-1Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 1
The three ninja were walking towards the Hokage Tower after training together for the past three weeks. Orochimaru was very impressed with his two subordinates as they have grown a lot these past three weeks. Anko became more like Orochimaru and enjoyed his company more than before. Sasorimaru used his abilities without any problems and began to learn some genjutsu from Orochimaru which would scare even an experienced Jounin.
"Today we shall receive our first mission. As you both know, missions are more dangerous with the war going on so do not underestimate the mission. Even if it seems easy, enemy ninja could be anywhere." Orochimaru said. Anko nodded and Sasorimaru looked at Orochimaru and gave no emotion. Sasorimaru walked without his sunglasses and even though people at first were startled, they became used to it and now it wasn't a problem.
The three walked inside the Hokage Tower and knocked on the Hokage's door. They opened the door and stood in front of him waiting for their mission.
"So Orochimaru, your first mission with your squad is a C ranked mission to the country of Wave. Escort a client there without him dying." The Hokage said. Orochimaru nodded his head. The blonde Hokage looked at Sasorimaru and looked into his eyes. Now he remembered who he was. The orphan who was left alone after his parents were killed and he activated some sort of hidden bloodline limit.
"Who is the client?" Orochimaru asked.
"A rich man named Gato. He is afraid to enter on his own with all the Cloud ninja running around. He is paying us for this mission as an A ranked mission but I thought that instead of giving him a Jounin, I would give him your squad. I am sure he would be pleased to receive the Snake Sannin." The Hokage said.
"Very well. Where is he?" Orochimaru asked. "He is in the inn waiting for you. He leaves whenever he needs to." Yondaime replied.
"Then we shall go." Orochimaru said as he was dismissed.
The three left the room and walked outside. "I will go and see our client. You two prepare for departure and I will call you when we will leave." Orochimaru told the two Genin.
"Yes Sensei." Anko said while Sasorimaru nodded. Orochimaru puffed out of there and the two Genin looked at each other and went their separate ways.
Orochimaru entered the inn and asked the woman at the desk where Gato was. She told him and he went towards the room. He knocked and a voice asked who it was.
"I am Orochimaru, your escort to the Wave Country."
The door opened as a short man in a business suit looked at him. "You?"
"Yes. I suggest we leave soon to not waste time." Orochimaru said.
"Yes of course. When exactly?" Gato asked.
"My two subordinates are getting ready as we speak. I will call for them shortly and we shall meet at the gate and leave."
"Your subordinates? I hired for an experienced Jounin, not some worthless kids." Gato said.
Orochimaru put his hand on Gato's shoulder and squeezed tightly. "Do not underestimate them. If they are with me, then they are more than you think." Orochimaru said.
Gato looked at him and nodded. Orochimaru released him and left the room. "I will be back in half an hour. Be ready."
Meanwhile
Anko finished packing and was waiting for Orochimaru when she heard a knock on her door. She opened it and saw Sasorimaru.
"May I come in?"
"Yeah." Anko opened the door more and Sasorimaru entered and put his pack on the floor.
"Nice place. You live all alone?" Sasorimaru asked.
"Yeah. It gets lonely at first but you get used to it." Anko replied.
Just as she was about to ask him a question, a snake appeared behind the window.
Anko opened the window and the snake entered.
"Orochimaru says to meet him at the front gate in five minutes." The snake said. The two Genin nodded their heads and the snake poofed away.
"We should get going." Sasorimaru said as they both got up and left the apartment.
As they got to the gate, Orochimaru was already there with a short man next to him.
"These are my subordinates, Anko and Sasorimaru. This is our client, Gato." Orochimaru said. "What's with his eyes?" Gato asked Orochimaru. "Don't worry about it." Orochimaru replied.
With that, the four people left the village and began to walk towards the Wave Country.
After walking for a couple of hours, the group made camp near a pond and rested.
"So what is your business in Wave country Mr. Gato?" Anko asked him.
"Not that it is any of your business, but I am trying to buy out the trading businesses there so they would only use my services." Gato said.
"But why do that?" Anko asked.
"Why not? It will make me richer and that's what matters." Gato replied.
