Chapter 6

Author: I hope, for any of you who reviewed or read my original one-shot of this story, that you did not forget about it. I am only working on the background at this point. If anyone would like for me to post the original, I might do that on my profile if you want.

Now, on to the greatest villain of the show.

The clouds overhead hung above them like wraiths, smothering their sky and blackening it out until every shred of light was torn, piece by piece, killed away. There was no wind, like there was no hope. The two young children who barely made the beginner's shinobi rank a few months ago and had gone on a few errand missions with their new jonin instructors had not even the smallest kindling's worth of comprehension of their current predicament.

Ino's heart rocked her chest back and forth, enticing a shudder deep from the small of her back to her shoulders. He was looking directly at Naruto, and Naruto just kept glaring back at him. Can't he feel that killing intent? I can barely… I can't breathe… I can't… I can't breathe…

"I can't breathe…" She coughed; she wrenched what little air she could out of her lungs to vibrate her vocal chords. A muffled boom of thunder sounded far off in the distance. The rain had yet to pour, but the clouds above them were swelling up with rain.

Naruto looked at Ino and immediately pulled out a kunai and turned back to look at the man with golden eyes and sharp, predatory slits for pupils. Without any hesitation he struck with an upward swing at the pale throat of the dark haired man. To his dismay, his attack was sidestepped, and when Naruto tried again, he was shocked to see that his kunai was caught with a lazy hand and his middle and ring fingers pinched together over the flat of the blade. Naruto pulled to get away from the snake's grip, but felt it impossible as suddenly his whole arm felt as if it were constricted. He looked down and saw the white snake he noticed before they reached the training ground had wrapped itself around his arm and coiled to bring him in closer.

In a frighteningly swift motion, the pale faced man pulled Naruto's arm in, twisted his own arm inwards and shifted his elbow up and over until he was easily leading Naruto around with his arm caught under his armpit and his right shoulder pressed into the boy's chest as he grinned with his head turned enough so that the boy could see one of his eyes as he sneered at him. The man handled him such ease that Naruto felt particularly helpless, like if he were a rabbit with a broken leg and the snake was coiling around it after picking him off from its hiding place.

"You're a little too eager, aren't you?" He asked; amusement etched itself clearly on his terribly beautiful face. There was a real snake hiss coming from underneath his arm as the pale snake slithered its way off of the boy's arm and into the sleeve of the Sannin.

Naruto winced at the pain of the pressure being forced on the wrong side of his arm to overextend it, but his glare never faltered. His grip on Ino tightened even as she squirmed, and his own killing intent had caused Ino's lungs to suddenly expand as oxygen rushed in.

"I wonder how long that look on your face would stay if I were to take you along with me. I know of many ways to make even a savage interrogator scream and beg for me to end him… like that Morino Ibiki-kun you see from time to time. It's been eons since I've spoken with that little hatchling."

Ino's eyes widened slightly. Naruto is being targeted? She glanced at him and questioned over and over why a young kid like him would be the target of a scary shinobi like the white-faced man. After having gotten a clearer look at him, she suddenly realized why she had that nagging suspicion that she had seen him or a picture of him from somewhere. He was the legendary Orochimaru, the Sandaime Hokage's pupil along with two others who were later known as the Sannin. Ino knew that much. Her high grades in class probably weren't the reason why she recalled that particular memory of him, but she did pay the best attention in class when not fawning over her fleeting love interests.

The man standing before them was elegant but deadly like a well-derived poison; one made of the fangs of a wretched reptile that could not choose whether to inject its venom. Without fail, this person was one who struck to kill, never incapacitate or subdue. His distinction was not only in the difference of his skin or his serpentine eyes, it also carried into his sense of style and the way he carried himself. The first thing that she noticed after coming down from the constricting high of the murderous killing intent was his prolific style of kimono. It was copper red with orange-golds and designed with bloody red pomegranate fruit stitched meticulously with the shapes of golden, yellow and brown leaves falling around the forbidden fruit on his chest and sleeves. The stark contrast of his skin on the copper red and the fact that he wore the kimono so loosely made him look like he was from another world, a world much more dangerous than theirs.

Suddenly, Orochimaru let the boy go and Naruto shook his arm to regain feeling in it as the pain subsided. Continuing from where their conversation left off, Naruto clenched his fist tighter around the kunai and cleared his throat.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked, looking up at the Sannin with narrowed eyes.

