And so we finally get onto Tsunade's trail...and on to the third stage if training.
Also, for those who requested, we will be levelling off on the character bashing.
kakashi: Yay!
BRATATATATATATATATATA!
Kyugan: (Nods at Big Boss, who lowers the patriot) Just not too soon.
The third stage; Orochimaru's Proposal!
Shizune gazed up at the towering form of Tanzaku castle and let out a whistle of appreciation. "It looks so magnificent when viewed from below!" she praised, "No wonder people consider a treasured piece of art!"
"Calm down Shizune," Tsunade scolded, eyeing her attendant like an annoyed schoolteacher would a gawking student, "Let's quit wasting time and get out of here."
"Aww, what's the hurry?" Shizune whined, looking over at her master plaintively, "It doesn't cost us anything just to look…"
Whatever she was going to say was cut off as the castle was demolished, apparently from the inside, tiles and mortar falling to the ground as the two medics gazed on in shocked disbelief. Through the settling dust, a large shadowy form appeared, two human shaped figures adorning its head. Shizune's eyes widened as the dust settled to reveal a pale skinned man with long black hair and golden eyes, attended by a silver haired youth, gazing down at them from atop a massive summoned snake, causing Tsunade to clench her fists.
"I finally found you…" Orochimaru stated, leering down at his former teammate with a type of dangerous hunger, "Tsunade-Hime."
--
After thoroughly trashing his insufferable subordinates, though not without suffering a few bruises himself, Jiraiya had allotted them a day of rest before ordering them to pack their bags. "Alright!" the sennin yelled, pointing in the direction of Tanzaku-gai "Let's go!" he cheered, only to be met with silence as his students stared at him with deadpan expressions.
"Quit yelling like a kid would ya?" Naruto groused, his eyes shut in a vulpine expression of irritation, "You're embarrassing us, let's just get a move on."
"You're in a foul mood," Jiraiya noted, running his eyes over the trio as they glared at him with a smirk "You still aren't sore about the thrashing I gave you, are you?"
"You didn't have to use the rasengan on us!" Naruto yelled, wincing as he recalled the sphere of spiraling chakra ramming into the space between the three genin, sending them into the air only to crash into the scenery. "On top of that, what's the big idea putting my training on hold! I only mastered two of the three steps you told me about!"
"That's true," Jiraiya noted, rustling around in his robes for something "but then the third stage is one you can practice while we walk."
Naruto blinked as the sennin inflated a balloon and tossed it at him, catching it in confusion as he checked it for any tricks. "It's just an ordinary balloon." He muttered, sounding decidedly unimpressed as he looked up at Jiraiya.
"The first stage was rotation," the sennin reminded the teen, "And the second was power." He held up an identical balloon and grinned, "And this right here, is the third stage!"
The trio leaned forwards, squinting at the unremarkable rubber sphere with the same level of scrutiny an evaluator saves for gems. After several minutes of irritated scrutiny, their cheeks actually touching, the trio rounded on the sennin with looks of fury. "JUST WHAT IN THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BE LOOKING AT ERO-SENNIN?!"
Jiraiya blinked, enawed at their unusual timing, before chuckling as he realized what they meant. "Heh, I suppose you wouldn't be able to see what's going on because of the balloon," he muttered, holding up his left hand as he spoke, "What's happening inside the balloon you ask?"
The trio stared in awe at the rotating sphere of chakra as it formed in the sennin's palm, the chakra rotating violently within a perfect sphere. 'Awesome!' they thought in sync 'The chakra in his palm's rotating at an alarming rate…but it's staying within the confines of that sphere!'
"It's like…" Naruto began, blinking as he recalled that conversation he had with Jiraiya not long ago, earning a grin from the sennin.
"A miniature typhoon!" Jiraiya finished, holding up his hand to enable them to see the technique better, basking in the glory that was his awesomeness. The fact he wasn;t the creator of the technique was easily brushed aside.
"And…the same thing's going on inside the balloon?" Domon asked, pointing at the unremarkable rubber sphere in amazement, earning a nod from the sennin.
'Amazing,' Naruto muttered, 'he's rotating so much chakra but the ball isn't moving, even though that chakra's rotating even harder than when I burst the rubber ball!'
"You see," Jiraiya called out, catching the blonde's attention, "The purpose of the third stage is to pull out 100 of what you've mastered so far and then contain it!" He nodded at the teen, "In other words, while maintaining the maximum chakra rotation, you form a secondary layer of chakra around the inside of the balloon and visualize compressing the chakra within it."
"So basically," Naruto opined, "what you're saying is to maintain the secondary stage, but rather than permitting the balloon to burst, I have to do so WITHOUT bursting it."
