"Wow, I really had a lot stored in, I was able to write my whole name!" Sasuke looked at Naruto, he had gone off to pee behind some bushes but when he returned, he was different. He was analyzing him very cunningly, watching his every move. The real one would've probably already snapped at his intent stare. Less than a second later, Sasuke landed his fist on Naruto's cheek and the blond was pushed back with force against a tree. Sasuke's lips curled up into a smirk. "You know, Naruto is an idiot. But your Henge is way worse than his," he said smugly.

Sakura looked at her teammate with widened eyes, "What do you mean, Sasuke-kun, isn't that--?"

"For starters, Naruto is right-handed, so his kunai pouch should be on his right leg; yours is on the left," Sakura's eyes widened when she looked from the Uchiha to the blond, her eyes skimming carefully along Naruto's appearance. "Second, Naruto had a cut in his right cheek, which the proctor made him. I don't think it miraculously healed after peeing somewhere in the woods, so you must be a fake," Sasuke finished, his hand searching his pouch for a kunai.

Naruto smirked, "Not bad for a Genin." He undid the jutsu, revealing a ninja from Amegakure, wearing a bandana with four straight lines in the metal plate. He wore a mask, which muffled his voice when he talked.

"Show me your scroll," Sasuke narrowed his eyes, at the same time his fingers went to look for another weapon --wrapping around some shuriken.

The Shinobi from Amegakure pulled out an Earth Scroll while looking at the Uchiha with devious eyes. "We made sure you had the Heaven scroll before we made contact. Now, who of you two has it? Give it to me and I'll give you back your teammate."

Sasuke smirked. "Not a chance," and he threw his shuriken towards the ninja. The masked Shinobi jumped away, Sasuke tailing closely behind him. He stepped on a branch to gain some impulse when his eyes caught a glimpse of an orange shape. Naruto was tied in a rope behind some bushes. Sasuke scoffed.

"Sasuke! Help me!" Naruto was wiggling around, trying in vain to free himself. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"You can't even free yourself?" The Uchiha looked around for the Amegakure ninja, he had lost sight of him when he saw Naruto. He took a kunai from his pouch and nailed right beside Naruto. The blond's ropes were cut open.

"Sasuke, above you!" The Uchiha looked over him to see the ninja falling towards him. Naruto widened his eyes, watching as the Uchiha boy maneuvered his way behind a branch were a bunch of kunai got pinned in his place. Sasuke had avoided the Amegakure Shinobi's attack perfectly, but he hadn't calculated the explosive tag tied into one of the knife handles.

The tag exploded. Sasuke covered himself with his arms, the force pushing him quickly towards the ground. The boy landed in all four, narrowing his eyes when he sensed a presence behind him. "You are going to fail this exam, now just give me the scroll or die," the Genin from Amegakure said.

Sakura ran towards them. "Sasuke-kun!" Naruto jumped from a branch, and threw a kunai aiming at the Amegakure Genin. The ninja jumped away. 'Better late than never,' Sasuke thought as he watched the kunai coming closer to him. His eyes became red under the Sharingan's influence at the same time he focused his chakra on the sole of his foot. The kunai never touched the ground, it remained attached to Sasuke's sole thanks to his chakra control. Sasuke's eyes immediately looked around for the Shinobi --he was jumping around the tops of the trees-- and with a quick kick Sasuke launched the knife in his direction. He jumped following it.

The Genin dodged the knife but he didn't have a chance to avoid Sasuke, who stabbed him right in his stomach. "Sasuke-kun, are you okay?!" Sakura yelled again.

"Don't just stay there, Sakura!" Sasuke yelled back at her, his eyes darting back at her just for a moment before returning to the Shinobi. "This guy couldn't possibly be alone. More can come and attack us at any second! Get ready to fight!"

The Genin scrunched his face at the pain of the kunai embedded into his stomach. "I came alone so you wouldn't notice my presence, now I see it was a mistake." He pulled away from Sasuke and managed his way out, disappearing into the forest. Sasuke's eyes remained glued to his figure as he landed on ground. 'He ran away?'

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura reached Sasuke's side in a moment. Naruto approached him as well.

"Oi, he got away, now what?!" asked the blond.

"As you can see, we can't even trust ourselves or our appearances. The enemy can easily infiltrate into our team and gather information before they attack," Sasuke commented. "We need a way to make sure we are who we are."

