Chapter 52 - Kabuto Returns

A/N: I do not own the Naruto Franchise!

I do however own Mari Kaede and any other OCs mentioned.

Warnings: Contains dark themes, such as depression, murder, experimentation, emotional, mental and physical torture, possible attempted suicide and mentions of sexual activities!

At this point, I also want to point out that the relationship between these two characters is actually toxic if you are in a similar situation please seek help, it is not healthy and it won't end the same way this story will end.

I do not condone these kinds of relationships, despite writing this story.

Hey guys, I decided to work on my Naruto story first despite having other stories because I just finished making a comic that took me a good two months. Because of that, I haven't been able to write since the last chapter came out, so hopefully you guys are pleased with this extra chapter so soon after my hiatus!

I apologize if it doesn't sound good, I'm a little rusty, but I'm slowly falling back into my old writing ways!

Enjoy!

The dreaded dawn had arrived.

Kabuto, also known as Usotsuki to those in the Ishigakure village, waded through the trees of the forest alongside his four-man cell consisting two Chuunin kunoichi, Mio and Arisu; and a Jounin leader, Hideo. They had been tasked with following the trail left by the hostages as they searched for the culprit that had destroyed Tenkachi City without mercy. Despite Usotsuki's best efforts, they had picked up the tracks left by the stolen children and had taken measures to secure a route to their hideout, and now, they were moving in to save those they hoped were still alive.

Of course, the white-haired medic knew they would not find anything of value, if his message had reached Orochimaru in time. The Sannin was not someone who left behind evidence of his crimes unless provoked to do so. The boy's only hope was, that his leader had escaped before they had set off that morning to find the missing residents.

Usotsuki's eyes narrowed slightly when he remembered the mission briefing he had witnessed as the sun rose.

"You four have been chosen to find and rescue the missing ninja and citizens that had been situated in Tenkachi City two months prior..." The leader of the village stated, looking over the reports given to him by Usotsuki's investigation squad during his absence. "Though the bodies of some of our men were found, many of them are still unaccounted for, and it is our belief that those who weren't recovered from the site were captured and taken somewhere in secret for unknown reasons, perhaps even for ransom."

Usotsuki piped up, doing his utmost to hide his true identity. "With all due respect sir, I read up on the mission our teammates were sent on..." He pulled out a small, black scroll and opened it. "They were sent to Tenkachi city to take out an S-ranked shinobi, correct?"

The leader nodded. "Yes, Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin that defected from Konoha almost a decade ago..."

This caused a stir as many of the ninja in the room gasped and murmured among themselves. "If that's the case..." The young spy continued, concern flashing in his usually cold, black eyes. "Then do you really believe they would be kept alive for a ransom?"

Silence stretched between the two as the leader linked his fingers together and pressed his mouth into the back of his joined digits, contemplating his response. "No." More shocked whispers were heard, which he quickly put a stop to by speaking up once again. "However, as Ishigakure's governing body, it's my duty to trust that my men are alive and well until proven otherwise. Therefore, despite the past actions Orochimaru has taken, I will choose to believe that they are still alive, until corpses are found."

Hideo, who sat next to Usotsuki, the Jounin leader of their rescue squad, nodded with his arms crossed. "Our shinobi are strong like the rocks surrounding our village, it'll take more than an S-ranked criminal to take them all down. It's likely they were captured for the man's heinous experiments."

Usotsuki nodded, rolling up the scroll. "Yes, I agree that it's a possibility." He knew for a fact that, that was the case. After all, he performed several of those experiments himself. "So my question is, what do you want us to do if we find wherever it is Orochimaru has taken them?"

The leader cleared his throat. "Your next actions are dependent on whether their base is heavily guarded or not..." His eyes narrowed. "If there are bandits, or more likely, shinobi surveying the area where the tracks lead, then you are to send word ahead to our village and await further orders from a safe distance." He lifted his face from the back of his hands. "However, if there are few, or no shinobi in the area, then you will infiltrate their base and find any and all survivors inside. Dispose of any enemies and bring them back alive and well."

