Empty

by zzzgnas

There is nothing worse in the world than the feeling of complete and utter helplessness. That empty feeling you get when you've lost everything and you know there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. Uzumaki Naruto was four when he experienced this feeling for the first time. And from then on... nothing had gone right... Strong! Naruto. Third Ninja War Timeline.

3. Chapter 3 - Team Orochimaru

Chapter - 3

Team Orochimaru.

He slammed his hands on the ground just as the blast reached him. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Sanju Rashomon!"

With Akira Senju

Akira looked on impassively as the smoke continued to rise. The various fires that started as a result of the initial explosion were quickly put out but there was little the water-users could do about the smoke.

He didn't know what to make of the scene. He was one of the first to arrive, but he found himself unable to help as much as he would have liked. Despite his father's legendary skill at Water-Style ninjutsu, he had never mastered it. Soon, several ANBU part of the Barrier team arrived, followed by other jonin on hand. The fires were soon put out. What Akira found surprising was that the Barrier team was the first on the scene, not the resident emergency response unit.

After a few minutes spent questioning the ANBU, Akira found the reason. Apparently the barrier around the village had sensed an intruder, but the chakra levels were so low that they never sounded the alert. Plus, it seemed to be some small creature. But the automatic tracking seal that applied when any unauthorized personnel entered the village pointed to the red-light district. The team was on their way to investigate when the orphanage exploded.

Akira frowned. Why the orphanage? There was no reason for that as far as he could see. If this was the work of some enemy shinobi, the obvious target was the weapons shop or heck, even the brothel. Lord knows that's one of the most important establishments for Konoha's shinobi. War was a period of isolation. When you are forced to witness unspeakable acts being committed against and by your own village, it quickly reaches the point where you need release. And the brothel was that.

Konoha liked to preach about its moral superiority but anyone clever enough would see through it immediately. While the first Hokage had been an idealistic leader, Akira's father understood. He understood what needed to be done. The red-light district was the product of that. Rather than have the entire village suffer, a select few, the dregs of society, would go through it for them all. It disgusted Akira when he was younger and his father told him about all the things a leader had to do. That was the exact moment Akira decided that he never wanted the hat. And it drove a wedge between them that lasted till the day he died.

Akira was still very much disgusted by everything Konoha allowed to happen away from the public eye. But having been through so much since then, Akira understood. He understood why this was necessary.

Which meant that any of their enemies also knew. He assumed they chose the red-light district because of the lax security. He just couldn't understand why it was the orphanage. There was only one casualty as well. He couldn't see any plausible motive for the attack. If this was done by an enemy, it was possibly a vendetta of some sort.

Akira looked up to see the Hokage arrive. One look at his friend's face and he knew. This would be ignored. Attributed to some drunk shinobi or other. There was no way he would admit to his shinobi that in reality, he had absolutely no idea how the explosion had happened. It would cause a huge panic. After all, if no one knew how the explosion occurred, there was no reason it couldn't be any other building.

Akira frowned. He didn't like lying. But it was necessary for the good of the village. Through the next hour, he stayed silently as the Hokage spoke to his people. Even after all these years, Akira couldn't help but be amazed by his friend's capacity to be a leader. Once again reminded of the fact that he chose correctly all those years ago, Akira sighed. Someday soon, he would have to take a step back and objectively think about everything the Hokage did. For the "good of the village".

Today, he had been forced to accept the fact that there was a lot going on in the village that he wasn't made a part of. After all, why would the Hokage hide a young Uzumaki boy in the red-light district, when he knew one of his other shinobi was actively searching for survivors of that night…

---

Akira Senju's House, 2 Hours Later

The fire had been put out, but the smoke was still rising. Whatever had happened, it had all the jonin running about the village. The old man wasn't back yet.

Despite his reservations about trusting random strangers, he found himself leading his friends into the old man's house. Shinzo and Shizuka did not share his misgivings however, because they raided the fridge as soon as they were in. Even Yugao knew you weren't supposed to do that at a guest's house.

But Naruto wasn't complaining. Yugao had been frightened by the explosion and the smoke. With their stupid mannerisms, they managed to cheer Yugao up and even managed to get her to sleep. They all turned in shortly after, occupying the couch area so as not to intrude on the owner's bedroom.

However, sleep never came and like in the previous day, Naruto found himself staring at the sky. 'Irene-baachan, I hope you're safe.'

Hearing someone behind him, he turned around quickly.

"Naruto-nii, I had a bad dream.", the purple-haired girl said as she entered the roof. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing of importance. Just trying to fall asleep.", Naruto smiled at her as she came and sat next to him.

They stayed like that for a few minutes. Suddenly, Yugao turned to look at him with a pout on her face. "Nii-san, I'm cold."

Naruto got up. "Come on, then. Let's go inside.", he said, pulling her hand. But he stopped when he felt her glare on him.

"I don't want to go inside. I want to stay here.", she said, pouting again.

Naruto chuckled and sat back down. "Aren't you afraid to be so high? If you fall off, you'll get hurt, y'know?"

