A.N.

Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters do NOT belong to me. Naruto belongs to Misashi Kishimoto.

Sayuri and any characters that have not and will not appear in the manga/or anime are completely original.

Reviews are welcomed and encouraged! Thank you!

Answers

"Sai?" Sayuri blinked up at the artist.

He smiled, "Sayuri, you're here on time. That's a surprise."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the dark haired man who laughed nervously. "Where's Naruto?"

"Right here!" he announced as he landed behind the konoichi. "Sayuri," he placed a hand on her shoulder grinning at the artist. "He's our way around the forest."

"What?"

"Naruto told me that your condition prevents you from keeping up with us while in the forest. So…" he pulled out a scroll and quickly drew on it summoning the drawing as soon as it was done. Two large hawks peeled off the scroll peering down at them. "He figured we'd fly."

"Just lead the way!" Naruto grinned.

XXX

Their cloaks fluttered as they landed on the cool grass, around them, nothing but trees. The winter hadn't hit this region too hard.

"What is this place?" Hajime asked as he looked around nudging over to Diachi when he spotted a puddle.

"Well, will you look at that!" Hajime and Diachi immediately assumed defensive stances at the sound of the voice. "If it isn't a couple of wondering ANBU…and Sasuke Uchiha." The sly voice said.

Sasuke pulled off his mask. "Suigetsu."

"Sasuke?" a tall man with orange hair emerged from the cave. "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah," Diachi watched a man emerge from the small puddle. "What the hell do you want."

"I need to speak to Orochimaru."

"Wait…" "What?!" Diachi and Hajime turned to Sasuke in disbelief.

The white haired man smirked. "Looks like your friends aren't too thrilled about that idea."

"Is he here or not."

"He's here." Juugo answered. "This way." He gestured and began leading the way.

"Pft…" Suigetsu shrugged. "Well, what about you two? Ya goin' to freeze your asses off out here or what?"

XXX

Sayuri held on to the blonde as they glided in the air. "What exactly did you tell him?"

"Who? Sai?"

"No, the bird."

Naruto made a face. "You're not being nice." He complained but chuckled at the brunette when his puppy dog eyes didn't face her. "Only what everyone already knows. Nothing about…" he glanced down at the sea of green bellow them.

She hummed and looked up suddenly as if she spotted something. "We're almost there."

Naruto looked over his shoulder to the auburn haired girl. "How do you know?"

"I can feel it."

"There's something up ahead!" Said Sai, pointing to their left. A tall tower poked up from the sea of trees just a few kilometers away.

"That's it." Sayuri said, raising her voice enough for Sai to hear her.

"Alright! Let's get moving!" said Naruto as the bird dove down then propelled upwards gaining speed from the wind in the area. The closer they got the more they could see a clearing.

"We should land there." Sayuri pointed at a small clearing not too far ahead.

Naruto cupped a hand over his face and turned to her. "Are you sure? That's still part of the forest."

"It's not like I'll die."

Naruto chuckled. "No. I guess not." The birds descended unto the small clearing disappearing into a puddle of ink as soon as the three ninja got off.

"So that's the temple…" Sai rubbed his chin as he looked up at the stairs leading up to it. He smiled at Sayuri's curious gaze. "Danzo used to talk about wanting to coming here. Obviously not for anything good, he just never got around to doing so."

"Danzo?" Naruto asked. "What did that old geezer want with this place?"

Sai shrugged. "He never divulged that information…well at least not to me."

The two men followed Sayuri up the stairs coming to a halt when they reached the top. A purple haired man stood calmly by the entrance hands at his sides.

"Lady Sayuri." He greeted with a small bow. "It's been a while…" sharp silver eyes turned to the two ninja behind her. "And you've brought friends."

"You know this guy, Sayuri?" Naruto asked, looking at the older man suspiciously.

"Takeo, it's good to see you again." Sayuri smiled then turned to the blonde. "He's a monk."

"We've been expecting you, the Hokage told us that you need our help."

"Oh, yeah!" Naruto stepped forward, pulling out a slip of paper from his pocket. "Here. We wanted information on this jutsu."

The man frowned looking over the writing. "This doesn't look like anything I've seen before…Come." He gestured for the group to follow. "I'm not the only person here. The archive keeper might have a better idea."

Sayuri allowed herself to look around the temple. Several buildings that she remembered being there were gone. The whole temple itself was well kept, but it no longer looked as lively as it once did. They entered the tower at the center, some of the connecting bridges remained others were missing. The doors creaked when they opened.

"This is where we keep all of our books, and scrolls. If there is something to be known about these writings we might find them here."

The three were led into a large room, decorated in books and scrolls from wall to wall. Smaller shelves were further back, some had doors with locks on them others did not. In the center was a large table with a lamp on it every other seat. An older man came out from between the selves holding a scroll when he noticed the four people at the entrance.

"Takeo?" the man asked. "Who are these people?"

"Master Yamada," the purple haired man stepped aside letting the man get a look at Sayuri. "We have a guest."

