Dosu Kinuta woke up with a pounding headache. At first, he wondered exactly what the hell had happened to him, before his memories came rushing back, as he checked the calendar to see that he had been out for three days. His match with Naruto Uzumaki. Zaku blowing his own arm off. Kin...actually, he couldn't remember Kin's match. And before all that, Orochimaru using them as cannon fodder to test the Uchiha's Cursed Seal of Heaven. For a moment, Naruto's words came back to him.
"A real leader doesn't see their followers as tools to be used and discarded! Human lives aren't disposable, and anyone who believes that should never be allowed to gain any measure of power, dattebayo!"
"Huh" Dosu thought. "Maybe...maybe you're not entirely wrong, Naruto Uzumaki..."
Before he could ponder this line of thought, however, the door to his hospital room opened, and his dark-haired teammate walked in. "Oh good, you're awake" she sighed. "How are you feeling?"
Dosu's one visible eye squinted for a moment, before he sighed under his bandages. "Conflicted, honestly."
Kin raised an eyebrow at this. "Conflicted? Don't tell me you're getting cold feet about Orochimaru-sama's plans?" she asked, in a tone that was full of equal parts amusement and thinly-veiled threats.
"That's exactly what I mean" Dosu said, sitting up slightly as he coughed.
"You can't be serious!" Kin growled. "We owe him our lives! He saved you from being a collection of denatured proteins in a vat of acid, Zaku from being another starved child on the streets of Kusa, and me from being a sex slave to bandits!"
"I know that" Dosu responded, his back popping as he stretched. "But at the same time, consider the Uchiha. Remember what he said? 'Kill Satsuki Uchiha'? And yet, he placed a Cursed Seal on her." At this, Kin's temper cooled, as she took on a more thoughtful expression. "Why would he have us kill her if he blessed her with that kind of power...unless he intended for us to be guinea pigs for her to test her strength on?" the bandaged boy asked.
"That's...shit, that actually makes sense, unfortunately" the dark-haired girl sighed.
"We should probably warn Zaku" Dosu added.
"Too late for that - he's already been taken back to Oto" Kin responded, a hint of sadness in her voice. Turning towards the door, she placed her hand on the doorknob. "I...I need to go take a walk to clear my head" she said, opening the door...only to see two dead security guards on the ground in front of her.
"Well, well, well, maybe you're not as mentally impaired as I'd expect pawns like you to be" a silky voice said, as Kabuto Yakushi stepped into view.
"Kabuto. Figures that Orochimaru would send his pet rat to dispose of us" the kunoichi growled, drawing a couple of senbon, while Dosu grabbed the Melody Gauntlet on the table next to his bed and pulled it on hurriedly.
"You hurt me so with your harsh words, Kin-san" Kabuto said, stepping forwards. "But your assessment is correct; Orochimaru-sama has sent me to make sure that you cannot tell any tales that might undermine the Sand-Sound Invasion." Kin moved back, still protecting her teammate as best she could.
Dosu, meanwhile, released the intercom button on the underside of his table, which recorded and transmitted the entire previous conversation to the receptionist. "Do your worst, Yakushi-san" Dosu said cordially, readying his gauntlet.
Before any actions could be taken, however, several ANBU broke through the hospital window, followed by Might Gai. "DYNAMIC ENTRY!" the spandex-clad Jonin shouted, planting his foot firmly in Kabuto's chest, sending the spy crashing through the open doorway and into the nearby wall.
"Well, well, well, Might Gai...what a pleasant surprise. Your taijutsu prowess is legendary" Kabuto remarked, climbing to his feet. "But you do interfere with my mission; however, you are an opponent I cannot hope to defeat."
With that, the silver-haired spy vanished in a puff of smoke, Body Flickering away as fast as he could. Turning to the ANBU in the room, Gai gestured at three of them. "Hawk, Tiger, Grasshopper, guard these two. Peacock, Boar, Possum, we're following that evildoer! For YOUTH!" he shouted, running off as fast as he could after Kabuto. At that point, Kin did the sensible thing, and fainted.
That evening, Orochimaru stood in one of his old underground labs in Konoha, one that the Third had thankfully failed to find. The Snake Sannin was flanked by Kabuto, and five other shadowy individuals. "All is ready then, Kabuto-kun?" Orochimaru asked his subordinate.
"Indeed it is. We have all four of the requisite DNA samples, and enough sacrifices for the technique" the silver-haired spy said, gesturing at the center of the room.
There, kneeling on the ground, were four individuals. The first was Zaku, who was now missing both arms. Next to him was a dark-haired, mustachioed man wearing resplendent robes, and a shinobi with purple hair and grey eyes. The last was none other than Hayate Gekko, who was now bloodied from a number of cuts and missing an arm of his own.
"I regret that I could not retrieve Kin and Dosu as spares, but when I met with our contact with Suna this evening, I found the exam proctor eavesdropping. I couldn't resist that opportunity, now could I?" Kabuto asked.
