"But what if I'm not strong enough."

"I know you're strong enough."

Akane sat bolt upright when she regained consciousness. Her hands were bound in front of her. Her ankles too. Kabuto sat across from her, the fire light flickering across his face. His glasses reflected the orange light, obscuring his eyes. But she saw the pleased smile on his face. Kabuto leaned forward, lacing his fingers together, leaning his elbows on his knees. Akane narrowed her eyes at him, trying to wiggle her hands out of the ropes. Of course they were too secure.

"I wouldn't do that," Kabuto told her, his grin becoming a playful smirk. He leaned his chin against the back of his hand. "Those ropes are going to absorb any Chakra you may ambiently be gathering. And you were almost empty. You'd better conserve your energy."

Akane said nothing. She leaned against a thin tree and pulled her legs to her chest. It seemed like the most egregious of her injuries had been healed, save for the wound on her leg. She winced when it throbbed, casting her gaze down, she saw a bandage wrapped tightly around her upper leg. Akane looked back to Kabuto and narrowed her eyes, gritting her teeth when he stood up.

"Relax," Kabuto sighed, rolling his eyes at her. He held out a water skin and shook it around. He uncapped it and took a deep drink, then stood in front of her, kneeling down. "Drink, we've got a long road ahead of us." Akane turned her nose up, causing most of the water to spill down her front. Kabuto rolled his eyes and shrugged, putting the cap back on and reconnecting it to his weapons pouch. "I'm sure you'll change your mind in a few days." He tilted his head, waiting for her to respond, and when she remained silent he sighed. "There's no need to make this so hard on yourself, Akane. You're very valuable to Lord Orochimaru, he's not going to hurt you, unless you give him cause to."

Akane growled and bared her teeth at him. Kabuto smirked and sat back down across from her at the fire. "Resistance is futile, do you really think you're strong enough to defeat him? You know who he is…right?" Kabuto waited but Akane didn't answer. His eyebrow twitched. "He's the strongest of the Three Legendary Sanin, the fabled heroes of the Second Great War?"

Nothing.

Kabuto stopped trying to engage her in conversation and picked up a stick and poked at the embers of the fire. Akane watched him, occasionally, the stick would slip, and he'd grab it. He twirled it around his fingers and hummed. Akane's eyes widened when he repeated the pattern. But who was he signaling to? Probably Orochimaru, right? The oddly absent Sanin. Or worse. Kabuto suddenly looked up, standing, letting the stick fall from his hands. Akane looked where his gaze landed. Three figures emerged from the shadows, their feet entering the fire light first.

Akane recognized them. But she'd been waiting for them to attack Sasuke later. Kin, Dosu, and Zaku. The three younger shinobi smiled wickedly at her and Kabuto, but Akane realized they were wearing Sand Village headbands, not Sound Village. Kabuto stood in front of her, and grabbed Akane, hefting her to her feet, and cutting her bindings faster than her eyes could follow. Akane winced when her blood started circulating back through her wrists and ankles. Kabuto took a more protective stance in front of Akane, who tried not to feel offended. She readied her own body, and realized with sluggish horror that she didn't even have enough chakra left to jump more than five feet off the ground.

"Kabuto, I can't," Akane said, quietly looking up at him.

Kabuto grit his teeth. "I know, I siphoned off your Chakra, myself." He looked back at her and a guilty smile. "But you'll just have to do your best, now, won't you?"

Akane gave him an annoyed grin and shoulder checked him. "Fuck you," she said, before ducking down and rushing towards Kin. Akane flipped over to her left to avoid a few senbon. Akane was in her face before the younger lady could blink, and elbowed her in the sternum as hard as she could. Akane grinned in victory when the girl's lungs almost collapsed, and she flew into a thin tree, snapping it, and landing in a bush.

Dosu swung and Akane dodged, she smirked again, but so did Dosu. Right. Shit. Akane dropped to her knees, eardrums bursting. She screamed and vomited and screamed again. Kabuto jumped over her, his hands flying in the air, green light flickering dangerously. Akane had the sense to watch Zaku who was going towards Kabuto's back. Akane grabbed a rock and threw it at Zaku, who's raised arms pointed to Kin who was trying to struggle her way out of the trees. She was blown back again and Zaku grabbed his wrist and cursed, turning a dirty eye to Akane, rage like she'd never seen in her life radiating off his face.

