Naruto and Sasuke: Switched
Chapter 10: Fatal Encounters in the Forest of Death
Okay, since I only got two votes for Sasuke getting the curse mark, and two votes against it, I'm going to make this chapter shorter than the others and leave it at a cliffhanger. So if you want him to get it or not, vote on the poll. Most of it are some little omake that have been worming their way into my head.
Each of the fifty-five genin stood at attention to the self-proclaimed, 'Snake Mistress of Konoha,' better known as Anko Mitarashi.
"Before we begin, I'm going to need all of you to sign these." Anko pulled out a stack of forms from inside her coat.
"What're they?" Ino asked.
"Oh nothing. Just standard consent forms incase you die in there, no big deal," the purple haired kunoichi said as if she was casually talking about the weather.
"W-w-we could die, in there?" Chojuro nervously asked.
"Well yeah, it's a real-life mission simulator." Anko sounded like the blue-haired boy was speaking a foreign language.
"Troublesome, so what's the mission?" Shikamaru questioned.
"To get one of each of these." Anko held out a white scroll with the kanji for 'Heaven,' and a dark-blue scroll with the kanji for 'Earth.' "Your goal is to make it back to the tower in the center of the forest with both a Heaven and Earth scroll. Right now there are fifty-five of you, but by the time the test is over, at most, twenty-eight of you will make it back, that means about nine teams will go onto the finals. Of course, all of you could die from the creatures in there." Anko's joyful tone wasn't helping bolster the genins' confidence.
A survival exercise, an extreme one, no doubt a lot harder than the one Kakashi-sensei put us through, Sasuke thought.
"So we just have to get a set of these scrolls, shouldn't be too much of a challenge," Kiba said confidently.
Anko sent a smirk that sent a shiver up the Inuzuka's spine. "There's more to this challenge than you think. For starters, there's a time limit. You'll be spending five days in this forest..."
"But what're we gonna do for food!" Choji cried out.
"And showers!" Ino added.
Anko just chuckled. "The forest is filled with plants, you'll find something edible eventually, as for showers, there's a stream that goes through the forest, and the trees provide enough privacy for when you gotta piss or shit."
The way she says it sounds like she actually lives here; wouldn't put it past her, Sakura thought.
"Also, if a team can't make it to the tower with each member, they're disqualified whether they have both scrolls or not. But the most important rule is to never open the scrolls until the end of the exam; it's to test how well you can be trusted with important information. Now, get those forms signed and exchange them for one of the scrolls in that booth."
Each of the genin teams used the time given to go over their strategies for the survival, possibly suicide, exam. Sakura decided to talk to Ino, who seemed extremely nervous.
"Hey, Ino, you alright?"
"Huh? Oh Sakura, just a little anxious." Ino seemed to be doing a lot better, though she was far from her former confident self.
"I understand, the way they set up these tests it's almost as if they want us to fail."
"So is Sasuke-kun nervous?"
Surprisingly, Sakura didn't lash out with 'Ino-pig,' or any other insults. "I'm pretty sure he is, but he can handle it. Naruto... it's as if he doesn't even care." Sakura could feel the little voice nagging in her head to tell the blonde next to her about Naruto's secret, but she knew that her sensei had ordered her not to say anything to someone who didn't already know. She still remembered her conversation with her parents the night before.
Flashback
Sakura went into the kitchen and took her place adjacent to her where her father sat. Kizashi was in the kitchen helping his wife get dinner ready. Both of them noted their daughter's expression; it was as if something had been eating away at her. As soon as the food was ready both of them poured themselves a cup of tea and offered a third cup to Sakura.
"Something wrong dear? Did you fail the Chunin Exams?" Mebuki asked.
"No, I made it passed the written test, and so did Naruto and Sasuke-kun."
"Then what's eating at you, from what you said you should be celebrating," Kizashi stated.
"It's just, it's about Naruto, why weren't we told he was the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tai..." The girl never got to finish her statement as both of her parents slapped a hand over her mouth.
