BONUS #15

An extra scene from Chapter 20 has been posted on the forum.

Chimiyo Street Playground

Having secured Izumo Kamizuki's loyalty, I then started seeking out next best source of information someone in my position could get.

Look underneath the underneath. With my current standing as a twelve-year-old Genin, it was impossible to get into contact with those holding obvious influence. I did not have the money or resources (I wasn't about to go steal from my own father; I'm not stupid), and even if I did, those people were already bought out.

"Prodigy" or not, I was aware that there were other intelligent people in Konoha. People with experience. People who already had a stable income of power. Why switch your loyalties from something clearly working now, to gamble on a kid? It was an unwise move, and the power game was not won with idiocy. No, I'd have to prove myself and start from the bottom just like everyone else first.

It worked out for me, because I didn't want to target the big and powerful people immediately anyway. The entire point of being "just" a Genin was to be subtle and unnoticed. And this was enough to keep me going.

I was a ninja. I didn't need things to be official. Not having a stamped and signed piece of paper didn't make the state of the world any less true. There were so many people in the world who had influence and knowledge, despite not having titles or even shinobi training. People who were considered to be unimportant by others. People who might even consider themselves unimportant. People who didn't know just exactly how much power they actually had.

The Hokage was on his own side. But one step away, his office drones, like Izumo and Kotetsu, were not.

In the same way – Danzo was unreachable, obviously, as were the other two elders on the Hokage's Council – but their grandchildren were not.

"Who are you?" Konohamaru glared up at me, wrinkling his nose.

"I'm Shikamaru. I'm Naruto's teammate."

His attitude did a complete flip at that. "You know Naruto-nii?"

"Yes. He's training very hard for the Chunin Exams right now."

"I know," Konohamaru sighed, kicking a rock sadly. "Ever since he graduated and became a real ninja, he hasn't had much time to play with us anymore."

"Yeah, well, the life of a Genin is pretty busy. But, if you like, I can remind him to drop by more often."

His face lit up. "You'd do that for me?"

"Of course! He hasn't forgotten you; don't worry. He just really wants to pass the exams, so he can become stronger. Just like you, right?"

Konohamaru punched the air. "Yeah!"

"Say," I said, channeling a bit of Iruka-sensei, "while we wait for the exams to end, do you want to spar? I have a lot of free time right now, because I'm not as good as Naruto and didn't make it into the third round. Everyone else in my year is off doing other stuff, but I figured, since you followed Naruto around a lot before, you should know a thing or two about being a strong ninja."

Naturally, they ate it all up.

"Yeah! Let's go! I bet we can totally take him!" Konohamaru cheered.

"I don't know…" Udon said, wiping his nose on his sleeve. "I mean, he's already a Genin…"

"Don't worry," I told him. "We're all Konoha nin here. This is just a friendly spar."

It wasn't the most interesting thing I'd done, fighting with three eight-year-olds. In the back of my mind, I wondered if this was how Kakashi-sensei had felt fighting us, three Genin fresh out of the Academy, during that thrice-be-damned bell test.

But I put up with them, because they were good friends of Naruto.

Who also happened to live in the same house as the Hokage and two of his advisors.

"Your grandmother is Lady Koharu, right?" I asked Moegi. "I hear she does important things in the village."

"Eh, she's boring," Moegi shrugged, trying to jump on my back. "All she talks about all day is boring stuff. Like yesterday, she and Udon's grandpa did nothing but drink tea and complain about Sand nin and some one tail thing and Ino-whats-his-face. Like, hello? What sort of animal has one tail?"

"Gee, I don't know," I said, in mock concentration. On the inside, my brain was churning. So that was the terms of peace. The One-Tail. Their only jinchuuriki, and child of their former Kage, a hostage. And Ino's father is involved. "Most of them?"

"Ex-act-ly!"

