A/N: Aaaah! Wow this whole past week it wouldn't let me log in, it kept saying "We are currently experiencing heavier than expected traffic and are unable to fulfill your request at this time. Please come back later. Thank you." I was like wtf? THE WHOLE WEEK. I came on every day, about every 3 hours, same exact thing. So basically, that shaved off a weeks time of a semi-what early update. It was done, I promise! Soo that's pretty much the reason, but I guess I'll still apologize! Btw..THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS!! You guys make my heart smile, and my mouth jump with glee.

Speaking of smiles, it was so hilarious. Have you guys ever seen someone try to smile, when they either cant, or at the moment really don't want to? And it looks so funny cause the corner of their mouths tries to scrunch up. Absolutely hilarious sight. Hahoo man.

Please Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I now officially own the Naruto series...yep i finally did it. Yea, instead of saving up a bunch of money to out-buy them...i just went on ahead and uh..well actually i think i'll just keep it a secret..but chea. Prepare for AMAY-zing Naruto episodes from now on. WOOT WOOT.

Behind The Smile

Chapter 33:Martyring

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--

His frustrated eyes still continued to scan every single area around him. The tiled panels of the rooftops were a constant blur to him now; his vision temporarily blinded by the multicolored flames of the fires burning. He was weaving his way around the battling, more concerned with finding someone.

The sound of his sandals hitting the concrete almost seemed to echo throughout the closed space. He was in a narrow alley way, running its length, twisting through corridors, only to soon be met with yet another wall.

Letting out a silent curse he backtracked before jumping on the roof, resuming his search. As soon as he did so, his eyes glanced at the figure coming towards him. It was Chouji. He made his way to his side as the two continued to travel.

"Any sign of her?" It was an honest, curious question, containing no tone other than that.

"Maybe I would have a sign if you remembered where you found me." Shikamaru shot back. His voice held a tone of deep irritation.

"Whoa whoa, sorry man. Maybe you should have remembered where the flower shop was, since you were in there all time… and hey, you're not the only one worried alright?"

Shikamaru let out a small sigh. Under normal circumstances he probably would have apologized. But right now, he had no desire to. Keeping his mouth shut at the moment was the best thing he could do.

"We have to keep looking." He finally said.

--

His slightly wide eyes stared off into the distance, a sort of disbelief embedded. It was short lived, however, as a silent fury replaced it, his fists clenching very tightly. He immediately started his sprint, jumping off the nearby cliff into the forest below. He was now running along a very familiar path, through the shrubs and trees of the forest. Pushing through them he made it onto a long dirt path that would lead him to his destination.

"Kuso!"

--

Sakura jumped in the air, her pink locks spinning around with her as she kicked the side of a Sound shinobi's head. She landed gracefully on the ground, taking a deep breath before straightening up to a standing position.

I have to find everybody

The beads of perspiration on her head showed that she had been fighting for quite some time as she made her way through the village of Konoha. A few scratches and smears of dirt adorned her skin.

Her emerald eyes scanned the area as she took long, deep breaths.

She had to hold her balance as another larger tremor shook the earth.

Sakura jumped onto a nearby rook before jumping onto other, much taller roof. Her emerald eyes, scanned Konoha once again. It was then that she noticed the huge beasts in various places. They were in the form of large snakes, towering over Konoha, causing destruction in their wake.

An image of Orochimaru flashed in her mind.

It can't be..but where?

She looked around, trying to find any location where he could have been, if he really was there. She found none. He must have been hiding; those snakes were the exact same ones from all those years ago, in that forest, they were definitely his doing.

Without a word she made her way towards the closest beast, knowing they had to be stopped before she could do anything.

--

The Hyuuga manor was one of the only areas that hadn't been grazed by the fires, it's buildings breached by the Shinobi bearing the Sound insignia. Hiashi Hyuuga stood along the green grace, right in front of its entrance. As each came, he quickly disposed of them with a simple stabbing like motion of his pointed fists. He was calm, and seemed at ease.

To his side was a younger woman, her once short locks of hair now at medium's length. She was fighting as well, with the same ease as her father. But something seemed to be bothering her, she seemed to be in a sort of anxiety, a well hidden worry etched in her eyes. She had been there, fighting for some time now, thought it wasn't all at once, just every once and a while when one would come.

"Hinata."

Whilst fighting, her pearl eyes traveled to look into his.

"Be careful."

Her eyes seemed to widen a bit as she tried to comprehend what he meant, but relief soon replaced. She gave him a quick nod in thanks before sprinting out of the Hyuuga manor, and into the rest of Konoha.

