Jiraiya yawned, leaning back against the post he had been tied to yesterday. "When is Sarutobi-sensei going to get here?"

"Hmph." Orochimaru leaned back against the other post, completely bored. They were all supposed to meet at eight in the morning to receive their first mission. He had shown up half an hour early, Tsunade had arrived right on time and then Jiraiya showed up ten minutes later. But their teacher was still absent after an entire hour had passed.

"He was never late when he had to meet with my grandfather and granduncle," Tsunade said, rolling her eyes. Jumping on top of a pole, she put a hand to her eyes and squinted. "He's nowhere in sight!"

Orochimaru looked over when Jiraiya siddled up to the post Tsunade was standing on. "Hey, thanks again for that bento box Tsunade! I knew you were just playing hard to get after all."

Tsunade's right eye twitched. "Don't get your hopes up. I and Orochimaru bought it for you because we wanted you to be at your best for our first mission."

"Sure," Jiraiya replied, winking at her. "Whatever you say. Augh!" She jumped on his head and leaped off in exasperation.

"Honestly," she muttered, walking over to Orochimaru. "See, this is the thanks you get for feeding that pervert." She leaned on him with her arms crossed, her arm brushing against the silky fabric of his white outfit. "Should have just spent that money on dango instead, Orochimaru. He's still as loud as yesterday."

Jiraiya looked up in surprise, stopping his head rubbing. "Eh? So you really-"

"Like she said," Orochimaru replied blankly. "We wanted you at your best, that is all." He wasn't about to tell him it was thanks for the timely fireball he shot out for their bell test yesterday.

A cloud of thick smoke suddenly appeared before them and he slipped a kunai into his hand while Tsunade changed into an offensive stance immediately.

"Hey now, don't be so jumpy," Sarutobi chuckled. Apologetically, he said, "Sorry for being late. The meeting took longer than expected. It actually isn't done yet, but I got my clone to take over for me."

"Shadow clone technique," Orochimaru murmured. Experience and knowledge gained from the clones are always transferred to the real individual after usage. The only ill side effect was that only those with a large chakra reserve could use this. It was draining and one could easily be fatigued as all clones had to have an equal amount of chakra. Tsunade always slept an entire day away whenever she relied on this method to cram. He could do it as well after she let him read Tobirama's forbidden scroll, but he didn't particularly like the price he had to pay to use it.

"Correct," Sarutobi replied with a grin. "Anyways, your first mission. Anyone excited?"

Tsunade bobbed her head and grinned while Jiraiya jumped up and down in excitement. Orochimaru wore his usual empty expression but his eyes showed interest. Crossing his arms, Sarutobi smiled and said, "Your first mission is..."

First Mission: Find Mr. Chubs

Their very first mission was to find the number one fattest cat in the village named Mr. Chubs, which weighed around 200 pounds. When they were presented with the picture of the gray tabby cat, Orochimaru was bewildered. It looked more like a small tiger than a cat. Tsunade, on the other hand, thought it was the cutest thing ever and said she would love to have it as a pet. Jiraiya was just curious as to how that thing managed to escape and run away in the first place, considering the fact that it was so big that unless the owner was blind and deaf, she couldn't have missed it escaping.

This question dwelled on their mind the whole time as they searched for the damn thing. Tsunade had poked her head into almost every house around the street where the cat was last rumored to be seen. As the princess of the village, she had that privilege (or so she adamantly claims until five angry mothers kicked her out because their babies were disturbed from their nap. Their teacher ended up having to apologize). Jiraiya had managed to fall off the roof of a house while chasing after one that apparently looked like Mr. Chubs, but was about twenty pounds too light. As for him...

"Meow."

Orochimaru stared at the cat village he had accidentally stumbled on in the hidden access of an alleyway. Three were circling around his legs, two were clambering around his arms and shoulder, the one he was holding was purring into his chest, and he was sure that the rest of them were going to clamber all over him in the next five minutes. But he can't leave, for he had finally managed to find the elusive fat cat.

