A/N: Thanks a bunch of cinnamon struesel muffins for the reviews everyone! I appreciate them!

Disclaimer: If I owned the Naruto series, Naruto would also be in look with Cinnamon Struesel muffins cause..man..they are AMAY-zing. They would be his favorite must have sweet after he ate his ramen...OR..actually Sasuke, even though he doesn't like sweets, would LOVE them. they would be his only acception...wow..i love those things.

Behind The Smile

Chapter 34: Thesis Statement

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A small family of three lay huddled up in a corner, looking up with fearful eyes at their attacker.

"Look at these pathetic people!" The holder of the voice bore a headband with the insignia of the Sound on it.

"I say they're just begging to die, don't you?" Another, with the same headband snickered, making his way closer to them.

The mother let out a small noise as she buried her head further against her crying child's. The father in response wrapped his arms around them tighter, his eyes holding a silent fury as he looked up at them.

"What? You have something to say?" They noticed the abhorrent look they were receiving from him.

"You wanna play hero?" They snatched him up, kunai's at hand, preparing to strike. The woman and child started screaming. Just as the one holding the man was about to strike, a kunai from out of nowhere embedded itself in the Sound shinobi's neck. The man he was holding fell to the ground, his wife and child huddled up against him.

Before the other had any time to react, a figure appeared in front of him, leaving no warning before he slammed his fist into the shinobi's abdomen. This sent him flying away into the nearby fires of a building.

His eyes closed for a moment, his cloak falling still. He then opened his eyes, revealing his piercing Sharingan. On his right cheek was a long scar, looking very recent as the blood barely clotted.

"U-Uchiha…" They were all shocked, looking helpless on the ground as the stared with wide eyes.

They watched as his Sharingan eyes stared in a general direction, as if he was looking for something. Though he was calm, stoic. His eyes seemed to squint slightly as if he saw something he needed to see. With that, he seemingly disappeared.

--

Her calm, stoic face stayed in place, her emerald eyes stern as they focused on Kabuto. Her face was smeared in dirt, most of her clothing looking that way as well. There were a few specs of burnt skin as well, one under her eye. It clearly looked like she had been fighting for a long time, and must have been exhausted, but none of this showed. She was calm, and poised.

"Where's Orochimaru?" Kabuto didn't answer, he just simply smiled, bring up a hand to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose once again.

"I know you wouldn't come here without him, and he wouldn't come here without you."

"Smart."

"Why are you here?"

"Oh, because of you, Sakura-san." Her head slightly turned to the side as her emerald orbs studied him questioningly.

"All of this," He brought his hands up into the air, slightly looking around at the destruction of Konoha. "wouldn't have been possible without you."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll find out, soon enough." She noticed him lower into a fighting stance. His amused eyes focused on her. Sakura did not follow his actions, she stayed standing tall, still, eyes trained on him.

"Are you ready, Sakura-san?"

--

Sasuke's eyes slightly narrowed.

"Though, I believe you should earn this story, Sasuke-kun. Also, I'm waiting for Kabuto to bring me someone, someone I want you to see before our parting..or should I say joining…" Sasuke said nothing, his countenance still impassive.

"Amuse me for a while, will you?" With that, Orochimaru bit his thumb, immediately running it along the seals upon his arm. The blood made an even line across.

"Kuchiyose No Justu."

(Song: The Rising Fighting Spirit)

Sasuke's Sharingan eyes were still trained on Orochimaru as the many snakes appeared, surrounding him. He looked at Orochimaru for a while longer, before changing his gaze to look out of the corner of his eye, at the snakes surrounding him.

--

Kunai poised and arm held up in front of her face, Sakura took off, running towards Kabuto. She then threw the kunai with excellent speed. He seemingly disappeared, reappearing not a few feet away. But he barely looked up to see Sakura falling down on him, her charka filled fist poised to stroke.

