Chapter 17 : The Formation of Team Hebi

Naruto hummed a little tune to himself as he prepared breakfast, flipping the pancake he was currently making for the final time before taking it off his pan and placing it in a large serving dish, and then placing some more batter on. With a large smile on his face, Naruto finished making breakfast, absently creating a Kage Bunshin which grabbed onto the serving dish and took it over to the table. Naruto reached into the cupboard and grabbed two glasses, walked over to the table, and set them down. Another clone came up with a pitcher of orange juice that it had created from one of the oranges on one of the trees out back, pouring it into the two cups. Naruto looked into the fridge, finding the butter and grabbing it along with some maple syrup. He walked back to the table and began setting everything up.

"You seem happy."

Naruto grinned as he turned around and saw Yugao walking up to him, wearing nothing more than a bathrobe. Her hair was still wet signifying she had just gotten out of the shower; Naruto took a moment to admire her beauty before he walked over to her. He gave her a light peck on the lips, leaning back with a grin as he laced their hands together and led her to the table.

"I think I've got a reason to be," Naruto said as they sat down and put some food on the table, "yesterday was the last day of my probation."

"Ah!" Yugao said in understanding as she began to eat.

She could understand why he was excited; now that his one-month probationary period came to an end he would be able to start taking missions outside of the village again. For someone like Naruto who loved to get out and move around it was a godsend.

The two ate in relative silence, no longer feeling any of the awkwardness that had occasionally filled their time together.

"Where is Fu-san?" asked Yugao as she noticed the green-haired girl was not here at the moment, though she had noticed that the Nanabi Jinchuuriki was usually absent.

Naruto chuckled, "She stayed over at Shino's, I think she's helping him create a new colony with the Nanabi's power. I swear she's over there more than she is here."

"Sounds like someone has a crush," Yugao thought out loud.

"It does, doesn't it?" asked Naruto, grinning as he thought of all the teasing he was going to give the two. It would be amusing to watch them squirm, especially Shino since the boy almost never reacted to anything, the kid was like a brick wall.

When the two were finished Naruto created a Kage Bunshin that grabbed their dishes and went to wash them. Naruto stood up with Yugao following suit as they walked up the stairs, they stopped at Yugao's door and looked at each other for a moment.

"So what do you have planned today?" Naruto asked in curiosity.

"I'm still on medical leave for another week, so I was going to spend the day with Anko and Kurenai," Yugao replied.

Naruto nodded as he gave her a smile, pulling her to him as he planted a kiss on her lips. Yugao responded as she wrapped her arms around him and deepened the kiss, trailing her hands through his hair. They broke away a little while later and Naruto gave her a large grin, "Have fun then, I'm going to see if there are any missions that will take me out of Konoha so I may not be here for a few days. You remember how to let people in?"

Yugao nodded, "Channel chakra into the two circles on the gate to allow it to accept foreign chakra."

"Right, I'll see you later," Naruto gave her one last kiss before heading out.

Yugao watched him walk down the stairs with a smile, before opening the door to her bedroom and preparing for the day.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Deep within one of his many bases, Orochimaru sat in his bed, gritting his teeth in pain as he began to hack and cough. His body was reaching the limit of how long he could stay in it, having been in for nearly four years, far longer than he had originally wanted, however, he had forestalled switching bodies so that Sasuke's could be at the peak of perfection for when he switched. His and Sasuke's faceoff against the Namikaze brat had also sped up the process, something he had not anticipated. He didn't even bother to question how that damned brat had gotten so powerful, Minato Namikaze had been one of the few people Orochimaru would never willingly tangle with.

Despite knowing this, the Snake Sannin had underestimated that damn brat, assuming that despite his growing reputation he would still be that loud idiot who had always been shouting nonsense. He supposed he should have known better but he had been arrogant, he had not truly believed all of the reports coming in about the blond's accomplishments, he had just decided that they would be a good motivator to get Sasuke to increase his power.

A lot of good that did.

While neither he nor Sasuke had been able to utilize their full strength, the fact that Naruto had fought them both on equal terms regardless proved that the blond was far more powerful than Sasuke currently was. Orochimaru was positive that had either he or Sasuke fought the blond alone they would have been killed, the boy was just like his accursed father, always one step ahead of him and ruining his plans.

"Gahh!" A pained scream tore through the Snake Sannin's throat, "Huh… ha…"

"You're approaching your limit," Kabuto said as he finished running his medical scan over the pale-skinned man. "You'll need to take a dose of rank 10 medicine or your body will die," the medic sighed, "I'll go and exchange this medicine."

The white-haired Medic ninja stopped at the door to turn his head, "I'll be back in a minute," with that he was gone.

As Kabuto left Orochimaru began to cough again, this time he began to cough up blood. Orochimaru's eyes looked towards the wall on the opposite side of his room just in time to see a blade penetrate it. Gritting his teeth he held his arms in a cross guard, letting the sword stab through his arms, but allowing him to keep his head.

This chakra is his, Orochimaru thought to himself, but he's never used this kind of shape manipulation. Orochimaru watched where the chakra blade was sticking out of the door, a minute later multiple slashes appeared in his door, causing them to fall to the ground in separate pieces.

In walked Sasuke Uchiha, the cursed seal on his shoulder receding, his blade the Kusanagi; leaning against his shoulder as he held out his hand with the chakra blade still piercing Orochimaru's arms.

"I knew it would come to this," Orochimaru hissed, ignoring the pain in his arms as he focused on Sasuke.

"I have nothing more to learn from you," the Uchiha said in an arrogant tone.

"Kukuku, so you say and yet Naruto-kun beat you quite handily," the Snake Sannin chuckled.

Sasuke glared at the man as his Sharingan flared to life, "He also beat you, which means you no longer serve a purpose to me. I'll kill you now and I won't show any mercy, even if you beg for it." Sasuke began to walk into the room, forcing Orochimaru to move his arms as the chakra blade went all the way through them and into the wall.

"Orochimaru," Sasuke said, his face blank as the flame pattern of his cursed seal spread out from the seal, "you're weaker than me. There is no point in sacrificing my body to you anymore."

"Big words from a fledgling Uchiha," Orochimaru hissed with a glare.

Sasuke smirked, "Humph if I hadn't been so weak I never would have sought you out would I?" Sharingan began to spin as Sasuke continued his tirade, "You only wanted me because you couldn't handle Itachi, right Mr. Great Sannin Genius?"

Sasuke's smirk turned into an arrogant grin, "Perhaps the world at large would consider you gifted, but you're nowhere near the level of an Uchiha. Before us, the greatest genius in the universe barely comes off as average."

"Yes and that's why Naruto-kun smashed a Rasengan in your gut and forced me to save you," Orochimaru said, smirking when he saw Sasuke snarl from his taunt. "Had I not been there you would have been killed, perhaps you Uchiha are not all I thought you were."

"Naruto is nothing compared to me!" The young Uchiha ground out before managing to get a hold of his emotions. "When the time comes I will show him what it means to be an Uchiha, I will kill him and everyone he holds dear to show him his inferiority to the might of the Uchiha clan."

Sasuke looked at Orochimaru, "But first, I'll kill you!" Sasuke ran forward letting his chakra blade, push itself further into Orochimaru's arms.

Said Sannin grit his teeth as he blocked out the pain, Orochimaru opened his mouth as wide as it could go and outshot another body, this one different from normal.

"A scaly white serpent," Sasuke mused as he looked from the now shed skin to the new Orochimaru, "I see, so this is your true form."

The white serpent went to its full height, its face looked similar to Orochimaru's, only it was even more snake-like. The serpent's body was made up of thousands upon thousands of snakes, all of them flicking their tongues out.

"You wanted to take over other people's bodies so badly, you experimented on your own," Sasuke said in a voice that spoke of how pathetic he thought the Sannin was. "Now you're nothing more than a shell of your former self."

"Kukuku Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said, his voice now sounding completely like that of a snake, "Give me your body!"

Sasuke jumped into the air as the snake lunged.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto looked over at Sai, Ino, and Sakura, his three teammates for his first mission outside of the village in a month. Smiling he turned his attention back to Tsunade, "So what have you got for me baa-chan?"

Sakura, Ino, and Tsunade got several tic marks on their head but decided it would be best to ignore him for the time being.

"I actually have several for you," Tsunade said as she dug through a few scrolls, "it seems that with your public debut in the Chunin exams almost everyone wants you to do their missions."

