"Hey, Tsunade," Jiraiya spoke up, looking over at her from his seat on a rock. Uncrossing his legs, he asked, "Why does Orochimaru always skip training once a month?"

Tsunade pouted slightly. Once a month, Orochimaru would never show up for missions or training. It was only after sunset would anyone even be able to find him. No one knew where he went or what he did. It's been like that for the past two years, strange that Jiraiya would ask now. Putting a hand on her hip, she muttered, "Don't know. I asked once but he refused to answer."

Jiraiya sighed. "I asked Sarutobi-sensei as well. But he says he doesn't know why either and that we should just let sleeping dogs lie. Whatever that's supposed to mean."

Tsunade gazed up at the orange sky that was painted with streaks of pink, dark blue and gentle purple. "I guess sensei is right. We should respect his privacy." She glared over at the white hair boy when he snickered. "What's so funny?"

Jiraiya said with a mischievous grin, "You're really not curious at all? I was talking to the cute Yamanaka girl at the flower shop. She says Orochimaru would come to her mom's flower shop once a month and buy some really expensive flowers." He saw her stiffen up in surprise and he whispered, "Maybe... he's giving them to a girl."

"Shut it," Tsunade said angrily. "Orochimaru never looks at any other girls besides me."

Jiraiya muttered, "You know, he never talks to any other boys besides me either."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Tsunade inwardly grimaced at the memory of Jiraiya falling from the sky and accidentally kissing Orochimaru. The memory made her blood pressure shot up and she cracked her knuckles. "If you're trying to imply something stupid, I'll send you flying so far, even I won't be able to see you if I stood on my grandfather's rock head."

"Jiraiya! Tsunade!" Sarutobi scolded them as he appeared before them in a cloud of smoke. "The Chunin exam is in two months. Get back to work!"

Jiraiya piped up. "But sensei, we're at least here. Orochimaru is playing hooky. Ouch!"

Sarutobi grumbled as he rapped his student on the forehead. "He asked for permission. Now both of you go back to work." He proceeded to watch Jiraiya perform twenty consecutive fire techniques, with the last one being a massive fireball that created a large could of steam from the flowing river. Next, he sparred with Tsunade and gave her advice her and there to counter and evade. It was only when he was satisfied with her result, did he stopped their training. By then, the sun was almost gone from the sky.

The two panted for breath and he said, "You've both grown tremendously during this time. But during the exam, you will not only be fighting one on one, you'll need to face entire teams. I want to see more teamwork development for the last two months, understood?"

"Sooo... like, come up with strategies that will coordinate all of our movements together?" Jiraiya glanced over at Tsunade. "Too bad she has no boobs. She can be the distraction on the frontline."

Sarutobi groaned as the princess of the village pummelled Jiraiya deep into the ground, a vein throbbing on her forehead. "Get serious, Jiraiya. People have died in the exam before."

"WHAT?!" Jiraiya eyes nearly popped out of his sockets and he wiggled, trying to get out of the hole. "What kind of exam involves dying?"

"This one," grouched Sarutobi. He really did worry about his kids and he believed that they could pass. But they had to make the effort. There was more at risk than just failing and having to wait to retake it. Bending down, he waved them over and said firmly, "The life of a ninja is a hard one. The Chunin exam is the biggest wake-up call for many, that this lifestyle may not be suited for them. It's also one of the biggest events that require absolute teamwork from all of you, in order to pass." His eyes softened as he rested his hands on their head. "If I could, I would just keep you three under my wings forever as genins and keep you from dangerous missions. But sooner or later you'll have to grow up-"

Tsunade then gasped. "I just remembered! Isn't there that one guy in our village who's nearly sixty and he's still a genin!?"

Jiraiya's jaw dropped. "What?!" He popped himself out of the hole and grabbed her by the hand. "Come on! Let's go find Orochimaru!"

"Ehhh?" This was the first time Jiraiya ever decided to seek out their other teammate and she stared at him in shock, wondering if she had accidentally hit him too hard on the head.

"Do you want to be a sixty-year-old lady who's still a genin?" said Jiraiya, pulling her along with him. "Neither of us can plan. Let's hurry and find that smartass to make sure we don't fail!"

