Again! More Updates! More Issan!
Hellboy: Uh guy's...walls're startin to warp...
Major: Not good...ve need to get him to calm down.
Wesker: Alright...how?
Kakashi: That's an out hole! AN OUT HO-LMPGHLE!
Orochimaru: Ooooh! Tentacles!
A fool's wager; Tsunade's decision!
"So you name is Tsuchi Kin." Minamio noted, writing down the girl's words on a notepad "You only made genin this year, but have completed various shinobi training sessions for the past four years."
Kin nodded, regarding the cat-eyed chunin, unaware that Kukai and Ibiki were on the other side of a window disguised as a wall. They were finally getting round to carrying out an interrogation, and Minamio had been given the honors due to his arguably gentle nature around kids. Daikoku had volunteered to interrogate her, but his stern features made the girl nervous, and Fujimaru was out of the question on general principle. Kukai himself would have done it but he'd already caused enough troubles by refusing to allow Ibiki to interrogate her HIS way, though the ANBU captain had allowed him to sit with him in the booth.
"She's telling the truth." Ibiki noted with a scoff "Man, for all the GENIUS Orochimaru is supposed to have been you'd think he could've trained his agents on how to string a lie together, she's not even trying."
"Geniuses generally make poor instructors." Kukai replied sagely, "They assume everyone seeking wisdom from them can match them intellectually or physically, pushing them beyond their limits whilst explaining the bare minimum, resulting in sub-par results, as you see here."
"Tell me about it." Ibiki muttered, "Basics aside all the brat has are those little bells of hers…though incorporating a genjutsu into the mix was a nice touch."
"As it stands however," Kukai noted "This girl is no more a threat to the leaf than an ant is to an oak."
Ibiki nodded, gesturing to the ANBU on standby, who vanished in a plume of smoke "She'll be monitored, but other than that she' should have relatively free reign, provided she reports in every week." He muttered, waving aside Kukai's grateful smile "On the subject, have you considered the council's offer?"
Kukai paused, holding his chin in one hand "I'll admit it IS tempting, but as it stands I have a team to lead."
"I understand two of them were promoted." Ibiki countered, smirking slightly "And who says you can't incorporate them into it? Would add some extra manpower."
"You make a good point." Kukai reasoned, sighing with a defeated smile "Very well, inform the council that I agree to reform the Konoha police and investigations force."
"Ano," Kin called out, looking up into the face of Minamio warily, a little put off by the man's catlike stare "What are you going to do to me?"
"Not sure." Minamio replied "That's up to the top brass," he smiled at her "Not to worry though, we aren't the type to murder kids for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Daikoku coughed and shot Fujimaru a murderous look, the sadistic member of Ku looking away with a scoff. Kin watched them curiously, blinking as the cat eyed man patted her head as he left, the other two filing out with him.
'I wonder why no-one from sound came for me?' she wondered, recalling the other graduates from her year before shuddering 'No…he wouldn't have a use for someone like me…'
--
"What do you think?" Kabuto asked, looking over at the ailing form of his master "If she agrees to our terms then your arms will be healed and we can immediately resume our operations to destroy Konoha, whilst Tsunade is reunited with her beloved." He eyed the snake sennin warily "However…if she declines…"
Orochimaru chuckled darkly, sweat lining his brow as he sneered "Even if it is by force…" he vowed "I'll have her heal my arms."
"Do you think it will go so easily?" Kabuto asked, wondering if the sound four should be brought into the equation. It would make things a hell of a lot easier.
"I have you." Orochimaru replied, earning a smirk from the medic before him "Besides, I'm not worried…I know her better than she knows herself." His leer widened "As well as her greatest weakness…make no mistake, she will swallow our terms…you can count on it."
Kabuto nodded, but made a note to prepare some emergency sacrifices just in case.
--
Tanzaku-gai was reputed as a gamblers haven; the sound of wandering crowds could be heard over the cries of tradesmen and conmen, the cheers and boasts of those who won, and the rants of those who were drowning their sorrows in booze.
