Trying not do the same thing as I did before, I'm attempting to do quicker updates. Again I'm not making any promises but here's hoping that I can do so. Disclaimer, I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 2
Recruitment

"Where do we stand at the moment?" In an undisclosed location, Danzo was going over things with his subordinates. More specifically, how they were situated with their plans.

"Sorry to say that the news isn't good." informed one of the ROOT members. "Supplies are lesser than we anticipated. As things stands now we can go a month before it becomes more of an issue."

"Manpower may also be a problem." added the other operative there. "While most of the people that were captured during our recent operations were mere pawns and knew nothing vital, our more established members are being watched. With them currently unusually we're outnumbered in size and force."

Nothing was said as they continued to walk toward the room that was designated as Danzo's office. "Truly those are serious problems. We can obtain supplies from our connections outside of Konoha. As for the shortage of manpower, we may have to go outside the box."

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"How are we going to handle this situation?" inquired Tsunade to all those in attendance. "Usual procedure I assume."

"Care to elaborate on what you mean?" asked Koharu. The female elder had an idea already but wanted clarification

"What do you think? I thought it would be obvious. We eliminate Danzo." That got murmurs of agreement of mostly everyone there. What was being discussed was the reason why the council meeting was occurring in the first place. "Seems only right, after all the things he's done." The murmurs from earlier returned.

"Perhaps you shouldn't be so quick to give such orders, Tsunade." suggested the other village elder, Homura. "Given Danzo's career history, it might be wiser to apprehend him alive."

"Oh, come on." someone spoke up in a loud voice. Everyone turned their heads toward the back of the room and saw leaning against eh wall was Fox. "When is it going to get through your guys' heads that the bastard needs to be dealt with?"

"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Homura. "Why are you here?" He wasn't the only one as the majority of the council wanted an explanation.

"I was requested by the Hokage to attend this meeting." Fox calmly stated. The collective attention directed toward him didn't seem to bother him as it was just brushed aside. "Only seems right, seeing as how I was involved in getting that bastard apprehended in the first place." That bit of information was known to most of the people there, even if it was kept as hidden as possible.

"Did Alzheimer's set in for the two of you or are you just plain stupid?" The remark was directed at the two elders who sent Fox dual glares of anger. Probably didn't help that the last time they met, it wasn't a pleasant one. "Danzo, in his warped mind, believes that his views are what is best for Konoha and will do whatever it takes to make sure that it happens." The times when ROOT captured and tried to kill Fox were not widely known but would be good examples to prove what he was saying.

Before either could be said, a large explosion was heard. "What is going on?" questioned Tsunade that was shared by the others there. Suddenly two ANBU agents appeared at the doorway. "Report."

"There's been an explosion in the holding cells." reported the ANBU wearing a lizard mask. "What caused it though is unknown at this time."

"Earlier reports have said that no significant has happen." added the other ANBU with a bird mask. "However, we've been informed that a prisoner has managed to escape. The prisoner's name is Suigetsu Hozuki."

"At least it wasn't Sasuke." considered Fox. While the circumstances to the whole thing were surprising, something about it felt off. Sadly, he also felt as though he'll learn the reason for that feeling soon."

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"Ah, it's good to see that you arrived." In his office, Danzo sat there to welcome their guest. "I hope your trip wasn't an unpleasant one."

To his credit, Suigetsu gave a nonchalant shrug. "Went as well as can be expected considering I was brought here by your men." Soon that laid back act of his was replaced with one of seriousness. "Not that I'm not grateful for you helping me escape but I'm no fool. Your men that were unknowingly assigned to guard me said that you have something that would interest me. So let's hear it."

"Direct I see. You're just as the reports about you say." Danzo gathered calmly. "What they also say is that you're an exceptional fighter. Along with your unique ability were the reasons why Orochimaru had you in his possession."

The reminder of that particular moment of his life wasn't something that Suigetsu cared to have mentioned and had no problem saying so. "I didn't come here to hear a rehashing of my life. Get to the reason why I'm here or I'm gone." He started to head for the door but was stopped when ROOT members got in his way.

"You're right. Perhaps we should get to the matter at hand." conceded Danzo. That also thankfully put a halt to a possible fight happening for the time being. "How would you like to join our group?" By his expression, there was no telling what Suigetsu thought about what was said. "Your abilities would prove very useful for our future plans. Of course, we're willing to sweeten the offer."

Motioning over to one of his men they left only to return moments later with something wrapped in a cloth. Removing the covering it revealed two swords that had two smaller curved blades protruding from either side of each sword. Instantly Suigetsu recognized what they were. "Are those-"

"The Lightning Fangs." confirmed Danzo. "My men were able to acquire them from their previous owner in the Land of Rivers." No clarification was given but it was clear what had happen. "If you decide to join us you'll be given those swords. Also, you'll be assisted in acquiring the other words from Kiri. Your goal is to posses all of them, correct?"

Suigetsu refrained from saying anything that would show how eager he was to get his hands on the items that were presented. "Must say those are very tempting offers. Much better than what Sasuke offered." Slowly a toothy smirk appeared on his face. "But I'll go with option three."

All of a sudden Suigetsu's arm turned into liquid and stretched out to knock down the person turned into liquid and stretched out to knock down the person holding the Lightning Fangs. Keeping his limb as it was he swung it around like a whip to also knock down the others as well. With the current obstacles out of the way he grabbed both swords before rushing out of the room.

