Special thanks to my beta: Dylan Millwood. Not only is he my beta but he also helped write a portion of this chapter and I'm extremely grateful to him. Please check out his stories if you have the chance.

Disclaimer: I don't own naruto or any of its characters as they are the property of Masashi Kishimoto.
The author of the cover image is indy-riquez from DeviantArt. You can check the link for the original image in my profile.

Chapter 9: Into The Lair

-Somewhere in the Land of Frost-

Naruto was currently waiting on the edge of a snow-covered forest, bracing himself against the cold that even his new cloak could not completely protect him from. He had sent about a dozen Shadow Clones earlier to search for anything that may give him a clue of the recent disappearances. Also, he had yet to hear anything from Kurotsuchi's side of the investigation. They had come to the agreement that she would ask around the town for any information about this phenomenon, while he looked around the proximity of the village, as he could cover more ground with his clones.

He was starting to wonder for how long was he supposed to be there enduring the harsh climate, waiting for either one of his clones or the Iwa Kunoichi, then a sudden noise caught his attention, and speaking of the devil, said Iwa kunoichi was just arriving with a look of disappointment on her face.

''That's not a good sign.'' thought the blond.

He watched her approach for one moment before saying anything, and even though the answer was obvious he still needed to ask. "So, how did it go?"

The pink-eyed girl gave a sigh before addressing the Jinchuuriki. "Well, I hope you have something of use, Dummy, because my inquiries were a waste of time."

"That bad, eh?" Naruto asked solemnly.

The girl nodded and once again gave a sigh. "Everyone keeps saying the same thing: They all were snatched when they ventured the surrounding forest and they always vanished without anyone seeing anything. So we have no witnesses or clues other than the fact that we know the problem has to come from this forest."

Now Naruto too shared her downed mood. He put both his hands on his waist as he pondered on the situation. "That's not very much to go on at all. Then I guess the only thing left to do is to wait until one of my clones comes back with some info."

She frowned in thought before agreeing with him. "Fine, I think that we should wait for a bit and try to think of some new strategy while we're at it." She then put up her hands in a single hand-seal and two rocks rose from the ground to act as makeshift chairs.

"Well, that's handy.'' said the blond as he sat down on the rock.

"Of course it's handy, everything I do is handy. You should know that by now." Kurotsuchi responded with a proud and cocky grin as she also took a seat.

"Right," said Naruto with a deadpan look, not even bothering to argue with her.

They continued to wait in silence for a while, and Naruto noticed the girl deep in thought, and looked a bit sad as well. "You alright?" asked the blond with a bit of reservation, not sure if he should be making it his business to ask.

The girl didn't react at all, and for a second the blond wondered if she heard him, but before he could ask again she answered. "We have to help them. We can't fail." the girl said with determination, but also somberly.

He could understand her. He was worried about the people living in the village too, but it was clear that the girl was especially concerned. It was still weird for the Jinchuuriki to see a more caring side of the young prodigy, as she was usually cold and full of herself, so he was still getting used to it.

"You were thinking about Yuna-Chan, right?" Asked the blond with sympathy and a serious face.

The girl gave an annoyed growl and was quick to respond. "So what if I am? You have a problem with that?" The girl snapped defensively. She rarely showed a softer side, so she was ready to give the blond a beating if he dared making fun of her for doing it.

"What? No not at all!" Naruto got worried to had inadvertently pissed her off, and he started waving his hands in appeasement. "I'm worried about her too, you know. And I agree with you. we cant let whatever this is get away with it.''

"Humph, you better." Said the girl, eyeing him with skepticism.

After an hour of waiting for any sign of the clones, they were starting to lose their patience, but in an instant Naruto abruptly bolted in surprise from his seat.

His sudden movement startled the Kunoichi and hastily got into a combat stance. After quickly scanning her surroundings she couldn't see any threat in the immediate area. The blond's apparently random action just served to get her annoyed. "What are you doing, moron?! You scared me!"

However, Naruto just kept looking around in surprise. "One of my clones just got destroyed by something." Said the Jinchuuriki.

The pink-eyed girl looked puzzled at that. "How can you even tell?"

That actually seemed to make the blond stop and think about it. He shrugged, now just as confused as the girl. "I-I don't know. I was just sitting and suddenly I just knew what my clone was doing after he got dispelled."

Kurotsuchi stared silently at the blond, thinking about this new piece of information. ''Wait, so you know everything your clones did when they were dispelled? And you're just learning about this?!'' Asked the girl in disbelief.

Naruto put a hand behind his head sheepishly. Even if he was still surprised about this new discovery he was still ashamed that he hadn't noticed until now.

Kurotsuchi couldn't for the life of her know how someone so dumb had lasted so long as a ninja. She could understand someone not knowing how the clones worked if they only used them sparingly, as most people did because not everyone could afford to waste so much chakra on Shadow Clones, but the guy used them for practically everything, and he did a ton of them! One would think that he would have known all the ins and outs of the technique by now.

Naruto stammered for a bit trying to say a convincing excuse for his oversight of the Jutsu but was quickly brushed off by the Kunoichi.

"You know what? just forget it. I should really be used to your stupidity by now. Instead, just lead the way to where your clone was destroyed. Can you do that?" Said Kurotsuchi eagerly.

Naruto was a bit offended by the girl's usual downplay of his intelligence, but just nodded instead of continuing the pointless argument. "I guess I can. This way." Then he turned around and started sprinting and jumping from tree to tree with the girl hot on his heels.

After a few minutes of non-stop jumping from snowy tree to snowy tree, Naruto noticed that they were close. "It was about here I think. At last, it shouldn't be long befo-ufff." He couldn't finish his sentence as Kurotsuchi rushed just barely past him and held him in place with an arm blocking his path, but his sudden run in with her appendage made him lose his breath. "What the hell?! What are you doing all of a sudden?!" complained the blond to the Iwa Kunoichi.