"ORAAAAA!"
Recently it had also become noted for the trio of terrifying roars that elicited from the outskirts of town, followed by brief explosions of dirt and dust.
If one were a gambling man, scratch that, if one were a BRAVE man, or woman, they'd suggest going to the hills to find out what the hell was going on. If one were of the other persuasion, they'd go to see if money could be made from this.
Fortunately, there was no-one brave, greedy or simply STUPID enough to want to go anywhere near those hills after that incident with the giant snake and Tanzaku castle.
--
Naruto regarded his teammates with no small amount of respect. While he had the phenomenal reserves of his Hanyou heritage on top of his father's own it seemed that Recca and Domon managed to reach the second stage through sheer bull-headedness and a desire to outdo each other.
Domon's mental strength proved an asset that the giant used to his full advantage, enabling him to control his energies a lot easier that the other two, provided he wasn't distracted. Recca's own training with the Karyuu had left him no mental slouch either, and made good use of his ability to irk the giant to push the two to new levels.
As it were, all three were currently attempting the third stage, but try as they might, the goddamn spheres refused to remain solid.
'And it still doesn't give me an answer.' Domon muttered sullenly, sitting against a wall as the others took a break 'I still haven't discovered this Element that Koku-jiji was on about…it obviously isn't Doton, I was pretty damn good at it before…and Doton ninjutsu is the only one's I'm good at…'
He paused, blinking suddenly, before turning to regard Naruto "Hey, squirt." He called out "Sasuke's an Uchiha right? So his clan was mostly aligned with fire?"
"Yeah?" Naruto asked, looking at the giant in confusion, Recca looking up at his rival from his spot on a tree " He only goes on about it all the time."
"Well, if he was aligned with fire…how can he use lightning ninjutsu?" Domon asked, looking perplexed as he tried to wrap his tired brain around it.
"Don't you remember?" Recca muttered, "Kaka-sensei said that jounin level shinobi have more than one…" he trailed off as realization dawned "There's no way in hell Sasuke's jounin material…so that means-!"
"Anyone at least chunin level can learn more than one elemental jutsu!" Naruto finished, grinning widely "Good going Domon!"
The three got together, pooling resources before each other, which sadly, was limited to Recca's personalized list of Katon and Domon's Doton scrolls.
"Not much to go by," Recca admitted, "And I'm a Katon user by default as a Hokage ninja…don't see much point in learning anything else."
"Speak for yourself." Domon muttered, picking up the Katon list and sweat dropping at the sheer multitude of techniques listed "Damn Hanabishi, did you rape the Uchiha's jutsu library or something?"
"Maybe." Recca admitted, grinning like the twisted, pyromaniacal monkey he was, earning looks of fear from his nervous teammates "Oh! And before I forget…" he tossed a scroll to Naruto "I swiped that from the library too, a list of Futon jutsu ."
"Why didn't you give me this earlier?" Naruto asked in annoyance, looking over the scroll with one eye, the other regarding his aniki.
"Forgot all about it when Ero-sennin showed up talking about training." Recca admitted, scratching his head in embarrassment, before regarding Domon "So what, you wanna try Katon jutsu?"
"I've pretty much mastered my Doton skills for now, and the rasengan training comes first." Domon admitted, grimacing at the reminder of the bet "I'll put off Katon until we master the damned third stage."
"Same here." Naruto agreed, pocketing the futon scroll with a grim smile "There'll be time to advance our skills after we clear this hurdle!"
"OSSU!"
--
The next three days passed in a similar fashion, the only time the trio even entered the town was to quench their hunger at either the local beef bowl place, which paled in comparison to Aka-beko, or the ramen stand, which while good, paled in comparison to the ambrosia that was Ichiraku.
On the sixth night of the challenge, the last before the infamous D-day, Tsunade sat on the balcony of her room, enjoying the night breeze even as she regarded the hills outside of town.
