Heyo.
Last chapter's set-up culminates in this chapter, and I've been wanting to write a lot of the stuff here for a good 10 weeks now, so this is pretty hype for me.
Nothing much to say, let's begin!
Chapter 23: All to Live
As the sun shined through his window, Naruto squinted, rubbing his eyes and sitting up as he yawned into his hand.
Last night had been fun. Exhausting, sure, they'd wrapped bouquet's well past any reasonable time-frame, but fun in it's own way. It was always nice for the 4 of them to get time to talk, especially with how hard that had been getting since they'd become real ninja.
He stretched his arms above his head, trying to shake off some of the grogginess he was already feeling. As he looked towards his left, He couldn't help but notice a small toad sitting on his pillow, perhaps an inch or so away from where his head had been a minute or two ago.
It ribbited at him.
Huh. He thought to himself simply.
This is a pretty weird dream.
He reached out and touched the creature with his left hand, poking it in the cheek.
It ribbited in response.
I'm getting this odd feeling that I'm not dreaming.
He reached over and gingerly took the toad in both hands, causing it to ribbit once more, and walked over to his door. It didn't fight with him as he did, which he felt was a bit odd on principle. Opening the door with one hand, he walked down the steps to the bottom of the apartment complex, and then placed the frog in a small flower patch he found.
"Well, it's been fun, tiny frog." Naruto wished the amphibian well, before turning back around and heading out towards the hospital, where they'd all agreed to meet last night. "But I've got places to be, so… Have a good life, I guess."
A second later, he felt a weight on his shoulder, and turned his head to see that the toad had taken up residence upon him.
"Oi." He whispered, still feeling groggy.
The toad gave only a single 'Ribbit' before seeming to relax, sitting down on his shoulder and, if he wasn't mistaken, falling asleep.
"Ugh," Naruto sighed, yawning once more into his hand. "I'm too tired for this."
/-/
"Naruto, why is there a frog on your shoulder?" Was the first thing he heard as he stepped in to walk next to Sasuke and Sakura.
"Good question." Was his only reply.
/-/
"Naruto," The recently discharged Kakashi sounded confused as he walked over to the three of them. "Why is there a frog on your shoulder?"
"Good question." The three members of Team 7 answered.
Kakashi stared at them all a bit oddly.
"Why do I feel like you all rehearsed that?"
"Because we did." Sakura answered simply.
Their teacher laughed, covering his mouth with his left hand as he looked back at the clock on the wall behind him.
"Well, we've got a few hours, I'd like to be able to see how far you guys have come while I was away, how about we get some light training in?"
"Pass." Sakura waved her hand, looking deathly pale. "I've got to go meet Anko sensei at twelve, and I refuse to train before training again. I'm fairly sure I'd just die."
"I'm down." Sasuke said as he raised his hand.
"Same here." Naruto exclaimed.
"Alright, then we can meet up at the third training ground in-"
"Actually, Kakashi, I'm afraid I'll have to veto that."
Everyone turned towards the sound of the new voice, and Naruto's eyes widened as he laid eyes upon the tallest man he'd ever seen. He was a veritable white-maned giant, though the disarmingly easy smile on his face made him look much more friendly than he otherwise would've.
"Oh, Master Jiraiya," Kakashi asked, smiling back at the man under his mask. "What are you doing here?"
"Here to get an entirely new set of problems." The man said, rolling his eyes as he smiled back at their sensei.
Naruto wanted to ask what that was supposed to mean, but before he could, the frog from his shoulder was snatched away.
"Thanks for the hard work." The giant said to the small amphibian in his hand.
The creature gave a small ribbit in response, before the new ninja opened up his coat and pocketed the toad.
"Hey! That was my frog!" Naruto exclaimed, finding himself weirdly annoyed to have lost his companion for all of 30 minutes.
"First off, it's a toad." The man named Jiraiya spoke, kneeling down in front of him and still, rather annoyingly, managing to be taller than Naruto was. "And second off, It's my toad."
"It was sleeping on my pillow!"
"It was not sleeping, it was doing its job as a guardian and protecting you."
