Heyo!

Much shorter chapter this week, because my I'm choosing my wrist's and hand's health over this story. More info after, but basically, this story will be getting much smaller updates on the weekly, just so I'm not getting a condition, since that would suck.

Chapter 47: The Village Hidden by Sound

The long stretch of time that had hung in between leaving the Leaf Village and arriving in the outskirts of Sound territory had been a bit different than Naruto was used to.

First of all, unlike almost every other mission Naruto had been on, there had been almost no conversation the entire way. Apparently, everyone was a bit too caught up in making sure this mission succeeded to speak. That, at least, Naruto could understand.

The less understandable part had been the communication through hand signals.

He sort of understood most of them, after all, Sasuke had drilled a few of them into him on their missions with Kakashi at the start of their lives as Genin, and a good few of them were rather self-explanatory, but that didn't mean he knew all of them, and certainly not half of the crap Zabuza was throwing out all willy-nilly.

Unfortunately for him, everyone else seemed to have taken an advanced course on the stuff, because they kept up just fine.

"Uh… Haku?" He asked the boy jumping alongside from branch to branch beside him, watching as he turned curiously. "About that one… what's that mean?"

Haku observed the motion Zabuza had made for about half a second, before turning back to him.

"That's a simple distance tracker." Haku explained. "Do you notice the way Master Zabuza is holding up two fingers?"

"Er… sure?"

"Well, the way he's positioned his hand at the top of it's arc means we're dealing in kilometers, and then the way he's holding up two of his fingers, which means we've got two kilometers to the target."

Naruto nodded, getting this one fairly easily.

"If his hand were at an angle, it would then be meters, and if it were held all the way out at his side, we'd be talking centimeters, though, obviously, that last one is much rarer."

"Ok… I think I get it."

"Well done, Naruto." Haku nodded supportively, patting him on the shoulder.

They traveled for a while longer, and Naruto became a bit numb to the scenery as he hopped past his eleven-thousandth tree. Without any real warning, Haku pushed Naruto's head down, manually lowering it so that his face didn't come into contact with an obnoxiously placed tree branch.

"By the way, the signal Master Zabuza just made was for an obstacle in the path."

"G-got it!"

Naruto sighed as he fell back into formation. It wouldn't be long now until they reached the Sound Village, and at that point, pretty much everyone there would be a potential threat. He'd already been informed by Zabuza that he'd need to either put something over his orange jumpsuit, or put something else on…

He'd decided on the former, wearing a simple beige overcoat over his normal outfit. It was a bit restricting, but he didn't particularly mind it. It was better than having to get used to an entirely new outfit on a super important mission, which would've definitely messed up his balance and throwing of tools.

Zabuza held up another hand signal, and judging from the way nothing had changed, except for the fingers being held up dropping from a two to a one, Naruto had a pretty decent idea of what was about to happen.

"Well, welcome to our humble abode, I guess." Zaku spoke up just a few minutes later, laughing to himself a bit sadly. "It's a bit of a shithole, but… this is where we grew up."

Naruto could already sort of see what Zaku was getting at. The entrance to the sound village was an archway that, much like the Leaf's, was probably meant to greet those entering into the space. The real problem lie in how it was tattered and ruined, the sign atop it literally rotting off, hanging on by a single nail.

Despite the impression, there was no denying that this was their destination.

They stepped inside the village and began to walk, following what Naruto could only assume was Akamaru's nose as the dog trudged along front of them all, occasionally turning around and barking towards Kiba, who would nod or shake his head, seemingly understanding and conversing with the tiny animal.

They followed that pattern for quite a while, and every second seemed to make it more obvious to Naruto the kind of place the Sound Village was. It was, through brief observation, a little like the town he, Sasuke, and Jiraiya had stopped in when they'd found Tsunade. Vendors lined the streets, as did paupers begging for coin, and children playing with a ball they all kicked around. The difference, however, lied in their eyes. The salespersons outlooks seemed bleak, not shouting at them as they went by, but averting their eyes. The pauper quieted down as they approached, and the children didn't get in their way. In fact, they picked up the ball they'd been using and moved out of their path, standing on the sides of the road and staring at the ground.

He wasn't sure why that would be, at first, but a second later, he caught something out of the edge of his hearing.

"...Ninjas."

He turned to look, and when he did, the person who'd spoken, a middle-aged woman with an average complexion, went about as white as a sheet, shaking her head as if she were fearful for her life, and stepping backwards. She bowed her head, as if apologizing severely.

"Uhm..." Naruto spoke under his breath, trying to figure out what he should say to the woman. "You're fine, it's no big-"

He was stopped from saying anything more by Zabuza grabbing him by the back of his neck, and practically hauling him off into an alleyway nearby.

