Onsen City was easily one of the nicest places in the Shinobi World. It was a perk of dwelling in one of the most prosperous countries. Even as paranoid as the populace was after the new year's announcement tragedy, things were peaceful. Travelers from all over still enjoyed the signature hot springs. A gray-haired man who wasn't a traveler nor native to the city took it in by his apartment door.

"Hideki!" A woman in snow clothes with a babe in her arms stopped by.

"Hey." Leaning toward her, he tapped a finger against the baby's nose. "How's Daigo?"

She frowned. "He's been a bit worried."

Knowing full well why, he nodded. "Thought so." He put his back against the frame of his door and crossed his arms. "Even if it's perfectly natural, you shouldn't be scared." He raised an educated finger. "There's no sense being afraid of what you can't control."

"I'm not sure most people can accept that." She shushed her whining baby.

"Doesn't matter if they accept it or not: that's the way things are."

"You're right." A smile spread across her face. "You're a good neighbor, Hideki."

He chuckled. "I can say the same of you and Daigo." Blinking, he tilted his head. "Am I keeping you from something?"

"No, I was just going out on a walk."

"May I accompany you?" He glanced around. "I mean, is that alright?"

She giggled. "You may, attendant Hideki."

He bowed. "As you wish, milady." Laughing, he followed after. "Who knows? Maybe you are related to the daimyo."

"Oh, that's just a foul rumor."

"Eh." A few red memories came to his mind. "Life is stranger than fiction." He looked up into the steamy, cloudy sky.

As they walked around, several people they were familiar with greeted them. There were a few whispers and playful remarks, but they made sure to express how much it wasn't what it looked like. Each, knowing them personally, believed them. It was more teasing than any kind of accusation. No one else was around their residences when they returned.

"I really hope Daigo doesn't hear about this and take it the wrong way."

She giggled as she rubbed her baby's red nose. "Believe it or not, you're one of his best friends."

"Really?" He blinked.

"Dai might not seem like it, but he's shy. We don't go out much because of it, not that I mind." Nuzzling their happy child, she giggled again. "I'm happy."

He smiled. "I'm glad to hear that." Walking back to his door, he raised a hand in farewell. "Think I'm going to take a nap."

"See you later." She opened the door of her own house and entered.

He gave his surroundings a quick look around before entering his own. "I really do think you're good neighbors too." He jumped back-first on to his couch. "All of you are." Yawning, he stared up at the ceiling. "I'm going to save each and every one of you."

None would consider it saving.

Sometime after Naruto and Orochimaru got situated, Tadashi woke up Daichi from his rest to talk about the problem. They knew their lord wouldn't understand, so they agreed to forgo their duties as long as he was present. Anko, seeing an opportunity, went to town with Hinata, bathed, and ate at the start of their shifts before getting dressed in their anbu outfits. Perfect impersonation excluding chakra signatures needed them to know their target's vocal tones aside from physical appearance and body language. Hinata's Byakugan let her create perfect physical transformations, but those were better reserved for fooling her own clan if need be. Orochimaru's mastery over body modification jutsu hid his secret as well as his identity during the Chunin Exams from her and Neji's eyes. Master and student crept over the walls into the palace.

Both went over the details before moving out. There were a few places they could stash anyone they wanted to impersonate. Each carried a number of neurotoxic needles with them to scramble their victims' cognitive functions for a great amount of time. It would leave permanent damage akin to drug use yet not enough to kill nor disable them. Medical Ninjutsu was incapable of recognizing such poison after it passed their systems. As for damage, its analysis wasn't precise enough to detect wounds on such a subtle scale unless the person knew what to look for.

Orochimaru watched his own student's eyes open. "You're awake."

"Do you...ever sleep?" Naruto lifted his upper body and tilted his head. "...Wait a minute."

"I'm surprised you didn't realize it sooner."

"Body modification jutsu." He yawned.

He nodded. "Life forms have an astonishing amount of complex processes we perform every moment. Sleep is part of several energy-conservation and recovery processes. I can do them consciously now with minimal loss in chakra."

"Really...need to learn Yang Release."

"F–"

"'Focus your chakra into manipulating your physical energy, and you will be able to manipulate your own physical form,'" Naruto quoted.

