"Fuuton: Fuugyoku!" Naruto shouted. Fast moving and barely visible spikes of swirling vortex launched from his mouth and peppered Orochimaru. The wind darts drilled through him and all the way down into the bridge, passing through even that before dissipating as they impacted the canyon wall.

Years ago, Naruto might have acted rather exuberant, thinking he'd taken care of a foe with ease. But he had fought Orochimaru before, and he knew the power that the snake sannin possessed. It was because of that fact that he was unsurprised when Orochimaru began to change color and ooze away into mud. It was a substitution with a mud clone, one of Orochimaru's most common evasive techniques.

The nine-tailed jinchuuriki leaped back something exploded in front of him, Orochimaru having made his counter attack. Two red tails danced behind him, fluttering in the wind, and he stared through the dust with his savage, blood red eyes. The White Snake nearly disappeared as he moved, launching up to deliver a kick that Naruto almost failed to block. He brought both of his arms up in front of him and deflected it before bending back, letting the follow up blow sail over him as fell back. He was barely keeping up, even with the Kyuubi chakra coursing through him, and already he could feel the subtle tug on his consciousness to release more of the power.

Distracted, he felt a sudden blow in his chest knock the wind from him before he'd even landed and sent him flying rapidly downwards. He hit the bridge with a thunderous sound, tearing up concrete as he did. The red chakra cloak thankfully absorbed most of the damage, but he was still feeling sore from the repeated blows. He simply wasn't fast enough far too often.

"Come on then, boy. You'll need more then that if you intend to defeat me." Orochimaru said with a sinister chuckle, "You'll never get to Sasuke or Sakura if you don't come at me with all of your power!"

That caused Naruto to grit his teeth as he fought back his inner beast. Each time the bastard brought up his friends he could feel it push harder to be released, knowing his weakness. After the sannin had revealed himself it had become clear that only Naruto was going to be able to go to toe to toe with him, red chakra forming around him in response to Orochimaru's taunting. Naruto had kept it in check for the most part, even as Orochimaru spoke of how loyal Sasuke had been, or how 'the annoying pink haired girl' hung off him. No amount of that had gotten through. Hinata was next to him, and he felt calmed ever so slightly by that fact indeed, it had not been until he had attack Orochimaru that the red chakra began to leak into him.

After Orochimaru had identified Captain Yamato as the only survivor of one of his twisted experiments he had said something that had driven Naruto into a savage rage. Orochimaru said he'd done the same to Sakura, used her as fodder for some twisted experiment that could have killed her. It was simple, almost nonchalant, the way he brought it up, and Naruto felt his system flood with the red chakra of the Kyuubi at hearing the tone. He launched himself at Orochimaru, and the battle had been on.

Captain Yamato had ordered Hinata and Sai back as the battle began, knowing quite well they were useless in this sort of fight, and honestly fearing that Naruto would only somewhat better. He'd been surprised when the match seemed closer then he expected, though still fairly obviously in Orochimaru's favor. Naruto's usage of an elemental technique was also a surprise; Naruto had said during their little ability assessment and simulation that he had been working on those techniques for quite a while but hadn't had any luck with them yet. It had been a pain to convince Jiraiya to teach him, he'd said, but he hadn't really been able to make it work by the time he'd gotten back.

Naruto had released a single tail fairly quickly, which had saved him from a likely lethal blow otherwise. The red chakra had deflected it, but it was clear to Yamato (and Kabuto, who was more familiar with his master), but not to Naruto, that the blow was a testing attack even with its lethal intent and power. Orochimaru had been about to taunt him further when the boy had let out a second tail, and the fight swung slightly more towards his favor. Not really into it, but at least closer to an even match. But, as evident in this latest blow, it still seemed like it would not be enough. However, Naruto was already finding it hard to control the voices in his head, nor the rattling of the cage deep inside of him.

He pushed himself up from the groove and scowled at the white-skinned… thing in front of him. Man was not all that fitting, from what he'd seen the bastard do, and even more so given what he'd heard. The low, rumbling growl he let loose seemed only to amuse Orochimaru, though it did inspire a small spike of fear in the one person Naruto would never want it to.

Hinata looked on with the most conflicted set of feelings she'd ever had. Her desire for Naruto to be safe fought with her hard to eliminate fear of the thing he held inside of him. She was still angry with herself for that fear, telling herself again and again that Naruto would be able to control it, as he had before. She found herself more and more distracted by her feelings. Orochimaru noticed. This was bad.

