Chapter 19

Naruto's mind was constantly on Sasori, but he couldn't leave a project unfinished. Orochimaru's main bases were in ruins…and the Snake Sannin was fighting a desperate war of attrition. Sasori needed to die…but Naruto wouldn't leave Orochimaru alive.

Best to take care of one problem before moving onto another.

The real problem was that Naruto didn't know how to kill Sasori. There were rumors that the ninja wasn't quite human any longer.

He also didn't know where to find the Suna puppeteer. It would not be an easy task all around.

The Taro puppet and Number Three had personally examined most of Rice Country…and the number of remaining possibilities for Orochimaru's remaining bunkers was quite small. The man would not want to give up his base of operations without a fight…and he was arrogant enough to believe that no one could defeat him on his home turf.

It took only three more raids before the two ninja got an irate Orochimaru to attack them.

Seven massive snakes popped out of nowhere. On top of the largest one Orochimaru and a guard stood and began lobbing devastating techniques down against Taro and Number Three.

"You will die this evening, you horrible thugs," Orochimaru screamed. "I don't know how or why you've survived as long as you have, but no one can escape me forever."

The snapping mouths of the snakes were everywhere it seemed. Their bodies twisted and contracted over the whole field of battle.

Minutes passed. The enemies hadn't been retaliating. Indeed, one enemy looked to be crushed inside of Manda's massive coils.

The other shinobi was gone, crushed perhaps under a summon.

It felt like a hollow victory to Orochimaru. These two had harassed and destroyed so much of his force and his infrastructure. To have a simple conclusion…just felt wrong.

Orochimaru turned to look as three of the massive summons simultaneously screamed out in terror and then were forced back to the summon realm.

A second later, Manda himself squealed in pain and anger before he turned into a mere cloud of smoke. Orochimaru twisted and pivoted his body so he landed in a tree. Sakon landed badly…and was hurt.

"Show yourselves, you low born beasts," the Snake Sannin bellowed. He was normally calm…but nothing had ever destroyed his boss summon without Orochimaru having at least an inkling of what was happening.

He gathered his breath in time to see the remaining summons banished back to their native realm.

What kind of technique could be used remotely to banish summons? Orochimaru, master of three thousand jutsu, did not have the first clue. Indeed, the theory of summoning suggested that there were only three ways to banish a summon: for the summon itself to will it, for the summoner to will it, or for the summon to use up its gifted chakra through vigorous combat or monstrous wounds.

Orochimaru hadn't sent them back. Manda certainly hadn't willed himself back. So…there was something about the chakra…or else the summoning theory wasn't quite right.

Orochimaru watched as Sakon was attacked. The taller ninja didn't use any kind of chakra. Indeed, Orochimaru couldn't feel the ninja's presence or get an accurate gauge of how powerful he might be. One of the punches somehow drew blood. That was when Sakon began to scream. His skin…seemed to balloon up and then melt off him. The heat necessary to accomplish this had instantly destroyed the ninja's capacity to scream.

The ninja used poisoned blades or some other unusual technique.

The Snake Sannin began to feel a bit nervous. He couldn't even detect where his opponents were. Nor did he know of any poison or other type of technique that had the same effects as what killed Sakon.

"If it's to be to the death, let us fight like ninja."

A whisper in Orochimaru's ear came before he could react. "Acceptable." Then the Snake Sannin knew no more. A kunai severed the ninja's spinal column.

Two battered…ninja…just stood over the pair of rapidly cooling corpses. They said nothing and did nothing.

For this raid, Naruto had gone back to old model puppets…one designed to look like Taro and another to resemble Number Three.

Orochimaru had fallen to a puppet and he hadn't even known it.

Since neither puppet had a chakra network, Orochimaru couldn't sense them. They were made entirely from wood…and the only chakra they had access to were tiny filaments, the chakra strings Naruto used to control them.

