Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach. I do not own Naruto or Bleach. I do not own Naruto or Bleach. There, three times. Do I get a good noodle star now?

xXx

( Seven hours ago: Orochimaru Base #83 )

Frogs, snakes, and snails and/or slugs were popular summons, each animal appealing to a different type of shinobi. If one is looking for a sense of stability and serenity, snails or slugs is the best way to go. Then again, if one is more sinister than the average being, an intimidating creature like the snake would be more compatible. Frogs, on the other hand, were quite a good option for shinobi always looking to the future, the Fourth Hokage being the best example of that. When it came time to choose his summons and sign a contract for life, Kyomu wasn't at all very sure which one best suited him.

Kyomu was a combination of all the animals, really. He was ambitious, sinister, and stable in the right mind. Yet there was also something else eerily prominent in his personality that made it utterly impossible to choose; his easy-going nature and impressionable attitude. Kyomu was just a meager medic nin with a taste for science when Kabuto found him. He liked to dabble in the arts, and train to protect.

Oh, how the wolves remember the moment Kyomu and Kabuto first met. Their true leader, Kabuto, had been watching the poor fellow for weeks, trying to determine whether or not he would be a good companion. Once decided, he made it very clear who the wolves would soon belong to… Needless to say, the wolves were unimpressed by Kyomu and not too happy about being signed off to him. They much preferred Kabuto over Kyomu, but had no choice.

The scandalous animals had to admit, however, that Kyomu was a good fit for wolves. That man was so easy to control, that he almost needed someone to give him instruction. He was incapable of taking his own orders, and had literally no imagination. The wolves proved to be good partners. Under Kabuto's puppet-master lead, they could whisper things to Kyomu like they were voices inside of his head. In this twisted relationship, the wolves were the master, but Kabuto was the ringleader.

Even so, it was a boring life with Kyomu. The only excitement the wolves had in those dreadful few weeks was their encounter with the outsider shinobi and his pink-haired companion. Those two put up a good fight, and caught the wolves off guard. But they weren't about to let those two get the best of their pack. Oh no, the wolves thirsted for revenge and the blood of the shinobi who killed one of their brothers only hours prior.

They were always out scouting, and were keen to notice when shinobi from the same village as the pink kunoichi came too close to the base. Uncritically they attacked, and lost the life of one of their own. Suddenly they were out for blood, and had no honor for the rules that governed their life with Kabuto and Kyomu. For the first time since they were first taken from their nomadic lifestyles, they rebelled and ignored Kabuto. Overthrowing the ringleader was easy, considering he was never there.

Like his conscience, they whispered ideas into Kyomu's mind. Ideas, suggestions, you name it, they said it. Before they knew it, Kyomu was considering taking the invaders into custody himself, without Kabuto's consent. That was precisely what he did. Shadow clones and all, Kyomu needed no help from his furry companions when it came to capturing the Konoha shinobi.

Quite braggingly, the wolves currently strolled outside one of Kyomu's operating rooms, where he conducted various experiments on not only himself, but the village people Kabuto would sometimes arrive with. Past the door and the dead bodies of experimentation gone wrong, the animals' beady eyes could spot Kyomu pacing in front of four tied-up individuals, sitting against the wall.

"Tell me what I need to know!" Kyomu barked, leaning in close to their faces. Though even he knew, like the wolves did, that he would get no answer. The four had already been inflicted enough with Kyomu's bi-polar methods of torture that talking must have been a chore, let alone revealing who it was he was looking for.

The wolves kept their eyes on the group's leader, a black-haired boy who didn't seem to say much. Rather than pleading, he remained quiet. It was almost haunting, especially since the wolves' saw his special jutsu firsthand. In the middle of torture he'd cleverly distracted Kyomu from the shadows creeping up his spine, prepared to ring his skinny neck. Despite how much the wolves would have been pleased to see Kyomu die, they needed him. Or at least their Alpha convinced them they needed him.

Now securely tied up and drugged, the one called "Shikamaru" would no longer be a problem, and the slightly smaller wolf pack was left to return to their duties and guard the base. The Alpha was just about to turn out of sight from the room when Kyomu's heavy footsteps followed them. His ears perked, and the leader wolf swiveled around to look.

