A Bewitching Dance

by Haerrlekin

When Naruto opened his eyes, he saw a beautiful, red-haired woman with violet eyes and a warm smile. Oh, and a white void, but that was besides the point! In which Naruto fails to summon Gamabunta and goes splat in the chasm; Jiraiya did a whoopsie, Kurama is a jerk, and Hinata brings good vibes. Who knew that crippling, life-threatening injuries could feel so good?

21. Insidious Offerings

Heya,

As promised, this is the second half of the last chapter. If I'm true to my word then it shouldn't have taken longer than a few short days for me to have this ready for y'all.

Thanks for your patience; let's begin.

---

Jiraiya's panic had only grown more intense in the moments past his separation from Tsunade.

Naruto still had yet to summon him. What's more, none of his toads seemed able to reach the damned boy, and with all of the chaos breaking out throughout Tanzaku, it was like finding a needle in a haystack, trying to track the kid down!

"Damnit!" He snarled, eyes flitting back and forth from atop a large, summoned toad. He stopped only just long enough periodically to cut down a few of Orochimaru's reanimated ninja, his bleeding heart still not allowing him to let the animated corpses run amok.

A futile effort, as they merely reformed moments later. Even that little bit though- he hoped the civilians could use that time to find some kind of shelter.

But he was burning precious time! He had to be somewhere close by! "Any word yet?" He asked a tiny toad as it appeared on his shoulder in a puff of smoke.

Gamakichi, if he recalled correctly; the tiny toad was one of the boss, Gamabunta's sons, and had been one of the toads with the best relationship with Naruto. If even he was having trouble reaching the boy, then either Naruto didn't want to be reached or-

Jiraiya's eyes hardened. "Well!?"

Gamakichi winced. "Y-yeah, we ain't gonna be able to reach him."

They couldn't- "Why the hell not!?"

"O-oi, don't go yelling at me!" Gamakichi said, hotly. "Dad said his name is gray. The contract isn't recognizing him as one of our summoners!"

How the hell was that possible? Jiraiya was just about ready to scream at the young toad before another poof of smoke erupted on his other shoulder, and a small wooden club cracked painfully over his own head.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?" Jiraiya's frustration found its new target in the form of a weathered old toad, only slightly larger than Gamakichi, himself. One of the two elders who governed over the Toad clan: Elder Fukasaku.

"Watch your tongue, boyo! It's your own darn fault you're in this mess to begin with!" Fukasaku waved his gnarled old staff again, as if intending to brain Jiraiya a second time, but seemingly thought better of the gesture as he looked over the carnage surrounding them. "Mighty fine mess, at that…"

"What do you mean? What did I do now!?" Jiraiya whined, feeling uncomfortably childish in spite of the moment.

"You bloody murdered that damn boy all those weeks ago, that's what!"

Jiraiya could swear that his heart had stopped. "W-wha-"

"Listen close, Jiraiya-boy, we don't got time for me to hold your hand this time." Fukasaku sighed, rubbing comfortingly at the welt he'd left in Jiraiya's skull. "When we heard you dropped the boy, we worried, but he seemed to be recoverin', so no one ever thought to check the contract scroll. But now- thing is, the only way a summoning contract can be broken is if either the bond is deliberately snipped on both ends, or in the event of the bonded summoner's death." The old toad looked away from his petrified summoner, instead glaring at the ground level as Jiraiya's summoned mount leapt overhead. "Now I can't speak for him, but we never cut our ties with the poor boy. So either something's gone and taken him out-"

"He's not dead!" He couldn't be! The kid had survived the One Tails; he and Hinata had managed to survive two S-ranked ninja; hell, the boy had even bested Tsunade at her own game! He refused to believe it!

Fukasaku sighed, as if reading his mind. "Let's assume that then… That means he was legally dead at some point when you found him, which ain't something we decide on lightly; that's complete brain death and untethering of the spirit, Jiraiya-boy. Our laws are very particular!" He deliberately looked away from Jiraiya's ashen face, not wishing to humiliate the man. "Now I ain't got a clue how that poor boyo is walking around after that, but that's a later discussion. If it never came up before now, then it makes sense that nobody thought to confirm, but we can't reach him because our contract is dead, and if that's the case, then it's likely that he can't reach you for the same reasons."

That was another dagger in the old Sannin's heart. The bond he'd forged with his godson as master and apprentice- it had been broken all this time and he hadn't even noticed! The kid could be out there fighting for his life, unable to summon his godfather for help because Jiraiya had been too stupid and negligent to just do his damned due diligence! God, no wonder he didn't trust him!

"Fuck!" Jiraiya thumped his head, almost dislodging the toad elder in the process. Gamakichi whined as he was thrown airborne, with only Fukasaku's immaculate reflexes allowing him to catch the poor toad with his staff. "Fuck, fuck! Why do I keep just- I keep making it-" He palmed his face, withholding the urge to scream. "God, I can't do anything right!"

"None of that now, Jiraiya-boy," Fukasaku cut in, webbed fingers pressing against Jiraiya's forehead. "We all make mistakes; some small, some big… Some are very big."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better!?"

Fukasaku weathered the man's fury with patience, knowing just how deep his hurt ran in that moment. "But it is in understanding those faults that we learn from them. It is in that learning that we become better, and it is in becoming better that we do better… Heed my words: Assume the best for now... Find the boy first, and worry about the contract after. And when you do find him, bring him to us so that I may speak with him, personally."

Then he was gone in another puff of smoke; Gamakichi followed shortly after, silently bid to return and leave Jiraiya to his task.

A long breath filled Jiraiya's lungs, steadying the thumping of his chest with practiced effort. "Be better… Do better…"

Right then. First thing on the agenda was to find the kid. Everything else could come next. Jiraiya's eyes narrowed as a large pillar of familiar violet flame began to erect itself in the distance. Surrounding it were the agitated forms of several eight-legged behemoths; their legs stabbed at the ground rapidly, as if spear fishing in a shallow river.

If there was even a slight chance that Naruto was trapped in there-

Jiraiya's eyes darkened with barely restrained rage, taking in the sizable barrier and its apparent guards. "Gamatoro, that way!" His toad shifted its trajectory, now gunning straight for the erecting barrier. "You bastards better be friendly."

---

"How are we feeling? Everything intact?"

"M-mostly." Naruto tried to pull himself from the rubble he'd been embedded into, but his arms lacked the strength to move. "I'm getting my ass kicked."

"You could probably try escaping for the time being," Kushina suggested, sounding almost put out.

Yeah, escape was looking pretty smart at the moment. Naruto winced at the sound of the creature's screams, which were steadily growing closer.

It was possible- likely, even, that its chakra would eventually bottom out entirely; if that happened, it would likely die on its own, if left alone for long enough…

But that would mean leaving this thing unchecked. Whatever Orochimaru had done to that guy, he would die an excruciating death if the Leaf ninja left him, assuming he wasn't already too far gone… He had promised not to kill the guy, and technically, it would be Orochimaru who had killed the guy's life.

But Naruto didn't care for technicalities. Leaving him to suffer like this- "Nah, that just ain't my style."

… But there was something else too. It was a perverse, almost disappointing realization that he had in himself.

There was a part of him, screaming from his very core, that was excited. He really wanted to be the one to take it down.

"You really just can't leave well enough alone, can you?" Still, Kushina's grin had grown to match his own.

Because if there was one thing an Uzumaki reveled in, it was the thrill of a challenge!

Thrill of new discoveries; thrill of a good fight!

Thrill, pure and ugly and selfish, but oh-so addicting!

Naruto's grin slipped firmly into place. His jaws ground together as his emotions ran high. His eyes widened, Shukaku's eight pupils expanding until they were crowded to take in the approach of his newest foe.

New spools of chain began to unravel from his back, bursting through the fabric covering his back, just under his shoulder blades. They twisted, condensing and shaping into a pair of spindly, four-fingered limbs. Wrapping their way fully around his torso, they flexed experimentally with a sharp rattle as they locked into place as a secondary set of arms; additional chains sprouted at his spine to support their added weight; even more came forth to support his bruised ribs, extending like roots to meet the construct. As his battle spirit rose, a new rush of chakra rocketed to the surface, deeper than he'd ever thought to dig, and sharper and more refined than ever before; it penetrated the tender flesh of his bruised muscles, electrical signals firing off with such activity that it burned to even breathe!

And yet, he felt alive in a way he hadn't truly, since his fight with Shukaku!

His fingers twitched, numb, but slowly reinvigorating themselves with new life. They gripped either side of the crater he was in; biceps bulged with effort to haul himself back up, aided by the greater strength in his new, makeshift limbs. With a grunt, Naruto yanked himself forward, vaulting onto a dense pile of debris and clutching it with all four arms for support. From his short perch, he surveyed the monstrosity as it lashed out against his clones.

"His situation is kinda familiar, don't ya think?"

"Mhm," Kushina nodded, and although Naruto couldn't see it, he still knew that she had. "This looks to be something similar to a Gaara situation… That snake you're looking at is probably a piece of Orochimaru, judging by its chakra; it's manifested through the curse mark, and is feeding on that Sound ninja's spirit to sustain itself!"

Now that she mentioned it, the situation was a little too on the nose… What was Orochimaru playing at? Was that asshole testing him?

"It's not just that either… You saw what it did to that poor old man's body; your clones too. I think it's gravitated to any sources of chakra it can find. The rot breaks its targets down and it stuffs them in its gut to absorb their remains and become stronger. Since you're the largest source of chakra close by, it's fixated on you."

"Yeah I figured as much…" Naruto glanced at the serpent, whose movement made the Sound ninja's throat bulge and contort with its violent motions. He felt like gagging just looking at the damned thing. "So getting rid of the snake or cutting the link somehow should do it then, yeah?"

Kushina nodded. "It won't be easy; if even a piece of Orochimaru is piloting that thing, you're gonna have your work cut out for you trying to pin it down for long enough to do that, and unless you can destroy it completely, it'll likely be able to recover."

Naruto's grin only widened even further. "Which means I'll need to beat it down first, then take it down in one fell swoop, huh?"

That would be a bit of a tall order. Looking at their last few exchanges, he'd been thoroughly on the backfoot in stats. With its body seemingly capable of regeneration, and to a pretty significant degree, at that…

He certainly had his work cut out for him.

"More than likely, it's cannibalizing resources from 'less important' places to sustain itself. Using chakra recklessly might also end up feeding it, so you'll need to be cautious in how you expend your energy. As for its healing- you'll need to either overwhelm its regeneration or find some way to bypass it entirely."

