Of The Five Elements

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto-sensei.

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Ninja, the warriors of the night, were a powerful force to be reckoned with even before the creation of Ninshu. They specialized in infiltration, espionage, assassination etc. Ninja operated and completed their assigned missions in the shadow. This made them exceptionally dangerous as they could accomplish their objectives before anyone even realized what happened.

Their 'Nindo' was equivalent to the Samurai code of conduct. The ninja had to abide by the rules and finished their missions no matter of consequences. They had to do whatever was necessary to complete their goals; to kill or be killed.

Later on, with the addition of the Ninshu and the usage of Chakra to their arsenals, Ninja's power had increased exponentially and practically dominated the whole military aspect in the whole Elemental Nations. They became the apex predators gifted with an increase in their strength and the cunning nature of their mind, overshadowing even the 'honorable' Samurai who lived by their oath and loyalty to their lords.

Afterwards, many major ninja clans, with their force of hundreds strong commanded by mighty leaders, started displaying their superiority over those of weaker and smaller clans. The strong proceeded to conquer the weak and unified them under their rules, which resulted in the creation of ninja villages.

Five villages that stood out the most were considered to be the 'Great Five' and gained fearsome reputations. Foreseeing the chance to increase their political prowess and exert control over other countries, the Daimyos of the countries of the five main elements, in whose territories the 'Great Five' were located respectively, decided to support those villages by providing both supplies and funds for those ninja and asked in return for the safety of their families and border.

Now that the Ninja became the primary military force and the neutral stance the Samurai had now proclaimed, the 'code of conduct' of the chakra using warriors began to evolve. They were given the alias as the protectors of their respective villages.

However, the seed of greed within the hearts of men grew as well. To those power obsessed leaders, the depth of their desire was insurmountable. They wanted more. Even after the dividend of the great tailed beasts between the great five ninja villages during the first 'Kage Summit', it was still not enough to satisfy their hunger for power. That led to the practice of honing those beasts' power. Through many theories and experiments, 'Jinchuuriki' was eventually created. Sealing the beasts inside the human bodies in order to learn how to control their power was the clear sign showing that humans were greedy and desperate. They wanted to best each other and proved that their village was stronger and mightier than the others.

Moreover, the differences of the Kages were so great that they wouldn't give even a thought of forming alliances and seek for peace. When one was becoming too strong, its rivals would make plans to bring it down before things got out of control. Small conflicts escalated into big scale confrontations. Inevitably, wars erupted once again between the nations. Obviously, no one could escape the grasp of death during battles. "For the sake of our village. For the sake of our country" they said. It was just a cover up after all. They wanted to expend their power even if their own people had to be the ones to sacrifice their lives.

Had they not waged wars against one another, all the death and destruction would not have happened. Children would not have had to become the victim. They would not have had to live as orphans and bear hatred within their hearts. Vengeance would not have existed at all.

Wars brought out the darkness from the depth of the hearts of men. Wars only brought tears to the eyes of the families of those who had died. Wars took away husbands, wives, parents and even children. Hope was crashed; peace was broken. The happiness of families living together was forever gone within a matter of days. People lived in fear; fear that one day their parents or children would have to fight for their lives with minimal chance of returning home.

Those who survived did not fare well either. Some even lost hope to continue living. They were broken on the inside because seeing the ones they loved dearly died or being slaughtered before their eyes was too much. Ending their career as ninjas might save what was left of their humanity. They wanted nothing but to live the remaining of their lives in isolation.

In some cases, the veterans would lose their mind, and their personalities changed. They became more ruthless and behaved strangely. Some defected their village in order to seek revenge for their loss, even if they were declared as 'Rogued Ninja'.

Some believed they could escape death through immortality, which sounded utterly impossible and lunatic. However, to a certain ninja, impossible had never been in his vocabulary. Getting fed up with several deaths of the people around him, Orochimaru decided that he would not want to die like the way the deceased did. Hell, he would not even want to die at all. His ultimate goal was to learn every jutsu in the world and understand the meaning of life and death. Thus, having his life ended with his goal unfulfilled would not befit his less than modest ambition.

