wedertz: Thanks. I added in your vote for Anko.

serialkeller: You'll find out who it is soon. I don't want to spoil it.

TheSilverNinetales: Looks like you read most of the story in one sitting. Thanks for the reviews. I added your vote for Tayuya.

Foxstar: Yep, Itachi will be returning soon. Also, I blame this sudden turnaround for Tayuya on you.

An Anonymous Gentleman: Is that what it was? I see. Well, I'm tweaking it to fit my needs either way.

shadonight6365: Glad you enjoyed it. I added your vote for Tayuya.

austin: You liked 21 that much? I felt like it was lacking myself. I added your vote for Tayuya.

Felicity Dream: First Sasori and now Karin... were you one of the ones worried about no one but Karin having been developed enough? If so, don't worry, I'll fix it. (I hope)

lilaznluvfanfic: I'm glad you enjoy it. I added your vote for Tayuya.

acid: Added your vote for Isaribi. I'll let you in on a secret, Karin didn't win.

Chapter 22

(Hidden Location)

Nine figures stood with their hands forming a hand sign with a man nearby chakra being sucked out of him.

"How far away are they?" Pein asked.

"They've arrived."

"Kakuzu, Hidan, intercept them. We only need a few minutes to finish," he commanded.

"Finally some sacrifices!"

Kakuzu ignored him as the two made their way to the entrance of the cave they were in. As they neared the entrance an explosion rocked the cave, filling the passage with smoke and debris. The two waited for the air to clear before walking out of the cave. Standing outside in front of them was what looked like every single ninja from Kumo, led by the Raikage.

"Thi-this is..." Hidan started. "Praise Jashin! So many sacrifices!" He dove into the mob with a maniacal laugh.

"Hidan!" Kakuzu sighed. "Idiot. You're going to get yourself killed."

"Where is he?" The Raikage demanded.

"He's inside. You can have his body when we're done, since he has no bounty to collect."

The Raikage charged him with a cry of "Lariat!"

Back inside the cave the last of the chakra had been drained, leaving Bee to drop to the floor dead.

Pein's image glanced briefly at the passage leading to the entrance to the cave before dismissing the statue. "I will go collect the Kyūbi. Soon our preparations will be complete and the world will know true pain."

The projections of the members faded away, leaving the two immortals to their fate.

The Raikage would return to Kumo with the bodies of both jinchūriki where they were buried as heroes. He was unable to save them, but he was able to avenge them, with

Rumors would later spread around Kumo of the Raikage turning one of the villains into a foul-mouthed talking head to keep as a 'pet'.

(Hidden Sound Base)

Menma was exhausted. Normally his lack of sleep didn't affect him too much because he took it easy during hours people normally slept. Between fighting off waves of ninja and burning everything in sight to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands he was being pushed far beyond what he was used to.

'How long has it been? A week? A month? A year? I haven't been this tired since Wave.'

He was currently fighting off another wave of ninja while Karin was back in a corner of the base destroying.

He felt a presence approach him from behind as he turned the last ninja into a screaming pile of burning flesh. As he looked over his shoulder tiredly he saw Karin approach.

"It's done. We've destroyed everything we need to," she said.

"Really?" Menma flopped down the ground where he was. "And the others aren't back yet? I hope they're alright."

Karin nodded and handed him some food and water. "Should we go check on them?"

"Ye-" Menma cut off as they felt another presence approach. The both stood and readied themselves only to find Itachi stagger into the base.

"Itachi? You look like shit," Menma said.

"Then I must look just like you," he replied before shaking his head. "That doesn't matter. You have to get out of here. You're the only one left."

Menma tilted his head curiously. "Only one left?"

Itachi nodded. "You're the only jinchūriki that hasn't been captured and drained. I'm sure Pein is on his way here as we speak."

Menma groaned. "I can't leave without the others and they haven't returned yet."

"Then we will collect them and leave."

