Chapter 52

Playing Games

-(*)-

Training Ground 44, normally a quiet, foreboding place. Most completely untouched by human design. But today and for the following four days it would play host to a series of back and forth endless skirmishes, the sounds of clashing metal and screams would perforate the normally still air, the wildlife disturbed and robbed of sleep.

With the passing of each of those five days would the wildlife become more frustrated by the invaders to their habitat, with each of those five days would the wildlife become more dangerous. And right now Meshikamaru wished what chased her was local.

The sound of snapping filled the air, another crash shook the ground underfoot. She was utilising all her speed and guile and she was still just barely escaping an early meeting with the Shinigami. A deep 'whooshing' sound reached her ears and instinctively she ducked, an act that saved her.

The huge snake summoned by that Kusa nin had just swung its tail at her, damn near taking her head off. Gatapishi's tail recoiled off a nearby tree, the bark shredded to reveal the wood beneath.

She'd have little trouble finding her way back to her teammates if she could deal with her pursuer. The trail of devastation it had wrought through the forest was wide and pronounced. Bushes crushed, trees damaged or outright destroyed. The cacophony of noise and scent of an alpha predator had ensured they went unharrassed by the local wildlife. Any curious Genin teams if they had any sense would stay away too.

She was all alone against a serpent she'd guessed was at least sixty feet long, probably longer. But she wouldn't panic, she was her father's daughter, she would think her way out of this one.

Her plan to fight back was already underway. Her dodging was buying her the time she needed to finish her weapon: Two kunai, a thread of steel wire some two feet long tying them together and along that wire, half a dozen explosive tags, altogether it almost had the appearance of bunting. She knew that the hardened scales covering the snake's flanks and back would be too tough to penetrate so her target was instead the scales of the underbelly.

Gatapishi had momentarily lost sight of her so it wrapped apart of itself around a tree to gain a higher viewpoint, it gave Meshikamaru her window of opportunity, some of the wider scales of the snake's underbelly were exposed.

Lighting the tags she threw them both with all the force she could muster, she still needed the kunai to dig in and not just bounce off. She left out a breath when they indeed did stick but her action had given away her location. Gatapishi slithered down from the tree to renew its pursuit of her when the tags exploded.

Gatapishi let out a loud hiss of pain as the heat and concussive force generated affected the flesh beneath. But any hope Meshikamaru had for a serious wound faded as fast as the smoke did. All the tags had done was blacken what was before a series of very pale scales.

'Ah fuck,' she bemoaned as the furious serpent launched its great mass directly at her, jaws opened wide. Energising her leg muscles with a surge of chakra she managed to leap clear leaving Gatapishi to clamp his huge maw around a fallen tree trunk.

Turning around Meshikamaru was treated to the sight of Gatapishi swinging its head and launching the dead tree off into the distance. Chunks of dead and rotting wood broke free and were left in its wake as it struck several trees before coming to a stop. The noise it made was damn near deafening for Meshikamaru. That was one advantage Gatapishi had over her – It, as a snake had no ears, it was nearly totally deaf.

But watching the tree fall to the ground had given her another idea, she just hoped she had enough explosive tags to pull it off as she momentarily looked at the nearest colossal tree, it towered over her. 'I bet that weighs A LOT.'

Through the commotion Gatapishi had again lost sight of her and she used that to her advantage. But she trod carefully for while snakes were deaf in the sense that they lacked ears they possessed a heightened sensitivity to vibrations so every step Meshikamaru took she muffled with chakra.

Making sure not to stay stationary for too long lest its sense of smell locate her, she circled the massive snake putting her new plan into action. She was taking no chances and used every last explosive tag she had on her, all thirty of them were placed at the base of an enormous tree in a semi-circle. All were aimed towards Gatapishi.

With the tags in place and primed she lightly touched down behind a thick shrub. Taking a breath she took out her storage scroll and extracted a log. 'Hah! Told you carrying one around like this would come in handy Shikamaru,' she congratulated herself. 'I just hope to Kami this works,' she thought gently putting the log down.

Her plan lacked one final component – bait. She jumped out into the open, Gatapishi immediately located her but she made it appear as if it had finally spotted her. Its long, stubby tail, topped with that rattle came around to block her from the left, he was narrowing her avenue of escape.

Slowly and with a look of fear she backed up, the snakes head slowly coming forward in response. It's bright yellow eyes seemed to grow brighter as Meshikamaru walked back into a tree. Her eyes widened, she had nowhere to go and Gatapishi knew it. Tilting his wide head to the side he sprung forward jaws opening in a flash. The moment she could no longer see those yellow eyes she Kawarimied.

