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"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Orochimaru's laughter echoed over what was left of the Valley of the End, freezing everyone in their shoes. Gohan was literally shaking with rage. How? He demanded of himself. How? How? HOW? That was all he could think, that one word chasing itself around inside his skull.

While Orochimaru was busy laughing, Gohan took stock of just how much the Sannin had changed since the battle they'd had in Tanzaku, what seemed like a lifetime ago, even though it was a month, month and a half maximum. Orochimaru's hair was stringier than before. Before, his hair had been a long dark wave that would've made any beauty pageant contestant green with envy. Orochimaru's hair now looked like coarse steel wire, pushed farther up on his head now into the sharp V of a Widow's Peak that could compete with Vegeta's any day of the week.

The face was different as well. Orochimaru's handsome features were long gone, replaced instead by the narrow, triangular-shaped jaw that could be found on most snakes. His mouth with regular sized, or at least that's what it looked like until Gohan looked closer and saw that the Sannin's jaw was actually a good deal wider than it appeared. When people spoke of having an ear-to-ear grin, they didn't mean it literally, though the missing-nin no longer had ears to speak of. Orochimaru's nose had been reduced to two narrow slits, the nostrils barely an interruption in the new sleek head the Sannin was sporting.

Gohan also felt chills when he realized that Orochimaru also sported two full rows of savage-looking teeth, more akin to great white shark than any kind of snake Gohan had ever come across. Purplish fluid coated the teeth, some of it running down the Sannin's chin, dripping grotesquely but sizzling when it hit the rocks at the ninja's feet.

'Poison,' Gohan noted grimly. Orochimaru's laughter was quieting now, his mouth resuming normal size, though Gohan could just make out the longer line of his newly widened jaw, the line sporting two tiny flaps of flesh overlapping his bottom jaw, a small distance from his actual mouth. The Sannin's tongue whipped out, the tip forked, the rest of the slimy appendage covered in what Gohan thought were warts. Orochimaru also had what looked like large octagonal scales on him, in patches on his forehead, the back of his hands, and, here Gohan could just barely make it out, a patch on the left side of his neck. Orochimaru was a few inches taller, his body no longer lean and wiry to the point of malnutrition, but covered in supple gymnast and fencer muscle, his fingernails on his hands making them talons instead of simple hands.

He wore a variation of the costume Gohan had last seen the Sannin in, except now it was all black and was a little tougher looking, cut from a heavier, more durable fabric, trading sandals for black jackboots, a tanto sticking out of the side of his belt, in easy reach. The vest Orochimaru now wore looked like a bullet-proof vest from the world that Gohan had left behind.

The Sannin had come dressed for combat, there was no doubt about that and Gohan, despite having tangled with and won against Orochimaru in their last encounter, couldn't help but feel a little apprehension. There was no telling what Orochimaru was capable of right now. To look the way he did, he had to have done something beside just limping back to whatever hole he'd crawled into and trained. At least his eyes were the same…but wait…the purple marks around his eyes were sharper, raking out longer and at an angle.

"What happened to him?" Kakashi asked.

"No idea," Yamato replied. "He's been experimenting on himself though, to look like that. His knowledge of the human body is probably only surpassed by Tsunade-sama's."

Orochimaru leered at them, arms crossed, allowing them to take in his appearance change once more before he bent over, sank his talons into the soft earth around the crater, and pulled up sharply.

Sasuke emerged by his hair, gasping, his transformation gone, his body battered and broken. There were cuts and lacerations all over his body from Gohan's Kamehameha, so many in fact, that it almost seemed cruel that Sasuke had lived instead of being granted a quick death.

Gohan broke the pall that had fallen over the Crater of the End. "How the hell are you still alive, you bastard!" He bellowed, voice echoing off the sloping cliff walls.

Orochimaru chuckled again. "Gohan-kun, Gohan-kun," he drawled lazily. "After all this time, you never call, you never write, and now you demand answers? I don't think we're on that level. Do you?"

