Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (either manga or anime!); the wonderful Masashi Kishimoto-sensei owns all rights. However, the plot and Namiko Uzumaki are mine!

Chapter 34: Make It Out Alive

The rain was so heavy, it was almost impossible for Kurenai to see the grave marker in front of her. Or perhaps it was the tears in her eyes. She knelt in front of the grave, her hand hovering over the name etched in the cold stone: Sarutobi Asuma.

"I can't do this without you, Asuma. I don't want to do this without you…" Her voice cracked as tears mixed with the rain, "I know you were doing your duty, but I would give anything to bring you back. Mirai needs you. I need you…"

Suddenly, the rain stopped pouring over her and she looked up to see a very familiar pair of lavender eyes staring back at her with sympathy. "…sensei. You need to come out of the rain or you'll get sick. Think of the baby." Hinata held out her hand to help her up. "Why don't you come home with me for a little while? I can fix us some tea."

Kurenai nodded absent-mindedly as she took Hinata's hand and stood. They walked to the Hyuuga compound in silence. Hinata grabbed towels to wrap them both in as she started making some chamomile tea for them both.

"Mirai."

"What?"

"Our daughter's name is Mirai," said Kurenai, her voice barely audible. Tears started flowing freely again as her body was wracked with sobs, and Hinata wrapped her arms around her sensei. She didn't say anything, just held her, rubbing her back slightly.

After several minutes, the tea kettle whistled and Kurenai snapped out of her grief for a moment. She furiously rubbed the tears away. "I'm so sorry that you have to see me like this, Hinata."

"Sensei, it's understandable. Asuma-sensei was the love of your life. It's okay to grieve. I'd be more worried if you didn't." Hinata poured the tea. "While we're shinobi and expected to keep it together when someone close to us dies, it's not a natural human response. I'm always here whenever you need someone to cry on. You have so many people in your life who will help you and Mirai. You're not alone."

Kurenai nodded through a tearful smile. "Thank you, Hinata."

After Kurenai left, Hinata went to her room to decompress and think about all the things that happened during the last couple of weeks. She had been sent on a mission right after Asuma had died and hadn't had a chance to speak to her sensei since the funeral. That was over a week ago and it was now the first week of November.

She, Kiba, and Kakashi had been sent to check out one of Orochimaru's recently discovered bases. Their enemy, Guren, had been quite the challenge and Tsunade sent Team 7 to back them up. She had been captured by Guren's Crystal Style jutsu, surrounded by thick pink crystal. She'd never forget Naruto's reaction when she broke free from the crystal.

The crystal shattered around Hinata and Sakura checked her vitals. "It's all right. She's alive!" Naruto let out an audible sigh of relief.

"How on earth did she survive?" asked Kakashi. "Everything else captured by it has shattered along with the crystal."

Hinata let out a small groan as she sat up. "Hinata!" Naruto rushed over to her and pulled her into a tight embrace for a moment before pulling back, leaving his hands on her shoulders. "I'm so glad you're okay! Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I-I'm okay, Naruto-kun." She tried to keep her face from flushing at the physical contact but failed miserably. She tried to refocus on Kakashi's question. "When I saw I was going to be hit by her jutsu, I surrounded myself in chakra, kind of like a barrier."

"That was genius thinking!" said Naruto with a smile.

She looked at him remorsefully. "I'm sorry if I caused you any worry, Naruto-kun."

"I'm just glad you're okay, I don't know what I'd do without you." He let go of her shoulders, trailing a hand down her arm and squeezing her hand in reassurance. "Now, let's finish this mission and get you home."

Hinata lay on her bed holding a pillow tightly to her chest, blushing at the memory. The feeling of Naruto's calloused hand caressing her arm and squeezing her hand was like a dream come to life.

"Gee, onee-san, if your face gets any redder, you might explode. Are you daydreaming about Naruto again?" Hanabi teased as she leaned on the doorway, arms crossed over her chest.

