Introverted

Chapter Thirty-Seven

It was lunch-time, and Naruto had yet to move a muscle. Sakura was worried. The refugee column had taken a rest –the civilians weren't used to running long distances, and what was supposed to be a week's worth of travel for the shinobi was becoming a month long with civilians being towed sometimes by the shinobi. She watched with keen eyes the movement of the sound ninjas who walked close by.

She couldn't trust them: they were a danger to her and her pack.

Naruto was sleeping softly. His breathing was strangely soothing, because it told Sakura one important thing: he was still alive. He had taken a near fatal hit, and it was a miracle he still breathed. Nobody except her sensei had touched him to treat his wounds, and even looking at him now one could see just what the extents of the injuries were.

His entire left side was tightly plastered, with bandages and gauzes to hold his 'bits and pieces' together. His right side was wounded, but not much so. There was a slight dusting of sand on his wounds, which was stained red from his blood.

It was unnatural. Naruto never remained wounded for long. His skin was always unblemished, his smile always ready to sprout when he looked at her or Sai. There never was a moment where he remained wounded, on the ground, down…dead.

No! That was a bad thought. Naruto was not dead, and he was not going to die. He had saved her again, with…sand, but he was not dead. No. She had protected him, and he had protected her. There was no way he could be dead.

It was just that…an immobile Naruto was something she couldn't…she couldn't understand. She had failed him. She should have been quicker; she should have been stronger still, to stop those monsters and keep them away.

She had fought, but she had just worsened the situation…but her teammate had been in danger, and she was not feeling remorse for her actions: she had done well.

The soft footsteps that approached made her wary, but they belonged to Sai and so she calmed down.

"I brought food," Sai remarked handing over one of the rice cakes that had been the only thing consumed since the beginning of their march. She understood it was the land of the rice fields…but only rice-based products was starting to sicken her. Was it too much to ask for a fish, or some meat?

"What of Naruto?"

He nudged to a canteen to his side. "Mushed rice."

"Of course," Sakura sighed. She was starting to find the prospect of cabbage soup –an horrid invention of an evil mastermind– something delicious and to dream of at night, when compared to all the rice 'delicacies' that so apparently filled the mind of Rice Field Country's citizens.

"Has Dickless woken up?" Sai asked, looking to the prone form of his teammate.

"No," Sakura shook her head. "I'm…I'm worried. He's usually awake after a few hours…it's been two days."

"Dickless will be fine," Sai replied. "If Death is a female, he'll have her in his harem soon."

"He doesn't have a harem," Sakura rebuffed him gently. "Hey, do you need anything?"

"I'm fine," Sai shrugged. He was: he hadn't even been wounded.

"I wonder," Sakura murmured. "They say that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger…shouldn't Naruto be invincible?"

"No-one is invincible," Sai replied. "Do you want to rest?"

"Will you guard us?" she looked towards Naruto. Sai nodded and turned his gaze to watch the rest of the Oto shinobi.

Sakura lowered herself against Naruto, placing her left arm beneath his neck and bringing her face close to his cheek. She closed her eyes and calmly fell asleep, letting the tip of her nose touch his cheek.

It was in that moment that Naruto opened his eyes.

He did not speak. He just opened his eyes and watched the sky, the clouds, the bright blue…and then he saw Sai's back standing guard probably and a tint of pink in the corner of his eye. He slowly moved his head to have a clearer look, and came face to face, once more, with those emerald eyes that belonged to Sakura.

She had woken up feeling movement, and her eyes were now wide open.

"We must stop meeting like this," he croaked out.

"Naruto," Sakura breathed out as she hugged him tightly –making him wince and hiss in pain. "Naruto!"

"Yeah," he coughed out. "Yeah Sakura, it's my name…You're hurting me, please…I need air Sakura, Sakura! Air!" he coughed once more, before Sakura sheepishly let go of her tight hug, but remained 'hooked' to him, nuzzling against the side of his neck.

"I was scared," she muttered. "Why do you always scare me like this?" she huffed. "It's not fair."

"Dickless," Sai nodded to him. "I will warn the Taichou and Sensei. Catch." The boy threw the canteen with the mushed rice to Sakura, who grabbed it with agility without even a second thought.

Sai left then, leaving behind his two teammates.

"Oh, right," Sakura murmured as she slowly uncorked the canteen and gave a hesitant sniff. "Ugh."

"How long was I out?" Naruto asked, "And where are we now?"

"We're moving towards Swamp country," Sakura replied. "You've been out for two days," she added. "Listen, Naruto…I'm sorry."

He raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

"You saved me once more," she exhaled. "And Sai too, he thinks you took the blow for him."

"I did my job," Naruto replied sheepishly. "Where's my Chuunin vest?"

"Sensei had to remove it as well as most of your clothes," Sakura stammered out. "She had to treat your wounds," she added then softly.

"Is that why I can't feel my left side?" Naruto croaked. "What's the damage?"

Sakura hesitated. Her eyes looking around as if hoping someone else could answer that question. "Ehi," Naruto whispered. "It's fine, really."

"You have a lousy definition of fine, Naruto," Sakura exhaled out, sounding defeated. "Your arm was mushed, your left ribcage shattered and it was a miracle the floating ribs didn't pierce your lungs or heart. Your stomach was perforated. You were bleeding internally so badly Sensei had no idea what to do with you…then you suddenly started to heal, and we thought it was over but…" her voice trailed off. "It suddenly stopped again."

"So…how am I now?"

"Your left arm is inoperable at present, Naruto," Yugao quipped as she neared them from the side –Sakura nearly jumped: she hadn't heard her sensei arrive. "But you should be able to walk within the end of the week; I suppose you'd want to be carried by Sakura still?"

Sakura's face took on the same tint as her hair.

Naruto raised a puzzled eyebrow. "What about Sai?"

"Dickless," Sai remarked calmly. "When you're awake, you are a danger to my behind."

Naruto coughed out a dry chuckle, which then became a fit of coughing that had Sakura bring her left hand to rest on his shoulder, squeezing it gently. "How can I be a danger if I'm without a dick?" he retorted back.

Sai remained quiet for a moment.

The pale skinned boy blinked, turning thoughtful. He looked about to say something, his mouth open, when he closed it again and returned to think.

"I think you broke Sai," Sakura whispered, not low enough to go unheard by the rest of the team. "Look at him: he's trying so hard…"

"It's kind of cute, really," Naruto retorted with a smirk. "He's flapping about like a fish."

Yugao shook her head slowly. She tapped Sai's shoulder. "Don't worry about finding a comeback. Just admit defeat."

Finally, Sai's eyes lit up. "It's because you use a strap-on."

"You know," Sakura sighed, shaking her head. "You should have just accepted defeat gently."

Yugao-sensei checked Naruto's bandages, before nodding to herself. "Yes, they're coming along nicely. Not as fast as usual though…are you all right, Naruto?"

"Yeah," he winced as the lie came out smoothly. "I'm all right."

"Understood," Yugao nodded. "Very well, we're breaking camp in two hours…so you can catch up on what happened while you were knocked out."

"Sensei?" Naruto hesitated, biting his lip slightly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes?"

"In private?"

Sakura frowned. Sai said nothing. Yugao merely nodded and gave a quick glance to Naruto's teammates, and after a brief moment of glaring between Sakura and Yugao, the two Chuunin left.

"What is it, Naruto?"

"What will happen to Sakura and Sai?"

Yugao breathed in slowly, before answering calmly. "Sakura acted without waiting for orders, endangering not only herself but her teammates, and making a situation worse for no gain towards Konoha. If…If she is lucky, she will be reprimanded and brought back down to Genin rank, while...being moved to another team. Sai followed his teammate, but he can be considered as having simply tried to stop her and will get off lightly."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock. "But…"

"Naruto," Yugao's eyes narrowed. "She went against a direct order from her superior on the battlefield. Orders are absolute to shinobi: she betrayed that."

"And what if she didn't?" Naruto asked then. "What if…what if I asked her to come?"

"You didn't, and the report has already been sent."

"Yeah, but I wasn't awake. What if…What if I have a mean of communication that is private between us?"

Yugao closed her eyes and exhaled. "What you are asking me to do is shift the blame to you, right?"

"I'm the Jinchuuriki of Konoha, sensei," Naruto chuckled grimly. "They won't say shit to me. There was a lack of working coms from inside, so I sent through the private mean of communication a request for immediate help. We didn't tell you about it, so I'm the one at fault for not having included you."

"But I know you have such a mean," Yugao remarked. "And…listen, Naruto: if you cover for her, and she does this again…"

"She won't," Naruto said then. "I swear sensei; I'll make sure she doesn't do this again."

Yugao sighed. She looked to the side where a few meters away Sakura was fidgeting together with Sai, straining her neck as if trying to listen in. "Only this once, Naruto," she retorted. "And this…we don't talk about this ever again."

"Understood sensei," Naruto nodded slowly. "Thank you," he shyly added, bowing his head.