Gohan's eyes narrowed as he realized that Orochimaru's speech pattern had changed subtly. He was drawing out his 's' sounds slightly, not enough to notice normally unless you were actually looking for it.

"But," Orochimaru went on, "I suppose there's no harm in telling you the story. I think it'll give you something to think about as you die." As Orochimaru was speaking, he was unbuttoning his vest and setting it aside and peeling aside his shirt underneath. When the muscled skin underneath was revealed, everyone felt their breath hitch in their throats.

Orochimaru's chest was a massive knot of scar tissue. Gohan had to think for a second where he had gotten it all until he spotted a section that was shaped oddly, a rectangular shape about as long and as wide as Gohan's own hand. "The explosive tags," Gohan murmured, remembering how they had gone off when his supposedly fatal final attack got close.

"Indeed," Orochimaru said, getting a faraway look in his eye…..

Orochimaru screamed inwardly as he watched Tsunade, that damnable woman, and Gohan, that damnable teen, circling him like a pair of hunting sharks. They could smell the blood in the water, Orochimaru knew. They could sense, on some primal, subconscious level, that Orochimaru was getting strung out, that he was reaching the limits of his endurance.

He had to think of a way out of this situation and nothing was presenting itself. Tsunade was far to clever to see through any of Orochimaru's standard tricks and Gohan was so volatile right now that Orochimaru couldn't rely on his previous perceptions about the kid.

The stunt with the Kawarimi had proved that well enough, when Orochimaru had had a clone beg Gohan for mercy while the real McCoy came around from behind to try and kill the kid by stabbing him in the back. Gohan's reaction had been lightning quick, his anger even quicker and Orochimaru had damn near died because of it.

Now there was this whole thing about Tsunade and her faux immortality! How could he win against Tsunade when her seal regenerated even a pierced heart with no effort! She didn't even pass out! His mind whirled frantically, trying to figure out how he was going to get through all this.

Had to fool them, somehow, he though, mind whirling at a breakneck pace. Genjutsu? No, Tsunade would dispel it for the both of them, so that was out. A powerful ninjutsu? Perhaps, but then they would be on him when he turned to run. Taijutsu. No. That was both Tsunade and Gohan's forte. Any attempt to engage them, two-on-one, and try to escape was a suicide mission. Wait. Suicide? Maybe that was something. Not the death part of it, of course, but maybe he could come across as insane enough that Tsunade and Gohan would leave him alone, believing him no longer worth fighting.

Orochimaru smirked inwardly. Yes, he supposed. They might go for it, provided he could sell it to them in a convincing manner. Orochimaru screamed as if he was a dying man, ripping his tunic, whipping out explosive tags and plastering them all to his bare chest. The entire time, he was praying to whatever god would have him that the two warriors across from him would take the bait.

To Orochimaru's incredulous belief, they did, Tsunade explaining something about immortality, her jutsu, and how he believed that she'd beaten him to it. The Slug Princess turned away, content with her victory, believing that Orochimaru would never threaten them away. It was all Orochimaru could do to not burst out in triumphant laughter instead of the half-insane giggles that dribbled past his lips. To sweeten the deal, Gohan joined her, after throwing a venomous look at the Snake Sannin, making Orochimaru fervently glad that the saying 'if looks could kill' was only a saying.

Gohan stopped and whirled, fast.

"KAMEHAMEHAAAAAAAAA!"

An enormous blast, larger than any Orochimaru had ever see came after him, roaring like a dragon, looming like the moon itself. So help him, Orochimaru screamed, some primal part of him jibbering in terror, breaking his restraint, and forcing the scream through the normally silver tongue and lips. He moved quick, trying to shed his skin and burrow. His body elongated, he felt the skin split and shed, peeling off him like a tight wardrobe, Orochimaru suddenly feeling liberated.

He was a fraction of a second fast enough to get into the ground and set up his special substitution jutsu, to meld with the ground and escape the blast of the Kamehameha. That he was fast enough to do.

He was not, however, fast enough to completely escape unharmed. He didn't take into account the immense power that was bearing down on him, a great freight train of an attack that would've blown out any sensitive items in the area around the attack.

