Chapter 3

Naruto's foot tapping on the ground as he waited for the other members of their squad was the only sound to be heard in the vicinity as he and Shikamaru waited for the remainder of their group. It became known early that morning that a group of sound ninja had come to the village and coerced, mostly forcibly, Sasuke Uchiha to leave Konohagakure. They were small signs of violence. When Tsunade had heard this, she was well, pissed. This couldn't have come at a worse time as almost all of the jounin were out of the village on missions, with only some genin and chunnin available for something as dangerous as this.

So, she reluctantly decided to call in the two rookie chunnin who had been promoted during the exams: Shikamaru Nara, whose strategic skills had proven a very useful asset in defeating a platoon of Oto shinobi, and, promoted because of his battle skill, on a probationary basis, Naruto Uzumaki. The blonde had been exuberant that day, celebrating with shouts and cries of joy that served quite amusing for all those around, as he was again quite literally, the loudest person on the street as the small party had walked to Ichiraku's to celebrate. Naruto wouldn't accept them going elsewhere. The blond had been hard at work serving in D-rank missions, even going so far as to make a few clones to do some of the more boring ones for the sake of repairing the village quicker, in addition to a few he had helping him with his taijutsu.

Kakashi had pointed out that Naruto's taijutsu style, if it could be called that, was little more than a few grapple moves and combinations he had seen at the academy, augmented greatly by his enhanced stamina and strength. He had basically said that Naruto was a shit-stain when it came to taijutsu, and that it would have shown in his performance if it hadn't been for the yellow-haired boy's amazing endurance. So, Naruto had taken to using a few clones to watch himself spar, to try and find weaknesses and loopholes. Hiruzen had told him again to watch the number, so two watched whilst he sparred with one. Then he would dispel all of them and consider his performance. They days had been passing fast with this regime and the repair work going on since the invasion, until now.

Naruto was pissed, this time, at his teammate. He could have gone for help, he could have shouted out or something, but noo. Sasuke Uchiha, one of the greatest pricks in the whole wide world probably went down trying to prove to himself that he was strong and didn't need help. Meh, they'd have to go get him now. Stupid teme.

Shikamaru Nara stood beside the blond rookie chunnin, rather annoyed by the morning's events. He had been peacefully eating breakfast, and was going off to do some mind-numbing D-ranks with his team, or so he thought. He had been munching on his cereal when his mother said that Hokage-sama had a mission for him, and it was urgent. He hadn't even finished his cereal. "Damn it!" he had said as he left for the Hokage tower. The message also said to bring Naruto Uzumaki, another rookie chunnin like him.

Naruto had removed the lid off the instant ramen cup after waiting two minutes, which he disliked, and was about to savour some yummy breakfast-ramen goodness, when Shikamaru had burst in through the window, and said they had to leave immediately for an urgent mission. He hadn't even finished his morning ramen. Hell, he hadn't even started. "Damn it!" he had said. But Naruto had had an epiphany before leaving that solved the problem.

Tsunade was sitting in her chair, waiting on the two rookie chunnin to appear. She had been sleeping, askew on her table when Izumo and Kotetsu, two of her bodyguards, who also frequented as the gate guards reported that Uchiha Sasuke had been taken from the village. She hadn't even had her morning sake yet. Scratch that, she hadn't even fucking brushed yet. "Damn it!" she had said as she searched for available shinobi to summon on short notice. And thirty minutes later, she was treated to the sight of said two rookie chunnin, entering through the door, one yawning and the other…eating ramen. What the hell?
"Gaki, put that away!" she shouted.

Naruto finished the cup in seconds after the statement was made. "Sure thing, Baa-chan!" he said cheekily, throwing the cup in a nearby bin. Tsunade had a tick-mark on her face as she stared at her fellow blond. She had then proceeded to inform them of the night's events, leading up till that point.

And that had led to where they were now. Waiting on the rest of the available squad.

As they showed up, one by one, Naruto became a little more relieved. "About time ya got here!" he said as Kiba and Akamaru joined them. The squad had now all assembled. Their squad comprised Neji, Kiba, Choji, Shikarumaru and himself. "Listen up. There's not much time, so I'm going to brief." Said Shikamaru. "We have been chosen on a mission by Hokage-sama, to go and bring back Sasuke Uchiha, who has been taken by a group of sound ninja."

"Don't you mean kidnapped?" piped up Naruto. Shikamaru turned to look at his fellow chunnin. "What?" he asked, momentarily taken aback by the question. "Well, you said 'taken'. Don't ya mean kidnapped?" Replied Naruto.

"Well, taken sounds cooler, you know, like from a movie or something. I just thought that it sounded cooler."

"Well, it sounds stupid, if ya ask me." Replied Naruto.

"I know, right! I was totally lost there for a sec!" said Kiba from beside him.

"I agree as well." Said Neji.

"There's no way any movie would have a name like that!" declared Naruto.

"I thought it sounded cool." Said Choji, now munching on a bag of chips. Shikamaru stared at them, and sweat-dropped.

'I was only trying to sound cool. But with these idiots…what a drag…I shouldn't even have tried…' he thought.

"Getting back to the point, their exact identities and skills are unknown, though I estimate them to be at least chunnin level in skill. Be prepared to fight at a moment's notice. Take them out, if necessary."

Shikamaru looked at all of them with a more serious air. "This mission is going to be tough, guys. We can't afford to give the enemy any quarter. Let's go!"

Just as they were about to leave, they were stopped by Sakura. After she told Naruto what happened the previous night, Naruto was angry. He didn't understand Sasuke's reasoning. After all, he could get stronger and avenge his clan if he went to Orochimaru. But, he would have no support from Konoha, one of the strongest hidden villages, which had tons of strong shinobi, to boot. Maybe Sasuke had been influenced by the cursed seal. He had had a talk with Jiraiya a few days ago, after his bout with the raven-haired avenger.

"Ero-sennin, you should have seen me, I was awesome. I totally got him good for those times at the academy! Heh, you should have seen his face once I was done! He looked like a doormat!" The boy laughed loudly.