Sakura and Naruto nodded. "Yeah, but how do we do that?" asked the girl.

"We need a password," Sasuke said firmly, watching his teammates seriously.

"What kind of password?" Naruto frowned in confusion.

"Something deep, that only we three know." Sasuke smirked. "We can't trust anyone who doesn't know. Doesn't matter the circumstances." Sakura seemed to happily approve with the Uchiha's idea, but Naruto couldn't be any more worried.

* * *

Hanako sat beside Anko, looking at the sky while the Jounin finished her dango and threw her remaining stick into the bark of a tree next to them. She had formed the Konoha symbol. "This is boring," Hanako suddenly commented.

"You think?" Anko clicked her tongue. "It's too silent." Hanako looked at the sticks on the tree.

"It is," she said and the sticks were suddenly lit in fire. Anko looked at them with her mouth open ajar and then at the Uchiha.

"How did you do that?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Hanako's eyes moved slowly towards the purple haired Jounin. She smirked at Anko's look of surprise.

"It's just a trick," she said. "If I told you how it works, it wouldn't be a trick anymore."

Anko scoffed, "Whatever..." Hanako chuckled, her eyes moving back to the forest. She focused her chakra into sensing what was going on in there, but she could barely identify the numerous signatures inside.

"I'm going to take a look," the Uchiha suddenly said and Anko looked at her as if she were nuts.

"You can't go inside. Only ANBU can, under the Hokage's orders." Hanako looked back at Anko and smiled.

"I won't interfere, the Hokage won't even notice. And you said we should keep an eye on Oto's Genin, right?" She smirked. "I just want to see what they're capable of..." Hanako's eyes moved for a moment towards the dying flames on the now burnt dango sticks. "...just like that boy from Suna."

"You are going to get us into deep trouble, Uchiha." Anko sighed.

"You don't have to come, stay here if you want." Hanako smiled and jumped over the fence, moving quickly towards wherever her instincts took her.

* * *

"Naruto, the password!" Sakura raised her kunai in defense when the blond approached her and Sasuke. They had been ambushed with a wind jutsu, and they had just reassembled after getting separated. The Uchiha and the girl had already exchanged passwords but the blond still hadn't said anything.

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks. Sasuke repeated the question. "When must a ninja attack?" The Uchiha frowned, expecting Naruto to answer.

The blond cleared his throat. "A ninja waits until the right moment, when the enemy sleeps and their guard is down, when their weapons lay forgotten in the night's shadow. That's when a ninja attacks." Sakura sighed relieved and put her knife down. Sasuke, however, threw his own kunai towards the blond.

Naruto had his eyes closed, but he dodged the kunai and fell on the ground while looking at Sasuke with widened eyes. "Oi, what's wrong with you?!"

"Nice dodge," Sasuke commented. "I wonder if the real Naruto would've managed to avoid something like that... You're definitely faster than the prior one."

"What's the problem, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura looked at the Uchiha with a frown. "He said the password perfectly!"

"That's exactly the problem!" Sasuke gritted his teeth, looking at Naruto with narrowed eyes. "Do you actually think he would've remembered such a phrase for a password and recite it perfectly?" Sasuke straightened himself. "The Naruto I know wouldn't, not in a billion years."

Sakura seemed to reconsider Sasuke's argument. "You're right" she muttered lowly. "'I'm sorry, I forgot the password', that's what Naruto would say..." she finished, still looking at the imposter.

"Undo the transformation, whoever you are." Sasuke looked at the fake blond with menacing eyes. Naruto smirked and licked his lips.

"So, that's how it is..." Naruto disappeared into smoke, and in his place was now a Shinobi from Kusagakure. "But...I wonder...if you knew your teammate wouldn't ever remember the password, why choose one so complicated?" she asked, looking at the Uchiha.

Sasuke smirked. "I wasn't thinking about Naruto when I chose that password. I was thinking about anyone who might be listening to us. It was a trap, and you fell for it."

The Shinobi smiled. "Oh? So you never leave your guard down, do you?" The ninja licked her lips, her tongue was inhumanly long. "This is going to be interesting."

* * *

Three Genin from the Sound Village participated in the exams. Three Genin from Orochimaru. Hanako narrowed her eyes as she looked down at them. She was hiding in a tree top, while the no-more-than-thirteen Genin were resting right next to a large boulder. From the time the Uchiha found them, they hadn't moved.

