NOTE: They are twelve years old here. Just in case anyone was wondering, they are nine in the first and second chapter and twelve in the third chapter. I'm planning to go right into writing their missions and awesome fighting, especially Tsunade's strength training. Still deciding whether or not I should write how they learned Kuchiyose no jutsu and scenes such as the bells scene because I want to get started with how the sannin fell apart as a team. What do you think? Please PM me with what you prefer me to write. Perhaps I should write canon scenes into flashbacks? Feedback? You tell me.

PS. Yes, Tsunade is so awesome I made her sense chakra better than Karin. :P

Oiroke no Orochimaru PART I

(=)=(=)=(=)

The sweltering summer heat of Konoha swept through the large grassy expanse. At this time of year, insects were to be found aplenty (but the same could not be said of water), and the fact that there was always heavy work to be done did not help that fact.

"Water...I need water..." Jiraiya moaned. The nearest fresh water was located at Mizutakenega, the waterfall he had fallen in four entire seasons ago. The problem was the waterfall was an entire fifteen minutes away even if Jiraiya were to run from treetop to treetop. The combined force of the consuming heat, Jiraiya's sore, stiff muscles, and the dehydration dawning on him meant he would undoubtly acquire a heatstroke. Getting yet another heatstroke was definitely NOT in the list of things he wanted to do, which including perving, asking Tsunade out (for the hundreth time) and...more perving.

At that moment, Tsunade was (once again) impatiently waiting for Sarutobi-sensei, Jiraiya, and surprisingly, Orochimaru. Normally, Orochimaru was never late as he was always particular about being on time. The boy was so competent, it was almost freakish. In the beginning, Sarutobi-sensei had been strict about time regulation to the point where he was always tying Jiraiya and occasionally an outraged Tsunade to one of the three logs (usually the middle, in which Tsunade and Jiraiya would be tied together and bicker for the duration of the hour, which Sarutobi-sensei deemed as "bonding time.") Jiraiya had always been late more often than not, it didn't take a genius to decipher that, but what was unusual was that recently he began disappearing for long periods of time. Tsunade scratched her head. Weird. It was not like Jiraiya to NOT be jumping out of a tree and attempting to bribe her into a date. Come to think of it, nobody had seen Jiraiya often around lately. Tsunade made a mental note to be on the lookout for him. While she thought that, a loud scuffling came from the bushes.

"Jiraiya! There you are!" He was breathing heavily. Sweat ran down his face. Tsunade wondered if she herself looked equally terrible.

"You're late!" her brow was wrinkled. Duh, don't state the obvious, inner Tsunade scorned at her.

Jiraiya, on the other hand, was slightly surprised to find her alone. "Where's Orochimaru and Sarutobi-sensei?" he asked.

"Jiraiya, I'm surprised you noticed," Tsunade stuck out her tongue. "I have no idea."

Orochimaru is NEVER late, Tsunade-hime. Even Sarutobi-sensei isn't THIS late," said the young toad sannin, receiving a very disconcerting glare from Tsunade in the process. It was then when a wonderful idea entered Jiraiya's very perverted mind.

"Tsunade..." his cheeks were rosy. "Let's go swimming to the Mizutakenega waterfall!"

Tsunade was almost shocked he didn't say anything perverted. Then, she realized he hinting about perving. Then, "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"

"What?" Jiraiya tilted his head innocently, giving her his best puppy dog expression.

Tsunade, on her part, felt like punching him. "I nearly drowned in that river, remember? Oh yeah, you would've been eaten alive in that bucket if Orochi-kun and I hadn't saved your lazy ass!"

Jiraiya flushed angrily. "That was a long time ago, flat-chested Tsunade." They bickered before moping in angry silence for a moment.

Tsunade crossed her arms around her flat chest. Jiraiya's up to something. I just know it. Sometimes while training, Jiraiya would mysteriously disappear for hours, sometimes even days at a time. Instead of being excessively worried like he was on all other disappearances, Sarutobi acted not in the least bit concerned. That likely meant sensei knew about Jiraiya's whereabouts. Was he perving? No, he may be a fool, but even Jiraiya wasn't that stupid. She could sense Jiraiya's chakra one moment, the next his chakra suddenly disappeared. It wasn't gone altogether, Tsunade knew that for certain, but it meant Jiraiya had been going some considerable distance.

"Tsunade, earth to Tsunade?" Jiraiya waved a hand in front of Tsunade's face.

