"Naruto!"

Tsunade's scream for her godson to snap of out Orochimaru's control fell on deaf ears as the blonde boy disappeared from her sight. She turned back towards the man that put Naruto under his horrible spell, determined to make him pay for this act.

"You'll pay for that, you bastard!"

The Snake Sannin cackled sinisterly. "Please Tsunade, enough of the harsh words. There's no need. What's done is done."

"Release him now! I'm not going to ask you again!"

It was Kabuto that spoke next. "I'm afraid I can't do that right now."

"Why not?!"

"Hm…because I don't want to."

Tsunade's rage was quickly reaching its boiling point. "You're a bastard…! How could you do something like this to Naruto? Making him attack his comrades will only make everything worse for him!"

"You say that like I'm supposed to care about the village's opinion of the fox boy." Orochimaru quipped. "So long as my arms are healed then I don't care what happens to him or the village."

Tsunade was barely keeping her composure. But she needed to. If she snapped and killed Orochimaru then Naruto would continue to be under his control until she could figure out how to snap him out of the spell. And that wasn't very likely due to the fact she had no idea where the release jutsu was hidden. "Is that supposed to be a bargain for me? I heal your arms and you free Naruto from your jutsu?"

Orochimaru smiled. "It can be. So simple, no? If you truly love your village…you will heal my arms."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "And if I refuse?"

"Then it won't be just Naruto I cast Confusion on." Kabuto stated. "I'll take more ninja away from you and make them fight their comrades. It'll become a civil war."

Tsunade surveyed her options carefully, she felt like she was stuck between a rock and a hard place with this decision. She was the Hokage and had to put the village first no matter what. But she couldn't forsake Naruto's wellbeing on the chance of Orochimaru not holding up his end of the deal, in fact she was almost certain that he wouldn't. But what was more important, Naruto's health or Konoha's safety? "Curse you…"

"Well…I'm waiting…" Orochimaru impatiently called out. Just as he was about to lose his temper completely, his arms pulsed with extreme pain. "Aaugghhhh! My…my arms!"

"Lord Orochimaru!" Kabuto yelled as he caught his master before he collapsed to the ground. 'Damn it! He won't last much longer!'

"This is my chance!" Tsunade prepared herself to fight.

Realizing they were at a huge disadvantage; Kabuto decided a tactical retreat was in order. With a single hand seal, Kabuto and Orochimaru disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Tsunade looked on in shock. "What?! They got away?"

"Lady Tsunade!"

The Hokage turned to see Kakashi and Gai landing on the platform that was the Hokage's Mansion roof, she noted that Gai was practically carrying Kakashi. It was Gai that had called out to her.

"Are you two alright?" Tsunade questioned as she approached the two. She did a quick examination of the two. "Well, one of you is, at least." She placed her hands on Kakashi's left eye and did what she could to alleviate his pain. "There…you should feel a bit better now."

"Thank you, Lady Tsunade." The silver-haired jōnin was able to stand on his own again. "Orochimaru's back. He, Kabuto, and two others are inside the village. He said he wants you to heal his arms or else Konoha will burn."

Tsunade looked out over the village, already seeing a battle had begun. "I know. He was just here a few moments ago."

"He was?!" Gai questioned. "Then I'll go after him, he shouldn't have gone too far!"

"Gai wait! We have another problem we need to handle."

The two jōnin looked at their newly appointed Hokage in confusion. Kakashi was the one to question what she was referring to. "What's that?"

"Remembered what I said about the Gedō Mark and how it puts the two powers of 'seal' and 'confusion' into one jutsu?" Kakashi nodded at the memory. "Well…he used 'confusion' on Naruto…made him a puppet."

Both jōnin's eyes widened in shock. "What does 'confusion' do?" Gai questioned.

Kakashi had already seen where the Hokage was going with this. "By the way you said puppet…Orochimaru has control over Naruto now? Am I right?" The nod of confirmation was slow. Kakashi sighed. "Damn it…"

"Are there others being controlled?" Gai questioned.

Tsunade shook her head. "I'm not sure, but I can imagine Orochimaru will try and take more. He even said that he would."

"Then we need to find him and stop him before things get worse than they already are." Gai stated.

Kakashi turned to his longtime rival. "Gai, we both know that we aren't a match for Orochimaru, even now in his current state. Only Lady Tsunade and Lord Jiraiya have the power to defeat him. Speaking of which, where is Lord Jiraiya?"

Tsunade looked up towards the Hokage Stone faces. "He's been searching the catacombs for the Scroll of Seals. He must be in there pretty deep."