"So, what's the plan?" a boy with black spiky hair asked.

"Don't be so hasty, Zaku, we are just making sure we have full energy by the time the other teams need to rest." Another one, wearing a mask and a mound in his back, replied.

"I see, we'll attack at night then?" asked a girl.

"We'll attack when the time comes, not yet." Dosu replied to their female companion.

Hanako frowned. The masked Genin seemed to be on guard, unusually attentive for his level. What did Orochimaru do to them? They were taking the exams too seriously, as if it were a mission and not just a test. "You know what our objective is," Dosu added. "Uchiha Sasuke."

Hanako glared at the Genin, her eyes morphing into the Sharingan. She had hidden her chakra so it was impossible for them to notice her presence, but she wouldn't come out even if they knew she was there. She couldn't interfere, she wasn't supposed to be there in the first place.

"Who's there?" Dosu asked out loud into the forest. "Come out now." Hanako flinched in surprise. Her chakra was well hidden, using her sensor abilities would reveal her position so it was out of question, but right now she had no other way to tell if any of those three Genin were sensors. They couldn't have felt her chakra anyway. The Uchiha bit her lip without taking her eyes off the weird masked boy, the bushes behind the team moved making them all heighten their guards.

Hanako walked slowly across the dark hall of one Orochimaru's hideouts. The few torches illuminated the place just enough to see where to walk. The Uchiha sighed, in the 13 years she had lived she never thought she would find a place even worse than Madara's cave, which was now Akatsuki's headquarters. 'At least there's no Zetsu in here,' Hanako thought with a raised eyebrow and disgusted features. 'It still smells like death, though.'

"You seem flustered," Hanako halted in her steps when she heard the new voice from behind her. "Don't like it in here?" Hanako looked over her shoulder to find a boy, not much older than herself with silver spiky hair and purple irises.

Hanako narrowed her eyes, her Sharingan appearing bright red. "Who are you?"

The boy smirked playfully. "It's the first time I see you around this hideout, did you come with Orochimaru?"

The Uchiha looked around, only the two of them were there. Orochimaru had disappeared to only he knows where, and there were always few people in each hideout they visited. "Yeah, I came with him." Hanako's eyes moved back slowly towards the boy, taking in his appearance.

"My name is Kai," said the boy. His smirk never faltering, not even for a moment. "Nice to meet you," he raised both his eyebrows, urging her to continue.

"Hanako," she barely smiled back.

"I see you've already met," Orochimaru appeared right behind the brunette. Kai looked at him with a renewed smirk while Hanako pursed her lips and looked at him with a glare. "Kai-kun, Hanako-kun, you're the first ones."

A Genin team from Kusagakure made its appearance. But it was just two of them, where was the last one? 'Something is wrong,' Hanako tightened her hands into fists. "Our job is done," one of the Kusagakure Genin said with a wicked smile. He reached his hand to his face and ripped it like if it were a rubber mask all over his head skin. Hanako's eyes were wide like plates, she had recognized the new man under the mask. His silver hair, his purple eyes and overconfident smirk. Kai.

He was one of Orochimaru's subordinates back at when she worked with him. The other Genin did the same, and Hanako started to become more ecstatic at knowing where was the last member, and specially who it was. "I really hope those three kids are alive by the end of the day," he commented with a chuckle. "Orochimaru-sama seemed to have a huge interest in them." The second one had blond hair, almost white, and deep black eyes. He almost looked like a white stick with his fair skin and just two dark dots as eyes and pink lips. Hanako knew him from one of her missions a few years earlier. His abilities were fearful, just like Kai's.

"First ones?" Hanako raised an eyebrow. "For what?" She was looking at Orochimaru while waiting for an explanation.

Orochimaru looked at her with one of his characteristic wicked grins. "I am forming a team, consisting of only members with special Kekkei Genkai. Abilities that are so unique that only a few handful among thousands have them." Hanako pressed her lips together.

"Kekkei Genkai? So, I'm here because of my Sharingan; aren't I?" Hanako looked at the old Sannin with both her eyebrows raised.

"You're partially right," Orochimaru snickered. "But the important issue is, I want the two of you to lead this new team, you are going after the name: 'Genso no Rokunin', the Six Elementals."

"So, there are going to be six of us?" Kai inquired. "Where are they?"

