Harry's arms collapsed beneath him just in time to dodge a few more deadly needles. The shock of hitting the ground forced Harry's breath out in a whoosh as he scrabbled about like a crab. He gulped in a frantic mouthful of air as his feet finally found purchase on the leaf strewn earth. Another second passed, and then he was off like a spell. Though small, Harry still carried the strength and the speed of a mountain raised prince. No ordinary human could ever hope to catch him.

Ping!

Something metal pinged off of a stone to Harry's left and the boy immediately swerved right with a squeak. A soft thump of metal into wood had Harry swerving back to the left. Within a few steps Harry was forced to turn again when a metallic disk dug into the earth a few feet away. Panicking, the boy darted through two trees. His shoulder clipped one and he barely managed to keep his balance. As it was, Harry left several long claw marks in the dark wood from where he had to push himself forward. And glint of silver came from the left. Harry jumped desperately to the right. The human was still right on top of him! How… how was it possible for humans to be this fast? Surely, there was no way a human could keep of with the prince of snakes?

Harry tried to angle his path back towards the mountain summit but was waylaid by three more gleaming needles. Harry gave a sharp cry of fear and quickly headed in another direction. This human was fast! Harry's racing heart thundered within his chest as he leapt over a large root. His feet nimbly touched down with just the slightest pressure on the other side…

Click! The earth beneath Harry's feet regressed slightly downwards before a sharp snap rent the air. Harry's eyes widened as panels of metal slid rapidly from the earth on all four sides. It was a trap!

Time seemed to slow as Harry's brain kicked into overdrive. He couldn't be caught! Making a quick decision, Harry changed his direction and kicked off to the space between rising panels. Time sped up and Harry felt the air whoosh by him as the plates swung closed. And yet, his movement jerked to a halt as his leg was caught and pulled back. Skin and muscle broke with a gruesome crunch. Blood spewed into the air as metal clamped onto the bone beneath harshly and tugged it back as the trap closed.

"AAGggh!" Harry howled as the rest of his body crashed to the ground. Striking hot lava ran up his nerves. Nearly delirious from pain, he curled frantically around his ankle. A sob left Harry's throat as he clawed desperately at the steel box clamped around his leg. Tears watered in his green eyes before spilling over his cheeks.

"Off! Get off!" Harry gasped out. Something crinkled the leaves near him, but he was too focused on his own pain to notice. Harry jerked in surprise when two black gloved hands wrapped around his wrists though. Harry's wrists were drawn up and away from his painfilled leg as someone forcefully straightened Harry's body out. "Nngh!" Harry gasped out as his movement sent fine tremors of agony racing up and down his spine.

"Be still." A cold voice commanded Harry. Harry looked up to see two black clad humans. Both wore white masks, but one had the mask of a Flower while the other was wearing what appeared to be a Tree mask. The Flower one held his wrists in one hand and a length of rope in another. Harry whimpered at the sight of the rope. They were here to kidnap him? Where were they going to take him? These questions whirled through his mind like leaves in a storm. Jerking his head about, Harry tried to find that first mask, the Panda that had started his mad dash, but couldn't. Was he still hiding the woods or had Harry lost him only to find his accomplices?

Flower efficiently tied Harry's wrist in a complicated but strong knot before letting Harry fall back to earth with a strangled cry. A silver needle gleamed in threat from Flower's clenched fist.

"Be silent." The Flower human ordered. Harry whimpered in fear but did his best quiet his gasping breath. The Tree human stepped forwards for the first time. Harry tried to draw back a little but a sharp pain from his ankle froze him in place. A harsh mix between a whine and a cry of pain left his mouth before he could stifle himself.

"Hold still." The Tree ordered. From the folds of his cloak he pulled a wad of cloth and some fabric. The Tree forced Harry's jaw open and shoved the fabric ball into his mouth as a gag before tying the rope in place around his head. Then, Flower moved forward to heave Harry up and over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Harry's eyes widened. No! He couldn't let them take him away like this!

"Mmmph! Mmmmph!" Harry struggled to scream around the gag. He would have wiggled and fought, but his leg was still sending spasms of pain up his body. Harry yelped when something hit the side of his temple. Blinking dazedly, Harry peering up from the ground to see the Flower mask standing over him.