While it had been his taunting of Naruto that had first brought out the anger and rage, it had not been until he told of the vile things he'd done to one of his precious people that the power of the demon inside of the boy became manifest. Now, while he had taunted and wounded the boy, it was not until he sent an impossibly long snake from his arm to attack the distracted kunoichi that Naruto truly began to lose himself. Hinata was broken from her reaction quite violently as Sai pushed her down. Naruto, on the other hand, went a different direction.

Flying like a meteor, Naruto slammed into Orochimaru with a terrible force. Four tails danced behind him, tearing more grooves into the concrete surface of the bridge while Naruto's own skin began to peel away, tinting the bubbling aura around him a bloody crimson. The spiraling ball of power in Naruto's hand tore into Orochimaru's skin, causing him pain he had not expected; he had let his guard down, just for a second, and he was paying for it. As Naruto pushed, Orochimaru began flying back from the force of the attack, arcing off into the distance.

Hinata, recovered from her shock only to be met by another, could hardly control herself. She began to run towards the jinchuuriki, watching in horror as his skin peeled off and the blood began running from his wounds; that he even could be standing amazed her. She did not heed Captain Yamato's orders to stop, and she wasn't sure why. She wasn't even sure what she could do for him, but she could not help but try and run to him.

A thunderous roar tore through the air. It was a death knell to the bridge, already smashed and damaged from the fight. Naruto so burning with rage, failed to notice the girl who was trying to race towards him, and was unlike you have been able to realize who it was even if he had noticed; his mind was burning, filled with a burning and raw desire: he was going to kill Orochimaru. He had a reason, even if he couldn't remember it anymore. With a massive push that further sealed the death of the bridge, the miniature Kyuubi launched itself off. The force of the leap finished what the roar had started and tore the bridge in half.

Hinata found herself tumbling towards the edge, unable to focus herself enough to get a solid grip as the concrete churned under her. And then, with an ill-timed tumble, she found her world fading to black as her forehead met with a flying piece of rock. Her last thought before unconsciousness claimed her was of a singular thing. Naruto. Simply, profoundly, completely, and wholly Naruto.

Sai had already been running after her when the bridge began to shake and collapse, but was spared a similar situation to his kunoichi teammate due to being farther back, and Captain Yamato's timely attempt to stabilize the bridge with a brace of wooden pillars.

"Grab her, Sai!" he shouted, struggling to hold up the collapsing bridge. He was shaking at the effort. It was with dismay that he watched the pale boy reach for his drawing pad, and then with wonder as he watched a gigantic eagle take off into the sky, and then with a sad lack of confusion as he watched the boy leap right past Hinata's unconscious and tumbling form and onto the other side of the bridge, leaping from piece to falling piece until he reached the other side. He had been warned, and had feared, but this had been the worst possible time for Sai to show his true colors.

He could but watch with mute horror as Hinata rolled over the side of the drooping bridge, his supports unable to do much more then prolong the inevitable. But he was shocked when Sai's inked eagle dove down after Hinata rather then following it's master. The formed tucked its wings in as it dove, clawed feet extending to snatch the falling Hyuuga deftly from the air.

Sadly, it was not meant to be; a massive piece of concrete intercepted the bird as it neared the girl, saving her at least from being crushed by it but also causing the summoned creature to explode into a shower of ink. It had shattered and scattered the rock, but Hinata was still falling.

And Yamato could do nothing to stop it.

Hundreds of miles away, in a hidden location…

The torches flickered as two figures moved around the shadowy room. Sasuke brought his sword to bear again, aiming high as he lashed out for the opponent's neck. A dull vibe echoed through the room as two swords collided. Sasuke made a quick flick and brought the sword across his opponent's legs, only to be intercepted again. He was grinning as he snapped the sword around to strike at the legs from another angle and followed it up by raking his blade up along the opponent's weapon and stabbing forward. He nearly caught them, but as the tip of the chokutou pushed into his opponent he was rewarded with a shattering sound as the crystalline construct collapsed in a heap.

"Good." Sasuke said, "A kawarimi against an unavoidable blow. Very good."