That bile was also going to be an issue. He wouldn't be able to fight freely while also making sure not to get hit by any of it. Even a single drop would melt right through his flesh and infect him in moments; if that happened-

Kenji Uzumaki's ruined chest, his once-innocuous scrapes festering and prying themselves wider and deeper within mere hours as Akari Kaguya's curse did its work.

Just a few drops had nearly killed Mito, herself… Even if it was only a bastardization of the real deal, Naruto didn't exactly favor his chances regardless.

He needed to find a way around the creature's rot, and just dodging was too risky; he couldn't stay completely clear of it while still fighting at one-hundred percent… But how to neutralize it?

As if prompted, Naruto finally registered where he had crashed into.

A pub…

His eyes trailed over the wooden foundations, then to the glass cabinet full of alcohol behind the counter.

Mito screamed as her chains worked under her flesh, the heat of her fire release searing Akari's affliction out of her body. Angry red scars burned their way into her flesh from within.

"You think if I fry his glands I can halt that shit's production?"

"You'd need a damn good fire to keep it from just regenerating again. It couldn't regenerate the arm that you took, so maybe… But you'd need to completely destroy any trace of those cells, so that there's nothing for it to regenerate from; if you can do that, it should work."

And if not that, then the heat would at least kill that freaky bacteria, which might weaken the rot down to manageable levels. He doubted that snake was just going to let him get close like that though. He'd need to outmaneuver it, which meant he'd need the augmentation provided by his purer yang-release chakra flow, which would be gimped if he reverted the flow of his Mind's Eye to anticipate his enemy's movements. He simply couldn't make full use of both his yin release and yang release the way he needed for this fight.

But therein laid the problem. If he wanted to win then and there, he would definitely need both. He couldn't afford to half ass either! He wouldn't be able to steer clear of its speed, its stare, the bile, and potentially any other surprises that he had yet to see!

So how then did he bypass its rot, overcome the massive stat differential, and anticipate its attacks all at once? That'd be like looking left and right at the same time, and Shadow Clones had already proven less than effective; the delay in their resonance was just too risky to play around.

"I… I have an idea." Kushina hedged slowly, as if expecting to be shot down before she'd even proposed it. When Naruto only waited, curiously, she pushed forward, pausing only long enough to be sure that she had his full attention. "I've been thinking about this since those Akatsuki people came after you… As I am, I'm kind've useless to you."

"That's not-"

"Don't interrupt me darling," Kushina cut in, firmly. She needed to say this, and Naruto seemed to realize as well, for he fell silent once more. "I don't have a body, and I can't even do much on your behalf from here because I have no real chakra of my own. You nearly got captured by Itachi because I couldn't even do something as simple as breaking you out of genjutsu…"

That little detail had been her bane for days. The frustration of knowing that her baby boy was fighting all by himself- knowing that she was little more than a disembodied voice in her X'omaa's head. She knew her son didn't need her to fight his battles for him- wouldn't want it, even. But if she didn't do everything she could and more to support him when he needed it most- well, that just wouldn't do.

She would never admit it to the beast, but as far as she was concerned, the Kyuubi had been right. She was just a leech; a parasite, lingering around in her baby boy's head, eating his chakra and limiting his potential so she could indulge in motherhood that wasn't even truly hers to claim…

Unacceptable. Impotence was a curse she had no intention of enduring any longer. Regardless of the circumstances that had led them to this point, they were a team now.

"But if you can somehow bridge the gap between us, I can probably use your chakra in sync with you to lighten your burden."

Huh… Doing it like that- it'd free him up to focus entirely on his yang chakra while his mother handled the yin side of things. But that didn't quite solve the main issue of using the Mind's Eye jutsu both ways… He just wasn't acclimated enough to take in all of that information at once!

"I can filter it well enough to manage, at least for the short-term. But we've gotta figure it out quickly, because you're running out of time!"

But how to bridge the gap then? Kushina at her core was little more than an impression of his mother's consciousness; more akin to a clone than the real-

"Huh…" Kushina whistled, interestedly. "Now there's an idea! I can wait for you on the other end to complete the link; do you think you can make the jump on a time crunch?"

Naruto grinned so wide his cheeks began to hurt.

"You know damn well that I live for this kind of stuff!" His fingers crossed into a rough 'plus' formation, eyes going shut for a moment in a bid for concentration so intense that he only barely registered the moment that his last two clones finally lost the battle and were torn apart.

Changing the chakra alignment of a jutsu was well-tread ground by now. For a jutsu that he knew as well as his own flesh- well, he'd done it with the explosives that had finally done in Shukaku; he had done it with his rasengan to overcome Tsunade; now, it was almost easy to visualize the ratios of the two alignments that made up nearly all jutsu.

The shadow-clone jutsu was largely yang-leaning, specifically developed by the Second Hokage to be reliable distractions and physical aids who could also be effective at information gathering. Their ability to relay information to their creator was their secondary purpose… But what would happen if he calibrated their alignment to better suit the latter?

What exactly would a shadow clone, made of a pure yin-release distribution, look like? Would his mother be able to hijack it like they hoped?

The groan of Orochimaru's beast was fast approaching, and Naruto knew he was well out of time. Good, he did his best work when his back was to the wall!

The creature finally lumbered close enough for its newly healed eyes to spot Naruto. Its low growl began to rise to a watery scream as its heavy footfalls increased in speed.

"EmPtY! So EmPtY!" It roared, its slow lumber now breaking out into an all out sprint.

Naruto's yin-chakra soared, countless thoughts and feelings rushing to the forefront and yet not a single one of doubt. He took hold of that power without hesitation, the anticipation roiling beneath his flesh bordering on a rush of mania!

"Yin-release: Shadow Clone jutsu!"

His chakra spiked, and his mind swelled until it felt bloated. Pain erupted in his head, so intense that he nearly keeled over and vomited! It was like his psyche was splitting itself in two! Naruto screamed as his vision doubled, crimson-tinged mucus running from his nose and staining his fingers as one of his dirtied hands rushed up to clamp over his face.

That better have freaking worked. God, why did everything always have to hurt!?

"I've got it!" Kushina announced, now sounding much, much closer than she ever had before. "Are you okay?"

He felt her concern as if it were his own. His eyes swiveled around, taking in his surroundings with an eye more experienced than he knew himself to have. Trash and rubble shuddered under his grip as the possessed Sound ninja stampeded toward him; at the same time, his bare feet that weren't bare at all felt the kiss of beach sand, and his hair felt almost too-hot under the scorching suns, yet also dirty and covered in cold grime. His fingers flexed, feeling feminine and gentle and yet filled with power that was laden with rust, and yet also his own and-

And yet the grin that slipped across his face felt exactly the same on both ends.

"Never better!

The beast was only a few meters off by now.

"You focus on fighting; I'll stick to support. Understood?"

Naruto began to chuckle, his earlier discomfort giving way entirely to thrill, once more! "Ah what the hell-" He tilted back, throwing his arms up with thrill. "Come on then!"

Wood and dirt tore away as Naruto hurled himself toward the approaching beast; his body was a bullet as he careened forward, just his velocity alone carving a thick trench through the ground and his surroundings as he moved to meet its charge just outside the entrance of the pub. A metal arm snapped out, sprouting a spear-like thorn from its palm and intercepting a heavy swing from the creature that he felt long before he saw it. His bones rattled with the collision as he tumbled back onto the ground from the impact, rolling sorely and dusting his face with splotches of dirt. Naruto had to force himself to roll back to his feet as his opponent staggered before lunging at him again with an open palm, intent on crushing him.

But he saw it coming, this time before it had even started! His outward perception was back and far greater than he remembered! At the same time, he could make out the fine details of his internals, leaving it almost thoughtless for him to flow his physical energies through his body. Even with the quickly closing gap in speed, he had more than enough time to right himself, wrapping one of his makeshift limbs around his real arm and letting the whole thing shift to rattle to extend and crack like the swing of a whip; his transformed arm snapped up to intercept the lunge and the one after that too, screeches of metal sounding in tandem with the repeated impacts.

"I've got both scans down. Just make sure you respond in time to what I'm giving you!"

In that case-

Yang chakra skyrocketed, the final realization of freed up focus allowing Naruto to dedicate himself entirely on the physical side of combat. Tsunade's lessons made themselves known once more.

"The fastest way to refine yang-release is through physical effort."

"Maximum effort!" Naruto's focus spiked, every bit of his effort now centered on the refinement of his chakra flow.

Rotation; compression. Power; dexterity!

Three more blows were exchanged with the creature, his chain-clad arm lashing out with increasing force and finesse until the final blow nearly threw the behemoth entirely off balance. It caught itself on the backstep, suddenly whipping around in a full circle to try swatting Naruto with a backfist, but he was able to tilt himself backward, letting the limb pass entirely over his head. Jirobo's body twisted a second time, this one angled lower, but Naruto saw it coming and rolled back before pushing forward, crashing directly into the path of its oversized foot.

"Shit!" He wheezed as his body dug a trench through the ground, several fresh splinters biting into his flesh as his body crashed back into the pub in a messy tumble. "I thought you said you had it!"

"Sorry, sorry! I'm a bit out of practice! I'm working on it!" Immediately, the flow of chakra was amplified even further, reaching such a point that Naruto's head felt fit to burst. But as the serpent and its puppet burst through the front of the pub to continue its assault, Naruto could only thank her for it.

He rolled out of the way of a crushing stomp, letting the Sound ninja's body skid slightly past him. Then, heeding Kushina's silent warning, Naruto shut his eyes entirely to avoid the paralyzing stare of the snake's regenerated eyes. He slid in a half-circle to steer clear as the creature's massive arm dislodged a chunk of the countertop and tried to bat him away with it. It took a great step forward, swinging its arm back to crash into Naruto's raised guard; his body impacted painfully against the wall, but a thick, rib-like construct borne from his chain met the attack to ensure minimal injuries.

"It's going to spit!"

She needn't have said anything; with the link as close as it was at that moment, her thoughts may very well have been his own. Naruto's fingers twisted, activating his shape-changing jutsu; he shrunk down right in time, transforming into a small fly and using its wings to give a wide berth as the lower mouth began its gargle, right before it began to spew a violent stream of its rot-tinged bile after him. All around, the filth corroded right through the wall and ground, rendering the supports down to withering slag.

