En the Previous ChapteR: Orochimaru let out a small wheeze as he tried desperately to cool himself off. "Haha laugh all you want. I'll have you know Im not that big a pain to deal with compared to her." Hinata began to skip ahead of him as she chuckled. "If you say so~!"

"Kabuto what information do you have about Otogakure?" Orochimaru's voice rang out as they rushed through the forest. They were approaching what was the village or at least what remained of it. Those who had remained here are still loyal to the Snake Sannin but making his presence known was out of the question.

"This place still remains to be the most abundant concentration of the curse bearers and for obvious reasons. It would seem the Mist village was a warm up for the battle that will ensue here. With your absence its undergoing a severe civil war. It seems everyone is sticking to their village of origin and are fighting it out to see who will rule over Otogakure." Kabuto looked back at the girls. "I would suggest to keep your heads low. I don't know how kindly they will take to konoha shinobi."

Both the girls nodded. Their hearts were pounding in their chest. Now time was working against them. Who knows when the massacres will start and if they had any hope of stopping them Naruto had to be found quickly as possible.

"Alright then from here on we split up into groups of two. Kabuto and I will search the east. Orochimaru and Hinata to the west. Any sign of Naruto, Sasuke or the culprit radio in before anything else. Let's go!" With that the group leapt down from the tree's and into the ground, they propelled themselves in opposite directions. In a flash Sakura grabbed a hold of her headband and pulled it off, she clutched it tightly before stuffing it into her bag. Sasuke.

Orochimaru and Hinata zigzagged through the terrain before reaching the outer wall of the village. "Let me see. The hidden entrance should be around here somewhere. It will lead us directly to the center of the village and we can comb through towards the edge again." Hinata activated her byakugan beginning to scan.

The village appeared to be heavily populated to her surprise. "There are so many chakra networks. We may also need a hawk eyes view so I can spot Naruto."

Orochimaru managed to find the hidden wall. He turned and stared at Hinata's activated byakugan. He let out a sigh and pulled on the sash around his waist. "Here. Lets use this to hide your byakugan."

Hinata smiled at him. Orochimaru walked behind her and rolled the fabric before blindfolding her. "Is it better?" Hinata turned and saw that Orochimaru had put on a disguise as well.

She blinked at the presence of a cream pigment on his normally pale skin and his normally long hair was jagged and messy. She couldn't help but giggle as she playing with a strand of her hair. She was able to see his smile through the sash and her cheeks became rosy in color.

He placed a kiss on her lips. "Not exactly my preference but as long as it keeps you safe." He made an assortment of hand signs and the passage opened. "After you."

Orochimaru lead the way quickly twisting and turning. "Stay close to me!" A stream of light was leaking through the passages and a sharp turn brought them outside. "Onto the roofs!" They both soared above and landed on a decaying rooftop.

"Ahhhh!"

"Hinata!" Orochimaru peered down the hole.

Hinata had fallen through the roof . Luckily it seemed to be deserted or unoccupied. "Im okay." She dusted herself off and rubbed the spot on her back as it throbbed in pain.

Orochimaru sighed. He waited patiently for her to compose herself and looked at the people below. Some faces he vaguely recalled. The people looked as down as when he had first met them in their solitude. It was interesting to see how his absence had impacted the majority of them. Rather lost without me aren't they? He mused to himself.

As Hinata climbed up she accepted Orochimaru's offer to help and took his hand. "T-thank you." She played with a strand of hair.

"Hmmph. Rather clumsy today aren't you? It's almost a coincidence considering we are looking for Naruto." Orochimaru chuckled lightly at his own joke.

Her eye's widened as she saw a small blur behind Orochimaru. Her face hardened, her eyes completely focused.

Orochimaru looked at her puzzled. He peered behind him curiously. "Do you see something?"

Hinata remained silent. She pushed her byakugan more scanning ahead. Let me just wait a little more. Just a little more.

Finally! There it was again. Among the webs of blue chakra systems she managed to see a fog of red. Kurama!

"There! I see Naruto!" Hinata rushed immediately, not wanting to lose him from her sight. Orochimaru quickly followed. He pressed the button on the talker. "Kabuto, Hinata has spotted Naruto-kun. Towards the shopping district."

"Bzzzr. Alright me and Sakura will head there now."

Hinata tried looking around for a signature that could be Sasuke's but to no avail. Naruto is moving funny. The way he zigzagged and seemed to leap back and forth...was he in a fight? "I think he may be in trouble." Hinata pulled out a kunai. "We better approach carefully."

"Very well." Orochimaru rushed ahead of Hinata. He continued scanning the ground as a fight was underneath them. No doubt a territory dispute. His eyes passed over and over every blonde haired shinobi underneath attempting to spot the jinjuriki with no success.

"To our left!" Hinata shouted over the commotion. Naruto had finally landed and was staying in a fixed position. There were two other figures with him. They were not directly participating in the battle and seemed to be in their own dispute. Orochimaru followed closely behind Hinata.

"Let's stay low for now." Orochimaru whispered as closely as possible to Hinata. Both of them decreased their speed and walked silently towards the building. The noise of the crowd providing them excellent cover for their footsteps.

Hinata shifted her Byakugan and could see Naruto standing beside Sasuke. A small gasp left her throat.

Orochimaru's face hardened. "S-sasuke is with him...and there's the third man. He looks just like how Aki said..." The man was wielding a sharingan. So it wasn't Sasuke after all.

Just then the man made eye contact with Hinata through the wall. It happened too quickly. The wall beside Hinata exploded, jittering her senses.

