The plan had gone off simply, in and out, no bodies and they didn't get spotted. Sai had knocked out Amachi rather than risk the scientist making any noise, of course, after checking to see if anyone else was in the cell.
Then came the escape after checking to see no one had spotted them. Inari had spotted Sai leaving with the target and followed behind, making sure to cover their tracks.
The most surprising part was unsealing the unconscious scientist while in the middle of the body of water. Waking up fresh from being knocked out is one thing, doing so after being in a transportation seal is another.
Amachi had quickly tried to flail out with a chakra scalpel upon not recognizing his captors. Inari, the evermore violent one of the two, struck out first.
Slapping away the hand that held the scalpel with his own right hand, Inari then cocked his right elbow into the scientist's temple making him fall on his behind causing the boat rock dangerously.
Sai, not wanting anything more to happen to their mark, pointed a tanto towards Amachis chest; signalling to Inari it was over and to the downed man not to fight back.
"Who are you two? I'll have you know I have some powerful friends and they'll help me!"
"We know and that's why we are here, Orochimaru-sama sent us."
Upon hearing his master's name the recent escapee crawled as far away as he could, without falling off of the boat of course.
"W-why did he send you? He sent you to help me, right? Right?"
"Our mission is to bring you back to Orochimaru-sama."
"Oh, well why'd he hit me then?"
Inari just looked at the reclined scientist, made a blade of bone burst out of his wrist and pointed it at him.
"I could cut off your arm next time, I assumed Orochimaru-sama wanted you intact."
"Well I'm glad you realized what a blunder you could have made, Orochimaru woul-"
He would have kept talking but the snapping of Inaris head towards a direction stopped him.
"We need to move, I think they know you are not in the prison anymore."
"Preposterous! It's just a small shinobi village. In fact, it is more of a trading port than a village."
Sai just agreed with Inari, not that Amachi could understand the hand signs passing between them, clearly forming a plan at the same time.
No words spoken, the Root shinobi jumped from the boat and ran across the water to the shore. Inari made three Kage bunshin (Shadow clones) run back into the boat and hence to match the previous occupants.
"Ah, I see you thought of the same idea I did. Maybe you two aren't hopeless after all."
That was the last thing out of his mouth before receiving a thud to the back of the head. Not that the good doctor wo7ld know, but he was just knocked out so they could seal him again, before he gave away their position.
Now was the easy part, escaping back to Otogakure with the target.
The moment the duo arrived, they were greeted with the same shtick of a guard outside, and inside was the same. A labyrinth of twists and turns, all guided by different colored lines and lit by dim lighting.
Still the ever depressing basement of a narcissistic scientific snake Sannin. Not that anyone within the radius of the base would ever dare call Orochimaru-sama that.
Passing the scroll to Sai, Inari left to check on Kimimaro-san.
Possibly seeing if he was in any condition to teach or show any new techniques.
"Ah Sai-kun, my favourite Root member. I trust your mission went well?"
The gravel-like voice notified the young child of his temporary master's presence. Kneeling in response to this knowledge, Sai raised the scroll containing Amachi. It was roughly the size of a large map in its rolled-up state.
"We had to seal him away, Orochimaru-sama, lest he give away our position while we fled Ume no Kuni."
"Such things are necessary sometimes, I trust he's still alive and well in there though?"
Sai just looked away at this, not wanting to essentially tattle on his brother.
"Sai? Did something happen to him?"
Being directly asked about it left the Root member with no choice but to talk about it, may Inari forgive him.
"Yes, when we had unsealed Dr. Amachi from the scroll that I used to escort him out of the prison, he had lashed out at us, and Inari had to intervene."
"Intervene how exactly? Amachis work has been enlightening but he can be replaced if I must."
"Well, Orochimaru-sama, Dr. Amachi had lashed out with a chakra scalpel and Inari stopped the attack, counter-attacked with an elbow to the head knocking Dr. Amachi to the floor."
"Ah well if that's it, it's of no issue. Inari-kun cannot fight his nature as a Kaguya descendant. Fighting comes first and words come second. Although Kimimaro does the opposite… oh well. But you needn't worry, if an elbow is all it took to ruin Amachi then he wasn't fit to serve me."
