"I want to say one thing to the people. I want you to listen to me, I'm gonna say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman… Oh wait, that was my other cigar," scrapes from his throat and she tarts over. "I'm gonna say this again: I did not hate Aburame Shino."

"Then why did you kill him?" an outraged journalist demands.

"Well, for the same reason why I do everything else: for the story I have in mind. I like to listen to you guys, as I find it the best way to improve my writing, but at the end of the day I have to be the one who likes what I'm writing. Otherwise, I wouldn't be writing," I sigh.

"But, but, but, but…. Shino?!" another journalist cries.

"I knew my decision was a controversial one. And controversy is usually followed by some hate. I knew that, so I was prepared for it. But I did not do it because I hate Shino. Thank you for your time." I stand up and walk away from the cameras.


Sasuke retrieval arc

Sound against Leaf


Dodging attack after attack, Hatake Kakashi wondered how he had made such a foolish mistake. The grey haired jonin was not accustomed to these things anymore. Walking into an ambush without noticing even a single thing… this had not happened to him in years.

He found himself cut off from his genin as the three demon-like assailants slowly drove him further into the woods. Kakashi could not see Shino any more, but he hoped the Aburame could manage. Last he saw was that Shino faced a girl with dark pink, almost red, hair. He had faith that Shino could at least hold off a single one of these enemies, but… with Sakura incapacitated, Kakashi knew that the youngster would be getting in trouble soon. Shino had an odd sense of loyalty and friendship. He never spoke much, but whenever there were issues, he seemed to silently steer things in such a way that people could find a solution. If someone threatened Sakura's life, the silent boy would undoubtedly use all his might to protect her, even if-

Another massive fist came down.

Kakashi grimaced, although none could see this, as most of it was hidden underneath his mask. The big red-skinned boy (or was it a grown man? Kakashi could not tell) had completely specialized himself in raw power. And while Kakashi was no slouch, he quickly realized that attempting to block these attacks was not advisable. 'It would take an Akimichi or a taijutsu-specialist like Gai to fight this guy on equal footing in terms of raw physical power,' he realized. 'Good thing that he is far too slow to be a real danger. No, the other two are more troublesome. It's as if they want me to hit them. Strange.'

The two smaller ones were practically identical. Both had a single pointy horn, although one had the horn on the left of his forehead, and the other on the right. They were fast: not fast enough to truly trouble a jonin of Kakashi's level of skill, but still they were rather annoying. Their confident grins were what troubled Kakashi most, though, and the three had flawless teamwork.

'If I can separate them, I could easily ensnare them with my sharingan and take them out. But for some reason, I think it is best not to touch the smaller ones. They deliberately leave openings for me to exploit. It doesn't make any sense,' Kakashi analyzed his situation. 'The big one should be taken down first. I easily countered his doton jutsu earlier, but his massive hits are annoying. With him out of the way, these two should be easily dealt with.'

Throwing a barrage of kunai, Kakashi suddenly stopped dodging and started his counterattack. Ukon, being the slightly faster of the two, dodged the kunai, yet was forced back. Sakon, on the other hand, got a large gash on his shoulder. Cursing, the two brothers noticed how Kakashi now launched a barrage of fireballs at Jirobo. "Fuck!" the giant cried out in pain.

Before Kakashi could smile, though, his chakra was suddenly disrupted. Losing his momentum, his attack lost some of its power. And with Jirobo already being rather durable, the attack had far less effect than Kakashi had hoped. But why did he… 'Genjutsu!'

Hidden in the forestry, Tayuya prepared a second melody. She was astounded that the jonin was so hard to catch. Even Kazu would have been caught by that one. Hell, her previous melody should have been enough to ensnare just about anyone, and firmly at that, but Kakashi had barely been fazed. 'Just how much experience does this guy have?'

Tayuya was not hidden as well as she had hoped. With his sharingan, Kakashi spotted where the attack came from and moved to take this nuisance out. At that moment, Kakashi made a crucial mistake.

Ukon, having dodged the kunai earlier, now slashed out at the jonin's back. Kakashi's sharp ears gave him the opportunity to block the attack, but that did not matter to Ukon.

"Bullseye!" Sakon cheered.

Even Tayuya sighed in relief, being startled when the jonin had rushed towards her. 'Not even a jonin should be able to deal with his freakish merging jutsu thingy. That fucktard's kekkei genkai may be the ugliest thing I've ever seen, but even Kimimaro had to admit that it was a useful skill.'

Kakashi could see the foreign chakra invade the hand that he had just used to block Ukon's attack. In a split-second decision, Kakashi took a gamble. 'Hopefully this guy isn't the raiton type. Because, without hand seals, this won't do too much damage. It's going to hurt though…'

"Chidori!"

The confident smiles of Sakon and Tayuya vanished the moment the lightning current flew through Kakashi's arm. Ukon's screams were loud but short, and before he could completely escape it was already too late. Paralyzed, he fell down from Kakashi's arm, and the jonin showed no mercy. The chidori now enveloping his hand now flew through Ukon's chest, leaving a burnt out gap where once his heart had been.

Eyes wide, and injury forgotten, Sakon rushed forward. Howling his fallen brother's name, the boy went berserk. Screaming, fuming, he blindly rushed into combat without even stopping to think for a second. The distraction for the jonin, however, was the cue for Tayuya to start her next move: she began playing the notes for her strongest genjutsu, the mugen onsa- phantom sound chains.

Struggling to keep Sakon at bay, while simultaneously fending off Tayuya's attempts to trap him in her genjutsu, Kakashi noticed too late that the shadow around him was quickly expanding.

