Will of Fire

Prologue

Footsteps splashed silently down a cobblestone street at a rapid pace. The water from the multiple puddles fell neatly back into place as if barely disturbed at all. They moved in shadow, down back-alleys and through twisting streets. The wet and moldy streets of the Hidden Village of the Rain were like a damp musky maze in some sort of giant dungeon, but Uchiha Sasuke was no rat. He wound his way swiftly and silently toward his objective, the spiraling and crooked tower in the near distance, his arms flailing behind him as he ran. Sasuke extended his awareness as he approached his destination, aware of even the drops of water that flung themselves from his black Akatsuki cloak into the faces of the three ninja running close on his heels.

Sasuke didn't particularly consider himself to be part of Akatsuki, the infamous renegade ninja organization hell bent on changing and reshaping the world of ninja by collecting and harnessing the ultra-powerful demons called bijuu. That was not Sasuke's agenda. Sasuke cared nothing for politics or the way of the world. Sasuke was an avenger. And there were individuals that still had to pay dearly for what they had done.

It was true that Konoha had been destroyed, but those responsible for the fate of the Uchiha clan had still not been held responsible. Danzo was missing after the counterattack on Pain. He and the elders he was after had been lost somewhere in the rubble that was now Konoha. So Akatsuki served Sasuke's purposes for the moment, and doing the will of the organization helped maintain the trust of its true and seemingly immortal leader, Uchiha Madara.

Sasuke propelled himself up and then off of a slanted and jagged metal roof to gain some quick distance before falling back into the shadows. He couldn't hide the slight metallic clang his foot made as he leapt off the worn and shanty roof. All of Amegakare was made of this sort of rust resistant metal it seemed. Buildings made of wood would only rot in a place so constantly wet, Sasuke realized.

Sasuke came to a stop a few hundred yards from the tower under the cover of a side street, and removed his straw hat. He hated the hat, and it did not trouble him at all to simply let it fall to the ground as he stared up at the winding tower. After this information gathering mission, Sasuke hoped to be done with Akatsuki soon anyway.

The tower looked like a model of something a child would throw together and hold in place with glue. The welding was shoddy and pieces of metal seemed to hang loose from the wall the higher one looked up the old structure. Sasuke couldn't understand how the building even stood. Sasuke closed his eyes and let the rain run down over his face as he tried to sense any presences within the tower. All he felt was residual suffering and malice.

"Remind me again why we came all the way out here, Sasuke," A scratchy voice said just slightly behind his right shoulder. "Madara said Pain was destroyed along with Konoha when the Copy Ninja led a counterattack."

"Hmph," Sasuke sneered. "Naruto. It would be like him to talk his enemy into surrendering. Pain knew something about Madara, even believed in Madara's true goal. We need to find out what that goal is."

"He's only told you like a thousand times Suigetsu," a crisp alto voice said over his left shoulder. "Stop complaining its wet here isn't it?"

Why do I put up with this? Sasuke wondered, saying nothing. Taka had its uses for sure, and Karin herself had saved his own life at least twice already with her ability. He once even dared to consider them friends, but Sasuke now knew that like him they were just tools, means to an end. The time would come when he would have to sacrifice them all. The old corrupt Konoha had been destroyed by pain, but its corrupt leaders still remained. The truth about Itachi would surface, and then Sasuke would restore the name of Uchiha, and take whatever power Madara had planned for himself. Sasuke knew he could no longer afford to be afraid to make sacrifices.

A small voice, a small memory, almost a whisper, flashed into Sasuke's mind.

"You're not Itachi! Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed at him with a cracking voice and hot tears in my eyes. Dangerous Sakura petal blades were a symbol of his mind about to be cut to shreds. "You don't have to sacrifice your friends! Lets us help you!"

Sasuke pushed the memory from his mind as he made the final dash to the base of the tower.

"Are we going to the top?" asked a simple peaceful voice once they were inside.

"No," Sasuke said. "Down."