The experience of effectively teleporting jarred her for a moment before her senses returned and she hurled herself to the ground. Turning away from her set explosive tags she opened her mouth and covered her ears just as they burned down completely.

*BOOM*

The explosion was huge, shards of wood were turned into high-velocity shrapnel cutting through the air. Then the concussive shockwave hit her and pushed her several feet. The blast had been powerful enough to rip huge chunks out of the base of the trunk, the high pressure generated so great it drove a wave of moisture before it.

Gatapishi, who heard through vibrations, was at the pressure waves mercy so was utterly dazed as the sound of snapping cracked through the disturbed air. Turning back around she was greeted to the sight of a gargantuan tree begin it's descent as the last of what remained of the trunk gave way, snapping under the immense weight above it.

Her quick mental calculations had been accurate as the descending mass stayed on target. While Gatapishi did recover his senses, it was too late. The great tree, a century or older struck the ground and the very earth heaved under its weight as Meshikamaru was thrown off her feet. The deep booming sound drowning out the shriek of agony as Gatapishi's body was caught between tree and earth.

Meshikamaru was able to stand again as the aftershocks subsided, the sounds of anguished pain now alone. Her plan had worked, the tree had landed about two thirds down Gatapishi's body, the tail wasn't moving at all and blood was beginning to pool from under the fallen tree. The remaining two-thirds whipped and writhed before that slitted yellow orb locked onto her again.

Seeing the one who'd delivered him such a devastating injury broke through the cloud of distress and re-focused his frayed mind. Baring his two viscous fangs the venom came thick and fast, large drops of translucent yellowish liquid falling from the needle tip sharp instruments.

Meshikamaru looked on in dread as she realised the massive snake sought to melt through the entire tree. She had nothing left that could deal serious damage to it. "Ah shit," she muttered.

-(*)-

Atop Hokage Tower

Tri, still in his meditative pose, didn't so much as twitch as he spawned a shadow clone. Without a word it ran to the railing and leapt over dropping out of sight. Before the clone gathered too much speed it reached out and effortlessly grabbed the window ledge and pulled itself up before lightly knocking on the window.

Minato was talking to three Chūnin who'd arrived in a hurry just minutes earlier when he heard the knock on his window. Turning his head he raised a curious eyebrow and ushered Tri inside with a hand signal. With almost no sound the window was slid open, they slipped inside and the window shut again, all the while the Chūnin continued speaking. The clone moved to stand next to them, hands clasped behind their back.

"That's when Anko-san ordered us to inform you of what we found."
"Ok, thank you. Tri-kun, what do you need?" Minato asked. "I'm just a clone, Hokage-sama. But the boss has learnt the second Exam has been infiltrated."
"What? You too?" Minato asked in exacerbation. "Me too?" the clone asked. "Yes, the Chūnin here arrived to inform me of the same thing."

The clone turned its head to look at them, it spied the picture in one of their hands, "Is that a photo of your infiltrator?" The Chūnin nervously nodded raising their arm to show the clone. They took one look at the photo, "Hokage-sama, bosses infiltrator and the Chūnin's infiltrator are the same person."

"Do you know who they are?"
"Yes," they replied with a nod, "They've just identified themselves as Orochimaru."

The Chūnin went white in the face but Minato jumped to his feet, "ANBU!" he shouted. In an instant, the masked Shinobi was before the leader of Konohagakure. "Take the photo, show it to every ANBU team stationed around training ground 44 and have them track this individual down." The ANBU nodded once, took the photo and was gone.

"Chūnin, thank you for bringing this to my attention, you're dismissed." All three nodded, one bowed and they left. With just the clone left Minato turned to face them. "Dispel yourself but tell Tri-kun to send another one to explain everything to me." Another nod then the clone was gone.

Minato was concerned, he hoped Tri would be able to answer the question of why Orochimaru is here.

Back on the roof, just as before, Tri didn't move in the slightest as he received his clones memories. While still watching through Muninn's sight he seamlessly created another clone as per Minato's request.

"Ok, that's Tou-san brought up to speed. They'll tell him what I'm about to do. Muninn-kun, I need you to reverse summon me."
"I-I can't…" the Raven replied. Tri went silent for a moment, then he remembered why. "Ah, fuck! Huginn!"
"I'm already on my way," the second of the Ravens said.

He chastised himself for forgetting about the bond between his twin summons. Being born as twins meant their power and abilities were divided equally between them. And to use major techniques like reverse summoning required both of them in close physical proximity to perform.

