Yo!
Last set-up chapter before the Arena Fights, and the subsequent brawls that will ensue. Some things will change, others will remain the same. Which will be which?
Well, you'll probably have to keep reading to find out.
...Though that does seem like a bit of a given at this point.
Chapter 26: Final Preparations
"You want to learn what?"
"You heard me." Anko responded coyly, smirking with a confidence that practically screamed she was in charge. "I asked if you'd teach the kid a bit about natural energy."
The man before them sighed wearily, eyeing Sakura with exhaustion clearly set upon his face, before setting both of his hands on his knees and pushing himself to his feet.
"You do know I'm no expert myself, right?"
"You're still the best the girl's going to get, at least in this place."
The Giant chuckled.
"I suppose you're right." Jiraiya of the Sannin turned towards her, looked her up and down, and nodded. "Alright, well, if I avoid that blonde brat any longer, I think he'll nearly kill himself again, so I'll tell you about this crap where I can watch him. Hell, maybe he could stand to learn some of this, too."
The man said something else under his breath that Sakura didn't quite catch, but it sounded like a complaint about being "stuck with two brats, now".
As they began to walk, Sakura spared a moment to take in the scenery as Jiraiya led them deeper into the forest. The leaf wasn't a particularly mountainous region, but that didn't stop it from having it's own heights. The ones around them jutted up perhaps a hundred feet, though Sakura couldn't help but be particularly drawn to a waterfall that cut through a canyon just beyond them.
It was high! or, at the very least, higher than any Sakura had ever seen. It was carved into the side of the canyon wall by, according to what she'd learned in school, the sheer tenacity of the stream itself.
The water itself lacked the strength to cut through stone, but it kept going. over and over, until eventually, it succeeded.
"Hmph." Sakura laughed quietly, causing her mentor to turn towards her with a curious look.
"What's got you so amused?"
"Oh, nothing." Sakura lied, waving her hand to dispel the woman's question.
I'm just reminded of a certain blonde I know.
As their small journey was reaching it's end, and their conversation along with it, a small detail Jiraiya had mentioned earlier came to the forefront of Sakura's thoughts.
"Wait… he nearly killed himself?" Sakura asked as they neared the end of their small walk.
"He summoned a giant frog on top of himself." Jiraiya spoke as he chuckled. "It would've been far funnier at the time, if I hadn't thought he was dead."
"Sheesh." Sakura giggled to herself, trying to muffle the sound into the back of her hand. "How big was the thing to nearly crush him?"
Jiraiya seemed to contemplate that for a moment, gazing up at the watery cliff face beyond them, and then pointing at it a second later.
"A bit shorter than that." He spoke, without a hint of mirth.
Anko laughed at Sakura's expression, walking over to her and throwing an arm around her shoulder.
"Summoning Jutsu can bring out some pretty crazy stuff." The woman remarked through her giggling, as if the statement explained everything.
They emerged into a clearing about a minute later, and immediately came face to face with an angry, shirtless Naruto.
"OI! Old Frog Guy!" The boy shouted. "Where the hell were you!? I've been sitting under the waterfall like you said for an hour! My shoulders are killing me!"
"Wait, he took that seriously?" Jiraiya murmured under his breath, before laughing awkwardly and rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry about that, these two were distracting me from your training."
Both Anko and Sakura shot the man a fierce glare, one which he avoiding entirely by stepping forward and away from the two of them. Luckily, it seemed that even Naruto wasn't so naïve as to fall for that excuse.
"Yeah, I'm sure Sakura definitely interrupted you." The blonde boy deadpanned, staring up at his teacher with narrowed eyes. "She's totally the type."
"Anyways!" Jiraiya exclaimed before his own choices could catch up with him. "Naruto, you go ahead and sit down here, too. I'm going to talk to you about something really quick."
"Oh, are you actually going to teach me something non-frog related!?"