It had decided that with its massive girth and size, it would become the leader of this small cat village. Right now, it was staring at him with glowing amber eyes as it sat on its throne consisting of discarded pillows and towels. A bunch of servant cats was huddled around it and a bunch of cat guards served as the frontline.

He sighed loudly, plucking a leaf from the air as one drifted down towards him. Bringing it to his lips, he played a soft tune. Soon enough, Tsunade leaped down by him, followed by Jiraiya who instantly posed. "No need to fear! The great Jiraiya is here- why are you holding cats?" Jiraiya asked in puzzlement, his eyes narrowing in on the ginger cat that was rubbing its face on his leg.

"This is so cute!" Tsunade squealed at the cat village. "They're like a family."

"With Mr. Chubs as the head," Orochimaru replied listlessly. Dropping the cat and brushing away the ones clambering all over him, he readied a hand seal. "Let's go."

Getting Mr. Chubs didn't take more than 1/50th of his chakra, two scratches on Tsunade, and twenty bite marks on Jiraiya. The hard part was dragging him home. Sarutobi wasn't helping, he merely watched in amusement as they carried the two hundred pound cat home. The three of them had to essentially carry him up like some kind of trophy, attracting the stares of everyone around them for the next twenty minutes. The only thing amusing about the whole ordeal was that Jiraiya had to deal with carrying the lower bottom half and complained that all he could smell was ass.

At the end of the mission, they all looked at each other and agreed that they deserved way more than 300 ryo each. And that cat deserved a healthier diet...

Second Mission: Grocery shop for Ms. Fujiqa

"We need three eggplants," he muttered, looking down their shopping list. Their client had broken her leg and as she lived alone, needed someone to take care of the shopping for the week so here they were... The night market was busy, the stalls full of fresh produce and everyone was rambunctious and loud. Kids were running around with candies and with their friends, chicken fighting was happening in the corner of his eyes, and it reminded him of a crowded hallway at school.

"Orochimaru I call the meats!" Jiraiya said, grinning as he pointed to himself.

"I call fruits and veggies!" Tsunade said happily.

Looking down at the list, he read it over and concluded that he had to deal with the fishes while Sarutobi-sensei was already off to get the miscellaneous stuff. "Hmph." He headed off for the seafood section. Some were jammed in ice boxes and a few other were swimming in their buckets. He leaned down and stared at the fish that was blinking its large eyes at him. A white crucian carp... those were good for fermenting. Straightening up, he pointed it to it. "I'll take this one. No fish head."

"Hey! Get back here!"

Orochimaru nearly fell head first into the water bucket when Jiraiya ran past and bumped into him, chasing after a chicken. Running close behind him was an angry butcher with a butcher knife and Orochimaru blinked twice before turning back to his business. In the background, he thought he heard Tsunade yell 'EVEN! EVEN! EVEN! DAMN IT!' He had no doubt that she was probably gambling and as he watched his fish getting plucked out of the water and chopped up, he wondered if he should have sushi later that night.

Two hours later...

Sarutobi stared at the groceries his students had purchased. Tsunade's fruits were either so ripe that one touch sent juices flying, or they were so unripe that they could crack teeth. It was obvious she's never grocery shopped in her life, and that she didn't have much money left after she lost it at the gambling table to buy the good fruits. Jiraiya's purchased meat wasn't meant for cooking... they were already cooked. He had bought a variety of shish-kabobs, burgers, and meat buns.

"These things aren't even on the list, moron," Orochimaru said, holding up the piece of paper.

"He-hey!" Jiraiya crossed his arms and grimaced. "I didn't want to see a chicken get its head chopped off just because the lady wanted to make chicken breasts for dinner. She can have the burger instead." He then lowered his voice. "I swear that chicken was no normal chicken. It looked like... it was special."

"You're an idiot," Orochimaru replied.

"Hey! I swear there was something about that chicken! I just couldn't let it die."

Sarutobi rubbed the bridge of his nose, inwardly praying for the first and second Hokage's strength.

Third mission: Plant flowers for the Park

Sarutobi had requested this mission for them, with him being the one to pay for the request. The village apparently needed some sprucing done. Things actually seemed to be going well for once. They got a good variety of bulbs and Tsunade was quite excited about the mission. She was even humming a song as she dug into the fresh earth and when a slug crawled near her, she had tapped it gently on the head and beamed.

