Chapter 14:
Stages, Wages, and Snakes
I woke up, my brain pounding against my skull. I groaned and sat up looking around the room. Nobody was here, but Naruto and Jiraiya's bags were packed neatly and sitting on the floor by the door. I groaned and grabbed the remaining bag that was Jiraiya's, but I carried it, and packed my bed and stuff. Afterwords I sat in the room, rubbing my head. My left hand twitched involuntarily, so I knew I was still feeling after effects from this jutsu, but I felt thousands of times better.
I glared out the window at the sun, and judging from it's height in the sky it was somewhere around 7 or 8 in the morning. I rubbed my head, and suddenly realized that I wasn't wearing my headband. I blinked, before looking around the room desperately for it. I grabbed Naruto's bag, unzipped it, and dumped it on to the floor. His frog wallet flopped out, along with our stuffed animals and ANBU masks and extra clothes and whatnot. But, no headband. I moaned and did the same to Jiraiya's bag, but the stuff in there were pretty much unmentionable. I'll just say my headband wasn't in there, shall we?
I growled in annoyance and slammed my fist in to the floor. A few minutes later Jiraiya and Naruto ran in to the room, bags in their hands. Naruto's eyes widened in shock when he saw the stuff that had been in Jiraiya's bag. Jiraiya put the bags down before stuffing his stuff back in to his bag. A second later Naruto did the same, and then both looked at me.
"What happened?" Jiraiya asked, and I growled in anger.
"My headband is gone!" I shouted.
Jiraiya laughed suddenly, before pulling it out of his pocket and tossing it at me. "I didn't want it to get lost so I put it in my pocket."
I growled and tied my headband on, before looking at the bags as the smell of ramen lifted to my nose. I blinked and pointed at it. "Is that-is that pork miso?" I asked, Naruto laughed and nodded, pulling out our breakfast. While we ate I found out I'd been asleep for two full days, and in that time Naruto had gotten passed the second stage too. I smirked, so we were on to the third stage together now, huh?
Once we finished eating Jiraiya took us to the edge of the town. I looked back, the streets now barren because the festival was long since over.
"All right, let's go!" Jiraiya shouted, pointing down the road.
"Quit acting like a little kid. Let's go puleez." Naruto grumbled.
"What? You're in a foul mood." Jiraiya huffed.
"Well! Why not? We're in the middle of training! Yous aid there were three stages to this jutsu right? We've only gotten through two of them so far!" Naruto retorted hotly.
"Ah hah hah. Well, you can practice the third state even while we're walking." Jiraiya informed us.
"Really?" I asked, yawning from waking up somewhat early. Jiraiya pulled two balloons up, and filled them up with air before smacking one over to each of us.
"What's with the balloon?" Naruto asked, being the idiot that he is while Jiraiya blew his own balloon.
"The first state was rotation, the second state was power. And now this is the third state!" He exclaimed, holding his hand up with it. We both stared at the balloon... but after a minute of constant staring nothing happened.
"Wait, are we supposed to be seeing something?" I asked feeling stupid.
"Well, on first glance it may look like I'm just holding the balloon in my hand, but let me show you with my left hand what's really going on." He held his left hand up. "So what's happening on the inside of the balloon, you ask?" Suddenly chakra began spiraling in the middle of his hand, and grew until it was a full sphere. I blinked and my eyes widened in shock.
"I-it looks like a mini cyclone!" I exclaimed in awe. So that's what we were learning! Holy COW! That was freaking awesome!
"So you see, in the third state you put out everything you've learned so far full force and then...
"Contain it." He informed us. "In short, while you maximize your chakra's rotation and power, you form an additional layer on the inside of the balloon, and visualize compressing the chakra within." I stared at the cyclone in awe, until Jiraiya dispelled it and tossed the balloon up and down.
"So why do we need to learn how to do that?" Naruto asked, and I literally smacked my forehead protector, but Jiraiya decided to explain further.
"Well, watch closely. Up until the second state this is what you can do." He said as he turned and faced a tree. A mini tornado looking thing of chakra formed in his palm until he slammed it in to the tree. I looked over his shoulder, and saw a long spiral circle looking thing. I blinked, before Jiraiya turned to look back at us. "Now, if you master the third state..." He formed the mini cyclone sphere in his hand, and slammed it in to the tree. He backed away, and I stared in awe at the crater looking thing in the tree.
