"Lady Tsunade, I'm afraid to report that Ko has left also." Kakashi said standing before her his head hanging in shame at losing two of his students.
"I was afraid of this," Tsunade said in anger as she brought her fist down on the desk. " I knew she couldn't be trusted. I've been reading her file and things never added up. I heard during the invasion she was in the medical ward recovering but the medics on staff said she was never there. I've seen the reports at the academy saying she was distant never trying to make friends and never paid attention in class though she still passed. I believe she was working for Orochimaru this whole time ad that old man just let her waltz in here."
"Lady Tsunade, that can't be true. There's no proof connecting her to Orochimaru. Sure, she was different but that might be the reason she left with him. We can't jump to conclusions." Kakashi reasoned hoping his words were true.
Tsunade took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose exhaling. "Maybe you're right. Today's not a good day. You're dismissed."
"Lady Tsunade, what are you going to do about their status?" He questioned.
"For now, I want Ko to be stated as a rogue while Sasuke remains part of the Leaf."
"May I ask why?"
"Sasuke was born and raised in this village, Ko was a spy from the beginning. Who knows what secrets she's feeding Orochimaru now."
Ko stared at her Father waiting for him to welcome her home, but he only looked at Sasuke. She deactivated her eyes seeing no need for it anymore. She looked from her Father to Sasuke knowing instantly that Sasuke is going to be the new favorite.
"Sasuke, you are the chosen human." Orochimaru chuckled as he turned to walk away.
Ko's chest ached with disappointment, the first thing that welcomed her back to her real life. She followed him with the others starting to limp as the pain in her leg started to resurface.
"It doesn't matter how...give me power." Sasuke said with a dark tone.
"Even though his form is different, that is Lord Orochimaru in front of you. If you don't want to die, you should watch your mouth." Kabuto warned only to receive the famous Uchiha glare which made him cower.
"Patience Sasuke, you need to recover first." Orochimaru said when he stopped at a door opening it.
They filed into the room seeing that it was a large training room with two shelves on each end holding various weapons and scrolls. The other end had another door getting Ko's attention. Ko looked around in awe seeing what her Father has been working on in the years she was absent. Near the door were three chairs set up. Orochimaru put his hands on Sasuke's shoulders guiding him to the furthest chair.
"Now, just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show." He said sitting in the chair next to Sasuke. "Kabuto, you may get her."
Ko had a bad feeling about this when she saw a smile on Kabuto's face. She reached into her pocket finding the pills taking one making the pain go away. She then looked over at Orochimaru.
"Where is he going?" Ko asked him glancing back and forth from him to the door Kabuto was heading for.
"Ko my dear, you've been gone for so long I want to see if you've improved. I want to show Sasuke how much power I can give him...even if you fail, he can perfect it."
"Great, real encouraging."
"You will be fighting one of the prisoners to show me if that putrid village taught you anything useful."
"Yes my Lord," Ko complied surprising Sasuke; he never thought she would actually take orders and be so respectful.
"What happened to your face?" Orochimaru finally questioned; she thought he'd just ignore it.
"Some complications in a mission." Ko brushed off nervously tugging at her jacket sleeve not wanting him to know the whole story; she was afraid of his reaction.
Ko honestly thinks if he knew, he wouldn't care which she feared the most. She was still hopeful that he would care but she couldn't even picture it. She didn't know what people do in those situations. She wove hand signs touching her necklace letting all of her chakra loose. She felt stronger than she ever has been in the six years she has been gone. She can finally be her true self with no holding back.
Kabuto emerged from the door holding chains which were attached to a woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked like she'd be in Kakashi's age group but deathly pale and skinny.
"How does he expect me to fight a prisoner? She looks like she can't even walk." Ko thought as her eyes followed the prisoner who walked behind Kabuto.
"You prisoner," Orochimaru called making her head snap .
"Y-yes my L-lord?" She stuttered with a hoarse voice.
"I will set you free, if you kill this shinobi right here." Orochimaru said gesturing towards Ko.
She looked at Ko analyzing her then looked back at Orochimaru. "How can I trust your words?" She questioned.
"Because I don't think you'll win anyway." He said nonchalantly surprising both Ko and Kabuto. "If you do win, you deserve to leave."
"Why did you choose that prisoner?" Sasuke questioned.
"Because Sasuke, this prisoner is the strongest out of the others. I wouldn't choose just any low life prisoner. An academy student would be able to defeat a malnourished shinobi. Kabuto, take of her chains."
