"I managed to speak with Indra." He finally said, once they were settled around a campfire.
Karin let out a gasp. "…For real?!"
"I… Think he intends to possess me. Or corrupt me. I don't know. He says it's inevitable. He might be right. I don't feel any of his chakra within me anymore. It could already be part of me. Or I could be part of him. I don't know."
"Naruto…" Karin said worriedly.
"This is bad." Anko said. "I think I'll need to speak with Sensei, then."
Naruto nodded. "Maybe he has some answers. He always seems to know a bit too much." He let out a small laugh.
Anko smiled. "By the way, did you-"
She disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"What…?" Naruto asked, in confusion. Had she been a clone?
Karin looked nervous. "I think she has been reverse-summoned."
"Find out if…? What the fuck is happening?" She gasped.
Anko had appeared at base camp. Flames ravaged through it. There were several dead people, too, she noticed, including Jūgo and Kazumi. She felt sadness and dread well up, but there would be no time for that.
Orochimaru was here, his left arm bleeding. She rushed to him.
"Keep your eyes on them, Anko!" He hissed, never looking at her.
She followed his gaze.
There were three men in nondescript black robes. Another was dead, lying at Orochimaru's feet.
"They're Akatsuki." He explained shortly. "They came for me. Nagato won't come by himself, then?" Orochimaru asked the last part loudly.
The man with the mask said nothing.
"Of course you won't say anything. He needs to keep his hands clean, at least on the surface." Orochimaru chuckled.
"I have had enough of your meddling, Snake." The man just said in answer. A fireball erupted from his mouth, and the man next to him used wind style to amplify it right away. The other one weaved a few hand seals, and the techniques seemed to combine into a reddish fire.
Despite its new color, the air around it seemed to shimmer.
Orochimaru gave a quick nod to Anko. They bit their thumb at the same time, before calling their technique together.
"Summoning: Triple Rashōmon!"
Three menacing gates appeared in between them and the flames.
They stood behind, as the fireball blew through the first and second gates, only stopping at the last. The heat was still scorching.
Orochimaru gave Anko a pained smile. "Sorry for bringing you into this, little Anko."
She gave him a bright smile, trying to look confident. "Isn't this what apprentices are for?"
He chuckled. "Maybe."
Orochimaru summoned the sword of Kusanagi, tossing it at Anko, who caught it before leaping to the air, still under the cover of the gates.
"Cover me a second, will you?" He asked.
She summoned Manda, who hissed at the world.
"Aaaaah." His tongue tasted the air. "You finally call me again… Orochimaru."
"I was the one who called you." Anko declared.
"…You? The disciple. How dare you?"
"I have a few worthy sacrifices for you."
"Three…? Three measly humans?!" He tasted the air again. "An Uchiha…? Hoshio… and Kisu, too."
"Will this be enough for you, Manda-sama?"
"Certainly not. Prepare sacrifices for the next time, wench."
"…It shall be done." She just wouldn't summon him again. How she hated dealing with the snake.
Manda chuckled, leaping mouth wide open towards the three Akatsuki, who had to leap away to dodge him. He dug into the mountain in the same move, twirling his gigantic body to come back from underground.
Tobi observed the gigantic snake.
There was nothing it could do to him, in truth, but the same thing could not be said for his allies. S-rank missing ninja were a rarity, and those whose loyalty could be either bought or subverted were even more of an oddity.
Which meant he would have to keep them from dying.
The snake sage was dangerous. The dead Yuki had been proof enough. His Ice bloodline did nothing to prevent Orochimaru's deadly poisons from suffocating him.
The snake was moving again, but Anko was gone. Tobi's sharingan saw the attack coming.
She appeared behind him in a whirl of motion, the sword of Kusanagi going right through his chest.
Actually going through, without causing any damage. Anko, unbalanced, fell forward in surprise.
He let her fall through him, smashing into her back with a chakra-enhanced kick.
'Ah, a last-minute replacement.'
