Chapter Five
Jiraiya was here. Just the Hokage's luck. She snickered as she passed by the huge man, recognition flashing through his eyes. He stopped just infront of the ANBU stationed outside before he turned towards the little spitfire he hadn't had the chance to see in months.
"How are you, Rin-chan?" He asked the little girl who seemed to not grow any more than a few inches in months. She smiled, showcasing her teeth (which somehow had a red undertone to it, no matter how white it looked) before she bounded up to him and slapping his thigh. He howled in pain, eyes bulging out of their sockets as she smiled up at him and chirped an "I'm fine, Jiraiya-oji! How are you?" He grumbled under his breath before rubbing his thigh that was throbbing painfully. Who knew such a small girl could hit that hard?
"Great, gre—" He was cut off as the Hokage shouted for him to come inside the office already, before he shook his head and pat the kid's head. "You heard the old man, Rin-chan. If you're wondering, Tsunade went to the Hospital to help and Orochimaru is, well, good luck finding him." He said, waving the little girl off as he entered the room, smile slowly dropping off of his face.
He had more serious matters to attend to.
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He shivered as he washed his hands again. Serpentine eyes stared back at him as he traced the pale face the mirror showed him. His hair was up in an intricate up do, held by a white stick. His white and purple yukata matched his appearance beautifully, as the dark purples and the fit of his clothes complemented and contrasted against him. He was in his small house at the very edge of the village, covered by thick canopies of the Hashirama trees and boulders, the moss-covered outside of his sunken house just a little shy of 12 meters underground, the perfect camouflage in this green infested area. He winced as he ran a finger on the mirror, tracing his eyes. He couldn't take the stares. He couldn't take the whispers. No matter how much he wanted them to accept him, they just wouldn't give him a chance.
He combed through his long dark hair, untangling the knots that somehow existed in his hair. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. Wasn't white the colour of purity? His skin was white. Why didn't the people like him then? They avoided his path and gaze like he were a leper, why did they do that? Don't people want to befriend men and women who had power? He was powerful, and that was being humble. Don't people, civilian or not, want to have connections with people who have money? He wore a lot of expensive yukatas and hair pieces, why did they not want to talk to him? He had a lot of money, cash or credit in their banks, you name it. He had land. So what was so different and disgusting about him that people avoid even being in his presence?
It wasn't fair.
They weren't fair.
What was so different about him? People liked Jiraiya, and that man was an open, extreme pervert. He always had the gall to peek on the onsens. Didn't people dislike perverts? Of course they liked him, he taught Namikaze Minato. People liked Tsunade, who beat people up if they so much as gaze at her torso. Don't people not like abusive people? Of course, people liked her, she was the granddaughter of the Shodaime. She helped at the hospital. She was a medic.
"What's so different about me?" He asked out loud, thoughts running miles per second. He healed people too, didn't he? He helped in the hospital too, even voluntarily helping out in the morgue where people did not want to work.
Orochimaru of the Sannin was just a nobody, screamed his brain before his golden eyes sharpened into slits.
He was a shinobi of Konoha, a loyal child of the Motherland. He fought tooth and nail for Konoha, and his place in her heart. But why do the people avoid him like he experimented on children? He was one of the few people who donated to the orphanage regularly, and had probably donated more than their annual stipend. He did so much for Konoha but why won't she accept him as he is? Is he doing something wrong? Was he wrong? He didn't want to change because he is who he is now. He is Orochimaru, a child of Konoha. Not Orochimaru of the Sannin, not the Snake Sannin, not one of Konoha's Shinobi. He was and is Orochimaru, Konoha's son, not by blood, not by force, but by will. He was willing to kill and bleed for her, is he not? So what was so different about him that people don't want to approach and know him?
Suihebi, one of his albino constrictors, slithered over to him and wordlessly wrapped around his ankle, slithering her way to her contractor's arm. "Are you still thinking about that? We're still by your side, even the Lizards support you." He sighed and ran a finger ontop of the constrictor's head, feeling the smooth skin of his companion. "Don't mind them." He smiled, shaking his head a little, before turning away from his mirror. "Let us go." His friend suddenly said, startling Orochimaru from his thoughts.
