answers to reviewers questions or statements:
Kai: Pītā and Satsuki will start to somewhat get along after the mission to the Outpost in the Land of Snow. By the time Naruto and Sakura run into after the whole incident at Tenchi Bridge, they'll be a couple. Bit of a toxic and dysfunctional couple with plenty of physical, emotional and mental abuse between one another, but a couple none the less.
War Sage: From how it's implied it sounds like that Sasuke and even Kimimaro's body's may have been compatible enough for Orochimaru for him to stay in their bodies far longer than the standard three years. He also over the years could've been implanting drugs and various other body modifications to Sasuke as a way to try and increase the duration he could use the Uchiha's body. Also it's possible that Orochimaru's jutsu, Living Corpse Reincarnation, allows him to carry over any bloodlines the body had to his new one, increasing his power to a degree and allowing him to retain the jutsus he's learned or even developed with the previous body. I mean, what would be the point of getting such powerful Kekkei Genkai users like Kimimaro, Sasuke and Guren to be possible hosts for himself if he could only use their bloodlines for three years at best. It will be something that is brought up on a few occasions cause I feel like it should've at least once or twice.
CRUDEN: Yes.
The Storm Master 567: It's not Sage mode exactly, but it's pretty darn close at the moment.
demonic hellfire: Low, she dead.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or Naruto characters seen, mentioned or used.
Traveling from Oto no Kuni all the way to Yuki no Kuni when you were a member of a 'village' that was more or less on Konoha and Suna's shit list for the deaths of their respective Kage wasn't as difficult as Pītā assumed it would be.
Granted it helped that both villages took a helluva beating during the invasion and lost a good deal of manpower and thus limited their shinobi's deployments, but Pītā was still expecting to possibly run into someone from either Suna or Konoha after recent events with Satsuki's betrayal. Regardless, the young Oto chūnin was able to make remarkable progress towards the northern coasts. Though he was willing to admit he was eager to reach Yuki no Kuni as fast as possible so as to lessen any chance of annoying Orochimaru.
When the fallen Sannin gives you a task, it's best to get it over with as fast as humanly possible.
"*Sigh* Why couldn't he give this to his little Uchiha lapdog?" Pītā groaned as he sped through the branches of a large evergreen forest along Yu no Kun's northern coast, slowly making his way to Shimo no Kuni where he could book passage to Yuki.
The air was starting to grow a little cold as he slowly made his way north, and every once in a while, Pītā would catch a glance of the ocean in the distance through the branches and notice a rather large and foreboding looking storm a few miles off the coast.
He doubted it'll hit him before he finds some shelter but it meant that he'll be in for a cold night unless he can find a inn to stay. And if he does, hope he doesn't run into any shinobi from a rival village that might recognize his allegiance to Orochimaru. Which was sadly a very large list given the Sannin's reputation and actions against the other villages throughout his long life.
"Would it kill the guy to maybe make nice with someone aside from himself?" Pītā muttered as he leaped across a small clearing and landed on a heavy branch, causing it to shake from the sudden added weight before he took stock of his surroundings.
He could just make out the small hills and mountains that mark the boarders of Yu no Kun and Shimo no Kuni and how the trees further north were covered in snow. Pītā mentally shivered at the sight, knowing that as cold as it'll be in Shimo, Yuki would be a lot worse.
"Kami, please let my damn heating seals work up there" Pītā sighed with a shake of his head and looked around for signs of a inn or some sort of settlement he could take refuge in for the night.
It seemed that some sort of deity was favoring Pītā, or more accurately pitying him, since he made out what appeared to be a several story inn only a mile ahead. The sight of lights around it indicated that it was in use and based on the small trial of steam he could see coming from the establishment, they also supported a hot spring to bath in. Eager to get out of the slowly chilling air and rest for a few hours, Pītā leaped clear of the tree branch he was on and slightly altered his path towards the inn rather than the boarder.
About an hour later, after acquiring a room for the night and scheduling a dip in the inn's spring, Pītā was casually sitting in the inn's main lounge, enjoying a cup of tea while he worked on one of his smaller spider puppets. He left most of his gear in his room, along with his mask, goggles and flak, leaving him dressed in only a black shirt and pants and his facemask, though he made sure to keep a few concealed kunai and senbon with him, just in case.
'Though I doubt I'll need any of those' Pītā thought as he looked up from his disassembled puppet to examine the lounge's only other occupants.