An explosion from inside the village echoed all the way up to the three on the roof, snapping them back into the situation. Tsunade was the first to take charge. "We don't have time to wait on Jiraiya. Kakashi, Gai, you two go out into the village and find Naruto. Stop him doing any damage. Be careful, the Gedō Mark: Confusion causes him extreme internal pain, any physical pain you cause him to subdue him won't matter. The amount of pain he's in already is much worse."

The two jōnin nodded. "What will you do, Lady Tsunade?"

"I'm going to find that snake bastard and put an end to this madness once and for all! I am the Fifth Hokage! I will not allow my village to be forsaken any longer!"

-With Kabuto and Orochimaru-

The pair of rouge shinobi fled off the Hokage's Tower and used the buildings to aid in their escape. Kabuto was sure Tsunade wouldn't blindly follow them while her village was in peril, but he didn't want to risk it. They continued their escape until they reached the watch tower of Chūnin Exams Stadium, the same place the Third Hokage sealed Orochimaru's arms away.

"That stupid old bitch!" Orochimaru huffed, trying to deal with his pain. "So, she intends to defy me to the very end, eh? She'll pay for this with Konoha burnt to ash!"

"Lord Orochimaru, you need to regain your strength." The silver haired teen approached his master and placed his hand on the man's chest. Kabuto focused his chakra and begin to flood Orochimaru's system with as much healing ninjutsu he could. There was nothing Kabuto could do to completely free his master from his pain, he could only just alleviate for a few moments. "There…that should be enough for now. But you're running a great risk, your body can't handle the stress much longer. If Tsunade doesn't heal your arms soon…"

"Huff, huff…if she intends to defy me, then we'll just have to turn the village against her."

Kabuto looked at his master with a stern but curious look on his face. "What are you saying, Lord Orochimaru?"

"Kabuto…go into the village and use the Gedo Mark as you wish. Turn Konoha into a battlefield of their own shinobi."

Kabuto stood from his knees in shock. "Lord Orochimaru! I…I know I don't have to be directly next to you to activate the jutsu…"

"Correct…so long as you stay inside the village's walls, you'll stay in range to use my chakra as a medium."

"But your chakra system isn't stable enough to withstand constant use. Your body will grow weaker and weaker until too much damage has been done. Your very life could be put at risk!"

Orochimaru sinisterly smiled through his gritting pain. "Need I remind you? I cannot be picky about my methods…I will endure the pain until my arms are healed! Besides…my body will hold out, there's no need to worry."

"Lord Orochimaru…" Kabuto was in awe from fascination of his master. 'The strength of his will is unbelievable. To endure all this punishment…it's more then I'd be able to handle.'

"Now go, Kabuto…I'm counting on you."

The silver-haired medic nodded his head. "What about the Sound Four? Do you want me to rally them for a coordinated assault?"

Orochimaru slightly shook his head. "Don't bother…those four were distractions so we could work discreetly in the shadows. I have no expectations of them surviving this."

Kabuto looked out over the village from his vantage point. He was able to see some damage being done: buildings were hit, villagers were running from fights, and smoke from battles trailed into the sky. It seemed the four, and Naruto by extension, were doing their jobs. But it wouldn't be long before the shinobi of Konoha would turn on the offensive to neutralize the threat. Their window of opportunity for the mayhem they needed to create was small.

"Very well. Stay hidden, Lord Orochimaru." With the parting words, Kabuto jumped off the watch tower and into the village.

-Chōji vs. Jirōbō-

The battle had already begun, the two human juggernauts of their respective groups struggled for dominance in a fight of strength. Jirōbō had withstood Chōji's attack and tried to overpower him, but Chōji wasn't moving an inch. In fact, the Akimichi boy was matching Jirōbō's vast strength.

"This is impossible!" Jirōbō screamed, the veins popping out of his forehead from the pressure. "How can you withstand strength?! What was that pill you took?!"

With a loud scream of his own, Chōji dug his heels into the ground and vaulted Jirōbō over him and tossed him into a nearby building. He pushed through the pain of eating the first pill and continued his assault. He pulled out a series of kunai connected by strings of wire and wrapped them around his frame. He then slammed his hands together and, using the Baika no Jutsu, his entire body expanded into a large ball, the interconnected kunais were now spikes.

"Nikudan Hari Sensha!" (Spiky Human Bullet)

Seeing the now massive human tank rolling towards him with great speed, Jirōbō slammed his hands on the ground and a wall of rock came up to shield him from the attack. But the wall didn't do much to slow Chōji down. The humanoid rolling spiked boulder broke through the rock wall and smashed it to pieces. Allowing his curse mark to return, Jirōbō remained and caught the boy with sheer strength alone.