From above, an enormous hand crashed into him and broke his resistance; Tayuya continued playing her song. They had him…'Kidomaru already took that the Uchiha faggot away, so our mission is a complete success. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo,' Tayuya could not even smile, despite the fact that the three of them had just taken down one of the most infamous jonin of Konoha. Then again, she never was happy. She just hated everything.

"We should get the fuck out of here," she urged. "The fat-ass is hurt from that katon jutsu, and you need to calm down."

Sakon was still seething. "We have him now, we should-"

"Our mission was to take the faggot, nothing more. Killing Kakashi would be something that would piss off that one-eyed fucktard. He clearly stated that Konoha could not afford to lose this guy- and Orochimaru-sama still needs that geriatric coward. We've got orders, so shut the fuck up and get going."

"He killed Ukon!"

"Ukon was killed by his own stupidity. Move, now!"


"What do you mean that you couldn't get into that hospital wing?" Kiba exclaimed. "Our friend is there!"

It was several hours after team seven was ambushed. Teams eight and ten had met up, confused as to why they were suddenly recalled and then ordered to stay put, while their sensei had to report with the Godaime Hokage. Well, confused, until Shikamaru overheard his father and Inoichi discussing what could have put Hatake Kakashi into the hospital. From the looks of it, the Aburame clan was in uproar as well. Something bad happened, and considering how none of the Aburame clan came to the hospital…

"Like I told you, Tsunade-sama's right hand, Kato Shizune, said I couldn't come in," Ino snapped at the Inuzuka. She was angry, frustrated that she couldn't visit her friend, couldn't even find out if Sakura was even alive.

"That means she's either in a critical condition, or something else happened," Shikamaru frowned. "No one heard about Sasuke yet? And what about Shino?"

Hinata had a sad expression. She had been silent ever since they had met up again. Shikamaru had spread the six of them over the village, in order to gather information. Hinata had been the one to watch the morgue. "I-I saw A-Aburame Shibi going into the m-m-" Hinata forced the words out of her throat, tears running over her cheeks. "S-Shino-kun must be… must be…"

Karin pulled her teammate into an embrace, awkwardly trying to comfort the distraught girl. Kiba slumped down, sitting down on the ground, while Akamaru whined and put his head on Kiba's lap. Shino had been their former teammate. The three of them had been the original team eight.

"This can't be real, can it? Shikamaru?" Choji was equally startled. For the first time, Shikamaru began to wonder if his softhearted friend was perhaps not cut out for this job. For shinobi, death was in the job description, but the Akimichi just seemed too gentle to deal with it. Shikamaru didn't really like to acknowledge the fact that they could all die, but he knew that it was the inevitability of their world. But Shikamaru admitted that if he was honest with himself, he didn't want Choji to harden to an extent that he could deal with such things. Hell, he even doubted that he himself was ready for these kinds of things. Even if he logically knew the possibility, his heart said something completely different.

'I shouldn't be foolish enough to think that I can protect Choji or anyone else from such things,' Shikamaru grimaced. He had to shift his mind on to something else- away from these emotions, and towards the analytical part of his brain. "Sasuke?"

Choji shook his head, and Karin also shrugged. None of them had seen him. "I felt nothing. I think I felt Haruno-san for a second, but it was too faint to be certain. I do know that their sensei, Kakashi, is in the hospital. Tsunade-sama is with him," Karin clarified. Her sensory abilities were a gift from the heavens, in Shikamaru's opinion.

"And Shino?" he asked, against his better judgment.

"I only met him twice," Karin hesitated. "And I can't say that I can recall his chakra pattern. But…"

"You won't sense Aburame-san," Neji spoke up. He, Rock Lee, and Tenten approached the six. Chie had guided them here, to the back alley at the center of the village where the two teams had met up. "We are the ones who… We found team seven."

Lee nodded, but his sad and silent demeanor already revealed that what they found was bad news- very bad news.

"Shino… There was an arrow right through his… So much blood," Tenten grimaced. While Neji had first spotted the team with his byakugan, Tenten had been first to see the fallen Aburame up close. She still felt as sick as the moment she had seen his lifeless body for the first time. "Shino is dead."

"And Kakashi? Sasuke-kun? Sakura?" Ino pleaded.

"We brought them to the hospital, as fast as we could. But we found no sign of the Uchiha," Neji said bluntly. "Sasuke was either kidnapped, or he fled. But considering the condition Kakashi was in…"

"It was an ambush, that much is clear," Tenten agreed solemnly. "All the signs of the battlefield pointed at that."

"That means someone was after Sasuke," Shikamaru sighed. He had been afraid of this. Dojutsu like the sharingan were a highly valued commodity on the black markets. And with the Uchiha clan practically on the brink of extinction, that price had only grown to higher, absurdly higher, levels. "Someone wants his sharingan."

Kiba's head jerked up. "Orochimaru," he growled.

"O-Orochimaru?" Ino gasped.

"He gave Sasuke-san some kind of seal," Hinata began to explain the event that happened in the Forest for Death, during the second part of the Chunin Exams, up to the point when Naruto had sealed the thing off.

"So Orochimaru put some kind of freakish seal on the Uchiha, and now has kidnapped him?" Neji frowned. "But someone like Orochimaru wouldn't have made such a mess out of fighting a jonin like Kakashi. As strong as our sensei are, people like Orochimaru, Tsunade-sama, and Godaime-sama are leagues above them. Besides, that would explain that charred corpse as well: it must have been someone of the group who attacked team seven."