Orochimaru smiled deviously while looking at the silver haired fourteen-year-old. "We'll search for them, in the given time."

"Our job is to kill Uchiha Sasuke, don't tell me he just decided to do it himself?" Dosu narrowed his only visible eye at them.

"It's quite possible, actually," Tsumoto, Orochimaru's blond subordinate, chuckled darkly. "That's what he does. He makes us believe we are his favorite, and then just ditch us for someone else," he finished. "But there's someone he will never ditch, someone he just wants too much to leave behind. Someone who also happens to be in this forest." Hanako hid behind the trunk when Tsumoto's eyes darted to her location. She held her breath, did he see her?

"Uchiha Sasuke?" Zaku asked with his teeth clenched tightly. He seemed angry to such revelation, was it possible that Orochimaru didn't care for any of them? The eyes of Orochimaru's subordinate returned to the Oto Genin standing in front of him. His lips curled into a knowing smirk.

"Poor kid," he mocked. "You actually thought that snake cared about you?" Tsumoto burst out laughing. "Oh no, he never did and he never will," his eyes narrowed into thin slits. "Unless you prove yourself worthy enough of his attention, destroy what he wants and maybe he'll see you." The men turned away from them.

"We are leaving now," Kai said. "And remember this, kids," he turned his face towards them, "he doesn't care about you until he doesn't mark you. You are nothing, until you have this," Hanako looked behind the trunk to see Kai lifting up his sleeve. He had a curse mark right below his wrist. The silver haired man's eyes darted to her location. This time, Kai certainly saw the Uchiha. She was sure because they made eye contact for the first time in almost two years. Hanako gulped, her eyes softening upon meeting his purple orbs.

'Kai,' she thought, 'what made you become this?'

The man's smirk disappeared when his eyes met hers. He remembered her, Uchiha Hanako. He pressed his lips together, and hid again the curse mark under his sleeve. His eyes never left hers while he stood straight. "Uchiha Sasuke is only a mean into getting what Orochimaru really wants," Kai said with his eyes still focused on the brunette.

Dosu frowned and looked at him. "There's someone else?" but he didn't get the answer. Hanako knew what he meant, though. Kai's eyes were still on her, even though none of his companions seemed to notice. He was talking about her, and she knew it.

Hanako shook her head and turned away from him, hiding again behind the trunk. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Oh? He's gone, so much for waiting for me..." Tsumoto commented, making Hanako sigh. She looked back at the Genin, the two subordinates were gone. The girl frowned and turned away from the Genin, she had to continue her revision. Orochimaru was definitely in the forest and she had to find him, hopefully without running into Kai or Tsumoto.

But she didn't have much luck. At the moment she took impulse from pushing into a branch in her jump, she caught a glimpse of a kunai heading in her direction. Hanako leaned forward, letting the knife pass right above her head, cutting just a few strands of hair. She flipped in midair and landed on the ground, clicking her tongue.

"Show yourself," she hissed. "I swear if you're just some Genin, I don't have time to deal with--" she stopped when in front of her, Kai walked out of the shadow of some trees.

"Hana..." Kai said slowly, looking right through her. "What are you doing here?"

Hanako took a deep breath, shaking all her memories of him away from her mind. "Funny, I was about to ask you the same question."

"Wow, never thought I'll ever get to see you again, Hanako-chan." The Uchiha looked over her shoulder at Tsumoto, who just appeared behind her back. His toothy grin making a shiver run down her spine. "Now I see what guys see in you, you seem more feminine."

"Tsumoto, nobody taught you how to talk to a woman, right?" Hanako raised an eyebrow. "No woman will ever like you if you speak at them with such a sarcastic tone."

The blond scoffed. "Like I care, I'm not interested." Tsumoto extended his palms and the air around Hanako started buzzing loudly. The vibrations created a high-pitched sound that hit the Uchiha's eardrums like a hammer. The girl covered her ears with her hands and fell to her knees with a muffled scream. Tsumoto burst out laughing, "Look at that, invincible Uchiha in such a vulnerable state." The buzzing stopped and Hanako let her hands fall down. Her chest was moving in and out as she took deep breaths. "How about you tell me how much of our conversation you heard?" his mocking voice made Hanako's blood boil in her veins.

Her lips tilted up into a smirk as her red eyes darted towards Tsumoto in a glare filled with hatred. "All of it."