Items, for example, like the explosive tags on Orochimaru's chest.

They went off in a tremendous detonation.

Orochimaru melded with the ground, screaming a mute yell of pain as blood poured from his ravaged chest, the flesh and muscle blown clean away. Had he been above ground, bone would've been showing. He lingered in that limbo of burning fire for who knew how long, unable to bleed out and die because he was melded with the earth itself. Finally he could bear it no more and wrenched himself out of the rock and earth.

The second the air hit his chest, he screamed. The mighty Sannin couldn't help himself. Of course, he had managed to focus some part of his mind on a solution to the problem while he'd been repressed in that hellish purgatory and went about enacting it.

The pain dulled, Orochimaru rolled over, the skin on his chest red, leaking runnels of blood everywhere, and puckered with several square-shaped marks that were sure to turn into scar tissue. He looked around. It was nighttime and Gohan, Tsunade, and the rest were nowhere to be found. Kabuto, too, was gone and Orochimaru knew that his medic would be in the hands of Konoha and the talons of Mitarashi Anko, that failure of a student, and Morino Ibiki, whose thirst for sadistic torture was only matched by Orochimaru's own. Orochimaru swore. He needed Kabuto, needed the medic's skills when it was time for him to switch bodies.

As Orochimaru's body degraded, so did his chakra control. Kabuto was able to prolong Orochimaru's body as long as possible, keeping his control razor fine, his reserves large, and his muscles trained. Without it, Orochimaru would be as helpless as a newborn babe when it came time to switch bodies in three years.

The Sannin scowled. He had to get Kabuto back, but Konohagakure was nothing if not a tough nut to crack, so to speak, and the defenses around the medic would be tight. Kabuto would have to wait until a more convenient time. Sasuke, meanwhile, was coming to him, Orochimaru could practically smell it in the air. First things first, though. He had to get his hands on more power. Gohan had surprised him. That kid was only a teenager too, hardly in the prime of his life. When he came of age more fully, say, mid-to-late teens and his early twenties, he would be a true force to be reckoned with and Orochimaru, who had pretty much reached the glass ceiling of human physiology, needed more power to stay ahead, to be able to compete with the Gohan that was coming for there would be a second battle.

Orochimaru stood and walked away into the night, vanishing into the mists that were starting to form.

He had work to do.

"And so here I am," Orochimaru said, finishing with a leer, glaring down his nose at Gohan, his arms crossed over his chest, the scar tissue horrendously obvious in the wan sunlight. The Sannin's lips split apart, showing that much-wider-than-normal grin and the serrated fangs that went with it. "What do you think?"

"So you changed your appearance," Gohan said with a smirk. "That's it?"

Orochimaru outright laughed. "Hardly, Gohan-kun," he chuckled, turning around. There were suture scars all down his spine, across his shoulders, and down the backs of his arms. The scars vanished into his waistband, where Gohan assumed they ran down his legs to the very soles of his feet. "This is something that I had to do myself. You have no idea how much it hurts to cut yourself up with a Kage Bunshin. I couldn't use anesthesia, of course, because then the jutsu would be impossible to control and I cannot entrust this to anyone but myself."

The Sannin turned around and began to dress again. "I've completely altered my anatomy, Gohan-kun. I've given myself abilities and strength that far exceed any I've had before. I guess you could call this my way of training." He flexed a hand. "Are you going to let Sasuke-kun go now? Now that I stand in your way?"

Gohan scowled, sliding into a stance that everyone recognized and had come to associate with gold hair, chirping auras, and devastation on grand scale. "Get back, everyone," he said as the air around him began to ripple, as if with a great heat.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Just do it!"

"Alright," Kakashi said, nodding to Yamato. "Gohan, you handled Orochimaru once before. I'm sure you can do it again." He watched the others pull back. "But don't forget that we're still here. If you need help, don't hesitate to ask. We can't go one-on-one with Orochimaru but all of us together could. Don't forget that."