"It wasn't guarding anything! All it was doing was getting it's dirty mucus on my bed!"
"That was an unfortunate side effect of it guarding you!" The giant exclaimed, before seemingly realizing that he was arguing with a twelve-year-old. "Anyways, I'm actually going to have to cancel that training, Kakashi, on account of having to take this brat myself."
"EH!?" Naruto exclaimed, turning towards his teacher with a scornful expression.
"Ah, so the Hokage finally has you stepping in, eh?"
"Yeah, annoyingly enough, he called me up last night after I finished that covert op, said it was finally time."
"Sheesh, he couldn't have waited until I had a bit of time with my own students?"
"Hah, sorry about that."
"Hold on!" Naruto shouted, causing the two to look back at him oddly. "Just what the hell are you talking about? Kakashi Sensei, are you really gonna' abandon me again!?"
A small look of guilt passed by the scarecrow's face as he held his hands up before him.
"Honestly, Naruto, it really is just a string of bad luck for me. I fully intend to teach all of you as soon as I can, but the timing's just haven't been lining up all that well."
Naruto shot the man a disappointed glare.
"And besides, Master Jiraiya is one of the strongest ninja to ever exist, he's more capable than I, surely, to teach you some super powerful Jutsu."
Sakura pounded her fist into her hand, making a small "Aha!" as she did.
"I knew I remembered your name! You're one of the three Sannin, aren't you?"
"Wait, like… 'Orochimaru' Sannin?"
Jiraiya sighed at that, running a hand through his hair and whining under his breath about how he always got forgotten.
"Yes, like 'Orochimaru' Sannin."
Naruto blinked.
"And you want to teach me?"
"Want is a strong word."
Naruto turned back towards Kakashi, bowing slightly before him.
"It's been an honor, Kakashi Former-Sensei."
"Oi!"
/-/
"Hey, Anko Sensei?"
"Sup'?"
"Do you think… Maybe you could teach me some sort of… strong or secret Jutsu?"
Anko turned back towards her student, a bit curious.
"Why the sudden interest?"
Sakura gripped her shorts in her hands, crumpling them as she did.
"It's… well, it might sound stupid-"
"Nearly everything sounds stupid when you put it into words." Anko spoke, an easy smile falling into place as she leaned back, lying down on the ground below her and gazing up at the cloudy sky. "So spill, what kind of stupid thing have you got for me today?"
"Y'know, you're not a very nice person."
"You're just now figuring this out?"
Sakura smirked as she laid back as well, letting go of her pants and letting her hands spread out to the side, like she was trying to make a snow-angel in the dead of summer.
"Naruto and Sasuke… they're both getting 1 on 1 training with some pretty crazy guys… But especially Naruto! He's getting taught by Lord Jiraiya of all people!"
"I don't know if I'd call him Lord, but sure."
"I can't help but think that Naruto and Sasuke are going to learn some super powerful new Jutsu, and totally wreck the exams, all the while I'm stuck behind, once again." The girl sighed as she finished explaining, letting the silence give way to the wind as it coursed through their tiny clearing, rustling the leaves, and sending many to spiral towards the earth.
They'd decided to head to the seventh training ground, which, aside from being more hill-infested than the third, largely shared it's content with the latter. They'd chosen a rather open clearing where they could easily spar, but one that still had a few hills. Anko had said that such a formation would be good to practice around, as it got Sakura used to fighting in different environments.
It was a beautiful area, marred slightly by her own gloomy atmosphere.
Sakura heard the sound of footsteps coming towards her and turned to her right to see Anko walking over, sitting down a foot or so away from her and reaching out with her hand.
The Jonin lightly bopped her on the nose.
"Hey, c'mon," The woman complained. "That wasn't stupid at all."
"W-what?"
Anko smiled reassuringly.
"You said that was going to be stupid, and yet here you are, having a legitimate concern."
She glared at her, but the woman only laughed in response, standing up and offering her hand out for Sakura to do the same.
After another second or so to get herself ready, she took the hand, and let Anko haul her to her feet.
"Look, from what I've been able to gather from talking to you, getting left behind is kind of a big fear for you."
Sakura whined slightly under her breath, but conceded the point.
