a/n: Welcome back! Sorry for the long wait. Really busy with college apps. This chapter is dedicated to my friend Jen. Enjoy:
Chapter 33: Snakes and Honey
The ANBU squad made there way west of Konoha hoping to intercept the sannin before he got any closer. Kami knows what plans he has up his sleeve. He's had 3 years to replenish his army and his strength. Kakashi's main fear was that he was after the village, or Sasuke. Either one would cause devestation. Sending Sasuke out seemed stupid at first, but since Sasuke was the only one to have nearly killed him it seemed only best to send him out.
"Ne, Sasuke," Naruto called, "what was it like?"
"What was what like?" The Uchiha asked.
"Living with that snake." Sasuke kept quiet. "How did he treat you?"
"Mostly the day consisted of me training and learning new jutsu. He also expanded my chidori into other forms. The sword he gave me is a version of the kusanaiga. I can't extend it like his original, but I can run chakra through it. Orochimaru usually kept to himself or Kabuto. I noticed that they were working on other specimen to unlock the secret of acquiring doujutsu. They took a sample of my DNA and isolated the gene for the sharingan. They replicated it and started injecting the gene into other people. I don't know the outcome of the experiments, but now Orochimaru is doing it on his own since he took over Kabuto." Naruto grimaced at the thought of Sasuke being the guinea pig for the crazed sannin's experiments.
"If he did complete his research, then this is going to be a tough battle." Naruto said. Sai simply nodded his head.
"If we confront him keep to the plan that we devised." Yamato ordered.
"Hai!" They all responded in unison. Naruto glanced sideways at his teammate. Sasuke…
…If he really is after you…I will put my life on the line to protect you.
No need for that dobe. Sasuke's voice echoed in Naruto's head. The blonde's eyes went wide as he noticed Sasuke's sharingan ablaze, and a smirk on his face. As they hopped from tree to tree, a giant snake appeared from the ground with its mouth open, aiming for Sasuke. The Uchiha saw it coming and summoned his own snake. His anaconda clamped its jaws on the enemy snake's neck. The four ANBU members halted and covered all four directions.
"Sasuke-kun," a chilling, sadistic voice purred, "you were a very naughty boy." The black haired ANBU spun his head around, katana drawn, and sharingan ablaze. To his horror he saw his old teacher standing before him. He had his same pale skin, purple eye shadow, long black hair, and Sound Nin clothing. What scared him the most was the pair of bloodshot eyes each with three tomoes encircling the pupil.
"How??" Sasuke breathed before the Sannin charged a chidori.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Ne, Sakura," The 6th asked from his desk. The kunoichi looked up from her paperwork.
"Hn?" She asked.
"Do you want to get out of here?" Sakura's eyes widened.
"Kakashi, you can't leave the office! You have work to finish!" The Copy Nin performed a seal.
"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" He called, forming a clone. "I need you to watch over here for a bit."
"Hai." The clone responded. Sakura scowled.
"That's cheating Kakashi." She said in a low tone.
"It's not cheating. It's charity." He responded. The silver haired jounin put his arms around the pink haired kunoichi and poofed out of the office.
"Where are we?" Sakura asked.
"There's a secret spot I know where bees hive their honey. Nobody knows about it." Sakura looked around and sure enough there was an abundance of beehives all lined up in order hanging from a string of trees. Sakura took a step back.
"I don't like bees." She said shakily. Kakashi gently held her arm.
"Don't worry. I'll protect you." He performed a sew seals. A thin layer of chakra formed outside his body. Sakura nodded her head and did the same thing. With their new protection, the couple walked over to the beehives and saw as millions of tiny yellow and black insects raced inside and out of the hives. "These beehives remind me a lot of Konoha," Kakashi began, "all of the little worker bees play their part in protecting the community, and all are an important part in the survival of the hive." Sakura's gaze slowly landed on Kakashi's exposed eye.
"So are you calling yourself a queen bee, Kakashi?" She asked with a smirk on her face. Kakashi chuckled.
"In a matter of speaking yes." Sakura smiled and leaned into her lover. Kakashi wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He lifted up his left arm and stuck his index finger inside one of the hives. He gently scraped the inside and retracted his finger with honey on it. He positioned it in front of Sakura. "Ahhhh." He said. Sakura giggled and opened her mouth.
"Ahhhh." She responded. Kakashi let his digit slide in as Sakura gently closed her mouth around his honey-glazed finger. The honey was so sweet and fresh. She savored every drop of it, absent-mindedly sucking Kakashi's finger. The Copy Nin blushed slightly and gave his finger a tug. Sakura Refused to let go. Kakashi chuckled and gave it a harder tug. She still wouldn't let go. With his right hand Kakashi tickled her abdomen causing the kunoichi to giggle. Kakashi quickly retracted his finger and wiped the saliva on his pants. "You cheated." She pouted. Kakashi's eye curved into a smile.
"I do need that finger you know." He replied. Sakura smiled and hugged her lover as they walked back to civilization.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"How??" Sasuke asked staring wide eyed at his former teacher. Orochimaru gave a sinister laugh before lifting up his chidori hand.
"Thanks to you, I was able to complete this jutsu of mine. Now I hold the sharingan. You are no use to me anymore, Sasuke-kun." Naruto grit his teeth, calling upon the Kyuubi chakra.