--

She couldn't stop the weak coughs that racked her body. The air she was forced to breathe in was polluted with smoke and dust. A long line of blood ran down from her head, her whole body and clothing covered in dirt and scratches.

Her mind was still hazy as she unconsciously sought to move from the uncomfortable position she was in. She was trapped under huge pieces of rebel, as well as on top of some. The area all around her was almost completely caved in, pieces of random metal sticking out everywhere. The room was lit up by an orangey glow, due to the fires being the only source of light.

Slightly opening her eyes, she let out a few more coughs, her eyes trying to scan the area around her, though she was weak. With seemingly no determination her hands traveled to lightly grasp the rebel on top of her. She hardly applied pressure, finding herself more dizzy as she did so.

In the daze she was in, she hardly noticed the heat of the flaring flames all around the building, spreading with each moment.

--

People all around were scattering, tumbling over each other in order to get out of it's way. Among them were both Sound and Konoha Shinobi, as well as citizens. This was one of the many areas with a high concentration of yelling and screaming.

"Damn it all!" A lone shinobi with the insignia of the leaf stopped running with the crowd, and stood his ground in front of the large snake, trying to give leeway to the scurrying citizens. This action caused the snake to slow down to a halt a few yards in front of him, its eyes glaring and its tongue sizzling in a hiss. The lone shinobi glanced around him, seeing that all the people had made a great distance from the snake, which had been his goal. The many people scurrying away made long distance from him and the beast, which otherwise would not have happened.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he slowly took out a kunai, opening his eyes to meet the snake's. He already knew it was futile.

A close group of shinobi looked back behind them to see the reason why the snake had stopped in its pursuit. Their eyes slightly widened as they looked at the lone shinobi. Sharing a quick glance, a few others stopped, turning to travel in the opposite direction, making their way to his side. They all gazed up at the snake, eyes intense. The first who had stopped, the no longer lone shinobi, seemed to glance at them all in surprise, then quickly appreciation.

Their kunai's were at hand, and their unsure gazes looked up to the snake towering above them. As if one que, and letting out a large hiss, the large beast's head dove towards them, it's fangs poised for the kill. They did not move their ground, only brought their arms ups, kunai's at hand.

Just as it seemed like it would collide with them, a blur passed in front of them. The snake hissed in agony, immediately bringing it's head up to move it from side to side in pain. A lone kunai had been lodged in one of its eyes.

The shinobi's surprised eyes looked to woman who was immediately on the snake yet again. They were still in the same position, arms brought up with their kunais at hand. Their eyes seemed to widen more, gasps erupting from their throats as they realized who the person was.

"I-It can't be!" One of them hushed in disbelief.

But pink kept flashing in their eyes; and as the snake dove towards them yet again, they got an even clearer look at her physical qualities. Her emerald eyes flashed in their view for not even a second as she let out a battle cry, jumping in the air to perform a very powerful spin kick.

"S-Sakura-san!" They all simultaneously muttered in monotone.

The beast hissed in anger as it fell to its side, but immediately was up again. Instead of diving towards her, its head tilted back before snapping forward, a squirt of venom ejecting from its fangs. Sakura rolled to the side, barely dodging it. Though as the venom made contact with the ground it splattered, little specs nicking her. Her tongue clicked in pain, as her body recoiled. She quickly looked to see the small spots of burnt skin on her arm, one on her cheek, right below her eye.

Now her right eye was slightly squinting, the burning sensation from the venom threatening to blind her. Her eyes then snapped to the snake once again as it dove for her. She rolled to the side once again, though this time quickly counter-attacked, lodging another kunai in its remaining eye.

The shriek that came from the snake this time was piercing with its loudness. It brought on a series of hissing, as the beast started to thrash about blindly. Though as it still sensed her, it thrashed its tail about in her direction, simple swings leveling the nearby buildings. She jumped back a few feet to avoid this.

Wasting no time, Sakura let out a small grunt as she slammed her charka filled fist into the ground. The earth all around instantly broke up, causing the snake to fall down, caught by the many cracks and crevices of the earth. Stuck, it still hissed violently as it sensed her presence. She then ran towards the snake, pulling out a huge windmill shuriken. Twirling it around in her hand as she ran, she jumped up between the broken earth, running along the length of the snakes body. She ran the shuriken along it, all the way until the head.

The head was still moving as it hissed at her lowly. She looked at it for a moment, before letting out a small battle cry stabbed the shuriken into it's throat, using her foot to dig in further. For some reason it seemed like she was taking her anger out on the beast, on whoever crossed her path, and she was merciless.

