20 NotSoSecret Disasters that shaped Konoha, a naruto fanfic

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I won't be broke, you know?

A/N: After several months of not updating regularly...and squeezing the last bit of creativity out; I present you with this! The Sannins and the White Fang version of 20 Truths, fresh from the Community! Personally, I think this is probably my best creation so far, but that's just my opinion, you're more than welcomed to say your opinions in the reviews (which I will very much appreciate). This -is- my longest oneshot for sure though; so Only Secret is currently very proud of herself!

Not that I don't love all my supporters, but I would like to thank wildcatt especially for giving me the kicks that I needed everytime I feel like giving up.

20 (Secret)/Not-So-Secret Disasters that shaped Konoha

Hatake Sakumo and the Sannins were of the same generation. They got along so well that it had been deemed dangerous by the first Council of Konoha. Between them:

Three Kunoichi instructors were scared off by Sakumo and Jiraiya; until this day, neither of the three would tell anyone the reason they left teaching.

Tsunade had not been very good at losing back then (not that she is a lot better now); one time, she'd lost three card games consecutively to Sakumo; and made training ground 7 the only training ground that ever needed rebuilding.

Orochimaru and Sakumo were in the same class before they became genins and were great partners. In their one year in the Academy five of their instructors were hospitalized during training before the Nidaime had to see them personally to ensure such 'accidents' wouldn't happen again.

With all these in mind, the Council decided that they must be separated. It had only been chance – drawing straws – that Sakumo was taken to another team and later became the White Fang.

Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru became Team 3 and were under the man who later became the Sandaime. This fact had contributed to the name of Sannins. They were the Third's three; his only three. While the Sannin was taught by Sarutobi, Sakumo was in Team 4 under Koharu. The Council's attempt had only been partially successful – the damage of the village had decreased. But Sarutobi was a great believer of team bonding with the team of his genin days. Sarutobi, Homura and Koharu met up once or twice every week with their own genin teams.

These meetings were picnics turned babysitting turned damage control.

The years with their genin teams had greatly improved Sarutobi's ninjutsu (especially his Douton), Homura's genjutsu and Koharu's taijutsu. None of the three taught another team again. And when Sarutobi became Sandaime, a rather sadistic part of him tried to group another team like his for every jounin instructor. It was partly out of revenge and partly the sadist in him to give Kakashi Team 7.

The ninja registration was a laugh for Jiraiya and Sakumo, rather normal for Tsunade and Orochimaru, and a nightmare for the Konoha's economy.

Where it had been 'Sit, Snap, and Out' for Tsunade and Orochimaru, for the two boys with white hair, the photo shoot was a contest of who can get more face paint and hair gel on without obscuring their faces totally. Back then, Konoha used to show pictures of their forces to their appointers; they didn't do that anymore after two certain photos proved to have rather negative effect on their cash flow.

Years later, when Sarutobi-sensei saw Naruto's photo, he was hit by a pang of nostalgia (and, not for the first time, very glad that certain traditions had been removed). It was Naruto's photo that truly sealed the deal for the appointment of Team 7's instructor. Once Tsunade, as the Godaime, checked through the files, she nearly burst out laughing, realizing what her sensei had been thinking. She must admit though, Naruto's photo wasn't half as bad as Jiraiya's or Sakumo's.

Sakumo was a clever boy in ways unlike Jiraiya or Orochimaru. With Koharu as his instructor, he had a healthy respect for females and an even healthier fear for kunoichi with a tendency for violence. Sakumo learnt to tread carefully around Koharu-sensei…and never ever provoke Tsunade.

This was something Jiraiya and Orochimaru hadn't begun to learn until it was a bit too late. After witnessing a rampage, Sakumo had sworn that all generations of male Hatake must learn this as their first lesson. Jiraiya had spent two weeks hospitalized because Tsunade had refused to heal him after giving him a concussion and few splintered bones at some awkward place that wouldn't heal quickly. Orochimaru had been given his first emergency A-class mission of rebuilding the outskirt of Konoha.

