"Fucking biting tonight, isn't it?" A jonin grunted, as she and Hiruzen marched through the forest.
"Got that right." Hiruzen replied.
It was a night time patrol in winter. Hiruzen always hated those. They were always fucking freezing and if it wasn't bad enough to get you frosty on the night of, the frostbite always killed you in the morning.
Fwoosh!
A sudden rustling came from the trees, alerting both ninjas to the side of the forest.
"The fuck was that?" The jonin growled.
"Kunai out." Hiruzen whispered back, grabbing his knife with a sudden instinct indictive of his skill.
The other jonin followed, retrieving her own blade and keeping her eyes locked on the rustling vegetation. It got wilder and more rampant until eventually, it was under-noted by a chorus of footsteps. With a final shake of the bushes, a young boy popped out.
"Uh, hello!" He said, a panicked smile on his face.
He froze for a second before thrusting his arms up.
"I'm unarmed!"
He was unlike any boy Hiruzen had seen before. His skin was pale as the snow, more so than even someone from Kiri. His eyes were sharp and serpentine yet somehow also wide, rustling with both excitement and…trepidation. He was scared.
"What's your name kid?" The other jonin asked, a slight frown on his lips.
"Um-"
He looked puzzled for a moment, as if he didn't know it.
"My mother calls me Orochimaru but I don't know if that's my name really."
Hiruzen walked a slight bit closer to him.
"These areas are restricted to civilians at night. What do you need out here?" He asked.
Orochimaru paused for a second, resting a finger on his chin.
"Well, uh, a stick of gum would be nice. Pearlmint preferably, but I don't want to seem…spoiled."
His last words was barely above a whisper as his voice trailed off. Then, he collapsed in a heap on the ground.
"Alright, you three, get in frame!" Hiruzen growled, as his students squabbled around him.
"Jiraiya, get out of my way!" A young, blonde girl barked, shoving the boy to the side with enough force to send him falling to the ground.
"I just said, no one wants you at front you fucking surfboard!" Jiraiya yelled back, picking himself off up with dirt staining his white shirt.
The young ninja slammed into each other like bulls, each vying for a majority of the frame. Hiruzen flashed an embarrassed look over to the clearly unimpressed photographer before stepping in between the two in a futile attempt to separate them.
"It's just for I.D, no one's even going to see it. Just-uh!" He grunted.
One of the most powerful shinobi of his generation and he was utterly powerless to breaking the two genin up. Instead, he sighed and stepped back to let the pair brawl in full view of the camera lens.
"Tiresome, isn't it sensei?' Orochimaru commented from his side.
The pale young boy was the only one out of the three to have stationed himself without issue. Hiruzen flashed him a frustrated smirk and nodded his head before turning to the cameraman and signaling for him to take the picture. There was a brief moment of hesitation on the man's face, which was understandable considering the majority of the frame was filled by a mess of flailing limbs and scattered dust. Eventually however, a small hissing noise rose from the camera, whispering in harmony with the prepared twitching of the shutter.
"Get off me you fat fuck!" The girl yelled, as Jiraiya clung onto her back.
"Stop hogging all the center!"
Had the pair sported any other set of expressions, it would have looked friendly, perhaps even romantic. However, the way the girl scowled while Jiraiya's features sparkled with fury made it look completely ridiculous, as well as frame filling. The girl bucked and thrashed while Jiraiya gripped onto her as if he were trying to choke her out. Hiruzen just watched on with a tired smile while Orochimaru, who knew he wasn't tall enough to be seen over the two's battle, held his hand up into a high-reaching peace sign.
SNAP!
Looking back on the photo, Hiruzen understood why Tobirama had demanded they retake it. Jiraiya and Tsunade, the girl in the photo, looked positively rabid. The dust kicked up from their scuffling had coated the lens in a thin layer, making the photo look even grainer then the technology already entailed to be. Orochimaru was barely even visible in the frame, only his arm and the top of his head being visible from behind the two. All in all, a complete disaster of a photograph. However, that didn't stop Hiruzen from having it framed right next to the much neater retake.
They were among numerous photographs that now sat on his desk. However, this was no ordinary desk. Whereas one would normally play with paperclips and pencils, the person who sat here played with the Konoha's future policy and foreign affairs. It was the desk of the Hokage, who's symbol sat slickly painted on Hiruzen's newfound hat.
He had been informed of the election results just a day ago and had just gone about moving his belongings to the Hokage building (or "the old scarlet top" as Hashirama would call it). Truly, people all across not only Konoha, but the world over would struggle to even dream of being in his position yet Hiruzen found himself wishing he wasn't.
"We will not stand here and let our country be gobbled up by Kiri!"
Hints of fire tickled at the windows of the building, imprinting rage and frustration onto the glass like handprints on a damp morning. The culprit? A riot, the biggest in Konoha's history. Hordes of Tobirama-loyalists had taken to the streets, protesting Danzo's loss in the election. It had been a blow-out loss (over seventy percent in Hiruzen's favor) of which there was little basis for an overturning, but that did not seem to matter to the crowd that lay dancing upon the streets. With this being the first ever election in Konoha's history thanks to Tobirama's impeachment, tensions had been running high throughout the Leaf. In a sense, the election acted as a scale for the village's soul. On one end sat Hiruzen, the self-made wunderkind from a low-end clan. He represented a return to the Hashirama-style politics of Konoha's inception. On the other end sat Danzo, the calculating, hardline candidate who offered a continuation of Tobriama's more cerebral and militaristic style of rule.
With Tobirama's popularity in the mud and a desperate crooning for the golden years of old resounding from the general populous, Hiruzen assumed this election to be in the bag yet it proved surprisingly difficult. He was an exceptional public speaker as well as a fiery debater, possessing a charisma that Danzo, a man more suited for backroom dealings and tense negations, could not hope to match during their three public debates. However, Hiruzen found himself on the backfoot more often than he would like thanks to Danzo's extensive political knowledge. For what he lacked in charisma, he more than made up for with simple raw information and a willingness to tap into the latent wartime xenophobia that plagued Konoha still. It had actually been an incredibly tight election up until Hiruzen began to dig through Danzo's past. It was dirty politics but at that point, Hiruzen didn't care. Learning of Danzo's status as an Iwa immigrant, he weaponized the xenophobia he'd been cultivating against him, picking off bits and pieces of the nationalistic vote that made up his primary base. Speaking of which…
Footsteps echoed along the ground below, not great on their own but entirely resonant in a hundred-fold unison. This, combined with the sound of the yelling and chanting, was enough to make Hiruzen viscerally uncomfortable. He had seen the venom and the distain of Danzo's supporters of course, as he was sure Danzo had to his own. It would have been ridiculous to expect a completely peaceful transition of power but he had been unaware of how both fanatical and, more importantly, organized Danzo's remaining supporters seemed to be. Certainly enough that the jonin outside had been advised that letting the riot just keep going and tapper out was more sensible then actually attempting to put a stop to it. What's worse is that they seemed to be less interested in overturning the election results (a completely childish idea) and more in showing that no matter who won, there was now a palpable division in Konoha's electorate.
A brief bit of relief swelled through Hiruzen's body as he took a breath from his pipe, the fumes running through his system and quelling his nerves. Though the implications of the riot were problematic, the protestors themselves did not seem violent nor interested in damaging property (the flames were coming from a burn barrel thankfully).
It's hardly the Iwa civil war he thought, consciously forgetting the fact that Iwa's internal tensions most likely started with protests of a similar scale.
