Erasing Impossibility 14: Bad Start (Team Minato Arc)

Whoop! It's almost the end of the holidays! What do you guys do on your holidays? My days are filled with sleeping, eating, reading fanfic, listening to songs, watching Korean dramas (Gong Yoo is so hot like wtf ajdgsajgsafg), fangirling, playing Naruto Online… I'm a sloth, I know.

This chapter will be shorter than the last one. Though I tried… Really. It's almost the Chinese New Year for me and therefore I have to go to relatives' places and demand money—I mean, receive money when the time comes. And right after, it's back to university days. Sigh.

You guys presented some very… unique questions. I will answer some of them here (and shamelessly do some other announcements there). The others (especially plot sensitive questions) will be answered in later chapters.

One: Yes, I am from Indonesia. That's why my English is not that good. Because I am not well versed with other country's culture (in which Indonesia itself has lots of cultures and my own is like… the tiny speck of many), I end up making Rin's past life as a fellow Indonesian. Hence some of my culture, moral values, etc, probably influencing Rin's own.

Two: Rin's fighting style is a mix and match of everything. But mostly? Medical ninjutsu. Offensive medical ninjutsu. Imagine Shizune, and imagine Kabuto, just with less creepiness and none of the human experimentation whatsoever or pig ninja animal. Genjutsu (because CHAKRA CONTROLLLLL) and Fuuinjutsu will be used accordingly when the time calls for it. Her taijutsu is mediocre, so she will still lose if she's pitted against Kakashi, Obito or Gai. Elemental ninjutsu? I'm still thinking about it.

Three: The Ino-Shika-Cho trio that I made is actually very important plot characters. Especially Inomaru and Shikako. No offense to Chouzou, of course, but he'll have a different way to shine. Expect them to make sudden appearances here and there, mentions here and there. There will be a specific arc for them. Which arc though, it's a secret.

Four: If you are hoping Danzo's ass will be set on fire in this chapter, sorry to disappoint but this is not the correct arc to throw him into the lava. He's important for the plot (duh).

Five: AO3 user sal_bun is me, so if you find the exact story as I am, please leave some kudos (teehee).Also if you haven't read the Mikoto chapter in OSOI, please check it out!

Here is an amazing idea from IAmWhoeverIWantToBe, whose idea I cannot use, but is very amusing, so I do an omake of it anyway:

"My name is Shimura Danzo and I have a proposition for you."

I stare at him, jaw slack in surprise. Aside from the sudden flashback of Fury and his Avengers' initiative which consists of lots of violation of privacy, similar to Danzo's offer right now, it's a bit creepy to say him say 'proposition'.

For those who don't know, proposition can either be a statement or assertion that expresses a judgment or opinion, a suggested scheme or plan of action, especially in a business context, or a suggestion of sexual intercourse to someone with whom one is not sexually involved, especially in an unsubtle or offensive way.

While I am sure Danzo is all business, I can't help but shiver at the suggestion, because his words are so ambiguous. It doesn't help that he's creepy, he's old (waaay older than me at the very least), he literally kidnaps children then places seals on said children, and he's creepy.

And because I'm a suicidal moron, I end up digging my own grave with my next words.

"Hold up a second," I raise my hand, expression deceivingly blank, "Proposition?" I make a quoting gesture with my hands, sounding appropriately bewildered. "You know how this looks, right? You're an old man and I'm a pretty little thing. And we're here, with creepy ninja with masks. At night. In the dark."

Silence.

The ROOT Anbu chakra feels awkward, as if they realize what sort of… ambiguous innuendo their master just said. Danzo's chakra fluctuate in surprise before he narrows his eye at me, and right before he can say something possibly scary, condescending, or bigoted, I gasp, horrified.

"Are you a PERVERT?!" The last word comes out of my mouth in a girlish shriek, which gets followed by string of false panicked words. "PERVERT! PEDOPHILE! ARE YOU GOING TO KIDNAP ME?! NOOO!"

Like an alarm clock, many women nearby seems to magically hear and react to my shriek.

"PERVERT?!"

"WHERE?!"

"A PEDOPHILE?!"

"KIDNAPPING?!"

"DISGUSTING!"

"PUMMEL HIM TO THE GROUND!"

"KILL HIIIIM!"

