Hey guys, it's been a while. Got caught up with life and was kept busy, but choppy net for the past 2 days prompted me to finish up a chapter.

This is my longest piece of writing ever, 4k words (not that big of a feat to many of you I'm sure :P). Originally this chapter was meant to include the whole of next chapter as well but while writing I got caught up with the scenes and ended up pushing 4k for it, at which point I had to decide whether to dish out a 7k chapter or update today (well you already know what I chose).

Also, Naruto Shippuden is officially over. It is officially the end of an era! No Spoilers, but did you guys like the last episode? I personally would have preferred more from it.

Before we start, mad shoutout to all the favoriters, followers and reviewers. Your support is deeply appreciated. :D

Anyways, here's a chapter I had been putting off writing for the past 3 months cause I really didn't want to finish the story already. Enjoy!

Chapter 14: The Rescue Mission.

Bursting into the Hokage's office he felt all eyes turn to look at him. He had sprinted out of his house as soon as he was relayed the message by the ANBU, Report to the Hokage's office immediately, Obito has been found. He still couldn't believe his ears, after two months, they finally had intel on where Obito was held captive.

As he scanned the faces in the room, he stopped as soon as he recognized the brunette standing in the far corner of the room.

'You! You have some nerve showing up here, I will kill you right here, right now.' and with that Kakashi charged at Reiko only to be stopped in his tracks by Shikaku's Shadow Paralysis Jutsu.

'I can understand where your frustration comes from, but if you want to have any chance of finding your friend I suggest you leave her alive.' He sighed, 'After all, she is the only one that knows the location of the hideout where Obito is kept captive.'

Kakashi looked back at Reiko shocked at what he had just heard. 'Why should we trust you?'

'Well she did come to us herself, willingly submitted herself to have her mind probed by T&I, and we have learnt a few interesting things about what Obito has been up to for the past two months since he went rogue.' Minato said.

'I know it may be hard for you to trust me after our last encounter, but believe me I only had Obito's best interests in mind, it was all part of the plan to lure him out of the village just so we could get away from Orochimaru. He is persistent and will stop at nothing to have Obito's sharingan. I'm truly sorry for getting you and your girlfriend tangled up in our mess.'

'You have a girlfriend Kakashi?' Minato turned his attention towards his former student, intrigued by the new development, 'I thought you'd tell me that much at least, you have hurt your Sensei's feelings. Who is she?'

Grinning sheepishly, Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck while he crinkled his eye, 'Oh it's not been that long Sensei, just about one and a half months. It is Anko. But I'll let you in on a secret that not many know. We're expecting a baby.' He said smiling.

'WHAT! You're going to be a father?' Minato said before bursting into a fit of laughter. 'I would pay good money to see you handle that duty. Wow you guys sure are growing up fast. I can't believe it's been almost six years since we went out on our last mission as a squad, I am very proud of you guys.'

They were interrupted by a brunette that had kept silent all this time, 'Hokage, Kakashi; now isn't the time to reminisce about the past. We have an extremely time sensitive issue on our hands.' Turning to face Reiko she continued, 'You still haven't told us what happened over the past two months. Moreover, how did Obito end up getting captured if your plan was so foolproof.'

'When I lured Obito out of Konoha it wasn't because I was following orders. To be honest we intended to get a head start and evade Orochimaru and we've been on the run for the past two months. That was his plan; to not get anyone involved in his problems. I even asked him to come and seek refuge in Konoha a month ago as we were most likely labelled as missing by then, but he didn't want to put anyone he cared for in harm's way for his sake. So we moved from town to town, disguising ourselves as travellers, until someone recognized us because of the bounty placed on our heads, at which point we got rid of them and found a new place to hide. It was the perfect plan, but I guess our luck had to run out eventually. Three days ago near the border of the Land of Fire, while we were fending off some of Orochimaru's lackeys that thought it would be easy to take us on and get their hands on the bounty, we were ambushed by Kisame. He just happened to be nearby and immediately caught on to our chakra signatures. I know I could have taken him on myself, but when we were caught unawares and that too immediately after a fight he had the upper hand and beat us. He being his arrogant self must have thought he had finished me off and left me to die, but I managed to escape after he left with Obito. I wasn't sure where to go, I couldn't leave Obito and make a run for it, so I came here and hoped that you'd be willing to do something to help out a comrade.'