"Where to?"
"The little girl." Ah, Nohara Rin. "Why would we go to her? I can't seem to remember introducing you to her." He said, racking his brain for the supposed meeting between his ex-ward and his snake. "You didn't. I know you already heard her current issue." He thought about what the little girl could do, before the Snake Sanniin remembered some middle aged women near the gates gossiping about 'a little girl bit off an ear and almost killed two men!', but in his mind, there was no way Rin did that. The last time he saw her was years ago, and he was sure that the little girl would be under-aged and too small for the Academy. Unless she found a new hobby and she went around hurting people. He silently nodded his head to agree when he heard a frantic series of knocking on his door. He tensed up. No one knew where this house was, and this was about a few miles into the dangerous forest. Immediately, Suihebi was hissing and slithering towards the ground, just a little behind her master, before he slowly opened the door. A head of short, brown, apple-styled hair popped through the gap so quickly Orochimaru didn't have the speed to push the door back in it's place. He stuck a kunai just a hair away from the smiling eyes that greeted him cheerfully as his own widened in shock.
"Hi, Oro-ossan! I'm sorry, I'm disturbing you but I got lost in the way of life and I really don't want to go do it on the ground and I really need to pee!" The little girl said as she slipped through the door and went on the opposite direction of where the bathroom is. "Toilet is the other way, Nohara." He called out as he gained his bearings, schooling his features into a blank state. How could she have tracked down this house? Not only was it extremely far from the center of the village, but it was hidden with layers upon layers of High-level Genjutsu, camouflaged to fit the surroundings, is almost a few feet underground and hundreds of traps only people on his level could avoid or just run through. She ran past him as she shuddered, slamming the door as she entered the toilet room. Suihebi hissed in surprise as he picked her up from the ground before dumping her on the couch. He paced around as he thought of how the little girl got past his defenses.
It was impossible. Even Jiraiya, who was considerably good in tracking and have been his teammate for years longer than the child's whole life, has never caught sight of him unless he wanted to be seen. Tsunade, for all her mastery over medical things and sensitivity to internal chakra, still couldn't track him down, even in their wildest dreams. "Orochimaru-sama?" The snake hissed as the door to the toilet room opened and out came a little girl who she was unfamiliar with.
"I focused on taijutsu!" The little girl said as she bounded up to the Snake Sannin, Suihebi hissing behind him. His eyes widened minutely, as a certain memory became a little more prominent than the others. She couldn't have remembered, can't she? She was too young back then.
She couldn't have understood, much less remember what he said. "Really? What made you want to focus on taijutsu?" He asked as she sat down on the plain couch, drawing her feet up into a lotus position as she snatched Suihebi from the side and promptly began stroking the large constrictor. The child was too forceful for her own good.
"You said I had to be a taijutsu specialist, so I focused on that. I plan on being the second medic-nin to ever be allowed in the frontlines to fight." She said as Suihebi struggled to escape, hissing at the little girl with as much bravado as she could. He couldn't help but melt as the child opened up to him, his eyes turning a little too glossy for his taste. He was, and is, discriminated and feared, but this little girl was giving him the basic respect and the openness he longed for. So he sat beside the girl and listened as she rambled on and on about her friend, Hanei, her taijutsu teacher, (he may have seen Maito Dai before, once or twice) and wanting to rip someone's face off. He blinked at that, as she told him the story of how she bit an ear and tore hair off of two chuunin, in a fit of rage because they 'talked shit' as she put it, and 'I won't allow that on my watch!' as she moved and reenacted how she took the two men down.
It reminded him of one of the more advanced Hebi style taijutsu, constrict-hit hard-hit fast-takedown. It lacked finesse but that was one of the more effective styles for the bigger users and stronger fighters. It was not even good for a two on one fight. How she pulled that off was surprising, considering her weight and height. He studied how she moved and saw how her muscles tensed under her clothes, how she was a perfect candidate to teach his way of fighting.