Slams of doors and stomping of feet indicate that people are heading toward our direction. The growls and shouts of irate women indicating the approaching doom for the men around me.

The ROOT Anbu stiffens, Danzo starts glaring at me (which is scary, by the way. I'm so fuuuuuuucked), but I cannot help but to let a tense but small grin form on my lips.

"WHERE IS THE PEDOPHILE?!"

Danzo makes a single handsign, and the Anbu, from the wordless order by the council elder, disappear alongside the War Hawk in a shunshin.

The mob of women approaches me just in time to see the shunshin happens.

"THEY RAN AWAY! COWARDS!"

Some of the women hold my hands and look over my body, making sure that I am not violated in any way, cooing like the lovely older women they are.

"Aw, sweetie, are you okay?"

"Do you want some sweets?"

"They didn't hurt you did they?"

"You're fine now, sweetheart."

"How smart of you to scream~"

"We're here for you, okay?"

I grin.

All hail girl power.

And now, our actual chapter.

Warnings: Danzo Jumpscares, ORO-CHAN-SANNNNN, feels.

"My name is Shimura Danzo, and I have a proposition for you."

The very moment I see his face, I think my heart almost stopped, before it thinks otherwise and decides to do a somersault with spazzy hands instead. It's beating loudly, so much that I can even hear it beating, and I have to wonder if the ROOT Anbu are sensitive to hearing just like Kakashi or the Inuzukas and are able to know how fucking nervous I am.

They cannot blame me, because I was not—am not—expecting Shimura I'm-Loyal-to-Konoha Danzo to show up so blatantly in front of my face.

Granted, I did not expect him to order his black ops to spy and chase after me either.

That sudden sentence similar to Fury when he recruits his misfits of heroes, too.

But still.

I'm fairly certain my panic and sheer disbelief must be evident on my face, and it's not helping that Rinny is as speechless as I am, not uttering a word after the small ominous greeting Danzo gave to the both of us. I'm trembling, sweating, and oh God am I gonna get kidnapped?!

Chatting with Danzo at night with ROOT Anbu ready to do whatever kind of thing the senile old man orders them to do, in the middle of a very empty alleyway, is not my type of comfortable, safe chat.

Dear God, I can't help but pray, help me get out of this mess.

To add more effect, I send mental pleadings to the Sage of Six Paths, probably the equivalent of God in this universe. …Not that I believe in him or anything. The Sage makes bad life choices; and one of them including the brothers' dispute that started the Senju, Uzumaki, and Uchiha Clans, as well as the seemingly never ending war between them.

Back to the matter at hand, Danzo is staring at me, and I somehow manage to squeak out a response.

"Danzo-sama?"

His lips quirk up in a smile, and I have to suppress a shudder. Whatever he's pleased about, I don't wanna know. I don't wanna know!

"Yes. I am one of Sandaime Hokage's advisers," he says smoothly, an obvious power play if I have anything to say about it. Still, I have to nearly bite my tongue to prevent any biting remark about his unconvincing smile—Sarutobi Hiruzen has his grandpa smile mastered down pat, despite his sly buttcrack that managed to make me graduate early, but Danzo is like Odin trying to smile at Loki and failing miserably—instead of saying anything bad and causing mortal danger to my already short life, I give him a smile in return.

While I don't like to fake pleasantries, it is something I must do in front of this man, and something I need to get used to do; kunoichi duties and all somehow usually revolves around fake pleasantries anyway.

"It is nice to meet you, Danzo-sama," I don't bow, keeping a watchful eye on the ROOT personnel, but I nod in acknowledgement anyway.

I don't know why, but Danzo hums and his eyes glint in something like… approval.

I don't want approval from him, so it just ends up with me being creeped out instead of the usual shimmer of pride I tend to get when people praise me.

Even I get elated when Oro-chan-san praises me… But I guess my knowledge of the War Hawk makes me incredibly wary and off putted by him in general. In which, knowing what he is able to do, is one hundred percent a good thing.

"Indeed," he drawls out, "I have heard of your transfer to another jounin sensei." My fingers twitch at his mention; he can't possibly be here only to talk about Mikoto-sensei and Minato-sensei, can he? He must have, like, another agenda or something. Or this talk about my sensei is a cover up to make me relax around him… or something.

As it turns out, he does come to me simply to talk about my jounin sensei. Plural, aka both of them.