"Tomorrow's the day." She muttered, referring in part to both the wager and the date she was to meet with her former teammate. Even now her heart was uncertain, even now the images of her smiling loved ones gazed at her just outside her reach.
Down in the streets below, Jiraiya regarded the blonde 'Hime' with a wistful, albeit serious expression, he didn't doubt she knew he was nearby, he may be the strongest of the sannin overall but that didn't mean the other two couldn't outdo him in certain ways. For Orochimaru it was his deviousness and arsenal of kinjutsu, and with Tsunade it was her peerless chakra control and monstrous strength.
What most people failed to realize was that with a high level of chakra and/or control came the ability to detect other notable signatures from afar. Tsunade, being who she was, had one of the highest chakra detection abilities in the shinobi nations, which made it damn hard to sneak up on her for research.
'Mind you,' he mused 'From what I've seen Domon's come pretty far in that area himself, not bad for a lummox.' He chuckled, before frowning as he recalled the reason for being here 'From her agitation Orochimaru must have offered her something huge…and there's something about the week that's been bothering me.' He looked up at the moon 'The brats haven't been back to the inn this entire time…perhaps I should try my luck with Tsunade one more time before the big day.'
--
Shizune peeked out from behind the boulders, idly wondering why on earth the boys would be in such a desolate place, only to gape in horror at the level of destruction that was apparent in the area. 'W-what happened here?!' she exclaimed, eyeing the torn landscape with a form of morbid fascination she hadn't experienced since her first autopsy. It looked like a hurricane had hit the place, trees were uprooted or snapped in half, the walls were pitted with scars and holes and everyone was lying around like they'd just fought the Kyuubi himself.
"Naruto-kun! Recca-kun! Domon-kun!" the medic called out, dashing forward to examine them, only to blink as she checked them over "Sever chakra exhaustion…signs of sleep deprivation…no signs of bathing…"
"Boys will be boys, wouldn't you say, neechan?"
Shizune blinked, then let out a shriek as something groped her backside, whirling round to deliver a savage backhand slap to a small, wizened old man in a bright shirt, wool hat and sunglasses. "Who are you?!" she demanded, embarrassment and suspicion warring on her face as the man picked himself up.
"I am…" he began, looking at her from behind the shades, an odd thing to have on at night "The mysterious old man!" he held up two victory signs, even as the woman gaped at him "I must say, women from fire country have the nicest rumps, all smooth and tempting."
Shizune tried not to die of mortification as she fought down the blush. While she was pretty confident in her looks she'd always felt plain before her master, even if it WAS a genjutsu. That being said she'd never really taken her backside to be her most endearing feature, who did when the first thing men looked at was your masters considerable bust line?
"Showing concern for these kids is a waste of time neechan." The old man assured her, turning Domon over on his back to reveal the snot bubble on his comatose face "They just pushed too hard and need time to recover, a good nights rest and they'll be alright."
Shizune highly doubted they'd be up and about in a night, only to blink as the old man walked up to Naruto and began taking measurements of his arm. "Um sir?" she called out uncertainly "What are you doing?"
"Taking measurements." The old man replied, pocketing the tape measure and walking over to Domon and grabbing him by the foot "Can you handle the other two neechan?" he asked, "I don't think you wanna try your luck with this one."
--
Tsunade sighed as she returned to the inn, confident that, in the least, Jiraiya wouldn't be around to interfere with what went down tomorrow. She had to admit he had balls, out of all her would be suitors he was the only one that had kept trying, even after she started dating Dan. He'd even gotten on well with Nawaki, but it still didn't change the fact he was only interested in actively pursuing her after puberty, when she'd begun to fill out in certain areas.
The drug she'd slipped him had been one she'd been perfecting since before leaving Konoha, and odorless, tasteless mixture that would paralyze his muscles whilst screwing up his chakra control.