Sakura tried not to laugh at how excited the boy sounded about that, and at how annoyed Jiraiya was with the comment, but couldn't quite manage it. Luckily, her own laughter was eclipsed by Anko's, who loudly cackled at the exchange, taking more than a few seconds to berate the sage for his teaching methods.
"Dumb kids…" Jiraiya muttered under his breath as he glared at the three of them. "Minato never complained about frogs…"
"Who's that?" Naruto asked curiously.
"No one important." Jiraiya spoke, smiling lazily at the boy. "Now, I have to confess that I'm no expert at this stuff, even if I am maybe the only person this side of the continent that could teach it to you."
Sakura didn't miss how Naruto went from uninterested to paying rapt attention in half a second. Apparently, learning a rare and mystical art appealed to the boy, even more than Sakura had thought it would.
"Naruto, I've already explained this to the two of them, but what I'm talking about is natural chakra."
At this, Naruto threw up his hands, falling backwards and whining like a small child.
"Not more crappy nature stuff! Show me how to blow up a whole army of bad guys with fire! I'm tired of learning about crappy frogs!"
Sakura almost apologized to the man before her, so embarrassed was she by her teammates actions, but the man beat her to it, standing up and grabbing Naruto by the leg, before literally dragging him back to where they'd been just a second before. He stood the boy up, brushed his own clothes off, and cleared his throat.
"Now, before my student so rudely interrupted, I was going to talk about Natural chakra." Naruto looked like he wanted to complain again, but a stern look from his mentor had him keeping quiet. "Right, so, you all already understand that chakra is made up of two forces, physical energy and spiritual energy, correct?"
Sakura nodded, noticing out of the corner of her eye that even Anko seemed to be paying attention.
I wonder… is she trying to figure something out about Natural chakra as well? Sakura pondered. It does make sense; she has her own curse mark to worry about, after all.
"Alright, so… Natural energy is something else you add to the mix, creating a third… uhm…" The man seemed to be struggling with how to describe the substance, but a second later, he brought out a small scroll from his coat, set it down on his lap, and quickly sketched something out. "Alright, see this?"
On the paper was a simple drawing of a Yin Yang symbol. One half read 'Physical' and the other 'Spiritual'.
"Yeah." The three of them responded.
"Alright, so, when you add natural chakra to the mix…" The man took a quick second to make another sketch and held the parchment up to the three of them again. "You're essentially adding another pool of chakra from which to pull from, and, most importantly, one that isn't your own."
This diagram showed the same previous sections, making up two-thirds of the pie chart before them, and another section, this one labeled 'Natural'.
"Doing this, of course, has a lot of advantages." Jiraiya told them simply. "Those who earn the title sage can use a variety of Sage arts, though those are a little more advanced then I'll be covering here. Instead, I think I'll tell you about it's weaknesses."
"Wait… it has weaknesses?" Naruto questioned, scratching his head confusedly. "What's weak about having more chakra?"
"Well, the gathering of natural chakra in and of itself is incredibly difficult, time consuming, and dangerous. Using it in the field without proper set up, even by a master of the art, would be akin to suicide."
"Why's that?" Sakura asked after a moment.
The man before them sighed, seemingly struggling to explain this to them without getting too nitty-gritty.
"Basically, in order to gather natural energy, you've first got to remain perfectly still."
Sakura's eyes widened at that.
Then how the hell are you supposed to use it!? Her inner self seemed to scream. If I can't move, I'm just a damn sitting duck!
"Then, even if you do manage to gather some natural chakra, if it doesn't properly balance out against your spiritual and physical energies, it basically just evaporates." The man smirked lightly, before staring up at the three of them as if he were telling a ghost story around a campfire. "And if you gather too much, you're turned to stone!"
Naruto laughed loudly, seemingly in disbelief that such a power could have as harsh a drawback as Jiraiya claimed.
"I'm completely serious." The boy's teacher spoke a second later.
At that, Naruto's laughter died an ugly death, and he scowled up at the sage rather fiercely.
