"GUAH! MY FUCKING ARMS!"

Orochimaru continued to scream in agony from the unbearable pain in his arms, the Snake Sannin was still dealing with the aftermath of his battle with the Third Hokage. Kabuto continued to practically force feed him medicine but that could only do so much, the Reaper Death seal had done far more damage to Orochimaru than Kabuto could've predicted. Not only were Orochimaru's arms in constant pain and close to immobile, no chakra could be regulated through them causing his entire chakra pathway system into disarray.

"Please take the medicine, Lord Orochimaru. I mixed it myself, it should make you feel a little bit better." Kabuto set the tray down on the night stand next to his master's bed, only for Orochimaru to kick it away in a fit of anger.

"I do not need any more crappy medicine, Kabuto!" Orochimaru continued his course breathing. "Did you find Tsunade's location?"

Kabuto pushed up his glasses. "…Not quite, I've narrowed my search to a few small towns near the border of the Land of Fire."

Orochimaru grew more agitated. "Then why have you returned if your search was unsuccessful?!"

Kabuto remained calm and kept a look of uninterest on his face. "I returned because you won't take the medicine I prepare for you and you kill everyone that tries to help."

"You think you're the exception? I won't hesitate to kill you as well, Kabuto."

Despite his calm demeanor, Kabuto couldn't help a bead of nervous sweat drip down the side of his face. "I'm tracking that, Lord Orochimaru…I will find her at once. What will you have me do when I find her?"

"Do not confront Tsunade, she will undoubtably kill you when she learns of your allegiance to me. Tail her until you see an opportunity to get her alone. I will convince her to heal my arms myself."

Kabuto strongly disagreed with that, Orochimaru's condition was bad enough without the stress of traveling. And the possibility of a fight with another Sannin would certainly end in Orochimaru's defeat. But no argument would convince Orochimaru different, Kabuto had to follow through with the orders he was given.

"…Consider it done, Lord Orochimaru."

-With Sakura and Jiraiya-

"106 centimeters."

"Hm. What was that, Lord Jiraiya?" Sakura looked over that the Sannin, wondering what he muttered as they surveyed the mass crowd of people from above.

The duo had reached Tanzaku Town not too long ago and began their search for legendary medical specialist known as Tsunade, that was easier said than done. Despite the close quarters of the buildings and narrow streets, the town was packed with people. It felt like trying to find a needle in a haystack for Sakura, especially since she had no idea what this Tsunade person looked like.

"Ah, don't worry about it. C'mon, I know where she is."

"You do? Where?" Sakura scanned the crowd again in hopes to see what Jiraiya saw.

"See that hole in the wall pub down there on the left?" Jiraiya pointed at the door so Sakura could follow. "Tsunade and another female holding a pig just walked in just before that guy with the glasses."

"Perfect! Let's go!" Sakura moved to leap off the rooftop but Jiraiya put a hand on her shoulder to stop her from going anywhere. "Hey, what gives?"

"Sakura," the seriousness in the Sannin's voice caught the pinkette's attention, "I know you came along to help convince Tsunade to come back, but I don't want you to say a word. And whatever is said during this conversation can't be repeated to anyone, even Naruto, understand?"

This confused Sakura. "Why not?"

"I didn't tell you the second reason we came all the way out here. I'll need to get Tsunade up to speed on everything that's happening in Konoha because higher-ups picked her to be the next Hokage."

Sakura was stunned by this revelation, she, for obvious reasons, had no idea. "The next Hokage?"

"Yeah. Not only are we saving your teammates but giving the village a new leader as well. Let me do the talking, okay? Tsunade is a very…sensitive person. She left Konoha for a reason, I'm going to have to convince her to forget that reason."

"What's the reason?"

"I'm sure you'll know here shortly. Let's get in there."

-With Tsunade and Shizune-

The waiter set the bottle of sake down on the table with the two glasses and then walked away. The busty blonde grabbed the bottle and poured the contents into the two glasses then passed one of them over to Shizune. Just as Tsunade was about to shoot the warming liquid down her throat, her eyes caught the large, white-haired man and a much smaller pink-haired girl standing in the entrance of the pub staring right at her.

