Shikamaru half pushed his way past Sasuke and was half let in by Sasuke. Shikamaru quickly observed the surroundings Sasuke and his friend had been left to live in. The furnishings were pretty bare, tables, chairs, nothing to be overtly happy about, but at the same time they weren't living in abstract poverty. The wall paper was a dirty blue and there was a large window which looked out towards the Hokage monument.
"So what do you want Shikamaru?" Said Sasuke, not sounding particularly interested about Shikamaru's abrupt presence.
"I don't know whether you knew this already or not, but since your absence I was made a Jōnin," said Shikamaru, staring at Sasuke, "and although it's a total drag, Lady Tsunade has decided that I'm ready to lead a team. And she's also decided that reuniting the original Team 7 could only end badly, especially after the way you reintroduced yourself to your past team mates."
"What you're saying is that you've been assigned to Suigetsu and I isn't it." Sasuke interrupted. He said it more of a statement than a question, Sasuke was as sure as himself as he had always been. Shikamaru hadn't particularly missed Sasuke, although he did miss the only person of his age who could match his intelligence.
"Correct," sighed Shikamaru "and since you left before you became a Chunin, you and Suigetsu have both been assigned the rank of Genin."
Sasuke knew that this would be a potential result; however he much preferred that he would be assigned to the likes of Kakashi, and Shikamaru wasn't the kind of person who Sasuke considered all too worthy of his respect.
"Is there anything else you want?" Sasuke said "Or are you going to leave?"
"Yes there is one last thing," Shikamaru said, his voice sounding slightly more serious "I may not be your elder, but I am your superior. You treat me with the same respect you would show someone like Kakashi, or Tsunade. Got it?"
Sasuke glared at him "I already do," he snapped "now get out."
Kakashi and Suigetsu stood about 20 meters apart, staring each other down. They stood in the middle of a wide open area, trees quite a distance behind Suigetsu and a small river behind Kakashi. Suigetsu knew Kakashi would aim to hide in amongst the trees and Kakashi knew that if Suigetsu entered the river he could get very difficult to deal with.
Suigetsu didn't yet have a sword yet, so he knew that he would have to rely on his water form, or else Kakashi would put him down swiftly. He also knew any specific jutsu he use; Kakashi could copy instantly with that Sharingan of his. Quickly Kakashi started to move. Suigetsu recognised his movement as to being incredibly similar to the way Sasuke moved – quick straight lines, no bends – get to one point, strike, move to the next. However Suigetsu wasn't your average opponent, and Kakashi was about to learn that very quickly.
Kakashi moved in for a direct attack and went to punch Suigetsu straight in the face, a bold first move, clearly done to catch Suigetsu by surprise. He wasn't about to reveal all his secrets, and he didn't want to overuse his water form early on. Even if this was just a sparring match, if Suigetsu could hit big against Kakashi then he might get some recognition around the village, and though he liked the fact that he wasn't going to be constantly on the road, he definitely wanted some amount of fear instilled into the locals.
He dodged Kakashi's first punch only to find Kakashi already making the hand signs for the Fireball Jutsu before Suigetsu had even put feet on the ground again. And right now he didn't want to turn to steam just yet either. He made a dash towards the river, trying to move quick enough to reach the water before the fire hit him. He dove in and found as the flames shot over the surface. Too close. Way, way too close. He turned to water form, hoping to catch Kakashi by surprise.
Kakashi reached the edge of the river and looked in. Suigetsu was nowhere to be seen, but he knew that if he used Sharingan he would be able to see Suigetsu's chakra right away. Not quick enough though, a watery fist burst out of the water towards Kakashi. Kakashi dodged, first attack dealt with, but Suigetsu had to know that wouldn't work. His follow up attack had to be the main move. Kakashi turned at full speed to find Suigetsu plummeting down towards him. Kakashi launched an uppercut, but his fist rammed straight through Suigetsu, as his body exploded into a watery shower. 'Shit!' thought Kakashi, knowing he had allowed himself to be caught out with such an easy trick.
