-Konoha Main Gate-

"What in the world is going on here?"

Three young teens stood in the massive doorway that gave entrance into the village of Konoha. They could see the smoke trails floating into the sky, hear the screams of terror echoing from fearful, and clashing of many battles that caused horrible damage.

The first teen, the oldest, was girl with dirty blonde hair that was tied into four separate spiky ponytails, she had a massive fan strapped to her back by a red obi belt. The second teen was a boy in a black bunraku outfit and had purple face-paint into a cross-like design on his face, on his back were two human-sized bandaged puppets. And the third, and the youngest, teen had auburn red hair with a kanji tattoo meaning 'love' on the left side of his forehead, on his back was a massive gourd filled with sand.

Temari looked on in surprise. "They're under attack again…"

Kankurō shook his head in disbelief. "This village has to have some type of target on it's back. When was the last time you heard of a great village being invaded back-to-back like this?"

"Kankurō…Temari…we must help."

The two siblings looked at each other than at their younger brother with determination in their eyes. They were still getting used to the fact that Gaara's attitude has done a complete turnaround, never before would he have been the one to suggest helping someone else. Whatever that blonde kid did to him in their fight really knocked some sense into Gaara.

"Let's go."

-Memorial Stone-

The silver-haired disciple of Orochimaru let out a short sigh, staring at the carved stone before him. According to Konoha lore, this stone was created for the sole purpose of honoring the shinobi that gave their lives for the village: evident by the names craved into the kunai-shaped stone. If he remembered correctly, the name of this structure was the Memorial Stone.

"I had heard you betrayed the village…but the more I thought about it, you were never one of us to begin with."

Kabuto gasped at the voice; he hadn't sensed anyone. He quickly turned around to see who had come. The Hyūga prodigy, and newly promoted to chūnin, Neji.

"Something you want?"

"I've come to stop you and put an end to this madness."

Kabuto smirked at the boy's proclamation. "Stop me? Heh-heh-heh. Why? There's no reason for us to fight, is there?"

"Don't play innocent with me. I know you're the one behind this crisis."

"You do, eh?"

The veins around Neji's eyes bulged out as his pupils became more distinct. "Heh…nothing gets past my Byakugan."

Kabuto pushed his glasses, dropping his smirk. "I see…"

"This is as far you little scheme goes." Neji stated with determination as he took the Gentle Fist taijutsu stance.

Kabuto let a sigh, it almost sounded disappointed. "And there is the fatal flaw of you Konoha shinobi. You're all the same. You rush into a battle without assessing the strength of your opponent. Your recklessness will be the death of you. Get in my way and I'll kill you."

Neji smirked, holding his stance. "Such confidence. I'm curious to see how long it lasts."

Kabuto sighed again, sounding more annoyed than disappointed this time. "So, you refuse to listen? Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you."

"If we're warning each other then I should warn you that you've been in my range this entire time."

Kabuto's interest was peaked. A long-ranged technique? He wasn't aware that the Hyūga really prioritized to learn long-ranged attacks. The Hyūga clan was mostly known for their exceptional taijutsu and, obviously, the Byakugan, which gave the user the ability to see a person's chakra system and all their points. Seeing all the chakra points in a person's system was very handy because their taijutsu, the Gentle Fist, had the precision to hit the chakra points and-

"Oh shit…"

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms…beginning with Two Palm!"

Neji moved in swiftly, closing the distance and hitting the first two points before Kabuto had time to react. Kabuto instantly realized that he wouldn't be able to get away, especially since Neji had already hit his first two strikes, he needed a winning strategy and fast. He quickly slapped his hand on Neji's chest just as the next strikes came in.

"Four Palm! Eight Palm!" Neji continued with striking away at Kabuto's chakra points. "Sixteen Palm! Thirty-Two Palm! Sixty-Four Palm!"

With a final palm strike to his chest, Neji pushed Kabuto back. Neji looked on and expected his opponent to fall, but he did not. In fact, he could see chakra still flowing through his system. "How are you still standing?!"

Kabuto laughed as he began to heal his injuries and reopen his chakra points with his medical ninjutsu. "I should be the one asking you that."

That's when it finally hit Neji, all the air had escaped his lungs and he could no longer feel his limbs. His body went limp and he collapsed to the ground. He struggled to look at his opponent but managed to do so. "H-How…?! It should be game over. I hit every one of your points."

"You would have if I hadn't messed up your entire central nervous system. That little number I did on your chest sent an electrical shock through your entire nervous system that cut feeling from every single one of your limbs, causing your strikes to miss. I'm impressed, I must say, you managed to hit a few of my points out of pure muscle memory. You must train a lot."

Neji grunted and groaned as he tried to push his body off the ground, but he could not get his body to respond. He managed to look up to see that Kabuto had moved to kneel over him.

"You are probably expecting me to kill you right now, and I probably should give the circumstances, but I'm not going to. I don't want to kill if I don't need to. The shock I gave you will put you out of commission for a while. I'll be long gone before you'll be able to move."