"Quick as always." Jiraiya praised, blinking as he noticed the look of confusion on Recca's face "Something wrong Recca? You're looking a liuttle serious there."
"I just don't get it," the enjutsu-shi muttered, "Why go to the effort of compressing the power instead of just letting it go wild?"
"Well," Jiraiya muttered, walking over to a tree, "Up to the second stage, all you'll be able to do is this…" he rammed the rotating chakra into the trunk, leaving a spiral shaped imprint in the bark, earning a look of appreciation from the trio, "However, if you master the third stage…!"
The sennin rammed the sphere of chakra into the trunk, a loud grinding noise filling the air as it drilled into the tree, gouging out a massive chunk, leaving the three teens flabbergasted. "In short," Jiraiya preached, "If you can maintain the cyclone of chakra within you palm it will not only maintain it's shape, but the rotation will speed up, the power compress, and the damage will be ultimately more impressive!"
--
Naruto stared at the tree in amazement, before smirking down at the balloon and grinning, "Piece of cake!" he boasted, closing his eyes and focusing on the sphere. After a few seconds his eyes widened and he clamped another hand over the balloon to steady the chakra, only to yell out along with Domon and Recca as the fragile sphere exploded outwards with a burst of wind, knocking them off their feet.
"No holding back!" Jiraiya chastised, a stern look on his face, "You must maintain the rotation and power at 100 whilst containing it, anything less and you'll never master the third stage."
'You're kidding right?' Domon exclaimed, looking at the damaged ground in alarm 'None of us have that type of chakra control!'
'No wonder it takes three stages.' Recca mused, eyeing his startled Outoto carefully as he stared at his palms. 'It's all to prep you for the difficulty.'
'This is on a totally different level than the other two!' Naruto thought, eyeing his palms in disbelief as he recalled the surge of chakra.
"I told you," Jiraiya called out, snapping them out of their daze, "Mastery of this jutsu was a high enough level to be receive an A-rank difficulty rating." He turned on his heel, "Now no more lagging around," he ordered, "You can practice while we walk."
The trio began to complain, only to be silenced as the sennin gave them a look. "We already spent a day waiting for you all to recover," he muttered, "And there's no guarantee Tsunade's gonna hang around that town too long, it's not like an old friends gonna conveniently show up out of nowhere to chat about the old days, so lets go already!"
--
As irony would have it, Tsunade and Orochimaru, along with their attendants, were currently gazing across from one another, all thoughts of leaving gone without a trace. "Sashiburidana," Tsunade greeted without much emotion, eyeing the look on her former teammate's face with caution, "Orochimaru."
"I've been searching for you for quite a while…Tsunade-Hime." Orochimaru replied, eyeing the blonde sennin with a small smirk.
"Now what on earth could you possibly want with me?" Tsunade replied, eyeing the man carefully, "I highly doubt you wanted to reminisce about the good old days."
"Actually," Orochimaru replied, fighting down the urge to tremble from the fever and pain, "I have a small favor to ask of you."
Tsunade noticed the trembling of her former teammates pale frame, even more so than usual, and frowned as her acute senses went into high gear. 'His heart rate's erratic, from his complexion alone he has a high fever, coupled with a severe case of exhaustion.' She shot a look at the man's bandaged hands, carefully concealed by the long sleeves of his kimono, 'Also…those arms…'
"Tsunade-sama," Kabuto called out "I'm sure you can assess the situation from just a glance."
"Find someone else," Tsunade replied with a wave of her hand, "I quit the medical field a long time ago."
"We can't." Kabuto insisted, "You must understand the severity of these wounds…there is no-one other than yourself that can heal these wounds." He fought down a surge of jealousy and went on "You, who received praise as the famed medical specialist of the Densetzu no Sannin, Tsunade-Hime."
Tsunade frowned slightly, only half listening to Kabuto's words as she eyed Orochimaru's arms in interest. 'Some sort of curse mark?' she wondered, before looking her former teammate in the eye. "Those arms," she noted, "those are no ordinary injuries…what happened to you?"
"Nothing much," Orochimaru replied lightly "merely an inconvenience I suffered due to my carelessness whilst killing the Sandaime."
The two medics flinched in disbelief, Shizune turning pale in horror as Tsunade eyed the injured Oto kage. "You…what?" she repeated, earning a chuckle from Orochimaru.
"No need to scowl so…Tsunade-Hime." He assured her, "Everything will eventually come to an end, and humans are no exception." He leered at her, "You ought to know after all…you did let the two people you love the most die."