'That's probably the closest thing he'll get to me screwing him.' The sennin noted wryly, only to blink as she entered her room to find the three brats resting on the beds, Domon taking up one for himself while Recca and Naruto shared another, a worried Shizune hovering over them.
"What the hell?" Tsunade noted, catching her attendant's attention as she looked over the sight before her "What are these brats doing here?"
"Tsunade-sama!" the medic called out, pulling the startled sennin towards them "Take a look at this, please!"
Tsunade blinked, running her eyes over their forms with interest "Severe exhaustion and Chakra burn in the palms of their hands." She noted, noting Shizune had already pretty much seen to the worst of it "By my estimate they wont awaken till after tomorrow." She scoffed lightly "Just like Jiraiya said…a fools wager."
Shizune remained silent, regarding her master as she saw to the boys, her normally youthful features taught as she focused on the sennin's back. "Please…" she began, catching her master's attention "Don't go tomorrow!"
Tsunade didn't answer, and after a few seconds of silence Shizune let her anger get the better of her "Why won't you say anything?!" the brunette demanded, looking desperate "Say something! Please!" Still the blonde sennin remained silent, and Shizune felt herself swallow "If…if you insist on going…"
"You'll what?" Tsunade cut in, her tone flat but the underlying threat was unmistakable to someone who'd known her as long as Shizune. The medic shivered, before setting her resolve.
"Even if it costs me my life," she stated confidently, readying the senbon hidden up her sleeve "I'll stop you!"
"Shizune…" Tsunade growled, her brow darkened in anger as she turned to glare at her apprentice "Who the hell do you think you're talking too?"
Shizune shivered, only to blink as her master seemed to appear at her side, letting out a small gasp of confusion before the effect of Tsunade's blow to her stomach bent her over, the medic collapsing on the floor even as the sennin made her exit.
--
Noon the next day, and the forest that separated rice country and Tanzaku-gai rustled as two figures sped through at top speed, the larger forest creatures trying to make themselves look smaller as they passed.
"It would be most troublesome if there were interference during the exchange." Orochimaru opined, dressed in his standard shinobi gear, this WAS a business deal after all.
"What would you have me do?" Kabuto asked, eyeing his master out the corner of his eye. If need be, he could fall back and summon the sound four.
"That attendant of Tsunade's…" Orochimaru chuckled, eyeing the silver haired medic coyly "It might be best if you take her out of the picture."
Kabuto's gaze hardened, pulling out a kunai and, after setting himself against a tree trunk, split off from his master to deal with the woman. 'After all,' he noted, a grim smirk on his face 'I never got to show her what I could do last time.'
--
"I don't think she's waking up." Shizune heard, the voice sounding oddly familiar, her whole body wincing as she fought to regain consciousness.
"Lets try CPR." Another voice suggested, sendign a dull shiver down the woman's spine "Not you Franken-stain, we want to wake her, not terrify her."
"The hell do you mean by that?!" a loud voice demanded of the second, the sound of a scuffle drawing the medic back to consciousness even as she felt an odd pressure on her lips.
"PERVERT!" she screamed, punching the offender right in the kisser, only to blink as Naruto fell over, holding his face in pain and cursing loudly "Eh? Naruto-kun?" she looked around, blinking at her surroundings.
"Hey it worked." Recca noted, sweat dropping at his fallen Outoto "And there's another reason Franken-stain, she'd have broken her hand just now if it was you."
Domon said nothing but mentally thanked god that Hanabishi had distracted him. Shizune blinked, recalling what Tsunade had predicted about their recovery, only to leap up and grab Recca by the collar "Quickly! What day is it?!"
"Uh…Monday?" Recca stammered, looking to the right, where a calendar hung on the wall "At least…yeah I think it is Monday...Naruto?"
"I smell Soba down the street." The blonde grunted, rubbing his nose tenderly "The old man at the noodle cart only does those on a Monday."