Tsunade grabbed the scroll she had been looking for and held it up, "This is the one you'll be doing for now." she tossed it to the blond shinobi, "It's an A-rank mission to guard Koyuki Kazahana during a diplomatic meeting with Tsuki No Kuni (Crescent Moon Country)." She watched as Naruto's face seemed to light up, he hid it well but Tsunade, despite sucking at gambling, was able to pick up subtle changes in facial expressions.

She of course knew of her fellow blonde's relation with the Daimyo of Haru No Kuni, having forced the information out of Naruto under threat of castration and severe beating. Though it had only been after she had promised to keep his relationship a secret, even from the council, Tsunade knew why of course, Koyuki was a civilian, a daimyo but still a civilian. And her samurai would not last five minutes against an S-rank ninja, let alone six of them. She shook the thoughts off as she focused on the four ninjas, "I trust you will complete this assignment?"

"Of course," Naruto said with a smirk as he turned around to address his team, "we'll leave in one hour, pack for an A-rank mission, and meet me at the north gate."

"Yes/understood/ok!" the three said in unison, before leaving to get ready.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

As soon as Sasuke jumped into the air, several snakes from Orochimaru's skin lunged at him, opening their fang-filled mouths. Sasuke pulled out his sword, spinning around and slicing the heads off of the two snakes before landing on the ground.

Orochimaru hissed, whether, in pain or anger, Sasuke could not be sure, though it was not like he cared either way. Several dozen snakes shot out of Orochimaru's body, all heading towards Sasuke who re-sheathed his sword. Shunting off the top half of his robe, Sasuke let his cursed seal flare into existence. Activating the second level, Sasuke's skin began to turn the color of ash, his eyes while the Sharingan turned yellow with the sclera turning black, a black four-pointed star appeared across his nose.

"Though the snake dreams of soaring through the sky," Sasuke began to speak as Orochimaru's dozen snakes began to cover and wrap around him, "it is forever doomed, to crawl on his belly!"

The snakes were all destroyed as Sasuke exploded with the power of the cursed seal, pieces of the snake were sprayed, blood splattered all over the wall. Two odd-shaped wings that looked like webbed hands appeared on Sasuke's back, moving and grasping as if alive.

"You'll have your chance to fly snake, in the talons of a hawk," Sasuke said with a smirk.

Orochimaru hissed angrily at the boy's words, "SASUKEEEE!" he lunged at the Uchiha.

Flashback…

Orochimaru looked at the grave of his parents, unsure what to feel now that they were dead. Like all good shinobi, he refused to shed any tears; that did not mean that it still did not hurt. But it was more than that; he also felt hatred, hatred over the fact that death took them from him. He sighed as he shook the thoughts off and laid the bouquet he had gotten for them on the tomb. As he did he noticed something, reaching out for it he saw that it was a snake's skin.

"Ooh good eye," Sarutobi said from behind him, "that's a white snake's molted skin!"

"I've never seen one before," Orochimaru said as he looked at the skin in idle curiosity.

"Hehe, me neither," Sarutobi said with a slight chuckle, "they're extremely rare, very hard to find."

"How come it's white?" asked Orochimaru, looking up at his sensei with a curious expression.

"I don't actually know," the Sandaime Hokage mused, "no one's ever really thought to find out. But for years, they've been considered a symbol of good fortune and rebirth"

Orochimaru poked at the snakeskin, wondering if what his sensei was telling him was true, "Good fortune and rebirth…"

Sarutobi looked at his prized student sadly, he knew Orochimaru was hurting from his parent's death, but the boy had always tried to keep his emotions to himself.

"The fact that you found it by your parents' grave must be a sign…" he said, trying to cheer up his student, "Perhaps they've been reborn in new bodies, so that someday when you've grown up, they can see you again."

Orochimaru looked up at his sensei before looking back down at the snakeskin, "When's that gonna be?"

"Haha, I'm afraid I don't know that either," Sarutobi said.

Orochimaru looked at the snakeskin, 'rebirth', he was unsure if people were reborn after they died, but it was this day, this conversation that ultimately made him decide he would not be in this cycle. He would be eternal.

Immortal.

Flashback end…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto walked up to the palace in Haru No Kuni, he walked over to one of the Samurai who snapped into a salute as soon as he saw Naruto.

"Sir, Koyuki-sama has been expecting you," he said as the door opened, "please follow me."

"We didn't even give him our passports," Ino whispered to Sakura, sounding slightly confused. Normally standard procedure when a foreign ninja was entering a country they always had to show their passports, and people were even more cautious when dealing with a Daimyo, so it was odd they would just let them in like that.

Sakura nodded as she whispered back, "I know, that's odd don't you think?"

The four Konoha ninja were led down the hall by the Samurai they had met at the door, following a meandering path as they made their way to a set of large double doors with gold embroidery. The samurai knocked smartly three times.

"Come in!"

The door opened and the Samurai ushered the four inside, as they walked in Sakura and Ino marveled at the décor. Everything was gorgeous and just what they would expect of a palace, long beautifully crafted columns, golden and blue tapestries hanging from the ceiling. Along the walls were several beautiful paintings done by master artisans, many of them depicting Haru both now and when it had been known as Yuki.

Naruto and Sai did not pay any attention to the layout or design of the room, one has seen it quite often for the past several years, and the other did not have the emotional capacity to enjoy it, though Sai did occasionally glance at the paintings. Naruto, on the other hand, focused his attention on Koyuki, who was wearing the traditional Kimono of a Daimyo and was currently writing down something on a piece of parchment.

The Konoha ninjas' escort Samurai stood in front of the desk, snapping to attention as he spoke, "Koyuki-sama, Naruto-sama and the other Konoha ninja you have hired have arrived."

Ino, Sakura, and even Sai felt surprised as they heard the Samurai give Naruto such a respectful suffix, however, there was no time to question this turn of events as Koyuki stood up from her desk and looked at them with a smile.

"Welcome to Haru No Kuni," Koyuki said as she moved around her desk. "It is good to see you again, Sakura-san…"

She turned her attention to the blond in front of her and gave a smile that was meant only for him. "Naruto."

Sakura, Ino, and Sai bowed as protocol dictated, however, Naruto like always went against the grain as he walked up to Koyuki and gave her a smile.

"It's been a while Koyuki-hime," Naruto said as he took one of the Daimyo's hands in his, "it's surprising but every time I see you I can't help but be amazed that you seem even more beautiful and radiant than the last time we met." Naruto lifted the young Daimyo's hands to his lips, giving them a chaste kiss.

Sakura and Ino gaped at the audacity Naruto had to actually speak with a Daimyo so informally, people have been executed for less. The two looked at the Samurai expecting them to make some kind of move to arrest the leader of their mission, but to their surprise, none of them even seemed the least bit perturbed, as if this was some kind of everyday occurrence.

Koyuki smiled, "And you are the same flatterer that I remember from the last time we met." Both of them smiled at their little inside joke, the last time they had met was a little less than a week ago when Naruto had called her, Mei, Yugito, and Konan to discuss the situation with Yugao. This was merely to keep up appearances to make it seem as if they did not see each other on a regular basis, something Koyuki hoped would end soon.

Naruto let go of Koyuki's hand and took a step back, "I believe you called us to be a part of your escorts to Tsuki No Kuni?"

"That's correct," Koyuki said as she adopted her business tone of voice, "you along fifty of my Samurai and several shinobi from Yukigakure (Hidden Snow Village) are to be my escorts." She looked at the four ninjas, "I hope you four are up to the job."

Behind Naruto the other three ninjas snapped to attention, the whiskered blond looked at Koyuki and gave her a grin. "I think we can handle anything that gets thrown at us."

Koyuki smiled, "That's good to know. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way I'll have my maids show you three," she looked over at Sakura and the other two, "to your rooms, until we leave in two days are. Naruto," she looked back at the blond, "I would like to discuss the arrangements of this assignment in more detail."

Naruto offered a bow, "Of course Koyuki-hime."

Several women in maid outfits entered the door and escorted a confused trio of Konoha shinobi away, the three cast one last look at Naruto and Koyuki before leaving.

Koyuki watched as the door to her office closed, smiling she pulled Naruto to her and gave her blond lover a heated kiss.

"You know, with the way you're acting one would think that you really just wanted me to yourself," Naruto spoke with a grin as they broke away.

Koyuki gave him a slightly mischievous smile, "Maybe I did, is there a problem with that?"

Koyuki let out an 'eep!' as Naruto scooped her up in his arms, her arms found their way around Naruto's neck as he held her to him. She looked up to see a familiar glint in Naruto's eyes, "Not at all hime," the blond shinobi said with a smile. "Had you not done it, I would have ended up kicking them out myself. So... the gardens?" he asked, looking at Koyuki.

