A/N: Almost done. You have my word that it will be finished as soon as I have spare time and a computer handy, which will likely start immediately after basic training in April. I realize you'll be left hanging for at least two months, but there is nothing that can be done about it and I don't dare rush it; if I try to force a chapter when I'm not ready, it turns out terrible and I have to start over. Please, bear with me.

Chapter Twenty-One: Imminent

It was early afternoon in the forested grove which served as the team's camp. High and bright was the sun, clear and blue the sky, and serene the canopy. The animals were up and about; they could be heard everywhere, doing what animals do in the forest. They could be smelled, as well, and many of those smells seemed incredibly interesting.

Akamaru, however, was a trained nin-dog. He knew that his job was to stay here and guard the tired old human that smelled like decomposing frogs until his master came back. He would have loved to go and see what some of those smells belonged to, but this was impossible. Thus, Akamaru sat outside the smelly old man's tent, cleaning himself repeatedly to stave off boredom. Every now and again, he would poke his nose into the tent to determine whether his charge was still alive and well. Each time that he did, the same decomposed-frog smell greeted him.

He really wished that some of the wildlife would come over to play with him or at least give him something to watch and smell. A small swarm of tiny, gnat-like insects had come investigating earlier in the day, when the place just began to warm up, but they hadn't been much fun; they seemed only to be interested in periodically darting toward his eyes, as though to poke them out. The big dog had dealt with that annoyance swiftly, leaping up and snapping at them with his jaws. Those bugs that did not become stuck to his tongue fled, not wanting to share the fate of their fallen kindred. After that, Akamaru had had no more visitors at all. The memory made him growl and lay his head down on his forepaws.

Often, when he felt about ready to fall over from boredom, he thought of Kiba. The master was now in a very dangerous place, without his dog, risking his life for the sake of other humans. It was a good chance that he would run into those guys that had cut him up so badly back in Konoha. Why had he left Akamaru there? Surely the smelly man was in much less danger than he was...

A sudden flash to the north snapped the dog out of his bored misery. His huge white head whipped in the direction of the blinding light, trying to determine its source, type, and trajectory. The north was where Kiba and his friends had gone; if that bright light was unfriendly...

The light was suddenly followed by a booming noise, a sound like an entire village being eradicated by firebomb. It hurt Akamaru's ears, and he barked loudly in irritation at it on the off chance that it would hear him and shut up. This was definitely not the end to his boredom that he had wanted! It was horrible, awful! Worst of all, it could mean terrible trouble for Kiba!!

Yet as soon as it had come, the signs of whatever it was were completely gone. The forest returned instantly to the way it had been, as though nothing at all had happened. The birds continued singing, the sky became blue and clear again, and the smells went on being interesting. Even the annoying gnat-bugs returned, taking more shots at the big dog's eyes.

Akamaru did not bother to stop them; his animal brain was torn between following master's orders and ensuring master's safety. Either action could have possible ramifications, but which one was the best one to stay with? Poor Akamaru had no idea, and sat in his guard spot whimpering with concern.

The sound of the tent flap opening decided for him. The nin-dog turned his head to see the big, smelly man on his feet, staring off into the north the way that he had been a moment ago.

"I can move on my own," Jiraiya said. His voice was gravelly and heavy with fatigue, but Akamaru saw that he wasn't lying; despite apparent stiffness, he was apparently very much capable of locomotion.

"That thing," the smelly man went on. "I didn't know they could make it work without all nine of them. They failed to get Gaara because of Kakashi's work, Naruto is still sealed, and there's at least one more that they can't get to because of the war. Could they make it work with just six?"

Akamaru gave him a strange look and a puzzled noise. The dog was completely confused. Jiraiya looked over at him and gave him a small smile.

"Don't worry," he said. "They missed this time, or else we would be seeing a lot of smoke in that direction. Chances are they don't know the exact location of Orochimaru's place, and are blasting away down there randomly until they find something. That, and they probably can't destroy the whole place with one shot, even if they can make it work without the full nine. It'll be weaker, and they'll have to wait before they can shoot again. Your boy might be a little jolted at most right now, but he isn't dead."