"But honestly, you don't have to worry so much. You're strong, truly." The woman walked up to her, drew a kunai out of her back pocket, and handed it to her. "Now c'mon, let's spar, and then, after that, I'll teach you something cool."
Sakura's eyes lit up as she looked up at the woman, smiling despite her earlier mood.
The clouds in the sky seemed to part, ever so slightly.
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Sasuke couldn't help but be slightly uncomfortable as he stood across from Kakashi. He had nothing against the man, truly. In fact, given the chance to know him better, Sasuke was fairly sure they would have a much better relationship.
Unfortunately, it seemed like every time the man was going to open up to them, something happened. Either they were attacked, or someone got turned into a demonic beast, or he overused his Mangekyou Sharingan and had to be hospitalized.
The Mangekyou Sharingan… Sasuke thought as he readied his weapon, watching his teacher do the same. Just how did you acquire such a thing, Kakashi Hatake?
Back in the Land of Waves, he'd held off on asking about the man's Sharingan. Both because he hadn't wanted to make things awkward, the man hadn't seemed like he wanted to tell them where he got it, and also because he'd, admittedly, been a bit scared.
All the information he had about the Mangekyou came from his brother, and that information was far from good.
Even if he was fairly sure that the man hadn't murdered anyone to get it, there was a part of him that just couldn't be satisfied with that.
"We'll make this relatively simple." Kakashi called out, spinning his kunai on his finger. "You go all out, I'll counter it. Don't expect to beat me, but feel free to try."
"Right." Sasuke called back, still a bit distracted.
Still, Sasuke thought. A Mangekyou on it's own means that the user, or former user, killed someone close to them.
Was it Kakashi's pain, or the owner's own that led to that eye's evolution? He wondered idly as he and Kakashi began their duel, immediately drawing on his Sharingan as Kakashi had told him to, going all out from the very start. If what Itachi said is true, then one would have to kill their closest friend to achieve it…
Did Kakashi commit such a sin?
The two of them fought for a few minutes, Sasuke giving ground almost the entire time, despite the fact that he possessed a three tomoe Sharingan. Every time he thought he had the man, he was blasted back by some unknown jutsu, or he was grabbed from behind by a shadow clone, or the Kakashi he caught turned out to be a mere log.
It wasn't long before he was knocked back for the first time, already feeling the aches and pains of the day course through him.
"Well, it's good to see how much you've improved, Sasuke."
He let out a groan as he sat up, rubbing his arm where he'd been struck. It was already bruising, though that was, quite honestly, normal for all of them.
Still, the pain in his ribs had died down considerably.
"So, the medical ninja's did a good job?"
"Yeah, they did." Sasuke answered, running his hand down his side, and pushing lightly against where his ribs had been broken by Orochimaru. There was a dull pain, but it was miniscule compared to what it had been. "I'm just glad I'll be able to fight next month."
"Yeah, well, even still, you've got to return to the hospital so they can continue treatments. The medical ninja's are amazing, but even they can't fix a break in a single trip."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Sasuke waved his hand, dismissing the man's concerns. "Trust me, Naruto and Sakura have already drilled that into me, I don't need you to do it too."
Kakashi laughed, raising his hand to his mouth to try and muffle it slightly. After a few seconds, he retook his same position, holding his kunai out to Sasuke.
"You know how to copy Jutsu with that Sharingan, correct?"
"Yeah, I'm guessing you want me to do so?"
"Yep. Come at me anytime, I'll give you a few new techniques to copy with that eye of yours."
Sasuke smirked, feeling confidence course through him, even if, in the back of his head, he knew he couldn't really beat Kakashi.
He charged forward.
/-/
It was a while later before Sasuke fell to the ground, entirely spent.
Kakashi had, true to his word, been an opponent far beyond his ability. The man's experience proved to be too much, even for the three tomoe that had grown in his Sharingan.
"Well, did you get some good Jutsu out of it at least?"
Sasuke looked over at the man, feeling a bit of annoyance pass through his gaze. The older man laughed when he saw it, sitting down next to him and offering a small bottle of water, which the Uchiha accepted gratefully.