Inside the tower it was rusted and poorly lit. The winding staircase down to the unseen depths of the basement and the huge sewer system beneath the city seemed to go on forever, but at last Sasuke lead them to the room he knew they were looking for.

The room was warm and moist, with six sarcophagi lining the dull moss-covered walls, three on each side. Sasuke activated his sharingan for better night vision as he lead his team into the gloom.

"Phew," Suigetsu exclaimed loudly, causing an echo off the stone walls, "What died in here?"

"Quiet Suigetsu, you idiot," hissed the alto. "You're being so distracting. Maybe we should have let you stand guard outside?"

"Karin, I doubt I am as distracting as a woman with an obsession for sniffing a certain person's under—"

"It's here," Sasuke said, interrupting the banter by touching a control on a panel stand next to the last sarcophagus on the left.

The wall at the rear of the room slid upward slowly, to reveal six more tubes full of glowing bull liquid. Three of them were empty except for the bubbling solution, but three had bodies in them. Sasuke strode close enough to one of the tubes that he could see his twisted reflection staring back at him just in front of the lazily floating body. It looked peaceful, as if in slumber, this one a male no older than he was, and with long red hair in a pony tail.

"Hmmm, mmm, yes I see," Karin whispered, adjusting her glasses so that they caught what little light there was in the gloom and gleamed. "They are all dead."

"Yes," said Sasuke almost absent mindedly.

There was a conveyer in front of the tubes; on it were a great many black rods about the length of his index finger. Sasuke studied the layout of the conveyer. He could tell that it would load the rods into a drum at the end, and then…

"This mechanism uses that mechanical arm to inject these rods into the bodies," Sasuke mused aloud.

"I see," said Karin intelligently, bending over slightly as she studied the machine. "You're right Sasuke, but that drum at the end, the user of the machine loads his chakra into that, so the rods become active only when they are loaded through the drum. With this, Pain could make a fresh analog for himself very quickly, in case one of his primaries was lost."

"But Pain did not come up with this jutsu on his own," Sasuke realized. It was the construction of the machine, the glass tubes holding bodies. It was all very familiar to him.

"He didn't?" mused Jugo in is calm voice.

There was a laugh from the shadows; an evil cackle that echoed from all around, giving no direction, no source. It was one laugh, but more like two people laughing at the same time. It was sinister and cold, and Sasuke knew it all too well. He felt just a slight tingle of fear crawl up his spine.

"Very good, Sasuke," said a low mewling voice. "We're pleased you recognized our work."

"Kabuto," Sasuke said.

Out of the gloom, a ninja dressed in a purple combat suit stepped forward. He had long, shoulder length white hair, and wore spectacles with perfectly round lenses, but it was no longer Kabuto's young face. The face was nearly completely that of Orochimaru, complete with small, slitted nose, thin lips, and pasty white skin. Only the left eye still retained Kaburo's color, the other, yellow and menacing.

"Long time, no see, Sasuke," the Orochimaru hybrid said.

"What did you do to yourself, Kabuto?" Sasuke said with narrowed eyes.

"L-Lord Orochimaru," Karin stammered. "He's injected, Lord Orochimaru's cells . . ."

"Correct, Karin," the ninja said with a low amused chuckle that echoed with that strange two-voice harmony again. "We are much more powerful this way."

"We?" Sasuke said raising a brow.

Kabuto laughed. "Can't you tell, Sasuke? Orochimaru lives on inside us now. Indeed I did graft his cells to our body, and he has nearly taken control of this physical form, but this is a much weaker version of Orochimaru, and its will obeys my mind."

"You're a fool Kabuto," Sasuke said. "Orochimaru exists only to survive and live forever. I should kill you and end such a pathetic existence."

"And then you would never learn Madara's true agenda," Kabuto cackled.

"You won't find anything else here. Madara anticipated you might come looking for clues."

"Like I should believe you," Sasuke sneered as Jugo stepped up beside him protectively. "How would you know about Madara's plans?"

