A/N: Hey guys, so here's the second chapter. Well, I realize I rushed into writing and posting this chapter a little too early and without enough research (teehee), but you know what, I'm not changing it. Yes, I know that Team Hiruzen was formed when they were all six years old, but personally I find it a bit hard to imagine. So, yup, they're ten, and they graduated from the Academy. Deal with it. I'm following most of the basic story though, and you'll definitely see things you remember from the anime and/or manga, such has their fight with Hanzo, Dan and Nawaki, etc. I wouldn't go so far to call it an AU, because most of it is definitely in the original series, but there will be some tweaks. Due to the shocking number of things that aren't described clearly, I'm taking quite a lot of creative licence here (e.g. Hiruzen's personality [although his lewd nature is quite true], Jiraiya's family). Anyhow, hope you enjoy this loooong second chapter!

Update: Crap. And after doing a bit more research, I realize Hiruzen should already be Hokage. However, let's pretend otherwise. Just. Go. Along. With. It. Don't worry, I fully intend to make it pull together in the end. It's just … not the same as the actual :P I still refuse to call it an AU!

Chapter 2: A Test of Nerves

"Faster! You've got to pick up your speed, kids! This is no time to be gentle!"

Jiraiya gritted his teeth and dunked the paintbrush back into the can of disgustingly-coloured brown paint, not caring that droplets splattered over the cement beneath his feet. Hiruzen-sensei was sitting on a recliner, smoking his pipe as usual, while his three students painted the fence with inhuman speed and hellish indignation.

"Work those paintbrushes!" their sensei called, his amusement barely concealed.

"This isn't a job for a ninja!" Jiraiya exploded, stabbing the paintbrush against the fence, creating a huge splotch he knew he would have to fix later. But at present, he was so beyond annoyed that he didn't give a damn. Tsunade looked equally irate, but she kept her mouth shut and kept painting. Orochimaru was expressionless as usual, though Jiraiya thought he could see a slight crease on that pale brow – the biggest show of emotion he'd ever seen from his teammate.

"Jiraiya-kun," said his sensei in a rather dangerous tone. Jiraiya froze, fearing the worst, but his sensei went on, "All of us know what it's like to be a genin. Right now you've just got to keep at it and bring your record up. Then we'll get assigned better missions."

Jiraiya fought the urge to grumble. This wasn't the first time Hiruzen had said something like this to him, and it certainly wasn't their first time doing a mundane mission like this. If his sums were been correct, this was their nineteenth, stupid, boring, useless D-rank mission. If people wanted their fences painted, they should hire fence-painters, not shinobi!

"Look Jiraiya," Hiruzen said in a placating tone, "I know you're eager to get out there and help save the world, but really what we really need to do now is to build up our world again. It's been just over a decade since the armistice, and we're still all in vulnerable positions. Painting this fence," he pointed at the object Jiraiya had come to hate, "is important because it surrounds the orphanage that will be built here. Even now, orphans are coming in hordes."

Jiraiya noticed a small movement from Orochimaru out of the corner of his eye. He felt a bit guilty – he knew his quiet teammate had watched his parents die, barely a toddler.

"How are there still orphans?" Tsunade asked. All three of them had ceased painting now, and were actively listening. "Wouldn't they have grown up by now?"

Hiruzen shook his head. "The first wave of orphans has already grown up and is now a group of young adults, but those devastated by the war may not be able to take care of children, should they have them. Some children – some mere babies – have been found on the streets in near-death states, suffering from dehydration and malnutrition."

"Who would do that to their own children?" Tsunade asked in horror. "How could someone do that?"

"Well," their sensei said gently, "if you knew your children would have a better life in the orphanage than you could provide them, wouldn't it be easier on you and your children to do just that?"

Tsunade didn't have anything to say to that, and nobody expected her to. Jiraiya knew that out of the three of them, Tsunade was the least worldly. She didn't know what it was like to feel hunger and pain because she'd always been treated like a princess her entire life. Just judging by their clothes, it was evident that she was from the upper echelons of society; that rich-looking emerald yakuta lined with a majestic purple was certainly something neither Jiraiya nor Orochimaru could have even thought to afford.