"He's just going to struggle if he's conscious. I'll dose him with the drug." Flower said tonelessly. Reaching into a hip pouch, the man pulled out a syringe and a vial of clear liquid. Harry stared at the syringe in horror as his stomach turned flips. No! He couldn't get drugged! If he was drugged how would he ever find his way back home once they took him?

Fear clouded to the forefront of Harry's mind and he almost mindlessly began to scrabble away. Electrifying jolts of pain radiated up from his leg, but Harry no longer cared in his terror and fear. Adrenaline gave him the strength and perseverance needed to begin crawling away. Yet, before he had even made it a few feet, an iron grip wrapped around his throat and cut off his air supply. Harry's eyes bugged out as his throat convulsed uselessly.

"Technically, he does not need to be conscious to be drugged." The Tree murmured as their fingers began to slowly choke the life out of Harry. Harry scratched weakly with his bound hands but stilled as movement from behind Tree caught his dulling eyes. An orange monkey?

Naruto could practically feel the satisfaction bubble up in his stomach as his heel connected with the asshole's nose. The crunching noise was just so cathartic after seeing the man trying to strangle the little kid.

Tree mask was sent flying into a nearby tree and Naruto used that time to bend down for look at the kid. Dark hair, pale skin, slit pupils, a scar on one side of the face, emerald green eyeballs, heavy bleeding from the leg, a quickly bruising throat… and blue tinted lips.

Not good.

Grabbing a kunai, Naruto was quick to cut the gag off and pull out the wad of fabric. Healthy, if labored gasping sounded like music to Naruto's ears as the boy immediately took advantage of his freed, easier route of breathing.

Something crunched, and Naruto had just enough time to grab the kid and jump for it before several shiny objects imbedded themselves in the forest floor just prior to Tree tackling the spot with a truly impressive heel kick. If it hadn't left the enemy nin off balance, Naruto really might have tried to take notes. As it was, the blonde was quick to throw some shuriken from his thigh pouch. Two of the three hit home in the enemy's forearm while the third was blocked with a kunai. Looking down at the terrified green eyes, Naruto made a hasty decision. He couldn't fight well with a kid in his arms and the kid might not take nicely to the manhandling. Naruto soooo did not want to see if the kid had gotten his teeth from dear old dad. Plus, the kid obviously wasn't going to get far with that leg of his… Naruto chucked him to the side.

"Eek!" The boy squawked as he was tossed headfirst into a pile of dead leaves.

Naruto grinned and charged the enemy. The Tree guy (likely from Grass, they 'loved' their plants) tried to create some space between them but Naruto just followed him with a chakra infused jump. Tree through a few senbon with his good arm but Naruto skillfully blocked them. He grinned. He didn't know who this guy was, but he definitely wasn't Jounin or ANBU level. Maybe Chunin? Naruto threw a handful of shuriken before quickly following it up with two kunai. One went wide but Naruto was quick to jump forward with a well-placed combo of kicks to force Tree back and to the left. The enemy nin leapt back a few more feet and Naruto grinned savagely.

"Kai!" Naruto shouted. Boom! The exploding tag attached to the previously misfired kunai activated in a bright flare of light, heat, and concussive force. The effects were immensely satisfying.

Naruto ducked as the Tree guy flew up and over his head to land somewhere behind him.

"Bet you weren't expecting that, were ya, sucker?!" Naruto called with a rabid grin. There was too such a thing as missing on purpose ya know!

Naruto turned to finish off the enemy nin but froze when he realized that Tree Guy was only a few yards away from where the kid had crawled behind some low bushes. Unfortunately, it seemed that tree guy knew it too.

Like a grass hopper, the Tree creep (because he was officially upgraded to CREEP in Naruto's mind for going after a little kid!) crouched down before jumping towards the kid with a chakra infused spring.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted as he too catapulted himself forward in order to reach Orochimaru's son. "Move it, kid!" Green eyes widened from behind a bramble bush just seconds before Tree Creep landed in front of him. The boy tried to scramble away but gave a cry and clutched at his bloody ankle. Moments later, Tree Creep's injured arm wrapped clumsily around the kid's torso while his healthy arm held a sharp kunai to the kid's throat. Naruto froze where he had landed a few feet away.

