Chapter 129

Sins of a Sannin: The Suffering of the Fūma Clan and an Unexpected Guest!

When Sasame first regained consciousness it was not the mild pull of gravity trying—and failing—to tug her towards earth she was first aware of, nor did she immediately recognize the cocoon of spider silk mummifying her, blinding the Fūma kunoichi to the world.

The first sensation she gripped was the sheer heaviness of her head. It was as if her head was submerged in a densely packed pit of mud recently soaked by rainfall. It clogged her ears. Her nose. It was compacting tightly around her skull, so heavy and thick she could scarcely breathe.

Her whole head unbearably warm. And heavy. Why was her head so heavy?

She registered the nausea next. Her stomach churned and flopped. It made a gurgling sound akin to a gallon jug of water or milk being turned upside down and emptied. She was so dizzy. The world, though dark, seemed to spin and shift side to side even though she wasn't moving.

Her feet and legs felt cold, numb. In fact, if they weren't so unnaturally cold she wouldn't have felt them at all. Her arms, pinned to her sides, were on the same track towards utter numbness; her fingers were already bitterly cold.

Breathing should've been natural. It shouldn't have taken thought and effort. Yet it did. She was inhaling sharp and sudden breaths, gasping for air.

Her head was warm—hot, even. Heavy. Far too heavy. The world was spinning and she was caught in a feverish haze. It was difficult to form a coherent thought. Difficult to process her situation beyond feeling sick.

Upon her attempt to wriggle, to move even a little, she felt herself sway side to side. Her stomach wasn't a fan of that. It flopped and gurgled, almost as if to yell and plead for her to stop.

Where am I? What's going on?

Further attempts to wriggle against her binds resulted in her prison swaying like a pendulum, which in turn transformed her entire world into the deck of a ship in the middle of a raging storm, shifting, sway and seemingly spinning beneath her until the nausea was unbearable and unavoidable.

She became locked in a war, a war to not puke even as her heartbeat breaths quickened, even as the muscles in her neck and abdomen started to contract, even as she tasted it at the back of her throat. She squeezed her shut eyes and fought to swallow it back. She told herself more pretty lies that she was okay, that she wasn't going to puke. Everything was okay.

And when the revolting taste and muscle contractions intensified her thoughts shifted to harsher truths. She couldn't allow herself to puke because she would drown in it. If she puked, she would die. It was as simple and as horrifying as that.

Somehow, someway, she managed to force the vomit down.

Little by little her other sensations began to register. The pull of gravity. The weightlessness. The feeling of floating and falling without falling. She felt Jigumo's web cocoon wrapping her from head to toe how a spider might imprison its next meal.

Finally, she felt the most horrifying sensation of them all.

Small spiders were crawling all over her. She could feel them on her face, over her eyelids, on her lips. They crawled over the bridge of her nose, and inside of it. They were on her ears, too.

She could feel them on her cold fingers, bare arms, and legs; she couldn't feel her toes and feet but was certain they were there, too. She felt them crawling beneath her clothes all over her back, heaving chest and contracting abdomen. They were in her hair, on her neck and skull.

Panic overwhelmed Sasame. The claustrophobic web, the spiders crawling on her, the realization she was hanging upside down and losing feeling in her limbs as the blood rushed to her head was too much to bear. The vile taste of throw-up, like a spider climbing a water spout, crawled up her throat for a second time.

Her breathing grew sharper, more desperate. Her cries and wails were muffled by the web. The attempts to cry for help opened a new space for the spiders to enter. She sputtered, panicked. She crunched them on accident and tasted their grotesque insides.

Her attempts to struggle free led nowhere, which only magnified her panic.

"Help!" she tried to yell.

I don't want to die! I don't want to die!

Heart thundering in her ears, she struggled and fought, trying to claw herself free. Wriggling, throwing her body every which way, desperate to see the outside world again. To see Arashi.

To live!

But her fingers were cold; she couldn't feel them responding. The web was thick, tough as dried meat. And the world was spinning.

When she felt consciousness seeping away her panic flew off the charts. She fought for every breath, struggled to lift her upper body to try to get the blood filling it to flow back through the rest of her body. When that failed she again attempted to scratch and claw her way out of the web.

Nothing worked. Consciousness continued to seep away. Certain she was going to die, Sasame began to weep helplessly, trying to cry out for help despite the spiders entering her mouth. Despite knowing no one would hear her muffled voice.

I don't want to die.

All of her senses evaporated.

"Sasame! Don't close your eyes now! Come on! You still have to see Arashi, don't you! Sasame!"

"Easy, Naruto."

"Wake up, Sasame! Come on! Snap out of it already."

"Naruto! Please, you have to calm down. Shaking her like that isn't going to help!"

"Dammit. Dammit. If I had just known she was there… If I had seen her in that cocoon I would've freed her the moment we got here! Kamikiri and the rest, they're all cowards! Do you hear me! You're all cowards! Kidnapping people and using them as shields, you disgust me! Rats! Cowards!"

"Naruto… They're gone. They can't hear you now."

"I know. I know that, Sakura. But… Dammit! What the hell am I doing? We need to find Mimi. Sasame, we're gonna get you help, all right? Just hang in there! Mimi will take care of you, and then we're going to take you to Arashi. You'll get to see him again.

"That's what you wanted most, remember? That's what you were fighting for. You couldn't give up on him. You refused to. You're almost at your goal now. We're right on the doorstep of the Sound Village where they have Arashi captive. So don't give up now! Don't close your eyes. Hang on! Just hang on!"

The world had ceased its spinning and swaying. The feeling of floating, falling without falling, was replaced by solid, cold stone beneath her back, its chill awakening gooseflesh on her arms and legs.

More than that, greater than that, the heaviness in her head and the feeling of all the blood pooling inside it was gone. There were no spiders crawling on her, either.

However as Sasame slowly, lethargically, came to, awakening what could only be described as a terrible nightmare, her previously numb pain receptors awoke with her. A pitiful groan broke from her lips, face contorting in a grimace.

Her head was pounding. Familiar nausea and dizziness tormented her head and stomach. The taste of dead spiders lingered on her tastebuds. Contusions across her body throbbed remorselessly; for a reason she couldn't recall the bones in her face hurt.

Then, without warning, the intense fear, the memory of the claustrophobic cocoon and certainty of death overwhelmed the Fūma kunoichi. Her heart accelerated. Her body flooded with scorching heat and danced with icy chills. Breathing became difficult, each breath sharp, quick and panicked. The muscles in her neck and abdomen contracted.

All at once everything in her stomach rushed upwards.

Sasame hastily turned onto her side, vomiting up her breakfast and what was possibly her dinner the night before, too. Someone pulled her hair back before she retched again. Whoever they were rubbed their hand soothingly over her back.

