Legacy of the Rasengan
Makaze Rekidaishi
By: Tellemicus Sundance
Chapter 5-To Kill a Snake

Hokage Office
Four days after the battle, 7:30am

The room was quiet. Too quiet. That could only mean one thing. Taking a breath, Shizune prepared for what she knew was about to come. Grasping the door handle, she turned it open with all the stealth and silence she could manage. Peaking through the small opening she'd made, she looked for her prey. Her prey was standing off to the side of the room, staring up the paintings that adorned that section of the wall.

Blinking in surprise, Shizune pushed the door fully open. It was a rare occurrence for Tsunade to be awake at this time of the morning. And she didn't seem to have a bottle of sake in her hands either. That was really rare. Something important must be on her mind to have her like this.

"Tsunade-sama?" she called out, drawing the older woman's gaze for a moment. As she extracted a small pamphlet from her pocket, she continued, "There's something here that I think you'd like to see."

Catching the mischievous sparkle in her first apprentice's eyes, Tsunade turned away from the paintings of her predecessors. As she approached the dark-haired medic-nin, she quickly recognized the pamphlet in her hand. It was an ANBU bingo book. However the coloring of the cover was different from the fire-red that signified Konoha's version. The color was a emerald-green, marking it as printed in Kusagakure.

Taking the booklet, she quickly skimmed through the pages. Like any other bingo book, the list of wanted criminals and nuke-nin was arranged in accordance of their estimated rank level, D-Rank in front all the way to S-Rank at the back. The first few pages held a lot of insignificant faces and information on them. Passing through the Chuunin rank, she finally glanced up at Shizune.

"What am I supposed to be looking for, Shizune?" there was a hint of an edge to her voice. Tsunade wasn't exactly in the mood for riddles.

"Keep looking, Tsunade-sama," Shizune said, that sparkle still in her eyes. Glancing at the current page, she quickly added. "You're almost there."

Scowling slightly, Tsunade returned her attention to the pamphlet. Why should she care who was in Kusagakure's bingo book? Almost the half of Konoha's Jounin force and known ANBU operatives were listed in bingo books across the continent. Just as she was about to close the booklet, she turned the page and then she saw him.

Village Affiliation: Konoha
Name: Unknown (Kaze Kitsune)
Age: Unknown (teenager)
Known Jutsus: Kage Bunshin, Rasengan, Fuuton jutsus
Known Abilities: master of stealth and chakra concealment, capable of the Celestial Gates, Kage-level chakra capacity, believed to be a Jinchuuriki
Kekkei Genkai: Unknown
Estimated rank: A-Class
Reward: 300 thousand ryo
Wanted by: Iwagakure, Otogakure

The picture was really little more of a rough sketch. A sketch of a teenaged blonde boy wearing a large goofy grin. He had only a single blue eye, his left eye was closed tightly shut. A trio of whisker marks lined the boy's cheeks. Even in her sleep, Tsunade would've been able to recognize that face in an instant.

"Naruto!"

"Yup!" Shizune said, smiling openly at Tsunade's surprised expression. "A returning Jounin team ran across some trouble near the border. They were able to scavenge this from one of the enemy's bodies before retreating."

"When was this printed?" Tsunade asked, staring at the picture. Bingo books were updated quite often, almost daily in some countries. And even though it was clearly Naruto, the picture hinted at slight changes from what she remembered.

"I'd guess that this copy is almost a week old," Shizune said. "It fits in with Team Eight's report."

Thinking for a moment, she nodded. As she was returning her attention to the sketch, she noticed who was on the opposite page of Naruto. The sight of it caused her to snort at the irony.

Village Affiliation: Konoha
Name: Uchiha Sasuke (Kasai Taka)
Age: 14
Known Jutsus: Kage Bunshin, Chidori, Katon jutsus
Known Abilities: high-speed, Kage-level chakra capacity, chakra enhancing seal
Kekkei Genkai: Sharingan
Estimated rank: A-Class
Reward: 400 thousand ryo
Wanted by: Kirigakure, Kumogakure, Kusagakure, Otogakure

"How…appropriate," Tsunade said with a smirk as she gestured to Sasuke's picture. "These two sharing the same space in the bingo book."

"I wonder what they'd do if they saw that," Shizune inquired aloud, smiling softly now.

"Naruto would try to raise his reward and number of wanted-by villages to pass Sasuke," the Godaime answered knowingly. "which Sasuke would try to keep his lead by any means."

"…Ano, Tsunade-sama…" Shizune said, suddenly a little uneasy. "How do Iwagakure and Kusagakure know that Naruto is a Jinchuuriki?"

