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Ominous

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A legendary Sannin.

The man has his arms crossed, standing tall and resolute with a nefarious smile. Kabuto kept it a secret of departing by himself without his master's consent. Orochimaru wasn't naive when he knew from the start that his assistant had some 'meet-up.' And as for Yamato, he transforms back to his original self because of no use in playing the act anymore. "Why don't you call over your four little mice behind you?" Orochimaru asked. He also knew about Yamato's squad. The wood user lifts his hand for the signal.

At once, four young shinobis join the Tenchi Bridge. They have the look of resentment written all over their faces. "You again, huh," Kabuto smirked at the sight of Naruto, Sakura, and Misa. The once newcomers of the shinobi world have certainly grown up. Orochimaru chuckles, "I've seen that face often, and it looks like the Kyuubi is here too. Maybe I'll play with guys a little." His serpent-like eyes lands on Naruto. "Let's see who's become stronger, you or Sasuke." He remarked.

Naruto grinds his sharp canine, and his red eyes are manifesting with rage. The Kyuubi chakra is igniting through his body. "Give Sasuke back!" He shouts at the top of his lungs. The adrenaline continues to rise as he releases more orange chakra. Sakura, Sai, and Misa are staring at him, all anxious. "'Give him back' is not the correct way of saying it, Naruto." Kabuto snides. He pushes up the bridge of his glasses, "Your reasoning is off. Sasuke came to us because he wanted to. For a man, you're too obsessed with the past. You need to resign yourself." Kabuto spoke as a matter of fact.

The Uzumaki listens to all of his words but refuses to give in. Orochimaru's smirk widens as he speaks, "If you want to know about Sasuke-kun, try forcing it out of me. If you can, that is." The Sannin is asking for it. As an acceptance, Naruto is in one-tail form and swiftly collided his claw to his face. It sends Orochimaru miles away from the area. Misa is shell-shocked by what she witnessed. She has never seen Naruto in his Kyuubi form. His inhumane strength when he struck the man is one of the Kyuubi's characteristics. Her heart starts racing when the Tenchi Bridge moves due to the cracked spot that Naruto made and the strong wind blowing it.

Yamato once visited Kakashi at the hospital, and Jiraiya showed him something. His scar. The man claims that Naruto attacked him during a training session. Supposedly it was caused when he transforms into the fourth tail of the Kyuubi chakra. Jiraiya also mentions, "His anger became the trigger, and the number of Fox Spirit tail will increase." Yamato watches the Kyuubi cloak is slowly appearing to the naked eye.

Unexpectedly, Orochimaru has come back. "You're starting to become more like a Jinchuriki Host, aren't you. Naruto." He unveils his shredded face to the people. Underneath was a different person. Misa remembered the time when she first encountered him. He was in another person's body, but it got melted off. Orochimaru began approaching as the wind blew his long dark locks. Leaves from the trees are floating in the air. Once he got closer, he says, "No wonder they chose you to watch over him, huh," The Sannin is inferring to Yamato, "so my experiment turned out to be somewhat useful." His response made them perplexed.

Misa knitted her brows. He does experiments on humans as a way to keep himself alive. It sounds abhorrent. However, he was talking to Yamato. Orochimaru explains to the people, "I once conducted an experiment where I took some DNA information from the remains of the First Hokage and implanted genetic components from that DNA into cells of sixty children. But their bodies violently rejected it, and they died while kicking and struggling." He then puts his hand over the torn part of his face. It instantly revives back to his old skin.

His explanation goes to show how Yamato could do the secret power of the First Hokage. "So it looks like we'll now be able to obtain a sample from a product of old research," Kabuto suggested. "More important than that," Orochimaru speaks, "I'd like to test out how strong my Sasuke has become by having him fight against Naruto." He perceives to noticed that the boy's Kyuubi chakra continues to awaken.

"He doesn't belong to you!"

Naruto surpasses a new stage of the transformation. "Don't talk about Sasuke in front of me like he belongs to you!" He cries out savagely. The air begins to spark like a kindle of fire. Naruto roars animalistic that ruptured everyone's ears. Misa is behind him, shuddered in fear. She didn't expect to be afraid of her dearest friend. Up until hell breaks loose. Kabuto runs to defend his master, but Naruto's instincts kicked in and violently attacks him in a split second. Kabuto's body flew backward that slammed against Sakura, knocking the daylights out of her. Then Naruto sped off to go after Orochimaru.

