Over the Hills and Far Away

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the obvious; the rest belongs to JK Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto.

Author's Note: Would you look at that! I actually updated! Someone check the temperature in hell, it must be freezing down there! Armageddon is coming!

Thanks to my good friend and beta, Paladin Steelbreaker.

Chapter Thirty-Six

When the time came Harry and Shisui left the village well before anyone else, never stopping for breaks until well into the night. The organising of the attack had taken more time than previously thought, and Orochimaru's two-week deadline would soon be up. The young Uchiha had some trouble keeping up with the ANBU Squad Commander, which made Harry slow down, and thusly it took them even longer to get to Orochimaru's lair.

Now, staring at the doors that led to the underground hideout, both Harry and Shisui took a moment to get their breath back and to psyche themselves up for the following encounter.

"Harry-san?" Shisui panted, leaning against a tree.

"Hmm?" Harry looked over at the younger male.

"How far behind us are..." the Uchiha trailed off hesitantly.

The wolf-masked man sighed. He understood why Shisui was asking the question despite knowing the answer. The real question that the younger man was asking was "Just how long will I have to deal with Orochimaru before our allies arrive?"

"About two hours behind us." He replied simply and truthfully.

"Oh." Shisui sat down at the foot of the tree and leaned back, looking up at the sky between the branches.

Harry shook his head at Shisui, knowing that this was going to be difficult for the younger man, and instead pulled out his communication medallion and sent a message to Kimimaro and Tonks, telling them to stand ready. Those two already knew the plan, and knew what they were supposed to do. All they needed to do for now, though, was to wait for the opportune moment and Harry's go-ahead. Then the green-eyed man ate a few soldier pills and some chocolate, and took a page out of Shisui's book, taking a moment to relax against one of the trees.

'This really is it.' The green-eyed man mused silently. 'After all these years Orochimaru will finally fall and I will finally be free to deal with Voldemort. It boggles the mind, really. What am I to do after all this?' he shook his head in slight amusement. He had no idea of what to do after everything was said and done. He had no honest trade to fall back on, and he knew that he didn't want to continue being an ANBU Squad Commander forever. 'Assuming I survive everything, that is.'

"I will not survive this ordeal," Shisui suddenly spoke up with frightening certainty.

"What makes you think that?"

The Uchiha's eyes were tired and worn when they met Harry's own green ones. "Ever since I got this Seal, I've felt it tearing at me, tempting me, seducing me. I can hardly resist the call anymore. I am not strong like you or Itachi-san, and I won't be able to refuse the call much longer."

"And what if we win?" Harry asked. "I can still put the counter-Seal on you, you know. There is no timeframe for it."

Shisui shook his head. "I know we will win, and I know that you will do everything in your power to help me, but you haven't sealed off your own Curse Seal. You had all of this planned out the second you heard about the attack on Konoha during the Chunnin Exams – no, even before that, when you got your own Seal and didn't use the counter-Seal – and when you visited me in the hospital on that day you were very clear and brutally honest about my role in it all. But you still gave me the choice of whether I wanted to do it or whether I wanted to accept the counter-Seal on that day, and I thank you for it."

Harry simply listened as the younger man talked, knowing that Shisui needed to get this off his chest if he was to be completely focused on the upcoming encounter.

"Once I agreed to your plan, you told me that Orochimaru would be able to sense the counter-Seal if we ever met face-to-face – which was unavoidable – and you warned me about the Seal and its seducing darkness. You helped me through the times when the Seal was at its strongest. In fact, throughout my entire life you have been there and helped me – and so many others! I am simply grateful that I can do something in return."

"You have good friends and family, and you have found love and acceptance, Shisui," he said, referring to a certain young girl that worked for the Uchiwa. "And yet you insist that you are to die today?"

"I could never live with myself after allowing Orochimaru to control me – which I must do in order to help you and the allied forces in the upcoming battle." Shisui smiled sadly. "No, Harry-san, by my own hands, or by an enemy's, I will not live past the next 24 hours."

The green-eyed ANBU Squad Commander stared for a minute at the young shinobi, and then he simply nodded and turned towards the doors that led into Orochimaru's headquarters. "Come, it is time to begin."

Shisui visibly steeled himself, calling up on all the Uchiha arrogance he could muster, and followed the wolf-masked man into the Snake's lair, through the dark and winding corridors, using a hand on the wall to guide himself and to keep from crashing into one of them. He could hardly see anything in the darkness, and only the occasional, ghostly flash of Harry's bone-white ANBU mask and the white armour allowed him to see if he was going in the correct direction. Shisui nearly ran into the ANBU Squad Commander when the latter suddenly stopped outside a pair of doors. Though he couldn't see it, the younger man could feel Harry's questioning gaze upon him, and he nodded resolutely. There was no turning back now, no 'what if's', no cries for mercy. He couldn't think of what he was supposed to do, he just needed to do it well enough to give their allies time to get there.