"It's such a pity," he says, sounding truly disappointed. His expressions even match it, too! And this comes from someone who thinks emotions aren't needed to be a proper shinobi. But I guess that just shows how good he really is when it comes to manipulation. "Uchiha Mikoto is an exceptional jounin, with good enough backing as well." Is that a mention to her marriage status or is it leaning more toward her sharingan? Mikoto-sensei does have the Mangekyo Sharingan, after all…

"If only you continued on with your previous sensei, you'd flourish to be an excellent kunoichi," he sounds condescending, a tone I recognize from the many ways some men had talked to me Back Then, and I can only manage a dry smile in response.

"I think so as well, Danzo-sama," I say politely, because it's the truth. I do believe that if I had continued to be Mikoto-sensei's student, I'll flourish, I'll succeed. But that doesn't mean I won't succeed under Minato-sensei's tutelage, future Sanbi dooms day or not.

That's why, before Danzo can say anything else—the prick, he obviously is aiming to bad mouth Minato-sensei—I bulldoze on with my words.

"I think I can succeed under Minato-sensei's tutelage as well."

Danzo doesn't twitch. But his chakra doesn't lie. He's startled at my sudden comment regarding Minato-sensei, even for a mere moment before his chakra becomes steady once again. Meeting my steady gaze, his eye narrows when he realizes that yes, I know what he's on about, the bastard.

"Is that so?" He lets out, challenging me. I paste a cutting smile in return.

"Yes, of course. Minato-sensei is an excellent shinobi. He's been teaching Kakashi for awhile, he's also a fuuinjutsu master."

"Oh? Do you know what fuuinjutsu entails?"

"…Minato-sensei promises to teach me."

If Danzo is any less of a dignified person he claims to be, he probably will snort at my statement.

"A promise is different from action."

I do not relent, however.

"I believe Minato-sensei will keep his promise. He is my sensei after all."

"Such faith," Danzo mutters. "Namikaze Minato may be a genius and a great jounin, but taking care of two prodigies has to cause a heavy weight on his shoulders. Do you really think he'll be able to focus on you, when he has a genius who is more accustomed to him as well as a fresh genin to juggle with?"

"I… Yes. Of course."

"He may be able to give you the instructions you need, but undivided focus from an apprenticeship is different with the focus a young jounin gives within his free time."

"What is it that you want to say exactly, Danzo-sama?" I spit out, exasperated.

"Come with me," he says so bluntly I flinch in surprise, my hands twitching to delve under my yukata sleeves for my hidden weapons. "You have potential, and under my tutelage, surely you will be able to succeed more than you can expect from Namikaze."

"…" I don't dare answer, staring at him in an incredulous silence.

He continues on. "I can teach various elemental ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, kenjutsu, even fuuinjutsu. And there will be no teammates hindering your progress."

"...With all due respect, sir," I whisper out, scared now because holy fuck, that is definitely a recruitment right there. What if I refuse? Will I be killed? Kidnapped? No, he said I have 'potential' and killing me will be a foolish act that doesn't really give him any positive outcome other than losing a rude ass little girl with 'potential'. Kidnapping me is also foolish, for I have connections even to the main Uchiha Clan.

I guess that's why he comes to me himself.

To persuade me in joining him; because the only way he can get me is if I come to him myself.

I am so glad I know what kind of bad deeds he has and will do, for the sake of himself and Konoha.

"I believe," I take in a short breath, "that Minato-sensei is able to help me succeed along with my teammates."

Silence.

"Like I said, Minato-sensei is a strong and smart jounin, I'm sure he can figure out how to handle the three of us with that brain of his."

"Even knowing that his focus will be divided, you still choose to be with him?"

"He's a loyal shinobi of Konoha, I don't see why not." After realizing how impolite that sentence is, I lamely add, "…sir."

This time, Danzo scoffs.

"I respect your decision for now, Nohara Rin, but heed my words, there will be disappointment when Namikaze cannot focus solely on you like Susanoo no Mikoto did," he says, already turning around with the ROOT Anbu flanking him. "For the off chance that you may regret joining his team, come to me." He turns to look at me with his single eye, somehow more menacing than ever.

And then—

And then,

He smiles.

…

It's not a nice smile.

"The offer will always be open for you. I will be waiting." He says that as if he knows I will come to him, the overconfident asshole.