Nevertheless, he attempted to block out the chanting below as he retrieved his quill and unfurled a large scroll of parchment. Calligraphy was always calming. That was, until he heard the slight tap of footsteps from within the tower. They were stealthy and quiet, too quiet for anyone except one of his skill to hear. The idea of it being a rioter never passed through his mind, nor did the idea of it being any kind of threat. This was because Hiruzen knew exactly who it was coming up the stairs. He didn't even need to turn his head as the footsteps drew to the doorway. Instead, he stayed focused on his paper.
"Hello, Lord Second." He mused.
"Hello Hiruzen." Tobirama said back.
His voice was slight and sophisticated, yet weighted with its undercurrent. It was much higher and lithe than the gruff, commanding chords of his brother, as well as bereft of any of their warmth. Instead, Tobirama's voice was cold and calculating.
"It's officially Lord Third now." Hiruzen replied.
It was rare for him to care about titles.
"Some eye contact would be appreciated if you are to expect formal language." Tobirama replied sternly.
Hiruzen complied, stowing his quill as he turned to face his predecessor. It had been a while since he'd seen him, since Tobirama had all but disappeared completely following his removal from office. His face was beginning to age, finally beginning to catch up to his snowy white hair. Hiruzen couldn't tell if this was notable because of the stress he must've been under or whether Tobirama's famously youthful appearance had just begun to decay at the rate of a normal human his age. His typical armor and headgear had apparently been discarded, in favor of a formal ocean blue robe.
"I'm not sure if you've noticed Lord Second, but this is hardly the ideal time for a visit." Hiruzen said.
His words were punctuated with the sound of stones banging against the walls of the tower. This was swiftly followed by muffled screaming from the jonin standing guard.
"I understand. I just came by to congratulate you. You were my ideal successor and I think you'll do well in the role."
Hiruzen held back an even sterner frown and nodded. It would have saved a lot of time and energy if Tobirama had gone out and retired this point to the public even once instead of leaving the village and allowing Danzo to dispute the claim. ("If he's too dangerous to stay in office, why is he allowed to chose the successor?")
"Walk with me, Hiruzen."
As Tobirama strode forward, his scarlet eyes trailed through the dark like the reflection of a ruby. He patted Hiruzen on the shoulder as he moved, prompting him to stand up from his chair. Despite reiterating his title earlier, Third Hokage couldn't help but feel like a genin in Tobirama's presence. The two made their way over to the window, watching as its gentle clearness was tinged with the amber of the violent flames below.
"Look at this. It looks like something out of the warring states, doesn't it?" Tobirama said.
A man on the ground shouted something too faint to make it through the glass, before charging towards the circle of Jonin surrounding the towers base. Just as quickly as he stepped up, he was shoved down to the ground. It was as if his impact caused an earthquake, the other rioters visibly erupting in waves of aggression.
"Indeed it does." Hiruzen replied.
"Konoha cannot survive like this. Kumo and Kiri, however devastated, stand as united fronts while Suna and Iwa are the weakest nations on the planet. Our internal stability is key to our survival, Hiruzen- "
Crack!
Without warning, Hiruzen's fist came flying into Tobirama's face. The Second Hokage sprawled to the ground, face only fast enough to brace after he was already on the floor. Groans racking his body, he sat up onto a knee, shaking his head to try and brush off some of the ache running through it. He coughed and sputtered as he sat, the suddenness of the blow catching him completely off guard.
"Could you cool it with the militarism for even one second?!" Hiruzen yelled, fury surging through his gaze. "I never wanted any of this, Tobirama! If Danzo hadn't pushed back against me so hard it would have never gotten to this level, but he did! He did and he did it with your own rhetoric! You made the bed, fucked off and now I am expected to sleep in it- "
"Hiruzen, Hiruzen, Hiruzen- "Tobirama sputtered, still reeling from the punch.
The two's eyes met, one still shifting out due to hurt and the other blistering with rage. A silent agreement was made.
"Lord Third-" Tobirama said again.
Any frost in his voice had been melted with Hiruzen's blow, Tobirama's tone now distinctly regretful.
"-I do not intend to leave here tonight without cleaning up my mess, I assure you. I just have one request to make before I leave- "
Hiruzen wanted to bitterly note that he clearly wasn't here just to congratulate him but held back. Instead, he just nodded. Tobirama bowed his head and asked one thing.
"I ask that you appoint Danzo as your advisor."
Hiruzen's gaze shot back to the glass, not even willing to consider with the idea.
"Why even bother speaking?" He asked, bitterly.
A rush of energy filled Tobirama, as he lurched up to his feet.
"Hiruzen, please!"
This brough the Third's attention back, if only for a second. Those words put in the context of Tobirama speaking, may have initially seemed like a call to reason but the pained expression on his face illustrated an entirely different meaning. He was begging Hiruzen.
"We cannot allow Konoha to slip into division once more. Kiri's lust for war is satiated for now but they will inevitably regroup and start the war anew. We all know this to be true, it's just a matter of time."
"Do we all, or is it just you Tobirama?" Hiruzen asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Whatever the answer, we cannot allow Konoha to fall to division! It nearly killed us the first time, why on earth would you risk a rereun?"
"Who caused this division in the first place?!"
"I did!"
For the first time (observable) that evening, Tobirama's composure broke. A look of anger was sprawled out upon his features, yet it was not directed at anyone but himself.
"I was a fool then, always thinking my brother was too soft, always thinking I was smarter! All I did as his advisor was undermine him and now look where that took me! I left a stain on my family name, a stain on his family name. I got word of his condition intensifying and I ignored it. I was too much of a coward to face him even in his final hours because I knew he was disappointed in me! What kind of leader am I?!"
His last words became strained with sorrow, whispering into the night as tears welled up in his eyes. Just as quickly as they could form, Tobirama's eyes snapped shut, crushing them into loose fractals of regret that were quickly reabsorbed. The blue of the tears no longer stained his scarlet gaze as he refocused on Hiruzen.
"I see…so much of him in you, Lord Third. Not just his talent but his compassion, the compassion that only comes from walking out of the end of a war. Those who saw you on the battlefield called you a "god of shinobi", they were convinced you were Hagoromo's student- "
"Tobirama, I believe it was you who explained to me that flattery was only appreciated by those unworthy of it."
The Second Hokage paused for just a second.
"A god is only as good as his pantheon. Danzo is not just a unity pick, Hiruzen. He's the most cunning and ruthless politician I've ever seen. The way he speaks, the way he thinks, no other village can best him in negotiations. There's no better pick for advisor then him, so Lord Third- "
The foreign feeling of vulnerability bounced through his gaze.
"-Please. Allow him to write my wrongs."
A tense silence filled the room as Hiruzen attempted to make his face as blank as possible. From Tobirama's view, all he saw was a stern frown held stoically on his features. From Hiruzen's own, he was strongly contemplating one of the hardest choices he'd ever had to make. After what felt like days upon days of waiting, an answer was reached.
"Fine, but if he crosses me even once- "
"He won't. You've made the right choice, I assure you." Tobirama said, sounding as if a weight had been lifted from his chest. "I'll be going down to clear the protestors out. They're rabid, but loyal. I imagine I'll be able to diffuse them simply."
Hiruzen nodded, watching as Tobirama began to walk towards the exit. On part of him wanted to let him go, but an itching prickle at his throat begged him to shoot a few questions of. After all, it may be the last time he ever could…
"Two questions before you leave, Tobirama."
He did not verbalize any intent to answer. Instead, he simply stopped moving.