"You have done well, Kabuto-kun. Let us begin" Orochimaru responded, swiping a swab of tissue culture across a scroll and dripping a dropperful of water on another, while Kabuto cleaned two scalpels on scrolls of his own. A complex seal spread across the ground, surrounding the four individuals.
Orochimaru knelt down next to Zaku first. "Zaku-kun, you have my apologies for this...but you have simply outlived your usefulness. My only regret is that Kin and Dosu won;t be joining you on the other side immediately."
He then walked over to the mustachioed man. "My dear Daimyo-sama, you will have my eternal gratitude for your assistance in establishing Otogakure. Don't worry, I'll make sure to take care of your country for you."
The purple-haired man looked at Orochimaru sadly. "Arashi-kun...your sacrifice will ensure a thousand years of prosperity for the Fuma Clan" Orochimaru said solemnly.
Finally, the Sannin knelt down next to Hayate. "Hayate Gekko...I remember when you were still a mere academy student. It pains me to see that you meet your end so soon, but that is sometimes just how life goes. Besides, you intended to snitch on our little invasion...and everyone knows that snitches get stitches." Hayate coughed behind his gag, but otherwise closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.
Kabuto and Orochimaru took their positions at the edge of the sealing array, nodded to each other, and began flashing through a quick series of seals. "Tiger, Snake, Dog, Dragon, Clap Hands!"
"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU: EDO TENSEI!"
Dosu Kinuta woke up with a pounding headache - again. This time, however, he noticed that he was in a small, elegant room with his teammate, and no sourced of natural light. Two ANBU stood guard by the door, and sitting on a high-quality wooden chair was none other than the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Recoiling in surprise, Dosu attempted to get anything he could between himself and the man sometimes called "the God of Shinobi".
"Now, now, Kinuta-san, please calm down" Hiruzen said, puffing on his pipe. "All I want to ask is what, if anything, you know about Orochimaru's plans." Kin continued to snore on a couch nearby, as Dosu calmed his nerves a little.
"Can I be assured that my teammate and I will not be executed as foreign agents if we inform you of our former master's plans?" the bandaged boy asked, doing his best to stay calm.
Hiruzen chuckled. "Kinuta-san, depending on what you can tell us, you may well be granted Konoha citizenship for your actions" the Hokage said, taking his pipe out of his mouth. The bandaged boy took a deep breath, and began to tell what he knew of the Sand-Sound Invasion Plan, or, as it was affectionately nicknamed, the Konoha Crush...
A month flew by in no time at all, and the day of the Chuunin Exam Finals had come at last! Merchants, Daimyo, shinobi and private citizens from all across the continent had come to place their bets, watch the exams, and scout shinobi to contract for future missions. There was a particular hubbub in the air this year, too; for the first time in decades, four of the Five Kage would be gathered in one place to watch the exams.
Hiruzen sat in the Kage's box overlooking the arena, thinking about what Kin and Dosu had told him about the invasion a few weeks previously. Konoha had been preparing as best they could for the Sand-Sound Invasion, but they still were on their guard, given the presence of the Raikage and the Mizukage at this event.
Speaking of the Raikage, A stormed into the Kage's box with as much bluster as could be expected of him. "Sarutobi, you old monkey! How the hell are you!" the muscular blonde man said, gripping Hiruzen's hand in a powerful grip.
"As good as a man of my years can get, Raikage-dono" Hiruzen chuckled, before turning to greet the young man who had come as Oto's representative.
"It is an honor, Hokage-dono, Kazekage-dono, Raikage-dono. My master sends his regards, and regrets that he cannot make it this year" the white-haired boy said, before shooting a quick glance at the Kazekage.
This glance did not go unnoticed by Hiruzen, who extended his senses towards the man who was ostensibly Gold Dust Rasa, resisting the urge to recoil when the familiar dark chakra of his former student eminated from the man. "Orochimaru, you bastard...I should never have let you fall so far" Hiruzen thought regretfully, before noticing a new chakra entering the seating area.
Turning around to face the entrance, he was greeted by quite possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. With dark red hair, a navy-blue dress, green eyes and the Mizukage's hat on her head, Mei Terumi exuded an aura of both strength and sexiness. The Hokage didn't even realize that both he and A were staring until he noticed the thin line of blood flowing from the Raikage's right nostril onto his blonde mustache. "Hello boys" the Mizukage said. "Let's get this show on the road, why don't we?"
The sound of cheering alerted the four Kage (and village representative) to the beginning of festivities. The crowd was loud as a Bijuudama's blast, as eleven contestants made their way out onto the field. Naruto, Lee, Suigetsu and Karui couldn't resist the temptation to wave to the crowd, while Gaara, Kankuro, Neji, Omoi, Haku, Shino and Shikamaru remained stoic.
"Welcome, one and all, to the Konohagakure Chuunin Exam finals!"