Technically it would have been faster for him to run to the forest of death but he had no way of actually locating Orochimaru, even with a small army of clones he could have spent hours searching and find nothing so, for now, he would have to wait. "How long, Huginn?"
"A few minutes at least, the three you had me watching have been heading downstream so they've been bringing me closer to Muninn the entire time."

For now, he was stuck watching events unfold through Muninn's eyes and there were now matters of grave concern.

-(*)-

Training Ground 44 - Sasuke

What had possessed the hallmarks of a terrible day for Sasuke had now descended into a nightmare. First, the creep with the snake summon had identified themselves as Orochimaru and then they'd bitten him. He could only look on in disgust as their neck extended to a truly absurd length, meters in length and then as fast as a snake they'd sunk fang-like incisors into his neck.

And now here he was writhing in agony as Orochimaru knelt down beside them, a sadistic smile on his thin, pale lips. For Sasuke, it felt as if his blood vessels burned and his blood boiled, tendrils of agonising pain sinking into muscle, bone and sinew. A building pressure behind his eyes distorted his vision. With a single hand on Sasuke's chest Orochimaru pinned them down so he could whisper in his ear and as he did so the pain subsided.

"You'll never defeat Itachi, Sasuke, so long as you remain in this village. Only if you leave can you obtain the power you seek – Power that only I can provide you, power such as the gift I have just bestowed upon you. Embrace that power and seek me out, only then can you possibly have the strength to strike Itachi down."

Tri growled in frustration, Muninn hadn't been able to hear what Orochimaru whispered. Standing up again Orochimaru removed his hand from Sasuke's chest and the pain returned full force. No build as there had been before, he was hit by everything all at once, he passed out.

The Sannin smiled and rolled his neck. In doing so his eyes landed on the mound of leaves he knew the Hokage's son had been left in. While he should have begun with his get-away his curiosity got the better of him.

"I've always wanted to take a look at Minato's eight-pointed seal," he quietly chuckled to himself. Slowly he began walking towards the large pile of red and brown leaves. It was a curiosity unto itself how the leaves had all accumulated in this one confined space and nowhere else.

Reaching in with a hand Orochimaru quickly found what felt like a leg and pulled. With little effort, he extracted the still unconscious Rezano from the foliage, a nasty looking bruise on his temple.

Orochimaru chuckled again as he dragged him over to Sasuke, "My, my. You're going to have one hell of a headache when you wake up."

Rolling him onto his back he again knelt down and unzipped the garish orange jacket revealing the mesh shirt underneath. Lifting that up he gently tapped a fingertip on Rezano's stomach, a small amount of chakra transferred from one to the other and the seal appeared. "Ah, there you are."

In response, Tri began releasing the weight seals spread across his person.

"What should I do with you?" Orochimaru wondered aloud. "I could put my own seal over Minato's to lock up the Kyūbi's chakra. Alternatively, I could give him my curse mark too, I wonder if he'd survive it? A Jinchuriki would be a magnificent asset."

"Huginn!..."

Orochimaru silently mulled over the issue for a few moments, weighing the pro's and con's.

He shook his head, "No, we can't have that," he said holding his hand up, what looked like flames of varying colours appeared on the tip of each finger and the thumb.

"He intends to place a five-pointed suppression seal!" Tri said before falling silent, through Huginn's eyes he could see familiar sights, his Ravens were moments from reuniting as he began kneading copious amounts of chakra.

Orochimaru had been about to place the seal when the flapping of wings drew his attention. Looking up he saw a black-feathered bird swoop into the clearing, with a fluttering of its wings it slowed itself and landed on a high branch. There was very little light up there, it almost faded into the darkness and Orochimaru really had to focus to keep track of it. Then he spotted another, a second black bird and as far as he could tell they were identical.

"Huh, kinda looks like a Raven… Ah," he said awkwardly as both birds let out a loud squawk.

The inky blackness was suddenly contrasted by a plume of white smoke, the sound of sharpened metal streaking through the air. Orochimaru's plan to suppress the Kyūbi's chakra forgotten as he began dodging the hail of kunai and shuriken. A rapid sound of pitter-patter as they dug into the soft, earthy soil filling the air.

With the Sannin away from the two boys he breathed in and applied the spark, the reservoir of chakra ignited. "Shakuton: Kami Hi Kaze no Jutsu!" The focused stream of super-heated flame lit up the clearing and only Orochimaru's extreme speed prevented him from being incinerated. A hulking tree provided an insight into what would have happened to him.