Kakashi turned, raising his guard as he did, staring up at the giant human shaped mass of water spanning out behind them, like a body emerging from the water and curving around him. Suigetsu's normal, completely solid head rested atop the body, and that was all Kakashi could take in as a giant hand swung around him. Despite the water being liquid, however, the surface tension made the water solid as a rock, and it swept Kakashi backwards as he fell into the river – the one place he didn't want to be.
The currents inside the river were crazy; Kakashi now understood how it was Suigetsu was able to manipulate the water as he did. He noted that the surface of the water was imbued with chakra, manipulating it like a ninja would when walking on the surface of water, meanwhile the inner body of water had a constant chakra controlled current, allowing himself to manipulate it so that he could constantly move the mass that was not his own.
The currents began to drag Kakashi into the belly of the beast, straight into the abdomen of Suigetsu's gigantic water body. The currents inside were so strong to continue to form of the body that Kakashi could barely move, Suigetsu essentially had him in a giant sleeper hold, however Kakashi would assume that Suigetsu was not aware of the fact that all of this was far too apparent to Kakashi.
He knew he had time, he had been held in Zabuza's water prison for a long enough to period to know this. He knew that all he needed to do was to disrupt the current inside, force Suigetsu to drop the form he had taken up.
"Don't worry, I won't let your drown," laughed Suigetsu "I'll just wait until you've passed out." The vibrations rumbled through the water, shaking through Kakashi.
He knew his best option was a Rasengan. The way he could spin the chakra and potentially alter the chakra flow inside of Suigetsu's excess mass and that may just allow him to push the current in a different way to what it was now. He concentrated on his hand, he could feel the chakra but he needed to make it stronger. He pumped more energy into it, and slowly, he could see the surface of the water beginning to tremble, and the current grew weaker. He pushed more chakra in, and swiftly the water began to descend, the mass of water grew smaller around him, Suigetsu was panicking, desperately trying to regain his form, but he wasn't strong enough, slamming his Rasengan forward, Kakashi burst from Suigetsu's chest, hitting the ground gasping for air, as Suigetsu crumpled, weakened from the struggle of containing Kakashi.
The blue sky rolled over Kakashi's eyes, he was soaking, he was cold, but he was determined. He gathered his energy and used all his might to stand up. He stumbled slightly as he rose, looking over to Suigetsu who stood, exhausted.
Kakashi was still gulping down air, his vision somewhat blurred from his experience he held his aching chest. Suigetsu was exhausted, although he was aware that combining his own water form with a mass of water could lead to the vulnerabilities Kakashi had exploited then in a way he would have never imagined anyone could do it quite so quickly. He even felt Sasuke couldn't get out of it in such a swift way as the man who now faced him did. Suigetsu was done for. He was so tired he could barely move. He prepared a water clone, ready for Kakashi to strike, this would have to be his last move, a last ditch effort to pin Hatake and force him to give up, otherwise there was nothing he could do.
Kakashi felt ready enough to attack, he began to dash forward, everything hurt but he knew he was about to win. He launched a punch towards Suigetsu's face, and as expected the Suigetsu that had stood before him turned into a giant puddle on the floor. The real Suigetsu jumped onto the lunging body of the Copy Ninja.
However Kakashi was already well aware of exactly what Suigetsu was doing, and his shadow clone exploded into smoke before Suigetsu even hit the ground, and as Suigetsu landed the real Kakashi had already swiped a leg in between Suigetsu's legs and had a Chidori aimed at the back of Suigetsu's head.
Suigetsu didn't dare move; he knew he was pretty much pinned in position by his opponent.
"So, you want to call this one a draw?" Suigetsu suggested nervously.
Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office, Tsunade sat in her chair; the dim orange light of the sunset rested on her shoulders and made the blonde of her hair sparkle. Unfortunately, however, the conversation she was engaged in wasn't so pleasant.
