Chapter 83 snake in the grass

Orochimaru listened to the reports on the Leaf and Suna ninjas that had entered his area and that they had linked up with his old teammate Jiraiya. They were getting close to his current location but they seemed to be searching the area in a standard grid. It meant that they only had a rough idea of where this base might be. Still even if they found this base it wouldn't hinder his plans this was just one of many bases he had scattered around the known nations. He had spent years setting up his network of ninja and secret facilities after he had left his village.

There was another reason why he was eager for this group to get just a bit closer, the first being that the boy that contained the Kyuubi was here. The brat had cost him his revenge against the Hokage after he had actually blown up the building they had been fighting on. He had to admit that the tactic had been inventive and not something most would even think about. But the boy had to die because of that and also because it would get in the way of the plans of the Akatsuki. He had no love for that group after he had left and their plans he knew would get in the way of his plans. He wasn't sure what their ultimate goal was but he had a feeling it would be troubling for him.

So dealing with the boy would set that back but of course the main thing he was focused on was that Sasuke was getting closer. The boy would make for a great new body for him to use with the power of the sharingan he would learn more jutsu in a few years than he could in two decades. The knowledge and power he would obtain could make him the most powerful ninja in the world.

The tough part would be Jiraiya he would have to deal with him himself as he couldn't let anyone else because he knew full well the kind of ninja his old teammate was. He dismissed the messenger away with a wave of his hand as he looked to Kabuto standing there. He was a person that Orochimaru could always count on and looking at the young boy he could see that intelligent mind already working on the same problems as he was.

"I take it we will need the Sound Four?" Kabuto asked the snake sannin.

Orochimaru grinned just as he was thinking just that, he wanted to make sure that they learned when you hunt for snakes they can strike quickly without warning if you weren't careful. Another idea came to mind as well.

"How is Kimimaro holding up?" Orochimaru asked him.

Kabuto thought about it, "I've extended his life as far as I can but the next time I take him off life support he will live only for a day more maybe less if he pushes himself. If he stays where he is, maybe a few more months but eventually his body will fail him."

"Then perhaps it's time for him to go out in a blaze of glory, I want him woken up and assigned to kill the two jinchuriki that are in the group. I don't want those two to leave here alive no matter the cost," he stressed that last part out to him. "Tell him those words exactly."

"Yes Orochimaru-sama," he bowed.

"I'll deal with Jiraiya and hopefully Kakashi Hatake those two will be the most dangerous opponents." He continued on. "I want you to prepare for Sasuke, his seal will need to be grown to the second phase as soon as we retrieve him, weather he wants to come or not."

"You think that he'll turn down the offer for power?"

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, "My spies that are still in the village have said that his behaviour hasn't changed much. Strange how I felt that the offer for power would be too tempting for him to give up but something must have interfered with my calculations. It's no matter, he got away before but not this time, have the Sound Four make the offer but if he refuses they are to take him alive."

"Damages?" He asked him.

"As long as his eyes are unharmed I can fix anything else wrong with his body," The Snake Sannin spoke. "Now let us prepare for our guests."

-3 Hours later, 2 Miles away-

"Man this is boring," Naruto moaned as their group made their way through the thick forests. "Are you sure they're supposed to be in here."

"For the last time yes!" Jiraiya looked to Kakashi. "How do you get him to stop asking that?"

Kakashi just shrugged, "I've learned to tune it out plus it helps to keep him busy."

"Some father you are," Jiraiya grumbled as he ran his hand through his long white hair. This was one of the reasons he didn't like to work with kids he had no experience in handling them and a hyperactive one like Naruto tried his patience sometimes. He would give the kid something to do if only there was something to do. At the moment they were making their way through the large forest that they were searching through.

So far there were no obvious signs of people being through here at least not in great numbers. They found no supply routes which any kind of large facility or small village would need. No secret signs for ninja coming home to show the way or anything else that he knew Orochimaru used before. For years he had been hunting down his old teammate so he had gotten pretty good at figuring out the signs of Orochimaru's presence in an area. He was starting to wonder if maybe his information might have been off, it was standard procedure to throw out false information here and there to muddy the waters, but no he was certain he got the right information.

Plus his gut was telling him they were on to something. He stopped at he pulled out a map of the area as everyone gathered around him. The map had drawings on it of a grid with a few X marks in a few areas that they had already searched.

"Alright I think if we stick to a search area next to each other we should be able to make this go quickly." He told them not voicing the thought that the longer they were here the more likely they would already be found if they weren't already. It was a risk but this was a search mission after all. "If you find anything get back to this point."