The blond widened his eyes in distaste and growled as he pulled a kunai from his pouch. "Have you not understood who's in charge of whom?" he barked like a raging dog. "I'll just show you!" He was about to launch the knife at the brunette but, before he managed to do something, a kunai flew past Hanako's side and nailed right in the spot between his eyebrows. Tsumoto's eyes went blank as he fell backwards, his body still.

Hanako's eyes remained impassive as they slowly moved towards the man now behind her. She didn't notice when Kai had walked closer to her, but now he stood just a few inches away from her being. Kai's purple eyes were locked in the body of his deceased partner. His hand still angled at the point where he had launched the kunai. "I never liked him anyway," he said simply as a way of justifying his actions. "He was too full of himself."

Hanako looked up at him. Kai was a calm person, with a high tolerance. She couldn't imagine how much Tsumoto could've tired him to force him to resort to this, or what the blond could've done to make Kai hate him. "So you just decided to kill him?" Hanako asked. "I thought you said those marked members were meaningful to Orochimaru. Isn't he going to be mad that you killed one of those?"

Kai scoffed. "Tsumoto didn't have a curse mark." Hanako's eyes widened as his purple eyes finally met hers. "Neither do I," he muttered as his look softened. He pulled up his sleeve and carefully rubbed the mark. It vanished.

"Ink..." Hanako looked at the faded mark and then at Kai. "Why were you pretending?"

"Our mission was to make the Sound Genin go after your team," Kai said slowly. "The Curse Mark thing was just a way to motivate them," Hanako frowned. Kai helped Hanako stand up, she still being wary of his intentions.

"Why is he going after them?" she asked. Kai remained silent as he looked at her. Hanako took a deep breath and looked at him. "Was Orochimaru with you?"

Kai looked away for a moment before his eyes returned to hers. "Yes."

"Where is he now?"

The silver haired man inhaled deeply. "With your team..." Hanako's eyes widened before she walked past him, hitting his shoulder with hers. Kai reacted quickly and pulled her back with a tight grasp of her arm. "You can't go!" he yelled at her. But Hanako only glared at him.

"Let go," she hissed but Kai shook his head.

"No."

"Kai..." she warned in a low voice but he didn't even falter.

"Think about it, Hana," he started slowly, waiting until she calmed down to continue talking. "Did Orochimaru come to you to make a deal?"

Hanako stopped moving and looked up at him. "He came to ask for my help in exchange of my brothers' safety," she remembered. "But I didn't take it, though if I intervened in his plan then he would hurt them."

"Exactly," Kai let go of her. "He wants you to intervene, so he has an excuse to come after you."

"By going after Sasuke?!" Hanako clenched her jaw.

Kai put his hands on her shoulders. "He likes to play dirty," he said. "It's a win-win situation for him, he knows that going after Sasuke will affect you, but he would also get what he wants," Hanako scrunched her eyes closed and bit her lip. "The Sharingan. It doesn't matter what you do, he won this battle."

Hanako pushed his arms away from her shoulders and looked at him with determination in her eyes. "Maybe, but he won't win this war. I won't let him," she turned away from Kai and started to head into the forest. She suddenly stopped and turned towards Kai. "You're not going to stop me?"

Kai was smiling when he looked at her. "No. This is the Hanako I know, I just wanted to make sure she was here," he said, but Hanako only looked at him with confusion. "When we first met, you caught my attention," he confessed. "A girl powerful enough to protect herself, but willing to do anything to protect others. That's Uchiha Hanako for me, someone who fights seriously only for a purpose and with a meaning." Kai chuckled. "Being a mercenary doesn't suit you, Hanako. And I'm happy you're willing to leave that behind to be who you really are." Hanako's eyes were wide like plates. Her gaze softened and her lips curled up into a smile.

"Arigatou, Kai." She turned back towards the forest. "It's good to know you're still the old Kai from Genso." Kai chuckled and shook his head, while watching the Uchiha leave.

* * *

Nighttime arrived faster than Hanako had hoped. She could feel Sakura's chakra farther ahead, but Sasuke and Naruto's signatures were faint. In a few minutes, Hanako stopped. The sight in front of her made her blood run cold. Sasuke was unconscious in Sakura's arms, his face contorted into a look of pain. Sakura was sobbing holding tightly onto him and Naruto was knocked out, hanging from a kunai nailed into a tree through his clothes.

