Out of the Unknown

by axellon2008

Naruto discovers a crashed starship outside his village and his life is forever changed. Under the unorthodox tutelage of a Sith Lord's spirit, he will learn the technology and history of a larger galaxy that he, and no one else from his planet, ever knew existed.

15. Chapter 15

AN: I don't own Naruto, or Star Wars

x-x

36.5 BBY – Current Year

Chapter XV: New additions

x-x

Naruto and Karin moved swiftly through the forest. It was nearly night and they had been traveling for hours towards Sound Country. If Naruto's calculations were correct, they were near the border and should be arriving at the Valley of the End rather soon. Karin had wanted to stop to take a break but Naruto refused and told her to keep going. Whenever he had not fulfilled Plagueis' expectations, he was always made to do extra work in terms of his training as a punishment.

Running nonstop to Sound Country was Karin's punishment for nearly getting him caught and falling asleep. Only if she passed out or collapsed would he help her and that would only be because he still needed her. He couldn't leave her behind but she didn't need to fight anyone once they got there and her skills as a fighter wouldn't be helpful to him anyway. Only her sensing skills would be needed for this mission.

His thoughts were on what he was going to explain to Plagueis once he got to Snow Country. He had defied his master's orders and was now heading off to Sound Country without telling or informing his Master of his current intentions. This was really the first time he was going against Plagueis's orders. He felt he didn't have time to contact Plagueis using the communication device and speed was of the essence to get to Sound Country. The rewards of this mission would be well worth any of his Master's anger.

He just needed to make sure that he could at least get there undetected. Arriving before Orochimaru was best, but he could still succeed if he arrived after.

x-x

Sitting behind his desk in Root headquarters, Danzo looked over all the reports he had concerning the infiltration of his well hidden base. Not even the Sandaime had ever found his secret base, yet somehow the Kyuubi container had managed to escape the village right when he was closing in and even manage to figure out where his base was and how to enter it without initially being detected.

There was no real loss to him or the base, but most of the jutsu that he had in the library of techniques that he had acquired for use by his ninja had been looked through. There was evidence that these techniques had all been copied. Concerned over this he had a few of his Root ninja, that he had been 'asked' to disband and turned over for ANBU assignment, discretely look into other areas of the village and find out all they could about any other problems.

Apparently someone had looked through the Hokage's study as well as the village library during the battle. After learning of this, it was obvious that the container had sought to take all the information possible from the village before leaving.

It had been just over a day since the battle end and there was still no sign of the boy. He had several of his ninja searching outside the village but nothing had turned up so far. He sent a few of his men to Wave but he likely wouldn't receive anything back from them for at least a couple more days.

The situation was frustrating and he tried not to let any of his emotions get in his way of determining what was really going on.

He still wondered how the boy had known so much about his base and where information was kept. To his knowledge, at no point had any of his ninja been compromised or unaccounted for which would leave time for the container to read their minds. The situation hinted that someone in his own forces was helping the boy which was something that should not be possible. There were no spies, double-agents, or disobedient members of the Foundation.

'So when did he find a chance to access the minds of one of my ninja?' he wondered and it was a very difficult question to answer.

x-x

After taking a short break at the Valley of the End, which Karin was thankful for and collapsed into a heap on the ground, they continued into Sound Country to where one of Orochimaru's hideouts was. The man had create numerous hideouts inside and outside of Sound Country but only a few in his organization were privy to where they were. They weren't that hard to make and Orochimaru likely had more hideouts than even Kabuto knew about.

Karin had yet to sense anyone but that didn't mean anything. Most of the Sound ninja had likely been killed in the battle so he didn't expect to find ninja patrolling or guards. It was just as likely that they were behind Orochimaru as it was that they were ahead of the man.

Pushing on, they moved further into Sound Country. It didn't take that long to reach Orochimaru's hideout from the border between Sound and Fire. They didn't encounter any border patrols from either Oto or Konoha. In fact, they didn't encounter any ninja forces at all.

'I wonder if he sent all of his ninja to fight in Konoha?' Naruto wondered as he searched to find the entrance to the underground hideout.

Naruto stopped on a branch and motioned for Karin to stop too. Karin immediately knew what he wanted and started focusing completely on her chakra sensing. She extended her range as far as she could. There was nothing on the surface around them but she felt several chakra signatures underneath the surface.

"Can you sense Orochimaru?" he asked her and she shook her head 'no' as she focused on looking for the signature that she had felt during their brief encounter with the Sannin in the Forest of Death.

'Excellent, we arrived before them.' he thought and jumped down to the ground. He proceeded to walk to the entrance of the nearby bunker with Karin following close behind.

As he walked, he actively looked for traps but his mind was also filled with possible plans to deal with the Sound Four and Kabuto. Ideally he needed to face Orochimaru alone and without interference by any of his underlings. Kabuto could be incredibly dangerous and he didn't have that much information on the Sound Four. Facing multiple opponents was not something he wanted.

Given that only a scant few chakra signatures were around, he could release the seals he had on his body and use fuinjutsu to set traps. It was possible that those signatures belonged to individuals that could sense chakra like Karin could, but he could deal with them. He just hoped he had enough time before Orochimaru and his group arrived.

x-x

Moving through the trees at a faster pace then they had been, the group of Orochimaru, Kabuto, and guards made their way to the main base in Sound Country. The trip was slow at first as two members of the Sound Four had to support Orochimaru until he was able to regain his strength.

Both of the Sannin's arms hung limp at his sides and he had a deep frown on his face. The entire trip back had been silent and everyone could tell that the battle with the Sandaime had not gone as the snake Sannin had planned.

He needed to get back to his hideout and see what Kabuto could do for his arms. He didn't completely know what was wrong with them as he only knew that part of his soul had been taken by the Shinigami but he had no idea what that really meant for his body or the rest of his soul. He had immediately lost all movement in his arms and the skin up to his shoulders had turned a brown-grey. It seemed that the skin was slowly dying despite his advanced healing ability and he needed to see what could be done and what treatments might reverse the process.

They were only a few miles away from the hideout and he was quite positive that no one would be following them. They left quite a few traps in their wake and Konoha wouldn't send out any forces to follow them as the village was much more important.

'Kukukukukuku' he silently chuckled. No matter what the Sandaime had done he would still survive and continue to further his goals.

x-x

Completing his preparations for Orochimaru and the Sound Four, Naruto went in search for the two chakra signatures in the facility that had not moved since they arrived. Karin guided him until he could feel the first individual with his own sensing ability. He quietly entered a room that the individual was in and examined his surroundings. It seemed he was in some kind of infirmary with numerous monitors but only a few beds.

There were many different devices and the single occupant of the room was resting on one of the beds with a number of instruments and monitoring devices attached to him.

Despite the face being covered by a cloth and respiratory system, he guessed that this person must be Kimimaro. From Kabuto's memories, he knew the man was ill but wondered if the disease had progressed. Silently he moved to the monitoring systems and examined the information.

It seemed that Kimimaro was definitely dying of a serious illness. Given what he knew about Kimimaro's blind and unwavering loyalty to Orochimaru, this would be no loss for him. Some people could not be swayed by any means, especially those as fanatical as he knew Kimimaro to be.

Moving to a nearby cabinet, he searched for what he wanted and procured a vile and syringe. He could tell that the ninja was still asleep and so he filled the syringe with the liquid and then inserted it into the IV that was connected to the patient. The entire time he made sure that the ailing ninja remained sleeping.

Before he left, he flipped off the monitoring systems as they would no longer be needed. He could get a sample after he had succeeded and completed what he came here to do.

He was about to ask Karin where the other chakra signature was when he felt a shift in her emotions and feelings. He didn't need for her to tell him what it meant. It seemed Orochimaru was nearing the hideout.

Quickly thinking about the situation, he decided that he wouldn't be able to seek out the last person. He quickly resealed his chakra so he had Karin unseal his sword from his arm and then went to get in position. The remaining signature was a variable and unknown in his plans but there was no other way. He would have to get by without determining who the last person was until the plan was finished.

x-x

The returning group split up as Orochimaru and Kabuto went to one of the laboratories. The Sound Four proceeded to go to their rooms and rest. They likely wouldn't be needed for a while and could do whatever they wanted until such time as they were needed or were forced to train.

Tayuya was the first to split off from the other three as her room was in a slightly different area than the rest of the group. She valued her privacy and didn't like any other member of the group. Opening her door, she reached for the light and flicked it on. The once dark chamber was illuminated to reveal her room, exactly how she left it. Moving over to bed, she collapsed on it and groaned over her exhaustion due to the length of their journey.

She never even noticed the piece of fuinjutsu on the back of her closed door.

x-x

At the same moment, the other members of the Sound Four were getting into their rooms which were slightly farther into the complex.

x-x

Sitting on a chair that resembled a throne of sorts, the pale figure of Orochimaru was bathed in the candle light around the room. Kabuto had just left to go and analyze several samples that were taken from his useless arms.