"He sent out some of his henchmen to do the dirty job," Shikamaru analyzed the situation. "And if he is after the sharingan, they will get him to a medical facility as soon as they can in order to extract Sasuke's eyes."

Ino paled, and Hinata and Neji looked equally horrified. The latter two had been raised with threat of being targeted for their eyes. Hinata herself had almost been snatched away once. It was a day she would never forget, especially because it had been the first time she had really met Naruto.

"And when they have his eyes, they will probably get rid of him," Kiba added grimly. "Like hell we would let that happen!"

"We can't do a thing," Shikamaru reminded the angered Inuzuka. "Hokage-sama must have realized the same thing: it would make sense for him to gather as many jonin as he can if Orochimaru is involved in this mess."

"He ordered us to stand down until further orders," Neji nodded.

"Screw those orders," Kiba snarled. "Those bastards killed Shino!"

"What do you think we can do?" Shikamaru sighed. "This is something involving a shinobi who is far better than the nine of us combined. We wouldn't even stand a ghost of a chance."

"It was not Orochimaru himself who attacked team seven, right?" Kiba countered.

"True," Neji agreed. "And at least two of the attackers seemed injured, judging by the tracks we found. There were at least two who lost blood, aside from the one who was electrocuted."

"Then we can take them down, avenge Shino, and get that prick of an Uchiha back!" Kiba jumped to his feet. "Yes, Ino, you can glare all you want, but Sasuke has always been an arrogant jerk. But he is still our arrogant jerk. We can't let someone kill him for his freaking eyeballs!"

"None of our sensei would agree with this-" Karin hesitated, "With us going out of the village while we were ordered to stay put."

"We can't wait around and do nothing!" Ino decided. "We'll get him out of there. I can't do a thing for Sakura as I'm no medic, but I can do something for Sasuke-kun!"

'Ino, you make it sound logical, but this is your heart speaking, not your mind,' Shikamaru sighed. "It is not that easy." The Nara looked up at Neji, and then turned to Hinata and Karin. "Kiba's opinion seems clear enough, but what about you three? We will need your byakugan and your sensory abilities if we want to hunt them down."

Neji activated his byakugan for a moment, analyzing the Nara's expression. 'He is completely serious. Surprising. I thought he was completely lazy, but his anger runs a lot deeper than his appearance would make you think.'

Tenten grabbed Neji by his arm, and gave him a fierce look. "We can't let them take our friends."

"It would be most unyouthful," Lee agreed. "Even if Gai-sensei would not approve… Gai-sensei also told us that we should not always blindly follow orders, but do what our heart tells us is right!"

"Where is Naruto?" Neji surprised everyone by turning towards Chie. "We asked you to take us to him, but you brought us to them," he gestured at the two other teams.

"Naruto-sama is training, together with Dusty-two-leg and the others," Chie, for once, used a reverent way to address Naruto. She rarely did so; it was only during those rare occasions when she was actually serious that she showed how much she actually respected him. She had respect, because she could sense his struggle better than most, being different from all those around, and because he saved her from the empty void that once was her life. "I cannot take you two-legs up there, not when Scarface-two-leg and Crazy-snakes-two-leg are with him. So I took you to them," she nodded at teams eight and ten. "They deserved to know about their fallen comrade."

"You… you knew?" Tenten gasped. "But how? We didn't tell you.."

"You were talking to each other, and I had been following you ever since you were walking through the woods before you entered the Uzumaki compound," Chie clarified.

"Having Naruto at our side would be a great help," Neji sighed.

"That is why I came here, Scar-head-two-leg," Chie was a bit annoyed that everyone was so slow. She thought that it was all perfectly clear already, but of course she needed to explain things even further. Slow two-legs… "If White-eyed-princess-two-leg goes, Whisker-two-leg will surely follow."

Hinata looked at the cat, wondering if she was actually serious. Was Chie really using her as a pawn to move Naruto?

"It's your choice, White-eyed-princess-two-leg," Chie remained dead-serious. "No one can force you to go, yet if you go, you deserve to be aware of the consequences if you choose to go."

"S-Shino-kun was killed," Hinata mumbled, not comfortable now that everyone was looking at her. "But I don't want revenge… Sasuke-san needs our help. If the jonin don't take action, we will have to. The least we can do is track them down to where they hold Sasuke-san, and await reinforcements."

'Perhaps Naruto's words about Hinata-sama aren't as crazy as they once sounded,' Neji smiled faintly, seeing the determination peeking out underneath her shyness. "I swore to guard you, Hinata-sama, so if you go, I shall follow," he bowed slightly.

Tenten frowned; it would still take some time to adjust to seeing her usually stoic teammate changing so much. But at least he wasn't a 'total asshole' anymore, as Naruto could describe him so eloquently.

Shikamaru looked at Choji and Ino, who both nodded. "Everybody in?"

"Yeah."

But before they left, Neji bowed to Chie, and whispered to the feline. "Hurry up and bring Naruto out. Even when wounded, they were people capable of taking down a jonin. Ambush or not, this means that they are at the very least as strong as a chunin. We will need Naruto at our side- and if possible, Gaara and the others as well…"

"I will hurry, but you should make sure the other two-legs aren't going to do something stupid. Anger leads to many mistakes…"

Neji nodded. Ironically, he knew better than most how much wrong blind hatred could do. His own mistakes had proven a hard lesson. While his father's death would have most likely reinforced his hatred towards the main house prior to his battle against Naruto, Neji now knew that it was not the entire main house that was guilty. Only a select few were guilty. And together, they would find those who were guilty. Neji wondered why his father had been so terribly misguided, and in hindsight many of his actions had made little sense as they would harm the branch as much as the main house. Neji could remember times when his father had talked differently… But regardless of his mistakes, Hizashi had been his father. He was not the warmest and most caring father perhaps, but those things were not too common within their clan anyway. He was Neji's father, and as such, Neji wanted to make those responsible for Hizashi's death pay.