"Something's wrong!" Kyomu breathed, breathing hard from anxiety. "Something outside doesn't feel right! It doesn't feel right!" Kyomu mumbled, taking one hand and exasperatedly leaning against the wall.

"Do you think they sent reinforcements?" The Alpha questioned, catching the attention of his pack. All eyes were on Kyomu.

He gulped once, even twice before he could speak again. "…yes, I do." The man, being his crazy self, suddenly straightened up. He put his hands behind his back, the color returning to his face. He seemed calm, but was deep in his thoughts before he finally said,

"Continue with your regular duties…I've got a plan."

xXx

( Traveling: with the rescue team )

Known fact: Naruto did not like Ichigo, and the feeling was mutual. Ichigo thought that he could control their bickering on the way to the base, but he was wrong. It was hard not to fight or compete with Naruto. Something about that shinobi made it hard; he was always critiquing Ichigo, basically asking to be kicked in the crotch again. Ichigo wasted no time mentioning that to him, sticking out his foot slightly. Indeed, it was not an empty threat. Even then it didn't solve the problem. After staying silent for a few minutes, probably analyzing Ichigo's threat and its consequences, he began to talk again. Calmly, sure, but only to the rest of the team. When it came to Ichigo, his voice was filled with malice.

Ichigo swore he saw Naruto's eyes glow red. Even though for a brief second, he was absolutely positive he saw it: a change in color, and even pupil shape. Creepy. It was all the more reason for Ichigo to end their squabble right then and there with a fair dual. The shinigami came close to suggesting it, but the nature of their trip out of the village stopped him. They were there for one reason and one reason only: to save former Team Asuma and Hinata.

That, unfortunately, didn't stop Ichigo and Naruto from engaging in a little "friendly" competition. The two constantly pushed the group forward by racing each other, seeing who could go faster and slow down on command. It was a bumpy ride there, and Sakura simply wasn't in the mood to stop them. Kiba and Akamaru, however, felt compelled to say something. A short stop and a heavy argument between the three temporarily silenced the duo's rebellious attitudes.

Sakura, even in all her denial, saw Naruto and Sasuke every time she looked at the two of them. The relationship they had was painstakingly similar in every way, from the competition to who Sakura had feelings for. Thoughts from all sides of the spectrum were seemingly shattered when the team's ears finally picked up on the argument Naruto and Ichigo were having.

"Hah! That hair, that sword, there's no way that could be real! You're just trying to compensate for something." Naruto prodded on, hushed, the word "something" possibly referring to genital size. It was that or nothing, Sakura couldn't help but think.

Ichigo was appalled. "You're one to talk." He barked back, once again using the same threat he had ten times already. "Don't forget, we still have unfinished business from Iron Land."

"It's the Land of Iron, stupid. Saying it that way just sounds wrong." Naruto corrected. That point, their argument hit its intellectual peak, gradually falling with every word they said.

"Oh yeah? Well, you're wrong."

"No, you are!"

"Shut up, Blondie!"

"Make me, Strawberry!"

Sakura had to admit, she was amused. As were Kiba and Shino. Ichigo, however, was not. He could live with all the hair jokes and competition, but what he could not live with was that one nickname he heard so many times before. His name did not reference a strawberry, and he would be damned if that was what everyone thought.

However, with the intellectual composition of their argument drowning in their incompetence, getting straight words out to explain the meaning of his name was impossible. Ichigo full-on stopped the group for a minute and tackled Naruto, and considering they were running through the tree tops, it was a hard fall down to the soil.

Half-way through the air Naruto turned their bodies around so that they landed on Ichigo's back. Needless to say, it hurt. Using Ichigo's body as a cushion, Naruto rolled off of the pained teen. After gathering themselves, the two came inches close to strangling each other when Shino's bugs saved the day, forming a hard wall between them. Sakura bounded to the ground towards them.

"WHAT is your PROBLEM?" She spat, her face red with smoke coming out of her ears. "We're on an incredibly important mission, and rather than saving lives, you two want to roll around in the dirt and prove who's manlier? If we weren't on a tight schedule I would strangle you both myself!" The kunoichi's eyes squeezed shut as she tried to bite back her anger, even then that didn't work.

