Quietus

by Seraphina Scribes

When first he laid eyes upon her, he thought her the very personification of spring. He watches, from the depths of shadow; waiting to steal her away from the land of the living. Waiting to make her Queen of the Dead. Hades/Persephone retold. SasuSaku/AU.

99. Chapter 98

This chapter consists of two parts. Here's the first.

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Chapter XCVIII

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Entering into the serpent's keep,
Where dangers lurk and nightmares creep,
Faced with remnants of the past,
Strangled throats to despair cast.

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~x~

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Three figures stood before the large, chakra-fortified tank, observing the motionless, unconscious figure that floated within, limbs shackled by powerful chains. Inky black liquid swarmed around the form. Leeching. Poisoning.

"It is quite unfortunate that the nymph managed to escape," Orochimaru remarked. "Twice now her rare giftsss have eluded me." He glanced at his faithful companion. "Kabuto. Have you managed to confirm her location?"

"The signal is weaker than expected," Kabuto informed him. "The oceans have already carried her far beyond what is within our range to retrieve, but I anticipate that she is headed precisely where we wish for her to go."

"Excellent…" The daemon hissed, running the tip of his long, serpentine tongue along his bottom lip, relishing the cumulation of all their plans - plans that had been months in the making, plans that were on the cusp of exploding into glorious fruition. "She will lead the Olympiansss straight into the serpent's lair."

"And we shall see," Obito added darkly, "how many shall leave it."

They exchanged smug, knowing glances, before turning their eyes back to the motionless figure before them.

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~x~

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The journey to the Underworld whirled by in a head-spinning blur of disorientating motion. Suigetsu's stallion carried Karin swiftly back through the oceans, only taking to the surface once it drew closer to the misty forests that marked the hidden territory leading toward the entrance of Sasuke's realm. How it knew its course without any manner of direction was beyond her comprehension. Karin could only assume that the majestic mount was as old as time itself and thus knew far more of the secrets of the world than she did.

Or perhaps Suigetsu had already commanded his steed to transport her straight there beforehand. Thinking of his noble, idiotic sacrifice made her chest burn with an indescribable emotion. Exhausted, she shoved all thoughts of him to the back of her mind, willing herself to remain conscious as endless lines of trees streaked by her, even as she felt herself growing increasingly, dangerously lightheaded.

When the horse at last arrived at the mouth of the Underworld, it entered straight within the descending tunnel, bolting unstoppably through the icy blanket of fog like a hurtling projectile of water. How they managed to tear past the formidable Cerberus and his bone-rattling roars, Karin did not know. The world continuously blurred in and out of focus around her, and the next thing she became aware of was reaching the other side of the river bank, where she teetered unsteadily before collapsing off her mount's back entirely.

Cold, hard gravel broke her fall, and she couldn't summon the strength to lift her head again. Her body felt like it had turned to lead and her vision swarmed.

"Karin…?" A familiar voice she could not quite place in her delirious state called her name, its tones laced with surprise and alarm. But consciousness was again rapidly slipping from her grasp, leaving her swimming in a murky sea of darkness once more.

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~x~

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She awoke to warmth and firelight and a concerned face peering down at her. Karin blinked groggily, straining to see through the haze without her spectacles. Nymphs were not ordinarily known to have issues with their vision, but her powerful sensory gifts for seeing chakra around her had gradually weakened her sight over the centuries. As if her eyes directly paid the price for her ability to visualise her surroundings on a larger scale.

"Are you alright?" A sweet, pleasant, feminine voice questioned gently. Karin did not immediately recognise it - until vivid green irises finally focused through the blur of her vision.

The nymph sucked in a sharp breath and abruptly bolted upright. Alarmed, Sakura jerked back, almost spilling onto her lap the steaming hot brew that Chiyo had left in her care before she'd departed the room earlier.

"H-hey!" she exclaimed in surprise. "Wait! You shouldn't be sitting up so fast. You need rest!"

Karin gaped at her, aghast, lips floundering for words. What cruel twist of fate had placed her under the girl's vigil? No longer the petty object of her misplaced, deluded jealousy, she looked upon Sakura objectively for the first time and acknowledged that she was certainly far prettier than Karin had initially judged her to be. Dressed in velvet green, regal finery with her dusky hair pinned into an attractive crown braid, the Underworld's fashion became her. But why in the three realms was Sakura of all people tending to her after all the trouble Karin had stirred for her in the past?

She blinked, disturbed and overrun with confusion, and grew even more unsettled upon realising that she had been tucked into a comfortable bed within a most spectacular room. The air vanished from her lungs in a breathless whoosh. She could scarcely believe it; she was inside the royal palace itself. Her hair and clothes were clean and dry, she noted, glancing down to find that her attire had been changed entirely, swapped from her ruined surface-wear to a simple beige, cotton tunic.

The wounds she'd sustained while escaping from Orochimaru's lair had also fully healed. How had she even gotten to the palace? The lapses in her memory were disconcerting.

As if reading her thoughts, Sakura explained, "Jugo found you by the riverside and carried you to the palace entrance. He said a water horse brought you to the riverbank, but it vanished after you fell off its back. You were badly wounded and burning up, so we brought you into one of the bedrooms and called Lady Chiyo to patch you up.

"She said something was draining your chakra and healed you while you were asleep. You were covered in blood and dirt, so I asked the servants to bathe you." She paused, then held out the small cup of steaming brown liquid. "Here. Drink this. It'll help."

Karin hesitated, not lifting a hand, stubbornly refusing to meet Sakura's gaze as a nagging sense of guilt flooded through her.

"Why are you helping me?" She demanded hoarsely, suspicious and uncomfortable with how nice the young woman was being to her. "After what I did, you shouldn't-"

Sakura held up a silencing hand, cutting her off. "That was a long time ago. It doesn't matter, now. Drink."

Karin swallowed thickly. After another pause, she reluctantly accepted the cup, downing its potent contents. The warm, bitter liquid slid down her throat, and sure enough, she felt it quickly ease the last of her lingering fatigue. Her mind cleared of cobwebs, she straightened, fully alert.

A long, awkward silence hung in the air between them, before Karin finally handed the cup back to Sakura.

"Black spores," she said tightly.

"What?" Sakura blinked.

"The Zetsu," Karin clarified, hands fisting around the rich bronze silk sheets. The luxurious fabric felt foreign, strange beneath her skin. "That's what I was infected with. It absorbs chakra."

Sakura's eyebrows drew together in concern. Another variant of the creature couldn't possibly be good news for them. "What happened?" she quietly asked.

Karin's lips pursed into a grim line. "Suigetsu and I went looking for Orochimaru's hideout. He cloaked us, but the enemy caught onto us inside, and then-" she broke off.

And then the idiot had saved her life and stayed trapped behind.

Sakura's eyes widened. "You found his base?"

Karin nodded, finally lifting her gaze to meet brilliant green. "Where's-" she hesitated despite herself, dread roiling in her stomach. She had never wanted to see him again, and yet another meeting was unavoidable. "Where's Sasuke?"

"In the throne room," Sakura informed her. "But maybe you should rest a little more before we-"

"No," Karin interjected. She wanted to spend as little time as possible in the Underworld. Delaying the inevitable would only ramp up her anxiety. "I need to speak with him. Right away. It's urgent."

She pushed the heavy covers back, to find that the lower half of her body had been dressed in brown leggings. Her attire was far too casual but it was practical and comfortable and that was all that mattered. Swinging her legs over the side of the four-poster bed, she found leather sandals at her feet and a warm, woolen brown cloak resting on the back of the chair that had been drawn beside the bed. A chair she assumed Sakura had been occupying before moving to the edge of the bed while she'd kept watch over Karin in her sleep.

Her throat burned and a bitter, unpleasant taste coated her mouth, wholly unrelated to the brew she had just consumed. Why would a stranger care for her and show her such kindness? A kindness she certainly did not deserve. Guilt once again gnawed at her chest, scratching at her troubled conscience like claws.

She got up, slipped her feet into the sandals before throwing the cloak about her shoulders, fastening it hastily in place.

Sakura eyed her closely. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

"I'm fine." Karin replied curtly. Her body felt recovered enough of its strength and there was no time to waste. Suigetsu was in danger. She doubted that Obito had allowed him to escape, and between the two deities, it was obvious which of them would tire first.

"Alright," Sakura relented, rising to her feet in turn. "Follow me."

---

~x~

---

Karin was overrun with nervousness as she stood before the Underworld's magnificent, imposing onyx throne, feeling very much like a helpless soul standing before an intimidating judge and executioner. It was almost surreal to find herself returned to the very place she had firmly intended never to set foot in again. And yet, by the will of the Fates themselves, there she was, under the inspection of a cool and unyielding midnight gaze, within what was arguably the most resplendent room in the entire palace.

The walk from the room she'd awoken to find herself in, up to the royal dais had consisted of her gawking in stunned, dazzled awe at her majestic surroundings, for she had never before been permitted to set foot freely inside the palace, much less granted an audience with the King in the throne room itself. Almost all of her past interactions with the monarch of the realm had been limited to her station at the riverside, with very few more recent exceptions.

The twisted irony of the situation was not lost on her. How many years had she spent yearning to stand in that very spot, pining for Sasuke's attention, for him to look at her as intently as he was at that precise moment? It was a shock to her senses to see him again, far sooner than she had ever anticipated or wanted.

Nothing had changed. He was still perilous and enticing, still as painfully handsome and regal as she recalled. And at that moment, the weight of his stare was so suffocating that Karin fought the urge to squirm. Her heart pounded. She wanted to be anywhere else than under the intense scrutiny of that unforgiving stare.

Was Sasuke displeased, she wondered, that she had chosen to leave his service? Did he even care at all? Did she care what he thought, anymore?