"Let it all out, Sasame."

She almost didn't recognize Mimi's voice. Yet with a weak glance she confirmed what seemed impossible. Mimi, with Aoko's black furry features peering down from the top of her head, was kneeling beside her, holding her hair up with one hand while rubbing her back with the other.

Her sapphire gaze was gentle. Comforting. Empathy and compassion softened her features, neither bothered by the sight or stench of the vomit, nor caring how close it came to splashing her feet.

What Sasame wanted most was to express her joy and her terror. She wanted to throw herself into the arms of the Leaf kunoichi and sob out all the gratitude she could muster. Yet…

Sasame's muscles tightened again. Air rushed through her nose. Then she heaved violently, emptying more of her stomach on the barren and grey stone.

"Oh god," she whimpered, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Easy. Easy. You're safe now. You're alive. And on solid ground to boot."

The act of nodding to acknowledge the joyous truth was too difficult. All she could do was shut her eyes and sob in happiness, whimpering and heaving as she tasted salty tears and bile, both which dripped off her lips and chin.

For the next few minutes Sasame's stomach emptied itself of food and fear. Eventually all she could do was dry heave. It was somehow worse than vomiting. It shouldn't have been. But it was.

The act of going through the contractions and the spasms, retching violently without anything coming up left her trembling. It distressed the kunoichi. Angered her, even. Made her ask,

"Why won't it stop?"

Only to dry heave before she could finish the sentence.

The vulnerability and weakness of it all upset her more. She felt wholly embarrassed.

"It'll be all right, Sasame," Mimi soothed, rubbing her hand gently over her back. "Focus on your breathing when you can. Focus on my voice. You'll be all right. You're safe now."

Muscles trembling, breaths shuddering, the taste of bile and salt was absolutely horrible. The smell was retched. Her throat burned.

However, despite its horribleness, she was too grateful to be alive to be bothered by it.

When the dry heaving eventually ended, Mimi, methodic in her actions, gently and slowly picked Sasame off the floor. Weak and dizzy, Sasame tried her best to walk, but her feet merely dragged along, limp as a broken rubber band.

It was only as Mimi carried her to the opposite wall of the enclosed stone hallway, away from the vomit, that she noticed they were not alone. Naruto, Sakura and Master Jiraiya were within the hallway, too. Each wore a concerned expression for the pale, sweaty and wounded kunoichi.

Seated on the floor, Sasame sniffled and rested her head back against the wall. The tears burned in her glistening plum eyes, the two streams gliding down her cheeks and neck. Mimi, meanwhile, cupped her hands on both sides of her face and kneading the alleviating warmth of Medical Ninjutsu through the injuries she had sustained.

Although she couldn't see herself, there was absolutely no doubt in Sasame's mind that her cheeks, lips and left eye were swollen like full balloons and discolored by bruising; every heave she had gone through, every contortion of her face, incensed the aches. And her body…

"Sakura, I have more training for you," Mimi said abruptly. "You're going to splint Sasame's fingers after I finish healing them. Here." She unfastened one of her flak jacket pockets and retrieved three splints. From her pouch she retrieved medical tape. "Remember: Snug but not too tight. We don't want to cut off circulation or worsen the swelling."

Sakura kneeled down on the opposite side of Mimi. "All right. I can do that."

The Inuzuka gently grabbed Sasame's left arm at the forearm, adjusting her jelly-like limb to gain better access to her injury. Sasame didn't have any strength to do anything more than groan, grimace and shut her eyes. Her lips trembled on their own.

"Sasame, are you all right?" Naruto asked.

"…What happened to me?"

Speech was difficult—painful. Her voice sounded utterly pitiful even to her own ears.

"It would seem," Master Jiraiya was the one to speak, "after we sent you and Daisuke home you were attacked by the Sound shinobi. From what little we've gathered, Jigumo captured and imprisoned you in a webbed cocoon.

"Scotch and Emi were fortunately not kidnapped as well, I believe because Hanzaki and the Fūma Clan arrived to protect them and Daisuke. Afterwards, from what Mimi learned from Hanzaki himself, Daisuke chased after you, however…" Master Jiraiya trailed off.

Memories of their last conversation came flooding back. She was trying to argue that they should return to help the Leaf shinobi because…

"I should be there. Arashi would've joined the Leaf shinobi to save me. He—"

"He wouldn't want you in harms way," Daisuke refuted. "He wouldn't want you to be injured or killed trying to save him."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I lost the people I loved to war. Because if you die trying to save him, all Arashi will have left is the memory of you. And the guilt of knowing it was because of his weakness that you—the person he cherished most—didn't come home. Trust me, I know that feeling. I've been in both of your shoes before.

"That's why I can say confidently, if you were my cousin or sister, I'd already be proud of you."

Knowing he chased after Jigumo, returning to a battle he had wanted them to avoid entirely all for her sake, it made his absence and Master Jiraiya's unfinished statement dreadful.

"Is he… Please, don't tell me he…"

"As of now we are uncertain of his condition. Mimi has a Shadow Clone looking for him. Until she dispels, or arrives with him here, we won't know what his condition is."

"I'll find him. Don't worry," Mimi reassured. "He's probably exhausted after kicking ass."

Sasame hoped.

While Sakura began to splint the pair of broken fingers on her left hand, Mimi moved to her right, applying Medical Ninjutsu to the broken pointer finger on her right.

"Sasame, dear, what do you remember?" Master Jiraiya asked after a moment.

"I…remember waking up inside the cocoon. I could feel Jigumo's spiders crawling on me. My feet were numb. My fingers, too. I tried to break free. Tried to scream for help."

The sensation of spider legs on her flesh, up her nose, in her mouth came flooding back. It was a struggle to not start crying again.

"But I…I couldn't do anything. It was so dark. I couldn't move. I couldn't…"

"Do you remember how you were injured?"

"No," she answered after a moment.

"Mm, I see."

"From what I'm seeing and what Aoko can sense, they kicked the living hell out of you when you were in that cocoon. Broke a few of your fingers. Left all manner of contusions on every conceivable portion of your body; the loss of memory is a result of the concussion they gave you. Bastards."

"Thank you," she sniffled. "For saving me."

"Don't thank me. Thank Sakura and Naruto. They're the ones who found you."

"Thank you. Thank you so much. I… I was…"

Sasame shut her eyes again, two fresh tears gliding warmly down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry we didn't rescue you sooner," Sakura apologized sincerely.

"How did you find me? Where was I?" She looked around at the foreign stone hallway. "Where are we now?"

"This is the entrance of Orochimaru's compound," Master Jiraiya answered. "As for where you were, Jigumo had you hung upside down on the battlefield. Out there." He lifted his chin to his left, towards the staircase leading outside. "Hidden out of sight. Guarding you was a team of Sound shinobi and that shinobi—Kagerō."

