As they stepped deeper into Orochimaru's underground base, the air grew cold and stale, thick with chemicals and old blood. The walls were lined with pipes humming faintly, and distant echoes bounced through the stone corridors.
Naruto closed his eyes for a moment.
He felt it—every chakra signature in the base. Flickers of weak, distorted chakras belonging to Kabuto's unfortunate test subjects. Twisted. Dull. Some barely alive.
And deeper inside…A pulse.
A massive, boiling chakra presence, steady like a furnace but sharp like a blade, cutting through the darkness.
'That's Sasuke, I presume,' Naruto thought, the corner of his mouth twitching in anticipation.
"Let's go. Sai is this way," Yamato whispered, already moving ahead.
They slipped through the halls like shadows, avoiding torchlight. Their footsteps were silent. They passed bedrooms, empty labs, sealed chambers—and one room where Naruto sensed something inside screaming without making any sound.
Sakura shivered as they walked past. Finally they reached Sai's room. Yamato placed a hand on the door.
Wood tendrils shifted and unlatched the lock without making even a click.
The door creaked open—
Yamato burst in instantly, pinning Sai to the floor before he could react.
"As expected of a Black Ops member," Yamato said coolly, "not fooled by the fake corpse."
Sai didn't struggle. He simply looked up at Yamato, expression unreadable.
"Well," Yamato continued, voice firm, "you have some explaining to do. First—who sent you here?"
"I'll tell you," Sai replied calmly, "if you let me up."
Yamato glanced at Sakura, then Naruto—who was leaning casually against the wall arms crossed, clearly bored but watching.
Yamato released the technique.
Sai rose smoothly, brushing dirt off his clothes.
"Thank you. Now—"
He paused as Sakura snatched something from behind him.
His book.
"This is yours, right?" she said, holding it out.
Sai took it with both hands. "Thank you. You're no longer so manly now."
Sakura froze. A twitch. A vein. A silent thunderclap forming inside her skull.
She forced the sweetest smile imaginable.
'Oh yeah… she wants to murder him.' Naruto thought.
"Now tell us," Sakura said, voice tight but controlled, "did Danzo send you to create an alliance with Orochimaru? So he could attack the Leaf again? Like last time?"
"And you'd better answer correctly," Yamato added, taking a step forward, eyes hard.
Sai remained perfectly calm.
Naruto leaned back against the wall, arms crossed.
' Man… this is taking too long. I should just go fight that emo fraud already…'
Sai spoke plainly, without hesitation or shame—just cold Root-trained honesty.
He explained everything. How he wasn't just a double agent… He was basically a triple agent.
On paper, he was part of Team Kakashi.
Secretly, Danzo ordered him to propose an alliance with Orochimaru. Secret-secretly, he was supposed to monitor Orochimaru for any weaknesses so that, when Root eventually moved to take over the Leaf, Orochimaru wouldn't be a threat.
Naruto blinked. Sakura's jaw dropped. Yamato's brow twitched.
It was almost funny in a dark way—Danzo planning to use Orochimaru, while Sai was using Orochimaru, while Orochimaru was obviously planning to use them all.
They tied Sai up anyway—precaution first, forgiveness later—and took him outside base.
"Alright," Naruto said, tightening his gloves, "let's go find Sasuke."
"Don't you mean rescue?" Sakura asked.
Naruto didn't even hesitate.
"No. He wasn't taken by force. His hunger for strength made him walk to Orochimaru by choice. So no—we're not rescuing him."
Sakura bit her lip. She wanted to argue. She wanted to defend Sasuke.
But… Naruto wasn't wrong.
And that scared her more than anything.
"I see…" Sai whispered. "You really do understand him."
"Not really," Naruto shrugged. "It's kinda common sense."
Sai watched him closely.
"You know," he said, voice calm as ever, "Sasuke doesn't acknowledge you. To him, you're nothing but a nuisance. Makes me wonder—why go so far to get him back?"