This, of course, was not classified information; the higher-ups did not get where they were by being stupid. I bet the Hokage was probably hoping that something like this would make its way to Iwa or Kumo. Being able to bully another village into giving up a bijuu was no easy feat; something like this would likely make the others think twice before acting.

But there was a difference between foreign Kage and me, a kid. A close friend of my family was involved directly in this, and yet I would have never found out anything had I not thought to ask the exact right people.

"So, how about you, Konohamaru? What's your grandfather been up to lately?"

Dodge. Kick. Weave. Backflip from a tree.

"Eh, nothing new. I've been learning lots, but the old man's still the same as ever. I mean, he's super nice to me, but I feel like he doesn't take me seriously, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand," I said, surprisingly completely truthful. "Even as Genin, adults don't think much about us. And, actually, even adults get talked down to by – older adults. It's a whole entire pecking order of grown-ups."

"How old do I have to get before I get a little respect around here?" he sighed.

"It's nothing to do with age." I was speaking to myself more than I was speaking to them. "Respect is earned, not given. And some people never give out any respect as long as they live. Or they give it out randomly. You just have to deal with that however you can, I suppose. Life isn't perfect, and it isn't fair."

Konohamaru huffed frustratedly.

"Hey," I told him, "don't be mad. Everyone starts out like this. If you want to earn respect from your grandfather, just work hard and become more knowledgeable. It'll be years and years before you know enough jutsu to surpass the Hokage, but simply understanding the boring parts of his job is a lot easier. There's more to becoming strong than just beating up bad guys."

"But it's boring," Moegi whined.

"That's what adults do. The difference between adults and kids like us is that adults can put up with the boring stuff even though they'd rather be doing something else," I explained to them. "So if you want to look more mature and get more respect, figure out exactly what that boring stuff is and understand it, and then adults will start respecting you. The more they respect you, the more boring stuff they'll tell you – yes, I know it's boring – but once you get that, you can get even more respect. Get it?"

"So the boring stuff is a bit like money, except not as cool," Moegi pondered.

"No, it's not," I agreed, "but you can buy things with it all the same. Except, instead of things like toys or candy, which you have a lot of anyway, you can get acknowledgment, which you don't."

"That makes sense," said Udon.

I smiled. "More importantly, you have to know those things to be a good Hokage. And you know who else wants to be a good Hokage, besides you?"

"Naruto?" Moegi said.

"Naruto," I confirmed. "I guarantee you, the easiest way to get Naruto to hang out with you more is to have something that can help him reach his goal. We already have jonin sensei for jutsu, but you – you three can give him something no one else can give him…"

"Boring stuff?" Konohamaru moaned.

"Yep. Though, you can't call it that anymore. If you want to be taken seriously, it's 'information' or 'intelligence', like in those S-class missions."

"Whoa! So is this an S-class mission?"

"Sure. Which is why you can't tell anybody about it." Actually, it didn't matter if they did; the Hokage had better things to deal with than our silly games. Unlike Kumo or Suna, I didn't plan on being a threat to my own home. "Except Naruto, of course. Everything you learn, you have to make sure it gets to Naruto, okay?"

"Yes sir!" Moegi declared, going into a salute, and then they all fell over giggling.

I can see why people agree to become jonin sensei, I thought. They're so cute!

And then two seconds later, I realized, with horror, Oh god, I sound just like Kakashi-sensei.

Training Ground 8

Gaara crushed the flowers underneath his feet. But they didn't squash completely. So he took some of his sand and ground it to sap.

There. Now they were completely squashed.

He wanted to kill something, but he wasn't allowed to until the plan happened.

Well. Not people, at least.

A squirrel was jumping around at the edge of the tree line. It noticed him, and scampered away.

His finger twitched. Just a little…no one will notice…

The next thing he knew, a giant green and pink thing had engulfed him, and that was all he saw before everything went black.

The Hokage's Office

The Hokage's eyebrows disappeared underneath the brim of his hat. "Already? Really? I would have expected a bit more fight."