But for now, his sense of loyalty was stronger than his hatred. Making an individual pay for a single action would not change the clan. Aiding Hinata to grasp control of the clan, however, would be a path that could lead to freedom. With Naruto backing her, abolishing the caged bird seal would not be impossible either. No, she was the only path that gave a chance of freedom, and he would do anything in his power to protect that chance.

His father's older lessons had rooted firmly within Neji: 'for the sake of the clan'.

He took one last look at the black-and-white cat and saw her vanish around the corner. Yes, she would call in reinforcements. Even when disobeying orders, Neji knew that the risk was not as grave as he initially feared. Orochimaru was not there, and Neji doubted that any of the man's servants would be capable of beating the three teams, especially when backed by one or two jinchuriki.

Pride was still Neji's weakness, though.


Sasuke frowned when his four guards stopped in the clearing. They only had moved for an hour or two, so they still had enough ground to cover. "Why are we stopping? We need to hurry, Konoha will send out squads to retrieve me, so if we stay too long on one-"

"Shut your fucking mouth," Sakon snapped. "Or I will rip your tongue out."

"Sakon!" Kidomaru stepped forward, positioning himself between the now deranged- looking Sakon and their mission. "Orochimaru-sama wants him unharmed. We all know why."

Sakon spat on the ground, but remained silent otherwise.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke wondered. "You know what he wants with me?"

"He wants your body, you dipshit!" the red-haired girl growled. She laughed when she saw him shudder in disgust. "No, not in that way. He's a freaking snake, he has no interest in things like raping your skinny ass. No, he literally wants your body. He'll explain it soon enough. But it is the price you have to pay for using his gift."

"Do I have to pay it?"

"It looks like you have no control over the curse seal yet. Bit by bit, the curse seal will consume your body. If you don't pay the price, you'll die," Tayuya smirked.

"I… die?" Sasuke was actually taken aback. The seal had provided him with so much power, but now it was lethal?

"If you can't control it, yes," Kidomaru agreed. "But Orochimaru-sama seems to believe you can endure it. If not, he would not have given you that seal."

Reaching up, Sasuke touched his own seal. "What's so special about it? You guys have the same thing, right?"

"Not really. There are differences," Kidomaru shrugged. "But we know what it means. That is why we kept waiting for you, Sasuke-sama."

"Sama?" Sasuke wondered. "What's the meaning of this?"

"His giving you that specific mark means that you will lead us. So I hope you forgive our earlier actions," Kidomaru inclined his head slightly, and it would have been respectful too if not for the mocking tone at which he spoke.

"Hn. I don't care, let's go."

"We can't," the largest of the four huffed. "We need some time to recover."

"Pathetic fat-ass," Tayuya scoffed.

Jirobo shook his head, annoyed by the foul language. "You need rest too, Tayuya. You did not go to the second level for as long as Sakon and I did, but you are tired as well."

"Konoha will track us down soon," Sasuke warned.

Tayuya laughed. "You really think we came unprepared? No, those morons will have to sift through a mountain of fake information first, before they can make their decisions. They'll think Orochimaru-sama himself is with us, for example. And even if they sent people out, it would be in the wrong directions. No, that limp old bastard will derail Konoha's force long enough for us to get away. You can bet your pretty eyeballs on that."

"And yet that filthy old goat forbade us to permanently harm that jonin," Sakon growled. "We should've killed that piece of trash!"

"Shut the fuck up about that, Sakon," Tayuya snapped. "You know about his deal with Orochimaru-sama as well as I do. He didn't mind it if some weak piece of trash died, but he needed his top jonin alive."

"He didn't become Hokage!"

"His plans seem to have backfired on him, but we still have that agreement. So unless you want to piss off the snake himself…" Tayuya shrugged.

"Then why… why did you kill Shino?" Sasuke mumbled.

"Gheh, you got pissed off because we killed your boyfriend?"

Sasuke glared at the girl. "It was my burden, not theirs."

"I told ya: it was your choice that led to his death," Kidomaru frowned. "Your actions have consequences. And those consequences are as much for others as they are for you. This is not some kind of fairy tale where everyone lives happily ever after. From the moment we crawl into this fucked up world, we suffer."

"Yeah, if someone is to be blamed, it is the one who threw us into this shit," Tayuya scowled. "But what do you know. You lived your life in the safety of the fucked-up village of tree huggers."

"What do you know about me?" Sasuke snapped. "What do you know about the pain I-"

"You weren't sold off by your parents. Your family wasn't wiped out due to some retarded superstition," Tayuya growled, making Sakon look away. "You weren't enslaved by the very bandits who massacred your village," Kidomaro grimaced at hearing this. "You weren't left for death, after your entire village was slaughtered," Jirobo sighed. "Do you have the fucking audacity to talk about pain in comparison with us!"