He glanced at the many items on the shelves of his room. There were numerous creatures in jars and then a glass container with his severed hand from his original body. It still bore the Akatsuki ring on it and he chucked at how the loss of that item would inconvenience that group when they started moving to achieve their goals.

It was at that moment that he idly noticed that he couldn't sense anyone. He couldn't feel Kabuto's chakra signature, those of the Sound Four, or Kimamaro's. This was rather odd as he should be able to feel them.

He frowned slightly at the realization.

x-x

Jirobo was the first to enter his room. He turned on the light and closed the door at the same time. He barely glanced at his room but became alerted when he heard a recognizable noise. Looking around he saw that most of the room was plastered with explosive notes. His eyes widened and he ran for the door a moment after each tag started to spark.

The door wouldn't open and he instantly realized what was plastered on his door. It was a five seal barrier tag which was a lower ranking barrier technique. The problem was that he had to remove the four associated tags, as well as the fifth tag he was looking at, in order to break the seal.

There was no time to find the four tags that were likely hidden throughout his room among the explosive tags. There was no way out. He was sealed inside a room filled with explosive tags which would contain the explosion.

x-x

As Tayuya was still sitting on her bed when she felt a slight tremor. Her eyes opened briefly but she ignored it and just thought, 'That fat ass probably just farted again.'

A small smile formed on her face and she chuckled before closing her eyes again and trying to relax.

x-x

The glass tubes and jars around Kabuto rattled slightly and he looked up from his work, curious to know what the tremor was.

x-x

Orochimaru was now fully alert. He stood from his chair and walked to the door that led to the hallway. He wasn't even halfway there before he felt an incoming attack but found he couldn't dodge. It was if he was being held in place by an unseen force.

x-x

She felt that perhaps she should turn the lights off and try to fall asleep but just didn't feel like getting up and turning off the lights.

It was at that point that she felt another two tremors in quick succession.

Sitting up fully alert, she looked to her door and noted for the first time that it had fuinjutsu placed on it. Her team was very familiar with forms of barriers and it took but a moment for her to recognize that she had been sealed in her room by a five seals barrier.

Her eyes widened and wondered how she had missed it. Moving to the door she attempted to force it open despite knowing that if the barrier was activated then it would not budge. 'What the hell!?' she thought confused over why this was happening. Were they under attack? Was it just some kind of stupid prank? The tremors however spoke towards the former. Someone had likely infiltrated their hideout and set traps but for what purpose she had no idea.

Thinking quickly she realized that the barrier may have been active before she entered her room. The door opened inward so someone could enter the room, but would be sealed inside once the door shut and the barrier was once again complete.

It was a very ingenious trap and she had never seen nor heard of the technique used in such a way, but she pushed those thoughts aside as she started looking through her room for the four accompanying tags. She opened the drawers of her desk and found one in the top drawer, then found one under her bed, another in her wardrobe, and the fourth and final one in her closet.

They needed to all be removed at the same moment and although she didn't have any type of clone jutsu that could do the job, she still had her three doki summons.

x-x

Orochimaru smirked despite the fact that his as his upper body had been cleanly severed from his lower body. He'd even lost both his hands in a single swipe. Without so much as a handseal, snakes appeared out of the cut areas on his upper and lower body. The snakes moved past each other, interlocking, and then forced all the pieces of his body back together.

A few snakes even emerged from his sleeves of his ruined arms and went after his mysterious attackers.

Naruto dodged to the side, neatly decapitated the snakes, and then turned back to his opponent who had moved back to create some distance between them.

Orochimaru examined his attacker to try and figure out who he was but he could get nothing as the short individual wore a dark cloak and a breather mask. There were no identifiable markings, however he could guess that the person was a boy and not very old.

"Kukukukuku, I must commend you on getting in here without my knowledge or detection. I suppose those tremors were you as well." stated the pale faced man and Naruto grit his teeth at the fact that he still wasn't being taken seriously.

"Not very talkative?" inquired the smiling Orochimaru and he watched curiously as his opponent channeled chakra into his sword.

With the wind chakra in the sword, Naruto flicked his wrist and sent the sword spinning at his foe. A moment later he briefly removed his mask and went through several handseals. Mud spewed from his mouth and covered the door that was the only entrance and exit to the room.

The mud quickly expanded to cover the entire door and then harden.

Orochimaru dodged the sword and charged at his opponent. His mouth bulged slightly as he called upon his Kusanagi but he was forced to dodge again as the spinning sword had apparently come back around.

Naruto moved through two more handseals and completed his next earth jutsu with a stamp of his foot. He then caught his sword and once again the two opponents stared down each other until Orochimaru stopped his charge as he began sinking into the floor.

He noted the smell coming from all the surfaces of the room and quickly recognized the jutsu. It was one of Jiraiya's earth jutsu that the fellow Sannin had used countless times. Yanking one foot out of the swamp, he put the correct amount of chakra to properly stay on the surface of the swamp.

'Not only did he bar the door but he turned the entire room, every surface, into a swamp to keep me from escaping. How interesting.' he thought and chuckled. This opponent was proving far more devious and knowledgeable than he previously thought. With the swamp on every surface, he wouldn't be able to use his leech of all creations technique and move through the floor should the battle not turn his way. It also completely changed the battlefield and strategies for fighting.

"Trapping yourself inside a room with a snake isn't very smart." he chided but his opponent continued to remain silent. His mind quickly went through the list of possible people that would want him dead. It was quite a long list but few names came up that would use a gifted child and not have any identifying marks. Shimura Danzo was high on that last. The calm demeanor and reserved attitude of the boy did fit standard Root training. If it was Danzo, he wondered how the old war hawk managed to acquire the boy.

"So Danzo finally found where I am and wants to silence me?" he goaded in the hopes of getting more information out of the assassin.

Naruto was slightly confused about question but he decided to just go with it. "Danzo-sama regrets that he won't be able to attend your funeral."

"I'm sure he does. Kukukukuku." Orochimaru chuckled in response but on the inside he was a little worried. He was trapped in a room with an unknown foe and couldn't use the majority of his jutsu.

He wondered where Kabuto or the rest of his forces were. Had the tremors he heard been their demise? It was possible but there were three tremors and he had five servants so he only needed to holdout until they arrived. Of course that was assuming that the he wouldn't be able to defeat the boy.

x-x

Kabuto cautiously made his way to the room where Orochimaru was. There were no additional noises or any other indication that something was wrong but his intuition told him otherwise. Shinobi could be incredibly stealthy and teams of ninja could be moving throughout the base at that very moment.

Reaching the door he noted the earth jutsu that had seeped through the cracks and knew that Orochimaru was in trouble. Someone must have infiltrated the compound and headed right for the injured Sannin The tremors he heard could have been due to a battle going on inside the room, but he couldn't hear anything else happening.

He didn't have any powerful jutsu that could get past the barricaded door or wall. Using explosive notes inside the hideout was more likely to bring part of the roof down, however the Sound Four would definitely be able to get inside.

Leaving Orochimaru, he ran to their rooms on the other side of the compound. He passed right by the hallway to Tayuya's shut door and went straight Jiroburo's room. The orange mohawk sporting teen was physically the strongest of the Sound Four and could get past the door in no time at all. He slowed down when he made it to the room and opened the door.

Kabuto was immediately overcome by smoke and the smell of burning flesh. He coughed quite a few times before he managed to look into the destroyed room to see the burnt and destroyed body of the ninja he was after.

His eyes widened as he realized what the tremors must have been. 'Someone set a trap for them.'

Running down the hall he came around the corner and he saw that the door to Sakon and Udon's room was also closed. They were probably dead as well. Farther down the hall he could see a body in the hallway outside of the door to Kidomaru's room and he ran to it.

Kidomaru had been the last to get to his room and after hearing strange sounds he had stopped at the entrance to his room with the door open. The moment he turned back to his room, the tags were already about to go off. His door was still open and his body was hit by the explosion. It sent him into the wall opposite the door to his room and he was still there but unconscious.

His body was badly burned but Kabuto realized that the ninja was still alive and started doing diagnostics on him. The jutsu told him that Kidomaru wouldn't make it beyond a few more minutes so he left him there and went to get Kimimaro out of the infirmary.

Despite near death, Kimimaro wouldn't sit idly while something was happening to Orochimaru and would definitely help him to get past the blocked door.

x-x

A few moments before

x-x

'No asshole is gonna trap me in my own fucking room,' thought Tayuya despite her present situation.

She had summoned two of her three Doki however they were so large that the two of them completely filled her room. One summon couldn't use its arms so she needed the remaining two to each pull off a fuinjutsu tag to remove the barrier. There was little space to move around in the now cramped room and she was being pushed against the door.

