Second Trial, Begins!

About two hours later…

(Whoosh!)

Kakashi landed in the training field.

("Sasuke is not here?")

Kakashi felt shivers down his spine.

(Whoosh!) Kakashi turned around and traveled at full speed towards Sasuke's house.

….

Uchiha District….

Kakashi lifted the No entry tape at the entrance, following which he entered the gates.

….

(Whoosh!) Kakashi appeared in front of a window and looked through it.

("This is bad!") Kakashi thought as he jumped about over the buildings to cross the district with full speed towards the direction of the Hokage's office.

Along the way….

("It couldn't be that Orochimaru chose the time of my absence to abduct Sasuke now did he?")

("Then there's the other possibility…") Kakashi thought back to a few hours ago that he had demonstrated the summoning technique to Sasuke.

("Just maybe…") Kakashi hoped as he continued towards the office.

….

….

Back in the Uzumaki Clan Noh Mask Hall….

Orochimaru packed up the scroll after storing the body on the floor.

Kabuto also helped him in the cleanup process.

Soon, after they were done…

Orochimaru reached into his pocket for a scroll.

"Kabuto!"

"Yes! Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto responded.

Orochimaru handed over a small red scroll to Kabuto.

"Take this,"

"This is?" Kabuto asked.

"This is the plan for that day for the sand ninjas."

"Hand this scroll over to that squad's jounin leader Baki," Orochimaru said.

"Orochimaru-sama!"

"Are you sure about this," Kabuto asked.

Orochimaru looked towards the direction of Hidden Leaf village with an arrogant gaze.

"The recent peaceful times has put the country in slumber…"

"While all the other nations are busy racing to expand their military."

"Mm," Kabuto nodded.

"Though I don't know how much fun it would be to take out that old man," Orochimaru smirked.

"Is that so?"

"To me, it looks like you still have hesitations about it," Kabuto said, causing Orochimaru to frown.

"From now on, the power of each hidden village will clash with one another in a long and violent manner."

"The sound village is also one of them…"

"You intend to be the trigger for all that…"

"and use him for a bullet."

"our Sasuke…right?" Kabuto said while his face looked forwards whereas his eyes looked at Orochimaru through the corner of his spectacles.

Orochimaru snickered.

"But Orochimaru-sama!"

"Why not go after Naruto-kun."

"Clearly that boy is far more powerful than Sasuke, not to mention he has the nine tails as well, and he is an Uzumaki, albeit he doesn't have the red hair trait."

"I mean, you get the Uzumaki bloodline to experiment on, a young body and a weapon of destruction for the sound village, making it be on par with the other hidden villages," Kabuto said.

"Naruto is not easy to control…"

"He is extremely strong for a kid his age, and also has a good judge of character, unlike the gullible geezer in the village who believes in solving through conversations."

"Besides, You already know the pains we have gone through to make sure to have a proper countermeasure against the boy."

"To think there was a Jutsu as interesting as making a contract with the god of death himself."

"Truly, that first attempt was a wasted effort."

Orochimaru thought back to how he had failed in awakening the Fourth Hokage on the previous day due to his soul not being present in his body.

"Yeah!" Kabuto agreed.

"Kabuto!"

"Despite the problem of facing Naruto, there will be a bigger problem if we took him," Orochimaru said.

"You mean…" Kabuto prompted.

"The Akatsuki!" Orochimaru said.

….

….

(Knock!)

(Knock!)

(Knock!)

"Come in!" Hiruzen said.

"Hokage-sama!" Kakashi called out as he walked in large strides towards the table.

"Has there been any reports on him coming back to the village today?" Kakashi asked.

"No, Why do you ask?" Hiruzen questioned as he took a sip of tea from his glass.

"Sasuke is missing!" Kakashi said.

"WHAT?" Hiruzen stood up.

"There is a small probability of something else."

"What is it?" Hiruzen asked.

"He might have been reverse-summoned," Kakashi said.

…

Hiruzen sat back on his chair in silence for a few moments.

He then smiled and said…

"This had happened to Jiraiya before."

"But just to make sure, I will inform the ANBU to tighten their guards," Hiruzen said.

Kakashi felt a significant burden being taken off his back as he sighed.

Soon, Kakashi left the room.

….

….

Hidden Leaf Hospital…

"Hinata-sama!"

"Please be careful as you descend the staircase," Kô said as he brought Hinata down the staircase gently as they exited the building.

