They all heard the sound of an explosion coming from the second floor. The girls screamed in panic. Some of them rushed to the door, but it was locked. "Let us out of here. You can't keep us here." One girl screamed.

They were banging on the door, trying to get out. "Let me try," Naruto said as he picked up the metal poker from near the fireplace. He started hitting the lock, trying to break it. After a few tries to make it convincing, he broke the lock.

By now, they could all smell the smoke, and there were sounds of the guards shouting and running around coming from below. "Run for the exit. If there is a fire, we don't have time to pick anything up." Naruto shouted as he moved aside to let the girls through.

He quickly made a clone after the last girl's exit to follow and help them out. Instead, he promptly headed for the basement. From his earlier observation, there were spare keys in the guards' room, and he needed to get there to free the prisoners.

He knew the distraction wouldn't last long, so he had to be fast. He could still sense a few guards in the basement and couldn't knock them out without ruining his plan. So he quickly made another clone to get the keys and hid in the weapons room for his clone.

This was when he heard the second explosion. This one was from outside the manor, and Naruto knew it was the signal to indicate Machi was on the way to the mansion. Machi always took his best bodyguards with him, so he needed to get back to defend the manor if there was an attack like this one.

The clone that was transformed into a cat came back with the keys. Naruto took the keys along with a few weapons and ran to the prisoner's cell. "Please, help us. Get us out of here." A woman cried.

"Please be quiet. I'm here to help you, but the guards will notice if you make too much noise." Naruto said in a whisper as he opened the cell and went in to unlock the shackles keeping the women from escaping.

He freed a few women and gave them keys to free the others. "I have to help the other cells help each other out. I stole some weapons to help you get out. Try not to get separated. The exit is on the left and up the stairs." Naruto said as he went to the other cells.

His clone was transformed into another girl and brought more weapons to the woman helping them along. Naruto went to the prisoner cells and did the same. Once he finished the last cell, he heard another explosion from the outside. Right outside.

Naruto was short on time, so he ran upstairs to Machi's study. He was quickly going through documents planting evidence, and getting rid of unwanted information. He already knew where everything was; he just had to be quick.

The mansion was burning, and the smoke was already reaching the room. Suddenly with a huge burst, the doors slammed open. There was a moment of shock. "You fucking bitch. KILL HER" Machi yelled.

Hitoshi and Kou rushed at her with swords. Naruto jumped back. He didn't have any easy-access weapons on him. If he used a kunai or a katana, it would get noticed. He had a blunt sword he grabbed from the guards' room, but if he used too much skill in his hits, they would be recognized as a work of a professional.

He had to be careful with the scars and hits on his opponents, so he went on the defensive. It wasn't hard to keep his opponents back with his level of skills, but it was hard to mess up his hits to look like a beginner.

He kept dodging the attacks blocking his opponent's sword. It was clear that they were trying to get on his front and back so it would be harder for him to block, but Naruto kept turning with them, keeping them on his front.

He didn't have much time, so he used a quick Shunshin to get behind Kou, piercing him through the lung. It was a messy cut, but that was what he was going for. He let go of the sword and backflipped to get out of the way of Hitoshi coming for his head.

He knew the wound on Kou could pass as a lucky shot, but he couldn't afford the same with Hitoshi, so he dodged a few more attacks and dived toward where Kou was fallen. He grabbed Kou's sword and turned back just in time to block a strike for his shoulder.

They exchanged more blows, and Naruto made a few messy stikes across Hitoshi's body, a little wound on his leg, one across his shoulder, and a few other nicks across his body. With another burst of speed, he made a strike to his side that cut deep into his stomach. Hitoshi held his side as he fell.

Naruto quickly kicked to the side of his head, making Hitoshi fall to the side and hit his head on the desk, passing out. Naruto heard Machi yelp.

He slowly turned to face Machi and started to walk toward him as Machi ran towards his room. Naruto made a clone to take care of the office and followed Machi. Machi was about to barricade the door, but Naruto was faster and kicked the door in.

"STAY BACK. YOU LYING BITCH. I TRUSTED YOU. AND HERE YOU ARE, TRYING TO KILL ME. YOU FUCKING WHORE. I FED YOU. I BED YOU, AND I GAVE YOU A LIFE YOU COULD ONLY DREAM OF, AND YOU BETRAYED ME." Machi was screaming as he was on the floor, back paddling towards the bed.

His back just reached the bed as Naruto was in front of him. He raised his sword. "Any last words?" Naruto said.

"STOP!" Machi yelled, and Naruto hesitated, letting him say what he wanted.

"I CAN GIVE YOU MONEY. POWER. I HAVE CONNECTIONS HIGHER UP. I CAN MAKE SURE YOU LIVE IN LUXURY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. HERE LET ME SHOW YOU." Machi said as he reached for his bed stand.

