Chapter 25: Brothers In Arms

Shikaku shifted uncomfortably in the cool room, It felt like a morgue in here, or maybe it was just because he knew that there was a morgue on the other side of the door. In any event, he waited in the anteroom of Orochimaru's lab for the others to show up.

He didn't know how many to expect. After meeting with Jiraiya at lunch today he'd received a message from him at the end of the day to meet here at this facility. Shikaku had been surprised when he got there to find Inoichi and Chouza already waiting for him.

Jiraiya arrived and much to Shikaku's surprise there were a couple of ANBU with him. The shadow-nin eyed them warily, wondering why they were here and if perhaps this meeting were over before it even started. He relaxed just a bit as the two simply took a spot along one wall and waited quietly.

The last to arrive was Yoshino. She walked over and spoke quietly to Jiraiya. The white-haired man nodded and she then crossed to stand with Shikaku who started to ask "What…?" but Yoshino shushed him as Jiraiya was starting to speak.

"We've been given a mission…" he began but one of the two men standing next to Orochimaru interrupted.

"On whose orders?"

Jiraiya crossed his arms over his chest, looked at the man and smiled, "The daimyo."

Slight flicker of motion around the room as people shifted slightly. Of course the daimyo was well within his rights to give orders directly to shinobi, it's just…why would he?

"Is there a reason the…"

Jiraiya held up one hand. "The reason is that they cannot come from the Hokage."

The room fell silent so Jiraiya continued. "We have three objectives that we need to take out simultaneously. Orochimaru is familiar with the site in Amegekure, he'll lead one team there. Nara , you know the location in Wave, take Akamichi and Yamanaka with you. Sakamoto will go with you to Wave but once there she has her own objective. "

Shikaku turned to look at Yoshino who merely nodded her head up and down once and answered "Hai."

"Is that the third site?" he asked puzzled.

"The third site is up to me and my masked friends in the corner over there," Jiraiya answered, nodding back at the two ANBU. "Yoshino can explain her task to you on your way to Wave.

The female ANBU spoke up, "We would like to confirm the orders, Jiraiya."

"Of course," Yoshino answered before he could and walked over to the two of them.

"We can go into another room where it's quieter if you like," the female ANBU told her.

"No, this is fine. I was told to expect this. There cannot be a document so my memories will have to serve. They should probably all know it so that they're satisified," Yoshino replied, nodding to the others in the group.

"Very well, then," the second ANBU said, pulling a chair over for Yoshino to sit. "This is a variant of Jingyakkou no jutsu. Rather than helping you uncover hidden memories, it helps us unlock sealed memories and ascertain the … accuracy of those."

Yoshino nodded and they began. It really did feel like the first time Mugato and the other ANBU had tried to recover her memories about Asako, a peaceful, not-quite-sleepy feeling. She recalled the elaborate gardens at the daimyo's estate, strolling in them behind Koharu merely there as her attendant. With her recollection she confirmed that it was indeed the daimyo who authorized the action, to be initiated at Koharu's discretion. She recalled kneeling in front of Koharu as the daimyo listed his instructions and Koharu sealed each statement. After the sealing, Yoshino herself hadn't even known the locations of the other sites, only her own task and that she was the messenger to tell Jiraiya it was time to initiate the action. She now knew the three locations as well as her own fourth mission and started to recite them but the female ANBU stopped her there.

"The orders are authentic," she said, satisfied, her voice kind behind her mask. "No need to list them. Each team knows their objective."

"Okay, then," Jiraiya said, "Well, two teams have some traveling to do if they're going to be in place by tomorrow night."

Orochimaru rolled his eyes at his teammate. "I might have known you'd pick the one with the least amount of work." he said with his own arms crossed at his chest. He sighed, "You two, you're with me," he motioned at the two shinobi on either side of him, one of whom seemed faintly familiar to Shikaku, but the other he was certain he'd never even seen before, not even around the village.

His friends turned to leave, but Shikaku hung back for a moment. "There's um, something I need to tell Jiraiya," he told Chouza. You two go on back to the apartment with Yoshino. I'll catch up with you."

Shikaku waited until the room had cleared out. Orochimaru and his men were back in the lab, gathering whatever they needed. The two ANBU had departed after a brief conversation with Jiraiya. His own friends were already out the door and on their way back home to prepare.