--
Kabuto listened in on the conversation in interest, looking between his master and their target as the woman glared at the snake sennin. 'She let the two people she loved die?' he wondered, before noting the solemn look on Orochimaru's face, the small smile that seemed to lack his usual evil intent. 'Hmmph…a rather cruel tactic to use…' he muttered, noting the scowl on Tsunade's face.
"Kukukuku…" Orochimaru cackled, his shoulders shaking in apparent merriment, "Yes indeed," he muttered, "Such cruel…brutal deaths they were."
Kabuto flinched as Tsunade's attendant rolled her sleeve out of the way, revealing several senbon launchers that she fired at Orochimaru. The silver haired medic leapt in front of his master and deflected them, catching the last one and noting the faint scent of poison on the tip as Tsunade ordered the woman, named Shizune, to stand down.
'That attendant,' he noted, eyeing the agitated younger woman before him 'she's quite something.'
Tsunade sighed, shaking her golden locks with an amused smile, "You really haven't changed…Orochimaru." she commented, earning a look of confusion from Shizune, "But you know me pretty well," she chastised with a smile, "So you know you really shouldn't have said that…"
Without warning she rammed her fist into the wall, demolishing the entire thing as she glared at the snake sennin with all the loathing in her body.
"I'll kill you for that you bastard!"
Kabuto swallowed, whilst behind him Orochimaru seemed to take on an air of amused nervousness, as if recalling old times.
'…She's strong!' the medic gulped eyeing the ruined wall fearfully, 'which may be the understatement of the year!' He ran his eyes over the enraged kunoichi and swallowed nervously, 'Scary too…bet you any money she's single.'
'That Tsunade,' Orochimaru marveled, 'I recall how she used to punt Jiraiya over the monument for the slightest provocation.' He smirked weakly as she seethed at him, 'Ah…anger only makes her all the more beautiful…and so much easier to read.'
--
Naruto swore as the sphere exploded again, sending him flying backwards and his teammates off to the side as Jiraiya placed a hand against the gate pillar as he looked up the steps.
'Tsunade's impatient and short-tempered,' the sennin recalled fondly, remembering how she'd break the table over his head for beating her at poker, 'I really hope she hasn't moved on yet.'
Behind him, Domon extracted his head from the wall as Recca straightened his nose, having been blown face-first into the opposite pillar. The two shot an embarrassed Naruto mutual glares, before rounding on the teen like rapid sharks.
"QUIT FUCKING AROUND ON A STAIRWAY YOU BAKAS!" Jiraiya yelled, frying them with a minor Katon jutsu, "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO REMINISCE WITH YOU GOING AT IT EVERY TWO MINUTES?!"
--
"We didn't come here to fight with you," Kabuto stated placatingly, trying to defuse the situation, the two sannin ignoring him as they continued to glare at each other, "we merely came to negotiate..."
"You should have said so from the start," Tsunade shot back, revealing she HAD been paying attention, "Too late for that now so beat it."
"You are the only one capable of healing Orochimaru-sama's arms." Kabuto insisted eyeing the two kunoichi carefully, "And we aren't asking you to do so for free, won't you…consider our proposal?"
"I'm going to count to five." Tsunade warned, "I suggest you get your asses out of here before I finish, or I'll finish you myself."
"Please calm down," Kabuto insisted, as the countdown began, "I really don't think you'll be disappointed by the terms." He sighed as Tsunade kept counting, looking up into the annoyed face of Shizune as he shook his head.
"One!" Tsunade yelled, leaping forwards with her fist drawn back. Kabuto moved to intercept her, only for Orochimaru to step forwards, dodging the enraged fist and leaning forwards to smirk at the woman.
"I can easily revive both your brother and lover…with the forbidden jutsu I've developed." He stated, causing Tsunade to flinch and back away, staring at the now smirking serpent in amazement as Shizune gaped in shock. "Well now," the serpent continued looking into Tsunade's conflicted eyes "should I take the fact we're still standing here whole and hale as a sign that the offer is acceptable?"
--
"I know her," a gambler noted, nodding as Jiraiya held a picture of Tsunade in front of him, "She won back all the money she lost here and said she was going somewhere else."
"Really? Where?" Jiraiya asked, leaning over in interest as he ignored the goings on of his students as they mingled with the gamblers.
"You understand?" a friendly gambler instructed, tossing the die in the air, "If you get an odd number it's 'han', and if it's even then it's 'chou'."
"Sound's easy enough," Recca admitted, picking up the dice and laying some money on the mat. Domon blinked and turned towards Naruto, who was gripping the balloon with a look of concentration.
"You wanna join in squirt?" he asked, only to flinch as Naruto somehow tuned his head a perfect 180 to glare at him like an enraged fox.
