Orochimaru's whole body twitched, all of a sudden, causing his next incision to miss. That kind of twitch only appeared when Danzo was up to something; Orochimaru was well-attuned to the man. Whether whatever Danzo was up to was something smart or total idiocy, and also whether the fallout would be in Orochimaru's favor, was another story.

Unfortunately, Kabuto was in Konoha, gathering information and working on recruitment, which left Orochimaru with the most urgent and sensitive medical work.

Maybe Orochimaru would get Tsunade on his side, too. She would likely have no trouble learning Kabuto's jutsu, unlike Orochimaru himself, who was still a bit- shoddy using it. Case in point, the boy lying near-dead on an operating table in front of him, too late to be saved.

'Ah, a pity,' Orochimaru thought to himself, 'Jirōbō showed some promise,' smiling. 'Of course, I'll likely get some valuable data I otherwise wouldn't have, had he survived.'

…As Orochimaru had expected, what he had found out during Jiroubo's dissection was useful. Contrary to his more- modest expectations, the data seemed like it would turn into a proverbial gold mine of epic proportions.

The Golden Ratio…. It actually is useful for Ninjutsu!? What little of the period before the Sage -before even the constant wars, possibly- has survived shows amazing understanding of the world around them, ignorance of Chakra notwithstanding. Still, this is the first time I've managed to link the Ancients' knowledge with Chakra and its behavior so directly.

I mean, there is stuff modern man built upon Ancient knowledge, but for the most part, only some Sealing Arts users and civilians bother with that kind of thing. Even so, the Golden Ratio is something for architects, not Ninjutsu researchers or even Sealing experts.

The spiral Orochimaru had sketched in imitation of Jirōbō's Chakra's behavior in his death throes had a particular size increase ratio: every quarter turn, it grew bigger by approximately sixty one percent. While Orochimaru was not a Sensor-type, his machines were state of the art. At the time Jirōbō's Chakra had moved that way, the boy had been absorbing Chakra.

That was a monumental discovery. Even Sarutobi-sensei dismissed most of the Ancients' writings as useless for the ninja arts. Oh, he still studied them, but it was more a distant curiosity, unlike what sensei's sensei, the Nidaime Hokage, supposedly preferred. Of those I called comrades once, only Tsunade put real effort into that stuff… probably at the urging of Katsuyu, at least at first.

Orochimaru wondered if anyone else had discovered that Chakra absorption not of the Yin or Yang type was best used in a spiraling motion before him. It was doubtful that anyone else was actively looking into such stuff, but there were others who did research -such as Tsunade, once again- and knew about the Ancients. Accidental discoveries were made every year, as a byproduct of mostly unrelated scientific research or even by random people who would stumble upon something new or notice something everyone else had dismissed.


Naruto had seemingly stumbled upon another proverbial platinum mine by accident when he had absorbed Bijuu Chakra from the victims of that Sora kid, and Tsunade was doing her best to build upon the discovery.

"Auntie Tsunade," Naruto said, "is that symbol and the spirals I use to absorb Chakra special somehow?"

Tsunade had written something on a whiteboard: a strange symbol.

φ

"Well, Naruto, say you have two numbers and you want to make their sum be greater than the higher of the numbers by a certain ratio; at the same time, the higher number should be greater than the smaller one by that same ratio. How would you go about finding that ratio?" Tsunade said, looking at Naruto's scrunched up face with a small smile.

Naruto seemed to consider it until his eyes lit up. Then, he frowned.

"Did you think of something, Naruto?" Tsunade said softly, "don't be embarrassed. Just say it!"

"Maybe test out different numbers and see which is closest…? Nope, that can't be it," Naruto said, scrunching up his face in an adorable way.

Tsunade smiled and laughed a little, despite herself.

"Oi, don't mock me! I don't know much about this stuff yet!" Naruto said, his cheeks slightly redder than usual.

Tsunade shook her head. She said, "The idea is a good one. I was laughing at the adorable face you were making," still smiling a little bit.

"Oi!" Naruto said, pouring adorably once again, "I'm not 'adorable'!"

"Yes, you are," Tsunade said, smirking at him smugly.

"No, I- never mind. I'm not getting into this crap with you," Naruto said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Tsunade pinched Naruto's cheeks, saying, "Repeat after me, Naruto: 'I am adorable'."

"Yew're adoable forr yo age!" Naruto said through a stretched out mouth, prompting Tsunade to pinch harder.

("Nee-chan, don't call me adorable! I'm a Genin now!" Nawaki said; ironically, making an even more adorable face.

"Hahaha! Don't be so adorable then, stoooopid!" Tsunade said, provoking Nawaki with her words and her extended tongue.

"Hey, you're fat! Well, your boobs are fat," Nawaki said, crossing his arms.

Tsunade didn't say anything, mostly because she was too surprised by what Nawaki had said to react. She soon gathered herself, though, and pinched Nawaki's cheeks hard, saying, "That's not the way to talk to a lady."

"I dun' see a lady anywhea," Nawaki said, sounding strange with his mouth slightly warped.

Tsunade only pinched harder after hearing that.)

"Auntie Tsunade? What's wrong?" A voice said.

Tsunade shook herself out of her stupor, seeing Nawaki- seeing Naruto, a frown on his face. "Nothing, Naruto – just some memories. Now, with the week of rest past, there's two more weeks without missions, with only training with your Jounin sensei to interrupt us, right?

