Not Alone, Not Anymore

by Cyb0rg67

Shintaro has made his fair share of choices all having consequences and his most recent one will be one that will impact everyone's life both in past, present, and future. That choice is to prevent the death of Naruto Uzumaki. Follow Shintaro in his quest as he puts everything on the line for one boy that'll change the world. Mainly focuses on OC then alternates to Naruto later

25. End of the Night

With Anko

"Damn. That ended quicker than I ever thought it could. You kicked ass Kaori, and you to Kazuo, good job on the interrogation. Ken...we need to work on your patience." Anko complimented with a thumbs up causing the snake woman to blush slightly while the Anaconda lowered his head in slight shame/embarrassment

"Thank you Anko-sama, but it still saddens me that a young child such as this has so much hatred inside of him." Kaori said sadly

"That's how it is sometimes. Hell, I used to be like that after that Orochimaru left me for dead." Anko stated with hesitation

"So what are we to do with him Anko-sama?" Kaori asked as she tied the last of his restraints

"Can we eat him?" Ken asked hungrily

"K-Ken-kun!" Kaori said in surprise

"How revolting." Kazuo said shaking his head

"Kidding! Jeez, you guys have no sense of humor." the large snake said rolling his eyes

"Eh, I don't mind." Anko said shrugging

"Eh!" Kaori embarrisingly in shock

"Anko-sama!" Kazuo said aghast

"It's not like he's gonna die. You know how long it is for Ken to digest food. Just swallow him up for now until this battle is over, and we figure out what to do with him." Anko explained

"Are you sure Anko-sama?" Ken asked to make sure he wouldn't get in trouble

"Just make sure to spit him out every once, and a while so he can breathe so often. Actually, just burrow yourself underground, and wait until things calm down." Anko said firmly

"Not my style, but sure thing." Ken said as he gobbled Kabuto whole

"Kazuo, I want to you head east, and look for some kids near the forest, I have a bad feeling about them so I'd feel comfortable if you went to investigate them." Anko ordered firmly yet with kindness

"As you wish Anko-sama. I shall leave right away." Kazuo said humbly bowing his head

"Take Kaori with you, and Kaori, stay in that form as long as you can. I have a feeling they'll need some of your medical expertise, and your venom as well." Anko said with a sly smile

"Very well Anko-sama, but I can only stay in this form for perhaps 10-15 minutes more." Kaori said hesitantly

"Then Kazuo you'll just have to haul ass you here?" Anko said to Kazuo who smiled a crooked smile

"Hai, Anko-sama. Kaori-san, please get on." Kazuo said politely

"I-I coming. But wait, what are you going to do Anko-sama?" Kaori asked confused of her master's plan of action

"Oh me? I'm gonna give a certain jackass a whooping he deserves." Anko said anxiously cracking her knuckles

"Whoo! You go babe! Kick his ass!" Ken cheered

"Please be careful Anko-sama." Kaori sighed

"Indeed, try not to be too reckless, we've only just been reunited, and I'd prefer it if you stay alive to summon us again when the time comes." Kazuo stated humbly

"Yeah, don't go dying on us now, I still plan on becoming your #1 summon." Ken said cockily giving Kazuo a tick mark

"Got it. Don't worry you guys I ain't planning on dying yet, you can count on that. Alright, let's go!" Anko shouted

"Right!" the three summons said together in unison

"See you guys when it's over." Ken said as he burrowed a hole into the earth

"Hold on Kaori-san." Kazuo warned as he began to pick up speed

"Don't worry about me Kazuo-kun." Kaori assured hanging onto Kazuo's neck

"Ok, time to see if that pale bastard is still there." Anko said as she turned towards the sound of battle

---

With Kakashi

Although he was ambushed Kakashi had already thought of a counter strategy to fight back. He'd quickly put together an area of effect fire jutsu called Fire Ring that illuminated the entire hallway with bright flames that burned bright, and hot burning those surrounding him save for Aoi who blocked with this Thunder God sword. Having no way to put out the flames despite trying their best the would be ambush-ees were burned to a crisp being nothing more than charred flesh. Aoi screamed profusely at this, and decided to try to kill Kakashi for the last 10 minutes with little to no luck.

"Damn it, why won't you die!?" Aoi shouted in frustration

"You suck at fighting?" Kakashi suggested

"You'll pay for that!" Aoi shouted in anger

"Wow, someone has an ego. Guess this tactic really does work against idiots like these. But I don't have time to mess around, I have to end this now." Kakashi thought to himself

"Hey Aoi, you sure that piss-colored sword of yours can't do any damage at all?" Kakashi said cynically

"What did you say?" Aoi asked dangerously narrowing his eyes

"I mean really, do you honestly think the Nidaime took pride in that glowstick? I heard a couple rumors that after testing it out he felt ashamed, and decided to hide it away because of how big of a failure it was. What your holding is basically a failed project." Kakashi said smugly

"Ha! You really think I'd fall for a simple trick like that?" Aoi asked expecting Kakashi to stumble in his words

"Well, I guess you aren't interested in the Murasama then." Kakashi said looking away at a confused Aoi

"The what?" Aoi said still confused

"Oh you didn't know? Guess whose out of the loop?" Kakashi said with a smug look

"You're lying. There's no way there's another sword more powerful than this. This was made to specifically battle the 7 Ninja Swordsman of the Mist." Aoi said in disbelief

"Well, it's not like you'll believe me anyways, and the Murasama was rarely seen in action because of how deadly it was." Kakashi said slugging his shoulders

"That's only a legend, and nothing more." Aoi said getting annoyed

"Oh, so you do know it." Kakashi teased

"I searched everywhere for information on it, but all leads pointed it to be a myth, nothing more." Aoi stated firmly

"Hehehe, you must've not looked very hard then." Kakashi antagonized

"You're lying! I'll prove it to you!" Aoi shouted bringing out his Thunder God sword again

"Ok then, how bout a duel?" Kakashi asked seriously

"A what?" Aoi said confused more than ever

"Your yellow stick against my..." Kakashi said bringing his palm down to his waist as an electrifying blue light began emanating from his hand

"Chidori." Aoi said evenly

"Feeling lucky?" Kakashi threatened

"That won't be enough to even put a dent in this." Aoi said smirking cockily

"We'll see about that won't we?" Kakashi replied as his Chidori started flashing stronger

"Yes, we'll shall." Aoi replied raising his sword

Staring into each other eyes both electrifying weapons in their hands they waited for one of them to make the first move. Then Aoi made a twitch in his fingers that triggered Kakashi's impulse to move to which Aoi followed up by charging straight towards Kakashi.

They ran towards each other weapons in hand, raising their arms to clash until Kakashi's Chidori began emitting a brighter light getting more bright by the second. As Aoi lifted his Sword of the Thunder God to cut through Kakashi's chest Kakashi held his Chidori up to Aoi's eye level before doing something he didn't expect.

"Chidori Flash!" Kakashi yelled as a blinding blue light covered the entire hall burning Aoi's eyes to point of screaming painfully to the point of dropping his sword to try, and comfort his damaged eyes...fatal mistake

As Aoi continued to scream he noticed the familiar sound of chirping birds right behind him before it was too late.

"Now, Chidori!" Kakashi yelled as he thrusted his arm through Aoi's chest

With this one thrust Kakashi had ended Aoi's scream, and changed it to blood curdling choking before complete silence. The only sound to follow was the thud of Aoi's corpse falling to the ground followed by the sound of his thunder sword clanking on the ground.

"Damn, who knew that would actually work. Guess it's true that this would come in handy someday, who knew an assassination technique would double as a crippling distraction if used right? So, guess this means this is mine then I suppose, now to find those kids...if there are any left." Kakashi said gravely looking into one of the rooms that had a multitude of broken boxes...and their contents were hanging out limply with blood flowing from the creaks

---

With Itachi

Drawing his sword out of the back out of the angry members of crazed bodyguards they all suddenly turned his attention to him.

"IT'S THE LITTLE BOY!"

"HIS FLESH STILL LOOKS RIPE FOR THE TAKING!"

"BUT WHERE DID THE RED SCREAM GO?"

"MAYBE HE KNOWS!"

"HE HAD RED EYES SO HE MUST KNOW THE RED SCREAM!"

"YES! LET'S SEE IF HIS TINY VOICE WILL SCREAM A BEAUTIFUL SCREAM!"

"If I deal with them now I may have a chance to decide on who I should decide to help be it Jiraiya-sama, or Shintaro-san, and his companions. But the odds are stacked against me 10 to 1, and none of them show any signs of wearing down. This is a perfect chance for me to test my abilities." Itachi said with slight anticipation

"Forgive me Shintaro-san, but I have my own battle to fight. I guess I can only hope I made the right choice, and have faith that they can fight for themselves." Itachi said as he immediately cut down one of his attackers

---

With Rei

Still being chased by her crazed stalker Rei continued to limp away with pure willpower by this point. Seikatsu was occasionally throwing a knife or two to throw Rei off the course she was taking as she was barely avoiding said throwing knives. Rei had no idea why this was happening to her, but she swore she would live so that she could keep her promise to her mother. She wasn't going to die here in this forest, in her own element, but damn it all if that bitch was so determined to not let her go then she was going to fight back!

"Insect Style: Locust Plague!" Rei shouted as a giant hive of locust sprung themselves from Rei's mouth

"Oh man, this so much fun! You've actually managed to keep me from killing you for the past 5 minutes. Now you're spitting bugs at me to throw me off the trail? I really did pick the best outcome in this wonderful game of mine! Well then, if you're planning on playing hard to get then let's see how you'll deal with this. Ninja Art, Fire and Earth Style: Raining Meteor Barrage!" Seikatsu said as Rei lifted her head to see flying flaming boulder sized rocks levitating from the earth all flying in random directions...and the biggest one just so happens to be heading towards her

"Shit! I gotta fly out of here, but if I go too high she might see me. I'll just have to stay low, and hope I don't hit any trees." Rei thought to herself as she pulled out her wings flying a relatively high pace to escape the flaming rock heading towards her way

Flying blindly Rei used up all her energy to avoid the fiery debris of the flaming boulder landing towards the ground near her. Rei gave one final burst of energy as she was about to be crushed indefinitely before flat out falling on her face due to pure exhaustion. Panting heavily Rei couldn't gather the strength to move anymore, and the lightheaded feeling of losing blood was getting to her.

"Oh man, looks like my new toy broke itself on its own. Well, you put up a good fight, but I think it's time I end this." Seikatsu said stepping out from the mist while in Rei's vision

"Please...just leave me alone." Rei pleaded tiredly

"Nuh uh uh, I always make sure that if I'm done playing with my toys I always make sure to break them myself completely. By the way, do you remember these babies?" Seikatsu asked evilly as she pulled out a familiar looking pair of rusty pliers

"N-No..." Rei uttered with wide eyed terror

"That's right, and you what's even better? Those pretty little wings of yours of out for me to see, and more importantly to RIP them out of your scrawny back." Seikatsu said as she tossed the pliers up in the air only to catch them with her hand

"No! God please NO! G-Get away from me!" Rei shouted as she struggled to bring her wings back into her back, only to be stopped with a hard kick to the gut

"Tsk Tsk Tsk, you're such a naughty girl aren't you? Now why on earth would want to keep such pretty wings from me?"

It was true, Seikatsu never got a good look at them since she fluttered them wildly before putting them away, but her wings were beautiful. They were of a butterfly structure with a multi-colored pattern that blended wonderfully like nothing no human had ever seen.

"All I want is to slowly, carefully, and painfully TEAR it out just so I can preserve them to hang up on my wall. Is that so wrong?" Seikatsu asked evily as she caressed Rei's cheek

"Go away! Just go away! I'm begging you please don't take my wings!" Rei pleaded with all her heart

"But that begging just makes me want to do it more. Don't you understand? By saying "No don't tear my wings out" all I'm hearing is "Yes, yes do it already!" you see what I'm getting at?" Seikatsu said tossing her pliers up, and down

"I don't care! J-Just-Aaaaaahh!" Rei screamed as Seikatsu stabbed Rei's shoulder with her foot blade

"Sorry, but you were just starting to sound like a broken record. If you're going to scream, and beg for your life the least you can do is put a little variety in your pleads. Now, I think I've stalled long enough. It's time for the main event. One pair of fresh humanoid butterfly wings comin up or should I say out. Hehehehe, I'm such a killer, both literally, and figuratively." Seikatsu said cheerfully self-praising herself

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Stop It! Stop it I'm begging you!" the captive girl screamed at the top of her lungs

"Nope, all that screaming is just more, and more motivation to me." Sekatsu said lowering herself to Rei's head

"Someone! Please ANYONE, HELP!" Rei screamed once again

"Pleading for help from people not even here? You really have lost it haven't you? Well, it's not like anyone's coming to help you anyways. Now, where were we? Oh yes, de-winging the human insect. Let's see here...let's start with the left one." Seikatsu whispered into Rei's ear despite her growing protests

Seikatsu lowered her pliers aiming for the base of Rei's left wing, Rei was constantly screaming at this point with tears flowing like a river by now. The pliers made their way to the point where the wings connected to her back, and she closed down the pliers to make sure she had a good grip.

