"You and I have been playing this game for years." He said. "We've done this...over and over and over again ever since I took on my responsibilities. It has to end already. This is unhealthy and one of us will end up killing the other if it doesn't stop. So how about a truce?"
"Uh...Onoki-sama?" Someone called.
The diminutive Kage turned, glaring at the chuunin at the door. "What?"
The young man blinked. "Who are you talking to? And why are you standing on your desk?"
The Kage looked down at his feet standing on polished mahogany, directly across from him was a stack of paperwork that, even with him standing at the same level, was still taller than him.
He narrowed his eyes menacingly at it.
He reached up, picked up a chunk of it and plopped it down on the desk, leaving the main stack at just below his chin.
Nodding to himself in satisfaction he turned back to the chuunin.
"Nevermind that." He dismissed. "What've you got for me?"
The man fully opened the door revealing more paperwork in a cart. "Chuunin application forms, border entry requests and a few other-"
The Tsuchikage slapped his forehead dragging his hand down his face as he droned him out. He turned to glare at the stacks he already ha-
He blinked when he realized that the main stack was...taller than him.
They're Breeding!
Somehow he had a feeling that this was going to be a long day.
-0-
For the group of children, especially Ryoko, the novelty of riding a horse vanished rather quickly.
Horses sucked!
They stunk, they bounced, they chafed, left you sore for three days after you got off and they stole your ramen!
That last part held true only for one of them but the point still stood!
Horse riding was not faring well with them.
Given the fact however that they needed to travel with the Daimyo, they couldn't run at ninja speed and walking would just slow everyone down so they were stuck with this.
They were on the last leg of their trip, only a few hours from Iwagakure after nearly four hours ride already.
"Mylord." One of the samurai said, riding alongside the Daimyo. "We should rest the horses here for now. We've ridden them hard today."
"How long do you think?" The man asked, patting his beast affectionately.
"Until noon at least." The Samurai responded.
"Alright then." He seemed ready to dismount when a ghostly pale rider marched up beside him.
"That wouldn't be wise." Orochimaru commented. We're already here, every second we delay is a second longer for word to reach Onoki, or more likely the Anbu and chuunin patrols that can converge around our position for a swift attack. We should get through this as quick as possible to reach the neutrality of an official chuunin exam invitation."
"Hmm." The Daimyo considered. "Alright then." He looked at the Samurai. "Its noon now. Lets keep moving."
The man blinked evidently not getting the joke. "Its not noon mylor-"
"I am Koutou! When I say its noon, its noon! Now lets move!"
The horses trotted forward.
The teenagers groaned miserably.
"I'm never getting on another horse again." Kyofu growled.
"I'm never leaving the village again." Ryoko offered.
"I'm going to eat them." Naruto promised. "Chop them up, put em in ramen and eat them."
The two girls tossed him a look.
Evidently Naruto could get violent if you stole his ramen.
They rode through the woodlands. Where Konoha's forest was dense with oaks and other such trees, the colder climates of Iwagakure's mountains in the north were thick with prickly pine trees who's heavy scent was like a heady mist in the air.
"There here already." Orochimaru hissed towards the Daimyo and Naruto's ears twitched two horses behind. Turning his eyes towards the trees he searched finding nothing but the rustling of leaves in the wind to indicate a Shinobi.
He spread out his nature enhanced senses, feeling the chakra signatures around him. His teammates first, Orochi's stronger presence second, the strongest here.
In the trees though, he found six others.
Very close.
He trailed his eyes straight upwards. He still couldn't see anything.
Jounin then. Jounin or Anbu.
They rode on through the day, and more and more ninja, all in various states of fatigue or lack-thereof gathered around the column as it progressed all staying out of sight though some less experienced members slipped and let themselves be seen by him.
The men could actually feel the pounding of their horses hearts and their winded breaths against their shins by the time the walls of the village came into view
By that time Naruto could count twenty two at their backs.
And a hundred more infront...
-0-
"Come on! Hurry up!" She demanded, pulling on his arm to help him get a grip and then running to the other side to help haul up the leg he was trying to hook up over the edge.
"We're-cutting class Kuro-chan!" The boy huffed and puffed, struggling to climb over the edge of the roof that was connected to the walls.
"Come on! What would you rather do? Sit and listen to Mebuki-sensei talking about Shodaime, or see what's coming this way that has everyone in such a fuss."
"We'll get in trouble." Akatsuchi grunted finally pulling himself up and over the edge.
"Not if you hurry up! Come on!"
-0-
"No! Get out! I refuse!"
"Sir you can't refuse. You're the Tsuchikage." Was the secretaries' droll response, carting in yet another load of forms.
