XXX
Story: [Karmic Retribution]
Crossover: (Naruto) / (Scum Villain's Self-Saving System)
Summary:
Bingge reincarnates into his past self, and tries very hard to make his shizun "gentle and kind", by sabotaging his incense with a memory-altering plant and nearly killing him with a qi-deviation (as you do).
Except instead of forgetting, Shen Jiu remembers. And considering how shit his life is this time around, mayhaps he should stop with the human experimentation and murders, because apparently karma is a real thing.
AKA, the story of Shen Jiu remembering his life as Orochimaru, and promptly deciding to help all of the annoying people around him dig their own graves just a little bit faster. (Cang Qiong is going to have a Bad Time.)
Genre: ... Dark Humor? Maybe?
XXX
It was a bit like having his head cracked open like an egg. Though less of the physical sensation, and more something vaguely similar to 'settling' in a new host. Except where there should be a faded resignation and despair, suffocated under the weight of the technique, it almost felt as if he was experiencing it from both angles at the same time.
It was in fact very unpleasant, and Orochimaru-... No, Shen Jiu-... No-...
He wasn't going to have an identity crisis on top of the migraine from hell. He reached inside of himself for chakra and found qi condensed into a fragile golden core.
Satisfied with this clear proof of who he was, Shen Jiu tried to make sense of what had happened.
He'd been meditating with his regular incense-... No. It'd smelled different? A faulty incense-stick? Sabotage? Poison?
Regardless, he'd been meditating and must've suffered a qi-deviation. Possibly because of the incense, possibly because he was simply naturally prone to them.
The qi-deviation must've been bad, but instead of killing him, it seemed to have-...
Oh. Shen Jiu's life was so horrible because karma was real.
Wow. Alright. Note to self, don't engage in human experimentation and wanton murder. He'd thought he'd gotten away clean after the goddess descended from the moon and everyone decided that they were friends now actually, but apparently karma hadn't agreed.
Bummer.
Suppressing the weird dissonance of academic curiosity and some disturbingly well-preserved memories of exactly how horrible Shen Jiu's life was, Shen Jiu finally opened his eyes.
And immediately closed them again. Bright.
"Xiao Jiu?"
A flash of memory of a twisted and revolting man, leaning over him with a hazy kind of lustful greed-...
"Don't call me that." His voice was hoarse, but then he'd probably been out of it for a while if Yue Qingyuan had made it to his bedside. Also, he might've been screaming during the qi-deviation. That happened sometimes.
There was a pause that was probably 'relieved', since that was a pretty standard response from Shen Jiu. Though that wasn't necessarily a good thing. You'd think that Yue Qingyuan would listen one of these days.
"Shen-shidi, how are you feeling?"
Like he'd been fighting a bijuu whilst hungover, and then somebody – possibly Tsunade – had been using his skull like a drum.
"Headache." It wasn't like he could hide that one, but Shen Jiu wasn't in the habit of admitting to weaknesses that could be used against him, so that was all that he was going to give.
How proud Yue Qingyuan must be, to be trusted to at least not actively raise his voice just to hurt this vulnerable shidi further. That put him roughly at the same level as Mu Qingfang, an actual healer who'd – probably – be trying to help.
Shen Jiu trusted Mu Qingfang about as far as he could throw him, and that wasn't only because he was a man. There's an old saying about the difference between a healer and a poisoner was largely a matter of differencing ideologies. And, since Shen Jiu couldn't read the man's mind, he wasn't entirely sure that that difference applied.
Was it paranoid? Yes. Was it foolish to not trust his own fellow Peak Lords? Not at all. They'd all proven themselves to be selfish entitled bastards on one level or another, and Shen Jiu wasn't ever going to expose his back to them if he could help it.
Was it hypocritical of Shen Jiu to call them selfish bastards when he himself had grown up as a selfish slave desperately fighting for survival? Was it hypocritical to do so when he could remember doing horrible things simply because of 'orders' and then continuing to do horrible things purely out of his own personal academical curiosity? Sure.
Shen Jiu didn't claim to be some kind of saint. But he also didn't spread unsubstantiated rumors based on conjecture, unless he was actively trying to ruin someone's reputation. He also didn't burst into a place of work, destroy furniture, harass the staff, and then loudly start shouting and condemning one of the 'customers' for being a horrible person for 'indulging'.
Shen Jiu didn't have any interest for 'indulging' in the first place. He hadn't had those urges as Orochimaru, and he couldn't remember having had them prior to Qiu Jianluo. And at this point, the idea of being intimate with someone in such a manner-...
He'd honestly rather drink acid.
But even if he had been indulging, that wouldn't have been any business of Liu Qingge. The Qing Jing cultivation-style didn't have 'abstinence' included anywhere, and what Shen Jiu did during his personal free time was nobody's business but his own.
The fact that Liu Qingge had broken into the brothel in order to lecture him about it? That he'd also loudly proclaimed that this was why Shen Jiu's cultivation was so 'lackluster' to the world at large, despite clearly knowing absolutely nothing about anything?
Shen Jiu very much didn't like Liu Qingge. Orochimaru would've probably let him get himself stabbed in the back that time instead of rescuing him. Insufferable idiot.
Still, had Liu Qingge decided to apologize for things said and done during his 'foolish youth', upon ascending into becoming a Peak Lord, then Shen Jiu would've probably forgiven him. Shen Jiu had after all done plenty of things that he wasn't proud of himself, and seeing Liu Qingge bow his head would likely have been very cathartic.