"Sakura!" Misa tries to go and get her, but the Tenchi Bridge gets destroyed. She can see Sakura is slipping by the edge. She quickly performs a jutsu, "Hyōton: Hyōheki!" The river freezes into a block of solid ice and creating a bottom surface to prevent Sakura from falling. "Sai, help her!" Misa shouted. Sai unravels a scroll and vastly draws a majestic bird. "Ninpo: Chōgū Giga!" It became real as he hops on and takes Sakura by the end of the broken bridge. Sai flies back up and brings her into Misa's arms. Her fingers lightly touch the out cold girl's cheek. To a relief, she is still breathing. Misa gave Sai a stern look, "Go find Naruto," The girl tells him as an order. He obeyed with no hesitation and went out to search for the Uzumaki.

Yamato immediately uses his wood jutsu to grab the girls back to safety just before the bridge falls apart. "Are you two okay?" He asked worriedly. Misa nods, "I'm fine." Her palm glows teal chakra and places it above the pink-haired kunoichi's forehead. "Sakura will regain consciousness afterward. I also told Sai to look for Naruto. They're on the other side of the forest." Misa informed the captain. "Alright!" Yamato nods his head earnestly.

Somewhere in the internal mind of Naruto, he feels like he is hovering in the water. Those memories when he fought Sasuke made him realize he doesn't stand a chance to become stronger. All of a sudden, he could hear a thundering sound of a heart-pounding. His body swims to a place that's forbidden—the Kyuubi's cage. The beast infuses him with something much more dynamic. In reality, Orochimaru has seen it all. He could feel the enticing aura. Naruto's flesh begins to peel off of his body like paper. The Kyuubi granted him power.

Misa overhears the sound of growling in a far distance. She turns her head to look up ahead. "Was that Naruto?" She questions. "No doubt about it," Yamato said. "Stay right here." He tells her, and she heeds his demand. The man creates a wood clone of himself and has a view on the other side. Misa starts to feel Sakura moving in her arms. She helps the girl sit up. "Arigatou, Misa-chan." Sakura thanked her. Misa smiles tenderly and glad to see she is very well now.

Out of nowhere, an eruption happens in the wilderness. Sakura and Misa become alarmed. They spotted the evident sight of orange chakra. Yamato's clone leaps from tree to tree and discovers something dreadful. He narrowed his gaze on Naruto; the boy has reached the fourth stage of the Kyuubi chakra.

Orochimaru is overwhelmed yet fascinated. He retaliates by spurting out numerous amount of snakes with swords in their mouths. Naruto promptly struck them in one hit. However, it didn't underestimate the Sannin. He proceeds using his signature snake technique to assail back at Naruto. After a while, Orochimaru halts before he could do anything. Suddenly, multiple chakra spheres burst out of Naruto's Kyuubi form. The chakra morphed into one and floated over his mouth. He devours it completely. Naruto lets out a vigorous intensity of chakra. Orochimaru takes action by summoning the Triple Rashomon as a defensive capability to protect himself.

For a brief moment, Naruto sees the man face-first to the ground. He stomps to have a look but instantly, an overly long blade punctured him. He got tricked. Orochimaru's snake-like neck appears out of the bottom surface, and the prolonged sword came straight from his mouth. Yamato, Sakura, and Misa, including Kabuto, embrace for impact. Misa peeks her eyes open to see no other than Naruto stabbed right through the abdomen. The hyperactive, caring boy is no longer human.

He's a menacing beast.

Naruto can feel Orochimaru digging the snake blade into him. But it was impractical. He efficiently swings the giant sword in a different direction. To Misa's horror, it was coming at her and the others. All at once, they scattered away just before getting sliced in half. Naruto bellows a cry, and he is angrier. Misa has a solemn expression drawn onto her elegant face.

"Look at that. I wonder if he still wants to save Sasuke even in that state." Kabuto proclaimed. Naruto's state of mind is uncontrollable. "By now, even his self-consciousness is gone. What a sad kid." The Sound asserted that crumbled Misa's heart into millions of pieces.

✧: *.☽ .* ✧

Over at the forest, Sai makes his way to Orochimaru.

The Sannin regenerated himself, but his stamina is weaker at the moment. He has reached his limit for the end of this battle. He notices Sai is coming towards him. The older man grows puzzled. "I am one of the people from Danzo's alliance. I am not your enemy. I have something to speak to you about." Sai requested with his ordinary smile. "Danzo, that doddering old fool is still alive." Orochimaru is familiar with the founder and leader of Root when he used to be a Konoha shinobi.

