"Fūma Shuriken!"

Ginpachi had started out by following Ametatsu's preferred opening strategy. That was good. Shuriken throws rarely decided battles, but they were a very resource-efficient way of forcing opponents to reveal their defensive skills.

For most ninja, Ametatsu reflected, it would have been insane to attack an aware enemy who had the higher ground (all the obelisks were situated on hills, probably not coincidentally), but Team Earth, Wind and Fire knew how to cancel taijutsu users' advantages, and the enemy tool user was too exhausted from chakra drain to pose a serious threat.

The Hyūga did what Ametatsu had expected, and ducked under the enormous weapon's blades as it flew over his head and into the distance. It was something a Byakugan user could afford to do, safe in the knowledge that there were no explosive tags, chakra strings or other nasty surprises attached to the shuriken.

But this was only the beginning.

"Wind Element: Remote Control!"

Ginpachi's Fūma shuriken, still spinning rapidly, abruptly changed direction and flew back at the Hyūga, unerringly straight as if held by invisible hands.

Its target quickly took a broad stance, twisted his torso…

"Heavenly Spin!"

Now this was what Ametatsu had come for. A rotating field of repulsive chakra completely covered the immediate area around its user. Intense enough to be visible to the naked eye, and fast enough to seem almost solid, it would be capable of knocking away any physical attacks, and probably dispersing ninjutsu as well. The technical term was "absolute defence", an extremely rare category of protection that could not be pierced by any conventional means. Defeating an enemy who possessed one would truly be a story worth bringing home. And when Sera saw the kind of triumph to which his strategy could lead them…

"Ginpachi! Rotate the other way!"

The Fūma shuriken began to circle the Heavenly Spin forcefield in the opposite direction, being spun by it like two gears rotating against one another. The Hyūga's own technique kept accelerating Ginpachi's weapon, leaving him in a position where it would eventually become fast enough to slice through the shield—but the Hyūga couldn't drop it either without being immediately slaughtered by the blades.

"Tsuchidō, now!"

"Earth Element: Death From Below Technique!"

Sera performed one of her beautiful athletic dives into the ground. Ametatsu couldn't see her burrow, but he could calculate her trajectory, and of course the Byakugan user could see it directly. Ametatsu didn't know whether the Heavenly Spin in some way extended beneath the ground, but even then you couldn't deflect an attack that had nowhere else to go. If the enemy dropped the shield to deal with Sera, Ginpachi would slice him into salad. If he kept it up, Sera's uppercut and subsequent aerial combo would make the Hyūga wish he had.

Suddenly, the Fūma shuriken was yanked out of its orbit, flew right past the kunoichi some way behind Neji, and performed several elegant circles around her before burying itself deep in a nearby tree. In a stunning display of precision (or possibly luck), she'd apparently hooked the sickle part of her kusari-gama through the hole in the middle of the shuriken, and then used the chain to pull it back.

The girl studied Ginpachi's weapon for a second, and announced in an exhausted but happy voice, "An authentic ninety-five centimetre Fūma hira-shuriken, ironsand with 0.9% carbon content, Hikari-style layered edges... thank you!"

Without the threat of summary laceration, the Hyūga dropped the Heavenly Spin and dodged. Now he was in position to ambush Sera, who was unaware of this development, when she came out of the ground. Happily, Ametatsu had, of course, anticipated it, and now he would get to personally save her. He'd even do it with the specialised throwing techniques that she, a part-time tool user, had taught him.

"Tsuchidō, Retreat Pattern B!"

The Hyūga was forced to jump out of the way of a hail of kunai thrown in a perfect arc over the curve of the hill. But he had been smart enough not to attempt the Heavenly Spin again, and was now ready for a counterattack. Nevertheless, the kunai bought Sera time to pull some diagonal Earth Walls out of the hillside to slow his advance, while Ginpachi prepared to take advantage of the fact that the Hyūga would have to retreat uphill to dodge a horizontal ranged assault from the Wind Element. Meanwhile, Ametatsu's next move was obvious.

With speed born of a hundred unsuccessful races with Ginpachi, Ametatsu circumnavigated the presently distracted Hyūga, appeared in front of the tool user kunoichi, and began to form seals.

All shinobi were taught from youth to revere their forefathers, but they were also forced to live with those forefathers' mistakes—in particular, thinking it was a good idea to put their bloodline's speciality element into the name of their clan. "Wind Demon" Fūma, "Earthen Halls" Tsuchidō and "Fire Spirit" Kagami did not exactly set them up to take their foes off guard.