Flying in a wide arc around the thing, Naruto transformed back to normal just as his feet finally found a corner of the wall on the other side, ricocheting off its surfaces at increasing speed. In his mind's eye, he pictured streams of yang release building and coalescing at the very core of his chakra. Pure physical energy, condensing and rotating with increasing speed and density until his body was vibrating!

Energy, pure and overwhelming in its intensity rushed through his body. As his chakra continued to build, a tightly bound vortex spun in his gut with such force that his muscles swelled and screamed. Kushina's internal scans showed him its nexus and Naruto understood: Kinetic energy, produced with every motion; every impact exchanged- bits of it captured and recycled, accrued and stowed within the spiraling shell he'd trapped it all within.

It was addicting!

His speed became such that the earlier disparity had flipped entirely on its head; his foe couldn't even begin to keep up! As Naruto flitted about across the room, he left behind tiny shards of his secondary limbs which adhered to surrounding bottles of liquor. Finally, Naruto slung himself past the glass cabinet, a mere thought allowing his still-merged combination of flesh and metal to tear right through the material and snag the first bottle he could reach with prime dexterity. His chakra, built up to reach an overwhelming intensity by then, suffused the object in his grip with little more than a thought, coating it like a thick layer of cement as he ricochet off the wall once more to slam the bottle into the side of the snake's head. It let out a sharp screech as the ceramic shattered, its artificially hardened fragments punching through its scales; potent liquor burned its vulnerable eyes, still overly sensitive from their fresh regeneration, and the Sound ninja's oversized arm snapped up to grab him.

"None of that now!" Naruto and Kushina laughed as 's combined arm unfused, his two adamantine limbs now free to combine together in a tiger seal just as its grip closed around him. From his body burst dozens of metal thorns, which ripped right through the flesh of the animated body; the boy's fury chased the spines, boiling off his skin with heat so potent that his chains and flesh reddened as one. The adamantine chains ignited, the embedded spines snagging the muscular, reinforced flesh of the transformed Jirobo and cleaving through his remaining arm like it was nothing at all to finally free Naruto.

A high pitched screech tore from the possessed boy's abdomen, which swelled and gnashed, ready to bite him as he fell. Naruto once again activated his shape-changing jutsu with a laugh; he shrunk down to little more than a fraction of his size, ricocheting off the falling clumps of severed meat. All the while, the tightly bound energy he had worked to amass within himself seemed to only grow and roar with every passing moment!

Every movement; every leap- Naruto bounced off a chunk of flesh, landing on another in a textbook handspring that vaulted him forward. His flesh and blood fingers danced together to spawn the flames that Sasuke had gifted to him, and his body twisted in mid air, his momentum aided by the forceful expulsion of twin jets of flame that burst forth from his metallic, makeshift palms; the flames thinned and tightened, the sheer concentration of their output such that his body began to spiral out with velocity that made his eyes sting and clad his body like the head of a comet.

It was like his chakra itself was fit to explode through his skin!

"Dance of Tides: Whirlpool!" But not just that! He wrenched all of that momentum under his control, twisting into a vicious reverse-roundhouse kick towards the now frantic serpent. It tried to retreat back into Jirobo's slackened mouth too late, and from the impact sounded a debilitating 'crack', which caused the wooden floorboards to peel around them and nearly tore the snake's jaw from its head. "Dance of Storms: Thunderclap!"

The chakra that was roiling in his body had grown by now to such a point that every movement he made was pain, and yet for the life of him, Naruto barely noticed, too caught up in having the time of his life!

He dropped down in front of the stunned enemy, throwing out an arm and snapping his fingers toward the hanging gut of his enemy. Dozens of attached adamantine shards in the surrounding area rose, taking with them their adhered bottles of liquor, large and small; the mass rocketed forward into the open gut of the large, animated corpse, slamming against its makeshift teeth or into its open lower jaws until all he could see within was broken and intact bottles of glass and ceramic.

If that thing's gut absorbed whatever went in there, then it was probably looking mighty damn flammable right at that moment!

"Don't overdo it!"

"Way ahead of ya!" Naruto let out a sound, high and manic- more akin to the cackle of a hyena as his fingers once again twisted through the hand seals of Sasuke's prized jutsu.

"Snake, ram, monkey, boar, horse, tiger. Fire Style: Fireball jutsu!"

With the amount of chakra built within him, he had far too much to spare! It was a battle just to keep it in check, tearing away just a piece and converting it to match the fury in his heart. Naruto's chest swelled, oxygen filling his lungs until they ached; his flesh reddened and burned, a molten-red heat building up beneath his skin and lighting his flesh from within like lava cooking through see-through glass. Dozens of furious sparks sputtered violently in his mouth, purple smoke puffing through his ajar lips before finally igniting with a deafening screech!

His throat burned with pain as a golden, purple-trailed comet exploded from his jaws, ripping forth and careening into Jirobo's gut hard enough to throw the behemoth back. His body shuddered and screamed in agony as the flames found their amplifier, burning hotter and brighter until the lips of his belly had begun to rapidly cook a flaky black. The violent flames were guided by Kushina's scans, finding the secreting glands and burning their cells to useless, blackened meat. They tried to spread with the flow of alcohol, but Naruto's control was adamant, demanding that they continue to burn only where he'd guided them like a quad-set of pyres.

Jirobo's body continued to swell rapidly as it worked to consume the chakra-infused flame. Orochimaru's influence only seemed to grow as well, with even the serpent growing longer and thicker as its host body absorbed Naruto's chakra. But even as that chakra was devoured, his flames continued to burn, aided by the liquor and the open air.

"With the rot done away with, his chances of survival should go up. Now back to our regularly scheduled program of beating this guy's ass!"

"Hehehe…" Naruto began to chuckle, his grin spreading too wide in the throes of his thrill. His sharpened teeth elongated, growing almost too big for his mouth. A pair of violent skewer-like fangs lengthened in place of his canine teeth, and the blackened ash of his flames clung to his dirtied face, masking his features almost in their entirety, save for his eyes and jaws. "Hahahahaha! I've got your ass now!"

---

Orochimaru had a strange habit of picking up orphans.

God knew why… Maybe in a different time, the Snake Sannin might have been a gentler man; perhaps he might have opened an orphanage and filled all of those disadvantaged children with all of the love and opportunities that he knew they deserved.

But his reality was simpler than that, and far, far colder too.

Children were easy to mold. They were blank slates, carrying little more than youthful eyes that were far too loving and impressionable for their own good. It was almost effortless for a manipulator of his caliber to lurk about in disadvantaged areas, preying on that desperate need for love and validation. And it wasn't like there was a shortage of those places. The ninja world was cruel; everywhere you looked, someone was taking from somebody else. The world was built by the strong on the blood of the weak. Orochimaru had learned this early in his life, and it was a lesson that he instilled into every poor soul he sank his teeth into.

Jirobo was no different. He wasn't unique; he was not special. He was merely one of hundreds of toys that Orochimaru had picked up in some place or another, planning to use up and discard as he did with all things that lost their value to him.

Born to a small settling town in Earth Country, his home had been one of the many locations that had been requisitioned by Iwa to help recuperate from their losses following the war effort. Before Iwa had begun making its presence known with increasingly aggressive 'taxes', his home had been known as a fairly well-off farming town that dealt largely in grain. The resulting taxes often put upon these small settlements demanded the lion's share of their produce, such that little remained for their own people, by the time the Stone village was done making its monthly rounds.

"Come back!" Jirobo wailed, unsteady legs chasing after a pair of boys a few years his senior. "Please, it's all we have!"

The two boys refused to look at him, clutching tighter at the measly bag of rice that they'd ripped from his hands. Jirobo finally gave up the chase, doubling over and wheezing at his bruised ribs and aching gut.

His aunt had given him the last of their money to pay for that bag… Where was he going to find food now? Where!?

God, he was so hungry.

Often, all Orochimaru had to do was show up. The world was twisted enough on its own; the Snake Sannin hardly needed to bend over backwards to shine the light on that facet of life.

Jirobo trudged home, fingers digging into the flesh of his swollen belly. The bruising in his torso hurt, but that pain was a pittance to the aching emptiness in him. Hunger, yes- but also shame; shame at having let those boys take from him.

Shame at not being strong enough.

He kicked his shoes off at the entrance of the slight hovel he called home, letting the door creak open with a wince.

"Jirobo? Dear, is that you?" His aunt's voice was quiet, barely audible and teeming with the dry rasp of sickness.

"Yeah, it's me…" He trailed off, trying to look anywhere and everywhere except at the sickly woman before him; she lay bundled up in a pair of cheap, moth-eaten blankets, each too small to fully cover her own body. Still, she smiled for him as he shuffled closer.

"Good, good." She was silent for a moment. Her half-blind eyes roved over him with concern. She did not comment on his empty hands, for she could guess well enough what had happened; theft was far from uncommon around their parts. Instead, she began digging into the inner folds of her clothing, procuring a misshapen, starch-white lump and gesturing for him to take it. "Our neighbors were asking for you, you know. They had some to spare."

A potato. Jirobo wanted to deny it. He knew she needed it more; whatever he was feeling now, Jirobo knew in his heart that his aunt had it so much worse; he knew needed every bit of strength she could get.

But it hurt. The emptiness in his own gut- it screamed for relief, so loud and desperate that it hurt.

Oh god, did it hurt!

He could only resist the call for a moment, almost begging that the woman would think twice- that she would change her mind and scarf the damn thing down before his weakness reared its ugly head again and made him take from her.

The only person to ever love a weakling like him.

And he took from her…

That ugliness in people. Orochimaru lived for the thrill of finding it and dragging it out of them. To him, it was little more than a morbid game, with which to sate his curiosity.

"How far does this one have to fall?"

Jirobo choked back tears as he scarfed down his scraps. His aunt's still body was cold on the other side of the room. His eyes darted back to her remains before ripping themselves away, a possibility lingering, whispering on ears that were far too desperate to ever be in their right mind.

God, he was so hungry. So empty; so, so, so very empty!

It hurt! It hurt so much!

Slowly, his vision was dragged back to the corner of the room. He had draped the comforters over her body in an attempt at modesty- of respect in her final moments. Yet, her hand had seemingly slipped through the binds, hanging loosely out in the open.

Tears found their place anew, building at his ducts and spilling over to paint his cheeks down to his chin in his sorrow.

"M-maybe… Maybe just a bite?"

