Fallen Leaves

Obligatory Authors Note: If I owned Naruto, this would be in the Manga or Anime, but I don't. Anyway just a couple of quick housekeeping things while I have your attention (even thought I probably don't). First, I do not use Japanese words that do not fit in the English grammar, so you will never see a san, chan, nani, arigato, or anything like that here. I personally find it maddening when someone does that, even worse when they don't provide plebian's like me with a translation. So yea, micro rant over, now lets get on with the show. I'll try my best to get an update out every Sunday. And for anyone familiar with my other stories and who may be curious where the hell I've been for two years, well I was in two car accidents, both that required major surgeries to repair. Hopefully that won't happen again

ANYWHO! On With the Show!!

Chapter One: A Snake in the Grass

Two weeks. Fourteen days seven hours 52 minutes and 8 seconds since Orochimaru had fought that blonde brat, and nearly lost, at the Heaven and Earth bridge. Adding insult to injury, he even had to loose a perfectly good hideout when the brats team had that pale boy named Sai infiltrate his base and revealed its location.

There was simply no way Orochimaru could stand for such an insult. The very thought of that boys face made his blood boil, had it not been for Tsunade's intervention three years ago then the whelp would already be dead and forgotten. The Akatsuki's plans would be in shambles and Orochimaru would have one less thing for Sasuke to think about, making his training go even better.

There was simply no way around it now.

"Kabuto."

"Yes Lord Orochimaru?" the gray haired man replied, turning to face his master.

"I have a mission for you," the gaunt man said with his hands folded in front of his face, the faintest trace of a smirk forming at the corners of his mouth.

"Anything my lord." Kabuto said as he sunk to one knee, head bowed humbly.

"I want you to assume a disguise, infiltrate the Hidden Leaf Village, and kill that pesky Naruto boy, preferably slowly and painfully." his smile revealing itself to the younger man.

"With pleasure my lord"

"Oh and Kabuto,"

"Yes my lord?"

"I want you to make it slow and painful, and to that end I have something for you to use…" Orochimaru rose lazily from his throne, and after a light stretch, proceeded to walk down a corridor on his left which led to the medical wing. An ironic name for the area considering that Kabuto had never used the place to heal a single thing, but rather, he an Orochimaru had used it to discover new Justu and…experiment on anyone with a promising ability that they encountered. litt

"Lord Orochimaru?"

"Yes Kabuto?"

"What is this thing you wish me to use?"

"A little something I learned from Sasori when I was still a member of Akatsuki. He called it the White Scorpion." Orochimaru began gathering vials filled with various chemicals and elements.

"It was his ultimate poison, though he never liked using it as it takes a very long time for the victim to die, long enough that a smart enough doctor could heal the poor soul." Orochimaru chuckled "Sasori never did have much patience"

" However it leaves the target completely vulnerable for an extended length of time, cutting off ones ability to use chakra. " Orochimaru smiled slightly "I doubt even dear Tsunade could cure this"

Kabuto smiled slightly as well, stepping up to the table and taking an empty beaker from the storage cabinet underneath it.

"Well my lord, how do I make it?"

Far away, the sun was shining in Konoha. People walked through the streets carrying about their individual businesses. Towards the outskirts of the city, in the woods around the training field just inside the walls, Naruto Uzumaki sat under a tree, his black and orange jacket lying next to him as he teased the tip of a kunai over his left arm.

Naruto wasn't the kind it wasn't the kind of person for cutting, it was messy, time consuming, and most importantly it was all but impossible for him to buy the band-aids he would need to care for the cuts. It also didn't help that if he were to cut himself the Nine-Tailed Fox would never let him hear the end of it. And since they shared a body the fox could make his life hell 24/7 if he wanted to.

In order to better control the Fox's power, Jiraiya had taught Naruto how to establish a dialogue with the beast, and while he wouldn't say that they were friends nor that they even liked each other, both the blond Shinobi and the nine tailed demon had no choice but to trust one another...and the Fox had made it very clear that he would not heal any wound that the boy inflicted upon himself unless it put the Fox's existence lives in danger.

Still the temptation to try cutting was almost unbearable at times. In spite of all his hard work, only a select few of the Shinobi community saw Naruto as a person instead of a monster. Granted that was helped by Tsunade being the Fifth Hokage, and since she considered Naruto like a little brother, no Shinobi would dare to discriminate against him in her presence. However, she couldn't watch him all the time, and neither could his friends be there all the time. That was when Naruto took what he had come to call his "exercise".