Chōji could see the murder in Jirōbō's eyes. "Don't be so confident, trash!" With a single strike, Jirōbō slammed his crushing fist into Chōji and launched him back. The shock from the crushing fist caused Chōji's transformation to disappear and the wire holding the kunai together to break.

"You're not a horrible fighter, I'll give you that much. But I can see it in your eyes, your confidence about winning this fight is very low. And that shit you spouted about how you needed to prove yourself to everyone that you aren't the weakest…well, it shows how weak you are."

Chōji's eyes dropped from the harsh words, his already shaken confidence faltered even more. 'No matter how much I work behind the scenes…I'll always be…' The words of Asuma, Ino, and Naruto ran through his mind.

"If we were to fight, you'd probably beat me."

Shikamaru's words echoed through Chōji's mind. Something changed inside Chōji, giving the confidence boost he needed. He snapped open the container again and grabbed the next pill: yellow. 'Shikamaru's always believed in me…always believed that I was strong.' With a loud crunch, Chōji chomped on the yellow pill.

A large burst of energy surged through Chōji. "That's why I'm here! That's why I'm going to win!"

"That's quite a bit of chakra…still not enough to beat me!"

"Let's go, fat ass!" Chōji reared his arm back.

Jirōbō charged. "That fits you better!"

"Budun Baika no Jutsu!" (Partial Expansion Jutsu)

Chōji's entire arm, all the way down to his fingertips, expanded to a much bigger size. He brought the large arm up and slammed his enlarged hand down on the charging Jirōbō. The force was so great it pushed the Oto shinobi into the ground itself.

Becoming annoyed, Jirōbō summoned his great strength and threw Chōji up into the air. The Akimichi took advantage and saw his opportunity to deal a decisive blow. He made the needed hand seals as he began to fall back to the ground.

"Eat this! Chō Baika no Jutsu!" (Super Expansion Jutsu)

This was the heightened version of the Akimichi clan's expansion jutsu arsenal. Chōji's entire body became significantly larger, his size was now comparable that of the Hokage Mountain. Chōji was sure he had won. The sheer weight alone would crush any one person. But then he felt something push against his stomach and he felt like he was being lifted off the ground.

"What a pity…I was forced to use level two on such trash." Jirōbō thrusted his free hand upwards. "Shou Geki Shou!" (Rising Impact Palm)

An ungodly amount of force hit Chōji in his stomach and launched his mountain-like body into the air. The sudden impact was enough to shrink Chōji's back to his normal state as he fell. He pushed himself up and saw what Jirōbō had become.

Jirōbō's triple orange mohawk grew into a long, spiky mane that reached his shoulders. His skin had turned to a brownish-reddish color. His irises became yellow and his pupils turned black. And warts had sprouted all over his body, especially on his face, forehead, and shoulders. "This is the end for you…no one stands a against my Curse Mark Level Two which gives me ten times my normal strength."

Chōji looked on in complete shock. 'Wha…What is that form?!' He tried to move but the pain was too much. 'Man…I can't move with this much pain. I should've known that the side-effects of using the pills would be bad. Still I have the red-pepper pill to take. But if I use that then…I'll definitely die…'

Jirōbō casually walked up to the downed Chōji and fiercely grabbed his neck, raising him to eye level and off the ground. Jirōbō's grip on Chōji's neck was so strong that blood fell out the corners of Chōji's mouth. "You've reached your limit; I can barely feel any chakra in your system. If I leave you here, you'll probably end up dying from your injuries. But I want to kill you for making me go 'level two'. Don't worry, I'll make it quick then move on to your friends and kill them…you worthless fat ass!"

Memories flashed through Chōji's mind of all the years being called 'useless' or 'fat' by his peers. He could remember countless times as a young kid being excluded from playing 'ninja' because was too fat or just plain useless. But through all that came Shikamaru, his best friend, the one person who didn't see him as some fat and unathletic piece but a human being with a kind heart and showed him a nice relaxing time watching clouds and eating chips.

'Sorry Shikamaru…I don't think I'm gonna make it out of this one.' Chōji snapped open the container one more time, grabbed the red pill, and placed it in his mouth. 'But I'll take this asshole with me!'

"Too late! Asshou!" (Pressure Palm)

Just as Jirōbō was about to squeeze this kid's neck, Chōji grabbed ahold of Jirōbō's wrist with such strength that Jirōbō couldn't hold a grip anymore. Two massive blue butterfly wings made of chakra appeared on Chōji's back. Jirōbō also noticed that Chōji looked significantly skinnier than he did a few moments ago, as if he turned his weight and body fat into chakra.

