Three

Kankuro came awake with a start and sat up. He had been sitting on the floor of his father's office, reading one of the books from the library. The book was interesting, but he had not gotten much sleep the night before (Gaara's fault) and so he had dozed off.

When he had fallen asleep, his father had been alone, working on his never ending pile of paperwork, but now the room was full of people. Baki was there, along with some other council members, and two unfamiliar shinobi. One was just a few years older than Kankuro, with silver hair and glasses, and the other…

Kankuro had spent enough time hanging around his father's office and in council meetings to be able to recognize Orochimaru. One of the sannin, former Leaf shinobi, former Akatsuki member, and a man with a huge price on his head was standing in his father's office. Judging from the expressions on everyone's faces, the visit was unannounced and unwelcome. Baki's fists were clenched and his father looked furious. One of the council members, a merchant named Saito, looked worried, but the other council members looked confused.

Idiots, Kankuro thought, they have no clue.

He shifted the book aside and slid back into the corner, trying to remain quiet and unnoticed. This was going to be too interesting to miss.

"People do not just show up here unannounced," the Kazekage said. "You should quickly convince me why I should not kill you."

Orochimaru laughed, it was an unpleasant sound that made Kankuro shiver a little.

"Quite simple, if you kill me then you won't hear the interesting things I have to tell you. It amuses me that you think you could." His nose wrinkled in disdain. "Second rate shinobi from a second rate village just barely maintaining its status; I do not know if your confidence is a sign of spirit or just pathetic."

Baki growled and stepped forward. Kankuro sprang to his feet and growled too, but no one heard him over the protests everyone else made. Kankuro mentally urged his sensei on; he could slice that idiot into small pieces in seconds.

The Kazekage held up a hand to keep everyone in place. He bared his teeth at Orochimaru, but his tone was civil. "Backwater we may be, but we have manners and rules. You should have realized that after what happened to your assistant the other day."

He gestured at Orochimaru's companion and Kankuro noticed that his hand was bandaged.

"We have rules here and if you can't follow them…"

Orochimaru waved the lecture aside. "Yes, who would have thought that you would be so protective of that moldering pile you call a library. I will admit that your guardian is impressive. Not many can hurt my Kabuto."

The library! Kankuro's eyes went wide. He remembered Keiko leaving them and then coming back, looking upset, but he could not believe that she had done anything. He looked at Kabuto. Maybe she had, the guy looked like a wimp to Kankuro. He wondered what they had wanted in the library and why they had tried to sneak in to get it.

"…still not convinced," the Kazekage was talking again.

Kankuro gave himself a mental kick in the behind.

Pay attention idiot, he thought, something important is happening.

"Oh, but I think you are. Why else would we still be talking?" Orochimaru looked around him. "However, I do not think we should continue with this audience. There are too many ignorant ears, too many unimportant ears, and too many underage ears. Is that one of your brats skulking in the corner?"

His gaze flicked over Kankuro, negligent at first and then more focused. The boy fell under his power; very few could resist even Orochimaru's weakest genjutsu. Orochimaru was impressed by the way he fought against it, though. The boy could not move, but he was glaring at Orochimaru, chin raised in defiance. He took note of the boy's impressive chakra, the potential of his sturdy body, and his well made hands. Everyone knew about the Kazekage's youngest son and his immense power and Orochimaru had reports on the girl who was the student of the Sand's most dangerous kunoichi, the Wind Dancer, but he had heard little about this boy. Orochimaru felt a touch of irritation at this lapse in intelligence gathering, someone had overlooked this boy and his enormous potential.

So much chakra, so well controlled, Orochimaru thought. Who is this child?

Something pushed Orochimaru's mind aside; it was the Kazekage.

"Kankuro," the Kazekage said, "I think you should go. Leave your book on my desk. I'll bring it home later."

"But…" Kankuro protested, trying not to wheeze. It was hard to get his breath back. It was like Orochimaru had applied Gaara's Sand Coffin to his brain.

"Now," the Kazekage ordered. "Eisuke, would you mind going with him? Akaike, Nei, please excuse yourselves as well."

"I want…" Kankuro started.

"I said now!"

Kankuro set the book on his father's desk with a defiant thump. He scowled at Kabuto as he stalked out; the guy was smirking at him. It was so unfair; he was being sent away with Eisuke to babysit him, like some little kid. He stopped in the corridor outside the office and was barely able to resist the urge to run his tongue out at the closed door.

