Naruto's fight with the one horned man had done a lot to calm him down. In fact he was feeling guilty that he could not even give the man a name. In the end though he had been an enemy attacking his home and he didn't regret reducing him to paste. Now he stood at the base of the strange gate having just fallen on his head. For whatever reason he couldn't grip the surface with his chakra which meant he would have to climb but, then he thought of a faster way.

Backing up he summoned a dozen clones and ordered them to create a human ramp, holding one back to aid with the creation of his Rasengan. That done he started running up the ramp Rasengan in his hand prepared to make a surprise entrance. It was harder than he expected. There was a lot of squirming and even a yelp of pain.

Reaching the top he jumped clearing the roof. On his way down here he had time to observe the battle in progress. Sasuke and a silver-haired man were fighting sword to kunai. Recognizing the traitor Kabuto he angled his body so that he would hit the man on his way down with the Rasengan.

Right before he hit Kabuto jumped back but, his arm seemed to be caught in midair and the Rasengan clipped it as he slammed into the roof sending tiles and wood splinters flying. He felt a metal wire slice across his cheek but, he hardly felt it. Jumping out of the crater he stood next to Sasuke and stared at his opponent.

Kabuto held his arm a light green aura surrounding his hand healing himself. As they watched he stopped the bleeding and then he passed his hand over his shoulder. The grimace on his face lessoned as he found some relief. "I'm not in any condition to take both of you on right now. Fortunately, I signed the contract with Rashoumon."

Naruto blinked not understanding what Kabuto was talking about. Then the ground disappeared from under him in a puff of smoke and he was freefalling. He was not the greatest tactician but, Naruto could think on his feet. Before either Sasuke or he could hit the ground they landed on a pile of doppelgangers. Untangling himself from a sea of identical arms and legs he was about to jump off the wall to continue the chase when Sasuke stopped.

"We can't leave the village now."

"What! We can't let him get away. He's a traitor he he," Naruto was tripping over his words unable to articulate his thoughts through his anger.

"He won't get away," Sasuke said calmly. He bit his thumb and slammed his hand on the ground. There was a puff of smoke and Naruto's eyes widened at what he saw. There were two dogs one was large and black with a spiked collar the other was Pakkun who sat calmly on the other dogs head.

"Oh, It's you," Pakkun said looking at Sasuke.

"You know Kabuto's scent right?" Both nodded which almost caused Pakkun to fall off the larger dogs head. "I want you to follow him at a distance. If he strays more than three miles in either direction from where he entered the forest report to Anko. She should be about five miles away from here. Make sure to tell her that he is injured."

"Understood but, now that you have summoned us in battle you know the price you must pay right?" Pakkun's tone was serious as Sasuke nodded solemnly. "Good. Make sure you get the shampoo I like from Kakashi," with that last comment the two dogs disappeared over the side of the wall.

Naruto opened his mouth to comment but, the words died in his mouth as Sasuke shot him a glare. Instead he asked, "How did you know about Anko?"

"They've set up a picket line in their path of retreat. The purpose of that is to pick off any high-value targets as they retreat. She's the one who will take them down and Kado's team is one of those in charge of spotting them."

Naruto couldn't be sure but, he thought Sasuke might actually be concerned about the illegitimate member of his family. Attempting to get his mind off the subject he said, "That was a neat trick catching his arm with the wire without him noticing."

"Yeah, I figured you would make some sort of flashy entrance."

"So what should we do now?"

Sasuke shrugged, "I've been listening to some of the status reports. Most of the fighting is over with but there's still some resistance. So we should find the enemy and engaged them."

Naruto snorted, he needed a Chunin to tell him that.

"This sucks," Konohamaru announced to know one in particular.

"Would you shut up already. Nobody wants to be here," Hoshiko snapped.

Kado glanced over at the two as they started to bicker. Technically they were on a mission but, it wasn't like there was much to do. With the exception of Ranmaru there was virtually nothing for them to do except watch his back. Unlike the Byakugan which could see in a three hundred and sixty degree arc, Ranmaru only could see what was in front of him.

The advantage he had over that noble's family Kekkei Genkai was twofold. First he could see through any object at any distance. The second advantage was the simple fact that he could see the actual person rather than their chakra system. Kado sometimes wondered if there was more to it but, he wasn't a spy.

Ranmaru's unique gift was why they were in the line of retreat for the Sound's forces. His mission had ended up encompassing two genin was to spot high-value targets as they retreated. They would relay any high-value targets position to Anko who would move to intercept. The only chance of the six of them seeing any action today was if they could find an individual to ambush and so far Ranmaru had only seen one high-value target and a group of four ninjas.

"Hey, Moegi if those two went at it, which one do you think would win?" He asked glancing over at her. She was leaning against a tree and smiled weakly as she watched the argument unfold without looking like she was.

"Point why," she began slowly. "Hoshiko would win but, Konohamaru would keep getting up so he would win in the end."

"Yeah," he had to agree with her assessment and it wasn't just because he had been friends with Konohamaru for years. True Konohamaru had gone out of his way to befriend him when he first arrived in the village but, he also done the same thing for Ranmaru and Hoshiko with mixed results.

No, there was something about Konohamaru that refused to let him give up and it was sort of infectious. Kado was pretty sure that if it wasn't for him he wouldn't have tried to graduate early. He would've liked to have been on Konohamaru team but, breaking up the original trio would have been unnatural.

Ranmaru had been quietly staring off into the distance when he suddenly started flipping through the photos in his hand. "You see someone?" He tried to look over his shoulder without crowding the smaller boy.

He stopped shuffling when he came across a gray-haired man. "Yakushi Kabuto, the second in command," Ranmaru read the small biography out loud before looking back up. "He should pass within a hundred yards of our position in about ten minutes."