The Anbu-Jounin simply smiled at that, and ruffled the boy's hair. "Don't make it a habit."

Sai had been watching the scene unfold calmly. Two seconds later, and he was slowly walking backwards from Sakura. Her hair was slowly rising, as chakra lapsed around her head like a crown of flames. Her eyes were cold and steely, as she clenched both hands to her sides and ground her teeth furiously.

"Pedophile bitch."

Guren sneezed.

"Lurid cradle-robber."

Guren sneezed again.

"Doesn't she already have a boyfriend? What is it? Does she want to try someone younger?" Sakura muttered murderously. "Naruto's mine," she grunted out crossing her arms over her chest. She looked down for a moment, giving a brief glance at her 'assets'. "Maybe it's the breasts. Is bigger better?"

Sai had meanwhile kept on walking backwards. He was pretty much half-way on the other side of camp by then, but he still wasn't sure it was a safe distance.

"Sai? Do you have…" Sakura's eyes turned to where Sai was supposed to be, only to find out he wasn't there. "Fine, never mind," she grumbled returning to watch Naruto act shyly. It was so cute, having his head slightly down and with his cheeks reddish.

Then the bitch ruffled Naruto's hair.

"Bitch. Bitch. Pedophile wrench. Bitch. Cradle-robber. Child snatcher."

Guren kept on sneezing for a while. "Are you all right, Guren-san?" a timid voice asked near her.

"Yes, Yukimaru, I'm fine," she smiled back. "I think it might just be someone talking about me."

"I hope they're saying nice things about you, Guren-san," Yukimaru said shyly.

Guren puffed her chest out. "Of course they are! Who wouldn't?"

Sakura finished her tirade when her sensei finally finished acting like some sort of two-Ryo whore with Naruto, and gestured to her and Sai who had apparently returned back to Naruto, together with Jiraiya who was in the process of writing down a few notes on his notepad.

There was a large 'Icha-Icha, Forbidden Young Love –First Draft' written on the cover of the notepad.

"Naruto," Jiraiya said firmly, looking around to make sure no-one was eavesdropping on them. "Did something happen with the Kyuubi?"

Naruto blinked. "Uh?"

"Uzumaki have a high vitality," he remarked. "Not nigh-infinite regeneration. That's the Kyuubi's chakra at work and now it's gone, so something happened."

"Yes," he bitterly muttered, his gaze moving from Jiraiya to the clouds. "Something happened."

"And?" the Sannin insisted.

"He won't be a problem for a while."

"That's…that's not what I wanted to hear, Naruto," Jiraiya sighed. "Listen, with the war coming, you will need to learn how to harness the Kyuubi's chakra and–"

"Out of question, Jiraiya-sama," Naruto interrupted the toad sage. "Any amount of chakra used…and he gains control, a little bit at time is all he needs to break free."

"The Yondaime's seal is solid," Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "There's no way it could break through."

"The Yondaime's seal was not closed," Naruto snarled back at the Toad Sage. "It leaked the Kyuubi's chakra willingly in me," he narrowed his eyes, "While it shouldn't have."

"Minato knew what he was doing," Jiraiya rebuffed him. "And it's unheard of a Jinchuuriki who can't control his Bijuu."

"Then I'll be the first," Naruto said. "And the seal…" he shuddered. "The seal's gone."

Jiraiya looked old and senile, but he wasn't a Sannin for nothing. The moment Naruto's 'gone' had been uttered, the Sannin had already ripped apart the boy's vest to check on it, after pushing the boy down and making him scream in pain from the push.

"Ehi!" Sakura exclaimed, trying to tackle the man away but failing miserably as she was swatted away like a fly. The pink-haired girl went tumbling, while Sai merely stood watching the scene, before remarking.

"Jiraiya-sama, please refrain from raping my teammate."

"I'm not raping him!" the old man exclaimed affronted. "I'm just checking his seal!"

"Non-consensual touching is rape," Sai replied firmly. "You cannot use your rank as Sannin to abuse shinobi of Konoha…it's in the Shinobi Regulations."

"They actually made a law for that!?" the sage looked affronted.

"Hokage-sama deemed it a necessary precaution for a sixty years old pervert," Sai replied as if he was quoting someone.

"Damn the old geezer," Jiraiya cursed under his breath.

"Ouch," Naruto whispered. Sakura's face turned angrily towards the Sannin after that.

"You're hurting him!" she accused the sage, "Can't you see that!?"

