The plan might have been to remain low for a month, but the few days I've spent so far inside the city felt so painfully slow, although I've been training. Being in a single place without a clear objective or purpose felt a lot like a sedentary lifestyle, and it was slowly creeping on me.

But at least I could appreciate Tamaki's cooking abilities. We all enjoyed it since it was a fresh feeling compared to just buying from restaurants or junk food. I truly appreciated a warm homemade meal.

However, that monotony came to a sudden halt as I was moving around the main hub, a certain white-haired shinobi came into view who also noticed me but instead of trying to call me or get closer, he quickly left towards one hallway where I followed him.

I found myself in another quiet room, which was intact compared to the others since it lacked debris. It was impossible to not see Jiraiya on the other side of the room with his arms crossed, leaning on a wall, looking in my general direction.

"Glad you can understand my intentions without telling you."

"I cannot ignore your presence no matter what." I closed the distance enough to get a better look at him and carefully analyze anything out of the ordinary.

He shrugged. "I would have done the same in your place, but to be honest I didn't expect to find you in this place."

The last bit piqued my curiosity. He was implying my choice for hideout was either good or bad.

"Is better than being on the road exposed to anything," I replied. It would have sucked to be sleeping with open eyes every night for Kumo attacks.

"I don't know if I should commend your ingenuity or boldness." Jiraiya remained cryptic, taking away my calm demeanor and replacing it with annoyance. If I wasn't bored out of mind for days, I would have left him.

"Get to the point."

Jiraiya let out a long, exasperated sigh. "And here I was hoping to chat for a bit."

I could feel small twitches on my face slowly turning into a deep frown that didn't go unnoticed by the Sannin. His relaxed posture hardened and looked me directly in the eyes.

"Kid, Kumo forces have exterminated 5 independent organizations in the past few days and two of them had relations with Konoha."

"What a mess, but I don't see how that would affect me."

"Nobody stays clear, one way or another it will come back to bite you in the ass."

"I will keep it in mind." My hand went looking for a specific scroll from my belt. "By the way, take this to the Hokage or your interrogation team."

With a tiny amount of strength, I sent the scroll flying and timely intercepted by Jiraiya, who gave a long look from top to bottom before releasing the seal.

A small cloud of smoke came out, followed by muffled screams.

Jiraiya quickly dissipated the cloud, and his eyes widened while his body remained frozen in place, trying to capture what was between his hands.

The disheveled gagged head of Hidan, doing his best to trash while screaming into the gag with every bit of force he could muster, or at least what a head could do.

A slightly close-lipped smile crept into my face. It was difficult to keep neutral as an Uchiha and not demand praise for my achievement.

Jiraiya, on the other hand, took a few more seconds, frozen in place to regain his composure, and turned to face me. "You captured one member of Akatsuki alive?"

I shrugged. "He isn't alive technically speaking, and I cannot find any use for him besides selling him to you."

Jiraiya lifted Hidan's screaming head for a closer inspection and handled it like a ball while Hidan kept screaming and pathetically attempting to bite Jiraiya's face off, the gag stopping him from achieving it. "You can't find any use?"

"I'm no Yamanaka to delve into his mind for information without destroying it and he is a deranged sadist, no amount of pain would do anything to make him talk." I clarified.

The hermit nodded.

"Makes sense." He quickly sealed the screaming head back into the storage scroll before turning his attention to me, scratching his head. "How or when did you get that strong, kid?"

"None of your business, but I'm curious why you are here instead of your...student." I paused at the end. The scene where I held her by the neck came back. It was understandable that she wouldn't want to see me for a while…

I was deluding myself. I wouldn't be surprised if I never saw her again.

Jiraiya shrugged and took another sip from his canteen, which he pulled out from somewhere and put away in that same unknown place. "I left that girl to deal with some of my problems. After the whole jinchuuriki fiasco, my work knows no end. I need a small rest and gathering information here is rather easy compared to my other contacts."

"For rest, you mean to spend time in debauchery?" My lips slowly formed into a half-smile.

Jiraiya immediately pointed a finger at me. "Mind your tongue brat."

I raised a single eyebrow out of surprise by his defensive reaction, but that quickly died down as I recalled the fact that only Naruto or Tsunade ever called out or outright insulted his habits and I wasn't among them.

"Do your thing, I need to train." I turned away. It was for the best to part away and let the heat dissipate.

Jiraiya's silence about my departure was enough to understand.