"Tsk. Whatever," Sasuke glared, but otherwise becoming silent. He knew they were right. If anyone was hurt due to his choices, it may be his fault, but… But the Sasuke who was part of team seven, the Sasuke who went out on missions with the people who he eventually accepted as being close to him, closer than anyone had been since the extermination of his clan, was gone. That Sasuke had lost the struggle against the ever-present desire for vengeance. His heart ached, but it was nothing compared to the pain the memory of family left him. 'I will kill Itachi, even if it is the last thing I do,' he repeated his mantra to himself. It was this mantra that had dragged him through those painful and lonely years following the Uchiha massacre. 'I am not like the rest of them. We have different paths that we must walk. I am an avenger. This is why I am alive. Not even Naruto can understand that pain.'

Silently, although the restless Sakon kept staring at Sasuke, the five teenagers ate a quick meal. Under the cover of the trees that surrounded the clearing, Jirobo even took a short nap. Sakon was too angry to even consider resting, even though Kidomaro had taken the duty of keeping watch. Meanwhile, Tayuya was playing her flute. Sasuke was actually surprised that the rude redhead was capable of creating such soothing music. It was so sad, and yet it held such calm… He soon drifted away.


With Kiba and Akamaru quickly picking up the five different scents, the nine rookies had quickly rushed through the forests surrounding Konoha. Still, it took them nearly two hours until Karin suddenly paused.

"I sense them," the Uzumaki hissed.

Shikamaru looked at Neji and Hinata, but they shook their heads. They saw nothing. "How far can you even-"

"They're a few miles from here," Karin still had her eyes shut tightly, completely focusing on her 'inner eye' as Kurenai had nicknamed her sensory abilities. "Aside from Sasuke, there are four… One seems very strange. His chakra seems scrambled."

"What do you mean?" Ino was confused as to why someone's chakra would be 'scrambled.'

"Two of them are injured," Kiba said. "I smelled their blood. If someone is injured badly enough, their chakra is affected too."

"No, this is… different," Karin hesitated. "It's almost like this person lost part of himself or something. Remember how Naruto-niisan was after right Sandaime-sama strengthened his seal?"

"His chakra needed some time to settle down," Hinata nodded.

"I wonder what could have happened to that guy to get his chakra altered in such a fundamental way," Shikamaru wondered. "But it means that at least one of them is weakened. And the others? How strong are they, Karin-san?"

"They all seem about as strong as a chunin, though the big one and scrambled one are rather weakened for some reason."

"But we can beat them?"

Karin shrugged, still not opening her eyes, but not sure how to answer. "I cannot say how skilled they are. I only sense the strength of their chakras. And I must say that they are foul, all five of them."

"Hey! Why is Sasuke-kun-" Ino began to protest, but Shikamaru cut her off.

"What is wrong with Sasuke's chakra pattern?"

"It's dark, darker than ever before. It almost feels a bit like Nii-san, when the Kyuubi influenced him."

"What did they do to Sasuke-kun!?"

"Ino, don't let your emotions get in the way of our mission," Shikamaru cut her off once more. The blonde glared, but for once the Nara did not back off. Troublesome as she may be, this was no situation where he would just leave things be. This was a matter of life and death, not some kind of stupid training. In addition, considering how he had been promoted, the others had appointed him as their makeshift captain. "Karin, is he bound or otherwise restrained?"

"I can't sense anything holding him down. No drugs, genjutsu, or other reasons why he wouldn't be able to escape," Karin shook her head. "But I'm not sure. We should get closer so that Hinata-san or Neji-san could see."

"Let's move," Kiba growled, getting an agreeing bark from Akamaru.


Nodding, even Sasuke lingered near the borders of waking and sleeping. This had been an exhausting day, both physical and mentally, and with Tayuya's music in the background, his thoughts had soon drifted away. At least, he did so until Sakon unsealed some kind of weird bathtub, which he threw on the ground with enough of a racket to wake even the noisily snoring Jirobo.

"What is that?" Sasuke looked at the wooden construct with more than a little distrust.

"This will be a good place, Sasuke-sama," Sakon mocked the Uchiha. "We've gone far enough from that piece of trash village."

"I'm asking you: what the hell is that?"

"We've got important orders from Orochimaru-sama," Sakon's insane grin never left his face. "I particularly like the last one. You… must die once."

Immediately on guard, Sasuke glared at the least sane of his four 'guards'. "You're telling me to die, once?"

Ruffling through his pockets, Sakon presented a small bottle with pills to him. "This is Seishingan. I'll have you take one of these…"

Tayuya sighed as she saw the look on Sasuke's face, not that she really blamed him. By the looks of it, Sakon really wished the Uchiha to die from it. 'Ukon was always the crazy one, but his death seems to have caused some severe mental damage to Sakon. Well, he was always an idiot, but this level of retardation is way beyond what we're used to from him.'

"Seishingan will forcefully release the cursed seal to its second level," she explained. "But that will also dramatically increase the contamination speed of the seal. If we do nothing, you will die."

"In order to control the second level, your body needs some time to get adjusted," Kidomaru continued. "With the second level, you will probably possess the same level of strength as us, but if you are in that state, you probably only have a few minutes before you die."

Sasuke gulped. "How do I… adjust?"

"Don't worry," Sakon, the guy who actually worried Sasuke the most, chuckled. "That's what we're here for. We'll put you in a temporary coma by creating a barrier. We put that thing around you, and it will reduce the side-effects of the curse."

"Barrier skills," Sasuke grimaced. He had grown to despise that branch of ninjutsu, especially because Naruto made use of it. "How reliable are they?"