The only thing that Kakashi got as an answer was a nod. He knew it would have to do. Gohan was going to concentrate entirely on the battle at hand. Gohan knew he couldn't hold back here. Orochimaru had proven that once before.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

The world shook once, violently, then the ground underneath Gohan shattered, rising into the air as his yell carried on. The pool the crater was becoming began to roil and writhe, boiling without heat. Light flickered to life on Gohan's skin, illuminating him as if from within. His hair, blown up by the outpouring of his ki, changed; though with the light it was hard to tell what had happened.

A ring of sand appeared at Gohan's feet, running in circles around the young saiyan. For a second, everything was silent.

The gold light exploded everywhere, blinding everyone there. The water in the crater was pushed against the opposite bank, slapping and slopping madly, as if trying to escape.

The light faded, revealing Ascended Saiyan Gohan. His aura hummed and buzzed, the lighting dancing over him in a chaotic display.

"What is that?" Sakura asked, taking in the crown of spikes, the sweeping bang, the crackling lightning, and humming aura.

"Must be what he used to defeat Orochimaru the first time," Kakashi answered. "I hope this time it's enough."

"Bring it on!" Gohan called. His voice wasn't a yell, but it echoed across the chasm with an eerie finality.

Orochimaru laughed. "Fine, then, Gohan-kun." His hands, crossed over his chest as he waited, lowered to his sides and Orochimaru fell into a stance of his own. One that was familiar. Heart-stoppingly, shockingly, familiar.

Orochimaru squatted in a low stance, his hands cupped at his sides. A ball of blue-white light began to shine in his palms.

"That's…!" Yamato shouted.

"He can't use that attack can he?" Sakura asked. "I thought shinobi couldn't use ki!"

"Wrong," Kakashi replied. "We can. It just takes a really long time to do. Think of it as trying to relearn everything you know after a lifetime of experience, to shatter all of your perceptions and turn them around. You could do it, but it'll take forever to do."

"Gohan-kun!" Sakura called. "Get out of the way!"

Gohan looked just as startled as everyone else, but to her surprise, he smirked confidently. "Alright," Gohan said. "You think you can use a Kamehameha? Let's see what you've got, bastard." He spread his feet and set them, like a goalie getting ready to catch the incoming football. "Give it your best shot."

"With pleasure!" Orochimaru howled. "KamehameHAAAAAAA!"

The blast roared forth, just like Gohan's, but the second it left Orochimaru's hands, Gohan could instantly see and feel the difference. He could hear Kakashi, Yamato, Sakura, and Naruto all screaming at him to get out of the way. He could hear their pleas, see the confident look on Orochimaru's face. He tuned it all out, focusing only on the Kamehameha.

Gohan swung a hand, almost contemptuously, even going so far as to abandon his stance. The blast deflected off his fist. It howled and sang like a ricocheting bullet and a firework. It hit somewhere in the plain where Kakashi had killed Kimimaro. Sakura expected a massive dome of light, a crushing shockwave, and a howling, deadly, wind.

The ground under her feet barely shook.

"Hm," Orochimaru said, standing up. "That was certainly lackluster. It appears I have much to do to get to your level where ki is concerned, Gohan-kun."

"Didn't even tickle," Gohan agreed. "I think my father could've done better when he was a kid." He sank into a mirror image of the stance Orochimaru had just left. "Let me show you how it's done." The star that flared to life in Gohan's hands quickly flared up to such a brightness that it was almost painful to look at. "KAMEHAMEHA!"

The blast howled like a dragon, taking rock, soil, water, scattered shinobi tools, boulders, and everything else that wasn't bolted down for the ride. Orochimaru was lost behind the blast's intensity. It didn't explode when it hit the opposite crater. Didn't deflect even. The Kamehameha simply continued on until the earth dropped away beneath it and it howled away into space.

"Did you get him?" Sakura called.

Gohan's jade eyes shifted to the left in answer. That blast would have destroyed the world had Gohan been facing the other way. It was the attack that had destroyed Cell and Bojack both. It had taken a tremendous U-shaped cut off the crater's lip. As he had been before, Orochimaru would probably have expired right there, lost in the wash of Gohan's ki. But now he stood well outside the width of the strike, Sasuke still in a lump at his feet.

