A/N - Okay, I asked Dragon and Sword Master what he'd like to see updated next and he was really eager to see an update for this fic next. Sooo, there ya go. That's the reason about why this story got an update. lol. But yeah, it's been a while since I updated this fic, so I figured it was about time I updated it again.
Anyways, a lot happens in this chapter. It revolves around the mission to go to Tenchi Bridge to capture the spy (Kabuto) and they proceed from there to find Sasuke y'know? Sooo...yeah. This chapter is THAT mission. Sooo...hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 7 - Capturing a Traitor
Team Yamato was making good time as they made their way towards the Tenchi Bridge in Kusagakure. Thanks to all their training, their stamina had thankfully improved quite a bit, so they were able to move longer distances without the need for breaks quite so often. Still though, Yamato wasn't that much of a hardass and decided that, at the end of the first day of travel, they would spend the night at a hot springs resort in a nearby town.
As they entered the hot spring, the girls couldn't help but sigh in relief as they got to rest their weary bodies. After how hard Yamato had been pushing them for the past two days, this was exactly what they needed. Some rest and relaxation in a hot spring would do their sore bodies some real good.
Looking at Gaige, Rikku decided to ask her something. "Say, Gaige…" she started, "what's it like where you're from? We still don't know all that much about you, so I'm kinda curious."
Gaige blinked before folding her arm beneath her bust and tilted her head a bit as she thought about how best to answer that question. After a moment, she shrugged her shoulders and decided to just be brutally honest. "Well, I kinda ran away from home, so I can't really tell you much about that place anymore. I was kinda making the planet of Pandora my new home. I became a Vault Hunter, but I think I already told you guys about that." she said.
When she received nods from her friends, the redhead smiled and continued on. "Thing is, Pandora's kiiiiind of a crazy place. Tons of bandits roaming around, lots of crazy wildlife like skags, rakks, bullymongs, threshers, etc. No matter where you went, you had to fight to survive. The only safe place was Sanctuary, and even then Handsome Jack and Hyperion were trying to wipe that place off the face of the planet." she explained.
When the others looked at her sadly, Gaige waved them off with her fleshy arm. The Vault Hunter had left her metal arm in the dressing room so it wouldn't get wet and begin malfunctioning. "Hey, don't look so glum people! I had a lot of fun! Deathtrap and I got to meet some pretty interesting people and we got to kill a lot of bad guys too! It was a win-win! I was one kickass Vault Hunter and I was proud of it! Still am, actually. Us Vault Hunters were looked at like we were heroes by the people of Pandora. Made me feel extra special!" she said before beginning to giggle. "Heh, can you imagine? Me, a hero? Yeah…"
Meru frowned at this point and waded over to Gaige before hugging her close, resting Gaige's head on her bosom. "You're thinking about Roland again, aren't you Gaige? I'm sorry. He was a wonderful friend to you and for you to have lost him like that...it's just so horrible. That jerk Handsome Jack will pay for what he did, I'm sure of it. Hopefully Naruto will find a way to connect to all of our worlds soon so we can check on our friends and loved ones again and make sure they're all safe and sound. I know that I, for one, want to make sure that Dart and the others kicked some major butt and saved the world!" she exclaimed.
Gaige giggled a bit as she hugged Meru back. "Thanks Meru." she said quietly. "If Naruto finds a way to connect to my world...I just want to check on them to see if they killed that monster. Handsome Jack keeps calling himself a 'hero' and my friends and me the 'villains'. He's a delusional jackass! No hero would do the kinds of things he's done! If I get the chance, I'll fire a damn rocket into his face and watch him go KA-BOOM! for sure!" she exclaimed angrily as she backed away from Meru and pumped her fist into the air.
Rikku giggled a bit and nodded her head in understanding. "You know that Naruto and the rest of us would gladly help you, Gaige. Just as we'd do the same for any one of us sitting here now."
The crazy inventor nodded her head before she leaned back against the edge of the hot spring and pushed her chest out a bit as she closed her eyes. "I know, and I appreciate it. You guys are just as awesome as my buddies back in my universe." she said. "And hey, that Naruto of yours is pretty cute. I bet he's fun to tease, huh?" she said conspiratorially as she cracked open one of her eyes, giving them a teasing grin.
Blake narrowed her eyes at Gaige in suspicion and folded her arms across her chest before huffing in annoyance. "You're not going to try and get with him too, are you Gaige? Because you barely even know him yet."
Gaige smirked at Blake and shook her head in the negative. "Nah, I'm not about to make a move on your man. The most I'm likely to do is flirt with him from time to time. If I take an interest in him down the road, I'll let you lovely ladies know first." she said, being perfectly honest with them.
Temari couldn't help but giggle at this point and looked around at everyone before returning her gaze to Gaige. "Trust me when I say this: he'll find a way to charm himself into your heart whether he intends to or not. Just spending time with him and getting to know him as a person is enough to make you fall for the guy." she said seriously.
Shrugging her shoulders, Gaige looked skyward and closed her eyes. "If it happens, it happens. I wouldn't mind either way. Besides, I'm only 15 years-old. I've got plenty of time left to find myself a nice guy and settle down."
Sakura frowned at this and shook her head. "In this world, at your age, you're pretty much counted as an adult already. Just wearing the headband of Konohagakure now means you're counted as an adult in the eyes of the village. You can legally marry and have kids now if you so wanted." she explained to Gaige. "So if you did happen to fall in love with someone in our village, you'd be more than welcome to settle down with them and start a family. I assume that would have been difficult to do back where you're from?"
The redheaded mechanic chuckled and shook her head. "You have nooo idea. Pandora was a mess. A real fucking mess. Toilets out in the open where people could see you, a perverted little Claptrap robot that wouldn't leave you or other people the fuck alone and who constantly annoyed people to no end, no private bedrooms to sleep in and the beds were screwed up too. The people were assholes, and for some reason a bunch of 'em were always pounding or knocking on doors and walls. It didn't make any damn sense, but it was annoying as hell. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, Pandora is not the kind of place where you'd want to raise a family. You'd want to go off world for that kind of business." she explained.
The other girls gave each other quizzical looks before looking back at Gaige. "They kept knocking on doors and walls? Was there some reason for this, or…?" Sakura questioned for the group.
Gaige shook her head and looked around at the group of women with a sheepish smile on her face. "Nope. No reason at all. For them, it seemed like it was just something to do. Pretty stupid and strange, I know, but that's what they chose to do with their lives. Like, "Hey, what do you wanna do today Fred?" "Oh, I dunno Tom. Why don't we go pound on Door A today huh?" "Sure thing. You do that and I'll go pound on Wall B. I haven't pounded on that one in a while." "Okay Tom, you have fun with that. Catch you later." Yeah...it just didn't make any damn sense!" Gaige exclaimed as she threw her hand up in the air, splashing water everywhere around her.
All the other girls sweatdropped at this, but they eventually smiled at Gaige as they figured she just needed to get this stuff off her chest before she exploded. "Well, look on the bright side Gaige-chan." Sakura said. "At least you won't have to deal with that mess anymore! You're here with us now and I'm sure you'll find that this world's a lot better than what you've described. I'm sure you'll like it here." the pinkette said cheerfully.