Kado's hand paused as he was about to transmit the information. "You can't give a better estimate than that?"

Ranmaru frowned into the distance, "he's hurt. One of his arms is hurt and I don't think he can use it. Every few steps he stops to heal it."

He waited for more information but, Ranmaru didn't add anything. Sighing he clicked on the radio. "Sensei," there was a hissed a static and then the sounds of battle.

"Not now. She's a Genjutsu user and there a bitch to kill." Then the radio clicked off and all he could hear was his own breathing.

"She can't intercept?" He nodded an affirmative to Hoshiko's question.

Konohamaru had drifted over ease dropping in on the conversation "How badly is he hurt?"

"He's moving slowly and keeps healing himself. I'm sure he can use his one arm," Ranmaru answered.

Kado had been friends with Konohamaru for years and during that time they had done some pretty stupid things together. Like when they had tried to sneak an early look at the list of teams that had been located in the Hokage office at the time. Konohamaru had the same expression on his face then he did now. "No."

"You haven't even heard my idea yet," Konohamaru said a familiar grin spreading across his face.

"You want us to ambush him and that's insane." Kado said emphasizing every word.

"Our orders allow us to 'engage any individuals as they are retreating." Konohamaru quoted.

"They meant we could fight chunin and that would take all six of us. If this guy is a second in command of a village he's way above us."

"If he is hurt half as bad as Ranmaru says then this could be an opportunity of a lifetime."

Kado eyes flashed from Konohamaru to Hoshiko as she spoke. He thought about calling their Sensei but, she turned off her radio. As Genin they were all the same rank and none of them could pull seniority on the others so that meant either Konohamaru or Hoshiko would suggest putting the decision to a vote.

He glanced over to Moegi, her body language told him she was nervous but, she wouldn't go against Konohamaru. Ranmaru wouldn't care so that left Udon. He was the one person that could normally talk Konohamaru out of doing anything too reckless. Once he glanced over at him though he lost all hope. In the end Udon was just like him a follower not a leader. He had counted the votes just like he was and their side was coming up short. "Fine but I'm coming up with the plan."

Kabuto glanced down at his arm or at least what was left of it. He had managed to stop most of the bleeding but, it kept reopening. Overall he judged that the arm was a total loss. It may have only been a glancing blow but, the Rasengan was a deadly technique and unlike the last time he'd been hit with it he had no time to prepare. This time it had torn through muscle with ease and he was pretty sure some of the bone was gone too.

Replacing a limb was considerably more difficult than an eye but, fortunately he had numerous not so willing volunteers. Finding a match would take some time but, until then he'd be at considerable disadvantage. His jutsu repertoire had been severely reduced and he had always favored his right arm.

At least he wasn't suffering from pain. Numbing his arm from the shoulder down had been easy. The other spot that the Rasengan had only brushed against still hurt and was also slowing him down. He paused to down another pill and heal what he could before continuing through the woods ripping his shirt to make a makeshift sling.

Abruptly he was surrounded by mist and for the first time in his life he swore. He couldn't afford a fight right now. His best estimate was that he was at a little above fifty percent of his normal fighting ability. If he wanted to get out of this alive he'd have to make this quick. Fortunately he did have one secret technique. As an accomplished Medical-Nin he was capable of not only using his own chakra to heal patients but, he was also capable of using his patient's chakra to heal them. A side benefit of this was he had discovered and developed a sort of sixth sense that allowed him to sense others.

Taking a step back he closed his eyes and felt for the telltale presence of a chakra system but, there was nothing. That didn't make any sense the Hidden Mist Technique was meant to conceal somebody's presence as they struck at close range. It negated any long-range attack by simply obscuring his location. True the mist wasn't as thick as the other times he had seen it so, did that mean this was meant only to delay him? Were they trying to set up an ambush further ahead?

Opening his eyes he noticed something odd for the first time. In the mist there were little red particles like fireflies in the night. At that moment he heard more than sensed somebody lunging at him from behind. Pivoting he swung his leg up and across catching the person in mid-air. The person was a lot smaller and lighter than he thought they would be. As he hit her she flew into a nearby tree cracking her head with an audible sound. At the very moment of impact the ground erupted from beneath him. It was impossible to move and he felt a kunai cut across the back of his knee severing the tendons.

Pain shut up his leg and he collapsed having enough forethought to fall on the offending arm breaking it. He couldn't numb his leg like he had done with his arm but, he could numb his nerves enough to stand. Rolling to his feet he jumped to a nearby tree no longer trusting the ground. As soon as he landed on the branch shuriken started to wrap wires around him.

Creating a chakra scalpel with his one good arm he sliced his way free. It was then he caught his first break. A kunai with an exploding note wrapped around it hit the trunk where he would've been, it was child's play to trace its trajectory back to the source and respond with his own kunai. Jumping away from the tree as it exploded he had to admire their teamwork. The person who had thrown that kunai couldn't have seen him which meant that had the whole thing was set up before hand.

Landing on the ground he rolled to protect his injured leg. Before he could fully stand another enemy had jumped from the trees trying to hit him with an ax kick. Blocking the kick as it came down he got his first look at his opponent's. He wore glasses similar to his own but the biggest surprise was his age. The kid couldn't be in his teens yet. How were they hiding their presence so effectively?

Unnoticed a fifth opponent had slit in from the side and with one quick thrust he pinned his foot to the ground with a kunai. Both of his opponents withdrew quickly leaving him pinned to the ground. Kabuto twisted so that he could pull the kunai out but, as he did so he was hit three times. Two of the kunai were blocked by the light armor he wore but, the third hit him in his unprotected side right below his ribs. Those would not be what killed him. That was done by the simultaneous detonation of three exploding notes. His last thought was that he had been killed by children.