And in a flash—that word is not appropriate for him, for Minato-sensei is the Yellow Flash. While he's just… using standard shunshin—he disappears along with his ROOT Anbu. Only then, I allow myself to relax, and with the tension gone, my knees buckle and I end up kneeling on the ground, sighing heavily.

…Are you okay? Rinny is back, poking my mind gently in concern.

Just peachy, I answer. That was scary.

No shit, Rinny sighs, though she probably smiles when I let out a breathless chuckle over her curse word. She almost never curses out loud, and I always make sure to laugh when she does curse. It just sounds adorable, so unlike me cursing aloud. I probably will just sound like a crazy hyena or like an uneducated child.

After letting the thought that holy shit, Danzo just invited me into his cult, because what else is ROOT other than a cult, an armed cult, I take a deep breath and stand on my two feet again. I take a step forward, before I pause.

Are there… Are there any ROOT shinobi around me right now? Watching me? Assessing me?

Swallowing a lump in my throat, I let my chakra reach out curiously, finding none. But that doesn't really make me relax, because even though I am a wee little bit sensitive toward chakra, I am not a great sensor. I'm not Senju Tobirama, I do not know for sure if there are simply excellent ROOT shinobi who can suppress their chakra to the point of nothingness.

All I know is that I've met Shimura Danzo, and he expressed his interest in my 'potential'.

That is enough of a warning for me.

Should I go home? To an apartment that is empty of all life except for my own?

What if there are spies there and he's watching me? It's a bit farfetched, but there is the chance, no matter how little, that he can do something to me or my apartment when I'm sleeping.

I can't believe there will come the time when I cannot feel safe in my own home. But it is happening, right now.

Maybe we should crash to someone else's house? Comes Rinny's suggestion, sounding apprehensive and all-around NOPE in regards of going to our apartment, as well. I let a small spark of hope to grow in my chest, before I pause to really think.

Whose house can I go to? I can't possibly crawl back to the Uchiha Compound… I don't want to worry Obito or his grandma, and going to Mikoto-sensei right after her wedding is just plain rude. I don't know where Minato-sensei lives…

How about Kakashi-kun's place?

Kakashi? I perk up at the idea, is he still awake at this kind of hour? I don't really wanna bother him, too… Especially after the whole his 'I hate you' incident (His voice just echoes inside of my head everytime I think about it, it drives me insane. I don't think I can really forget about it), I think I've become more careful in visiting his house and/or interacting with Sakumo.

Well… We don't have any other choices, do we? It's either Kakashi-kun or Obito.

I sigh. I guess you're right.

I don't make my way toward the Uchiha Clan Compound, mainly because I want to escape Obito's grandmother's nagging.

And probably save Obito from early heart attack because RIN-CHAN GOT ATTACKED?!

I can just imagine when he flails and all that.

Sigh. That sweet child, really.

The walk toward the Hatake Compound doesn't take long. The main reason is because of my paranoia, actually. The first few minutes, I was fine walking leisurely on my own. But then I got creeped out at the notion that there could very well be some ROOT members stalking me, that I took a fast paced run toward Kakashi's house, and proceeded to knock on his door for a few times and flaring my chakra to indicate that 'bruh, it's me!'

That's why I don't really blame Kakashi's bewildered look when he opens the door for me.

"…Rin?"

"Kakashi!" I exhale in relief, my shoulders unknowingly relaxing at the sight of my best friend. Kakashi's eyebrows furrow, and I am sure he is frowning underneath his mask (I have to suppress a small snort, because he's wearing his mask alongside white pajamas with blue paw prints. It's cute).

"What's wrong? It's already late."

"Ah, well, um," I stutter out, uncertain. Now that I am here, I don't really know how to break it to him. I got chased by Anbu and now I'm too freaked out to return to my home alone? I got chased by Anbu who are not following the Hokage's orders? I met a scary one-eyed man who probably mostlikely wants to brainwash me into one of his mindless minions?

Well.

"Can I—Can I stay here for the night?"

The thing is, while Kakashi doesn't have much tact, he knows when not to press. I don't know what he sees in me (slightly tense shoulders, fingers fiddling with each other, heartbeat too quick and breathing too fast to be anything but anxious and scared, constant fidgeting, sweating, eyes that drift toward her back occasionally, all these are noticed by Kakashi in under thirty seconds) but he doesn't demand to know of my reasoning and nods instead, stepping away to allow my entry.