Smiling brightly, Gaige waved her hand about and nodded. "Hey, I already love it here! It's so green and beautiful and just all around GREAT here! Plus, it kinda helps that there's some great eye candy here." she said with a wink. "I'm so looking forward to the chance to kill bad guys too! And I promise, me and my buddy Deathtrap will make sure none of those Akatsuki goons harm Naruto! He's too darn cute to be taken by them damnit!"
Temari sighed and shook her head. "You really like calling Naruto eye candy, don't you Gaige-chan? If you keep this up, he might get the wrong impression and think you're genuinely interested in him."
The redhead quirked a brow and looked around at all the women sitting there with her. "Hey, who said I was only talking about Naruto? You all make some fine eye candy as well. I'm into women as well. Or did you not realize that? Like for instance…" Wading over to Sakura, Gaige leaned in close and began to run her hand up and down her side slowly before caressing her butt. "You are absolutely gorgeous Sakura. A fine, pert posterior and breasts that look just right on a girl of your size. Plus those lips...Mmm-mmm. You make me just want to kiss you." she said teasingly.
Turning to Rikku at this point, Gaige waded closer to her and, upon reaching her, took hold of one of her breasts and fondled it gently, causing the perky thief to moan slightly at her gentle touch. "And you, Rikku, are simply delectable. You're so energetic and full of life. And these breasts of yours, ohhh mama." she said before lifting Rikku's breast up a bit as she moved her head down and flicked the nipple with her tongue, causing the blonde thief to let out another erotic moan. "Mmm, that was fun."
Releasing Rikku's breast, Gaige looked around at the other women and began to laugh uproariously at their shocked expressions. "See what I mean now? I'm bisexual. Men and women, I love 'em both equally. So don't be surprised if I come onto you lovely ladies too." she said with a wink before she moved to get out of the hot spring.
As Gaige left, the other girls could only watch her until she was gone from sight. After she had gone, they all looked at one another with matching blushes on their faces. Well, almost, Rikku's was just a bit more pronounced due to what had taken place with her and Gaige. "Well...that was...something." Sakura said a bit unsurely as her blush deepened just slightly, remembering Gaige's touch on her body.
Rikku blushed a bit deeper and shook her head. "I think I need my Naru tonight. I need to cuddle. I feel so embarrassed right now." she said, thoroughly embarrassed by what had just happened to her.
Meru giggled and shook her head. "You'd better hope Captain Yamato doesn't have a problem with that then Rikku. He's been pretty strict on Naruto since becoming our team captain, so who knows?"
Rikku growled and clenched her fist tightly in front of her face. "If he tries to prevent me from cuddling with my Naru tonight, he'll get a swift kick to the balls for it! Nobody stops me from clinging to my Naru!"
Sakura blinked and looked at Rikku with a shocked expression on her face before turning to Meru and the others. "Umm...did Jiraiya-sama ever try to prevent her from cuddling with Naruto-kun before?"
Towa laughed at this and nodded her head. "Once, and he regretted doing so for a long time after. Rikku went Berserk on him in her Berserker dressphere and pounded his nuts repeatedly for even daring to say she couldn't cuddle with her 'darling Naru'."
Temari grinned and looked at Rikku with a newfound respect before extending her hand to her in a fist. Rikku giggled and bumped her fist to Temari's. "Way to go sister. Way to make that pervert pay for getting in the way of some Naru-kun snuggle time!" Temari cheered.
Meanwhile - On the Men's Side
Naruto couldn't help but sigh in relief as he slid down into the hot spring, letting the warm water work its magic on his aching body. Hey, he may heal fast, but that didn't mean he couldn't still feel sore after everything he'd been through lately! When Yamato slid in next to him, the blonde glanced at him for a moment before looking at the wall separating the two sides of the hot spring from each other.
"Wondering how your fiances are doing, Naruto?" Yamato questioned. "Or do you wish you could have joined them for some mixed bathing perhaps?" he continued with a sly grin on his face.
Blushing at this, the whiskered blonde shook his head rapidly to will the naughty images away before looking into Yamato's almond-shaped eyes. "No! No, Yamato-sensei. I'm just curious about what they're talking about over there is all. I guess I'm just lonely without them, y'know?"
Yamato sighed at this and nodded his head slowly. "I suppose that makes sense. If it helps though, you can talk to me. I'm here and I'm willing to listen to whatever you have to say. So if you have something troubling you that you want to get off your chest, feel free to talk to me about it Naruto."
Looking at his team captain, Naruto smiled slightly and nodded his head slowly. "Thank you Yamato-sensei. I think I'll take you up on that offer." he said. "There...is something troubling me actually." the young blonde admitted.
"Oh? Whatever could be troubling our resident Prankster King?" Yamato questioned, a sly smirk on his face.
Chuckling a bit at the nickname, Naruto continued on. "It has to do with the CRA actually. I wanted nothing to do with it at first, and now? Now I'm with seven women. Seven!" he exclaimed. "I'm...I'm not sure if I can make them all happy. I care about them and love them all, but...what if one of them feels neglected or one of them gets jealous because they think I'm spending more time with one of the girls than the rest of them? Or...or…?"
Yamato put his hands on Naruto's shoulders and smiled kindly at him. "Breathe Naruto. Just breathe. Calm yourself down." he said calmly. "Do these women love you?"
Naruto blinked at the odd question, but nodded his head in the affirmative. "I...I'm pretty sure they do. I know Rikku does for sure, and I think the others do, but…"
Yamato shook his head and flicked Naruto in the forehead hard enough to make him wince in pain and clutch at his head. "No but's Naruto. They are all deeply in love with you. Nothing will stop them from loving you. No matter what happens, they'll stay with you through thick and thin. They want to be with you because they love you deeply and dearly. And they all care deeply for each other as well. If they didn't care for one another, then your little harem that you've built for yourself would never work out in a million years. But because they care for and understand one another, they can work out any little problems that may arise between themselves in a peaceful way and still remain friends. Though from what I've seen, they're as close as sisters. I think you'll be just fine Naruto. So don't doubt yourself again. Okay?"
Nodding in thanks, the young Uzumaki gave Yamato a hug and smiled at him. "Thanks Yamato-sensei. I really appreciate it."
"No problem Naruto. Now, we should probably get out. We don't want to stay in here too long after all." he advised before climbing out and returning to the dressing room.
The whiskered blonde stayed for a moment longer, thinking about his girls for a short while longer, before he climbed out as well to go and get dried off and dressed.
Later that Night
As Naruto and Yamato were preparing themselves for bed, they heard a knock on the door. Looking at each other, they shrugged before Yamato went and opened the door, spotting Rikku standing there with a pillow and blanket. Quirking a brow, Yamato folded his arms across his chest and spoke, "And what, exactly, do you think you're doing Rikku?"
Rikku pouted at Yamato and looked past him to her fiance for a moment before returning her gaze to Yamato. "I want to sleep with my Naru. Please Captain Yamato, don't keep us apart."
Frowning, Yamato eyed the two of them before giving Rikku his scary look. "You wouldn't be trying to have sex with him while on a mission, now would you?"
Screaming in fright, Rikku flailed about as she hopped back and tried to shield herself with her pillow. "Don't do that Captain Yamato! I just want to cuddle with my Naru! It's really hard to sleep without having Naru by my side! Besides, why would we try to make love with you in the room? That'd be kind of...creepy. No offense intended, but I don't want anyone watching me when Naruto and I go squeaky squeaky in the beddy-weddy."