Usually it consisted of emotional endurance drills, the villagers and their children whispering or shouting things at him. He personally preferred when they whispered as he passed over when they shouted as when they whispered he could just pretend they were admiring his growth and looking forward to when he was the sixth Hokage. When they shouted it was the usual affair of 'monster', 'demon', and death wishes in one form or another.

He had almost developed a perverted pleasure in the interspaced agility and physical endurance exercises that were thrown (literally) in between the emotional endurance exercises. Spending his first 13 years of life dodging rocks, cans, bottles, apple cores, and other trash had actually made him faster on his feet and more nimble in his Ninja work, after all, if you can dodge a rock thrown at your back on a crowded street, then you had a decent chance of dodging a Kunai thrown at your face in the field.

And on the odd chance that the rocks hit their target, usually his head, then he got his endurance training in pain management. It was truly a symbiotic relationship if you looked at it right, the people of the Hidden Leaf Village got to take out their stresses on their favorite scapegoat/demon container, and Naruto got that much more training…granted the headaches were a bitch to deal with when you can't afford any medicine or get the landlord to fix your freezer. And even then, the lack of a freezer taught Naruto another important lesson; eat all you can while you can for you can never be sure when your next meal will be, nor how much you'll get.

He sighed heavily as he rested the back of his head against the tree behind him. He just wished it was so easy to pretend that the laughter that he heard after every rock, can, bottle, or other refuse hit him was so easy to ignore or spin in a positive light. He cracked open his blue eyes tiredly and stared long and hard at the kunai in his hand, wishing the damn thing could give him the answers he so desperately sought.

He dug in the pocket of his pants and pulled out the old silver pocket watch Jiraiya had given him for a birthday present the first year that they were traveling together. To say that the gift had stunned the young Shinobi would have been an understatement of the highest order, after all, it was the second gift he had ever received, the first being Iruka's headband.

Clicking it open he read the time, 9:45 am, that meant he had fifteen minutes to get over to the mission offices to see if Team 7 had anything interesting to do today, though with Kakashi still on the mend and Yamato out of town on an ANBU assignment, that prospect was unlikely at best.

"Oh well," he said to nothing in particular "Nothing ventured nothing gained!" he plastered his happy-go-lucky face back on and reached his arms out, stretching his back until his efforts were rewarded with a satisfying crack down his spine. That business done he collected his ninja tools from his morning training and started his leisurely walk to the mission offices. All the while failing to notice the Ninja watching him from a few trees away.

On his way he idly watched the clouds overhead, he felt like Shikamaru for a moment as he briefly wondered what it would be like to be a cloud. The thought of the lazy genius made him snicker to himself…even as he tilted his head to the left to avoid a rock.

When would these people learn? He was always at his best after morning training.

After striking out at the mission office yet again, and throwing another loud tantrum about it (as per what Tsunade had come to call 'Naruto Ritual') he left the building in a semi-serious huff. Wondering what he would with his day now, until he ran into Kiba Inazuka, and in an instant his façade was back in full view.

"Heya Dog-Breath!" he shouted a little louder then was necessary, the yell rewarded by a sour look on the taller boys face

"Heya back knuckle-head"

"What brings you around here Kiba? And Where's Akamaru, you guys are never apart!" Kiba just shrugged his shoulders, stopping a meter and a half in front of Naruto, leaning on his left hip absently with his hands in his pockets

"Akamaru's at home sleeping, I'm just here to get some information on my teams mission tomorrow. Shikamaru's supposed to be in the office today. Seen him?" Kiba couldn't help but smirk as he saw Naruto deflate at hearing how the other boy had a mission.

"He must be on a break then, cause I didn't see him when I was up there." Naruto grumbled. Kiba snickered at his friends irritation and couldn't resist taking a few jabs.

"So I take it you've got some super-secret awesome A+ ranked mission you're heading out for now?"

Naruto glared daggers at Kiba for a good ten seconds before replying.

"Man, that was just plain cold"

Kiba couldn't resist laughing out loud at the pout on Naruto whiskered face.

Kabuto had to say he was impressed with how Naruto had grown up so far, he was almost ashamed to have to kill him. But as it stood now, he could no longer take Naruto in a head to head fight, the boy was faster, stronger, smarter, and most of all just as unpredictable as before. Put together those were an extremely dangerous combination. Plus Naruto had the Chakra of the Nine-Tailed Fox to fall back on, that was just one more weapon in his arsenal.