"Tsunade."

She looked over in surprise when Orochimaru held out a rose towards her. "Eh?" Was he giving her a flower? Her cheeks turned pink.

"Could you throw this? It's crawling with aphids and will kill the rest of the plants," he said monotonously.

Closer inspection did reveal that there were aphids crawling all over the thing. She screamed and slapped his hand away. "Orochimaru you idiot! Aughhh!" Angrily, she ran off to the other side to plant.

Nursing his red hand, he muttered, "I don't understand girls sometimes."

"You could always ask me!" Jiraiya popped up, wearing a 'know it all' expression.

"If I want to be a masochist, I'll consider," he replied, moving to throw away the rose.

Jiraiya stood up and asked, "What's a masochist?"

One hour later..

He didn't particularly care for gardening but he didn't mind the mission overall. He even managed to stumble upon a rather interesting specimen of a garden snake that had scales the color of emeralds. He didn't really understand why Tsunade had freaked out when she saw it as she made to plant a tulip in front of him. Judging from its eyes and color, it wasn't a particularly dangerous type of snake and it had no venom. It was only because he had smirked in amusement that she was afraid of a little garden snake, that she puffed herself up and stroked it. The snake didn't even seem to take interest and she was astonished to find that the texture of the skin wasn't slimy or cold, it was actually warm and smooth like leather.

"What are you guys looking at?"

The short calm was shattered when Jiraiya saw the snake and swiped at it. "Don't worry guys! The great Jiraiya will save you!" In retaliation, the snake lunged for him and he shouted in fright.

Tsunade screamed, "You idiot! It's not hurting anyone!"

"Step on it and I'll break both your legs," Orochimaru threatened in a low tone of voice.

Trying to run from it, Jiraiya headed for the nearest tree and scampered up it. In the process, he had somehow managed to disturb a nearby bee nest that sent dozens of people, including a few couples, running away from the nice scenery. Tsunade had punched him so far, that he was sure the idiot would have to spend at least an hour to get back. He couldn't blame her for raging. She got about ten bee stings, with one of them right on her forehead. Crying about how she was now ugly, she ran off with the crowd. As for him, he decided to forfeit the mission. The bees weren't going to leave any time soon and most of the bulbs had been trampled on during the panic. While everyone was running around and screaming their heads off, he used one of his technique to disappear and he spent the rest of the day in his room to study.

Somehow, their picture ended up on the front page of the newspaper the next day. Not only did Sarutobi not pay them, they had to go clean his house as punishment (with no pay).

Mission 4: Plant trees for the Hyuga Clan

Apparently the Hyuga really liked trees. Because there was like fifty requests from the clan to have a bazillion of them planted around their area. They weren't allowed to use any ninja techniques either. The Hyugas were a twitchy group, always worried that others would try to steal the secrets of their eyes. They rarely made any requests and if they did, they request for chores that only genins would do.

Tsunade made the most progress with her immense strength. It almost looked like she was just planting turnips. Jiraiya was grumpy but he dug up a good number of holes while flirting with some shy Hyuga girls that didn't quite get his flirtatious jokes. When he tried it with Tsunade, she whacked him with her shovel and he got to sit out for an hour to recover. He did manage to wheedle some tea and desserts out of those nice girls while he was acting like he was dying and saying something that sounded like Tsunade had crushed half of his internal organs with her shovel.

As for him, he wasn't weak but he wasn't used to chores like this. His slender arms trembled from the exertion of digging ten deep holes. His hair was stuck to his face, damp with sweat. With the dirt coating his robe and face, the stringy long hair, snow white face, and baring of teeth as he dug in the heat, he probably looked like some kind of demented demon. He was right, he freaked out two twins whose white eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, an old lady almost had a heart attack and thought her Byakugan could suddenly see ghosts, one of the Hyuga almost gentle fist him in the face, Jiraiya fell into the hole he had just dug when he saw him, and Tsunade screamed so loud the entire clan rushed out to see what was going on.