Then, when his prey was at their lowest- when the world had forsaken them, torn them down and left them ruined; when his new toys were tenderized by the cruelty of the world around them, just a pathetic, gormless slab of meat to be collected and reshaped for his amusement… There he was, always right on time with warm eyes and a smile.

Orochimaru had to bend low to creep into the tiny hovel that Jirobo had once shared with his aunt. The young boy lay quivering in the corner, old bloodstains mixing with dirt and mud to cover the ground and even his pants. A rusted, chipped butcher's knife lay clutched tightly in his too-small hands, a tiny pot of spoiling meat simmering just above a sputtering fire.

Jirobo's eyes peered up, yellowing sclera bordering lightless eyes that were empty of all, save for shame and self loathing that penetrated all the way through; his petrified body lay still, swollen and bloated with sickness, and yet too thin around the ribs.

"Now this is a new one, even for me." Orochimaru blinked twice, before fixing his face into the spitting image of sweetness. "May I help you little one?" He procured a handful of rations from his utility pouch. "Would you like something to eat? They don't taste very good, but they are quite filling."

So empty. He was so, so empty!

Jirobo had to fight just to find the strength needed to wet his throat. He tried to speak, but all that came out was a wordless rasp, his first few attempts. Finally, he desperately threw himself to his knees, prostrating himself so deeply that his nose smushed uncomfortably against the ground. Tears and snot came freely, coating the ground anew with fresh stains of both.

"Pl-ea-se… He-lp me. Ple-ease! Help me!" He repeated, his tone little more than a high-pitched whine. He continued to beg- to grovel, even as the pale-faced man began to approach him. "It hurts. It hurts so much! Please help me!"

And that smile, that damned smile- it always, always worked. Because Orochimaru's favorite toys were the ones who couldn't say no.

Jirobo scarfed down the rations the newcomer had offered him. They were foul and dry, and yet they were the sweetest thing he had ever tasted. For the first time in months, he didn't feel quite so empty.

"Would you like more?" Another handful were gently pushed into the boy's quaking fingers.

More? He could have more?

Jirobo knew at that moment that he would follow this man wherever he went.

Because he couldn't go back. Not to that. He couldn't stand to be empty ever again.

He would rather be dead.

---

Kabuto's aim was deadly accurate. A trio of shuriken whirled from his fist with staggering speed, and it was all Hinata could do just to stay clear of the weapons as he worked to corral her, separating her further from Tayuya and himself.

If she could just get in close- She was forced to duck as an off-handed kunai bored into brick right where her head had been and showered her hair with debris.

Not far from her, Tayuya played her flute with deft fingers, bruised and swollen lips blowing a haunting melody that carried the girl's potent chakra through the air. Hinata noted Kabuto's chakra working against the redhead in real time; dense pockets of chakra filled his ear canals, blocking off the sound and limiting its ability to invade his system. In turn, Tayuya's genjutsu seemed to refine itself with every moment, digging and prodding at the bespectacled boy's protections in search of any sign of weakness.

Kurenai-sensei had always said that genjutsu battles were subtle; "They often begin and end in an instant."

So their win-conditions were simple. She needed to either overwhelm him physically, or set the stage for Tayuya to get a genjutsu off… Which meant she needed to disrupt his chakra flow. If she could just do that, the fight was theirs!

"There's no point," Kabuto jeered at the girl, twisting and weaving around Hinata's attempt at returning fire with shuriken of her own. "I've watched you since the beginning, Tayuya! I know everything about you; all of your skills; every little habit that makes you who you are! All of it-" He threw his arm out, palming a kunai and rushing the Sound defect with startling speed. "You're just too easy!"

"Oh bite me, you insufferable little twat!" Tayuya would never claim to be strong in close quarters, but she certainly wasn't helpless enough to just lay down and take it! Still, she strained to overcome even just the brief skirmish incited by Kabuto, throwing up a textbook elbow guard to deflect a sharp chop to her throat. She shoved him back, but he reinforced his footing, bouncing back twice as fast to slam his palm into her face.

"Shit!" Tayuya stumbled back, resisting the urge to nurse her now crooked, red-running nose in favor of keeping her flute close to her lips even as she continued to backpedal. "Little help, Hyuga!"

She needn't have said anything, for Hinata was already on the move. Catching her in the corner of his vision, Kabuto flung a kunai her way, and Hinata deflected it with a contemptuous swat of her bare hand. Pushing forward, Hinata tilted her head to avoid another dagger, flipping forward and rolling onto the balls of her feet before lunging with explosiveness. She closed the distance in a moment, hands blurring into motion in a fight to tag Orochimaru's right hand even just the one time.

But he was slippery.

Kabuto twisted just out of the way before retaliating with a deadly jab of tensed fingers, wreathed in the pale-blue glow of his chakra. Hinata tilted back to steer just clear of it, then braced her core and threw her forearms up to block his own as he attempted to drive his chakra-made scalpel down into her face. Redirecting his swing just to the side, Hinata reinforced her core strength to force herself back up; both hands clasped around Kabuto's outstretched arm, yanking him off balance and flipping him onto the ground where he impacted shoulder first. He hissed at the rough tumble, but didn't stay grounded for nearly long enough for her to capitalize, instead palming the ground and pushing off to flip back to his feet, a few meters off.

Dam- darn it, she'd had him! She couldn't afford to waste any more opportunities!

Hinata pushed forward, looking to continue pressing Kabuto, but had to abort her lunge as a single shuriken found the young man's palm and blitzed her way. She ducked down low, anticipating a full brace to follow, but Kabuto instead took the opportunity to lunge forward, volleying a kick into her face and rolling her back onto her hands and knees, a purpling gash splitting above her brow and blinding her eye with her blood. Hinata wasn't downed for long at all though, immediately scrambling forward to take the offensive yet again.

She couldn't let him set the tempo!

But Kabuto leaped away from her too quickly, twisting in mid-air to plant his feet on the wall-side of a building before blurring into motion.

It was a common, core technique used by many Konoha ninja. It revolved around the use of the traditional tree-gliding method, manipulated at a high level to ricochet off nearby walls, branches, and the like- Konoha ninja possessed unmatched maneuverability when it came to combat above the ground level.

It was a skill that she had practiced extensively. Kurenai-sensei favored it herself, often using the maneuverability offered by it to discourage direct taijutsu encounters while weaving her genjutsu. Hinata's own latent proficiency had been a small source of pride, back when she had little else to her name, and with her improving chakra output from rasengan training, she had found her proficiency only skyrocketing in the recent days.

But even still, she was thoroughly outclassed.

Hinata came to a complete stop, dedicating all of her focus to tracking his movements. In terms of mobility, he definitely had the both of them beat far too well to chase him recklessly.

"With me, Hyuga!" Tayuya ordered her, their backs meeting to cover each others' flanks.

Kabuto found his utility pouch as he leapt from wall-to-wall, and several shuriken raced after Hinata and Tayuya both, seemingly from several angles at once. Hinata spared Tayuya only a worried glance before she tilted to the side just enough to evade the first projectile, rotating on her ankles to bob the other way to avoid two more. Then she twisted on the balls of her feet, sliding down low to duck under a following brace of steel before finally cartwheeling to steer clear of a final pair of projectile weapons. Her sharp eyes caught a blade, whirling toward Tayuya in the shadow of another that had the girl's full focus; Hinata's deft fingers blurred outward, telescopic vision zeroing in to isolate and snag the blade before it could reach the redhead.

But that left her back to Kabuto, and he grinned.

The byakugan's scope of vision was impressive, but far from perfect. Unknown to most was the fact that their fabled eyes had a tiny, near-imperceptibly small blind spot, extending right from the base of the neck. That blind spot grew much wider and more vulnerable when Hyuga made use of the telescopic element of their vision, leaving them briefly open to flanking attacks. Most ninja would never even dream of being able to target it, but for someone like Kabuto who specialized in the gathering of information-

Kabuto rocketed toward her at far greater speed.

This one was a Kumo-borne technique, used by their ninja who specialized in ending fights quickly and without fanfare; it was little more than a linear lunge, but the trick was in building a slender, aerodynamic profile and using chakra for a powerful but silent kickoff!

He closed the distance in an instant, his chakra scalpel moving to sever the girl's spine, and Tayuya, who had only just managed to clear the last of his weapons and looked back to thank Hinata, had only just caught his movement a second too late.

"Oi!" She tried to warn Hinata, but Kabuto's hand was only inches away from the smaller girl's neck, far too close for the little girl to defend herself.

Or so he thought.

Hinata tilted forward, the boot-side of her foot crashing into Kabuto's chest with a violent 'crack'. He let out a breathless, halfway scream as the following jet of chakra launched him backward, rolling painfully onto the ground

She had used her blind spot to bait him in!?

"You seemed pretty proud of how informed you were when we met in the exams," Hinata noted, rushing forward to capitalize on her downed target. "Maybe a little too proud."

Typical Hyuga, always thinking they had people pegged! So what, she'd remembered their first meeting in the first exams, and had gambled that he knew about her clan's blind spot? She deliberately let him overwhelm her sight, targeting blindly to punish a reckless rush... Or had she-

It struck him all at once. She had deliberately used her telescopic sight to perfectly track him via his shadow, letting him believe she was more focused on his shuriken!

Moreover, she had made the blow count, injecting her chakra to puncture his lung with her counteroffensive.

"In terms of hand-to-hand proficiency, you're surprisingly effective!" Kabuto wheezed. He tilted back to avoid a palm strike, lashing out with a kick that Hinata intercepted with her own as she continued her advance. As their legs crossed, he pulled back, planning to kick her away, but Hinata tilted, balancing at an angle to intercept that too with a back-kick of her own. She pushed off from him, a pane of chakra capturing her footing as she slid in a half-circle, far faster than he would have expected, then lunged again with a shove that sent him staggering back. Kabuto was only just able to protect his vitals, ejecting chakra from his body in tandem to disrupt the gentle-fist strike, allowing him to stumble away with light bruising, only. "I da-daresay even- you might actually be close to that cousin of yours now!"

Hinata said nothing, hands flashing out thrice more in a multitude of bids that each were swatted aside or slinked away from by her flagging opponent. An inwards-chop hit air, but Hinata was quick to transition to an elbow, meaning to drive the knife-point of the limb into the other's throat. As Kabuto palmed her elbow, he felt a spike of pain before his hand began to deaden.