"Sakura, it's forbidden to speak of it, we could all end up killed!" Mebuki hastily stated.
"How do you even know, it's an S-Rank secret, did somebody gab to you?" Kizashi asked protectively, ready to find the non-existent law breakers.
Sakura took both of their hands off her mouth. "It's alright, we won't get into any trouble." Her parents were surprised by how calm their daughter was. "Naruto told me and Sasuke about the Kyubi on our way back from Wave, and Kakashi-sensei told us we couldn't talk about it to anyone who doesn't already know, so as long as we keep it between us, we're not breaking the Hokage's rule."
"Hm, sometimes I'm still astounded by how smart you are," Kizashi said with a hint of pride.
"So the boy told you about his, condition."
"Yes, and I have to know, how come none of our classmates were told about this?"
Mebuki locked her focus on the table in front of her. "*sigh* This may take a while. The Sandaime hoped that if the children remained oblivious, then the Uzumaki boy would have a better chance of having a normal childhood. He never intended for anyone to find out but the elders, Homura and Koharu, as well as others on the shinobi council, let it slip that the boy was a demon container, what did you say he was?"
"Jinchuriki," Sakura answered.
"Right, anyway, Sarutobi-sama needed to act quickly before everyone in the Elemental Nations found out, so he decreed that only the boy could tell anyone of his secret, and anyone caught violating his orders would be charged with treason and executed. However, the circumstances under which the law was made didn't give him enough time to think about what the full reprocusoins of his actions would be. The adults, whose minds were clouded by hatred and loss, still saw only the monster that attacked our village and murdered our brethren, and they saw the boy as the beast only in human form, so they told their own children to stay away from him at all costs. I only found all of this out when I was elected onto the civilian council, just a few years after you were born."
"Do you guys only see Naruto as a demon?" Sakura asked.
"I admit there was a time when I couldn't care what happened to the boy, but I trusted the Yondaime more than I hated the Fox, and I still place my trust in his decision of self-sacrifice. I hold no ill will towards the child, but I still advise caution." Kizashi nodded his agreement with his wife.
"You said the boy told you, so I understand that he knows about the Kyubi himself," Mebuki concluded.
"More than you think; on our mission in Wave, Naruto actually used the Fox's chakra to... to kill a rogue ninja." For a moment, Kizashi actually choked on his tea.
"He-he used, the Kyubi's power?" he asked incredulously.
"Calm down Kizashi. Sakura, I'm not telling you to hate the boy, but I do ask you to exercise caution around him; don't give him reason to attack you," Mebuki said.
"Naruto wouldn't harm us, would he?" Sakura said to herself.
"I've seen the way he's treated, and honestly, I can't say that if it were me I wouldn't do the same thing," Kizashi said.
End Flashback
At the current moment Sakura wished she could explain to Ino what her parents told her, but only Naruto could decide that.
Ino, I know I said you'd be my rival in love, but I just wish there was something I could do to make things right. "Well, I hope you and the others do well, and I hope we see you in the finals."
"Thanks, you too."
"Hey Ino, we're all set, how 'bout you?" Choji asked.
"Yeah, let's get our scroll."
Each of the teams walked through the flap at the booth in front of the fence.
"So you understand that at this moment we are not responsible for any damage to yourself and your teammates?" one of the proctors asked Team 7.
"We know that we could die, but we won't let it happen," Sasuke said.
"Okay, here's your scroll." The proctor handed them a blue Earth Scroll.
Each of the teams took a starting position at one of the forty-four gates that surrounded the Forest of Death. Anko watched as her wristwatch slowly ticked to 2:30 p.m.
"You better not mess this up for us Chojuro." One of the Kiri genin said to the Swordsmen initiate.
"Uh, right." Zabuza-sensei, Terumi-sama, I promise that I will make you both proud. Chojuro gripped his katana tighter in preparation for the inevitable bloodshed.
"And the second phase of the Chunin Exam..." *tick* *tock* *tick* *tock* "... Begins!" As the gates opened, each of the teams dashed into the forest.
