This references some of the omakes from my WoW: Plus fic (and early in this fic), so if you haven't already you should go read the ones based on The Gang.
Kakashi's eyes narrowed, his lips a tight line beneath his mask.
"Where have you been?"
"Oh my, did you miss me?"
"You said you were going to be away to attend to a personal project."
"And I was."
"You weren't at your designated labs. You are breaching Akatsuki's terms."
Orochimaru hummed with agreement.
"The best projects take the longest time. I have been invested in this one for many years now. The Akatsuki will not stop me."
Kakashi was quiet.
"Do you want help?" Kakashi finally asked quietly.
He knew something was wrong. It had to be big if Orochimaru was keeping so quiet about it. Normally he took pleasure in describing, in detail, his various scientific endeavours. But this... this was something else.
The Hokage had contacted him himself, which was a massive danger to his cover, to request he manipulate the answers from him. A difficult task considering the man was a master of manipulation himself.
Orochimaru had infiltrated the chunin exams. Sasuke, Sasayaki and Naruto had all been in contact with him, and the mere thought caused his gut to clench painfully.
He was planning something concerning Konoha, and Kakashi was determined to find out what. Even if it meant offering his aid.
Orochimaru had the gall to laugh. He wiped the tears of mirth from his eyes while Kakashi remained stonily silent, his one eye betraying nothing.
"You really think I don't know, don't you?" he bared his teeth in a smile.
"You are a fool if you think I will part with information on my plans to a spy from Konoha. I can tell you, but then I would have to kill you, and I think I have rather grown fond of you Kakashi-kun."
Kakashi didn't even betray so much as a flinch.
"How?" he asked after a considerable pause in which Orochimaru observed his reaction closely.
"Traitor is a word that is bandied about with far too little thought. There are traitors, such as missing-nin, and then there are traitors, the malicious, power-hungry ones that stay in the village so that they may use and abuse it how they wish under various guises. You are neither of these things, Kakashi-kun, but that does not mean there is not someone in Konoha who is."
There was only one name that sprung to Kakashi's mind, but he was hesitant to accept it. Still, he would have to contact the Hokage about what he had learned. If Danzo was parting with S-ranked secrets to a missing-nin, it did not bode well.
The Hokage would not be pleased.
Takeshi's voice was barely a whisper.
"What are you thinking, Junko?"
The Gang were in a small clearing just outside the village. It was only accessible through the help of one of Kiyoshi's contacts, whose house was built using the village wall as the back wall.
It meant when he had cracked a hole in it, it was not visible to the masses. He might have come under a suspicion as a spy otherwise. As it was, he had allowed the Gang to use the hole he had created.
In the little clearing stood a man that Takeshi had not seen for years, but someone he was not quick to forget.
The jester man that had approached Eri and Emi's stand when they'd been doing card tricks.
It was Junko that was facing him, face to face. Kiyoshi was further away, leaning against a tree in the shade, watching everything with sharp eyes.
The Gang had come a long way since they had last seen him. 5 years had passed. Junko was 20 years old and held herself with a confidence few street rats could ever dream of holding.
Kiyoshi was 19. Out of all of them, it was no secret he had suffered the most over the years. Every day, his skin grew sallower, the bags under his eyes more prominent than ever. And he always had a cigarette.
They used to try and take his cigarettes away, but he somehow always got more.
Akemi, now 14, was also not left unscathed. His dark orange eyes became cloudier every day, his vision slowly leaving him.
Emi and Eri, 17 now, had come far since the amateur card tricks they had played on the man before them.
And Takeshi himself, 11 years old. Sometimes he wondered if he was the only one who still remembered Yurei, and Sasayaki, and that Naruto boy that had been with them for a while.
The two that had disappeared. Whatever plans Junko and Kiyoshi had for them had evaporated.
"We are leaving this village," Junko said, her voice as cold and hard as steel. "And we're going to help this man in order to do it."
Their was silence following her statement, except a little giggle from the jester man, who observed them all smugly.
It was no secret the Gang had no future in the village. It was impossible for them to rise from their positions as gutter rats because of the education and conditions they had been deprived of.
But this? Was this really the answer?
"But what if this is a mistake?" Eri put in hesitantly. Junko had not been kind in the last couple of years. Every day, it was if she carried a slightly heavier burden on her shoulders. Every day, her eyes grew slightly more distant. Her temper grew that much shorter.
This was no exception.
She swung around to face the twins.
"I don't care! Where else do you plan to go? If you want to question me then leave! LEAVE!" She roared.
To their credit, the twins did not cower, but they remained stonily silent.
"Everyone is so tense! Why, all you have to do is open some sealed tunnels on the day of the chunin exams, and then I'll make sure you get out of this place. I'll even let you stay with a friend of mine," Jester man grinned widely. "Junko-chan and I have been planning this for a long time, haven't we? And it's all about to come to fruition. All so that you kiddies can have a second chance."
"I- I don't trust this person," Takeshi muttered, stepping towards Junko, willing to brave her wrath. "You might have been planning this for a long time, but that doesn't make this guy trustable."
