Caranril: Eh, it's probably not highly noticeable by you guys, but I balk at my own discrepancies. I said they're going north then sailing east? Yet in the second Naruto movie the Sand was attacked from the sea, which means the Gelel Stone seekers came from the south. So I figured they conquered south, then went west, and then came north. That way I don't hafta worry that they're not in the right location on the map, seeing how they're not there in the first place.

Legolas: That made no sense.

Caranril: If no one cares, then I shall wallow in my own self-critique. Ai, I can't believe I made such a mistake.

Arigatou gozaimasu: Moonlight (Didja know patience is apparently a virtue? Isn't that fantabulous? Maybe you should lend me some of yours cause I seem to be lacking...)
Commisar of the Books (Not rushing aye!)
Meira Evenstar (I lurvs all your OMGs. They make me happy. Hey hey, is your name perhaps Elvish? I realize Evenstar is Undomiel in Elvish, but Meira?
Gomen, I'm just excited cause mine's Elvish. Nyeh heh. You noticed Hitanichi. Very nice.)

Caranril: Eh, I tried to sound smart in this chappie, but if any Biology majors care to correct me, feel free to do so. If you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, then no worries!

disCLAIMER: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 3: Heart Pains

The Konoha symbol brought unease to the people of the Rice Country, but they were much more willing to talk about Orochimaru with people they knew could keep him in check. Whispers ran like a brush fire that Uzumaki Naruto had returned to finish what he started. While that concept was a pleasing one, Naruto reminded himself and his teammates that their first priority was finding Kaori. He didn't have to tell Sasuke twice, but that red in his eyes proved he wasn't very rational at the moment.

All clues led to the mountains. The last confirmation was a bald man who claimed to have been assaulted by a ninja. That she'd tried seducing him to get information, but because he was so strong against her wiles she resorted to violence. Naruto dismissed the man's tale, however, finding it difficult to believe that Kaori could in anyway be seductive. But again, they were directed to the mountains.

Kakashi summoned another dog to sniff Kaori's hitai-ate and pick up her scent. Fortunately the air was dry and rain hadn't washed away her tracks or her scent. As they climbed further up the mountainside, Shikamaru halted the team. He knelt and touched a place on the ground. The angle of the moon made the imprint easy to see.

"The earth's disturbed," he pointed. "Someone lay at some point, possible recently, because these weeds are crushed but not withered. Also..." He looked up at Kakashi. "Someone else was here." The prints leading away from the resting site were much too large to be Kaori's. They disappeared a few meters away. The dog sniffed the footprints.

"This way," the pup ordered, gesturing with his paw. He struggled up the rocks and gave a proud bark. "Genjutsu! This way!"

Sure enough, a large stone wall faced them, garnished by vines and crumbling in various places. But it was a facade. Shikamaru squatted and snatched a stick.

"We must have some sort of plan, because knowing Orochimaru he'll have traps and ninjas protecting his hide-out. It's difficult to plan effectively, having an extreme disadvantage in his territory. For all we know, there are multiple entrances, but we don't have time to search for them and formulate a plan." He drew circles in the dust. "Because we don't know what to expect, the people with the keenest senses and quickest reactions should go first. The Sharingan is very useful in this situation, so Kakashi and Sasuke will be the first wave. In case they are incapacitated, Naruto and Sakura will be shortly behind with their powerful attacks. I will bring up the rear, because I can protect myself if our passing springs a trap behind us. We'll take things slow. Any questions?"

Multiple nods answered, and he stood up.

"All right then. Let's go."

Kakashi dismissed his hound with a thanks a joined Sasuke in front of the wall image. Sasuke's eyes were already fired up, and Kakashi slowly lifted his mask and focused his Sharingan. He reached his hand forward.

"Kai!"

The Genjutsu dissolved and revealed a long, narrow cave tunnel. Kakashi nodded to Sasuke and they both drew kunai. Their eyes didn't need to adjust much going from the night into the dark tunnel. The glowing fungi provided light akin to that of the moon. They proceeded with intense caution, the scent of decay riddling the stones. Kakashi's Sharingan flared and Kakashi snapped his hand up. Sasuke froze and glanced at him. Caught between his fore and middle finger was a senbon. Kakashi handed it back to Sakura, careful not to touch the dripping end that would have embedded itself behind his left eye. She held her hand over it and analyzed the liquid.

"I'm not reading it as a poison," she said quietly, "but the proteins are fabricated. The amino acid count is way higher than normal."

"What would that do?" Naruto asked.

"I have no way of knowing for sure without proper experimentation, but I think it would raise the bodies metabolism rate too high and eventually cause death. It would be very slow and very difficult to isolate and counteract."