After a whole day of back breaking labor, he headed home for a deep soak and promptly feel asleep in the waters. It was about midnight when he woke up, cold and aching. He ate the two hard boiled eggs he had stored in the fridge before going to bed. The next day, he woke up with a cold and feeling like he's aged fifty years in one night.

"Well," Sarutobi said with a grin as his three students leaned back against the three wooden posts. "Four whole missions completed in less than a week. Good work."

"We failed one," Orochimaru said hoarsely, starting to lose his voice from his cold. He shot Jiraiya a look of dislike for almost crushing the snake and landing a bee hive on them.

"So ungrateful, the great Jiraiya just saved you from getting bitten by a snake and all you can do is give me that look?" Jiraiya pulled down the skin of his eyes in an attempt to mock his team-mate.

"I look nothing like that you idio-" At this point, he lost his voice completely.

"Hey hey," Sarutobi said sheepishly, waving his hands at the two. Wearing a smile, he said, "Good news is that you can all have a day off today. Second, it's finally our turn for a team picture. So try to smile and get along for it."

Tsunade loudly gasped. "Sarutobi-sensei! Why didn't you tell us earlier!? I would have worn something different."

Jiraiya licked his hand and began trying to smooth down his hair, much to Tsunade's chagrin as she punched him. "That's so gross!"

Sarutobi turned to Orochimaru, who was stoically silent. Chuckling, he said, "Out of the three of you, I'd say you looked the best for a picture today."

Orochimaru's eyes darkened. "I don't like taking pictures, sensei."

"Probably because you look like a girl and can't say anything about it if someone manages to find the picture," joked Jiraiya cheerfully.

Tsunade punched him on the head. "He doesn't look like a girl! His voice is ten times manlier than yours!"

"Says the biggest tomboy here!" Jiraiya sniped back. "You act like a man!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

"Both of you be quiet," Orochimaru said icily. Coughing into his sleeves, he said, "You're both making my headache worse."

Sarutobi smiled and put a hand on his forehead. "Hmmmm good idea. Looks like your temperature is unusually high." When the child's eyes widened in surprise at the gentle treatment, he added, "I'll come over with some spicy curry and medicine later." Orochimaru's cheeks turned slightly pink, seemingly confused by the treatment. Stepping back, he nodded silently.

They chose a nice open area where the cameraman was waiting for them. Jiraiya wanted to be front and center since he's the 'great' Jiraiya. Tsunade got over her 'didn't pick the right outfit for today' mood when the cameraman complimented how great she looked. On the other hand, the cameraman seemed scared of his looks. Probably because his pale skin was now paper white and the cold made him look like he wanted to bite someone. That and he didn't want to take a picture in the first place spoke volumes on his face. Taking Jiraiya's right, he stood sideways and only showed half of his face.

"OK. Say cheese!"

"Cheese!"

"Hey Tsunade, you should have puffed up your chest some more," Jiraiya chuckled mischievously after the camera went off. "While Oro looks like a girl, you look like a boy."

"Oh yea?! Well you look like a perverted old man!" she retorted, sticking her tongue out. Jiraiya responded with waving his arms, saying something about how she was flat once more while Sarutobi tried to settle them down.

"Hmph." He stood on the side and watched them tiredly. When the camera went off once more, he mentally facepalmed. Of all the teams that got pictures, why did they get two?

"I just couldn't resist," said the cameraman, laughing his head off. "It was hilarious."

Their teacher laughed as well. "Well, I'll be dealing with this for the next decade so might as well start taking pictures now for the count." He grinned. "I'll stick the second one somewhere. But I'll copy the first for you all. Want to see if you like it?" He went over to the fetch their produced picture and he held it out to them.

Orochimaru could see immediately how different he was compared to them. He stuck out like a sore thumb, with his white skin, obsidian long hair, narrowed amber eyes that were outlined by his trademark purple highlights. They were bright, happy, cheerful, unbroken and light. He was the definition of gloomy.

"Wow," Jiraiya said, tilting his head. "You look like some kind of snobby good looking girly prince out of a manga."