After he told Jiraiya about the details of the fight, and why he had stopped fighting in the middle, about he gave up to prevent the fight from escalating, Jiraiya smiled at him. "Good work, gaki. You really showed a lot of maturity, Naruto. I'm proud of you." Said the sannin.

"Thanks, ero-sennin!" replied the exuberant young boy.

"Hm…it's very good that you didn't aggravate him further. If what you say is true, he might have drawn on the cursed seal to get strength to beat you. If that happens, he's even more vulnerable to Orochimaru's subliminal messages, which means he can't think straight. The seal influences him and like an addict, he becomes more and more in need of its power. That's why anyone branded with the seal is likely to become one of Orochimaru's servants. The only person who has escaped is Anko Mitarashi. But that's beside the point. If this is happening, we have to do something and quick. I'll see if I can do something, perhaps devise a more permanent seal to curtail the effects. Anyway, be careful, Naruto, around him."

Back in the present, Naruto gritted his teeth. The idiot! He could have gone to him, Sakura, anyone for help! But he chose to leave. He looked at Sakura, who was tear stains around her eyes, presumably from crying so much.

"Naruto, I wasn't strong enough to stop him from leaving. I-I…I couldn't stop him!" Tears streamed down her pretty face; they made her pale face look dark, noted Naruto. "C-can you bring him back?"

Naruto looked at her. He was inclined to say yes, to make Sakura feel better, but what if couldn't? What he if couldn't do it? What if Orochimaru was waiting for them somewhere? Or more of his men? He didn't want to make a promise he knew he didn't have a definite chance of keeping, and he knew Orochimaru being there would basically be guarantee that they'd fail. He was one of the sannin after all. And he had a whole army of people willing to fight for him.

But Sakura was distraught. Wasn't something that would make her feel better worth it? Naruto frowned. Sakura was a fellow shinobi. She would need to do deal with things like one. He sighed. Looks like she was going to have to shed a few more tears. "I'm sorry, Sakura, but I just don't know." He said, slightly shocking the pinkette. "Sasuke, according to you, left without anyone forcing him to. He chose to leave. What if, he doesn't want to come back? I can't force him to. That's no better than what Orochimaru's doing." Sakura's eyes widened.

"Sasuke is what he says he is, an avenger. It's his self-given purpose. And no matter how stupid it is to not think ahead for his clan, he chose to do this himself."

Sakura just nodded dumbly. She knew she was weak, but even if she had been strong enough to stop Sasuke, according to Naruto, they'd be no better than the bastard who had enticed him away. So, she was totally confused. She knew that Sasuke wasn't a bad person, but he had chosen this path. The path of the rogue shinobi, to abandon all his comrades, his village, the chance to repopulate his clan here in Konoha, and to leave.

"Naruto, I-I understand." She said, her shaking voice reminding Naruto of the fact that he had to leave. He nodded. "Stay strong, Sakura-chan. Despite all that, I'll try to get him back." He said and turned around to the rest of the squad, who were waiting for the conversation to end. "This little delay seems to have put us a little behind schedule. We're going to have to pick up the pace." Naruto nodded. They had to get back Sasuke Uchiha. That was the mission. "Yosh! Let's go, team!"

Tayuya brushed a few falling leaves out of his face as they moved along the forest. She looked to her right to see a white-haired man carrying a big drum containing the person their master wanted: Sasuke Uchiha, and to the final member of their team, the big, grotesque Juugo.

The team sent to get Sasuke Uchiha, moved along through the forests surrounding the village hidden in the leaves. There were three shinobi on the team. Tayuya, a member of the sound four, whose numbers had dwindled down to one after Jiraiya had handily dispatched them during the Oto-suna invasion. She was a red haired kunoichi, the hair colour being a trait of the Uzumaki clan, of which she was a descendant. But she had little to no idea of the same. She recalled how she had been sent on this mission.

Orochimaru, was by all standards but his own, very creepy. Scratch that, she bet he even creeped himself out, stupid cock-sucking bastard. The snake sannin had called on her and told her he had a mission for her. He then smirked as he told Kabuto to bring in her team for the mission. Kabuto had led in a few Oto nin she knew but the last one fucking made her take a step back. Kimimaro.

Kimimaro had been suffering from a disease for a long time, a terminal one, she had heard, which meant there was no way to cure him. Orochimaru had taken him to get healed by Tsunade, but the albino had seemingly been unresponsive after she was done. It was later discovered that he was in fact, alive and kicking. It had taken his system two weeks to flush out the rest of the infection and for him to get back to full strength. Now, he was stronger than ever. And he was going to be make him the team leader.

Orochimaru saw her tremble, and smirked. "Now, your mission is very simple. There have been reports received from the northern hideout indicating a mortality rate that….displeases me. Find out what it is and take care of it. Kimimaro-kun, you're team leader."

Kimimaro had led them to the northern hideout, where most of the most vile, disgusting, degrading and blood-curdling experiments were.

-Flashback-

They had entered to see one of the most horrifying sights Tayuya had ever seen in her short life. The putrid smell of blood and faeces dominated the air. It reeked of death and decay. The sight was nauseating, even to her, who had seen her fair share of death. There were nearly a hundred bodies in the area, all of them mutilated in some way or the other. Some had their limbs torn off, some didn't have a midsection, and there were some which were turned inside out.

They walked into the remainder of the hideout, which was mostly rubble now, she noted. They started looking for survivors, to tell them what had happened. But Kimimaro had taken one look and his eyes had narrowed. He walked steadily, his path unwavering. Tayuya, as she moved some of the bodies with her Doki, noticed him paying no attention to any of the proceedings and moving into the inner sanctums of the prison. She saw him jump down a broken section of the floor onto one of the lower levels, and his eyes narrowed even further, if that was possible. He broke into a run, and she followed, wondering if he knew what in blue blazed had happened there. She saw him run to a corner cell, whose door was one of the few that remained untouched and stop. She stopped just behind him, waiting for him to do something. She turned around to observe her surroundings, when she noted that almost all of the destruction had happened here, or at least started here. Was this the source? Was this the thing that had cause all of the destruction, all that carnage upstairs?