"Then…why do you…follow Orochimaru if you won't…kill me? From what I've gathered…he'll kill anyone who opposes him." Neji struggled to say.

It was subtle and near unnoticeable, the glasses made even more difficult, but Neji caught the faintest look of realization in Kabuto's eyes. The question of allegiance seemed to hit Kabuto harder than expected. A single blink and the realization disappeared.

"I agree with Lord Orochimaru's ideals. He has a vision…and I want to see it come true."

"Neji!"

Kabuto looked over and saw two familiar faces enter the area from the trees. Both Kakashi and Gai jumped down and landed ready to fight. "Well, aren't you two persistent."

"What did you do to Neji?!" Gai shouted.

Kabuto smirked as he stood to his full height. "Oh, nothing really, he just made the same mistake you all Leaf ninja make. Never accounting for your enemy's strength, a fatal flaw."

Kakashi glared at the man. "…You killed him?"

Kabuto pushed up his glasses. "Heavens no. Why would I do something so barbaric? But take a step closer and this boy will never be able to use his gifted eyes again."

"Get away from Neji!" Gai shouted again.

"You know, I believe you're right. It is about time I make my exit. I'm sure I can find another unsuspecting victim to turn on their comrades before things get too chaotic." Kabuto threw a smoke pellet on the ground and disappeared while under the cover.

Gai quickly rushed over to his student while Kakashi looked over to the Memorial Stone, already starting his search for the scroll. "Is he alive, Gai?"

The green clad man nodded. "Yes." He sighed in relief. "Thank goodness…"

Kakashi moved towards the stone and stood before it. His initial visual look over of the Memorial Stone didn't amount to much. He didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, which was to be expected. But instead of moving around the monument, trying to find something out of place, he just stood in front of the monument, staring at it. He placed his hand over his covered eye as memories of a buried past came back to the surface.

'Obito…Rin…Sensei…'

Gai moved Neji's unconscious off the ground and set him up against a nearby tree, he looked over Neji a second time to make sure nothing else was wrong. Gai turned back to look at Kakashi. "We need to go after him, Kakashi. He needs to be stopped before he can do any more damage to the village."

Kakashi's grip on the cloth tightened. Gai was right, Kabuto needed to be stopped. By him. "Gai, stay here and wait for Neji to wake up. His Byakugan will find the scroll much faster than you and I can."

"And what are you going to do?"

The cloth that covered Kakashi's scarred eye slowly rose to his forehead, exposing the Sharingan. Merely just activating the dōjutsu caused immense pain, but Kakashi powered through it. "I'm going after Kabuto…and put an end to his madness."

-With Sakura and Lee-

The pair of Sakura and Rock Lee had moved their unconscious comrade, Naruto, out of the street and hid themselves in a nearby alleyway, Lee stood guard at the end of the alley while Sakura kept a close eye on her teammate. They, both, could hear the sounds of multiple battles being fought around them, clashing metal and explosions of jutsus echoed through the air.

Lee continued to scan the area around them. "We should be safe here for a while. We might want to consider moving to another location soon."

Sakura nodded in understanding before turning back to the unconscious boy propped up against the wall in front of her, it looked like Naruto had fallen into a deep sleep the way his body had relaxed. Minus the rise and fall of his chest from his breathing, Naruto hadn't moved a single muscle since he passed out.

It was such a long shot that her idea even worked. The fact that a simple genjutsu removal technique was enough to mess with the mind control just enough for Naruto break it completely, however he did, was astonishing, she briefly wondered how complex the mind control jutsu was and how it could be thrown into disarray with by a simple genjutsu removal technique…then her brain started to hurt so she stopped thinking about it.

"Uh…" A slight groan escaped Naruto's throat as he shifted in discomfort.

"Naruto…?"

Another groan and Naruto opened his eyes, already making out the blurry pink blob was Sakura. "Sa…Sakura…"

"Are…are you okay, Naruto?"

Naruto rubbed his eye, as if he had just woken up from a nap. "I'm fine…just trying to get my bearings back." He blinked a few times before his vision became clear and he could see the concern on his teammate's face. "Are you alright, Sakura? You don't seem hurt."

Sakura shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Lee has been on lookout while I've kept an eye on you."

Lee turned back momentarily. "I'm glad to see that you are back on our side, Naruto."

The memories of what he had done flashed through his mind. "…Yeah, I'm me again…" Naruto looked up at Sakura once more and immediately saw the bloody version of her from the vision he was forced to endure earlier…the vision that almost became a reality because of him. "Sakura, I-"

"That wasn't you. Got it?"

"But I- "

"If you're having trouble not seeing it wasn't you then we'll talk about it later." Sakura said. "But, right now, you need to get your head on straight. There are a lot of other people who were taken over by the enemy's' jutsu. We need to help them first."

Naruto held a blank stare for a moment, it was rare to hear Sakura use such authority in her voice…in fact, that was the first time she used that tone towards him. But it did the trick. Naruto pushed the negative thoughts aside to be dealt with later…much like other things that he needed to figure out. "Right…you're right."