But that hadn't happened.
No, what had happened instead was that Liu Qingge had been chosen as a Peak Lord, hadn't changed his attitude or disposition at all, had continued to arbitrarily start trying to lecture Shen Jiu, and continued to be backed-up by every other Peak Lord.
Liu Qingge can do no wrong. He's so talented and beautiful and from a noble lineage. The one in the wrong must be dirty spoiled Shen Qingqiu who probably only got his position through some kind of blackmail.
Shen Jiu opened his eyes again to stare at the ceiling.
Yeah, okay. His head was a mess. Too many memories knocked loose, bouncing around and triggering emotional responses that he really shouldn't be bothering with.
Liu Qingge was a spoiled brat. Orochimaru had seen the type hundreds of times. Usually right before he killed them for getting in his way.
The idea of running Liu Qingge through with Xiu Ya was vaguely entertaining, but the cultivation-world was a lot less forgiving of 'murder' than shinobi were. He didn't particularly fancy the idea of spending his life on the run, just because it'd be satisfying to get rid of a nuisance.
No, if he killed him off, he'd have to find some way to frame the man's death as an accident. Or he could frame him for a crime he didn't commit and watch him be executed. That could be funny in an ironic kind of way.
Still, that was a thought for another day.
Shen Jiu started pushing himself up to a seated position, despite Yue Qingyuan's protests about 'waiting for Mu Qingfang' and 'not moving so much'.
Shen Jiu patiently waited for Yue Qingyuan to get it all out of his system. The man was going to fuss for however long it took him to convince himself that Shen Jiu had 'fully recovered'. Whether that would be an hour from now or next week was anyone's guess.
He was still dealing with that mess, and trying to sort out his jumbled memories, when Luo Binghe showed up at his doorstep.
Luo Binghe, his most uppity disciple. The disciple who'd sometimes look at him with avaricious eyes that definitely didn't belong to someone 'innocent'. The disciple who would've had reasonably easy access to Shen Jiu's incense.
Hmm.
"This lowly disciple heard that shizun had been hurt-..."
"This master thanks Luo Binghe for his concern, but surely he has actual duties to attend to?"
There. The slightest narrowing of the eyes, a tightening of the lips. Disappointment. An angry kind of frustration.
At being called out for skipping chores again? Possibly. At failing to achieve what he'd been hoping to achieve with that enforced qi-deviation? Also possibly.
Either way, the sudden showcasing of concern from Luo Binghe was uncharacteristic. And that combined with him skipping chores in order to check up on him-... Yes. This was definitely the prime-suspect.
Shen Jiu wasn't sure what he'd been hoping to achieve with it. To ruin Shen Jiu's cultivation as a way to humiliate him? To kill him? To-...
That avarice. The familiar greed. The fact that this qi-deviation somehow managed to push him far enough that his memories jumbled with the ones of his past life.
Had Luo Binghe forced a qi-deviation on his shizun in order to mess with his mind and take advantage of him?
Shen Jiu kept his face perfectly blank, even as a part of him suddenly wanted Luo Binghe very dead. Immediately.
"This disciple has finished his chores-..." Luo Binghe protested.
"And your studies?" Shen Jiu was satisfied with how the detached politeness in his voice didn't waver.
Luo Binghe caught himself before his face could contort as if he was drinking vinegar. Truly, a disciple dedicated to learning how to cultivate.
He should never have picked him up. Especially if this was how the little beast decided to repay him. Regular insubordination, and now escalating into what could easily classify as a murder-attempt?
"Luo Binghe is dismissed. This master needs his rest."
Luo Binghe retreated. Still trying to play at the role of an obedient disciple, despite his twisted nature.
Leaving Shen Jiu behind to deal with Yue Qingyuan's fussy doting. As if Shen Jiu was an invalid, just because he had a headache.
A headache and a sudden need to wash himself until the feeling of those greedy eyes on his skin disappeared.
Karma was the worst.
XXX
It took Shen Jiu about five minutes after meeting him again to figure out why Liu Qingge was so upset with him about his visits to brothels.
But, considering that the man was about as delicate as a scalpel the size of bijuu, he also realized that Liu Qingge had no idea.
His shidi had a crush on him, and wanted him to not look at others. Wanted him to not 'stray'. And since the idiot didn't have even the most basics of grasps of normal human emotions, he made up a lot of excuses about it.
Honestly, he reminded him a lot of Jiraiya.
Less with the 'peeking on bathing women' and more with some of the trends in his writing that had been pointed out to him after the man's death. Some minor anecdotes that Orochimaru had taken a lot of delight in torturing the Rokudaime Hokage with.
Things like how on multiple occasions the hero would be faced with a choice between a sexy blonde with amazing breasts, and a quietly stoic dark-haired woman who didn't have nearly the curves to compete. And then pick the dark-haired one.
Orochimaru didn't quite know what to think about the possibility that his old teammate had a terrible childhood-crush on him that he'd completely failed to realize simply because he 'loved women'. And that this expressed itself with Orochimaru's female mirror-image stealing the hearts of so many of Jiraiya's heroes.
On one hand, it was greatly entertaining to mess with people's perception of the books and Jiraiya's supposed 'love of women'. On the other hand it was sad to realize that he'd never be able to mock Jiraiya about it, nor ask Tsunade about it.
Perhaps it was simply a wistful kind of feeling for a time that never came to pass.