Jiraiya probably came next on the fortune scale – at least his mother was still alive, though his father had died in the war as an unrecognized chuunin. Jiraiya himself had never really aspired to be a ninja for himself, but seeing the picture of his father proudly holding his Konoha forehead protector had really convinced him that this was the way to go. Contrary to what he had told the others, his biggest goal wasn't to just write a book, but rather to make a name for himself and make his father – and his mother – proud. His mother hadn't approved of his decision to go in the footsteps of his father. Who would want their child to follow in the footsteps of a man who died at the age of twenty-one? However, he'd been adamant and he had enrolled in the Academy. At home, sometimes tension would develop between him and his mother, but it was said that poverty brought people together and that was certainly true for the two of them. It wasn't as if they were on the verge of death, and they certainly had enough to eat now that his mother was working and his contributions that came from mission went into their cash stash, but they definitely couldn't afford to move into somewhere less sketchy. The area around their apartment could be considered sketchy at best, and outright dangerous at worst.

As for their quiet teammate, Orochimaru had lost his entire family in that war. He'd grown up in the orphanage and he had been handpicked to enter the Academy by chuunin-level shinobi who had detected incredible potential in him. He'd been a scrawny kid for as long as Jiraiya could remember, but nobody bullied him, simply because of that strange aura around him. They were definitely glad that they hadn't bullied him now that he'd proven himself to be one of the strongest in their class, although some kids did think he was a bit creepy.

The summer heat was beginning to die down after having persisted for the last three weeks, and Jiraiya thought it had given a pretty damn good fight against time. When they'd finally finished painting the fence (the splotch itself had taken Jiraiya fifteen whole minutes to even out), Hiruzen dismissed them for the day as he'd done for the past few weeks – with a smile and a wave. Usually they just departed, heading their separate ways, but today Jiraiya wasn't ready to go home just yet. A small devious smile found its way to his lips, and he decided right then and there what he was about to do. He'd always wondered where Orochimaru went in the afternoons, because he knew the way the other boy went wasn't in the direction of the only orphanage in the village.

So today he waved amiably to the rest of his team, pretending he was setting out to go home, but he was actually planning to just walk the way he usually did for a few minutes before he'd jump onto a rooftop and follow his teammate. Anticipation pulsed through his veins. This was much more exciting than the missions he'd been on lately – by far – so as soon as he couldn't hear the sounds of the others' footsteps anymore, he scrambled up the side of a low building, using a pipe to help shimmy himself up.

It took him a couple of minutes to find Orochimaru, and when he did he ducked immediately. He knew that it would be difficult to track his teammate because the other boy was quite good at detecting pursuers, so he stayed as far away as he could without losing sight of the distinctive dark mane of hair. Orochimaru walked on without stopping anywhere or talking to anyone for quite a long time, and Jiraiya's patience began to wear thin. Wherever Orochimaru was headed, the population certainly wasn't big, and soon enough Jiraiya couldn't see any villagers walking around the streets at all. It was getting quite boring now that there weren't any women to stare at, but he reminded himself that this was like mission experience and he had to bear with it, because some missions were bound to be tedious.

It was only when Orochimaru was practically at the gate of the graveyard that Jiraiya realized where he was going. Jiraiya felt slightly awkward now, as if he was intruding on someone's private moment (not that kind of private moment; he had no trouble intruding on that), and got ready to leave. But then he suddenly saw another person, quite close to the building on which he was perched, and with a start he realized it was Hiruzen-sensei. What was Hiruzen-sensei doing here? Was he following Orochimaru too?

Jiraiya ducked quickly, knowing that their sensei probably had even more advanced skills in detection than his teammate. He waited until he could no longer hear the soft pit-pat of his sensei's sandals on the sandy gravel before he stole from the building rooftop to the dismally gray gate of the graveyard, peering over the edge before hurrying in and hiding behind a stone monument of a kunai. This was a bit eerie, sneaking around a graveyard. The ground was covered in dead, dried grass, that probably covered hundreds, if not thousands, of dead, dried-up bodies. The grass crackled slightly upon touch, like an old woman's complaints about her joints. There was something about this place that, quite ironically, felt alive. Jiraiya had never been one prone to superstition, but the mere feeling that this place gave off … he shivered. How could Orochimaru bear to come here so often?