Sakura didn't know it (and probably would never know it); but Kakashi had always been rather wary of her especially after she apprenticed under the Godaime.

After three weeks of D-ranked missions, five 'bonding sessions' and another fissure in the training ground, Nidaime (under the choking pressure from the Council) decided that it was deemed wise to send Team 3 and Team 4 away from Konoha on any extended period of time. Preferably in opposite directions. However, much to the dismay of the Council and the secret amusement of the two teams, they tended to return to Konoha on the same day.

The only successful attempt to separate them came half a year after the teams assembled.

The two teams set out on the same day with their respective two weeks and three weeks missions. Three days later, Team 4 came back from their two week mission with two genin short. It was confidential about what had happened to Team 4. But after this mission and with special permission from the Council, Sakumo was entered into the Chuunin exam that was hosted in Suna the following week.

Team 3 didn't return in time for the exam. Two months later, what was formerly known as Team 4 became Team Koharu – with one jounin and one chuunin.

Winning was everything.

It was the unwritten rule for kunoichi.

Neither the White Fang nor her teammates understood Tsunade's obsession with winning. They'd used to let her win sometimes, which only served to disgruntle her more they'd realized. Some things they did were acceptable- like letting her win cards (because they didn't want to risk a ruin training ground again); but some things just weren't- like going easy on her in training.

There was once a time where Tsunade demanded perfection of herself, even in gambling. She planned, she carefully executed her moves, and she even cheated, to try to ensure her victory. It had annoyed her to no end that Sakumo always outsmarted her, Jiraiya cheated better and Orochimaru was just plain good at gambling.

Tsunade had only really won three times against them.

The first time was on Nawaki's 12th birthday- a pair from Jiraiya, a triplet from Sakumo and a snake from Orochimaru against her Royal Flush.

The second time was before a mission to capture a nukenin who liked the combination of kunai and explosive tags- the four of them had gotten very drunk and by the next morning, other then earning worried glances from Dan, her bank account was significantly fuller.

The third time was before Sakumo's mission (and her secret departure)- the three blood red Ones had splattered loudly across the tatami floor followed by three pitiful wails and the knelling of coins.

Tsunade didn't gamble with the White Fang or her teammates, ever again.

In fact, she didn't care about winning gambles anymore.

The original idea of Icha Icha Paradise came from Sakumo. Jiraiya continued it in honor of his friend.

The truth was: Icha Icha Paradise was the alternative dare that Sakumo set Jiraiya after he had, without a second of thought, refused to do his first one. It was actually a dare Sakumo made up on the spot, considering that he never thought Jiraiya would back down from the first one, as stupid as that dare had been.

The fact was: The alternative dare was, in some ways, harder and easier than the original one.

The secret was: Icha Icha Paradise was really a tactic book (as it was meant to be). 'Read underneath the underneath' was the name of the first ever chapter of the series.

The problem was: Hardly anyone noticed the messages hidden behind the steamy scenes. Not even Sakumo. His first reaction after completing the volume was: 'Are you sure this isn't just plain porn?'; his second: 'There's no way this can mean that!'; and finally: 'Fine, you win; but only a monk would've seen that.'

The publication was: An uproar, aside from earning glares from Tsunade and nothing from Orochimaru, many people sent letters to the publisher. Some comments were nice; some were nasty. Jiraiya didn't care; it was just a dare. That was where Icha Icha Paradise finished.

The end was: The second book was published a year on the White Fang's death day. The title of the first chapter was 'Comradeship'.

Orochimaru liked pretty things. He used to keep a small, plain bag in his kunai pouch with small remnant of different pretty things. In his bag, besides a couple bits of different 'trophies', there was a weathered flower that Tsunade gave him when they were younger than he could ever believe or try to remember. The flower itself wasn't anything exotic, but it'd felt very pretty when Tsunade gave it to him.

Orochimaru liked Tsunade more he should.