Kiba wasn't dead, or even hurt? Akamaru looked back to the northern horizon, searching for any trace of the smoke that Jiraiya did not see. The dog's eyes did not see anything, either. It seemed as though the old, stinky human was right.

He hoped.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Hiroto wanted to laugh at the wild boy's foolishness. He was a superior Hyuuga, even more so than most of the idiots back at the clan grounds in Konoha; there was no possibility at all of a smoke bomb stopping him from carrying out his threat. His vision might be clouded at a distance, but he could still see directly around him. The hostage was an easy kill, and the foolish boy's blind charge could be easily evaded; the footsteps were audible from the other end of the passage.

His kunai descended upon the child's head as the smoke completely engulfed him. The last thing that the thin and starved mother, sitting chained in the room to his side, saw was the glint of torchlight from the blade before the thick smog rendered her eyes useless. Hiroto smiled a triumphant smile that no one could see; with this death, he would drive his last opponent into despair.

... Or so he was thinking, before the massive shock wave jolted the entire facility, shaking him off of his balance and cracking the stone walls. He fought to keep his feet, staying his blade for the time being. He had good balance and could normally recover from such a thing easily, but normally he would be able to anticipate a tremor before it came. This tremor, though, came from some force outside his battle area, and not even his powerful Byakugan forewarned him. He fought for over two seconds to restore his stability on the floor.

Kiba, who ran on all four limbs using Shikyaku no Jutsu, kept his balance much better. The two seconds of instability on Hiroto's part were all that he needed to reach his target and his target's human shield on time. Seeing his dark, agile form among the clouds of smoke, Hiroto fumbled for the kunai. He made a wild stab downward in an effort to kill the child before the wild boy could get to him. If he lost the death of this child, he kept his opponent confident and would delay himself further.

The blade made a sick, wet sound as it plunged into flesh. Hiroto's grin returned; it seemed that he had barely been successful. The dog boy was on Hiroto, but his efforts had failed and his spirit would now break. Hiroto would quickly subdue him and be victorious.

... Or so he believed, before Kiba tore at him with a claw-like hand, ripping a huge gouge into the hand that held the kunai. Hiroto howled in pain and rage and threw a Jyuuken into Kiba's torso, knocking him away.

The mother in the next room had stopped crying; had that been the enemy expressing pain? As the smoke cleared, she could see a scene that was entirely different from what she had imagined. She brushed tangled, dark hair out of her eyes, trying to get a better look. She could scarcely believe her eyes!

It was the enemy that had cried out in agony, and more than that! The steel-eyed evil man was clutching a mangled hand and glaring down the hall with palpable poison in his eyes. It was an empty mangled hand, one that no longer held the woman's child. She could not see the wild boy or the young one anywhere.

But the other white-eyed person, the one that was slumped against the wall, seemingly forgotten by the evil one, was visible. He was smiling as though in triumph. Apparently, something had gone very well.

Indeed, Kiba had done very well, though he had suffered for it. He had effectively stopped the death of his team leader, Neji, by turning Hiroto's attention onto him. In addition, the lucky earthquake had given him sufficient time to shield the innocent child. He, too, gave a weak smile, knowing that he had done all that he could. He had paid for it with a knife in his back and a terrible post-Jyuuken ache in his guts. He sat on the cracked stone floor with the unconscious child in his lap, leaking blood from his mouth and shoulder blade.

"You... you imbecile!" Hiroto roared. "You have only delayed the inevitable! I offered you a chance to live for the moment, perhaps to even leave this place alive, and still you defy me!" His wounded hand dripped blood from the deep wounds Kiba had inflicted, and its fingers did not move at all; Neji suspected that the claws had bodily severed some of the tendons. The other hand, however, was flaring with angry power. It pointed wrathfully at Kiba, itching to shoot arrows of subtle death.