"Would you like to learn a better tai-style? You seem to always use constriction and painful hits." He said as he pulled Suihebi away from the little girl. She smiled, heterochromatic eyes glinting with mischief as she enthusiastically nodded. He stood up and lead her deeper inside his house, tensing when a small warm hand wrapped around his cold, pale ones. He flinched and almost pulled away from her because of his instinct. It made his heart melt and stomach churn as he carefully squeezed it, not expecting her to return it. She must have only held onto him as she didn't want to get lost. She squeezed back twice as she skipped next to him. He held back a smile and relaxed.
"We shall study the basic stances first." He said, tying his loose hair once again. He spread his feet apart but not to shoulder width, just spread to the point where he looked like he was just standing. He put his arms a few inches infront of the same level his collarbones would have been aligned and kept his fists relaxed. She didn't follow his stance as she stared, eyes discerning everything and she dropped to her own stance. Her feet spread and leveled her center of gravity before her arms went up and her elbows stuck close to her torso. Her fists were also relaxed, just like his. So she wanted to spar first, huh? Well, who was he to decline that?
She made the first move. She was in front of him in the blink of an eye, for a civilian. For the Sannin, it was quite an impressive feat, given her age and supposed lack of formal training, but it was still slow. One hand reached out and in an instant she was on the close range defensive. She tilted slighty to the right, knees bending and feet spreading, dropping her body down as her left arm inched closer to protect her left side. She rushed as he gave her a blatant opening and a small hand shot out to punch him. He almost let himself get hit before he, fortunately, changed his mind and her fist struck the ground instead, making a few large cracks appear on his floor. One of his perfectly shaved eyebrows rose as he grabbed her wrist and twisted, a sickening crack ringing in his ears. He expected the little girl to surrender, before she jumped at him and wrapped her now broken arm around his and pulling him over her shoulder, putting as much strength as she can to flip him. He stuck to the floor with chakra before he felt himself unglue and get flipped over, and he smiled as he twisted his body in the air, twisting his arm free of her grasp and instead, grabbed her broken wrist and threw her to the ground. She cried out as she curled up on the floor, hands cluthing her lower back, moaning in pain.
"Let me heal you." He offered but stopped himself as her hands glowed a light green, and she slowly straightened out on the floor. Her wrist glowed as she ran her chakra through it first before directing it to her back, and he couldn't help but frown as he spot the various black and blue bruises on her arm that he couldn't see earlier. Her upper arms were littered in nasty bruises and her lower back was a big, purple splotch that contrasted against her pale skin. Was she being abused? Was she not being treated fairly in the orphanage? Was she getting bullied? All these questions ran through his mind before she pulled herself together and sat on the floor, short brown hair ruffled as she scratched her nape. Was that a piercing on her neck? He grabbed her by the nape and twisted her a little so he could see the silver piercing. It twinkled as light hit it's surface and he resisted the urge to grimace. Her green and brown eyes stared at him in confusion before understanding flooded them, and she pulled it out. His eyes widened as he saw the piercing become the rounded, blunt head of a single senbon, before he focused on the small, barely readable 'storage' writtien in a small circle on her neck. She smiled reassuringly as she stabbed herself with the senbon, (or atleast how it looked like to him) and pat herself free of the dust.
"It's for emergency, lockpicking purposes, sorry." She said as she reached for his hand and he instinctively flinched before he relaxed his hand as she held onto his own wrist. It slid down to his hand in a comforting manner, and held his in a gentle grip. "Let go of my hand," he said, slightly disappointed as she obeyed him, "-we must train you how to fight. Now, do your best to copy this stance." And copy she did.