She ran right up to a tree and smashed her fist into it. The power of her strike left a deep indent on the wood, nearly cutting through. "Damnit! Damn! God damnit!" She screamed into the trees, standing hunched over with her back facing the others. Ichigo and Naruto relaxed at the sight of this, Shino's bugs creeping back up his sleeve. Akamaru whimpered at Sakura's mixed feelings. Unlike the rest of them, the dog could hear her tears hit the ground.

Her legs shook, giving way to her body weight as she fell to her knees. "They need us right now, they need us to save them! It's like you two don't care that they could be dead right now, that this whole mission is pointless!" The sheer strength of her voice bounced off the trees and right to Ichigo and Naruto, making the point crystal clear.

Their immature acts were finally taking a toll on the team, delaying them from saving their friends. Naruto, who knew the victims closely, knew well what he'd done wrong. His hatred and jealousy for Ichigo had put him on a meaningless chase to feel worthy, and he'd forgotten about what made him such a great ninja, the village hero; it was his friends that made him great, and at that very moment he felt bad. Naruto, a sage, a warrior, a friend, didn't feel great anymore.

Ichigo tried to take a step towards Sakura, but when he reached a hand out to offer her comfort she violently slapped it away, leaving a red mark on his skin. "Don't! Just, don't. I knew it was a mistake to put you on this mission. I knew you couldn't rise up to the challenge." Sakura stood up from the ground, slowly turning towards him. Much like she had when they first met, she poked a finger at his chest. "You know, for all your supposed power, you are unreasonable and weak, and stubborn and foolish, and, and…" She took her hand back to wipe under her eyes, looking over to Naruto and back, "…and the two of you are so obviously similar it's sickening."

Sakura crossed her arms and looking around to her team. They were all expecting her to act responsible here and make the right choice, Ichigo and Naruto included. Biting her lip, she made a quick and unemotional decision. "We're not too far away from Konoha right now…it's a reasonable walk back…" Her eyes turned cold as she looked straight at Ichigo.

"I'm taking you off this mission, Ichigo. I need you to walk home." She said briskly, before returning to her old self and continuing, "The rest of us will continue on."

Ichigo looked shocked. Despite the fact it was a perfect time to be smug, Naruto was a little disappointed. With Ichigo gone, they would be one man short. One less person to help.

"You heard me," Sakura told the shinigami, wringing her hands together behind her back, "this isn't about you, or me, or us. This is about my friends, people you hardly know and are endangering by being on this mission. The longer we talk about this, the more likely they could be killed." She walked towards the others, herding them away by waving her arms. Over her shoulder, she gave an apologetic smile.

"So goodbye, Ichigo."

xXx

Sakura was harsh, but neither Shino nor Kiba felt sorry for Ichigo. He shouldn't have tackled Naruto and delay the whole mission back. It was a foolish mistake that they, as a team, couldn't afford to let happen again. Yet their opinions were bias. They knew Naruto, they were friends with Naruto. Whereas they hardly knew Ichigo well enough to even call him a comrade. In their minds, it was safer for their friends if they let him go. Quickly returning into formation, the group sped as far away as they could, never once looking back to Ichigo.

Well, one person did look back to Ichigo. It wasn't the shinobi one would imagine. Naruto, who usually felt such a strong dislike for the shinigami, couldn't help but feel like they were walking into a battle without their shuriken. Ichigo was their secret weapon, their ace in the whole. Nobody but them knew about Ichigo or what he was, and the simple revelation of his power and status could provide some much needed distraction. Not to mention that it was Naruto's fault Ichigo was dropped from the mission in the first place.

Or at least he felt like it was his doing. Naruto knew he was at fault there, too, and if anyone should have had to go, it should have been him. All those names he'd called Ichigo were wrong, and he wished he could have kept quiet until after they had saved Hinata and the others. It was impossible to keep his dislike locked up forever, but it was possible to keep it held tight until the time was right. Naruto had chosen badly, the time was anything but right to release his feelings.

The Jinchuriki wanted to hit himself, multiple times, for his stupid behavior. If not for Ichigo's sake, he should have kept it under control for Sakura's sake; or better yet, the sake of his captured friends!

