Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Naruto, it all belongs to someone else.
Kabuto wiped the sweat off of Orochimaru's head again, taking his temperature with his other hand. The white-skinned man was still burning up, but the temperature was a little lower then it had been the day before.
"Your fever is beginning to break, Orochimaru-sama." The medic informed his master. "However, it will still be a considerable time before you will be fully recovered."
Kabuto had quickly gone to work on Orochimaru after they had escaped the stadium, drawing out Jiraiya's venom, but that had apparently been a mistake; when Kabuto had extracted the poison from Orochimaru's blood, a second, much more potent, venom activated. It had taken all of Kabuto's and Orochimaru's combined knowledge on poisons to safely extract the lethal substance without killing it's host.
Jiraiya, as Orochimaru had always said, never failed to surprise.
Even so, now that the poison was extracted, Orochimaru was still left far too weak. Too weak to properly defend himself, a perfect chance for an assassination attempt. That was why Kabuto had stationed no less than five guards outside Orochimaru's door with orders to kill anyone who approached without his express permission.
"Here, Orochimaru-sama, drink this." Kabuto gently raised his master's head and poured a small cup of medicine into Orochimaru's mouth. "It took me some time to create it, but this medicine should remove the remnants of poison from your system. You'll have to take it four to five times a day until all traces of the poison are removed, then begin strengthening your immune system again. It will be some time before you are fully recovered, maybe a week or two, but by this afternoon I think you should start doing some small exercises. Movement will be good for you; it'll help the antidote flow around more effectively."
"Yes, Ka-Kabuto." Orochimaru weakly replied. Kabuto had kept him drugged up enough that he didn't feel the pain of the toxin, but it had rendered Orochimaru nearly delusional. Kabuto hoped that the five shinobi standing outside the door would be enough to stop attackers. Orochimaru would be nearly defenseless by himself.
As Kabuto was tucking Orochimaru in again, checking on several other things at the same time, the door opened and a messenger came in. standing just inside the door, the masked man kept his silence until Kabuto gave a nod.
"Sir, we've just received word from our outposts." He began, holding the message out in front of him to indicate it was true. "Large groups of enemy shinobi have been spotted closing in on our location quickly."
The man handed Kabuto the message, still encrypted, and Kabuto immediately turned towards the large map of the country that Orochimaru had pinned to his wall. Reading the message himself, Kabuto quickly realized what was going on. Locating the scout's position on the map, Kabuto was thinking fast. If a group of shinobi was seen, that probably meant a much larger army was on approach, and from the position of the guard it would seem that–
Another knock on the door and a second messenger came in, looking alarmed.
"Sir, new messages from our outposts, a large force of enemy shinobi is detected moving towards the main village and a second safe house."
"I knew it." Kabuto sighed, the closest he would ever come to cursing, then turned around to the messengers. "Enemy forces are amassing inside our borders. They'll strike at all our safe houses and the main village itself at once. Send word by the fastest courier pigeons; tell them to prepare for a full-scale attack."
It was probably too late already, but Kabuto had to try. The village was an important strategic pawn in Orochimaru's hands. Not only was it placed in a defensible position, it also provided much of Orochimaru's fortune, granted him the means of creating an army loyal to him and provided both Orochimaru and Kabuto with test subjects for their experiments.
If the village and all the safe houses were hit at the same time, the loss would be crippling. Orochimaru would become a lone man with powerful enemies instead of the leader of a powerful army with strong enemies.
Only after the messengers were gone did the thought strike Kabuto that there were civilians in the village as well, including someone he had recently taken as his lover.
"Oh well." The bespectacled medic mused to himself, "It's never risk-free to live in a shinobi village."
XxX
The sun was beginning to set, but Jiraiya slightly averted his eyes to avoid being blinded by the sight. In each of their hiding places, his team members would be doing the same. So far, they had completely managed to avoid detection, avoiding enemy squads by hiding for a time. Ambushing and killing an enemy squad hadn't been an option; if anyone noticed the deaths, the entire area would go into high alert.