Sakura smiled in satisfaction and offered her hand to help Naruto off the ground, which he accepted. "Good. Now, c'mon, we are heading to the Memorial Stone to help Kakashi sensei."

Naruto raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Help Kakashi sensei? What for?"

"Him and Gai sensei are looking for something that will help end Orochimaru's attack." Lee chimed in as he approached the pair.

"What are they looking for?"

"A scroll of some kind." Sakura answered. "Apparently, it will free everyone from Orochimaru's control."

That's all Naruto needed to hear. He wanted to make Orochimaru pay for making him his puppet. "Right! We're not doing any good just standing around here!"

"Yeah!"

"Then let's make haste to the Memorial Stone! We must not fail!"

-Kiba vs. Sakon-

Kiba could barely keep his hard breathing quiet as he tried to hide from his opponent in a dark alleyway, all the while trying to sooth Akamaru's injuries. The fight had started off well, him and Akamaru were able to catch this creepy dude with two heads in an explosive tag. But that only seemed to piss the guy off. Weird and strange black markings spread all over his face and body and instantly turned the tide of the battle.

Kiba and Akamaru tried to go for the explosive trap again but this guy gained more speed somehow and nearly set the tag off while Akamaru was still trying to place it. Akamaru had a few burns but none that were too serious.

"C'mon on out! You're the one who wanted this fight in the first place!" Sakon shouted like a crazed madman from overhead.

Kiba moved slightly more out of view, trying to give himself as much time as possible to think of a plan to beat this guy. He felt a small nudge against his chest and looked down at Akamaru. The ninja hound whined slightly as if he was trying to say something.

"Are you sure you're up for it, buddy?" The dog nodded in understanding. Kiba sighed as he dug around his pocket for a solider pill. "Alright…but we'll only have the one shot. We've never done the full transformation yet and it'll use up most of our chakra. We'll be dead dogs if we don't beat him." He took out the solider pill and placed it in Akamaru's mouth, he needed the nourishment more. "Let's go at him from both sides with Fang over Fang!"

Sakon jumped down from the rooftops and stood in the street. He was leaving himself completely open, but he was getting frustrated that he couldn't find this guy. As much as he needed to get back to Orochimaru, this kid needed to die first.

"Man-Beast Taijutsu: Fang over Fang!"

Two fast rotating objects flew in from Sakon's front and back, planning to tunnel their way through him. The impact was quick and explosive. The dust cleared and Kiba was able to see what had stopped the joint attack. Two arms had sprouted out of Sakon's back as the second head on his body seemed to have finally awakened from his slumber.

"Two on two seems perfect for us…don't you think, Sakon?" The second head said, smiling sinisterly at the Kiba he was restraining, as a foot grew out of Sakon's back and pushed against Kiba.

'What the hell is this guy?! What kind of ability is this?!'

The foot had enough force to simply push Kiba back and send him flying into a wall, the transformation was dropped and Akamaru appeared. The real Kiba pushed against Sakon's strength but couldn't break free. One of the sprouted arms reached around grabbed Kiba by his neck, freeing up Sakon's arms to assault Kiba.

"We're really a good team…true brothers." The second head stated.

Sakon smirked. "My older brother normally stays asleep inside me, but normally awakes up to help out in a battle. Ukon can extend his hands and legs from any part my body and can both strike and defend." Ukon's head and hand appeared out of Sakon's scalp and both began to strike Kiba from different angles. "Just like this!"

With the strength of three arms and legs, Sakon and Ukon beat down Kiba and sent him flying back. Akamaru barked in concern as he ran towards his master. "Punches and kicks that are three times as powerful hurts a bit more, don't they? Let's see…what else could I do to you?"

A hand appeared out of Sakon's collarbone and clasped over his mouth. Ukon's head also appeared. "We don't have much time to spare, Sakon. Lord Orochimaru needs us." A portion of Sakon's skin turned red and Ukon's head began to change and resemble an oni. A large, horn-like grew out the side of his forehead and his hair turned sickly white. "Kill them quickly…activate Level Two!"

Sakon nodded and his features became like his brother. "Yeah yeah, you're too hasty, brother."

Kiba looked on in complete shock, even Akamaru whined. 'This isn't good. We were already out-matched big time when that second guy came out…but their chakra increased ten-fold?! What is going on?!'

"Woof! Woof!"

Kiba nodded in confirmation, Akamaru was ready for their strongest attack. "Alright buddy, let's end this with Double Wolf Fang!"

Sakon, with Ukon prodding out, charged at Kiba with the intent to kill. Akamaru jumped into the air, spinning and flinging urine, while Kiba stayed and took the blow to the stomach. A splash of the dog's urine hit Sakon in the face, throwing his aim off and missing the killing blow on Kiba.

"What the fuck?! Piss?!"

Akamaru landed on Kiba's head. "Everything's set!" Kiba yelled as he slammed his hands together. "Man-Beast Transformation Combo: Double-Headed Wolf!"