"This is slavery!"
"It isn't sir. You get paid."
"Its its cruelty and unlawful torture of the elderly official!"
"There's no such law sir."
"There is now!"
"You'll have to sign a form for that sir."
…
…
…
Thunk
"Sir pick your face off the desk. It won't help you."
Onoki glared at her.
His secretary was a professional. Non-Shinobi, wore simple but proper dresses for her post, no-nonsense, always on time, responsible and constantly on top of everything.
Especially him
He hated her.
He would have fired her but then he had the feeling his staff would just find someone worse. That's what they'd done for the last seventy four.
They just got tougher and tougher and tougher and tougher.
But those had all been ninja. He could always, ultimately order them to do something else.
His staff had wised up.
This was a goddamn civilian. Who was paid almost as much as his Anbu captain.
Where the hell said money was coming from he had no idea. Otherwise he would have probably frozen the funds pending a full, lengthy and thorough investigation.
So she was always on his case.
He couldn't even sneak out.
That's right.
Somehow a thirty something, chubby civilian woman that stood at five foot nothing was able to stop a Kage from sneaking out.
How this worked he'd stopped trying to figure out two years ago.
The door opened. "Tsuchikage-sama"
He almost blanched before he realized the young man had no papers on him. "Yes what help do you need?" He asked, almost eagerly.
The chuunin opened his mouth to speak but paused as a strange whisper caressed his ear.
'Save me.'
He looked around oddly before he remembered what he was here for. "S-sir. At the...uh...at the gates-"
"Yeeees?" The pudge nosed man nodded. "Who's at the gates?"
"The uh...the Daimyo..."
Onoki blinked. "Michizu didn't say he was coming." He muttered aloud hopping down from his chair and getting ready to march out of his office.
"Its...not our Daimyo sir."
That made him pause. "Who then? Kumo? Kusa?"
"Err-" The chuunin swallowed and was about to answer when-
"Ryoutenbin! Open your gates! This is not how you treat invited guests!?"
-0-
"Hey! They're calling Tsuchikage-sama aren't they?"
"Yeah." Kurotsuchi answered holding herself up on crossed arms, resting just beneath her chest on the wall's railing, her feet dangling. Akatsuchi standing beside her on his tip toes.
-0-
The sannin pulled back his index and middle finger from the side of the Daimyo's throat the visible chakra receeding from the pale tips "Was that really necessary?" He asked.
"Best to declare our intentions for everyone to hear." Koutou answered clearing his throat with some light coughs. "Now they can't attack and allege something else so easily."
"Easy being the relative term here." The sannin grinned.
"Hmm. Anything starts to happen, I order you to get those children back towards the border."
Orochimaru said nothing for a moment. "Our duty would be to guard you." He said simply. Protecting the daimyo was the duty of all Shinobi, no exceptions, not even gennin.
"To hell with your duty." The man answered simply "You get that boy back across the border. Revenge in ten years when he's older and can take out a third of their army is still revenge."
"Pretty obvious for you wasn't it?" He chuckled.
"You may as well have held up a sign. Speaking of which I thought you would have changed some of that by now."
"I can't hold a jutsu on him from a distance strong enough to fool Onoki. Might as well just let him and everyone else find out up front as opposed to hiding it and having them find out later with an outrage."
"The fire that burns slowly, lasts longer but spreads the least." He nodded. "I see."
The gates groaned open.
Konoha's were made of wood, like most significant structures and items of Konoha made of wood, it had been forged by the Shodaime Hokage himself.
Iwa's Gates were made of stone.
Black as midnight, obsidian glinted in the afternoon sun, the village symbol carved proud into the singular southern village gate. They said it couldn't be broken, forged by some mysterious art of the Ni-daime it's magnificence was even greater than Konoha's.
It was also heavier.
So when the doors finally opened fully it was no surprise to see that, at the other side were two massive Elephant summons pushing both respective gate.
Armored and ready for battle as well.
There also seemed to be quite a few helpers. One's with glinting forehead protectors.
And a short, three foot nothing old man marching right towards them.
"Come on." The Daimyo laughed. "Lets get off. Wouldn't want him to feel worse" he whispered.
Orochimaru's smile grew a little wider as he, the Daimyo, and the head of the man's guard, dismounted.
He saw his students do the same behind them and refrained from saying anything.
They'd just make things more interesting.
The sannin marched at the Daimyo's side, placing the most subtle of genjutsu over his own face to make his rather distinctive features more bland.
They stood directly across from the old Kage, two Iwa Jounin at the man's side, him staring up at the Daimyo and the Daimyo staring down.
