Naruto: Legends of Two Jinchuriki

by X009

As Naruto embarks on his three year trip, a single argument and a chance encounter forever change the course of his destiny. Watch as these two hurt souls, linked by a red string of fate and a shared burden, strive to overcome the obstacles in their path. Rewrite of Naruto: Nine and Seven.

12. Chapter 12

And we've now arrived at the conclusion of the rice arc. This is going to be a long one, hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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The three young teens stared down the repulsive abomination Arashi had become. Tears streamed down Sasame's face as her mind struggled to comprehend what she was seeing. Far away, Kagero took on a pained expression as she looked at what had become of her clan mates before she clenched her eyes shut and turned her head away, not wishing to see what they'd been turned into.

"Sasame." Naruto said, taking a step forward and raising his kunai, charging it with wind chakra. "Go back and stand by Kagero."

"Wait, Naruto! You're not actually going to fight him, are you!?" Sasame cried, panic clear in her voice, desperate to save Arashi despite what he'd become.

"Does it look like he's just going to let us walk away?" Fuu questioned, stepping away from her as she took on a sword stance, gripping her liquid blade with both hands.

"And look at him…" Naruto said, preparing to fight. "… He's not the cousin you loved anymore."

As if on que to prove his point, the mass of flesh shifted once more, growing and shiftin as Jigumo's face writhed and it let out another inhuman groan, his face distorting, as if his bones, if it even still had them, were contorting and realigning until the tissue around it bulged out and took on a rough, deformed, legless humanoid shape around the deceased spider user's face, its left arm massively oversized and its right, while smaller, still twice the size of a normal arm.

Sasame screamed at the sight of while Arashi let out an insane laugh.

"Sasame, get back! I know you don't want to fight him, but we don't have a choice here! Let us handle it!" Naruto yelled, turning his head to look at her over his shoulder.

"You can't! Please, Arashi stop!" Sasame cried, trying to move forward, causing Fuu to grab her.

"Forget it! The Arashi you knew is dead and gone! All that remains is this fusion of Ninja Art: Cadaver Puppets! Just a lump of unfeeling flesh!" Arashi's guttural voice cut through their thoughts before he pointed at them. "Now, Jigumo, attack!"

As if responding to his command, the flesh puppet formed from Jigumo's corpse shot forward, the flesh connecting Jigumo to Arashi extending before it seemed to drag the Fuma jonin along with it. It reared back its massive arm, ready to strike.

Naruto jumped to the right as Fuu grabbed Sasame and leapt away, dragging the girl who struggled against her grip over to the downed Kagero as the oversized hand slammed into the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust and destroying several tiles.

Naruto landed on one of the stone pillars and bounded off of it, flying straight towards fusion of Cadaver Puppets as Jigumo moved to counter, throwing a clumsy but powerful punch at the genin, who deflected the attack, placing his hands on the hand as it neared and pushing downward, sending the attack off course and himself a little higher into the air. He flipped around, landing on his feet, and then kicked off towards Arashi's main body.

"No!" Sasame screamed, still struggling against Fuu's grip. Finally, the mint haired Jinchuriki saw that there was no convincing the girl to stop, and knocked her out with a jab to the back to the neck, causing her to slump forward unconscious.

As she set Sasame down, she glared at the other Fuma kunoichi. She couldn't fathom how anyone could possibly let people they cared about be turned into this… thing… let alone continue to follow the one who did it, no matter what they promised.

"You know, you make me sick." She snarled at the other green haired girl, who frowned at her. "How can you serve Orochimaru knowing what he did to your clan mates?"

"Don't talk as if you know what we've been through." Kagero replied, their pupil-less eyes meeting in a harsh glare. "For years, we've barely scraped by. For years, the daimyo scorned us and allowed us to suffer all because we failed when he gave us an impossible order. Lord Orochimaru is out last hope!"

"Don't give me that crap!" Fuu snarled back. "So he's going to raise your clan back into glory. Huh? How? By turning you all into insane monstrosities!?" The Jinchuriki grabbed Kagero by her collar and pointed to the battle just as Naruto leapt back, having fought toe to toe with Arashi's main body before Jigumo once again slammed his hand into the ground and forced him back, throwing several shuriken which were easily deflected by the oversized arm of the puppet.

"Look at them." The Nanabi Jinchuriki ordered the Fuma jonin. Kagero averted her gaze, looking away in shame, so Fuu forcefully jerked her head in the battles direction. "Look. At. Them!" She said, punctuating each word. "How can you serve a man who did that to your own flesh and blood for his own sick amusement!?"

She let go of the jonin's collar, stepping away from her. "I can understand sacrificing yourself for the greater good of your clan and village, but to let this happen to your comrades, when all you've been offered in return is a few pretty words, you must be either blind or stupid! What do you think your clansmen would say if they could see this!? Would they want you to revive your clan this way!?"

"That's right!" Naruto said as he fell from the shadows that covered the ceiling, landing beside them. Fuu looked briefly surprised before turning to the battle still raging and then to the blond Jinchuriki standing beside her, realizing he must have switched himself with a clone.

Pointing back at the hulking form of Arashi, Naruto glared down at the green haired jonin, "How much of your family are you going to sacrifice before you get through your head that Orochimaru doesn't give a damn about you!? Want to know what happened to the last guy who trusted him? It was the Kazekage! As soon as he had the chance, Orochimaru killed him and took his place so he could control Suna and use them for his attack on our village, and then throw them away as soon as they were of no use to him anymore! He sacrificed two of his genin so he could use a kinjutsu to revive and enslave the dead! Before that, he experimented on people from his own village and betrayed another group he joined. That snake never keeps his word unless it benefits him more than breaking it, and some times he'll do it anyway just because he's that big of a bastard!"

Really, unless the Kazekage was backing out of their arrangement, there had been no reason to kill the man. On top of that, considering how quickly he was found once Suna focused on their own country, he obviously hadn't taken any measures to hide what he'd done. All that gave Naruto the impression Orochimaru killed him and left him there to rot just to prove he could and no one could stop him. It wouldn't surprise him, the man's arrogance and ego made Sasuke seem downright humble by comparison.

"So tell me, why would he keep his promise to you!? What would he have to gain!? You and the Fuma clan are no different to him than any of his other followers, he'll use you till he's sucked everything out of you he can, then double-cross you first chance he gets!"

Kagero's eyes widened as she stared at him, disbelief and dawning, horrified realization overcoming her features. Was this what Sasame was trying to warn them about? If the man had that kind of track record… then the chances of him actually keeping his promise to them were slim.

It didn't help that her now dead teammates had been fused with this Arashi for failing him. Granted, it was Arashi who killed them; nevertheless, considering Orochimaru had made him that way, she doubted he'd be upset to hear it.

Then… had this really all been for nothing? Had her clansmen's lives been thrown away for nothing? She'd clung to the belief that he'd keep his promise because it was her clan's only hope, now that he had the ear of the daimyo, but if what he was saying was true then… "That can't…"

The blond's ocean blue orbs shot open and he quickly grabbed Kagero, wrapping his left arm around her while making a hand sign to release the seal on the prayer beads around her arms. "Fuu, move!"

The mint haired Jinchuriki quickly followed suit, grabbing Sasame and leaping away as Naruto bolted in the opposite direction just as Arashi's massive arm crashed into the space they'd occupied just moments before, destroying a huge chunk of the wall and the floor.

The Uzumaki snarled at the mutated shinobi as he flew through the air. His clone had dispersed itself when it saw Arashi going for them and knew it wasn't fast enough to stop him, sending the blond its memories and warning him of its attack. Good thing. While their senses would have warned them in time to escape, with those seals weighing Kagero down, he likely would have been left wide open had the clone not done as it did.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Naruto shouted as he landed, glaring at Arashi. He wasn't worried about Kagero as, at this point, she'd been completely drained of chakra and could barely even life her arms. "You could have killed both of your clan mates with that move!"

"That's the idea!" Arashi replied with crazed glee. "Their not doing me any good as they are now, so they might as well join Jigumo and Kamikiri!"

Both the Jinchuriki's faces twisted in disgust at that, while Kagero's became sorrowful, having seen enough of Arashi's current state to know he'd think that way. Before either could respond, the Jigumo cadaver puppet opened its mouth and spit out masses of webs, each headed by one of his spiders, which snaked around in different directions as they approached the blond and the incapacitated jonin.

Naruto leapt into the air and summoned a fuma shuriken and unfolded it, channeling wind chakra into it before throwing it. It sliced cleanly through the webs and continued along its path to Arashi, who jumped above it, touching back down on the ground with a crash, his weight cracking the tiles.

Fuu, having hidden Sasame behind one of the pillars, fired multiple bullets of water at the hulking monstrosity, but Arashi simply shielded himself with Jigumo's oversized arm, his bulk protecting him from most of the damage. Once more the Jigumo puppet opened its maw and spewed webs at her. Fuu jumped to a pillar and bounded across the room, evaded the threads as she continued to pelt Arashi with liquid bullets.

As the white clad kunoichi traded attacks with Arashi, Naruto summoned a trio of shadow clones, which charged forward to engage their foe, each calling a kunai to their hand.

The first made a swipe at the abomination as it approached, but Arashi deflected the attack with a deft movement of his hand. Before the clone could follow up with that attack, it had to dodge to the side to avoid Jigumo's massive, deformed hand.

Another clone took the opportunity to attack the flesh puppet, jumping and throwing a punch at its face, but it caught the attack with its smaller hand. The clone twisted its bedy around, using its momentum to aid it as it kicked the deceased shinobi's face, causing it to release an inhuman groan as it was pushed back a bit before it retaliated with a swipe of its over sized arm.

As the clone faced the puppet, the other two engaged Arashi's main body. While one would think that his body structure might slow him down, his arms still moved in a flurry and deflected their blows, the massive amount of biomass contained in his body enhancing his muscles and allowing him to easily overpower them.

Naruto gave a grin as he watched his clones engage the unstable experiment and summoned four kunai to each hand, holding them between his fingers while Fuu looked down from her spot far above, her feet and left arm planted on a pillar that she clung to with her chakra. She was ready to join the fray when she saw Naruto begin to move and waited, not wanting to interfere with whatever his plan was but preparing to attack or cover him if need be.

Arashi held his arms in a cross guard to block a punch from a clone that would have struck him in the center of his chest. However, his pure white orbs took on a questioning look when the clone smirked.