"When will we be meeting again?"
"Soon. I will write you a letter with proposed dates." Tobirama replied bluntly.
That was a lie. He was fucking off to the countryside again. It didn't matter, Hiruzen had a more important inquiry.
"Fifty-four thousand dead, majority of which were civilians. Was it worth it?"
Tobirama said nothing at first. Then, he tilted his head, showcasing his red eyes to Hiruzen for what would be the final time for a long, long while.
"It was fifty-three thousand, six-hundred and fifty-seven."
For another moment, he fell into a silent bout of contemplation.
"…and yes, it was."
With that, Tobirama turned away and left the room.
On almost every night that followed this for the next decade, Hiruzen would question whether he made the right choice appointing Danzo. Like a man playing tennis with only himself, he went back and forth on Tobirama's trustworthiness and how genuine he had been. The only reason he ever stopped was because the clock ran down. Eventually he found it too long ago to bother dwelling on it so constantly. However, some nights he couldn't help himself. It would crawl up to the forefront of his brain and nestle itself into his psyche just one more time.
He never quite managed to figure it out.
As the years rolled on, Tobirama's request seemed to have benefited Hiruzen more and more. It did not matter how much he thought about that night, him and Danzo proved to be one of the most lethal political combinations in the history of the Shinobi world. Whatever benefited Konoha in foreign affairs was jammed through, no matter how reluctant the other capitol villages were to agree. Danzo would tear through foreign ambassadors like a dog with a bone, none of the other nations being prepared to deal with his negotiation tactics. While he'd been determined to straighten his advisor out during the start of his reign, the years had taken their toll on Hiruzen's morals. He no longer put much thought into the "sudden changes of heart" that seemed to surround far too many of Danzo's foreign talks.
He had become even more focused on building Konoha's infrastructure back up after the events of the third war. The war was officially still ongoing of course, but it was beginning to fizzle out. Kiri's own populous seemed to be tiring of the constant battle and skirmishes were becoming less and less frequent. Kumo, who had never been an official combatant in the war anyway, had fully committed to their more isolationist policies and were no longer supplying any aid to Kiri. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for Konoha either. Wartime efforts were always devastating on both the populous and the economy and this one had been especially frustrating considering all the effort Hiruzen had put in to demilitarizing Konoha in the wake of the Second War. Keeping in mind that this war had not only be contested against Kiri (who was to Konoha's northeast) and at one-point Iwa (who was to their southwest) and Konoha was not in the best financial shape.
The effects of the wartime had been ingrained on Hiruzen both mentally and physically. His once plump, youthful features had deflated into the face shape of an upside-down triangle. His skin was starting to wrinkle and wither, perhaps faster than it should have. Brutal decision had been made in the war, some only signed off on by him, some devised by him. Either way, Hiruzen not only wore the heft of an older age but also the weight of knowing he sent people to die. Sometimes, it bore heavy on his mind. Others, it shamefully didn't faze him. Depending on his mood, he was either too compassionate or too ruthless. He'd already served a longer reign that most Kage were meant too, it was right about time to start seriously considering successors…
Aside from continuing to attempt the de-escalation of the war, he'd been dealing with something of a crisis on the home front. A serial kidnapper, and a good one at that. Whoever it was had been operating for years without being traced and looking at the victims, it was impossible to map out a geographical pattern. He honestly might have been able to keep slipping through the cracks had it not been for one thing. He was starting to go younger. Going through the list of missing persons potentially connected to the case, that pattern was obvious. It had started out with a few young adults, then began to lower until it reached the most recent one.
Niko Hebi, Age 4, missing for one week.
Hiruzen ran his finger over the report in front of him, trying to avoid looking at the photo of the girl that sat in its corner. Faces are what got to him, it's what Danzo always said.
Now, there was no official proof that this girl was connected to the cases but she fit the age gradient. However meticulous the kidnapper was, they seemed strangely fixated on age. Enough so that they were risking (unknowingly or not) blowing their cover. Smoke fluttered from the end of Hiruzen's pipe, it's fumes as tired and wispy as the sigh that escaped the Hokage's lips. He used to only smoke on special occasions but over the course of his reign, the pipe had gone from rarely-seen acquaintance to closely trusted ally.
Sighing yet again, he snapped the report shut and leaned back against his chair. It was becoming a tiring existence, that's for sure…
A shogi piece barked onto the board with more force than intended. Hiruzen had just moved lance had just snapped up Danzo's bishop, though either hardly cared.
"Any word on the disappearances?" Hiruzen asked.
"Yes. Lots actually."
"How much?"
"I think I have the culprit pinned down."
"Am I going to care about who it is?"
"Yes."
Hiruzen frowned, knowing exactly who Danzo had in mind.
"Well then, objective information first."
Danzo let out a sigh, obviously frustrated with Hiruzen's response but attempting to compose himself for the sake of the leads he'd spent weeks chasing.
"There's multiple patterns emerging in the victims, even accounting for possible cross-contamination with other kidnapping cases. The age has stopped descending directly, however, the culprit seems to get into different, quote-on-quote, "grooves". For example, the kidnapping of an eight-year-old will usually be followed up by the kidnapping of another eight-year-old. This indicates to me that he's disposing of them."
Hiruzen made a mental note to ignore the use of the word "he's" and instead followed up on the data at hand.
"Have we found any corpses yet?"
"No, nothing that substantial. However, I have good reason to believe the culprit is not killing for sport. Another pattern found is that he keeps the number of men and women snatched completely even. If a man is taken one night, his next victim will be a woman. Two men taken one week, another two taken the next."
"Any geographical pattern?"
"Yes, actually."
Danzo reached into his shirt pocket and retrieved a stack of papers, sliding them across to Hiruzen. One was large, displaying a technically drawn map of Konoha. Large, translucent red spots marked where victims were presumably taken, each zone containing at least one blue stripe. These stripes were labeled "sewer entrances".
"This seems like a stretch." Hiruzen said, noting how large and encompassing the red zones were.
"I would be inclined to agree had it not been for the last photo." Danzo replied.
Hiruzen stowed the map to the side, taking out the smaller photograph clipped behind it. On it was the bottom of a manhole cover, its metal grating stained with tinges of dried blood.
"He bit off a bit more than he could chew with this one, clearly." Danzo noted blankly.
With a feline quality to them, Hiruzen's eyes shot up to meet his advisors.
"I notice you seem to be using male pronouns? Slip of the tongue or…?" He asked, words dripping with implication.
Danzo looked away for a brief moment, dwelling on how best to approach this. His features shifted around a relaxed orbit, strings of sternness weaving themselves through his face before he finally settled upon a gaze so strict that it made up for his bandaged eye.
"It's Orochimaru."
Hiruzen forced a snort.
"Don't be ridiculous."
"I should be saying the same to you Hiruzen, I mean, look at the facts!" Danzo started, only to be silenced with a wave of fury from the Hokage.
"Facts?! A chart with half the fucking village circled and a picture of a sewer grate? Those are facts?!"
Danzo's brow furrowed in anger. He'd known it was going to come to this as soon as the theory started circling around his mind, but it didn't stop him getting just as angry as he knew he would.
"The defensiveness in your tone does little to help your arguments." He grunted, teeth gritting in an attempt to stay calm
"I'm sorry I'm unable to keep my decorum when you have just accused my studentof a mass kidnapping. A student who, by the way, you've always had it out for- "
That was the last straw. No longer was the room housing two respected government officials but instead two very angry old men.