"There we go, nice, and tight. OK, here we go! Ready?" Seikatsu asked with her twisted smile growing by the second

"Please! Stop it! Don't do it! Please don't!" Rei pleaded once again to no avail

"Pull a bit gently just to make sure it's tight." Seikatsu said shaking her hips

"No! Stop it! Leave my mother's wings alone!" Rei screamed in both rage, and helplessness

"It's time to make the magic happen." Seikatsu said pulling a bit harder

"Stop it! Please...MOTHER HELP ME!" Rei finally cried out in complete desperation

"No one's saving you now girlie! Now, let em r-"

"Forbidden technique: Rinkaichu Bullet." A dark cold raspy voice said without mercy

"What the-AAAAAAHHHHHH!" Seikatsu screamed now in complete pain

"What the hell is this? It hurts! It hurts so fucking much! Damn it, I know what this is! Gotta take care of this now!" Seikatsu said in frustration jumping away from the scene

"Who...who's there?" Rei said weakly as her vision blurred

"Rest now my child." the dark voice said gently as it returned Rei's wings back into her body

"M...mother?" Rei said confused

"Help is 'cough cough' on the way, I wish I could be with you 'cough' more, but my health won't allow it. It seems I'll have to 'cough cough' continue watching you from that other place. That boy really did keep his promise about showing you the world, and it seems he's still fighting that other atrocious foe." Rei's mother said with disgust at the opponent he was facing

"Mother...it's really..." Rei said with happiness tearing up

"Keep on fighting my child, and never give up on living." Joobachi advised

"No...wai..." Rei said before her words failed her due to the raged induced scream of her nightmare fuel

"Eeeerrrraaaaahhh! Who the fuck did that to me! Do you know how hard it is to replace one of my arms!? I am so going to enjoy ripping the skin of whoever did that to me! Where are they? I'm gonna kill them!" Seikatsu screamed in fury looking around as she dispelled her own mist jutsu to get a better look around

"Then you'll have to look somewhere else." another cold voice said with anger in her tone

"Who said that?" Seikatsu asked demanding an answer

"Someone who detests foul creatures who would dare to harm innocent children such as she. I do not know who you are, but one thing is for sure. I am your opponent now, and what's worse, you've made me angry." the cold voice said revealing a pale white woman cracking her knuckles staring Seikatsu down

---

With Jiraiya against Orochimaru

To say Jiraiya was having a blast would be a drastic understatement. He was never one to enjoy battle, and under these circumstances he would be even more serious. However, going against his former teammate who was always named the genius, and seeing the extremely frustrated face was letting some small part of him run wild.

It started with a sucker punch to the face strong enough to send him flying across the field, and then a giant rasengan to his summon Manda, which blew a major hole into Manda's hide. That injury gave Gamabunta an opening to move in, and swoop in to raise his sword high enough to swing it back down on Manda's side slicing it near clean off, causing him to slither behind trees. However, that gave Orochimaru an opening to throw his Kusanagi Blade through the giant toads body hitting some of his vital organs causing the gigantic toad to fall next to his fallen summon.

Both without their summons to aid them the two Sannin stared each other down mercilessly awaiting their next move. Jiriaya thought it'd be best to make the most of his seal seeing as he probably had little time left. Leaping forward at blinding speed Jiraiya readied another rasengan in his left hand, but Orochimaru shape shifted his body moving with snake like agility to move out of the way, leaving his rasengan to make contact with the earth. However, Jiraiya grinned seeing as he expected as much from his former comrade.

As much of a genius Orochimaru was he was never big for taking pain, that wasn't to say he couldn't handle it to great amounts, rather he always moved, and fought his battles in a way that would end in him having to deal with the least pain possible. This was normally how one would fight a battle, but Orochimaru always took it to another level by purposefully dodging attacks that would end up harming his comrades. His mentality was that if he was going to be a genius, he was going to a genius that seemed untouchable.

So in that one instance, Jiraiya had prepared another rasengan in his other hand, difficult as it was he pulled back his right hand as he twisted his body to get his legs in just the right position. Crouching down as if he were a frog Jiraiya used his legs to again launch himself at Orochimaru who was still slithering away, and slam the already prepared rasengan into his back.

This in turn caused a great deal of pain for Orochimaru who was blasted into the ground beneath him. Just to make sure he did the job thoroughly Jiraiya had already prepared another rasengan slamming it beneath him again. Jumping back to see the damage Jiraiya was beginning to feel a slight burn on his chest.

"Is it just me or is this battle heating me up, and not the good kind either. Must be the seal overworking itself, Shintaro did say it would continue to gather Sage energy even if it was in use, but he also warned me that if I overdo it for too long the seal will burn itself out probably killing me."

"Hopefully that last rasengan did the trick, I really need to end this soon so that Chief can return to his home to heal his injuries. Let's see I have about maybe another 5 minutes at best, and if I keep going at the same pace then I have 3 minutes."

"I'm not feeling or hearing any intense movement, that means he's still staying where I hit him, and somehow he's avoiding my sensory abilities. Is he dead? No, it couldn't be that easy, and if it were then the old man wouldn't have sent me along with two Anbu with me. Guess I'll see if I did anything once the smoke clears out." Jiraiya said waiting for his teammates next move

Seconds pass by with more, and more of the smoke cleared away revealing the miniature crater he created with his rasengan. However, Jiraiya was shocked to see there was what looked like a deflated corpse in place of where Orochimaru should've been.

"How is this possible!? Just how is that idiot making a fool out of me? If only they had come at a later time, and then I would be able to be truly unstoppable. I still haven't been able to find a suitable host for that forbidden jutsu I've nearly perfected, and that is the reason for my lack of speed along with my reaction time. That is why that oaf has managed to hit me with those devastating attacks of his, and I'm more than sure of whose to blame in giving him that kind of jutsu." Orochimaru thought to himself

"Damn you Jiyu, that accursed Senpu bloodline has always been a thorn in my side. If there's one thing that foolish old man has done for me it's save my life from that blasted Raida. He never trusted in me, it's almost like he knew I would turn out this way, and he was very clear that he wasn't afraid of me or of what I would be. It was like he was trying to get rid of an obstacle."

"In any case, I need a way out of this situation, otherwise my dream of being immortal will never be reached...I can't believe I'm doing this, but knowing him it'll create an opening for maybe a second. I really must be desperate to use a move such as this, but I suppose that idiotic Jiyu used it to get out of life and death situations." Orochimaru thought to himself in severe embarrassment as well as humiliation

It was seconds later until Jiraiya finally sensed something underneath him as well as someone using their chakra. He then felt the earth underneath him crumble

"Crap." Jiraiya said as he jumped back preparing a fire jutsu

However, he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the last thing he expected to see. What he saw was a certain beautiful blonde woman pop out of the ground with smoke covering her...revealing bits for his eyes to see, and like the perverted hermit he is Jiraiya fell for it.

"T-T-Tsunade!? What the hell are you doing here?!" Jiraiya exclaimed both confused and happily until he realized what had just happened

"Wait a minute!" Jiraiya shouted in realization cursing his pervy instincts

"Five Pronged Seal!" Tsunade/Orochimaru shouted as he transformed back with his fingers glowing with blue flames

"Shit!" Jiraiya shouted as Orochimaru planted his fingers on Jiraiya's chest

---

With Akihiko

"Who the hell were those two? Whatever, they said they were going to help that bug girl, and that is more than enough reason for me to leave to find that blue-headed idiot Shintaro. Then again I did see those two giant summons fight it out for a while. But that snake seemed to live after that giant toad cut into him. I think I should check it out before looking for that idiot." Akihiko said mildly impressed

"I'm sure he's fine, after all he seems cursed with that damn fox's chakra so he should be able to take care of himself. Alright, that's it, I'm going to see where that damn snake went. Chances are he works for that Orochimaru we were supposed to find."

Deciding to pick up the pace Akihiko followed the scent of snake near the scent of toad due north of him trying to move away. It wasn't long until the scent of blood hit his nose, and his eyes caught something moving behind the trees.

"You better get out of there, and don't bother playing dead. I can both smell, and see you so there's no point in hiding." Akihiko pointed out to

Whatever he had called out to had apparently heeded his warning, and decided to come out into view. What he saw was a giant snake that had a giant wound in his side, and did not look happy about it.

"And just who are you...a giant tiger? Are you perchance from Batorubare?" the giant serpent asked curiously

"I am, what of it serpent?" Akihiko replied annoyingly

"Watch your tone with me you wretched cat." the purple snake snarled as it coughed out blood

"I am a Saber Tooth TIGER. If anyone should be watching their tone it is the weakling that crawls on the dirt wherever you want to move about." Akihiko retorted with a low growl

"I am Manda! The ruler of all serpent kind, all fear me for I am the strongest one there is from Ryuchi Cave!" Manda shouted in rage

"Oh? Is that so? Well then I think I just found my new opponent." Akihiko said in anticipation

"Who are you?" Manda asked narrowing his eyes

"My name is Akihiko Tora, and you're my new prey." Akihiko said getting into a pouncing position

"Is that so? Well then I suppose since it's impossible for me to return to my homeland I might as well show whose the superior race here." Manda said with superiority

"Is that your idea a threat? Because if it is then your species as a whole must be weaklings. Especially you." Akihiko mocked

"That's it! Prepare to meet your end!" Manda shouted as he charged toward Akihiko

"Likewise!" Akihiko roared as he raised his claw ready for an attack

---

With Wolf against Shin

For the first time in his artificial life Shin was having difficulty fighting an opponent. It started with that sucker punch right after that "Wolf" had introduced himself, and since then he had trouble getting a leg up, or anything up really. This Wolf fought like an animal, which in hindsight shouldn't be a surprise, purely on instinct completely wild, and unpredictable. It seemed like no different than Shintaro was fighting from before, but this was different. He was blinded by rage before making his moves transparent, and easy to dodge even in version 2 cloak form.

Now, it looked like he was enjoying the fight cracking a wicked smile, and laughing crazily at times. Even when he landed a hit he quickly recovered to deliver a blow of his own, and while Wolf's blows may not have been as powerful as his he more than made up for it in terms of speed. So, instead of having to deal with single powerful strikes that could wipe him out in one shot he instead had to deal with a flurry of slightly less powerful claw strikes that came from all directions weakening him.

"What's the matter big guy? You were giving the kid such a hard time before, and now you're just a mess. I'll admit you can hit hard, but you are far FAR to slow for me." Wolf taunted as he dodged one of Shin's hammering sweeps countering with a uppercut that send Shin flying.

Wolf wasn't done with Shin however as he jumped highly above Shin grabbing his head tightly, and slammed his head into the earth creating a miniature crater in the earth

Shin retaliated however with unrealistic agility raising his legs past the point of his limit to kick Wolf in the face knocking him back a good 10 ft.

"So, this is the power of a Guardian Spirit, and only the first one as well. Kagaku-sama never clarified what to do if one came out, and I'm losing power every second this fight continues on. I have no idea of what his true capabilities are or the extent of them, and he's controlling this fight more so than I want. This may not be an ideal scenario, but there are hardly any other choices here. Retreating from this seal would be child's play, but going all through those impudent weaklings will probably cost me more time than desired." Shin analyzed

"Currently I am at 34% in total body condition durability, and less than 20% in terms of power. I only need a minimum of 5% to activate the portal, but the longer this fight continues the less likely that chance will come. I suppose there is one possibility, but it will cost me 10% of my total chakra reserves. It must be done." Shin decided as he dropped his war hammer

"What's the matter? Have you decided on giving up? Come on now, my bloods just beginning to boil." Wolf taunted as he lept toward Shin for another attack

"That won't be the only thing that'll be boiling." Shin muttered to himself

"What?" Wolf asked as he watched Shin's hands move at blinding speeds

"Forbidden technique: Steam Release: Burning Pestilence." Shin said coldly as he planted both of his hands on both Wolf's face, and chest for a few seconds before moving them to his stomach, and heart

"Now, Sealing Technique: 10 Pronged Seal." Shin said coldly as his fingers glowed a mixture of blue and green

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! It burns it FUCKING BURNS!" Wolf screamed at the top of his lungs

"Now, time to collect my worthless partner, both of them." Shin said with frustration ignoring the screams of his opponent

---

With Anko

"Damn it, where'd they go? I was sure they'd be around here somewhere, and I know that bastard's lair should be that way so where-"

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" a high pitched girl screamed at the top of her lungs

"Huh? Who said...that? Is that a kid...wait a minute, she could be one of those kids that bastard kidnapped. I have to go see for myself, sorry Shintaro you'll just have to wait a bit longer."

Deciding to change course Anko headed towards the sound of the profanity screaming child that was now being chased by dogs that looked like they were being summoned by someone. They looked friendly from they way they weren't jumping straight on her tearing her to pieces so attack dogs are out of the question.

She sent a few kunai toward the chasing dogs, but away from from the running girl as well. The dogs stepped back, and began growling at whoever threw them. But they stopped once they noticed the faint scent of their master mixed in with her natural scent. Not knowing what to do they decided to slow down on their chase to a complete stop for some unknown reason.

"Good, they stopped, but that kid doesn't seem to care not that I'm blame her. She must be scared out of her mind, gotta make sure she stays out of trouble. Hey kid!" Anko yelled getting the attention of the runaway girl

"Stay the hell away from me!" the girl said taking out what looked liked a senbon needle to defend herself

"Look kid I'm trying to help you." Anko said calmly just staying a few feet from her

"I said stay the fuck away from me you bitch!" the girl exclaimed shakily pointing the needle in her direction

"Damn, she's got the mouth on her." Anko thought to herself

"Look kid I'm not one of the bad guys, i'm trying to help you." Anko said easing her way up to the girl

"Go away! I'm not going back you hear me I'm not!" the girl shouted again only this time she had a small bit of fear in her tone

"You're not going back anywhere!" Anko snapped yelling at the girl

"Liar! You have those weird marks those freaks had!" the girl said in anger/fear again

"Well I...it's true that I used to have one of those, but this is different. I might look scary, but trust me I'm not that bad." Anko explained with a weak smile that put the girl to ease a bit

"Look lady, I don't know who you are or what you're doing here, but I don't give a shit. Just point me to the next village, and I'll survive on my own." the girl ordered not putting the needle down

"Look, sorry kid, but no can do." Anko said firmly putting her foot down

"What! Why the fuck not?!" the girl shouted furiously

"Geez language, anyways we're all trapped in here because of this." Anko said annoyingly pointing up

"By what...the hell is that?" the girl asked hesitantly as she saw giant markings in the sky that seemed to replace the stars altogether

"Look, to make a long story short me, and a bunch of other people are here to hunt down the guy who's responsible who took you from wherever you were living. That up there is a giant seal acting like a giant cage holding everyone in here. A friend of mine specifically came here to find kids like you to free you so that you could go back to your lives. Although I don't have any clue of where he could be at this point, everything's gone to hell, and I have no idea what's going on. Don't worry though kid, soon we'll bring you back to your family." Anko said calmly walking slowly towards her

"Heh, fat chance of that. Parents are dead, I have no other relatives and that orphanage sold me to whoever bought so there's no point in saving me. I can take care of myself, and I ain't letting nobody get in my way." the girl said stubbornly

"Damn, kid's barely half my age, and has already gone through hell. Alright, that's it I've made up my mind." Anko thought to herself with determination

"Listen kid, you're sticking with me. It's dangerous out here, and I'm sure the guy who came here looking to get you out of here is in some sort of fight." Anko said hoping that was the case

"Someone actually...came for me? Someone actually...wanted..."