There was a sound of clicking, and then multiple darts were coming toward Naruto from every direction of his back. Naruto turned around, quickly blocked all of them, and was about to turn towards Machi when there was a loud sound of a dagger piercing the flesh.

Machi had jumped over Naruto's back and was trying to choke his neck with an arm around her neck while moving the dagger around with the other to maximize the damage. "YOU WRETCHED WITCH DIE!" Machi screamed.

Naruto saw white from the pain but threw Machi over his shoulder. The dagger was in his back and, luckily, just below his heart. There was so much pain and quick loss of blood. Naruto grabbed the sword and went to finish Machi.

Suddenly Machi started laughing hysterically. "Go on and kill me already. But I will see you in hell very soon. That dagger was covered with a special poison from Suna. There is no antidote. You will die a painful death. YOU HEAR ME? YOU FUCKING BITCH! YOU WILL ROT IN HELL." He continued laughing when Naruto brought his sword down, finishing him in one move.

He couldn't reach the dagger, and Machi was telling the truth. He was already disoriented from the effects of poison. It was burning in his veins, eating at his flesh. He wanted to go out of the room to find Fuu. Naruto could feel him a few rooms away.

He was disoriented and couldn't take a single step, so he signaled with his chakra. In a second, both Fuu and Torune were at his sides. "He managed to stab me with a poisoned dagger. I need you to take it out. I will summon a fox to get me to Konaha as quickly as possible. You should finish the clean-up here and then come back to Konoha. Report to Danzo-sama". Naruto said as he summoned Isshi. He was a giant fox and his fastest summon.

Torune pulled out the dagger carefully, trying not to cause any more damage as Fuu grabbed a salve and some bandages from his pack to stop the bleeding. They made quick work of the wound. Naruto could feel Kurama trying to fight the poison.

The poison was eating at his chakra system. Kurama was doing his best to fight off any damage that could be permanent, but the poison was spreading fast. Naruto did his best to still his chakra as much as possible while using his six-path chakra to fight the poison. But it was only a matter of time.

"I have to put myself in a coma. Tie me to Isshi." Naruto said, and it was quickly complied with.

Isshi was running as fast as he could. The road should usually take a week of travel, but there was no time, so he was using his powers. He was able to travel at unimaginable speeds. The trip should only take a few hours, and he would reach Konoha early in the morning.

He could not fail Naruto.


Isshi was nearing the Konoha gate when he noticed Naruto's friends. Itachi and Shisui. He met them once during a spar when Naruto wanted Shisui to fight opponents faster than him, so he wouldn't always rely on his speed.

Ishhi ran to them. There was a moment of surprise, but then they noticed the body tied to his back. They came quickly to untie Naruto. "What happened?" Shisui asked.

"No time to explain. He is poisoned by a dagger to his back and needs to see the snake summoner now." Ishhi said with panic evident in his voice.

"I will get him to Orochimaru-sama. Shisui, get Ishhi to Hokage-sama for a report." Itachi said, putting Naruto on his back and grabbing the dagger.

He didn't wait for a response, and Shunshined away.


Orochimaru was surprised to feel the Uchiha heir nearing his lab, but then he felt Naruto. His chakra was so weak and near death. This wasn't good. He brought the Uchiha heir to his operating room, telling him to undress Naruto and grabbing the dagger to examine the poison.

It wasn't something he had encountered before, but he wasn't Konoha's poison specialist for no reason. He quickly ordered the Uchiha heir to hand him different bottles and tools to try for antidotes. At the same time, he made a clone to tend to Naruto's immediate wounds and stabilize him.

Orochimaru needed some time to come up with a complete antidote, but in the meanwhile, he had to stabilize Naruto's chakra coils and slow down and flush as much poison as possible.

"He put himself in a state of coma to buy himself some time. I have to wake him up for the procedure since there is a high chance of heart failure. I need to hold him down and awake." Orochimaru said as he strapped Naruto to the table.

Itachi nodded as Orochimaru explained what he needed to do, making more clones to work on the antidote and grabbing the equipment for the surgery.


It took hours of excruciating pain to finish the surgery. Naruto did his best not to scream, but it was useless. He was in so much pain, and having bijuu chakra circulating in his damaged coils wasn't any help. Kurama was doing his best to hold all his chakra inside, but Naruto's body couldn't handle all of the bijuu yet.

In the end, when Orochimaru was done and gave him the antidote, he just passed out. He didn't know how much time had passed when he woke, but he was in a hospital room. He could smell the distinct smell of the hospital and many chakras.

He tried opening his eyes, but he had a splitting headache. He took a few deep breaths and tried again. His vision was blurry, so he blinked a few times to clear his vision. His body was too weak to move, but he saw Itachi asleep in the chair next to his bed with his head lying on the edge of the bed.

Naruto wanted to call his name but couldn't make his throat comply. Finally, he made a slight groaning sound, and it was enough since Itachi's eyes snapped open.