It was hardly sporting…but the Snake Sannin had worn the skin of other ninjas he'd killed in order to infiltrate and attack the Hidden Leaf. Taro and Number Three played by Orochimaru's rules…brutal and vicious, without mercy.

Number Three and the real Taro took almost fifteen minutes to arrive on the scene. They left their hiding spot a few miles away only after Orochimaru was already dead. It wasn't terribly sporting, but they'd hung back in one of the safe areas they'd already investigated and cleared. Orochimaru couldn't get in a lucky killing blow if he wasn't fighting real ninja.

Once he arrived, Number Three used one of his steam techniques to obliterate the Snake Sannin's body. Taro used fire to destroy the dead bodyguard.

"It seems too easy," Number Three said.

"No. It was not easy to drive Orochimaru into a blind rage; nor to make him so overconfident; nor to develop the chakra poison we loaded into the puppets to dispel the summons. We have been planning this since…that unfortunate day when we discovered what happened to Number Two."

"Is it time to move on?"

Taro nodded. "The old business is concluded. We may now proceed to new business."

"It's going to be harder, isn't it?"

Taro looked at the ashes from Orochimaru's body. "Any technique I could imagine is likely something that Sasori could reproduce. When we attack him, we have one chance. If we launch the attack and fail, but escape, we shall have to shelve every attack he witnessed from us – and design counters to them. I believe Sasori to be a learning enemy…unlike the Snake Sannin who thought too highly of his own skills."

"He was world renowned for his chakra sensing capabilities," Number Three said, with a smile.

"As I told you before, Number Three, any advantage can eventually be turned against you. I hope never to be as arrogant as our fallen opponents. Should I ever succumb…feel free to slap me around."

That got Number Three laughing. At the mental image and supreme difficulty of knocking around one of Naruto's true capacity.

"Should we tell anyone what we've done?" Number Three asked. It wasn't every day a pair of basically unranked and village-less ninja killed a famous S-ranked ninja.

"Perhaps."

"I think we should," Number Three pushed.

"If we do, we'll attribute it to Taro…just in time for the Taro personality to meet a fitting, public end. Neither of us can continue to grow if we have half the Elemental Nations monitoring us. It's bad enough that Sasori got interested…but we will end that as soon as we can."

Taro made the handsigns for an Earth Style technique. All the ash in front of Naruto was sucked down into the earth, a dozen meters down. Orochimaru's head would have brought in truly staggering sums…but Naruto didn't want any part of Orochimaru's body hanging around. Ninja bodies were dangerous things.

Who knew what a skilled medic nin could do with a bit of Orochimaru's brain or blood? Naruto didn't want to find out.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Naruto sat in his bunker in Tea Country and poured over thousands of records. He had files on every civilian who had ever entered a Grass Country village. Most were merchants of some sort.

Naruto was looking for something vital. This knowledge was precious. Indeed, the cost for all of this wealth of information – for this wealth of potential covers for espionage missions or infiltration assignments – had been the famed Grass Cutter sword that Naruto had ripped from Orochimaru when they'd fought in Konoha. The Grass jounin council had offered ryo, gem stones, jutsu scrolls…but the only remotely interesting thing they possessed were moldy old documents on civilians. Naruto took the only copies of them, thousands and thousands of records and photographs.

For what Naruto envisioned, this information, detailed and imperfect and true, was worth more than gold. He needed new identities. The ones he'd set up for his puppets operated by Kage Bunshin throughout the Elemental Countries were thin cover. Any of them coming under scrutiny wouldn't past muster.

With these files, Naruto could fine tune his many identities. He could give the manager of that tea drying warehouse a detailed background, imperfect and messy and guaranteed to be above reproach.

Why bother? It was a lot of time and effort to spend.

He needed spies. Lots more spies. If he was going to find Akasuna no Sasori, he needed an army of spies. Sasori had sought Naruto out; he'd found Number Two. Now Naruto needed to…return the favor. Sasori's spies were excellent and deeply placed throughout the elemental nations. He'd tracked down Naruto…and then later Number Two…without difficulty.