Hinata shot straight up, eyes wide in surprise before narrowing quickly at her sister's teasing. "None of your business. Go away!" She grabbed a teddy bear from her bed and half-heartedly threw it at Hanabi who swiftly batted it away before running down the hall, laughing.

The day for Orochimaru's body transfer was looming over Sasuke. Orochimaru was deteriorating quickly but he was still having Kabuto put Sasuke through test after test.

Normally, Namiko had been allowed to observe, but not this time. She remained in their room, waiting impatiently for Sasuke's return. He had been called to a nearby field for another test, but Orochimaru had yet to show.

Little did Sasuke know what Orochimaru had planned.

Namiko was drawing, trying to distract herself from her stomach twisting nervously. She couldn't feel Sasuke's chakra or any of her marks outside of the base since this base was underground. However, her stomach dropped when she suddenly felt the sannin approaching the other side of the wooden door. He pushed it open without warning.

"My dear Namiko-chan, I need your help with something. You're coming with me." He gripped her arm tightly and she could feel her arm bones starting to crack under the pressure. He quickly locked a chakra limiter around her wrist, and the feeling of losing her chakra sensing made her feel like she was drowning.

Namiko's breath caught in her throat. She couldn't use Flying Raijin without taking him with her; he knew this was why he gripped her so tightly before he put on the chakra limiter. If Orochimaru wanted to kill her, there would be no way she could flee or hide, and no way Sasuke could get to her in time. So, she did her only option: follow him without question or argument. Complying was her only choice.

He led her toward the laboratory and the weight in her stomach got heavier. She entered the dark, dingy lab to find Kabuto holding a syringe. He passed it to Orochimaru as he adjusted his glasses. "Here's whatyou requested, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru pulled her toward Kabuto as he took the syringe. "Hold her," commanded Orochimaru as Kabuto's hands wrenched her arms forcefully behind her back. "Hopefully, this won't kill you. This is a much higher dosage of the poison from last time."

'There's no way out. I'm helpless. I could let the kyuubi take care of them but that would be an even bigger problem.' Namiko tried to keep her breathing calm and even, but she was quickly losing control.

"If you kill me, Sasuke will kill you," she growled out, eyes flashing red momentarily.

"He may try, but he will never survive the ritual." Orochimaru got in Namiko's face. "No one has. I will have my hands on the Sharingan. And if you survive this, you get the honor of being the bearer of future Sharingan wielders, so I will have bodies for lifetimes to come." He slammed the needle forcefully into her shoulder, pressing the plunger before turning and walking out of the room.

He called over his shoulder, "Kabuto-kun, follow me in approximately ten minutes. Take her to their room for Sasuke-kun to find."

"Understood." Kabuto held tightly onto her wrists even as he felt her body start to go slack.

Namiko felt like she was moving through tar. Everything felt insanely slow, or maybe that was just her heart. 'This is different than last time. I can't even raise my arms. I can't…Sasuke, I'm so sorry…I love you…' She collapsed into a world of black.

Sasuke was irritated. Orochimaru said he had a test for him, but he'd been waiting for nearly half an hour before the sannin finally showed. "So, Sasuke-kun, let's see how your training's coming. Show me all that you've learned."

Sasuke's expression was apathetic, but his voice held a hint of disbelief. "You're going to be my opponent?" Sasuke knew that Orochimaru was completely unable to function unless he was taking a high-level medicine.

"Course not," said Orochimaru. The thunderous sound of hundreds and hundreds of feet approached from the hillside behind him. Orochimaru smirked in amusement. "Here you stand before a thousand opponents without batting an eye. Now, let it begin!"

He moved out of the way as the shinobi charged toward Sasuke. Sasuke quickly went on the offensive, easily eliminating all of his opponents in a matter of minutes. "Did I get them all?" he asked haughtily as he sat on one opponent's back, easily knowing he had. It had been child's play.

"You did." Orochimaru's confident smile grew wider. "Though you're not yet merciless enough to face Itachi."

"They aren't the ones I want to kill. I'll be merciless enough when I see him." He turned his back toward Orochimaru. "If you're done with me, I'll take my leave."

