AN: New chapter.

"What do you want Shimura?" She didn't like him. She very much didn't like Danzo or any of his friends. They always sent the most spies, always thought they should know everything, that they needed to know everything, that they needed to tell everyone what to do and how to do it. All four of them were problems she wished she could send to the Shadow Realm and forget about.

Sadly, she couldn't.

Jiraiya liked one of them and he would be upset with her if she sent the old man away.

"You disappeared." The man was either fearless or reckless, held no hesitation in approaching her despite the way the shadows around her stretched and took form almost immediately. It was enough to scare off most other Shinobi she was mad at. "You intervene in the plot to kidnap Hinata Hyuga and vanish? You make no show of it?" He wasn't asking questions. He was mocking her, the fact he knew how protective she was of kids, of Naruto's friends. "It's unlike you."

"So your spies can watch me but can't stop a kidnapping? Bravo Danzo. You've trained the best." Despite her mocking tone, her sarcastic applause at the end, Jade felt the urge to snarl at him, to bare her fangs. "Now leave." She almost drew a blade of shadow to her hand, outright threaten him.

She barely stopped herself.

"You were afraid." He was either confident in himself or truly believed she wouldn't strike him with how he closed the distance between them. "Terrified. And so you ran away to the only place you could feel safe." He may not have known the Shadow Realm by name but he was right.

She had run from everything for longer than she would've liked, had been consumed by her own fears, her own insecurities.

If not for having spoken to Kushina, his words may have actually worked on her.

Because of that support, that the knowledge that both Kushina and Minato trusted her, his words meant nothing to her.

So she made a show of checking the razor sharp nails on one of her hands, a bored look on her pale blue face.

"Your point being?" Red eyes hadn't lost a bit of their edge, only sharpened as she offered a 'bored' stare to Danzo.

"You thought you couldn't be trusted." She hated that he hit the nail on the head, that he was absolutely correct. She had left because she thought her powers were out of control, that something would go wrong the longer that Kushina was out of the village. "You thought yourself too dangerous to remain in the village."

"You're a real Sherlock today, aren't you?" Jade didn't both hiding the smirk on her face. "If you're not going to tell me what you want, I think I'll just be going." She pushed off the wall, offered a wave with one clawed hand. "Bye." The shadows at the end of the hall stretched and warped, formed a portal to the Shadow Realm in front of her.

It was an over the top show but she felt like doing it.

Danzo didn't let her leave.

"You thought yourself a danger to Naruto."

Her red eyes turned wholly demonic, glaring crimson lights that dared mortals to look into them. Her face twisted to that uncanniness that innately told humans she was not one of them, that she was dangerous, that she was a predator and they were prey. Her fangs were as pronounced as they had ever been, her forked tongue only adding to the monstrous appearance when she opened her mouth. Only a growl tore fear of her throat, promised suffering.

In this moment, Jade Chan was gone.

Shadows engulfed her, Shadow Magic filled the hall and darkened the light of the world. She didn't take a step forward more than she simply appeared in front of Danzo.

It took effort not to succumb to the rage that filled her in this single moment.

"Do not dare to bring him into this." She hardly realized that she had stopped her claws a hair's breadth from his throat. Danzo didn't flinch, either stupid or fearless enough to meet her gaze. "I will tear you to pieces." Her voice was no longer just her own, spoke with countless.

"I don't fear you." Danzo didn't step away, seemed set to refuse to move. Jade hissed in his face before she tore her hand away, forced herself to control herself.

"You are lucky." The uncanniness of her form faded, returned to what she normally presented. Her voice refused to return to normal. "If you were anyone else, you wouldn't be standing." She forced herself to step away, to cross her arms, to try and calm this rage inside of her.

"Come now 'Jade-chan'. There's no need for such dramatics." The voice behind her made her actually jump, broke her focus enough for the shadows in the hall to return to normal.

Jiraiya's…'friend' Orochimaru stood behind her.

His yellow eyes brightened, his creepy smile growing as he unashamedly looked her up and down.

"We're all friends here." The sheer audacity of the lie was what helped her calm down, refocus.

Her red eyes stopped glowing, her control returned.

She snorted out a laugh.

"We are not friends." She looked between the two that had her stuck between them and put her back against the wall. Even if they couldn't hurt her, some semblance of her human nature didn't like having one of the two being out of her sight or having her back to one of them. "Now get out of here. If you want something, set it up through Minato."

"Oh, we don't need to involve him for something so small." Orochimaru's smile didn't fall, was almost as unnatural as she had been when her rage had overpowered her. "We should be able to handle this among the three of us."

A dark eyebrow was raised. "And what's this 'small' thing?"

"Your fear. And the source of it." She didn't flinch at his words. "Without our dear Kushina, you're so anxious. So terrified."

Jade was done.

She also now knew what this was all about.

It always circled back to that same thing.

"My contract with Kushina is between her and me. Got it?"

Orochimaru's smile only widened.

"So you say." His smile wasn't the creepiest thing Jade had seen. The look in his eyes topped the smile.

He knew something he shouldn't.

"I think you should reconsider."

"And I think we need to talk. In private."

Danzo no longer mattered. She took the smiling Orochimaru away.

They needed to talk.

AN: I did say this was the "mostly went right" timeline. Obviously, this is another ripple from Jade being around.

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Peace.