"Boss! Boss!" A man burst into my office, looking highly distressed.
"What is it?" I snapped. For god's sake, I was trying to concentrate.
"A messenger arrived! Orochimaru-sama had been killed! The prisoner's are going mad! They're breaking free!"
" . . ."
My office is the highest room of the smaller tower that overlooks the North Base compound. At this point, it was only prudent to look out the windows, to see if the damage was nearly as severe as this man seemed to think it was.
"There's no one outside. It can't possibly be out of control yet. Release the sleeping gas, it should soften the blow."
"We're going to need more than sleeping gas! You've got to-"
"-I don't have to do anything. Do as I tell you, more orders will follow."
"Some of them are progressing into the second stage! We're got to use force!"
"You'll do no such thing. That gas is enough to put an entire city to sleep for three days, I'm sure it can hold a few rioting captives."
The man hesitated before finally bowing and quickly dashing out of the room, the door left open behind him in his haste. Orochimaru was dead, it seemed. The news, as I had always known, was neither distressing or uplifting. I wondered who had done it? Orochimaru was no man to be trifled with, but the man had failed to mention the name of the killer, if it was known.
Most of all, I wanted to know how the news had spread among the captives before reaching me. Some idiot running about and yelling, no doubt. I would have to go check on the state of the compound, most of my assistants were perfectly incompetent without straight orders. It would also be necessary to pay a special visit to Juugo, if he had heard the news . . . well, his reaction would be unpredictable at best. He might be angry that his "healer" had been murdered, or he might be upset that someone might attempt to make him fight again.
Either way, it seemed that I would have to make a decision about the future of the base, and soon.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The trio sat on a small island in the middle of the ocean, fresh from recruiting the chakra detecting kunoichi Karin into the group.
"Hmph. You know if we go into the North Hideout we'll be dead the second we walk in. The guards kill on sight, unless they've been expressly informed of a visitor."
"I've only seen it on maps, is it really that dangerous?"
"That place was the main site for human experimentation. It's nothing but a nest of horrible, unnatural monsters."
"Nami-chan didn’t ever mention that."
Sasuke and Karin both turned questioning eyes on Suigetsu, the reason they had stopped for a rest in the first place. He sipped his water bottle innocently, his sharp teeth leaving dents in the container.
"Nami-?" Karin repeated, suddenly seeming very tense and on edge. "That's a girl's name."
"Nanami?" Sasuke asked, unaware that Suigetsu had ever come in contact with the girl he had always considered Kabuto's shadow for the first year of his stay with Orochimaru.
"Yeah. Nami-chan. You know, Kabuto's little stalker. She's in charge of that place."
"You know the head of the North Hideout? Their boss must be a monster, to keep all those freaks under control." Karin relaxed, immediately picturing a large, bulky, and altogether unalluring female that would present no challenge in her pursuit of Sasuke.
"She was a little weird." Suigetsu confirmed.
"How do you know her?" Sasuke asked, uncharacteristically curious. Nanami's name had been mentioned only very briefly since Orochimaru had abandoned his main headquarters. She had suddenly disappeared from Kabuto's side, no longer the constant presence she had previously been. And he had never seen her during his wanderings from base to base, but very occasionally Kabuto would say something about her, so it had seemed she was not dead.
"She used to check all of the freaky experiments in the basement of the old headquarters, which is where I was. Then she said she was moving to the North headquarters, and that's all I really know."
"Hm . . . " was all Sasuke answered before demanding that Suigetsu get up again, and that they continue their trek to the North.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"Whew! Time for a break." Suigetsu breathed, immediately plopping to the ground.
"GET UP you slacker! We're practically there!" Karin yelled shrilly, for the Northern Headquarters were indeed within eyesight, precariously perched on top of a rock outcropping in the middle of the canyon.
"It's that huge katana, isn't it? Just drop the damn thing so we can go!"
"Guys . . ." Sasuke muttered, looking to the body of a man lying not far from their position.