"No, I'm not afraid. My mother told me that I'm like a cat. I can land on my feet whatever height I fall from."

"Well, little Neko-chan, come here. I'll keep you warm.". Pulling her towards him, he wrapped her in a hug and while she was surprised at first, she soon relaxed.

"I miss my mom." Yugao said after some time, her eyes filling with tears.

Naruto stiffened. "I know, Yugao-chan. You can tell me about her if you like."

Yugao smiled and wiped her eyes. "She was amazing. She was so strong and kind. She was the best mom in the world. She used to take me out for ice-cream whenever I asked. She would tell me stories about when she was younger every day before we went to bed."

"She sounds amazing, Yugao-chan. You're lucky to have such a good mom." Naruto said and gave her a warm smile. Yugao calmed down and soon she was breathing normally. "Sleep, Yugao-chan. It's getting late." She snuggled herself further into his body as she got comfortable. Soon, soft snores filled the air as the little 5-yr old fell asleep.

Naruto slowly picked her up and walked inside. He approached the cozy-looking couch near the fireplace and laid her down on it. He went to his bag and took out a blanket. He wrapped it gently around her and she unconsciously snuggled into it comfortably. Smiling at a job well done, Naruto went up on the roof once more. Only this time, someone was already waiting for him.

"I thought everyone would be asleep by now.", the old man said without looking up from his spot on the floor, smoking his cigarette.

"Well, obviously you thought wrong." Naruto responded quickly.

Akira didn't say anything and let the silence between them stretch. They sat together silently for some time. "You're a good kid for trying to be polite and not demand answers from me, but I know when someone wants something."

Naruto looked a bit surprised but shook it off quickly. "I want you to let Yugao stay here until we make enough money to afford our own apartment. If that's not possible, let her stay for tomorrow. Immediately after our genin exams are finished, we'll come back and take her with us."

Akira was shaken by how quickly the boy's tone changed. He then chuckled at his request. "Sure, kid. But only for tomorrow. When I get back from my mission, you all shouldn't be here."

Naruto nodded. "That's fair."

After some time spent in silence, Akira sighed. "Kid, I told you I know when someone wants something."

Naruto turned towards him. "I want to know what happened at the fire. Is everyone okay? Is anyone dead? Who did it? Why did it take you over 2 hours to-"?

"Stop!", Akira interrupted. "Why would I give you any confidential information when you're obviously not in control of your emotions? You're not even a ninja yet."

Naruto grit his teeth. "Because I want to know. I could've disobeyed your order and gone to check it out myself. I didn't out of respect for your authority and your hospitality. Now I want to know what happened to my former home and I am asking nicely." Naruto declared, determined to get answers.

Akira couldn't believe this kid. He was making demands from him, one of the village's most senior shinobi. But perhaps he didn't know about that. He wanted to know more about the kid before he mentioned anything to Kushina.

After staring at the kid trying to get him to break eye contact and failing, Akira let out a deep sigh. "I can't tell you anything, kid. You're not even a ninja yet. All I'll tell you is that the kids from the orphanage are safe. No one was caught in the explosion and-".

"What about Irene-baachan? Is she okay?" Naruto interrupted with fire in his eyes.

Akira didn't like being interrupted and especially not by someone who had not even bothered to tell him his name. Perhaps this was enough for the moment. "Go back inside, kid. I'm done with you. Fuck off and leave me to rest. I leave on a week-long mission tomorrow."

Naruto growled at being denied answers. He had told them that this would happen. That they would be left in the dark about what actually happened at the red-light district and it would be best if he followed the old man. However, he had been overruled by his friends and was forced to stay in the old man's house. Growling in anger, he got up and started to walk back inside. However, he was interrupted before he could reach the stairs leading down.

"What's your name, kid?", the old man asked, taking the cigarette from his mouth.

Naruto stopped in place. "I thought you were done with me.", he said coldly.

Akira huffed. "Whatever, kid. I know the names of the other 3 and I was just curious about yours. Don't tell me if you don't want to. I don't give a shit."

Naruto looked down at his feet. Slowly, he turned and spoke. "It's Menma. My name is Menma."

Akira turned and looked at him curiously, unnerving Naruto slightly. "You're lying, boy. But it's nice to see that at least one of you has the common sense to do so." Naruto's mouth dropped open in surprise. "Get some sleep, 'Menma'. The genin test won't be easy."

Naruto nodded and walked inside leaving Akira to his thoughts. 'Menma, huh? Why do I get the feeling there's a lot more to you than just the fact that you're an Uzumaki?'

---

The Next Day, Training Ground 44

The three genin met up in front of the ninja academy at 5 in the morning. It wasn't anything they had agreed on, but they had learned their lesson the previous day. There was absolutely no way that any of them were showing up at the forest of death alone.

Naruto exchanged smiles with Yuna but didn't bother to greet Anko, instead just started to move toward the training ground their sensei had set for them. They were all nervous during their journey to the training ground thinking about the task set for them. The large imposing fence that greeted them did nothing to ease their worries.