Unsealing said scientist, a poof of smoke appeared and a moving body was on the floor.
"Amachi, you have five seconds to start explaining yourself or I'm going to chop you up into little bits and feed you to a snake."
Konoha's Yellow Flash would have been hard-pressed to beat the speed at which the threatened man stood up and started explaining.
"Well, I was scouting about The Land of Sea when some shinobi came and asked me what I was doing. Apparently I looked suspicious. I tried to ditch them by swimming with my prototype Kaima form but it quickly faded away."
By this point Orochimaru looked like he was done with this whole situation.
"I tell you, those shinobi harass too many people,. Why can't I just walk around? Is it because of my great mind? Maybe I sho-"
"Just stop alright? So from what I hear, your Kaima form has come along from when I last saw it. Did you figure out the gills location or was it the layers of ctenoid scales being formed too slowly?"
"After many sacrifices on the part of The Land of Sea, I figured out it was the scales being formed too slowly. I suppose if I tried it first, I could have figured that out, but I didn't have to feel the pain of skin being transformed at the wrong speed."
So that is why The Land of Sea had so many shinobi stationed, the doctor's kidnappings had finally caught wind.
"As much as I'd love to talk more about science projects, I do owe Sai-kun here a favour so if you'd leave for now, I'd appreciate it. Oh, and if you're looking for Kabuto-kun, he should be in medical centre C."
Amachi just saddled away, slowly and awkwardly to the door.
Finally moving back to his desk, Orochimaru leaned back into his chair.
"So where do you want to begin? You can ask me anything, Danzō and I both worked in Root together, for a small bit that is."
"Danzō-sama told us before he left that we would be taking our final test when we got back, but everyone who has taken it is sworn to not tell anyone who hasn't taken it. I just want to know how I can prepare for it."
"My my, are you two already taking that test? Most take it at a bit of an older age, must be wanting to ensure loyalty a bit earlier. To be rather blunt, you have to kill your partner to pass the test."
The look of confusion for a brief second was delicious to Orochimaru, he grinned inwardly at what he was planning. A loyal pawn, inside one of the hardest to breach locations.
"Who do they partner you with? It wouldn't be someone from Root, would it?"
"Well when I said partner, who did you think of first?"
"Inari."
"Yes, Kimimaro-san?"
"Quit spacing out, did you want to learn or just waste my time? Look at how my bone molds just under my skin, not too deep as to interfere with muscles and not too high as to break skin. This is important to keep the armor hidden, start practicing this with your wrists."
Walking away from the middle of the training ground, Kimimaro hobbled over to a bench, and all but threw himself down.
Practicing as he was instructed, Inari molded the bone into plates. The plates of bone had to be at the right height and right thickness, lest the hidden armor not be hidden or they become too thin to be used.
"I think I got it, Kimimaro-san."
Sauntering over, Kimimaro looked at Inaris arm and knocked on it to feel the bone underneath. Quickly making a bone sword, Kimimaro chopped at Inaris wrist.
In the end all that resulted from the sword slashing at Inari was a bleeding forearm, a sign of a successful hidden bone armor.
"This is a skill all Shikotsumyaku wielders learned, be it from scroll or personal tutoring."
"From my families scrolls to me and from me to you I pass this skill, you are now not a completely worthless shinobi."
"I shall serve Danzō-sama with these new abilities."
"Would you like to spar? I think I can handle one short spar to see if I was correct about you not being worthless."
The opening of doors interrupted the two bone benders, and a pair of footsteps were introduced. Looking at the pair that just entered, you could see it was a duo of scientists, Kabuto and Amachi.
"No Kimimaro-kun, you cannot handle another spar right now, Amachi and I are going to try some treatments on you. While I may be the better medical expert, Amachi-san is the better scientist in the field of unknown and changing physiology. So you will be coming with us."
"Oh hello Inari-kun have you met Amachi-san?"
Mentioned scientist and doctor paled slightly when brought under the gaze of the demon containing bone wielding Root child.
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama sent us to retrieve him."
"Well, I'm sorry for taking away your sparring partner but Amachi-san here might be able to do more to fix Kimimaro-kun than I can."