"I will instead kill you now," he continued darkly, bringing the hand down and taking his Jyuuken stance. "When you are dead, your friend, Hinata-sama, will become my sacrifice, and she and all the others will join you in death! That child included!" He began advancing slowly towards them, and the child's mother could be heard whimpering.

I'm sorry, lady, Kiba said to himself. I did what I could, and I at least gave the bastard a scar he'll never get rid of. This is our limit, though. Neji doesn't look like he can move much, and I feel like my insides are melting. We'll fight back as much as we can, but it doesn't look good.

The evil Hyuuga loomed over him and the child, his grin replaced by dark, murderous rage. The bloodied hand twitched angrily, yearning to join its healthy counterpart in strangling the insolent pup. However, the good hand was more than capable of killing on its own. Almost glowing with dreadful power and intent, it knifed downward, aimed as if to spear both the innocent child and the protector behind him.

In a last act of desperation, Kiba flipped forward onto his hands and knees, tucking the child underneath him. His back would shield the innocent one, at least for now. It could always be hoped that Hiroto would give up once he and Neji were gone. Maybe he would even throw the child back in with his mother in exasperation.

When Akamaru found him later, the dog would be able to smell what had happened, and would take his body home to Konoha. His mother and sister would at least be able to see his face one more time. Hinata and Shino would make sure that Akamaru was well cared for; he spent almost as much time with them as with his master, being on the same team, and there was a measure of attachment between them. All of Kiba's affairs were in order.

And hopefully, he thought as the extended hand collided with his spine, we kept this asshole busy long enough to let the others get out safely...

But when the knifing hand made contact, the only thing that Kiba felt was a slight bruising pain; there was no piercing chakra at all. He lifted his head, staring up at his attacker in mute amazement. Hiroto was still there, still breathing, still angry, and still had his good hand extended. However, he had not even come near to killing Kiba. The confusion that Kiba felt began to show on his face as he realized that the object of his rage was not dead.

Kiba's confusion, unlike Hiroto's, lasted only a moment. Before he had blinked twice, he picked up the faint, familiar smell that accompanied the chakra-eaters and, not long after that, he saw a few of the Kikai bugs crawling around the shoulder of the enemy's robe. He understood that he was saved.

"Shino!" he yelled. "Perfect timing. You just get here?"

The bug host stepped out of the shadows, arms swinging loosely at his sides without the pockets of his jacket to contain them. He appeared somewhat battered, seemed to be using fewer bugs than normal, his pants were holed through in places, and his torso was completely bare, but he was otherwise alive and very well. In fact, he was the healthiest one in the corridor at this moment.

"It seems that you were lucky that I chanced upon you," he said quietly. "I have never seen you so badly positioned in a battle. This will repay my debt from that time in the tavern two years ago..."

"So, you whelps had reinforcements, did you?" Hiroto growled, turning on Shino. "It makes no difference in the end. You are all going to die here, once the power that I have been given is unleashed."

"You are currently incapable of using any power you may need," Shino countered. "You made a mistake in assuming that I was dead, and another in being taunted into blindness by Kiba. My bugs continue to eat your chakra as we speak; any attack using chakra will end in failure."

It was only then that Hiroto seemed to realize there was anything on him. He turned around once, looking over his shoulder. His back was briefly exposed to Kiba, who was not surprised to see a mass of insects clinging to the fabric of the robe.

Neji found the strength to stand up, and did so somewhat shakily. He straightened himself as best as he could, attempting to regain some sense of authority. Hiroto turned to him with loathing in his eyes.

"I know what you mean to say," the former Captain growled, "And I will have none of it! I will not surrender to children with no sense of retribution!" His healthy hand moved as he spoke, causing Neji and Shino to brace themselves for an attack. The attack, however, was not directed at either of them or at Kiba; instead he tore open a small packet of powder, which burst free into the surrounding air in a blast of dark purple smoke.