The other council members walked away, looking concerned and confused. Eisuke gave Kankuro a little grin and then shrugged. He did not like being sent away either and he thought that he was a little old to be given babysitting duty. He had gotten the job of watching Kankuro when he was younger and they had continued to hang out as the years passed. Eisuke was learning the family business and Kankuro was learning to be a shinobi, so they both attended council meetings to watch their fathers. Eisuke also suspected that Kankuro just wanted to spend time with his father; he had felt the same way when he had been younger.

Eisuke shrugged his shoulders again, something intense had happened in the office, but he was not sure what. Eisuke had once hoped to become a shinobi and although he was smart and quick to learn, he had no chakra control at all. Even the most basic jutsu was beyond him. He could continue training, he was told, but he should never expect to advance too far. Eisuke had been bitterly disappointed at the time, but since then had come to accept it. His family was happy to have him stay in the business and since he had become his father's assistant he still got to be part of the shinobi world.

"Well, I guess that's some important information that guy has. Too big for small fry like us, eh?"

Kankuro grumbled something, glaring at the door.

"So that's the infamous Orochimaru. Well, I got to say; it's hard to take a guy in make up seriously unless they're on stage. Do you know who the other guy was?"

Kankuro snorted. "A four eyed wimp. He's wearing that bandage because of some librarian. Moron." Kankuro's nose wrinkled in disdain for a few moments more and then his shoulders slumped. "It's not fair…"

"Yeah, I suppose, but," Eisuke raised a finger, "the good news is, this means we get the afternoon off. And you know what today is?"

Twice a month there was a large open air market in the village. Merchants would come from all over to sell and buy things and there were food vendors and sometimes buskers. Both the genin and the young merchant liked to go to people watch and listen to the gossip. There was always news about what trade routes were safe, what items were selling in other villages, and what was going on in other lands. Kankuro knew that Baki frowned on that sort of thing, but a lot of what he heard was useful. Sometimes he knew about stuff before any other of the shinobi his age because of what he heard at the market. Eisuke listened for much the same reason; any tidbit might give his family an edge in business.

Kankuro also liked to watch the buskers, especially if they were puppeteers. Their puppets were not as great as Karasu; they were controlled by rods, not chakra, but Kankuro still liked to watch. Someday he planned to make his own puppets and wanted ideas about what they should look like and what they should do, it seemed like a puppet show was as good as place as any to get ideas. If a puppet troupe was the starting point of Chikamatsu Monzaemon, the father of the puppet techniques, Kankuro figured that it was a good place for him to start as well.

"I know, but…I'm not a little kid anymore."

"Nope, you're not and me neither." Eisuke was almost twenty-one, in fact. "But sometimes you just have to leave things to your superiors. C'mon, I'm sure that if it's that important, then Baki-san or Kazekage-sama will tell you later."

Kankuro stuck his lip out. "Probably not." Something occurred to him and his expression brightened. "But your otō-san will tell you and then you can tell me. Right?"

"Hmm, I suppose. And in return I'll get…what?"

Kankuro made an exasperated sound. "Stop acting like a merchant would you?"

Eisuke shrugged and spread his hands. "I am what I am. So, trade with me Kankuro-san. Information for…"

Kankuro knew what he wanted, sometimes he would carve things. He thought that most of the stuff that emerged from the blocks of wood he used was stupid, but Eisuke seemed to think that they were good enough to sell. So they would trade, a carving for whatever Kankuro wanted; money or, like now, information. It was actually not such a bad deal; he put idle time to good use and got spending money that was not monitored by Baki or his father.

"One, there's a tree frog I just did."

"For intel this juicy? Hardly. Five."

"Five!" Kankuro made his eyes round and large and pouted a little more. "You're just trying to take advantage because I'm a kid. Two."

"Oh, so now you're a kid, huh? Save that dewy eyed look for the girls, Kankuro. I'll meet you in the middle. Three."

Kankuro made a show of considering it. "Okay, deal."

He actually had two little carvings set aside and it would not take long to make a third. They shook on it and then Eisuke rubbed his hands together.

"That was an excellent warm up. So now, we go to market and see what there is to see. Okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks Eisuke."

Once they reached the market, they visited several booths and then stopped for dumplings and tea.

