DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto nor the characters in the anime and the manga. I do own, on the other hand, the characters like Ai, Keiko and Hiro, and the ...plot.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm back. :] Well, I didn't leave, actually, I just worked on a Harry Potter project, please check it out. Also, I am sorry for the long time it took me to post this chapter, I do hope, however, that you will not be disappointed with this one. And thank you for Riku-sia's review! Which reminds me of another thing, friends, please review/comment/critique on the ...story (may it be the plot, style, grammar, etc.). It will be very much appreciated!

I guess that's about it, so please, do proceed with the sixth chapter.

CHAPTER VI

Hana shivered as the long and wet thing continued to wrap itself around her neck. Why didn't she smell him? What was wrong with her nose? And what was wrong with her mind? Itachi had warned her about Orochimaru but still she wasn't very careful.

Fuck, Hana cursed as she felt the tongue make its way toward her swollen belly.

Panic was already evident in Hana's face and Keiko could see it only so clearly.

She knew she had to repay Hana and this would be her way. She hadn't seen the owner of what appeared to be a tongue yet (she shivered involuntarily as she realized this), but she knew she must fight that person.

With all her will gathered at her hands, she took a nice and firm grip on the tongue and expertly and quickly, though she never really practiced how, freed Hana from the tongue. She was almost done when a maniacal laughter resounded throughout the forest. Then a force knocked both Keiko and Hana off of their feet. The force - it was familiar to Keiko, in a way.

She looked as to where the laughter came from but before she could fully turn her head another force so strong knocked her towards a nearby tree.

Keiko gave a loud grunt but shakily stood up. I wouldn't let anything happen to Hana-san or her baby! She thought but soon realized that she mightbe too late as she saw Hana unconsciously leaning against a tree.

But before Keiko was even back to her feet she was once again shook by a very strong force.

"Orochimaru." She heard a firm voice say. She looked up to see a handsome young man with long brown hair and white eyes. A cute brown-haired woman who was with him.

Happy. That was how she felt when she closed her eyes because of fatigue. She knew there were people to protect Hana-san and her baby.

I couldn't have died any happier…

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Itachi was running the split second he heard of Orochimaru's evil laughter. He was worried not exactly about Keiko but about his wife and his unborn child.

Yes, Hana and Itachi were married two years ago and now, Hana was almost nine months pregnant with their child.

He knew that it was stupid to ask Hana to get Keiko but he knew he couldn't ask anyone else. If there were a few people he trusted in Konoha, it would be Hana, Tsunade and Naruto only. No one else would come close to those three. But he couldn't ask the Hokage nor the stupid blonde so Hana was the only one he could trust with this delicate mission.

Still, it was idiotic! He berated himself as he came closer and closer to the clearing where Orochimaru was. The raven-haired man hoped against all hope that his wife wasn't there and that she was somewhere, anywhere safe.

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Blood dripped from the side of Neji's mouth and his breaths were irregular and ragged. It had only been a good six minutes since they had started this fight against Orochimaru in order to save Hana-san and an unknown girl but TenTen was already down, he supposed. TenTen! His mind shouted.

No, I couldn't think about her now, Orochimaru wi- Neji wasn't even able to finish what he was thinking when Orochimaru landed a chakra-powered punch using the sannin's snakes instead of hands to Neji's abdomen. This attack sent him to the ground too drained of chakra so that he couldn't even activate his Byakugan.

Neji opened his now-normal eyes and to his horror saw the Sword of Kusanagi at a ready to plunge deep into his body and end the trouble he was causing Orochimaru.

He tried to stand; he tried to move out of the sword's way but found out that he couldn't. All he could do was pray for his life to be spared and watch the sword lower itself to his body. But he couldn't bring himself to watch his own death so he closed his eyes and soon felt hot blood on his face.

However, the searing pain wasn't there. Only blood. Lots of it.

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Naruto stiffened and his anger rose to such high levels. His vision was starting to be covered in what appeared to be a reddish orange hazy cloud or are those bubbles?

Orochimaru was there. The reason why Sasuke, his best friend, left was there just outside Konoha. The murderer of Sarutobi-sama, one of the few who looked at him as human and acknowledged him as a ninja, and many others was there, very near the village proper.

Naruto wasn't very much in control of himself anymore. He wasn't even aware that he had already grown out two tails. But that was until he heard a cry of pain.

He turned around and saw Ai with bloodied hands and tear-stained cheeks looking at him with wide green eyes. He studied what had happened for a while before he came to his only conclusion – Ai tried to touch him and tell him of the transformation but he was so absorbed in his anger that he wasn't aware of it.

