Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 38: Gone Hunting

Cerulean eyes fluttered open only to be met with pitch darkness. Naruto slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes to help them adjust to the dark.

'Where am I?' He thought. 'Why is it so cold?' Naruto's eyes adjusted to pick up a faint white glow originating from behind him. It wasn't much, but it allowed him to get his bearings. The blonde nuke nin found himself laying on top of a natural stone platform raised from the snow dusted floor. He swung his feet off the side of the platform to stand, his bare feet met with a frosty crunch and a bite from the cold floor beneath him.

"Itachi?" Naruto asked, alternating between squinted and wide eyes to try and get a better view of what he decided was a cave. There was no answer but Naruto could sense his presence nearby.

Naruto rose to his feet, not even taking a moment to steady himself on his pair of wobbly legs, and started walking in the direction of Itachi's faint chakra signature. It was freezing cold, if not for his natural physical resilience he surely would have died of hypothermia over the course of his unconsciousness.

Naruto stumbled through the dark, making his way towards the entrance of the cave, quickening his pace as he neared the outline of a black and red cloak huddled hear the entrance. "Itachi?" Naruto asked once more.

Itachi slowly turned his head away from the scenic view of the sunrise over the snow capped mountains. "Good, you're up. Get dressed. We're going hunting."

XXXXXXXXXX

(in Kiri)

Zabuza sat behind his desk with an unreadable expression on his bandaged face. Although Mifune was a seasoned veteran in his own right, having seen scarred and crippled men as well as those maimed beyond recognition, felt uneasy looking upon the heavily scarred form of Zabuza. The fact that the man had survived the injuries that left him so disfigured, let alone rose to the position of Mizukage afterwards, was a testament to his resilience and power. Mifune respected that.

"I see." Zabuza said in an even voice, not betraying anything. Mifune himself has reported the events leading him and his northern people to Kiri. The trek south, once they left the frigid wasteland of Tetsu no Kuni, was fairly simple. They were lucky enough to be found by a patrol of Kiri ANBU not long after entering the country, and were led directly to Kiri after requesting audience with the Mizukage. "And you no nothing of Naruto and Itachi's current condition?" Zabuza questioned. In truth he had no authority or political ties to the two any longer, but his long standing friendship with the Konoha nuke nin was cause enough for him to worry.

"No Mizukage-sama," Mifune said, careful to address his host in as respectful a fashion as possible. "My first priority was the safety of my people and we could not afford to spare any forces to assist in the battle that was admittedly far beyond our ability to help."

"I understand," Zabuza sighed, "please don't take that line of questioning as an insult, I am merely curious about the condition of my former students. And please, -san will suffice, there is no need for you to feign subordinance to me General."

Mifune raised an eyebrow at the revelation that the two shinobi who had saved his people from certain annihilation were once the students of the man seated before him. "Very Mizukage-san. As I'm sure you've gathered by now, I am here to request temporary shelter for my people. Orochimaru is conducting operations in our land, and I'm sure the faceless are not the only forces he has at his disposal. Until my samurai and I are able to retake Tetsu no Kuni from the snake I wish for you to allow our civilians shelter within your village."

"That will not be a problem, Mifune-san," Zabuza said, waving his lone hand casually. "However, if you're people are to stay here as refugees they will be required to take up employment within the village. We ourselves are currently recovering from a brutal war of our own, and could use whatever manpower we can get our hands on." Zabuza's tone hardened slightly, stealing his eyes accordingly, "I will also require 100 samurai to bolster our military forces. I will allow you to appoint a civilian and a military representative to sit on the Kiri counsel to speak on behalf of you people, but I will require the 100 samurai to swear loyalty to Kiri until Tetsu no Kuni is once again inhabitable."

Mifune let out a sigh of relief. These terms were beyond reasonable, he has expected much worse going in. 100 samurai was a steep toll to pay, seeing as how that entailed about a quarter of the surviving warriors, but he was willing to pay that price for the safety of the northern people.

"Also, I want the secrets to the samurai steel to be taught to our blacksmiths." Zabuza added.