Koyuki thought about it for a moment before offering a smile and a nod, "The gardens." She smirked a second later, "but first, we need to get the costumes."

Naruto looked at Koyuki and gave her a grin, "as you wish." A second later Naruto and Koyuki disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke stared at the remains of Orochimaru; the giant snake he had turned into was now cut up into eight different segments. He smirked as his cursed seal began to recede, his wings retracted into his back. Sasuke was just about to walk off when he fell to the floor, his eyes widened as it became hard to move.

"Finally affected are we?" Sasuke looked over to see Orochimaru's head ascending as his body reformed, "The rumors of these white snakes can even taint the air with their paralyzing venom."

Orochimaru's mouth opened far wider than Sasuke had ever seen it do when the Sannin had been in his human form, "I am undying. You are just a whelp whose jutsu is still too weak to kill me!" Orochimaru lunged at Sasuke.

Sasuke's Sharingan eyes widened as everything went black.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sakura and Ino found themselves sitting at a very ornate table in one of the dining halls in Koyuki's palace, eating as they tried to figure out a mystery, said mystery being why Naruto and Koyuki seemed so close.

"Don't you find it odd?" Sakura wondered as she took a bite out of her salad, "I mean the way Naruto and Koyuki-dono were talking. He seemed so comfortable with her like they'd been on friendly terms with each other for years."

It was something that had been bothering the girl for a while now; if she were honest with herself she was jealous of Koyuki for seeming so close to Naruto. She had realized a while ago that the blond boy who had a crush on her for an untold number of years had moved on, it was a disheartening feeling.

"I guess," Ino said with a shrug, while she was also jealous, she didn't care as much as her pink-haired friend. "But they probably are close; didn't you and him come here for a mission once?"

"Yeah," Sakura nodded as she recalled her mission back when the country was covered in snow. "This place was called Yuki No Kuni back then, Sasuke-kun, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei, and I came here to guard Koyuki, who was going to be filming a movie here under the alias Yuki Fujikaze."

That had been one of the many adventures Team Seven had been on together, unlike most teams, hers seemed to always find the most dangerous missions; she blamed that on Naruto's penchant for finding trouble.

"Well there you have it," Ino said, causing Sakura to look at her. "Naruto is actually considered a hero here, you know?"

"Really?" Sakura asked in surprise, she had not known that.

Ino eyed her friend with an exasperated look, "You mean you don't know?" at the blonde's question, Sakura shook her head. Ino sighed, "Honestly Sakura…well you know how the last Princess Gale movie came out several years back?" Sakura nodded as Ino continued, "Well the movie was actually turned into an odd, Drama/Documentary type film. Anyways, in the movie, Naruto played as one of the key parts an-"

"Wait, Naruto was in the movie!" Sakura asked; surprise clearly evident in her features and voice.

"Didn't you see the movie?" Ino asked.

"No," Sakura shook her head, "I've always been too busy to go and watch movies, so I never bothered."

Ino sighed in disbelief but continued her explanation, "Well, whatever. Yes, Naruto was in it, you and the others were too, but he seemed to be in it the most. And during the ending credits, Naruto had a personal thanks from Koyuki for saving her country, I'm surprised you never knew this."

Sakura flushed in embarrassment, "Well I never watched the movie so…"

"And you never really paid attention to Naruto," Ino said with a teasing grin.

"Neither did you," Sakura replied as she threw her friend a light glare.

"That's true," Ino sighed, "it's too bad, he's such a hunk now."

"So Naruto's a hero, that still doesn't explain how he and the Daimyo are so close," Sakura mused.

"Well," Ino drawled as she finished off the last bite of her food, "You do know that Naruto came here at one point during the four years he was absent to film a porn movie with Koyuki-dono, right?"

Sakura scowled, "Yes!" her voice denoting how much she hated being reminded of that particular event. She had not even known about it until the blond shinobi had come back, however hearing that Naruto had somehow been convinced by Jiraiya to star in a porno vexed her to no end. "Do you have to bring that up!"

Ino grinned, "Sounds like someone's jealous," Sakura's scowl increased as Ino's grin widened. "I'll admit I'm a little jealous too, after seeing all the positions those two did…"

"You mean you've seen it!" Sakura asked in a loud and scandalized voice.

Ino grinned as she licked her lips and began to explain in absolutely graphic detail all of her favorite scenes from the Icha Icha movie. By the end of it, Sakura had passed out from a large nosebleed, leaving a laughing Ino to drag her back to their room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke Uchiha opened his eyes and looked around, frowning as he wondered where in the nine hells he was. The place he was in had no walls, allowing nothing but an inky blackness to stretch far beyond his Sharingan's vision. The floor was made of some kind of white fleshy substance, moving and writhing as if it were alive. Altogether it looked like something his now-former teacher might cook up from his overly vivid imagination.

"Huh," Sasuke mumbled to himself, "what is this place?"

"An alternate dimension inside me," Sasuke's Sharingan spun as he looked towards the source of the voice. Several feet away from him, some of the fleshy surfaces of the floor began to bulge, looking like something was trying to breakthrough.

"And the place where I carry out the soul transfer ritual," Orochimaru finished as his form rose from the ground, covered in the slimy surface. "It's already started," the Snake Sannin's ridiculously long tongue flicked out of his mouth.

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise as several snakes began to form out of his body and clothing; looking around he noticed that the floor began to rise up, changing shape as it did. The young avenger found himself staring at people; people that he now realized were the previous beings whom Orochimaru had used his soul transfer jutsu on.

He looked over at Orochimaru's smiling form, his Sharingan eyes spinning as the Snake Sannin inched ever closer. The Snake Sannin's eyes widened as several stakes appeared in his body forcing him to stop, he remembered this, it had happened to him once already when he had attempted to get Itachi's eyes.

"Orochimaru, all your jutsu are powerless, against these eyes."

"Hehehe, those eyes…" Orochimaru said as he began to move again, despite the pain he was feeling from the genjutsu his now-former student placed him in. "Those eyes will be mine!"

Sasuke just watched with an impassive face as the man inched ever closer.

These eyes would never be his.

The Uchiha avenger smirked.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The queen struggled with her bindings as the man who bound her laughed over her; said man was tall and had bulky muscles that made him look like a pro wrestler, his hair was black and shaggy, his eyes likewise were coal black. Running along his face were several scars that were an angry red in color, crisscrossing along with his nose and eyes.

"And now my Queen you will do as I say," the man said, sneering as he called her queen.

"Never!" the Queen shouted as her struggling increased, "I'll never give you my kingdom!"

"My dear, you don't have a choice," the black-eyed man said, taking his hand to caress her face. The queen shivered in disgust as his rough fingers ran along her cheek, "You will accept this marriage, you will surrender to me and this will be my kingdom!" The man's voice turned into a yell at the end. He calmed down again as he gave her a smirk, "You no longer have a choice, no one will be coming to save you."

"You're wrong," the queen whispered, she stopped struggling as she bent her head down making her hair cover her eyes. "He will come," she said with conviction, a smirk quirking up the corner of her lips.

"Him!" the man questioned incredulously before laughing, "He is currently being 'occupied' by some of my best men, even 'he' is no match for my elites."

"You know, I take offense to that."

The black-haired man turned around and felt his eyes widen as he spotted the figure that stood before him. The man was fairly tall, standing around 6'0" even; he was not bulky but had the physic of an Olympic runner with compact muscles that looked like they had been carved from stone. He was wearing dark blue western armor with red and gold trim, in his hands was an ornate and beautiful double-sided blade with jewels lining the hilt. His spiky golden blond hair was being held out of his face with a red-blue bandana that had the motif of a dragon on it, and his blue eyes were currently drilling into the black-haired man with an intensity that caused said man to shiver.

"I-impossible!" the man yelled, "There is no way you could have survived my elites!"

The golden-haired man looked at him with a smirk, "While your men were decent, I've had better fights from my grandmother," he shivered for a moment, "Kami that woman hits hard," the man mumbled at the end.

The black-haired man growled, "I suppose my guards were just more incompetent than I thought, to let someone like you defeat them." he reached for his own sword and pulled it out of the hilt on his left side, "I'll just have to kill you myself!"

"You can try," the blond man said with a smirk, taking several steps towards the man who was now rushing towards him. "But in the end, you'll lose like everyone else!" his steps picked up until he was in a sprint, bringing his sword across his body in a slash.