Tsunade set the glass down, her hand remaining around it. Hundreds of memories of the man surfacing like bubbles in a boiling pot of water. "Jiraiya…what are you doing in a place like this? Who's the girl?"

The man in question sat in the seat across from his longtime teammate, the young girl followed suit. They both set a bag on the ground at the end of the booth seat. Jiraiya snagged the shot glass away from Shizune and downed it, causing a look of surprise on the three women's faces. "I'm going to get straight to the point, Tsunade. I'm here on official business."

Sakura discreetly examined the woman known as Tsunade. She was nothing like what Jiraiya said. He described her as an older woman, similar to him in age. But this woman didn't look a day over thirty. She was very fit, considering the fact that Jiraiya said she was a hardcore drinker and gambler, and she was positive her bountiful chest wasn't even possible without some type of alteration by a doctor. But what really caught Sakura's attention was the beautiful emerald green crystal that hung around the Sannin's neck. She silently sulked, hoping she'd have a body and necklace as nice as hers one day.

"What kind of business? I can't imagine you'd call another fling 'official business'. Unless you'd use it as 'research' for those damn smut-"

"You haven't heard…have you?"

Tsunade stopped her rant due to the somberness in Jiraiya's voice, she had never heard him use that tone of voice before. "Heard what?"

Jiraiya sighed, he had hoped she had, at least, heard about the attack, but that would've been too easy. Looks like he was going to lay everything out. "Konoha was attacked about a week ago. The Third didn't make it…it was Orochimaru." He thought he'd never say his former friend's name with such distain.

Both Tsunade and Shizune were at a loss for words. There had been rumors that one of the great villages had been invaded and Kage had died, but there were no specifics about where or who. Tsunade's eyes went down and the atmosphere turned depressed.

"So…this official business you're on is to tell me I've been nominated, right?"

"The council wants you to be the Fifth…they really didn't have a lot of options."

Tsunade scoffed as she downed her sake. "If you're trying to convince me then your doing a terrible job. You're here though…why didn't they ask you? If I remember right, Sarutobi sensei wanted you to be the Fourth over Minato. Why'd you decline this time?" She poured another drink.

Both Sakura and Shizune were surprised by this, Jiraiya was considered to be the Hokage before Tsunade?

Jiraiya took the bottle and poured his second. "Me and the old man…we had a falling out…I don't deserve it."

Tsunade eyed her longtime teammate. "What happened?"

Before Jiraiya answered, he turned to look at the young girl next to him. "This is the stuff you don't repeat." He looked back at Tsunade. "About six years ago, I brought Naruto back to the village to put him in the academy, like we agreed when I took him in. The villagers realized who he was and attacked Naruto. The old man gave me a mission to hunt down a masked man that took down a team of ANBU. Turns out, there was no masked man and he fabricated the whole thing to keep Naruto in the village and me away. Before I headed back, I caught wind of what Iwagakure and Kirigakure were doing. I've spent the last six years gathering as much info as I could. War's coming, Tsunade…Konoha needs you."

Tsunade took another shot. Jiraiya noted she was taking the news about the looming threat of war quite well, while the other two at the table were still trying to overcome their overwhelming shock. "Me? Out of all the possible candidates, I was the best suited? The village must really be desperate if I'm their best choice. Still…I never would've thought Sarutobi sensei would do something like that, especially to you. Out of the three of us, you were definitely the favorite."

Jiraiya poured this third shot. "We both know that's a lie. The old man always favored Orochimaru, whether he admitted it or not. I think that's why he wanted to deal with him alone."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"I was there at the beginning of their fight. Orochimaru had trapped the Third inside a seal barrier so no one could interfere. When I tried to break through it, the old man stopped me. He said it was his fault and that he wanted to make it right. We both know what happened the night Orochimaru defected...the old man wouldn't kill him, and I couldn't stop him…"

Tsunade recalled that night and what Jiraiya had told her what he saw. Rooms filled with bodies of dead 'experiments'. She was the one who had healed his injuries after their battle, the things they did to each other still haunted her to this day. "His betrayal changed Sarutobi sensei."

"I think that's where the change started…but there was no doubt something snapped in the old man's brain after the Kyuubi attack, after Minato died. It felt as if he lost trust in others, including me and you." He downed the third shot.

"But wasn't he the one who called you back to come watch over Naruto?"