"Why the hell tell us about this damned stuff if all it's got is weaknesses?"
"Because the strengths it does have are pretty damn powerful." Jiraiya spoke casually. "And because these two asked me." The man said through a smile, pointing at Sakura and her teacher with thumb.
"Wait, why would you guys want to know about this crap?" Naruto asked as he turned towards the two of them, eyeing them curiously.
"That'd be because of our curse marks." Anko admitted simply. "It's been a while since the Leaf's technicians ran tests on mine, but they said that, apparently, the thing is able to take in… or… wait… was it produce… well, whatever, natural chakra was involved somewhere along the line."
"Wait… so you and Sakura are drawing in this… natural chakra stuff?" Naruto asked, expression oddly worried.
"Uhm… yeah, I guess?"
"OI! Frog Guy!" Naruto turned back around, grabbing Jiraiya by the coat and lamenting rather loudly. "You've gotta do something! I don't want my friend getting turned into stone!"
"Gah!" Jiraiya shoved the boy away by his face, dusting his coat off with both hands. "Get your grubby paws off! Their curse marks work with natural chakra way differently!"
At that, Naruto instantly calmed down, sitting back down and asking another question as if he hadn't just thrown a fit.
"What does that mean? How's it changed?"
Jiraiya glared at the boy, but seemed to give up his grudge a second later.
"Honestly kid, I wish I knew." Jiraiya sighed, rubbing the back of his head with his right hand. "Orochimaru didn't exactly leave a guide on what the curse mark is, and we can only really learn what the specialists tell us. But even they don't have the kind of knowledge that bastard does."
"Suffice it to say," Anko continued where Jiraiya had left off. "Unless my old teacher decides to hand us a pamphlet, we have to learn this stuff on our own. Which is why we're here, learning as much as we can."
"If I'm being completely honest," Jiraiya spoke after a second or two. "I don't really think either of you have the build to gather nature chakra the old-fashioned way."
"Why's that?" Sakura asked, feeling a small twinge of disappointment.
"Simply put, your chakra pool isn't very large. To make up for that, you've got control of it in spades, but nature chakra is dangerous to handle, because you have to gather enough so that it becomes almost exactly a third, without going too far either way, or else you get turned to stone." Jiraiya pointed at the two of them. "If you only gathered a small amount of nature chakra, it might be enough to keep you below the limit, but even then, it wouldn't be enough chakra to do anything with, does that make sense?"
"Yeah, I got it." Anko answered after a moment, looking down at Sakura. "You understand?"
"Mhm."
"If anything," Jiraiya added, looking over at his pupil and giving a lazy smile. "I'd say the only one here that actually has what it takes is Naruto."
Naruto's eyes became comically wide, and the boy shot straight up, pointing a finger into his own chest.
"Me!?"
All three of them chuckled a bit at that, as Jiraiya stood up and pointed at the boy.
"You. You've got the reserves necessary for natural chakra to last a while, and you've got the mind to figure out a way to use it in combat. I'd say your biggest problem is a lack of control, but that'll come with time."
Naruto seemed stunned that someone had said something positive about him, and he sat in silence for a few moments, seemingly thinking about his master's words.
"So…" Sakura chimed in after a moment, her voice low. "Does that mean I'm probably not cut out to use natural chakra?"
"Yeah, unfortunately, that's probably the case." Jiraiya admitted. "Sorry about that, didn't mean to ruin your excitement."
"Oh, no, sir!" Sakura exclaimed, bowing a second later. "We very much appreciate your insight."
"Heh, look at that." The sage spoke with a twinge of annoyance in his voice. "Looks like Anko's student can show respect, so why does mine only call me 'Frog Guy' and 'Pervy Sage'!?"
That seemed like a can of worms that Sakura didn't want to open, and as the conversation began to wind down, she turned to look up at Anko and nodded her head, letting the woman know she was okay to leave.