Using a combo transformation, which is a specialty of the Inuzuka clan, Kiba and Akamaru transformed themselves into a large, two headed wolf that resembled Akamaru. It's two heads bared its fangs and drooled large drops of saliva all over the area.

Sakon was not impressed by the showing. "Hehehe…all this tension for a drooling dog?"

"Look out brother!" Ukon shouted.

"Eat this!" The massive two-headed beast jumped into the air and began to spin rapidly like a drill. Sakon was able dodge the first pass of the drilling beast by jumping out of the way, not without getting scraped in the calf. But on his landing, he slipped in a pool of saliva that messed up his footing. He couldn't get out of the way of a second coming. "Double Wolf Fang!"

Kiba and Akamaru's ultimate attack nailed Sakon and Ukon dead center, ripping right through the conjoined brothers. One half of the body went one way while the other half went another. The two-headed beast came to grinding halt and admired the result.

"Ha! How was that?!" Kiba shouted in triumph. "We were spinning so fast that I couldn't keep track of you with my vision. But even if we didn't hit you head on like we did, the shockwaves would have been more then plenty to slice you up nine different ways."

Both Ukon and Sakon laid motionless on the ground. That is until limbs started to grow from their ripped halves. Each sprouted one arm and one leg that matched their demonic looking features. Both demon-like brothers rose to their feet and adjusted themselves to their new limbs.

"Actually…we were thinking about splitting up. Thanks for doing the work for us." Ukon stated as he clenched his claw-like hand.

The transformed beast of Kiba and Akamaru looked on in utter disbelief. 'They multiplied?!'

Sakon cracked his neck towards the massive spike on his shoulder. "But I will say that is this the first time we've been separated by force. If we had been hit as one, then it would've been bad for us."

"No matter…the real fight begins now!"

Kiba grunted in frustration while Akamaru whined in great pain. The transformation was putting a much bigger strain on the ninja hound than his master thought. 'Yeah, I know it hurts Akamaru. I think we got one more shot in us before we lose the transformation. We'll get them with this one then!'

With great force and speed, the double-headed beast spin rapidly again and tunneled its way towards the two demoniac brothers. Both Sakon and Ukon evaded the tunneling beast and hid in two separate alleyways.

"There's no use in hiding from us! I told you we're not using our eyes!" Kiba shouted as the spinning beast continued to charge. "You reek of piss! I can smell you from a mile away!"

The plan was near instantaneous for Sakon and Ukon. They both realized they wouldn't be able to outrun the beast, so blocking it's spinning attack was the next best thing. The brothers, both, bit their demonic looking thumb and slammed their hands on the ground, the alpha and the beta.

"Kuchiyose: Rashōmon!" The brothers shouted in unison.

A large demonic looking gate rose up from the ground and stood between the two-head beast and the demonic brothers. The steel doors were bolted shut for an iron defense against the drilling beast. The impact was loud and fierce enough to dent the steel doors. The beast transformation faltered and disappeared, Kiba and Akamaru fell separately through the air.

"This is the end!" Sakon yelled as he and Ukon came in for killing blows on them both.

It was too quick for Kiba to stop but Akamaru was able to kick Kiba out of harms way and take the front of the blows from both Sakon and Ukon but let out a sling of urine that hit Sakon in his eyes.

"Akamaru! Damnit!" Kiba yelled. 'He took that blow for me…'

"Oh god! That little shit pissed in my eyes! It burns like fucking acid!" Sakon screamed in agony as he tried to rub the burning sensation away.

Kiba looked around to gain better awareness of his surroundings, he noticed that one of the demonic brothers was missing. "Shit…where'd the other one go?"

"Are you looking for me?"

Kiba instantly froze in absolute fear when Ukon whispered in his ear, Ukon's hot breath sent chills down Kiba's spine. He simply glanced over to his shoulder with his eyes, fearing that moving any muscle would result in his death. Protruding out of Kiba's shoulder was Ukon's demonic head, much like how he would protrude out of Sakon.

"Fuck you Ukon! You used me as a shield to get inside him!"

"Calm down brother. I'll handle the rest. Do what you can to cleanse your eyes. Lord Orochimaru will need what strength we can spare."

Kiba tried to punch Ukon out of his body. But Ukon brought out a hand and caught Kiba's fist and used his arm choke him.

"This is my ability…specialized for assassinations." Ukon stated as he used Kiba's arm to choke him. "Did you know that the passage of chakra is deeply woven together with your organs? In other words, these passageways heavily interact with your organs and the cells that make up the tissue. In my 'Level Two' state, I can construct and deconstruct my cells and proteins at my own will. Basically, I can break myself down and invade the enemy's body and reconstruct my body with theirs…becoming one in the same body."

Kiba was able to understand what this demonic guy was saying. 'Same body?! Then that means…'

"But rest assured, our bodies aren't fully merged together. My cells move freely among your body. That's how I can get creative with killing. I can tear off little bits and pieces that aren't merged with me."