"Yeah…that still confuses me. A part of me believes he wanted me to be the one to raise Naruto. But something tells me that the old man felt like he owed the Fourth for what he did to save Konoha from the Nine-Tails. That's the only thing that makes sense to me about this whole situation."

Tsunade mulled over all this new information as she ran her finger across the curvature of the shot glass. Her as Hokage? Honestly, she never rejected the idea growing up. Now? "That title…it changes you, Jiraiya. No one can be that good for that long. Just look at Minato. Everyone thought he was that mythical savior that would stop war. But you know better than anyone how paranoid he was before the Kyuubi attack."

Jiraiya didn't have a counter point. "Minato always liked to be prepared for all contingencies, that's just how he was. But I can't disagree, his paranoia went into overdrive after being elected Hokage. I honestly didn't get to see him much after his inauguration…especially after he told me about Kushina's pregnancy."

Tsunade remembered the day she had heard the rumor that the Fourth Hokage's wife was pregnant, which was later confirmed by Jiraiya when she forced the answer out of him after a knock on the head. She was still living in the village at the time…which wouldn't last for much longer. Despite the warning from the Third to keep the news a secret, Tsunade was very happy that two of her favorite people were having a child. Her happiness skyrocketed into new heights when she was asked to be the child's godmother…

Speaking of her godchild, the busty Sannin looked to her former teammate's left and eyed the young girl suspiciously, wondering who she was and why she was here with him. Sakura was starting to feel uncomfortable by the semi-drunken stare she was getting from legendary kunoichi. She was reminded of a lesson back in the academy about the three Sannin, Iruka said that Tsunade was considered to be the strongest kunoichi in the world. In Sakura's mind that translated to 'don't get on her bad side'.

"Who's the girl, Jiraiya? Isn't she a little young for you?"

Sakura's mouth dropped in shock, which quickly turned into embarrassment and anger. The sheer audacity to even assume she was in some type of relationship with a fifty-year-old man was completely ludicrous! At thirteen-years-old no less!

"Excuse me old-"

"She asked to be here, Tsunade. Sakura made a promise to a friend." Jiraiya intervened before things got more heated than they needed to be. Shizune breathed a sigh of relief, what Sakura was about to say was practically a death wish.

That spiked Tsunade's interest about Naruto's absence even more. Something didn't feel right, she knew that lottery winning was a bad omen for something. "A promise? Kind of promise? Where is Naruto?"

When Jiraiya did not answer immediately and she noticed Sakura's solemn looking eyes, Tsunade had enough. The legendary kunoichi gripped the table with such strength and ease that caused the table to burst into splinters, all of the contents on the table fell to the ground and shattered as well, and reached over to grab Jiraiya by the collar and force him to his feet. Even though she had him by the collar, Tsunade still had to look up to see into his eyes. While Shizune wasn't as shocked to see her master begin to lose her temper, she had seen this scene countless times before, Sakura was scared and impressed that Tsunade could shatter a table with just her grip.

"Quit avoiding the question, Jiraiya! Where is Naruto?!"

Noticing that everyone in the pub was now looking at them, Jiraiya figured he had to bring in his ace to get Tsunade back to the village. He didn't want to use Naruto as Tsunade's reasoning to return, he wanted her to come back to help the village and heal their godchild. It seemed that was no longer a choice.

"Konoha Hospital. The cancer's back."

Jiraiya wasn't sure if he had ever seen Tsunade's beautiful brown eyes so wide and full of shock, whatever anger she felt was instantly washed away the second the words registered in her brain.

"What…? That's…that's impossible…I cured him…"

"A few days ago, two men came to Konoha looking for Naruto. I'm not entirely sure what happened but I'm certain their fight was the cause. Konoha needs you…Naruto needs you, Tsunade.

The lone female Sannin's grip eased and loosely hung on Jiraiya's collar, disbelief overtaking her. She believed-no knew-that all the disease-ridden cells around/in Naruto's heart were gone, with absolutely no chance of returning. A tidal wave of questions began to swirl around Tsunade's mind, trying to come up with any possible and reasonable way that his cancer could return. She already knew she wouldn't be able to figure anything out until examined Naruto herself.

"Why didn't you tell me this when you first got here?"