Now, however, they had finally found the entrance to Orochimaru's lair. It was hidden underground, just like most of Orochimaru's bases, and the entrance was brilliantly hidden in the shadow of a large tree. Jiraiya had to admit that it was a masterpiece; if they hadn't followed the messenger entering the base almost an hour ago, they would have spent hours trying to find the door.
Following the messenger in hadn't been possible last time, because an enemy patrol chose that exact moment to appear. So, instead of trying to force their way in and activate all sorts of alarms, Jiraiya had ordered his squad to hide in the area, avoid detection and wait until the door was opened again.
A small tingle at the back of Jiriaya's head made him slowly, wearily turn around. Extending his senses as far as he could without using a Ninjutsu to aid him, Jiraiya scanned the surrounding area. Finally he heard the voice.
"I'm telling you, I smell something." A female voice was saying, somewhere behind Jiraiya, standing in the clearing. Another piece of brilliance, that; instead of creating the trapdoor to the base in the clearing, it had been made a small distance away. Most people searching for the entrance to the base would be looking all over the clearing, rather then the entire forest.
"I know, you said that before." A gruff male voice answered. Slowly crawling, careful not to disturb any twigs or leaves, Jiraiya managed to get a look at the two shinobi who were so close to them. Both were sound ninja, wearing the ski-mask that every single Sound Ninja wore; nothing able to distinguish them from other Sound Ninja.
But apparently the female shinobi had enhanced her sense of smell, probably to a level similar to most Inuzuka's from Konoha. Avoiding detection by smell was one of the hardest parts of staying hidden. Fortunately, most shinobi had difficulty detecting by smell, so for the most part the problem was void.
But if she could detect them, then there would be hell to pay. This close to the entrance, they couldn't afford to be detected. Silently, Jiraiya gave a signal, knowing that Naruto was somewhere where he could see it. Three shorts swings of a bush, without noise, but also without a breeze.
The two Sounds had also seen the bush move, but as they turned to investigate the bush, Naruto silently landed just behind them and attacked. Swinging his arms, Naruto hit the woman on the throat, nearly snapping her windpipe, but at least making her stumble backwards. In the next instant he had grabbed the man's head and viciously spun it around, snapping his neck. Before the man had dropped to the ground, Naruto also grabbed the woman's head and repeated the motion.
Both were dead within a heartbeat and without a sound. Getting out of his cover, Jiraiya lifted the woman's body, while Naruto took the male. Settling on a new hiding place, both master and student quickly went through the pockets of the dead, hoping to find something of use, but neither had carried anything of the sort.
Leaving the bodies hidden in a trench, covered from sight and smell by a large quantity of mud, Naruto and Jiraiya headed back to their hiding places. Just as they got back into hiding, the trapdoor was slowly opened. The same messenger who had gone in earlier now appeared again, got out into the field and closed the door. Just before it closed, Jiraiya saw a brief, almost undetectable object fly towards the door.
The messenger never noticed the object, turning around as quickly as he could and leaping out of the area. Shizune had followed Jiraiya's orders perfectly, just as he had hoped she would. They couldn't kill the messenger, there was no telling if there was a system in place where he had to meet back with guards at a certain time or not, but it was an unnecessary risk to take. A quick needle in the trapdoor to prevent it shutting completely was enough to gain entry.
When the messenger cleared, Jiraiya again gave a signal – this time perfectly imitating the sound of a bird landing on a tree, crying once and then taking off again – and he moved forward. Opening the trapdoor, Jiraiya quickly inspected it for booby traps or anything similar, but found nothing.
Silent as death itself, Team Jiraiya lowered themselves into the base, removing the needle and closing the door again. The first part of their mission was complete.
XxX
As Kabuto walked through the base, heading to the deepest research facilities, he could hear his own footsteps echo throughout the hall. No-one ever tried to get in this deep in the facility, other then Orochimaru, Kabuto or one of their test subjects. No guards were needed, thanks to the extensive array of traps, Ninjutsu and Genjutsu that Orochimaru had used to protect it.
He didn't pay the sound or the traps any mind as he walked. He had long since memorized the path and how to prevent any harm from coming to him. Instead, as he walked, Kabuto let his mind race, analyzing the situation.
