Eroninja

Mito smiled happily as she watched several children run by her on their way to one of the festival stalls. But, it quickly faded since she felt a sense of menace that both seemed to be directed at her, but also which also felt rather vague. She remembered Naruto having mentioned a similar such feeling when he had been in Wave, making her wonder if something dark was taking root in the small country. Yet, although she had alerted Fuka, who while had also been attending the official grand opening of the Great Tree Shipping Company’s port had slipped away to meet with an envoy from the Sea Country. Still they had decided to proceed since the overall feeling of menace hadn’t really seemed to be centered on them.

However, shortly after introducing the leader of the trading fleet that the Uzumaki Shipping Company had partnered with, the more general sense of menace had been joined by a very distinct one. One which seemed to be focused squarely on her. However, what was making it difficult to narrow down who it was that seemed to harbor her such ill will was the much larger sense of darkness which covered the area.

Therefore, while the leader of the Kaientai Trading Fleet gave a speech from the bow of his ship while trying not to throw up as he had after he had been introduced, Mito had begun to mingle among the crowd hoping to find the person focusing their hatred on her while Sakamoto Tatsuma spoke to the crowd about how he hoped the commerce generated by the port would help bring the various countries closer together. All intermingled with his occasionally needing to stop in order from coating the deck of his ship with more vomit then he already had.

She paused in her search though as she felt a pair of eyes settle on her, and turned to the source. She noticed the man’s second in command, a woman by the name of Mutsu, was watching her. She suspected the woman had picked up on the concern she felt since in their dealings, Mito had come to suspect the woman was the real brains behind the success of the Kaientai. But, from her own experiences she knew most groups needed a central visionary to attract followers. She let a soft smile return to her face as she thought of the man that she was currently following.

Her smile seemed to darken the mood of the person directing hostility towards her as she felt a sharp spike of it. It allowed her to zero the person out among the crowd causing her to focus on a young woman with brown eyes. Her black hair was tied up in a bun held in place by a white cloth. She was dressed somewhat like a priestess although all in black making Mito feel like she was there for a funeral. Considering the hatred that she was radiating it left the Uzumkai with the distinct feeling that they were meant for hers.

The short woman quickly seemed to realize that she had captured Mito’s attention, and although for a slight moment a sense of panic seemed to set in. She quickly seemed to recover her balance which caused Mito to grow deeply concerned since it seemed to convey the woman wasn’t just a random crazy, but someone with a plan in place.

Fearing that meant the people attending the port’s opening would be in danger, she decided to confront the woman. She began to make her way through the crowd towards her and the dark-haired woman recognizing her intentions began to walk off. But, she did so at a measured pace making it rather clear that she wanted to be followed.

Mito grew concerned as the woman disappeared behind a stall at the back of the dock, and considered backing off. However, before she could she felt someone cast a genjutsu on the area. She quickly recognized that it wasn’t meant to affect her but the people nearby. Yet, before she could attempt to dispel it she suddenly felt another spike of ill intent which was directed right at her. She spun towards the source and lashed out with a palm strike that shattered the man’s nose. He stumbled back allowing her to see that he was dressed as a civilian. She saw several more men turn towards her from the back of the crowd, and she prepared to defend herself. But stopped as a voice said calmly from behind her, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. The genjutsu was so we could grab you with little fuss. Imagine the panic that would begin to spread if we started killing these people one by one because you decided to put up a fight.”

Mito turned to the voice to find the woman standing behind her. She smiled at the red-head in a manner that gave the Uzumaki the impression that she wasn’t entirely sane. Mito noticed some movement out of the corner of her eye and saw that Mutsu was now moving through the crowd towards the as well.

Unfortunately, so did the dark-haired woman. She frowned for a moment, before mumbling softly to herself, “Is she another of his bitches?” Focusing on Mito, she said, “Decide quickly. Come with me or we start killing people.”

“Well,” Mito said calmly figuring she could be tracked via the fox mark and under the impression the woman was some sort of kidnapper, “if you put it like that. It sounds like I don’t really have a choice.”

****

“You don’t,” Momo said and smiled as she noticed that the woman that seemed to have detected the genjutsu walked past them behind the stall making her realize she likely wasn’t a member of Naruto’s harem. But, aware that some may be nearby and Mito was likely attempting to call towards them wanted to make a quick exit.

Several of the men Sasuke had assigned her moved to flank the red-head, but stopped as she ordered them, “Spread out throughout the crowd.”

“What for?” one of the men asked confused.

“Just in case she gets any funny ideas,” Momo answered, “I doubt any of you would be capable of stopping her. So we use these people as hostages until I get her back to base.” She could tell the men didn’t exactly believe her, but she simply nodded her head to their unconscious comrade. A man who had been filled with similar disdain when Momo had said that he needed to approach their target carefully.

Although not pleased, they nonetheless began to fan out among the crowd. She smiled as she had another reason for wanting them to remain behind, mainly to act as decoys for Naruto’s harem as they were currently reporting their positions as the red-head’s due to the seal that she had applied to them under the guise that it would allow them to operate in her genjutsu without being caught up in it. Having seen the one on Tayuya, she knew there was a locator function so was aware that if she was going to have time to implement her revenge, would need to distract Naruto. The seal she had designed had basically hijacked the red-head’s signal when she had hit the man that had attacked her, it was also boosting it to momentarily cover the fact that there were multiple people sending it, as well as to bury her target’s among them. This she hoped would prevent Naruto from just teleporting in to save the woman, at least until she was ready for him.

Stepping up to the woman that she had planned to destroy for years, she affixed a seal to her forehead that robbed her of her chakra as well as cut out her signal to her master as it also rendered her unconscious, she said, “Oh what plans I have in store for you.”

****

Tamaki was sitting patiently in a dimly lit room with the only sound being a respirator which was helping one of the other occupant’s breath. At least until the radio she was near cracked to life, “This is Hound Unit reporting, please respond.”

Reaching for the control to turn on the mike, she looked back at the shrunken and gravely injured man lying within the shadows coating the nearby bed. Decipher a nod from the darkness, she activated the control and replied, “This is Darkness Central Command. Report.” She wasn’t surprised by how long it took to get a response, since the signal was being transmitted to various hidden bases strewn throughout the Shinobi world before reaching the backpack worn by the shinobi reporting in.

“Sir, it appears the priestess betrayed us.”

She looked back at the bed ridden man who frowned although only half of his face responded to the gesture. She felt her anger towards the man who had been responsible for the bed ridden man’s current condition grow, and feared years of careful planning were about to come crashing down because of the one unstable element that they had relied on, and truthfully had needed to obtain their true objectives. Pressing the mike again, she said, “Explain.”

“The initial grab of the bait went down smoothly,” the man said doing as instructed, “but then a few moments later after she loaded her into the wagon, the target and dozens of clones appeared and took down all the men assigned to help with the extraction. They then took off with them before he reappeared to calm the crowd while claiming they were part of a plot. The thing is there was a woman with him who appears to be the woman that we grabbed.”

“Have you entered the Wave Facility to verify…”

“It doesn’t matter Tamaki,” the man said in a weak sounding voice, “It is possible that the woman they grabbed was a body double. Everything is proceeding fine.”

“Sau…” Tamaki began to say fearing the shell of the man she loved was letting his desire for the operation to succeed cloud his judgement.

Yet before she could make a fool of herself, the leader of Hound Unit said, “We have flash at the cave entrance, and secondary barrier has activated.”

Raising a withered arm which was nearly as white as Orochimaru’s the man chuckled faintly as he said, “See, predictable to the end. Whether it was a body double or the real deal. If Naruto has formed some sort of alliance with the owner of that company, then he wouldn’t just abandon an employee of it.”

Tamaki nodded before asking, “What should I tell them?”

“Tell them to remain on station so we can learn the outcome. If the priestess survives, then they are free to eliminate her as repayment for the men she betrayed.”

Tamaki nodded, but just before relaying the message stopped to ask, “And if the Bastard is the one that lives.”

The man sat back deeper into the darkness surrounding him as he replied, “Oh he’ll survive, and if so, likely tie up the loose ends nicely. It isn’t like they aren’t as expendable as the ones the priestess took care of. Tell Sora and Juugo to inform Dorothea that it is time, and find out if the bonus target kept to the schedule.”

Tamaki quickly relayed to the commander of Hound Unit how he was to react once the barrier trapping Naruto in their Wave Facility came down. She could tell the man didn’t relish his orders, particularly since he was aware that they could find themselves facing a very pissed off jinchuriki. But, she imagined they feared the man that they had pledged to serve more so didn’t doubt they would do as instructed. She then switched the channel to carry out the rest of her orders, and imagined the men of Hound Unit should be thankful they would likely encounter him before he found out just how much he was going to lose that day.

****

Mito awoke to find herself suspended almost a foot off the ground by a pair of iron manacles that covered her hands forcing them to remain balled into fists. She cursed her arrogance since it had dawned on her just how much trouble she was in just after the seal that had been applied to her had rendered her unconscious. Which was because she had felt it cut off Naruto’s presence from her. She knew it wasn’t an effect of having her chakra sealed since she had modified the seal formula after Naruto had been taken prisoner by Sora. As such, she figured the seal that had been affixed to her had specifically been designed to cut her off from Naruto and the others.

That bit of information, which coupled to the fact that although her chakra was still being sealed she could tell her fox mark was working once more. Even though she was still being blocked from her Family told her all she needed to know about who her kidnapper was, Momo Hinamori.

She cursed herself for not having recognized the woman, although she knew it was somewhat silly of herself to feel that way since she hadn’t even rejoined the land of the living when the Family had first encountered her. Truthfully it wasn’t her looks that had clued her in since there had only been a handful of old pictures of the priestess. But her skill was easy enough to recognize since Mito could feel her fox mark was using the small residual chakra coursing through her to remain active. Yet since she still couldn’t feel her Family, it told her that the woman had erected a barrier that was blocking her signal as it were. That told her it was the special barrier favored by monks and priestesses since they often had to battle otherworldly elements, such as ghosts, that could operate on different plains of existence.

Mito didn’t think it a mistake that Momo had removed the original seal she had used to kidnap her. As such, she quickly realized that she was meant to serve as bait to lure the Family in.

Taking in her surroundings, she noticed a barrier formula placed on a wall to her right. Studying it, she could see malleable portions which came in handy as it allowed her to adjust the intensity of the barrier. She imagined that Momo would use it to drop the barrier enough that Naruto would be able to feel her presence again. A part of her feared that knowing her lover, he would charge in through the barrier. But, she figured it might have been a tactic Kanji had used in the past so he would be aware of the possibility.

She also imagined that Momo was aware that Naruto wouldn’t just charge in as she noticed several monitors laid out before her. She guessed they were setup so that when she did drop the barrier she would only do so enough to let her presence be felt, but not enough to let him cross it so he could reach her. Figuring they were in a kind of nerve center, Mito believed the woman had likely prepared a trap for her lover so wanted to be able to monitor him or perhaps more accurately wanted her to be able to.

She heard a door open behind her and despite the anger and rage that Momo had displayed before, the priestess sounded almost giddy as she said, “Ah, I see you’re awake. Good. That means that now we’ll be able to begin the show.”

Mito remained calm as she asked, “What show would that be?”

“The one where you get to watch the man you care for die right in front of you,” Momo replied eagerly.

The red-head kept her concern from her face as she tried to bluff the woman by stating, “Do you have any popcorn handy? I have no love for the bastard considering how he brought me into his harem.”

For a moment, Momo seemed conflicted as if unsure how to proceed, but then recovering said, “If you truly meant that then you’d probably wait for me to kill him. You’re just trying to make me doubt myself.”

“That would seem to suggest you have doubts, like perhaps knowing it was wrong to threaten the wellbeing of innocent people to trap me.” The Uzumaki could tell she struck a nerve as the woman winced.

Still, Momo quickly countered almost pleadingly, “I had no choice. You need to pay for what you did to Master Kanji.”

“I never met this Kanji but from what I’ve heard he deserved…”

“Haido number twelve,” Momo said holding her hand up as electricity shot from the palm of it.

Mito screamed in surprise and pain as the electricity coursed through her. Momo approached her and it felt a little comical due to her short stature, but she managed to still reach her with a backhanded slap that caused the red-head to spin around in a circle. When she faced her kidnapper again, Momo grabbed her by the chin as she said dangerously, “If you insult Master Kanji again, I’ll kill you.”

Mito studied the woman for a moment before slamming her forehead into hers causing the priestess to stumble back into the table holding the monitors. She seemed surprised for a second before her face registered her anger and she reached for a sword that was resting nearby. She began to unsheathe the blade, but then stopped as she forcefully calmed herself by saying, “No…no…. she wants you to kill her.”

