The More Things Change

by

Justin Jossart

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter Eleven

Orochimaru was unhappy. Both Slyther and Cobrac had been defeated by those infernal toads, courtesy of the Kyuubi Jinchuriki. Taking a deep breath, the Sannin smirked behind his flesh mask, calming himself. It was no matter. He had originally been worried that the idiotic Jiraiya had somehow knew of his return to Konoha, but it seemed that the Toad Sennin had simply allowed a boy to sign the Toad Contract.

The Snake Summoner was certain that the blonde boy was running low on chakra. Honestly, Orochimaru was surprised that the blonde was still conscious after summoning two of the Greater Toads. He had impressive chakra reserves, for a Genin, but the Sannin was certain that the boy had hit his limit.

Orochimaru chuckled as he stepped from behind a tree. He was going to enjoy this far more than he should. He'd kill the Jinchuriki and the meddling girl slowly and in the most painful way he could imagine, then mark Satsuki. He watched the three Genin move into a basic arrowhead formation, causing the Sannin to chuckle again. The blonde moved to the front, a kunoichi flanking each side. The boy whispered a few orders to his teammates.

"You fools!" Orochimaru laughed, amused by their audacity. "Do you honestly think that any strategy you weaklings come up with will be able to hurt me?" The Sannin ripped off his flesh mask. "I am Orochimaru of the Sannin! You stand no chance!"

The boy seemed unaffected, while his teammates paled. "I don't care who you are!" the boy shouted, his eyes cold. "We're going to take you down! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The boy formed the Tiger seal, and over a hundred clones surrounded Orochimaru. Impressed in spite of himself, the Sannin laughed as he started cutting though them two and three at a time.


Naruto grinned as he watched the powerful shinobi take the bait. Four of his clones leaped to his side, allowing Naruto to plant explosive tags on their backs. He gave a nod to Satsuki, and she tensed, her legs coiling beneath her.

With a shout, his suicide bombers charged the Sannin, who was just finishing off the last of his clones. These clones died just as quickly as their brethren, but as each one perished the explosive tags on their backs stayed behind, hidden in the smoke that accompanied the defeat of their carrier.

"Go!" Naruto shouted at Satsuki, pushing his fingers into the Ram seal. The Uchiha heiress leaped high into the air as explosions decimated the tree branch that the Sannin had been standing on. Naruto spied Orochimaru escaping the blast at high speed. As Satsuki rained down a series of fireballs from on high, Naruto pulled out his secret weapon. This was going to be good.

He nodded to Sakura, and the rosette jumped from the branch and disappeared from view. Orochimaru twisted and contorted his body at obscene angles to evade Satsuki's fireballs, but they were just a distraction. As the Sannin landed, he had to immediately dodge a hail of shuriken and kunai from Sakura's hiding spot. Naruto finally leaped from his perch and drew his arm back.


Orochimaru was getting irritated. These brats had managed to keep him on the run. He wasn't worried about one of them actually landing a hit, but he was annoyed that they had forced him to remain defensive. He was Orochimaru! No Genin team, regardless of talent or teamwork, should be able to put him on his heels.

As he dodged another series of fireballs from Satsuki, the Sannin contorted his body into impossible positions. Most other shinobi would be long dead by now. The brats obviously worked well together, but teamwork could only make up for so much. He almost missed the Jinchuriki hurtling towards him, his fist drawn back in preparation for a heavy haymaker. What did the boy think he could accomplish. The Sannin smirked as he moved his head to the side to dodge the blow.

"Fuinjutsu: Weight of the Earth!" Orochimaru's eyes widened as the brat slapped the Sannin's chest, placing a sealing tag, which immediately dissolved into the Snake Summoner's skin. Orochimaru could feel the effects of the Jutsu right away; his entire body felt sluggish and hard to move.

"You brat!" Orochimaru snarled, kicking the boy away from him. The blonde arced through the air before crashing against a tree branch. Whether the loud crack that followed was from the tree's limbs or the boy's, the Sannin didn't much care. The Genin was unable to catch himself before he started tumbling towards the ground, ricocheting off several branches on the way down.

"Naruto!" Satsuki shouted from above, throwing a kunai. It struck true, piercing the hood of the boy's jacket and pinning him against the trunk of a tree. The Uchiha heiress landed in front of the Sannin, trembling with a mixture of fury and fear. Her Sharingan flashed.

"You're going to pay for that," she vowed.


Sakura looked on in amazement. Satsuki and Orochimaru were moving so fast that she could barely keep up. Remembering Naruto's sealing Jutsu, she realized that this was the Sannin moving at half speed. Turning her attention away from the battle, Sakura knelt by Naruto and started to heal him with her basic Medical Jutsu. His broken arm and several broken ribs were beyond her new abilities, but she could close his open wounds.

