"That was a calculated disfigurement. Torture."
He glances at his former teammate.
"That would be the obvious conclusion."
She snorts. "Who did you piss off this time? If you don't want to 'talk' to them, I certainly do."
He doesn't think this is the handiwork of anyone he knows—they wouldn't have made such a bold declaration. Or have let his student live. He hands Tsunade the handkerchief with blood from Honōka's improvised weapon.
"The attacker's blood?"
"Indeed."
She takes the rag and stands up. They've been sitting in silence on the floor for the last hour, exhausted from several hours of consecutive surgeries.
"Want me to bring back tea?"
"…As long as it's not cold."
Tsunade scoffs, leaving with a single wave and no promises. Typical. Orochimaru picks himself up and off the floor.
His student rests in a hospital bed now, carefully propped up with her neck and head immobilized. Tsunade did everything she could to repair the ruptured eye. Any vision she retains in her left eye depends entirely on how her recovery period progresses now.
He rolls a stool over and sits.
Tsunade eventually returns with the promised tea, lukewarm at best, and they sit in silence once more. They have spoken little since Jiraiya decided to remain in Amegakure several years ago.
He's not quite certain where Jiraiya is these days. No one keeps him up to date anymore.
She clears her throat, but is interrupted by a knock on the door. Her teeth clack together and she gets up with a growl. Under different circumstances, he might have smirked at her.
"Tsunade-sama, Sandaime-sama is asking for you. He's waiting in your office."
"Sensei is?" she glances over her shoulder, fixing Orochimaru with an accusatory glare, as if it's his fault their sensei is making house calls. It very well could be.
He stands and they head to Tsunade's office.
"Any idea what this is about?" she asks.
"Tsunemori Honōka was assigned to me by Sarutobi-sensei. He monitors her general whereabouts, no doubt."
"I thought it was strange for you to take an apprentice."
They arrive. Sarutobi Hiruzen stands at a dark window. It's nearly midnight.
"Sensei," Tsunade greets. "You wanted to see us?"
He turns to them. This war is aging him, Orochimaru thinks.
"How is Honōka-kun?"
Tsunade clicks her tongue. "Critical but stable."
A rare fury burns in their sensei's eyes. He and his former teacher haven't been on the best of terms lately, and this incident may very well be the last straw.
"What happened, Orochimaru?"
He clenches his teeth and holds back his own temper. Why does everyone assume these heinous acts are purely his fault? He's never intentionally maimed a child—war and his work for Danzō aside.
"I do not know." He admits, which is as galling to Orochimaru as it is to Sarutobi.
"Do you know Honōka-kun reports to me?"
"I do."
"When did you find out?"
"The day I met her."
Clearly not the answer his teacher was expecting.
"She is very transparent on most matters," he taunts. "We have been working on her confidentiality skills."
Sarutobi does not have the capacity to feel embarrassed about such a slip up, though he does sigh. It seems he may have thought Honōka had been sussed out and punished.
"When did you see Honōka-kun last?"
"Monday. I dismissed her at sixteen fifty hours."
"What time did you find her at the Third Training Ground? I noticed you've been consistently booking it out from twelve hundred to seventeen hundred hours."
"I arrived an hour early to test a new jutsu. Honōka-kun was resting against the center wooden post."
"Her condition?"
"Severe head trauma. Her right hand was hidden under an unusual transformation. When the transformation ended, it was revealed to have been mutilated by a blunt toothed instrument, likely pliers. Tsunade suspects it was intentional."
"Torture."
"It would appear so."
Sarutobi's eyes narrow and his killing intent nearly stifles the room.
"Potential suspects?"
"None that would be so bold to touch what is mine and expect to survive."
His teacher looks surprised he would voice such threats aloud. They're technically treasonous—you don't threaten to murder your fellow shinobi and expect the Hokage to nod and smile.
"We're examining blood from defensive… wounds." Tsunade supplies. "If it's anyone we've tagged before, we'll know where to look."
"Good. I won't stand for this brand of violence to go unpunished in Konoha. Keep me informed."
Tsunade puts his student in a medically induced coma. They've yet to operate on the orbital blowout fracture beyond assuring it places no further pressure on her left eye. The swelling is simply too great for a zero risk surgery. And her eye, in particular, will benefit from absolute motionlessness. The less said about the swelling on her brain, the better.
The results from the blood test won't be in until later that day, so he takes the time to head back to the lab and clean up. He's not surprised when Danzō makes an appearance.
"You've been away, Orochi."
"My student was assaulted and tortured." He watches Danzō's expression very carefully.
"Tortured?" he frowns. "I hope nothing—compromising—was exposed."
Orochimaru considers. It seems Danzō is, for once, unrelated to the incident.
"There was not. The lack of motive makes the whole incident rather inexplicable."
A pause. Danzō likely has some order for him or other such nonsense, which he evades.
"I would stay around to chat, but I am expected to report to Sensei soon. I believe I am being cross-examined."
"Do you need an alibi?"
He resists rolling his eyes. Rich, and yet totally believable, coming from Danzō. He wishes that sounded sarcastic in his own head.
"There is no need. I do have one."
He arrives at the hospital lab in time to hear Tsunade let loose a string of expletives.
"Are you certain? One hundred percent certain?"
"Y-yes!"
"Sage's saggy fucking tits!" Her murderous intent makes a rare appearance. It's always something to behold. "I'm going to hang that bastard up by his balls!"
"I do hope you are not talking about me," he says.
"It's certainly debatable!"
He freezes. What now?
"What?"