Her flute was out but she was having trouble using it given that she needed one hand to remove the seal but still needed to use the other to play the flute in order to get her summons to remove the tags.

Getting the fingers on the flute in position on the right holes to play the right notes, she propped one side of the flute on her knee and played the required notes. Simultaneously, the two summons pulled off the tags as she pulled off the main tag.

"Fucking finally, now I can get out of here." she said and then realized a problem.

'The fucking door opens inwards.' she remembered and she glared at the offenders that were keeping her from getting out.

Kicking her summons she yelled, "Unsummon, you stupid assholes!"

x-x

The two swords clanged against each other once again and once again Naruto cursed. Despite knowing a great deal about forms and style, he had little experience using his sword in open combat. He fought Zabuza but the man didn't really use much in the way of swordsmanship. Wielding a giant sword required more strength than swordsmanship skill and it wasn't as agile or fast as Orochimaru's sword was.

He was being pushed back by a psychopathic circus performer with a sword sticking out of his mouth and with no working arms. It was utterly ridiculous and showed just how inexperienced he was at using the forms he knew in combat. Beyond his shadow clones he had no one to spar with and the clones weren't that much help as they all fought the same as he did.

Fighting with an agile and experienced opponent that attacked with a sword coming from his mouth was not a confrontation he had ever prepared for.

Nonetheless, the fight raged on. He still had advantages but Orochimaru was not letting up on the attack enough for him to use the Force or any jutsu.

Orochimaru however was quite impressed with the brat he was facing. The boy appeared to have large chakra reserves and incredibly good stamina. The fight was progressing much better than the one he had with Sasuke. The brats sword was even able to stand up to his kusanagi whereas most weapons could not.

The outlook of the battle was rather equal, if not against him. The boy was good enough and he was disabled enough that he couldn't properly defend, so he needed to keep up a strong attack.

Parrying the Kusanagi, Naruto found an opening and shoved his hand forward and Force pushed Orochimaru into the wall which was still part of the swamp.

Orochimaru was incredibly surprised at the strange attack. There didn't seem to be any chakra or visible jutsu being used but he was still pushed back with incredible force. He realized too late that he had been pushed into the wall and was slowly sinking into it.

Moving to take advantage, Naruto sealed his sword into his hand and began making seals for a jutsu to finish the Snake Sannin off.

x-x

Kabuto made it to the infirmary only to find that Kimamaro had expired at some point before they returned. However he knew it was likely the result tampering and not a natural death as all of the monitors had been turned off. Kimimaro was fine when he left to help at the battle just a few days ago and the machines should have taken care of him until they returned.

'So all of the Sound Five are dead.' he realized and tried to think of something else to help him.

Sighing, he knew that he only had one more option available to him and it was not someone he could trust. The person he was thinking about was in a nearby room and was Orochimaru's newest acquisition.

x-x

With her door finally open, Tayuya went to check on the other members of the Sound Four. However, she could smell the burnt flesh and didn't need to go inside of Jirobo's room to know that he, and probably the other two, were dead.

What she couldn't figure out was why she was alive. Had whatever trap that was planted in her room not gone off? Was it mere luck that she was spared? The hideout didn't seem to be under attack and she couldn't hear anything going on which left her with many more unanswered questions.

Had this been set up by Kabuto or Orochimaru. Were the Sound Four of no more use to him? She decided that anything was a possibility and that she would trust no one.

Moving with caution through the hideout, she pulled out her flute and kept it ready.

x-x

Before Naruto could complete his jutsu, the blade Orochimaru was using extended far beyond what the normal reasoning should have allowed. Naruto watched as the blade headed right for him. He barely managed to unseal his sword and protect himself. The extending sword ground against his own as he tried to deflect it, but it still managed to cut into his shoulder and continue on until it stuck into the swampy wall on the other side of the room.

Looking at the now absurdly long blade Naruto wondered just how it had managed to do that. Glancing back at Orochimaru, he realized that the man was managing to pull himself out of the wall using the blade. Given it was stuck in the mud on the other side, Orochimaru was reducing the size of his blade but instead of the tip of the blade returning back to the handle, the handle was trying to get to the tip of the blade.

A second later, the man had managed to get himself unstuck from the wall. Once he was free, the blade reduced its length back to the handle and the man just chuckled as they were back to where they started the fight.

He wanted to curse at the turn of events and his loss of an advantage but he still had a few abilities up his sleeve and the combat between the two had caused his blade to start building up a charge. A little longer and he would be able to use Force Lightning.

Naruto ducked as Orochimaru extended his sword by about 4 meters and swung it at Naruto's head. He was then forced to jump as Orochimaru spun around and lowered the angle of sword.

'This is just getting ridiculous.' he thought and it appeared that Orochimaru was now weary of his abilities and perhaps taking the fight more seriously.

Orochimaru again went on the offensive with a serious of stabs where the blade length kept changing and forced Naruto to be completely on the defensive. He needed to get away from the situation and was able to get his hands in the cross shaped handseal while they were still on his sword handle, as he simultaneously dodged a strike for his opponent.

Seamlessly switching with the clone, he used Force Grip on his opponent from just a few feet away right after Orochimaru had dispelled the clone. Naruto lunged and decapitated his opponent, only for the man to turn to mud.

Cursing, Naruto turned and was kicked by Orochimaru into the wall. Captured by his own earth jutsu, Naruto attempted to get his body out of the quicksand like swamp while Orochimaru closed in.

"Kukukukuku, this has been quite an interesting battle and you have quite a few interesting jutsu." Orochimaru managed to say despite still having a sword and the head of a snake in his mouth.

"Its too bad Danzo found you first, you would have made an excellent addition to my forces and perhaps even an interesting container." he said and then angled his neck upward to slash Naruto with the sword.

Naruto's eyes widened at the imminent danger but he still had his sword. Force lightning arced out from the blade and struck Orochimaru in the chest, sending the Sannin to the other side of the room.

Once again sealing his sword, Naruto went through the seals to end the earth jutsu. Using kinetite he smashed part of the wall to free himself and then looked to his opponent. Orochimaru was having trouble getting up as he had sunk slightly into the floor before the earth jutsu had been ended. The sannin was also smoking slightly from the Force lightning.

'What kind of lightning jutsu was that?' the sannin questioned as he realized he was stuck in the hardened swamp.

Hearing an incoming attack, Orochimaru looked up to see a large wind enhanced shuriken coming at him. The Kusanagi was still in his mouth and he moved his head and neck to deflect the weapon. The blade extended but right when it was about make contact with the shuriken, the weapon spun and dodged the extended blade.

He still had time though and swung his head, and thereby the sword, back at the shuriken again. This time the spinning weapon was knocked off course. He was about to smirk and try to get himself out of his stuck position on the floor but he noted a second shuriken had appeared from inside the shadow of the first and his eyes widened.

Naruto smirked as his discblade impacted the ground and struck the sannin. Ideally he wanted to incapacitate the man but the fight proved much harder than he anticipated. Walking towards the man to confirm the kill, he stopped however as he felt life-signs moving towards him.

The ground underneath his feet up-heaved and he was hit by an emerging white object before he could do anything to defend himself. He was knocked back several meters and tumbled until he was on his hands and knees. In that short amount of time, a giant white snake fully emerged out of the hard floor.

"Kukukukuku, it appears you forced me into this form." stated the snake that vaguely resembled Orochimaru. It seemed to be made of hundreds of small white snakes that each formed the body and then a grotesque head.

Naruto froze for a brief moment as he looked upon the creature in front of him. He had seen a brief view of this form of Orochimaru in Kabuto's mind but it was viewed through a camera monitor and not in actual person. It looked a lot different.

Glancing over to one side of the room, Naruto called forth the discblade that had been deflected earlier.

The white snake charged at him in the exact same moment. Naruto dodged to escape being bitten and had to slice through several white snakes that came after him from the main body. His discblade reached his hand less than a second later and used it to slice into Orochimaru's neck but was smacked away by the tail of the white snake. He smashed into a set of shelves on the wall and many bottles fell off the broken shelves and smashed on the floor.

Orochimaru didn't wait for his opponent to recover and Naruto was forced to jump to the side as the the rest of the shelving, and part of the wall, were further damaged by Orochimaru's next attack. Naruto thrust his discblade into the wall to free up a hand, he charged a sphere of kinetite and threw it towards the snake.

He knew Orochimaru would dodge a direct attack so he aimed for the ground beneath the snake. The kinetite struck the ground the snake lost its balance.

Grabbing his discblade from the wall, Naruto swung his arm and released the blade on the disoriented snake.

Orochimaru was aware of the attack and moved to avoid it but Naruto managed to quickly divert the discblade to do as much damage as possible. However it only managed to cut through the back third or Orochimaru's snake body.

