Chapter 16

The months after their nearly successful razing of Hidden Leaf were a bad time to belong to the Hidden Sound Village. Those confined to the various hidden facilities within Rice Country or the bases hidden outside the country were safe.

However….

Disappearances among ninja on patrol became uncountable.

Production of rice dived. Terrorists were poisoning every rice field they came across. Orochimaru actually tracked their routes through Rice Country by having his ninja survey which rice fields had been poisoned…and which hadn't.

Any visible structure with a remotely military purpose was torched.

It was impossible to predict when or where the terrorists would strike. Orochimaru was being rapidly driven out of his mind. He had a new body, of course, but it wasn't the one he wanted. That grass ninja had destroyed his last host body.

This guerilla warfare was unlike anything that his sensei would ever approve.

He'd set up ambushes, targets too good to pass up, but these terrorists never bit when Orochimaru was involved. If it was a squad of jounin, the terrorists would kill everyone without leaving any bodies or evidence behind.

How could a ragtag group be this good?

There was no way this was the work of the Hokage. That fool was all about protecting civilians and minimizing collateral damage. In these raids, the main starch for many, if not most, of the Elemental Nations was being cut to shreds. Orochimaru had depended upon the rice…upon using it as a bargaining chip to keep people from invading. He would threaten to destroy the rice…and the starving nations would relent.

But his rice was going, going, gone. Terrorists! Guerillas!

"Sakon," the Snake Sannin yelled. His sole remaining member of the Sound Four walked cautiously into the room.

"My Lord?"

"We need a richer target, something that looks and smells like a trap, but is so tantalizing that these terrorists won't be able to resist."

"There is little left, my Lord, except for our secure facilities…."

Orochimaru sighed. "Fine, if I must sacrifice a building to kill this plague, I must. Order structure seven emptied. Those experiments have been performing poorly. Get our trapping experts in. We know that they like to destroy structures, so we'll counterbomb them. Anyone who sets foot in there will not be coming out again."

Sakon nodded. "It will be as you command, my Lord."

Orochimaru sat in a concrete bunker all by himself. He had a lot to consider.

The terrorists, the Hidden Leaf mocking him by not being a burned ruin…but then also the last Uchiha.

Orochimaru would need a new body soon and his present vessel was less than ideal because that stupid Grass ninja forced an early switch on him. He had almost three years before he could make the leap, but the Uchiha should be ready for recruitment now. The boy would have his uses, perhaps as a recruiting tool. Orochimaru needed more warm bodies for his ninja forces…maybe this Sasuke would be good for something beside his eyes.

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

Taro sat in the small cell where he'd relocated Kabuto. Jiraiya and a few other acquisitions were held in other boltholes. Naruto didn't have a safe haven like Grass Country any longer.

Taro had sat in the cell with Kabuto for nearly an hour before speaking. It unnerved the former ninja. "Orochimaru is taking heavy losses, Kabuto. What will he do?"

The spy's information was quite out of date, but the young ninja had spent a good deal of time working with Sasori and Orochimaru. He had a decent conception of what both ninja were likely to do. Taro had spent many hours posing hypotheticals to Kabuto.

"He will strike when you least expect." Kabuto's voice was hoarse from disuse.

Taro's lips pursed. "Me and my team always expect him to strike. Could you be more helpful?"

"He will attempt to lure you into complacency. You'll blow through something and he'll just pop out and slaughter you. That's what he does best."

Taro tapped his fingers on the stone floor. "Traps rely on the trapped party being unaware of them. How will Orochimaru lead wary prey into a trap?"

"Temptation. It's his hallmark. Some he tempts with offers of power; others he tempts with…more unusual offerings. You…you who would destroy him given the chance…I believe he will try to tempt you with himself or one of his chief lieutenants. He'll spread the word that he'll be in such and such a place…and he will. But your assassination attempt will fail – and his won't."

Taro laughed. "You'd best hope he fails, little spy. If I die, then it will take you two or three weeks to starve to death in here. You'll never leave this place unless I personally take you out."

