Change in plans

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Unedited Chapter

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Gamabunta looked around.

("Where is that snake-tailed bastard…") Gamabunta thought as he searched for the Giant Snake-tailed Chameleon.

(Whack!)

A tongue lashed out of nowhere onto Gamabunta's back.

("Damn it!") Gamabunta cursed as he jumped away.

"Haha,"

"Serves a jumped up bastard like you to receive some lashing," Manda stared at Gamabunta being whipped.

SCCCRRRREEEEECCCCHHHHH!!!!!!

The Drill beaked Giant Bird zoomed in on Manda.

HISS!!!

Manda waited patiently on the ground for the bird to come in.

*WHIRRR!!!!*

The Drill shaped beak on the Giant Bird started to spin.

"What the…" Manda was irritated upon seeing the bird having special moves.

KAAAWWW!!!!!

The Giant Bird cried as it swooped down to attack Manda, only to see Manda evade it in the last minute.

"Who's the jumped up bastard you cowardly slithering snake?" Gamabunta asked.

Manda frowned.

The two were not having a good time battling out the creatures.

Manda looked towards the Three-headed Boa, only to see that it had a terrible disadvantage fighting the Three-headed dog.

The three-headed dog had likely been injured thrice, splitting up into three different three-headed dogs; thus, each boa had to face three heads on its own.

KAAAWWW!!!!!

The Giant Bird cried as it swooped down to attack Manda, only this time, it had managed to shear off a portion of Manda's flesh on its body.

YYYEEEEEEOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!

Manda screamed out loud in pain.

HISSS!!!

(*CRK!*)

Gamabunta turned around to see a small, almost transparent snake biting his hand.

"DAMN IT!" Gamabunta cursed out aloud as he withdrew his arm and retreated by jumping back towards Manda.

Manda looked towards Gamabunta.

"It hurts like Shit," Gamabunta cursed as he looked at his lightly swollen hand.

Manda, however, chose to remain silent as it looked at the Giant drill-beaked bird looming over the duo's heads.

"I am going to make that bastard Orochimaru pay!" Manda complained.

"Shut yer trap will ya," Gamabunta stared at Manda.

"This is not working out," Gamabunta looked around to search for the Chameleon that had blended in with the surroundings.

As he looked around, he spotted Jiraiya retreating on Gamaken's back while Gamahiro didn't really face anyone.

"Gamahiro!" Gamabunta called out.

"Hm…?" Gamahiro turned around to see Gamabunta looking at him.

"Get rid of those dogs," Gamabunta said as he pointed towards the Three-Headed Boa which was busy fighting the dogs.

"Understood!" Gamahiro leaped into the air to go towards the Three-Headed Boa.

Manda was surprised.

"We snakes aren't weak to rely on our food," Manda sneered.

"I am doing this to get rid of the enemy,"

"If I were asked to help your kind, I would rather die," Gamabunta defended.

"Hmph!" Manda snorted in disdain.

"Tell ya what,"

"Why don't we exchange opponents," Manda suggested suddenly.

"What?" Gamabunta stared at Manda.

…

On the other side of the battlefield…

Yahiko looked at Orochimaru.

"How did you get accepted by the leaf?" Yahiko asked curiously.

"Does it matter?" Orochimaru asked.

"I suppose it does not if you are a dead man," Yahiko said emotionlessly.

"Hehe," Orochimaru smirked.

< Almighty Pull! >

*Sh!*

Orochimaru was pulled within Yahiko's grasp.

"Hmph!" Yahiko lifted up Orochimaru by his collar.

"Oh?"

"What are you going to do?" Orochimaru asked.

(Bang!)

Yahiko smashed Orochimaru into the ground.

(Clang!)

(Clang!)

(Clang!)

(Clang!)

Yahiko pinned Orochimaru into the ground using four different rods.

"Ugh!" Orochimaru's expressions twisted.

"With my chakra coursing through those rods,"

"You won't be able to move even an…" Yahiko stopped speaking.

He stared at Orochimaru's body, suddenly turning into brown mud.

< Earth Release - Shadow Clone >

Orochimaru suddenly emerged from the ground almost two meters away.

However, this time, it was only his neck stretching out of the ground, while he held a sword in his mouth.

"…" Yahiko was shocked.

Only two seconds had passed from when he had used his power to pull Orochimaru into his grasp.