"I assume they made an educated guess," she said, remembering Kiba's report of Naruto going berserk again.

Shifting her gaze between the two pictures, she examined the boys closely. They had grown quite strong in the past two years, there was no doubt of that. But to actually see their pictures inside a bingo book for the first time only seemed to make the obvious even more so than it was. If her knowledge was still as up-to-date as she hoped, then these two were among the first of their generation to join the ranks of wanted shinobi in the bingo books, excluding Neji since he was already in it. Which was how it should be since their individual abilities more than qualified them. That was when she noticed something interesting.

Both of the boys had acquired themselves nicknames: the Kaze Kitsune and the Kasai Taka. She had a sudden revelation. The Wind Fox and the Fire Hawk: eternal rivals. One, though bond to the earth, possessed extraordinary cunning and had countless tricks and schemes up his sleeves. With the help of his element, he would forever rise to the challenge of battling his rival. The other had wings, capable of flying as high and freely as he wished. With his speed and experience, he could outfight all other enemies that lie in his path. Yet, despite the freedom to rise to new heights, he would never stray too far from his territory or else he'd not be able to engage the fox in battle.

The fox was the hawk's anchor to the earth. The hawk was the fox's inspiration to continually push to the next level. They held one another together, balancing their strengths and weaknesses almost perfectly.

But where did Sakura fit in all this?

"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked quietly, seeing the blank gaze that crossed her mentor's face.

Shaking out of her thoughts, Tsunade turned to Shizune and handed the pamphlet back with a small smile. "Arigato, Shizune."

"I also have this report from Ibiki-san," Shizune said as she pulled a folder seemingly out of nowhere. In that one statement, her small smile faded as seriousness set in. "And from what I've heard from the ANBU, the interrogation isn't going too well since the containment seal's been removed."

Sighing resignedly, Tsunade nodded as she opened the folder. "I expected as much…but with the seal in place we might as well be speaking to a vegetable."

Nodding, Shizune turned and quietly left the room.

In the folder, she found a surprisingly greater amount of information than she'd initially expected. There was a short paragraph on a pair research bases of Orochimaru, though the extent of what was being created wasn't listed. There were hints of new drugs Orochimaru created, most of which had been used on Kiryoku to further enhance his curse seal and others used to alter his chakra potential, making it practically undetectable when not in use.

With this kind of arsenal, Orochimaru could mount another major attack on Konoha with only his own forces, Tsunade realized. If he implants enough of his curse seals, he might even be able to take a portion of Konoha before we could stop. But some of these drugs…don't sound very well researched upon. He might not have any immediate plans to invade, but there seems to be a very high chance of it now.

Konoha was not ready for another invasion or major war. Granted, there had been a slight increase in skill and numbers of shinobi in the Jounin ranks thanks to numerous genin and Chuunin growing in strength and experience. However, they still did not possess the raw manpower. The best Konoha would manage in another war was small skirmishes and guerilla tactics. Should Orochimaru tempt Konoha with war, they would have to launch an immediate and decisive strike to crush the Hebi-Sannin's bases and forces.

Thankfully, Otogakure didn't possess any known allies because of the public knowledge of their previous alliance with Sunagakure. If need be, Tsunade could always call in Gaara-san's aid to attack and fight. Between two major powers of the world against the rising strength of one, the odds of winning would rise substantially. But Tsunade knew that, as a proud kunoichi and Hokage of Konoha, she would allow call for help when she really needed it. That was what an alliance was for, in her opinion.

Setting the folder down, she sighed wearily again. Opening the bottom drawer, she pulled out her ever-loyal and reliable bottle of sake. Things were getting very intense these past few weeks. Orochimaru had sent a very powerful underling to wreak havoc upon Konoha under the pretense of killing Uchiha Sasuke. Kirigakure was in an uproar because the Mizukage suspected who was behind the assassination of her twin brother. Iwagakure was reeling from the discovery of the Yondaime Hokage's apparent son, posting him in the bingo book almost immediately. Sunagakure was also in an uproar because of the Kazekage's sister being raped.

Half of this because of one chance encounter in the desert. Tsunade found herself almost anticipating what would no doubt come to be called the Fourth Great Shinobi War. As always, when facing such overwhelming and generally bad circumstances, Tsunade turned to her one anchor that could help her. It was with one long swig that she drained more than a quarter of the bottle she now held.

