From Darkness to Light (The Little Senju Series Book Two): A Naruto Fanfiction

Izumi and Orochimaru

Izumi's POV

"I'll stop him here," Naruto said. "You two should go find, Sasuke." There was a pause Sai and I stared at him silently for a moment. "Hurry!"

"Okay, we'll go save Sasuke." Sai nodded his head before running in the opposite direction. Orochimaru smirked as though everything was going to plan.

I stayed in place staring at my blond teammate indignantly for a moment. "No," I said. My teeth ground together as I scowled at the black-haired man. "I'm not leaving you here with this creep." Naruto was about to say something else but spoke again before he had the chance. "We can look for him together after we're done here."

"So, you came to take Sasuke back, huh?" Orochimaru asked. "Your persistence is impressive, but will it really be that easy?"

I could only bite my lip in response. Much as I hated to admit it the man had a point. Just finding Sasuke was hard enough a feat, but convincing him to return to the village... That would probably be near impossible in and of itself. The memory of the final valley played in my head like a vivid nightmare. My right fist clenched as my eyes fell to the hideout floor. Even if I did love Sasuke, would it even matter? Would it even matter if the person himself would much rather tell my precious feelings to take a hike?

"It doesn't make any difference that you're one of the legendary sannin like the pervy sage and Grandma Tsunade!" Naruto awakened from my thoughts as he glowered at our opponent. "I'll defeat you... and take Sasuke back!" The blond ninja's hands came back into the sign for the shadow clone Jutsu. There was a flume of smoke as he cast his Jutsu blinking out several candles in the hall.

Orochimaru's smile never faded as the clones charged for him. "Striking shadow snake!"

Snakes flew once more from his sleeves with blades springing forth from each of their mouths. From the back of the group, one clone held the swirling chakra of a Rasengan in its palm that it used to eradicate several of the snakes. The real Naruto lunged forward kunai in hand before a snake around his torso halted his movements. With little effort, the sannin tossed Naruto back.

I gasped returning to reality as the blond's body flew towards me. "Naruto!" My body acted on its own to save the boy from hitting the floor too hard. Bind! Vines sprang from my skin and grabbed my teammate before he could hit the floor. "Shit...!" I panted a moment before returning Naruto to solid ground. "Are you alright?" He too took a moment to regain his breath as he nodded at me curtly. "Sorry, I didn't expect to freeze up like that."

"Hmm," Orochimaru chuckled. The man hadn't even broken a sweat from the encounter. "What happened? You were so energetic earlier...!" He was just taunting us now. "Your power... The power of the Nine-Tails... There must be more to it than this, right?"

Argh! This bastard! He's...! Naruto was still out of breath beside me. "That's enough," I said. "This isn't just about him." With a flick of the wrist, there was a katana in either of my hands. "I'm here for a reason after all." Even with the two of us... We won't make it long here. I'll need to stall until someone gets here.

"Show me all you've got.

"Hm, you'll have to forgive me..." I blocked carefully as another wave of snakes headed for me. "I'm not for all the useless talk.

I sliced through the snakes with grace. Surely, Sensei had already noticed our chakra, so I just needed to hold out until he got there. A wood clone ran for Orochimaru, but it was easily taken care of. It seemed that sannin wasn't putting much effort into this fight. He just kept with the snakes not even bothering to move from his position in the hall. Worse yet, I was already starting to grow tired again. I was left heaving for breath as I leaned on Naruto's shoulder. Damn, I was stronger than this before, wasn't I? He looked at me concerned for a moment as he placed an arm around my shoulder and supported me for a moment.

"Hm," Orochimaru chuckled again. A smirk was still present on his face and even after all that he still hadn't even begun to sweat. "Is that it? And here, I thought you might entertain me. You'll never win Sasuke's heart like that."

I twitched almost fuming as I bared my teeth. Apparently, he'd heard our conversation before. As though love was the first thing on my mind at that moment. Regardless of how I felt about Sasuke my main concern was on my mission. Worrying about some possible infatuation would only be a distraction.

Without much warning, a splinter of wood pierced through the wall to the hall forming a barrier between us, and Orochimaru. I was almost relieved to see the expression on that man finally change. A look of shock creased his expression as the wood fell away and Tenzo Sensei and Sakura appeared behind us. My first instinct was to run and hug my sensei, but this wasn't the time.

"Orochimaru again...!" The brown-haired man said. As though on cue the sannin was smiling once more

Sai's POV

I peeked around a corner in the hideout and saw nothing. Even with Orochimaru occupied with Naruto and Izumi, I still needed to be cautious. Captain Yamato and Sakura had probably already gone to back them up, but there was no reason to get myself in trouble unnecessarily. I pulled a scroll and brush from my bag and laid them on the floor as I prepared to work.

Making quick work I sketched a dozen mice across the scroll. "Ninja art," I said. My hands formed a sign. "Super beast scroll." My drawings rose from the page and scattered along the wall and floor. It would be faster this way, than searching each room one by one.

. . .

I slowly opened the door to Sasuke's room with a creak. The boy was laid on a bed at the far side of the room with his back to me. Even at that, this was clearly the boy I was looking for. On the back of his shirt was the Uchiha crest. He looked so vulnerable like that... I moved from the door and drew again in my scroll this time several snakes across the page. They slithered along the floor heading for the young Uchiha. The reptiles slowly made their way up the mattress and along the raven-haired boy's body. He didn't move an inch.

"Who's there?" The depth of his voice almost surprised me.

"You found me out, huh?" I asked. "But... I've already made the first move."

"What's your objective?" He still lay in the bed not even looking at me.

"Lord Danzo's objective is to bury you..." I answered. "I'm going to..." My words came out slow and calculated as I tightened my fist. "Take you back to the leaf!"

Hmm, I suppose this would be a good time to explain, huh? Yeah, I unpublished this story and almost immediately regretted it (I know I'm too impulsive for my own good). Yeah, I suddenly got new inspiration for fanfiction. Anyway, I won't delete it again... I'm just an idiot, I know. Loooool. Anyway, we back or something. Until next time!

--Amy