"Who is he, and why'd he come for me?" the girl said carefully

"Huh?" Anko replied confused

"Are you deaf? I asked who the hell came for me, and why the fuck is he bothering to save me?" the girl asked annoyingly

"I shouldn't get my hopes up. It's probably some other slave driver, or some goody two shoes that wants to clear up their conscious. Or more likely it's some damn ninja recruiter wanting to beef up their ranks. Actually, it's probably those fuckers that killed off my...yeah, I'm sure that's-"

"His name is Shintaro, he's just a kid, and he's actually barely older than you." Anko replied simply throwing the girl off her train of thought

"What?" the girl said confused at what she just heard

"Yeah, the kid hasn't even had his balls drop, and he's done things most grown men won't even attempt what he's doing." Anko snickered

"Sounds stupid to me." the girl said instinctively

"What?" Anko replied

"What kind of chance does he think he has against the people who took me? If he's just a kid no older than me than it's basically committing suicide. I managed to escape on my own, and I'll do it again if I have to. No one's gonna care about one single orphan like me dies out in some random battlefield in the middle of nowhere. Just keep your help to yourself, and stay out of my way." the girl said finally before stomping away from Anko who had finally had enough

"Damn brat. Ok, if asking you to cooperate then I'll have to use force." Anko said as she decided to tackle the girl removing her of her weapon pinning her to the ground

"Hey, what the hell are you doing crazy bitch!?" the girl shouted

"Making sure you don't do anything stupid. Now you're coming with me so get over it!" Anko shouted annoyingly

"Damn it let me go!" the girl shouted as she struggled to get out of her captors grip

"Fat chance redhead! Damn it why didn't I have Kaori stay with me? Oh wait, hey mutts!" Anko shouted to the quiet dogs that have decided to play the observer

"We are ninken! Not some lowly mutts!" one of the dogs growled surprising both of the fighting females

"Oh shit they can talk!?" the two girls said in surprise unison looking at them with awe

"We can, thank you very much. Now, what is it?" the same dog replied annoying

"Ok, who summoned you first of all?" Anko asked easing up to the ninja hounds

"That'd be our master Kakashi Hatake of the Hatake. Do you know of him girlie?" the gruff hound asked

"Oh, so your that perverted cyclops summons huh." Anko deadpanned

"Hey, he's not that bad." the last dog said defending her master

"Really?" Anko said with a flat face causing the 3 hounds

"Ok, but he can be serious when on missions." the 3rd dog said still defending her master

"Anyways where is he?" Anko said rolling his eyes

"He sent us after that girl after Bull gave us the signal. She wouldn't stop running so we had to chase after her, but had to make sure we didn't hurt her." the first dog reply

"Well why wouldn't I be running? I just escaped from that hellhole, and as soon as I get out I'm being chased by fucking dogs probably sent to get me." the girl grumbled

"Damn. You've got quite the mouth don't you?" the first dog remarked

"Shut up! I can talk like however I want! If my parents didn't care about the way I talk then I don't see a problem with it." the girl stated firmly with her arms across her chest

"Geez, talk about bad parenting." Anko and all of the dogs thought to themselves

"Look, I need you guys to escort her back to where she came from. That warehouse should be the safest place for her right-"

"NO! NO! NO! I'm not heading back in there! I survived four months of hell to get free! You can't make me go back! You can't!" the girl shouted with both anger/fear in her tone

"Look kid, I'm sure it was rough being in that place, but you got to go back for your own good." Anko said calmly

"No! I can't go back! The box will crush me, all of the walls will close in one me! I can't go back, I can't go back!" the girl repeated with only fear in her voice, only Anko didn't hold back on her decision

"Hey kid, I don't what your deal is but-" but Anko was interrupted by the sudden clinging of her legs by the girl that seemed so adamant on defying her

"Please...don't me go in there..." the girl begged as her whole body shook with terror

"Ugh, damn it..." Anko thought to herself as she felt guilty about what happened to the poor kidnapped girl

"Ok, how about this. You don't have to go in that place again just be near it. Does that sound alright to you?" Anko asked calmly

"I don't...really have to go in there? Just the outside right?" the girl asked for certainty sake

"She's like a different person. Must've really had a hard time with small spaces." Anko thought with sympathy

"Yeah, just make sure you at least hide behind the place alright? Think you guys can manage that?" Anko asked the ninken

"Who do you think we are girl? We're not some random guard dogs that obey every human's whim." the first dog growled in annoyance

"Look, I'm partnered up with Kakashi ok? We're from the same village, and besides it's not like you're doing anything else since you can't go back to your own home." Anko said plainly

"What? What are you talking about? Of course we can...what?" the first dog said in confusion

"Look, long story short we're in a seal that prevents any type of escape jutsu or returning summon techniques. So, either you can try to poof your way back home with no effect wasting your time or protect this girl, and be useful here." Anko said annoyed at the ninja hounds

"Come on Urushi, let's just take the girl back to Kakashi." the second dog said trying to convince his fellow furry comrade

"Yeah man, I've already tried going back home, but it ain't working. Plus I'm sure Kakashi is worried about us." the third dog said assisting in the conversation

"Akino, Guruko, you guys have gotten real soft haven't you?" Urushi said to his left, and right

"Oh shut up, I'm sure Kakashi would've told us to do the same thing." Akino said rolling her eyes

"Tch, whatever. You ready to go or what little girl?" Urushi asked giving in to his fellow summons

"Shut up stupid dog!" the girl shouted in annoyance

"What was that?" Urushi growled

"You heard me." the girl said finding her false courage again

"Grrrrr, little..."

"Urushi." Akino scolded

"Fine, let's get going." Urushi said holding himself back

"So, what are you going to do?" Guruko asked the snake mistress who seemed to be doing some stretches

"I'm going to find Jiraiya-sama, and hopefully get a few good punches in with that bastard. Either that, or run into the person responsible for giving me a giant swinging attack in the back, and beat his ass." Anko said as she cracked her knuckles

"Well, good luck on that. Come on guys, let's go, that includes you little girl." Urushi ordrered much to the small girls' annoyance

"Hey!" she shouted

"Just go...eh, what's your name again?" Anko asked

"I never said my name in the first place, but it's Tayuya, not like it matters." Tayuya grumbled to herself

"Ok, Tayuya, my name's Anko Mitarashi , and the kid who came here for you is named Shintaro. Remember that name Tayuya, because that's the name of your savior." Anko said a seriously

"Shintaro huh...thanks." Tayuya said quietly

"What was that?" Anko asked with a small grin causing Tayuya to blush

"Nothing, I'm leaving no-"

"Hey! You smell that?" Urushi said seriously

"Yeah, smells like...burning flesh." Akino commented with a hint of disgust in her tone

"It's coming from over there, and making it's way toward us fast." Guruko stated growling towards the direction it was coming from

"Who is it?" Tayuya asked concerned it was another kidnapper

"It's...oh god." Anko uttered from the pure shock of who she saw nearly burnt to a crisp along who was carrying the burnt victim

---

With Rei, and Kaori

It was like a dream that came out of a nightmare. She was being chased by some crazed monster bent on torturing her, and just as she was about to lose something precious to her given by her mother. Then, out of nowhere her mother herself saved her from dying even if for a moment, but that moment allowed for someone else to take her mother's place as her savior.

Some strange woman out of nowhere claiming herself as that monster's new opponent, and fighting her to a standstill. Yet, despite her heroics the woman was having trouble against the now one armed monster holding her own. That monster's tenacity to not die was the most leading problem in this fight, and proving to be her saviors problem.

Right now Rei was resting against a tree hugging her knees for a small amount of comfort. Despite having a hard time keeping herself conscious she'd never a huge mistake as to fall asleep during a battle such as this.

"Damn it, why won't you die!? It's easy, just stand there, and take it like a man ok?" Seikatsu said as her tone of voice changed drastically at her end of speech to a crazed demonic baritone

"I'm a woman, but you...I don't know what you are." Kaori said as she dodged a porturuding arm spike that came out of her palm

"Now that was uncalled for don't ya think?" Seikatsu said retreating her arm blade

"What was uncalled for was your treatment of that child." Kaori replied coldly

"Oh her? We were just having a bit of fun, weren't we?" Seikatsu said staring into a limp, fear ridden Rei dead in her eyes who jumped back into the tree

"She sounded as if she was being tortured by you. Such dreadful acts should never be used on an innocent child such as her." Kaori said angrily dodging a kick from Seikatsu's extending leg

"Oh come off it, the world doesn't give a damn if one little girl is hurt, but that's where I'm different. Innocent or not I share my fun with everyone in the whole wide world. After all, no one in this world is innocent, and their lives are oh so gloomy. So I tend to spice things up a bit so what? I'll bet you anything this an experience she'll never forget if nothing else, and that's all I want to do. Is that so wrong? To make some memories?" Seikatsu asked with her twisted smile never leaving her face

"Those memories are probably going to haunt her for the rest of her life!" Kaori yelled as she ripped a tree trunk from the earth and throwing it at her opponent

"All the better." Seikatsu simply replied dodging the giant projectile

"You monster." Kaori growled

"Aw, thank you. Now, why don't you be a good naked lady, and die!" Seikatsu shouted as she threw up a small blade before throwing it at her

"I'll pass on that offer." Kaori simply replied

"It wasn't an offer." Seikatsu's changed tone said gravely

"Darn, she's hard to kill even with one arm, and whenever I do land a hit she shrugs it off as if it did nothing. I only have 5 more minutes at best before I " Kaori thought to herself

"Tell me, for what purpose are you set on tormenting on that child?" Kaori asked coldly

"Didn't I tell you that already?" Seikatsu asked confused of her question

"I hardly think she did anything to gain your attention." Kaori said passively

"Oh, on the contrary she did do something to catch my eye." Seikatsu countered with an evil grin

"What did she do then?" Kaori asked narrowing her eyes

"She feared me." Seikatsu said licking her lips as Rei shivered upon hearing those words

"What?" Kaori said surprised

"I'll admit I was a bit surprised when Taro-kun came in with some new friends, but to be honest I'm glad he did. I've killed so many of his friends, and properly instilled fear in his other buddies that I was beginning to get a little bored with them. Then out of nowhere Taro-kun brought some scar covered boy toy, and that little precious tattoo girl who immediately looked at me with fear in her eyes. I always love it when they know how much shit they're in when they look into my eyes." Seikatsu said as she bursted in a cackling laughter

"You truly are evil." Kaori said unsympathetically

"Have to be, comes with the job." Seikatsu said "extending" her arm socking Kaori in the jaw

"And who do you work for?" Kaori asked recovering from the punch

"Someone who's going to make the world more fun, let everyone who lives in it much more friendly to each other and, most of all be happy. Only problem is that there are pesky governments, world leaders, and dumb people with "free will" who'll probably want to keep their boring world." Seikatsu explained with a twisted blissfull cheerful expression on her face

"Your master sounds like a madman." Rei said spitting out some blood

"What was that?" Seikatsu asked as Kaori decided

"You heard her, your master sounds nothing more than a cliche madman hellbent on making a world that fits his selfish desires. A child has more ambition than-"

"Dont...you dare...insult...Kagaku-sama...you BITCH!" Seikatsu shouted as a black aura began surrounding her entire body that seemed to be sucking the life out of everything near her as her own body began undergoing a transformation of her own.

Her skin began blackening starting from the end of her limbs reaching their way to her torso at a slow rate in a spiral formation. Meanwhile she undid some of her stitches near her heart became undone letting blood flow out, and that blood began burning itself into her skin forming a barbed swastika swirling on her chest.

Her teeth began growing at a slow rate as well to the point of sticking out of her mouth, her eyes changing into a pure pearl white shade with a giant black curved Xin the dead center of her eyeballs that divided the whites of her eyes into four crisscross sections. She began growing hair that flow past her eyes, but was now somehow defying logic by flying upward like some demon.

The leaves lost their color falling from the trees, the grass became stiff and brittle losing their color as well, the trees themselves were becoming thin creaking from their own weight. Kaori herself began feeling weak from just being near the raging horror that was standing a few feet from her.