He seemingly disappeared again, leaving Sakura's fist to meet the ground, breaking the earth up beneath it. A few bits of rebel and dirt fell to ground. Emerald eyes trained on Kabuto, not moving from her crouched position, she seemingly disappeared, too fast for Kabuto to react as her fist connected with his face. As he flew backwards, she was already upon him, giving him more momentum as she continued to pummel him with her monstrous strength. There was no way he would get up from this.

Letting out a small, yet calm grunt, she spun around; delivering a powerful kick that sent him flying into the ground. The impact created a small crater underneath him. Sakura landed on the ground not to far away, cracking her fists and she slowly walked towards him. Her breathing was slightly labored, due from the tiredness she suffered from her earlier fighting.

She stopped, her eyes not showing her surprise as Kabuto moved, slowly pushing himself up into a crouching position before pushing himself into a standing. After a few moments, he straightened up all the way, looking at her as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Kabuto almost looked surprised at her strength and speed, but soon a grin traveled to his face. He slowly raised his hand up; it was covered in the same blue charka.

"My turn."

--

(continuation of Rising fighting spirit)

The five snakes summoned immediately dove towards his position on the rooftop. Sasuke just stood his ground, switching his gaze to stare at Orochimaru calmly. As their heads collided with the rooftop, they destroyed the building underneath, and seemingly Sasuke, who did not disappear.

A huge, nasty grin made its way onto Orochimaru's face. It would seem as if he thought Sasuke had been destroyed, but his eyes were not trained on the destruction of the building. They were moving, seemingly following something's movements.

Sasuke was running along the back of one of the snakes, the same shuriken from before pulled out. He then stuck into the snake's back, running it along all the way up. As he was doing this, others immediately charged at him. Leaving the shuriken in the same one, which was thrashing about wildly, he pulled out two more kunai before jumping onto the head of another.

Simultaneously he dug the two kunai's into each of the snake's eyes. Hands still on the kunai, he jumped forward, using amazing strength to bring the snake down with him towards the ground. As his feet touched the ground, so did the mouth of snakes head. Leaving no spare moment, he didn't make a sound as he stepped forward, gaining momentum before he threw the snake forward into two others. With his hands still on the kunai's they slipped out of the eyes as it fell towards the other two. Their collision and fall to the ground created a small tremor.

Orochimaru's grin got even bigger, his eyes filled with a seemingly type of lust as his snake-like eyes followed Sasuke's movements. It almost seemed he was drooling as he slightly opened his mouth.

The perfect container for my dreams

Sasuke reappeared on a rooftop, his eyes focusing on Orochimaru.

--

"Sakura-san, are you sure you want to be wasting your charka like that?" Sakura had just finished healing her leg, which had its vistas lateritious severed. She had almost forgotten how good he was in the medical field; even she didn't know how to do that. She rose up to a standing position once again.

"All I need is one punch, Kabuto." It was true, with her monstrous strength; she could completely knock him out. Though..

"Can you land one punch, Sakura-san?"

It was then that Sakura charged, both fists poised and ready to strike. She aimed combo of attacks at him, and he dodged all of them, though not without trouble. He seemingly disappeared, leaving Sakura to dig her fist into the earth once again. She then disappeared with him.

They kept appearing and reappearing in various places, Sakura doing all the attacking, and Kabuto barely managing to dodge. In their last meeting, a punch Sakura delivered came to fast, and all he could do was use his arms to block. This sent him flying a few yards away, into a building.

Sakura landed on the ground, taking long deep breaths to steady her breathing. It was all she could do to make sure he didn't have the opportunity to attack her. She was at a disadvantage, he could easily disable any function her part of her body if he touched her with that charka. If she didn't have the ability to heal, she would have already been done, though if this kept up, her own charka would be done as well.

She waited for Kabuto to come out of the building, and he did. But he disappeared reappearing even further away. Sakura was immediately on him, attacking again. And as they kept disappearing, they kept traveling in a general direction, almost as if he was leading her somewhere on purpose. Her brows were almost furrowed in question as she continued to deliver attacks.

