Chapter Fifteen-

"What?" Sasuke-kun said, his eyes wide, his guard completely dropped. Orochimaru felt a stab of annoyance, but quickly squashed it. Once the boy was in his hands, he would make him perfect. Sasuke-kun was going to be his soon. Orochimaru could feel it.

The black-haired shinobi narrowed his eyes and resumed his fighting stance, "What are you talking about?" he demanded.

"Don't you want to kill your brother?" Orochimaru said carefully, watching as the boy's eyes widened again, "I can help you, you know."

There was a silence as the Uchiha contemplated this.

"What's in it for you?" he said warily.

Orochimaru inwardly frowned. This was not how it was supposed to go. Sasuke-kun wasn't supposed to ask questions.

"I, too," Orochimaru said, "want Uchiha Itachi dead. Don't you? Or are you too afraid?"

"I'm not afraid!" the boy shot back angrily.

That was good. People were always easier to manipulate when they were emotional.

"Then come with me," the Sannin said, "I'll help you."

Sasuke-kun looked apprehensive; hesitant, but hungry at the same time. He wanted power, Orochimaru could tell. He needed it. But something was holding him back. What was it? Orochimaru wanted to ask him why he was so attached to this village, however it would just make his soon-to-be body uncomfortable.

"I-I'll think about it," the boy finally said, his body still tensed.

"Unfortunately," Orochimaru said, "I do not have all the time in the world. We must leave tonight. "

To tell the truth, he did in fact have quite a lot of time. However, Orochimaru, by nature, was an impatient man. He wanted Uchiha Sasuke, and Orochimaru was not going to give up on him.

When Sasuke-kun didn't say anything for several seconds Orochimaru realized that he was going to need more convincing. Ch. Stubborn boy.

"I can lend a hand, Sasuke-kun," he said, "I can give you power that you can't even dream of."

There was a strange gleam in the black haired boy's eyes that Orochimaru liked. Orochimaru moved closer to the body that would soon be his.

"Wouldn't you like to be able to make him pay? Make him regret that he was ever born? You can do it, but not with out me."

The boy eye's were narrowed, though not at him. Sasuke-kun was shaking with anger or anticipation, Orochimaru couldn't tell. The red eyes that Orochimaru had seen so often in Itachi would soon belong to him. But still the boy hadn't said anything.

"What holds you back?" he hissed at the Uchiha, annoyed at his lack of response to his proposal, "What in this village is more important than your revenge?"

Sasuke-kun started at the last sentence. He glared hard at Orochimaru, anger evident in his every fiber.

"What stops you, Sasuke-kun? Is it the memories of your parents in this village?"

The Uchiha's eyes were wide again, giving him an almost innocent look.

"Or is it your pathetic teammates who have been lying to you ever since you met them?"

The boy glared angrily at him and opened his mouth to protest. The Sannin realized that that tactic wasn't working and quickly cut the thirteen year old off.

"You know," Orochimaru said softly and then dropped his voice down to a whisper, "Your parents won't be able to rest in peace knowing that their killer is still on the loose, now would they?"

"What?" Sasuke-kun rasped, his voice unstable and shaky.

He had him now. The boy would do anything he said. Orochimaru smiled. He had won.

"What the hell do you know about my parents?!" Uchiha Sasuke hissed.

Orochimaru sensed a warning tone in his voice and his eyes widened. What? This wasn't what was supposed to happen!

"Or my teammates?!" he continued.

"You're parents are dead, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru, completely calm, on the outside at least, "They were killed because you didn't have enough power to save them."

"SHUT UP!!"

"Don't deny it," Orochimaru continued, even though warning bells were going off in his head, "You know it's true."

The thirteen year old had a desperate look on his face mixed along with the sweat. He was trembling, and he brought his hands up to clasp his head.

'Shut up, shut up, shut up!" he said to himself, shaking his head back and forth, "It's not my fault! It's not!"

Orochimaru hopped onto the tree branch the boy was standing on and put his hand on his shoulder. Sasuke-kun tensed immediately.

"Come with me," he said into the Uchiha's ear, "You can't accomplish your revenge if you stay in Konoha. This worthless little village's time is almost up. Soon there will be nothing left but debris and the bodies of the pitiful inhabitants of this village."

The boy said something so quietly that Orochimaru had to bend down to hear him, "What did you say?"

"I said, get your filthy hands off me."

Naruto seemed to have completely adjusted to his new apartment. Sure, it was a total mess, with clothes and scrolls strewn across the floor, but Sasumi would have doubted that Naruto actually lived there if there wasn't a mess. The usually lively teenager was sitting on his bed across from the red haired girl who was seated on one of Naruto's hideous orange armchairs.

"I just don't get him, Sasumi," Naruto was saying, "Like, he always was a bastard, but now he's really a bastard!! He's been acting really weird and ignoring us all the time!"