"This power...what is it?" Kaori said stepping back shielding Rei from the aura

"I'm going to ground your slutty ass into the dirt, and use your spine to choke the life out of that little girl. Now, Forbidden technique: Hell-"

"That's enough Seikatsu." Shin said putting his hand on Seikatsu's shoulder

"Don't get in my way. That whore insulted Kagaku-sama!" Seikatsu shouted

"Let her be, you shouldn't her ignorant words affect you. Here, you dropped your "toys" on the floor again." Shin said handing over a giant to Seikatsu

"But-"

"But nothing we're leaving. I already have Orochimaru with me though I have met with resistance, but I am unable to locate his subordinate. We'll have to leave him behind." Shin said plainly

"What's go you so sca-hold on. What the hell happened to you?" Seikatsu asked looking at the royally messed up Shin

Half of his pale white skin in total was burnt off some showing his muscles, and part of his black greasy hair was singed off. His face was clawed in multiple layers of 5 rows, and his body shared the same scarring through it's entirety. His clothes were non existant showing off everything, but oddly enough he had no reproductive organs (kind of like the Titans in Attack on Titan) where they should be. His right arm was covered in blood, but was still managing to hold his gigantic weapon with ease. The only other thing that seemed to have injured him was the sight of multiple puncture wounds the size of a small sword would make.

"As I have said I've met with some resistance retrieving this worthless partner of ours." Shin repeated tiredly

"Well damn...alright fine then...I suppose if you're bent out of shape then we have to go." Seikatsu said as her transformation stopped, and started to reverse reverting back to her previous hideous form

"As if you're one to talk. What became of your arm? And you look as if you've fought as well." Shin said calmly pointing to the missing arm

"That's what I want to know. I was right in the middle of getting myself some butterfly wings when my arm started itching like crazy. That was when I realized it was those really tiny purple bugs that eat you real fast so I had to cut it off fast." Seikatsu explained annoyingly

"I see, did they come from that child you were fighting?" Shin asked looking for Rei who seemed to be missing at the moment

"That's the thing, I would've noticed if she was about to do something, but all she did was cry out for her mommy then poof itchy arm." Seikatsu said nonchalantly

"Hm, in any case we'll have to give in to a retreat now given the condition you're in." Shin said stoically

"Aw man, and I was hoping to have some more fun with Taro-kun." Seikatsu moaned disappointed of the outcome

"You'll have to wait, it would seem he's awakened that power within him after all. Or the first level as it explained to me." Shin said seriously as Seikatsu did a double take on what she just heard

"What? You actually managed to talk to one of them?" Seikatsu said genuinely shocked

"The "weakest" of them or so it claimed, and it put me into the condition I am now. I only managed to escape with a surprise attack that somehow worked, but it cost me about almost all of my reserves." Shin said somewhat frustratingly

"Damn, now I know Kakagu-sama was right on the mark. Guess we gotta go, you got the portal ready?" Seikatsu asked seriously

"Indeed, preparations have been made. Let us move-" but Shin was interrupted with an electrical hand going through his heart

"Sorry bub, you're not going anywhere." Kakashi said seriously as Shin didn't move an inch from the attack

Seikatsu was stabbed as well from the behind through grazing the aorta coughing out blood as her head went limp hanging down by a certain out of breath Uchiha.

"You as well, you both have a lot to answer-" but it was Itachi who was interrupted as Seikatsu's head suddenly shot up and did a full turn looking Itachi straight in his shocked Sharingan eyes

"How annoying, DIE!" Seikatsu said as a flurry of senbon needles were thrown from her mouth landing into Itachi's body

"Itachi!" Kakashi yelled as he saw Itachi fall to the floor

"It is you who won't be going anywhere." Shin said coldly grabbing Kakashi's hand that stabbed him tightly to the point of nearly breaking his wrist

"What?" Kakashi shouted as he tried to get out

"Bye bye!" Seikatsu said with a wicked smile giving Kakashi the same fate as his fellow Anbu Black Ops Captain, and fell to the floor

---

With Anko

"Jiraiya-sama! What happened to you? What the hell happened to Shintaro?" Anko shouted in surprise as Jiraiya gently put down Shintaro on the floor

"Long story short, my taste of women was used against me. As for Shintaro...I have no idea, but the kid isn't going to last long in this condition."

"What do we do?"

"We need to get him to a hospital, and fast. Problem is this seal isn't going to let that happen, but it looks like due to my lack of chakra it's falling apart on its own. I just hope he'll survive long enough."

"Oi, what the hell is that smell? It's nasty as fuck!" Tayuya said holding her nose on the verge of throwing up

"Geez Anko, never thought you'd be the insensitive type." Jiraiya deadpanned cynically causing Anko to automatically in a defense mode

"That wasn't me! It's that brat over there." Anko said pointing a groaning Tayuya still holding her nose on the floor

"Huh? Oh, I barely even noticed her. Is she..." Jiraiya said carefully

"Yeah, she's one of that Snake bastard's captive's, but the way she talked about the others...it didn't sound good." Anko said sadly

"I see, damn it." Jiraiya grunted punching the earth getting Tayuya's attention

"Hey, old guy. Whose the big kid? I never saw him with the others in that damn place. Was he a new addition or something?" Tayuya asked curiously

"The name's Jiraiya little girl, and I'd normally go all out on who I am but I ain't feeling 100%. And he's the one who came here to find you kids." Jiraiya said sympathetically causing Tayuya's eyes to go wide

"He's the one?" Tayuya said losing her voice a bit before catching herself

"Yeah, damn idiot. What the hell was he doing to get like this?" Anko asked holding her anger in

"Fi...ghting." Shintaro said in a weak coarse voice

"Huh? Shintaro!" Anko said surprise

"Not...dead yet." Shintaro said with extreme effort

"I can see that idiot! Tell me, who did this to you? I'm gonna make that bastard pay for what he did!" Anko said angrily

"No...did this...myself." Shintaro uttered weakly

"What?" Anko and Jiraiya said in surprise unison

"For...forbidden...tech...doubl...edge." Shintaro muttered

"What was that?" Tayuya asked unable to hear

"It sounds like he did something that caused his body to be like this. Must've been a powerful opponent for him to resort to something like that. And I think I know who that is." Jiraiya said gravely

"Gonna...kill...kill them...both...mon...sters." Shintaro said hatefully

"I take it they're someone you know." Jiraiya said plainly keeping a straight ace

"Bastards...kill them...kill..." Shintaro groaned gripping his broken fist tightly

"Damn it kid, I think you hate these guys more than I hate that Orochimaru bastard." Anko said with sympathy for the rage driven child

"I do...kids...they...o...k?" Shintaro asked calming himself down surprising his companions yet again in his change of subject

"Must want to know if something good happened for once. Can't blame him." Anko thought to herself

"Yeah, actually here's one now. Hey, be nice." Anko said quietly in a stern voice

"Yeah yeah I'm not that cruel." Tayuya said releasing her grip on her nose doing her best not to throw up

"Shintaro, meet one of your rescue kids." Anko said politely as she gently pushed Tayuya toward Shintaro as he stressfully turned his head attempting to see who it was with the group

"H...hi...name?" Shintaro asked weakly

"It's uh, Tayuya, just Tayuya." Tayuya said as politely as she could holding her breath from the repugnant smell coming from him and was also wondering why Shintaro looked shocked to hear her name

"Ta...yu..ya?" Shintaro said weakly

"Yeah, uh, you gonna be ok?" Tayuya asked nicely holding in her urge to puke

"F..fine...others?" Shintaro said hoping for a pleasant answer

"Ummm..." Tayuya said unsure of what to say next

"She escaped before everyone else, I don't think she knows anything about the other kids." Anko said quickly as Shintaro's eyes drifted from the original position

"Shit, he must've figured it out. Damn it."

"Oh...ok...ar...u...hurt?" Shintaro

"What the hell is up with him? He's beyond bad shape, and he's asking me if he's ok? Is he an idiot?" Tayuya thought to herself confused of why this person was so concerned with her welbeing

"Psh! As if! I wasn't going to let any of those shitheads touch me." Tayuya said crossing her arms causing Shintaro's mouth to lightly twitch upward

"Good...glad you're...ok." Shintaro said happily doing his best eye smile that he could manage

"Shintaro." Anko said quietly

"Rei...Aki...where are...they?" Shintaro asked

"Don't know, haven't met up with them. Haven't seen Kakashi or Itachi for that matter either. Jiraiya-sama, do you know where they went or are they still at the warehouse?" Anko asked Jiraiya who seemed to be in deep thought

"Not a clue. I'd look for them myself, but I can barely move on my own." Jiraiya grunted as he coughed out some more blood

"Yeah, get some rest Jiraiya-sama. I'd like to leave to, but if I do what about you guys?" Anko asked concerned about the group

"We'll be fine. Orochimaru is out of the picture, I have no idea where that kid of his is, and that big guy is still wandering around. Not to mention that seal of yours isn't going to last forever." Jiraiya reminded Anko

"It'll last long enough. Oh, and as for that four eyed bastard." Anko said with a creepy grin

whistle!

Just as Anko finished her whistle it was a few seconds later that a giant anaconda popped out of the ground.

"You called?" Ken asked knowingly she did

"What the-" Jiraiya said getting on edge reaching for a kunai

"Easy Jiraiya-sama. He's one of my snake summons, his name is Ken, and is currently the jail/warden of Kabuto, the four eyed bastard I mentioned earlier. Oh, and speaking of him, spit him out." Anko said pointing to where she wanted Ken to spit him out

"You sure that's safe? He's still asleep, but landing on the ground might wake him up." Ken asked concerned for his master

"I'm sure." Anko said

"Alright, if you say so. One white haired pipsqueak coming up." Ken said as regurgitated an unconscious Kabuto onto the floor

"Gross." Tayuya said looking disgusted

"So, this is Kabuto correct?" Jiraiya said neutrally looking at the boy

"Yeah, apparently he's a spy that Orochimaru planted in Konoha, but from what he told us Orochimaru wasn't the first one to use his spying skills. His current assignment in Konoha was to you know gain information, and the usual spy stuff while also focusing on his medical ninjutsu with his adoptive parent who's an above average doctor. Actually his dad doesn't even know about him being the spy, and the dad's totally convinced he's his son as well." Anko said in a quick debriefing tone while Jiraiya raised his eyebrow

"You interrogated him? Must have a loose tongue if you got all that from him, and from one of Orochimaru's lackey's too." Jiraiya said impressed

"Actually, I have Kaori, and Ken to thank for that, they're my other summons." Anko said with pride

"You summoned two other snakes his size? That must've cost you a lot of chakra." Jiraiya said concerned about Anko

"I guess it did, but I didn't really feel the change. Anyways, Kaori, and Ken both have methods of getting the truth out of people that aren't violent." Anko said glaring at Ken

"Hey hey, it's not my fault my main strong suit is squeezing the life out of everything." Ken said defensively

"You could've waited you know." Anko said keeping her glare

"Sorry, sorry." Ken apologized

"It's fine. Anyways, Kaori naturally doesn't have venom running through her veins or is able to secrete anything from her fangs as well. However, she made up for it by going through a bunch of forbidden rituals to change her body. She still can't use venom, but she does have something else running through her veins...truth serum." Anko said with pride

"Really?" Jiraiya said with pride

"Yeah, it's part of the reason why she can't lie for shit." Ken snickered

"Ken." Anko scolded

"It's true." Ken said snidely

"Whatever, it's not actual truth serum that we make, rather a natural fluid that forces the brain's to numbs its natural cognitive resistance to lies, and other crap like that to a child's degree. While Ken has the ability to hypnotize anyone he wants, but it works better on people with weak willpower or in a weak mind state." Anko explained with little confidence

"Huh, that's impressive, I'm guessing it was a combined effort between the two." Jiraiya deduced

"It was, but thanks to Ken wanting to prove himself Kabuto lost conscious before I could ask him anything else." Anko said annoyed

"They were taking too long!" Ken defended as Jiraiya decided to intervene

"It's fine. You didn't have to interrogate him anyways, but thanks for taking the time. Once we get back to Konoha we'll let Ibiki deal with him. Alright, here's what's going to happen, we'll-"

"Do nothing without me." Shintaro said clearly as he did his best to lift himself up

"Shintaro?" Anko said surprised turning around shocked to see that Shintaro's skin was already healing itself

"I'm...fine. It long enough, but I finally managed to make my healing factor finally kick into full gear." Shintaro grunted as he cracked his neck

"Are you kidding me? You can barely move as it is." Anko scolded

"I still have enough to move my limbs, and that's more than enough for what I have planned." Shintaro said seriously

"Well first things first, would you mind explaining what the hell happened at Orochimaru's lair?" Anko asked angrily as if everything went wrong was his fault

"To put it simply, one of my worst case scenarios came true." Shintaro said gravely

"Care to explain?" Jiraiya asked

"I'm sure you've met with Shin already." Shintaro said in disgust

"Big dude, pale white, carries a ridiculously dangerous large/dangerous weapon?" Jiraiya said trying to lighten the mood

"Yeah, him." Shintaro said with pure hate

"He seemed incredibly strong considering he looked barely able to stand up." Jiraiya commented

"Not surprising, he's barely human as it is with strength that can match Tsunade when at peek condition, add the fact he doesn't feel pain, and you have a walking death machine. He has another partner...one that I intend to kill myself named Seikatsu. She, or more accurately it is more arguably the more dangerous of the pair." Shintaro explained

"I haven't met anyone else so I'm assuming that they're an unknown." Jiraiya stated seriously

"That's putting it lightly. She's basically unkillable, as psychotic as one can possibly be, and to make it worse she knows she's crazy using it to her advantage. What's worse than that believe it or not is that she's capable of holding her own against a Kage, Shin can too, but he doesn't have Seikatu's unpredictability. Both are capable of using the 5 elements as well, and are able to use them to their full potential as well." Shintaro explained as his tone kept filling up with more hatred

"How is that possible? Even jonins are capable of using 3 at most, and the other 2 are significantly less powerful than the jonin's main element." Anko said confused of how powerful they could be

"Like I said, they're inhuman-no, monsters are what they are. And I intend to kill the both of them with my own two hands." Shintaro said gritting his teeth

"If what you said is true then you don't stand a chance in hell against them." Anko said trying to calm Shintaro down only to have the opposite effect

"Doesn't matter, everytime I run into them someone dies, and that fact hasn't changed one bit. That's why I have to test myself everytime I see them, to see how far I've come since then. I have a long, long way to go, but that will never slow me down. I owe it to my friends who sacrificed themselves to let us get away. Fumiko, Haruko, Yumiko, Hakufu, Masori, Menma, Ichiro, Masami, everyone...I'll get revenge for their sakes, their sacrifices won't be in vain." Shintaro swore as he slowly rose his KI to dangerous level's

"Shintaro." Anko said firmly getting his attention convincing him to stop

"I'm fine...I've said more than I wanted to anyways. So, you're Tayuya right? Sorry if I scared you." Shintaro said forcing down his Killer Intent

"Huh, oh...yeah? What about it?" Tayuya asked trying not to act nervous

"It's a pretty name." Shintaro complimented with an eye smile

"Eh? W-What are you talking about? S-Shut up!" Tayuya shouted with a blush on her cheeks

"It's true, but I'm sure you already know that. So...you're the only one aren't you?" Shintaro said sadly shocking the girl who kept it a secret

"What? H-How'd you-"

"I can smell blood on you, and while I'm guessing some of that belongs to your guards, there's a distinct young blood scent on you." Shintaro said plainly confusing everyone

"Young blood?" Jiraiya said confused

"So, you smelled it to huh?" Urushi asked

"Yup." Shintaro confirmed

"But you're a human, how'd you do that?" Akino asked out of curiosity

"Blood in it of itself has it's own sense of smell. However, if you train yourself long enough or have the unfortunate circumstances of being surrounded by blood all your life you can tell minor differences between each person to the point of categorizing. Think of it as smelling, and tasting your food. If something has faint scent of sweetness, chances are it'll taste sweet. Same rules apply to blood, and before you go assuming I drink blood on a daily basis I don't, it's just my blood."