"URUSEI!" the blonde roared, black rings under his eyes as he tried to control the chakra, "CAN'T YOU SEE I'M TRAINING HERE?!"
Jiraiya sighed at the irate blonde's antics, before blinking as the gambler tossed the dice in a cup and set it on the mat. "Oi, there's nothing free at a gambling den," he pointed out, smirking up at the sennin, "How's about a little game? You win, and I'll you the info for free, lose, and I'll charge you 1000 ryo."
"Alright!" Jiraiya agreed, feeling pretty confident in his gambling skills considering what a roll he'd been on with gamblers so far. 'Let's see,' he muttered, 'I just turned fifty a while ago…' he smirked and nodded at the man, "I'll pick Chou."
The gambler nodded, before lifting up the cup, allowing Jiraiya, who was taller, a better view of the die, much to his horror. 'SHIT!' the sennin cursed, 'A two and a five! Han!'
At that moment, Naruto let out a yelp as his sphere erupted, letting loose a blast of air that caused many to shut their eyes. Jiraiya blinked as the dice bearing the number five rolled over to reveal a four. 'NICE, NARUTO!' he praised, grinning like the cat that caught the canary as the gamblers picked themselves up, "I do believe that's my win." He pointed out, earning a cry of alarm from his opponent, "Now what do you know about the lady in the photo?"
Naruto, in the meanwhile, cursed himself for having failed yet again to master the jutsu.
--
"Don't you want to see them again, Tsunade?" Orochimaru egged, grinning at his suddenly uncertain former teammate. Tsunade, in return, lowered her gaze and recalled the faces of the two, most precious men in her life, her beloved Outoto and her lover respectively.
'Nawaki…Dan…' she whispered, trembling slightly from the memories, before looking back up at her opponent. "Supposing I agree to heal those arms," she began, "what will you do next?"
"I hate lies," Orochimaru replied, "So I'll be frank with you." He looked her in the eye, face as serious as a heart attack, "As well as achieving my ambitions…I'll completely annihilate Konoha, once and for all."
"Annihilate Konoha?!" Shizune repeated, the look of fury returning to her features, before turning to surprise as she realized her master hadn't responded, and actually seemed to be considering the proposal, as Orochimaru smiled.
"Your answer?" Kabuto prodded, eyeing Shizune in case the younger woman attempted anything unfriendly.
"You mustn't believe them Tsunade-sama!" Shizune beseeched "Neither your brother nor my uncle would want this! Have you forgotten their wishes? Or even…have you forgotten YOUR wish? YOUR dream Tsunade-sama?!" She turned to face her master fully, trying to get her to respond, "I know it isn't so!" she beseeched, "I know better than anyone that deep down you still-!"
"SHUT UP, SHIZUNE!"
The younger kunoichi stared at her master in disbelief, as the older woman stared at the ground in silence. Orochimaru smirked at the woman, as Kabuto nodded. "You need not give us your answer this very minute," the teen assured her "however we would like a response within a weeks time." He looked up, "Also, just so you know, Orochimaru-sama's kinjutsu requires live sacrifices, so please have two people prepared on your end."
"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune yelled, spurred into anger at the teen's words and disgust at the notion of human sacrifices "Let's just kill these bastards right here!" she glared at the male sennin, "Orochimaru's injured! It's our best chance! If we fight them together we can finish them!" She trailed off as Tsunade failed to reply, looking round to see her still deep in thought, 'Tsunade-sama…'
--
Orochimaru watched as Tsunade wrestled with her indecision, trying to choose between her desire to smash him into a bloody smear across the landscape, and the desire to hold those two precious people in her arms again.
'I know you all too well,' He muttered, eyeing her carefully 'even years from now you still wear you heart on your sleeve to those who know you well enough.' He shot Shizune an annoyed glare, before smirking coldly. 'Resistance?' he repeated, raising a finger to his lips, 'you underestimate me child.'
--
Tsunade flinched in horror as Orochimaru bit his own ailing finger, holding it out to her as the blood fell to the floor. The once prideful women gripped her necklace, as she seemed to curl into herself whilst not moving. 'DAMN!' Shizune swore, glaring across at Orochimaru, 'Traitor or not he's still a member of the sannin…it stands to reason he'd know about THAT…!'
"I certainly may be weakened at the moment," Orochimaru admitted mockingly, "but I know all of Tsunade's weaknesses too…" He smirked as he eyed his former teammate mockingly, "It's hasn't left you…your paralyzing fear of blood."
'Hemophobia?' Kabuto wondered, utterly confused as to how the most famous of medical specialists could posses such a crippling ailment, only to blink as Orochimaru nodded to him.
