Kakashi landed at the edge of the cliff with a light "thud". He glanced around, taking the familiar scenery which he didn't ever want to remember again into his view.

It had been years since he last visited the site of the Battle of the Kannabi Bridge. That bridge was no more, but the memories had been engraved so deeply into his brain he hadn't dared come back to this place since that destined day.

But now he had a reason to come back. He needed to do it, for the sake of a friend he had to save from the darkness.

"So you suspect Rin Nohara might not be dead yet."

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Kakashi after hearing Gai's report from his mission to Kirigakure. Of course, he had gotten that information for the sake of Kakashi himself, so it was natural for the boisterous taijutsu master to tell Kakashi about that right after he returned to Konoha, even before reporting to the Hokage.

"According to what the Mizukage has given us, that assumption might not be very farfetched, Hokage-sama," Kakashi nodded.

Hiruzen scratched his cheek. "What I still cannot understand is why she didn't return to the village if that were the case. It has been quite some time since the revolution of Kirigakure ended; she had more than enough time to return to the village, then go away and then return to the village again. We cannot rule out the possibility of her already being dead."

Kakashi nodded. "Indeed. That is why I'm requesting a week of absence."

The Hokage blinked. "You're planning to go track her down?"

"Yeah," the cyclops nodded again. "And I have a feeling that I already knew where to find her."

And now he was standing here, at the place where everything in his life had changed. He wasn't sure why, but something in his mind told him that not only would he find clues about where Rin actually was here, but the answer for everything was also lying here, waiting for him to expose.

"Now, let's find out."

With those words, he walked down the hill, towards the place of destiny.

For a few seconds, no one dared move a muscle.

It's not like they hadn't expected a confrontation with Orochimaru. In fact, when the Mizukage revealed the news that Orochimaru had appeared near Kirigakure, Naruto had already known that they would have to encounter him somewhere during the mission.

It's just that no one could imagine Orochimaru arriving at Isobu's lair way ahead of them, and even defeating the Tailed Beast, alone, seemingly without even breaking a sweat.

Not to mention that it was freaking creepy to see five people that looked exactly the same staring at them with the same crazy slasher smile on their face. Well, Naruto actually didn't have any right to say that, but...

For the sake of not wasting parts of the story to think about the names for each body of Orochimaru, the author is just going to call them the Orochimaru Corps for now.

"What do you think about him, guys?"

'Hmm...' he heard Kokuoh saying. "I'm not sure; his chakra is indeed terrifying for a human. And to be able to defeat Isobu alone without breaking a sweat like that... maybe he is as powerful as you think. Maybe you should be careful."

"I know. Even looking at him alone, I can feel the enormous anount of chakra coming from each of his body."

"What is your intention, Orochimaru?" Before Naruto could raise his voice, Mei had already spoken up first. "Why are you after the Three-Tails now?"

The Orochimaru Corps replied her all at the same time, still with their nasty smiles. "You are too naïve to think that I would give you any idea about what I'm going to do."

"And what would you do if we force you to tell us?" Haku retorted, a little bit too confident for her sake. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, little Haku-chan. Then we must see if you are able to do that first, aren't you?"

"Okay, just stop it with that voice, really!" Naruto butted in, annoyance clear in his voice. "Seriously, that's just fucking creepy. Listening to one of you talking is already scary enough!"

"Nine-Tails," Orochimaru answered, still with that creepy legion voice, turned towards Naruto. "What a good opportunity. I haven't forgotten the humiliation you and your cursed team gave me in the Forest of Death three years ago."

"Oh really?" Naruto retorted in a confident voice. "If you already knew that, why don't you run away now? You might be able to avoid another time being humiliated."

"Do you really think you can do anything to me, demon?" Orochimaru sneered. "I know that you have just finished some kind of training with the pervert, but trash would always be trash. You still have a long way to go before you could catch up with people like... Sasuke-kun."

"Aaaaah... CHOOOOOO!"

Tenten wrinked her nose when snot and spit hit her face. "Ew."

"Sorry," Sasuke grumbled, wiping his own nose with his sleeve while offering the girl a handkerchief. "Maybe someone is talking about me... curse you, Naruto..."