"Oh, I've always had it out for him?!" Danzo yelled back.
"Yes!From the first time you saw him, you didn't like the look of him, I saw it in your eyes!"
"I'm sorry that I do not have your compassion Hiruzen, but when I hear of a boy, skin pale white like a fucking angel cake, emerging from the woods with no traceable lineage, I can't help but get a little, ever so tiny bit suspicious."
"So, you admit it?!"
Danzo shook his head, trying to regain his composure, before staring bullets back towards Hiruzen.
"Think rationally for one moment in your godforsaken life! This is no run of the mill killer. The patterns of the victims fits perfectly with human experimentation and each of them, no matter the age, occupation or rank vanished without a trace up until this sewer grate one. Tell me, Hiruzen, who in the village is both competent enough to run a years long kidnapping sting under the nose of the state as well as have a vested interest in experimentation?"
Hiruzen said nothing. He simply sat there with a scowl on his face.
"Oh, stop moping about!" Danzo yelled, insulted. "Weren't you the one who blabbered on about the will of fire, about the importance of the Hokage taking care of his people first and foremost?!"
Hiruzen still said nothing.
"This is your problem Hiruzen! You talk a big game about responsibility and compassion but what you do is form little, tiny relationships with people, not because you love them, but because you see yourself in them! You're a narcissist to your very fucking core and when those people implode, it scares you, because you know you are not the great leader Tobirama thought you were but a potential threat playing masquerade. This makes you indecisive and unable to act for the good of your people, look at Yugit- "
Before he could finish, Hiruzen had flickered just inches away from him, placing a finger down upon his lips. However, between the fury surging through Hiruzen's eyes and the force coursing through his finger, Danzo couldn't help but feel even the slightest bit of force could shatter his jaw.
"One. More. Word." He said, voice low enough that a shiver of fear ran down Danzo's back.
Hiruzen soon stood back up to his feet, pondering the subject with much deliberation. Not once during this process did Danzo see his face. It was only as he made up his mind that he turned back to his advisor, a calmer expression now woven through his features.
"I'll launch an investigation into the sewers. Meanwhile, Orochimaru will be placed under house arrest to see if the disappearances continue."
"Why house arrest instead of simply monitoring him?"
"Useless. He'd sniff out a bug the second it was placed. If he, in your wildest dreams, happens to be the culprit, he'd be able to prove his innocence with a clone or some other trick."
Danzo's face morphed into a scowl.
"I want him in T&I by the end of tonight"
"Ridiculous, there's not single piece of objective evidence linking back to him. I'll settle for some light questioning from ANBU but that's as far as we get, okay?"
A tense silence wormed itself between the two men, their eyes locking onto each other in a stressed standoff. That was until Danzo began to bluntly speak:
"Fine. Just give me your word that in a month from now, when that degenerate is locked up in the scorch, you will remember how you failed your village here today and you will take the time to rectify it."
Hiruzen stayed looking at him for a while. Then he turned around and left without a word.
Around two weeks passed after that day. Two weeks of Hiruzen and Danzo both obsessively tracking any potential disappearances. Two weeks of constant arguments and borderline tantrums from the both of them. Two weeks of nothing discovered in the sewer Two weeks of Orochimaru being kept under ANBU patrolled house arrest after being questioned.
Two weeks until, with house arrest still in effect, a missing person's report was submitted on a nine-year old girl.
"It's not him Danzo."
"I don't care how he did it, it's some trick! Do not let him off house arrest!"
The two bickered through the office, Danzo trailing Hiruzen's side as the Hokage strode over to his desk.
"You're being ridiculous."
"I am being rational! We can't find anything in the sewers after the bloody sewer grate was guaranteed to be linked to a case? What a joke! If you stopped being soft on him, we could've got a confession already! Put him into T&I this instant."
"It's not him."
"It's still someone and who else could it be?"
CRACK!
With that, Hiruzen slammed his hands on the table with enough force to shut Danzo up for the moment. He turned to the other man, eyes blistered with bubbles of annoyance and rage.
"Is there anything, anything in the world that could convince you he's innocent Danzo?! Anything?! Hell, I'll jump into my armor and go down in the fucking sewer myself if it makes you happy! I will do what your top ANBU before me couldn't and somehow find this mystical hideout in the sewer instead of going home to my family for the night, alright?"
The outburst was so sudden that Danzo could not muster the words to speak back. Instead, he offered a stern nod which was received with a loud sigh from Hiruzen.
"Order him off of house arrest too. If it's him, he might try and go back there at some point tonight. At the very least, he won't be expecting me."
Danzo nodded once more. However, before he could speak, both noticed a slight cracking sound from above. Two pairs of eyes shot towards the source in hopes of finding it, only to find nothing but the plain ceiling. Danzo quickly shot Hiruzen a raised eyebrow to which the Hokage quickly replied:
"House sound."
In truth, Hiruzen was slightly thankful for the conversation. There was a part of him that never felt satisfied unless he'd done the job himself and now he had an excuse to. Also, if he was truly being honest, the flaming fears that Danzo's constant smearing of Orochimaru had fanned had not been completely dissipated just yet. Hiruzen held his student in high-regard, maybe even the highest-regard. He may have been one of the smartest, most adept ninjas he'd ever seen both in the field and on the books. That was why, no matter what, he needed to analyze the scene himself.
Because deep down, no matter what evidence piled up in his favor, he knew Orochimaru still could've done it.
To Danzo's surprise, he requested no ANBU patrols ("They'd slow me down") and no back-up in general. Dressed in a grey suit of shinobi armor with green gauntlets, Hiruzen moved down to the foyer of the Hokage building. He expected this visit to be utterly devoid of interaction but unfortunately for him, two screaming voices became more and more audible as he approached the entrance room.
"How would you feel if you were in my shoes, huh?"
"I wouldn't fucking get involved with the creep in the first place!"
"Oh, just fuck off then your controlling piece of shit!"
"Controlling because I don't trust the sleaziest motherfucker this side of Kiri?!"
"He's my fucking teacher! If I said anything like this about Minato, you would never- "
Hiruzen couldn't help but frown as he found Kakashi Hatake and Anko Mitarashi bickering back and forth. Kakashi looked frustrated, even with the wall of his mask hiding his mouth whereas Anko looked about ready to break out into tears as she stomped the ground in rage.
"You two." Hiruzen barked, drawing both their attention to him. "Settle."
Kakashi complied but Anko most certainly did not settle. Instead, she bolted over to Hiruzen with large, angry eyes.
"Let him off house arrest right now, he didn't do anything! You know him, you know he wouldn't ever do something like-" She screamed, not giving a single shit about who she was talking to.
Had Hiruzen been in a less serious situation, he would have certainly consoled her but with an active focus already put on keeping himself calm, he didn't have the empathy in him.
"He's already been released, Mitarashi." He said bluntly.
The fury in Anko's gaze dissipated, replaced with the very portrait of wide-eyed shock.
"Oh." She said quietly, the sudden clogging of emotions leaving her ironically blank for the moment.
That was until Kakashi let out a frustrated groan.
"Great! Thanks for dragging me here Anko, good use of time wasn't it?"
It was in that moment that the emotional overload fully hit Anko. Her blank face decayed into a squinting sadness as overwhelmed tears began to well up in her eyes. She thrashed about as she turned on her heel, not aiming at anyone in particular but simply using it as an outlet for her rage.
"Fuck you. Seriously, fuck you!" She screamed, pulling the collar of her coat over her face as she stormed towards the door.
