A silver haired girl dashed into tree and sat on one of the strongest branches. She gazed down at a house engulfed in flames. Normally, that would have killed anyone, but today... She felt like having fun. "Come on out little tiger. Show me what you can do." The female's lips broke into a mad grin. "And let the fun begin."

***

The raven haired boy stumbled out from the smoke, his clothes steaming. He was covered in ash and his cloths were slightly burned. He coughed, and kept coughing until he fell to his knees. Then he heard a voice. The same one as the girl's. "Oh little boy ~" she sang, taunting him. He struggled to his feet. He acted tough, but it was just that. An act. As much as he hated to admit it, she had inflicted a lot of damage on him.

He quickly glanced around, looking for the source of the sound. "Aw. You're not going to find me that way ~" she sounded like she was pouting. It then turned unto a pure evil tone. "You have to come and find me." He could feel her grinning down at him. "Come and play little tiger. Come find your prey ~"

The was a slight rustle over to his right and a ran towards it. A flash of white darted in between the trees and bushes. He ran after it but was too slow, even for his speed. There was a sound of metal clinking, and he twisted his head to the side just in time for a kunai to fly past his face and imbedded itself in a tree behind him. There was blood dripping down from his cheek. He reacted, pulling three shuriken from his pouch and flinging them in the direction they had come from. He heard a chuckle behind him.

"You're going to have to be faster than that ~" he snatched the kunai from the tree and whirled around to... Nothing. She was gone.

He slowly turned in a circle, jerking his head at the slightest bit of noise and turning in that direction. A bloodcurdling laughter echoed throughout the trees around him. He was getting tired of her game. He did a quickly set of hand signs and spun in a circle, exhaling at the same time.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" Flames spewed forth, engulfing the trees in their wake. There was a chuckled off to his right and he threw the kunai. It disappeared into the flames, but made no sound. It then came flying back at back at him with incredible speed. He barely had time to turn his body away. Blood dripped down from both his forearms.

"Two can play that game ~" The girl spoke again. There was a quick silence before a shout could be heard. "Wind style: Roaring Dragon jutsu!" A strong gust of wind blew in his direction. It picked up his flames and hit him with them. He was only slightly burned before there was another shout. "Water style: Torrential Downpour!" And suddenly, he was drowning in water. When the water settled, Sasuke lay sprawled out on the grass, drenched to say the least.

He looked up to see that there was steam everywhere. The water had collided with the fire and it had created the perfect smoke screen. "Clever." He whispered to himself.

"I know right ~?" The girl's voice had turned cheery. He slowly got up, the water slowing him down considerably. He looked to where the voice came from, but everything was covered in smoke. "Like it? I specialize in this ~" she sang. The voice echoed from everywhere, so he couldn't find the source.

There was a crashing noise in a tree behind him and a yelp. "That hurt Collected!" The girl whisper yelled. A voice that sounded exactly like hers but more cold whispered back. "There is something wrong with him." His eye twitched. Did she know he could hear her?

"Oh!" The cheery voice was back. "By the way, I forgot to ask about what clan you were in ~ So? What is it?" His body stiffened at the sudden change in tone. From cutesy to pure evil. It almost sounded like two different people were talking.

He put on his unemotional mask and decided to speak. "Uchiha Clan." The sound of distaste unwilling entered his voice.

Her demeanor changed instantly. "U-uchiha?" But just as fast it was gone. "Interesting. And then there was four." He didn't understand that last comment, and he didn't know if he wanted to find out. There was a shuffle of movement in the corner of his eye, and that's when he smelled it.

It was...

It was....

Smoke.

The steam had mixed with the smoke, making the two impossible to differentiate. "Well I'll be leaving you, little tiger. Hope you don't make out alive ~" she sang. A spark ignited and speedily made its way towards the Uchiha. Not again. He thought tiredly. He darted out of the steam and smoke just in time for a large boom to mercilessly shake the ground, and echo throughout the entire forest.

-

Kakashi darted into the open clearing where the cottage should have been. All he saw was a smoking pile of ash and burnt wood. His chakra signature is elsewhere. There was a series of shouts from behind him.

"Sasuke!" Naruto burst out of the tree with Sakura right behind him.

"Sasuke-kun!" She shouted. She glanced over and saw Kakashi and the burnt down house. "Kakashi-sensei, what happened here?" She and Naruto ran up to meet him. "Is Sasuke...?" She trailed off, tears forming at her eyes.

"No, he's somewhere else." Kakashi replied. Naruto groaned.

"And just when I thought we had gotten rid of him." Sakura balled her fist and slammed it into the blonde's head.

"Naruto! Don't say things like that!" Although his tone had been harsh, the silver haired jounin could tell that the blonde was relieved that his teammate wasn't dead.

"I know where he is, but you have to stay here." Kakashi was about to run off when Naruto yelled at him.

"No! I can't let you go save Sasuke! I have to do it! I have to be able save him this time and show him I'm a great ninja!"

"Naruto," Kakashi started, turning to the genin. "You don't understand. He's up against and enemy he can't defeat, one that will kill on a whim. That girl that we helped, is no ordinary girl. I only realized on the way here who she really was." He was calm on the outside but was slightly panicking on the inside. One of his students was in great danger.

"In the academy, you learned the names of criminals and their crimes, right?" They nodded. "Did you ever learn about 88?" They looked at each other and shook their heads. "Do you know why that is?"

"No.." Sakura spoke nervously. "Why Kakashi-sensei?"

"It's because she is so dangerous that they didn't even want you to know about her. She has done even worse things than almost all the rouge ninjas combined." His tone was grave and his students could tell. Sakura was horrified, no doubt thinking of horrible things that criminal 88 could have done. Naruto's hands slowly dropped  from behind his head. His eyes were were the size of dinner plates and his pupils could barely be seen they were so small. The jounin didn't even want to know what the blonde was imagining.

A large boom shook the ground and rattled their bones. Kakashi looked up. This one was closer. "Stay here and don't come after me." He commanded. For once they were inclined to actually follow orders. The silver haired jounin darted off towards the blast. He could feel Sasuke's chakra but it was incredibly weak. Why hadn't she finished him off yet?

He wouldn't wait to find out. He would have to get to him before death did.

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Sorry about the short chapter again. I'm kinda at a road block in the story. I know things I want to happen later, but I'm struggling with what happens now, so please bare with me. Thx!

Edit*

Hey guys I'm putting a temporary hold on this story because I'm not sure where to go from here. Any suggestions would be helpful. Also I'm putting more work into other stories that I have.