"It's obvious the attack is a distraction." He concluded as he walked into a large chamber filled with tanks, dumping the package he had been carrying on the floor near the door. He had, lately, developed a habit of speaking out loud to himself when he was alone. "The army is probably meant to wipe out the Village of the Sound, but an army can't kill someone like Orochimaru-sama. He'd flee before he gets overpowered and they know it. So, if the army is here, that means an advanced assassination squad will already be in place. They will try to kill Orochimaru-sama and based on the size of the army, this is cooperation between various villages."
It was, of course, very possible. The Sand and Leaf had been allies for a long time and their bond had only gotten stronger since Gaara became the Kazekage. All five Great Nations had joined forces to take on Akatsuki and, surely, Orochimaru-sama was almost as large a threat as the Akatsuki itself. A joint strike force would make sense.
Unfortunately, that also meant that assassination squad would consist of ninja of various countries. And in that case, even the guards outside of Orochimaru's chambers wouldn't be enough.
"Well, I did come down here after all. It's not for nothing." Kabuto muttered, turning to the large tank in the center of the room. As he approached, a face appeared in the water, smiling shark-like teeth at the silver-haired man. Looking straight back into the man's half-solid eyes, Kabuto explained. "The situation is at it's worst. Orochimaru-sama is weak, Sasuke-kun isn't present and enemies are on their way. With Orochimaru-sama down, leadership falls to me and I have a proposition for you."
The face in the tank grinned broader, nodding. Again Kabuto considered whether this was wise, but he had few alternatives. Orochimaru was too weak to move safely and it would take several hours for his medicine to take effect. Time was their enemy and there was one tool, living here in this tank, which could buy all the time they need. Unfortunately, this tool had also tried no less than five assassinations on Orochimaru himself.
"I will let you out and you will guard Orochimaru-sama with all your might." Kabuto stated, but the face in the tank didn't move. Pushing his glasses back up his nose, Kabuto paused for a breath before continuing. "In return for this service, you may toy with any infiltrators you catch all you want, you will be allowed an additional three days out of the tank and five of your toys to do with as you please. In addition, we have secured a certain item that you expressed interest in. Serve us well and you may keep it when you play."
Of course, playing and toys were only the words that this creature had chosen. Kabuto would call it what it was; torture and sacrifices. But there were few as skilled at flushing out infiltrators or buying time as this man.
The form in the tank grinned till it's face threatened to split in two, but still nodded vigorously. Kabuto moved over to a control unit some distance away from the tank, then entered a code and pulled the lever. As he did so, the glass of the tank was raised, spilling all the water on the ground. A form rose out of the water, but Kabuto paid it little heed as it become more and more solid.
"I've placed some clothes for you near the door." He finally said, "Get dressed, then get upstairs. You'll get the sword you so wanted. But remember, Suigetsu-kun; try to kill Orochimaru-sama now, and I will kill you myself. I am one of the few people with the knowledge on how to do it."
XxX
As silently as he possibly could, Jiraiya entered the room, moving undetected past two Sound nin who were eating their dinner, and into the next one, this room held several beds and it held what he was looking for. Underneath a pillow, just as the earlier message had indicated, lay a map of the entire base marked with important locations. Whoever Tsunade's inside-agent was, he was very thorough in creating this map. Every location of importance – armories, food storage, guard positions, potential hiding places – was marked in a clear method.
Taking the map, Jiraiya carefully peeked out the door to see how the two enemy ninja were doing. Both were still focused on their food, rather than anything else. Again being as silent and undetectable as he could be, Jiraiya sneaked past them again, reaching the hallway and then made his way over to where the rest of his squad waited. When he got there, he unrolled the map, showing it to them.
Over a dozen chambers were indicated as Orochimaru's, so the snake was as paranoid as ever, never staying in one room long enough for traps to be placed. Quickly and quietly, Jiraiya gave his orders.
"Memorize this map, we won't be making further contact with the inside agent until we either run into him or this mission is over." He started. Then he pointed at a point on the map. "We'll split up into two teams here. Naruto and Shizune, you go here, while Izayoi and I go here. Shizune's in charge. Search out the food stores and poison them, while looking for Orochimaru. When you find him, don't try to take him on alone. We'll meet at this point in two hours then move in to take out Orochimaru together."