Orochimaru would've obviously rejected him if he'd actually confessed, but that was more because the idea of having sex would've-... Honestly, it would've probably just convinced Orochimaru to invent some kind of sex-genjutsu that he could send Jiraiya's way so that he'd leave him alone.
He'd never been terribly interested in the pleasures of flesh.
Would he have played it up and worn sexy outfits just to mess with Jiraiya's head? Oh, absolutely. But that was because Orochimaru very much enjoyed messing with people.
In the end, whether Jiraiya's feelings were romantic, or if he'd simply developed such a fixation on him over the years of trying to track him down that it was partially reflected in his books? It didn't actually matter.
The life that had happened, had happened.
Still, seeing that same kind of fixated obliviousness now displayed so openly by a Liu Qingge was-... He would've liked to say that it was flattering, but honestly it was mostly just annoying.
He wasn't going to be Liu Qingge's punching-bag just because the man was incapable of realizing that the reason he was so enthusiastic about tracking him down was that he desperately wanted Shen Jiu to pay attention to him.
If the man wanted to court him, he could damn well actually go through the motion and court him, instead of trying to 'pull on his pigtails'.
Shen Jiu would still reject him of course, because he had no interest in a relationship like that. But he would've rejected him cordially, with respect and sympathy, as befitting an ally and possible friend.
As it was, he was sincerely tempted to start some kind of rumor about Liu Qingge ambushing him in the bath to a 'swords-duel', and Shen Jiu having to escape with his precious modesty intact.
The rumor obviously wouldn't stick, since everyone already knew that Shen Jiu was a terrible lecher and that Liu Qingge was far too honorable to ambush anyone, especially in the bath. But that was about the level of antipathy that Shen Jiu was feeling towards him.
He supposed that he could maybe find something else to use to slander the man in front of the rumor-mill, but he honestly couldn't be bothered.
Trying to plant a rumor was always a pain in the neck, and that would surely be exponentially increased when trying to slander a well-respected figure when he himself was a not-respected figure. Not to mention the risks of having someone backtrack the rumor and finding Shen Jiu as the instigator.
No, it just wasn't worth the hassle.
Still, facing Liu Qingge in a spar would be... good.
Shen Jiu was still Shen Jiu, with his crippled cultivation and lackluster strength. But Orochimaru hadn't needed Tsunade's infamous strength to go toe-to-toe with bijuu, and he was technically a swordsman.
Xiu Ya wasn't Kusanagi, and Shen Jiu didn't have any techniques for turning his tongue into a limb of its own, but a mostly-friendly spar might do a lot to see how his combat-abilities might've been effected by his new memories.
So he agreed.
Liu Qingge was... fast. And strong. And at least reasonably skilled with the blade.
Shen Jiu's body felt heavy and stiff, his mind trying to tell him that he could simply bend away from attacks that he logically wouldn't be able to bend away from without turning his bones as flexible as rubber.
Xiu Ya was a lot more attentive than Kusanagi had ever been, responding to his will in a way that guided him away from attacks that he would never have been able to weather.
Liu Qingge was strong. But he was also so-... So blatantly predictable.
Shen Jiu stepped aside of a strike that might as well have been telegraphed, Xiu Ya rising to deflect Liu Qingge's blade, a simple strike to the nerve-clusters in Liu Qingge's wrist with his off-hand, a hissed breath but the sword turned nimbly and Shen Jiu was forced to retreat away instead of disarming him properly.
Spirit-swords were an interesting challenge to work with.
"Underhanded-..." Liu Qingge hissed.
"To hit an enemy in front of me?" Shen Jiu smiled, slow and cruel. "Indeed, the height of dishonor is to fight back."
Liu Qingge growled at him, before launching himself back into the fight, sword held high.
So telegraphed.
Then again, perhaps it was unfair to compare the fighting-style of a man who regularly fought animalistic monsters to the fighting-style of the thousands of people trained to kill fellow ninja that Orochimaru had carved through like a warm knife through butter.
Humans were very different from animals, no matter how dangerous those animals might be. And a fighting-style that worked on one might not translate well towards another.
In that sense, had this been a contest to see how many monsters they could slay, Shen Jiu would've been hopelessly outclassed. But in a face-to-face spar? The difference in their levels of experience was severe.
Shen Jiu doubted that he'd manage anything more than a draw. Not with how instinctively Liu Qingge moved. Sooner or later he'd start to predict the moves that Shen Jiu performed in order to dodge his telegraphed attacks, and then his greater speed and strength, as well as stamina, would inevitably lead him to victory.
And Shen Jiu doubted that he'd be able to defeat Liu Qingge before then.
No, rather than trying to win, a better strategy would be to find a way to interrupt the match before it reached that point.
Shen Jiu sent a knee into Liu Qingge's crotch, still trying to find a good spot to-...
Liu Qingge was wheezing on the ground.
Shen Jiu paused, honestly bewildered as he stared down at the man. He was curled around himself, as if trying to protect himself from further hits, and his sword was forgotten on the ground.
What in the world?
"Dishonorable bastard-!" Liu Qingge wheezed through gritted teeth and what might be tears.
"To aim for the only head you seem capable of thinking with?" Shen Jiu couldn't help but ask.
There were gasps from the gathered crowd. Most of them sounding very scandalized.
Kids these days. Didn't anyone teach them how to trash-talk during fights?
"I'm not you!" Liu Qingge exclaimed in a rage, unfurling from his position on the ground, but clearly unable to put any kind of weight on his legs.
"Clearly. If you were, you would've been long-dead by now." Shen Jiu agreed. "I've seen less predictable street-rats."