That hadn’t really been the case since Mito had already figured the woman didn’t exactly want her dead. But, with confirmation that whatever Momo had planned required her alive, she did feel a little freer in pressing her kidnapper. Yet, she was aware that the dark haired woman may be unstable, particularly due to her threating to kill her, and then quickly revealing that she wanted her alive thus nullifying the threat. She suspected that it was because deep down, the priestess knew what she was doing was wrong, but her devotion to Kanji was dictating her actions. She imagined it was how Momo had served him so devotedly while a part of her recognized the horrible things he was doing to the other women bound to him. In essence she had truly lived with blinders on. Mito suspected that with him gone her psyche was beginning to fracture as it probably realized she was as much a victim as the other women. But rather than face it was focusing on avenging him.

Aware that she had some immunity she said, “It seems you are at something of an impasse. You just revealed you can’t kill me.”

Momo frowned but a calm settled over her which made Mito rather nervous. Placing her sword back down the priestess turned away and began turning on the monitors as she said, “No, but I’m going to make you wish I had for killing Master Kanji.”

The Uzumaki frowned for a moment not sure what the woman was talking about. But, then she began to laugh loudly and with genuine amusement. Something the priestess picked up on as she spun asking angrily, “What is so damn funny? Do you think I’m bluffing?”

Although a part of the red head suspected Momo’s heart wasn’t truly devoted to her revenge, she knew the woman would go through with it. If only to avoid facing the truth about her time with Kanji for a little longer. However, seeing an opportunity to sow more doubt into her heart she said, “No, I believe you are fully capable of getting your revenge. But, I’m afraid it is off to a poor start.”

“What do you mean?” Momo asked closing the distance, “You fell into my hands even easier than I expected.”

“Perhaps,” Mito replied with a grin, “But, I’m not the woman that killed Kanji.”

“What…” the woman replied with obvious disbelief. “You can’t fool me,” Momo said after a moment. However, despite using Tsunade’s henge so that her eyes matched Kiyomi’s and the seal on her forehead was hidden, the way her gaze didn’t waver told her captor that she was telling the truth. Turning away, Momo smashed her fist on the table behind her as she cursed, “Shit! How could I be so stupid as to grab a body double?” However, after a moment she calmed and a smile appeared on her face as she faced Mito saying, “It doesn’t matter. I was going to have you, I mean her, kill him. Now I’ll be able to get right to the main event since I’m sure she’ll show with the rest of his whores like before.”

Mito frowned as Momo moved to the seal that controlled the barrier she had cast. She wondered what the woman had meant and focused on the monitors which looked in on various rooms of the base. She didn’t see anything all too concerning, but did notice a fog coating the ground in the large open rooms as if someone had left a bunch of dry ice lying about. She began to wonder about it but became distracted as she felt Naruto’s presence again. She looked over towards Momo to see she had dialed back the power of the barrier thus allowing her to transmit to her Family. A moment later a red flash appeared on the camera near the entrance which once it faded revealed both Naruto and Kiyomi.

Momo then quickly applied her chakra to another portion of the seal array that she was manipulating, and Mito felt her connection to the other women of the Family once more disappear. Still she could feel Naruto and Kiyomi still, so figured she had raised a second larger barrier to trap them inside.

The priestess moved away from the seal array, and let out a happy sounding squeal of joy. “Master Kanji must be watching out for me. I was worried he would come alone and she’d escape my revenge.”

“I think you’ll find that you’ve bitten off more than you can chew,” Mito said.

Momo looked back and for a moment considered simply stabbing her captive in the stomach. But, although she had been willing to butcher Naruto’s entire harem for her payback. Was glad things had worked out the way that they did, so said, “Be silent, and you’ll survive this. But truthfully I have no further use for you, so sit back and enjoy as your master enjoys his last few moments on this earth.”

“If anything happens to either of them, then you best finish me as well or I’m going to kill you,” Mito said angrily.

Momo turned to focus on her and gave her an amused smile as she replied, “Then perhaps you’ll have a use after all, because I’m not sure which of them will survive.”

Mito felt her anger become replaced by pity as she realized the woman had no intention of surviving her encounter with them. But, she felt a fresh wave of concern as she directed her gaze to the monitors to see Kiyomi touching the inner barrier preventing Naruto and the Bijuu from teleporting right to her. Momo smiled as she moved back to the seal array, and manipulated it so that it only covered the room they currently occupied. Fearing what the Priestess had in store she tried to warn them off but felt their determination to save her grow stronger, so prayed she wasn’t about to lose someone important to her.

****

Naruto watched Kiyomi touch the barrier which had dictated that they teleport to the entrance of the cave that served as Momo’s hideout. He heard the barrier sizzle in reaction to the touch of her fingertips and despite his imagining that it stung her, she repeated the gesture a few moments later. Despite the situation, he felt a sense of relief since he could feel Mito as he had been concerned that once Momo realized that she had grabbed the wrong woman that she might harm her.

Naruto had been training with Moegi and Yakumo when he felt Mito’s presence within the foxmark network split into multiple ones. Thankfully, Yakumo had quickly given him an excuse to leave by claiming they should practice trying to locate each other if separated during the exam. Naturally, Naruto had used the opportunity to teleport away leaving a clone to be found at a later point. He had then created the clones to teleport to each of the “Mito” he felt. But, instead had been greeted by armed men instead. Men that he had made short work of and were currently occupying Ibiki’s cells as he worked them over. Although a few had quickly given up that they were working for a priestess named Momo. The head interrogator was confident they were hiding something since even most bandits would put up token resistance rather than freely admit their crimes.

Still, what the men who were claiming to be bandits had revealed thus far, did fit with the theory that Yoshino had quickly come up with that it was Momo and she had targeted Mito believing her to be Kiyomi. She had come to because of how the kidnapper had known of the Foxmark, and how a means to counteract it to confuse them. Having read extensively about Kanji, Yoshino believed that Momo had disappeared so completely because she had been twisted to be so devoted to him, that with his death, her only purpose for living was revenge.

Yet, Yoshino still believed the woman could be reached which had obviously surprised many of those present. To defend her claim, she had pointed out a curious note that she had found in Hinata’s report about what she had witnessed when she had looked at the women of Kanji’s harem, which was that of all the women that had been there at the time, only Tayuya’s chakra had been a different color then black. The Nara had suggested that on some level Momo had been quite aware of Kanji’s true nature, but had found it easier to surrender to the fiction that she had created of him.

Kiyomi had agreed, and then suggested that she go alone, since she was the one that Momo wanted. He had quickly said no, and that he should be the one to go alone. But, Yoshino had stated that it would be better if the two of them went together. He hadn’t been all that thrilled at the idea, not wanting to put one of his lovers at risk. Even one that was a Bijuu. Not to mention Tsunade, and his other lovers that had managed to gather had all wanted to go.

But, Yoshino had cautioned against the Family going in mass since Momo had to consider it a possibility considering how it had dealt with Kanji. But, it was likely that whatever the Priestess had in store had been meant for Kiyomi to witness.

He had tried to use that as a reason for why Kiyomi shouldn’t go, but Yoshino had countered that at this point it was likely that Mito had revealed to Momo that she wasn’t the woman she had wanted to capture. The Nara believed doing so would begin to apply pressure that might cause her to make a mistake, especially if her plan began to unravel. Even if Momo hadn’t believed Mito, having Kiyomi appear would be proof and might cause Momo to begin questioning herself. In essence Yoshino believed keeping the priestess off balance only further worked to their advantage.

Naruto had relented and when they had felt Mito’s presence the two of them had quickly teleported to it. But, the closest they could move had been the entrance of the cave that apparently Momo was using as a base. A moment later they had been cut off from the rest of the Family, but had suspected as much since the woman wouldn’t have wanted them to escape.

Watching Kiyomi, Naruto frowned since he could still feel Mito’s presence and guessing she would be at the furthest point from them was concerned at just how expansive the place seemed to be. Wondering how a priestess had been able to come across such a location. He began to suspect that Ibiki’s suspicions about the men that had been working with Momo was correct. Feeling rather isolated, he began to grow concerned that whoever might be backing her wanted him cutoff from the rest of his Family. Yet, he quickly dismissed it since he could have easily teleported the rest of them there to attack the unknown threat. Still, a part of him wasn’t willing to write it off so easily. But, a moment later Kiyomi’s hand tapped empty air where the Barrier had been indicating it had pulled back.

His Bijuu lover looked back at him, prompting him to ask, “Should we just teleport to the edge of it again.”

Kiyomi considered it, but motioning to a camera replied, “I think our host expects us to put on a show. If Mito is going to apply pressure to her to force a mistake, it would be best to play along.”

Aware Kiyomi could telepathically communicate with her siblings or former hosts he asked, “Can you…”

Kiyomi shook her head not wanting to speak of her abilities since she wasn’t sure if the cameras could pick up sound or not. But, having tried to speak with Mito directly replied, “I’m afraid I can only sense her mark same as you.”

Naruto nodded before heading towards the doorway that would take them deeper into the base. He noticed a thick fog was covering the floor and raised up to his knees. He feared it was meant to cover some traps so said back to Kiyomi, “Be careful where you step.”

Kiyomi smiled at him as she said, “Honestly, do you truly believe some paltry traps pose a threat to me? Let the little bitch do her worst. But if she’s harmed Mito then I’ll gladly make what I did to Kanji seem like a mild case of sunburn.”

Stepping into the room, Naruto felt a sense of paranoia as if a shade from the past was watching him. It was accompanied by a sense of guilt that he couldn’t quite place, but pushed it aside as he cautioned his Bijuu lover, “Don’t forget that she is just a victim in all this as well.”

Kiyomi frowned, but countered, “What of it? I haven’t forgotten what was done to her, but it doesn’t give her free reign to do as she pleases. Or would you prefer her to cut down Mito before you are willing to deal with her as you did Sasuke?”

Naruto felt the same sense of guilt that he had before, but far stronger than he just had moments earlier. He also felt a sense of anger, but quickly calmed himself as he replied, “No, but I tried to reach Sasuke multiple times. Before we start plotting to simply kill this woman. I think it behooves us to give her the same chance to turn away from revenge.”

Kiyomi appeared to need to forcibly calm herself as well, but nodded her understanding. Naruto smiled softly at her before focusing on the task at hand as he moved deeper into the fog covered room.

****

Iruka could tell his presence had caught Mawashi Dokuraku, the current Warden of the Leaf’s Maximum Security prison, off guard as he stepped into the man’s office. He confirmed as much as he said, “Iruka, I admit that I’m a bit surprised by your appearance today.” He adjusted his glasses as he flipped through his date planner before explaining, “In my reply to your request to set up a meeting for discussing your program and the release of prisoner OT-Zero-Zero-Four-Nine, I said the seventeenth of next month would be best.”

The Chunin instructor frowned since the letter he had been given had indicated the current time and date. “I’m sorry Warden, but the letter I was given said to come today.”

“Damn translators,” the man replied giving the impression that it seemed to be a recurring issue, “I wished they’d get their heads screwed on straight.”

Iruka frowned from the former interrogator’s statement as he asked, “Have you reported the issue?”

Mawashi nodded as he said, “I have to the department head. No reason to get the higher ups involved just yet, especially as it may be related to some lingering issues from Furofuki’s assault on the village. It mostly been harmless so far, just a few dates or supply quantities that have been off. Truthfully, it happens all the time and is usually just human error. Although the frequency has been rather high as of late.”

Before Iruka could respond the warden’s intercom went off as a man reported, “Sir, this is the bridge tower.”

“Excuse me,” Mawashi said before switching on the box to say, “Go ahead.”

“Sir, we have a pair of guards from the Hozuki Castle Prison at the other end,” the shinobi on duty replied. “They claim to have a H.V.P. and have been ordered to transfer him here. But, I don’t have anything on the schedule.”

Mawashi cursed as he sent Iruka a look that stated, “See what I mean.” But, switching the box on he said, “Control, do they have their orders with them?”

“Yes sir,” the man replied quickly, “I already sent the hawk over. The papers look legit, but they don’t list the prisoner. They claim he is a gift from the Hidden Grass Leader for his village’s admittance into the Alliance.”

Mawashi frowned at the irregularity of it, and mumbled to himself, “Gifts from Grass always come with a hidden cost.” Switching the intercom back on he said, “Control, I’m coming up. Tell them they better be willing to reveal who this prisoner is to me, or else I hope they kept the receipt.”

“Understood sir,” the shinobi replied.

Standing, Mawashi focused on Iruka as he said, “You know your way to her cell right. Speak to the head guard on duty in her wing and he’ll take you to an interview room.”

Iruka nodded as he shook the man’s hand before following him out and began heading deeper into the prison.

******

Sakura was tossed rather unceremoniously to the ground and couldn’t catch herself due to her hands being tied behind her back. The last several hours were a blur as she was still fighting the effects of the gas that she and the medical team she had been leading had been hit with. She had just diagnosed that the disease that she had been sent to the Land of Frost to combat had been genetically engineered. But, more troubling was that it appeared the reason it was so virulent wasn’t because of a natural resistance, but because someone was still tinkering with it to combat the doctors’ efforts. This led her to believe the culprit was part of the staff at the hospital that had been the headquarters for the efforts to stop the pandemic.