A chuckling Orochimaru just shrugged off the damage and sprung into action. The white snake moved to attack and quickly slithered up the wall and to the ceiling.

It twisted and tried to strike Naruto from different angles as it moved along the ceiling and he moved along the ground. Naruto continued to dodge and decapitate the secondary snakes with his sword. This wasn't the position he wanted to be in as it was only a matter of time before either Orochimaru ran out of snakes, he was bitten by one of the small snakes, or he was bitten by the main head.

Orochimaru was however thinking very differently. The boy he was facing had shown quite a bit of skill for one so young in addition to possessing quite a few interesting weapons and jutsu. Danzo had apparently trained the assassin very well and this provided him with quite the opportunity. His arms were useless and now he had left his old body. It would be difficult to get back into it and much easier to acquire a new one, it was nearly time to acquire a new body anyway.

Should he take over the boy's body he would not only be able to study the weapons that could stand up to the Kusangi but figure out the boy's strange abilities. 'Kukuku, its too good an opportunity to pass up.' he thought and switched tactics to try and incapacitate the boy. With the breather mask the boy was wearing, none of his volatile blood would be able to poison the boy through inhalation. His blood was a powerful paralytic when inhaled in its vapor form and it readily evaporated into the air but it did little for him in this situation.

He realized that he may have to sacrifice part of his body in order to catch his prey. Putting himself in danger, Orochimaru overextended himself on one of his strikes at the boy.

Naruto saw the mistake and attempted to capitalize on it. Putting wind chakra into his blade, he extended the length by several inches and went for a beheading slash.

Though not entirely prepared for the chakra flow technique, Orochimaru's neck was cut nearly through but he had managed to pull his tail closer to Naruto and a few of his white snakes latched onto the boys arm and leg.

Swinging his head back, Orochimaru headbutted the boy away from him and his snakes let go.

Naruto hit the ground and tumbled until he came to a stop. He attempted to get up but his left leg and arm were already going numb and he was having trouble moving them. The effect also seemed to be spreading to his shoulder and hip.

He turned back around just in time to see the open maw of the white snake swallow him whole.

x-x

Tayuya had already passed by the lab where Kabuto usually worked but found no one there. Thoughts kept going through her head about betrayal and she headed to where she thought Orochimaru would be. A part of her thought she should run but she wanted answers. She still had not encountered anyone nor found any evidence of an intruder in their hideout and this spoke towards a betrayal rather than attack.

The other three members of her group were no real loss as she never cared for them anyway. They were only a functioning group because they had to be and each one knew that their lives were drastically shortened by the cursed seal but they didn't really care. They were useful, were given great power, had a purpose and that was all that mattered to them.

Moving down the hallway towards one of the laboratories where she knew Orochimaru was likely to be, she stopped when she saw the mud that had leaked out of the door.

x-x

Inside a nearby room, Karin sat hiding in the darkness as she felt the hideout and suppressed her chakra. Naruto had told her to hide there until it was all over and although she wanted to be useful, she still agreed. The last thing she wanted was to fight someone like Orochimaru and not being able to feel what was going on in the sealed room Naruto was fighting in only made it worse.

She felt someone coming in her direction seconds ago and they just passed by her room. She had tensed but was now more relaxed as it seemed she hadn't bee found yet.

'I just hope that idiot wins.' she thought and didn't like being helpless. It reminded her of the when she was attacked by the bear in the forest. Hopefully the fight would be over soon as she could also feel Kabuto coming down the other end of the hall towards the room Naruto was fighting in and he had apparently brought the other person that was in the hideout when they arrived.

x-x

"I don't understand why you couldn't just blow the door down with explosive notes?" questioned the white haired boy as he moved with one of Orochimaru's lackeys to where the Snake Sannin was apparently being attacked. He didn't really care but he would do anything to get out of that stupid tank and move around.

It had only been a couple of weeks since he was captured by Orochimaru. The Snake Sannin apparently wanted to study his hydration ability. He was just hoping to use the current situation as a chance to escape.

"As I told you, the required amount of explosive notes needed to get past the earth jutsu could damage the ceiling and cause a collapse in the lab." responded Kabuto as he adjusted his glasses. Earth jutsu weren't that easy to get by and he knew that putting explosives on the wall and blocked doorway might be a better choice, however in either case the ceiling would come down in the hallway and completely block off the lab from him. Orochimaru had constructed the walls so that if they needed, the could be brought down with minimal effort to destroy the entire hideout and perhaps trap any unwanted guests inside.

"Not if you do it right." chided Suigetsu but Kabuto merely ignored the comment. He needed to help Orochimaru-sama as fast as possible and everywhere he turned there were setbacks to this goal.

Rounding the corner to enter the hallway he wanted, Kabuto stopped as he looked down the hallway and spotted someone, it was Tayuya. She was apparently alive, unlike the other members of the Sound Four.

"I see you managed to survive." stated Kabuto and he gave a smile but that was actually the wrong thing to say and do. From Tayuya's perspective it seemed as though Kabuto was behind the death of her teammates and trapping her inside her room to save for later. She was after all the only girl in the whole hideout.

"You rat-faced bastard!" Tayuya responded and pulled her flute to her mouth.

"Wow, what did you do to her?" questioned Suigetsu.

x-x

Naruto glanced around the new area he was in. It was dark and rather...fleshy. The walls, floor, and even the ceiling seemed to be made of pulsing flesh and he could feel that all around him was alive.

'Am I inside his stomach?' he wondered as he knew that ninja could create a dimension inside of their stomach to store items but this was a little different.

His eyes glanced away from his surroundings and focused on the grinning Sannin in front of him. The man was partially encased in the flesh substance and it was slowly moving up both their bodies. Naruto looked at the pink flesh moving up his torso and getting every closer to completely encapsulating him. He knew what likely was happening to him because of Kabuto's memories. Orochimaru was attempting to take over his body and devour his soul.

"Kukukuku, this dimension belongs to me and the process can't be stopped. I will soon take over your body and make it my new container." stated Orochimaru and he waited for an outburst or show of fear at the information he just gave out.

"You'll try." was the only response that Naruto gave and then he closed his eyes.

Orochimaru chuckled again and took this to mean that the boy was just spouting nonsense, however he was wrong.

x-x

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself inside of what he assumed was the seal. It seemed as though he was inside of a flooded starship. The walls, ceiling, and he guessed the flooring as well, were all metallic and he noted that they looked similar to the inside of the ship he found. Treading through the water, he headed for where he wanted to go. This was the first time he had ever been inside his seal but he had an idea of what to look for.

Eventually he found his way to the location of the cage that his master had described to him. Walking in he prepared himself as best as he could for the coming confrontation.

Naruto walked within twenty feet of the cage and stopped as a precautionary measure. A large eye opened that revealed a glowing red iris and slit pupil.

"So my host finally comes for a visit. To what do I owe the occasion." mocked the Kyuubi as its lone eye examined every part of him.

Naruto thought for a moment how best to ask for the needed power. He had not had any time nor wanted to access it after the incident at the hot springs but now he needed it..

"I want to take over someone's soul, are you willing to aid me?" inquired Naruto as he kept his eyes on the shadowed beast behind the golden bars.

"HeheheheheheheHahahaha!" the Kyuubi laughed maniacally and a small trail of red chakra came out from the bars and moved towards Naruto.

x-x

Orochimaru's smile only widened as the process was nearly complete, his new body was providing little resistance to the process until he felt something coming off the boy. It was something he instantly recognized as the chakra of a bijuu. His eyes widened when he looked to the boy and saw a pair of red glowing eyes looking back at him.

'The Kyuubi jinchuuriki!' he realized and knew it was too late. Once the jutsu was activated, it could not be stopped. One person had to take over the other. There was however no way for him to take over the body of a jinchuuriki because of the special connection between host and bijuu. In order to take over the body, he would also have to suppress the bijuu and that was not something he could do.

The process began reversing as the flesh covering the boy's body began to get burned off by the red chakra and the flesh on his own body continued to moved past his neck and moving over his head and face. He cursed out loud with his last breaths for the process to stop as his soul was devoured by the boy.

x-x

The giant white snake exploded sending parts of it all over the room. The only thing left in the wake of the explosion was Naruto with red chakra coming off him. The chakra soon subsided and he was left with a very slight but dull pain throughout his body.

It was possibly an aftereffect of using the Kyuubi's chakra but what caught his attention was not the pain but what else he could feel. Not only had parts of his body been damaged with the short usage of the chakra but he could feel and 'hear' something. It took a moment to realize that is was his midi-chlorian. They seemed to be in pain.

'Damn it!' he thought at the implications of what this might mean. The Kyuubi's chakra seemed to be hurting the midi-chlorians in addition to damaging his own cells and then repairing them. Had his initial usage of the Kyuubi's chakra done damage as well, but he just didn't realize it? Would prolonged usage of the Kyuubi's chakra produce even worse effects and perhaps even kill his midi-chlorians?