Her eyes were trained on the lifeless snake as she breathed heavily, her face almost seemed to be twisted in anger, but a more so stoic look was present on her face. She brought up a hand, wiping the area under her eye, where the venom had singed. She then grabbed hold of the shuriken, wrenching it out of the snake; some of its blood squirted out as she did this, covering her hand.

Tearing her eyes away from the snake, she jumped back, performing a back flip as she did so, this put her on the solid ground right before the broken up earth. She then let out one last big breath, seeming calmer. For some reason, she felt a lot better.

"Sakura!"

Her head turned to the side as her curious emerald eyes looked at the caller.

--

"Sakura!" He had stopped, positioned on top of a roof as he looked around frantically. It was hard to see with the numerous amounts of fires flaring everywhere. Growling in irritation, he jumped down, quickly fighting his way through crowds of shinobi.

--

"It's you! It really is you!" They all stopped in front of her, a relieved look in their eyes. They were the shinobi whom she had just saved.

Sakura was about to give them a smile, but her head snapped to her right as a movement caught her eye. It was too sudden as an attack sent her flying back. She landed on her back, skidding to a halt. She hardly had time to wince in pain as the attacker came again. She brought a kunai, barely meeting the kunai diving towards her.

It was all she could do to keep the kunai stationary; their kunais wavering with the power struggle.

Emerald eyes widened as she looked up at her attacker.

--

Her large breaths could be heard throughout the silent house. She ran through each room, finding proof that the person whom she was looking for was not there. Her pearl eyes wavering, and she let out a noise of dismay as she bolted out of the house.

--

He was getting very tired of this. He was getting very irritated. Most of all, he was getting infuriated.

The numbers kept increasing, the attacking ceased to stop. Even with his Byakaguun he could not see through the huge crowds of fighting, he could not see her. Closing his eyes, he lowered even further into a fighting position. Immediately a huge seal appeared underneath him, stretching out along the huge span of shinobi. The bluish glow emanated brightly, lighting up the small area.

"Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!" Neji's hands were angled in the familiar deadly point, his fingers poised and ready to strike. He stabbed his hands forwards into a shinobi, in a series of two heavy strikes. His attacks switched to another, delivering another two. He proceeded in this way, switching to a new shinobi every two hits. He moved his way up with four, followed by eight, followed by sixteen, followed by a dazzling thirty-two consecutive pinpoint-precision strikes, totaling to the fatality of thirty-one Sound shinobi.

"Hakke Hyaku Nijuhachi Sho!" Neji continued stabbing his hands forward. Executing sixty-four consecutive pin-point precision strikes, followed by a whopping one hundred-twenty-eight strikes. The huge area of shinobi around him decreased drastically as he did this. After his final hit, his body halted, and his knees bent, as he slightly slid from the momentum. As he came to stop, he let out a small breath, almost like a sigh. Where normally that technique would have drained him, he was perfectly fine, years of training allowing him to do so much more than that.

His pearl eyes then looked around, much abler to see the two buns planted atop a female's head, perfectly held even with her battling.

Tenten jumped back, readying three kunais with one hand, wasting not a second as she threw them, excellent precision landing them directly in throats. Her breaths were slightly heavy, and she was inwardly grateful for the time she spent training in close combat, rather than just with weaponry, she wouldn't have lasted this long. Letting out a rough, growling battle cry she shoved her fist forward into an enemies face before dropping down and tripping him.

She flipped another over as he came from behind. But just as she did so, another came too fast. She was hardly able to bring up her arms to block. Luckily he wasn't armed with a kunai, but the force of the blow sent her flying back.

And as she thought she would hit the ground, she found herself letting out a small gasp as someone caught her from behind. She looked up, ready to attack, but stopped when she noticed pearl eyes. She didn't stop him as he quickly reached in to her weapons pouch, pulling out a kunai. The kunai was sent straight into the enemies head.

It was then that her chocolate orbs scanned the area, noticing they were gone. She couldn't help the small grin that came to her face. He had totally cleared the whole area of all those shinobi. She glanced up to him again, with a small smile.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Are you okay?" She asked back. Neji let out a small smirk.

"We have to find everybody else." He said. She quickly nodded.

--

"Why..." He muttered. His tone was dangerously low.

He swiftly turned, his orange and black jumpsuit blurring as his fist dug into the abdomen of a Sound shinobi coming at him. Another came just as soon, only to be met by an upper cut.

"..are you guys.." The bones in another face broke as his fist slammed into it. The next one was elbowed in the same manner. He swiftly threw one over his head into another crowd of oncoming enemies, knocking them down like dominos. Allowing them no room to rise, he stretched out one hand before using his other to make charka like patterns in a compressed circular movement. The swirling blue charka almost instantly formed, spinning smoothly.

