Sorry I've been so slow on the update, A-Levels plus a Skyrim addiction are massive demands on my time, but in the case of the latter I'm trying to break the habit after losing a whole week of my life. I've noticed support for this fic has tailed off, and I know that's my fault, so I'm going to try and get back into the habit of updating at least once every 2 weeks, as I have a mountain of schoolwork to do and I have my Gears fic that I'm also working on. Don't give up on me yet people, I haven't given up on you

I know this chapter is a lot smaller than the others, I'm gonna refocus my writing into this-sized instalments, 7000 word chapters are murder, and I want to survive to see this fic ended. Whenever it does end. Writing is becoming a slight chore, so please read and review. Need all the support and feedback I can get.

Chapter 8: Revelations and Redheads.

Kushina dropped to one knee, and fought against her own body to get oxygen into her system. Every nerve within her screamed in protest at even the slightest of movements, every twitch of a finger, toe or eyelid sent sharp tingles cascading through her body. By contrast, her opponent seemed to be in top form, hopping from foot to foot, kunai in hand, ready to drop her when she next made the mistake of attacking. The match had gone on for several minutes, and the fair haired Sunagakure genin had thwarted her at every turn, she hadn't so much as scratched him. Every time she lunged at him, exploited an opening or attempted to break his guard, he countered it expertly, as though he could read her every move before she'd made it. She looked her opponent up and down, taking in every detail of her adversary, begging the powers that be for something she could use to her advantage. She knew of Jutsu's that could allow a person to read the immediate future, or anticipate a person's movements, The Sharingan for instance, but she could see no such Kekkei-genkai about the boy before her, his eyes were a deep blue, like Minato's, likewise did his hair remind her of her squadmate, excepting that her adversary wore his hair in a long flowing mass down his back. On top of it's elegance, it made for a useful weapon, as he'd managed to blind her temporarily at the beginning of the fight, with just a flick of his head. Gathering what oxygen she could, she armed seals as fast as her arms would allow.

'Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!' she cried, somewhat breathlessly, shooting forth a great jet of flame from between pursed lips at nobody in particular: only empty space remained where her opponent had stood not half a second before. Before Kushina could begin to marvel at her opponent's speed, a savagely strong cross-punch to her exposed stomach sent her reeling, laying her out flat on her back, gasping to get air into lungs that refused to obey her. Her opponent stood over her, gazing down with heavy lidded eyes: The battle had clearly taken more of a toll on him than he had previously shown. Usually, this was the point in the battle when the one backed to win began boasting, but even as Kushina braced herself for a stream of references to her inferiority, still trying to force air down her rebellious windpipe, she could see a melancholic frown paint itself across her adversary's face. When he spoke, his voice seemed heavy, yet oddly soft-spoken for a Shinobi; it seemed to her that chivalry was clearly not restricted to underdogs.

'It would be easier for us both if you surrendered.' He intoned, pulling his mouth into the resigned half-smile-half-grimace of someone who is sure of victory, but regrets it's circumstances. 'I don't want to hurt you unnessecarily.' As if to reinforce the moment of attempted camaderie, the sun took an experimental peep out from behind the clouds that had formed over the late-evening sky, bathing the fallen kunoichi and her soon-to-be-defeater in a ray of incandescent sunlight. Kushina blinked hard, forcing a hand deprived of oxygenated blood up to cover her eyes, as the light reflected off of her enemy's Sand-ninja headband, temporarily blinding her. Desperate for a sight that would not rob her of her vision, Kushina's eyes darted downwards, coming to rest on the foot of her opponent. It was then that it hit her. The scarlet-haired kunoichi mentally slapped herself for failing to notice beforehand. Always watch for your opponent's weaknesses, the second rule that had been stamped into her at the academy, right after Don't hold the Kunai by the pointy end. She chastised herself inwardly for having forgotten it. Now all she needed was a distraction.

'You're defiance does you credit, but this is over, surrender and I promise…' The handsome blonde genin never got to finish his sentence, as his left foot, the object of Kushina's attention, the limb on which he'd placed the majority of his weight, was grabbed nd yanked out from underneath him by the fiery female, sending him sprawling forwards. The Sunagakure genin face-planted the floor with the force of a buffalo-stampede, forced downwards by the sudden presence of a rather irate leaf kunoichi on his back, pinning him in a savage arm lock.