The former Jounin of Konohagakure and the candidate for the seat of the Fourth Hokage defected his home village shortly after the end of the third ninja war. His thirst for knowledge and fear of death transformed him into a criminal who broke the laws and conducted several illegal experiments on humans; both civilians and ninja alike became the guinea pigs of his cruel obsession. Eventually, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, caught the Sannin red-handed in his personal laboratory. Surprisingly due to the sentiments that Hiruzen held between the teacher and the student, Orochimaru was let free to flee from his crimes.

He went on to build many hideouts throughout the elemental nations later after his defection. After many fail tests and theories, he finally was a step closer to achieve his goal. The feat was almost impossible to do, let alone imagine of even performing, but it did not stop him. By transferring his soul into another body, he could practically live forever. Even so, he had to change a new host every three years.

Apparently so, not just any bodies were to be chosen by him. Only the bodies of those ninja with special abilities or who were of high caliber would meet his criteria. He was one of the legendary three ninja after all, so only the best would suit his reputation, or so he thought.

Therefore, the moment he witnessed one masked ninja, whom he identified as a Konoha ANBU, actually counter his seal, a powerful one no less, and manage to rescue his prisoner struck him as an interesting subject for a very likely experiment.

Oh, the anticipation!

His lackeys would be enough to keep his guest's friends busy while he continued to see if the boy had any more surprises.

Kukukukuku, you are one interesting fella. Let's see if you survive this. With a sickening grin on his face, Orochimaru remained hidden within the wall of his lab.

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It had been half an hour since they started searching in every rooms there were in the left wing of this hideout. Dog and Cat still had yet to find anything of value about their target. Right when they were about to head back to their rendezvous point, a kunai soared through the air and dug into the ground right if front of them. The two ninja jumped back to dodge the projectile and stood back to back trying to locate the enemy. The dimming light in the hallway was blocking their line of sight unfortunately.

Cat focused her sensory ability and caught two presences that were currently blocking their escape route. "Captain, there are two chakra signatures coming from both directions. One at 10 meters from your side and one at 15 meters from mine," said Cat. Dog nodded in acknowledgement.

"Ho, seems like we have a sensor here. I'm sure Orochimaru-sama would find you interesting for his experiments," said the one mysterious enemy from Dog's side. He then walked out from the shadow, revealing his feature. With ash grey hair tied into a ponytail and onyx eyes covered by black rimmed circular glasses, he wore a high collared, dark purple shirt, and white under-shirt, and dark purple pants with a white cloth tied around his waist.

Then another figure appeared at his opposite direction. The figure had a waist length, grey hair with a pale skin complexion which made his vivid green eyes stood out brightly. His uniform was consisted of a lavender loose fitting, long-sleeves, zip-up shirt and black pants that was cut off around his mid-calf. He also had bandages wrapped around his waist, finished with a pair of traditional ninja boots.

After noticing two scarlet dots on the figure's forehead, Cat immediately recognized the man as a member from one of the famous but already extinct ninja clans. "You are from the Kaguya clan, I assume." The female ninja claimed.

"Oh-ho. Someone did their homework," exclaimed the grey-haired assailant in amusement.

The newly revealed Kaguya survivor nodded and said, "You are correct. I am the last of my clan."

Cat narrowed her eyes and tensed up her body, preparing for an incoming battle. Obviously, the Kaguya clan's prestige was well-known not only among the ninja who specialized in Kenjutsu, but also throughout the Elemental Nations. Of course, not all members were trained at arms, but those few warriors were beasts in sword fights, and their reputation were widely feared because of their secret techniques, unique body structure, and bloodthirsty nature.

"The Kaguya were renowned for their ability to manipulate their skeletal structure to convert their bones into weapons. It was very powerful and regarded as the ultimate tai-kenjutsu ability," stated Cat before pulling out her weapon. "So I'm better suited to face him, captain."

Dog seemed to be on the same page with his squad member. As Kenjutsu was her primary fighting style, Cat was perfect for this type of battle. Plus, his Sharingan could serve to analyze what their other enemy's abilities were. "Good assessment. Be careful. I wouldn't want to lose a good comrade… and friend." The female ANBU responded with an amused chuckle.

"Remember, Kimimaro-kun. You are doing this for Orochimaru-sama. You don't want to disappoint him, do you?" said the glasses wearing figure. He used the loyalty card as the catalyst to spur up the last Kaguya warrior's ferocity. As he expected, Kimimaro grunted at the statement and took off for his fight.

With that, Cat tightened her grip on her sword before charging at her opponent.