Though he didn't want to admit it, he was greatly worried by the possibility that the answer to either of those questions was 'Yes'. He knew that the Kyuubi's chakra could enhance his connection with the Force but could it also end up severing it if he used it too often or for too long and his midi-chlorians were injured or killed off?

What he wanted was to check his blood to find out if any damage had been done but he didn't have time for that right now. He needed to complete the rest of his plans and get back to Snow Country.

He still didn't know how Master Plagueis would react to his...'detour' but he had a feeling it wasn't going to be good unless he could bring back something that was worth it. Samples, experimental data, and the knowledge as well as skill of Kabuto may keep his master from getting angry. Though he couldn't be sure. There could be consequences to his actions but he still thought it would be worth it if he could acquire the jutsu and abilities of Orochimaru.

There was no way to know what the process he had just undergone would do to him. He had also been unable to steal the man's knowledge but those jutsu and techniques must be written down somewhere.

Searching the room, he quickly found his discblades and then noticed the sword Orochimaru had been using was lying on the floor a short distance away. Picking up the blade he noted it was lighter than his sword but despite it having such an amazing ability, he still liked his sword better.

Sealing the blade into a scroll he went to make an exit in the wall when he stepped on something. Glancing down at the floor, he saw it was blackened and shriveled left hand. He was going to ignore it but he noticed it had a ring on the pinky finger. Using the Force, so he didn't have to touch the hand, he removed the ring and floated it in the air to examine it.

The ring was rather plain but had the kanji for 'sky' or 'void' on it. That was all it seemed to have. He had of course learned his lesson from the necklace years ago and did not put the object on or touch it. For all he knew it would destroy his hand or perhaps poison him. He sealed the ring with the blade and could feel three people in the hallway outside the room. The seals he put up in the room blocked chakra from being felt but didn't block his life-sensing ability.

Karin was just down the hall and he decided to make an exit near the person that was supposed to be trapped in her room. 'She must have broken out of my trap.'

x-x

She hadn't been able to use her summons because of the narrow hallway but she had put both Kabuto and the other person in a genjutsu.

Tayuya was about to continue her attack when the wall beside her exploded outwards into the hallway. She was thrown into the opposite wall and covered her eyes from the dust. Peering through to the new hole in the wall, she could see a short figure standing in the opening. The dust soon cleared and Tayuya made to defend herself but stopped.

Held in the hand of the person standing before her was a head and she recognized it as that of Orochimaru in his white snake form. She had only seen it once when he made the Sound Four watch as he took over someones body and absorbed their soul. It was something she could never forget and now the head was right in front of her and severed.

She felt paralyzed by the thought that whoever this person was, he had beaten Orochimaru. Injured or not the Snake Sannin was not someone that was easy to kill by any means. Her focus moved from the head to the figure and she felt the person's killing intent.

Moving her flute to her mouth in order to defend herself, she tried to play her instrument but found she just couldn't play any notes. The person came closer to her and her hands began trembling.

'I can't breathe.' she thought.

'Fucking move!' she tried to urge her body but nothing was working. She couldn't inhale any breath to play her flute and her fingers refused to move to the proper holes on her instrument.

'Just move!' she pleaded as things started getting dark.

Naruto finally stood right in front of Tayuya and his hand moved to her head. Extending two fingers, he gently touched her forehead. The redhead's watched the fingers and once they touched her forehead, her eyes rolled back and she collapsed onto the floor in an unconscious heap. The flute rolled out of her hands and came to stop about a foot away.

Naruto glanced over to the other two that were down the hallway from him. They seemed to be recovering from a genjutsu and he had no idea who was standing next to Kabuto. It was obviously the last person that Karin had felt in the hideout but the memories he had from Kabuto contained no information on who the person was.

Karin appeared from a doorway down the hall and ran to him. He could feel that she was relieved that he had survived.

Kabuto watched the strange happenings just down the hall. He had no idea why Tayuya had collapsed or who the other redhead was. It wasn't until the cloaked figure turned that he was able to glimpse what had scared a member of the Sound Four.

Held in the cloaked figures hand was Orochimaru's severed head. His eyes widened and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Suigetsu on the other hand saw the head and realized one thing. He was on the wrong side.

'This might be a good point to switch sides. The winning side looks to be standing over there, holding the head of the losing side.' he noted and decided to speak up.

"I just wanted to say before anything else happened that I'm a prisoner here." he said and took a few steps away from Kabuto.

The gray haired medical-nin gritted his teeth at the events and looked to the person standing down the hall. Naruto merely ignored the glaring Kabuto and turned to Karin. "Karin, catch." he said as he tossed her what was in his hand.

Karin caught the object before she realized what it was. "KYYYAAAAHHHHHH!" Karin screamed and threw the head down the hallway, back the way she had come from. "DON'T THROW CREEPY SEVERED HEADS AT ME!" she yelled in protest.

The gathered ninja watched Orochimaru's airborne head bounce twice upon impact with the floor, then continue its journey of denigration by rolling a little ways down the hallway.

"Karin...go pick up the head."

"No freakin way!"

"..."

"Can I at least have some gloves." she asked and grimaced as she looked at the skull.

"There's probably some in the lab." Naruto responded and Karin huffed while walking through the damaged wall to find some gloves.

Kabuto had enough of the scene and treatment of Orochimaru-sama's remains and attacked with his chakra scalpels. Suigetsu had no reason to attack so he just leaned against the wall and watched.

Naruto ducked under the swipes of Kabuto's chakra covered hands and one of his hands started glowing blue. Dodging several more deadly attacks, he reached out and grabbed Kabuto's wrist.

Kabuto quickly realized by his drop in chakra levels that his chakra was being drained by the hand. 'That's Yoroi's technique.' he realized and suddenly he knew who he was facing that was underneath the hood and breathing mask.

He tried to keep attacking but couldn't move.

Naruto slowly drained Kabuto as he held him in place with Force grip. He made sure to drain enough to render Kabuto unconscious due to chakra depletion. It would likely take several days before Kabuto would recover. It was a good thing that the memory seal he put on Kabuto hadn't been broken or found by Orochimaru yet, otherwise the fight would have been harder as Kabuto would have been much more cautious.

Looking up from the unconscious Kabuto, he stared at the unknown person that was still standing against the wall while Karin was putting on a pair of gloves she found. The Force was telling him that he should find out more about the person before making any decisions. If he couldn't use the boy then he would have to kill him to keep him from saying anything. No one would be taking credit for Orochimaru's death and it would be as if the Snake Sannin just disappeared.

"If you have any abilities that could be of use to me, it would be in your best interests to name them now. Otherwise..." and his words drifted off as he left the implied threat of death.

Suigetsu got the hint and he changed from a solid to a liquid in order to show off his hydration technique. "I can basically turn myself into water whenever I want for protection and to escape most attacks. I've also been trained to be the next generation of the Seven Swordsmen." stated Suigetsu.

Suigetsu stared at the person across from him and was greatly interested in knowing more and perhaps working for this person. Someone his own age who could defeat both Orochimaru and Kabuto was someone that might be interesting to work for. He also had nothing else to do and really no where else to go. He once had the dream of becoming a member of the Seven Swordsmen with his brother but after Mangetsu's recent passing and the swordsmen splitting up and most becoming missing-nin, he no longer had the same motivation.

Naruto thought about what he had just seen and decided that the person had abilities that were of interest to him. He knew how powerful and useful water jutsu could be and he also knew that this person could be of great value later on. After all, a lightsaber typically turned off when it was immersed or came into contact with water and blaster bolts or other common weapons of the galaxy would do little damage to the person before him.

"Uzumaki Naruto." he stated and waited for the other person to give his name. The Force was telling him that he could trust the person in front of him.

"Hozuki Suigetsu." replied the white haired boy.

"Ewwww, gross!" said Karin as she picked up the skull by the hair and kept it at arms length. Naruto pulled out a scroll and gave it to her to seal the head into.

Karin's eye twitched and she said, "You could have just sealed the head in the scroll in the first place."

"You're still being punished." responded Naruto and he heard Karin scream at him.

x-x

The next day

x-x

They had stayed the night in one of the rooms of the hideout while Naruto's clones searched the whole base and took anything which looked useful. He managed to get jutsu, samples, testing data and more. Orochimaru kept quite a store of jutsu scrolls which were now all his. He had even found a summoning scroll for the snakes.

The brief stay was otherwise uneventful and once morning came, they headed out.

"So where are we going?" questioned Suigetsu as they moved through the trees.

