A day late and a dollar short by my previous pace, but I lost a day yesterday that I meant to use for writing. It happens sometimes.

Review response:

1. Noahendless: I'm glad it had the intended effect. With some possible exceptions, I don't feel like I should give many reasons to sympathize with Naruto's chosen enemies; he's a demon, certainly, but he's proven so far to be an honorable one.

Let's get this trainwreck moving.


A cruel silence had fallen over the Kazekage's household, and Temari—at last—turned away from the small shrine to her parents and youngest brother. Today was the day that Yuurei, Yugito, and Tayuya would be leaving Sunagakure. With a heavy heart, she found her way to the entry hall, and saw Kankuro shuffling back into his room. That particular scene was enough to bring a little humor to the young Kazekage. Seeing Temari walking towards them, Tayuya looked at Yuurei and rolled her eyes. If it wasn't for the oath that he'd sworn to Temari—perhaps the only time in his life that anyone would ever approach him with that intention in mind—they would have left before December arrived.

"I'll wait outside," Tayuya said, the four tooth-marks on her collarbone lightly throbbing as they emanated a soft red light. "See you soon, Temari. Take care of yourself."

As the skullcap-clad redhead vanished through the door, three blondes were left among one another. Yugito knew better than to bring up the terms of Temari's agreement; she wasn't fond of them, and she was aggravated that Yuurei had taken the deal, but it wasn't fair to fault her for a decision made in the height of her grief. Furthermore, the older woman thought, she didn't know that she had the right to feel like Temari was moving in on her newfound place in the world. She was well aware, though, that those lingering thoughts were due to the seal Yuurei had placed on her two and a half months ago. Yuurei had continued to remain ambivalent to ideas of entertaining his female companions.

With Temari, though, things were a little different—the young Kazekage had deliberately chosen her path. Perhaps there was a modicum of functionality to it, given that men had rarely approached her in the time before her father died. Maybe she was just trying to tie herself to a powerful ninja in order to prevent him from turning his blades on her. Whatever the case might have been, there was an unspoken closeness she had with Yuurei that wasn't present in Tayuya or Yugito, who were bound to him by more conventional means. Between themselves, those two women had determined this to be the reason why they hadn't left yet.

"I'm sorry we have to leave on these terms," Yugito said. The wish that Gaara was alive to send them off would forever go unspoken. "Thank you for having us. I enjoyed our time together."

"I'm sorry you have to leave at all. It's going to be much quieter around here." Temari smiled, embracing the taller woman with a smile and momentarily resting her head on Yugito's collarbone. After that brief respite, though, they were separated—and with a soft smile, Yugito went to join Tayuya outside.

"I don't think I've ever spent so long doing so little," Yuurei grinned. With a sweeping motion, a fingernail sliced open the tip of his right index finger, and Temari forced herself not to shrink away as he brought that finger up to the left corner of her jaw. With a literal finger on the Kazekage's pulse, Yuurei forced his blood through Temari's skin in the same way a seamstress might push thick thread through the eye of a needle. Temari felt an unquenchable fire ride through her veins, and as uncomfortable as the sensation made her, she found herself craving it like she'd never wanted anything else in her life. As Yuurei's blood coursed back to her heart, she felt it thundering in her chest; Temari had no words for the sensation she was experiencing, and no understanding of what was going on. Yuurei took his hand away from the blonde's neck, gently taking hold of her work-worn hands as he stepped closer to her.

"The Mark of the Beast." Yuurei said with satisfaction, using his free arm to press Temari close to him. Breathing in the scent of her hair, he closed his eyes, briefly imagining a world where none of this was happening. "As long as you have it, I'll know you're here, and I'll know that you're safe. If you ever need my help, just send your chakra into it, and I'll respond as quickly as I can."

"Take care of yourself." Temari mumbled into the demon's bare chest, basking in the unnatural warmth of his aura for a few seconds that seemed like an eternity.

