Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Dancing Kitsune ❯ The secret of the Maiden ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: WAHAHAHAH! I own nothing!!!!! Noting this, my brain decided to go on holiday for a while… thus the gap in when I put up my chapters. Wahahahahahahah!

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Shikamaru stood in front of the main archive building with a look of utter distress on his face.

There were fires burning all over the village, set from the villagers who had not been lucky enough to avoid the transformation. These creatures were disfigured and mutated into things of total horror; some had heads of lions and the bodies of other animal crossovers. The main ones floating about in the air were half cross breeds of some form of eagle, with white tufts of some sort of strange fur all over their faces and bodies.

They had been ambushed just outside the entrance to the hot springs by a pack of demons and it had only been blind luck that Shikamaru had been drafted to get to the archives to retrieve the information while the others fought against the warped and twisted town folk.

He drew in a deep breath and crossed his fingers, hoping against hope that the myth had remained unharmed.

Quickly, he threw open the ancient and battered wooden doors of the Archive building, and withdrew inside to the cloistered area. There was no sound either inside or outside, he noted; he crept silent as the grave down the hall, which was clogged with debris of books and the ceiling tiles that had been smashed off when the creatures had first begun their rampage.

He traced a line of sunlight tearing its way through the hall like acid through lined paper.

He shivered at the silence, aware sadly that the area had already been breached from above by some unknown being.

He saw the shredded circular hole on the ceiling and ducked low under a overturned desk to avoid a shadow which fell haphazardly on the ground where he had been standing.

Shikamaru could hear it sniffling around; he could smell its overwhelming stench of wet fur and death mingling with the sent of fire and ash from outside. Panicked, he willed up as much courage as he could and used his chakra to create a jutsu he had only just recently created.

It was a version of his shadow imitation, only this specific Jutsu acted as a sort of time bomb, exploding when the enemy stepped on it, capturing the prey one its own for a good twenty minutes in a paralysed state of nothingness.

He tossed the Jutsu out from behind the desk and heard a startled squawk issued from his stalker; then, he peeked out over the end of the table and beheld a large yellow furred creature with startling reptilian arms and legs. It's moth grey tail was stuck in mid swing, leaving the creature poised for action but unable to complete its mission. He recognized a forehead protector tied loosely around its leg and realized that it was Ino, transformed into a hideous beast just like the rest of the town. He gulped and shook his head.

" Oi… this is really troublesome now… if our friends are monsters… we might have to kill them to save the rest of them…" he murmured, not drawing the attention of the former ninja. All that moved were Ino's eyes; from them he sensed a great overwhelming desire to kill and maim, and Shikamaru quickly set up another of his traps beside the creature in the next place it would move. He ducked around the creature and found the main door to the historical archives undamaged and untested. He noted the weathered lock hanging from its mahogany front and scowled, knowing that he would have to break it in order to get in.

Grumbling to himself, he pulled out a kunai and slammed it into the lock's middle, snapping it in half. It fell to the splinter riddled floor with a metallic clunk.

Shaking his head, Shikamaru pushed open the door and slipped inside, closing the door behind him with a soft squeak.

" Now all I have to do is find the damned legend…." He growled, scratching his head.

He cast a tired look at the thousands and thousands of volumes of history surrounding him in large sturdy bookshelves.

If there were so many books, how would he be sure to figure out which one contained the legend of the Maiden of the Sand? He racked his brain with frantic yet lazy precision.

" Ok… lets think about it logically…. Where would the Third Hokage but the legend of a hidden sand maiden?"

He slumped his shoulders in defeat.

" This is impossible! I can't locate a book in less then forty minutes!" He stomped one foot in anger and nearly brained himself when a large scroll fell off a ceiling beam from above.

He stooped and picked it up, eyes widening in amazement at his luck.

The scroll was a reference chart that held the location of every book and piece of history in the archives.

He grinned, flipping it to the back to the `M' section.

What he found scared him.

There were almost seven thousand references to the Maiden of the Sand Myth. It would be impossible to locate the entire section without loosing parts to time.

He shot over to the first area where a book was located and pulled it from the shelf, cracking it open.

Nothing important, he thought, tossing it aside.

He grabbed the next book and flipped through it, finding nothing else.

" What the hell kind of system is this?" he grumbled, shaking his head.

" They make you waste so much time looking for one subject that it's impossible to find anything important." He said.