Sakura had climbed the steps of the dais to stand directly beside the left side of the throne, and Karin was struck, in that second, by just how at ease and familiar they appeared to be in one another's company. How painfully apparent it was that Sasuke tolerated her proximity in a way he had never before tolerated anyone else's. Evidently all their past quarrels had been forgotten.

Suigetsu had suggested that perhaps Sasuke and Sakura had history. That Sakura wasn't an ordinary human. Looking upon them, Karin began to believe it. They certainly seemed to complement one another well enough. Sasuke was cold and harsh, forged of shadows and darkness and night, and Sakura, with her vivid colourings and kind nature, was airy brightness and sweetness and blinding light. They were clear, polar opposites, it was plain to see. And didn't opposites often attract?

She swallowed back the lump in her throat, reminding herself that it wasn't Sakura's fault that Sasuke had always treated her so dismissively. It wasn't Sakura's fault that Sasuke had always been so aloof, never seeing Karin as anything more than a servant in his Kingdom. She ought to have known the moment that Sakura had been abducted to the Underworld that she'd never stood a chance. But the reality was that she hadn't stood a chance since the day she had met Sasuke, wishfully mistaking his invitation for her to serve him as anything more than that.

Foolish, wasted years, she now knew. Years spent wilfully blind, clamouring to grasp something beautiful, terrible and utterly unattainable.

"Well?" Sasuke's voice was black velvet, cleaving through the silence like a slicing blade. "Karin?"

He offered no greeting, getting straight to the heart of the matter, and Karin wasted no time in reporting what had happened. She explained the compound she and Suigetsu had found, everything they had seen inside, the layout and the rooms she had managed to map out. The Black Zetsu, the monsters that were being created by the enemy, the ANBU soldiers and finally their encounter with Obito, how Suigetsu had stabbed her with Samehada before throwing her into the water to get her out of the facility before failing to follow after her. Sasuke and Sakura listened to her in silence. The shock of the events and Suigetsu's unexpected sacrifice was apparent on Sakura's features, but the God of the Dead's expression remained stoic, revealing nothing of his innermost thoughts.

"I didn't know how to find the Olympians," Karin finished. "When I woke up, one of Suigetsu's horses was with me, so I told it to bring me here. I didn't know where else to go." Her hands balled into fists at her sides. "There's no way he can face off against that masked man all alone. His chakra was off the charts, like nothing I've ever sensed before."

"Cronus is using him as a vessel for all the tailed beasts he's collected, until he rounds up the rest." Sakura explained. Then she looked at Sasuke in concern. "If Suigetsu's trapped, he's in big trouble. What if they find a way to control him, too?"

Sasuke remained silent, his thoughts grave. It would not bode well for mortals or the balance of his own realm if their enemy acquired command of the world's oceans and seas through an enslaved Poseidon.

"We have to help him. We need to tell the others," Sakura was going on. "From what Karin said, everything Orochimaru's been working on is inside that hideout."

"It is," Karin confirmed. "I wasn't able to map out the entire facility before we were attacked, but it's huge, and built just above water level beneath the surface."

Sasuke rose from the throne, summoning the Helm of Darkness into his right hand. It appeared in a flurry of shadows.

"The compound," he addressed Karin. "Can you find it?"

"Yes," Karin nodded with confidence. "I remember which ocean it's in, and if I can find Suigetsu's horse again, it'll take us right to the spot."

Sasuke blinked, then turned to look back at Sakura. Karin watched in silent astonishment as something passed between them - a moment that was private, that she felt like she had no business witnessing. It appeared that they were communicating somehow, and yet no words were spoken aloud between them. A worried look passed across Sakura's face and she bit her lower lip as she held Sasuke's gaze, seemingly unhappy. When he began to step away, she reached out, grasping his left hand without hesitation to halt him.

Karin's breath stilled, noting how he paused, the way he permitted the touch, the gesture openly betraying the deep affection and trust that ran between them as he turned his attention back to the rose-haired young woman. His focus entirely on her.

"Would you mind giving us a minute?" Sakura said softly, keeping her gaze on Sasuke.

Sasuke's head turned slightly, not looking Karin's way, but a clear indication nonetheless that he expected her to make herself scarce. Feeling uncomfortable, Karin eagerly obliged, relieved to put distance between herself and the pair. As she turned her back to them, her stunned mind scrambled to process what she had just seen. The idea that the frosty, reticent King of the Dead was capable of being influenced by anyone else, that he was capable of displaying any manner of warmth, had always been little more than a fantasy in Karin's mind. Never a reality. Until that moment, seeing how he interacted with Sakura. Even his dark, ominous chakra signature was calmer in her presence. A fearsome storm quelled by the grace of her touch.

"In fact, I'm willing to bet he'll give her a crown before next year's over."

Words Suigetsu had spoken to her crashed through her head, and as she slipped out of the throne room, Karin found herself thinking that perhaps they didn't seem so far-fetched and impossible as she had initially thought.

---

~x~

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The imposing double doors closed behind the nymph with a resounding thud and no sooner had they done so, Sakura entreated, "Please take me with you."

Sasuke turned back to face her fully, repeating the answer he had given to her telepathically only minutes earlier. "It's too dangerous."

"I can fight," she insisted. "You know I can. Let me help."

"That's not what I meant." He held her eyes, regret simmering within his own. "The seeds," he reminded her.

"But I've been here for almost four months already. There has to be a way you can give me a few hours," Sakura scowled. "That's all we'd need, isn't it? Can't I just make up the time, somehow?"

Sasuke was silent, his eyebrows furrowed together in open disapproval.

She squeezed his hand. "There is a way, isn't there? You can give me time. Then please, let me go with you. I can't just stay here and wait, not knowing what's happening up there. I'll go crazy worrying about you. About my mother and everyone else. Please, Sasuke-kun."

The frown on his face softened slightly at the affection he heard in his name.

"Sakura. Even if I could shield you for several hours, we don't know how large the compound is. Or how long it will take to bring it down. Shisui's chakra granted us time," he said, when she opened her mouth to argue again. "If you return to the surface now, its effects will wear off sooner. The Rinnegan still hasn't awakened. There is too much risk."

Sakura pulled away from him, frustrated. "So I'm just supposed to sit around and wait?" she hugged her arms as she paced agitatedly about the royal dais "If there are barriers around the place, then I might have no way of communicating with you at all, no way of even knowing what's happening."

"The Helm will conceal me," he reassured her.

"That doesn't make me feel better," Sakura huffed. "All of you are going, and I'm the only one who has to stay behind? That isn't fair!"

"It's too dangerous," he repeated, knowing full well that his refusal to budge on the matter upset her - and yet her safety was his absolute priority and nothing he was prepared to compromise. Not even an inch.

"But you're walking into that danger," she scowled. "And I'm supposed to be okay with that? How do you expect me to just-" she was interrupted when he stepped toward her, closing the gap between them, and flicked his index and middle finger into the centre of her forehead. Blinking in surprise, she lifted her hand to the spot that he had poked, noting the glint of something suspiciously akin to the briefest flicker of mild amusement dancing across his stormy eyes.

"What was that for?" she frowned. "This isn't funny, Sasuke-kun!"

Dark eyes traced slowly over her distressed features, a soft caress. His amusement lay not in her distress, but in her bewildered reaction to the gesture, so reminiscent of his own when the same had been done to him by his own brother. She failed to catch the fleeting tenderness and affection in his gaze as she ranted on, "How would you feel if you were the only one left behind and had to wait to find out what was happening to the people you care about?"

He blinked at her words. His eyes steeled over once more, and Sakura realised that back in the days before the war, he had been left behind - and left out of everything. Often. He understood what it felt like. Perhaps he understood more than anyone else.

"Sasuke-kun," she faltered. "I-"

"If Shisui's chakra depletes before I awake the Rinnegan," Sasuke interrupted, his expression hard with resolve. "I cannot reverse your next attack. It is safer for you to remain here. You're staying, Sakura."

"But-" she began to protest once more, despite the clear finality of his tone.

Before she could say anything else, he reached for her right forearm and hauled her forward. Cupping the back of her head, he bent his own to capture her lips in a passionate kiss that silenced her at once. He kissed her deeply, hungrily, a reminder of how much she meant to him - and how unwilling he was to risk anything happening to her.

"Sasuke-kun," she whispered, clinging onto the front of his cloak when he finally drew back.

He cupped her cheek with a palm and held her gaze. Silently willing her to trust him, his judgement, to understand his reasons for refusing to grant her request and take her to the surface with him.

She bit her lower lip, searching his eyes, beautiful pools of darkness that she so loved to drown in. When she realised she had no chance of convincing him otherwise, she released a quiet, defeated sigh. There was no way for her to step foot on the surface without him, and if he would not take her, then she was left with no choice but to wait for him. As much as she hated being left behind, as much as it upset her to know that Sasuke, her mother and her friends were headed into battle without her, she begrudgingly acknowledged that Sasuke was absolutely right. He didn't doubt her ability to contribute in battle - his concern was that a trip to the surface would involve gambling with her life, a gamble he was not willing to take. They couldn't risk her venturing out before her six months were up and weakening the protective chakra that Shisui had gifted to her as an extra lifeline. A lifeline that Hypnos had specifically warned her not to squander. What if its effects faded in the midst of battle? Then she would be a liability, risking everyone's focus and safety.

"Stay inside the palace, Sakura," he murmured against her lips, leaning into her warmth for a moment, as if relishing the final precious seconds of peace he would have before he once again flung himself into the path of destructive peril and inevitable bloodshed. Then, all too soon, he drew away and exited the throne room, leaving a concerned Sakura standing alone by the throne.

