An Anonymous Gentleman: Thanks. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

OoOXylionOoO: It's not really training but it does explain what he's been up to. I hope it works for you.

serialkeller: Unfortunately I don't have any plans for Naruto/Menma to have much contact with Kumo girls in this story. Sorry.

Chapter 16

1 y 6 mo after Menma joined Sound

Sasuke cursed as his stomach growled loudly. Jiraiya had swiped his money when he wasn't looking to go blow it all on booze and hookers, and left him to starve. Most people would assume he could just go get more out of his bank account from the vast Uchiha fortunes he had inherited, but he didn't have free access to those until he married. Some nonsense about preserving it for the future of the clan or something.

He was closing in on one of the Uchiha hideouts he had learned of when he had been digging around the archives years ago. Even if there wasn't any food in it he might find something he could pawn off for some money.

As he finally found the hideout and entered he wasn't very hopeful. The place was in rough shape. Cracked and peeling walls, most of the lights didn't work, and every room he had looked in so far had been completely empty.

As he was walking down a hallway he almost missed a room that was cleverly hidden. "A hidden room in a secret hideout. How paranoid can you get?" The room was in better shape than the rest of the hideout. It even had some simple furniture. There was a desk in the corner that had a book and a scroll on it. Walking over to the desk he found that the scroll was a sealing scroll.

"Root? I hope it's some of the edible kind," he channeled chakra into it and a body appeared. It wore a cloak and a white animal mask. Sasuke blinked. "ANBU?" He shook his head and resealed the body into the scroll.

Turning to the book he opened it and began to read. He quickly discovered it was a journal written by Itachi. It explained about the coup and how he had been ordered by the Hokage to kill off his clan. Reading further it said he had been followed by ANBU that attacked him. After defeating them and capturing one alive he tried to interrogate the man. It explained how he had found the seal on the man's tongue and used Tsukuyomi to bypass it.

It was unfortunate that the man had died shortly after Itachi had used Tsukuyomi. He couldn't prove any of the information he had discovered. That a man named Shimura Danzō had been the one behind the Uchiha massacre and the attempt to 'clean up loose ends' by having Itachi assassinated.

Sasuke gathered up the journal and the scroll and headed for the door, his quest for food or money forgotten. Perhaps Jiraiya could help him and they could expose the man. Itachi may have killed their clan, but he had been acting under what he thought were the Hokage's orders. The true evil behind that event was that man, Shimura Danzō.

He paused as he exited the hideout and looked in the direction of Rice Country. He would be patient to meet Itachi again, especially now that he knew the reasons behind the massacre. Danzō, on the other hand, would pay for what he did. He frowned. Itachi was framed. If they could prove it they could lighten his sentence. How could he help Menma though? He had willingly gone to Orochimaru to protect him.

He frowned again and started walking back towards the town. "I'll fix this. I'll correct my mistakes."

1 y 11 mo after Menma joined Sound

Four individuals sat around a table in a room late at night. The room was dark with the only source of light being a candle in the center of the table.

The sole male figure had long black shaggy hair. He hadn't bothered to cut it since before that mission to Wave years ago and it now reached the middle of his back. His mismatched eyes turned to the woman sitting to his left.

The woman that sat there had red eyes and red hair that spiked on one side. She wore glasses that caught some of the low light from the candle and reflected it. 'Karin.' She still insisted on calling their meetings dates, even when they included other people like tonight.

To the right was a woman with black eyes and long straight black hair with a purple ribbon tied near the end. 'Kin.' He had run several missions with her in the past and found her pleasant enough to be around. Eventually they had started spending time together outside of missions and after enough time had passed, approached her about joining them.

Sitting across from him was another woman with red hair. She wore a black cap that covered most of it and had brown eyes. She also had a fairly foul mouth but had some manners beat into her during the training sessions he often had with her. 'Tayuya.' She had joined roughly six months ago after she found her best friend Kin spending time around them.

"He's deteriorating quickly. Give him another month, maybe two, and he'll have to swap," Karin reported.

Menma sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I didn't expect the poison to work this well. You're good at what you do, Karin." The girl flushed at his comment. "We don't have nearly enough people on our side yet."

"How many do we have?" Kin asked.