" How troublesome. I suppose I'll have to enlist some help in order to check out more of the books." He touched it with one hand and replicated the book ten times, then replicated himself. He handed out the copies of the book and told them all the page number.

" This might take a while, but I'll find it. I'll find the damned myth if it kills me."

His replications nodded in agreement, heading off to work before saying loudly: " this is so troublesome."

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Kakashi struck down his fifteenth creature with a kunai, knocking the startled beast to the ground. He gave a quick count of his comrades and noticed that none had been hurt.

Iruka was busy slashing a large half cat, lizard beast with a shuriken; the demons scattered like sand in the wind, dancing just outside the reach of the weapon with looks of blood red hatred stitched callously across their carved faces.

Sasuke beat a monster off of Sakura, who squacked in repulsion as one of the other attackers snapped at her with its long slime covered beak.

She hurled a Kunai at the creature, spearing it between the eyes and found herself suddenly smashed bodily into the ground as an unseen foe hit her. Sasuke whirled, trying to pinpoint the creature with his Sharingan, but found that there was nothing to pinpoint.

Whatever it was invisible to the eyes.

He kicked out at nothingness, trying to locate the attacker and felt hot breath on the back of his neck. He turned just in time to be pinned on his back to the ground by a large dog-like half bird, which snapped in his face before moving to take out his eyes.

Kiba tackled it with a snarl and rolled backwards and began to bite and scratch it with all of his might-

Sasuke scrambled up and was grabbed bodily by a giant half bug person with large shimmering insect wings; he instantly recognized it to be Shino.

" Oi, Uchiha. You nearly stepped on one of my bugs." Shino growled; he was wearing a black turtleneck and baggy beige pants. His sunglasses were perched on his nose, dark vortexes, and he flittered his wings once in annoyance.

Sasuke glowered and pulled free, jumping over another attacking foe.

" Well, you should keep them inside if you don't want them to be stepped on." He snapped.

Shino shrugged, sending a wave of Chakra consuming bugs towards a fiend that was instantly enveloped in the swarming creatures.

" It's not my business if you're clumsy enough to step on a bug. Even Naruto didn't ever almost step on one of my bugs…" The bug ninja said calmly.

Kakashi clucked his tongue and waved a finger at the pair while dismissing another foe.

" don't start fighting eachother you two. I can only deal with so many squabbling villagers at one time."

" Squabbling villagers?" Sasuke frowned.

" What do you mean by that?"

Kakashi fell silent and dodged a flying half monkey creature.

Sasuke turned to Iruka, angry at being ignored.

" What did he mean Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka sighed and kicked another monster away.

" They're slowly dropping numbers - and it means, Sasuke-kun, that these things attacking us are the villagers."

Sakura jumped backwards and bumped into Rock Lee, who looked at her with reverence.

" They are the villagers - that means if we kill them, we're killing the villagers of our own village! We can't - " she shouted, feathers ruffling.

Kakashi shook his head sadly.

" Unfortunately Sakura-chan, there is no other way for our lives to remain in our hands. These are no longer the villagers we know; these are monsters used only for one purpose and that is to kill us or die trying."

Sasuke shook his head, spitting on the ground.

" It's sick… but it must be done… its for the greater good." He said, voice of gravel.

Sakura stared at him in astonishment.

" your kidding me Sasuke-kun! We can't just kill them! They're our families - their our friends and loved ones. We can't just sacrifice their lives in order to save our own!" she shouted, eyes welling up with tears.

Rock patted her shoulder and nodded sternly at Sasuke.

" Sakura-chan is right. We can't just kill them - "

" Lee, don't you understand anything?" Neiji snapped, nose twitching.

" if we want to save the rest of the world… we can't let them live. If we delay on slaying them, it will only lead to more disaster on our parts! Would you rather them be killed by the King of monsters? Would you rather see them die at the hands of one who would consume their flesh for its own pleasure? If we kill them, we are doing them a favour. We are ending their pain and we are freeing them from their humiliation."

Sakura shook her head in distress.

" NO! I can't! What if it's my mother - what if it's one of my friends - what if it's Naruto? I don't have the kind of strength to just ignore the truth. They are human, even if they don't look it." she shouted.

" then by all means little feathered one…" another voice said from up above.

Sasuke looked up at the sky, seeing a figure illuminated against the blue and white horizon like an angel of myth. It had the face of one with perfection and beauty; one that knew it was perfection and beauty. It's long blue black hair was tied back with a blue head protector, and its eyes were the blazing red of the Sharingan. It wore a cloak of black and a skirt-like kilt around its waist.