"I know what I'm doing," Jiraiya rebuked her, before moving his hands across the ink seal on Naruto's stomach, which was slowly fading away. "This is…it's impossible," he retorted. "There is a need for a key to completely open it. I know, Minato gave me the key to the seal. There is no way the seal could be completely opened without it."

"The seal was overpowered," Naruto said slowly. "It wasn't opened. It was shattered."

"That's impossible," Jiraiya shook his head. "The Kyuubi would have had to get exponentially stronger since the sealing, or your seal needed to be weakened tremendously for it to happen and there's no way it could have…" his voice died down.

"Orochimaru," the sage whispered. "No," the man shook his head. "He couldn't have. You two never met, did you?"

Naruto frowned. "No, we didn't."

"Good, good," the sage sighed. "It must be the Kyuubi then, I suppose," he exhaled. "The Hokage will have to know about this. How are you keeping him down?"

"It's a failsafe of the seal," Naruto replied. "It completely blocks him."

"So…we have a Jinchuuriki who can't use his Bijuu," Jiraiya grimaced. "I'll have to draw a seal on you to make sure you can actually use his chakra."

"Why?" Sakura asked, her hands hovering over Naruto's chest protectively. "Why can't you leave him alone?"

"Konoha needs its weapon," Sai was the one who spoke firmly and without inflection. "Without it, there can be no peace."

"Sai!" Sakura was shocked, and as she clenched her right hand to her chest and gritted her teeth, she had a hurtful look on her face…as if she had been betrayed. "You can't believe that too, can you?"

"That is the will of the Hokage," Sai replied truthfully. "That is the will of the clans, of the Anbu…of the Shinobi. Konoha needs its weapon," he looked at Sakura. "It's the truth."

"Well, since you aren't moving anywhere for a week I'll take care of it," Jiraiya muttered, interrupting the tense silence that had slowly seeped in around the Konoha team. "I'll write it on your back –it should be enough to keep the beast at bay if I make one that covers all of it. You'll have to go shirtless until the ink dries but…"

"Jiraiya-sama, we're moving North," Yugao muttered. "And we're in October."

"It's not like we'll hit a mountain by the end of the week with the pace we're going at," the Sannin retorted. "And he'd have to stay shirtless for small bouts in the day, not twenty-four hours for an entire week:"

Yugao still seemed unconvinced, but Sakura was the one who solved the problem.

"Naruto? Do you want it?"

She asked Naruto, who had been keenly listening in silence at Sai's words, and then at Jiraiya's.

He closed his eyes for a moment to think. If he said no, then maybe Yugao-sensei would do nothing for Sakura, or maybe she would do it anyway, but the rest of Konoha would end up in a war because he would not be able to control the Kyuubi.

If he said yes…he would have to —eventually— deal with the Kyuubi once more. Then again, he wasn't doing this for himself. He was doing this for the others. He'd be a bright example of light in a world of darkness and he'd be one by doing the right thing rather than the easy one.

His hands would have trembled, if he could have moved them. He was scared but…wasn't courage all about facing one's own fear?

"All right," he exhaled.

Jiraiya grimly nodded to his words, before starting to prepare his ink and his brush. "Well, we have a few hours of rest: so we better get started. Grit your teeth," he advised as he deftly turned Naruto on his stomach. Naruto hissed in pain but said nothing more.

Sakura watched the scene unfold with her hands clasped together, as her right foot was grounding against the dirt in small concentric patterns.

"Ehi," a voice called to her, making her spin around to look for the owner. "Your teammate woke up?"

The girl who spoke was the orange haired girl with the dark blue wool cap. Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Who wants to know?"

"Sasame Fuma," the girl retorted angrily. "And I was just worried. There's no need to act so stuck up, Konoha-nin."

"There is no need to be worried, Otogakure-nin," Sakura grinned back nervously. "Why don't you just go back to the hole you crawled out from?"

Sasame's eyes widened briefly, before they narrowed in suspicion.

"Don't you even feel a bit of remorse?" Sasame asked then, looking straight at Sakura's eyes. "Your actions…you killed many of my friends because of them."

"They were a menace to my team," Sakura hissed. "They attacked us."

"They attacked you because you attacked them first!" Sasame angrily spat back. "Have some shame!"

"If it isn't one of my teammates, why should I care?" Sakura rebuked her. "In this world everyone looks out for himself! Why don't you grow up?"

"Tch!" Sasame spat at Sakura's feet. "You're an eye-sore Konoha-bitch."

"And you're probably a no-good whore," the pink-haired Chuunin spat right back at the girl.

"You're just a murderer for hire, you have no soul!"