With that, Sasuke flashed back to the base, then walked the rest of the way to his and Namiko's room. The moment he entered the base, something seemed off. Something menacing in the air.

The closer Sasuke got to the room, the faster he walked until he broke out into a run. He opened the heavy door and his heart plummeted.

Namiko lay crumpled, unconscious on the ground, vomit on the ground next to her.

He rushed to her, Sharingan active, crouching next to her, checking for a pulse and breathing, and found neither. Her chakra was stagnant, much like Zabuza's had been when he died in the Land of Waves.

Grief and rage hit him squarely in the gut. "NO! No, no, NO! I can't lose you!" He yelled, tears streaming like waterfalls down his face despite squeezing his eyes tightly shut.

He opened them again and forced himself to look at her face. Cold. No color. No smile he'd seen on her countless times over the last six months.

He picked up her limp body and placed her cautiously on their bed. He brushed the hair from her face and placed a kiss on her cool forehead. "Namiko, I'm so sorry…I failed you. But don't worry, he's going to pay."

He swiped his tears away and stood, fury flowing through every vein and chakra channel. He opened his eyes, and a burning sensation overcame them. He steadied himself, taking a long but shallow breath. Avenging the family he lost eight years ago was something he'd settle with Itachi later, but his only family left was Namiko.

Orochimaru was going to meet his fate. Now.

Kabuto had just left Orochimaru's room to get him more medication. The sannin no longer had a choice; if he wanted to last through the transference ritual, he had to take the strongest medicine, or his body would not last. He could only hope his plan to use Namiko had worked. He had heard the young Uchiha's yell a few minutes ago and cackled madly.

Suddenly, Sasuke's lightning chakra shot through the door, piercing Orochimaru's wrists like a sword to keep him in place. He used his Kusanagi to slice the door into pieces and stood in the doorway, silent wrath coming off him in waves.

"I knew you'd come for me, especially after you received my present," baited Orochimaru.

"You're about to see how merciless I can be." Sasuke walked forward shoving the blade of lightning chakra further, through Orochimaru's wrists and into the wooden wall behind him. He activated his Sharingan and it pulsed, his eyes burning again.

Orochimaru's eyes lit up and he smiled maniacally. "My plan worked! You have developed the Mangekyo Sharingan…the perfect addition to my new body."

Sasuke stood at the foot of Orochimaru's bed, the new pattern of his Mangekyo Sharingan spinning slowly. "You have nothing more to offer me and by your choice in killing Namiko, you have thrown away your only bargaining chip."

"A bold statement from a nursling Uchiha!"

"Hn. A nursling was the only kind of Uchiha you could handle. Itachi was out of the question; that's why you came after me, the baby." Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "I'm an avenger. I want revenge. I wanted it so badly, I was willing to give up my body and soul to get it. What you wanted was the Sharingan, right? But just the normal Sharingan wasn't enough, you wanted the Mangekyo.
"So, when Namiko came upon us, you knew I had a previous connection to her from when you saw us in the Forest of Death and decided to take advantage of us both. To put us together in hopes we'd form a bond, then destroy that bond. You knew grief and trauma were rumored to spawn the Mangekyo Sharingan. You're supposed to be a genius but your genius is nothing compared to the Uchiha.
"You've done nothing but experiment and take medicines, jumping from body to body like a flea. You torture and manipulate and kill…and for what? Unlocking the mysteries of nature?"

Sasuke held Kusanagi, ready to strike. "You toy with people's lives for the sake of this vain and ridiculous cause of yours. You disgust me!"

Sasuke lunged forward, about to strike when Orochimaru opened his mouth, and a snake launched from his mouth, causing the sannin's body to go slack. Sasuke turned towards the snake. "A giant white-scaled snake. I never would have recognized you. So, that's your true form." Sasuke scoffed. "To change bodies you experimented endlessly, and this," he gestured with his free hand, "is what you've become?"