"Find him." ordered an outraged Danzo. "He mustn't be allowed to escape. There's a chance of the Hokage's shinobis capturing him and discovering out location." Not wanting to be on the receiving end of their leader's wrath, the ROOT members hurried after the fleeing individual. Clearly failure wasn't an option when it came to this.

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"Found anything?" After discovering about the escape, Naruto was one of the many people who went searching for the fugitive. To help in the search he got some assistance.

"Nothing so far." stated Kiba. Both he and Akamaru were sniffing around in the hopes of picking up Suigetsu's scent. "Neither of have been able to track where this guy might've went. Probably would help if we encountered him before. It would help us to be more familiar in what we were searching for."

What Kiba said held some truth. The chances of getting on the trail of where Suigetsu ran off were slim but they might've gotten lucky. Another reason why Kiba and his partner were with him was due to the uncertainty that Naruto had in his chakra capabilities. A couple of days had passed and he was still having trouble in using his chakra supply to its full capacity. Even as Fox he was having problems as he could only maintain that form for a couple of hours. The reason for it was known but didn't make it easier.

All thought about Naruto's predicament ended as Akamaru started growling toward a certain direction. Following his partner's lead, Kiba started sniffing there as well. "Found him. He's on the move and he's not alone. Wait a minute. He's actually being chased. What should we do?"

"We go after them of course." answered Naruto. "No telling what's going on but we can fix that." He then gave them smirk. "Care to lead the way?"

Giving a smirk of his own, Kiba and Akamaru headed off to where the scent was coming from. "Try to keep up." Not far behind was Naruto.

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"Damn it. They're still on my tail." Rushing through the forest, Suigetsu was moving as quickly as possible. No matter what he tried, he couldn't lose his pursuers. "If this keeps up I'll be caught for sure." To make things even worse, another group was fast approaching. "Guess I have no other choice."

Gripping both swords, Suigetsu channeled his chakra into them. Swinging them in their direction of one of his pursuers a blast of concentrated lightning was sent at the ROOT agents. Unfortunately the attack didn't do any damage.

"Shit. Lightning base attacks aren't my strong point but I thought it would've been more affective than this." Another thing that needed to be taken into account was that he had been locked up for quite sometime. Result being that he wasn't at full strength.

Regrettably for Suigetsu, he was soon overrun as the ROOT members had him surrounded. "So you want to take me on? That's fine. Better to kill you then continue this little chase." Tightening his hold on the swords he looked at what was before him. "Well, which one of you is going to die first?"

The answer would come when one of the pursuers came at Suigetsu from the side. While he may not be able to use the lightning attacks, he could use the swords in the basic way. Using one of them to block the kunai aimed for his head he used the other to stab the man in the kidney. He was going to go for the finishing blow when one of the guy's partners got intervened.

With a kunai of his own he deflected the attempted strike and used a short sword that where assigned to ANBU to slash Suigetsu in the gut. Such a thing would've likely been a killing blow but all it did was cause water to drip out of the freshly made wound. "Nice try but futile. I thought you would've been smarter than this." Suigetsu's mocking was short-lived as from the wound a gray substance started to spread. "What is this? What did you do?"

"We did our homework." informed the ROOT agent that had done the cut. He raised the short sword up and on the blade was some type of purple liquid. "Our weapons were coated with a special chemical that when it binds with your liquid based body, it would cause a reaction that'll cause your body to solidify to the point that you won't be able to move. Basically you'll become a living statue. You should've accepted the offer when you had the chance."

Suigetsu didn't bother making some sort of retort or threat as he was more concern about what was happening to him. Try as he might there was no way to stop the spreading. Soon nearly all of his body had hardened like rock and only his head remained unaffected.

"Can't believe this is how it's going to end." Despite himself, Suigetsu inwardly laughed. "Oh well, was fun while it lasted. Would've been nice to see how this whole thing ended."

In the end his entire body had been converted. Now standing before the members of ROOT was a stoned form of Suigetsu. "Its done." stated one of the members of the group.

"No it hasn't." argued the one who did the cut that started the whole body reaction. Without the slightness bit of hesitation, he used his sword to hack away at the stoned body. Thanks to the changed in body structure thee was no reforming. Wasn't long until what was once Suigetsu Hozuki was nothing more than a pile of ruble. "We should be going. Unwanted guests will be here shortly." Pulling the swords out of the ruble, the ROOT group left.

Minutes later Naruto, Kiba and Akamaru arrived at the scene. Their confusion of what they arrived at was evident. "What is this?" Both the Inuzuka and dog familiar sniffed throughout the area. "The scent that we were following ends here but no one's here."

"You're wrong." muttered Naruto. He followed it by kicking one of the pieces of rock. It was then that his comrades understood what he meant. "Can you track the scent of whoever else was here?"

Coming out of his shock both Kiba and Akamaru did as requested. "Sorry. I don't know how but I'm unable to get a lock on anyone else's scent."

Mentally cursing to himself, Naruto started walking off. "We should get going. The Hokage needs to be told about this. Already I can tell she's not going to be happy."

The reason I decided to bring back the Suigetsu character was because I realized that I just had him captured but with what I have planned I couldn't have him remain around. Plus, it allows me to show that Danzo/ROOT as a legit threat.

Next chapter will probably be out sometime next month but I'm making no promises.