"Alright, well, on that note, the two of us will be heading out." Her mentor called to the other duo, waving a hand lazily as she turned around and set off down the path they'd taken to get here. "Good luck in the exams next week!"
"Heh, you as well." Jiraiya called back.
"Good luck, Sakura!"
"You too, Naruto!"
They walked in silence for quite a while, Anko leading them through dense thickets and trees as they backtracked. It was only after a while that a solitary, quiet thought entered her head.
"Could Hashirama use natural chakra?" Sakura asked.
Anko snorted.
"The legends have him using just about every jutsu in existence, so I'm sure there are a few where he used natural chakra…" Her teacher slowed slightly, turning to look back at her. "But if you're asking if he actually used it? I don't know."
"Ah… yeah!" Sakura's feigned enthusiasm sounded a bit strained, even to her. "Sorry for bringing it up, I just…"
"You're disappointed."
Sakura looked up, not surprised, but a bit sad that Anko had managed to see through her.
"Sorry…" She muttered quietly.
"You have nothing to apologize for." The woman looked towards her, smiling reassuringly. "It's not easy to be told you can't do something, especially when it isn't your fault at all. That's even more the case when it's something you've set your sights on."
Sakura didn't speak for a while, her emotions leaving her feeling not sad, but empty instead. After a little while longer, and after they'd cleared most of the trees, Sakura found herself wondering something.
"Uhm… Anko sensei?"
The woman turned around, a curious expression adorning her face.
"What's up?"
"Was there ever anything… anything you couldn't do?"
Anko's face contorted oddly, before, a second later, the woman burst into a fit of laughter, hanging onto Sakura to support her shaky frame as she did.
"Hey! Sensei!" Sakura complained, finding her balance completely off. "You're going to make me f-AAAAH!"
A second later they were both on the ground, and Sakura was fumbling around and trying to remove her teacher from her chest, shaking wildly to dislodge the shaking woman. When she finally removed the weight from on top of her, and said weight finally stopped laughing, Sakura was left panting for air, staring at Anko beside her annoyedly.
"My bad, my bad." Her teacher called out, still laughing even as she lay prone on the ground next to her. "I guess… that just caught me by surprise is all."
"My question?"
"No, a stray rock." Anko deadpanned, before lightly flicking her forehead. "Of course, your question!"
"S-sorry." Sakura choked out a moment later, still catching her breath from the fall. "I didn't mean to-"
"Dumby, don't apologize." Her mentor's tone was surprisingly gentle, and just like every other time when Anko was kind to her, it seemed to catch Sakura off guard. "But… to answer your question, yes, there were of course things that I couldn't do."
She turned on her side, propping herself up with her arms, and looked the woman beside her in the eye.
"Even things you really wanted to do?" Sakura asked quietly.
Anko's expression darkened minutely, and for a second Sakura thought she'd finally pushed too far. A moment later, however, the expression was gone, replaced by one that spoke only of exhaustion.
"Yeah… what I really wanted to do was bring my mentor… to bring Orochimaru back to the Leaf Village." Anko admitted after a few seconds. "He experimented on me, experimented on countless others, killed ninjas, civilians, even kids, all in the name of some goal that I never even found out about… and whenever I found him in the forest of death, even with all of my training, I…"
There was a weighty silence that pooled between them, and Sakura briefly thought that Anko would stop there. Her mentor continued, however, despite how much it seemed she didn't want to.
"I was still scared of him." Anko finally let out, eyes lidded and expression sad as she dredged up bad memories. "Even after all the effort I'd gone through, steeling myself for our inevitable encounter, when we finally met, I shook in my damned boots."
Sakura's eyed widened at her mentor's words, but she remained silent and let the woman keep speaking.
"And then Jiraiya showed up to bail me out, and the moment he did, Orochimaru got this look on his face…" Anko ground her teeth together, and the sound caused Sakura to cringe slightly. "He respected Jiraiya, he feared Jiraiya… And yet I could see from the way he looked at me… There was none of that, there. He thought of me like a Genin… just someone to throw aside."