The two shinobi, Usotsuki and Hideo, nodded stiffly, accepting their role. "Yes, sir." They both chorused.

"Good." The governing body gestured to two kunoichi on the opposite side of the table. "These two here will make up the rest of your four-man cell. Mio is a sensory-type shinobi who can find people based off their Chakra, she's a must for any rescue mission or infiltration operation." The woman smiled at them kindly, her emerald green eyes contrasting nicely with her bright red hair. "And Arisu is a known Kuchiyose no Jutsu user who specializes in carrier pigeons, a fast and reliable bird who will report back to us in less than a twenty-four hour period, unlike other, less agile summons." The blonde, timid woman nodded shyly in response to her introduction.

"Yo." Hideo stated, raising a hand with a little bit of lazy apathy in his tone. He had a scarf covering one of his eyes, which had been lost in a long-forgotten battle, and messy brown hair. "The name's Hideo, I'm the one in charge of the mission, it's nice to meet you." He glanced at Usotsuki, who had not paid attention to his introduction. After all, the two had already met, they were both part of the team in charge of surveying and collecting evidence from Tenkachi City. He had been in charge of that group as well. "If we work together, we should be able to pull this mission off with no issues."

"What about you, Usotsuki-kun?" Mio asked, curiosity lighting up her already bright eyes. "What's your role in this mission? Whatever it is, it must be really important, since you're the only Genin in this squad!"

"Really?" Arisu gasped, her voice soft, barely heard. "Goodness, you're already being sent on S-rank missions as a Genin? I wish I was that confident..."

Usotsuki let out a shy laugh and rubbed the back of his neck, raising a hand to stop their praises. "Me? No, I'm just an average shinobi, the only reason I'm on this squad is because I specialize in these kinds of situations, that's all."

"Not only that." Hideo continued, rolling his eye at the young man's modesty. "Usotsuki is a medic who can use Medical Ninjutsu, so if any of us got injured, he would be in charge of ensuring our safety and survival."

"Wow! It's nice to meet you, Usotsuki-kun!" Mio cheerfully stated, smiling wide. "I feel much safer with someone like you on our team!"

"Y-yeah..." Arisu agreed.

The leader nodded, relieved to have such a reliable group leading the charge. "Excellent...Now, move out and follow the trail left by the Otogakure forces...If we're lucky, we'll find at least one of our friends alive, and that alone is our victory."

"What if we run into Orochimaru?" Usotsuki asked, forcing himself not to add the honourific at the end, it would not bode well for his false image to respect such a tyrant while undercover.

The leader's eyes narrowed. "Then do what you must to obtain victory."

"Hey, Usotsuki!"

The white-haired medic gasped as he was pulled from his recollection, coming to a halt on the branch Hideo was situated on. They had stopped right before the border where the forest slowly died out and a vast, dry Savannah covered the ongoing horizon. "Y-yes?" He stammered, looking back at the squad leader awkwardly. "My apologies, I was just recounting the details of our mission."

Hideo nodded. "The tracks disappear in the grass ahead." He pointed out, directing the spy's attention to the dry dirt beneath them, where the shuffling footprints of unknown origin waded through the tall brown grass, covered by time and the dust carried by the wind. "Do you think you could follow them from there?"

Usotsuki hummed and dropped down from the tree, landing beside the tracks without a sound, while his teammates followed silently. He stayed crouched as he pushed the dirt away from the steps, narrowing his black eyes as he noted that they were embedded into the hardened soil. "Yes, I should be able to follow them, even though the wind has covered a majority of the footprints, their impressions still remain, and that's enough to sniff out their location."

"So what do we do now?" Mio asked as Hideo straightened up and the Genin followed.

"We follow the tracks until they leave the area, or until we find where the prisoners are being held, and then take it from there." Their Jounin leader explained, getting swift nods as a response. "Now, we move out."

"Yes, sir!"

