Opening - Haruka Kanata by Asian Kung-Fu Generation
"...Troublesome."
Kankurou vs. Yoroi Akadou.
A man wearing a Konoha forehead protector, a bandanna, sunglasses, and a cowl over the rest of his face leapt down from the balcony into the artificial desert that filled the arena. "Finally!" he said with a yawn. "I was getting damn tired of waiting and watching these punks throw each other around!"
"Hmph." Kankurou jumped into the arena as Yoroi had done, then set down the bundle of white cloth he carried on his back, letting it sink slightly into the sand. Once that was done, he removed his hand, letting it stand upright on its own. "And now it's your turn," Kankurou replied, "To get thrown around, that is."
"Cocky little shit," Yoroi chuckled. "I'm not gonna lose it over trash talk that weak, so save your breath."
"Begin."
Kankurou started by drawing a kunai from his pouch and flinging it at Yoroi, who casually dodged it while sprinting toward the oldest Sand Sibling. His speed isn't bad. He can dodge a thrown blade easily enough, so it should be interesting to see how he handles the weapons Crow can fire. Now let's see what he can do with offense.
"You should be running away, brat!" Yoroi cackled, aiming his open palm at Kankurou's head. The strike connected, and the older Genin grasped the younger's head. "What? What the hell is this?" he clamped his left hand down on Kankurou as well. "The chakra in your body isn't laid out in a tenketsu network, it's just floating on your skin... shit! A puppet!?" Yoroi retreated several steps, and Crow's head fell limply backward, revealing to all the spectators its true nature. The layer of chakra-filled sand that disguised Crow was crumbling away where Yoroi had sucked out the chakra.
"I call bullshit! The real guy's not even in the arena!"
"Oh, but I am," Kankurou tore free of the white bundle his puppet had been carrying, and grinned. "And now I know what you can do. You absorbed my chakra out of Crow's sand shell, and you severed the chakra string that supports his head, not that that's a problem. I can send a fresh string to my puppets as long as I can aim my hand, and if I can't... well." Kankurou smirked. "If I can't move my hands properly, then I can't control Crow anyway. You can't disable Crow without getting to me first, and that's just not gonna happen."
To demonstrate, the puppeteer shot a chakra string into the back of Crow's head, and pushed it back upright. The machine clacked and rattled eerily as it moved. Yoroi scowled back at the inhuman, three-eyed face of the puppet, then lunged forward and grabbed its face again. The construct fell limp, and collapsed to the ground once Yoroi let it. A loud shattering sound came from its remaining sand shell as it landed. "So what happens when I take out all the chakra strings at once, like that?"
Kankurou's eyes widened in horror, and Yoroi stalked toward him with an evil grin. When the Konoha Genin got halfway between Kankurou and his puppet, however, Kankurou snorted and burst out laughing. "I... I'm sorry," he choked out while still laughing. "It's just... you suck so bad at being scary!"
"What the hell...?" Yoroi cried out in shock and pain when a blade stabbed out the front of his belly. "But I destroyed the strings!" he turned and saw that only Crow's detached arm was wielding the blade that had impaled him. The puppet's other pieces were floating further behind him.
"Yep. And I made new ones." Kankurou smirked at his injured foe, just before Yoroi felt a smoke bomb slam into the back of his head and explode there, releasing a cloud of dark purple gas that enveloped him. Yoroi fell to his hands and knees, coughing and choking on the gas. "Proctor, that's poison he's breathing in. It won't kill him if the effects are counteracted in time, but the more he struggles, the faster it spreads into his bloodstream. It doubles as a venom too, meaning it can enter his body through his wound along with his lungs. I can have Crow release the antidote gas, but you know what the condition is for that."
"Very well. Whether or not Yoroi Akadou can keep fighting is irrelevant," Hayate called loudly. "The winner is clear. I award the match to Kankurou no Sabaku."