The Anko in front of him melted into a dozen snakes. The real one appeared above him, releasing a Great Inferno. She looked pretty confident, he thought.
Tobi let himself stroll through the flames, unharmed.
More snakes erupted from the ground. They passed through him.
Now he saw through her. The reason she was so confident was because she was not trying to kill him.
She was stalling. But for what? His teammates were taking care of Orochima-
He was Kisu Akane flying… through a building.
Orochimaru followed her.
'Ah. This might be a problem.'
Tobi's eyes could easily see the scaly patterns on Orochimaru's face, as well as the two horns jutting from his head.
The Sage Mode enhanced Wind Jutsu that followed tore through the mountain.
Anko was upon him again, flowing through the motions of the Snake school. She was keeping him at a distance from which he couldn't grab her without exposing himself.
He realized that while she hadn't figured the exact limits of his ability, she knew he couldn't attack and defend at the same time, not at this range.
And she was making sure not to look him in the eye, of course.
Tobi sighed. Anko apparently had become strong since the academy.
She would be more than a match for either of his teammates, so it was a good thing that she was fighting him, instead.
But if he left Orochimaru alone with them, there was no guarantee they would survive. Manda was keeping them busy enough as it was, the Hoshio man could barely keep up.
He dropped a pair of explosive tags, fading his body through the explosion. Anko had to leap away.
The Fire Tracking Bomb jutsu he released after her forced her to shield herself.
He teleported behind Orochimaru, as he was about to deal a killing blow with a wind blade to the Kisu woman.
Being in Sage Mode, he felt him come and dodged the strike that would have taken his neck.
The Snake Sage didn't say a word. He released the Wind Blade at Tobi, forcing him to dematerialize. He then attacked with a Gentle Palm strike, the instant he had to release the Kamui.
Tobi dodged, and Orochimaru's hand missed his face by only an inch.
The wave of natural energy that smashed into his mask didn't.
'Guh'. He forgot about this part.
Orochimaru was already weaving the signs for a Partial Body Expansion technique, intending to smash Hoshio with his fist.
Tobi appeared there in a vortex, carrying him out.
In the meantime, Orochimaru had created four clones. Without more than a single seal each, they spat a combined wave of fire, wind and lightning at him.
The resulting combination was kept up for a while, forcing him to stay intangible for longer than he would prefer. It was eating through his chakra.
Further away, he could see Anko taking on Kisu… And gaining the upper hand.
Another Orochimaru he hadn't seen turned the floor under him to flammable mud. That was Jiraiya's technique, he recognized.
He had to allow himself to catch fire to use his teleportation technique.
"You are as much of a pest as ever." Tobi grunted, ripping away his burned cloak from his singed arm.
Orochimaru just gave him a dry smile. Anko appeared at his side.
Kisu and Hoshio were still good to go. He motioned to them to move on to their alternate formation.
First, he would have to get rid of the disciple, so that they could focus on Orochimaru, who was the real threat.
Kisu's Combination Bloodline should allow them to do this easily enough.
He folded his arms, and started talking, winning his allies a bit more time to catch their breath.
"You can't win against me, Orochimaru. None of your prized jutsu can reach me."
To his surprise and confusion…
Orochimaru's Sage Mode faded away.
"That is the truth, yes. Unfortunately, I wasn't trying to win." Orochimaru said. "The survivors escaped. We shall meet again."
He likely wouldn't have waited for them if he had been at a real risk, Tobi knew.
Tobi spoke. "You wretched-
Orochimaru chuckled, as he and Anko were reverse-summoned away.
Tobi cursed. They were back to square zero. They had known about Orochimaru's particular location for a month now, but it wasn't until the intrusion in Madara's former hideout that he had decided to do something about him.
Now he would have to find him again.
And the snake could be very elusive.
Orochimaru and Anko appeared in Ryūchi Cave.
He thanked the Summoner Snake.