Being the guest, Koutou bowed his head first, hand and fist meeting between the two of them. "Ryoutenbin." He greeted through use of his long standing title. "It has been a long time."
Onoki bowed, if only just. "Your visit is rather early Magojiro-dono." He said. "The spectator open portion of the exam is nearly two months away as of yet."
"We're competing." Orochimaru chose to speak up dropping the subtle illusion, his pale face morphing out of the shadow of the genjutsu.
The Jounin flinched, Onoki's face grew severe, hard as chiseled stone. "You." He growled.
-0-
Kuro-chan! That's Orochimaru of the sannin!"
"No way. Can't be." She narrowed her eyes. "Grandpa would kill him if it was.
"It is!" Akatsuchi insisted. "Mebuki sensei said he was all pale like a ghost and had black hair."
"There are probably plenty of people in Konoha like that!" She countered, knowing that her grandfather, the strongest ninja in the whole village would wipe the floor with the Sannin if he ever came here and didn't hide like he was so famous for.
-0-
The Sannin plastered on the sickening smile that still haunted the nightmares of Iwa veterans. "Me." He laughed. "Me. Me. Me. Remind me, what was that splendid name your brave elites gave me after the night raids of Rice fields? It does me so good to hear it from time to time. It brings back the memory of their screams." He turned his eyes toward one of the Jounin, the youngest one.
A gleam of serpentine eyes and a potent, focused killing intent had the man break out in a cold sweat, a visible shudder running up his spine.
His smile grew a bit. "Ahhh yes that was it...the Death dealer."
"Enough!" Onoki cut his hand through the air in a sharp gesture, and the suffocating illusion was lifted from the younger man.
"I agree." The Daimyo rumbled. "We've come to enter your team into the exams Oro-kun. Not to have you goading Ryoutenbin's men in the streets!"
"You actually have a team?" Onoki raised an eyebrow.
He'd heard rumors but the thought of this twisted creature with students was beyond his belief.
The sannin turned to look over his shoulder. "Your eyes must be going in your old age Ryoutenbin." He stepped aside, allowing the elder man the full view of the three kids.
Onoki ignored the insult and took one look.
Then he froze, his face contorted in a seething fury.
Naruto felt the killing intent slam into him like a physical blow. He was almost caught off guard by it. Though there had been some hostility when they first met in his own time, it was a bucket of water compared to this ocean that was leveled out before him.
Then he remembered that it'd only been seven years or so since the end of the war.
It'd been sixteen by the time he met the man the first time.
Sixteen years is time enough for tempers to cool and memories to dull.
Seven, evidently was a whole different story.
Onoki took one step forward and Orochimaru was there, blocking his path and his line of sight again, smiling glibly though his limbs were tensed for an attack.
"You..." The words were such a seething mass of loathing Orochimaru could almost feel the acid burning the back of the Kage's throat.
"Me!" He laughed again.
-0-
"Holy crap that was intense" Ryoko breathed a little easier as soon as the killing intent let up.
"What in the world happened there?" Kyofu shuddered. "That...that wasn't just some random prejudice. It couldn't have been."
Naruto frowned, droning them out, already hearing the escalating voices between Onoki, Orochi and the Daimyo, watching how the ninja around the gate tensed and the samurai at their backs did the same.
It couldn't go like this.
He didn't know Onoki well.
But he knew Iwa ninja.
He knew them, fought with them, bled with them and watched friends die beside them. Just like before the prejudice was here it was just...fresher in their minds. If he could overcome it before he could overcome it now. But he couldn't just let this whole thing spiral out of control with Orochimaru goading the man into a conversation that would leave Onoki frothing at the mouth for a chance to kill them again.
It couldn't go like this.
Without any warning he stepped forward and moved to march around the serpent.
"What are you doing!?" Ryoko hissed moving to grab him before he darted out of her reach and peeked his body around Orochimaru's leg to look at Onoki who was staring up at the two men.
Instantly, in the most childlike voice he could muster which was rather easy all things considered, he spoke clearly and loudly.
"Hi!" He smiled. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Wanna be friends?"
It was rather amazing, to be standing at the cusp of a city, surrounded by more than a hundred people, and yet have it so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
-0-
"Hey who's that kid?"
"What did he say?" Kurotsuchi asked.
"Don't know...he's smaller than us."
"Everyone's smaller than you."
-0-
Onoki swiveled his head around, giving him the most incredulous look anyone had ever seen on the man's face.
"You...what?!" He balked.