She looked back to see Satsuki land a spinning kick to Orochimaru's face, though the blow seemed to have little effect. The Sannin simply grabbed the offending limb and tossed the girl like a rag doll. The heiress twisted, landing on her feet and charging back into the fray.

A groan brought Sakura's attention back to Naruto. He was slowly waking up, giving Sakura a ray of hope. Knowing there was nothing more she could do for the blonde, the rosette leaped gracefully to engage Orochimaru. Perhaps she and Satsuki together could put the Sannin down...


Satsuki was shocked when Sakura slashed at Orochimaru's blind side with a kunai, drawing a red line across the Sannin's back. Both kunoichi smirked at shinobi's pain, before attacking as one. Their attacks flowed into each other with practiced ease. Satsuki would leap, launching a kick at Orochimaru's head, while Sakura would slide beneath her and slash at his calves. The shinobi was slowing, and had received a few more blows from the kunoichi of Team Seven.

"Enough!" Orochimaru shouted, punting Sakura with enough force to send her flying. The girl managed to latch onto a tree branch, but the rosette looked dazed and confused before finally passing out. The Sannin turned back to Satsuki, who was starting to feel her fear claw its way back into her chest. Naruto was out of commission, Sakura had what was no doubt a serious concussion, and she was up against Konoha's most powerful traitor with no backup.

She engaged Orochimaru again, though she knew it was pointless. He was just toying with her, and they both knew it.


Naruto awoke slowly, his head aching. That had been one hell of a kick. He tried to move, but a sharp pain lanced through his chest and left arm. Looking down, he saw his elbow bent at a strange angle. "Well, isn't this just fantastic," he muttered, poking at his broken ribs with his right and wincing in pain. Suddenly, he remembered that there was still a fight going on. Sakura was lying on a nearby branch, unmoving, while Satsuki was fighting Orochimaru and losing. Her hair had fallen out of its ponytail and was flowing around her as she attacked and dodged. Bruises and cuts marred her porcelain skin.

Before the blonde could find his footing, Orochimaru snagged Satsuki by the neck. The Uchiha scion kicked in desperation, but was unable to free herself from his grip. Naruto drug himself into a standing position. He was in no condition to fight, but then again, he didn't need to. He had people to do that for him. He pushed his good hand into the one-handed Tiger seal that Kakashi had tried to teach him, channeling his chakra as best as he could with the unfamiliar seal. A dozen clones, each as injured as he was, appeared on the branch in front of him.

"Go! Help her!"

The clones launched themselves at his command, ignoring their devastating injuries. However, they were too slow to prevent Orochimaru from sinking his fangs into Satsuki's shoulder. The girl shrieked in pain. Naruto moved to follow his Summons, but a sharp lance of pain burned through his chest and drove him to his knees.


Orochimaru tossed Satsuki aside. The girl had fallen unconscious almost immediately after receiving the Cursed Mark. He heard the Jinchuriki cry out, and turned to see twelve very angry clones charging towards him.

Smirking, the Sannin used a single fire Jutsu to wipe them all out. Looking at the Jinchuriki, Orochimaru could feel the boy's hatred for him. The Snake Summoner chuckled as he casually made his way towards the boy, who glared at him rebelliously.

"If you're going to kill me, just do it already," the boy said, his blue eyes flashing. "Just... leave my friends alone."

"Why would I kill the son of the Great Yondaime Hokage?" Orochimaru smirked at the boy's reaction. "You didn't know your true name, Naruto Namikaze? What else has this wretched village been lying to you about? Do you even know about the beast? Is that why you've yet to draw upon its power?"

The boy eyed him warily. "The Kyuubi's dead. I absorbed all of its chakra."

Orochimaru laughed. This was too perfect! He no longer needed to worry about the Akatsuki! With the Kyuubi dead, the shadow organization would be set back decades. He wished he could see the look on Pein's face when he found out. Maybe he'd tell the pompous bastard himself. Then another thought struck the Sannin. Had the boy said he'd absorbed the demon's chakra?

"You absorbed its chakra?" Orochimaru needed clarification. "You wield it as if it was your own?" The boy glared at him, which was all the answer the Sannin needed. This boy... this boy was the perfect compliment to Satsuki's Sharingan! He could master every Jutsu in an instant and have the chakra capacity to cast them all whenever he wanted! He could level Konoha, no, all of the Hidden Villages without breaking a sweat! He'd never have to change bodies again. Normally, even a strong body like Satsuki's would deteriorate due to the enhanced chakra drain his Jutsu placed on it. But how could he attain all this chakra and put it in Satsuki's body? Perhaps it was time to recall Kabuto. The young medical ninja could prove vital in this new branch of research.