Eight people, all of them women, with no signs of any sort of training or a hidden arsenal to ruin his day if push came to shove. When Pītā first arrived and saw that the spring was occupied by almost all women, he assumed it was a woman's only spa/inn before the innkeeper explained that it just happen to be a night when all of the inn's patrons were female.
Very attractive ones at that, they all seem to be in their late teens to early twenties and possessed some rather voluptuous figures that Pītā swore even Orochimaru might find himself distracted.
"Who am I kidding? He'd probably just cut them up to study their genes or something..." Pītā mumbled as he stared at some of the women, all dressed in rather provocative robes, before returning his attention to his puppet less they glance over and notice his attention being on them.
It wasn't very large construct compared to his others, only a little bigger than his hand, though it was loaded with a dozen of Pītā's naturally produced venom, though with even greater potency. A single senbon could drop a rampaging elephant if the occasion called for it, and it has, several times in the past. Add the fact that it's surface was covered in small rice grain sized reflective shards that work in tandem with a few camouflaging seals incorporated into the puppet's woodwork to make it near invisible, Pītā could cause quite a bit of damage with the small puppet.
Or use it to scout ahead and gather information, whichever situation arose first-
KRASSHHH!
Pītā glanced up from his work at the sound of something wooden snapping and watched as five men stumbled into the lounge. The women who were present all flinched at the loud noise and the sudden and undignified arrival of the male band and quickly made themselves scarce, leaving Pītā alone in the large room with five obviously intoxicated men. None of them seemed to be trained in any sort of shinobi discipline, and the young chūnin doubted a Samurai would ever let himself go to such a degree, even when drunk, in public.
'Their all armed though...' Pītā thought with narrowed eyes as he scanned the five men carefully, taking note of where the concealed weapons were and the type they'd likely be based off location and the size of the impressions he could make through the fabric of their clothes 'Could be just a band of mercenaries. Or some locals that act as some kind of local police force'
Or they were simply bandits and they came to this inn to celebrate some successful raid they took part in.
'Well so long as they don't try to steal from me, we shouldn't have any problems' Pītā decided with a small nod and looked away from the small band of men as one of them turned to look in Pītā's direction.
"Hey, you!" one of the men yelled from across the room.
'The women here on the other hand... yeah, they might wanna lock their doors and refrain from venturing out into the mixed bath outside' Pītā thought as he slowly began to remove and clean some of the firing mechanism's pieces before resetting them back into the puppet.
"Hey, we're talking to you!" the same voice yelled with frustration.
'Could be anyone, just ignore them and focus on this damn firing mechanism' Pītā thought as he struggled to keep his gaze on his puppet when out of the corner of his eye, he could see one of the thugs, likely the one yelling at him, approaching 'Maybe they wanna talk to whoever's sitting behind me and their just passing me by-'
"Hey, we're talking you to you, you mask wearing freak!" one of the thugs shouted as he slammed his hand down on Pītā's table, causing it to shake enough to create a small bit of spillage of his tea.
'I mean come on, I can't be the only guy with a mask on in this place' Pītā thought as he stared at the hand on his table for a moment before slowing raising his head to look the man in the eye.
He wasn't what one would call handsome, or even publicly tolerable by society's double standards. An unkept beard, bloodshot eyes, yellow teeth, with noticeable haps in-between to signify he's lost a few over the years, and the smell of some foul smelling sake on his breath. Pītā's eyes narrowed at the sight the man make while he struggled to not gag at the smell the man was emitting, it was enough to bring the likes of Jūgo to tears.
The continued silence on Pītā's part seemed to only infuriate the man, causing him to reach for the collar of the teen's shirt. His fingers barely got within an inch of the fabric before Pītā reached up and grabbed the man by his beard and yanked him into a headbutt. The force of the impact shattered the drunk's nose, causing blood to spew out and into his facial hair. The bandit stumbled back, his hands flying to his face as he tripped over himself and fell flat on his back, groaning in pain.
"Please don't touch me, I have a thing for germs and being touched by strangers" Pītā said in a quiet voice as he stood up from his seat and stared at the man on the floor with an unreadable expression on his face.
The drunken bandit glared up at Pītā as blood continued to leak through his fingers and on to the floor while the rest of his men ran over to help him back to his feet. Pītā remained where he was, staring down the man and his companions with a blank gaze, though the tension radiating off of him could be cut with a knife. He hadn't made a move for any of his own hidden weapons, Pītā was hoping the sight of being so casually knocked down by a simple headbutt would be enough to dissuade the bandit gang from trying anything else, even if they were drunk.