Tsunade's eyes grew round. The granddaughter of the first Hokage... grandniece of the second Hokage and the student of the third Hokage... as a genin at the age of sixty?! She could imagine the stone statues of their heads cracking in shame from her failure and she screamed, "I refuse to be an old lady genin! LET'S HURRY AND FIND OROCHIMARU!"

Sarutobi watched silently as the two kids ran off to look for their friend. Sighing loudly, he raised up both hands and said, "They're more afraid of being genin at sixty years old than dying. Seriously?"

When Orochimaru heard furious pounding on his front door, he briefly wondered if it was because he hadn't paid his bills yet. He was usually punctual but due to the amount of time he spent studying and training for the upcoming Chunin exam, he was getting behind in his chores and paperwork. It would be bad if the electricity went out because he forgot to pay. Even with his good eyesight, he was not going to be able to read in complete darkness.

He let the blanket of his kotatsu table slide off his legs and lap as he stood up with a cup of steaming green tea in hand. Heading out of his room, he barely made it down the hallway before he heard a crash. Stepping out into the hallway that leads to the front door, his bedroom, the living room and his open kitchen that showed his small dining room, he stared at the two people standing before his fallen door. "You'd both better have a good explanation for breaking down my front door."

Tsunade pointed at Jiraiya. "This time, it's not my fault."

Jiraiya raised up both hands and said, "It's not my fault that your door is flimsy." He kicked at it. "This thing is like ancient."

Thanks to Tsunade. She's always slamming the door when she heads out in her usual unladylike manner, thought Orochimaru. He took a slow sip of his tea. "I'd assume you two would be tired after today's training. Why are you here?"

Tsunade grinned as she ran out and pulled in a giant bag. "Sleepover!"

"I even packed underwear this time," Jiraiya said proudly.

Orochimaru nearly choked on his tea. "When did I send out invitations for a sleepover?"

"You did now!" laughed Jiraiya as he ran inside.

"Hey! Put the door back! You broke it, pervert." She went in and hooked arms with Orochimaru while dragging her bag with the other hand.

He sighed as they headed for his room. "Get the job done properly, Jiraiya. If it falls down, I'll throw you out of my house." When Tsunade laughed, he asked, "Why are you guys here anyway?"

"We'll explain later."

"Hey wait up! I'm done!" shouted Jiraiya, running after them after speedily putting the door back.

"Try not to touch anything," he said as he slid open his Shoji door and stood aside to let them pass.

Jiraiya looked around curiously. The room was neat, just as he thought. Orochimaru's futon was spread out and fluffed, laying near his kotatsu table with its thick blue blanket. A bunch of scrolls and book was laid out on the table, showing that Orochimaru truly had no life and just spent his time studying. On the left wall was a large bookshelf containing more scrolls and books. On the other side of the wall was a table with few snake sculptures on top of it. He spotted a pair of delicate azurite earrings, shaped like tomoe and wondered who those belonged to. A wall scroll depicting a white lily and a white snake coiled around it served as the only art piece in the room.

Tsunade slid open his closet and tossed in her bag. "Hey hey Orochimaru, I'll use the bathroom to change into my pajamas. Keep on eye on pervert."

"Hmph." He walked back over to his table and sipped on his tea.

"You're even grumpier than usual," Jiraiya noted as he tossed his bag to the side and sat down at the table. He wiggled his legs under the blanket and noted that it was pretty comfortable.

Orochimaru looked over at him from the rim of his cup. "Try having your front door broken down just when you're about to understand an important concept." He placed his cup down. "Did something happen during training? Tsunade, I can understand coming to see me since we're close friends. You, on the other hand, would rather bite your own fingers off then come to me for help."

Jiraiya huffed, "How do you know I was coming here for help? Maybe I just felt like coming to bother you."

"You only bother girls," Orochimaru replied curtly. "Only reason you'd bother me is to challenge me and pray that with a 5.4667% chance you'd win so Tsunade would go on a date with you. As that is not the case, you obviously came for help." He then pointed to the bag. "Your bag is heavier than usual as well. For normal sleepovers, you'd only bring a sleeping bag, pajamas, and maybe a manga to read. You sometimes forget your toothbrush. But that bag has at least five books, ten kunai and twenty shurikens. You overpacked so much that the seams are actually tearing."

