Yo, it's been awhile.

I've had an ongoing struggle with self motivation and it's been a tough battle doing anything productive. But hey, I got this out so that's something! Right?

Anyway, here you go. Chapter 22!

With the invasion all but over, the cleanup was well underway. The sand ninja had already retreated, and the sound ninja who were left were either captured or killed.

One of the leaf ninja working as a messenger, Yamada Sasahiko, was making his way across the village when something caught his eye. There had been an explosion of insane proportions not too long ago, and while he'd heard that the Sannin Jiraiya had personally worked to minimize the damage, Yamada also heard that the blast sight had become a barren wasteland of a crater. Imagine his surprise when he spotted something sticking out of the ground near the edge of the crater.

"What is that? A sword?" Yamada dropped off of the roof he'd been running on and approached the crater, "Jeez, I can't believe someone did that with an explosive. There's hardly anything left of the stadium. Rebuilding that is gonna suck. Anyway, let's see about you." There was a sword stabbed firmly into the ground, and it hadn't been blown away by that ridiculous blast. Yamada couldn't help the greedy smile that crossed his face, "I've been wanting a sword recently, and it's completely undamaged too?!" He reached for the handle, "It must be my lucky day."

"It's not." A foot landed on the back of Yamada's head and he died instantly. Naruto let the body fall as he grabbed the sword Kisame had given him and pulled the black blade out of the compacted dirt. He whistled to himself, "They really did avert the blast. Tch." He rested the sword on his back and tramped down to the center of the crater, "Since I'm here, let's see if I can figure exactly how they did it." A shadow passed over the mask on his face and his next words came out in a low growl, "And when I run into whoever's responsible, I'll kill him."

In the stillness of a dank, empty room, Sakura Haruno stirred, "...Ugh, my head." She tried to rub the side of her head, but a cold weight on her wrist stopped her.

Sakura mustered up her effort to wrench her heavy eyelids open, and she was greeted with an unpleasant sight. She was in a dank room. The filthy walls were lit from above by dimly flickering fluorescent lights. The weights on her wrists and ankles were shackles, and the links of the chain that connected each heavy band were thicker than her fingers. Too big to break with her strength. There was barely enough slack in the chains for her to move her limbs separately, but it was enough to push herself up and shuffle forward on her hands and knees toward the room's lone doorway. The light didn't reach past that doorway, but her only choice was to delve into the darkness.

Before Sakura even made it halfway there, a voice came from the shadowed doorway, "Hm. So you're finally awake."

Sakura couldn't see who it was, but she glared anyway, "Where's my team? What do you do with them? What do you want with us!" Maybe if she sold herself as a weak genin who was all bluster, her captor would let his guard down. She could only hope for an opening to try to escape.

"Heh, are you sure you really want to know?" A sandaled foot stepped into the light, "Well, it was already too late for you to go back when you were put on a team with Sasuke."

"Sasuke? What does this have to do with him?" Sakura realized something, and a chill went down her back. She grit her teeth, "You bastard, what are you doing to Sasuke?!" Whoever this was, whoever their captor happened to be, they were after the Sharingan in some way or another.

The man stepped fully into the light, and the rounded glasses on his face reflected Sakura's ragged form, "Get up, Sakura. I'll show you."

Sakura immediately recognized that grey hair. She didn't hold back her gasp, "Kabuto?! But- You, you helped us during the exam! Why are you here?"

Kabuto's smile had never reached his eyes, and before Sakura just thought it was because he was depressed. But now, even with the same expression that he always wore, he was much more sinister. He turned away and said, "Let's focus on one thing at a time. You wanted to see the rest of your team, right? Let's go."

In an instant, Sakura was released from her shackles. She rubbed her wrists and slowly stood up. For some reason, she'd been released. She was freed and her enemy's back was turned, it was the opening that she needed. Her fingers twitched.

"Oh, and Sakura?" Kabuto half-turned back to her, "Don't get any ideas."

He said it in a pleasant voice with a smile, but Sakura couldn't stop herself from shaking. She was filled with the sense that if she attacked now, she would be completely destroyed. Still, she found it in herself to say, "You're not a genin at all."

"I'm truly sorry that I had to deceive you like that, Sakura, but business is business." A voice so insincere that it could be considered art, "And speaking of business..." He turned back and started walking, "Your other friend was hurt badly."

"Haru?" Sakura growled, "What did you do to him?"

Kabuto was already receding into the shadows, "Come see."

Sakura stared hard at Kabuto's back and silently followed him into the darkness.

Hashirama stood at the top of Hokage tower, overlooking the village while Jiraiya explained the situation to the gathered heads of various departments of the villages forces. The wind tugged at his long hair, but his skin felt as if he'd crawled through a mountain of ash. Sandy, caked, dull. He could not feel the wind on his face, nor did his chest move. He looked down at his cracked palm, "Brother of mine, what have you done?" He heard a cough from behind, "Ah, yes Jiraiya-kun? Did you need something?" He didn't turn away from the view.

"Our leader is dead."

"Indeed, it was too late for Hiruzen."

"We need a Hokage."