He pointed to an area on the map that was just in front of them. "Don't engage the enemy unless it's necessary. If they find you and know who you are you might have to deal with them to prevent them from sounding the alarm but if you're outnumbered or outclass then just run. Get to here and if you have to set off an explosion tag. It will alert the whole area but by that point it will be too late anyway and I'd rather we get everyone out alive if possible."

"Teams of two?" Kakashi asked although he had a pretty good idea of the answer.

Jiraiya nodded as he had thought of the teams awhile ago, "You and I will be going right down the middle and a little ahead, Sakura and Sasuke will take the left, Temari and Kankuro will take the right."

"Wait what about Gaara and me?" Naruto asked.

"You get to cover our asses in case they already have people circled around us coming up from behind." Jiraiya told him seriously.

Naruto wanted to protest but his dad told him the importance of certain formations and the rear guard was always important. He would have preferred to be up where the action would be but he nodded biting his tongue. He was a chunin now and he knew he had to start acting like one if he ever wanted to be Hokage. Didn't mean he had to like it of course but he would go with the plan as the only problem he had was that he was in the back.

With that settled the teams moved out to start their search.

-Temari and Kankuro-

The two siblings had been searching the forest area for some time now but so far there was no luck in finding any kind of clue, sign or even running into any enemy forces for about an hour since they started. They kept to the tree branches to have the high ground while doing their searching. They took a moment to stop on one of the larger branches.

"That old guy sure that we've got the right area?" Kankuro asked his older sister.

"He's one of the most legendary ninja still alive," Temari told him. "If he thinks they are here it's a good chance they are...even if he is a major pervert." She said the last part dryly.

Kankuro smirked at that, "You think it was a good idea to leave Gaara alone back there? We've always had to keep an eye on him and you know that he doesn't work well with others."

They had always worked together mainly because no one else would work with Gaara and the few times their team had worked with others there might have been a few 'friendly fire' accidents. Gaara had been extremely hard to work with even on the best of days.

Temari knew full well what her brother was talking about. ""I know but that Naruto guy seems to actually get along with him. In fact Gaara has been pretty different since the Leaf and I know he had some kind of talk with Naruto before we left."

She had no idea what those two had talked about but after it Gaara had been different. But whatever the reason her youngest brother had been a lot better these days. She was about to say something else when she froze, she cast a quick look to Kankuro as he was eying the area too. Something was off as their instincts were telling them that something was wrong. Temari didn't see anything but she listened carefully and that was when she noticed it.

When in the forest there usually were some kind of animal life, normally birds but they were all silent. Something was scaring them off as she gently reached for her fan behind her back. That was when she heard the familiar whistle of a kunai being thrown at them. She turned her back to take the weapon on the metal of her fan. It was a risky move but she pulled it off as the kunai bounced harmlessly off her giant fan.

Both young Sand ninja jumped down onto the ground back to back as they tried to find their enemies.

"Well looks like these two might been a little skilled after all," a voice from the trees called out. "I was sure the blonde wasn't going to dodge that."

"The other guy doesn't look like much though," A deeper male voice spoke.

"Big talk coming from guys hiding in the trees." Kankuro yelled out around them as he readied the chakra strings to one of the puppets he had wrapped around his back. He had brought two of his puppets for this mission as well as a couple hidden in a scroll he had packed away.

"What do you say we go introduce ourselves before we kill them?" One of the voices asked.

"I don't mind they should know the faces of the ones that kill them," the other voice said. After that two figures came out of hiding one was in a tree the other came out from behind a large trunk.

One of pair that came out was a pale looking teen about Temari's age with long light blue hair. Temari noticed something odd about him as there was something sticking out of the back of his neck but she couldn't get a good look at it from her angle.

The other was a darker skinned teen only a little younger but had dark hair tied up back but what was really noticeable about him was that for some reason he had a total of six arms. She wasn't sure if that was the result of a kekkei genkai or some kind of experimentation by Orochimaru. She had heard the rumors about the twisted things he had been guilty of which was why he was a rogue ninja of the Leaf.

"The name is Kidomaru," the multi-armed boy spoke up girl with a grin plastered on his face.

"I'm Sakon leader of the Sound Four," The other boy told them. "We've been ordered to kill you by Lord Orochimaru."

"Okay looks like the old guy was right," Kankuro said seeing that they had finally found something although they were told not to get seen it looks like their group had already been targeted. It also looked like they weren't going to get out of this without a fight.