If the fence wasn't scary enough, the sounds coming from the forest behind the fence certainly was. This didn't seem like a training ground for genin. This didn't seem like a training ground at all.

A large sign on the fence read, 'Training Ground 44 – The Forest of Death'. The three genin exchanged worried looks before walking forwards. The sky was starting to light up, meaning that they could immediately get to it and try to set some traps and understand the terrain a bit.

"Welcome to your genin exam.", the voice came from all around them. They immediately jumped into position, staying back-to-back covering each other's blind-spots. "Well well well, it seems the little brats have learned their lesson. It won't make a difference though."

The genin looked at each other in worry. They had assumed their sensei would show up after they did, giving them some time to understand the terrain and maybe even set up some traps. Each of them had come to that conclusion on their own and had decided an hour earlier would be more than enough. But apparently, Orochimaru wouldn't give them any advantage.

A laugh filled the air. "Oh, and by the way, you should really learn a few things about privacy seals. This early in the day, even the slightest sound tends to carry."

The genin looked at each other in alarm. On the way, they had formulated a basic plan. Yuna had questioned Naruto about the lack of an exploding tag on his kunai the previous day. It had still exploded, without any of them realizing it would.

Naruto informed them both that he was a student of fuinjutsu and thus, knew how to create such tags. He had taken the traditional exploding tag and improved on it by making it smaller. He then removed the bandages on the standard kunai, provided for increased grip, and wrapped the tag around it before replacing the bandages, effectively concealing the tag.

At that, both Yuna and Anko could only look at him, stunned. Fuinjutsu was a rare and complicated skill that very few possessed.

Naruto just shrugged. Why would you give an enemy the chance to prepare or dodge the explosions? Now, he could mix these in with regular kunai and no one in the elemental nations would be able to tell. At least until the tags were activated. The sound the tags produced when activated was a dead give away.

It was this basic fact that led to their plan. Every shinobi was conditioned to deflect or even catch kunai without an exploding tag, while the tag attached would get them to dodge. An experienced veteran like Orochimaru would be further deceived, having dealt with it for a long time.

Yuna and Anko would distract him, and Naruto would maneuver him into a trap using these kunai that to be honest, would not be expected. Yuna had also mentioned that she had a technique that could take the kunai underground and create a few devastating traps before their sensei arrived. Even Anko accepted that it had a decent chance of working against Orochimaru.

The plan may have been a long shot, but it was the best they could come up with considering how terrible their initial meeting had gone. Surprise was the key element for its success and that had just gone up in smoke by Orochimaru seemingly overhearing them making plans.

They could almost feel the smirk on their sensei's face. "Regardless, I want to test your skills and so, we will be having that spar no matter how pointless it may be. So…" Killing intent saturated the air. "Come at me with the intent to kill if you want to succeed."

The voice was still scattered and vague, giving no indication of his position. A silence followed his declaration and Naruto could feel the killing intent the jonin was releasing. Suddenly, Anko flared her chakra before jumping away. "Scatter!".

Immediately, the ground beneath her broke apart as Orochimaru burst through with his arm extended and snakes coming out of his sleeve. Yuna jumped away and slammed her hands on the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!". A tall monkey, clad in armor and wielding a katana, appeared in a poof of smoke.

Naruto frowned. He had read about summoned animals and their incredible potential in battle. He knew that summoning contracts were extremely rare and that it was very unlikely that he would ever get one. He also knew that it required a lot of chakra. For Yuna to have that much and still be fighting meant that he had seriously underestimated her.

Yuna got into her stance, her face set in determination. "Emir-san, we are facing our sensei for our genin exam. Help us defeat him." The monkey nodded in acceptance and charged the jonin who had just come out of the ground. Orochimaru sidestepped a swipe from Emir's katana.

Naruto had also jumped away from where their sensei appeared. Now, seeing Yuna go on the offensive, Naruto ran and went for Orochimaru from behind. Sensing danger, Orochimaru blocked Emir's katana with a quickly-drawn kunai and jumped straight up, narrowly dodging a punch from Naruto.

Seeing Orochimaru in the air with limited maneuverability, Anko threw one of her poisoned senbon at him. Yuna quickly went through several hand seals before shooting a glob of water from her mouth. "Water Style: Gunshot!"

Seeing the attacks coming at him, Orochimaru flipped in mid-air and made a single hand-seal. "Earth Style: Unwavering Dome!". A large barrier made of solid rock formed around him making the senbon and the low-power water jutsu useless. Then, instead of descending at normal speed, the dome made of stone suddenly accelerated and plummeted straight down to the ground, causing Naruto and Emir to jump, barely making it out of the way. However, on hitting the ground, the dome broke apart, making large chunks of rock explode outward at high speeds. A huge rock hit Emir right in the chest and he fell to the ground in pain. Naruto also caught a glancing blow to the top of his shoulder which brought him to his knees, clutching his shoulder in pain.

Naruto couldn't believe it. This man was very strong. Naruto knew that. It just surprised him that in about 10 seconds, he had managed to split them apart, injure a dangerous summon animal and him while at the same time defending himself from attacks from his two teammates. He had also managed to cut off their escape route, as he placed himself in the path leading out of the training ground, effectively trapping them between himself and the huge fence.