"I'm a hundred times as powerful as you now! You're finished!" Chōji said as the butterfly wings disappeared, and his left hand began to emit the same kind of chakra. 'Transfer all my chakra into my left hand for the final blow!'

Jirōbō saw this and tried to break free from Chōji's iron grip on his wrist, but there was no breaking out. 'This isn't good!' "W-Wait…!"

"I can't forgive you for calling me fat ass! But even more than that, I'll never forgive you for saying you'll hurt my friends!"

"P-Please!"

"Chōdan Bakugeki!" (Butterfly Bomb)

With the force of his entire weight and every once of his powered-up chakra, Chōji struck Jirōbō with one final punch square in the chest…and ripped right through. His fist came out clear through the other side, the blood steaming off like cold water on a hot pan. The red-brown faded away from Jirōbō's skin as he fell back to the ground like a lifeless husk.

Chōji fell to his backside, sub-coming to the pain of the pills he ate. He didn't have the strength to stand anymore, he barely had the strength to keep his eyes open. He looked up to the sky and shed a single tear. 'Shikamaru…good luck.'

Chōji fell back and his eyes closed…

-Konoha Village Center, Main Street-

A shopkeeper sighed as he flipped through another page of his magazine, trying to pass the time of another slow day. He had already done everything that needed to be done for closing up the store: the floors were swept and mopped, the money in the register had been counted and stored in the safe, and all the products on the shelves had been restocked. All that needed to be done was wait for the closing time, which was in a few minutes.

The shopkeeper looked at the clock on the wall and decided there was no point in keeping the doors unlocked, nobody was going to come in at this time of day. With a click of the lock, the shopkeeper locked up his store for the night. Just as he turned his back, a body came crashing through the door and shattered it to pieces.

The shopkeeper yelped as he jumped for cover behind the counter. He peered over the counter to see what had come crashing into his store: it was a young boy, maybe thirteen years old, with spiky blonde hair and a Konoha shinobi flak jacket over his orange and blue jacket. Another Konoha ninja came in and landed on top of the boy, as if he was trying to restrain him.

"Calm down Naruto!" The shinobi yelled. It was one of the more well-known chūnin, Izumo Kamizuki. Izumo had the duty of checking travelers' I. D's and papers before entering the village. "What's gotten into you?!"

Naruto thrashed under Izumo's weight, trying to break free. "Ngh…! Can't…control…!" The pain from the Confusion was so vast and extreme that he could barely from a string of words together. "Get…off!" With great force, Naruto was able to throw Izumo off him and into one of the shelves.

Once freed, Naruto immediately grabbed the sides of his head and continued to endure the horrible pain. He couldn't control any of his movements nor have any chance at stopping himself, all he could do was try and tell everyone to get away from him. He staggered back outside to see group of Konoha shinobi waiting for him.

"What's going on with him?" One of the shinobis questioned. "He's never acted out like this before."

"Could it be the Kyūbi?" Another one asked with a hint of fear in her voice. "The fox could be trying to break free!"

"I don't sense any of the fox's chakra." A jōnin stated. "But none of that matters. He's attacking us and innocent civilians, the boy needs to be dealt with."

Naruto pulsated in pain, trying to regain control over his body. He aggressively hit his own head with both hands, trying to do anything to free himself of this pain. "Get…away! Can't s…stop!"

"This is our chance!" A chūnin shouted. The rest of the shinobi agreed and charged the enraged Naruto.

Another zap of pain dropped the boy to his knees, he couldn't stop himself. Naruto crossed his fingers into a hand seal. "Tajū Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Twenty clones appeared around Naruto and exhibited the same symptoms as the original.

Just as the group of shinobi came in close, one of the more experienced jōnin noticed something was off about the clones. They weren't a typical shadow clone; the chakra signature was different from that of a regular shadow clone. That's when he realized what kind of clones they were. "Oh shi-"

All twenty clones exploded simultaneously, resulting in one massive explosion that rocked the area. The real Naruto had jumped away at the last second and ran off, carrying out the orders of the person who cast the Confusion on him. Another surge of pain and Naruto faltered, he missed his landing and fell into an alleyway.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" Naruto screamed in agony. He did everything he possibly could think of to free himself of this curse. He smacked his head, pulled on his hair, and even going so far to continually slam his head against the side of a building. "Get out…of my…fucking head!"

Amidst his suffering, Naruto didn't notice the presence of the one person he wanted to stay away from him. "Naruto?!"

Stopping the action of repeatedly hitting his head against a wall, Naruto slowly turned his head. "Sa…Sakura…" He said painfully.