With that, the group waded through the grass alongside the tracks, weapons drawn should they find any Otogakure shinobi still scouting the area. It was a long, and exhausting journey so far, but even just a shred of evidence meant there was some hope left for their friends. Of course, Usotsuki knew the truth, and forced back a sick smirk as he relished in the thought of their reactions once they saw the carnage he, Orochimaru and Kaede had left upon their beloved village and neighboring city.

In due time, he would get to enjoy their suffering first hand, and it was that, that made keeping up his charade worth while.

~BHBL~

It had taken them a long time, and a lot of searching, but eventually the four-man cell found the entrance to Orochimaru's previous hideout. Despite Usotsuki's best efforts to 'lose' the tracks, Hideo was quick to find them again, despite lacking an eye. Now, they stood outside of a sealed wooden door, which had been disguised by paint to hide its appearance among the stone platforms it was embedded in. Mio had checked the area for any Otogakure shinobi, and while there were one or two guards, they were quickly put to rest, thanks to Hideo's talent for silent killing.

"Mio, how's it looking?"

Mio closed her eyes and lifted her hand to her nose, forming signs as she used her chakra sensing abilities to check the door. Her brows furrowed after a moment before she sighed and opened her eyes. "The seal is stopping me from seeing anything, but I don't think the tracks would lead us to a dead end."

"I agree...Usotsuki, can you break open the seal?"

Usotsuki nodded, nervously stepping towards the door before he made a few signs and pressed his palms together. "Kai!" He called out, watching as the paper peeled away from the wooden surface and crumbled into nothing, blowing away with the wind. Immediately after that the door cracked open ever so slightly, allowing them access into the darkened chambers.

Hideo placed his hand on Usotsuki's shoulder, a silent form of praise as he stepped in front of the young man who immediately stepped back to give his leader space. "Let's get down there and save our friends..." The Jounin stated, looking over his shoulder at Arisu. "Send word to Ishigakure that we've found the hideout, and the tracks stop here. It's too difficult to tell if there are occupants left inside, but this seal tells me the shinobi up until this point were just decoys..."

"How can you be so sure?" Usotsuki asked.

"Call it a Jounin's instinct..."

With that, Arisu formed her seals for Kuchiyose no Jutsu and Hideo took this time to carefully push the door open, making sure it did not cause a racket as he did so. He then raised two fingers and pointed them inside, causing the two others at his side to nod as the three rushed into the hideout, leaving the summoner to send word back to their village. "Remember, we're here to search and rescue! Look for any signs of life and if they're hostile, dispose of them immediately!"

"Yes, sir!"

Once they reached the bottom of the staircase, the three went their separate ways, with Usotsuki heading towards the lab, Mio heading towards Orochimaru's office, and Hideo heading to the lower levels, where the dungeons once resided. Once out of earshot, they pressed a button behind their ear and their communicators kicked in. "Usotsuki checking in, can you hear me?"

"Yep, loud and clear." Hideo said back, though there was a bit of static on his end.

"You're a little fuzzy, but I can make out what you're saying!" Mio chimed in.

"I found a room here that's been burned from the inside. Maybe they kept a prisoner locked up in here?" Hideo stated, and Usotsuki knew immediately whose room that was. Irritation flickered through his black eyes, but he bit his tongue. Orochimaru would certainly find this amusing, but honestly, he believed it was a terrible waste of good resources.

"Maybe..." Mio said, sounding a little puzzled. "I think I found something too. It looks like some sort of study. There's a weird chair in here, almost like a throne, and the bookshelves are empty, but it looks like they were cleared out pretty recently, because the dust doesn't cover the whole of the shelves...We could've caught them trying to escape, so make sure to be careful okay?"

"Will do, keep a sharp eye out, Usotsuki."

The young spy nodded. "Yes, sir." He skidded to a halt by the lab, bursting through the door with his kunai in hand. A guard, who saw him wearing the forehead protector, stood up in surprise, but cried out when Usotsuki gave him a sickening smile and tossed the blade, stabbing his 'enemy' between the eyes in an instant. "I found a guard, but he's no threat." He explained to his 'allies,' who had heard the stranger's deathly wails. "I think I'm in what appears to be some kind of lab, there's dried blood and chemicals on what looks like an operating table..."