---

ANBU Interrogation HQ
8:00am

Tenten watched the door to the room that held the boy that had attacked her home. If one were to just casually glance at her, they'd see a serious expression on her soft, gentle face. One would guess that she wished to be able to enter the room and give the prisoner a piece of her mind and a taste of her wide variety of sharp and pointy weapons. A perfectly justifiable and quite expected expression for a person to have in this situation. Yet if the passing ANBU had bothered to look closer, they'd have seen that there was a lack of malicious intent or any real anger in her eyes.

Only curiosity.

For the past five days since the battle and Kiryoku's capture, Tenten had been regularly visiting the ANBU Interrogation headquarters. She wanted to ask Kiryoku some questions. Questions that he had no doubt been asked ever since he'd been returned to this building and heavily restrained and guarded. Why had he done what he'd done? Why was he even obeying Orochimaru, who she suspected he wanted to kill? Who was he really fighting for; his murdered family, his misery, or just an excuse to hate? Who was he exactly? And the list went on, growing with each day and each succeeding question.

Endless questions, riddles in riddles with no apparent answer or serious clue, no reason for them to even be associated together and yet were in the shell that was the boy she knew as Dageki Kiryoku. Dageki Kiryoku…the strike of willpower, was that even his real name?

The door that contained the object of her curiosity opened suddenly…or rather was knocked ajar as a body was kicked through it. Snapping into high alert, Tenten reached unconsciously for her weapons' scroll as she turned her attention to the disturbance. There came the sounds of a struggle inside the room, but predominate among the noise was a loud voice that could've put even Naruto's best to shame.

"AND THAT'S WITH BOTH MY HANDS AND LEGS TIED BEHIND MY BACK, YOWAMISO!" the voice was clearly Kiryoku. Yet he sounded quite different from the boy she'd met in the forest. He sounded arrogant, even bored, especially given what his situation was. "WHY DON'T YOU JUST UNTIE ME NOW SO I CAN FINI-"

There came a loud banging sound of flesh on wood, Kiryoku must've had his face slammed into the tabletop. When the man who had been out into the hall reentered the room and tried to close the heavily dented door, Tenten began to creep forward. Peeking around the doorframe, the scene she saw was quite close to what she'd originally predicted.

Except that there were more than thirty ANBU and even Jounin standing in the room and all were radiating a fierce killing intent. Under that combined assault, Tenten knew that any normal person, shinobi or not, would've broken into many pieces a very long time ago. Heck, she was shivering badly just peeking into the room and sensing it. How could Kiryoku just seemingly ignore it?

The Jounin who had knocked him into the table had a very tight grip on his orange hair. The man yanked Kiryoku's head back up, revealing a bloody bruise where his face had hit the table as well as his face being partially covered by his curse seal. No doubt that he'd been treated to that punishment quite a lot in the last few minutes or even hours. Though she couldn't see his face, the anger and frustration in the Jounin's voice was very apparent.

"If you'll tell what we want to know," the man utterly, almost too low for her to hear. "then we'll consider only putting you in prison for a few decades."

In a voice that was equally as low and threatening, Kiryoku said, "Put me anywhere but to my grave…and I'll come back to cut your heart out, bastard."

The gaze of pure hatred and malice that was shining brightly in his eyes told Tenten that Kiryoku had meant every word that he'd just spoken. The expression on his face was that of a dedicated killer, ready to do all that he needed to do to make sure he kept his promise of mutilation. A sharp contrast to the boy that she'd originally met, who seemed terrified of even his own shadow.

Was this that other personality that Kiryoku was talking about earlier? With the curse seal active yet radiating none of the evil chakra that she'd come to associate them with, she couldn't be certain. Looking closely at Kiryoku, she spotted various seals of containment and absorption around his body. The seals covered his arms and legs, which had been bond tightly. The floor was lined in a complex series of seals circling the chair he sat in. All the seal markings were glowing an almost blinding bright blue, signifying the sheer volume of chakra that they were restraining.

Tenten recognized the seals quickly. These seals were for imprisonment, using the victim's own chakra supply to empower them. Once the seals were activated, there was no way the victim could utilize their chakra. It was a very tried and true way of keeping particularly dangerous prisoners from breaking free.

Before the Jounin could utter another word, Ibiki stepped forward from where he'd been standing. Raising his hand slightly, he said, "That's enough for now, Kouza. Let's take ten."

It was with a silent approval from the surrounding shinobi that had a majority turning and leaving the room. Despite having most of them leaving, at least six ANBU remained standing in the room and kept their attention fiercely on Kiryoku's glaring form.

Tenten stepped away from the doorway and watched as her seniors in rank left the room. This was what she had been waiting for. Finally, she could go in there without having a large crowd so she could have a decent conversation with the boy. But…where would she start?

