Naruto Shippuden -H-: Chapter 010: The Scientists' Prediction
Orochimaru had heard of the request that Sasuke made in regards to the men that were in pursuit of Naruto, and who had claimed a false assault on the village.
"It seems that their are still some shinobi out their that still wish to follow in the Konoha Crush plan that I started after all." said Orochimaru as he walked in front of Sasuke and put a scroll onto a nearby table in his hideout.
"I would not be so sure of that, the person that I fought against was speaking in a way that lead to more of a plan to lure out Naruto." said Sasuke as he was on guard against anything that Orochimaru tried to do.
"Don't worry so much Sasuke, I am not after your body anymore, ever since I merged with that White Zetsu, I have been able to achieve new leaps and bounds in my jutsu and knowledge." said Orochimaru with a smirk.
"Good for you, but I could care less, I want to know if you have heard of three men named Jesei Leikough, Antoine, and Lunesto." said Sasuke with a stern tone.
"Who the hell are they, some kind of crew of rogue ninja or something?" asked Suigetsu with confusion.
"I don't know, but they, along with several shinobi from a distant land were the ones that invaded the village, and since Orochimaru has been through much of the world, I am sure he knows something." said Sasuke.
"Well, well, I have heard of Jesei and Antoine, would you like to know more?' asked Orochimaru as he put his hand on the scroll that he sat on the table and opened it.
"Don't play clueless with me you hear, just spit it out, I got better things to do after all." said Sasuke.
"Is it about Kaguya and that White Zetsu Army?" asked Orochimaru.
"That was the original purpose of my journey, but this new development is not related to that, hence the reason I am here." said Sasuke.
"Well, Jesei Leikough was once a shinobi that belonged to the leaf, he was in the same age group as Hiruzen and Danzo, I did not know him very well though." said Orochimaru.
"Heh, what about Antoine then?" asked Sasuke.
"He hails from a former land called the Land of Riptides, a seaside community that had ports which shipped goods to the other five great nations, again, that is all I know of him." said Orochimaru.
"No information on this Lunesto then?" asked Sasuke.
"Afraid not, but I could tell you something a bit more of value." said Orochimaru with a serious look in his snake eyes.
"What would that be?" continued on Sasuke.
"Did any of them happen to mention the name, the Apathetic Judge?" asked Orochimaru.
"I am not sure, but from the way those three were acting, it would not surprise me if that was the moniker their boss goes by." said Sasuke.
"The Apathetic Judge, what the hell kind of name is that?" asked Suigetsu who was also curious.
"I know of him, that is certain, and if I am right, then Naruto could be in incredible danger, no, not just him, but every one of us." said Orochimaru with a drop of sweat rolling down his left cheek.
"Why have none of us heard of this name before, surely these guys had to have some kind of relationship with the Akatsuki to have all of this information that they do." said Sasuke with a concerned expression.
"No, they were never associated with the Akatsuki, but I believe that they call themselves the Knights of Dawn, their are eight of them in particular, but of course, I only know the exact names of the three you gave me." said Orochimaru as he picked up the scroll off of the table and swallowed it.
"What is that scroll, are you getting ready to do something?" asked Jugo as he noticed something was amiss.
"The only one who I have concrete information on is this Apathetic Judge himself, and you will be thinking me once I give this information to you." said Orochimaru as he looked Sasuke in the eyes.
"Them tell me, I need to give this information to Naruto before the sun rises." said Sasuke thinking of his rival.
"No, you must not tell anyone, after all, I thought that this Apathetic Judge was dead for over thirty years, but it seems that I was wrong." said Orochimaru.
"You thought he was dead for thirty years, what spurs you into thinking that he is alive now?" asked Suigetsu who decided to question things for himself.
"I can sense his chakra, I will never forget it, the first time I knew of it, I was only five years old." proclaimed Orochimaru.
"Enough of this, how do you know of this man, when no one else does?" asked Sasuke who was getting irritated.
"Well, you could say that we have, or at least had a close relationship." said Orochimaru.
"Remember when you asked me the real reason that I invaded the leaf and killed Sarutobi-sensei, do you remember the answer that I gave you?" asked Orochimaru.
"I sure do love that I was informed of this, oh yeah, I was not!" said Suigetsu who was feeling left out.
"It was none of your business, besides we had more important matters at the time." said Sasuke who thought back to when Orochimaru resurrected the Hokages.
"You said you underwent the Konoha Crush to avenge your parents, but that was about it, what are you hinting at." said Sasuke as his Rinnegan was focused on the Sannin.
"Well, I also did it for this Apathetic Judge too, because he was my..." said Orochimaru as he cut his words short.
"He was your what, I am really about this close to killing you if you do not spill this information!" said Sasuke in an angered tone.
"Jugo, Suigetsu, you two stand outside of the hideout, I wish to tell Sasuke this alone." said Orochimaru.
"Yes sir." declared Jugo as he headed to the outside of the hideout.
"Hey, I have every right to know as well, what the hell?' asked Suigetsu who was angry that he would be left in the dark again.
"Suigetsu, you will find out soon enough, just listen to me and leave." said Orochimaru.
"Fine, if you say so." said Suigetsu as he followed Jugo to outside of the hideout.
"Man, Karin gets to go on a spying mission for us, and I get stuck helping Orochimaru with studying these scrolls, and now he will not tell me anything." thought Suigetsu to himself as he joined Jugo outside of the door.
"Well, we are alone, talk, tell me everything you know, and also tell me about the reasons for everything you have done since you were a child." said Sasuke in a threatening manner.
"Okay, reincarnation of Indra, if anyone deserves to know this it is you and Naruto." said Orochimaru.