"Take one more step, leaf brat, and this demon spawn is dead." Tree spat out. Venom rose in the creep's voice when talking about the kid.

"Kill him and you're dead." Naruto growled out in retaliation. He tightened his grip on his kunai as his anger boiled his blood. That was just a kid, damn it! He obviously didn't know how to fight or protect himself no matter who his dad was. Hell! He probably had never met 'dear old dad', he might not even know who the man was. It wasn't fair to treat him like this just for the way he was born. It wasn't like the kid asked for Orochimaru as a dad! This whole thing reminded Naruto far too much of his own childhood. Bullied and gawked at for what happened to sit in his stomach, Naruto could still remember the hopeless confusion and hurt at how everyone treated him. This kid didn't deserve this! He didn't deserve any of it!

"Maybe, but I don't think you'll risk me doing anything, will you?" Tree asking tauntingly. Naruto could almost hear the smirk that had to be hiding beneath that ugly mask. He grit his teeth. Tree was right. So long as Creepy held the kid, Naruto couldn't do anything in risk of endangering the kid. Tree didn't have to kill the kid to hurt him after all. Tree Creep could blind him, maim him, or even cut off his tongue. Naruto growled lowly in rage. He could feel his whisker marks starting to heat up but pushed down the Kyuubi's chakra. Now wasn't the time to become a raging ball of destruction. That could come later-

"Aggh!" The Tree Creep shrieked. Naruto's eyes widened at the sight of three-inch-long fangs being pulled out the enemy's arm when the nin tried to flinch away from his pint-sized aggressor. Yup… definitely got his dad's teeth…

The kid immediately planted a sharp elbow into the enemy ninja's ribs in order to propel himself away while causing Tree Creep another moment of sharp painfilled distraction. The kid fell to the earth with a pained cry but didn't pause in trying to scramble away. Naruto swiftly inserted himself between the kid and Tree Creep but soon found that there was no need.

"Ghh! Wh-What is this?" Tree Creep cried as he held his bitten arm with a look of equal pain and horror. The Grass nin stumbled back few feet and Naruto got a good look at his arm.

Gray scales were beginning to spread out from the bite and the little bit of blood that had been dripping out was quickly turning the same color before condensing into… stone?

"N-No!" Tree creep gasped out as he came to the same conclusion as Naruto. Somehow, someway, the kid's bite had set off some sort of petrification reaction. Fascinated, Naruto couldn't take his eyes away as the stone scales began crawling up the man's bicep towards his torso. Already, his fingers were clenched eternally in stone. Meanwhile, the gray tint had somehow transferred to the man's other hand from where he had been holding his arm. It began with soft trickles of gray but under Naruto's eyes vast ribbons of stone and even a few gemstones began racing up the man's other arm. Disturbed, Naruto backed away another foot the petrification continued to pick up the pace.

"Ughhhh…" Tree creep moaned as the stone reached across his torso. Choking noises escaped his mouth as the stone apparently reached his lungs inside his chest. Blue began to tint the man's lips as gray strips of pebbles reached his mask. A few last gasping sounds escaped the enemy ninja before he went disturbingly still.

Naruto hesitantly took a few feet forward and tapped on the gray. The stature (for that was what it was now) had already been off balance due to the enemy ninja's writhing stance and quickly toppled over. IT shattered loudly, and Naruto was morbidly surprised to see a few stone organs come rolling out of the wrecked gray casing.

"Well shit." Naruto jumped and looked behind him to see Jiraiya with the unconscious form of Tree guy's accomplice. He'd be going to T and I when they got back to Konoha. "That's way worse than the hickies your dad gives." Jiraiya murmured in shock.

"W-what?" The snake kid asked as he stared at Jiraiya in blatant bewilderment. His fangs had retracted, and he was sitting a little ways away, clutching his still sluggishly bleeding leg. Yeah… they still needed to fix that.