She just gave him a berating look as she kept her position and continued to stop him from going further. "You should be more careful and not rush in, you dumbass. There could be traps around here. Your clone didn't pop himself did he? So that means that whatever it was must be around here. So it could have been a hostile or the place is all booby trapped."

"Oh, right. Thanks, Kurotsuchi. I didn't think about that."Said Naruto with wide eyes at the realization and started looking around warily, suspecting anything in the environment that looked even slightly out place.

"Don't mention it, idiot." Answered Kurotsuchi. "We just have to be careful and look around to see if we can find any traps." said the girl while glancing everywhere and joining the blond in his search for said traps.

''On it! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Shadow clone technique)'' Naruto was quick to get to work and rapidly summoned a dozen clones before scattering them around the area. And sure enough, not long after that, they could see some of the copies get dispelled as they triggered several traps. Some fell into deadly pits, others tripped over some wire that caused them to get skewered by a rain of Kunai, and others were squashed under some tree trunks that came crashing down on them when they stepped on some sort of mechanism.

Naruto, Kurotsuchi, and the few remaining clones looked on attentively at their confirmed suspicions.

''Wow, you were right about the traps, Kurotsuchi. Thanks again for the heads up.'' Said Naruto with gratitude to the Iwa Shinobi.

She rolled her eyes while waving him off. ''I told you to not mention it. Besides, this is no time to be fooling around. The fact that there are booby traps around here is a good sign for us. It means that there is something around here that someone wants to keep hidden.''

Naruto nodded in understanding, having already figured as much. Quickly the blond Jinchuuriki once again made a dozen clones and sent them to look for, or trigger more traps, and to see if they could find anything that could be hidden around the area.

After a long while of clones being constantly destroyed by traps left and right, one of the clones memories tipped Naruto to something that was worthy of note.

''One of my clones found something that we should check out. This way.'' He then proceeded to lead the way and Kurotsuchi followed close behind. They didn't take long to find what had caught Naruto's attention in the first place.

In front of them, they could see a stone stairway that went to what appeared to be an underground facility. The entrance looked like a small shrine that was below ground level. The stone was a plain gray color and the dark entrance was just barely illuminated by a couple of candles. All-in-all the place gave off an eerie vibe that made the teenagers get goosebumps.

"Is it just me, or this place looks extremely spooky?" Asked Naruto with a side glance at the girl.

"It's not just you. Something about the place gives me the creeps." Said the girl with unease. "Nevertheless, we have to check it out. It being creepy is just more of a reason to be suspicious about it. We have to see if this is what we are looking for." Then she started walking down the steps, carefully making sure to not step into any traps that may possibly still around.

As reluctant as Naruto was to enter the place, he knew that he could not go without first seeing if the missing people were there, so he also went down the steps.

Inside the building things weren't much better. The place was underground so that meant that even if it was daytime, the corridors were very dark and were just barely illuminated in thin light by rows of candles that were hanged on the walls. The place was devoid of any furniture or ornaments, the only things that one could see in the maze-like hallways were countless doors that one couldn't even tell what the difference between them was.

''How can anyone find their way in this place? There are only doors and I can barely see in this light.'' Said Kurotsuchi in a whisper.

''Could be another form of defense, so you know, only people familiar enough with the place don't get lost.'' Suggested the blond, also in a whisper.

''Yeah, could be. Wouldn't surprise me really. Whoever built this place already had the surrounding area littered with traps, so a tactic to confuse enemies would be right up their alley.'' Agreed the Kunoichi.

Then they suddenly came to a stop when they heard footsteps down the hall. They couldn't see the person since the candle light didn't reach far enough. But still they went to hide themselves around a corner and waited for the stranger to pass them by. They didn't have to wait long when a man emerged from the shadows walking slowly. His head was covered by a hoodie and only his eyes could be seen. He was Probably someone either patrolling or on his way to do some task or another. It didn't matter, as soon as he got close enough, Kurotsuchi dashed towards the person and despite alerting her target she was too quick for the stranger to do anything before she had him in a choke hold.

Naruto was momentarily startled by the girl's sudden move, but he was still quick to act and unsheathed a Kunai and got himself in front of the man, ready to attack if he was hostile. Even if he didn't feel good in attacking someone that they didn't even know if it was an enemy they just couldn't take the chance to lower their guard.

''Ugh...let...go...of me.'' Said the man struggling to even utter words as the pink-eyed girl kept choking him to keep him from moving. She just barely left him able to speak to interrogate him.

''If you cooperate with me I just might let you live. Now, tell me what this place is.'' Demanded the girl, still keeping her grip strong.

''I'm... telling you...jackshit.'' Replied the man spitefully in defiance.

''Why you little...'' Said Kurotsuchi threateningly, ready to put more pressure on his neck.

It was at this moment that Naruto finally took a good look at the forehead protector of the man, and he could recognize the symbol of a single note of sound, which only meant one thing: Otogakure. He widened his eyes in realization and pointed accusingly at the man. ''You are an Oto ninja!'' His shock was such that he forgot to keep his voice down.

''Shut the fuck up, you idiot! You want the entire base to come looking for us?!'' Whispered Kurotsuchi angrily at the blond.

''This guy is one of Orochimaru's lackeys! If that bastard is involved then there is nothing good about this place!'' Said the blond now in a much quieter tone, but still with the same severity.

''Orochimaru? You mean one of the legendary Sannin like your Sensei? The one that deserted? That Orochimaru?!'' Questioned the girl astounded. She would have never guessed someone like that could be in charge of this place. If that was the case then this situation was more dangerous than she thought.

''Yea and I could bet anything that he is responsible for the disappearances. Believe me, if something bad is going around when that bastard is close by, then he is sure to have something to do with it.'' Said Naruto glaring at the man they had subdued.

Kurotsuchi then addressed the man once again. ''Is is true? Does your beloved master has something to do with that?'' Asked the Kunoichi with an edge on her voice.

''Like...I would...tell you...about Orochimaru-Sama's...Plans.'' Responded the man still struggling to speak.