Another gentle-fist strike, and through her elbow, at that. It was common knowledge that Hyuga could eject chakra through any of their chakra points, but the level of accuracy needed to target his chakra points with such an unorthodox point of contact-

Kabuto made to redirect her, Hinata resisted, turning her back to the young man for just an instant and pushing off her leading leg to slide under and past him. Planting the ball of her leading foot, the ground cracked beneath the rush of chakra as Hinata exploded into Kabuto's space. Her leg snapped out thrice, each in higher angles; the first blow hit Kabuto's side, with the second and third working away at his elbow and shoulder, respectively. Then, while he was staggered, she slammed her foot down, meaning to snap Kabuto's overextended leg like cheap plywood. He was faster though and stumbled back to safety, hastily hurling a single shuriken that she immediately batted back with a reinforced swipe of her hand. It fired back at Kabuto even faster than he had launched it, embedding deeply into his other shoulder.

"Shit!" The dexterity needed to do something like that- and against shurikenjutsu on his level…

What the hell had happened to the pathetic little girl who had seemed unable to even hold a stance, just a month and some change ago?

Kabuto winced as he stumbled back, reddening welts in his flesh just from those brief impacts; Hinata seized her moment, sliding forward in a low stance, arms splayed out on either side. "Eight Trigrams: Thirty-Two Palms!" Her body rotated, kicking up dust and debris as she forced her way into his space. In an instant, she was on him again, this time using not just her palms and fingertips, but also her elbows, legs, and knees in a whirlwind of motion to tag the older boy. His guard was thorough, but her speed and chakra output was climbing far too fast! What's more, with his head light from reduced oxygen, chakra staggered, and now both arms numb- it was only a matter of time before her final blow slipped through.

"Argh!" Kabuto groaned as Hinata punched a crippling strike into the center of his torso. A burst of chakra tore through his body, blowing out of his back and tearing his shirt apart on the way out. Its force was so great that it doubled the former over her arm. "Yep! Better, even! How did you improve so fast?"

What would Naruto say?

"... Plenty of juice?" Hinata's eyes scanned Kabuto's body thoroughly, her own gut telling her not to trust such a simply-won victory.

It was this that saved her.

Kabuto's body began to spar', and Hinata obeyed her instincts, shoving him away and ducking farther back while guarding her face, just as the sparks' sound rose to a threatening screech, crackling from underneath his mangled clothing. Then Kabuto detonated, knocking her off her feet and sending the girl rolling back; she came to a painful stop by Tayuya's feet.

"Ouchies…"

A shadow clone, rigged to explode instead of dispel… She would've thought she would be able to tell the difference, being around Naruto so much, but It had never occurred to her that they could be used to sustain so much damage before they popped!

"Get the fuck up! He could be anywhere!" Tayuya reached down to haul the disoriented girl up to her feet, her eyes never even reaching her. Instead, the ex Sound ninja's eyes cut through every corner, trying to anticipate Kabuto's next move. Hinata rose onto shaky footing, her byakugan's sight swiveling about to lock down her enemy.

"Below us." Dozens of presences had amassed underfoot, each possessing a similar chakra signature.

"You know, I've spent many years of my life mastering the art of subterfuge. It's a skill I'm quite proud of, and I'd be quite remiss to let some snot-nosed little Hyuga girl think she has me pegged."

Kabuto's voice echoed from all around, seemingly bouncing off every surface, much to Tayuya's increasing paranoia. "As for you, Tayuya… We used to be comrades. Because of that, I suppose I feel a responsibility to educate you on some things… A real ninja never picks a fight without first knowing the measure of their target."

The ground beneath the pair began to ripple, and from its surface burst well over a dozen pairs of graying hands; they clutched the earth after a moment, slowly dragging entire bodies free. The animated corpses slowly stumbled to their feet, hollow eyes staring through the perturbed Tayuya and Hinata.

So he had gone and commandeered some of Orochimaru's Edo Tensei for himself, huh? Modifying their chakra signature with a body-doubling technique, and using Iwa's mud-swimming jutsu to maneuver them to flank the girls while his Shadow Clone scouted them out and forced them to expend precious energy. Meanwhile, he'd hide among them and wait for a chance to strike

It was all so familiar…

"Figures you'd just go and rip the Snake's whole style, huh?" Tayuya grinned, mockingly. "You couldn't pull an original to save your damn life, you friggin' knock-off loser!"

"Tch. I don't need to hear a lecture on quality from some sloppy pile of spoiled goods!" When Kabuto next spoke, his tone was colder than ever. "You've failed Orochimaru-sama, and what's worse, you turned against him too! The only thing you're good for now is to help your betters evolve; so do me a favor and give me tons of valuable info before you keel over, would you?" Then he was back to mocking. "As for you, little Hyuga, I've grown to like you, so I'll try to be at least a little gentle while I pluck those pretty little eyes out of your head!"

The younger girl clenched her fist, annoyance in their aggressor beginning to find its way past her barriers. "You're in my way..."

"And quite proud of it, thank you!" Kabuto's laugh threw itself all around them as the shambling corpses began to circle them. "Oh, and Tayuya? I've been wanting to get my hands on you for quite some time! I can't wait to see how you handle a proper vivisection! Oh, the things I could learn from pulling you apart!"

Tayuya merely sneered. "How about you handle some bitches, you spineless shit-stain!?"

"Hahaha! Ouch!" Kabuto's animated corpses began their charge. They weren't overly fast, but their movements were erratic, their bodies stumbling and leaning erratically as they began their assault. "You've always had such a foul mouth! It's a small wonder that Lord Orochimaru never let me sew it shut!"

"Are you mad at me? I feel like you're mad at me!" Tayuya danced out of the way of a bladed lunge, ducking low before circling around her first attacker and slamming a back kick into their spine that downed them. Her lips once again claimed her flute, a sharp screech ripping from her instrument in the form of a near-formless wheel of wind; it cleaved their body in half at the waist, then a second rip of the instrument sent a pair of blades to slice to ribbons another approaching pair, giving her room to backstep twice for space.

The enemy was honestly quite weak, but they were a distraction. And Tayuya knew that letting herself get distracted around a ninja of Kabuto's caliber was a death sentence.

Once again, she began to play, the formless screech of her music shifting to a more cohesive melody that filled the air around them.

However, Kabuto's puppets continued in their jerky movements. Further observation confirmed her concerns. Fresh scarring at the ears- He had destroyed their ear drums to nullify her sound-based genjutsu.

"Don't bother! Didn't I already tell you? I know everything about you!"

So genjutsu was definitely a no-go against them. Damnit, at this rate, she was going to need to summon, after all. Summoning even one of her helpers would be costly, and she wasn't exactly confident that she could summon and control all three without the curse mark to fuel her, but they were running out of options! Her hand flew up, ready to bleed for her jutsu, but-

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms." A streak of motion blew past her, and Hinata's hands flew out with lethality, blowing entire holes through every puppets' bodies like a whirlwind of fired cannons. Then, just as quickly as it had come, the storm stumbled to a stop with a wheeze, nearly tripping over the final corpse.

What?

Tayuya locked gazes with Hinata, who seemed to truly be on her last leg. Her byakugan had all but faded from her features, yet Tayuya noted with some shock that Hinata had already taken care of her own batch as well in record time. Her hands were coated in grime and ash, and Tayuya's gaze pathed back to the downed bodies, which each sported similar, grisly punctures through their major faculties. Even as the clock ticked, they seemed to be recovering, but it was slow-going, giving the pair a good moment to breathe.

Taking in her shocked gaze, Hinata looked away, withholding a blush as she wheezed out, "Th-they wouldn't stay down…"

"Oh, you are just delightful!" Kabuto laughed. "Here I was thinking Hiashi's failure would be the easier mark; I do love to be surprised!"

God, did he ever shut up? Still, judging by the Hyuga's condition, she seemed to have nothing left to give… But that couldn't be right…

"Word of advice though-" Finally, Kabuto's voice seemed to have a place. The ground beneath the pair cracked, then split open as Orochimaru's right hand man tore through its surface right behind Hinata; his hands were aglow, wreathed with a faint blue film of chakra. "Wasting all your stamina on grunts is a rookie mistake! No wonder you couldn't make Chūnin- urk" He choked on his words, shock taking the forefront as streams of chakra ejected from every point in Hinata's body, rotating from all directions to snap into place just in time. Kabuto's outstretched palm collided with the dome, and he knew his mistake as the young Hyuga tilted just enough to regard him; the pulsating veins of her byakugan were once more on full blast.

"You're... Really bad at this."

Her output spiked, and Hinata rotated with a full heave of her body; the chakra she had amassed coalesced into a perfect sphere and expanded, and Kabuto screamed as his palm burst like a melon crushed inside a trash compactor. His arm followed as well as her dome continued to expand, the limb twisting and tearing away before his body was finally launched, spiraling out and colliding the ground with crushing force. He was barely even able to fully process the pain before Hinata stalked forward, rearing back with her leg and volleying a kick into his chest, which sent him rolling further away, body seizing and blood dribbling at his lips.

She had feigned being tapped out to bait him in!? He'd thought for sure that her reserves should have been tapped out, with how much energy she'd been expending! And that barrier she'd amassed- that couldn't have been the work of the Hyuga's typical rotation!

"For as much as you seem to talk about information and carefulness, you're surprisingly gullible," Hinata noted, pacing forward with care to capitalize on her downed target. "Um- are you sure you're a jonin?"

Huh… Was this what ego felt like? Was this the birth of 'Cocky Hinata'? If nothing else, it felt good to get him back for that kick, earlier.

"Hah! O-okay! I deserved that one," He gasped, trying to scramble to his feet after a moment, only to collapse back down to the ground. The front of his top had been shredded by Hinata's follow-up kick, a large, spiraling scar carved into his chest at the point of impact.

Hinata knew for sure that she hadn't missed that time. The chakra point at his heart had been blown apart near-entirely by the rotational force she'd applied to her gentle-fist strike. His chakra began to waver, slowly breaking down.

Well that was a shame… It looked like she was the gullible one.

"Good shit, Hyuga." Tayuya glanced at Hinata again as she stood up straight, now dusting herself off. Her byakugan was once again on at full blast as the younger girl cautiously approached Kabuto, index and middle fingers pressed together and raised at her eye-level. A tiny sphere began to build at the end. "Let's finish this asshole and-"

She did not get much farther, for Hinata had already pointed at Kabuto's head, letting the sphere fire off and punch a gaping hole halfway into the young man's skull. Kabuto was frozen, his eyes slowly shaking and crossing in an effort to somehow spot the entry point in his own forehead. Blood trickled through the wound superfluously, and his pupils shrunk to the point of being nonexistent.

