Author's note: So, this will be my very first fanfic. I figured something featuring Kimimaro would be a cool idea since he is a rarely focused on Naruto character. Since this is the first chapter, it's going to be much, much shorter than I am planning on writing the usual chapter. Expect future chapters to have a lot more, uh, 'mass' to them. I just want to get this story idea out of my head and onto paper before moving forward with it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story! Or at least, the teaser for this story.

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"I am not his pawn! He is the one, the only one who gave my life meaning! BUT HOW COULD THE LIKES OF YOU EVER UNDERSTAND THAT?!" Kimimaro shouted at the petulant shinobi in front of him from the top of his lungs, his voice cracking under the sheer pressure of air flowing out of his lungs.

He drove forward his arm, encased in razor sharp bone, intending to impale the target before him. But just as Kimimaro's blow was about to connect, he coughed up blood one more time. The final time. His very own heart had stopped pumping life supporting blood around his body. He seized up

'Forgive me Orochimaru, I have failed.' Kimimaro thought, his life flashing before his eyes. He remembered his long and torturous childhood, all the hours being locked up by the Kaguya clan, wondering about the purpose of it all. He remembered his clan's assault on Kirigakure and how he was the only survivor. He remembered how lost he felt, wandering around the forest after the fighting had concluded. He remembered how Lord Orochimaru had found him with a flower, how relieved he was to have found a purpose. He remembered his friend Jugo, he remembered Kabuto, he remembered all his missions with the sound ninja five. And above all, he remembered his failure to Lord Orochimaru, how his own illness had prevented him from being a part of the attack on the village hidden in the leaves, how his illness had prevented him from being the vessel that Lord Orochimaru desired. Even at the end, he could not accept the supposed truth that the enemy shinobi put before him, that he was just some pawn of Lord Orochimaru.

And with that, the light in his eyes was snuffed out like a candle being smothered.

Kimimaro was gone, ready to enter into the cycle of reincarnation.

But as Kimimaro's soul left his body, a curious thing happened. A bridge between this world and another opened up and sucked his soul into its bowels.

From the depths of the hole came a very deep voice which would have vibrated any room it was heard in.

"You shall be mine, Kimimaro."

And with that, Kimimaro's soul began to regain form. From the imagined form of Kimimaro came flesh and blood. His ethereal ghost-like form became a piece of solid matter. But still his body floated in the sky, like dust on the wind, being taken gently from place to place by the ever blowing currents in the air. Until finally his now solid form found a spot on a flat, mossy rock, surrounded by very dense foliage going in all directions. With his descent now finished, the strange hole in the sky from which Kimimaro emerged, still visible to the naked eye, sealed itself.

'So this is the afterlife, it's so dark in here.' Kimimaro calmly thought as his consciousness returned to him. And as his consciousness began to return to him, so too did the sensation of his body. But still he lay there, unmoving and unstiring. Eventually however, his eyes flashed open. And it is with this his eyes began to dart around the dense foliage, taking note of his surroundings.

'Where am I?' Kimimaro asked himself as he familiarized himself with the surrounding terrain. He could spot at least a dozen different species of plants, none of them familiar to him. Kimimaro's eyes nearly squinted in mistrust as he noticed how odd it was for none of the plants to be recognizable. After all, he had traveled far and wide in his service to Orochimaru and had familiarized himself with a great deal of plants in the process, remembering which ones he could use as food and herbs, and which ones could be used for poison.

'Could this be a genjutsu?' Kimimaro asked himself.

He hadn't noticed his opponent using any genjutsu during the battle, only ninjutsu. Still, there was no such thing as overly cautious, not in the shinobi world. Kimimaro tried to release the genjutsu, but nothing came of it. He was still trapped in the same unfamiliar realm.

'So, this truly is the afterlife then.' Kimimaro thought with despair.