"What? Zabuza-san, you must realize what you are asking. Samurai steel is our ancestral secret. Throughout the ages it's been as closely guarded as any great kekkei genkai or the Uzumaki fuinjutsu!" Mifune argued. Over the centuries since its creation countless wars have been fought over the secrets of the famed steel, many have tried to recreate it, and even more attempted to reverse engineer the process, all having had failed.

"A small price to pay for the housing of you people," Zabuza said off handedly.

Mifune grit his teeth. He was right, the safety of his nation was vastly more important to him than the secret of the legendary metal, but to give it up so easily was an insult to his ancestors. "There must be some alternative," Mifune said.

"I'm listening..."

"As I'm sure you know, as a former member of the seven swordsmen, the legendary blades wielded by the seven swordsmen of the mist were forged from this steel." Zabuza nodded upon hearing this, "so you must also know that the unrefined iron comes from a specific iron deposit in the far northern reaches of Tetsu no Kuni," Zabuza nodded once more. "Therefore the knowledge of how to forge one such blade will be wasted on a Kiri blacksmith."

"I fail to grasp what it is you're getting at," Zabuza proaded.

"Instead of divulging the secret behind the forging of these blades, what if, as compensation for your hospitality, the samurai I lead north bring back the raw material required to forge the weapons and forge a blade for you. A blade fit for the Mizukage." Mifune held his breath waiting for a response. The secret itself would in fact be useless to Kiri, but if Zabuza persisted Mifune would have no choice but to relent.

"... Three swords." Zabuza said. "Bring back the material to forge three swords. One fit for the Mizukage, and two fit for the guardians of this world."

XXXXXXXXXX

(Ta no Kuni)

"Madara-sama, we have returned from Tetsu no Kuni," the black half of a venus fly trap shaped creature said in a dark gravelly voice. "Akatsuki's two newest members have defeated Orochimaru-kun's creations." "It was a pretty boring battle. Except for the beginning and the end parts," the white half chimed in.

"And what of their abilities?" Fugaku asked from behind his mask.

"The Uchiha has the mangekyou sharingan. With it he can use the black flames of Amaterasu, as well as an incomplete Susanoo." The black half reported. "The other one can use Mokuton and has impressive prowess in fuinjutsu. He also appears to have mastered senjutsu without the use of a summon. They're almost like the reincarnation of Hashirama and the real Madara-sama."

"I see. They are far stronger than I had anticipated," Fugaku said, "especially the Namikaze."

"Madara-sama," the white half interjected, disturbing Fugaku from his thoughts, "what is the point of pitting them against Orochimaru?"

"The snake has long since outlived his usefulness, and as much as I hate to admit it, I have allowed him to become far too powerful for me to control for much longer." Fugaku clenched his fist in frustration at his shortsightedness. "Besides, the longer I keep Itachi on his path of to darkness, the more easily I will be able to able to sway him to join me." Fugaku drummed his fingers on his forearm for a moment. 'I only wish he had awoken his mangekyou sharingan later. I have no idea how long he's had it or how well his eyes are doing at this point.'

"How long until we begin the sealing? We have the Nibi, Sanbi, and the Rokubi already. There is no need to delay the sealing any longer." The black half growled impatiently.

"Patience Zatsu. All will come together in time. We just need the break Nagato first. When he knows pain, then he will be our puppet," Fugaku said with a sinister grin hidden behind his mask.

XXXXXXXXXX

(elsewhere in Ta no Kuni)

"Anything?" Itachi asked from behind Naruto.

"When I have something you'll be the first to know," Naruto gripped. "Seriously, I know you're eager to rescue Yugito, but constantly pestering me isn't going to help us find her any faster." They has been wandering through Ta no Kuni for 3 days now and the Itachi equivalent of 'are we there yet' was beginning to grind on Naruto's last nerve.

Itachi's lips curled in a brief amused grin, he knew he was acting the same way Naruto normally did and it was funny to see how his blonde companion reacted to his own quirks. "Just asking."

Naruto was about to initiate a bout of witty banter before he stopped suddenly. '17, 18, 19... 25 of them? Damn... well I guess they know who they're dealing with.' Naruto glanced over at Itachi, letting him know to be on guard. They were being watched.

"Come out and face us, cowards." Itachi challenged.

"Now is that any way to treat your old friend, Itachi-kun?" said a haughty voice that echoed all around.