"This is much better then some cramped office," Eisuke said. "The dumpling vendor said that there was a puppet troupe in for a show. It's been about ten years since they've been here, so they'll be new to you. Want to go see after we finish here?"

"Are they any good?"

"As I recall, yes."

"Let's go then."

There was a large crowd watching the troupe. They were performing in front of a horse drawn caravan with colourful sides that provided a back drop for the performance. They were not using a raised platform as a stage which made it hard to see from the edge of the crowd. So after a few frustrating minutes of getting brief glimpses of the performance, Kankuro began to push his way through the crowd. Eisuke followed in the genin's wake, apologizing from time to time to patrons who took exception to being bulldozed aside by a small, but determined shinobi.

Once he got to the front of the crowd Kankuro stopped, looking back at Eisuke with a grin.

"Much better."

Kankuro turned his attention to the show. It was a large troupe and the puppets were spectacular. The performers' movements were perfectly coordinated and fluid. It was hard to imagine that they were puppets, but Kankuro could see the wooden dowels that controlled them.

"Told you they were good," Eisuke said.

Kankuro nodded, he was trying to get a good look at the puppeteers. They were shapeless forms in robes and bunraku cowls; it was even hard to tell if they were men or women. Then the one of the puppeteers caught his attention. She, Kankuro was pretty sure it was an old woman, must have felt him looking at her because she lifted her head and stared directly at him.

Kankuro gasped, he had felt a surge of chakra from her. It was something that two shinobi might do when they first met, almost like a handshake but without the dangers that went with touching someone you did not know. Sometimes it was a greeting and sometimes it was a warning.

He concentrated, trying to make his pulse of chakra controlled and strong, just as he had been taught. Her black eyes glittered with amusement and she smirked at him.

Is that all you have, the look seemed to say.

She made a gesture and Kankuro realized that although she was holding a control rod for a puppet she was not using it. She was using chakra strings just like he did. He focused all his attention on her, watching her technique and trying to figure out which puppets she was controlling. When the play came to an end, he pushed through the dispersing crowd. He had to talk to her! When he got to the caravan she was gone and the other puppeteers were packing the puppets away. He looked around and caught a glimpse of her heading down a narrow street.

"Hey Kankuro." Eisuke was trying to catch up with him.

Kankuro paused, if he waited for Eisuke he would lose her.

"I'll be back. Don't worry." He waved at the merchant and then took off after the puppeteer, dodging easily through the crowd.

Eisuke tried to follow. It was getting late and this part of the village could get dangerous at night. But after a few moments he had to give up; he had lost track of Kankuro.

"The kid's pretty quick when he doesn't have that puppet strapped to his back," he muttered, trying not to imagine the conversation he would be having with his father and the Kazekage if anything happened to Kankuro.

But he is a shinobi, Eisuke thought, so he should be able to take care of himself.

Eisuke made his way back to where the puppet show had been to find the caravan already packed up and ready to go. He decided to wait thirty minutes and then he would go and get Baki.

Kankuro hurried after the old woman, running when the crowds let him. She continued to stay ahead of him, but she stayed in sight. He followed her off the main street and down several smaller side streets. They were in a section of the village that he did not know all that well and it was like a maze. She made a sudden turn and disappeared from view. Kankuro followed her into an open space that had several passages leading off of it.

He skidded to a stop. "What the hell?"

The old woman had disappeared. Kankuro kicked at the ground in frustration. Then he collected himself and tried to track her chakra.

"Crap," he muttered after a few moments.

There was no trace of her anywhere.

She's messing with me, he thought, no way she gets away with that.

He picked one of the passages at random and headed along it, alert for any sign of her. He ran along for a couple of minutes before the passage came to a dead end so he turned around and trotted back to the open space. He picked a second passage and started down it when something smacked into the back of his head.

"What the…?" he whirled around, kunai in hand.

A small monkey leapt into the air at him, chattering loudly. The monkey landed on his shoulder, pulled his hair, and bounced away. It landed on the ground in front of him, still chattering. It sounded to Kankuro like it was laughing at him.

"Stupid monkey. Shut the…" Kankuro stopped.

The monkey was a puppet. It was very realistic, with short brown fur and large brown eyes. It was dressed in a small red vest and hat, just as real performing monkeys were, but Kankuro could tell that it was a puppet.