Liu Qingge's face had mostly recovered from the pale greenish pallor he'd been, and instead shifted into an angry red. "You-!"
"But as you can't seem to move, I believe that this is the end of our spar?" Shen Jiu smiled at him, all sharp teeth. "Or do you intend to fight me whilst crawling in the dirt like a worm?"
XXX
"This is highly inappropriate Shen-shidi." Mu Qingfang was frowning at him.
Several of the other Peak Lords who were gathered around the meeting-room table nodded, though from the glances that Qi Qingqi kept sending towards Liu Qingge and the small twitches of her lips, she probably also considered it very funny.
"To spar?" Shen Jiu raised an eyebrow at the healer. "I believe that I was cleared for 'regular exercise', was I not?"
"That's not the problem and you know it!" Mu Qingfang snapped back.
Shen Jiu knew exactly what he was talking about, but the warped view these people had about 'proper' behavior was ridiculous. In a battle, the only thing that mattered was surviving. Everything else was purely secondary.
Unless you were an idiot who believed that your death could somehow help with 'accomplishing the mission'.
Orochimaru didn't mind those people existing, because they were easy to use and manipulate into wanting to die for the sake of Orochimaru's convenience. But a spade was a spade, and deserved to be addressed as such.
"Is sparring not a way to learn from one another?" Shen Jiu asked. "The groin has several major arteries, as well as sensitive nerve-clusters. Leaving all of these weaknesses undefended will inevitably lead someone to take advantage of them. Should I then not attempt to aid in my shidi's future survival by teaching him to defend such a vulnerable area?"
"You-!" Liu Qingge leaped to his feet, red in the face.
"Enough!" Yue Qingyuan barked.
Liu Qingge hesitated, but sat back down.
"Shen-shidi, such attacks are dishonorable and should not be displayed within full view of our disciples. Especially not in a friendly spar." Yue Qingyuan continued.
Ah yes. Defeating the War God of Bai Zhan with a single hit and leaving him pathetically crawling in the dirt in front of a full audience of onlookers. That wasn't exactly a good look for Cang Qiong's Martial Peak.
Even the sect as a whole might take a hit to their reputation, since their supposed 'strongest martial cultivator' was brought so low by a single hit.
In light of that, Shen Jiu could accept that the other Peak Lords would be upset with him. However, Shen Jiu was also firmly of the opinion that if their reputation relied on an idiot who couldn't even defend his groin from a knee that'd been intended to do little more than distract? Then that reputation was unearned, and they would've inevitably lost it regardless.
Shen Jiu inclined his head. "This master shall endeavor to not humiliate his shidi with his blatant weaknesses in the future."
Liu Qingge shot to his feet again. "You dishonorable bastard-!"
The meeting honestly degenerated from there, with insults being slung by most everyone with a pair of lips and a tongue.
It was honestly the most productive Peak Lord meeting in months.
XXX
Of course Shen Jiu investigated Lou Binghe. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot that he could do on that front without rousing suspicion.
The incense that had likely been sabotaged had been long since removed by the time that Shen Jiu was allowed to return to his bamboo-house. It was in fact rather likely that it'd been removed whilst everyone else had been focused on keeping him alive after such a significant qi-deviation.
That left going through the boy's personal affects, but that wasn't the kind of thing that Shen Jiu could justify without a reason. So he had to be very stealthy about it.
It wasn't hard to find a time when Luo Binghe would either be too busy with lessons or chores to interrupt him, and 'not leaving evidence behind' was rather pathetically easy.
However, outside of a blatantly faulty cultivation-manual that Shen Jiu certainly hadn't given the boy, there was nothing of note.
Which was why he'd decided to ambush Ming Fan about the cultivation-manual. It stood to reason that the boy must've been given it by someone, and since Shen Jiu wasn't the one responsible for it, his Head Disciple was the most likely culprit.
"Ming Fan, what has this master taught you about breaking rules?"
Ming Fan blinked at him, confused. "That this disciple shouldn't do it?"
Shen Jiu raised an eyebrow at him. "The actual lesson, Ming Fan."
Ming Fan blushed, but hurriedly straightened. "To not get caught, shizun."
Shen Jiu nodded. "And does Ming Fan understand what this entails?"
Ming Fan thought about it for a moment. "To not break the rules in front of witnesses, or to otherwise leave behind evidence of this one's wrongdoing."
"Good. That Ming Fan knows this is good." Shen Jiu smiled indulgently at the boy, before letting that smile rapidly slide off his face. "So why is Ming Fan attempting to set himself up for attempted murder on his shidi?"
All of the color drained out of Ming Fan's face. "M-Murder-...?"
Shen Jiu had to take a moment to stare at the boy. Surely he wasn't that dumb? Surely him being the brightest disciple on the scholarly Peak was not because the bar was set so pathetically low?
"Ming Fan is aware of what qi-deviation can do to a cultivator? That it's likely to cripple, and entirely capable of killing the cultivator?" Shen Jiu hinted, a bit disbelieving.
Ming Fan frowned, clearly confused. "Yes? This disciple understands the dangers of qi-deviations."
"And Ming Fan is aware of how 'faulty cultivation' will inevitably lead to those exact qi-deviations?" Shen Jiu continued to hint, beginning to lose all hope for the intelligence of any of his students.
Ming Fan nodded, but still looked confused. "Yes, shizun."