"Now Sasuke, you are mine!" The great white snake that was Orochimaru struck forward, mouth open and ready to devour. Its scales were smaller white snakes that leaped forward and attempted to attack Sasuke.

Sasuke easily moved out of the way slicing the smaller snakes into multiple pieces. When the snakes came too fast for him to counter easily, he slid his Kusanagi back into its sheath and slid his arms out of his sleeves as the curse mark crept across his entire body and spread into stage two.

Snakes wrapped around his legs and he covered himself with the wings. The snakes wound around his entire body and tried to bite through the wings but couldn't. He waited until as many as possible surrounded him then spread the wings apart, ripping the snakes into shreds.

Sasuke began to turn to walk out of the room but fell to his knees. Orochimaru's snake head raised as a dark brown gas filled the room. "It's about time it took effect." Orochimaru chuckled amusedly. "The bodily fluids of the great serpent evaporate when they meet the air. They have a numbing effect and I already see it's already weakening you.

"The bodily fluids also act as poison when injected into the body…which is what I did to Namiko-chan. In small doses, it causes fever and nausea, but at high doses like I gave her this afternoon, it causes the heart and breathing to slow until it stops…or fades out of her system."

The snake towered over Sasuke. "Too bad she died, she would've been perfect to help bring new Uchiha into the world…providing me with endless bodies for the foreseeable future."

"You'd use her as what…a broodmare?" Sasuke snapped, his Mangekyo Sharingan spinning faster. "You're vile and depraved. What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"Absolutely nothing. Even your strongest jutsu couldn't touch me. I am immortal. I am eternal." Orochimaru's snake mouth opened wide and Sasuke locked eyes with it.

Suddenly, Sasuke found himself in a black open space with a spongy, squirming floor beneath his feet. "Where is this place?"

Orochimaru's voice chuckled menacingly. "This is the universe inside of me. It is where the transference ritual takes place." The spongy floor gathered into a large form and Orochimaru's face appeared in the spongy material. "Shall we begin?"

The spongy substance wrapped around Sasuke like snakes, covering his body. He noticed three other bodies wrapped the same way. He could see the crazed look in Orochimaru's eyes and smirked. "You want my eyes so desperately, but you didn't think they could be your undoing. Amaterasu…"

Everything around them burst into black flame, and Sasuke immediately returned to Orochimaru's bedroom. He stared down at the body of the snake covered in black flames and stood. "You are no longer a threat and never will be again." Sasuke allowed his eyes to fade to their normal black, noticing a slight blur in his vision.

Sasuke felt Kabuto's chakra outside the door. "Kabuto?"

Kabuto stepped into the doorway, noticing the black flames consuming the body of the snake. "You killed Orochimaru?" he said with a hint of fear and awe in his voice.

"No, it's more than that, I absorbed him. Now, I need you to come with me. You can help me willingly…" Sasuke exited the room before turning his head and flashing his Mangekyo Sharingan momentarily at Kabuto. "…or I can make you."

Kabuto gave Sasuke a wary look but followed behind him as he led them to his and Namiko's room. Namiko was still lying on the bed in the exact position he left her in. Sasuke kept his face still as stone. "I want you to check her and make sure…"

"I understand." Kabuto leaned over Namiko, removing her chakra limiter and hesitantly scanning her with his medical chakra. Sasuke was obviously on edge and if Kabuto said or did the wrong thing, he'd be dead in an instant.

Sasuke felt numb, and it wasn't because of the snake's blood. He could only wait and pray that maybe he missed something earlier; he wasn't a medical shinobi after all. He watched Kabuto's face for some sort of sign. His face was controlled, focused…then a sudden widening of his eyes.

Kabuto glanced at Sasuke before refocusing back on Namiko. "She has a heartbeat." Sasuke sighed audibly in relief as Kabuto continued, "It's under thirty beats per minute. Her breathing is extremely shallow and sluggish, less than six breaths a minute. The poison in her system made it appear she was dead. Her body has been running at its absolute lowest without dying."

"So, she's alive?" Sasuke was trying not to let his voice waver. "Can you help her?"