"Oh my God!" Mio gasped. "They were operating on people?"

"Yes, it looks like it, but that's not all..."

"What else did you find?" Hideo asked.

"There's nothing here." Usotsuki kept his malicious grin as he walked from shelf to shelf slowly, deliberately, running his hand over the dusty, empty cabinets that once housed his poisons. "The place is completely empty, there are bookshelves, but no books, and chemical stains, but no bottles."

"Damn!" Hideo hissed. "Orochimaru must've gotten wind of us coming!"

"But how could they when we've only just arrived today?" Mio asked.

"Maybe they had someone scout around Ishigakure..." Usotsuki suggested, forcing back a laugh as he taunted them with the truth. "There's no way they could've left after we set off, so those shinobi we dealt with who guarded this place couldn't have told him...The dust is settling on the clean parts of the shelves, so it's been a few hours at least."

"To think we might have a spy among our ranks..." Hideo ground out. "Usotsuki, can you find anything else in that lab, anything that can give us an indication of where our friends might be?"

Usotsuki nodded. "Give me a moment, my eyes are still adjusting to the darkness..." His void-like irises fell on the Ninjutsu proof cells that were housed in the lab, looking at the lifeless bodies of several malformed and misshapen victims, some of which wore Ishigakure forehead protectors and flak jackets. "What...What is this?" He said with mock horror, walking closer to touch the container.

"What did you find?"

"I-I think it's better if you see this for yourselves...I think I found some of our men."

Silence passed for a moment, before Mio, who had been the closest, could be heard running down the hall towards him. 'Usotsuki's' sickening smile fell into a false disgust and sorrow as he kept his hand on the glass, not bothering to look when his teammate skidded to a halt in front of the door. "I-I can't believe you found them!" The usually bright and cheery woman exclaimed, stepping into the room, only to falter when she saw what he was staring at. Her eyes widened and her complexion paled as a wave of nausea washed through her. "Oh...My God...!"

Hideo's footsteps soon echoed through the corridor and he too entered the room with a look of relief plastered across his partially obscured face, until he followed their gazes towards the containers. Upon seeing the misshapen corpses of his fellow Jounin, the man's anger flared and he spun to the wall, slamming his fist against the stone, his blood splattering from the torn skin of his knuckles onto the surface. "Dammit!"

Usotsuki's expression twisted into a grimace and he clenched his fist, resting the side of it against the glass. "We were too late...!"

Mio's eyes welled with tears and she covered her mouth, stepping out of the room. "I can't believe someone could so something so wrong!"

Hideo took a deep breath and pushed himself away from the wall, looking from the white-haired medic to the grief-stricken Chuunin under his command. "C'mon...We're not giving up hope, there are still more rooms to search and a whole other floor we haven't explored yet."

"Yes." Usotsuki agreed, dropping his hand as he clenched both fists tightly, a hard, angry expression covering his usually timid features. "We've come too far to give up now, if they have dungeons, we might find them down there."

Hideo nodded. "The staircase we came down had another level lower than this, if we check there, we could find survivors."

The three nodded and kicked off, rushing through the hallways back to the staircase that lead out of the hideout. Beside it was another staircase going down in the opposite direction, into a dark abyss that smelled strongly of blood and decay. Mio had to cover her nose as they descended into the shadows below, as the stench made her gag. "What did they do down here?"

"It smells like death..." Hideo coughed, covering his nose with the sleeve of his flak jacket. "How are you not affected?" He glanced at Usotsuki who did not flinch or hide away from the scent.

"I'm a medic." He said, looking a little nervous, but otherwise unfazed by the situation. "I spend a lot of time around the dying or dead, so I've grown used to it."

Hideo hummed, grimacing as they finally reached the lower levels, where many rows of barred cells lined the walls. "I don't get it, there's no one here..." He pointed out as they walked down the corridor with their weapons poised, not a single prisoner to be found in any of the cages. "Apart from the guard you found, there doesn't seem to be anyone here...Maybe you were right, maybe our mission was compromised from the start."