"The four of us and one other for sure. There might be a few cannon fodder that would side with us, but... Orochimaru is very good at manipulating people."

"Who's the fifth?" Tayuya suddenly asked.

Menma stared at her. "Before I answer that, we need to determine who you're loyal to."

"I've been with you for six months, shithead! Don't you think if I were a spy that Orochimaru would have stomped a mudhole in your ass already?"

Menma shook his head. "Not at all. He's the type that would set up a trap of some sort to ambush me when I went to confront him."

"Then how do you want me to prove it?" She growled out.

"Give up your curse seal."

"What?! But that's-"

"A collar. Orochimaru's collar," Kin interrupted her.

"Kin..." Tayuya looked at her sadly for a moment before grumbling. "Fine. It's on the back of my neck."

Menma stood and walked into one of the dark areas of the room. A few moments later he appeared behind Tayuya with a bottle of ink and a brush. He quickly applied a seal over the curse seal and then channeled Kurama's power through it, burning out Orochimaru's influence and replacing it with Kurama's.

"It's not gone?" Kin asked staring at the mark curiously.

"No. I change it to remove Orochimaru's power from it. It will still function as before only with a different source of power," he slipped back into the shadows to return the ink and brush to their proper places. "Although you're limited to stage one for now. In a month I can unlock stage two for you."

Tayuya nodded and blinked. "I don't feel him anymore."

"Like I said, his influence is gone and replaced with another. You can't feel the other because I applied a seal to suppress it," he said as he sat back down at the table. "Let's end this here for tonight. Tayuya will need to rest after that."

The girls nodded and made their exit. Menma remained sitting at the table. 'One month. It's not enough time.'

2 years after Menma joined Sound

Menma had run out of time. Karin had just told him that Orochimaru planned on using his technique to steal his body tomorrow.

He had stepped up his plans but there was only so much he could do in the month he had. Glancing around his room his eyes fell on the fan he had taken from Honoka-sensei's house. He had been training with it a bit after seeing that Suna kunoichi using a metal fan for wind techniques. He had primarily focused on his fire techniques since leaving Konoha, but it would still be useful. Pulling it off the wall he left and headed to Orochimaru's room.

He stood before the door to Orochimaru's room and focused his chakra. With a swipe of the fan and a burst of chakra, wind blasted through the door and a good portion of the wall. Several chunks of wood had impaled Orochimaru as he lay on his bed.

Menma blinked as he surveyed the damage. 'That worked a bit too well. I'll have to finish this quickly before someone comes to investigate.'

He stepped into the room to find the Orochimaru on the bed collapsing and a giant white snake slithering forward out of a shadowy corner. "Kukuku. Eager to get the ritual started?"

"Sorry. I told you I would only ever follow you to kill you. I make good on those words today."

The giant Orochimaru snake seemed to explode into thousands of smaller snakes all flying at him with mouths open.

Menma quickly brought his fan up to block the snakes, allowing only a few past. Those that made it past bit him before retreating back to the mass that was Orochimaru.

"You don't have much skill with your toy, do you?" The snake hissed out at him.

"Well, it was mainly to boost that first attack. It's not exactly an indoor weapon," Menma replied before tossing it aside. He pulled out a kunai for each hand and activated his seal. His skin turned to a deep redish brown, while the whisker marks on his cheeks became more pronounced. His canines grew and sharpened. His nails lengthened and became claws. Six long tails sprouted from the base of his spine.

"That's not my curse seal," Orochimaru frowned.

"No. It's not." Menma vanished in a blur, cutting through the numerous small snakes on his way to Orochimaru. Snake after snake was cut down but it never seemed enough. Menma suffered more and more bites. Eventually he leapt back away from Orochimaru with his Mangekyō blazing.

With a cry of "Amaterasu!" black fire erupted over the giant snake. Menma poured more and more chakra into it until the entire room was engulfed in black flames. He let the fires burn for a full minute before gradually extinguishing them.

When the fires were out he struggled to turn to the door and leave but found his movements slowing down until he could no longer move. "Poi...son?"

"Kukuku. Now that body is mine!" The giant snake swallowed him whole.

Menma found himself in a void standing on what appeared to be writhing flesh. "Ugh! This is worse than my sewer."