Kiba held a toothy grin as he used his free hand to draw his kunai from his thigh holster. "Oh yeah? Then what happens if I do this?!" Before Ukon could create a hand to stop him, Kiba stabbed himself in the stomach. Both parties had blood dripping from their mouths.

"S-Suicide?!"

Kiba's grin turned into a full-blown smile. "If I'm going down then you're coming with me!"

"What the hell are you thinking, you crazy fuck?!"

"We're sharing the same body, right?" Kiba hacked up a handful of blood. "That means if one of us gets hurt then the other does too."

"Shit…!" 'The whole point of my ability is to stay out of harms way…I never thought I'd meet someone that'd do something like this…'

"Painful, isn't it? Then let's settle this!" Kiba plunged the kunai into his midsection but Ukon separated himself from Kiba before the blow could hurt him.

Ukon tried to get up but the stab wound he received proved to be a lethal one, blood was pouring out of the wound around his kidney and he couldn't slow the flow. The wound was devastating that his Curse Mark began to recede and Ukon returned to a normal state. "Damn it…I can't…go on." The man fell back and closed his eyes.

"Ukon!" Sakon shouted in anger as tears streamed down his face from the burning sensation. "You bastard! You'll die for that!" He staggeringly approached Kiba with the intent to end this once and for all.

Kiba ignored the man crawled his way towards his long-time companion. Akamaru had long ago passed out and showed no signs of life. His owner and master tenderly picked the white dog up in his arms and held him. 'Thank god…he's still breathing. You fought well buddy. We managed to hold them off long enough for someone to hopefully to come to our rescue…and because of you we were even able to kill one of them.' He looked over his shoulder and saw Sakon slowly coming towards them. 'Don't worry Akamaru…I'll protect you this time.'

Sakon stood over Kiba with his demonic arm cranked back, ready to slice the man to pieces who killed his brother. He strained his claw-like fingers, yearning for Kiba's throat to be in his grip. He shot his hand down and was blocked by a cloaked figure.

Kiba fell back against a wall, cradling his life-long companion. "I really hope you're on our side this time."

Sakon followed his enemy's eyes to see another figure in a black outfit with purple face paint. Sakon immediately put the pieces together and realized that this newcomer was a puppet user. And the thing that blocked his attack was his puppet. But what caught his eye the most was the Suna hitaiate on his hood. A familiar ally, or a former one at that.

"You guys are really indecisive. Pick a fucking side, will ya?"

Kankurō smirked as he moved his fingers in the correct manner to control his puppet, using the chakra threads at the points of his fingers to move Karasu and Kuroari. "I have picked a side…we're Konoha's allies now. And you're really careless for letting your guard down with Kuroari right behind you."

Sakon looked confused for a moment before looking over his shoulder to see a puppet with a bucket-shaped head with two sharp red horns. It barrel-like body opened and engulfed Sakon, trapping him.

"Kuroari isn't an attacking puppet. Its purpose is to capture its target and give Karasu the opportunity to attack." Kankurō moved his fingers and Karasu's limbs, including the head, broke from its main body and unsheathed daggers from each of the joints. "Eat this! Puppet Theater!"

"Let me out, you bast-"

Sakon was never able to finish his words because the multiple different daggers of Karasu's limbs shot through Kuroari's open slots, piercing Sakon through and through. The death many have been quick but the sounds of blades cutting flesh stained the area like the blood staining Kuroari's insides.

"…And the play ends."

-Sasuke vs. Kidōmaru-

Sasuke felt as if he was holding his own against Kidōmaru, considering the odd obstacle of the six arms. Hand-to-hand combat with Kidōmaru was an absolute nightmare, even for someone as skilled at taijutsu as Sasuke was. His Sharingan proved, yet again, to be the equalizer for him. His heightened concentration combined with his natural ability of situational awareness was the perfect storm for Sasuke to handle fighting a man with six arms.

Next was Kidōmaru's spider-like ability of creating spiderwebs and being able to shoot the webs from his mouth…

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

Sasuke fired a great ball of fire from his own mouth to counter the flying web that was shot at him by Kidōmaru. The fire consumed the webs and Sasuke assumed he had burned the webs completely, but a small burnt portion of webs flew through the fire and caught Sasuke's left hand against a tree.

Sasuke tried to free his hand but couldn't break it free. "What the heck? My fireball should have burned up all the webs." He took out a kunai knife and tried to cut through the webs. "I can't cut it!"

"That's because my webs are from my spit and are infused with my chakra. They're unbreakable."

Sasuke continued to try and break his limb free. "It looks like your webs aren't entirely unbreakable, my flames still consumed them."

"I will give you that. Your Katon ability was strong enough to burn my chakra webs." Kidōmaru stated. He fiddled with something in his mouth, as if he was chewing, and pulled out six golden spikes made from the same chakra web. He bit off the stringy ends and the spikes hardened to steel. "But nothing can burn or break my Golden Spider Spikes!"