"Tenten?" a familiar voice asked in front of her.

Snapping her head up, she found herself staring up into a pair of familiar white eyes. Eyes that had once entranced her so much. They still did, just not as much as they used to do. As she continued to grow older and wiser, those piercing eyes had slowly begun to lose their mystical quality.

"Neji?" she said, somewhat surprised that she hadn't noticed him in the room earlier. "What are you doing here?"

"Providing additional security," he said, nodding over his shoulder. "What do you want here? The prisoner has been less than forthcoming with the information."

Talk about an understatement, Tenten thought as she was torn between smiling and frowning. But all she said instead was, "I noticed."

By this time, almost all the Jounin and ANBU had left. So Tenten turned and entered the room silently, she didn't need to glance back to know that Neji had accompanied her inside like a protective shadow. Once inside, she instantly earned a fierce glare that probably would've been fueled by high amounts of killing desire had the seals not been active. But the second after he recognized her, Kiryoku's glare vanished in an instant.

With the sudden loss of his glare also went a loss of his curse seal. The black markings on his body and face quickly rushed back into their source, and the seals restricting his chakra abruptly dimmed to a low glow. Tenten didn't even bat an eye to the strange occurrence. But Neji and the ANBU guards visibly were amazed. They had spent the last five days almost fruitlessly trying to squeeze information out of the brat, and what little they did acquire had been put to a stop when that wrenched seal of his came to life. Now, after one look at the young Chuunin weapon user, the seal vanished as though it were a cockroach having seen the light!

"O-Ohayo, T-Tenten-san," Kiryoku said, giving a weak but sheepish smile.

"Ohayo, Kiryoku-san," she said, forcing out a smile for his sake. "It's been a while since I've seen you."

Chuckling embarrassedly, Kiryoku glanced to the side, unseeingly towards one of his ANBU guards. "Hai, gomennasai. I wish it didn't have to be like this though."

Tenten walked over to the chair that the Jounin had been sitting in originally. As she went, she had a very avid observer who memorized the very shifts of her skin and muscles as she settled into it. When she returned her attention to him, a small blush lit up his cheeks as he quickly glanced away. He didn't want her to think he was some kind of pervert or worse.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked slowly, kindly.

Turning an instantly serious gaze upon her, he stared at her piercingly. It was a gaze that Tenten had experienced quite often from Neji. But to have it shining from a pair of sharp green eyes, instead of white, put her slightly on edge. It was not something that she was comfortable with. It was at that instant that Tenten realized that Kiryoku had far more sides to his personality than she'd originally thought.

"Depends, Tenten," he said, all stuttering and embarrassment now gone. All remained was a cool-headed teenager making a guarded statement.

"I know that Orochimaru killed your family," she said, watching his face closely for any sign to prove her theory. The only sign was a very faint twitch of his eye. Feeling a surge of confidence, she quickly continued, "You said that you wanted to kill the ones responsible, so why are you obeying his orders? Surely you must know that the best place to train to get revenge is with his enemies, right?"

A thick silence hung in the room. Kiryoku, after staring at her for a long and hard moment, dropped his gaze to the tabletop with a small sigh. Tenten could see a multitude of emotions race across his face as he stared at the table. Annoyance, fear, anger, disgust, hatred, acceptance, resignation, and even happiness. She didn't know how she knew, but his face was like an open book to her. Or perhaps he was letting her see his emotions. Whatever it was, she could practically guess where his thought process was traveling.

"Tell me something, Tenten-san," he said quietly. Lifting his head, he stared her straight in the eye. "Have you ever lost a loved one? Someone who meant more to you than even life itself?" Seeing her expression and translating it into the obvious 'no,' he continued, "Well, I have…I've lost everyone. My mother, father, older sister, and both younger brothers…I can't remember them very much anymore…but I do have one memory that stands out among them."

"What is it?" she asked inquiringly, interest written all over her face.

"…We were out having a picnic at some big river that flowed down from the mountains," Kiryoku said, his gaze going hazy as he began to relive the memory. "My mother was preparing the meal, my sister was playing with my brothers and I was fishing with my father…We were happy."

Tears began to form in his eyes, but he never let them fall. "Then he came…" the level of hatred in his voice left little to the imagination of who he was referring to: Orochimaru. "He killed my mother with that cursed sword of his…cut her right in two!…The blood was…horrible." He was shivering very badly but he continued bravely. "My father used to be a shinobi, so he had tried to fight him. But he hadn't stood a chance…Before he left me, he told me to get my sister and brothers and run…So I did."