(I don't see how his narrow eyes linger outside, looking for something that isn't there, before closing the door quietly.)

"Is Sakumo-san awake?" I ask him, slipping my feet into the extra slippers provided in the house.

Before Kakashi can answer, however, another voice is heard.

"I am, actually," Sakumo steps into view, his grey eyes momentarily widening when he takes notice of me, before softening. The former hero of Konoha smiles softly at me, "Are you here for a sleepover?"

"I… Can I?" I don't expect to be accepted that easily! But, but… Well, I guess as long as they genuinely allow it?

"Of course. It's a wonderful yukata, by the way."

"Oh," I look down at my purple yukata, "oh, yes! Mikoto-sensei bought it for me…"

"Come on," Kakashi speaks up, striding to the hallway, "I'll prepare a spare futon." And muttering, "Figures you forget to bring a change of clothes. Idiot."

I can't help but to let out an indignant response, embarrassed. "It's not my fault! This is not planned!"

"Then why do you come here?" He turns around, single eyebrow lifted and his hands on his hips.

I realize I just walked straight into that one.

"That's—Eh…" I look away, "it doesn't matter."

Kakashi is silent, his gaze exasperated and—worried? Is he worried… for me? About me? I blink, but before I can truly see what the emotions in his eyes are, he already turns around to walk toward his room.

And then a hand lands on my head.

Sakumo looks at me, a small smile on his lips.

"You'll be safe here."

Simple words, but it makes me flush in embarrassment anyway.

"I'm sorry for intruding," I mumble, fidgeting.

"It's okay, you're always welcome here," he pats my head. It's a nice feeling. "I'm sure Kakashi doesn't mind, too."

"Oi, Rin!" Kakashi's head sticks out for me to see, "come on, change your clothes already, I'm sleepy."

I smile, letting my inner mischievousness comes forth at the presence of the ever scowling Kakashi.

"Do you have any pink shirt?"

"Of course I don't, dumbass."

"Aw."

"I do have a purple shirt, however. But if you don't go here in three seconds, I'm giving you mesh to wear instead."

"Eh?! Nooo!"

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

His question makes me abruptly look up from my position on the futon beside his bed, eyes wide.

"Wha?"

Kakashi sighs, rolling his eyes. "Look, obviously something is wrong. You've lived alone for weeks, so you can't use the lonely excuse," he narrows his eyes at me when I open my mouth, catching my bullshit before I can spit it out. I smile guiltily at him, and the prodigy sighs once again, this time sounding tired and exasperated.

"You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"…Sorry."

Kakashi buries his face on the pillow, his back facing me, and almost all of his body covered under light blue blanket.

"Whatever," he mumbles; the epitome of a sulking child at that very moment.

I feel bad, really. Here I am, this girl who barges into his house late at night asking for a sudden sleepover, wears his shirt (the purple shirt is cute; it has a mini panda on it!) and yet doesn't tell him why the hell I even decided to come here.

But I certainly cannot tell him that I met Danzo and that I am hella afraid of that guy.

But, well—

I certainly can say it without mentioning the word Danzo, ROOT, or Anbu.

"I met a guy," I start, cheek pressed on the pillow, watching as Kakashi's shoulders tense and he turns around ever so slightly. "It's an old man."

"…An old man?" Kakashi is fully facing me now, his mask gone.

"Mm." I nod, "I was on my way back from Mikoto-sensei's wedding and…" I hesitate, licking my lips. "I thought I was being followed, so… I kinda ran."

"And…?"

"And he followed me."

Kakashi perks up. "He followed you?"

I cannot help but scoff. "More like catching up to me and cornering me in an alley."

"He what?" Kakashi barks out, sounding incredibly harsh. I am surprised, especially so when I see the flash of anger in his eyes. "This old man, he's a ninja?"

"Huh? Oh, um, yeah, I think so, I mean—he could catch up to me and I was using chakra when I ran…"

"He didn't do anything to you, did he?" He literally jumps out of his blanket cocoon and lifts the blanket covering me, ignoring my startled squeak as he busies himself in looking over my body. "You're not injured, are you?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" I push his hand away when he looks like he's ready to lift up my shirt to look for injuries, "He just wanted to talk!"