Jiraiya stared. How observant could he possibly be?!

Orochimaru smirked slightly. "Close your mouth before a fly flies into it. I know you're the chosen of the toads but still, that would ruin my appetite."

They looked over when Tsunade entered, laughing merrily. She was in a frilly green nightdress and had let down her hair. Sitting down across from Jiraiya, she said, "You're right, Orochimaru. We came here to start working on some teamwork strategies."

"What happened?" asked Orochimaru. She was unusually hardworking today.

"Sarutobi-sensei said we needed to put more effort into combining our strengths," explained Tsunade. "Otherwise, we'd never pass the Chunin exam." She then hit the table. "Then we'll be sixty-year-old genins forever!"

"Sixty-year-old... genin?" Orochimaru blinked.

"Apparently, some guy is still a genin even though he's like sixty," said Jiraiya. "We came so you can start making up strategies and then we can spend the next two months practicing."

Orochimaru let out a long breath. They were freaking out for a rather dumb reason, but it was still nice to see that they at least felt some pressure to do well and pass. His golden eyes rested on his teammates and he said, "You picked a good time. Sarutobi-sensei has to overlook an important clan meeting and won't be training us tomorrow. You two can stay at my house for two days." He rested his chin in his hand. "Where do you want to start with strategies?"

Jiraiya's stomach rumbled. "Uhhhh... can we eat first?"

Orochimaru looked over to see Tsunade nodding rapidly and he said, "Fine."

After Jiraiya changed into his red and white pajamas with green frogs all over it, and he changed into his own silk grey pajamas, they headed for his kitchen to make dinner. That's what he'd like to say. But it was more like he had to make dinner for them. Tsunade was sitting at the dining table and for some reason, she kept smiling at him. Quite frankly, he was too scared to ask her for help. She had zero culinary skills and he still remembered the gross soba noodles she made with her grandfather. The other times she had asked him for pointers, she messed up every single dish and more than tripled his grocery bill for the month. As for Jiraiya, he offered to help but he had been stirring the same sauce for his Shabu-Shabu dish for ages. He was too busy trying to talk to Tsunade (who was ignoring Jiraiya to smile at him) to even notice that the sauce had been well stirred a long time ago. He grumbled in the back of his throat as he turned his head back to the cutting board, slicing away at the beef, producing many tender thin slices for them to eat.

Jiraiya glanced over at the open kitchen, watching as Orochimaru continued standing at the cutting board and slicing away. All in all, it was actually a really nice house. The walls were a creamy sand color, that sorta reminded him of coffee and cream. The lights were strangely more orange and darker than normal light bulbs, more similar to candles than light produced by electricity. At least it produced a relaxing atmosphere. His floors were made of solid dark wood and the house had a clean smell to it.

From what he could see, once you entered the front doors, you can see the kitchen immediately to your left. The kitchen was open and next to it was the dining table with four chairs. He was surprised Orochimaru had a small vase of fake flowers on it. It might have been something his mother had done and he kept it that way. Back to the front door, once you climbed up the short three steps was the long hallway to the right that led to his bathroom, master bedroom (which was locked ever since his parents died) and then his bedroom. If you went straight, you'd hit his living room. The room only had two white sofas, a glass table in the middle and a bunch of instruments against the wall...

"Hey Orochimaru, what's with all the instruments you have in your living room?"

Orochimaru didn't look up from his cutting. "They belonged to my mother."

"Woah, she knew how to play all of those?" asked Jiraiya, sitting up from his chair. "There's both strings and wind instruments! And she even has a biwa?"

"She was musically very talented," he said, scooping up the slices of meat onto a large tray. He smiled slightly as he brought the tray over and placed it down. "She even combined it with her shinobi skills. Her instruments were modified for both combat and entertainment by my father and she could perform many powerful wind techniques with them. Her best ability though is to induce genjutsu with her singing."

Tsunade beamed. "Wish I could have met her. You always said she had a beautiful voice."