Naruto was blushing up a storm by now and had hidden underneath his blanket in an attempt to hide from Yamato's gaze. Yamato, on the other hand, couldn't help but stare at Rikku in a deadpan. "Beddy...weddy?" When Rikku nodded energetically with a bright smile on her face, the wood user just sighed and shook his head. "Whatever. Just come in already. If you want to cuddle together, I'll permit it. Just don't do anything more than that, alright? I'd like to get some sleep tonight." he said before returning to his bedroll to get some sleep.
Rikku cheered before stepping into the room. Closing the door behind her, she hurried over to Naruto and climbed into bed with him, pulling her blanket over them and laying her pillow down next to his. "I wuv you my Naru! I just couldn't sleep without you." she said as she snuggled against him.
Naruto would have said something, but as he looked at his girlfriend in her robe, he couldn't help but catch a glimpse at her breasts when he glanced down. Blushing deeply, he quickly returned his gaze to her eyes and immediately knew she had caught him. "I...I love you too sweetheart." he said. "Please don't tease me?"
Giggling, Rikku got a devious idea and leaned in close, beginning to nibble on his ear while she began to use one of her feet to begin caressing his crotch through his robe. After a moment of this, she whispered, "Did you enjoy seeing my breasts like that Naru? Do you like what I'm doing now? I bet you'd like to do more, wouldn't you?"
Naruto squinted his eyes shut and slapped one of his hands over his mouth as he tried to suppress a groan. After a moment, as he grew tired of his fiance's teasing, he slid a hand under his girlfriend's robe and under her panties. When he began to run a finger up and down her slit, she almost let out a gasp, but Naruto's lips met hers in a fiery kiss, taking her breath away.
Yamato sighed as he saw this going on and shook his head in annoyance. Teenagers and their damn hormones, I swear. I'd better stop them before they go too much further. He thought to himself silently as he rose from bed once again and made his approach.
As the nineteen year-old woman moved her hand into her fiance's robes to grasp his manhood, she nibbled on his bottom lip before tugging on it a little. Releasing his lip, she leaned in and whispered to him again. "I want you so bad right now Naru." The perky thief kissed him again, pouring as much passion into the kiss as she could. After pulling apart, she smirked at him as she continued to pump his cock. "Let's do it. The risk of being caught just makes it that much more excit-"
Before Rikku could say anything more, she happened to glance up and saw Yamato hovering over them with his scary face on. Screaming in horror, Rikku curled up against her fiance and began to shiver. Clinging to her lover, she pointed at Yamato and screeched out, "Kill it! Kill it with fire! Make it go away!"
Naruto screamed out in pain as Rikku's grip on his dick had become like a vice grip after Yamato had frightened her. Flailing about, he glared up at Yamato with tears streaming down his face as he tried to pry Rikku's hand off his privates. "Why sensei? Why'd you have to scare her? Little Naru might never work right again after this!" he exclaimed in a panic.
Rikku, realizing what she had just done, released her fiance's cock and, despite the fact that Yamato was there watching them, she began trying to massage it to soothe the pain, which only resulted in making Naruto hard again. "There, there little Naru. You'll be okay. I'm so sorry for hurting you!"
Yamato facepalmed and shook his head in exasperation. "Rikku...stop. Just...just stop. I want the two of you to go to sleep and stop fornicating. Naruto, you'll be fine. Your penis isn't broken. Rikku…" When Rikku turned to face him, still rubbing her fiance's dick, Yamato sighed. "Just...go to sleep." he said before returning to his bedroll to get some sleep. At least he hoped.
The beautiful thief looked into her fiance's eyes and smirked at him before leaning in close and whispering to him. "Did you hear that Naru? He doesn't want us fornicating. I guess that just means we'll have to wait until we're alone or he's out of the room then, huh my darling? I can't wait for you much longer." she said as she began to nip at his ear teasingly again.
The blonde jinchuriki blushed fiercely as he looked into his fiance's eyes. "A-are you sure we're ready for such a huge step Rikku-chan? I'm...I'm a little nervous." he admitted, somewhat ashamed of himself for doing so.
Rikku frowned at him for a moment before kissing him sweetly on the lips. Leaning closer, she rested her forehead against his and offered him a sweet smile. "Naru, I want to give myself to you completely. I'm ready. But if you're nervous or you don't feel ready yet, I won't push you into it. I want us both to feel comfortable with it before we take that next step in our relationship. But…" kissing him again, she began to rub his cock again slowly as she whispered in his ear, "I promise you that I'll give you the time of your life if you just open yourself up to it."
Blushing fiercely, Naruto shot a quick glance over at Yamato before looking into Rikku's eyes and whispering back. "R-Rikku-chan, s-stop." he pleaded. When she didn't remove her hand or stop her ministrations on his member, he kissed her to keep himself from whimpering pitifully. Afterwards, he looked her in the eyes and smiled kindly at her. "Okay...okay already. I promise that when we return to Konoha, I'll try to make some time for us to be alone together, okay?" he promised, hoping that his promise would stop his lady love from practically raping him whilst Yamato was in the room.
Giggling happily, Rikku released her lover's cock and kissed him sweetly on the lips once again. "Good boy. I expect you to rock my world once we're back home. Got it Buster?" she demanded.
Naruto sighed and nodded his head slowly in defeat. "Yes darling. But I thought you weren't…"
Rikku pressed her finger against his lips and smirked at him. "Up up up! No Naru. I won't be having any complaints now. A woman always gets what she wants in the end. That's a lesson I thought you would have learned by now."
Sighing again, the seventeen year-old blonde nodded once again and wrapped his arms around his fiance, hugging her close as he started to drift off to sleep. "I know sweetheart. I love you."
Giggling, Rikku snuggled up against her younger lover and rested her head against his chest. "I love you too Naru. So much more than you could ever know." she said before drifting off to sleep.
The Next Day
As the group ventured down the road through the land of Taiyou no Kuni (Country of the Sun) towards Kusagakure, the team's captain, Yamato, suddenly stopped near a sign in the path and began to look around restlessly. Unsure about what he was doing, Naruto stepped forward and decided to pose the question on everyone's mind. "Umm, Yamato-sensei? Why'd we stop? What's going on?"
Yamato raised his hand and motioned for his charge to be quiet. After a moment, he motioned for his team to follow him as he diverted from the path and made his way into the nearby forested area.
Frowning in confusion at this, Naruto quickly caught up with him and began to question him again. "Okay Yamato-sensei, what's going on? Did you sense some enemies ahead of us or something?"
The Wood Release user looked around at his team before looking into Naruto's eyes with a hard gaze. Shaking his head in the negative, Yamato decided to explain himself. "No Naruto, there were no enemies ahead. I'm just trying to be cautious."
When Naruto looked about ready to interrupt him, Yamato held up his hand to silence him before he continued walking, leading the group through the forest. "While I don't believe Sasori was lying to us, there is always the possibility that this could be an Akatsuki ambush we're walking into. They could be lying in wait anywhere and I'd rather not risk the lives of my team. And before you say it," he continued, looking back at his team, "I know how strong you all are. I've seen it for myself and I believe in all of you. But it's wisest to avoid confrontation with a powerful enemy when you can help it. Besides, our mission clearly states that we're to confront Sasori's spy on the Tenchi Bridge and capture him or her to bring back to Konoha for questioning so we can finally get some answers about Orochimaru and his whereabouts. Am I understood?"
