Desperation

Shivaroku stood perched on a tree near the cliff, helpless, unable to find a way into the cave without raising any suspicion. He had no idea if Shikamaru was still even alive, but he had to do something. He knew something was very wrong.

"Those two guards are still there, but only they can undo the seal and reveal the door," Shivaroku thought to himself. "But if I don't do something quickly, Shikamaru may be in big trouble."

Then it hit him. He could use that transformation. "It's a risk, but I have to use it. It totally heightens my sensory range, allowing me to discern good and evil chakra. The power boost would help too when we need to make a hasty retreat…but what if I lost control. GODDAMNIT, what would Grandpa do?"

He flashed back to the times Grandpa Gohan was able to think on his feet so easily that he never even thought about how he would save someone. He just went in and did it. It was one of the things that made Shivaroku admire him so much.

"I'm trying to be a Shinobi, rather than a friend…I shouldn't be trying to be like Shikamaru. I need to act based on my guts," Shivaroku thought.

With that, he leaped down to the two guards standing in front of the cliff. They didn't expect anyone to just show themselves, making them shakily bring out their kunai and take a weak battle stance.

"My friend's in there…and you're in my way!" In an instant, Shivaroku flashed towards the one on the left and punched him straight in the stomach. The shinobi regurgitated some saliva and blood as his eyes went wide, and then he fell to the ground completely incapacitated. The other one, in a daze at his opponent's speed and power, trembled and took steps back. He tried to make a run towards the cave, attempting to undo the seal as quickly as possible. Shivaroku continued to walk towards him slowly, all while the Shinobi did the necessary hand signals. Eventually, the seal was undone, and the door reappeared. Shivaroku smiled as he flashed towards the terrified ninja. "Thanks for that. You made things a whole lot easier," said Shivaroku.

Shivaroku then proceeded to chop the back of the shinobi's neck, knocking him out successfully. Now all that was left was the door. Fortunately, he was proficient with earth style. He remembered exactly what those shinobi did when they opened the door. Shivaroku made the hand signs and smacked his palm onto the ground. It was a bit difficult since he was the only one trying to open such a heavy door, but it didn't matter to him. All that mattered was getting inside. The door opened just enough for Shivaroku to slip through. Once he did, however, the door closed and disappeared again. He was now in even more uncharted territory.

Now that he passed the barrier, he could sense chakra again. Shivaroku closed his eyes and focused. Everyone was just up ahead of him, but something felt off. There were far fewer chakra signatures than when he first sensed them before the Hidden Sound Shinobi entered the cave. On top of that, there were two enormous sources of chakra, but only one of them was coming from a person. The other seemed to have been holding a large amount of chakra in some sort of container. Shivaroku scanned the room and noticed that many chakra signatures were surrounding one, but he couldn't tell what was happening. He never took the time to learn Shikamaru's chakra signature, so he had no way of telling who was whom. However, he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, that the one being surrounded was Shikamaru.

"Alright no time to lose. I have to do it!" yelled Shivaroku.

He closed his eyes and held his arms on either side of this waist. He started to raise his chakra and focused it on his upper back. He remembered the negative feelings of anger and loss, using it as a small trigger. Shivaroku's hair began to flow upwards, transitioning from black to blonde. A golden aura appeared around him. It seemed he was successful with the transformation. He opened his eyes to reveal stark sky-blue pupils.

On the other side of the door, a few of the Hidden Sound shinobi looked behind them, as if they were sensing something big. Kabuto and Orochimaru looked in the same direction, slowly realizing that something was coming. Shikamaru opened his eyes. He wasn't dead yet, and everyone seemed to be distracted by something. He then immediately understood…that he was finally here.

Shivaroku cocked his arm back and focused some chakra in his fist. He stared straight at the metal door in front of him. With a warrior-like yell, he punched straight at the door, making it separate from its hinges and fly backwards. The door managed to hit a few Hidden Sound shinobi and knocked them out. Shivaroku walked into the laboratory looking at all the faces around him. Some were confused, some were terrified, and some were filled with absolute hatred.