"So, what do you need of me so much that you need to come to my home to sneeze at my face instead of going to the workshop?" Tenten raised an eyebrow.

"Well..." Sasuke twiddled his fingers not unlike a certain Hyuuga girl, which raised Tenten's eyebrow even higher. "Can we get inside first?"

The girl of Team Gai grimaced in disgust. "Ew. Are you hitting on me? Wait until I tell Sakura about this..."

Somehow Sasuke's face managed to blush and pale at the same time. "NO! I mean... I'm not trying to flirt with you! I'm just here for... business! I mean, I have something I want to ask you for assistance..."

Tenten still glared at the Uchiha with suspicion, but after a few seconds, she turned and led the Uchiha into her house.

After the pair had managed to settle down on the couch in Tenten's living room, she asked. "Okay, spill it. What do you want?"

Sasuke went straight to the point. "You were the one who made Naruto's mechanical arm three years ago, aren't you?"

Tenten was a little bit taken aback. "Well, no... that arm was created by my dad, but I believe if I try, I can make something which might stand equal, if not better than that now. I have learnt quite a lot from my dad in the last three years, you know."

"Excellent," Sasuke grinned. "So what if I tell you I want to collaborate with you in making something way bigger than that?"

Tenten couldn't say anything for exactly four seconds. Then, at the fifth, she answered with the biggest grin anyone could ever see on her face.

"I'm listening."

"Then let's see how this trash is going to kick your ass, Orochimaru."

That growl came from Naruto. He opened his eyes, and everyone could see he had entered Sage Mode in just that single second. Orochimaru still smirked, although his smile had faltered a little bit.

"Sage Mode... so you have become stronger than the last time we met, Nine-Tails."

Chakra suddenly burst from Naruto's body. Everyone had to cover their eyes when the pillar of light swept through them, blinding them momentarily in the process. When the light died down, Naruto was covered once again in his chakra shroud he received from Kurama and the Tailed Beasts. But different from what it used to be, instead of its usual cloak-like form, the shroud now looked more like a body-fitting armor shielding his chest, torso and crotch, with arm braces, shoulder pads, boots and a helmet made of glowing, golden chakra. Black lines could be seen clearly engraved on each of the armor's parts, connecting to and expanding the spiral seal on his torso. Surrounding his body, there were three black spheres which rotated around him like three tiny satellites. And the most astounding thing about it was...

"Tailed Beast chakra... together with Sage Mode... Impressive. But you must be an idiot to think that you can defeat me alone with just that."

Suddenly a beam of chakra cut through the air, aiming at the Orochimaru Corps, and the Snake Sannin actually had to jump away to avoid being reduced to atoms by the surprised bombardment from above. The beam pierced the ground, leaving a big gaping hole right between Naruto and the Orochimaru Corps.

Fuu landed on the ground next to Naruto. The tip of her staff was still glowing with energy.

"Don't worry," she glared at Orochimaru. "He's got help."

"Seven-Tails too..." Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. There was a hint of worry in his face now. "So you decided to gang up on me, huh..."

"Not only her," the voice of Mei rose from behind Naruto. She had walked up to the two jinchuriki while cracking her knuckles. "You should be worried, because every person here all shares the goal of finally killing you once and for all."

"Big talk," the Orochimaru Corps sneered. "Three years ago you could only do something to me because you were with the two most powerful shinobi Konoha had to offer. What do you think you can do with only these two monsters as your backup?"

Naruto glared at the middle body of Orochimaru.

"Of course I know what I can do," he answered curtly, and his mouth curled up into a smile. "And you will go down here... because I already knew your weakness."

Then he moved. The force of him kicking the ground was so strong the ground under him was torn apart violently, and in less than a blink of an eye, he appeared in the middle of the Orochimaru formation.

What speed!

The golden bullet then launched his palm forward. It connected with the body standing in the middle of the formation, who seemed to be too shocked to react, and the body was launched violently into the rock formation behind it with a force so great a web of cracks was formed all over the surface of the very hard rock. Not stopping there, Naruto spun on his feet, and a tornado of chakra exploded from his body, tossing the four other bodies of Orochimaru around not unlike Neji's full power Rotation. The tornado died down, and the four Orochimaru were thrown away; their bodies flailed around in the air helplessly before crashing into the ground with four similarly sickening "crack"s.