A trio of footsteps left the room and Inari was left all alone again, no sparring partner to practice with and no Danzō-sama to command him.
I wonder when Danzō-sama is going to pick us up?
"I feel like we should stop with the questions for now Sai-kun, it is getting rather late."
Orochimaru shouldn't feel the utter glee from turning a shinobi no, a child's world upside down but he did. It was the expression of utter betrayal knowing what awaited them if they had followed their current path.
"...th-that cannot be true."
"Sai-kun I'm a great deal of many things but a liar isn't one of them," a lie.
"You can ask me any question and I'll tell you the truth every time."
well only my side of the story.
"You will not lie to me, Orochimaru-sama? How can I trust you?"
Ah, he isn't completely naive enough to trust promises alone anymore.
In the few split seconds between saying that and waiting, Sai seemed to have gained some confidence.
"Actually how do I know you are not making any of this up?"
"Because I have proof; documents, procedures, testing and multiple witness accounts from scientific testing. Would you like to see them?"
Denial was no longer a possibility, Sai had to accept the facts as they were. Danzō-sama, no Danzō, was raising children in pairs only to have them kill each other off, and when they were broken and empty from what they had to do, he gave them a new goal.
Not to say that before learning all of the truth that Sai had been unloyal.
It's just that given the choice between Inari who he had been raised most of his life with, or Root and Danzō, an organization raising them to be trained killers, it was an easy choice to pick his brother.
"I do not know what to do anymore, how do I tell Inari? He was always more loyal to Danzō than I was. He murdered five civilians because they insulted Danzō just by calling him names."
If Orochimaru was shocked by this revelation, he did an amazing job of hiding it, but the snake Sannin had guessed that Inari had a history of violence.
"Why? Why are you telling me this?"
"Because it's time for me to break ties with Danzō, I'm no longer profiting and someone else wants me on their team. I was going to wait a couple more years before cutting ties but I received word on the same day you came back from The Land of Silence that I was to join them earlier than they thought."
"So you would not have helped Danzō then if you knew that you were to cut ties then."
"You're correct, except I still would have agreed with the surgery and slit his throat while he was strapped down."
"Why would you tell me all of this and not someone else in Root? Or even tell someone else?"
A smirk befell the manipulator's face.
"Because the way I see it we can both profit from this. You do something for me inside of Root where I can't get to, and you can stay with me. I'll never lie to you and when you convince Inari of the truth, I'll bring him into the family as well."
Family, they don't lie to each other, do they?
"I will do it, no matter the task, Orochimaru-sama."
"I know you will but let's make a little backup plan, just in case things go wrong."
Danzō Shimura was a great deal of many things; patriotic, a leader, smart, owner of a shadow organization that only he knew about and most of all wise.
You don't get to be at the age Danzō is unless you're smart, and as you grow, smarts turn into wisdom.
He had seen all three shinobi wars, so he knew all sides of mankind. The ever hopeful almost never breaking under the pressure, the wrathful ones who will stop at nothing to accomplish their goals.
Which is why Danzō was having second thoughts about leaving Sai and Inari with Orochimaru. They had done a great deal of many operations together, but Danzō knew what Orochimaru really was at heart. A snake.
Which is why he was considering taking Inari back.
Sai he was also a good member of Root.
It was about time to reclaim them anyways.
"Are you sure this plan will work, Orochimaru-sama? There are several holes in it I can think of."
Damned Root shinobi, can't adapt a plan unless they're in the middle of it.
"I'm sure you can make the solutions as you go Sai-kun," grabbing him by the shoulders and kneeling as he spoke. "I have confidence you can do this, because it's for you and Inari."
It was like a forty percent chance he would get away with the plan that they had laid out. That number jumped to one hundred with the recent modifications.
"I will have confidence in the plan because you do Orochimaru-sama."
A happy smirk grew across Orochimaru's face at the newfound loyalty of Sai. If only he knew he was just a pawn in the game of adults.
"Then there isn't anything to worry about, I know you'll complete the task I gave you. Now what do you say you go find Inari and we can all have dinner together?"
A nod was the answer received and he was off, to find his non-blood bound brother.
"Are you sure this is crucial training? I do not feel like I am learning anything important."