As he spoke, Jiraiya pointed out the points of the map he intended.
"If any guards come around, try to remain undetected, but if you think they're on to you, take them out as quickly and quietly as you can. If a group is in trouble, Naruto or Izayoi will remove the Chakra-Suppression-Seal to notify the others. It's risky, but at this point speed is important as well. Our first priority is to take down Orochimaru, poisoning the food is secondary."
All three ninja nodded then stood up. Jiraiya rolled the map up and placed it inside his pocket. Without another word, they slipped out of the door, and moved further into the base.
XxX
'There's nothing here.' Karin thought with irritation as she stood amongst the four other guards, just outside of Orochimaru's door. Kabuto had ordered her to guard outside the door and warn as soon as anything went wrong, but so far Karin hadn't detected anyone or anything in the base that shouldn't be there.
Of course, the entire place was filled to the brim with shinobi, making it impossible for Karin to keep track of all the different chakra signatures around, but there were no new or unfamiliar chakras around, meaning there were no infiltrators. Still, she didn't resist her orders or speak up to Kabuto. The medic would probably just smile at her, say she's right and either ignore her or stab her in the heart.
He was scary like that, sometimes.
A door on the other side of the hallway opened and Karin had to struggle to suppress her irritation as Suigetsu walked out of the door. This time, it was the real Suigetsu, not Sasuke-kun in a disguise and for some reason Karin had difficulty deciding on what reaction she would use. In the past, Suigetsu had been a source of great irritation for her, but when Sasuke had been acting like him… the two images mixed in her mind and confused her.
Suigetsu was wearing his usual outfit again, a purple sleeveless, tight-fitting shirt and grey, loose pants. He had one belt, keeping two large water bottles attached to him, but almost all of Karin's attention was on the absolutely huge sword that he had stabbed into the ground next to him.
"How the hell did you get that monstrosity?" Karin found herself asking as Suigetsu squatted down next to the weapon, reaching for one of his water bottles. "Who the hell tries to use a thing like that?"
"Bite me, you're insulting a great legacy there bitch." Suigetsu nearly spat back, his infuriating grin back on his face. "Kabuto had someone retrieve it a while back, after I mentioned I wanted it. It's a memento of one of my mentors. He got killed a couple years back and whoever killed him was kind enough to leave this beauty on his grave. Well, I think that'd be a huge waste; a weapon like this is meant to be used until it breaks. Hell, even then it shouldn't be discarded."
"Well, just be careful when swinging that thing around." Karin finally said, though even to her own ears it sounded weak. "If you're not, you might start killing us instead of any potential intruders."
"Yeah, 'cause it'd be such a waste to kill you wouldn't it?" The predatory look in his face was almost enough to make Karin back away, but Suigetsu's bark was always worse than his bite. If he was insulting and threatening, there was little chance of him actually killing you. If he wanted you dead, he'd just strike without warning.
"Well, you can keep watch on the west hallway, along with those two." Karin ordered. Kabuto had put her in command of the guards, with orders to coordinate them if anyone attacked. Suigetsu, however, didn't move to the position she had appointed.
"Like hell I'll listen to you." He announced as he stood up and pulled his sword out of the ground. "I'm not meant to fight in cramped hallways like these and no way am I staying near you. I'll go look for these intruders. If they're here, I'll find them. If they're not, I'm not wasting my time out of the tank by sitting near you."
"Wait, Suigetsu!" Karin yelled after him. "Kabuto said –"
"Kabuto said I'd get my reward so long as I didn't kill the damn snake and protected him. I'm more into a pro-active defense, not sitting here and waiting to be ambushed."
Before Karin could say more, Suigetsu had moved around the corner, quickly moving away from her.
XxX
It was almost time to rendezvous with Naruto and Shizune, Jiraiya realized, as he and Izayoi slipped past another guard post. So far, the duo had checked every single room indicated on the map, but Orochimaru was in none of the chambers they had inspected. However, they had found the four rooms indicated as food supplies and managed to poison over half of the contents in each room. It wouldn't be pretty, if they were still around, but this was just another act of war. One that would never reach the pages of history.