Menma stared at him and sighed. He dug through his pouch for a bit before pulling out a map and spreading it out. "Fine, you'll take the eastern hideout. It's here," he said, marking a location on the map. "Karin, you take the northern hideout. I'll hit up the southern hideout."

"Wait, shouldn't I go to the south? I was in charge of that place before Orochimaru called me back to take Kabuto's place as his medic."

Menma looked over at Karin. "Yeah, and you said it was basically a prison, right? Would you be able to fight through all those prisoners if they got loose? I can't think of any other reason why whoever was sent there was delayed."

Karin nodded, he was probably right.

"Then I will see you both in Konoha," Itachi replied, standing to leave.

"Ah, we should probably meet outside first. Who knows how they'll react to Sound ninja showing up and claiming to be with me."

Itachi looked down at the map for a moment before pointing to a location. "Here. We'll meet up in say, two days. If anyone isn't there we go ahead without them. We need to get to Konoha as quickly as possible so Pein doesn't get the Kyūbi."

The other two nodded. "See you in two days."

Karin and Itachi quickly rushed off to their targets. Menma folded the map up and was about to rush off as well but paused and turned around. Entering Orochimaru's old quarters he set the map down on the desk to climb up and pull his giant fan off the wall.

"Can't forget my reminder, huh Honoka-sensei?" He ran a hand over the surface of the fan as he walked out the door of the chamber. He walked through the base to the exit staring at the fan and lost in thought. When he reached the outside he placed it on his back and rushed for the hideout he was supposed to check.

Six people entered the hideout not long after they had rushed off. They all had piercings and those that had hair all had the same orange color.

The people walked calmly through the battle-scarred hideout and spread out to search it. Room after room contained nothing but scorch marks, blood splatters, and dead bodies.

Eventually a man with spiky orange hair and two piercings in his lower lip came across Orochimaru's old chambers. Walking over to the desk he stared down briefly at the folded up map. He unfolded it, looked at the circled areas, and calmly walked back out of the base, followed by the other five.

They split into pairs of two. One pair headed north, one pair headed east, and the final pair headed south.

(Northern Sound Hideout)

Karin had reached the hideout fairly quickly and had found things destroyed like they were supposed to be.

She frowned. 'If they already finished the job, where are they?' Moving further in she eventually came to a room that had a steel door that was open. As she was staring at the door she sensed two people further in. She rushed towards the two people and burst through a wooden door.

She found Kimimaro and a man with spiky orange hair chatting and drinking tea.

"What the hell are you doing?!" She shouted.

"Ah, Karin. This is my friend Jūgo. He and I were catching up before returning after my mission," Kimimaro replied politely.

"Do you have any idea how long it's been?! We thought something horrible happened!"

"Has it really been that long?" Kimimaro asked looking at Jūgo. He got a shrug in response. "Then we should be on our way."

The three quickly left and headed for the rendezvous point.

Not long after two men with piercings arrived at the hideout. They combed through the area and found nothing. Glancing at each other silently, they turned and left.

(Eastern Hideout)

Itachi arrived at his destination to find a girl with long black hair tied with a ribbon running around frantically. She paused when she saw him before whipping out several senbon and getting in a defensive stance. "I won't go down that easily," she told him with an icy tone.

"You are one of Menma's comrades? I'm here to help, not fight," came the monotone reply.

"Ugh, thank god. There's too much crap here for me to do this alone. I don't even know any fire jutsu."

Itachi took a look around before moving to gather everything up. "Stack it all up in one big pile. I can take care of the fire."

It took them roughly an hour to finish piling everything together. Itachi quickly turned it all to ash with a fireball.

The two turned and left the hideout after making sure their work was done. As they stepped outside two men with piercings appeared in front of them. Itachi immediately got into a defensive stance and activated his Sharingan.

"What's your name, girl?" He asked.

"Kin... Tsuchi Kin," came the reply as she nervously got into a defensive position.