"The needle wasn't traveling very quickly and wouldn't have done much damage to Kakashi..." Shikamaru mused.

"But it would have cause him great pain until he died."

"Thank Kami for reflexes, eh?" Kakashi said with a smile, scratching his head.

Sakura pulled a tube from her pack. "I'll collect this and send it back to Tsunade-sama. If Orochimaru intends to use this in the future, we should create an antidote." She discarded the needle and nodded. The group continued on, each person more wary now that this tunnel posed a real danger.

Three smaller tunnels branched off. Single file would be the only way go.

"I sense powerful Chakra signatures to the left," Sasuke growled. "And one's very familiar."

"Sasuke, you find Kaori," Shikamaru ordered. "We'll provide a distraction."

"Why the fuck should-"

Kakashi's hand cut him off. "We're running out of time, Sasuke. Don't question orders."

Sasuke was infuriated. He clenched his fists and his eyes darkened.

"Naruto, you and Sakura wait two minutes then come after me and Kakashi," Shikamaru instructed. He pulled out a small jar of black ink and dipped his finger in. He drew a circle on the wall with an "x" through it. He formed a few seals and then stepped back. "Sasuke, when you find Kaori-san, thrust a kunai in the x and we'll retreat. You have you orders. Let's go!"

As silent as shadows, Kakashi and Shikamaru headed down the left tunnel. Naruto and Sakura watched Sasuke, who was struggling with something inside.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura ventured.

"Fuck!" he gasped, tearing down the middle tunnel. Naruto and Sakura exchanged looks.

"He would have done something stupid," Sakura whispered.

"But he deserves to kill that bastard!" Naruto said through clenched teeth.

"That's good, Naruto. Save that. Cause I'm up for a little snake-pounding too." Sakura yanked on her gloves. "Let's go."

The pair erupted into a huge cavern. Naruto's hackles rose: he smelled fresh blood in the air. There were already several bodies on the ground, having been caught completely by surprise while dining. Shikamaru was holding a figure with Kage Mane no Jutsu using the light cast by the fungi. Sweat poured down his face as he struggled against the person's powerful will. Kakashi held his hand over a gushing wound on his right arm.

"All this happened in two minutes?" Sakura asked. The only ninja left opposing them was the one fighting Shikamaru.

"Orochimaru already took off," Kakashi said quietly as a red-eyed Naruto appeared next to him.

"Well let's get him!"

"No." Kakashi bit back the throb of pain. That missile had hit the bone. "We have to deal with him first."

"Aw, he doesn't look like much," Naruto commented, eyeing the bandaged figure. Some of the bandages had torn away from his arms and revealed ghostly skin. Brown eyes glared at Shikamaru with immense hatred. He held a bone sword in his left hand.

"Bone sword?" Naruto practically screeched.

"Despite our previous knowledge of the extinction of the Kaguya Clan, this young man seems to wield the same kekkei genkai."

"Hey, bastard!" Naruto called, pointing rudely at the bandaged man. "Who the hell are you? Did you know Kimimaro?"

"I don't know who the hell you're talking about," the man seethed, "But you said Senchou's name without reverence, and that's punishable by death."

"Senchou? As in Orochimaru? That bastard?"

"You little fuck..."

"Ah!" Shikamaru collapsed, overpowered by the enraged kekkei genkai user. In that split second, the man dashed forward and thrust his sword at Naruto. He blinked in surprise as the boy stepped to the side and buried five claws into his back. Bandages clung to the clawed hand and unraveled from the man's back. Naruto crowed, long red Chakra ears bubbling atop his head. The man regained his fighting stance and stared at the jinchuuriki. Naruto grinned.

The man cried out, and his entire body went rigid. Out of the exposed flesh on his back tore several bone spines. He doubled over with another cry of pain. As more of the bandages fell away, horrendous cracking bones jutted out of the white skin. In an explosion of flesh and blood, bone spears shot from his body. The cavern reverberated with the spears breaking the stones. Heaving, barely holding up his own body, he glared at Naruto.

"Shit-head," he spat. "You're lucky only part of the bandages came off."

Somehow, the team had gotten away unscathed. But the enormous chunks missing from the stone walls indicating that had they been hit, they would have died instantly. Naruto glanced at his hand, curious that it went numb. He gasped at the shriveled appearance.

"The bandages...they suppress Chakra," the man wheezed, recovering from his psychotic attack. "These bones are mine, but the power to wield them is borrowed. I can't control it."

"Another experiment?" Shikamaru muttered.

"Who are you?" Naruto demanded again.

"I was once called Hitanichi," he stated slowly, forming a new sword, this time bigger, stronger, "and am currently called Servant." He pointed the sword at Naruto. "And I will be called your Bane."