The monkey did a couple of back flips and then launched itself at Kankuro again. He threw up one hand to block it and slashed at the monkey with his kunai. He managed to slice off the tip of its tail. The monkey pulled his hair again and then launched itself onto a wall. It scampered along and then jumped off to land on the old woman's shoulder. Kankuro did not see where she came from; he had been distracted by the monkey.

"Nasty child, look what you have done to my Cheechee."

She patted the puppet's head; the monkey stuck its small pink tongue out and blew a raspberry at Kankuro.

"Why are you following me?"

"You're a puppeteer. Who are you?"

"Rude and not very bright, that's a bad combination. My occupation is obvious to anyone with eyes."

"No, I mean you're a puppeteer." Kankuro pointed at the monkey. "Chakra, not strings. Who are you? Where did you get that puppet?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"I want to know. I'm a puppeteer too."

"Really?" she cocked an eyebrow at him. "Where are your puppets?"

"He's at home. I'm not…" Kankuro stopped. He was not going to tell her that he was not allowed to carry Karasu when he was not training or on missions.

"One puppet? That's all?"

Kankuro scowled at her. "So what? Karasu's better than a dozen puppets. He's way faster than that thing!" He pointed at the monkey.

"Karasu?" She had been smirking at Kankuro, but when she heard his puppet's name, the expression fell from her face. She narrowed her eyes at him. "That's one of his. Who are you, boy? And why do you have one of Sasori's creatures?"

"He's mine. Who the hell are you?"

"I don't know who has been instructing you, but manners have not been on the curriculum." She shook her head. "His abominations should have been destroyed when he left. Who gave you that puppet?"

She took a step towards him. The monkey hissed at him, showing small pointy teeth. Kankuro raised his kunai.

"My otō-san."

"Who gave him the right to do that?"

"He didn't need permission, he's the Kazekage."

"Ignorant child, even the Kazekage does not have authority to make that decision. You have to earn it. You earn the right to a master's puppet before you make your own. Did you undertake the challenge? Have you earned your mask?"

She saw the puzzled expression on his face.

"You have no idea what that means. You are not a puppeteer; there have been no more since Sasori left." She shook her head. "It's her fault, her and that Ebizo, that we started to lose our traditions. All that mattered to them was making the puppets more ferocious, more powerful." She paused to rub the monkey's head again and her expression became almost sad. "They forgot that the true strength of the puppeteer is here." She tapped her chest. "Not in the puppet, no matter what has been done to it. They forgot that and it led them to things that should have been left alone." She stepped closer and her expression became menacing. "Where is it? It should be destroyed."

"Like hell." Kankuro braced himself, she might be old but he knew better than to underestimate her. "No way that happens. Just try it and you'll be sorry."

Her mocking laugh made him growl.

"You are a fierce little cub; all claws and hisses. That sounds like a challenge to me. Fine then, defeat me and that puppet is yours, for better or worse. Lose and…"

Kankuro snorted. "Why would I do that? He's mine already."

"Afraid?"

"Hell no!"

She smirked at him. Kankuro scowled back.

"Fine then! I'll fight you. And when I win…"

"Humph. We will meet here again the day after tomorrow. And in the unlikely event of your success, you will get what all puppeteers who pass this test get."

"What is…?"

He did not see her toss the smoke bomb between them. Kankuro backpedalled until he felt the wall at his back and then reassumed his defensive stance. The monkey jumped on his head, pulled his hair one last time and bounced away. When the smoke cleared, he was alone.

Kankuro took one last quick look around to make sure that she was not hiding somewhere close by and then started to make his way back to Eisuke. He made several extra turns and backtracked twice to make sure that he was not followed.

Eisuke heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Kankuro. "I was starting to worry. What happened?"

Kankuro told him. He looked around for the caravan.

"Did she come back here?"

"No, one of the other troupe members drove it off a few minutes ago. He had this little monkey; they did some tricks and then left."

"Was it dressed in red? Did it have the end of its tail missing?"

Eisuke thought for a moment. "Yeah, now that you mention it, it was missing the tip of its tail. How did you know that?"

"It was a puppet. Her puppet. I'll bet they both were."

Kankuro walked over to where the stage had been and picked something up. It was the first two joints of a wooden finger; the nail was painted green. Kankuro rolled it between his fingers, trying to remember which puppet had green nails. Then he realized something, it explained why he had had such a hard time figuring out which puppet the old woman had been controlling.

He looked up at Eisuke, his eyes wide. "They were all puppets. All of them, except for her."