Tri had concentrated the chakra so densely when kneading it had caused the temperature after ignition to skyrocket. When touched by the intense heat the tree didn't so much catch fire and more melted as the flames bit deep into the trunk, small hisses were accompanied by puffs of steam as water and sap were vaporized.

Tri landed on the ground, putting himself between Orochimaru and the boys. He ended his Jutsu, Divine Fire Wind was incredibly chakra intensive and even with his substantial reserves, he would have to pick his moments.

The Sannin tilted their head slightly to the side, captivated by the damage done to the tree. The bark and wood beneath were deeply charred, a few embers continued burning but there was about thirty square feet of bark missing, that's what held Orochimaru's attention.

Slowly running down the tree, pooling on the ground was black, thick, gloopy liquid. "Fascinating, the temperature you need to achieve to actually 'melt' wood like this… And yet you are able to generate it." His voice calm and intrigued, that Tri had attempted to torch him seemed a total none factor.

Orochimaru turned to face the new arrival, "Uzumaki Tri, this is an unexpected but most pleasant surprise," he cooed with that creepy smile/ smirk of his. "Orochimaru… I won't say similar – I'd be lying."

The Sannin chuckled, "How welcoming of you on my esteemed return home."

…

His eyes narrowed a little in annoyance after he received no reply, Orochimaru favoured verbal antagonising to gain an edge. "I take it the Ravens are yours?" he asked. Again no answer.

"Are you sure, Tri-kun?" Muninn asked nervously. "Yes, I'm not risking either of you by having you stay. I don't fancy explaining to your father how one or both of you got killed. See if you can track down Meshikamaru-san."

"Very well," they both answered, their frustration was evident but they acquiesced to his request.

"You don't talk much do you?"
"No. We're not here to exchange words."
"I must admit, I've never seen a Raven summon before but you are correct. We're exchanging empty words."

In the blink of an eye, both launched Jutsu at one another. A stream of liquid mud from Orochimaru clashed with more flames, but Katon this time. And the switch from Shakuton to Katon was apparent. Orochimaru's Jutsu began pushing forward, a cloud of steam helping to obscured one from the other, perfect for Tri.

His hands were held in the Tiger seal, the seal most associated with Katon Jutsu but now Orochimaru couldn't see him he changed to the bird seal, synonymous with Fūton. And like the flip of a switch, his finely honed chakra control began mixing Fūton with Katon.

The rising steam kept Orochimaru in the dark until the last possible moment when a roaring torrent of fire near blindsided him as his stream of liquefied mud was enveloped and only through his great speed did he escape unscathed.

The steam, fire and mud cleared and Tri had won the opening engagement, he'd taken the centre of the clearing and was now best placed to dictate their fight. Never taking his eyes off Orochimaru two shadow clones appeared and got Team 7's two boys out of the combat zone before dispelling.

'He's supposed to be really fast but lacking in close quarters. I need to test just how fast and how good his chakra control is, I can't risk getting caught up close by his Shakuton.' His hand twitched, a shuriken appearing between each finger and with a finely practised movement of the arm threw each of them.

The true mark of a veteran came from the differing speeds each shuriken possessed. Regardless each was dodged with ease, his feet never moving. The instance the final shuriken passed him he twisted his body, plucked it out of the air and returned it with vigour. Orochimaru leaned his head to the left, the shuriken streaked past his head and was lost in the bush beyond.

It quickly descended into a shooting range, shuriken and kunai flying all over the place. The blades of grass were accompanied by an array of bladed steel and trees came to resemble pin-cushions.

And on and on it continued, neither recycling a single one, both combatants utilising a seemingly endless supply of weaponry. But neither had drawn the others blood, not even a scratch. If a Genin were to stumble upon this clash, they'd have questioned its purpose, it didn't seem to be accomplishing anything.

But it would be highly unlikely a Genin would have developed the analytical eye to realise each was testing the other. Each surveying the others movements, awaiting the slightest mistake or miscalculation whilst simultaneously seeking a way of feigning that mistake to allow a decisive counterattack.

'His strength lies in large area of effect Ninjutsu. So why does he continue this game?' Orochimaru wondered plucking a kunai out of the air and throwing it back. The village was now aware of his presence, that was obvious to him and he was in no doubt that while they duelled ANBU teams were on the move.

Then it clicked. His eyes narrowed in anger. He was playing him, playing him for time. 'I need to slip away before I'm swarmed under by ANBU. But HOW? This one isn't going to simply die,' he thought with a growl, a shuriken cutting a few strands of his hair. He vented killing intent to relieve the annoyance building at the back of his mind.