'Who am I kidding, no one has ever made a smart decision while drunker than a winery' Pītā thought with a mental sigh as he prepared to stand up and deal with the five bandits personally when suddenly-
"Raiton: Denkō Noroshi!"
Pītā watched with a surprised expression as several electrical discharges flew past him and struck the bandits, electrocuting them as well as sending them flying back several feet. Curious, Pītā looked over his shoulder to see a girl around his age, dark skin, long spiky red hair, and amber colored eyes that were seemingly staring daggers at the men withering on the floor. She was dressed in a short white kimono that was left open in the front, allowing a glance at the red head's slim, athletic body. The way she moved, and the lighting jutsu she utilized, indicated she was a kunoichi, from Kumo if he was to hazard a guess.
'I don't think they want Orochimaru and his people dead that much compared to Suna or Konoha' Pītā thought as he watched the red headed girl stomp towards the wounded bandits and growl as electrical discharges emanated from her hand in a threatening manner.
"I'm only going to say this once... leave" the red headed teen said with a glare aimed at the bandits "Or your going to wish that hit was fatal when I'm done with you parasites!"
The five men looked up at the girl for a moment, their eyes wide with pain and fear as they gazed into her rage filled eyes before they scrambled towards the door. Pītā was rather impressed at the speed of which a bunch of drunken run of the mill bandits could move when they wanted to. The fact that none of them even dared to glance at the red head's exposed body spoke volumes to the fear she ignited within them.
'Than again, she did electrocute them' Pītā thought with amusement before he glanced at the red headed girl and gave her a small nod "Thanks, had it handled, but a little help is much appreciated"
The red head nodded at Pītā, her gaze briefly flickering over the teen's body, her eyes resting on places that Pītā hid a weapon, before settling on the half assembled spider puppet on his table "You... you practice puppetry?"
"I do" Pītā nodded slowly as he took his seat.
"Huh... don't have too many puppet users back home. and the ones we do have aren't as good as Suna's" the girl said as she stared at the wooden construct for a moment before giving Pītā a small bow that caused the front of her robe to fall forward a little more and expose more of her body "Karui... of Kumogakure"
"Pītā" the teen replied as he pulled his mask down to get a drink of his tea "I'm from Oto"
"Oto?" Karui said with a raised brow.
"Yep" Pītā said as he took another sip of his tea, pointedly ignoring the half naked red head as best he could.
He did not have a thing for red heads thanks to Tayuya, he liked them way before he ever met her, be damned what she insinuated!
"You know, most people wouldn't openly admit to being affiliated with Otogakure, especially after what just went down in Hi no Kuni" Karui stated as she slowly made her way to the other end of Pītā's table and sat down across from him.
'Oh please, help yourself' Pītā thought with some irritation at the red head's decision to just join him at his table "Well, I've always found it better to be truthful during a first meeting. Sides, last I check, our villages aren't trying to kill one another... well as much as any other village. Ergo, no reason to lie to you"
"True, but your master has done a few injustices to my home in the past" Karui said with a blank expression on her face.
"Than take it up with him" Pītā said with a carefree shrug even though one of his hands had drifted to where he kept a Kunai concealed in his pant's waistband.
So far Karui hasn't shown any hostile intent to him that he could sense, but... well red heads tended to make it hard for him to concentrate. And again, it wasn't because of Tayuya or even the likes of Karin. With her long red hair and those damn glasses of her's that tended to get Pītā's imagination running in a direction that he usually tried to avoid.
"Maybe I will" Karui smirked a little as she leaned back in her seat and folded her arms across her chest "So, what brings you all the way out here?"
"What, a guy can't appreciate this country's near legendary hot springs?" Pītā asked with a grin as he pulled his mask back up and gave Karui's attire a noticeable once over "And the beauties' of Kumo that it attracts?"
"He could..." Karui said as a sly grin began to form on her face and she allowed her arms to drop enough for Pītā to catch a peek at her breasts "But a guy that works for Orochimaru doesn't strike me as the... base desire type. For all I know, your on your way to my own village to inflict Kami knows what upon it"
For a brief moment, Pītā felt a flare at the base of his skull as he locked eyes with Karui. While her entire demeanor seemed calm and relaxed, her eyes spoke a much different story. They were full of weariness and suspicion, and her gaze will ever so slightly flicker to his puppet and arms, likely for signs of any sort of movement. Pītā knew that his next few words could very well decide whether or not he and this girl would end up trying to kill one another, so he did what he did best in these sorts of situations...