-Kakashi and Jiraiya-

The two seasoned ninja of the group had moved on ahead as Jiraiya scanned the area. If Orochimaru did have a base or something in this area then it would lead to it. But there was no major traffic signs and to him that was disappointing. That most likely meant that it wasn't a major base in this nation, which confirmed that this wasn't where the main Sound Village was. That worried him because that most likely meant that Orochimaru was keeping his village extremely secret or it was split up.

He knew how his old team mate thought and Orochimaru was very scary given how smart he was. He doubted that the man would do anything simple with a whole village under his command which was a scary enough thought for him as it was. Although now that the world knew that the Sound village was run by a rogue ninja and was wanted by two of the great nations it would stand to reason that the village wouldn't be easy to find. Plus given Orochimaru's reputation he wouldn't be surprised if the village was filled with all kinds of ninja that he seduced, those that wanted power, or were already in trouble with their village and needed a way out.

Jiraiya and Kakashi were in mid jump when suddenly several large snakes were summoned out of thin air and attacked them. The snakes were massive in size nearly the same size as the one that Naruto had met in the Forest of Death. Both Leaf ninja nearly were bitten in half by the large reptiles. Jiraiya saw one of them coming for him and managed a kick to the snout that he used to lunch himself higher up.

Kakashi used a palm strike to achieve the same effect as both were in air their hand seals were quick as both used fire techniques to burn the summoned animals. The fire engulfed their enemies as the snakes cried out before disappearing going back to where they had come from. Both ninja landed although Jiraiya sure felt the impact in his knees, he hated getting old as he slowly got up looking around.

"Alright come on out Orochimaru," he spoke out knowing that only one person could have summoned snakes of that size. Both waited but he heard that tell tale laugh of Orochimaru as the man seemed to emerge right out of the trunk of a tree.

"I see old age hasn't slowed down your reflexes 'old friend', as my little welcoming gift showed me that. So what do I take this visit? I doubt you were just in the neighbourhood and just wanted to catch up on old times." He grinned at his old friend and enemy. Although he was showing confidence he never underestimated Jiraiya there were only a handful of people that could keep up with him and he was one of them.

But he did have the advantage, where Jiraiya was an old man now and not in his prime, Orochimaru's technique to put himself into younger bodies kept him young and strong. If things got out of hand he would just have to wear the old man down and then strike him down once and for all. He cast his look to Kakashi making it look like he hadn't noticed him there.

"Ah Kakashi Hatake we meet again, sorry I didn't see you over there, do you plan on joining this fight or will you just stand there like the last time we met?" He chuckled remembering how the man had been so impotent to do anything as he met with him during the Chunin Exams after he had put that simple counter seal on the curse mark.

"You honestly thought that the Leaf of Sand would just let you go without trying to make you answer for what you did?" Jiraiya asked him. "You've turned the power of two whole villages against you."

Orochimaru only shrugged it off, "A small price to pay although I have to admit that boy messed up my plan to kill that old fool." He turned to Kakashi, "I sent a very special ninja of mine to deal with him and that other jinchuriki boy from Suna."

Kakashi stiffened and part of him wanted to go but he knew he couldn't, he couldn't turn his back to the enemy especially not a deadly one like this. Besides he had faith in Naruto, he had an ability to find unique ways out of trouble of course he also had the ability to get into a lot of trouble as well. He just hoped that Naruto would be able to pull off another victory. Last time Kakashi knew he wouldn't have been able to do anything against Orochimaru but with Jiraiya here there was a chance that he could try something.

It was something he didn't use because of the danger of it, he had figured it out by accident years ago and just using it once had put him into the hospital with chakra exhaustion in a fight that was suicide and it took time to do. Kakashi pulled up his headband to expose the sharingan eye he would need every advantage he needed in this fight.

"So ready to fight and die huh, well no matter," Orochimaru paid him no mind as he locked eyes with Jiraiya. "So then old friend shall we see how much age has dulled your skills?"

"You might be surprised to find that age has sharpened a few of my skills," the Toad Sage told him confidently.

-Sakura and Sasuke-

Sakura was making a mental note of how far they were as well as a count of how long they had been away. By her calculations if everything was going smoothly they should all be about equal distance apart. She was also scanning the area for anything that could be a clue but so far nothing. The two of them were silent but it wasn't an awkward one, before she would be all awkward around him when they were alone in the past, maybe because she had been always trying to get him to notice her.

Now though when she stopped trying too hard things had improved plus she remembered those lessons about boys from Anko, those helped. So instead of trying so hard she went the opposite way and tried to lure him in by being more professional and showing she was a strong female ninja. Apparently it was working as she noticed little times when Sasuke cast little looks her way. On the outside she showed no reaction but her inner self was almost doing cartwheels.

If she kept this up she could just get him to ask her out for once.