Without warning, all three of the clones exploded, the combined blast consuming the monstrous shinobi.

Naruto let the kunai fly when he saw their adversary disappear and clapped his palms together. "Wind Style: Gale Palm!"

A wave of wind slammed into the metal stars, propelling them through the air and towards the monster, still covered by the cloud.

At that moment Arashi, only slightly burned by the explosions due to his bulk, decided to retaliate. "Kamikiri!"

At his command, the flesh around Kamikiri rapidly expanded into a humanoid form similar to Jigumo, the puppets grew arms similar to the other's, but his scissor blade extended out of its larger limb. It threw the weapon at the blond. It spun, seeming to rapidly become a solid metal disc, which cut through the wind and deflected the kunai. Naruto ducked under the blade, which sailed through the air, shifted in its path and sliced cleanly through a pillar, which fell to the ground.

Fuu summoned a water blade the moment the Kamikiri flesh puppet threw its weapon, summoning a water sword as she came down on it. Jigumo whipped around, spewing webs at her. She sliced through one mass of threads, but a second caught her by the ankle and pulled her toward him. Kamikiri's blade returned to him like a boomerang and he slammed it into her, stabbing her through… only for her to disperse into insects.

The puppet let out a moan of anguish while Arashi gave an enraged howl as the insects bit into its flesh and began sucking its chakra, dutifully obeying Fuu's commands even though they found the chakra disgusting.

The real Fuu came at them from behind, but Jigumo's remains, its body simply tissue, tilted its head until it was staring at her, upside down, before spewing more webs, grabbing her by the arm.

As the Kamikiri puppet shook off the insects ravaging its arm, Jigumo swept its massive arm and caught Fuu with its limb, sending her flying to the wall, slamming into it with enough force to shatter the stone on impact.

Before Arashi could continue, Naruto was upon him again, having retrieved his fuma shuriken and refolded it, using it as a blade and channeling wind chakra through it as he engaged the missing nin. However, after making a single upward swipe which the hulking form of Arashi leaned back to dodge, catching a small slash along his chest and drawing blood from the wind chakra, he dodged to the left to evade Jigumo, who slammed its pseudo-palm into the ground, and then jump back as Kamikiri lashed out with his scissor blade.

He jumped up as Jigumo made another swipe, making another hack at it, but the attack was deflected by Kamikiri's scissor blade, pushing Naruto back to the ground. He launched himself back at him, twisting his body and letting another attack from Jigumo's arm to pass below him, using the limb as leverage to launch himself at Kamikiri, who's unwieldy arms were too large to stop Naruto from slamming his knee into its face. Naruto moved to hack the face off, but he was forced to leap away to dodge an attack from the deceased spider user.

"You're dead!" Arashi growled, only for his senses, or more accurately Kamikiri's to warn him of approaching danger. He spun around to see Fuu coming at him, too fast for him to dodge with his bulk and holding her water sword to stab him. He manged to knock the attack aside, causing it to dig into the side of his abdomen, causing blood to spill out from the injury.

"Bitch!" The twisted ninja snarled as he moved to bat her aside, but Fuu ducked under his attack. She then stepped back as he attacked with all three of his bodies, skillfully maneuvering and snaking around well over a dozen strikes before ducking under a punch from Arashi's main body and lashing out with her leg, slamming the sole of her sandal into his face and sending him staggering back. She would have ended it then and there, but she had to jump to evade another slash from Kamikiri's weapon as Naruto returned to the fray, attacking Arashi's main body again. Arashi deflected another slash, but it was a faint and he found himself taking another blow to the face, this time by Naruto's fist.

The blond followed through with an uppercut, causing the monster to stagger back but he was then chased away by Kamikiri as Fuu came down from above, holding her blade in a reverse grip angled down, trying to impale him. Arashi arched his head, looking at her from the corner of his eye.

"It's no use! Kamikiri!" The flesh puppet that had once been Kamikiri whipped its blade around towards the mint haired Jinchuriki. She raised her water blade to shield herself from the blow. The scissor like weapon collided with her liquid one, sending sparks flying and pushing her through the air.

Fuu flipped around and landed on a pillar on her feet before launching herself back at the monster, slashing at Kamikiri's face, only for him to block with his pincer weapon, landing and bounding off the ground to stab at Arashi's form, but the two puppets lashed out. She ducked under an attack from Kamikiri and jumped above Jigumo's following attack, thrusting her blade into the flesh of his massive arm, causing the mask to moan in pain and whip her around, trying to throw her into a wall.

The female Jinchuriki held firm to her blade before pushing off at the first opportunity, flipping through the air as Naruto charged forward with his oversized shuriken, engaging the trio of fused ninja in a furious exchange, ducking and dodging under every attack from the pair of contracts while Arashi blocked his attacks with his normal arms.

Naruto threw a punch at Arashi's face, which he batted aside, but he was unprepared when Naruto slammed his knee into his stomach. He twisted around as he fell through the air, catching Arashi's face with a sweeping kick before he planted his hands on the ground and jumped backwards to evade when Kamirkiri stabbed at him with its weapon, which tore through the ground, sending cracks through the tiles and kicking up a small cloud of debris.

The Jigumo puppet moved to attack, but shielded itself with its arm as Fuu threw her blade at it. The weapon dug into its arm, causing it to moan disturbingly once again before the weapon melted into water.

Kamikiri once again stabbed at Naruto, but he snaked around the blow, folding his fuma shuriken and pumping as much wind chakra into his it as he could, before jumping forward, the blue glow of chakra extending from the blade and slicing cleanly through Kamikiri's arm, weapon and all.

The flesh puppet let out a roar as Naruto turned in mid air, landing feet first on a pillar and lunging at the experiment as Fuu did the same, attacking from both sides.

The two attacked in tandem, throwing punches, kicks and slashing their weapons at Arashi and Jigumo, dodging around their counters as Kamikiri thrashed with its mangled limb, spilling blood everywhere. While Arashi had a massive advantage in strength, his odd body structure limited his movements somewhat, he couldn't lift his legs to kick at his enemies nor could he jump quickly, and at times his puppets massive arms were unwieldy, not to mention their attacks were telegraphed.

Naruto sliced off Jigumo's smaller arm and moved to stab him in the face, only to twist his body to evade when two normal sized left arms burst out of its body, forcing him back to the ground.

Then, Arashi spun, both puppets lashing out with their arms and forcing the pair back. The genin looked on in dismay when Arashi stopped moving as they watched the the injuries close up. The holes in Jigumo's arm vanished in moments and its smaller arm grew back while Kamikiri's arm pulled itself back together. While the pincer weapon was divided in half, it could still be used the same as it was lodged in the constructs flesh, though it could no longer be thrown. To make matters worse, two more right arms burst out of Kamikiri's body, brining his total amount of limbs to 10.

Naruto cursed, wondering what it was going to take to bring his down for good.

Arashi tilted his head back and let out an insane laugh before looking to the two, grinning manically.

"Why don't you two just give up?" Arashi questioned. "I have all the combined power and skills of the Fuma clan's strongest shinobi! And as soon as I find those two you hid from me or strike you down, I'll gain your powers as well! Why keep up this farce! It's pointless! I am the ultimate shinobi!"

"Shut the hell up!" Naruto yelled, throwing his arm out. "Orochimaru thinks the same thing about himself and guess what? He's gotten his ass handed to him at least three times! You're just like him, nothing but another arrogant jackass with a god complex!"

"Ultimate shinobi, yeah right! There are plenty of people out there who can wipe the floor with you. And guess what, you're looking at two of them!" Fuu said, pointing her sword at him.

"Bold words. If you're so confident that you can take me down, why don't you prove it!" Arashi charged, his heavy footfalls thundering throughout the room.

The Jinchuriki kicked off the ground, meeting him half way. Both focused on Arashi's main body, the extra limbs on the extensions making trying to attack the others too much of a risk.

While Fuu dodged an attack from Kamikiri and slashed at Arashi, who carefully batted her blade aside, Naruto jumped into the air and grabbed onto Kamikiri's arm when he tried to attack, but was shocked when the pincer weapon was pulled back into his flesh. Knowing it was about to come out and skewer him, Naruto used his arm to throw himself into the air once more, flipping as he came down and catching Arashi in the face with a falling axe kick, causing his entire body to tilt forward.

Jigumo swept his arm out again, only for both to dodge, Fuu by leaping into the air and Naruto by kicking off the ground and shooting backward, making on hand sign as he did.

'Wind Style: Air Bullets!' Naruto took in a deep breath before opening his mouth and releasing a wave of fist sized wind bullets. Arashi raised his arms to protect his face as the attacks pelted him, causing him to growl in frustration.

Jigumo spewed more webs at Fuu as she rebounded off a pillar into the air above them, but Naruto immediately tossed his shuriken and severed the threads. Fuu then inhaled deeply, puffing out her chest a little.

'Secret Ninja Art: Scale Camouflage!' She thought as she blew out a golden powder which consumed Arashi, causing him to cry out in shock when the light from the powder blinded him.

Naruto smirked, knowing that Arashi was blind at the moment, before launching himself at the monster, forming a sphere of chakra in his hand.

It was virtually impossible to miss where the unstable experiment stood due to his size. The Kyuubi Jinchuriki thrust the orb of chakra forward, slamming it Arashi's chest, the power of the orb causing the golden powder to disperse in a spiral pattern. "Rasengan!"

Arashi let out a scream as the orb dug into his tainted skin, carving a spiral pattern in his flesh. The pain reverberated through his entire body, causing the flesh puppets fused with him to freeze as well. Finally, the orb exploded, sending him flying back into a pillar which collapsed on top of him, burying him in rubble.

Kagero watched, her eyes wide as she could hardly believe the monster Arashi had become was being pushed back. "I don't believe it…"

Naruto stared where the hulking abomination was buried while Fuu landed on the ground, both tense and waiting for Arashi to make his next move. No doubt that after that, he was hurting, but the chances of him actually going down from that were slim.

Suddenly, something burst from the cloud of debris, moving almost too fast for even the trained eye to see. It slammed into Naruto, causing both to vanish as whatever it was carved a path through the ground.

"Naruto!" Fuu called out, running over to him. When the dust cleared, he was revealed to be trapped in a rainbow colored chakra cage shaped like an inverted pyramid, just large enough to contain him and give him room to move his arms slightly.

"What the hell's this? Some kind of barrier jutsu?" Naruto questioned as he tried to push on the walls of the cage to no avail.