However, before she could send a report one of the doctors she had been working with had come running into her makeshift office. The petite blonde haired woman’s youthful appearance had surprised Sakura when they had first been introduced, particularly due to the reports she had read would have led her to believe the woman was much older. At times, she had kind of given Sakura the impression that she was a bit like Koharu, a much older woman walking around in a younger woman’s skin.

The doctor, who had introduced herself as Arisu Fushiginokuni, had sounded panicked as she reported that one of the patients appeared to be developing new symptoms. Sakura had followed the woman to the patient’s room where she found the rest of her squad already working on the man as boils began to appear on his skin. Sakura began to approach feeling concerned, as they seemed to grow to the point of bursting. Fearing that the unseen hand behind the disease was in fact developing a biological weapon she shouted for doctors to get back. She told them to get out of the room, only to turn to follow her direction and find the room had already been sealed. The boils covering the man’s skin burst causing a sickly green poison to fill the room.

Sakura held her breath as she reached the door and wasn’t surprised to find it locked. She began to feel drained making her realize the poison was liking being absorbed through her skin. For a moment, she was glad that Arisu appeared to have reacted so quickly since although she could have easily smashed the door down, Sakura didn’t to prevent the disease from spreading. But, that all ended as she saw the diminutive woman stand on her tiptoes to peer into the window. The concerned doctor that she had appeared to be before was gone and in her place was a woman obviously enjoying the results of her handiwork.

Holding a small recorder to her mouth she said, “Experiment was a success with the fumes released from patient’s blood upon its contacting the air rendering those closet unconscious in moments. Most likely a result of breathing it in.” Focusing on Sakura the small blonde woman said, “Particularly as transference through skin seems less reliable, although such a result might also be due to the subject in question.”

Sakura began to feel sluggish, and recognized that it was only a matter of time before she was rendered unconscious as well. Hoping to put the woman in the same boat as her, she punched the door off of its hinges nearly crushing the blonde as it smashed into the opposite wall. Due to the lockdown being breached, shutters slammed down closing the hall off from the rest of the building.

The Pink haired medic closed with the woman and picking her up said, “Time for a test of your own medicine doctor.”

She was about to toss her into the room closest to the now dead patient who was still venting the fumes. But due to her focusing so hard on the doctor while fighting to stay conscious, she didn’t realize they weren’t alone until a kick caught her by surprise. The man that delivered it landed where she had been standing as the doctor she had been holding landed unceremoniously on her butt. Sakura worked herself up to her knees and frowned as she recognized Sora due to what had happened in Vegetable Country. But what truly disturbed her was the tall orange haired man standing behind him. Recognizing him from his Bingo book entry of known accomplices of Sasuke’s. She focused on the violet haired monk saying, “Sora, I see you still have a penchant for striking foes from behind.”

The monk hardly seemed offended as he replied, “It worked so well with that teammate of yours I figured why not do it again.”

The medic frowned as she noticed her condition worsening, but the three people opposite of her seemed unaffected. The blonde woman seemed to pick up on her thoughts as she said, “Do you really think that I would be so careless as to leave me or my associates vulnerable to the gas?” Addressing the two men, she said, “Now if you two would be so kind as to grab her, I can finally get out of this backwater hick town and to a proper lab.”

Sora smirked as he moved to finish the crouched Konoha-nin off with a kick to the head. But she caught it with one hand surprising him, and then delivered a devastating punch to his stomach that caused him to cough up blood as he flew back at his associates. Juugo easily caught the man, and then retaliated as he pointed at Sakura and his arm morphed into a large claw. His arm elongated, but rather then stretching like rubber, just seemed to grow as it remained a consistent size and shape. But it did so at an incredible pace as it hit her in the chest with enough force to lift her into the air and smashed her into one of the metal shutters hard enough to dent it. Juugo’s arm retracted causing her to fall to the floor and Juugo set Sora down as he moved to collect the kunoichi.

Sora though instead of thanking the man said to his back as he tried to push by, “Get out of my way you oaf. I’m going to kill the fucking bitch.”

Juugo felt his urge to kill the man and basically everyone in the hotel begin to grow but clamping down on it said, “You know our orders. Sasuke wants her alive.”

Sora didn’t seem phased as he said, “Fuck what he wants. This is just some mind fuck ploy for him. It’s not like the bitch is going to be able to accomplish the task before her fucking teammate gets done with the priestess.”

“Nevertheless,” the blonde woman said, “You best remember your place. You might feel you can disrespect Sasuke right now. But, soon enough he’ll be back on his feet because of me.”

Sora turned towards the woman before saying, “Yeah, and what of it, Dorothea. He’s showing that he fears that piece of shit jinchuriki’s jutsu with this little operation.”

“Are you not a jinchuriki as well?” Juugo asked having placed the unconscious woman over his shoulder.

“I’m a Neo-jinchuriki,” Sora answered angrily. “Don’t link me in with those pieces of shit.”

“More like a Pseudo,” Dorothea countered with a smirk, “Although it does seem that despite having a counterfeit bijuu, that you are on par with the true jinchuriki.” She could tell her remark annoyed the monk, as he tensed as if to attack. But, rather than being concerned simply said, “Instead of posturing, why don’t you make yourself useful and kill the rest of her squad. They’re all unconscious so it should be easy for you mister Neo-Jinchuriki.”

Sora frowned, but simply stepped into the room to quickly kill the unconscious doctors and shinobi. He heard the metal shutter being smashed off its hinges and the sound of combat as the security personnel of the hospital ineffectively tried to stop the abduction taking place. He cursed his greed as he would like nothing more than to kill the little blond haired leech, but Kabuto was paying him rather well to keep tabs on Sasuke. Although considering the man’s current state, he couldn’t really understand why.

****

Sakura picked herself up as her recollection of what happened to lead her to her current situation came to an end. A part of her didn’t think it a coincidence that so soon after Naruto’s presence had disappeared, she would end up being attacked. Although, she was not quite sure what had happened to Mito, he had given his lovers the sense that his presence disappearing would be expected. But, she began to panic as she tried to take stock if they were aware of hers as she couldn’t feel the rest of the Family. Aware that although her chakra was cut off, Mito’s improvements on the Foxmark should have still let her feel the other women in Naruto’s life. She imagined that a barrier similar to the one that had deprived her and the others of Naruto’s presence was also being used on their location. Although, it wasn’t definitive proof, she did come to believe that the kidnapping of Mito and her own were linked.

Yet, before she could begin questioning those that had taken her. A voice that took her back to her genin days said, “Hello Sakura.”

Her eyes grew wide as she looked towards the voice and to her shock she found herself kneeling before Sasuke. He was wearing the same open chest white shirt that she remembered from her encounter with him when they had tried to apprehend Sasori’s spy. He was sitting in a throne that although ornate seemed more like a prop from a play. He smirked at her wide eye stare as he said, “Welcome to the Raven’s Nest.”

Sakura managed to get to her feet and took a step forward but was stopped as Juugo clamped a strong hand on her shoulder. Sasuke focused on them before saying, “It’s fine. I have nothing to fear from my old teammate.”

“Like hell you don’t.” Sakura said angrily as she took several steps towards him, “After everything you’ve done to Nar…”

Sasuke moved almost quicker than she could follow before she received a kick to the stomach that knocked her back to the grown. The Uchiha held the leg that he had used to strike her in the air for a moment, before slowly lowering it as he said, “Don’t misunderstand. It’s not that I believe the one-sided bond you felt for me from those Team Seven days is going to stay your hand. I only meant that I never had anything to fear from a weakling like you.” Focusing on the three that had brought his teammate before him, he commanded, “You three are to return to our new home. My old teammate and I have something to discuss.”

Working herself back to her knees Sakura said, “I don’t have anything to discuss with you. Unless it is the terms of your surrender.”

Sasuke seemed amused as he moved to retake his seat in the throne, before replying, “If only you showed this level of backbone back when we were genin. I might have taken you up on your offer of joining me.”

Sakura felt a sense of disgust at herself for having once offered to toss away her family and friends for the man whose kindest words to her had been, a rejection of said offer. But, she suspected it had been because he didn’t imagine that she would serve a use in his quest for revenge as he did for Karin. Guessing he went through all the trouble to arrange their reunion because he now believed he had a use for her she said, “Whatever it is you want from me, you can forget it.”

Sasuke frowned as he waved to some men standing guard near the entrance. One of them disappeared only for two different men to enter holding a body bag between them. They set it down before Sakura and then unzipped it. The pink haired kunoichi didn’t immediately recognize the silver haired man whose face was revealed, although she had a sense of familiarity. Sasuke quickly clued her in as to why when he explained, “The man you are looking at was a former member of Akatsuki named Hidan. He had the misfortune of being the first victim of Naruto’s Rasenshuriken.” She noticed a slight quiver of rage enter the Uchiha’s voice as he added, “He wasn’t the last.” He quickly seemed to get over it to state, “According to what I learned this man was supposed to be immortal, able to shrug off even the most debilitating blows.”

“What of it,” Sakura said hardly caring for the history lesson.

“I want you to find a way to undo the damage that jutsu did to his chakra network,” Sasuke explained.

Sakura frowned since having expected the Uchiha to be showing signs of having been hit with the jutsu said, “Why not just repeat whatever fixed you up?”

The Uchiha’s eyes narrowed as he said, “Don’t make me repeat myself Sakura.”

Sakura glared at her former teammate as she said, “I’m not going to help you.”

Sasuke held her gaze before he almost seemed to smile as he said, “I’m actually impressed. I almost believed you’d quickly revert to your pathetic fawning self as soon as you laid eyes on me. It appears you’ve genuinely grown, which is unfortunate.” Switching tracks Sasuke stood and began to approach her while adding, “This sure feels nostalgic. It kind of takes me back to the day our team first formed. Do you remember what you said to me?”

Sakura frowned wondering what Sasuke was driving towards since she knew she had been speaking to Naruto about her feelings. But, her attention was diverted to the door behind her as it opened and she heard her father saying, “Look, I’m sure this is all a misunderstanding, if we can just sit down and discuss it, I’m sur… Sakura.”

“Dad,” the pink haired kunoichi said shocked as her father was being escorted into the room.

But then before she could turn away to tell the Uchiha to let her father go, she heard Sasuke say, “I’m sure that you must recall the part where you said how lucky Naruto was not to have any parents.” Her eyes grew wide as suddenly a chidori spear shot past her head, and buried itself into her father’s chest.

Her father looked down at his chest for a moment, and looking up focused on her before giving her a small smile. Sasuke retracted the jutsu causing her father to fall to his knees before collapsing. “NO!” Sakura screamed as she quickly ran to him, and knelt by his side.

He reached up to cup her face and recognizing that he was dying said, “I’m so proud of you.”

“Hang in there,” Sakura pleaded. Turning to Sasuke who watched on dispassionately she begged as tears began to blur her vision, “Please, I can still save him. I’ll do what you want…just please.”

“Sakura,” her father said sternly, “Don’t you give into... him… I still have my pride as a shinobi after all… because I still have…you. Tell your mother… I…love…”

“Daddy,” Sakura said as his hand fell to the floor and she set her head down on his chest after it stopped moving. She felt Sasuke coming up behind her as she knelt over her father while sobbing. Sounding completely bored with the suffering he had unleashed, he asked, “So tell me. Are you feeling just as lucky?”

Something snapped in Sakura as she quickly spun towards Sasuke and although her hands were bound behind her back, she was aiming to sink her teeth into his jugular like an Inuzuka. Yet, the two men that had escorted her father into the room stopped her. The Uchiha seemed amused as she said, “I’m going to kill you. I swear, I’m going to…”

“Should I mark that down as a not so much,” Sasuke asked obviously dismissing the threat. Shrugging he said, “Well, no matter. You really should be able to understand where both Naruto and I are coming from since you still have your mother.” Turning his back on her, he explained, “Now, unless you want your mother to join your father in the afterlife, I suggest you do as I say. I assure you Sakura, if you don’t, your mother isn’t going to turn up alive later as was the case with my own and his. I have a team watching your home and well, I’m sure you can picture what will happen if I tell them to pay her a visit.”

Sakura felt the fight leave her as a numbness just settled in over her. She wilted visibly as she replied, “I’ll do as you ask.”

“That was never in doubt,” Sasuke said turning away from her. Addressing the two shinobi holding her, he added, “Take her to the lab.”

The men grabbed her to take her away, but she pulled away to quickly move back to her father. She dropped down to her knees and pressed her face against his to feel his warmth before it faded completely. The guards quickly managed to force her to stand and pulled her away.

*****

Sasuke watched dispassionately as Sakura was escorted from the room. He turned away as several more men entered to remove the bodies, with the two carrying Hidan’s taking it to the same lab Sakura was being led to. He returned to the throne and waited for the men to leave before closing his eyes. In the darkness, he felt as if he occupied two places at once and as he said, “What is the status of the operation?” It sounded like two people had spoken at the same time, although one of the voices sounded frail and weak. He felt his anger spike at that as it reminded him that his power had nearly been taken from him and almost wished he had dragged out the death of Sakura’s father since it would only increase the pain Naruto felt in time.

The answer came to him sounding like a whisper in the ear, but also like it had come from a great distance. It made him smile as it had told him, “The Third phase has begun.”