Sakura beamed at his words, never tiring of the praise Sasuke would give her. It was not ever granted lightly, and it always meant something. Sakura had spent enough time with her raven-haired idol to understand him. She knew the warmth he could put out when he let that cold shell melt, but also knew it was never by accident. Sasuke was just too good for that. He was always so cool and in control. She had learnt to stop hanging off him long ago, and that the best way to enjoy his gaze was through earning it.

Her teacher and, at least in her mind, lover was giving her an appraising look and she tried her best not to overdo her obvious happiness at his words. She had also learnt that while Sasuke did not at all begrudge her those joyful moments, and indeed had them himself, she knew that he would not go easy on her should she let her guard down. And, sure enough, he launched yet another series of attacks on her.

Moving in perfect silence, Sasuke made a straight lunge before whipping his blade around in a series of high to low alternating blows. Sakura brought her own weapon, a ninjatou formed from ruby red crystal, up to block. She knew two things about Sasuke's movements, both testaments to his skill in her mind. Firstly, he was moving at only a fraction of his actual speed. He was still stronger and faster then she was, and she knew that there was little chance of her catching up. Secondly, he was giving her subtle openings that were, given the training he'd put her through, almost painfully obvious, but she knew those were red herrings. He was tempting her, in a way.

She did not take the bait. The exercise was blocking and evasion. She was his support, a medical-nin alongside her other combat roles. Thus, he had told her, she had to learn to dodge, and dodge anything. She was wearing leg weights now, a fact that, at first, had actually caused her some trouble. It was not the weight of the training aids, however, but the weight of her memories. She thought of Lee, someone she hadn't thought of for years, and remembered that promise he'd made. For some reason that had made her chest tight. She did not like thinking of Konoha anymore.

There was far more emotional baggage than physical that she had brought along.

"You're distracted again, Sakura." Sasuke said, "We'll take a break."

It was not a question, but a statement. Sakura said nothing, as she knew there was nothing to say. He was right, as he so often was, and it was not judgment in his voice. Sasuke had grown increasingly controlled in his tone, but Sakura had been there with him the entire time. To others it might sound like disinterest, or even boredom, but Sakura heard what they did not. It was subtle concern, but without disapproval.

She was not fond of the dark of the training rooms, nor their current location. Sakura was hardly fond of the desert. Too hot, and it dried out her skin, and it split her hairs and… well, it just made life difficult. Despite her training, and the time spent, she had not let herself lose that feminine touch.

She was, after all, a woman still and she spent a majority of her time around the man of her dreams. It would take a miracle to stop her from at least attempting to make herself look nice. Sasuke even commented some times, rarely of course, but those small comments had only made her more certain that it was a good idea.

Sasuke sheathed his blade and turned to leave without a word, causing Sakura to hurry slightly to catch up and fall in behind him. She released her hold on the crystal sword, watching as it broke into countless shards before it had even hit the ground. The sword was effective, but without her chakra constantly holding it together it became far more fragile. The pair headed out of the room, though Sakura was unsure of where they were going.

Not that it mattered, of course. She'd follow him anywhere.

At a hidden location a few miles outside of Konoha...

Makoto had never liked his ANBU mask. He was not shy of telling people this, or anything really. He was a straight shooter all the way through and down to his core. When it came to his mask, he was very open about how he hated the Whale-faced porcelain mask, and how he would have taken just about anything else. Not only was it fairly unflattering, he really wasn't fond of the giant blobs of blubber.. No, he hated his mask, and was not at all shy about saying it. This, of course, did not go over well with everyone.

He had done a stint as a guard at the facility, when he was just a raw chuunin and new inductee of the ANBU Black Ops, because he has apparently annoyed one of the ANBU captains with his constant 'inane whining' as he'd termed it. Maktoto bristled about it still, just thinking about the never. He was just being honest, brutally so, no need to be a prick about it. Or, at least, that's what Makoto thought. But, orders were orders and he was thus assigned a job at the remote prison facility. It was a dead-end assignment, a punishment really, and he knew it. The ANBU who were assigned there were rarely very skilled, often the worst, or simply pissed someone high up off. Luckily, he learned to control his tongue a bit and was transferred back into more active service after six months.