"Hey! I can be sneaky when I want to!" Jiraiya protested.

The Hokage shrugged. "Well, this is the same boy Sunagakure failed to contain for the past twelve years."

"That's because they didn't have awesome magical Gourd toads."

"All right, Jiraiya. If you say so. I trust the sealing went properly?"

"As well as it could have. One of the rare cases where I'm actually thankful for Orochimaru's experiments; whatever he designed the Five Elements seal for, it was useful enough here. I thought it would be safer to deny him access to chakra altogether until he's sane enough to control himself. We're currently housing him in an ANBU unit outside of Konoha just to be safe," Jiraiya reported. "If I may ask, what exactly are your plans for him, Hokage-sama?"

"I'm going to try to make whatever remains of his childhood happy," his former teacher said, and Jiraiya was surprised to see the kind old man peeking out from the hardened lines of his face. He'd been afraid that man was gone. "Yes, it'll be a nice slap in the face to those Sand nin, but – it almost feels like I'm starting over…I didn't want to subject Naruto to this sort of isolation, but sometimes I wonder if it would have hurt him less to not have to face the villagers' scorn…"

"About that," Jiraiya interrupted, "I'm not so sure anymore…it's…well, not to disrespect Inoichi, but Gaara is different from Naruto. The monster was introduced into him with a faulty seal before his brain had even properly formed. It's…he might be a lost cause, sensei."

"To you, maybe," Sarutobi-sensei said, "but not to Inoichi Yamanaka. Have a little more faith in his skill and determination, Jiraiya. He will not give up on Gaara until he succeeds, until the end of the earth, if need be. This I promise you."

"And how are you so sure of that? What if it doesn't work?"

"Because Danzo's next in my queue if he fails."

And just like that, the kindly man was gone, and everything was back to business again.

Jiraiya opened his mouth, and then closed it. He took a few deep breaths. Shook his head.

"Huh. That's…pretty smart."

The Sandaime shrugged. "Loyalty is loyalty. I don't particularly care how it's achieved. The classic brainwashing scheme, as much as I despise it, is effective. Gaara is a sociopathic killer, yes, but he doesn't torture people for fun."

"A bit harsh, don't you think, sensei?" Jiraiya asked.

"Perhaps when he actually becomes one of us, I might change my mind," said the Sandaime. "I try to think of all people as people. Unfortunately, when it is my people's lives at stake, I am not averse to thinking of others as not. We look out for our own. But. Anyway. I highly doubt it will come to that. From initial reports, everything he's done so far is out of his own twisted sense of survival. His motives and sob story background should be easy enough for Inoichi to decipher."

The roots of this callousness, Jiraiya knew, came from much deeper reasons. One of them being the fact that the Sand had willingly associated with and housed Orochimaru instead of attempting to catch him and turn in his head to the Bingo Book regulators, like a good ally should. They had all expected the betrayal eventually – alliances in the shinobi world never lasted long – but he knew that it still hurt. Both his student – and the people who were supposed to be their "friends." And now their young jinchuuriki was paying the price, for something that really wasn't even his choice.

For all that his sensei pretended not to care, Jiraiya knew…he actually did. Somewhere in there, underneath the hat and robe and wily smile, was the idealist who still hoped for teamwork and love and friendship. And so every time something like this happened, it would hurt.

"I would rather that he support Konoha out of his own 'free will', if you can count it as that," the Sandaime said softly, "which is why I gave Inoichi first pick. The 'mindless soldier' archetype is just a backup plan. Luckily we do have a few secret weapons up our sleeve to ensure it never comes to that."

"And what are they?"

The Sandaime shrugged. "Kindness."

"Kindness," Jiraiya deadpanned.

"In the shinobi world, anything and everything is a weapon, including kindness. Kindness, love, friendship, comradery…to those who do not understand it, they are virtues that have no place in war. But you and I both know, Jiraiya, that emotions are what motivate a man long after his body quits on him." The Sandaime leaned back with a smile. "And what other hidden village but Konoha, has learned to weaponise kindness so well?"