"Orochimaru's Northern hideout. Its where he keeps many of the people he experiments on. We're after a person called Juugo. Once we acquire this person or samples from his corpse, then we will need to catch a boat. " Naruto responded and left out information about his Master and the fact that they were ultimately heading to Snow Country.

Suigetsu was running with him while Karin was just behind them and bringing up the rear were two clones carrying Kabuto and Tayuya. Both of them were bound and had chakra suppressing tags on them. Tayuya's chakra had also been drained and he further drained Kabuto that morning.

Naruto wasn't completely sure what he was going to do with Juugo when they got there. The older boy was rather unstable and could attack them. He was feeling better after his fight with Orochimaru but he wasn't sure whether he could take Juugo alive. Technically he only needed samples from Juugo.

Having a live person would helpful when he finally faced his Master and discussed why he completely defied him and put them at risk of being found out. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure Plagueis would really be angry with him and he pushed those thoughts aside to focus. He was about to enter a prison full of cursed seal bearing inmates and possibly fight with the original carrier of the bloodline.

x-x

Danzo stood with the other council elders and clan heads as they looked down at the body on the metal table. They had all been told of the bodies discovery but needed to all confirm it for themselves so they had all personally come down to the morgue in the basement of the hospital.

On the table were the remains of a blond child that was incredibly injured, almost beyond recognition. The body had fallen and then been nearly crushed by debris. Workers and ninja had discovered the body along with a few others during the cleanup of the damaged areas of the village. Though most of the right side of the face was destroyed, the characteristic three dark markings were still present on the remains of the lefts side of the face.

This was not something that he had planned on or foreseen. He thought the boy would be discovered missing and he could convince everyone that the Kyuubi container had left the village. This new dilemma definitely changed things.

"Are you sure its him?" inquired elder Homura to the coroner.

"After performing all the standard verifications, comparing the results to his records, and double-checking my findings, I am sure that this is Uzumaki Naruto." replied the medical-nin examiner.

While the other council members were going over the situation in their mind, Danzo was thinking very differently. 'Well played, Uzumaki. I had no idea your plan included something this elaborate. I will have to change my plans but perhaps I can still convince them that the body is a fake.' he thought and had something in mind.

"What of the seal?" inquired Danzo to the rest of the room. As if on cue, the members of the room turned to the one member that was not part of the council and that had also been called to the room.

Standing just outside the doorway to the morgue was Jiraiya. He was still listening but part of his mind was stuck in the past at a single moment where something like this had happened before. It was when Tsunade's brother Nawaki was killed during the war. However there was no one here to morn for the boy that was on the table and Tsunade hadn't been in the village for years.

He let out a sigh and then entered the room. Trying to remain as professional as possible, he walked to the table and went to examine the seal on the boy's abdomen or what was left of the seal. It was incredibly difficult for him to look at the body.

His hands were shaking slightly as he pushed chakra into the boys abdomen and a faint seal formed on what was left of the skin. It was the same seal that he knew had been used by his deceased student. The others in the room all reacted instantly and started asking questions.

"So it is him then?

"Will the Kyuubi reform?"

"Are we in danger?"

However Jiriaya was still focused on the seal itself. While it was the seal his student had used, he wasn't that familiar with it and something seemed 'off' with it. He would have liked to stay and figure out what was giving him a strange feeling but he could not see any danger to the village. It seemed the seal had worked completely and the Kyuubi didn't appear to be coming back. Without any chakra to power the seal, the Kyuubi would have already escaped or at least someone would have felt something.

He told them everything was fine and they soon left. Danzo stayed for a brief moment longer than the rest but soon followed the others leaving Jiraiya in the room with the medical-nin.

What he needed to do now was find Tsunade so she could take over as Hokage. Then he would have time to get a closer examination of the seal and figure out what about it was bugging him. He was a fuinjutsu expert but this particular seal and the method used by his student were beyond his knowledge and abilities. He would need time to determine what about it was bothering him but he didn't have that time right at that moment.

Taking one last look at the boy on the table while medical-nin pulled the cover back over the body he felt terribly guilty and an incredible sadness washed over him. Naruto was the last piece of his student left in the world and now the boy was dead, along with almost everyone else he was close to.

However he still had thought of earlier events in his head and he wasn't sure what the boy had been involved in. He still remembered the attack on his person that happened before the end of the chunin exams and while they couldn't prove it was Naruto, he knew there was something off about the boy. Minato's child had been up to something but he had no proof and neither had the Sandaime.

Sighing, he then told to the medical-nin to keep the body as he needed to look at it again when he came back. He couldn't get the thought out of his head that he was forgetting something or that something was out of place and he just wasn't seeing it. Perhaps he would come back later before heading out. He had to pack and get together a lists of contacts that might know where Tsunade was.

x-x

"So what do we do with these two when we get inside?" questioned Karin as she felt around the Northern hideout to see who was inside or patrolling around the outside. They were in a rocky area of Northern Sound Country.

"What do you mean, we? I didn't see you do anything when the fighting happened at the snake's hideout. You just screamed and threw his head down the hallway." commented Suigetsu and he laughed when Karin smacked him in the head causing a splash and then it reformed.

"Its not like you did anything. Leaning against the wall trying to look cool. Moron!" Karin fired back after her failed attempt to hit him.

"Most likely we'll just shove them in one of the cells until we're done. It is a prison and there are empty cells. What did your sensing of the prison reveal, Karin?" questioned Naruto as he ignored the the childish antics of the two around him.

"I think I can feel at least twenty guards and around eighty prisoners inside. One seems to be isolated from the rest." she answered and adjusted her glasses.

'That must be Juugo.' Naruto thought and started going over the plan, "We only need to get to Juugo." he stated as he went through a map of the facility in his mind. He continued with a short briefing from Kabuto's limited knowledge of the facility and its layout. It was made larger than it needed to be which would work to their advantage.

Naruto went through a few handseals and then put his hands on the shoulder's of both Karin and Suigetsu. They were about to say something when they started sinking into the ground. Suigetsu was rather interested in the effect but Karin almost screamed before they sunk into the rock beneath them. The clones did the same and took the unconscious bodies of Tayuya and Kabuto with them.

The group moved through the rock and into one of the unused wings of the hideout. It was all prepared for prisoners with numerous cells that weren't in use yet but probably would be in the coming years due to Orochimaru's experimentation with the cursed seal and finding hosts. The group emerged from the floor and the two unconscious prisoners were placed in a holding cell.

Naruto put up a barrier tag on the cell to keep anyone from opening it besides him. It would take an incredible amount of force to get the cell open but he knew he wouldn't have to worry about anyone finding the two.

Near the cell was the hallway that connected the wing to the rest of the prison. He quickly examined the ceiling and then went through handseals for an earth jutsu to collapse the ceiling and walls of the hallway. The guards would hear the commotion and come to investigate. Since no one was using this part of the prison they likely wouldn't bother to fix it right away.

With the completion of the seals, the ground, walls, and ceiling of the hallway began cracking and breaking apart. A good sized section collapsed in on itself pulling rocks and other debris into the hallway that sealed everything up. Naruto used the Force to push the dust away from himself.

Using the same earth jutsu as before, he melded into the rock with Suigetsu and Karin. The small group moved through the surrounding rock and headed to another area of the prison, close to the cell where Juugo was.

x-x

Juugo panted as he calmed down from another fit of his bloodline. It had been much harder to control now that Kimimaro was sick and hadn't visited in a while. He worried for his only friend and hadn't heard any news for nearly a week. Orochimaru was supposed to be working on some plan, the exact details of which he hadn't been told to him but he knew it might take a while for it to finish.

He dragged his feet, which were each attached at the ankles to a chain and ball weight, to the side of his room and sat against the wall.

Sometimes he wished he could leave the prison but he knew what would happen if he lost control. It had happened many times before and the outcome was always the same. He would 'wake up' and be surrounded by bodies or covered in blood. It was best to stay there, where he had been for many years. Months had elapsed since his last visit outside of the facility and sometimes it was just hard not to want to break out.

Putting his arms on his knees he rested his head and wished for something better or to at least see his friend again.

x-x

A guard sat in front of the surveillance camera monitors and looked up as one lost the picture and went to static. He reached for his radio but the feed from the camera soon came back, however another camera went out that was right near the first one.

He closely watched the monitors for a few minutes until he decided that it was some kind of bug or glitch in the system. It seemed to be cycling through cameras in order. Shaking his head, he pulled the two-way radio to his mouth and instead inquired about the slight tremor that they had all felt a few minutes ago.

The voice of one of the other guards soon came back and told him it was nothing to worry about. Just a collapse in one of the unused areas of the prison.

Glancing back at the monitors he sighed and put his feet up on the desk while he reclined back. It was nothing to worry about.

x-x

The group of three moved swiftly through the areas of the prison where no one was around. Naruto was temporarily disabling the cameras to keep them from being found out while Karin led them to the lone chakra signature in this particular area of the facility.