Now, he once again found himself standing in the courtyard of the facility he'd grown to detest. So boring, with such horrible company. Some of them were still here. In a manner of speaking, at least. They were corpses, barely recognizable even as that, and were either gaunt figures with terror on their face or smashed into unrecognizable pulp. It was gruesome, and Makoto wondered if it was a bad or good thing that he wasn't blanching at it. He'd seen many things in his career, and the fact this wasn't the worse scared him a bit. Unfortunately for the rest of the ANBU operatives there, Makoto had a way of coping with fear.

He started talking. A lot.

It took just one trigger, and in a very sudden amount bad luck for the rest of the operatives, someone gave it to him.

"What the hell kind of guy can take out twelve of us without leaving a single mark behind?" Rooster said, crouched over one of the piles of gory mush. He poked it once with the end of his ninjatou and shook his head.

"You know-" Makoto began, causing many eyes to roll behind masks, "I don't mean to speak ill of the dead, but these guys weren't exactly the crème de la crop. And we all know it. These guys got this job just because of that."

He looked up to find all seven of the other operatives staring at him. Makoto frowned, "What? It's true."

They kept staring, causing him to scowl, "I call it like I see it, I'm the Whale ANBU."

Meanwhile, in Konoha, at the office of the Hokage...

Tsunade was conflicted in a new an unusual way. On one hand she was rather distraught over the sudden attack on one of their prisoner facilities, an attack that came without warning and smashed through twelve ANBU operatives. Perhaps not the best of the ANBU operatives, but it was still twelve lives lost. It was not at all a lapse in judgment; protocol was completely followed in placing the two captured Akatsuki in the facility, and she knew there was little to fear from that. No, it was the simple fact that the attack had been so close to Konoha.

The hokage stood up from her desk and turned to one of the windows behind her. She sighed and crossed her arms behind her as looked out over the village, but her face curled into a mild smirk afterwords.

The conflict was that she knew quite well that that she would enjoy, in a subtle way, shoving the fact that having Naruto out of the village proved to be a good thing; much farther from Akatsuki, and dangerously disproving their theory of him being far safer in the village, in a way. Which, of course, worried her at the same time. Hence the conflict of a sort she'd never experienced.

"Stay safe, you little brat." she said to no one in particular, once again letting out a long sigh. "Or else I'll never forgive you."

Back in Grass Country, at Tenchi Bridge…

Hinata had little time to comprehend her situation as she was set down on the ground. Her brain felt like it was working overtime as it attempted to catch up. A sharp pain ran through her head as she thought, causing her to instinctively bring a hand up to hold it. What had happened?

"Careful, Hinata." Someone said, "You took quite a blow, there."

Her lavender eyes flashed open suddenly as things flowed back to her. She had been chasing Naruto, trying to help him. She could not remember why, just knowing that she had to help him with something. Something of the utmost importance, something she'd seen and had to fix. Her mind raced as she thought, unable to recall it. She wanted to scream but the ability to escape. It had been so important, but…

Her eyes began to focus in the bright light and she noticed a shadowy form straighten up and then leap off into an unknown direction. Captain Yamato was crouched next to her, looking off into the same direction as he spoke.

"Just take it easy, you're lucky to be alive." He said with a sigh, truly wondering what she had been thinking charging across a collapsing bridge like that.

Hinata tried to push herself up, succeeding in propping herself up on her elbows as her eyes finally adjusted. She wanted to be frantic, to look around every which way, but she couldn't summon up the energy for it. The young Hyuuga turned to Yamato with a concerned frown.

"Where is he, Yamato-san?" she asked, eyes wide with fear, "Where is Naruto?"

The seething mass of red chakra that was Naruto launched itself at Orochimaru and brought one of his claw-like hands down, raking it across the sannin's chest. He tore back, tearing flesh and cloth with equal ease. Orochimaru pushed himself back, only barely avoiding a much greater wound then he received. But it was not pain that flashed across his face, but rather amusement. He'd not had a fight like this for ages.

They'd landed quite a bit away from the bridge, coming down in a fairly large forest clearing and promptly went to work making it larger. The Naruto's four tailed form was pushing Orochimaru for all it was worth, a savage and very feral wisdom driving him onward without even an ounce of self-preservation. Pain was an illusion, for even if the white snake had something to break his hide, he was already wracked with such searing pain as to know that anything the bastard could do to him would be nothing.

