A/N: Let's do this. Hope you all liked the last chapter!

Chapter Three:

Orochimaru's Hideout

We had just bought ourselves plates and cutlery, and beds and dressers, and were just settling in when there was a knock at the door.

We answered it to find Shizune there.

"Sorry to bother you, but Lady Tsunade needs to see you immediately," she informed us, and, without waiting, turned to lead us to her office.

"Did you figure out the journal?" I asked her.

"More or less," she said. "Kye, you along with Neji, will go on a mission together to find the base. The journal is decoded, all you need to do is find the base. Well, actually, there are multiple base locations. So, basically, you two will find each base, and see if they're there. I don't think you're ready to face Orochimaru, but if necessary, you may engage the enemy, but, please, for your own safety, try not to, okay?"

"Understood!" She said.

"Akito, I actually have a different mission for you," she said. "Nothing spectacular, just tracking some escaped convicts. You and Kiba will go."

"Yes, ma'am!" Said.

"Alright, dismissed!" She said, and without question, they left.

"Um, what about me?" I asked.

"I have training for you," she said.

"But-"

"No buts," she said. "It's time for me to test you and see how well Sakura has done with your training."

I sighed. "Fine. When are you going to test me?"

"Later," she said. "I'm not sure how much later, though. I'll send for you when I'm ready."

I headed home in a grumpy storm, and sat there reading over scrolls, hoping Lady Tsunade meant later today when she said later, and not a few days later.

Kye's POV:

I approached the Hyuga household to find Hinata and Neji training in the courtyard. It only took a moment for him to notice me, and he quickly wrapped up his training session with Hinata.

"Good work today, Hinata," he said. "You're getting better."

"Thank you, Neji," she said quietly, bowing. He returned the bow, and turned to me.

"Can I help you?" His tone wasn't polite, but it wasn't mean. It was rather neutral, actually.

"Lady Tsunade has a mission for us," I said.

"Why us?"

"I'm guessing because of your byakugon. We have to find some of Orochimaru's bases. Come on, we need to pick something up before we leave, I'll explain everything later. But before we go, do you need anything here?"

"Yes, give me just one minute." He spoke in a tone that insinuated that he really would be back in a minute. With that said he turned and walked into the house.

At that speed, I thought my myself, he's going to need more than one minute.

But sure enough, he was back within the minute.

"Wow, that was… quick," I commented.

"I did say one minute. Lead on," he said.

"Do you remember when Hinata was kidnapped?" I asked as we walked to the interrogation building where the decoders were located. He nodded, and I proceeded to tell him about the mission I just got back from, and what we found. I left out the part about the mysterious map since I didn't think it was relevant to our mission. Plus, I didn't know much about it. I had my assumptions, but that was it, and that wasn't much to go on.

"So now we have to follow the directions in this book and search every hide out until we find what Orochimaru has, if anything?" Neji asked.

"Yeah, basically," I said.

"So, you're saying that this could be a wild goose chase, right? I mean, we could find absolutely nothing?"

"Um… yeah, that's also true," I said. "But I know what I found. We need to take this chance, for the sake of your clan." I looked at him. "For the sake of your cousin."

He looked at me, and then he looked ahead. "You're right."

With that said, we hurried to get the journal.

I checked each of my bags at the edge of the village, to make sure I had everything I needed.

"Alright, now let's take a look at that journal," I said, plopping down on the ground and pulling out a map and the journal. Neji sat down next to me, and looked over my shoulder. "Alright, so we're here in Konoha, and according to this journal there's a base here in Kusagakure*, here on an island near the land of waves, here in the land of Sound. Hmm…" I read over the notes quickly, and saw something interesting. "Oh! Here's one. It's in the northern part of the Land of Earth, and it's known for it's research. It's probably one of the furthest ones from here, but I think it's our best shot. What do you think?" I looked up, paying not attention to how close our faces were.

He looked down at the map. "It'll probably take about a week… but it may be the best chance we have. May I see the journal?"

I nodded, and handed it to him. I watched as he scanned page after page, flipping through the book quicker than I thought possible. "Let's go there then. If that doesn't work, then we can work out way down." He reached his arm over me and marked a few more spots adding to the marks I already put down, to indicate where a base was. "Let's get going."

I nodded ,and we headed out of the village at a reasonable pace, jumping up into the trees and heading north.

"There it is," I said. We were hidden in the trees, not too far from Orochimaru's Northern base. "Is there anyone in there?"

Neji closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, he had his byakugon activated. He stared intently at the base for a moment before blinking and looking at me. "There are definitely people in there, and lots of them," he said. "Sneaking in won't be an option, and we can't just attack, we're no where near ready to fight him or his men, nor do we have the strength of an army; we're just two people."