"Hey, we four are usually the elite guards of Orochimaru-sama himself. Creating seals and barriers are our strongest skills!" Kidomaru boasted. Well, boasting was not really the right word. Kenta, Kazu, and Kabuto were far stronger than they were, but unlike the Sound Four, this trio was always sent out on missions of their own.

'I cannot die yet… I must kill Itachi first. I'll do everything for the sake of avenging our parents, Itachi. Even if I have to sell my soul to the devil, my face will be the last thing you'll ever see,' Sasuke opened the bottle, took one of the pills, and swallowed it. All members of the four looked at him. Each of them had gone through the very same process, and knew very well how much Sasuke would have to suffer.

Actually, knowing what was to come was a source of amusement to both Kidomaru and Sakon.

When Sasuke doubled over, it was if he was hit by a pain more severe than anything he'd ever felt before – including being poisoned by the Kyuubi's chakra. Jirobo looked at his teammates. "We should hurry, or Sasuke-sama is going to kick the bucket."

"Let him," Sakon smirked.

"Perhaps that would be the most merciful way, but we can't let that happen," Tayuya sighed. "Let's seal the princess."

Jirobo grabbed the withering Uchiha, and deposited him in the wooden container. All four stood at a side of the container, focusing their chakra and synchronously executing the exact same hand seals. A large black cloud enveloped the container, and when the members of the Sound Four put their hands down, the cloud descended upon the crate. All the darkness was sucked into the object, only leaving a solid black mass behind.

The sealing tags stabilized the dark seal, the houin fuukoku, which the four had used.

Now Sasuke was trapped in the darkness. And they knew he would have to survive on his own now. The strength of his volition would determine if he would fail or not. Not even Orochimaru himself could change that part of the process, and they had all seen enough people fail during this process. It was definitely not the best way to die…


"One has some burns on his chest, the big one," Hinata reported. "The wounds seem to limit his movements."

"Not by much though, but it would seem that none of the four know any medical ninjutsu, if they left that untreated," Neji added. "They are weird though. The girl and the six-armed boy seem to be the most difficult opponents. They possess the most chakra at least."

"Six arms?" Choji exclaimed, quickly hushed by Ino.

"They're the henchmen of that Orochimaru, remember?" Kiba mumbled. "No surprise that he collected a group around him who are as freakish as he is."

"Still, six arms…"

"It makes me wonder what kind of modifications the other three have," Neji mused. "There is no way that those three are normal."

"So, should we attack, or send someone back for reinforcements and keep tracking them?" Shikamaru remained focused, not wanting to distract himself too much by thinking how freaking tough this group would be. "There are nine of us, against four of them. Two of them are injured. Can we take them down by ourselves?"

"…"

"Hey, are you-"

Neji cut him off by raising his hand. "What is going on?"

"Sasuke-san just swallowed some kind of pill. It is affecting him badly," Hinata clarified.

'Is her eyesight better than mine?' Neji frowned. He had not seen that detail. Not from this distance, at least. "They seem to be sealing him into something now."

"His chakra… it was changing. It grew darker and colder," Karin shuddered. "And more powerful. But it seemed very unstable. Shikamaru-san, I don't think they are merely after his sharingan. It seems like they gave him something which affected his cursed seal. It was just like when he went crazy in the Forest of Death..."

"Is that thing truly that evil?" Tenten wondered. "How bad can it be?"

"It spreads a secondary chakra through his body," Neji clarified. "And based on what Hinata-sama, Kiba, and Karin-san just told us, it also affects his emotions."

"But what just happened?" Ino demanded.

"Sasuke-san has been sealed within something… It is like there is some kind of barrier surrounding him, I cannot see past it," Hinata looked at Neji, but he too could not see through it.

"I've got nothing either," Karin shrugged. "But whatever they did, it was dangerous. But now it is like they created a void into which Sasuske disappeared."

"He sustained a lot of damage to his tenketsu, before they sealed him," Neji agreed.

"Were they killing him?"

"Ino-san… I do not think Sasuke-san was held against his will," Hinata hesitated.

"I feared as much," Shikamaru sighed. "Yes, Ino, if you opened your eyes instead of following your heart, you would have seen that possibility too. Sasuke was way too obsessed with power. I suppose that whatever Orochimaru gave him, this is a way to master that power, am I right?"

"It seems likely, but what are we supposed to do about this?" Neji looked at Shikamaru.

"The longer we wait, the greater the grip of the seal on Sasuke will become. So we should act fast. Two of them are injured, and we are nine. I know the basic level of skill of each of us, except for Karin… I must ask you, how strong are you?"

Karin hesitated. Seeing that she did, Kiba answered on her behalf. "Kusa never trained her well. She is an excellent sensor, but she's not cut out for front-line combat," he looked at Karin, who seemed rather dejected. "Don't blame yourself. I didn't mean to insult you, but I don't want you to put in harm's way either. You're an amazing sensor. I mean, you managed to track down the legendary Tsunade, when even Jiraiya-sama failed! Spend some time with Kurenai-sensei and you'll be kicking our asses as well."

Karin smiled a little at that prediction, but still… "I am sorry I am not more useful."

"Without you we would not have been able to evade those traps, right?" Shikamaru remembered the girl of the craftily-hidden traps that had surrounded the area. But all those traps shared one fatal flaw: they were based on chakra. So Karin had spotted all the traps, even when Neji and Hinata had missed several of them. "But while we do not know how strong these guys are, nor do we know who has what kind of skill set. So, we could better split into well-balanced teams. All we know right now is that there is one capable of doton jutsus, and one of them is an archer."

"Are you sure that it is wise to split up?" Neji frowned.