"What's so funny?" The boy asked heatedly, reminding the Sannin of his presence. Orochimaru considered marking him, but thought better of it. The mark drained the wearer's chakra, making them rely on the Cursed Seal to power their Jutsu. The more they relied on the seal, the more power it held over them. However, the Cursed Seal could drain Naruto's chakra for the next hundred years and not have any effect.

"I'm just marveling at your father's seal work," Orochimaru finally said. "A lot of very powerful people are going to be very angry at this development, and I can't wait to see how it all turns out." Orochimaru smirked. "I've decided to let you live." Naruto visibly relaxed, though he looked suspicious. "The girl on the other hand..."

The Sannin ignored the blonde's shout as he shunshined his way to the rosette's tree branch and lifted the girl up by her neck. "Stop! You don't have to do this!"

Orochimaru looked towards the boy. He looked just as his father had at that age. His hair was shorter, and the whisker marks on his cheeks were different, but besides those minuscule details, he could be Minato's clone. "I don't have to do a lot of things, Naruto Namikaze," the Sannin replied smugly as he squeezed, snapping the girl's neck in an instant.

"NO!" The boy leaped towards Orochimaru. The Sannin could see the rage in his eyes. Before the boy could even swing a blow, the Snake Summoner backhanded him across the face, sending him skidding to the end of the branch.

"How... how could you?" The former Jinchuriki was trembling now. "Why?"

Orochimaru laughed, not bothering to answer. He'd known that killing the girl would draw the boy's ire, all but guaranteeing that the blonde would seek him out in the future. Stalking to where the boy was spitting blood, Orochimaru lifted him by the collar of his shirt.

"Now, I can't have you dying on me. Not when you could prove oh so useful in the future." He roughly grasped the boy's broken arm, channeling the medical Ninjutsu even as the Genin screamed. Repeating the process with the boy's shattered ribs, the Sannin looked towards the ground. They weren't so high up anymore. A fall from this height probably wouldn't cause the boy too serious of an injury. "Don't say your Uncle Orochimaru never gave you anything," the Sannin smirked. "I won't spare you next time, son of Minato."

Laughing, the Sannin casually tossed the screaming boy into the air before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.


Naruto awoke to bright lights and sterile white walls. His head was killing him, and his throat felt like a desert. For a moment, he blearily tried to remember how he'd ended up here. He remembered the fight with Orochimaru, how his original plan had seemed to work. The Weight of the Earth had been a risky gambit, but he'd managed to plant it right on the bastard's chest. The next thing he knew, he'd woken up. The Sannin had bit Satsuki... then... The blonde Genin bolted upright. Sakura! Throwing the bed sheets from his sore body, he started to get out of the bed. He needed to find Sakura!

"Lie down, Naruto. You're still pretty injured." Jiraiya's voice said quietly to Naruto's left. Looking over, he saw the Sennin sitting on the bed next to him.

"Where's Sakura?" Naruto demanded, ignoring his sensei's order. "Where is she?!" The big man didn't meet his gaze, giving Naruto the answer he was most dreading. "You're lying!"

"I'm sorry, kid."

"She can't be..." Naruto couldn't bring himself to say the word. Saying it aloud would make it real, and it couldn't be real. Just the day before the rosette had been laughing and joking around. She'd been arguing with Satsuki. She'd had a boyfriend, a family and friends. "It should have been me."

"Shut up," Jiraiya snarled. "Don't make this about you. A girl is dead, so show some respect. I'm not going to sit here and listen to your pity party."

"I'm not making this about me! If I'd have been stronger, I could have saved her!" Naruto stood, getting in his sensei's face. "I could have done something!"

"Kid, there's no way in hell that you could've defeated Orochimaru. The bastard is way out of your league," Jiraiya said calmly. "Even myself or the Sandaime would have trouble taking him down. You have years to go before you're ready for a guy like him."

"How about my father? Could the Yondaime have beaten him?" Naruto asked acidly. He'd never been this angry in his life.

Jiraiya was stunned. "How'd you know about that?"

"Orochimaru told me, right before he killed Sakura. It's true, then?" Jiraiya nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's dangerous. Iwa and Kumo both have axes to grind against the Yondaime, and you'd be an easy target for their vengeance. We couldn't afford the risk that you'd tell the wrong people." Jiraiya walked to the window. "No one knows, besides myself, the Sandaime, Kakashi, and apparently Orochimaru. No on can know until you're strong enough to defend yourself, not even Satsuki."