"That trick is useless Kabuto," Naruto growled. "You know I know where you are."

"Yes, but can you get to me, Naruto-kun?" Kabuto taunted in a patronizing tone. "And even if you do, what are you going to do to me?"

"You know damn well what I'm going to do to you, you fucking snake!" Naruto roared before quickly getting a hold of his emotions. He knew damn well not to underestimate his white haired former teammate, and letting his emotions get the best of him was not the way to go about fighting him. He has to be calm, cool, and collected.

"Please, Naruto-kun. I know we've had our differences in the past, but can't we talk like civilized people." Kabuto mocked.

"You killed Samui-chan!" Naruto said, radiating killing intent that he could sense was paralyzing over a dozen of the surrounding enemies. "You're responsible for what happened to the rebellion. Ao-san and Juzo-san are dead because of you! Mei-san will never be the same because of you! Now get the fuck out here so I can tear your ass apart the way you wish Orochimaru would you fucking BASTARD!"

Naruto's surroundings exploded in a visible aura of chakra as the blonde darted through the trees creating a shockwave in his midst that brought the towering pines crashing down. Several Oto shinobi with their second stage curse seal activated leapt in to attack the enraged Akatsuki only to be sliced into ribbons by a wind coated Odenta. Blood splattered into the eyes of another two incoming Oto shinobi, causing them to flinch and receive fiery shuriken to the body. The super heated metal seared clean through their grey skin, allowing the spinning metal stars to bury themselves inside their body and tear their innards to shreds.

"Naruto! Calm down! We can't fight him like this!" Itachi shouted after performing his clan jutsu.

Naruto knew this as well. He was acting impulsively. His rage was getting the best of him. This was the exact thing that got so many killed up to this point. But he didn't care. All he wanted was Kabuto's head mounted on a wooden stake of his own creation.

"Naruto! STOP!" Itachi commanded.

'FUCK!' Naruto shouted within his own mind. 'He's right. Calm down Naruto. You'll kill him. You don't have to rush into it.' Naruto came to a halt with Itachi close behind. The blond allowed his aura to recede as he drew back his killing intent, releasing the frozen Oto shinobi from their paralysis.

"What is he?" Naruto heard one of them ask. "Their the ones who killed all of Orochimaru-sama creations," another one responded. "They also killed Kimimaro-sempai," another voice added. "They've also been hunting down all our comrades in Mizu no kuni."

"I guess we've been quite the thorn in their side," Itachi quipped.

"We're close," Naruto said. "They're not here to kill us. They're a distraction. We must be getting close and Orochimaru sent them out here to keep us occupied while he escapes with Yugito."

Itachi's eyes hardened and his charcoal irises turned blood red and spun revealing a pair of fully matured sharingan. "Then we should finish this quickly."

"Ha! You think we can't kill a couple of shithead pussies like you?" Said a red haired girl with a flute walking out from behind a tree.

"Language Tayuya," said a tall burly man to her left.

"Fuck off Fatso!" The girl known as Tayuya shouted.

"Oh, you two look strong. I'm going to enjoy killing you," Said a six armed teenager.

"As long as we can make them suffer," said a white haired teen with two heads.

"Get out of our way. We will kill you eventually, but for now our fight is not with you," Itachi warned dangerously. "Crawl back in the hole you climbed out of and we'll let you live for now.

"Yeah right you emo looking fuck! You don't know who we are, do you?" Shouted the red haired girl in the hat.

"We are the sound four," the white haired shinobi proclaimed. "We are Orochimaru's most elite warriors. You wont get past us so easily."

In one fell swoop both heads of the white haired teenager tumbled to the ground with Naruto standing behind him with his blade drawn.

Six kunai came flying forward, burying themselves in each of the six armed teenagers hands with a seventh digging into his throat.

Naruto spun around with his foot aimed at the back of Tayuya's head, only for it to be blocked by the brawly arm of the largest member of their group. Naruto retracted his leg quickly before he could grab hold and drilled a rasengan into the man's chest, exploding his ribcage outward and sending blood and gore flying everywhere.

Tayuya stood wide eyed in shock. 'They just killed all three of them in less than a second. That's impossible!'