Kankurou smirked more broadly, and reassembled Crow outside the poison cloud. The puppet's third eye retracted into its head, replaced by a white smoke bomb that it fired. In mere seconds, the purple cloud faded away, revealing an unconscious and facedown Yoroi. A medic team immediately carried him away, and Kankurou silently left the arena.
"What a drag... nothing to do about it though. It's my turn." Shikamaru lazily wandered down the stairs into the sand-filled arena, passing Kankurou while his youthful opponent simply leapt over the railing. If I play my cards right, I might actually get through this with only a minor beating, and then Kurenai-sensei and mom won't do anything to make me regret being born... He reached behind his back and shifted his weapons pouch from his left side to his right.
"It is about time!" Lee raved. "The flames of my youth have only grown brighter as I watched all of these youthful matches! I am fired up!" he continued to shout skyward.
"Can you tone it down?" Shikamaru asked as he arrived in the arena. "And do me a favor. I'm hoping to take a nap after this, so don't start screaming your head off about how glorious my flames of youth are."
"Those are fighting words, Shikamaru-kun! You are implying that you will defeat me!" Lee beamed, his teeth glinted, and he took up a Strong Fist stance.
"I will." The Nara heir stretched and yawned. "It's gonna be such a drag though."
"I apologize, Shikamaru-kun, but I must point out that your attitude is extremely unyouthful! We should proceed with this match and display the magnificence that is our youth without complaint!"
"Begin."
Lee blurred forward with frightening speed, and Shikamaru allowed him to approach with his hands tucked into his pockets. He took a punch to the jaw, two to the ribs, and then a flying roundhouse kick to the temple before he could even initiate his plan, by which point he had been sent flying, and was in incredible pain. "Why did you not defend yourself or dodge?" Lee asked, confused. "I understand that you specialize in Nara Clan ninjutsu, but surely you have some aptitude in taijutsu... You could have reacted."
"I could've... and I did." Shikamaru picked himself up, groaning, then aimed a smirk at Lee, who was now only eight feet away. "Shadow Possession Jutsu, successful."
"What?" Lee's eyes widened even more than usual. "But you never made any hand seals..."
"...Which meant I sacrificed a lot of extra chakra to perform the jutsu without you noticing." Shikamaru looked down, an action Lee was forced to imitate, showing him that his shadow was conjoined to Shikamaru's. "That's step one. Now for step two, the shuriken." he reached into his thigh holster, pulling out a small four-bladed throwing star, and took several steps back. Lee did the same, noting with surprise that he held a shuriken in his own hand.
"Surely you do not intend to throw that shuriken?" Lee stared at the weapon in his own hand. "It will only lead to me throwing my own!"
"I know."
Lee grinned. "I see! It seems I have misjudged you greatly, Shikamaru-kun! You are fearless indeed, and that is a most youthful trait!"
"Don't get too excited. I'm gonna dodge." Shikamaru threw his blade, forcing Lee to do the same. Both shuriken neared the other ninja's throat, and both ninjas leaned back to dodge. Lee, however, smashed the back of his head into a stone wall. "See?" Shikamaru asked no one in particular. "Always keep an eye on your surroundings."
"I'll keep that in mind! Thank you for that wise advice!" Lee stood up and grinned.
"Troublesome..." What the hell is this guy made of? Damn... looks like I have to go to step three. What a drag.
Lee resumed his stance. "Our shadows are still connected!" He proclaimed. "It seems I can move now because you are letting me!"
"Thanks for pointing that out," Shikamaru replied, and pulsed some chakra into their conjoined shadow, forcing Lee to take up the same slouching pose Shikamaru was in. "Now, for step three. The kunai. I didn't want to do this, Lee, you're a nice guy, but if I don't give this my all, my mom'll kill me." Shikamaru reached into his weapons pouch, producing a typical shinobi dagger.
Lee blinked when he saw his hand come up empty. "What is this? Surely my hand should have pulled a kunai from my own pouch!"
"It would've, but your hand never went into your pouch. Yours is behind your left hip." Shikamaru turned slightly to show that his wasn't in the same place. "I moved mine before the match started."