"When will that be?" Naruto snarled.

"When I say so," Jiraiya replied. "Look, kid, we've gotta talk. Hiruzen would be pissed if he knew I was telling you all of this, but you have a right to know. You need to prepare." Naruto frowned. What more was his sensei keeping from him? "Iwagakure and Kumogakure are building their forces. Our spies tell us they've made an alliance with Otogakure."

"I've never heard of Otogakure."

"Oto is a new village. We don't know much about it, but everything I've found out tells me its bad news. Unlike the other villages, Oto is actually hidden. It's not just one village with walls. It's a series of underground bases, held together by one man... Orochimaru." Naruto's gut wrenched at the name. "Now, Iwa, Kumo, and Oto share a common enemy. Do you know who that is?"

Naruto nodded. "Us."

"That's right... us. We're outgunned, kid. It's gonna take a miracle for us to hold off three enemies at the same time. It doesn't help that our treaty with Suna isn't worth the paper it's written on. Now, do you know why we have Jinchuriki?" Naruto shook his head. "Jinchuriki are essentially weapons of mass destruction. A single Jinchuriki is worth twenty Jonin. At least. However, since every village had one..."

"To actually use them would mean everyone loses."

"That's right. However, we don't have one anymore." Jiraiya gave Naruto's stomach a pointed look. "We've lost our trump card. Now, the other villages didn't know that, but now that Orochimaru knows..."

"Then all of Oto will know," Naruto finished. "And soon Iwa and Kumo will, too."

"That's right. Now, my spies tell me that Iwa and Kumo have only started getting their ducks in a row. We're lucky we have so much notice to do the same. Part of that is getting you up to snuff."

"Why me?"

"Because of your chakra reserves. You may not be a Jinchuriki, but once I'm done with you, you won't need to be." Jiraiya sighed. "You're training with Kakashi is done. Team Seven has been disbanded. Kakashi is going to apprentice your friend, and I'm going to teach you everything I know."

Naruto started. He'd forgotten about Satsuki! "How is she? I saw Orochimaru bite her..."

"She's okay. The Cursed Seal is a terrible thing, and it nearly killed her. Lucky for her, I know more about seals than Orochimaru ever dreamed of," Jiraiya smirked. "He was pretty dumb to use it knowing I was in the village. If I can catch it quick enough, like I did with your friend, I can remove it before it can do too much damage."

"Can I see her?" Naruto asked.

"That might not be the best idea. She's going through a lot right now. She'll see you when she's ready. Now, get some rest. We've got a lot of work to do."

Both shinobi turned when they heard the door open. Naruto wasn't surprised to see Team Eight walk through the door. All three of them looked worse for wear, but Kiba was by far the worst. The boy looked into Naruto's eyes, and the blonde could see the anguish the Inuzaka was going through.

"I'll just let myself out," Jiraiya said, clasping Naruto on the shoulder. He stopped beside Kiba. "Take it from me, kid. There's nothing anyone could have done." In another moment, the Sannin had left, closing the door behind him.

Kiba sat in the spot that Jiraiya had just vacated. His team stood awkwardly to the side, though Hinata stared at Naruto, her eyes filled with concern. The Inuzaka opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. Finally, he looked Naruto dead in the eyes. "What happened out there?"

Naruto recounted Team Seven's travels through the Forest of Death, though he carefully left out the part about being the Yondaime's son. "I'm sorry, Kiba. I did everything I could," the blonde said as he finished the story. "I tried so hard to save her."

"I know," Kiba said, looking away. "She used to talk about you, you know. At first, she hated her team. She complained about all three of you guys for weeks." The boy gave a watery chuckle. "Then she made friends with you. She was so happy to have someone on the team that she could get along with. She kept on trying to set you up with Ino; she had this dream of all of us being close and living happily ever after." He hung his head. "I just can't believe she's gone."

"Me, too. She was one of my best friends," Naruto replied, tears stinging his eyes.

"I'm gonna kill the bastard that did this, if it's the last thing I do. I don't care what it takes," Kiba snarled.

"I'll be right beside you," Naruto vowed. He held out a hand, which Kiba roughly clasped. "We'll do it together, believe it!"


Sakura's funeral wasn't at all like Naruto expected. It should have been raining, in his opinion. It seemed wrong, somehow, that the sun was shining brightly on such a depressing day. If it had been raining, then he could have easily hidden the tears that threatened to overwhelm him. He'd tried to hold them back, to no avail. At least he wasn't sobbing uncontrollably, like he thought he would.