"Or the forms of others, though that's more complex and difficult."

"Healing Ninjutsu." He got out of bed and began stretching. "Seems kind of shitty to me."

"The Nine-Tails' chakra in your body ensures you will never suffer the effects of a wound for too long, so it's of little use unless you wish to heal others."

Naruto clenched his left hand yet still couldn't clench his right. "That's the exact opposite of what I want to do." He patted his stomach, remembering their delicious dinner before bed. "Do you know what Tadanaga has for breakfast?"

"High protein meals." Orochimaru would've rolled his eyes at his blank stare if it surprised him in any way. "Meat, eggs, almonds, milk, and bread."

"I think I'll try whatever ramen he made the help get from town with some of that."

"As long as it makes you eat anything else; I had to order Anko to eat something other than dango and she still had it for every meal."

If he could stand the conflicted feelings he had just thinking about her, he'd ask what really happened between them. Both had a complicated relationship with her. Neither left her in the best state either. He was too overwhelmed with her betrayal and rejection to realize she had a chance of meeting the same fate as Hinata at the time. Orochimaru having Anko's memories and speaking of her fondly either meant their beings were joined in some way or a part of him sealed inside her finally returned, meaning she was probably dead and best written off as that. From what he knew about the cursed marks, the latter most likely occurred.

He laid back down on the bed and closed his eyes. The ever familiar energy animating him, by his metric, used to be far stiffer. It was naturally inclined to pure force, much like himself. Learning the Rasengan, how to mold his chakra to produce all five elements, and perfecting his father's jutsu by adding one made it akin to clay. Without a doubt, his chakra control was either the best or one of them out of all shinobi to ever live.

Orochimaru observed with interest. "Don't forget to have a set goal or you're likely to create tumors in your body." He hummed. "Try to eliminate your scent."

"Haha," he deadpanned.

"It's rather simple, in terms of body modification jutsu, actually."

'Seal the pores of your skin, shower, and wear fresh clothes,' Hinata, Byakugan activated, mouthed behind her mask, not his exact words but Anko's. 'Kakashi's sniffing around, so you have to learn it.'

After an hour or so, one Naruto was intimate with wafted about, to his immense joy. Hinata and Anko jabbed two servants that were known 'friends' they were shadowing with the needles, dragged both into perfect hiding places, and transformed into them. They walked beside each other, whispering and talking about the others like the people they were pretending to be always did with their voices. Some other, actual servant approached the former duo and informed them breakfast was ready. The latter joined them at the filling banquet hall, which they knew would have help linger by in case anyone wanted seconds.

It took Anko back to see her cuddly-wuddly again. While her new cuddly described his change in chakra, she failed to mention his change in appearance. He was now a feral and cuter little Minato. She would've cooed if she wasn't so shocked. Hinata snapped her out of it before anyone could suspect anything more by getting in her transformed face and wiggling her transformed eyebrows, mostly in character.

Naruto was too transfixed by the bowl of ramen left of the lord's seat at the table to notice. "That better be good."

"Are you going to kill my head chef if it isn't?" Tadanaga, munching on some scrambled eggs with bits of sausage mixed into them, asked.

"Good idea, if he made it." He sat down and broke apart the chopsticks to his right with his left hand. It wasn't his dominant, so his grip was awkward and maneuvering even more so. "Dammit." The sight of a woman approaching from the corner of his eye made him furrow his brow before he looked to her.

Hinata held out her transformed hand. "May I?"

"...Fine." He set them in hers.

She locked a few noodles between the chopsticks, blew on them, and held them out. "'Aaah.'" Him obeying, albeit while rolling his eyes, made her giggle with her impersonated voice.

Naruto hummed as he slurped the salty and savory noodles. "Not as good as Ichiraku's, but it's better than what I'm eating now." He turned to the daimyo. "Do you need your head chef?"

Tadanaga swallowed and chuckled. "Tell you what, I'll send for the greatest ramen chef on the continent and have him escorted to Mori Town so he can serve you there."

"You are the coolest noble ever, and I'm not just saying that because you're buttering me up." He slurped more noodles presented to him.