"She would have liked both of you," Orochimaru admitted. He walked over to the stove and turned off the heat. Picking up the pot of boiling water, he laid it down on the other small portable stove on the table and turn up the heat to continue boiling it. Sitting down, he picked up his chopsticks and said, "You take a piece of meat, dip it in the boiling water, dip it in the sauce and eat. This was the simplest and most filling dish I can think of since you both came over without notice."

Tsunade poked a finger into the sauce dish and squealed as she tasted it. "Wow! This tastes amazing. You really are good at cooking."

As always, she had a princess's tongue for fine food, he thought wryly. "You have to be if you live alone," he said, dipping his meat into the water.

Tsunade put a hand to her cheek and swooned as the tender piece of meat practically melted in her mouth, and the sauce spread over her tongue with its delicate sweetness and spices. "Soooo good."

Jiraiya was wolfing down three pieces at a time and he nodded. "Wow, this is really good man!"

"Eat up," he said, chewing with abit more refinement in comparison to the two. "We're going to be up late tonight. I want complete details on what you're capable of and not capable of." He glanced over at Jiraiya. "For example, you can't swim very well for some strange reason, chosen one of the toads."

Jiraiya stuck his tongue out at him. "And you can't swing around the sword without looking stupid."

"Hmph." Orochimaru had to admit that Jiraiya was right on that. He had been practicing for awhile now but his swordsmanship wasn't proceeding very well. In fact, he considered it sub-par. Sarutobi-sensei said something about him not having the right rhythm and his attacks did not flow. He agreed wholeheartedly.

Tsunade wore a smug expression on her face. "I have nothing to work on."

"You can work on getting bigger boobs," Jiraiya cackled. He stopped when she threw her dish at his head.

"Tsunade," Orochimaru said, chewing on his meat. "If you break it, you pay for it."

"Augh!" She crossed her arms and fumed. "You're lucky I can't hit you while I'm in Orochimaru's house."

"You're far too impatient and short-tempered," Orochimaru spoke up. "It would be a major hindrance in the Chunin exam. I'd hate to see you get hurt because of it."

She huffed and chewed on her meat, not entirely sure if she should be happy to hear that he didn't want to see her get hurt or be mad that he just criticized her.

He closed his eyes in thought for a moment before saying, "Out of all three of us, you have the most stamina, strength and chakra. Thanks to your Senju and Uzumaki blood, your life force is incredible, you heal fast and you last long. With your taijutsu, you're perfect for frontline combat. If we work on your evasion, you'd last even longer."

Jiraiya asked, "What's so special about Senju and Uzumaki blood?"

"The Uzumaki clan is renowned for living a very long time, having an amazing reserve of chakra and being masters at sealing techniques. Which is one reason why Tsunade can pull off her Shadow clone technique so well," explained Orochimaru. "Combine that with Senju blood, a clan also famous for long life force and chakra, and you have someone who is essentially a tank." He looked over at her and noted, "She'll probably outlive the both of us by half a century."

Tsunade immediately grew downcast. She swallowed and said quietly, "I don't want that."

"Why not?" asked Jiraiya.

Orochimaru shared his curiosity. Most people would be ecstatic to hear that they'd be living for a long time. Why did she seem unhappy about that? When she just huff and called them idiots before going back to her meal, he continued. "She's also the only female on our team. If she can work on pulling off a helpless damsel in distress act, she can catch enemies off guard for an advantageous first move and then we can jump in to support her." He pointed his chopsticks at Jiraiya. "Your fire techniques work well with crowd control and have a devastating large area of effect. Learn to better control it and manipulate it so that we don't have to worry about friendly fire. Your attacks can then be used to shield us and attack the enemy."

Jiraiya popped three more pieces of meat into his mouth and nodded. "Gotcha. But what about my other techniques?"

"Your weird hair thing helps you save up on senbons, shurikens and kunais. It does minimal damage but it's fast and also covers a wide area, which is good for at least giving the enemy pause." He swirled his meat around in the boiling water. "But what's most important at the moment, is if you can pull off the summoning technique. For one on one fight, it would be helpful for you to keep safe and augment your abilities. After all, didn't you say that those frogs can spit water and oil?" When Jiraiya nodded, Orochimaru said, "Combine your fire with the oil. Few would be able to defend against such an attack."