She followed everything he showed her perfectly that even he forgot the time. She pulled and pushed her weight throughout her body and her natural flexibility were a great match, considering what she had done to his floor. She smiled and laughed as he told her she would have to go home, lest she be found out that she 'hangs out' with him. She said it wasn't like he was a pedophile or something, mumbling something that sounded strangely close to 'Danzo' and 'cursed hickeys' before beaming up at him, an imaginary light bulb lighting up in her idea.
"I'll go visit you here again!" She said, bouncing on her toes, making her hair bob up and down too. He fought the growing concern he had for the child, for people are judgemental. He knew people were already gossiping about her, what more if they were both seen together, social outcast with another outcast? That screamed disaster, and as much as the chance to teach her better tai-styles sounded, she had told him earlier that she just enrolled in the Academy, therefore, her using his style of fighting would be in vain, considering they grade the children by the basic stances, and not the advanced ones, even in simple sparring.
He shook his head in a firm no, where he would just cut their unexpected training, unless he be gossiped to be a pedophile. It would not do his already hurt image any good if he was ever seen with a little girl. Jiraiya, maybe, would suffer from a little dent since he was so well loved, but he just couldn't afford that. If it came to wanting to be accepted and wanting to teach her, the former far outweighed the latter, and he reassured himself that he was doing the right thing for both himself and Nohara Rin.
Suihebi watched on as the little girl smiled at her master, and she couldn't help but think she was a good companion to him. Not in a romantic sense, but one platonic relationship. She still couldn't understand how stupid some of the people Orochimaru chose to protect were, and she'd rather see her master protect people that would also protect him. She didn't like how the village treated him and she most definitely didn't like how they weren't even thankful for his efforts. It was stupid, not to say rude, when people gossiped and stared instead of thanking Orochimaru for fighting for them, for risking his only life on the battlefield for then, for protecting the village that treated him with less respect than one would do to someone that saved them dozens upon dozens of time. She continued to watch as the little girl healed herself and impressed her master, babbling on about her 'knee getting stuck to a shelf' and 'middle of the library' and whatnot, once again reenacting what happened then.
"But why?" She protested as she held onto his sleeve, and bouncing on her toes. Her master sighed and explained how people would judge her if they see her hanging out with him and some people would do anything to get under his skin. She seem to understand what he was saying as she sadly nodded her head in understanding, lips pursed in a tight line.
They walked her outside the house and quickly, before Orochimaru even had the chance to offer her a ride back home, the little girl high tailed her way away from the pair after she yelled out her goodbyes. She visibly pushed chakra to her legs and they almost glowed a soft hue as she quickly disappeared from their line of sight. Suihebi was about to say something before she notice the soft smile on her master's face. Ah yes, she would be a good companion to her master.
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She smiled as she ran through the forest, mission going extremely well in her point of view. The mission was to track him down and start befriending him, (as she'd rather the man was an ally instead of one whole pain in the neck running amok) as expected of a Sannin and future ex-member of the Akatsuki, he was hard to track down. The paths and perimeters that surrounded the house were littered with hundreds of traps and layer after layer of genjutu. It made her scared that she somehow run into village intruders considering there was war looming ahead, but the thought quickly vanished by itself when she coated her brain thoroughly with a thick film of chakra that repelled the genjutsu. It was good that she learned how to control her chakra inside her body or she would've have been dead by the time she took her second step into the general direction of the house. She got hit a few (read: multiple) times square in the body but managed to evade the others and get only a few shallow grazes on her arms and legs. She only got lucky as the house she knocked on was his, the moment completely unplanned and she was genuinely close to peeing her pants and really didn't want to do it on the forest floor.
The moment she felt the familiar chakra texture behind the door, she popped her head in and greeted the surprised man in front of her. She then technically trespassed his property even more as she entered the house without permission and quickly went to where she thought the toilet was located. Orochimaru has kindly told her that it was on the other way.