"So then, does it not stand to reason that any qi-deviation that a disciple suffers would be investigated to determine the cause of it? To make certain that they had not been trying to cultivate in an inappropriate manner? If nothing else, then to make certain that future disciples know not to follow in their footsteps?"
Ming Fan nodded. Then the color drained right out of his face again, as finally realization seemed to hit him.
Shen Jiu smiled at him, amused at his suffering. "Indeed, Ming Fan. To give a fellow disciple a faulty or incomplete cultivation-manual can be considered to be a murder-attempt on that disciple."
"That was never my intention, shizun!" Ming Fan hurried to declare.
"Oh?" Shen Jiu raised an eyebrow again. "Then why have you been leaving evidence of such misconduct behind?"
"This lowly disciple only wanted Ning-shimei to stop paying attention to Luo-shidi, I didn't intend to kill him!" Ming Fan nearly looked to be on the verge of tears.
Pathetic. Why did he ever bother teaching these disciples anything, if this was the best one of the bunch? Ignoring how he was suddenly backing away from even the thought of murder as if it was poison on his tongue, his method of achieving his supposed goal was so incompetent that Shen Jiu honestly considered tossing him off a cliff and finding a better disciple somewhere else.
Shen Jiu stared at the sniveling boy, he really had started crying. Yuck.
"Is Ming Fan unaware of the basic personality of the target of his affection?" He couldn't help but ask. "Ning Yingying has never made a secret of how she enjoys to help. Making it more difficult for Luo Binghe would inevitably make him more in need of help, which Ning Yingying would continue trying to give to him."
Ming Fan stared up at him with wet eyes, a horrified look on his face. "This disciple... didn't know..."
Could Shen Jiu simply accuse the idiot of attempted murder of a shidi and then get rid of him? Probably. But then he'd have to find a new Head Disciple, and he'd have to make sure that they knew how to do the paperwork properly, and considering how far Ming Fan's abilities put him above the rest of his peers, the only viable candidate would probably be Luo Binghe.
Unfortunately, Luo Binghe's only claim to the title of 'most competent disciple' was the fact that he'd nearly managed to kill his shizun. And considering how murder didn't actually seem to be the brat's actual goal with that scheme, Shen Jiu was hesitant to classify him as competent.
The fact that Luo Binghe was also someone that Shen Jiu didn't want to be in the same room as – unless the brat was a decapitated corpse – certainly didn't help matters.
No, Ming Fan was truly his only option for a Head Disciple, even if he was so incompetent that Shen Jiu was sincerely considering just lighting him on fire.
XXX
Luo Binghe had tried so hard.
He'd behaved just like that other version of himself, a clingy crybaby who just wanted to spend time with his precious shizun. But instead of being granted a nice and indulgent shizun, he'd still been stuck with the same venomous bastard that'd always been his shizun.
Finally, he'd come up with the plan to force the man into a qi-deviation that would wipe his memories clean. He knew perfectly well how very... pliant people became when you could convince them that something was 'normal'.
Yes, it was a perfect plan. And he'd made sure that the qi-deviation wouldn't get so bad as to actually kill his shizun. He'd even made sure to clear up any traces of the incense he'd used, because he wasn't a fool.
Except, shizun didn't become confused and pliant. He was still the same cold-hearted shizun.
Luo Binghe wanted to wring his beautiful neck. Ah, but how beautiful he'd look when he squirmed, trying desperately to breathe and slowly growing ever more pale. And then he could sink his teeth into that pale skin and feed him his blood and bring him back to life so that he could do it again and again and again-...
Luo Binghe was frustrated.
He hadn't exactly been planning to go back in time like this, but it was honestly perfect. Or it should've been.
He'd done everything right, so why didn't he have a sweet and kindhearted shizun? Why did only that weak crybaby-version of him have such a perfect shizun?
No, instead of shizun becoming kind, suddenly Ming Fan showed up and gave him a proper cultivation-manual. The boy claimed that it was a mistake, that Luo Binghe had been given a faulty manual out of mistake and that Ming Fan had only realized when he'd gone looking for that faulty manual and realized that it wasn't where he'd left it.
It was a blatant excuse. Everyone knew that Ming Fan was lying out of his ass about giving it to Luo Binghe by 'accident'. But the boy did seem regretful about it for some reason?
Regardless, Luo Binghe had no interest in Ming Fan. He'd killed the boy once, and he didn't particularly mind doing it again but he wasn't going to jeopardize his plans for his shizun for something as irrelevant as that.
No, he'd have his perfect and nice shizun, no matter what.
XXX
Meditating was... different.
It wasn't that Shen Jiu had suddenly solidified his cultivation and overcome his current bottleneck. It was more that heart-demons that had once plagued him now oftentimes felt... very distant.
His cultivation was still crippled from his early life, and he was unlikely to overcome his current bottleneck any time soon, but there was a level of tranquility in meditating that he hadn't quite felt before.
Shen Jiu was still Shen Jiu, but with decades spent being Orochimaru crammed into his head, it gave him... perspective.
Orochimaru had started his life desperate. Desperate for people who loved him, desperate for acknowledgment, desperate for a way to have his loved ones returned to him. Before being ground down underneath Konoha's war-machine and the endless bloodshed and horrors that he was expected to commit.
By the time he defected from Konoha, Orochimaru was a monster who'd completely forgotten what it meant to be human. And he'd hated all of them for that, but he'd hated the people who'd promised him love and care the most.
Life as a missing-nin hadn't exactly helped matters, letting him slip into all of the horrors he'd only been able to conceive of and was now capable of performing. After all, he was already a horrible monster, why shouldn't he just continue down that path?