The pink-haired kunoichi was at the end of the alley, it seemed she was running past it when she heard her teammate. "What on earth are you doing? What's going on?"

Naruto's extreme pain continued. "Urgh…Run…get away!" He said in a low, pained voice.

Sakura looked on confused as she approached her friend. "What?"

As if he was being toyed with, another pain surged through Naruto, this one seemed more painfully because of who he was being forced to attack, and jumped at Sakura. Sakura dodged the attack and jumped back to safety. "What's gotten into you, Naruto?! Why'd you lunge at me?"

Naruto couldn't offer a response; his body wouldn't stop moving. He lunged at his beloved teammate again. Sakura dodged again and backflipped away, but Naruto continued his assault. He charged again and tackled Sakura as she came down. Naruto drew a kunai from his holster and swiftly brought it down…

"You broke your promise to me…"

…Sakura could only blink at the tip of the knife a mere inch away from the bridge of her nose. She looked beyond the kunai and saw the visible shock on Naruto's pain ridden face, as if he had seen his worst fear come true. "…Naruto?"

"Dynamic Entry!"

A flying kick came in and struck Naruto square in the head. The blonde boy was launched off Sakura and into a nearby wall. Sakura immediately jumped to her feet and saw who it was that attacked. It was none other than Rock Lee.

"Rock Lee?"

The green clad genin looked over his shoulder and smiled at the pinkette, his teeth glistening. "I apologize for my sudden entrance, Sakura, but it seemed you were in some trouble." Lee's attention was brought back to Naruto, he stumbled out of the rubble and groaned as he grabbed the sides of his head. Lee took a taijutsu stance. "Sakura, stay back."

"Wait Lee!"

"Please Sakura, allow me to handle this. I'm not sure what caused Naruto to attack you like he did, but I will protect you from him. No matter what, even if it costs me my life, I will protect you."

Sakura looked at Lee in awe. She barely knew this boy and he was willing to lay down his life to protect her. She appreciated that sediment very much, but she would never allow Lee to do something like that for her. She would never let anyone do that for her. Besides, it almost felt wrong to hear a claim like that from Lee. She already had one protector, that's all she wanted was one. "Be careful Lee, I think something's wrong with Naruto."

The boy with the bowl-style haircut nodded his head. "Yes, I came to that same conclusion. It seems something is happening to our village."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw multiple battles in my search for my teammates, most of those battles were Konoha shinobi fighting each other."

"Fighting each other?" Sakura gasped. "A mind control jutsu?"

Lee glanced back in surprise. "Mind control? I was unaware that such a technique existed."

Sakura shook her head. "I don't know of any if there are. But if you're gonna fight him, Lee, don't try and hurt him. Just try and snap him out of this so he can come back to his senses."

Lee nodded in understanding and turned back to the conflicted boy. It didn't take long for Naruto to charge at him. Lee weaved and dodged through Naruto's strikes, which were very different from their fight in the Chūnin Exams. Naruto's attacks were slow and sloppy, almost amateur-like, and his stance and feet placement were completely different. Whatever happened to Naruto caused his entire fighting style to be affected drastically. Still, Lee took caution with his counters.

Catching Naruto's arm by the wrist, Lee struck with well-placed open-palm strike directly on his chest. This staggered Naruto, giving Lee the opening he needed. Lee delivered a series of high and low kicks at were too fast for Naruto to even try and evade. "Konoha Senpū!" (Leaf Hurricane)

The final kick launched Naruto back again. Lee did not expect his opponent to get back up, but he was shocked to see Naruto standing back to his feet, as if he felt no pain from Lee's attacks. "How is he getting back up?" Lee questioned. "I've hit him with two of my strongest attacks and he's brushed them off like they were nothing. It's like he feels no pain."

"Well, you're not too far off."

Both genin turned their attention to the sound of the new voice to see both of their respective senseis' jumping down from a building to join them. Kakashi was the one who had spoken.

"Gai/Kakashi sensei!" The two genin called out in unison.

The two jōnin approached their students and stood next to them, keeping their eyes on the struggling Naruto. Kakashi was the first to try and grasp the situation fully. He noted Naruto's overall appearance and attitude was…distraught. He had a constant grip on his head and continuously groaned and moaned from the immense pain he was feeling. "There you are, Naruto."

Naruto managed to open his eyes for a moment before snapping them shut again, trying to deal with the pain. "Kakashi…sensei…help me."

"Yeah…that's why I'm here, Naruto."

"Kakashi sensei, what's wrong with him?" Sakura questioned. "Is it…you know?" She was careful not let the cat, or fox, out of the bag. Lee looked at Sakura curiously while Gai remained passive.