Shino recognized that particular type. "Don't inhale it!" he shouted at the others, holding his breath at the same time. He ordered his bugs to escape as well, lest they be killed in the dark cloud. Hiroto had apparently stolen some of the spores from the paralyzing, insecticidal flowers that Ayaka grew. He held his own breath and hunkered down, waiting for the attack to come through the smoke.

That ambush never happened. When the smoke cleared a few seconds later, Hiroto was completely gone.

"Huh?" Kiba said from the floor, taking his hand away from the child's nose and mouth. "He ran? I don't believe it! After spouting all that about annihilating..."

A coughing interrupted his tirade; the child that he had saved had been awakened by the momentary deprivation of air due to Kiba's shielding against the gas. The wild nin leaped to his feet, grabbing the child under the arms and lifting him into a standing position.

"It's obvious where he ran to," Neji said, glancing at the floor. "His injury bled a path in that direction, and we can follow the trail easily until he bandages it. By that time, we should be able to smell him."

"Will you order us to pursue him, then?" Shino asked.

Neji's eyes went to Kiba. The wild one was helping the child to stand and walk even as he struggled to walk against his own injuries, guiding him gently to the cell where the mother would be found. He gave a small smile at the sight; it seemed that though Kiba had found his resolve to fight in that situation, he hadn't lost his weakness for soft targets. It was as though he were trying to redeem himself for his prior mistake by making up for it now.

"Not yet," Neji told Shino. "Even if we found him, there is little chance we could defeat him without losses, as injured as we are. Since Sakura is not here, our efforts are better put to use in treating ourselves and freeing any more non-combatants that we can find. If the rumbling from a while ago was any indication, this facility may not be here very long."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Neji was not the only one who was disturbed by the huge tremor. Sakura felt it as well while she descended the earthen steps, having to windmill her arms momentarily to keep her balance. Gamakichi had better control with his four legs, but the quake caught Gamatatsu mid-leap, altering his intended landing space and causing him to hit the dirt floor face-first.

"Ite!" he spouted.

"Oy, Gamatatsu!" snapped the red brother in a hushed tone. "You already got us caught in one trap today. Don't bring the whole place running after us!"

"Could both of you please stop that?" Sakura asked, mimicking Gamakichi's tone, if at a greater volume. "Your accidents slow us down a little, but coupled with your arguing, it slows us down too much. Just be quiet and try to watch your step."

Gamakichi quickly realized the wisdom in her request, checked himself, and fell silent. Gamatatsu, though he looked a little hurt, did not return any argument and followed after them quietly. Miraculously, he had no more incidents for a record six minutes.

The talk, however, did not cease.

"That quake felt different from the other ones," Gamakichi said. "Like it was farther away, but bigger. You think Naruto's gonna be all right?"

"Hinata-chan is with him," Sakura replied, "And they should have Keisuke-san in their grasp by now; if he's healthy enough to fight, he will help keep them safe."

"And if he isn't, he'll drag them down," the red frog pointed out.

Sakura's head remained elevated and her eyes focused forward. "If one of Naruto's friends is in trouble or injured, that will only increase his drive to win on their behalf. I'm not worried about Keisuke-san slowing them too much."

"I agree with that," Gamakichi said. "But after a blast like that, I can't say I'm totally secure about this. What the hell could it have been, anyway?"

Sakura was about to answer that she had no idea, but she was interrupted by Gamatatsu taking another fall. Gamakichi sighed but, remembering the discussion following the last one, did not chide his brother. Instead, he hopped over to where the yellow frog had landed on his back and pushed him onto his front with a heavy—if squishy and frog-like—smack of his foreleg. Gamatatsu was righted and immediately showed interest in the ground where he had fallen, too easily distracted to thank his brother.

"Ne, Gamakichi-niichan," he said, staring with potentially deadly curiosity downward, "This place is starting to get really messy. Somebody tracked dirt everywhere!"