"If you can keep this mini cyclone in your palm, it will stay together, rotations will speed up, the power will compress, and it will be that much more ultimately destructive!" Jiraiya exclaimed. I sighed and looked at the balloon in my hand. I watched as Naruto tried his hand at it, but ultimately it ended with him making it pop and explode. This might be easy for me. I do, after all, have good control over my chakra.
I stared at the balloon in my hand, and concentrated. When I felt the darkness running through my veins I streamed it in to the balloon but gritted my teeth and forced it to stay away from the edges. I closed my eyes and could literally feel it spiraling around in a circle. I groaned and focused, containing it from the edges but managing to keep it in a sphere. Finally, I felt my chakra slipping away and it disappeared. I opened my eyes, and smiled when I saw that the balloon was still in tact. I looked up at Jiraiya, hope burning in my eyes and he smirked, and nodded.
"The balloon didn't even move an inch." I yelled in excitement and threw the balloon in to the air, leaping up in excitement. "However, you're far from done. You don't have to use a balloon anymore, but try to contain and keep it going longer." I nodded, a smile still splitting my features in half. I glanced at Naruto, who was staring at the balloon miserably, and I felt a bit bad for him. I shook my head quickly. You learn through trial and error right? And why did I even care about this kid? All he was was an annoying brat to me.
Jiraiya, Naruto, and I than walked on down the road, on our way to wherever. It didn't take long, just a lot of Naruto messing up and popping the balloon tons of times. A few hours later we arrived outside of a town called Tanzaku Town. I stared at the sign, wondering why we were here. Naruto yelped as he popped another balloon, this time falling over on to the ground. I sniggered until I caught Jiraiya mumble under his breath.
"Tsunade's impatient and short-tempered..." He muttered to no one in particular.
"Who's Tsunade?" I asked. Jiraiya looked at me in confusion, before realization dawned across his face.
"Right, I never told you. Naruto and I were looking for Tsunade, the last legendary senin in the group. She should be here." He informed me, looking back towards the town. I shrugged, now understanding, and followed Jiraiya as we made our way in to town.
Our first stop was at a gambling house, where Jiraiya immediately went to the owner and started asking questions. Meanwhile Naruto and I stood by the entrance, him once again messing with a new balloon. A nearby man at a gambling spot smirked at him.
"Hey, kid. If you add the pips on the dice and get an even number, that's cho. If you get an odd number, that's han." He informed Naruto, tossing a few dice up and down.
"Can't you see I'm busy here? Leave me alone!" Naruto growled. I narrowed my eyes at the man, before mentally calculating how much money I had. Enough to gamble a few rounds maybe. I smirked and sat down on the mat across from the man.
"I'll play."
"A little lady like you? I'm not sure-" He stopped talking as I held 500 Ryo up in my hand. Not much, but decent enough for the first round. The man nodded, before rolling two dice and before they could stop slammed a little cup thing over them. He then motioned to me.
"Cho? Or han?" I narrowed my eyes at the cup, and shrugged.
"Han." The man lifted the cup off and smirked, revealing two dice who's numbers added up to four. I growled and threw my money at the man before pulling out 500 more Ryo."Let's go again." The man nodded and repeated the process, and I guessed Han again. But, again it was Cho. I groaned and decided to play one more time, but if I won I wanted to be able to win some money. I pulled out 2,000 Ryo, and nodded at the man again. He smirked and repeated the process, and I stared at the cup. Suddenly Naruto's balloon popped again, and the man fell back. Quickly I opened the cup up slightly, saw that the numbers were even, sat the cup down, and then returned to my normal, thoughtful position.
"Han." I answered again. The man snickered and opened the cup, before seeing that the numbers were in fact odd this time. I smirked and held my hand out, receiving my extra 2,000 Ryo. "Thank you." I said, pocketing my money, and then turning around as Jiraiya finished talking to the man, and we then left. We went further in to town, stopping at yet another gambling place. Jiraiya talked to the manager, while Naruto inspected some of the machines. I watched as he found one stray coin, and watched as he continued on and on. Eventually, he had so much money that he couldn't even fit all of it into his wallet, so he had to dump some in to his bag. We left again, since Jiraiya couldn't find Tsunade there either.