Arashi's insane laugh drew both their attention as he raised himself up from the rubble, holding his main bodies hands in a triangle shape mere inches apart from each other.

"You should feel honored. This is a forbidden technique known only to the ancient chiefs of the Fuma Clan: Fuma Ninja Art: Spell of the Mandala!" With that, he brought his hands closer together, causing the cage to shrink slightly and Naruto to struggle against it. "As the chakra cage shrinks, the person inside is crushed, smaller and smaller until both are the size of a pebble! And what's more, there's no way to break free! Not while I maintain the jutsu!"

Fuu grit her teeth in anger as she turned from Naruto and glared at Arashi. She summoned water blades to both her hands. "Like hell I'll let that happen!"

However, she'd only made it half way to her adversary when a voice stopped her in her tracks. "Arashi stop!"

Sasame leapt out from behind a pillar, a kunai in her hand. With all his and his puppets attention on the chakra cage and the approaching Jinchuriki, he'd completely let his guard down in all other areas. Fuu, focusing on Naruto and Arashi, was also surprised to see the Fuma kunoichi.

Sasame landed on Jigumo, her kunai digging into the flesh right beside the deceased shinobi's expressionless face. Jigumo let out an unearthly moan as visible chakra leaked from its mouth and eyes. The flesh that made up the deformed body began to melt away from Arashi.

"Sasame…?" Arashi could hardly believe what had just happened. His face, a mask of shock, twisted into a look of rage. "What have you done!?"

"Please, Arashi… come back to me…" Sasame begged softly as she slid down Arashi's body along with the liquefying flesh. "I know you're still in there somewhere, I know it!"

Arashi reached over to grab her but Fuu shot forward, causing Arashi to stumble back to avoid a slice of her blade. She would have pressed her attack when something unexpected happened.

Arashi took in a shark breath, his eyes widening, and much to the surprise of the two kunoichi, the Fuma shinobi's eyes returned to normal. Fuu stopped at this, standing in front of Sasame with her sword raised, ready to move if he attacked.

His head fell forward, shadows covering his brown orbs.

"You're there, Arashi aren't you?" Sasame said hopefully. Fuu would have made a comment on how unlike that was when Arashi spoke, his tone returned to the voice they had heard before his horrific transformation, though it carried an almost unfathomable pain.

"Please… forgive me." He said, somewhat strained and shaky as tears fell from Sasame's eyes. "All I wanted was the power… to help the Fuma clan find its place in the sun once again…"

"Yes." The young Fuma kunoichi stated, taking a step towards him. "I know… I do understand. But it's over now, you can come home. You can come back to the village."

Arashi shook his head.

"Never again… look at me, I've become a monster."

"No! That's not true!" Sasame denied, even though she could see what he'd turned into clear as day.

"I- if you knew the agony…" He turned to Fuu, raising his head, his eyes pleading. "Please… e- end this… put me out of my misery."

Fuu nodded and took a step towards him to fulfill his request, but Sasame stopped her. "No, you can't!"

"Sasame…" Fuu growled. She could see how much Sasame was hurting, but she highly doubted there was anyway to undo what had been done to Arashi. Besides, her main priority was saving Naruto.

However, before she could continue, Kamikiri's eyes glowed with chakra. Arashi jerked, and let out a grunt as pain course through his system and his eyes clenched tightly. When they opened, his eyes were once again pure white, the kinjutsu's influence over him returning full force and suppressing his sanity.

"What am I saying? I'll kill every last one of you!" He yelled as he Kamikiri lashed out with its blade. Fuu grabbed Sasame and leapt back, the pincer like weapon slamming into the ground.

"Arashi, no!" Sasame cried at seeing her cousin lose his mind again.

Arashi simply laughed insanely as he once again began to push his hands together, causing the cage to shrink some more. Fuu's head whipped around at the sound of Naruto's cries of pain as his body was slowly crushed.

However, at that moment, the motion of Arashi's fingers flashed into her mind. What would happen if his fingers were forced apart? Would the jutsu break?

Before she could put her theory to the test, Sasame beat her to it. "No, I won't let you do it!"

She charged towards, Arashi, knocked his hands out of position with a slap and gripped his wrists, fighting to keep him from crushing Naruto.

"Sasame, I'm warning you!"

Seeing this, Fuu smirked before turning and running towards Naruto, keeping Arashi from seeing her form the tiger hand sign.

"Sasame, get away from me!" The Kamikiri puppet reared back to impale Sasame, only to have to move to defend itself from a water blade. "What!?"

Arashi turned to see five clones of Fuu, formed from the water left behind when she and Naruto took down Kagero, charging at him from left and right, one aiding Sasame in forcing his hands apart while the rest attacked, forcing Kamikiri to defend their body.

With the mutated shinobi distracted, Naruto began to push the chakra cage apart, the walls of it cracking open as he struggled against it as the mint haired kunoichi ran to him, insects flying from her cylinder as she made her way to the trapped blond.

Fuu reached him and formed a water blade before stabbing it into the cage, careful not to stab Naruto, and using the blade as leverage to help him tear open the prism. Both let out cries of effort as they put their all into freeing the blond, Fuu putting her foot inside the cages boundary to apply more force.

Arashi almost laughed when he saw this, having destroyed all but two of the clones. Once the last of these distractions were gone he'd repair the cage. If he was fast enough, he could even take off her leg while he was at it. This was almost too easy! All he needed was to…

It was then that a clicking sound reached him, causing his eyes to widen. He spun around to see a wave of reddish black insects coming down on him.

"What? No!" He could do nothing but cry out in rage as the cloud of beetles consumed him, far too many for him to shake off and quickly covering two thirds of his body. He could feel them bite into his flesh, draining his chakra rapidly. He felt his strength draining as it became harder and harder to maintain his jutsu.

To make matters worse, the beetles moved to restrain Kamikiri' limbs, preventing him from aiding him as his cousin and the remaining clones forced his hands apart.

This was bad! He needed to release the jutsu before…

Too late. Naruto and Fuu's combined efforts caused the cage to burst open, releasing a wave of power with them at the center, protected from the blast.

Kagero, far enough away to be relatively safe, had enough of her strength rise to her feet and dive for the nearest pillar, using it to shield herself. She could hardly believe the technique she'd only heard about in legends of their clan had been used in front of her very eyes… and was beaten so easily.

"No…" Was all Arashi could say as the wave of power reached him, Sasame and the clones. The group could only stare in shock and fear as the explosion approached them before finally, the force pushed them into the air.

The clones were blown into pillars, causing them to break apart into water, while the two cousins were blown away together. The light of the explosion concealed a fragment of the chakra cage which sliced Kamikiri's remains off of Arashi, causing him to return to normal.

He felt true peace for the first time in months, despite the situation he found himself in. Suddenly, the haze that covered his mind, the pain that had encompassed his entire being, was gone and he could think clearly once more.

Seeing rubble flying towards them, he wrapped his arms around his younger cousin and spun around, shielding her with his body.

Sasame opened her eyes when she felt his warm arms envelope her and heard the sound of flesh being pierced and saw a jagged piece of stone sticking out of Arashi's back. "Arashi… you're hurt."

"I'm sorry, Sasame… I never meant to cause you so much suffering." Arashi said softly, giving her a warm smile.

"No." She sniffled. "No, Arashi, you're the one who suffered, not me. What can I do… tell me, isn't there anything I can do?"

"You've already done it, Sasame." The gray haired man replied in a comforting tone. "It's thanks to you that I'm myself again."

Meanwhile, Naruto and Fuu sat on the floor, Naruto with his arm propped up on his leg while Fuu sat on her knees with her feet splayed out, panting at the center of the destruction, the small area around them untouched by the destruction caused when the prism was broken, but beyond that a deep pit had been carved into the ground.

Naruto looked around before chuckling and giving her a fox-like grin. "Wow… that was a close one, huh?" He said, turning to look at the two Fuma shinobi. "And look, it seems like Arashi's back to normal."

"Yeah." Fuu nodded before craning her neck to look at Naruto, giving him a smirk. "You know, this is the second time you've wound up trapped by some lethal jutsu since I've met you. You're not going to make a habit out of this, are you?"

Naruto gave a chuckle in response before he shrugged. "Let's hope not. But either way, better it's me than you." He stated, causing her to look at him questioningly. "Did you already forget?" He asked before his mouth spread into a smile. "I told you before I'll come running if you ever need help. I'll always be there for you Fuu, and I never go back on my word." He then gave Fuu a bright grin that caused his eyes to close, which when combined with his whisker marks made him look like a fox. His left hand came up at the same time as the smile appeared on his face, giving her a thumbs up. "Because that's my nindo, my ninja way!"

Fuu felt blood flow to her cheeks at his words before she looked away, not wanting him to see her blush. "I didn't ask you to protect me." Before he could respond, she continued, "Because… I want to protect my friends too. Being there for those I care about… is part of my nindo, my ninja way."

The Kyuubi Jinchuriki blinked before smiling at her again, which she returned. However, that quickly faded as he took in his surroundings. "Uh… Fuu, what's wrong with this picture?"

Fuu looked back to him with a frown before she looked around… and grimaced when she realized the explosion had destroyed most of the pillars… and given from how much travelling they'd done, those were probably major support columns for the whole base. "… You've gotta be kidding me…"

Only a moment later, the entire base began to shake, chunks of rock falling from the ceiling. Naruto stood, looking around. "Damn, looks like this whole place is coming down!"

A huge section of the ceiling fell away, allowing the light of day to shine into the room, as Fuu joined him on her feet. She turned to the older Fuma kunoichi and ran towards her as dust and debris covered the floor of the room. "I'll grab Kagero! You go get Arashi and Sasame! We need to find a way out of here, fast!"

"Don't worry, I'll summon a toad to take us up, I'm just worried about the Pervy Sage!" He yelled at her over his shoulder.

The moment those words left the Uzumaki's mouth, Jiraiya appeared, riding atop Gamahiro.

"Did somebody call my name?" The Sannin asked amusedly, looking down at them with his arms crossed. "Sorry I'm late, I was held up. You're not the only ones who had their hands full." He said. Behind him laid the unconscious form of the brunette Fuma clan member who'd tried to kill him along with herself.

"Well, speak of the devil." Naruto commented with a grin before making his way to Arashi.

Fuu gave a small smile at seeing their sensei arrive before she made her way to Kagero, who looked up at her, clearly surprised.