Everyone nodded in understanding before they soon reached a clearing in the middle of the woods. Stopping there for a moment, Yamato turned to the group and began to speak once again. "Now, we've got some distance to go yet, but I wanted to pause for a moment to go over our strategy here." he began. "As the leader of this team and as someone that is familiar with Sasori after our encounter with him, I'll be transforming into him and greeting our spy."
"Isn't it dangerous to go alone though?" Yang questioned, a frown on her face as she folded her arms across her chest. "Sounds pretty dangerous to me."
Yamato nodded and continued speaking. "It is. That's why I propose we use a type of 'Buddy' system." he suggested. "We should work in pairs and watch each other's backs. Sakura, you're with me." Seeing her nod, Yamato looked around at the others and began to list off the rest of the teams. "Naruto and Temari, you'll make up another team. Rikku, you and Gaige are together for another team. Towa, you and Meru. Finally, Yang and Blake."
Temari smirked and quickly latched herself onto Naruto's arm. "Woohoo! I get to be with my Naru-kun!" she exclaimed giddily as she pressed herself against him.
Feeling his arm being sandwiched between Temari's breasts was a bit distracting for him, but Naruto managed to stay focused. "Got it Yamato-sensei. What will our roles be during the mission?" he questioned.
Yamato sighed at Temari's behavior, but let it go in favor of getting on with the mission. "You all will take up positions around the bridge and wait for my signal. Once it's given, you are to move in and restrain the spy. Our goal is to capture him alive, so lethal force is not permitted. I know that makes this mission much harder, so I'm sorry. This spy is likely to be incredibly skilled and will likely put up a fight if we give him the chance, so act quickly and take him down hard as fast as you can. A sneak attack is our best bet."
Sakura frowned for a moment as she thought about their orders. After a moment, she voiced her worries, "Yamato-sensei, what if the spy realizes it's an ambush and acts before you can give the signal? What if he realizes you're not Sasori? Or what if this is all a trap set up by Orochimaru? What then?"
Frowning at this, Yamato shook his head and looked around at everyone, their faces showing their concern. "If that's the case, and it very well could be, then I will act to restrain our foe before they can escape. You are to use your best judgment and act when you feel it's best to do so. I trust in all of you to do what's right when the time comes." he said sincerely.
Smiling at him in thanks, the team quickly set off through the forest, heading towards the Tenchi Bridge once more. After all, today was the day that the spy would be arriving and it wouldn't do for them to be late.
Later - Tenchi Bridge
It was almost noon by the time they reached the Tenchi Bridge, and they knew the spy would be arriving any moment now. So, wasting no time at all, Yamato used a Wood Release: Transformation Technique to transform into Sasori and practiced imitating his voice for a while until he had it down pat. Afterwards, he instructed his team to take their places.
Naruto, Sakura, and Temari each walked together, making sure to remain downwind from where the spy would likely be coming from so they wouldn't be heard or sniffed out by whomever the spy may be. Once they found a good spot to lie in wait, they began to converse quietly amongst themselves. "So Sakura-chan, any idea who the spy might be?" Naruto asked.
Sakura shook her head in the negative. "Not a clue Naruto-kun. We don't know a whole lot of people from Oto, so it could be anyone. The only person I can think of would be Kabuto, but why would he be a spy for the Akatsuki? It just wouldn't make any sense to me."
Temari frowned and shook her head. "No, actually, it would make perfect sense if you stop to think about it. With Kabuto's skill set, it's obvious that Orochimaru would have made him a valuable member of his group, if not his right hand man like he is now. What better place is there for a spy to be? You wouldn't suspect him, and with all Kabuto's done in Orochimaru's service, I certainly wouldn't suspect him of being a spy either. But, considering the fact that we never suspected Yura of being an Akatsuki spy either, it's entirely possible for Kabuto to be a spy as well." she explained.
Nodding their heads in agreement with this hypothesis, the trio soon went silent as they watched the spy walk onto the bridge and stop about halfway across to wait for Sasori's approach. A short time later, Yamato, disguised as the deceased Akatsuki member, made his approach. When the spy turned to face the Konoha jonin and pulled back his hood slightly so that they could see his face, the ninjas of the group were shocked to see that it was, indeed, Kabuto Yakushi, Orochimaru's right hand man.
"Well, it looks like you were right Temari-chan." Naruto said. "But...I don't like this one bit. Kabuto's just as sneaky as that snake he follows. Yamato-sensei's in trouble and he probably doesn't even realize it yet."
Sakura placed her hand on Naruto's shoulder and shook her head. "Yamato-sensei will be fine Naruto-kun. He's been placed in charge of our team for a reason. Just trust in him to handle this appropriately, okay honey?" she assured him. "If he needs us, Yamato-sensei will give us the signal, just like he showed us."
Temari frowned and patted Sakura on the shoulder. "Umm, guys?" Now that she had their attention, she pointed towards the bridge. What they saw caused them to scowl. Orochimaru had shown his ugly mug and Kabuto was now standing beside their sensei with his Chakra Scalpel technique at the ready.
When he realized what was about to happen, Naruto performed a spherechange into the Gunner dressphere and took careful aim at Kabuto's hand. Right when he went to attack Yamato with the Chakra Scalpel, Naruto fired. The bullet flew through Kabuto's hand, causing him to scream out in pain and cancel out the technique, his hand hitting the wood hard enough to cause his hand to cry out in further protest and agony.
"Kami damnit! What the hell did you just do you rotten bastard?!" Kabuto shouted at the fake Sasori.
Realizing his cover had clearly been blown by now, Yamato began to shuffle backwards and raised his hand to make the signal, but Orochimaru attacked him with the Kusanagi, forcing him to forego the disguise if he wanted to survive.
Now that he was free of the disguise, Yamato flipped through hand seals and slapped his palms down on the bridge. "Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!" he exclaimed as a large dragon made of wood surged forth from the bridge and began charging towards Orochimaru. That will only serve to distract him for a while at best. I can't beat him by myself. Time to bring in the others. Reaching up his hand, Yamato gave the signal for his comrades to come to his aid.
When the others arrived on the bridge, Kabuto immediately zeroed in on the strange device in Naruto's hand before glaring into his eyes. "You. Naruto, are you the one that hit me with that strange technique?"
The blonde Gunner smirked at the glasses-wearing ninja before him and twirled the gun around in his hand. "Yep, and I'll do it again too if you don't surrender to us now. Come with us peacefully and you'll get to keep your limbs intact. Struggle, aaaand, wellllll...you'll find out just how much pain my girls and I can inflict on a person without killing them. I can promise you this: it's a LOT."
Looking down at his hand that had finally healed, the medic nin glared fiercely at Naruto and shook his head in the negative. "I'm not going anywhere with you Naruto. But I see what you want. You want information on Sasuke-kun and Orochimaru, don't you? Heh, you won't be getting it out of me."
Yang cracked her knuckles and smirked as she slipped on her Ember Celica gauntlets. "Oh, that is such a poor choice pal. Y'see, I've just been dying to get my hands on a new punching bag, and from what I've heard about you? You sound like you'd make a great one!" she exclaimed before she charged forward and threw a punch at Kabuto's gut.