"Well, I guess we'll have to do this the old fashioned way." Jiraiya sighed, pulling out a telescope looking thing from his shirt. "C'mon, guys." Naruto and I nodded, trailing after him. We walked through the town, until we arrived to some sort of castle ruins place. I narrowed my eyes at them, but shrugged. We leaped on top of a set of walls, before a man came scurrying down the road.
"Ho! Stranger! Hold on just a minute! What went on down there?" Jiraiya called down. The man stopped and stared at us, fear tearing through his eyes.
"You all ought to run too! There are monsters down there!"
"Monsters?" Naruto muttered.
"What do you mean? What sort of monsters?" Jiraiya called down.
"A-a giant snake! It destroyed the castle in an instant!" My head snapped up, and I realized that these castle ruins were new... they hadn't just happened. And then my eyes widened in surprise, and sudden determination. A giant snake? The only person I'd ever seen use snakes was Orochimaru. I growled and leaped to the next wall, deciding that Jiraiya and Naruto could follow if they wanted to. If not, I'd catch up to them later.
I ran straight for the castle ruins, hoping that I'd get there before Orochimaru. However, I landed on the last wall that wasn't in ruins in vain. Orochimaru wasn't there. I growled and slammed my fist in to the top of the wall, causing shingles to crack and slide to the ground. I glared at the huge hole in the last wall, wondering if that was the way Orochimaru had gone. I took a step forward, but Jiraiya's hand clasped on to my shoulder, holding me back.
"C'mon, guys. Tsunade obviously isn't here. Let's go get some food." I glared at the hole again, before snarling and turning away, reluctantly following Naruto and Jiraiya. I hadn't even thought, at that moment, to try and sniff their scents out.
We went back in to town, and Jiraiya decided to stop at some bar type of place. Naruto started complaining but all I could think about was that filthy snake Orochimaru slithering about like the snake that he is. Meanwhile, I'm being dragged in to a bar with a blonde idiot and white headed perv. Fuuuuun. We walked in, and I smacked straight in to Jiraiya's back as he suddenly stopped.
"Dude! Move on ahead! Or are we going to be eating standing up?" I growled as I walked around him and stood beside Naruto. I then realized he was staring at some lady who looked like she was in her mid twenties... early thirties maybe.
"Tsunade!" Jiraiya boomed.
"Jiraiya?" The lady asked, and I noticed another lady sat beside her. Tsunade had blonde hair, the ends at the back tied in to pig tails. She wore black pants and a gray top with a blue sash around her stomach. The other lady wore a black cloak and had black hair.
"I've finally found you." Jiraiya sighed in relief. I narrowed my eyes at Tsunade. She was really the same age as Jiraiya and Orochimaru? Daaaamn, they really let themselves go, huh? Jiraiya led us over to their table, where we all crammed in to the one side of the booth. I sat at the farthest end to the exit, Naruto in the middle and Jiraiya on the other end.
"Been seeing a lot of familiar faces today." Tsunade muttered, and I could tell she was either drunk or close to it. I rolled my eyes as the waiter brought us our food, and I began hogging down my ramen, but was definitely listening to the conversation.
"Orochimaru right?" I clenched my free hand in to a fist, and saw out of the corner of my eye that Tsunade's eyes flashed to it briefly, then looked back at Jiraiya. "So what's up?"
Tsunade considered the question for a minute, and glared at her fellow friend or whoever as the lady looked at then shrugged. "Nuthin' really, just wanted to say hi I guess." I bit my lip after I swallowed my mouthful of ramen. Orochimaru, find somebody just to say hi? Fat chance. I knew that and I barely knew the guy! "So what's up with you? Whaddya want from me?"
I shoved some more ramen in to my mouth, as Jiraiya sat his cup down and sighed. "I'll lay it straight. Tsunade, the village requests you accept the title of Fifth Hokage." I coughed loudly, ramen noodles getting caught in my throat. Naruto did the same, though with his fish. I slammed my fist on to my chest, finally swallowing my noodles. I looked at Naruto as he continued coughing and hacking, thumping my fist on to his back until he finally swallowed it. I then looked back at the two senin, though neither of them seemed to care.