"You okay nee-chan?" Domon asked, looking the medic over carefully as he helped her sit up "you looked like you'd lost a fight with truck."
"Never mind that, where's the old hag?" Naruto asked, a dangerous gleam in his eyes as he spoke "Nothing like game day pressure to get the blood going!"
'Tsunade-sama!' Shizune gasped, leaping to her feet and leaping for the window "You three, stay here!" she yelled, only to blink as a kunai embedded itself in the windowsill. Before she could blink three blurs shot past her in the direction of the kunai, only to pull up short as the trio realized who the assailant was.
"Ero-sennin?" Naruto gaped, regarding the slumped, haggard form of his perverted mentor in alarm "What the hell happened to you?"
"That damn Tsunade…" the bear of a man muttered, wincing as Domon set him down as gently as he could against the railing of the balcony "Not only can't I call up my chakra right my body's so numb I can't even hold a pair of chopsticks."
"This coming from the man who claims he's such a hotshot shinobi?" Recca muttered, the trio regarding the sennin with deadpan expressions.
"So freaking lame." Domon muttered, crossing his arm and snorting, even as veins began to bulge on Jiraiya's head threateningly/
"Yeah, did she get you with some sort of pervy attack?" Naruto asked snidely, earning a snicker from the others, Shizune covering her mouth to hide a guilty giggle.
"URUSEI!!" Jiraiya bellowed, the force of the yell nearly blowing the trio off the balcony had they not grabbed the railing "Even if her skills are rusty, Tsunade is the most prestigious medical specialist in the world…she's the only person that can compound a tasteless, odorless drug that will prove effective on shinobi." He grimaced "Still, I can't get over how she managed to slip it to me, regardless of how drunk I was!"
--
The trio fell silent, watching over the treatment like hawks, whilst subtly making hand signs at each other. (You sense him too squirt?) Domon asked, making sure to look anywhere BUT directly behind him.
(Smelled him a while ago.) Naruto replied (Same scent of snakes and drugs…it's that Kabuto guy alright.)
(What d'ya think he's doing here?) Recca asked face neutral (You think the council sent backup?)
(No way, especially not a genin.) Naruto countered (I don't care how skilled he is they'd at least have sent a few chunin with Orochimaru in the area.)
(Speaking of old Pedo-hebi.) Domon muttered, (Two really big chakra signals showed up near Tanzaku castle.)
(Bet ya any money the other one's the old hag.) Recca muttered, slipping some gunpowder balls into his hand.
(Operation rat catcher?) Naruto asked, preparing to speed off as soon as the signal went.
--
Kabuto cursed the trio for blocking his line of sight, only for his eyes to widen as Domon spun suddenly and hurled Kubikiri Houcho right at him like a spear. 'SHIT!' the medic swore, leaping out of the way, barely, his side bleeding from where the edge had caught him 'How'd they know I was-?!'
"RYUTSUISEN-ZAN!"
Kabuto leapt back on instinct, a good call, as a seconds delay would have left him skewered on Naruto's Katana. He reached for his kunai pouch, only to swear as a chain wrapped around his wrist. "No ya don't!" Recca swore, gripping the Kusari-gama tightly as he did, having stashed the weapon in his storage scrolls "No more of your damn running around, why the heck are you here?"
Kabuto swore and swiped at the chains with his fingers, the chakra scalpel severing them and allowing him to leap into the air, only for a shadow to loom over him. "Going somewhere?" Domon growled, delivering a powerful blow to the medic's back that sent him crashing into the tiles.
Kabuto immediately channeled chakra into his spine, healing the damage as quickly as possible, even before he hit the ground. 'It seems that they've improved once again.' He noticed, his glasses cracking even as he glared at them. 'I can't dally here any longer…these three are bad enough but if Jiraiya and that medic get involved I could be in real trouble in the state I'm in.'