This had been one of his contingency plans. Whenever he summoned one specific snake, before sending him back right away…
That was a signal to revere-summon him.
He had the same code in place with a different snake that stood for reverse-summoning him and Anko.
It definitely had come in handy.
Orochimaru allowed himself a quick thought for the people who had died. Then he moved on. Behind him, Anko let out a frustrated scream.
They had an apprentice to find.
"What should we do?" Karin asked, panicked.
Naruto thought hard.
"If Anko's been summoned, it must have been an emergency. Orochimaru-sama never does this if it's not important." Karin continued.
"Do we even know if it's Orochimaru? Couldn't it have been the snakes themselves?"
Karin paused to think. "Now that you mention it… Yeah. Yeah. It could have been."
"…Do you think we should go back to the camp?" He asked.
Karin was about to say this was the only logical answer, then stopped herself. "…I don't know. If Anko has been called for… an emergency, there's no way we're going to reach there in time."
He nodded. "That's what I think, too."
"Maybe we should wait in the mining village."
Naruto hesitated. "Yeah. Maybe that's our best option."
"I'll locate Sakura while we wait for them, then."
In the end, they waited three days at the inn, boredom mingling with worry.
Sakura came back drenched in blood. Karin invited her up to their room.
"Blood's not mine." She muttered, exhausted, when she saw their faces. "This guy's."
She pulled out a bloody bag, from which muffled sounds were coming.
Karin and Naru-… Indra shared a look.
"Open it." Sakura said, dark amusement in her tired eye.
Karin did and yelped when something tried to bite her finger.
"-ucking whore! Once I get out of here, I'm going to make you regret the day you decided to cross me."
"My, you're very talkative, aren't you…" Sakura smiled at…
The disembodied, talking head.
"What the fuck is that?" Naruto asked.
"That…" Sakura started proudly. "Is the head of the local cult I managed to locate. Name's Hidan. He's the biggest piece of shit I've never had the pleasure to kill."
"Wait, so he's immortal?" Naruto asked.
"Seems so." Sakura shrugged. "Or at least I didn't find a way to kill him for good. And believe me, I tried." She said with a wry grin.
Hidan was making a muffled sound, Sakura having shoved a bundle of dirty rags into his mouth.
Karin didn't seem to know what to think of the whole situation.
"…I really hope the room is soundproof. And this guy has a peculiar chakra." She said faintly.
"So now that you got this guy, the cult thing is over..?" Naruto asked.
"Well… It is over, yes. But there were plenty of wannabe immortals with him. I had to get rid of them."
Naruto winced.
"I wouldn't worry too much, Indra-san. Bunch of child killers, all of them. You don't want to hear about the things they did." She said, disgust evident in her voice.
"…I see."
Naruto paused.
"Sakura-san. Will you need his head to fulfill your contract?"
She answered cautiously. "…No. Why are you asking?"
"In this case, I have a big favor to ask."
Hidan screamed something through his gag.
After some deliberation, Sakura decided to remove it.
"Not Orochimaru! Don't give me to fucking Orochimaru!"
Sakura looked at him, then at Naruto. "…You know of Konoha's Snake Sage?"
"You know about Konoha's Snake Sage..?" Hidan mimicked a high-pitched voice. "Fuck yeah I know about Konoha's Snake Sage!" He actually looked worried. "Don't let this maniac touch me!"
"Oh, so you know he reaaally cares about finding a way to immortality…?" Karin asked, now amused.
"Look, I'll stop with the murders even bu-"
"He's lying." Karin said simply to the others. "I can feel his chakra flow.
"You fucking ugly red-haired s-"
Sakura put the gag back on, then she threw him in the bigger bag. "You convinced me."
"Thanks for the shower, Karin, Indra-san. I will stay in town for the two next days. If the Snake Sage doesn't come… I'll leave."
Something about being called Indra by Sakura didn't sit right with him, right now. Maybe it was because he was still very worried about his meeting with the man…
Or maybe it was because it was Sakura.