Naruto didn't even look angry. He just breathed out, gaze forward, deep and steady.
"Because he was our teammate. And because someone needs to knock some sense into him."
' Also because it's part of the plot' he thought.
As Naruto spoke, something in the air shifted—just slightly.
A faint chakra presence. Familiar. Annoying.
Kabuto.
Naruto's eyes sharpened. His words didn't stop, but his awareness shifted instantly.
Without warning, Naruto whipped out a kunai and launched it at the treeline—
SHING—!
Kabuto appeared, surgical scalpel flashing as he deflected the kunai aside.
"Well, well—"
He didn't get to finish.
Naruto blurred forward and smashed his fist across Kabuto's face.
BAM!!!
Kabuto flew backward like a ragdoll, crashing spine-first into a massive boulder. The rock cracked from the impact.
Sakura blinked.
"S-Still holding a grudge from last time?"
"No, he's just annoying ," Naruto said.
They tied Kabuto to the rock—very securely—and left him outside, unconscious and drooling.
Sai was quietly released under watch.
Yamato sighed. "He's… basically a victim of the system. Root trained out his emotions. He wasn't acting on his own."
Naruto shrugged. "Yeah, yeah. He's weird but harmless."
The team regrouped. Sasuke's chakra flared again from deep inside the base—a growing inferno.
Naruto cracked his knuckles.
"Alright. Time to go meet the emo king."
Inside the hideout, the dim corridors stretched in twisting paths, lit only by flickering torches. They split into pairs—Yamato with Sakura, Naruto with Sai.
Naruto walked ahead with his hands in his pockets, head slightly lowered, senses sharp.
"You're really here to kill Sasuke, right?" he asked casually, without turning.
Sai froze mid-step. "…How did you know?" he asked, genuinely confused.
Naruto shrugged, still walking. "I have my ways. And besides—" he shot Sai a brief smile over his shoulder— "you're not planning to go through with it anymore, are you?"
Sai's eyes widened again. He didn't answer. There was nothing to say. He simply followed.
As they moved deeper down the corridor, Sai remembered the last blank page in his book. He quietly took it out, sketched quickly with practiced ease, and held the finished drawing up to Naruto, smiling with a big exaggerated thumbs-up.
Naruto chuckled. "Nice. When we get back to the Leaf, you should use that skill of yours more."
Sai blinked. "How?"
"People would pay to have portraits of themselves. You could make a whole side business off it."
Sai nodded thoughtfully. "…Hmm. I'll think about it."
Naruto suddenly stopped. His eyes narrowed. His skin prickled as a familiar, dark chakra slithered through the air like cold fingers on his spine.
'I thought he'd be asleep by now…' he thought.
From around the corner, soft footsteps echoed… followed by the unmistakable hiss of amusement.
Orochimaru emerged with a fluid, predatory grace.
"Naruto… welcome." His yellow eyes flickered to Sai. "And this is unexpected. Tell me, Sai—what side are you really on?"
Before either of them could answer, Orochimaru snapped his hands forward.
SHHHKK—!
A volley of serpents shot from his sleeves like arrows.
Sai leapt upward, twisting in mid-air to evade. Naruto didn't even flinch.
He grabbed the snakes mid-flight— FWP! FWP! —their bodies thrashing in his grip. He planted his feet, muscles tightening, then yanked with brutal force.
"Wha—?!" Orochimaru was jerked off his feet and hurled forward, forced to release the jutsu before colliding. His snakes burst into smoke—
POOF! POOF! POOF!
Naruto awaited him with a calm stare.
"Sai," he said without looking away, "go find Sasuke. I'll stay here."
Sai didn't hesitate. "Understood."
He sprinted down a side hall, footsteps fading rapidly.
That left only the two of them.
Naruto cracked his knuckles once, the sound echoing like muffled thunder.
"Alright, Orochimaru…"
His eyes hardened, killing intent pouring off him in a wave.
"Let's finish this. Once and for all."
TO BE CONTINUED