"You're going to ask me?"

"There's no one more suited than you."

"Jiraiya-kun, I don't belong here. I don't know the specifics, but to bring me back Oroshimaru sacrificed someone. He used a jutsu that my brother developed."

"Still, you're our best option. Right now, the village needs you, and you'd never abandon the village."

"You're right. I won't abandon the village, but to have a dead man as the current Hokage has it's own problems. So," Hashirama finally faced Jiraiya and flashed a bright smile, "I'll just be a stand in until the knew one gets picked. Then I'm going on a trip."

"That's a surprise. Where would you go?"

"For now, I don't have anywhere in mind." A melancholy smile spread across Hashirama's lips, "I might visit some old friends."

"Hmm." Jiraiya stared at the smoking buildings at the edge of the village. His expression hardened as he witnessed a series of rapid explosions, "Something's wrong."

Hashirama's smile also disappeared, "I see it, too. It seems the enemy forces have not been driven out completely." Jiraiya tensed to jump, but Hashirama's cracked hand stopped him, "It could be a trap. We don't know how many are left. If we both go, an assault could be launched on the unguarded tower. I will go capture whoever is making such a ruckus." Before Jiraiya could protest, Hashirama was gone.

Kabuto led Sakura through a series of tunnels without lights, and she had nothing to follow but the steady beat of his steps on the stone floor. She was counting the turns they'd taken when he started talking.

"You're friend was hurt badly by the time he ended up on my operating table." They stopped in front of an iron door, and Kabuto rested his hand on the frame.

Sakura glared at him, "You already said that."

"It bears repeating." Kabuto looked back at Sakura, "If he'd lost any more blood, he would've died."

The hinges creaked as the door swung outward. The chemical smells of a hospital assaulted Sakura's nose, but she couldn't stifle her gasp, "Haru!" She ran to her friend laying still on a bloody operating table, "Haru!" She clung onto Haru and felt his shallow, even breath on her neck. It was warm. She looked him over. He'd been cleaned, and there were needles all over his body that were connected to different IV drips. His arms were intact, as were his hands, but his leg...

Sakura looked away.

Kabuto stepped up to the table. The fluorescent lights overhead did nothing to illuminate his face as he ran a hand glowing with medical chakra over the unconscious Haru, "The damage was beyond reparable, the amputation saved his life. Any bones below the knee had snapped, and his ankle? The only reason his foot hadn't fallen off yet is because what was left of the cartilage and sinew hadn't snapped yet." He smugly pushed his glasses higher up on his nose, "Normally, such an injury would be the end of any ninja's career. Although," Kabuto turned to Sakura, and she caught the hint of movement behind her in his glasses' reflection, "I could be convinced to make a prosthetic limb to replace the missing one."

Sakura spun around, ready to kick whoever was behind her, but there was no one there. When she turned back to Kabuto, she startled. There was a man standing behind him. Tall, and disturbingly pale, with silky black locks that framed reptilian yellow eyes. The man's smile sent shiver's down Sakura's spine, "So she's the first to wake, my dear Kabuto?"

Kabuto smirked at Sakura and pushed up his glasses again, "Yes, Lord Orochimaru."

"Orochimaru?" Sakura's mind raced, "A member of the Sannin, one of the three ninja who defeated Hanzo the Salamander and became legends? The one who defected from the leaf village and was never brought in? That Orochimaru?"

"Kukuku," The pale man could've passed as a beautiful girl if it wasn't for the creepy air that came off of him, "It seems this one read the history books. That makes this easier." Orochimaru licked his lips, "If you want to save this friend of yours, then you will do exactly as I say. If you don't, then both of you will die."

Sakura gulped, "W-what about Sasuke?"

"Sasuke..." Sakura didn't like the way Sasuke's name sounded on Orochimaru's tongue, "I have other plans for him, kukuku." Yellow eyes honed in on Sakura and she couldn't stop herself from shaking, "You will take Sasuke back to the leaf village."

"What- You're letting us go?" This legendary ninja had plans for Sasuke, but he was letting him go on purpose? "I don't understand."

"You don't need to understand," Kabuto pushed his glasses back up his nose, "All you need to do is obey."

"Hm." Orochimaru smiled his reptilian smile, "Your friend Haru, on the other hand, won't be going with you. Without this medical equipment keeping him alive, he will die before you can take him to a doctor capable of saving his life. He will remain here under Kabuto's watch until he has been completely rehabilitated." Sakura tried to open her mouth, but Orochimaru put a cold finger up to her lips. She looked up at him, and his eyes seemed to glow, "You will speak nothing of this. When questioned by your superiors you will tell them that you were ambushed by sand ninja on your way back to the village. Dear Sasuke drove himself to exhaustion fighting off the enemy ninja, and young Haru here served as the distraction you needed to get away. You don't know what happened to him but you know that somewhere, he is still alive."

Sakura nodded slowly, without breaking eye-contact, "Yes." Then she lost consciousness.

Orochimaru stepped around Sakura's collapsed form with disinterest, "Would you be a dear and take care of that, Kabuto?"