Kabuto kept his eyes on the remaining ANBU agent and pushed up his glasses with his right hand's middle finger. "Well then, shall we start, Captain?" he asked with a condescending tone. This didn't seem to irk 'Dog' one bit though. He frowned at the reaction, or lack thereof. The masked ninja seemed to be living up to his name as the infamous warrior with a strong mental. "Oh well, I'll just make do with what I have."

"Chakra Scalpel!" With his jutsu activated, Kabuto initiated the battle, with the confidence of defeating his adversary, or so he thought.

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Meanwhile, Rat had been walking for a long while now and had yet to reenter the hallway he was in with his second-in-command. Apparently, his sense of direction was still messed up. "I don't think I took that long to get to the room." Rat muttered to himself irritably. Having to piggy back a passed out girl and getting lost in a creepy place like this was tilting his mood so hard. After a few more turns, he finally saw the light, likely the exit he was desperately longing for.

However, luck wasn't on his side this time as the first thing he saw was definitely not something he wanted to deal at the moment. Much to his chagrin, the ANBU agent just ended up in another unidentified room. It was several times bigger than the lab where he found Kurotsuchi, seeming more like a hall.

Rat walked forward in a defensive stance, glancing left and right for any possible threats. Flanking them were dozens of giant containers filled with strangely green water, but fortunately there were no body parts in there. The light was dimly provided, so he could not see anything beyond the containers. Deciding it was safe enough to take a short break, he placed Kurotsuchi down on the ground and turned on his communication device.

[This is Rat to Boar. Do you copy?] 

Rat called out through the coms to inform his comrade about the delay of his arrival. However, all he received was a static. He decided to call again. 

[This is Rat. Are you there, Boar?] 

And again no answer from his comrade. This was making him worried. Something must be going on in the main hallway.

Then suddenly a glass breaking sound broke him out of his stupor. He reacted quickly by pulling a kunai and stood on guard. Looking around, he saw one of the containers break into pieces by an unknown force. The room turned deadly quiet with only the sound of water streaming out of its container.

I thought there was nothing in there!

With the situation turning sour, Rat picked up Kurotsuchi and was about to leave when a snake leaped out from the shadow, its jaw wide opened intending to bite him. With incredible acrobatics, he evaded to the right before pulling out a shuriken and threw it at the snake. It sneered loudly and died. Before long a giant figure crashed into the ground where Rat was standing. Luckily he sensed it beforehand and barely escaped to safety. The vision of the appearing danger was hidden by dust kicking up.

A few second later, the dust cleared up, and Rat could see that the figure was nothing he had ever seen before. His eyes widened in shock, and his body temporarily froze at the sight before him. He had seen a fair share of repulsive, nightmare-inducing things in his life. But this was on another level of bizarreness.

It was a giant white snake formed by thousands of smaller snakes. A very unlikely thing to exist. Its eyes were yellow with a slit pupil. Its mutated human-face with a pointed chin and razor sharp fangs gave a menacing look. That was most likely one of Orochimaru's experiments, a human-snake hybrid.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Rat exclaimed out loud. Unfortunately, his yell alerted the giant serpent of his location. It then leaped toward Rat with its fangs protruding out. The ANBU threw a kunai towards the abomination but was flabbergasted by what happened next. Instead of dodging the kunai, or even taking the projectile head on, multiple small snakes casually peeled out of the giant creating a hole to let the kunai passed through harmlessly.

Seeing that his attack failed, Rat flickered away quickly. The white snake pivoted its body after landing and pursued the ANBU again. Rat quickly created a clone and handed Kurotsuchi to the clone to get away while he led the snake in another direction.

This continued for a couple more times with the giant white snake chasing Rat around, destroying everything in its path. Finally, the ANBU decided to take a risk and change his strategy; maybe he could catch the snake with a direct cut from his blades. Hiding behind a tank, he pulled out his twin sickles, coating them with Wind chakra for more cutting potential, and then waited for the monster to get close. He lowered his stance and patiently calculated the distance. When the snake spotted him and dove at the tank, Rat dodged to its left before swinging his sickles down on its neck, decapitating its head cleanly. The monster curled its body around, shooting out blood everywhere.