"It's just another clone," Hinata mourned with a sigh, shelving her disgust and taking a quick moment to survey the entry point just before Kabuto's blood darkened and his form began to fall apart into a pile of mud.

The penetrating power still wasn't up to snuff, and casting speed needed to be worked on…

She caught the eye of a stunned Tayuya. "I don't… I don't think mud clones can relay information like the shadow clone jutsu, which means the real one is probably still watching us somewhere close by."

And this time, she really was low on chakra. Using the sixty-four palms was more taxing on the body than it was, her chakra. But improvising the principles of the rasengan into her rotation- the attempt had taken a lot out of her for the moment... Better to conserve the little she had left than to waste it all hunting him down. The rescue effort still had to come first.

Besides, the fact that he'd resorted to a lesser variant and risked exposing himself spoke volumes to her. He had expended far too much chakra himself to be an immediate threat at the moment. His chakra reserves were impressive, to sustain and reinforce a shadow clone to such a degree and pilot all of those regenerating corpses at once. But he was unlikely to expose himself so soon after his first attempts had been rebuffed so thoroughly.

"We should move, before his bodies recover and he attacks again."

"Uh, yeah… Let's find arms and the twins ASAP." Tayuya followed after the younger girl, cautiously.

Good lord, she was freaking terrifying.

---

Kabuto hummed in thought as the two girls hastened away from his location, considering what he'd learned.

He had assumed that Tayuya would be an easy mark, with her unable to rely on the curse mark against him. With him preparing as well as he had for her, Tayuya should have been helpless, unable to rely on any of her genjutsu and instead forced to rely on more costly methods to exhaust herself against his distractions. The Hyuga girl- Hinata Hyuga, he amended- he'd wrongfully considered her a nonfactor. Her performance during the preliminaries had been acceptable for a fresh Genin, but far below the standard of a Hyuga elite, especially when compared to her more talented cousin.

That was his mistake. In terms of direct combat via taijutsu, she had proven herself more than capable of keeping him up with him and even posing a threat, at that! Sure, straight hand-to-hand was one of his weaker areas, but he certainly was no slouch, and she had managed to utterly overwhelm his clones, nearing the end of their combat. Moreover, the speed and lethality she had demonstrated against his puppets- he hadn't expected such decisiveness from her; he had absolutely been right to trust his intuition and stay out of the direct line of fire. Had he let his ego take over- had he gone in half-cocked instead of trusting his gut, the two of them might have even been able to kill him!

He'd consider it their win, this time; go back to the lab to recalibrate…

Kabuto pushed his glasses up, their lenses glinting to reflect the disappearing backs of his two targets.

"How fascinating!"

---

So this was what young Naruto was capable of when his back was against the wall! Orochimaru didn't bother restraining the laugh that bubbled up as he watched the Kyuubi jinchuuriki's onslaught ramp up against his poor Jirobo.

His speed had only continued to grow as the battle went on, and where the boy had once fought tooth and nail just to survive Jirobo's onslaught, now he had grown to a point that the possessed boy could not keep up at all! Naruto Uzumaki was a streak of movement, so fast and overwhelming that even Kimimaro seemed strained to follow the boy's movements unaided at their current distance. Thin streams of golden flame shunted off from those metal palms of his as the boy ricochet off any and all surfaces that his feet touched, leaving powdered brick and melted slag with every leap; every jump was stronger, faster, and more precise; with every moment those flames of his seemed to refine and condense, until the boy was little more than a golden comet with a thin purple trail. Each collision that he rained down on Orochimaru's creation rocked its body with such force that it could hardly even move to defend itself!

But it wasn't just power, no! The boy's ingenuity, to form a second set of arms- every moment that passed, he grew more proficient with the additional limbs, rotating them with finesse to abruptly shift and empower the trajectory of his leaps!

What's more, Orochimaru's experimental synthesis of Akari Kaguya's fabled scarlet rot- "He neutralized it, using extreme heat to kill its bacteria." And the foresight to make use of a high concentration of alcohol and the open air to sustain that burning, keeping Jirobo's body from regenerating to continue in its production.

How had he nearly let such a remarkable gem nearly slip past his notice? Had Orochimaru been too fixated on the sharingan, that he had closed himself off to other possibilities? He would need to expand his vision then! His mind whirled anew, considering newfound options.

If that boy could become so formidable at such a young age, and under the tutelage of a clown like Jiraiya, at that- Well, as an old friend of the man, it was only right that Orochimaru did his part to push the boy to new heights.

He could study him; mold him; learn from him! How far did Naruto Uzumaki have to climb, if given the time to thrive? How interesting could he become!?

He wanted to see more, but poor Jirobo seemed to be losing steam…

"Surprisingly, the loss of the rot has actually increased the speed of dear Jirobo's healing in other places... I wonder if Naruto-kun planned for it that way." He did seem to be attempting to spare the boy, though one might worry otherwise, with how vicious his attacks were!

Another thing to consider! Orochimaru had expected that the regeneration afforded by his overclocked curse mark would serve to resist the negative effects of Akari Kaguya's fabled mutation. It was a messy solution, initially spawned in part by his memories of Tsunade's yin seal, and specifically for Kimimaro's benefit. It lacked much of that same finesse, but even after dozens of simulations, it was so far the best he could manage on a time crunch.

Orochimaru had initially only begun his foray into the Kaguya bloodline as a secondary effort to develop a cure for his dearest pet. Discovering Akari's remains buried among their dead in one of the Kaguya clan's old stomping grounds- it had mostly been the work of luck, but a spark of inspiration had nonetheless garnered his interest. Perhaps that same rot, if applied intelligently, could help to counteract the cancerous growths which had spurred young Kimimaro's illness? Ah, but Akari's rot was far too terrifying to be used recklessly!

Not even he was that crazy!

The viral discharge of that woman's bones seemingly corroded whatever it touched; the pathogens that thrived in her fluid seemed particularly drawn to potent sources of chakra.

How fitting, since the Kaguya had once rivaled the Uzumaki clan. His curiosity within him wondered how Kimimaro would fare against the boy below. A small, traitorous thought had even played with the idea of recreating the woman's mutation in Kimimaro anyway, if only to see how the other boy would respond. He knew the boy would accept that curse in a heartbeat if only to please his master. But unlike poor Jirobo, Kimimaro wasn't anything close to expendable.

Truly, it wasn't anything personal. Poor Jirobo- that poor boy had merely run his course. And he had been so precious, begging Orochimaru for a chance to be useful one final time; it would have been just so cruel of him to deny the boy while he looked at him with such desperate eyes.…

Still, regardless of his fate, Jirobo would be remembered fondly in Orochimaru's heart for his great sacrifice on his behalf. Looking at the results that Orochimaru's synthetic rot had wreaked upon his body, even in spite of the overclocked curse mark's healing or even its infusion of natural energy to reinforce his body- Well, it would be a good few more tests before he was quite comfortable enough letting Kimimaro take that toy for a spin.

Ah, but with such a formidable weapon added to his arsenal, Orochimaru knew the young man might very well become the greatest tool at his disposal! A shame that the poor boy was already ill enough without that filth running through his body…

Oh dear, his mind seemed to be just all over the place! So many ideas he had; so many experiments to conduct!

"How wonderful!" Orochimaru leaned forward excitedly, almost childlike! His legs dangled whimsically at the edge as he fondly peered at his Kimimaro. "Well, my dear? Are you satisfied now with his performance? "

Kimimaro remained silent for a moment, and though Orochimaru hated to be made to wait, he allowed his pet the luxury to collect his thoughts. "There is no longer any doubt in my mind that the depths of his potential are worthy of your grand designs, my lord."

Such a sweet talker, that boy. Orochimaru pulled his gaze back to the scene below, whistling as Naruto snapped into place before his creation, his fist cracking into the serpent's head with such force that the entire body of the creature was lifted off its feet. The mangled burnt jaws of its gut tried to snap the boy up, but his two metallic arms swung forward, bringing with them their terrifying heat that shunted the boy away and melted away the flesh of the screaming serpent.

Naruto was back the next second, having rocketed back to plant his feet on a wall before careening forward even faster than he had first arrived. This time, metal-clawed fingers wreathed in heat cleaved right through the flesh of the snake. Then Naruto was coming from another angle entirely, too fast for the creature to keep up at all. His other chain-made arm shifted, lengthening and sharpening into something close to a rose-gold, chitin-clad scythe with a molten red edge, which melted right through the object of Orochimaru's will.

Kimimaro winced as the creature screeched in agony. "My lord, i-is it truly wise to allow that boy to damage a piece of you so viciously? I'm sure that I could subdue him for you without harming him, if that is your concern." His instincts were screaming at him to leap to his lord's defense as Naruto twisted in mid-air, driving forth a kick that completely grounded the beast. Even if that piece was small and insignificant to the Snake Sannin, even just a piece of his lord had unparalleled value to him!

"Oh, let him have his fun, my dear. I am in no real danger." Moreover, Orochimaru wasn't quite willing to risk his prized Kaguya. While Kimimaro's strength was doubtless, he was still ill, and his master was not willing to let him undo all the work he'd put into his recovery thus far.

Naruto lingered in the air, twin braces of rose-gold shuriken sprouting between his fingers in each hand. He released a hail of blades, each curving with immaculate finesse that Orochimaru just knew the boy had to have picked up from his Uchiha teammate. They embedded into the downed Jirobo's flesh, then burst into several spools of unraveling chain which fully immobilized his form against the ruins of a large building as Naruto twisted to find his footing atop a light post, his eyes gleaming with unrestrained mania. His fingers danced to invoke the Uchiha's iconic fire, and even from that distance, Orochimaru could feel the sheer scale of the chakra that the boy had amassed. Raw physical energy, amassed and stockpiled through repeated exchanges of kinetic force!

So that was how he had done it! The boy had miraculously found some way to recycle the expenditure of physical stamina to create even more energy to pull from! What had initially seemed like a small trickle of remnant energy had quickly grown in its potency until just the buzz of its collective made the Snake Sannin's hair stand on end. In a manner eerily similar to Tsunade's own technique, he had found a way to cheat physics to stockpile energy far past his physical limits!

Then his signature changed, rapidly shifting in a way that the scholar in him recognized as a change in chakra alignment…

Yin Release then… So he was planning to burn his influence out of his dear Jirobo, then. Fire-style converted with heavy spiritual leanings to bypass the physical body entirely- Quite the ambitious effort! Though Orochimaru supposed that was only natural when dealing in Uzumaki!