''You better tell me by your own accord pal. You don't want to make me get it out of you the hard way.'' Threatened the girl once again.

''Anything you...Might do to me...Is nothing in...Comparison to what...Orochimaru-Sama will...Do...If I talk.'' Replied the man.

''You sure about that? Because I can be pretty creative with my methods.'' Said the prodigy darkly.

''Go...To...Hell.'' Said the man with finality.

''You're useless.'' Concluded Kurotsuchi, and as much as she would like to make good on her threat, she knew that this was neither the time nor the place for that, so she just settled for snapping his neck. And with a quick motion of her arms a sickening sound was heard as the man's neck was twisted to the side and his body fell limply to the floor with a thud.

''Hey, why did you do that?!'' Asked Naruto in shock, not expecting in the least for the girl to murder the man in such cold blood.

''What's the big deal? He was an enemy, so I just disposed of him. What? you wanted me to knock him out and risk him waking up and alerting his friends? Not a chance I'm taking that risk.'' Said Kurotsuchi nonchalantly.

''We could have tied him up or something, you didn't have to outright kill him!'' Insisted Naruto, still upset.

His obstination finally got on the girl's nerves. ''What the fuck is your problem, idiot?! We're Shinobi, killing is in our job description. You can't tell me you have never killed before, in fact, I saw you skewer several of my comrades if i remember correctly, so don't act like you are some sort of saint!''

''That was different, you guys were attacking me, I didn't have a choice! I'm not a murderer, I always refrain from killing unless there isn't another way!'' Truthfully, Naruto didn't have a large body count, as he preferred to incapacitate his enemies instead of killing them. In fact, most of his kills were the Iwa Shinobi he was forced to fight when they ambushed him, aside from them he could count on one hand the number of people he had been forced to put down for good and still have fingers to spare.

She rolled her eyes mockingly and had a hard time believing that they were discussing for something like this.''Oh, boo hoo. Cry me a river. Besides, now that I remember, this sacks of shit invaded your home and manipulated Suna into double-crossing you, didn't they? How many of your people did they kill, huh? I don't think they had any mercy on their part, so they don't deserve yours either.'' She reminded the blond.

Naruto quieted down somberly at the reminder, but his conviction was still firm.''Is true that they killed a lot of my comrades in the past, but If I acted like them, then I would be a scumbag too!''

Kurotsuchi felt like tearing her hair in irritation. ''Look, what's done is done. Instead of preaching me how much of a goodie-two-shoes you are, help me hide the body.''

Even though Naruto was still miffed about this entire ordeal, he still knew that they had to cover their tracks or this entire operation could crumble down, so he complied with the Iwa Kunoichi and stepped close to one of the many doors of the hallway. He carefully opened the door and scanned the inside of the room to see if anybody was in there. Thankfully no one was around so he motioned for the pink-eyed girl to enter.

Kurotsuchi rapidly grabbed the corpse by the legs and dragged him into the room. Once inside, both teenagers looked around the room to see it filled with book stands and cabinets, and quickly stuffed the dead man into one of the large cabinets.

''Humph, now that's one thing taken care of...'' Said the girl now that she was free to explore the room. ''We should have quick look through some of this files, see if we can find any good info.''

Naruto nodded in agreement and once again made a dozen copies of himself to help them with intel gathering. After a couple of minutes of going from archive to archive, they started to feel even more uneasy about this place as all they could find were documents regarding body modification and preparation of strange serums. All of the stuff was way too complicated for even Kurotsuchi to understand, but they at least got the gist of what they were about.

''Gee, these people are sick in the head.'' Murmured the Kunoichi to her blond partner as she continued to read the papers.

''Told you that you can't expect anything good when it comes to Orochimaru.'' Replied the Jinchuuriki, also invested in the archives.

''Well, no sense to keep this up. We can't even fully understand all this anyway.'' Said the girl while putting down a book she was holding.

Naruto couldn't agree more. He didn't enjoy looking through all this bizarre crap anyway, and besides, they still had a job to do. However, just before leaving he saw another door in a corner of the room, so he approached the new door to check it before leaving to continue their search.

Kurotsuchi noticed the Jinchuuriki's piqued interest and couldn't help but follow suit. They found out that behind the door was an armory if the numerous weapons hanging from the walls were any indication. There were also lab uniforms hanging from the opposite wall.

''Okay, might as well check if there is anything of use in this place.'' Added the Kunoichi.

Naruto nodded at the suggestion and together with his temporary partner he took a quick look through the weapons.

It didn't take long for something to catch his eye and he extended his arm to pick up a kanabō. It was nothing special, just a three-foot-long, fifteen-pound club made entirely from iron, with iron studs on one end, with a thick heavy end tapering towards a slender handle and with round shaft, and experimentally swung it a few times to get a feel for it. Afterward, he nodded and slung it over his shoulder, apparently satisfied.

"What do you want with that thing?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"Eh...while smashing things isn't how I prefer to fight, having an extra weapon on hand never hurts if you need it. Besides, if I can bash someone on the wrist hard enough to break bones, not only will they be too hurt to defend themselves right, but they won't be able to bust out Jutsu either. Not to mention, I can use it as a non-lethal way to incapacitate someone if I just aim for the limbs or something." Naruto explained with a shrug and a satisfied grin before getting back to continue searching through the weapons again.

The pink-eyed young woman blinked at the simple reasoning. Then she shook her head with a hapless grin. Weird and simple worked. Especially with this guy. She was starting to realize that.

Then again, weird and simple weren't necessarily bad things in the lifestyle of a ninja. Weird meant throwing an enemy off balance, and simple meant less confusion when you were working with someone. Both were good qualities in the field.

As much as she couldn't stand him, Kurotsuchi would be a poor excuse for a Jonin, young and green to the rank as she was, if she didn't recognize the perks of those qualities and knew how to best utilize them to her advantage.