"I'm not the one you..." Yuurei paused, his gaze flickering briefly to the door of the mansion—and the women waiting outside it—before he reconsidered his words. "...on second thought, yes I am."

With great effort, he separated himself from his embrace with Temari, only to bend his neck so that he could softly kiss her forehead.

"I doubt you'll see me again before I carry out your orders." The demon said, mismatched red eyes keeping a blank stare trained on Temari's face.

"Give them hell." Temari grinned, knowing that she needed to stop dragging this out. "And get out of here before those two get any more funny ideas."

Yuurei rolled his eyes at that, but his half-mocking salute was followed by the act of letting Temari's hands go and opening the front door before walking through it. As he basked in the early morning sun, two women gave him looks that said they begged him to let them settle their problems with him. No matter how slow they walked, or how quickly they advanced toward Suna's eastern gate, their annoyance didn't let up; he could feel their eyes on his sides and his back.

"Don't tell me you're jealous," he said as they finally crossed into the open desert. Without warning, Yugito's open palm struck Yuurei's jaw, and his eyes bugged as he comprehended the power behind that strike. Landing on the ground, his natural right eye twitched while he seemed to briefly consider the idea of returning fire with fire; as he considered the last five words he'd spoken, though, he thought better of it.

Tayuya, meanwhile, couldn't help snickering at the sight. Even Yuurei's baleful glare wasn't enough to stop her—if anything, it only encouraged her sense of humor further. The redhead helped him up, only barely containing her mirth, and she flashed the blond demon a sly look as her stomach softly shook with laughter.

"You get what ya fuckin' deserve, genius." Tayuya spoke plainly, continuing to laugh after she finished her words.

"Say, dear fearless leader: where are we going next?" Yugito asked, flexing her fingers. Despite the unrelenting stinging in her palm, she had to admit that it had felt good to land that blow. And, from her companions' reactions, they both knew it had been a good one. Of all the open palm-of-the-hand slaps that women had delivered in history, some of them had effects that changed the course of history—such as the deep ravine in Rai no Kuni that a young Tsunade had created when she smacked Jiraiya hard enough to break his jaw and fracture three vertebrae in his neck, which had inevitably proven vital to Konoha's victory in the later days of the Sandai Shinobi Senso. The hit that Yugito delivered was no weaker than that one, and only Yuurei's demonic origin kept him from needing to be hospitalized on the spot.

"Wherever the wind takes us. Isn't that right, Shukaku?" Yuurei shook his head to clear the lingering dizziness from his vision.

A dark aura fell on them, carried by the wind, and flecks of black and gold sand stirred through the desert's expanse. The Ichibi's laughter echoed wordlessly, and Yuurei beckoned the women behind him to follow his head. He wasn't entirely certain about his next course of action, but in his own estimation, he wanted to finish his evolution into a demon before he carried out Temari's request. So, as the trio dashed across the desert, he turned to his fellow blonde with a question.

"Out of curiosity, were you born in Kumo?" Yuurei asked.

"I was born in the mountains. When the Nibi's previous Jinchuriki died, they brought my mother to the Biju temple, and I had the good fortune to be born just before they were about to start the sealing process." Yugito answered. "Otherwise, I would have...ended up like Gaara was, before you..."

A moment of silence fell.

"Sealing a Biju into a child that's still in the womb can cause a long list of complications." Yugito continued. "Just like a Jinchuriki being a parent can cause problems, too, even if they're different ones. You...don't want to know why I know about all of this."

She said that, but it wasn't exactly hard to guess. Still, a sense of calm entered Yuurei's heart—Temari's oath to him had been that nobody born in Kumo should be alive in this world. He was honor-bound to fulfill that promise, but if Yugito didn't qualify, then he was able to fulfill that oath without regret. But in the prelude to that massacre, he asked himself, where would he go?