Orochimaru's right eye twitched. "What do you mean girly?"

"Hey hey," Jiraiya said, holding up his hands and laughing. "Some girls dig the manly look and others like the more elegant and cold thing you have going on." He winked and nudged him. "Can't wait to retake this picture when we're older. By then, we'd be killing all the ladies with our looks." His voice dropped down to a whisper and he glanced over at Tsunade. "Maybe by then she'll actually have boobs too."

"Pervert!"

Orochimaru smirked slightly when she punched him in the head. "Hm-" He coughed before he could finish his usual 'hmph' sound.

Jiraiya said, "Hey, I got some super old legendary pickled lemons that're said to cure the worst of coughs. I'll bring some for you." He bumped hips with him. "It's no fun beating my rival when you're dying from a cold."

He coughed and rasped, "When did we become rivals?"

Tsunade ran over to them. "I'll bring you some super strong ginger tea. It's an old family recipe from my grandmother." He nodded briefly in thanks. It was only when Sarutobi went ahead with Jiraiya did she speak to him. "Are you alright?" From the picture she had seen of him with his parents, he was smiling and looked like he enjoyed having his picture taken immensely. There must be a reason why he didn't want to take a picture now. Nervously, she said, "You do look very nice today, Orochimaru. If you smiled, it would have looked better."

"That's not the problem." He paused to cough once more before his shimmering topaz colored eyes turned on her. "Pictures makes it harder to forget."

She stared after him as he swept after their teacher, his face blank. Even now... his fear of forming bonds was still that great. Touching her necklace sorrowfully, she wondered if he would ever truly be able to recover. Even though she was his friend, sometimes... she didn't feel like it. After their match last year, he never brought up the topic of his past or how he still felt about things. He had grown closer to her and was nicer to her in his own strange way, but she still didn't understand him very well. Just like today, when she learned for the first time he disliked having his picture taken.

She swallowed, hating the fact that after all this time, she couldn't help him. He was there for her when her grandfather and granduncle passed away. It was her grandmother's words and his example, that made her strong enough to continue on working to be a ninja. So why couldn't she do the same for him?

Her hand tightened over her necklace, feeling incredibly lost. All of a sudden, a fragrant breeze with rustling leaves washed past her. The leaves were so green and the wind felt so nice. She looked over to see him looking up wistfully at the sky, his beautiful dark hair dancing behind him. Smiling, she ran up to him and grabbed his hand. He looked at her in surprise at the sudden hold and she said, "It'll be worse when you want to look back and you can't remember. Am I right?"

He sighed though the corner of his lips twitched. "Perhaps." After a moment's pause, he said, "You can let go of my hand now, hime. I can't feel three of my fingers."

Sarutobi looked back as Tsunade snorted and laughed like a madwoman. Beside him, Jiraiya frowned and said, "Do you think they're making jokes behind my back, sensei?"

Chuckling, he rubbed Jiraiya's head and walked past him, growing fonder of the three kids with every passing minute.

Later that night...

In his silky gray pajama, he held up Jiraiya's jar of brown pickled lemons as he stood in the kitchen. It was labeled 'Loser's Lemons for Cough' and Jiraiya had drawn a smiley with its tongue sticking out on the jar as well. "Idiot," Orochimaru mouthed, putting the jar back down. On the counter was a small satchel of tea leaves from Tsunade and her grandmother and in the sink, was a dirty dish of curry he had finished from Sarutobi. The three had really come to visit and drop off the stuff. But since he had completely lost his voice by now, they didn't want to disturb his rest and left almost immediately.

His teapot let out a loud stream of steam and he slowly walked over to the stove. Taking it off, he poured the hot water and mixed the tea leaves for a cup of tea. After that, he poured the hot water into another cup and gingerly spooned out a lump of brown fossilized lemon. He wasn't sure about Jiraiya's lemons at all. It could be a prank. But then again, he remembered reading about pickled lemons being used to treat colds. He was sure they were only supposed to be pickled for a maximum of five years, though, not twenty years.