He took great gulps, downing the entire thing in less than 10 seconds, gasping as he tore it away from his lips.
I was able to copy a few water-style Jutsu, along with a single wind-style, but I'm not sure how any of those are supposed to help me. Sasuke thought with a small frown as he panted. I certainly don't specialize in either of those types, so why should I learn them?
"Y'know, after that much exercise, you're supposed to pace yourself." Kakashi's eyebrow was raised, showing perhaps a hint of amusement. "Drink in moderation, and all that jazz."
"Shut up." He breathed out, taking deep, rasping breaths as he tried to regain his energy. "You took maybe three hits the entire day, and you sit over here lecturing me."
"Took three hits?" Kakashi smirked down at him, looking incredibly smug. "Sasuke. I let you have three hits."
He glared at the man, but couldn't refute the words, even if he wanted to.
You must kill… Your closest friend.
Itachi's words rang through him, as they often did, and as he looked up at his teacher, headband drawn down over his left eye, he couldn't quite resist the temptation to ask…
"How did you get that Sharingan, Sensei?"
The inquiry seemed to shock the man, for he almost immediately sat down, eye a bit wide as he looked towards Sasuke.
No… His eyes aren't looking at me. Sasuke realized. They're looking through me.
"From a friend." Kakashi admitted after the silence grew overbearing. "A guy named Obito Uchiha."
Sasuke quickly searched for the name in his memory, but it came up blank.
"I… can't say I've ever heard of him."
Kakashi breathed out in a way that could've been perceived as a laugh.
"Yeah, you wouldn't have… The Uchiha were never kind to their black sheep."
Sasuke waited for the man to continue, looking up at him with a curious expression. Kakashi must've seen it, too, for he laughed again, this time more alive than before.
"You look like you expect me to elaborate."
"It would certainly help me trust you more." Sasuke admitted, getting a look of confusion in response. "That Mangekyou Sharingan you possess, I know how one gets it."
Kakashi seemed to be saddened by those words, as if Sasuke had somehow lost some small bit of innocence because of that knowledge, but it had never mattered to him.
The day his entire clan had been slaughtered was the day he'd become an adult.
"I suppose there isn't much reason to hide it." Kakashi seemed to conclude a few seconds later, sighing as he sat down next to a large tree, bracing himself against it. "But be warned that it's a long… and sad story."
"That's fine." Sasuke spoke a second later. "I'll still listen."
Kakashi smiled, before, seemingly content, he began to tell his story.
"It was an awfully long time ago, at the dawn of the Third Shinobi World War…"
/-/
Zaku walked without feeling as he silently flowed through the Leaf Village's streets. His face was pale, paler than he felt it had been in a long time, and his right arm burned, as if the entire limb had fallen asleep.
"Go to Kin Tsuchi and dispose of her."
Orochimaru's words rang through his head, even a day after they'd been spoken to him.
He and Dosu had been given two days to kill Kin, meaning that tonight, for better or worse, would be the moment of truth.
And Zaku still couldn't figure out what it was he wanted.
He looked up in a daze, noting the sun had finally fallen from the sky, and knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he wasn't ready for what was to come.
The three of them, Dosu, Kin, and him, had been given three rooms at a small apartment complex in the back of the Leaf Village. It was quiet, but it served their purposes well enough, and acted as a decent cover for anyone sniffing around their information.
'See?' The rooms seemed to say. 'Just your average Genin team.'
He felt that, under normal circumstances, he may've laughed at his own joke. At the moment, he barely even breathed.
I have to make my decision. Not just eventually, but soon.
That thought terrified him.
He was perhaps a block away from their apartments, and even if he wanted nothing more than to run away, his feet wouldn't stop carrying him forward, as if silently telling him that he had no choice, no other option than to face this head on.
I already knew that. Zaku thought to himself. No need to reiterate it.
He found himself suddenly standing before the apartments stairs, climbing them without really meaning to. He found himself at their floor, walking down the hallway towards whatever awaited them all.
He found himself in front of Kin's room, staring into Dosu's eyes.
"Yo." His partner spoke quietly, almost whispering.