'And that,' exclaimed Minato, as Kushina returned to the viewing balcony a few minutes later, smiling victoriously, 'is why you never make a target of yourself to an Uzumaki.' Kushina's smile grew broader, and she pulled Minato into a tight hug, burying her grinning face into his shoulder, leaving her with a sense of comfort and joy, and Yahiko with an unobstructed view of Minato's rapidly-reddening face. Before the blonde prodigy had made up his mind as to where to put his hands however, she pulled away again. To an untrained eye, Minato looked no different than normal, but Yahiko had no difficulty noticing the flecks of disappointment in his newfound friend's eyes.

'Come on,' called Kushina, already racing for the doorway to the medical wing, 'The preliminaries are finished for the day, we should go check on Nagato and Toshiro!' The others nodded and followed suit. Jiraiya had appeared just under an hour ago to tell them that Toshiro's condition was stable. But the perverted Sannin had disappeared just as quickly, and there had been something about him that was disturbing, his eys had refused to rest on anyone, always darting to an unoccupied spot around whoever he was addressing, and his face seemed parched, like colour had only just returned to it. Something was amiss and now that they had the opportunity to find out, none of them were going to pass it up.

Nagato shot awake at the sound of his friends bursting through the medical bay doors, and couldn't suppress a groggy chuckle at the mass of legs, arms and oppositely coloured hair on the floor. The chuckle turned into a whole hearted laugh as Yahiko and Konan picked themselves up from the floor, looking like orange and blue topped tomatoes, the pair were thankfully spared from their awkwardness by Minato and Kushina appearing behind them. No words needed to be said as to their purpose, anybody with the vaguest knowledge of body language could have pinpointed it in moments.

'Toshiro's in there' said Nagato, indicating a curtained off bed by the window, 'But he's asleep, the Medics haven't removed the curtain yet, but he was talking about twenty minutes ago, even if I couldn't see him.'

'Sounds okay to me', nodded Minato, adopting a false air of naivety. Something was still wrong, that much could be read in Nagato's eyes; their deep, hypnotic rings were a mask for anxiety, like a sedated beast inside a cage. But something told Minato that just going along with it for the moment was for the best, putting an arm around Kushina, and drowning out her protests with promises of Ramen, the blonde Genin turned on his heel and left, taking his scarlet friend with him. Yahiko fixed Nagato with a knowing look, raising an eyebrow in silent communication with his bond-brother. Feeling pinned, Nagato turned to Konan, fixing her amber eyes with his own in a silent plea.

'Trust me,' he moaned silently. Konan nodded once, and took Yahiko's hand in her own, giggling a little as his face resumed its previous tomato-esque visage. Pausing only to take in the look of unconditional gratitude on Nagato's face, she gently led a less-than-convinced Yahiko from the room. As the door shut behind her, with its ominous click of finality, Konan could not held but marvel at what must have been brought to play to make Nagato lie to his friends. But then a thought occurred to her, bringing a coy smile with it. Whatever horrible event it was, she had it to thank for some time alone with Yahiko, the others long since having taken off for the nearest Ramen stand.

'Come on, let's head up to the roof!' she exclaimed

''Wait..why the r….' was all Yahiko managed to respond with before he was hauled off by the sapphire-haired, honey-eyed kunoichi.

Nagato waited until the staccato thump of footsteps had ebbed away down the hall before he allowed himself to exhale.

'Thanks.' Came a weak, strangled whisper from behind the drawn curtains opposite him. Slowly the veils parted, revealing a very much awake Toshrio propped up against his pillows. Or at least, something that looked like Toshiro. It wasn't the first time that Nagato had seen the Hyuuga genin since Orochimaru had performed the Cursed Seal upon the boy, but that didn't stop goosebumps from rolling up Nagato's spine as he saw what lay before him in the opposite bed, flanked by a somewhat guilty-looking Orochimaru, and Jiraiya, who was somewhere between happiness and grief.

Toshiro's skin, which had been pale enough in the first place, was know marble-white, as though the colour in his being had not so much been drained, but had never existed. His fingers ended in ebony talons, each at least two inches long, and diamond-hard, his hair had grown to some three or four times its normal length, cascading down his back. But the most unsettling things were his eyes, each was a dun-yellow, devoid of even the blank, lavender iris of his Byakugan, leaving nothing save for the turning of his head to signify where the poor boy was looking. Each eyeball was reduced to a lifeless orb, radiating sickly, vomit-coloured light across his plane of view. Only the expression on the boy's face: lips drawn into a half-smile and eyebrows raised in a gesture of thanks, gave any sign that the creature before him was still fundamentally the same being that had nervously asked Konan to teach him origami over a bowl of Ramen , not five days previously.