But his fun wasn't quite finished yet. Poor Jirobo had nothing left to give, but he had done his part.

"Now, it is my turn to play." Orochimaru's eyes were alight with perverse interest as his hands once again clasped together, channeling a vast amount of chakra.

Kimimaro startled, flinching at the sheer volume of power that his lord had amassed. "O-Orochimaru-sama?"

"Hush now, dear… I'm trying to focus." Orochimaru put the young man out of his mind, vision affixed to the writhing monstrosity below. By now, its screams had grown almost desperate, as if somehow sensing its fast-approaching fate, at the hands of the young Uzumaki. "My dear Jirobo, you did well." He spoke fondly, almost lovingly, as his eyes roved over the mutilated form of one of his most devoted followers. "So earnest; so loyal. Yet, always too weak to step out from the shadows of your peers." Such a pitiful child; almost an eye-sore, really. "Not to worry though, dear boy. I will make you beautiful beyond measure!"

For Kimimaro, it was rare that he saw his master truly exert himself in any way. However, not even the potential for such spectacle could stop him from tearing his eyes back toward the scene below as Jirobo's body once again let off a watery, bloodcurdling scream. His body began to shudder, multiple serpentine shapes writhing angrily beneath his wounded, swollen flesh. The serpent in his tongue began to bulge and grow, wrenching his possessed body back and forth as it seemingly fought to pull more of itself free.

Naruto Uzumaki froze for a moment, a mere step away from casting his jutsu. Shock and worry lingered in his eyes for just a moment; then Kimimaro saw them flash dangerously, and purple flames rocketed forth from him like a bomb had gone off between himself and Jirobo; a massive torrent of curious flames engulfed the latter's form with heat and pressure so intense that he could not even bare to look directly at it.

---

Kidomaru had expected that one of the Sannin would come knocking before long. His only prayer -the first he'd ever made in his life, in fact- was that it wasn't his old master.

What he got wasn't much better, but a ninety-nine percent chance of death was still much better than one-hundred percent.

A massive toad slammed down in front of Sakon and Ukon's barrier, leaving behind a pair of twitching summoned spiders that the boy was damned sure hadn't even tried to impede the white-haired legend.

"Where the hell is he!?" Jiraiya roared from outside the barrier, sliding down from the toad's head and stalking forward until his nose was mere inches from the lethal, violet flames. He barely gave Kidomaru any time to respond at all before his chakra flared; the ground beneath his feet began to crack, and Kidomaru could swear he saw the flames of their barrier shying away from the man. "ANSWER ME!" He roared.

On second thought, maybe Orochimaru wasn't so bad… Kidomaru gulped, fighting to get his voice under control so he could respond to the man. "I'll answer any questions you've got- er, o-on a condition!" Jiraiya's nostrils flared, so Kidomaru hastened with his proposition. "If I come out to speak to you, do you promise not to command-grab my head off my shoulders?"

That gave the old man pause. "What the hell are you playing at?"

Okay, well chances of death were down to ninety-eight percent. He just needed to roll charm ninety-eight more times and they were golden.

That, or make a gamble for the whole thing…

God, he was going to die, wasn't he?

"Sakon, Ukon… Let me through," Kidomaru ordered, loudly. The twins stared at him in shock, and the spider-esque boy groaned. "Hurry the hell up before he tears the thing down and kills you too!"

That did it. A small part in the flames allowed him to duck outside of it, now firmly in murdering distance. Jiraiya, to his credit, stepped back a pace to allow the boy to meet him.

Unwilling to test his luck by wasting the man's time, Kidomaru hurried into an explanation. "Lo-look, first off, we're not with Orochimaru anymore; he- uh… He threw us away." Something close to pity found Jiraiya's eyes for just a moment and Kidomaru capitalized.

Shoot for the crit. Shoot for the crit

"All of this to say we want zero problems with you. We're not helping him; we have no plans to help him. We're uh-" He looked behind himself, gesturing toward the barrier; Jiraiya followed his thumb, eyes widening as he finally took in the myriad civilians huddled within. "Honestly, we were hoping to get on your good side b-by helping out the civvies… Maybe finesse a favor or two so he doesn't come to-er, to collect us… "

Jiraiya's stare peeled away from the civilians, lingering only long enough to confirm that they were unharmed. When his gaze found Kidomaru again, it was as hard as ever, but the immediate threat on his life seemed to have passed.

"You'd better not be trying to bullshit me. I'll make you shit a toad. One like-" He gestured widely with his arms. "About this big."

"I have no desire to experience that, nor to subject any toads to that." Because Kidomaru didn't doubt for a second that the man could, nor that he would.

"My godson- He's about yea tall, pretty as shit, and sometimes laughs and grins like a serial killer. If you have any idea where he is-"

Okay that, Kidomaru could work with! "I've seen him!" He spouted, jumping on the opportunity. He nearly lost his nerve when Jiraiya's stare hardened yet again. "Er- well I haven't seen him, but I know where he was. One of our associates, Jirobo- he's out of his mind and went after him for Orochimaru." He neglected to mention that it was Tayuya and Kidomaru who had incited him; he didn't need the man getting pissed at him again. "Tayuya- she's my other associate; red hair, mouth like a sailor shat in it- she went to help your kid." He stressed to the older man. She saw your kids or whatever near Tanzaku castle before Jirobo started acting up-" The rest of his words may as well have fallen on deaf ears after 'Tanzaku castle', for Jiraiya had already leapt back onto his giant toad. Please don't kill any more of my spiders! They're friendly!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Jiraiya quickly looked around, eyes finding the castle in question. "You wanna stay on my good side? Find Tsunade and tell her about your little sanctuary thing. She's gathering civilians to evacuate as we speak!" Jiraiya pointed in a direction just long enough for them to follow the gesture. Then, as if in afterthought, he spoke again. "They're green by the way! With little blue butterflies!"

"What are you-"

"Her panties! Thank me later!"

What in the- Was this old bastard trying to get him killed!?

Probably, actually…

"Stay the course and don't make me regret not 'command-grabbing' you or whatever the hell that means!" Then he and his toad were off, leaving Kidomaru to finally let loose the breath he had been half-holding.

Only to groan with the realization he'd have to do that again. "Sakon, Ukon. Keep things up here. Let in any civilians you find; my summons will keep bringing them your way."

"So you're going to go find her?" Ukon asked, standing closest to their leader. "You're awfully bold, today."

"Yeah… It's our best bet to make sure everyone gets out alive. I'll find Tsunade and see if we can't bring back more people… Hey-" He turned fully to regard both brothers, letting his sympathy bleed through for them. Sakon stared back inquisitively, though his brother's persisting fury was easier to spot. "My bad- er, that you guys got mixed into this; it really wasn't supposed to get out of hand like this… But thanks for sticking with us. I'm gonna make it right, alright?"

Ukon was silent for a moment. Then, "Yeah… Whatever. Be careful."

Yeah… "You guys just sit tight."

---

Hinata was itching to return to Naruto's side. Every moment that passed reminded her that he was fighting without backup, and though she knew his strength and trusted his judgment- well, it was a bit hard to write off the hundreds of regenerating undead ninja flying around and hunting people in groups like "bloody fucking pack animals."

Tayuya's words, not hers.

At the same time though, things only seemed to be getting more chaotic elsewhere by the moment. Hers and Tayuya's brief scrap with Orochimaru's number-one spy had done a number on her stamina, and while recovery was en route, it was coming too slow to make any real pushback when the enemy kept coming faster, stronger, and in larger groups with every round!

It was like they were learning, or whatever was controlling them was adapting its methods with every moment that passed.

All the more reason that they needed to regroup and find an out soon before one of those charges finally killed them!

"Oi, take a break, Hyuga." Tayuya bit through the girl's thoughts at the same time as her thumb. Her tone was clipped, but not unkind. "My Doki can run interference for time being, but we might need your freakish midget powers if Kabuto makes another pass at us."

Hinata blinked slowly at the rather crude remark. "T-thank…you?" She wasn't that short, was she?

"Don't mention it." Tayuya's palm met the ground, and twin poofs of smoke erupted around them, heavy footfalls emerging from the mass to reveal incredibly large humanoids; their footsteps trudged through the dozens of recuperating corpses, Hinata and Tayuya both situated on their shoulders. Gathered in their arms were the petrified bodies of the handful of unmutilated civilians that they had found in their most recent pass.

It was getting pretty damned hard to find those types, the longer this went on. Getting them to cooperate was a pain too; she'd taken to just paralyzing them with her flute genjutsu to speed things up, much to Hinata's disapproval. Though, at least the girl was pragmatic enough not to get in her way about it.

Looking down at the pair of ogres, Tayuya winced, a bead of sweat already finding its way down the back of her neck.

So two was the best she could do as she was, huh? Even now, she could feel their latent malice prodding at her will, just beneath the surface, waiting for the ideal moment to shirk her control. With Orochimaru's curse mark, that threat had long-since dwindled down to a nonfactor. Now though, the threat of losing control was hard to miss. If that happened-

"Make sure those magic eyes of yours can spot any shitstorm before it swallows us. Keeping these guys in check is gonna be a pain as it is without a kunai ring-deep in my ass."

Hinata said nothing, sensing that the other girl would appreciate her focus, instead. She had already decided: after this next batch of civilians, she wouldn't be able to wait any longer. She'd need to get back to Naruto. Or barring that, find Tsunade or Jiraiya and lead them to him, assuming they hadn't already found him!

They passed through the barren town, and Hinata's heart sank at the state it had been reduced to. What had once been a glorious bonanza of good cheer had been utterly trashed. Bodies littered every corner; some, barely even intact or recognizable. Their homes had been torn down, doors smashed and supports burned and broken. In place of the festival' sights, reanimated ninja now lurked about instead, often looming over myriad corpses of civilians they were too slow to save. The offenders repeatedly tried their luck against the two girls and their rescues. Tayuya's summons were fast though- remarkably so for how large and hulking they were. One of them, a green-clothed Oni with a spiked maul, swung around with terrifying speed, catching two withered leaf nin with its swing; their bodies collided with that of a rare Iwa corpse, the sheer force of the strike tearing them all apart as they were sent flying in pieces.