"And you're a failure of a bitch that should be drowned!"

Sai watched the two girls suddenly stop talking, but coldly start to eye each other with a look akin to a silent verbal spar. Slowly, they began to circle one another.

"What's your problem anyway? Sad there's not Orochimaru to torture you up?"

"And what's your chip on the shoulder uh? Your teammates are so much trash that you need to—"

Sakura began to growl.

"Never. Insult. My. Teammates."

"Fists only," Yugao stated firmly as she suddenly found herself next to Sai.

On the other side, Hanzaki exhaled and in the end nodded towards Sasame. It was all that it took the two girls to lounge at one another. Sakura tried to punch with her right fist Sasame's stomach, only for the girl to deftly sidestep and swing her own arm to hook with Sakura's neck. Sakura bowed down to avoid the grip, bringing her left hand to slam into the sides of the Otogakure kunoichi.

Sasame's knee rose up, slamming into Sakura's face before the girl finished bringing the right hand up to strike at the enemy kunoichi in the stomach. The Otogakure girl let Sakura go as the fist connected like a solid slug of steel. The two took their distances, their guards now up.

"Bitch!"

"Whore!"

"Is that all you can do!?" Sasame spat out. "Too busy looking pretty?"

"And what about you uh? What's with that blue hat? Your brain's empty and it catches cold quickly?"

"It's a fight, not a talking match," Sai deadpanned. "Cherry, finish her."

"With pleasure," Sakura grinned as she screamed, before charging in fist held up high.

Sasame smirked at the visible opening in the girl's defense, and as she brought her left fist to slam home, Sakura was the one who actually smiled sweetly before spinning to the left and using the elbow to knock the wind out of the girl.

The moment Sasame kneeled down, Sakura grabbed the girl's hair with her hand and…

"Payback, bitch."

She slammed her knee against Sasame's face, before pulling her hair back and slapping the Otogakure kunoichi with both of her hands.

She then proceeded to pounce on her, straddling the now hazy enemy. "This…" Sakura spat out a dribble of blood from her mouth as she spoke, "Is why you don't mess with me."

"All right," Yugao's hand deftly caught Sakura's wrist before she could pummel the girl's face to mush. "It's enough. You've got it all out of your system?"

"You hit like…a pussy," Sasame coughed out weakly from the ground. Sakura stood up, casually letting her knee grind a bit in Sasame's now tender stomach before averting her gaze sheepishly from her sensei's sight.

"Yes sensei," Sakura answered to Yugao, ignoring the wounded Otogakure kunoichi who two Oto shinobi carried away slowly.

"Next time, Cherry," Sai said as Sakura moved closer to him. "Fight in the mud."

"Trying to insist on perverted jokes won't make your previous words any less heavy, Sai," the pink haired Genin whispered. "Are you certain about your words?" she asked then hesitantly. "Like…really certain?"

Sai frowned, before finally nodding grimly. "All shinobi are tools for war. Jinchuuriki even more…it is…highly possible that should he fail to control the Kyuubi," his voice was but a whisper now, as he slowly moved back to Naruto's side. "He would be killed, the demon extracted and placed into a new host."

"The Hokage would never do that," Sakura remarked.

"The Hokage…" Sai's voice lowered itself. "Probably would vote the petition himself."

Sakura froze on the spot, watching Sai's back as it moved further away from her —her face was flaring up from the pain, and her skin was probably even then marring because of the bruises but…but to those words, she couldn't help but still.

The question wasn't why Sai had spoken with certainty. The question was…

The question was how he could effortlessly believe in something like that.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's hands trembled as he read the report. His eyes widened in fear and his breathing grew erratic. The Land of the Sky was back?

He remembered it. He remembered having to ally with all the other nations to tear it down. He remembered that technology of the old world —that power, that…that sheer…that sheer magnificence of destruction.

Moreover, he knew they had all vowed to hide it from the others. They had all vowed to keep the location of where it had crashed a secret, to let the ocean claim the spoils of it forever.

What use would there be for ninjas, if flying machinery could tear apart buildings?

What use would there be for shinobi villages, if one could find them by flying in the sky?

What need was there for walls, when the attacks came from above them?

Why pay the ninjas…when one could pay the Land of the Sky itself?

"Send a message to the couriers," Sarutobi whispered. "Orochimaru has the land of the Sky…and it is operational once more." The Sandaime shuddered. "Send another message to Mifune of the Land of Iron. Induct a meeting on private grounds of all the Kage."

The old Sandaime paled visibly then. "And…and what of Danzo?"