Kiryoku's head nodded down, throwing his face into a dark shadow. "We ran…and he followed. He cornered us against the river. I tried to…stall him, so my sister and brothers could escape, but he ignored me!" Just barely visible in the shadow were a few drops of tears falling from his eyes. "I could only watch as he broke my brothers' bones, then threw them into the river to drown…I can't swim, so I…couldn't save them…He killed my sister next with poison from that damn sword, then he picked her up and started to walk away…"

Looking up, he stared at Tenten. Those sharp green eyes were glazed over in unconditional hatred and rage. "After tearing my life and family to pieces, he was just going to ignore me! I attacked him! I wanted to kill the son of a bitch so badly even then. Know what he did? He knocked me aside without even looking! I tried again and again and he kept knocking me away! Until he finally he says 'if you wish to accompany me so badly, you should've just said so'!"

"I SWEAR I'LL KILL THAT BASTARD!" as he screamed that last sentence, his curse seal flared to life. If his chakra-binding seals hadn't been active, he probably would've stood up and crushed the table with his bare fist effortlessly. But as it were, the seals merely flashed back to a blinding blue glow.

"You wanna know why I 'obey' that bastard?" Kiryoku spat, glaring viciously at Tenten. "It's because as long as that bastard remains alive, I will never be free of him! IF I HAVE TO SELL MY SOUL TO THE DEVIL JUST TO BE ABLE TO KILL HIM, I WILL!"

Panting slightly after that last outburst, he looked down at the table. Slowly, as his hatred dwindled slightly, his curse seal began to go dormant once again. With its retreat, the seals once again reduced their bright glow to something more bearable.

Snorting disgustedly to himself, Kiryoku spoke up again, not looking at Tenten. "You wanna know what's funny? The bastard is even helping me. He's given me practically everything I need to kill him. A cause, a great power, an arsenal, the will and desire. All that he has to give me now is…the way to kill him. But he'll never do that. That's why I'm staying with him, 'obeying' him. Sooner or later, he'll grow complacent. And when that happens, I'll kill him!"

There was a heavy silence that hung in the air between the ANBU, Neji, and Tenten. This boy truly was a living riddle. His reasons for revenge, obedience, even living, were all twisted around his one all-consuming desire to kill the man that had destroyed his childhood and any chance of happiness. And his reasons for obeying the snake did make sense, in a strange and twisted way.

The silence was broken by a loud snort of annoyance from Neji. The single sound had all eyes on him. Neji had his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his chest. There was small frown on his face, though it seemed that he was trying to prevent himself from grinning victoriously.

"He already has," Neji said, knowing the boy was looking at him.

"What?" Kiryoku snapped, his glare returning full force.

"Orochimaru must've grown quite complacent," Neji stated, opening his eyes and allowing a smirk to cross his lips. "He has sent you to Konoha after all."

Seeing the lack of comprehension in Kiryoku's eyes, he said simply, "Tell us what we want to know about Orochimaru, and we'll be able to put him out of commission quite a bit more easily."

The only response Kiryoku gave to that statement was a very slight widening of his eyes. "And if I did, what would happen to me?"

"I don't know," Neji said shrugging indifferently. "Probably prison for a few decades."

"I WILL BE THE ONE TO KILL OROCHIMARU AND NO ONE ELSE!" Kiryoku yelled, his curse seal once again inching over his skin.

"Kiryoku," Tenten said, her voice was very quiet and hesitant. How could she very well ask this of him after that story he'd just given her? "Please…Even a little information would help us greatly and you would be having your revenge, indirectly, if we were able to even thwart a few of his schemes."

"I said-"

"Think of it this way, brat!" one of the ANBU suddenly snapped sharply. "You can either do time in prison without helping us, or do time in prison helping us kill him for you. Either way, you're still going to the same place!"

That shut up Kiryoku real fast as he was forced to contemplate his options. For those few seconds, the world balanced on a needle-tip fulcrum as Kiryoku considered.

---

ANBU Interrogation HQ Control Room

"…Fine." That single word rang out in the silent room.

Ibiki watched the screen of the security camera that was hidden in the wall of Kiryoku's interrogation cell. He had listened in on the entire story that the boy had told the Chuunin girl. As a master of detecting deception and half-truths, he knew without a fraction of a doubt that everything the boy had said about his family's deaths had been painfully true.

He couldn't help but let loose a small smile of relief at the boy's decision. They would finally get what they wanted from this surprising brat. And this fortunate choice had come at just the right time. If the brat had refused this last chance, he would've been forced to use the forbidden jutsu Sentakushi Nou Sakujo to forcefully enter the brat's mind and extract the information. It was huge relief that he didn't have to now.