---

~x~

---

Karin shifted on her feet, impatient and agitated. What was taking so long? What on earth were the two of them discussing, that she was forced to wait with nothing but her own fretful thoughts for company?

"Karin," Sasuke's voice rang out expectantly behind her, nearly scaring her out of her skin. She spun around in surprise to find him melting out of wisps of shadow.

When he inclined his head in a wordless instruction for her to step closer, she hesitated. The thought of travelling alone with Sasuke, even for a brief moment, would have once filled her with giddiness and glee in the past. But she felt only apprehension in that moment, knowing that they were likely headed straight to the Olympians to raise the alarm before returning to the devil's lair itself.

"Wait!" Sakura's voice called, as she joined them in the entrance hall. "Please be careful," she entreated.

Karin cast an awkward glance at the Underworld's king. Sakura meant the words for him, of course. She doubted the rose-haired reincarnation of Spring cared whether she lived or died. Still, she sensed that perhaps this was the final time she and Sakura would ever encounter one another in the Underworld, for she would never again return to the realm once the mission to destroy the hideout was over. If she even survived it. This was her final opportunity to say something, the last words with which she would part from Sakura. Karin knew that if she remained quiet, she would perhaps regret it.

Meeting the young woman's bright, verdant gaze, the nymph hesitated once more, before forcing out words that seemed so reluctant to deploy themselves from the tip of her tongue.

"I-" she faltered despite herself, loathing the way she could feel Sasuke's coal gaze burning steadily into the side of her head. As if he sought to decode what on earth she could possibly have to say to his woman.

"I'm... sorry," she got out, not without difficulty. The very words seemed to coat her tongue with soot, a bitter reminder of her own foolishness and irrational behaviour at a time when she had genuinely wished Sakura ill.

"About before," she clarified shortly, referring to her backstabbing actions that had incited Sasuke's wrath just before Sakura had made her desperate escape attempt from the Underworld. "And uh-" Clearing her throat, she added awkwardly, referencing the unexpected kindness that Sakura had shown in tending to her, "Thanks. For-"

The words she truly meant breezed through her mind. For watching over me when I was out cold. For helping me when I didn't deserve it. For coming along and finally making me realise there's a bigger and better purpose for me in the world out there. That I don't need any king's approval. That my life is my own. For helping me snap out of my delusions and accept that it's time to move on.

But instead, she finished shortly, "-the brew."

Sakura blinked at her, visibly surprised, as if she had not expected either an apology or any form of gratitude. As if she understood everything Karin had been trying to convey. Before she could offer a response, however, Karin hastily turned away and rigidly stepped closer to Sasuke.

Flicking her eyes up to his face, she found smouldering onyx locked onto Sakura behind her shoulder. Karin's lips almost twisted into a grim, wry smile. Of course he had eyes for nobody else whenever Sakura was in the same room. But she found herself feeling nothing but blessed emptiness in the face of his complete disregard to her presence as he wordlessly enveloped them in shadows and spirited them rapidly back up to the surface.

---

~x~

---

"Those shadow-imitation abilities you have. They aren't really shadows?" Temari questioned.

She stood, hands clasped behind her back, next to Shikamaru in the entrance hall of the High Council building. They were waiting together for Gaara and Kurenai to return from the library.

"No," Shikamaru replied. "Not elemental shadows. Only the Underworld's royal family ever controlled those."

"So where did yours come from?"

"They're an extension of my own shadow," he explained, chewing on a tooth-pick. "I can manipulate it to extend to any target I want."

"Indefinitely?"

"There's a limit to the range."

"Hmm," she hummed, tilting her head curiously. "You can do that even in the absence of light casting a shadow?"

"Yeah. Guess that's the gift The Fates decided to dump on me."

"That's lucky," she commented. "You'd be in a real fix if they relied on light."

He raised an eyebrow at her. In the relatively short time he had known Temari, it had become apparent to him that she did not shy away from speaking her mind, nor was she intimidated in the presence of any of the Olympians. It was a refreshing change to the other, grovelling and bashful servants to the Crown he'd encountered back when they'd all lived on Olympus.

"Don't tell me," she placed her hands on her hips, giving him an appraising look. "You never get into any fixes."

"Not if I can help it," he said. "They're too troublesome."

"I thought the Olympians all loved to spar, though. Didn't the esteemed Lord Zeus used to hold Olympic games?"

"Not my scene," Shikamaru sighed, recalling the events with distaste. Minato had run them and offered up generous chests brimming with gold for the winners of the competitive, lively games, and none had enjoyed placing bets more than his lady wife and Queen, Kushina, and her good friend Tsunade.

The games had been a great sport, always triumphed over by an Olympian or their chosen champion - until one year when Zeus had invited the Underworld to join in, to send a capable warrior to participate in the contest. His proud, winning streak had promptly ended and a horrified Hera had lost her very first bet when Cronus, full of contempt before the Olympian cheering mob, had hand-picked not a selection, but a single one of his kin, wordlessly pointing them out in front of the crowd.

A tall, lean, masked youth clad in a long, dark cloak and black sparring raiment had obediently stepped out of the Uchiha ranks, kneeling before Cronus' stand in reverence before taking his place in the arena. A previously unpresented and remarkably composed individual whom, the younger Shikamaru had noted with interest, was barely through what equated to a mortal's teenage years. And yet, every inch of him had screamed maturity and had been lined with curious finery - from the elaborate, mysterious mask that left only his jawline and lips visible to the crowd, to the richness of the fabrics he wore and the jewels that glinted in his earlobes. He had carried himself with poise and a measure of regality that had been confirmed when Cronus proudly introduced him as a noble prince of the Underworld.

Sometimes, Shikamaru wondered whether that had been the moment when Minato had first set eyes upon and taken notice of Thanatos of the Uchiha, whose unassuming temperament and clear preference for quiet, cunning brilliance and effortless grace over the cocky, brash, brutish brawn displayed throughout the games, had outsmarted each and every single one of his Olympian opponents, almost all of them at least twice his size and age. Zeus had watched him intently the entire while, a small, unexpected smile on his lips, as if he had discovered a rare and great thing, indeed.

Thanatos' mastery of the blade and the swiftness of his movements had enthralled and astonished the crowd. Often he hadn't bothered to draw his blade at all, taking mere seconds to topple monsters that his competition spent minutes trying to reign in. He had remained dignified and silent whenever his competition attempted to rile and taunt him, letting the cleverness of his strategies in the games and his lethal battle prowess speak for themselves. In the end, after he had completely outshone and obliterated his opponents, he hadn't accepted the chest of gold as a prize. Nor had he bowed to Zeus and Hera, an action that had shocked the crowd and risked great insult. Yet Zeus's hand had stayed the outraged guards who had stepped toward the youth, watching curiously, instead, as Thanatos had stood before his podium and, without a word spoken, stabbed a pole ruthlessly into the sandy floor of the colossal arena.

A pole that bore the flag and coat of arms of the Uchiha clan, much to a smirking, smug Cronus' wicked delight. A political statement and a warning not to underestimate their kind, if ever there had been one.

Now that Shikamaru pondered upon it, he recalled the mingling that had followed the games, when a great feast had been held that the Uchiha clan had remained behind to attend at Zeus and Hera's insistence. He had noticed that Zeus had strangely left his seat beside Hera at dinner. Perhaps he had sought out a formal introduction with Thanatos, then, under the guise of offering the young prince and champion his personal congratulations. Perhaps, that had been how he had first met Hypnos, too, and the tentative first steps toward a secret alliance that had ultimately and tragically culminated in all their dooms.

"Why? Don't like getting your hands dirty?" Temari's words drew him back to the present.

He shrugged. "I prefer strategy. Always have. Less effort than combat."

"Now that just sounds lazy," she challenged.

"Maybe," he released a heavy sigh. "When you've lived for as long as we have, life can start to be a drag."

A snort left her lips. "Sounds like you've just not found anything worth living for," she retorted. "Having all the damned time in the world to do what you want? What could be better than that?"

"Give it another couple of centuries," he muttered. "You can't tell me it didn't drag for you too, guarding Olympus for all those years."

"It was tiresome," she agreed. "Doing the same thing, day in, day out. But my brothers were with me, and we were serving our King. That's the highest honour anyone can ask for."

Shikamaru cast her a sidelong glance. "You have a strong sense of justice," he said. "I can see why you were chosen for the job."

She smirked. "I can also hold my own in battle. I prefer it to strategy."

A small, reluctant smile tugged at his lips. "Guess we all have our preferences."

"How about a sparring match, sometime?" she raised her eyebrows at him. "Don't tell me you're too lazy for that?"

"I'll pass." He averted his eyes.

"Scratch that," she corrected. "You're not too lazy. You're just scared."

Shikamaru was silent. He knew what she was doing - and somehow, it was working. She was smart, witty, confident and unfiltered - and it didn't hurt that she was easy on the eye, either.

"Maybe I'm sparing your ego," he finally said. "It'd be a drag for you if you were to lose."

"I can concede defeat," she replied. "If my opponent is worthy enough."

Their gazes locked, and he found an unspoken challenge in hers. Before Shikamaru could say anything else, they sensed movement at the landing pad, and turned to find Sasuke alighting there, melting out of plumes of shadow. An unfamiliar, crimson-haired young woman was with him.

"Sasuke…?" Uncertain and surprised by the death deity's unexpected appearance, Shikamaru pushed away from the wall and stepped in front of Temari. A subconscious gesture born of the knowledge of just how dangerous and unpredictable the death deity could be.

Obsidian eyes flicked briefly onto him, ignoring Temari's existence entirely.

"Where is Kakashi?"