Both Gamakichi and Sakura stopped walking, and Gamakichi's foreleg smacked his own head. Apparently, somebody had forgotten to point out to the idiot that this tunnel was underground and that the floor and walls were made from dirt. He moved in front of his brother and slammed his foreleg in the dirt before Gamatatsu's face, intending to give him a serious talking-to. Who cared if they got slowed down? This sheer stupidity could not be forgiven.

But when his foreleg landed in something other than plain dirt, he bit back his angry tirade. He peered down to see his foot planted in something dark, wet, and somewhat sticky. Gamatatsu was still dumb, but he could at least tell the difference between the solid floor and a filth upon it that was out of place. More than that, his stupidity might have actually helped them this time around.

"That's blood," Gamakichi said. "Somebody bled here, and not too long ago." Gamatatsu stood nearby, looking pleased at himself for having found something useful.

"Let me see," Sakura said, bending down to join them. A quick inspection told her all she needed to know. "Blood," she confirmed. "It's human blood, too, and probably not more than ten minutes old."

"Think it's somebody we know?" Gamakichi asked.

"If it is," said Sakura, rising to her full height again, "Let's hope it's someone that we know and don't like; if they're bleeding this much and don't have a bandage to put on it, they're going to be very weak—if not dead—when we find them."

Picking up on the "when we find them," Gamakichi immediately started down the hallway at full speed. The blood went in two different directions—one leading straight away from them, the other down a side hall to their right—but such was no problem to an amphibian like him. He simply followed the way which felt more moist, which he knew would be where the blood was freshest. Sakura followed his lead and, after a moment of sitting around in confusion, so did Gamatatsu.

Sakura ran through a list in her mind which included all of the possible people that they might find down here. Very high on that list was Naruto and Hinata, who had been descending to the lower levels to look for Keisuke, but she hoped that neither of them was bleeding that badly. Equally high was Keisuke himself, who was not likely to be feeling well after being Orochimaru's toy for a few days. Shino followed them, as he had become separated from the group only shortly before Sakura had. Kiba and Neji were last among her friends to be expected down here; they had originally been climbing up to the command level of the facility.

There were plenty of enemies that she could expect to find here, as well. Kabuto she had defeated, but he was not the only one that could be here by a long shot. It was impossible to know how many surviving Sound were here, and though it was unlikely that he would be skulking around here, it could be Orochimaru in the throes of body rejection as well. And of course, there was always the possibility of him hanging around...

The hall got darker and rockier as they progressed, and more and more Sakura had to rely on the frogs' senses to follow the blood trail. It eventually came to the point where she couldn't see anything at all, and was forced to follow the sound of their footsteps. They continued on in this manner, running with all the speed they could use safely, until Gamakichi halted suddenly and Gamatatsu slammed into his back.

"Geez, frog!" Gamakichi exclaimed as he shoved his yellow brother off of him, "Watch it!"

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked. "Why did you stop?"

"There's no more blood going this way," Gamakichi explained. "Either they're really good at first aid, or they disappeared at this spot."

"Gamakichi-niichan," sighed Gamatatsu, "There's a reeeeeeeaally nice draft coming from over here..."

"A door?" Sakura began feeling around the nearby walls. In a moment, she located the handle and turned it, throwing open the door without a second thought. Light from the room beyond flooded the hallway, and Sakura could see once more.

She wasn't quite sure that she wanted to see this, though. Soft multicolored light emanated from elegant crystal formations that adorned the walls of the small chamber, making for an eerie sort of illumination. There was nothing else remarkable about the dirt-and-stone room other than the large, gaping hole in the back wall that might have been an emergency escape route. However, in front of that tunnel was...

"... Orochimaru," Sakura practically hissed.

"... Or what's left of him," Gamakichi added. "I'm no doctor, but I can tell you that that is definitely a corpse right there. Nothing alive in it at all."