Kabuto said nothing. Taro often taunted him like this.

In truth, it terrified Kabuto whenever his captor left…and whenever he returned. He was powerless now and this psychological torture was beginning to have its effect. Kabuto had been imprisoned for months now. Taro never beat him or threatened violence. He didn't need to.

"Kabuto, you've told me that Hidden Sound was conceived of as a series of hardened underground bunkers. Any ideas as to where Orochimaru might hide them?"

The silver-haired former ninja shook his head. "I was not told precisely in case I was captured. The old snake is paranoid, but for good reason."

That made sense. "Orochimaru is publicly a ninja-village leader in Rice Country. What percentage of Hidden Sound do you think he based elsewhere?"

Kabuto smiled. "If I were a betting man, I'd say that Rice Country holds just a bit more than half of whatever Orochimaru built."

Taro nodded. He, too, assumed Orochimaru had major bases in other countries. "Did you ever learn anything about the rotation schedule?"

"Rotation?"

"Between the facilities."

"Ah, yes. I remember. Orochimaru did once explain that he rarely spent more than two nights in the same place before moving on. I doubt he forced all of his subordinates to follow the same rules. No, I suspect that most of the staff stays for long periods at a single facility, especially those working on Orochimaru's 'experiments.' Too difficult to pack them up."

"So, it would be hard to just follow a single ninja or a group of them from facility to facility?"

"It might have been easier prior to the invasion of Hidden Leaf, but now…now Orochimaru is in full paranoia."

Many kilometers away in a different safehouse, Naruto manipulated his Taro puppet and considered his options. Orochimaru had to go.

But how…that was the question, how?

Kabuto was growing less and less useful as he remained apart from his former master. It sounded cold, but Naruto was trying to think of another use for the former ninja. Something appropriate and useful.

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

Taro led a battle group of Numbers One, Two, and Three, plus eight more puppets controlled by Naruto from a remote location.

The whole crew been extremely careful for the last two raids…and it saved their necks.

Orochimaru had been waiting for the raiders at two different locations they'd tried to attack. The raiders had advanced warning each time and escaped without incident. (The chakra strings connecting Naruto to his puppets were far more sensitive to foreign chakra than most ninja were. Especially to a chakra that felt as foul as Orochimaru's did.)

Tonight, however, Taro and the entire group were returning to attack an installation they'd tried to hit once before. Naruto didn't feel any of Orochimaru's nasty chakra through his chakra strings.

The team kept advancing.

It was obviously a trap, but the question was…was the trap powered up and waiting for them this time?

The entire party had brought the strongest long-range weapons they had in their arsenals. With any luck, they could lob in a devastating attack and be gone within forty-five seconds.

If this facility weren't so potentially dangerous, Naruto would prefer to send in spies to see if Orochimaru had left any clues to the locations of his other facilities. Given the circumstances that was a suicide mission. Naruto couldn't risk it.

Taro made the handsignals to get into position. The attack began as expected.

Taro and his students hung back while the other puppets went to a mid-range position. They launched the first volley of mortar rounds. Number Three used a wide-area steam attack to detonate the mortars above the structure. The blast and its shockwave caved in the hardened structure's roof. The other munitions would be simpler to get inside now.

As Numbers One and Two prepared to launch a few volleys of ever-burning fluid into the gaping roof holes, Naruto felt the briefest presence of foreign chakra. He prompted Taro to withdraw everyone, but the attack was already on them.

Orochimaru…who must have been suppressing his chakra for a good long while…led the attack on the mid-range attackers, all of them puppets. Three of the eight were cleaved in half before Naruto could respond. A few of the others were on fire. Naruto made the decision to sacrifice these puppets in order to hide the fact that they were puppets.

On another part of the field, Taro and his students were fending off lesser ninja, but the numbers game was against them. They were four slightly surprised ninja against perhaps twenty ninja who had patiently prepared this ambush.

A rain of weapons erupted from behind them. Number Three tried to gust them away…or melt them. It mostly worked. Taro had to bat one away. Number Two ducked and then twisted.