"Because I wanted you to return to Konoha to be Hokage, I wasn't sure if you'd just leave again. I wanted you to stay in the village to watch over him with me, help me grow him into the shinobi he needs to be…what the world needs him to be."

Tsunade dropped her hands off Jiraiya completely and turned around to grab her things. She put on her green haori and sped towards the door, only to be stopped by a firm grip on her arm. It was Jiraiya, he was awaiting the answer.

"We need to save Naruto first, we'll talk about me being Hokage later."

Jiraiya seemed satisfied with that answer because he let go of Tsunade's arm and followed her out of the pub, with Shizune and Sakura running after them. The bartender screamed at them to pay for the damages as the exited.

A lone man in the corner of the pub sipped on his drink as he watched the group rush out of the building. He pushed up his glasses with his middle finger as he thought over the situation. He quickly moved to follow them at a safe, unnoticeable distance.

'Well, this certainly is interesting. Lord Orochimaru might need to figure something else out. But I need to return with something…he actually might kill this time.'

-Memory Fragment-

He always minded his own business, he never tried to cause too much trouble because he knew they'd take any and every opportunity to attack. No beating was like the day he arrived but the memory still haunted him, he didn't want to experience another like it and was not going to give them a chance to do so.

A young boy, maybe eight-years-old, with spikey blonde hair kept his head down as he made his journey home. He didn't bother looking up, he practically had the route memorized by the look of the dirt by now, he knew every pair of eyes he passed was fixated on him. He understood why they looked at him the way they did, he just wished they'd stop for one day.

"Leave that boy alone, he's a nobody."

"Don't go near him, ya hear me son?"

It never failed, two years of forced segregation and loneliness with no end in sight. No one talked to him until it became unavoidable, even then nobody ever looked at him in the eye. The academy was just as bad, the kids never tried to get to know him or even offer to hang out. He wondered why he went on a daily basis, he was already leagues ahead of them all. The one silver lining he had was the Third Hokage, knowing the leader of the village was on your side did make him feel better. Occasionally, he'd head to the Hokage Tower and patiently waited for some time with him. Not to discuss training or get a batch of new scrolls to learn from, but to just talk and feel interaction with other human being. That probably what he longed for the most…

Companionship.

"Naruto Uzumaki…"

The boy in question stopped, it was ungodly rare to hear someone speak his whole name. He kept his guard up as he turned around to see two men in full white masks with different red markings. Each dressed in what looked like standard ANBU attire, he was reminded of the ANBU with silver hair that escorted him to the Hokage after he woke up in the hospital the day after he was left here.

"You need to come with us, the Hokage wishes to speak with you."

Three major warning flags went off inside Naruto's mind, he knew something was up. The first inclination that something was off was the fact the Hokage wanted to speak to him. If the Third wanted to speak to him, he would've met him at his apartment personally. He had done that a few times before to drop off the money for his monthly expenses and maybe a new scroll. The second flag was if the Third needed to speak him about something important that couldn't wait, he would send that ANBU with the silver hair that defied gravity to come get him. The last flag was the lack of a red spiral tattoo on their exposed right shoulders. Above all the other identifying features of an ANBU, their earned tattoo was the most giving.

These guys weren't here for him, they were here for the beast.

Naruto momentarily glanced between them both before taking off in a dead sprint in the opposite direction. The two ANBU were prepared for this and were hot on Naruto's dust trail, what they weren't prepared for was how fast he took off.

The chase quickly made its way into the main center of Konoha. Naruto dashed through alleyways, jumped through open windows and ran through buildings in hopes of losing them. He was moving as fast as he possibly could, but he knew those ANBU were directly behind him. And even if they weren't, he knew they had his location pinpointed.

Naruto slid down a drain pipe, ducked through a series of clotheslines, and jumped behind a stronghold of boxes that gave cover from every direction except for overhead. He controlled his breathing as much as he could, trying to lessen the noise so he wouldn't be found.

'Those guys aren't ANBU. They don't act like any ANBU I've seen. Just who are these guys?'

Unbeknownst to the hidden Naruto, the two operatives that had been following him were standing on the adjacent rooftop. They had to admit the kid was good. His speed was unheard of for a child his age, easily matching that of a chūnin. His evasive skills were no laughing matter, it was apparent that all running from angry villagers had some good for the boy. It just proved to them that this boy was a freak of nature and his potential was possibly limitless.