"Auugh!" Hinata clutched her ear as the power of the explosion was making her lose her balance.

Orochimaru's hand immediately shot out as he grabbed a hold of Hinata, he pressed her closely to his own body and with the other shot a serpent at the mysterious man.

"HAHAHA! I knew I would cross paths with you again, snake." The voice was deep and every syllable seemed to cause the earth to tremble.

"!?" Orochimaru's eyes widened as he was met with the red eyes of a sharingan wielder. Damn it! His mind became clouded as he tried to fight against the unwavering stare. A fog was beginning to surround him.

"Your fight...is with ME!" Sasuke emerged from the wall. Landing a clean kick on the man. They began their dance once more their swords sending sparks.

Orochimaru crumbled to the floor. His entire body was begin to break out in sweat. He clutched his head, his breathing becoming ragged from the mental exhaustion. That stare...who is this?

"Orochima-!" Hinata was about to pull Orochimaru along to pursue the other when another explosion came from their left. This time they had no luck avoiding the collision. Orochimaru shielded Hinata the best he could.

"Daah!" The group rolled and fell off the rooftop. The drop was relatively small but Orochimaru felt the true impact of the ground hitting against his back.

Hinata let out a short squeal before also coming to a landing on the Sannin. She clutched at the Sannins clothes tightly not wanting to let him go.

"DAH!" A third member landed on top of the both already. With a whip of his cloak a fully angered Naruto jumped off and clutched a kunai in his hand. "Huh? This chakra..."

"W-wait! Naruto its me! Hinata!" She scrambled up her feet, being careful not to step on Orochimaru more than she already had.

"Ehh...?H-HI-HI-HINATA?! What are you doing here?! I knew I sensed Orochimaru's chakra! The old creep has been following us since Mist but why are you here?!" Naruto stammered alarmed the blindfolded girl was Hinata.

Hinata didn't know how to respond to the statement. A part of her wanted to laugh but considering the situation. "U-uhm it;s a bit of a long story, actually...b-but we haven't exactly been following you intentionally until recently."

Orochimaru wobbled to his feet, his stomach hardened from all the blows it had received. Old creep. Of all the nicknames he gives people he couldn't adopt a new one for me too?! "I-In any case Sakura and Kabuto are on their way we have to provide support for Sasuke."

"Sakura too? Oh man." Naruto gave a quick nod and the three jumped up once more on to the rooftops. "Tch. Damn him. He's keeping his chakra too low. Come on you idiot."

Hinata's Byakugan jumped from battle to battle trying to find the raven haired shinobi. After increasing her range more she spotted them and not just the Raven haired boy. "Over there near the village walls...Sakura and Kabuto are there too!"

As they got closer and closer the fight between the four was becoming a standstill. Sasuke was bent over the ground, his chakra near depletion. Sakura's body racked violently as she tried to catch her breath but refused to allow more than a few seconds between blows. Kabuto jumped in to cover Sakura for the most part, fighting tactically to push the enemy away.

The man looked at their direction before jumping out of range from the trio and vanishing. His chakra network had vanished out of thin air.

"?!"

Orochimaru looked towards Hinata.

"He...simply vanished."

"Tch. Again?! That coward...just who is he?" Naruto growled.

"We were actually hoping you knew." Orochimaru sighed. "Vanished..." Orochimaru remained quiet.

When they arrived to meet the others, Sakura was already healing Sasuke's wounds while Kabuto was sitting down healing his own. His glasses had sustained damage and lay near him.

"Naruto! You're okay!" Sakura sighed in relief.

"Sakura! Long time no see!" Hinata looked on at Team 7 from a distance. Even though she wanted to remain bitter about Naruto's sudden disappearance she couldn't resist a warm smile to spread across her face. It was the same as when the Ten-Tails attacked. The happiness it brought to see such a close team re-united and come together was something rarely witnessed. It gave hope to the childish beliefs that things will always work out for the better.

No. That isn't true. People are fragile and can break. Neji died and now his team will forever be broken. All the people that continue to die...this isn't a time of peace at all. Behind us is a civil war the outside knows nothing about. Only the strong will live on...but Neji was strong. I was weaker then him and yet he was the one who died. Just where exactly am I?

Hinata sighed as the three began catching up, wondering about her own team. Are Kiba and Shino still my teammates?

Orochimaru sat beside Kabuto. He kept his gaze on Hinata as she stood off to the side from the trio. "He got away."

"We know who it is." Kabuto muttered. "There's no doubt about it."

Orochimaru remained quiet. "We?"

"Sasuke and I. He hasn't told Naruto anything yet. He's determined to fix the past sins of his clan. He warned me, we should not get in the way between him." Kabuto snickered. "Hahaha seems the modified body I made for him came back to haunt us. This guilt of doing wrong in the past and comes back to bite you...how can you stand it?"

A smile appeared on Orochimaru's face. "A little guilt never killed anyone. Your conscious however can." He closed his eyes fully understanding who they were up against. "It seems that life has a way to keep this world entertaining. It looks like now I have too many games in play at once." With that Orochimaru's tongue slipped licking the air.

The taste of conflict. A world in chaos and discord. The scent of a new challenge revealing itself and leading them away from the dull mundane daily life of the civilians. Otogakure is still the village where new things come about.

I meant to update yesterday but after a few hours away then looking back at it I noticed I typed this all half drunk. Im sorry if I missed a few spots. Let me know where it is too unintelligible! QAQ Stay Awesome! :'3