A quick pat on the shoulder was all the comfort that Harry offered before he opened the doors and led the way inside into Orochimaru's throne room.

"We meet again, Uchiha Shisui." Orochimaru chuckled darkly from the shadows of his throne. The Snake Summoner watched in glee as the young Uchiha sketched an arrogant, quick bow, staring at him coldly. Oh, the young man wasn't happy about being here, and he probably hated Orochimaru with all his being, but his thirst for power had led him here and Orochimaru finally had a future Body that held the much-coveted Sharingan.

"Orochimaru... –san." Shisui replied, adding the suffix as an afterthought, and pronouncing it with a subtle sneer.

'Fugaku will be glad to know that all the years he spent sneering and being arrogant have come in handy.' Harry mused absentmindedly, standing off to the side and watching as Orochimaru approached Shisui and talked with the young Uchiha a bit. 'I hope Shisui can stall Orochimaru as much as possible. By my estimate we spent somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes outside, and it took us approximately another 15 minutes to get to the throne room. That means that Tsunade, Hermione, Ron and the rest are approximately an hour behind us. Unfortunately, a lot can happen in an hour with Orochimaru in the equation.'

After another couple of minutes of quizzing the young Uchiha, Orochimaru turned his attention to his green-eyed grandson, and started approaching the young man. "As for you, my dear grandson," the Snake Summoner began. "You have done a good job in all the years I have known you, a very good job indeed."

The second Harry heard the words 'good job' coming out of Orochimaru's mouth he tensed and narrowed his eyes behind his mask. Never before had Orochimaru said those words to him, or to anyone else, and despite Harry's ever-present want to hear such things from his grandfather, he wasn't stupid enough to trust Orochimaru as far as he could throw him.

"Only the best for you, Orochimaru-sama." He replied carefully, never taking his eyes off the approaching figure.

Orochimaru sneered slightly, eyes narrow and angry. "And especially if what is the best for me also serves you."

Harry didn't reply. There was, quite frankly, little he could say to the accusation – especially since it was true. Instead, he simply stood and awaited Orochimaru's next move, letting the infamous shinobi rant himself out first.

"I taught you well, grandson of mine, far too well. You have hidden your tracks well, and if it hadn't been for Kabuto I never would have even known about the deal you made with the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha."

'I knew I should've killed Kabuto when I had the chance, Orochimaru's orders or not.' Harry complained to himself, tense as a bow-string and ready to jump into action at any moment. The game he had been playing for the past 19 years was finally over, and all because of a slip of paper that both Harry and the Yondaime had signed upon agreeing to the terms and conditions of their deal. A slip of paper and a silver-haired medic-nin too nosy for his own good. 'What annoys me the most is that Kabuto must've had inside help to get to the document that contained said slip of paper, which, in turn, throws the suspicion straight at Danzo, his protégé Sai and the remaining members of the disbanded Root.'

"Tell me, dear grandson, just how long have you been on their side?" Orochimaru sneered angrily. "Was it before the Yondaime Hokage offered you the deal of becoming a Konoha citizen?"

'I really need to stall as much as I can.' Harry thought to himself and refused to answer. If he could just keep Orochimaru talking for another while, he would give Ron, Tsunade and the rest enough time to reach them without things getting too far out of control.

"How long have you been a traitor to your own grandfather?" the Snake demanded angrily, seeming genuinely upset about it. Though if he was upset about Harry betraying him, or being fooled for the past 19 years, was another matter entirely.

"I was never on your side, grandfather." This time Harry sneered right back, getting ready for Orochimaru's attack. Despite not having the use of his hands, Orochimaru was a damn dangerous opponent – especially with that freaky tongue of his.

Though looking ready to blow his top, Orochimaru didn't attack. Instead he looked from Shisui – who had wisely been keeping out of the argument despite his wish to help – and Harry a few times, and chuckled darkly, yellowish eyes glittering maliciously. "Despite my displeasure with this revelation, I must admit that it isn't as shocking as one might think. You always were far too free-spirited and unpredictable to be a good tool, grandson of mine. And I distinctly remember telling you that when things or people get too unpredictable, that safety measures must be employed. Imperio!"