As I was walking through wondering which path I should take, another white-haired person who didn't respect my personal space the moment greeted my vision he noticed me.

"Yo Sasuke, ready for another spar?" He sneaked one arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer, which I didn't take kindly for obvious reasons.

"Your hunger for battle has no end, does it?" I snapped back, pushing him away and freeing myself from his grasp.

His smile turned into a wide grin. "You know me very well."

"Just don't cause another collapse, last time I heard no end of complaints." One of our spars ended up collapsing an entire room on its weight after Suigetsu missed his attack and his sword crashed on a pillar which was the main room support, while Nekobaa said nothing the Neko-nins whined a lot and a cat whining is unbearable to the ears.

We left towards one of the many abandoned buildings. Finding a spot to practice was no arduous task.

However, as we entered our chosen spar room, Suigetsu didn't wait for a second more before unsheathed, lunging at me with his mouth wide open, aiming at my neck. An attack that didn't go unnoticed as he exuded a lot of his KI, giving me ample time to step away from his attack direction, shoot forward my hand and grab his neck.

Yet the moment I tried to apply pressure on my grip, his body immediately became water, cascading into the floor with small drops splashing on my feet.

I didn't waste any second to unsheathe one of my Kiba blades and jump away from the puddle before Suigetsu could try anything else.

After landing on my feet, I quickly shifted my stance and grabbed my weapon with both hands, pointing at the Sharkboy, who had already reformed most of his body with his oversized sword pointing at me.

I counted the seconds, my eyes never leaving his.

Suigetsu maintained his stance for a short while until a wide grin crept into his face and his arms bulged to unnatural proportions. I didn't let him have the initiative again and ran rushed to his position, aiming my blade to his neck.

The Sharkboy brought up the sword to meet mine.

With that strength, he channeled in his parry, breaking my stance the second my sword clashed with his. If I didn't have strength in my arms, my sword would have sent me flying. Suigetsu didn't waste his chance and his massive sword came down on me.

But I was quick to step back and watch with mild amazement the floor crack under the pressure of his attack. He didn't wait and twisted the great sword to the side, giving him a better stance to swing again at me, barely grazing my chest.

I didn't hesitate to pull out my second sword and try to stab his throat, but Suigetsu stopped my strike with his sharp teeth. The clanging sound of his teeth biting on the metal made it look as if he could have broken the blade if it were any other. But it surprised me how much strength he had with his teeth to keep me from pulling it away or even moving it.

I was very tempted to channel my lighting chakra on him, but my fight was kenjutsu only or he would whine for breaking the rules.

But my thoughts died down when his body and the great sword collapsed into a water puddle again, giving me short seconds to straighten my stance before I felt his KI from the side.

Instinctively I raised both of my swords and met his great sword head-on, feeling the very same weight that cracked the floor beneath me. Despite my focus was on not giving up ground, I could occasionally glance past the swords and notice the lust of violence in his eyes accompanied by his wicked grin.

In the clash, I took a couple of breaths and deviated his blade to the side, letting it crash on the floor, giving me another chance to strike.

Except he used the crash to push himself into the air and retrieve his blade with him, giving him ample space and time to recover while I stayed on the floor watching him.

After he landed on his feet his posture changed drastically, and his bulging arm raised the great sword above his head and placed it on his neck while his more normal-looking arm pulled out one of the Nuibari twins which took the form of a common tanto.

My mind flashed to the fight against Chojuro and the sadistic style of Suigetsu.

My rational mind was screaming to activate my Sharingan to face him, but at the same time I was pumping adrenaline in excitement to face him without it as a show of my strength.

But all that came to an abrupt halt as one moment I was facing the crazy Sharkboy and then my vision instantly changed to a whole new scenario; surrounded by snakes staring at me. That was the first thing to notice then my eyes caught sight of the small shrine and stone roads connecting to the shrine.

"What?"

"YOU FILTHY HUMAN, DID YOU THINK YOU COULD GET AWAY FROM YOUR SINS?!" A thunderous voice shouted from above, the sun-blocking whoever was the owner. But the anonymity didn't last as he didn't waste time to lunge at me with its maw wide open.

Out of instinct, I jumped away, my attacker crashing his head on the ground. It was clear that I needed more space to move, but the snakes surrounding me tried to bite me whenever I approached them, leaving me trapped within their designated area.

The gigantic snake slowly released its maw from the ground, giving me an ample view of its purple scales and black stripes all over his body.