"We should get going Kabuto," the injured serpent stated, turning on his heel, eyeing his former teammate out the corner of his eye, "Tsunade…I expect a favorable response."
They vanished, leaving behind a distraught Tsunade, a concerned Ton-ton and Shizune, and one hell of a job for the castle clean up crew.
--
The team left the gambling den with the info, Jiraiya blinking in shock at the sacks of money Recca and Domon had over their shoulder. "You bet triple or nothing?" he repeated, eyeing the sacks enviously.
"Yup!" Recca beamed, "And you ain't getting a penny of it Ero-sennin! We're storing it away for later!"
"Miserable brats." Jiraiya muttered, before sighing as they passed a pachinko parlor as the two teens pulled out their storage scrolls. "Feh, where the hell is she?" he muttered, looking around the street in disgust, before sighing and turning to the trio "Listen up, you all can do as you please but meet back at the inn before curfew alright?"
The trio nodded, Recca and Domon deciding to spend some of their well-earned cash whilst Naruto wandered into a pachinko parlor, not paying attention as he tried to avoid bursting the balloon. He cursed as the damnable thing burst, startling a few patrons, only to be ignored as they all realized they'd struck it rich.
"Dammit! Oi Ero-sennin!" the blonde roared as he spun round, only to find the others were gone, "What the? Where the heck am I?" he wondered, looking around in confusion. Noticing that several patrons had gathered around a blackjack table, where a buxom blonde was looking more depressed by the minute.
Naruto blinked, wondering what was wrong with the woman, before noticing a stray coin on the floor. Picking it up, he noticed that the slot players were putting the coins in and cursing as they came up short. 'I put it in here?' he wondered, sitting on the stool and inserting the coin in the slot, 'And then pull this?'
--
Tsunade, having lost all she could afford and ready to pack it in for the night, looked up from ignoring Shizune's inquiries as to her health as several bells sounded, heralding that someone had won the jackpot. The blonde sennin turned, only to stare in shock as a small blonde teen disappeared under a growing pile of coins, arm twitching feebly.
"ARRRRGGGHH!" the blonde screamed, "ERO-SENNIN! ANIKI! DOMON! THIS MACHINE'S GONE NUTS! SAVE YOURSELVES!"
'Wh-what the hell?' Tsunade deadpanned, as all the other machines began showering the teen with money, much to his horror, 'He's either got the world's most fucked up luck…or someone up there's being a real ass.'
Stepping forwards, the blonde kunoichi dove her hand into the pile and pulled the startled genin out by his top, setting him down on his feet. "You okay kid?" she asked, noting the Konoha headband and wincing.
"Yeah," the kid replied, trembling like a leaf as he clung to her arm for support "That was scary! Are the machines SUPPOSED to attack you like that?"
'I wish.' Tsunade thought wistfully, before shaking herself and looking down at the teen suspiciously, "What'd you do anyway? You sabotage the machine?"
"I didn't do anything!" the kid replied, pointing at the slot machine accusingly, "All I did was put in a coin and pull the damn lever!"
Tsunade blinked, looking at the, still growing' pile of cash and back to the confused genin in disbelief. 'He got all this from just one coin?!' she wondered, blinking as the teen squinted up at her.
"Ne, big booby neechan," he called out, earning a choked snort from Shizune as Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "thanks for saving me, you want some of this? I can't carry it all."
Tsunade didn't know whether to hug the brat or punch his lights out. Either way would have resulted in death, by asphyxiation or head trauma, but the reason behind them were oh, so different. 'Ah screw it,' she muttered, ruffling the brat's hair much to his discomfort. 'How can he not notice a figure like mine?'
The teen fought his way out from under the sennin's hand, only to look up at her in interest, "Hey…weren't you that woman playing poker a while ago?" he asked, which killed Tsunade's buzz something quickly, "Lemme guess, they cleared you out?"
Shizune winced as a cloud hovered over her master, before looking up as the blonde teen grinned at them.
"Not a problem! Just leave everything to me!"
--
And so Naruto's luck strikes again!
Howwill he fare against Tsunade's debts? And when will he realize who he's talking to?
Wesker: Probably never, kid doesn;t look to sharp on the uptake.
Kyugan: True that (Blinks) wait...where's Kakashi?
Wesker: Oh, were you still using him? I had him sent to the lab.
In a dimly lit laboratory, a tall, thinl man with long limbs and bizzare spectacles leered down at the remains of Kakashi and held up his surgically gloved, six fingered hands.
Doc: A Vunderfull specimen...let Ze operation begin!
Kakashi corpse:...
R&R, or no more Kakashi Pwnage.