"Because Orochimaru's memories are with us now," Kabuto said. "What do you suppose Orochimaru's goal was in even joining Akatskui in the first place?"

"Probably he thought he could take over as leader after learning all the jutsu of the members, starting with gaining my brother's eyes."

"Dear Sasuke, we didn't want your brother's eyes or yours just to destroy Konoha, or be more powerful. We already had the ability to do those things. We learned Madara was alive during the third great ninja war. We knew he had a way of making himself immortal without the painful and temporary transfer jutsu. The sharingan held the key to our eternal existence! But even after we gained the eyes we wanted, by claiming you as our vessel, we still needed to challenge Madara. So we showed a young man named Nagato a way to accomplish his agenda of pain, and earned our place in Akastsuki."

"Wait, how did you even know Akatsuki was Madara's doing? " Suigetsu huffed. "Sasuke don't listen to this freak." Suigetse hefted his large sword. "Let me take him out."

Sasuke held up a hand to steady his tool, and stared intently at Kabuto.

"Answer his question."

"It's simple," said Kabuto. "Itachi told us."

Sasuke was surprised. "Itachi!

For a moment, Sasuke stared at Kabuto, trying to get a feel for him. He could just use Tsukiyomi and draw the truth out. There was no need for this useless talk. And yet, Sasuke wanted to hear the words.

"You're lying. Itachi was doing everything he could to protect Konaha, while the whole village simply went on with their ungrateful lives. Telling you that would jeopardize his mission!"

"Except that, in return for our experimental jutsu, a certain man named Danzo told us everything about Itachi and his mission. We sought after Itachi and found him already in Akatsuki. We offered to help him take Madara down with the use of the very Bijju he was collecting. What we did not say was that to do so meant we would be the ones to use his eyes."

"And so you attacked Itachi," Sasuke said matter-of-factly.

"Yes," Kabuto hissed. "And we failed as you know. After that we left Akatsuki."

Sasuke considered all he had heard so far. The story was making sense, but Kabuto combined with Orochimaru was two times the forked tongue.

"Why does Madara want the bijuu?" Sasuke asked at last.

"That information," Kabuto said. "We must deal for. And don't think of using Tsukiyomi. If you do, Orochimaru will kill our memory before you can extract it. It will be simple as all he has to do is allow Kabuto to destroy that part of his memory center."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "What is it you want?"

"You were right to try to go after and kill the nine tails first. That would ruin Madara's troublesome plan. Impressive job with the collection of the eight tails jinchiruki by the way, even though he escaped in the end."

"Get to the point," Sasuke commanded dangerously.

"Bring us your brother's eyes," Kabuto said with a smirk. "And Danzo's right arm when you finally find and kill him. You will understand when you fight him. Together we will do more that destroy the nine tails jinchiruki, we will control him."

"I can control the nine tails myself," Sasuke sneered.

"You can control the bijju," Kabuto said. "I'm talking about controlling the jinchuriki as well, and releasing the nine-tails without a painful, three day extraction."

"Sasuke!" Suigetsu hissed. "He can't be trusted. Let's destroy him and find out on our own. Madara is a very chatty individual."

"True," Sasuke said. "But I'm also tired of Madara's version of things. Still…"

Sasuke turned back to Kabuto. "Why not just try to take my eyes?"

"We are far too weak now to take you on, dear Sasuke," Kabuto said.

"Besides, it will take two people to accomplish things this way."

"Sasuke," Jugu said simply. "Let's leave."

"You have a deal," Sasuke said. "I will return here when I have what you want."

"Sasuke!" Karin gasped as Kabuto laughed that sinister harmonic laugh.

Sasuke closed his eyes and turned to leave, trusting his team to simply follow. He did not owe them an explanation that he had no intention at all of handing over his brother's eyes to an outsider. Like the rest of team Taka, Kabuto and his Orochimaru memories were just another means to an end.