So far, Jiraiya had been pleasantly surprised and very impressed with Izayoi. Most shinobi only learned how to be sneaky by usage of some chakra-using technique, rendering them invisible or something similar. Jiraiya himself had a few techniques like that, but when a sensory-type ninja was around, it was like lighting a beacon and yelling your position to them.
Thus, Jiraiya had insisted on good old-fashioned no-chakra stealth to sneak into the base. And the girl had been even better then Jiraiya could have hoped.
'Of course she would be,' Jiraiya thought as they ducked into another room, 'the Mizukage herself had an interest in her. You can say a lot about Takami Sessha, but she's no fool. And she's an expert assassin herself.'
The map indicated that a large room was coming just around the corner, one that would be full of enemy ninja, keeping a look at all directions. Sneaking past through the room itself would be impossible, so instead Jiraiya led Izayoi into a nearby room. Once in the room, he pushed up a piece of the ceiling, revealing the foundation of the floor above them. Very little room, especially for a man Jiraiya's size, but it would have to do.
Carefully balancing himself on the beams there, avoiding any areas that would make sounds and thus instantly betray him, Jiraiya entered the cramped space. Izayoi was right behind him, also careful to test every space where she placed her weight. Ever so slowly, the two made their way towards the large, enemy-filled room. Neither made a sound.
They were well over halfway through the room, checking down periodically through the small cracks between tiles, when something interesting caught Jiraiya's eye. A familiar shinobi entered the room down below; Suigetsu – though this was probably the real one, as opposed to someone wearing a disguise – had entered the room carrying a massive weapon. Almost as soon as he entered, he glanced around the room before looking up at the ceiling.
Straight at the location where Jiraiya and Izayoi were staying.
He held his gaze at the spot for a second, and then his hand started to move, flipping the sword around. Jiraiya didn't wait any longer then that; they were caught and now they had to act quickly. With a signal at Izayoi, the black-haired kunoichi pulled the seal away from her hand, allowing her the use of Ninjutsu once again, and immediately started forming seals.
Down below, almost every single ninja looked up as well, alerted by the sudden appearance of the chakra. They were too late.
"Ice Element; Ice Needles." Izayoi's dull monotone voice announced as she kicked down one of the panels and released her attack. Immediately a multitude of ice needles, almost like a vicious rain, appeared and cut into the ranks of enemy ninja. Those near the center of the room – by far the most enemy ninja – were killed on the spot, Ice Needles piercing skulls or hearts or stomachs.
Jiraiya jumped down as well, ready to use one of his own Ninjutsu's to aid the girl's strike, but there was no need. In a corner, far away from the rain of Ice Needles, a single figure sat and made rapid movements before holding out what seemed like a piece of paper. No less then fifty wolf-like creatures literally jumped out of the parchment and started attacking the Sound Ninja. Their backs all turned towards their new attacker, many more shinobi died before they could turn around and those who did were pushed into the rain of Ice Needles.
Within ten seconds, seventy enemy ninja lay dead on the floor. Only three others were still on their feet. Suigetsu had used his massive sword to block all the Ice Needles, and had beaten two of the wolf-creatures with his bare hands while staying behind the sword. On another side of the room, two other ninja, possibly Jounin, had reacted quickly enough to defend themselves from the painted wolves.
Looking into the corner, Jiraiya saw who he had been looking for; Tsunade's agent, an expert ANBU infiltrator, was hunched down in the corner, nodded once at them and then proceeded to run up the walls and towards them. As he did so, several other painted creatures appeared to keep the enemy busy, but all were cut down before long.
"Sai, ANBU Infiltration Squad." The young man introduced himself. "I've finally learned where Orochimaru is hiding today, but first we'll need to deal with these two."
Down below, Suigetsu had jumped and was fast approaching them, while the two Jounin finished off the last of the painted creatures. While the ink was still falling to the ground, the two turned towards Jiraiya's party as well, obviously ready to fight, but they never got further then that.