Holding the two cups of steaming liquid, he took in a deep breath. He needed to get better by tomorrow. They were behind a day and probably needed to take on an extra mission. With that, he chugged on one after the other and gagged, trying not to throw up. Tsunade's tea tasted like someone dumped wasabi and honey together. Jiraiya's lemon juice remedy tasted like mush, old sugar, and sour candies. Dumping the two drinks and suppressing the urge to vomit, he headed off to his bedroom. As he settled under the covers of his futon, he glanced over to the picture of his parents, before looking at the new team photo that Sarutobi-sensei had framed and given to him. Pressing the side of his face into the pillow, he wondered if this was the start of new good memories or the start of another chapter of pain that waited for him. Solitude was painful, but endings were heartbreaking.

Mission 5: Babysitting the Tuchigawa Triplets

Tsunade nudged Jiraiya and whispered, "This may be our easiest mission yet."

"Yea, that's because Orochimaru is doing all the work," Jiraiya replied quietly.

The three of them were currently sitting in the living room of the Tuchigawa. It was a warm colored room with clean tatami mats and in the corner was the triplet's play corner. They had built a small wall out of a playable kitchen set and used kid chairs. Then they pulled three small bean bags and a blanket into the middle. Currently, Orochimaru was napping right in the middle of the nest with the three two-year-olds around him, also taking a nap. Despite his appearance, the kids had taken an immediate liking to his silence and blank expressions. She did have to admit that he had an aura of peace and stillness to him, that was rather attractive. You could sit by him, relax and contemplate on things and not realize that hours may have gone by.

The cures she and Jiraiya offered hadn't helped much apparently. He was still sick and tired and she was rather glad they got this mission so he could rest. Sitting on the edge of the nest, she stroked one of the kid's head, feeling the soft tufts of brown hair.

"This is so boring," Jiraiya yawned.

"Then take a nap as well," she hissed, putting a finger to her lips to keep him quiet.

"The great Jiraiya doesn't need naps." Jiraiya grinned. "I can stay up all night if I wanted to. Hahaha-" She punched him in the face and knocked him out. Looking down, she saw Orochimaru's delicate face scrunched up slightly before relaxing once more. Giggling silently, she couldn't help but think that he looked rather adorable when he was like this. One of the little babies cuddled up to his back and she watched in amusement as another rolled over to Jiraiya, happily snuggling into his fluffy white hair. Yawning, she laid down as well and decided that a nap would be nice.

One hour later...

"Hmm..." Jiraiya blearily opened his eyes. "What happened? Did I fall-" His eyes widened when he realized what kind of position he was in. He was hugging Orochimaru! The pale boy was breathing lightly into his chest and one of Tsunade's leg was draped over their body as she laid beside Orochimaru. In one of her arm was one of the triplets. He could feel one at his back and the other one had rolled to the top of their heads. How the hell was he going to get out? And why couldn't he be hugging Tsunade instead of Orochimaru?! "AHHHHHHH!"

Orochimaru's eyes snapped open. When he saw that he was hugging Jiraiya, he inhaled sharply and pushed him away. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"I don't know! Why the hell did you roll into my arms?!" Jiraiya shot back.

"I did not roll into them," Orochimaru retorted.

The triplets woke and began crying their heads off. Tsunade was also woken up by their outbursts. Looming over them, she punched them both in the face. "For heaven sake!"

The next day at the Hokage's office...

The three of them quietly entered the room and Tsunade stared at the weird setting. Green canopy covered the roof, trailing elegantly down. Sarutobi was seated at the head of the room before a desk with a crystal ball on it. His chair was a plush dark purple looking sofa. A long roll of crimson and gold carpet was laid down the middle of the floor and the walls were a light yellow-green, framed at the bottom by dark wood. All in all, it looked more like going to get their fortunes told than an office.

"Sarutobi-sensei," greeted Orochimaru.

The Hokage smiled at the three behind his desk. "You've got your voice back, Orochimaru. How do you feel?"

"Well enough, thank you," Orochimaru said politely. "I was wondering for our next mission, may we try a C-rank mission?"

"Yes!" Jiraiya slapped him on the back. "Finally you said something I like. I'm sick of doing chores around the village."