It wasn't the type of like Sakumo had for Tsunade, which was brotherly and trustful; neither was it the like Jiraiya felt for Tsunade, which was full of bittersweet longing at times and tenderness at another. Orochimaru could scarcely understand Sakumo's affection (after all, they did grow up together in the worst of times) but he didn't understand Jiraiya's feelings at all (Tsunade would never spare them an appreciative glance even if they were the last thing she saw)

Orochimaru couldn't describe the way he liked Tsunade even if he wanted to. He appreciated her tribute to their team and the way she held them tightly together with only her words – ("Dammit Jiraiya! We're not doing anything until we get the signal! Orochimaru, go get reinforcement NOW! And give the fucking signal already Sakumo!") –; but what he actually liked about Tsunade would be her eyes. Tsunade had very pretty eyes. He liked the way they sparkled like gold when she smiled; and flashed red before she killed. But what he liked most was the way Tsunade's eyes were dying ember when she cried. Orochimaru didn't think Tsunade's eyes could be more pretty than the day they shed tears for Nawaki.

When he became interested in the Uchiha bloodline, Orochimaru made Kabuto and those who followed himbelieve that it was the secret power of the Sharingan that he wanted. But secretly, he knew none of the other bloodlines (not even the Byakugan) would have satisfied him. The red spinning Sharingan were the prettiest things he had ever seen.

He'd always wanted what he didn't have.

Orochimaru covet for pretty things.

Unlike most shinobi of their days, the four of them shared their first kill. Their kill had been man who spied for his village.

Technically, it was Tsunade who killed the man. She'd laid a chakra filled hand on the barely rising chest of the man when all information was wringed out of him. With a sharp intake of breath, the man's chest was stilled. Technically, Tsunade had saved the man too.

Jiraiya was the one who beat the man half to death during the interrogation. Because it had been an order – 'Find out what he knows'. Because he'd been young – 'Traitors deserves no better'. Because he'd felt betrayed – 'We fucking drank from the same cup'. He would half kill himself later and never enter a questioning room again after that; but he didn't know that when he broke the man's bones.

Sakumo was responsible for the other half of the man's death. He'd slipped a little too much blood and a little too much horror into the man's head. The interrogation had lasted for five days. The spy had not sleep, not even after exhaustion took over. The images swarming beneath his lids were too terrifying.

In the end, Orochimaru was the one who murdered the man's existence. Taking the corpse, he did his first human dissection. No one said anything, but Orochimaru smelt like charred flesh for days. Not long after that, he was enlisted to a much demanded role as a hunter nin.

The Second Ninja War was the stage that the Sannins and the White Fang made their entrance. Team Sarutobi and Team Koharu went from nameless ninja teams to legends. The bloody handprints they left in every corner of the battlefields weren't something others could wipe away. They were only sixteen then.

The Kiba Forest was the place Sakumo and Suna would forever remember. The horrors Sakumo unleashed branded Suna. Only one of forty elite shinobi survived long enough to make a report about a white blur with a flashing dagger that watered the wood with blood. The White Fang was born that day.

Tsunade had fought her way into the battlefield where killing was just killing and hatred was nothing personal. She was the envy of all females in the war. Tsunade had been the only kunoichi who didn't have to kill the man who'd shared her bed.

When half a generation had been wiped out, the Sannins and the White Fang were the delegates sent to sign the treaty with Suna. Chiyo-baa-sama met them the first time that day. She didn't like them one bit. They were every bit like the rumors had them- young, strong, legends.

The four of them had tried teaching, as per the Sandaime's order for a 'change in pace'. Only Orochimaru and Jiraiya were remotely successful.

Sakumo, who had always seemed to have a slight soft spot for smaller things, had actually been banned from the Academy building after scaring off half a class and mentally scaring the other half for giving them first hand pointers in interrogation. Only one Morino Ibiki came to school the next day. Sakumo left the Academy with a frown. He later told them that: "We're in for some hard work in the future. Those midgets have something against sticking kunai into enemies."