"Weaponizing kindness. Now there's an idea," Jiraiya mumbled. I should have expected that. Of course Konoha would weaponize anything that could be weaponized, even kindness. Even effing kindness isn't safe from becoming a tool of war.

The Sandaime grinned wryly. "You wouldn't believe what amazing things can happen, when a person who has been starved of love his entire life finally gets his hands on just a little bit of it. See, Jiraiya, the thing is, ideally, within a few years, Gaara will have become mentally stable enough to actually control his own powers. And when he does, the Sand will see what they're missing and demand him back. And wouldn't it be great, to have a jinchuuriki loyal to us, the village he associates with kindness, more than their own village, which he associates with hate? What better way to hurt their morale and unity than to show that even one of their worst would prefer a rival village?"

"I guess that's true…And I'd believe you, if Konoha hadn't been so miserably bad in giving their other jinchuuriki kindness."

"Neither have you."

"I was away on missions which you assigned – "

" – and never bothered to come home to visit, leaving me, an old man with a family of his own and a village to run, and a Chunin instructor to fulfill your duties as his godfather. And Kakashi, of course, was a broken fourteen-year-old trying to kill himself in ANBU and even less stable than he is now, let alone fit to raise an infant. Let's just agree that we've all failed Naruto in some way, and that we were lucky it didn't bite us in the ass, unlike the Fourth Kazekage, who actually tried to murder his own son. Repeatedly." He took a long inhale of his pipe. "We're keeping Gaara away from all the civilians until it's clear he's under control. By then people will have forgotten he was ever a psychopath, and he can start over on a clean slate. He might end up a bit socially awkward, but it's a small price to pay."

Jiraiya pondered this. Would the Sand have been more willing to hold on to the Ichibi if its vessel had been more, well, likeable? Or would they have been just as willing to give him away regardless of his sanity? The boy was the son of the late Kazekage, and he really would have been an important asset to their village, as a weapon if not a person…

Compare that to Naruto, who had an odd way of growing on people. The point was, despite his lonely childhood, Naruto was in a better state than most jinchuuriki.

They could never treat Naruto as they were treating Gaara. Not when the ghosts of Minato and Kushina hung over both their heads. And, of course, Kakashi wouldn't stand for it. He'd totally go ballistic on them. That whole Chunin exam thing that old Sarutobi had pulled earlier had really been pushing it. Jiraiya had known Kakashi since way before all of the crap with Sakumo and Obito and Rin and Minato, when the boy was just a…well, not exactly normal – he was never normal – but he had been a kid once. A ridiculously talented but overly serious kid, naturally, but still. A kid.

They had gotten into some stupid argument about dogs and toads, and of course Jiraiya had ended up on the receiving end of the then-five-year-old genin's revenge not a week later. It was not pretty, to say the least. Jiraiya still had nightmares about…well, he'd rather not talk about it.

A lifetime of losing loved ones, coupled with a tendency to hoard negative feelings until he just fucking snapped, was a perfect cauldron for the creation of vindictive little shits.

But how worse would the Leaf had treated Naruto if he hadn't been his bright and happy self? What if Minato had not been an accomplished seal master as they would have liked, and Naruto ended up going mad with the hatred of the Kyuubi? Would they have abandoned him so easily, just as the Sand had given up on Gaara, too?

The truthful answer, though Jiraiya hated to admit it, was yes. Yes, they would have.

You really had to feel sorry for him. Both of them, actually. The world simply wasn't a fair or kind place, least of all for innocent and helpless children. If only their system itself wasn't so imperfect. If only their entire way of life was a completely different one. One that wasn't based on lying and fighting and killing and all those things that parents were supposed to teach their children not to do instead of how to do it better.

Hiruzen Sarutobi seemed to know what he was thinking, and smiled sadly. "What a cruel world we live in, Jiraiya. The Leaf Village is not the kindest village. But we are the best at providing an illusion of free will."

