Hello.
Another chapter of WIMTLF, this time in 3D!
...That may or may not be true. Anyways, without further ado and whatnot.
Chapter 3: Trying
Orochimaru had never really been one to partake of the Leaf's shopping district. Filled with tiny stalls with single vendors peddling their wares, and larger, family run shops with wider selections, he imagined it would be a rather premiere location for the average person to visit when they needed to acquire any sort of thing.
He'd come here before, of course, when he'd been much younger. A few of the shops around here sold Kunai and Shuriken, or specialty equipment that promised to be more effective in combat than what was freely provided to the average ninja. Once he'd grown out of that early period of naivete, he'd learned that the standard issue equipment provided by the Leaf's procurement offices might not have been flashy, but it was far more reliable than anything sold out of a shop.
The reason he was currently trekking through the Shopping District this time, however, was not to procure any sort of weapon or ninja tool, and thusly, he couldn't help but think he wouldn't exactly be very helpful.
Tsunade seemed to think otherwise.
"So, if you were Shizune," His fellow Sannin cleared her throat, gesturing down at her apprentice, who followed along beside her and occasionally glanced up at Orochimaru apologetically, apparently sensing how little he wanted to be here. "Where would you go to pick out poisonous ingredients?"
Among non-ninja, such a sentence would likely earn at least a raised eyebrow, if not a "what?", but they were ninja, and so Orochimaru could only sigh.
"I do not know." He lied to start, hoping he could avoid this entire interaction to begin with.
"Aw c'mon," Tsunade playfully smacked his arm. "You're one of the Leaf's foremost experts on this stuff, maybe even better than I am in terms of offensive application. You're telling me you don't know where she could go?"
"Yes. I am." He rolled his eyes. "Do you think I acquire ingredients from the piddly stalls of the Leaf's shopping district? And risk them being subpar? I always procure my own ingredients out in the wilds where they grow or purchase them from traders I know will only sell the absolute best, even at a higher rate. I am not some amateur."
Far from look impressed at his dedication to his craft, Tsunade snorted. "Right, Ok. Well, say you were less anal about this than you are," The woman somehow completely ignored his piercing glare. "Where do you think you could go to get good ingredients in the Leaf Village?"
He let out an aggravated sigh as he looked around, and then, sort of accepting his role for today as a damnable tour guide, gestured for the two to follow behind him.
"Fine, but you are not allowed to complain about where we end up, understood?"
Shizune seemed rather bothered by his wording, though Tsunade smirked victoriously. "Hah, knew I could count on you."
He ignored the way those words made his chest swell as he guided them into a back alley, just off of the shopping district, and towards a rather…
Less reputable establishment.
To be honest, it wasn't as if the Black Markets of the Leaf were unknown to its Shinobi caste, or even particularly well hidden from an eye willing to pry. A few twists and turns, a few corners rounded, and there they were, standing in front of a worn down, one-story building with a few men stood in front of it.
They eyed him intimidatingly, before one of them seemed to recognize just who he was, and practically screamed (even if his voice never rose above a whisper) to the others to get out of his way.
On a normal day, such precautions may've been well-founded. Orochimaru was never one to like being treated like a normal soul, but here, being followed by Tsunade, and Shizune, well…
He instead nodded respectfully in their directions, ignoring the way they stared back like he'd just grown another head.
"Er… we're not really… open at the moment, sirs. If you wanted to come back later–"
"I'm here to see someone specific. He'll be here." Orochimaru said simply. "If he's not, then my mistake."
Once more, then men in front seemed to think his words were those of someone else. If he'd not been being followed by another of the Sannin, and her apprentice, they might've figured him an imposter, transformed into a likeness of Orochimaru.
He could not blame them. When he'd last come here a few months ago, his chosen language had been…
Not quite as kind.
Still, despite their suspicions, the guards around them nodded, and parted the way for them as they stepped forward.
They were let in to a dark, foreboding room. From the look of it, Orochimaru imagined it had once been a lobby or entry hall at some point, repurposed to suit the needs of the people here a long time ago. He led his entourage through the room, and down into what had once been the basement of this place, which had tunnel carved into it leading into their destination.
Tsunade seemed to have caught onto where they were going.
"Sheesh, the black market, Orochimaru?" Tsunade chuckled as he led them down the moldy stairwell, only a few flickering lamps lighting their path. "Rather unlike the Hokage to visit someplace like this."
"You asked for good materials. I am providing good materials."
"Yeah, yeah, we're following."