---

~x~

---

Ten minutes later, Kakashi called an urgent meeting. Koharu and all the surface deities, guardians and tailed-beast hosts gathered around the large roundtable in the assembly chamber to discuss their next course of action and the troubling development that Suigetsu's capture presented.

Kakashi introduced Karin to everyone and she gratefully accepted the pair of replacement spectacles from a selection of glasses that Kurenai kindly offered to her. They then watched as Karin drew what she had already discerned of the layout, indicating the entrance they had snuck inside through. She pointed to the chambers where she and Suigetsu had seen the monsters being created and that had been crawling with ANBU and scientists, the White Zetsu hangar and where they had encountered the black variants. Finally she identified the room where Obito had found them.

Led by Shikamaru, they discussed fresh strategy in light of the new information that Karin provided, determining that it was for the best that they entered the compound together cloaked under cover of Sasuke's Helm of Darkness, then split up after the nymph had finished mapping the rest of the facility's layout.

Breaking off into smaller cells was the only way to ensure that every section of the base was taken out. They settled on four teams, each with a tailed-beast host and a deity capable of calling a summons to get them out of the hideout quickly if required.

"Sasuke," Jiraiya said, facing the death deity with a grave expression. "The fate of the three realms lies in the balance and is hinged upon us retrieving Suigetsu safely from the compound. To succeed in this mission, we must place aside our past differences and quarrels and work together. Let bygones be bygones. Let us formally call an alliance to bring down the true enemy. We are placing our trust in you and in your abilities to help us remove the threat Orochimaru poses to both your kingdom, and to ours." Extending a hand, he added, "What say you to a truce, and a fresh start?"

All gazes flew to the death deity, all breaths withheld in the room. Sasuke's dark eyes flicked briefly down to Jiraiya's outstretched hand, the expression on his face stony and unreadable - but he made no move to accept it.

Instead he spun dismissively on his heel and curtly said, "Karin. Lead the way."

The nymph blinked and scrambled after him, eager to depart.

Jiraiya lowered his hand, and released a heavy sigh. "I expected he wouldn't accept it," he said. "It seems that it's still too soon to extend an olive branch."

"Just because he's working with us, doesn't make us all best friends," Ino snorted.

"Hey!" Naruto interjected. "He just needs a little time to warm up to you guys, 'ttebayo!"

Ino gave him a dubious, sympathetic look. "More like a lot of it."

Tsunade watched the Underworld's king leave the assembly chamber, her temper flaring.

"After everything he's done to us, he has some nerve. What a disrespectful, arrogant little-" she began angrily.

"Tsunade," Kakashi sighed. "The past takes time to heal. We have nothing to worry about. He'll work with us. He brought the nymph straight to us, after all. Sasuke knows what's at stake. He'll see this through."

"Yeah," Naruto enthused. "We can trust him, believe it!"

"Let's hope for your sake, that you're right," Kurenai remarked. "And that he won't just look out for himself once we're inside."

"He's not like that," Naruto insisted. "We're on the same side, and Sasuke gets that now. You'll see!"

The others didn't look as convinced. Trust, Kakashi knew, would be slow to rebuild on both sides - but he was hopeful that the mission would be a start and prove, to Sasuke at least, that he could work with them and trust in them to watch his back.

"Go with blessings, and be safe," Koharu said, turning their focus back to the task that lay ahead. "You must retrieve Suigetsu at all costs."

With that, they bid farewell to the High Councillor and prepared themselves for departure.

---

~x~

---

After changing into attire suited for battle, stocking up on chakra-replenishing vials of ambrosia and strapping in their weapons, the company left the High Council grounds and headed to the nearest ocean.

The sky overhead was a dark, ominous grey, brewing with lightning, and the waters were turbulent and perilous, the tides high. Angry waves crashed against rock, as if protesting the loss of their king, as the wind speeds around them began to pick up.

"Yo, what's this all about!" Killer B rapped. "Looks like those waves will spit us right out!"

"The oceans are certainly responding to Suigetsu's absence," Jiraiya observed grimly.

"Not the most ideal weather to travel in," Kakashi's visible eye drooped.

The surface deities were not as streamlined or swift beneath the waves as their ocean counterparts, especially in such wretched, stormy conditions.

"I can only use my influence to lower the tides," Hinata informed them apologetically.

"Don't worry about it, Hinata," Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder. "We've gotta save our chakra."

"It could take us days to reach the spot using your toad summons," Tsunade muttered to Jiraiya. "Just look at those waves."

"Patience, old girl," he murmured back. "The nymph said a water horse carried her back to land. We might have another means of travelling, yet."

She glanced questioningly at him, and he nodded toward a large rock protruding from the ocean in the distance. Following his gaze, Tsunade was astonished to find a solitary sea stallion standing upon it.

Karin's eyes widened, catching sight of it at the same moment. It was the very steed that had carried her to safety, waiting as though it had mysteriously been anticipating her arrival. Tossing its regal head, it dove gracefully into the oceans, and within seconds resurfaced at the shoreline, approaching the nymph expectantly. As it waded out the waters, a familiar, hefty, bandaged sword was dragged out onto the sand behind it, enveloped in a protective bubble of water that promptly burst.

Karin froze. Her stomach lurched at the telling sight, a chilling confirmation of Suigetsu's likely fate. She cast a panicked, helpless look at Sasuke. The muscles in his chiselled jaw clenched as he stared down at the blade, evidently as concerned by the sight - and what it had to mean - as she was.

"Hmm?" Killer B peered down at the weapon through his shaded spectacles. "Bust a chord! It's my old, trusty Samehada sword!" He held out a hand, and Samehada bristled, recognising his chakra. It began to slither toward him, accepting Killer B as its wielder once again.

"This can't be good," Shikamaru frowned. "If Suigetsu's sent his sword back to us, that definitely means he couldn't get out, and didn't want the enemy to get their hands on it."

"Then it might already be too late," Kurenai murmured.

A long, heavy, grim silence ensued, before Naruto exclaimed, "We don't know that for sure! We can still get him out, right? Right?"

"We're not getting anyone out with just one horse between all of us," Ino pointed at the steed. "And I don't know about you guys, but that water looks angry and ice-cold to me."

"Not much of a swimmer?" Temari raised her eyebrows.

Ino cringed. "You could say it's one of my least favourite sports."

Karin glanced back at them, then mounted the steed.

"Wait here," she said. "I'll try and find others!"

Before she could turn the horse around, however, more horses surfaced from the waves. Less majestic than her own - but royal mounts all the same, bearing the crest of Poseidon. She gaped at them in astonishment and glanced questioningly down at her mount, wondering whether it had somehow summoned the others. The horse turned its head, snorting, its silver eyes blazing with intelligence, confirming her suspicions. Karin swallowed. Such loyalty it had to its king, and such trust to carry her once again.

"Well," Jiraiya remarked. "That certainly solves our problem with transportation."

The group took to their mounts and descended beneath the waves.

---

~x~

---

The current of the ocean was rapid in its flow and assisted in propelling their steeds swiftly through the tempestuous waters. The horses navigated effortlessly through the turbulence and it did not take Karin's mount long to guide the company to the correct location. It teleported of its own volition to different seas, saving what would have otherwise amounted to days' worth of travelling time, its powerful movements fuelled by urgency, and the other steeds followed in close pursuit.

At last their mounts broke through a large body of water, above which was the very same rock through which Karin and Suigetsu had infiltrated the hideout. Karin glanced around, disturbed to note that the whirlpool of water that Poseidon had left behind was nowhere to be found. Neither was the Kraken that he'd summoned to smash through the barrier.

She swallowed, the blood in her veins turning cold. Surely that could not bode well for them.

"This is the place?" Jiraiya peered up at the solid expanse of rock.

"Yes," Karin confirmed. "The barrier's all around here."

"Do you know what kind of barrier it is?" Temari questioned.

"It scrambles chakra signatures," Karin answered. "We had to circle this location several times before I could pinpoint it. This is what's kept the place concealed from you on the surface."

"It might perhaps be a sensor type, too," said Sai thoughtfully. "Danzo erected those around the ANBU strong-holds. They can be bypassed if enough force is generated, but any breach alerts the people inside to an intrusion."

"Which means that if we try to break through it using force, they'll know we're here!" Lee exclaimed.

"You managed to override that because you said Suigetsu warped you through the rock in liquid form, right?" Kankuro glanced at her.

"Right. He tried summoning the Kraken, too, just before he got me out," Karin told them. "If this barrier's intact, then it couldn't have gotten through by force, which means-"

"Obito must have spirited it away before it could break through," Kakashi concluded. "He has chakra enough to do it with the tailed-beasts he holds."

"Or we're too late, and the enemy has already possessed Suigetsu," Tsunade frowned.

"Well, guess there's only one way to find out," Shikamaru sighed. "They'll be expecting us, anyway. But they won't see us coming."

"Sasuke!" Naruto looked at his best friend.

The death deity blinked, requiring no further instruction. Wisps of shadow bled out from his form, enveloping them all in cold tendrils of darkness as he harnessed the Helm to keep everyone cloaked from sight. It was a large party to conceal, an extension of his gifts that would require precise and continuous chakra control to uphold.

"We've got you, Sasuke," Kakashi assured him quietly, as the group linked to one another through chakra strings that ensured their reserves were being distributed equally about the party and freely accessible for Sasuke to use in order to keep them hidden. "Use whatever chakra you need to maintain this."

"Tsunade." Jiraiya nodded, once the shadows had concealed their forms from watching eyes. "Break us in."

Tsunade lifted her hands and cracked her knuckles together. With a furious yell, she drew her fist back, slamming a ferocious, chakra-charged punch into the rockface. It shuddered and groaned from the impact, cracking in places. A dark green barrier pulsed around it for a fraction of a second before it faded once again. A few seconds later, thick black liquid began to seep through the fissures.

