IV
━━━━━━┓༻❁༺┏━━━━━━
Arc IV Chapter III:
━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━
Orochimaru smirked and titled his head in sudden recognition, "Ah, you seem to be the interesting girl from before."
Orochimaru finished his little speech once again with his typical slow sinister chuckle that annoyed Asami greatly. Especially, all the dramatic pauses he constantly made and that it took Orochimaru ages to get to the point.
Nevertheless, Asami didn't interrupt an enemy when he was making a mistake. Time wasn't against her and the glimmering steel in her hand was only waiting the ideal opportunity to draw first blood.
A pair of slitted eyes evaluated her carefully and judged her," I have to congratulate you on your victory, Asami-chan, which was quite impressive. I honestly didn't expect that Konoha had such a promising young Kunoichi among the participants, such a truly rare and precious gem. Apparently, the life is full of surprises, isn't it, Asami-chan? Unfortunately, you lack something important that I consider important."
An insatiable possessiveness filled his words, an inexplicable carnal desire. Orochimaru licked his tongue. He wanted her, her body, her everything and Asami began to doubt his mental stability. What the fuck was wrong with the snake bastard?
A sense of danger lingered in the air that would have paralyzed any lesser men and sent a trembling, but not Asami. Asami remained unfazed and Orochimaru started to go significantly on her nerves, as if he could seriously threaten her in the slightest. Did he plan to frighten her with his evil grin, or what? Ridiculous, wasn't it? She would crush him like a bug under her might.
Asami titled her amused head and chuckled,"And that would be, Orochimaru? What do I lack that our Uchiha doesn't? The Sharingan perhaps?"
Orochimaru fell silent for a brief moment and anwsered with an amibigious smile," So, you have eavesdropped, haven't you? How impolite of you, Asam."
Asami smiled back, "I doubt that I require your advice, Orochimaru,about etiquette and politeness"
"True, true", Orochimaru smirked," Although I enjoy exchanging pleasantries with you both and I am currently in a talkative mood, my time is sadly rather limited. Therefore, I have to leave you now, Asamiand Kakashi." The Sannin stared a last time at Sasuke and then left. He slowly walked away and passed Asami totally unperturbed by her presence.
He headed for the exit, but his path was blocked by a slightly annoyed girl and sword. The asshole dared to ignore her and tried to walk past her right in front of her eyes. That was bold, incredibly bold. Who did Orochimaru think that he was to ignore her? He was legendary Sannin, a shinobi feared across the lands, a force to reckon with, but that didn't matter. Orochimaru could be the second coming of Sage of the Six Paths himself and she wouldn't particularly care.
Orochimaru set his eyes on his new opponent, an unmoving, unyielding wall called Asami. He wouldn't get past her that easily,"Are you stupid, girl? Do you want to die here? I might be in an good mood right now, but get out of my way or I will destroy you." Gone was any remaining friendliness from his face and a dark aura spread promising death.
Asami narrowed her eyes dangerously and reciprocated his stare. Orochimaru vastly overestimated himself and he would pay the price.
Tension rose and the moment when titans clashed came closer. Asami readied her shining blade and her lighting catalysed the vengeful light of the stars in her hand with unprecedented vigour.
Asami smiled," Stupid? You dare to call me stupid. You who should better watch your words and know your place, Orochimaru. You who has walked straight into the lion's den. You are alone here, Orochimaru, alone in hostile territory without any support whatsoever."
"The Hokage, a bunch of ANBU guards, an ex-member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, an insufferable Taijutsu fanatic and a famed Sharingan user are right around the corner, mere seconds away, and ready to bring you down with all their power. And whom have you, Orochimaru? Because I don't see anybody", Asami opened her arms and asked for an answer that never came. Asami smiled and mobilised her Chakra while the Sannin was distracted by her little speech. Orochimaru's defence crumbled and that was the moment she waited for. The Sannin was exposed while her Chakra was building up within her body.
Asami tilted her head and smiled,"Every minute you spent here with us, your chances of being detected increase. I have found you. So, why shouldn't anybody else find you too? A stray Chunin patrolling the corridors, a medic searching for your precious Uchiha. And if you try to force your way out, then don't forget that even the slightest sound of heavy fighting, a simple explosions will automatically alert a force consisting of the most elite Konoha shinobi I can currently think of. So tell me, Orochimaru, how long do think will it take for the Hokage arrives if we clash here."