"Did you hear about the Third Hokage?" Jiraiya continued.
"Orochimaru did him in right? I heard straight from the snake's mouth, as it were." Tsunade answered, and this time I clenched both of my hands in to fists on the table. I decided I was done eating for the night, dropping my chopsticks on the table, leaned back, and crossed my arms over my chest.
"Orochimaru! He killed the Hokage!" Naruto shouted, and I rolled my eyes. I was about to answer, until Naruto asked another question. "Who the heck's Orochimaru?" I smacked the back of his head. He hissed and looked at me, wondering why I'd done that.
"Orochimaru's the third senin, idiot. Traitor to Konoha and mass murderer of many." I answered.
"Jiraiya, who are these brats?" Tsunade asked suddenly. I blinked and glared at her. Brat? Ok, Naruto maybe but me? Oh no she didn't! I instantly hated this chick.
"This is Naruto Uzumaki." Jiraiya smirked. "And that's Koinu Hashitaki." Tsunade looked at Naruto and then me, seemingly uninterested. She stared either in to or at my eyes for a few seconds longer than normal, and I just glared.
"Why her for Hokage!" Naruto shouted, and I slammed my fist in to his shoulder yelling 'Shut up!' as I did so.
"Well, Tsunade?" Jiraiya continued.
"Sorry, no thanks!" Tsunade sighed. I blinked and stared at her incredulously. She... she really didn't take the position of Hokage?
"That line, brings back memories. I remember you used it once before when I asked you to go out with me." Jiraiya laughed.
"So what was all that about in the beginning about some research, huh? What the heck's going on!" Naruto shouted. "You know why, I don't care! We're going to drag her back with us to the village and have her fix Sasuke and Master Kakashi, right! Where did this Hokage thing come from? And worse, she turned it down!" Naruto shouted, getting to his feet and jabbing his finger at Tsunade.
"Calm down. She's the only possible choice for Fifth Hokage. Not only did she contribute greatly towards Konoha's victory during the turbulent era of The Great War, but there are still none who can stand shoulder to shoulder with her in regards to battle or medical , Tsunade is the granddaughter of the first Hokage, so she is a Konoha Shinobi of a most worthy blood." I snorted.
"So just because she's related to the First Hokage automatically makes her a worthy ninja?" I growled, but Jiraiya continued, ignoring me.
"If she would just agree to become Hokage, we can go home. And then, like you said we can have her take a look at Sasuke and Kakashi. This is the decision of Konoha's highest-ranking will, the counselors. So the opinions of two junior ninja don't really count." Naruto humphed, and sat back down, and I just rolled my eyes.
"Heh, Jiraiya. Unlike your last disciple, this kid's got a worse mouth, brains, and even mug." She said, and I knew she talked about Naruto. Jiraiya was NOT my master or whatever. He asked me to come anyway, for reasons I don't know myself.
"WHAT!" Naruto shouted.
"Aw, come on. Everybody pales in comparison to the Fourth Hokage." My eyes widened a fraction. The Fourth Hokage... had been this guy's pupil? "As a shinobi, his capacity was unparalleled, a true one-of-a-kind. He was overflowing with talent for jutsu and intelligence, he was socially popular, and well... quite the looker, just like me." Jiraiya said, as modest as ever.
"But even with all that going for him, he died prematurely." Tsunade piped in, downing the mood. "Sacrificing his life for the village." I glared at her, as did Naruto. "Life isn't like money, to risk and throw it away so easily is a fool's errand." She looked up at me and Naruto, smirking. "They say both my grandfather and the second Hokage wanted an end to hostilities more than anything. And yet in the end, they died in vain for the village, while still in the midst of pursuing their dreams."
"You've changed, Tsunade. I don't know if these thoughts had been running through your head the whole time, but to actually be voicing them." iraiya sighed.
"Well, I am in my fifties you know. Time changes people." She took a sip of her drink, before setting it back down. "Same with Master Sarutobi. If a teetering geezer tries to act youthful of course he's going to croak!" And I saw that this hit a chord with Jiraiya. I guess the Third Hokage, being his sensei and all, had been real close to him.