"Something's coming out!" Lee pointed.

"Gross. What is that? It's wriggling in the water!" Ino pulled a disgusted face.

"This liquid!" Hinata warned, Byakugan engaged. "It's nature is sinister!"

Karin's eyes widened in immediate recognition. "That black liquid belongs to the spores that infected us!"

"Then it would appear that Orochimaru has fused them within the barrier to poison any unwanted visitors," Gaara coolly observed.

"That slimy bastard!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke responded by cocooning them all in the basic form of his Susano'o armour, preventing any leaking spores from latching onto their bodies directly.

"Wow," Ino breathed quietly, gazing at the blue-purple barrier that extended around them in wide-eyed amazement. Its chakra was dark, potent and terrifying in its intensity.

"This is so neat," Fū grinned, admiring the malicious aura encompassing their forms. Then, leaning into Ino, she whispered, "That death king's really hot, huh?" Pausing thoughtfully, she added, "Is he single?"

Ino gaped at her. Was she seriously ogling Sasuke and thinking about flirting with him at such a critical time?

"Don't you dare," she hissed vehemently back.

"What's the problem?" Fū blinked innocently, failing to see what she had said wrong.

"He's off limits!" Ino scowled. Glancing around to ensure nobody was listening, she added, "That's my best friend's boyfriend!"

Fū pouted, disappointed, then shrugged. "Hey, maybe he's into threesomes? Is she?"

Ino shot her a disgusted look and shook her head. "I've got a threesome for you. His guardian hound Cerberus has three heads and can grind your bones three times over. Want a piece of that? Huh?"

Fū held up her hands in defeat. "Okay, okay! No need to get so touchy."

Tsunade smashed her fists into the rock several more times, until she finally succeeded in breaking cleanly through the obstruction, creating a gap large enough for them to slip through comfortably. All around them, black liquid contaminated the waters, lapping at Sasuke's barrier but failing to penetrate through the indestructible armour. The water rose to fill the space, pushing their mounts upwards, carrying the Olympians to a large cavern on the other side.

Alighting onto rock, they dismounted from their horses, which swiftly dove back into the waters. Sasuke lowered his Susano'o barrier and glanced at Karin who stood beside him.

"Find the White Zetsu," he instructed, following the first step of their agreed strategy.

Karin nodded and closed her eyes, feeling outwards with her sensory-tracking abilities, her mind quickly forming an image of their immediate surroundings.

She pointed to an opening in the wall. "This way!"

"Stay close together," Jiraiya cautioned. "We move with Sasuke. We warp with Sasuke. Nobody breaks out of the fold until we agree to split up. Once we're inside, we communicate telepathically. Understood?"

"Got it! I'm totally staying close to Sasuke!" Fū enthused, inching closer to the death deity, ignoring the venomous glower Ino directed at her.

Sasuke followed Karin's directions and warped across the distance of the long tunnel. The surface deities moved in tandem with him and together they reached a mighty pair of solid steel doors that were sealed firmly shut. An alarm was blaring loudly beyond the metal and they could hear a commotion of footsteps and movement. Muffled voices from within warned of intruders and that the barrier had been breached.

'Guards!' Karin cautioned.

Sasuke blinked. Mortals. He could sense their pounding heartbeats, fuelled with adrenaline. Hearts he would soon command to still entirely.

'They have picked up on the disturbance we have caused,' Roshi remarked gruffly.

'Sai was correct. The barrier served a double-function,' Jiraiya communicated.

'There's no sense in holding back when they already know we're here,' Shikamaru shrugged.

'Right! Let's get in and wipe this place out!' Naruto punched a fist against his palm, cerulean eyes ablaze with determination.

'Wait!' Karin's hand shot up. 'I can sense a large source of chakra…' Her eyes widened. 'They have a monster inside there!'

'Looks like they've rolled out the welcome wagon,' Kankuro conveyed dryly.

'They do not want this place disabled.' Gaara said, arms folded calmly across his chest. 'And will do their best to thwart us. We must be prepared for anything.'

'Oooh yeah, we'll riot, no sweat! We'll take 'em all down, no need to fret!' Killer B sang, lifting a hand as he called upon the Eight Tails' monstrous chakra.

Harnessing the incredible power and heat generated by the tailed-beast bombs, they blew the steel doors cleanly off their hinges. The bomb tore through the large circular room beyond, leaving smoke and debris in its wake, sending large clumps of rock scattering into the air. Sure enough, ANBU soldiers were stationed on the other side and yelled out warnings to raise the alarm, lifting their weapons and trying to make out the identity of the intruders. But all they saw was billowing dust.

Sasuke lifted his right hand, clenching it into an unyielding, merciless fist. The ANBU in the area collapsed on the spot, like puppets clipped from their strings. Lifeless and unmoving.

Ominous red eyes glowed in the mist and bone-shaking growls shook through the air. The ground rumbled as mighty paws struck against metal and three vicious chimera stalked forward. Unable to detect their concealed opponents, they reared their monstrous heads back and began to spew molten flame all around them.

The deities warped to avoid the lava, alighting on the metal-panelled mezzanine structure that lined the perimeter of the room. Sasuke, who had landed nimbly on the handrails, then swooped down toward one of the chimera, engaging his Sharingan, clenching his teeth against the stabbing throb of pain that shot through the blurred vision of his left eye. The more chakra he directed toward it, he reminded himself, the more he made use of it, the quicker the Rinnegan's appearance would be.

Sharingan activated, he briefly allowed the chimera to see him as he fell into descent, just long enough to meet its gaze, capturing it in an immediate genjutsu and compelling it to obey his commands. He warped to the other two, trapping them in turn, before rejoining the others on the platform, confirming that the chimera were under his control.

'Alright, Sasuke!' Naruto grinned.

'Good thinking,' Kakashi nodded. 'We can send them ahead. Keep the guards occupied with trying to disable them, instead.'

'Let's hitch a ride and save some chakra.' Shikamaru agreed.

They alighted atop the chimeras' backs. With a mere thought, Sasuke had the monsters turning and bounding out of the room. They crashed destructively through the steel doors and into the maze of corridors beyond, tearing apart resources and setting rooms ablaze. Sasuke crippled every ANBU soldier who attempted to raise their weapons to halt the creatures in their rampage, and soon the area was flooded with thick, smothering smoke, reducing visibility to a cloudy haze.

Fire sprinklers from the ceilings that had detected the smog sprayed out water. Small objects whistled through the air, deployed through tiny openings in the walls and the chimera suddenly stumbled and crashed to the ground, incapacitated. The deities warped away from the felled creatures, spotting the discarded darts that had neutralised the monsters. Tsunade picked up one of the glass vials, lifting it to her eyes for inspection. Its tip was coated with a thick dark liquid that had a pungent smell.

'Poison,' she communicated. 'Potent enough to kill them.'

'Keep hold of it. We can analyse it once we're out.' Jiraiya instructed, and she slipped it into her pocket, before the party teleported away from the scene just as further reinforcements appeared. The ANBU collapsed on the spot, rendered immediately unconscious by Sasuke.

They came to an intersecting point in the corridors and paused to allow Karin a moment to map out the surrounding area. As she described what was around them, they realised that the compound resembled the last of the major bases they had destroyed. Long corridors illuminated with neon lights stretched out before them, doors set on both sides of the steel-panelled walls.

'The White Zetsu are this way!' Karin directed. They passed yet more soldiers who ran to provide backup that Sasuke silently disabled along the way. Eventually, they arrived inside the location she had indicated, finding themselves standing upon a landing in a vast cavern overlooking an army of hundreds of stationary White Zetsu. ANBU guards were stationed between them, clearly anticipating an attack, ready to defend against any attempt to harm the clones.

'It's the Aloe Vera freaks!' Naruto pointed.

'Yo, that's a lot of weird-ass dudes!' Killer B chimed. 'What gives with their statue moves?'

'Clones!' Lee identified.

'So many!' Ino appeared disturbed.

'He has had a long time to create them all,' Sai stared down at them.

'Could this be... all of them?' Hinata questioned.

'It wouldn't make sense for them to engineer any others knowing Sasuke has corrupted them,' Shikamaru concluded.

'The original,' Tsunade's honey-hued eyes scoured over the army. 'The damned thing has to be here, somewhere.'

'Not likely in this area,' Kakashi shook his head. 'That'd be too easy. These are all just clones, as Lee rightly said. But clones we can take out, nevertheless.' He looked expectantly toward Sasuke.

Keeping them concealed with his element, he fluidly hopped over the railing and dove down to ground level, alighting in the centre of the army.

'Sasuke!' Naruto telepathically hissed out, leaning over to grip the handrail of the overhanging platform. 'Why'd you go down there, 'ttebayo?! What if those creepy things wake up? Just take them out already!'

Sasuke ignored him, turning to face the watching surface gods.

'What is he doing?' Kurenai's eyebrows furrowed together.

The death deity lowered his gaze, channeling his abilities to detect his element within the bodies of the vessels. But instead of disabling them, he used them as an entry point to overrun their programming and trigger possession of the Zetsu. Their eyes bled to black, veins of shadow rippling beneath their pasty skin. Then, at his command, they turned against the ANBU soldiers around them, latching onto them. The masked guards yelled in alarm as they were infected by the white spores, falling under Sasuke's mercy in turn.

'Shadow possession,' Kakashi recognised.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! He is so cool!" Fū squealed, then slapped a hand over her mouth, realising she had spoken aloud. She shot Roshi an apologetic look when he cast withering eyes toward her.

'Turning our enemies into allies once more. Smart, indeed.' Jiraiya observed, as they joined Sasuke at ground level.

'Alright!' Naruto punched a triumphant fist into the air.