"Jiraiya-sama?" Shikaku asked. "Is your site the one that I think it is?"

Jiraiya just paused, preparing to hoist his large scroll onto his shoulder. "What do you think?"

Shikaku cleared his throat. How to frame the question. "Is that…," he cleared his throat again, "wouldn't that be…" Hell, he knew a handful of words, each with their own subtle legal distinction but they were all sticking in his throat.

"Treason?" Jiraiya asked smiling at him helpfully. "We aren't helping a foreign government. Sedition? Well, if we fuck this up then the meeting here tonight could certainly be seen as seditious. Insurrection? My government's already being co-opted by Mugato and his co-horts who have a vested interest in maintaining tensions between nations I prefer to think of this as counter-insurgency."

"But you're talking about destroying a government installation," Shikaku said in frustration.

"Hey, it was your idea," Jiraiya shrugged.

"As a THOUGHT exercise, as running through one plausible scenario. I didn't think… I didn't think you'd actually do it. I didn't think you'd actually destroy Tsunade's lab."

"Tsunade's lab is destroying her," the white-haired man answered simply.

Shikaku's anger flared white-hot for a minute at the older man's flippant attitude. "Is this about your government, or about the girl!"

Jiraiya laughed then and clapped him on the shoulder. "It's always about the girl, Nara . Honor the gods, love your woman and defend your country, in that order."

Shikaku gave up. He already knew that even though he'd only considered it as a hypothetical scenario, he'd run through it enough times in his mind to know that this was the only solution. They had to take out all the locations. As close to the same time as possible. Even his, the work he and Tsunade had done, all the notes, data, test results. It all had to go.

He sighed, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Okay," he said looking up. "You should know that there is a portion of the lab that is reverse pressurized for a reason. The virus is in there. It's inert unless combined with the activator but best not to take any chances. The last thing you want to do is to blow it up. It's a common enough virus, everyone here in Konoha's probably susceptible. You wouldn't want them exposed even if it is inert for time being . It would be really bad later on."

Jiraiya nodded, "Gamaguchi Shibari."

"Yeah, that should do it. Be sure to destroy it from within the Toad Mouth Bind. Orochimaru's going to need to do something similar in Amegakure."

"You should tell him."

"Jiraiya – what are you going to do after this? What are any of us going to do?"

"Me? I'm going back to Mt. Myoukobo ," he grinned and placed his hands palms together in front of him and bowed to Shikaku. "I'm going to be a holy monk, you know. As for you? I suggest you focus on the 'love your woman' part. We'll both have satisfied the 'defend your country' requirement."

Jiraiya hoisted his scroll. "See you around."

Shikaku watched him walk out the door then turned to go to the lab. Orochimaru was finishing up with his two men who soon departed.

Shikaku briefed him on precautions when dealing with the location in Amegakure, although he sensed he was talking to someone who already had sense enough to have planned to address that.

Orochimaru nodded. Seeing Shikaku hesitating he asked. "A question, Nara-chan?"

"Why us? Why isn't Minato here?"

"Sarutobi whispers in his ear. He has convinced him to stay uninvolved in Konoha for the time being, to focus on his diplomatic missions. Jiraiya sent word. I don't know if it was intercepted or … received and not replied to. 'Quanto acrior quam serpentus dens…'"

"What?"

"An old saying from a very old language. The full expression would translate to 'how sharper than a serpent's tooth to have a thankless child.'"

"But Minato's not like that. It must have been intercepted. He'd never …"

Orochimaru cut him off, "You presume too much. Perhaps I refer to Sarutobi and Jiriaya? Or even Sarutobi and myself? In any event, it does not matter much. He's leaving after this, isn't he?"

"I…yes. He is." Shikaku thought about saying that he didn't know but realized he couldn't get away with lying to the snake sannin.

"Hn, yes. I suppose with Tsunade gone to Dan, Sarutobi against him and Minato unresponsive, he thinks there's nothing to keep him here anymore," his voice fell to a whisper. "Not even me."

Shikaku studied him for a moment and started to ask, "Do you lov…"

Once again, Orochimaru interrupted him. "Oh, you can attach whatever label you want to it. I find that I will be very much diminished if he is not here with me. I suppose that matches the definition of something."

A/N: Thanks to Randomonium for the Latin, the quote I think originates in King Lear but I'm sure the sentiment has been echoed throughout the ages in a variety of languages.