Oh sure, they were the best at that. Everyone in Konohagakure no Sato believed that they lived in the happiest place on earth. Everyone, except for the people who they actually needed to fool with that smokescreen, like – Orochimaru, for example.

And, speaking of Orochimaru…

"What are we going to do about – the curse seals, sensei?" Jiraiya asked softly. "Kabuto's dead, but that doesn't mean Orochimaru doesn't have other trap doors. What are we going to do, hunt down every person with a curse mark and incinerate their bodies?"

"I don't know," the Sandaime admitted.

"Well, you better figure it out, sensei. You've made excuses for him long enough. He's hurt too many people. You can't let this go on," Jiraiya told him firmly.

"We will speak more about that later. In the meantime, I have a mission for you." The Sandaime withdrew a scroll from his desk; Jiraiya could still smell the fresh ink on it. "It will be rather difficult and painful, but I know you can do it."

"I've dealt with Hanzo the Salamander and I'm dealing with a criminal organization full of S-class missing-nin. Just tell me, sensei; how bad can it be?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled. "Finding Tsunade."

Jiraiya's smile dropped. "I don't get to reject this one, do I?"

"No, but you do get a mission partner to make things easier."

"Oh, goody. Who's it going to be?"

"Kakashi."

Jiraiya's head hit the floor.

ANBU Training Ground 96-2

"So you knew Kakashi-sensei, huh?" the boy in front of him asked.

Yamato, also known as Kinoe, Tenzo, and Test Subject #4223, among other names, stared back at the child. His name was Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. Kakashi had asked him to train the kid for the finals of the Chunin exams. Yamato couldn't really say no to that. Firstly, Kakashi was a very old and very good friend of his whom he would do anything for; secondly, he was one of the few people in the village who knew just exactly how bad Kakashi's physical state was right now; and thirdly, training a Genin for a month was hardly anything compared to some of the other stuff he had been through…

Actually, scratch that last one. Kakashi had specifically put in his notes to Yamato, Watch out for this one. He makes sense only when you least expect it.

Coming from Kakashi-senpai, that may or may not have been cause for worry.

"Yes. He and I were on the same team when we were both in ANBU," said Yamato.

"Cool," Naruto said, swinging his feet. "So what are we going to do for a month? Learn cool new jutsus and stuff? Super top-secret black-ops training?"

"Actually," Yamato said, "yes."

"Whoa, really?" Naruto's eyes grew as wide as saucers – and then narrowed into slits. "You're not messing with me, are you?"

Yamato sighed. "No, I'm not. Ever since the…problems caused by Sand and…Orochimaru…and the Hidden Cloud, the Hokage and your sensei both agreed that there are some very specific aspects of your training that we can no longer delay. Especially since there is now someone else in Konoha like you."

"Like…me?" His hands unconsciously jerked towards his stomach. "Was he – that kid – "

"You've met him before?"

"I think."

"Well, that makes the explanations a lot easier. Let's just say, he's – "

"Don't call him a monster," Naruto suddenly whispered. "Don't."

The abrupt change in Naruto's cheerful demeanor gave Yamato pause. There was much of him, Yamato realized, that was not the good-hearted but dimwitted prankster everyone believed him to be. "No. Of course not," he replied quickly. "No, not in that way. I only meant your situation. Both of you were born responsible for something that wasn't your fault."

This seemed to relax Naruto a bit. "Oh. Okay."

"He's under the care of some other ANBU for now," Yamato told him. "He's your age, but his life has been significantly less stable than yours. We're planning to keep him contained until we can be sure that he can control himself."

"…The Old Man's afraid that his fuzzy-butt might explode and trample all over Konoha," Naruto said. "And he needs my fuzzy-butt to help stop him if he does, because everyone else is just going to get squished."