Lee nodded, dead serious by this point. "I see. So now you possess a deadly weapon and the means to use it, whilst I am unarmed and paralyzed."
"Yep. Sorry about this." Shikamaru walked forward, and Lee approached him as well. The Nara extended his dagger-wielding hand and placed the tip of the kunai against Lee's left bicep. "Looks like a torture setup, doesn't it? But I know you're never gonna give up under torture. That's why the placement of the knife is here." he jabbed forward slightly, and Lee winced. "It's a drag, I know... look, there's a large artery in that spot on your arm. If I stab you there, you'll pass out from blood loss in under a minute, but the medics will be able to fix you up with a blood pill and a quick healing job."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"'Cause it's gonna hurt like a bitch. I'm offering you a fair chance to forfeit and walk away without any injuries."
"Never. I appreciate your offer, and I must say you are truly a youthful and respectable shinobi, but I cannot back down! I can still win! Gate of Opening, OPEN!"
"You can open the Eight Gates... That's pretty impressive," Shikamaru complimented him. "But this jutsu won't let you control them, or any of your tenketsu. The only parts of your body you can freely control are your eyes, mouth, and of course your lungs. You gotta be able to breathe, after all." Shikamaru stabbed Lee's arm, and felt the taijutsu master's empty hand prod his bicep in return. "Sorry." he pulled the dagger back out of the wound, and winced as Lee's blood began to flow out of it.
"Your apology is heartfelt," Lee replied, gritting his teeth through the pain, "But this is not over yet. I will overpower your jutsu and continue to fight!" he strained against the Shadow Possession, growling at the pain in his left arm but successfully moving his right arm. He pulled back his fist and aimed it at Shikamaru, who scowled and leapt away.
Even at such close range, he overpowered my shadow almost as soon as he started trying. I don't know what Might Guy's been doing to this kid, but it's sure as hell working. "Troublesome," the Nara muttered as Lee approached. He couldn't move fast enough to dodge, and he was once again punched in the face by his fellow Konoha-nin. Lee's blow sent him flying, but the green-clad boy followed Shikamaru through the air.
"I have less than a minute to knock you unconscious before I bleed out!" Lee announced, and delivered a kick that bruised and nearky cracked two of the shadow wielder's ribs. "Please do not mistake this for anger or hard feelings!" he continued, and stooped to punch Shikamaru again, who in return hastily poured his chakra into his shadow to briefly paralyze Lee while he retreated.
The Nara scion scowled, and once again considered forfeiting the match, but before he could come to a decision, Lee stumbled in his pursuit, and fell to his hands and knees. Lee cried out from the pain of supporting his weight with his injured left arm, and Shikamaru flinched. I don't even WANT to be a Chuunin! Why the hell am I doing this? Lee's worked his ass off to get this far, and I... "I forf-" Wait. Lee... wouldn't want that.
Lee collapsed facefirst into the sand, and his vision quickly started fading to black. I am sorry, Guy-sensei, Kakashi-sensei. I will become a Chuunin during the next exam, I swear... just... six months...
"Rock Lee can no longer continue the match. Winner, Shikamaru Nara."
Shikamaru sighed, and turned to leave the arena with his head hung low. "Too late," he whispered to himself. I was too late to forfeit. If I had've given up, I would've made it all for nothing. Lee was already incapacitated, they wouldn't have let him pass. Damn it! A medic-nin team quickly arrived with a stretcher, and carried Lee away. Damn it...
"And with that match, the Third Exam preliminaries are now finished," Hayate Gekkou declared with authority." The next few minutes passed in a dull blur for Shikamaru, who could right now only think of the word Troublesome. However, he snapped back to reality when he heard the Hokage announce, "...accordingly, the final battles will commence one month from now. To decide who will be facing who in the finals, please, in a calm orderly fashion, all of you will step forward and take one slip of paper from this box." the Third gestured to the bright orange box in Anko's hands.
"Just stay there," the snake summoner announced, "I'll come to you." she approached Chouji first, who reached in and pulled out a piece of paper.
