Felicity Dream: Hopefully this chapter is more interesting for you. Sorry about Sasori, heh. I also marked you down for Karin.

serialkeller: My most faithful reviewer. It makes me happy that you stick around and take time to respond, even if they're short.

Foxstar: Things should be a bit more interesting for awhile. I'll need to work on making things interesting even when nothing happens in the future.

jeannette: Thanks.

Rahl: Thanks, I'll do my best.

Guest: Mr. Anonymous Reviewer, if you get this far, thank you. I went back and read that part in the prologue and realized it wasn't done very well. I did some tweaking to it that hopefully makes it better and a bit more realistic.

Chapter 19

(Hidden Sound Base)

Menma was sitting in a room he had set up as an office listening to a random jōnin talk.

"There have been rumors spreading that you're not Orochimaru. That... that boy was the one who won."

Menma narrowed his eyes. "Is that so? Who is spreading these rumors?"

There was a knock and the door opened before the man could respond. Menma turned to the jōnin as he saw Kin enter. "We'll finish our discussion later. Squash any rumors you hear regarding this."

The man saluted and ran out. Kin took his place. "Talking about the rumors that say you're not Orochimaru?" Menma nodded. "It's Danzō."

Kin placed a file on the desk in front of him that he took his time reading. "Planning a coup? How did you find all this? He's being kind of sloppy, don't you think?"

Kin shrugged. "In Konoha he had connections and safe houses and the like set up. Out here he has nothing, so he can't hide as well as he's used to."

"He's the reason I'm here, you know? He was a pain in the ass back in Konoha, and he's a pain in the ass out here." Menma sat back in his seat and folded his arms.

"There's more. We found a messenger bird flying around randomly in the country. When we had someone make themselves visible it landed and we retrieved a scroll," she paused. "A scroll from Konoha... for the Otokage."

Menma blinked. "We have an Otokage?"

"Yes, we do, Orochimaru-sama. You have the hat, don't you?"

Menma looked confused at first before a look of understanding crossed his face. He snuck a peek at a corner of the room that Kin caught.

When she looked in the corner she found the hat upside down and propped up by a little wooden base. The hat was filled with dirt and had a little tree growing in it.

She snorted a laugh. "You turned your Kage hat into a bonsai tree?"

Menma shrugged. "Hey, it's unmarked and doesn't have the veil bit. I had no idea what it was. How was I supposed to know it was an incomplete Kage hat? It doesn't matter anyways, none of the Great Nations will accept our little country."

Kin handed over the scroll from Konoha. Menma began to read the scroll and blinked. "She's crazy. This will never... well, it might work. What does she expect me to do with Sound, though?" Reading further he frowned. "Kin, set up a line of communication with Konoha. Make sure they can't track the birds to us or anything. She's off to a good start, but her plan only takes Konoha into account. What does she think is going to happen to Sound if she announces to Konoha I killed Orochimaru? When people find out it's going to implode. The last thing I need is these people killing each other off trying to get to me. I want them all pointed at Akatsuki right now."

Kin stood to do as she was told when Menma stopped her. He quickly wrote down a response and sent her away with it.

"I wonder how she'll respond to it."

Menma sat in his chambers that evening frowning. He looked down at his hands. His left little finger, left thumb, and right index fingers all sported Akatsuki rings. The group that was the source of his current annoyance.

After he had spent most of the time thinking over Sound and why he was still here instead of back in Konoha he came to a realization. Orochimaru was not strong enough to destroy Akatsuki. Or rather, him posing as Orochimaru. He either didn't have access to the Sannin's strongest attacks or didn't want to use them.

He had a bit of knowledge on Orochimaru's taijutsu style but he never went through the requirements to mold his body to be able to use it. He flat out refused to use Edo Tensei. Even if there were people in Sound that deserved to die, he didn't want to bring back the dead. He also didn't have access to the snake contract so snake summons were out as well.

"How the hell did I convince people all this time that I was Orochimaru? Was it the creepy laugh? Or maybe they just didn't care since I stopped using people that failed as experiments?"