Lost in a train of thought, Tsunade ignored him. Now that she thought about it, it wasn't just Jiraiya that had been missing for a while, Orochimaru had been disappearing at some point. Whenever she remarked that Sarutobi-sensei was late for practice, Orochimaru just shrugged, like he knew something she didn't. She had seen Sarutobi-sensei training Orochimaru a lot more often than he bothered to train either Jiraiya or her. She knew Orochimaru was an avid learner, and also knew he trained daily throughout the woods of Konoha, as she could usually sense his chakra somewhere close, dark and pulsing as she pictured concentration flowing through his pale form, snake-like eyes closed one second, open the next with a killing intensity. Right now she could barely make out his chakra, as with Sarutobi-sensei, that likely meant they weren't near their usual training spot. Tsunade bit her lip. She was being kept out of the loop, and she was not happy about it.

"Tsunade?" Jiraiya shook his hand vigorously in her face. Angrily, Tsunade punched him in the face, sending him flying.

"Hey, what was that for, Tsunade-hime?" Jiraiya morosely touched the swelling bump on his cheek.

"Jiraiya, perhaps you'd like to tell me why I sense that your chakra disappears every so often?"

"Well, I'm not supposed to tell you..." he glanced away from Tsunade. His training at Mount Myoboku seemed intensely private to him. Suddenly, Jiraiya grinned. "I won't tell you!"

"Jiraiya, I'm telling you this is important!" Tsunade clenched her hands into fists.

"Well, Tsunade-hime, I might tell you if you promise me something."

"What, baka? If you're attempting to ask me out on a date, the answer is still NO!" she saw the telltale guilty blush on Jiraiya's face.

"That wasn't what I was going to ask. For a second Jiraiya looked almost lost. Her face fell. Jiraiya turned his back on her and sat down, legs crossed.

"Okay." Tsunade crossed her arms again. "Jiraiya."

With an almost hopeful expression on his mopey face, Jiraiya reluctanctly turned his head to study her. "What do you want, flat-chested Tsunade-chan?" he was pouting. A fly landed on his nose and he swatted it away, screeching.

Tsunade doubled over laughing at that. "Never mind, I forgot I was gonna say." She didn't notice his wistful expression or his gaze creeping to her face.

"Tsunade-chan."

"Yeah?"

"Let's go to that waterfall. I'm thirsty."

"Fine, baka. But only this once."

Up in the Hokage's tower, the young prodigy stood next to the Hokage. Orochimaru's eyes glimmered with the promise of strength as Sarutobi described to him the basics of the new jutsus he would learn.

"Orochimaru, you must be aware that the whole village knows you're a prodigy."

The serpentine boy smirked. "Of course I'm aware. They all saw me destroy my opponents during the chuunin exams, didn't they? I don't believe my tactics would be so easily forgotten."

Sarutobi felt slightly unsettled upon hearing more than four words come out of Orochimaru's mouth, but he convinced himself that was normal. After all, Hiruzen had been proud and astonished to see Orochimaru use his newly mastered jutsus in play during the chuunins. He had been strong, swift, breathtaking to watch...fierce. The Hokage himself had felt taken aback at the intensity of his atacks. "Ah, I see. Of course, you shocked the whole auditorium with your Hayaiitsu technique. You mastered that technique at an incredible rate. Excellent execution indeed."

"What will I learn?" Orochimaru's slit-pupiled eyes shone with an inquisitive gleam.

"There is an infinite amount of jutsu to be learnt, Orochimaru-kun. Don't be too hasty." In one swift stride, the hokage walked in front of the pupil. "As for now...Orochimaru-kun, I trust that you have noticed the slight altercation in the village.

"Yes."

"And what is it?"

"Gaito Gai has attempted ninjutsu, but somehow did the oiroke no jutsu technique instead, a jutsu relatively unknown."

"Absolutely. Young Gaito has attempted to reverse the effects of the jutsu, but if anything, as much as a quarter of the males had been turned into kunoichi. Normally, they would change back to their true gender on their own, but Gaito has made a slight…misapplication. Orochimaru, I trust I have taught you the reverse technique. I want you to turn them back into males."

Hiruzen could see the question in Orochimaru's eyes.

"Ah, you must be wondering how to recognize the real females between the turned. Well, there will be a difference in behaviour. You may recognize some of the turned, as it is their female forms, after all. Lastly, my advice for your is to trust your intuition.

"Yes, sensei."