"The title of Hokage's a joke. Only a fool would take it." I snarled, but before I could do anything Naruto leaped from his seat, flipping over his remaining food, and tried to start something with Tsunade. However, Jiraiya caught the back of his jacket before he could. Naruto's feet slammed on to the table, and he growled in annoyance.
"Hey! Let me go!" Naruto shouted.
"Get down. This is a pub." Jiraiya growled.
"I ain't gonna just stand here and let you insult the old man or the Fourth Hokage! I don't care that you are a lady! I'll slug you with all I've got!" Naruto roared, smacking his fist in to his right palm. I watched as Tsunade stood up, face to face with Naruto.
"You've got guts, I'll give you that to say it to my face. Come on outside with me, brat." Tsunade smirked. So all five of us clambered out in to the deserted street of the night. Naruto stood across from Tsunade, while Jiraiya and I sat off to the side a bit with that other lady. I sat crouched, ready to jump in if I needed to. I wanted a piece of action at this lady too.
"Despite how I might look, I was once counted as a senin. I don't need my full strength against a Genin." She smirked and held up her right index finger. "One finger'll be enough." Naruto pulled out a kunai, and then two shuriken and threw the shuriken as he ran forward.
"Give me a break!" He shouted. He lunged forward with his kunai, but Tsunade ducked under, and somehow took the kunai from him with on finger. She threw it up, clipping Naruto right underneath his headband and sending the knife and headband flying in to the air. Naruto's head jerked back, and he looked forward, only to be flicked in the middle of his forehead. He flew back a good deal, and as he stood up the kunai sank in to the ground less than a foot from him, his headband falling on to the ground a few feet away.
"Hey, kid! I've just got one question for you before you pass out! Why are you so sensitive about the title Hokage?" Tsunade called, and Naruto smirked as he stood up.
"'Cuz unlike you, I want that title someday. To be Hokage is my dream!" Naruto answered.
I watched as Naruto closed his eyes as he held his right hand out in front of him. Suddenly, I smirked as I watched him make an at least decent form of the jutsu we were learning. Tsunade blinked, looking genuinely surprised.
"What? This jutsu's!"
"Take this!" Naruto shouted, before lunging at Tsunade with the sphere. Tsunade blinked, before raising her right arm up, and then bringing her finger down on to the ground in front of her. Suddenly a fissure like thing spread from the spot and under Naruto. Naruto yelped in surprise, the sphere slamming in to the ground in front of Tsunade. Naruto fell in between the cracks in the ground, before slowly pulling and pushing himself out. Tsunade looked completely smug standing there! I gritted my teeth, and glared at her.
As if sensing my glare, Tsunade looked at me, and smirked. "Would you like your own turn to tell me about how you want to become Hokage too?" She asked, as if I were some little kid. I snarled warningly, and both Naruto and Jiraiya flinched. I hadn't snarled like that in a while. Not even since I'd met Naruto. I cracked my neck and stood up, my fists clenched tightly.
"Nah, that's not my first and foremost goal." I smirked.
"Well, what is?" She asked, like she was trying to entertain me, and I chuckled.
"I'm gonna be the one to kill Orochimaru." I answered, and Tsunade busted out laughing.
"You can't kill Orochimaru! You're just a Genin! A little kid who can't even protect herself from another enemy!"Tsunade laughed.
I snarled and shot my right hand in front of me, my palm facing her. A beam of my dark chakra shot out at her, but like I expected she dodged it easily. I ran forward, clenching my hand to cut the chakra off. She ran to meet me, but I ducked away as she jabbed her finger at me. I rolled to the right as she brought her arm down, dodging just in time. I channeled fire chakra on to my hand, and went to backhand the back of her neck, but she spun around and jabbed her finger into the nerve right under the inside of my elbow. I hissed as my chakra disappeared. Tsunade smirked and brought her finger up, hooking it underneath my headband and yanking it off. I watched as she tried to flick my forehead, but quickly ducked before she could. I leaped back, and quickly made five shadow clones. The five of them all ran forward, and began distracting Tsunade. I took a deep breath and began focusing, making sure to keep my eye on Tsunade though. My headband clanged on to the ground by Tsunade's foot. I growled and forced my dark chakra in to my palm, smirking slightly when I saw the sphere form. However, because of my chakra it was pitch black. I growled and focused on keeping it going. I roared as I ran forward, towards Tsunade. She had already dispelled four of my clones, and finished my fifth off with breaking a sweat. All the while using one finger. She looked at me and shook her head when she saw that I was trying to use the same jutsu, though I think she was a bit surprised that it was black. Tsunade brought her arm up and went to slam her finger down on either my head, my hand as I lunged forward, or the ground. Either way, I was smart enough to leap in to the air as she brought her arm down. I snarled and went to slam the sphere in to her shoulder, but she spun out of the way. From that point, I couldn't stop myself. My eyes widened before the sphere slammed in to the ground, creating a decent crater (though not like the one Jiraiya had created in the tree). My head slammed on the ground and I groaned, rolling over on to my back and standing up.