"So Sasuke what's the plan to find a Heaven Scroll?" Sakura asked as she and her teammates jumped through the trees.
"I say we go right for Ino's team." Sakura noticed a little smirk on her blond teammate's face; apparently he had made a bit of a hobby of tormenting the Yamanaka heiress.
"We don't even know if they have a Heaven Scroll, for all we know they could have an Earth Scroll like us and we'd just be wasting our energy," Sasuke stated.
"Well what are we supposed to do genius?"
"We've got five days, that's plenty of time for us to find a Heaven Scroll. First we need to get a feel for the environment, then set up a hideout and install traps..." Sasuke never got to finish his statement because a powerful gust of wind had blasted him off the tree branch, along with Naruto and Sakura. When they regained their balance, they saw three ninja from Kusagakure, the Village Hidden in the Grass.
"Both of you, spread out and make sure no one interferes," said a grass nin with a purple belt tied around their waist. The two Kusa nin disappeared into the forest. He calmly walked up to the tree the three Konoha genin were rooted on.
"I know you want this scroll..." he said in a very effeminate voice as he pulled out a white Heaven Scroll from his pouch, "... so let's negotiate."
"You expect us to just give you our scroll?" Naruto scoffed. The Grass ninja disappeared in a blur.
"Actually I did, but I guess I'll just have to kill you to get it," he said as he instantly appeared behind them. In a flash, he kicked each of them high into the air.
Even if he is older than us, that's the speed of a jonin, each of them thought.
"By the time this is over, only one of us shall walk away with both scrolls, and our lives." The Kusa nin somehow swallowed his Heaven Scroll in a single gulp, his chameleon like tongue wrapping around it.
"Sick," Sakura said.
Before any of them could act, they felt an amount of killing intent so powerful, they felt like it was wrapped around their throats, and growing tighter by the second. Their limbs felt as if they were held down with cast iron chains, yet nothing had touched them at all. Sasuke had only felt something like this the night his clan was slaughtered, and his fight against Zabuza. For Naruto, this killing intent could only be matched by the Kyubi. To Sakura, she felt this murderous gaze made Zabuza's pale in comparison.
"Now, you die!" Three kunai were thrown at each of them, aimed straight for their heads. Their minds racing at miles a minute.
Gotta move.
Is this how I die?
MOVE YOU IDIOT! It was the Kyubi's words that jolted Naruto back to reality, his own killing intent cancelling out the Grass ninja's. He knew that in his current state he wouldn't be able to deflect the kunai from a distance. He could dodge his own, but Sasuke and Sakura were still frozen in place. You'll thank me for this later, he thought as he threw a shuriken into their legs.
Both of them dropped to their knees from the unexpected pain, which allowed the kunai to fly right above their heads.
"I must say, that was quite the resourceful tactic, not many people can break out of my Paralysis Jutsu." No doubt the Kyubi is behind this, otherwise that boy would've been skewered, the disguised Orochimaru thought. Now let's see what Itachi's little brother is capable of.
"Naruto, what happened?" Sasuke asked as he and Sakura pulled out the shuriken in their legs. Luckily, they went deep enough to get below the skin, but not enough that it severely crippled them.
"I had to snap you guys to wake up so we can get the hell out of here! Now get Sakura and move!" Sasuke did as he was told and with Sakura draped over his back, he and Naruto went deeper into the forest.
"How amusing, the prey believes it can out run the predator." Orochimaru disappeared into tree branch he stood on.
Naruto and Sasuke found a tree whose roots served as a makeshift hideout. Sasuke placed Sakura up against a tree in a sitting position. She still had that thousand-yard stare.
"Sakura, Sakura." The pink-haired kunoichi barely heard her name being called. She didn't even see Sasuke right in front of her. All she saw was a pair of yellow eyes with snake-like slits and a kunai that was aimed straight at her face. She saw her blood spray from her wound on an endless loop. Her body grew cold, losing all feeling starting from the tips of her fingers, and spreading to the rest of her body. She watched as Sasuke and Naruto lay next to right her, their bodies just as lifeless and bloody as hers. And it all started over again. Even with the shuriken wound Naruto gave her, it still wasn't enough to snap her back to full consciousness.