The rest of the group had, seemingly, gone ahead. Naruto wasn't sure why he was being singled out right now, but he wasn't going to scream about it, not to Zabuza of all people.

"Don't speak to anyone, kid." The assassin in question didn't seem all that mad, despite the impression he'd given off earlier. "You'll stand out by being nice or accommodating."

"Huh?" He questioned, tilting his head slightly. "Why would I stand out?"

"You've gotta' remember that this is Orochimaru's village, kid." Zabuza spoke, with a small familiarity to his gaze as he looked out towards the street. It wasn't the pleasant kind. "I encountered this back in the Mist Village, when Yagura ruled over the place. It was a ninja village in all respects. Run by ninjas, paid for by ninjas, policed by ninjas..."

He looked out towards the street, where the woman from earlier, still looking panicked, grabbed a small boy, presumably her son, off of the street, and ran inside of a nearby home.

"And controlled by ninjas." Zabuza let out a long breath. "You say something wrong to a ninja, more specifically, to someone under Orochimaru's orders, and y'know what happens?"

Naruto gulped.

"Nothing good."

"Nothing good." Zabuza nodded. "And guess who gets sent to investigate that little incident?"

Naruto could see where this was going now.

"A... A ninja."

"Yeah, and let me tell you, they're unlikely to find anything wrong with a colleagues conduct." The older man sighed, and Naruto could almost hear in his voice the way this reminded him of his older life. "Never had a problem with it myself, especially given my reputation. I didn't much care for anything outside of fighting, but there are always people willing to... abuse their stations." Zabuza grimaced, before turning back towards him. "These people are deathly afraid of provoking us in any way. Just... pretend you couldn't give a shit about any of them, got it?"

Naruto wasn't happy about it, and from the way the older man looked at him, he could tell. Still, Naruto had a job to do, and people to look after, he wasn't about to jeopardize it for something like being nice...

Even if he wanted to.

"I got it." He looked up. "I won't be actively rude to them, but-"

"I won't ask you to be." Zabuza confirmed, standing up and pointing back outside the alley. "C'mon, we're moving."

They walked for a while through the shoddy looking streets. Eventually, upon entering a large square filled with people, They found the rest of their group. Naruto noticed Akamaru sniffing more incessantly at the ground, before, with a small whimper, he sat down, apparently finished.

"He was picking up on their scents." Kiba recapped for them in particular, looking down at the ground with a scowl. "Unfortunately, they end here. Akamaru's not the most adept at this, since he hasn't completed his training, and with the massive crowd…"

Naruto looked towards where the Genin was pointing. Just inside the entrance to the square, and collecting in and around it, were perhaps one or two hundred people of all different sorts, wandering around a central area and, seemingly, shopping around.

"It's a bazaar." Dosu explained. "It's one of a few, but this one's the largest. People come from all over to buy and sell their wares, and where they're passive elsewhere, here, they haggle with the best of them."

"They might've led them through this to mix and ruin the scent." Kin theorized, clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth. "Unfortunately, given that their scents are already a day old, that probably doesn't help with picking up on it."

"Yeah." Kiba confirmed, stepping forwards and picking Akamaru back up. "If Kuromaru were here, he might be able to guide us through this…"

"Where's he at?" Naruto asked, stepping next to Kiba and beginning to softly pet the boy's dog. "Was he busy, or?"

"Him and mom got a pretty high-ranked mission." Kiba explained, and Naruto could understand almost immediately that that was what Anko was supposed to be doing. "Pretty much all Jonin are out on high-profile A ranked missions right now, trying to earn the Leaf enough money to pay off its damages."

"Well, I guess there's nothing to do, then." Zaku sighed. "Orochimaru's got more than a few bases around here, so we'll just need to start searching them one by one."

Naruto nodded, before turning to look back towards their group. It sucked, but if that was their only option…

He tried to think of an idea, of anything he could do to somehow turn this in their favor…

And, perhaps a bit surprisingly, an idea actually did come to him.

"Hey, Kiba?" He turned towards the boy. "Can you ask Akamaru to look for a specific smell?"

The boy tilted his head to the side slightly, seemingly a bit confused.

"Well, yeah, sure, but he normally would've picked up on anything that he was going to already."

"That's fine." Naruto assured him. "Let's walk around the inside of the village a bit more…" He turned towards Zaku, Kin, and Dosu. "Can you guys lead us to where the entrances to his base are?"

"We were planning on doing that already." Zaku confirmed. "So… yeah."

"Then lead the way."