****

Iruka raced up a flight of stairs to the prison’s control room as fast as he could. He entered it and wasn’t surprised to find it a hotbed of chaos considering the explosion that had shaken the building. He had just finished meeting with Yamame, the former Sound-nin he had hoped would be the first prisoner to be released as a result of his program, when large explosion had gone off. He had turned Yamame over to the guard of her wing, promising her that everything would be alright before quickly racing off to find out what had happened.

He spotted Mawashi standing at the center of the room giving orders to his subordinates. He recognized him speaking to a Chunin that he had taught by the name of Daichi. The young man had been in the same class as Konohamaru. It filled him with a sense of pride seeing the young man acting in a calm and collected manner as the warden shouted commands to him and several other Chunin. He finished, causing his men to break off to fulfill them. Seeing an opening Iruka approached to ask, “What happened?”

“I’m still not sure?” Mawashi replied quickly, “But, it looks like we’ve been had. That prisoner that was supposedly being transferred turned out to be Udon.”

Iruka felt a sudden sinking feeling in his stomach and noticing where the warden was looking saw his former student on a monitor. He guessed the video was showing what had happened when the Warden had arrived in the control room after they parted as one of the two guards escorting the prisoner suddenly pulled the hood of the cloak back. Sure, enough the young man turned out to be the young root operative. Iruka though turned his attention to the two guards with him, the first was a tall man whose lower face was being covered by a mask. Although wearing what Iruka guessed was a standard uniform for the infamous Blood Prison, the Chunin could tell the man had added a few flourishes to it. The other guard was a blonde woman whose expression was blank, although not in a bored way. But almost as if there was nothing really going on behind her teal eyes.

Iruka quickly believed he understood some of what happened as he turned his gaze away from the monitor to say, “Are they accomplices of his?”

“That appears to be the case,” Mawashi replied as he pressed a button causing the images on the monitor to shift and show Udon being led into an isolation cell in at the entrance of the prison. The two guards were sitting outside it while some Chunin were looking over the paperwork, suddenly the screen grew static obscuring the picture. Iruka believed that was when the explosion had gone off, and by the time it recovered the Leaf Chunin were down. The tall guard had tossed away his shirt jacket and shirt revealing a dragon tattoo covering his chest. He also had donned a three prong claw on his right hand and now wore what appeared to be a Kirigakure Hunter mask. The woman had also removed the uniform that she wore to reveal she wore a bluish-green leotard that exposed her legs. She dug around in the pockets of one of the two guards and tossed the keys she found to the tall man who promptly freed Udon.

Noticing the front door appeared to have been blown into the room he suspected that there must have been a third party involved who planted the explosive. With that thought in mind Iruka said, “They must have an accomplice inside the prison. Likely a Root member, who slipped through the purge.”

“Agreed,” Mawashi replied quickly, “He also arranged for the cells to be opened on the first floor and the prisoners there are rioting. I’ve locked down the Prison and raised the drawbridge, so they are contained. But we need to maintain control until reinforcements can arrive from Konoha.”

Iruka frowned though as he said, “It may not be that simple.”

“Please explain,” the warden replied as he noticed a light on flip on the radio transmitter indicating someone was contacting the control room. “Excuse me,” he quickly stated before flipping it on, “This is the control room, report.”

“Warden,” a pained voice called out that Iruka recognized as Daichi’s replied, “I was leading my Squad to secure the Maximum Security wing when my squad was attacked.”

“Impossible,” Mawashi said his gaze drifting to several monitors showing the riot in progress. Although none of the screens showed Udon or his partners, it was clear the riot seemed to be contained currently. “It shouldn’t be possible for them to have reached the Maximum Security lift from their location.”

“Ye…yes sir,” Daichi answered, “We were attacked by Nobori. He got my key for the lift.”

“Shit,” the Warden cursed before asking, “What is the status of your squad?”

“I…I think that I’m all that’s left. I’m going to give pursuit. Can you spare any reinforcements?”

“Sir,” a kunoichi listening to all the status reports called out attracting their attention, “The situation on the first floor is collapsing. It appears that someone knows the release command for the chakra seals. The prisoners have full access to their chakra.”

“Fuck,” Mawashi cursed before ordering, “Withdraw all personnel but those stationed in the MS wing to the top floor of the Prison. We need to hold the security wing until help can be sent. We cannot let them lower the drawbridge.”

Iruka frowned at the command stating, “If you do that then they’ll most likely release the other prisoners to increase their numbers. What’s to stop them from just destroying the bridge mechanisms to lower it manually?”

“When it was designed, such a scenario was already conceived so the bridge needs to be lowered in a controlled manner. Even if they destroy the lowering mechanism and managed push it so that gravity causes it to fall. If it hits the connecting portion too hard it would cause it to collapse. We also have a self-destruct mechanism that causes the same thing to happen. I doubt most of the prisoners are a part of the plan and so our best bet is to withdraw to defend this location”

Iruka nodded in understanding, but said, “I see, but Udon must be here for the Root members that I’m guessing are being held in the Maximum Security Wing below the prison. I’m not sure how long we’ll hold out if they get free.”

“Which is why I’ll be leading reinforcements to help keep it secure,” Mawashi replied. Realizing he hadn’t replied to Daichi, he switched the mike back on. “Daichi, pull back to the command floor.” He didn’t receive a reply so cursed as he began heading to the exit.

Iruka fell into step asking, “I would like to go with you.”

Mawashi studied him for a moment, before saying, “Fine, but our primary goal is to prevent the prisoners in the Maximum Security section from getting loose. This isn’t the time to be trying to reach lost students.”

“You’re wrong about that,” Iruka said and knew the warden was about to tell him to stay behind. But, he followed it up by adding, “Yet, I know that it can’t take precedence over stopping him. However, there is no reason I can’t do both.”

The warden smirked as he said, “An idealist to the end, huh?”

Iruka nodded before replying, “A teacher’s calling is to always try to reach those lost students. They are the ones who need us the most after all.”

Mawashi sighed before replying, “Fine, let’s go. But, try not to get me killed. From what I’ve seen of the Root prisoners here, they would say you’re the one that needs to be reached.”

Iruka nodded before following after the Warden, and feared the man was right. But, most people would have said the same thing about Naruto, so felt to believe it himself would be doing his former student a disservice.

****

“This is rather anti-climactic,” Naruto said to his Bijuu lover, but didn’t receive a response.

Mainly as Kiyomi felt a sense of dread and guilt which made her think of when she had been fighting with Naruto over the fate of Tifa and the other Taki-nin. She wasn’t sure why, but as they walked through the empty base, the feeling only seemed to grow stronger. Thinking on it, she recalled the feeling was based in the fear that at some point he would simply tire of her willfulness and abandon her. Or, more accurately begin to see her as a monster, particularly due to her being responsible for taking his parents from him. Still, she had been too prideful to admit as much especially since she had felt that she was acting in his best interest.

The Bijuu wondered why she was thinking about such matters now, but attributed it to the slight rebuke Naruto had made in her feelings towards Momo. After all, she was truly living in a glass house when it came to hurling stones at the priestess’s actions. Her initial response to pay the Priestess back, made the red-head wonder if she had changed or if she was even capable of it. After all, it was easy for her to act all high and mighty simply because one of the people she had wronged had forgiven her. She began to feel worse about herself for her reply to him. Particularly since she knew Naruto hadn’t reached the point where he had been willing to fight Sasuke to the death easily.

Hoping she hadn’t hurt him she said, “Naruto, I’m sorry for what I said earlier.”

A part of her imagined her lover would be confused since he normally didn’t hold grudges. Not to mention how if he had been offended by her, he would have stated as much at the time. Yet, instead as his gaze settled on her it held none of the warmth that she had grown accustomed to as he said, “Don’t worry about it. You are a monster after all.”

“W…what,” Kiyomi replied in surprise, “You don’t mean that.”

“Don’t I,” Naruto said taking a step forward which caused her to step back. “You killed my father and mother. Not to mention have been the single greatest source of pain in my life. Did you truly think I’ve just let all the slide? You’ve been useful to me, nothing more.”

Each word felt like a knife to Kiyomi’s heart, and almost seemed to be the proof of the guilt that had been growing within her had been justified. Naruto took another step towards her, and she mirrored it as she retreated from him. His words became harsher as he said, “Do you truly believe that I could come to love a creature like you? A creature so wrapped up in its own pain that humanity felt it was akin to a natural disaster. But you aren’t even deserving of that title as such disasters aren’t bitter, menace filled demons who were just in a bad mood.”

Kiyomi’s back ended up pressed against the wall as she said on the verge of tears, “I’m sorry. I know what I’ve done in the past is wrong, but I’ve changed.” Yet, Naruto continued to close with her and noticing he was brandishing his blades she feared he was about to attack her so waved her hand before her causing a wall of flame to spring up between them. In her haste and fear, it proved more powerful then she anticipated forcing him to leap back lest he be caught up in it. As such, she immediately tried to say, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

Naruto just gave her a cold stare as he said, “What else should I have expected from a demon?”

****

“This is rather anti-climactic,” Naruto said having expected to need to fight through legions of villains to reach Mito.

Naruto was confused by Kiyomi’s lack of response, and began to wonder if he had been a bit too hard on her for what she had said in regards to Momo. He knew at times his lover appeared to take criticism about how she had been in the past to heart. Especially since at times she did sometimes seem to revert to who she had been when it came to threats to him. He attributed it not just to her feelings for him, but because to her, he represented the many victims there had been of her rampages, and so long as he forgave her then she was in essence forgiven.

He didn’t feel the same way as he believed it was truly a matter not so much of outside forces forgiving a person, but that it truly came from within. After all, even if he forgave her that didn’t mean there weren’t people that she may have wronged who didn’t. Tifa, for example, still had a relatively negative view of her. His mother did as well, although that did seem to begin fading as a result of their recent sharing him. Still, Naruto did wish she would have made a more concerted effort to apologize to some of the other people that she had wronged, and not just him. He hadn’t mentioned it primarily due to his fearing that then it would be his placing the thought in her head, rather than truly originating from within.

He shook his head to focus on the task at hand, especially as he continued to feel as if a ghost from the past was hovering around him. He attributed his feeling that way due to a sense of guilt about what Kiyomi had said to him in regards to Sasuke. Although, she hadn’t accused him of it, a part of him felt that the reason he had been able to cut the Uchiha out of his life was because of his harem. Granted Sasuke had made his decision to cut his bond to him rather clear, not to mention had willful taken the life of several Kumo-nin in his attempt to kidnap the jinchuriki of the Eight Tails. But a part of Naruto felt that if not for his forming true bonds with the women now bound to him, then he might have been more willing to ignore those actions in order to preserve his own with Sasuke.

After all, Naruto recognized that he was in essence a rather selfish person. For proof of that he had to look no further than his old dream of being Hokage. After all, his entire reason for desiring the position wasn’t to make the life of other better, but to bask in their admiration of him. In many ways, Naruto felt that was perhaps why he had chased after Sasuke so much as he had acknowledged him as someone whose admiration he had desired.

But, Naruto truly was coming to believe that almost all people were more or less motivated by personal desire. It was just that some desires tended to be more acceptable to outside viewers. For example, Naruto felt his father truly was a great Hokage, but that was simply because he had desired to be so, even more than he wished to be a family man. Naruto felt that much like his own original desires for the position were based in a wish for acknowledgement. His father’s actions when Kiyomi had been freed had been based in his desire to be adored by the village, and as such, no sacrifice was too great to achieve it. Even going so far as sacrificing his wife by allowing her death, and burdening his son with becoming a jinchuriki. He might have truly felt doing so would be for the greater good of the world as a whole, but Naruto felt his actions had been rooted in securing his legacy.

He guessed he felt this way because in truth, both his mother and him had been members of the village as well, and he felt that they had deserved to have been protected by the Hokage that day as much as everyone else. He also felt Gaara was in essence falling into the same trap, since it was easy to claim acting for the village negated some of the horribleness of what he admitted to being capable of doing to Sari. But, he felt at the end of the day their actions were as motivated by self-interest as his had been. It was just that since their actions would or had benefited their villages, the people that benefited from them were willing to give them a pass through their admiration. Which had been the goal they were seeking.

Yet, after his final fight with Sasuke, the Uchiha’s acknowledgement was something that Naruto felt was no longer worth achieving at any cost, including ignoring the misery he was spreading, and while watching him cut down Mikoto had been the catalyst to this understanding. In truth, it had begun to fade almost as soon as he had first opened the scroll that Kanji gave him. After all, with the temptation of developing something with Ino before him, he had been willing to forget about what had driven him to train for those three years.

As such, Naruto did feel a sense of guilt for in essence abandoning Sasuke to his darkness. Which even though he believed it was rather arrogant of him to think that he could force Sasuke to change. A part of him felt that if not for his lovers, he would have continued to pursue that goal if only to force Sasuke to acknowledge him, and if he had succeeded in browbeating him into submission. He would then have quickly lost interest. Naruto’s guilt tended to make him fear that after claiming his goal had been to bring Sasuke back. That once he had achieved his goal it wouldn’t have mattered if the Uchiha simply wandered alone once more, so long as he felt that he had achieved his desired acknowledgement that the bond they had was important to the Uchiha.