They paused for a moment together as they both took a small sip of water from a small canteen in one of their pouches. Sasuke looked around and although there was no reason for it he felt this odd sensation. It was almost like he could feel a presence near them as his hand went to rub the curses seal on his neck. The counter-seal on it kept it dormant as long as Sasuke's will made it like that but every now and again he could almost feel something from it. Now however he felt something like a small tug from it.

He wasn't sure if it was in his mind or maybe he should take it as a warning. He listened intently to the forest around them and something did seem off. It was a little too quiet and he suddenly felt like they weren't alone. He gently tapped Sakura twice on her arm, she looked at him with a question on her face but saw his reaction. She instantly figured out that he sensed trouble in the area as one of her hands towards a set of tools on her new vest.

Sasuke slowly went to where he kept a kunai and in a quick and fluid movement he turned and flung the weapon towards where he sensed the danger. He saw the blade go into the branches of a tree as two figures jumped out and landed onto the ground. It was a boy and a girl in clothing they remembered was very similar to the Sound ninja.

The girl among them had long red spiky hair, the other was a very large boy that put Choji to shame from his size and not all of it was fat either. He had darker skin with some orange hair.

"Looks like we were found out," Sakura commented, "do you think the others are too?"

"They might be," Sasuke stared hard at the two ninja.

"I don't see why he wants the boy," the large Sound ninja spoke up cranking his neck in preparations for the fight. "He doesn't look like much to me."

"It doesn't matter," The girl said annoyed, "Orochimaru wants him alive so we're to take him alive just be sure not to damage him too much. The girl we can kill I don't think he'll care about her."

"That's a girl? She's so flat I thought she was a boy with a strange hair color," the large boy joked at Sakura's expense.

Sakura for her part had an anger tick forming as her eyes were glaring bloody murder at him. Although she didn't say anything Inner Sakura was having a field day cursing him out like a sailor. It took every shred of self control she had to not repeat all that out loud.

'Kill that fat bastard!' Inner Sakura yelled out finally in her mind. 'Make him pay for insulting us, Shannaro!

Sasuke could feel just how angry Sakura was and knew that she shouldn't go into a fight angry like that or else she would make a mistake. Plus the big guy looked to be stronger and although he respected how far Sakura had come so far as a ninja, he was still stronger than her.

"I'll take the big guy, Sakura I want you to take on the girl," he told her and jumped down from their position and was already walking towards his chosen opponent before Sakura could have any kind of protest. She gave an annoyed huff but joined him on the ground to face the red headed girl opposite her.

The girl looked Sakura over but didn't seem to think much of the pink haired girl. "Tell you what you just lay down and die and I'll make it quick."

Sakura glared at the girl and decided to play a girl card at the moment she made a big deal of looking over her clothing. "That outfit really makes you look fat you know that?"

"What did you say you little bitch!?" She snarled at her. "My name if Tayuya and just for that I'm going to carve my name into that large forehead of yours!"

Sasuke heard that and winced, he knew that Sakura had a thing about her forehead and judging by the killing intent from her he was rethinking his choice f enemies. Both girls looked ready to tear into each other at the drop of a hat. But he had his own problem to deal with as he looked up at the big guy in front of him.

"The name is Jirobo but we already know who you are Sasuke Uchiha," he told him uncrossing his arms. "I'm going to give you this one chance, come with us or else I'll break your body and take you back as a ragdoll."

Sasuke didn't even waste a moment before he gave his answer, "Here's my counter offer." With that he rushed forward pulling his sword out as he launched his first attack.

-Naruto and Gaara-

Naruto signed as he looked around for the tenth time in their area. They had stopped at the moment to check every now and again to see if they were being followed or someone was coming up behind them. Gaara had those strange sand eye things spread out as Naruto also had a few of his shadow clones. They were supposed to be quiet and stay out of sight and as soon as something was to come up then they were to dispel and warn him.

So far nothing was going on and he was starting to get bored. Gaara wasn't much of a conversationalist either. The red haired boy was as quiet as ever but at least he wasn't giving off that creepy vibe like he had when he first met the boy. In fact he kind of seemed to have mellowed out slightly, well it was slightly the boy still was kind of rigid and you couldn't really tell what he was thinking.

"So...how have things been for you since the exams?" Naruto asked trying to break the silence with anything.

Gaara was silent a moment before actually saying something, "The villagers still fear me."

Naruto felt sympathy for him about that, even though he was the adopted son of Kakashi it had taken time for the villagers to warm up to him. Although after it was known he helped save the Hokage he noticed a lot less of the people who used to give him cold looks.