"And not forgetting, you are making good progress at pissing me off and I warn you, Orochimaru, you are treading on thin ice, ", her black eyes betrayed her thoughts and were accompanied by a contemptuous stare. Asami looked down on him and she hardly considered him someone worthy of being called her equal. Orochimaru was inferior and he shouldn't forget that.
"Therefore, tell me once again, esteemed Sannin, who exactly is the stupid one here and whose chances of escaping this alive are falling rapidly? Because your clock is running and I can assure you that you, Orochimaru, will pay the price for your arrogance. Don't you also hear the silent ticking of your demise?"
And as predicted, Orochimaru's sardonic smirk faltered together with his attention. Her word struck a nerve and there was the desired breach in his defence. A few seconds were everything she needed to close the distance. Only a few metres separated him from her and that wouldn't save him.
Asami attacked accelerating in a blink of eye. A classical frontal assault from point blank was her primary choice. She charged with top speed and poured as much as possible into her initial and final attack. Enough to produce a big nice hole and make him regret to have ever met her.
Her brilliant lightning coated her blade with pure and white plasma while the rest of her luminous Raiton enveloped her body like a protective armour and shielded her advance. It was over.
━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━
Orochimaru never saw the strike coming, or rather he saw her, but he didn't have the time to react. After all, blitzing a shinobi of his calibre was frankly even beyond Asami's humble abilities. His eyes widened and he was confronted with a blinding flash and an approaching beautifully sharp blade.
I would have been a truly anticlimactic and inglorious end for the hated nemesis of Konoha if he hadn't evaded. Orochimaru barely dodged her strike , but he did. Asami didn't feel any contact and she shot right past him. She had missed from point blank and she didn't like that.
Asami crashed smoothly through the eight consecutive stone columns in her way before finally slowing down again. The brittle granite offered no real resistance and yielded. The pillars were simply blown apart by her sheer kinetic force and her lightning, and what remained was a series of gaping holes and a liquefied mass of silicate and ruptured stone.
Asami forced an abrupt halt by thrusting her sword downwards and made her blade bite into the hard ground. Unsurprisingly, it worked and she decelerated. Nevertheless, she was still sliding across the hall and nearly stumbled over her own feet.
Shortly after, the massive columns collapsed under their own weight creating a dust cloud that darkened the room.
"*cough*, *cough*, *cough*", Asami waved with her hands to disperse the surrounding dust. Her head was still spinning and she suffered from slight disorientation as everything around her was blurred .
Asami came quickly to the conclusion that her attack was a bit too fast and too uncontrollable. Furthermore, the results were honestly disappointing. She had hoped for more aside from demolishing columns and clearing obstacles. Next time she would just use a lot of explosives and her Katon to solve problems like this. Yes, there was no problem that couldn't be solved with explosives.
After vowing to never use such a blitz attack again, the dust cloud finally cleared and she got a clear sight of what had happened. Asami smiled and congratulated herself.
Apparently, her attack wasn't a complete failure and she had succeeded. She had got Orochimaru. Asami giggled uncontrollably and enjoyed her triumph while Kakashi observed the surreal scene. Orochimaru was gone, dead. The girl had killed him just like that.
Asami stepped forwards and picked up a severed left hand that was lying on the ground. The girl inspected the charred hand. She marvelled at her beautifully macabre work. Orochimaru was now a smouldering corpse roasted alive by her lightning.
The sweet smell of victory and burned human flesh filled her nose giving her a certain sense of satisfaction.
Nevertheless, she was wondering what exactly killed him. His wounds were severe, but they shouldn't be immediately lethal. Orochimaru was supposed to barely cling to his miserable life while slowly bleeding to death under excruciating pain. Instead, he died immediately and without a fight. Strange, strange indeed.
Her attack wasn't a direct hit. She had narrowly missed his abdomen because her target moved and didn't do her the favour of being speared by a lovely plasma lance. Instead, her lightning only claimed his whole left arm and his shoulder. They were evaporated by the heat and his entire left flank of his body was effectively carbonized.
" So easily the once mighty Orochimaru has fallen. Bragging until the last breath. In the end, however, Konoha's legendary Sannin was all bark no bite and was defeated by a little girl", Asami laughed and brought her sword down to cut off his head, "How utterly disappointing."
Asam sheathed her blade and kicked his skull across the wide hall while his body still leaked interestingly minuscule traces of treacherous Chakra. Orochimaru was supposed to be dead. Nevertheless, she could feel his Chakra signature, which was highly suspicious. It was a weak signature, but it was still there.