"You're going to… save me?" She asked, her tone clearly conveying her confusion. "Why not just leave me here after what I put you through?"

"Well yeah." Fuu answered as she picked her up, slinging her arm over her shoulder. "You're not exactly my favorite person in the world, but you did what you did for your clan and you can see Orochimaru for what he is now, right? I'm not just going to leave you here to die like this."

Kagero looked to the ground, her expression sullen, now knowing that everything she'd done had been a mistake. "I see… thank you."

However, when Naruto grew close to Arashi, he threw Sasame, who had lost consciousness to him. He stopped and caught her, his expression one of surprise as he looked from her to him.

"Go, Naruto." Arashi said calmly, even though a large piece of the stone ceiling crashed down only a few feet from his body. "Get out of here with your sensei."

"But… what about you?" He questioned before his expression twisted in anger. "Don't tell me you don't think you deserve to live after everything Sasame went through to save you!"

Arashi shook his head. "I may have my original form and mind but… I'm just a Cadaver Puppet too… I can't leave this base. I'd die the moment I stepped outside its boundaries…"

Naruto's face fell at that, looking at him with an expression of pity. "Are you sure…?" When he nodded, Naruto did in turn, before leaping up to Gamahiro's head a moment after Fuu reached their sensei too.

"What about him?" Jiraiya asked, gesturing towards Arashi, having been too far away to hear the conversation.

Naruto closed his eyes and shook his head, his face unreadable as he reflected on what had become of Arashi and how, in the end, they couldn't fully save him. But at least he'd die as himself and not a monster.

Just then, Sasame began to stir. She cracked open her brown orbs and looked to him, her hazy vision briefly causing her to mistake him for Arashi before it cleared enough for her to realize he wasn't. "Where's… Arashi?"

Naruto averted his gaze, causing her to sit up and take in her surroundings, her face set in a look of panic as she searched for her cousin. It was then that she saw him, down at the ground. "Wha… what are you doing? Arashi, aren't you-?"

Seeing she'd have to see to understand, Arashi closed his eyes, focusing his chakra and sending out a wave of force to blow the smoke away, revealing a sight that caused Sasame's face to once again twist with horror, and the others in grim expressions, save for Kagero, who looked away in shame for having allowed this to happen.

Around Arashi's legs were the sentient remains of Kamikiri and Jigumo, groaning as the liquefied tissue formed arms and wrapped around the man's legs, trying to re-fuse with him. Worst still, against his will, the man's own flesh took on the reddish brown tone once again as an arm burst from his pant leg and merged with the two puppets.

"I'm sorry, Sasame… My life is tied to this place. Even if it weren't I can't leave like this. This is where I belong now." Arashi said apologetically.

"Arashi…" Sasame whimpered.

Jiraiya met the young man's gaze, sharing a serious look. Both nodded before Jiraiya turned to the massive toad they stood on. "Let's go."

With that, Gamahiro took off, jumping into the air and hopping across the remains of the pillars and into the daylight. All the while, Sasame fought against Naruto's grip, screaming as she tried to join her cousin.

'Goodbye, Sasame.' Arashi thought as they vanished from sight, just moments before the base collapsed entirely. 'And thank you.'

---

As Gamahiro sailed through the air far above the land, Sasame continued to desperately reach out for the base, tear drops torn from her eyes and sparkling in the light as they fell behind them as she extended her arm towards the base, crying out Arashi's name one last time.

It was at that moment that the base collapsed completely, the earth imploding and creating a deep pit in the ground.

Seeing this, her struggles stopped as she froze. Her eyes wide and her irises and pupils shrunk to such a size that you'd almost need a microscope to see them. She stopped breathing for a brief moment before she broke down, her heart torn in two as she knew that her cousin was gone. She clutched desperately to the blond, burying her face in his shoulder as she cried.

Fuu sent a sympathetic look her way, remembering how it felt when she thought Naruto had died. While Sasame had made some mistakes back there, she had tried to save Naruto, even if she hadn't been willing to hurt Arashi to do it. And in the end, she'd been right about him. Thanks to her, he died a human rather than a monster.

The mint haired girl thought what happened to Arashi was horrible. While she felt he should have seen this coming given what was known about Orochimaru and had, to some degree, brought it on himself, that didn't change how awful his fate was. To be turned into an abomination, twisted into a mockery of everything you cared about and stood for, trapped inside your own body and forced out to destroy what you care about… no one deserved to have that happen to them… or to be in Sasame's shoes when she saw what he'd become.

Kagero could only avert her gaze, feeling partly responsible for being taken in by the snake Sannin's lies.

Naruto held her as the boss summon landed on the ground, causing the ground to rumble as a cloud of dirt and debris erupted around it. He didn't want to imagine what this must be like for her. He knew, to some degree. This whole experience brought back bad memories from the ill fated mission to rescue Sasuke.

He could still remember the way his brother in all but blood had callously disregarded the lives of their comrades… the smile on his face when he stabbed him through the chest with his Chidori. But there were large difference in their situations, one of the largest being that he could still save Sasuke… but Sasame would never see Arashi again.

If he were honest with himself, and at the moment, he wasn't ready to yet… this made him question if Sasuke could be saved. He'd told Sasame Arashi wasn't the cousin she knew anymore, and he was right, though he'd been there buried deep down. Sasuke on the other hand… he wasn't sure exactly how much of an influence the curse mark had been on him… or if it could he removed and its influence undone now that it had corrupted him to this point.

Arashi wasn't the Arashi Sasame had known anymore… could Sasuke ever be the Sasuke that he and Sakura had known again?

"Why?" She cried out, her hands clutching at Naruto's vest, bunching the material. She could feel nothing but pain her mind replayed all those times he'd been there for her. He'd been a shoulder for her to cry on, he'd saved her life more times than she wanted to count, he'd helped her no matter how hopeless she seemed… and now the one time he needed help, she couldn't do anything.

Why was she so powerless? Why couldn't she ever do anything right?

Why did he have to die? He'd been so kind and gentle. He'd never done anything wrong!

"It's not fair! All he wanted was to help our clan find its place again!" She spoke through her sobs. "Why… why couldn't I save him?"

"These things just happen sometimes." Jiraiya spoke up, drawing their attention. Sasame's pulled her head away from Naruto's shoulder just enough to look at the man through her tears. "We all like to think that life is fair, that karma will strike back at people like Orochimaru, but the truth is, that isn't the case. A lot of the time, things work out. A wise man once said 'When I despair, I remember that all through history, the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall.', but it doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes, bad things happen to good people for no reason. Sometimes you can do everything right, and still lose it all. But you know what?" He asked, meeting Sasame's single visible eye, the other still buried in the Jinchuriki's shoulder, before turning away, walking nearly to the toads nose and looking out at the landscape. "That's just how life is. Sometimes, it shows you its ugly side. You have to take the good with the bad, and to hold on to what's precious to you."

He turned to her, balling his hand into a fist and bringing it to the left side of his chest, just above his heart, giving her an encouraging smile. "Arashi may be gone, but part of him will always be right here with you, along with all the good memories you shared."

There was a pause as his words sunk in, before Sasame felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw it was Fuu's tanned hand on her shoulder, the mint haired girl giving her a soft smile. "That's right. A part of him will always be with you." She took her hand away and placed it over her heart, her face taking on a look of sorrow. "I know what it's like to lose people you care about. Growing up, only a handful of people looked out for me. There was an elderly couple who taught me how to take care of myself. They gave me food when I couldn't afford any, let me in when I was hurt and needed a shoulder to cry on. When they passed away… I thought I was lost…" she raised her head again, her smile returning. "But then I remembered something my mother left me in a note. I realized that they'd always be in my memories, even if they weren't here with me."

"And it was thanks to you that he was himself at the end." Naruto added, causing her to turn on him. "You saved him from dying a monster. Don't forget, Arashi always believed in you. He wouldn't want you to dwell on him like this; he'd want you to be happy. You can still make him proud by living up to what he left behind. You still have the rest of your clan, right? He did what he did to bring your clan back into the light, if he were here right now, he'd tell you to do everything in your power to stand up for yourself and restore the Fuma clan, the right way this time. It's your turn to be there when they need you. Because if you don't, then you'll lose Arashi all over again."

Sasame continued to sob, but it was more subdued. She seemed to be somewhat calmed by their words.

After a few moments, she pushed away from Naruto, placing a hand to her heart as a somewhat regretful smile came to her face. 'They're right… He always believed in me… and now, it's up to me to fulfill his dream… but I'll always hold onto him, here in my heart.'

She was still crying, her heart still ached for the loss of her cousin, but she felt better now, like the world hadn't come to an end.

Kagero remained silent, still blaming herself for allowing Arashi to go through with it. She could have taken his place, or convinced him to walk away, but she'd been taken in by the snake Sannin's deception too.

A few minutes after that, the group had jumped off of the toad, Kagero and the unconscious Koto playing clan member needing to be carried, before the toad returned to its home and, after travelling for a bit, they decided to make camp as the trip to the Fuma clan's village would have taken them well into the night, not a good idea with Kagero as badly injured as she was.

One might ask why they didn't simply use the toad to travel there. The answer was simple: most summons didn't appreciate being used as transportation unless there were extenuating circumstances.

The brunette, who was revealed to actually have been named Kotohime, which probably inspired her to take up the instrument, eventually woke up after they treated Kagero's wounds. She was hostile, at first, until Kagero explained what had happened. She'd been horrified to learn of what became of Arashi and was dismayed to learn of what the Sannin had done in the past, quickly grasping that they'd likely been lied to.

It wasn't long after that that the green haired Fuma jonin spoke to the group for the first time as they sat around a camp fire, a stew cooking in a pot suspended over the blaze.

"I'm sorry… for what we put you through. You had nothing to do with our troubles, but still you were all dragged into the heart of the matter. You didn't even accomplish what you came here for."

Jiraiya shrugged. "It's all right, no harm was done to us. You're not the first to be taken in by that old snake's lies, and you probably won't be the last either."

She smiled back and nodded. "Thank you. Still, let me do what I can to make it up to you. I can tell you everything I know about Oto." Jiraiya's expression became curious at that, while Naruto's became slightly hopeful. "Though, I'm sorry to say my knowledge is limited."

"Can you tell us where Orochimaru might be keeping Sasuke?" The blond asked quickly, only to be disappointed when she shook her head. "Well, what about where exactly Oto is? I mean, the real Oto, not just another base, where's his headquarters?"