He pushed open the door at the bottom and could hear a small gasp or surprise emerge from out of Shizune as they stepped into the 'room' before them. He could understand. He'd been much the same when he'd seen the Leaf's Underground for the first time.
Before them laid a vast, interconnected line of halls and tunnels that snaked underneath the Leaf Village. Built of white concrete that had long since become gray with wear and tear, the Underground was very clearly (the smell alone gave it away) a network of–
"Really? The sewers, seriously?" Tsunade asked, gagging as she clamped one hand over her nostrils, trying to keep herself from smelling the air any longer. "Who sets up their wares in a damned sewer?"
He smirked at his friends misfortune, taking some small solace that her teasing from earlier had not gone unpunished. "The kind of people who would like to remain both unfound and unbothered. They know that a sewer isn't exactly a prime exploring location for the average person. It helps to keep all those who enter the markets down here limited either to those who frequent it, or those told directly of its existence by those same patrons."
"Guess that makes sense." Tsunade's nasally voice called back. "Still smells like shit."
"Yes. It does."
Shizune, unlike her master, seemed to be taking to the smell somewhat better. He wouldn't have called it well by any stretch, she dry-heaved on more than one occasion, but she was able to pull her hand away from her face and adapt to the air around them first.
He led them forward once they'd both recovered enough to get moving, past the few guards down here who at the very least knew his name, if not his face. He recognized most of them (in the sort of way one recognized the people they pass by on the street when they kept to a routine), and they nodded his way respectfully, never once getting in his way.
Both of his followers kept close behind him as he took them around a few turns, stepping across admittedly rickety wooden boards that were nailed together to form makeshift bridges across the flowing sewage.
"Don't look down… don't look down…" Tsunade chanted like a mantra to herself as she forced herself to face forward. "You won't fall, everything's fine."
"If you are done being dramatic," He spoke from the other side of the 'bridge', Shizune waiting alongside him. "We have places to be."
"Ohoho," Tsunade bit down on her bottom lip as she laughed angrily. "Just know that I will have my vengeance for this."
He chuckled. "I'm sure you will."
They were nearly to their destination as they came upon what had once been a crossroads. On their right, the correct path, leading to their poison dealer, and off on the left…
"A collapsed tunnel?" Shizune asked.
"Seems like it." He responded, trying to feign complete indifference. "Some of these lines were no longer used, it makes sense that if a collapse happened, no one would bother to try and fix it if they had no use for it. Now come, we've places to be."
As he led them down the right path, Orochimaru found himself swallowing on some spittle in the back of his throat. In truth, he'd known exactly what was behind that cave-in.
It was a tunnel that had once led directly to his laboratory.
He'd discovered the place nearly a decade and a half ago now, having become intrigued in an effort to try and map out the entirety of the underground for his own personal use, taking random pathways and eventually ending up at the place where the sewage had, likely, been controlled or processed once upon a time. He'd taken it as his own upon seeing it had been truly abandoned, and largely undiscovered. He'd collapsed the few tunnels that led to it from the Market, preventing anyone finding it whilst he was out, and made a few entrances of his own.
In large part, it'd worked out perfectly, even if he'd not visited his laboratory in…
How many days had it been? No… he'd not been by since before he left with his fellow Sannin to the Kage Summit, so… weeks?
He shook his head, focusing back in on the underground around them, watching as Shizune gaped at the numerous passageways all around them.
"It's… gigantic." She whispered, seemingly to herself, before turning up and addressing him. "We must've passed a hundred different tunnels by now. How many are there?"
Orochimaru felt that, normally, he might've ignored Shizune. As much as she was the student of Tsunade, he and she had very little connection aside from that. But the girl was showing curiosity, intrigue, things he himself had always considered rather positive traits, and he felt he should honor that, even if it were not normal for him.
"The ones around here are less tunnels, and more sewage lines, some of which are no longer in use, from the earliest days of the Leaf." He explained, gesturing around them to the orderly nature of their carving, how electrical wiring lit the halls they were traversing. "Farther out, though, you'll encounter more recently dug 'tunnels', carved out of the dirt and stone. From what I've heard, they've recently finished carving out a few tunnels that lead out beyond the Leaf's walls, known only to the very elite down here."
"Uh…" Tsunade interjected, raising an eyebrow. "Is that legal? Wouldn't that be a serious threat to the barrier corps' ability?"