The four Orochimaru stood up nearly immediately. They started going through hand seals very quickly, but before anything could be done...

"Lava Style: Restrict Lock!"

Surges of hot liquid lava burst up from underground. Upon contacting Orochimaru's bodies, they immediately hardened, trapping them in prisons made of incredibly sturdy concrete.

And four massive Rasengan slammed down their heads from above.

"W... whoa..." Haku breathed out in awe. "Naruto-kun has become incredibly strong..."

"Mizukage-sama too," Shiro narrowed his eyes. "If it were Fuu-san and Naruto-san I could understand, but to think that even Mizukage-sama can cooperate with him so flawlessly..."

"It's not over yet," Kosuke suddenly said. "Watch out!"

Sharp spikes made of white bone erupted from the ground all around the battlefield, and the shinobi of the alliance had to retreat quickly to avoid being skewered. The swordsmen swung their swords to cut down the spikes, but more and more of them burst out from the field to replace the downed ones almost immediately.

"Brace yourself!" the old man yelled. He slammed his right foot down, and the forest of spikes stopped expanding immediately. One by one, they retreated back into the ground, returning the battlefield to its original state.

From the craters, the four bodies which had just been hit by the giant Rasengan stood up, cracking their necks as if nothing happened. And the main body which had been punched into the rocks also walked out from the piles of debris. On his hand was a sword made of something that looked like a spine, showing that the body used to belong to Kimimaro Kaguya, the leader of the Sound Four who wielded the kekkei genkai Shikotsumiyaku.

Naruto gritted his teeth. "Of course it can't be that easy..."

Orochimaru responded in kind. The bone-sword on his hand separated into pieces, connected by a chain Naruto didn't know what it was made from. It lashed out like a whip, swiping at the Naruto clones who were charging forward. Even though the whip-sword looked fragile as hell, its strength was more than enough to dispel all the Naruto clones enhanced with both Sage and Tailed Beast chakra in a single hit. The area was filled with smoke in an instant.

Then a Rasenshuriken tore apart the smokescreen, aiming at all five bodies of Orochimaru. Instead of the greenish blue color the technique usually had, the giant chakra shuriken was now glowing in a dark golden color, showing that it was pumped full of Kurama's and nature chakra. It crossed the distance between Naruto and the Orochimaru Corps in a blinding speed, and it seemed they were going to be shredded into minced meat.

However, that never happened. Before the jutsu could even travel half its way, the body with six arms had already jumped into action. From its six wrists, web shot out, grabbing rocks scattering around the battlefield and pulled them in front of the Orochimaru Corps, crashing into the incoming Rasenshuriken. With the sudden collision, Naruto's jutsu was forcefully detonated, forming a vortex of wind so strong it nearly threw everyone off their feet. Debris covered the battlefield.

Then Orochimaru's voice rose from behind the vortex of wind.

"Scorch Style: Daimonji!"

A ball of scorching hot fire burst out of the wind vortex. Coincidentally, thanks to the Rasenshuriken, the power of the already powerful jutsu was amped up even further, and when it hit Naruto, it exploded violently into a flower made of crimson fire, drowning the jinchuriki in a sea of light and heat.

"Naruto-kun!" Haku screamed.

But when the explosion died down, she sighed in relief. Naruto was shielded in a barrier made of the black substance from the three orbs rotating around him. The barrier retreated back into the orbs, and everyone could see there wasn't even a single scratch on him; the black shield was just that powerful.

"Out of the way, Naru-kun!"

From behind him, Fuu yelled. Glancing back at her, Naruto immediately understood what was going to happen. His eyes widened, and he hastily jumped aside before...

"Lightning Style: Thunder Calamity!"

A blizzard of thousands of daggers made of pure lightning chakra tore through the air and rained down the Orochimaru Corps' heads. With the incredible speed and covering range of the jutsu, dodging is impossible. There's no way Orochimaru could avoid this...!