"I was wondering when you would get here," said Shikamaru.

"This must be your friend. I'm surprised he was able to actually get in here," said Kabuto as he turned back to Shikamaru. "Too bad, you're too late."

Kabuto flung his knives straight at Shikamaru. But then, a large flash of yellow light occurred. Kabuto's eyes widened a bit. Orochimaru seemed to be more interested now, as he smiled slyly. The rest of the shinobi, though, were in complete shock. The yellow light went away, and all that was present was Shivaroku, holding all the knives in his hands. Even Shikamaru was in shock at the pure speed he just witnessed.

"You managed to catch all my knives. What was that exactly? A teleportation jutsu?" asked Kabuto.

For the first time, Shivaroku spoke. "No…just raw speed." With that, he turned towards the group of shinobi holding Shikamaru and looked them dead in the eyes. "Let him go. First and final warning."

A random shinobi spoke up, saying, "What you think that's supposed to impress us? You can't beat all of us!" The group, rallying behind that indiscriminate shinobi's words, began to laugh at Shivaroku. Shivaroku's face didn't change. He didn't falter one bit. He flicked his wrist, and the knives he was holding were all gone. The laughter suddenly stopped. Blood trickled down the throats of all the shinobi surrounding Shikamaru, and they collapsed. The same shinobi that taunted Shivaroku exclaimed, "He…he killed them all?! I didn't even see him move!"

"Kill him," said Kabuto, signaling to the rest of the Hidden Sound Shinobi present in the laboratory. "Do it…or die by Lord Orochimaru's hand."

They were clearly a lot more scared of Orochimaru than the glowing beast of a teenager standing in front of them. They jumped down and all attacked Shivaroku simultaneously, causing him to take on a battle stance.

"Shadow paralysis jutsu!" Black tentacle-like lines emerged from the ground and caught several of them mid-air. Shivaroku looked behind him to see Shikamaru holding up a hand sign and a shadow extending from his body. "What? You thought I would just stand and let you do all the work?" asked Shikamaru.

Shivaroku smiled and looked back at the rest of the shinobi heading towards him. Meanwhile, Orochimaru signaled to Kabuto that it was time to leave. He already knew the outcome of the battle, but Kabuto, like the arrogant piece of trash he is, believed that Shivaroku and Shikamaru would be taken care of. Shivaroku leaped towards the incoming Shinobi. With his exemplary taijutsu skills, he was able to dodge and counter every single one of them. He hit each one of them only once, which was more than enough to either send them flying or send them towards the ground hard. On the other hand, Shikamaru was doing just as well. He still had multiple shinobi caught in his shadow paralysis jutsu. He raised his hand, acting like he was holding a Kunai, and aimed his hand at his throat. Knowing full well what Shikamaru was trying to do, they all tried as hard as possible to break free of the jutsu, but it was useless. With one swift stroke, Shikamaru swiped his hand from the left to the right. What occurred was a simultaneous blood splatter from the synchronized slitting of the Shinobis' throats. Once the deed was done, Shikamaru released his jutsu, and they all fell to the ground in a pool of blood. At around the same time, Shivaroku just finished dealing with his half of the enemies. Shivaroku and Shikamaru then looked around for Kabuto and Orochimaru, but they were nowhere to be found.

"Damn. They escaped again. They're tricky ones that's for sure," said Shikamaru.

"Who were they?" asked Shivaroku.

"The one with pale white skin and long black hair standing behind the console was Orochimaru."

"That was Orochimaru? The one behind the attack on the Leaf and Sasuke's desertion? Wow, he's an evil lookin' guy. Who was the other one?"

"The one with gray hair, glasses, and surgical kunai was Kabuto. Kabuto is Orochimaru's right hand-man. He was a spy that infiltrated the Hidden Leaf, allowing Orochimaru and the Hidden Sand to attack during the Chunin Exams."