"I didn't know you were there," Naruto said, voice low and eyes falling. "If I had, I would've busted you out of that cocoon in an instant. But that girl—Kagerō—once she used that Ephemeral technique you mentioned… Everything sort of got out of control."

Naruto didn't know which made their situation worse: Kagerō and the squad of Sound shinobi attacking them, or all the nasty spiderweb that appeared to be woven by thousands of spiders blocking them in.

The battlefield was cramped. Their enemies hadn't chosen an uninhabited glade or an open field to battle them on; they created a battlefield better suited for them, unlike their last encounter. Layers upon layers of trees crowded and boxed them in, providing verticality for their enemies to strike them from, or acting as a net-like barrier when paired with the spiderweb.

The necessity of Shadow Clone Jutsu only worsened their situation. Without Shadow Clones the enemy forces outnumbered them seven to two. They were already fighting for every inch of breathing room they could, clashing blades, evading enemy Wind and Earth natured ninjutsu, trading fists and kicks with the Sound shinobi.

Adding an additional five bodies wasn't making the lack of space any easier.

At present it was seven against seven. He wanted to add more, if only to overwhelm the enemy forces and bring a quick end to the battle. He already tried it a few times. But every time his Shadow Clones outnumbered their enemies, Kagerō or one of the other Sound shinobi would unleash a jutsu with a wide area of effect, which endangered both his life and Sakura's.

It threatened to catch them off guard, risked injury or had the potential to leave them open to an enemy counter.

He also didn't want to waste chakra. Not when, as Mimi put it, their real target was resting down in the depths of that rat Orochimaru's compound.

On the forest floor, in the canopy, the clang of metal against metal rang sharply. It was all close-quarters. There was absolutely no room for error.

Shadow Clone's of Naruto sprang aggressively from tree branch to tree branch, mirrored by the enemy Sound shinobi they were locked in combat with. They launched through the air, zipping past each other, clashing blades like birds fighting to protect their nests. Orange sparks leapt off their kunai to rain on the forest floor below, where a Shadow Clone was locked in a deadlock with another of the masked Sound shinobi.

Sakura was engaging a Sound shinobi, a kunai in one hand to block, parry and counter-strike the enemy while also utilizing her free hand and legs to attack with taijutsu.

Their blades connected with a sharp metallic clang, then grinding and grating against one another as they sought a chink in their opponent's defense. A weakness to exploit.

The cry of a Shadow Clone and dispersal nearby set his teammate on alert. Pushing off one another, Sakura slid along the grass on her heels, then abruptly pivoted counterclockwise on her right foot. The downward slash of the enemy shinobi, who leapt down from the canopy, narrowly missed her, though it was no the end of his assault. He rose up from a crouch with an upward diagonal slash, causing Sakura to skip back.

At the same time her original opponent dashed a half-circle to meet her. Sakura's training with Amari was paying off, Naruto realized again. His kunoichi teammate, though boxed in by a tree at her back and two enemies, did not panic, freeze up or begin to doubt herself.

When the dashing shinobi reached her, she blocked his first quick strike, sparks jumping from their blades. He followed with another strike, slashing his blade over his body. Sakura evaded it, stepping back lightly on her feet closer to the tree trunk.

Chakra hummed along the soles of her sandals. The enemies couldn't tell, but had they looked closer they would've seen cold calculation in her eyes.

He lunged in, thrusting his kunai. Behind him his comrade dashed in and around to attack from her weaponless side. Sakura lifted her foot up and back, finding the trunk with the sole of it. They had mistaken pushing her towards the tree for cornering her.

They were wrong.

The first Sound shinobi's blade plunged closer. Chakra connecting her to the tree, Sakura suddenly, with quicker reaction time and greater agility than her enemies, climbed up the tree backwards, feet carrying her up above the striking blade in a mere moment.

The kunoichi acted within a collection seconds Naruto couldn't actually witness in the moment, too busy in the heat of battle himself. But his Shadow Clones collective memories captured the moment he would later use as a reminder never to underestimate Sakura again.

His teammate pushed off the tree without chakra into a spin, in the middle of which she snatched the wrist of the first shinobi's weapon wielding forearm. With her kunai, however, she slashed the inside of his elbow, severing the tendons that granted movement and spraying an arc of blood through the air.

In the same fluid movement she rotated into a slight corkscrew, twisting her body so she was facing the tree she jumped off, feet beneath her once more and enemy's arm pulled across his body.

Upon landing she stabbed her kunai into the back of his opposite shoulder—a second anchor for leverage. She twisted her body again, pivoting away from the tree, and, with the maintained momentum of her jump and spin, dragged the full-grown adult off his feet to flip him over her smaller body and into the direct path of his comrade.

The Sound shinobi hopped to the side, evading the moaning body of his comrade, and darted in to attack Sakura again. The kunoichi met him in another exchange of blades.

In visual sight of the fight, racing up the trunk of a tree, was Naruto. His sights set on Kagerō's hunchback form, who had retreated up into the tree, desperate to escape the flurry of blows the Leaf shinobi had unleashed.

I can't let you use any of those jutsus Sasame mentioned, Naruto thought. And I can't let you change the terrain like you did back at the temple!

He launched off the trunk like a missile, throwing shuriken ahead at the Fūma shinobi. Kagerō deflected the shuriken, and when Naruto zipped by she blocked his slashing kunai.

The unpleasant noise of clashing blades caused their ears to ring, but neither revealed their discomfort. Honestly, they hardly noticed it. The heat of battle and adrenaline consumed them.

Naruto whirled around and threw his kunai. Kagerō reacted instantly, throwing a kunai to deflect the blade out of air first, and then throwing three more at him as his feet slid along the bark.

Equipping another kunai, it was the Leaf shinobi's turn to deflect his enemy's blades. He did so without flash or boasting. He batted them away and…

Then the branch ceased to be beneath his feet.

Eyes darting down, Naruto realized belatedly the length of the branch was a lot shorter than he had imagined. In fact, it was several feet shorter. The force with which he propelled himself after Kagerō was too much. He had tried to dig his heels in too late.

Beneath him was a thick web, prepared to ensnare a human.

Bringing his hands together, Naruto said:

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

A Shadow Clone formed beneath him, feet braced against his. Together they bent their knees, and then with an extra thrust from his Shadow Clone he shot through the air up at a diagonal, over the tree branch and up into the canopy. The foliage and shadows in the forest concealed his presence.

Kagerō, looking up into the canopy in search of the Leaf shinobi, heard the distinct swirl of chakra first. From the foliage the orange-clad shinobi appeared, twigs snapping and leaves falling as he torpedoed straight for the Fūma shinobi bearing an orb of blue chakra.