He looked down to see if his curse mark of earth had followed him, and sure enough, it had. Even in death Kimimaro's soul belonged to his Lord, Orochimaru. But this was no cause for concern to Kimimaro. In fact, it was a cause of great celebration. It meant that Orochimaru still had a purpose for him. Surely there must be some way out of the afterlife, surely Orochimaru was planning on reincarnating him, to serve at his side forevermore. He wasn't brainwashed, not like that pathetic shinobi had told him. No, his purpose was true. But within Kimimaro, no matter how fervently he denied it, was a small seed of doubt, planted there by a combination of factors. The hours being alone and under Kabuto's care combined with the way he was alone as he died alone was enough to ignite but a small amount of self doubt in his glorious purpose.

But that small seed of doubt was not enough to stop Kimimaro from knowing within his heart of hearts, that Orochimaru would be with him again. It was only a matter of time. It was then that his mind turned to another purpose, finding others within this afterlife, perhaps perfecting his jutsu. If such a thing could even be used in the-

"Ahem!" Spoke a squeaky voice emanating from some underbrush, interrupting the thought process of Kimimaro.

Kimimaro looked ever so calmly towards the high pitched noise which had just perforated his eardrums. At first he spotted nothing, but then he noticed a small bit of motion within the bottommost edge of the bushes, creeping ever closer to himself. Kimimaro readied himself for the chance encounter to turn into full blown combat, even though such a chance encounter would likely not be dangerous. To outsiders, it may have looked like paranoia, but one did not last long in the shinobi world if one was not always on their toes.

But what came out of the underbrush was, not what he expected, to put it mildly.

"Hi there! Mind telling me what you are doing in my neck of the woods on such a lovely day?" Said the perpetually chirpy voice as it emerged.

'What a strange little thing' remarked Kimimaro inside of his head. He had never seen such a creature before. It seemed to have the fur pattern of a panda, but on such a small frame, no more than 10 centimeters high. But despite its fur pattern, the rest of it seemed to be distinctly rodent like in appearance. It was a bizarre mix of two very different types of species.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Cried the chirpy voice, but now with more irritation evident in its vocalization.

Because of Kimimaro's inherent distrust of anyone who wasn't Lord Orochimaru, Jugo, or Kabuto, he chose not to engage in any small talk that would compromise any information. Despite this, he recognized an important asset in gathering information on the surrounding unfamiliar environment when he saw one. Even if this may have been the afterlife, there was no reason for Kimimaro to now begin to compromise his position and reveal himself to be a shinobi. Besides, he hadn't yet tested himself to see if he still retained his jutsu within this strange afterlife.

"Just out taking a stroll. Tell me do you-" Started Kimimaro in his subdued and calming voice before it became interrupted with the enthusiastic voice of his new companion.

"Just taking a stroll? Give me a break! No human ever comes to the spirit world unless they are looking for something!"

'Spirit world? What kind of afterlife is this? Is this where I wait until Orochimaru summons me from the dead? And what does he mean by no human comes to the spirit world unless they seek something? Shouldn't all humans come to the spirit world if it is the afterlife?' Kimimaro pondered as he looked into the bright eyes of the creature he was addressing. He decided to play along for now.

"You are right, there is something that I seek here. Tell me, have you heard of a human named Orochimaru?" Asked Kimimaro, seeking to elicit a response from the strange creature.

"Now why would I know anything about any humans? You're all the same to me. Always going around the place, messing things up for the rest of us." Stated the rodent as if it was obvious. "However, I do know a spirit who might know. His name is Heihuo. He's an ancient spirit, supposed to know the names of all the humans in the material world. Speaking of names, my name is Zhu Khuklee. What about yours?"

Kimimaro just looked back at the creature, the same calm expression emanating from his face as it always did.

"Fine, be that way, most humans would be grateful for the help you know." Said Zhu Khuklee as he retorted to what he perceived to be an insult.

"Do you want my help or not?" Asked Zhu Khuklee in as forceful of a manner as he could get his high pitched voice to be.

"Yes."

"Then let's get going, I'll take you to him." Said Zhu Khuklee in his usual squeaky voice.

"Good." Said Kimimaro, thankful that this talking rodent might be able to help him find his way back to the land of the living faster.

Kimimaro extended his hand down to Zhu, who then in turn followed the arm to its conclusion and jumped on Kimimaro's shoulder.

And with that, the unusual pair was off.

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