Orochimaru, transformed and enjoying his own meal to the lord's right, stopped himself from laughing. Tadanaga knew full well how precarious his position was. The Land of Rice was one of the most unstable countries before he came along offering order in return for subservience. He needed them more than they needed him, but it was best for everyone to play along. Naruto genuinely liked him because of his simple attitude, a preference born from all the complexities in his life.

Aya pouted at the young man being fed from her seat some ways away. "No fair."

"Let it go," Reina said from her left. "Live to sleep with some other boy." She smiled sweetly at her glare.

"He is strong, and you are weak. Should you lay with him, he will be the one that kills you, if...that man doesn't." Tarou shattered almonds in his hand before throwing their remains into his mouth.

Misao, an upper-skull masked kunoichi in a red haori over a black kimono, nodded her short-haired head. "There was death in his eyes," her voice was a dull drone. "He would've tried to kill you if not for our master."

"Do any of you idiots not feel like something is off?" Ryota, a long-haired ronin in a simple kimono, asked. "Why him, here and now?"

A man with the same face shrugged his shoulders. "The hell are we going to do about it?"

Naruto gulped down his latest noodles and looked at the cluster of 'elite' shinobi guards. "Can I kill them?" His eyes narrowed. "Their whispers are annoying me."

"Oh, they'll stop." Tadanaga almost laughed at their unnerved faces before turning to him, a thought coming to mind. "You know, I once thought about learning ninjutsu myself, but I lack the ability to manipulate chakra." He frowned. "Ever felt trapped in a situation you have no control of? One that goes on seemingly forever?"

His favorite food held out didn't take his attention away. "...All the time actually."

"Like you wouldn't believe."

Anko and Hinata sympathized. Everyone in that room did, really. They were products of the system that put them there. Whether by their own actions and circumstances, a bandit-ridden country home to exiles and vagabonds was where they dwelled then. Nothing was ideal, but there were obviously better places to be with better positions to have. One was the lord of nothing, one's life work was reduced to nothing in his eyes, two saw themselves as nothing until recently, one was bound to things she saw as nothing, and the rest were servants of the first.

"Oh well." Tadanaga shrugged and trapped more of his breakfast scramble between his chopsticks. "I suppose it could be worse."

Naruto nodded. "Things are going to go my way." He looked back to the noodles and glanced at the woman's sullen face. "Nothing else matters."

"I am so proud of you."

"Indeed," Orochimaru said.

Anko watched her student feed the other. She liked the more arrogant attitude, but they needed him broken and docile. He could be molded back into the sweet boy he once was, albeit far more obedient towards her. The girl who once barely tolerated her presence was proof of that. It was an idea that pleased her so much she nearly licked her lips.

Hinata couldn't begrudge him. She had no idea what he'd been through the past months or what Orochimaru may have done to him. It pained her heart to think about. What she knew for sure was she loved him for the passionate enduring man he was, and he loved her because of that love. A quality of hers that wasn't her womanhood pacified him, at the very least. That was more than what she thought her own father gave her.

Breakfast continued on in silence. Regardless of the boy's ability most of the elite shinobi guard were uncertain of, angering him meant risking the ire of the most feared Sannin. They were far lower on the totem pole than that man was. Even their lord only had so much sway. It wasn't as if he couldn't replace them: all he'd need to do was make an offer to any of the prominent roving bands and they'd become what passed for upstanding shinobi in The Land of Rice in an instant. As for the odd triumvirate, they were too busy thinking of how they were going to cope with their situations for anymore small talk.

The land surrounding the Sound Village's headquarters was vibrant and prosperous. It was deeply hidden in the thicket with a settlement nearby for would-be wanderers or raiders to be directed towards. Only the movements of a few key individuals could link them together. Far off closer to the town, two stood among several scattered corpses, all rogue shinobi. A single living member of their group skittered on the ground.

"Die with some fucking dignity." Suigetsu pointed where his head would be and scattered his brains across the grass. "What is wrong with these people?" He squinted at his company's squint. "What?...What?"

"We just killed the closest thing he had to friends."

"And they tried to kill us." He kicked a corpse.

Karin shook her head. "He was terrified."

"Exactly!" His face scrunched as her look worsened. "I swear, you're just as schizo as th–" Chains shooting through his liquid mouth cut him off.