Kabuto, seeing this attack coming, dodged out of the way and attempted to hit the blonde bombshell with his reactivated Chakra Scalpel technique, but he was interrupted by a cry of "Double Smack!" and was soon struck twice by a large hammer and sent flying over the bridge and into the wall of the canyon they were hovering over.
Meru blushed a bit and glanced away. "Umm...oops? Maybe I hit him a little too hard?" she questioned somewhat apologetically.
Yamato sighed and would have said something, but when he saw his wooden dragon finally get destroyed by an enormous snake, he began to sweat. "Shit. I was hoping that would keep him occupied for a while longer." he said as he watched Orochimaru begin stepping closer towards them.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You shouldn't try to use the gift I gave you on me young one." Orochimaru said teasingly. "I'll admit I was surprised to see you again, especially when you used my own gift against me like that. I had thought that all my precious test subjects had died. And yet, here you are. But...it would seem you're still a failure after all. Your technique was nowhere close to the level that Hashirama's was at. Whatever am I supposed to do with you now?" he questioned as if he was talking about a failed lab project.
Yamato's team looked between Orochimaru and their sensei with confused expressions on their faces, but they quickly shook it off, deciding to question Yamato about it later. For now, they had Kabuto to capture and Orochimaru to either chase off or kill, if they were able.
Blake shouted out for Yang to watch out as she saw Kabuto coming at her from behind. Throwing her Gambol Shroud, she watched as Yang rolled forward away from their opponent before she pulled the trigger on her pistol to change the trajectory of her blade, sending it behind Kabuto. Pulling the trigger once again, she sent it flying through Kabuto's left shoulder before she tugged on the ribbon hard and yanked him forward.
Kabuto, unwilling to be captured so easily, forced the blade out of his shoulder and leaped away from Blake, glaring at her hard for a moment before turning his attention to Naruto with a smirk. This whole situation is looking bad for me. But maybe, just maybe…
"Naruto, tell me something. Do you still believe that Sasuke-kun can be 'saved' from the likes of us? That we 'manipulated' him into coming to us?" he questioned, the smirk on his face growing wider the more Naruto's face twisted in fury, or at least that's what it appeared to be to him. "Sasuke-kun never saw you as the brother that you view him as, Naruto. There was never a special bond there between the two of you. It was all in your head. Then again, you have always lived in your own, special fantasy world, haven't you Naruto? A world where everything is all sunshine and rainbows and nobody ever has to die. I bet you still try to spare all of your enemies, don't you? Believing that if you show them mercy, they'll 'pay it forward'. Tell me, are you going to show me mercy?" he questioned before he began to laugh hysterically at the mere thought of such a thing. "Of course, you'd have to beat me first before you could even think of-"
Kabuto was interrupted by the sound of six loud gunshots and a feeling that was quite unusual to him: searing hot pain. Looking down at his body, he saw that he had six new gunshot wounds to various locations on his body, each one hitting an organ that would normally be considered vital to living, but to Kabuto they were each easy enough to heal...given enough time that is.
Hacking up mouthfuls of blood, the medic nin collapsed to his hands and knees and began working on healing his internal injuries first to ensure he wouldn't die. He could vaguely hear a conversation taking place in the background, but he could barely make it out. "...-ould have killed him!" he heard.
"Relax Yamato-sensei, look. He heals fast from all kinds of wounds, even those." Naruto pointed out, aiming his gun down at Kabuto, who looked pleadingly up at Naruto, as if begging him not to shoot again.
Yamato sighed and shook his head. "Regardless, try to be more careful next time. We do need to take him alive after all." he stressed as he turned his attention to their more dangerous threat: Orochimaru.
The Snake Sage wasn't even focused on Yamato. No, his eyes were focused entirely on Naruto. Looking him over, the slippery snake licked his lips in anticipation of what he was sure would be either a fun conversation, a delightful battle, or perhaps even a scintillating taste of both. "Hmm, Naruto-kun, you've grown since I last saw you." he said. "Do tell me, how have you been?" he questioned curiously.
Naruto looked at his girls and nodded at them to keep an eye on Kabuto before he turned to face Orochimaru. Stepping up beside Yamato, he looked the Snake Sage in the eyes and frowned at him. "As if you haven't been keeping tabs on me Orochimaru." he said angrily.
"Oh ho, so I've been caught, have I? Tell me, how did you know I'd been keeping an eye on you?" Orochimaru questioned, genuinely curious about his young 'friend'.
"The Kyuubi and I may not always get along, but one thing we do agree on is that we hate the smell of snakes. Your snakes were good at keeping themselves hidden, but they couldn't hide from the Kyuubi's senses. I was always careful when they were around not to reveal anything I wanted to keep hidden from the world so you wouldn't find a way to counter my abilities." Naruto explained.
Orochimaru couldn't hold back the applause he gave to the teenager standing across from him, nor could he hold back the laughter. When he had managed to calm down, he looked at Naruto with a positively giddy expression on his face. "Wonderful Naruto-kun! Simply wonderful! You turned out to be everything I had hoped you would be growing up! But I wonder…" the Snake Sage began to rub his hands together gleefully, "which of you is stronger? Sasuke-kun...or you, Naruto-kun? Perhaps a little test to find out?" he suggested.
Glancing over his shoulder, Naruto was pleased to see that his girls had managed to capture Kabuto and even placed a gag in his mouth to keep him from committing suicide by biting his tongue. Smirking at the captured 'spy', the blonde turned back to Orochimaru and waved him off. "Nah, I think I'll have to pass. We've already got what we came for, so there's really no reason for me to stick around and play with you today. Maybe next time?"
When the Snake Sage peered over Naruto's shoulder and saw the state his right hand man was in, he released a sigh and shook his head. "I see. So you were after Kabuto all along then? Or perhaps…?" Thinking on it for a moment, Orochimaru smirked and looked deep into Naruto's eyes. "You were hoping to get information on Sasuke-kun and me." he said with a twisted grin on his face. "I'm right, aren't I? Well then, I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist you show me what you've got after all, Naruto-kun! Fight me!" he commanded, quickly shooting forward like a snake about to bite into its prey.
Gaige quickly drew her Jakobs assault rifle and began to open fire on Orochimaru, forcing him to retreat from Naruto or risk being turned into swiss cheese. Glaring at him, the fiery redhead aimed her gun at him again and shouted, "If you want to get to him, you gotta get through all of us first ya creep! Now go, Deathtrap!" she exclaimed before throwing out her buddy, Deathtrap, who began its assault by firing a powerful laser beam from its eye right at Orochimaru, forcing him to jump nimbly out of the way or be divided in two from the sheer heat the beam was emitting.
This isn't how I had planned this at all. I had hoped to get Naruto-kun alone and test him a little, but this?! What is all this?! Orochimaru thought as he avoided the razor sharp claws that the slow, mechanical beast had on his singular arm. When he saw an opening, Orochimaru produced the Kusanagi blade once more and stabbed it deep into Deathtrap, through its armored torso.
Deathtrap, unaffected by this, performed a whirlwind maneuver with its claw extended, the Kusanagi still buried deep in its chest. Orochimaru, not expecting the mechanical beast to still be able to move, was a mangled mess after the attack and currently laid on the ground, twitching occasionally as he struggled to move.