"What do you want to talk about?" He asked the dark-haired boy, who is enigmatic. Especially his smile. Sai responded, "I have a message from Danzo to Orochimaru-sama. The truth is—" he gets cut off by the man.

"Before that, choose your words carefully when you talk to me," Orochimaru observes some strange behavior from the boy. "If not, you'll die." He threatened.

Sai tries to play it calmly as he speaks. "I can only relay what Danzo has told me. If that does not satisfy you, then I'll leave it up to you." He waits for the Sannin to say something. Sai didn't expect the moment a sword flies directly at his body and stabs him. Orochimaru smirks; he knew beforehand that it wasn't the boy's authentic self but rather his clone made of ink. The sword changes into a snake and slithers back to its owner. "When you address someone who's higher-ranking than you, it's common courtesy to show your face." He commands Sai to stop fooling around. The young shinobi follows what the Sannin tells him to do and makes his presence known.

Back on the spot, only Yamato, Sakura, and Misa tried to handle the situation with Naruto. On the other hand, Kabuto took off to take care of other duties, as he stated. Misa hasn't left her gaze on Naruto. She suddenly jolts, unaware that Yamato places his gentle hand on her shoulder. She veers her head to look up at him. "Misa, Kakashi told me you have a unique skill of using nature as your shinobi abilities. I want you to hold Naruto down as I seal the Kyuubi chakra. So that way, we'll be able to make him go back to his normal self." Yamato's eyes look into hers; he highly believes that this will work.

It's going to be a challenge to stop Naruto. Sakura can read Misa's body language is flabbergasted and uncertain about the plan. "Don't feel discouraged, Misa-chan. We're both counting on you." Sakura tries to reassure her like how she does it. As an answer, "Okay! I'll do my best." Misa obliged. She is willing to do this for her friend. The ebony-haired girl starts performing a jutsu.

"Hana Ninpō: Hananō Arashi!"

She beckons her arms, and a swarm of deep lavender flower petals pressed onto Naruto. He began to thrash around ferociously. Misa grits her teeth; she is using most of her chakra to manipulate the flower petals. Naruto's Kyuubi is so strong that it tries to slip away from her grasp. "Now is your chance, Yamato taichou!" Misa has him under control. "Alright!" Yamato sprints his legs to take on Naruto. "Hokage-Shiki Jijun Jutsu!" In his palm reads in Kanji 'stabilize.' "Kakuan Nitten Suishu!" He collided his hand onto Naruto's chest. Yamato pulls away and forms a wall of spikes to guard him.

Misa could see Naruto has burnt red marks. She cringes at the sound of him groaning in anguish as the seal evaporates every last bit of Kyuubi chakra. And finally, it's over. Misa has her hands on her side and is panting heavily. Yamato extinguishes the wooden spikes then hears a loud thud—Naruto collapsed. Sakura dashes to go up to him and heal his body. The burnt red marks incontinently recovered within a minute when she uses a substantial amount of chakra.

After being fully healed, Naruto has returned to his senses but feels a bit baffled about everything that happened. But then he gets embraced by warmth. His ocean-blue gaze looks down to see Misa hugging his waist and burying her face into his chest. "You're all better now." Her eyes began tearing up. Naruto responds by wrapping his arms around her tiny figure. "I'm always feeling good, Misa-chan." He laughs softly, which made everyone feel content.

Sakura shortly realizes that one person is missing from the group. "Yamato taichou, where is Sai?" She asked him. Yamato froze. His clone witnessed from the other of the decayed bridge that Sai discussed with Orochimaru. From what he could make out on that, it looked like the boy was conveying a message. The clone informed his authentic self that he ran off with the Sannin and Kabuto. Yamato has to admit to his team.

"Sai is traveling together with Orochimaru."

Naruto, Sakura, and Misa deliver him a bewildered expression. "What does that mean?" Sakura asked the captain eagerly. Something is not right here. "Follow me, and I'll show you." Yamato insisted on checking out the destruction caused by the battle. They went across the forest to identify a mass of land corrupted.