The man frowned, and slowly made his way over to them. "I'd recognize that hair anywhere, this cannot be Lady Nagisa's ghost." The three ninja's smiles faltered at the comment.

"Master Yamada, where are your glasses?" Takeo sighed, shaking his head at the old man.

"Oh! That's right." He carefully pulled out the pair and put them on, eyes widening when Sayuri's silhouette cleared. "You're not Lady Nagisa…you look awfully like her."

"Master, this is Lady Sayuri."

"I know who she is, Takeo, do not patronize me!" the man snapped then turned back to the young woman. "Lady Sayuri," he bowed. Behind her Sai sweat dropped keeping a strained smile while Naruto tried and failed, to stifle his laughter. "And who are these men?"

"They are my companions."

"Master, Lady Sayuri needs help finding information on a seal."

"A seal you say? Let me see." Takeo handed the slip of paper to the old man who adjusted his glasses and scanned the writing.

"This looks familiar…" he turned around and shuffled to one of the shelves, the others fast on his trail, pulling out a set of jingling keys. His hands shook as he tried, and failed, to insert the keys into the lock. "Takeo, make yourself useful and open this lock."

Takeo laughed and shook his head. "Yes, Master." The lock clicked when it unlocked and he pulled the door open, stepping aside so the man could move forward, hands forming the seals of the dragon, ox, horse, and tiger his chakra triggering the last door to slide open on its own.

"This is an old sealing justsu, if I remembered correctly it had been used sometime after the Sage of Six Paths passed." He picked one scroll after another. "But…" he pulled out one particularly large scroll with a grunt at the exertion.

"Here, I'll help." Naruto offered but Yamada snatched away his balance threatening to let the old man fall back.

"No!" he turned and began to shuffle to the table. "Young people don't think I can do this myself…" he grumbled as he set the scroll down.

"Is he always like that?" Naruto asked Takeo who laughed nervously scratching his head.

"We only have a fraction of information on the jutsu in this scroll." The older man explained as he pulled the scroll open searching for what they needed. "Here…" he pointed, stepping away from the group. "Takeo come read this."

"Right." The purple haired man quickly got to work. "It's called the Seven Chakra Marking, it's supposed to mark and seal all chakra points."

"Mark…" Sayuri hummed. "That's what Naoki said he was going to do to me."

"This was done to you?" Yamada asked. "How is that possible!?"

"Master?" they watched as the man shuffled to the back of the room muttering to himself. Frowning the purple haired man turned back to the scroll. "There's not much on it…it's supposed to be a forbidden sealing jutsu and something about a summon…Marishi-Ten?"

XXX

"Ah, Sasuke it's a pleasure seeing you again." Orochimaru smiled at the frowning Uchiha.

"This isn't a curtesy visit. I need you to look into something."

"Yes, well I didn't expect anything less from you." The snake like man turned to his cluttered desk. "However if you are here about the sealing performed on little Sayuri-" the man didn't even flinch when Sasuke roughly, spun him around.

"How did you know?"

Orochimaru smiled, raising his hands in a pacifying manner. "Temper, Sasuke."

"If I find out you had something to do with this-"

"Oh, believe me that was none of my doing. As a matter of fact, Sayuri contacted me." At Sasuke's confusion, Orochimaru continued. "During our meeting in Konoha right before we headed for the war, I gave her a scroll…" Sasuke's grip on the man loosened, recalling Orochimaru wanting to meet with her after the Kage had left. "...A way to contact me, as a…thank you for storing all that chakra for me." The man chuckled.

"She what?" Hajime began.

"She didn't know." The Uchiha replied. "It was from the wound he inflicted on her during the chunin exams." He glared at the man, pulling away from him.

"Yes, well…" he picked up a slip of paper. "She sent me this. Quite an interesting forbidden jutsu, but a rather dangerous one." He turned and handed Sasuke a bright red scroll, the Marihasha clan symbol on the back of it.

"You stole this."

Orochimaru shrugged, "Only because I was interested. Except that I never could find the last piece, I figured one of the old geezers at the temple hid it."

"Last piece?" Diachi asked, reading over Sasuke's shoulder. "Marishi-Ten…?"

"This jutsu is used in combination with a summoning jutsu when the correct chakra and the correct vessel are gathered. To summon Marishi-Ten, apart from not finding the final piece that summon is why I was…hesitant to use it."

Sasuke looked up from the scroll. "What piece are you missing?"

"The conduit."

XXX

"Marishi-Ten…" Yamada began, placing a black marble box on the table. "A deity of war." He brought his shaking hands together to form the seal of the boar, gradually his thumbs began to glow light blue as his chakra pooled to them. He placed both thumbs at either side of the box, all four watching in awe as the black marble slowly turned white. "But you can't perform that jutsu on its own, in order for it to work you need the Black Lotus." He opened the box, falling silent.

"What is it old man?" Naruto asked growing impatient.

"It's gone."

XXX

"A black lotus?"

"No. The Black Lotus." Orochimaru pointed at the drawing on the bottom of the scroll. "The Marihasha had been safe guarding this technique for years. There are still missing pieces to what makes the jutsu work, this is the only scroll that I found on the sealing that wasn't locked away in one of those blasted drawers."

