Chapter 1: Opportunity makes the thief

Viral paused in his meditations, opened his eyes just long enough to get his master's attention. The young lord wasn't paying attention, but his servant girl was. Nodding slightly, the seer snapped his eyes shut again.

"My lord! Viral-sama has seen something!" she cried, tugging on the man's sleeve.

"Seen something?" Viral mused. I haven't stopped "seeing things" in months. But this is big, this is...interesting.

"Yes, what is it!?" Tohno jerked awake suddenly. Falling asleep while sitting up perfectly straight was his specialty. "Viral-san, what have you seen?"

Those eyes had just opened, they didn't feel like doing it again. Viral spoke softly but his voice reverberated around the chamber. "I have found a great potential, but I fear the contact point is very swiftly approaching. Without more time to study him-

"How powerful is it!?" Tohno interrupted him, as the oracle had known he would. These powers of prediction were relatively new, but the budding soothsayer was starting to find a pattern: they always came closest to reality when the worst possibility came true. It was for this reason that he wanted to hesitate, but now his power was telling him the young man would actually force the information out of him if he refused to continue. This alarming revelation put the lord in a new light, a much less pleasant light indeed.

"It isn't an 'it,' it's a person. He is immensely powerful, capable of ravaging an entire shinobi village, and he has only just begun to develop."

A vacant smile swept onto his master's face, and Viral shuddered violently as his mind raced. What have I done!? Was this person always this close to evil? How have I not noticed before?

"However," the oracle boomed, opening his eyes to look at the young man. Tohno's smile faded slightly and he turned fully to face his retainer's next words. "His heart will only waver for a single night, perhaps even a single minute. Past that his future is radically different, so I can only assume his loyalty will be cemented elsewhere. Should we fail to recruit him, we shall be annihilated by the wrath of the Fire Country within the space of a week.

Viral had barely caught himself: he'd almost said 'fail to corrupt him,' but a sharp pain told him it would be his death. Curse the violent bandit my lord just became! Curse the parents that raised him and the servant that brought me to him! Curse my inability to predict such a terrible outcome!

"Shikasa," Tohno said lightly, "Bring me my cloak."

"Yes, my lord."

"Crom!" the lord called to his captain. "I want my personal guard assembled immediately! And bring me my horse!"

Viral's head swam as his master called a servant from the door.

"You are to go to my cousin Oliver. Tell him he shall rule in my place while I am gone. I'll take with me one-quarter of the treasury and supplies to last my men a month."

The man just stared at him, wide-eyed. "My lord?"

"And tell him to take good care of my women! Now go!"

After the man scampered off, Tohno seemed to think of something.

"Viral-san, what will Oliver do with the women?"

"He will free them, my lord."

"I see. They had better be killed in that case."

"W-wait, my lord." Viral touched a hand to his temple and grimaced the way he usually did. "One of them has a brother, a powerful ninja. He will come after you." The seer nervously pushed away the prediction of what would happen if Tohno didn't believe his lie.

The young man eyed him warily for a few seconds. "You shall come with me and point her out, then when she has been freed-"

"She will not go quietly!" the man interrupted. He gained confidence as the future of his punishment grew fainter. "She is strong-willed, and will return to check on the others. Please, my lord, you cannot kill a single one of them."

"Alright, alright!" Tohno waved his hands innocently, and Viral wanted so badly to believe it was true.

"My lord, if I may?"

"What is it?" Tohno snapped.

"Forgive me, but...you will change your mind shortly before we leave. It pains me that you do not trust your servant."

"Very well, very well. Guard!!!"

A man quickly rounded the corner, spear at the ready.

"Go to the women's quarters and tell them they are all free to go as they please. Then go directly to Oliver and tell him what you have done on my orders. I would prefer that you arrive before the other servant I have already sent to him."

The guard took the hint and actually dashed out of the room.

"Now then Viral, I am about to leave my kingdom and rush off to another country entirely on your word that there will come a few minutes when a powerful fighter can be convinced to defect and join me."

"Yes, that is the reason you sought me out." The oracle's face carried less emotion than ever before.

"Perhaps you should now tell me when this opportunity will come?"

Viral paused as streams passed through his mind, a plethora of unpleasant possibilities. He closed his eyes to focus on them better while Tohno watched impatiently.

What have I done? What can I do?

His eyes flew open sharply: he had seen it. He looked at the young man before him with no hatred in his eyes and nothing but hatred in his heart. He'll go after my sister, the oracle almost breathed out loud.

Sighing, he caved. "Three days, my lord."

"Excellent. We depart in an hour."

This story begins before the official Naruto storyline. Three days earlier, if you catch my drift. The chapters are short, and will continue to be short but they're easy to write: I wrote 1-5 yesterday. I'll post 2 per day, one in the morning and one in the evening, until my writing slows down and the story catches up to it. Also, I promised a new chapter of my other Naruto Fanfic, The Peddler Comes to Konoha, so I have to do that as well. If you haven't read it, it's probably better quality than this story and it includes a lot more of the Naruto characters. It's sort of a long-term project vs random short-story relationship.