Asami narrowed her eyes and murmured, "What an idiot." Her job here was done and she could worry later about such minor details.
━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━
Armed with a proud smile of victory, Asami strolled towards her nearby audience. She had succeeded in killing Orochimaru, which wasn't exactly a small feat. Therefore, applause, applause. After all, she deserved a bit of recognition.
Asami approached Kakashi and his famous bored look that made reading his face remarkably difficult, not to say impossible considering that the majority of his face was concealed by his mask. In short, Kakashi was hard nut to crack and it was difficult to tell what he was thinking beneath his mask. Kakashi maintained his guard and remained suspicious of her. Asami smiled amused.Understandable, she was the girl that had singlehandedly dispatched one of the village's biggest threats right before his eyes. Of course, he was suspicious of her and kept watching her.
Asami suddenly halted and they exchanged cold observing stares with the abundant inherent friendliness that ANBU as well as ex-ANBU personnel were famous for. They were engaged in a merciless staring contest and both sides were hell bent on winning this game no matter what. The rules were simple, who first blinked lost.
Neither a taciturn Kakashi nor an impatient Asami were ready to back down and thus the slightly awkward silence continued while in the background a certain Uchiha slowly regained his consciousness. A perseverant boy, wasn't he? The situation continued until Asami finally cleared her throat and decided to end this farce. " Ahem, I think some introductions are in order. It is a pleasure to meet you again after all this time,Kakashi, albeit the circumstances could be better."
Asami showed a friendly smile and Kakashi's eyes softened significantly. They were both Konoha shinobi and there was no need to treat each other like enemies.
Kakashi inspected the smiling girl in front of him and answered coldly as usual," Yes, I remember you, and rather well too."
"As far as I have heard, you have grown quite strong since the last time we met, even though you seem to have retained your destructive tendencies", Kakashi looked around and set his eyes on a certain series of destroyed pillars. Who could be responsible for this?
"I am not destructive, Kakashi, things just tend to prematurely fall victim to the tooth of time and crumble easily in my presence. Don't you think that "quite strong" isn't a bit of a grave understatement, though?" Asami took his compliment with humour.
Kakashi ignored her last question, "Aside from discussing your obvious strength, I am more interested in something else, however. What are you even doing here, Asami? Did you follow me?"
Kakashi narrowed his eyes and scrutinized the her with renewed attention. He wanted an explanation and he wanted to confirm a certain theory, whether Asami was indeed who he suspected her to be, or not.
The girl appeared to be confused and titled her head, " What I am doing here? Ehmmmmm, I don't understand what you mean, Kakashi? I was merely walking around when I spotted a very dangerous and scary looking person that was sneaking around. Obviously, I decided to follow this suspicious person and investigate further what he was doing here. After all, I wouldn't be a good Kunoichi if I let people like him roam around without supervision."
Kakashi stared at her. So, she was one of those people. The girl was good and she was clearly hiding something, but what?
" Or to cut a long story short, the reason I am here is classified, Kakashi, and you sadly don't have the necessary clearance to access such information", Asami smiled and used the infamous and effective ANBU shortcut to avoid any further senseless discussions, I am an ANBU and everything we do is super-duper secret. So, don't ask stupid questions and shut up.
Asami prepared to leave, but she was interrupted by a laughing Kakashi.
"What's so funny?" she halted and turned her head.
Kakashi smiled behind his mask, "Well, I didn't expect such a blunt answer, but you have basically confirmed my suspicions, Asami. Therefore, allow me to rephrase my original question, what is an ANBU like you doing at the Chunin exams, White Death?"
He knew. Asami froze and for a brief moment she was taken by surprise, "Many things, Kakashi. And the majority of them are as said before classified."
Asami narrowed her eyes, "But more important, where did you get that last piece of information from, Copy Ninja Kakashi? Where did you get my stupid nickname from? Because it is one thing to guess that I am probably an ANBU, or at least not a Genin. However, knowing who I am with uncanny precision is another." Kakashi had now her full and undivided attention.
Kakashi remained calm, "Well, let's say a trade secret, or rather a combination of my personal hunch, recent events, and a few old ANBU friends telling me stories about a scary black haired girl with an obsession for swords, roughly your age, prone to large scale destruction, and suffering from a subtle pyromania."
Asami laughed amused," True, true, that sounds indeed a lot like me, except for me being a pyromaniac. I am not a pyromaniac, I just like explosions, and fire. Anyway, the great Kakashi can officially thank me for saving his ass by roasting Orochimaru now that my cover is blown."