"He came from the North hideout, he's still alive." Karin determined after a moment of inspection, turning the man off his stomach and holding his head.
"What happened?"
The man opened his eyes halfway, immediately recognizing the famous face of Sasuke Uchiha, who had become a legend to anyone underneath Orochimaru.
"Sasuke Uchiha . . .? Please . . . save us." The man groaned out.
"What happened to you?"
"It started . . . as soon as we heard Orochimaru was dead. . . our captives started a riot. At this rate . . . " The man dropped dead.
"Ahhh crap. He died." Suigetsu remarked dryly.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
It had been a couple of days since the rebellion had started. We'd run out of tranquilizing gas yesterday, and the guards hadn't coped well with the massive horde of cursed seal attackers. I'd managed to defend myself, but it was pretty obvious that the base was totally lost. Unless the vast majority of them died, or left, I wouldn't be able to regain control.
But . . . I'd been walking in the basement, making passes by the more dangerous of the captives to make sure that they hadn’t escaped with the majority. There had been a commotion top-side, so I was wandering back that way.
"Eh? Where are my keys?"
My ring of keys had gone missing from the desk near the entrance. None of the escapees had any interest in them, so I was curious to know who would have stolen them. Had the base been invaded? But who would have interest in the practically destroyed facilities?
"Huh? Here again? I knew I should've turned right back there."
A familiar voice floated in from the courtyard. A far too familiar voice. But . . . what the hell would he of all people be doing here of all places, and now of all times?
I came into the courtyard to find Suigetsu hovering above one of the hundreds of injured rioters. Had he been the one making such a fuss, and if so, why had he left them all alive? It seemed unlike him to bother.
"JUUGO WILL KILL YOU ALL!"
"What's this about Juugo?"
Suigetsu whipped around, his hand on the hilt of a massive sword strapped to his back. He was wearing the clothes that I had given him last time, when he had fought with Juugo, who he now seemed to be after?
"Nami-chan!"
"Suigetsu . . . what are you doing here? Who let you out?" I asked, stepping over the various bodies strewn across the cement.
"So, you're still alive?" He asked, ignoring my question. "And when did you get taller?"
I'd forgotten how difficult he could sometimes be. "Obviously. And in the past year and a half. Now, what are you doing in my base without permission?"
He snorted. "Heh, hardly seems like you're doing a very good job of keeping control of this place."
"But what are you doing here?" I repeated, taking a quick look up and down his person to see if he was sporting my keys.
"Sasuke wants to recruit Juugo, but that stupid bitch Karin tricked me."
"Sasuke? Sasuke Uchiha . . . is here? For Juugo?" I ignored the part about this Karin girl tricking him, that couldn't be too hard to accomplish. But how in the world would she be able to find her way around in this mess of hallways? It was a complete nest, there was no way they weren't lost too.
"Yeah."
"Juugo is highly unstable right now. It wouldn't be advisable to go see him. But he's tightly secured, so we don't need to worry about that. Where is Sasuke?"
Suigetsu shrugged. "Karin found some keys, and she's a chakra tracker, so I guess they're finding Juugo."
"My keys!?! Well . . .we'll just have to go stop them. Follow me."
But Suigetsu didn’t move as I started to walk back into the building, the blueprints of the entire complex imprinted in my head.
"You know, Nami-chan, now that I'm not living in a tube anymore, you should be a little nicer. You seem to think that you're still the boss in this situation."
I turned around. This wasn't really the time to argue, not with Juugo potentially on the loose. But I had the sense to know that this was something that needed to be dealt with right here and now.
". . ."
Not that I had any idea of what to say. Now that I couldn’t just stomp away from him it would be impossible to know how our interaction would change from this point forward.
"Hahaha, just kidding. Your face looked really stupid there. By the way, where the hell did those geeky glasses come from?"
I idly felt the glasses he had mentioned, sighing with a mixture of relief and some kind of amusement. What the hell kind of joke was that? But somehow still funny? And who was he calling stupid?