Tsunade tapped on her chin thoughtfully. "C rank missions... guess it'd be good to get more money."

"Yea, so you can gamble eh?" Jiraiya snickered. "What's the point, you always lose."

Tsunade fumed and shouted, "I don't always lose!"

You lose 90% of the time, thought Orochimaru. Even if she was right in saying that he was her lucky charm, he didn't like to go to those places. It was loud, boring and he wanted to see if she'd quit if she kept on losing.

Leaning back in his chair, Sarutobi sighed at the three. They've only done five D rank missions, and they're already whining for something more exciting. "You three will get plenty of opportunities to do more important missions. But right now you're still rookies. Actually, the youngest rookies we ever had. You're all just six years old."

Orochimaru said blankly, "Jiraiya acts like he's two so I don't see how physical age matters, sensei."

"Hey! Take that back you loser!" fumed Jiraiya.

Sarutobi shushed them and pointed to his right. "There's a meeting in the other room, keep it down for once." He sat back down heavily, bringing out a large book. "No C-rank missions today. You three still need to work on bonding and teamwork." He said wryly, "It's not that you lack talent-"

Tsunade pointed at her white hair teamate. "Pervert lacks talent."

"And you lack boobs!" he shot back.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

Orochimaru rubbed at his temple, wondering if he should have taken more medicine. His headache was coming back. Sarutobi was thinking the same thing as his head started throbbing. Standing up, he shouted, "We're going to help out on a farm for today and tomorrow. Pack your stuff and meet at the main gate in two hours."

Tsunade immediately looked up in delight. "I've always wanted to visit the countryside more often. Heard the water is really good for the skin."

Jiraiya stroked his chin, wearing a perverted look on his face. "Country girls are usually very sweet."

Orochimaru was thoughtful as he blinked his large golden eyes. "Fresh eggs..."

Darkwings13:

-reference to Sarutobi's office is based on Naruto episode 21. He seemed to really like that room. :)

-Team Hiruzen's photo is shown in the omake of Naruto Shippuden episode 12 (near the end of the episode). My do they look fabulous :')

-The second picture for the team can be seen in the omake of Naruto Shippuden episode 64 while Tsunade is flipping through a photo album.

Hi ileangie23, glad you found chapter 3 enjoyable to read. I'm happy you liked the tender and understanding atmosphere I tried to portray when Oro and Tsunade talked at the end. :) I don't remember Oro saying Tobirama was his favorite. If you could possibly reference the episode I'd appreciate it. In ep 69, when Oro used Edo Tensei to bring back Hashirama and Tobirama, Tobirama said with dislike, "So this kid summoned us with a forbidden technique?" In ep 366 of Shippuuden Tobirama says, "Don't tell me it's that shinobi Orochimaru again." In the same episode Orochimaru rebukes Tobirama and saying how his created techniques and policies, especially Edo tensei cause problems down the line. While everyone is aggravated and Hashirama agrees with Oro. Tobirama says, "Will you be quiet brother? I'm trying to talk to this brat right now." Then he is the first to try and break out of Oro's control but he can't. This impressed Hashirama who complimented Sarutobi for raising such a talented ninja before saying, "Orochimaru do not fret." I do think that in the end Oro had respect for all of them and their powers for sure. Just don't think Tobirama liked Oro so that's why I wrote it in that way last chapter. :D He's a rather cautious man too so he probably didn't like dishonesty from Oro.

Greetings BlackLady777. Yep, one of the reasons why I'm writing this is because there practically isn't any multi chapter stories for this shipping. Your support is much appreciated friend and I'm glad you like my writing style. I need to add more details for settings but I'll work on that. I hope I'll be able to keep up with expectations. I'll continue doing my best to keep the story interesting and develop the three Sannin as best as I can xD

Glad you thought the last chapter was fun JigokuShoujosRevenge. I had fun writing it. It's probably one of the most memorable Sannin thing in the series, with them going through the bell test and all. :)

Thanks to everyone for reading. And I'll always reply to comments, questions or statements in reviews. I love to communicate with my readers and hear your opinions and suggestions for my stories.