"Oi…" she said, trying to get at what the albino was doing. She got a blank stare in return. Such things were to be expected from Kimimaro. "You sure we should even be here without the others?"

Kimimaro's stare intensified. "I'm n-not sayin' ya can't handle it…" she said nervously, her hands up in a placating fashion. Most people who knew Tayuya would say that it was odd seeing her speech without any profanity in it, others who knew the red-headed spitfire would stare strangely if it didn't. Tayuya waited for a response. She didn't get one though. The albino simply turned his head back to the door he was looking at before.

He strolled towards it, as though he had been doing so for years. He put his hand firmly on the handle and yanked. The door opened with ominous creaking. Inside, Tayuya saw something which would haunt her dreams for months. Kimimaro's eyes widened. "Juugo…"

Inside, there was a figure hunched over the corner. He was covered in blood, innards and grime. Several weapons were stuck in different parts of the body. Juugo's large frame was hunched over a small dying rat. There were also five more corpses, she note

d, based on the count of severed heads in the room, one in each corner, and one more in the centre. The bodies were scattered around, some parts here, some there. There seemed to be no way to figure out which part went where. Kimimaro called out the name of the lone prisoner in the room once more. "Juugo." He said, unfazed by the gore and carnage.

The large figure turned around, and stared at Kimimaro with wide red eyes. Kimimaro frowned. It seemed Juugo had gotten so far into his rage that he didn't even remember who he was. He idly watched the behemoth of a man charge his kekkei genkai and transform his hand into a grotesque, piston-like ram before charging at him with all the force of a truck on a highway.

He paused. What was a truck?

He dodged the attack with ease, Juugo's speed wasn't very great in this form. Tayuya had gotten out of the way the moment she saw him transform, he noted. Good. At least she had some common sense. A few more seconds had passed, and he waited. He didn't see the rampaging monster anymore. He frowned as he stepped outside the cell. He looked around to see no sign of the crazed prisoner, his old friend. His frown deepened.

He channelled his chakra. It seemed Juugo had gone in the direction of the others. He sighed. He had to move.

-End flashback-

Juugo had proceeded to slaughter the rest of the squad, only him and Tayuya remained. Juugo had apparently been rendered completely insane in recent days. The reason for the same had yet to be determined. The reason for his breakout was a complete transformation that seemed to leave him with no memories of the event and a rather crazed disposition. Kimimaro had to beat him senseless before he managed to gain some semblance of awareness and began crying like a new born at the death and destruction he had caused. Kimimaro was about to leave when they received a message from their master. They were to go get Sasuke Uchiha. With most of his squad dead, Kimimaro had decided to bring his insane friend along.

Obviously he was too important to be left behind, there was no one strong enough nearby to watch him, and so there he was. He would only listen to Kimimaro now.

He had remained rather reticent throughout the ordeal of enticing the raven-haired boy to leave the village, which Kimimaro had done himself, with Tayuya and Juugo watching. Afterwards, once the boy had met with them outside the village, and the process had begun, Juugo had still stayed silent.

Kimimaro knew he would have to have a talk with him once they got back. So here they were, moving quickly outside the forests of Konoha, towards the valley of the end, and beyond, onto Otogakure, where the snake sannin waited for them with bated breath. The body he was in had grown weak, and he needed a new one as soon as possible.

The Konoha contingent was moving fast as they jumped from tree to tree in the forest. The formation they were in, designed by Shikamaru to be useful against any surprised seemed to be working effectively, as they moved rapidly, directed by Neji's Byakugan and Akamaru's nose. "We're getting close!" said Neji, as a warning to the others, who immediately turned their focus forwards.

They jumped into a clearing and landed. They were about to move again when they heard music. Music coming from a flute, of all instruments. Shikamaru frowned. Why would they hear something like this, here of all places? Was it a distraction? "Stay on your guard." He warned the others, who took up stances. The sound seemed to be lulling them to sleep. They began feeling drowsy, and the stances of the squad began to falter as they tried to pinpoint the source of the music. "Genjutsu!" screamed Neji. "It's a genjutsu!" Gathering all his chakra, he let it all out at once, yelling 'Kai!', a move that was mirrored seconds later by his teammates. And then, things seemed to explode.

Neji saw a giant of a man, coming with what appeared to be a gigantic arm made of something he couldn't ascribe, right at him, and with the force of a train, send him flying away. The rest of the squad saw strange doll-like spirits flying towards them, about to ram them. Kiba and Shikamaru jumped out of the way, but Choji took a hit, sending him flying away. He got up, brushing his chin. This didn't bode well.

Shikamaru looked around. There were several dolls, which appeared to be controlled by someone, who was mostly hiding out nearby, mostly the caster of the previous genjutsu. Neji had been taken out, so they had lost their most effective tracker and close-range fighter, he thought, gritting his teeth. Then there was that behemoth, who looked ready to slaughter them all. He didn't look like he had any finesse though, and that was an advantage.

"Kiba!" shouted Naruto, who had now broken out of the genjutsu with an ear-spilitting "Kai!" shouted. "Where's the caster of the genjutsu?"

Kiba sniffed the air for smells for a second, and his ninja dog did the same. They looked at each other for confirmation and pointed straight towards where they had been about to go. "That way!" he shouted, Akamaru barking in agreement as well.

"Shika! Lemme take on the genjutsu user!" the hyperactive blond shouted.

Shikamaru nodded. Though they could use the blond in fighting the larger assailant, he had both Choji and Kiba to help him finish off the large brute. Afterwards, they could regroup and move forward. A genjutsu user providing the finesse and subtlety the bigger assailant in front of them lacked must be key to this team, he thought.

Naruto made his move, jumping in the direction of the woods, but was stopped by the Doki, that had made over to counter his moves. He proceeded to make shadow clones to fight them. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow clone jutsu)!" he shouted, and several copies of the blond popped into existence and began battling the inanimate dolls.

"Juujin no jutsu!(Man-beast clone)" yelled Kiba as he got down on all fours. He tossed a pill to his canine companion, who then proceeded to transform into him.