Swords began to clash and the sound of metal clanging against metal was heard throughout the small clearing. Each time one would strike against the other it would cause a slight wind to pick up, showing just how powerful these men were. The strikes were so fast that the Queen who was watching could not even see them; they were mere flashes of light. To her, it looked like a dance, yet she knew that this beautiful dance was also deadly, each strike was meant to kill and even a single mistake could cost either of them.

The two continued their battle, adding acrobatics into the mix now, flipping and leaping over each other as they attempted to strike the other from behind. Spinning, twirling, and slashing as the two moved at speeds no normal human could ever hope to match. Overhead, diagonal slash, horizontal, thrusts, all manner of attacks were used as the two seemingly even opponents tried to kill one another. All it would take was a single mistake.

All it would take was one slip up.

Said slip up came when the black-haired man overextended his reach, attempting to stab the blond through the heart. Said blond ducked and moved slightly to the left, lightly redirecting the man's attack with his blade as he moved in. There was a 'shlinct' sound as the blonde's blade pierced the black-haired man's armor, and then the man's chest. Said man stared at the blade piercing him with wide eyes, right before he burst into smoke.

"Damn it!" the blond mumbled in frustration, "Stupid Kage Bunshin, always dispelling just as I'm about to make the witty one-liner!" the blond shook his head and got back into his role as he ran over to his queen, "My liege, are you alright?" he asked as he severed the ropes binding her.

As soon as the queen was free, she jumped up and wrapped her arms around the blond, burying her head in his neck as she inhaled his scent. "I am now," the queen replied as she lifted her head to look into the blond man's blue eyes, "Thank you, Sir Naruto."

Naruto gave her a cocky grin as he spoke, "You know there is no need to thank me, my queen. I will always be there to protect you."

"Oh, but there is," was the queen's response as she went up on her tiptoes, "Such a good deed deserves a reward."

Naruto smiled as he began to lean towards his queen, "Koyuki-chan," he mumbled as their lips met.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kabuto frowned as he stirred the medicine he had made for Orochimaru together, "The medicine won't be enough anymore." he looked at the concoction in the vial, picking it up and pouring it into a container for Orochimaru.

"At best, he could have lasted until tomorrow, but he'll more than likely need to do the soul transfer ritual today." Kabuto held up the medicine and looked at it, "I doubt even this will help much."

Kabuto had been Orochimaru's right-hand man for a long time, after the Snake Sannin took Sasori's slave seal off the young medical ninja had pledged his life to the man's service. He had seen Orochimaru's power and genius in action, the man was always making new abilities and did not let some ridiculous sentimentality for life stop him from progressing in his goal. It was one of the things Kabuto admired and the reason he so willingly followed Orochimaru, he allowed Kabuto to experiment on others in the name of science, something that he doubted anyone else would allow him to do. That was why he was worried about his master, the man had pretty much let him do as he pleased to the prisoners they had and allowed him to watch the Sannin's own experiments.

"Still…" the silver-haired medical ninja mused, "I doubt Sasuke is going to be quick to say yes to something like this." He shook the thought off as he left, It doesn't matter, even someone like Sasuke should not be able to survive the ritual.

Kabuto closed the door to the lab and began to walk back towards Orochimaru's chamber; however, when he was got close enough to see the door he stopped and his eyes widened. The door was gone, having been cut to pieces, and along the walls and floor was blood. Not knowing what was happening Kabuto ran up to the wall near the door, pressing his back against it as he peered into the room.

Standing in the room was Sasuke Uchiha, looking at the remains of Orochimaru, which was in its snake form. Its head severed from the body and the body sliced into eight segments.

What's Sasuke doing here? Kabuto wondered, as his mind tried to come to a conclusion to that question his eyes widened as an answer came to him. That giant snake is molting, so that means that the ritual is over already.

Kabuto moved away from the wall and stood in front of the door. What the hell happened? The medical ninja asked as he stared at Sasuke, wondering if this was Sasuke or Orochimaru.

As if sensing his presence Sasuke turned his head, "Kabuto?" he questioned in a bland voice at seeing the medic ninja. Turning, Sasuke made his way over to Kabuto, not even bothering to look at the silver-haired medic as he walked past.

Kabuto turned his head to look at Sasuke, "Which one are you?" he asked. When Kabuto had first seen him, he had been positive that it was Orochimaru who was in control. However, the way that Sasuke was acting did not seem like Orochimaru at all, he was too quiet, had it been the Snake Sannin he would have said something by now and had Kabuto run a medical scan to make sure everything was working properly.

"…" Sasuke turned his head to look at Kabuto, a smirk appeared on his face, "Which one do you think?"

Sasuke's Sharingan eyes flared and Kabuto saw black.

XXXXXXXXXX

This is where the soul ritual takes place, Kabuto realized as he looked around his new environment, the same one that Sasuke had been in mere moments ago.

As he looked around he saw Sasuke Uchiha covered in the white substance from the ground, and Orochimaru closing the distance as the snake Sannin attempted to perform the soul transfer technique. Several tentacle-like appendages appeared out of the goop that covered Orochimaru, making their way towards the avenger. They latched onto Sasuke's form and Orochimaru was about to perform the soul transfer ritual; however, before he could Sasuke activated his cursed seal.

Orochimaru's eyes widened as the white flesh began to crumble, "This-this can't be happening!"

The white flesh covering Sasuke crumbled around him, leaving the Uchiha as if nothing had happened. The white substance then began to coil and grow, taking the form of some odd creature with a large claw-filled mouth. It then started to eat at the white substance of the dimension. "I created this dimension! There is no way…there is no way! This can't be! This is my-"

"Orochimaru…" Sasuke interrupted the man's ramblings, his Sharingan eyes spinning. "Against my eyes, none of your jutsu…" he paused before smirking, "Actually, you know the rest."

This is…horrifying…at this rate, Sasuke will… Kabuto paused and corrected himself, is starting to eat away at this dimension… The medical ninja watched as the dimension began to dissolve.

"Ugh!" Orochimaru said as he strained to win against the Uchiha avenger, "I refuse…" Orochimaru's eyes narrowed, "I refuse to let this happen! I am Orochimaru! I am immortal! Destined to discover the true meaning behind everything! Destined to take control of everything…in the world!" Orochimaru continued to struggle, "I will not die here!"

Kabuto's eyes widened as he found himself back in Orochimaru's hideout, "Orochimaru-sama is…dead…" he looked over at Sasuke to see the Uchiha avenger smirking, "No wait…it's more like-"

"I've taken over," Sasuke said, his smirk increasing.

Kabuto stared in shock at Sasuke as he walked away.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sai stared out at the sea as he sat on the ship that was taking him and the rest of the team he was with to Tsuki No Kuni. He turned his attention back to the painting he was drawing; it was a picture of the see using the perspective of someone sitting on the bow of a ship. However, as his paintbrush moved across the canvas, his mind was elsewhere. He had been with Naruto for a little over two months now and was still no closer to discovering the key to emotions, or figuring out what made Naruto…Naruto.

The Clan Head was a man of contradictions as far as Sai could see, when on missions he was usually very serious, never showing his emotions; yet when not on a mission he was laid back, relaxed, with a slightly playful and teasing nature. He was also willing to risk becoming a missing ninja for the sake of a single person, going as far as to refuse a direct order from the Hokage herself.

Every interaction he had had with the blond so far had left him confused.

Flashback…

"Nicknames are often used as terms of endearment between two people who are close," Sai read out loud. He was sitting in Konoha's general library, looking up information on friendship. Ever since he had his first mission with Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi he had been trying to understand what friendship really was.

"What in the hell are you reading?"

Sai's eyes widened in surprise as he looked behind him to see Naruto reading over his shoulder.

"How to make friends? The understanding to building a Bridge of Friendship?" Naruto said in an incredulous voice as he read the titles of some of the books Sai had picked up. "Why are you reading crap like this?" the blond shinobi asked.

Sai replied with his stereotypical fake smile, "I am trying to understand emotions and how friendships work." He picked up a book, "These books are very informative about the subject and tell me how to make friends."

Naruto gave the pale-skinned teen an exasperated look, "You won't understand emotions and make friends by reading a book Sai. In order to understand anything you need to experience something first."

"So I should do reconnaissance?" Sai asked, trying to better understand what Naruto was telling him.

"No you sh-you know what," Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose, "you should disregard everything those books tell you, they're not very helpful." He grabbed the boy by the shirt and hauled him to his feet, "The only way to learn is by experience, now come on, I'm going to meet with the rest of the Konoha Eleven."

"What?" Sai asked as Naruto began to drag the boy out of the library.

"You're going to meet my friends, you're going to see how they act and you're going to be normal," Naruto said. "Now come on, I don't want to have to drag your sorry ass the whole way."