There was still three seconds remaining.

< Sword of Kusanagi! >

Orochimaru spat out the sword which headed like a missile towards Yahiko.

"Is he planning to force Nagato out here?" Jiraiya thought aloud.

("There it is again,") The Preta path pain and the others were shocked upon reading Jiraiya's lips since his voice couldn't be heard from that distance.

(Whoosh!)

The sword closed in on Yahiko.

Yahiko stared at the sword that approached him quickly.

"Godspeed, Leader of the Akatsuki," Orochimaru said followed by a sly smile.

——————————

Back in the Hidden Leaf General Hospital…

Hinata squinted her eyes as she tried to wake up.

"Hinata!" Naruto immediately hugged her.

"Huh," The moment Hinata reacted, events before she had fainted played within a split second reminding her that Shin was dead.

"I-I, the b-blood…" Hinata tried to voice out her fear.

"It's all right Hinata,"

"I'm here,"

"You're gonna be all right,"

"Believe it!" Naruto said as he hugged her tighter.

"wu…" Hinata cried silently in Naruto's embrace.

(Knock!)

(Knock!)

(Knock!)

Naruto looked towards the door with a displeased expression across his face, but that immediately vanished since he had been used to those kinds of disturbances during his years as Hokage.

"Come in," Naruto said emotionlessly as he stared at the door.

Creak….

The door opened.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru called out, following which he gasped for breath.

Naruto frowned.

Shikamaru stared at Naruto, holding onto Hinata.

"Sorry, but this is really important," Shikamaru insisted.

Naruto looked at Hinata.

His heart tightened upon seeing the expression of despair that Hinata wore across her face.

Naruto brought his hands together.

"I guess this will have to do for now…" Naruto murmured.

< Shadow Clone Jutsu! >

(Poof!)

Another Naruto appeared.

"Let's go," Naruto said as he pulled Shikamaru along with him and exited the room.

…

Outside the room…

Naruto looked at Shikamaru.

"I know you have a good reason," Naruto said.

Shikamaru looked at Naruto.

"When was the last you spoke with Sasuke?" Shikamaru asked.

"Why?" Naruto asked in turn.

"Answer me," Shikamaru said.

"Right before I left for the mission in the Hidden Grass," Naruto said.

"Has Sasuke been moody, or hostile in any manner towards you?" Shikamaru asked.

"Stop beating around the bush will ya," Naruto stared at Shikamaru in the eye.

"Sasuke wants to kill you! Naruto," Shikamaru replied.

"huh?" Naruto stared at Shikamaru.

"I don't get it," Naruto said.

Shikamaru sighed in defeat.

("Will things end up like the previous timeline…") Shikamaru thought.

————————————

Back in the grasslands…

Yahiko stared at the sword that approached him quickly.

"Godspeed, Leader of the Akatsuki," Orochimaru said followed by a sly smile.

(Whoosh!)

The sword zoomed past the air causing Yahiko to freeze.

*Sh!*

Time seemed to slow down as Orochimaru's grin widened upon seeing the sword millimeters away from Yahiko's face.

("He's done…") Orochimaru stared eagerly at the surefire shot that was bound to make contact.

(Poof!)

"IMPOSSIBLE?" Orochimaru's face twisted upon seeing Yahiko disappear from where he stood.

"Huh?" Jiraiya was also shocked.

(Whoosh!)

The sword shoot through the space where Yahiko was supposed to be.

*Sh!*

Orochimaru's body emerged from the ground following which his neck retracted back into his body.

"Hmm?" Orochimaru looked towards Jiraiya, only to see Jiraiya staring in a particular direction with a surprised expression.

Orochimaru's eyesight slowly traced the direction to see Yahiko pain standing next to the summoning pain.

("I see…")

("It looks like the summoning works for short distance also…") Orochimaru analyzed.

Nagato, on the other hand, was perplexed.

"It's better to retreat…" Nagato silently murmured from within a tall tree where he was controlling all the pains.

"huh?" Zetsu stared at Nagato.

"I'll let you two live for now…" Yahiko pain said, following which all the pains except the summoning pain disappeared with a Poof.

"WAIT!!" Jiraiya shouted at summoning pain.

*Sh!*

The summoning pain started to descend into the ground.

"Gamaken!" Jiraiya called out.