"Take this!"

Kagerō leapt off and away from the boy. Naruto landed on his feet and one hand.

The Rasengan faded from his hand.

The foliage and branches rustled. Kagerō's head snapped up, an expression of shock pulling onto her bucktoothed and masculine face.

Descending rapidly from above, Rasengan in hand, was the real Naruto. He didn't give his floating enemy a chance to react. He slammed the Rasengan straight into her strange choice of transformation with a growl.

"Rasengan!"

The forest rumbled and the ground trembled as Kagerō was propelled straight into the earth. Naruto, on the other hand, was flung back through the air from the repelling force of his jutsu. The disturbance distracted a number of the Sound shinobi, chief among them the shinobi Sakura was fighting.

He didn't see the blade tear across his chest. But, for a brief moment, he saw the fist that sent him flying before it crashed against his face with an aggressive,

"CHAAA!"

Flipping head over foot, Naruto caught a tree branch and swung up onto it. Displaced soil rained down into the plume of dust where Kagerō lay.

When the plume began to settle, allowing him to see her again, the Leaf shinobi grunted in shock. A small crater was forcefully formed around her still form. But that wasn't surprising.

Kagerō's body had taken on the color of solid dirt.

Her stomach cracked open suddenly. From the fissure poured out intense amounts of visible chakra blue as a sunny spring sky.

Rising out of the fissure like a hatching butterfly was Kagerō in her true form. She was neither bucktoothed or a hunchback. She wasn't a man, either.

She was just a meek and young girl, pale as a sheet and thinner than Ino and Sakura ever were when they were dieting. She had mint green hair and indigo pupiless eyes. She attired herself in nothing but a white dress with a single shoulder strap attached to the metal collar worn around her neck.

You've gotta be joking. Naruto couldn't help but feel shaken again.

Kagerō didn't have a scratch on her. The Rasengan hadn't broken through her strange transformation, which had acted like a shield from his jutsu. Once again he was faced with someone who somehow walked off his most powerful jutsu, just like Kimimaro had.

Wings of chakra formed out of her back like the wings of a firefly. Kagerō flew delicately to match his altitude.

This is bad, Naruto felt a bead of sweat slide down his cheek. This is what Sasame warned us about. The Ephemeral Jutsu that can only be used once in a lifetime because of how much chakra it uses. Chakra that can kill us just by touching us.

Unlike Amari's Ultimate Defense or Neji's Rotation, this technique could be sustained longer than the short bursts they were capable of. And it could be used to attack at long distances, the streams of chakra elongating to considerable distances unnecessary in these close-quarters.

It's like the Rasengan, in a way, he thought. Pure, concentrated chakra. Except this stuff is even stronger than the Rasengan. The density of this chakra, I can feel it on the air. I can feel it in my bones. She's expending so much of it. That's why this jutsu can only be used once in a lifetime. It's too much for her body—anyone's body—to handle. It'll drain her to absolute zero.

"Do you really believe in Orochimaru this much?" he demanded, angry despite himself. "What the hell has he even given you that you would bother to sacrifice your life like this?"

Maybe it was just his memories of Kimimaro.

"Lord Orochimaru said one day the Fūma Clan will spread its wings in the sun once more. But for that day to come, I must sacrifice all to protect it."

Or maybe it was just the sad expression perpetually stuck on her face.

"Don't give me that crap! Look around you!" Naruto growled. "What has Orochimaru given you for your loyalty? Where's the Clan he said he would help you build? That rotten snake doesn't care for anything but himself! Look at what he's had you do. Kidnapping people, kidnapping innocent orphan girls like Emi and Scotch, having you attack your own Clan members and brand them as so-called traitors.

"All he does is take and take and take until you have nothing left! He's manipulating you. He's manipulating all of you!" Naruto roared. "And you're going to throw your life away for his lies."

"You're wrong," she replied softly, meekly. "The Fūma Clan will be reborn. That was Lord Orochimaru's promise to us. I…have done everything I can to see that day come. For Kamikiri and Jigumo, for the children of our Clan and even those Orochimaru has deemed traitors, I have acted so the Fūma Clan can rise again. So it can regain the power and respect lost during the wars. One day it can be a place they can all call home."

"But that isn't how a home is built! A Clan doesn't feel like home because of power or respect or prestige. That isn't what makes it feel like home. It's the people you cherish that make it that way. Even if money is scarce or you don't have a solid roof over your head, just having those people around will make anywhere feel like home! Those people will make any struggle worthwhile, because they're always waiting to greet you with open arms and a smile. Even on the bad days. A home like that is where anyone can belong!"

"I won't let you stop my Clan from being rebuilt."

"Dammit, why don't you get it?! You're not rebuilding anything! Show me one thing you've rebuilt. Tell me one thing Orochimaru has given you. What has he given you except sorrow and heartache? Look me in the eyes and tell me honestly what he has given you in exchange for all the innocent blood you've spilled. There's nothing. Nothing except the hollowness his empty promises has caused you to feel. "

"Enough," she cut him off, voice weak and wavering. She sounded on the verge of tears. "Stop. Just stop."

"You don't have to keep doing this."

"Stop it." It sounded like a desperate plea. "I've dedicated my life to rebuilding my Clan. Kamikiri, Jigumo and I have sacrificed everything because we were asked to…lift our Clan up from the ashes. It was our duty to see this through. Our burden. There is no other choice."

"There's always a choice!" he declared.

He was desperate. More desperate than he should've been for this stranger he didn't know. But her sadness was as powerful as the luminous chakra wings sprouting from her back. It compelled him to act—to try his damndest to save her.

Just like Amari saved him.

"You can always change your path."

"I wish you were right. But I can no longer turn back. There is no redemption from what I've done. You can see, can't you? I cannot bear to live with this burden any longer, but I will not take my own life, nor will I give up on Kamikiri and Jigumo. They are all I have left. They are my home. Since they still believe in Lord Orochimaru's vision, I will dedicate my very life to them so that they will succeed today against you. And one day they will bring our Clan into the light, as we always dreamed."

"Please just listen to me! You don't have to throw your life away like this!"

"I am already dead. And so I will follow this path. To the very end!"

"Dammit," Naruto cursed.

He stared at Kagerō's sad but determined face, heart twisting in his chest. He could feel his hands trembling.

"It didn't have to be like this. You could've uplifted your Clan without Orochimaru. You could've still achieved your dream without sacrificing your soul. You had your whole life ahead of you!" he shouted in emotion. "You compared yourself to a mayfly, but you're a person! Not some bug. You're a kid no different from me!

"So why? Why won't you listen!"

"There is nothing left to say."

Kagerō brought her hands together to form a series of four handseals following the pattern of Snake, Bird, Monkey and finishing on Ox.