The dust settled and they watched with disbelieving eyes as Orochimaru walked out of the rubble, dusting his shoulder. He then casually tossed a kunai at the injured monkey, forcing him to dispel before getting hit. "You know, this spar is to gauge your individual strength. I don't want to fight some random monkey and summoning him got you no points with me whatsoever, brat. But since you proved yourself capable of using such an advanced technique, it's only fair that I show you my own summons.", he said, smiling cruelly before slamming his hand on the floor. The clearing erupted in smoke as a huge shadow fell over them.

Yuna and Anko appeared beside him, as Naruto stared wide-eyed at the huge summoned snake towering over him. "Come on, we have to get away." Anko shouted at him. Naruto nodded and immediately jumped away. Yuna reached into her pouch and tossed a kunai with an exploding tag at the fence. Ignoring the pain in his (now bleeding) right shoulder, Naruto jumped through the hole she created with his teammates following him closely.

The smoke cleared and Orochimaru stood at the top of his summon's head. "Manda-san. It has been a while, hasn't it?"

The snake let out a hiss. "Orochimaru, you haven't been keeping up with the ssacrificesss."

"I know Manda. It's difficult when you're not at war, but I believe that that will soon change. For now, I have trapped three cowering children in this forest." Orochimaru smirked. "Go get them, Manda-san. I know you love the hunt."

The snake hissed its agreement and surged forwards, destroying the large fence that stood between him and his prey.

"Okay, that was insane. He's gonna kill us.", Anko yelled as she kept up with her teammates, jumping from tree to tree.

"Calm down, Anko. We just have to find a good spot to recover. Then, we'll make a new plan and-".

Yuna was interrupted, however, by Naruto voicing his disapproval. "No. We stick with the old plan. We just need to make some modifications."

"But Naruto,-"

"He was bluffing.", Naruto interrupted again. "Or at least I think he is. He had no clue about our plan."

"Why do you think that?" Anko asked, a confused expression on her face.

"If he'd heard our plan, he'd know that you both were the distraction and I was the threat. He would never have engaged the summon in a taijutsu battle while simultaneously turning his back to me."

Yuna frowned. "But why would he lie?"

Naruto continued. "He wanted to unnerve us… I think. He wanted us to act without thinking, foregoing any plan we had prepared. And he succeeded. We attacked with no coordination and no plan whatsoever. If I'd realized all this back then, I could have just thrown a kunai at his feet and he wouldn't have known."

Yuna did not need to hear that. She had been the one to instigate the first attack and her teammates had no choice but to follow her lead. There was also the fact that she attacked all out right from the start. Her summoned creatures were her ace in the hole and she had revealed it to the enemy along with her elemental affinity. Now, he was no doubt prepared for all her combination techniques as well as her summons' traps, considering that he was trained by a monkey summoner as well.

Damn it all. By simply saying that he knew about their plan, Orochimaru had successfully made her panic and act recklessly.

Anko looked down at the passing ground as she jumped from branch to branch. Naruto was right. They had abandoned their plan at the first sign of trouble.

She had always been proud of her achievements. While her pride had transformed itself into arrogance, that arrogance was rapidly being torn down by the ease with which their sensei dealt with them. It was humbling, the way he had fought them.

Being so deep in her thoughts, she almost didn't see it. The tree was humongous and there was a space underneath the bark at the bottom of the tree which they could squeeze through.

Signaling to stop, Anko jumped down to the ground to get a good look at the potential hiding spot. Her teammates dropped down beside her. Naruto grinned at her cheekily as they made their way toward the huge tree. "Nice work, Anko-san!".

They made their way inside… Only to find a huge white tiger as tall as themselves, feeding her cubs. It started growling menacingly at the intruders. The cubs moved under their mother's shadow as the tall animal prepared to pounce.

Naruto, who was in front, slowly held up his hand and started walking backwards. Yuna and Anko did the same. They were nearly out of the tree when Anko suddenly snapped her head upwards. Seeing she didn't have enough time to warn the others, she jumped into action. She moved quickly, grabbing both her teammates by the waist and throwing them away from the tree. The sudden movement spurred the tiger into action and it pounced towards Anko, who had yet to regain her balance from the quick maneuver she had just made use of. Anko had no time to react as the tiger landed against her body, knocking her to the ground.

Yuna landed horribly. Say what you will about Anko, she sure knew how to throw. Her body collided with a tree mid-flight and she slid to the ground in pain.

Naruto on the other hand, had managed to angle his body in mid-air to land on his feet against the tree. He was already going through hand-seals when he jumped off the tree to land beside her.

He stared at the once mighty tree falling recklessly through the nearby air. It finally reached the ground, making it shake violently.

Yuna tried to sit up, but collapsed immediately at the pain that erupted from her back. Something was very broken. The dust cloud that had erupted from the tree crashing to the ground had not settled yet. "Naruto, help me up. I'm hurt."

