Chapter 07

Three days had come and gone since the end of the Chunin exams and the official reinstatement of Orochimaru. The following day the Sandaime announced her return to the entire village and it did not go well. The civilians were terrified, the boogeywoman had returned to dissect them and their children they wailed. The ninja were on edge as well. She was a well known traitor so to be allowed back and for it to come from the Daimyo himself? The seasoned among them realized there was a game being played well beyond their level but would watch their step around the snake sannin. There was one person that wasn't happy, wasn't accepting but also wasn't afraid. She was livid, enraged, angered to the point of distraction. She begged the Sandaime to reconsider, ranted and raved about how this woman was the embodiment of evil. The old Hokage couldn't fault the kunoichi, few had been as affected by Orochimaru's machinations than her but his hands were tied. She realized he couldn't, or wouldn't do anything and had thrown herself into a bender to cope. Her friends tried to help but there wasn't much they can do, the situation was simply unchangeable and if Anko tried to attack Orochimaru she'd be stripped of her status as a kunoichi and possibly imprisoned; if the Sannin didn't kill her outright. None of them were used to seeing Anko so distressed and hated how powerless they were to console the, normally, lively kunoichi.

Kurenai's team was ordered to stay on light duty as two of her team members were still being considered for promotion, the Orochimaru fallout having delayed final decisions, and Naruto had clan business to attend to. This allowed her to stick by her friend, attempting to sober her up with her favorite treat, dango.

"Are you feeling better now?"

"There is no better as long as she is alive."

"Maybe there is a long term missions you can be sent on, to get some space."

"I'm not running, Kurenai. Not from her! Never from her."

"Then what, Anko? You can't remain like this, you'll only be hurting yourself and those who care about you."

"I-I don't know. I feel helpless, how did she get the Daimyo on her side? It makes no sense. Although, it is convenient that she comes back and your brat gets his long denied promotion and acknowledged as a clan heir. Funny, that."

"What are you implying Anko?"

"She has an interest in him. Don't know what, don't know why but it's there. And the kid is about as attached to this village as that Neji is to his right arm."

"Naruto wouldn't betray the village, he wouldn't betray his team."

"Maybe not now but before? Heritage hidden, stalled career and most of the villagers still disliking him? You think a few people is enough to keep him in hell? Nah. And I bet she knows that too. She'll have her hooks in him before you know it and he'll be twisted just like she is." Anko said and was immediately slapped in response.

"You don't get to talk about my student like that. Naruto is nothing like her."

"I wasn't either. Until I was influenced by her. You'll see."

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Mageela was running frantically, making note to use the shadow walk like her tou-sama taught her. She needed to get help. Just a bit ago two strange men came to the apartment. One tried to get through the security but couldn't. The presence of one of the men had the small cub shaking, it felt oppressive and overwhelming. They made mention of trying to find her onii-chan so as soon as she sensed them gone, she left via a secret exit to go find help. She smelled two familiar scents, one was his sensei but her presence didn't seem to match those men so she opted to find the other lady that smelled like snake and gave really good tummy rubs. She ran nonstop until she found the woman at a cafe with some other person. As she approached she jumped on the table, causing the boy to tense and prepare to attack.

"Kabuto, stop." the lady ordered. "Now, little one, what seems to be the issue?"

"Two men were looking for onii-chan. One had more chakra than even onii-chan did. They were in these cape things with red clouds on them and I think he might be in trouble." she got out, completely out of breathe.

"Do you know where Naruto-kun is right now?" the cub nodded.

"He uses a far away training ground when he wants to be alone. I can show you."

"Good. Kabuto, we're leaving." Orochimaru said, picking up the cub and following her directions.

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Naruto was having a rather crappy day. It started out fine, no mission to worry about so he went to train for a bit. While working through the grapples of the Panther style with a shadow clone, he felt his awareness shift. Immediately he suspected genjutsu and dispelled it, to see two cloaked individuals approach him. He cursed himself for being caught off guard but wouldn't just react blindly because of it. They removed their straw hats as the short one began to speak.

"We need you to come with us, Naruto-kun." he said and once the hat was complete off he realized who they were; Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki. He was boned. Bagheera might not even be much help against these guys and he couldn't justify putting his summons at risk on the slight chance they'd make a difference. He needed to do two things, avoid looking Itachi in the eyes and come up with a plan to escape.

"He looks like the type to resist Itachi. Maybe I should cut off his legs?" the large man said, going for his sword. "Besides, I hear he fashions himself a swordsman. I can put him to the test."

"We need him alive, Kisame. Besides he won't resist."

Without saying a word or making a gesture his existing shadow clone sent two kunai at Itachi, each infused with his super sonic chakra flow technique. Itachi tossed two kunai to meet Naruto's but was surprised when Naruto's cleaved, effortlessly, through his own, causing the Uchiha prodigy to have to dodge. The real Naruto had not been idle as he created two fuin bunshin. A weakness of this jutsu is due to the complicated chakra molding he could only make two at a time and it was limited by how many seals he could materialize through chakra. Naruto only had three as he'd been somewhat limited in his fuinjutsu studies, though Mito and his mom had sought to correct that. The exploding array was one he'd demonstrated. The next was gravity seals as they made for a good containment method. If all went according to plan, Kisame would discover his third one.