"… There isn't one."

"What?" Naruto questioned as all three of the Konoha ninja frowned at hearing this.

"Well, I'm afraid that there is no center of operations. Oto is made up of dozens of bases scattered throughout all the nations, each one set up for Orochimaru to use it as his main headquarters." She explained.

Jiraiya's frown deepened while Naruto's face twisted into a look of frustration. From the sound of it, Oto was constructed like a terrorist organization. That would make locating Orochimaru, and by extension Sasuke, extremely difficult.

It was something Jiraiya had taught him. Terrorist organizations were usually divided into different cells. Each cell would only be given information that that particular cell needed to know to perform its purpose and, except for the leadership, each member would know little more than what they need to know to accomplish their assigned task and some general information. This meant even if a subordinate was captured or a cell discovered, there was no risk of the other cells being exposed. The only way you'd get anywhere would be for a spy to infiltrate the organization, or if you captured a member of its leadership.

Testing his guess, he asked, "Let me guess, you don't know anything about the other bases, and you wouldn't expect anyone from the others to know either, right?"

She shook her head in response, clearly upset that she couldn't offer much help. "I know there's at least one other base in this country, but I don't know anything about it or where it might be."

Naruto's hands clenched at that. "Well do you know who would know something?" He asked, his tone showing his irritation.

"Aside from Orochimaru and Kabuto?" She replied before she looked into the fire, her expression somewhat apologetic. "The only others who would know the locations of multiple bases would be… the Sound ninja five." Naruto grit his teeth at that. "But as I'm sure you know, they were all-"

"Damn it!" Naruto hissed quietly, remembering those five ninja who'd helped Sasuke get to Oto. If only they'd captured one of them!

Then again, those four were all jonin level with their curse marks, and Kimimaro was easily one without his. They'd needed to fight with the intent to kill or they wouldn't have come out of those battles alive.

"What do you know about Orochimaru's movements? How often does he travel between bases?" Jiraiya pressed.

"Depending on his intentions and whether or not he believes someone's searching for him, he moves to another base on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. There's no warning before he arrives and he rarely tells his subordinates where he's headed, so it's impossible to know which base he'll travel to. He also always has Sasuke, and unless he's on a mission, Kabuto, nearby at all times." Silence followed this before she looked up. "He does have one weakness I know of."

That got everyone's attention, and everyone present looked at her. "What? What is it?" Naruto questioned, leaning forward in anticipation.

"... As you know, he plans on acquiring immortality by taking over the bodies of others and using them as a vessel. However, unless the body is strong enough, it will begin to corrode and degrade after he's inhabited it for too long. As the time for his transmigration approaches, he'll begin to grow weaker and weaker, and he will be plagued by constant, agonizing pain. However, when this happens, Kabuto will serve as his personal medic and be at his side at all times."

Jiraiya sat back, raising a hand to his face and scratching his chin in thought, "So… old snake face will be at his weakest right before he tries to take over Sasuke's body. He probably won't do much travelling then either. Do you know when exactly it'll reach this point?"

The green haired fuma jonin shook her head. "It depends on how strong the body he currently inhabits is. It would certainly be during the last few months before he uses his reincarnation jutsu."

"I see…" Jiraiya nodded in response as he sat back and crossed his arms, filing away that little tidbit of information.

They spoke at length about what the three Fuma knew of how Oto worked, but they didn't have much more useful information. Unfortunately, most of their knowledge was limited to Orochimaru's operations in the Land of Rice Fields, and that had been his only base. They apparently never took missions like other villages, with the exception of those from the Daimyo and assassinations. The village existed solely to serve as Orochimaru's private military and personal laboratory and aside from money from the countries lord, it was funded through illegal activities, such as selling those who the rogue Sannin didn't believe would make good test subjects to the slave trade, cashing in on the bounties of shinobi whose abilities he found commonplace, or agreements with rather unsavory individuals in places of power. Apparently, Orochimaru had hoped to make a deal with Gato, but had never gotten a chance, and Naruto felt some small sense of satisfaction at being partially responsible for that alliance never coming to be.

"Well, looks like the grub's ready." Jiraiya commented as he looked into the steaming broth over the cracking fire, reaching into his pack and pulling out several bowls. The conversation died off as the group enjoyed their meal, which was all the same as Kagero apparently had no more useful information to give.

---

Hours later, night had fallen. The sky was a sea of black filled with sparkling diamonds as the pale light of the moon blanketed the land.

Sitting in the red glow of the campfire was Naruto, the sole person remaining in its light, his face a mask of contemplation.

After Kagero had finished giving them all the information she could on Oto, he'd pretty much clamped up, only speaking when spoken to. The trio of Fuma kunoichi had turned in for the night, Jiraiya had left to do who knows what and Fuu had gone for a moonlit walk, leaving the blond alone.

With nothing else for his mind to dwell upon, his thoughts returned to Sasuke, and the parallel between the situation with him and Arashi.

He knew that, even if he did bring Sasuke back, things would never be the same. Even if he was willing to trust him again, a lot of the village would just see him as a traitor unless he earned their respect back. Question was, would he want their respect back? Would he care what they thought of him?

When he fought him at the Valley of the End, he hadn't seemed to care about anything but getting his revenge, to such a point he was willing to give his own body and soul to Orochimaru if it meant achieving it. If they managed to bring him back, what was to stop him from trying to leave again?

On top of that, he knew now the only reason the rogue Uchiha wasn't marked a missing nin was because Tsunade was being lenient. Despite the fact that they got off on a rocky start, she was like the grandmother he never had. She was protecting Sasuke for him, Sakura, and their friends, but how long would she be able to keep that up? How long until he did something that forced her hand?

Just then, he heard a rustling nearby. He turned his head to see Fuu, pushing aside the leaves of a bush with her right hand as she stepped into the clearing.

"I figured you'd still be up." The mint haired kunoichi said as she joined him by the campfire. "Ryo for your thoughts?" She asked as she sat beside him.

He seemed slightly surprised by that and she chuckled a little. "Come on, you weren't exactly subtle about it. Anyone can tell you've got a lot on your mind right now."

Naruto gave her one of his bright smiles. He wasn't one to push his burdens on others. One of the few times he had that he could think of was when he admitted to Hinata he wasn't confident about his then upcoming fight with Neji, but that had been because she was involved and it was her cousin he was dealing with.

"Oh, don't worry about it. It's nothing, I was just thinking about how today turned out, that's all."

He turned back to the campfire as Fuu's face shifted to a look of concern. "Naruto." He raised his head to look at her again. "I understand if you want to keep it to yourself but… you don't have to hide your troubles from me. You told me you'd always be there for me… well, it works both ways. I'm here for you if you need anything."

Naruto didn't respond at first, instead he turned to the camp fire, his expression unreadable. After a few moments, he spoke up.

"I wasn't lying, you know. I really was thinking about what we went through." He finally answered. "But… well, it just got me thinking."

"What about?"

Naruto's brow furrowed as he stared into the flame before him.

"Sasuke." He replied before closing his eyes and letting out a sigh. He raised his head, looking into the stars above. "The whole situation with Arashi was a bit too close for comfort to my problems with Sasuke. When I fought him at the Valley of the End… that wasn't the Sasuke I knew anymore. We did everything we could back there… but in the end, even if we saved Arashi, we couldn't bring him back to Sasame." He turned to her. "You know, back when we started on this trip, the Pervy Sage told me I should forget about Sasuke because he was just like Orochimaru. I didn't care about what he had to say then, but now…" He trailed off, his expression troubled.

Fuu was silent for a moment, closing her eyes in thought, before opening them. "You want to know what I think?" He looked at her, interest in her opinion clear on his features. "…I have to tell you, I agree with Ero-sensei. You should just forget about him." Naruto seemed surprised at that. "It sounds to me like you and your friends are chasing a memory."

Naruto slumped forward at that. This was the second person to tell him that. He then looked at her with a deep frown. "Didn't you tell me before that if anyone could bring him back it was me? That you'd do the same if you were in my shoes? I told you I never go back on my word, how can I just abandon him when I promised Sakura?"

The Nanabi Jinchuriki sighed in response showing him a somber look. "You should be more careful with your promises, Naruto. I don't think you can pull this one off."

Naruto scoffed before averting his gaze. "It didn't take you long to change your mind about this. What's changed?"

"Of course I did, you didn't tell me that he ran you through with his Chidori before!" Fuu pressed, making the Kyuubi Jinchuriki wince.

The white clad kunoichi had meant what she said to him back when they first discussed the wayward genin. If anyone she cared about was in danger, she'd do anything in her power to save them. If someone she considered a brother made a stupid decision and tried to throw his own life away, she'd go to just about any length to bring him back. She truly did hope that Naruto would be able to bring back his brother figure.

But her opinion had changed somewhat after, when discussing his regenerative powers, he let slip about Sasuke using Chidori on him, piercing his chest. If he weren't the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, and Sasuke had no way of knowing he was or what that would entail, that would have certainly been a fatal injury.

That was where she drew the line. If someone she cared about made stupid decisions and left their village, she could forgive them. Even how Sasuke had disregarded the lives of their team, she could overlook, as he didn't know what their fate was and hadn't been directly responsible, not like he ordered it or did it with his own hands, provided none of them actually died. She'd keep an eye on him, but she'd be confident he could be returned to his old self.

But what Sasuke had done crossed the line as far as she was concerned. If a person fell so far that they were willing to kill someone that had been a friend just for their own selfish desires, then that person wasn't a comrade anymore. In her mind, he needed to be taken down before he caused anymore harm or wound up Orochimaru's vessel, and she'd personally like to give him the beating of a lifetime for what he put Naruto through.

"Naruto," She began softly, giving the blond a sympathy look. "I know how much he meant to you and Sakura, but you can't just keep thinking of him as you used to. You have to remember what he did and what he's capable of. What he did to you with his Chidori…most people would have died from that, and if he did that to you, what makes you think he wouldn't do it to any of your other comrades, like those guys on that team; Neji, Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba? What if Sakura had been able to fight back and he used it on her?"

Naruto's head jerked in her direction and his eyes went wide with shock, having never thought of that.

Once upon a time, he would never have considered that fact because he was simply too dense to do so. He would refuse to think of such a prospect because of a combination of hope and naivety.

He wasn't that kid anymore, but he still didn't think of it, not because he was too naïve, but because it was too horrible a prospect for him to think of. The thought that the teen he considered a brother could kill one of their comrades was anathema to him, to such a point that he'd refused to think of the prospect.