Kabuto did as he was told and removed the chains from her wrists and ankles. Ko could feel her opponent's chakra signature raise tremendously matching up to a Jonin. Ko's eyes widened slightly knowing she had underestimated her opponent once again. Her opponent went to the other side of the room facing Ko who took off her bag taking out a scroll. She made a hand sign which made her sword appear in her hand. She put the strap of the sheath over her head making sure it wouldn't fall off during battle then got into a defensive position.
"Begin," Orochimaru announced as soon as Kabuto sat down.
The woman let out a yell throwing her arms out towards Ko. Suddenly, water appeared out of thin air forming into a spear heading straight for the red eyed girl. Her eyes widened as she watched the liquid fly towards her, but she stayed calm. She saw each water-like icicle heading towards her, so she merely dodged it looking as if she were dancing with each careful step she took. Ko looked at her opponent seeing a smile on her face. Ko was suspicious of the smile, so she looked behind her seeing the water dripping off the wall turning into bubbles.
"What the? What is this?" Ko thought as she watched the bubbles combine making them larger.
She took out her sword swinging it at one of the bubbles, but it didn't pop, it looked as if her sword only put an indent in it but soon reformed.
"What is this?" Ko questioned out loud looking at Orochimaru.
"The reason why I chose her. Her abilities are quite extraordinary." Orochimaru answered with a sadistic tone.
The two large bubbles headed towards Ko giving her almost no room to dodge. The two came on either side of Ko trapping her. Her eyes flickered between each bubble trying to figure out how to get out of this situation. One of the bubbles got close enough to touch Ko's arm which pushed her back with great force into the other one. She fell hitting the other bubble with her back which pushed her forward into the other one and the cycle continued. Finally, the bubbles were so close, they started to crush her body, but she merely turned into smoke.
"Earth style: Rock lodging destruction!" Ko said as she emerged from the ground behind the prisoner.
The ceiling began to crack then crumble onto the bubbles crushing them. While her opponent was distracted, Ko kicked her in the back making her fall into the rubble.
"Fire style: Flame killing boundary!" Ko shouted holding her hand up to her mouth.
She felt her chakra turn into fire in her stomach coming up into her throat. The fire spewed from her mouth heading towards her opponent. She managed to dodge but the fire scorched her left arm making her scream out in pain. The prisoner clutched her arm as she got back up to her feet glaring at Ko. Enraged, she ran at Ko who got into a defensive position getting ready for her attack. Her opponent went for a punch, but Ko easily grabbed her arm, crouched down sliding under her legs flipping her onto the ground in the process.
Ko shot up to her feet and kicked her opponent into the wall a few feet away. This was getting too easy for Ko which worried her. Her opponent got back up bringing up her good arm moving her pointer finger in a circular direction. Suddenly the temperature started to drop making Ko shiver; she started to see white snowflakes starting to circle around her. More and more started to circle her making a small tornado of snow.
Ko started to shiver more violently as her teeth started to chatter. She tried to simply walk out of the mini snowstorm but some of the snow blew right into her with force making her fall down. Ko had to act fast; the temperature around her kept dropping by the second making her body feel numb with cold which will soon make it impossible to form hand signs.
"F-fire st-style: Fl-flaming sphere t-technique!"
Red chakra started to form around Ko heating her up slightly. The chakra turned into fire surrounding her and as she held out her arms, the sphere grew larger and larger melting the surrounding snow. Once all the snow was melted, Ko released the flames around her but soon fell to the ground still shivering then she started to sweat. The inside of her body was warm while the outside was still freezing.
She activated her eyes knowing that was the only way she could survive while still recovering. She could see her opponent running towards her, so she rolled on the floor to avoid a kick that was heading her way. Ko got to her feet only to stumble due to her numb legs as she dodged another attack. They were close to the shelf with various weapons which her opponent used to grab a sword. Ko managed to grab her own blocking her opponent's attack and pushing up on it, she was able to dash to her right only receiving a cut to the shoulder making her hissed in pain clutching her wounded shoulder.
Ko could tell that her opponent wasn't as skilled as her with a sword, so she could've had the advantage if she weren't still frozen, the only thing saving her were her eyes. They both faced each other, then engaged in a sword fighting slashing left and right fighting for their lives. Ko knew she wasn't fast enough to match up with her opponent making her receive many cuts. Ko was surprised on how skilled she was despite being in Orochimaru's prison for who knows how long. She knew her Father would capture shinobi experimenting on them and kept them imprisoned until their death. This shinobi couldn't have been locked up for more than a month judging on her stamina and abilities.
Ko started to get the feeling back in her body which she was relieved about. Her opponent jumped away dropping the sword then shot her hands out. Ko was on her guard knowing she was going to do her weather specialty once more. What she didn't expect was the sparks of lightning shooting out from her opponents fingertips heading towards her. Ko dropped her sword quickly making hand signs.