Kiba and Akamaru joined in then, trying to assist the blond. The large man suddenly made a move. "Raaaaaargh!" he screamed, like an enraged animal, and heaved his strange arm, which looked like something made of dead flesh and with a piston-like hammer at the end. He rushed towards the fracas, with abandon and rage, like a true psychopath and flung himself into it. His speed was increased, Shikamaru noted. The guy was a raging bull!

Kiba was battling one of the moving dolls, when he noticed the gigantic man-creature running towards Akamaru. "Shit! Akamaru!" he yelled, kicking aside the doll he was fighting. Ninja dog he may be, Akamaru couldn't survive an attack like that. He pushed aside the clone of himself, putting himself directly into the path of the monster that was still screaming. And then, for Kiba, everything went black.

Choji saw red as he watched Kiba be knocked away by Juugo. "Ningen-Sensha!(Human-bullet tank)" his body enlarged and transformed into a round tank that proceeded to roll behind the behemoth who had now stopped on impact with Kiba. Knocking aside a few doki on the way, he hit the assailant with full force, sending the mutant-like man flying away.

"Kiba!" yelled Naruto as he saw his fellow ninja get hit by the charging giant. He tried to make to see what had happened, but a call from Shikamaru got his attention. "Naruto!" cried Shikamaru. "Go! We've got this guy! Finish off the other one!" Reluctantly turning away, Naruto jumped into the canopy, some of his clones accompanying him.

Choji's hit had sent Juugo flying away. Shikamaru saw Choji continue with another impact, then another. Shikamaru used this distraction to find Kiba, who was lying against a tree, a ninken dog yipping sadly next to him. Fishing out a soldier pill from a bag given to them by Tsunade, he put the pill in the boy's mouth and watched him get up. "You alright?" he asked the now slowly rising boy. "Gimme a minute and I'll be fine." Kiba answered. He nodded and gestured to the direction where Choji and their opponent was. "That way." He said.

Meanwhile, Choji had hit the giant man repeatedly, finally sending him colliding with a tree. He panted as he undid his jutsu. "How's that…"he said, mostly to himself, "for ya?" he panted as he watched the body of the man twitch slightly, a bit of his blood staining the ground. His clan's jutsu were suitable for strength, not too much for speed though; they were quite useful in situations like this. Shikamaru joined him a minute later. "Kiba's coming. Let's get Neji and move." He said to his old friend, who nodded and stood his ground, waiting for Kiba. He looked at the tree where Juugo was a few minutes ago, and his eyes widened.

"Aaaaaaargh! You will die! For Kimimaro!" he screamed, and charged.

Choji closed his eyes, unable to dodge, and braced himself for the impact as the giant charged him with his hammer arm.

The impact never came.

He opened his eyes slowly, to see the man stuck in motion, unable to move. He looked at his feet and saw a shadow connecting the man's shadow to Shikamaru's. "Choji!" he yelled. "Go get Neji!" Shikamaru's eyes were at his feet, where saw a small pouch. It must be soldier pills, he thought, as he picked it up and rushed to get their fallen comrade. Shikamaru watched his friend leave the scene, rushing as fast as he could, to get their fallen comrade. He looked the man he was holding, who seemed to be struggling with all his might. He could maintain the jutsu for a while longer, so all he had to do was wait until Kiba got back. Sending Choji to get Neji was his idea, Neji's gentle fist style and Byakugan would be key to defeating this guy, and Kiba would be there shortly to help him.

'Speak of the devil,' he said, as he saw the brown-haired boy and ninken jump into the clearing. "Kiba!" he yelled at the Inuzuka. "Hit him with kunai! We have to finish him off and get Sasuke!"

Juugo seemed to get angry at that. His piston arm seemed to let out gas like a geyser, and all of a sudden, Shikamaru's hold on his jutsu was no longer solid. Putting even more chakra into it, he yelled, "Finish him off! I can't hold the jutsu any longer, Kiba!" Kiba and Akamaru nodded and he pulled out some kunai and shuriken and hurled them at the behemoth.

However, their efforts were of no use. The giant of a man didn't even seem to care about the kunai headed straight for him. He raised up his piston arm to block the incoming projectiles. The kunai were simply embedded in the brown flesh of his monstrous arm. Shikamaru frowned. 'He doesn't seem to be fazed at all.' Thought the black haired boy as he pushed more chakra into the jutsu, trying to fight against the strength of the monster in front of him. "More, Kiba! Throw more!" he shouted.

Kiba nodded and pulled out more kunai and a few shuriken. "Take this, ya freak!" he yelled, hurling them at the trapped giant. Said giant simply smirked and brought up his arm to cover himself. Shikamaru grinned. 'Oh no you don't!' He forced more chakra into the jutsu at the critical moment. Juugo's eyes widened as he felt himself stiffen for a second. For the time since the inception of the fight, Juugo's blood stained the earth.

Kiba smirked at the successful hit. Shikamaru's use of the jutsu had been spot-on. He had timed the influx of chakra perfectly with the timing of the kunai and shuriken. He looked at the now bleeding giant. He had taken two kunai to his normal arm, one to his side, and the shuriken had embedded themselves onto the flesh of his leg, close to the knee. 'A few more attacks, and this asshole'll be down!' thought Kiba, as he reached into this pouch.

"Aaaaargh!" the giant screamed, gas rushing out of the pistons on his arm.

Shikamaru was sweating heavily as he felt the increasing resistance the man was putting up. 'Damn it! I can't waste any more chakra!' he thought. "Kiba!" he yelled to his comrade, who was now ready with another salvo of weaponry to hurl. "Now!" he yelled. Kiba hurled the kunai with all his might. There were even a few with explosive tags attached, noted Shikamaru.

The behemoth sprang into action at Shikamaru's signal. He tried to turn and make for the nearest of his weak opponents, which was Shikamaru, but a sudden pulse of chakra to the Shadow Possession jutsu had him frozen mid-turn. He saw the grim face of his opponent, who had a wry smile.

BOOM!

Kiba watched in morbid fascination as the behemoth turned to lunge at his squad's leader, only to be stopped at the last second by a pulse of chakra to said leader's signature jutsu that left him dangerously exposed to the final salvo of kunai he'd thrown.