He tried not to think about it, tried to pretend it wasn't possible, but after what he did to him, after everything they'd been through… he couldn't deny it was possible, and now he was being forced to face it.

Seeing him deflate at that, Fuu continued, "Naruto… a comrade, a friend, wouldn't do what he did to you, no matter what they wanted. And unlike Arashi, he wasn't driven insane by some twisted jutsu. He chose this path, decided he cared more about avenging his family than he did for any of the bonds he'd made. It's not easy to help someone who doesn't want to be helped."

There was a pause as Naruto contemplated her words before he gave the mint haired Jinchuriki a curious look and asked, "If that's what you think, then why'd you say you'd help me bring him back?"

Fuu gave a short giggle at that and smiled at him. "Because I will, dummy." Seeing him blink in confusion, she elaborated. "Naruto, I said that I don't think Sasuke can be saved, and after he nearly killed you I don't think he deserves it, but he's not my friend. He's yours." She placed her hand on his shoulder. "I told you before, I'm here for you. No matter what I think, I'll support you. If you still want to save Sasuke, I'll do everything I can to help you do it, not for him, for you."

Naruto gave her a truly grateful smile at hearing that she'd stand by him, even though it was against her own beliefs. It really drove home that she'd stand by him no matter what they were up against. His heart, which had been weighed down as he thought of his failure to rescue Sasuke and the fear that he wouldn't be able to now, suddenly felt so much lighter.

When he smiled back, Fuu took her hand away and said, "Just think about what Ero-sensei and I told you, alright?"

After a moment, he nodded. "All right." Naruto replied. He had some thinking to do. He wasn't about to just give up on his best friend, but he had to think about just how far he was willing to let him go. At what point would he just have to accept that the Uchiha heir was too far gone?

"Well, what do you know? You might have actually gotten through to the brat." Their sensei's voice cut through the clearing.

"Yo." The Sannin greeted.

"Oh, hey Ero-sensei." Fuu replied.

"How long have you been there, Pervy Sage?" Naruto asked, causing the man to sigh in exasperation as he buried his hand in his spiky hair and shook his head.

"… I'm going to be stuck with those names aren't I?" He asked.

Fuu grinned cheekily at the man. "Yep! And you've got no one to blame but yourself."

Sighing again, the Sannin turned to his blond student. "To answer your question, I heard pretty much the whole thing." He tilted his head to the side, a smirk spreading across his features. "Funny how you were so quick to take her advice but wouldn't listen when I said the same thing. Can't resist the words of a pretty girl, huh kid? Trying to get her to let her guard down so you can sweep her off her feet?"

Naruto's face flushed while Fuu threw him a grin. "Wow, I didn't know you felt that way." She teased the blond.

"H- hang on a minute, it's not like that!" The boy sputtered, waving his arms before him frantically, causing Jiraiya and Fuu to laugh.

"Seriously though," The toad sage began after a few moments of enjoying his student's reaction. "I gotta tell you, I'm glad you started to consider my advice." He turned to Fuu, jerking his head in the blond's direction. "You know, right before we left I told him that only a fool would continue to pursue Sasuke after what he did. You know what he said?" Jiraiya looked back at her, imitating the Kyuubi Jinchuriki's resolute look. "If that's what it means to be wise, then I'd rather stay a fool'." He chuckled. "You can't help but admire that determination."

Naruto looked away, scratching his cheek bashfully as the mint haired girl turned to the blond and smiled. "Now that sounds like the Naruto I know."

Jiraiya chuckled and shook his head. "Honestly, I'm rooting for you kid, even if I don't think there's much hope." His expression shifted to a serious one as he crossed his arms. "But, you need to be prepared to face reality if need be. I've seen just how bad ninja in Sasuke's position can get. There's a good chance that nothing but pain lies down the path you've taken, but I've got to tell you, I'm proud of the choice you made."

The blond smiled slightly before his gaze became questioning as he stared at the white haired man. "You sound like you know what you're talking about. I mean, like you've been in my shoes before."

The Sannin let out a sigh at that. "Well, to be honest, I have." He crossed his arms. "Believe it or not, there was a time that Orochimaru and I were as close as you and Sasuke were."

Both the teens were visibly taken aback by his words before Naruto leaned forward, throwing his arm out in anger as he said, "Now wait just a minute, Sasuke's nothing like that monster!"

"Oh, no?" Jiraiya questioned, arching an eyebrow at his student. "He wasn't always the fiend he is today, you know. I can assure you, I know exactly how it feels to be in your shoes. Back when we were young, he, Tsunade and I were like family." With a fond smile, he looked up to the sky as he remembered the bygone days when they were a team. "We didn't always see eye to eye, but the three of us were close."

Naruto frowned at what he was hearing. He didn't really know all that much about his sensei's past. Looking to his fellow Jinchuriki, he saw that she too was interested in the topic. His blue eyes returning to his sensei, Naruto asked, "So… what exactly was it like, training under the old man, Pervy Sage?"

The Sannin chuckled, closing his eyes. "Well, I get the feeling you're more interested in the bonds we shared, but if you want to know, I'll tell you all about it." His coal colored orbs rose to the stars, briefly allowing nostalgia to wash over him as he thought of memories long buries in his mind. "Well, I can tell you it was certainly an ego booster, finding out who our sensei was going to be. Even back then, he was renowned as one of the strongest shinobi of his era." He let out another chuckle before looking at the Kyuubi Jinchuriki. "Actually, funnily enough, we were originally a previous generation of Team Seven," Naruto's eyes widened in shock at that as Jiraiya shook his head. "You know, there's a rumor going around Konoha that Team Seven is cursed, that it's doomed to suffer tragedy and the number should be permanently retired. I never put much stock in such superstition, but looking at how our team turned out… and your situation with Sasuke… Not to mention that Kakashi's team was also a Team Seven, and he wound up the only survivor… And they might just be onto something…"

Jiraiya's gaze wandered over his students, observing Naruto's troubled expression and Fuu's curious one. "Anyway, in the early days, we didn't really get along." A smirk spread across his face. "I remember the first time we went through the old bell test… wound up tied to a stump while Orochimaru and Tsunade walked off. Tsunade sure thought that was a riot…"

Naruto sat up straight, blinking at what he'd just heard. "You too, huh Pervy Sage?"

Fuu raised her hand like a child trying to get her teacher's attention. "Sorry, non-Konoha native here. What's this bell test?"

"Ah, right, you wouldn't know about it." The Sannin replied. "It's a little test we have back in Konoha that leaders of four-man cells sometimes perform on their squads, usually as a final exam to see if academy students are ready to graduate. The team leader ties a pair of bells to their hip and the others are tasked with retrieving it. Fail, and you get tied to a post."

Fuu raised a mint colored brow and tilted her head to the side, her eyes narrowing. "… And how are a couple of kids who aren't even genin yet supposed to get one of these bells from a jonin?"

In Taki, the final exams were two challenges: a sparring match against the academy teacher followed by a survival exercise where one had to find a hidden document, guarded by chunin proctors. The nine hopefuls who did the best passed and became genin.

"The test isn't actually about getting the bells." Naruto answered, drawing her attention. "The idea is to put the team's needs ahead of your own and go after the bells together, even though you know that one of you will fail."

Fuu nodded in understanding but seemed a little confused. "If that's the case and you passed, why'd you get tied to a post?"

Naruto averted his gaze, his face clearly showing embarrassment as he scratched his cheek. Suddenly, he wished he hadn't said anything. "Well you see… Kakashi-sensei decided we needed a little extra incentive… so he told us not to eat breakfast that morning…"

Jiraiya smirked while Fuu snorted, giving him an amused look.

"And you actually listened?" The white clad kunoichi asked, stifling a giggle.

"Yeah, and it's not funny! We all fell for it!" Naruto snapped, crossing his arms. "Anyway, he brought lunch and said whoever doesn't get a bell gets to starve… and while he was dealing with Sasuke and Sakura, I decided, since it was pretty clear we weren't getting a bell, I might as well not go out on with an empty stomach."

Jiraiya let out a grunt of amusement. "And let me guess, you got caught and he tied you to the post as punishment."

Naruto scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, but it's not like any of us got a bell." The blond then explained how Kakashi gave them another chance and how he ultimately passed them before giving the Sannin a curious look. "What about you, Pervy Sage? How'd you wind up tied to a post?"

Now it was the perverted sage's turn to look embarrassed. "Well…" He said before letting out a chuckle. "When the old man gave us the test, we were already a team. Unlike when you had it as a graduation exam, we actually were supposed to grab a bell."

Naruto's mouth grew into a shit eating grin as he commented, "So you were the odd man out?"

"Heh, yeah, so what? This was a long time ago. Hell, I was just a genin back then." Jiraiya responded, mildly surprising the two teens, who'd expected him to defend himself. With another sigh, he shook his head. "Sensei was always telling me how I should be more like Orochimaru. He was the golden boy of our time; that rare kind of genius that only comes along once in a generation." He said getting back on topic. "For the longest time, Sensei thought he was going to be the Fourth Hokage someday."

Naruto jerked in response to that, shock overcoming his features. "The old man was going to make Orochimaru Fourth Hokage!?" The phrase 'does not compute' would suit the boy's state of mind well. He couldn't imagine how the man who had twisted Sasuke and tried to destroy their village was once a candidate for the title of Hokage.

Fuu's orange eyes also went wide at that. While she'd never met the man, she knew enough of him to find that revelation jarring.

"Shocking isn't it? But you have to understand, he was an entirely different person back then." The toad sage said, smirking at their reactions before leaning back as he continued his story. "He was a bit of a loner back then. A quiet kid, never one for idle chit chat, but even back then he had a silver tongue when he actually decided to speak up, and he was almost unnervingly calm. Nothing ever seemed to shake him when we first became a team." His looked to the stars once again. "I think it's because he lost his parents when he was young. Took him a long time to get over it. Years later and he'd still visit their grave at least once a month."

Naruto, who was listening with rapt attention, tried to associate the boy Jiraiya was describing with the lunatic who seemed to love the sound of his own voice that he grew into, but he was having a hard time with it. It was so easy to just assume the man had always been a monster, his darker side hiding just below the surface, but from what his sensei was telling him now that was far from the truth.