"You're a monster," Sasuke growled, " using innocent human beings as tools for your inhumane experiments. I killed you once," he charged a chidori, "and I'll kill you again." Orochimaru was unfazed, and instead bared his teeth in a sinister grin. He chuckled his demonic laugh at his former protégé. Without warning, Naruto dashed forward, rasengan charged in his right palm. The sannin's sharingan spun fast as he easily moved out of the way. He thrusted his own chidori into Naruto's back, as he poofed away, a second Naruto submerged from the ground, with another rasengan aiming for his chin. The ball of wind chakra struck the snake's chin. Naruto's eye widened as he melted into mud. Shit. He thought to himself as he felt a blade pierce through his back. Sasuke dashed forward and thrusted his own chidori at the sannin. He disappeared, missing the pale skin by an inch. The Uchiha turned to his fallen comrade, who was holding his wound, grinning.
"It's okay teme," Naruto chuckled, "he missed my vital points." Instantly, the kyuubi chakra healed the sword wound. Sasuke nodded and focused his attention on everywhere around him. Yamato began to form his mokuton seal, and Sai was busy sketching out dragons. Yamato's wood jutsu formed a protective cage around them, and Sai's dragons flew out in search of the crazed sannin. Naruto formed his OniMari and stood back to back with Sasuke. Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Orochimaru flying forward, kusanaiga emerging from his throat aiming for the Kyuubi container. Sasuke reached out and grabbed the sword, ignoring the blade as it cut into his hand.
"Go Naruto!" He called. The blonde haired ANBU dashed across the blade, OniMari blazing in his palm, eyes red with evil chakra. Orochimaru tried with all his might to retract the sword, but couldn't. Naruto was only a meter away when he pulled the sword completely from his mouth and ducked out of the way of Naruto's attack. The blonde went flying, his OniMari driving a hole into the ground. Orochimaru extended his sword in Naruto's direction. Yamato formed a wood wall around Naruto, protecting him from the attack. Sai sent out a snake that binded the Sannin, and Sasuke darted in front of him with his own OniMari. To Sasuke's horror, Orochimaru's sharingan was spinning in the form of the Mangekyo. "No…"
"Welcome to my Nightmare!" Orochimaru yelled, trapping Sasuke in his own Tsukiyomi.
The Uchiha looked around as he saw Sakura, Kakashi, and Naruto standing in front of him. One by one, a kusanaiga plunged through their hearts and they fell on the ground, in a pool of their own blood. Sasuke grabbed his head.
"STOP IT!" He screamed to the blood red background. Orochimaru laughed sinisterly, watching as the Uchiha whimpered. Fight it Sasuke, Fight it! Sasuke thought to himself. He looked up at the eyes and his own mangekyo sharingan was unlocked. Orochimaru eyes widened as Sandaime was holding him once again. Sweat poured down his face as he watched the Death God taking his soul from his body. This time, Sandaime was younger and stronger. Oro's kusanaiga wasn't lodged in his body. The Sannin screamed as he watched the Death God devour his soul before his eyes. He pulled out a kunai and cut his arm, awakening him from the genjutsu. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sasuke charging at him with an OniMari. With lightning fast speed, he performed a series of seals. Four caskets emerged from the ground. Sasuke's eyes widened as he thrusted his palm towards the caskets. All four flew open. The first created a tree wall, the second fortifying it with a water wall, the third creating a mud wall, and the fourth creating a gust of wind to weaken the thrust. Sasuke's OniMari only got through the mudwall, but stopped halfway into the waterwall. All four ANBU members were stunned. Orochimaru sneered as his resurrected servants appeared before them. The smoke cleared and the now living corpses stood with blank faces looking at the four ninjas before them.
"Sho-Shodaime-sama…" Yamato breathed.
"Nidaime…" Sai said, his stoic demeanor faltering slightly.
"Sandaime…" Sasuke choked.
"…Tou…Tou-San…" Naruto choked out.
Orochimaru had his back up at the ready. In a straight line stood the first four Hokages all with blank faces and dead eyes. They were all in their battle attire, the same they wore before they died. Naruto's eyes were wide in fear, and sorrow at the sight of the two people he looked up to. Yamato stood gaping at the man who's DNA ran through his veins. Sasuke was frozen in his spot, just a few feet away from the Kages. Sai…well Sai didn't show anything, but he knew that this was going to be a much tougher battle now that they were here.
The Snake Sannin let out an evil laugh. "Let the match begin!" He cried out. He pulled out four kunai, each with a red tag attached to the hilt. He threw them all into the back of the heads of the Kages. Their eyes lit up and they darted forward.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Kakashi's teacup cracked. He looked down from his book to see the damaged cup. His gaze then turned to the sky. The trees were lashing around in the wind, rain poured from the sky, and a small chunk of rock from Mount Hokage fell into the forest. His eye widened. Oh My God. He thought to himself. Sakura looked up from her desk.
"What's wrong?" She asked. The Rokudaime turned to his lover.
"Get Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-sama." Sakura looked confused.
"Why? What's wrong?" Kakashi stood up from his desk and strode over to his cabinet. He opened it up and pulled out his ANBU katana and armor.
"Those four are in trouble, and Orochimaru isn't alone." Sakura stood up confused.
"How do you know that?" He closed his eye and turned to the window.
"A series of bad omens… I think Naruto and the others have confronted Orochimaru." He slipped on his armor gaurds. "And he's brought back up…" Sakura followed his gaze, her eyes widened. He was looking straight at the first four faces on Mount Hokage.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A/N: Next chapter: The Second Great Hokage Battle!