With much difficulty, he kept his emotions in check and turned to Ai. He touched her hand in order to heal it but she moved it away from him. Naruto felt himself swallowed by regret so he just bowed his head and told her in a soft voice, "I'm sorry. But please, stay here and wait for me. I have important matters to attend to."

With that he dashed to the forest though not at his maximum speed in order to conserve chakra and control his anger. Little did he know that the moment the words fell from his lips, Ai decided to follow him.

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TenTen bit her lip in order to restrain herself from screaming. But it was to no avail.

"Ahhhhh!"

The scream was full of pain. And it was because of the Sword of Kusanagi piercing through her body. It passed through her stomach. And from there, blood dripped, soaking the light pink blouse of hers.

The blouse was also soaked in tears – the ones cascading down her prominent cheeks.

So this was how it was supposed to end, ne? She asked herself putting a slightly teasing tone-the best she could muster- at the end of her sentence. She mused over this thought as she slowly dropped to her knees. She was weak now, so terribly weak that even without getting impaled by Orochimaru's sword, she would have died of chakra depletion.

That was the reason why she did this. Neji, she had seen him fighting against Orochimaru but it was obvious to her that Neji would not win, or at least not until someone else capable enough to aid Neji arrives.

She saw Orochimaru poised to kill, with the Sword of Kusanagi almost fully drawn from his mouth. And she foresaw Neji's bloodied body on the ground, his heart erratically beating – trying in vain to deliver enough blood throughout his body.

Call her selfish but she had to admit that Neji's death was something she could never ever face. So, she resolved to replace his death with hers hoping so hard that it was enough to save the person she loved.

"TenTen! TenTen!" Neji shouted as his eyes tried to look at the brunette's already closing brown orbs.

"Neji, go. Fight back, reinforcement will… come soon," she gasped as her body slowly weakened due to the excessive loss of blood.

"Don't talk," he argued as he used his now-glowing hands to stop the bleeding. He was never a good medic but his skill was decent enough to heal wounds so he concentrated chakra on her wounded stomach.

"No, Neji. You'll need more chakra," she snapped at him with all her remaining energy.

"Please, I did this because. I care about you. I love you and I don't want you to die. Please, please don't let me die in vain," she said as she fought to control and keep her emotions in check.

But it was hard not to cry so endlessly when your life was ending in front of you and the one person you loved most was showing so much concern – so much love that you continue to hold on to dear life just to see the concern and feel the love.

TenTen's tears clouded her vision but it was not enough to stop her from seeing the danger that was heading Neji's way.

"Look!" She blurted out not only the word but a good amount of the limited blood left in her body. However, she didn't mind. She saw Neji turned his head quickly enough.

She knew he would be safe. With that she felt happy, for the last time.

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A flash of green suddenly interrupted Neji's vision – it was Lee.

There was relief as he thought of his teammate's name. And further relief when he felt two chakras already nearby and many others approaching. Good, he thought, there are enough of them to rescue Hana-san and the other one.

He knew he had to save TenTen. True. It was true that her pulse was so weak one would have so terrible a difficulty trying to feel it. But Neji could and he was very determined to have her pulse back to normal soon.

He had to save her. He just had to.

"Lee," he called out. But Lee did not look at him because the spandex-clad lad was so busy trying to run around and land some punches on Orochimaru. Neji knew Lee wouldn't be able to do much. He could, however, at least buy some time for the remaining nins to come and help him beat the crap out of Orochimaru.

"Lee, I am going back to the village. TenTen…" he couldn't quite tell his teammate that TenTen was already on the verge of death so he settled on just, "I need to help save her."

With that Neji sprinted to the forest dimly feeling guilty for leaving his teammate all on his own to take a demon straight from hell.

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Running at breakneck speed around a sannin was a very tiring thing to do, Lee found out. And so, he resolved to try his luck as he found an opening.

He wanted to hit him fast – so fast the sannin wouldn't be able to defend himself. And so, Lee went to attack. However, a second before he landed a punch to Orochimaru's direction reality hit him.

A sannin wouldn't be so reckless so as to leave an opening, his mind screamed but the logic of it all hit him quite a while too late.

Orochimaru faced him with that evil look plastered on his face. Lee instantly knew that the very moment he faced this evil person, he met death himself.

With a victorious smile Orochimaru swiftly kicked Lee's chest sending the youth to a nearby tree.

Lee was only dimly aware of the wicked shinobi approaching. He was losing consciousness fast. Nevertheless, he was very much aware of the pain he felt when Orochimaru nudged his limp head.

The snake ninja was just about to snap Lee's neck with his foot when a loud snarl was heard from behind him.