He knew this, and he did not know this. His mind was a burning as the demonic chakra pumped through his system, dulling his human mind and whispering dark and feral things to him. Some of it was practical. Strike now, leap here, lash out strongly at this point. Others were less so, and were of such a sort that Naruto attempted to ignore them all together. The effort of keeping the dark and unwanted thoughts out left him open for other less dark, but equally savage thoughts to worm in. It preyed on his desire to protect, twisting that to a desire to destroy.

Destroy the thing. Destroy Orochimaru. Why? There was a very important reason, a reason he knew, subconsciously, was more important than any other reason at the moment. He did not know why, he did not know what it even was. But he knew it was precious, something very close to his heart. And for that, he would destroy Orochimaru. It made sense to him. Or as much sense as his mind could muster as the whisperings of an ancient demon ran through his mind.

Grass boiled away under him as he crouched low, four tails lashing around behind him. His white eyes focused in on his prey, but while he had expected fear, all he saw was amusement. Orochimaru was grinning at him, as if he hadn't a care or worry at all. Rage filled him.

He threw his head back and let a thunderous roar echoed across the field. As the chakra-enhanced wave of air pressure burst out the first rows of trees began to uproot and tumble away, and yet Orochimaru simply stood there. Wind lashed at him, but he moved not an inch.

High above the field, Sai found himself struggling to control the ink construct he'd created. Guiding it down, he leaped off just before it impacted with the treeline and, with some difficulty, managed to attach himself to the trunk of a particularly stout tree and hold on for dear life as the world turned into a pine needle hurricane around him.

"Hm hm hm... Naruto-kun seems angry." Orochimaru said with a sinister smirk, "Come on, is that the best you can-"

The sannin's words were cut off as the ground cracked under him and tendrils of red chakra burst up from it. Orochimaru found himself even more amused; the roar had been a feint, a distraction, it would seem. He leaped upwards, only to find himself chased by a massive red claw that broke up from the ground. The claw wrapped around him and squeezed, crushing him to a pulp.

Sizzling mud splattered the ground, causing Naruto to let out another angry howl. A substitution, how basic. He wrenched his arm back, letting it tear through the ground and absorb back into him just as the sannin reappeared. Orochimaru walked calmly in from the edge of the recently expanded clearing.

"Hm hm hm, seems I did underestimate you. Your not as stupid as it seems when you take that form. A fox's cunning, how fitting." he said, softly clapping his hands. Naruto let off a smaller growl, white eyes narrowing. This prey was far to uppity for it's own good. The air around him seemed to thicken for a moment, gathering towards his mouth Orochimaru watched with the same amusement he'd treated the rest of the fight with, perhaps blissfully unaware of the grave danger this new trick had.

The glowing ball began to shrink down, gathering and condensing into a barely visible pinprick. As Orochimaru watched, a small bit of concern wormed it's way into his mind. That much chakra, condensed into such a small area, would gravely wound even him if it struck. Of course, how he'd manage to use it escaped the sannin, which was perhaps why he remained so still and entranced by the technique. This was new, something he never had heard of before. It was beautiful.

And then, in an almost comical gesture, Naruto ate it. And promptly nearly flattened himself to the ground due to the weight. As Orochimaru pondered the reason he'd even consider it, given how heavy it was, he had a strange instinct to take cover. His eyes widened as Naruto's mouth began to glow, and slammed both his fists down to the ground.

Hinata's eyes widened as a second sun lit up the horizon, a single thought on her mind.

'Naruto.'

Author Note:

A recommendation to anyone who likes fan fics: look up Nugar's People Lie. It's one of the best stories I've read, period, not just on this site, and I've made quite a few homages to it over time, and likely will continue to do so. Nugar is also a very interesting fellow. I wish I had half his reader base, as well. :P

Also, a request. If you like this story, put me on Author Alert, rather then Story Alert, as I plan to start two or three new stories soon, and am going to put a little teaser thing here. If you like it, toss me on the alert and you'll read them when they go up.

Oh, and one final thing: while Pack Light has followed the canon story fairly closely, this is intentional. The major changes are coming, and everything here is a set up for that. The smallest changes can have a major impact. Indeed, the first 15 or so chapters will be little more then a set-up device for the actual story changes to unfold.

OH! Minor language note, too! Fuuton: Fuugyoku is Wind Release: Wind Sphere. Similar to Danzou's Vacuum technique, abet more wind and less vacuum.