Well, holy crap. I'm writing the fortieth chapter as we speak. I've never gotten this far before, and it's a hell of an ego-booster, as are your wonderful reviews.

More changes!

I do not own Naruto, nor Watchmen.

Thirty-nine chapters and counting.

Orochimaru panted as he ran. That last clash with Jiraiya had cut things a little too close in his escape from Konoha. He was bleeding and burnt in several places, and he was positive that he'd cracked at least two ribs, more possibly bruised. It hurt to breathe.

He was so focused on breathing and maintaining his breakneck pace through the trees that the attack, when it comes, takes him completely by surprise. Sloppy of him, the greatest of the Sannin, but even he can only take so much. Someday, he will be able to handle everything, even fighting off death, but not yet, not now.

The fireball takes his hair and most of the tree he's jumping towards with it. Something crunches as he lands on the root-tangled forest floor, hard. A hard kick to the torso breaks those cracked ribs Jiraiya gave him. Blood in his mouth. He's scrabbling on the ground, trying to get up, but he hurts, it's excruciating. His chakra reserves are gone, exhaustion is setting in along with shock. His left arm is not moving properly, and tingles, evidence of nerve damage. He looks up, and the Comedian sneers back at him. Blake has all the handseals done by the time Orochimaru struggles to his feet, trying to escape.

A full body tackles takes him down to the ground again. Flaming hands wrap around his throat, a stocky body also on fire bears him to the ground. The only thing he can do is not scream in pain, can't even get the breath for that. Of course the Comedian would have an offensive jutsu that lights his own body on fire.

"I let you go earlier, y'know, Snake-boy." Blake says, the flames surrounding him not bothering him at all, "Jiraiya had first right to your head, 'cuz you're teammates and all. Guess he was too decent to go all the way." He shrugs, and the flames move with it. The smell of slowly cooking skin fills the space between them. "S'alright. Sometimes it takes a monster to kill a monster."

Orochimaru wants to argue, no, Blake isn't a monster, and if he is, he's a tame one. He flails, gets some damage in, but the Comedian ignores the pain and takes it, ignoring it. The flames continue to burn agony through every body part that comes into contact with the bigger man, cooking deeper and deeper as time goes on. He extends his arms and legs out, stretched limbs striking weakly.

Blake's hands squeeze tighter around his neck, his eyes shining in delight, and, with his slowing pulse pounding in his ears, Orochimaru begins to understand.

For every time Orochimaru has given into his desires, Blake has tempered his own wildness with his goals, and suppressed them, only letting them out in battle, in appropriate times.

"Wanted to do this for twenty-five years, Orochimaru." The Comedian smiles, as the pale-skinned Sannin's vision begins to grey around the edges. "So I waited, and whaddya know, got my chance..."

Blake says something else, but Orochimaru's hearing has faded out, and soon, so goes conciousness too.

******

Eddie waits for five minutes after Orochimaru's heart stops beating, hands still locked tight around that pale neck. Finally he lets go, flexing his stiff hands, and then sits up to brush the ash off his clothing.

Out comes the short sword, and off goes Orochimaru's head. Eddie pulls out a small scroll, a bottle of ink, and a brush.

He unrolls the scroll and gets to work.

Sealing has never been his forte, unlike Jiraiya, but he understands the usefulness of making your own explosive and shock tags, and especially storage scrolls. Being best friends with a master of sealing had its benefits, and it didn't take much convincing to get Jiraiya to teach Eddie the basics of sealing.

Before long, Orochimaru's body was sealed away, the blood on the springy forest floor and the remains of the splintered tree burned with a quick fire jutsu, and Hidden Leaf's Comedian was gone as well, speeding back to Konoha, chuckling to himself.

Just to clarify, Eddie is not as strong as Orochimaru, not in a straight fight. But then again, the Comedian doesn't play fair, does he?

A review would be greatly appreciated.