That was all in the past now, and Naruto needed to focus. They all did. Thus Shino and Kiba put aside their bias opinions, Naruto his self-loathing, and Sakura her guilt and instead thought of their friends and the situation they were in. Disagreements and worry aside, they were walking towards a highly dangerous base with a purpose. Within moments their expressions went stone cold as they zeroed in on their goal: a successful mission without any casualties.

Yet that goal seemed increasingly unlikely by the second.

They came across a large clearing, more like a field of flowers in the middle of all the tall trees. In the center was a medium-sized well, completely innocent in looks but suspicious in theory. Nonetheless, the group would have passed right by it if it hadn't been for Akamaru, who smelled something abnormal and led the group in the general direction. At first, their instinct was to stop and rest there. The space was vast, and there were a few rocks to sit against. However, Akamaru appeared to be on edge. His whole body was tense, and his paws came down on the ground carefully when he treaded. Obviously, something about the clearing and the well was off.

The group centered around the well, Sakura taking one gloved hand and tracing the stone. "This is an odd place to put a well," she mumbled, running her hands along the edge. It was especially odd considering the well had no roof, or anything to keep rainwater out of it. Inside the well was water, sloshing like it usually did. It was a murky liquid, and Sakura couldn't see any further than a foot into the well.

Kiba came to her side and examined the well. "Yeah, and there's not a town anywhere near here." He told her. One look at her and he knew he was thinking the same thing. He resting his body on the edge and leaned forward, using one hand to hazardously reach into the well. When his fingers came close to the water, Sakura started to bite her lip nervously. Usually in horror movies, this was the point where something reached up and pulled the unknowing person into the well.

Luckily, nothing scary happened, but something defiantly did happen. The moment Kiba stuck his fingers under the water, its surface became fuzzy like bad reception on a television. The picture shook, mixing its colors together like pixels for a brief second before returning back to normal.

"It's henge!" Kiba exclaimed, eyes shooting up to look at Sakura and Shino. By now Shino had taken interest in the well and approached, Akamaru circling behind him nervously. Though the group was not so invested in the well that Akamaru's nervous senses didn't appeal to them, nor did they seem to notice it. Instead, Kiba felt the walls of the well again. "If the water's henge, but the well is real…what could that mean?"

Sakura pondered the thought, putting both hands on her hips. As hard as she tried, she could only think of one reason. At first she doubted it, but the longer she thought of it, the more evident it became. The clearing was too silent, and taking closer examination on the place, she saw the same flickering persona of the water in the rocks and flowers of the clearing. Her eyes widened in shock, as she took let another look at the well. "Let me feel that again…" She mumbled, reaching forward. She reached back inside and through the water, arching her back to force more of her arm in. Until finally her fingers hit bottom, about at the same level as the ground they stood on.

"Shit." She cursed, looking to them nervously. This time she took a glance at Akamaru, really focusing. "I can't believe we didn't see this before!" She felt stupid, and wasteful. All this time spent with the well and the clearing was another moment their friends could be killed or were already dead, another moment spent looking at that well was another moment trapped in a Genjutsu!

Sakura put her hands together, followed by the others. All three of them, at the same time, murmured "Release" with their eyes pressed close. Sakura was not looking forward to opening her eyes and seeing where they were really standing.

Indeed it was a clearing, but it was a clearing for a specific reasons. It wasn't a vast space of flowers, rocks, and lovely trees, it was a vast space of burnt down buildings and rubble piles. All around them, somewhere they had stumbled into a Genjutsu meant to hide the truth from travelers, and make them see a more pleasant image. The real thing, however, was anything but pleasant. Far in the distance Sakura could see two foot sticking out beneath a heavy pile of rubble. She felt her breath catch.

"Oh fu-" Kiba murmured, the general depression in the area drowning out his curses. Akamaru could see it all this time, the destruction and death all around them. In front of them was the well, but its whole appearance had changed. The stones were chipped, and parts of it were broken through, various stones missing.

"This is beyond destroyed." Shino added on, turning to look behind them. They were standing right in the center of the chaos. As far as his eyes could see there was nothing but freshly burning buildings, bodies, rubble, and smoke. The sky above the area was a greasy tan color from all the dirty smoke.

Sakura suddenly felt very sorry for their friends. "Do you think…?" She paused, but Shino and Kiba's encouraging faces told her to go on. "Do you think they were a part of this? That they had to watch this happen?"

