The above photo was drawn digitally BY HAND WITH HER FINGER ON HER iPhone by my amazingly talented friend for my birthday. It took her two months, but still. STILL. HER FINGER. COME ON.

God bless her and her unreachable talent.

Anyway, thirty chapters! I've been waiting for this moment! And over 2k reads! Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading!

Sasuke's POV

He sat up.

Blinked.

Rubbed his eyes--

Wait.

He rubbed his eyes?

Where were the chains that had so long bound his hands above his head? A slight clink when he shifted alerted him to their presence.

They were resting on the floor beside him, broken.

Broken.

How?

Sasuke rubbed his chaffed wrists, trying to get the blood flowing in them again. They were completely numb, hard to even move.

He stood up. Glanced around. Something was different.

Something had happened.

What was it?

Ahh, yes, he knew what it was now.

A slow smirk made its way up the side of his face.

"Watch out," he whispered. "Here I come."

Karin's POV

"This is the end?" Karin whispered. "I don't wanna die!"

"We won't die!" Itachi said sharply. "We won't!"

"B-but that guy is--"

"I know who he is!" Itachi almost shouted. "Just stay calm! We won't stand a chance if you get all flustered."

A bead of sweat dripped down Karin's face as she took in the monstrous sight in front of her. She was utterly terrified. This was the man her mother had told her stories about as a child. This was the man every child had nightmares about.

And she was looking him right in the eye.

He was a ghastly sight. His gums were exposed, the flesh around them completely melted away. His teeth were large canines, and his eyes were a bright red, almost lazor-like. Razor sharp claws extended six inches from his hands and feet, and scale patterns dotted his body, not completely covering it, more like in patches.

Enormous white wings, at least twenty feet across beat heavily at the air to keep him aloft, his mass of white hair blowing across his scarred face.

It was the Changed One. A shapeshifting gone wrong. One of Orochimaru's failed experiments. And one of the most deadly.

He was caught in the middle of a shifter and an Angel; a member of the Mizuno clan who had sought to enhance his shifting abilities, but had gotten himself permanently stuck in this form. Halfway between a dragon and a human.

His abilities, however, were beyond ordinary. The strength of the dragon combined with his speed and control made him a monster of destruction, Lord Masaaki's "pet".

As far as Karin had heard, no one had defeated him yet.

The only one who could control him was Masaaki himself.

The hideous creature before them sneered cruelly. "So you're the little weaklings my master instructed me to capture? Such a shame he wants you alive. It would be so easy to snap you in half." His voice was low and deep, that alone enough to scare Karin out of her wits.

"Itachi..."

"Don't worry," the black haired boy beside her whispered. "I've already caught him in my genjutsu. He's not even aware of it."

Karin let out a sigh of relief--until the monster let fly a dozen kunai, mpaling Itachi in the chest.

Sasuke's POV

He stood before the stone door of his cell, sealed from the inside. "Pathetic."

He blinked, and in the next moment it was gone, having crumbled away into mere dust in a matter of milliseconds.

A guard on the other side looked up, startled. Then he fell to the floor, his neck snapped. "Oops," Sasuke muttered. "A bit too soft, maybe?"

Sasuke walked silently down the hallway, discovering a few more guards along the way. They all shared the same fate.

A faint chakra signature reminded him of his first priority. Following the trail, he uncovered a set of hidden stairs, behind a door that at first glance, appeared to be nothing more than a janitors' closet.

The stairs led to a smallish, enclosed room. Syringes and needles lay on the counters, along with various other medical tools that he didn't recognize. At the far corner of the room, a large liquid-filled tube stood upright. The substance inside was a dark, murky red.

Sasuke walked casually over to it, meandering through the cluttered space. Peering through the glass, he made out a shadowy floating figure. "Ahh, there you are!"

Lifting his hand, he shoved it through the glass, shattering the tube. The crimson liquid poured out, splattering his already ragged clothes, but he didn't mind. Grasping at the unconscious person inside, he carefully lifted them out.

Suigetsu opened one eye weakly. His body looked as if it had been painted red with his own blood, which was still leaking out of partially healed wounds. "Hey there, Uchiha," he managed. Then he squinted, peering closely at his face. "Oh, would you look at that," he chuckled faintly. "We match." Pitching forward, he slumped over Sasuke's shoulder, asleep again.

Sasuke furrowed his brow. "Hmm," he mused thoughtfully. "I suppose we do. An odd color, though. But I can live with that."

He strolled back up the stairs, Suigetsu leaning on his shoulder. He walked right past a bewildered Orochimaru who was just coming down the steps, gaping at him as he carried out his precious test subject. "Hey--boy! Wait! I said wait!"

Sasuke blatantly ignored him, purposefully shoving him aside without a second glance.

Orochimaru scowled. Who did this boy think he was? "Get back over here right now--" he started, grabbing his shoulder.

The next second, he was on his back, staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out why stars were floating around his head.

"Kindly shut up," Sasuke said. "I wish I had time for you, but I need to carry out an execution. There's no time to squeeze in a second one. Besides, when I'm done, there's a cherry blossom waiting for me. And a raven. And an idiot. Please excuse me, sir."

Orochimaru lay there, stunned, as the purple eyed boy turned around for the final time and slammed the door behind him.

Karin's POV

Karin screamed as Itachi's eyes widened. The kunai knives slammed into his body, blood spurting out from everywhere. Then he exploded, dozens of ravens flapping off in all directions.

'Don't worry,' a voice whispered in her head. She looked around with a start. "Itachi?"

'I told you, he's in my genjutsu. Just stay calm, Karin. I can handle him,' Itachi's voice reverberated through her skull.

Karin shuddered. "I hope so. What should I do?"

'Get to Sakura and Naruto,' Itachi told her. 'I'll take care of him.'

Karin nodded gratefully, beginning her descent to the forest.

Only to be stopped short.

She looked down, confused as to why she couldn't move.

Until she noticed the claws protruding from her chest, and felt the searing pain as all of the blood drained from her face. This was no genjutsu.

This pain was real.

"I-Itachi..."

'Karin!'

The claws were ripped out, and she plummeted to the ground. The monster stared at her, his forehead creased. "Oops. Didn't mean to do that. The master will be mad. Oh well, it's only one of them."

The last thing she felt was the branches of the trees scratching at her arms and legs as she continued on her path to becoming a splat of red on the leaves.

If she even had any blood left in her by the time she hit the ground.

I'm going to die.