Thus, Ametatsu was not remotely surprised as he watched the kunoichi draw a very large reinforced metal fan with a heatproof handle. He couldn't see the faint layer of chakra running through it, but he knew it was there. Sera had explained to him once, with some amusement, that in the hands of a specialist tool user with good reflexes, such an object could be used to deflect most basic Fire techniques.

Years of endless mockery from the rest of the Kagami Clan, and the perpetual look of disappointment from his father, all acting as if he'd chosen to be born this way, were almost made up for by moments like this. Ametatsu had learned to savour them.

"Water Element: Viscous Water Mass!"

The kunoichi, ready for a deflecting move, didn't have time (or, of course, the chakra) to fully get out of the way before she and her fan were covered in sticky gel and securely glued to a tree. Unless the enemy had access to a specialised dissolving ninjutsu, that was her out of the fight for good.

Ametatsu turned around. Sera was still being pressed hard, as the Hyūga was watching and learning the rhythm of Ginpachi's Wind Element barrage, while being able to maintain his focus on another target.

Not a problem. He knew exactly which of Ginpachi's techniques, coordinated with his own, would let him easily turn the situation around.

"Ginpachi, use—"

Everything went black.

-o-

Neji watched it happen just like he had a hundred times before. Rock Lee, whose stealth and speed were almost as well-trained as his taijutsu, had let himself be forgotten until the very last moment, at which he disabled the Hidden Grass strategist with a single blow to the back of the head.

Lee may have been a fool, but Gai-sensei certainly wasn't. He knew that it was as inevitable as the rise of the morning sun that Lee would die without the ability to block or counter enemy ninjutsu with his own. So Gai-sensei had patiently explained, quite a few times, that Lee could not be a front-line taijutsu user, could not allow himself to be targeted by the enemy under any circumstances. But how did one put a melee fighter with no auxiliary skills into a support role? It had taken quite a long time to figure out the right approach, and a certain amount of compromise between pragmatism and Gai-sensei and Lee's incoherent un-shinobi-like ethics. In the end, Lee had ended up as a sort of honourable assassin, a figure that vanished from the enemy's awareness, only to suddenly strike them down with his superior martial arts (and nothing sensible like, say, poison).

With his Byakugan, Neji observed as Lee once again vanished around the side of the hill and began to plot an invisible path to his next target. This time, the Fūma would be the one faced with an impossible choice: keep his focus on Neji while knowing that a hidden enemy was waiting for him to show just one opening, or turn to look for Lee and give Neji the freedom of action he needed to eliminate the Earth Element kunoichi.

-o-

The worst part of it all, in Neji's opinion, had been extracting Tenten from the sticky gloop afterwards. Every second with a teammate down left them vulnerable (though they'd already made the choice to sacrifice most of her combat power for the day in exchange for more tags), and entrusting Lee with delicate work was like using siege weaponry to trim your nails. It wasn't that Neji had a problem with manual labour per se—during his time with Gai-sensei he'd had no choice but to learn "the shining glory of youth in full bloom" through regular physical exertion. But there were limits, and one of them was handling a filthy substance that resembled mucus in all the worst ways, and would doubtless be murder to get out of his uniform.

-o-

Orochimaru wanted him to save the world? Sasuke enjoyed his manga more than he would ever admit, but he wasn't Naruto, and he knew that there was a solid line between fiction and reality.

"What does that even mean?" he demanded.

"For now," Orochimaru said, "suffice it to say that something very dangerous is coming, and a well-trained Sharingan user will be essential in preventing unprecedented disaster. If you desire details, I will be happy to share them in a more secure location."

"You're an S-rank criminal, and you're not even trying to pretend not to be evil," Sasuke pointed out. "And you're telling me you only want my power in order to do good?"

Orochimaru gave him a world-weary look. "Yes, the snake theme does somewhat work against me there, doesn't it?

"Still," he added, seemingly to himself, "it's infinitely more dignified than slugs, or toads.

"But let us for the moment set aside the fact that the end of the world would inconvenience me no less than anyone else. I do not view myself as evil, my dear Sasuke. It is not something people often do. I have seen the face of true evil—Akatsuki contained little else—and the crucial difference is in one's motivations. Mine have only ever been humanitarian."

A gust of wind blew through the clearing, catching Orochimaru's hair. He scowled briefly, and ran a hand through it as if to reset it to its original state.

"The hour grows late," he said. "Let us debate philosophy on a different occasion.

"I am offering you a chance to attain your heart's desire. With my assistance, you will grow powerful enough to defeat Itachi—I myself failed only for lack of the Sharingan. And while I am no guide to reviving a clan, at least using traditional methods, I am told that there are a number of attractive women among my assistants, and I myself can vouch for their genetic superiority."