"What kind of asshole are you!?"

Suigetsu moved his head out of their path. "We're shinobi!" He gestured to the bodies. "This is the life!"

"Do you really call what you do living?" Her voice broke.

"...Uh?"

"You hide it, but I can feel it in your chakra!" Tears streamed down her cheeks as she put a hand over her aching heart. "Death, longing, and despair have become who you are!"

He stepped out of the chains and back. "You killed more than a few of them y–"

She advanced toward him. "Quit running from it!" She poked a finger into his chest. "You're only hurting yourself!"

"Are you even talking to me or about me at this point?" He swiped her finger away.

"The four of you idiots or all of you!" Karin lifted her glasses and wiped her tears on her sleeve. "None of you are okay, and I.. I!" She hugged him, burying her face into his chest. "I don't know how to help you."

He stared out at nothing. "That time of the month, huh?" He mumbled to himself. "Look." Sighing, he held her back. "It's not your job to help us, but I get how miserable it must be knowing how fucked we are while we laugh and smile with you."

"I can't turn it off." Teary eyes widening, she looked up. "Kabuto is back, heading to the base, and either having a mental breakdown or a lot of trouble deciding what to set his signature to."

"Thought you said his was always like that with us." His arms fell to his sides as he stepped out from her hold.

"It's worse than usual." She adjusted her glasses. "Something's wrong."

Suigetsu looked in the direction of the hideout. "Is Jugo in his room cage or whatever?"

"No…" She broke off running, companion following along.

"Is he at least in his zen mode?!"

"He's in murder mumble mode!"

"Fuck!"

As they ran to the hideout, Kabuto more than surpassed them. It was beyond Karin's expectations. They knew he was effectively Orochimaru's right hand, but each thought him beneath Naruto. He'd jokingly admit to such. None ever pushed or tested him, not wanting him to potentially be moody when around.

She furrowed her brow. "What the…"

"They hugging it out or something?"

"Maybe."

"What?" Suigetsu shot her a look.

Green and brown foliage was replaced by dismal gray stone. Their footsteps echoed throughout the halls. Frustrated sighs and groans could be heard before they reached the central chamber. By the time they reached it, they found no sign of struggle. It was anything but what they expected.

Kabuto in a Cloud ninja disguise struggling to hold up a familiar young man turned to them, eye twitching. "Did you seriously leave Jugo of all people alone in here?"

"Ho–"

"Never mind your stupidity." He walked toward the other side of the chamber. "Help me carry him back to his cage."

"Are you alright?"

He shot her a look. "Karin, what should you be doing right now?"

She went to his side and helped pick up Jugo. "Really, are you alright?" His silence didn't please her in the least.

"What are you doing back here?" Suigetsu asked, moving to assist.

"I wanted to rest, but I'm busy carrying a mentally unstable grown man you idiots left free to roam the place Orochimaru stores all his valuable research!"

"Do you really think he'd leave that kind of stuff just laying around after telling us to stay?"

"Shut up, Suigetsu!"

More than used to hearing those words from people not him, he obeyed. Something was happening with him, and, while he was also capable of knocking Jugo out with ease, the method he used was unknown to him. He was not in the mood to be unconscious for only they knew how long later after a flash of blackness. The most he did was share a look with Karin, who only shook her head with a grimace. It was Kabuto's turn to be the one they walked around eggshells with.

Kabuto himself was aware they knew. He also didn't care. Defying Orochimaru outright would've likely meant his death, so he had to go through with his orders. That didn't mean he couldn't be around to assist. Chances were his current actions were something his master considered and maybe was even counting on. More dead Akatsuki meant less threats to his life. As good of a spy he was, he wasn't necessary.

Events were in motion.

Nothing. After the preliminary search, the day and night teams formed from Guy's and Kakashi's found exactly that in regards to their mission. It would've made them consider the threat a prank if it weren't for who it involved and how it was done. The lack of any close signs of espionage meant they were likely set up away from the palace, which showed much needed caution. Searching buildings would've spread panic or possibly spurred their enemy to act sooner and knowing when he'd move, while giving him control of the situation, gave them time to fortify their position. Minoru and Hitomi didn't want them to because of the panic and risk to their image respectively.