Anko was quiet for a while, panting as Sakura thought of what to say in return.
"We seem a lot alike." Sakura spoke without meaning to, covering her mouth a second later. "Sorry, I-I didn't mean-"
"Heh." Anko turned towards her, bracing her own frame on her arms and looking her in the eye. "Yeah, I suppose we do." The woman sat up, sitting crisscross on the grassy floor beneath her. "After that… I lashed out at Jiraiya without really meaning to… and he came up with the idea for me to train you… and I guess I was feeling guilty, because I agreed without much of a fight, despite this being a bit different from what I'm normally up to."
"I think it worked out pretty well, though." Sakura spoke with a small smile.
Anko returned it with one of her own.
"Yeah, I guess it did." Her mentor admitted with a smile. "How about this… we'll both work on becoming stronger, so that we can overcome our obstacles. I'll get strong enough to defeat Orochimaru, and you get strong enough so that you leave your teammates in the dust."
Sakura laughed, wiping away a small tear from her eye as she did.
"Sounds good, Sensei."
"Awesome." The woman said. "Now, c'mon, I got an interesting message from the Hokage a week or two ago about some odd arrivals, and now they're finally ready for some visitors." Anko stood, dusted herself off, and offered her hand out to Sakura.
"Wait, visitors? Who are you talking about?"
"Hmph." Anko laughed in a way that had Sakura feeling mighty suspicious. "Just follow me, I'll show you."
/-/
Zaku paced quietly around the Hokage's office, trying his best to remain patient, and not freak out about having essentially been under house arrest for a little under two weeks.
"Zaku, would you quit it!?" Kin spoke up annoyedly, groaning for what must've been the thousandth time. "You're going to wear a hole in the damn floor!"
"Well, it's not my fault we've been locked in here!" Zaku hissed back, his anger at their situation easily flowing into his words.
"Well it is your fault that you're annoying me half to death with your incessant pacing!"
"Would you guys be quiet!?" Dosu shouted from a bench at the back of the room, where he'd been laying down, trying to go back to sleep once more. "Not all of us want to hear your whining!"
"Dosu, if you don't shut your damned-"
"Zaku, stop pacing, or I will come over there and-"
"The both of you, shut the fu-"
A light and airy laugh cut the three of them off, and they all turned towards the desk in the center of the room, where the Hokage sat quietly, gazing over at all of them and still, even despite his age, smiling vibrantly.
"My apologies, it is just… the three of you remind me so much of a team I taught ages ago." The Hokage's eyes glinted ever so slightly as he smiled widely. "Right down to the constant arguments."
The man's words seemed to halt all of them, for whatever they'd been arguing about before seemed to disappear, instead replaced by even more questions.
"Who… would that be, sir?" Kin asked after a second or two, eyes curious, but holding a guess within them, like she already knew the answer.
"The Sannin, or, well, at that time, I suppose they were known as Team Hiruzen." The old man laughed quietly, as if sharing an inside joke with himself. "As much as they hated going by my name."
"W-wait!" Zaku interjected, looking up at the Hokage with disbelief. "Us? We remind you of the Sannin!?"
The old man before them smiled brightly.
"I do not mean in terms of experience, or in capability, but more in personality. I have, after all, not seen any of you fight." The man's easy smile had even Zaku relaxing somewhat, disarming the three of them with only words. "Perhaps you are secretly as strong as they were, hm?"
Dosu let out a quiet laugh at the man's words.
"I can safely say that's not the case, we were easily overwhelmed by Kabuto on his own two weeks ago."
"You mean You were easily overwhelmed." Kin accused. "Zaku and I were more than capable of holding our own."
Zaku cringed as those two got into yet another argument. He couldn't really blame Kin for her aggressive attitude towards the other boy, if anything, he had to commend her. He couldn't imagine what it must've felt like to have a friend try to kill you, and then have to work with that friend barely 10 minutes later.