"Naruto, what should we do about Sakura?"
We can't abandon her, or else we won't be able to pass, and we can't just drop out. "Keep an eye on her, I'm going to set up some traps while we think about what we're going to do should that Kusa nin come back. Try and wake her up while I'm gone."
Outside Naruto set up several kunai traps with some of Sakura's equipment, given her current state it wasn't as if she would be needing them. While he was doing this, he kept getting a chill, as if someone had been watching him.
He's here somewhere. He wants us to be on edge, and he's enjoying every minute of it. By the time he got back, his teammate still hadn't woken up.
"No luck," Sasuke said dejectedly.
"I have an idea." Naruto fished around in his bag until he found what he needed. A senbon needle. "I picked these up off of Haku before we left Wave, I thought they could be useful. We can use these to wake her up. Now old her steady." Reluctantly, the Uchiha held Sakura with her back facing Naruto. Senbon gripped firmly in hand, he struck plunged the needle into her, then pulled it back out. As it went into her skin, Sasuke felt her grip tighten around him. Slowly she looked up, and as her vision became clear again, she saw the face of her black-haired teammate.
"Sa-Sasuke?" She wasn't sure if this was real or another hallucination. She felt his arms around her, and she knew it was reality. Quickly, she held onto him as if he were a life jacket and she was in an ocean. Tears left her face as she remembered seeing him dead next to her. But then she remembered Shinobi Rule #25. "A ninja must never show tears." But she couldn't help herself. She never wanted to leave his embrace.
"Uh, Sakura, could you let go of me now," Sasuke nervously asked. Quickly composing herself, she let go.
"Sorry Sasuke-kun, thank you for bringing me back to reality." She turned away, she didn't want him to see her look so pathetic.
"Actually, Naruto was the one who woke you up, and me. If it hadn't been for him, we would've been done for."
"Thanks Naruto."
"Yeah." Most of Naruto's focus was waiting for the freaky Kusa nin to appear. Little did any of them know that Orochimaru was hiding on a branch attached to the very tree they were hiding under.
The Kyubi jinchuriki holds more promise than anticipated, though he and the civilian girl will have to go in order to properly test the last loyal Uchiha. Sinking back into to the tree, he appeared just a few meters outside the front of the entrance.
"I know you're in there, there's no use in hiding!" he called out.
Damn! She bypassed all my traps! "This seems like a lot of trouble to go to just for a scroll," Naruto called out.
The enemy shinobi just chuckled and said, "Let's just say I enjoy a good chase."
"Naruto, maybe we should just give her the scroll." Sakura reached for the scroll, only for Naruto to throw a kunai that landed in the ground between her hand and the blue scroll.
"The point of this exercise is to bring back a Heaven Scroll and an Earth Scroll. We've already made it this far, and I only plan on going through this exam once." Naruto took the scroll and hid it in his backpack. In a puff of smoke, dozens of shadow clones poured out of the tree roots and rushed at the Kusa shinobi.
"Summoning Jutsu!" In an even larger smoke explosion, a giant brown snake appeared with the Kusa nin standing on its head.
"Holy shit!" was all the clones were able to say as the snake used its massive body to crush each of them. Fortunately, the snake's body set off most of the tripwire that Naruto had placed. Multiple kunai traps were set off, but while they found no trouble in landing marks on the snake, the shinobi on top of it was able to gracefully dodge each knife, almost as if he was made of water. The enraged summon crashed into the tree head first. The snake vanished in a puff of smoke similar to Naruto's clones, only much bigger. When Orochimaru inspected the damage, he found only logs.
"You are much more crafty than I thought, however you are not my target," Orochimaru said to no one in particular.