"Do you believe me yet, kid?" She asked, looking as smug as usual.
I snarled, and without thinking I felt my nails and teeth sharpen. I knew my pupils dilated as dark chakra surrounded me. I growled threateningly, dropping down to all fours. I could feel the instinct to kill coursing through my veins, and too little too late I realized I was letting Garou slip through. I stopped him just before I shifted in to a wolf, but I could hear Tsunade's heart beating evenly, though her breath hitched slightly in surprise. I roared angrily, before darting at her with inhuman speed. I appeared behind her and went to slam my fist in to her back, but she ducked under my fist. She turned around to face me, and before I could even react she did exactly what she'd done to Naruto, flicking me square in my forehead. I flew back and slammed in to the ground, before shaking my head and getting up, caging Garou back, though my nails and teeth were still sharpened.
I watched as Tsunade lifted her foot and then slammed it down on top of my headband. I narrowed my eyes in question.
"Jiraiya! Where you the one who taught these kids the Rasengan?" Tsunade asked, turning to face Jiraiya. I growled and caged Garou firmly, sitting down and glaring at Tsunade.
"I am their mentor, you know. At least at present." Jiraiya answered. Tsunade humphed.
"The only ones who can manage that jutsu are you and the Fourth. Playing mighty mentor by teaching them jutsu that they have no hope of mastering? That's cruel." Tsunade laughed. "That's how dreamy-eyed brats get started on the whole 'I'm going to become Hokage' farce!" Naruto flinched slightly. "Or the whole 'I'm going to kill a Level A criminal as a Genin!" I rolled my eyes at Tsunade.
"It's not a farce! Shut up!" Naruto shouted. "Give me three days and I'll master this jutsu for you!" He shouted.
"And I will kill Orochimaru! Just watch!" I added, standing up. Maybe I was spending too much time with Naruto. I was starting to act like him!
"Feh. Nice words, brats. But ninja don't break their words, you know!" Tsunade snickered.
"Heh! I never go back on my word! What's my shinobi way." Naruto retorted, smirking. Tsunade raised an eyebrow and looked at me, and I glared back at her, and she smirked.
"Then let's make a wager. I'll give you both a week to master this jutsu. If you manage it in that time, I'll acknowledge that you're worthy of becoming Hokage. Or that you can kill Orochimaru. And I'll give you this necklace, Naruto. But if you can't, then I get your money." She pulled out Naruto's wallet. "And as for you, I'll give you your headband back. Until then, it's mine."
I snarled and ran forward. No way was she taking my headband! I'd earned that thing! I pulled my arm back, meaning to hit her, but her leg shot out and slammed in to my stomach. I coughed, blood spurting out of my mouth. I flew back and slammed in to the wall of one of the stores in the street, and fell to the ground. I caught myself, and glared at Tsunade.
"No way. Give me my headband back." I snarled.
Tsunade smirked, bending over and picking it up. She slid it in to her pocket, and looked at me, daring me to do something. I growled and clenched my fists tightly, but Tsunade just turned around and started walking away.
"Wait, Tsunade, won't you come drinking with me a bit longer?" Jiraiya asked suddenly. "For old time's sake? Shizune, could you take Naruto and Koinu and go look for a night's lodging?" I spat a small mouthful of blood on to the ground beside me and stood up.
"I'm going to go train." I said over my shoulder, leaving before anybody could protest. I glanced over my shoulder, and saw Tsunade smirking and looking at me out of the corner of her eye. I rolled my eyes and looked forward, leaving the town and trying to find a suitable spot to train.
