know buddy, I think we need to think outside the box here." Akamaru tilted his head in confusion. "Well, I'm not saying that we aren't going to win but I think that we're going to need a bit more than our taijutsu. We might have to learn a new jutsu, something to give us an edge."

"A wise decision." A voice said. The two were startled and quickly on their feet to face the intruder. That's when the intruder walked out and it was Kuromaru, his mother's partner.

"Oh Kuromaru, how's it going?" Kiba asked, relaxing a bit.

"I am doing alright. Your mother asked me to check up on your training. I must say, that is an impressive attack but you are right in thinking that you would need more to take on the young Hyuga prodigy. While we do have a very destructive taijutsu style, it pales in comparison to the Gentle Fist of the Hyuga. Learning a new jutsu will go a long way." Kuromaru spoke.

"Do you have any ideas?" Kiba asked.

"I do have an idea. Come, we are going to the clan library." Kiba groaned at that as he disliked the library but he went anyway. If it would help him with his fight with Neji, he wasn't about to ignore it.

XXX

Shino was walking around the village streets. His training with his sensei was interrupted by a mandatory meeting. He decided to take a break before continuing his preparation against Shikamaru. He had a plan going into this fight with him but he felt that it would not be enough. Playing 'go' with him on a weekend basis, Shino knew that Shikamaru was very intelligent. Adding the fact that Shikamaru knew barriers, it might make many of his attacks useless.

He kept walking until he caught sight of something in the window. He took a closer look and saw that it was a kunai with kanji characters. Shino didn't know why but it interested him. That's when someone came out.

"Hey, you're that Shino guy, right?" the voice said. Shino turned to see Tenten. He gave her a look before looking at the kunai again. Tenten saw this and smirked. "You're interested huh? It's of my own design. It's a special kunai with a seal etched into the metal. I bet that Uzumaki kid can't do that."

"Yes, he can. Did it back in the academy?" Shino stated. This erased the smugness on Tenten's face. "What does the kunai do?"

"It can break barriers. You just add chakra to it and toss it. It'll smash through most barriers. Anything greater than a B-rank and it's useless." Tenten explained. Shino just turned to her after hearing that.

"How much?" Shino asked. Tenten just looked at him, a little intimidated.

XXXXX

Authors' Notes: Sorry about the lack of updates. It's been a really busy time for me. My current job had a project that took all my time. I finally finished it. It am also looking for new work because I feel that I have overstayed. Either way, I will attempt to update my stories more regularly. I don't make any promises but I do plan to try. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter.