Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and not me. However, I do own a few characters! Namely: Yominokuni Mikomi, Yominokuni Kitoushi, and Yominokuni Shizuka. Yes!

A Note from Katana Haibane: I’m going to be keeping the technique ‘Raikiri’ in Japanese as I like that name a little more than ‘Lightning Edge,’ plus it is a very common technique in terms of the number of people who know of it.

Chapter 3: The Gears Begin to Turn

Orochimaru’s Headquarters – 6 Months Later

Sasuke was more than a little pissed of with Orochimaru. He had been training Yominokuni Mikomi for 7 and a half months now and still Orochimaru didn’t think that she was strong enough. Sasuke had remembered how hard he had pushed Mikomi. Over and over again he had pushed that girl to the brink of chakra depletion in the course of learning his techniques and had increased her strength 100 fold compared to her abilities when they had first met. And Orochimaru wasn’t satisfied yet. Sure Orochimaru was still teaching him techniques, and he had become far stronger than before, but he still was denied a Kusanagi of his own. ‘I’ll work Mikomi-chan to the brink of death every time if I have to! I want that sword and the power it will give me!’ He stopped short when he realized what he had just thought. Sasuke gave his head a shake, ‘Dammit I’m getting to close to that girl. I don’t know why or how but I will crush any feelings for her as a friend. I will use her to get the power of a Kusanagi sword and I will shape her into the ultimate opponent to further my power.’

Sasuke snapped his arm out in front of a Sound Jounin that had been coming down the hall towards him and stopped him cold. Sasuke took satisfaction at the look of utter terror that crossed the man’s face, “You. Have you seen Yominokuni Mikomi around her anywhere?”

The Sound Jounin swallowed visibly as he looked down into Sasuke’s cold stare. With a shaking hand he pointed down the hall he had just come from, “Su-sure. Mikomi-chan is just d-down the hall in the m-mess h-hall Sasuke-sama.” Sasuke scowled and stalked off down the hall as the Jounin collapsed on the ground in a nervous wreck. The Jounin remembered what had happened to the last person that had disappointed Sasuke. He had watched as Sasuke had ripped the arms clean off of a Chuunin that was at least twice his size. The Jounin shuddered, knowing he had gotten lucky that Sasuke had found his answer acceptable. Getting unsteadily to his feet the Jounin began to head down the hallway to the indoor training area as fast as his wobbly legs would carry him.

//////////////////////////////

These last few months had been the best in Mikomi’s life since she had been captured by the Sound. Almost everyone in the Sound, especially other Nin, still treated her as nothing more than an object to be used as they please. But she had found the time to make friends in this friendless place. Kishi from ‘Kishi’s Nin apparel and Supplies’ was a close friend whom she talked to a lot on her spare time. She wasn’t as cold as many of the other people in the village were, and the Village Hidden in Sound certainly was tense, but still prosperous village. Kishi had almost taken on the roll of a mother in Mikomi’s life, having been able to tell her about everything that had happened to her. While Kishi couldn’t do anything to help her out, Mikomi was grateful for the shoulder to cry on and release her built up frustration. It didn’t help much, but it was something.

Mikomi also remembered how she had made friends with the cooks that Orochimaru had housed in his complex. It had happened the week she had come back from Rice Lake with Sasuke: Mikomi had been standing in line with a lunch tray, eager to get her usual everything when one of the recent additions to elite the Genin had grabbed one of the cooks by the throat for not addressing him and the other special ninjas present with enough respect. Already having a rather bad day after Kabuto had done an embarrassing physical examination on her, seeing another person acting like Sadisuto sent her into a fit of rage.

Without thinking Mikomi had dashed forward and hammered an uppercut into the elbow of the arm the heavily muscled Genin was using to strangle the cook snapping it clean in half. The Genin had screamed in pain and had tried to take her head off with his uninjured right arm. Being used to sparring with Sasuke, it felt like he was moving in slow motion. For once in her life Mikomi was glad for her height – she was only slightly shorter than the arrogant Genin. Mikomi duplicated what the Genin had done to the cook and picked him up with her left hand by the throat. Before he could attack again she had dislocated his right shoulder and thrown him across the mess hall. The attack had lasted only a few seconds but the damage done had left an impact.

The other ninjas had treated her like garbage before, pushing her around to the threat of violence or simply treating her as an object. After Mikomi had destroyed the elite Genin so easily no one had bothered her after that.

The cook that she had helped – named Momiji – had thanked her profusely for helping her out. All the other cooks were rather impressed and happy that someone didn’t think that they were above them as the Sound Ninja tended to push them around a lot. Sometimes just for the fun of it. Mikomi had talked regularly with Momiji since then, and even acted as a pseudo-guard for the mess hall servers whenever she went in to eat. There still was quite a number of rather ignorant – or perhaps just plain stupid – Nins who decided that it would be fun to give the cooks a hard time and Mikomi had come to Momiji and the other cook’s defense every time. The few times that she did have to attack the Nins who didn’t back down she discovered, that in terms of taijutsu, she was miles above everyone else. She was strong and hadn’t even known it.

Mikomi slid her tray down the line of servers chatting with several of them. As she neared the end she heard Momiji calling from the kitchen entrance at the end of the serving line, “Hey, Mikomi. Bring that massive tray of yours down here.” Grabbing the last of what was being served for lunch today, Mikomi headed for Momiji. Grinning Momiji took a plate he had been hiding on a counter inside the door and held it out for Mikomi, “A little present for helping us cooks out so much this past while.”

Mikomi’s eyes nearly popped out of her head, and she began to drool all over her own tray. In Momiji’s hands was a plate that was piled high with dango. Sweet, sugary, oh so good dango! Dashing to the nearest table Mikomi set down her food and came back to collect her sweets, “Ohmygod, thank-you!” Mikomi said in a rush as she picked up one of the sticks of dango and ate all three pieces in one bite. “Mmmmmmmmmm,” was all that came out of Mikomi for a full minute.

Laughing, Momiji said one last thing before turning to head back into the kitchen, “I’ve arrange for the cooks and myself to get the supplies to cook you up a batch of dango each week.”

Tears nearly leaked out of Mikomi’s eyes at hearing this. Smiling, she turned around and headed back to her seat.

//////////////////////////////

The door to the Mess Hall burst open to reveal a rather pissed of Uchiha Sasuke. Glancing around, he was able to see familiar purply-black hair near the end of the serving line. Sasuke quickly weaved his way through the other ninja and tables heading for that direction.

Mikomi tensed up when she felt an angry Sasuke coming up from behind her. Continuing to eat her dango, Mikomi waited for what she was sure was going to be a rather unpleasant encounter.

“Get up,” Sasuke growled as he grabbed Mikomi underneath the arm and yanked her to her feet. Mikomi instinctively tried to pull away before Sasuke tightened his iron grip on her arm. “Looks like I’m gonna have to step up your training if I want to get much more from Orochimaru any time soon. Come on, move it!”

Grabbing the plate of her precious dango, Mikomi felt herself being pulled towards the doors of the Mess Hall, “Hey Sasuke-san, come on! At least let me finish my dango first.”

“No. Bring it with you if you feel you need it.”

Sighing, Mikomi twisted herself around so she was no longer being dragged and followed Sasuke out the Mess Hall doors. Before Sasuke or Mikomi could make it more than a few feet down the hallway Kabuto appeared in front of them, “What the hell do you want Kabuto. I’ve got work to do, namely training the girl here.” Sasuke shoved Mikomi forward as she picked up another dango skewer to eat. Mikomi gave a bit of a yelp as she managed to poke the end of the stick up her nose at the sudden motion.

Raising his eyebrow, Kabuto delivered his message, “I’m afraid that you don’t have any time for training at the moment Sasuke-sama, Mikomi-chan. Orochimaru-sama requires your presence in his chambers immediately. He has a mission that he requires the both of you to undertake for him.” Smiling, Kabuto snatched a stick of dango off of Mikomi’s plate and proceeded to lead them back down the hall to Orochimaru’s chambers. Mikomi took the last 2 sticks of dango off of her plate and proceeded to smash it over Kabuto’s head for stealing her dango.

Kabuto electrocuted Mikomi with her seal collar for almost a minute for that outburst.

Orochimaru’s Chambers

Sasuke and Mikomi were greeted by the familiar sight of Orochimaru cloaked in shadows as they entered Orochimaru’s throne room. Kabuto and Mikomi bowed to Orochimaru as Sasuke gave his usual air of annoyed defiance. Kabuto went and stood beside his master as Orochimaru spoke up at last, “Well Sasuke-kun, it seems the time is drawing near for me act on my plans. You, Sasuke, play a rather major roll in them so I want both you and Mikomi-chan to be totally prepared for what I want you two to do. So I’m giving the both of you a mission to complete as a team.”

Mikomi had a shocked look on her face while Sasuke only raised an eyebrow in question. Mikomi lost her restraint first, “NO WAY IN HELL WILL I DO ANY TYPE OF MISSION FOR THIS FUCKING VILLAGE YOU BAST–” Mikomi was violently cut off when Kabuto activated the seal on her neck once again and left Mikomi to fall on the ground in unmoving agony.

Sasuke didn’t even give a glance at Mikomi as he gave his 2 cents, “Just why the hell do you want me doing a mission with her?” Sasuke glanced pointedly down at the stiff Mikomi. “She is not yet a proper weapon according to you since you haven’t given me that Kusanagi Sword you promised yet, so why do you want her performing a mission for you Orochimaru?”

“My, my Sasuke-kun,” Orochimaru crooned sarcastically, “how observant of you.” Orochimaru motioned for Kabuto to stop the torture and waited for Mikomi to rise unsteadily to her feet. “What better way is there to become stronger than putting your life on the line in some fieldwork? Besides, this entire mission is designed for you to train Mikomi in stealth, not to mention have the opportunity to witness the Godaime Hokage in action and pick up a few techniques from her as well.”

This caught Sasuke’s interest once again, “And just how in the hell am I supposed to survive an encounter with the Godaime if I have to take care of Mikomi in the process.”

Orochimaru grinned, “You won’t be the ones doing the fighting, although you could probably take her on one on one. But as I said, this is a mission for you to teach Mikomi-chan proper stealth craft as well as an opportunity for you to learn something useful from Tsunade. One of my Jounins by the name of Sonji happened to fail rather horribly when I ordered him to assassinate someone for me. There is an advisor for the Rice country’s Daimyo who has been against my creation of the Village Hidden in Sound from the beginning, and has also been rather persuasive about it as well. Sonji failed to kill him. I told him that he had one last chance to redeem himself and that is by assassinating the Godaime Hokage. I don’t expect him to succeed as she is on my level almost, but it will allow you to learn something useful.”

“Fine,” Sasuke said, “Sonji’s plan of attack?”

“I ‘recommended’ that he booby trap her office late at night with explosive tags and set them off when she is at her desk. That should force the fight outside and into an area where your Sharingan and easily pick up a few more tricks. He leaves at first light tomorrow, but I would suggest that you leave now so you can infiltrate Konoha and find a nice place to watch the show. In any case, this mission will be ranked as S class – I’m sure judges of a Chuunin exam would be impressed by that statistic if I ever stick Mikomi in one, as by rank she is a Genin still.”

Sasuke looked down at Mikomi and shrugged, “Looks like this here is your next training exercise. Go grab your hip pack and meet me at the front of the complex. I’ll collect everything else we’ll need for this little mission.”

Mikomi nodded her head, “I you want me to do this Sasuke-san then I will give it my all.”

“Hnn.”

The Main Roadway to Konoha – 1 Hour from the Gates

Sasuke motioned with his hand for Mikomi to stay quiet as Sasuke went over how to remain concealed in the shadows and remain undetected, even this late at night. They had been moving along the side of the roadway for several hours, using the time to bring Mikomi up to speed. Her footwork was smooth and silent, the suppression of her chakra was adequate, and she was also seemed to be able to slide from shadow to shadow easily enough, although she still had a tendency to move while someone was looking their direction.

Bringing them to a halt, Sasuke spoke for the first time in several hours, “Alright Mikomi, I’m gonna have to teach you a new jutsu that is very effective for the infiltration into an enemy village. It is far less detectable than a regular Henge at your level and is just as easy to learn.” Mikomi nodded quickly, and Sasuke proceeded to go into more detail, “First things first: we need a face that can replace our own.”

Mikomi blanched at those words. “You don’t mean we have to kill somebody,” Mikomi whispered almost feeling sick to her stomach.

“We will. Get over it. You are a weapon, and a weapon will always be stained with blood. You need to get used to killing, and I want you to be the one to make the kills. I am not asking you to do this, I am telling you. It will only make you stronger.”

Mikomi shuddered and felt her stomach heave. “I don’t want to kill. Please don’t make me–”

“You’re doing it.”

Sighing, Mikomi nodded her ascent.

Sasuke continued with the explanation of the jutsu, “First off, you need to pick targets that won’t be high profile. That way questions won’t be asked of you if you don’t act the way they do. Next, pick someone of your own gender. The transformation will be far smoother that way. Lastly, age does not matter, but picking children is not recommended as it makes your movement more restricted.” Sasuke began to show Mikomi what the 3 hand seals were, and how to perform the jutsu. Sasuke demonstrated how you had to place your left hand over the target’s face, and your right hand on your own. Using chakra you essentially cut the face clean off the target and use chakra to break it down and connect it solidly over your own face. As the face is being cut off and broken down, the sections that are broken down are rebuilt in a layer over your own face. Once the transfer is complete, an almost undetectable Henge is developed over your body to duplicate the figure and clothing of the target as long as you keep what they looked like in mind.

Mikomi sighed and nodded her understanding of the technique when she heard the sounds of people walking down the roadway. Seeing that Sasuke had sensed them as well, she headed to the roadside to see if they were suitable targets for the strange Henge that Sasuke had just taught her. Sighing, she saw that there was a relatively young couple that was traveling down the road. Mikomi sighed when she saw the packs they were carrying. They were a couple of medical practitioners: Mikomi recognized them as medicine storage packs her father had used in his clinic. A few tears rolled down Mikomi’s face before she drew in a slow, shuddering breath and motioned to Sasuke that the people heading down the road were suitable targets.

Mikomi flickered out onto the road directly behind the young couple. “I’m sorry,” Mikomi whispered in the couple’s ears before she plunged a kunai into the back of their necks, severing the Jugular and spinal column in the process. The couple gasped in a rush of air as they fell onto the ground, blood forcing its way out and around the kunai in their necks. The couple had died almost instantly.

Mikomi’s hands were shaking violently as she bent down and started to strip the packs from the couple’s backs as Sasuke came out onto the road.

“You idiot,” Sasuke whispered, “Get them off the road before they leave evidence of their deaths behind. Sasuke grabbed the corpses off the ground and pulled them into the bushes while Mikomi tried to clear away the blood that had stained the ground. Sasuke finished taking the medicine packs of the backs of the dead couple and flipped them over and prepared to perform the modified Henge when he heard a sob come from Mikomi as she collapsed down beside the dead woman.

“I-I didn’t w-w-want t-to kill anybody,” Mikomi sniffled as she unsuccessfully tried to hold back the tears that were streaming down her face. “I’m n-no d-different than that b-b-bastard who killed my f-f-f…” Mikomi trailed off and broke down crying into the ground.

Sasuke was rather shocked at the reaction that Mikomi had at her first kills. ‘Hadn’t she been emotionally shut down to such violence by Sadisuto?’ Sasuke thought as he stared at the crying girl, ‘I mean, until her 12 birthday with me as her trainer, I was told Sadisuto had completely ignored the occasion besides kicking her around as usual.’ Sasuke put a hand over his face. “Great,” he muttered as he remembered the only way he could get a girl in his past to calm down and stop crying. Sasuke slowly reached an arm over and pulled Mikomi against him in a stiff half hug. He feeling Mikomi’s shoulders tense as usual when anyone touched her, but she slowly relaxed over a few minutes and her crying stopped as well.

“Thanks Sasuke,” Mikomi whispered, “Thanks for being so nice to me.”

“Hnn,” was all Sasuke said as he removed his arm from her and proceeded to take on the appearance of the man and slung the dead man’s pack onto his pack.

Mikomi’s hands where shaking a lot less than before as she preformed the 3 seals and tried to perform the jutsu. When she realized nothing was happening, Mikomi tried to calm herself down further so she could properly channel her chakra. Taking another deep breath and closing her eyes, Mikomi tried again. This time Mikomi felt an odd tingly feeling, as if someone was slowly painting her face from the outside and in towards the nose. Opening her eyes at the sensation Mikomi saw the woman’s face slowly being peeled away from her body. Once the tingling feeling on her face passed, Mikomi felt her body change slightly, growing a couple of inches, softening up a little, and having her chest grow a few sizes, and a Henge appear that was a duplicate of the clothes the woman wore minus the blood. ‘These feel a little big,’ Mikomi thought as she grabbed the breasts she had acquired, surprised that they felt as if they were her own. Mikomi quickly strapped the left over medicine pack to her back and questioned Sasuke about the experience, “Why the heck does this feel as if the changes have occurred to my body rather than just an illusion over top of it?”

Sasuke smirked, “That’s why this Jutsu is so much better than a regular Henge. It not only creates a perfect replication of the person’s face over your own, but also duplicates their body and clothing. Furthermore, it also stimulates your nerves to react to any stimulus that happens to the illusion making it seems like your own body.”

Both awed and rather disgusted with the jutsu, Mikomi followed Sasuke down the road towards Konohagakure.

Sasuke began to contemplate what story they were going to use get past the gate guards, “Hmm. We need a story to get past the gate guards. I guess we can just say that we are selling our medicines to the hospital and clinics in Konoha.”

Mikomi snorted to keep from laughing, “Give me a break Sasuke-san, if we’re selling something such as medicines they will probably search our packs to see if we have anything harmful tucked away inside. Hold on a sec and I’ll check the packs to see if I can inventory what medicine is in them and what they’re used for.

Stopping, Mikomi swung her pack onto the ground and proceeded to go over the myriad of medicines it held. She found several dozen different types of pain killers, a few burn creams, anti-inflammatory and infection fighting creams along with a few other medicines. Giving a whistle, Mikomi quickly wrote down a list of what she had found in her pack before checking Sasuke’s pack to find he had pretty much the same medicines as she did. “Well, I have the list of what medicines we’re carrying, so let’s get cracking Sa–”

Sasuke snapped a hand over her mouth as he felt a presence come up from behind them. A member of the Konoha Anbu wearing a hawk design on his mask appeared from behind the trees and Sasuke forced himself to breathe a sigh of relief as he removed his hand from Mikomi’s face, “We thought you may have been a robber for a moment sir.” Sasuke bowed to the Anbu member, trying to keep respectful to the man.

“What are doing out on this road so late at night?” The Anbu member snapped.

“I’m sorry sir,” Mikomi said also adopting the respectful tone Sasuke had used, “we are traveling to Konoha to sell our medicines to the clinics there. However, we were a bit delayed in our travels and it nighttime before we knew it. We just wanted to push on and get to Konoha before morning.”

The Anbu member took a few more steps towards Sasuke and Mikomi, “Names!” he barked, “I would also like to know the contents of your packs and why the young lady there has a ninja style hip pack attached to her left leg.”

Sasuke cursed inwardly that Mikomi would neglect to cover up such a detail, “Well good sir, that happens to be a first aid kit that my wife carries around with her,” Sasuke said as Mikomi began to blush, “My name is Satori and my wife’s name is Yomi. She can give you the list of what we are carrying.”

Mikomi held out the sheet of paper she had just used to take down the inventory of her pack. The Anbu member snatched the paper out of her hands and gave it a once over before handing it back to her. “Continue on to Konohagakure straight down this path. Goodnight.” Without another word, the Anbu member disappeared off into the night.

As they walked down the road a ways Sasuke asked the question that had come to mind while Mikomi had been making an inventory of their medicines, “How did you know so much about medicines Mikomi?”

Mikomi gave Sasuke a sad smile as she explained, “My father and mother were both doctors, well closer to medic nin actually since they both used medical jutsu quite extensively. They ran a clinic in a place called Ko Village and had been teaching me the medical arts since I was a child, starting with consumable medicines. I only ever learned 1 medical jutsu from a retired Nin in my village before Orochimaru sent men to kidnap me and killed my mother as I held her. I was told my father was dead, but I was knocked unconscious by the attack that gave me my scar here.” Mikomi pointed to the scar that ran down her left side starting at her eye. “At least my father was able to sentence the man who killed him to a painful death my injecting a debilitating disease into his body.”

Sasuke walked in silence for a while before he spoke again, “So, you’re an avenger like me Mikomi. My family was also killed in front of my eyes, only by my brother.” He looked over at Mikomi who stared up at him with the blue eyes of the woman’s face she had assumed, wide with shock. “I understand your destiny all too well. However, with that collar sealed around your neck you will never be able to take revenge. I will release the collar from your neck if you help me take revenge on my brother. That matters to me more than anything: your life, my life, or even the entire Sound Village.”

Mikomi stared at the man beside her. ‘So that’s why Sasuke always seems so dark and intense,’ she thought as a wave of pity rolled off of her, ‘He’s been through the same thing I have. Only he went to the devil for power it seems. I was pulled along for the ride by the man who killed my family.’ Mikomi reached out, gave Sasuke’s hand a squeeze, and held it.

Sasuke was so surprised by Mikomi’s action that he nearly yanked his hand away before he stopped, “Good thinking Mikomi, we are playing the part of husband and wife. In any case, from now on you have to call me Satori while we are in Konoha, and you are Yomi. Let’s get to Konoha and get a hotel to sleep in.”

Konoha Village – Noon the Next Day

Sasuke and Mikomi quickly hurried through the village to try and get their wares sold before the night came serving 2 purposes: provide them with a source of money should they need it, and to prove to any Nin who saw them the night before they had come there for a reason. Mikomi was surprised when Sasuke was able to lead them unerringly to 2 separate clinics in the span of 1 hour without seeming to get lost in the slightest. Unfortunately neither clinic needed medicines at the moment so they took off to find others.

When Sasuke led them to a third clinic without needing to ask for directions Mikomi just had to get the question off of her chest, “How do you know Konoha so well Satori? Have you been here before?”

Sasuke nodded, “Yes. I was a Konoha Nin before I came to the Sound.”

Mikomi was startled by that little piece of information but had to put her feelings to it on hold as she walked into a clinic called the ‘Yakudatsu Clinic.’

As Sasuke and Mikomi approached the small desk off to the side of the lobby, a young man appeared from the back and spotted the cases they were carrying, “Wow, today must be my lucky day! I was actually going to try and order some medicines from the hospital or some of the basic plants I need to make them, but I’ve been so busy I haven’t had the time. Whatcha got with ya?”

Mikomi whipped out the paper that she had inventoried their supplies on for the third time that day. Snatching it from her hand, the young man gave a low whistle, “Wow, ya really are a god-send aren’tcha? These happened to be pretty much all I need to completely restock! How much for all ya got?”

Mikomi quickly ran through the standard price for all the medicines that she could remember her father having had at one point or another. Biting her lip Mikomi gave the price, “I think the price for the entire stock we have sits at just over 1770 ryo, but I’ll give you the lot for 1600 ryo since you’re buying all of it. Unfortunately medicine isn’t cheap as you well know.”

The man laughed and ran into the back room to grab the money, “Ya got that right missus.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, “Medicine is that expensive?”

“Damn straight it is. Not only is it a question of how available the materials are, but also the quality of the medicine itself and the prep time all have to come under consideration.”

The man appeared again nodding in agreement, “Aye, the missus has it right. It’s a damn shame how much it costs to run a proper medical practice. Part O the reason I came to Konoha. Since it’s the Hokage and the village heads paying all medical practitioners I don’t have to charge the sick, just treat ‘em.”

Mikomi smiled at that, “I’m glad some place has adopted a logical medical program for their home.”

“Aye, I’m just glad Konoha can do it. I glad Konoha is so prosperous.”

As they left the shop Mikomi spoke the wrong words to Sasuke, “This Village is so nice. I wish that I could live here some day.”

Scowling, Sasuke shot down her hopes, “Not likely. You are an enemy Nin, plus you are going to directly affect Konoha tonight. In any case this place is full of more than its share of assholes anyway.” Sasuke began to lead them back to the inn they were staying at. “In any case, we should bathe quickly at the inn and then find a good perch to watch tonight’s ‘festivities’”

Neither Sasuke nor Mikomi noticed the 2 sets of eyes that followed them from the inside of a tea shop they passed by. The taller of the two watching them burst out into a laugh that could only be described as sinister, “Well, well, well, seems that brat of yours has come back to play,” Said Kisame as he watched Sasuke and the girl with him stroll on by from beneath his quadruple layered Henge. “Wonder what he’s doing here as there ain’t no way he’s after you if he’s bringing a girl along.”

The eyes of the smaller man flashed into the distinctive red with commas of the Sharingan for a moment before his own quadruple layered Henge covered them up once again. Itachi spoke quietly to Kisame, “True, but Sasuke is of no concern to me. It is the girl. I believe that Yakubyougami-san will want to know about her as she fits the description of the one we are to look out for.”

Kisame actually shuddered, “Yeah that freak did want to find a girl somewhere and if we’ve seen one that matches his description we should tell him. Fucking ‘Angel of Death’ only joined last year, heck I only heard of him when I met him, but only the boss man could even touch him. What he can do gives even me the chills. That guy’s red eyes are even more piercing than your own Itachi. Add his black hair, that massive black sword and that tattoo on hi left arm and it can create one hell of a nightmarish image.”

Itachi nodded his agreement, “He looks like a nightmare, but his power is less than my own. Of that I am sure, considering I’m the only one he didn’t attack to try and prove his worth to join the organization. He wanted power after all and he had to kill Sasori and Tobi to prove his worth. Besides, we have the information we need on Naruto and he’s out of our reach for now. Let’s go.”

Outside the Hokage’s Offices – 11:45 pm that Night

Sasuke and Mikomi had shed their disguises and had re-equipped their Ninja gear for easier movement during their mission that night. No sooner had Sasuke finished activating a very strong, but subtle Genjutsu around their hiding area did they notice the Sound Jounin Sonji slip from the shadows and into the building and start placing his explosive notes near the office door for the trap he had planned to take Tsunade out without a fight. Unfortunately the office had a lit lamp in the corner which allowed anyone observant enough to see in the Hokage’s office a clear view of Sonji. ‘No wonder he failed his assassination,’ thought Sasuke as Sonji failed to put the lamp out before settling down to work. Little details like that can finish a mission. He’s just lucky no one is around at the moment.”

Mikomi watched with rapt attention as brown-haired, pony-tailed Sonji continued to pull note after explosive not out from his pitch black ninja gear. His pants looked almost like cargo pants they had so many pockets while he wore a black turtle neck with a black multi-pocketed vest over top. Mikomi watched very closely how he set his ambush up for the Hokage, using Sonji’s situation to learn as much as she could about setting a trap for another person. She noticed that Sonji used the walls that slanted outwards, away from the door to his advantage, to focus the direction of the blast in an expanding area out and towards the only direction of escape: the windows. Mikomi then saw the brilliance of the trap: Sonji had place exploding notes on the wooden slats that separated the windows from each other. “Hey Sasuke, Sonji may have been a little dumb to forget to turn out the lights, but his trap is amazing, but simple. Clear and present danger behind from 2 walls of exploding notes, but the secondary trap being the exploding notes near the windows that are less noticeable than the others.”

Sasuke gave a dark smirk, “So? Sonji is failing to take into account the resilience, speed, strength and healing abilities of the Godaime Hokage. Tsunade is a legendary medic nin after all.”

“You’re telling me Sasuke,” Mikomi began slowly, “That Tsunade will be fast enough to dodge most of the trap, resilient enough to be able to live through any damage done to her, be able heal that damage done to her, and still be strong enough to beat Sonji-san?”

“Yes.”

Mikomi was still rather doubtful that anybody could survive the attack that Sonji had set up for the Hokage. There were no flaws that she could see and there were even enough explosive tags to take out a good chunk of the building. ‘Who the hell could survive that kind of fire power?’

Sonji finished the preparations for his assassination of the Godaime Hokage. He double checked the tags to determine the timer length of each was a minimal as possible, and also strung some wire around the office to act as trip wires to further slow the Hokage. He knew of her strength and wanted to ensure that she couldn’t make full use of it and maybe even avoid the fight all together. Finally deciding there was nothing more he could do without giving himself away, Sonji slipped out of the window after having been in the Office for just over 5 minutes. He backed away to the tree-line and waited for the right moment to set off his trap.

Hallway Outside the Hokage Office – 1 Hour Before Sonji’s Trap

Tsunade stepped out of her office and locked the door behind her. She sighed and headed down the hall to the council meeting with the village elders and the higher echelons of the ruling body of Konoha. ‘I may have come to love this with all of my heart once again thanks to Naruto,’ Tsunade thought, ‘but sometimes the tediousness and complacency of the council members makes me want to sock ‘em one.’ Shaking her head she came to a halt the second that she felt a large chakra appear in front of her.

Tsunade shook her head again, “Give me your report. I’ve got a council meeting to attend soon and they are pedantic about punctuality.”

The same Anbu member with the hawk mask who had stopped Sasuke and Mikomi earlier quickly gave his report, “I suspect that there may be a few foreign ninjas hiding inside our village Hokage-sama. I intercepted a couple last night who looked like ordinary medicine peddlers except that they were out near midnight and one of them was able to sense my presence sooner than I revealed it. They were able to provide me with a list of medicines they carried and offered to let me search them. I was careless, and couldn’t see through their Henge. I found a couple that looked identical to the two I stopped last night, except that they had no face on their bodies and kunai in their necks.”

Tsunade groaned, “Just great. I really didn’t need any more Orochimaru’s men coming here and causing trouble, especially after what they pulled off during the Chuunin exams to take down the Sandaime. Alright, tell your captain to increase city wide patrols to double the standard number and seal off the gates. As a final precaution I want 2 Anbu accompanying me to the Board meeting. I can handle Orochimaru’s men, but the men and women of the council may not be able to. Dismissed.”

Tsunade continued down the hall towards the meeting room and muttered, “I could really use a drink right about now.”

The Hokage Building – 30 Minutes After Sonji Set His Trap

Sonji was getting a little antsy. He was able to catch the sudden increase in Anbu patrols as he made his way towards the Hokage building and had been lucky to avoid them. He knew that it was only a matter of time before he was found if the Hokage didn’t show up in her office soon. Taking a deep breath Sonji tried to calm himself down. He knew that this mission from Orochimaru was practically a suicide mission, but he also knew that it was better to try and complete this mission than run away. He had been part of the team that was sent to track down the last defector from the Sound and knew Orochimaru enjoyed torturing them to death. Besides, he was one of the stronger Jounin in the Village Hidden in Sound and part of the team that had developed a few of the newer sonic assaults that their village was named after.

Then Sonji saw the door to the Hokage’s office open and the top of the blonde head of the Hokage appear. Sonji immediately sent a pulse of chakra to the notes in the office to start their fuses. A hissing sound filled the air for a brief second and Sonji could see the Hokage literally throw the two Anbu with her forward and towards the windows as she dove through one herself, ripping through the trip wires as if they weren’t even there.

The explosion of Sonji’s trap rocked the entire Hokage building, blowing apart the entire room. The only thing that had kept the building together were the seals that forced jutsu’s to be contained to individual rooms. The flames and shockwave streamed outwards from the building as did a green blur that had two black blurs by its side. Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage slid to a stop on the ground and laid the two bloody unconscious Anbu members with her to the ground. Standing up, Sonji almost froze when he felt her eyes lock onto his position and felt the waves of killer intent rolling off the woman in front of him. Blood flowed down from a cut over her right eye and there were several rips and cuts on both arms and legs from the glass exploding. Tsunade reached behind her back and yanked a large piece of glace that had imbedded itself in her back as she rapidly healed the damage. Wiping a glowing green hand to brow she stopped the blood flow from the cut on her brow and slowly head right for Sonji.

“I’ll commend you on that trap of yours, it was rather ingenious for a member of the Village Hidden in Sound,” Tsunade growled as she began to release her chakra throughout her entire body, “Now I’m going to let you feel what it would have been like to be part of that trap.”

Sonji finally broke himself out of his shock at seeing anyone – even the Hokage of Konoha – alive after his notes had been detonated and almost completely unharmed. Sonji snapped his twin kodachis out from behind his back and began to accelerate the vibrations of the blade itself with sound to create a far deadlier cutting edge. Sonji flew out of his hiding spot like the wind as he slammed both of his blades into Tsunade’s shoulders. A quartered log of wood was all that remained from the Kawarmi that Tsunade had preformed. Twisting around, Sonji was able to bring his blade up and crossed to take the punch Tsunade through at him.

Tsunade smiled with grim satisfaction as the Sound Nin’s kodachis were hammered into his chest as her punch sent him flying across the ground and back into the tree line. Moving quickly, Tsunade moved the unconscious Anbu guards to the side of the Hokage building. She had to admit that the Sound Nin really did know how to set up one hell of a trap as she rounded the building and started running towards where she had sent the Nin flying.

“Futon: Scream of the Banshee Jutsu!” Sonji roared as he let loose an almighty column of sound from his body, ripping the trees from the ground as the column of sound sped towards the charging Tsunade.

Tsunade barely had time to block her ears with chakra and throw her arms in front of her body when the attack struck. The hurricane force winds nearly threw her backwards as she locked herself to the ground with chakra. She could feel the intensity of the sound through her body as almost every bone in her body was vibrating from the power of it. She realized that she would have been deaf for the next several hours at least if she hadn’t blocked her ears off. She threw punches left and right as half a dozen trees found her in their direct path. Every window in the Hokage building also exploded with the force of the sound.

The second the attack ended Tsunade once again took to the offensive. “You think that sound is the fastest thing on the planet asshole, well think again!” Tsunade flashed through a line of 21 hand seals – which the watching Sasuke already knew and recognized – and swung her crackling right hand forward, “Raiton: Lightning Strike Jutsu!” A flash of lightning blasted forward and struck the Sound Nin perfectly, the entire attack being channeled up through the kodachis that he held in his hands.

Sonji’s body felt as if it was on fire from that lightning Jutsu that Tsunade had launched at him as he tossed his kodachis to the side, ‘Shit, I thought that was a jutsu that only people from Kumo would know! My kodachis are useless now! First she cracks them with that freakishly strong punch of hers and now uses them as lightning rods. What the fuck is she?’

//////////////////////////////

Mikomi watched in awed fascination at the fight unfolding before her. The power and speed that Sonji and the Hokage move and fought with was mind boggling. Barely 3 attacks had been launched and the battlefield was already a mess. ‘So this is the power of a Kage and one of the Sannin to boot. It’s almost too much. How the hell can I get my revenge on Orochimaru now if he is at least as strong as she is?’

Sasuke was relaxing as he watched the battle with his Sharingan. The moves that had been used to this point were nothing special, things that he had already learned before. ‘Hmm, the source of Tsunade’s massive strength is still eluding me. Come on Sonji you fool, force some more attacks out of her.’

//////////////////////////////

Sonji knew it was practically suicide to engage the Hokage in hand to hand combat after he had felt the strength of her punches. However, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t use his arsenal of jutsus to lay into her.

Sonji threw himself backwards in a flip and rebounded off of a tree and into the air as Tsunade landed a massive axe kick where his body used to be. The ground split open and flew towards the tree he had just leapt off of as the tree fell towards Tsunade. Twisting towards Tsunade, Sonji began to launch balls of chakra solidified air from his mouth at her as she ran up the tree in his direction. Sonji’s eyes widened as he realized he had no way of dodging the Hokage’s next jutsu while he remained in the air and started to form one of his own.

The attacks were released at the same time, striking each other in mid air.

“Kinjutsu: Acid of the Slugs Jutsu!” Tsunade cried as a stream of highly corrosive acid shot out from her mouth right at Sonji.

“Futon: Great Flaming Breakthrough!” Sonji cried as a dense ball of air and fire shot out of his mouth into the stream of acid.

The two techniques destroyed themselves in the air and Sonji immediately beat a hasty retreat to avoid the flying remains of the jutsu. Snapping a pair of kunai out of his hip pack, Sonji focused his chakra into them to form an extended blade of air chakra around them to enhance their cutting power and hurled them at Tsunade as the hit the ground. To his chagrin, Tsunade simply snatched them out of the air and sent them right back at him before the chakra could dissipate.

The deadly dance continued as Sonji tried again and again to find an upper hand on the fierce Hokage of Konoha only to be beaten down each time. Every time he tried to use sound techniques the Hokage seemed unaffected, and his wind techniques were overpowered with various earth, fire or that acid technique the Hokage had. Sonji could feel himself tiring even as he finally was able to land a hit on the Hokage.