Hanako was late. Too late. Orochimaru was long gone, and two of the three Genin were out of commission. "Sakura," Hanako called at the pink haired kunoichi, she looked up at her with wide eyes.

"Hanako-san!" Sakura was happy to see her, she had felt so desperate after watching Sasuke and Naruto fight Orochimaru with all their power when she wasn't able to do anything.

"I'm sorry," Hanako looked at her with soft eyes while she approached her. "I should've been here sooner..."

"Was this part of the test?" Sakura asked softly. Hanako looked at her before her eyes moved slowly towards Sasuke's neck. A black mark had caught her attention. It looked the same as Anko's. 'The Heaven Curse Mark...' she thought.

"This is just a taste of real life, Sakura," Hanako replied, looking back at the girl. "No test can prepare you for what you'll face out there. But certainly, you guys shouldn't have been exposed to this so soon." Sakura looked at her with worry. "That man you fought, Orochimaru, is one of the Sannin, Konoha's most famous Jounin. He's a rogue, far much stronger than Kakashi."

"But what is he doing here, then? Why is he after us?!" she demanded. "There's only supposed to be Genin in this forest, not Chuunin and even less rogue Jounin!"

"He's not after you," Hanako stated bluntly, her eyes focused on the Uchiha boy in Sakura's arms. "He's after Sasuke." Hanako helped Sakura get up while still holding the raven boy. "You have to hide until these two wake up. Don't be stupid and try to finish this test on your own." Hanako looked at Sakura with seriousness. "I'm going to report to the Hokage what happened, but the Chunin Exams will continue. The three of you have to finish this test, Sakura. Let's look for a cave or somewhere you can spend in the time left. This is just the first day, there are four more days to go." Hanako approached Naruto's hanging body and pulled out the kunai that kept him in place. She caught the blond before he fell and carefully shoved him over her shoulder. "Come on," she signaled for Sakura to follow her.

They found a dark cavity formed under the roots of a tree. Hanako put Naruto down and Sakura carefully placed Sasuke beside him. "You're leaving?" Sakura asked, when she arranged her stuff.

"Yeah," Hanako looked at the dark sky with her Sharingan. While moving, she had caught a trace of Anko's chakra not far from where they were. Sometime after Hanako went into the forest, the other Jounin had probably went in as well. "There's something I have to do," she turned back to the Genin, "remember: do not light a fire, do not make noise, keep your chakra low, stay hydrated --there's a river less than a mile from here, send a clone-- and control their fever," Hanako pointed at the unconscious bodies with her finger, "stay in the middle of them, and close, so you can share your body heat to both of them, it gets pretty cold at night."

"I figured," Sakura nodded, rubbing the goosebumps in the skin of her arms with her hands.

Hanako looked at her with worried eyes. "I wish I could stay with you, Sakura, there's a team of Sound Genin looking for you right now. Please, stay hidden, don't let them find you." The pink haired Genin looked at her with wide eyes. "I trust your abilities, but I don't think a 3 vs 1 fight is the best idea right now," the Uchiha muttered subtly. Sakura was smart and caught the idea of what Hanako really meant. And she knew it was true, she wasn't strong enough to take three Genin by herself. In all the missions she had participated in, Naruto and Sasuke were the ones doing all the fighting, she had barely fought. She was more of the backup those two didn't need, she felt useless. But now, it was her moment. Right now, Naruto and Sasuke needed her. And she had to protect them, no matter what.

"I don't need you to stay, Hanako-san." Sakura was looking at the Uchiha with determined eyes. "This is our test and accepting any kind of help from you, or anyone else outside it, is like cheating. I don't cheat, so please go." Hanako smiled and looked back at the sky.

"I'm glad to hear that," Hanako muttered. "I hope the three of you pass this test. I'll pray for the best." Before Sakura had a chance to reply, Hanako had disappeared into the night. Sakura sighed and sat in between the two boys she now had to look after. She would be lying if she said she wasn't scared of what awaited them. There was a Genin team from Oto hunting them down, and she had to do her best to stay hidden.

* * *

Anko had gotten away, her chakra was farther and farther away. It was like she was running away from something. Hanako tried to increase her speed but another chakra signature made her stop over one of the branches. The chakra was suddenly right below her.