Now that she thought about it, she didn't even know what was the complete extent of the blond's abilities. Yea she was briefed for a bit of his abilities when she was given her mission to capture him and all that, and even if she could see that he wasn't the most skilled ninja he had some kind of talent to get himself out of sticky situations. As they raided the supplies, the Iwa protege turned to her current ally. "I've been wondering...if all you've got are three jutsu outside of the academy basics and a demon's Chakra, how were you good enough to get a Sannin as a Sensei? What's your rank anyway? Chunin or something?"

At that, Naruto looked away and muttered something inaudible under his breath and he tried con conceal his red face of embarrassment.

"What'd you say, Konoha?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"...I'm a uh...Oh, hey...Here!" Naruto said, catching her attention to distract her from the current topic as he picked something out of the supplies and tossed it to Kurotsuchi. She caught it and looked at what it was.

A whetstone for honing edged tools. She looked at him, confused.

"For the sword of your mom." he said as he internally gave a sigh of relief at having avoided the topic of his rank. He wasn't about to give her any more ammo to ridicule him if he could help it.

Kurotsuchi blinked. Then tightened her grip on the whetstone with a small smile and slipped it into her supply pouch. She wouldn't be caught dead neglecting to care for the sword her mother left behind. It was actually kind of sweet that he was thoughtful of that.

After that little incident and having found nothing more of use in the armory, they continued creeping from corridor to corridor, expecting rooms whenever possible and using them as hiding spots if any other sound Shinobi appeared. The rooms themselves weren't much different from the very first one. A lot of them were also littered with documents and the occasional small lab if the numerous flasks and serums were anything to go by.

They continued like this for a while until Naruto tried another door, but this time, this particular room caught his attention. He stopped dead in its tracks with the door ajar and looked behind him to call over the Iwa Kunoichi. ''Hey, Kurotsuchi. You have to see this.''

Said girl looked curiously to the door the blond was opening, and a second later they both entered the new room. Now that both teenagers had a good look at the inside of the room they were speechless at what they saw. Lined up on one of the walls were around thirty huge test tubes made of glass, and inside them were people of all genders and ages. The people were missing their clothes and were submerged in some kind of green liquid. They were unconscious and were probably being kept alive by the strange green substance.

''What. The. Fuck?!'' was the only thing that Kurotsuchi was able to say at the sight of the bizarre ensemble.

''You know, I knew that bastard Orochimaru is always doing all this kind of sick experiments, but to actually witness it...'' Said Naruto just as stunned as the girl.

''Yeah, I get what you mean. There's hardly any word to describe this madness.'' Muttered the Kunoichi in disgust.

"Well, well...look what we have here."

The two whipped around to see a teenager with a pair of black rimmed circular glasses. He had onyx eyes and ash-grey hair, which was kept in a ponytail that extended to his upper back, with his bangs framing either side of his forehead. He wore a dark purple shirt with a high collar, a white under-shirt, dark purple fingerless gloves with armored plates on the back of the hand, a white cloth waistband worn at an angle, dark purple pants, blue sandals, and a Shuriken holster on his right leg.

"You?!" Naruto snarled, his expression going dark and getting himself into a combat position, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

"Who's this guy?" Kurotsuchi asked, following the blond's example and preparing herself to attack at the slightest sign of aggression.

"Yakushi Kabuto...accomplished medical ninja, master spy, and Orochimaru's right-hand man and living bed sheet." the Jinchuuriki spat, causing Kurotsuchi to stare in caution at facing such a high ranked member of Orochimaru's forces.

"...Okay, that bed sheet crack is false, uncalled for, and revolting." Kabuto said, his fingers twitching dangerously. "...that's Sasuke's job."

At the mention of the Uchiha's name, Naruto gave a growl of rage and his eyes turned purple, clearly on the verge of fully becoming red and letting his tenant boost his energy with the demonic Chakra.

Kurotsuchi could tell that this Kabuto guy was trying to rile Naruto up. An angry opponent was an opponent more prone to make mistakes after all. So she could appreciate the strategy. And besides, two could play this game.

''Oh, is that jealousy I sense there? What? Are you disappointed that you're not your master's playtoy but his errand boy instead? Humph, I guess Orochimaru's not so tough after all if he's so scared of us that he sent such a pushover to deal with us in his place.'' taunted back the Iwa Kunoichi.

Kabuto gave a cold smirk at the girl's remark. ''Such a sharp tongue you have there, I think I'll tear it off. For you information, I'm more than enough to deal with the likes of you, and actually, Orochimaru-Sama is not here. This whole operation is my idea. A side project, actually." the young man said, leaning casually against one of the test tanks.

"You see...while he won't admit it, the failed Suna-Oto joint invasion of Konoha, as well as the loss of the Sound Four and Kimmimaro, left Orochimaru-Sama's forces dangerously reduced in terms of high-caliber Shinobi. Can't have that, so I've been experimenting. After all, everyone has Chakra, it's all just a question of if they were trained to use it or not. So I figured trying to force it out would be productive. Rebuild Orochimaru-Sama's forces. Picked an out-of-the-way spot full of those who wouldn't be missed even if their disappearances were noticed to harvest for this project, and well...here we are."

"You...!" the two teenagers said, suddenly outraged as they remembered Yuna, her asking them to find her mother for her, even offering her piggy bank as a mission payment, and how utterly heartbroken she'd been when they wouldn't accept taking it from her, thinking they wouldn't help bring her mom back. Now they realized that Yuna's mom had to be inside one of the test tanks, and it was pretty much confirmed by this point that the rest of the missing people had to be the same test subjects.

It was impossible to tell which of them was the more furious.

Kabuto looked over the duo, ignoring their killer intent aimed at him. "You two certainly are an odd couple. I'm surprised to see a Konoha and Iwa Shinobi on the same side. Tell me, Naruto...I knew you weren't always the sharpest kunai of the bunch, but working with someone from the Village of Betrayers? Just how nasty were the circumstances that lead to this team-up? Everyone knows you can't trust Iwa. They'll use you as much as they can, then stab you in the back without a second thought as soon as they get what they want from you."