Kiba watched in morbid fascination as several of the kunai embedded themselves in the flesh of his left leg, the one that had previously been hit by shuriken. One even had an explosive tag on it. Kiba jumped back to avoid getting caught up in the blast.

Kiba again watched in morbid fascination as their large opponent was blown up.

'Shikamaru is downright scary when it comes down to it.' He thought.

Choji, who had just found Neji and woken him up with a soldier pill heard the explosion as well. "Shit! We gotta get back!" he uttered to his now revived comrade. Neji nodded, a serious expression on his face.

-Meanwhile, with Naruto-

The annoying dolls that had been swarming Naruto for the past ten minutes had finally begun grating on Naruto's nerves. What was worse was that they underwent some kind of weird transformation when he'd made a bunch of clones earlier. They'd basically lost their physical forms and become some weird ghost-like thingies, thought Naruto. 'Now I wonder if the user can see through those things, because if they could, ero-sennin would love-'

Unfortunately for that rather innovative line of thought, one of the now translucent doki had nailed him hard on the face, sending him flying back.

The steady flow of memories from dispelled clones stopped mid-flight as well. Naruto knew this meant he'd have to start getting serious. He needed to find the person controlling those thingies. He brought his fingers up in a familiar hand-seal.

He smirked. He had a plan.

Tayuya frowned. She had activated level 1 of the cursed seal to trap the flying blond in a genjutsu, but there were no screams of pain from the vicinity.

Her doki were certainly useful, especially since she didn't have to get in to close, but they really didn't have the capacity to finish off any decent opponents. Those weird solid clones, that blond asshole had spawned, they were mincemeat for her doki. They got those stupid fucking clones good, she thought, a small smirk making its way to her face.

She continued playing her melody, hoping her blond opponent would fall prey to her genjutsu, but there was still no sound. Maybe he was unconscious. She then finally heard a scream. She began moving in the direction of the blond, all the while not stopping her song. Didn't hurt to be careful, after all. She heard a more muffled screams as she began running.

She moved forward, jumping from branch to branch. The guy should have been somewhere around here, she thought. She caught a glimpse of a fallen ninja in a flak jacket in the clearing and smirked. The guy was holding his head in his hands. Looks like he hadn't managed to escape after all.

So focused was Tayuya on her intended target that she failed to note two sets of blue eyes behind her.

She jumped into the clearing towards her presumably fallen opponent. He was writhing in pain, she noted. He wasn't screaming, but was twitching violently and didn't seem to even have noticed her arrival. She pulled out a kunai and rushed the fallen blond.

As she brought the blade to pierce his throat, she caught a glimpse of his focused blue eyes. 'Gotcha!' thought the whiskered Konoha-nin, as he dodged the sharp blade and delivered a haymaker to the surprised girl's face. Tayuya saw stars for a second as she found herself eating a taijutsu combination from her opponent.

Naruto followed up with a punch to her ribs, switched to a knee to her stomach and a kick to her shins. Then he delivered a final punch that knocked her down.

"You FUCKING son-of-a-bitch!" she yelled irately. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

Naruto's initial clone was to pretend to rush back to presumably attack Tayuya from the front, whilst he tried to sneak around the back. The clone however fell prey to the first genjutsu the sound-nin had used initially and had been dispelled. However, this caused the original to realize exactly what was happening. A few more clones later, and a trap was set.

"Nice try!" He yelled back. "But you won't get the best of me!" he said dramatically, gesturing to himself with his hands like a cheap magician at a village fair. 'I must look like a total badass right now.' He thought to himself.

Jiraiya, Naruto's, ahem, rather eccentric and flamboyant sensei, renowned throughout the elemental nations for his skills for his amazing feats as a ninja for Konohagakure no Sato, as one of the sannin, but mostly for his series of smut novels that had received critical acclaim, being a staple constituent of the average male's bookshelf (which was already impoverished in the ninja world, but impressive considering that males from all over the shinobi world, hell, even the samurai of Tetsu no kuni read those books), had rubbed off a little bit on the blond, leading to his current state. Said current state was him thinking he looked…ahem…badass, when he was in fact standing, giving his opponent a sideways profile while moving his arms in a manner eerily similar to how the Ginyu force struck their signature poses. Naruto did read a few manga, though in hindsight, he would come to slap himself for striking a pose that looked so….well...cringe-sworthy. His clones, who had noticed this, already looked mortified.

Tayuya stared strangely at Konoha nin's posturing. He looked like a complete, utter idiot. 'What kind of stupid dickhead poses like that?' she thought as she witnessed Naruto's latest bout of stupidity. Meanwhile, a certain toad sage who had stopped in a nearby town for some….information gathering on his way back to his Hokage to deliver a report sneezed. This, of course, led to the women in the bathhouse he was…..gathering information about, to discover his presence to find him and beat the crap out of him, leaving him a lifeless husk on the side of the road.

Meanwhile, Tayuya got up shakily and faced the blue eyes of her enemy. She knew that she had to go full power to finish this bastard off. She brought her hands up in a hand-seal. She had to activate level two now.

Naruto was on guard when he saw his opponent preparing to go through hand-seals for a jutsu, or so he assumed. He was not, however, prepared for the weird-whatever-it-was that was happening to her.

Now, Naruto was too shocked to act. His enemy's weird transformation was freaking him out. He had actually had a new move set up to defeat this girl and had even asked his clones to rush her the moment she was open. The clones, watching from the nearby bushes, had no clue as to what was going on however and sprung the trap.

Making a few clones themselves, the clones ran at the temporarily immobile kunoichi, who hadn't yet noticed their presence. The first two slid and kicked her up into the air. 'Now, boss!" they yelled, with identical, quite literally identical, grins on their faces.

The next two clones jumped off them to hit her further into the air. "U-ZU-"

Naruto snapped into attention.

The next set jumped after them propelling her further. "-MA-KI-"

He jumped off one of his clones and formed a rasengan in his hands. It was time to finish this.

