CHAPTER 19: The Friend of My Enemy

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"Otogakure?" An old man scoffed as he barged into the room, his bodyguards right at his heel. "You managed to escape Akatsuki and their damn rain just to settle at this dump?"

The man sitting in front of him chuckled, "I take it the travel was not enjoyable?" His golden eyes glinted with amusement as he tapped the handle of a teapot, "Tea?"

"No, thank you. God knows what concoction you've decided to experiment on this time." The elder of the two grumbled as he walked forward to take his seat. "Now, on to business. Time is of the essence. The longer I'm here, the higher the chance that Senju brat goes snooping around the village."

"That same Senju brat is my former teammate. And she's the current Hokage, not you, Danzo." The man let out a mocking smile. "Really, you should try to treat people with more respect."

"Well, I remember that you failed to take over Konoha and the Uchiha brat managed to escape from you during the exam, Orochimaru. The way I see it, we're both failures." He scoffed. "Now, on to business. What is Akatsuki's goal?" Danzo gestured to the small pile of files lying on top of the desk. "World Domination?"

Orochimaru hummed, "Something along those lines. Tell me, old friend, how much do you know about the Tailed Beasts?"

Danzo pursed his lips. His eye looked at Orochimaru to see if this was a trick question. "There are nine of them. I've read that they're made out of the chakra from the Ten–Tailed Beast by the Sage of Six Paths himself. Obviously, extremely dangerous – even when they're all sealed to a human."

"You're well-read for a senile, old man." The Snake Sannin smiled, "The Akatsuki believes in a fantasy that collecting all nine beasts would give them the image as the strongest among all nations. Without the tailed beast, the leader believes that no one would dare challenge their reign."

"And? What will happen next?"

"Peace. World Peace." Orochimaru reached out to the teapot and poured himself a cup, "As ironic and barbaric as it sounds, they believe that world peace will be achieved."

Danzo snorted, "There is no such thing as peace. What a childlike dream." He stood up, "To think that such an organization is being wasted on a useless fantasy."

Orochimaru hummed, "Maybe. Maybe not. Despite what you say about their goal, even I am not comfortable with the thought of clashing against their members." He paused to take a sip, "Danzo, my payment? A deal's a deal. I lingered under that organization because you asked me to. All those years that I could have spent on my precious research was wasted for that little favor."

"Of course," the old man gestured to one of his men.

A nondescript ROOT shinobi walked forward and placed three folders on top of the desk.

"Everything about the Haruno Trio that you've asked. From their merchant business, taxes, properties, business plans, scheduled business travels for the next six months, and even Haruno Sakura's mission reports." Danzo nodded to the folders, "I always keep my word, old friend."

Orochimaru placed his cup aside and caressed the folders with gentle hands. "Oh, it's always a pleasure doing business with you, Shimura Danzo." He smiled.

Danzo nodded before turning to leave, "You'll hear from me when it's safe for me to send you a letter. Tsunade's been getting bold with gathering evidence against me and ROOT."

The Sannin chuckled in amusement, "Whatever you say, councilman."

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Seeing Zabuza and Kisame interact was in real life was honestly, in the kindest way possible, weird. The two men had this weird friendship going on between them that sort of reminded the pinkette of Kakashi and Gai's friendship. Zabuza and Kisame both love to participate in random, ridiculously insane bets, had a 'bros before hoes' friendship, and had this sort of sibling rivalry chemistry. But despite being two of the scariest shinobi in Kiri, they were honestly just puppies at heart.

"I call bullshit! You cheated last night!" Kisame yelled at Zabuza, uncaring of how loud his voice was in the crowded restaurant. "I ain't wearing a pink dress because I didn't lose in the first place." He huffed.

Sakura and Haku looked at one another before sighing.

"I did not cheat. How dare you accuse me of such monstrosity?" Zabuza calmly sipped his tea before reaching out to flip the meat on their table's grill.

"First of all, you don't even use the word 'monstrosity'. Second, you're lying and I know it because you're using formal language, it's a habit you've had since you were a kid." Kisame scoffed, "Where's your goddamn honor, you liar?"

"Did something happen last night?" Sakura asked as she helped Zabuza cook their meat.