The scarred Jounin grinned to himself as he studied the girl who'd managed to do in five minutes what over fifteen ANBU interrogators hadn't been able to in five days of constant pressing. It truly was a wondrous thing how a pretty face could open a man, or boy's, mouth!

He would have to congratulate the girl later.

---

Hokage Office
10:00am

It had been a long two hours since Kiryoku had finally started cooperating, albeit extremely reluctantly, with Ibiki. In the span of thirty seconds after they had finished their game of questions and unwanted answers, Ibiki had rushed to Tsunade's office, setting a new speed record that was only beaten by the Yondaime's Hiraishin. The Godaime Hokage called an emergency war-council. After reciting the information that Ibiki had given her to the council, it had been decided quickly to launch a full-scale assault on Orochimaru's bases.

All available Jounin and ANBU, excluding those already on missions or in recovery, had been drafted into the assault army. The army had been divided into two pieces, with two-thirds of them preparing for their strike on Orochimaru's North Base. Tsunade guessed that since the North Base was home to the curse seal experiments as well as this new project to recreate the Uchiha clan somehow, Orochimaru would more likely be there than the South Base.

The South Base was where battle stimulants and drugs were made. It struck Tsunade as likely that this base would have much less security, especially since there a lack of any curse seal monsters. Granted, a shinobi pumped up on specific kinds of drugs could be a challenge to even seasoned Jounin but it was a much smaller risk than a curse seal presented.

And because they were sending such a large shinobi force out of the borders of Konoha and Fire Country, there was a requirement for medic-nins. She did not fail to notice that both of her apprentices had been among those being sent to aid the North Base strike force since their skills would be dearly needed if things got out of hand.

Tsunade's only true qualm about this mass mobilization was that she couldn't accompany it. Because it would be up to Konoha's larger but weaker force of Chuunin and Genin to keep their home safe, she would have to remain behind to help balance out the power scale. There was also the off-chance that this whole thing was a trap set up by Orochimaru to draw Konoha's forces away for another invasion, as Danzo had so…happily pointed out. Danzo had no problem about assigning his remaining members of his 'Ne' ANBU division to patrol Konoha and Fire Country, but Tsunade was weary of the man regardless. There just something about him that her on instant guard whenever she felt his presence within a mile radius.

She assigned the leaders of the two strike forces to be an ANBU who went by the codename Yamato for the South Base and Nara Shikaku was the leader of the North Base strike team. Yamato had been assigned thanks to the fact that his unique ninjutsu would be quite handy in controlling the situation and he had a very respectable amount of experience to back up his leadership skills. Shikaku was chosen almost by default as the leader due to his incredibly sharp mind. Although his son could give him a run for his money, he had the experience necessary that Shikamaru lacked.

With practically all of Konoha's Jounin preparing for the coming battles and her forced to remain behind, Tsunade could only grind her teeth and pray that most, preferably all, would return home alive. I really need some sake.

---

Training Grounds 7
10:14pm

She was scared.

Truly scared for one of the first real times of her life. Despite the fact that she had been through situations that most people her age and older, shinobi or not, wouldn't experience for another ten years or so, she was still scared. Despite the fact that she was the part-time apprentice to the Godaime Hokage and a very formidable kunoichi in her own right, the cruel beast of fear clutched her heart and mind tightly in its cold-steel grip.

Sakura had been present with Sasuke-kun when he had been debriefed on the sudden surgical strike that they had been drafted to. The fact that she had been ordered into a combat zone didn't necessarily bother her. Not in the least, being a kunoichi and having survived through various trials had helped to build up a resistant of fear to almost anything she could encounter in a fight…Almost.

It was the fact that she had been assigned to assist the North Base strike team was what really scared her. Tsunade hadn't minced her words in the debriefing. She had made it abundantly clear that where they were going would probably be filled with people capable of using a curse seal. And although Sakura had long since grown accustomed to Sasuke being able to use his own, that first time she'd witnessed a curse seal's power and evil in the Forest of Death had permanently ingrained a powerful fear of the cursed seal in her. Now she was probably going into a war zone that would be covered with those monsters…

Needless to say, she was terrified to her very core.

She knew without a fraction of a doubt that she would never be able to stand up to one of those monsters, even if they only used the first level. Sakura may have been able to develop Tsunade's legendary strength and her own genjutsus and ninjutsus were nothing to sneeze at, but against the strength and speed of a curse seal she was powerless. Granted, she was only expected to perform the duties of a medic on this mission. But if worse came to worse, as it always seemed to, she'd have to be present on the battlefield and be expected to fight them in order to reach the injured men and women to save them. The thought of it terrified her, especially since she'd never been in such a situation before.