Kakashi shook his head. "No, it's not that. Naruto's body has been taken over by the enemy's jutsu."

"Who is the enemy?" Lee asked.

Gai answered next. "It's Orochimaru. He's back."

"Orochimaru?!" Sakura gasped. "What's he doing back here? I though the Third Hokage defeated him?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah…we all thought that. But he's back. He's been sulking around in the shadows lately and he's finally made his move. Lady Hokage is dealing with him. But we can't worry about that right now, we need to help Naruto first. Understood?"

"But if we deal with Orochimaru, wouldn't the jutsu controlling Naruto be released?" Lee questioned.

"There are others being controlled as well, Lee." Gai pointed out. "If we figure out how to free Naruto ourselves then we can go free the others and have a better chance at defeating Orochimaru."

Lee nodded in agreement. "Of course, Gai sensei!"

"Then what can we do?" Sakura asked. "Lee fought him, and Naruto just kept getting up."

"That's because he doesn't feel any pain right now. Well…more accurately, the pain he's feeling from the enemy's control is so vast and extreme that any other pain he feels doesn't compare."

"Basically, he doesn't feel anything else because of the pain from the jutsu." Sakura deduced. "No amount of punishment will stop him…"

Kakashi noted the concern in Sakura's voice was more noticeable than ever before. "Yeah…pretty much."

Sakura watched her teammate continue to struggle with his extremely horrible pain that she could nothing to stop. It infuriated and saddened her. Team Seven had been together for awhile now and Sakura could count on one hand the amount of times she came to her teammate's aid, while she could name plenty of events where Naruto and Sasuke stepped in to save the day. She racked her brain for anything that could possibly help. "What about your Sharingan, sensei? It stopped him before."

"…I can't use my Sharingan right now."

Sakura looked at her teacher with visible shock. "You can't? Why not?"

Kakashi cleared his throat before speaking. "I, uh, already used it in another fight. I…I don't have the chakra to use completely. Besides, I don't think my Sharingan would have the same affect on Naruto this time. It's completely different than before. Someone else is controlling him."

"What kind of mind controlling jutsu is this anyway?" Lee asked.

Kakashi went through what he noticed about his blonde student and pieced together a possible conclusion. "From what I've seen, Naruto is being controlled by the blinding pain. It's so severe that he can't stop himself from obeying the caster's orders. No doubt through some type of impulse. It's possible the pain Naruto's feeling is all in his head and doesn't actually exist. The 'pain' is just the caster giving the order to attack."

"So, it could be type of genjutsu? An illusion?" Gai questioned.

That question jogged Sakura's memory. "If the control is a type of illusion then we can try and break it with a genjutsu removal technique."

Gai looked at his eternal rival. "Could that work? I'm not very savvy on genjutsu…or any jutsu really."

"It's possible. Genjutsu does have the ability to manipulate through false illusions, it can even make someone think they've experienced physical harm. But the illusion aspect is just based on a hunch. It'll be dangerous, Sakura. Make one mistake and…"

"I know that. But Naruto's always come to my rescue. Now, it's my turn to save Naruto! Sensei, please, help me."

Kakashi turned back to Gai, who nodded his head and leaned down to whisper into Lee's ear, then looked down at Sakura with an eye smile. "You got it!"

"AGH!" Naruto screamed from another surge of extreme pain, causing him to run head first towards his comrades. Gai and Lee jumped to Naruto's sides and grabbed his arms while Kakashi jumped over his student and wrapped his arm around Naruto's neck.

"Now Sakura!"

Sakura went through a series of hand seals. She placed her hand on Naruto's forehead and channeled her chakra. "Release!"

Naruto's eyes immediately became dazed and he suddenly felt dizzy, if it wasn't for the three holding him up he would have fallen down. "Uuuooohh…" The boy groaned. The pain had subsided for the moment, but he could already feel it returning.

"Naruto! Can you hear my voice?"

"Kakashi…sensei…oohh…"

"C'mon Naruto! Snap out of it!"

"Sa…Sakura…"

"Do not let the enemy keep control! Fight it!" Lee boasted.

A deep growl emitted from Naruto's throat as he felt the pain begin to return. But he had control again, he wasn't going to let it happen again. He thrashed slightly to the left then to the right. Kakashi heard the growl and knew something bad was about to happen. He let go of his student and jumped back to a safe distance. "Back away from him! Now!"

Both Gai and Lee instantly let go of Naruto and jumped back to a safe distance. But Sakura remained, she wasn't going to let Naruto be controlled again. That's when she noticed the color shift in Naruto's eyes. Sakura froze.

"Sakura!" Lee yelled.