He mentally went over his skills. First was his fire and wind manipulation. Orochimaru was a wind type, and Uchiha having fire was common. He could safely use both of those, as Orochimaru loved jutsu and the elements fit. The curse seal, and seals in general, shouldn't cause any problems. After watching Kakashi in River Country he had delved into the Uchiha's memories and learned another technique or two. He could possibly write that off as 'Orochimaru' experimenting with the Sharingan, so those should be ok. Summoning Kurama... he wasn't sure. He never told anyone the details of how it worked so that one might cause problems, especially if he didn't use him to cause random destruction. He had continued training with his giant fan in secret after he killed Orochimaru. That one would certainly cause issues, Orochimaru only really used his Kusanagi, which he still couldn't find. He had long since completed the third step of the Rasengan, and had even started playing with adding in his elements, which would be a giant red flag. Everyone knew Orochimaru couldn't figure that one out, which angered him to no end.

Wind and fire manipulation, clones, the curse seal, and the Sharingan. "Will it be enough to beat Akatsuki?" There was a knock on his door. "Enter."

Kin entered with a stern look on her face. "Kisame Hoshigaki has been sighted wandering in our territory."

Menma sighed. "And you're informing me because our people have been throwing themselves at him and failing." Kin nodded. "How many?"

"Of them? As far as we can tell it's just Kisame right now. Itachi is no doubt nearby but he hasn't engaged yet. As for ours... most of what was left after you sent everyone out to hunt down Akatsuki. The old Sound Four just left to engage him."

"Tayuya included?" Kin nodded. "Find Karin and Kimimaro and meet me outside. We'll deal with him ourselves."

(Countryside near the Hidden Sound Base)

By the time they arrived at what appeared to be a giant inland lake with trees growing out of it, the water had turned a deep red.

The four landed in a tree and looked around. Below them Jirōbō lay in shallow water on top of what appeared to be a boulder. His stomach was torn out, blood and entrails leaking into the water. Off to their right, just below the water surface, they could see Kidōmaru fending off a dozen sharks made of water. Sakon and Ukon arrived to help him, but were too late. Kidōmaru was torn apart by the sharks, leaving Sakon and Ukon to fight them in his place. To the left, Tayuya and her three Doki were fighting off three Kisames, no doubt clones. Tayuya was injured and heavily bleeding.

"Karin, Kin, heal Tayuya and support her." The two immediately jumped off to assist. Menma turned to Kimimaro. "We'll assist Sakon and Ukon."

As they jumped down to the water to rush over to them another Kisame emerged from the water in front of them. "About time! I was wondering how many of Orochimaru's pets I would have to kill before you showed up."

Menma glared at him for wording it that way and activated his Sharingan. "It seems our opponent will be this one instead, Kimimaro."

Kimimaro pulled a bone sword from his shoulder and rushed Kisame.

Menma held back as the two engaged each other, swords flashing as they struck and parried. He looked around with a frown and started pulling out explosive tags. Sakon and Ukon were still alive and who knows how many other grunts were lurking around. Being unable to use Rasengan and having no sword of his own he would be at a severe disadvantage if he was forced into close combat.

"At least this will answer my question." Menma wrapped the tags around kunai and threw them at Kisame whenever Kimimaro fell back during their fight. The tags were fairly strong, but had a small range, so they wouldn't put him in danger.

Eventually Kimimaro managed to skewer Kisame through the shoulder before jumping clear. The kunai with the tag buried itself in his stomach and exploded. The Kisame collapsed into water.

"Substitution," Kimimaro said emotionlessly. "My sword struck him normally."

The two of them gazed around trying to find Kisame. Sakon and Ukon as well as all the sharks were missing. To the other side, they found 2 Kisame fighting against Tayuya, Kin, and Karin, with the third heading towards them.

Kimimaro engaged him again. Menma checked his seal stock and frowned. 'One left. Guess I move in with a kunai. This is going to suck.' Kimimaro shot his fingers out and managed to catch Kisame in the head, revealing another water clone.

Just as he was about to move in Kisame flew up out of the water and landed a kick in Kimimaro's gut that sent him flying through a tree and skipping across the water surface. 'Shit.' Menma watched him fly off as Kisame turned to him with a grin. This Kisame was obviously real as he had a bleeding shoulder. Menma blinked, he could see over his shoulder that he was lined up with the two clones that were attacking the other group. Even better they were far enough away from the girls that an attack wouldn't hurt them.

'I've always been curious to know if this would work.' He activated his Mangekyō and muttered. "Amaterasu." He then flashed through hand signs. "Fūton: Daitoppa!"