Sai said nothing more as Naruto let go of him, merely followed the blond Clan Head as he walked over to an Akimichi restaurant.

Flashback end…

There had been many other incidents like that where Sai had interacted with the others from the famed 'Konoha Eleven' throughout the time he had been assigned his mission to spy on Naruto. Often times he would leave confused, however, he did feel he was getting closer to understanding emotions a little better.

He stopped painting for a moment and looked over to the deck; Naruto and Koyuki were sitting in two chairs a little ways away, playing a game of Shogi. He wondered if board games would be a good way to help him understand other people?

XXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke walked into one of the many rooms within Orochimaru's base, this one like the others was rather bland. In the center of the room, however, were several large tubes. In each tube was a person, or what had once been a person, a few having been transformed into unrecognizable monsters. Computer screens were located throughout the area, showing data on various experiments and long wires and hoses connected the tubes to other pieces of machinery.

Sasuke ignored most of the tubes as he walked up to a specific one. Inside was a teen about his age and of average height, he had white hair with a light blue tint and purple eyes. The teen gave Sasuke a smile with his shark-like teeth as the Uchiha avenger stepped in front of him.

"I thought it would be you, so you actually defeated Orochimaru, eh?" the man said.

"That's right," Sasuke replied, "now don't move for a second so I can get you out of here." Sasuke pulled out his chokuto and slashed across the glass, letting the water and white-haired man out.

"Finally," the man mumbled as he pulled his hands out of the watery surface, it looked as if half of his body was submerged in the water despite the fact that the water was merely a puddle. "I guess I owe you some thanks Sasuke."

"We'll take care of you first, Suigetsu," Sasuke said, not paying attention to the now named Suigetsu's words, "Come with me."

"Me first huh?" Suigetsu said as he began to push himself out of the water, his body forming from the molecules, "What about the others?"

"There are two left," Sasuke said in an uncaring tone, normally he would never be this patient with someone who was inferior to him but it was necessary for now. "We need to get Juugo in the north lair, and Karin in the south"

"Ugh, do we have to?" Suigetsu complained, putting his feet on the water and standing up, "I can't stand those two; I don't think I'll ever be able to even get along with them."

"I just need the three of you to cooperate," Sasuke said as if explaining to a child, "you don't have to like each other."

"Well, you did save me," Suigetsu said after a moment, "so I guess if that's what you want I'll go along with it." He frowned in thought, "So why did you choose them, what do you think of them?"

"They need to learn how to shut up," Sasuke replied in a way that made it obvious he was not talking about the other two, "Now put some clothes on so we can go."

"Heh, well you definitely sound like a leader," Suigetsu said, the next moment he disappeared and Sasuke felt someone pressing a finger against his temple.

"Let's get a few things straight," Suigetsu said in a slightly bored yet playful tone, "Ok?"

Sasuke just looked at him as the water user spoke, "You are not in charge just because you took Orochimaru down, everyone was after him…someone was bound to kill him eventually. You were his preference, so he did keep you under surveillance and let you stand at his side. You just got more chances at him than the rest of us," Sasuke made no movement, even though he felt like killing this person for trying to talk down to him.

Instead, he spoke in a calm, almost bored voice, "What's your point?"

"That I have the advantage now" Suigetsu said as he pushed his finger harder against Sasuke's temple. Then the man grinned and took his hand away, "Not! Just kidding…wow your heart rate didn't ever change, that's enough for me to know your victory was not a fluke. I always heard how strong you were; your squad was the one who defeated my old sempai Zabuza Momoichi, wasn't it?"

Suigetsu gave Sasuke a shark-like grin, "So hey, before we go get them do you think we could go somewhere else first, there's something I wanted to get."

Sasuke said nothing; he needed Suigetsu for now so he would play along.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto walked in front of Koyuki as he and the other Konoha ninja assigned to this mission, along with nearly a dozen Samurai and four Yuki ninja escorted the Daimyo through the streets of one of Tsuki No Kuni's cities. He and his comrades were walking in a diamond formation around Koyuki, with him in the front, Sakura and Ino on the sides, and Sai in the back. As the group continued on, they ignored the various stares and whispers from the people around who had stopped what they were doing to stare.

Like all cities in Tsuki, this one held a festive air. Tsuki No Kuni had always been considered a great tourist country due to its many forms of entertainment, namely gambling, there were many different casinos here that had all kinds of games of chance. He was sure that Baa-chan would love to come here.

Naruto remained on alert as they made their way to the large blue palace in front of them, the gates opened as soon as their entourage came into view. Walking through the gate they found themselves standing in a very beautiful garden, several dignitaries were already waiting for them. Two of them were Michiru Tsuki, the Daimyo of Tsuki No Kuni, and his son Hikaru. Michiru was a fairly rotund man, wearing an extravagant royal blue kimono. Hikaru was a boy of decent height, fairly thin, and wearing white pants and a shirt with a bow hanging over his shoulder.

"Daimyo Koyuki, it is a pleasure to finally meet you," Michiru said as he stepped forward and gave a bow.

Koyuki returned the gesture with poise and grace befitting both a Daimyo and an actress, "It's nice to finally meet you as well, I would like to thank you for agreeing to this."

"Not at all," Michiru replied, "with our open-door policy on trade, we are always happy to accept new agreements." he paused for a moment as he looked at the members of her entourage, his eyes landed on Naruto and they seemed to widen ever so slightly.

"Naruto!" he asked in surprise, causing Hikaru to look up with wide eyes.

While everyone else either looked shocked or confused, Naruto stepped forward and gave Michiru a bow, "It's good to see you again, you and your son look like you're doing well."

Michiru was about to respond but his son beat him to it, "Naruto-nii-san!" Hikaru ran up to him.

Naruto grinned as the boy stopped in front of him, "How are you doing squirt?" he ruffled the boy's hair.

"Hey, don't call me a squirt!," Hikaru complained, "I'm almost eleven now!"

Naruto's grin widened ever so slightly, "You're still a squirt to me."

As Naruto decided to have fun teasing Hikaru, Michiru turned to look at a surprised Koyuki. "I shall have my men escort your guards to their living quarters, and if you'd like I can give you a tour of the palace."

"… yes that would be nice," Koyuki said, turning to him.

Michiru nodded and gave her a pleased smile, "Excellent!" He turned to where Naruto was asking Hikaru about his bow practice, "Hikaru, why don't you and Naruto go to the range out back!"

Hikaru nodded, "Come on nii-san! I want to show you how good I've gotten with my bow!" he grabbed Naruto and began to drag him towards his bow practice range.

"Alright, alright I'm coming," Naruto said as he began to walk on his own power.

"So how do you guys know Naruto?" Koyuki asked as she and the other three Konoha ninja followed Michiru. Meanwhile, the rest of Koyuki's entourage was being shown to their quarters.

"Well you see we had hired Konoha to send us escorts for our tour around the elemental nations," Michiru said as Koyuki and the Konoha ninja listened with interest, "They sent him and his sensei Jiraiya, we…"

XXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke and Suigetsu found themselves staring at a rather large and impressive bridge. Suigetsu had changed into a purple sleeveless shirt and a pair of gray pants. Around his waist was a belt with several water bottles attached to it, and another belt that currently did not hold anything.

"What do you think Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked as he turned to look at his black-haired leader.

Sasuke did not say anything, merely stared at the name of the bridge, The Great Naruto Bridge. For just a second the black-haired avenger almost felt nostalgic…almost.

"Sasuke let's go!" Suigetsu said as Sasuke continued to stare at the bridge.

Sasuke cast one last look at the bridge before moving across it; they walked through the now prosperous town of Nami, making their way to the edge of it and into the forest. Sasuke led Suigetsu to the spot where they had buried Zabuza and his apprentice Haku.

"Never thought it'd be all the way out here," Suigetsu said as he moved over to the grave, one of which had the infamous Kubikiribocho. The water user grabbed the handle of the blade, "I'll be taking this Zabuza-sempai."

He pulled the blade out of the ground. Suigetsu held the blade in both hands, struggling a bit to keep it up. "Woah, this is heavy…so this is the blade of Zabuza, The Kiri No Oni (Devil of the hidden Mist), the Kubikiri," Suigetsu planted the sword back into the ground when it became too heavy to wield.

"Can you even wield that blade?" Sasuke asked, actually finding himself amused at the sight.