"Huh? That was easy." said Rat, a bit dumbfounded, looking at the result of his attack. With its menacing appearance, he had expected a harder fight. He turned around and flickered towards his clone. While the ANBU was busy fighting, his clone was trying to locate an exit and had successfully found a metal door by the time the fight was over. He exchanged nods with his clone, but was then pushed hard to the side by said clone.

"What the hell!" he bounced off the ground and looked up to see the giant white snake still alive and had swallowed his clone and the passed out girl as well.

"Kurotsuchi!" yelled out the ANBU. He quickly performed a series of hand seals in panic and indignation.

"Wind release: Decapitator!"

Wind chakra began to form and cover his right hand, forming a deadly sharp wind blade. Without delay, Rat rushed forward and swung his hand horizontally at the snake, bisecting it and pulling Kurotsuchi out from its stomach. He then put her on his back and went through another series of hand seals before yelling out his jutsu.

"Fire release: Great Fireball!"

A giant fireball flew at the monster and burned its whole body away, securing its death this time as the snake hissed in excruciating pain.

With the danger gone, Rat slumped down on the ground with Kurotsuchi on his lap. He drew in a deep breath to steady himself. One of the things he hated the most was snake. Funny how his alias was assigned as well. At that moment, the sleeping girl's eyes slowly fluttered open and was met with the sight of a white mask with a rat-like feature. She noticed he had spikey blond hair and wore short sleeved ANBU style shirts and grey armor. Kurotsuchi stiffened her body. She'd never seen that ANBU before. Iwa ANBU's mask was of dark red color, not white. Then her memory came back, and her body relaxed after recognizing the ninja who had saved her.

"Where are we? Are we out yet?" weakly muttered the pink eyed kunoichi. She sat up and looked at her surroundings. She noticed the massive size of the place and a pool of blood meters away from her.

"Not yet. I think we are lost in here," replied the blond with his strength gained back. He stood up and gave the girl his hands to help her stand up.

"So what do we do now?" asked Kurotsuchi. She really wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. The horror she had witnessed was still fresh in her mind.

"I guess we can try the door my clone found a moment ago. Staying here is definitely not a good idea. I've lost contact with my team. So that means we are going in blind now," said Rat after readying his remaining gears for travel and combat.

Kurotsuchi sighed in disappointment. She tried to gather her chakra to form a jutsu but winced from the sudden strain on her chakra coil.

"Don't bother trying. Your chakra network is a mess right now. The seal disrupted your coil pretty badly. You might want to redo your control exercises to get it back to its former state when you are out of here." informed the blond as he watched her forming hand seals.

"Assuming we can get out." Kurotsuchi muttered dejectedly.

"We will get out! Don't lose hope just yet," exclaimed Rat. The girl stayed silent, not knowing what to say. "Trust me." He added with a smile toward her, not that she could see it.

Her pink eyes widened a bit. She was surprised by the determination behind his words. Kurotsuchi nodded in return and stood firmer, somehow feeling safer now. The boy appeared to be emitting a warm aura which soothed her anxiety considerably. He didn't look that older than her if the two inches in their height difference were anything to go by. His build was of a lean type with probably fairly ripped muscles. Seeing that sickles were his choice of weapon, his physique was most likely fitted to the agile fighting style.

"Let's go," said the blond ANBU. He walked toward the metal door with Kurotsuchi following closely behind. His left hand on the door knob and his right on his weapons, Rat opened the door and entered the passageway, hoping to find the exit out of this abysmal place.

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(Earlier)

While the three members of the Konoha ANBU team were having their own battles, the lone Boar masked ninja was still at work of searching the rooms for any information about his target. He entered yet again another room without finding anything significant. Having only a bed and a plain wall design, the room was as bleak as a prison cell. Hell, every room that he had seen so far looked almost identical.

"What is taking him so long?" Boar muttered to himself. Rat had entered the secret passage for a while now and hadn't come back yet. They were operating in the enemy's territory, so they could not afford to stay too long.

Then suddenly, his coms elicited the voice of his comrade.

[This is Rat to Boar. Do you copy?]

However, Boar never got to reply as his vision turned black and his consciousness was lost by a hit to his head. Boar abruptly fell to the ground while his coms alerted a second time, [This is Rat. Are you there, Boar?]-

A blur sight of four figures was seen camouflaging with the shadow in the room. "Looks like there are rats lurking around our place. Let's go tell Orochimaru-sama," said one of the four figures.