'The transformation will stabilise within a few hours' began Orochimaru, rubbing the back of his alabaster-white neck, 'so his appearance should resume it's normal image, I can't know for sure what the side effects will be, it's relatively untested…' Orochimaru paled under Jiraiya's menacing glare, and hastened to add, 'But I do know he will stabilise, that much has always proven true in my experiments.' Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Jiraiya resumed looking at his shoes, until his oldest companion spoke again.

'However, unfortunate though this turn of events is, there is an upside…sort of…' Jiraiya looked at Oro pointedly, letting his face silently show that he was reserving judgement. Treading carefully, Oro continued, 'I have been doing some, shall we say, field research into the comings and goings of our dear friend Hanzo of the Salamander, and I need an accomplice for the final stage of my…' But Jiraiya was already on his feet.

'He get's brutally assaulted in the Arena, loses his place in the Chunin exam, gets left lying in bed in agony while his body mutates into a damned Monster, AND NOW YOU WANT TO SEND HIM ON A MISSION, cus what? His condition is convenient for you? WHAT THE HELL OROCHIMARU! WHAT THE FLAMING HELL IS GOING THROUGH YOUR SERPENT BRAIN THAT MAKES YOU THINK….' But a soft, barely audible whisper from between them silenced the enraged Toad Sannin.

'What ….do you…. need me for…Lord Orochimaru?' Every few syllables were a struggle, as though his throat would not obey him, but the youngest fighting Hyuuga still managed to cough them out. Stunned into silence, Jiraiya slumped into his chair, defeated. The Snake ninja gulped a few unsure mouthfuls of air before continuing, keeping one slit-like eye rested firmly on his seething comrade.

'I need somebody to help me infiltrate Hanzo's tower, somebody who won't be missed at the Chunin exam, who's abilities are above those of Hanzo's guards. I believe that Toshiro's elimination from the preliminary rounds, along with the added abilities of the curse mark make him ideal for the job.' Jiraiya's only response was silence. He hated to put his students in over their heads, any more than he had done so already. The image of Hidan's skeletal, sadistic face as he remotely gutted Jiraiya's youngest student, would haunt the Sage for years, he was sure of it. But even then, he couldn't fault Orochimaru's logic.

'I'll…do it…Orochimaru-sama.' Croaked Toshiro, casting a lifeless eye towards Jiraiya in an attempt at comfort. The pale eyes found the black, and even though the former looked devoid of life, the latter could still see the courage within, like a lion, daring the world to rattle the bars of its cage. Jiraiya nodded once in grudging acceptance. From across the room, Nagato gulped. He'd only been half awake when Orochimaru had used the Curse-Sealing Jutsu upon Toshiro, and he'd spent every moment since unable to return to his dreamlike state. His body was crying out for rest, to recharge its metaphorical batteries, but always he could see the vampirically pale eyes of the tortured Hyuuga, even when he tried to shut his own. Nagato had been sworn to secrecy about Toshiro's condition, at least until it was stable, and the Uzumaki knew that that promise would be unbearably hard to keep. Nagato cast his thoughts to his two squadmates, and rolled his eyes as he remembered Yahiko's bemused face as he was hauled bodily from the room moments before. His oldest friends hadn't nabbed a moment alone since Yahiko's run in with Zabuza, and something told him that Konan would be desperate to make the most of it. Allowing himself a small smile, Nagato returned his attention to the frail form in the opposite bed. The haggard, mauled face that barely resembled Toshiro Hyuuga forced it's mouth to twitch at the edges in an attempt at a smile. Nagato nodded and closed his eyes, comfortable at last. His final thought before drifting off into the sleep that had until now eluded his clutches, was that somewhere under the malformed flesh and dead eyes: his newest friend was thinking exactly the same thing.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND Sub-plot no-jutsu!

Sorry I keep taking so long, I'm still alive don't worry, as is this story. The upcoming chapters will focus on Konan and Yahiko rather than Nagato, stuck as he is in Hospital. If at any point Toshiro seems in danger of becoming a Mary-Sue, please tell me, so I can round off his character. Minato and Kushina are in for some characterisation as well, as I need to insert a softer side to Kushina.

Please read and review, and for all those who subscribed, don't hate me for taking so long.

Much love to anybody who subscribes, or who already has.

RFRG

Next Time: Atop The Wings of an Angel