The creature smirked, looking down at its prey.

" you can die just like the fools you are so reluctant to kill."

With one movement of its hand, it sent a long spine of bone cascading down to the ground. It struck Sakura through the base of her neck, piercing her through the windpipe.

She clutched frantically at the long and thick spike, blood gurgling down her chest in a river of crimson.

" SAKURA!" Sasuke moved forward to help his friend, but it was too late.

Sakura fell to her knees and lay on the ground, dead.

Rock Lee began to scream in agony, as if he himself had been transfixed with the mortal wound.

He knelt at Sakura's side, eyes wide, tears streaming down his face in rivers of crimson.

The female ninja's blood began to soak the ground, spreading across the soft soil like oil over water; Sakura's eyes stared with blank interest at the sky above her, the only sign that she had ever been alive.

Sasuke fell to his knees as a whirl of despair flooded his heart and soul.

" Sakura… no! now I've lost both of them… Naruto… I …" he began to cry, punching the ground.

Kakashi shook his head sadly at Sakura's body; the Jounin looked up at the creature, pulling his forehead protector up to his hairline.

His Sharingan eye began to swirl viciously, a wheel of vengance.

" You are dead." He said loudly, launching himself into the air.

" Ha." The creature scoffed.

With one swipe, it knocked Kakashi back to the ground.

" You don't really think that you can possibly stop me, do you?"

Iruka glared hatefully up at the creature, motioning for the remaining ninja's to move toward him.

The did so, and the monsters around them began to snap and hiss at them; they circled around like buzzards, eyeing Sakura's body as if it were prime roast.

Sasuke looked up, Sharingan eyes taking hold.

" who are you?"

The creature laughed hysterically, shaking from enjoyment.

" Really… little brother… you crack me up." It said, shaking one finger at Sasuke.

" Itachi!" Sasuke snarled, standing up to strike out at his brother when Kakashi grabbed him and pulled the startled and grief stricken teen behind him.

" now is not the time to pick a fight with Itachi, Sasuke. He's more powerful then any foe we have ever fought… even Orochimaru pales in comparison… it would be best to make an escape." The Jounin said calmly; it was clear that he was upset about Sakura's death as much as the rest. Unfortunately, it was also clear that there would be no way to take Sakura's body with them when they went. They couldn't have anything slowing them down.

Rock Lee seemed to know this, and he abandoned his love's body; he stalked back over to Kakashi and stood alongside the group of fellow ninja's.

" We will seek revenge for Sakura's death when we are strong enough to fight him… We will kill him." He said severely.

Iruka nodded, pushing the ninja closer to Kakashi.

" Kakashi… take them. I will hold them off as best I can." He said grimly.

Kakashi shook his head.

" We will not leave you Iruka. It's pointless to leave you behind - we need everyone we can get if we want to even stand a slim chance against the king of monsters…"

Iruka hung his head, lips shaking.

" he killed Sakura Kakashi… without even a care… What can we do if we couldn't even stop him from killing Sakura?"

Kakashi shrugged.

" We can do only one thing. We have to retreat and live another day… we must escape." He put his hands to his face and preformed the seals for shadow replication and instantly there were thousands of Kakashi's.

Each one transformed into one of the members of the party with ease; in an instant, they began to scatter, making a break for the forest.

" Let them go…" Itachi said loudly as the many replications and the group vanished into the forest.

" You have meat for now… I want to see what these fools think they can accomplish… bedsides," he flipped his hair with a laugh.

The monsters moved forward and seized Sakura's body, tearing it apart until there was nothing left but scraps of clothing.

" They're all moving as planned…"

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Shikamaru hugged a large black scroll to his chest as if it were his heart itself.

It had taken him thirty minutes to locate the volume he needed, leaving ten minutes to spare for him to make his escape down the sewers of the village.

The landscape desired something of actual beauty, he thought; all that could be seen was the sludge and grime of the sewer system. He heard the faint scratching noises of rats somewhere further on down the way and cringed.

Shikamaru had never liked rats.

Sure, he could see them and not run away or anything, but if someone weren't around and he was all by himself… well, that was a different story all together. He didn't like their beady little eyes or their hairless slimy tails. Their little creepy teeth and their pointy toenails didn't appeal to him much either…

He shivered and moved on, hoping against hope that he wouldn't come across any rats on his way to the meeting place Kakashi had designated for him.