"Antlion Ninja Arts: Ephemeral!"

Naruto grunted, gritting his teeth. The decision had been made. By activating the jutsu, Kagerō set their path in unbreakable stone. There was no turning back now.

"If that's how it's gotta be, then fine. I won't let you hurt me or Sakura or anyone else ever again! Even if I have to take you and your friends down, I will!"

He brought his hands up quickly into the Clone Seal.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Throughout the cramped forest, from the ground to the canopy, fifty Shadow Clones appeared at once. What limited space there was evaporated in an instant. His Shadow Clones began jostling against and wrestling with the Sound shinobi while yelling incomprehensibly.

Sakura slipped away in the crowd. Those not occupied jumped straight at Kagerō.

The flying kunoichi did not move a muscle. However, her chakra wings expanded and elongated, striking Shadow Clones out of there air and dispersing them with a single blow.

Naruto—the real one—was already on the move. Despite his frustration he hadn't created this horde recklessly or without thought. He had a plan.

She can't maintain this jutsu forever. It's powerful, enough to kill us just by touching us. But it has a small window of use. And then…

He grunted to himself. More of his Shadow Clones threw themselves at the floating kunoichi. The plumes of smoke their dispelling caused allowed him to blend through the crowd of orange.

Kagerō, knowing the limitations of her jutsu better than them, began to unleash widespread attacks with her chakra wings. She sliced them through trees, which disintegrated bark on impact. She sliced the wings through the webs, which ignited and burned away. She even speared the wings into the earth, causing towers of blue chakra to explode like bolts of ground to earth lightning.

In the process she incinerated her own comrades. Nothing was left of the Sound shinobi except a scorch mark and crater where they and his Shadow Clones once stood.

One hit, one graze, and it's all over for us.

Swallowing the heavy and foreboding lump in his throat, Naruto dropped down from the canopy, landing beside Sakura, who had taken cover to avoid Kagerō's line of sight. Her eyes were wide, stunned by the power of the jutsu. Naruto felt the same.

"Sakura." He met her eyes and grabbed her by the wrist. "Whatever you do, stay right beside me."

"Naruto?"

"Please. Just trust me this time."

"Okay," she nodded immediately.

He didn't hesitate to initiate his plan. The boy, with Sakura's arm in his grasp, turned tail and sprinted in the opposite direction of Kagerō.

Through the sea of orange jackets and blond hair Naruto and Sakura hightailed it as fast as they could. The way he figured it, since there was a time limit, all they really had to do was let his Shadow Clones throw themselves at Kagerō as a distraction until, inevitably, her time ran out.

Not the bravest tactic, he knew. But it beat being incinerated.

The sight of pink hair and a red outfit in the middle of a sea of orange captured Kagerō's attention. Face contorted in a sad grimace, visibly sweating, the Fūma kunoichi appeared to teleport, flickering through the air past the Shadow Clones to cut off the two young shinobi.

Naruto and Sakura broke off to the side when she reappeared, dashing over the forest floor, blades of grass crushing beneath their sandals as they weaved in and out of trees.

"There is no escape," Kagerō said.

Once more her chakra wings elongated and expanded, wrapping around the front of her body, spearing through the trees. Naruto and Sakura had just enough time to glance back in horror.

And then they vanished amidst the tower of blue chakra.

The forest rumbled and roared. Branches groaned, bending and creaking beneath the force of the explosion. The remaining Shadow Clones in the forest dispelled in mass.

Then all was silent.

Kagerō hovered above the newly formed crater, amid felled trees and burning spiderwebs, surveying the sight of destruction and death she caused. There was no joy on her face. Only the hollow sadness and pain the blond Leaf shinobi had described perfectly. Beads of sweat slithered down her face, dampened her mint-colored hair; her pale skin was coated by a sheen of sweat.

Were someone to look closely they would've seen her frail body trembling. And her lip quivering.

"It's over now," said Kagerō. "With this last act I have preserved Kamikiri's and Jigumo's dreams and the Fūma Clan's future."

"Was it worth it?"

Kagerō gasped. For the first time, the sad expression perpetually stuck on her face changed. It transformed into a look of pure shock.

Turning her head, she saw Naruto standing on a tree branch beside Sakura. It was his face that bore a sad expression this time. Him who felt the hollowness and pain as he watched the final moments of life Kagerō would experience.

Sakura wore a similar sad frown, though she remained on guard.

"But how?" Kagerō wanted to know, her voice a meek whimper.

"You destroyed two of my Shadow Clones. I had one transform into Sakura to draw you off. Your jutsu was too strong. There was too much risk for either of us to be hit, so…"

Shock twisted into defeat, and defeat contorted into sorrow. It stung Naruto more than he thought it would. And… It reminded him of a darker time. A time where he didn't believe he had any reason to live, the burden of loneliness being too much for his little shoulders to bear.

"It didn't have to be this way," he said again, softly.

"I…wanted to believe him," she whimpered. A tear streamed down her cheek. "I believed he would rebuild our Clan."

"Yeah. I know."

At that moment, Kagerō's physical form began to fade, becoming transparent.

"Kamikiri… He ordered Jigumo to capture Sasame," Kagerō said suddenly.

"He what?" Sakura gasped.

"Sasame… She is near. Please. Do not let her die."

"Wait, where is she? Which direction is she in?" Naruto demanded.

They received no answer.

In a shimmering blue light that shot into the sky, Kagerō vanished.

"We found you afterwards," Naruto finished recounting their encounter with Kagerō. "Kagerō… She was so worn down and just…hollow inside. She wanted to die."

Just like Haku back then, he thought.

On that mist-covered bridge, before Amari's cry of agony pierced the air, Haku had pleaded with him to end his life. Asked him to strike him down as he stood there, no longer willing to fight after losing their battle. All with a sad smile on his face.

"I think that's why she told us to save you. At the end, she didn't want you to suffer like she had. Or that's what I think, anyway."

Sasame squeezed her eyes shut tightly. "Oh, Kagerō."

"Despite everything she did," Jiraiya spoke up, "all Kagerō really wanted was to create a home for your Clan. I assume it was the same for Kamikiri and Jigumo. Once. But the insurmountable burden placed on their shoulders at a young age to become the shining lights that rebuilt the Fūma Clan and led them to new prosperity, it was too much for them to bear. It crushed the spirit of a young girl like Kagerō. And twisted Kamikiri and Jigumo."

Jiraiya crossed his arms over his chest, a deep frown creasing his lips.

"Orochimaru is a master of manipulating the most vulnerable. For him, all people are pawns to achieve his ends. Even young children like Kagerō."

"Orochimaru," growled Naruto, clenching his hands into fists. "That guy makes me sick!"