"You're faster," Gohan said, a casual observation, but inwardly, he was nervous. Orochimaru had just dodged Gohan's best attack as if it were nothing and had used ki to boot, something that Gohan thought was impossible up to this point for shinobi to do. "How did you learn to use ki?"

"I didn't," Orochimaru answered. "You see, when a shinobi student uses chakra for the first time, they have long conditioned their body to use ki and stamina both. By the time they do their first Kawarimi, the foundations have been laid, poured, and set. The same can be said for you as well. But there are some similarities, most notably in your pathways."

"Pathways?"

"Yes. Ki needs a way to move through the body just as chakra does. They both use what is, in essence, the same pathway, but the shinobi's chakra coils are fundamentally different from a ki-user and vice versa. Still, if it is in the human body, it can be transplanted."

"You ripped out someone's chakra coils," Gohan said, ire clouding his words, but not his eyes. They grew sharper, more dangerous, promising eons of pain to Orochimaru if Gohan got his hands on him. "That's what you're saying?"

"A tad macabre way of putting it for my tastes," Orochimaru replied, "but correct on a basic level."

Kakashi's voice broke in next and he sounded angry as well, his words backed by that cold fury that radiated from Gohan. "How old was the kid, Orochimaru?"

"What?" Sakura and Naruto breathed together, looking green at the gills.

"We start shinobi training at an early age," Kakashi elaborated, well aware of the growing pressure coming from Gohan with every word. That kid was going to snap and Kakashi hoped that he could use it to win. The scarecrow was reluctant to admit it, but he was kind of counting on Gohan blowing his top. "If you got coils that haven't been altered, the victim would have to be a kid, not more than six or seven."

"Your point, Kakashi?" Orochimaru asked, unconcerned. The last word hadn't even left the snake's lips when Gohan's fist hammered across his jaw, turning Orochimaru's face to the side, purple spittle flying. Gohan vanished and reappeared in a skid before the saliva could hit the ground or him. The earth sizzled and hissed in agitation from the caustic poisons.

Gohan looked up.

"And just where would you be looking?" Orochimaru asked, right about the time Gohan realized that the opposite lip was empty of the Sannin.

Gohan spun around, alarmed, but found that he wasn't fast enough to keep up with Orochimaru anymore. Every time he tried to face the Sannin squarely, Orochimaru was already a grinning shadow in the corner of his vision.

When Gohan finally found the missing-nin again, it was only because Orochimaru let himself be found. That was the point he'd been making by keeping one step ahead of the irate Super Saiyan.

"He's fast!" Yamato said, gaping, despite his best efforts.

"Too fast," Kakashi agreed, Sharingan opened to the world, despite his fatigue. "Gohan's in trouble!"

"Gohan-kun!" Sakura shouted.

"Dammit!" Gohan snarled, fazing out, coming at Orochimaru faster than a speeding bullet. He thrust out, trying to take Orochimaru's head from his shoulders. Orochimaru leaned out of the way, the attack sailing by harmlessly.

He snapped a fist up and dropped Gohan to his knees with only a minimal amount of effort.

"HAHAHAHA!" Orochimaru crowed, as Gohan lay at his feet, groaning and helpless, trying to recover his wits before the follow-up came on. "This is wonderful! This is power beyond my wildest dreams! I've never imagined a human could feel like this! DIE!" He looked down and found himself staring into Gohan's palm and a bright ball of ki that went with it.

"MASENKO!"

The one-handed attack blew Orochimaru right off his feet. The recoil of the strike blew Gohan backward, away from the sadist. He aligned himself and let loose another barrage of ki blasts, screaming the entire time. The explosions twisted Orochimaru every which way. Any other person would've been killed. Hell, that Masenko alone would've blown off their torso, Gohan knew, but he also knew that Orochimaru had just become a more evil version of Cell and he wouldn't go down that easily.