He shrugged. "It's sort of an unspoken agreement between both sides. Technically the Black Market shouldn't exist at all, but higher-level shinobi need things like deadly poisons, hidden information," He gestured towards a nearby section of the underground, where an old geezer of a man with a spyglass attached to his head via a large apparatus was going over a clipboard while he studied a corpse in front of him. Both Tsunade and Shizune recoiled. "Or places to turn in bingo book targets… and both sides were in agreement that none of those things should be readily available to the public, or even something they should really know exists. Thusly, even though it breaks a few rules, the Black Market is allowed to continue to exist."
"Huh." Tsunade nodded, seemingly sort of getting it, even if it was clear from her expression that Orochimaru didn't think she'd be coming back once they left today. "Complicated."
"Indeed. Politics, as I've been forced to learn more and more recently, often are."
He found himself gravitating back towards something he'd said mere moments ago, about the elite that knew of the secrets of the underground. Of course, he was a part of that elite, so he knew of the exits in and out of the Leaf Village himself, hell, he'd used them from time to time during his more… unsavory activities some few years ago.
Thinking of such things had the squirming mass in his stomach writhing, and so he forced said thoughts out of his mind as he finally led them towards a singular man, who was, even at only three or four in the afternoon, already beginning to set up his wares.
"Shido." Orochimaru spoke to him. "Good to see you've not keeled over yet."
To say that the man before them looked sickly would be an understatement. The skin on his face seemed to rest directly atop his skull, and his eyes were so sunken in that if Orochimaru had never met the man, he might've assumed Shido had never slept a day in his life.
As it were, he knew the man was surprisingly… animated.
"Orochimaru, that you?" The man regarded him with a brittle, accented voice he knew not the origin of, tilting his head from side to side like an animal studying something it found interesting. "I had heard you became Hokage. I figured I wouldn't see your face down here again."
"Who's this?" Tsunade cut in.
"I mentioned traders, right?" Orochimaru spoke, gesturing towards the man sitting below them. "This man's one of them. Can pick out a poisonous plant or harvest a venomous creature just about as well as I can."
"Oh? Just about as well?" Shido seemed to find some amusement in that. "Try twice as well. You learned your best picking spots from me."
"And then found better ones."
"Hah, ha, yes, I'm sure."
Shido was one of very few people who had ever gotten familiar enough with him for Orochimaru to allow them to address him in such a way. He'd long since accepted the man's prideful nature, as killing him for his offhanded comments would've meant nearly doubling the amount of effort he'd be devoting to collecting these materials himself.
So, it was a worthy sacrifice, even if it were not one he truly felt like partaking of.
Besides, whether he liked it or not, the man's words were… not true, but fair. He was at least second best to Orochimaru, and that was worth something.
"So… is it not you who is here to partake of my wares today, then?" The man asked quietly, eyeing each of them.
"Ah, t-that would be me." Little Shizune raised her hand, laughing nervously under her breath.
"Hmm…" Shido studied her for a moment. "You do not exactly, ah… how do you say it… 'look the type' for this sort of thing."
"I-I'm a Shinobi!"
"Oh?" The man raised an eyebrow as he regarded her, unimpressed. "Then tell me what it is you're after here, miss, that you could not find in a requisitions office."
Shizune's lips pursed angrily, and before Tsunade could step in, the girl began rattling off statistics. "I need a paralyzing nerve agent that can take down a human sized target in less than three seconds, that can be applied and be considered effective on something as large as the edge of a blade, as small as on the tip of a senbon, and last no less than an hour on both."
Shido wasn't alone in regarding the girl in a new light. Orochimaru found his own eyes widening somewhat, even as Shizune took a step forward, placing her hands on her hips.
"Unless you think you don't have such ingredients, in which case, I'll shop elsewhere."
Ah, Orochimaru found himself smirking as Shizune turned around, and trotted away from the 'storefront'. She already figured out, from our brief conversation earlier, that Shido is a rather prideful person.
I must admit…
"Wait!" Shido spoke suddenly, his weak voice straining to reach out to the girl who was already a few paces away. "I apologize for my earlier words. I must admit, girl, you seem to have a, eh, slightly more vested interest than I first gave you credit for."
I'm impressed. Orochimaru couldn't help but admit to himself.
Shido gestured for Shizune to sit down upon a small towel he'd set down on the dirty ground before them, and, after grimacing slightly, she acquiesced. The older man turned around, rifling through a few crates behind him as he picked at certain items within.