"You're not the only one. In any case, stopping him is one of the reasons we're here," his Master reminded. "Once Sakura and Mimi are done, Naruto, I want you to leave two Shadow Clones here with Sasame as protection. In your condition," he directed his attention to the kunoichi, "it'll be best if you rest for a while to regain your strength. This location should be safe, for now. At least until Hanzaki and the other Fūma Clan members he brought with him arrive.

"As for the rest of us, we haven't completed our mission yet. We'll press on and end Orochimaru and Kasai. Once and for all."

Orders given, Sakura finished splinting Sasame's fingers, Mimi finished reducing her swelling and healing her more severe injuries, and Naruto waited, eyes drawn down the dark hallway leading deep into the compound.

Just you wait…

He narrowed his eyes.

We're gonna put an end to you both.

In the bowels of Orochimaru's compound, beneath the marriage of candlelit gloom and flickering shadows dancing over the barren stone hallways—likely crafted by an Earth Style ninjutsu—Jiraiya searched for his former comrade. Alone.

The walls appeared incandescent beneath the fiery glow emanating from the sconces, installed at intervals of every ten feet. Yet were you to place a hand upon the stone there would be no scorching heat to burn your palm, no warmth to thaw the chill the winter air left behind.

There was only the absence of warmth. The walls were cold down here, down where no light ever reached, where the sun never shone upon its dwellers and the vast and open blue sky was replaced by claustrophobic and imprisoning stone. It was unnatural. The antithesis to Konoha.

And despite its unnatural environment, it was built this way purposefully. It was built to be cold and dark and absent of warmth, for that was the warped nature of its creator.

Darkness was where Orochimaru reveled and thrived.

Jiraiya proceeded cautiously through the hall amid the incandescent halos cast by the wax candles and their arcing shadows. He was accompanied by nothing more than the dull clap-clap-clap of his wooden sandals against the brick-like flooring and the eerie ambience of the lifeless hall.

Their infiltration into Orochimaru's compound had led the team of Leaf shinobi to a junction splitting off into three separate passageways. It was a complication, but not an unforeseen one. Previous reports and experiences prepared him for it.

Each path promised danger, there was no way around that. Here, in his former comrade's den, the risk of encountering further Sound shinobi, traps or their true targets was all but guaranteed. Eventually.

However, though danger was guaranteed, there was another promise hidden within these candlelit halls. A vile promise.

Hidden beneath the earth, where no light could reach, they would glimpse into the twisted mind of Orochimaru. Into a void absent not just of warmth, but compassion, empathy for their fellow man and, of course, absent of remorse.

Jiraiya did his best to prepare his subordinates before splitting them up into the same pairs as before. He wished he could say he knew what to expect. But the truth was Orochimaru had opened many forbidden doors, doors which should have remained sealed shut. And through them he pulled out darkness and evil no good soul could imagine existed.

He'd seen some of his former comrade's experiments. Witnessed the mass graves he left in his wake.

What rested here… He couldn't say. He didn't want to imagine what new horror Orochimaru had pulled through—couldn't imagine it, really.

We're in his house of horrors now, Jiraiya thought, a pensive frown tugging at his lips. What have you been doing down here, Orochimaru? What secrets are you hiding here?

When the battles ended, and their targets were eliminated, he planned to thoroughly investigate every nook and cranny within the compound. Additionally, he planned to return to the facility Mimi had encountered.

Both locations served his former comrade in some capacity. Both held secrets, views into Orochimaru's state of mind and interests. He suspected there were hidden rooms and secret passageways hidden behind high-level Sealing Arts, which few even among the Anbu and Intel squads possessed the skill to unravel.

They needed information, frankly. Especially if Orochimaru had already slithered off into the darkness.

If they could locate his other bases, or glean information on what new experiment had acquired his fickle attention, perhaps they could learn his next move.

If he had escaped. If he wasn't waiting at the end of this passageway.

Otherwise, at the very least, they could dismantle his bases and rescue the victims not already brainwashed or leashed by the charismatic snake.

Jiraiya paused. He crouched down and scrutinized the floor. After a moment he acquired his ink brush and ink from his pouch and, with gentle brush strokes that wouldn't have disturbed a sleeping newborn, he painted a long black X over the pavers in question.

This is the fourth trap I've encountered, he noted once finished. Hopefully these warnings won't be necessary for anyone except me. Still, should we all have to hightail it out of here, or should an Intel gathering squad return here without me, these warnings will keep us safe. Even if it is forcing me to move slower than I'd like.

Rising to his full height, he stepped carefully around his marker and pressed on deeper into the compound. Along the way he marked off an additional five traps, three which were within a few strides of each other; the other two were quite the distance apart.

Eventually he stopped encountering hidden traps altogether, though he remained vigilant. It would be just like his old comrade to give an intruder a false sense of security just before snapping his jaws around them. Like a snake, he was the type of man to use the terrain and his natural camouflage to sneak in close, striking from an ambush his prey couldn't see coming.

The other sandal never dropped, however. He proceeded unopposed through the deathly silent hall, illuminated only by the fat, unscented wax candles that seemed to have been left to guide him to his destination.

The main feature of this passageway, whatever it might be, it was near. He could sense it.

Jiraiya quieted his steps. Ahead he could see where the claustrophobic passage opened up into a larger chamber. The dim lighting made it impossible to know for certain what he would find, though he knew it wouldn't be anything good. There would be no alcohol or fine company here. None he'd like to savor, anyway.

The chamber was wider than the narrow passageway—and long. It led far off into another room at the opposite end. The high ceilings were paired with an open floor which the sconces installed around the room failed to illuminate entirely. As a result, long shadows stretched from wall to wall and floor to ceiling.

The gloom of the room was palpable. Oppressive.

He really has a knack for melodramatic interior design. Sheesh.

Jiraiya decided if someone ever asked him to describe Orochimaru he would direct the person to this room; its design was the perfect illustration of his former comrade. Flickers of light along the edges, but a void of all-consuming darkness at the heart of it all. Cold. And hidden beneath the surface layer of intrigue and charisma, a pungent chemical stench to go along with a twisted obsession.

Cautiously, the Toad Sage tread deeper into the room. He squinted at the darkest shadows, lifted his gaze to the impenetrable abyss where a ceiling existed… Somewhere. He extended his senses out in search of signs of life; a breath, a scent, the rustle of clothing, a dashing shadow, anything that might indicate an enemy's presence lurking beyond his sight.

It was a new scent beneath the pungent stench of chemicals he recognized first. He sniffed the air like an Akimichi sniffing out fresh barbecue, nose scrunching as he confirmed the new aroma.

Sweat and body odor, he analyzed carefully. He sniffed again. And defecation. Death, perhaps.