And then Uchiha Sasuke arrived at his doorstep. A little bit too late for Orochimaru to take him as his new body. And so Orochimaru had trained him, had tried to-...
Sasuke was a genius and wholly dedicated to avenging his clan. But there was steel in his spine, and no matter what training-exercise Orochimaru placed in front of him, he continued to refuse to kill.
A missing-nin who'd defected into the welcoming arms of a man who'd killed his Kage, but who kept a stricter moral code than most Village-bound ninja.
Oh, Orochimaru had still been planning on using him as a convenient host, right up until the little bastard killed him. Or mostly-killed him, as it was. But there was a reason that in the end he'd been willing to step away from his role as a monster, in order to aid humanity against their greatest foe yet.
There was a reason that he'd effectively retired.
At some point, Sasuke had infected him with humanity once again. And instead of living on out of spite towards all who'd hurt him, instead of living on purely out of desperation and fear, he'd found a genuine kind of joy in life.
For Shen Jiu who'd spent his life desperately grasping for power, for control, for something that would stop his loved ones from slipping through his fingers like sand? For Shen Jiu, the idea that there was happiness to be found in simply drinking tea on his lonesome, in watching the sun rise and set, in trying to count the stars simply because he didn't have anything more important to be doing-...
It was different. He was different.
Shen Jiu was still Shen Jiu, he cared about what he'd always cared about. But with Orochimaru's memories leaning over his shoulder, there was a visceral kind of understanding that those things only mattered to Shen Jiu because he wanted them to matter.
He cared about Cang Qiong because it was a beautiful place, with wonderful libraries, and-... And Qi-ge was here. He cared about Cang Qiong for those reasons, but there were plenty of beautiful places in the world, and a library was something that he could gather for himself if he set his mind to it.
Even Qi-ge wasn't... that important, in the grand scheme of things. Orochimaru had cared deeply about a lot of people, and he'd parted ways with them and still managed to live a happy fulfilling life.
Shen Jiu didn't want to lose Yue Qingyuan, but it was a hit that he knew that he could survive. Not comfortably, perhaps, and he'd likely murder whoever or whatever was responsible for it. But... the sun still rose, the plants still grew, the birds were still making their nests, life moved on, and Shen Jiu would too.
That said, he didn't really have any desire to pick up his life where Orochimaru had left off. But there was a tranquil kind of reassurance that, no matter what horrors happened around him, Shen Jiu could still find happiness in this world.
So meditating was different now. And Shen Jiu doubted that he'd be as prone to qi-deviations as he'd been before.
XXX
Shen Jiu wasn't sure what to make of his disciples.
On the one hand, they were all gibbering buffoons and he'd probably be better off throwing them off of his Peak and then grabbing some random street-kid and declaring them his new heir. On the other hand, he'd already invested a bunch of time into trying to teach them cultivation, and really wasn't in the mood to go roaming through alleyways looking for someone with a smidgen of talent.
The sunk-cost fallacy. Better to make sure that his previous shitty investment paid off at least a little, than go gambling on another option somehow making up the difference.
Also, if he started throwing disciples off of his Peak, everyone would start yelling him about it. And that would be annoying.
Still, the fact that Ming Fan had been so blindsided by his own self-plotted attempted-murder was enough for Shen Jiu to decide that something would have to be done about it. Letting things continue as they were would just be too humiliating for words if one of his disciples actually managed to go through with it, only to be immediately caught.
So, Shen Jiu set up a few lectures about 'basic investigation'.
Of course, he phrased it more as things that should be done in case 'foul play' was suspected. Whether it be on missions, or elsewhere.
Investigate the victim's possession, interview nearby people, check to see if the victim was part of a pattern, investigate the body for clues as to exactly how they died and why.
If someone was stabbed in the back and had their money-pouch removed, then money might've been a factor in why they were killed. But if they were also wearing valuable jewelery that weren't stolen, then perhaps someone was simply trying to make it seem as if a bandit had attacked.
Basic stuff.
He also briefly mentioned qi-deviations and how it was important to investigate why one had happened. Both to capture a potential culprit, but also for more mundane reasons such as making sure that whatever mistake might've led to such a thing was caught early in future students.
There was of course the risk that Luo Binghe would learn a lot from the lectures and become even more difficult to catch in the future, but Shen Jiu honestly doubted that it would come to that.
Luo Binghe was arrogant.
Oh, he kowtowed to his utmost abilities, and played up the weepy act. But there was a certainty in his eyes that said that he was simply better than his peers. That he was a once-in-a-lifetime genius, and that he needed to pretend at incompetence in order to not be immediately spotted as a blatant anomaly.
He wasn't wrong, but that kind of attitude didn't really lend itself to actual humility.
Luo Binghe had forced a qi-deviation on his own shizun, and he hadn't been caught. He hadn't achieved his desired goal, but he hadn't been punished for attempting it.
As far as Luo Binghe was concerned, he just needed to lay low for a while and then strike again when Shen Jiu let his guard down. Let enough time pass that people didn't think too much about a second serious qi-deviation, since Shen Jiu was after all so very prone to them.
In other words, Luo Binghe had already gotten away with his attempted-murder once, so all he really needed to do was set it up so that the situation was the same as the first one. And then he'd get away with it a second time, easy as that.
Orochimaru had seen plenty of child-geniuses fall into the same trap. Of not really acknowledging that a stray-shot from even an incompetent moron could kill. That no situation was ever 'the same as last time'.
