(A/N: Okay, just so y'all know, I am a bit of a fan of Orochimaru. But nonetheless, I had a blast w/ the lil conflict -u'll kno wut I'm talking about after u read it-. That's about it, actually. So I hope y'all enjoyed it and please RnR!)

"You bastard," Zetsu said in an angry voice as the news about Three's murder sunk in. "You will pay for what you did."

"Not now, Boar." White's voice came form somewhere near him, "North has Three. It's time for us to leave. Turquoise's orders."

Zetsu hesitated for a second, but knew better than to disobey White and Deidara. He slowly sunk into the ground and vanished. Once they were at a safe distance, White and Zetsu came out of hiding and met up with North carrying Three's body. The Akatsuki all met by the entrance of Konoha. All of them were more than a little shaken. Deidara talked to all of them and they told her about the fights and opponents.

Deidara and Sasori faced up against Jiraiya, Naruto, and Kiba. Deidara and Sasori were caught off guard by the fox demon boy they had faced only a year ago. White and North retreated from Tenten, Hinata, and Ino. Zetsu and Three fought against Ibiki, Kakashi, and Gai, resulting in Three's murder. Kisame lay, leaning against the wall, unconscious. They didn't know where Sasuke was, or who he faced.

Deidara paced back and forth in front of Kisame's unconscious body. "Where the hell is Sasuke!" she shouted, her usual façade shattered by the disaster that had become of this little war. "And Orochimaru, too! He's supposed to meet us here. Somebody wake Kisame up; I want to know everything that happened!" And with that she stormed away in search of Sasuke and Orochimaru.


Sasuke and Orochimaru stood facing each other. This had to end now.

"Why did Yukie leave? What did you do to her?" Sasuke demanded.

Orochimaru shrugged, "I did nothing. She merely overreacted."

"About what?" Sasuke pressed, unwilling to give up.

"About Talah."

Sasuke cursed under his breath; so that was what it was all about. Yukie and Talah had been very close. Considering her experiences in Konoha, she couldn't have been expected to react well. "You knew what the outcome of that would be like," Sasuke said after a moment.

"Believe me, my boy, I never expected Yukie to leave me." Orochimaru said gravely.

Sasuke knew it was true enough. Orochimaru wouldn't do something to make Yukie leave. "But you had to have known she would have reacted badly."

Orochimaru shrugged nonchalantly, "I expected she would have reacted badly. But I also expected she would deal with it, like she always has. She's lost more friends to help me than either of us care to count. Yet with every loss, she only seemed to get stronger… until now…"

"Or maybe she became too strong to be fooled by you," Sasuke said angrily.

"Like you did?" Orochimaru mused.

Sasuke shrugged, "Probably even stronger than me."

Orochimaru nodded, "She is easily stronger than all of us… especially with that darkness inside of her."

"But she's gone now," Sasuke said with a sigh.

"And we should be, too, yeah, yeah," Deidara said behind Sasuke. Sasuke didn't react and Deidara continued, "We're leaving, Orochimaru. The Sand ninjas are on their way. We won't risk ourselves any further for your goal, no matter how much you offer us. Today, Orochimaru, is the end. We are severing our ties with you once and for all."

"Don't you think you should leave Zero to decide this?" Orochimaru asked, seething.

"No! You're out, yeah, yeah. Give Sasuke the ring. You don't get it anymore."

"You'll have to take it from me," Orochimaru challenged, lifting his left had so the ring could be seen on his pinky finger.

"Sounds fun," Deidara said with a sly smile, "Say goodbye to your hand, yeah, yeah." Before Orochimaru could react, Deidara performed a jutsu and a clay bracelet appeared around Orochimaru's writ. Once he recognized the clay-made-bomb Deidara had made, the most he could do was move his hand as far from his face as possible before it exploded.

The explosion was small. Deidara and Sasuke were unharmed. Orochimaru was also unharmed, with the exception of his severed hand and blood-covered arm and face. Deidara walked forward, a pleased grin pasted onto her face. Orochimaru looked away in a mixture of anger and disgust. Sasuke watched in astonished horror as Deidara picked up Orochimaru's detached hand and smoothly pulled the ring off.

She walked over to Orochimaru and held out his hand for him to take. "I believe this belongs to you," she said in a pleased voice that matched her smile perfectly.

Orochimaru took the hand with his right, shaking with anger. He looked like he was about to say something, but stopped himself. His rage could cause him to do something he would regret, and apparently he knew it. Orochimaru tried to calm down so he could speak. As Orochimaru tried to gain his voice over his anger, Deidara turned and walked away, gesturing for Sasuke to follow. With a last glance at the outraged Orochimaru, Sasuke followed Deidara.

"What happened?" Deidara demanded, "Tell me everything, yeah, yeah."

Sasuke shook his head, saying quietly, "Personal matters. The fight went bad and I confronted Orochimaru for my own reasons."

Deidara seemed unhappy with his reply, but let the subject drop. "We're going back now." Deidara handed the ring to Sasuke, "Hang onto this until we need it again."

Deidara and Sasuke met up with the others at the exit. Kisame had woken up, but his skin was so injured from Shino's warrior bugs, he couldn't walk. Sasori used one of his puppets to carry Kisame. They headed back to the Akatsuki headquarters at a steady pace. They traveled close together, but once in a while a scout would go out to check the surroundings. One time, Sasuke went out and found traces of the Sand ninjas. If they had left much later, they would have been caught.