He tried to muster up the energy to say something, anything, but found that words simply wouldn't form. Instead, he nodded.
"Yeah." Dosu said a second later, seemingly grasping what it was he wanted to communicate. "I feel the same way."
As he contemplated what to do, Zaku couldn't help but idly notice a frog, sitting gingerly atop the steel railing.
It seemed to be staring right at them.
"I suppose there's nothing left to do… other than proceed." Dosu spoke after a while, moving his hand over to the door.
It stopped after a second, hesitating, before, finally, plunging down and knocking 4 times.
The few seconds that followed seemed to last an eternity to Zaku. Time stood still, the birds in the small park behind them no longer chirped. The insects stopped their calls, and the winds themselves seemed to halt.
And then the door opened, and a breath Zaku hadn't known he'd been holding seemed to explode out of him, and he nearly fell right where he was standing.
"Oh, hey you two." Kin spoke simply, wearing not her mission outfit, but one that was, instead, rather girlish in appearance. It was a simple dress, one which seemed to prefer comfort over style, but even still gave off an elegant air. "Need something?"
Any words he could've spoken seemed to catch not in his throat, but in his head. What was there to say to someone you were told to kill.
Just do it now. A primal part of him cried out. It'll hurt less if you kill her now. Get it over with.
He didn't so much as move, though luckily for him, Dosu did.
"Yeah, actually, would you mind if we came in? There were some developments in the plan that we wanted to go over with you."
Kin's eyes widened momentarily, before she smiled subtly, stepping back and, effectively, inviting them in.
The moment her back was turned, Zaku saw Dosu begin to move. A concealed kunai, one which he'd kept beneath his coat, was drawn, and, in an instant, was half-way to Kin's unsuspecting form.
Once more, time seemed to stand still.
"Isn't this what you want?" A voice in his head seemed to reason with him. "You get to survive, and you don't even have to dirty your hands. Just let Dosu do it."
That's… that's true.
The knife began to move once more, flowing through the air slowly, yet surely.
I could… just… let it happen.
The knife inched ever closer.
Yeah! Yeah, that's perfect.
"…rd!"
I'll just…
"…ward!"
Sit back and… watch her die.
"COWARD!"
His hand shot out, gripping Dosu's wrist with such a fervor that, for a moment, he feared he'd broken it. The boy turned towards him, eyes wide and filled with confusion and fury, but Zaku wouldn't give him a moment.
"Hey, Kin?" He called out to the girl before them.
Instantly, Dosu's eyes widened extremely, and he drew his weapon back, pocketing it once more as Kin turned back to look at the two of them, eyes curious.
"What's up?"
"When'd you get that dress?" Zaku asked. "I don't think I've seen you wear it before."
"Oh, this?" The girl performed a tiny motion that made the dress spin ever so slightly, smiling embarrassedly as she did. "I bought it with the pay I'd been saving up over the last few months. I know I probably shouldn't have, but I saw it in the shopping district a few blocks from here, and just couldn't get my eyes off it."
"Heh, I guess you've been enjoying it around here?" He spoke as innocently as he could, stepping into the space and, more importantly, between Kin and Dosu.
The apartment wasn't particularly large, perhaps the space of your average living room. It did, however, have a tiny kitchen in the corner, and two rooms off to the back, which looked to be a bathroom and a bedroom. There were very few personal touches in the space at all, largely due to the fact that the rooms, aside from functioning as places to sleep, went largely unused.
"Yeah, it's had it's up's and down's, namely me almost dying in that crappy forest, but other than that… I've actually been enjoying it here a lot." The girl smiled, before turning back around and walking into the makeshift kitchen in the back of the space. "How long are you guys staying? Would you like anything to drink?"
"No," Dosu began, finally entering the room. "We won't be staying very-"
"I'll take green tea, if you have it." Zaku called out, trying to ignore the death glare that Dosu was giving him.
He received a small laugh back from Kin.
"Alright, one green tea. Dosu, you good then?"
"Yes," Dosu said, looking Zaku directly in the eye with a cold stare. "I'm fine, thank you."
"Alright, just give me a few minutes then, I'll bring that right out!"