Karin knew what he was going to do before he did.
"I don't know if-"
"Sakura-san." She looked at him, gaze indifferent. "Are you planning on going back to Konoha?"
"It's where I was born." She saw his face deflate. "Doesn't mean much to me, besides that. My parents are there, and some friends, too. That's it. The village itself…"
She shrugged. Naruto hesitated.
"Good enough for me." he said.
"I am… Or rather, I was. I mean, my name..."
It had seemed easier in his head. Sakura stared at him, curious.
Karin looked at him, exasperated.
Sakura sighed. "Look, if it's a love confession…"
Karin laughed. "Nah. It's not. Give my …far-removed cousin some time, though."
Naruto glared at her. He sighed, looking back at Sakura again.
"I grew up in Konoha, as Sarutobi Naruto."
Sakura's face changed. Her fist smashed against the table, and her eye turned frosty.
"I don't know why Karin told you about him, but I really… really don't care for this joke. I'm leaving. Thank you again, but I don't think I'm going to wait for your master. Or give him anything, for that matter."
She stood up to leave.
"I was there on the mission where Kurenai died."
She paused, glare intensifying.
"…Did Karin tell you about this, too?"
Karin was just wincing at how this was going. She shook her head.
Naruto continued. "I was the one who summoned the gauntlet you're using in the first place."
He summoned his own Thunder Gauntlet as added proof. Sakura said nothing.
"Besides, Karin was not there. Only Sasuke and Toru saw it, and I don't think they ever said a word to anyone."
Sakura hesitated, unsure what to think… or feel.
"Do you remember how much time we spent on these dusty tomes the old man gave to me, pretending not to know I would just give them to you?"
"…Karin was not there, either. And I never told her that." Sakura's face was starting to show real doubt.
"Or that time at your mother's house where you told me-"
She turned bright red. "Okay! Okay! Stop! Stop! Please."
He smiled.
She looked at him. Really looked at him.
The face might be different. The hair and eye color might be wrong — and his hair was getting very long, too. The strange whiskers might be new.
But this smile…
Karin just nodded.
"Then… It is really… you?" Her eye quivered, and she actually sniffled. She reached to touch his face. "Why do you look so different?"
He laughed. "It's a long story. Let me tell you, then."
Something else came over her. Rage.
Sakura started poking his chest. Repeatedly. Hard.
"Ow, ow ow! Sakura-chan, please!"
"You… blond motherfucker! I even cried over you!"
She then fell into his hug, where she proceeded to cry again.
She mumbled, through tears. "Ino is going to kill you, when she learns about it, so I don't really feel the need to do it myself." Even then, she sounded as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
Naruto winced.
"…So that's what happened, then?"
"To sum it up, yes."
"Don't you think Toru and Sasuke should know, at least..? They took it pretty hard. Really hard."
He winced again. "They're too loyal to the Hokage. I can't tell them anything, at least right now, otherwise I'm going to get pulled back into the corps."
"Would that be so bad?" Sakura asked, but she knew the answer.
"Would you come back as a Konoha ninja?" Karin asked. "I wouldn't go back to Kusa."
She winced. Probably not. There were things she wanted to do that she couldn't as an enlisted Leaf ninja. Just like him, then.
"Point taken."
"It's been years, too. Same for Ino, they must have gotten over it, at this point."
She looked at him as though he were an idiot. Karin barked a laugh.
"…What?"
"How's everyone, by the way?" He asked.
"Maybe you should go and see for yourself. I haven't been there in a while, either." Sakura said, still a bit sour.
"Alriiight… Everybody keep your cool." Karin sighed.
"Ah, so you're still curious about that."
"I mean, I litterately made it in the first place, of course I'm curious." He joked.
"Could you have made it on your own?" She asked.
"Well… No."
"Then WE made it." She said dryly. "Don't take all the credit. You don't even know how to use it."
Naruto grumbled.
"It's easy enough. Mine works as a gateway, of sorts."