The young red frog was right. The body of Orochimaru was paler than usual and unmoving upon the ground, its hair splayed out underneath it and a cry of what seemed to be simultaneous glee and horror on its face. While as ugly as usual, it was most definitely dead, and Sakura felt no fearful presence from it.

"That explains the explosion," Sakura said, sounding somewhat numb. "Orochimaru took his new body and is probably using it against our friends right now." Uchiha Sasuke is dead forever, died without a friend by his side, died in the name of revenge. Orochimaru has the Sharingan. Naruto and Hinata and everyone else are in huge trouble...

"Hey, there's another one here!" exclaimed Gamatatsu suddenly. "They look sort of dead, too... but this one's still warm and its kind of breathing..."

"What?" Sakura said startled. It couldn't be...!

It wasn't. The form leaning unconscious from blood loss against the side of the earthen chamber was not Uchiha Sasuke nor anything like him. It was a voluptuous female in tight-fitting clothes and with a poorly-bandaged, bloody shoulder. She had oak-colored hair and a pale complexion, and beneath the eyelids Sakura knew that the irises were green.

"It's her," Sakura said, taking a step back in disgust at the memory of what had been done to her. She was sorely tempted to simply leave this girl here to die. "What the hell is she doing here?"

Then, however, her conscience checked her; it would be wrong of her to simply leave another kunoichi to die alone, even if she was an enemy. Judging from her position, it seemed likely that she had witnessed the event that had taken place here as well, so there could definitely be some vital information in her...

Sakura knelt beside the other ninja and began to take a look at the wounds. This was ultimately best for both of them; she would heal the "mistress" and make her serve her needs. There was no need to let a potential wealth of information die, even if she was a bitch who took over Sakura's mind and tried to take Hinata away.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

All eyes were turned to the inanimate replica that lay on the floor. It was small and would have been hardly noticeable in a fast-paced ninja battle, yet now it had halted all combat between the two teams that stood on either side of it. Every person had their own reasons for stopping to look; Yondaime's immortalized image meant different things to each set of eyes that beheld it.

For Hinata, it was the center of the last prank that Haruka had pulled on her and Naruto. That was quite and awkward memory, but why was this thing showing up here? Her ready stance became looser as she stared at it curiously.

For Naruto, it was the symbol of hope that had surfaced after Haruka's disappearance, the thing that had given him hope for her survival. When he had discovered it missing, he had felt a bad omen was upon him—he now knew exactly what that omen was about. He regarded the statuette on the floor with a mix of dismay and anger. He could remember Sasuke's words from several days back... By the time this is over, some of your friends might not be your friends anymore.

Damn it, he thought, I should have taken that warning seriously.

To Keisuke, who had never seen the thing before, it was just an ordinary piece of junk. He only held off from rejoining the battle because of his partner's odd reaction. He glanced at Haruka with a puzzled expression on his face, questioning her silently.

Haruka knew the statuette as both a symbol of her last prank and as a message given to her by the Uchiha Avenger. The message could have been interpreted in several ways, but she had been certain that it was at least related to Naruto. In fact, she was pretty sure it meant either "Naruto is alive" or "Naruto is dead." Either one was plausible, but...

"Haruka-neechan, how did you get that?" Naruto asked, surprised. He pointed at the thing for emphasis.

Haruka, of course, did not understand him thanks to the black aura that shrouded him, and the message reached her ears as "Ibsvlb-offdibo, ipx eje zpv hfu uibu?" However, the arm motion and the questioning (if way too deep and gravelly to be human) tone were unmistakable. The black person-thing was inquisitive about the trinket.

"Haruka," Keisuke asked, "What do you think this means?"

In answer, Haruka pointed to the statuette and spoke to the black-shrouded Naruto. "You want this?"

Naruto's eyes widened at her seeming change in attitude. Could this be a chance to negotiate with them, to try to make them understand? He peered over at Hinata, who was watching things unfold with cautious interest. Silently, he read her expression as "try it, but be careful." He smiled; she was a smart girl, realizing that there was still danger even if there was a chance to end it this way. It was great to have someone like that looking out for his well-being. He gave her a nod, then turned back to Haruka and Keisuke.