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Snake-reek filled Sasuke's nostrils. Even when pledged under Orochimaru, he hated the smell. It was stifling, rich, and only meant that the man who held his future was doing well for himself. Like an animal that releases pheremones that indicate mood, his former instructor would stench up the place when he was particularly jovial. The strength of the smell meant that something good had happened recently. Disgusting.

A door. Somehow held into place in the stone. It was cracked open, and the strongest of the smells was coming from here. He could also smell...blood! He burst into the room, ready to face some genetically altered ninja. Instead, he was face with a humongous cavern. A large throne carved into the stone sat directly ahead, a yoga mat on the ground in front of it. Naturally-formed pillars loomed up into the darkness that not even his Sharingan could penetrate.

A very out-of-place figure caught his eye. With a gasp, he knelt beside the naked body of Kaori. A burning sensation welled in his chest as he touched her cold body and pulled her into his arms. Weak breaths from her blue lips chilled his skin and left a mist in the warmer cave air. The burning subsided slightly, now that he knew she was alive. But she was very cold to his touch and a dark rash was spreading from a tattoo-like wound above her left breast. Sasuke inhaled sharply. It looked similar to his own curse seal. What the hell had she done?

He pulled his pack off his back and drew out a cape. Something had told him to bring it, and Kaori would be glad he had too. If she survived.

"Damnit she will survive!" Sasuke swore aloud.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun. It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

The seductive voice sent spasms of disgust down Sasuke's spine.

"You fucking asshole," he seethed. "What the hell did you do?"

"She came to me with an exchange," the disembodied voice continued. "Herself for you: and I would be allowed to use her as I saw fit. I must say I'm a little surprised one of your fan girls would trade her life for yours."

"She's not a fan girl!"

"She didn't deny it when I asked if she was in love with you..."

Sasuke stared at the pale woman in his arms.

"Of course, it was hard for her to focus when I touched her every...curve."

"Bastard!" Sasuke screamed at the ceiling. Before he completely lost control, he gathered Kaori up in the cape and dashed out the door. He embedded a kunai in Shikamaru's target before leaving the wretched caverns at an exorbitant speed. Panting from restraint rather than exertion, he studied Kaori's face in the failing moonlight. Her expression was contorted in pain. Even unconscious she was suffering from the curse. Sasuke knew all too well the unease that came when sleeping.

"Akumako. Idiot." Sasuke buried his face in her unwounded shoulder.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

"Kakashi! Sasuke's got Kaori!" Shikamaru called.

"Not a moment too soon," Kakashi muttered, his heart still racing from the near-miss of those bones spears. "Let's go!" He stepped in front of Naruto and stared straight into the man's eyes. He didn't have time to power up Mangekyou Sharingan, but a regular Doujutsu would do while they made their escape. When he'd locked the man into a hallucination, he motioned for everyone to move out. Orochimaru had disappeared, and at this point it wouldn't be worth pursuing him. They'd gotten what they came for. He just hoped to the Hokages that she was still alive.

Several meters away from the entrance was a dark figure cradling a limp one. Kakashi's heart must have skipped five beats by the time he stopped behind Sasuke.

"Kaori!" Naruto called, kneeling beside his teammate.

"She's alive," Sasuke said gruffly, his hair covering his eyes. "But she sick."

Sakura knelt with Naruto. She touched Kaori's head softly. "Let's get her to the port town. They'll have decent medical facilities there. There's nothing we can use here in the Rice Country."

"Can't you do something, Sakura?" Sasuke asked, his expression still hidden.

"Not here. I need light, time, and concentration. I don't have any of that here." Sakura was surprised to find herself genuinely concerned about all that. "And Kakashi-sensei needs to be tended too as well."

"I'll be fine," he answered, knotting bandages over the wound. His arm would be useless until the bone was healed.

"We need to get out of here," Shikamaru warned.

"Let's go." Kakashi placed his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Do you think you can handle her?"

A blood-shot black eye angled up and glared at Kakashi. That was all he needed.

"We need to get there as fast as we can," he said. "The Sand nin had a mission in the neighbouring country and will meet us at the port."

Sasuke pulled some wire from his pack and used it to secure the cloak around Kaori's body. The last thing he wanted was for it to fall off while he was carrying her.

There was a heavy feeling of foreboding among the ninjas as they high-tailed it to the shore. Their small victory over Konoha's former greatest enemy should have lifted spirits, but the fact that he'd already started another ninja army was a worry on everyone's mind. The question was, with his new stronghold, ninja troops, and bizarre experiments, would he soon be ready to make another move against the country that he swore ruined his life?