"I give you credit for catching me off guard." He said aloud, berating himself for allowing such a thing to happen "Normally I'm a match for Kakashi-san, if the tables had been reversed you'd be dead by now."
The trio remained silent, knowing it was merely strategy and dumb luck that allowed them to take down the copy-nin so fast. One didn't become a jounin without some serious skills, and sharingan and tardiness aside; Kakashi had quite a reputation as one of Konoha's finest.
"Still," Kabuto noted, grinning as he gathered his chakra "I can't have you sneaking up later…" he brought his hands up in a tiger seal "Ninpou-ARGH!"
Kabuto leapt back, gripping the stump of what had once been his wrist and glaring hatefully at Naruto, who crouched before him, sword drawn and dripping blood, the severed appendage lying near him. "No more tricks out of you!" the blonde growled, eyes flashing a dangerous shade of red as he kicked the severed limb at the man "You're gonna tell us what we wanna know or-?!"
The exploding tag near the blonde's foot hissed ominously even as the trio leapt back a safe distance, only to curse as the flame fizzled out. "Kuso! A dud!" Domon growled, realizing that Kabuto had made his escape "Slippery bastard!"
"He hangs out with pedo-hebi." Recca reasoned, though he looked no more pleased than his rival "Stands to reason he'd pick up a few things."
--
Kabuto cursed as he tried to reattach his severed hand on the run, knowing that every second counted with those demon-brats on his tail. He couldn't believe how badly he'd screwed up, not only had they corralled him with simple teamwork, he'd even been nearly crippled by them!
'If I weren't a bit of a medical prodigy myself I'd be in a lot more trouble.' The medic noted grimly, refastening the limb with a last tug of chakra 'As it stands, either that blade of Naruto's is incredibly sharp…or he's subconsciously channeling wind nature chakra.'
Kabuto grinned, wind type ninjutsu users either fought at midrange or up close and personal, and last he checked Naruto was an 'in you face' fighter, the sword gave it away. 'Unfortunately for him,' the medic chuckled darkly, his scalpel glowing faintly before disappearing 'Close range against a medical specialist is plain suicide.'
--
"Your response?" Orochimaru asked, tone neutral but his eyes burning into the blonde's back as she stood in silent contemplation. 'Even from behind she retains her natural attraction.' He noted with a smirk 'a beauty that daimyo's and emperors would gladly go to war for, and she spoils it by acting like a common barmaid with that temper of hers.'
Tsunade was silent for what seemed like minutes before raising her head, still not facing the traitorous serpent that had once been her teammate. "I'll heal your arms," she stated "but in exchange, keep them away from the leaf."
Orochimaru smirked, having no such intention of doing so but knowing he had the battle won "It's a deal."
Tsunade remained silent, memories of Nawaki, Dan, and their lives with her in the village flashing before her eyes.
Grocery shopping with Nawaki…His disgust at her attempts at cooking…the numerous times she healed his wounds.
Walking through the village with Dan…visiting the graves of their lost siblings…sitting before a lake as the sun set behind the mountains.
Nawaki…Dan…their smiling faces growing ever closer to her even as she watched through tearing eyes.
Tsunade closed her eyes even as the breeze lifted the leaves about her, letting it blow against her like a child's embrace.
"Now…!" Orochimaru demanded eagerly, his face set in a maniacal leer as he held out one of his decayed arms for her to heal. The blonde sennin paused, slowly opening her eyes to reveal the emotionless brown, tearstained orbs even as she approached her onetime teammate, friend and the biggest threat to Konoha since the Kyuubi.
She held out her hands, the bright green glow of healing chakra coming to the fore even as Orochimaru held out his ailing limbs to her tender mercies.
--
What? Has Tsunade submitted to the serpent's will?!
Shizune: Tsunade-sama!
What perils await Jiraiya and the trio as they rush to her rescue!
Jiraiya: Dammit! my chakra's shot to hell!
Can they make it in time...or will the serpent's limbs be healed?!
R&R to find out!