"You'd be surprised how many times I've tasted my own blood, and when I cut other people, mostly in a rage their blood lands in my mouth. Old, young, man, woman, I've had a handful of blood samples that unfortunately landed in my mouth. Anyways, I have the unfortunate or fortunate depending on how you look at it, ability to never forget something related to my senses. Touch, Smell, Sight, Hearing, and Taste doesn't matter what it is I'll remember it to a ridiculous degree."

"Any who, children like myself have a strong, fresh iron smell to it while adults have a more faded, aged ting of iron in their blood, and finally elderly people have a faint, or very weak scent of iron in their veins. Like I said, I ain't happy that I know this, but I do and that's that. Besides, I didn't really notice until my insane ability until psycho-sensei, and Old man Z told me." Shintaro said nostalgically

"Psycho-sensei? Old man Z?" Anko said in confusion

"My sensei's who taught me everything, and to be honest kind of my surrogate grandparents. If you can't put two, and two together they're the reason why I can tell the difference between so many blood types." Shintaro said cynically

"Damn, and I thought my upbringing was crazy." Anko said in sympathy as Shintaro got up

"I'm sure it was. Now, let's-gyah!"Shintaro said as he threw up blood

"Shintaro!" Anko said concern

"I'm fine, the internal damage is taking longer to heal than I thought. Shouldn't take longer than a few minutes." Shintaro said coughing up the last of of the blood

"Aw, too bad you don't have a few minutes." a familiar voice said

"That voice." Shintaro said lifting up his head to see his reasons for getting stronger

"Miss me Taro-kun?" Seikatsu said with trademark twisted grin

---

With Akihiko

"Finally, about time that damn snake bit the dust. The least he could do was be tasty." Akihiko said as he spit out a large amount of Manda's hide on the floor

"Agreed. So, a warrior prince from Batorubare eh? Never thought I'd see your kind again." Gamabunta said honestly

"The chief toad of Mount Myoboku, the feeling's just mutual. So, where's your summoner?" Akihiko asked out of curiosity

"I should be asking you that. Considering what happened during the second war." Gamabunta said with a cocky grin

"Tch! That hardly matters, all you need to know is that I no longer have any ties to that place. And to be honest, I'm glad that I don't anymore. What I want to know is, who the hell are you?" Akihiko asked a smaller serpent about maybe half the size of Manda

"My name is Kazuo, one of the few who opposed Manda's rule. I wished to assist you in ending him, but I had another responsibility to attend to. You can come out now, I believe it's safe." Kazuo said gently as a small girl came slowly out from a tree

"Thanks. I know it must've been a hard decision leaving your friend like that." Rei said ashamed of herself

"Kaori is a capable warrior given the right circumstances. Besides, if I didn't do as she said it would've been me that she'd thrown at those two." Kazuo said with a small smile

"So, you're still alive huh? Guess you're not totally helpless." Akihiko said impressed

"What? Who the hell are you?" Rei asked angrily at the giant tiger

"It's me bug bitch." Akihiko snorted

"Akihiko!?" Rei shouted in surprise

"Now you use my name?" Akihiko said annoyed rolling his eyes

"I-It was just out of reflex. How'd you get this big?" Rei asked changing the subject

"Did you pay attention to what I told you at all last night? This is my true form."

"I thought you were just trying to sound cool. How...how did you..."

"Ugh, forbidden technique, and that's all you need to know." Akihiko said annoyed

"Ok, so where's Shintaro?" Rei asked concerned

"He's over that way, I can smell him from here. Along with just about everyone else, including that psychotic freak, and...someone else with another snake there as well." Akihiko snarled sniffing his enemies

"H-Her!? D-Did she find S-S-Shintaro?" Rei stuttered as she hugged herself

"What are you so afraid of?" Akihiko said confused of her actions

"I don't want to talk about it." Rei said quietly turning her head not saying another word

"Hmph, suit yourself. In any case, we need to get over there they might need our help." Akihiko said

"N-No! I-I mean if you can smell...her then that Kaori lady, and those two guys might be in trouble." Rei said defending herself

"She does raise a good point. If what you said is true then I'm starting to worry about how well Kaori is doing. If you wouldn't mind waiting a few moments I can check in on them." Kazuo offered

"Hmph, hurry up then. Do you have any way of signaling us on your progress or on their situation?" Akihiko said pressed for time

"I do, I'm tall enough to poke above those trees, and I'm strong enough to pull them out of the ground. I'll do so, and throw it at you. One tree will mean they're alive, and well. Two trees will mean they're alive, but in critical condition. Three trees will unfortunately mean some casualties."

"Sounds fine. Now get a move on, depending on their condition we may have to stay here. Oi, bug bitch."

"W-What!?"

"Do you have any insects in you that are capable of healing or keeping someone from dying?"

"I...have a few in mind. Why?" Rei asked knowing

"You're going with him. That freak isn't there so there shouldn't be any problems with that. Got it?" Akihiko ordered

"Fine! Wait, what are you going to do then?" Rei asked accusingly

"Depending on his response I'll do one of two things. Either come your way, and help out with the injured or two I'll rush over there to smash that insane freak show underneath my paw. Not to mention this old toad is on the verge of dying so someone has to keep an eye on him." Akihiko explained

"As if you're one to talk. You're movements were completely sluggish when we went up against Manda." the giant toad retorted

"Hey! I just forced myself out of a genjutsu, and was poisoned, actually I'm still poisoned!" Akihiko yelled

"Well, I was stabbed with a multiple times by a flying sword!" Gamabunta yelled back

"A sword the size of a toothpick!" Akihiko retorted

"Pardon me for intruding, but I'm going now. Please, don't try to kill yourselves before I notify you." Kazuo said politely before slithering

"Dirty cat." Gamabunta snorted

"Rotten frog." Akihiko growled

"Let us go Rei-san." Kazuo said as Rei jumped on

"R-Right." Rei answered

Watching the two make their way toward the forest the two beasts decided to engage in a more peaceful chat.

"So, really. How are things in Batorubare?" Gamabunta asked taking a puff from his pipe

"Why do you want to know?" Akihiko asked licking his left paw

"Well, is just that whenever you "Warriors" came down from your mighty hill you always either bragged or complain of what happened there. I mean, I think you're the only summon species that gave us a weather report back home." the chief toad said explaining his actions

"Tch, those were only the weaklings that wanted to advertise themselves to the world. There were always others wanting to prove themselves, but there was a limited amount of people with the chakra capacity to summon us. Save for those of the Uzumaki clan, and whoever was involved with The Fallen." Akihiko said fondly remembering his past battles

"I remember, in fact back then the Uzumaki clan was your go to as far as summoners went." Gamabunta replied

"We were, until...the extermination began." Akihiko said neutrally

"Oh yes, the combined effort of Kiri, Iwa, and Kumo to be rid of Konoha's most powerful ally. If I remember most of your population was also greatly lessened on that day-"

"Those were foolish cubs, and old relics wanting to prove themselves in battle when they were past their prime or wanted to gain fame from the battle. They weren't even summoned through normal means, and yet they insisted on participating in a battle they weren't involved in." Akihiko interrupted angrily growling at the toad

"Even so, I'd imagine you'd be a little upset over that day." Gamabunta said calmly

"If there's anything to get upset about it was the amount of time it took to return those idiots, but instead those elders decided it was their own fault for getting involved in the first place. Personally I just found the whole thing annoying, and was irritated that they didn't replace the new blood with me. Although, some of the others shared a different opinion on the matter, calling it genocide to leave them on their own like that."

"Was it?"

"Genocide is mass murdering defenseless innocents on purpose. Their involvement was nothing short of idiotic charging into a battle that didn't involve them. I felt nothing when they perished other than pity for those that had to mourn them."

"I see, well I suppose some things will never change with you people, or should I say Warriors?"

"Hmph, they lost all rights to be called Warriors. I may have been "banished" but in reality they've lost sight of what we once stood for."

"Oh? Banished eh? Most would be ashamed of their situation, but you seemed to be embracing it."

"My entire life was tolerating my parents as well as those damn elders grooming me into the "perfect warrior" only to cast me aside the moment I make a decision of my own free will."

"Hahahahaha! Just as you'd expect from those snobby cats! I'd offer you a drink if you weren't so pitiful."

"For once I agree with you."

"Bwahahahaha! Now I really wish I had a drink."

"Enough. I just saw the first tree get thrown in the sky...that makes two..."

---

With Shintaro

With the surprise appearance of his long time enemies even though

"Gotta say, I'm surprised. I never thought you'd have such high praise about us." Seikatsu said acting surprised

"Or detailed information about us when we've encountered you in the 5 times that we did." Shin said calculating how to achieve his current objective

"You have your dumbass flunkies to thank for that." Shintaro replied with a cocky grin hidden by his mask

"Oh?" Seikatsu said with a curious grin

"Those weaklings were embedded with a seal to prevent information from compromising us." Shin said unconvinced of his information source

"Yeah, and I'll admit it was annoying having to deal with them exploding all the god damn time on me. However, with trial, and error I managed to figure out your damn seal. And if there's one thing my insane, paranoid psycho-sensei taught me about the world, is that there are ways to get people to tell you what you want to know." Shintaro replied in a serious tone

"Huh, well aren't you a smarty pants?" Seikatsu said in a pouting tone

"Shut up, I don't want your patronizing compliments." Shintaro growled

"Come on, can't we all be nice to each other?" Seikatsu whined with a disappointed look on her face

"Is that your idea of a sick joke?" Shintaro asked disgustingly

"Like it? Ba dum boosh!" Seikatsu chuckled as she motioned her hands

"I'm going to rip off that last arm of yours, and shove it down your throat!" Shintaro yelled flaring off his killer intent

"Oooh, scary. Does that mean your ready to avenge your little friends?" Seikatsu taunted

"Don't you dare mention them!" Shintaro yelled again

"You sure? You kinda lost it when I mentioned your little snowflake. I feel bad for her you know. Her last words never to be heard by her best friend." Seikatsu said in a "sad" mocking tone

"Shut up. Fumiko would've fought to the very end." Shintaro spat as Seikatsu's twisted grin grew wider

"Oh, and fight she did. She even let out her "inner beast" if you know what I mean. Not to mention those bones popping out of her, never thought she was a kaguya, and apparently neither did she." Seikatsu giggled as Shintaro went wide eyed at her statement

"Fumiko...you'd really..." Shintaro said quietly clenching his fists

"It wasn't just her. The red heads were smart as can be dodging me at every turn, that little ice queen was by far the sneakiest of the bunch, and your "big bad" bodyguards went down feeling like they completely failed you of all people. You're quiet the boy toy aren't you Taro-kun?" Seikatsu taunted with a mocking grin

"SHUT UP!" Shintaro yelled as he forced himself up only to be held back by Anko

"Shintaro, calm down!" Anko yelled struggling to keep Shintaro from killing himself

"Let me go!" Shintaro demanded

"What are you doing here?" Jiraiya said raising his own killer intent

"Just came by to say hi, and bye. Muscles, and I thought we'd come to take Taro-kun's body if he was unconscious. But low and behold Taro-kun's up, and surrounded by some of his...new sacrifices." Seikatsu said carefully as she planned her next choice of conservation

"Sacrifices?" Jiraiya asked confused

"Be quiet!" Shintaro yelled as Anko continued to hold him down

"Oh? Taro-kun didn't tell you yet? Well, it seems that he has this nasty habit of making friends, and they just somehow off themselves because of "loyalty" or "friendship" or some cutesy junk like that. I mean why do you think those kids you escort follow you like little sheep?" Seikatsu asked cryptically

"Seikatsu." Shin warned

"It's because you know which doggy to send out to the wolves, and the wolves love it when they're fed their next meal." Seikatsu mocked as she licked her lips

"I'll kill you!" Shintaro yelled as he broke out of Anko's grip charging straight at them

"Shintaro wait!" Anko yelled holding out her hand trying to grab him

"Too easy." Seikatsu thought cockily as a hidden blade appeared on the side of her arm

As Shintaro was in midair only a few inches away from Seikatsu, he immediately realized his mistake. He saw from the corner of his eyes how Seikatsu in a swift motion lift her arm to his eyes slashing them deeply to the point where Shintaro could only see red.