"You little bitch," he snarled. He was in her face in half a second, delivering a powerful punch to her gut. She bent over and he kneed her in the face. She flew a few feet in the air and he was above her in an instant. Akane was so exhausted. Left hook, right hook, he grabbed her by the hair and slammed her into the ground.

Akane's hand shot up and black spots started shooting down the left side of her entire body, covering her face in small black spirals. Her Sharingan was on, she realized when the world came back into focus. Unconsciously she shut her other eye. Zaku's eyes twitched and Akane saw the three different ways he thought of attacking her. An evil feeling slithered into her gut when she caught his 'surprise' kick and twisted until his bones shattered like glass under her hands. She'd never felt so strong. She kept twisting until the foot came off, and slammed it down on his wrist, the bone in his arm snapped, poking out through the wrist, ripping the flesh and spraying her with blood. He'd be dead in minutes. Akane was on top of Dosu, wrapping her legs around his midsection. She drove her fist into his chest and ripped his heart from his chest, taking a huge bite and throwing it to the side before she was running towards Kin, who had the good sense not to flee and activate whatever animalistic predatory instincts that were awake in her.

Akane felt the marks starting to recede and Akane fell to her knees. She looked down at her blood stained hands. She could hear Zaku's screams starting to die down. Akane sought Kabuto who ran past her and finished Kin with a swipe of his scalpel. She looked surprised, clutching her neck. "Kabuto…" Akane said, weakly, tears springing to her eyes. Akane shook as she fell over. Kabuto kneeled down next to her, his hands glowing green, pressing them against her cheeks. They started to swell down and Akane suddenly felt all the pain in her body from the day. "Can't…" she stuttered out. "Passing out."

And she was out.

*Six Years Ago*

Akane was released from the hospital a full week before Sasuke would be. When the little guy found out he'd thrown a tantrum that Akane wasn't ready to deal with. But there she was. She held him, rocking him back and forth until he'd calmed down. "I promise I'll visit every day, the moment visitors' hours start." And she'd kept her word. Eight to Six everyday, Akane sat by Sasuke's bedside. Except for Sundays, where the hospital was 'closed.'

"Oh…"

Akane turned around in the market and found herself standing face to face with a young man in a Chunin vest. He was tall and very large, with a bulky chin, big hands. "Hello…?" Akane tilted her head to the side.

"They said you didn't remember anything," the man said, looking down at his sandals. "I…I'm Akimichi Chobe. I was your dad's old teammate." He shrugged and sighed. "I'm sorry I shouldn't drop this on you like that…how's Sasuke?"

"As good as can be expected," Akane answered him, looking the man over. "Why did you approach me?" She asked.

The Akimichi took out a pad of paper and handed it to her. "Come to my house for dinner tonight, bring the kid too, if you can manage."

"But he won't be discharged for a while…" Akane said with a frown.

"If you can manage," the man said, and with a flick of his fingers he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Akane gawked at the blank space, looking all around her, trying to find hide or hair of the stranger. When it became apparent that he was gone for real, Akane looked down at the paper he'd given her. And she realized she had no idea where the address was. Akane growled and put her hands in her pockets, slumping forward and resting her forehead against the closest lamp post. Of course, she'd been out of the hospital three days and already she was dealing with ninja nonsense. Akane started to gently accept that would simply be a part of her life, for as long as she managed to live.

"Geez…fuck all this," Akane muttered. "Fuck it up the ass!"

"There she is," A voice said, a warm hand running along her forehead. "Open your eyes, dear," the voice hissed lowly. Akane slowly let her eyes open. Of course it was Orochimaru leaning over her. "You've fought very hard today." Orochimaru tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. "A lot has happened, no need to move quickly, but I need you to sit up." Orochimaru put a hand on her back and helped her. Akane felt like she was going to throw up.

"Where am I?" Akane asked when she was able to find her voice. "What have you done to me?"

"Shush," Orochimaru said, then he pulled out a curved needle and thread. "All in due time. Sit still." Akane stared blankly ahead of her. He finished in ten minutes or so. He dropped the bloody needle into a dish next to him. Orochimaru stood from his rolling chair and stood in front of Akane and grabbed her chin in his hands. "You're nothing special, but you have great potential," he said, his smile widening. Akane grit her teeth. Orochimaru squeezed her cheek a moment until she returned to a more neutral position. "I have brought you to my newly created Otogakure, to mold you, train you, Make you the perfect vessel."