Sasuke looked at Orochimaru again, seeing nothing in his expression that would offer any clue as to his true intentions. Even with the Sharingan, he was struggling to read the missing-nin's body language, almost as if Orochimaru belonged to some alien species that was wearing human form only as a matter of convenience.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

Orochimaru laughed. "My dear boy, if I wanted to kill you, you would now be dead. If I wanted to abduct you, you would now be halfway to my nearest base. The difference in power between us is so vast that I do not need to deceive you.

"Now, I suggest that you make your decision. You have done well in trying to take advantage of my loquacious tendencies, but a good shinobi factors their own flaws into any plan. Consider that your second lesson. Consider also that I had all the time in the world to prepare before approaching you, and to take steps to secure a significant amount of time before anyone else can draw near."

Sasuke inwardly cursed. He really was outclassed, and if Orochimaru was to be believed, no rescue was forthcoming. That meant his destiny would be decided by the answer he gave right now.

He couldn't deny that Orochimaru's reasoning echoed his own hidden fears. Itachi had been a prodigy, skyrocketing through the Academy to jōnin then ANBU status faster than any ninja on record. Sasuke was already lagging behind him in that respect. He would need an edge—a big edge—if he wanted to so much as catch up to Itachi in power, never mind overtake him.

It was the dilemma he'd awakened to while being lectured by Morino Ibiki, come back to haunt him before he could take time to come to terms with it. He could have everything he wanted on a silver plate—but he'd have to abandon the people who trusted him, and betray the village. If ever a choice had "path to becoming the next Uchiha Itachi" written on it in big shining neon letters, this was it.

Then again, at least no one would be massacred, and Sasuke wasn't blinded by zeal this time. Joining Orochimaru was the rationally best decision for fulfilling his goals, and while Leaf could never welcome back a traitor, there was no law that said Sasuke couldn't serve his village from outside as a missing-nin once his objective was complete. It was what he'd once desperately tried to believe about Itachi, but no strategic advantage could be worth what his brother had done.

Besides, it wasn't like Sasuke couldn't send them some sort of message apologising and explaining his decision (would it have killed Itachi to do that?). Even if they could not forgive him his betrayal, he thought Naruto at least would understand. And if Naruto really did become Hokage, he might have the power to pardon Sasuke, or at minimum remove him from the Bingo Book and thus open up the potential for some sort of official cooperation.

Or Sasuke could say no. Then he'd be betraying himself and his ambitions, planting a dagger in the back of the person he'd been all these years. Could he survive such a betrayal? Would he live a life of eternal shame as a coward and hypocrite who lacked the conviction to see through the things that mattered most? Even if others praised him for his wisdom, he'd always know that he was a man who could not be trusted to achieve anything meaningful, a ninja who could not make sacrifices for a greater goal. Was this the kind of decision that forever haunted people's lives, and stood behind the occasional shinobi suicide?

At the same time, there was another part of him, one which had just started to wake up after many years of coma, and he knew rejecting Orochimaru would nourish it. Friends. Family. A place to belong. He'd spent years focusing solely on his revenge, believing that these were things he could never have again. Now, encounter after encounter was making him wonder whether his own beliefs might be the greatest obstacle to his happiness. If he gave up on his old self and let it crumble, was there a chance that he'd find a better new one beyond the leap of faith?

But things weren't that simple in the shinobi world. If he refused, would Orochimaru then let him live? Would he let Naruto and Sakura live? And if he agreed, where was the guarantee that Orochimaru—a veteran ninja and known traitor—wasn't going to outsmart him and use his consent to set him up for some kind of devastating fall?

"I need time to think," Sasuke finally told him. "This isn't the kind of decision you make on the spur of the moment."

Orochimaru nodded. "I can respect that. But the longer you wait, my dear Sasuke, the more your options will narrow, and eventually it will be too late, perhaps for all of us.

"When you have your answer, leave an envelope in the mailbox of the boarded-up Kisaragi Housewares shop in the Southeast District. White for yes, manila for no. The contents are immaterial. If you agree, I will arrange immediate extraction.

"If you refuse, rest assured that you will come to no harm. When the time comes, I feel quite certain you will change your mind. And if any circumstance should prevent you from using this means of communication, I will soon arrange another.

"Oh, and I would suggest that you do not mention this conversation to anyone else. The last few times I spoke to Leaf shinobi one-on-one, they ended up subjected to extensive, invasive and traumatic tests to ensure that I had not turned them into sleeper agents or biological weapons—as if I lacked any sense of subtlety. I suppose they might be more lenient with someone of your obvious value, but even if you were officially cleared, you would never be rid of the stigma of mistrust. And Leaf's discovery of my presence would in any case not disrupt any of my current plans, or I would have chosen a different time to meet you."