"So, ah, paralyzing nerve agents, was it?" Shido confirmed as he flexed his fingers, picking a few pieces out of a nearby crate, before scowling and placing them back in. "I'm afraid I've only set up my strongest at the moment." He gestured to a glass bottle filled with a dim, golden-colored liquid on his right side. "I'd call it a… ah… display piece, more than anything."
"Why's that?"
"Hah, uh, well, a single drop of this," Shido spoke, flicking his finger against the edge of the glass container and producing a shrill 'ding'. "Could paralyze just about anything in the damned world. Of course, a poison this effective is, eh… usually too powerful. Certainly, far too much so to be used on humans, and, well, most things smaller than a building end up keeling over too, so I keep it around to show my… we'll say limitations as a poison-maker, o-or lack thereof."
"I see."
"Yes, yes…" Shido muttered under his breath, evidently no longer paying attention. "Ah, here we are…"
He pulled out a single, small vial, with a piece of tape on the front, with a few letters and numbers written on the front. Orochimaru didn't know Shido's personal sorting code exactly, but from years of working with the man, he could guess the potency of the brew in front of him was almost exactly what Shizune was looking for.
"I believe this should be… eh…"
"Perfect."
/-/
One paralyzing nerve agent richer (even he couldn't help feeling that such a sentence was a tad odd), Orochimaru, Shizune, and Tsunade found themselves once more walking along the roads of the Leaf Village.
Without a clear goal for their little trek, however, Orochimaru initially felt like he'd make his excuses, and break away before the two could find a reason to keep him around.
He'd initially thought that.
And yet…
"Sensei, Mr. Orochimaru, thank you very much for your help today!" Shizune bowed towards the both of them, the paper bag that held her poison within it clasped carefully in her hands.
"Hah, I certainly didn't do much." Tsunade shook her head, shooting him a knowing look. "But you're welcome. From him, too," She gestured towards Orochimaru. "Gods know he won't say it."
He glared the woman's way, even as Shizune giggled under her breath, and then waved goodbye as she headed towards wherever it was she was staying.
"I suppose you're going to make up some excuse to head out?" Tsunade teased.
"Oh, so eager to be rid of me?"
"Hah, I feel like knowing you, I haven't exactly made an unfair assumption."
"Well…" He thought for a moment, realizing that, aside from signing paperwork (which seemed to be the only thing he ever got up to recently) he had no immediate duties to attend to. "I've nothing immediate that needs done. So unless you're finished with me, I believe I'll stick around."
Tsunade laughed quietly as she began walking, and Orochimaru found himself stepping rhythmically beside her.
"Well, you weren't usually very good company. Recently though… that's changed somewhat." She smiled his way, an honest sort of smile that had his insides squirming. "You're alright. I appreciate what you did today. For Shizune, I mean."
"It was nothing." He deflected easily enough, refusing to meet the woman's gaze. "She handled herself well."
"You don't need to reject every single complement you receive, y'know?"
He grumbled at being caught so easily as Tsunade chuckled at his expense.
The sun was only just now beginning to set in the sky, causing the auburn hue of evening to settle around the Leaf Village. Both civilian and Shinobi alike lined the streets, a general murmur of conversation beginning to drown out anything specific from being heard.
As they traveled down the streets, a curious phenomenon began to emerge. First, a few Shinobi, nodding his way, and then a few younger children, who couldn't have been any older than ten, excitedly shouted out "Ah, it's the Hokage!" before clamoring around him and asking for tips to pass their academy tests.
And all throughout it, as he was pestered endlessly by the people of the Leaf, Tsunade just stood beside him, laughing at his suffering.
Once he'd finished giving what he felt was a sufficient response (he'd told the children simply to study harder and been rewarded for his efforts when the children's parents had shown up and taken them away, thanking him and apologizing profusely for him having been bothered in equal measure), he found himself once more walking with Tsunade, this time, up to a shop that he knew by name, even if he'd never visited it before.
"Ah, welcome!" A young woman spoke out from behind the counter. "Are you looking for anything specific today? Would you like help putting together a bouquet?"
"Ms. Yamanaka." Tsunade smiled at the woman, whom Orochimaru now recognized as Inoichi's wife. "Well… actually, now that you mention it, would you be able to help me with something?"
Orochimaru watched silently as Tsunade and Ms. Yamanaka (whose name evaded him, though he cared not to learn it) pick out a few flowers from the shop's catalogue. A few minutes later, Tsunade had paid for them, and the two of them were exiting the shop, a new bouquet in hand.
"What's that for?" He asked, even though he had a feeling he knew.
"For… them."
"Ah."
"…Will you come with me?"