Jiraiya popped another ten pieces of meat into his mouth. "Whut bout chu? Whut chu oing for ka dream?"

Orochimaru stared in disgust as Jiraiya talked with his mouth full of mashed up meat. He looked at his own piece of meat that he was going to dip into his sauce and slowly lowered it. "I work well at sneak attacks," he said. "Not only that, I manage with long range and short range, thanks to my kenjutsu, variety of ninjutsu, knowledge of all the vital points in a human body, and my own taijutsu, while not as good as Tsunade, is better than most. So while I will stick with hitting from the back and use sneak attacks to finish off the enemy, I can work as support as well." He touched his sleeve and added, "I've also been studying chemistry and my father's old formulas for poison and antidotes. He still has samples left over. I'll seal them into a scroll to help us for the exam." He popped the piece of meat into his mouth and paused when his chopsticks hit the empty tray as he reached for more. During his long talk, Tsunade and Jiraiya had both finished off all of the meat.

Jiraiya burped and rubbed his belly, wearing a happy expression on his face. "Wow... I'm so full."

Tsunade slumped down in her chair and yawned. "I'm sleepy."

Orochimaru could feel a vein throbbing on his forehead. "At least help me with dishes."

After the two finished with dishes (he was once again, too scared that Tsunade would break his dishes so he made her go set up her bedding instead), they headed for his bedroom. After another hour of talk, they decided to go to sleep. Like usual, he was in the middle, Jiraiya to his right and Tsunade to his left. And of course, like usual, Jiraiya snored to the high heavens and Tsunade slept in the weirdest positions possible. This time, her leg rested on his stomach as she somehow managed to move from a vertical position to a horizontal one. It didn't help when Jiraiya's arm rested on his chest as he slept spread-eagled. Would it kill the two to sleep normally for once?

His stomach rumbled and he sighed. There was no way he'd be able to sleep on an empty stomach and in this position anyways. He also didn't have his earplugs with him to block out Jiraiya's snores, as he had ran out on their last mission where they had to do another long escort mission. With difficulty, he slowly pried Jiraiya's arm off him and wiggled out from under Tsunade's leg. Groggily, he made his way to the kitchen to boil some water for instant ramen noodles.

As the water finally boiled and he started pouring it into the cup, he yawned and looked over at the clock, noting that it was two in the morning. "Why am I still up?" he muttered, cracking an egg and adding it to his noodles.

"Eh? You're still hungry, Orochimaru?"

He turned around with his cup of instant ramen. "You and Jiraiya ate nearly all of the meat."

"Whoops," Tsunade said sheepishly, coming over to his side. "It was just really good and I couldn't help myself." She sniffed at the cup of ramen. "Actually, I'm still kinda hungry. Jiraiya ate way more than I did."

He sighed and waved at her to follow him. He took them outside to his backyard and he sat down on the smooth wooden porch. A great amount of flowers were in bloom in his garden that hugged three sides of his square shaped backyard, with the porch they were on occupying the south direction. Some of the viney plants were even climbing up the wooden fence. Giant blooming white lilies, lovely red camellias (Tsubaki), purple violets, radiant pink flowers (Asago) and golden chrysanthemum (Kiku) and another dozen type of flowers grew in his garden, which surprised her immensely. It didn't occur to her that Orochimaru had a hobby for gardening. "Did... you grow all of this?"

"It's my mother's garden," he said, chewing. "I don't like gardening. It's hard to care for them and one day of frost could wipe them all out. But I try to keep it in good conditions since she was really fond of them. That, and some of the plants in there I can actually grow and use for my poisons."

"Like... those oleander flowers?" asked Tsunade. He nodded. After taking one last sip of the soup, he passed it over to her. "Eh?"

"You're hungry, right? This is my last one. I have to go grocery shopping at the end of the week for more," he said emotionlessly.

She giggled and took it from him. He truly was soft on the inside. She picked up the ramen noodles, blew on it and eagerly popped them into her mouth.

He watched her out of the corner of his eyes before saying, "Tsunade, tell me, why were you unhappy at the idea of living for a long time?"

She slowly lowered her chopsticks and her amber eyes grew sad. "There's no point in living for a long time if I have to live alone."

