Kimimaro has long known that death was his companion. That was true for all ninjas but more so for himself. It would've claimed him long ago if it was not for the talented ministrations of Kabuto and even he had almost given up in the last year. In the end he had put him in a medical induced coma hoping to slow the decay of his body. In truth it was only his will that kept his heart beating. Coming out of his coma he fully expected that the bespectacled medic would be there but, he stiffened as he recognized the presence of Orochimaru.

"Can you hear me?"

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru." His heart started to beat faster which was echoed on the cardiograph increasing beeps. Was he finally needed? He dared to hope.

"Konoha is going to attack in a few hours and my new body is with them. Do you think you can capture him?"

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru."

The Sannin chuckled in his distinctive manner. "You probably won't live long after you capture him. Be sure not to hurt him too much particularly those eyes of his."

"I won't fail you." Kimimaro forced his atrophied muscles to move. Pulling the wires and needles free from himself he stood in front of the man that gave his life purpose and wordlessly followed him out of the room.

Traversing down a long flight of stairs he noticed the transition from cement to simple compacted dirt. This was the newest part of the base and lacked the distinctive musty air. The cavity they entered was large but poorly lit. He could barely make out it sides and the far wall just disappeared into blackness.

"Look up." Kimimaro did as he was asked. Between the pillars there was a slight difference in the color of the dirt. "The lighter colored dirt shows the corridors at the bottom of the false air shafts. Any frontal assault will be a mere diversion. They will try to slip some of their forces in from behind and I'm sure Sasuke will be with them." The Sannin handed him a small headset. "I'll tell you which corridor and where. Incapacitate him and then report to me. This battle shouldn't last long."

"I won't fail you."

"I know. That is why I've kept you alive."

At that moment Kimimaro knew his life had meaning. It was a small task but, to capture a replacement body for Orochimaru was a meaningful goal. His small contribution would lead to Orochimaru's success and in a small way he would be part of that. To live on in perpetuity is what everyone wanted whether it was through founding a village, art or even a family. Every one sought immortality. He meditated on this as he awaited further orders.

An unknown time later the radio crackled to life in his ear, "Fifth corridor from the right fourth person."

Extending the longest bone in his arm to inhuman proportions he pierced the dirt right under the corridor. With effort he used the bone as a primitive seismometer, feeling the vibrations of the people running above. Waiting for the fourth person to pass over, he extended and widened the bone pinching the corridor shut. Using his other arm he repeated the process only this time he did it in front of the fourth person.

The earth suddenly not supported by anything collapsed bringing a person down with it. Disconnecting the extensions Kimimaro addressed his new companion. "You have the honor of becoming Orochimaru's new vessel. I hope you'll come along quietly."

Sasuke Uchiha wasn't quite sure what happened even with his Sharingan activated. One moment he was running down a corridor convinced that the plan was completely and thoroughly screwed. The next minute he felt something erupt from the ground behind him and as he turned his head to see a similar thing happened in front of him. Then the ground collapsed beneath him.

Luckily the fall was a good thirty feet, long enough that he was able to prepare for the landing. Sporadic clumps of dirt fell after him pelting his back. Hearing the voice he snorted not believing his luck and his response was less than civil.

Palming a shuriken he threw it aiming for the man's throat. His target blocked the projectile easily with a blade attached to his arm. No, that wasn't right the blade was coming out of his arm. That had to be a Kekkei Genkai although he had never heard of one that allowed someone to manipulate their bones. Judging by the two partial pillars dangling from the ceiling he could make them quite large and they could exist independent of his body. Well this was going to be interesting.

Darting forward he drew his sword intending to bring it across his opponent's stomach. As fast as Sasuke was Kimimaro was his equal in speed. Blocking with one arm he created another bone sword with his other arm. The sound ninja forced Sasuke's sword up and roll slashing under his guard at the back of his knee going for his tendons.

Rolling away Sasuke sheathed his sword knowing it wouldn't be of any help. He had tried, but yet to succeed at incorporating his chosen weapon into his jutsu repertoire. Before he could formulate a plan his eyes took in his opponent. The signs weren't obvious but clear to his eyes. The man's pulse was rapid and the tension in his muscles was all wrong. He didn't seem to be trying to confuse him like the shadow step attempted to do but, there was something not right with him.