His eyes widened minutely, but before the part of him that had once been all of him could so much as complain, he'd already spoken. "Lead the way."
/-/
The Leaf's cemetery wasn't a particularly traveled area of the Village on a busy day, and in the middle of the week, later in the evening, it was practically empty. Even still, as Tsunade took what Orochimaru realized was a practiced route she knew by heart towards two particular graves sat rather close to one another, he found himself wishing that even the one or two people here who were visiting would leave.
"Hey, Dan. Nawaki. It's uhm…" Tsunade paused for a moment as she sat down on the cool grass, letting out a horrid sigh a minute later as she gripped the flowers in her hands a bit tighter. "It's been a while. Sorry I haven't visited in so long, I just… well, I took a break from the Leaf Village altogether. I hope you've still been getting my prayers, even if I wasn't really around you or anything."
And now, Orochimaru felt like it was he who shouldn't be here. He took a step back from where Tsunade was sat, content to sit a few yards away where he couldn't hear the woman (the part of him that had once been all of him was unsure why he would bother doing this) but was stopped by a hand holding onto his pantleg.
"Please… stay."
Tsunade didn't even look up at him, couldn't seem to bear it, but with the way her hand shook as she held onto him…
A moment later, he found himself joining her, sat down on the ground next to her and gazing at the grave just in front of them, studying the carved stone.
Nawaki Senju
Beloved younger brother and son. Taken from the world far, far too soon. His dream shall flow on the wind, inspiring those who will one day follow along beside him.
Orochimaru… he remembered Nawaki. The child had been his student, or, well, at least he'd been assigned to him for a time during the War. He'd… he'd gotten him killed, in a way. It hadn't been purposeful, not at all, but…
He remembered how he'd handled the situation back then. How he'd addressed the shellshocked Tsunade who had shown up after hearing what had occurred, the way he'd presented that accursed necklace to her without so much as a word of grievance for her…
How was I such an…
Before he could be consumed by said thoughts, he wracked his brain for something – anything to say.
"I should've been more careful with Nawaki." His treacherous lips uttered before he could stop them. "Knowing he was your younger brother… I shouldn't have allowed him to run off on his own when I did."
What the hell are you talking about!? The part of him that had once been all of him verbally rebuked. Admitting fault? Who are–
"Honestly… who are you?"
Those words froze him in place as he looked over at Tsunade, flinching somewhat as he saw tears running down the woman's face.
"I–"
"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Tsunade wiped at her eyes, laughing awkwardly as she tried to quell the flow. "You're actually… well, anyways, I… Gods, after being away so long, alone with only Shizune, when I finally come back, you've just… changed."
He looked away, his lip curling somewhat in dissatisfaction. This current line of conversation… he could feel it eating away at him. Before Tsunade could continue, he found himself interrupting her with a question of his own.
"Why take on an apprentice anyways? When you left the Village, it was you who said you needed time away to be on your lonesome, wasn't it?"
Far from being surprised by his interruption, Tsunade smirked, as if having expected him to deflect the conversation how he had.
"Hah, not exactly shooting me the easy ones today are you?"
He said nothing.
"…She reminded me of Dan." Tsunade said after a while, no longer gazing at him, but at a tombstone nearby, which, even if Orochimaru couldn't see what was written on it, he could guess whom it belonged to. "She's his niece if you didn't know."
"I didn't." He admitted truthfully.
"Mhm, so… I'd interacted with her very scarcely before Dan… but, well, suddenly, she just sought me out one day, and asked if I could teach her medical ninjutsu… hah, she's surprisingly forward for someone so softspoken. I think… in her own way, she was trying to keep an eye on me… watch out for me like her uncle had." The tiny smile on Tsunade's face was so delicate that Orochimaru could've sworn it'd been cast in porcelain. "In a way, she's helped to heal me a bit. Her company has been… soothing. In a way I've not felt since having Dan around."
His eyebrows drew down somewhat, and he couldn't help but offer some council on that. "I believe you courting her would be frowned upon, given the twenty-or-so-year age gap."
"Not like that, asshole!" Tsunade rolled her eyes, groaning. "I mean… It's more like… having her around has made it easier to accept, somewhat, that I won't ever be able to see Nawaki or Dan again. As hard as that is…"
The sun cast a shadow along the graveyard as Tsunade's voice gradually trickled out. She sniffled slightly, evidently not having fully recovered from crying just a moment ago.
"And even still, there's a part of me that'd do anything to see them again. Just… to hold them in my arms and laugh together, to smile together…" She let out a noise that seemed in equal measure a laugh and sob. "Gods I'm such a mess."