As he attempted to finish off the prone girl in the air, her transformation finally finished, with her growing horns, amidst the red skin and now somewhat changed hair colour. "NOT YET, YOU FUCKING COCKSUCKER!" she yelled as she brought up a leg to deliver a kick to Naruto's face that sent him flying back.

Naruto's shocked expression went away in a second, however. "Guys! One more time!" he yelled to his clones, who were watching from below.

"Aw…now it's not cool anymore…" one said, as they began moving.

"I know, right…." Said another. The lined up again.

"Now it's getting cli-cli-"another tried to say. The clones began charging for their jumps, as Tayuya was falling down.

"Cliché!" finished one more.

"Boss needs to make shit work the first time!" said a clone, rather forcefully. The original sweat-dropped as he descended from his jump. "SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU IDI-" he stopped mid-sentence as he saw Tayuya reach for her flute again.

The clones' somewhat distracted gazes suddenly hardened at the instrument that had been the source of one of their kinds' earlier misery.

"Well, we might as well get closer to the end of the name…" said one as he launched towards the descending kunoichi.

"Osu!" yelled another three as they launched as well.

Two of them went straight for the falling girl as another two shot up right behind them. Tayuya growled. These clones were becoming REALLY FUCKING annoying. She hit one with an axe kick that dispelled it and then turned around to the other and tried to swat it away with a punch. The clone barely dodged by moving instead its head away and raising its feet in a now all-too-familiar fashion for Tayuya. Tayuya's eyes widened. The clone grinned.

"U-!" It said pummelling her jaw with a double heel kick. She flew up higher. The next two followed suit quickly.

"-ZU-!" She tried to turn around and hit them. One of them took the hit and the other slammed into her with a headbutt to her nose, sending her up again.

"-MA-!" Two more hit her in rapid succession as she couldn't turn around in time to counter them. No matter, in state two, this was no big deal.

"KI-!" The original frowned as he jumped. She didn't seem to be taking as much damage as before. He brought his hands up in a familiar seal and breathed out a sigh.

Tayuya watched the original try to finish her. Didn't matter, the little shit didn't know how much stronger level 2 made her. As much as this would hurt her, she would be able to get back up and finish the fight. After all, level 2 was where she was at her best. The extra durability and strength she got in addition to the power boost were not laughing matter, after all.

The axe kick hit her spot on. "UZUMAKI-!" yelled the Naruto above her. As she fell down, she heard a strange spinning sound. Her eyes panned to below her as she saw a Naruto flying up towards her, hand outstretched.

"-RASENGAN RENDAN!(Uzumaki-rasnengan combo)" Tayuya's eyes widened as she saw a blue spinning ball of chakra in the original's hand as he ascended towards her.

Naruto had seen how Tayuya had made short work of his first clone in the air. He also saw that she was able to attempt to fend off his other clones, whilst just a few minutes ago, she hadn't. Guessing she was stronger, which was more or less right, he made a clone do the final step of the Uzumaki-Rendan (Uzumaki Combo) and went straight for her once again falling form with a rasengan.

Tayuya's form went further up into the air as a result of the spinning chakra ball. Naruto's clones watched as she went up.

"How high do ya think she'll go?" asked one.

"Beats me." Replied another. "Think she'll tell us if saw any birds?"

"Why do you care?" asked another irately.

"We-e-ll," said the one that had asked, "I was hoping someone would wanna bet, y'know, so it'd be interesting."

The original had to watch as the rest of his clones mobbed the one clone for bets. 'I wonder what they're betting on…' he thought as the falling form of the girl began descending. She really was up high.

"Shouldn't we catch her or something?" asked a clone. "Nah." Said the original. "She's got that weird colour still, I think. She seemed to take a few solid hits with that so I guess she'll be good."

He watched as the girl fell out of the sky. He moved a few steps back as the girl fell approximately near where he'd been standing, kicking up a bit of dust.

It was lucky that he'd noticed her increased strength. He chuckled when he remembered the lecture he'd gotten from the old man.

Naruto let out a breath. He had to get moving. He was lucky the old man had told him about the benefits of being observant.

-Flashback-

Naruto was seated in Hiruzen's room at the Sarutobi compound. He had been meeting with the Hokage when he could, and that was somewhat often. Hiruzen, of course, had been pleased to have his favourite blond (Though Tsunade would probably raise hell if she heard that, so second favourite, he supposed) come visit him.

"Hey, Jiji," said the hyperactive blond. "What makes you such a strong ninja?" the boy wondered, partly in askance, partly in ponder.

'Straight out of the left field, as usual' thought Hiruzen. 'I wonder how he even manages to come up with some of this stuff.'

Hiruzen chuckled. The question was characteristic of Naruto, its bluntness and the tone of absolute curiosity served as proof to that. "Naruto-kun, what makes a good shinobi?" he asked back.

"I dunno, Jiji, that's why I'm asking you." Was the simple reply.

"What do you think, Naruto-kun?" the wizened old kage asked. Naruto had grown a bit since the exams, he wondered if the boy's take on what made a shinobi had changed.

"Well, I used to think it was knowing all sorts of cool jutsu, and awesome moves that'd make you super strong, but now, I'm not sure. I mean, I want to get strong and be able to protect my precious people. That's why I want to become Hokage. To be able to protect everyone in the village. That's what the Hokage does, right?" Answered the rookie chunnin.

He had been wondering about his reason for wanting to become Hokage in the first place. Sure, he wanted to be acknowledged for who he was. But the only reason he hadn't been acknowledged until now wasn't because people didn't want to acknowledge him specifically, but because they hated what was inside him. Civilians didn't really understand shinobi matters as shinobi were a rather secretive lot (most of them at least, and the ones that weren't, well, they tended to be bloodthirsty, and well, no one wanted that). As such, Naruto was hated by most of the civilian population. The shinobi population however, was another matter. The shinobi population of Konoha tended to view the yellow-haired chunnin as a rabid troublemaker, no doubt due to his infamous pranks from the academy.