Tsunade eyed the death deity, finding herself begrudgingly impressed. For all her misgivings about the youngest of the Uchiha clan, there was no doubting the devastating power he wielded, or how useful he was as an ally. They were fortunate that he was operating with them - rather than against them.

Further shouts echoed from the tunnels leading into the holding cavern and several dozen more ANBU soldiers filtered out. They were immediately set upon by the army Sasuke had seized. A furious battle ensued, one that soon tipped in the Zetsus' favour. Once the ANBU had been neutralised, Sasuke then ordered the possessed to move out into the rest of the compound and take down any guards, resources and monsters they encountered along the way.

'Find your original. Bring it to us,' he added, and the White Zetsu immediately complied.

'Where to now?' asked Lee.

'The monster-harvesting facility is nearby!' Karin informed them, transitioning to the next phase of their mission. 'This way!'

The company moved swiftly on, passing the ANBU undetected as they warped to the next area.

'Karin!' Jiraiya called. 'Any sign of Suigetsu yet?'

She shook her head. She had been continuously trying to track the ocean ruler's familiar signature along their route from the moment they had entered the compound, but to her dismay, had failed to pick up any signs of him.

'Suigetsu!' she called out telepathically, clenching her teeth in frustration. 'Can you hear me?! I'm with Sasuke and the Olympians! Tell me where you are! If you can hear me, answer me, damn it!'

A chilling, resounding silence met her call. She swallowed, her skin crawling with discomfort, responding to all the conflicting signatures she was detecting nearby. None of them belonged to the one she was specifically looking for. They would have to keep searching while she continued mapping the layout of the compound in her mind.

The alarms were still blaring throughout the facility, resulting in a flurry of activity as the soldiers on watch dashed about in a frantic attempt to secure different areas. But the Zetsu that Sasuke had captured soon swarmed into the corridors to carry out his instructions, presenting further obstacles and hindering the guards' movements.

The party rushed by them, shadow-melting through the walls courtesy of Sasuke's abilities and entered into the next section of the facility. The shocking sight that met their eyes caused them all to halt abruptly in their tracks. Monsters were being held in thick glass cylinders and harvested in humongous, industrial tanks filled with strange liquid. Scientists walked between the vinyl-floored aisles, carrying various equipment and taking observatory notes, while ANBU patrolled about the area and stood at the doors, ready to ambush any intruders.

Sasuke immediately incapacitated every mortal in the room and Lee took flight, disabling all the cameras mounted on the walls, leaving the room empty and the company of immortals free to roam unveiled, saving vital chakra resources.

'By Olympus.' Kurenai murmured, keeping to telepathic communication as a precaution as they walked between the sprawled bodies of motionless scientists and ANBU, looking upon the unnatural creations in dismay.

'This isn't all they have.' Kakashi warned, eyeing the half-formed Karkinos crab that squirmed in its tank. 'These are just the ones they're making right now.'

'That conniving son of a bitch.' Fury was written on Tsunade's face.

'They're probably harnessed and trapped in glass spheres,' Shikamaru frowned. 'Like the ones we found at the Winter Ball. He's got to be holding them somewhere in this facility.'

'What's he planning to do with so many monsters?' Kankuro wondered.

'It's highly likely,' Sai mused, 'he will attack villages with them.'

'He'll use them to terrify and enslave mortals.' Temari predicted.

'There had already been rumours of strange sightings around my village,' Roshi noted darkly.

'Then it's only a matter of time until they unleash the rest.' Gaara concluded.

'Not on my watch!' Naruto vowed.

'Alright! Time to wreck this place!' Fū lifted her hands, summoning a tailed-beast bomb, eager to cause mayhem.

'Watch out!' Karin warned. 'All these tanks have been infected with those black spores. That's how they were able to get us!'

'You heard her. Shield yourselves against contact with the water,' Jiraiya advised the group.

Detecting incoming mortals, Sasuke re-engaged the Helm's cloaking abilities, just before the steel doors to the area parted, revealing yet more ANBU who were greeted by the sight of unconscious comrades and scientists.

"Section 4B has been compromised!" One of them yelled. "The intruders are nearby! Secure adjacent units!"

But it was too late. Concealed behind Sasuke's cloak of shadow, Fū's tailed-beast bomb manifested to the surrounding ANBU as strange ripples in the air that were accompanied by a great gust of wind. They didn't see the explosion coming until she had already unleashed it beyond the range encompassed by Sasuke's Helm. The ferocious energy ball devoured the ANBU and slammed against the nearby cylinders, cracking and shattering glass and breaking panels of metal off the tanks. Roshi assisted her by preparing another bomb, quickly laying carnage to the area.

The fully-formed creatures that tumbled out their holding tanks were promptly incinerated by Kakashi, who slammed lightning bolts into them, impaling them into the ground before Kurenai used her blades to finish the job. The area filled with smoke as electrical devices burst into flame, setting off a series of smaller explosions as they came into contact with water. Gaara provided a safe buffer of compacted sand beneath their feet, keeping them from touching the ground.

Satisfied that they had ruined all resources beyond repair, the company quickly moved onto the next section, passing yet more ANBU locked in combat with White Zetsu along the way. The guards were shouting at each other, trying to restore order to increasing chaos.

"Section 4J has been compromised!"

"Breach in the harvesting facility, Commander! Resources confirmed to be lost!"

"No sightings on the security system of the intruders!"

"Commander! The holding area at 2C is full of White Zetsu! We've locked them in, Sir!"

"It's no use! They're getting in through the air vents, now!"

"Get Beta and Delta Cells to that area! Use the venom to neutralise! Whatever we have, more can be made! Don't divert from the plan. Move!"

"Yes Sir!" Voices chorused.

"We'll handle this area! You head toward the-"

The sentence was never completed. The humans in the corridor all collapsed, taken out in seconds by Sasuke, stalling the enemy's efforts to regroup.

Tsunade bent down, lifting one of the radio communication devices from a fallen soldier.

"Delta Cell to Alpha Cell." A voice spoke through the static. "Confirm your status?"

A sneer curved Tsunade's lips as she lifted the device to her lips and pressed down on the button that allowed for messages to be delivered through it. "Let Orochimaru know," she said, her voice dangerously soft, "that I'm going to rip his filthy tongue out and break every damned bone in his body."

Disconnecting the call abruptly, she then passed the radio device to Hinata. 'Use this to listen in on their communications.'

The team next drew to a stop within a large laboratory full of scientific equipment including even more glass cylinders that housed floating body parts, operating tables with restraining straps and expensive-looking machinery. Fluorescent white lights hung down from chains affixed to the ceiling, suspended directly over each workstation. Five scientists were wheeling trolleys along but were promptly rendered unconscious by Sasuke.

'This is disgusting!' Ino caught sight of the organs being held in storage. 'What kind of crazy lunatic experiments on humans like this?'

'A sick one.' Tsunade angrily ripped out one of the heart monitor machines and tossed it against a glass cylinder with such force that it cracked cleanly down the middle. Seeing the hordes of White Zetsu again had resurfaced the profound grief she'd experienced at losing Shizune and their other dear friends, and she wanted nothing more than to tear Orochimaru to shreds. To make him squeal and suffer the same way he had tormented countless innocents for his own selfish, twisted gains.

The others moved swiftly, destroying everything else in the room beyond use.

'I'm picking up further scrambling signatures!' Karin closed her eyes, focusing outward. 'The Black Zetsu must be somewhere nearby. I can see another area like this one where more creatures are being made. There are several more rooms with ANBU soldiers and others that are empty. I can't pick up that masked man's signature yet - or Suigetsu's!'

'How many floors in this compound?' Kakashi questioned.

'It's only on one level,' the nymph confirmed. 'I can't detect any active chakra above or below us, but I can't get a scope of what's in every other room adjacent to us yet, either. Some rooms… are shielded. I can't sense anything except darkness.'

'That doesn't mean there's nothing else around us,' Kakashi warned. 'They might have other barriers in place that prevent tracking.'

'You're right. It's time to split up,' Shikamaru decided. 'That's the only way to cover everything and find Suigetsu as quickly as we can. If we keep moving together, we cover less area and give our enemy more chances to regroup.'

'I'll boost our trackers.' Kurenai lifted her hands, summoning six large black panthers from plumes of white cloud to assist in detecting the scent of enemies nearby, and six scouting buzzard birds, assigning two to each of the larger groups. She sent four more birds ahead to feed back to her about any dangers that lurked nearby.

'Sasuke's Helm can only cloak us within a limited radius,' Jiraiya reminded them. 'Once we go out of range and break our chakra strings, we'll be visible to the enemy. Remember our strategy. Avoid engaging in combat and stay on high alert. Our priority is to retrieve Suigetsu, damage as much of their resources as we can, kill off the original Zetsu then bring this place down and get the hell out.'

They broke off into their assigned teams. Jiraiya, Temari, Hinata, Roshi and Kankuro formed one party; Killer B, Ino, Tsunade, Kakashi and Karin formed another, while Sai joined Fū, Kurenai, Lee, Gaara and Shikamaru.

Naruto nodded at Sasuke. They would work together, cloaked by the Helm, and focus on searching for the ocean's king while the others branched out and concentrated on deploying bombs in every corner of the compound

Shikamaru turned to face them all. 'We search the rooms adjacent to this one and carry on working outwards on Karin's directions. We won't be able to shadow-walk through walls without Sasuke, but we can warp to cut the distance.

'If any cell runs into trouble, send out a signal to the others. If you're forced to retreat, then break out and take out everything you can along the way! We know the ocean is under us, and we have the horses waiting. Our exit point is the same cavern we entered through, but if we have to blow an opening into the ground to get out, do it. Use the chakra strings we've been marking along the walls as waypoints to find your route back.'