As she finished speaking, Minato turned his gaze to Rin and Kakashi and spoke in a serious tone 'The thing Reiko seems to be leaving out is the fact that Orochimaru has mastered a forbidden jutsu called the immortality jutsu, and he plans on taking over Obito's body as his first host.'

'He can't do that, can he?' Rin asked, aghast at the prospect.

'I'm not sure, but I know I don't want to find out at Obito's expense.' Minato replied.

'So what do you propose we do?' Kakashi asked.

'Rin, Kakashi, from this moment on you are officially being sent on an S-rank mission. The objective is to infiltrate Orochimaru's hideout and bring Obito back to the hidden leaf village. You have an hour to get everything you require for the mission and rendezvous at the main gate.'

'Um, Sensei, how do we find out where the hideout is?' Rin asked.

'Oh, did I forget to mention. Well Reiko will be the third member of your squad.' Minato said smiling.

Both of them turned to look at Reiko, clearly unhappy with the situation. 'You better not mess this up. If I find even the slightest hint of your intention to betray us, believe me, I will not hesitate to run a kunai through you heart.' Kakashi said before he and Rin left the Hokage's office.

. .

Crouching on the tree branch the trio stared out at a small hut that stood in front of them.

'That is his current location, figures he'd be here it is after all his most favorite hideout.'

Kakashi just stared at Reiko as if she was delusional. 'Are you sure we're in the right place? This looks to be the size of my apartment back home and there haven't been any chakra signatures for miles.'

Turning her head towards the silver haired nin, Reiko smiled. 'Why do you think Orochimaru loves this place so much, that hut is just what you see on the surface, below it is an intricate maze of passageways that is easy to get lost in, moreover the place is lined with a special rock that masks the chakra of anyone within it, so if you don't know what you're looking for you are certainly going to overlook this place as a deserted old shack.'

'So what's the plan, do we just storm the front?' Rin asked.

'I shall infiltrate the place, I know my way around the best. You both stay here, be on guard and await my signal because as soon as you receive my signal this area will turn into a battle zone. There shouldn't be that many people here, Orochimaru doesn't like bringing even his most loyal subordinates over here. My guess is there will be about five underlings that we'll have to deal with besides him and Kisame.' She replied before looking at Rin. 'Rin, we will need you to be ready to heal Obito immediately. There is a very good chance that he'd be physically drained and exhausted and will be in need of medical assistance. We need to avoid fighting as far as possible. Our ideal, albeit highly unlikely strategy would be if we can get out without running into any skirmish, but taking a realistic approach we need to avoid Kisame and Orochimaru as far as possible because if we encounter them our casualty rate is gonna be high.'

Rin just nodded her head; an expression of worry marred her face at the thought of Obito's condition.

'Alright then, we will wait out here. We're counting on you to do your part. What signal are we supposed to look out for though?'

Grinning at Kakashi she started forming hand signs, 'Oh you'll see.' She said before disappearing into a puff of smoke.

An hour later.

'Do you think she was probably seen and captured?'

'Have some patience Kakashi, she said she would handle it, I trust she cares enough about Obito's well-being to see her part through.' Rin said as she turned to face Kakashi.

'It's the only logical explanation, it's been over an hour and there have been absolutely no signs of any activity. Think about it, it's very much possible.'

'Why do you have to be so negative?'

'I'm just being rational here; maybe we gave her too much credit and overestimated her abilities.'

Sighing she turned to look ahead at the hut. 'Think what you want, I'd like to have a little more faith in her than you do.'

'Whatever you say.' As soon as Kakashi completed his sentence there was a deafening explosion and the ground started to cave in 200 meters away.

'Well looks like she pulled through, I told you.' Rin said as she smiled at Kakashi before leaping to the ground.

'She said a signal, who was she trying to alert, all the shinobi nations?' Kakashi muttered to himself before jumping after Rin.

As they neared the site, they counted seven chakra signatures amidst the rubble and dust that the explosion had created. Pulling out kunais from their holsters they readied themselves for the oncoming fight.