Inari was training at the moment, improvement is an endless road that many people can help you with.
Instead Tayuya had seen him and called out to him, interrupting whatever talk she was having with her team.
Leading to the current training if you could call it that.
"I can assure you 'fuck' is necessary for thinking outside the box, and surprising your opponents."
"This 'fuck' you talk about, is it that useful?"
"I use it whenever I can, it's the most fuckin useful thing I ever learned."
"How do I use 'fuck'?"
"Well you can use it anyway really, fucks fuckin versatile."
Sai was watching this on the side confused, was fuck that useful? Regardless he called out to his comrades.
"Inari! Tayuya! Orochimaru-sama told me to fetch you for dinner, we are all eating together tonight."
"Oh shit, race you fuckers there." And Tayuya was gone.
Some friendly competition is always nice, so they tried to beat her there.
"First! You know what they always say, ladies first."
"Then why did you get here first?" Sakon ever the gentleman spoke up.
"All I see is a sassy child speaking, unless Guren-san is behind you."
Ah, the fights were starting earlier this time. Well, they would have, if not for the glare that promised untold amounts of harm if the bickering continued, from Orochimaru.
"Forgive us Orochimaru-sama."
"Hmm. Just this once and only since we don't eat like this often. I must treat my subordinates with respect after all. Right, Kabuto-kun?"
"As you say Orochimaru-sama. Come now we're having food with or without you."
If they took one thing from that, it's that there was food, and they all loved food.
Orochimaru could hear whispers outside their private dinner room. Most of the time he would pass it off as pawns being pawns. In a rocky time of switching allegiances he couldn't take any risks, so he excused himself from the table.
Standing just outside the door to the hallway, he vomited up Kusanagi, the legendary grass cutting blade. Opening the door, Orochimaru slowly walked out, blade in hand ready for anything.
Only for it to be two children, one of them was a boy wrapped up in bandages leaving only one eye explosed and the other was a small girl with long black hair done with a purple bow.
The black haired girl was the first to speak up, if you could call the pathetic whimpering that she did speaking.
"O-o-orochimaru-sama I-we uh we were wondering i-if Kabuto-san was in there."
Why the hell was Kabuto involved with these two brats?
"Give me a moment and I'll fetch him for you two."
"Thank you so much Orochimaru-sama!"
With that gratitude he walked away, only after flashing a charming smile to settle them down.
"Kabuto!"
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama?"
Experience as a Sannin was what prevented him from jumping back, away from his...teleporting assistant.
"There are two children outside right now asking for you, care to explain why?"
A millisecond of surprise showed, not enough to enjoy the new expression on his underlings face. Enough to know that Kabuto had messed up in some way, though.
"I may have taken their friend for experimentation, and forgot to wake him up from his induced coma."
Oh, well if that's it, it's not a big deal then.
"coupleweeksago."
Now an awkward silence floated in the air.
"Is he still alive?"
"He should be, I'm pretty sure I gave him enough fluids to last a week."
There wasn't a chance for Orochimaru to point out that while that would be plentiful for most surgical operations, it was supposedly enough for a week. Which Kabuto was over the quota for by double.
As his most useful underling was already off, to go fix his mistake.
I'm sure this will resolve itself.
"Where's my manners? I'm sorry for excusing myself from the table without warning."
Essentially everyone immediately kneeled and said different things, all meaning the same thing essentially, though.
"It's not your fault Orochimaru-sama."
"You need not excuse yourself, Orochimaru-sama."
"Next time I ask that you send me to deal with the issue, so you may stay seated Orochimaru-sama."
They all sounded the same, unending worship and praise for himself.
As it should be.
"Thank you for cleaning up as always, Kidomaru-kun."
"Your praise boosts me as always, Orochimaru-sama."
Honestly, if he wasn't a shinobi he would make an amazing house keeper, being that he has six arms and all.
"Everyone else, you can go to your rooms. Except you, Kimimaro, I need to speak with you."
A nod was given to his master and Kimimaro followed Orochimaru to wherever they were heading.
That left both Sai and Inari with nothing left to do.
"Hey Inari, let us spar. Orochimaru-sama taught me some new things."
Finally something exciting.