Kurotsuchi winced at Iwa being called the Village of Betrayers. As much as her pride made her outraged at him saying that about her home, she couldn't deny that she was taught by her grandfather that it was the duty and purpose of a ninja to lie, cheat, steal, and betray—doing whatever the hell it took to get the job done and ensure that you and your village came out on top.

In fact, Iwa was actually notorious for using underhanded tactics to ensure prosperity for their village, even against allies and in times of peace. Because of this, the other villages frowned upon Iwagakure and its shinobi, and its actions had earned them the moniker "Village of the Backstabbing Stone" the same way Kirigakure's old graduation test of forcing the students wishing to graduate to fight to the death had given it the nickname of the "Village of the Bloody Mist".

"Funny hearing that from a spy!" Naruto snapped, eyes narrowing.

Kabuto chuckled, holding up his hands as he shrugged at that. "Granted I both deserve and walked right into that." the glasses-wearing medic confessed, actually amused. "But I suspect you working with her isn't actually by choice, and she'd been going out of her way to be as spiteful as she can and attack you at every chance she gets, and all because you're from Konoha, am I right? That's just how Iwa is; rocks for brains and hearts of stone."

At that, the Kunoichi couldn't help but remember how she'd acted towards the blond back on that Genbu in the Land of Lightning, and when she'd attacked the moron she was currently partnered with as soon as those Kumo ninjas that had escorted them to the Land of Frost's border had left them alone.

Kurotsuchi felt her guts turn over and tie themselves into knots at the shameful fact that this sicko was right.

"I see what you're up to...Me and her can't stand one another, and you're trying to play us against each other for your own gain. If we waste time with focusing on our dislike, the mutual enemy will be the only one to benefit from us cutting one another's throats." Naruto snarled.

Both of the other two ninjas, Iwa and Oto, stared at him, stunned. How in the...?! Naruto was supposed to be stupid!

"Brilliant deduction, but how does that help? Plan to talk me to death?" the silver-haired man mocked, shaking off his surprise.

"Nope. The point is you're wasting your time. I'm not Sasuke, so I don't bother with grudges. And as for Kurotsuchi here..." Naruto smirked, "...unlike what you think, Iwa and the people from there are like mountains; solid, sturdy, and well-grounded. Do you honestly think that any of them would fall for such a stupidly cheap, obvious trick?" he said.

Kurotsuchi jerked in surprise at that, looking at the moron. Then she grinned in satisfaction. She knew that he'd said it just to tell off this Yakushi guy, but it was still a compliment to her, her village, and Iwagakure's way of life.

Kabuto scoffed, "As naive as ever, I see."

At that, the tomboy glared at Orochimaru's right-hand man again. So it was naive to praise her home, huh?! When she got hold of this Son of a...! Well...not like it mattered, she was going to try her damn hardest to kill this twisted bastard for what he was doing to the people of the Land of Frost, anyways.

Naruto, while still struggling to keep himself from using the fox's Chakra, pulled out the kanabō he'd swiped from the armory section of the base they were in and lifted his arm, readying the metal club...and from the look on his face, was currently imagining using it to splatter the head of a certain Oto ninja like an overly-ripe melon. Even if he didn't like killing he couldn't deny that he loathed the treacherous silver-haired medic."Hey, Kurotsuchi..."

The girl scowled at him, not taking her eyes off Kabuto, "What?"

"Whoever kills this twisted bastard gets to blow this sick place to hell after we rescue his victims and rig this base with explosives?"

Grinning darkly at that, the kunoichi drew her mother's blade. "Agreed!"

Having sensed that the time for screwing around was over, Kabuto quickly got serious and went on the offensive. He rushed towards the teens and extended his arm to his side ready to use his now Chakra-coated hand as a sharp scalpel as he wielded a Kunai in his other hand.

Both teenagers reacted fast and dodged the first swipe of the scalpel before Kurotsuchi parried the Kunai in Kabuto's other hand. This gave Naruto a chance to counter attack, so he raised his weapon and smashed it into the Silver-haired Oto-nin chest. But instead of the sound of bone crushing, they heard the mushy sound of mud as the clone came apart with the blow.

Both Naruto and Kurotsuchi widened their eyes and jumped away from their spot just as Kabuto emerged from the ground ready to skewer them with his scalpel-like hands.

Kurotsuchi was quick to try and slash the spy again with her blade only to meet the steel of his kunai once again. As both of them were struggling against each other, Kabuto ducked just in time to barely avoid the swing of Naruto's club aimed for the medic-nin's head but wasn't able to dodge a clone that landed a kick on his side that sent him rolling away from the girl.

However, Kabuto quickly used the momentum from the blow to right himself up and get back into a combat stance. ''They're better than I thought. I can't take them lightly at all.'' Evaluated the medic.

It was clear that they had an advantage against the silver-haired man in a two versus one match, but that was about to change when all the ruckus from the fight alerted several of the Sound ninjas in the base and they came rushing through the door.

Twenty men entered the room and stood stunned beside Kabuto, not expecting at all to have intruders in their base. ''Kabuto-Sama are you all right? We weren't aware of any trespassers.'' Said one of the men as they all readied themselves to fight.

''Hump, clearly. Such incompetence.'' Said Kabuto in irritation. Just like his master, he wasn't tolerant of these kinds of oversights by his subordinates. ''About time you did something about them. You're lucky I'm not Orochimaru-Sama or your punishment would be worse than death itself. But there in an upside for you; I might just let this one slide if you idiots help me get rid of this pests.''Added Kabuto regarding the teenagers, which made the rest of his men now put all of their focus on the intruders.

Naruto and Kurotsuchi were on edge. The silver haired bastard was already crafty enough by himself, now things were going to get much harder with reinforcements.

''Naruto, you handle these guys while I deal with four-eyes.'' murmured the girl as she saw the Sound Shinobi starting to surround them and taking position to strike in unison. ''If we all focus on these morons the silver-haired bastard is just going to pick us off as soon as he sees an opening while fighting these guys.''