"Danzo-sama remained behind," the Anbu replied. "He…he bought us time to run."

"That stupid old man," Hiruzen clenched his fists. "You've got your orders: you're dismissed!"

As the last of the Anbu left, Hiruzen looked at the reports with a heavy and ragged breathing, his hands still shaking from the effort of giving his orders.

The casualties…the casualties were staggering. It hadn't been a mobilization, but…but half a mile of ground had been vaporized into nothingness. They talked of the Kage and the S-rank shinobi as one-man armies but…but to do such a feat in so little…

To do such an action with but the push of a button…Orochimaru had to have gone mad. There was no other explanation.

There really was no other reason that could explain why he, who had been so vehemently opposed to capturing the Land, suddenly had changed his mind.

'It wasn't shinobi-like', those had been his words…and yet now…

Why? Why had he gone against his very words? Orochimaru would have never done something like that! Why did his student, the one he had loved dearly as his own child…why would he do this?

There was no choice in the matter…he had to give the Kage Bunshin technique to Naruto. He had to have him devote his entire time to training, to fighting, to learning how to kill.

There simply wasn't another way now. The threat was too great, too mighty and too…it was too horrible.

Hiruzen gritted his teeth as a strong pain flared through his chest. His heartbeat grew erratic for a moment…and then he suddenly stopped feeling.

He fell limp, his face down against the wooden desk as life left his body and murky darkness covered his eyes. He had fought to his very last breath…he had battled against…everything, but…

The shinigami was not a patient God.

"Ah…" he murmured. "So…" he whispered. "I'm…coming…Biwako."

With those words…Hiruzen Sarutobi, Kami of Shinobi, the Professor…

Died.

Orochimaru watched with a bored and dispassionate look Shinno's rambling about how Konoha was meant to be destroyed first. He raised an eyebrow. Was the man really thinking he wasn't going to destroy that village?

"Orochimaru-sama," a snake whispered to his ear, having slowly slid on his shoulder. "It happened."

The garden snake dispersed in smoke a moment later, just as Orochimaru stood up from his seat in the 'conference' room deeply rooted within the Land of the Sky headquarters.

"Orochimaru? Where are you going?" Shinno asked perplexed. "We must discuss—"

"Silence," the snake sannin spat back raising his left hand, "I have to go."

He left a shocked 'doctor' behind, but he couldn't care less about it. The garden snake had been clear. Hiruzen Sarutobi, his sensei…he was no more.

He supposed the old man could have foreseen the snake in his garden belonging to him, but then again he had never acted upon that knowledge. Orochimaru had said nothing, and as such…well, he had always an eye on the Sarutobi's compound garden, where his sensei began to sip tea tranquilly during the late afternoon and the night, just as he did the same in Otogakure or around the world.

Was the old man expecting him to drink tea with him? Was he the believer of some sort of 'soul' connection throughout space? He didn't believe in that, but…but Orochimaru still drank his tea at the same time as the old man did.

Now he was dead.

His body would rot in the earth.

The muscles would decay. The bones would grind to dust. The maggots would fill his flesh and plant eggs, which would then birth larvae that later would become maggots once more.

The cycle of life: that putrid excuse that passed for balance in a world that was rotten to the core.

He would tear it apart with his own hands.

He wasn't doing this for himself.

No.

He had…

He remembered when it had started.

It hadn't been for him. It hadn't been for the death of his parents, for the desire to bring them back.

No.

It had been…

It had been because his sensei had lost his light after the death of his wife. That had made him start the research. He wanted to make a perfect gift for his sensei.

All he received back for his effort was exile…and he had taken it, nobly he had decided to sacrifice himself so that the others would not suffer. There was no reason to look for a 'why'. He was a twisted individual, and that much would suffice as an excuse. It wasn't because of his sensei's wife, or because of Tsunade's lover and younger brother that he had begun experimenting.

It wasn't because of Jiraiya and his hurt at never saying those precious words to the woman he had loved. It wasn't because there was so much suffering in the world that he had begun looking for a cure to it, for a solution to Death.

It wasn't because of that.

He was Orochimaru, and he was twisted. He was evil for no other reason but evil itself.

He repeated that, time and time again, until he grew to believe it.

Yet…

Yet he could not keep that up now, in this moment.

His sensei was dead. The one who had been there in the place of his parents, who had consoled him, taught him, who had been a willing shoulder on which to cry. He was dead.

And he had never been able to tell him the words he had meant to, the words…

Orochimaru clenched his fists and slammed them against the wall of his office, the metallic sheen twisting as his hands delved deep into the alloy.

