Outtake

Side chapter, nothing major

Wait, I forgot... I made a small boo-boo. Ages. I'm not sure what's with me and ages but dammit, I always mess them up. Okay so here they are (I'll make the real corrections later). Jiraiya at the oldest: eight. Tsunade a few months younger thus making her: seven. Severus is three. Yeah...

(**)

"So you passed, Tsunade? You're gonna have a cell?" Chouko asked, holding onto her pack. Tsunade grinned and nodded excitably. She had heard that her and two others were the only three to actually test out this early and it definitely made her proud to do such a thing. She was making her ancestors proud even though she had a hot temper and sometimes some bad luck.

"I want to say you're lucky but I'm not so sure…" the chubby student tilted her head, the light brown locks shifting as she did the motion. Tsunade paused, bringing her friend to a stop too.

"What do you mean?" Tsunade inquired, not too sure what wasn't great about graduating this early. Well, yeah there would be extra work and whatnot but that wasn't so bad when she didn't think about it and instead thought about being that much stronger and helping her Village that much more.

"Well there were two more that passed and I don't know if you know but one person definitely passed and you're probably not gonna like him very much," Chouko shrugged her shoulders. It wasn't that she was absolutely sure who had passed but it only made sense if one pale skinned, dark haired boy passed. However, Tsunade seemed blissfully unaware of the circumstance she had walked into so they continued home.

(**)

"No! NOT YOU!"

Severus looked up from his book to see a red faced blond pointing at him rather dramatically. He rolled his eyes and went back to his book. Why wasn't he surprised that this temperamental idiot made it as one of the passing children? He felt Jiraiya groan next to him, shifting a bit as Tsunade's voice brought him out of his sleep. This lazy idiot was another one that he was surprised had captured the bell especially since he only wanted to sleep as they had gotten here around ten minutes too early. Tsunade was two minutes early.

"Hey, don't you ignore me!"

"I'm sorry but I believe that you still think that you are somehow significant to my way of life," Severus said, not bothering to look at the girl again. He heard the sound of her knuckles cracking and sighed, placing his book in front of his face and jumping up the tree at the same time to safely displace her blow in a way that required the least bout of energy. He was still rather exhausted after battling with the Hokage and his body was beginning to show it by the dark bags under his eyes and the weight he had lost combined with the completely haggard look that he tried desperately to keep under wraps. Severus was small and skinny to begin with, the weight loss was not something that he could afford. He wouldn't faint in front of another person ever again.

"Tsunade, Orochimaru—we shouldn't fight! Come on, sensei is going to be here soon. Besides, Tsunade, don't you see how tired Orochimaru is? If you beat him, it's just gonna make you look bad and if he beats you well… you're gonna look worse," Jiraiya warned, being observant for once in his eight years of life. He could see the bags under the boy's eyes, the way he looked unhealthily pale and even the slight trembling his body was overtaken by as he balanced on the tree with a thin layer of chakra while holding Tsunade's fist against the very thick tome. Tsunade glanced at Jiraiya then back at the boy she had been trying to punch, realizing that the two of them were nose to nose. The white haired boy was actually right. Orochimaru looked pretty bad and it wouldn't be fair to fight him in his current condition.

"Fine," she sniffed, pulling away. "You're lucky that you look sick or I'd have knocked your whole head off!"

"I don't believe any sickness on my part would stop me from beating you," Severus countered easily, settling back to his book. He really wasn't in the mood for a fight but that didn't meant that he wouldn't rise to the occasion but this time he wouldn't humor the girl.

"What did you SAY!?" she roared, turning back around to face the boy. Before Severus could open his mouth and make the exceptionally strong girl lash out once more, a strong hand appeared on her shoulder.

"Calm down, Tsunade. Such rage should not control a pretty, smart girl such as yourself now take a seat by your team mates," the Hokage scolded lightly. The blond screwed her mouth and let out a huff, stomping over to Orochimaru and Jiraiya, sitting on the latter's right and as far from the former as she could manage.

"As you may have guessed, I am your sensei. I wish for you each to introduce yourself. Tell us two likes and one dislike and a dream for the future," Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled, urging the children to get along.

"Well, it's impossible to not know the great and mighty Jiraiya!" the white haired boy crowed as he jumped to his feet, a smile on his face and cockiness in his vocal cords. Severus rolled his eyes at the foolish boy but paid as much attention as he could, "I really, really like toads and being awesome. I hate wars. I don't want people to die for stupid stuff like that… my dream for the future is to be a great ninja so that I can help as many people as I can."

"Quite a noble dream, young Jiraiya," Sarutobi sensei commended the child and gestured for him to take his seat once more. The next to stand was the blond girl, a sweet smile on her lips. Severus scoffed low under his breath to think that this spoiled, hot headed girl was in anyway sweet.

"My name is Tsunade. I really like games like card games where I can bet cookies and stuff. I really like my granddaddy too! What I really don't like is peepin' Toms and one day I'm gonna break each one of their legs," the blond proclaimed loudly, cracking her knuckles as she usually did when really angry, "I'm going to be a medic nin when I get older and help people and my team too."

"That's good, Tsunade and I am sure that your grandfather likes you too," Sarutobi sensei chuckled and the girl took her seat. Severus braced himself and slowly pulled himself to his feet. He was so tired but he couldn't let them know just how close he was to fainting once more. That would be beyond embarrassing.

"My name is Orochimaru. I like snakes and learning. I hate a lot of things and my dream is to help my mother," Severus said shortly and cleanly, sitting back down. Hiruzen stared at the little boy carefully, silently smiling at the child. He hoped that the child would one day open up to someone and, perhaps, that someone could be him.

"Helping people is a good motivation and while many believe that snakes are evil, I believe that they are brilliant creatures that adapt well," Hiruzen complimented his pale student as easily as he complimented the others. He would train them tomorrow… one of them was sorely in need of some sleep.

(**)

To Be Continued