"Well trust me it takes time," He tried to offer him some advice on the matter. "You can't expect people to suddenly change how they view you. You just have to keep at it and don't ever stop, a lot of people didn't like me because I got that Fox inside of me but lately things have been better. One day you'll prove yourself to everyone you just got to keep at it. I plan to get the entire village behind me when I become Hokage."

Gaara thought about it and nodded his head as it made some sense to him. He had spent years terrorizing the village it would take time for them to see that he was trying to be different now. He found that he didn't have to be alone anymore, that he didn't have to 'love himself' because no one else would. In the time he had left the village he had tried to repair his relationship with his siblings and found that he did have others that cared for him.

Even if he had to do it one person at a time in that moment Gaara felt that he would show the village who he was, that he wasn't the monster he had been but a true ninja of the Sand.

Naruto suddenly jerked as a clone had been taken out. At first he thought maybe the clone had tripped or something but there had been a slight feeling of pain and shock as he tried to remember the sensation but when a clone dispelled the final sensations were always hard to remember. Then suddenly another one was gone and a third followed.

"Crap we got company," Naruto looked around but he wasn't sure which clones had been taken out. They had been 'killed' way too fast plus there were no markers in the forest to tell which direction those clones went before being taken out.

Gaara closed his eyes as he tried to use those eyes made of sand to try and find whoever it might be but one of them was suddenly destroyed. Unlike Naruto, Gaara knew where his sand was at all times. He cast his eyes to where the enemy was coming.

"That way," Gaara pointed out the location to Naruto.

Both ninja waited to see who was going to show up, it was a tensed moment until someone walked out of the forest in front of them. He looked at them with a neutral expression as he walked out with no fear. What they didn't know was that a man who knew he was going to die and accepted it, didn't fear much after that.

The teen that walked out looked to be a little older than the two of them and wearing Sound ninja clothing. They could see that he had white hair and pale features. They also noticed that he had two red spots painted on his forehead with matching color painted around his eyes. There was also this strange symbol just below his neck line, three little curved lines pointing to an imaginary center.

"My name is Kimimaro," The young man spoke to them showing no emotion on his face. "I'm sorry but you both have to die."

There was a pause before Naruto yelled back at the teen, "Oh yeah? Well I say like hell you are, there are two of us and only one of you so what do you say about that?"

Kimimaro only responded by growing bones out of his skin as he thrust his arms out and a dozen small but very sharp bones flew out at them. Gaara stood his ground on the branch they shared making a sand wall to block the attack while Naruto yelped and fell back, he was able to grab the branch before pulling himself up as the improvised weapons flew over his head.

Gaara looked down at Naruto but said nothing but his look spoke volumes.

"Okay how was I supposed to know he had some kind of freaky power," Naruto muttered getting up and then glaring at the red head and yelled. "And why didn't you make one of those sand wall things for me too?"

"Sorry, not used to protecting others," Gaara told him.

For a moment Naruto wasn't sure if Gaara was being honest or had just insulted him, it was really hard to tell with the boy as his face was always so impassive.

"We're going to have to have a talk after this about teamwork," Naruto told him.

"Dodge."

"What do you me-aahhhh!" Naruto just managed to dodge the next attack.

"You really shouldn't take your focus off an enemy like that."

"Not helping!" Naruto yelled out as he jumped to the ground and pulled the short sword from his back. "Alright let's see what this guy is made of!"

-Nearby-

Two clocked figures had been walking through the forests for twenty minutes now they had been following the slight trail of their quarry for most of the day. The forests were filled with the sounds of birds or other animals, the smells of the trees and plants filled the air. For normal people this might have been a pleasant day to walk through nature but these two were on a mission.

One of them knelt down to look at the tracks in the ground. "They split up here."

The larger one grunted, "So which ones do we go with?"

The partner looked at the ground, the larger prints were the adults so they didn't need to deal with them, one set looked to be an older pair, still young but both carrying something large given the depths their foot prints showed. The other sets were the smallest of them all so it was one of those two.

He pointed it out to his larger partner, "You take that set that it ahead of us, I think they are the rearguard, I'll take the other ones that looked to be flanking that way."

"And if you're wrong?"

He just shrugged, "Then deal with them and find me and we'll see if we can't track down our targets."

His partner grinned showing his shark like teeth. "About time we had some fun given how long it's taken to catch up to them. Plus my sword could use something to eat soon."

"Remember we need our targets alive."

"I know, but they just have to be breathing right? The leader doesn't need them intact so if they're messed up but still alive that should be good."

The two figures split off to find their own targets into the large forest.

Next up Chapter 21: The enemy of my enemy is my other enemy