Talk.
"Alright you caught me" Pītā sighed rather dramatically "I am in fact on my way to your village and I do intend to inflict something upon it... the honor of my presence to it's female population"
Karui's brow lifted slightly "...What?"
"Yep" Pītā nodded with a straight face as he pulled his hand away from where he had a concealed kunai and placed it on the table before folding it with his other hand "I'm going to go to your village and explore all it's female population has to offer, probably steal some of your Raikage's weights because let's be honest that guy could use with a few less and probably become a investor in his brother's budding rapping career. Oh also, I really want to ride on one of yall's trains, the electric ones, not those steam ones most of the other countries use. Tried to ride a few in Ame a while back and got chased out off the country by the hottest blue haired milf I've ever seen, but not before I was robbed by a couple of Ame Genin that offered to sell me what they swore was Hanzō the Salamander's scythe itself before-"
"Holy shit you can talk" Karui interrupted Pītā with a deadpanned expression "Like I thought Omi was bad, but you? You make him seen tolerable in comparison"
Not as bad as Killer B-sama, but he wasn't much better than most talkative loudmouths that Karui's crossed paths with over the years.
"It's a gift really" Pītā responded with a shrug "I call it the Talk no Jutsu, it's supper effective I'm told. A-rank, easily, very little chakra required but can only be truly mastered by someone that's mastered the secret arts of talking-"
"And your still talking" Karui sighed as she reached up to rub her brow.
Pītā snickered at the red head's reaction before he glanced down at his spider puppet and saw that it seemed to be almost giving him a look. Not just any look, but 'The Look' that all of his little creations seemed to have, no matter how often he tries to change the facial features. Pītā scowled at the wooden construct and turned it to the side before he grabbed one of the legs and stretched it out and began to test it's maneuverability and flexibility and was pleased to find that it wouldn't need any maintenance as well.
"Well, there is one thing I can say about your... jutsu" Karui said the last word with a pair of air quotations.
"Oh and what's that?" Pītā asked with a brief glance aimed at the Kumo kunoichi.
"It means you know how to use that tongue of yours" she said with a suggestive smile.
"You might be right" Pītā said as he paused in his work on his puppet's limbs and looked up at the red headed girl with a raised brow.
"I tend to be" Karui grinned as she flashed Pītā a wink.
"And when your wrong?" Pītā asked with a amused grin underneath his face mask.
"I make it right" Karui teased as her foot brushed against Pītā's leg before it rose up past his knee and rested between his legs, against his groin.
Pītā felt himself tense ever so slightly at the proximity of Karui's foot to his more sensitive parts, while she was clearly flirting, and seducing him, he was still a bit weary of her given she was a kunoichi and a well placed kick to his dick could be rather... unpleasant. Hell, she could possibly kill him with that glass of her's if he gave her the chance, something she'd have more than enough time to do if she were to incapacitate him with a solid kick to his wee web shooter-
"Karui, what are you doing?"
Pītā and Karui both looked to see that they were now joined by another girl, roughly the same age as Karui or Pītā if not a little older with a Kumo headban tied around her neck, identifying her as a fellow Kumo kunoichi and very likely Karui's teammate. Unlike Karui and a good portion of Kumo's population, she was fair-skinned, tall, taller than either Pītā or Karui, eyes as blue as the sky and possessed shoulder length pale blonde hair that was fashioned into a asymmetrical bob style look. But what really drew Pītā's attention to he young woman, aside from how soft yet stern her voice was, was the fact she was dressed in only a small white towel that looked to be just too small for the very buxom teen to use.
It took a second, along with Karui pressing down on his clothed dick with her foot for him to realize that he was staring at her exposed legs, which were dripping wet. The brunette blinked at the feeling and quickly adverted his gaze up to Samui's face, taking a moment to pause and examine the rest of her body to see that her skin was just a little red and damp from the hot springs outside, to see that she was staring at him with a stoic and aloof expression on her face.
Though a look of annoyance was clear in her eyes.
'Well if she didn't want me to stair at her legs, and the top of her breasts, she shouldn't be walking around in a towel that looks like it belongs to a kid!' Pītā thought with a mental eye roll.