Kakashi could only furrow his eyebrow," Saved my ass? You didn't do anything. He was about to leave if you hadn't interfered and picked a fight with him."
"Oh, I understand, Kakashi, letting one of the most dangerous S-rank criminals on this planets who probably plans the destruction of Konoha escape is certainly a good idea. I am totally sure that doing nothing and just letting him go would have improved our future quality of life significantly", Asami rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Ungrateful bastard.
"What do you mean?" Kakashi countered.
Asami clicked her tongue," Oh please, mon chéri, don't play stupid. Do you think I am blind, or what? I saw you and I saw the naked fear in your eyes, Kakashi, the angst, the terror in your your heart. You were scarred by Orochimaru, weren't you, Kakashi?"
"But don't worry, you don't have to justify yourself to me, Kakashi. Being scarred is a completely normal and natural reaction", Kakashi remained silent and ignored her accusations because he was focused on something else. He stared into her black eyes and he sensed this inexplicable feeling of profound uneasiness. These eyes, he had seen such, or rather he had felt this aura before. Could it be? No, no, it couldn't.
Asami approached Orochimaru's corpse and stopped," Anyway, I have done today what you apparently couldn't. I succeeded where you would have failed and you shouldn't forget this, Kakashi." Asami snapped her fingers and at her command a brilliant blue fire devoured Orochimaru and turned his body into ash. He wasn't needed anymore.
"And why that?" Kakashi asked.
Asami marvelled at the beautiful white flames that were creation and was fascinated," Consider what I am about to tell you a special honour, a sign of trust between fellow shinobi, because I am asking for your cooperation, Kakashi."
"My cooperation?"
Her voice was sweet and friendly," Yes, I need your cooperation for a certain little private project of mine."
"And that would be?" Kakashi observed her. What was the little princess planning?
Asami waited, and waited, and waited," You see, Kakashi, the Hokage is in a certain sense the physical manifestation of the Will of Fire. But even the brightest flame will one day inevitably die down. And that day someone else has to take over and bear this responsibility."
Her fire grew stronger and stronger in size until her flames enlightened the entire room in pure brilliant white.
" The only question is who will succeed Hiruzen. He is old, Kakashi, and he has already given up his position once if remember correctly. Wasn't the Fourth your former sensei, Kakashi?" Asami asked sweetly.
"According to my information, the Third intends to designate his new official successor soon after the Chunin exams. And as you might know, Kakashi, the next Hokage is traditionally chosen among the strongest, most talented, and most experienced shinobi the village has to offer largely independent of age and your blood."
"At the moment, the most likely candidates are either Tsunade, who is unfortunately unavailable. Jiraiya, a rather suboptimal choice considering his well-known dispositions and the fact that he is not particularly favoured by the village elders. Danzo, who has way too many skeletons in his closet to be elected under normal circumstances. You, Kakashi, a shinobi renowned across the lands for your skill and experience. And …", Asami looked at her fire and made a dramatic pause.
"You", Kakashi finally realised what the girl wanted.
Asami chuckled,"Yes, I. You are right, Kakashi, my intentions are indeed to become the next Hokage and shoulder the future of the village. And my chances are actually not that small if my only relevant competitor should decide to forgo his nomination."
"I might be young, but my real strength is beyond doubt, my reputation well-earned, Kakshi, and everyone within the village council knows that. They can no longer ignore me and my rightful claim", her fire expanded and nourished by her Chakra grew into a gigantic white wall. The air was burning and her power was limitless.
"Therefore, do me a favour, Kakashi, do Konoha a favour and …", Asami stopped and focused her furious red coloured eyes on Orochimaru's body.
Asami unconsciously summoned her own Chakra. A thick mist of purple Chakra surrounded her like a veil and her flames mimicked her menacing colour. Kakashi remembered the colour. It was the same purple the lightning had, an otherworldly destructive purple of unimaginable power.
"It seems that our snake still has a few aces up his sleeve. But I can assure him that he won't survive our next encounter with pure luck alone", Asami clenched her fists while his empty carcass slowly crumbled. The snake had shed its skin and Orochimaru had escaped at some point of time because of her negligence, which infuriated her immensely.
Asami extinguished her flames and suppressed her passionate eyes and Chakra," I hope that you think about my proposal then. So, see you another time, Kakashi, Sasuke." The black princess smiled softly at them and Sasuke was shocked by what he had witnessed. This power, this aura, this fire was incomprehensible.
━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━