He stopped his hand midair, preventing it from making contact with Tsunade's shoulder as he shot the limb a confused look. It had acted without his intervention, moving to comfort her before he'd even decided to do a thing.
Once more, his stomach squirmed. Tsunade's pain… he understood it, somewhat. What had first caused his search for immortality – or perhaps it was more accurate to say the root cause of it – had been the deaths of his parents. The knowledge that nothing in this world was permanent. That death, no matter how kind, how powerful, how wealthy, took all.
Except…
"…What if you could?"
"Huh?" Tsunade peered up at him from out of the corner of her eye. "What do you…"
"Theres…" His voice actually shuddered, and he swallowed on some spittle in the back of his throat. He stood up, finding himself more at ease when he felt like he could make a getaway at any time if need be.
He silently prayed needs wouldn't.
If Tsunade didn't understand his intent… if she instead read into this, she could easily surmise some very damning things about him. Was he really going to come out and say this? Was he really going to do all of this…?
And for what? For…
A widely smiling Tsunade, with Dan and Nawaki surrounding her, watching the sunset as they all laugh and talk amongst themselves. Shizune is nearby too, discussing something animatedly with Jiraiya as the man guffaws at her antics. Tsunade turns around, looks over, and smiles more warmly than he's ever seen, gesturing for him to come over and–
"The Reanimation Jutsu." He spoke, absolutely serious. "With it, we could bring both Dan and Nawaki back to life."
For a moment of time that felt like a full minute or so (but was likely only ten or so seconds), Tsunade stared at him, aghast. He licked the inside of his mouth, trying to keep it from becoming a barren desert before he could even speak another word.
His partner stood from where she'd previously been sitting, her hair blowing in the light breeze of the evening as the sun shone across her face. Instead of making her look somehow radiant, or some other such nonsense others might say, it only highlighted her reddened eyes, the bags hanging about her face, the signs of age Tsunade spent a good deal of her chakra hiding from sight.
"Orochimaru," Tsunade shook her head, not looking at him. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"The Reanimation Jutsu was a Jutsu made by the Second Hokage." He explained, feeling his throat drying already as the two of them stood opposite one another. "It allows one to summon back the spirits of those departed to the afterlife, at the cost of another's life."
Tsunade's eyes practically bugged out, taking a gasping breath as she stared at his legs, unable to meet his eyes.
"Wha… what did you say?"
He swallowed again. By the gods, this was…
Run. The part of him that had once been all of him practically shouted. Run! Get away! Before–
"How would… you could…" Tsunade breathed haggardly, her head shaking back and forth seemingly without her input. "People would die… you… can't…"
He shook his head as well, trying to explain. "Kidnappers, slavers, murderers… Tsunade, even you must know, there are no shortage of people it would be a good thing to get rid of. And if it meant you could see your precious people once more… is that not something you'd be willing to do?"
Tsunade's voice was like a whisper as she parted her lips, seemingly ignoring his previous statement altogether. "The Reanimation Jutsu… That's a forbidden Jutsu, Orochimaru.
Tsunade was hyperventilating – panicking, more like. In such a scenario, he had two options. To either ease up here and try and get her to calm down… or to continue.
He had always been the type to keep going. To invest in an idea and see it through, to sate his curiosity and damn the consequences.
And yet…
"Tsunade, are you okay?"
Almost instantly, the previously clouded gaze of his fellow Sannin cleared somewhat, and she found the strength to look up into his eyes, as if only just realizing it'd been him speaking.
"I… yes. I'm okay. I…" She sucked in a massive, heavy breath, expelling it a few seconds later as she placed a hand over her chest, seemingly trying to still her rapidly beating heart. "I'm okay."
"Mm." He hummed affirmatively. "I… You did not seem to react positively to my idea."
Tsunade opened her mouth, apparently to respond, but closed it a second later. She shook her head again, this time managing to speak.
"The Reanimation Jutsu… I'm familiar with it. Well… not terribly, but… we've all read the reports on the Second Hokage's Jutsu. Shadow Clones, Flying Raijin, The Reanimation Jutsu… a good half of them are forbidden. Are you saying that you've learned how to perform it?"
A lie felt needed.
"I am the Hokage, Tsunade. I have learned recently of many Forbidden Jutsu I did not previously know."
"…"
Tsunade turned towards the pair of graves within her line of sight and stared at the both of them. Her hands found one another, clutching desperately for some sort of purchase. They writhed in anticipation; their owner clearly more stressed than she'd ever been.