"Don't be silly," he replied, turning to face her. "You'll probably have kids and grandchildren who'll still be with you-"

"But you and Jiraiya won't be," she spoke up. "It would feel weird to be the oldest person around, with no one who's my age and experienced the stuff I went through. I... I'll feel like an outsider, who doesn't belong in the right place and time. Nothing will be familiar." She lowered her head. "If I live that long, it means I'll... have to see you guys die too." She sniffed at the thought and slowly reached out to grasp his hand. "I don't want you to die."

He looked at her solemnly. "I still have plenty of years left before we need to think about that, Tsunade."

"We can not think about it, but that doesn't mean we don't know about it," she interjected.

He was once again reminded of how intelligent she was. It also pained him... to see her like this. She was always so strong, but underneath that exterior, was a fragile and loving heart. A heart that was good enough to reach out to him in friendship when he really didn't deserve it. "Tsunade," he started quietly. When she met his eyes, still looking extremely sad, he said, "I will try to find a way to live longer to be with you."

She perked up in surprise. "Is that possible? Like... what, eat more veggies and be healthy?"

He smiled slightly in amusement. "I don't know exactly what or how. But I'll try to find some way to extend my life." He squeezed her hand in return and murmured, "Because I know exactly how painful it is to be left behind. It hurts and I don't want to see that happen to you because of me."

Tsunade grinned in delight. "That's a promise, ok? And a man never breaks a promise! You will always stay alive with me."

"I promise, hime." He stiffened up when she made a sound of delight and hugged him. Eyeing the cup of noodles that was tipping precariously at his shoulder, he said, "Ummm... Tsunade-"

"Thanks for that, Orochimaru. I feel much better now," she said, letting him go.

He looked up with slightly pink cheeks. "Let's hurry and go back to sleep. We need to continue planning for tomorrow." She hastily slurped up the rest of the soup and noodles and headed inside with him.

"By the way... how do you deal with Jiraiya's snoring?" he asked as they headed for his kitchen to wash the cutlery.

"Don't you use ear plugs?"

"I ran out, hime."

"Oh uhhh... just punch him," suggested Tsunade.

Orochimaru quirked an eyebrow at the suggestion. "That would result in waking up the rest of my neighbors."

"Fine, you can borrow some of mine Orochi."

Two months later...

"There's alot of people here," Jiraiya whispered as they walked through the doors of the academy along with all the other participants.

"And they're all older than us," Tsunade added quietly as they walked down the brightly lit hallway with its dull sand colored walls and posters.

"Hmph."

Jiraiya folded his hands behind his head and glanced over at his teammate. "Nice to see that at least one of us isn't nervous." He shivered slightly. "It would suck so bad if we fail."

Tsunade winced at the thought of being a genin at the age of sixty. "Urgh..."

"What's there to be nervous about when we've thought up solutions for everything that they could possibly throw at us?" Orochimaru replied calmly, his long hair swaying behind his back as he led them past the other chatting groups.

Jiraiya sighed. "You know, as the Hokage's student, it'd be nice if sensei at least gave us some hints for the exam. Or you know, wish us good luck like the other teachers that showed up."

Tsunade elbowed him. "Hey, he has to overlook the entire exam. He wished us good luck yesterday. When we pass, he'll take us out for dinner too, remember?"

Jiraiya pursed his lips. "IF we pass."

"I'll pass. But I don't know about you, idiot," Orochimaru said with a smirk.

"Hey!" Jiraiya lowered his voice. "I've finally signed the contract and my summons are all ready to go."

"You forget that I and Tsunade also mastered the summoning technique," Orochimaru said smoothly.

Jiraiya immediately snickered. "Yea and your snake almost ate you."

Orochimaru scowled. He really didn't want to be reminded of how his first summoning went at all. Unless he was seriously going to die or something, he was definitely not going to summon Manda.

Tsunade tapped on her chin and said, "Kinda stinks we'll have to face members of our own village. Be nice if we had genins from other village participating as well."

"Course not." Orochimaru's voice carried an edge of harshness to it. "It's only been a few years since the Shinobi war. If we have people from the other villages coming, the chance for fatalities would rise dramatically."

"That's kinda... pessimistic," argued Jiraiya. "We're at peace now."