Sasuke groaned internally; it had been two months, and neither he nor Jiraiya had seen or heard a thing about Tsunade's whereabouts. However, standing in the middle of this small town's packed bar, a peculiar reaction caught his eye: a brunette woman with a pet pig unconsciously shirked away from him when she saw his hitai-ate. Sitting across from her was a woman who looked to be in her early thirties, with platinum blonde hair tied back in a loose ponytail. Nobody who wasn't a ninja, or a criminal with a bounty high enough that ninja would be hired to take them out, would have a reaction like that.

"Jiraiya..." The fourteen-year-old Uchiha said, hoping to get the giant man's attention, The Gama Sennin looked to Sasuke, following the direction that his eyes flicked to, and a mysterious look made its way to his face. With a nod of approval, Jiraiya walked to the table in question, and Sasuke wasn't far behind.

"It's been a long time, Tsunade." Jiraiya's words were warm and kindly, his booming voice somehow failing to draw any further attention to the table he stood at; the reason lay in the Mimigakikoenai-kai, a Deafening Seal he'd placed on the underside of the table that would keep their conversation from carrying. Instantly, Tsunade's eyes narrowed, and she was on high alert.

"What do you want from me?" Tsunade asked plainly. "I'm not in the mood to play games, Jiraiya."

"No, you're in the mood to drink. So, we'll drink." Jiraiya's offer was genuine, though he wasn't so crass as to pull out his personal flask in the middle of someone else's establishment. He had too much respect for those who crafted spirits for sale. Shizune and Sasuke both looked around, first at one another and then at the two members of the Sannin, but their helplessness was subverted in the next moment.

"I said, 'no games.'" Tsunade said, her mood clearly sour. Though Sasuke had never met the woman before, Jiraiya knew that she was likely drinking as a means of distracting herself from her gambling losses.

"My brother has a terminal illness. He's taking medicine to suppress its effects, but we're hopeful that you might find some way to cure him." Sasuke spoke up, cutting off an open-mouthed Jiraiya. "Is there anything I can say that can convince you?"

"You're...Fugaku's younger son, aren't you? So your brother is..." Shizune trailed off.

"Uchiha Itachi, the newly-instated Godaime Hokage." Jiraiya finished Shizune's sentence for her.

"The Hokage wants me to make a house call?" Tsunade rolled her eyes, downing her small cup of sake. "This isn't some trick to force me back into the village, is it?"

"No." Sasuke denied the idea, staring at Tsunade's face as he tried to figure out how a woman so much younger than Jiraiya had been his Genin teammate.

"Nice and simple. You go back, examine him to determine if he can be cured, cure him if possible, get paid for your time and effort, and then you can leave." Jiraiya spoke with a smile, still confident he could win his old teammate over.

"Two conditions. First, I'm going to examine him at a neutral point outside of Konoha. Second...kid, you're here on your brother's behalf, right?" Tsunade asked pointedly, looking at Sasuke. "If you can take one attack from me without dodging, I'll do it."

"Done," Sasuke said as he stuck his hand out to shake on the deal. Take one punch? What an embarrassingly easy request to fulfill. Even if she was one of the Sannin, she wouldn't dare kill a direct family member of the sitting Hokage.

"Not done!" Jiraiya exclaimed, looking between Tsunade and Sasuke as if they'd grown three heads.

"Done." Tsunade took the young Uchiha's offered hand, grinning. Maybe it was the alcohol, but she was amused at how readily the fourteen-year-old Chunin had agreed.

"And I think we're done here." Shizune stood up from the table, beside Sasuke, before leaving to pay Tsunade's tab out of her own pocket; she had no other choice, as Tsunade was deeper in debt than a corpse in the ground. For his part, Jiraiya only shook his head with his eyes closed. For the life of him, he didn't know how he would explain to the Hokage that he'd allowed Sasuke to die.


"Hey, Ayame," Kidomaru asked the brunette directly, "who exactly is Yuurei to you?"