'And I'm getting tired,' Gohan thought grimly. 'But…' He threw a glance back at his friends and they could see the wild, bestial, anger and fear in his eyes, but not fear for himself. Fear for them. Sakura's face stood out among the others, her hands clasped to her chest, watching a battle that she had no place in, could do nothing to change. Gohan suddenly thought of what Orochimaru would do to him, them…Sakura, if he failed here.

"I'M NOT BACKING DOWN!" Gohan howled, slamming his body to a stop and rushing forward again, a Kamehameha glowing in each hand. "KAMEHAMEHA…..GEMINO!"

The blasts thundered out, shaking the ground. The first hit with enough force to knock everyone off their feet. The second turned the straining dome it left behind into a billowing mushroom cloud of dust, water, and rock. Gohan slumped to the ground, winded. He'd put his all into that attack, everything he could get away with and not kill everyone on the planet. The teen's golden hair lost its vertical spiked look and dropped back down into Gohan's normal moptop. His eyes flickered between jade and onyx for a second before he forced himself to stay a Super Saiyan, cementing the hard green color again.

A flash of ki was all the warning Gohan got before a bright gold ki blast roared out of the smoke and haze. The warrior snarled and batted the attack away, not even feeling the deadly sting of the energy.

"A distraction, Gohan-kun," Orochimaru said from behind the young warrior. Gohan spun around, slashing with one hand. The ground split as if cut by a sword, but Orochimaru didn't get cut with it, leaping over the attack, coming down and slamming a fist into Gohan's gut. The teen gagged, his gorge rising, spilling bile mixed with blood over the ground.

A swift kick pounded into his skull hard enough for Gohan to see white. He was barely aware of sailing through the sky. His bones whimpered to him when the ground parted from his impact. Another fist, from where, Gohan couldn't tell, drove him in deeper.

"Stop it!" Sakura screamed as she watched Orochimaru pummel Gohan into the ground, driving the boy deeper with each blow until they actually began to vanish from view. She leaped forward, hand be damned, weariness be damned, the world be damned! Gohan needed her and no one was stopping her from helping! She thought she heard Kakashi-sensei shout for her to stop but ignored the warning, if there was a warning at all.

Orochimaru, so absorbed in tormenting Gohan, didn't even hear her approaching until she was on her, attacking like an angered mother bear. Her fist seared when she hit the Sannin, it was hitting granite, but it rattled him enough to make the Sannin break off the attack. Sakura stood over Gohan protectively, trying her best to imitate her friend, mentor and…crush's death-defying gaze. "Stay away from him!" She snarled. "I'm not letting you torment him anymore!" She snuck a glance behind her. Gohan was bruised, his left arm broken in at least one place, bone poking through the skin. The way he winced with each breath meant he had a few cracked ribs. His hair was blackened again and he looked vulnerable without the ocean-deep power of a Super Saiyan around him.

"What can you do, Kunoichi-chan?" Orochimaru asked, smiling at her. On anyone else it would've been an indulgent smile. On Orochimaru it looked like an arrogant smirk. He tapped his pointed chin with a talon. "I'm sure my ki abilities would be able to kill you, but they'd be wasted on someone like you." He folded a series of hand seals. "So I guess I'll kill you the old fashioned way."

Wood erupted out of the ground, tying up Orochimaru's hands and body before he could finish. Before the Sannin could break the wood's grip, a knife appeared at his throat. "Don't bet on it," Kakashi snarled.

"Hey, Snake Bastard!" Naruto shouted as he leaped high over the jounin and Sannin. He was accompanied by a Kage Bunshin, which was busy creating a handheld tempest in the original's palm. "Don't touch Sakura-chan! Rasengan!"

Kakashi leaped away as Naruto hammered the attack home. The wood shattered as Naruto landed, the full fury of the Rasengan going everywhere. The savage winds tore at Sakura's hair, sent her dress flapping, and forced her to shield her eyes, lest she get rocks where they weren't supposed to go.

Naruto sprang away as Kakashi charged in, a buzzing howl filling the air, lightning cackling in his palm. "Raikiri!"