Suddenly two figures leapt past them and landed a few meters behind them. Turning around they were greeted by a brunette who was weighed down by a guy leaning against her shoulder.

Carefully lowering Obito on the ground, she made him lay down before meeting Rin's gaze. Reiko could clearly see the worry written all over Rin's face as she saw Obito in his bruised condition.

'Don't worry too much; he isn't in harm's way. Orochimaru wouldn't ruin his future body. You do need to help him by healing him with your medical jutsu.' Reiko finished with a soft smile.

Immediately shunshining besides Obito, Rin knelt down next to him and let her chakra flow though his body to heal his wounds. Looking down at Rin work on healing Obito, Reiko started walking toward where Kakashi stood, Obito would be well looked after in the presence of Rin, moreover they had more pressing matters on hand like the 5 guards that were collecting their bearings amidst the settling dust.

'Looks like you pulled through.' Kakashi smirked as Reiko reached beside him.

'Told you it'd be a breeze for me.' She said as she pulled out two kunais from her holster, 'These guys however shouldn't be underestimated; Orochimaru would only keep strong subordinates as guards over here.'

'Don't joke around; these excuses for shinobi are not even worth my time.' He said as he pulled up his hitai-ate uncovering his left eye.

'I am serious Kakashi, underestimate them and it could be the last mistake you make in this life.'

Unsheathing the tanto on his back he let his chakra flow through it as it started to crackle with a blue aura, 'Like I said, don't place me on the level of these small frys.' He said as he leapt past the cloud of dust into enemy territory.

A few seconds later, a shrill scream was heard followed by the sound of a body falling to the ground.

'Shit, the enemy is attacking. Everyone, be on guard.' A man said.

Suddenly the dust started to be blown up clearing the battlefield, 'Wind Style: Wind Slicer Jutsu.' a man said as he smirked at Kakashi who stood beside a dead body with a gaping gash through his chest. 'Not bad, you managed to take out our newest member without breaking a sweat. However, I can assure you the four of us will not be taken down as easily.'

'You seem to be giving yourselves too much credit.' Kakashi said, 'If you want to live to see tomorrow I suggest you take your friends and leave, I promise not to kill anymore of you.'

Breaking into a loud laugh, the man held his stomach before suddenly stopping and glaring at Kakashi, 'You're very cocky. I hate your kind the most' He said as he pulled out the katana attached to his waistband before screaming out to his members, 'Ukon and Sakon, I trust the two of you can handle Reiko.'

'Leave her to us Jiren.' The twins replied.

'What about Dadan? What should Dadan do, Jiren?' A tall, huge man asked.

'Dadan, you get rid of the girl and retrieve Obito. Should be a simple enough task for you.'

'Oh yaay, then can Dadan play more with Obito? He is fun to beat.' Dadan said as he clapped his hands and started walking forward.

'Hey fat-fuck. Take another step towards Obito and I'll kill you.' Kakashi said as he glanced at him through the corner of his eye.

'I told you, you cocky brat, your little roadshow ends here. I'll make sure I kill you nice and slow just so you can watch your group die in front of your eyes.' The blade of his katana then lit up in fire, 'Fire Style: Flame Sword.'

'Oooh, you made Jiren mad. You're dead.' Dadan laughed as he started running towards Rin and Obito.

Closing his eyes, Kakashi smiled. 'I've been wanting to try this for a while.' He said as he slowly opened his eyes revealing the tomoe of his left eye that had come together to form a kaleidoscopic pattern. 'Mangekyo Sharingan.'

As Jiren started charging towards Kakashi, a small black hole started to form in front of Kakashi as his body started to distort into it before he suddenly warped inside it.

'What the fuck!.' Jiren exclaimed as Kakashi and his chakra signature suddenly disappeared. 'Don't tell me he teleported and ran away.'

Reiko who had just witnessed all this cursed under her breath before looking behind at Rin still healing an injured Obito. Crouching down she placed her palms on the ground, 'Ice Style: Ice Cage Jutsu.' Suddenly a massive block of ice formed around the two twins, trapping them within the dome. That should hold them in for a few minutes, now I need to take Dadan down before he reaches Obito. That dimwit will crush them with his brute strength.