Naruto looked at her in worry, unsure if it was prudent to let her fight Kabuto by herself. He was confident that he could handle the rest with his clones, but Kabuto was a top Jounin, good enough to be the right hand of Orochimaru; he knew that he wasn't going to be easy. ''Are you sure about this? Kabuto's not someone to take lightly.'' Said the blond to his partner.

Kurotsuchi nodded. ''That's precisely why we can't leave him room to do whatever he wants. Just do what I say, I know what I'm doing.'' Replied the girl with finality.

Naruto begrudgingly agreed and made a hand seal. ''Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Shadow clone technique)'' more copies of the Jinchuuriki started manifesting themselves in puffs of smoke around them until the number of blonds matched the ones from the Sound ninja. Not a moment later the orange-clad Genin and his doppelgangers rushed their enemies.

Said Oto-ninja were momentarily startled at the sudden appearance of such a high number of Shadow Clones, but despite that they were quick to attack too and they clashed against the blonds.

As Naruto took care of the squad of Sound ninja, Kurotsuchi turned to Kabuto and made some hand seals. ''Doton: Doryousou! (Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears)'' She then put her palms on the ground and a row of spikes emerged from the ground towards the medic-nin and injured some of the other ninjas that were too busy fighting Naruto's clones to properly avoid it, but despite her effort, the silver-haired man easily jumped over the Jutsu. It also didn't help that she had to restrain herself from putting too much strength in the technique or she risked hurting the hostages or her blond companion.

Kabuto noted her reluctance to go all out due to her concern for the villagers safety and smirked, knowing that he had the upper hand in this scenario. He decided to return the favor with a Jutsu of his own and promptly made the hand seals. ''Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu! (Water Release: Water Bullet Technique)''

Kurotsuchi managed to avoid the stream of high pressure water by dashing to the side. She clicked her tongue knowing that in such a close quarters space sooner or later she was going to lose in the Jutsu exchange, as Kabuto didn't care at all who got caught in his techniques, that made her the on with the handicap, so the best course of action left was to get up close and personal and hope to skewer the man alive as soon as possible.

Kabuto suspected her intentions and just like Naruto, he made two clones and proceeded to start a relentless assault to overwhelm the Iwa Kunoichi and a deadly dance of steel against steel ensued.

Kurotsuchi tried to keep parrying the Kunai slashes from Kabuto and his copies but was quickly losing ground and getting shallow cuts here and there from attacks she couldn't completely cover. In a normal situation she wouldn't have that much of a trouble dealing with clones, heck she could dispatch several of Naruto's clones fast enough, but having to fight in such an enclosed space was getting to be very difficult for the girl; add to that the fact that her best Jutsu for crowd control was out of the question or she risked harming the villagers.

Finally, she slipped and one of the copies managed to touch one of her arms with his scalpel. This caused Kurotsuchi to cry a yelp of pain and drop her blade, but at least she used the proximity to her advantage and delivered a roundhouse kick to the head of the clone and dispelled it. But now she found herself cornered against a wall before Kabuto and his remaining clone, all while unarmed and unable to use Jutsu without the use of her arm.

Kabuto regarded her with a smug look on his face, knowing full well that this was most likely the end of the line for the girl. ''Well this was fun, but I'm afraid I have to end our game here. Oh how I would love to use you as a new guinea pig for a couple of experiments I have in mind, they would certainly befit a brat like you.'' Said Kabuto tauntingly and lifted his chakra encased hand, ready to finish the battle and his clone mimicked his action.

Kurotsuchi was contemplating a way to turn things around when out of nowhere Naruto appeared beside the silver-haired man and brought his metal club on the doppelgangers head, effectively dispelling it.

Naruto cursed under his breath. He had been meaning to hit the real one but he hadn't known which one was, and immediately attempted to swing the club again to the remaining medic.

The now stunned Kabuto barely dodged the strike of the blond. He hadn't expected Naruto to come to the girl's aid so soon. After a moment the answer became clear to him; just as he was having the advantage against the pink-eyed girl when he overwhelmed her with sheer numbers in an enclosed space, the same applied to Naruto and his clones. While she had been fighting him, the blond made quick work of his subordinates by exploiting the fact that they couldn't run away from the Shadow clones in this place.

Meanwhile, Kurotsuchi took advantage of the distraction and rapidly sprinted for her blade at Kabuto's feet and after taking it she slashed at the spy in an attempt to bisect him.

Kabuto noticed too late the movement of the Kunoichi and couldn't completely avoid the slash, which resulted in him getting a nasty deep cut on his stomach. He grunted in pain and jumped backwards to put more distance between him and the teenagers, all while keeping a glowing green hand on his wound to try and heal it as much as he could.

Naruto glared at Kabuto from across the room before looking at Kurotsuchi with a frown in concern. ''Hey, are you alright?'' asked the blond.

The girl just shrugged off the matter like it was not a big deal. ''Is nothing. I got careless and he got my arm, don't worry about it.'' She wasn't proud of that but at least they now had the bastard right where they wanted him.

''Just give up, Kabuto. It's over.'' Said the blond sternly with an angry Kunoichi behind him ready to end the medic's life should he continue pressing the fight.

Kabuto knew that he had been beaten. His wound was too deep, he wasn't going to heal it in time to an acceptable level in order to fight properly. But losing didn't mean that he had to fall. He glanced to the motionless bodies of his subordinates who had obviously been knocked out by the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and he smirked when he realized that he still had a trick up his sleeve.

''I hate to admit it, but you got me good this time. However, don't think that bringing me down will be so simple.'' He then made a hand seal and the bodies of the unconscious sound ninjas started convulsing violently.

Naruto and Kurotsuchi looked around confused at the men, and after a few moments, the unconscious Oto-ninjas stopped moving.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, not knowing what that was all about, but Kurotsuchi could note that the bodies had stopped breathing, which only served to confuse her more. ''What the fuck?! He killed his own men! what purpose does that serve?'' was the only thing that really concerned the girl.