--

As another snake dived at him, dust and rocks exploded when it collided with the ground. Sasuke jumped up, running along it as it rose tall once again. Other snakes charged for him, and he simply switched to the back of another. He then brought his leg up in an upwards kick, meeting the underside of a snakes face. As if fell backwards, he used the leverage to jump up onto a roof. Dodging more attacks, he found the one, now lying on the ground dead, with the shuriken in its back. He made his way over to it while dodging repetitive strikes, pulled it out, immediately seemingly disappearing. He appeared on a nearby roof, this time holding two shuriken. He slightly flicked his wrists, letting them open to their full, four-bladed length. Crossing his arm to gain momentum, he snapped them forward in full throw.

The speed at which they were thrown allowed the shuriken to cut through four of the beasts in half. They made their way back to him, making a clanking sound as they returned to his hands.

--

"Hagh!" Her fist slammed into the ground , tearing it apart as she missed another hit. She immediately disappeared, meeting Kabuto's fist with her own. Their foots met in mid kick, and finally another punch. They both seemingly disappeared at the same time, Sakura aiming a charka filled punch. When it looked like she would hit, Kabuto moved his body to the side, touching her arm with a charka filled fist before disappearing.

Sakura held in a grunt of pain as she landed on the rooftop; her arm hanging limply from her side. He had unattached the muscle from her bone.

He didn't give her time to heal as he came at her again, aiming his charka filled hands for her once again. She barely managed to dodge the first few, and as she flipped backwards in retreat, he got her leg. As she landed on a rooftop again, her teeth grinded together as she tried to stand on her leg. He again, gave her no time as he was already on her. His fist met her face, sending her flying a very long ways back. She hit the side of an embedded rock before falling to the ground.

Holding in a gasp of pain, she lifted her upper body with the single arm she was able to use.

"Cracked ribs, and a cracked thigh bone." Kabuto started as he landed on the ground a few yards away from her. "Though minor injuries to the bone shouldn't keep you from fighting." He slowly made his way towards, his hand surrounded in that same blue charka once again. "Now this time, why don't we go for a more, vital part of your body?"

With that, Kabuto ran towards her, and as his hand made it's way towards her chest, her own hand moved, catching his wrist with excellent speed. Letting out a small cry, she twisted his arm back; a huge cracking noise could be heard. Kabuto let out a scream of pain as he staggered back, holding onto his broken arm.

Now move, Sakura!

Letting out a pained cry, Sakura used both her arms to push herself off the ground, and used both legs to run towards Kabuto. Her face was still scrunched up in pain. She slammed her fist into his abdomen, before continuing to deliver a combo of attacks. She let out a grunt of pain, he time she did so. She delivered one more punch, sending him flying a long ways back, even further into the abandoned part of Konoha. With that, Sakura fell to the ground, her arm and leg becoming completely still.

I can't..move them at all now.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura placed a hand over her limp arm, a lavender type glow emanating from her hand. When she could move her arm okay, she used both of them on her leg. After a few moments she could move her leg. She didn't have much time to heal them, and that's why they still hurt somewhat to move.

Her emerald eyes then traveled to where Kabuto had collided. She knew he was no longer there. As her eyes scanned the area, she slowly stood up, then making her way to the top of the roof. As she looked around more, her eyes grew slightly wide as she looked off in the near distance.

It was in a now abandoned part of the village. There was a vast number of those huge snakes in one area. And they seemed to be attacking someone. It was still a distance away, so she couldn't see whoever was fighting, the figure merely looked bigger than a dot. She had to help whoever it was. Momentarily forgetting Kabuto, she set off, making her way towards the abandoned part of Konoha.

--

He reached into his weapons pouch, taking out the last of his kunais. Three held in each hand, he jumped up, throwing them in the direction of the snakes. Three of the snakes hissed in both pain and fury as a kunai embedded itself in each of their eyes. As they thrashed about, they somehow entangled themselves with the other snakes. A huge tremor shook the earth as they tumbled to the ground, tremor continued to shake the earth as they thrashed about trying to free themselves.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu." His chest heaved up.

--

Shikamaru's eyes widened as he made an abrupt stop. Startled, Chouji had stopped too, backtracking to where his friend was.

"Shikamaru?"