"I can see why Lord Danzō tasked us out to retrieve this boy."

"He will make a great addition to the organization."

The two operatives moved to leap off the rooftop and complete their mission but noticed that everything around them changed. They were no longer in downtown Konoha but a barren wasteland with dirt black as night and a blood red sky. They looked at themselves to see that they were no longer their natural color but completely grey.

This was obviously a genjutsu, a strong one if they barely noticed the change in scenery. The two tried to dispel the illusion with strong genjutsu removal techniques but none worked, never before had they been in an illusion as strong as this.

"You can try forever, but you'll never see the light again."

A third voice drew their attention, turning around they saw a man in the same attire as them. His face was covered by a mask that resembled a weasel. Glowing through the mask was the infamous Sharingan, a dead giveaway of who the caster was.

"Itachi Uchiha…what on earth are you doing?"

"Your meddling with a ROOT mission."

"No…you're meddling with my mission. I will not allow that boy to become a part of your organization."

"Under who's authority? There's no way the Hokage gave you such a mission. He would've left guarding the fox boy up to Kakashi Hatake."

"I am operating under an authority much higher than our Hokage."

The two operatives glanced at each other confusingly. What authority inside of Konoha could have a much stronger pull than the Hokage?

"Who?"

"My mother…Now suffer forever in my Tsukuyomi!"

Naruto waited and waited until he was sure the coast was clear, he peaked his head out from cover to scan for any possible quick exits. He saw a few areas of escape, but they seemed pointless the second he saw the two bodies of the operatives chasing him hit the ground simultaneously.

'What in the world?'

The blonde looked up to where they fell from to see a third man in ANBU battle gear with a mask of a weasel. That onyx black hair looked very familiar to that showoff, Sasuke, in his class. The two shared a momentary glance before the man disappeared in a swarm of black crows.

'Who was that guy?'

-With Jiraiya and Tsunade-

Despite Tsunade's fierce argument to keep going, the group set up camp to rest for the night. The two Sannin of the group could've kept moving all night but Sakura and Shizune didn't have that type of stamina, the two of them practically collapsed by the time they stopped.

Sitting around a small fire, Shizune had already fallen asleep and Sakura was struggling to stay awake while Jiraiya and Tsunade hardly looked tired. Sakura was reminded of Naruto's ability to keep going, she'd have to figure out how to do that at some point.

"You've become even more beautiful."

Tsunade scoffed, failing to hold back a smirk. "You haven't changed a bit…still the same old flatter."

"You never once stopped me."

"It's nice to hear a compliment every now and again…especially one that's not from a drunken lunatic that wants a one-night stand."

"Still breaking jaws of those who get too touchy?"

"You know it."

Jiraiya smirked and let out a chuckle. Tsunade saw something in her teammate's eyes that she rarely ever associated with him. He always tried to hide his true emotions with flattery and humor. "You're worried about him."

Just like that, the lightheartedness of the mood vanished. "Aren't you? The last time I felt this scared was when I first brought him to you. I felt helpless then and even more so now."

"I'm sure everything's fine, Jiraiya. It's probably just-"

"You're the one who said it was impossible that it came back."

Tsunade bit the inside of her cheek. Here she was trying to reassure him while she was silently losing her mind over the ordeal, in past events it was him trying to make her feel better. How the tables have turned. "You mentioned two men came looking for Naruto…who were they?"

Jiraiya almost looked lost as he answered. "They call themselves the Akatsuki. I learned about them during my hiatus. I'm not so sure about their numbers but what I do know is that they are filled S-Rank rogue shinobi from every great village…including ours."

Tsunade didn't have to think hard about who that could be. "Itachi Uchiha."

Jiraiya nodded. "He and Kisame Hoshigaki, formerly of Kirigakure, waltzed right into the village and tore Naruto's team apart. Sakura, here, was the only one who wasn't hospitalized. His sensei, Kakashi Hatake, and teammate, Sasuke Uchiha, both have severe psychological trauma and are in deep comas. Kakashi showed signs of waking up but I doubt he'll be walking around by the time we return."