She ran off to where the fiercest barrage of attacks came from. Taro bounded off to his left. Numbers One and Three turned and began attacking the center of the field. Screams and yells told them they were hitting ninja, hitting but perhaps not disabling or killing.

Naruto, back in his safehouse, knew he didn't have time to be angry at this turn of events. He knew…he absolutely knew that Orochimaru was going to try something like this. He'd deferred this attack quite a few times, but Orochimaru had adjusted enough to lure them in.

He just needed to keep his students safe. Then he could think about new tactics.

Back on the field of battle, Number Two was engaged with two opposing ninja. One threw around electricity as if it were free. The other seemed to twist and twirl as if his bones were made from rubber. They were likely the most difficult opponents she'd ever faced alone.

She turned to her Cursed Touch technique, yet another perversion of medical procedure. She managed to evade the electricity user's attack. Her fist slammed into her enemy's shoulder. Within a second, the skin blackened and began to wither. The muscle rotted before her eyes. The bone weakened and turned to dust.

That ninja dropped to the ground as part of his body died.

The rubber ninja did not react to his colleague's pain. Rather, he intensified his attacks on Number Two.

She had never seen someone move the way he did. Never.

She aimed for his head and got air. She aimed for the center of his torso and the man curved away. She tried technique after technique. The ninja kept avoiding everything.

Down where Orochimaru was attacking, the tide was turning against the ambushers. Naruto used his chakra strings to set these puppets into a suicide move. Only three were still at all mobile, but it was enough. The others still had seals inside them that could aid in this attack.

Two of the least damaged puppets jumped and grabbed at Orochimaru's 'guards.' The puppet missing an arm locked his remaining arm around the ninja's leg. The puppet that had been heavily burned was able to get both arms around another ninja.

Miles away, Naruto twitched his finger. Orochimaru's body guards went up in a massive explosion. All ten of the puppets' seals detonated. Orochimaru was flung into the air, but managed to turn and right his body. He stuck to a tree with his feet rather than slamming into it.

It took the Snake Sannin a moment to feel the pain. Then he saw that his left arm was on fire. He had a half melted kunai stuck in his leg. He did a few quick jutsu, shook his head, and wondered what kind of ninja would do that…commit suicide like that.

These terrorists got more and more interesting and irritating every time Orochimaru looked into them.

In another part of the battle, Number Two dodged again as the rubber ninja went on the offensive. He had five kunai in his hand and was jabbing everywhere at the same time.

Number Two leapt back. The rubber ninja was gone…she pivoted to her left…and that's when she felt it. A kunai sunk into her stomach. The pain…was worse than anything she'd ever felt before. As she began to fall backwards, she slashed out with her Cursed Touch and caught an unsuspecting rubber ninja on each leg. Number Two saw the rapid spread of blood leaking everywhere, all over the ground.

Her blood.

But she had to smile. Whatever pain she felt right now was a tenth of what the other guy was feeling. A bleeding stomach, perforated intestines, a few nicked minor arteries.

Her sensei would save her…or she would die. It was best to go out in battle. It was a glorious death, should Kami forsake her.

In the now stilled part of the battle field, Number Three and Taro caught up with Number One after their attackers were incapacitated.

"Where's Number Two?" Taro asked.

Number One nodded off to a section of the battle field. Taro jumped his way through the dense vegetation. He saw his bleeding student a few moments.

Miles away, Naruto positively howled in anger. He wanted to protect his students, to make them strong. He did not want them to die in such a way.

Taro knelt down and scooped up Number Two. She wasn't conscious. Taro hopped away. Numbers One and Three looked surprised at seeing Two so hurt.

Normally she was the one who patched up their minor problems.

Taro set her down and began trying to fix the wound, to see if he could stop the blood. To see if he could keep his student alive.

A minute later, she was stabilized as well as could be managed. The three healthy ninja leapt out of their almost fatal attack site.

No one spoke. They were all moving at top speed. The nearest safe house was a considerable distance away.