"H-Hideo-san!" Mio squeaked, causing both men to stop and look back at her. She stood with a hand on her chest, her eyes closed tight as tears sprang to the surface.

"What's the matter, Mio?" Usotsuki asked, looking at her with obvious worry as she shakily pointed to the end of the hallway. "What can you see?"

"Th-there's remnants of Chakra in the cell at the end of the corridor, but it's...It looks..." Her eyes snapped as she ran towards the largest prison, skidding to a halt before the mangled corpses of Tenkachi City's children. "Oh my God, th-they're all dead!"

"What?" Hideo jogged up to the young Chuunin's side and froze when he caught sight of the remains. The smell of burning flesh and blood filled the air and he had to fight back the urge to throw up as he covered his mouth and narrowed his only eye. "What kind of monster are we dealing with here?!"

"They look like children..." Mio managed to rasp out, grabbing the warped bars of the cell as her eyes scanned over the unrecognizable corpses. "They've been burned, a-and with how some of them are positioned, it looks like they've been burned alive!"

Usotsuki approached the cell and crouched down, inspecting the remains of the children. "Do you have a list of all the missing people, Hideo-san?"

Hideo nodded and handed his Genin junior the written and photographic notes they had been given before heading out. Usotsuki opened the book and flipped through the many pages, shaking his head with a sigh as he furrowed his brows. "I can't identify anyone..." He straightened up and returned the book to Hideo, who tucked it into his jacket. "It looks like this place has been abandoned and all of the evidence, including the prisoners, were burned as a means to keep them from being tracked further..."

"Dammit!" Hideo hissed, grabbing the bars tightly as he looked at the carnage. "We came this far, and for nothing!"

Mio slowly stood up and stepped away from the cells. "What'll we tell everyone? There's no way we can find them now."

Usotsuki nodded. "The tracks stopped here, and there weren't any more leading anywhere else...I think it's a good idea for us to head back and tell the higher ups what we found, and that there's a possibility we have a spy among us."

Hideo nodded. "Usotsuki's right, let's head back to Arisu and regroup...Once we get home, we've got a lot of work to do, and a hundred or so funerals to plan..."

"Poor Yuuto..." Mio whimpered, trying to fight back her sorrow. "He believed whole-heartedly that his sister survived the Tenkachi City battle...What'll we tell him?"

"The truth." Usotsuki told her, looking equally as grief-stricken as she was, though it was an act. "He deserves to know so he can put her to rest properly."

Their one-eyed leader turned from the cells and started walking back down the corridor. "C'mon...We need to hurry, otherwise night will fall before we cross the border..."

The two nodded and the white-haired spy turned and followed Hideo while Mio gave the burned remains one last glance before she spun around and jogged to catch up with them. The two Ishigakure ninja were unaware that the very person they trusted at their side, had been the murderer of many of their fellow teammates.

Or the satisfaction he got from seeing their misery for himself.

~BHBL~

It was finally over.

Usotsuki let out a sigh as he entered his apartment, shutting the door behind him as he closed his eyes and pulled off his forehead protector. Once they had returned just as the moon reared it's head, they had immediately reported their findings to the higher-ups in the village, who then sent out shinobi to alert the civilians and affected family members that their loved ones had been tragically lost during the Tenkachi incident. After all that was done, they told the governing body in charge of their mission about the possibility that there was a spy among them, which caused a great stir among his peers as they questioned what would happen next.

Sadly, with Usotsuki's rank as a Genin, he was dismissed before anything else could be said, as he needed to rest for a mission he had with Benjiro and the rest of his squad the next morning. Now he stood in his home, pondering his next move after everything that had just taken place.

Slowly, his contemplative frown twisted into a smirk and he chuckled and relaxed his shoulders. Suddenly, without warning he started trashing the room, tossing furniture and objects around, smashing windows and mirrors before using one of the glass shards to cut his hand, smearing blood on the walls and furniture left untouched to make it seem like some sort of brawl had taken place. After he was certain the evidence was more than believable, he looked at the Ishigakure forehead protector in his grasp and scoffed, dropping it to the floor before stamping on it several times so it warped into a battered and unknown shape smeared with the blood remaining on his hand.