"They’re a prop. They help me look a few years older, which helps the other idiots follow my rules. I've been wearing them since I got here." I left the rest of the story unfinished. They'd been a parting gift from Kabuto, it had been his idea to make me look older, and in reality, I hadn’t been able to part with them. They were my safety blanket. I was dying to ask Suigetsu what had happened to Kabuto when Orochimaru had been killed, presumably by Sasuke, if he was wandering around like this. But I just knew that Suigetsu would launch into a slew of embarrassing remarks if I even mentioned his name.
"And the jewelry?" He asked, finally moving to follow me through the labyrinth of hallways.
"A mineral mined near here, it can be used to store extra chakra. It helps to stock up, since you never know when two of the experiments will get in a fight, and you'll have to heal both of them."
"Oh."
"So, Sasuke was the one to do the deed, right?"
"Yeah. No surprise, Orochimaru kept him with him all the time, so once Sasuke thought that he was done learning, it was chop-chop." He chuckled.
"And Karin? Who's that?" If Sasuke had been the one to off Orochimaru, it would be practical to keep an eye on him. Sannins weren't defeated casually.
Suigetsu groaned, rolling his eyes. "This stupid bitch from the South Base, she's pretty much the best chakra tracker there is though, so Sasuke wanted her."
I frowned lightly. "And what exactly does Sasuke want with all of you?"
"He hasn't said that."
"But you're following him around anyway?"
He shrugged again. "Well, he let me free, and I've got nothing better to do. Plus, I want his help later."
I nodded. It wasn't like I really had anything to do anymore, with Orochimaru gone. I'd kept control of headquarters for as long as possible, just for the sake of peace, but to what end? It wasn't like I had any real authority without Orochimaru's backing.
"It's just around this corner now . . ."
"HE'S STRONG!" Came the roar from just around the corner, where Juugo's door stood open and Juugo stood raging in front of a large crater in the hallway.
"Aw shit." I muttered as Suigetsu raced ahead. Juugo was a nice enough boy, most of the time. Every once in a while, like right now, he'd go on crazy rampages and it was usually me that had to inject him with enough tranquilizer to kill any normal sized ninja just to calm him down.
Suigetsu swung his huge sword to intercept a punch from Juugo, who had already transformed one of his arms into the second stage.
"You didn't use that power last time Juugo . . . man that stung." Suigetsu muttered, standing across from a thoroughly confused looking Juugo.
I stood in the doorway, observing while Suigetsu ignored Sasuke's orders and continued attacking Juugo. There was a girl on the opposite side of the fight from me, with red hair and eyes. Her hair was choppy and short on one side, while long on the other. She was also wearing glasses, though I guessed that they probably weren't for show, like mine. That was no doubt Karin, who looked like she wanted Juugo and Suigetsu to kill each other off.
But it wasn't before long that Sasuke captured both Juugo and Suigetsu with two snakes wrapped around their bodies. I had barely seen him move, and he had managed to stop both of the powerful ninja in just a moment. He had obviously grown much stronger since I had last seen him. But then again, so had I.
But as soon as Sasuke removed the snakes, Juugo returned to normal. I knew it was only a matter of time before he darted. And surely enough, the black marks sunk back into his skin, and he ran back into his cell screaming, nearly clipping me in the leg with the chain and ball attached to his leg.
"LOCK THE DOOR!"
Sasuke approached the door, while Suigetsu and Karin stood behind him looking utterly dumbfounded. Which was only natural, considering that they couldn’t possibly know about Juugo's strange complex.
"Juugo, I came to free you. Come with me."
"He's too scared now." Suigetsu suggested.
"No, that's not it at all." I provided, drawing all eyes to me within seconds. The girl's eyes were predatory and hostile, her hands gluing themselves to her hips within seconds. Sasuke's were curious, though they didn't linger on me for long. And Suigetsu just grinned.