The Sannin chuckled. "You're an interesting little bargaining chip, Naruto-kun; one that could very well birth some very important conflicts for me." When Naruto made a face, Orochimaru chuckled. He spoke to him in a very hushed and focused voice, his eyes peering deep into him like they had fangs of their own that could protrude and attack from their epicenters. "Confused? You're the Yondaime's son. Konoha is my enemy. Konoha has very old, very bitter enemies; many far more ancient and sourer than I."

"I'm not the Yondaime's son." Naruto scowled, unsettled by the implementations.

He sneered, and the look of scorn did not go unnoticed, because the strangest thing about it was that he didn't seem to be directing it at Naruto. "And indubitably they took the pleasure of informing you as much. You'd think this was Suna, with all of the puppets clunking about, dragging their indolent heels and waving their hollow arms at the flick of his strings."

Ino spoke up, "Are you saying that Naruto's… the Yondaime's heir?"

Orochimaru's smirk screwed taut and he seemed to cackle as he spoke, "Not only that, my porcelain doll, but he came, frankly, from the man's sack."

Disgusted, Ino made a face at his blunt way of words.

Orochimaru twirled the umbrella back and forth in between his index and middle finger, leaning back slightly to gaze up as the first drops of rain came.

"I believe it is time for me to leave. I can't force you to come with me, Naruto-kun." said the snake Sannin, his tongue slithering out past his deathly pale lips.

Ino found this hard to believe. Neither one of them stood a chance of getting away at this point; she knew this. He would have his way, whether it be to leave them here (likely dead), or take them along with him for whatever he had planned for them.

"So then leave." Naruto offered, rudely.

The pale man's lips curved just the slightest bit. "No, it won't be that simple, Naruto-kun. I can't force you to come. But let's say I tell you that she has a very pretty face." He smiled and leaned in close, his teeth showing as his voice seemed to take on a different tone. "What would you tell me if I said I really liked her face? What if I were to tell you that I would like for her to come with me? What would you say to that?"

Ino shook. She wasn't sure what at first, but it must have been her whole body recoiling to the very idea of him finding her appealing, even more so to his idea about her tagging along with him. Hell no!

But she wondered why he was using her as bait. He can't possibly think Naruto would-

"I'll come instead of her, is that enough?"

Ino's head snapped over to look at Naruto, her eyes so wet it almost hurt. The fear the man had instilled within her had been sufficient enough to rock the weak foundation of the 'tough girl' facade that she once carried around with her. Naruto's own serious tone caused her to reel. You don't know what you're doing, Naruto. He won't stop once he has you. I'll die before you leave here.

"It's sufficient." Orochimaru seemed to loom over them suddenly, drawing near on them as if he were going to spring upon them.

"One condition." Naruto quickly interjected.

The snake Sannin recoiled back, tilting his head slightly and smiling in amusement. "Oh?"

"You allow me to walk her home. I'm sure there's a way for you to make sure that I can't hide from you and she only lives five minutes from here. She's still near the edge of the village so I won't be able to do much from there. And don't try and trick me by saying that you don't know where she lives, because I know you do."

Chuckling, Orochimaru tilted his head the other way, his long black hair shifting soundlessly to the side like a silk curtain. "I suppose there's no harm in that; however, I'll require some collateral."

Naruto glared. "Well, I don't have anything to give you."

The smirk on Orochimaru's face showed him that he begged to differ. "The scroll... there on your back," he said, pointing a long, slender finger at the boy's shoulders, "The Hokage scroll will be your collateral."

He grimaced, but despite Ino and her protests, for she had long ago learned of the scroll and what it contains through the academy, the blond boy conceded. He plucked away the strap and handed the tall man the scroll before standing up and pulling Ino to her feet. Orochimaru's hands grasped the scroll and he lifted it with ease, pulling it to his side as he held it underneath his arm.

The two young shinobi shared a look before Naruto took Ino's hand and began to lead her away.

"I will keep an eye on you. If you dare try and walk towards the Hokage's tower, I will know. If you try and let anyone know that I am here, I will know. Do not pretend to make a fool out of me. You will lose more than your life if you betray your word." With this, Orochimaru's glance came upon the young blonde girl who turned to look just as he spoke.

Naruto stopped and turned around, stepping back toward the Sannin as he offered a serious look that impressed the older man. His dark blue eyes shimmered like blue amber reflecting the light of the sun as he spoke the truth that did not need to be spoken. "I'll never turn on my word. Ever."

Orochimaru watched them as they continued walking hand in hand. Ino's legs were barely keeping her going as Naruto pulled on her hand. She had her entire arm extended by the time they got only ten meters away from the spot where they had met Orochimaru on training ground four.