As she started sprinting behind her target, Jiren caught onto her plan.

'Oh no you don't.' he exclaimed as he shunshined in front of her path causing her to stop her chase, 'I'm sure Lord Orochimaru would be very pleased if I took out the rogue subordinate that tried to rescue Obito. Don't you think so?' Jiren smirked.

'Get out of my way Jiren, you and I both know you're no match for me.'

'There's only one way to prove that theory of yours,' he said as he leapt back and drew shurikens from his holster and threw them at Reiko, 'Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Shuriken Jutsu.' The oncoming shurikens were immediately enveloped in flame as they continued on their trajectory.

Joining her thumb to her index finger, Reiko brought her hand to her mouth before blowing through the gap, 'Water Style: Water Bullet Jutsu.'

As the two jutsus clashed against each other the shurikens fell to the ground leaving a small cloud of steam in its wake.

'Pathetic. This isn't my first time going up against that jutsu and yours is by far one of the weakest renditions I've encountered.' She said in an attempt to rile him up as she drew her katana, 'I told you to let me pass but since you insist on getting in my way I'm afraid you have to die.'

'YOU'RE THE ONE THAT DIES TODAY!' He yelled as he allowed his blade to be enveloped in flame once again before charging at Reiko.

As he neared her, Reiko sidestepped his swing as she pivoted away from his blade before she swung her katana two inches from his face.

Turning around to face each other, Jiren started to laugh. 'What the hell was that, I thought you were much more proficient with your katana, you were barely able to lay-' he stopped speaking as his expression grew serious, raising his free hand to his face he felt something warm and wet running down his cheek, bringing his fingers in front of him he saw the blood staining his hand. Staring back at Reiko in shock he glanced down at her blade and noticed the blue hue of her chakra that extended a few centimeters past the tip of the blade.

'YOU BITCH!' he yelled, 'YOU CUT ME. YOU CUT MY FACE. I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS.'

From the corner of her eye she noticed Rin holding her kunai in a battle stance ready to take on the charging enemy.

I need to help her, Dadan is way too strong for her to handle alone and Obito doesn't seem to be fully healed either.

Suddenly a small black spiral started to form over Dadan as a hand started to emerge from within it. Before anyone realized what had happened, the big made man was sliding face first across the ground with Kakashi pining him down from the back of his neck. They came to a stop a few metres from Rin and Obito.

Glancing up from his pinned target he gave a sheepish smile at a surprised Rin, 'Didn't scare you did I?'

Rin just stared at him mouth slightly agape as she shook her head in the negative, still unsure what she just witnessed. Kakashi just appeared out of nowhere and taken down that beast of a man. She thought to herself

'Show off.' Obito muttered to himself before noticing Kakashi's sharingan. He quickly shot up but immediately regretted it as he winced from the pain it caused him.

Coming back to the present at the sound of Obito's hiss, Rin crouched next to him as she made him lie back. 'You're in no condition to be moving. You still haven't been healed.' She said as she let her chakra flow through him again.

Turning his head to the side, Obito looked concernedly at Kakashi. 'Your sharingan, what's wrong with it?' he asked, unsure what to make of the unusual pattern it bore.

Touching his temple he smiled as the kaleidoscopic pattern reverted back to the three tomoes, 'This is the Mangekyo Sharingan. It's a much more advanced version of the sharingan, I awoke it back in our mission with Zaku though I didn't know I had done so at the time. While it is bad-ass I can't use it for long, it puts too much of a strain on my body and chakra reserves.'

Suddenly a shadow fell over Kakashi, turning around he saw a heavily bruised Dadan glaring at him.

'You hurt Dadan. Dadan mad!'

'You're still moving, I thought you'd be out for the count.' Kakashi said as he pulled out the tanto from his back once again.

In the blink of an eye he had shunshined underneath Dadan, 'Should have stayed down big boy.' He said as he drove the tanto through his chest causing the man to gasp for air as he started to cough up blood. Falling to his knees he held onto the Kakashi's hands that gripped the hilt of the tanto. 'I'll make this quick for you.' Kakashi said as he twisted the blade within his chest causing the man's hands to lose its strength before falling limply by his side. Pulling out the blade he wiped the blood against his trousers before sheathing it as Dadan's body fell backward on the ground.