Granted, Naruto now recognized that a bond required both people to value it, and he had essentially received his answer from Sasuke during their clash at the Valley of the End. Particularly since Sasuke had shown that only his goals had mattered. Naruto felt that was also how Gaara was behaving in regards to his relationship with Sari, since while the bond they shared might have meaning under normal circumstance. Much as his bond had with Sasuke. It quickly took a back seat once it conflicted with Gaara’s goals to be recognized as a great Kage. Much, as Sasuke had decided his friendship didn’t matter as much as his desire for revenge on Itachi.

Naruto had believed that abandoning Sasuke would be unforgiveable for someone claiming to desire bonds with people. But, he now recognized his unwillingness had been because he had only a handful of them, and he had been rather greedy in not letting one go even as the person it had been with had made it quite clear that his own ambitions were more important. But, having developed truly meaningful bonds it had become easier. Yet, still there was a nugget of guilt that perhaps he had been too hasty to move on.

Naruto felt that guilt manifest as he thought he heard Kiyomi say something, but asking her to repeat it he had looked at her only to find Sasuke standing before him. The Uchiha appeared much as he had during their last clash prompting him to ask while taking a threatening step towards him, “W…what? Where did you come from? Where’s Kiyomi?”

The room seemed darker than it had before, and Sasuke took a step back into the darkness as he said, “Don’t worry about her? She’s easily replaceable. Just like me, right?”

“Cut the bullshit,” Naruto replied angrily, “and tell me what you’ve done with her.”

“Why don’t you make me loser?” Sasuke replied retreating away from him. He backed up against the wall, and seeing an opportunity Naruto leapt forward to grab him. Yet waving his hand, Sasuke caused a wall of fire to appear between them.

The Uchiha smirked as he said, “Don’t pretend you value her. We both know you only care about those who look up to you. It didn’t take much to make you abandon me after all.”

“Don’t try to play being a victim with me dammit,” Naruto said angrily. “You can’t claim I abandoned you, when you’re the one that needed to cut those ties to pursue your own ambitions.”

Sasuke chuckled before countering, “Isn’t that the kettle calling the pot black. I mean, how long will it be before you cut ties with Gaara if he doesn’t get with the program and kiss your ass like everyone else?” Naruto roared angrily before leaping towards the Uchiha through the flames, but he quickly dodged away while laughing mockingly.

****

Mito watched Naruto attack Kiyomi, who quickly slipped away as she said, “Please Naruto stop. Y…You said you loved me?”

Her fellow Uzumaki however made it clear he was replying to an entirely differed conversation as he said, “Damn it, you bastard! You can’t have it both ways!”

Mito’s gaze shifted to Momo who appeared both thrilled with what was happening on the screen, and slightly disappointed. Figuring the best way to get her to open up on what was happening was to focus on what she was displeased with she asked, “Everything not going according to your plan?”

Momo looked over her shoulder before turning back to the screen as she replied, “I’m slightly disappointed he didn’t bring all his lovers. I wanted them to butcher each other, before turning her loose to finish them off.”

Mito directed her gaze to the screen as Kiyomi backpedaled away and again threw up another wall of flames. Not quite sure how the genjutsu they were under worked, it was apparent she was aware that she was being attacked by Naruto on some level. But, it was apparent he didn’t know he was attacking his former Bijuu. The female Uzumaki frowned as she tried to figure out what was affecting the two. She began to rule out that it was actually a genjutsu since she hadn’t seen the Priestess actually cast one. She knew there were ways to cast a genjutsu from a distance, but the area effect ones still required some sort of trigger, which could have given Kiyomi or Naruto a chance to defend against it.

Having not seen anything of the sort, her eyes grew wide as she recognized what was causing them to hallucinate. “That isn’t just any fog,” Mito said in understanding, “It’s miasma from a demon.”

Momo looked back at her in surprise, before a large grin appeared as she said, “I’m impressed. You’re not just another pretty face.” Turning back to the screen, she watched as Kiyomi threw up her foxcloak to avoid being cut in half by Naruto’s blades. She then used a tail to slap him away before trying to flee. Momo grew annoyed as she shouted, “Don’t run you stupid bitch. You’re supposed to kill him.”

Mito watched Naruto give chase, and began pouring her desire for her lover to calm into the fox mark. She noticed him begin to slow, and she imagined that his feeling her presence was reminding him why was there in the first place. Hoping to distract Momo, she said, “I’ve heard Monks and Priestess have used Demon Miasma for ceremonies that force them to confront their fears and guilt. I’m guessing we’re seeing that at play, but without the safeguards. It couldn’t have been easy to collect that much though. Even extremely powerful demons only give off handfuls at a time, and that is mainly from their contact with the demon plane.”

“True enough,” Momo replied turning from the screens as Mito had hoped. “Yet, there is one place where the barrier between the Demon Plane and our world is razor thin.”

It took Mito only a moment to realize what the woman was referring to as she said, “The Festering Wound.”

Momo obviously was surprised by her knowledge. “Hm, you’re more than just a pretty face, aren’t you? The knowledge of that place is a closely guarded secret within the religious cast.”

Mito understood why, since it was the place where the Demon Moryo had first entered into the world from the Demon Realm. His doing so had been so violent that it had left a tear in the Land of Demons from which Miasma continuously leaked giving the area a twisted and desolate appearance. Although, he had done so nearly a millennium before she had been born the wound tear had never fully closed. One of the reasons it was believed it hadn’t healed was because it was the through it that Moryo kept returning to the human realm after each defeat by the Priestesses that were Shion’s ancestors. It was also why Shion’s mother, the Priestess Miroku, had defeated him in the manner that she had. She had sought to end the cycle by separating his spirit from his physical form, thus allowing the tear time to heal.

The only reason Mito knew of it was because in her youth her father and she had been contacted by the Priestess of the time, in order to see if the Uzumaki could close it via their sealing techniques. Nothing ever became of it though as there were some monks that didn’t want the tear closed as they used the Miasma for their rituals. Plus, there has been some fear that if the tear was closed, it would prompt Moryo to open a new one in another location.

Particularly since it was believed that it had required an incredible amount of time and effort to open the one. The monks that had argued against its closure had made use of the fact that he continuously appeared through it despite his having been repelled time and time again. Mito admitted they did have a point, especially since he had been defeated without escaping the Festering Wound numerous times because of the wards, barriers, and religious sects stationed there. He had only managed to break free the last time when he had confronted Priestess Miroku because he had created his stone army which he had sent through first.

Imagining that with his last defeat, most of those defense had been put back in place Mito said, “I doubt they let just anyone walk up to take some though.”

Momo smirked as she replied, “You’d be correct. But, there’s uses for it besides just for religious ceremonies so a pretty extensive black market exists. With a few stimulants mixed in it actually makes for a rather powerful high from what I hear.”

The Uzumaki couldn’t say she was surprised there was a narcotics application for it having suspected a few of the religious orders used the miasma for multitude of purposes to fill their coffers. At least that was why she felt they were so unwilling to go without. But, she let the matter drop as Momo began to turn away. Hoping to keep her distracted, she asked, “What would killing her accomplish?”

“Nothing,” Momo replied not swallowing the bait as she didn’t want to miss the moment. “In fact I hope she is the one doing the killing. But, that’s out of my control now. However… what?” The Priestess frowned as she noticed that Naruto was making a beeline straight for them. She searched the screens for Kiyomi and found her in another room seemingly attacking phantoms. She couldn’t understand why Naruto didn’t seem affected until it suddenly dawned on her. “You,” she said turning towards Mito, “You’re helping him somehow.” She pulled her blade, and said almost sorrowfully, “It looks like you’ll not be surviving this after all.”

The Priestess charged, but Mito was prepared especially as the way Momo was carrying it the blade was facing up. So when she was in range, she kicked up knocking the sword up into the ceiling. Momo was caught by surprise at her sudden disarming allowing Mito to lash out with her left leg to kick her in the side of the head. The priestess went spinning away, so Mito then pulled her body up so that she could grip the handle of the sword between her feet. She managed to pull it free and sent it flying into the ground. Now with a foothold, she released her seal causing a surge of chakra to flow through her, which she channeled much the same way her granddaughter did as she leapt up off the sword and kicked the chain where it was anchored into the ceiling shattering it. Then as she landed she smashed the iron gauntlets covering her hands on the floor causing them to shatter. She felt the chakra suppressant seal being to drain what had been released, but using the last bit of her energy quickly devised a counter seal which released it. She sighed pleasantly as her chakra flowed normally again, and was somewhat surprised Momo had moved to attack her.

Focusing on the Priestess she found out why as instead of attacking, she had moved to the seal array that controlled the barriers. The Priestess finished applying her changes, which caused her right hand to begin glowing. She pressed it towards her chest, and then the seal array began pulsing. Mito had a decent idea of what she had done, but Momo explained her actions as she said, “I’ve modified the barrier so that it will block every path but the one between those two, and the only way to bring down the barriers is to kill me. If you hurry maybe, you’ll be able to save them before they reach other. Of course, if you enter into the miasma you’ll probably begin hallucinating as well.”

Mito wasn’t so sure, but she didn’t want to take the woman’s life either. She took her eyes off her to look at the monitors and saw that Naruto had run right into a barrier. She smiled as he rubbed his face, before standing. She could feel that Kiyomi was panicking and could tell he was as well. But, his concern for her was also quite palpable. As such, she let him know that she had the situation under control via her foxmark. She noticed him sag in relief for a moment before quickly turning away to find Kiyomi.

Momo believing her attention was diverted whispered an incantation, “Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini!! Look upon yourself with horror and tear out your own throat!" From between her hands a small ball of energy formed which shot out as a tendril that remained connected via her middle and index finger. The tendril traveled towards Mito who ducked out of the way at the last moment. She then ran beneath it towards the Priestess, who moved her fingers to redirect her jutsu. But as it lowered to try and capture her, Mito rolled towards the side and then leap up to the wall which she began running along. Momo again tried to correct, but Mito leapt over it as it hit the wall instead, she landed before the dark-haired woman. She then delivered a palm strike to her chest. The blow lifted Momo off her feet, and smashed her into the wall behind her. The Priestess bounced off, but before hitting the ground Mito grabbed her and tossed her across the room.

Momo groaned as she struggled to get to her feet. She used the desk the monitors rested upon to help her up to her feet, and seeing Naruto approaching Kiyomi sent a smile towards Mito stating, “It looks like you’re too late.”

****

Yamame wondered if fate was conspiring against her, or if her life was just a byproduct of her bad choices. Naturally, it was easier to believe in the first rather than accept responsibility for her actions. But, she felt she was particularly justified considering what started her off on her path had simply been her desire not to butcher her classmates in order to become a genin of Kirigakure. Of course, she tended to leave out how she had feared that it would be her that ended up being butchered since she had been a lower to middle of the pack student. She had always exceled grade wise, but that didn’t really matter much when the final was a do or die battle to the death. As such, when Kajika had decided he was going to defect to Sound, well it had sounded like a good idea at the time.

But, that had just led to her running across Team Seven and ultimately in jail. At times, she almost wished she had had just participated in the exam. Particularly, since she had learned from a few of her fellow prisoners that the death matches had ended with Zabuza, although they told students different to test their mettle.

She guessed that face was also why she hadn’t been recruited to participate in the Danzou’s rebellion which had involved prisoners. After it had failed, she had almost been glad she had been considered too pathetic to approach since she would have likely jumped at the chance. When, it had failed, she felt that she had dodged a kunai particularly since it had allowed her to join Iruka’s remedial classes. She really hadn’t had an agenda when she first had started, only doing so since it got her out of some work details during the summer. But, she had come to truly enjoy them as it recaptured the fun she had from learning, as well as let her know what was happening outside world. It had filled her with a sense of melancholy though since it made her realize the world was moving on without her. Particularly as she was twenty years old and had spent over six of them in prison.

With no real worth as a kunoichi as illustrated by her not even being considered for the rebellion. She knew her fate was likely to be held in prison until she was old and gray, before being released only so she could die somewhere else. Yet, she had received her first ray of hope since leaving Kirigakure, when Iruka had explained that if she did well during his upcoming summer courses then she would be granted a parole. Moreover, he had even found her a job with a shipping company. Considering her life, she should have suspected it was too guide to be true. The first signs of which had been an explosion that had shaken the entire prison.

Iruka, had quickly taken off telling her to return to her cell and to remain there no matter what happened. Not seeing a choice, it had been easy to say that she would as the guard had taken her away. But, then all the guards had retreated from her floor, and soon after the doors to all the cells had been thrown open. Despite her promise, she found the temptation of freedom too alluring so had exited to find many of the prisoners gathered around a man even younger than her. The youth had explained to those he released, “My name is Udon, and I have a unique proposition for you. You’re freed from your cages, but have a long way to go to actually attaining your freedom. I’ll release the seals binding your chakra. But in return, you must capture the control room on the top floor. If the situation in the prison gets too out of control they’ll blow the bridge trapping everyone here. The only reason they haven’t yet is because they are hoping for reinforcements from the Leaf.”