Life was so shock-filled with variables that the only real way to plan for it was to consider every mission as a wholly unique thing. Because the moment you allowed yourself to fall into the 'regular mission'-mindset, your brain would start planning out exactly what it expected you to see. And then it would show that to you.
This was why genjutsu that simply showed 'success' was honestly some of the most efficient genjutsu out there.
Unless the victim was painfully aware of how outgunned they were, or had lived through enough failures that a success would 'feel strange', their brain would simply refuse to show them all of the inconsistencies. And then they'd be dead.
Orochimaru had never been overly fond of the stuff, but he had toyed with it whilst poking around in human brains for well over a decade. And that was without mentioning how he'd seen it happen time and time again.
Ninja were ruthlessly trained to always expect enemy ninja to jump out from behind a corner, because anything less would have their brains classify those corners as 'irrelevant', and that would get them killed. But that didn't account for the more esoteric of abilities that said ninja might come across.
Why would 'bugs' be considered dangerous to anyone who hadn't met an Aburame? Why would a hissing-noise be dangerous if the person didn't know about explosive-notes?
Luo Binghe had the skill, the talent, to effortlessly coast ahead of his fellows. But he didn't have the mindset necessary to avoid using a method that had already proven that it worked.
So Shen Jiu wasn't overly concerned. He kept an eye on the boy, because Shen Jiu had lived his life on the street where any corner could be an ambush, and Orochimaru had lived through more wars than his current disciples knew how to count to. But no, Luo Binghe would be making his move in due time.
Shen Jiu would just need to catch him. Somehow.
Preferably red-handed enough that even his fellow Peak Lords couldn't claim that Shen Jiu was just lying about the whole thing.
He might be able to get Yue Qingyuan to come down on his side, but the man often tended to treat Shen Jiu more as an unruly toddler than a person with a brain. So having clear proof would be important, because he wouldn't get a second chance at that.
After all, if his first accusation was dismissed, then his second one would obviously just be him 'fabricating the evidence himself'. And that would make them even less likely to believe him.
XXX
Liu Qingge continued to be a nuisance.
In the aftermath of Shen Jiu's dishonorable attack on the man's future children – heavens save them from inheriting the man's brain – Liu Qingge made it a point to seek out Shen Jiu, even when he was safely ensconced on his own Peak.
Liu Qingge wanted a rematch. And after flinging a few more insults at the annoying man, only to have him keep showing up demanding another spar? Shen Jiu gave it to him.
And Liu Qingge was so focused on where Shen Jiu's knees were that he didn't even notice Shen Jiu clapping the man over the ear, rupturing his ear-drum and leaving him staggering under the force of his sudden motion-sickness.
A very bitter part of Shen Jiu was very upset with Liu Qingge because of it. Both for being lauded as a 'battle god' despite his clear inability to survive an actual fight, and because prior to his memories as Orochimaru returning to him, he hadn't actually been able to beat the moron.
There are few things that are quite so humiliating as realizing that the person that'd been defeating you was an incompetent buffoon.
Shen Jiu channeled that annoyance into making a few more mean comments at Liu Qingge as he tried to continue fighting despite his injury. Shen Jiu also made sure to keep his distance, because grappling-range would largely negate the man's sudden balance-issues, which finally resulted in Liu Qingge once again crawling in the dirt, shouting about Shen Jiu's dishonorable conduct.
"This master doesn't quite see why his shidi's own incompetence should reflect badly on the nature of this master." Shen Jiu pointed out, safely out of reach of the man's sword, which he was still swinging around wildly.
Which set off another rant about Shen Jiu's rotten nature, and convinced Shen Jiu to simply tell one of the disciples to wait until he stopped swinging the sword around and then carry the man off to Qian Cao.
Then Shen Jiu turned on his heel and walked off.
If Liu Qingge wanted to rant about his supposed parentage, he could at least do the damn research and find out that Shen Jiu was a street-rat and an orphan. What a pathetic waste of what was likely a perfectly functional biological brain.
Shen Jiu had more important things to do with his life than listening to the inane rants of a sore loser.
XXX
"Xiao Jiu should apologize to Liu-shidi."
A breathless panting in his ear, whispering about the smoothness of his skin-...
Shen Jiu took a deep breath, suppressing the memory and the flash of undiluted rage that came with it.
Yue Qingyuan didn't know what that name had become to him, and he didn't deserve having Shen Jiu rip out his tongue for speaking it.
But he was also not going to apologize to someone for having made it more difficult for them to insult him.
If Liu Qingge wanted nothing to do with Shen Jiu, and left him alone for the rest of forever, Shen Jiu certainly wasn't going to track him down just so that he could continue insulting him. But if the man insisted on ambushing Shen Jiu on his own Peak to try and force that confrontation, then surely Shen Jiu shouldn't be the one being scolded in the aftermath, right?
Except he was. He always was.
It wouldn't matter what he told Yue Qingyuan or the other Peak Lords, they'd turn their nose up at him and call him 'uncouth' or 'dishonorable' or even 'rotten'.
So, rather than have that argument again, because Shen Jiu wasn't going to bow his head and apologize to someone else for them being rude to him, Shen Jiu instead decided to change the subject.
"Yue Qingyuan, do you want to know why I keep telling you not to call me by that name?" Shen Jiu asked, eyes narrowed and voice deceptively gentle.
Yue Qingyuan frowned at him for changing the subject. "Xiao Jiu will always be Xiao Jiu to this Qi-ge."