(=)=(=)=(=)

The strange sense of atmosphere that pervaded Tsunade's mind continued to bug her. She had a vague feeling of unease- something was definitely off, but she just couldn't pinpoint was that "something" was. Every time she had the vaguest sense of what was going on, it slipped away from her, like a fly narrowly avoiding the fate of being squashed on the underside of a flyswatter. Jiraiya, on the other hand, appeared cheerful and unbothered (Tsunade surmised the reason was because he was alone with her, and he hadn't gotten punched...yet.)

A young Hyuuga girl was talking to another girl in the village Tsunade had never seen before. She looked to be about eight, the same age as Himeko Hyuuga, and there was something unmistakably familiar about her face. They were sitting together in matching formal poses under the thick branches of a weeping willow tree. The whispering duo would have gone unnoticed had Tsunade not managed to sense a vague chakra emitted from their direction. Tsunade walked closer to inspect the unknown girl, with Jiraiya tagging along happily at her heels. "Tsunade-chan, aren't we going to Mizutakenega?"

The two younger girls turned their heads at the interruption to acknowledge the source of the noise. The Hyuuga girl looked slightly frightened as she looked at Jiraiya, who stared back oddly. Her expression turned to one of relief when she saw Tsunade-chan. It was Himeko Hyuuga. "Tsunade-sama!" she said. The young girl was thoroughly distressed.

"What's wrong, Himeko-chan?" Tsunade inquired, patting the top of the young girl's head.

Himeko looked unsure. "U-um, you see..." her wrist was suddenly grabbed by the other girl.

"It's okay, Himeko-chan. I know I'll be like this forever." Tsunade was once again struck by how familiar the other girl looked. She possessed long raven-coloured hair parted in the middle and onyx eyes, much like the Uchiha. Uchiha...? Tsunade looked again. She could've sworn she recognized the girl, but much like the aura of mystery that surrounded the events of the day, she only felt uncertainty. Shooting a look of hatred in Tsunade's direction, the girl stomped off, dragging a protesting Himeko with her. The girl cast one final glance back at Tsunade, who quirked an eyebrow in reply.

"What was that all about?" Jiraiya asked, utterly confused, for who could blame him?

Tsunade shrugged. "Who knows." The unsettled feeling in her gut only grew worse.

The waters of Mizutakenaga were warm, Tsunade reflected, as her and the annoying baka a.k.a Jiraiya walked along the surface. With a yell and a great splash, Jiraiya tumbled headfirst into the water. Tsunade simply rolled her eyes. "You baka! Not again!"

Jiraiya rubbed his head where the rock had hit, grumbling unheard obscenities under his breath at the blonde princess before him. Even for Tsunade-hime, she was unusually bothered today. Something behind her shifted, however, and Jiraiya moved quickly to pull Tsunade out of the way.

Tsunade cursed. "What was that for, baka?"

"There was something behind you, flat-chested Tsunade!" he pointed a finger at her.

"Liar!"

"Smartypants!"

"LI-AHHHHHHHH!" A kunai whizzed between them, causing Jiraiya and Tsunade to both stumble back in equal measures of surprise and shock. There was no time for fear as a figure leapt towards the two sannin in a brawling stance, sending Tsunade skidding across the surface of the water. Jiraiya's eyes widened as the figure grew closer and closer...large amber eyes framed in snake-like markings, long, black hair, pasty pale skin...WTF?

"Orochimaru, you bastard!" Jiraiya yelled. Suddenly the attacker froze, flipping around in backhand handspring to face Jiraiya from an equal distance. "What?"

Just as suddenly, Tsunade was behind the attacker, holding a kunai to his throat. Tsunade's vice-like grip and the combined shock on the attacker's part made it near impossible to break through her grip. "You. Who are you?"

Thanks to all my reviewers so far! Every single one of you! It would be...insensible to compile a list of all your names, so instead, I shall thank you all here. Thank you, xie xie, arigato, merci (or does that mean something else?)...yeah, you get my point.

AtVanishingPt brought up the fact about the waterfall created solely for Naruto's training, something which escaped my notice xP For the story's sake, let's say there was a waterfall in that location before Naruto was even born, but the waterfall mysteriously dried up and was put back into place by Yamato. :'3 I've chosen a name for this waterfall: Mizutakenega (literally: tall water). Meanwhile, thank you for informing me of this discrepancy, I'll fix it as soon as possible.

Oh the joys of fanfiction.