"It's not impossible." Itachi said, his face mere inches in front of hers. "They were weak. And you're the weakest of the four. Especially considering you're a genjutsu specialist. Now tell me. Where is Orochimaru?"

'W-what? What's happening? Where am I?' Tayuya thought, looking around at the blood red sky and the barren wasteland around her.

"You're in my genjutsu," Itachi explained. "Don't try to escape. You're here until I get what I want."

"Fuck you!" Tayuya shouted, releasing her curse seal only to be met with an agonizing wave of pain.

"Please, we've has more than enough experience dealing with Orochimaru's curse seal for that to work," Itachi taunted. "Now tell me. Where is he?"

"I'm not saying shit! Do you have any idea what he'll do to me if he finds out I told you anything?!" She pleaded, realizing the hopelessness of her situation.

"It can't be any worse than what I'll do to you if you don't tell me." Itachi said in a voice so bored it was menacing.

'How is he doing this? He didn't even try to mask the genjutsu. I can't get out.'

"You made the mistake of looking into my eyes," Itachi explained. "Your friends dying wasn't part of the genjutsu by the way. We did actually kill them." Tayuya was now chained to a post. "We are far more powerful than you can imagine. Even your feeble curse seal wouldn't have helped you."

"They're not my friends," Tayuya muttered, letting her head slump down. "They are just the team I was assigned to. I never wanted to be one of them."

"You're avoiding the question," Itachi said, lifting her head and pressing it to the back of the post she was chained to.

"Why wouldn't I? I'm dead either way right! You're just going to fucking kill me as soon as I tell you what you want so why would I give you anything?" She cursed. "Even if I did tell you what you want and you did let me go, how long do you think I would last after Orochimaru-teme found out I betrayed him!"

"We're on our way to kill the snake now," Itachi said, intentionally not promising her anything.

"And what about those loyal to him? It's not just him. Even if you did manage to kill him, he has followers that will remain loyal to him even after his death!"

"They'll die soon enough. Now tell me, Tayuya. Are you one of them?" Itachi could see the fear in the girls eyes. She truly feared Orochimaru more than death itself. More than she feared him.

"Fuck no! I hate him! I hate all of them! Especially that Kabuto bastard," She said with a snarl. "I'd kill them all the second I got the chance. But they're too powerful for me to fight."

"They aren't too powerful for us." Itachi tried to pry the information he desired from her without her telling him, but Orochimaru was no hack at fuinjutsu. The seal he put on her was too powerful for Itachi to break without her fighting against it on her own. "Tell me where he is and we will kill every last one of them until you are safe."

"Just kill me... I know I'm dead anyways... just get it over with..." tears welled up in her eyes before they escaped and began to streak down her cheeks. She sobbed silently, she had long since learned to cry in silence.

"You are mistaken, Tayuya. I will get what I came here for. It's just a matter of how much torment you can withstand before I get it." The landscape morphed into a burning village and the two found themselves just outside a burning house in shambles.

"Th-this is..."

"This is where you lost everything," Itachi said. "You will relive your greatest failure over and over until you tell me what I need to know."

Tayuya fell from her chains and attempted to pounce on the Uchiha but found her body would not respond to her commands. She attempted to curse his name and verbally berate him, but her thoughts would not reach her tongue.

The red haired girl suddenly raced inside the burning building inhaling lungfuls of thick black smoke. The smoke burned her throat and eyes but she charged in regardless. She darted up the stairs, hot cinders searing off the soles of her feet. She reached the door that haunted her dreams to this day and reached out to grasp the white hot doorknob. The skin of her palms melted off like butter against a hot knife, but she kept her grip and swing the door open. Within the room she found a crib not yet licked by the flames, and the room was filled with the wails of an infant.

Tayuya rushed in and snatched up the heap of blankets swaddling a red haired infant just in time before a wooden beam collapsed on top of the crib. Tayuya felt the floor beneath her feet give way, sending her crashing to the first floor. The girl landed on her back, knocking the wind out of her and allowing her to see the burning wood from the story above her start to come raining down.

Tayuya leapt to her feet and made haste to the door only to find masked shinobi blocking her exit. The infant's wails continued and Tayuya spun on her heel to make her way to an alternate exit. She raced through her childhood home, past the charred, headless, corpse of her grandmother in the kitchen. Tayuya leapt through a glass window and inhaled the sweet fresh air the outdoors offered her.