The green-eyed ANBU Squad Commander barely had the time to widen his in shock at what he saw and hear Shisui's shocked shout, before he was greeted by merciful, gentle darkness.

-x-x-x-x-

It pissed him off slightly that Gaara, who was just as old as him, was allowed to come along and fight Orochimaru, while Naruto himself was forced to stay behind in order to defend Konoha against a possible attack. But, then again, Gaara was the Kazekage now while Naruto remained a newly-promoted chunnin, so he guessed that there wasn't much to be annoyed or jealous about after all.

The blond jinchuuriki was currently standing atop the Hokage monument, watching the clear blue sky, and trying not to think about the danger that his adopted big brother and most of the members of the Angsters Anonymous were facing right now. He was also waiting for the Konoha gennin and Academy students to show up. Naruto and Sasuke had been called to the Hokage's office right before Tsunade, Ron, Hermione and the rest had left, and had been given the task of making sure that nothing happened to Konoha while the various -kage's were away.

"Orochimaru might be aware that something's up, and might have sent shinobi to attack the village as soon as we are gone." The amply-bosomed Hokage had said in a serious tone. "Or the Akatsuki may take this opportunity to attack. Either way lots can happen, and I want to make sure that we'll be even remotely prepared just in case. Therefore I'm putting you two in charge of the gennin and the Academy Students. You will answer to Umino Iruka, who in turns answers to Ebisu. Ebisu answers to the ANBU operative known as Yamato, and Yamato answers to the two ANBU Squad Commanders I'm leaving behind in this village. Now you are aware of the chain of command while I'm gone, and know who to contact if Iruka isn't available."

Sasuke and Naruto had stood there for a few seconds, almost overwhelmed by the seriousness of the situation, but then had pulled themselves together. They were chunnin now; there was no room for gennin-level mistakes or freezing up in the middle of something.

"And what do you want us to do?" Sasuke had asked for the both of them.

Yamato stepped forwards. "You should gather the Academy students and the rest of the gennin, and devise the best way of getting the civilians to the shelters just in case something does happen. That is all for now, further orders will come later."

"Hai!" both Naruto and Sasuke had answered, and had then quickly left the office in order to send a message to every gennin and Academy student to meet them atop the Hokage monument as soon as possible.

Naruto was drawn out of his thoughts by Sasuke coming up beside him, the raven-haired Uchiha adopting the same pose as the blond and sighed. "What's gotten you so out of character? You're usually loud enough to hear from here and all the way to Snow Country, dobe?"

"Don't call me that, teme!" Naruto growled back, but then sighed as well and slumped as if all the fight was out of him. "Dunno what's worse. Waiting for an attack that might or might not come, or not knowing what's happening with the attack on Orochimaru."

"Aa." Sasuke replied, and then the two of them lapsed into silence, watching as the gennin and Academy Students showed up one by one, or in two's or three's, until all of them were gathered. The young Uchiha stretched and headed towards the group. "There's no time to be thinking like that now, dobe, so put yourself together and let's get started."

"Teme!" Naruto pouted and grumbled, sticking out his tongue at Sasuke's back. 'Huh, wonder what Harry-nii-san would've said in this situation if I asked for his help. Ah, I know: "Life is sink or swim, brat, so you'd better start swimming." and then he'd probably throw me head-first into the fray.'

Snickering slightly at the very accurate description of his adopted older brother, Naruto shook his head and headed over to Sasuke. It really was time to get things rolling.

"Alright you brats!" the blond shouted in order to get everyone's attention. "The Hokage, the Mizukage and the Kazekage are out of town on business, and we have gotten the important task of making and testing escape routes for the civilians in case of an attack. This is a serious situation, people, and either we sink or we swim!"

Sasuke stood beside Naruto, his eyes glittering in suppressed amusement, and was wondering if the blond realised just how much like a certain green-eyed, wolf-masked ANBU Squad Commander he sounded like right then.

-x-x-x-x-

Manji, Itachi and Kakashi were in the lead of the group, using their unique abilities to correctly track Harry and Shisui who were approximately two hours ahead of them. Itachi used his sharingan occasionally to spot and disable the occasional trap in their way – Harry had put them up just in case Orochimaru's spies followed the large group, and to make it look like the ANBU Squad Commander really was trying to flee the Konoha group. And Kakashi had summoned Pakkun, the small pug using his nose to follow the trail as well as warn them in case there were any sudden incoming enemies, leaving Manji to solely focus on using his byakugan to track the faint residue of Harry's and Shisui's chakra that the two aforementioned people had deliberately left as a subtle trail.