Sakura summoned her gauntlet. Now that he looked closer, the golden parts were blue on hers. She caught him staring.
"I guess it's related to your affinity. Mine's water."
Sakura tapped the floor, and a blue mark flashed for a second, before becoming almost entirely invisible.
She then stood up and tapped the wall. A burnt orange mark appeared, and then faded as well.
Sakura pushed her arm through the blue mark, and a rift opened.
Naruto jumped.
Sakura's arm was going through the floor, and coming out of the wall. She then put her entire head in it.
He could see the back of her head on the floor, and her face inside the wall.
Then she crawled out of it.
"And here you go. That's how it works."
"That's… Damn." Karin said.
"There's no distance limit, either." Sakura said, somewhat smugly. "If I have a portal in Suna, I could go through it and come out in Kumo."
"…Only if you had put the portals there previously, right?" Naruto asked.
"…Yeah. I do have to put them by hand." She admitted.
"Is there a limit on how many you can use?"
"…Only two at the same time." Sakura grumbled.
"Do you need to use the gauntlet?"
"I don't need to get it out fully, no. But it seems like the gauntlet is always here, waiting to be summoned, anyway."
"Ah. I see. Thank you, Sakura-chan. This really helps me out." He shot her a bright smile.
She seemed a bit flustered. "Yeah, no worries."
He tried it out. Failed.
Then sighed. "Nah, mine doesn't work like this at all."
"Maybe it's the reverse?" Sakura asked.
"Guys." Karin said.
"…Isn't the reverse of a portal still a portal?"
She pouted. "I'm trying to help!"
"Guys." Karin said, louder. "Orochimaru-sama and Anko are less than twenty kilometers away from here."
Orochimaru made a few seals, summoning a few privacy jutsu. Then he applied the same over the muffled Hidan, once he got some clarity about what he was.
It was very interesting, but he had no time for it right away. He'd need a safe place to take him apart.
Anko let herself fall on the couch with a long-suffering sigh.
The man spoke, tone serious. "We arrived here from Ryūchi Cave. We will need a new hideout."
"What..? Why?" Karin asked.
Anko answered, staring blankly at the ceiling. "Akatsuki attacked. It's on me, they must have linked our intrusion in the Graveyard to Sensei."
"What?!" Naruto asked. Sakura stayed silent, having no idea what they were talking about.
"Several people died. Jūgo, among those you know." Orochimaru said bluntly.
"Wha…? Jūgo is… dead?"
He had known the gentle giant for what seemed like a while, now. To hear he was just gone… like this.
Orochimaru continued, his tone clipped. "Yes. Most people there at the time managed to escape. I don't know where. We will need to find them and regroup. I won't dare go back to Mukage, it's probably being watched, if loosely. Better to let the survivors see for themselves what happened and find them later."
Anko, Naruto and Karin nodded at the same time, Sakura noted with some very light amusement.
"These Akatsuki bastards…" Karin grunted out.
"We should make them pay." Naruto said, voice hard. Sakura lifted an eyebrow. He was not one for vengeance, usually. Or at least, had not been, years ago.
Orochimaru sighed. "It's not that easy. Even if I were to tell the Hokage about it… They left no real evidence that they are linked to Rain. Konoha can't storm their village just like this."
"…What if I just told Konoha everything? Including who I am."
"Same problem. Rain is allied to Mist and Stone. Suna is likely negotiating something with them too. It would likely degenerate into a full-on war. Even if we could prove our motives afterwards… I don't think it would slow the war machine down, by then."
Naruto clenched his fist. "What can we do, then…?!"
Orochimaru stared at him, thinking.
"There's only one workable way."
"Tell me."
"Build an independent army strong enough to oppose both Rain… and the rest of the world if needed."
"What…?"
"I will help you, of course. At this point, I know Nagato will never leave me alone."
"What are you suggesting?"
"Isn't it obvious? …A bigger base. A new village."