Whether it was by choice or chance, Sakura found herself standing in an all-too-familiar training field. The only training field that held a special memorial field. The field that she had first visited more than two years ago take her Genin Exam with Sasuke-kun and Naruto. The same field that she had spent many long hours with them waiting for the eternally-tardy Hatake Kakashi to appear. The same field that Team Seven had been disbanded upon after only being in commission for seven or eight months.

It gave her a pleasant sense of nostalgia. If she wanted to, she could've pictured where she and the boys would've been standing or waiting for Kakashi. She could almost see Naruto turning a cold shoulder to Sasuke after the two exchanged their patented glares. Or Sasuke's smirk of triumph or arrogance after somehow either beating Naruto in an exercise. Or Naruto's scowl before he forced out a grin after he'd made a mistake and ended up humiliating himself. Sakura could only smile reluctantly as she drove herself further down Memory Lane.

However it wasn't long before she noticed it. It was extremely faint but it was wavering a little. Her eyesight couldn't see it, but her chakra senses told her it was there…somewhere. A genjutsu? Upon realizing it, she quickly rose her hands and dispelled it.

But as she did, she watched in surprise as images that she'd been watching vanished. But she'd thought that she had just been imagining those!

"I'm impressed, Sakura," a familiar voice said quietly to the side. She quickly spotted Sasuke as he continued, "I'd have thought that you'd take another two minutes to notice that one."

If Sasuke hadn't had that serious yet somehow mischievous glint in his dark eyes, Sakura might've snapped at him for putting her in a genjutsu. Despite him being her boyfriend, it just irked her whenever he played with her mind and memories like that!

"Why'd you do that, Sasuke-kun?" she asked, crossing her arms while giving him a hard look she'd learned from Tsunade-sama. Seeing her in a less than savory mood, Sasuke turned serious.

"You were depressed," he said neutrally, stating a simple fact. "From my experience, going into battle depressed increases the likelihood of unnecessary injury. And I…" The rest of his statement came out in incoherent mutterings that Sakura couldn't understand for the life of her as he glanced away. For some reason though, Sasuke's usually calm and neutral expression changed as his complexion reddened faintly.

"What was that, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked confused, curious, and strangely giddy all at once.

Glancing up at her again, he partially opened his mouth but ended up closing it without speaking. His complexion returned to its normal paleness as he finally said, "Nothing…nothing important, Sakura."

A moment of almost uncomfortable silence hung over them.

"I guess we should hurry up and get going, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, turning to leave. As she said that, she felt oddly…empty and disappointed.

A sudden hand catching her wrist froze her. "Wait, Sakura."

Glancing back at him, she saw his Sharingan eyes active once again. Now what was he up to? "What is it?"

A slight smirk crossed his lips before he spoke, a hint of almost uncharacteristic mischief in his voice. "There's still one last memory you haven't seen yet."

Staring at her boyfriend for a moment, it took only that moment before she suddenly guessed which one he was referring to. A slight smile rose to her face as she gave a small nod of acceptance. In the next instant she could feel Sasuke's chakra begin overlapping hers but without the discreetness he'd used earlier.

Turning together, she watched from a third's person's point of view as a familiar memory came to life before her very eyes again. It had her with now-short pink hair, Sasuke in his then-new black uniform, and Naruto in his orange-black sweater and a pair of red eyes. She watched as the boys fought with Kakashi-sensei while an invisible version of herself was creeping around behind them, trying to get close enough to grab the bells.

The memory climaxed with Naruto and Sasuke simultaneously rushing Kakashi with Rasengan and Chidori respectively at the fastest speeds they could manage. Which actually was still staggering to watch even after two years. But Kakashi easily caught the boys' wrists before they could land the deadly jutsus. With only a minimal effort on his part, he yanked the boys up and threw them behind himself, kicking up a huge dust cloud as the jutsus hit the earth.

It was as the boys started arguing that the invisible Sakura snuck up to the distracted Kakashi and snatched the bells without them making a sound. To this day, Kakashi's expression at being tricked by his students, even if it was masked, was as hilarious as the day it had occurred on.

By the end of the shared memory, Sakura was smiling broadly. Despite that day marking the official end of Team Seven, it had been a good day nonetheless. A day that, as a team, the once divided and childish Genin put aside their differences and fought like the shinobi they had the potential to become. It was especially true of Sakura. The first time that they'd taken that bell test she'd not even attempted to get a bell. That had resulted in her being tied to the post, which had been a very humbling experience to the then-fan girl Sakura. On the second time, she hadn't fought but she'd done something equally as important. It showed that she was far more useful and trained, emotionally and physically, than she had been.