"Ah god! My eyes! My fucking eyes!" Shintaro screamed in pain as he writhed on the ground holding his eyes tightly

"Like I thought. Too e-" Seikatsu said with pride until she felt a small bloody hand on her stomach

"Kidding." Shintaro chuckled keeping his head down

"EH!" Seikatsu shouted in surprise

"Impossible." Shin said feeling the same sensation on his stomach

"Ninja art: Fire/Wind Style: Flaming Air Cannon!" Shintaro shouted as two twin pillars of fire erupted from Shintaro's arms

The resulting blast from the fiery spirals knocked the two back further than they had expected with much more power than they had believed could come from the small boy who raised his head revealing his eyes were still slashed closed.

"You think you're the first fucker to slice my eyes like this? Hah, don't make me laugh. I don't need eyes to smell your disgusting bodies. I only wish...that I can use this jutsu...without the backlash." Shintaro said weakly as he fell to his knees showing that his arms were nearly burnt black

"That...hurt." Seikatsu growled within the smoke

"What the-" Shintaro said surprised only to grabbed by the throat by an extended arm only to be jerked forward

"I. SAID. THAT. FUCKING. HURT!" Seikatsu shouted in anger as she stabbed Shintaro multiple times with each word via a blade popping from her foot, but she wasn't done.

"Here's a little payback!" Seikatsu shouted in rage

She dropped Shintaro's body as proceeded to step on all four of his limbs breaking them multiple times as Shintaro screamed like a banshee in pain before going quiet, likely from going into shock from the intense pain.

"Shintaro!" Jiraiya shouted as he grabbed the bleeding boy

"You freak! I'm gonna kill you!" Anko shouted in rage taking out a kunai aiming a slash at Seikatsu's neck only to be easily dodged

"Damn it, too slow!" Anko thought in frustration

"Swing, and a miss! Here's the penalty!" Seikatsu chided as she did a reverse roundhouse to Anko's face followed by a stab from another of her foot blades to the gut

"Anko!" Ken shouted in worry as he used his tail to soften her landing

"That's two! Whose next?" Seikatsu asked eagerly awaiting her next opponent

"I ain't done yet! Ken!" Anko commanded

"Don't say another word." Ken said darkly as he slithered angrily toward the one endangered his master

"Pathetic." Shin said as he merely backhanded the serpent away from him

"Shit!" Ken shouted as he was launched away

"KEN!" Anko shouted as she watched giant snake fly away

"Damn, still got something left in you huh?" Seikatsu asked as she whistled seeing the flying snake

"It would appear so. The portal is ready." Shin said as a giant oval shaped tear in reality appeared with nothing on the other side but darkness

"Okey dokey. Let me just pick up what we came here for." Seikatsu nodded as her arm grossly extended once more to sucker punch Jiraiya before grabbing Shintaro by his leg

"Shintaro! Let go you crazy bitch!" Anko said holding Shintaro's body with all her might

"Come on guys, let's help her!" Urushi said taking a bite out of Shintaro's arm

"Right!/Gotchya!" his fellow ninken barked in confromation

"Well wouldn't you know it? She still got some guts in her, and the little doggies are pulling too, how annoying. Come on Muscles, on 3!" Seikatsu encouraged as she tried to pull Shintaro in with her

"Very well." Shin said taking hold of Seikatsu's arm

"1...2..." Seikatsu said tugging on her arm

Anko, and the ninken were pulling with all their strength as were their enemies. It seemed hopeless as Anko was losing her strength, and the dogs were losing their grip. That is until when someone else completely unexpected said the final number they were dreading.

"3." Akihiko said as he took a huge bite in the middle of Seikatsu's arm ripping it completely off

"My arm!" Seikatsu shouted in horror

"Go back to whatever hell you crawled out of!" Anko shouted as she pulled Shintaro close to her

"Now Kazuo!" Akihiko shouted as if he rehearsed this

"Indeed." Kazuo replied as he grabbed the two fiends with his tail launching them into their own portal

"Damn it! You'll pay for this ya hear me...PAY FOR IT!" Seikatsu swore as their portal closed behind them

"And stay out." Anko spat before truly noticing the situation

"Kazuo!" Anko shouted in realization

"Anko-sama, you're injured!" Kazuo said in worry seeing her wounds

"I'm fine! Go check on Ken!" Anko commanded as she held her stomach

"But-"

"NOW!" Anko demanded once more pointing where to go

"As you wish." Kazuo said as he slithered away to his intended direction

"Jiraiya, what the hell happened here?" Akihiko asked looking at the whole situation

"Those guys came here for Shintaro. Almost would've had him too if you didn't show up." Jiraiya explained gratefully

"Yeah, just be glad I had enough speed to get over...here...huh." Akihiko said quietly as he looked up

"What is it? Actually...Akihiko is that you?" Jiraiya asked

"Yeah, it's me, but the seal...it's gone." Akihiko said in amazement

"What?" Jiraiya said as he tried to look up

"It's true Jiraiya-sama, I can actually see the stars now instead of those strange markings." Anko said in wonder

"Anko-sama, it appears Ken has disappeared." Kazuo said confused about his snake brethren's whereabouts

"It's fine, I have a feeling Kaori's gone too." Anko said with a small smile

"Actually...she is, I can't sense her presence anymore. How did you know?" Kazuo asked even more confused

"That transformation of hers takes a lot energy, and fighting those two...freaks alone must've taken a tole on her. Kazuo, if you can-." Anko said but was interrupted

"No problem Anko-sama. Until next time we meet." Kazuo promised before disappearing in a puff of smoke

"Yeah, see ya." Anko said quietly as she set Shintaro down gently as one of the ninken began to lose his cool

"Well, what do we do now? We have injured that immediate medical attention, lost-" but was interrupted by someone he wasn't expecting

RUFF RUFF

"Big bull?" Urushi said confused

"Wait, he's carrying someone...two someone's, and there's another one with him. Smells like a female." Akino confirmed

"It's probably Rei. Who's she with? I'd smell them myself, but this poison's dulled my senses." Akihiko asked curiously

"It's Kakashi-sama!" Urushi shouted in worried

"Kakashi? Does that mean the other one must be Itachi?" Anko asked worriedly

"Must be." Jiraiya said gravely

"Damn it, so they're out too?" Akino said gritting her teeth

"There's too many to move, and my seal isn't going to last forever. Not to mention that four eyed bastard is still there, and we need him for intelligence." Anko said annoyingly

"Not to mention the nearest village is miles away, and it doesn't even have a hospital." Jiraiya mentoned

"Then we go to one that does." a weak Shintaro grunted

"Shintaro!" Anko shouted in relief

"He's still alive?" Rei said in amazement

"Don't speak, Rei help me hold his wounds to keep them closed." Anko said quickly doing her best to dress his wounds

"S-Sure." Rei said coming to her aid

"We still have a way to get to a village with the best medical treatment in the world...Konoha." Shintaro said weakly

"Konoha?" Rei said confused

"That's more than a few days away! How did you come up with that nonsense?" Anko asked annoyed tempted to knock him upside the head

"The answer, lies on Rei's shoulder, and Akihiko's face." Shintaro said as he coughed up blood

"What?" Rei said confused

"Come again?" Akihiko asked confused as well

"Heh...did you forget already?" Shintaro asked with a weak laugh

"The seal/The seal!" the two seal bearers said at the same time

"That's right. Time moves differently in that dimension, both slower or faster, and what's better is that there are no geological obstacles to get in our way, no trees, not mountains, no villages just flatland's for now until I remodel it. Meaning..."

"It's a straight shot from here to Konoha." Anko said in realization

"But how do we get there?" Jiraiya asked skeptical

"Like I said, those seals are our ticket in. If everyone makes physical contact who has a seal: Me, Rei, and Aki, then you'll be teleported with us to my dimension." Shintaro explained

"That still doesn't tell us how we're gonna get to Konoha. Transportation as well as figuring where we're going " Jiraiya mentioned

"It's east isn't it?" Shintaro asked

"From here...yeah, it's about east/northeast from here if were trying to be accurate." Anko said

"And if we're talking about transportation, you all know the answer." Akihiko muttered annoyingly

"You sure?" Jiraiya asked

"This isn't the time to be arguing. Just get on, and point me in the direction of where we need to go." Akihiko grunted while Jiraiya nodded in confirmation

"Ok, Anko, sorry to ask you of this, but can you-"

"Say no more. Rei, I'm gonna need your help." Anko said

"Huh? O-oh, sure." Rei replied helping Anko dress Shintaro's wounds

"Oi, you guys. You can help too." Anko said

"We're on it. Big Bull, put Kakashi-sama on top of him." Urushi ordered the giant dog

RUFF!

"Rei, can you pick up that girl? I'll take over for you for now. She passed out so be careful with her." Anko asked the tattooed girl who seemed to be in her own world

"Rei?" Anko asked a bit louder

"Yeah...got it." Rei said slapping her own face

"You okay?" Anko asked genuinely concerned

"Just a little...you know spaced out." Rei said quietly looking down

"Something happen?" Anko asked

"Yeah...but I don't want to talk about it." Rei said looking away

"I won't pry into it, but I know a few people you can talk to when you feel like it. Let's just focus on getting out of here alive. Once were done putting everyone up there I'm going to restrain four eyes over there." Anko said in her ninja tone

"Yeah." Rei simply responded

After carefully placing everyone onto Akihiko's back they all had held hands in order to be connected like Shintaro needed.

"Alright, is everyone ready?" Shintaro asked receiving conformation from everyone

"Ok, try not to fall off Aki since he'll be going at full speed. Ready? Let's go." Shintaro said as he activated the seal taking them to his intended location

---

9:00 p.m

Currently Kushina, Naruto, Suigetsu, Fu, Ayano, and Hiromi were all walking back to the hotel after a fulfilling dinner at Ichiraku ramen. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood save for one small blonde child...the girly one...Hiromi. They were just about a block or two away, and were talking about their dinner.

"Aw, man. That Ichiraku Ramen place was awesome!" Suigetsu said rubbing his belly

"Didn't I tell you?" Naruto said with a cocky grin

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Suigetsu said acting like he didn't care

"We have to go there again!" Fu said enthusiastically

"I'm not sure my wallet can take much more, but I don't care. Man, that old man still has it in him. Maybe I can get him to teach me how to make ramen again. What'd you think Hiromi?" Kushina asked Hiromi who had a faint smile on her face

"It...it was pretty good." Hiromi replied quietly

"Good? Come on Hiromi your face looked like it was in heaven." Suigetsu questioned

"I-I said it was pretty good." Hiromi said quietly

"Well, I think it was pretty good too Hiromi." Kushina said agreeing with her

"I do too Hiromi-chan." Ayano said getting Hiromi's faint smile to grow just a bit

"So Ayano, what's it like training with that Tsunade lady? Oh, you were there too weren't you Hiromi?" Fu asked with genuine curiosity as Ayano's whole body sagged all at once while Hiromi nodded slowly

"Exhausting." Ayano groaned tiredly as Kushina patted her back

"And scary." Hiromi muttered

"You'll get used to it, I know you will." Kushina said sympathetically

"I don't know if I will Obaa-chan, I definitely wanted to be a better medic for the group as well as assist Shintaro-kun more, but Tsunade-sensei's training methods are...extreme. She wanted to see what I'm capable of physically so I had to dodge volleyballs that she threw at me, then we did 3 full hours of taijutsu sparring, then she tested my medical ninjutsu limits, and finally another 3 hours of more taijutsu sparring. My arms, and legs still feel numb after all of that." Ayano said as she rubbed her limbs

"That's it? The taijutsu I get, but volleyballs? Come on." Suigetsu said unimpressed

"They were on fire." Ayano emphasized as the children's eyes save for Hiromi's grew wide

"She lit them on fire?" Fu asked

"No, they caught fire when she threw them." Hiromi stated clearly as the children's eyes grew wide in both awe and fear at the thought of those fiery balls being thrown at them

"How'd she do that?" Naruto asked curiously

"Oh, that's not so surprising. Tsunade did the same thing with her last two students." Kushina said with a small hint of bitterness in her tone

"Really?" Ayano said unconvinced as her eyes told Kushina otherwise

"Really." Kushina sighed

"How'd they survive training like this?" Ayano asked slumping her shoulders

"You'd have to ask them. Or, Shizune at least." Kushina sighed frustratingly

"Why?" Ayano asked

"Doesn't she like her students?" Hiromi asked

"Let's just say she doesn't get along with one of her students. I have my share of problems with her, but mine are purely personal. She's a good person, but...what she chose to do is solely her choice. I won't say more than that." Kushina said firmly

"What's her name, if I may ask?" Ayano asked politely

"I'd rather not say, and try not to bring her up around Tsunade." Kushina said firmly

"If you say so Obaa-chan." Ayano said stopping her question

"Yeah, so anyways are you sure about what you're doing Hiromi? You can always join the academy at a later year. Technically you still have 3 years to do that. 8 is the most common age that kids enter the academy. The only reason why 5 year olds were or still admitted today is to boost our ranks sooner after a major crisis or in times of war. Or like Inoichi said yesterday if you're part of a ninja family or clan it's not that mandatory for you to join." Kushina said gently as Hiromi stopped walking

"Hiromi?" Kushina asked in concern

"I know Ms. Uzumaki, but...I wanna get a head start on being a good shinobi, and medical nin for my parents. I...I also want to change Niichan's opinion about shinobi in general. I know he doesn't like shinobi in general or their village's that they serve in, and I know that all of the last one's we've been have been awful but...Konoha is different. It has to be, I know it is." Hiromi said in a surefire tone as Fu remained unconvinced thinking she should speak her mind