Especially remembering the encounter with him five years ago.
Junko honestly looked like she would lash out, but Kiyoshi stepped in.
"No, he's right," Kiyoshi said, his voice dull. "But we have no choice. But we will stay together, and we will keep each other safe," he finished.
The jester man's grin widened.
"And I must thank you for your continued correspondance with Takumi so that we could make this possible, Kiyoshi-kun. You still have that card I sent you, yes?"
The rest of the Gang looked at him in confusion, but he did not bother to acknowledge them.
Instead he nodded at the Jester man.
"Good. Then I will be going."
And he disappeared.
I missed the rest of the prelims, but Naruto summed it up like so as we walked home:
The badass Wind girl smashed the spiky-haired Sound kid.
Shino forfeited to the creepy, panda-eyes Sand boy, which both us felt was a smart move.
Bushy-brow's teammate the weapons girl beat Sound girl.
Shikamaru outsmarted Kiba.
Kabuto forfeited after ten minutes of fighting Sasuke.
Hinata gathered the courage to fight and win against Ino.
Chouji was beaten by that Asshole with the Creepy White Eyes who humiliated Chouji almost worse than I had Sakura.
And finally Naruto beat Dosu, the guy covered with weird-ass bandages from the Sound.
That meant Puppet boy was given a free pass to the next round.
So that meant that Orochimaru, Temari, Gaara, TenTen, Shikamaru, Sasuke, Hinata, Neji, Naruto or Kankuro could be my next opponent.
"Who will I be fighting first?" I asked.
Naruto swallowed, causing my hope to plummet.
"You're fighting Gaara."
Of course I was fucking fighting Gaara. The Hokage chose the placements, he was probably sick of me and wanted me dead.
Wait... if the Hokage chose the placements, could there be a reason he placed me against Gaara? I wasn't a prime candidate to bring in the masses in a massive battle, that sort of thing is Neji and Sasuke's job. They're the prodigies everyone wants to see fighting.
Maybe...
Does he know Gaara is a jinchuriki? Does he want me to win, or to be there in case the worst happens?
It was a bit of a leap, but it was possible.
"When?" I asked dizzily.
"After Shikamaru fights Yoroi," Sasuke joined.
I would have to warn him.
"Who's before them?"
"No one," Naruto responded, scratching the back of his head. "After you and Gaara, it'll be me and Temari. Sasuke is last, fighting Kankuro.
Forfeiting sounded perfect just about then.
"Who should we train with?" Naruto asked suddenly. "Anko-sensei said that we might end up facing each other, so she won't train any of us because she doesn't want us to get jealous or learn each others plans."
I nodded distantly, my mind far away. If things went according to canon, it was unlikely there would be any matches past Gaara and I. Still, if I don't end up forfeiting I will have to find someone to train me.
"Maybe Akio-sensei will train me?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke glared.
"No. Akio-sensei is going to teach me medical jutsu."
Both of us turned at the same time and gaped.
"Medical jutsu? Why would you be learning that, especially when you're going to need to fight soon?"
Sasuke smirked.
"There's more to medical jutsu than just healing. Plus, if something like what happened to Sakura were ever to happen again..."
We grimaced.
"No one else is learning it, so I will," Sasuke finished coolly. "We always get hurt and no one can do anything about it!"
Wow, clearly there was more to this than expected.
"Ok fine. I didn't know Akio-sensei was a medical ninja though," Naruto added thoughtfully.
I frowned.
"Well he only told me a couple of days ago. He specialises in medicine, but he's also strong enough to be considered a jounin. I guess he decided he wanted to be a jounin ins-"
We were on our way past a shady looking bar when Sasuke was interrupted by a commotion. A tall, bulky man with a long, white mane was roughly shoved out of the bar and rolled across the street until he was directly in front of us. He was clearly drunk out of his mind.
Or maybe just pretending to be drunk.
What... no way! He planned this!
Jiraiya really was something else. Everything about him screamed 'odd', and not only that but also damn was he intimidating. Besides being generally a giant, the warpaint on his face and the spikes on his large forehead protector gave the impression he was ready to fight at any moment; undoubtedly true.
Although his geta gave off another impression entirely. Either he was skilled enough to fight in geta, which was the case, or he was a harmless idiot. Not the case, but certainly the way he liked to portray himself and how most people would view him.
I gaped as Naruto tapped him with his foot. When there was no response he gave him a couple of light kicks, causing him to groan.
"Hey old man, get up, you're blocking the road," Naruto reprimanded.
"Hn. Let's go," Sasuke said, clearly unimpressed. We went to step over him when suddenly he woke up, spluttered a few obscenities, then heaved himself to his feet.
He looked around blearily, and then 'noticed' the three of us.
"Oh hey kids, do you know where the nearest hotspring around here is?"
"No," Naruto responded tartly, and we walked around him.
"Hey hey! Why so cold?" he asked, catching up with us and walking beside us.
"We need to find someone to train us! We're going to be in the Chunin exams this year."