There was a soft intake of breath from quite a ways away. Jiraiya gave a start, curling into himself to be as small as possible behind the monument.

"A white snake," the calm voice of Hiruzen-sensei observed. The gasp must have come from Orochimaru. "And I'm assuming this is your parents' grave?"

A pause.

"Yes, sir," came an inflectionless voice.

Another pause was followed by the faint sound of tumbling dirt and gravel. A hiss. "This is an omen of good fortune and longevity. Rebirth. Do you believe in reincarnation?"

"No, sir," came a quick reply.

A small sigh. "It's difficult to convince the younger generation nowadays, but I believe in it. The snake sheds its skin when the skin grows old, and from that emerges the snake, as good as when it was first hatched from the egg. As if it was reborn." A small shuffling noise. "And here is the skin it has just shed." Hiruzen chuckled softly. "The heavens know that I need to change out of this skin – I'm getting much too old, I fear."

"But you're barely middle-aged. Sir," the boy added hastily.

"Orochimaru, you do not need to worry about titles with me. I won't pull rank on you unless it's during an important mission." A small thump, and Jiraiya stole a peek around the monument; their sensei had placed a hand on the small boy's shoulders. "This snake was meant for you. It's a good luck charm. Don't do that, it'll hurt it." And the boy leaned down and put the snake to the ground, letting it slither away. "Just remember that you are a blessed child."

"Yes, sir," came a quiet reply.

This was too much for Jiraiya to be overhearing. It wasn't interesting or gossip-worthy at all; instead, he now felt guilt-ridden for having intruded on this moment and quickly sidled out of the graveyard, cringing at the slight sound of the crunch of dry grass. But the two figures in the graveyard did not turn, so Jiraiya assumed they had not heard. Thus, his mission had been a success, he thought to himself as he sprinted away from this place for which just now he'd developed a slight, nauseous fear. So why did he feel so guilty for having been there?

The ten-year-old boy didn't know how to answer that.

::~::

Seven days and six more D-ranked missions (inclusive but not exclusive to catching an ugly grey feline for the fifth time in their short careers, babysitting an extremely annoying little brat, and getting completely filthy trudging around in a rice field manually gathering rice) later, Team Hiruzen was standing before the Nidaime Hokage, who smiled in a fatherly way at them. His red eyes were a bit unnerving though.

"I've decided to assign your team a C-rank mission."

Jiraiya, who'd been digging into his ear in boredom, fully expecting another task like plunging toilets, froze with his pinky finger still in his ear.

"A C-rank mission?" he echoed exuberantly, pulling his finger from his ear finally. The Hokage laughed, his silvery hair glinting in the sunlight. "You're not kidding, are you?" Jiraiya knew he wasn't the only one excited about this surprising piece of information; Tsunade's eyes were wide as saucers as she gaped at her great-uncle, and even Orochimaru couldn't hide a pleased look in his uptilted eye. Speaking of which, Jiraiya had noticed that Orochimaru had been a lot less reserved lately than he had been before. Which really wasn't saying much, but still.

"I'm not kidding," the Hokage assured them, and suddenly Jiraiya didn't find his eyes very creepy anymore at all.

"Yes!" Tsunade exclaimed, punching the air excitedly as Jiraiya grinned from ear to ear.

Hiruzen looked as if he was suppressing laughter, but he shushed his students. "Don't you want to hear what the mission is about?"

They quieted immediately.

"For the mission, you will be escorting a couple to a village near the Kumogakure border. As you know, tensions are running high between our two villages, no doubt the inevitable remnants of distrust from the war, but the route indicated in the map that will be provided to Hiruzen will be free of any dangerous shinobi. It may be, however, difficult to traverse and as you will be escorting two civilians, I would prefer a four-man squad like yours as opposed to one jounin." He sighed softly. "It's not as if you're being paid a whole lot for this mission, so it seems a bit of a waste to send a very capable jounin and three talented genin-" this time, Tsunade wasn't the only one glowing in pride "-but as you know, Konoha is not yet well-established yet in the shinobi world, and taking on even the smallest missions may prove beneficial to us in the future. So do try your best, all right?"