"These guys took down Hatake Kakashi. Even if they fought three on one, it shows their teamwork is good. In contrast, we are composed of three teams, and aren't used to working together like this, so our teamwork is probably a lot worse. Our best odds are to split them up and take them down separately. I'd rather take that option than let them work together, cover for each other's weaknesses, and take us down one by one."

"Why not just snatch the coffin which holds Sasuke, and make run for it?"

"And get the four of them after us? Are all nine of us capable of outrunning them? No. Or should only one take Sasuke, while the other eight stay and stall them? Again, the problem would be that they aren't split up. Besides, we have to fight them anyway, whether we do it with eight or with nine. But I think the latter case gives us better odds," Shikamaru summarized. "I think it is best to scatter them with our first attack, and split them up. But who has to fight who?"

Neji considered this for a moment, and then nodded. "I think you are right. Besides, if we do not attack all of them, one could try to take Sasuke and run. Going in on offense might be best… As for your question: the big guy seems like a close combat type."

"In that case, Choji and Kiba should focus on him," Shikamaru suggested. "As long as we do not know whether the big guy has some kind of ninjutsu or not, Lee should better focus on the one with the scrambled chakra. I doubt that guy could perform any jutsu in his state."

"I'll help Lee," Ino suggested. "If he does not have proper control of his own chakra, my shintenshin no jutsu would be even more useful than normal."

"And Karin could help Choji, Akamaru, and me," Kiba added.

"Very well. Neji, can you and Tenten deal with that six armed guy?" Shikamaru asked. Neji and Tenten nodded. "Good, then I will cooperate with Hinata. If I trap that girl, Hinata should be able to disable her with her juken. On top of it, with Karin, Neji, and Hinata split, at least three groups have a good overview of the situation."

"Hey, my clan is known for its sensory abilities too!" Ino protested. Not that anyone bothered to start an argument with her on this. It was neither the time nor the place for that.

"S-Shouldn't we wait on Naruto-kun?" Hinata looked hesitantly at the others, who all seemed to prepare themselves for the oncoming battle.

"Sasuke-kun is hurt, he may die, we cannot wait," Ino snapped.

"She does have a point, Ino," Shikamaru hushed her, though not with too much enthusiasm. "And there is little point in meaninglessly wasting your life in a failed attempt to save him." Ino bristled, but Shikamaru ignored her and looked at the two Hyuga and Karin. "You three can judge our situation best. With the plan we have, can we take them down, or should we wait for Naruto and risk that the spot us while we wait until Chie brings reinforcements?"

"We can do it," Neji was confident. "We always have a two-on-one situation, and as soon as one of them falls, the odds only grow in our favor. They may have beaten Kakashi-sensei, but this time it is their time to be ambushed. Besides, if Chie manages to warn Naruto quickly, he should be here soon enough anyway. If we let them go away now, we might risk our opportunity. We now have the extra advantage of them not knowing we are here, but if we need to follow them…"

"If they are good enough to take down Kakashi-sensei, they are good enough to notice us soon too," Shikamaru agreed. He was still confused how they had created those web-like threads around the clearing. If it had not been for Karin, they would have missed at least some of the lines. Luckily, the threads were created with chakra, so she could 'see' them. If only barely. "Okay, attack on my cue. And we don't want to be taken out with one jutsu, so spread out."

'Much will depend on how quickly the two injured guys are taken down, if that happens we will definitely have the upper hand,' Shikamaru grimaced.

"Don't worry Shika, we can do it," Choji smiled at his friend. "They killed Shino, hurt Kakashi-sensei, and we don't even know if Sakura is alive or not. We will repay the favor."

"Yosh!" Lee's unusually silent demeanor vanished like snow before the sun. Even Tenten was taken aback a little when she saw the fire in his eyes. 'He must be angry that Sakura got hurt. Worse even, he doesn't know whether she is alive or not,' she guessed. 'Well, it's the Lee-equivalent of anger, at least,' she mentally added, while she prepared her weapon scrolls.

The nine jumped down from the trees, into clearing, where four surprised shinobi awaited them.


Bonus: The Marked Man (1)


Raido pulled the key out, and closed the door behind him. "Ahh.. Home at last," he mumbled. With Anko currently looking after the 'kids', he had some time to get home- and he needed it. While he was happy to serve the son of the man he had once sworn loyalty to, some time off was definitely a luxury, especially due to Anko's alcohol-deprived antics.

But most of all, Raido needed to check on his basement. 'Anko would probably murder me if she knew what I did in my spare time…'

A lot of people would probably freak out if they knew; that was exactly the reason why they kept it a secret. Raido had inherited it from his grandfather, and now he cooperated with his elder cousin. Through a secret tunnel, his cousin, who lived around the corner, could enter Raido's basement. Of course, that poor man had to keep this a secret as well, considering how his wife would react if she would find out. Similarly, someone with Raido's position could not be known for this either.

Who knew how anyone would react when they figured out he and his cousin had secretly continued their grandfather's sake brewery?

It was not just any label either. 'The Marked Man' was one of Konoha's most exclusive brands of sake. Both Raido and his cousin were extremely methodical with their every move. It ensured that the brewing process was extremely precise, even though it was all traditionally made, rather than many of the other sake brands which were created through a (partially) automated production process. No, 'The Marked Man' was a label which maintained extremely high standards. Considering how it was a two-man business, it was also a highly exclusive brand. It was one which many parties within Konoha desired to take under their control.