Coming to an intersection in the hallway they turned left and Karin said, "He's halfway down the hallway."

It didn't take long to reach a huge steel door that looked more like the vault of a bank than the door to a prison cell. Karin looked at the door with some trepidation. From what Naruto had said, it was meant to keep someone in and not to keep others out.

Naruto could feel the person inside and it seemed that their arrival was at a good time. He couldn't feel anything sinister coming from the boy behind the door. The only problem he was having was whether he should keep Juugo alive or just acquire samples. Alive was much better but he found it difficult figuring out how he would convince the boy to come with him. The Force wasn't really telling him anything but that wasn't uncommon. The only thing he could sense was that the person behind the door was unstable and could be dangerous which was something that he already knew.

Suigetsu wanted to come with him but this was different. From Kabuto's memories he knew that Juugo wanted to stay in the cell out of fear of hurting anyone. Convincing him to leave the cell and travel with them seemed beyond difficult, however he might just be able to knock the boy out and kidnap him.

Lifting his hand up into the air, he used the Force and dealt with the locking mechanism on the door. The crank on the door began turning and he pulled open the door just a crack to see in.

x-x

Kabuto opened his eyes after he was sure that there was no one else around. He could tell he was tied up and he couldn't feel his chakra. He also couldn't find any of his hidden weapons that he normally had on him. Moving his body as best as he could, he attempted to sit up.

He instantly regretted the motions as his head was swimming and a pounding headache was quick to follow. Diagnosing himself, he realized he had symptoms of chakra depletion. Looking over his surroundings, he noted he was in one of Orochimaru's many cells but he couldn't be sure exactly where he was. Tayuya was still unconscious near him and seeing her made the memories of what had happened flood back to him.

"Naruto-kun." he said out loud and though he knew it to be true it still didn't seem right. Naruto was supposed to be in Konoha and he had no idea why the boy would come after him.

'Is he trying to take me back to Konoha?' he briefly wondered but threw the notion aside as foolish. Naruto may have been talented but he knew the boy lacked any loyalty to the village. He had even thought of trying to recruit Naruto to work with him and Orochimaru but it was too much of a risk.

Now he didn't know what to think. His Master was dead at the hands of the same boy that had taken him prisoner and that was his teammate for several years. The one thing he was certain of was that he would get revenge upon Naruto for killing Orochimaru. He was a patient person and would wait for the right moment.

Though he did wonder what Naruto had planned for him and Tayuya.

x-x

"Kimimaro?" Naruto repeated what Juugo had asked about. He knew who the person was but wasn't sure why Juugo was so interested in knowing about him.

"Ain't that the person you killed back at the hideout?" commented Suigetsu and Naruto instantly knew that was the wrong thing to have said.

"Karin, run to the end of the hallway." Naruto calmly said and Karin didn't need to ask what he was talking about as she could feel foul chakra pouring from the room.

A moment later the door was smashed open by an enraged and transforming Juugo.

x-x

The seven prisoners in the cell were quite as usual. There was nothing to talk about despite their incredible boredom. Each person in the room hated the others but they also had to live in the same cell. Though they had cursed seals and could eventually break through the bars holding them in the cell, none of them were able to control the transformation and it was more likely that they would kill each other first.

Once the seal was activated they transformed into mindless animals that did nothing but fight. The guards would also be there quickly and wouldn't hesitate to kill them. While they may have been harder to damage, things like poison could still be quite effective on them and the guards could use gas or any weapon coated in a myriad of poisons that Orochimaru had.

It was maddening to be stuck in a cell with people you didn't like and to have great power but couldn't use it to do what you wanted.

The boredom was lifted for a moment when they felt a slight tremor, but they just passed it off as another cave-in as one had happened earlier. The tremor however was followed by another. Then another and then another. With interest piqued, they tried to figure out where it was coming from as the tremors seemed increasingly closer or more powerful.

One of the prisoners walked up to the back wall of the cell and put his head up against it to hear. Nothing happened for a few moments but just as he was getting disinterested, the wall cracked and then exploded inward. Debris and dust flew into the cell and a cloaked figure came with it.

Naruto flew into the cell and hit the bars. His sword had left his hand and clattered to the floor with the debris and rock from the wall. Before he had a chance to do anything, a dark skinned and grotesque arm grabbed his throat and began strangling him.

Naruto's hand grabbed Juugo's forearm in an attempt to remove the hand that was about to break his neck or crush his throat. He could only choke as he tried to get air into his lungs.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" screamed an enraged and still transforming Juugo.

Moving his free hand, his sword levitated and then he flicked his wrist and the sword darted into Juugo's leg. With Juugo's attention diverted, Naruto formed a Kinetite in his hand smashed it into the chest of the orange haired teen trying to kill him.

Juugo was thrown back into the wall they just came through and holding up his hand, the sword returned to him through the dust.

Naruto fell to the floor wheezing and tried to get air into his lungs . Looking up at where Juugo was, his eyes widened and he lunged out of the way.

Juugo instantly came hurtling at the bars with his transformed arm seemingly propelling him like some kind of chakra powered rocket. The transforming teen smashed through the bars, completely distorting the metal and ripping it out of the floors, ceiling, and walls. The attack kept going and rammed into the adjacent cell on the other side of the hallway.

The prisoners watched for only a second before they began running out of the newly formed escape routes. Naruto acted quickly and used the Force to bend the already distorted bars around Juugo to make a cage of sorts. He knew it wouldn't last but it would buy him some time to think of something else to do.

It took a few moments of struggling for a roaring Juugo to free himself from the bars and the makeshift cage seemed to only enrage him more. Looking for the cloaked boy he was trying to kill he was immediately hit with a deluge of water and forced into the broken cell.

Naruto went through handseals and the water began taking shape into a spherical prison. Sticking his hand into the sphere he completed the jutsu and looked to see if it would hold. Juugo's transformation however continued and Naruto could tell he was still in danger.

Using his other hand, he formed a chidori and then rammed the chirping jutsu it into the sphere as soon as he removed his other hand. Without constant control over the sphere it would soon lose consistency but not before the lightning jutsu did its work.

The entire sphere ignited and Naruto was forced to stop the jutsu and jump into the ceiling a moment later to escape the electrified water that flooded the room. The effects of both jutsu soon faded and the created water began to quickly evaporate.

Naruto looked down at the twitching Juugo but the effects of his jutsu soon stopped and the orange pupils and black sclera looked right at him. Jumping off the ceiling and into the hallway, Naruto heard the ceiling he had just been on get smashed and he ran a little ways down the hallway in the hopes of putting distance between them. It was difficult to fight Orochimaru in an enclosed room but far more dangerous fighting a transforming Juugo in small cells and a hallway.

While moving, his hands went through two seals and he turned to fire a powerful gust of wind down the hallway that pushed the charging Juugo away from him. If he managed to subdue Juugo before he fully transformed then he might be able to take the teen alive.

x-x

"Outta the way!" yelled Suigetsu as he pushed his way through the fleeing prisoners that were running through the destroyed walls that had been left in the wake of the crazy kid's rampage.

Karin was somewhere around but he was more focused on doing something to help his new leader. He didn't have any weapons besides basic kunai and shuriken that had been provided for him and knew only a few jutsu that might help out.

It would be a shame for Naruto to die before he could find out what the boy was really up to and where they were heading afterward.

x-x

A siren started going off indicating that a prison break was occurring but Naruto ignored it as Juugo had his full attention. He ducked under the swing of an arm that was partially transformed into an axe and threw a punch. The deranged Juugo smiled as he dodged the punch but was hit full force a second later. Naruto followed up with multiple punches that all missed and yet they all managed to hit Juugo.

His projected fighting attacks were halted a moment later as Juugo got fed up with the attacks and jumped back to put distance between them.

As he was charging, Naruto tried to use Force grip and hold the boy in place but it proved exceedingly difficult as Juugo kept moving forward, albeit slowly.

He tried to stop the orange teen, but wasn't prepared when several vents formed on Juugo's back and a large burst of chakra broke the hold and sent the insane teen hurtling straight for him.

Naruto was hit hard by Juugo's fist and carried by the fist until Juugo slowed down. When Juugo stopped, Naruto's body continued backwards and he smashed into a wall. Juugo laughed manically and held out his hand towards the damaged area. His transformation continued across his body and his arm begun to change. Several large vents formed on the arm and then chakra began gathering at the ends of the vest.

Naruto was trying to get up from the wall he had nearly smashed through when he felt the attack. He looked up and saw the attack but knew he wouldn't be able to move.

Before it fired, Suigetsu rammed into Juugo's side. The arm's trajectory was changed, but a beam of highly concentrated chakra still blasted into the wall and ceiling of the hallway. The force of the attack and amount of chakra were incredible. It nearly brought the whole ceiling down on them.