"Although the operation was a success lord Hokage," stammered her head medic "we worry that it is not entirely stable."
The Hokage rose and eyebrow "What do you mean?"
"Well lord Hokage," the Medic continued "we have been advised that, while the thoughts and opinions we have implanted are stable and dominant in Sasuke and Suigetsu's unconscious mind, we worry that something could trigger a release on the ones we locked away."
Tsunade was all too aware of how dangerous this was "So we just keep them away from anything that could trigger it?"
"It's not that simple my lord," the Medic stuttered "we don't know what could trigger it. We have done our best to ensure that it must be something strong – so something such as a memory or an encounter with one of the Akatsuki or their leader could not cause it. But say a death or a serious injury, something highly traumatic, could undo our work."
Tsunade shook her head "We can't just keep them holed up here, they are ninja, in fact Sasuke is potentially one of the strongest in the world. If we keep them here they will simply lash out at the village. We need to send them out on missions that are appropriate based on their strength. I've assigned them to Shikamaru Nara, while this changes things somewhat I have a plan. We will combine team Nara with the current team 7, that's Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura and Sai. Hopefully the combined strength of the two teams will keep them both out of trouble, meanwhile the presence of Naruto ought to distract Sasuke from anything that might trigger him. Meanwhile I believe there is less of a risk of Suigetsu triggering. He has no family, no true home, until now that is, and he has no friends. I believe we can give him all of that here, and give him a reason, even if he should trigger, to stay."
The medic nodded "I agree lord Hokage; your wisdom is as perfect as ever."
However before Tsunade could dismiss her subordinate, the door flung open, and Danzo entered the room "Sorry Tsunade I didn't realise you were having your boots cleaned, if you want I can wait until this fool has finished licking your feet."
Tsunade glared at the old man "Spying on the Hokage is highly unethical Danzo."
Danzo stared at her coldly "And hiding the brainwashing and rehoming of two S-rank criminals is highly foolish, and especially more so that you hid it from me."
Tsunade stood up angrily "The Black-Ops had no reason to know of this before anyone else," she roared "I have entrusted my own guard with the protection of the two of them. You have no reason to complain!"
Danzo glared back at her "I am here merely to advise you Tsunade, you see while this boy recolours his nose " he turned his glare towards the medic and then back to Tsunade "you neglected the fact that Sasuke and Suigetsu were part of a team led by Sasuke. The other two team members will undoubtedly come looking for them. Would you want to risk them attacking the village – because while one of them seems moderately harmless the other is as dangerous as they come, and you're putting the entire village in danger by drawing them here."
Tsunade sat back down "I hate to admit it but you're right, but unfortunately there is little we can do other than cross that problem when it arises."
Danzo smirked "That my dear is where you're wrong. I have a squad of ANBU ready to hunt them down and, shall we say… neutralise them."
Tsunade frowned "Not yet. I know it may be necessary but for now we will wait for their next move. We can't risk the squad failing and only angering the remnants of the Hebi further."
Danzo nodded "Understood, but remember. Should the Hebi enter the village, they will be difficult to deal with. While one is merely a sensory ninja, she will be able to find Sasuke and Suigetsu quicker than anyone else. And the other is Jugo, whom Orochimaru obtained the monster form given to Sasuke Uchiha. While Orochimaru could never fully perfect the form he gave to his subordinates, Jugo can perfect it naturally. He is too dangerous to risk allowing him getting too close. I implore that you not let them get close enough to harm the village."
With that Danzo turned and excused, leaving the frowning Tsunade and the stunned Medic alone in silence.
*So yeah that took me a while, got to apologize about that. Honestly I had these ideas in my head for months and just haven't had a chance to write them down. However any spelling or grammatical errors, I must say, are down to the machine I have been using to write, as it is a small-ish handheld device that doesn't inform me of such things. I think everything is fine and as ever feedback is highly sought after. P.s. I am also looking for a beta checker for me to make sure I'm not screwing up to badly in my chapters – cheers all – N. x*