He slipped on a wet patch of grime, nearly knocking himself into the river of sewage floating down the middle of the sewer. He gulped, wiping the sweat off his brow.

Sewers…

He reminded himself to never travel by one again.

Grumbling silently to himself, he continued on with his journey, bypassing a bag of garbage that was laying in the middle of the path.

He cast a forlorn look forwards; he wished that the ending would come up faster. He didn't like having to be in such a smelly, dreary stink hole for so long.

He took a deep breath by accident and nearly keeled over from the noxious fumes.

Note to self, he thought. Do not breath deeply in a sewer.

He suppressed a gag when he saw a bloated body of a rat float by down the disgusting river of waste.

Why did the sewer system have to be so damned filthy!?

Shikamaru scowled and turned down around another corner, coming face to face with a dead end.

" ARG!" He grumbled, shaking his head.

" It's impossible to navigate this damned sewer system… I should have taken more time in school to study the plans of the village instead of doing the work they told me to do… This is too troublesome…"

he scratched his head and turned back around, noticing that he had missed his turn off as it had been blocked with a wall of slime and ooze.

He stared at the pulsating wall of goo and shook his head, plugging his nose.

He had never liked slime, but there was no way to get around the goo without getting hit. One could turn themselves into an object, but they would undoubtedly get covered in the sludge anyways.

He took a deep breath and ran thought.

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Orochimaru pulled Naruto up onto his shoulders and steadied the boy with one hand; he pulled himself up the Cliffside he had led them to and motioned for Gaara to follow him.

This cliff was the home to Orochimaru's hidden safe house; a place shut off from the outside world by its steep and hazardous cliff sides and it's almost impossible to see location. The cliff was located on the side of a mountain just inside the hidden Waterfall village.

The hidden Waterfall Village was rather unknown to the Shinobi of the hidden leaf village, thus making it perfect for hiding near. Orochimaru had taken years to build up his hideout into a perfect place of seclusion; no one had ever made it out of the place alive.

Gaara was uneasy about the entire trip.

It had taken them a very short amount of time to reach the hidden Waterfall village.

Orochimaru had claimed that he had set up a way to travel easier to his home because of his necessity to stay out of the view of the other leaders of the hidden village of his previous encounters. It didn't make Gaara feel too safe. If Orochimaru had organized a place to hide in, it ment that something bad had been thought to happen.

Orochimaru was therefore worried about not being able to fight against something; this of course, ment that the king of monsters was out of Orochimaru's league.

Orochimaru didn't seem to care too much what Gaara thought about him. He had simply led them to the floor of the cavernous cliffs, showing them the way up to the large cave at the top.

He had been a tad mysterious on the journey - every few minutes while they had been traveling, he had been looking behind him as if watching for something. It made tensions high and unnecessarily dangerous.

After a few minutes of intense climbing, Orochimaru led the pair to a small rock face with a grooved slot in it.

Orochimaru pulled a key out from his pants pocket and slipped it in the slot. In the blink of an eye, the rock face shot up and into the upper lip of the cliff; it revealed a wallowing black pit of emptiness, something that Naruto was against entering.

The small blond began to cry, shaking intensely on Orochimaru's shoulder. His small fox ears were folded down against his head as tears streamed down his cheeks.

" I DON'T WANT TO GO IN THERE!" The toddler shrieked.

Gaara reached up and plucked Naruto from Orochimaru's shoulder, holding the boy protectively against his chest.

" don't worry Naruto-kun. No I won't let anyone hurt you… it's just dark. Nothing to worry about." Gaara murmured softly to the shaking youth.

Orochimaru turned and smiled, running his fingers through his hair.

" Really? You believe that you can protect the little one from pain and hurt? That's a rather egotistical hope, don't you think?" The sound ninja chuckled in amusement. He stalked forward into the darkness with hands raised up above his head, laughing.

Gaara frowned and turned slightly as to see the surroundings with clearer precision.

He didn't trust the area…

It didn't seem to be hospitable…

Even for his standards.

He took a tentative sniff of the air, cat ears cocked to the side as he listened for foreign sounds.

Nothing seemed to be out of the usual and there didn't appear to be any flaws in the normal patterns of movement around them; Gaara sighed and reluctantly stepped inside the darkness after Orochimaru.

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Sasuke sat in the mouth of the sewer system along with the rest who had escaped their brief confrontation with the monsters of hidden leaf village.