Kabuto had been observing Naruto for two weeks now, every day the boy stuck to more or less the same schedule. At 6:00 am he woke up and stumbled into the bathroom. By 6:30 he stumbled back out in nothing but a towel, he tended to lounge around for a between three to ten minutes before getting dressed.

About 7:00 he made something for breakfast, usually Ramen, though there was the odd occasion where he ate a bowl of cereal. He drank milk from the carton and had a fairly empty fridge, Kabuto had yet to see the blond idiot open his freezer. He would finish his meal between 7:20 and 7:40 depending on what he made and how long it took him to clean up.

At 9 a.m. Naruto was at the training grounds where he exercised and practiced until 11:00, taking only a five-minute break after an hour of work. After that he tended to go to the missions office, presumably to check if there was anything for team 7 to do, so far it seemed those trips were all met with failure.

After that he would usually make a lunch stop at Ichiraku's for lunch, and by 1:00 he was either doing something with one of the other rookie 9, or back at the training field. He generally returned to his apartment at 9:30 in the evening where he seemed to study the various scrolls that littered his home. He didn't seem to own any electronics, but judging by how Kabuto had observed the other villagers vandalizing his home when he wasn't around, that was probably in the boys better interests.

Kabuto smiled to himself, it was impossible to restrain his excitement. Even with all Naruto had done to help the Village, most of the population still hated him. Kabuto couldn't resist using that, after all, he preferred to keep his hands clean. Of course he would NEVER force people into doing something, after all, Kimimaro had sacrificed himself to retrieve Sasuke of his own free will. Death was just the price of entry. With his reconnaissance complete to his satisfaction, Kabuto would put his plans into action immediately.

It was child's play for Kabuto to eliminate all traces of his scent and pick the lock of Naruto's apartment. As he walked in he wrinkled his nose in disgust at the potent Ramen smell that filled the cramped space. Shaking his head in irritation Kabuto decided to just do what he came for and not stick around to explore. Opening the refrigerator he found what he was looking for; Naruto's milk bottle. The boy drank straight from the bottle every morning, and this one was half filled.

Reaching into his hip pouch he produced two latex gloves and a capped syringe. Pulling the gloves on and carefully grasping the plastic milk bottle in his right hand so it wouldn't move he then just as methodically untwisted the cap and set it to the side.

'Exactly three and a quarter turns' he noted to himself.

Removing the syringe cap with his teeth he stuck the needle into the bottle and emptied all 15 milliliters of the milky white substance from the chamber and into Naruto's milk. Putting the cap back on the syringe and stashing them in his pouch again, he pulled out a tongue depressor and gave the milk a gentle mix. Putting that away he twisted the cap back on, exactly three and a quarter turns.

Smiling at his handiwork he then proceeded to form the 10 necessary hand signs to activate the poison. All it took was focusing his chakra on the milk and…presto.

'It's ready,' he mused as he exited the apartment and locked the door behind him 'Sasori's greatest concoction, the White Scorpion'

Kabuto took up a position in the tree's overlooking Naruto's apartment; after all, he wouldn't want to miss this show for anything. He made himself comfortable as this could be a long night.

"And CRASH the door is kicked down and out pour twenty half naked women each holding a makeshift weapon and mad as hell! "Naruto exclaimed loudly at the restaurant he and Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, and Chouji were having dinner at, his hands stretched out wide as he recounted another one of his tails from his time traveling with Jiraiya to his friends.

"So we start running, wearing nothing but a couple of towels with our clothes and backpacks in hand, and the pervy-sage trips on a tree root and gets the hell beaten out of him by these crazy women!"

Kiba had his forehead on the table, shoulders shaking as he tried to contain his laughter. Shino, the usually dark and silent Chunin from Kiba's team was chuckling lightly, an act that Kiba had minutes before been claiming was impossible. Next to him sat Shikamaru, the Leaf villages laziest genius. He just shook his head as he wiped tears from his eyes; Chouji was nearly choking on his food from laughing.

"Naruto," Shikamaru said when he finally caught his breath "You always manage to get yourself in way over your head." The blonde boy gave the others his trademark ear-to-ear grin. Checking his watch Shikamaru sighed contently "Well guys, Chouji and I have a mission tomorrow morning, so its time for us to leave" Naruto pouted at that.

"Aww do you guys gotta go so soon?"