Tsunade, who had never been overly fond of children, had resigned from teaching when she found one too many student staring at her breast instead of the manikin. She'd decided that, as tempting as it was to learn then, puppet-play was a Suna technique; and she didn't need to increase her workload in Hospital by beating them to the ground in the first place. She must agree with Sakumo: "These brats aren't going to be their best generation – not enough talent, not enough hard work."

Together, Sakumo and Tsunade came up with 5 reasons to which why Orochimaru and Jiraiya were successful:

a) Jiraiya was, and probably forever would be, a child at heart.
b) Orochimaru actually quite liked Anko.
c) All three of Jiraiya's students were geniuses in their own right.
d) Anko actually wore the pants in their odd little teacher-student relationship.
e) Even though they'd never admit it, Sakumo and Tsunade could tell: Orochimaru and Jiraiya enjoyed teaching.

What the soon to be Yondaime told Obito about Sakumo and the Sannins wasn't a lie. But it wasn't the exact truth either. Yes, even the Sannins respected the White Fang; but the reasons were...probably not as noble as the Yellow Flash thought them to be. The Yellow Flash, as Jiraiya had always told him, was prone to heroism and noble intentions. (This was one of the reason why Jiraiya wasn't too surprised - "knew he'd do something like that!" - when the Yondaime sacrificed himself.)

Up to this day, the only people who knew why the Sannins and the White Fang respected each other can be counted on one hand.

Jiriaya respected Sakumo because he could drink Tsunade down the table and joke about Orochimaru's 'silky' hair and 'snowy' skin.

Tsunade's capacity for alcohol is legendary on the polar end to her bad luck in gambling. She could easily drink five big men down the table at one go. But after a mission gone horribly, horribly right; Sakumo invited Tsunade out that night and won fair and square.

No one talked about Orochimaru's hair and skin.

Tsunade respected Sakumo because he could crack a joke dirty enough to make Orochimaru blush and call a dare that Jiraiya refused to do without a moment of hesitation and quietly endure all teasing due.

Neither of Orochimaru or Jiraiya would ever tell Tsunade what Sakumo had said no matter how she threatened…or if ever, begged.

Orochimaru respected Sakumo because (as wrong as it was) he was a pretty face like none other- No one could rival his prettiness when he dressed up as a woman; not even Tsunade with her womanly assets; and Sakumo made Jiraiya shut up for once-that was something he had yet to achieve.

In a mission where their kunoichi had been slaughtered by their targets, Sakumo grabbed a set of cheap yukata and successfully had the men kissing the ground he walked on, metaphorically…and later, quite literally. He'd wondered whether it ran in the family. When Kakashi became genin, he had, more than once, tried to convince Sarutobi-sensei that it was a good idea to send the young boy on espionage dressed up as a girl.

The first thing, Orochimaru learnt about his teammates was that Tsunade was the pretty granddaughter of the founder of Konoha, and Jiraiya never stopped talking.

Sakumo respected the Sannins for their absolute unsychronized way of acting that can still be called teamwork. he didn't think such a thing as 'unsynchronized teamwork' was possible.

But there was simply no other way to describe them when Tsunade angrily rushed to the front of everyone to go to devil-knows-where. Jiraiya and Orochimaru would continue their 'discussion'. Neither would pay much mind to where Tsunade went (or how dangerous it could be for Tsunade) nor would they ever agree on whatever they were talking about. (It was impossible for them to agree – rule no. 23 concerning Team Sarutobi) But somehow, they would sit down at a random stall (never stopping their argument), and Tsunade would still manage to turn up sometime later. No words were exchanged before or after. Team Sarutobi stumbled to where they should be by chance.

None of the four thought their first Near Death Experiences were anything glorious or spectacular; Death was an entity they walked side by side with on daily basis. But if asked, they would unanimously agree that while Jiraiya's was quite well-deserved – '…peeking at Tsunade, of all people…' Sakumo had shook his head –; Tsunade's was quite scary – after all, no one really knew what to do with all the blood until Koharu-sensei angrily arrived and told the three boys to 'suck it up and start wrapping her wounds, dammit!' –; Sakumo's was quite embarrassing – it involved no enemy or war; just a few bottle of sake, some stairs and a woman –; and they couldn't remember Orochimaru's.