The Sound Four had finished with their training for the day, and now lingered in the grassy field they'd been given for personal use. At Kidomaru's question, Jirobo and Sakon both looked over; Ayame's long brown hair had been tied into a low ponytail, black cloth and body armor covering almost her entire body. Unlike the rest of the Otoyon, including the absent Tayuya, Ayame focused far more on protection than evasion; certainly, she was confident that her skills would let her avoid most blows, but she wanted to make sure that the ones she missed didn't kill her. The armor itself was also useful as a deterrent against some of the more rowdy experiments in Orochimaru's lairs—anybody who walked around with equipment that could let her take their attacks without flinching was clearly someone important.

"Historically? Interpersonally?" Ayame responded with questions of her own. In the weeks she'd been present, though she'd proven that she could work just as well with the Sound Four as anyone might be expected to, relating to the three and a half men was something she'd routinely been struggling with. The primary reason, in her mind, being that they all seemed wary of her thanks to her association with Naruto—who they all referred to as Yuurei, for whatever reason.

"Both?" Kidomaru asked. He was the most outwardly social of the Otoyon, even before Tayuya had left for whatever long-term mission Orochimaru had sent her on, which meant he was the one Ayame had to put up with most often.

"When my father's restaurant burned down, he took me in. He kept me safe. He stole for me, he killed for me, and he gave me somewhere to belong. I'm his second in command, even if I'm not the second-strongest member of our group." Ayame answered.

Out of the corners of their eyes, Jirobo and Sakon stared worriedly at one another. This woman...was Yuurei's second in command? Second in command of what? The second question was, to be frank, more alarming than the first.

"So, indulge my morbid curiosity for a moment," Jirobo began to ask, "but who is?"

"Oh, you've already met him. It's Sai." Ayame made her case, smiling disarmingly.

At this revelation, even the even-keel Kidomaru couldn't help a startled expression crossing his face. Who was Yuurei, to the younger generation of Konoha's ninja, that he presided over the new commander of the Ne corps—and that there was someone between them in that hierarchy? There was a deep, and very odd, imbalance of power in that chain of command. Obviously, Yuurei was stronger than anybody else further down the line. None of the men of the Otoyon could comprehend human children supplanting a true-born demon in strength. But for Ayame to be prized more highly than Sai, who had taken control of Danzo's private army after the latter's passing...what was it that Yuurei saw in her? What was it she could do, that others couldn't? Yuurei wasn't the type of person who did things without reasoning them out.

"My son's numerous allegiances are hardly a concern, let alone a problem." Orochimaru's voice emanated before he appeared in a puff of smoke. As the Sound Four cupped their fists and bowed their heads to the White Snake, he merely waved their formality away. "I've received word from Tayuya. At some point in the next two months, Her group will be arriving in Mizu no Kuni. I trust you're aware of the situation that's developed?"

"After failed assaults on two hidden villages, the populace lost faith in the Mizukage. They're in the middle of a civil war, and it's a bloody one." Sakon said with a laugh. "Two million ryo says that Yuurei's on his way to kill everyone involved. I remember what happened in Nami."

"I'd think that's reason for him to help the rebellious faction, not go on a blanket killing spree." Jirobo disagreed with his gray-haired teammate. "You can keep your money, though."

"Jirobo is right," Orochimaru said.

"And you're sending us to serve as his backup?" Kidomaru asked rhetorically, cracking his knuckles. "Give us a chance to work together for real?"

"Correct." Orochimaru nodded, glad that his subordinates were quick on the uptake. With a laugh, the Byahebi vanished as quickly has he arrived, leaving the Sound Four to their own devices.

Spitting a hard dart of webbing across the training field, the young man from Rai no Kuni grinned meaningfully. To be honest, Yuurei's strength was mortifying, but Kidomaru took great comfort in the fact that he always seemed to end up fighting on the blond demon's side. In his expert opinion, thatt was a much better way of doing business than the alternative.

"Well, you heard the boss. Let's get this show on the road." He said.