Kabuto bowed, "Of course, my lord." Kabuto kneeled down to pick up Sakura, "Are you sure it's wise to let your prize go so easily?"

Orochimaru stopped at the door, "Acquiring the Sharingan is meaningless if Sasuke doesn't come to me willingly. I won't be satisfied with one eye like that brat Kakashi, and I couldn't maintain two implanted Sharingan either. This is the best way to get what I want."

Kabuto stood with Sakura slung over his shoulder, "And the girl?"

"She'll make a most interesting pawn." Orochimaru stepped out of the room.

"Of course, lord Orochimaru."

Naruto pouted as Konan flew him back to the Akatsuki base.

"Pouting stopped working for you a while ago, Naruto."

"Are you sure it's not still working?"

"Absolutely."

The Naruto clone looked over the smoking remains of his handiwork from atop a building, "Two city blocks and a public park. Deidara would be proud. Maybe not Hidan, since there was no one to die in the blast, but, eh, who cares." He shrugged carelessly, "Someone strong will see it and come running, and then I can ask them about who meddled with my bomb."

Then a ninja landed on a nearby rooftop in a crouch.

The Naruto clone chuckled, "Just as I predicted."

"So it was you." Hashirama had easily honed in on the perpetrator on his way over. Long blond hair, wearing a porcelain mask as well as black robes painted with red clouds, a thick black sword rested on his back. He wasn't making an effort to hide. The first hokage stood from where he'd landed, "What do you have to gain from such destruction."

The boy turned to Hashirama, "What do I have to gain, you ask?" Red eyes glowed from behind the mask, and after a pause, the voice rang with surprise, "Oh? You're the corpse that Orochimaru summoned." He mumbled, "Intriguing. Though the caster has died, the summon remains. It seems that my former sensei found something out of the ordinary." Then, in a mocking voice, "Haven't you heard? Your master is dead, return to the grave!" A finger was jabbed at the first hokage.

"Master, you say?" Hashirama chuckled and spread his arms, "Now, because that man is dead, there is no way for me to do as you ask. When we fought before, my mind was dulled by Orochimaru's control, but now I am thinking clearly." His expression darkened, "This is where you came from, yet you set such a destructive explosive in the middle of the village. I think it's time for you to learn that you're actions have consequences."

"Ah." The boy bounced on the balls of his feet and drew his black sword, "So you were the one who stopped my bomb?"

"I'll answer a question with a question. Why would you set something like that off in the middle of a village? If I hadn't stopped it, then thousands of innocent people would've lost their lives in your petty conflict!"

"Who knows? Maybe I'll use your ashes for the ink to write about it!" The boy, Naruto, charged across the rooftops at Hashirama.

Hashirama clasped his hands and a tree root speared out from where he stood on a building into Naruto's way, and while the boy was distracted with the sudden obstacle, Hashirama dashed for the ruins of Naruto's most recent explosion.

A moment later he was bisected by the black sword, and Naruto cackled, "You thought that was enough to slow me down?!"

The Hashirama that Naruto cut was surrounded by a puff of smoke and revealed to be a large doll, a wood clone, and the real one had moved to the middle of the carnage that Naruto had caused. He spoke calmly, "This way, no one else should get hurt."

Naruto's Akatuki cloak billowed as he launched himself through the air at his foe, "That should be the least of your worries!"

As Naruto brought his black sword down on Hashirama's shoulder, Hashirama clasped his hands and called out, "Wood style: Great forest emergence!"

Tendrils of wood speared out of the ground up toward Naruto. He couldn't reach the ground in time, but he strengthened his hand that weilded his heavy sword, and the arm that led back to his shoulder. As if it were planned, Naruto slid his body up and over Hashirama's head like an image of water falling in reverse, and contorted himself out of harms way. With his grip still tight around the handle of the black sword, Naruto then twisted his wrist and ripped the blade through the rib cage and out of the dead man's chest.

Naruto landed in a low crouch and rested the heavy sword across his shoulder, while the upper and lower parts of his enemy fell in different directions. The red clouds on his cloak matched the eyes that peeked from behind the porcelain mask, they seemed to glow in the light of the setting sun. He grumbled, "That'll show you not to mess with my- Guh!" The boy looked down at the tree branch that had speared him from behind, then at the rapidly regenerating corpse that was pushing itself off of the ground, "Damn you!" Then he burst into smoke, leaving nothing behind.

Hashirama dusted himself off as he finished picking himself up, "A clone, huh? And it looks like the variant that my brother came up with, too." He looked at the wreckage around him, "Jiraiya-kun needs to hear about this."

In the woods surrounding the leaf village, Naruto's clone was making his way back to the rain village with his true sword. In the middle of one of his tree hops, a memory struck him and he cursed, "The boss ain't gonna like this."

And that's a wrap for this chapter! Hashirama is going to be Hokage until Tsunade is brought back, team 7 has finally encountered Orochimaru, and Naruto will be returning to the rain for a surprise meeting with another mask enthusiast.

I'm steadily giving myself more things to keep in mind, and while it is more work, the story should be feeling more fleshed out.

Until next time, bye!