"Manda?" I didn't know any other snake with those peculiar characteristics, and the horns on his head only strengthened my belief.

I glanced sideways to check on my surroundings, trying to recognize something else which came within the small shrine, a small snake statue.

It finally clicked in my mind.

The Summoning Snake Clan, Ryuchi cave.

"DON'T YOU DARE TO SAY MY NAME, YOU DISGUSTING HUMAN!" Manda roared and lunged with his open maw once again.

However, this time I didn't jump away or try to block his attack, I only stood there watching my supposed impending doom coming straight at me.

"Shut up." My vision went red and connected directly with Manda's.

I felt the world around me slow down as I witnessed the change of his eyes from the green slitted eyes to take the form of my Sharingan.

When that was over Manda's open maw was right above me, the stench of his food coming out made my face scrunch in disgust but I put those thoughts aside.

"Bow to me." At my command, Manda immediately crashed his head on the floor right in front of me, I took a closer look at him , especially his new pair of eyes it was surprising to say the least to see the Sharingan on beasts but unless somebody would close distance enough, the fact that they were under my control would remain undetected.

With him being so close, I couldn't help but notice how big his head was compared to my height, but that was a rapid thought before I jumped on his head and looked down on him. "You are nobody to lecture me on what is right or wrong since you are no saint to begin with, but you are useful alive so you will keep that head for now."

I declared, even if he was under my control, I was for sure that deep inside his head he was hearing me.

It was difficult to explain the mix of emotions, but it was like an addictive drug.

Dominating everything and forcing everyone to bow to me was addictive.

And I wanted to leave a permanent mark on Manda to remember me for a long while, to rob him from the light of the world from one eye would be the perfect reminder to never cross me.

But the question of which sword would become tainted.

"That's enough young Uchiha." Another voice made itself known, breaking me away from my thoughts.

I turned to the source and noticed a different snake, but unlike the others who were of all sizes; the newcomer was small. The relative size of any common snake that anybody could find in the wild.

Yet the tone of his voice and how he held his head high with pride gave a unique signal of what he truly was, besides the small grey beard was a dead giveaway.

"You are an elder?"

He nodded. "Correct, my name…"

I returned both blades to their sheathe. "Not interested."

"You…" He hissed along with the rest of the snakes. I didn't need to be a genius to know I've offended them, yet that was inconsequential to me.

I checked the snake statue for a short while and something clicked in my mind. "Yes, this is all about me. Now that I'm here, I have a new idea."

"..." He only hardened his glare.

I pointed a finger at him. "Teach me the Sage mode."

He remained in place and looked at me with his slitted eyes for a long while, the tip of his tail shaking. "I shall discuss this with the others."

"Better accept my request."

However, the snake didn't stay and left.

The entire place was desolated, only me, completely disregarding Manda lying on the ground, with my thoughts trying to remember how to return to the city. I was sure Karin would freak out over my sudden disappearance if she wasn't already desperately looking around with her sensory abilities.

But that minor dilemma was solved by itself shortly after I thought of a way to return.

I was no longer in that grassy field but back in the same large grey room filled with debris and broken walls. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, nothing except a single redhead running towards me.

"Are you okay Sasuke-kun?!" She yelled.

I raised my hand to stop her from jumping at me.

"A couple of snakes aren't something to be concerned with." I said.

Karin's eyes widened for a second, but she quickly calmed down after releasing a long sigh. "I warned you this could happen, but at least nothing happened….I hope."

That was a warning relatively recent warning which I had conveniently pushed to the back of my mind.

"Manda is no threat to me." I declared without hesitation.

"He is the clan leader!" Her eyes widened as she exclaimed.

"And he couldn't even stop me from subduing him."

"You put him in a genjutsu?" Her jaw dropped in shock and her glasses slightly fell from her eyes.

My silence was enough.

Karin looked at me with a black expression for a short while before she adjusted her glasses. "I really but really hope you know what you are getting into."

Her reply made my face twist into a deep frown. It was insulting, even if she didn't mean it. "Do you doubt my strength?"

The redhead was instantly taken aback. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she held her head with both hands. "NO! I mean, of course not...no wait, I need…"

Even then she struggled to get an answer, only blurting words and broken sentences.

For me, who was watching the scene develop intervened and went forward to hold her in place with both hands resting on her shoulders. "Karin, just breathe."

She remained still, did as told.