On seeing Kakashi come to his friends' aid, Reiko's worries were eased as she turned her attention to the enemy in front of her.

'Last chance Jiren, leave now and live.'

'Not a chance. You die first then your little posse over there follows.'

'Suit yourself.' She said as they both started to charge at each other. As they neared each other Jiren swung once again but Reiko slid on her knees as she ducked under the swing of his blade while placing a paper bomb on his right shin at the same time. Sliding out of range she brought her hand up to form the signs and set off the bomb causing Jiren to immediately fall to the ground from the unexpected explosion.

'A good shinobi knows when he's outmatched and admits defeat.' She said as she walked up to a heavily wounded Jiren. 'It's your fault that it had to end like this.' And with that she drove her katana through his chest delivering the finishing blow.

A few moments after her battle with Jiren had ended the group felt an eerie chill run down their spines.

The twins had just managed to escape from the dome but were confronted with a rather unexpected sight. Near the group with Obito lay a lifeless Dadan on the ground, while on the other side Jiren had just fallen to the ground from a close range explosion as Reiko approached him with a clear intent to kill.

'Brother I think we are dealing with enemies from a different league.'

'My thoughts exactly Sakon.'

'I suggest we try and escape with our lives while we still can.'

'Sounds good.'

The duo had barely covered 200 meters when they were intercepted by a huge figure appearing in front of them. The man grabbed them by the throat before choke-slamming them into the ground.

As they got their bearings they stared up at shark like man with pale blue skin wearing a sinister grin.

'Hello there boys.' He said.

'Kisame!' they gulped.

'What do we have here Kisame? You boys wouldn't have been planning on deserting your posts, were you?' A voice asked from a few meters away.

'Orochimaru sama, we would never.' Ukon replied.

'Yes, yes. Brother is telling the truth, we never anticipated to be ambushed by such a strong force; they took out both Dadan and Jiren with ease and the new boy never stood a chance. We were just on our way to look for Kisame to help us out.'

'That sure is an interesting story.' Orochimaru chuckled. 'But that doesn't explain why you never stayed to finish your duty.'

'I think samehada would love to cut you both up, I'm sure he's plenty hungry. It's only fitting for someone that can't serve Orochimaru like they were ordered to.'

'No please don't do it.' Sakon begged.

'Yes, please don't, we'll do anything.'

'Let them go, they're only kids Kisame.' Orochimaru said as he chuckled louder.

Easing his grip around their necks, Kisame stood up. 'You're lucky Orochimaru is such a forgiving master. I would have gutted you both alive.' He said.

'Now tell me boys, how many enemies were there?'

'Three of them, Orochimaru sama.'

'A medic that's tending to Obito, Reiko, and a silver haired demon. He single-handedly took out Dadan and the new guy. He's so fast we can't see him move.'

'Yes, Yes. He even appeared out of nowhere and killed Dadan with a single strike. We didn't even see how he killed new boy.'

'Reiko and Kakashi, I'm so excited I could cry.' Kisame said as he drew out samehada. 'Now then, run along boys.' He said as the two of them looked at each other before taking a few steps forward.

Suddenly they felt a gripping pain in their chests, looking down they noticed pale white arms protruding out the front, turning around they stared into the snake-like eyes of Orochimaru.

'Who said you were getting out alive. I detest weakness more than anything.' He replied as he pulled his arms out and wiped the blood off against the back of their robes.

'Let's go Kisame, my prized Uchiha must be waiting for me to rescue him from those monsters.' he said as his tongue snaked out and licked his lips.

SO... Hope you guys enjoyed that. I admit it was much more graphic than my usual action scenes and probably was worth the M rating but i was enjoying the whole vibe going on.

Are you guys ready for the impending showdown with the legend Orochimaru himself? He's probably one of the most badass villains of the series, though i will admit he has nothing on the beast that is Madara.

As always, thanks for reading and would love to read your thoughts and reviews on the chapter.

Till next time.

Cheers!