They never talked about Orochimaru's first Near Death Experience because none of them remembered…or rather they tried to convince themselves that they couldn't remember.

It had been an ugly sight to behold.

Blood that seemed too red on ashen skin; clammy hands that tried to keep everything from falling apart; a wild, hysterical, screaming, dying Orochimaru…

It had been a really ugly sight.

Sakumo, Tsunade and Jiraiya tried not to remember that.

Unfortunately, Orochimaru remembered all too clearly.

Sakumo was the only one of the three who ever got married…or thought about the concept of marrying to begin with.

Orochimaru had too many ambitions and there were no place for another in his life – not that he wanted anyone. Women could come and go. He had, at one point of his life, welcomed them. But he was perfectly happy on his own. There was no need to share.

Jiraiya knew all about the risks of shinobi life. His father was a shinobi. The man died before he was born, leaving his family behind. His mother never recovered – but she lived on for his sake until she could bear the emptiness in her heart no more and let sickness took her life, six years after his father's death. Jiraiya was a great lover of women because of his mother. Still, he had no wish for marrying. He didn't plan on leaving another heartbroken woman and orphaned child behind.

Tsunade, at one moment in time, had fleeting thoughts about being with someone permanently. It was the time when her brother had died and she'd just met Dan. Love, comfort and children had such an appeal. The thought came and went. And it never appeared again. She loved Dan, so much that it hurt. But she was a kunoichi. There was no changing in that.

When Sakumo planned to marry, to a woman none of the Sannins knew until they'd received the invitation, they'd reacted quite similarly in their disbelief. Orochimaru had read the invitation once and then, quickly checking that the messenger had left, he'd turned the enveloped over to make sure it was Sakumo sending Orochimaru a wedding invitation. Tsunade had stared at the invitation for hours and then, finally realizing that the paper wasn't going to disappear, she'd knocked down Sakumo's door demanding an explanation. Jiraiya had, of the Sannins, reacted in the most calm and supposedly normal manner, he went, barging into Sakumo's bedroom (much to his fiancée's embarrassment), and asked whether he knew what he was doing; after receiving the answer 'yes', he left without another word.

Tsunade had nearly killed Sakumo's son on his birth date. That was something Tsunade would never tell her friend. Tsunade had just become a medic instructor then. She'd taken her first would-be apprentice into the delivery room and told her deliver the baby. It didn't go too well. The girl had been clumsy and absolutely terrified. Tsunade had to step in at the last moment before the girl choke Sakumo's boy with the umbilical cord.

When Tsunade was hauled to heal Kakashi because no one else could do what she did, besides the initial shock that the genius boy of Sakumo had lost a fight ("Hatakes are the best," said the teenage Sakumo, and the teenage Tsunade readily believed that because it had been war and people believed what they had to); she was also oddly tempted, by a very juvenile part of her, to point at him and laugh – "I saved your ass again."

Since the incident 26 years ago, Tsunade had instructed and advised many medics but she had only taken in two apprentices – Shizune and much later, Sakura.

Orochimaru liked to believe that beyond the entity called Death, there was something more. After all, it just didn't seem right that something can end so abruptly. Wind would fade into breeze; rain into drizzle. Shinobi who lived so violently cannot become nothing.

Death fascinated and terrified him more than anything. He liked to think that there was more to death than just darkness and that there was more to darkness than just pain.

But he wasn't going to try that theory out on himself.

He'd decided long, long ago that he was going to live. No matter what.

He truly didn't understand why Sarutobi-sensei was so appalled by his ideas when the two of the Sannins and the White Fang's success were built on dead people too.

Up to this day, Jiraiya couldn't believe what happened nearly 20 years ago happened. Sometimes, when he woke up in the morning, he still thought that it was a bad dream after a night full of Sake. But he wasn't about to admit it to anyone that he still dreamed and hoped that it didn't turn out like that. Not even to himself.