Kakashi let out another noise of frustration, though his features noticeably softened. He trailed behind Anko, his tentative jog coming in stark contrast to her furious stamping. There voices continued to clash, most of it being unintelligible to an uncaring Hiruzen. He had bigger problems at this point…
Why did it have to be the goddamn sewers?
This sentiment echoed through Hiruzen's thoughts as he trudged along the walkway. The sewers were cramped and utterly devoid of light, drenched in the smells of dirty water and rusted metal. A large black scroll rested on his back; its tips capped by golden bronze. Hiruzen held it high, hoping to keep it from getting muddied by the occasional rising of the water. It felt empty down here, the only sounds being the running of the main waterway and his own footsteps echoing away. Well, that and the clanking of his armor as he walked. Honestly, he had no idea how he managed to wear this so casually in his younger years, it was fucking heavy.
It had been three hours since he'd started his expedition and even checking every crevasse and catacomb he could think of, Hiruzen had been unable to find the hideout. Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved a folded copy of the sewer system map. A quick seal from his left hand sent a flame dancing upon his fingertip, illuminating the contents of the map like a torch. He'd gone over the most hidden spots with a neon-green highlighter, marking twenty spots in total. So far, he'd explored eighteen. Should these latter two not turn up any results, Hiruzen would be tempted to just get the entire ANBU occupying the sewers so that the kidnapper physically could not return to his hideout without bumping into any of them.
Regardless, he trudged along to one of the last marked spots. It was deeper into the sewers than the others had been, covered by another set of tunnels along with a strongly bolted door. Hiruzen couldn't help but curse his old age as he wound down the lever-knob of the door, feeling his back begin to strain. Before he really started to feel anything though, the door clicked open and uncovered a small, cramped passageway. It was not particularly long, only a few meters or so but there was a certain claustrophobia that put Hiruzen on-edge. Long brass pipes extended along the walls, folding over themselves into intricate patterns. Occasionally, he thought he could catch a slimy, almost cracking sound coming from their insides but he dismissed it as nerves.
Eventually, he made it to the end of the room, opening the second door and emerging into a clearing. As soon as he entered the room, he had an unfortunate realization. Aside from the slab he stood upon, he entire brick walkway had been forcefully removed. In its place sat an unfitting stretch of cracked brick and chipped cement. More importantly, this meant the waterway was the only path ahead if he were to reach the end of this opening
"Getting too old for this shit- "Hiruzen grumbled, rolling the legs of his pants up.
Splash!
Water bubbled around his legs as he descended upon the stream, occasional waves slamming against his legs. It was dark up ahead but due to the water movement, he assumed there must be a sewer opening at the head of this path. He bitterly trudged forward, aggravated by the feeling of dirty sewer water running along his legs. The scroll was just about balanced on top of his shoulders at this point.
It was a long stretch of nothing but brick walls and rusted metal pipe, and that didn't seem to be changing as Hiruzen made it to the end of the path. A frustrated groan bubbled to his throat but it was swiftly silenced by a wisping sensation at his feet. It was like the water was gripping at his legs, attempting to push him backward. The sensation was light, so light that if Hiruzen hadn't rolled up his pants legs, he may have missed it. Something in his brain told him to let it go, but another part of him was on-edge enough that it noted this as a crucial detail. Weaving hand seals, Hiruzen gazed over at the sewer opening.
"Earth release: rock wall." He muttered, erecting a large chunk of stone in front of the hole.
The flow of water was stopped for now, though Hiruzen was mindful to make his experiment quick.
"Water release: ocean parting."
The water that had been previously clinging to his body began to run away from him, splitting into two walls that surrounded an empty patch of land. However, despite the water now fleeing from his body, Hiruzen still felt the light, tingling grip of the water below.
Such a subtle mistake for such a complex genjutsu. He thought.
He didn't even bother with a chakra flush. Whatever this genjutsu was, it would have had to be a conduit genjutsu. That is, a genjutsu stored within a pre-existing item and released from within. It was not typically practical, at least not at this scale, so whoever had pulled this off must have had extensive knowledge of both genjutsu and sealing arts. That was of little concern for him now though, as his main question lay on how to break it. A chakra flush did little to help, not that he thought it would. This was too complex for normal methods to break. His beady old eyes darted around the area, looking for a vulnerability of some sort.
Then he realized.
The water.
A complex hand seal filled his hand with a tough, stretchy bubble.
"Water release: life preserver."
He brought the bubble to his mouth, shoving it down his throat with a surprising quickness. Releasing both his rock wall and the tided water, he waited for it to yet again surround him before throwing himself down to the bottom of the waterway. He didn't even bother to hold his breath, eyes locking shut from the stinging of the dirty water. In all honesty, he worried more about what he was going to smell like then the drowning.
The genjutsu had obviously not immobilized him, or else he would not have been able to feel the lighter water pulling at his legs. It was meant to disguise something and it had already been proven that the water was a vulnerability. What better way to deter someone from breaking it then forcing them to drown themselves to escape? Rather ingenious, if he was being honest.
Soon, the grip of the water began to take it's hold on Hiruzen, running down his throat and forcing gargles from his mouth. He fought off the subconscious urge to suck inward, keeping the drowning going for as long as he possibly could before finally, his conscious began to go murky.
Pop!
Just before he passed out, the bubble in his throat imploded into a missile of air, coursing through his lungs and rejuvenating the autonomy in his body. With a gasp, Hiruzen shot upward out of the water, sending flecks of dirty water flying all over the place. After taking a bit to regain his bearings, Hiruzen's gaze shot over to the path of wall that had corresponded to the water sensation.
Now, instead of a block of brick, the wall now housed a large, circular brass door. The genjutsu had been broken.
Hiruzen marched over to the door, looking over the note pasted on its center.
A sealing lock. He mused, noting the complexity of the sealing language that ran over the paper was.
It was masterful. Useless when facing him, but masterful nonetheless.
"Wind release: grip of gale." He said, snapping a palm back.
Tendrils of strong, roaring wind shot forward, wedging themselves into the door. Then, with a crank of his hand, Hiruzen pulled back, ripping the door from its hinges and tossing it aside.
Snap!
Immediately, the sound of snaping wires resounded through the sewer. A barrage of green-tipped darts shot forward, as fast as bullets yet still not fast enough for Hiruzen Sarutobi. Instead of his flesh, they were imbedded in a suddenly sprouting pillar of rock, some falling to the ground whereas others stayed jammed in to the stone. With a few quick seals, Hiruzen tapped the back of the stone pillar and sent it flying forward into the room, using it as a scout for more traps. However, whoever had rigged this place up seemed to think that the previous snares had been good enough cover, as the pillar yielded no pushback. Quashing any nerves bubbling up inside him, Hiruzen moved forward towards the opening, equal parts eager and nervous to see what it had inside.
Before he could even comprehend what he was seeing, the smell of blood rushed into his nose. In that instant, he thought he'd gotten a nosebleed. However, in reality, it had just been the stench of death that radiated through the room. Using his forefingers to plug his nose, Hiruzen finally began to analyze what he was seeing. However, this room hosted had renovated it massively, transforming walls of solid brick into a spacious yet tucked away hideout. To the left sat a number of different rooms, each guarded by a basic door and varying in size. To the right sat a sewer hole, sending water flowing down onto an elevated stream which in turn connected to the one outside.
That explains the strange water sensation. Hiruzen thought.