The blue man closed the distance between Naruto and himself in the blink of an eye and hurriedly brought down Samehada to dispel the clones. However, right before it made contact with the first clone it dispelled itself, leaving the array planted on the sword and with the quickest flare of the original's chakra, Samehada was gone into Naruto's personal storage void. The other clone tried to take advantage of the opening but was dispelled with minimal effort as an enraged Kisame rushed at Naruto, slamming his fist into the redhead's jaw. Naruto's vision was swimming and he fell to his knees, only to receive a sharp kick to his ribs; a kick powerful enough to lift him off the ground. Kisame was so angered by the theft of his sword he didn't notice the brief glow on the ground. Naruto had suspected the kick was coming and used the moment to create space between him and the ground so while in midair he performed a desperation shunshin, while also triggering the explosive array he planted while bowed by Kisame's blow. The large blue man was tossed back and suffered minor burns but nothing that would impede him for long.

Naruto came out of his shunshin and immediately retrieved two kunai. He knew they would most likely follow him via the same technique. The shunshin wasn't a viable combat technique because it was disorienting and just predictable enough to give your target a brief warning to go on the defensive. However, after prolong study, Naruto became able to see the displacement the high speed technique caused and estimate about where it would end. It's how he killed Zabuza after the Demon of the Mist threw his legendary sword, the path of the shunshin was obvious and a few wind chakra infused kunai ended his life. Naruto waited, he only planned to attempt this with Kisame, Itachi's sharingan would render the ambush useless, he'd see it coming even if he wasn't as proficient with the technique as Shisui Uchiha was.

He threw the infused kunai and then performed the six hand signs required for one of his original jutsu. A katon jutsu shot in a straight line, it traveled very fast. Instead of ending the katon with the tiger sign, the sign that essentially ignites the chakra, Naruto finishes with snake, giving it suiton like properties. The excited chakra will saturate an object and once said object can't handle any more of the excited chakra it'll explode.

"[Fire Style: Combustion Stream]" he muttered, aiming for the two kunai and they caused the expected explosion, it being superheated thanks to the presence of the wind chakra. Unfortunately, the concussion made him miscalculate. He managed to further hurt Kisame but it wasn't enough to kill the Kiri missing nin, at least not immediately and he still had Itachi to deal with. The Kyuubi's chakra was healing the concussion and his cracked ribs but it wouldn't be fast enough.

Kisame was getting to his fit, he had, at the very least, second degree burns on the right side of his face and body. The shrapnel from the kunai pierced him as well so he had limited range of motion and responsiveness in his right arm. But he didn't care. He didn't care about the mission, about his leader or any of it. He was going to kill that little annoyance and they could get the fox later. Kisame began his approach toward Naruto, fully prepared to end the little shit that injured him and stole his sword. Until, he collapsed on the ground and could no longer feel his legs. He couldn't see what happened but Itachi could and knew the blade that literally stabbed Kisame in the back and then immediately retracted.

"Long time no see, Itachi-kun." she said, now standing over his downed partner along with another male, possibly around Itachi's age.

"Don't interfere in this, Orochimaru. Don't make Leader-sama any more motivated to find and kill you." Itachi knew Orochimaru had returned to Konoha, the very thought sicked him but he didn't expect her to come to the defense of the container. Itachi briefly wondered if she had plans to experiment on him and considered killing Naruto outright as a mercy and a way to protect Konoha.

Orochimaru said nothing, surveying the area. She could tell Naruto was hurt, his breathing looked pained. She was going to have Kabuto heal Kisame after she dealt with Itachi. The sharkman would die for this. "Leave, Itachi." she said. Her voice lacking the sadistic mirth it is normally infused with.

"I can't do that and Sannin or not, you're no match for me." Itachi said before vacating his current position as a high powered heel came crashing down. As soon as Itachi had his feet planted he felt them surrounded by some weird substance that made him unable to move.

"This is where you die, Itachi." he heard from behind him. The Sannin, all of the Sannin were here. This was bad but not unsalvageable. He activated his Mangekyou Sharingan, planning to burn whatever this was and flee. Before he could he felt something pierce his back, whatever it was just missed his heart but the pain was unbearable.

Each of the Sannin saw the projectile make a beeline for Itachi but weren't sure they believed what they saw. Until Naruto pulled it back and caught one of the seven legendary swords of Kiri, the Nuibari. Tsunade made her way to Naruto to check on him as she noticed the same things Orochimaru had. Kabuto went to Itachi to make sure he'd survive transport to a secure facility and Jiraiya created two prison transport scrolls. Once Kabuto saw to Itachi and confirmed he was stable Jiraiya put him in the scroll. He was going over to Kisame but was too late, Orochimaru had beheaded the man as he lay helpless on the ground.

"What are you doing? We could have interrogated him for intel!" Jiraiya shouted. She meet eyes with Jiraiya, and the Toad Sage saw blind fury and madness in those slitted pupils and the surrounding area was heavy with her killing intent.

"Say one more thing to me and I'll flay you then dump you in a vat of salt water." she hissed. Jiraiya wanted to press the issue further, almost exclusively out of habit but Tsunade reminded them they had to turn over Itachi and get Naruto to a hospital. The fractured jaw and broken ribs were easy enough to handle but he had a severe concussion so certain protocols needed to be adhered to while he was in the village. As if a switch had been flipped, Orochimaru ceased the killing intent and summoned a snake to dispose of Kisame as if he were trash. Once Tsunade situated Naruto on her back the Sannin and Kabuto headed back to the village at a sedate pace, Tsunade refusing to travel any faster than necessary given Naruto's condition.