"Yes," he said loudly and clearly, pointing at the statuette once again and nodding vigorously.

"Zft," Haruka heard. She went over and picked the figure up, holding it loosely in her right hand while keeping her eyes on Naruto.

"Well, well," she said, "It looks like they can at least understand us, Keisuke. I'll take that as a yes. What do you think, should I give it to them?"

"It could be a bomb or some other trap inside there," Keisuke pointed out. "They might have been waiting for us to set it off accidentally, but it would be easier if we handed it to them and let them set it off directly, wouldn't it? It did come from that Sasuke character after all..."

"Sasuke?" Naruto echoed with an urgent tone. He took three steps forward involuntarily, surprised to hear that. If Sasuke had given it to Haruka—which would explain why the statuette had gone missing from his pack in the first place—then the thing might very well have been part of a trap.

Hinata stepped forward after him, motioning towards Haruka with great sweeps of criss-crossing arms and a negative shake of the head. "That's not it," she insisted. "We didn't put any traps in there."

Haruka watched them both with a contemplative look. The Hyuuga shade was making the movements that she had expected, obviously attempting to vehemently deny any evil tampering with the figurine. The male one, however, was behaving curiously; he actually looked to be surprised, and seemed to want to know more about her theory. Could it be that these were no ordinary evil shades? What was it that was beneath that dark shroud?

Geez, this was going to give her a headache. First that unbearable wait and now all this confusion...

"Here's the deal," she said, looking between the shades and Keisuke. "I'll give it to you, but since I'm in a particularly bad mood right now, I'm going to make you work for it. There are only two reasons that you could possibly want this thing; either you've got a trap in here like sukebe-Keisuke thinks, or you're two of our friends that we somehow can't see and you want to use this to prove who you are."

Naruto pumped his fist in the air and nodded enthusiastically, while Hinata gave a relieved sigh and relaxed her stance even more, though she did not remove her eyes from either Haruka or Keisuke.

Keisuke, however, had a different opinion. "The second theory can't be right. If they were friendlies, either the Byakugan or the Reiude would have seen through that blackness. All I felt when I touched them with the Arms was a sense of evil and killing intent."

"Your Arms also can't tell what his Arms are doing," countered Haruka. "Did you lose your sense of imagination while staring at my ass, or what?"

Keisuke's face gained in color and his eyebrows slanted angrily, but he did not have an immediate comeback. He turned away from her, silently relenting, and went back to watching the shades carefully in much the same manner that Hinata was watching him.

"So if there aren't any more objections from mindless perverts," Haruka said, making Keisuke snort somewhat haughtily, "I'll get this over with. You there!"

Naruto straightened when Haruka pointed at him. What was she going to do to test him?

"The pose that I had the statue make when I played the prank on you. Imitate it," she commanded.

Naruto froze up. Was she freaking serious? He remembered the image produced by Haruka's genjutsu all those nights ago and, if that was the one she meant, then he seriously did not want to do that in front of Hinata—especially because Hinata would know that it was her he had seen making that pose.

"Can't do it?" Haruka asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sh-shit," Naruto said. "Niichan's nickname for you really is the right one." He gulped down air, hoping to god that he wouldn't die later. He bent over and raised a finger to his lower lip, hunching his shoulders slightly so that if he had had Hinata's chest, a man watching from across the street would have had his nose erupt. His other hand moved onto his own backside in a provocative manner. It was a good thing, he realized, that the shroud was covering him; if he were looking like himself, he would look pretty damned ridiculous to his surrogate siblings.

Keisuke stared at him with his jaw agape and Hinata staggered, nearly falling over as she imagined herself posing like that. Naruto winced in embarrassment. All was in chaos... just as Haruka intended.