There was no reply.

"Naruto?"

Again, she received no reply.

Biting through her pain, she managed to turn her neck enough to look up. Naruto was gazing intently at where the tree had once been, his hands held tight in the horse seal. His purple eyes, unblinking. She tried to follow his gaze, but she couldn't make out anything through the smoke.

"He has decided not to attack till the smoke clears." Naruto finally spoke. "Yuna, I need you to summon the monkeys. This clearing is perfect."

Yuna scoffed. "For what? It's time to surrender, Naruto. Anko is probably knocked out. There's no way we can continue this fight."

"Look, will you just summon the damn animals", snapped Naruto, shooting her a murderous look. Yuna looked stricken, but she started going through hand seals. Naruto's eyes were back to staring at whatever he was looking at by the time she slammed her hands on the ground. Three small monkeys appeared in a poof of smoke.

Naruto quickly gave instructions to her summons, handing them a large amount of loose kunais as well as two storage scrolls that contained more. After a look of confirmation toward their summoner, the monkeys set out to do the task assigned to them.

The dust was starting to settle down. Yuna was able to make out some shadows beyond the dust as Naruto finished whispering the 'plan' in her ear.

Naruto turned away, his eyes still staring unblinkingly at the vague shapes amidst the smoke. "Yuna… As soon as Anko is here, pick her up and start running. The explosion won't be pretty." Naruto whispered, with his hands still held in the horse seal.

"And how the fuck is Anko going to get here? How are you planning to go in there and make it back out with her in hand?", Yuna shouted at her teammate.

"Stick to the plan, Yuna-san.", Naruto reiterated, his eyes hardening.

"What even-"

Yuna stared in disbelief as Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke leaving Yuna with her mouth open.

The smoke cleared and Yuna gasped in surprise. "What in the actual fuck?"

Anko slowly opened her eyes. She had closed them in fright as the tiger snapped its jaws in front of her. A huge explosion sounded around her, but Anko tuned it out. She shut her eyes tight, waiting for the fangs to pierce her skin. But the pain never came. For some reason, her feet were getting wet. Fearfully, she opened her eyes.

The tiger's lifeless eyes stared back at her. It was missing half of its body and the remaining half was bleeding out onto her legs. Anko leapt back in fright and tried to stand up. However, the pain flaring through her right leg told her that she hadn't gotten away scot-free. A piece of wood had gone right through her leg. Gritting her teeth, she pulled it out, the pain making her cry out in pain. She took off her jacket and ripped a piece from it. Wincing in pain, she wrapped the cloth around her leg trying to stop the bleeding.

By the time the dust started settling down, tears were flowing down her face. She had lost a lot of blood and her vision was blurry. She couldn't quite make out anything about the huge shadow looming over her, but she was certain it belonged to Manda, Orochimaru's summoned snake.

"Anko-san, you probably don't like Naruto being in this team because it's so unfair to you. After all, he's younger than you and he's already been a genin for over a year. Why did someone notice him and promote him? Why didn't anybody notice you?" Orochimaru was atop the huge snake, talking just loud enough for her to hear. "It's just so unfair, isn't it?"

Manda towered above her, leaning upward menacingly. "Tell me Anko, do you think this is fair to you? Faced with a jonin and his most powerful summon all alone while your teammates flee? Of course, it's not. Fair has nothing to do with it. I could argue that three on one isn't fair. But if I was still whining about what is fair and what's not, I wouldn't be winning, would I?"

Anko sobbed helplessly. She didn't know if jonin-senseis were even allowed to kill their genin, but it sure looked like Orochimaru was going to. She wasn't ready for this. That was what she realized as she struggled to keep her eyes open. She wasn't ready to be a ninja.

Orochimaru looked down at the pathetic sight in front of him. She had even stopped trying to crawl away. Orochimaru sighed. After fighting a war for years on end, almost all the veteran shinobi had developed a certain skill. One look at a person, and they could tell if the person was broken. And Orochimaru knew that Anko was done. Plain and simple. She had given up. 'Well, at least she won't be so arrogant anymore.'

Orochimaru was about to launch into another lecture, when suddenly, Anko disappeared in a cloud of smoke…

Naruto stood in her place. He was on one knee, staring intently up at him. Orochimaru did not know what had happened. Naruto was nowhere near Anko's position. He had seen the boy with Yuna from his position atop Manda's head. He snapped his head towards Yuna's position to find Anko where Naruto had just been. Bewildered, he looked down at the redheaded genin.

'Substitution. With a living being. How?' Suddenly, he felt a pull on his chakra. He had felt such a pull on his chakra only once before. And that was when he had been reverse-summoned to the Ryuchi cave by the snakes. Suddenly, he found himself looking at the towering Manda from the ground.

Naruto had succeeded. He had exchanged places with his sensei. However, substituting with such a high chakra source had taken a lot out of him. He was exhausted and nearly out of chakra. His eyes were unfocused and he was bleeding from his nose. But he was not done. Reaching to his left wrist, he activated the storage seal and unsealed a bunch of exploding tags that he had not yet made kunai from.