Kakashi balks, disbelieving. "Talk?! Rin, you said he followed you and cornered you, he couldn't possibly just want to talk."

I grimace. "Yeah, well, he really just talked." I nod at his skeptical look. "Really."

"About what?"

"About my team. Our team," I murmur, before quickly correcting myself when I see his face falls, the young boy obviously coming on a wrong conclusion, "No, no! Whatever you're thinking, that's not it. He didn't like that I ended up with Minato-sensei, okay? He kept on going on and on about how Minato-sensei is still… inexperienced and—and many other insults."

Kakashi frowns. "He doesn't like Minato-sensei?"

"…I don't think so. But that's—that's all."

"…That's all?"

"That's all," I smile at him. "Really."

He doesn't look convinced.

(He is not convinced.)

"When you extract poison, you have to make sure it doesn't get anywhere close to the heart," Kishimoto-sensei instructs, expertly extracting poison with me watching closely next to him. The poisoned shinobi is a bit dumbfounded, probably because he doesn't expect his accidental poisoning (this is why shinobi shouldn't spar with poison coated kunai, damn it) to end up as a studying session. He certainly looks at me as if I'm a strange specimen... Probably because of my age. But I try my best not to focus on him and on Kishimoto-sensei instead.

"It'll be better if you can avoid other organs as well, but if organs have been affected by the poison, you have to extract all the poison first before you fix the organ problem," his hands move, black disgusting goop I am sure is the poison following his green chakra. "Take the poison out of the pores, check for organ failures, fix if there's any, and close the wound."

I nod, making Kishimoto-sensei smile. "Well, we'll try it hands on sometime later. But I think that's all for today."

"More surgery, sensei?"

Kishimoto-sensei sighs dramatically, nodding. "Yeah, these damn ninja don't know how to prevent themselves from getting skewered."

"I take offense from that," the shinobi Kishimoto-sensei was taking care of drawls lazily.

"Says the one who got skewered by poisoned kunai in the middle of the village," the medic nin replies as easily.

"Hey," comes the indignant weak reply.

I can only giggle.

"Oro-chan-saaaaaaaan!" I slam on Orochimaru's back, the Snake Sannin having tensed when I started the first syllable and tensing up even further when I circle my arms around his waist. Sue me, after spending time with Orochimaru in weeks (months, even) and meeting up with scary guy Danzo, his androgynous appearance is nothing.

Sure, I'm still worried about his experiments and will still tread carefully around that topic but hey, Orochimaru hasn't killed me yet.

And he certainly doesn't kill me now either.

"Nohara," Orochimaru sounds resigned, staring over his shoulder to look at me properly in the eyes. "What are you doing?"

"It's nice to meet you too, Oro-chan-san!" I say brightly, noting that his left eye actually twitches at that name! Huh, Kakashi is really observant. "Today is a good day."

"It's cloudy outside," he mutters, striding forward to his lab on the upper floors without any trouble despite me still clinging on his waist. I walk, too, to avoid Orochimaru dragging me with his two pale feet.

"That doesn't matter," I wave his comment off, catching a whiff of his cloth perfume—grass and ebony—before finally letting him go to walk beside him. It's gotta be awkward, after all, dragging a clinging little girl to a lab full of corpses. Besides, it's gotta be annoying, too. And I don't want to annoy Orochimaru (much). "I like rain!"

"Did you, now," he says dryly, but he still acknowledges me, so that's a plus!

"Yep," I nod sagely, "it's just refreshing. The cold is nice. As long as I don't get drenched, I absolutely love rain. Though I don't mind getting wet once in awhile."

Orochimaru scoffs, at the same time as when I realize the unintentional innuendo I just said. Whoops?

"You're following me, did Kishimoto ditch you again?"

He says that as if I'm dating Kishimoto-sensei.

"Mm, he has surgery to do."

"And he didn't invite you."

"Well, it's an emergency, I think…"

He scoffs, again. "You're going to deal with emergencies when you get deployed to the field, child. Most of them concerning your own teammates. I don't get what Kishimoto is thinking, but you need the experience. You have to familiarize yourself in actual practice, not leisurely opening and closing up corpses."

I blink at him, not expecting him to deliberately point out Kishimoto-sensei's faults like that. Though I let myself to grin slyly, looking up at him in concealed wonder. He doesn't look like the half crazed Orochimaru in the series, certainly.