The six spikes were thrown simultaneously and closed in on Sasuke. Sasuke was practically jerking his arm, trying to free himself from the sticky web. He knew the spikes would tear through him like paper if he didn't do something quick. He couldn't burn the webs without burning himself and using a kunai to cut through the webs was a useless endeavor. Funneling chakra into his left hand, lightning began to arch from his palm as the sound of one thousand birds filled the area. The webs broke apart and Sasuke was freed. The spikes embedded themselves into the tree and Sasuke dashed in front of Kidōmaru and put the lightning in his face.

"Chidori!"

The bolt came down and struck Kidōmaru square in the face. But Sasuke was quick to realize that there was a golden plate separating his hand from his intended target. The golden plate was formed perfectly around Kidōmaru's head like a shield but had been cracked and broken from the impact of Sasuke's Chidori.

'Golden skin!?' Sasuke jumped back to safe distance. He focused his Sharingan. 'That skin is made from the same materials as those lances he spat out of his mouth. This must some type of kekkei genkai.'

Kidōmaru ripped off the shield and showed his proud smile. "That was a close call, I wasn't sure I'd be able to materialize my armor in time. A narrow escape."

"It's not just your mouth then. You can materialize from any part of your body."

"Hmph…those Sharingan eyes of yours are more preceptive than I thought. But your right. My kumo-nenkin (Golden Spider Thread) is a form of metal that instantly hardens when it touches air. Also, I can emit it not just from my mouth but every sweat gland on my body."

Sasuke continued to analyze his opponent and tried to come up with possible strategies. 'Close combat is already a nightmare with those six arms, so that's out of the question. My Katon techniques are strong enough to burn his webs but I've already used up half my chakra with just one Chidori. I have one more kill shot with roughly six more fireballs to counter the webs. But if I get caught again and have to spend another Chidori...it won't be good for me.'

Kidōmaru was doing the exact same thing and analyzed his opponent. 'This will be an interesting game. I never would have thought my webs would be weak to a lightning jutsu like that. The force of a lightning bolt must have cut through my chakra. But if I can get him caught in a full body bind then that should be enough. I'll just have to watch out for his fire. But his Sharingan is another major problem. From what Lord Orochimaru's research said, the Sharingan is capable of copying techniques, can predict a person's movement based off the slightest muscle tension, and react to fast moving objects. If I can come at him from multiple angles, he won't be able to track everything and I should be able to trap him.'

With a plan solidified, Kidōmaru began to act. The six-armed man jumped into the trees to hide away. Sasuke tried to track Kidōmaru's movements but the lack of sound threw him off and he lost Kidōmaru's position. He continuously scanned the trees for any sign of his opponent. Realizing that he was at a huge disadvantage and that Kidōmaru could attack him from any and every possible area besides below him, Sasuke executed a series of hand seals.

"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!" (Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu)

A constant stream of flame flew out of Sasuke's mouth as he spun around. The flames scorched the trees and burned the vegetation. From his hiding spot, Kidōmaru saw the flames coming his way and ducked for cover on the ground. Burnt leaves and burning branches fell with Kidōmaru as he fell into Sasuke's view.

Sasuke's attack was far from over. His hands flew through another set of seals. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

A massive fireball flew towards Kidōmaru, ready to burn the spider-like man to a pile of ashes on the ground. But Kidōmaru was quick to react. He shot a long web out of mouth that stuck to a non-burning branch that propelled him up like a grapple. He bit the web and cut himself loose once clear of the fireball but that was a mistake, Sasuke had appeared under him.

"Little brat!"

Kidōmaru instinctively swung one of his arms back. Sasuke anticipated this and already had a counter ready. He kicked Kidōmaru higher into the air, creating more speed on decent that would shortly follow. He fiercely grabbed Kidōmaru's purple rope belt and timed his devastating kick just as he approached the ground.

"Shishi Rendan!" (Lions Barrage)

The ground shattered underneath the impact of Sasuke's devasting kick to Kidōmaru's midsection, but Sasuke knew the kick did not connect because the golden armor had formed around Sasuke's intended target. Kidōmaru took advantage and spewed a massive web out of his mouth that enveloped Sasuke and stuck him between two trees.

'Damn it!' Sasuke internally berated himself for being trapped as he struggled against the webs. 'My entire body is caught; I can't break free. And I can't risk using any fire without burning myself.' With his frustration mounting, Sasuke refocused his chakra and stamina to breaking free of the webs, allowing the Curse Mark to emerge and spread across his bound body.

Kidōmaru clicked his tongue. "You shouldn't use that so loosely. It will really fuck you up."

Sasuke felt the Curse Mark's power begin to flow through his veins. "Oh yeah? Maybe I'll use it to really fuck you up."

Kidōmaru shook his head. "It seems you don't have much control over the Curse Mark. By the looks of it, you're still in the first stage of things and still don't have much control over it. But if you keep 'releasing' the seal like that then the seal will slowly invade your body. It's spreading fairly slow…however, when it's taken over your body completely…" Kidōmaru allowed his own Curse Mark seal to spread across his body in twisted, entwining lines. "You will lose all your free will and become Lord Orochimaru's slave forever."