"Behind!" Hinata warned the other girl, and Tayuya redirected their defense with a subtle shift in the tone of her flute. The same Oni twirled his maul in his grip, using its length to intercept a brace of shuriken. Then it stepped forward, stomping the corpse of a girl that couldn't have been older than nine; its club slammed down atop another ninja, impaling his body into the ground. Then the maul scooped the body up and batted it like a humanoid projectile, slamming into another leaping aggressor with such force that their bodies spiraled out and collided onto the ground in a graceless tumble. The maul was raised, and their bodies exploded into a pile of withered flesh and ash under the crippling force of its downward swing.

Yeah. Tayuya could handle herself just fine, and though Hinata still didn't fully trust her, she supposed she didn't distrust her either. She would continue her work here, if only to remain allies.

When the two finally arrived at their destination, Tayuya's Doki roughly depositing the paralyzed civilians at the entrance of her two associates' flaming barrier, Hinata leapt down and dusted herself off.

"Oi, where's Arms?" Tayuya interrogated Sakon and Ukon, whose already sour moods seemed to decline further with her arrival.

"The toad dropped by and nearly killed us… He went out to find the Slug Sannin."

Hinata's ears perked up at that. "Did Jiraiya-sama give a direction?"

If she could get a lead, she could link up with Lady Tsunade on the way. She and Naruto seemed to have developed a bond, and they'd definitely need her help if Hinata's worries were proven valid.

"Asshole just pointed East," Ukon informed her, helpfully. He ignored Hinata's polite bow, in thanks.

Looking back at Tayuya, Hinata bowed yet again. "Thank you for your help… I need to get moving." She spoke up slowly, meaning to excuse herself.

Tayuya looked back to the girl, away from her work of rolling the frozen people into the barrier's embrace like sacks of luggage. "Just give me a moment to finish with these clowns and we can go."

Hinata resisted a sigh, sensing a misunderstanding. "I need to regroup with Naruto-kun as quickly as possible."

That got an odd look from Tayuya. "Weren't you the one that said your twink boyfriend was strong as shit?" Hinata twitched again, noting Tayuya's choice of words. "What? He's definitely twink-shaped! That's not even an insult; it is an observation rooted in objectivity! I can prove it mathematically!

"N-not that." Hinata's lips quirked upward, but she mastered herself. "Naruto-kun may play around a lot, but he doesn't waste time… If he hasn't come to find me by now, then something happened."

Not just that, but his chakra had only been growing in its output since she had left him. Whomever was pressing her boyfriend to such a degree- She needed to be by his side.

Tayuya frowned, thinking the girl's words over. "Fine then. Let's go round up your walking pile of estrogen before Orochimaru finds him and sticks a friggin' tramp stamp on his neck."

"Snrk… " Hinata couldn't help herself anymore. The mask she'd tried to don cracked apart immediately. She keeled over, fingers clasping over her mouth to restrain her laughs.

The two were so alike, it was almost uncanny!

Sensing Tayuya's shocked stare, she fought to compose herself, biting out between laughs, "He's going to love you."

Tayuya blinked. "Better than getting the snot kicked out of me again, I guess… Oi-" She hollered over to Sakon and Ukon, startling the two out of their silent observations. "Keep up what you guys are doing. We're heading back out!"

"Yeah, yeah. Hurry up and get lost already!" Ukon growled, tearing his focus back to the stream of flames that flowed from him. A bead of sweat had begun to build at his temple. "And hurry up! This is getting to be a -urk- a lot!"

"I'm going, I'm going! Don't get your damn panties in a twist!" Tayuya growled, cutting her gaze back to the impatiently fidgeting Hinata. "Let's go, Hyuga, before you friggin' piss yourself-" Her words suddenly froze in her throat, eyes slowly passing Hinata's standing form to look beyond her. "Uh… What the fuck is that?"

Hinata blinked rapidly in concern. She turned, almost afraid of what she would find, only to shudder at the unnerving sight of the lingering thralls of Orochimaru; each and every one of them had gone stock still, like dozens of statues carved of stone. Her byakugan activated in an instant and she gaped, staring in awe as a massive pillar of violet flame erupted in the distance. Then she paled, taking in the rapid rise of a brand new signature separate from Naruto, far colder and grander than anything she had ever felt.

Then the bodies -each and every one of them- began a mad sprint for Tanzaku castle.

"We need to go, now!" Hinata hissed. She did not wait for a response from Tayuya before she had already began her pursuit.

"H-hey!" Tayuya thrust arm out, but quickly aborted the gesture. Clenching her fist in irritation, she roared to the twins, "I'm going!" Then, she took off after the other girl.

---

Shizune was starting to miss the days when Tsunade winning the jackpot merely saw the rise of loan sharks. She and Tonton worked as a unit, with the former pulling civilians free of rubble or whatever else and tending their wounds; Tonton was quick to escort them off, leading them to the large purple dome in the distance. The boys maintaining the barrier weren't exactly friendly, but their work was good and their intentions seemed kindly enough. Besides, it wasn't like there were many other options, unless she wanted to try defending hundreds of panicking civilians as she went.

She wiped a thick bead of sweat away from her brow, keeling over just a bit to let loose a heavy breath.

"God, I might be getting out of shape!"

It had been a while since she'd done any more than the occasional healing; she hadn't truly had to work so hard in years!

"Shizune-san?" Shizune almost leapt out of her skin, quickly relaxing once more as the kindly voice that had spoken found familiarity within her.

Lady Katsuyu, the boss summon of the Slug clan and guardian of Shikkotsu Forest. Or rather, a mere piece of her, diminutive enough to have summoned herself onto her shoulder. Yet even that tiny piece of the slug queen held formidable might, even if her sweet and whimsical nature often disguised it.

If Lady Tsunade had summoned her, then that meant her mentor was aware of the situation!

Well- Shizune eyed a large spider stomping about, firing off streams of web that cocooned screaming civilians as one and dragged them off to the flaming barrier. She supposed it'd be pretty hard not to be, at this point.

"Does Tsunade-sama have a message for me, Katsuyu-sama?" She asked, offering deference even for the tiny piece of the slug queen.

"Well for starters, she wished to know where you were… I have since told her you've fallen down a well."

Ah yes. Lady Katsuyu was also rather known for her odd sense of humor. Lady Tsunade had once told her that among her kin, Katsuyu was considered quite the comedian… Even if most of her jokes flew right over her head. "Please let her know that I am safe and sound, within that well."

"Of course." A moment, then Katsuyu spoke again, this time with a touch more authority. "An ex operative of Orochimaru-san's has made contact with Tsunade-sama. Seeing that he knew the color and pattern of her undergarments in excruciating detail, there is a high likelihood that he is working with Jiraiya-san."

Ah, yes. That sounded exactly like one of Jiraiya's operatives…

"He has delivered to her coordinates relating to young Naruto-kun's current position… You are to regroup with Tsunade-sama in the East district and take over the recovery effort, alongside myself. This will free her up to go punch Orochimaru-san. Repeatedly, and preferably to death."

Yeah, that would be quite preferable.

"Additionally-" Katsuyu paused, her tiny eyestalks twitching with apparent worry. "Additionally, should you run into the reanimated Dan Kato and Nawaki Senju, you are to destroy them with extreme prejudice, or barring that, flee."

Her Uncle Dan? Little Nawaki? Shizune's mouth suddenly felt very dry. "Is there any possibility that we could save them-"

"Tsunade-sama warned me that you might ask," Katsuyu interrupted her. "And I do apologize for interrupting you. The things you see around you are mere husks of the originals, animated through the perversion of another's souls." Her tone changed, her kindly inflection darkening with insidious fury; it bubbled underneath her flesh like the very acid she secreted, and for a moment Shizune worried the tiny queen would spit. "They are abominations of the highest degree, possessing a cut of the originals' abilities, yet none of their humanity. The kindest, most loving thing you can do for any one of these people would be to stop them from spreading any further suffering; by any means necessary." A thought, then, "Allegedly, extreme bludgeoning force to the spine or brain seem to be the most difficult for them to recover from; I recommend a steel chair or pipe, both of which you can acquire for cheap at your local supply storage.," She tacked on at the end, far more lightly.

Right then… Punching… Shizune swallowed, suddenly feeling ill. "P-please inform Tsunade-sama that I am en route. I'll be there… With haste."

"I will inform her that you are rolling around at the speed of sound."

"Yeah… Sure."

Then the air around them seemed to shift, and Shizune realized with a start that the world suddenly felt so quiet. Katsuyu seemed to notice it as well, for she went unnaturally still, her two eye-stalks twitching about in anticipation.

"Something is happening," Katsuyu hissed. "Look!"

Shizune did, and her skin was bleached a stark white at the abrupt and unnatural stillness of Orochimaru's Edo Tensei. Then she let out a yell of surprise as they suddenly began to bolt away from her, all heading for the same direction. Dozens of them bolted past her, not even acknowledging her existence in their mad dash, seemingly headed toward Tanzaku town's most popular attraction.

"What's going on!?" Shizune quietly rasped, near-begging Katsuyu for an answer; she was almost afraid to even move in response to the sheer volume of enemies, fearing that if she did, they would all lock onto her, instead!

Katsuyu was quiet for a moment, but when she spoke again, her voice was cold. "Get moving, now. Tsunade-sama has just made contact with Hinata Hyuga, accompanied by another. She says all of the Edo Tensei are headed straight for young Naruto-kun's position."

"All of them!?" Shizune did not wait for an answer. She bolted, the tiny piece of Katsuyu on her shoulder guiding her way. "Three minutes! Tell Tsunade-sama I'll be there in three minutes!"

---

That's the chapter.

Hopefully I didn't keep y'all waiting too terribly long for this one to come out. This chapter and the last were originally meant to be one chunky one, but I wasn't really keen on trying to edit or post a 100+ page document and pretend it was normal or reasonable.

In any case, expect a bit of time between now and the next chapter while I get things sorted. I want it to be as good as I can make it, so I'm going to take my sweet time cooking this one.

Special thanks to the goons in my discord who as usual helped me bounce some ideas and offered feedback. If any of you are interested in becoming part of that, you can find the link to my discord in my profile, some assembly required. There, you can find my post-chapter analysis and lore posts, along with regular announcements regarding the trajectory of the story, updates regarding progress, and any other shenanigans that we're able to get into.

Alright I'm done shilling. Thanks for reading. Now I'm gonna go rest for a few days.

---

Edit 3/16/2024: I realized I got Fukasaku's name wrong repeatedly throughout this chapter. I have since updated the fic to fix that mistake.