"The katana used by the Kiri No Shinobigatana Nananin Shu are passed down from generation to generation," Suigetsu said, "I trained like crazy so I could join them one day. With this great sword, I could probably even beat you,"

Suigetsu began to fix a strap around it, "Since Juugo's joining us, I figured I'd need it." Suigetsu attached the sword to the belt that hung on his chest and looked at Sasuke, "Alright, let's head to the closer one."

Sasuke nodded as the two of them set out.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Why didn't you ever tell us how you saved this country?" asked Sakura as she, Naruto, Sai, and Ino set up a perimeter and patrolled around the place Michiru and Koyuki were meeting.

Naruto looked over at her and shrugged, "Because it never came up I guess. It's not like it's that big of a deal or anything."

"Not that big of a deal!" Sakura said in shock, "How could you say that? You saved an entire country!"

Naruto just gave her a blank stare, "Sakura, with our mission record on Team Seven, saving a country is something of a norm for me." He gave an amused chuckle, "I mean, how many people can say they saved a country on their first C-rank mission, or saved and protected a Princess who was disguised as an actress or saved a country embroiled in a Civil War? Doing things like this just seems to be some kind of rule when it comes to me. Murphy's law loves me like that."

Sakura looked embarrassed, what Naruto said was true, so many of their missions outside of the village had been nothing but misadventures of some kind or another. Even after Naruto left Konoha to train he seemed to do things that most normal shinobi would never dream of. "Well I guess you're right," Sakura said.

"Man, I'm so jealous of you," Ino said as she decided to butt into the conversation, "you always seem to have some kind of cool adventure."

Naruto merely smiled, "That's just because I'm so awesome."

"Whatever," Sakura said, she would have said more however a loud roar caused the four ninjas to turn around.

They were just in time to see a giant white saber-toothed tiger leaping towards them. Ino and Sakura both yelled at the sight, while Sai pulled out an ink scroll and brush. However they were all shocked when the tiger smashed right into Naruto who had not moved from his spot, they became even more shocked when said tiger started licking Naruto's face.

"Ack! Haha hey s-stop Chamu," Naruto laughed as the large tiger ran its tongue across his face, "Seriously Chamu."

Eventually, Naruto was able to push the large tiger off of him, the blond grinned at the tiger, eliciting a fanged grin from Chamu, well he thought it was a grin at least; it was sometimes hard to tell with all those teeth. Naruto began to scratch the tiger behind the ears, getting a purr from the large beast as it nuzzled against his hand.

"N-Naruto you know this tiger?" Ino asked with a slight stutter that sounded like a mixture between fear and shock.

Naruto looked up from her as he continued to pet Chamu, "Of course, Chamu was here when I took my mission. He even helped me take down Ishidate, the leader of the ninja that Shabadaba hired to kill or capture Hikaru. Bit the man's arm right off," Naruto gave the giant tiger a big hug, "isn't that right?"

The other three sweatdropped as Naruto rubbed his face against Chamu's furry whiskered cheek.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke and Suigetsu entered the south base with little concern of ambush or trap, walking along the dank stone halls. They passed several barred rooms, each of them filled with a dozen prisoners. As soon as they passed the prisoners got up close to the bars and looked at the pair, many began to speculate about why Orochimaru was not with them, coming up with the theory that the Snake Sannin was dead and Sasuke had come to free them. A few of them however shot that down, loudly.

Sasuke ignored this as he kept walking; he and Suigetsu were forced to stop when a girl around their age walked in front of them from the opposite end of the hall. The girl in front of them had red eyes and hair, her hair was sharp, pointy, and unkempt on one side, while the other was straight. She was wearing lavender glasses, a lavender uniform, short black shorts, and long black thigh-high stockings with semi-high heel sandals.

"I knew it," the red-head said as she placed a hand on her hips. She looked at Sasuke with a frown, "you're all alone Sasuke, so it's true then…" she mumbled to herself at the end.

"What am I, chopped liver?" asked Suigetsu, only to be ignored.

"What do you want?" she asked staring at Sasuke.

"Sasuke's got a proposition for you," Suigetsu decided to interrupt the conversation, "can you take us to a room or something? We've been walking forever, and I'm too tired to stand around while you talk."

"Hmph," Karin hmphed and once again ignored Suigetsu.

"Come with me, Karin," Sasuke said, "I need you."

"Huh!" Karin said dumbly as her eyes widened in surprise, "Why do I need to go anywhere, I'm in charge of this place!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto watched as the meeting came to an end, all of the nobles who were part of Tsuki's council and had been involved were leaving. Naruto never understood why a council was truly needed, he had seen the council of Konoha, was a part of it in fact, and in all honesty, except for a few situations the council seemed to be more trouble than it was truly worth.

Shaking himself of such thoughts, he walked over to where Koyuki was still speaking to Michiru. He waited patiently until they were done and Koyuki had turned to him before speaking, "Koyuki-sama," Naruto said, using a title appropriate for her rank since they were not alone. "I trust the meeting went well?" he asked as he held his arm out to her.

Koyuki smiled as he took his arm in her own, "Our negotiations are proceeding smoothly, hopefully sometime next week Haru and Tsuki will have a trade alliance."

"That's good," Naruto said with a smile, "now that the meeting is over perhaps you would like me to escort you around the city? Maybe I could take you out to dinner somewhere?" He looked over at Michiru, "So long as you and Michiru-dono do not have any previous engagements."

"Not at all," Michiru said, "I actually already have plans to go with my son and teach him some of the things he will eventually need to know for when he takes my place."

Naruto nodded before turning his attention to the beautiful woman in his arms, "So how about it Koyuki-sama?"

Koyuki smiled at him, tightening her hold on his arm, "I would like that."

As Naruto led Koyuki away neither of them noticed the pair of eyes watching them.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Orochimaru's out of the picture now," Sasuke said as he and Suigetsu sat on a couch in one of the few recreational rooms, Karin standing a little ways away from them.

"What are you gonna do with all the captives?" Karin asked as she spread her hands out in front of her.

"Suigetsu…go free all the prisoners," Sasuke ordered.

"Wha-"

"Heh, still acting like the boss eh," Suigetsu chuckled as he interrupted Karin, though he still got up and prepared to do as asked.

"Don't you dare!" shouted Karin as Suigetsu moved towards the door.

"There's no reason to keep them around," Sasuke said in an uncaring manner, "what would you do with them?"

Karin did not answer right away as she watched Suigetsu leave, "I refuse! Besides I'm not under any obligation to follow you around you know!"

"…." Sasuke looked at her, deciding on the many options that presented themselves to get her to go with him. "Fine," Sasuke said at last, "if you feel that strongly then I'll find someone else."

Karin looked at him as she back away, pressing herself against the door as her hand came up and locked it.

"I'll come," Karin said in a soft voice, now walking towards Sasuke as she took off her glasses, setting them on the couch as she sat next to him. "If you really want me to," Karin said, a pouty expression on her face, "I'll go with you."

Sasuke actually found himself getting confused at the near one-eighty change, "What's with you? You changed your mind pretty quickly," he found himself backing away a bit as Karin leaned into him.

"I was just thinking about how tired I am of standing guard," Karin said as she continued to lean into him. She stopped for a moment when she heard a rattle at the door; she looked at it before turning back to Sasuke.

"Would you back off?" Sasuke asked in an annoyed voice.

"We don't have to take that stupid Suigetsu either," Karin ignored his words as she continued closing in, "all we need is each other."

Before the redhead could get any farther the door was sliced open, Karin jumped away from Sasuke as Suigetsu walked in, one of his arms was now bulging with muscle as he used his control over water to change his muscle structure.

"Let's get out of here Sasuke," Suigetsu said as he leaned against Kubikiri, "Karin clearly doesn't want to come."

"Actually, she's changed her mind," Sasuke said.

"I-I didn't say that!" Karin said loudly as she put her glasses back on. "I just uh…I'm headed in the same direction that you two are! Purely coincidence!"

"Oh really? Lucky us," Suigetsu said, "I guess you'll be with us for a little while then."

"Just a little while!" Karin said as she adjusted her glasses.

Suigetsu shrugged as his arm changed back to normal, "So Juugo's the last then."

"Wha- Juugo!" Karin said in surprise and a little fear, "You want his help too?"

"What do you care?" asked Suigetsu, "I thought you were just along for the ride."

"Y-yeah, I am? So what? You wanna go? C'mon!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Within a dark room, one figure was crouched down, his face in his knees.

"Mm…yeah, girls, girls are definitely better… wait, no, guys. Guys are better, eh…nah…girls…or actually guys…"

XXXXXXXXXX

Koyuki smiled as she and Naruto ate at one of the many restaurants found in Tsuki No Kuni, "You know, you neglected to mention that you saved this country the last time you shared stories of your adventures."