They talked and she opened up to the man, visibly seeing how her presence got him to relax and truly smile, unlike the ones he had sported during Naruto and Naruto Shippuden. Those were vile, and were smiles that were only used by people who only truly given up on their perspective of themselves and their image. So she talked, and gave him the kind of respect that one would need if they were starting to give up on themselves. She listened and strained her ears as he replied to her and treated her not like a child, but a person whom he could talk freely to. She held onto him as he doubted himself and told herself, that on a scale of 0 to a hundred, and his self doubt was on the ninety-nines, if she could give him hope and make that number drop down to ninety-eight or ninety-seven, then maybe, just maybe, she can help him move forward and save him, that her decision to help him was right and help herself learn from where he fell short and where he failed.
They would both be saving each other from themselves, she realized, she could literally be a treasure trove of information about this world and its debatably dark and bloody future, but her knowledge was nowhere near his. She could avoid rookie mistakes and have his guidance, and she would do her best to clear his name and help him with his future troubles, mainly regarding him not getting the fashion disaster that many wanted to get, the Hokage hat. She pooled chakra in her stomach and pushed them to her legs, pushing her to run faster as she raced to get back to the orphanage against time to be able to still eat dinner. It was dark and stars were slowly appearing on the cloudless night sky, and she took the time to admire the unpolluted atmosphere, breathing in the air as she slowed to a jog and took in the beautiful heavens that fell upon Konoha. Leaves rustled as the wind blew on the vast forest, Rin stopping as the breathtaking view of the open sky and its jewels shone bright, it was the best she had seen in both lifetimes.
A twig snapped and she whipped her head around and saw Maito Dai, his son nowhere to be seen. He gave her a forced smile as she visibly tensed up in his presence. "Hello, Rin." He said, keeping his distance. "Would you like to talk about something?" He sat on the ground, his normally loud and sunny disposition nowhere to be found. She contemplated whether or not she should talk to him considering it was near the end of dinner time, but opted to talk to him as she likely would have food saved for her, either by Hanei or Totsuka. She walked over to where he sat and made herself comfortable a little ways from him. She fiddled with her fingers as the silence fell upon them both.
"You... you're hurting aren't you?" He suddenly said that for the second time, she whipped her head around to look at him, eyes widening. "No." She said, adamant that she had already moved on in her mind and she doesn't have to rely on him of all people to listen to her. He remained quiet but shot her an unbelieving look as she pursed her lips. "Not anymore." She said as an afterthought, voice meek as suddenly, she wasn't so sure anymore. Was she finished mourning for herself? For her past life? Was she even properly doing it? Slowly, her head lowered as the ground suddenly looked interesting. "You're still so young, Rin. No need to carry all your burdens alone." He said as he pulled grass from the ground, not paying her any attention. She choked on her breath and shakily exhaled, opting to pull grass too.
"No one would understand why I am doing this." She whispered as her hands stopped moving. "I'm not stupid," she told him, "—you might tell me to explain it to you for you to understand, but I know. You would never understand." She said, voice cracking as she thought about countless nights just thinking about what would happen if she told Hanei about her real self, if she told Totsuka about her knowledge, if she told Gai that his father would die protecting him.
If she told Kakashi to treasure his team so he wouldn't end up all alone and broken.
"How are you so sure?" He asked, finally craning his head so he was looking at her, plucking grass. "Sure of what?" She retorted, knowing full well what he meant. "Even if I don't understand instantly, it doesn't mean that I'll never." He reasoned as she turned and stared at him with such intensity he almost flinched. She knew, she was slowly slipping. She didn't want to, but could you blame her? Blame him? Her problems and secrets were slowly creeping up on her and she didn't even know what to mind first. She was losing this fight and she was alone. You don't have to be alone, whispered the small voice of hope at the back of her head, and she prayed to whatever deity out there to help her choose the right thing to do.
She exhaled and told him a story.
"Once upon a time, in a place where there were no shinobi or chakra, there lived a boy with a weak heart. He was born to a mother who earned her living through selling her body, and a father whose job was one many considered bad and immoral. He had nothing his father could be proud of, while his mother was just starting to get her life back. He had no one, besides people who only catered to him and his needs because of his place in their society. That society had a difficult mindset, and that mindset was kill or be killed, take or get taken from, hurt or get hurt." She took a large inhale and slowly tapped her fingers against her knees as she calmed herself and continued the story.