Turning to Sasuke as the genjutsu faded, she smiled at him in gratitude. Leaning forward, she gave him a small, timid peck on his cheek as she whispered, "Arigato, Sasuke-kun."

That faint red tint returned to Sasuke's cheeks again but his expression didn't change in the least. He merely nodded silently. In companionable silence, they walked back to Konoha. Rather than feeling scared as she had been before, Sakura felt almost…relieved.

But that feeling didn't last too long as they quickly joined the ranks of the shinobi that were just preparing to march out into a soon-to-be war zone.

---

ANBU Holding Cells
1:00pm

Unlike usual, the halls of the ANBU Headquarters building were eerily silent. Normally there was at least a dull roar of conversation as the various shinobi and kunoichi interacted. Now, with barely even a skeleton of a crew to operate the place, it was quieter than a dungeon.

Okay, I officially hate this place without the others here, grumbled the only remaining ANBU as he hobbled down the halls with an air of boredom. He had been only one 'unfortunate' enough to have to remain behind. It wasn't by any choice of his. In all honesty, he'd much rather out there with his teammates and fellow shinobi about to attack the fortress of a base of Orochimaru's. Instead, he was stuck with the short end of the kunai simply because he was still recovering from a broken leg, a souvenir of his last mission. I really hate that Kiri-nin!

As he was browsing through the 'trophy room' that was in the heart of the building, the dog-masked ANBU couldn't help but bemoan his condition once again. It was an unspoken tradition for all ANBU to attempt to donate something to that room. But not just any 'something.' It had to be a memento of a very dangerous and impressive battle that the ANBU had been apart of directly and won. Of course ANBU being ANBU were usually assigned A-Class missions quite often, so another requirement for that memento was that it had be from an S-Class mission.

And now because of this wretched broken leg, he knew that he just missed out on one of his few chances of finally adding his own to the room. If only that cursed brat of Orochimaru's could've come after he'd healed, or even before he'd had to take that last mission!

Speaking of which, I guess I better go check up on the brat, he grumbled to himself as he turned and started to make his way down towards the holding cells.

Normally after an interrogation, the prisoner would be sent straight to the Konoha prison. But with the circumstances surrounding the situation, Orochimaru's brat had been placed into the ANBU holding cells until the Konoha shinobi army returned. Of course after having been forced to endure the boy for almost a week, the ANBU had quickly realized that the boy was a natural escape artist. And so they had done everything within their power to make sure the brat would be unable to even twitch in the holding cells while they were away.

I'd like to see him try to escape from all that though, the dog-ANBU thought as he sneered. He didn't know for sure what had been used on him. But if he had to guess, the boy would most definitely still be encased with the chakra-restraint seals, bond in extremely heavy lead shackles, and chained to the wall, spread-eagled. And that was only for starters!

Opening the door to the section that held the holding cells, the ANBU extracted himself from his thoughts. Walking up to the boy's cell door, he peeked inside

And saw a destroyed cell.

The chains that might've once held the shackles were broken. The floor and wall was severely cracked and broken where the seals had once been, almost as though they'd imploded on themselves. There was also a gaping hole in the wall, quite large enough for the small teenager to have escaped through.

...I'm never going to get to add my piece to the Trophy Room now, he realized bitterly before hurrying as fast as he could on a broken leg to inform the Hokage.

---

(Author's Note)

Hey everyone! Miss me? I hope so! I've got some good news. Obviously, I've been able to acquire myself a means of getting online while I'm here. I also have some free time. Not nearly as much as I'd like to have by far, but enough to write a bit in here and there.

So how was this chapter? I hope you all enjoyed it. And even although I was particularly depressed about having to write out Kiryoku's past, I also think that that has just proven a big point to all of you: the true extent of his hatred of Orochimaru and his reasons for staying with the man. It really adds some serious depth to him, in my opinion.

Special note. Is anyone curious as to what Kiryoku looks like exactly? Well, go to my homepage. Huntinghalfbreed has recent drawn up a pair of sketches of him that are just incredible. Sure, his appearance is a touch different than how I've been describing, but I must say that I perfer Huntinghalfbreed's version compared to my own ;;

Next chapter: War. It can change a man or it can break a man. A shinobi is not supposed to be the latter. Yet everyone has their breaking points. But as a fierce battle erupts between the Konoha army and Orochimaru's minions, all will learn the dangers of incurring: A Kunoichi's Wrath!