I looked at him for a moment, then back at the base, thinking. I looked around at everything, putting possible plan through my mind. Nothing seemed to work, until I saw a caravan. "Neji, what's that?"

He looked down at the caravan. "It's a caravan of… what looks like prisoners."

An idea hit me.

"That's how we'll get in," I said. "We'll get captured."

"Are you… insane?" He asked.

"No. Well, maybe slightly, but I'm serious about this," I replied. "We'll disguise ourselves and get captured by them. Once in, we'll wait until late, when just the guards are up. Then, you use your gentle fist style to knock them out quickly and silently, and we'll grab the keys and get out of the cell. Then we look into the research he has here. Then we get our asses out of there as quickly as possible."

"Hmm… I don't know, he could catch us," Neji said. "It sounds… too easy."

"Do you have a better idea?" I asked.

He was silent for a moment, but then sighed. "No, I don't. It's crazy; insane, actually, but I think it's our best option."

"Think of it this way," I said, with a smile. "We'll have a hell of a story to tell when we get back." I stood up, and he followed suit.

"How do you plan on getting captured?"

"After we disguise our appearance and our chakra, we'll attack the caravan," I said. "Or do you have a better idea?"

He shook his head. "Works fine for me."

We used a transformation jutsu, and were careful about our chakra signatures as we approached the caravan. I looked at Neji, and nodded. Without further hesitation, we charged the caravan, being sure only to use kunai knives or our fists, and not jutsu to fight, so as to not give ourselves away.

We exchanged blows, but Neji and I quickly allowed the guards to overtake us, handcuff us, and throw us in the back of the caravan. Once in there, we kept our heads low to avoid suspicion. Through my peripheral vision, though, I could see we were going through large iron gates. I glanced up, and it seemed as if we were going through a small village. Curiosity got the better of me, and I began looking around. There were houses here and there, and what looked like stores. But the village was short lived, and soon we were going through another gate. This led us to a palace-like building.

This must be it, I thought. Orochimaru's hideout.

The caravan was stopped outside the gate, and all of the prisoners were herded out and into the building. We were pushed stone corridor after stone corridor until we reached a large room with jail cells lining each wall. We were pushed into line, and told to wait.

I wondered what we were waiting for, but we didn't have to wait long to find out what. Or, in this case, who.

Orochimaru entered the room with Kabuto and Sasuke in tow behind them.

"Welcome, all, my honored guests," he started in his cool, snake like voice.

It took all of my self control not to laugh.

"It may feel like you're in prison, but you're not," he said. "Think of the rooms that look like jail cells as your bedrooms, and this room just as an in indoor exercise yard. While you are here, you will stay in this area. You are to get along will your other roommates, and if you fail to do so, you will be sent to solitary confinement. Is this clear?" Silence followed him. One of his trademark creeper smiles crossed his face. He licked his lips, and then said, "Good. Enjoy your time here." He turned to leave with Kabuto behind him. Sasuke, however, stayed behind, staring at me. Our eyes met momentarily before I quickly looked down to avert my gaze.

"Sasuske, are you coming?" Orochimaru asked.

"Hn." Was all that escaped Sasuke's mouth, and he turned and left.

"I… I think he recognized me…" I whispered to Neji.

Neji just looked at me.

The guards were saying something, but I wasn't really listening. Eventually, the prisoners started to disperse, and Neji and I went to stand in the corner so we could see everything and be out of the way to talk to each other.

"So, it looks like one of us, or both of us need, to get locked in solitary confinement," I said.

"If anyone does it, it should be me. I'll have the best chance of getting out, but we should both try to get in there, that way I won't have to break you out of here." I nodded.

"So how do we do it?" I asked.

"Simple," he said. "We start a fight." He made his way over to tall, muscular, scary-looking prisoner, 'accidentally' walking into him.

"Hey!" The prisoner shouted, grabbing Neji the his shirt's collar. "Watch were you're going.

Neji said nothing, he merely kneed the poor man in the balls, and then immediately kicked him in the stomach.

I saw my opportunity in the form of another muscular, scary-looking prisoner (probably one of the other guys friends) charging Neji from behind.

I charged at him and tackled him down to the ground, punching him in the gut and across the face. He quickly pushed me off, grabbing my by the collar of the shirt and tossing me at the wall. With ninja reflexes I managed to save myself, and, using the wall to push myself, I flung myself at the same guy who tossed me.

The brawl only lasted a few moments before guards came and separated us.

"Who started this?" One guard asked.

"He did!" One guy said, pointing at Neji. "And she was with him."

The guard glared at me, then Neji. "Solitary confinement for a week. Both of you." With that said, the guard dragged us off to solitary confinement.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Sorry if it took too long to update, I appreciate everyone who sticks around!

*Kusagakure = village hidden in the grass