I eventually came to a cliff, dead trees littering the ground on the bottom of the cliff, with live trees on top. I climbed the cliff quickly and swiftly, and focused on containing my Rasengan. I trained and trained for hours, trying to figure this thing out. I grunted as finally, the afternoon of the next day, I fell to my knees and then to the ground. My fingers were numb. I had already exhausted my chakra, and though I was regaining it slowly, it was like agitating a wound to be training so fiercely. I groaned as I succumbed to the darkness.
When I woke up, it was in the middle of the night. I looked at the moon and groaned, Garou scratching and fighting more than ever to get out of me. I pushed him back and then continued training right away. I trained through the rest of the night. The morning. The afternoon, and then forced myself to keep going to the next night. Eventually, I doubled over on to the ground, groaning and moaning. Garou was feistier than ever. I heard a twig snap from behind me. I spun around and spotted Tsunade standing there, staring at me. I grunted as Garou clawed at my insides, clutching my stomach.
"Why do you fight so hard?" She asked. I took a few moments, sweat pouring from my head as I gasped for breath, until I could finally answer.
"Because like I said, I'm going to kill Orochimaru." I looked up at her from my position on the ground, and she was staring at me, but her eyes were distant.
"Why do you try so hard, though? For a feat you know isn't possible?" I snarled.
"I'll make it possible! I might not kill him this year or in ten years, but I'll make sure that I'm the one who kills him." I growled. She stared at me as I roared in pain, Garou fighting his hardest, and because of my weakened state I couldn't fight back as hard. My eyes widened as I felt my nails grow and my teeth sharpen. I grabbed the ground and pulled myself underneath a tree, in to the shadows. As soon as my entire body was wrapped in darkness, Garou stopped. I sighed in relief and collapsed on the ground, my face accepting the coolness from the ground. I stared at Tsunade's body, watching as it grew fuzzy and even started turning sideways until finally I passed out.
I trained like that the rest of the week. Endlessly working at it. I was close a couple of times, but never just like how it looked with Jiraiya's. I groaned and slammed my fist in to on of the trees on the last night, all of the trees around me having craters, but with spirals in it, not just a smooth crater. I groaned and screamed in anger and annoyance. Why couldn't I do it? I was focusing and everything! I had the concept down, I knew what to do! But every time I tried my hardest to, I just... couldn't. I growled and slammed my foot in to the same tree, toppling the already damaged and hurt tree.
I sighed and turned around, heading back to the hotel. I'd seen Jiraiya once or twice in town, only when I went to go eat. So he'd shown me where my room was, in the one right between his and Naruto's, and then Tsunade and her friend's. I flopped down on my bed, staring at the ceiling, and for the first time that week I fell asleep peacefully.
I woke up when I heard something crash to the floor in the room that was supposedly Tsunade's. I groaned and rubbed my eyes, before sitting up. I was still exhausted, but I felt a bit better. I quickly slid in to my shoes and opened the door, to be met with the sight of Tsunade walking down the hall. I narrowed my eyes, and quietly closed the door behind me, following her silently. I stopped suddenly, focused on my nose, and registered Tsunade's scent. I then sat in the hall for a few minutes, before following her scent until I was outside, and then broke in to a run.
I arrived to the scene to find Tsunade fighting Kabuto, craters lining the ground in various places. Tsunade was gasping for breath, while Kabuto seemed to be having some sort of issues on the ground a few yards away from Tsunade. Meanwhile, Orochimaru was defenseless. I spotted him, and stared at him for a few moments. The snake. The snake of my nightmares standing meters from me, unprotected and arms wrapped in a way that made me wonder if he could even use them. Itook a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself before I ran blindly in there.
"Koinu, why don't you just come on out and join the party?" Orochimaru suddenly hissed, looking towards me from behind the boulder I was hiding behind. I blinked in surprise, and I could tell both Kabuto and Tsunade were also surprised. I clenched my fists tightly in determination, before walking out from behind the boulder.
She had taken a shortcut on top of the houses, and I quickly realized she was heading towards the fallen castle. I growled mentally, before making myself move faster. I wasn't too far away when I heard a loud crashing sound, and a few seconds later a wall crumpled to pieces. I watched as two shadows leaped away, and then another followed them. I snarled and continued running after them, picking up speed to catch up.