Hanako's eyes were wide as she witnessed Orochimaru emerge from the bark of the tree, looking at her with a condescending smile. His bright yellow eyes were gazing intently at her. The Uchiha took a few steps back when his whole head was out, then his torso, his arms and, finally, his legs. He stood up slowly, straightening his back and stretching his limbs. Orochimaru moved his neck from side to side, "I guess all bones are in place now," he commented when his neck cracked.

Hanako narrowed her eyes, placing her hand close to her weapon pouch. "Of all people, you were the last person I wanted to meet," she commented.

Orochimaru feigned hurt feelings with a pout. "Oh, come on, Hanako-kun. You know that on the inside you were looking for me." He approached the Uchiha. "I thought we made a deal, that you wouldn't intervene."

"I'm merely supervising," Hanako smirked. "Since I found out you were after my pupils."

"Kakashi's pupils," Orochimaru corrected with a wide smirk. "He's the official tutor, you're just a mere assistant."

Hanako raised an eyebrow while crossing her arms in front of her chest. "They're my students as much as Anko was yours." Orochimaru's snake eyes glistened in surprise. "Yes, she told me she used to be your student...before you were banished from Konoha for performing experiments in your own comrades," Hanako hissed in an accusing tone.

The man in front of her just burst out laughing. "Don't act so surprised, Hanako-kun, you knew very well who I was before you willingly came to me," he said. "Don't pretend to be the victim here, you're as guilty as I am."

"Stop calling me that," Hanako muttered dangerously through gritted teeth. "I bare no guilt for your sins, only for mine."

"But they're not sins, are they?" Orochimaru asked curiously. "Not for us." Hanako looked at him with analytical eyes. "We were only doing what we had to do, for our personal interests. It's their problem if they don't think like we do."

"Don't compare myself to you," Hanako hissed, making the man chuckle darkly.

"You know what I think when I look at you?" he asked. "I think about your ancestor." Orochimaru lifted his hand, stopping Hanako from talking. "Not Amane, no," he shook his head, "I'm talking about the legend: Uchiha Madara." Orochimaru smirked upon seeing Hanako's wide eyes. She was looking at him with utter surprise. "You remind me of Uchiha Madara," he repeated. Orochimaru turned his back to the girl and walked towards the end of the branch. "When I was a kid, about seven years old maybe, Sarutobi-sensei used to tell our Genin team a lot of stories. He was already the Third Hokage by then, and he had been tutored by the First Hokage himself." Hanako took a deep breath. "The First talked a lot about Madara --or so said Hiruzen-- a lot about his story so we wouldn't follow his path."

"His path?" Hanako frowned.

Orochimaru snickered. "Uchiha Madara, the one leader who was betrayed by his own clan. Did you know that?" Hanako's heart was racing. "It's a sad story, really," Orochimaru was pleased at having hooked Hanako's interest. "A man who was willing to give his life to protect what he cared for the most, only to be betrayed by it. I don't blame him for what he did..."

Hanako clenched her hands into fists. She was still listening to Orochimaru, at the same time she was filling the gaps in the stories she had heard about Madara before.

"...the Kyuubi was first brought to Konoha by Uchiha Madara. He was planning to use its tremendous power to destroy the village."

"People have always been wary of the Uchiha Clan, because they are afraid of their prowess." The rogue Jounin continued. "Even if they founded Konoha along the Senju, the villagers hated the Uchiha and wanted them gone." Hanako's eyes darted towards Orochimaru. "Madara tried to destroy the village for the same reason you helped Fugaku organize a coup d'état. He knew he had to destroy Konoha, before Konoha destroyed the Uchiha." Hanako's eyes widened. She bit her lip so hard that her blood trickled down her chin.

"He knew something like the massacre would happen eventually..." Hanako muttered in a low voice filled with hatred. Orochimaru smirked at her dark voice.

"And it did, Madara wasn't the bad guy. From my point of view," Orochimaru neared Hanako's ear, "Konoha is." He pulled away to stare at Hanako's darkened expression. "Don't you think, Hanako-kun?" Hanako looked at the ground and remained silent as she processed the words Orochimaru was saying. "I wouldn't fight for the village that killed my entire family, if I were you," he commented with a shrug. "I don't think the Uchiha wanted the fate they got, I don't think they deserved it either..." Hanako was breathing heavily. "I'll give you a second chance to choose, Hanako-kun," he said, looking at the Uchiha with firm eyes. Hanako looked up at him. "Would you help me destroy this pathetic village?"