A mass of flesh rose up and parted revealing Orochimaru's face. "When this is over, your body will be mine."

"Amaterasu!" Nothing happened.

"Kukuku. This place is mine to control. In here, I am a god!" The fleshy floor began crawling up Menma's legs.

'His mindscape maybe? Might as well try...' Menma activated his seal but something felt off. It didn't stop at the six tails of power it should have. It kept going until he hit nine and felt Kurama take over. 'God I hope this is only his mindscape.'

He could still experience what was going on, but no longer had control of his body. It had turned into a replica of Kurama. The beast flailed about, tearing the fleshy substance off of him before turning to Orochimaru.

"This body is mine, snake," and with that, stooped down and chomped the Orochimaru flesh blob in half, swallowing it.

Menma suddenly found himself back in Orochimaru's destroyed chambers. He could sense five people had just entered the room he was in, but that wasn't his concern. He felt like something was writhing beneath his skin briefly before the feeling passed.

'DAMN IT, KURAMA. What the hell were you thinking eating him?!'

Turning his head slightly he could see the Sound Four as well as Karin standing there. They were all eyeing him warily. He could still feel the poison lingering in his system. Even with the other two there, they were only even in numbers. Karin wasn't much of a fighter and Tayuya still only had access to a level one seal. The other three of the Sound Four would kill them easily.

'Ugh, I'm going to hate this.' He slowly stood straight and looked down at his hands. "Kukuku. So this is what it feels like." He turned to face the others fully. "Karin, Tayuya, you two stay here. The rest of you, get back to work. We have much to do."

The other three of the Sound Four went to spread the word that 'Orochimaru' had taken over the boy and now had the Sharingan.

The two girls were waiting nervously. He brushed past them to head to his room. "Come with me."

As soon as they were back in his room securely Menma shuddered. "Karin, check my body to see what changed. Ugh, it felt like there were worms under my skin."

She used her sensor abilities before responding. "M-Menma?"

"Yes, now please, tell me what changed. I think I absorbed part of that slimy bastard."

The girls let out the breaths they were holding. Minutes later Karin had finished her scan.

Menma looked at her worried. "How bad is it? Am I a giant snake made out of little snakes now?"

Karin shook her head. "The only changes are the marks around your eyes from your lack of sleep changing to look more like Orochimaru's. They're still black though. The second is that your pupils have become snake-like, like his were. Not that you can tell with your black eye..."

Menma collapsed into a chair. "I'm going to have to beat the hell out of Kurama for eating him like that..."

The girls looked at each other questioningly.

Menma frowned. "Tayuya, go get Kin. Karin go get our fifth member, I think it's time they meet him."

The girls nodded and went to perform their tasks. "Oh, and Tayuya. Since I'm going to be pretending to be Orochimaru and your trip is shorter, can you find me duplicates of his outfit that will fit?"

Tayuya gave him a mock salute. "Yes, Orochimaru-sama."

He gave her a half-hearted glare as she left. 'At least it wasn't shithead?'

3 years after Menma joined Sound

Menma had successfully tricked Sound into believing he was Orochimaru and had run the village for a year now. It wasn't all that hard. Orochimaru liked to have time to experiment so most of the mundane tasks were carried out by others.

Menma had gone digging through Orochimaru's information on Akatsuki and found it was quite helpful. He even found the hand that held his old ring and had 'liberated' it. He now sported it on his own hand, using the same finger the severed hand had.

When he had first taken over Sound was sure 'Orochimaru' would immediately plan another attack on Konoha to finish it once and for all. Menma had instead focused on Akatsuki. After explaining how his new 'body' was host to a bijū that would make him an even greater target than before it wasn't hard to get them to refocus their attention.

"Orochimaru-sama, you have a visitor," a random ninja informed him.

He followed the messenger to where the visitor was waiting.

"Shimura Danzō," Menma spat out upon seeing his guest. "What brings you here?"

End Chapter 16

A/N:

We're officially caught up to shippuden here. This arc might go on just a tad longer. As for the girl for Naruto/Menma's sort of pairing the numbers are...

Tayuya - 1
Karin - 1
Ino - 1
Tayuya or Karin - 1

I'll probably tack on that last one to whichever of the two pulls ahead first.