"He was lucky to be born to a man with such high standing, and did his best so his father could be proud of him. He knew his father was disappointed, for he had a weak heart and couldn't even climb stairs without getting dizzy. He wanted to show his sincere apologies because of how he was, and did everything he could to show how sorry he was that he was weak. One day, in a self-defense training gone wrong, he ended up in the hospital, an impromptu surgery that failed." She curled up on the ground, doing her very best not to cry.
"There were so many things he wanted to do, so many things he could have done, and so much more that he would have changed if he was given a chance. All of those chances were ripped away from him just because he had a defective heart. He died that day, looking at his father's back that was turned to him as death dragged him." Dai was quiet as he absorbed what she was telling him, and opened his mouth to ask before he was cut off.
"Or so he thought. He was snatched from, and he was still hurting. He didn't know where he was or what happened to him. He was still alive, and it seemed that he was given another chance. And now, here she was, still grieving as her whole life and what she was was ripped away from her, fate forcefully shoving unto her a life that she never wanted, a life that she didn't need. But now she has to, because she can. She can make changes to the world, make it less bloody and less kill-for-the-kill-count place for her fellow children." At this point she didn't care if Dai understood what she was trying to tell him, and what she implied but she was desperate to get it off of her chest.
"She was given a chance to do what she couldn't do, change what she couldn't change and help those she couldn't help. She wasn't ready to do all of these, yet she is forced to, for lives are on the line. She was alone and grieving, lost and confused, but it doesn't mean that she was not trying to be strong for taking all of it in stride." She felt tears prickling her eyes and she shut them close, slowly rocking herself on the ground. "But sometimes," she said as she felt warm arms wrap around her little body yet she still continued as Dai slowly rocked her side to side, "—sometimes, being strong was all she could do because she was desperate, feeling her own sanity snapping because she tried, no, wanted to let the others keep theirs." Her voice cracked at the end and she felt the man tense in understanding, arms shielding her from the moonlight.
"Sometimes, the strong need protection and help too." A deep, familiar voice said as she turned her blurry vision to where silver hair shone in the moonlight. Sakumo stood infront of them and he knelt down, hand going up and patting her head. She didn't sense him nearby but what could you expect from the man that was once Konoha's pride?
"We may not understand now but we can work on it. You're not alone anymore, Rin. You've got your own little family here to help you." He said as Dai stood up with her still wrapped in his arms, and she wiped her tears away with the hem of her shirt. "Besides, the Power of your Youth shall prevail in the end! Gender does not matter!" Dai said in encouragement as Sakumo her to carry in his arms. "Thank you." She whispered as she accepted her forced fate, but didn't say anything else. "You're always allowed to be weak, Rin. Being strong is being able to admit that you need help, not being able to do it all alone." Sakumo reasoned as she felt a new set of tears run down her cheeks. "Okay, okay." She said as she felt her stomach rumble, and pushed Sakumo so she would be let down. Once her feet touched the ground, she fiddled with her hands and bowed. "I'm really thankful for everything you have both done today." She said, hoping her sincerity successfully came across. "You're welcome. Now, let's get you home now. It's almost nine in the evening." Dai said as he led the way, babbling about his students' progress so she could be distracted. She smiled and let herself get drowned by various training regimen options and went along with it.
She had allies now. She had family. And that was all the incentive she needed to put up with the clusterfuck she's living in.
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Hiruzen massaged his temples as he stared down at the papers that held the news he dreaded. Iwa nin and some Kumo sleeper agents had been found on their borders, with no indication of real defection or desperate measures against Konoha. Files upon files of fake identity cards stared back at him and he fought off a grimace as one more caught his eyes. He had been putting it off for a few hours now but he couldn't help himself. On his table, was Nohara Rin's birth file. It stared at him with obvious indifference, what with being paper and all. He sighed and open the folder containing the little girl's documents.