She laid there with the infant held close to her chest. The adrenaline quickly faded, bringing waves of unrelenting pain to her badly burned feet and hand. Past the roaring flames she heard footsteps crunching against shards of glass and ash.

"Give us the child, girl," a masculine voice hissed.

"Never! You won't take my brother! Take me instead!" She pleaded automatically.

"I have no use for you," the voice hissed back. "You are too old for what I intend."

"Tayuya! Take your brother and run!" The voice of her father shouted as he leapt between her and her assailant. Upon looking at the condition of his daughter the man looked at his wife, "get them out of here. I'll hold him back as long as I can."

"Please. As if you could do anything to impede me, the great Orochimaru-sama," the snake like man hissed.

"Go!" The red haired man shouted just before his throat was split open with a kunai."

Tayuya's mother looked like she was about to shout something before a flurry of kunai found themselves deep in her chest. The red haired woman collapsed on her back right next to Tayuya's prone form, soaking the girl in her mother's blood.

"Kaa-chan!" Tayuya wailed.

"Don't fret, girl. You'll be with your mother soon enough. Now hand over the boy."

"You'll never get him you bastard!" Tayuya shouted, ripping a bloody kunai from her mother's chest and driving it into the skull of her infant brother.

"Fine..." Tayuya whispered after the 6th time. "I'll tell you what you want to know... just kill me after I tell you."

XXXXXXXXXX

(In the real world)

Tayuya collapsed to her knees suddenly, only for Itachi to catch her.

"I know where he is," Itachi said through gritted teeth.

"What happened?" Naruto asked as he cut down waves of oncoming Oto shinobi eager to meet their end.

"Orochimaru is even sicker than we thought," Itachi said cryptically.

Naruto nodded in understanding before he froze, glaring in the direction of the man he desired to kill above all others. "Kabuto."

"It seems that you are far stronger than we anticipated," the specticalled shinobi said. "I knew you would kill them, I just assumed it would take you longer than that."

"So what? The pawns are all dead so now the knight comes out to stall?" Naruto said.

"That. And I think you should know how Samui died," Kabuto said with an evil grin. "As you know, I poisoned her. But you see, I only had the opportunity to do it because of you, Naruto."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

"She couldn't sleep because she was up thinking about your whole dilemma between her and Ayame. How immature of you, by the way. And she got up to talk to the Jinjuriki girl about it." Kabuto crossed his arms lazily. "But Itachi here was too busy fucking the jinjuriki bitch, which led Samui straight to me."

Itachi's eyes hardened into a glare directed at Kabuto.

"I know it's hard to accept the blame in situations like these Itachi. Just to think how much could have been avoided if you has just kept it in your pants." Kabuto jabbed. "She came to talk to me about how much she loved you and how much she didn't deserve you and shit like that. It's funny how you have that effect on women, Naruto. First Ayame, then Samui. Ayame is dead too, by the way."

"What? Ayame? What happened to Ayame!?" Naruto roared.

"Inconsequential. She wasn't anything special to begin with anyways," Kabuto said with a laugh. "Nothing but a second rate wannabe kunoichi trying to impress the boy she loved. If only you were man enough to choose one or the other... maybe they'd still be alive."

Naruto vanished only to appear inches from Kabuto's face, blade drawn to behead the traitor, only for Naruto to be caught staring into a pair of blood red eyes with a six pointed star shaped pattern with a tomoe within each point.

"Tengoku (Heavenly dominion)" Kabuto muttered.

XXX END CHAPTER 38 XXX

It's been a while, I know, but hey, everyone needs a break sometime. Hope everyone had a happy holidays. Visiting family was great, I don't get to see them nearly often enough, but those three weeks was too long man. Its rough being the only introvert in a family full of extroverts... it is exhausting.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I did. Kabuto has some neat new abilities that you'll all get to learn about next chapter, and finally someone mentions Ayame for the first time in like 10 chapters. Go figure.

A bunch of cool stuff to come, that's kind of a cool thing about not writing for so long, you come up with a ton of crazy new ideas. Please review.