Kabuto stayed focused. "I'm going to try to help maneuver the poison to metabolize through her system faster. Her body must have tried to get rid of the poison which was why she threw up, if she hadn't, she probably would be dead."

Time seemed to stand still as Sasuke stood over her watching Kabuto work. After what felt like hours but had only been minutes, her chest began to rise and fall visibly. Sasuke counted her breaths as he prayed to whatever power was out there that she would make it through.

One, two. Her breaths were getting a little deeper.

Three, four. Her chakra network started flowing.

Five, six. Her finger twitched.

Seven, eight. A small groan escaped her lips.

Nine. Her nose scrunched up and she grimaced.

Ten. Her eyes cracked open.

Sasuke's body finally relaxed but kept his Sharingan active in case Kabuto decided to do something. He ran his hand down Namiko's forearm and squeezed her hand. "Hey, you're okay."

Namiko's voice came out quiet and gravelly. "Is he…?"

"He's gone," assured Sasuke. Namiko's breath came out a bit more forceful in relief, sending her into a coughing fit. "Take it easy, Kabuto is trying to get the poison out."

"I moved the poison away from her heart and sent it through to the liver to be filtered. It'll take time, but she'll make a full recovery. She may have dizziness, nausea, and weakness for a while, possibly for a few weeks." Kabuto sat back, removing his hands from her. "That poison should have killed her."

"Thank you," said Namiko quietly. "Maybe you have some good in you after all."

Sasuke watched Kabuto as he got up to leave. "Go tell the other bases that Orochimaru is gone and they're free. I'll take care of this base and the northern hideout."

Kabuto scoffed as he left the room. "Good luck."

Once Kabuto's footfalls drifted down the hallway into silence, Sasuke leaned down and kissed Namiko's forehead before placing his forehead to hers, looking her in the eyes. "I—I thought I lost you…" Sasuke's voice was almost too quiet to be heard.

"I was so scared I was going to leave you alone again," said Namiko, tears welling up in her eyes, "He knew just how to keep me from escaping. The only thing I could do was comply and I pray you saved me." She pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. "And you did save me. I love you…"

"I should've never left you with him to begin with." Sasuke leaned back, stroking her jaw with his thumb. "How are you feeling? Do you think you can walk?"

Namiko nodded. "I'm just extremely tired. Where do we go from here? Track down Itachi?"

"After today, I've changed my plans slightly. When I fight Itachi, I don't want you to be left alone and vulnerable with Kisame. So, we're going to form a team."

"Why? The only reason Orochimaru got me was because I didn't have an escape route and I can't sense my marks if I'm underground."

"We'd be better off if we had backup." He lowered his hand to gently squeeze hers. "The Akatsuki are trying to find you and Naruto, and by finding Itachi, I'm walking you potentially into their hands."

"That makes sense, I won't argue with you this time." She laughed softly as she sat up and tilted her head thoughtfully. "Who would we get to help us?"

"There are two people I've had my eye on for a while who had been captured by Orochimaru. One, thankfully, is in this base. The other we'll have to go to another base to find him."

"I don't know if I will be able to travel very far like this."

"I know that and you don't have to worry about anything. I'll carry you until you regain your strength." Sasuke leaned over her, giving her a quick kiss on the lips before heading for the door. "I'm going to go get Suigetsu and release the rest of the prisoners. Do you feel strong enough to pack your bag while I do that?"

"I can do that."

"I'll be back in ten minutes."

Namiko listened to Sasuke's footsteps trail down the hall as she started to repack her things. 'Suigetsu. I don't remember that name offhand, but everything in my head is sort of fuzzy. I wonder who the other person is. I'm just glad we don't have to worry about that disgusting snake ever again.'

A/N: Whew! That was intense! And yes, I realized I said before that I wasn't planning on putting Suigetsu and Juugo in, but I love them both so much, that I couldn't resist. (Still no Karin though.)
Thank you to everyone for reading and supporting me in this journey. Remember, comments are my tip jar!

Love, Eriisu