"I've got a number one on mine," he said, and shrugged. "What's it mean?"
"Patience," the Hokage replied.
"I got nine," Naruto announced when he unfolded his paper.
"Two," Sasuke said simply.
"Four," Temari declared.
"Five," Shikamaru read aloud, and scowled. I can just feel that this is gonna be a drag.
"Mine says eight," Hinata added.
"I have three," Kiba announced.
"Six," Kankurou finished.
"And that leaves seven for Tenten." The Hokage smiled. "So the initial matches for the tournament are as follows: Naruto Uzumaki versus Hinata Hyuuga, Kankurou versus Tenten, Temari versus Shikamaru Nara, and Sasuke Uchiha versus Kiba Inuzuka."
"What about me?" Chouji asked.
"In the second round of the tournament, you'll be inserted into a three-way match with two of the semifinalists, who will be randomly selected. Since Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka eliminated each other, the other semifinal match will be a one-on-one match as opposed to a three-way as had been intended."
"Why not have five initial matches?" Kiba asked curiously.
"Simple. Five initial matches means five initial winners," Hayate explained, then interrupted himself with a cough. "The original plan would have been to have two Genin skip to the semifinals, so both matches would be three-ways, but since Sakura and Ino fought to a draw, we're stuck with the same result we'd tried to avoid: One match with two competitors and one with three. If it hadn't been for that, Chouji would have fought Sakura or Ino in the first round, then both the winner and loser would proceed to the three-way match. All six semifinalists would have each been in a single prior match, making it fair for everyone."
"Ah."
"Wait..." Naruto murmured, "Hina-chan, we're gonna be fighting each other?"
"It... looks that way, but..." Hinata steeled herself, and added, "I think that's a good thing."
Naruto gaped. "You... wanna fight me? Did I do something to upset you?"
"N-No!" Hinata exclaimed. "It's not like that! It's just..." she blushed and looked down, even though she'd been trying to break the habit. "Do you remember how after my match with Neji, I said I wanted to be as strong as you? So I can always be there to help you whenever we have to fight. We've sparred lots of times, but that's different. I want to really see just how close we are in strength. I want to know for sure that I'm keeping up with you, and I want to show you that you can lean on me, and count on me, and never have to worry about keeping me safe."
"Okay... Okay! We'll go all out, and show each other just how strong we are. But you don't have to worry about 'keeping up with me,' ya know. You could be stronger than me, a lot stronger, so don't sell yourself short."
"S-Stronger than you?" Hinata repeated, wide-eyed. "But you're... you're..."
Naruto grinned. "I'm a twelve-year-old who has a Great Doujutsu, and can perform a wide variety of powerful jutsu significantly above Genin-level with relative ease, and I'm the heir to a powerful clan. You fit that description perfectly too. As for Kurama, he's locked up in that seal so perfectly that I can't use his power at all. You and I are evenly matched." his grin faded, and he added, "I just don't get where all this is coming from. We fought Mizuki-teme today and you were the one who actually landed a serious hit on him."
Hinata blinked. "I... I did!" she beamed. "We fought him together... exactly like I've always wanted. So why? Why was I always so worried?"
"You mean, what made you think you had to prove you were strong? That's obvious," Naruto said darkly. "It's what they wanted you to think."
"They..." Hinata echoed. "You mean Hiashi-sama."
"Him, and all those other Hyuugas who put you down and said you were weak." Naruto scowled.
"I'll prove them wrong, then," Hinata smiled. "In our match. We'll show them how strong we are, and make them eat their words when they see it." she paused, and glanced down in thought. "Come to think of it... Hiashi-sama said yesterday that he was planning to call you to the Hyuuga compound for dinner, soon. He wants to talk to you about what happened in Wave."
Naruto recalled the meeting with the Hokage. "When I used the Rinnegan for the first time."
"To bring me back from the dead," Hinata added firmly. "You broke the laws of nature and defied death itself for me. I don't think Hiashi-sama is going to have anything bad to say to you about Wave."