Orochimaru said crossly, "This peace was obtained only because every ninja village literally ran out of manpower. Things are far from stable. Best we could is hope for is that Sarutobi-sensei strengthens our village's military power and makes the right alliances to keep everyone safe."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "It's almost like you want there to be a war."

"I'm merely being realistic." He let out a long breath. "If there was a war, I'd have to work harder to keep you alive, idiot."

Tsunade shushed them. "Guys, we're here." She stopped at the front door to the classroom they were supposed to go to and said, "Right... come on. This is it-"

Jiraiya kicked open the door and jumped in before she could even finish. "Get ready all of you! You'll be facing the great Jiraiya, favourite student of the Third Hokage and most handsome devil in the Leaf Village!" he shouted loudly, going into his usual dramatic pose.

Tsunade's jaw dropped to the ground and Orochimaru forgot how to breathe. In one single moment... Jiraiya had managed to paint giant glowing neon target signs on their foreheads. They now looked like complete idiots one could probably take out in a single shot (it didn't help that they were the youngest there). If there were people looking for an easy win, they'd surely target them now. Secondly, by bragging in such an atrocious manner, everyone (all one hundred and two participants) probably automatically hated their guts.

"Oh what cute kids."

The three of them looked up as a kindly old man came towards them and held out three lollipops. "Are you three lost?"

Jiraiya lost all the color in his face and turned as pale as his black hair teammate. Tsunade gaped like a fish and Orochimaru stared at the Leaf head protector the old man was wearing. Jiraiya jumped backward and pointed. As blunt as a rock, he said, "Are you the sixty-year-old genin?!"

Orochimaru facepalmed in disbelief and Tsunade hit Jiraiya on the head. "You can't openly say things like that you idiot!"

The old man adjusted his glasses and laughed. "Oh no I'm quite flattered. I'm actually seventy. It's nice that you think I'm a decade younger."

"EHHHHHHHHHH?!" The three kid's eyes went as wide as saucers.

Darkwings13:

-Apparently, you can actually be a genin forever lol. Kosuke Maruboshi chose to be one forever, Might Duy, Guy's father was also a genin up till his death at age 35. I also mirrored Jiraiya's dramatic announcement like what Naruto did for his first exam.

-It also amuses me that the kids would fear being stuck at the level of genin when they're at age sixty, instead of dying lol. And you'll all see a flashback of how the Sannin's first summoning went in the next chapter. Yes Manda tried to eat Oro xD

-Kinda sad that Tsunade really only does have Orochimaru left from her time period :'L (I totally cried at Jiraiya's death). But then again, she wanted him back in the village in her infinite Tsukuyomi. Think she'd dote on his child and helped him get his kid in the Academy and put in good words to help him. Otherwise it really made no sense how Konoha practically let him slide by with everything he's done in the Boruto manga lol. And they both look frickin young at age 70! D8

-I'm having Orochimaru's mom being musically talented as an inspiration for his future Sound Village :)

-Oh yea I'm also having a poll. Who's your favorite Sannin? Let me know! xD

Hi JigokuShoujosRevenge! Hahaha, not to mention he targeted the wrong person too XD Whenever he reflects back to his first kiss, all he's ever gonna see is Orochimaru LOL they're probably both as equally traumatized as Sasuke and Naruto. Though Sasuke seemed more resigned when they accidentally ended up kissing in another episode of Shippuden haha. Glad you found it cute and thanks again for reading and reviewing my friend. :D

Oh hello sagar hussain! Nice to meet you and thank you kindly for your words friend. Glad to hear you're enjoying the story! I'm having fun writing their adventures as kids XD Think it's also because I teach, that I see some rather hilarious stuff that kids tend to do. And I update at least once a week on Thursday or Saturday. :) I can still possibly update on the other days too.

Ahaha greetings Lord Creator! *holds up another girly cocktail* Cheerios friend. Glad you found the irony in what Oro says about the whole arm thing. ^_^ teehee, after like 10 chapters, of like 50 thousand words, I finally manage to write Orotsu first date. And here's a speedy new update! Awesome timing Lord Creator! :D thanks for reading and the great drink greetings as always! Much appreciated.