Thankfully, Shino shook his head. "I don't think so. It's too silent and empty to be recent. Somebody took their time destroying this place, killing these people." At that moment, that was perhaps the most Shino had ever said in one go. Though it didn't matter. Nobody cared. They were all caught up in the depressing sights before them.

Without warning Akamaru jumped to face the East, growling wildly. Kiba pursed his lips, and when the others looked to him for information, he began to sniff at the air. No more than two sniffs through did he find something shocking, something dangerous. Knees bent, with his kunai whipped out and ready, he looked in the exact same direction as Akamaru did. One glance over to his comrades told them to prepare themselves.

"We've got some guests…" Kiba said, and indeed, they did.

Nearly a whole house's length away there was a single building, charred beyond recognition. Nonetheless it still stood upright, and through its unhinged door crawled the shadow of a person, several people. Or rather, they weren't people. Once they crawled out of the shadows of the building, the fur and the fangs became evident. Wolves, and there were many more than Sakura had encountered with Ichigo.

"How much you wanna bet that building is the entrance to the base, and Orochimaru burned down this whole village just to camp out?" He asked amusingly, smiling at the prospect of a good fight.

Sakura shrugged, also getting ready. "I don't know, I just can't believe nobody has found this village yet, the Genjutsu was kind of weak." She mumbled, hands grasping her own kunai tightly. Akamaru growled at her comment in some sort of agreement, pawing at the ground in front of him. Yet he paused, one paw down and the other in the air. At the same moment that Akamaru froze, the wolves in front of them did to, all gathering around the front of the building. They were looking past the group, like there was something behind them.

"I'm glad you like my handiwork so much." A voice mentioned from behind.

The team quickly turned and went on the offensive. Whatever kunai (or in Shino's case, bugs) they had in their hands they directed right towards the man standing in the center of the empty well. He was a strange looking fellow, with a long white lab coat and black hair that stood up in spikes at every angle. Yet his eyes were gray, as if they were empty and hollow. He had long green rubber gloves on, almost like a surgeon. Except at the sides facing away from his body on the gloves were spikes; sharp spikes. He simply raised one gloved hand to the weapons and they suddenly vanished, materializing before the team's very eyes.

"I'm afraid I don't have much time for visitors…sorry." He smiled at his "guests" before looking to the wolves on the other side of them. "Alpha, take care of these kids however the hell you want. There's business I've got to ate-"

"Where are our friends?" Naruto shouted, bounding forward to grab the man and pull him forward, but as soon as his hands felt like they were going to make contact, the man disappeared exactly how their weapons had, leaving the well empty once again. Naruto cursed, quickly turning over to the wolves that were now picking up pace and trying to circle around the well. He glanced to Sakura, "so what do you suppose we do?"

She was surprisingly quick with her decision. "We only have so much time before that man kills our friends. We can't all stay here… Shino and I will stay here, me because I have experience with the wolves."

Naruto coughed. "Are you serious? There's like, fifty of them!"

The kunoichi grinned, "They have a weak point, which is coincidentally their blind spot. They can't see to their sides." She told him, shrugging nonchalantly, and adding, "Like most dogs."

Kiba looked to the building. "So I take it you're going to distract the majority of them for me and Naruto to get into the building?" When Sakura gave a brief nod he bobbed his head back, running right over to Akamaru and jumping on his back. He looked over to Naruto. "Get on, Naruto. Akamaru's gonna led the way."

Despite their tight situation, a large grin grew on the Jinchuriki's face. He contemplated the idea of riding a dog, and how "totally awesome" it would be, but in the end decided against it. He didn't want to rely on Akamaru, nor did he want to hurt the animal. "It's okay, just cover me and I'll come up behind you."

The wolves, now getting very close, seemed to start at the run. Despite the animals' cleverness, they left the building wide open for intruders. All hell broke loose at the same time, as Shino released his bugs, Sakura ran forward to her first wolf, while Naruto created two shadow clones to flank his sides and followed Akamaru's quick pace forward. The opposing forces clashed in a flurry of Jutsu, fangs, and growling. It was a mini war, but was anything but small.

xXx

Sakura and Shino could handle themselves, there was no doubt in Naruto's mind about that. Thus he didn't risk a glance back, and focused on running through the crowd of attacking wolves. With his clones he followed the clean trail Akamaru seemed to make, but just in case he had a Rasengan in both hands, running it through whatever wolves came his way. All the carnage, and the burnt fur, he got used to it after the first wolf and merely moved on. To tell the truth, there weren't that many wolves as he originally thought. Maybe about ten or eleven around the others, with a few handful being the ones he and Kiba ran through.