Kimimaro had made two critical mistakes. He had underestimated how badly his body decayed and he had overestimated his own ability to bypass those shortcomings. His muscles were quivering and he felt like he was burning up from the inside. The white-haired teen would've preferred not to use the seal on his neck at least not so soon in the battle but, if this fight became protracted he would not stand a chance.

Accessing the power of the seal he felt a renewal in his strength even as his body protested. Sasuke charged his hand crackling making the cavernous room sound as if a flock of birds had taken up residence underground.

Kimimaro waited until his opponent was in range before extending a rib. Aiming for the raven haired teen's leg it succeeded in tripping his opponent. Unfortunately, as Sasuke fell forward his lightning encased hand still threatened to hit him. The older teen grabbed his opponent at the elbow well above the crackling energy and went to twist and throw.

His opponent erupted in energy that spread across his entire body. The electricity was mild compared to what was held in the raven haired teen's hand but, it was enough to short-circuit Kimimaro brain for a critical second.

Sasuke twisted his body in midair landing on his feet and bringing his chidori into his opponent's side. He ran out of momentum halfway through but, that was enough to destroy his enemy's heart. After a moment he pulled his hand free with a sickening sound. Unsupported the body collapsed and he looked down at his defeated foe. He seemed surprised. Noticing a headset around the corpse's ear he carefully reached down and picked it up.

Being able to tap into the enemy's communications was always a coup particularly in these types of battles. Holding it to his ear he listened for a second but, it must be dedicated since the other end seemed to be dead. He thought about taunting whoever was listening in but that struck him as childish and he had a pretty good idea who it was.

That reminded him of his own radio and he turned the volume back up. "Shikamaru are you there?"

There was a crackle of static and then, "Kind of busy," came over the radio.

Sasuke grimaced, "Listen in the corridor we were separated in, there is a huge room right under it."

"Really," his superior sounded surprised "that's the best news I've heard all day. We'll be down in a few seconds so stand back."

Doing what he was asked he tried to contact the other chunin but, was unsuccessful. That was worrying but, Naruto and Sakura were strong so he wasn't getting too concerned.

When you cut something's head off it should die. Ino believed that to be a cardinal rule of the world. Of course maybe that didn't count for something that had three heads, well two now she corrected herself. Her opponent had seeped through the ceiling as gelatinous goo and had formed into a vaguely humanoid shape that had three different heads.

She had managed to sever the one on top but, it didn't have the fatal effect that it should of. At least it was confused now not knowing if it should go after her or her two teammates. It just sort of shuffled in one direction and then the other.

"Do you have any bright ideas yet? It's been almost ten minutes."

"Not yet," Shikamaru shouted back. "It oozes out of the Shadow Sewing and stabbing it doesn't seem to annoy it."

Suddenly a tentacle shot out nearly decapitating Ino. She managed to dodge away at the last second. She brought her sword up cutting halfway through the tentacle before it got stuck. This thing had some weird consistency both soft and hard at the same time.

The tentacle yanked her violently lifting her off the ground and nearly pulling her sword out of her hands. Planting her feet on the wall she thrust her sword in the opposite wall. The sword continued to cut through the tentacle as it pulled back until it came to an end. The severed part of the tentacle seems to twitch for a second but; it quickly lost its form and seemed to dissolve into a liquid.

The blonde smirked knowing she'd found out something important. "Shikamaru if you cut off a piece it dies." Her teammate's response was so long in coming that she was tempted to repeat herself.

"Ino I have an idea. Stand clear Choji is coming through."

The blond grimaced before jumping to the ceiling. Even though she had an idea what was coming, the site itself was decidedly unpleasant. Choji rolled down the hallway scraping against the walls. His hair turned to spikes digging into the ground spinning up huge clumps of dirt.

Smashing into the enemy he stopped his forward momentum but continued to spin in place right on top of the thing. Pieces of grayish flesh flew in all directions. The site was disgusting and she pushed herself against the ceiling hoping none of the stuff ended up in her hair. Even after there was clearly nothing of the enemy left Choji continued to spin drilling into the dirt. She glanced over at Shikamaru who was in a similar position to her own. He tried to shout something to her but the noise prevented her from hearing it.