Iwana, her former teammate and someone who had also defected to Sound with her asked, “What of it? Say we help you, and stop them from destroying the bridge. We’re still trapped in the middle of the fucking Land of Fire. The Leaf will just hunt us down.”

Yamame was somewhat surprised by his sensible question. But, figured since a lot of the shinobi who had tried to escape during the rebellion had ended up right back in prison just making it across the bridge wouldn’t make their situations any better. In fact, if they were caught it would likely make things worse, for her especially since she had a pardon sitting on the table. But, she began to wonder if that truly was the case any longer after all, Iruka was trapped in the prison and she wondered what would happen to the offer if he died.

That thought, along with the calm way Udon answered by saying, “I’ve considered that already. Anyone that participates in taking the control room, and survives will be free to leave with me. Soon a new power will be bursting onto the scene and you will have an opportunity to join up. Well, opportunity is perhaps not the correct word as you’ll have no choice but to join at least until we reveal ourselves. However, surely having the chance to be shinobi again must beat out wasting away in a prison for the rest of your lives. Now decide!”

Yamame hesitated for a moment, but hearing Iwana and the other prisoners quickly agree caused her to call out, “I’m in.”

Udon made a handsign and she sighed in an almost orgasmic fashion as her chakra was returned to her for the first time in six years. Udon then made her glad for her decision as he said, “Oh, there is also a special bonus for anyone that brings me one of these men’s heads. Well, except for the third one. I want him brought to me alive.” The first two she recognized as being the warden of the prison, and Iruka. But then one they wanted alive confused her as she didn’t recognize him and he seemed to be about the same age as Udon. The Youth was smiling and had light brown hair. Yamame couldn’t imagine what his importance was. But, with Iruka being marked as a dead man, she doubted that she would be getting that pardon so believed that she had made the correct decision and so began following after the others as they made their way to the next floor.

****

Iruka frowned as the lift to the maximum security section took them down to the bowels of the prison. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, but new they didn’t have time to really reflect on it. They had come across, Daichi’s team and found them massacred, but no sign of the youth himself. He wasn’t too surprised as he learned that the Nobori that had attacked them had apparently been a former student of his as well. Not to mention a close friend of Daichi’s. Again, Iruka felt a desire to berate himself for not seeing the signs.

But, it hadn’t lasted since there had been a blood trail which they had presumed had been Daichi following after his friend. From the amount of blood, Iruka had been surprised the youth had made it to the lift, and had suspected they would find them collapsed in front of it. Particularly since he had reported his lift key had been taken. But, when they had arrived at the entrance to the elevator, they had found no sign of him.

Iruka, found his attention pulled back to the present as the lift settled telling them that they had arrived. He prepared himself as did the other shinobi, but when the doors opened no barrage of kunai or other weapons greeted them. They spilled out of the elevator to find a massacre, of the team that had been guarding the doors that led to the most secure portion of the prison.

“What happened here?” one of the shinobi asked checking the shinobi for survivors.

A groan came up from one of them, and Iruka being the closest quickly spun him over. He recognized the helmeted youth as a former student so said, “Daichi, hang in there.”

“I…Iruka,” he said weakly likely from blood loss due to the numerous cuts he had suffered.

Mawashi quickly closed on them and asked, “Daichi what happened? How did you get down here?”

“I…I followed after Nobori, but he got the drop on me again. H…he knocked me out and used me to get the others to drop their guard. But, I’m not sure what happened after that, I must have blacked out.”

“Okay, you did good son. Let us handle it from here.” the Warden said sounding concerned still. “Iruka, take Daichi with you and find a safe place to hide. We’ll secure the area and make sure Nobori isn’t down here.”

Iruka felt something was off still so asked, “If Nobori is down here then he has probably already released the prisoners. You’ll be outnumbered.”

“We’re aware,” Mawashi replied giving Iruka an accepting smile which the other guards also wore. “But this is our duty.”

Daichi struggled to stand as he said weakly, “Then I should stay as well.”

“You’ve done enough,” Mawashi said proudly, “In that condition you’d only get yourself killed. I’m not planning to die down here so enough chattering. Iruka, you have your orders.”

Iruka nodded as the warden and his men moved to the large doors to input the code. He guided Daichi onto the elevator, and couldn’t help feeling something was wrong as he watched the men enter the Maximum Security wing to see in Nobori was inside.

****

Naruto felt relieved as Mito sent him another all clear. He had imagined that Momo must have put up a bit of a fight. He frowned though as he heard whispers that seemed to come from the shadows, and he imagined if he listened to them would be in Sasuke’s voice. But, he wouldn’t pay them any mind as he felt Kiyomi was in a state of panic and distress. He suspected that it was his concern for his lovers which was making the whispers bombarding him lose their power over him.

Naruto felt that he was nearing her position, but rather than Kiyomi’s voice it sounded like Sasuke. Reaching, the room, he heard Sasuke screaming, “Where are you loser? Have you abandoned me again to find your bitch? Isn’t that just like you, the man that said he was my friend running off and leaving me to my darkness for a bit of pussy.”

Naruto felt an urge to respond, but he refused to be baited particularly as he kept his focus on how Kiyomi’s foxmark was telling him that she was standing before him. Believing he understood what was happening, he took a calming breath, and began entering the state he did before going into Sage Mode. He felt the world fall away making everything clear and believed that the Sasuke standing before him was Kiyomi. But what he was seeing was the manifestation of the guilt that he felt about moving on with his life, and turning his back on Sasuke. With that in mind he addressed it by saying, “You’re right in a sense. I did abandon you. But, is as much your fault as mine. You decided that your revenge is more important than my friendship, and it would be irresponsible of me ignore what you’ve become just to hold onto this one bond.”

He figured his speaking had attracted Kiyomi’s attention as the Sasuke focused on him. He could imagine that she responded to what she had heard, as the image of the Uchiha said, “You can dress it up any way you want. But you simply abandoned me because of those bitches bound to you.”

“You’re right,” Naruto freely admitted, “Because, they are true bonds and they deserve my focus, love, and loyalty. There was a time when you did as well, but I can’t keep chasing the ghost of that bond to neglect my future with them. I will keep my hand outstretched to you, but it is up to you to take it. Not me to force you to.” Sasuke began to fade away as Naruto came to terms with his decision to let his bond with the Uchiha go, and in doing so revealed Kiyomi looking scared of him. He no longer felt the guilt that had been building since entering the mist so figured that must be driving the visions that she was likely seeing.

Holding his hand out to her, he sent his feelings of love to her mark as he said, “Kiyomi, you’re stronger than this. Don’t forget who you are?”

Kiyomi took a step back, as if he was planning to strike her. She then shouted, “Get back!” Sending up another wall of flame that caused him to leap back.

He wondered if some of his words got through though as she screamed, “I know I’m a monster. But, you said you loved me. How can I make you forgive me?”

Hearing the pleading in her voice caused him to grow angry at the Priestess that had subjected his lover to such torture. Figuring his words would just be twisted and believing actions always spoke louder than them anyway. He began to slowly approach his lover, the flame wall she had thrown up before had begun to fade. But, with his closing the distance between them, she intensified it. Naruto though didn’t stop as he instead moved to walk through it, Kiyomi sensing his intention quickly shouted, “Stop!”

Naruto didn’t listen and just as he was about to touch it she created an opening within it. The wall began to fade, but she whimpered as she said, “Stay back… please.”

Naruto though reached out for her, and she winced as if accepting whatever punishment that she believed he was about to deliver. Instead he simply caressed her cheek, her eyes opened wide obviously surprised by his gentle caress. She focused on him, and he said, “Kiyomi, it isn’t my place to forgive you to free you of this burden. That is only something that you can do for yourself. But, you are mine, and will always remain so as long as you take my hand whenever I reach out for you.”

Kiyomi cupped her hands over his and then tears gathered in her eyes as she broke down crying, “I’m sorry for all the pain I’ve caused you.”

She dropped to her knees and he followed her down to wrap her in a hug as he replied, “I know, and I’ve known that for a long time. It’s time you begin forgiving yourself.”

Kiyomi clung to him as she sobbed uncontrollably, and not sure what else to say. Naruto again decided actions were better than words as he simply held her tight.

*****

“No! What is this?” Momo asked as she struggled against Mito’s grip as they watched Naruto hugging the balling women. “He should be trying to rip her to pieces or vice versa.”

“That was never going to happen.”

Momo ceased her struggling as she asked while watching the monitor, “What do you mean? They were fighting each other in the beginning.”

Mito nodded, and replied, “True, but you were hoping they would lash out at each other in guilt and anger. But, they aren’t as weak as you believe.” Thinking how while Naruto and her had been separated, Kiyomi had addressed people she felt she had wronged she continued, “From the beginning Kiyomi only fought defensively. Likely because she was viewing Naruto during her vision. Naruto though was apparently seeing Sasuke. Although, when he struck down his mother, Naruto tried to defeat him and was willing to kill him. I don’t imagine he didn’t feel as if he was turning his back on a friend. From my understanding, he once said that he rather have remained a fool then to do that. But, such a claim sadly neglects the Uchiha’s own will in the matter. Still, I believe Naruto would relent if during a fight Sasuke surrendered, and since Kiyomi only was willing to fight defensively the battle to the death you desired never was going to happen.”

“Then I’ll just have to take matters into my own hands,” Momo shouted before adding, “Bakudo number eight, Seji!”

A blue orb appeared towards the back of Momo’s hand which due to Mito holding her arms behind her allowed the priestess to push back into her. The orb dispersed sending Mito flying back until she hit the wall behind her. Momo quickly ran for the door, snatching the blade Mito had buried in the floor as she did so. Mito recovered and leapt after her, but smashed into the barrier that was erected around the room even as Momo passed through it. Shaking the cobwebs from her head, she moved to the seal array hoping she could bring it down before the Priestess reached her Family.

****

Yamame felt as if she was taking some sort of genin exam as she ducked beneath a blade from one of the control room’s defenders. The reason for this was because Udon, had yet to lend a hand to the many shinobi that he had recruited to take the floor. She wasn’t sure why, but she almost had the sense that all their actions were pointless. But, having committed to escaping decide to trust the young man had a way out of the situation.

Focusing on the current obstacle to that goal she used a kama that she had liberated from a dead guard and brought it down towards the ankle of the shinobi she was facing. At the last second she turned it so the blade was facing away and succeeded in breaking it. The man fell back, and she followed up by slamming the handle into his head rendering him unconscious. Her reasons for doing so were mainly so if the breakout failed, she wouldn’t find herself suddenly being faced with execution as had been the case for many of the prisoners that had taken part in the rebellion as their sentences were upgraded.

She looked up and saw an opening among the defenders of the final hallway before the control room. Seizing the opportunity, she raced forward and tossed a ball of exploding tags she had also liberated. It landed before the heavy doors, before exploding. Racing through the smoke, she saw most of the remaining shinobi had been dazed by the explosion. However, a kunoichi towards the back seemed to be the least affected. Realizing the room was lost, she quickly made a break for a control panel where a giant glass encased button was located.

Yamame hefted her weapon and tossed it just as the kunoichi was reaching for it. The blade buried itself in the back of the woman’s hand causing her to scream out. Still, ignoring the pain she tried to reach it with her other hand, but was stopped by Yamame as she said, “Don’t! You’ve lost there’s no reason you have to die.”

The kunoichi sagged in defeat, but Udon then entered the room saying, “Very good.”

Iwana followed him in as well, saying angrily, “No thanks to you.”

Turning to her former teammate Udon moved towards her as he addressed the surviving prisoners, “I already have a way out of the prison. You were earning your seats out as well, so it was only natural that you did the heavy lifting.” He pulled the Kama out of the control panel and then coldly slashed the blade across the wounded kunoichi’s neck. The woman looked at Yamame with eyes filled with betrayal as her blood spilled from the wound. Focusing on her, Udon said, “I couldn’t help noticing you left a trail of unconscious guards behind you. Don’t worry I tidied up for you.” Addressing the rest, he said, “Mercy is a weakness. One you will neither give or should expect to receive in your new lives.”

Focusing on Yamame, Udon said, “I imagine you were just hedging your bets. But, you’ll need to be totally committed going forward. Understand?”

“Yes,” she replied although when he walked past her, her gaze drifted down to the accusing eyes of the now dead kunoichi.

“Good,” Udon said before pressing the button that they had just fought to prevent its activation.

****

Iruka removed his flak jacket as he inspected the wound that he had received from a mask wielding shinobi who sported a claw on his right hand. He had encountered the man, along with the short blonde woman accompanying him at the entrance to the lift after taking it back up. The woman upon locking eyes with him had quickly dropped into a combat stance as she said, “Target confirmed.”