"Look, I just cannot see things as you do, I don't understand your world perspective and I shouldn't but I want to understand this whole thing."

"You aren't making much sense."

"I know! And is frustrating to speak my thoughts and realize how stupid they sound!" She shouted.

Out of instinct, I pulled her closer to my chest and closed my arms around her, giving her a quick hug for a couple of seconds. And hopefully, that would be enough to calm the crazy redhead.

Karin was ecstatic for a moment until her arms went around my waist and returned my embrace, but that was a little too much leeway for her, and carefully pushed back, breaking away from that spontaneous bonding moment.

"Better?" I asked.

She opened her eyes, and a smile crept onto her face. "I didn't expect you to care."

I simply rolled my eyes. "Would you have preferred to slap you? We cannot have our team's brains go crazy."

Karin laughed for a moment and adjusted her glasses. "Of course that's your only concern."

I released her from my grasp. "So Jiraiya was correct?"

"Of course he is, this is definitely a terrible time for independent shinobi throughout the world, a powerful blow against the black market supply and Kumo is gaining a lot of resources."

"Such blatant aggressive moves will get a reaction eventually, I highly doubt the other villages will remain silent in the coming days."

"You are actually correct, Konoha had given asylum to some shinobis, Suna had deployed more patrols. I believe that by next week all villages will give an ultimatum to stop all activities despite their previous permission. I think they underestimated Kumo's efficiency."

I brought one hand to my chin to ponder about her words and try to the upside of the overall situation.

"At least we won't be trapped for a month in this city." I concluded, meaning our next move would be to hunt that Kiri swordsman that left the safety of his borders. A happy Suigetsu would be far more useful than a bitchy one.

That train of thought led to our newest addition to the team.

"Anything strange with Fu?" We barely interacted with her since she kept to herself most of the time besides eating or meetings, and we kept our distance since it was better for her to come to us first.

That was the best course of action for the meantime, or what I accorded with Karin.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, is just surprising how she can stay in one place doing nothing for hours." She was quick to answer.

I was somewhat surprised at the lack of activities, comparable to Nara's laziness. "Doing nothing? Not even meditation?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, she just lays there staring at the roof or sky if there isn't a roof for hours."

It was difficult to believe it, spending day after day doing absolutely nothing could drive a person mad; even I was getting bored despite having a routine. But a new idea and possibility came up. "I don't want to make assumptions but I believe she is speaking with her tenant."

"You can speak with a tailed beast?" Karin's natural curiosity was piqued, leaning closer, waiting for my next words.

"I know it is possible. I came face to face with the Kyuubi, and while it was filled with hatred, it could speak even if it was only to curse me." It was really cool to stand against Kyuubi, honestly speaking, but that left open a crucial question: how good was their relationship?

Karin looked down in deep thoughts and walked away a couple of steps. "That might explain the chakra synergy that I have been feeling, but I guess if they can speak then we shouldn't worry about outbursts."

She raised a good point but I couldn't be so sure until I saw it with my own eyes, or at least Fu showed me proof of good relations.

With Fu's situation somewhat resolved, my attention shifted again to our team redhead.

"Have you been practicing your chains?" Having her chains with enough strength she could easily hold down Bijuu without issue and Kages as well. That would make my life easier in the long run.

Karin puffed her chest and smiled. "Of course I… I haven't."

Just as quickly she dropped her shoulder and looked to the floor in embarrassment. "I've been dealing with so many things that it completely slipped my mind."

I shook my head. The minor episode from moments ago told me enough of what to do next. "Doesn't matter. Take days off and do whatever you want. I don't want you to have a mental breakdown."

Karin rubbed circles on her temples and let out a long sigh.

"You...you are right. I really need a break. Forcing myself would only be counterproductive." Her face contorted into a devious smile as she connected her gaze with mine. "Say, can you beat up a couple of Kusa shinobi? Occasionally they come to the city for information"

My head tilted to the right. Months ago she asked the same thing. "Of course you are a sadist… don't you have a more normal hobby like reading?"

She looked away while one finger played with the tip of her red hair. "No…. is not like that, is poetic justice."

I was no expert, and I would not discuss it.


AN: Is not funny, life isn't funny or fair. When things seem like they're looking up, you are kicked in the gut with stuff to keep you down, but I can manage things will be fine, I'm sure of it.

Sorry for the delay, THE CITY MUST SURVIVE.

Be careful out there. Neither of us wants to see you go hollow.