"What do you-hmph-"

"SHUSH!" He twisted her head to the side before turning her back. "I will help you become strong, Akane-chan. I'll make you truly great. The Leaf village could never help you reach your potential in the way I could. And wasn't it always your goal to kill Itachi, so Sasuke could preserve his innocence? So he could remain a child a little longer? You haven't given up on that dream, have you?" He asked and Akane just looked at him. No, but how did he know that? Kabuto probably told him. Kabuto probably told Orochimaru every word he'd ever heard Akane say. Was it really a surprise that he knew her dreams?

"I have many things I can teach you," Orochimaru said, turning her eyes up to him. "I can help you become strong enough to defeat Itachi. And after I've taken over your body, I promise to never go after your cousin." He let go of her and Akane looked at him blankly. "Well?" He prompted with a smirk.

"I'll never betray-" Her head snapped to the side. It took a moment for the sting of his slap to radiate on her cheek.

"I'll give you some time to think it over," he said. Orochimaru turned away from her and walked out the barred door. He stopped, looking over his shoulder, and gave her a sweet smile. "Oh, and Happy Birthday, Akane." Akane looked and realized that she was in a cell. Kabuto shut the door, his glasses obscuring his eyes, but it was obvious from the smirk that split his face in half, that he was very pleased. He locked her in. Neither Orochimaru or Kabuto said a word to her, their shoes clicking down the stone hallway.

Akane stood up and looked around. The cell was small, about six feet by ten feet, with her cot tucked against the wall. A bucket in the corner. No windows. No other prisoners that she could see. Akane wrapped her fingers around the bars of her cell and leaned her head against the metal. She felt the Chakra blockers prevented her from refilling her depleted stores. Akane worried that she might get sick. How long was he going to leave her in there before he just killed her and took her eye. Akane let go of the bars and sat on the cot. She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin. She would hear and see them coming.

All according to plan.

Tenzo and Genji had no choice but to return to the village after picking through the rubble of the forest. Tenzo could smell him, his chakra, and he knew he'd failed. Genji had tried the village, but there were no signs of her beyond the woods. She was gone and there was no trace, no signature of Chakra. Only a few specks of blood splattered on the ground. He'd taken a sample.

Tenzo and Genji- Tiger and Otter - stood with their arms behind their back, giving their report to the Hokage. When they'd finished, the silence hung in the air.

"Your only mission has been to prevent Orochimaru from abducting her," The Hokage said, emptying his pipe into his ashtray.

"We must recall team seven from their mission immediately," Homura said from the couch, his face pale.

"I agree, Orochimaru might take this as an opportunity to take both of the remaining Uchiha," Koharu said. "We've lost one, but lucky for us she wasn't the one with promise."

"It's unlikely that Akane will gain the Sharingan. Orochimaru may decide she is useless to him. We need to keep Sasuke in the village under watch."

"Luckily, with the Chunin exams coming up, it wouldn't be strange for him to remain at least for the duration."

The Hokage looked at his two advisors with well hidden disdain. He looked back to his ANBU and laced his fingers together. "You must recover Akane by any means necessary," he said to them. "We must prevent Sasuke from finding out that his cousin is missing, there's no telling what he may decide to do. The Uchiha were unpredictable at the best of times. My old student is very persuasive…" Hiruzen scrunched his brow and lowered his head. "If she shows any signs of loyalty to him then…"

"She can be reprogrammed," a new voice said, entering the room with the knock of his cane. "It's not like you to be so wasteful. Akane Uchiha is the last female Uchiha living. Sasuke is the last loyal male. No matter what her personal beliefs become about Orochimaru, a woman will always abandon all loyalties to protect her children."

"You can't mean to pair them together, Sasuke is a child." Hiruzen argued.

"And in eight years he won't be. Though I suppose there are many unpaired Hyuga, we've always wondered what would become of the Dojutsu if they were mixed. She must be recovered and paired off as soon as we've gotten her back."

"That's…" Hiruzen stopped. It was surprising that his old teammate ever asked for the less violent path. But what he was suggesting made the old man cringe. But if he was able to find someone kind for her, someone who would take care of her, then he could live with that decision. It was vital that more Uchiha be born. Anyone Danzo picked for her would be controlling. And if Danzo himself had his hands on her…Danzo's own grandson was twenty-three and unmarried, wasn't he? The third Hokage looked between his teammate and his subordinates.

"Otter, you're close in age with Uchiha, Akane…" Hiruzen said. "And Tiger, you've been a close confidant of hers for years now." He looked back to Danzo, whose eyes narrowed at him. "I'm sure either one of you will be good to her."

It would do, until he could find a better way to protect her.