"Kin... these two are stronger than you can imagine. If you don't give this your all from the start, you will die. Do you understand?"

"Yeah," was all she could say in reply. She could feel the power the two gave off.

Itachi nodded and rushed towards the two paths.

(Southern Hideout)

Menma walked through the deserted hideout and frowned. "Where the hell are all the prisoners? Did they already free them and leave? Who even took this hideout anyways? He sighed. "I should have assigned them bases rather than just letting them pick themselves."

He looked at each cell as he passed. All the doors were open and they were all empty. Eventually he came to a section of the prison that held the more violent and dangerous types. They had solid cells with metal doors, but each of them was open and empty as well.

At the end of the hallway he found a cell that had the door closed. He braced himself and opened the door to find a bound and gagged Tayuya sitting in a chair staring at him.

'Yeah, this isn't a trap at all,' Menma thought before walking into the room. He pulled the gag off Tayuya.

"It's a trap, get out of here!"

"You don't say," Menma replied flatly. He proceeded to untie her from the chair. "Are you hurt?"

"No, they just tickled me to knock me out and bind me. What the hell do you think, dumbass?!"

Menma gave her a flat stare. "I was asking if they raped you, Tayuya."

"What?! No! I'm still a- I'm fine!" She shouted, flushing.

It was that moment that the inmates decided to 'spring' their trap. Several large men walked into the room and blocked the exit.

"So, you're the runt who killed Oro-" the man was cut off by a kunai to the head, killing him.

"Was he your leader?" Menma said, staring flatly at the men. "You're thugs and bandits used for experimentation. We're trained ninja and I can summon the Kyūbi to turn this place into a crater. Do you really want to do this?"

"Get them! Raaaagh!" One large man shouted, spurring on all the others.

Menma cut the rest of Tayuya's bindings with a kunai and handed it to her. He then flashed through hand signs. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu." He then pulled the fan off his back and infused it with his wind chakra and swung, enlarging the fireball to a massive size. The fireball was powerful enough to incinerate a trail through the horde of inmates.

The inmates stopped at seeing the fireball cut down the center of them, turning anyone it hit to ash instantly. Many of them turned to each other and began to mutter.

"Last chance to leave here alive," Menma called out.

Most of them decided they were better off running and took off. Only a handful remained.

"Aha! The fatass did have my flute!" Tayuya stood triumphant holding her flute over her head.

Menma smirked at her. "You look like you just found something useful in a treasure chest."

She stuck her tongue out at him before pointing to the remaining inmates. "Those guys are mine. I want revenge."

Menma shrugged and walked off to the side to lean against the wall. Tayuya summoned her Doki and made short work of the inmates before turning to him with a smirk. "There shouldn't be all that much research to destroy, right?"

Menma nodded and led her out of the room. It only took them a few minutes to find the room where most of it was stored. It seemed like the inmates had started looking through it but hadn't taken anything.

Menma fireballed the stash and they were soon rushing out of the base. "That was easy," Tayuya said. "Once we got past the whole hostage bit, I mean."

"Don't jinx us. Karin and I barely got out of Sound before Akatsuki showed up to capture me," Menma replied.

The moment they stepped outside they were confronted by two men surrounded by corpses. Men with orange hair and multiple piercings.

Menma turned to Tayuya. "Tayuya, this is all your fault."

"Well shit."

End Chapter 22

A/N:

You all hate me now for leaving the fights for next time, don't you? Oh well. I like how when I mention Karin is going to win suddenly all these Tayuya supporters pop out and vote.

Final votes:

Tayuya - 6
Karin - 4
Anko - 2
Isaribi - 2
Ino - 1

As you can see, Tayuya ended up winning after all. I'll have to do some minor tweaking to the story to make it fit her. I'll also likely do some flashbacks to Menma's time in Sound during the 3 years to build up a relationship with her. I can make it work, but you brought the flashbacks on yourselves!