"Naruto," Shikamaru started, a lop-sided grin spreading across his face "It's already 11:42 pm, we've been here three hours now"

Naruto chuckled softly and shrugged his slender shoulders, reaching into his pocket he pulled out the money necessary to pay for his food and his chunk of the tip, the others doing likewise.

The five friends bid each other goodnight and went their separate ways, Shino and Kiba heading one way, Shikamaru and Chouji heading another way, and Naruto walking alone. Even though he always went home alone at nights it didn't mean it still didn't hurt. Though it was probably for the best as Naruto noticed a drunk down the road, his apartment was in one of the slummiest parts of town and this time of day was when taking his 'exercise' was the most dangerous.

Before he was old enough to protect himself, the Third Hokage had always had an ANBU officer, or another Jounin watching him and making sure he wasn't hurt. They never spoke to Naruto, never asked him if he needed anything, never stopped the villagers from shouting taunts or insults, and sometimes they didn't even protect him from a rock, bottle, or other projectile. Though Naruto supposed that he might owe those people a small bit of gratitude as that early abuse gave him a good sense of peripheral vision. All those Jounin were there for was to prevent Naruto from being assaulted, murdered, or raped.

As the drunk shuffled closer Naruto almost smirked, this would be fun.

'Five.'

The drunken man looked the blond ninja in the eye briefly before glancing down at the dirt as though he didn't know who the blond was.

'Four.'

Naruto stuffed his hands into his pockets and hummed softly to himself, pretending not to have seen the drunk.

'Three.'

The drunk and Naruto were almost side by side with each other, Naruto nodded at the man, in a silent greeting, the drunk ignored him and took another step.

'Two.'

The drunk took two steps behind Naruto and stopped.

'And one!'

With his hand gripping the bottle by the neck the drunk raised the empty vessel up and swung it at Naruto's head like a baseball bat, Naruto instantly dropped to his knees, somersaulting out of the drunks range before standing back up, casually dusting off his pants and jacket, and resuming his walk home. As he walked away he turned to the perplexed looking man and offered a cheeky grin and a wave.

The rest of the walk home was a disappointingly quite affair. However there was more graffiti on his door, which meant that the world was still spinning like normal. It was the usual affair, 'monster', 'burn in hell', 'die', 'freak'. The landlord would make Naruto pay a damn premium to clean it all up, plus an extra fee for 'propriety damage. As he unlocked the door he choose to ignore those problems for another day.

Walking in with a weary sigh Naruto locked the door behind him and unzipped his jacket, tossing it onto the counter lazily. He paused to stretch for a minute, his efforts rewarded with a satisfying series of cracks. Naruto was reminded of why he didn't eat grilled food much as the heartburn worked its way up his chest. Still, the price of admission was worth it to spend time with his friends. He'd had Sasuke stab him in the chest with Chidori and pile-driver him, headfirst, into a rock in their battle at the Valley of the End, he could take some heartburn.

Naruto walked over to his fridge, opening the small white box up and reaching for his half full milk jug, he grinned at the bottle as he opened up the cap and chugged half of the contents.

"Ahhh!" he grinned again as he put the milk away "Does the body good!"

Cheerfully he walked to the bathroom to brush his teeth and get ready for bed, little did he know that outside Kabuto was watching his every move, and grinning from ear to ear. Pulling out a capsule sized device Kabuto clicked a small red button located on one end, it would trigger a similar device in Orochimaru's possession that would let his master know that Naruto had ingested the poison. Now it was simply a waiting game.

"Uhhhg…"

When Naruto woke up in the morning, things were defiantly not like normal. His stomach was in an uproar and his head was pounding like someone was using it for a drum. His attempt to sit up was a big mistake as he nearly passed out from the way his head started spinning.

"Note to self: Never go out for grilled again" he groaned as he put his hands over his face. He slowly forced himself into a sitting position, his body was shivering despite how hot he felt. His eyes widened when he felt his mouth start watering uncontrollably and his world started to spin lightly, as fast as he could he got to his bathroom, where he promptly emptied the contents of his stomach into the toilet. He spent the next 20 minutes lying on the cold tile floor of his bathroom in a semi-fetal position; occasionally dry heaving to the porcelain god.

"All right Naruto" he whispered hoarsely, "lets try this again" Pushing himself up a little he paused and waited for the world to stop spinning. When he could he grabbed the sink and hauled himself off the floor, clenching his teeth at the effort.