"Indeed, he has been acting strangely," Sasumi replied.

"Do you…" Naruto paused looking uncomfortable all off the sudden, "I mean, have you…like seen anything…?"

"I haven't looked," Sasumi said, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice, "if that's what you want to know.

Naruto reddened and looked down into his lap. An awkward silence passed.

"Do you think I should look?" she asked him, genuinely interested in his answer.

Naruto didn't say anything for a minute or so, "I dunno Sasumi, I mean…do you really think you need to?"

"He's been acting strange for almost a month."

Naruto's hands formed into fists. He looked out the window and fidgeted nervously. "Sasumi," he started, "I think-" But Sasumi didn't hear the rest of his sentence. For a second, just for a second she had sensed a chakra. It was Sasuke's chakra there was no mistaking it. But that wasn't why she was worried. After all he could have just been training. There was something about that chakra that was…was…she couldn't put it into words. All she knew was that it was bad. It was gone now, but she knew what direction it had come from. She stood up.

"…Sasumi? Have you even been listening to what I've been saying? Oi, Sasumi!?"

She looked down at him distractedly, "We're leaving."

"What?"

"Something's wrong," she told him as she crossed to the other side of the room and wrenched open the door, "Come with me."

"Sasumi! What the hell is going on??"

She walked quickly down the hallway and then down the stairs.

"Sasumi!!! Where are you going?" Naruto yelled after her.

"To Uchiha-san," she replied, "I felt a strange pulse of his chakra. Something's wrong."

"Wha-What do you mean?" Naruto had caught up with her, his orange jacket open and flapping behind him.

"I felt Sasuke's chakra and there was something strange about it. It seemed…" she struggled to find words for what she had felt, "…desperate. I don't think he was just training."

"What do you mean 'desperate?'" Naruto hollered as he swerved around an old man with a cane.

"I can't explain it," she said shortly, "Just trust me."

She kept her eyes in front of her, trying to ignore the looks Naruto was giving her. It was only when they reached the edge of the village and were jumping from tree branch to tree branch when Naruto spoke again.

"Sasumi, what's this feeling?"

"What do you mean?"

"I dunno, it feels…cold and kinda weird. It's really familiar but I can't…"

She stopped on the next tree branch and turned and looked at him carefully. Naruto looked uncomfortable. Almost scared. And then Sasumi felt it. This…this presence.

"No," she whispered, "It's him."

"Who?"

"Orochimaru."

Naruto's eyes went wide, "Wait, he was the one who- oh, shit."

"Let's go."

They went fast. Faster then Sasumi had gone for a long time. She heard a crash up ahead and her and Naruto stumbled onto the scene.

Orochimaru stood to their left. Though Sasumi had never physically seen him or rather seen the form he preferred to take, she knew his face from various books and memories.

"Well, well, well, we meet again."

She narrowed her eyes, which had began to change color, but then, in a flash, his arm moved and the there was something covering his face. A mask.

He knew. He had found out about her. She had no chance now. Sasumi couldn't see. She was blind without her eyes.

"How?" she croaked, her throat dry, but it was mostly to buy time. She needed to remember everything that she had seen in him during the Chuunin Exam. How he fought. But she couldn't. Her short-term memory was almost photographic but she had no long-term. She barely remembered her own past sometimes.

"I went to great lengths to find out about you, you know," Orochimaru said, "The Rain was…very unwilling to share your secret."

"You-" Naruto started angrily, but then stopped. Sasumi followed his gaze and time stopped.

"Sa-Sasuke…?" Naruto's eye's were wide and his hands were shaking, "Wha-What?"

Uchiha Sasuke lay with his back to a tree, his blood soaking the ground around him. Naruto rushed over to him, but Sasumi's legs wouldn't move. From where she was she could see that Sasuke was breathing shallowly and bleeding badly.

"Sasuke-kun and I had a difference in opinion," Orochimaru said, his voice muffled slightly because of the mask, "But don't worry, he'll come around."

"You bastard!" Naruto snarled turning towards Orochimaru, his eyes scarlet. Already Sasumi could see his fingernails elongating and the light stripes on his cheeks turn darker.

"Uzumaki-san, don't!" she called desperately, "Don't use it!"

Naruto turned to her, the red in his eyes fading slightly.

"Wha-" but she cut him off as she saw, out of the corner of her eye, Orochimaru move.

"Look out!"

Naruto dodged out of the way right in time, three swords stuck in the earth that he had stood on a second ago.

She suddenly felt something behind her and whirled around.

"Too late!" Orochimaru said from behind the mask.

Sasumi felt a searing pain in her left shoulder and in her abdomen. She looked down to she two swords sticking out of her body.