He had shed blood for his village. He had infiltrated Kumogakure, made the Hachibi rampage throughout the village killing young and old at the same time only to end the war sooner, to force Kumo into submission!

He had done that which Tsunade had refused to do, and which Jiraiya had screamed against his sensei for.

He had done what he had to for his village. He had done…He had done well, hadn't he?

"Have I done well?" he whispered to the wall.

"Tell me, sensei…Am I still human?" he asked once more, looking at his hand.

He screamed as he tore apart the corpse he inhabited, emerging as the white snake, the monster he had become. "Am I…am I still human?" he snarled, as he tore with his teeth against his own flesh.

Blood splattered around the room, dark and rotting. Purple fumes began to rise from it, slowly obscuring from view the bleeding form of Orochimaru's true form.

"Were my sacrifices in vain, sensei?"

A low raspy chuckle escaped the snake's lips.

"Are sacrifices worthy of being let go?" he chuckled louder. "Should I…let my sacrifices be in vain?"

The fumes dispersed, as Orochimaru walked out once more inside the corpse of his host. "No." He snarled as he opened the door and closed it behind him.

"No sacrifice will ever be in vain."

He closed his eyes as he stepped through the damp and dark corridors, walking towards the area where his men were. There was a wide courtyard filled with mannequins and benches, where many of his shinobi were talking one with the other. As he arrived, they all stilled as mice caught by the snake, and watched him with baited breath —probably trying to figure out why he had come there.

His eyes fell on Hebi, who was sheepishly trying to launch a kunai against a wooden mannequin resembling a shinobi, with two big red circles over the heart and the head. Her entire posture was wrong, probably self-taught, and yet not a single shinobi or kunoichi had moved forward to help her.

He supposed that was to be expected.

He slowly made his way silently behind her, and then waited. He watched her try.

She tried it once.

She tried it twice, thrice, fourth times she threw a kunai only for it to bounce off against the walls to the sides of the mannequin she was supposed to hit. She was down to a single kunai, when he made a gentle coughing noise.

The girl didn't turn. "Don't distract me, please," she whispered. "I have to do this."

He raised an eyebrow and remained quiet.

"At least one," she seemed to be pleading god. "At least once."

Hebi threw the kunai then, and just by looking at it going…it was clearly off trajectory. The girl dropped her shoulders down and turned, only to freeze and widen her eyes at Orochimaru's appearance.

"Orochimaru-sama!" she squeaked, before remembering what she had said before. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

Orochimaru's pinkie finger twitched, and a small gust of wind redirected the kunai to hit the bull's eye of the mannequin's heart.

"Looks like you hit once," the snake sage said then, gesturing for her to turn around. She frowned, and then she spun to stare at the kunai firmly stuck in the mannequin's breast.

"No," she shook her head. "I didn't." She whispered.

"Are you calling me a liar, girl?"

"What's fair is fair…Orochimaru-sama, I didn't hit it! You did! How can I be a kunoichi of Konoha if I can't hit a bull's eye by myself!?" the orphan's eyes were pleading, pleading him not to help her but just to let her practice by herself. She wanted to become better alone, without help.

He was intrigued.

"We are shinobi, we should cheat," he had replied.

"But not on training! I have to be honest with myself at least…how am I going to pass the Genin exam? I need that money and…and I suck at kunai throwing! I'll never get that part down in time…and what if they send me to the front? But this…this I have to do it on my own! I can't cheat of my training!"

"Please don't kill me, Orochimaru-sama," Hebi whimpered. "I'm sorry. I just…I don't want to be a weight please…"

Her cheeks were red and her eyes puffy, as her lips quivered while she stared at the Snake Sannin who could kill her with ease.

Orochimaru did not answer. He simply turned around and moved to leave. Hebi remained there puzzled, up until the snake sage stilled in mid-walk. "Your posture is completely wrong," he said, before palming a kunai from his sleeve and throwing it deftly. It soared in the air and struck straight through the hand of a kunoichi who had been whispering about how 'Hebi would get it' for being a failure. The kunoichi did not scream, but she did pale and hold the wrist of her wounded hand, before foam began to form in her mouth as she died from the poisonous toxin.

"That is how you throw a kunai," Orochimaru said once more. "Have someone in here teach you. If they refuse…I can always use some target practice."

Then he left the courtyard.

He actually wondered as he left and headed towards the laboratories: what was his old student doing now?