"Thanks!" Zaku called out, before turning to look back at his teammate.
"What the hell are you trying to pull!?" Dosu whispered aggressively at him, leaning towards him in the small chair. "We have our assignment, do we not? Why stop me from accomplishing it."
Because that's far too cold. Zaku wanted to say. Because she's just a kid like us, stuck in a bad situation, and robbed of the chance of a normal life because of Orochimaru's whims. Because she's our teammate, someone we've been stuck with for almost a year now.
"Who knows?" Zaku said instead, leaning back into his chair, and thinking at a mile a minute.
Alright, I've bought myself some time to think, but other than that, what do I have? His thoughts were restless as he watched Kin try to prepare his drink, at first trying to make a single cup, but ultimately failing, and, with a small pout upon her face, resorting to making an entire pot. The moment Kin gets over here, Dosu's going to try and kill Kin again, and at that point, I need to pick a side.
"You can't pick a side. You have to somehow save them both."
It was the same voice from earlier, the one that had called him a coward. Only now could he tell just who it was.
"Yeah." He called out to the voice. "I know, Reis. Trust in me."
A warm feeling covered him, before disappearing. He knew, deep down, that the Reis he'd spoken to wasn't the real one. That boy had died many years ago. But the ideal of Reis that he held in his heart, the kindhearted boy who would never betray his friends, still held him to that same standard.
He wouldn't allow himself to fail those close to him.
Not again.
"Sheesh, finally!"
Kin's voice interrupted his thoughts. It seemed she'd finished preparing the tea, which meant he was out of time.
"Sorry that took so long." Kin called over to them, laughing as she did. "I tried to make a single cup for you, but that was a disaster, so, well, long story short, I made a full pot, so if you end up wanting a refill, rest assured I've got you covered."
"M-much obliged." Zaku spoke, his voice once again sounding weak.
"You alright?" Kin seemed to pick up on it, looking at him with a vague sense of concern.
"Yeah, just got something in my throat." He took the tea in front of him and gave it a small sip, careful not to obscure his vision.
He was keeping track of Dosu out of the corner of his vision, but the boy didn't look to be making any moves. He was watching the two of them carefully as well, and when their eyes met briefly, he turned away, instead watching the wall behind them.
Alright. Zaku pondered. What do I say?
"So, what did you guys want to tell me?"
Dosu's posture changed, he went from completely relaxed to ready to jump up at a moments notice. It struck Zaku immediately that he had mere seconds, if that, to act.
And so he went for, perhaps, the riskiest of all the moves he could've pulled.
"Orochimaru wants you dead."
The room went deadly silent, as both Kin and Dosu turned to look at him with eyes as wide as saucers, though obviously for quite different reasons.
"W-what?" Kin spoke up, seemingly at a loss for words as she reached behind her, reaching for a kunai that wasn't there. "What are you talking about?"
"Last night-" Dosu tried to stop him, grabbing at his arm and giving him a look, but he shook the other boy off. "Last night, we were called by Orochimaru. He promised us the rank of Chuunin, and greater protections to go along with it, and all we had to do was kill you to do it."
The girl seemed to barely process that, her hands shaking as she reached down with one and took a drink of her tea, eyes frantically panning across the both of them, and towards the door in front of her. Perhaps it was the desperation, but she didn't try and mask her intended escape route very well at all.
"Why tell me this, huh!?" The girl's voice suddenly became aggressive, drawing a kitchen knife from the counter behind her and holding it out towards the two of them. "Rubbing it in my face before you kill me!?"
"Because I want the three of us to escape together."
Once more all eyes were on him. Both of his teammates had stopped struggling, had stopped looking like they could attack one another at any moment. They looked towards him with a look that he couldn't quite describe. It was at once hope and despair.
"The hell…" Kin muttered quietly to herself, collapsing on the chair below her, and letting the knife in her hand fall from her grip. "You could've started with that…"
"The hell are you playing at, Zaku?"
He turned towards Dosu, who was looking at him like he was insane.
To be fair to the man, he could understand how he might sound it.
"I'm saying that we can escape. Right here, right now. We can free ourselves from Orochimaru's grasp, and side ourselves with people who will protect us from him."