Shinobi read underneath the underneath. They accepted whatever the truth shoved under their nose. Jiraiya was a good shinobi.

So even though, Tsunade was the girl who kicked him in the right direction and Sakumo the brother he never really had in body (not that he'd ever say that they were brothers in soul, those were the type of corniness that only existed in books he wrote) and Orochimaru was the one he looked up to, Jiraiya wasn't going let something like this go.

Jiraiya had looked up to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru had been what Jiraiya wanted to become.

Until his betrayal.

Secretly, Jiraiya was glad that he, not Tsunade, not Sakumo, was the one who chased after Orochimaru. It at least showed that there was still some justice left in the world.

To be quite honest, neither Tsunade nor Sakumo were very surprised that Orochimaru betrayed the village. Both of them knew Orochimaru had ambitions that none of them could or should try to fathom. They also knew that Jiraiya, who still sort of believed in the fairytale of ever after, didn't grasp that idea.

To Jiraiya, Friends were forever.

Orochimaru always wanted something more than comradeship, loyalty and bond. He always wanted more than what they could give.

Tsunade and Sakumo were off on separate missions when the Orochimaru's desertion reached them. They were still on their missions when Jiraiya's pursue and then its failure reached them.

It was sad that Orochimaru thought so little of what they had; but more so that neither of them were surprised.

Tsunade had saved a village and Sakuma a teammate. But they still felt like they'd lost a part of them that probably didn't belong with them since the very beginning.

When Sakumo saw Kakashi off to another mission, pretending nothing was wrong, he knew exactly what he needed to do.

It wasn't about the taunts and angry glares that some fellow shinobi shot him. They could sneer all they wanted. (He wouldn't have done anything different, even if he knew this disapproval was what he would be getting. A teammate's life was above missions. No one could try telling him otherwise.)

It wasn't even about Konoha, he secretly and shamefully admitted in his mind. Konoha was war-torn. And the failure of his mission might just be the kunai to the heart. (But then again, his village had been war torn before and he was more than sure that, as unlikely as it'd always seem, it was going to make it through to another couple of generations at least)

It was about Kakashi.

Plain and simple.

His son.

He knew about the pressure Kakashi was facing by being his son alone. And Sakumo was extremely aware of the looks his son was getting from his decision. Kakashi didn't say anything but he knew. He also knew, until he did something about it, the spitefulness induced by the blood and fear and loss wasn't going to be leaving Kakashi alone.

Kakashi deserved a future and Konoha will need him.

He picked up the knife, given to him by Koharu-sensei and had given him his title of White Fang; and did what he had to.

He only hoped Kakashi understand.

It wasn't shame; it was love.

When the Sannins received words about what had happened, they sort of understood.

Orochimaru heaved a sigh in a hideout on his way to Akatsuki. That was the only time he wished he was still in Konoha- It would be interesting to investigate Sakumo's genes.

Tsunade shrugged, quite calmly (much to Shizune's surprise), and bought a nice set of yukata before heading off to the gamble house (very much to Shizune's dismay). Upon asked why by a disgruntled Shizune, she simply answered – 'because it had to be a good day for gambling'.

Jiraiya hauled the, at first, very indignant – 'I'm a ninja.' – but then quiet and limp – 'it's an order, brat!' – Kakashi to his blonde spikeball of a student, telling him – 'He's your responsibility now. And I'm off to see Miroki-chan and her pretty girls!". He wasn't seen for a week in that host club and after that, Jiraiya left the village, saying that he needed to see new girls.

Life went on.

They'd just counted: One down, three to go.

-END-

A/N: Wow...that actually took a long, long time to complete. But now that I have, there's more time for me to focus on my other fics. Please read and review! Why? Because I really want to know what you think about this! So Please X100!

Also, please check out my new Naruto fic - Teahouse. This is the fic where I explore the story of five women that also have influential parts in Naruto's world but are often overlooked! Your comments will be most helpful!