"Why don't you die already!" screamed Naruto's voice from the trees. Three fuma shuriken flew from the leaves and aimed directly for the disguised snake nin, who easily jumped into the air to avoid each of them. Suddenly, Naruto appeared from out of a tree, disguised with a bark patterned cloak of invisibility. Flying directly to Orochimaru's from behind, he plunged kunai in his back that went of in a massive explosion. The real Naruto jumped to the ground, followed by Sasuke who was still holding Sakura, her arm slung over his shoulder.
"Not bad with the suicide clone Naruto," Sasuke complimented. When they got to the charred body, they noticed that the face seemed to be, sagging? Underneath the skin, they could see something that was a chalky-white. As more and more skin peeled off, they saw pointed, purple markings around the eyes. Suddenly, the body started chuckling!
"You actually managed to get me. Not bad for the demon fox brat of Konoha."
"H-how do you know?!" Naruto asked, shocked that an outsider knew about a high-level S-ranked secret.
"It doesn't matter, you're not my target." The three genin were stunned into silence when the supposed to be dead body opened its eyes to reveal yellow eyes with snake-slits. Was this creature some sort of demon? "Sasuke." Without leaving time for a reply, the white-faced creature lunged its neck out to impossible lengths, and it was aimed straight for Sasuke, who was still paralyzed with fear.
To be continued...
Omake 1: The Inuzuka's Shame
Setting: Pre-Shippuden Canon universe (right after the Search for Tsunade Arc, and before the Sasuke Retrieval Arc)
As Kiba returned home from an escort mission in Grass country, some wealthy tycoon guy who was in Konoha on a business trip, he noticed a crate in front of a door. He'd seen that crate every time he went through the lot, but now he noticed a tag on a door, a tag he could've sworn wasn't there before in front of a door that definitively hadn't been there before. Unknown to him, two nights before he returned to Konoha, some of his cousins, who enjoyed a few too many cocktails, caused some ruckus. The result of that ruckus, the movement of that crate by four inches. He noticed that the tag had 'UT!,' 'EN!,' and 'OU!' written on it. Curiosity overtaking him, he moved the crate out of the way and found that the tag read, "KEEP OUT!," "DO NOT OPEN!," and "IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU!" Kiba tried to push the door open but found a seal on it, which seemed to keep it from opening.
"Hm, maybe mom knows how to open this thing," he said to himself.
When he went to his house, he found Tsume in the backyard training with Kuromaru.
"Hey mom?!"
"What is it Kiba?"
"Well, I found this door, and there's a seal on it that's keeping me from opening it-" As Kiba was talking, Tsume tensed at what she thought it was.
"Show me where you found the door," she said before Kiba could finish.
"Okay," Kiba said nervously. When he showed her where he found the door, he noticed that his mother's mood was rather... nervous, something that definitely didn't look right on Tsume Inuzuka. Even Kuromaru was shaking.
"So I was wondering if you could take off the tag..." he was cut off mid-sentence as his okaa-san sent a large amount of killing intent his way.
"Kiba, whatever you do in this life, always remember this order: never open that door."
"But what's in..."
"Don't question me boy!" she said sternly. Though stubborn by nature, Kiba knew not to get on his mom's bad side.
Over the next few days he tried to forget about that door, but for some reason, it just kept eating away at his thoughts. He tried to think of other things, but it just pushed its way to the front of his mind. "THAT'S IT! I need to know what's in there," he declared after his training session was over.
How can I get around mom about this. Maybe Hana can help me. Kiba made it to the vet clinic just as his older sister was about to finish her shift.
"Hana, I need your help."
"What's up otouto?"
"Follow me back to the compound, I'll show you there." Kiba led her back to where he found the door. "For some reason, mom was actually nervous about taking down that seal, I'd go so far as to say she was scared. Do you have any idea what's in there."
"I don't know what's in there, but after I became a chunin, she told me that behind that door was the shame of our clan."
"Huh, what do you think it may be."
"Maybe we should let it go, if it has a seal on it then it's for a good reason."