There was only one final thing left to do. Usotsuki, who's apartment was now in shambles, pulled out a scroll with various circles inside. He placed it on the ground and planted his hand over the circle labelled "Male: 19" and in a puff of smoke, the corpse of a young man appeared. He hated using his personal stash of bodies for his missions, however he knew it was a necessity to ensure his swift escape.

He formed the correct signs to alter the figure's face and crouched down, placing his hand over the man's features before wiping it down from his forehead to his chin. The eyes, nose and mouth of the person changed as the medic's hand moved, at the same time the man's hair grew out and faded from black to white. After a second, Usotsuki stood up and took his scroll out from under the dead body, rolling it up and tucking it under his arm.

With the decoy placed, the spy changed into his normal Otogakure attire and dressed the figure in his former clothing, leaving an almost perfect copy of his false identity for the shinobi of Ishigakure to find and mourn over. With a smirk, he wrapped his wounded hand in a bandage, looking over the room to ensure there were no mistakes that would lead others to think he had not died from a scuffle.

Kabuto, as he had now shed his false identity, let out a deep sigh as he adjusted his glasses and calmed down from the sudden rampage and quick change of clothing. Once he had caught his breath and calmed his heart-rate, he formed signs and let out a dark, sinister chuckle before he vanished in a puff of smoke. Gone without a trace just before his neighbors, who were also shinobi; started banging on his door, worried for their friend's safety.

With any luck, they would never truly know what happened to him, nor that they trusted their worst enemy for a short period of time.

~BHBL~

Kaede let out a heavy yawn, blinking back a sleepy boredom as she laid on her bed, reading her precious 'Icha-Icha' book to pass the time.

Honestly, all she wanted to do was go outside and explore the forests around Kusagakure, however with their recent escape, came the risk of being caught by the village above them who would likely notice a strange woman just idly wandering through the woods. Especially one who adorned the same features as the woman who killed the Third Hokage alongside Orochimaru who had killed three of their shinobi to disguise himself from Konoha's prying eyes.

The redhead let out a tired sigh and turned her head away from the pages of her preferred book. Her eyes locked onto the bookshelf nearby, where several different Icha-Icha volumes were lined up, however between two of her most recent stories, one book seemed to be missing, leaving a gap between the two hardback covers. 'If I've left that damn book at the other hideout, I'm gonna murder the next person I see.' She thought sharply as she sat up, glaring at the gap in her stories. She hated losing things, especially things that actually mattered to her, but she had turned her room, hell, the entire hideout; upside down to find that book, and she could not seem to locate it anywhere.

'Nah, I checked everywhere...I could've just dropped it when I was moving my stuff in.' She sighed and resolved herself to find it, she stood up and dusted off her bodysuit. "Right..." She mumbled audibly, not even bothering to cover herself with her robe as she strode out of her room to search the corridors. "I ain't stopping until I find that damn book...I ain't losing the only thing that keeps me sane in this hellhole!"

And she kept to her word, spending a good hour or two scouring the hallways of the barely-lit hideout as she looked high and low for her book. She checked every public room in the vicinity and there was neither cover nor page of her novel to be found. As the time between the start of her search and the end of her search increased, she became more and more visibly frustrated, causing other shinobi in their ranks to start avoiding her out of discomfort alone.

"Okay, if I find out one of these bastards stole my book, I'm gonna burn them until their mother's can't recognize them." She growled irritably as she walked past Orochimaru's room, only to pause mid-step when an idea struck her. What if it was in Orochimaru's room? She could have taken it with her during one of their nightly dalliances, so it would not be a stretch to assume she put it down on his nightstand but forgot to take it back to her room with her when the deed was done.

However, as she turned to look at the wooden surface barricading her from Orochimaru's personal chambers, she hesitated. The last time she had entered his room without permission, she saw him in a state that lead to their 'agreement.' Hell, the time before that he had almost killed her because she got too curious and stole his journals.