Naruto blinked. "Hey, Hina-chan... usually you'd blush and stutter when you say something like that." he grinned. "You're getting more confident."
"I feel that way," she admitted. "Naruto... would you like to go to Ichiraku Ramen today, and make Teuchi-jiji a very happy man?"
Naruto grinned. "The Beef Ramen Battle to the Death?" he asked excitedly. Hinata nodded. "You're on!" he added with a challenging grin. "Today's the day I reclaim my crown!"
"Naruto-kun, the record is twelve to seventeen in favor of me," she pointed out quietly. "And last time I beat you by eleven bowls."
"...Damn."
"What the hell is a Beef Ramen Battle to the Death?" Kiba asked.
"It was Naruto's idea," Hinata admitted. "It's an eating contest at Ichiraku's. He's posted the rules on the wall, but it's really simple: The winner pays for the loser's meal, and the loser pays for the winner's meal. That way, both of us still pay, but the winner pays less."
"And you said you beat Naruto? By eleven bowls? Of ramen?"
"Consistently," Naruto threw in. "Last time I stopped at thirty-two, and she was at forty-three." He threw an arm over her shoulders and sighed, drawing a quiet 'eep' from Hinata. "A girl after my own heart."
"N-Naruto-k-kun everyone is l-looking..."
Naruto glanced over at Hinata, who was blushing her own personal shade of dark red. "Oh, sorry!" he quickly retracted his arm, and looked around at the remaining Konoha Genin, all of whom had seen the action. "Well... that secret's out," he decided with a shrug. "Your dad's probably gonna try to kill me now."
X
Two young Genin, a boy and a girl, stepped into Ichiraku Ramen later that day. Just before he passed under the roof of the restaurant, the boy glanced up at the now sunny sky, and smiled.
"You're pretty cheery," the girl observed. "What's up?"
"I don't like the rain," the Jinchuuriki admitted. "It's... just nice to see the sun again."
Ayame greeted the two customers with a grin as they sat down next to each other. "Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen! What'll you have?"
"...I'd like a bowl of beef ramen," the boy decided, after a quick glance at the wall. A paper titled Beef Ramen Battle to the Death was nailed to it.
"Same here," added the girl, smirking at the paper on the wall. "Naruto... you come up with some weird stuff. To the death. Heh." Tenten giggled.
"That has something to do with Naruto?" Gaara asked, as his bowl was placed in front of him.
"Naruto lives on this stuff," the weapons specialist replied. "He managed to addict Hinata to it too, and they sometimes come here to have one-on-one eating contests. It's called a battle 'to the death' because the amount of ramen they can shovel down would kill most people."
Gaara snapped his pair of chopsticks apart, then glanced back at the paper. "The current record is held by... Hinata Hyuuga, at forty-three bowls of beef ramen," he read, then shook his head. "That can't possibly be right."
"Actually, I saw that," Tenten smirked. "They had a crowd watching that time, and I was passing through."
"So much publicity," the old man behind the counter sighed in reminiscence.
"How could someone eat so much of the same thing, and not get tired of it?" the bearer of the One-Tail brought a few noodles to his mouth as he considered this, and took his first bite of Ichiraku Ramen. "...Actually, never mind. That explains it perfectly." he took several more mouthfuls, then paused. "Still, forty-three bowls. That's... inhuman."
"A lot of the customers who come here have their own theories on how they manage it," Ayame noted with a suppressed giggle at Gaara's confusion. "The most popular one is that Hinata can expel chakra from her whole body as she eats, using up the energy she gets from the ramen. As for Naruto... well, I know he's come in here for a lot of those contests completely exhausted. I guess he's trying to burn up as much chakra as he can before he starts eating, to even the playing field a little."
"So, Gaara," Tenten began, "What's Suna like?"