When Deathtrap finally vanished, taking the Kusanagi blade with it, much to Orochimaru's anger, he regurgitated a new body for himself, looking as good as new. However, he was furious and was looking to take it out on the girl that cost him his favorite weapon. Before he could, however, he had to dodge a series of wooden spears shooting up at him from underground.
Yamato found himself smirking at Orochimaru as he finished dodging the last of his Wood Release: River of Spears technique's spears. "One thing you fail to understand, Orochimaru, is that we work as a team. We trust in one another and work together to overcome any foe, even you. You may want to 'test' Naruto, but we're not about to let you have your way."
Orochimaru snarled at this and looked into Naruto's eyes, almost as if seeking an answer. "Is this your answer Naruto-kun? You refuse to face me yourself? You let others do the fighting for you whereas Sasuke-kun would never have backed away from such a challenge?"
The blonde sighed and rubbed at the back of his head with his free hand, the other one still holding his gun. "Yeah, y'see, here's the thing Orochimaru. I'm not Sasuke. I never have been. I believe in something called teamwork. I don't believe that I have to do everything by myself. I have friends by my side that I can count on to be there for me when I need them to be. We fight together and we win together. They give me strength just as I give them strength. Sasuke? He doesn't have any of that. Sasuke doesn't even know what true strength is. Sasuke will always be weak, which is why he's the perfect host for you Orochimaru. You and Sasuke were practically made for each other. You're both weak spirited, weak willed, and weak in body as well. Losers in practically every way. How much more do you need to see that you're a match made in Hell?" Naruto taunted somewhat sadistically.
Orochimaru was seeing red by this point. Nobody spoke to him this way! Nobody! Without warning, the Snake Sage went through hand seals for one of his most powerful jutsu before opening his mouth and shouting out, "Summoning: Ten-Thousand (10,000) Venomous Snakes Technique!" before slamming his hands to the ground.
In mere moments, thousands of snakes began to appear from the grounds, all of them larger than a fully grown man and all of them very venomous and poised to strike the team of good guys. As soon as he had finished his summoning, Orochimaru said, "Enjoy playing with my pets. I've got somewhere else to be. Farewell Naruto-kun. May we meet again." before he vanished from the area.
Yamato looked at his team for a brief moment as he wondered what to do in this situation. They were quickly surrounded by the snakes and things were looking rather grim, but he knew that Naruto and his girls must have something in their bag of tricks. So, thinking on it, Yamato looked to Meru and asked, "Meru, can you do anything about this with your magic?" he questioned hopefully.
Meru looked around at all the snakes and nodded slowly. "I can try! But I think our best bet would be Naru-Naru's time magic. Think you can do it Naru?"
Naruto looked at all the snakes and frowned. "What about Towa-chan? She's far better at utilizing her time magic than I am with mine. And...now kinda warrants Towa's accuracy with her spells rather than me blundering with my magic."
Towa whacked Naruto in the back of the head and frowned at him before she began fending off any snakes that got too close. "You just need to believe in yourself Naruto. And you'd better do it soon, because we're going to be overwhelmed if you don't do it!"
Nodding in understanding, Naruto spherechanged back into his ninja getup before he began to focus on his magic. Once he got a good feel for it, he looked ahead at all the snakes and shouted out, "Time Surge!"
As time surged around him, Naruto began to move around with a kunai, severing the heads off of every snake he could for as long as his spell would last. When it finally ended, he nearly collapsed to his knees panting, but Meru managed to grab him by the shoulders and held him up.
The group watched as at least three quarters of the snakes dropped to the ground dead. The remaining 2500 continued with their assault, but before they could get any further, Towa activated a time spell of her own and finished the rest of them off before reappearing, panting the same as Naruto was. "That really puts a strain on the body." she said before standing straight and smoothing out her hair. "I'll be happy if I never have to see another snake for as long as I live." she grumbled out in frustration.
Yamato looked around at the group to see that, while frazzled by their near-death experience, they were all perfectly okay. Smiling at this, he turned to Naruto and Towa and decided to say his thanks. "Naruto. Towa. Thank you for saving our lives. However, we now have a choice to make." he said, getting everyone's attention.
Turning to Kabuto, Yamato narrowed his eyes at him and shook his head before returning his gaze to his team. "We've captured our target. Our mission is technically complete. We can return to Konoha now and turn him over to Hokage-sama and Ibiki for interrogation...or…"
Naruto frowned at this and looked his team captain in the eyes. "Kabuto told you where their base is before he attacked you, didn't he?"
Yamato nodded his head. "Bingo. But more than that, I managed to plant a seed on Orochimaru that will allow me to track him back to his hideout, just in case Kabuto was lying about the whereabouts of their base."
Sakura frowned at this and shook her head. "What if the seed falls off sensei? We'd be searching for the base blindly then."
Rikku shook her head at that and pointed between her and Naruto. "That's not true! Naru and I can use our Psychic dresspheres to dive into Kabuto's mind if we need to to find out exactly where the base is. So if Captain Yamato's method doesn't work, then just leave it up to Naru and me! We can do it! Can't we Naru?"
Naruto chuckled and nodded at his beloved Rikku-chan. "Of course Rikku-chan. Though I'd be careful when entering this snake's mind. Who knows how fucked up it is in there?" he questioned, shivering slightly afterwards at the sheer imagination of it.
Yamato clapped his hands to get their attention once again. "Enough! Let's put it to a vote. All those in favor of following Orochimaru back to his base in an effort to capture the traitor Sasuke Uchiha and perhaps, if we're lucky, killing Orochimaru, raise your hands." When everyone raised their hands, including Yamato himself, he smirked and nodded at his team. "Then it's settled. We're going to end this once and for all. C'mon Kabuto, let's go for a ride." he said with a grin as he lifted the bound medic nin over his shoulder and began leading his team in the direction Orochimaru had fled in.
Orochimaru's Hideout
When the team arrived at a rather large rock formation, they were initially confused about what was going on. "We are in the right place, right Yamato-sensei?" Sakura questioned.
Yamato nodded his head and pointed down at the ground. "He's underground, and I'm positive this is the entrance right here. Rather than try and force our way in and alert Orochimaru and Sasuke that we're here, I'll use some of my techniques to sneak us in." he explained. "First though, I'll be creating a Wood Clone to look after our friend here." he said, motioning towards Kabuto, who was still slung over his shoulder.
Looking around, Yamato found a good place to dig their way underground and moved over to it. Setting Kabuto down nearby, he created a Wood Clone to watch after him before moving back over to the spot he had picked out and called out the name of his Earth Release technique, creating a large hole. The group looked down the hole and whistled as it appeared that the hole went pretty deep underground. Looking around at his team, he began to give his orders. "Alright team, here's the plan. I'll go in first. Temari, when I give the signal, I want you to come in next. Then we'll go in this order: Rikku, Towa, Yang, Gaige, Blake, Sakura, Naruto, Meru. Understood?"
When everyone nodded in understanding, Yamato turned and jumped into the hole, disappearing underground. When they heard a whistle, Temari turned and gave her boyfriend a kiss on the lips before winking at him. "Couldn't resist sweetie." she said with a giggle before leaping into the hole after Yamato.