However, they had underestimated someone like Orochimaru too much.

The body with six arms, now standing at the center of the formation, which used to belong to Kidomaru of the Sound Five, immediately made blindingly quick hand signs with all six of its hands. It spat out a string of something golden from its mouth, which quickly spread around and formed a cage made of gold around the Orochimaru formation. The electric daggers were all absorbed into the cage and drained into the ground harmlessly.

Then Orochimaru saw Fuu's face. The right side of her mouth was rising upward into a... smirk?

Why is she...? Wait, where is the...?!

"Die."

When...!? No, it couldn't be...!

Orochimaru-Kimimaro hastily and desperately threw his head backward. From his mouth, a new body shot out right before Naruto's Planetary Rasengan landed on the old body and tore it to shred. The power of the jutsu, enhanced by the momentum of the three satellite smaller Rasengan rotating around the core, was so immense the mere shockwave coming from the impact was enough to tear apart the gold cage as if it were made from paper. Dust, debris, gold and Orochimaru, pieces and bodies, flew everywhere.

"How...!?" Orochimaru snarled when scrambling back to his feet. "Shinobi older, smarter than you thousands of times have spent all their lives to figure out that jutsu to no avail. How could an idiot with no talent like you manage to learn the Flying Thunder God Jutsu?"

"Looks like... you underestimated our power," Naruto grinned. "Just like you did in Konoha years ago. And THAT is exactly your weakness, Orochimaru."

In the middle of their usual meal at Ichiraku Ramen, Naruto suddenly brought out a strange question.

"Hey, Pervy Sage! Do you know what Orochimaru's weakness might be?"

Jiraiya blinked when he heard Naruto's question. "Well, that is a very difficult question to answer," the old Sage admitted. "When it comes to ninjutsu and things, I don't think that bastard has any weakness at all. He had managed to almost reach immortality after all."

"That is where you are wrong, my student."

The two shinobi turned towards the entrance of the store, where the new voice had just emerged from. But the old ramen chef was the one who raised his voice first.

"Lord Hokage! Long time no see!"

Hiruzen entered the store with a smile. "Long time no see, Teuchi. And you too, Itachi," he added upon seeing the Uchiha entering from the back. The man only nodded in return. "One of my usual favourite, please?"

"Coming right up!"

After the Third Hokage had settled down on his own stool, Naruto spoke up. "So you know what Orochimaru's weakness is, don't you jiji?"

"Of course I know," Hiruzen nodded. "After all, this is a very common weakness of shinobi who thought of themselves as powerful, you know."

Naruto blinked. "And that is..."

The Hokage smiled. "It is..."

"I still couldn't believe someone like you would fall for something like that," Fuu raised her voice; her staff was still smoking after the bombardment jutsu. "Just a few sluggish moves, some mediocre jutsu and a little bit of showing off, and you're already hell bent on thinking that we are just two weaklings who can't do anything but wasting our Tailed Beasts' chakra."

Then she added with a grin of her own. "If that is everything a Legendary Sannin can do, then you still have a long way to catch up with us."

Orochimaru's face turned purple with fury. "After I'm done with you, there won't be a bone left in your pathetic body, you cheeky bitch!"

Wicked, purple chakra started leaking out of all five bodies when black marked began spreading over them. Soon, all of Orochimaru's bodies entered their Stage 2 Cursed Seal states at the same time.

Naruto grinned. "Now this is when the real battle begins."

"Anything, Pakkun?"

The ninja puppy glanced back at his partner. "Just as you thought, Kakashi. It is very vague, but there definitely is some of her odor here. Just like... it has been here for years already."

"For how long?"

Pakkun shook his head. "No way to know. Based on the strength of the smell, it might be about fourteen or fifteen years. Or maybe even more, I guess. But there is no way to tell exactly when."

Kakashi winced. Pakkun was the ninken with the best sense of smell in his pack, and if even he couldn't figure it out, there was no way anyone else could.

Still, it was still a result.

"Fourteen or fifteen years... that is about the time when the Third Shinobi World War was over," he mused. "So she did come here after she was released from her custody..."

"There is another weird thing, actually."

The jonin blinked. "What is