"C'mon, you're going to be head of the clan one day, and you have to know all of its secrets if you want do a good job." Kiba hoped that his sister would take the bait. Hopefully her level headedness would falter this time.
"*sigh* Fine, but if something goes wrong, I will be putting the blame on you."
"We're not going to get caught, we're just going to pop our heads in and be done before anyone notices."
"I only have a rudimentary knowledge on seals, so hopefully..." Hana poured her chakra into the tag, trying to unbalance it and force it to falter. After about five minutes, with Kiba acting as lookout, her efforts were rewarded as the ink disappeared and the door slid open. The room Hana and her brother found themselves in was pitch black. After closing the door and feeling around for a switch, they were able to get some light from a single ceiling fixture. The room they were in was long, with no windows, so the only light came from the aforementioned lamp. At the far end of the room was a single large crate. Upon further inspection, they could see the initials 'WB,' scratched onto it. It was dark inside so they couldn't look through the air holes. On the crate was another, more complex looking seal.
"Hana, think you can open it."
"I'm not so sure Kiba, I feel like we're already pushing our luck as it is."
"We've made it this far, and it can't be that bad can it?"
"I'm not even sure I can undo this, it looks a lot harder than the other one."
"Just hurry and try, someone could come by at any time." Hana tried to undo the seal, but her assumptions in this seal's strength were true; after about half-an-hour, she felt like she was only half way through breaking the seal. Another half-hour later, and Tsume had just returned to the compound from a tracking mission. On her way home, she saw the crate moved from it's usual spot, and what seemed to be a black tuft. Suddenly, the black tuft disappeared, and she could hear a door sliding shut.
Realization soon kicked in. No! It can't be! Even he's not that dense as to do something so stupid. Who am I kidding, it's Kiba, Of COURSE HE'D DO SOMETHING THIS STUPID!
"Hurry up, I think mom may be on to us."
"KIBA, ARE YOU IN THERE?! WHY'S THE SEAL BROKEN?!" Tsume yelled through the door.
"Please tell me you've almost got that thing figured out?" Kiba's voice was panic stricken.
"Almost there."
"HANA! ARE YOU IN THERE! SO HELP ME IF YOU TOUCH THAT SEAL!"
"HURRY!"
"Got it!" Tsume Fang Over Fanged the door just as the seal started pealing away. She stared in horror as time seemed to slow down when the seal made contact with the floor.
"Wha-what have you done?" The cage started to shake, slowly the door swung open. For what seemed like the longest minute, nothing happened, when suddenly...
*BOOM* The cage was blown apart with pieces scattered everywhere.
As the dust in the room settled, the three Inuzuka's saw what was in the heavily guarded cage; they were three... creatures; they looked like dogs, but they stood on only their hind legs, and not like when a dog is standing to get a treat, but the way a human walks; their fur was black on their bodies, but white on their faces and feet, and were those... white gloves they wore on their humanesque hands; they also had small noses that were as red as cherries. What was really amazing was that they wore clothes like people.
The shortest of the three wore only a pink skirt, no top, and a flower that seemed to hold her ears together. The second tallest wore a blue shirt, no pants, and a red cap with holes that allowed his ears to stick out of the tops. The tallest one wore no shirt, like the shortest one, but instead wore brown pants with a black belt.
"No." Tsume faintly said.
"Hey Tsume, it's been a while hasn't it?" the tallest asked.
"You've gotten old haven't you?" the middle one said. Kiba stiffened at the strange dog calling his mom old, but surprisingly, Tsume didn't react immediately, she was still standing in one spot.
"Well we'd love to hang around, but we've got twenty-four years to make up for." Kiba's mother regained her sense of composure, but before she and Kuromaru could react, the three strange creatures were gone.
"Mom, what were those things?" A dark aura surrounded the Inuzuka matriarch as she slowly turned to her son.
"Something that shouldn't have been looked into, YOU BAKA!" Before she could tear into Kiba, Hana came between them.
"Mom, you can kill Kiba later, first tell us what those things are, and how do they know you?"