"What the… Zaku, we're criminals." Dosu smacked his hand to his stomach, directly over his heart. "We aren't going to be taken in by anyone, let alone the Leaf Village."
"Wait," Kin began, disbelief flooding into her voice. "You were planning on defecting to the Leaf?"
"Yeah, that's the idea." He admitted.
Dosu stopped for a second, before, with a small chuckle, he began to laugh wildly, almost crazily.
"And just why the hell would they let us do that!?" The boy shouted, fury, and a small bit of madness working its way across his face. "Even supposing that no one catches us as we make our way to the Hokage's tower, which they certainly will, what do we have to offer them to take us in?"
"Last night's meeting."
Dosu's face went from crazed to contemplative in a matter of moments, suddenly considering the new element he hadn't seen before.
"If we approach them with that information, I think the Hokage might choose to shelter us." Zaku spoke, eyes hardened with resolve.
"But…" This time, it was Kin speaking up. "What happens if we give him this… this information, and then he just kills us anyways?"
"I considered that, but I'm willing to bet that won't happen." Zaku spoke confidently, now ready to confront the two of them with the full plan. "Orochimaru has always called the Third Hokage 'soft'. In terms of general policy, and even just demeanor, we've all seen him at the Chuunin Exams site, he seems like an upstanding man. I think that if we came to him with all of this, he'd help us."
"Evidence!" Dosu spoke, massaging his skull with his hands. "What evidence do you have that he will!?"
"Last month, he took in two drifters from the Mist Village. Zabuza Momochi and his son." Zaku spoke, using some of the intel he'd gathered as part of Orochimaru's initial mission. "I don't know why, but if he was willing to offer a position for one as bloodstained as the Demon of the Mist, then surely for kids like us, he'd be even more forgiving."
Dosu laughed, but it was a sedated, quiet thing.
"More conjecture… no evidence…" The boy muttered under his breath. "We're going to die…we're going to die, and it's going to be your fault."
"So, you'd rather Kin die, than risk your own life?" He asked, knowing the answer.
"Yes." Dosu looked up at him, eyes narrowed. "I would."
"Coward."
Dosu laughed at that, a dry, mirthless laugh that rang completely hollow.
"Call me what you want, but at the end of the day, I survive." Dosu spoke as he looked towards Kin. "Whatever else happens, happens."
"Try it, and I'll stop you." Zaku spoke as the boy leaned forward, about to try and cut Kin down once again.
The girl seemed to realize that her life was once more endangered, for she took the knife off of the floor and held it in front of her, moving it from one of them to the other, silently threatening the both of them.
"Heh, it's always about Kin, isn't it?" Dosu spoke dryly as he turned towards him, eyes narrowed in anger. "Your little crush seems to have really flared up these past few weeks."
Zaku sighed as Kin gave him an odd look, but he ignored her. Whatever the other two may've thought about his own interests didn't matter right now.
"I'm not going to lose anyone, never again. I promised myself that." Zaku's words seemed to confuse the other two, but they kept listening anyways. "Each of us grew up on the streets. We were orphans, outcasts, thrown bits and scraps and expected to make a life out of them."
Dosu snorted.
"So what?"
"So that means if we're planning on surviving, we need to stick together."
"Bullshit." The boy uttered, standing up and moving towards him. "I survived just fine on my own. I made it for 10 years before that bastard snatched me up, and I didn't need anyone's help."
"And what now?" Zaku exclaimed louder than he'd meant to. "What happens when you survive this whole ordeal, but the two of us-" He gestured to Kin and himself. "Are dead!? Do you really think you'll be able to keep staying alive in that bastards circle?"
"I've done just fine so far, have I not?"
"And do you think you've done that alone!?" He pressured, standing up and getting in the other boy's face. "Do you honestly think that the three of us working together isn't what led to our success?"
The other boy headbutted him, knocking him back into his chair, and for a second, there was no noise, only the harsh breathing of the both of them, with Kin sitting in the back of the room, her blade still raised towards the two of them, untrusting.