"I see…he doesn't seem like it, but he's obviously far more clever and powerful than I thought, especially since he's Orochimaru's right-hand man."

"Yeah, don't underestimate the guy. He may have an average amount of chakra, but he's insanely smart and crafty. He's escaped from the Hidden Leaf's hands several times now. The only person who came close to killing him was Naruto, but even then, Kabuto was able to heal himself and escape."

Shivaroku nodded, indicating he understood the seriousness of Kabuto's skills.

"We were really lucky that Orochimaru didn't engage us," said Shikamaru.

"He's powerful isn't he?" asked Shivaroku.

"More than that. The man seems to be immortal. Every time anyone gets even remotely close to killing him, he either regenerates or he molts his skin. But the reason we're lucky is that during the Chunin Exams, Lord Third sacrificed himself to heavily injure Orochimaru."

"Injure how? Because when I was sensing chakra before I made my big entrance, I could sense a very large amount of chakra coming from him."

"Lord Third used a forbidden jutsu that sealed away Orochimaru's ability to perform most of his jutsus. On top of that, Orochimaru is also dying. He needs a new young and powerful body that he can use to perform his jutsus and prolong his life even more. That's why he took Sasuke."

"So Sasuke joined him, thinking he would get more power, but instead Orochimaru is just using him as his new vessel? Why hasn't he done it yet?"

"Well first of all, Sasuke needs to become more powerful, so that once Orochimaru takes over his body, he won't be held back by the limits of Sasuke's body. It's gonna take at least two and half to three years before it happens, at least according to Lord Jiraiya."

"Does Sasuke know that he's being used?"

"According to Naruto, yes. He doesn't care as long as he gets revenge for the Uchiha clan."

"Damn. That's such a trashy situation."

"It is, but there's nothing we can do about it now."

"Oh, speaking of chakra and vessels…I sensed another large source of chakra coming from that thing over there," said Shivaroku as he pointed towards the weapon. "It seems that some sort of container is holding all that chakra."

Shikamaru looked at the weapon and began to explain. "It seems that Orochimaru found a way to siphon chakra from a person and put it into that cannon."

"That's a cannon?"

"Yes. According to Kabuto, it's only a prototype, but they were definitely going to use it against people. My guess is that they would aim it at the main villages in the Great Nations, as an easy way of taking the biggest threats out, so that Orochimaru could ease his way into power."

"We can't just leave it here can we?"

"No…we can't. We have to destroy it. It should set them back at least a little bit."

Shivaroku nodded and charged up his Kamehameha. He then shot it directly at the cannon, making it explode. However, the ground began to shake, and rocks began to fall from the ceiling of the cave.

"Oh crap, it was booby trapped," said Shivaroku a bit annoyed.

"We need to get out of here before we get buried!" yelled Shikamaru.

Thinking quickly, Shivaroku bit his thumb to draw blood, and he smacked his palm onto the ground. "Summoning jutsu!" yelled Shivaroku, as a golden cloud appeared out of the smoke.

"Here hop on, Shikamaru!" said Shivaroku, pointing to Nimbus. Shikamaru quickly jumped onto the cloud, followed by Shivaroku.

"This feels weird. I've never sat on a cloud before," said Shikamaru.

Shivaroku put his arms together and charged up another Kamehameha, this time aiming straight up. He released the blast, instantly obliterating the falling debris directly above them as well as creating a massive hole at the top of the cave. Sunlight entered the hole, prompting Shivaroku to aim Nimbus up, as Nimbus immediately flew upward. Shikamaru, not ready for the sudden change in incline, slipped off Nimbus, but Shivaroku was there to catch him. Once Nimbus successfully exited the cave, it went horizontal again, so that Shikamaru could sit comfortably.

"Next stop, Hidden Leaf!" said Shivaroku.