An almost invisible disc, as wide as a hand, flew towards the pair of Jounin, one aimed for each of their necks. The disc impacted at the same time as half a dozen precise needles struck them in the spine. Naruto's Wind Shuriken cut off the Sound Ninja's heads, while Shizune's needles struck their nerves for good measure. They were dead before they could even realize it.
Jiraiya turned towards Suigetsu; arms raised to defend himself from the younger man's strike and ready to counter, but before Suigetsu reached them a black blur crashed into his side.
"Go!" Naruto commanded as he slammed Suigetsu into a wall. "I'll deal with him, you all get going!"
XxX
Karin gasped; taking an involuntary step back, as she suddenly felt two absolutely huge chakras burst into existence nearby. And they were near; the chakras exploded into existence literally around the corner. The same corner that Suigetsu had moved to mere minutes before. An instant after the first chakra came into existence, nearly every other chakra signature nearby faded out of existence.
Whoever this was, they had just killed dozens of the Sound's most reliable ninja in seconds.
'How in the hell did they get this close without me detecting them?' Karin questioned herself, before realizing she had to speak up. The other guards had not yet noticed the surprise attack. Just as she opened her mouth, she recognized the two large chakra signatures. Both were a unique kind of chakra that she had found only in one person each, a unique mix of evil, power, warmth and cold to it's feel.
Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha and Izayoi of the Mist.
With an effort, Karin forced her mouth open, nearly overwhelmed by the sheer force of their chakra. Suigetsu had also engaged, his own more-then-impressive reserves joining to confuse her nearly overwhelmed sixth sense further.
As she finally opened her jaw to speak, however, it was already too late. A thick, dark-green gas was suddenly appearing from around one corner, spreading much faster then would have been normal in an underground passage.
"Wind element; Clearance Orb." Karin quickly flipped through the three seals required then activated the technique, creating an orb-shape of clean, chakra-protected air around her. The other guards tried to activate similar techniques, but they were stopped by something, making it impossible for them to protect themselves from the toxic fumes.
Looking around at the others, Karin barely managed to see the small needles stuck into arms, hands or shoulders, preventing movements. She immediately jumped to the side, only just in time to see another set of needles stab into the wall behind her.
'Damn, those needles are coated in a paint of some sort. They're near impossible to see.'
Through the fog, Karin saw a figure move and she moved through instinct honed by survival. Ducking to the side, Karin pulled a short sword out of the holster from one of the dead guards and skewered the strange, black creature that had come at her.
As the creature fell apart, a blast of wind erupted from behind Karin, blowing away the remnants of the toxic smoke. Now that the wind was gone, Karin could see who stood before her.
The great Sannin Jiraiya himself, though even now Karin couldn't sense his presence, stood at their center, clearly the leader of this unit. At one side, the black-haired assistant of the Hokage stood, each hand clenched and holding the painted needles. At his other side stood Izayoi, her long black hair nearly reaching the ground and the usual frosty look on her face. The fourth member of their party was the surprise though.
Sai had come to Orochimaru's service some years before, defecting from Konoha in the process and giving Orochimaru valuable intel on the updates of Konoha's security system and the ANBU recruitment. Thanks to that information, Orochimaru had managed to plant his own informants in Konoha's ANBU force. Apparently, he had been a double agent.
"Stand ready Karin." Kabuto's voice said from behind her. She repositioned herself to look behind her and was surprised. Kabuto stood in the doorway, hands already glowing and ready to fight, but behind him stood the source of the blast of wind. Orochimaru had risen from his bed and, breathing very badly, sweating profoundly and looking even paler then usual.
Karin looked back at the squad of assassins, dropping her Clearance Orb at the same time. Orochimaru's Great Breakthrough technique had removed all traces of the toxic vapor, making the air safe to breathe again. Just as she turned around, however, another of Sai's painted monsters charged at her, forcing her to the side. Raising her short sword again, Karin tried to fight the creature off, but with limited success.
This was bad. This was very, very bad. The last thing Karin could see before a second Ink Monster closed in on her was Jiraiya jumping straight into Kabuto, hands already flying as the sage engaged the medic.
Beta Note: All betad and certified by me, Kushin eX.
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