"Yeah," Naruto said, nodding, though the worry hadn't left his face. "We started training with Yamato-sensei again yesterday morning. Something's off about him, though: before, he trained us in the basics because we needed to refine them. Now, I think he really is holding us back on purpose," Naruto said.

Tsunade's first thought was to dismiss what Naruto was telling her, but that was the wrong move for her relationship with her nephew, she realized immediately. "Hmm…. You'll just have to wait and see; I haven't met this Yamato more than once, so it's hard for me to predict the guy." Then, Tsunade said, "Anyway, make sure to focus on things like Taijutsu when you're training – you've been a bit too reliant on Ninjutsu so far."


"Kakashi-sama," Tenzo said, his expression as stoic as usual, "I have some concerns about my team."

"What is it, Yamato?" Kakashi said, realizing that Tenzo was truly concerned and letting his use of the dreaded 'sama' honorific slide.

It was the first time in a long time Tenzo -Yamato, whatever- had sought out Kakashi at Kakashi's own residence.

Yamato said, "You see, senpai, the thing is…. Our students may well be a flight risk."

"…Which of them?" Kakashi asked Yamato, thinking of Biwako's distance from other people.

Unfortunately, what Yamato said next wasn't easy to hear. "All of them," the man said, "especially Naruto."

That- couldn't be right. Naruto was a previous Kage's child. Much more, he's Minato-sensei's son. "Yamato. That doesn't make much sense."

For once, Yamato wasn't being bashful in front of his 'senpai'. The younger man said, "Perhaps I'm seeing things, but let's go over the signs. Firstly, he lashes out at Konoha's villagers. Secondly, he doesn't seem to care about any of Konoha's citizens other than his teammates, even going so far as to threaten some of them with death. Thirdly, he has never volunteered at the hospital, even though he can heal really well and didn't hesitate much to help the monks.

"Fourthly, he hides his skills a lot more than a Genin normally would; from teachers, and possibly teammates, alike. Fifthly, he is a lot more tense while in Konoha than outside it. Sixthly-"

"I got the picture, Yamato, thanks. Still, for the child of a Kage to be such a flight risk; it's practically unheard of! The only missing-nin like that that I know of is Utakata, formerly of Kiri; the grandson of the Third Mizukage, and it took some extreme circumstances to drive him to that," Kakashi said, tapping his table repeatedly.

"Child- of a Kage?" Yamato asked, his mouth a bit open, which was an extreme show of surprise for the usually controlled Yamato.

"Oh! You don't know?" Kakashi said, scratching his head, "I could swear I had told you…."

The flat stare from his old junior in ANBU, one not often directed at Kakashi, told him that Yamato was swiftly running out of patience. On any other day, Kakashi would have distracted the younger man and left him to pay a restaurant bill or something like that.

Because of the seriousness of the situation, Kakashi decided to focus. He said, "Naruto was Mito's twin all along, and they both know that now. Jounin Yamato; you have a new mission. Please, monitor all your Genin discreetly for any more signs of disloyalty to Konoha. As of now, Naruto is labeled as a flight risk, secretly. Don't tell anyone without my permission, especially Naruto himself."

Yamato's expression showed that he wanted more explanation than that, but what more could Kakashi say? That the Third had started slowly going insane or under someone's control about eleven years earlier? That Orochimaru before his defection and Danzo had helped fuel the man's paranoia?

That the Third had killed himself, possibly ordered to by whoever was holding his strings? That Kakashi, even with all the clues staring him in the face, hadn't truly considered Naruto or Mito as potential traitors? Was that how the Third had felt, the years before Orochimaru's defection?

'No,' Kakashi decided, shaking his head, as if to dry his hair. 'They aren't at that point just yet. What should I do to keep them loyal, though?'


Danzo had to admit it: he hadn't expected Sarutobi to commit suicide. At first, he had concluded that the few times he had tried KotoAkatsukami on his former friend had been a failure.

Over the years, as Sarutobi had been descending into paranoia, with some help from Danzo himself, Danzo had only thought it was the effects of old age. Only Jiraiya's altercation with Sarutobi and of course, Kakashi's, had opened Danzo's eyes to the truth: KotoAkatsukami had damaged Sarutobi's psyche, and it hadn't gone unnoticed.

Fortunately, the information Jiraiya had brought to the surface had been just enough warning for Danzo to be somewhat ready and turn Sarutobi's desperate gambit from a serious loss to a victory.

The damage Kakashi's reputation had sustained thanks to a bout of -admittedly- luck of the draw in Danzo's favor, that Danzo had taken advantage of, had made Sarutobi's sacrifice null and void. Fortunately, the only possible obstacle, Hiashi, had been too troubled by the situation in his clan to intervene, and later, Danzo's influence in the Hyuuga clan had made sure that most of the rest of the clan was against Kakashi.

In short, Sarutobi's paranoia had come about because he had known he had been the target of a powerful Sharingan Genjutsu and from mental damage caused by the same. Sarutobi had been unable to tell who had been the culprit, nor how much he had been affected. His final gambit had been to make sure that whoever it had been, couldn't control him anymore.

Danzo laughed, long and hard. Barring Kakashi pulling off something really unexpected, Danzo had effectively checkmated every single other player at the Konoha shōgi board. He only needed one last piece to checkmate the rest of the world.