The Devil You Know
PG-13 for language
Sarutobi's expert evaluation of his students, of the best and the brightest and ultimately the worst team in infamy: Team Sannin-ness.
Disclaimer: Not mine, no money made, don't sue.
Everyone had their own special tastes.
Sarutobi had to wonder if Jiraiya was secretly a masochist—if there was trouble, Jiraiya was in the center of it, making it worse, making it bigger, and unlike most tricksters would have no escape plan that would completely save him for anything more than a few hours. Jiraiya could get away with plenty; he just couldn't get away with anything for very long.
The boy loved attention, loved fame; he didn't really care too much for praise or being singled out in a crowd (usually because it meant he was about to be attacked and strangled for whatever it was he did) he enjoyed being a rumor people talked about over coffee or in the newsstands, a name that everyone knew and knew nothing about. He liked the taste of fame; the flavor.
At times, Sarutobi wondered if it was healthy behavior. At the same time, he knew that none of his students, despite being the top of their class and uncannily intelligent (with the usual question mark of suspicion over Jiraiya) were exactly well-balanced.
Tsunade, bless her sweet little heart, was a high-born big breasted wench with more attitude than hair spray and a taste for violence that disturbed even her teacher; it was true she was the granddaughter of the original founders of their village, but even so…the girl was frightening, in her right. When it came to actual battles, all-out brawls, Tsunade was the one Sarutobi-sensei found himself relying on, more than his two boys—Jiraiya was a crowd pleaser who went quiet and withdrawn in too much attention, and would always pass off the work to someone else if he could or simply let it hang.
What was the boy's favorite…oh yes. SEP. An acronym Jiraiya had sprung on him as an excuse to why Tsunade had been left alone with three other older and not very friendly at all ninja: It was Somebody Else's Problem. Not his. Besides, if he had been in the fight he'd wind up defending the other guys and making sure Tsunade left one of them with an unbroken jaw, not helping her, sheesh.
As for his final student…his final charge…
Orochimaru was slightly more forward than Jiraiya, but not much. He was slightly more reliable, but not by much. He was slightly less…cynical, even, than Jiraiya, but Sarutobi was an expert at reading people, and you didn't have to be an expert to know that the wheels were steadily turning behind those yellow eyes.
God alone knew what conclusions Orochimaru drew, what was his actual opinion on things…
Sarutobi slightly dreaded the day Orochimaru let the world know. It was always the quiet ones who got you, in the end. It was always, always, the quiet ones.
It ran down to a matter of tastes; the two devils he knew (mostly) and the devil he didn't (barely).
All and all, Sarutobi decided, if one of them didn't wind up burning down the village one night, he'd be happy. He'd be incredibly happy.
A/N: This is how I see the Sannin team; I like it. I think it's fun.