"What the heck happened?" Naruto's thought process is still disoriented. "You don't remember." Yamato starts to notice the after effect is what Jiraiya pinpointed. The boy lost all rational consciousness when he turned into the Kyuubi and got controlled by destructive impulses. In other words, Naruto remembers nothing about his fight against Orochimaru. "Come to think of it, why was I unconscious?" He asked the three people. Sakura and Misa are skeptical of responding to his question. Telling Naruto that he became the Kyuubi will make him apprehensive. "You were unconscious because you got ravaged by Orochimaru." Sakura lies to him. But Naruto fell for it. "Are you serious?! Damn!" He grumbled.

Misa spotted Sai's belongings are scattered. She bends down to pick up the picture book off the dirt. "This is the book that he treasures." She told her teammates. "If Sai had to leave something so valuable behind, it demonstrates that he was in a tense state in front of Orochimaru." Yamato expounds using his clone and the wireless radio for communication.

He also said that he was unsure about the talk between Sai and Orochimaru before they left. Sakura presumed that Sai got kidnapped, but Yamato denies that it looked like an intentional approach. It clicks in Sakura's head. She recollected the conversation with Tsunade before exiting the village. The Senju spoke about Sai's superior in the name of Shimura Danzo.

Sakura asked Yamato if he knows him, and he does. "Who is that guy?" Naruto doesn't know who the person is. With the help of Yamato, he explains it clearly. "A man from the Hawk Faction who in the past opposed the Sandaime. Danzo may be using Sai to make some move." He theorized but kept it ambivalent because he doesn't have any single proof. Misa clenches the picture book. She voices out her words, "There could be a possibility that he was assigned to do a top-secret-mission separate from ours, but we never knew about it." Misa estimated.

"So he's just using us to make contact with Orochimaru?!" The theories were making Naruto feel anxious. "That's the gist of it," Sakura tells him. Yamato sighs then speaks, "It is not outside the realm of possibility, so listen carefully." He has all eyes and ears open. "Danzo, he may be trying to destroy Konoha," Yamato affirmed to Naruto, Sakura, and Misa. He meant as in the current Konoha. He complies about Danzo desiring the center stage to become Hokage but not like a dream. A forceful demand for superiority. The elder didn't support Hiruzen's decisions is because he appeased the present regime.

The only way to change the regime is to create an annihilation plan for Konoha.

Yamato speaks once more, "The reason why Danzo went into action at this late date is that it's been three years since the last attack. There is enough time for Orochimaru to regain his forces fully." He references the incident during the Chunin Exams. "I also think he is cautious because of the failure of the last attack. If he acts now, he thinks the negotiations with Orochimaru will get underway easily." Yamato recognizes the motives of an enemy would be a risk factor to compete. "That means he's going to propose cooperation from the village, right?" Sakura questioned. "Yes." The Jōnin disclosed the explanation.

He has to come forth and acknowledge his squad. "If that's the case, then we might have to get rid of Sai."

✧: *.☽ .* ✧

Misa is speechless.

They have to get rid of Sai as in executing him.

She stares at the picture book long enough, and her hands held it in a tight grip. To think they were going to start a friendship, she trusted the wrong person. A part of her doesn't want to believe that he is a traitor. But she also thinks that he is contributing with a rogue's scheme. Misa has never been so unwise in her life.

Naruto shifts his head to have his eyes land on his friend. She looks disheartened. Her bubbly attitude has become a melancholy spirit. He can tell she has an item from Sai in her hands. She must've cared for him. Back when they were walking in the wilderness, he overheard bits of them talking together, and she had a satisfied look when Sai gives in about wanting to be her friend. Misa is a kind soul. A little too kind. But she doesn't like to see Sai as an outcast. Just like how he and her first started getting connected.

His footsteps patter from the soft dirt as he stands in front of Misa. Naruto puts his hands over her delicate ones with the book still in her grasp. She raises her head to look at his charming face. "I understand it's difficult to take in everything. We yet don't know what Sai's doings are, but we will get to the bottom of this, Misa-chan." A compassionate smile graces Naruto's lips. He is trying to cheer her up, and it did. She nods her head as a nonverbal response with a subtle grin.

"Now, let's keep moving!" Naruto is back to his usual energetic self. His teammates agreed with him and continue with the mission. There's no giving up yet. Meanwhile, Yamato's clone is still active as they venture off. His identical self secretly follows Orochimaru, Kabuto, and Sai.

The team has been traveling in the wilderness for half n hour that decided to take a break. Yamato and Naruto establish the upcoming plan, and as for Sakura and Misa, they were sitting underneath a tree. "It has been nearly more than four days since we've