With no warning the floor collapsed revealing a gaping chasm beneath her. She winced in sympathy hearing the crash of Choji hitting the ground. Shikamaru let himself go and taking the hint she followed. Landing with her hand on her sword hilt she was ready for anything but, only silence greeted her. The dimly lit room put her on edge but, what immediately drew her attention were the twin white pillars that dangle at an odd angle several feet from the ground.

"Ino over here."

She turned recognizing Shikamaru's voice. He and Choji were standing next to Sasuke. She ran to meet them stepping around a pale body. Then she noticed that no one else was there. "Where is everybody?"

"We got separated," Sasuke nodded to either the body or the strange pillars she wasn't sure. "I can't reach them on the radio."

Ino had a flash of concern for her friend Sakura but pushed it aside. She had to be fine. "What is our next move?"

"Sasuke and I are going to try to contact the other teams and tell them about this room. You and Choji try to grab a rat or some other small creature you can use your technique on." He raised a hand for stalling her question. "There's a single staircase going up from this room. I'm sure they have a nasty surprise for us and I would prefer not to go in blind."

"Alright," she responded wondering when it becomes second nature to take orders from Shikamaru."

Naruto crouched his back against the ceiling his feet and hands against the walls. A few feet below his was a slithering mass of hundreds of snakes. One raised its head and he wondered if it was in striking distance. Considering who had summoned them he was pretty sure that they were poisonous but, the furball could probably handle any poison. His two teammates on the other hand were at more risk.

"Sakura can you smash through this thing so we can link up with the rest of our team." Through his anger he had enough sense to wonder what this thing was that had shrugged off his Rasengan.

"No wait," Otonashi interrupted, "we don't know what's on the other side."

"So what," The blonde demanded.

"Otonashi is right. This barrier works both ways. It's keeping us from our team mates but, it also keeping the snakes from them."

"So, what are we suppose to do?" Naruto tried to sound a little calmer but, he was really more frustrated than angry.

"Will contact them and," Otonashi trailed off.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked turning to face the Kumo-nin.

The slightly taller teen was feeling around for something before cursing under his breath. "We have a problem. When we all collided my radio fell out of my ear. I think it's buried under a foot worth of snakes."

"So, what do we do," The pink haired kunoichi asked.

The dark-haired teen thought for a second before answering, "Orochimaru is the only known ninja alive that can summon snakes. Knowing that information I should report this to Jiraiya."

"And what should we do?" Sakura asked.

Otonashi thought for a second and then said, "These snakes had to come from somewhere. Try to find out where they came from," The two Konoha-nins nodded in unison, "alright let's get going."

The three crawled along the ceiling mindful that there were hundreds, most likely poisonous snakes only a few feet away. Several times one of them nearly slipped as a piece of the ceiling came apart in their hands. The falling dirt caused an exciting hissing from the snakes as if they could sense a meal was close but, just out of their reach. As a result they advanced slowly always keeping three points in contact with the ceiling.

The slow pace was driving Naruto mad and by the time Otonashi left to go up the shaft he was envying him. Crawling along a ceiling suspended over hundreds of snakes was not exactly how he had pictured this mission going. As a result he almost missed the camera that was just poking out of the dirt. Grabbing it he pulled it free and let it dangle by two braided wires for a second before it fell to the ground.

"What's the holdup," Sakura demanded from behind him.

"Camera," Naruto answered.

His teammate was silent for a minute and then muttered, "That's how they knew."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed, "We were cut off right in front of Sasuke. You probably don't remember but Orochimaru has an interest in him."

"Yeah, I remember he sent some guys to his house only a few days ago."

"Right, well he's probably trying again right now."

The jinchuriki grinded his teeth together, the thought that his friend had been only a few feet away and in trouble almost made him see red. Then he noticed something, "Hurry up I see something." He skittered forward several feet, clumps of dirt raining down on the snake mat beneath them. Getting closer he shouted, "It's a vent."

