Chapter 41 (Saiya POV)

Once Kabuto was dead, I took in my surroundings; black and charred. Burned bodies scattered throughout the room, and some flames that had not yet gone out. The jutsu was more deadly than I originally thought.

The fiery red in my eyes slowly dissipated as the adrenaline left my body. I fell to my knees, too weak to stand alone, and put my head in my hands. Never in my existence had I thought I could cause such a loss of life, even if they were enemies. This newly found power inside me also raised alarm; how long had it been there?

My legs shook as I stood up, and began to look for the rest of my family and team. I tried not to call out, in case there were others left who wanted a piece of me. I used my extra special power of deductive reasoning to assume that prisoners were kept in dungeons and that dungeons were in the basement; so I focused on finding a way down below.

I walked up and down the endless halls, my nerves fraying by the minute. Until now, there had been no sign of them, so I decided to take a risk.

"Kakashi? Ayome?" I called out cautiously.

"Who's that?" an unknown male's voice called out.

"Help us please!" another called out.

I followed the slew of voices and found the dungeons. There were countless cells, all filled with various ninja and villagers.

"Don't hurt us please!" a voice begged.

I turned toward the voice and saw a man, huddled together with a woman and a little boy. Their hair was matted with dirt, and the father was covered with cuts and bruises. The woman and little boy were pale, as if they had not seen sunlight in months. I took some steps closer to the cell and the three of them cowered in the corner, fear written all over their faces.

"Who are you?" I asked quietly.

"Are—are you going to hurt us?" the woman asked tearfully.

I shook my head, "I can get you and everyone else in here, help. I just want to know your names."

"My name is Yusuke; this is my wife Nina and son Akira," the man said, relaxing a bit.

"I promise I'll send some help, but first I need to find my team," I said soothingly. "Just wait a few more minutes."

I needed to find them; my chakra was close to being depleted and we needed to send a messenger to Konoha soon; some of these people would not make it.

"Sakura!" I saw a familiar flash of pink at the end of the hall.

"Saiya! You have to hurry!" she said tearfully. "They took the rest of them to the lab!"

My eyes widened with fear, "Are they going to be—"

I was afraid to finish that train of thought. I quickly melted the lock and sliced her bonds.

"I'll follow you," I said as she dashed off.

We ran and checked every room that we passed. With each passing moment, my heart filled with more and more dread.

"So, what happened to the others?" Sakura asked timidly.

"Who others?" I asked, still searching hurriedly.

"Kabuto, and Orochimaru," Sakura said, stopping for a moment.

I froze, debating whether I should tell her the truth or not.

"They're dead," I said shortly, before I could even argue with myself.

"How—"

"Let's find Naruto and Kakashi and Ayome first," I said quickly. "I'll explain later."

"We haven't run into any enemies yet," Sakura noticed.

"Either dead or ran off."

We came to a set of double doors with a red biohazard symbol on the front. We tried pushing and pulling the doors but Sakura's impatience set in and she kicked them down, sending the doors flying.

"Kakashi sensei! Naruto! Ayome!" Sakura said loudly.

"Over here!" we heard Kakashi's voice from the back.

When we they did come into our vision, we saw Naruto strapped into a gurney and he was struggling to get free. Sakura rushed over to him to undo his ties. Kakashi and Ayome were in a small cage and Kakashi was comforting a wailing Ayome.

"Took you long enough," Kakashi said pointedly.

"Well, it's a cage," I said, rummaging through a nearby desk for keys. "Substitute?"

"It's a chakra draining cage," Kakashi warned. "Come too close and you'll also get caught up in its effects."

I gave up on looking for any keys. I rummaged through my weapons pouch and found some bobby pins.

"I'll just have to pick the lock," I sighed.

As I came up to the cage, I could feel what little chakra I had left beginning to drain. I had to work quickly before all of my chakra was depleted. I heard the familiar click and the door swung open.

"Mommy!" Ayome rushed out and tackled me into a hug.

"Hi sweetie, everything is okay now," I held a clinging Ayome close to me.

"Kakashi sensei! Are you alright?" Naruto's worried voice came through.

He rushed into the cage and helped him up. The five of us were safe, but that could not be said for the rest of the prisoners that were being held here.

"Naruto, I need a favor from you," I said quickly, standing up and holding onto Ayome. "I need you to summon reinforcements. There are a lot of people here who are injured and need help."

"Got it," Naruto nodded.

"Sakura, I want you to stay here; use your medical jutsus and heal the sick and injured at much as you can," I continued, and she nodded in agreement.

"Saiya and I will help as much as we can," Kakashi stated. "We can't leave you here alone."

"What about Ayome?" Sakura asked curiously.

"I want to help," Ayome said suddenly.

Naruto left and brought back reinforcements and help a few hours later. By this time, most of the worst injuries had been taken care of by Sakura. We stayed and made sure that everyone who had been kept prisoner by Kabuto and Orochimaru were taken away to a safe place.

"Mommy, are we gonna go home now?" Ayome asked.

"Yes we are honey," and I ruffled her hair and smiled at her. "We're going home."

A/N: NEW CHAPTER! It's almost over too Few more chapters to go. Thank you for sticking around for so long I'll be updating my other incomplete story as well! I have so many ideas in my head though about other stories and it sucks that I'm lazy :/ Keep reading my lovelies!