But, tangents aside, Naruto seriously considered his village as a place that he'd grown to care a great deal about. The little bits of history he knew, mostly stories of heroism of the previous kage of Konoha, only reinforced the opinion he had. And so, in recent days, he'd decided that he'd been acknowledged by people he cared about and decided that though he wasn't the Hokage yet, in a sense, his dream of being acknowledged was in effect, something he wanted because of unavoidable circumstances, such as the civvies not really knowing him. The stares of hatred and the way he'd been ignored until now were actually because people made a concerted effort to do so, in effect, he was being acknowledged by people ignoring him.

The day he'd noticed this, which was after another one of his talks with Hiruzen, he wound up not doing anything at all. He wound up going to the top of the Hokage monument, and essentially, smiling as though he'd found something he'd been looking for all his life, which in effect, he had. He just relaxed and spent the whole day there (which was a feat in itself for the hyperactive blond). That evening, he had a full meal at Ichiraku's, setting another record. It was, of the best days of his life.

But, then he'd thought, what should he do next? He had people he cared about, people who cared about him and he'd achieved something he'd wanted for a really long time. In effect, he had everything he wanted. He was so happy he wanted to do something back for the village. Something for all the people he loved, his friends, his comrades, even the villagers who so scorned him.

He decided to protect Konoha, the place that had let him fulfil his dream. The place where he had grown up, the place where he'd met so many people who he'd grown to care about. He decided to stay there longer, to make more memories in the place of his birth. He decided to protect it. To be a Hokage to protect it as best as anyone could.

And that had led to here, with Hiruzen smiling at him brightly.

"That's true, Naruto-kun," he said. "Every man, woman and child in the village is the responsibility of the Hokage to protect."

"But what about the other villages, Jiji? I mean, they can't be all bad, right?"

Naruto knew that people from other villages were just like the people from his, having met and made friends on his missions before. Haku and Zabuza were prime examples. Had they lived, they could have been friends.

The old Hokage let out a tired sigh.

"Hm….I'll tell you what, Naruto-kun. I want you to think of the answer to that, and then come one day and tell me. Until then, I'll teach you some of the things you'll need to know to live a happy and carefree life, as shinobi can."

Naruto looked a little nonplussed at not having his question, if it could even be called that, thought the Hokage, unanswered, but quickly perked up. "Okay, Jiji!" he replied brightly.

"So what cool thing do you want to start with first? How about awesome battle poses? How do you know when the explosions happen so you can look away, I mean that's how people look cool, right? Ooh, what about coming up with cool jutsu names?!"

The blond drooled at the idea of hearing so much cool stuff, and looked like an overeager puppy. Hiruzen sweatdropped. The kid really needed to cool down. The blond had steam coming out of his ears, for Kami's sake.

Deciding to say something before the blond really lost it, Hiruzen started. "What is the one thing that helps you understand the flow of a battle, Naruto-kun?"

"Huh?" was the eloquent response.

"When fighting, when you look at your opponent, as you're fighting, are you capable of telling if your opponent is holding back, humouring you, or if they are waiting for opportune moment to strike?"

"Well, don't you like know when they start taking you seriously?" asked the blond. Hiruzen patiently took a puff from his pipe and relaxed.

"Well, yes. You can never truly tell. But, there are certain things you could infer from the appearance and fighting technique of your opponent. You must learn to think a move ahead so in effect, you can make the right decisions in battle. Especially, when you lead a squad or when on mission that can have consequences of a political nature."

Taking another puff, he continued. "Why, let me tell you of when I became a jonin, and I was facing a rather wiry shinobi from Kiri…"

-End Flashback-

Naruto had learned, by the end of that story to really look at your opponent, and to spot any tells and feints, to possibly identify anything that could help him win his battles.

That was what had been applied in his encounter with Tayuya.

Naruto then stopped before he made to run behind his escaped comrade. "Tie her up." He ordered his remaining clones. He figured he could use the girl to get any info on Otogakure.

"See if you can get her to the village. After, if you're too far away, dispel. Otherwise, come back me up as soon as you can. I'll dispel some clones to let you know where I am periodically."

Naruto's shadow clone jutsu was, in almost all aspects of shinobi life, a boon in terms of versatility. He could make clones to help him accelerate his training, to help him with any scouting he had to do for his missions, and also in combat for a variety of things. One of those things he had discovered recently was that clones could hide and use their capabilities to make more clones, who would then serve as hit-and-run assailants. They would try suicidal one hit moves that could either work or serve as useful distractions.

Naruto's clones began their assigned task as he jumped into the trees to continue his pursuit of Sasuke.

-Meanwhile, back with others-

The exhausted face of Shikamaru Nara stared at the explosion that engulfed the gigantic Juugo. It had taken almost all of the explosive tags the group of ninja had to bring the fight to his point.

The behemoth had hit the team with all the force of a catapult hurling fiery anvils. It had taken soldier pills and one team member each time to bring the injured ninja back to the battle.

Kiba watched the flaming explosion with satisfaction. It had been almost impossible to take their huge opponent down. The generous use of explosive tags had greatly helped in the process. It would be useful to have more of those in battle, given the amount of havoc hey wrecked, he thought. His glee was short-lived, however, as he remembered his constant canine companion who had been taken out at the onset of the battle.

Kiba tore his eyes away from the explosion and jumped in the direction of his fallen comrade. He had to make sure that Akamaru was alright.

Choji and Neji came back just in time to see the fireworks as the area of land that had been Juugo's general vicinity became a whirling torrent of fire and smoke.

Shikamaru let out a sigh of relief. This had been far, far too troublesome. He had to catch up on much-needed sleep after he got back.

The flames finally dispersed to reveal the burnt form of Juugo, sans most of the brown parts of his skin. His right foot up till the knee was almost completely removed. The smell of burnt flesh wafted through the air with the breeze. It was a grotesque, gory sight that caused most ninja at the scene to make a concerted effort to keep their breakfast down.

The assembled ninja saw the blood was flowing out through the wound. Shikamaru urged Choji to check if the man was still alive and with signalled him with a finger to his neck to finish him off.

"Bunbun Baika no Jutsu (Partial Expansion Jutsu)!" shouted the rotund boy. His hands and forearms alone grew much bigger than the rest of his body. He slammed them on the prone form of the fallen Juugo and lifted the large man up and then slammed him down forcefully.