"Of course! Thank you, Tobirama-sama!" Tsunade chirped to her great-uncle as Hiruzen accepted the scrolls and bag the Hokage's scrawny assistant passed them.

"Daisuke, please go fetch the couple," the Hokage said to his assistant, and the youth bowed before scurrying out of the room. "And in the meantime, I'd like to talk to you about something, Hiruzen."

Jiraiya looked up at his sensei, who looked visibly surprised. "Of course, sensei." This form of address did not surprise Jiraiya, for it was well-known that the Second Hokage had taught Hiruzen.

"I'm organizing an elite ninja squad that will consist of six of your peers for a mission in the near future, probably not long after you return from this one. Would you be interested in joining the mission? It will likely be a dangerous one, easily A-class."

A-class? Jiraiya realized there might be something more to his sensei than the smell and the pipe.

"Of course. I'd be delighted to join." The Hokage looked pleased with Hiruzen's answer as he nodded. At that point, there was a knock on the door before the secretary entered with two people trailing behind him, both of whom appeared to be middle-class. Jiraiya studied them closely (especially the woman, who, other than a rather conspicuous mole on her face, was quite pretty and was even curvier than Misaki-chan), noting that though their clothes looked luxurious at first glance, the edges were actually quite frayed, as if they had been travelling extensively and without many changes of clothes.

"This is Tsuyoshi and Natsuki, your two patrons. Their dialect is a bit different, so you may have slight difficulties communicating. Tsuyoshi, Natsuki, these are your guides. They will be led by one of our best shinobi, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and the children are not to be underestimated either."

The couple turned to them and smiled, bowing slightly while Jiraiya noticed Tsunade glancing at them somewhat appraisingly, as if surprised by their appearance.

"You'll be departing as soon as possible, so I'll leave the rest up to Hiruzen."

Team Hiruzen murmured goodbyes and thank-yous to the Hokage before leaving. Hiruzen smiled at the couple and inclined his head respectfully. "How about we meet at the village gates in an hour? That should be enough time for the kids to pack up and all. It will be a few days' journey one way," he said, looking at his protégés before explaining it to the couple slowly, for they really seemed to not understand much of what Team Hiruzen said to them.

Jiraiya was too excited to care how long this mission was and he dashed home after nodding a hasty reply. Once home, he took the bedroll and shinobi pack the Academy had given him upon graduation and lugged it to the front door.

"Where are you going with all of that?" his mother demanded, having just returned from grocery shopping, and her arms were laden with vegetables.

"On a mission!" he shouted. "I'll be back in a few days!"

Ignoring his mother's protests and shouts for him to 'come back this instant!', he dashed to the gates, making sure to pass by the training fields. There, he saw Team Takeru, a member of which was his rival, Uchiha Tadashi, who was a year older than him. His friend Shigeru, who was also on that team, waved at him.

"Where are you going?" Shigeru called in the middle of kunai accuracy practice. Jiraiya suppressed the urge to laugh. His team never did anything as stupid as knife-throwing during practices – that was the good thing about being in an elite team. His team was probably the best to have emerged that year, containing three of the best and youngest students. Hiruzen only had to teach them chakra manipulation during practice.

"On a C-rank mission!" he called back loudly, enjoying Tadashi's look of surprise and annoyance, laughing loudly when the Uchiha's next kunai completely missed the post he was supposed to be hitting, and continued his race to the village gates. On the way, he upset a cabbage cart and two irate women but he kept plowing his way through, because today was an extremely important day.

Today was the first time he would set foot outside the village.

Ever since the war, restrictions on people entering and leaving the village had tightened, and most kids Jiraiya's age and even those considerably older had never left Konoha, much less gone on missions outside the village.

When he arrived at the gates, only Tsunade hadn't arrived yet. The couple was standing slightly to the side, and Orochimaru was beside Hiruzen-sensei, quiet as usual. But seeing Jiraiya, the other boy suddenly smiled, which confused Jiraiya a lot. He'd never seen Orochimaru smile, and to him at that!

"Jiraiya-kun," the boy greeted him somewhat solemnly and formally.