His attack passed through nothing but air. Kakashi whipped around, Sharingan searching everywhere, looking for some sign of Orochimaru. How had he gotten through Yamato's trap? Kakashi wondered before dismissing the thought. It didn't matter how right now. All that mattered was that he had and they had to find him. A thought occurred to him and he spun to Yamato, just in time to see Orochimaru come out of the earth behind him.

"Yamato!"

Yamato dropped without hesitation, Orochimaru's scything hand passing right through the space where his head had been. The ANBU kicked like a mule. Orochimaru twisted out of the way, his body contorting to impossible positions as he did. Yamato followed through and used his momentum to regain his feet a few steps behind the Sannin.

While making seals for the follow-up attack, Yamato blinked and when his eyes opened again, Orochimaru was again standing on the rim of the crater. Yamato stopped the seals warily. Everyone looked up at the Sannin, wondering why he'd broken off the siege. Kakashi's eyes narrowed when he saw a glistening of sweat on the snake's brow.

"Still haven't gotten used to your augmentations huh?" Kakashi asked. "You can't fight for very long yet, can you?"

"What does it matter, Kakashi?" Orochimaru asked in return. "The point remains that I still have enough power left to crush you four insects and Gohan-kun in addition, helpless as he is. You can't win and you know it."

"Screw you!" Naruto shouted. "Get down here, you bastard! I've gotta pay you back for the cheap shot at the castle!"

"In due time, Naruto-kun," Orochimaru leered, "in due time, but I'm feeling generous after such a successful field test of my new powers. I'm willing to walk away, let you have your lives, and leave you in peace. In return, all I ask is that you not pursue Sasuke-kun any further than this." As he spoke, he kicked Sasuke hard, waking the genin up with a cry of pain. "Well Kakashi? I believe it is your call. Death now, or retreat to fight another day."

Kakashi only took a second to think about it. "Take him and get out of my sight," Kakashi growled, hating every second he spoke.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura breathed as Naruto gaped like fish. "Our mission…"

"Is a failure," Kakashi said, pulling his hirai-ate down over the Sharingan. "We're returning to the village."

"Screw that!" Naruto all but screamed. "I'm not done yet!" He took a step and nearly fell flat on his face as all the strength left him. "What?"

"Look at yourself, all of you," Kakashi said. "We're exhausted, battered, bruised, and we've reached our limit." The jounin glared at his subordinate. "When I brought you on this mission, I said that I would take you only as long as you followed my orders. This is an order. Back off. Now."

Naruto glared for so long that Sakura thought that he would defy the order, but then the steam left him and he slumped.

"Excellent," Orochimaru said calmly. "Come, Sasuke-kun. Welcome to Otogakure." He didn't wait for a response or even look at Sasuke. Orochimaru spun on his heel and walked away.

Sasuke stood up, nearly collapsing as he did. He looked down at his comrades for a second. "Sorry," Sasuke said wearily, "but this is the way it has to be. I'm not backing away now."

"You can still come with us, Sasuke!" Naruto called.

"Don't follow me," Sasuke interrupted stepping over the last part of Naruto's plea. It was like he'd never even heard the blond.

Sasuke limped after Orochimaru.

Wow, that chapter went quick. Hope you all enjoyed the new Orochimaru. When I was describing him, I was imagining a mix version of Orochimaru I saw on DevianART by Tite Kubo, the author of Bleach, a few other fan arts, Murasame from that Bleach filler arc, the current Kabuto, Voldemort from Harry Potter, and a few of my own little touches. Think of this new Orochimaru as the twisted, yaoi-spawned, bastard son of all the above. Hope it came across well. And now we've finished the last major fight of Gohan's Dilemma. It's all resolution chapters and character development from here, along with an epilogue to tie it all together and set the stage for Gohan's Return. Two, three chapters max and that's it. See you all next chapter!

Glossary

Kamehameha Gemino (Kamehameha Twin): Gemino is Latin for twin (as if that wasn't already obvious). It's an original technique I came up with on the fly for Gohan. Gohan fires two full-power Kamehamehas from each hand. The first one starts to explode, making the dome, when the second hits and sets off the whole damn package.