Sasuke stopped struggling and looked on in surprise. "Lose my free will?"

"To gain something, you must be willing to lose something else. To gain the power you want, you must give yourself to Lord Orochimaru."

Sasuke let the words sink into his mind. In his current state, he was nowhere near strong enough to take down Itachi and avenge his clan. And even with Naruto's help, they were no match for his elder brother. But what Kidōmaru was saying made sense to Sasuke. It was only logical to sacrifice one thing in order to achieve another. If that one thing was important enough; nothing else mattered. And all that mattered to Sasuke was Itachi's dead body.

"But still, why would Lord Orochimaru want some weak-ass like you? Kimimaro had much more potential than you, more than all the Sound Four put together. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't be doing this under his strict orders to capture you…but I don't care..."

Kidōmaru's Curse Mark unleashed further and began to change his body completely. His skin became dark red and his hair turned a ghostly grey and grew untamed. His fingernails turned into sharp claws. Horns grew out his forehead, shoulders, and elbows.

"…I want to prove to Lord Orochimaru that I'm the perfect vessel for him! Killing you will be the ultimate test of vindication!"

Sasuke looked on in complete shock and disbelief. What on earth was Kidōmaru turning into? "Just what the hell are you?!"

Kidōmaru bared his fangs with a malicious smile. "This is what the Curse Mark evolves into. This is the second level. You can only achieve this form if you allow the seal to take over your body and you fully submit yourself to Lord Orochimaru."

"The second level?" Using his Sharingan, Sasuke could see the heavily increased amount of chakra and power flowing through Kidōmaru's body. He could not only see the power but he could feel it as well, his chakra amount must have increased, at least, ten-fold. "Unreal…"

"This is what Lord Orochimaru is offering you! You'd be stupid not to take the offer. But like I said before…" More golden webbing flowed out of Kidōmaru's mouth and formed into a hardened bow and arrow with a single strand of webbing to act as the bowstring. "I'm going to prove I am the perfect vessel. You can't be alive for that to happen."

"You keep saying you want to be the perfect vessel. Vessel for what?"

Kidōmaru set the arrow in the webbing and brought the string to the corner of his mouth. He lined up his shot: the bridge of Sasuke's nose between his eyes. "Lord Orochimaru has a taste for the eternal. He needs vessels that will carry his soul throughout eternity…and I will be the next one. Goodbye, Sasuke Uchiha, it's been a fun game."

Kidōmaru steadied his slight swaying body and began releasing the grip on the bowstring…that is until he could no longer move. It felt like he had been trapped inside some kind of paralysis. A long shadow had merged with his that led off behind some burnt brush.

"Man, that was too close." A lazy, yet stressed, voice said. The person stood from his hiding spot to reveal the lazy genius himself, Shikamaru Nara. "I didn't think my shadow was going to make it in time before you let go of your arrow, but it still was a success."

-Memorial Stone-

"How are you feeling, Neji?"

Neji had regain consciousness some time ago and was now sitting up against a tree. His sensei tried to help nurse his injuries but Gai was even less talented in the medical field as he was in genjutsu. He basically had to deal with the pain until he could see an actual medical ninja. "I'll be fine. Just give me a few minutes to regain some strength."

Gai nodded in understanding and walked over to the Memorial Stone, itself, to examine it. He walked around the memorial to see if he could find any oddities or any type of clue that would hint where the Scroll of Seals was, but there was nothing that indicated anything. "Where could it be?"

"Gai sensei! Neji!"

The pair of master and student turned to the sound to see Lee, another member of their team, along with Naruto and Sakura coming into the area. Lee saw the state of his rival and ran up to him in a very dramatic fashion.

"Neji! Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Neji had to physically push Lee back from toppling over him with his overbearing 'care'. "I'm fine Lee! Just get off me!"

Lee regained himself and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry Neji."

Neji waved off the apology, then watched the pair of Team Seven members walk up to him and Lee. "…Naruto, huh…" For some reason, he wasn't really all that surprised that he'd show up.

"Neji…what happened?" Sakura questioned.

"That Kabuto fellow did this to Neji." Gai said, approaching the group. "Me and Kakashi got here just after their battle."

"Kabuto?!" Sakura gasped. The memory of their battle in the Forest of Death was still in her mind. "Where is Kakashi sensei?"

Gai's face hardened with dejection, for reasons unknown to the rest. "Kakashi took off after Kabuto in order to stop him once and for all."

Naruto nodded in understanding. Keeping his focus on the objective at hand, he looked at the Memorial Stone. "Did you find the scroll you were looking for, sensei?"

Gai shook his head. "No, not yet. I've looked around the memorial but couldn't find anything out of place or a clue of any kind. Maybe we're still looking in the wrong place."

"What are you looking for?" Neji questioned in a pained voice.

