The Cardinal Hideouts.

In the middle of the sea, on a small island surrounded by an uncaring ocean, three people were raised from darkness, appearing seemingly out of nowhere.

They stood there silently for a moment before turning to each other. All had identical featureless masks, one wearing a dark cloak made of feathers.

"Where?" Asked the cloaked figure.

"North-west." Answered one of the others. "20 meters, she's running."

With a Body Flicker, all of them were gone.

***

Karin was running, her heart racing as she desperately tried to put some distance between herself and the thing chasing her. But it was right above her, she just had to get to the barracks, then she could hide behind the grunts.

She really regretted pestering Orochimaru for a chance to prove herself, she would be much safer next to the snake summoner.

But suddenly, the thing expanded, and the three presences sank into what she knew was rock, from the ceiling in front of her, a black sphere emerged, landing in front of her.

It shrank into a human-sized form, cloaked in feathers, two others next to it, these ones normal humans, Karin slid to a halt.

"As a Templar of the Order, I ask you to surrender." The thing said politely.

Karin gulped, it sounded human, but she could see the truth with her Mind's Eye, behind the facade of humanity, at the center of its Chakra, there was... hunger, bottomless hunger, it wasn't human.

It couldn't be human.

The left one stepped forward, a woman, noticing her fear.

"Please surrender, I promise nothing will happen to you."

Karin could feel that she was being honest, but she still hesitated.

"What do you want with me?" She asked nervously. "And why should I surrender?"

"Your sensory abilities could greatly complicate our plan to eradicate this place." The cloaked figure explained patiently. "If we did not target you first, you could easily alert everyone here and cause unnecessary chaos, as well as organize some semblance of a defense."

Karin cursed in her mind, she hated that he was right, and she tried very hard to ignore the fact that they knew about her ability, that meant they knew exactly who she was, where to find her, and had hunted her down immediately.

"This is also why you are being offered a chance to surrender, since a fight would likely also alert the rest of the base." The woman interrupted her thoughts. "Please cooperate, it would make everything less troublesome."

Karin weighed her options, but considering that from the feel of their Chakra, they were all stronger than her, and the fact that one of them was a... whatever that thing was...

"I-I surrender." She stammered out.

"Excellent." The cloaked figure said pleasantly. "You two stay here and watch over her, I will clear out this section of the compound."

Both saluted in perfect sync.

"As you command, Lord Templar."

With that, the cloaked figure rushed into the distance, leaving Karin with the two masked humans.

They stood there quietly, Karin felt as the so-called Templar got close to someone, the void inside them expanded, covering the person, this time when it retreated, there was no one there.

She shivered. How horrifying.

She nervously waited as the Templar slowly and carefully devoured everyone in the prison, leaving only her and the prisoners alive.

***

Jugo felt scared, there was a lot of screaming happening outside.

It made him want to scream too.

And hurt things.

He curled up on himself, he tried humming to calm himself down, it didn't work.

Why did Kimimaro have to leave? He wanted Kimimaro to come back, he hated being alone.

There was another scream, the urge to kill increased, he grit his teeth and closed his eyes, trying to ignore it.

Then a door opened.

His eyes snapped open, sclera turned black, yellow pupils locked onto the thing standing outside the doorway, anger colored his face as he jumped towards the intruder.

Only for a clawed hand to slam him into the ground, crushing the stone beneath him. Jugo's eyes turned back to normal, his breath was knocked out of him.

"Ah, what a pitiable child." A voice said calmly. "If it wasn't for the corruption deep inside you, I would say that you are very pure."

Jugo tilted his head up, looking at the thing holding him down.

It had a crow's head with three shining golden eyes, all of them staring at him.

"Be not afraid." It spoke softly. "Your pain has been heard by The Watcher above."

It lifted its hand, and Jugo slowly stood up, only slightly wary.

"I am Shun, Fifth born of The Watcher, and I have come to offer you a path."

Jugo tilted his head in confusion, he didn't know what was happening, but for some reason, the bird-thing didn't make him angry.

"What... kind of path?" He asked quietly.

"A path of peace." Shun said gently. "If you would accept, I offer it to you, an escape from this torment you carry."