She had launched herself at him and Daichi, whom he pushed away to create some distance. The Chunin had collapsed to the deck of the lift apparently having fallen unconscious again. The woman kick hit the back of the lift hard enough to dent it, but she quickly used it to leap out of the lift before he could attack. He followed after her and quickly had to dodge as the masked man swiped at him with his claw. Iruka managed to avoid most of the blow, but the claw still cut deep enough to slice into him.

Iruka cursed as the two had cut him off from Daichi, and to make matters worse the lift doors began to close. Hearing it begin to descended, he only hoped Mawashi was calling it down to secure it.

But, he had to focus on his situation as the kunoichi charged at him again. Iruka blocked the bunch she threw, and followed up with a strike of his own that she in turn blocked. She then leapt backwards into the air as the masked man approached having tucked himself into a ball. He bounced towards him, and springing out of it stabbed out with a claw.

Iruka managed to duck back enough that the move whiffed and stepped in with a kick that caught the man in his masked face. He tumbled back, but the woman leapt over him spinning like a corkscrew in the air. The attack connected knocking him back several steps and as she landed she followed it up by announcing, “Cannon Spike.” The blow caught Iruka in the chin lifting him up into the air.

As he began to return to the ground, he noticed the masked shinobi was waiting with his claw. Popping a pocket on his vest he pulled a scroll out which spinning he tossed at the man. The shinobi easily battered it away before he stabbed up at him catching him in the stomach. At least it appeared that way before he burst into smoke to be replaced by the just tossed scroll.

“Not bad,” the man had said before turning to see where the scroll had landed to see Iruka darting down the hall.

Iruka heard the footsteps of the woman moving to follow him, but was stopped as the masked man ordered, “Stand down Killer Bee. It’s more fun when you give the rabbits a head start. Besides, business before pleasure.”

Iruka figuring the two planned to head down to the maximum security wing, nearly turned back. But, he recognized that while he might have been able to handle one of them, facing both would only result in his death. Hoping, that Daichi still being on the lift had alerted Mawashi of the impending trouble he focused on trying to stay alive.

Iruka winced as he touched his wound as his recollection of the encounter ended. Applying some antibacterial cream, he had found in a first aid kit. He determined that it was going to be all the treatment he saw at least until the Leaf took back the prison. He sighed as the thought of Yamame since he had swung by her cell hoping to find her still in it. He couldn’t say that he was too surprised to find her gone, but hoped it was because recognizing the situation she figured that she wouldn’t be safe there. As opposed to taking a part in the riot, and escape attempt. But, he feared it was more likely that she had leapt at the chance of freedom she could attain now as opposed to his promise of it in the future.

Pulling his flak jacket back on, he said to himself depressed at his apparent misreading of the kunoichi, “I’m really striking out with reading the hearts of the kids these days.”

Iruka’s attention was pulled to a window from the sound of another explosion going off. He watched as smoke rose from nearby the drawbridge which then began falling forward. He heard it crash on the other side before being followed by the sound of stone collapsing. Recognizing that the control room had likely been lost, and he was now trapped in the prison Iruka decided if he was to meet his end it wouldn’t be while cowering in a room waiting to be found by trapped prisoners. Hoping to find some survivors along the way, he began heading back to the Maximum Security wing to alert the Warden of the situation.

******

Momo raced down the halls with her blade aiming to at least pierce the heart of the demon that had taken Kanji from her. She was driven on by whispers that seemed to be chasing her, and even gaining. Yet, instead of being Kanji as she would expect due to the guilt she felt a failing him, instead seemed to be those of the women that he had enslaved. Women, that she had thought herself better than since Kanji hadn’t needed to place controls on her like he did them. The whispers called her an accomplice and cowards stating she knew the truth of the man she served but had been too much a coward to face it. Hoping to outrace them, she pushed her legs harder praying to Kanji her blade would find its way to the demon’s heart, which happened to be the man she was bound to.

******

Naruto pulled Kiyomi’s head from his chest as her sobs began to relent and asked, “Feeling better?”

Kiyomi nodded before raising a sleeve to her eyes as she said, “Yes, but I want to be out of here. Let us collect Mito and leave.”

Naruto nodded sharing the opinion so stood and helped his Bijuu lover to her feet. She seemed smaller than before, but he felt it was more a perception since she so rarely showed her emotions to such a degree. Attributing it to the vulnerability that she must be feeling as a result, he wanted to think of something which would cheer her up. Yet, before anything came to mind, a shrill scream filled the room.

He turned to find Momo coming right at him. He prepared to defend himself but was pushed to the side by Kiyomi. The Bijuu accept the woman’s charge as she grabbed the blade with her hand, and pushed it to the side so that it missed cutting into her stomach. Then with her free arm she wrapped the woman in a hug as she whispered, “You poor tortured thing. To go so far for a man that you despised.”

Momo pushed away from the Bijuu as if she had been burnt by the gesture. Kiyomi tossed the blade aside as the Priestess shouted, “I loved Master Kanji. Stop trying to make me doubt myself.”

Kiyomi’s healed the wound on her hand and held it up for Naruto to remain where he was. Focusing on the dark-haired woman, she said, “I’m afraid that just isn’t the case. I know that because if it was true when we raided your compound your chakra would have been red like Tayuya’s.”

“W…what are you talking about?”

Kiyomi stepped closer explaining, “When you become bound to someone using the Binding. Your chakra begins to reflect your feelings for that person. Only a Hyuuga can see this change, so I’m not surprised you don’t know about it. When one looked at the women bound to Kanji they were all black, including you.”

“T…that isn’t true,” she said taking a step back because Kiyomi began to morph into the man that had first attacked her. Momo the rest of the room began to change as well to the darkened forest that she had been walking through when she found her path blocked by a masked man. The man surged forward causing Momo to try running away but he had caught her tearing away her robe as she tried to get away. Then burying himself inside her tearing something even more precious as he had his way with her.

Kiyomi watched as Momo writhed on the ground crying out for help. Believing she was caught up in whatever she had used to make Naruto and her hallucinate she figured it must have been something to do with the fog coating the floor. Letting her chakra spill out she watched it react and change to a red mist which she tried to fill with the positive emotions she felt towards her lover and family.

Momo lost track of how many men had followed the first who had seemed more interested in cumming inside her rather than taking pleasure. But he had told the others to have their fill, and they certainly took him up on the offer. But eventually, there was only one left rutting away on her limp body. But then suddenly his head was removed by a blade, and Kanji’s gentle voice began calling out to her. He had carried her from the spot and had taken her to his home. He began cleaning her up, telling her that he had just been passing through. Momo didn’t know why but as his hands caressed her flesh and despite the abuses she had just suffered she felt her desire to be taken by his grow until she had suddenly leaned forward to kiss him. He greedily accepted it before taking her to his bed. He then set her down on his bed, but before he climbed onto it to join her. The lights of the room flickered to nothing and when they returned the first masked rapist was standing in his place.

Momo screamed for help, but some part within her recognized that her subconscious was revealing the truth of her supposed rescuer to her. The masked Kanji began to climb onto the bed, but then a hand burst through his chest. Not in a gory manner but it revealed him for the hallucination that he was. Still, desperate to escape what followed, Momo reached out for it and was pulled up into another hug.

Kiyomi wrapped her arms protectively around the woman as she said, “It’s alright now. He can no longer harm you.”

The priestess clung desperately to the woman as she allowed herself to be soothed by the warmth that she was giving off.

****

Iruka wondered if he was the only person left in the prison as he heard a strange sound which seemed to be growing louder. He had reached the MS wings and found the door elevator had once more been returned to the top. He had taken it down to find that Warden Mawashi and the others had been butchered, some beyond all recognition as people. Plus, all the prisoners that had been held there were now gone. Not sure how Udon planned to escape, he had taken the lift back up to gather as much information as possible.

The loud whirring sound grew even more pronounced and separated so that he recognized it was coming from multiple sources. Coming across a window, he looked outside to find strange flying vehicles lowering themselves into the courtyard. He noticed that one of them passed overhead making it seem like it was going to land on the roof. Iruka figured that was where Udon must be, and so decided to confront him.

Leaping out the window. He began racing up the building. As he ran he noticed a large tank being that looked like it contained water being loaded into one of the vehicles. He reached the edge of the wall and leapt over to land on the roof just as the vehicle touched down. He was shocked to find several prisoners, including Yamame surrounding him. Also, being held between two prisoners was a struggling Nobori and being held by another was the wounded Daichi.

Nobori seemed shocked by his presence so called out, “Iruka, help me!”

Iruka wasn’t sure what was going on, but something told him the Chunin wasn’t faking. Still, he couldn’t exactly ignore the possibility so decided to focus on the brains of the operation as he said, “What are you playing at Udon?”

Udon motioned for the prisoners to board, and Iruka noticed that Yamame seemed conflicted before finally lowering her head to comply. The other prisoners followed suit and managed to force Nobori on but at the last moment, Daichi pushed off the prisoner supporting him. The man moved to collect him, but Udon said, “Leave him.” Focusing on his former teacher, he answered, “I’m afraid the time for games is long since passed Iruka-sensei. A fact that we Root will remind the Leaf of soon enough. We’ll show you that it is you that are playing at being shinobi.”

Shaking his head, Iruka pulled a pair of kunai as he said, “The path to peace isn’t spreading misery and death.”

“Of course it is,” Udon stated with no doubt in his voice, “Your precious Will of Fire is a lie to foster love for the village. That love is then used to convince shinobi to destroy all opposing ideas. You claim it is to protect your family and loved ones, but it sure didn’t protect the Uchiha did it. That was because they dared question the village, and peace was the result of that death and misery. The problem with you is that you aren’t willing to see it to its natural conclusion. Instead, you wait for a ‘reason’ when in truth the only reason you need is they believe differently then you. But, your too busy trying to be the good guys. Thus Root was born, but your precious Third Hokage quickly lost his nerve. But, that’s okay we’ve found someone willing to use us to our fool abilities.”

“Who,” Iruka asked concerned.

“You won’t be around to find out,” Udon said pulling unsealing a sword from a seal on the back of his glove.

He charged through the smoke and his blade met with Iruka’s kunai as he crossed them before him. They both kicked out at each other catching each other in the stomach and knocking the other to the ground. Mirroring each other they each rolled into a crouch to stare at each other. The vehicles in the courtyard began taking off, causing Udon to say, “Today is the first step to the eventual burning of the Leaf.”

Iruka leapt to his feet as he said, “You are not the first person to make such a bold statement. You will not be the last.”

Udon blocked the Chunin’s strikes with his sword several times before trying to slash him across the stomach. Iruka dodged backwards, but Udon followed it up with a water bullet that caught him in the chest. The Water jutsu knocked him back, he cried out in pain as the landing jostled his earlier wound. He caught his breath for a moment, and then rolled out of the way as Udon leapt into the air to bury his sword into his chest. Iruka rose to a crouch and lashed out with a kick that caught his former student in the head. Udon let the blow carry him forward to create some distance between them.

Getting back to his feet, he dabbed at his lip tasting blood before saying, “You’re not as weak as I thought you would be.”

“Udon, please think back to your academy days and your friends. Those times couldn’t have all been you playing a role.”

The Root member simply shrugged as he said, “Believe what you wish. I had already completed my true education before ever setting foot in your class room. Although I suppose I did learn one thing…”

“What’s that?”

Udon didn’t answer as he instead split into three with one leaping into the air and the two running along the ground. Iruka recognizing he was using an advanced kenjutsu technique but frowned as the clones were meant to converge on their target, but weren’t closing on him. His eyes moved to Daichi, who had been crawling towards the exit of the roof. Iruka quickly moved to cover him, and blocked Udon’s sword as he had been the one that leapt into the air. But, then he felt a pain shot up through his back until a blade appeared from his chest. Udon then kicked him backwards passed Daichi, who had produced the blade.

Iruka fell onto his back driving the sword deeper into him causing him to cry out in pain. He struggled to get back to his feet, but only made it as far as his knees although facing away from his attackers. He stared at Yamame whose gaze struggled to hold his own, and looked like she might leap from the seat to help him. But, he gave her a soft smile before shaking his head enough to convey that she should remain seated while Udon and Daichi moved in front of him.

He focused on them as Udon answered his question, “I learned that you’re a fool, who practices what he preaches. If you had moved to strike me instead of defending Daichi, you’d not be kneeling before us now.”

Iruka focused beyond them again, and seeing Yamame staring at him with pained filled eyes felt that perhaps she wasn’t beyond reaching. He smiled up at his two would be killers as he said, “You say I’m a fool for living as I have taught others. But, I have no regrets, because it is from those seeds that I’ve nourished that someone who will stop you will appear. That is the Will of Fire.”

“Fitting last words,” Udon said, before slicing through his former teacher’s neck. The blow was perfect leaving it still connected to the rest of his body by a thin flap of skin as a final show of respect. He pulled out a headband which had a scratch through the Leaf symbol and tossed it onto the dead Chunin’s lap as a calling card for the man that had ordered his death. Turning away, Udon smiled at Daichi as he said, “You performed brilliantly.”