Sasuke's eyes opened and drifted toward the clock hanging on the wall of their quarters. "It's almost time." He slipped out toward his assigned partner, who was still resting. "Get up, Kiba." Receiving no response, he shook him with one hand.

"What's the… Oh." He groaned alongside Akamaru. "This is going to be the worst new years ever."

"Probably one of them."

"Would you be pissed if this was just some joke?" Kiba got out of bed and scratched his jacket-dwelling dog between the ears.

He nodded. "And relieved."

"...Are you alright?" Sasuke's look made him want to scoff. "You're…" Drifting off, he stroked his chin. "I don't know; you just feel so much more off than everyone else."

It was tempting to shake his head, but he was right. "We're going to have dinner for breakfast." He walked off.

His nose twitched before a smile spread across his face. "Hell yeah we are!"

"Shut up," Dosu said, rising from his own slumber. "Do you have any idea how loud you are?"

"Not you." Tenten groaned, recalling Neji's initial complaints about their team.

He knew an explanation of what she meant was impossible, so he just got out of bed. "Shit's either about to get real or, by some miracle, we made the Leaf a fortune doing nothing."

"Knowing our luck, we should prepare for the worst."

"Believe me, I have no delusions this is going to end well."

"Don't you…" She sighed as she threw her blanket off. "Let's go eat." Her anger was baseless besides being pointless.

They left their assigned quarters and went straight toward the dining room. Dinner wasn't ready quite yet, but they had nothing better to do before their shift. None were likely to have food as good as they had there ever again. It was more than fit enough for a last meal. By the time it was ready, the other half of their forces joined them.

Kakashi eyed his plate of roasted delicacies with interest. "If any of you wanted to assassinate his majesty and he was too well-defended to reach, how would you go about it?" He glanced at a surprised-faced Minoru sitting at the head of the table by his annoyed mother. "We have no actual ill intentions, your majesties: this is strictly hypothetical."

"Bomb the city," Tenten deadpanned. She moved to pick up some mushrooms when she noticed them all staring at her. "...What?"

"It...would cause mass panic and divert forces to keep the peace."

Dosu, bandages around his mouth moved, scoffed. "They're scared enough already."

"So many people with so much ground to cover…" Sakura grimaced, munching on fancy steak that made it very hard to.

Sasuke swallowed a slice of his. "People, in enough numbers, trample those that lose their footing to death." He stared at the blood seeping out of his meal much like Naruto's side did. "They'll run not knowing where to go, hide in their homes, or try to find shelter, like...this palace." Looking up at them, his eyes widened.

Kiba nearly shook his head when he noticed the looks on the jonin's faces "...Oh shit."

"Even if we could pick him out from a crowd of hundreds to thousands of people, we wouldn't be able to stop or eliminate him without involving civilians."

"Genjutsu," Sakura said. "We can disable him with genjutsu."

"If he's in a moving crowd, he'll be trampled on, which will cause pain enough to break him out of it." Guy furiously chewed a mix of greens and meat.

Kakashi's focus shifted from the meal to his comrades. "I can dig underneath the ground, pick him out with my Sharingan, and pull him under from the crowd."

"That's assuming he's working alone when he's in a cult." Tenten furrowed her brow.

"Also assuming he'd go with this plan in the first place." Dosu stared out into nothing. "...A plan we have very little actual defense for and is assured to work if we weren't here."

Eye-smiling, Kakashi turned to the shaking daimyo. "Your majesty, we would like to escort you out of the palace and into the countryside after dinner is over." He glanced at Guy, who only nodded while vigorously eating his meal.

"You don't think this group of barbarians hasn't been watching near the exits of the village since the threat was announced?" Hitomi sneered. "He is safest here in his home." Her expression softened when her son placed a hand on her shoulder.

Minoru gulped. "Mother, I think they're right."

"She does have a point though," Lee said, stroking his chin.

Kakashi turned his eye-smile to her. "We can take your majesties there underground or hide you under until this is all over." When he opened it, he saw her relent.

Tenten hummed, chewing on some of the mushrooms from earlier. "There could be other Earth Style users so keeping them underground isn't a safe option."