Naruto stepped around Orochimaru's leg fully, standing nearly at eye level with the Kage
"Well, I'm friends with Saru-Jiji and he's the Hokage! You're another Kage too so you wanna be friends too?" He smiled the megawatt bright smile
Onoki's face still hadn't changed from that gobsmacked look as though his brain was still trying to process the original query and just kept finding a hitch of logic or an error along the way.
Finally he seemed to snap to his senses, features growing stern again, though the killing intent was far less than it had been before. "No!"
Naruto frowned, pouting like a child. "Why not?"
The Daimyo nodded chuckling. "Yes. Why not Ryoutenbin. He seems to be a good enough boy."
The Kage looked like he was about to curse the man out when he bit his tongue. "We'll...make the arrangements for your stay. Give us one hour." Then he turned and marched away.
Orochimaru watched the small man leave before drawing his gaze down towards the top of Naruto's head.
He hadn't said anything.
But he knew the boy had just recognized the danger, and acted to manipulate with those words.
Very curious.
-0-
"Huh? That's it?"
"This was boring." Akatsuchi concluded, pulling himself back off the railing.
"What happened?" Kurotsuchi growled. "I didn't hear a thing!"
"Come on!" The bigger student insisted, plucking her off the railing. "Sensei's gonna come out and find us."
"No she's not she's just gonna-"
"Ahem."
Both children paused, turning slowly to see the, stern glare of their sensei.
"It was all Kuro-chan's idea!"
"It was not!" She bellowed.
-0-
Down below, marching through the gates Onoki spoke softly to his two aids.
"Call back Han and Roshi." He whispered to one, who nodded before gesturing towards the other.
"Get them set up in the fourth manse."
"That's right beside the tower sir." He said, somewhat alarmed. "We reserve that for when Michizu-sama arrives.
"Hmm...if they're staying here for a month I want to know how many times they breathe. Get them set up in the fourth manse. Michizu-sama will understand the inconvenience should he arrive for the spectator portion of the exams."
The aide nodded.
-0-
By the time they themselves were riding through the gates a few minutes later Koutou could be heard speaking to the pale sannin as well. "If he was truly looking for an excuse, that little stunt you pulled could have been it." He said.
"Its best they feel they should keep their eyes on me as opposed to others who will draw their attention." The sannin responded.
The man grunted, shifting in his saddle. "Just remember you're not invincible, or alone. And our show of force here is merely that. A show. If Onoki's pushed far enough he can take our heads. So don't antagonize too much." He ordered.
The sannin nodded smirking "I'll refrain from commenting on his height then."
"Hah!"
-0-
It was already approaching night by the time there was an opportunity for him to speak with enough privacy. When Naruto was marching back to his room a little later than the rest of his team. And the Daimyo and his guards were still settling into theirs with the greater luggage load.
"What was that back there Naruto?"
The blond stiffened in surprise and Orochimaru saw how he remained tense, on guard. The boy never did trust him. One couldn't stay in a constant state of tension for months on end but whenever he singled him out like he was doing now, this...thing would come back. Just like he was when he woke up in the hospital two years ago, looking at him as though for all intents and purposes he was getting ready to tear the boy's face off.
"What was what?" He asked, turning around to look at him.
"Don't play dumb." He said, the normal smirking visage was nowhere to be found. "Onoki. At the gates. You knew full well what you were doing."
"I wasn't doing anything. Just asked him if he wanted to be my friend." Naruto glared, as if daring him to keep pushing this.
The serpent's gaze bore right into him.
"Onoki leveled enough killing intent on you specifically to to have thrown a veteran ninja unconscious. Your teammates felt the fear rise in their stomachs...you didn't."
"Yeah well why did he do that anyway? What made him get so angry at me?" Naruto feigned his ignorance of the circumstances, hoping to throw the serpent off the conversation.
Orochimaru was having none of it though. As much as he'd changed with the incident that altered his memories two years ago he'd still known the boy since he was an infant. "More than that you weren't surprised, nor did you take a moment to collect yourself. After a man demonstrates that he actively desires your death, you proceeded to diffuse an escalating situation by distracting a Kage with a question no one in their right mind would ask at the time.
"Maybe I'm just not in my right mind." He laughed.
"What is going on?"
"Nothing is going on." The blond hissed. "You're just being paranoid."
He tilted his head. "Very well...Keep your secrets. But this conversation isn't over."
The gennin glared, turning around and marching towards his room before closing the door.
Orochimaru was left feeling like something of a hypocrite at being irritated at his student's lying.
-0-
It was nearly a week later when the three Konoha gennin stood within the building where the chuunin exams were to begin.
The building wasn't at all impressive. It was a single story, more a large, emptied out wearhouse than anything really. There weren't even chairs or seats. Naruto was getting the impression this was just the place every team was to meet up in order to march over to wherever the real test was going to begin.