He stood beside Kakashi and Jiraiya. The older man had kept his hand firmly clasped on Naruto's shoulder throughout the entire procession, and the blonde was thankful for the support. He hadn't seen Kakashi since before the Chunin Exams, and the Jonin seemed lost. He stared at Sakura's still form like he was unable to comprehend what he was seeing. Satsuki hadn't made an appearance. Her absence had caused a dull rage to build in Naruto's chest. He knew the kunoichi hadn't gotten along, but Sakura had been their teammate! They'd practically spent every day together for half a year! She should at least have come to pay her respects!

Shaking his head, Naruto drove the Uchiha from his thoughts. Today wasn't about them. It was about his friend. He couldn't believe how much he missed the girl's easy laughter and bright smiles. She'd felt like the third wheel of the team for so long, Naruto knew, and he'd give anything to go back and spend more time with his fallen teammate. He shouldn't have taken her for granted.

As the Sandaime finished his eulogy, the Hokage lit a torch to burn Sakura's body. A woman with pink hair sobbed as the corpse caught fire, a tall man with a thin mustache trying to console her. Kakashi stepped forward, holding out Sakura's crimson headband to the couple, causing the woman to sob even harder, her tears falling onto the metal in her hands. Naruto felt his gut wrench. This woman had lost her only child, and here he was feeling sorry for himself. He stood straighter and wiped his face. He had no excuse to cry, but he couldn't keep his eyes from watering again.

As he watched his friend burn to ashes, the blonde vowed silently that he'd never let what happened to her befall any more of his friends. He'd become stronger, to protect everyone. "I'm sorry, Sakura," he said quietly. "Goodbye." He turned away, wiping his eyes again. No more crying, he told himself. He'd done enough crying the past two days to last a life time. It was time to get back to training. He refused to let another mother sob over her child's body. He vowed to never again watch one of his friends burn.

He stalked from the funeral, heading straight for Training Ground Seven. He paused as he arrived at the bridge where they'd met so many times before. Unable to cross, he channeled some chakra through his legs and leaped over the river instead. A flood of memories racked his brain as he stood in the middle of the training ground, but he pushed them aside. Instead, he focused on the wooden posts anchored in the middle of the large clearing.

Dashing forward, he began savagely beating the post. It wasn't enough. Beating on a dead stick didn't dull the pain in his chest. Forming the Tiger seal, he poured chakra into his signature Jutsu. Several hundred Shadow Clones popped into an existence in a cloud of smoke that obscured the entire clearing from view. The clones all had the same look on their face, determination mixed with rage.

Suddenly, one clone turned to his neighbor and punched him in the face, dispelling him. A moment later, an enormous free-for-all broke out. The real Naruto jumped into the fray without a second thought. After an hour, he was the only one left standing, and he still didn't feel any better, so he just formed the Tiger seal again.

It was late in the evening before Naruto finally sat on the grass, leaning against one of the training stumps. Bruises, abrasions, and cuts line his arms and face, but he felt better. He knew what he'd just done wasn't effective training, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He was too tired to think about Sakura, so the exercise had done its job. Instead of pain, he just felt hollow.

"I thought I'd find you here," a feminine voice called. "Well, either here or the ramen stand." Naruto looked up to see Satsuki at the edge of the clearing, her hand on her hip. She looked him up and down. "You look like shit, dobe."

"Go away," Naruto said, his voice lacking all emotion.

Her dark eyes flashed. "I think I'll stay. I want to get some training in."

"Fine!" the blonde snarled. "Then I'll leave."

"What's your problem, dobe?" Satsuki snarled back. "I haven't done anything!"

Naruto stalked towards her. He couldn't believe this woman! "Where were you?" he demanded. "Why weren't you there?"

"That's what this is about? That I didn't come to her funeral?" She asked, her dark eyes flashing. "I had no right to be there!" Naruto paused. What the hell was she talking about? "Orochimaru attacked us because of me, dobe! Sakura died because of me. If it weren't for me, she'd still be alive! How could I stand there next to her mom and dad, her boyfriend, and all her friends knowing that I killed her?" The heiress's eyes shone with unshed tears.

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say," Naruto replied after a moment. "You didn't make that bastard attack us. None of this is anyone's fault but his."

"That's easy for you to say!"

"Really?" Naruto said flatly. "I understand what Jiraiya-sensei meant now. This isn't about you, Satsuki. It's about Sakura. You should have been at her funeral. She was our friend, and she always had our backs. Now get the fuck out of my way."

The girl stepped aside, her eyes wide. Naruto stalked past her, not even giving her a second glance.