Naruto laughed, "Well it happened after we made that movie, after that it never really came up. We were too busy doing other…activities to be concerned with me telling you stories."

Koyuki blushed as she thought about the activities he was talking about, "That's true," she took a bite out of her food. Looking up at him she smiled, "since it came up now, why don't you tell me about it? Michiru gave an overview, but he's not a very good storyteller."

Naruto gave a large grin as he finished the cup of sake he had, "I think I can do that. You see it all started when I and Ero-sensei got a message from Konoha asking us to escort Michiru and his son around the elemental nations…"

Koyuki spent the rest of their time at dinner listening as Naruto told her how he and Jiraiya had defeated Shabadaba and the ninja he had hired to take of Tsuki No Kuni.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke, Karin, and Suigetsu were walking through one of the many barren wastelands of Tsuchi No Kuni (Earth Country), well Sasuke and Karin were walking. Suigetsu had his hands on his knees as he panted; sweat rolling down his face as the sun burned overhead. He pulled out one of the many water bottles from his belt and began to drink, needing to keep himself hydrated since he would quite literally evaporate if he didn't.

"You're so lazy!" Karin yelled at Suigetsu, "The north hideout is still a long way away!"

"I thought you were headed somewhere else," Suigetsu said, his tone uncaring and bored, "why don't you just leave? I've already got enough crap to deal with."

"I…just remembered I have business here too!" Karin said, trying to come up with an excuse so she could stay next to Sasuke, "I need to stop by there first!"

"Yeah right…" Suigetsu said, taking another sip of water.

Sasuke just sighed as the two continued to argue, he was beginning to regret this decision.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto stared out of the window as he lay in bed, absently stroking Koyuki's hair. It was nighttime now and he could see the stars shining outside as the moonlight streamed through the window. He looked back down at Koyuki who was peacefully sleeping on top of him, the bed's covers only covering up to her hips allowing him to see a sight he would never grow tired of.

I'm lucky security here is so lax or I would have never been able to sneak into her room like this, the blond thought to himself as he ran brushed a few stray strands of hair out of Koyuki's face.

"Mmm…Naruto-kun…" Koyuki mumbled in her sleep, burrowing her face into his muscled chest.

Naruto held in a snicker that threatened to escape his throat, not wanting to wake her up. She was going to have a long day of meetings ahead of her tomorrow; hopefully, they would be able to finalize their treaty. Sighing to himself Naruto grabbed the covers and pulled them up so that Koyuki was adequately covered, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her as close as possible. Letting his eyes droop the blond let sleep claim him.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Whew! Time for a break!" Suigetsu said as he sat down right where he had been standing, pulling out another water bottle.

"Get up you slacker!" Karin yelled as she turned to the exhausted-looking Suigetsu, "We're practically there!" When Suigetsu did not get back up Karin began yelling some more, "It's that katana! It's too heavy! Just drop the damn thing so we can go!"

"Guys…" Sasuke said not looking at them as he spotted something.

They both turned around to see Sasuke staring at a prone figure in the typical garb Orochimaru's scientists wear. The three walked up to him, Karin looked him over as she lifted his head. "He came from the North Hideout," she determined, "he's still alive."

"What happened?" asked Sasuke as he saw the man's eyes open.

"Sas…uke… Uch…iha," the scientist said in a rasped breath, "please…save…us…"

"What happened to you?" Suigetsu asked.

"It started…as soon as we heard Orochimaru was dead," the man started to explain, "our captives started a riot. At this rate," the man started coughing as he drew a shuttered breath right before he died.

"Ahh crap, he died," Suigetsu complained, normally he would not have a problem with death but the man had not even given them any information before it happened.

Before anyone else could say anything the earth shook and splintered as something crashed down several feet away. Sasuke and the others saw it was a creature with dark brown skin, horns on its head, and wings on its arms. Each of them knew this was one of Orochimaru's experiments.

"You…you're," the thing tried to say, but its vocals chords did not sound quite up to the task.

"What the hell is that thing?" Suigetsu wondered out loud.

"A level two cursed seal," Karin said in shock, "he's already completed the transformation!"

Sasuke just looked at the experiment before disappearing; there was a spurt of blood that came from the cursed seal warrior. As the man began to transform back into a human, Sasuke appeared behind him, his sword out and blood dripping from it. As the man fell and died, Sasuke re-sheathed his sword with a 'shink' sound.

"That's the North Hideout up there," Sasuke said as he looked up at the tower-like structure, "hurry up and help me find Juugo."

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Ino walked up to the front gates of Konoha, walking over to the two eternal Chunin Izumo and Kotetsu, the blond shinobi presented their papers.

"Well look whose back!" Izumo said as he grabbed the papers and read them over, "So I take it the mission was a success?"

"Of course," Naruto said, "you expected anything less?"

Kotetsu chuckled, "I heard your mission was to guard the Daimyo Koyuki Kazahana."

"You heard right," Naruto said as he got the papers back.

"You know I saw that movie you two were in," Kotetsu said with a lecherous grin, "did you two put those talents I saw to practice."

Sakura and Ino held intense blushes at the thought of Naruto and sex, Ino ended up getting a nosebleed as she had seen that movie, and several images passed through her head.

Naruto sighed, "Somehow I get the feeling that movie's gonna haunt me for the rest of my days." he shook his head, "Whatever, anyway I'll see you guys later; we need to go and report to Baa-chan." Naruto turned to his team, "Why don't you guys head home while I go and give my report."

Ino and Sai nodded before leaving, however, Sakura stayed with him.

"I need to talk to Tsunade-shisho anyways," Sakura said, "so I think I'll accompany you."

Naruto shrugged, "Sure thing," the two of them began making their way to the Hokage Tower.

"You're late!" Tsunade yelled as she turned to look at Jiraiya, "Where the hell were you?"

"Now take it easy Tsunade," Jiraiya said as he raised his hands defensively. He was about to say more when Naruto and Sakura walked in, "Hey Naruto! How have you been?" he asked, glad for the distraction from Tsunade's glare.

"Ero-sensei?" Naruto said with a raised eyebrow, "What are you doing here?"

"Ah! Naruto," Tsunade said as she turned her attention to her fellow blond, "I take it the mission was a success?"

Naruto smiled and gave a nod, "Yes, Koyuki had been successfully escorted to Tsuki No Kuni and protected throughout the trade negotiations…" Naruto gave them a brief report on what had transpired.

Tsunade nodded, "It's a good thing that you came back when you did; there are important things we need to discuss."

Naruto sensed the shift in the atmosphere as Tsunade sat down and knew that whatever she had to talk about was serious. He straightened himself as his eyes went from their typical vibrant blue, to an icier shade as all emotion left his face and went into what Tsunade had taken to calling his mission face.

"What is it you wish to talk to me about Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked.

"Information has been coming in from other countries," Tsunade began, a serious expression on her face, "I wanted to discuss it with you."

Naruto frowned as he looked over at Jiraiya, the man held a grave expression, something that was rare and only used when something big happened. "What information are you talking about?" the blond Clan Head asked.

"Orochimaru is dead," Tsunade said, "and it seems that Sasuke Uchiha is the one who killed him."

Sakura's eyes widened in shock, however, Naruto's narrowed as his mind went several thousand miles a second. From what I remember when I fought the two of them it was obvious that Sasuke despite gaining strength did not have the power to defeat Orochimaru, I doubt he gained enough power to do that in the short amount of time since our little scuffle. That means that he killed Orochimaru when the Sannin was at his weakest when the Snake Sannin needed to do the transfer ritual. Now that Orochimaru is dead Sasuke's next step will be… Naruto looked over at Jiraiya, "how accurate is this information?"

"I know for a fact that it's true," Jiraiya said, "My most reliable source confirmed it."

"Then…then he's going to come back to Konoha right?" asked Sakura, hope in her voice.

Naruto snorted, causing everyone there to turn their attention to him, "Sasuke coming back to Konoha?" the whisker-marked blond shook his head, "I highly doubt that."

Sakura looked over at Naruto in shock.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke, Suigetsu and Karin looked towards the entrance to the North Hideout; it was littered with Orochimaru's experiments, all of them in their cursed seal forms and all of them looking ready to kill.

"The guards…they're all dead," Karin said as she used her chakra-sensing abilities to look for anyone who was not under the seal's influence.

"Hoo-boy, how are we supposed to know which one's Juugo?" Suigetsu wondered as he looked at all the creatures, "Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked over at Karin, "Karin, is Juugo in there somewhere?"