The first step was simple, the back-and-forth throwing contest had to end. He dispensed with steel and turned to living weapons, a snake shot from his sleeve but Tri was expecting it, tipped off by the killing intent. It was a mistake on Orochimaru's part and a clue to Tri that he was getting under the Sannin's skin.

The poor snake, however, wasn't long for this world, Tri easily adjusted his stance to get clear of those venom-injecting fangs and cleaved the creature in half, it was all accomplished without once taking his eyes off of Orochimaru.

The Sannin growled again, his emotions were starting to take hold. But why? He could clearly sense his compromised emotional state but he couldn't figure out the cause. He considered himself a calm, patient Shinobi, so just what was this Uzumaki, over thirty years younger his junior, doing to get under his skin like this?

The constant questions only served to further distract him, another dozen strands of his hair met a kunai's edge.

"What are you doing?" he demanded to know. Tri didn't answer, instead, that neutral, emotionless expression went unchanged. There were games at work, Orochimaru was sure of it.

"I'm unimpressed," Tri said nonchalantly. "Excuse me?" Orochimaru said, his voice a mixture of confusion and scandal with growing tones of outrage. "You're boring me. I hate Jiraiya, but fighting him was more invigorating than this."

The Sannin's eyes bugged out, "The nerve! You would compare to that oaf! How dare you!" he screamed. He threw out every possible sensible course of action and charged forward with reckless abandon.

His eyes had a crazed look to them as his hands wove through a series of seals familiar to Tri.

"Fūton: Daitoppa!" Orochimaru declared before breathing in deeply and unleashing a furious gust of wind. A gale that never touched Tri, he simply disappeared, a kunai with a burning tag replacing him.

"What?" Orochimaru uttered, his Jutsu faltering, as that kunai, amongst many others, were blown away. A hard kick knocked the wind out of him and made him stumble forward. He quickly received a second kick to his upper right arm that lurched him to the left and into a tree. It was as he hit the tree that a familiar sound reached his ears, a deep whirring sound.

He saw a glint of blue before a great pressure slammed into his stomach pinning him in place. Looking down with dread the deep blue orb set to work. Was he truly about to be killed by the creation of the one Hiruzen chose to be the Yondaime over him?

Lifting his head back up he looked Tri dead in the eyes. "How? How did you do it?" he asked weakly. "The killing Intent," he bluntly replied, only after a look of confusion spread across Orochimaru's face did he elaborate. "Earlier, you briefly vented Killing Intent. Killing Intent is very good at disrupting emotions. When yours ended, I started releasing small amounts of my own, not enough to be easily noticeable but enough to start eating at your emotional state."

"Ah! I see, it makes sense now. I knew you were up to something but I couldn't put my finger on what. But using Killing Intent is so subtle a manner sounds quite fascinating. I'll have to remember that one for next time."
"Next time?" Tri asked with a raised eyebrow, Orochimaru smiled weakly. "Of course, there is always a next time, after all…" He leaned in closer and whispered.

"After all, I played you."

Before his eyes the colour of Orochimaru's face darkened and sagged, his skin liquefied and began to melt. Tri's eyes widened in surprise as this thick, gloopy liquid ran over his hand. Within moments it solidified once more locking his Rasengan hand in place and he couldn't pull it free. He opened his mouth and laughed once.

"He played me," he chuckled before abruptly cutting himself off. The humorous look on his face vanished, his usual emotionless demeanour returning, "He played me," he said neutrally, his mind pouring over his memories, trying to find just when he'd made the switch.

Emotion began to show on his face again, having the wool pulled over his eyes brought that deep pit of usually suppressed anger to the fore, it built inside him as his breathing slowed and deepened.

Around him more than a dozen shadow clones appeared in a cloud of smoke. Tri was silent a moment before bellowing, "FIND HIM!" The clones were out of sight in mere moments but the anger kept building.

"He played me," he said a final time.

Firmly grasping his chakra he poured it through his left arm and the Rasengan burst in life once more and swelled in size. Orochimaru's mud clone was devoured then came the tree. The bark was ripped apart, the swirling mass of chakra soon digging deep into the dense, tough wood beneath. His hand was now free but he continued, the luminous blue sphere continuing to grow until the tree above him could no longer support its own weight and gravity took hold.

The deep snapping of wood broke Tri out his anger fuelled mental haze long enough for him to move out of the way. The Rasengan in his hand shrank back down but didn't extinguish, he felt the great urge to kill something, someone and he knew exactly how to fill the void as his eyes fell on the trail of damage caused by Orochimaru's snake summon.

-(*)-

End Chapter