Tsume growled before conceding. Damn her daughter's level-headedness! She was about to explain when they heard a scream come from somewhere in the village. "Let's find out what that was first!"
Making their way to the center of the village center, they found walls with holes in the shapes of creatures in them. "Something tells me they've been here," Hana deadpanned.
"Kiba!" They turned to see Kurenai running toward them, accompanied by Shino and Hinata.
"Kurenai-sensei!"
"What's going on here?!"
"My little baka gaki here let loose the Warners!"
"The Warners?" Kurenai asked.
"The Warners," Tsume confirmed.
"Um, Kurenai-sensei, what are the Warners?" Hinata asked.
"Should they know?"
"Let's wait 'til we get this problem solved first. Find Hatake, Guy, Sarutobi, and make sure they have their full teams, also see if you can, find Jiraiya-sama, we're going to need all the help we can get; tell them to meet me at the Hokage Tower. Hana, get back to the vet clinic and make sure everything is okay. Gaki, you go with Yuhi-san." Tsume's tone left no room for argument.
To be continued...
Omake 2: Orochimaru vs. Kabuto: The Quest for the Perfect Woman?!
(I got inspiration for this from an episode of Naruto SD: Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden. Episode 36: Orochimaru's Search for Love)
(P.S. This is NOT meant to be imagined in chibi form)
"Kabuto, are you sure that this is a good idea?"
"Of course Orochimaru-sama. All you ever do is hold yourself up in your lab and experiment on people. It's time to loosen up a little."
"But is this really the place?"
"I'm doing this for your own good. Now go break some hearts!" Kabuto pushed his master over to a table.
Now Orochimaru was many things: a psychopath; a sociopath; a murder; a certified nutcase; a power hungry megalomaniac; just to name a few, but even he had to admit that there was only so much a person could do on their own. He enjoyed the occasional sake bottle every now-and-then, and like all people, sometimes it was good to have human companionship that didn't involve dissecting said companion on an operating table. But still, this, didn't really seem like that much of a good idea. Kabuto had managed to drag him to Tanzaku Town. Normally this wouldn't have been much of a problem, except for the fact that Kabuto had taken him to a restaurant that was having a speed dating night. Needless to say, it wasn't going well. Aside from the fact that years of living underground as the head of an organization that dealt with human experimentations had left him relatively weak in the people skills department, most of the women were usually scared off by either his pasty skin, his slit eyes, or a combination of both, and Kabuto was nowhere to be found.
"Rotten little punk..." Orochimaru grumbled to himself.
"Excuse me, but is this seat taken?" Asked a women.
"I don't own the place," the snake sannin shot back.
"Well what's got you down?" she asked as she took the seat across from him.
"None of the women here seem to find me 'appealing.'" He kept his gaze focused solely on his sake bottle
"Well I can see that the pasty skin is a major turn off," the strange woman joked.
Now Orochimaru was becoming mad. "Hey I don't need to take that form yo..." As he looked up, he saw who he was talking to. The woman he was talking to had blonde hair. Two strands framed her face and ended up intertwining over her chest. She wore a full length, black, body suit that didn't have any sleeves. On both of her bare arms were black, dotted snake tattoos that coiled on her arms. Her eyes were yellow, just like his. Her very essence gave off a sinister aura that seemed to be masked. It was completely enticing.
"So do you have a name?"
"Huh, oh yeah, it's ugh, it's Orochimaru." What the hell was going on with him? The great Orochimaru never stuttered or lost his place in a sentence.
"Interesting. My name is Medusa Gorgon."
"So, how is this supposed to happen? Do we just go to the sex?" Again, not good in the people skill department.
"You don't get out much do you?" Is this guy serious or just stupid? she thought to herself.
"I don't know how something like this is supposed to happen." Just stupid.
"Well, usually in a conversation you start by asking a few questions. I'll start. So what are some of your hobbies?"
"Well, I like plotting to take over my home village. Experimenting to make myself immortal. Oh, I also like torture."