Rumbling was what disturbed Kimimaro's meditation, immediately making him think that they were under attack.
Dashing out of his bedroom, he looked around and saw no signs of intruders or danger, only people slowly peeking out of their rooms.
Upon looking down the hallway a little longer he saw a silhouette walking down the hall, the larger size of this outline pointed towards Jirobo.
"Jirobo! Who is making that much noise at this hour?"
"Hehaha, no one told our two guests that explosive tags aren't allowed indoors. I went to go stop them but Orochimaru-sama was already there, just watching."
"If Orochimaru-sama was there and not stopping the fight I see no reason to worry then."
Orochimaru-sama has been paying close attention to them.
Most children would boast, shout and scream when practicing against their friends.
Sai and Inari were silent; the only noises were the explosives and the thud of bone into concrete all covering up the background splashes of boots stepping in ink.
Everytime Sai would make several ink mice, every single one of them had a different seal that would hinder Inari.
Some were explosive seals, others paralysis seals and other heinous acts of Fuinjutsu.
Inari was on the defensive for the most part, throwing as many miniature spikes from his fingertips, in an attempt to curb the swathes of mice crawling towards him.
Sai had the advantage for the most part by getting the first major blow in the fight, landing a paralysis seal on Inari the moment the fight started.
Inari had shaped a plate of bone to cut around the seal and expel the chunk of flesh off. By the time the seal was removed and he could move his muscles again it was already too late, as another mouse had landed on his right leg.
That particular mouse was an explosive seal and while Inari, not knowing what type of meddling seal it was, grew a quick plate of bone around his leg to protect himself.
It was for naught and the explosion created shrapnel out of the thin armor, shredding the muscles in his right leg. At least for a little while Inari would be hopping around on one leg.
After that though Inari had focused on wiping out the swathes of mice, resulting in essentially a pool of ink on the ground.
Sai was steadily gaining advantage, until a cylindrical bone chunk landed in front of him. Keeping an eye on it, he still worked steadily at making different types of seals in his ink mice.
Then the cylinder exploded. It wasn't a smoke bomb nor a large explosion. It was a small explosion to break up the shape and send innumerable amounts of bone splinters.
The human shrapnel both shredded Sai's mouse tactics and made the fuinjutsu user look away, lest his eyes become a lot less useful.
Inari was already bounding towards Sai, Root tanto in hand and bloodlust evident. Suddenly the puddles of ink started sloshing making rough outlines of all sorts of creatures, from two all the way up to eight legs.
Sai's voice spoke out for the first time in this spar, announcing whatever this new technique was.
"Inku-jū-gun no Jutsu!" (Ink beast army.)
In response, Inari stopped to grow bone armor on his arms, legs and chest, all hidden under his skin.
He was making it preemptively to avoid developing it too thin in an emergency situation.
Sai just waited, barely holding onto the last of his chakra. Creating this many large creatures out of this much ink was hard on the reserves.
The queue for the onslaught of ink versus man was Orochimaru, still standing in the corner watching who gave a slight nod.
All the inky monstrous masses launched at Inari, all sorts of beasts. Claws and fangs all bearing down on him, bruising and cutting him but never going past his hidden armor.
Next came the counter attack from Inari, tanto in his left hand and bone spear growing out of his wrist and nestling into his right hand.
The massacre started with the creatures inky hides giving little to no resistance against steel and bone, all were cut down the same.
Which is why Inari was surprised when they were all gone, leaving him standing in the middle of the room. Bruises forming and fading, cuts slowly mending.
Now that the adrenaline rush had slowed and the want for blood had faded, Inari looked closer at the ground.
The ink splatter wasn't a natural way it would have landed, it seemed organized. Looking up to his pale partner he saw him barely standing, holding up the serpent seal.
Inari knew the armor he had hidden underneath would protect from basic taijutsu and weak blade attacks. He didn't have confidence that it would protect him from several explosive seals that landed from the ink beasts.
Quickly thinking, he made additional armor to go over his skin and over his Root uniform, all the while going through the motion of throwing his tanto at Sai.
Sai wasn't going to let Inari finish all of that though, and switched from the serpent hand seal to ram.
