Warning: Mentions of body mutilation, blood, gore, and cannibalism coinciding with the theme of zombies for the Halloween party.

Orochimaru landed with a thud and glared back at Kabuto. "Why you insolent little..." he started. But before he could finish, Kabuto had ripped Orochimaru's robes apart at the front and appeared to be devouring him as the mighty Orochimaru-sama screamed in pain. I'm quite sure a few people recorded it so I'll most likely get to watch it and let out the laughter that I had to hold in so I didn't ruin their dramatic display.

Kabuto grotesquely pulled back and appeared to have fake intestines between his teeth and the lower half of his face was covered in blood. It was quite believable, especially Orochimaru's acting skills. He staggered to his feet and revealed the horrid mess that his abdomen had become. His intestines appeared to be slowly rolling out of his stomach since one end of them was still in Kabuto's mouth and he was tugging on them. I believe I saw a tear roll down the zombie emperor's face before he collapsed in a heap as Kabuto gave an animalistic growl before standing and helping Orochimaru back up so they could both bow to the crowd who were just eating up the performance. Pun intended.

There was a 15 minute deliberation period for the judges to make their critiques and decide their scores on a scale of one to ten with one being the worst and ten being a perfect score. The first judge was of course Sarutobi-sama himself. The next was The Bearded Wonder also known as Asuma. The third judge is one of the old instructors from the University, Kakashi. He taught pretty much all of us in the younger generation at some point in time. He's particularly close with Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. Three of his favorites apparently. He doesn't really like teaching so now he works at S&S and has a similar position to Asuma. The fourth and final judge is Gai-sensei. The mentor to myself as well as Lee and Tenten. He originally only knew Lee but Lee is crazy about him and introduced him to Tenten and I eventually. We were both a little put off by the sunny disposition that he and Lee seem to share but he's great with keeping one's spirits up and motivating you to do something you don't want to do like wearing a fluffy pink tutu in public just to remind yourself that you're alive as you feel the hot blooded sting of youth on your cheeks as you prance about. Hot blooded sting of youth my foot. Complete and utter humiliation are the proper terms. Anyway, I've strayed from the issue at hand again.

Those are the judges and each one has a vastly different personality so the judging was sure to be interesting.

First up to be judged is Jiraiya and Naruto. The responses were are follows:

Sarutobi: "Well, well I am thoroughly impressed with the skill that has gone into this. It appears that the two of you took my critiques from last year in regard to the application of fake blood. The blood seemed to be splattered at logical angles rather than just thrown all over the place and seemingly poured on in some areas. The exposed bone and muscle looks very realistic. Very nice gentlemen. I give you a nine."

Asuma: "I like the overall concept but I have to disagree with Pops. I think that the place where Jiraiya's arm is missing actually should have blood poured down the side since a wound like that would surely make someone bleed out a lot. Same goes for Naruto's exposed spine. That's my only issue. Otherwise I think you really stepped up your make up skills and your placement of prosthetic body parts. You get an eight from me."

Kakashi: "I didn't see any ass or dicks. I didn't like it. You get a three."

Asuma smacked the back of Kakashi's head and reprimanded him rather comedically after that comment. Finally Gai passed his dramatic judgement.

Gai: He stood up from behind the judges' table and wiped at his eyes with a tissue. "Oh! You poor, poor king! And oh! You poor, youthful guard! Both of you taken from the earth much too soon! It breaks my heart! You lost your arm and I can seen your ribs! And I can see his spine! OH! You two went through so much for this competition so you get a big 10 from me!" After this he promptly threw himself down in Kakashi's lap and sobbed into his neck while Kakashi tried to push him off. Konohamaru was on the other side of him writing down and averaging the scores.

Next was the judgement for Orochimaru and Kabuto. It would've been Tsunade's group but Shizune had to excuse herself to the bathroom so the judges skipped them for now.

Sarutobi: "I must say that I was quite shocked in the best way possible. You two went all out and it certainly paid off. There's not much more for me to say. You receive a perfect score from me."

Asuma: "Holy shit, the two nerds are capable of doing more than being hunched over a computer and putting pills into bottles all day. The costumes are not only well put together but your execution was fantastic. That little show you put on at the end surprised the hell out of me. The last time I saw S.S. lying down on a floor was when he was wrestling with a teenage girl over the last bottle of Pantene Sleek and Smooth at a store. I liked everything about what you guys have done. I give you a 10."

Just to clarify, S.S. is short for Shit Stain which is his nickname for Orochimaru ever since the dreaded Ipecac incident. A story for another time though.

Kakashi: "I feel like we almost saw Oro's dick so I give it six for suspense."

He was smacked again by Asuma who gave him a thorough telling off since he wasn't giving fair, logical judgements. I believe the whole room rolled their eyes when Gai started up again.

Gai: Again he stood up and was sobbing even harder this time. "Orochimaru-sama you poor soul! How will you ever digest food again! You'll never be able to sample my extra spicy curry! Oh what a shame, what a shame! Your efforts will not go to waste! You shall get a 10 from me!" He tried to collapse into Kakashi's lap again but Kakashi had already anticipated it and moved out of the way so Gai ended up falling to the floor causing the whole room to laugh while Orochimaru said something about him being a "stupid buffoon."

By this time Shizune had returned from the bathroom and the final group was ready to receive their judgments and scores. This is also where the night went downhill.