He was leaning against the wall that was the least covered in goo and slime, contemplating what had occurred.

The others were huddled together in a group away from him; they seemed distraught and panicked. Some were crying and some were shaking. Rock Lee was crying softly into his hands being supported emotionally by Neiji and Iruka. Both were trying desperately to keep the boy from breaking down any further then he already was; they patted him on the shoulder and murmured to him words of encouragement.

Unfortunately, nothing seemed to keep Rock from crying.

Kakashi was mourning the loss of Sakura as well; he was leaning against the wall beside Kiba and Hinata with a look of mild depression splashed across his face. It was as if he had been killed himself; yet it seemed like he was unable to cry.

Sasuke shook his head and walled himself up further into his mind.

His brother had done it again.

Itachi had taken away someone close to him without even being stopped…

He hadn't even been able to get in the way of his brother's plans…

It was just like before…

When Itachi had killed the entire Uchiha clan, Sasuke had been unable to do anything other then stand idly by without a way to combat the horrors being inflicted upon his family.

He banged his fist against the wall and shook his head, unable to cast out the thoughts of Itachi's previous exploits.

Itachi had made it perfectly clear that he wanted to torment his brother with the pain of becoming an avenger. That was the one reason he had left Sasuke alive, and it had taken years for Sasuke to realize what it ment to be so filled with bitterness and hate…

So much negative emotions dwelled inside the Uchiha that if one were to dive in, they would surely be thrown into utter depression.

Sasuke let out a breath and sucked in a mouthful of the stagnant and putrid substance that was floating like toxic waste that was the air.

He wanted Naruto now more then ever.

He wanted to see the energetic blond trying to deal with the loss of Sakura along with the rest of the group…

Mostly, Sasuke wanted to be held.

He wanted Naruto to be there…

He needed Naruto's presence and constant joy.

Sasuke clenched his fist.

Naruto couldn't be dead.

He just couldn't.

There was no way that the blond would allow himself to be sucked down into the sweet embrace of death so soon; at least he hoped not.

Naruto was the only thing that could crack the emotional barrier that Sasuke had placed around himself.

At first, Sasuke had resented the fact. He hadn't wanted to have Naruto constantly on his mind every hour of the day, and it had made him nearly insane for a few years.

But now…

Now everything was different.

Sometimes, Sasuke couldn't wait for his next chance to see Naruto.

Once, he remembered fondly, he had sat up all night just to make sure Naruto had been alright when the blond had caught the flu.

It hadn't occurred to Sasuke how much his friend's ment to him until one was dead and the other presumed so. He didn't know how much it would hurt to be away from them.

He would become their avengers… he would avenge Sakura… and Naruto if necessary.

He caught Kakashi's eye and looked away, face consorted in rage.

He wouldn't allow his teacher to draw him out of his emotions and choices this time.

Crossing his arms, Sasuke walked off; leaving his companions to their grieving.

He slipped into the nearest passage and soon found himself within inches of a rather tired and harassed Shikamaru who was covered from head to foot with slime of some unknown creature's making.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the Chunnin.

" did you find it?" he asked.

Shikamaru frowned, noting the strange look that was harboured deeply in Sasuke's eyes.

The teen nodded and started to slip past him when Sasuke spoke again.

" Sakura's dead."

Shikamaru shook his head unhappily and clutched his mission's work to his chest.

" I knew something bad like this would happen… girls are so troublesome…"

Sasuke moved in an instant and punched the slime-covered ninja in the face, knocking the startled Shikamaru into the far wall with a crack. Coughing weakly, Shikamaru pulled himself free from the rock face.

" You didn't have to hurt me you know? I understand you're upset and all - but this entire mess is the fault of the myth. The Maiden of the sand's powers allow a person to give up their life force in order to revive the hidden village of sand - but for a price. The moment one goes through with this transformation, the person is turned into a little child and this little child is a walking portal for time travel and seal breaking. It's the presence of this person that keeps the king of monsters in this world… See? That damned woman cursed her village and the poor sucker who released her powers."

Sasuke frowned; he continued to glare at Shikamaru, but lowered the intensity of the look a little.

" and how do we release the king of monsters from this plane of existence?" he asked in a hiss.

Shikamaru sighed and shook his head sadly.

" The person involved has to die. We have to find and locate this person's whereabouts and then we've got to behead them. It's the only way for the seal to be returned to normal."

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Gaara was surprised by the insides of Orochimaru's hidden lair.