The sound trio nodded, and their group set off. Naruto was initially surprised at how much the Jonin seemed not to mind them coming up with ideas and making plans, and, when he asked that particular question to them, shockingly enough, it was Zabuza who responded.

"Kid, every single ninja present here shows me some good potential." The assassin spoke. "I've no problems trusting in intuition, especially not when I think the idea is sound to begin with. If you'd said some stupid shit, I'd have let you know. Until you do, however, you're good to keep rattling off plans."

He nodded, appreciating the man's willingness to put his faith in them.

They wandered for perhaps an hour and a half as Zaku, Kin and Dosu led them to and from different entrances to Orochimaru's many hideouts in the Sound. Naruto had, perhaps a bit naively, expected their to only be four or five.

They were passing the twentieth hidden passageway when Akamaru caught onto what he'd been hoping for.

The puppies tiny yips had Kiba kneeling down, seemingly inspecting the place where the young canine was circling around. He seemed to find something, reaching down and touching it with his finger.

"It's a droplet of blood." Kiba spoke, smirking as he looked back towards Naruto. "Specifically, it's blood belonging to Sasuke Uchiha."

He gave a victorious laugh as the rest of their group looked towards him, impressed.

"I thought what he'd done earlier might've been a hint!" He explained his thought process excitedly. "When he left that blood trail earlier, like you said, it was a bit pointless aside from pointing us in a direction. Even then, we picked up on their trail, which would've gotten us here anyways."

"But he knew that they'd probably try and lose any pursuers." Anko nodded, smiling over at him, looking impressed. "And so, he left that first blood trail as a hint. 'Expect another of these later.', that sort of thing?"

"Well, that's what I thought, anyways." Naruto rubbed his upper lip, trying not to let his ego get too big. "That and it was probably just a way to get it into our heads. A sort of 'look for this' kind of thing."

"Alright, alright," Zabuza broke up the festivities. "You're very impressive. Now, enough of the dilly-dallying," The former-mist Ninja stepped up to the entrance, cracking open the makeshift door and pushing it open. "We're going in."

Naruto gulped.

"I'm not the type to give some grand speech," Zabuza muttered under his breath. "So I'll keep it brief. Stay close to each other, and have each other's backs."

Naruto, along with every other member of their group, gave a single, solitary nod at the man's words.

"Alright…"

"Let's go."

/-/

Sakura let out a quick yelp of pain as Tayuya's knee impacted against her back, sending her tumbling to the grimy floor below, and forcing her to bow to the man before her. Sasuke was off to her left, though when one of the others, she believed she'd heard his name was Kidomaru, kicked him, he merely flinched slightly, but stayed standing.

She wished she had the bravado, or the strength, but she was a bit out of it at the moment.

"Well, well, well." A man in the back of the room, with white, curly hair and yellow, almost snake-like eyes stood from his throne. He stepped towards their little entourage with an almost unnerving confidence. "How nice of the four of you to finally show up."

There was a flicker of movement behind her, as if the four ninjas had felt a small shock of fear shoot up their spines, but other than that, they stayed stationary, and breathed not a word.

"You were far, far too slow." The man spoke, leering at the four of them as he stepped closer, and perhaps it was Sakura's imagination, but she could've sworn they all stepped back. "I gave you an important mission, and you took nearly a week to accomplish it. I had to take some fools body, rather than this…"

The central figure, who Sakura could only imagine, despite what her eyes told her, must be Orochimaru, grabbed onto Sasuke's face. With a complete lack of tenderness, he lifted the boy's jaw, and exposed his neck.

"Greater specimen." Orochimaru smirked, though it was hidden by bandages all over his face. "It's a shame I have no need to mark you at this point, I would have loved to see you fight off the curses affects… or perhaps give in? Alas, I suppose we shall never know."

Orochimaru practically threw back Sasuke's face, and the boy gritted his teeth together as he hung his head slightly, not wanting to make eye-contact with the Sannin. Sakura couldn't much blame him.

"Your failure is a cause for concern, I must say." Orochimaru walked past Sasuke, standing directly in front of the four Sound ninja, who, at that point, were now visibly panicked. "If you can't handle something this simple, then what, truly, could I trust the four of you with?"

Not a single one spoke, and Orochimaru clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth, sounding almost… disappointed.

Or perhaps merely feigning it.

"I would have liked to discipline you, but unfortunately for I, and perhaps fortunately for the four of you, I will have need of your strength sometime soon." Orochimaru walked back past them, standing once more in front of Sasuke and Sakura. "I would advise you thank me for my generosity."

"T-thank you, Lord Orochimaru." The four bowed their heads.

"Good. Leave us."