"You're so full of shit Zaku." Dosu massaged his head where theirs had collided, looking down at him with disdain. "When you fought that Bug kid, wasn't survival the thing that pushed you on!? Wasn't that what let you get back up!?"
He tried to remember back to those moments, but everything was so hazy.
What had it been that brought him out of that haze?
"GET UP!"
Dosu's voice…
Reis…
"No." He responded simply, looking up at him and smirking lightly, despite the pain pounding in his skull. "I got up for the two of you."
Dosu's eyes went wide, even as he took a step backwards, snarling.
"BULLSHIT!"
"It's not bullshit!" He shouted back, rising, and meeting the boy once again. "When I was nearly dying on the ground, it was your damned shouting that brought me back! And when I got caught in that swarm, it was the thought that you guys would get hurt that let me power through and fire off that last shot, so don't you dare tell me that what we have means nothing, because I know damn well that isn't true!"
Dosu stumbled backwards as Zaku pushed forwards, tripping over the chair, and landing in a heap on the ground. The two of them panted, even as Kin stood up and backed away slightly, never once putting the knife away, but no longer pointing it towards the two of them.
"You may be able to survive on your own, sure." Zaku conceded that point, taking a deep breath. "But I'll be damned if you wouldn't hate it the entire way."
Dosu didn't speak from his position on the floor, instead covering his eyes with his arm and panting as quietly as he could.
"I'm going to the Hokage. I'm going to get away from Orochimaru, and I'm going to live the life that I want to live." Zaku held his hand out to the boy, gazing down at him with a small smile. "And I'd like it if the two of you came too."
Dosu said nothing for a few seconds, breathing slowly as he let his arm fall to the side, looking over at Kin with an expression Zaku couldn't quite fathom. When he finally looked away, it was to lock eyes with him, examining every part of him.
"You're an idiot." The boy supplied simply.
"Perhaps." He smiled.
"You're going to get us all killed."
"Maybe," Zaku admitted. "But in the long run, I'd bet that my plan has a higher survival rating than yours."
Dosu turned, putting his weight on his left arm as he pushed himself up, standing and looking back over towards Kin once more, as if, for the final time, considering simply killing her once more.
He seemed to dismiss the thought a second later, as he turned back towards Zaku with a small conviction playing in his eyes.
"Alright, fine." Dosu sighed. "Just this once, I'll bet on your ideals."
He smiled at that, letting out a massive breath of relief as he looked towards Kin and smiled at her. The girl returned it, though hers was more sedated, still filled with residual fear from the entire night's events.
"Kin, go get your equipment and get dressed, we don't have a ton of time." Zaku ordered simply, before a hand on his shoulder brought him out of his fervor.
"I'm sorry." Dosu spoke, sounding a tad annoyed. "I don't remember promoting you to leader of this team."
He laughed a bit nervously, raising his hands in mock surrender.
"Kin, follow Zaku's instruction."
The girl's eyes narrowed as she sighed.
"Right, yeah."
She disappeared into her room for a few minutes, and came out in her traditional ninja garb, a few senbon already strapped to the side of her thigh. She nodded once to the both of them, and they followed behind Dosu as they walked towards the entrance.
"Alright, we'll take back alleys and side streets all the way to the Hokage's office. We want to go as long as possible without being spotted, if we get spotted at all." The boy opened the door, still turned towards the both of them. "In the event we do get seen, we-"
"How interesting, just what could you mean by that?"
It was as if the temperature around them dropped 15 degrees in a single second. Chills shot up Zaku's body as he looked at the figure stood before them, garbed in his traditional Medical ninja outfit, he didn't cut much of an imposing figure.
But as the right-hand man of Orochimaru, Kabuto Yakushi wasn't to be underestimated.
"My, my." Kabuto's eyes seemed to glint in the fragile moonlight, and his teeth, bared to the world, seemed terribly sharp as he smiled at the three of them.
"What do we have here?"
End Chapter 23
At this point, I feel like an apology isn't quite enough for the triple cliffhanger's that I've done the last three weeks.
But it's all I've got so...
Anyways, Next week, Kabuto vs. the Gang.
Probably some other stuff too.
See you all next week!