However, that was not what he was focusing on. Rows of large drying rack-like beds, all covered with tarps had been strategically placed over the river. Judging by the red stains that covered the tarps blue plastic, Hiruzen guessed that this was to wash away the blood of the bodies that lay there. Disgust coursed through his mind, only intensifying as the smell of decay became stronger and stronger the more he moved through the room. However, the more disgusted he grew, the stronger his conviction became. Without hesitation, he stomped over to one of the tarps and threw it off.
A wave of nausea hit him.
Sitting on one of the beds was the same little girl he'd seen in the report. Niko Hebi sat there, once sunny eyes, or more accurately, sunny eye now lifeless. Her skin had gone from a rosy complexion to a wooden, white color that matched her dead, grey hair. The wooden "skin" was stretched across her face, covering one of her eyes in a disgustingly stretched extension of flesh.
Hiruzen refused to display any emotion except a stern frown but made sure to place the tarp back over her quickly.
It was time to check out the other rooms.
He walked over to the closest one, grabbing its knob with a slight hesitation. Giving it enough of a pull for it to click open, he swung it open. Luckily, he was not greeted by another round of darts but a room of pitch-black darkness. Eyes squinting from the sudden light shift, he grabbed around for the light switch, eventually flicking its smooth plastic and bringing illumination to a single bulb.
Fwoosh.
As the dull glow of the light overtook the room, Hiruzen took in the sights. It was messy, shelves stuffed full of books and binders and floors covered in paper and pencil led. The desks sat piled high with stationary, papers and books that couldn't fit onto the shelves, while a large map of Konoha's sewer system overlooked them from the wall. Hiruzen moved forward, grasping the switch of a desk lamp and flicking it onward. Its lights shone forward, putting focus on a leather-bound journal. Suppressing any fear in his hands, he flicked the page open.
Journal Entry #445 (Correspond Lab Report 13-A Phase 2)
The squirming of the younger ones was hilarious to start with but is becoming annoying fast. Might invest in homebrewing anesthesia-
Without so much as a second of though, Hiruzen threw the book to the side in fury. He recognized the handwriting. It was Orochimaru's, without a shadow of a doubt.
Time seemed to stood still as Hiruzen felt a pit in his stomach open up like a black hole. With Danzo in his ear for the last few weeks, he'd expected his paranoid ramblings to take some root in his mind yet he could not pretend as if he had expected his student of decades, the student he'd seen so much of himself in, to be capable of committing something like this. His mind raced, trying to translate this cocktail of anger, rage, sadness, loss into something understandable yet it came up with nothing.
Eventually, Hiruzen managed to tear himself back to reality. A reality were his precious student had been the culprit of depraved human experimentation. He stormed out of the room, fury bubbling through his gaze, but as he rushed through the door, he noticed something. The big brass entranced he'd torn up had been covered over with a layer of stone chunks. Instincts primed from anger; his head immediately snapped to the side where he found him sitting. Sitting cross legged on the ceiling, with his face twisted into a smirk.
"Hello, sensei." Orochimaru greeted with a cute little wave.
Hiruzen said nothing, simply staring daggers into Orochimaru's serpentine gaze. Then, with a curt nod, he said:
"Orochimaru." He replied, voice purposely devoid of any emotion.
Orochimaru's bottom lip folded over itself, as if he were stopping himself from laughing.
"Someone's grumpy today."
Hiruzen was not interested in small talk but, despite the fact that every fiber of his being was screaming at him to tear his students head off, he was not entirely ready to deescalate. No matter how selfish it was, he needed answers.
"Impressive genjutsu you have out the front. It almost had me fooled." He said, the deep frown on his face not matching his complimentary tone.
Even with the tension in the room, Orochimaru was a glutton for praise. The disgustingly smug smirk on his lips intensified even further as he grinned down at his teacher.
"I know! It's one of the best tricks I've ever come up with, isn't it? I replaced three of the bricks in the little hallway area that leads to this place with seal-conducting replicas. Then, I used a sympathetic, aqua-activating sealing ink to seal the genjutsu and make a little stamp on the bricks so that it left a mark on the bottom of your sole when stepped on. Then, I removed the walkway so you had to go into the water, which forced the activation of the genjutsu. Brilliant, isn't it?!"
Hiruzen said nothing back. Instead, he cast an analyzing eye over Orochimaru. While the boy had always been arrogant, that arrogance floated below the surface, only fully emerging under stress or ecstasy. He had never seen him as outwardly narcistic as he was now, practically applauding his own genius.
"Now, what gave it away?" He asked, inquisitively.
"You forgot to cover up the flow of this stream." Hiruzen replied, pointing to the room's localized sewer.
Not shedding his smile for a minute, Orochimaru slapped a hand over his eyes and began to shake his head.
"Ah! Such a simple mistake and yet still somehow the ANBU failed to uncover it! Maybe you should keep that in mind the next time you and Mr. Shimura are balancing the budget?"
The pit in Hiruzen's stomach only grew larger as he watched Orochimaru cackle to himself. An Orochimaru this expressive, this animated, usually only came out under intense conditions yet he did not seem awfully stressed here. In fact, he seemed to be revealing in the distain of his former teacher.
"How'd you kill the one while under house arrest?" He asked, gritting his teeth in a bid to suppress the rage within him.
Orochimaru shrugged as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Got a snake to do it. The smaller ones aren't particularly intelligent but they understand basic instructions well enough. I simply ordered them to silently snatch someone if I hadn't already done so in two weeks. Worked well enough for covering missions."
"What about me? Why did you come in here when you saw the door had been tossed aside? Surely your time would have been better spent trying to flee from Konoha?"
Orochimaru's smirk deepened, eyes widening like balloons at a birthday party.
"Welllll, that's just the thing, sensei-" He mused, dropping down from the ceiling and onto the ground.
"As soon as I got implicated even slightly, I knew you'd find it. You were more than capable and you care far too much about your precious student to let such an accusation go without researching it yourself. Now, admittedly, I thought you'd take a teeny-bit longer so I had planned to stock up on my research- "
Hiruzens eyes shot to the room he'd just been in, a movement which was immediately made useless.
"Don't bother, the important stuffs backed up-" He explained quickly before seamlessly segueing back into his ramblings. "-Then, I'd write a little manifesto, maybe a few pages long, and flee the country as a missing nin. However, you beat me here. Now, I will still flee the country as a missing nin but the assassination of the Third Hokage will act as my manifesto."
Despite one of his closest allies threatening to assassinate him, Hiruzen's composure did not break for a second. Instead, he asked one final question.
"Why are you doing this?"
Orochimaru's smirk did not waver but his brow furrowed, almost as if he was puzzled by Hiruzen's question. He paused for a second before manically thrusting his arms out.
"Don't you see sensei? I'm shedding the shackles of your weak-willed ideology and becoming the person you should've been. See, when I was young, I truly, trulyadmired you. Not because of your conviction or your compassion or any of the guff you tried to present to the public but because of your brain. You truly were a god of shinobi, nobody on the planet could do the things you could do. But somewhere you got complacent. Somewhere you started blabbering on about the will of fire instead of the will of man. You became the Hokage and it turned you into a contradiction, because you cared so much about so many people yet were forced to send them to their deaths for the good of the village. That hypocrisy ate you alive, didn't it?"
The question shot out into the air like a bullet, Orochimaru allowing time for it to sit in Hiruzen's mind.