Karui however didn't bother to try and conceal the annoyance she was feeling, though it was directed at her teammate rather than Pītā himself "I'm trying to score tonight Samui, is that a problem?"
"When it's with a member of Otogakure? Yes, It is" Samui said with her eyes narrowing slightly which in turn caused Karui to scoff.
"Your just upset that I'm gonna have some company tonight while your sitting alone in your room with only your fingers or whatever the hell it is you stick up yourself for company" Karui glared at the pale blonde teen.
"Okay this is getting a little awkward, I'm just gonna head back to my room and keep working on my puppet" Pītā said as he quickly gathered up his puppet and made to move before a single glance from Samui stopped him cold.
"Sit" she said in a tone that could freeze ice.
"Sitting" Pītā gulped as he sat back down while Samui returned her attention to a defiant Karui.
The red head did her best to not squirm under the scrutinizing gaze of her teammate before she huffed and folded her arms across her chest like a pouting child.
"So what if he's from Oto? Last I checked, we weren't trying to kill one another anymore than we are with someone like Iwa or Kiri" Karui stated with a scowl aimed at Samui "Hell, they did us a favor by whacking both Suna and Konoha's Kage and a good portion of their Shinobi. More jobs for us, which means better economy, ergo Kaminari no Kuni thrives"
"Valid points, all of them" Pītā nodded in agreement.
"If you think that Orochimaru will stop at just Konoha, than I pity your ignorance" Samui said with a slow shake of her head before she turned her cold gaze to Pītā and flared her chakra ever so slightly in warning "Convince me why I shouldn't cut you down now"
"Well you don't have anything to cut me with, so I'm not sure how you'll be able to follow through with that thr- oh, never mind" Pītā began before he gulped as Samui suddenly had a tantō in her hand, Kami knows where she kept it, the tip of the blade pointed at his throat.
"Samui!" Karui snapped as she flew to her feet and glared at the busty blonde with a look of contempt "Leave him alone"
Samui made no sign of responding to Karui as she and Pītā held one another's gaze, neither moving. Despite the weapon aimed at his neck, Pītā didn't sense any hostile intent from Samui, though he knew better than to consider himself safe. Karui looked torn between the two, on the one hand Samui was a friend and her teammate, but on the other, she was really screwing up her chances to get laid. True if it came down to it she'd side with Samui in a heartbeat and kill the talkative Oto nin, but she'd rather have a better reason than 'he's Oto so he must be killed'.
The tension in the room was so thick that not even one of the Seven swords of Kiri would be enough to cut through it, though only a few of those blades were even capable of cutting giving their rather unique properties and-
"What is your mission, Pītā?" Samui demanded.
"Aside from getting you to say my name again because it sounded really hot when you said it? I was thinking of taking a nice little trek to Yuki no Kuni" Pītā laughed nervously.
Samui's eyes narrowed at this "Something tells me it's not to experience the land's new state of Spring"
"Well I heard that it's Daimyō was gonna start in the upcoming Icha Icha movie and I just needed to get an autograph from her" Pītā shrugged with a sheepish grin "It's admittedly a guilty pleasure. Little heavy on the smut, but other than that it's actually a pretty good book series. Especially Icha Icha Violence, I mean the sheer intensity of the two character's relationship is-"
"You like Icha Icha?" Samui said with her face adopting a rather unrecognizable expression while Karui sighed and ran a hand over her face.
'I swear to Kami if this is what changes things I'm going to fuck Omi AND Yugito at the same time while listening to Killer B-sama's rap' the red head thought with a sweatdrop as Samui and Pītā continued to stare at one another.
"Uh, yeah?" the teen said after a few seconds "Who wouldn't?"
Hell, Pītā's seen Orochimaru reading the thing and seemed to actually be excited by the upcoming movie with Koyuki Kazahana staring as the lead actress.
Suddenly Samui lowered her tantō and stared at Pītā with a blush "Come with me"
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me" Karui said with a mixture of disbelief and anger.
Pītā simply blinked at the command "Uhhh why?"
"Because we're re-enacting chapters nine and fourteen of Icha Icha Paradise" Samui explained before she reached down with her free hand and seized Pītā by the collar of his shirt and yanked him up and after her.
Karui continued to watch the two with disbelief on her face while Pītā struggled to break the woman's hold on his favorite shirt.
"Wait, don't I get a say in this?!"
...
And done.
Next chapter, Satsuki continues her training under Orochimaru and delves deeper into methods to counter Pītā's abilities...