Naruto chuckled and shook his head in amusement as they all began to jump down into the hole one by one in the order Yamato had specified. Of course, before Yang jumped down, she decided she just had to one up Temari. So, grabbing Naruto by the scruff of his shirt, she pulled him into a fiery kiss and began to probe his mouth with her tongue while rubbing his crotch (over his pants of course) with her free hand just to tease him. When she pulled back, she glanced down to see he was semi-hard and nodded her head with a grin. "Good. My job is done." before she leapt down the hole.
The blonde prankster groaned in discomfort as he tried to will his erection to go away. Damnit Yang, did you really have to go and do that? On a mission?! He questioned silently before leaping down the hole when it was his turn to do so.
After a short time of walking through the underground tunnel Yamato had created, they came to a solid stone wall. "Well isn't that just peachy? How are we going to get through that?" Meru questioned with a pout.
Without saying a word, Yamato walked up to the wall and eyed a rather prominent crack in it. With a smile, he held his finger a few inches from the crack and used his mastery over his kekkei genkai to essentially drill a hole through the wall with his finger. Turning back to his team, he offered them a smile as he said, "That's how. Now let's go." before he leapt through the hole and into the hideout on the other side.
Once everyone was through, the black-eyed man looked at his team before he began to explain his new orders. "Alright everyone, I want you to follow me in the same pattern mentioned before. Chances are that wherever Orochimaru is, Sasuke is probably close by. Follow me."
As Yamato led them deeper into Orochimaru's base, the group couldn't help but feel tense. Yes, they had managed to chase off Orochimaru before back at the Tenchi Bridge, but now they were on his home turf. On top of that, they'd now have Sasuke to deal with as well. Their new goal was to capture Sasuke and return with him to Konoha. Keeping him alive was the goal, so they'd have to go with non-lethal attacks, while they had no doubt Sasuke would be doing his very best to try and kill them. On top of that, they had no idea how strong the Uchiha was now that he had received specialized training from the Snake Sage.
Eventually they came to a crossroads that split into three separate directions, four if you counted the path they had just come from. Looking around, Yamato frowned and shook his head. "I hate to say it, but we're going to have to split up here. Our primary goal is to search out and capture Sasuke Uchiha. If you encounter Orochimaru, either stall him and radio for backup or flee, do not attempt to fight him by yourselves." he ordered. "Now, Meru, Rikku, Yang, you three go down the center path. Naruto, Towa, Blake, you go down the left. Sakura, Temari, Gaige, and myself will go down the right. Understood?" When everyone nodded, he said, "Then move out!" before turning and dashing off down the hallway with his team, the other two teams doing the same with their hallways.
After a while of opening every door they came across and finding nothing on the level they were on, Naruto's group proceeded deeper into the base. As they continued on, they heard the sound of footsteps growing closer to their position. Freezing where they were, Naruto, Towa, and Blake each watched as, out of the shadows ahead of them, Orochimaru emerged with a grin on his face.
"Ah, Naruto-kun, I see you've come to play with me after all. I didn't get to play with you earlier due to the interference of your friends, but perhaps you'd like to change that now? Or...perhaps you're here for Sasuke-kun? If so, I'm afraid you're searching in the wrong place. Too bad Naruto-kun. You'll have to play with me instead." the Snake Sannin licked his lips before throwing out his hand and shouting, "Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
Naruto went "Tch" before spherechanging into the Black Mage dressphere. Raising his rod above his head, he focused his magical energy and shouted out: "Fire!" In an instant, the snakes that had been rushing towards them were lit aflame, the fire spreading quickly down the snakes towards Orochimaru, who was forced to discard them, lest he be burned.
Looking at his girlfriends, Naruto nodded his head and smiled before he reached up and tapped a button on the headset he had been given. "Yamato-sensei, we've encountered Orochimaru. Requesting backup if you can provide it. I'll flare my chakra periodically to signal my position to you, so hurry." he said into the headset before he flared his chakra for the first time as a signal to Yamato.
Blake frowned deeply as she stared at the slippery snake before her. She knew she was strong, and she knew she could put up one hell of a fight, but this was an opponent on a whole other level compared to any enemy she had ever faced before in either world. One wrong move, one tiny slip up, and she could die. So, taking a deep breath, she drew Gambol Shroud from its sheath and prepared for combat.
Towa, on the other hand, couldn't help but smirk as she looked at the Snake Sannin. He had never seen the likes of magic before and she knew that with it, she had the element of surprise on her side. But more than that, she always loved a good battle, and this guy just rubbed her in all the wrong ways. So, taking hold of her Dagger of Eternity, she took a deep breath to steady her nerves and watched the snake for any signs of what he may try next. She'd be ready to counter any move he'd try to make.
Naruto, on the other hand, decided to get things started in his own way. Rather than wait for Orochimaru to make a move, which could be suicidal in its own right, he waved his rod and pointed it towards the snake with a smirk on his face. "Blizzara!"
When a cold mist surrounded Orochimaru and a large spear of ice shot up where he was standing, the slippery snake screamed out in agony. Quickly regurgitating a new body, he looked Naruto in the eyes as he shivered from the cold that he still felt. What was that? I didn't even sense it coming! That wasn't chakra at all! He thought to himself in shock.
Out of the corner of his eye, the Snake Sannin saw the black-haired lass come flying towards him through the air, swinging her weapon at his face. Chuckling at this, he pointed both hands at her and shouted out, "Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!" before sending a number of snakes at her from his sleeves.
Blake, having predicted this attack, quickly created a Shadow Clone using her semblance and sprung off of it, leaping behind Orochimaru and slashing his back a couple of times. Before she could do anything more, however, she was forced to leap back and away as the snake's neck extended, his head turned around, and he attempted to bite her neck. Needless to say, she didn't want to experience such a thing.
While Orochimaru was distracted with Blake, Naruto and Towa quickly looked into each other's eyes and nodded. Focusing on his magic once again, the Black Mage smirked as he said, "How about a little jolt to brighten your day? Thundara!"
When the snake was struck by a powerful bolt of lightning, Towa immediately cast one of her ice magic spells, sending it flying at the Snake Sannin, who, having been struck by lightning, couldn't dodge out of the way in time.
After being struck by two powerful spells, Orochimaru screamed out in a mixture of both pain and rage. Turning to Naruto and Towa, he attempted to use a technique, but found out that he couldn't. Trying again, he encountered the same problem. No matter what he tried to use, all of his techniques were unavailable to him. Looking at the two blondes, his eyes widened in horror. "What have you two done to me?!"
The ex-princess smirked as she folded her arms across her chest. "It's called Chemistry, Orochimaru. Combine two spells in a certain order and they tend to have a special effect. In this case, the effect our spells had is called Silence. Against other magic users, it would prevent them from casting spells. But against shinobi such as yourself? It prevents them from using their techniques. It's rather brilliant, wouldn't you agree?"
As Orochimaru began to panic and try to think of a way out of this mess he had gotten himself in, the wall behind him burst apart and Yamato's group appeared, trapping the Snake Sannin between the two groups. Seeing no way out of this, he decided to resort to using taijutsu in an attempt to get out of this. His target? Naruto Uzumaki.
Seeing as he was the target of a brutal assault and he was stuck in the Black Mage dressphere of all things, Naruto quickly backpedaled and performed another spherechange as soon as he got the opportunity. This time, when he finished transforming, he was in the Berserker dressphere.