Naruto gripped the sides of his head like he had been doing the entire time, but he did not make any sort of hostile movement towards Sakura. In fact, he seemed to be fighting off the Confusion even more. "Get out…Get out of my head!" With a fierce scream and burst of red chakra from his body, Naruto collapsed to the ground.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled. She tried to catch Naruto's collapsing body but he fell away from her, straight onto his back.

"Did Sakura's plan to free Naruto work?" Lee questioned as he and the two jōnin moved back in.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, it knocked him out, that's for sure. And that's just as good when it comes to breaking a genjutsu on someone. And considering the way he reacted I'm assuming he'll be out of awhile."

"Then we need to keep him safe until he wakes up." Gai stated.

"I'll do it!" Sakura quickly spoke up. "I'll keep Naruto safe. You can count on me!"

Kakashi showed his smile through his eye again. Sakura needed to figure out how he conveyed emotion through a single eye. "I had a hunch you'd volunteer. But who knows who else has been taken over by the same jutsu? Lee, stay here with Sakura and watch over Naruto, just in case."

Lee gave a thumbs up and a 'nice guy' smile. "Don't worry, Kakashi sensei! I will protect Sakura and Naruto with my life!"

Gai gave a near identical smile and pose. "That's the spirit, Lee! Protect your friends at all costs with the Power of Youth!"

"Yes, Gai sensei!"

Kakashi silently sighed to himself, he could barely tolerate Gai and his 'youthful' speeches. Now, there was two of them… "Gai, we need to get a move on. We need to find that scroll."

Gai snapped back into a serious mode. "Right! We need to find the place that is 'protected by heroes'. Maybe Lord Jiraiya found something in the cravens behind the Hokage Mountain." Sakura couldn't help but overhear her two superior's conversation.

"I don't think so, Gai. He would have come back by now if he did."

"Ah…right you are, my dear rival. Then where could that scroll be hidden? There aren't many places that come to mind when given the hint 'protected by heroes'."

"Um, excuse me?"

The two jōnin looked over at the young pink-haired kunoichi who had sheepishly spoken up, obviously embarrassed that she was eavesdropping. "Hm?"

"Are you looking for something, sensei?" Sakura questioned.

Kakashi realized that he wasn't being as careful with his words as he probably should have, but there was no hiding it now. Sometimes he couldn't believe how preceptive any one of his students could be at times. "Uh, yeah, we are. We're looking for something that'll help stop Orochimaru…hopefully for good this time."

Sakura nodded her head in understanding. If finding this scroll helped put an end to Orochimaru than she'd help in anyway she could. Orochimaru had hurt both Sasuke and Naruto, even going so far to 'gift' them both with that mark. "Do you have any idea where this thing that you need is? Or what it is?"

"It's a scroll…a very valuable scroll." Gai answered. "And no, we don't know where it is. All we have is a hint on it's location."

"What's the hint?" Lee questioned.

"The scroll's hiding place is 'protected by heroes'." Kakashi informed. "And you can rule out the Hokage Faces, we've already checked."

Both Sakura and Lee adopted their own separate thinking poses as they racked their brains for anything that could pertain to the hint. Lee wasn't having much luck; he wasn't aware of any place that was protected by someone who was considered a hero. Sakura constantly replayed the words over and over in her head, hoping a memory would trigger.

'Protected by heroes…heroes…heroes…Oh!' "Um, Kakashi sensei?"

"Hm? Think of a place?"

"I know a place that's KINDA protected by heroes…"

"What?! Really?" Gai questioned.

"Y-Yeah. You brought us there just the other day, Kakashi sensei, when you told us the reason why you say teamwork is the most valuable lesson for us to learn. The Memorial Stone is in honor of Konoha's fallen heroes. Maybe the scroll is somewhere near the Memorial Stone."

"Of course." Kakashi agreed, how did he not think of that. "We assumed the hint was referring to the line of Hokages."

"But those who gave their lives for the sake of the village are also considered heroes." Gai added.

Kakashi nodded. "It's worth a try, we don't have much else. Good work Sakura. Me and Gai will go see what we can find. You and Lee get Naruto somewhere safe until he wakes up."

Sakura nodded with determination. Finally, she was going to protect Naruto once. "You got it!"

Lee gave another thumbs up. "I won't let you down!"

The two jōnin nodded at their genin students before turning and jumping off towards the Memorial stone.

-Near the training fields-

'Oh man…that woman hit me this far with just a single finger?!'

Kidōmaru had finally stopped flying through the air to only crash through a number of trees before landing in an open field with three logs implanted in the ground near the center. The six-armed man laid there for a moment, trying to regain his senses from the crash landing. He might've let his guard down too much as he just happened to roll his head out of the way of a kunai being thrown at him.