The boys watched as the large man hit the ground with the full force of a speeding bus. They paused. What on earth was a bus?

Continuing, Kiba, now with Akamaru cradled between his arms, set the small ninken down and stepped up with a kunai, presumably.

-Back at Konoha-

Jiraiya walked up to the Kage tower after another successful spy mission. He was wondering which way he could better annoy his busty team mate, by going through the window or by busting through the door. It was still pretty early, so he could maybe catch Tsunade still snoozing. Some pictures would be great blackmail material. It was then that he noticed that there seemed to be some state of emergency in the tower. His eyes narrowed and he began channelling chakra to his feet. Whatever it was, he was going to find out.

-A few minutes later-

"Orochimaru, again?!" he nearly bellowed.

"Yes, Jiraiya." Replied the acting Hokage. "It seems our old teammate doesn't seem to be satisfied with the current state of affairs. He wants the Sharingan. I've sent Naruto and a few more genin out. But, I need someone to back up them on short notice."

"I'll see you later, then, hime." The toad sannin answered, walking out. There was an old score to settle here.

It was a good thing he had been there to dispose the barrier corps or whatever that Orochimaru had been using when he tried to assassinate Hiruzen. He had decided after the Suna-Oto invasion to stick around more often as attacks like those could happen in the future. The village was growing, but it needed more time to flower. The ninja were strong, but they had the potential to grow. And they needed to, because of the vicious cycle of wars the elemental nations usually went through. Jiraiya wanted a way to stop it, he'd been thinking about this for so long, but he wasn't fully sure. Sometimes, he just wanted it all to stop.

He had decided to return a few days ahead of schedule, partly on a whim, partly because he had finished his usual work early. And now, he had to something to do, because of his wayward teammate. Orochimaru. The person he'd tried to stop from leaving. The person who'd become so twisted that he was no longer than pale, pasty asshole who'd been his teammate. He could only traces of the nin he knew back in the day now. And the man never seemed to stop degrading the morals of humanity. Taking over other human bodies? He stooped to such immoral and vile acts, it was impossible to see him as the person he became a genin with anymore. He man thrived off deplorable acts, sacrilege and other acts involving defiling anything that could be considered sacred to anyone. He had truly become some kind of twisted flunky, deriving pleasure out of his attempts to become immortal and learn all jutsu.

Seriously, what was with the man and immortality?

Jiraiya sighed. It seemed he needed to come to a decision on this matter once and for all after this little excursion.

Very well.

First things first.

He crossed the village gates, his speed making him a red and white blur to most people who happened to see him.

He couldn't let Orochimaru get his hands on the Sharingan. The body of an Uchiha would be a prize the snake sannin could use to cause exponentially more destruction, if this was allowed to happen. For that, to finish this off once and for all, he needed to train.

Well, that could wait. This couldn't.

-Back with Naruto-

The blond hopped into a clearing where it seemed a white-haired, pale-skinned man was holding some weird kind of barrel.

"Hey!" he yelled. "Stop!"

Naruto really wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. It finally dawned upon the rookie Chunnin that what he had done was one of the silliest, if not the most stupid thing he had ever done. As though, the guy would stop if he just told him to.

Which is why, he face-faulted when Kimimaro did just that. 'What the hell?!' he thought. 'Maybe this guy doesn't want to fight. Yeah, maybe he's just working for Orochimaru because he has to. Yeah, he probably isn't loyal at all. Maybe, I can talk him out of it. Yeah, and all this will be over. I'm just awesome!'

Later, Naruto would make himself a clone for the express purpose for slapping himself on the face so hard, he'd hit the ground. The aforementioned action was taken because Naruto was reminded of the sheer idiocy he'd displayed in thinking this way.

Anyway, our blond chunnin stopped in the clearing to see the albino who had surprisingly ceased running to set the drum down. The top of the drum was ripped open by a strange-looking hand that was a few seconds later noticed to be Sasuke's.

Only, he looked like a freakin'…well….freak.

'Okay, what the actual FUCK?!' was the only coherent thought that went through Naruto's brain.

Then the cursemark receded. The weird colouring, and other rather gross features, in Naruto's opinion, went back into the curse mark.

Naruto had a few days ago, learnt from Kakashi that Sasuke was in fact periodically troubled by the seal and that Kakashi had placed the Fuja Hoin(Evil Sealing Method) on him, and that Sasuke could use his will to supress the seal.

Naruto, based on these facts, came to one, logical conclusion.

-With the others-

As Kiba walked towards the behemoth to finally finish him off, he failed to notice the twitching of the man's fingers. As he took the final few steps towards the bulky frame of Juugo, he was subject to a strong wind that forced him to close his eyes for a second.

There was then the sound of a strong wind and something hitting a tree.

He opened his eyes to see streaks of crimson of his usually fully grey hoodie. He turned to the sandy haired girl who had appeared in the chuunin exams. He then turned to see Juugo's frame against the trunk of a tree, his eyes open. And glaring at the lot of them.

And then from the trees came a variety of strange weapons, which impaled Juugo in a rapid flurry of strikes. "That should take care of him." Said Kankuro, appearing from behind a nearby tree.

"Thanks for the assist." Said Shikamaru to Temari. She nodded in response. "We were asked to back you up as fast as we could."

He nodded. "That guy might still not be down." He said to the Suna-nin. "That's impossible," said Kankuro, matter-of-factly. "That guy's pumped full of poison from Karasu (crow). He's dead."

"Trust me, we blew up the shit out of him with like ten explosive tags, and that's how we got his leg like that." Said Kiba, from beside Shikamaru.

"Ten explosive tags?!" Kankuro-half yelled. "That's enough to blow him to smithereens!"

This statement's stark consequences were made evident by the fact that Juugo got up once again, his eyes back to their glare.

"That's enough to kill us, if we don't start moving again, NOW!" yelled Shikamaru.

And move, they did, as Juugo began to get up again.

"Well, that's not good." Said Kiba, summing it all up for them eloquently.