Naruto tried to get up but found he just couldn't stand. Forming a cross shaped seal he created several shadow clones while Suigetsu was trying and failing to fight Juugo. The white haired boy kept getting hit but his hydration technique was keeping him safe. Juugo would destroy his head but it would reform a moment later.

Two clones picked Naruto up while the remaining one formed hand seals and spit out large amounts of mud. Twelve more Naruto clones were created from the mud and they rushed Juugo. The almost completely transformed teen only laughed and attacked them. The clones were destroyed but did not go up in smoke. Instead they turned into mud that began moving onto Juugo's' body. The clones dog-piled the orange teen and then reverted back to mud which started covering the rest of Juugo's body and then began hardening.

While the two clones dragged the real Naruto to Juugo, the remaining shadow clone performed another earth jutsu and spit more mud at Juugo to further encase him. The mud quickly hardened and Juugo struggled to move and break out.

The real Naruto was brought to the struggling Juugo as the mud began to crack and though he couldn't sense chakra very well the amount of chakra that Juugo seemed to be amassing beneath the mud was easily felt by him.

Naruto stuck out his hand and placed it on Juugo's head. Looking directly into the insane eyes, he focused on stopping the transformation with his Force powers. Juugo resisted him for a few moments and the mud prison nearly gave way but the teen stopped struggling. The transformation also stopped and then slowly began to recede. The dark skin gave way to the lighter skin underneath and the black sclera began changing back to white. The transformation receded across Juugo's face leaving the orange haired and orange eyed teen that Naruto had first met when he opened the door.

The looked at each other for a few moments before Juugo passed out. Naruto turned to Suigetsu who looked relieved and then said, "Find...Karin," with a wheeze in between the words before he collapse onto the ground.

'Ah damn it!' Suigetsu thought and proceeded to get Karin in the fastest method possible, "KARIN, GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!"

It didn't take long before he saw Karin running down the hallway.

She could tell that Naruto was in trouble and though she could do little during the fight, she knew she needed to stay safe until after the fight was over and therefore stayed a good distance away. She quickly knelt down while her hands turned green with medical chakra.

She started with the throat as it was the most serious injury. His throat was nearly crushed and he couldn't breathe. Her diagnostic jutsu indicated that Naruto's back was broken and several of his organs seemed to be damaged as well, but getting him breathing to an appreciable degree was her first priority.

While Karin worked, Suigetsu stood nearby as he could do nothing at this point. He didn't want to look at the scene so he looked elsewhere and spotted the sword Naruto was using. If they were attacked he would need something to defend them with and he also wanted to get a closer look at the sword.

He picked up the dusty blade and inspected it. It was heavier than he imagined it would be but well balanced. He brushed some of the dust off and was surprised to find a perfectly polished blade underneath. With all that had happened during the fight, he didn't' expect it to look so new and well kept.

He managed to take his eyes away from the blade to look for prisoners or guards as he walked back to the two group members and trapped Juugo. It was obvious that the prisoners and probably even the guards were terrified of Juugo and it was possible that they wouldn't even encounter anyone.

Breathing better, Naruto stared at the ceiling and was thankful when he started feeling a tingling sensation in his legs. He couldn't feel them earlier and it might take a little while before he would be able to walk properly again. However, he had managed to calm Juugo down.

He could have ended the fight earlier by killing Juugo but after all he saw, he just couldn't. Juugo was too interesting and he knew Plagueis would be interested as well. There was no telling what Juugo would do once he woke up or how the boy would react and he reminded himself to tie the boy up and put some chakra suppressing tags on him.

Now they just needed to collect everyone and leave. He wasn't looking forward to finding a boat that would take them to Snow Country.

'I really should have planned this out better. Now I have to smuggle six people aboard a ship, three of them hostages, for almost a week long journey to Snow Country. In addition to not being noticed or leaving a paper trail.' he thought and groaned at the situation he had managed to create for himself.

'Master Plagueis is gonna be pissed.'

x-x

A few hours later, back in Konoha

x-x

Peeking around the corner, Tenten looked down the hallway and didn't see anyway, so it looked safe to come out.

"You do realize that with my byakugan you needn't try to be so...sneaky?" questioned Neji with his arms folded across his chest and a questioning look.

Tenten scowled and complained, "I never get the chance to sneak around. We never get any infiltration missions."

"Is that why you're wearing that nurses outfit?...Your skirt seems a little short." commented Neji and Tenten turned to him with another scowl and then said, "Well I guess it must really be too short then, if you're noticing."

Neji's cheeks tinged pink but he scoffed and walked away.

The two proceeded to move through the hallways to the morgue. Neji still couldn't believe that he had agreed to accompany her to the morgue. For some reason news had spread quickly through the village about the death of Uzumaki Naruto and it was almost as if people were talking about Uzumaki's death more than the Sandaime's. They also didn't seem the least bit mournful.

It didn't make sense to him and no matter how he looked at it, there was something definitely strange about the boy. The only good news he had was that the boy was dead which only proved what he believed that you couldn't defy fate. Fate eventually caught up to those that tried.

His main reason for being there was to make sure that Tenten didn't get caught trying to steal the deceased boy's sword. She claimed she just wanted to look at it but he had a feeling it would end up coming with her when they left. Seemingly since her first encounter with the sword, he had noticed that she was practically obsessed with it and he had never known her to act like that with any other weapon. He knew he couldn't stop her from doing it and it wouldn't be good for his teammate to be caught while robbing the dead, but it wasn't as if the boy needed the sword anymore.

They went past the morgue as they were merely after the personal effects that were found with the body, so they made their way to an adjacent room that held these items. Naruto was an orphan so there was no one to collect them and Tenten couldn't let the sword wind up with anyone else.

Picking the lock on the door, Tenten opened the door and headed inside with Neji following. The room was filled with shelves and boxes. Each box was the same size and the label had the name as well as ninja ID number of the deceased. The boxes held the personal effects of the ninja on the label.

Searching the labels, she looked for the ninja she was after. Neji stayed at the door to make sure that no one was coming as he couldn't keep his byakugan on indefinitely.

It only took a minute for Tenten to find the right box and she pulled it off the shelf. Setting it on the floor she opened the box and instantly found what she was looking for. Grabbing the sword, her smile instantly faded as she picked up the blade.

Neji looked from the hallway back to his teammate as she was taking too long and had stopped. He then asked, "What's the matter? That's the sword isn't it?"

"No it isn't." she replied sadly and Neji walked away from his position at the door to see what she was talking about. It looked exactly like the sword she was always after and he didn't understand what the problem was.

Holding the sheath in one hand and grabbing the handle in the other, she unsheathed the blade by a few inches to confirm what she already knew. Instead of a red and black blade, it was just normal metal found on just about every other sword in the village. Neji looked over to see what she was frowning about and noted the difference in the blade.

"I noticed when I picked it up that the weight and balance were wrong." Tenten said in explanation.

"Maybe someone else switched it?" Neji suggested and decided they should get going.

Tenten looked at him but something didn't seem right about the suggestion. "I don't think so." she said and fully unsheathed the blade to get a closer look at it.

Sighing, Neji decided to humor her, "And why not?"

"If a person wanted to switch the blade, they could have used any ninjato, yet somehow they just happened to have one the exact same coloring and it was also one that was used? Also I can tell that the person that used this blade was probably around our age and it's well used. The wear on the handle fits my hand and unless the owner had small hands, it seems more likely that he did use it. No other person our age in the village uses a sword." she explained as her father sold most of the weapons in the village and only a select few ninja ever bought ninjato.

"It does seem strange, but why would Uzumaki-san use a blade like that when he had the other one?" questioned Neji.

"I don't know." replied Tenten and when she went to put the sword back, something else caught her eye. Pulling the weapons pouches from the box, she examined them as well. They were wrong. She looked at the other items and found that the shoes were wrong too. Sure they looked like normal ninja supplies but growing up in a ninja supply store she knew a great deal of information about them and what she found didn't make sense.

"Just what exactly are you two doing in here?" asked a voice and both genin turned around to find a man in the doorway. They didn't even notice or sense him at all. The man moved into what little light the room had and it didn't take long for both of them to realize that it was Jiraiya of the Sennin.

"Why are you looking through a deceased ninja's property?" he inquired and Neji could tell that they were in trouble.

"Its all wrong." Tenten blurted out in a state of confusion and panic.

Raising an eyebrow, Jiraiya decided he wanted to hear a little bit more and asked, "What's wrong?"

"The supplies." Tenten answered and Jiraiya frowned slightly but was slightly curious and wanted to find out where the girl's train of thought was headed, "And what's wrong with them?" he inquired as he could not see anything amiss.

"They weren't made in Konoha, they were all made in Grass Country." she replied and Jiraiya's eyes widened slightly.

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