Eyes flicking to his right, he followed the sconces from the entrance of the room, along the right wall until, abruptly, they stopped. Darkness covered the wall for a length of what he estimated close to forty feet, then the burning sconces began again to create a trail around the rest of the room. Only that single stretch of wall was unlit.

It was where the stench was coming from.

Before investigating it Jiraiya examined the lit boundary opposite of the abyss. He noticed a countertop lined with beakers and jars, cups and stovetops, tubes and funnels, not to mention a collection of scalpels, trays, syringes, pliers, saws and drills stained with dry blood. There was an empty gurney nearby. And a chair similar to a dentists chair positioned beneath a shut off lamp.

Similar save for one detail: There were straps, restraints and binds for the arms, legs and head. When he squinted he could make out the dried blood stains of hands and fingers digging into the arm rests. And a large irregular dark pool staining the stone beneath it.

Jiraiya suppressed his disgust.

Seems I've located a lab of some sort.

Lucky him.

From his pouch he procured a slim black object the size of his thumb. With a press of a button, the end of the pocket flashlight cast a cone of white light onto the stone floor. The white beam swept over the floor, up to the ceiling, piercing through the shadows like pure heavenly light sent down from the gods.

Satisfied there was no one hiding where he couldn't see, Jiraiya aimed the beam of light towards the wall cast in shadows. A white sphere formed on the wall, gliding slowly up, down and across the barren stone.

Something was here. Someone.

A prisoner? Multiple?

Or were they Orochimaru's underlings, caged and experimented on by their master?

The light dispersed the shadows and unveiled the tall and long wooden cell door, previously hidden. The wooden beams the door was constructed from formed a series of columns and rows, the gaps too small for a full-grown man, woman or even children to pass through.

Inescapable by all accounts.

At a distance his flashlight's light couldn't penetrate beyond the wooden beams. Jiraiya moved closer, cautious in his steps, sweeping the light down the length of the exceptionally large prison cell. If the darkness covered a length of forty feet, the cell itself was thirty of those feet.

A cell of that size… He could only assume Orochimaru kept one of two things inside: A large collection of victims he killed and replaced quickly, or a very, very large animal. Preferably not Manda.

The last thing they needed on this mission was that massive python running amok through these cramped halls. Or any other snake for that matter.

The stench of body odor and defecation intensified with every step closer. Jiraiya stifled a cough, tucking his mouth and nose into his shirt sleeve as he approached the door. He hoped for Mimi's and Aoko's sake they didn't encounter a prison like this. The assault their sensitive noses would endure…

Ugh. While this isn't the worst stench I've ever encountered, it certainly isn't the alluring scent of a fine lady, that's for sure.

Jiraiya aimed his flashlight inside. Despite its length it was deceptively shallow on the inside, being no more than ten feet deep if he had to estimate. Far too small for Manda or any of Orochimaru's other giant pet snakes.

The white light glided slowly over the floor, probing the darkness for occupants.

He saw the foot of the corpse first. He followed the leg up, revealing the body of a man who's cause of death was unknowable without a thorough autopsy. Nothing on his body indicated what torture he endured or how he died. An experimental drug, perhaps. Or a forbidden jutsu of some sort.

Either way, he'd been dead for some time. A week at the least, perhaps more.

There were more corpses. Men and women strewn over the floor, the youngest being Naruto's age and the oldest around Shikaku's. The majority were around Kakashi's age.

Among the corpses were the living, though you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at them. Jiraiya nearly failed to recognize the surviving victims, even counting a few as corpses. They sat and lay utterly still, eyes dull and empty. Not a single survivor reacted to the light.

Of the dozens of occupants that once occupied the prison cell he counted only five survivors.

"What in the world did he do to you people?" he murmured.

"Shhh. Shh. Shh. Shhhhh. Let them sleep."

Jiraiya stiffened, then whirled around to face…

Nothing. No one. There was no one behind him. Not a soul in the room.

His flashlight danced to and fro and yet uncovered nothing he hadn't already seen. The chamber was absent of life.

"Soon they, too, will be tested. So let them rest. Let them sleep and dream pleasant dreams."

The woman's voice, sensual in tone and cadence, whispered directly in his ear again. Yet Jiraiya knew without a doubt he was alone. At least in the chamber.

"A Ventriloquism Jutsu, huh," he murmured, glancing around. "It's a jutsu that allows the user to project their voice from any location. It's used to draw away the target of the jutsu or to play mind games with them, all while the user hides somewhere out of sight. It's a neat trick, but I've been around the block, young lady. You won't fool me with it."

"Mmhmhm," the woman chuckled sensually. "I like a man with your…experience."

"Heh." Jiraiya grinned despite himself. "Flattery will get you nowhere with me. Now show yourself."

At that moment, the Toad Sage perked up, head drawn to the next room by the sound of a Koto being plucked gently, the melody a paradox of warmth and sorrow. The song transmitted its dark beauty from one room to the next via the impressive acoustics of both rooms.

Did she put these victims to sleep with a sound-based genjutsu? Jiraiya wondered, holding his ground. He had his hands ready to release a genjutsu at a moments notice. I've never liked genjutsu, he lamented. It's always been my weakest skill. I'd prefer to deal with Orochimaru over this woman, but…

He glanced to the prison cell and the survivors.

I can't leave her alone with them. Whatever this 'test' is likely has killed the other victims. If I ignore her, they're as good as dead.

"Right," he said aloud, walking towards the sound of the Koto. "You're apart of the Sound Village. There was that girl Kin from the Chūnin Exams and that kunoichi Tayuya from the Sound Four who used sound-based genjutsu. The first used bells, the other used a flute. And now I must assume there's you and your Koto."

"Mm. I'm afraid not. This song cannot cast a genjutsu, nor do I have any talent in that art. My Lord taught me to play the Koto to entertain our guests. And through it I have learned to express my love and my grief."

If there was a single truth to her words, it was the love and grief she could express in her song. It was palpable in every note, in every pluck of the strings.

Jiraiya wasn't moved by the song, nor was he keen to believe she possessed no talent with genjutsu. The survivors state of unresponsive was either the result of a genjutsu or a narcotic or medicinal drug of some sort. He had to be careful.

"And what does a young lady like yourself have to grieve for?" asked the Toad Sage.

"Come, join me. I will reveal all to you, my hope and my despair. Yes, come closer. Step out of the darkness into the light and gaze upon My Lord's brilliance. Closer, closer. But remember: Shhhhh," she shushed softly. "This lullaby isn't for you or I. It's for those dreaming before they endure their test, and those who have already underwent it."

Cautiously, Jiraiya stepped through the small hall separating the chamber from the opposite room. The woman strummed her haunting and dreadfully beautiful melody. She hummed seductively; in fact, he could almost see the smile curled on her lips through the sound alone.