"Yes!" Gamaken responded by jumping towards the pain.

"We'll meet again, sensei…" The summoning pain said.

*Sh!*

The summoning pain slowly disappeared into the ground as though going through quicksand.

*BAM!*

Gamaken landed on the bare ground.

"Damn it!" Jiraiya cursed.

"It's all right, Jiraiya-boy," Lord Fukasaku consoled.

"…" Orochimaru silently observed the aftermath.

(BANG!)

Gamabunta landed on the barren grassland with his sword pierced straight into the ground.

"Just when I was having fun flying on top of a bird, some bastard undoes his summoning," Gamabunta complained.

"Hmph," Jiraiya grunted as he undid his Sage mode.

"Orochimaru!" Manda called out.

"What is it?" Orochimaru looked at Manda.

"I will let you off today for not giving me anything, but next time don't expect anything for free," Manda said in a displeased tone.

Orochimaru looked at Manda, who was being a tsundere all of a sudden.

Orochimaru felt a bit strange seeing this attitude from Manda. Of course, he had already taken sneak peeks at Manda's battle against the Chameleon where it taught the little snake on the tail and the chameleon itself a good deal of lesson.

The chameleon had its advantage in its invisibility, but this was useless against a Snake which could also sense heat of its preys, thus allowing Manda to have a good time dealing with it, Meanwhile, Gamabunta used his jumping power to get onto the back the giant bird, thus going along for a fun ride while others were busy fighting.

"Next time, I'll give you something good," Orochimaru said.

"You'd better!" Manda said in a cussed manner, following which it vanished.

"Good job you guys," Jiraiya looked at Gamahiro, Gamaken, Gamabunta, and the two elder frogs.

(Poof!) The three giant frogs disappeared.

"We'll see you later, Jiraiya-boy," Lord Fukasaku said.

"Same thing, Jiraiya-chan," Granny Shima said.

"Mm!" Jiraiya nodded, following which the two frogs also disappeared.

…

Meanwhile, inside the tree,

Zetsu stared at Nagato, getting up from the device he was bound to.

"This may stop Akatsuki's plans for a while…" Nagato murmured as he stared at Zetsu.

"It's that bad huh…" the white part of Zetsu murmured.

"It's good you noticed those two," Nagato said as he thought back to the time, Zetsu had appeared in the Hidden Rain's tower to inform Nagato of Orochimaru's whereabouts.

Nagato couldn't travel to where Orochimaru and Jiraiya were, instead of which he then handed some iron rods over to Zetsu to make a clone version of himself and the summoning pain.

Thus Nagato had appeared precisely where Orochimaru and Jiraiya were despite being days away from them.

"What do you plan to do?" The black Zetsu asked.

"I need to discuss this with Madara before I hold a meeting," Nagato said following which he descended into the ground.

The white Zetsu stared into the ground where Nagato disappeared into.

"That battle, it looked like those two already knew about Nagato's abilities," The White Zetsu said.

"Obito already told me to record every battle that takes place, everything is up to him in the end," The Black Zetsu replied.

"hehe,"

"Those two think they are leading the Akatsuki," The White Zetsu laughed.

"But,"

The White Zetsu paused for a moment.

The black Zetsu knew that the white was waiting for the follow-up.

"All things are meaningless before our final plan to bring back our mother," The Black Zetsu said as he looked up at the ceiling of the inside of the tree, thinking about the Project Tsuki no me.

…

Back in the grasslands…

Orochimaru walked towards Jiraiya.

"I didn't see that coming," Jiraiya said as he stared at the grass by his feet, thinking back to the battle that just took place.

"…" Orochimaru stared at Jiraiya, sulking by himself.

Jiraiya looked up at Orochimaru after a quick reflection.

"Let's wrap this up fast,"

"How many more hideouts to go?" Jiraiya asked.

"…"

"I've changed my mind," Orochimaru said, following which he looked towards a different direction.

"There's a man we have to meet,"

"Who?" Jiraiya asked.

"Dr.Hiro,"

"…" Jiraiya stared silently at Orochimaru as though he was looking at a monster.

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Author's Note:

Dr.Hiro is an original character of mine,

I can assure you; He is an interesting character to look out for.

He will be introduced slowly over the next few chapters as Orochimaru and Jiraiya continue to work together.