Idly, he wondered why Manda had not tried to shake him off. Then he saw the cloud of smoke that was covering Orochimaru on the ground. The snake was not aware of his deception yet. Naruto grinned.

He littered the top of Manda's head with the exploding tags. Once he was done, he looked down at Orochimaru and smirked. He jumped off the snake and quickly made the serpent seal. Somewhere, in his mind, he laughed at the irony of using the snake seal in this situation. "Katsu!"

Orochimaru had no idea how a genin had managed to do it and was furious because of it. His rage was, by no means lessened, when, through the smoke surrounding him, he saw the cheeky brat smirking at him. His rage gave way to surprise as he watched the boy jump from a 50-foot tall snake. A snake as tall as the Hokage Monument. Orochimaru watched the boy incredulously. He was insane. That was, until he heard the boy yell. "Katsu!"

Instantly, he jumped upward on instinct. He did not know how the boy would have had time to litter the place with explosive tags, but he wasn't going to underestimate him anymore. However, the explosion never came from under him. 'Of course. Why else would he jump off?' thought Orochimaru as he looked up. A huge explosion was set off at the top of Manda's head. The snake violently lurched from the explosion and started falling to the ground. In midair, Orochimaru had no way to stop his companion's fall and if he didn't, he would be crushed under the huge snake. So, he quickly made the horse hand-seal and substituted away.

Yuna was surprised at how the exam had turned out. Her sensei had called it a sparring session. Yuna wasn't sure what to call it but it was definitely not a sparring session. She had four shinobi living in her house. While her father never helped her, her oldest brother, Sasuke Sarutobi, helped her out a lot before he became ANBU. Asuma, arrogant as he was, still helped her on occasion. Having graduated the year before, he had even told her about the 'test' that took place before officially becoming genin. He said that it would probably be some survival exercise. Inwardly, she sighed. 'I guess this could be called a survival exercise.'

Yuna was surprised at the seriousness with which Naruto had spoken to her. She was even more surprised when Naruto disappeared and Anko appeared in his place. She was frozen in place, wondering what just happened. She was so surprised that she didn't break out of her stupor until her summons returned to her. Breaking away from her thoughts, she remembered Naruto's instructions. Ignoring the piercing pain coming from her back, she dispelled the three monkeys and picked up Anko, piggy-back style.

Then… She ran.

She took to the trees and started jumping away as fast as she could. She only stopped when she heard a huge explosion. She set Anko down and turned around. Wind was rushing past her. She saw the huge snake falling and she couldn't help but smirk. "Way to go, Naruto."

But then she noticed that the snake was falling towards the clearing and not away from it. "The explosive tags I set underground wouldn't have caused that…", she mused out loud. She was kind of disappointed about the explosion. With the amount of explosives Naruto had given her, she thought it would have been so much bigger.

She had made it a safe distance away and now she was just worried. Hopefully, the explosion had defeated the summoned snake and bought Naruto enough time to get away. They needed to get away from Orochimaru. "Or at least get somewhere with eye witnesses", she added as an afterthought.

She was brought out of her thoughts when suddenly a huge flash lit up the forest, followed by a huge, thunderous explosion. A blast of air hit her with enough force that she had to use chakra to stick to the tree branch. Turning around, she saw that Anko was awake and was desperately grabbing out at the tree to try and stay on.

Squinting her eyes, Yuna looked towards the explosion. Sudden movement above the clearing caught her eye. Something big had been launched upwards from the explosion. "What is that?"

"Is it the snake?" Anko had stood up, favoring her left leg.

In her mind, Yuna felt an immense amount of pleasure thinking it was the snake.

"No. It's not a snake. It's the tree!" Anko said excitedly. "It's that huge ass tree that the snake knocked down.

Yuna's mouth fell open in shock. She was right. The charred remains of the tree trunk had been sent flying through the air. "What in the actual fuck?", she exclaimed for the second time that day.

Orochimaru had to give it to the boy. He had skill. Injuring Manda was not something he expected his genin team to do today, let alone just the redheaded genin. While he applauded Naruto for his accomplishment, Naruto shouldn't have expected to get Orochimaru in that exchange. He had quickly substituted out from under the falling snake and taken to the trees. He quickly made his way to where he estimated Naruto would have landed from his reckless jump off the tall summon.

Orochimaru found him lying on the ground on his stomach. He was bleeding from both shoulders now. 'He probably got hit hard against some branches while falling', Orochimaru reasoned.

He dropped down from his place on the tree branch and walked towards Naruto and knelt down beside him. He was facing downwards on the hard ground. "What now, boy? I have you by your neck. You have nothing left in you. I can sense that. How are you getting away from me now?" Orochimaru taunted.

In truth, the test was over. He had already been instructed to fail them so that he'd be freed up for the upcoming war. But for some reason, unknown even to him, he had decided to go through with a test despite their pitiable performance the previous day.

Now that the test was over, he could say with finality that they passed with flying colors. It was not every day a genin team managed to injure Manda. Just injured though. An explosion of that magnitude wouldn't kill Manda. It would just have pissed him off.