Flashback

From his position on the bench, which was located on a spiral type tower nearby, he could see the flower shop in between the many buildings.

His five minutes was up.

End Flashback

Shikamaru turned, his eyes scanning the area till he saw a tall, circular tower, at the top, it's railings surrounded a circular attachment of benches. Then, remembering where he what direction he was the village below when up there, his eyes scanned the area to the left of the tower, noticing the familiar architect of the buildings. Though, they were now surrounded by fires, in a long since abandoned part of the village. There was also a very large numbers of snakes, attacking something.

"Kuso!" With that, he made his way towards the fires, which were still a long ways a way.

--

She was closer now, and she could see the silhouette of another figure, seemingly watching the battle between the other and the snakes enfold. It was then her brain made the connection between the snakes and the unmoving figure.

Could it be?

Her musing were interrupted as a force came from behind her. She barely turned around before she found herself knocked back by a powerful blow, flying a long ways away, even more so towards the abandoned part of Konoha. Mid-descent, she lifted her head up to see Kabuto appear right in front of her.

His arm was completely healed.

He aimed another attack, but she blocked. Still the momentum of the attack sent her flying even more so, this time at a diagonal angle towards the ground. Right before she hit, she executed a back flip, landing on all fours. She looked back up to Kabuto with surprise. How was he able to heal a wound of that caliber with such speed?

"My medical skills were not the only reason Orochimaru was interested in me." As his feet made contact with the ground, the sound was hardly audible. He continued his way towards her in the fashion of regular walking, a small grin apparent on his face. "It was my ability to speed up the regeneration of my cells. The part of his skin where the bone had once protruded began to heal up instantly, without use of his healing powers.

This was bad. She was almost out of charka, and already tired from her earlier fighting. And he just kept coming back, no matter how many of her punches landed. But she understood it all now, it was because of his healing powers. Unless she took him out in one blow, he would not stay down.

This is bad..

It was then that she sensed another source of charka, one other than Kabuto. She was too far away from the other two she saw earlier to be sensing them. There must have been someone else. Her emerald eyes looked to the building behind her. There were small flames surrounding it, but a small hole in the side of the wall allowed entrance. The source of charka, though faint, was coming from in there. Someone must have been hurt. As she continued to look at the building, a sense of familiarity invaded her senses. It was then that her eyes caught sight of a part of the sign which was almost all burnt away.

'Flow……op.'

The flower shop!

Her eyes snapped back to Kabuto as she sensed him pick up his speed. His leg came at her in a straight kick. She quickly rolled to the side, grabbing her ribs in pain as she did so. He kept coming, executing attack after attack, and she barely managed to dodge and block each one. A small gasp of pain came from her throat every once in a while.

"How long can you keep up with this, Sakura-san?"

Perspiration was evident on her forehead, both from the strain, and the pain she was experiencing.

--

Most of the buildings below were aflame. A small stream of smoke rose steadily from the nearly crisp, nearly gone bodies of the snakes.

Sasuke removed his hand from his mouth, transitioning his eyes back to Orochimaru. He didn't look one bit tired at all, his breathing was completely normal.

"Enough." He said impassively.

"Soon." Orochimaru replied. It was then that his snake-like eyes traveled to his right, looking at something with amusement. Sasuke's Sharingan eyes followed, squinting slightly as he saw two figures fighting in the distance. He recognized the silhouette of Kabuto instantly, his eyes then turning to look at his opponent. His eyes slightly widened when he saw a distance flash of pink.

"Was that slight, emotion I saw flicker through your eyes, Sasuke-kun?" The Uchiha said nothing as he bolted from his position, his goal to get to Sakura and Kabuto. But as soon as he started, a barricade of snakes appeared in his way, as far as he could see. There were at least thirty; and their appearance destroyed many of the buildings they landed on, also producing a very large tremor.

"Show me, Sasuke-kun..your desire to reach your precious little flower."

A silent fury evident, Sasuke glared at the barricade of the enormous snakes in his way. He reinforced his Sharingan, proving even more so the change of seriousness.