Once inside the building Kiba dismounted and assisted in shoving the unhinged door in the frame, which worked to a point that they didn't mind the swiss-cheese holes in the wood. If anything, it was amusing.

Naruto was the first to take a good look around. "Huh…" He murmured, walking over to what he assumed to be the main living area. He pushed around half-piles of rubble with his feet, sighing with relief when he didn't find any bodies. Those corpses outside would give him nightmares for weeks. "It's just a normal house."

Kiba snorted. "Yeah, normal in the sense it was the center of genocide, maybe. That well outside looks better than this crappy structure. But why would you want to center a base in here?" He questioned, not coming up with any answers. Akamaru left his side to sniff around, and he and Naruto followed his companion closely.

Akamaru led them down a small hallway, and right through a tatami mat room. Come to think of it, the house was bigger than the rest of them, which had to have some significance. Down another hallway they came across a very small room with literally no other purpose than to serve as a protective unit for a rug. One rug. It was ghastly and gross, charred at the edges and curling up. Nonetheless it was definitely a rug, and for some strange reason it had (for the most part) survived the chaos. It almost felt as if part-way through the destruction, someone had rolled up the rug and kept it with them until they were done, putting it right back down once they were impressed with their destructive capabilities.

"That's an odd place to put a rug." Kiba murmured, stepping in front of Akamaru to lift the rug up with his foot. Where he thought he'd find a trapdoor or loose floorboards of some sort, instead he saw nothing. In every sense of the word, there was nothing. No floor to cover up the darkness under the house. It sent a shiver up both their spines. "Bingo." Kiba murmured, turning his head to Naruto. "Now you go in first."

Naruto's eye twitched. "What? No! You go!" He responded, hesitantly glancing at the utter darkness and back again. There was simply no winning, neither Kiba nor Akamaru looked willing. He puffed out his chest and mumbled, dejectedly, "I thought dogs were supposed to see in the dark."

One of Naruto's clones stepped forward and jumped in, followed by another, and soon after Naruto himself. There were no stairs, or a ladder, so it was really like a quick freefall on the way to the bottom. All three Narutos landed on their bottoms, but glancing up through the darkness he could see the square of light where Kiba and Akamaru were, hunched over and peering through the darkness for them.

"Ya down there?" Kiba called, followed by two consecutive barks from Akamaru.

Naruto got up to his feet, put both hands on either side of his mouth, and called up, "Yeah! Just let me find some light or something!" He and his clones squinted through the darkness and expected to see nothing, but indeed saw something. About fifteen feet away there was a golden outline, shaped like a doorframe. There was light on the other side, that much they could assume. Naruto took a few steps towards it, but froze when his foot hit something squishy, as did his clones. "Gah, gross! What is that?" Naruto commented boldly, continuing on. Some of the spots were squishy, while others were firm and soft. Soon enough Kiba and Akamaru had come through the hole and were following Naruto. Once again Akamaru had taken up whimpering, but this time nobody was sure why.

"Oh, I see the light now." Kiba told them, nodding towards the door in the light. He was repulsed by the squishy sensation of the floor, but could live with it until they got to the light. They were all eager to leave the darkness, and all pushed at the door fervently and without regard for personal space. Kiba and Naruto heaved until the door finally gave way, allowing more light in as they pushed it forward.

It led to a narrow hallway just barely big enough for one Naruto and Kiba walking side-by-side. The walls looked like clay with intricate swirly patterns engraved, the same walls Naruto remembered running through when he, Sakura, and Sai came to rescue Sasuke that one time. It was lit by torches hanging on the wall, licking up towards the ceiling.