Raido had seen the chaos that Anko and Tsunade had created only a few days before, over the destruction of one bottle of his sake. 'Yeah, she'd definitely try to murder me if she found out,' Raido shuddered at the thought.

Going down the stairs and entering the surprisingly large basement – Raido had put his wages to good use – Raido immediately saw that something was missing.

The casks, made of the best wood available, were filled to the brim with the delicious strained, clear sake. However, the funnel used to pour the sake from the casks into the bottles was gone. It was gone, yet Raido knew that his cousin would never put it anywhere but the designated position. Where was it?!


"Crazy-snakes-two-leg?"

"What is it this time?" Anko asked the cat wearily. "I'm not in the mood for another prank. So unless you get me either dango or sake, I suggest you scram."

"I wanted to apologize for locking you in that room the other day," Chie continued, as if she was never interrupted.

Anko shivered. Shizune and Ako had not been pleased when they found Anko and Tsunade locked in that room. 'That gaki truly went overboard when it came to sealing that room. What the hell is wrong with that kid? There was no way out, aside from tearing down the building… Why would he go that far for some stupid threat against his ramen? If it had been dango or sake, I would've understood, but that shitty broth.'

Two other cats, one reddish and one brown with a white-tipped tail, entered the room while they carried a strange metal object in their mouths.

"The hell is this?"

"Not sure, but it smelled like your flaming water," Chie spoke up. "So we brought it here…"

"Right… and what do I have to do with it?"

"It is from the marked two-leg, or whatever it was that stood on the bottle," Chie tilted her head slightly. "You seemed to like it last time."

"The marked two-leg? What are you talking about… wait, are you talking about 'The Marked Man'?"

Chie nodded.

"You found the brewery of the most elusive company in Konoha?" Anko had eyes big as saucers at this point. "Please tell me where!"

"Errr," taken aback by Anko's sudden change in demeanor, Chie wondered if it would be wise to tell. Anko just seemed to be a bit too fanatical. And as if on cue, the snake mistress conjured up a kunai. 'The two-leg would go nuts if I don't tell… Ah well. I'm too young to die just yet, I'm sorry, Scarface-two-leg.'


Raido had searched through his entire basement, visited his cousin's place – thank Kami his wife had not been there – and was currently ransacking his own house. But so far, the funnel remained missing.

He was so distracted by his quest, Raido even failed to notice the ominous sensation when someone knocked at his front door. "Coming!"

'It isn't in the hall either… Where on earth did it go?' Raido fumed while walking to the door.

"Hellooooo, Raido-kun."

Anko as of late had made a game of striking seductive poses with her already way-too-revealing usual clothing, but this pose really hit the top spot. "A-Anko?"

"Who else?"

"Why… Wait, what are you doing right here?" Raido suddenly realized that she must have left the two jinchuriki unguarded at the Uzumaki compound.

"I came to make an offer you can't resist," Anko leaned towards him. Unsure what he was supposed to be doing in this situation, Raido leaned back.

'She lost it. She has completely lost it…' Raido blinked. His calm and collected attitude was completely shattered right now, embarrassed as he was that he could barely look away from the rather close view he now had of Anko's cleavage. "Offer?" he eventually repeated dumbly.

"Yes… Why don't I give you this," Anko held up the funnel Raido was seeking. "And in return for me keeping your hobby a secret, you provide me with sake," she smiled. However, that smile had nothing friendly at all in it- at least, not in Raido's eyes. He saw it as a threat. "I'm not sure why you went to such lengths to keep this a secret, but I doubt you want it to get exposed, right?"

"How-"

"Hi, Scarface-two-leg," Chie popped up from behind Anko. "I love what you did to your basement."

Looking from the mischievous black-and-white cat to his fellow tokubetsu jonin, Raido paled. Even the weal-like scar on his face seemed to change colour. "Fuck…"

"I didn't agree to that. Yet," Anko winked. "Get me a few bottles of your sake. I'll give you a day, or else I'm going to pay Tsunade-sama a visit. I'm sure she would love to know about this too."

"Y-you wouldn't…"

"Hey, you're the mastermind behind Konoha's best sake, of course you would be a great catch!" Anko smirked.

"Wha-what?" Raido started to blush. "No! Eh, no, that's not… Not what I meant. I meant about telling Tsunade-sama!"

"If you're a good boy, I will be a good girl," Anko purred, before she walked away- as seductively as she could. Raido swore that he had never seen such curves when a person wore a trench coat before. "Remember, you have one day…"


A/N: It never made much sense to me that the Sound Four could just waltz in an out of the village. So I added a bit of Danzo to the plot. Anyway, I hope you like those match-ups. And yes, I did not make the Sound Four shinobi exactly identical to their manga counterparts. Especially not when including the filler episodes where they were revived. No, I'd prefer to show a more human side to them.

As for Kakashi being beaten: by using the cursed seal, the sound four could take down Genma and Raido, two jonin formidable enough to be guards to the Hokage himself, in the manga. So I didn't think that it was unrealistic that three of them could take down Hatake Kakashi.

Today's recommendation: considering the amount of Tayuya in this chapter, I would like to recommend the top-NaruTayu story. Seeing Red from RyoshiMorino starts when Naruto begins his three year training period, but just after they leave the village they meet an interesting (and wounded) person who will tag along. The fic certainly had me laughing many times. Especially Ryoshi's take on Kurama is brilliant.

As always, thank you Illuminated for beta-ing my chapter. And thank you to all of you who take your time to leave your reviews! Hopefully, this chapter will push my fic past the 1.000 review mark!

Next chapter: Origins in flames.

-Z-