"These are a lot of foreign gennin teams." Kyofu breathed looking around. The wearhouse was absolutely huge in terms of square feet and space but even so, if any more teams arrived they would be bumping shoulders with people they didn't know.
"Mostly Iwa nin's though...that kinda makes us the foreigners here." Ryoko said. "This is crazy." She said. Wether she was referring to the number of people or the fact that they were the only Konoha team with a sensei crazy or careless enough to bring them here was completely up in the air.
Speaking of the snake, he'd been in something of a rush today for some reason.. The last week had been spent fine tuning chakra control and elemental manipulation. Ryoko's specifically. Her wind blade could definitely cut through virtually anything a gennin would have on him or her here but it still couldn't cut through a significantly sized stone in a single strike like he demanded. She almost could, but to Orochimaru:
Almost hitting the target, means you ultimately missed the target and have only succeeded in wasting your knife.
Still. Naruto, from his experience, felt his teammates were far better prepared for this exam than any of the rookie nine had been for their first attempt so long ago.
Orochimaru was...
The blond paused, face scrunching up at the near thought.
A demanding teacher...
Still they didn't seem to realize it. Which was fair considering that Orochimaru monopolized so much of their time. They hadn't really had the chance to interact or measure themselves against any of their old classmates.
Like the guy was worried they'd embarrass him by losing so he made sure they were ready before he went to show them off. "Don't worry guys we'll kick all their asses." Naruto nearly shouted.
"Don't gloat." Kyofu warned. "We'll only draw needless attention."
"Too late for that." The blond laughed pointing out the sight of four Iwa gennin teams glaring daggers at them from across the room.
They glared for a few more seconds before Ryoko got fed up. "What are you rock heads looking at?"
Some of them looked ready to step forward before one gennin, one who Naruto suspected he might have fought alongside during the war, held them back with some brusque words...Maybe if the blond could picture some facial hair he'd be able to place it...
Ryoko scoffed the next word under her breath. "Idiots."
"You're all alone you really shouldn't make a spectacle of yourself."
The team turned around blinking at the sight of a Kirigakure gennin they didn't recognize.
Well...two of them did. Naruto would remember that face anywhere, even if he didn't remember the name.
"Yeah well what's it to ya?" Ryoko shrugged. "We can take care of-"
"Don't be rude." Kyofu interrupted somewhat sternly. As the eldest of the team she was sort of adopting the role of disciplinarian/peace keeper when Orochimaru wasn't around it seemed. She bowed. "I apologies. But we didn't catch your name."
"Kimimaro-kun." Another voice spoke, and the face of the person that walked up behind the pale ninja was one Naruto also recognized.
The name jumped to his lips this time too.
"Haku!?"
The dark haired gennin turned, features scrunching up in confusion when looking down at him "Do I...know you?"
Naruto froze for a moment, stiffening as he realized just how massive a slip up this was, especially with the way his teammates were looking at him. "Uhh no. I just heard there was a pretty-" Wait...was Haku a guy or a girl here? After Itachi anything was fair game! "-uhh, gennin from Kiri.! Figured that kinda had to be you." He hoped to sweet god above Haku was a girl here or he might just have the earth swallow him. With an earth affinity he could probably bury himself easy enough.
Haku laughed. "That's very sweet of you."
"Aww little Naru-chan has a crush!" Ryoko teased, reaching down to pinch his cheeks as he swatted her hand aside.
"They grow up so fast." Kyofu laughed.
"Not you too Fu-chan! You're supposed to be the nice one!" He whined.
Ryoko stuffed him in a headlock. "Oh so I'm not nice!?"
"Does this seem nice?" He shouted back glad for the distraction the antics were providing.
Haku giggled again and the burning question of male or female was still branded in Naruto's skull. "At any rate. Both our teams should be going." She tapped Kimimaro on the shoulder "They're starting to do the listings to see who's present and who's not."
Naruto stood up on his tip toes to see a dozen chuunin had filed in to one side of the warehouse and were checking teams off the list as they filed closer towards them.
Looks like the chuunin exams had begun.
-0-
I honestly have no idea what Kimimaro's age actually is. I suspect however that he was around 17-18 when he faced off against Lee and Gaara so, minus six years he's right now around 11-12
Haku's age I placed around 15-16 in the anime which would make her at this moment 9-10 but again I have no idea what their cannon ages are, I'm merely going by appearances.
At any rate RnR hope you all enjoyed it.
There will be quite a few surprises by the end of this chuunin exam (which incase you're wondering I'm hoping to bring to a close around chapter 14-15 if all works out)