Matching that level of accomplishment would likely take some time.

So…more spies. Puppet spies in every walk of life: whores, vagrants, business owners, ramen shop attendants. Full identities, bits scraped from this file, other nuggets gleaned from a different file.

He definitely needed a strong presence in Suna, Sasori's home territory. It was also the home of the One Tail jinchuuriki….

Yes, Naruto realized. That was the way. These Akatsuki, according to Kabuto, were tracking the tailed beasts.

Naruto could set up his spies close to their usual locations. The Two Tail stayed forty kilometers outside of Hidden Cloud in a special military base. Naruto could set up a puppet as a military contractor, someone who dug ditches or cooked food or something. Things that ninja wouldn't do themselves.

The others… Naruto began sketching out what he knew of the other beasts. It wasn't much, as Kabuto had known little when he'd been captured.

Naruto worked long into the night sketching out plans. He finally had an inkling of how to trace back Sasori. He'd put out a general spy network, but he'd spend the greatest amount of his time tracking the tailed beasts. Sasori wouldn't be able to stay away from one or more of them forever.

Perhaps Jiraiya would know more about the tailed beasts. Interesting. Naruto yawned, stretched, and went to see the man named as his godfather.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Number Three and the Taro puppet had been on the road, nonstop, for the last six days. At present, they were cutting through Rice Country on their way to a base in Lightning Country. Naruto had to use Taro's abilities to set up his new spy ring. Sasori, a true spymaster, was able to mask his movements at will. It would take a large spy network…and a lot of luck…to discover the location of the insane puppeteer.

Number Three went along to relieve his anger – at Sasori – and his boredom. More than a few bandits met their end in the last week. He liked being outside far more than sitting inside.

He wondered, from time to time, if he had done the right thing staying with his sensei. He continued to learn and improve, of course, but Naruto wasn't much of a people person. He was brilliant, however, and had helped refine Number Three into a deadly ninja. He didn't know a lot of jutsu…no, he knew how to construct jutsu from scratch, a self-taught skill that was worth its weight in gold.

For now, Number Three resolved to stay. He was still learning, still improving. If that ever changed…then he would need to find a new sensei or go out totally on his own.

Number Three was inside his head more than a ninja should be. He almost didn't stop when he felt Taro grab at his arm.

"Pay attention," Taro whispered. Number Three blinked a few times and then saw he was about to step in something…unusual. There was something wet, and dark, on the path a few steps ahead. It didn't really look like dirt or grass. It looked most like tar. How could he have missed that?

Stupid!

"A trap?"

Taro nodded. "A type I've never seen before."

Number Three stepped backward while the Taro puppet didn't move at all. Both ninja were attempting to get a fix on the person who'd laid the trap. It looked something like a small version of one of Jiraiya's earth techniques, the Underworld Swamp. Even safe inside a bunker, Naruto didn't want to find out what kind of damage this little trap would inflict.

"Fuckers are smarter than I'd have thought," a rough voice boomed from off to the left of the path.

Naruto, using Taro's chakra network, tried to find the source of the voice…but couldn't. This was a high-level ninja, then, someone who could hide his presence from another skilled ninja.

"Don't be so crass, Kisame. Let's get this done," another voice said, this one a bit bored.

Number Three looked up and around in surprise. He recognized the name Kisame. This wasn't going to be good. He remembered what it was like being near to Orochimaru…and then to Sasori. Kisame, according to the Bingo Book, was just as fearsome an enemy, a master swordsman who wasn't afraid of ninjutsu, the man who'd killed a daimyo and a hundred or more of that man's samurai guardians.

A pair of ninja dressed in black robes with red clouds stepped from behind a thatch of trees and brush. Naruto was very concerned now. They'd been close, but they'd masked their chakra somehow. It was a technique that Naruto had not come across before.

Taro took up the conversation. Number Three and he had almost walked into a trap. They needed to regain an advantage, if possible.