Did she really want to risk her life to find out if her book was in there or not?

After a second, the Ninjutsu expert scoffed and shook her head, waving off her suspicions as she continued down the corridor. She was not a naive fool, she knew it was highly unlikely she would leave her book in the Sannin's room.

However...

She paused again, before she let out a sharp curse and spun around, marching towards the door as expletives echoed in her mind. Oh, it was a bad idea, she already knew that, but she had to check, otherwise it would eat her alive. With a deep breath, she grasped the door handle and prepared to yank it open, eager to prove her concerns wrong and continue her search.

Of course, just as she was about to turn the metallic handle and open the door to her death, the sound of footsteps echoed down the corridor and she let go as if the handle itself had burned her. With agile movements, she turned to the origins of the sound only to blink in surprise when she saw Kabuto approaching her, suspicion apparent in his black eyes as he clenched his bandaged fist.

"What do you think you're doing?" The medic asked, narrowing his eyes as he pushed his glasses up his nose, hiding them from view as the torchlight reflected off the lenses.

Kaede huffed and rolled her eyes, planting a hand on her hip. "Oh, don't act all suspicious, Specs!" She sneered, smirking when his brow twitched with annoyance. "It ain't like I'm gonna hurt Orochimaru-sama, is it? When're y'going t'let that go, it's not good to dwell on the past."

Oh she relished in his tense posture and very annoyed tone as he sighed and crossed his arms. "I refuse to take advice from the woman who made several attempts at Orochimaru-sama's life...Now, I'll ask again." He lowered his head slightly, so his piercing black eyes met her cocoa brown ones. "What do you think you're doing?"

And with that, Kaede's shoulders sagged, giving up on her fun as she groaned and lifted her precious book up for him to see. "Have you seen a copy of this anywhere?"

"That exact copy?" He smirked. "I believe you're holding it. Shall I book you in for an eye exam?"

"Don't get cocky with me, asshole!" Kaede snarled, wanting to smack him over the head with said book, despite it being her most prized possession. "I meant one of the sequels, 'Icha-Icha Violence Volume Two?'"

Kabuto thought for a moment, letting out a hum as he scanned through his recent memories. "No, I don't believe I have. Though I've just arrived, so my knowledge on your lost possessions is already quite limited."

"Ugh, great." She dropped her arm, looking very tired as she ran her fingers through her fringe. "Guess I'll have t'keep searching then."

"Before you leave..." Kabuto started, causing her to stop as she attempted to pass him to continue her venture. "A word of advice." His eyes narrowed. "Steer clear of Orochimaru-sama's private quarters...If you are plotting something, it would be in your best interest to forget it, as I will be reporting your suspicious behavior."

Kaede clicked her tongue. "Kiss-ass." She quipped, smirking as she shrugged and kept walking, giving him a wave over her shoulder. "Trust me, Specs, I've seen his room enough times already, not that you care! Go ahead, tell him, but don't blame me if he laughs y'out of the room!"

Her statement left the young man thoroughly confused, as he was a little too inexperienced to understand her blatant innuendo. Instead, her words caused his brows to knit together thoughtfully as he watched her laugh off his expression and disappear around the corner, heading towards the kitchen.

Just what did she mean by that?

With a sigh, Kabuto turned and walked in the opposite direction towards Orochimaru's office. He would report her strange behavior immediately in case there was the smallest chance she was plotting another attempt at his life. He would not allow her to continue having her way, and he knew Orochimaru would seethe if he knew she was considering betraying them again.

However, Kaede's words proved correct. The poor medic explained the situation to his boss and what Kaede had said, only to be met with laughter and amusement on Orochimaru's side.

Now he was even more confused.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Please review if you liked the chapter, it helps me improve as a writer!

Japanese = English

Kai = Release (In terms of the seal, or Fūinjutsu)

Kuchiyose no Jutsu = Summoning Technique

Kunoichi = Female Ninja

Shinobi = Male Ninja

Ishigakure = Hidden Rock Village

Usotsuki = Liar

Shunshin no Jutsu = Body Flicker Technique