Orochimaru began to move towards Naruto. "Now all that remains is to deal with the demon host, and then I shall bid you good night."

"Hold it." Sasuke stepped in his way. "You're not touching Naruto. Or Sakura. Not if you want me to even consider your offer."

Orochimaru looked surprised. "You're acting as if I wish to harm him. That is the absolute last thing I would do. The boy's safety is paramount, and that Sarutobi-sensei would be insane enough to allow him on the front lines says volumes about the modern shinobi world's skewed priorities. The same, of course, could be said in regard to you."

"Why do you care about Naruto? Are you planning to use the Demon Fox for your own gain?"

"You see," Orochimaru lamented, "this is the flaw in the entire classified information system. Its curators protect information that should be shouted from the rooftops, purely on the off-chance that someone will someday find a way of exploiting it for evil.

"In the days just after the Sage of Six Paths departed, my dear boy, people thought to rid themselves of the Demon Beasts by sealing them into hosts who would then commit ritual suicide—the so-called 'jinchūriki' or 'power of human sacrifice'. But they discovered that a slain Demon Beast would eventually reform—and worse, that they seemed to adapt, taking less time to return with every 'death'. That is why killing a Demon Beast is the absolute worst thing you can do, since it may ultimately lead to them becoming invincible."

Sasuke was stunned. If that was true, how could people keep allowing demon hosts out on the battlefield time after time? How much short-sightedness would it take to trade a temporary advantage for the risk of catastrophe a few generations down? Or, it occurred to him with more than a little horror, could the notoriously super-intelligent Demon Beasts themselves have somehow manipulated shinobi culture to make this sort of thing standard practice?

"Multiple approaches have been attempted to deal with the problem," Orochimaru noted. "Sealing the hosts in inaccessible prisons ended in disaster. A lifetime of isolation, however gentle, progressively damages any ordinary human mind. Doubly so a mind that experiences little but the Demon Beast's endless attempts to bypass the seal and gain control. Surrender becomes a matter of time. Meanwhile, the stigma against demon hosts, as well as the persistent external threat of abduction or assassination, rendered it impossible for them to lead innocent civilian lives. In the end, guided by a mixture of compassion, pragmatism and inevitable temptation, the village leaders chose to send the hosts into battle, under the reasoning or pretext that they could earn acceptance through service to the village."

"Hold on," Sasuke said as a disturbing thought occurred to him, "all that aside, why don't the Demon Beasts kill themselves until they can come back straight away?"

"Who can say?" Orochimaru tightened his lips, apparently unhappy to admit ignorance. "The most natural answers are that they cannot, or that there is a price to be paid for their death of which we are unaware, or perhaps that they are governed by some ethical code which proscribes any form of suicide. Regardless, there exist unknown principles that shackle them, and we must consider that one of the few sources of hope for humanity."

Orochimaru fell silent for a few seconds.

"It seems I have not modelled your motivations correctly—an inevitable risk when using outdated information. Allow me to revise my offer. Not only am I willing to grant you an apprenticeship, my dear Sasuke, but I also offer sanctuary to your two teammates. As I have said, I have a very strong interest in ensuring Uzumaki Naruto's safe containment. The girl is not relevant to my plans, but if you so desire, I can provide her with the training and augmentation she needs to become useful to you."

"I—I still need to think about it," Sasuke told him, his mind spinning. Everything he wanted—assuming Orochimaru was speaking the truth—without the need to betray his teammates? It was a possibility he hadn't even begun to consider.

But there was no point in considering it, Sasuke reluctantly admitted. There was no reason for Naruto or Sakura to agree, not with so little to gain and so much to lose compared to him. After all, why would they need sanctuary when they already had all the protection of Leaf?

"You will find," Orochimaru's voice broke into his thought process, "that in the times to come, this village will cease to be a safe refuge for those close to you. If you truly value their lives, then you will factor this into your considerations. Meanwhile, as a gesture of goodwill, I will instruct my assistants that all three of you are potential allies, and are not to suffer any damage that is beyond my reconstructive abilities.

"Now, I must take my leave before dear Anko notices the patterns within the silence," he said. "Think well on my offer, and on the boundaries between caution and cowardice.

"I shall await your reply, and in the meantime I wish you fortune in the rest of this meaningless endeavour."

The figure in front of Sasuke disintegrated into a thousand tiny snakes, all of which swiftly slithered into the shadows. Sasuke was left wondering whether he'd really been speaking to a man at all.