Gaara set down his chopsticks. "I'm sure you can guess that it's surrounded by a desert. The village is built inside what was once a small volcano. It's open to the sky, but it's surrounded on all sides by a wall of rock that could never be constructed. It never rains there," he added firmly. "I can't tell you much about the villagers, other than the fact they despise me. But I can tell you that they're rather fond of a market in the eastern section of the village, where merchants sell their imported goods. Food from the Land of Waves, weapons and armor from Kumo, apparently Mizu produced quality medicines and poisons along with blades... to be honest, almost every village exported weaponry to this market. I saw a few stalls selling swords and kunai marked with Konoha's swirling leaf."
"Were they selling?" Tenten asked jokingly. "'Cause if Suna likes our blades, maybe I should start exporting some of my weapons."
"Ah, so you make them yourself," Gaara realized.
"What, you didn't think I could buy that many weapons did you? On a Genin's budget?" Tenten laughed, then fell silent and glanced at her left forearm. An absurdly expensive ANBU kunai was sheathed there. "Hey, Gaara, are you sure you don't want this thing-"
"TO THE DEATH!"
"-back?" Tenten turned around to see Naruto and Hinata approaching Ichiraku's. "Hey, Naruto, Hinata!" she waved.
Naruto glanced from Tenten to Gaara, then back to Tenten. "Wait a second," he murmured, and sat down next to them. "Are you two on a date?"
Tenten blushed slightly. "Naruto, you can't just blurt something like that out! It makes people uncomfortable!"
Naruto shrugged. "I guess you're right. I shouldn't be buggin' you two, after all me and Hina-chan know how it feels. Oi, Teuchi-jiji, me and Hinata to the death!" he declared with an excited grin, which Teuchi returned.
"Round one coming right up!"
"So, Naru-kun, I was thinking..." Hinata paused, and glanced at Ayame and Teuchi, then continued quietly, "The situation with Oto is more important than us suprising each other with new jutsu. So we should train together over the next month, since we always make better progress that way, right?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, and that way we can have Pervy Sage train us both at the same time. We don't have to take turns with him, ya know?"
Hinata nodded, then frowned. "Naruto, when you were knocked out in the Forest of Death, I fought Orochimaru. He mentioned that your Cursed Seal absorbed something called 'natural energy' and converted it into chakra. He called it senjutsu."
"Sage Techniques," Naruto realized. "Sage, as in Toad Sage. Kurama mentioned senjutsu too when we were breaking the Cursed Seal together. And 'natural energy...' that could be what our doujutsu are seeing."
"That's exactly what I was thinking. Next time we see Jiraiya-sensei, I think we should mention this to him. He might know how to fight an opponent with a Cursed Seal. He might know how to remove one."
"Yeah!" Naruto agreed. "That's brilliant, Hina-chan! He could get rid of Sasuke's seal!" he froze when a bowl of ramen each was placed in front of him and Hinata. "This is gonna be awesome..."
Two hours later, the sun touched the horizon. Naruto and Hinata were still eating. "Teuchi-jiji," Naruto called wearily, "How many bowls did we go through so far? I lost count, ya know."
"You're at forty-three, Naruto." Teuchi pointed to four neat stacks of ten used bowls each, and a fifth one with three bowls.
"Eh... One more." Naruto burped quietly. "New record!" he called cheerily, then yawned and stretched. "Then I'm going to bed, believe it. Hina-chan, how many did you eat?"
"Fifty-two," she admitted sheepishly. "Sorry Naruto-kun, but I won again."
"It's truly an honor to bask in the radiant glory of the Ramen Goddess," the Jinchuuriki declared without a hint of sarcasm. "I'd get on my knees, but I'd have to stand up for that." he burped again, then groaned. "Why do I do this to myself?"
Hinata giggled. "You say that every time I win."
"And I always mean it." he yawned again. "Eh... make number forty-four to go, jiji. I gotta get some sleep."
X
In a dark, damp cave at the edge of the Land of Fire, created with the Earth Release by a team of Oto Jounin, two shinobi stood in silence. Before them, six coffins rose upright from the ground, one of which immediately began to crack open.
Orochimaru grinned and licked his lips with anticipation. "Kabuto, clearly I chose my apprentice well... Even I would never have considered such use of the Impure World Reincarnation. Splendid."