"Now then," she said, smirking maniacally, "To the other one. I want you to do what you were doing to a certain blond kid in a certain tent a few nights before we got into that neutral town... No, forget that; just progress to what you've been meaning to do to him in a tent since the trip started. You know, the thing with the handcuffs and the condoms..."

Now Hinata really did fall over. Naruto and Keisuke watched her topple with wide eyes and a serious question on their minds.

Hinata-chan was going to use handcuffs on me?! Have I really kept her waiting THAT long?!

Is the Sadist Gene in ALL of my descendants, kept hidden from normal people? Was Haruka banished for exposing the secret? My god... The evil that I have unleashed on this world...

Haruka fought to keep from laughing. It was no longer negotiation; it had become much-needed entertainment for the victim-starved Sadist. It was rapidly becoming clear that the shades were not enemies.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The former Captain staggered into the control room above the "stadium." His blood dripped onto several of the consoles as he passed them, flowing steadily out of his terribly mangled hand. He was beginning to feel heavy, as well; the combination of blood loss and having a good amount of his chakra eaten by Kikai bugs was taking its toll. All of that, and still he had not procured a sacrifice.

It didn't matter. The Hyuuga would all die anyway.

He watched and listened on the monitors that peered into the enclosure. The two pairs were not fighting as he had hoped for, or perhaps they had been fighting and had now seen through the black mask somehow. That should have been impossible...

"All right," Haruka was saying, "Tell us..."

"Hold it," The Great Father interrupted. "You're going to slander me next, I can tell. This time, it's my turn... tell us, where does Haruka get to whenever we go out drinking?"

The Kyuubi kid, who had created a mass of Kage Bunshins, used a display of masterful acrobatics and coordination to spell out the word N-O-W-H-E-R-E in human bodies. A smug smile found its way onto the Father's face, but Haruka's smile only widened.

"Not bad, partner," she said. "That almost stung a little. Probably would have been more effective if what happened back in the cell didn't happen..."

"Hey," said the Father. "What happens in Orochimaru's prison stays in Orochimaru's prison."

"But," Haruka said, addressing the Kyuubi child again, "Where does Keisuke always end up?"

The bunshins moved again, creating a different response: T-R-A-S-H-C-A-N.

Haruka burst into laughter, along with a number of the shadow clones, while the Father grew a large scowl and declined to say anything. Hiroto was tempted to smile at that; he had always been somewhat fond of Haruka and her playful, sadistic behavior, and had hoped that after her exile she would have shared his thoughts towards the clan. Yet, she had chosen to side with the Great Father and the Kyuubi's container, and having the Sadist turned against him was more troublesome than having the Sadist siding with him would be beneficial.

"It is regrettable that I must destroy you," he said, though she wouldn't hear him. "I had planned to at least make you the container for our Lady, but that is impossible under the current circumstances."

He used his good hand to draw out a small scroll from his robe. It was an old scroll, one that might have fallen apart centuries ago if not for good and special care. It's edges were trimmed in gold, and when it was opened, the paper was revealed to be black and the ink was a sickly yellow.

"My fathers before me," Hiroto mused to himself, "Have wanted to use this for generations. Yet two factors prevented us. First, the Main Family was far too strong, and would have ended her as quickly as they had the first time. Second, we did not know the spell that would make it work; the writing is in a language that is ancient and forgotten amongst us.

"But now, the Main Family is weakened, and Orochimaru has graciously derived and taught me the forgotten technique. It is regrettable that I am unable to gain hold of another container for the Great Mother, but if I must give my own life, then that is what I will do."

He peered at the monitor again, saw the last of the laughter die down.

"Laugh while you can," he said, wiping his blood across the scroll. "Soon, you, the Hyuuga, and all of Konoha will no longer remember what happiness is."

OoOoOoOo Kill-Joy no Jutsu! End Chapter Twenty-One. OooOoOoO

Next Chapter: I'm going to miss you guys soooo much. Monday morning will be the last time any message will ever reach me, so if you have something to say, say it now or I won't get it until I'm done with Boot Camp.

I love you all. /cry