But Orochimaru wanted to see how he would react to the situation. Backed into a corner with no way out. Would he lash out? Would he beg? Grabbing a handful of the blood-red hair, he yanked him up off the ground.

He was smiling. Orochimaru was prepared for many things when he lifted Naruto by his hair. But he was not expecting him to be smiling. And he was not expecting his hands to be held in the serpent seal. As soon as he saw the seal, Orochimaru immediately threw Naruto away to his left. He mentally willed Manda to dispel even as he turned around. It was a good thing he did because the entire clearing was glowing.

"KATSU!", Naruto yelled from his position on the ground. The commanding voice that came from the battered body was surprising in its own way. Where was he getting the energy from?

Just as Manda dispelled, the clearing exploded with a brilliant white flash. Orochimaru quickly jumped back to Naruto's position, running through some hand seals. He slammed his hands on the ground just as the blast reached him. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Sanju Rashomon!"

---

15 Minutes Later

Yuna and Anko made it out of the forest and were greeted by a squad of chunin at the entrance. The shinobi looked incredulously as the two battered genin walked past them. Anko was leaning on Yuna and they walked slowly to a tree where Yuna set her companion to the ground. She turned around and scanned the assembled chunin.

"Are any of you a medic?"

Silence. The chunin said nothing, staring at the two genin. Yuna grunted impatiently.

"My name is Sarutobi Yuna.", she declared, glaring at them. "Now, are any of you a medic?"

A black-haired kunoichi uncertainly walked forward.

Gesturing to Anko, Yuna spoke. "She lost a lot of blood. A piece of wood went through her leg and she decided the best course of action would be to just pull it out."

The chunin looked at her strangely just for a moment before her hands glowed with the Mystical Palm Technique. She held her hands above Anko's leg and Yuna sighed in relief. She had done her job. Her legs gave way as she fell to the ground. She was still conscious, but the adrenaline which had kept her legs moving had officially run out. Before she crashed to the ground, she was caught from behind. She was then gently lowered to the ground. The chunin then crouched beside her.

"What were you doing in there? This is no place for a genin. Orochimaru-sama has booked this training ground and wants no interruptions.", the chunin seemed frightened at the thought of even being there.

"Yes, I thought I had made that clear." A voice came from behind.

"Orochimaru-sama?", the chunin was immediately on his feet with a small bow toward the sannin. "Forgive the interruption, Orochimaru-sama. We were sent to investigate the explosion in the middle of the training ground, sir. We were just about to enter the forest when-"

Orochimaru held up his hand and the chunin immediately stopped talking. "Get out of here. I'll take them to the hospital. The explosion was just a training accident."

"But sir-"

"Just. A training accident." Orochimaru spoke forcefully.

The chunin gulped before he broke eye contact and started shouting orders. "The area is secure. Move out people." Immediately the other chunin took to the trees. The healer nodded once at her team leader before she shunshined away. The team leader adopted a stoic face and nodded once at Orochimaru before he too disappeared.

Orochimaru sighed and turned around only to be met with the glaring face of Yuna Sarutobi.

"Where's Naruto?" she asked pointedly.

"He's safe right here.", he said, holding up a body scroll. "Pick her up. We're going to the hospital."

Yuna didn't move. She stared back at him stubbornly.

Sighing, Orochimaru walked past her. "Look, I'll explain things once these two are back on their feet. But for now, pick her up and follow me."

10 Minutes Later

Tsunade finished the medic-training session early today. She told them that they had done well and they deserved a day off. That couldn't have been further from the truth. They were… disappointing, to say the least. By the end of it, she was one mishap away from pounding the lot of them into the dirt.

So, she let them go, offering a few words of encouragement before dismissing them. She then made her way to her office where she had a bottle of sake hidden. At the start of the day, she wouldn't have even thought about drinking. After all, today was the day her brother was set to be a ninja and because of the threats she had already made, he would fail today. She needed to be sober to console him. 'He would have been one step closer to his dream as well. God damn it'. She hoped she did the right thing sabotaging him.

After the exhausting session in the morning though, she was adamant on getting as hammered as she possibly could from one bottle of sake.

And that was why an irritated growl escaped her mouth when she found Jiraiya sitting in her chair in her office. She just couldn't catch a break today.

"What do you want, you sick pervert?"

Jiraiya held up his arms in submission. "Woah woah. What did I do to deserve that?"

Tsunade entered her office, closing the door behind her. "Get off my chair." Jiraiya smirked as he stood up. Tsunade narrowed her eyes at his joy. "Don't you have a job to do? Something about Iwa ninja in our country? Something more important than bugging me?"

Jiraiya's smile faltered a bit. "No progress there, Tsunade-hime. Besides, sensei has started to send teams of jonin to scour the country, aiming to drive a majority of them back. If all goes well, after the next two weeks, we'll move for the Grass-Fire border."

Tsunade nodded seriously. Their sensei had often criticized them for their behavior. Granted, they fooled around a lot, but they could be completely serious when they wanted to be. "This war is going to be a lot worse than the previous one, isn't it?", she spoke sadly, her thoughts going to her baby brother who would also have to fight in this one had she not sabotaged him.