“Thank you sir!” The Chunin and Root operative said before snapping a salute. He then popped a blood pill to replenish some of which he lost, before adding, “I’m ready.” Udon nodded before burying his sword in the man’s stomach, and leaving it there. Daichi collapsed although he was still breathing as Udon boarded the V.T.O.L. as Shadoloo called their flying devices.

The ramp began to close so he sent one last look towards the roof, and couldn’t help feeling that Iruka’s death was a fitting symbol for the era that was about to begin. Taking his seat, he saw Yamame was keeping her head down, and had the feeling that she might not be a good fit for the place they would be heading. But, he figured that would be sorted out in time as they wouldn’t be coddling the weak as major shinobi villages had.

Nobori stared at him fearfully and asked, “Why are you taking me? I just work in the mail room translating and decoding letters. They’ll change them all as soon as they realize I’m gone.”

Udon simply pulled a kunai and stabbed it in his throat before explaining, “We just needed someone to blame this all on so Daichi can remain in place.”

The other prisoners looked at him in surprise and some amount of fear, but he noticed a coldness appearing in Yamame’s eyes making him think that she wouldn’t be such a poor fit after all.

*****

Sakura wiped away some tears from her eyes that suddenly appeared before focusing on the task at hand. She knew there would be time to mourn later, but since they hadn’t had a chance to really study a person who had been hit by Naruto’s Rasenshuriken buried herself in the task. Of course, she had no intention of helping Sasuke, but the work was allowing her to remained focused to puzzle out what was going on.

For example, she had come to believe that Sasuke had stolen Hidan’s corpse from the Vault, since they hadn’t been able to secure it after rescuing Yugito. Plus, by leaving it behind, it had pointed the finger at Akatsuki being behind her disappearance. This was evident by some of the incisions that she had come across, making it apparent someone had been studying it before her. The fact that Kumo had held onto it for so long did fill her with some concern since she wondered if they had been trying to copy his immortality. She wondered if they had succeeded, but doubted it since Naruto’s jutsu had destroyed almost every cell and chakra connection in the man’s body.

Yet, that did leave her to question how Sasuke appeared to be none the worse for wear after having taken one. She couldn’t shake the feeling that wasn’t exactly the case, since she believed his kidnapping her showed that he feared Naruto’s jutsu. It smacked of desperation for him since she doubted he believed he could hold her long enough to figure out a way to heal the damage before help arrived, since she suspected he knew Naruto had placed a Hiraishin seal on her. She believed that Mito’s disappearing had been to distract Naruto to clear the way for their kidnapping her. She began to fear what else, Sasuke had planned since she suspected he had lined up the request for her father to head to the Land of Rice Paddies to coincide with other events for a much larger operation.

Yet, the before she could ponder more, the entire base shook as if it had been hit by a powerful jutsu. But, a moment later she could sense all her Family and Naruto in particular as a flash of red appeared before her. He pulled her into a hug and responding to the pain he that she was sure she was giving off asked, “Sakura, what wrong?”

Sakura wanted to collapse into his arms but said, “We can’t focus on that now. Can you release the seal on me?” Naruto nodded before applying a counter seal that Mito had taught him. She felt her power begin surging through her, and then pleaded, “Naruto, please return to Konoha. My mom’s likely in danger. Sasuke said he had people watching her, and would order them to attack.”

Naruto frowned saying, “Let’s go together.”

Sakura shook her head, as she could feel Naruto hadn’t come with Kiyomi or Mito. Plus, she wanted to get some payback so said, “Come back for me, please? H…he took my father; I can’t lose my mother too.”

Her lover’s eyes widened, before he nodded and then teleported back to his apartment before racing out of it as a golden streak. Sakura prayed he would arrive at her parent’s home in time, before activating the Strength of a Hundred Seal. Having been storing chakra for years hoping to surprise her lover with her growth, she decided it was a fitting time to reveal it in hopes of ending Sasuke’s life.

Turning towards, the locked door she felt a calmness wash over her as she prepared to do just that.

*****

Naruto raced through the village, all the while cursing how slow he felt even though to an outside observer he was a bolt of light. He could feel the chaos coursing through his Family particularly those located in the Leaf and felt many of the racing away from the village in the direction of the Leaf Maximum Security Prison. Not sure, what was going on, he trusted they could handle it, just as he had trusted Mito and Kiyomi to handle the shinobi that had appeared after Momo dropped the barrier that had cut him off from everyone.

He had felt Sakura’s absence immediately, but Momo had given him a general idea of where to look because she had created the barrier in the Raven’s Nest as she had called it. Teleporting to the Kunai Sakura had carried with her belongs. He had then raced out of the town before assuming his Bijuu form, and then throwing another Kunai as far and high as he could. Teleporting to the space bound Kunai, he found an area coated in a powerful barrier which he angled his decent towards before blasting it with a low powered Bijuu ball so as to not destroy the entire town surrounding it. The barrier had collapsed, and he had then Hiraishined to Sakura.

Hearing the pain in Sakura’s voice, and how he had killed her father. Naruto for the first time found himself truly despising the Uchiha. He trained to push that anger away, but knowing the chaos that was now threatening his family was likely Sasuke’s doing he couldn’t muster much success. But, aware there were people counting on him, he instead directed it to helping those that needed him. He reached the Haruno residence and feared he was too late as he found the door kicked in.

“Mrs. Haruno,” Naruto called into the house as he raced inside. He found several bodies in the living room, and signs of fighting leading towards the kitchen. Following them, he gasped as he found Mebuki lying in a pool of blood holding her side. But, none of her attackers appeared to have survived the encounter. Most of whom seemed to have been killed by the various kitchen items she had been able to get her hands on. Stepping over a man whose had had been crushed by the door of the refrigerator he picked up causing her eyes to snap open. She looked like she was about to attack him, but then recognizing him said surprised, “N…Naruto… you have to help Sakura… they said they had her.”

“She’s okay,” Naruto replied as he gingerly cradled the woman, “she asked me to rescue you. But, you’re definitely her mother.”

“T…thank goodness,” Mebuki said relieved, “I…I don’t know what I would have told Kizashi if something happened to her.”

Naruto grimaced, but didn’t say anything as he instead Hirashined to Shizune. Handing her the wounded woman, he quickly informed her that he needed to return to Sakura before disappearing in a flash again.

****

Sakura smashed her fist into the face of a man guarding the room that Sasuke had revealed himself to her. The man’s lifeless body smashed into the doors throwing them open as she followed through grabbing the two men that appeared by the heads and then slamming them into the ground. She straightened as their bodies slumped beside her bonelessly. Her emerald eyes locked onto a smirking Sasuke as he said. “Ah, I was expecting Naruto.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” Sakura said running towards him. He raised his hand, and a chidori spear leapt out but she effortless dodged it. She was rewarded with the sight of his eyes growing wide in surprise, right before her fist smashed into his. But, rather than sending him flying he disappeared into a puff of smoke to be replaced by one of the corpses of the men she had killed. The body sailed through the throne, and she rolled away as a fireball followed after it. Sasuke drew his sword as he said, “Really Sakura, do you honestly believe you’re at my level. Run along now and get Naruto for me.”

Sakura ignored the taunt as she said, “Don’t worry Sasuke. I’ll bring you to him. But, only after I get my fill.”

“Big talk from the weakest of us,” Sasuke shouted as he leapt back from the spot where Sakura punched. It sent rocks flying up into the air, but he ignored them as he fired a fireball down at her after he added, “Not to mention the slowest.”

The fireball slammed down onto Sakura, but he couldn’t bask in the moment as he sensed a threat behind him. He spun towards it in the air, to see Sakura’s angry gazing staring back. Realizing she had switched with one of the largest rocks, she quickly crossed his arms before him and summoned a Susanoo. Her fist smashed through the partially formed barrier, and connected with his face. He hit the ground hard and bounced along it several times. He struggled to pick himself up feeling Sakura closing on him. But before he could recover she slammed his face into the floor several times, he quickly realized that didn’t use chakra as if she had once would have been enough. She then spun him onto his back where she planned to deliver the finishing punch, but stopped as his face had turned purple, but also locked like a cross between him and a Zetsu.

“W…what are you,” Sakura asked dropping him to the ground.

The Sasuke Zetsu hybrid smirked at her, before saying, “What do you think I am?”

Sakura considered it for a moment, before deciding, “Who the fuck cares?”

She was about to deliver the finishing blow, but hesitated as it began laughing while saying, “That’s the spirit. Not so easy to ignore the call for revenge when you’re the one with lost loved ones. Let’s see if we can get Naruto on board too. I imagine finding your lifeless body will help.”

The purple Zetsu began glowing with purple chakra as its skin began bubbling as if it was a vessel unable to contain the power it held. Sakura began to back away, but then Naruto appeared behind her. He quickly created a clone before snatching up Sakura and retreating down the hall in a bolt of yellow light

The Clone looked down on Sasuke, and sensing the Uchiha’s spirit was controlling it asked, “Why?”

“You’re going to have to be more specific,” Sasuke replied with a smirk.

“Why would you do that to Sakura?”

“Because it hurt you,” the Uchiha replied with a sense of satisfaction, “Everything that happened today was to hurt you. So as you discover my other present that I left you. Keep that in mind.”

Naruto frowned before responding, “What did you do?”

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Sasuke stated before the Zetsu exploded.

However, Naruto’s clone was an imploding one so sucked the energy out of the blast since he hoped to capture the base intact hoping it would lead to the real Sasuke or at least the one that was controlling the Zetsu like a puppet.

****

Naruto held Sakura in his arms as he stared at the base from the top of the building he had carried that to. She was surprised by the lack of an explosion, but focused on more immediate concerns as she asked, “My mother is she…”

Her lover nodded as he said, “She was hurt, but managed to kill her attackers before I got there.”

She sighed in relief so asked, “Why didn’t he explode.”

“He did,” Naruto explained, “But, I canceled it out with an imploding clone.”

Sakura nodded so said, “Then we should try to find any evidence of where they went.”

Naruto frowned fearing that Sakura was trying to keep busy rather than deal with her grief. With that in mind, and some fear Sasuke had a backup means of destroying the base he said, “Let’s head back to Konoha and get some people to look the base over first. It might be…”

Before he could finish his sentence the amphitheater that had been the Raven’s Nest exploded. The explosion damaged several nearby building as well as setting them on fire. Sakura quickly asked Naruto to set her down before saying, “Create some clones to help with search and rescue. I’ll create an area to help the wounded. You should also see what is going on with the others. I’ll keep everything here under control until you return.”

Naruto wanted to remain by her side, but did as she ordered. He asked his lover to be careful, and teleported away fearing he’d soon know what else Sasuke had been alluding to.

****

Sasuke pushed the devise strapped to his head off. The crown type device had wires which were connected to a tank in which a brain floated, and having once belonged to a Yamanaka allowed him to transfer his conscious into the Zetsu hybrids created using Uchiha DNA instead of Senju. He coughed violently and looked at palm of his pale hand finding it coated in blood. Knowing his time was short he asked, “Has Juugo returned?”

Tamaki shook her head before saying, “He’ll be meeting up at one of the resting points Udon uses. He’ll fly in with the him and the rest of the Root members and prisoners.”

“Very well,” Sasuke said, “as soon as they arrive we’ll begin. It will help the new recruits understand their place and what is expected of them.”

Tamaki nodded as she said, “I’ll make sure everything is prepared.”

Sasuke didn’t bother replying. He smiled as he pictured what Naruto’s face would look like once he realized how deeply he hurt him. But what truly made him excited was how he imagined it would change the jinchuriki. He looked forward to the next time he planned for their paths would cross expecting to either find a weakened fool or one as hell bent on revenge as he had been. Either would be fine with Sasuke, since he expected it would be the last time they crossed paths before he began reshaping the world in his image.

Next Chapter: Revenge Arc: Sins of the Past, Haunting the Present: Aftermath

Author’s Note: Hello everyone, I’m going to keep this note relatively short. Mainly as I have a very long Sage’s Corner that will go over some of my thoughts on this chapter. It might spoil a few things for the next chapter, but ultimately I’ll probably release it in the next few days anyway after seeing some reviews to see other people’s thoughts. What it might spoil is just how some characters will be changing going forward, but I think they aren’t too surprising considering what transpired.

I kind of rushed through proofreading this chapter, so if you get some updates about the story in the coming days it is just me reading through and making corrections I might have missed. But, I delayed putting this one out long enough so felt it worth posting.

Also, as it has been a week since it has been claimed this story is going to be deleted. I’m going to assume it is a glitch, so FicWad is still going to be the primary site. Some people have suggested Archive of our Own, but I do not like the layout for that website. I feel it is a bit like AdultFanfiction, and I really like how the reviews are handled here on FicWad. As such, if it does get deleted I’ll cross that bridge when it appears. But, it probably will never appear on AO3. Sorry, but that is just my personal preference.

In the meantime, thank you for reading and reviewing. I know this chapter is lemonless but considering what happened I think you can understand why. The next one might be more of the same in that regard, but I hope you still enjoyed reading it if not the events themselves. So until next time, take care. Sincerely, The Lemon Sage.

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