The fact that she was willing to put up with Dosu at all was perhaps a miracle, and one Zaku could appreciate, even if it wasn't exactly what he would've preferred.
People are hard. A part of Zaku's brain supplied helpfully.
"Now for something decidedly less fun." The Hokage interrupted, eyes glinting not with amusement, but with complete seriousness. "In a few hours, I will be allowing the three of you to leave this room, but I would ask for your own safety that you stick to this building. You have, rather obviously, guessed why you three are stuck in here, correct?"
"Well, yeah." Kin shrugged as if it was obvious. "You're keeping us safe from any counterattack Orochimaru could make to try and silence us."
"That is correct, but there is actually another reason as well."
That had their attention. None of them wanted to be caught unaware against what they all assumed would be a formidable enemy.
"When you are walking the halls, you may very well meet a man about as old as I am, with jet black hair, and a patch over his right eye." Suddenly, the Hokage's expression became grim, and his eyes narrowed. "If you encounter this man, ignore anything he tells you. Immediately return here, preferably as a group if you are able."
There was complete silence for a while as they all thought about what that could mean. Was there a Shinobi under Orochimaru so powerful, so feared, that he could manage to get into even this compound, infiltrate under the Hokage's nose, and kill them?
No, A more logical part of Zaku supplied. If there was, then Orochimaru would have no need to fear him as much as he does…
But then what does that make our mysterious assailant?
A knock on the door behind them had them all jumping, and Zaku thought he heard even the Hokage breathing hard as they looked backwards. When the mysterious visitor entered the room, Zaku was surprised to find it was a woman in her mid-twenties, and a small girl.
A small girl that he knew.
It was Dosu that reacted first, sitting up from his bench and peering over at the new entries.
"Isn't that…"
"The girl from the forest." Kin muttered, glaring heavily at the girl in question. "Good to see another person that tried to kill me."
The member of Team 7, Sakura, if he recalled correctly, had an interesting concoction of emotion playing across her face. She looked like she felt terrible about what she'd done, like she felt what she'd done was the right thing, and that she was confused as hell about why they were here.
All of those seemed to check out, from Zaku's perspective.
"You three…" Sakura spoke under her breath, looking up to the woman beside her and asking her a silent question.
"I eh… actually don't know the full story." The woman rubbed the back of her neck, smiling over at the Hokage with a bit of a dumb grin. "Yo! Old timer, can you explain how this all happened?"
"They've come to us for aid after one of their number was sentenced to death by Orochimaru." The Hokage spoke, narrowing his eyes. "And Anko, I would ask that you refer to me as the Hokage, at the very least."
"Right, right, fine." The woman, Anko, shook her hand, before turning back to the three of them and smiling. "Still, surprised you guys had that kind of loyalty to one another, most groups like Orochimaru's resort to actively preventing strong relationships. Makes it easier for them to turn you on each other, y'know?"
"Yeah, well, you can ask Zaku about that one." Dosu spoke, still sounding a bit annoyed at him. "He's the one who went all "friendship is power" on us."
"Shut up!" He snapped at the boy, who merely laughed at him as he laid back down, content that the new arrivals weren't going to try and kill them.
"He does have a point." Kin said as she smiled over at him. "You're the one who came up with all this. Probably the reason we're still alive, too."
"So, you ended up leaving him after all?"
Zaku turned to look Sakura in the eyes, gazing straight at her, and remembering back to when she'd first suggested they run away from Orochimaru, back during the Chuunin Exams, and how he'd berated her fiercely for it.
Heh, Zaku mused. Guess she was right, in a way.
"Yeah. We did."
Sakura smiled at that, an honest, pure smile, one that carried no baggage along with it. Even now, when he could admit she was right in some things, that smile still managed to annoy him.
"Well… I'm happy for you all." The girl spoke simply. "I'm… not actually sure what to say now, but…"
Zaku snorted.