“Futon: Great Breakthrough!” The bullet of wind slammed into the Hokage’s ample chest and hammered her back through a stand of trees. Only to have her burst into smoke. “NO FUCKING WAY,” Sonji’s screamed in desperation, “HOW WAS THAT A SHADOW CLONE!” Sonji felt a disturbance in the air from behind him and spun, dodging to the left as Tsunade’s left fist streaked by his head, still cutting his cheek in the process. Sonji snapped a kick at her face with his right foot only to realize his mistake when she caught it in her right hand. His eyes widened.

“Gotcha!” Tsunade yelled as she brought her leg up for another axe kick. That was the last thing Sonji ever heard as chest and head were crushed from the force of the kick Tsunade brought down on him.

//////////////////////////////

Sasuke smirked as he looked down from his hiding spot at the wreckage below. ‘I’ll admit that Sonji was faster than I thought to last as long as he did against someone of Tsunade’s capabilities,’ he thought, ‘which in turn allowed me to pick up a number of rather outstanding moves. Not the least of which was that I finally was able to determine the secret behind that monstrous. It really was worth it to come here and watch this fight after all.’ Turning towards Mikomi he motioned her close to him, “We’re gonna have to beat it the second I drop my Genjutsu as there are going to be Anbu swarming this area in seconds. Follow me and stay close or you’ll be left behind.”

Sasuke paused for a second as he watched a team of Anbu pass directly beside where they were hiding before continuing onwards. Dropping the Genjutsu that had kept them hidden from the eyes and ears of the people in the surrounding area, Sasuke headed lower to the ground and began to beat a path directly for the western wall. Sasuke and Mikomi flew through the lower branches of trees, melting back into the shadows on more than one occasion to keep out of sight from the Anbu squads that were moving overhead.

Mikomi saw Sasuke hit the ground when they reached an inhabited section of Konoha and began to speed down a surprisingly straight ally way that seemed to reach fairly close to the city limits. Mikomi followed Sasuke onto the roof of the building near the wall and leapt with him and ran straight up and over the wall. Mikomi felt her heart pounding in her chest while they were out in the open running up and over the wall, but when they reached the shadowy trees she took comfort in them. She may not be able to see as well, but that meant everyone else was just as hindered.

“I’ll move a little ahead Mikomi to scout out the path we need to take to avoid the Anbu patrols. Keep heading this way as fast as you can and I’ll rejoin you soon.” Sasuke peeled away from Mikomi for the first time that night and disappeared with a burst of speed.

Mikomi honestly felt very scared when Sasuke had taken off. This was her first real mission as a ninja for the Sound and there were enemy nin all over the place. It didn’t help the fact that she had been told by Orochimaru that this mission was an S ranked one, the highest rank that could be given. That and the fact that she was still considered the lowest rank of all ninja.

Mikomi kept her pace up when she ran full speed into another moving figure in the dark as they came around a copse of trees and into a clearing. Landing on the ground together in a heap, the first thing Mikomi saw was a radio ear piece sticking out of the figure’s ear and attaching to a radio. Mikomi grabbed it and leapt away pulling the radio along with it as the person she had run into leapt the opposite direction. Dropping the radio and crushing it under her heel, she glanced up to see a vaguely familiar hawk design face mask. As realization hit her Mikomi instinctively burst out, “IT’S YOU! The guy that stopped us on the road last night.” Mikomi slapped a hand over her mouth when she realized what she said.

“So you were that assassin’s partner,” The Anbu member said menacingly as he drew his katana from behind his back, “I was suspicious when I found those two bodies tonight after I had stopped two others that looked like them the night before. That trick you used to take their faces was disgusting. Your partner badly injured two of my best friends tonight, so don’t think that you are getting away!” With a burst of speed, the Hawk Anbu flickered behind Mikomi intending to take her head off.

Mikomi felt a little bit of surprise that she could track the Anbu’s movements so well. She hadn’t realized how fast Sasuke really was until this point in time as she had finally gotten somewhat used to his speed. Diving forward into a roll, Mikomi snatched a pair of shuriken out of her hip pack and threw them backwards at the overextended Hawk Anbu. Mikomi’s eyes widened as the Hawk Anbu snatched the shuriken out of the air as she was sliding to a stop and threw them right back at her. Crying out in pain, Mikomi yanked the shuriken out of her right shoulder as she lit her hand up with the green glow of her only healing jutsu.

“A medic nin?” The Hawk Anbu questioned in surprise as Mikomi healed the cut in a couple of seconds. Snapping away his katana, the Hawk Anbu flashed through a few seals that Mikomi recognized and quickly imitated slightly behind the Hawk Anbu.

“KATON: GRAND FIREBALL JUTSU!” came the twin cries of Mikomi and the Hawk Anbu. 2 fireballs lit the clearing and smashed into each other. Mikomi’s fireball overpowered the Hawk Anbu’s after a moment due to the amount of chakra she had pumped into her own

‘What an insane amount of chakra that girl has,’ the Hawk Anbu thought as he sensed her chakra levels clearly for the first time that night, ‘they’ve got to be bigger than my own’. Leaping to the left to avoid what remained of Mikomi’s fireball he slammed his hands into the earth after flashing through some more hand seals.

Mikomi squinted into the trees at her sudden blindness from the bright fireballs to see if she had hit the Hawk Anbu. Mikomi’s hands flashed through the same 21 seals that the Hokage had preformed earlier, announcing the second technique Sasuke had taught her, “Raiton: Lightning Strike Jutsu!” The flash of lightning surged forwards only to strike a tree at the edge the clearing, the light generated not even revealing where the Hawk Anbu went to.

When Mikomi suddenly felt movement of the earth beneath her it was too late as a fist of earth shot out of the ground and connected in an uppercut to her chin that launched her skyward. Stunned she saw the figure of the Hawk Anbu above her, katana drawn.

“It’s over girl,” the Hawk Anbu cried as he swung his sword downwards to split her in half. What happened next shocked him: the blade didn’t even cut through her clothing let alone her body, giving her only a little cut on the chin.

The force of the swing sent Mikomi flying into the ground with crushing force as she created a dent in the earth of the forest floor. ‘I never thought I’d be thankful for anything from Sadisuto, but the defense I developed from his beatings just saved my life!’ Mikomi flung herself from the dent in the ground as the Hawk Anbu tried to stab his katana through her head.

“I don’t know how the hell you could have lived through that last attack of mine, but this next one will finish you!” The Hawk Anbu yelled as he began to fly through a series of one handed seals. Mikomi started hand seals of her own to try and find some way to take down the more experienced Anbu when another voice cut through the clearing.