"Sh…it…"

She felt herself fly through the air and collide with something hard. And then Sasumi knew no more.

No way. That was impossible. Naruto shook, his eyes wide once more. No way. Sasumi slid down the tree trunk leaving a trail of blood.

"Sasumi!" he yelled, but she didn't move.

"N-no that can't be…" he whispered.

She couldn't be dead, that was impossible.

"Sasumi! What are you doing? Get up!" he shouted.

Orochimaru pulled off his mask and stepped towards him.

"Don't you understand, brat? The girl is dead. Now get out of here before I kill you." Orochimaru said an evil grin stamped on his features. But he wasn't looking at Naruto. He was looking past him. Throwing all caution to the wind, Naruto looked over his shoulder and saw what Orochimaru was looking at. Sasuke. Naruto felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. He took a step back.

"Wha-What the hell do you want with Sasuke?" he said, stumbling over his words.

"He'll be my new body of course," Orochimaru said, "I want those eyes of his."

"Y-You…"

"Now move aside, brat."

Naruto stood his ground, "Leave him alone!" he hissed

"Na…ru…to…"

Naruto whirled around. Sasuke had gained consciousness. He looked up at him weakly with heavy lidded eyes.

Naruto ran to his side grabbing his shoulder, "Sasuke!!"

Sasuke hissed in pain and he released him. Naruto felt his eyes fill with tears. He rubbed them away quickly.

"Yo-You stupid bastard!" Naruto choked, "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"Na…ruto…get out…of here…"

"What!" Naruto said staring at him, "Why-"

"How sweet," Orochimaru said, causing Naruto to gasp and turn around. He had almost forgotten he was there, "He's trying to save you."

Naruto's eyes widened. He looked at Sasuke and then to Sasumi who lay several yards away. Why, even now, why were they trying to save him? He didn't need saving! It was them who needed the saving! Then why-

"You… mo-moron…r…un!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth, "No," he said, "No, you stupid bastard, I'm not going to leave. I'm not going to run away! I'm going to save you, so you better pay attention!!"

"Then you'll end up like the girl," Orochimaru said dispassionately. Naruto's eye darted towards Sasumi.

"She's not dead! And you-you're going to pay for this!!!" he snarled, his voice suddenly an octave lower. He felt power fill his veins and unbeknownst to him his eyes turned a different color.

"I'm going to kill you!!"

Naruto launched himself at Orochimaru. Trees in the vicinity shook and his chakra turned into an arm and grabbed Orochimaru, ripping off his arm. Orochimaru disappeared and Naruto skidded to a halt. He turned around and then something hit him across the face throwing him to the ground. He picked himself up and turned to see the long haired man behind him. Orochimaru's arm was back and Naruto growled, throwing himself at the Sannin once again. Orochimaru made a few hand signs and suddenly Naruto was covered in snakes. He tried to rip them off with his claws, but they clung to him, slowly squeezing the life out of him. Anger filled Naruto and a chakra pulse ripped forth from his body cutting the snakes into little bits. A few trees fell and the ground split, but Naruto paid no attention to that. In a second he was on Orochimaru, clawing at him intent on ripping him to pieces. Something wrapped around his neck choking him and he flew backwards coughing. Orochimaru stood up his clothing and flesh torn into shreds.

"Interesting," he said softly, "Very interesting, but you can't beat me with that little power!"

Naruto roared in anger, closed his eyes, and let the Kyuubi take over.

Sasuke hurt all over. It had been a mistake to try and take on the Snake Sannin. He knew that now. He was having trouble breathing, seeing and thinking. Suddenly his vision was clouded with red and Sasuke felt his body slid down from its seated position and he inwardly screamed with pain. Part of him wanted to get up, but most of him just wanted to sleep. He just wanted all the pain to go away. He stared listlessly at the sideways scene before him. There was a person there. No wait, two people. They looked quite strange. A blonde haired boy and a man with long hair. The boy was red all over and was bent over on his hands like an animal. The boy-creature had fangs, claws, ears, a tail, whiskers, and his eyes were a deep hue of red. He was surrounded by a red substance with bubbles. Lots and lots of bubbles. The boy-creature was saying something loud, but Sasuke couldn't understand him. Then the boy's skin turned all red and is ears grew longer and suddenly he had four tails. That was funny. Who had ever heard of a boy with four tails? The boys arm reached for the man but it was stopped by…a rope? But no, the rope was moving. A snake, of course. The boy's (though Sasuke wasn't sure if it was a boy or not) arm started on fire and the long haired man punched him and then spilt in half. Sasuke blinked slowly. Then there were lots and lots of dots. Black and red ones. The boy, or whatever he was, ate them and then spat them out. There was a huge explosion, and he felt his body fly into the air and then hit the ground. The tree that Sasuke had been leaning against fell with a crash, an inch from the back of Sasuke's head. The long haired man was gone. In his place there was a giant snake, but Sasuke knew it was the man. He had the same eyes. The boy, though at the moment he looked like a fox with six tails, was much bigger and the two, the snake and the fox, were fighting again. Sasuke closed his eyes as a flash of light filled the sky. When he opened them again he couldn't see properly and his head, along with the rest of his injuries, began to throb. They had been numb ever since…ever since …a while, anyway. To make it worse, something grabbed his shoulder and was shaking him. Sasuke heard a strange noise and a it took him a few seconds to realize he had made it. There was something above him. A shape. The shape was making noise, but Sasuke couldn't understand. His vision was going haywire and the blood he had left was pounding in his ears. Sasuke felt cold and he had a sudden hysteric wish to be knocked unconscious or even dead. He felt himself being lifted onto something soft and the it was like someone turned out the lights.