"Why not just take over everything? It looks like you have to money to, so why just stop at the trading businesses?" Sasorimaru asked. Orochimaru looked at him and had a small smile. 'Yes, this boy is definitely going to be one of my best ninja' Orochimaru thought.
"How can you say that? What about the people who live there?" Anko asked him.
"Well, they don't have to sell to Mr. Gato here. If they do, they will receive their money and decide what to do with it." Sasorimaru said.
"Yes. I like this boy. He could be a very good businessman if the life of a ninja tires him." Gato said.
Just as Anko was about to say something, Orochimaru sensed something and got up. Kunai flew at him from all directions and hit him in the chest. Orochimaru stood there for a moment before a log replaced him. Anko and Sasorimaru got up and looked around. Gato hid near a tree.
"Anko, protect Gato. Sasorimaru, find the enemy." Orochimaru's voice boomed from around the trees. Anko ran towards Gato and looked around for enemy ninja. Sasorimaru stood there and looked around.
"Five enemy ninja hiding in the trees. Two with swords and the others are holding kunai." Sasorimaru said loudly.
An enemy ninja jumped next to him and was about to strike him with his sword when he was struck by a scorpion tail. Sasorimaru walked forward for a couple of steps and the tail went back into his spine. The enemy ninja dropped on the floor and Sasorimaru spread his arms in both directions and two tails emerged, one from each hand, and went into the trees. A moment later, the tails retracted and dead bodies were on them. Orochimaru jumped down with the other two ninja in his arms. Anko looked around and was about to relax when she saw a ninja behind Sasorimaru.
"Look out!" Anko yelled to Sasorimaru.
Before Sasorimaru could react, a sword struck him in his back. But it never came out the other side. The enemy ninja was stunned at the result and sliced off Sasorimaru's shirt and saw dark armor there.
"Secret Art: Scorpion Armor." Sasorimaru said as he turned around and looked at the enemy ninja. Sasorimaru began to perform seals and then touched the enemy ninja.
The other ninja suddenly screamed as he saw his fears around him. Giant spiders and squirrels with white foam coming from there mouths were surrounding the ninja as he dropped to the floor and screamed nonstop.
"You can release him now Sasorimaru." Orochimaru said as he approached the cowering ninja. Sasorimaru released the genjutsu and the screaming stopped. Orochimaru took the enemy ninja and tied him to the tree.
"Who are you?" Orochimaru asked.
"I am not telling you."
Orochimaru laughed and looked at Sasorimaru. Sasorimaru nodded and used the jutsu again. The enemy ninja screamed and Orochimaru grabbed his neck and asked the question again.
"Fine. I'll talk. Get these things away from me." He screamed.
Sasorimaru released the jutsu and again the screaming stopped.
"We were a scouting group for the Cloud village. We were hired to attack any Konoha ninja and we could keep whatever we found for ourselves."
"Hmm. Good. Now you can die." Orochimaru said as he impaled him with a sharp kunai.
"Did we have to kill him?" Anko asked.
Everyone looked at Anko at that remark. "Yes. If we hade not, then he would have had told enemy ninja and our safe escort would have become more dangerous." Orochimaru replied.
The rest of the night was quiet as Anko and Sasorimaru prepared the tents while Orochimaru talked to Gato about some business.
The nest morning, the group set out again with no more interruptions. During the trip, Anko did not say anything while Sasorimaru walked with Gato. Orochimaru was out ahead as a scout.
"So what kind of business are you into Mr. Gato?" Sasorimaru asked.
"I am into transportation and for a while I thought about going into shipping. That is all you need to know for know." Gato replied. Sasorimaru looked at him for a moment and then continued to walk without talking.
The group entered the Wave country and stopped at an inn which was located a short walk from the main road. Inside the inn were two of Gato's men waiting for him. Gato thanked the three ninja for getting him here safely and paid Orochimaru for their services. The time was around noon so Orochimaru checked themselves in and they went to their rooms. Orochimaru told them to rest up a bit and meet him at the lobby so they can go training.
Anko and Sasorimaru arrived at the lobby and did not see their sensei anywhere. The receptionist gave them a piece of paper which read:
Anko, Sasorimaru
You two train together while I go and take care of something. I will be back at night to see your results.