"..Here again?!" He slammed his ransengan filled fist into the ground, the middle of the huge pile of shinobi. The blue-like charka created a small, yet deadly spherical explosion.

--

He had long since been in the abandoned part of the village, home to some of the more wretched flames. Atop one of the roofs, he kept looking around, trying to find any hint to where she could possibly be. But the village was too big for that, and his patience wiring thin.

"Kuso!" He was about to take off, but a huge snake appeared out of nowhere, immediately diving towards him.

Letting out an irritated growl, he took out a large shuriken. Without making another sound, as the snake was about to collide, he spun three-hundred- sixty degrees, holding his arm out with the shuriken. The remnants of the spherical motion made by the shuriken could been seen for an instant on the snake. The snake split open as it fell past Sasuke, it's head cut off from the simple movement.

Right after, another appeared.

What the hell?

Sasuke's obsidian eyes looked at the snake coming towards him. Using the same shuriken, he jumped up onto it's head, shoving the weapon into it's head. He rode down with the falling snake, jumping off of the beast right before it hit the ground. He then stood there, waiting for another snake to come out of nowhere, when it didn't, he made his way back onto the roof. He looked around once more, his eyes narrowed in a sort of speculation.

(Song: Naruto - Orochimaru's Theme)

He prepared to take off yet again, starting his first few running steps, but all too soon came to a complete halt, shoving a fist into his pocket as he did so. He did this casually, but his countenance had become completely still, and his obsidian orbs were now replaced by deadly Sharingan. His gaze was focused out of the corner of his eye, looking at something a distance behind him.

"It's been quite some time, Sasuke-kun."

--

(continuation of Orochimaru's Theme)

"Hm..I had expected to kill you with this swing. Impressive, Sakura-san." He seemed to speak with ease as he continued to apply pressure to the kunai. He used his free hand to casually push his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Kabuto

From her position on the ground, Sakura only looked up at him, though surprise evident on her face, she did not reply.

"Sakura-san!" Her head snapped to her side at the call, seeing those same shinobi moving to their position. She looked back to Kabuto who took a glance at them, grinning.

"You guys get out of here!" She warned. She let out a small grunt as she gave a hard push on her kunai, throwing Kabuto back a few steps. She immediately did a small back flip onto her hands and feet.

"But Sakura-san-"

"Go!" She dodged a punch, immediately crouching down to under-kick, but Kabuto seemingly disappeared.

Unsure looks in their eyes, the shinobi took off, determined to look for help.

From her crouched position, she slowly straightened up into a standing position. Her emerald eyes followed them as they ran off in the distance, the small look of relief was hardly noticeable, becoming completely transparent as her gaze traveled to look at the figure a few yards in front of her.

He casually raised one of his hands up, it was covered in charka. (Remember his medical skills: tamper with internal organs, movement, the works)

Her stern gaze did not waver as she looked at him, her face continuing to hold that stoic look.

--

"Orochimaru, huh." His voice was emotionless, cold as he fully turned his body to fully look at the figure behind him. "You look..uncomfortable." He added this as he took a good look.

The "body" Orochimaru was in looked to be decaying. Long ago, his snake-like eyes were able to be seen, exposed by the part of the face that had now peeled off. He seemed to be sweating, and he looked to be, a little more than uncomfortable. Though a foreboding grin was planted on his face, a look of confidence, anxiousness adorned as well. And as he continued to eat Sasuke with his eyes, his mouth opened slightly, it almost seemed he would drool at any moment.

"I knew you would come here, Sasuke-kun.." A tone of sick amusement was in his tone.

Sasuke slowly, yet casually brought a hand up to rest on his neck, where the curse seal was. He grasped it tightly, signifying that it was burning intensely, but otherwise it was unknown through his stoic demeanor.

"It burns because you have been away from me for some time now. But you won't have to worry about that soon enough."

"Aa." He started, seemingly not caring. He brought down his hand, placing it in his open pocket. "I assume you are the one behind all this." He took a casual glance to the destruction taking place not so far away. His stern eyes then refocused onto Orochimaru's.

"What is your purpose here." He asked impassively.

"Why, there are many reasons, Sasuke-kun."


Gracis Para Leyendo!

Why is it that the plural of 'Goose' is 'Geese', but the plural of 'Moose' isn't 'Meese'?

So ums..i hope that wasn't to short of a chapter! Don't worry, I have all your best interests and preferations at heart, really.

Until next time my loves!