Her question was soon answered as the bodies once again started moving, but this time, they raised slowly, but the men weren't quite acting normally. She realized that their eyes were glazed and their movements were erratic, and the most bizarre thing was that they weren't breathing still.

''W-What is going on?! Why are they acting like that?''Asked Naruto as he and Kurotsuchi continued to watch the corpses rise.

''This is my Shikon no Jutsu(Dead Soul Technique)'' Explained Kabuto in a matter of fact way. ''I had already put seals on their bodies to let me control their vitals should the occasion arise that they would serve me better dead than alive. The seals also made my Jutsu work instantly without much setup beforehand. After all, I always say that one should be prepared for everything'' Ended Kabuto with a dark chuckle, not caring in the least about the fate of his undead men.

''You are one sick motherfucker.'' Said Kurotsuchi plainly with disgust. doing something like this to a comrade was something she considered unfathomable.

''They should keep you busy for a while. I hope we meet again so I can get you back for ruining this side project. Until next time.'' Finished the silver haired man before sinking into the ground and out of sight.

''Damn it, that bastard got away!'' Yelled Naruto in anger at letting one of his worst enemies escape.

''Worry about that later. We still have to deal with these freaks.'' Said Kurotsuchi as she slashed a couple of the undead Shinobi with her blade, and she realized that she needed to cut them into pieces or cut off their head, otherwise they didn't seem to stay down.

Naruto put his attention to the remaining enemies and used them to vent his frustration.

The corpses posed little threat to them as long as they were paying attention to their movements, they only served as an annoyance really. And after several minutes of fending them off, the corpses just suddenly stopped moving altogether, which most likely meant that the Jutsu had finally run out.

''Well I'm glad that's over.''Said Kurotsuchi with a grateful sigh.

''At least that should be all of them. But I can't believe I let that bastard get away. He doesn't deserve to run free, and he may have known where Sasuke is.'' Replied Naruto mortified.

''It is a shame that we couldn't get four-eyes, but what can we do now? Besides, now we can finally free these people from those things.'' Said the girl pointing with her thumb to the still trapped villagers.

Naruto widened his eyes in realization. He had forgotten about that for a moment. ''Oh, that's right. We still have to save them.'' He felt ashamed to have forgotten his original purpose, even if only momentarily.

After that, both teenagers approached again the test tubes and stared at them clueless.

''So, how do you think we get them out of there?'' asked the pink-eyed Kunoichi. She didn't exactly know hot to operate this kind of machine.

Naruto had a thoughtful frown as he stared back and forth between the glass and his club.

''Oh no, you can't possibly be thinking of just smashing the glass, right? We could hurt them'' Asked Kurotsuchi alarmed after she picked up on what the blond was planning.

''We might, but I think is more likely that we end up hurting them more if we start tinkering with the machine. We aren't sure what Kabuto was doing, maybe this is a delicate process. So I think is best if we just get them out of there bluntly.'' Naruto explained his reasoning.

As much as Kurotsuchi wanted to argue with the boy, she couldn't. He was right, they didn't know if they could make the machine do something bad to the poor people being used as guinea pigs. So even if it wasn't ideal, maybe breaking the glass was their best bet.

''Ok, fine. But do it quickly.'' Said the girl with resignation.

Naruto nodded warily before preparing his club to smash a hole right trough the tube. ''Stand back.'' Said the blond plainly before swinging the weapon and shattering the glass with a loud crack.

As soon as the glass broke a great quantity of the green liquid came gushing from the giant tube and left the woman trapped inside laying on the floor as she coughed the sickly liquid.

''I think she isn't fully awake yet. Help me get her up.'' Ordered the prodigy to the Jinchuuriki.

Naruto complied and did just that, and after getting the brown haired woman into a sitting position he took off his cloak and wrapped it around her to cover her lack of clothing.

The woman continued to cough the liquid until she finally started opening her eyes numbly before going into a panic. ''Get away from me, you sickos!'' Attempted the girl to struggle and free herself from the teenagers.

''Hey calm down, lady!'' Yelled Naruto while trying to keep her from running away from them and getting herself hurt in her confusion.

''The idiot is right, you have nothing to fear anymore. We are here to help you!'' Added Kurotsuchi, joining in the effort to keep her calm.

For a moment, it seemed like the woman wasn't gonna listen, but she stopped herself for a single moment to take a better look at the youngsters. ''You don't look like them.'' Realized the confused woman.

''That's what we are trying to tell you, we are your friends.'' Said Naruto with a comforting grin.

''D-Do Y-you mean it?! This isn't a trick?!'' Asked the woman in disbelief. However, she still seemed hopeful.

Both teens nodded at her question and Kurotsuchi elaborated.

''Everyone in your village is worried about you. We came to find you and take you back.'' Said the Iwa Kunoichi while putting her hand on the woman's shoulder.

Said woman stared at them wide eyed for a moment before breaking into tears and enveloping Kurotsuchi in a hug. ''Thank all heavens! You have no idea how terrible this place is.'' Said the woman between sobs.

Kurotsuchi was stunned in the woman's embrace, clearly not expecting the action. Not knowing what to do she just settled for lamely patting the back of the older girl to try and calm her down. She then turned to look at Naruto to send him a threatening look in warning to make him refrain from making fun of her, but she just found the blond smiling warmly at the scene and clearly glad that things were fine, so she couldn't help but smile herself.

''I felt so bad for my darling and Yuna. They must be so worried about me.'' Added the woman before continuing to stain Kurotsuchi's clothes with her tears.

Now that statement made both teenagers look at each other with a surprised look. Now they could rest easy knowing that their mission was over. But first, they still had to free everyone else.

Kurotsuchi signaled Naruto to do just that as she continued to support the crying woman.

Naruto nodded and proceeded to smash the rest of the water tanks.