She shoves the blood work results at his chest. He wishes she wouldn't do that. She knows he hates being handed things.
"That blood you collected? It's almost certainly a relative of Tsunemori Honōka. My bet is on the father. Mother fucker was in on Monday evening for treatment of 'superficial' stab wounds. Sound familiar?"
"What?"
Tsunade kicks a chair over—it slams into a wall and explodes into splinters.
"I examined her for previous wounds and guess what? There were lots of old fractures and odd scars. By themselves, sadly not unusual for a young shinobi. Altogether, though—I've seen war prisoners with less." Here, Tsunade loses steam. Marginally so. "Did you never fucking ask where her bruises were coming from? She had to be covered in them, constantly."
She was, and he assumed she was getting them from sparring with her friends. And yet, nearly every time he checked in, they were training non-violently.
"Yes, I have seen bruises. No, I did not ask where the bruises were coming from. She spars with her friends often. Not only that, she has a habit of sticking her nose where it does not belong on missions."
"She never said anything? No complaints about her home life?"
He considers.
"None."
"Nothing you found odd at all?"
"…There are few things I find normal about Honōka-kun."
"Coming from you, that must be saying something."
He rolls his eyes and Tsunade sighs.
"This fucking complicates shit."
"How so?"
"Her father is a civilian. We're going to have to petition the daimyō for a trial."
He snorts. "Really, Tsunade? Weren't you just saying you were going to hang the bastard up by the balls?"
She massages her temple.
"Civilians go missing on the road—never to be seen or heard from again—all the time. I am sure we can arrange something."
"Orochimaru…"
"Tell me you haven't thought about it."
"…"
"I thought so."
"Sensei will know—and he won't approve."
"Oh, but I doubt he will say anything or be more than passingly disappointed for what he deems an appropriate amount of time."
She sighs again.
"What about Honōka? Is that the kind of justice she would want?"
He considers. Something tells him he wouldn't be able to hide his involvement from Honōka, no matter how he handles it.
"Well?"
"I will ask her."
Tsunade flashes him a horrified look.
"You'll 'ask' her? Orochimaru—you…! You can't just ask a little girl if it's okay for you to fucking murder her father!"
He gives Tsunade an equally unimpressed look. Honōka makes more sense than Tsunade, sometimes.
Tsunade sighs. "Do we tell Sensei the results of the blood test or just say they were inconclusive?"
"Do you honestly think he won't figure it out—or doesn't already suspect?"
She draws in a hissing breath.
"Shall we go report?"
"Oh, let's."
They report their findings and suspicions. Sarutobi-sensei draws on his pipe for a long moment in silence.
"Did I tell you how I met Honōka-kun?"
Orochimaru holds in his scoff.
"No, you did not. You gave me a vague letter of introduction promising me a prodigy with 'uniquely genius intellect'. It was quite lackluster."
Sarutobi-sensei chuckles dryly.
"She took the entrance exam and passed on a technicality. On the first day of class her homeroom teacher realized he had mistakenly given a civilian child the orphan registry forms. Naturally, we questioned her on why she would attempt to join the Academy without her parents' permission. She made it sound like her parents were dismissive but not neglectful. Uneducated, but not spiteful. And she made it clear she knew exactly what she was asking for—understood the danger. Permission was sought and granted.
"That should have been the end of it—just another student admitted under less than usual circumstances."
"But it was not." Honōka-kun wouldn't have become his apprentice if it were.
Sarutobi-sensei nods.
"She consistently performed at a much higher level than her peers, intellectually and physically; she quickly learned skills that even shinobi children, born and raised, struggle with. Jūn-kun described her as being driven, but not impatient.
"Honōka-kun passed the written exam in March with the highest grade ever awarded. As you both know, the genin certification exam has questions that are specifically meant to be skipped to save time. Part of being a genin is understanding there are times you won't know the answer and to leave it for someone more qualified to answer. Those questions didn't even phase her. She answered every question on the exam and still had time to spare.
"That's when I decided she would be a good fit for you, Orochimaru."
He snorts. There's little he can say to rebuke Sarutobi-sensei—he and Honōka are an odd pair, and yet it works.
"I wasn't set on it, at first, so I spoke to her again when she graduated. She has rather particular opinions on general education that I think both you and Tsunade would appreciate. You should ask her about it sometime."
A cough from Sensei. Perhaps he does not fully see eye to eye with Honōka.
"Specifically, she believes education will 'expand horizons' here in the village, both for civilians and shinobi—that knowledge will 'chase away the lingering darkness of the Warring States Period.' She told me that there is friction between civilians and shinobi, and that it's a divide that education will bridge—and that we should all, civilians and shinobi, be proud to call ourselves members of the Village Hidden in the Leaves."
It's the first he's hearing of it. Honōka doesn't talk about 'dreams' with him, and she does not appear to be patriotic in the least. She's more interested in learning—when her attention isn't wandering.
"I asked her if life had been unkind to her." Sensei taps his desk absently, a hint of regret clouding his eyes. "She said it could have been much worse, so I gave her the option of apprenticing with my former student. Do you know what her only concern was? That you liked learning things." Sensei chuckles. "That's all that mattered to her. I thought she was awfully confident facing the Snake Hidden in the Leaves.
"I felt like I was throwing her to the wolves, when in reality she was already sleeping in the lion's den."
Orochimaru doesn't know whether he should be flattered or insulted—but he's known for sometime now that Sarutobi-sensei suspects the worst of him.
He's done socializing and waves them off before either he or Tsunade can think of something to say, anything to ask him.
"You've listened to an old man ramble long enough. I'm sure you both have better things to do."