Shen Jiu's mouth was open, a grand reveal to the horrors he'd suffered at the hands of the Qiu on the tip of his tongue, but there was ice in his stomach.
Orochimaru admitted that he'd failed to keep Tsunade's little brother safe, that he'd failed him as a teacher, that he wasn't even bothered by it because people died all the time, that she should stop crying about it-... Orochimaru watching as instead of indignant rage and hate, Tsunade didn't even seem to notice that he was there, as if there was nothing inside of her at all. So hollowed-out by her own grief, that one of her closest friends who'd admitted to her face that he'd neglectfully caused her brother's death, might as well have been a piece of furniture.
Orochimaru watched as his sensei gave the Hat to a child, rather than risk it landing into the hands of such an 'unpopular' ninja as Orochimaru. Nevermind that Orochimaru had contributed extensively to various important parts of keeping Konoha running for decades. Or that making Namikaze the Hokage was a clear provocation towards Iwa, hinting that next time the massacre of their ninja wouldn't stop. Or that Orochimaru would've happily made Namikaze the Godaime once the Villages had stabilized in the aftermath. Or that-... Or that everyone had been convinced that of course Hiruzen's own student would inherit the Hat, just as what had always happened. That even Orochimaru had thought-...
Orochimaru stared at Hiruzen as the man condemned him for working for a man that Hiruzen himself believed could do no wrong. For helping with a project that Danzo himself oversaw, and being blamed for the full extents of the 'horrors' involved. Horrors that amounted to little more than a few dozen unfortunate miscarriages. Orochimaru stared as Hiruzen 'mercifully' allowed him to escape, despite how obvious it was that he was only allowed to run so that he could be turned into a scapegoat to keep Danzo safe and happy.
Orochimaru-...
Shen Jiu blinked.
For Orochimaru, this feeling of despair and fury was something attached to the greatest betrayals and most painful defeats.
For Shen Jiu, it was a regular conversation with Yue Qingyuan.
This was just... how it was. This was just how older brothers were... right?
Except that wasn't true. Shen Jiu stared at Yue Qingyuan and he knew that it wasn't true.
In the eyes of Yue Qingyuan, it truly didn't matter what reasons Shen Jiu had for... anything at all. Whether it be that accursed name, or his fights with Liu Qingge, or-...
In the eyes of Yue Qingyuan, Shen Jiu was an inconvenient possession that he was trying to keep on a leash so that it didn't disturb innocent people.
Shen Jiu was a pet. A misbehaving pet that Yue Qingyuan had to constantly make excuses for.
Shen Jiu didn't register as a 'person' in his eyes at all.
Shen Jiu's face smoothed out, a buzzing noise in his ears.
Shen Jiu turned on his heel and walked away.
He had plans to adjust.
XXX
Xiao Jiu was different since his most recent qi-deviation.
Ignoring how he'd actually managed to beat Liu Qingge – unconventional and inappropriate as it might've been – there was a calm to him that Yue Qingyuan could not recall having ever since on Xiao Jiu's face.
But that didn't matter, because no matter how much he might change, Xiao Jiu was still Xiao Jiu.
He was still the fiercely loyal boy that Yue Qingyuan had raised, still the same clever soul that would leave everyone else in the dust. And even if there was a thorniness to him that was now also aimed at Yue Qingyuan, it wasn't anything that he didn't deserve.
He'd been foolish. So foolish. And Xiao Jiu had suffered because of it.
How could he explain his foolishness without it sounding like an excuse for something inexcusable? How could he tell him the truth when he knew that Xiao Jiu might try to bear the guilt of Yue Qingyuan's horrible mistake? Hadn't Xiao Jiu suffered enough?
No, Yue Qingyuan understood that Xiao Jiu wanted to leave their shared history behind him, that he wanted nothing to do with Yue Qingyuan who couldn't uphold his promises. He understood why Xiao Jiu didn't want him to use that name.
But Xiao Jiu was still Xiao Jiu, and Yue Qingyuan could never try to erase the truth of their relationship. So he didn't need to listen to Xiao Jiu telling him that it was a name he 'left behind' or that Yue Qingyuan had no right to call him that.
No matter how painfully truthful those statements might be, Xiao Jiu will always be Xiao Jiu to him. His precious Xiao Jiu.
And even if Xiao Jiu curses at him, that's fine. It's nothing more than what Yue Qingyuan deserves for his foolishness.
The sight of Xiao Jiu pausing right before a new and cutting tirade, of his face turning blank with repressed emotions at Yue Qingyuan's words-...
He really knew his Xiao Jiu the best, to be able to turn his wicked tongue speechless with his sincerity.
Yue Qingyuan suppressed the urge to smile as Xiao Jiu beat a rapid retreat, likely trying to hide how moved he was by Yue Qingyuan's words. So cute.
Yue Qingyuan only wished that he'd stop causing so much trouble. Xiao Jiu's precious Qi-ge couldn't protect him from everything, after all, and there were consequences for misbehaving in the cultivation-world. Dangerous consequences.
XXX
A/n: As I was starting to write this fic, I saw that someone had made a "Shen Jiu becomes cultivator-Orochimaru's apprentice"-fic, and it made me laugh. Clearly, I wasn't the only person making that possible connection.
And yes, there's definitely a level of miscommunication involved between Yue Qingyuan and Shen Jiu, but uhh... Shen Jiu isn't necessarily the person in the wrong for that part. It's difficult to hold a conversation with someone so... obsessively self-delusional.