"I don't even know why you're here to be honest."
"Ah, that'd be my fault." Anko spoke up, raising her hand lazily. "Sakura mentioned you guys talked once, and that you said some interesting stuff, so I thought it'd be cool to reunite you."
"…Thanks for the assist?" Zaku added after a moment.
"Uhm…" Sakura tried to speak after a minute or two of awkward conversation, turning towards Kin and sputtering with her words.
"Out with it." The girl said, unamused.
"I-I'm sorry I tried to kill you…" The girl murmured quietly. "I won't say I wasn't myself… but I at the very least shouldn't have-"
"Save it."
Sakura looked up after having been interrupted with a desolate expression, fearing that she would be dismissed, but found Kin smiling lazily down at her.
"Honestly, at the time, I probably deserved it. I was, after all, threatening your life, as well as your friends. You had every right to point a blade at me." The girl looked over towards Dosu, eyes narrowing once more. "No, you're not the one I want an apology from."
"Really!?" Dosu exclaimed, spreading his arms wide in disbelief. "You're bringing this up again!?"
"You tried to kill me!" Kin shouted. "And you're supposed to be on my side!"
"I already said I was sorry!"
"You said it half-heartedly and you know it!"
"Ahem." The Hokage spoke up once more, effectively ending the argument before it could start. "Since you're all here, I'd actually like to speak about the upcoming Chuunin Exams. Zaku Abumi, Dosu Kinuta."
He and Dosu turned towards the man, wondering what it was he'd say.
"The two of you would be at risk inside the stadium, easy targets for more skilled ninja to pick you off. Instead, you will be sitting out of the exams."
Zaku wasn't exactly disappointed about such a development. He didn't exactly care about them now that his life wasn't on the line.
"We will be announcing that the two of you were found using an illegal substance, one that was banned from the exams, which allowed you an unfair advtanage over the competition. Thusly, we will be adding Shino Aburame into the third round, to replace Zaku."
"What about my opponent?" Dosu asked curiously. "Don't get me wrong or anything, I don't think he's better than that bug guy, but is that the only reason he's getting selected?"
"Actually yes, that is the only reason." The Hokage commented, smiling. "Choji Akimichi proved much less of a challenge to defeat than Mr. Aburame, thusly, he has been left in the second stage, whilst Mr. Aburame will be pushed into the third."
"Remember kids," Kin brought up, pointing to the two of them with a smile. "Don't do drugs."
Zaku found himself smiling at the lighthearted joke, and he couldn't quite tell past Dosu's bandaged face, but he thought they were more scrunched up than usual.
"With that, the new bracket will look much the same, however, Miss Tenten of Team Guy will be facing off with Shino Aburame in the final match of the day."
"Understood." He and Dosu agreed.
"Thank you, you two. I appreciate your cooperation these past two weeks. I know our circumstances were not always ideal, but it is my wish that you will one day come to call the Leaf Village your home, just the same as the rest of us do."
Zaku felt a small bit of doubt at that. He'd done nothing but drift his entire life, being taken, rather than going to, new places. The idea that he'd found a permanent home seemed laughable at best, so he'd do himself a favor and not put any stock into the Hokage's words.
"For now, let us rest, and prepare." The Hokage breathed out, standing up and turning his back to the three of them, effectively ending the conversation. "I will be having meetings for the rest of the day regarding the events that shall come to pass in a week's time. I would ask not to be interrupted," He turned his head to look at Zaku, Dosu, and Kin. "Unless in the event of an emergency."
"Yes sir!" Sakura and her mentor answered, and the Three sound ninja nodded towards the man, bowing slightly to show their thanks. They filed out one by one,
Last to go was Zaku himself, taking one final look behind him at the Third Hokage, facing out towards the window.
It was strange, but looking at that old man's silhouette against the sunset, Zaku couldn't help but feel the smallest bit solemn.
As if the person before him was, somehow, already fading.