"It is, isn't it?" Kabuto replied. "A few dozen soldiers like these would match the entirety of the army Suna is bringing to the table." He pushed up his glasses with a smirk. "I admit, though, I have your own expertise to thank. If you hadn't taught me the jutsu, it would have taken me years to decipher it myself."
"Even just six of them will be a force to be reckoned with. Every suitable candidate we find from now on is an additional advantage we have over Konoha." The first coffin's lid cracked further. "So tell me, who is this first one you're showing me?"
"Just watch," Kabuto replied with a grin. "I think you'll find the surprise is well worth the wait. This one is the most impressive specimen I've been able to procure. For the small price of a single Genin's life, I give you..."
The coffin shattered completely into small fragments of wood, and its occupant stepped forward. He was a middle-aged man with red-brown hair and black eyes, wearing an unadorned, tattered black robe that covered him from neck to toe. "You two again," he growled upon seeing the missing-nin. "Was killing me not enough for you?"
"...the Fourth Kazekage, Tsurugi of the Gold Dust," Kabuto finished with eminent pride.
"Ah..." Orochimaru grinned. "So you took his DNA after we killed him, I see. And were you planning to tell me of this?"
Kabuto's smirk never faltered. "I suppose not. I'd intended to learn and use the Impure World Reincarnation for my own purposes, whether you gave me its secrets or not. Surely you wouldn't begrudge me making an effort to further my own goals? I may be your subordinate, but I have my own future to consider after all."
"Hm." The Sannin chuckled. "Tell me then, Kabuto. Just what other assets have you laid hands on, to 'further your own goals?'"
"Well, admittedly I have none so impressive as Tsurugi-sama here," Kabuto gestured to the clearly angry Kazekage, "The other five coffins you see here are simple missing-nin from assorted villages, that showed Jounin-level skills when I or we encountered them. We still have a month to further prepare our forces, however, and I'm certain I can gather more valuable DNA samples in that time frame. In fact, I've approached a certain former coworker of yours about more samples he can provide freely. Sasori of the Red Sand."
"Ah... the human puppets he's crafted and collected from renowned and powerful shinobi. Some of them have kekkei genkai that still function, which means they likely still have traces of their DNA." Orochimaru frowned. "He was an agreeable man to work with... tell me, what has he asked for in return?"
"A live Naruto Uzumaki. After we've removed his eyes, of course." Kabuto's smirk broadened. "He was willing to... sweeten the deal with additional DNA traces, if we were to leave one Rinnegan eye for him."
"Ah, Sasori. Always seeking more weapons to install. Another kekkei genkai, another exotic poison, another famed blade." the snake smiled sadly. "There is the small matter of Mizuki wanting one Rinnegan eye, but he does already bear my Cursed Seal. He can never betray me, whether I hold up my end of the bargain or not, the poor fool."
"But here's a counterpoint: why give an Akatsuki member such a powerful doujutsu? In the long run their goals will conflict with ours. If they had two Rinnegan users instead of one... ah, imagine how difficult it would be to confront them when the time comes."
"What a dilemma," Orochimaru mused. "Who to stab in the back, Mizuki or Sasori?"
"At first glance, it seems Mizuki is the better choice. He's already bound to your will after all. But why not both? Give me the second Rinnegan." Kabuto grinned. "You'll be increasing the power of your loyal right hand, preventing Akatsuki from gaining even more power, and teaching Mizuki a valuable lesson. He's an idiot."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that last bit. He's learning to use his jutsu repertoire as we speak, or at least he'd better learn if he expects to survive his training with Kimimaro and Juugo. By the time we invade Konoha, he'll have enough competence on the battlefield to successfully capture Sasuke, whilst I deal with the old man and Naruto-kun." Orochimaru licked his lips. "Excellent work thus far, Kabuto. Keep it up, and you might just earn that Rinnegan eye." he turned, and as he walked away he added, "Install Cursed Seals on any of them below Jounin-level."
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."
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