"Um … hi," the white-haired boy said rather awkwardly, scratching the back of his head in bewilderment. This particular teammate hardly ever spoke to him, so his interactions on missions were usually exclusive to arguments with Tsunade and occasional small talk with their sensei. Jiraiya stared out the gates, not knowing what to do next. The small, beaten path he saw was where they were headed, away from the village!

Fortunately, Jiraiya was spared further awkwardness when Tsunade arrived, a small boy with bright red cheeks in tow. The boy seemed to be refusing to let go of her hand.

"Nawaki, let me go! Go back to mom – I'm going on a mission," she said haughtily, and the boy reluctantly let go. This kid was barely big enough to walk, and Jiraiya thought he looked rather like a small rodent.

"Bye-bye nee-chan," he said in the slurred tone of a toddler causing Tsunade to roll her eyes, but she kissed him on his rosy cheeks nevertheless. Jiraiya sniggered at the uncharacteristically gentle action from the typically brash tomboy.

"Good, we're all here now!" Hiruzen said. "Tsunade-chan, please remember to arrive punctually next time. Now let's go." Jiraiya smirked at his female teammate, who merely scowled at him in return.

Jiraiya sprinted forward, out of the village for the first time in his life. It was a little bit anti-climatic, but nevertheless, he whooped for joy and spun around excitedly.

He heard quiet laughter from behind him, and realized it was their two patrons.

"He's not usually this immature," he heard his sensei say with a touch of embarrassment. "He's actually quite an adept fighter, like the other two."

"Is this your first time out of the village?" came a quiet voice. Surprised yet again by Orochimaru, Jiraiya's head turned slightly to see both of his teammates by his side.

"Yeah," he said, "and you two?"

"Same," Tsunade sighed. "Father always refused to let me out of the village. It's a good thing Tobirama-sama announced the mission so quickly or else Father would have flipped."

"I've been outside before." Jiraiya glanced at Orochimaru in surprise before realization suddenly dawned on him. Of course the other boy would have been out of Konoha before. He had come here as a refugee with his family … though that had only gotten his parents killed.

Tsunade seemed to have realized the complications of starting this topic too, and she hastily said, "So did you guys manage to focus your chakra like sensei taught us? I had a little trouble at first, but now it's easy." She looked insufferably smug.

"Yeah, well, I can do it on water," Jiraiya bragged. This wasn't exactly true, but he was able to balance himself on top of water for a few seconds at least! But he had definitely mastered the tree-climbing exercise their sensei had given them. They didn't need to ask Orochimaru, because the quietest member of their team also happened to be the best at chakra control.

"Anyway, I still can't get over how we're genin now," Tsunade said, sighing. The three of them were leading the little group, with their sensei making small talk with the couple they were escorting behind them. "I sorta miss the Academy now that we've graduated."

"I don't," Jiraiya said bluntly. "I'm glad I don't have to see that stupid Uchiha every day."

Tsunade snorted inelegantly. "You don't like him only because 'Misaki-chan' likes him!"

Glaring, Jiraiya retorted, "That's crap, and you know it! Tadashi is a stupid, conceited –"

"'Misaki-chan' doesn't seem to think so!"

"Shut up!"

Tsunade laughed. She certainly liked doing so, and always at Jiraiya's expense. "She stuffs her bra, you know," she said secretively. "Ayumi told me so."

Jiraiya was horrified. "That's not true!"

"Yeah, it is! And even though she's twelve already, she hasn't grown anything!"

"You're just saying that because you're jealous!"

Suddenly they both turned from their argument as a quiet, effeminate laugh rang out. In shock – for the umpteenth time that day, he realized, disgruntled – they both saw that it had come from Orochimaru.

"Hey," Tsunade said with wide eyes. She seemed to have forgotten completely about their spat. "You sure seem a lot more cheerful lately. What's up?"

Orochimaru seemed to be a bit hesitant about opening up. "I … I had a talk with Hiruzen-sensei," he admitted finally, and Jiraiya stifled the comment on the tip of his tongue because he knew exactly what this talk had been about. It must have been that one. "It made me feel happier."

Jiraiya managed to keep his mouth shut, but Tsunade laughed. "I'm glad," she said, much to both boys' surprise. "Now we can all be friends!"