'Let's do this!' Ino secured her orb-equipped arm-brace, ready for battle.

'Naruto-kun,' Hinata clutched a hand to her chest, lifting clear grey eyes to the sun god. They shone with worry, open for all to see. 'Please… be careful…'

'Don't worry about me, Hinata!' he reassured her. Then, exclusively to Jiraiya, he said, 'Keep her safe, Old Hermit!'

Jiraiya inclined his head, a silent promise that he would ensure she was protected.

'Everyone move out!' Tsunade instructed.

They split ways, and Naruto turned back to his friend, giving him a determined nod.

'Alright. Let's give 'em hell, Sasuke!'

The two melted through the walls, passing through rooms lined with various electrical equipment which Naruto swiftly set aflame. Eventually they stopped in another circular area where they discovered more ANBU locked in combat with the White Zetsu. Some of the Zetsu had been disabled, and lay motionless on the ground, unsightly black veins crawling all over their bodies. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. The darkness that slithered beneath their skin had nothing to do with his shadow influence. They were something else entirely.

It appeared the ANBU were getting the upper hand over the possessed creatures. Darts whistled into the air, fired by the soldiers. When they struck the Zetsu, they paralysed them within seconds.

Summoning chakra to anchor themselves high up on the eastern wall, Naruto and Sasuke observed the fight taking place beneath them, unseen to their enemy.

'Look, Sasuke! Those darts!' Naruto pointed. 'They're using some kinda poison here, too, 'ttebayo!'

'All their weapons are laced with the same venom,' Sasuke surmised, commanding the ANBU to still. To his astonishment, they stumbled, staggering on their feet, but then recovered and kept on fighting, as if something was overriding his natural dominion over their mortal coils.

He delivered the command once again, more forcefully. Be still. The ANBU lurched, and Sasuke reached out, concentrating on the hearts beating in their chests. That was when he sensed it. A thick physical barrier wrapped around the organs. Something was manually keeping them beating, something unnatural and immune to his abilities, even when he had compelled the hearts to stop. He watched the ANBU intently, discerning that their reflexes were even faster than the Zetsu, and concluded that Orochimaru must have modified them to boost their fighting prowess, allowing them to perform at a higher level than the regular soldiers they had encountered in other areas.

But then why had Orochimaru not stationed immune guards in all the previous sections they had visited and laid waste to? Was the sinister serpent playing a game with them, letting them believe that they were getting the upper hand, allowing them to torch rooms of his choosing with the purpose of luring them deeper into his depraved lair, where the true danger lurked?

Had they all inadvertently walked into a trap? Sasuke's mind raced, trying to connect the dots, to decode the serpent's intentions. It was very much like Orochimaru to sacrifice a few resources for the sake of safeguarding his more important assets. And if he had allowed them to take out even monster tanks, it made the ruse all the more believable.

He hadn't been able to see them all initially, when Sasuke had kept everyone cloaked from sight. But now that they had split up into separate teams…

Had they inadvertently played right into their foe's hands?

Naruto glanced at him in confusion. 'What's going on? Why aren't they stopping?'

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, returning his focus to the anomaly before him. What unnatural force was responsible for mechanically pumping their hearts? There was only one way to tell. To rip out the organ itself.

'They've been tampered with.'

'Huh?' Naruto turned his azure gaze back down to the battle raging beneath them. 'You mean that freak has experimented on them on top of everything else that bastard Danzo did?'

Sasuke did not respond, his attention fixed instead on the ANBU. How were they reading the movements of the off-shooting spores so efficiently? It seemed to him almost as though they were able to predict the Zetsu monsters' imminent attacks. The ANBU dodged and somersaulted and closed in with reflexes that were abnormally swift. It wasn't possible for humans to visualise and perceive threats before they even occurred, not to such a flawless extent. A well-trained warrior was able to predict some movements, but this was something different, this was almost like their vision was-

His train of thought abruptly derailed. The memory of eyeballs floating in jars flashed across his mind's eye. Without warning, he pushed away from the wall and dove down like a hawk going in for the kill, ignoring Naruto's alarmed telepathic call. Devouring the nearest soldier within the Helm's concealing cloak, he caused the guard to vanish from sight and grabbed roughly onto the scruff of his neck. The soldier spun quickly, aiming a poison-tipped dagger at him, but Sasuke was faster, ripped off his mask and brutally punctured his chest with Kusanagi, wrenching the sword violently upwards before yanking the blade forcefully out. The vicious power behind the motion tore the ANBU's impaled heart right out of his body.

The guard convulsed and slumped down to the ground, dead. Black liquid oozed out from his nose and mouth and from the grizzly opening in his chest. Sasuke stared at the heart skewered at the end of his blade. The same thick black substance was dripping from it.

The Black Zetsu, he realised, had somehow been fused within these humans. A creature superior to the white variant, which was capable of nullifying the advantage its counterpart army had granted to the surface gods.

Orochimaru had known. That was why he hadn't bothered to guard the White Zetsu. They were damaged goods. Useless to him.

Damn it, he cursed inwardly, fuming at the daemon's devious cunning.

His gaze then lowered, locking onto the ANBU's gaping face, trapped in a horrific, soundless scream of pain, and double-took when he glimpsed a glint of crimson. What he saw implanted into the soldier's right eye socket caused rage to explode within him as his fears were confirmed. He stared down at the sight in disbelief, realising that the Sharingan he had been hunting for throughout all the previous bases had likely been distributed amongst Orochimaru's underlings.

His clan's prestigious eyes. Eyes of the deceased, passed down to unworthy mortal scum, as if they were little more than weapons of war. Cold fury rolled off Sasuke's body in menacing waves.

Naruto, who had joined him, gaped down at the maimed guard. 'How'd he get his hands on the Sharingan?!'

'Stolen.' Sasuke communicated darkly, silently vowing that Orochimaru would meet a most gruesome end.

'That bastard!' Naruto launched himself forward with great speed, striking the clueless ANBU like a devastating thunderbolt, flooring them within seconds. The Black Zetsu seeped out of the holes in their chests, departing the dead bodies and pooling onto the floor. Sasuke was quick to set the spores alight with Amaterasu to dispose of them and ruthlessly ripped the stolen eyes of his kin from the ANBU guards. Summoning a messenger hawk with a carrying satchel, he ordered it to spirit the retrieved eyes safely away to their rightful resting places in the Underworld, before setting the rest of the room ablaze.

How many others were there that'd had the sacred eyes implanted? Livid, indignant fury seared through him, the combination of Sharingan use and furious emotion causing a blinding pain to assault his left eye. He clenched his teeth, doing his best to endure it, pressing a palm against his left eye as he braced himself against the near-unbearable strain that was ravaging his optic nerves, sending electrical shocks sparking straight through his iris. His vision was growing ever blurrier, the eye almost completely depleted of its light. He could feel it. How much longer until he went blind completely?

'You okay, Sasuke?' Naruto peered at eyes widened as crimson liquid trailed down Sasuke's left cheek. 'Your eye's bleeding. Do you need me to-?'

'Keep moving,' he ordered, dismissing Naruto's concern. The sun god hesitated for a second, before complying.

They exited the area to find that their comrades had already blown up different sections around them. Thick smoke hung like a suffocating veil in the corridors, and the bodies of White Zetsu and ANBU guards littered the floors.

They warped to the next area, which was lined with tanks containing yet more test subjects, guarded by the same Sharingan-enhanced ANBU. Together Naruto and Sasuke descended upon their enemies, making quick work of them and demolishing everything in the room.

The building shook as violent explosions rocked the facility. They exited into the corridor and passed through further chambers that the others had already destroyed. Wires hung from the ceilings and sparks flew from damaged electrical equipment, setting off further fires. The charred bodies of scientists, ANBU and Zetsu that had been felled lay all around them as they pushed onwards.

At length they shadow-melted into another chamber, eerily empty save for a thick metal safe that was sealed shut.

'What's behind this thing?' Naruto stepped instinctively toward it - only for a resounding click to fill the air seconds before projectile-shooting guns deployed from the walls, triggered by sensors built into the metal floor panels. Reacting quickly, the sun deity flung a kunai at the ceiling and grabbed Sasuke's arm, hauling them both out of harm's way just in time. Hanging upside down, they stared at the venom-laced darts that lay scattered on the ground.

'Phew,' Naruto released Sasuke's shoulder. 'That was close!'

The death deity regarded him silently for a long moment, noting that he had clearly been training and learned Hiraishin, Zeus's technique. A priceless ability to call upon in battle. There was no mistaking the nature of the unmatched speed he'd harnessed.

'Whatever's in there's gotta be important, 'ttebayo!' Naruto communicated. 'I'll blast it open with a bomb!'

'Wait.' Sasuke warned sharply, Sharingan activated. His eyes could make out a static disturbance in the air, but he was unable to place the precise nature of the strange phenomenon.

'Throw a weapon at it. Not the kunai,' he instructed Naruto, who slipped a shuriken disc from the satchel at his waist without question and flung it at the safe. As Sasuke had suspected, it vanished straight into thin air before it struck the circular steel door.

'Huh?' Naruto's jaw dropped. Engaging Sage Mode, he stared at the safe. 'I'm not picking up any chakra here. What's going on? Do you think it's-?'

'Shut up and let me think,' Sasuke mentally snapped back. Having Naruto's voice in his head was starting to grate on his nerves - and his sanity.

The vortex had been positioned in place under a genjutsu - something only the Sharingan was capable of detecting. Though he could discern the illusion, the telling swirl of the Kamui portal itself had somehow cleverly been masked. Which meant that whatever lay beyond the barrier was of great importance.

'What's there to think about? Let's just throw a bomb at it!'