"Oh fuck!" Kidōmaru yelped in panic as he jumped to his feet. He moved back to create some distance and make it harder for the enemy to hit a moving target. Oddly enough, the enemy was already in the open, picking up his kunai. "Wait a minute…you're…"

The person who had thrown the kunai had black eyes and black hair, wearing a navy blue short-sleeved high collared shirt with white shorts and an unzipped green Konoha flak jacket. The boy twirled the kunai he had thrown between his fingers before holstering the knife on his hip. "What are you doing in this village?"

Kidōmaru smirked, he couldn't believe his luck. "So, you're the one Lord Orochimaru wants…you're Sasuke Uchiha."

The Uchiha chūnin narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He would like to play dumb but his clan's crest on his back was a dead giveaway of who he was…and who he was related too. But this was a golden opportunity to get some answers for his burning questions. "What does Orochimaru want with me?"

"You know, you should consider yourself lucky…honored even. Lord Orochimaru is very picky about those he lets around him. Me and the others from my group have offered ourselves to him, but he only wants you. And I gotta tell you…I don't see it."

Sasuke sensed the hostility in the words of the man with six arms, which had to be a kind of body modification...just like the Hokage's breasts. "You're not the only one. He said he could give me the power I needed…is that what this mark is for?"

Kidōmaru smirked again, his own mark beginning to spread across his body in entwining twisted lines. "Ah, yes, Heavens Curse Mark. It does give you a boost in power…but not enough to beat me."

Sasuke looked on in shock. This guy had the same mark as him? "You-You have this mark?!"

"All of Lord Orochimaru's best soldiers do. I am one of his most trusted and strongest warriors."

"He wants me to be one of his soldiers?" Sasuke questioned with a growl, overcoming his shock.

"Well, you could spin it that way. But that's not quite correct. You see, Lord Orochimaru, he wants you on our side, so that when the time comes you'll be ready."

"Ready for what?"

Kidōmaru's gaze hardened as a malicious smile appeared on his face. "Tell you what? You beat me in a fight and I'll tell you everything Orochimaru has planned for you. I want to see why Lord Orochimaru passed us up for someone like you."

"Why would I entertain that?"

"You want to kill Itachi Uchiha, right?" Kidōmaru enjoyed the visible frustration on Sasuke as he mentioned his older brother's name. "Well, if you beat me, you'll know how Orochimaru wants to help with that."

Sasuke's Sharingan had already spun into life at the name of his older brother. He was ready rip Kidōmaru's throat out for even mentioning that name! It was a good thing Sasuke had already planned on killing this man for attacking his village, now he had a personal reason to do so that would make the victory all that much more sweeter. But finally learning what Orochimaru wants from him will make this fight worth it.

-With Kiba-

"I don't think so! I'm not gonna lose you!" Kiba shouted as he and his ninja hound, Akamaru, chased after this unknown man with a second head.

Kiba and Akamaru had run into this man by pure accident. They were out on their afternoon walk when he literally came flying in from out of nowhere and nearly hit them. When he realized that the man was not from Konoha, Kiba questioned what he was doing here. The man instantly took off and Kiba ran after him.

"Quit running you damn coward!"

Sakon looked over his shoulder and groaned in annoyance. 'Damn! He's not letting up. I needed to get back to Lord Orochimaru fast, but this damn kid won't get lost.' Sakon suddenly stopped on a rooftop and turned to face Kiba.

"Fine. You wanna die so badly?! I'll be happy to kill you!"

-With Orochimaru-

"Lord Orochimaru!"

The Snake Sannin was already aware of the person who had joined him on the roof, he didn't even bother turning to face them. "Tayuya…did you complete your mission?"

The girl bowed her head in her kneeling position. "My apologizes, my lord, but that blonde brat was stronger than I thought. He broke through my genjutsu and overpowered me and Jirōbō. We got separated and couldn't complete the mission."

The silence was eerie and Tayuya did not like her chances of surviving.

"No matter, we took care of young Naruto. I used the Gedō Mark: Confusion on him. He'll be fighting for us. Consider yourself lucky that things played out like that, or else I would have killed you for failing me."

Tayuya fearfully nodded her head. "I-I understand, Lord Orochimaru. I won't fail you again."

"I hate to break it to you, but you are about to fail him right now."

Tayuya gasped as she turned around quickly to face the newcomer, she had no idea there was anyone behind her. Orochimaru, however, was less surprised, he expected his old teammates to show up at some point, just not together like this.

"Jiraiya…Tsunade…"

The Three-Way Deadlock has begun…