Friends? Jiraiya screwed up his face in thought. Would he ever be friends with Tsunade and Orochimaru? They weren't like Shigeru and his friends from back at the Academy, with whom he got along very easily. In fact, both Tsunade and Orochimaru had been loners, in a way. Tsunade had been avoided because all the teachers loved her, and she was rather stuck-up. As for Orochimaru, it was more a matter of discomfort, as he was quiet and introverted, never talking to anyone. It wasn't the best thing that he was at the top of the class despite being the youngest either, because everyone feared him a little bit. And really, he was a bit queer. Jiraiya had spotted him picking the legs off ants and moths in the playground on multiple occasions, and he always did it with a faint look of curiosity on his face. It had been something that had creeped out a lot of other kids, but it really wasn't so bad, considering they were shinobi. Now that he was getting to know the other boy, maybe he'd be all right…

When they stopped for lunch a few hours later, Hiruzen was the only one who appeared not even remotely fatigued.

"Now, we've made quite a bit of progress this morning and I'm quite happy with what we've done. But I want to remind you," he spoke to the three genin, "that at any time, we could run into enemies at any time, and I want you to be prepared for battle, okay?"

Jiraiya hadn't really been listening, and had really just been chugging his water furiously in a race against Tsunade, but when their sensei shot them a warning look, both nodded meekly before resuming the competition. Their meal was a lunchbox, not unlike the ones Hiruzen had brought to their first training session, and their sensei warned them that the meals would be getting progressively less appetizing, so they should enjoy this one while they could.

After lunch, they began to set out again with the sun beating down on their backs. Jiraiya looked longingly at the shaded woods. "Can't we walk through the forest?" he whined. He'd already taken off his outermost layer of clothing and was walking with just a light chainmail vest on. The pack on his back was terribly suffocating, and he could feel the sweat pouring down his back.

Hiruzen chuckled, shaking his head. "The forest is a much more dangerous terrain. Enemies could be hiding anywhere, and they could be on you before you could even cry for help."

Jiraiya knew that most of these enemies were actually missing-nin who had fled after the war, and that some of them were really quite dangerous. Would their little group even stand a chance?

"Sensei, is it true that you're going to be the next Hokage?" Tsunade asked suddenly, her face inclined upwards toward their sensei. Both Jiraiya and Orochimaru looked up in surprise – he'd never heard of this before!

Hiruzen looked a bit abashed. "I'm not sure where you heard that, Tsunade-chan," he said, his cheeks reddening slightly, "but I can assure you that nothing will be – or can be, for that matter – decided anytime soon. Our Nidaime Hokage is faring excellently, and he's certainly done a great job already. Let's hope that his rule lasts years longer."

Jiraiya had heard about the feats their current Hokage had accomplished. Apparently, he'd been the one who had established much of the security around Konoha, both during and after the war, such as the small group that villagers sometimes saw called ANBU. Jiraiya wasn't sure what it stood for, but he knew they were high-level shinobi who helped maintain peace around the village.

Suddenly, Orochimaru stumbled a little, his usually fluid gait broken. Jiraiya was a little surprised, and even more so when he noticed his teammates eyes were quite wide open, as if somewhat fearful…

Hiruzen suddenly clapped a hand to the boy's shoulder rather firmly, and Orochimaru took a deep breath before walking quite naturally again. Perplexed, Jiraiya wondered what it had been about for a few moment, but suddenly –

No less than five shuriken were flung their way, but they were all knocked out of the air by their sensei, who then threw a kunai in the direction from which the shuriken had come.

A thrill of fear and anticipation suddenly rang through Jiraiya's body; this was his first real fight!

He whipped out a kunai, holding it in front of him in the best stance that he could muster, and felt Tsunade and Orochimaru do the same. With a start, he realized Orochimaru's little stumble must have been because he'd detected the enemy! How had he done that?

But to his surprise, their sensei suddenly held an arm out, pushing them back towards the couple. "Stay on the defensive, team. Protecting our clients is the most important part of the mission."

Jiraiya ground his teeth together in frustration, but he knew his sensei was right. They had to keep the civilians safe; that came above fighting with an enemy.