Following the three trackers, came the rest of the group with Jiraiya, Tsunade, Ron, Hermione and Gaara and the other shinobi and wizards that had come along. The few Aburame, Inuzuka and Hyuuga that had accompanied them were spread out to the sides of the advancing group, making sure that no one attacked their flanks.

Pakkun's surprised yelp and veer off course when a vicious-looking kunai embedded itself between his paws, gave ample warning to the shinobi and the wizards, making them scatter throughout the trees with weapons and wands drawn.

Out of the foliage of the trees came a large group of rogue wizards and nuke-nin, all of them dressed in the uniforms of Otogakure and bearing the note-marked hitai-ate as well.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" one of the rogue wizards sneered. "The Hokage, the Mizukage, and the Kazekage all in one place."

One of the nuke-nin stepped forwards and smirked as well. "And the apparent leaders of the wand-shinobi secret Phoenix-organisation. Our lucky day."

"Bugger." Ron muttered. "We don't have time for this."

"I'm more worried about what this development really means." Itachi muttered. "Were these people sent here to cover Harry's and Shisui's tracks and retreat, or wee they sent here because Orochimaru found out about Harry double-crossing him?"

"And why are there wizards in the group?" Hermione asked, her wand at the ready.

"Either way, Harry seems to be in serious danger right now. We need to hurry." Tsunade growled.

Shacklebolt made his way over to them. "Leave the wizards and some shinobi with me. We'll deal with these people while you hurry on ahead, then we'll catch up with you."

"I'll stay as well." Morino Ibiki volunteered.

"It's the best plan right now." Kakashi pointed out, his eyes never leaving the surprisingly patient and non-attacking enemy.

The rogue wizard spoke up again. "You people have been thorns in our sides ever since the trade with the Shinobi Continent was established 19 years ago!"

"And the little green-eyed grandson of Orochimaru's just as big a thorn in our side!" the nuke-nin snarled angrily. "But today you're all going to die! Attack!"

There was really nothing else they could do, and just when the enemy had gotten fed up with their silence and attacked, the Konoha group launched a counter attack, and in the chaos and fray that followed a small group of them was able to sneak off and continue to follow Harry's and Shisui's subtle tracks.

"I hope Shacklebolt and the rest will be alright," Hermione said worriedly, casting a quick glance behind her.

"Worry about what's in front of you instead." Jiraiya growled as he tackled the bushy-haired woman out of the way of a stray kunai.

Upon seeing exactly where the old man's hands had, ahem, accidentally ended up, Hermione shrieked and punched him with all her might. "Pervert!"

Despite being followed by a group of nuke-nin, the gang from Konoha easily defeated them and shook them off without losing too much time or too many men, and continued to follow the faint trail at top speed. They had used a couple of portkeys to travel half the way so that they weren't too tired for the upcoming fight with Orochimaru. Therefore it didn't take them too long to reach the entrance to the Snake Summoner's underground lair. From this point on they knew they had to be very careful since they could – despite having Shisui's chakra trail to follow – meet up with any number of hidden traps and shinobi.

"Well, this is it, people," Ron muttered as he stared at the two doors that led into the underground maze that Orochimaru claimed as his headquarters. "Let's hope you all survive this so that we can celebrate at the end of the day."

Hermione sent him a dull look. "And what makes you so sure that you will come out alive?"

"My mum." The red-head replied seriously, shuddering slightly at the thought. "If she doesn't get to see her upcoming grandchild, she will raise me from the dead, castrate me, and then kill me herself."

"Not to mention what Rukia-sama would do to him." The shark-like Kisame commented in a whisper to Itachi, making the weasel-masked ANBU and those close enough to hear, snicker or snort in short-lived amusement.

Sending one last look around, everyone in the group silently noting that the others were ready, and then Tsunade threw open the doors – absentmindedly flinging them away, hearing them land somewhere close by – and then they collectively entered the dark underground corridors and tunnels. Manji was, once again, leading them as he used the byakugan to pick up the faint trace of the chakra Shisui had left behind on the wall.

The corridors were scarily silent. Dark, damp and treacherous they seemed to stretch for miles and miles, like a never-ending labyrinth they had been caught in. Occasionally there were traps that sprung out of the darkness, and the allied group had lost more than one person by the time they reckoned they had reached the half-way mark. At this point they took a small breather, standing close together and making sure that no one wandered off or touched anything that wasn't cleared by one of the Hyuuga's in the group first.

"The path forks into three ahead of us." Manji told the rest of them, his voice barely over a whisper. "It heads left, straight ahead and right. Shisui-kun's chakra leads off into all three."