"Earth style: Mud wall!" Ko shouted slamming her hands on the ground.
The wall absorbed most of the shock, but it started to crack as the bolts of lightning still bombarded it. Ko could see her opponent was about to turn towards where Orochimaru and the others were sitting knowing she was going to attack Orochimaru. Ko wove more hand signs slamming her hands onto the ground once more.
"Earth style: Dungeon Chamber!" She shouted pouring all her chakra into it.
Her shield crumbled as her opponent turned to shoot bolts at Orochimaru hoping to kill him, but that hope was turned into disappointment once Ko's jutsu covered the three boys protecting them. Thanks to the extra chakra, Ko made the chamber thick enough so the bolts couldn't destroy it. Since this jutsu is supposed to be used against an enemy, it started to absorb their chakra which started to slowly replenish Ko's. After she was done shooting the lightning, Ko stopped the jutsu feeling the extra chakra course through her body.
"Your fight is with me, not Orochimaru." Ko growled in anger.
"I would've gotten him if you didn't get in the way." She retorted.
"You couldn't if you tried. If I didn't step in, he was going to jump out of the way killing you on the spot." Ko said as she dashed towards her opponent engaging her in taijutsu.
Ko threw punches and kicks only to be blocked. Her opponent swung towards her face, but Ko easily caught her fist only to receive a jolt of lightning when her opponent's fist was engulfed . Ko immediately let go hissing in pain and jumped back a few feet. Her opponent jumped aiming for a kick, but Ko ducked but couldn't dodge the next kick to her head when her opponent landed on the ground. Ko fell backwards holding onto her throbbing head but rolled to her right avoiding another kick.
Ko quickly got back onto her feet ignoring her injured head. Another punch was heading Ko's way, but she jumped then landed a kick onto her opponent's back sending her to the ground. Ko panted heavily feeling her insides start to burn slightly. She knew this was what Tsunade was talking about, if she put too much pressure on her body, the burns on her organs would damage them further. Ko landed on the ground only to feel a jolt of pain shoot up her leg causing her to fall. The painkillers wore off and Ko knew she couldn't get the pill bottle from her bag. She looked at her bag then over to the three sitting in the chairs. She couldn't tell what Orochimaru was thinking because of the bandages covering his face but Sasuke looked alarmed knowing about her injury.
Ko was running extremely low on chakra knowing she couldn't rely on her eyes for much longer. She continued to dodge the prisoner's attack trying to ignore the pain in her leg and abdomen, but it got worse with each small movement. Utilizing the wall, she got up on her good leg as she caught her opponent's fist throwing her across the room. Ko looked across the room seeing her sword. She knew if they continued any longer, she would be killed and had to act fast.
Using what little chakra she had left, Ko used her chakra strings to wrap around the sword. As the strings attached themselves, Ko looked ahead seeing her opponent closing in with a kunai in hand ready to slice her throat. Acting quickly, Ko flicked her wrist towards her making the sword fly stabbing her opponent's upper back plunging it through the other side of her chest. Ko couldn't help but stare at her opponent's shocked face as she looked from Ko down to the sword which was now covered in blood. Ko could see the numbers over her opponent's head as it counted down to zero.
The now lifeless body fell to the ground face forward onto Ko making her fall along with it. Her back hit the wall along with her head feeling the weight of the dead body on her. She was far too weak to push it off her so Kabuto got up, lifted the body off of her, and threw it to the ground. Ko held her leg feeling something wet, she looked at her hand seeing that blood had soaked through her pants meaning her leg wound had opened. Her attention quickly turned to Orochimaru who started to clap slowly.
"Well done Ko, though, I am disappointed. Your taijutsu needs more work, it seems since you left you didn't practice like I told you. Your opponent was from an almost extinct clan able to manipulate weather out of thin air which made her the best opponent for you. I found her a few months ago knowing she'd be the perfect match. It seems like you have no pain tolerance seeing you let your past injury almost cost you your life." Orochimaru said as he stood along with Sasuke. "Sasuke, I hope you learned something by seeing this match. With you by my side, you will succeed Ko."
Orochimaru started to walk towards the door but stopped for a second. "Kabuto, heal Ko's wounds. Sasuke, get some rest. Training starts tomorrow."
Ko let out a heavy sigh as she watched Orochimaru leave with Sasuke trailing behind him. She clenched her jaw feeling a swarm of emotions in her fighting for control. She was angry that he simply tried to kill her then criticize her when she won. Sadness also consumed the young girl knowing nothing has changed in six years. She was still nothing in his eyes.