The explosion rocked the arena, sending a flood of ink and debris everywhere. The tanto that Inari had been in the motion of throwing had left his hand, but the explosion sent it flying away and embedding in the roof.
Sai was knocked away by the shockwave and pushed back down by the torrent of black ink, keeping him down long enough for the dust to settle.
Orochimaru was still in the corner watching, having put up an earth barrier to keep shrapnel and stains away.
Finally standing back up, Sai looked about for Inari and spotted him, in a jumbled mess of bone, ink and blood. Shuffling over, still chakra drained Sai got a good look at his brother.
"Inari! Are you okay?"
Getting closer you could really see the damage, bits of small bone embedded in his skin with larger pieces stuck in here and there.
Burns from both the heat of the explosions and the explosively heated ink splashing him.
He had managed to make armor around his head at the very least, and it had held up in the explosion. The rest of his body had half plates over the surface with jagged edges from breaking.
"Orochimaru-sama, please come help! I'm sorry Inari I did not mean to use that powerful of an explosive."
"You need not worry Sai-kun, the Kyuubi won't let something like this kill him. You should be proud of yourself though. Even if he's still inexperienced, taking down a Shikotsumyaku user is no small feat."
Proud?
"I do this to the one person I want to save from Root and I should be proud?"
"That's not what I meant, Sai-kun. I mean just look at the progress of your fuinjutsu, could you have done this before you came here?"
He was right, the amount of crippling, harming and otherwise annoying seals he had learned were the reason why he got the first blow in the fight. That being said, he didn't like what he did to Inari.
"You are correct as always, Orochimaru-sama. I should have held back on the explosive though."
"If you hold back too much he might notice a change though, and we can't let anyone know of our little secret Sai-kun. Not until we're both ready."
A groan interrupted any other shadowy plotting, for Inaris body was slowly stitching itself back together and waking him up.
"It is your win, Sai."
That announcement was followed by the breaking down of the bone bone armor, inside and out. Slowly he sat himself back up and leaned against the wall and started taking out the larger bone pieces.
The smaller ones were naturally being pushed out by the rapid healing factor, along with the burns seemingly melting away into smooth skin again.
After all was said and done, Inari looked ten times better. Only thing was that he was covered in dried blood and ink. The Root uniform was torn, charred and soaked in ink.
Sai, on the other hand, was just drenched in ink from head to toe. Both of them needed new uniforms and a good shower.
"That was a good show Inari-kun, but I must leave and let everyone else know we're not under attack."
The arena was in pretty bad shape, a large crater was in the middle of it and had pooled all of the ink away from the drains. There were scorch marks and stains everywhere, along with random pieces of bone stuck all about from Inari killing ink mice.
And the tanto was still embedded in the roof.
"That was a good spar Sai, let us do it again soon."
"But I nearly killed you, did I not? Orochimaru-sama says it would take a lot more but I think I almost did."
"If you kill me, I was too weak to serve Root then. I am going to go get some more food now, I am starving."
That's how little Root nins are raised to value their lives, if they die they were too weak to serve Root. Sai almost forgot he was raised like that too, but he was going to help Inari realize the truth about Root. Orochimaru-sama would help after all.
Not wanting to be left behind, Sai also left for food.
"I think they had soup tonight."
"Orochimaru-sama, is it really wise to leave that task in his Sai's hands? I feel as if his sense of comfort with Inari will hold him back."
Looking up from his papers, Orochimaru only smirked.
"I think it will be fine Kabuto-kun, all he has to do is get information on all of Danzō's contacts and bring it to me. I also plan on giving him a helping hand just in case he needs it."
That network of people Danzō had under his thumb made Jiraiya look like he was running around blind. Danzō was smart and paranoid though. No amount of infiltration led him to the knowledge of the people he had.
The ones he had helped Danzō put in were already dead or Kabuto, and they had long ago reached an agreement on Kabuto's stay.
"Well, I was just wondering what you were thinking, now that you've been told to cut ties with Danzō."
"I think that things will work out perfectly, Pain gets me in his entourage and I get a prodigy fuinjutsu user and a jinchuriki."
"As you say, Orochimaru-sama."
yo I'm back
I may be slow, and the story may be mediocre but I won't stop till it is done.
So see ya next time