It had indoor plumbing, central air conditioning and heating as well as every luxury permitted to mankind.

Orochimaru seemed to have decorated himself, for the entire place was filled with pictures of snakes and half naked men. Gaara didn't think it was right for a little kid to see and would have pointed it out but Orochimaru seemed not one bit interested in listening to what Gaara had to say. The sound ninja didn't seem to want to get involved in anything while he was searching, thought for what, Gaara had no clue.

Naruto was hugging Gaara's knee for dear life, though clearly amused by the entire place as only a small child could be. He sat down on Gaara's foot and wrapped his legs around the sand ninja's leg. He grinned up at Gaara and hugged the captured limb.

Sighing in defeat, Gaara began to shadow their reluctant partner.

Orochimaru began to rummage around on a table piled high with papers and notebooks. He knocked a few old looking scrolls to the ground and continued his mess making without even looking at what he had knocked over, murmuring softly to himself as he went.

It was clear that he was looking for something in a book, for he kept flipping open the books and turning them upside down to hang them upside down by their spine in an attempt to find something that might have been stuffed inside the book beforehand.

Unfortunately, he didn't find what he wanted and threw the book across the room, nearly taking off the head of a stone snake that was leaning against the wall.

" What are you doing?" Gaara asked coldly; he shuffled over to Orochimaru and glared at the adult with a look of complete dislike in his expression.

Orochimaru smiled saucily at him.

" I'm looking for the scroll I stole from the archives of the hidden village of sand and the papers I pilfered from the hidden village leaf village. They are very important to me - make yourself useful and look for them, will you? If we find them, I will be able to answer more questions for you about the king of monsters… I luckily planned ahead and kept the documents that Itachi and I found and gave him the second copies without much thought… I don't think he even cares about it anyways… that little brat probably didn't even read them."

Gaara shrugged and reached out, knocking over a pile of paper.

" and what do these scrolls and papers look like? Unless you'd like me to just destroy the whole damned lot by mistake." The sand ninja growled.

He pried Naruto off his foot and turned the boy around; he motioned for Naruto to go off and sit somewhere and the little boy complied.

Orochimaru sighed and rolled his eyes.

" they should be easy enough to locate, seeing as they are white and stained with blood. The papers of course are tucked into a book I was reading before…"

Naruto peeked out from behind Orochimaru's legs and held up a dog-eared copy of Icha Icha paradise.

" Ne! Oro-kun. Is this it?"

Orochimaru grinned suddenly, falling to his knees. He plucked Naruto up from the ground and took the book from the boys hands.

" Why yes. This is it. Wonderful Naruto-kun… where did you find this? I've been looking for it for ages."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Orochimaru and smushed himself against the adults chest, yawning.

" I found it stuffed under a couch cushion."

Orochimaru looked proudly at the boy and stood up; he carried the little one over to the couch and pulled a large flower covered blanket from the floor where it had been discarded.

" you, little one, need sleep."

He wrapped Naruto up in a cocoon of cotton and patted the boy on the head before depositing the boy on the couch.

Naruto frowned at Orochimaru, squirming in the blanket like a captured fish in a net.

" I don't want to!"

Gaara took advantage of Orochimaru's small diversion and rummaged around further in the pile, spotting a blood soaked scroll nestled underneath an opened magazine.

Vague curiosity overtook Gaara, and he looked at the opened book.

" Porn? You leave Porn lying around?" He asked, shaking his head.

Orochimaru looked scandalized.

He swept back over to the desk and yanked the magazine out of the youth's hand.

" So what? I didn't think anyone else would ever be coming here anyways." He growled.

In one move, Orochimaru tossed the magazine up onto the top of a nearby shelf.

" Ah!" He reached out and picked up the newly revealed scroll.

" Excellent. Now, there is no way for Itachi to defeat us…"

He waved a hand at Gaara in annoyance.

" Now go sit down with you little friend. I have to finish reading this… unless of course, you'd prefer me to just stare at it?"

It was two am by the time Orochimaru finished reading the scroll and the pages he had retrieved from the battered copy of Icha Icha paradise.

It was needless to say that he did not like what he read.

In fact, he didn't like it so much that he decided to take the entire thing into his own hands. He grabbed a key from inside his desk and looked around carefully; he spotted Gaara snoring peacefully on the couch beside the sleeping Naruto and smiled slyly.

" Now… to visit my personal library… to find a seal."

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T.B.C