"This is definitely it." Naruto commented, taking a few steps forward to survey more area. For only a few seconds he walked, and upon realizing that neither his clones nor Kiba and Akamaru were following, he turned back. They were all around the door, looking at the sight in the dark room. The light from the hallway grew out and illuminated the contents of the room, which now they saw was more than a room. It was the typical size of a bomb shelter, or a basement, and was probably a part of the house but was added on to Orochimaru's base. (Hence the door.) However, what Naruto saw on that room was worse than he could have imagined.

"Shit… It's like a dump for…" Looking at the different shapes and sizes was hard enough, but the sheer volume of it was truly revolting. "How could they do this?" Kiba gulped, the color draining from his face. "It's a frickin' dumping ground for- for…"

Naruto clenched his jaw. "For bodies."

The Jinchuriki clutched his stomach, because now it made sense why the ground was so "squishy". They were stepping on people, deformed people. A few people here and there had scales, others were just blobs, while some remained perfectly normal. Naruto felt his ramen come back up, and he swallowed it back down for the sake of Akamaru's and Kiba's nostrils. "This is disgusting…" Naruto whispered. It looked as if Kabuto really was continuing Orochimaru's work, but the extent of it was probably all in that room; dead.

Kiba pulled at Naruto's arm. "C'mon, we're not done yet." He mumbled, leading the reduced group forward. They made the first turn into another hallway that they could, not because they knew that was the way, but because they didn't want to look behind and see that horrid sight again. They noticed that the further away they got the more they could breath again. Together they focused on finding their friends, finally putting the mass murders aside. Akamaru seemingly calmed down too, and sniffed at the air for recognizable scents.

The corridors were like a maze, a labyrinth, which was precisely how Naruto remembered it being. Without some way to track, navigating and even escaping would be impossible in the clay hell hole. The base certainly felt like hell, it was at an unbearable temperature after all.

They felt like they were walking for hours. Time was slurred together in the maze, nearly impossible to follow. Minutes could feel like days, but hours could go by in seconds. Their internal clocks were impossible to follow, every minute seemed like a different hour of the day, and if that hour was before or after current time didn't matter. One moment it could be the morning, whereas the next would feel like it was midnight. The two couldn't help but feel that there was an easier way to find their friends.

It felt like a miracle when Akamaru suddenly barked, taking heavy sniffs and speeding his pace up. Naruto felt his spirits lifts immensely as he chased after the creature. Kiba too felt weights lift from his shoulders. They would both do anything to get out of the heat, and the quicker they saved their friends, the possibility of being out in clean air again got closer and closer to reality.

Right. Left. Right. Right. They took a series of turns that eventually led to a change in style. The hallway stretched and became bigger, growing to the size of an auditorium when they finally came to the middle of it. The colors of the clay walls had changed, turning from an orangey-tan to a cold slate gray. Above them they saw a balcony, probably where Kabuto would stand as he watched experiments fight each other on the ground floor.

Once again they saw bodies, this time only a few that littered the edges of the room. "They sure don't know how to clean up after themselves, do they?" Kiba joked sadistically, averting his eyes from the deformed bodies. He'd rather not look at that one more time.

Without giving an answer, Naruto merely nodded. Something about the room didn't feel too right. The eerie feeling was in no way similar to the genjutsu they found outside, oh no, this was different. Like there was a presence, coming closer and closer to them. One that was coming straight at them, on either side of the hallways could be felt. "Cover me." Naruto suddenly asked, sitting down on the floor and crossing his legs, hands resting on his knees. The presence was big, and mere shadow clones wouldn't help. He needed to go sage for this.

Kiba didn't ask any questions, he indeed guarded Naruto. He and Akamaru, together, circled their friend. They could feel it, too, the growing hunger on either side of the hallway. Soon enough the owner of the feeling made itself known, emerging from the hallways at a rapid pace. Their paws hit the ground excitedly as they ran forward.

More wolves. Though these wolves appeared to be different than the ones outside. They were thinner, perhaps even a little smaller in general size. They seemed almost delicate, but even Naruto was not enough of a fool to know they were still quite powerful. Our good Naruto, who had finally finished absorbing natural energy, could clearly feel the power pulsing from within them.

"These wolves are stronger, Kiba. There's a lot less, but they're still stronger." Naruto informed, watching the five or six that gathered around. Akamaru growled at them, and they growled back. It was a whole gurgle of animal noises, but not loud enough to cover the sketchy footsteps that also came from both sides.