Yamato blinked. "That's a fairly creative way of putting it, but you're correct. Of course, the chance of that happening is ridiculously tiny. Jiraiya has already sealed off all his chakra. This is only meant as a precaution. You can never be too safe when it comes to the tailed beasts."

Naruto gulped. "Are we really going to be doing this? What about the Chunin exams? I wanna learn wind jutsu or something – I'm going up against Tenten, and I don't wanna get skewered − "

"I know you're not too happy about it, but think about it this way," Yamato said. "Your skill in ninjutsu at this point in time is already more than enough for you to hold your own against Tenten. Even if you lose, you will get credit for how well you fought – and Maito Gai would never allow one of his students to harm a fellow Konoha nin. But the fox – you're going to have to face it sooner or later, Naruto. It's perfectly fine, and probably even better for you, if you never choose to call upon its power. But at the very least, for your safety and that of everyone around you, you'll have to learn to control it, yes?"

That seemed to have the desired effect on Naruto, because he immediately returned to his determined self. "And then everyone will acknowledge me and I'll be the next Hokage!"

"Yes, yes, you'll become Hokage. But first, this. For your own safety, we are keeping all of this special training a secret, do you understand?" Naruto looked as if he wanted to protest, but after re-evaluating the malevolent nature of the demon fox, nodded in agreement. "So close your eyes, and look for the beast."

"What about you – "

"Oh, I'll be fine," Yamato smiled, putting his hands together. "You think they picked me out of all the ANBU for no reason?"

It was rare that Yamato ever got to show off, but the completely amazed look on Naruto's face when the circle of trees spontaneously exploded from the ground was so worth it.

The Otogakure Base

"Orochimaru-sama is dead," Kimimaro informed his subordinates solemnly, "and the Sand has surrendered without a fight."

"What the hell?" Tayuya spat angrily. "Those cowards! And whaddya mean, 'he's dead'?"

"I hate to agree with her," the fat one said moodily, "but Orochimaru-sama is indestructible. His power is greater than any other."

"His body was destroyed before he could possess another one," Kimimaro explained.

"That is what I said. He is indestructible. How can he be destroyed?"

"Rumors say it was the Copy-Nin," Kimimaro said curtly.

"That's rubbish; Hatake's a flimsy piece of paper compared to Orochimaru-sama! He must be just hiding, or – or something – "

"What does that Curse Mark on your shoulder tell you?" Kimimaro snapped, and the dissenter quickly silenced. "You can feel his energy weakening. Orochimaru-sama, the main body, is gone. His power now only remains among us. Until some other news comes up, we will assume that we can no longer contact him. In the meantime, we search for a way to revive him."

"Yeah, well, without that creepy crazy doctor guy," Tayuya said, "that's kind of pointless, isn't it?"

"There are others with knowledge of the Edo Tensei. We must simply find them," Kimimaro tried, but was interrupted again. Uncouth barbarians.

"Oi! Who died and made you boss, anyway?"

The others turned and stared at Sakon like he was stupid. Which he was.

"Er. Sorry."

Kimimaro tried not to lose his temper. "We will, of course."

"But – "

"I'll hear no more of this nonsense," Kimimaro said curtly. "We will retreat and regroup later. There is no point in proceeding without Orochimaru-sama."

"What about us?" one of the unnamed experiments asked.

"Go find another place to hide and wait for instructions. If Konoha has captured Kabuto, then they will be here soon enough." Kimimaro felt a little bit guilty about abandoning them, but Orochimaru-sama came first. His master's word was law, but his master's existence surpassed even that, for it was only the existence of Orochimaru-sama that dictated his own. So, while Orochimaru-sama was alive, Kimimaro would follow his master's wishes. But as long as he was dead, Kimimaro would do everything within his power to save him.

BONUS #16

All of the cover art entries are in, which means you guys can now vote on them. Links are in my profile. Choices are pimasta314(1), pimasta314(2), lumutness, and Francesca. Sorry, no voting for the bunny this time around.