Perhaps, in that moment, Tsunade was having the same vision he'd had. A vision of a setting sun, her friends and loved ones surrounding her. A vision of a brighter, better future. And then, even so, even having contemplated that…
Tsunade turned back to look at him with a small, sad smile on her face.
"I don't…" She shook her head, that smile only growing. "No. If I did something like that… they wouldn't even want to look at me. And even if they could… I couldn't bear to meet their eyes if I knew what I'd done."
He found himself… shocked. No. Not quite shocked. It was like… he had, somewhere in the back of his head, expected exactly this when he'd first opened his mouth. And yet, even so, even having seen it coming from a mile away…
The strength in Tsunade's eyes, despite the way her body seemed to wobble even in the light evening breeze…
"…You are certain?" He felt the need to ask even after everything.
"I am." Tsunade nodded, before her entire face scrunched up in mirth. "But… hah. I really… how funny." She turned so that she was perpendicular with the setting sun, the light of evening washing over her. This time, it made her seem almost ethereally beautiful, something even he, far and away uninterested in carnal desire, noticed. "Talking to you about something like this just feels wrong, and yet… here you are, aren't you? Trying to offer help in your own way."
His eyes widened, and he instinctively took a step back from the woman as she looked his way.
The way her eyes set upon him… how she looked at him so… tenderly.
Was it… why was it…
A widely smiling Tsunade, with Dan and Nawaki surrounding her, watching the sunset as they all laugh and talk amongst themselves. Shizune is nearby too, discussing something animatedly with Jiraiya as the man guffaws at her antics. Tsunade turns around, looks over, and smiles more warmly than he's ever seen, gesturing for him to come over and–
That smile… it was the same.
Even though she was still suffering here. Even though he'd been unable to do anything for her in this reality…
How could she still smile at him like that, even when he'd failed her?
"To think, you do care."
He sucked in a breath, almost gasping, but barely managing to stop himself from making noise. Even so, his mind was…
For once, empty.
"Thank you. For trying." Tsunade said as she took a few steps his way, and then past him. "I appreciate it. I think we all do… The effort you've been putting in lately… I just wanted you to know it hasn't gone unnoticed, okay?"
He couldn't say a thing. Couldn't think a thing. Couldn't–
"Now, c'mon. Let's head back." Tsunade took a deep breath, different from the one she'd done earlier to calm herself.
"That's… weird… maybe it's just me, but…"
He found himself following before he could really be sure he wanted to, and as they turned away from the Leaf's graveyard, and back towards the Village proper…
Orochimaru found the wriggling, writing mass within him still.
"Does the air seem clearer to you, too?"
/-/
"Aha!" A horrendously energetic, borderline psychopathic voice shouted in his general direction as he let out a tired sigh. "I finally found you, Sensei!"
"I haven't really been hiding," Orochimaru spoke as he placed the pen he'd been signing paperwork with down on the desk next to him and looked up at the visitor to his office. "Anko."
His pupil had her hands on her hips, her stance wide and brimming with confidence. She was almost polar opposite to him, really, as he tiredly yawned, trying to shake the grogginess of having been sat in a chair signing papers for four or five hours out of his system.
Honestly, even if he'd never admit it to the girl, her interruption was, at the very least, appreciated. It meant he could take a bit of a break.
"Yeah, well, every time I tried to come up and see you, they said I needed an appointment or something." Anko groaned. "And then when I tried to make one, they said you were all booked out, for like, ever. So I just decided to sneak in!"
"You're saying you – a Genin – snuck into the most heavily guarded building in the entirety of the Leaf Village?"
Anko nodded, looking incredibly proud of herself.
He raised a solitary eyebrow.
Anko immediately folded. "I… er… I made an appointment a while ago."
"Mhm."
He looked back down at his paperwork pile, spying a letter a few pages down that was, surprisingly, not addressed to the Hokage, but to him personally. Immediately, he felt a prickle on the back of his neck and went to reach out to it.
…Right before Anko's hands slammed down on his desk.
"Train me!"
He glared up at the girl, causing her to shrink back somewhat. He hummed questioningly, asking her nonverbally why he should bother.
"You haven't actually taught me anything in like… years!" Anko protested, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting. "I know there's been a war on, and then you went and became Hokage, but you're still my teacher!"
"Anko, I taught you the Striking Shadow Snake four months ago."
"Semantics, sensei."