"Orochimaru has cast a very powerful jutsu on some of our ninja that cause them to attack their comrades." Gai answered. "We need to find a scroll that holds the release jutsu. The only clue we have to go from is a riddle."

"What's the riddle?"

"Protected by heroes." Sakura answered. "Besides the Hokage Faces, the Memorial Stone was the only place we could think of."

Neji nodded. The Memorial Stone had the names of those who gave their lives in the sake of Konoha's safety and future and whose acts were considered beyond the call of their duties etched on the stone. "I see. I'll use my Byakugan to see if I can find anything."

"Are you sure, Neji?" Lee asked in concern. "You don't have a lot of strength."

"I have enough to activate my Byakugan for a few moments. It'll be more than enough time to see if anything is here."

Naruto nodded. "Do it, Neji."

The veins around Neji's eyes protruded and became visible through his skin. His vision instantly transformed to a full radius of three hundred and sixty degrees and he saw everything that was around him. He focused his attention on the stone itself and noticed something under it. It looked a cubbyhole or some type of compartment underneath the stone. "There, I see something. Underneath the stone."

"What is it?" Gai asked.

"A secret compartment. I can't make out what's inside but there is definitely something inside. There's an access point on the far side of the side, on it's base." With that, Neji's dōjutsu deactivated and he lost his extreme vision.

"I'll check it out."

Naruto approached the stone and walked around to the side Neji saw the access point. He ran his hand across the base and felt nothing different. He knocked on random spots and stopped when he heard the hollow sound he was looking for. He had found the cover for the opening. He tried a few different ways to figure out how to uncover the opening and finally did when he simply pushed the section of rock in.

"I found it!" Naruto yelled as he reached in and pulled out a single scroll. "Huh?"

"What is it, Naruto?" Sakura questioned as she and Gai ran up to the blonde.

"All that's in there is this one scroll." Naruto stated. "I thought the scroll would've been bigger."

"It is." Gai agreed. "The Scroll of Seals is a massive scroll that contains forbidden jutsu that dates back to the days of the First Hokage. This must be another red herring…"

Naruto looked at the scroll and saw no other option but to open it. "Maybe it'll give us another clue." He unraveled the scroll and pulled it open. There was no text but different formulas and seals that Naruto knew very well. He smirked.

"What is it, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"It's a storage scroll." The blonde said as he laid the scroll on the ground. "The old man gave me a few when I first got to the village and taught me how to use them."

Naruto slammed his hand on the seal and a plum of smoke followed. The smoke cleared and three items appeared. A large scroll and two wooden boxes, one carved with the Sarutobi clan symbol and the other labeled with the kanji symbols for Hiraishin. (Thunder God)

"That must be it!" Sakura shouted.

"Yes, it is!" Gai confirmed. "That is definitely the Scroll of Seals!"

Naruto paid no attention to the large scroll and focused solely on the Hiraishin box. He instantly felt drawn to the box, like he had some type connection to the contents or the box itself. He had never seen the box before in his life but, for some reason, he knew it belonged to him, or, at least, the contents did.

"We need to get this to Lady Tsunade immediately!" Gai said in his youthful enthusiasm. "She'll be able to use the release jutsu on a big enough scale for the whole village to be freed from Orochimaru's jutsu."

Suddenly, a large rumble echoed through the earth. The group of shinobi steadied themselves as the rumbled died out and disappeared. They looked around and saw three massive creatures that towered over the village: a purple snake, a white with blue strips slug, and a red toad.

"Are those…?" Sakura's question trailed of in shock.

"Things are really heating up over there." Gai pointed. Seeing the Sannin bring out their summons and how serious the situation was becoming made Gai think that Kakashi was having a rough time with Kabuto without his Sharingan. "Okay, here's the plan." The group turned their attention to the jōnin of the group. "I'm going to back-up Kakashi, he's going to need help against Kabuto. Naruto and Sakura, I need you two to bring the scroll to Lady Tsunade. But do not engage in any fighting with Orochimaru, you won't win."

"Actually, I've fought-"

Gai ignored Naruto and continued to talk. "And Lee, you will stay here and protect Neji. He needs more time to recover from his injuries. Does everyone understand what needs to happen?" The group nodded. "Good. Now…execute!" Gai disappeared instantly with his speed.

Naruto picked the massive scroll up and hoisted it onto his shoulder, he was a little surprised by how light it was. He took one more look at the box, still feeling this unknown connection to it. He wanted to open it and learn it secrets but decided against that. He had a mission to complete and Sannin to defeat.

"Let's go, Sakura!"

"Right behind you!"

Quick Author's Note: Hey everyone. Sorry this chapter took so long. I had it going twelve different ways in my head and rewrote it close to five or six times before I decided on something that resembled the finished product. Plus, life took over and had to focus on other things going on. And even when I had time to write, my mind would wander about future storylines and scenes that I want to include at some point (most of which won't happen until the Shippuden Era of my story unfortunately). So, again, sorry this one took longer than usual. I'm already working on the next chapter so I hope that it will come out better and faster than this one. Catch ya on the next one. Deuces.