"This..is getting very old." He muttered dangerously, darkly.

--

They all paused at the tremor that shook the ground. Kakashi, Jiraiya, Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai had just finished off what they had believed to the be the last of snake beasts. But their eyes slightly widened as they caught sight of what looked to be more, far off in the distance. There was a straight line, strewn as far as they could see. They observed as it seemed they were getting killed quickly, but more replaced them just as fast.

"There's something going on over there.." Jiraiya mused.

They were in the middle of fighting, though it took much ease. There were still plenty of enemies, so they couldn't just leave and go. It was then that Asuma spoke. He shoved his kunai into a charging Sound.

"Jiraiya, Kak-."

"Kakashi!" Once again all their heads snapped to the callers, a group of shinobi running their way. They had to literally fight their way to them.

"Sakura-san!" Kakashi head lifted up even more so as he waited from them to continue. But more Sound came at them. Kakashi and the others, at hearing Sakura's name, made their way to them instead.

"She's alive!" He panted a little to catch his breath. "She's here! She's here!! But she's in trouble!"

--

The numerous amount of handseals he preformed were done so with insurmountable speed, hardly noticeable. He jumped onto the highest rook in front of the long barricade of snakes, his eyes burning with intensity. His chest heaved up, and he placed a hand in front of his mouth in the form of and oval shape.

"Katon: Goukakyuu No Jutsu." The words seemed to echo over and over again.

Instead of a huge flame erupting from his throat, firey liquid spewed from him mouth, long string like after another.

All at once, the liquid erupted, huge flaming dragons appearing. They were numerous in their amount, larger than the beasts before them. Seemingly letting out a roar, a brilliant flash of sparks and flames shot everywhere as the fiery dragons weaved in and out of the barricade of snakes. While they were doing this, Sasuke shot his hand out towards the ground, immediately staticky charka began to form in his hands, it source stemming from the slight currents of lightning coming up from the ground.

When the staticky charka reached it's peak, he bolted from his position, running towards the snakes that had yet to be consumed by the flaring dragons, which were steadily coming down the line. But Sasuke seemed to already know they would not reach this far. He was in line with the flaring dragons, running along side them as they made their way down the line, but he was faster, picking up his speed to surpass them. He weaved in and out as the snakes shot towards him. But nothing could stop him and he shot his fist forward, and as he did so, he brought up his other hand in a sort of handseal.

Instead of protruding though one of the snakes, a huge lightning explosion accompanied.

Orochimaru put his arm over his eyes as he continued to watch, the blinding light of the explosion irritating his eyes. Though the grin seemed to grow bigger.

After the explosion had subsided, Sasuke stood there, his arm still outstretched. There wasn't a sign of any of the snakes. They had been wiped out by both of those techniques he used. Showing no sign that he was tired in any way, Sasuke appeared on a roof not to far away from Orochimaru, his eyes scanning the area for something. Anger grew as he could no longer see the fighting.

He was ready to bolt from his position, but Orochimaru saw this. He almost seemed to reinforce his eyes as his gaze shot to Sasuke. Immediately Sasuke let out a very pained scream as he grabbed his neck. Orochimaru seemed to reinforce his snake like eyes again, and Sasuke screamed louder as he dropped to his hands and knees. His whole body was shaking as he tried to steady himself. But every few seconds he would try to hold in a scream of pain, letting it come out as a strained grunt.

"You're not going anywhere, Sasuke-kun. It's time for me to finally tell you a story."


Cinnamon pasteles de gracias para leyendo!

Yea...this time...the story is actually gonna be told! Sorry for it not being this chappy! Ums...yea as you can see i've been fanaticing ...is that a word? FANATIC..ING over those cinnamon struesel muffins..wow i have to recommend them to you guys...go to Walmart..ya know where the cakes and stuff are...and look for a box..kinda fancy looking. Produce of Betty Crocker and Cinnabon. Of course it has the picture and the cinnamon struself muffin title. They are AMAYZINg peoples, M frakin mazing.

Right sooouh...i think that's all i have to say! Until next time!