“I think not,” came Sasuke’s calm voice as the clearing exploded with the sound of a thousand chattering of a thousand birds as a blue glow erupted from around Sasuke’s left hand and electricity streamed off of it. “Raikiri,” Sasuke said as he eyed the Hawk Anbu

The Hawk Anbu’s shout showed his surprise, “What the? The traitor Uchiha?!”

In a blinding burst of speed, Sasuke shot down the tree he was on and shot towards the Hawk Anbu. The Hawk Anbu swung his sword around to launch his attack on Sasuke to halt his charge, “Futon: Razor Wind Blade!”

Sasuke easily ducked under the blade of wind the Hawk Anbu threw at him and ripped his left hand clean through him, ripping a huge chunk away from the right half of his body, killing him instantly. The sound of several trees falling to the ground resounded through the forest as Sasuke turned towards a shocked Mikomi, “We’ve got to hurry. Follow me.”

Orochimaru’s Chambers

Orochimaru stepped through the door into his private experimentation chamber. His most recent techniques including his immortality technique, the ‘Living Corpse Reincarnation,’ had all been developed in here. He grinned as he watched his loyal right hand man, Kabuto continued on with his work on the corpse of a recent test subject.

“So Kabuto, how far along have you managed to develop the technique I left you with,” Orochimaru asked as he peered over the semi mangled body.

Kabuto stopped his most recent attempt of Orochimaru’s new technique and gave his report, “The technique has only about a 75% success rate at this point but I believe that it can be improved to as high as a 99% success rate as long as the body remains fairly in tact.”

Orochimaru gave a wide grin, “Kukuku. That is very good to hear Kabuto, very good indeed. Let’s see if we can speed things up together then.”

A Few Miles from the Sound Boarder – The Day after the Assassination Attempt

Mikomi lay down on the ground to catch her breath after Sasuke had finally called a halt for the second time that day to give her a chance to recover. Mikomi thought back to the technique that Sasuke had used to save her life, ‘Raikiri huh? That was one heck of an attack. And…and Sasuke used it to save my life.’ That same warm feeling that she had felt before returned and filled her chest. Mikomi couldn’t understand the feeling at all, and felt confused as to what it meant. After feeling the glow of the heat for a few moments, Mikomi shook it off and Turned to Sasuke who was several trees back in the direction they had came, “Hey Sasuke, any chance you could teach me that Raikiri of yours? You’ve taught me several Raiton Jutsu already so I thought that maybe…”

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder and considered how to respond, “I suppose the technique would suit your arsenal of power jutsus well. You seem to have good enough reaction time to not need the Sharingan to respond to any enemy counterattack could throw at you.” Sasuke considered this for a little bit longer. “I’ll teach the Raikiri to you Mikomi, just not yet. You have to learn one other technique first.”

Mikomi broke into a wide grin, “Sounds just fine by me Sasuke. Err, Sasuke-san.”

“We’re not going to stay her for a few hours like last break. You’re no longer injured so we need to get to the Sound as soon as possible…” Sasuke trailed off when he suddenly felt a very familiar charka signature heading their way. “Hatake Kakashi. Shit. Alright Mikomi, we have to move it right now. Take the lead and run as fast as you can towards the Sound right now. We’ve got company.”

Mikomi gasped as she felt several people heading in their direction shortly after Sasuke said to move. Spinning around, Mikomi began to run for the Sound boarder with Sasuke close behind. She could no longer feel the pursuers gaining on them but could still vaguely feel them in the back of her mind.

“Let’s see,” Sasuke muttered as he concentrated on trying to sense the people on his tail, “there is 2…3…no 4 people behind us.” Sasuke spoke up once again, “Step on it, we have 4 people after us, and one of them is the only person in Konoha who has the Sharingan like me. We can’t afford to let them catch us!”

The next 10 minutes were tense ones as Mikomi and Sasuke poured on the speed to try and make it into the boarder between Sound and Leaf. Trees whizzed by and the ground seemed like a blur As Mikomi and Sasuke kept the distance between them and their pursuers the same. ‘God dammit,” Sasuke thought, ‘again I’m being held back by another. Mikomi just isn’t as fast as I am. Grrr, I guess that’s another thing Orochimaru’ll want me to work on when we get back.’

Sasuke felt Kakashi suddenly burst forward with incredible speed and he knew he had to slow him down, “Katon: Fire Dragon Blast Jutsu!” A massive dragon of flames formed from Sasuke’s mouth and sped off in the direction of Kakashi and the other Konoha ninjas. Sasuke smirked as he felt them stop and take cover as the dragon of fire tore through the woods after them.

Sasuke was able to catch up with Mikomi once again and crossed into Sound territory and relative sanctuary from the Konoha ninjas behind them.

Orochimaru’s Chambers – Later that Day

Sasuke and Mikomi came in through the doors to make their report on the success of their mission.

“I would assume that the mission was a success?” Orochimaru asked from his usual throne in shadows as his two prized possessions entered the room.

“Our mission was a complete success Orochimaru,” Sasuke said as he glared at Orochimaru, “However Sonji’s mission ended in failure with his death at the hands of Tsunade.”

“Learn anything useful from watching Tsunade?”

“Of course. She had some rather interesting techniques not the least of which was that strength of hers.”

Orochimaru grinned, “I expected no less from you Sasuke-kun. Now, I would recommend heading off to train Mikomi-chan once again.”

“Fuck you Orochimaru,” Mikomi spat as she turned to follow Sasuke out of Orochimaru’s chambers.

“Kukuku. What spirit that girl has, even after all of this time. She will be quite the little weapon indeed.

Sound Training Grounds # 17

“So, what technique did you want to teach me before I could learn that Raikiri of yours?” Mikomi asked, feeling a surge of excitement run through her. She wanted, no needed to get stronger if she ever wanted to be on the same level as Orochimaru or even surpass him if she wanted to get revenge for her family. The Raikiri would just be another step in the right direction to achieve her goal of killing Orochimaru and Kabuto.

“As I have mentioned before, you have impeccable chakra control within your own body. The technique I’m going to teach you relies mainly on perfect chakra control within your own body to be effective. Before you learn the Raikiri, I’m going to teach you the secret behind the incredible strength of the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade.”