"Now, look at me. One of the greatest minds Konoha, scratch that, the world has to offer and I've used it for the actual benefit of mankind. I never lost the plot, I rewrote it. The ninjutsu, genjutsu, sealing techniques I've invented here are breaking the limits of the Shinobi. In just a few years, I have made greater advancements than most countries have in decades, and at what cost? Nothing. Nothing because I live in reality, sensei. You look out over Konoha and see thousands of different faces but me, I see two. Predators and Prey. Those are the only roles that can exist in the ninja world. Those lying dead on the racks right now? Pigs to the slaughter, unfit for the ninja world. They are mere stepping stones for me as I stand here in front of you, crowned victorious as the apex predator of shinobi!'
Orochimaru raised his arms to the sky, swirls of pure mania coursing through his snake-like features. In that moment, Hiruzen reasoned, he must have truly thought it was true. Unfortunately, that illusion was one easily shattered. Easily shattered by only a chuckle.
As Hiruzen laughed, Orochimaru's frenzied smile tilted into an equally manic frown. Soon, Hiruzen shook off the laughter and met his gaze, face morphing into a solemn frown.
"You're no apex. You're a child Orochimaru, and an arrogant one at that. One of the first lesson one learns is to respect authority yet you, standing here on fragile foundations and skinny fists, really sees yourself fit to box with God? I fucked entire Kiri camps in my sleep, I'm not afraid of a foot soldier and when you find yourself lying bloodied and on the floor, struck down by divine intervention, I want you to reflect on this moment and realize you are the exact arrogant, insecure fool that Jiraiya always thought you were."
As if he'd just been smacked over the face, Orochimaru's face twisted into a deep, deep scowl. No longer were his eyes goading and gleeful, but insecure and frustrated. Shrugging, his gaze darted to the ground.
"Is that so?" He asked.
Fwoosh!
The sound of sudden movement rushed from Hiruzen's back, his body almost immediately snapping around to meet it. It was too late however, as a small snake had already sunk its fangs into the paper of his large scroll. Its scales turned to paper as it shed its skin, revealing its outer layer as an intricate bit of sealing paper. Complex symbols seemingly spread from the paper to the outside of the scroll, painting it'd black exterior in a pattern of inky locks.
"Enma was always fucking annoying." Orochimaru grunted, smirk returning albeit with an even more psychotic quality to it.
Hiruzen grunted in frustration, batting the skinless snake away with the scroll before turning back to an already casting Orochimaru.
"Fire release: Flare Forest!" He yelled, puffing out his cheeks before shooting a sphere of deep crimson forward like a cannon ball.
It floated along secularly for a second, condensed warmth heating the room up from its sheer presence. Then, without warning, it exploded into a towering monolith of fire. Everything in front of Orcohimaru was encased with flames thick enough to pass as walls, dancing and sizzling in a chaotic melting pot of heat.
"Haha…Hahahahaha!" The snake sannin laughed, giggles intensifying as he watched the fire encase his old teacher.
However, before long, the deafening sound of scorching was met with a backchannel of sweeping wind. In the blink of an eye, Orochimaru's overwhelming festival of flame was being sucked into the palm of a dashing Hiruzen, blades of wind swallowing the fire like a pesky poltergeist.
"What?" Orochimaru barked, taken off-guard.
They were the last words he got out before his teacher flickered towards him, palm outstretched with flame sizzling from it's base.
"Fire Release: Palm of the Sun God!"
The flame that Orochimaru had spat out condensed into a perfect sphere of orange within Hiruzen's hand. Without a crack of his elbow, he slammed it into Orochimaru's face, sending the man flying to the side in an imploding comet of flame. Orochimaru found himself slammed into the room opened earlier, flying with enough force to smash anything in his path outright.
By the time he gained his bearings, the burns had subsided and his face was marked with stains of raw red. Ignoring the heat for the moment, his gaze shot to the doorway to see his teacher slowly marching towards him, form merely a silhouette thanks to hard light constant. With a click of his lips, he transmuted his tongue into a blade of pure steel, shooting it forward with the speed of a bullet.
Slinkt!
The blade pierced through Hiruzen's stomach, sending the dopamine of successes through Orochimaru's system. The next thing sent through his system was bolts of electricity as the lightning clone in front of him dissipated into a conductive haze.
"Predictable." Hiruzen shouted, grabbing Orochimaru's "tongue" from the ground and roughly yanking him forward.
Orochimaru's body limply rolled across the ground, shooting right into Hiruzen's knee. His skull echoed from the blow, tongue retracting into his mouth as he was sent rolling into the sewer water. Before he'd even been able to get his breath, his hands went into seals, eyes darting above to get a view on Hiruzen.
"Water release: water dragon jutsu!" Orochimaru panted.
The sewer water rippled from his request, forming itself into a mighty dragon and darting at Hiruzen. The Third's expression stayed as steely as ever.
"Fire release: Dragon Tamer." He said, palms becoming coated in a thin layer of flame.
Just before the dragon could collide with his chest, Hiruzen caught its head between his hands, steam trickling off it from the contact. The enormous creature thrashed and rolled around in his grasp but was unable to even hope of escape before Hiruzen crushed its head into a muddy puddle beneath his feet. Then, his eyes darted back towards the water-bound Orochimaru.
"Lightning release: Wrath of the Sky!" He called, weaving signs.
A clap of his hands sent a pillar of lightning crashing down upon the stream. Orochimaru let out a pained screech as volts upon volts of lightning coursed through his system, slashing through nerve and bone as they stung down to his very core. It was thankfully short but even after the last bolt had left his body, their echoes continued to ring through his system. He felt completely numb.
"Water Release: Water Prison Jutsu!"
Before he'd even hoped to recover from the last attack, Orochimaru was submerged in a ball of the very water that surrounded him. Air was stripped from his lungs while the weight of the stream was pressed down against his body, pained gags erupting from Orochimaru's mouth. Confined to the whims of the sewer, all he could see was Hiruzen glaring angrily up at him as the ball levitated to the ceiling.
"This is the power you were willing to kill for?! This is the apex of a shinobi I guess I'm not as good of a teacher as I think I am!" He jeered, finally letting his rage pore out.
Though there was immense pain coursing through Orochimaru's body, he still knew his surroundings. He raised a hand to the wall behind him, desperately weaving hand seals in a bid to reach the wave-guarded stone.
"F-f-fire release: devil's horns." His voice rippled through the confines of the prison.
Horns of flame shot erupted from the wall, piercing the water prison and sending it splattering around the room. Orochimaru slammed against the now empty sewer way, any blunt force trauma seemingly ignored as he clawed through desperate hand signs.
"Earth release: Entrance release!" He cried, slamming a palm down against the ground.
With that, a chunk of the earth split open, creating a ramp for Orochimaru to slide down into the abyss.
His last resort, a concealed exit.
Realizing its user had exited, the jutsu made quick work mending itself up but not before Hiruzen leapt forward, putting further dents in the chunk of brick and earth.
"Not so fast." He grunted, slipping in through the exit.
He plunged into the darkness, wind blowing in his face as he darted forward. This was an underground area Orochimaru had clearly spent time terraforming, massive walls of stone overlooking a drop down to a square of light. As the two-ninja plummeted, Orochimaru turned his back to the ground and slammed his hands into seals.
"Earth Release: Crushing Pillars!" He yelled shrilly.
The earth around Hiruzen rumbled and shook, plunging forward in an attempt to crush the man whole. They were too slow however, the Third Hokage clapping into his own seal before they could hope to reach him.
"Wind release: Godspeed!"
As if pushed by an invisible higher power, Hiruzen shot out of the pillars grasp and landed on the wall. His eyes darted back towards Orochimaru before he popped off another godspeed and charged towards his student. No matter the jutsu though, he could not make up for the difference in plummet speed, with Orochimaru landing seconds before he did.