"Aw, are you worried about me, Oro-chan-san?"

Orochimaru rolls his eyes.

"Don't think too high of yourself. I am tired of seeing you poking on the organs you plucked out."

"But they're wobbly! Like jelly! It's fascinating!"

"They're organs, and it's supposed to be a simulation and you're supposed to treat it like an actual living person. Are you going to poke your teammate's organs with your finger?"

I pout. "But those are corpses' organs."

"Do you not understand the meaning of simulation?"

"Of course I do!" A pause. "It was cute how they would wobble, though."

Orochimaru sighs.

"Oh, oh, I learnt poison extracting today!"

"Did you, now."

"Yeah! The black goop is disgusting. I haven't really tried it out, though. How do you make sure they don't damage other organs and get them out without damaging the pores?"

Orochimaru stops walking. His eyes are wide, as if realizing something. "Kishimoto didn't order you to try it out?"

"Um. No?"

"…That asshole," Orochimaru murmurs, surprising me because wow, he just cursed! "He thinks he's sneaky."

"…?"

Orochimaru continues to murmur, some killing intent leaking out of him, enough to make me step back.

"Um, Oro-chan-san…?"

The killing intent stops, allowing me to relax. Orochimaru is staring at me, I realize, with an unreadable expression on his face. For awhile, we simply stare at each other, before Orochimaru is back to walking toward his lab.

"Come, Nohara."

"Huh?"

"You're going to extract poison."

"Eh?! Really?! You're the best, Oro-chan-san!"

Orochimaru looks long suffering, but mostly resigned.

"Wh—What did you think you were doing?!" I can't help but exclaim, staring at his pale hands scarred by a thin cut courtesy of a kunai dipped in a bowl of purple liquid. "That's poisoned, isn't it!"

Orochimaru simply raises his eyebrow at my apprehension, however, drawling out, "I did say you're going to extract poison, didn't I?"

"You didn't say you were going to poison yourself! That's dangerous!"

"I have injected myself with this poison weeks ago," he ignores my indignant 'what?!' and rolls his eyes, "I am partly immune to it right now," he also ignores my voice pointing out 'partly!', continuing on as if I didn't speak at all. "It barely fazes me. Now, extract the poison."

"You should've said so," I mumble, pouting even as I let my hands hover over his hand to do a quick assessment.

"Just extract the poison, child," he chides me, swatting my head with no remorse whatsoever, "think of it as a good will of depriving me of any side effects."

"Wait, what side effects?!"

"Nausea. Headache. The urge to swat your head."

I give him The Look. He rolls his eyes.

"I thought you were smart, Oro-chan-san."

He raises his eyebrow. Right. Snake Sannin, Strongest from Konoha, Genius, Super Smart, yadda, yadda.

"Poisoning yourself to let a genin try to extract the poison isn't exactly smart."

"Are you saying you cannot do this?"

"I didn't mean that! I just— …You didn't have to do this, you know?" I mumble as I start to redirect the poison I managed to find away from his torso. Away from the heart, away from the heart…

"Building up tolerance for poisons is a good thing to do, especially when you're a medic."

"You're not a medic," I mutter, "not really, anyway."

"…It was advised by Tsunade."

I look at him, then, surprised that he'd actually mention his teammate. The teammate who is God knows how many miles away from Konoha right about now. His eyes are far away, as if he's reminiscing something so wistful, largely similar to how one will reminisce about a dead person.

With Tsunade's continued absence, it may very well be.

I look back to his arm, having redirected the poison that way.

"Should I build up tolerance against poisons, too, then?"

"There are steps to do so," is his quick reply, "I assume you will follow through the steps I tell you without trying to skip any of it?"

I manage a small grin. "Of course, Oro-chan-san. Anything for you."

His lips twitch into a quick smile.

It starts out smoothly, you know? Very smoothly, in fact.

After the arm, Orochimaru deemed it wasn't enough of training and proceeded to inflict poison upon himself for three more times, giving me three consecutive heart attacks. Of course, he simply rolled his eyes at me and demanded I do my work quicker than the last time.

He threatened to forgo my usual spicy food dinner date with him if I didn't get quicker after each round.