The man from before entered the auditorium-like room, pulling up his gloves securely. Only that wasn't the worst of it. In Sage Mode Naruto could clearly feel his power, his strength, and the fact he had an equally strong clone coming up on the other side. He smiled at Naruto and Kiba, a smile so fake it was almost real. "Ah, so I see you've found my base." The first one said before turning his head to look as the second one entered.

The second one bowed. "Quite a performance your friends are putting on outside. I daresay, that kunoichi sure knows how to throw a punch. She's completely butchering the ground. A few more punches, and she'll break through to the base!"

The first one rubbed his chin. "I, er, we should probably do something about that."

Number two chuckled. "Indeed we should. But first," he looked directly at Naruto and Kiba, then to Akamaru. "Quite a fine dog you have there. We might just let him live." Akamaru barked at the two angrily, backing closer to Kiba. The second was not amused. "Such a pity…"

All through their meaningless talk Naruto was looking from one to the other, trying to figure out which was the real one. The first one followed Naruto's attention with interest, and that same sickening smile grew on his face five times brighter. "Ah, so, who have you decided? Am I the real Kyomu?"

"Or am I?" The second one added.

Together in unison they spoke. "We'll tell you which one of us is real, Uzumaki Naruto, Inuzuka Kiba, but only for a price." They both crossed their hands behind their backs leisurely. "You just need to answer one simple question."

Both shinobi were put on edge by Kyomu, who apparently knew their names. This was not good, not good at all. Naruto just wanted to get to fighting, but knew he couldn't. The moment he would touch one of them, they would either disappear again or one of the wolves would get to Naruto first. They needed to fight on equal ground, Naruto needed to figure out how to stop him from disappearing. But before he started the trail and error and wasted his Sage Mode, first it seemed like he would have to play along.

Naruto clenched his jaw, a gesture becoming more like a habit now that Ichigo seemed to come into their lives. "And what question would that be?"

Both Kyomu laughed harshly, earning the chuckling of their wolf pack. They laughed so hard that they held their bellies while throwing their heads right back and exploding with laughter. In the same short span of time the amusement had started it was ended, both men turning gravely serious. Their one question was the last one Naruto would ever expect.

"Where is the shinigami?"

Where was the shinigami? Naruto knew where the shinigami was (though Kiba had no idea what they were talking about) but he just couldn't say. It seemed Naruto's earlier thoughts had been right. Ichigo would be needed in this mission, and they'd sent him packing. The shinigami was probably halfway to Konoha by then.

Crap.

xXx

A/N: I seriously bit off more than I can chew with my life, and this fanfiction. Don't worry, I'm not giving up. I love the Ichigo/Sakura pair so much I'm going to write until my hands bleed. However, Kyomu is one big pain. At first, about three months ago when I had the initial idea for his character, I had everything figured out. He would be evil, completely and totally evil with powers and prowess to be challenged. I planned to kill him off, make him just a stepping stone in the plot. However, I'm starting to like Kyomu. The more I write for him, the more I like him. He's confused, yet kind when you see the other side to him that I haven't written about yet... Even so, his powers are so confusing. I confuse myself when I try to map out the logic for how he does what he does, and why he's able to do it... *sigh*

Please forgive me if Kyomu makes no sense, and if his powers are so hard to comprehend that you lose interest in the fanfiction. You have no idea how many hours I've spent slaving over his character, trying to piece together the puzzle.

Also, thank you SO MUCH for your lovely feedback. I know there's a lot of controversy over the power imbalance in my fanfiction, and I love how y'all feel comfortable enough to discuss it with me. Criticism makes me smile, because now I know what I have to improve on. However, there is one bigger picture to the reason why shinigami are weaker, or more specifically, Ichigo. A fanfic where Ichigo starts out all powerful, and without anything to gain doesn't sound very interesting, does it? I want Ichigo to be a developing character, and if I simply started out with him oozing power this fanfiction would have become much shorter. As for why the rest of the shinigami have to suffer the power inbalance, I don't have much interest to find out. If this fic was about all of Soul Society, things might be different. I don't know...hm... Still, I appreciate the feedback in the reviews. I can't tell you how happy I was to see those reviews!

Catch you later, alligator!

~Dahlia