Still gasping for air as he landed within the grasp of an intentionally cast wind pillow, Orochimaru limply rolled onto his feet and took off into a sprint down the enclave's hallway. Hiruzen landed seconds after, looking forward at the torch-lit stretch of land and taking off after Orochimaru. Unfortunately, it was hardly going to be that easy. As he dashed forward, Orochimaru reached into his pockets and retrieved a kunai. Without slowing down, he slashed through a piece of string that hung from the walls.
Ruuumble!
The sound of cracking string and falling earth filled the hall, Hiruzen looking up to find walls of pure stone falling down upon him like raindrops in a storm. They were heavy as well as meticulously placed, intending to create blockades in Orochimaru's wake. While he himself had more than enough distance to reach the end of the room before they caught up to him, the same could not be said for Hiruzen. He had a decent enough lead on the walls but they were gaining on him fast.
Smash!
Hiruzen cursed in anger as he felt a slab just about take the edges of his hair off. Thinking quickly, he slid down upon the ground and weaved his hands through the godspeed combination, taking off like a rocket along the floor. Soon, he managed to regain his lead on the bricks, rolling forward onto his feet…
Slinkt!
"Fuck!" He cursed, as Orochimaru threw a kunai down into his breast.
Just like that, his work was undone, a stone slab falling just inches from his back while another enclosed from his front brought a wall of stone to his view of Orochimaru. There was only one thing he could do now…
Hiruzen draped his body into position, steam rising through his grey armor like it was a wok. Soon, those vapors morphed into pockets of flame which covered the outside of his body like scales. Fire and light constructed danced along his brow, constructing a flaming helm upon his head like that of a dragon.
"Fire Release: Scales of the Inferno!" He screamed, before charging forward with all his might.
Orochimaru, after hitting the kunai shot, had been confident he'd seen the last of Hiruzen. He hadn't stopped running of course, why would he want to be crushed by his own trap? However, he had mostly considered his teacher a nonfactor when he began to hear it.
Smash!
Smash!
Smash!
The sound of stone cracking like hard candy, underscored by the howls of flame. He couldn't help but turn around, looking on in not fear, but astonishment as the destruction grew closer and closer.
"Orochimaru!" Hiruzen shouted, skin burning from the armor of flame and body pounding from the impact of the rocks.
Orochimaru's gaze shot forward once more. He was close, so close to the end. However, he could feel the heat prickling against the back of his neck, he could hear the stone shattering like glass. Could he make it, was the big question in his mind. Feeling the roar of the dragon become unescapable, he threw his head to the side and leapt backwards, noting the one last barrier about to fall between him and Hiruzen.
Hiruzen leapt forward, head obscured by the helm of the dragon and body obscured by flames. The only way Orochimaru knew it was him was the thunder of his voice, so loud and defiant that even the storm of fire could not silence him. In that moment, Orochimaru was not facing his teacher anymore. He was facing something not of this plane. This was no man. This was a deity.
Plonk!
The final barrier of stone fell between them, obscuring their eyeline for just a second. Orochimaru braced, expecting the divide to shatter like all the previous ones had. It didn't. Instead, it wobbled forward and squashed him against the ground. There sat Hiruzen, flames dissipated and steam flying from his reddened skin. He looked upon the stone slab with a stern gaze, nerves too inflamed for him to feel if he'd crushed Orochimaru. For the first time in what felt like forever, there as a moment of piece. Then, before the old man could react, a desperate hand phased through the stone and gripped onto his helmet. With a tug of his wrist, Orochimaru slammed Hiruzen's head onto the wall with enough force to send him flying back against the ground.
Hiruzen groaned as echoes of earth resonated through his head, shuffling to his feet as Orochimaru grasped the large chunk of stone.
"Earth release!" He hissed, transmuting its smooth surface into a spiky battering ram.
With another set of seals, he sent it flying towards Hiruzen. However, he paid the wall of spears no mind, thrusting his fist out with a grumble of:
"Earth Release: shatter point!"
The imposing wall shattered yet again, feeble chunks splattering by Hiruzen's feet. He dropped to the ground quickly, shrugging off the exhaustion wracking his body and weaving hand seals like his life depended on it.
"Earth Release: Arm of Essence!" He yelled, sending the discarded hunks of stone crawling over his arm in a gauntlet formation. "Earth Release: Autonomous Constraints!"
The remaining chunks morphed into shackles, hovering into the air and shooting towards Orochimaru. He tried to dodge for a few moments only for it to be futile as one of the stone arcs caught his leg. From there, the rest constrained his limbs and sent him flying back towards Hiruzen, who geared up his earth-clad fist.
Bang!
Orochimaru howled in pain as the gauntlet smashed into his face, shackles exploding off of him and reforming over Hiruzen's other arm. Gritting his teeth, Hiruzen lurched over his grounded student and began to unload.
Bang!
Bang!
BANG!
Shot after shot connected with Orochimaru's face, tearing skin and drawing blood.
"How could you be such a fool?! I loved you like I did my own son! I gave you a home when you had nowhere else to go and this is how you repay me? This is how you repay the village that nursed you and made you who you are? By killing its people from your own sick gain?!"
Hiruzen stopped his assault for the moment, waiting for a response that was sure to never come. Orochimaru was conscious but his eyes were locked shut, whether that be intentional or by bruising, Hiruzen couldn't tell. He'd made a mess of the man below him, Orochimaru's pale skin coated in rivers of red and purple. Slowly, he began to reopen his gaze though he looked as if he didn't know where he was.
And in that moment, neither did Hiruzen. Because in that moment, just for a second, he did not see the broken, battered psychopath lying beneath him. He saw the same scared, wide-eyed boy from that cold winter night. He saw his perfect, pristine student who could do no wrong. He saw anything other than what was lying in front of him.
Shallow tears streamed down his eyes.
"Why did you make me do this?" He asked, voice breaking with sorrow.
"S-s-sensei…." Orochimaru muttered.
His voice was strained and gummy, due to him missing several teeth. It sounded like he was eating his own throat. Hiruzen, face overtaken by grief, looked him in the eye.
Then a tiny little snake crawled out from his back, fangs tipped with blood.
"You talk too much." He hissed.
He rolled over onto his stomach, flipping Hiruzen onto the ground next to him. During the time Hiruzen had spent wailing on him, the snake had crawled upon his back, biting a summoning circle into it. In a matter of moments, the bloody symbol turned to ink and, in an explosion of smoke, an armor-plated snake burst out from the ground.
"No!" Hiruzen cursed, eyes becoming focused yet again.
But it was too late. The snake swallowed Orochimaru whole and dug back into the ground with such speeds that Hiruzen couldn't possibly pursue it. He rushed over to the hole left in it's wake, desperately hoping that he could somehow terraform it, somehow turn back time but he couldn't.
Orochimaru was gone and he'd murdered Hiruzen's precious student along with him.
And so there the Third Hokage sat for the next ten or so minutes. Alone and covered in the blood of the boy he met all those nights ago.
It's all a blur to Hiruzen. The flashing lights of the cameras, the desperate cries of the press. He tips the Hokage cap to them and turns into the building. This does nothing to help his lucidity. Sensations merge together. The perfume of his wife, the warmness of Orochimaru's handshake, and the dredged-up hangover of the 15 th shot Jiraiya shouted him.
In this moment, he is happy, surrounded by the ones he loved most. He is The Third Hokage.