The first time he had become aware of it was when he was just about to turn in for the night. He had felt this horrible chakra and knew right away whose it must have been. Every thing was a blur from then on. Herding the villagers into the shelters and then going out towards that monster that was no longer his student. But they were lucky. Once they reached the site the chakra had inexplicably disappeared. And there was only the shreds of Orochimaru and the nonmoving bodies of his three students. Naruto had instantly been taken away. Orders of the Council. Sasuke and Sasumi had been immediately been taken to the hospital. But when Kakashi asked to see them he was only allowed to see Sasuke. Not even the head doctor knew where Yamaki Sasumi was. Kakashi didn't even ask where Naruto was. In any other circumstances he would have gone to the Hokage first. But going to Tsunade-hime wasn't necessary until he had used up every other single idea he had. One, she had way too much work to do concerning the petitions for Naruto's death, renewing their contract with the Sand and not to mention all the fact that her old teammate was dead. But there was another reason Kakashi didn't want to go to her. It was the fact that Tsunade didn't want to be Hokage in the first place. She had basically been forced into it by Jiraiya and the Council. Which made her a lot less agreeable. But it was better than having no Hokage.

Kakashi knocked lightly on the door and inwardly braced himself.

"Go away! I'm busy!"

"I'm sorry to disturb you Hokage-sama, but it is rather important."

"I said I'm busy!!" she yelled back, clearly annoyed.

Kakashi opened the door and slid inside. Tsunade's desk was covered in papers and he could only see the top of her head over all the mess.

"Alright, alright! What the hell do you want?" she said standing up, her eyes bloodshot and her hair sticking to the sweat on her tired face. "Make it quick and then get out of here!"

"Two of my students," Kakashi said, cutting to the chase, "There were injured in the attack and I haven't been able to find them."

Tsunade sighed, "Uchiha Sasuke is in the hospital. Uzumaki Naruto is under the jurisdiction of the Council. He's in their custody. There's nothing I can do for him except make sure he has a fair trial," she said carefully.

Kakashi's eye widened, "What trial?"

Tsunade looked away from him, "The Council has judged Uzumaki Naruto to be too dangerous. They plan on executing him. All they have to do know is do through the formalities of the actual trial."

"And you plan on letting them do this?" Kakashi said lightly, though his insides were boiling with anger, "Sandaime-sama wouldn't have want-"

"Do you think I can do anything?" She said, her eyes narrowed, "The Council united overpowers me, Kakashi! They are united! I can do nothing!!"

Kakashi took a deep breath, and forced his next question out, "Where is my other student?"

Tsunade turned away from him, "Leave, Kakashi."

"Where is Yamaki Sasumi?"

"Yamaki Sasumi does not exist," she said, brushing a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. "We found that out yesterday. I believe her name to be fake."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi said slowly.

"When Yamaki Sasumi was brought in two days ago the doctors found scars of every size and shape on her body. Torture scars," Tsunade turned towards him, "There is only one country that still uses physical torture. Our first known record of a 'Yamaki Sasumi' was almost three years ago. Put it together. What event happened three years ago that handicapped the Rain? Who killed off half their strongest ANBU?"

"What are you saying?" Kakashi whispered.

"Modoka Sazumi," Tsunade said, "That is who your student really is."

"That's impossible," Kakashi said, "She would have been ten at the time of-"

"I assure you it is possible, Kakashi," Tsunade said coldly, "Now that you understand the amount of work I have to do, leave."

Kakashi turned on his heel and left, feeling numb.

A/N: Before I get anyone saying that Sasuke is way OOC, he's delirious. He has no idea what's going on because he lost a lot of blood. Yes, Orochimaru is dead. Sorry, but it had to be done. Also, I'm not going to be home a lot this summer, so this might be the last update in a while. Next chapter you'll find out what the name 'Modoka Sazumi' means to the Kakashi and Naruto's fate. Please keep reviewing!