A massive firestorm of black flames blew across the artificial lake. The water flash boiled and trees burst into flames. Kisame had been caught off guard by that. He knew what Amaterasu was but had never seen it combined with another technique like that. He substituted with one of his water clones attacking the girls. Black flames licked at his arm and leg as he dove out of the way. The water clones didn't stand a chance and were immediately destroyed.

Seeing the devastation his attack was causing Menma forcibly dispelled the flames. He staggered a bit after that, the sudden combined chakra usage making him light-headed. As he wavered a burned and very angry Kisame jumped out at him bringing his sword down, intent on cutting him in two.

As he was about to land the attack a whip made out of bone jerked the blade to the side, causing it to bury in the ground. Immediately afterwards Kimimaro appeared in his stage two seal with a giant bone spear over his arm and skewered Kisame through the heart.

The remaining water from Kisame's techniques vanished as the man collapsed to the ground dead. Menma looked over at Kimimaro as his bones and curse seal receded. "Thanks."

"You should be careful with attacks that leave you open like that," Kimimaro replied.

Menma waved it off. "I just didn't want all of Sound burning to ash." He reached down and pulled Kisame's ring off his hand before placing it on his own left ring finger. "That makes four."

Karin and Kin staggered up supporting Tayuya. "She alright?" Menma asked. Karin nodded. "She's just suffering from chakra exhaustion."

Before anyone could say anything else Itachi walked out from behind a tree. The others were immediately on guard, but Menma held up a hand. "You know, the Hokage is trying to clear your name."

"Really?" Itachi raised a brow.

"Yeah, you should probably keep an eye on the place for awhile. The way she's setting it up I think it'll work."

"He's not here to attack us?" Karin asked.

"I'm here to congratulate you. Kisame was one of the tougher members of Akatsuki," Itachi replied.

Menma waved him off. "Sure, just remember to keep an eye on Konoha."

Itachi bowed and dispersed into numerous crows.

Menma shook his head and turned to Kimimaro. "He's your kill. Make sure to seal him up."

With that, the body was sealed and the group trudged back to their base to heal.

(Hidden Sound Base)

It had been five days since Kisame attacked. Menma had been sending and receiving messages from Konoha just about daily since the first had arrived.

Tsunade stuck to her plan. She was convinced it would work, even if it caused problems for Sound. Menma had decided to go along with it and deal with the fallout later. The majority of Sound ninja had been absent when Kisame attacked, so he couldn't do much about them at the moment anyways. His last message had told her of his acceptance on the grounds that she send someone to help him with a mission.

He had just been told a messenger had arrived from Konoha. Not a messenger bird, but an actual ninja.

He walked into the room where the messenger was waiting. The black-haired ninja gave him a smirk that he returned. "I think you'll like this mission. Let's go set up for it."

(Countryside near the Hidden Sound Base)

Late that night in a clearing in the woods Menma stood waiting, his back to the center.

Minutes later the man he was waiting for hobbled into the center of the clearing.

Menma remained silent as he stared at the moon. After several minutes he spoke. "Have you ever heard the proverb about catching two rabbits, Danzō?"

"If you try to catch two rabbits at once, then you will catch neither," the man replied. Yes, he knew the proverb. He learned about it first hand back in Konoha.

Menma turned to face him, Sharingan blazing. "You're half right," came a voice from behind Danzō. The old man whipped around to face the mystery voice.

A man with black hair and Sharingan eyes appeared from the shadows. "If you try to catch two rabbits at once, then the two rabbits will surround you and beat you to death."

"Uchiha Sasuke," Danzō growled out.

End Chapter 19

A/N:

Gave Kin a little bit more air time this chapter. Her position in Sound has sort of become head of intelligence. She knows what's going on in and outside of Sound.

Karin is, of course, in charge of all things medical and R&D.

Tayuya, I'll be honest, I haven't really thought about her too much so far. Sorry. She's mainly acting as a bodyguard along with Kimimaro right now. She's the loudmouth one that will shout while Kimimaro is the aloof professional.

As for voting:

Karin - 3 (6)
Tayuya - 2 (4)
Ino - 1 (2)
Anko - 1
Isaribi - 1

The numbers are omitting the "x or y" votes. If I add a tally for each name of those votes it's the numbers in parentheses.