"It could be a genjutsu." Itachi muttered. "But I can't see anything in this darkness."

"Do we dare risk some light?" Ron asked.

"The question is: do we dare test our luck and randomly pick one of the corridors?" Hermione voiced.

Jiraiya sighed. "I don't see any other option but to briefly turn on the light and give Itachi and Kakashi a few seconds to study the way ahead with their sharingan."

Once again they seemed to have no other option but to go through with Jiraiya's plan. Hermione and Ron used their wands to light up a very weak lumos, making it slightly brighter upon Kakashi's and Itachi's request. The sharingan may be a magnificent doujutsu, but even it had certain limitations. However, once the light was bright enough, the two sharingan-users hardly needed more than half-a-second to determine what was going on, and then finally Ron and Hermione put away their wands, covering the group in darkness once again.

"There is no genjutsu, Manji-sempai." Itachi said. "Harry-sensei and Shisui passed through each and every one of them at one point, but I cannot figure out in which they entered first, second and third. It is the third corridor that will lead us to Orochimaru's throne room I suspect."

Ron snorted and muttered mutinously, "Harry really doesn't like making it easy for us, huh? So, which one do we pick?"

Hermione shook her head and slapped the redhead's shoulder. "Are you a wizard or are you a wizard? Honestly! Give me some light."

The shinobi watched with great interest as the bushy-haired woman performed a point-me spell, some of them very eager to learn said spell. Imagine just how easy certain missions could be if all one had to do was order a stick to point you in the correct direction! Either way, the wand spun wildly and it took it almost a full minute to point out the correct path.

"It's pointing to the path in the middle." Manji stated the obvious, and Ron let the light of his lumos die out again.

Tsunade sighed. "Well, nothing to it but to do it. So let's get going."

Once again led by Manji the group was forced to slowly enter the unknown and dangerous corridor, having to go single-file since the space was so small. Less than half of their already small number had entered the corridor when Manji shouted a warning but he was a second too late, and a secret opening in the ceiling of the corridor opened, allowing countless rocks of various sizes to fall down and block the entrance of the corridor, and also burying and completely crushing one of the wizards. On one side of the cave-in were Tsunade, Ron, Hermione, Itachi, Kakashi, Kisame, Jiraiya and Manji, and on the other side of the rock-pile stood Gaara, Anko and the rest.

Ron sighed. "Well, now I understand why Harry walked around in all three of the corridors. There has to be some sort of way to diffusethe trap in one or both of them, which hinders the rocks from falling every time someone wants to have an audience with the Snake Sannin."

With a hiss of sand rubbing against stone, Gaara's sand appeared through the smallest of cracks, and formed itself into words. The young Kazekage had decided to try out the other two corridors in an attempt to finding another way through, while some of the wizards stayed behind and carefully started to clear away the stones of the cave-in. Hermione took off her communication medallion and dangled it into the sand until the sand grabbed it, crushed it and brought it through the cracks to the other side where one of the wizards quickly fixed it again with a simple repario. Now they could easily communicate with both the wizards that were on the other side, and also with the red-haired Kazekage – the only one left behind who knew the full plan.

"There." The bushy-haired woman sighed. "Shall we press on?"

"Nothing else we can do." Jiraiya muttered.

"This is going downhill fast." Manji was getting more and more worried about this entire situation. 'This bodes ill for us all. I just hope that Harry is alright. I lost one best friend to the Kyuubi no Kitsune, I do not wish to lose my second best friend to an immortality-seeking snake.'

-x-x-x-x-

There, please tell me what you think.

As a friend of mine here at pointed out 'Over the Hills and Far Away' really was over the hills and far away for a while there. I apologise for the extremely long wait, but hopefully you guys will not be too disappointed with this chapter. Personally I'm a bit undecided whether or not I like this chapter, but with the Writer's Block and Plot Bunny Massacre state I'm currently in, I'm happy that I got out even this. Sorry to put you through the torture of reading this chapter... though I still wouldn't mind positive reviews...

I removed the oath-part with Anko in the last chapter. You reviewers were right, it didn't fit in with the rest of it all. Sometimes I can't spot such things until someone points it out. Thank you all!

As for the one review who wasn't happy with my story. Uhm, WTF? What the devil are you talking about? Firstly, I have no idea how you could mistake this story for having something to do with (something I assume is) another fandom, when the story itself is placed in the 'Harry Potter' section, and it says quite clearly that it's a crossover with 'Naruto'. Secondly, what the devil is 'Sharpe', and why would a simple title make you think it had something to do with it? Totally confused over here……..

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