Thanks to the Nine-Tailed Fox Naruto had never been sick before, vomiting was something he'd only done once before in his life, and that was when the grocer that he went gave Naruto some expired eggs. Fortunately the Third Hokage had came by to check on him the next day and had found the boy praying to the porcelain god. The eggs were disposed of and the grocer was nearly put out of business by a very angry Sarutobi.

Naruto managed to splash some cold water over his face and rinse his mouth out. He noted that it was nearly noon; he'd completely missed his morning training. Frowning he slowly made his way back to his bedroom to get dressed, he could still go to the missions office, and at the very least he could ask Grandma Tsunade for something to ease his stomach. Before he left he drank the rest of his milk, hoping that would be enough to ease his stomach for a while. He decided against eating as the last thing he needed was to throw up on the street.

From his perch in the tree Kabuto chewed on a soldier pill and smiled as he saw Naruto drink the last of the tainted milk bottle.

"Why thank you Naruto, I had put enough poison in that bottle assuming you'd only drink a little of it and it would take a week for the White Scorpion to take effect, but you've got enough of it in you now that you'll be lucky to be walking by the end of the night." Kabuto grinned wide, things were going along too easily.

Tsunade yawned loudly as she signed yet another infernal piece of paper. She swore the damned things were reproducing when she wasn't looking. Just as she started to read the next one on the pile she heard a light series of knocks on her door.

"Enter." She spoke loudly as she looked up with only marginal interest, until she saw Naruto come slinking in, she couldn't ever resist smiling when she saw the boy, he was just like her baby brother.

"Naruto! What are you doing here, shouldn't you be bugging the mission offices at this time of day?" her jesting smirk faded when she got a better look at the boy.

"Heh, sorry granny Tsunade, but I figured it'd be more fun to bug you" he said softly forcing a small and weary smile onto his face.

'His heart is racing, he's out of breath, his paler then he was the other day, and judging by his posture he's in a good deal of pain. What the hell…' The fifth frowned

"Naruto, are you all right? You don't look very well today" She walked over to Naruto, noticing a slight blush as she pointed out his weakness. Placing a hand on his cheek she frowned again and looked Naruto in the eye "What did you get yourself into this time?" He laughed sheepishly, his voice scratchy and hoarse

"Well last night Me and Shikamaru, Kiba, Shino, and Chouji went out to that grill place that Chouji and Shikamaru really like, and I think I ate some bad pork, 'cause I-whoa!" His sentence was interrupted as a sudden bout of dizziness hit him, and had his 'big sister' not been there to catch him, he would probably have taken a hard landing on his face.

"All right Naruto, lets get you sitting down for a bit here." She said softly as she guided him onto the couch, the short walk left the normally hyperactive teen winded and sweating, the dimness she saw in his eyes made her very nervous. "Naruto, it looks and sounds like you've got a case of food poisoning, just sit here and rest for a bit and I'll go get you something that should ease the symptoms okay?"

Naruto nodded, and tried not to throw up on her office. She disappeared into her private office for a few minutes before returning with a glass of water and a bottle of pills. She crouched down in front of Naruto and smiled warmly at him, it took his brain a moment to register her presence and he again offered a tired smile. She held up the bottle and glass for him.

"I want you to take these pills, one or two every six to eight hours, they should help your stomach calm down."

"What about the headache, dizziness, and the way my body hurts?" Naruto asked quietly.

"There's nothing we can do about those until your stomach is able to hold food, so you'll just need to deal with is as best you can okay?" She offered him a reassuring smile at his saddened frown. Either myself or Shizune will check up on you when we can okay?"

Nodding Naruto accepted the bottle first, dumping a pill out into his subtly trembling hand. He popped it into his mouth before he reached for the water, though before he could grasp it Tsunade was already holding it to his lips for him, and while he gave he an annoyed look, they both knew he would have dropped the glass if she hadn't helped him.

"There you go. Be careful though as these may make you a little sleepy." She smiled as he downed the pill "Rest here a while and see if that kicks in. Your stomach won't be able to handle much of anything for a while, so tonight and tomorrow you shouldn't eat anything more then a cup of white rice or maybe some plain soba."

Naruto simply nodded, his body far too sore to pout over a few lost meals. The way he turned his head allowed Tsunade noticed a red spot above his right ear. Brushing her fingers over it she frowned when they came away with fresh blood.

"Naruto, what happened to your head?" she asked quietly, the look in her eyes darkening significantly, sending a chill through the blond boy.