His wicked smile turned into a full blown, snaky grin.

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Naruto wasn't able to hold back the loud snarl from his throat as he saw Orochimaru poised to kill Lee.

No, he thought. He already lost his best friend, Sasuke, because of this snake-like bastard; he wasn't going to lose anyone of his friends to him; not if he could help it.

"Leave. Him. Alone."

"So the Kyuubi has made quite an appearance," he paused as another person entered the scene, "and you brought someone who could be a test subject too. How considerate."

Test Subject?! Naruto asked himself in disbelief. He moved his head a bit to the side in order to have his peripheral vision catch someone behind him – Ai.

Naruto growled at Ai. She wasn't supposed to be here. I told her to stay safe inside the village.

Orochimaru walked away from Lee's body and walked to where Ai was frozen with fear. He was directly in front of her now and when he was about to land a cool hand on her cheek, another snarl was ripped from Naruto's throat.

The evil sannin gave a light chuckle and faced the demon vessel.

"Quite impatient for a fight, are we now Naruto-kun? Or a little overprotective?"

Then he disappeared only to reappear behind Naruto. However, thanks to the latter's improved speed, Naruto was able to stay away from Orochimaru's line of attack.

He knew he must fight with his all against Orochimaru. He might be dumb but he knew enough so as not to go easy on a sannin, Tsunade-baa-chan taught him that lesson. Who knew it could be handy?

Gathering chakra in his palms, Naruto once again thought of his plan. He had already made three bunshins and made them stay away from the clearing they were situated in. By now, they would have made swirling chakras on their palms. He saw Orochimaru poised to attack him and so Naruto heaved a deep breath.

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Itachi had disappeared and Sasuke was pissed. What pissed him off even more was the fact that he couldn't find Suigetsu.

He was already running through the forest now, looking for his partner and praying that he already got the girl, Keiko.

But as he flew from branch to branch he saw a body on the floor. It was Kabuto's. He knew that lately, Orochimaru has occupied Kabuto's body. He also knew that by now he would have needed a new, a stronger container.

And of course, he got to the idiot! He exclaimed as he pieced everything together.

Now, he must get the girl alone. Crap! Sasuke also let other more colorful words slip from his lips as he looked for Keiko.

Finally, he found her chakra pattern but not without the chakra of some people (or should he say creatures?) he didn't particularly like to see.

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Ai was frozen in fear at the sight of Orochimaru and frozen in immense sadness by the growl that Naruto released the exact moment he realized she had followed him.

But when she saw the green-clad guy leaning against a tree she was horror-struck, she rushed to him but something else, or someone else rather, caught her eye – a pregnant woman unconscious …and near her was Keiko.

Ai's world seemed to have stopped for a moment. Keiko! She thought as she ran to her friend's direction but she stopped abruptly as she saw someone else near her friend. She also saw him pick her up – so carefully just like how someone else did it before.

Her eyes widened as she took in his dark hair and dark eyes. Ai knew she had seen him before. Hiro.

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Sasuke almost groaned as he saw his ex-best friend and his ex-master – the two people he wished he would never see again in his whole life.

Why was there a need for them to be at the same place all at the same time?!

He wanted to get out. Being near Naruto always made him want to go back to the past and undo everything he had done, but he knew it was impossible. Being near them both, on the other hand, made him want to make the impossibility a possibility.

No matter, he told himself as he decided to finish his mission. He was also fueled when he saw a girl looking at Keiko.

In a jiffy, Sasuke found himself near Keiko, actually, between her and the other girl.

He picked up Keiko with such surprising and alarming gentleness that was so unlike him. When he was already poised to leave, he saw the green-eyed girl's penetrating stare.

It was the same one he saw on Keiko's eyes only, this girl's stare was much much more accusing that the one Keiko gave him earlier that day. However, he was also aware that Naruto had been watching his movements. He knew he must make his escape and he knew he needed to do it fast.

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Naruto was about to attack Orochimaru with his rasengan but he stopped. Orochimaru knew why – he had sensed Sasuke a few seconds back – and he knew this would get the blonde to stop his attacks.

With the unbelievable stroke of luck, he attacked Naruto with the sword of Kusanagi while the blonde was so distracted by his former best friend's surprising presence. He wasn't even aware that Sasuke had taken someone and fled with the person he abducted.

However, the attack didn't do any harm on the boy because of the demon's cloak.

Orochimaru cursed as he felt more shinobis closing in on the clearing. He tried to look for Keiko, the girl – the reason why he wanted to go to Konoha but found her nowhere to be found.

Kuso, he mentally cursed as ANBU's started arriving.

Orochimaru then transformed into thin air.