….

Soon the duo reached the Hyuuga clan district.

Kô walked Hinata to her room.

"Thank you Kô" Hinata smiled as he sat down on the floor cushion.

"Don't Worry Hinata-sama!"

"I am your caretaker after all!" Kô smiled as he left the room.

….

It was evening time. With the sun almost setting down and the sky turning Orange,

Kô was disguised in everyday clothes with a normal colored pupil in his eyes as he set off towards a particular direction.

("Naruto!")

("I will make sure you pay for playing with Hinata-sama's feelings.") He declared in his mind.

...

...

"HHOOAAHHH!!!" Sakura and Karin yawned after a long day at the library.

"We have to report back at the hospital right," Karin asked.

"Mm," Sakura nodded.

Karin took a step down as Sakura interrupted.

"Hey!"

"You don't mind if we stop by a place for a few minutes on the way right," Sakura asked.

"Sure, Why not," Karin said as she continued walking forwards.

….

Soon the duo arrived at the entrance of a building.

("flowers?") Karin stared towards her front, while Sakura walked in.

Sakura stared about before her eyes finally landed on a figure who was eyeing at her.

"Oh…How unusual for you to come by to buy our flowers," Ino asked.

At this moment Karin also entered the shop.

"Oh…you also brought a friend along?" Ino asked.

"Why would you care?"

"Besides, isn't it unusual that you are minding the shop?" Sakura asked as she bent towards a particular plant.

("I'll choose quickly.") Sakura thought.

"People don't like flowers with roots when they're in the hospital. Since they don't want to be "rooted" in the hospital…" Ino approached Sakura.

"So cut flowers are fundamental." Ino squatted down near Sakura who was on her knees looking closely at the flowers.

"Mm.." Sakura nodded.

"So who are they for?" Ino asked.

"They are for Lee-san" Sakura smiled at Ino.

"Lee-san?"

"That boy with thick brows from Gai-sensei's team?" Ino asked.

"Yeah!"

"I heard from Naruto and Sasuke that Lee helped out in their training a lot, so I am grateful…" Sakura said.

"So…One narcissus flower, right?" Ino asked.

"Yes!" Sakura said.

Meanwhile, Karin stared at some Dandelions.

The yellow petals on the flower reminded her of his image...

("Naruto…") Karin stared at the yellow petals, which made her blush upon thinking of him.

…..

…..

Back in Ō-tafuku Town….

Naruto stared at an empty plate in front of his desk, while Jiraiya was on the other side of the restaurant, hitting it off with a few people in a drinking competition.

("It has been five restaurants….") Naruto took a salt bottle in his hand and shook it a bit out of boredom.

"Hey!"

"I just came across these two strange ones in black robes, man!"

"And man, they had this creepy vibe, especially this small and bulky dude who kept sliding across the ground."

Naruto heard a conversation from about two tables away.

He perked his ears up in attention, doing it entirely out of boredom as he grabbed the glass of water nearby his arm.

"Yeah!"

"I think I saw two just like them about four days ago near the wind nation ya!" The man said as he drained his drink.

"Oh yeah!"

"Just like he said, two dudes, one normal and one short, who dragged across the ground…"

"They. Both had straw hats, and both wore black robes with some symbol fluffy like clouds…"

"Oh Right, red clouds."

Naruto spat out all the water in shock on a person next to him.

("AKATSUKI!") Naruto got up in shock.

"HEY!"

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" The man nearby screamed, drowned in the water that Naruto had just spat out.

Naruto quickly grabbed some paper towels from Nearby and helped the man.

("Why are they here so fast?") Naruto thought.

….

….

Back in Ryūchi Cave…

The White Snake Sage looked at all the snakes in front of him.

"Let Me Go!"

"I'mma rip him to shreds," Manda shouted, ready to get into battle.

The White Snake Sage thought for a bit before his eyes landed on Aoda, who was coiled up in silence, right next to Manda.

"You Go!" The White Snake Sage said to Aoda.

Aoda lifted its head and bowed towards The White Snake Sage and then slithered its way towards the field.

Meanwhile, Sasuke waited patiently as he tried to restore some of his consumed chakra.

….

Soon, Aoda appeared as it slithered its way to the field and coiled up next to Sasuke.

The monitoring snake stood by the field as it activated the barrier and announced.

"The Second Trial - Combat against Giant Snake"

"BEGIN!!"