He would never admit to anyone that he had to hide a grin from the girl at her comment.
"I simply don't have the time anymore, Anko." He spoke as he took the letter that'd intrigued him earlier and sliced it open with his fingernail. "I'll look into getting you assigned to a new Jonin Sensei, one I personally approve of, which you know is a small list. You'll receive proper guidance."
"But sensei, I want your guidance!"
He rolled his eyes at the girl's obstinance as he took in the contents of the letter, scanning it quickly for anything that stuck out to him.
…And his eyes widened.
"Anko… I've changed my mind."
His student looked up at him, her eyes a bit teary, which he realized was likely from being rejected as she'd been. His stomach did a tiny flip at that, though he found the part of him that had once been all of him crushing that before it could affect him any further.
"How would you like to accompany me on a journey outside the Leaf?"
It was Anko's turn to look surprised. She sniffled slightly, wiping away at her eyes with the back of her arm as she nodded swiftly.
"Uh… I-I guess that'd work?"
"Excellent." He spoke as he stood up, and walked towards the door, abandoning the rest of his paperwork. "We'll be leaving tomorrow."
"Tomorrow!?" Anko practically shouted. "Man, you don't give a lot of notice, sensei."
"I can always leave you behind." He offered with a questioning tone.
"No, no! I'll go pack my stuff!"
"Mm."
The two of them left the room in a hurry, though Orochimaru didn't pay much attention to where Anko headed, too lost in thoughts as he was.
What he'd just received…
He shook his head.
Thinking about that could wait until he'd received the clearance he'd need.
/-/
"Surely, even you must understand that leaving the Village under such short notice is… irregular."
He sighed, looking up at the four advisors (some of them more official than others) who stood in front of him. They eyed him with varying degrees of apprehension and doubt, ranging from Danzo, who almost certainly knew (or at least heavily suspected) what it was he was doing, to Hiruzen, who seemed trusting of him, if not entirely approving of this decision.
"I understand, council," He answered Homura's earlier question. "But I shall not be long. I am taking a trip to strengthen my student, Anko, whom I have been neglecting as of late."
"We have heard your reasoning, and do not entirely disagree with your intent. It is just…" This time Koharu spoke up. "It is most irregular for the Hokage to leave the Leaf Village for a reason that is not diplomatic in nature, Orochimaru."
"Does that mean you will not permit my leave?"
There must've been something dark about his tone, for both official members of the council swallowed nervously.
"Technically, there is no rule against it."
He nodded; his mind decided.
"Excellent. Do not fret, I shall return within a week, at a maximum."
"And, another thing," It was Hiruzen, this time, who addressed him. "Should we send the Hokage honor guard with you?"
He eyed his sensei, wondering just what it was he was trying to gleam by asking such a thing.
"No. Anko and I are merely training. Besides, I am more than capable of fighting off anyone who may try and assail me."
"And are you capable of doing that whilst protecting her?"
Ah. Ever the humanitarian.
"I am."
Hiruzen stood still for a moment, before, finally, nodding his head.
"Then we shall see you when you return."
Danzo shot his rival a look that seemed to imply Hiruzen having the final word was aggravating but said nothing as he exited the room first. The councilors filed out after, and he initially believed Hiruzen would exit without spouting any cryptic nonsense to him, but he was sadly disappointed.
"Be careful, Orochimaru." His old master spoke, not looking his way. "There are many who would take the opportunity of the Hokage on his lonesome to try and assassinate him. If you are truly against bringing your guard…"
Now, he turned, completely serious as he looked him in the eye.
"Then keep yourself in check."
Orochimaru waited until the man left the room to let out the breath he'd been holding, shaking his head as it fell into his hands.
His master's eyes… they seemed to pierce straight through him, and yet…
And yet…
He couldn't have known.
Couldn't have known what it was he had hidden in the very base that had summoned him. Couldn't have known the horrible things he'd done there. Couldn't have known, even, that it was there he was taking Anko under the guise of a training mission.
Because surely if he did, he'd have stopped him by now…
Right?
…And once more, the writhing returned.
End Chapter 3
Aight.
So this chapter serves as set up for a whole lot of things, not the least of which is Orochimaru's motivations. Other things from this chapter will come back as well, so look forward to that maybe.
Next chapter I think will be mostly Orochimaru and Anko? If that part of the chapter is shorter than I expect it to be (it probably won't be) there may be other people, but I'd say it'll likely be mostly them.
Alright, see you all when I upload this again in like six years (or in two to three weeks, depending how I'm feeling).