The first thing Naruto did upon activating this dressphere was use his Intimidate ability to not only damage Orochimaru but to inflict the Slow status as well to slow his attacks down as well as his movement speed, thus making him easier to fight. Immediately afterwards, the blonde ninja smirked as he activated Berserk and went into a rampage, dealing a flurry of powerful blows to the slowed Snake Sannin.
When time finally returned to normal for the Snake Sage, he laid on the floor, bloody, broken, and bruised. Still unable to use any of his techniques, he struggled to stand, but ended up coughing up blood and collapsed under his own weight once again. "D-damnit… Damn you all!"
Seeing as he was no longer any threat, Yamato quickly used a Wood Release technique to crush Orochimaru's body into paste until there was nothing left but a broken corpse. When he finally canceled the technique, they all stared at the now deceased villain. "Is...is he really, finally dead now?" Sakura asked cautiously.
Towa looked down at the Snake Sannin carefully and tried to sense out for any spark of life that might be left within him. Shaking her head in the negative, she offered the group a smile before motioning for Yamato to take his head. "He's dead. Might want to collect his head so we can collect the bounty on him later."
Yamato nodded in agreement with her and quickly went about severing Orochimaru's head before sealing it away in a storage scroll. He was about to say something to his team, but they soon heard and felt an explosion rock the base and quickly realized what was going on. "Sasuke! Crap! I almost forgot about him!" the team's leader exclaimed before rising to his feet and motioning for his team to follow him as he began to dash off down the hallways in the direction he sensed Sasuke in.
Naruto gritted his teeth and shook his head angrily. "I swear to Kami that if those three are hurt because of him, that son-of-a-bitch is dead meat damnit. Please girls, be alright!"
When they finally emerged in an area where the sunlight was shining down on them, they saw Meru, Rikku, and Yang standing in the center of the crater with Sasuke standing above them, a smirk on his face. Thankfully the three girls seemed to be alright, but Rikku's right arm was hanging limply at her side, looking as she had been on the receiving end of a stab wound or something.
Quickly rushing over to them, Naruto went about checking them to make sure they were all alright before he looked back to Sakura. "Sakura-chan, please tend to Rikku! We'll deal with Sasuke!" he exclaimed.
Sakura nodded and hurried to Rikku's side where she immediately began tending to the perky thief's wound. Meanwhile, Sasuke looked down at Naruto with a sadistic grin on his face. "So, you've come Naruto. I had a feeling you would. Still planning to 'rescue' me? Still think of me as your precious friend?"
Naruto scoffed and shook his head as he looked up at Sasuke. "Nope and nope. You're a traitor Sasuke, and I'm here to kick your ass and drag your sorry butt back to Konoha to stand trial for your crimes. That's all there is to this. So I'll give you two choices: either surrender yourself to us now and come back willingly, or resist and get your ass handed to you. Which is it going to be? Please choose the second option, because I would so love to pay you back for nearly killing me three years ago."
Sasuke couldn't help himself. He began to laugh at the mere idea of losing to Naruto of all people. Looking deep into Naruto's eyes, he cast the most powerful genjutsu he could on the blonde teenager. However, when he broke out of it mere moments later, Sasuke found himself scoffing. "So, you've learned some new tricks. Well so have I." the onyx-eyed Uchiha said.
Sighing, Naruto watched as his old rival disappeared in a burst of speed. "So slow." he muttered before slamming his fist into Sasuke's gut as he tried to slip behind him. Looking at the Uchiha as he spit up a glob of saliva onto the ground, he raised up his leg and slammed it down on Sasuke's back, knocking him into the ground hard. "I'm not here to kill you Sasuke. But if you push me too far, I'll break every bone in your body and drag you back by your damn hair. Do you understand me?"
Pushing himself to his feet, Sasuke glared hard at Naruto and quickly drew his katana, swinging it towards Naruto's neck. Sighing, Naruto slipped underneath the blade and performed a quick spherechange into the Thief dressphere. "I warned you Sasuke." was all he said as he began a fierce duel with the Uchiha, blocking all of Sasuke's attacks with one blade while making attacks of his own with the other blade which the Uchiha was having a hard time avoiding.
After a short while of this, Naruto began to flip around as he dodged his opponent's attacks, landing kicks and slashing Sasuke's face, the back of his neck, the back of his knees, his forearms, and even clipping his left ear. Twirling around, he slipped around in front of Sasuke and landed a couple of quick punches to his opponent's solar plexus, sending him skidding backwards about a dozen feet until he came to a stop.
Sasuke snarled as he fell to his hands and knees, his katana clattering to the ground in front of him. Punching the ground in frustration, he looked up into Naruto's eyes and asked, "How the hell did you get so strong?! What the hell is going on here?! You've always been a damned weakling! This is wrong! This is all wrong!"
Standing straight, Naruto looked down at Sasuke and shook his head in disappointment. "You're pathetic Sasuke." he said, enraging his opponent further. "Just look at you, throwing a temper tantrum because you're losing a fight. Boo hoo. You're like a big baby without your bottle." he mocked mercilessly.
Growling angrily, Sasuke stood up shakily and activated his Chidori before charging as fast as he could towards his blonde nemesis. "Die you rotten bastard! Chidori!" he exclaimed before thrusting his attack forward, aiming right for Naruto's heart.
Sighing, Naruto leapt over Sasuke and stabbed his dual daggers into Sasuke's back. As he touched down on the ground behind Sasuke, he clutched his daggers tight and lifted the Uchiha over his head before slamming him head first into the ground in front of him, knocking the bastard out while also eliciting a loud 'crack!' sound.
Spherechanging back into his ninja garb, the blonde ninja sighed and looked down at Sasuke before he looked at Meru. "Meru, think you could heal him? It's best not to leave him a crippled mess."
Nodding in the affirmative, Meru walked over and used one of her Wingly spells to heal the unconscious Uchiha. Afterwards, Yamato proceeded to use one of his Wood Release techniques to bind Sasuke while Naruto slapped a seal tag on his forehead to prevent the use of both his chakra and his Sharingan.
Once they were prepared, the team left Orochimaru's base and returned to where they had left the Wood Clone and Kabuto. They sighed in relief to find that they were still exactly as they had left them. "Well Naruto, it would seem your seal works wonderfully." Yamato praised.
Naruto pouted at this as he looked at Yamato. "Hey! I told you that my seals would do the trick, didn't I?! I studied under Jiraiya-sensei for years and they came easy to me. I know what I'm doing Yamato-sensei."
Yamato chuckled at this and nodded once. "Relax Naruto. I was only teasing. Now, let's take these two and head for home. I'm looking forward to finishing this mission and getting some R&R." he admitted.
Yang threw her fist up and cheered. "Hear, hear! I can get on board with that. I want a date with Naruto when we get back. You'd better take me somewhere nice Buster. You got that?" she asked him with a wide grin on her face.
Naruto chuckled and nodded his head. "Of course sweetheart. Now, let's get going. I'd rather not stay here any longer than we have to." he admitted before they all began the long trek home.
A/N - Okey dokey, that's the chapter. Hope you enjoyed it!
As you can no doubt see, a LOT happened in this chapter. Kabuto was captured, Sasuke was captured, Orochimaru was killed, there was some fun in the hot springs, and...blah? lol.
Anyways, again, I do hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for reading!