"Yeah, uh huh. Look, no offense Ms. Uzumaki, but after seeing the way all those jerks are still looking at Naruto even with you around I still don't like it here. Like Hiromi said this place is a lot better than the other dumps we've been to, but this is..." Fu said before stopping before realizing what she was saying

"A nicer dump?" Kushina finished as Fu laughed nervously

"Eh..." Fu said nervously

"It's ok, I know that look on your face. To be honest I used to think the same thing when I first came here." Kushina said with a honest smile shocking everyone there especially her son

"Really mom? Why'd you think that? Konoha's the best place ever." Naruto asked as Kushina sighed understanding her son's confusion

"Well, it's a bit...complicated, but the short version is because I was a foreigner from Uzushio my homeland, even though our villages were close allies. I was sent for...military reasons, and the people here didn't like that. Some of the adults, and most ninja knew why but the kids were kept in the dark about it, at least until when they turned into veteran shinobi. Even then I wasn't the most popular kid when I came to the Academy." Kushina said with a weak smile

"Well that's stupid. Wait, is it because of...that problem?" Fu said carefully

"Yeah." Kushina replied simply

"Oh, sorry." Fu said quietly

"Don't worry about it." Kushina said rubbing her hair

"Why'd they pick on you mom? You're awesome!" Naruto claimed as Kushina smiled

"Thank you sweetie, but like most bullies they picked on me for the little things." Kushina sighed annoyingly

"Like what? You're face is so smooth and pretty, you're really strong, and that red hair of yours is so soft and shiny." Fu said in childish envy

"Thank you Fu, but believe it or not those exact three things are what those bullies used against me. But what I hated most about me was my hair, especially my red hair. I use to hate my hair as if it was an ugly wig I couldn't get rid of." Kushina said moving her hand through her long, flowing hair

"What?" Fu said surprised

"I know right? But I was young, and pretty stupid in my youth." Kushina said with a small smile remembering how she was back then

"So, did you get bullied a lot mom?" Naruto asked

"Oh yes, I got picked on the very first day I got there. Mostly because I announced I was gonna be the first female Hokage on the very first day I went there...which made the entire class both laugh, and hate me at the same time. The boys laughed because the idea of a 'Female' Hokage was absurd to them, and the girls hated me because I had the gall as a foreigner to proclaim such a thing." Kushina explained

"You wanted to be Hokage too mom?" Naruto asked happily

"Yup, it was my dream for a long time. I didn't really care what the other's said about me, I was gonna prove them wrong no matter what." Kushina said with the same determined tone she used back then

"Because my face was so round at the time, and my hair was red as it is now that they automatically decided to ignore my name calling me Tomato or Tomato girl." Kushina said a bit embarrassed laughing nervously

"Man that sounds rough, how'd you deal with that?" Suigetsu asked

"Oh, it was easy. After ignoring them didn't work I found a sure fire way of dealing with them." Kushina said with an evil smile

"What was that mom? Oh, I know, you had friends who helped you out right?" Naruto guessed

"Not exactly." Kushina replied

"Oh, I know! Your husband came in, and swoop you off your feet to save the day?" Fu said energetically

"Fantasizing again?" Suigetsu joked

"Shut up!" Fu growled as she was about to hit him

"That's enough you two." Kushina said firmly but in a motherly tone causing the two bickering children to jerk a bit before stopping

"Ok." the two grumbled

"Jerk." Fu said to herself

"Bimbo." Suigetsu said to himself as Kushina sighed at the two children's bickering

"Honestly, I'm sure their parents are worried about them, but then again, with everything that's happening at Kiri and with Fu being a Jinchuuriki maybe they don't have parents. Or even worse their parents abandoned them. If Naruto was a girl there's no doubt he'd act like Fu, and that pessimistic joking side of Suigetsu reminds me of Kenshi, even a little of Minato if he was juvenile. Minato..."

"Nope. Actually, when I first saw Minato I thought was too girly, and sissy to be a boy so I pretty much ignored him." Kushina said plainly

"What? But didn't you say dad was an awesome ninja mom?" Naruto asked confused

"He was, top of our class actually the darn smarty pants. But no, he didn't come to my rescue when it came to those bullies Naruto." Kushina replied to her son

"Then what'd you do mom?" Naruto asked

"Simple, I beat the ever-living crap out of them, and anyone who said anything about me." Kushina said with a calm expression yet was chuckling an evil laugh gripping her own fist tightly

"You did what?" Fu asked in shock

"Really?" Naruto said unsure if that's what his mother did

"You bet, I wasn't gonna take any lip from them. It didn't matter who they were, boy or girl, older or younger, I pummeled those who'd made fun of me. I even beat up a genin when I was just about 10 years old, but that was because I beat up his younger brother. Therefore, I wasn't called Tomato girl anymore, but instead I was called the Red Hot Habenero!" Kushina proclaimed loudly with pride as Ayano sweat dropped at her surrogate aunt's tale

"That's so cool mom! Do you think I can a get an awesome nickname like that?" Naruto asked with a sparkle in his eyes

"Oh please, like you can be cool enough to get a nickname like that." Suigetsu said rolling his eyes

"Bet he can get a better nickname than you fish for brains." Fu teased

"Eh, shut up moss head." Suigetsu grumbled

"So, you beat them all up Ms. Uzumaki, and all on your own? That's so...brave..." Hiromi said in wonder

"She's much stronger than I am, so cool." Hiromi thought to herself

"Kind of scary if you ask me." Suigetsu mentioned

"Well, it I was a bit of both to be honest. More on the scary side for most people. Most people who knew me generally avoided or did their best not to make me mad, but there was one person who wasn't afraid of me...well, to the point of outright showing his fear anyways." Kushina said with a weak smile

"Really? Who was dumb enough to not to be afraid of you?" Suigetsu chuckled

"That would be my late husband, Minato Namikaze." Kushina said plainly with a smile as Suigetsu's smile dropped

"Oh, uh..."

"Nice one fish head. Apologize, apologize now!" Fu ordered putting Suigetsu into a headlock

"Can't...breathe! Valid...question...stupid...girl!" Suigetsu said as he nearly passed out

"Fu, that's enough." Kushina said sternly as Fu reluctantly let go

"Air! Oh, thank Kami." Suigetsu shouted as he fell to the ground

"Fu-chan, that wasn't nice." Ayano chided

"But he was being a jerk, and that wasn't a valid question!" Fu growled at Suigetsu as he got in her face

"Oh yes it was, when someone around is beating up people left and right, and there's someone who doesn't fear that, what else would you call that? What could possibly drive him to do that?" Suigetsu growled back

"Love." Kushina simply replied holding her chest as her words reached the children

"Eh?" Suigetsu said confused

"It was one of his best qualities. At the time I had no idea why much less aware of him, but I was actually Minato's first crush. I always glared at him being the whole genius prodigy, the pretty boy girls ogled at, and he was the Namikaze clan heir." Kushina said listing off what her husband was famous for

"Whoa, dad sounds awesome! Let me guess, you fell in love when you first saw him right mom?" Naruto said in wonder expecting a perfect answer as Kushina laughed nervously rubbing the back of her head

"Eh...no. To me, he reminded me so much of my older brother Kenshi, the always perfect, goody two shoes of our family, that is was surreal. I already had one boy who was praised for his looks, talent, brains, and clan status because being the 2nd born to Kenshi exposed me to enough of that. So the second I laid my eyes on him, I pretty much ignored him completely. In fact instead of being his friend I even declared publicly that he'd be my rival. All because he asked me what my score was on a test, and that was the only thing I could say really?" Kushina admitted embarrassingly

"What?" the children said all at once

"I know right? But I was young, was nervous, afraid, and hating the fact I was dragged away from my home for...certain reasons. Making a big impression was my first, and only priority, didn't matter what it was. I figured since this was my new home I might at as well showed people how I was there. If I couldn't be the first female Uzukage then I was going to make damn sure I was going the first female Hokage." Kushina said with the same determined tone she had back then

"So what happened mom? If the old man is still Hokage can't you still run for the position?" Naruto asked curiously as Kushina giggled at her son's question

"Oh Naruto, I gave up on Hokage a long time ago." Kushina said with a heartfelt smile as Naruto dawned a horrific stare

"What? Why'd you do that? Being the Hokage was your dream mom!" Naruto asked shocked his mother would give up on her dreams

"It was, and for a long time I pursued that dream, it became my goal, my purpose. But then I had found a new dream, a new goal, a new purpose. One that was more important to me than being Hokage." Kushina said seriously

"More important than Hokage?" the children thought to themselves

"What could possibly be more important than being Hokage mom?" Naruto said not understanding his mother

"Yeah, I want to know too." Fu said getting curious

"M-Me too, Ms. Uzumaki." Hiromi said quietly

"I'm curious as well Obaa-chan." Ayano stated

"It's something I'm sure all you girls will experience at one point in your life. That includes you two boys as well. Especially you Naruto." Kushina said gently to her son

"What could that be?" Naruto asked

"My dream was to support the one I loved, still love, and prepare myself to being the best parent I could be." Kushina said rubbing her son's head with a motherly smile

"Mom?" Naruto said confused

"Naruto sweetie, there is no doubt in my mind that one day you'll be Hokage. You have my stubborn attitude of never giving up, and your father's kindness deep within you. Those two things will get you far, very far, but only so far if you go about it on your own. Your father and I got through so much because we had each other, but before we had one another we had friends to help us." Kushina said getting down to her son's eye level

"Naruto, everyone, if you're going to learn anything from me let it be this. You can never, I repeat never get as far as you want to without the help of those around you. Be it friends, family, or even an acquaintance, they can help you get to where you need or want to be if you'll let them. They'll be there to support you, comfort you, laugh with you, cry with you, and even knock some sense into you when you need it the most."

"That's pretty much what Shintaro told us." Suigetsu, and Fu thought at the same time looking at each other

"Do you have friends like that mom?" Naruto asked

"Yup, Mikoto and Hitomi are my closest if not best friends, and they aren't the only ones. Tsume, Inoichi, Shikaku, Chouza, Shibi, Mr. Teuchi, and so much more. I've helped them with a lot of things, and they helped me the same. Although, I was more than a little mad when I found out that they did diddly squat to help you Naruto, but that was on Hiruzen's choice to leave them in the dark so I guess I have to let it be water under the bridge. Everyone's apologized immensely for it, and I guess that's enough for now." Kushina said as she got up

"Wow, I wonder if I'll have friends like that." Naruto said absentmindedly as Fu felt insulted at that remark

"IDIOT!" Fu yelled as she bonked Naruto on the head

"OW! What was that for?" Naruto asked rubbing his head

"I should be asking you that! What did you forget that we're your friends?" Fu asked angrily as Naruto realized his mistake

"No, of course not it's just..." Naruto said nervously shaking his head as he found himself unable to talk leaving Suigetsu to save him

"Look, when Moss Head here asks you personally if you want to be friends she means it. I don't know how, but she somehow has an eye for both good and bad people, I just roll with it. So, if she says you're good then you're good." Suigetsu interrupted

"You guys mean..." Naruto said once again unable to finish his sentence

"Ever since we met Shintaro he has taught and is still us a lot of things, how to read, write, fight, socialize, manners, and a whole bunch of other stuff. But one of the things he made sure to drill in our heads was this." Fu said as she looked at Suigetsu who nodded

"Everyone has their own idea of friends, and you have the right to follow your own definition of friends. However, I want you guys to know my definition of a friend. A Friend is someone you can trust, someone you can depend on, someone that you're bound to butt heads with, someone you can be yourself with, and most all is someone who won't abandon you, even if you abandon them." Suigetsu, and Fu said together nearly in sync with one another

"That's practically what Jiyu said. Guess he really takes after you huh Jiyu?" Kushina thought to herself with a sad smile

"It's basically like your mom said, when we say we're friends we mean it." Suigetsu said seriously, but with a sly smile

"So you guys really are..."

"Do I need to beat you some more?" Fu said irritated raising a fist

"N-No! I get it!" Naruto said cowering in fear as Fu cracked a smile

"Good, and don't you forget it." Fu said poking Naruto's chest repeatedly

"It's like fish head said, I don't automatically ask people to be my friends, I don't know what it is, but something about you just seems...idiotic." Fu said purposefully in suspense as she watched the reaction she wanted from Naruto

"HEY!" Naruto yelled

"In a good way dummy. Kind of like him." Fu said pointing to Suigetsu as he too yelled

"HEY!" Suigetsu said with an annoyed look on his face

"That time I meant it." Fu said waving him off

"Stupid girl." Suigetsu grumbled

"Idiot boy. Anyways, it's like Shintaro said, me and fish head may not get along all the time...or at all, but we trust each other, fight each other, can be ourselves, and most definitely won't leave behind...but, I will admit it's funny to see him struggle to swim. Everyone's got their quirks I guess." Fu said with a mischievous chuckle

"Oh, like you're one to talk! Who's the one constantly struggling to tell the difference between fantasy, and reality Moss Head? Or should I call you Mrs. Land of-oof!"