"... Do you promise?"

Shun nodded.

"Yes, I promise."

Jugo nodded after a moment of silence.

"Then... I want to go on that path."

Shun let out a chirp.

"Wonderful, child, you are now my disciple, come along."

The bird thing reached out a clawed hand, Jugo's hand wrapping around a single clawed finger as they walked away, Jugo ignored the bodies.

He didn't really understand what was going on, but he liked Shun, maybe being his disciple would be nice?

***

Suigetsu swung down with his stolen sword, aiming at a masked fuckers neck, he had no idea what was going on so he just started swinging at everything.

But before his attack could land, the sword was knocked away by another blade.

These assholes were pretty good.

"You're pretty good for a midget." He commented casually, letting a slash cut into him without effect, it didn't do much to his water-like body. "But not better than me."

His opponent responded by twisting out of the way of a downward swing, in the same motion, stabbing into Suigetsu's stomach.

Which, again, didn't do much.

"Fuck off, dipshit." The midget responded, tone annoyed. "Why are you even fighting? Intel said you were not part of Orochimaru's little band of idiots."

Heh, because he felt like it and because he wanted to kill someone, what was she? Stupid?

He grinned at the girl cockily.

"I dunno, maybe cause I felt like it?" He asked, slightly mocking.

She growled in annoyance, trying to stab him with her pointy stick some more, but all she was doing was stabbing a puddle.

"You are so fucking lucky that I'm shit at Lightning Release." She muttered to herself.

"That sounds like loser talk!" He laughed, sending out a Water Gun Jutsu from his mouth. She dodged by jumping backwards.

Then they were interrupted by another masked freak appearing next to them, this one was wearing a feathered cloak.

"Initiate Rin, could you explain why you haven't dealt with the Hōzuki?" The new guy said, normally Suigetsu would have made a joke, he recognized that tone, it was the 'If you had done what I said then we wouldn't be in this mess.' voice, his brother used to use it all the time.

But this guy was dangerous.

"He just turns into water every time I hit him!" The girl whined. "I can't kill someone who doesn't have solid organs!"

The cloaked guy sighed, before speaking again.

"You were informed at least twice that learning basic Jutsu of each element was highly advised, this is your own fault." He lectured. "I will inform Lord Zabuza of this if you do not manage to fix this."

Wait, Zabuza? Like, Demon of the Mist Zabuza? His eyes widened a bit in surprise.

"Oh hey, I thought I saw some familiar moves in your style, you guys work with Zabuza-senpai?" He asked curiously. "Is he here? Can I kill him?"

They both turned to stare at him silently for a moment.

"Boy, Zabuza would kill you in seconds." The cloaked guy finally answered after a short pause. "Are you insane?"

Suigetsu scoffed and pointed a thumb towards his chest.

"I'm the future Master of all 7 Swords of Kiri, dumbass." He introduced proudly. "I've got nothing to fear from him!"

Both of them were silent again, before they started talking like he wasn't even there.

"I think Orochimaru's experiments have made him mad." The cloaked guy said.

"I agree, don't worry, the Order has many mind healers that can help you out with whatever is happening to your brain." The girl comforted Suigetsu kindly. "Just hold on a little longer."

Wow, fuck her.

"Fuck off! I'm not crazy!" He shouted angrily. "I'll show you!"

With a roar, he rushed forward, his arm swelling grotesquely as he swung it at the cloaked guy's neck.

It was parried, the blade being knocked upwards by a kick, the sword flew over both of their heads and stabbed into the wall next to them.

He didn't get a chance to recover, a kick slammed into his stomach, sending him skidding back until his back hit a wall.

His stomach hurt, why had that kick hit him?

He examined the guy more closely, only to see one hand shaped into a Horse Seal, one-handed hand seal? That explained why this guy felt dangerous.

But before he could start planning around this new information, 7 other arms folded out from the cloak.

Oh.

Ooooooh.

The cloaked man started weaving one-handed seals with all 8 hands, causing Suigetsu to pale.

Fuck no.

He turned tail and ran.

He didn't get very far before a wall of Jutsu hit him in the back, lightning and fire and wind smashing him into a wall.