They exited the chamber, and Sakura didn't miss the way one of them, apparently the leader, let out a massive breath of relief as they closed the door to the chamber behind them.

"Now then… Onto business."

Suddenly, it was Sakura's face in the man's grip, and he looked oddly excited as he squeezed her cheeks together.

"To think the small dosage of Hashirama cells I put into that mark could manifest in such a way…" He smiled underneath the bandages, and he almost looked to be in ecstasy as he pushed her head back, revealing the mark underneath her hair. "The Wood Style… After that first one escaped, and that brat Kakashi took him under his wing, I thought that'd be the last I'd see of it…"

Orochimaru leaned down, grinning ecstatically past the cloth cover.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my new toy."

A shiver shot up her spine as she instinctively fought against the man's grip, but whatever strength he held onto her with was apparently more than enough to keep her contained, for she could not struggle her way out of his clutches.

"I believe you'll be going straight to Kabuto for testing." He declared, turning towards his desired vessel. "Sasuke, you will be-"

"I'll be going with her."

Orochimaru's single exposed eye widened ever so slightly. Evidently, he hadn't much expected that response.

"Oh?" He muttered quietly, seemingly rather caught off guard. "And why would I allow that?"

"Because if you don't, I'll gouge out my Sharingan the second I'm able to!"

Sakura and Orochimaru both reacted very similarly, turning to the boy as if he were mad. Unlike her, however, it seemed Orochimaru's expression quickly morphed into one of abject amusement.

"Hmm…" The snake Sannin regarded the boy differently, as if finally looking at him for the first time. "Very well. Go with her."

Sasuke nodded, but otherwise showed the Sannin not an ounce of respect. He grabbed her by the hand as two ninja, each wearing odd coverings over their faces, emerged from the door behind them, and silently guided them out of the room, and down into the bowels of the base below.

The trip through what felt almost like a cavern did nothing for Sakura's already frayed nerves. This whole experience had come just when she'd been pining for a break, hell, she'd been asleep when she was kidnapped and brought here alongside Sasuke.

And he seemed to be taking this a bit better than her.

Still, she couldn't break down, even if she wanted nothing more than to curl up in the corner and cry herself to sleep.

"You alright, Sakura?"

She turned towards him, keeping a level expression as he gazed worriedly towards her. It seemed that, despite her attempts to hide it, he'd caught onto her plight rather quickly.

"I'm okay." She sort of lied. "I'm just so tired."

Sasuke nodded, at the very least, it seemed like he agreed with her on that front.

"This entire month's been exhausting, I get you." The boy reached across and put his hand on her shoulder, a silent show of support just when she needed it. "Don't worry. We're only going to be here a couple days. I'm sure a certain blonde numbskull won't rest until he's got the both of us back."

Despite her downer mood, she found herself smiling at the boy's comment.

That does seem awfully likely. She smiled genially to herself, letting the warm feeling encompass her entire chest, trying to shake off some of the jitters this place emanated. I… I've just gotta' have faith in Naruto.

"Besides…" Sasuke leaned in, whispering to her so that the two guards escorting them couldn't hear. "I left a trail for him to follow."

Sakura turned towards him a bit surprised. In all of the stress that had surrounded her during their little trip over here, she hadn't even thought to do something like that.

"And… until he gets here…" Sasuke's face was a bit hard to make out in the candlelight that barely illuminated him, but she almost thought she could see him blushing. "I'll protect you. I promise."

Now it was her own turn, and she looked away as her cheeks practically caught fire. She hadn't forgotten the promise they'd made during the Chuunin Exams, and she'd thought that, after the entire Root situation had finally been resolved, they'd have been able to talk about some of it…

Still, it wasn't the time for that now. They had to focus on surviving this first and foremost.

"We've arrived." One of the twin guards leading them spoke up. "Master Kabuto will see you inside."

She flinched slightly at the man's words, trying not to shake in place as she reached over and took Sasuke's hand in her own, squeezing it tightly for support.

"Okay…" She spoke through a tiny smile, turning back towards Sasuke with a wobbly smile, despite the veritable hell they'd been thrust into.

"I believe you."

End Chapter 47

Yo.

About the wrist thing, I've been having problems off and on for a few months now, but they've been getting worse lately. I'm ordering two wrist braces and am going to hope that helps out, and I'll probably see a doctor to see what this is in a few weeks. Unfortunately, given the whole worldwide plague thing, I don't really think I'll be able to get in for the time being, so for now, just gonna take it easy.

Chapters should still come out weekly, though they'll be closer to three or four thousand words, like this one, rather than the seven or eight you've probably gotten used to.

Thanks for your patience, or something of that general nature.

See you next week!