Nohara Rin, 5
Father: Deceased
Mother: Deceased
Remaining relatives: N/A
The little girl was currently under Shiokaze Haru's wing, as she had said when they met up, but one thing caught his eye.A note with a sign from his prized student, Orochimaru at the bottom of the second page. He skimmed over it and he schooled his features into a blank one.
enough spiritual chakra to be mid to high chuunin, physical chakra the same as the average genin. gifted.
-O
A child with enough spiritual chakra to rival a chuunin? Physical on par with a graduated wartime genin? Gifted? He frowned as he remembered meeting one of the civilians with the genes more suited for the shinobi lifestyle, but he ended up in the mental ward of the Hospital for he couldn't tame the overflow of chakra that flowed through his very veins. He saw things, and became violent, unable to control himself. There were reasons some civilians are encouraged to become shinobi, not because they had talent, but because they may become hazards when left alone. Rin definitely showed her streak of violence, but he was sure she was accepted into the academy. Did she see things? His frowns deepened as he thought it through.
If so, he had to make her graduate early so she could use all those pent up energy so she couldn't be harmful to her fellow villagers. War children always grew up to be particularly violent or eccentric, but he hoped this problem doesn't apply to the little girl, considering her mental evaluation hasn't been recorded as of now. Records only become important when one enters the academy or reaches the age of 8 in civilian solitude. He caught wind of gossip that Hatake Sakumo had volunteered to pay for a mental psyche for the child but couldn't do so legally when her formal guardian came barging in and escaped with the little girl. He may have to talk to the child again to make her go get one.
For a child not even formally a genin, she sure was giving him a lot more trouble than most jounin and chuunin. He figured his stress may be stemming from, and was sure it must be because of wartime pressure and tension. Border patrols were becoming more and more dangerous as intruding nin trespassed and fought his men. Jiraiya stared at him as he put the Nohara girl's file and stared right at him. "And the situation at Amegakure?" He asked as his student visibly tensed and aged at the same time. He felt sorry, for he was tasked with such important missions and not get proper breaks.
"Something is going to happen. Hanzo, he... I don't think Amegakure is stable." He said, tiredness leaking out of his form and he looked more like an old man rather than a bachelor the same age as Senju Tsunade. He pursed his lips and he stared at nothing blankly, promptly spacing out to manage his thoughts. If ANBU with Konoha's famous tattoos get caught sniffing around the place, it would be another front they have to be careful of. One man appeared on his thoughts but decided against it, for he didn't want to have to result to using force on the small village, and considered him as a last resort. He knew he'd be getting quite the nagging from the Council but they would have to trust his judgement now. Certainly, he became Hokage because somehow, the Nidaime saw something in him and not in Danzo. He knew his old friend was brutally efficient, but sometimes, you just need to be efficient. Not everything that is perfect is good. If it went too good, the Shinobi population would become tense as something too good in the middle of war was hard to believe. Maybe if he sent someone people believed in? Orochimaru or Hatake Sakumo, maybe? The both of them? He snapped back to reality and thought he'd have to pull anther all nighter to get things running. Jiraiya was still looking distressed and he slowly relaxed when Hiruzen pulled something out of his drawer.
"Here," he said, handing Jiraiya a blank notebook. "—relax and write the next instalment of your series." He grinned as his student leered lecherously as he held the blank notebook in his hands, pen already scratching the top. "Okay, okay!" He giggled as he dismissed himself and went who knows where cough onsen cough. He pulled out his pipe from his tobe and lit it up, leaning on his chair and closing his eyes. Ah yes, even the Hokage needs to calm down sometime in the day. He had to have a clear head, he thought, for war doesn't fix and win itself.
He looked out the window facing the Hokage mountain, wearily looking at his own face carved at the side of the mountain cliff, beside his respected teacher. "What would you and the Shodai do in these trying times, sensei?" He asked out loud and wondered if he would ever get an answer to his questions.
He sure hoped no one would try his patience or he will wage war. Believe it.