Sasuke shot him a murderous glare. 'Are you stupid and blind, Dead Last? The bomb will just go straight through it.'

'So what? With any luck it'll hit that bastard Obito right in his stupid face!'

Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes in exasperation.

'We don't know where that vortex leads,' he scowled.

'Leave it to me, 'ttebayo! I'll send a toad through it.' Naruto formed rapid hand-seals and directed an orange summon through the vortex. Sure enough it vanished before connecting with the safe's walls.

'Well…?' Sasuke demanded impatiently, when Naruto remained silent.

'Nothing.' Naruto shook his head. 'I can't even sense it anymore. It's gotta lead somewhere far away from here.'

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. What lay beyond the door? His instinct told him it was perhaps the monster spheres, or otherwise a supply of some other precious resource Orochimaru clearly did not want to fall into their hands. Maybe it was more stolen Sharingan. But there was no way to get to it without being drawn into the Kamui portal. Even concealed, they couldn't risk entering without knowing what lay in wait on the other side.

His gaze lowered to the ground, where the panels contained triggers for further traps. If they couldn't go through the safe, then they would force their way underneath.

'Lend me chakra,' he communicated, manifesting Susano'o. Naruto gripped his shoulder, and Sasuke felt the warmth of his reserves seeping into his pathways, fuelling his Sharingan with the energy it required to maintain the shield with ease.

Springing away from the ceiling, he barrelled them both toward the ground, smashing into the metal panels with enough force to indent and cleave right through them. Electricity crackled through the displaced panels and further darts shot out from the walls, striking harmlessly against Susano'o's armour. Creating an opening in the earth below, Sasuke called for his trusted summon, Aoda. The humongous snake exploded into being and Sasuke scaled down his armour to allow Aoda's powerful jaws to close around him and Naruto to transport them safely beneath the barrier.

When they broke through to the other side and hopped out of the snake's mouth, Sasuke quickly dismissed his summons, and the two found themselves in a large, dark circular room lined with rows upon rows of shelves that melted up into the darkness of a high ceiling. Glowing glass orbs rested upon them.

'Shit!' Naruto swore. 'Sasuke, these must be all the monsters they've been making!'

'We cannot break them,' Sasuke cautioned. Shattering the glass would summon hundreds of monsters - a disaster they could not risk unleashing before they had located Suigetsu.

'Then we'll burn them!' Naruto said, lifting his hands to summon his element.

They nodded at each other, and stepped forward to do just that, combining black and golden fire to set the first few shelves alight. The spheres began to melt away, the monsters within rendered incapable of manifesting by Amaterasu's scalding flames - when a sudden, unexpected pressure rippled in the air around them. One by one, the orbs began to wink out of sight.

'What the-?!' Naruto began - a second before the ground crumbled beneath their feet entirely, sending them plummeting unexpectedly into a black abyss. Naruto yelled out in alarm, reaching for his kunai, but before either deity could maneuver to fly them back up, they had been dragged into another concealed Kamui portal that was waiting for them below.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. How was it possible that the ground had just opened up beneath them? Aoda had already transported them underground behind the section of floor they'd been standing on, and there had been nothing around them except for earth. He'd been certain of it. Then he realised that the use of his summon, though successful in granting them entry into the chamber, had nevertheless notified their enemy of an intrusion into the safe even if they could not be seen themselves. Orochimaru had laid his trap - and diverted by the monster spheres, they'd failed to anticipate it.

He bolstered his Susano'o armour around himself and Naruto as they spiralled into whirling darkness. The portal deposited them roughly onto a suspended, large, circular metal platform. It was enclosed within railings and far below, beyond the criss-crossing lattice of steel panels at their feet, were huge pools of filthy green water that released a foul, acrimonious stench into the air.

'Sasuke.' Naruto froze beside him, his eyes wide.

Standing with their backs before them were all the other Olympians they had parted from. And in front of the company of surface gods and their allies was none other than Poseidon himself.

Suigetsu floated, unconscious, within a large, rectangular, sealed tank, shackled at the wrists, neck, ankles and waist by chakra-depleting chains. His clothes were torn, and he looked frighteningly pale. A barrier had been erected around his prison, one that ensured no attacks could penetrate through it - and on either side of the tank, stood Kabuto and Obito.

'What happened?' Sasuke telepathically demanded, ensuring that he and Naruto remained concealed by the Helm of Darkness.

'Sasuke.' Kakashi responded to his call, giving no visible indication of acknowledging his presence. 'There's a barrier around this place. We can't warp out. We found the original White Zetsu. We took care of it, and the others withered away as expected, but we were set upon by the Black variants and then the floors gave out under us in different rooms. We all landed here, where we found Suigetsu. We took out as much of the compound as we could reach - but I think this was a trap all along. They're keeping us occupied while they clear out their most important resources.'

Sasuke's hands balled into fists. It was exactly as he had suspected earlier. Which meant that they had no choice but to return to the top of the compound and bring everything down as quickly as possible. Now that they had found Suigetsu, all that remained was getting everyone out.

They couldn't warp out. But Susano'o and his hawk summon, and the others amongst them that had the ability to fly, could carry the rest back up.

'We found the monster orbs, Kakashi-sensei,' Naruto reported. 'But that bastard Obito got us before we could finish getting rid of them!'

'How did he spot you?' Kakashi questioned.

'Sasuke used Aoda to get us into the room with the orbs. That asshole set traps there, and even though he couldn't see us, he had a Kamui portal ready to catch us when the floor gave way, too!'

Kakashi was silent for a long moment. 'Then they know you're here, but can't see where you are. Stay hidden.'

A gleeful laugh then echoed through the air, and the surface gods tensed as Orochimaru materialised through one of Obito's portals.

Sasuke's gaze locked onto the serpent, cold and full of killing intent. His fingers closed around Kusanagi's hilt, itching to slaughter.

Orochimaru held up his hands. "Welcome to our research facility," he greeted. "A great honour it isss, that the exalted Olympians in all their glory have come to usss."

"And in their midst, the guardians of Olympus, a sole remaining seraph, and the very tailed-beast hosts we have been hunting." Kabuto giggled, a creepy, deranged sound. "How kind of them to bring them straight to us, Orochimaru-sama."

The daemon smirked. "A most delicious reunion thisss shall be…"

The Olympians and their allies exchanged uncertain glances.

"Reunion?" Temari repeated in confusion.

"What are you blabbering about, snake?" Tsunade spat out hatefully.

He merely cackled in amusement, a chilling, rasping sound.

"We have a message from you. From our Esteemed Lord Cronus," Kabuto declared.

"We're not interested in a damn thing the bastard murderer has to say!" Ino glowered.

"Oh, but listen you will…" Kabuto grinned.

Obito slowly removed his mask, lifting his eyes to the party of deities.

"Genjutsu!" Kakashi warned sharply. "Don't look-!"

But the illusion had already been cast, and they found their surroundings rapidly melting away, like dust blown in the wind, replaced by the vivid ruins of the once magnificent throne room of Olympus. The image rippled around them, disturbingly real, and the breaths caught in the Olympians' throats as they spied the crystal tombs that held the motionless forms of their fallen king and queen. A cruel and mocking sight.

Naruto staggered forward a step, stricken, the rush of tumultuous emotions that immediately crashed through him temporarily causing him to forget who he was, where he was, what was at stake, as he set eyes upon his parents' corpses. A crippling pain like nothing he had ever felt stabbed through his chest and he could barely manage to draw a breath, could scarcely manage to form a thought, his vision honed in on the haunting, horrific sight of his mother and father trapped within an impenetrable cage of rock.

Their pale faces were precisely as he had remembered them to be. They had not aged a day, and how could they? Their bodies had been preserved within the crystal by Cronus himself. Callously denied the respect and honour of a fitting burial by their own kin.

Naruto's breathing quickened. The peripheral fields of his vision bled to red. Kurama's potent chakra roiled from his body, reacting to the hatred and molten anger that coursed through his veins like jagged bolts of lightning. He could feel himself teetering on the edge of hysteria, on the verge of losing all control.

A hand clamped down on his shoulder, hauling him backwards, and a silencing palm slapped over his mouth, stemming the infuriated, heart-broken roar that had almost dragged itself from his throat.

'Be quiet! Don't move,' Sasuke's telepathic voice pierced through the senseless disarray of Naruto's thoughts.

'My parents!' he thought out wildly, tears blurring his vision. 'My parents, my parents-!'

Sasuke, who understood the pain of loss more than anyone else in the room, snapped harshly at him, 'Listen to me. He wants a reaction.' When Naruto continued to hyperventilate, he shook him roughly, irked. 'Snap out of it, Naruto!'

To Sasuke's relief, his words connected. With great effort, Naruto wrenched his wide eyes away from the crystals, and turned them to the royal dais as the death deity slowly lowered his hand away from the sun deity's mouth. But he did not release his firm grip on Naruto's shoulder, and stood right behind him to ensure that he did not do anything impulsive or reckless.

Atop the throne before them sat none other than Cronus, one long leg crossed casually over his knee, leaning an index finger against his right temple, his elbow propped upon the arm-rest as he gazed haughtily down upon the Olympians. His expression was cold. Smug. Dripping with sinister malice and contempt.

"At last," the volatile, ruthless Titan of time and chaos spoke, his deep voice reverberating powerfully through the projected illusion. "The wretched stand before me." Glittering onyx eyes stabbed into them all, burning with an intense hatred that blazed hotter than the pits of Tartarus itself.

The Olympians tensed, stunned into silence to find themselves communicating directly with the lethal Uchiha patriarch for the first time in millennia.

"The cursed progeny of a line that ought never to have been." Cronus hissed. "Zeus's pitiful band of usurpers."

---

~x~