The sun had risen as it was now six o'clock in the morning the following day of the invasion. Lunesto, Jesei, and Antoine had arrived at the entrance gate of the city of Lazarus, their home village. It was a large town with many buildings resembling delicate buildings made of marble and many vines and gardens adorning the area. Their was a large lake in the middle of the city, with a dragon head made of marble pouring out water that flowed directly into the lake.
A large castle stood at the top of the city, attached to a mountain range that was at the far north end of the area. The castle had many statues of sea-serpent like creatures decorating it.
"Home at last, I was getting restless without taking my daily bath, I am starting to smell like you Jesei." said Lunesto in a joking manner.
"I swear, one of these days I will make you pay for your shrewd comments you worthless delinquent." said Jesei who was annoyed by Lunesto's antics.
"We need to report to the Castle of Leviticus at once, the other five Knights are their awaiting a follow up report regarding our mission." said Antoine as the three entered the southern gate of the city.
Their were many civilians who lived in Lazarus, most of them being people whose villages were destroyed over the years, they all let out a large cheer when they saw Antoine, Jesei, and Lunesto walk through the main street.
"Three of the sacred knights have returned, God has been good to us today, I bet they laid waste to the infidels who opposed us." said one of the citizens with a happy expression.
"We have returned my wonderful comrades, and do not worry, we will give an update on the events that have transpired once our meeting in the Castle of Leviticus is finished." said Antoine to the civilians that were around them.
"Okay sir, we will be anxious to hear of it, I am sure Lord Dreatoen will fill us all in." said one of the village elders with a pleased tone.
"Let's hurry, I do not want to be late again." said Jesei as the three men raced towards the large castle in the southern end of town with a since of desperation.
Naruto had awaken at seven in the morning as he usually did and notified Hinata that he was going to meet Kakashi at his office.
"Are you okay, you seemed to be in a lot of pain last night." said Hinata with a concerned tone in her voice.
"Relax, I am alright, you just rest for now, tomorrow is the day I open this scroll to see what those bastards were wanting to invite me too." said Naruto as he was determined to figure out the meaning behind this whole ordeal.
"Just be careful, and come back home as soon as you finish your business with Lord Hokage." said Hinata as he got out of bed and started to take a shower.
"I will, I promise." said Naruto to his wife as he left his house and headed straight to Kakashi's office.
On his way their, he ran into Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru who were standing at the crosswalk that led to the mansion.
"Are you doing good today, Naruto?" asked Chouji.
"Yes, but I need to speak with Kakashi on the events from yesterday, and about this scroll too." said Naruto.
"I will come with you, Captain Yamato will also be their." said Shikamaru.
"Okay, that sounds good." said Naruto.
"Bye, be sure to stop by the flower shop sometime, Sai always gets lonely, maybe you two can do something together soon." said Ino as she and Chouji waved off Naruto as he and Shikamaru ran towards the Hokage's mansion.
"Did you hear about what happened at the Interrogation Department last night?" asked Shikamaru to Naruto as the two arrived at the entrance of the mansion.
"No, did something go down?" asked Naruto.
"That Sheppard guy's head exploded while Aoba was trying to get information out of him, it seems that these bastards that we are dealing with our the lowest of the low, to do that to one of their own." said Shikamaru in disgust.
"No way, well, I am sure to notify Kakashi of this as well, let's go." said Naruto who had thought of the dream that he had last night.
Sasuke and Orochimaru were discussing the recent turns of events as Jugo and Suigetsu were still anxiously awaiting outside.
"Man, what the hell could they be talking about in there anyway?" asked Suigetsu as he put his ear up to the door.
"Lord Orochimaru told us it was not of our concern for the time being, just be patient Suigetsu." said Jugo.
"I am back, did I miss anything." yelled a woman with spiky red hair on one end, and straight hair on the other side.
"Hey, Karin you are back, did you find anything while you were out spying?" asked Suigetsu.
"Not really, but I did sense Sasuke arrive here, did he want too see me, hehehe." said Karin as he began to fantasize about Sasuke again.
"No, but he is discussing something of great importance with Orochimaru right now, and we were told to wait out here until they have finished." said Jugo.
"Damn, that means I will have to wait even longer to see my precious Sasuke." said Karin with despair.
"It is always that bullshit with Sasuke that you blabber about, geez." thought Suigetsu to himself.
Orochimaru continued on with his explanation to Sasuke.
"You want to know in detail about the reasoning behind the things that I did, very well, and what better place to start than to tell you about my older brother." said Orochimaru with a saddened look in his eyes.
"Older brother, what did you just say?" asked Sasuke as his eyes widened in disbelief.
"Yes, and their is a reason that I never mentioned him, after all, he is the one who made my childhood a living hell, and he is also the one who taught me about all of the forbidden jutsu that I have learned as well." said Orochimaru.
"Really, well it seems that we had more parallels than I thought." said Sasuke with a confused look.
"I am going to stop you right their, your older brother Itachi was like an angel, but, my older brother on the other hand, was like something out of a nightmare, even more dark than me." said Orochimaru as he was ready to tell Sasuke the secrets behind all of his actions up to this point.
"Well then, go on, tell me everything." said Sasuke.
"I was only three years old the first time I saw my brother, he was around twenty three at the time, their was a twenty year age gap between us, anyway he was never around, as he was always away since the First Shinobi World War was going on around that time." said Orochimaru.
"...And what was your first impressions of him?" asked Sasuke.
"True fear and despair." said Orochimaru as he began to remember the first encounter with his brother.
"His name was Hirudeguarn, Hirudeguarn Naga." said Orochimaru as his hand began to sweat a little.
-To be continued next time with Chapter 011...-