Sarutobi: "Tsunade, you have won each year. I've seen you add two brilliant young minds to your team and you never cease to impress me. But I am also disappointed. No matter what the theme for the party is you always go for something medical related. I know that being a doctor is your passion and that you are very adept in that area but it has become very redundant. I will not say that I don't like what you've done here but I think you should explore other options. I give you an eight."

Asuma: "Yeah, the whole medical scenario is getting old. There's so much you could have done with a theme like zombie apocalypse. The doctor, nurse, and patient thing would have had such a bigger impact if we hadn't already basically seen it before. I do love how you did the reveal of your face, Tsunade. The implant peeking out on Sakura's chest made my skin crawl which is good because it means that it looks pretty real. I like your little act as well Shizune. Again, so much could have been done with this but you all sort of went with something safe. I give you a seven."

Kakashi: "That boob is so gross but it's better than no boobs at all so I give you an eight. Very nice."

Now I must say I let out an embarrassing snort when Asuma started hitting Kakashi over the head with the score cards they were using. The two of them along with Gai remind me of the Three Stooges at times. Sarutobi-sama got them in order and they both settled down. Of course Gai was last but as soon as he stood up and gave out a loud "Ooohhh!" of despair, both Kakashi and Konohamaru punched him in the stomach to knock the wind out of him before he could get started. Thank goodness.

Konohamaru quickly went back to averaging the scores, assuming that Gai was going to give Tsunade's group a 10 as well. While he was getting things together, I noticed that Tsunade wasn't looking very well. Not because of the horrendous makeup she had on but her eyes looked unfocused and she swayed unsteadily every few seconds. I quickly started making my way through the crowd to get closer but before I could reach her she had seemingly fainted and luckily was caught by Shizune who was right beside her and laid her down gently on the stage. I hurried onto the stage and got as close as possible. Jiraiya and Orochimaru were kneeling by her already. Jiraiya looked the most worried, although I know why. Orochimaru was quietly questioning Shizune and Sakura in a deadly tone while Sarutobi was trying to calm the crowd by assuring them that Tsunade's assistants would take of her then instructed the DJ to start up the music again.

He walked over to all of us and looked down at Tsunade worriedly. "I think it would be best if she were brought out to the patio to get some fresh air away from this crowded place." The rest of us agreed and Jiraiya scooped her up while the rest of our little group followed. Shizune and Sakura checked her vitals and I kept my distance while a feeling of panic induced nausea started slowly sweeping over me. She's going to have to tell Orochimaru what's going on and I have to be there as backup. She started to wake up a few minutes after we had been sitting in the cool night air and everyone gave a collective sigh of relief. Jiraiya had been stroking her hair and he gave a big grin when she woke up. "Hey there, pretty girl. You gave us quite the scare. How are you feeling?" he asked quietly. She looked up at him and blinked several times before slowly sitting up in his lap while holding her head with one hand. "I feel a little sick but otherwise fine."

The nausea got even worse for me when Orochimaru walked over and caringly pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. "Hm... you don't have a fever. What on earth could have caused you to pass out like that?" He's only like this for her and Jiraiya. I saw the guilt on both their faces and he seemed to pick up on it too.

"What's the matter with you two? Is there something going on that I don't know about? You know I don't like being kept in the dark," he said while folding his arms and giving them both a slightly scrutinizing look as if searching their downcast faces for clues.

Tsunade spoke quietly (for once) and didn't look up at him. "I think you should sit down."

"I'm perfectly fine standing up. What's the bad news? It is always bad news when one is asked to sit down," he replied with a bit of aggression. I made my way over to Tsunade and leaned down to whisper to her hastily. "Do you really think now is a good time to do this? You've just woken up and-"

"It's fine, Neji," she interrupted. "It's now or never." She got up from Jiraiya's lap and the two of them stood side by side. Orochimaru was now glaring at me and I audibly gulped. "Are you in on this too, boy?" he snapped at me venomously.

"N-no, sir! I-i mean I uh..."

"Yes? What is it?" he coldly inquired while slowly stepping closer, I could've sworn that I saw a flash of red in his odd gold eyes. Tsunade stepped forward between us and stopped him from getting any closer. "Stop this, Orochimaru. I... we have something important that needs to be brought out into the open and I need you to behave."

He stopped and seemed to get a hold of himself but he still looked ready to snap if things went badly. Jiraiya and I stood behind her, ready to do any negotiating for our lives that was needed. Tsunade took a deep breath and looked up at Orochimaru then after what felt like hours, she finally spoke. "Oro, you know the nature of the relationship between the three of us. You know how things go."

"Yes, and? What are you leading up to?" he said with a hint impatience in his voice.

"I... I'm pregnant."

He stared at her for a few heartbeats and blinked in a sort of stunned way. "Well... who is the father?"

She chuckled nervously and glanced back at Jiraiya and I before she said "Well that's the problem. We don't know."

"We?"

"Jiraiya and myself..."

He was oddly calm before this but when he spoke, the gentle insanity that his voice was laced with caused a shiver to run down my spine. I had no idea what he would do.

"You and Jiraiya have kept this from me. How long have you known that you were with child, my dear Tsunade?"

"A-about two weeks. I'm so sorry. I didn't know how to tell you and Jiraiya was already at my house so I told him. You don't take things as well as he does," she said is a shaky voice.

"I see..." Orochimaru murmured before silently turning away and walking back into the house.

Everyone else present had gone completely quiet and I had almost forgotten they were there. I walked up to Tsunade and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You did well. It's over now. He didn't react anything like we thought he would. Maybe now the three of you can work through this together." She nodded and was in the middle of thanking me for being willing to help if needed but was cut off by a sudden uproar.