"Urusai! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! I don't know what you're talking about!" Fu shouted embarrassingly as she smacked Suigetsu into the ground with a huge blush on her face

"Uh huh." Suigetsu groaned

"This is why boys are so stupid." Fu pouted

"Except for Kimimaro, and Shintaro right?" Suigetsu groaned again as he got up

"Grrr..." Fu growled as she tightened her fist again

"That's enough you two. It's getting late, and we shouldn't keep Ms. Uzumaki waiting. I'm sure her, and Naruto-kun have to go home soon." Ayano said sternly causing them to momentarily stop their bickering

"Actually Ayano, we'll be staying the night until Shintaro comes..." Kushina said before taking a quick glance at Hiromi who immediately felt downcast

"Niichan." Hiromi muttered sadly

"Dang it, and after we cheered her up too." Fu said to herself

"Sorry about that. I really suck with kids." Kushina apologized

"It's ok Hiromi-chan, I'm sure Shintaro-kun is just fine. He has one of the Legendary Sannin, two Anbu black ops, and a jonnin with him. Not to mention Rei-san, and Akihiko-san are with him as well. I may not know much of their abilities, but we both know how strong Shintaro-kun is." Ayano said comfortingly

"I know Niichan is strong, but..." Hiromi said quietly as tears started to from in her eyes

"And we both know how much he loves you Hiromi-chan. Shintaro-kun would never abandon you, even if it meant him losing an arm he would gladly give it up if it meant seeing you again." Ayano said gently hugging Hiromi

"But that's what scares me." Hiromi said terrified

"What do you mean?" Ayano asked as Hiromi's body began to shake gradually

"I'm terrified that he'll come back from one of his missions or trips hurt...really, really badly. If he comes back without an arm, or leg or missing an eye or ends up paralyzed or crippled, or burned or-"

"Hiromi!" Fu snapped as everyone turned to look at Fu who was shaking as well

"Just stop it would you?" Fu asked angrily holding herself

"Fu-chan please restrain yourself. Hiromi-chan, are you worried that he'll come back like that because of you?" Ayano asked gently as her tears began flowing from her face

"I just...just...I don't want him to get hurt because of me. I don't want to see him like that, I don't want to see him broken. I just..."

"Let me talk to her. For now, take care of Fu." Kushina said to Ayano nodded her head

"Ok, Obaa-chan." Ayano said

"Hey hey, it'll be alright. I know you worry about him, but take it from someone who's been in the exact situation more than a million times. I can't tell you how many times I've held my breath waiting, hoping that Minato would come back safely. Tell you what, wanna know the secret for keeping calm during something like this?" Kushina said softly

"Secret?" Hiromi asked as she wiped her eyes

"Yup, I used to do this all the time when Minato left, and every time I did so it brought back Minato to me." Kushina said with a smile that caused Hiromi's eyes to lit up in hope

"This secret really worked for Ms. Uzumaki? T-Then if I know it maybe it'll bring Niichan back!"

"Really? C-Can I..."

"Mmhmm. Come closer so they don't hear us." Kushina whispered as she waved Hiromi over

"Ok." Hiromi muttered as she moved toward Kushina

"It's simple, to me anyways. All you have to do is think about what you're going to do together when he comes back, not if, when." Kushina whispered to Hiromi who was confused beyond belief

"What? Why does that help?" Hiromi whispered back confused as Kushina poked Hiromi's head

"Try not to think about it, just try it for right now. Now, what are you going to do when your big brother comes back?" Kushina asked

"Um...we'll go out for ramen, lot's of it." Hiromi said with a tiny blush on her face

"Ok, that's a good start. What else?" Kushina asked

"We'll...train, he'll help me with my reading, then we'll play then we'll play at the playground, eat some more ramen, then after some more playing we'll go to bed together...then I'm never letting him go." Hiromi said sincerely as she hugged herself as Kushina smiled patting her head

"Good plan. Just keep thinking those thoughts, and they're bound to come true ok?" Kushina asked gently with a smile on her face

"Ok." Hiromi replied

"Good, now come on let's hit the sack everyone. I'm sure you guys are tired from a long day of school, and training. I already let Honoka, and Karin that we're staying over with you guys for now so there's no need to worry about them." Kushina said standing up

"Ok." the children replied as they all started to walk back to the hotel.

"Man, don't scare me like that Hiromi. I know you miss him, but you're not the only one you know. Have a little faith in him ok? He is your brother you know." Fu said as she calmed herself down

"He's mine too, but Hiromi will probably break down if I tell her that." Fu thought to herself

"I-I know Fu-chan, but still...no, you're right. Niichan's the strongest one there is, there's no way he can be beaten."

"Exactly, so quit your worrying. Shintaro's gonna kick some butt, get some souvenirs from those jerks, come back, and we'll laugh it off together like we always do." Suigetsu said with a goofy smile on his face

"Y-You're right Suigetsu, s-sorry for worrying." Hiromi said wiping her eyes showing him one of her genuine smiles

"Eh, don't worry about it." Suigetsu's said with a small blush that Fu managed to catch

"Oh? What's wrong fish head? I thought you'd like Karin? What's she gonna say if you found yourself a new girl?" Fu said mischievously causing Suigetsu to blush harder and Hiromi to turn completely red

"W-W-What? I-I don't uh...I-I don't know what you're talking about." Suigetsu stammered

"Uh huh, wait'll till Shintaro hears about this. I always knew you liked the shy type." Fu snickered as she tried to hold in her laughter as Suigetsu paled at the thought of Shintaro finding out about this

"D-Don't you dare!" Suigetsu yelled

"So it's true then! You like Hiromi." Fu accused pointing a finger at Hiromi

"S-Shut up!" Suigetsu shouted in annoyance

"Maybe she'll give you a pet name eh Sugu? Ah that's it! Sugu, and Hiromi sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Ahahahahaha!" Fu sang as she fell on the floor rolling around laughing while Hiromi, and Suigetsu faces turned crimson

"Uh, so guys, Shintaro said that he'd went over there for some kids right?" Naruto said trying to change the subject

"Yeah, apparently they were kidnapped by some guy named Orochimaru or something. Everytime I asked around the village people just got scared of him or flat out ignored me. Don't know what the big deal is, he doesn't sound that bad." Fu grunted annoyingly as she got up dusting herself off as Kushina dawned a somewhat worried look on her face

"I really shouldn't say anything. It'll only worry Hiromi more than she is, and it looks like Fu can't handle the idea of Shintaro getting hurt either. Can't blame them, they really must care about him. I can't imagine how crushed they would be if Shintaro came back hurt...or worse. And Shintaro's doing this for a few kids that just happened to be caught up in that wretched Orochimaru's web of lies. I just wonder what kind of helpless kid Orochimaru found to-"

"Out of my fucking way!" shouted a girl as she pushed her way through the group of children including the girl herself

"Hey, watch it!" Suigetsu said

"Yeah, watch where you're go...ing." Fu said slowly as she saw who tripped her

"Is that...blood?" Hiromi said out of fear

"I don't give a damn who you are just leave me alone! I ain't going back! I'd rather die you hear me, die!" the shaking girl exclaimed as she jumped back looking around before taking Naruto as a hostage

"Naruto!" Kushina shouted

"Let him go!" Fu said angrily

"Oh crap!" Suigetsu said as he instinctively took a defensive position

"N-Naruto!" Hiromi said in fear

"Naruto-kun!" Ayano said as she was stopped by Kushina's arm

Kushina was about to apprehend the girl herself when said girl pulled a senbon needle up to Naruto's neck. The girl looked like she was in a panic, just by her eyes she almost was looking like an injured animal trapped in a corner. She looked a bit older than Naruto and the other kids, but younger than Ayano so height-wise she was kind of stuck in the middle. She wore nothing on her person but dirty, blood covered rags, and a bandages on her head covering most of her long dark pink hair.

"M-Mom?" Naruto said scared for his life

"It's gonna be ok Naruto. Everything's gonna be ok. Everybody just calm down ok? Now, can you please tell me why you're here or even ? " Kushina said calmly

"I-I, I'm supposed to find this this Tsunade hag or something I don't know. That...that old man or whatever said to find her in this place wherever we are! First we were in the damn forest then a hotel, and when I left I'm in this...fucking place! I-I don't know who the hell you people are, but just leave me alone goddammit!" the girl said putting the needle closer to Naruto's neck

"Let my friend go dammit!" Fu shouted getting angrier

"Get the hell away from me!" the girl said in fear and anger

"Ok ok, everybody just calm down, just let my son go, and this won't go violent. Nobody has to get hurt here, we can all leave without anyone getting hurt. Now, can you please hand my son over to me, and tell me who asked you to find Tsunade?" Kushina said as she was preparing a few of her chakra chains

"You can have him, but don't follow me. That old man said if I found this Tsunade hag then I'm free to go, and give me my mother's flute back. I won't go back, I won't go back I won't go back!" the girl shouted

"Go back to where?" Ayano asked as the girls eyes widened in fear

"I won't go back! I spent enough time in that damn crate, all the others died, but I survived! I'm not weak, and I won't go back! Not to that crate, not to that damn orphanage, and especially not to that...that snake fucker!" the girl screamed in disgust

"Old guy? Crate? Snake fu...Orochimaru! Wait a minute, if what I'm thinking is true then...oh no." Kushina thought to herself in horror

"The hell with it, here take him!" the girl said as she pushed Naruto away from her

"Mom!" Naruto yelled as dove into his mothers arm

"Naruto!" Kushina cried in relief as she hugged her son

"Don't follow me! Just, just leave me the hell alone!" the former attacker shouted as she ran

"M-Mom, I w-was so scared!" Naruto cried

"It's ok Naruto, it's like I said everything's ok. I'm not leaving you at all, and that includes every...one. Where's Ayano, and Hiromi?" Kushina said worried about the situation

"They ran off...to the hotel." Suigetsu said quietly

"Shit." Kushina thought to herself

"Ok, Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Kushina said as she crossed her fingers to make 3 others clones of herself

"You know what to do." Kushina said to the three clones

"Yeah." the clones said in unison as they took off with one of them heading towards the hotel

"Mom?" Naruto said confused looking up at her

"Naruto, Fu, Suigetsu, all of you are coming with me. You three are to not go near the hotel now, right now we're going back to our place. This isn't up for discussion." Kushina said firmly

"Why, is something wrong?" Fu asked starting to worried

"I'll tell you guys about it later." Kushina said standing up rounding up the children

"Ms. Uzumaki?" Suigetsu said confused

"Just trust me guys, it's better this way." Kushina said taking the kids in the other direction as her son was about to voice his concern

"What about-"

"NIICHAN!" a high pitched Hiromi screamed in terror that sent shivers up Fu's spine

"Oh no, please don't tell me..." Fu said as she wormed her way out of Kushina's grasp

"Fu wait!" Kushina yelled as she started to give chase only to be stopped by one of her recently dispelled clones memories

"Please no, no, no, no, no. Everything's going to be fine, he's not gone, he's not gone. He can't die, he just can't."

"He's gonna be there, waiting for me. Telling me what a good job I did with Hiromi, and he's gonna hug me. Hiromi just overreacted that's all, yeah, she always overreacts right...right?"

Fu ran, and ran relentlessly towards the hotel hoping what she is thinking wasn't true at all. She hoped that Hiromi's shriek was just her overreacting again, and that her new surrogate brother was waiting for her, waiting to tell her that she did a good job for watching Hiromi as best she could. She could see the door opened, and she heard the wailing cry from Hiromi's lungs. Fu bursted into the room, and her eyes widened in fear at what she saw.

The room smelled of blood, a scent that she was all too familiar with, and because she was a jinchuuriki her senses were heightened than an average human. For instance, even in the dark she could see the bodies lying on the ground nursing their own wounds. There was Jiraiya leaning against the wall holding his chest tightly with blood coming out of his mouth as he was occasionally coughing it out from time to time.

In front of him laid Kakashi, and Itachi lying side by side both sustaining critical injuries of their own. Both of Kakashi, and Itachi bodies had what looked like senbon needles poking out of their entire body.

To her left she saw an unconscious woman much older than her lying against the ground that had major injuries of her own.

To her right she saw what looked like Rei, who looked like she was sliced all over her body, from her face down to her legs, leaking blood all over herself, holding or pressing down on something out of her sight while she saw the a taller looking Akihiko pacing around as if he was waiting for something looking much more tired than any normal human would take, and he also looked more animalistic with his wild hair, blood stained claws, and whiskers growing out of his cheeks.

Lastly, she saw something that made her heart sank. She saw both Ayano, and, to a much lesser degree, Hiromi who was crying next to Rei trying to heal someone out of her sight...it didn't take her long to figure out who.

"Please...no, don't let him die. Please don't let him die. Let him be alive, let him be alive." Fu thought to herself as she started walking towards Ayano

She walked, and walked as her legs picked up the pace without her knowledge. Getting closer she could see the tears flowing like water from Hiromi's eyes. She didn't scream nor shout nor cried out his name, she just sat there on her knees silently crying, weeping for the person she loved the most. Next to her was a frantic Ayano doing her best with what little medical ninjutsu she knew of, and was also doing her best not to burst into tears as well.

Fu walked close enough so that she could get a glimpse of what she hoped wasn't true. She was right there, right in between Ayano who was too busy with saving a life, and Hiromi who was still out of it helplessly crying to herself...Fu could see why for she too started crying without realizing it. Why? Because of the shape her surrogate brother was in.

Shintaro was in beyond bad shape, death wasn't knocking at his door, it was pounding at it with a battering ram.

To start with, his entire body was burned badly 2nd to 3rd degree all over his arms, all four of his limbs were broken in various places not even attempting to look straight, multiple piercing wounds spread out his torso that Rei tried to press down upon, yet despite the damage throughout his body his clothes, although somewhat damaged, were unscathed save for a hole in his shoulder. A tear there, a rip here, various burnt marks, but altogether they were intact somehow as if they were left alone.

He was breathing, just barely, but still was breathing nonetheless. His breaths were shallow, irregular, and most of all...weak. His mask was still covering his face, but his eyes looked as if they were forced shut somehow and they were also slit across horizontally as if someone never wanted him to open them again.

"Shintaro...onii-chan...how? How could this happen to you? What...happened to you?"

"Shintaro!" Fu cried out in sorrow for 5 straight minutes as her whole world went suddenly black