"What is it now, Gai?" Kakashi asked his 'rival' when he had arrived at the Training Field. Konoha's 'Green Beast' was doing push-ups feverishly as he arrived.

"Ah, Kakashi!" Gai flipped up to his feet and flashed one of his trademark toothy grins, "I'm glad you came! It's time for another contest between you and me, my Eternal Rival!"

Kakashi's expression grew even more stoic, though it would seem that was impossible, "Does it have to be now, Gai? I've had kind of a long week…"

"And what better way to relieve your stress than a little hot-blooded competition?"

"Uh, no offense, but that's kind of not what I had in mind for relaxing."

Suddenly, Kakashi's eye shot to the side, his pose stiffening.

"What's wrong?" Gai asked, aware of his friend's discomfort.

"We have a visitor…" Kakashi replied coolly, his eyes still fixated on the area of forest he had looked to.

"My, my… Aren't we as alert as ever? Things never change, do they Kakashi?" A figure stepped out of the shadows, a tight smirk pulled across their lips.

Gai's eyes widened, "Orochimaru!!!"

Kakashi whipped out a kunai from his pouch swiftly, staring down Orochimaru with the iciest glare he could muster, "What do you want?" He spat venomously.

"You're certainly quick to the point, aren't you?" Orochimaru chuckled, a curved smile spreading across his face. He put a hand to his chin.

"Are you after Sasuke again?" Kakashi asked, gripping his kunai tighter.

The last time he encountered Orochimaru, Kakashi had just finished sealing Sasuke's curse mark. Like an idiot, he tried to face him by himself, and if Orochimaru was serious, Kakashi knew he would have been killed. He quickly eyed Gai. They would have some more of a chance if there were two of them.

But still, the fact he just appeared out of nowhere was odd… And why in front of them?

"Perhaps," Orochimaru chuckled, like Kakashi had asked him some sort of trick question, "But he's seeming more and more of a troublesome thing to get a hold of… Isn't he?" His eyes flashed up to meet the two Jounin, who immediately tensed up.

"I don't like this…" Kakashi thought uneasily, a bead of sweat rolling down his face.

"You should escape while you can," Gai sneered, "Security around here has been especially tight lately. We'll catch you."

Orochimaru chuckled again, "Will you now? Then I guess I'd better hurry… You see, since Sasuke is becoming rather difficult to get a hold of, I've generated a 'Plan B' of sorts, to use just in case he didn't quite work out."

"Plan B?" Kakashi repeated in almost a whisper.

"That's right," Orochimaru's crooked smile grew even more, "For another one I've had my eyes on for some time…"

…………………………………………………………..

"Man, I can't believe Sensei still won't teach me that jutsu…" Naruto mumbled as he walked down one of the many streets of Konoha with his teammates.

"Will you please stop whining about that?" Sakura moaned, "Jeez, you haven't stopped all day! Kakashi sensei probably has a very good reason why he doesn't teach you Chidori, okay?? So stop being so stupid about it!"

Naruto crossed his arms, "He's just avoiding it if you ask me."

"And if you keep on pestering him about it, what do think he'll keep saying?" Sasuke huffed, "Pfft. Loser…"

"Oh, stop acting so cool, Sasuke! You jerk!" Naruto yelled.

"Hmph, whatever," Sasuke turned the other way, when suddenly a pierce and throbbing pain shot to his neck, "?!" He quickly grabbed his neck and squeezed his eyes shut, suppressing a cry.

"Sasuke…!?" Sakura was the first to notice, and the first to become afraid when she remembered his curse mark. She was by his side in a moment.

"Sasuke??" Naruto's eyes widened. He had no knowledge of his friend's injury, though he was still as equally concerned as Sakura. A cold wind whipped past his face, and he looked behind him in apprehension.

"W-What's this feeling…?" He thought anxiously, staring back behind him, "It's almost like…. Death…."

Sasuke's thoughts swam wildly in his mind as Sakura tried to soothe him by talking to him, "There's no doubt about it… He's here. But why?? What does he want?"

Author's Note:

Ooh, sorry about making this chapter short too guys, but I wanted to end on a cliffhanger so you guys didn't know who Orochimaru was talking about yet!

Hope you're all enjoying it still and I hope the plot progressed to your likings with this one!

I hope to make the upcoming chapters longer with more detail, but this is a work in progress, so bear with me!

Read n' Review!