"Hold on, just give me a second," Karin said as she held out her hand a sign. She closed her eyes as she tried to find Juugo's signature within the mass of cursed seal warriors, "He's not in there," she said at last.

"Hey! That means we can go nuts on them right?" Suigetsu asked with a grin.

"Hmm…whatever, let's just find Juugo," Sasuke said as he held out his chokuto.

"Alright," Suigetsu held up Kubikiribocho, readying himself for battle.

"Let's go," Sasuke said

The two shinobi charged.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Weeew," Suigetsu leaned on the large cleaving sword, he looked out at all of the people now lying in pools of their own blood feeling rather pleased with himself.

"Hey!" the two turned to see Karin holding up a set of keys, "I found the keys!"

The three made their way into the base and began walking down the hall; they were soon forced to stop at a four-way hall.

"Karin, lead the way," Sasuke said.

"Why are you doing this Sasuke?" Karin asked.

Sasuke just looked at her as Suigetsu spoke up, "Just find him would ya? You're always bragging about your ability, try actually using it."

Karin gave Suigetsu a withering glare but turned her attention to the task at hand, "That way," Karin said pointing down one of the four hallways.

"Finally," Suigetsu mumbled, turning towards the hall and beginning to walk down it.

Sasuke made to follow but Karin grabbed his arm and began dragging him down a different hallway.

"What are you-" Sasuke began, only to be cut off by Karin who had turned to look at him, a blush staining her cheeks.

"He's really this way," she said, "let's hurry Sasuke!"

Sasuke sighed in frustration, "Why did you lie? Now Suigetsu's going the wrong way."

Karin turned around and continued to drag him as she spoke, "Suigetsu's just an obnoxious jerk, I can't stand him! Now c'mon!"

"Let go of me," Sasuke said as he tried to break her surprisingly strong grip, "I can walk by myself!"

XXXXXXXXXX

"You know that cursed seal seems to turn everyone who uses it into freaks," Suigetsu said as he walked down the hall, unaware that he was alone. "Sasuke, does that happen to you when you use it?" he waited for a moment and after receiving no answer turned his head, "Hey I'm talking to y-"

He blinked when he saw no one following him, Suigetsu clenched his fists as he realized what happened, "That bitch…"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Is this it?" asked Sasuke as he stared at the door, it was made of some kind of sturdy metal, had four locks keeping it shut and two chains in a crisscross position as added insurance, in order to keep the man they had come for from breaking out.

"Yeah," Karin said, "Juugo's in here." She walked up to it and placed a key in the first lock, unlocking it and each one after one by one. "That's the last one," she said as she moved her hand to grab and open the door.

Only for Sasuke's hand to grab it first, "I'll go in Karin, stand back." Sasuke opened the door and looked inside, only to come face to face with Juugo beginning his transformation.

"JACKPOT!" Juugo screamed as the flame-like patterns for his curse seal began to spread across him, "YOU'RE DEAD!"

Juugo began to run at Sasuke, looking intent on smashing the black-haired avenger into a pulp. Sasuke ignored Karin's cry of "watch out!" as he crouched down and placed a hand on his chokuto.

SMASH!

Juugo rammed Sasuke into the call, causing it to crack as a cloud of dust expanded over it.

"Geh hah hah hah hah!" Juugo laughed in glee, half his face covered in the cursed seal, "I'm not done with you yet!"

Juugo's arm transformed into an odd-looking clawed arm, with a spike pointing inward to his fist from the elbow down. On the back of his elbow was a protrusion, which moved up and then push down. The wall exploded as chakra blasted out of Juugo's arm.

When the smoke cleared it showed a giant hand-like wing holding onto Juugo's fist.

"Not another copy of me!" Juugo yelled as his fist pulled away, "But this one's pretty tough!" Juugo noticed that Sasuke only had half of the transformation up, just enough to have protected him. "He can even do partial transformations! He must have good control over the cursed seal!"

"I didn't come here to fight you," Sasuke said as he looked up, one eye black and the other yellow, "I need to discuss something with you Juugo, that's all."

Juugo ignored Sasuke's words as he charged, "He's strong, the strongest since that other copy, Kimimaro!"

He thrust out his fist at Sasuke in the hopes of crushing the avenger; however, it was stopped by the Kubikiribocho.

"Huh?" Juugo stumbled back as he turned his attention to Suigetsu who just arrived.

"You didn't use that power the last time Juugo," Suigetsu said as his sword arm flew back from the force, man that stung." Suigetsu readied his sword again, "Let me deal with him Sasuke…and Karin you're next."

"Stop it Suigetsu," Sasuke said, "we didn't come here to fight anyone. Let me talk to him."

"Words don't really register with him," Suigetsu said with a laugh, "you have to make him listen with force."

"Oh yeah! Now I remember!" Juugo yelled as he looked at Suigetsu, "You're Suigetsu!"

Suigetsu said nothing as he swung the giant zanbatou, only for it to be blocked when Juugo hit it with his transformed arm. Suigetsu slid back and came at him to try again, ignoring Sasuke's shout as he came in with an overhand swing. Juugo yelled as he came at Suigetsu with a maniacal laugh, intent on ending his life.

Both felt their eyes widen in surprise as they were stopped by two large snakes coming out of Sasuke's sleeve, said Uchiha standing in between them, a cold look on his face. "How about I kill the both of you?" Sasuke asked in a dead voice, his Sharingan eyes spinning.

Both Suigetsu and Juugo felt their eyes widen and a trickle of fear form in their gut as the snakes retracted, Sasuke's killing intent crushing any will they may have had to fight. Juugo's cursed seal retracted and he felt his eyes widen as he realized what his insane side had done, making him run back inside of his room and smashing the door shut.

"LOCK THE DOOR!" he yelled as he crouched in the corner of his room, holding his head in his hands.

"Juugo, I came here to free you," Sasuke said, "come with me."

"He's too scared now," Suigetsu said with a slight sweatdrop.

"No that's not it," Karin replied.

"I don't want to kill people anymore!" Juugo yelled from inside his cell, "Don't make me go outside, just leave me alone! Please!"

"What the hell?" Suigetsu spoke, wondering where the killer went, "Woah, talk about your double personality."

"I told you," Karin said, "no matter how hard he tries Juugo always succumbs to the urge to kill. He has no control over himself, but in reality, he really doesn't want to hurt anyone."

"I could lose it at any time!" Juugo said, "Please lock me back in!"

"I told you Juugo was dangerous Sasuke," Suigetsu commented, "just walking alongside him would be a huge risk."

"What the hell do you want from me?" Juugo yelled, "Just leave me alone!"

"Orochimaru is dead," Sasuke said as he walked up to the door, "and this place is falling apart. You'll go down with it if you stay here any longer."

"Good…that means I won't kill anyone else!" Juugo said, glad to die so he would not have to bother trying to resist his violent urges.

"Relax," Sasuke said in what he tried to make a comforting voice, he was not very good at this but he needed Juugo on his team. "I'll act as your prison, if you try to kill anyone, I'll stop you."

"What do you think you could do?" Juugo asked, "The only person who was able to calm these impulses was Kimimaro, I'm not going anywhere without him!"

"Kimimaro was from the Kaguya clan right?" asked Suigetsu as he tried to remember what he could about the now-deceased bone user.

"Yeah…he and Juugo were Orochimaru's favorite subjects," Karin answered, "they stayed here as subjects for human experimentation from the moment this place was built. Kimimaro was the only subject in the whole organization whom I could work on without fear of resistance or violence. And he was so strong…I heard he was the only one who could stop Juugo's rampages without getting hurt."

"But isn't he…" Suigetsu was unsure whether he should say dead since he did not know what Juugo would do if he knew.

Sasuke had no such compunctions, however, "Juugo…Kimimaro is dead; he died fighting for my sake."

Within his cell, Juugo's eyes widened in realization, "He died…for you? Then that means you're…"

Juugo remembered when Kimimaro had come here telling him that he had to leave, that he was going to get Sasuke. Kimimaro had said that he and Sasuke were the only ones fit to be Orochimaru's vessel, that Sasuke was in a way Kimimaro's rebirth and he would bring Sasuke back even at the cost of his life. Juugo stood up and moved over to the door, opening it, agreeing to come with Sasuke.

Sasuke looked at the three people he had gathered as they stood outside of the North Hideout, "Gathering the three of you completes our platoon and the first stage of my plan." Sasuke had been waiting for this, the day he could begin his plan.

"It's time I explained my purpose to you all," he said, "I'm going to kill Itachi Uchiha, and you all are going to help."