"You like all that too?"
"So what else are you into?" Orochimaru asked. This woman was more interesting than he assumed.
"We'll just so I can get it out of the way, I have a son. (I'm just going with son. Deal with it.) His name is Crona. I have spent all his life destroying any confidence he has in himself in order to turn him into the perfect weapon." She just went up a few points on Orochimaru's "Hot Meter."
"I also used him for experiments involving black blood-" And she uses her own child to create living weapons. What was this strange feeling growing in the pit of his very being. Was this, infatuation. Orochimaru could slowly feel himself going deaf as the rest of the world slowly faded away from him, leaving only the sadistic goddess that sat only feet away from him. Unbeknownst to him, his uber long tongue started sliding out of his mouth and onto the table.
"Um, is everything alright?" Medusa asked when she saw that Orochimaru seemed to be in a daze.
"Everything's fine," he drooled out.
"So, do you have any interests in animals?" she asked him. At first, Orochimaru wanted to go with the generic puppies and kittens, but something about this woman made him believe he could be honest. Maybe the snake tattoos were for more than just show.
"Actually, I have a summoning contract with snakes-"
"Your familiar is with snakes too?!" she asked incredulously.
"Familiar?"
"Follow me, I'll show you what I mean." She lead him out to the front of the restaurant and held out her arms. "Nake snake cobra cobra." The tattoos on her arms sprang to life becoming giant snake heads on dotted bodies. Orochimaru was awestruck at this display.
"Now let's see what you can do," Medusa said.
Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram "Summoning Jutsu!" In a giant smoke explosion, the snake king Manda appeared in the middle of the street. The pedestrians ran in sniveling fear, but Medusa stared in amazement at the snake lord.
"Impressive eh?" Orochimaru said. Sending Manda back to Ryuchi Cave, in order to avoid its inevitable questioning of why it was summoned out of nowhere, the snake sannin turned his gaze over to Medusa, who was quickly composing herself.
Long story short, they had the time of their lives sending people screaming into the night, and getting drunk.
When his master returned to the hideout, Kabuto had to support him. "So I take it things went well?"
"Kabuto, I met the most perfectest woman in the world!" Orochimaru slurred.
"So what's she like?"
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say someone made a clone of me, we have the same interests, and she's coming over tomorrow," the sannin said in ecstasy.
"If she's able to get you like this, I'd like to meet her."
The next day Orochimaru and Kabuto stood outside the entrance to their lair, waiting for the woman who brought a new dark light into the former's life. They saw two specks in the sky. Looking up, they saw Medusa flying on a broomstick, followed by a child with pink hair and black wings sprouting from his back. When they landed Medusa went up to Orochimaru, followed by the child, who he assumed to be her son Crona, who was awfully effeminate for a boy.
"Sorry about Crona, but I couldn't find a sitter, is it okay if he stays here."
"Not a problem, by subordinate Kabuto will look after him."
"Right, Orochimaru-sama." Little did any of them know, but Kabuto was checking out Medusa. Crona also grabbed onto his scientific fascination. When the adults were gone, Kabuto wasted no time in running tests on Crona, who surprisingly offered no resistance. Whatever this Medusa woman did to him, it was thorough. When the tests came back, he was astonished, apparently, the black wings weren't a part of the pink-haired boy, but of a sentient weapon. More specifically, a sword that she infused with black blood and injected into Crona. Now Kabuto felt a sensation in his very being. The woman who was currently with his master was not only beautiful, but she was able to create living weapons and merge them with human hosts. Kabuto had found his new purpose in life, to be with Medusa Gorgon, even if she was dating Orochimaru. And he would do it by any means necessary.
To be continued...
Hey, hope you enjoyed the omakes. As you can see, I've really gotten into Soul Eater.
Author's Note: I have a question: does the transformation jutsu actually make you into what you transform into, or is it just an illusion. It's listed as ninjutsu, but I'm kinda confused.
Again, place your votes on whether Sasuke should get the Curse Mark or not.