Hajime crossed his arms. "Like a drawer would have stopped you from getting it."

"They're rigged. Only the keepers of the library know the seals to open them."

XXX

"The only way the jutsu can work is if it's used in conjunction with The Black Lotus as a conduit and chakra storage. The Marihasha had the artifact for years, and it's gone along with its companion scroll."

"Could someone have moved it?" Sai asked.

Yamada shook his head. "Whoever is using this jutsu doesn't know what he's dealing with."

"What do you mean?" Sayuri asked.

"This jutsu summons a being not from our world." He shut the marble box, the black bleeding into the white color until it was completely gone. "If the jutsu does what I believe it does, we are all in danger."

"What are you talking about? What danger?"

"Naruto!" Sayuri hissed.

Yamada inhaled slowly and locked eyes with the blonde. "Marishi-Ten was a being sealed away using that jutsu, the seal was never mean to be reversed and if that seal is broken…" he unraveled the larger scroll and pointed to a drawing of a woman with six arms each holding a sword. "There will be war and destruction and there is no way to stop it."

"That's not..." Sayuri started.

"I think what she wants to say is that if this…woman or being was sealed once it can be done again." Sai finished for her.

"If the scroll for the seal is found, yes, unfortunately it was lost along with several other documents and jutsus when the temple was attacked 16 years ago. What you see here," Yamada gestured around him. "Is what we could salvage from the wreckage."

"You said it marks chakra points, does that mean it's supposed to kill as well?" Sayuri asked Yamada.

"It only kills if chakra was all they were after, and if the person is not compatible."

"Compatible for what?"

Yamada tapped the scroll. "This jutsu summons Marishi-Ten, it needs a vessel and the right chakra. The vessel needs to be compatible, but in order to do that the vessel needs to survive and their chakra completely sealed and depleted."

"Master, if what you say is true then, Lady Sayuri-"

"No, Takeo, Lady Sayuri's chakra was sealed but not depleted if that had been the case, she would not be walking much less talking. I believe the marking was interrupted just before it was completed." Sayuri released air she didn't realize she was holding, a wave of relief passing over her, she could almost feel all of her muscles relax at the news.

XXX

"Can a sealing be reversed?" asked Sasuke.

"I don't have enough information to answer that." Sighed the Sanin. "That scroll has all the information I know about the jutsu at the moment. I do plan on doing a bit of research into it." He smiled an action that caused a shiver to run down the spines of the Uchiha's two companions. "In any case I'm theorizing that you need the Black Lotus in order to reverse it…if that's even possible."

"And you don't have it."

"Correct."

"How do we know you're not lying to us?" They turned to Hajime who glared at the white skinned man. "It's not like you're the most trustworthy person we know."

Orochimaru chuckled. "While that is true, what reason would I have to try and use this jutsu now? It would take too much preparation, I still don't know what kind of chakra is needed and what kind of person can be used as a vessel. And in either case, I happen to like this stage of my life. It may not seem like it to you, but it is rather peaceful…to me at least and I don't plan on getting in any trouble…at the moment." He finished with a shrug of the shoulders. "Besides, who ever took that artifact took it a long time ago."

XXX

Sayuri reached into her pouch pulling out a Bingo book, flipping through the pages until she found the right one and flipped the book over to Takeo. "Did this man come to the temple on his own at any time?"

The man's eyes widened. "Yes, but it's been some time…" he then looked at her in confusion. "…Why is Kenji in your bingo book?"

"During the war we found out he was working for Obito."

"Obito…?"

"Tobi."

"The man who attacked the temple?!" Takeo exclaimed, taken aback.

"He wasn't in a right state of mind." Said Naruto, eyes downcast.

Sai crossed his arms, eyes still on the scroll before them. "Did he have access to this library or the original one at any point during his visit here?"

Takeo looked down for a moment then turned to Yamada. "It was some time before the attack, it was when Master Yamada had found that Master Ren, the original keeper, had passed away."

"Yes, he had died in his sleep." Yamada nodded, recalling that day.

"Master Ren had keys and access to the scrolls before he passed. The day he died was the same day Kenji arrived to visit."

Yamada pulled one of the chairs out and sat. "Do you think this young man killed Ren?"

Sayuri clenched her fists. "It's very possible."

XXX

Naruto looked over his shoulder to Sayuri. She had been quiet since they left the temple, hardly saying a word besides offering her thanks to the two monks. Frowning, he turned back to what was in front of him. A sea of green and a darkening sky as the sun began to set was what he tried to focus on before his thoughts went back to the deity.

They just couldn't seem to catch a break, could they? First its Kaguya, now they may have another possible being that could destroy the peace they've worked so hard to obtain?! He'd have to go tell Kakashi what they found. They need to stop that summoning of this Mari-ten or whatever before it was too late. At least the monks let them take the scroll with them. His blue eyes slid to Sai's back where the scroll currently was. Maybe someone back in the village could make heads or tails of this.

A.N.

Thank you for reading. Please review, tell me what you think :)