"Oh! I would offer to train you, after all I am the great Toad Sage, women come from all over just to glimpse my immense powers. But alas, I have a tight schedule," Jiraiya said with a dramatic sigh.
"Yea whatever," Naruto uttered dismissively, causing Jiraiys to cry out dramatically. "As if we would want to learn from an old drunkard like you."
"Hang on, Asahi. On the off chance that what this guy is saying is correct..." Sasuke turned to him, one eyebrow raised. "Prove it."
"What! I don't have time for this. I'm going to find the nearest hotsprings for my... research..." he giggled perversely, the look on his face betraying his intentions.
And then, in a blast of wind, suddenly he was flying away over the rooftops.
Hook, line, sinker. There would be no way Naruto would be able to resist finding him after that.
"Wow! He's the real deal!" Naruto yelled, and suddenly he was dashing off, leaving Sasuke and I in his dust. "Come back, Pervy Sage!"
Sasuke and I stared after him as he disappeared around a corner.
"Well... I'm going to find Shikamaru and warn him. Then I'll see if I can also get some... lessons from that creep," I decided, and Sasuke nodded.
"I'm going to train," he said simply, and we parted ways.
Shikamaru was training with his dad, I found at when I'd been allowed into the Nara clan. I was led to a small outdoor area in a small botanical garden between the Nara compound houses. There they were, sitting on cushions with their eyes closed, between them was a koi pond. It was eerily silent, the only sounds that of the wind blowing.
I was told not to interrupt, so I stood back and watched until Shikaku finally acknowledged me, looking up from the deep meditation he and Shikamaru appeared to be doing.
"Sora-kun, how may we help you?" Shikaku asked politely, rising to his feet.
"I- I would like to talk with Shikamaru. In private, if possible," I said, bowing my head a bit.
Shikaku was one of the few people in this village I genuinely respected and feared. I knew he was super smart – hence I wanted to get out from under his calculating gaze as quickly as I could. He was always watching, always observing.
Shikamaru seemed to be roused by the sound of his name and he looked up, noticing me, and stood up also.
Shikaku nodded and smiled, clapping his son on the back as he walked away.
Suddenly I thought of Kakashi, and my hands itched to hold Puggy. I hadn't touched my cute little stuffed toy in a long time, not since… well, I was sure it was still in Naruto and my apartment somewhere. I'd have to go and search it out this afternoon.
"How about we go somewhere more quiet?" Shikamaru offered, and I nodded.
We ended up in a small café, one right near the cemetery in fact. And once again I was reminded of Kakashi. This was where he'd brought me when I'd verbally attacked him for stabbing Yugao.
I swallowed at the memory. Damn. I'd been an angsty little shit.
It was also where I discovered mochi, and I didn't hesitate to order myself a plate of twenty once Shikamaru and I were seated in one of the private rooms. It was sound-proofed too.
"So Sora-kun, what did you want to talk about?" Shikamaru asked, having simply ordered a tea between us.
"I want to talk about your upcoming opponent Yoroi," I muttered.
"The one you were on a team with?"
I nodded. I knew I wasn't meant to tell anyone, but I honestly feared for Shikamaru. Plus keeping it quiet wouldn't help him.
"He's not what he seems. He- well, he's the one that gave me this," I mumbled, lifting my collar for him to see the curse mark.
Shikamaru's eyes widened.
"What is that?" he asked finally.
I sighed.
"It's some sort of fuuinjutsu thing…" I trailed off hesitantly. "In any case, Yoroi isn't who you think."
There was a pause, and Shikamaru let out a long sigh.
"I know," he said finally, causing my eyes to widen. "All these secrets and mysteries. I know there was something wrong the moment you finished the chunin exam with the other two, Kabuto and Yoroi, in record time. Not only that, but I felt that monstrous chakra. I know…"
His eyes simmered with something incomprehensible as he looked at me. He was looking at me so intensely I began to squirm.
"You are not who you seem, either. And neither is Asahi. And I… I know something is wrong. My father is on edge. Something big is coming, you are somehow caught in the middle," he finished finally.
I didn't know what to say. My mouth opened and closed.
"Sasayaki," he whispered the name, as if testing it on his tongue. "Sasayaki," he repeated, this time with more assurance. "Please. Tell me everything. From the beginning."
I swallowed.
Damn Nara and their perceptiveness.
I thought about it long and hard, weighing up everything. There would be no coming back from this. If Danzo ever found out, I'd be a head short. The question was; did I trust Shikamaru?
That is really what it came down to.
"Ok," I said, hesitant yet not. I knew this was the right thing. "I will tell you everything. But we need Sasuke and Asahi – no Naruto, with us. Meet me at 4am tomorrow at the haunted house; you remember the place?"
And, with a deep breath he nodded.
Also wanted to say thank you so much to all the support I received! I didn't realise I had so many lurkers, it was such a nice surprise. I will try my best to keep updating as much as I can and will try and prioritise this fic.
I have posted the start of the new fic though, it's called the Lost Kid if anyone is interested.