"Of course, sensei would put Naruto under Kakashi…and seeing how Kakashi was Itachi's handler in ANBU, I guess Itachi's younger brother being under his tutelage isn't a coincidence either. But why were they in the village searching for Naruto?"

Jiraiya glanced over at the other two, making sure they were sound asleep before he answered. "The Nine-Tails." Tsunade's breathing hitched. "Rumor has it they're going after the bijū…to what end I don't know. I can only speculate that it's for some type of world domination or something along those lines."

Tsunade let out the breath she had been holding. "There's always somebody wanting to rule the world…it never fails. It's just like when we fought Hanzō the Salamander back during the Second Shinobi War, he wanted 'peace' through an iron-fist rule."

"Everyone is the hero of their own story." Jiraiya laid back against a tree. "We should probably get some rest, if we move fast enough, we'll reach the village by sun down tomorrow."

Tsunade nodded. "Yeah."

Up above the makeshift camp, Kabuto positioned himself so that he would not be detected. He suppressed his chakra so that his presence couldn't be felt at such a close range. The teenager rubbed his chin as he thoroughly went over their conversation.

'It seems Konoha is aware of the Akatsuki. I wonder if they know about Lord Orochimaru's former membership. But if I remember correctly, Lord Orochimaru said the Kyuubi was not supposed to be their first target…I can only wonder what changed their plans to go after Naruto? Maybe they were trying to get Gaara as well, two birds with one stone. That would explain why Itachi and Kisame were sent, Itachi knows Konoha like no other and Kisame is a perfect counter to the bijū's massive chakra reserves. It doesn't matter, if I follow them any closer to the village then a sensory ninja will pick me up on their radar. Getting Tsunade alone will be next to impossible. I really hope Lord Orochimaru has a backup plan…'

Quickly and silently, Kabuto disappeared into the night.

-Konoha Hospital-

The work day was almost over, another long shift was close to done. They were revolving twelve hour shifts that seemed longer than what time suggested. The young woman behind the front desk kept eyeing the clock as her shift winded down, each minute passed like an hour.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for someone's room."

The lady sighed, so close. She slid over the book that held all patient information. "What's the name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha."

The lady flipped through the pages until the two names came up. "That room is under strict surveillance, I need to keep a record of anyone who enters that room. Name please."

"Tsunade Senju."

The lady stopped all movements and slowly lifted her head to look the person in the eye. Standing before her was the legendary medic herself…

-With Kabuto-

"Kabuto…tell me what you learned."

The man in question kept his head down as he knelt before his master. "Lord Orochimaru…I must apologize but I could not gain an opportunity to get Tsunade alone. My search took me to the gambling town, Tanzaku Quarters. But it seems I was not the only one that was searching for the woman. Your former teammate had arrived just after me and requested that Tsunade return to the village to be the Fifth Hokage…a position she'll take without a doubt."

"That's not all. From what I could gather, the Akatsuki infiltrated Konoha recently and tried to capture the Nine-Tails. Their attempt was unsuccessful but it seems Naruto, Kakashi, and our dear Sasuke were gravely injured, all three ending up in the hospital with conditions that only Tsunade could heal. There is virtually no chance of getting Tsunade alone, Lord Orochimaru. I'm sorry I failed…"

What Kabuto expected was a lash out of anger from the Sannin, but what he did not see coming was a fit of laughter. He looked up to see Orochimaru painfully looking at his arms. "It's seems I can no long be picky about my methods."

Kabuto looked on in confusion. "So…What are you planning to do?"

"I'm going to use the Gedo Mark."

"The Gedo Mark? Are you sure? The amount of chakra that jutsu consumes is well beyond what your body can handle!"

"If the result is my arms being healed…then I don't mind a little danger. I'll be able to bend destiny to my will. When Tsunade becomes Hokage, if the people of Konoha were to fall under another crisis…she'd have no choice to comply with my demands, no?"

"But…to perform jutsu with those arms…"

Orochimaru smiled sinisterly. "I have you, Kabuto. Have no fear…I just have to endure the pain until my arms are healed."

Kabuto was at a loss of words, what this man was willing to go through was unbelievable. "Lord Orochimaru…"

"Hehehe…Just you wait, Tsunade. I'll have my arms healed by you…"