Naruto taped the inside and found it was metal. Eyeing it he poked his head inside. The shaft was pretty steep and he could see a light at the end of it. "Hey, Sakura I think we could climb inside of this and reach the other end."

"Don't be stupid Naruto, what if we got stuck or some more snakes were sent down it? We would be trapped. Besides we were just ordered to find out where the snakes came from."

The blond nodded and for the first time lied to the love of his life. "I guess you're right, let's hurry up and report this."

The pink haired girl blinked in surprise at how easily he had given in. "Alright then," she started to turn around and that was when he made his move. He gripped the inside of the vent with his hand and then swung up into it. Swarming forward several feet he was quickly out of any potential reach of Sakura.

"Naruto get back here now," she hissed.

He didn't bother responding. Unlike when he had been younger he knew what he was doing was reckless but, he also had a sound reason for it too. Right now their attacking force was bottled up and if he could get behind enemy lines he could disrupt the communications or at the very least cause havoc. Yeah that would sound good to Tsunade when she yelled at him later.

The shaft was fairly narrow and at the rate he had been growing in a year he probably wouldn't have fit in it. He wiggled forward a few inches at a time his chakra preventing him from sliding back down. He had no concept of time but, it only seemed to take a few minutes to reach the top. Pausing for a second he listened for the noise of people but nothing seemed to come down the shaft.

Crawling out he stood to take in the room. It was huge and for brief second he wondered if this had been his original destination. There were lights strung on the ceiling that was easily twenty feet above him and there was a musty smell that offended his nostrils. He lowered his gaze taking in the rest of the room which was empty except for a role of monitors on the far end of the room and one person standing in front of them. Even though it had been years he recognized Orochimaru's back.

Naruto froze even afraid to breathe. The snake Sannin didn't seem to have noticed but, spending enough time around Jiraiya had made him cautious about assuming anything about the three legendary ninjas of Konoha. Despite the tempting target his back made the blond decided to creep along the wall and hoped he wasn't noticed.

"I haven't had a rat problem here in ages." Orochimaru chuckled just like he had in the forest of death the first time they had met. "You're as reckless as Jiraiya but, I wonder if you have the knack for living that he does." With that the man started towards him.

Naruto did what he did best and that was creating Shadow Clones. Over a hundred blondes were now in the room and most of them converged on the snake summoner although two smaller groups formed out of the horde of orange. One group slipped down a corridor hoping to spread havoc somewhere else in the base. The other group of merely three clones avoided the main fight and attacked the monitors hoping to disrupt communications.

The Sannin didn't seem to care as he dove into the crowd. Two large snakes shot out from underneath his sleeves snapping their jaws shut on clones. From there he used them as clubs smashing one row after another of his opponents. The cloud of dispersing smoke became so thick that Naruto lost track of the elderly snake summoner.

He smirked as an idea formed in his mind. Creating several more clones he scurried up the wall onto the ceiling with one of his clones and began preparing a Rasengan. Orochimaru darted out of the dissipating cloud of smoke and Naruto's doppelganger's made their move.

The clones let loose a hail of projectiles that caused the snake summoner to dodge. At that moment of distraction the genin launched his attack. With Orochimaru dodging he jumped down the Rasengan leading the way.

In what seemed like slow-motion the elderly Sannin rotated opening his mouth. The snake that shot out had a Kusanagi in its own mouth. Pulling his legs forward Naruto was able to change his angle just enough so that the sword only nicked his arm and when he smashed into the ground he hit nothing but cement.

Before the blond could even get to his hands and knees he was kicked in his side. He flew across the room until he crashed into the wall and slid to the floor. "Well, that was a nice distraction but, I think it's time we end this."

Naruto's vision was blurry and it looked like three Orochimaru were gloating at him and that was three too many. Strangest of all he heard a croaking sound, like a frog or a toad. His mind suddenly cleared as he realized that wasn't an auditory hallucination. The genin realized that he was at the very spot he had first entered the room at and that toad was telling him to get out of the way.

He smirked using the wall to climb to his feet. "I am Naruto Uzumaki the next Hokage of Konohagakure and I haven't even started to fight yet."