"Akatsuki again," Taro said in a bored voice. "An Uchiha, likely, and then a ninja from Water Country. You honor me with your presence." Taro gave a mocking bow. Naruto knew it was almost always better to fight an angry enemy.

"Sasori didn't tell us you had a personality, little ninja. Good to know. Useful for a tombstone," the blue-skinned ninja said.

The Uchiha – Itachi, if Jiraiya's explanations were accurate – looked annoyed, but didn't comment on his partner's words. "Uzumaki Naruto, you will come with us. You have something that we require."

Taro and Number Three both laughed at that. It seemed that even the great Sasori hadn't sussed out that Taro was a puppet…or, if he had, he hadn't shared it with his Akatsuki colleagues.

Number Three was still nervous, but Taro was the most powerful ninja – human or puppet – Number Three had ever heard of. He tried not to show his nerves.

"I see nothing at all amusing," Itachi said. "Come with me now, Naruto, or perhaps I will allow my partner to practice some of his depravities upon you…."

"None of that sick shit, Itachi. I just said that I didn't think the kid needed his legs, not with what we need from him."

Taro smiled broadly. 'Stupid ninjas always have to talk, always have to threaten and chatter and waste time. Good for me; not so good for them.' The only thing staying his hand was Itachi. Naruto, back at the home base, wasn't sure what to do with the ex-Konoha ninja. The Uchiha wasn't quite the monster popular lore made him out to be; not with a signed order absolving him of the blame for the Uchiha Massacre.

All this time jabbering had given Naruto more than ample time to prepare the Flowing Red Death. Naruto had never tested it against S-ranked opponents, but it would be an interesting opening gesture. He was trying to choreograph what might come next if he needed more than the opening dance.

"Uchiha, I will have to politely decline your offer. I rather prize my body and have no interest in whatever you want with my tenant."

Kisame looked pleased and lifted his sword into a position to use it. "I was hoping you'd say that, little ninja."

"I am sorry, Itachi. Say goodbye to your partner."

A millisecond later a dozen red puppets sprung up from rocks inscribed with special seals. Kisame, to his credit, managed to evade three of his attackers in that instant. But nine of them struck home. Kisame's shredded body landed on the ground a moment after the red-tinted puppets vanished into thin air.

The puppets hadn't left Itachi untouched, either, but their purpose hadn't been to kill him. No, they'd cut his Achilles' tendons, the tendons in his wrists, and stabbed Itachi's Sharingan eyes. The last known Uchiha was alive, but would be unable to ever take up ninja duties again. He wouldn't be able to run or make handsigns. And his special eye techniques…were gone.

"Come, Itachi. I have much to ask you about. Number Three, please collect the sword and the head. Burn the rest of that traitor's body."

"Right away," Number Three said, more than a bit numb. He didn't know what had happened, other than a blur of red. It had moved faster than Number Three could even see. He immediately rethought his sensei. If a person his same age could do this, then Number Three should be able to do something unstoppable, too.

He needed to work harder.

"I don't need to suggest that you never mention what you saw today, Number Three. That technique is one of my most lethal…and it will continue to be effective so long as it's secret. This is only the second time I've ever used it in combat. It's success relies upon its remaining a secret."

Number Three just nodded. 'One of my most lethal.' Naruto was keeping secrets, it seemed. It was good that Number Three hadn't parted ways yet.

"If you have a storage scroll, would you mind sealing away the head and sword. It may be some time before we need them."

"Right," Number Three said.

Taro lifted a stoic and silent Itachi from the ground. "I think our good friend Itachi will have much of interest to tell us, especially regarding Sasori."

The three continued through Rice Country. Itachi didn't speak for a week…and only then after Naruto personally broke him of his silence. Number Three didn't envy the Uchiha that day. Naruto was brutal in extracting information.

The information, while interesting, just reinforced how cagey Sasori really was. No one, least of all Itachi, knew where Sasori spent his time when he wasn't on a mission. Naruto would need to find his prey the old fashioned way…through perseverance and dumb luck.