"They were out drinking again." Haku mentioned, "As always. Drunkards." He smiled.

Emerald eyes blinked in understanding, "Ah. So, I assume a bet was made?" she turned towards their resident Shark friend.

"Damn right there was! First person to fall unconscious has to wear a pink dress for the upcoming meeting with the Clan Heads and Mei – sama. But then, this bitch," he pointed his finger at the suspiciously smirking Zabuza, "was cheating!"

"Cheating how?" Haku asked with a raised brow.

"Bitch was filtering his system with chakra every 30 minutes. I was honest and fell asleep first while he was actually cheating."

"You expect me to wear a dress in front of the woman I'm trying to court?" Zabuza snorted, "Give me some dignity and take one for the team, sharkie." He passed some cooked meat onto Kisame's plate. "I'll owe you one."

"Why do I have to bruise my ego for your sake?" He scoffed, "Plus, Mei – sama will be too busy during the meeting to even notice your pale ass."

The pinkette then decided to butt in, "You're courting the Mizukage?"

Haku nodded on his behalf, "I know right? The audacity of such a man to even try." He teased.

Zabuza blushed, "Oi, fuckin' believe in me, will ya? I'm trying my best around here."

Kisame chuckled, "Squirt, you should've seen him when he met the Mizukage for the first time! Fucker froze for half a minute and was as red as a damn cherry by the end of their conversation!" he laughed at the end.

"Oi!"

"I agree. He kept on stuttering to the point even I was worried." Haku smiled as he reached to pour Sakura a new cup of iced tea.

"I was doing fine!"

"Really, Zabuza – san?" Sakura teased, "I never knew that you could be cute in front of a woman."

"Call me cute one more time and I'll drag your ass next time we spar."

Before it could escalate any further, Kisame coughed, "Enough about that. As much as I enjoy teasing our pale friend over here, I actually have a legitimate reason as to why I called us out to have lunch." He began to pull out a small map from his pocket.

"What's that?" Haku questioned as he tried to crane his neck to get a better look at the map.

"Oto? What's going on with that abandoned place?" The resident Demon of the Mist asked.

"There's a rumor going around the Black Market that the place is being run by a certain Snake." Small white eyes clashed with emerald, "Ring any bells, squirt?"

Sakura paused before returning her attention to the map, "Why is Orochimaru there?"

"It would make sense, though." Haku nodded to himself, "The people who attacked Konoha were from Suna and Oto. It won't be a surprise if he established himself as the pseudo-leader around there."

The pinkette agreed, "I guess." She turned to Kisame, "Why did you bring this up, Kisame – san? I doubt you'll be interested in such a small detail."

Haku and Zabuza turned to look at the Shark-like man with curiosity.

Kisame sighed, "Another thing that I heard was that Konoha Councilman, Shimura Danzo, was spotted roaming around Otogakure."

"Councilman Shimura Danzo?" The pinkette frowned.

"I'm not surprised. That guy's bad news anyway." Zabuza snorted. "Kid, whatever you do, never let yourself be alone with that old man."

"Why?"

"He and Orochimaru have a history. Back before Orochimaru was forced to leave Konoha, they used to be friends. And then when the Snake's experiments were exposed, Danzo's ROOT army conveniently disappeared into thin air. No documents were ever recovered about ROOT but all of Orochimaru's experiments were laid out in public." He raised a hand to scratch the back of his neck.

"Orochimaru took the fall," Haku murmured just loud enough for everyone at the table to hear him. "If that's what happened, Orochimaru took the fall for Danzo. They must be planning something if they staged such a massive unveiling, especially if it was the Snake Sannin's experiments that were sacrificed."

Sakura slowly nodded in agreement, "Perhaps."

"Whatever the case," Kisame folded the map and slid it to the pinkette, "Stay away from those psychopaths. Don't be a hero, squirt. You might bite off more than you can chew."

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A.N:

Hiii, I'm alive and barely breathingggg. On another note, how's everyone been doing? :)

By the way, I finally managed to create a Ko-fi page in case anyone wanted to send their support or sumthn :") Imma just drop it here:

Ko-fi link: /thatlittlekid