Orochimaru
The two Genin looked at each other and left the inn. They walked around until they saw a decent sized field where they can spar. After the rest of the day went by, both Anko and Sasorimaru were exhausted. Anko was lying on the floor while Sasorimaru was sitting near the tree.
"I see your training was rough."
Anko and Sasorimaru looked up to see their sensei walking towards them. "Lets see what you practiced today."
Anko and Sasorimaru stood up and got into their fighting stances. Anko's was something of a standard style which resembles Sambo(1) while Sasorimaru's resembled the Gentle Fist style.
Orochimaru launched himself at them at an incredible speed which left dust following him behind him. He went towards Sasorimaru first and was about to strike him in the chest with his foot when Anko got in his way and wrapped a chain around his arm. She swung him around while Sasorimaru extracted a tail from each palm and grabbed his feet. They each pulled in different directions and heard a snap. While normally they would stop to see if they actually hurt their sensei, they knew better as mud began to appear where their sensei was.
"A clone." Anko said as she heard a noise and dodged as snakes appeared from behind her. The snakes didn't stop but continued towards Sasorimaru. Realizing where they were going, Sasorimaru copied the move with his tails and it wrapped itself around the group of snakes. The tip of the tail stung each snake as the snakes poofed away. Orochimaru appeared behind Sasorimaru and was about to strike him on the head when Orochimaru was lifted by his feet into the air. Looking down he saw Sasorimaru's spine tail around his feet swinging him into a tree.
Anko formed seals as she chakra began to surround her. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough" Anko shouted as a huge gust of wind went forward towards the tree where Orochimaru was hit with. Orochimaru got hit and was blown away. After the gust of wind was over, Anko fell on her knees and began to breath heavily. Sasorimaru walked next to her and was about to pick her up when he sensed chakra coming from the direction of where Orochimaru was blown away. Sasorimaru pushed Anko away and jumped away himself in the other direction as a bigger gust of wind emerged at them.
After it subsided, Orochimaru appeared before Sasorimaru and punched him in the stomach. Sasorimaru did not flinch as he grabbed Orochimaru's arm and dug his nails into it. "Secret Art: Poison Nails." Sasorimaru said as his nails turned light green and acid began to burn Orochimaru's arm. Poison then began to enter through the opening and Orochimaru began to scream. Suddenly, Orochimaru turned into mud as Sasorimaru began to look around.
"That is enough for now." Orochimaru said as he jumped down from a tree. He approached Anko who was lying on the ground and called for Sasorimaru to come over and carry her to the inn. "You two are getting better and better, although Anko, you shouldn't use that jutsu until your chakra reserves have increased." Orochimaru said as Anko nodded her head.
"Sasorimaru, you are getting even better and better." Orochimaru said to him as Sasorimaru thanked him for his observation. They got to the inn and put Anko in her bed. "Sleep and you will feel better in the morning." Orochimaru said to Anko as he and Sasorimaru left her room.
"Sasorimaru, why did you push Anko out of the way when I used my jutsu?" Orochimaru asked him as they walked to Sasorimaru's room. "I had no time to lift her and jump with her in my arms without being both struck by your attack." Sasorimaru replied.
"Although you thought ahead for your safety and to keep yourself unharmed to continue fighting is good, but your teammates are also important and they can be of great use to you if you worked together. You saw that when you and Anko performed that move in the beginning." Orochimaru said.
"Forgive me sensei."
"No need. We all learn from our mistakes." Orochimaru said as they got to Sasorimaru's door. "See you in the morning" Orochimaru said.
'Looks like I also made a mistake when I thought Anko would be ruthless. At least Sasorimaru knows what to do in order to achieve victory.' Orochimaru thought to himself as he entered his room and went to sleep.
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A/N: The first chapter is done. I hope more people will read this now.
(1): Sambo is a Russian fighting style used by the Russian army.
Disclaimer: You know what goes here. But if you live under a rock, I don't own Naruto.
Next Chapter: More time passes as the Chunnin Exam approaches. Who will be their third member? What will happen during the exam? Chapter 2 will answer that.