After having woken up everyone and trying to calm the villagers to keep them in order (which was hard enough and the room full of dead Oto-nin didn't help) they went back to the armory and grabbed the clothes that they previously saw and outfitted all the prisoners with them. They obviously weren't fond of wearing the same uniforms as their captors, but they couldn't complain right now.

then they exited the hideout and Naruto made a Shadow Clone for every villager to carry them, as they wouldn't last long in this cold if they travelled slowly, especially because the clothes they found for them weren't suited for the climate.

They all traveled to the village at record speed and as soon as the town was close enough, the villagers in the backs of the clones couldn't help but cry out in happiness at seeing their home.

''We are back, everyone!''

''We managed to come come back!''

''That nightmare is finally over!''

''I can't wait to see my family again!''

Similar thoughts were voiced loudly among the group, which caused some of the town inhabitants to notice the large group approaching them. They quickly recognized their friends and family members and cried in joy at seeing their loved ones safe and sound.

The commotion made the rest of the people realize what was going on and soon all the inhabitants of the village gathered in the outskirts to cheer and celebrate the return of their friends and family.

All that made Naruto and Kurotsuchi find themselves being greeted by a large number of people laughing and cheering joyfully when they arrived, a stark contrast of how they first found the little town. As soon as they arrived, their passengers didn't waste any time from getting off of the backs of the blond's clones to rush and meet with their people as they embraced each other with joyful tears in their eyes.

Both teens smiled warmly at seeing the people happy at last and internally congratulated themselves for a work well done. But before leaving they still wanted to check on someone.

They didn't take long to find her when they heard the voice of Yuna. ''Mommy!'' They turned around to see the little girl run to the first woman they saved and wrapped her little arms around the woman's waist before bursting into tears at seeing her precious mother alive and well.

''Yuna-Chan! Sweetie, I'm so sorry for making you and your dad worry about me.'' Replied the woman, also with tears in her eyes and returning her child's embrace.

The little girl shook her head while she was still burring herself in her mother's lap. ''I'm just glad that you are fine, mommy! I promise I won't give you trouble anymore, just please don't go again.''

''I promise I won't, sweetheart. I promise I won't.'' Said the mother trying to comfort the girl, but failed as she also cried harder.

''Honey! You are back!'' Said the same man that the teens met before at the store as he approached them in a sprint.

''I am, darling. I'm sorry for making you worry. I'm not leaving you two ever again.'' Said the woman as the man joined his family in their hug.

''We'll talk later, honey. Right now I'm just happy to have my precious family together again.'' Responded the man as he held the two girls tightly as if he was going to lose them if he let go of them.

Naruto and Kurotsuchi smiled at the heartwarming reunion before looking at each other with satisfied grins and a thumbs up.

''I think we should leave. Let these folks enjoy their time together, you know.'' Naruto whispered to Kurotsuchi to which the girl nodded.

''Yeah I think we are done here. Besides, there doesn't seem to be storms coming anytime soon. So I guess it's safe to continue our trip.'' Said the girl in agreement.

They both turned to leave when they were interrupted by a voice. ''Hey wait, where are you going?''

They turned around and found Yuna running towards them with a frown before stopping in front of them. ''You are the ninja that brought mommy back, right? Why are you going already?''

Kurotsuchi smiled down at the girl and put a hand on her head. ''We have somewhere we need to go, but don't worry, we'll be back someday.'' Responded the Iwa girl.

''Yuna is right. We really would love for you to stay a while longer. However, if you really need to go we can understand that.''

Naruto and Kurotsuchi saw Yuna's father approach them too, and behind him were most of the town's inhabitants.

''Though even if get you have important stuff to do is a shame that you can't stay.'' Continued the man. ''But we don't even know your names. I'm sure everyone here would like to know the name of our heroes.'' Said Yuna's father and the rest of the villagers agreed in unison.

Both Shinobi got a bit red in embarrassment at being called 'heroes'. Naruto put a hand behind his head with a smile and Kurotsuchi scratched her shoulder in an effort to downplay her action.

''I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage. And I just did what I thought was right, so don't worry about it.'' Replied the Jinchuuriki with a thumbs up as Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes at his self-proclamation of becoming future Hokage.

''I'm Kurotsuchi, the best Kunoichi in Iwa. Like Naruto said, I just did what felt was the good thing to do.'' Said the girl, trying to not sound too cocky, but considering her nature it was a bit hard.

''Then, big brother Naruto, Big sister Kurotsuchi; I'll be waiting for you, please return soon.'' Said the little girl with glee.

''Of course we will. I always keep my promises, dattebayo!'' Replied Naruto cheerfully.

''Will do, kiddo. Keep your mom and dad safe, okay?'' Added Kurotsuchi with a smile.

''I'll try to become strong like you. Next time you see me I'll be able to defend my mom, and no one will bother us again.'' Said Yuna with determination.

''I'm sure you will.'' Finished the pink-eyed girl giving a pat on the head to the small girl. ''Okay Naruto, I think it's time to get going.'' Said Kurotsuchi turning her head to the Jinchuuriki.

''Yea, I think you are right.'' Answered Naruto before turning again to the crowd. ''See ya guys, I hope to see everyone soon!'' Replied the blond with a wave to the grateful people.

''Come back soon and stay safe on your travels!''

"Bye Big brother and sister!"

"Farewell!"

"Thank you again for everything!"

Both teens turned away as they heard the cheers from the people they just helped, and once again they felt good about their deed. Now they proceeded to resume their trip back home.

However, as their silhouettes started getting smaller and smaller from the village, the black and white figure of Zetsu Saw the whole thing from atop a nearby hill.

"Found them at last." "Let's inform Tobi and Pain." Said both halves of the strange plant-like man before once again sinking into the ground and vanishing any trace of them.

Author's note:

I'm alive! I'm so so so sorry it took me this long to update, I really have no excuse. But worry not, to make up for it I'm working fast to deliver the next chapters. In fact, I already have completed the next one I just need to spell check it and it will be good to go! Again I'm sorry for my tardiness. Please review if you have the time :)