A single question repeated itself within Ino's skull as she tried to wrap her head around what had just occurred.

Did Naruto just sell his soul to the shinigami?

As they walked, Ino tried to think of a reason why he acted that way. Why he just went along with the Sannin when his eyes spoke everything that his words couldn't possibly convey. He was angry. He wanted nothing more than to squeeze the pale man's throat and tear out his esophagus. His cheeks were red from some bitter emotion deep inside of him. Naruto was probably the only shinobi in her class, Ino realized, that had become a man when the shinobi headband was passed down to him.

Their walk wasn't long enough. When he stopped at the front of her residence, which was close by the Yamanaka flower shop, Naruto finally let go of her hand. She looked down at hers as the warmth and strength she felt resonating from him disappeared. "Naruto… can't we tell someone?"

He didn't answer. His eyes avoided hers as she sought him out.

"Can't we do anything?"

Naruto frowned. "Ino, there's nothing… it has to be this way. You can tell your father what happened after you see me leave. I'm sure it won't take us long to leave the village."

Her hands were shaking. She reached out and grabbed a hold of his face, forcing him to face her. "You can't do this to me. I feel like the only reason why I'm alive is because you're sacrificing yourself for me."

Naruto smiled. "I'm not. Truthfully, I'm doing this because I think this is what a Hokage would do. I always wanted to be like Oji-san."

Tears fell from her eyes. "You're a baka! Baka! Baka!"

His smile reached his eyes when she screeched at him and he reached up and set his palms down on her shoulders, holding them reassuringly as he leaned in and whispered to her. "You know… there're worse things I could do than giving up everything… for you." Their eyes met. Their lips were so close.

Suddenly, those four years of being quiet about his crush together with the dire situation that was presented before him took their toll and Naruto leaned in to press himself into her lips. They melted into one another for the briefest of moments, locked together in bliss even though neither one of them knew how to kiss and it was a sloppy, messy affair. He wished he had acted earlier; cursing himself for his stupidity and lack of a spine, his biggest regret was that when he turned around to leave he would never find out if he was a lousy kisser.

"Naruto… you baka." She said, breathlessly. Their bodies leaning on one another, Ino gripped the hem of his shirt as she stared down at his chest. They were just kids, only eleven and nine, Naruto and Ino respectively, but they knew they would never see each other again.

"I'm leaving, Ino-chan."

"Yeah… hey, Naruto-kun?" Ino mumbled, barely above her breath.

"Yeah?"

"Shintenshin no Jutsu."

Naruto's body stiffened and his eyes clamped down shut. When his eyes opened up again, Ino was in control. She saw and felt her own body slump and lean against his chest. She quickly eased her hands underneath her knees and carried herself bridal style into her home. When she opened the door, she checked briefly to see if her parents were in, then walked in and set herself down on the couch. She wouldn't leave a note. It would be in his handwriting and she couldn't risk anyone thinking that Naruto had done anything to her.

She felt a pang of hunger that came from her body so she walked into her kitchen. She grabbed a lunch from the fridge and ate as much of it as she could, and chugged down a few glasses of water before walking out the door. She didn't know how he could function on so much hunger. It was worse than any of the diets she put herself through.

She stepped through the house and head out the front door, grateful that her parents weren't home.

When the door closed behind her, she saw a slight glimmer coming from the brush far away. She swallowed and took a deep breath, then walked directly into the darkness and the golden eyes stalking within it.

As Sasuke was standing just outside of the Uchiha complex, thinking deeply underneath the awning of an abandoned Konoha Military Police building, he was surprised to see Naruto, always dressed in orange, walking alongside a tall figure in black and holding an umbrella in the heavy rain who draped a hand over his left shoulder. What shocked him even more, was that the larger man was holding the Hokage scroll of sealing that Naruto had carried for the past couple of years, and they were heading straight to the village wall that once seemed to protect them from the outside world. Sasuke started running toward the two, wondering where Naruto was being lead away to, when he came upon the large erected wall just as a hidden door started to slide back into place. Jamming one of his fuuma shuriken into the doorway long enough for him to crouch down underneath the gap and slide in, Sasuke trailed after them, wondering where this passageway lead, and why his old friend was walking with such a conspicuous character.

tbc

Added something at the end just before the tbc, so refresh your screens.

What will happen next? How long can Ino masquerade as Naruto, and why would she want to in the first place? And what was Sasuke thinking about, and how will he help his friend?

Anyone fancy to guess? ;)

Luv

Mos