"I uhh…tripped and hit my head walking downstairs on my way here." He lied. Naruto wouldn't even tell Iruka that the people still attacked him from time to time. He knew if he told her that the blood in his hair was from a good sized rock that a man had thrown which he didn't notice in his weakened state, Tsunade was likely to level the whole district.

"Shizune!" Tsunade called, the woman in question appearing a moment later.

"Yes my lady?"

"I need you to take Naruto home and make sure he's got what he needs to get through a bad case of food poisoning."

Naruto opened his mouth to complain that he didn't need help, but Tsunade flicked him on the forehead before he could start speaking.

"Very well Lady Tsunade. Will there be anything else?" The raven haired woman asked with a warm smile as she observed the pseudo-siblings interact.

"Do whatever you feel needs to be done." Tsunade replied, a look in her eye that Shizune was a bit taken aback by. Tsunade suspected something more then food poisoning, but nothing she could diagnose…yet.

"I understand, all right Naruto," Shizune said cheerfully as she walked over to Naruto, helping the pale boy to his feet, slinging his arm over her shoulders "up we go."

"I'm, whoa!" a wave of vertigo hit Naruto, cutting off his sentence. Tsunade put the bottle of medication into his coat pocket, patting it gently.

"Remember Naruto, no more then two in a six hour period." He nodded wearily.

In a flash, Shizune vanished in a cloud of smoke, taking the boy with her and Tsunade allowed herself a sigh. There was something wrong with Naruto, something that wasn't food poisoning but nothing that she could put her finger on. All she could do for now was wait, watch, and hope to the gods she was just being paranoid.

It hadn't taken Shizune long to get Naruto back to his home, she got him to sit down on the edge of his bed and ordered him to change out of his normal clothes and into whatever his preferred idea for pajamas were, Since he knew she would most likely be in and out for a while, he opted for the pajama pants and a t-shirt like he used to wear when he was younger, mostly because it wouldn't be polite to strip down to his underwear while company was around.

She left his pills on the nightstand with several bottles of water, the seal on the lids broken so he wouldn't have to exert himself much. While he had complained bitterly over being so babied he secretly was cherishing this new feeling. Never in his life could he remember being so well taken care of, the doctors in the hospital had barely paid any attention to him, no matter how grievous his wounds were.

After the failed Sasuke retrieval mission, despite being nearly killed, Naruto had been bandaged up and put in a secluded room where nobody ever came to check on him. It had been depressing, but at the same time Naruto was glad that nobody was there to see or hear the meltdown he had. Nobody even noticed the bruises on his head that he had pounded into himself, nor the tear-streaks on his whiskered face.

Shizune stretched as she finished her work. She had Naruto tucked in, with water and his pills in easy access. She even got the books he had lying around and put them on his nightstand incase he wanted something to read.

Walking back into Naruto's bedroom she smiled as she saw him sleeping. It was by no means a peaceful sleep, his face was marred by a frown and his brows were furrowed in discomfort, but sleep would help him heal. She pulled down the shades on his windows and quietly left his apartment, locking the door on her way out.

From his perch outside Kabuto scowled. He remembered fighting Shizune three years ago, and the only reason he was still alive was because of her underestimation of his skills…not to mention a few soldier pills. With her and the Hokage keeping an eye on the nine-tailed brat things would be much more challenging; however Kabuto had planned for that. After all, he had all the time in the world, and no medications could stop the poison from reaching its second stage. Kabuto had been awestruck when Orochimaru revealed to him what the White Scorpion did to its victims.

-Flashback-

"How does this poison work lord Orochimaru?" he asked, Orochimaru laughed softly as he mixed a pale white fluid in a beaker, a candle under the beaker heating the contents just enough for the mixing to work.

"Within 24 hours of ingestion the White scorpion the victim will experience symptoms that resemble sever food poisoning, but that is just a feint, in reality the poison disabling the entire chakra network, making it impossible to perform any Justu and making it almost impossible for healing ninjutsu to be of any use."

"Right…Healing justu's generally work through running ones chakra through another's chakra system, without that the damage can only be treated through conventional means." Kabuto mused as he pushed his glasses up. "Sasori truly was a genius"

-End Flashback-

Kabuto stretched his back a little as he settled himself into a slightly relaxed position. Naruto had been poisoned for only one day and it would be at least another five days before Kabuto could advance to the next phase of his plan. Until then, all he needed to do was wait and watch.