"So you're not just a little family?" came a voice from the trees. But strangely, it seemed as if every word came from a different location… Jiraiya's head whipped around, but he couldn't detect where the enemy was. "Pity. But it'll be no harder to kill off shinobi if they're from Konoha!"

Suddenly the ground was turned to sludge, and Jiraiya could feel his feet sinking deeply but no matter how hard he tried to move them, they wouldn't budge.

"Oho," Hiruzen said delicately, seeming completely unfazed about the fact that he was almost knee-deep in sludge and completely unable to move, "Suna-nin, are you?"

A laugh reverberated from everywhere. "Figured it out too late."

A slender ninja wearing a Suna forehead protector leaped lightly out of a bush to the right, a thumb stroking the edge of a glinting kunai. He looked rather androgynous, with his reddish-brown eyes framed with dark lashes, feminine lips and long cocoa-coloured hair. But there was just something about the shape of his jaw that convinced Jiraiya that this was a man (and the flatness of his chest, though the young kunoichi beside him was evidence that this didn't prove anything).

"I don't think it was ever a matter of time," Hiruzen said in the same delicate tone, and before surprise could even completely make its way across his enemy's face, he had made some hand seals and blew steaming ash over the ground that trapped them.

The earth melted.

That's why he smoked so much! Jiraiya made a mental note to never criticize his sensei's smoking habits again as he leapt back into position with his teammates, guarding the civilian couple as his sensei faced off with the Suna-nin. He heard a slight huff from the blond girl beside him, and he knew she was thinking that she could have gotten them out of there instead.

The Suna-nin regarded their group rather warily. It was evident that he hadn't expected them to put up a fight at all. "And I'm assuming the little brats have a few tricks up their sleeves too?" the Suna-nin said finally as he surveyed them.

Jiraiya growled, fingers tightening around his kunai – he hated being called a little brat. He'd enjoy beating this guy up…

Quite abruptly, the Suna-nin's eyes unfocussed, and the kunai in his hands fell to the ground with an audible clatter. Jiraiya tensed – was he feinting? But Hiruzen's stance relaxed and with a slight chuckle, he turned to his students.

"Nice genjutsu, Orochimaru," he said approvingly, and Jiraiya turned to Orochimaru in shock. "Just the right strength." The other boy's face contained a trace of a shy smile.

After Hiruzen dispatched a Shadow Clone to transport a trussed-up the Suna-nin back to Konoha, Jiriaya turned again to Orochimaru. "How did you do that?"

The other boy looked a bit startled to be questioned. "I … just did it. It's just genjutsu," he said softly, as if he couldn't understand why anyone would have trouble with it.

"That was awesome!" Tsunade exclaimed as she ran up to her teammates. The pale boy seemed to flush the slightest bit in embarrassment and it only intensified when Hiruzen clapped a hand to his shoulder.

"You did a great job, Orochimaru. Just what he didn't expect – a genin to attack him."

"I just did what you taught me, sensei," the boy said softly. Jiraiya's ears pricked up in surprise – taught him? Hiruzen had never taught them genjutsu, so was he teaching Orochimaru in private?

Tsunade's face betrayed quite a significant amount of jealousy, but strangely enough, Jiraiya didn't feel jealous. He supposed it was because though Orochimaru was so talented, he never showed arrogance – not like a certain Uchiha. He also thought Tsunade was being quite selfish, because even if Hiruzen were to teach her in private, it wouldn't exactly be normal, just because she was a girl. Kunoichi always learned from other kunoichi, but it was beginning to become a bit difficult as the number of kunoichi in the new generation was increasing, and the old generations of shinobi only consisted of a few women.

"Anyway, I want to congratulate you all on your first battle. All of you held out very well, and showed no fear at all." Hiruzen beamed at them, and even the moping Tsunade couldn't help but look a bit proud at that comment.

::~::

Notes: Thus ends the second chapter of the story! I was planning on finishing the entire mission in this one chapter, but as you can tell, it didn't work out (too long!) so I've broken it up. The mission will be finished in the next chapter. Hope you guys are enjoying the story thus far – what do you think of sweet little Orochimaru? ;) Don't worry, I'll definitely keep him evil though! As always, please review, follow, and favourite! –Jennifer *hugs*

Again, thanks a lot to IncessantOblivion for thorough edits! 3