That also brought back a feeling of uncertainty. Could the old perv actually be right about Orochimaru and Sasuke being alike? A quiet, seemingly perpetually calm loner who lost his family at a young age and kept everyone at a distance because of it? A genius praised by the village as a great ninja in the making? He was starting to see rather disturbing parallels between them.

"None of us really got along well at first… me and sensei really hit it off though." Jiraiya said with a chuckle. "Especially when I told him about my Transparency Escape Technique!" He closed his eyes and held his head up proudly. "A marvel of a jutsu. Sensei was positively enthralled with its many uses."

Naruto's jaw nearly hit the earth from shock before his expression shifted to one of fury. "You old bastard, you got the old man to join you on you're… wait a-" His expression changed to one of complete horror. "Oh my kami! Are you telling me the old man was as pervy as you!? Is this some sick joke!? Are all old men perverts!?"

Fuu threw the old man a suspicious stare. "… What's this Transparency Escape jutsu?"

Naruto threw the Sannin a heated glare as he answered, "It's a technique this old Perv made to make himself invisible so he can spy on women." However, afterwards, he blinked in realization before giving the man a thoughtful, but apprehensive look.

However, neither noticed this as Fuu, her orange eyes blazing with feminine fury shot to her feet, her hands clenched in anger. "You lousy pervert! I should have known it'd be something like that! And you have the nerve to brag about it, you really have no shame at all do you!?"

Jiraiya threw his head back and let out a raucous laugh. "Did it take you 'till now to realize that?"

She pointed her index finger at him. "Listen here! If you ever use that technique to spy on me, I'll make you wish you never even dreamed of it!"

"Yeah, yeah." Jiraiya replied, waving her off, not the least bit intimidated. If Tsunade couldn't intimidate him, what chance did she have? Then he noticed Naruto's scrutinizing look and raised a brow in curiosity. "What's up with you, kid?"

"Pervy Sage…" The blond began, his eyes searching him as they narrowed into slits. "Are you… maybe… a masochist?"

"WHAT!?" Jiraiya cried as his eyes bulged. The Sannin gaped like a fish, his mouth opening and closing while only strangled sounds came out and his eyes reduced to pure white orbs.

Suddenly, the Sannin shot forward so quickly that even most trained eyes would only register a blur of motion and wacked the boy upside the head, causing him to grip his skull and let out a short cry. "What the hell brat!? How could you even think such a thing!? What's wrong with you!?"

"Well, hate to break it to you, but that's what it looks like!" Naruto said as he looked up at the man, still gripping his sore head. "I may not like your peeping, but I pay attention! You hide away in bushes and peep through holes while you've got a technique that makes you invisible that you made specifically for your 'research'! Anyone would think that you actually wanted to get caught!"

The Sannin's face turned red while Fuu bust out laughing. "Th- that's-!" Jiraiya began sputtering as his mind froze from the shock of the blond's logic, struggling to come up with some defense for his honor.

Fuu placed her left hand on her stomach, which began to ache from her uncontrollable laughter, while bending at the waist and pointing at the man with her right hand and said between her gasps for oxygen, "H- he's got you there, Ero-sensei! And it wouldn't surprise me if a pervert like you was into things like that!"

Jiraiya finally found his voice and wheeled on her. "Shut the hell up!" His head whipped back and forth as he looked from one to the other. "Listen here! This Jiraiya, this bastion of manliness, is not a masochist! I would never lower myself to such deviance!"

Naruto, amused by his sensei's reaction, chucked at the man and said, "Yeah, because being a giant pervert is something to be so proud of! Hey, maybe that's why you like Tsunade so much, because she can kick your ass so hard!" Jiraiya sputtered in response, causing Fuu to laugh harder as he futilely tried to defend himself.

It took about a quarter of a minute for Fuu to calm down. She wiped a tear from her eye as she placed a hand to her chest and got her breathing under control.

"Well, I hope you two enjoyed yourselves." Jiraiya grumbled. "I'm not in much of a sharing mood after that."

"Aw, come on, Pervy Sage, don't let us get you down." Naruto replied with an amused grin. "I'm sure you can get Tsunade to get you your fix when we get back to Konoha. Not like you don't know how to press her buttons." This sent Fuu into another fit of snickers.

"For the last time, I'm not a fucking masochist!" Jiraiya cried out in rage and mortification. Grumbling slightly, he sat back down. "Anyway… Tsunade and I would get into squabbles over the slightest things, and Orochimaru was always on his own… but when push came to shove, we could always rely on each other to have our backs. Over time, we stopped fighting so much, and Orochimaru gradually opened up. He was a little twisted. He had a ruthless and pragmatic view of life, along with something of a sadistic streak towards our enemies and that, along with his snake like appearance made many consider him creepy, but he valued his comrades. He was someone you could trust at your side. Kind of like your team, we went on lots of adventures, growing in fame and coming to understand each other more and more, and gradually, we became like family. And then came the Second Ninja World War, and the day we became known as the Legendary Sannin. We earned our titles from one of the toughest fights of our lives; our battle against Hanzo of the Salamander." He shook his head at the memory. "He faced us alone, and yet it soon became clear that we never stood a chance. We went into the battle with an entire division of shinobi behind us, and the three of us were the only ones to walk away… and even then, it's only because he decided to quit the field. If we'd continued, he'd probably have killed us."

Fuu looked at the man in astonishment before leaning forward, engrossed in his tale. "But… how could one guy take on all three of you, not to mention a whole division? I mean, aren't you three supposed to be some of the most amazing shinobi ever?"

Jiraiya chuckled at her words. "Well, you have to realize this was back during the Second Ninja World War. We hadn't exactly reached our full potential yet." He sighed as he returned to his story. "We survived that battle for one reason alone: our teamwork. We knew we could rely on each other to protect us, and we were in sync enough to counter Hanzo's superior abilities. He was so impressed that he basically ordered us to accept that title as a mark of honor for surviving against him, in return for sparing our lives. Heh, if we hadn't had complete trust in each other, I can tell you for sure I wouldn't be here today."

His expression became troubled as he recalled the events of that war. "Those were hard times. We lost a lot of good friends. Tsunade lost her younger brother and her lover. We did our best to comfort her after the losses, but she was never the same after that… I remember when her lover Dan died, Orochimaru shed tears for her pain."

Naruto's jaw dropped at that. Orochimaru… cried for someone? That… if that was the case, he really had been an entirely different person back then. How had someone like that fallen so far?

His blue orbs fell to the ground as his brow furrowed. From the sound of it… they really had been like his team. If that was the case and the Sage actually did know what he was talking about… as there really a chance this mess with Sasuke could turn out the same way?

"… I'm sorry, run all that by me again." Fuu said, staring at the Sannin in disbelief. "I'm having a hard time picturing the guy you're describing becoming that… that egomaniacal monster."

Jiraiya let out a grunt and shook his head. "You'd be surprised how often you'd find that a monster of today was a decent person in yesteryear if you dig deep enough into their past. But back on topic, after the war, Orochimaru took on an apprentice, a girl by the name of Anko. For the longest time, she was like a daughter to him…"

"Wait, Anko?" Naruto broke out of his musings and blinked. "You mean that psycho exam proctor?"

Jiraiya nodded. "The very same." His gaze hardened. "But I think it was around that time that he began his fall from grace. It was shortly after he took on his apprentice that he joined ROOT."

"ROOT?" Naruto questioned.

"A dark, extreme and now defunct branch of our ANBU where you're taught to completely abandon your emotions. ROOT sometimes took jobs that are unsavory and less than respectable, even by Shinobi standards, as well as secret black ops assassinations for the village." Jiraiya rubbed his chin in thought. "To be honest, its existence is pretty much an open secret. I doubt there's a village leader that doesn't know of it, but even then they don't know what they're involved in." He made a dismissive gesture. "I'll tell you about it later. As I was saying, I think it was around that time Orochimaru began his fall. He grew apart from us again, became colder. He gradually shut out all his old friends and comrades aside from Anko. He announced one day that he wanted to be Hokage… but at that point, he just wanted the title for his own twisted agenda. We couldn't see what he'd become, but the old man could sense something was wrong, and passed him up for my student. It wasn't long after that that we learned of his experiments."

He sighed, running a hand through his white hair. "… Even after we saw what he'd done, we still thought of him as a brother, and the old man a son. I chased after him, tried to convince him to come back and change his ways, to be the friend he once was again… but every time he called me a fool." He shook his head. "Both sensei and I passed up chances to kill him, because we clung to the memory of what he'd once been and held out hope that there was still good in him. It took us years to finally accept… that he was already far beyond salvation… and now, look at all the damage and suffering he's caused, to our village and countless people outside of it, because we couldn't let go."

Silence rained as the two Jinchuriki took in what their sensei had told them. Naruto took on a look of deep contemplation as he reflected on the similarities between the Sannin's tale and his own. He could see now why Jiraiya had told him to forget about Sasuke.

He feared he'd make the same mistake he and his sensei did with Orochimaru.

As much as he didn't want to think about it… he knew he couldn't let that happen. He decided then that he'd do his best to save Sasuke. But… if there ever came such a time when he went to far… he wouldn't repeat his sensei's mistake. He felt Sasuke could still be saved now, but if he ever crossed that line… he wouldn't hesitate to put a stop to him.

Fuu couldn't imagine how much it must have hurt to realize that the man her sensei once thought of as a brother had become a monster he couldn't save. She turned her orange eyes to Naruto, wondering how he felt about it. She hoped he'd be ok, but felt it was for the best that he realize just how badly this could turn out. She was also somewhat glad that Jiraiya had been willing to share his past with them.

After a few moments, Naruto stood. "Thanks for the story." He said before turning away. "I think I'm gonna turn in for the night."

With that, he began to walk to his sleeping bag. Fuu moved to go to him, but Jiraiya stopped her with a shake of his head. She watched him walk over to his sleeping bag vanish out of sight.

"So…" Fuu began, her gaze returning to Jiraiya. "That's why you told him to forget Sasuke. It's not because you think he's beyond hope, but because you don't want him to go through what you did."

He nodded. "Yeah… realizing that Orochimaru was too far gone to help… it hurt like hell. But it was even worse when I realized how long he'd been that way, how much time I'd wasted… and what I'd let him get away with." He crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "Even if he manages to do what I couldn't and save his friend… he's got a tough road ahead of him."

The Nanabi Jinchuriki thought about what the two had gone through before giving the Sannin a smirk. "Well, it's a good thing for him that he has us here to support him, huh Ero-sensei?"