/-/
Orochimaru stood in the forests outside of Konoha, tens of miles from the nearest civilized region. It was, of course, the only place where he could know without a shadow of a doubt he would not be seen.
The same went for the one he was meeting with.
"To think you would arrive a minute late." Orochimaru gave a quiet "tsk". "Your standards have certainly fallen over these long years, Danzo."
"Cease your incessant musings." The man emerged from behind a tree, flanked, as usual, by two armed guards. "You would do well to remember who helped you during your time in Konoha."
"And you would do well to remember who kept you there." Orochimaru smiled, though it held no joy behind it. "I seem to recall you always called on me to clean up after your messes."
"That was a long time ago." The man claimed simply. "Now, why am I here?"
Orochimaru could respect that, at least, about the man in front of him. His bastardized love for that damned village aside, he was punctual, got the job done, and only ever looked out for himself and his village. There was a certain layer of trust you could have in someone like that.
Trust that you could not trust them.
That was fine, it had been quite a while since Orochimaru trusted anyone at all. Even Kabuto, his right-hand man, was only trusted in the sense that he knew the boy would achieve whatever mission he set for him. Nothing more, nothing less.
"It's no secret that you want to be in charge of Konoha. What I'm proposing is simple… You pull your Root Ninja out of the battle in a week's time, and keep them out of my Sound Ninja's way. If you do that, you get to sweep in from behind after I've killed the Hokage, save the day by decimating my troops, and be proclaimed a hero." Orochimaru grinned, knowing that his words would be enough to entice the man before him. "How does that sound?"
Danzo stood quietly for almost a minute, taking in the breeze around them and thinking hard about his options. His soldiers, the mindless puppets around them that stood ramrod straight, said nothing.
Orochimaru was fairly sure that Danzo could've killed the soldier to his right, and the one to his left wouldn't so much as blink.
"Alright." Danzo said after what seemed like an eternity. "I will agree to your terms on one other condition."
"Alright, let me hear it, then."
"Keep civilian casualties to a minimum." Danzo spoke simply. "My being Hokage would have no meaning, were there no one for me to rule over."
"I assume you are insinuating that I should not attack the wall from behind?"
"I will urge the Hokage to send half of his troops to the outer walls, in order to prevent an attack from behind." Danzo added. "In return, you will receive a far easier attack from the front. I assume these terms are agreeable?"
Orochimaru smirked once more, smiling over at the man as the wind billowed through their small clearing, whipping the long weeds below them in waves.
"Indeed. That is all I have to say. I suppose I will be seeing you next week." He smiled, turning away and letting the others disperse.
When he could no longer sense their presences, Orochimaru melted into the earth. He traveled far, another mile or two, before he felt confident enough to stop.
He emerged into a far larger clearing than last time. This one was what seemed to be a field, though importantly, not one that was actively used for farming. He wouldn't want a nearby villager to find their crops disturbed and report this, after all.
"Now, one more meeting tonight, and I'm all finished up."
He brought his right thumb to his mouth and sunk his fangs into it. A second later, he slammed his hand into the earth, and shouted out.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
An explosion of white smoke filled the clearing, and a low, rumbling noise that sounded almost like an earthquake filled the night.
It was not an earthquake, however, even if the land did shake beneath him as the sound filled the air.
It was a hiss.
"It's been an awfully long time…"
Orochimaru smiled, teeth showing out from under his lips.
"Manda."
End Chapter 26
Alright!
Another week, another chapter.
I will admit that I struggled a lot with writing that first part. I don't exactly know why, I think I was just exhausted last night.
Worlds have officially begun for League of Legends, and, as is tradition, North America has already begun to disappoint me.
Sorry, I won't ramble.
Anyways, Next chapter, The Chuunin Exams Third Stage Begins!
See you all next week!
Minor Edit: Thanks to Scarease for pointing out that ninja villages do not, in fact, vote on their Hokage. Changed that line, Much appreciated!