The room adjoined to the chamber was around the same size with a shorter ceiling. Unlike the chamber, though, it was illuminated by green light, light which emanated from the rows of cylindric pods. Housed inside the pods, suspended nakedly in water, were human beings.

There were dozens of them.

"My god," Jiraiya gasped.

Like the previous victims the ages of the people floating in the pods varied, starting at children younger than Naruto and adults as old as Jiraiya himself. Black tubes and wiring was attached to their suspended bodies, but…

Jiraiya dashed to the closest pod, belonging to a young girl no older than Sasame, who's eyes were shut and her long strawberry blonde hair floated wildly in the water. Scales like that of a snake had taken form on her face and left arm, turning her into a hybrid of human and animal.

Attached to each pod, he learned, was a monitor that displayed the vitals of the individual captured inside. He examined it and the girl, then rushed off to the next. And the next. And the next.

The Koto's melody haunted his every step.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

They were all dead.

Some weren't even given the courtesy to float in their flooded coffins, flushed and left crumpled inside with the tubes and wiring pulled taut.

At the pod of a boy, a child the age of Emi, Jiraiya had to stop. The boy had an ox-horn protruding from his head and a slight hoof where his right foot should've been. The other victims had similar animal mutations.

Burdened by sorrow and guilt, Jiraiya rested his hand against the cold glass and shut his eyes.

I should've killed you when I had the chance. The innocent people I've helped killed by letting you live…

The Koto's melody carried through the room.

"Tell me," he spoke up, "who was it you sacrificed to Orochimaru?"

"Sacrificed? No, no one was sacrificed. They're only asleep now. Shhh. We do not want to wake them yet. My Lord promised my son would awake when he finishes his tests. Then I could cradle him in my arms again and play him a lullaby for all the time we missed since his birth."

"You gave him your newborn?" Jiraiya questioned, voice hot with restrained fury.

"I gave birth to my son under the supervision of My Lord and his subordinate. They said he would one day possess the power to lead the Fūma Clan as they took him from my arms. However, first he required a test. They only wanted to ensure he would be a healthy boy. I visit him here everyday and play him this lullaby."

They took her baby from her arms right after she gave birth? Jiraiya strode away from the pod, following the melody of the Koto through the rows of glass pods. And she believes they are asleep? No. No one is asleep here. Not in the way she thinks. The trauma of having her baby ripped from her arms and killed in these experiments has clearly damaged her psyche.

It was one thing to fight an enemy who knowingly and willingly committed evil. It was another to face someone broken and twisted by the evil of another.

He passed through the hues of green light, his reflection bending over the cylindric pods. He saw people with fur like a tiger, teeth like wolves, wings and feathers, fish scales. The poor souls. They hadn't needed to die like this—they shouldn't have died at all.

Through the pods he spotted the woman kneeling before her Koto, a waterfall of black hair draping down her back in a hime-style. She wore an elegant red kimono.

The song ended as he approached. In the pod in front of the woman was an infant—her son. He bore a dorsal fin made of flesh. And no heartbeat.

"I think it's time for you to leave this place," Jiraiya said.

"I will not leave my son. A mother should never leave their child."

"Listen—"

There wasn't a moment to react. With a life of its own the woman's hair sprang at Jiraiya, wrapping around his arms, legs and body, restraining him.

"I will not leave!"

Crazed, the woman spun on him, eyes wide and wild. She pulled herself closer, or perhaps she tried to pull him closer and his greater weight and planted feet prevented it. Regardless, she slunk up to him like a retracting measuring tape to then scratch open his arms with her fingerpicks.

Jiraiya instantly felt the poison enter his system, cells burning and vision blurring as his heart palpitated out of control.

"My Lord promised me one other thing. If I can take you to the underworld then my son would awaken!" she declared insanely. "What mother wouldn't sacrifice herself to save her son!" She lifted her poisonous fingerpicks, bearing them like claws. "Now die!"

Before she could strike, a hand caught her wrist. Gasping in shock, she only saw the reflection of Jiraiya in the nearby glass pod standing behind her, a grim frown on his face.

"I'm sorry for what you've suffered," he said.

With a single blow he knocked her unconscious. He caught the poor woman before she could crash against the cold floor. His Shadow Clone dispelled, leaving the Toad Sage alone in the lifeless room.

His gaze lingered on the infant's pod.

Finally, he grunted and picked up the woman.

Naruto, Sakura, Mimi and Aoko, I hope you kids are all right. Don't worry. I'll catch up with you soon.

Elsewhere in the compound, Naruto and Sakura had finally managed to find their target. In a vast chamber illuminated by the flames of candlelight, inside of which tall pillars rose from the floor and disappeared in the shadows cast over the ceiling, the two Leaf shinobi stood with their fists and teeth clenched.

"Is that him, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah. That's him," he confirmed. "No doubt about it."

"Well, well, well," Kasai drawled, the scarred half his body covered in shadows. "Did you two come all this way to kill me? Oh, and let me guess, it's on behalf of that little crybaby everyone seems to revere, right?"

"This time you won't get to slip away, Kasai," Naruto promised. "This time we're gonna finish you off for good."

"Ha!" Kasai's laugh was mocking. "Don't get ahead of yourselves. Last time we fought, Nine-Tailed Fox, I was just playing around with you, that Hyūga nuisance and that bushy-browed loser. Together you couldn't beat me. What hope do you think you have when I won't hold back?"

"Oh, I'm not worried in the slightest, trust me," Naruto growled. "Last time Hinata nearly killed you before I got my hands on your Wood Clone. And the way I see it, you're lucky to be alive after what Amari did to you."

"Speaking of Amari…" Kasai walked out of the shadows into the light.

Naruto and Sakura openly grimaced. The twisted smile on the Senju's face was made all the more awful by the grotesque burn scars marring the left side of his face.

"So, Nine-Tailed Fox, where is she? Where is my dear old friend? Where is Amari?"

It wasn't the dead Sound shinobis littering the hallway of the living quarters that set Mimi on knives edge. It wasn't the blood splattered over the walls, ceiling and floor that kept her wide eyes lowered, locked on the still corpses, who's faces were frozen in their final moments of horror and agony.

It wasn't even the Wood Style ninjutsu perforating the bodies, ejecting their insides grotesquely over cold stone that made her hands tremble and a cold sweat build along her neck.

It was the man seated on a branch protruding from one of the corpses. He sat relaxed, comfortable despite the grisly scene around them. He sat with his right knee bent towards him, propping up his right forearm.

"You…" She struggled for words. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Mimi Inuzuka," the man with the flame pattern mask greeted her casually, voice deep and, she sensed, mildly amused by her reaction to his presence.

"Let's talk."