"You can say that again." Jiraiya chuckled before a silence fell over the clearing. A few moments passed before the Sannin spoke up again. "Fuu?"

"Yeah?"

"I've got something I think you should know, so listen up. It's about your exile."

Fuu frowned, her expression instantly hardening at the topic. "Hmph, well, might as well hear it. What is it?"

Leaning back, the toad sage met her gaze and responded. "I've got a hunch… that this is the way Shibuki wanted things to turn out."

The white clan kunoichi's eyes widened from that before they narrowed in suspicion. "… Where would you get that idea?"

"Well, remember how Shibuki was considering giving you to Konoha? He and I talked at length about that… I thought that maybe, this was his way of giving you to us without the council's notice."

Fuu's expression twisted in anger, a hint of betrayal flashing in her orange orbs. "Is that the real reason you brought me along?"

"Whoa, hang on there." The Sannin replied, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. "I'm not the one who made the offer, am I?" He asked before his coal eyes looked to Naruto again. "I may have discussed it with Shibuki, but like I said, we never made any plans about it. And I never said a word about it to Naruto. Hell, he didn't even know Taki had someone like you until we found out you ran away, and I never got a chance to discuss it with Tsunade, so I didn't bother mentioning it when I told her about all this." Her expression softened at his explanation and he met her gaze again. "Make no mistake Fuu, Naruto's decision to ask you to come with us came from the heart, don't ever doubt that."

Fuu closed her eyes, taking this in before opening her orange orbs and smiling. She never had any doubts about the blond's sincerity, but it was a nice thinking that Shibuki may not have really betrayed her. It was also nice that the Sannin was being truthful, rather than hide this from her. "Thanks for telling me."

The toad sage simply smirked back at her.

---

Though much of the base had collapsed, including, unfortunately, the lab and the prisoner cells, part of the Oto base in the Land of Rice Fields remained intact. Nevertheless, it was clear that it would never serve a purpose again. It just wasn't worth rebuilding at this point.

Deep within its ruins, several Oto shinobi wearing the standard attire for the village, seen most prominently during their failed invasion, lifted up one heavy slab of stone after another, sifting through the collapsed area for any trace of the base's most important experiment.

It was like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack, but neither was going to say so outloud. After all, it was well known that the snake Sannin appreciated complaints about as much as he did failure.

Finally, after hours of searching, one pair of searchers finally got lucky. Lifting another hunk of stone, one of the shinobi's eyes widened before one called over his shoulder, "Hey, boss man! I found what you were looking for!" With that, he overturned the stone and allowed it to fall over, crashing to the ground and kicking up a cloud of debris.

When it cleared, it revealed the object of their search, a disturbing, almost gelatinous pool of reddish brown, liquefied remains. Within it, a figure could be made out, a lock of gray hair.

Stepping out of the shadows and into the moonlight which shined down through the massive hole in the roof was Kabuto Yakushi. As he neared, he looked down at what remained the Arashi, pushing his glasses up with his index finger, the light reflecting off the lenses and concealing his eyes behind the resulting shine.

"Well, well. So this is where he wound up. Good work." The medic nin commented as he approached, sighing as he looked at the corpse. "Such a shame. And here we had such high hopes for you…"

He still found it amusing how easy it was to get the Fuma clan onto their side, but then again, the desperate were always the easiest to sway. This was an idea Orochimaru had had for quite some time and had been hoping that, once completed, this jutsu, when combined with his own talent and Sasuke's body, would be the key to obtaining the perfection he sought.

Ninja Art: Cadaver Puppets… it was a marvelous technique. Absorb any freshly killed corpse and not only did you gain access to your victim's biomass and chakra, though their networks would remain partially separate and their flesh semi-sentient, but also any abilities they had would become your own. If only the technique didn't have such side effects, mental instability being chief among them.

The technique was actually born from the results of the research of an old friend of Orochimaru's that the Sannin had managed to recover. It had been easy enough to find one of his abandoned labs as, amusingly enough, the man in question was also a former shinobi of Konoha. Kabuto chuckled in amusement at the thought; Konoha certainly went all out when it came to their missing nin.

How shocked Orochimaru had been to discover that the man had been performing research so in line with his own right under his nose around the time he'd begun his own experiments. If only they'd learned of each other's undertakings before the Third got wind of the other scientist's works…

It was actually a point of shame for them. While the two techniques shared the same concept, theirs was but a crass imitation in comparison.

The original jutsu would allow the user to absorb anyone, living or dead, as well as fuse together others or animals, creating powerful hybrids, hence its name; the Chimera Jutsu. Unlike Cadaver Puppets, the Chimera Jutsu had no real drawbacks. The absorbtion was complete and all chakra and special abilities or enhancements the absorbed individual had became your own. While it didn't allow the user to use the victim's biomass, it was superior in virtually every other way, and possibly because there was no remaining sentience in the consumed flesh, it had no ill effects on the user's mind.

He'd sought out the creator of the jutsu at the behest of his master, but sadly, even he had been unable to locate the man.

"Oh well…" Kabuto continued with a slight chuckle. "At the very least, he's provided wonderful research material."

---

The next day, the group made the journey to the village of the Fuma clan, starting at first light and arriving just past noon. It was a small, out of the way village that was surrounded at all sides by a deep forest made up of a combination of eastern and western architecture.

It had taken a while to explain the whole story and many in the clan were dismayed to discover that Orochimaru had been deceiving them all along and had used Arashi for something so horrible.

But they'd rallied together and decided not to give up. They'd still do everything in their power to restore the Fuma clan to its former glory, this time without the aid of a devil in disguise like the snake Sannin.

Once the explanations were over, the trio of Konoha shinobi was allowed to rest for a while in the village, while they sent out emissaries to search for the members of their clan they had cast out for refusing to serve Orochimaru. It was time for the Fuma clan to be whole once again.

And now, Naruto, Fuu, Jiraiya Sasame and Kagero stood just outside the small village, the two Fuma kunoichi bidding their farewells to the leaf shinobi.

Kagero's amethyst eyes swept across the trio as she said, "If you're ever in this country again and need a place to stay, know that you'll always be welcome. I don't think our clan can ever repay you enough for helping us escape Orochimaru's shackles."

"Don't worry; we'll be sure to stop by if we're ever in the neighborhood." Jiraiya replied.

"Take care of yourselves." Naruto said before turning to Sasame. "And remember to be strong, Sasame. It's up to you to be there for your clan, just like Arashi was always there for you."

"I know." The orange haired girl nodded before averting her gaze, her exoression showing uncertainty. "I have to say, I'm a little nervous. I want to live up to Arashi's faith in me and become someone my clan can depend on… but I'm not sure I'll be able to."

"I'm sure you'll do fine." Naruto reassured her. "You're a lot stronger than you think, Sasame. You could have just stayed here like the rest of your clan instead of trying to save Arashi and I know plenty of people who would have just given up after seeing what we did back there. All you have to do is remember to stand tall and never back down."

Fuu placed her hand on her hip and tipped her head forward, closing her eyes. "It's not that easy, Naruto. Not everyone's able to stand tall, no matter how hard the try." Naruto turned to her, looking slightly surprised, while Sasame seemed to have expected her to say something like that. Before any of them could comment on it, the mint haired girl continued, "But…" She looked up with a smile. "I think she's up to it."

Both Naruto and Sasame looked surprised by that before Naruto grinned at Fuu's change in opinion.

The white clad kunoichi walked over to Sasame, holding out her hand. "Sorry about how I acted at first… and about how things turned out."

The Fuma genin blinked once, then twice before smiling and shaking Fuu's hand. "It's alright. You were right… I got in your way when I saw Arashi… I should have seen that the way he was we would have to fight him and I still…"

"Don't worry about it." Fuu cut her off, stepping away from her and clasping her hands behind her back. "I wouldn't expect any of what happened down there to be easy, and you came through in the end."

The toad Sannin smirked before looking to the sun. "Well, I think it's about time we head out. We've got a lot of travelling to do." He turned to the older Fuma kunoichi. "Look out for her and the rest of your family, now. It's your place as one of your clan's strongest ninja."

"I will." Kagero nodded back. "I won't let myself or our clan be led astray again."

And with that, the Konoha ninja departed, waving goodbyes to the two Fuma Clan, the two Jinchuriki looking back to them until they disappeared behind the foliage.

About half an hour later, they had made it out of the forest and were walking down a winding road that led through more rice terraces. Naruto and Fuu trailed behind their sensei, Naruto clasping his hands behind his head and staring at the hills while Fuu looked to the the sky, engrossed in discussing their recent adventure.

"See, I told you. Sometimes, you just need to give people a chance." Naruto said, craning his neck to look at his fellow Jinchuriki.

"Well, I guess you were right, this time." Fuu replied with a slight smirk. "I have to admit, it did feel good, helping them." Because of how she'd lived her life, she hadn't done much for other people, mainly because her help wasn't wanted or appreciated, but she had to admit it was a nice feeling. Naruto gave her a bright grin and chuckled slightly at that.

Fuu turned her head just enough to look at him out of the corner of her eye.

"You know, now that I think about it…" She began before her gaze returned to the sky, this time in mock thought. "I've said thanks to you a lot, but I never did thank you for saving my life, or offering me a new home." It was true, she'd largely shut down after she'd finished crying her heart out, and even though she'd thanked him after their battle with the Akatsuki, that had been for giving her hope, not for saving her.

Naruto blinked before his grin widened, causing his eyes to close in a fox-like manner, "Oh, don't worry about it, Fuu. You-"

He was then cut off, stopping in his tracks when he felt something warm and soft touch his cheek. He opened his eyes, which went wide with surprise, to see Fuu's face mere centimeters from his, her eyes closed as she gave him a kiss.

The blond felt warmth flood his cheeks as his face flushed red. All he could do was stare in shock as Fuu pulled away, her hands clasped behind her back and own cheeks carrying a slight red tinge as well.

Fuu gave a mischievous smirk at his dumbfounded expression. She took a few steps backwards, keeping her eyes on his shocked face before spinning on her heel and running after their sensei.

"Come on! No time to dilly dally, we're falling behind!" She called at him over her shoulder, laughter in her voice as she ran to catch up with their sensei.

Naruto blinked before his grin returned and he took off after the two.

---

And so ends another arc. I wish I could have come up with a different ending for the battle, but nothing seemed as satisfying as this.

I wonder how many of you know where the quote used in this chapter came from.

Anyway, please review.