I couldn't have that, obviously. I love spicy food and Orochimaru knows a whole lot of restaurants that sell delicious spicy foods. So with vigor, I tried to do it quickly and efficiently.

The last round had me extracting the poison in 3 minutes, a few seconds quicker than the one before it, and Orochimaru had the gall to smirk at me while I glared daggers at him.

Then he proceeded to tell me how to build up tolerance against poison.

He even gave me a weak poison to start out!

Aw, how nice of him.

Unless he lied and it is actually a strong poison instead and I end up dead, like, tomorrow.

Still, benefit of doubt, all for you, Oro-chan-san.

Rinny giggles inside of my mind.

It is when he cleans up the remnants of our latest poison escapades, with me obediently helping him out, that Danzo decides to show up.

I recognize his chakra, and when the chakra stops right outside the door of Orochimaru's lab, my body tenses on its own, and I stare wide eyed at the closed door, ignoring Orochimaru's inquiring look he sends me.

Certainly, Orochimaru also recognizes the person standing outside of the door.

Then, Danzo comes in.

He doesn't even knock.

The guy just… opens the door and walks in.

Danzo's eye settles upon my figure, "Nohara," he says, as if he doesn't know that I'm here already. I didn't hide my chakra, so it isn't so far fetched that the War Hawk knows I am here.

"Danzo-sama," I manage to say.

It is silent between us for awhile, none of the three of us speaking to each other.

Until finally, Danzo himself breaks the silence.

"As much as it is a pleasure to see you are so dedicated that you gain a Sannin as your teacher," I stiffen at that, eyes darting toward Orochimaru who is frowning at Danzo, "I have to talk with your sensei."

I look back to Danzo, noting his narrowing eyes.

"In private."

I can recognize the warning from Danzo, the implied threat, the 'or else' left unsaid after those words he drawls out. But I can't help but glance at Orochimaru, a bit startled to find him looking at me.

"…Orochimaru-sama?" I say, mostly because I want to put off calling Orochimaru 'Oro-chan-san' in front of Danzo. Orochimaru raises his eyebrow at me, however, no doubt questioning the sudden change in honorifics.

I can't help but to babble.

"It's not—I mean—I—I'm just…"

My words are cut off abruptly as Orochimaru's hand lands on my head.

His hand is cold, as always, but the single pat is gentle and comforting, his whole pale white hand the size of my skul.

He turns my head and stirs me toward the door.

"Go."

"…Oro…?"

He cuts me off. "Leave."

I keep silent, watching as Orochimaru's eyes narrow.

"Get out."

He hisses at me.

It's a warning.

An order to obey.

"Go home, Nohara."

I comply.

Danzo meets Orochimaru.

Danzo is meeting Orochimaru.

Holy shit, Danzo is meeting with Orochimaru in his lab, talking about God-knows-what!

If before, Orochimaru may not dabble in the whole human experimentation thing, this very well may be the start of it. From Danzo's offer, to Orochimaru's eventual continuous dabble in human experimentation as well as the downfall of his already grey morals.

I can't help the fear surfacing inside of me; the panic and fear and no non no n ono no no—

And it was going so well, too.

( It's only later when I realize that I was not scared of Danzo,

Unlike that night in the alley, at the lab I was not afraid of Danzo.

I was afraid for Orochimaru.

For Oro-chan-san.

My friend. )

Woooo, this chapter is basically Danzo, ORO-CHAN-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN, some Kishimoto-sensei, more Danzo, and some sweet Bakakashi.

Danzo Jumpscares should be a thing.

Also, Orochimaru realizes that Kishimoto is deliberately not having Rin practice just so he can pit the responsibility on Orochimaru's shoulders. His angry mutterings consist of threats of murder, poisoning and dismembering of one Kishimoto Masashi.

Happy Chinese New Year, everybody! Next chapter will be out in, like, a month!

For those who haven't checked, I have updated OSOI, it's a Mikoto special!

On another note, I have created a tumblr blog, natanije! Follow me if you want?

Preview:

"Can I do an ugly face for the team photo, Minato-sensei?"

"Ah, well, that's..."

"Ugly face competition!"

Erasing Impossibility 15: Full Team

"You are my sunshine… My only sunshine…"

….

"It certainly does sound better when you're the one singing it… Rin."

Other Side of Impossibility 9: BAD END II – OROCHIMARU (ANGST FEEEEST!)

Review please!