"Me and Kakashi-sensei don't have enough chakra to make a tunnel all the way outside the city from here." Sakura snapped her fingers with a smile. "But we can just dig deep beneath the paths they'd take and disguise breathing tunnels for you with genjutsu.

"Can't we just go partway through the city and then dig for the rest if chakra is an issue?" Kiba asked, Akamaru backing him with a questioning bark.

Guy swallowed his latest bites and shook his head. "We've only scouted the immediate vicinity. If we come across an underground base, we'll have put his majesty in danger." He hummed. "It's possible our enemy is a sensor ninja or has allies that are sensor ninja that know his majesty's chakra signature as well."

Dosu groaned. "Leaving us back to where we started."

"...All of us are going to be awake for the next six hours and likely a few more." Kakashi's stern eye swept over them. "My team carries soldier pills just in case."

"So does mine," Guy said, serious tone far unlike him.

"Pop them if you get too drowsy."

They gave affirmative nods and went back to eating in silence. Hitomi held her child close, mostly for her own comfort. It was too late for them to change course. Far too much could go wrong if they made a single mistake, and they arguably made a few already. Violence was inevitable.

Before they knew it, morning gave way to noon, which bled into night. Orochimaru, Naruto, and Tadanaga were inseparable for that time frame and now sat on the outer palace walkway by the entrance. It frustrated Anko, but there was nothing they could do other than blend in the background waiting for an opening like they had been. Daichi and Tadashi, as Hinata reported, were sick from being infested with Torune's insects. Neither could mold their chakra to sense things even if they wanted to, which meant the two Root agents woke up and were skulking about. The normal and shinobi guards, knowing full well to give space when one was present, stayed away from the three and them by consequence, sparing them any complications that could be caused by handsyness.

"Have you really never attended a fireworks show?" Tadanaga asked.

Naruto stared up at the starry sky. "...Never had anyone to go to one with." The families he often saw reading the fliers didn't help.

"My brothers would run and jump when they went off every time."

He raised an eyebrow. "What happened to them?"

"I killed them," Orochimaru said.

Tadanaga laid on his back. "Only one can hold the seat of heaven." He had little use and it was too late for regrets.

"You get it." Naruto turned to his teacher. "Have a thing for people with no or fucked up families, huh?"

Orochimaru laughed. "I only share that in common."

A light shot into the night sky following a bang. When they stopped, another resounded as it exploded into a plume of colored sparks. Many others followed. The starry night sky was soon complimented by displays vaguely similar to the ones it naturally had. It was enough to actually amaze Naruto.

Hinata, still transformed, ran out of the hall by them to watch. "Wow!" She looked to the glancing three, jumped back, and bowed. "F-Forgive me your majesty."

"Oh relax." Tadanaga waved it off. "Just watch."

"Breakfast, lunch, and dinner," Orochimaru's tone was teasing yet had a hint of suspicion.

Naruto rolled his eyes while keeping them on the fantastical sky. "If I wanted her, I'd have fucked her already." He glanced at her red face from the corner of his eye and thinned his lips, recalling the person who most had that around him.

Anko watched Hinata support herself by the pillar next to him. She thought about curbing their interactions, but he was as oblivious to her true identity as he was to her love. Orochimaru, in accordance with his paranoia, would suspect something yet have no evidence. The daimyo being no go targets would help quash suspicion. If they questioned the actual servant Hinata replaced on her behavior, they'd take the truth as her playing dumb and being embarrassed. None would think it important enough to check with the two sensor ninja if she was lying.

While they watched the spectacle, one wishing for the other and her nearly fulfilled, another city burned.

AN: If you couldn't catch the overall themes and motifs if this arc, you probably can now. Intended to slip into action initially, but I needed to build more tension. Me likey tension. As for purpose, actions have consequences and so on. The world is big and anything but static, as much as people try to keep it that way.

I love Kabuto. Part 1 Kabuto specifically. His backstory revealed in Part 2 was pretty great. Just came when he decided to become a snakeman with all the kekkei genkai. At that point, he was a bootleg Orochimaru that was better than Orochimaru, which was kind of the point I guess. Just did not like him losing his style. Good character with subpar execution.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the form of a review or PM.