Anko Mitarashi was holding on to the body of Danzo Shimura, as kilometers beneath the land of the Sky, the two of them evaded their pursuers' attacks —well, she was the one doing the dodging since the old man was too wounded to move much, thus she had to carry him.

The creepy thing was the face of the first Hokage sporting from his wounded arm. That and the sharingan eyes that nested into the arm closed all but one. She wasn't going to remark on it, especially because they were escaping from a highly superior force composed of troops belonging to a strange and old clan that had some grudge with Danzo himself, apparently…

They would reach Konoha in a few weeks and yet…yet she didn't know if she was going to make it, especially if she had to carry the great old lump of weight on her shoulders.

"Leave me here," the old shinobi said firmly.

"Ehm, listen Taichou," Anko remarked as she jumped downwards, avoiding a crescent blade of wind that soared in the air and neatly cut apart a few branches. "Not that I mind but…are you sure?"

"Take my arm and go," Danzo replied. "Do not let the sharingan fall in enemy hands."

"And what about you?"

"Let's face it: you were tasked by Hiruzen to assassinate me if I proved disloyal to Konoha. Just leave me here and take the eye from my arm. Only the eye!"

"And how am I going to do that?! Konoha's weeks away and the eye will rot unless…"

"Do what you must," he snarled. She didn't let the man repeat himself twice.

She gouged the sharingan eye, dropping Danzo behind and giddily starting to run away leaving the 'Yami of Shinobi' down as if he was nothing more than extra baggage.

She was going to have a sharingan now!

Everything would be better after that! Oh, she was going to become as strong as Kakashi, the bastard!

Behind her, Danzo exhaled slowly as he let himself drop against the tree trunk. His back ached, his entire body felt heavy. He had used Izanagi too many times to give time to the recon teams to leave, he had attracted the enemy nins attentions, and had fought and tore them down from the skies with the use of his wind techniques and summons…

But even he had his limits.

Now, the past finally caught up to him.

Hannyashū.

The Anbu of the land of Wood that once was a nation by itself near Konoha's border, from whom he had gleamed the secret of dissociating oneself from the body, and that he had implemented alongside many other techniques into his Root training.

Then, as the final test, his Root forces had annihilated their country, making Konoha merge with it.

Now there they were, those who had survived, patiently encircling him.

His past was there…and now, now was the time to face it.

"Danzo," the leader smiled. "It's been a while."

"Hayato," Danzo coughed. "I knew I should have burned your corpse to make sure."

"We have come for you, old crone," Hayato said gleefully. "How does it feel? Can you believe the irony of the situation?"

"Come on then," Danzo smiled. "Help an old man up."

Hayato did so, before nodding to one of the men standing in semi-circle.

The man walked forward, removing his demon-like mask to show the same feature as those of Danzo, down to every little nick and wound.

"Orochimaru wanted a body as proof," Hayato remarked as he silently nodded once more to the man that so vividly resembled the Yami of shinobi.

There was a swift movement, and then the body double committed Seppuku in front of them, his head rolling down on the ground as blood gushed to cover his clothes with it.

"So dies the Yami of shinobi," Danzo remarked quietly. "Where will Orochimaru 'pick' us up?"

"In the land of Wind," Hayatao replied smoothly, grinning slightly at Danzo's puzzled look.

"I see," the Yami of shinobi nodded slightly once. "Then I suppose there is no longer a need for this," with his free hand, blades of wind slashed at the arm created with Hashirama's cells. The arm twitched as it fell in mid-air, before slowly erupting into a giant tree that grew up to the point where it rivaled those nearby.

Stemming the bleeding with his remaining hand, Danzo's eyes settled over the horizon where the sun was falling.

"The shadow is stronger at dusk," the Yami of shinobi quipped.

"Is that the saying about the Kage being stronger the more there is a need for them?"

"In part," Danzo remarked as he began to bandage his wound before using his teeth to tightly compress the gauze. "It's a Nara proverb. Some say 'The shadow is stronger just before dawn' but what they all seem to forget…"

Danzo exhaled as he checked the bandage once more, before deeming it fit enough for him to march. "Is that in the night between dusk and dawn darkness rules supreme."

Author's notes

We are nearing Shipuuden.

And the Land of the Sky is a rule-breaker, I understand why they tore it down.

Hiruzen died. Heart-attack.

Orochimaru has a nice break up.

Hebi looks cute even as she's about to die.

Naruto is going to die.

I probably lied somewhere in this AN.

Oh, and for those who worry…I'm a sucker for happy endings.

But I must try my hand at a sad one eventually…

But will it be with this story? Who knows…who knows?