Jiraiya grimaced. "Yes. It will be a lot worse. We have fewer shinobi, fewer resources and fewer allies. The only reason the last war went as smoothly as it did was because of Uzushio. And they paid a heavy price for it."

"And it doesn't help that some of us are stuck with genin teams." The door opened and Orochimaru entered, carrying two genin on his shoulders.

"Kami! What happened to them?" exclaimed Tsunade as she rushed forward to help her teammate.

Orochimaru laid the two genin down and Tsunade's hands immediately glowed with a green light. Orochimaru grabbed her hand, interrupting her. Reaching into his pocket, he took out a scroll and tossed it to her. Tsunade caught it and looked questioningly at him. "Him first."

Jiraiya let out a gasp. "You used a body scroll to store a living person?"

Orochimaru didn't flinch. "Yes, I did. It's only an uncomfortable experience for conscious people with a pulse. And he wasn't conscious the last time I checked."

Tsunade unsealed the scroll and revealed the red-haired boy inside. The two sannin let out a gasp.

"Is that-", Jiraiya started.

"Yup."

"And he's your-", Tsunade chimed in.

"Yup."

Glancing at each other, Jiraiya and Tsunade shrugged and started healing him. The room was silent for a few minutes before Jiraiya spoke.

"Hang on. I thought sensei told you to fail your brats and that he needed you in the war."

Orochimaru sighed. "He wouldn't be saying that if he knew what the brats were capable of."

Tsunade frowned. "I'm certain that sensei would know if his daughter was the next coming of the Rikudou Sennin."

"Okay. I suppose I was wrong." Orochimaru relented. "He wouldn't be saying that if he knew what this brat was capable of.", he said, gesturing to the redhead.

Jiraiya scoffed. "That's just nonsense. How could one person, even him, make any difference-"

"He defeated Manda."

That silenced the room once again. Tsunade unconsciously stopped healing and turned to stare at him. Jiraiya and Tsunade both looked at him to continue.

"He would probably have killed him too, had I not willed him to dispel."

Jiraiya's mouth fell open. "That can't possibly be true."

Orochimaru sighed in annoyance. "Look, I had to summon a Rashomon gate to save myself." That caught their attention.

But Orochimaru adopted a thoughtful look. "Granted, I could've gotten away without using it, but his attack would've ended up killing himself. And he knew it as well. He positioned himself so that I would be caught between him and the blast. So, I had to summon a gate." Orochimaru stopped to see them looking at him incredulously, making him sigh once again. "Look, heal them up. Aside from sensei's brat who collapsed from exhaustion, they all have some pretty severe injuries. I'll tell you everything after."

Tsunade dumbly nodded and got back to work. Internally, she wanted to chew him out for summoning Manda against a group of genin. But what she had ended up learning about the boy in front of her made her forget her protective nature.

2 Hours Later

Naruto snapped awake, squinting at the bright light. He looked around to see his teammates in their own separate beds.

"Nice to see you're finally awake.", Anko quipped from her bed. "It seems that I have you to thank for saving me from the big bad snake."

Yuna also joined in on the praise. "Naruto, you were amazing out there. I don't know how you did half the things that you did, but it was amazing."

Naruto blushed at the praise. Honestly, in his mind, he had not done much. He had just let his instincts take over. Sometimes, while in battle, his mind screamed at him to do something. When he acquiesced with the demands, he usually ended up winning in a thorough and sometimes brutal fashion. He assumed these instincts were a consequence of his previous life. How a 6-year old had this kind of battle awareness was beyond him. Looking back at the fight he had just come out of; Naruto didn't even know if using the substitution technique like that would work until he'd tried it. It had just happened. And he had let it.

"Honestly, guys. It wasn't all me. I just let my instincts take over and my body sort of moved on its own.", he said sheepishly.

Yuna would have none of that. "Don't be modest, Naruto-kun. You were amazing.", she spoke with certainty, making Naruto blush again.

"Well, I can hardly disagree.", a new voice spoke. The three genin jumped in alarm as Orochimaru revealed himself, sitting on a chair in the far end of the room.

"How long were you sitting there?", Yuna asked, looking nervously at Anko. They were not sitting idly by while waiting for Naruto to wake up. They had been taking turns hurling abuse at their sensei for the dangerous situations they had found themselves in.

"Long enough.", Orochimaru said, smirking knowingly at the two girls. "But I'm not here to admonish you for insulting your superior. I'm here to tell you how you did on the test."

The three genin sobered up quickly. After barely surviving the ordeal, they were just happy to get through it without any lasting injuries. Orochimaru could see in their faces that they had forgotten about the 'test' part of their recent battle.

"Relax." He told the three genin. "You guys pass with flying colors. I'm only here to tell you what you did wrong and what you did right."

Their faces flooded with relief. They looked at each other and smiled, silently thanking each other for a job well done, not keeping in mind the way they began their acquaintance.

"First, I'll address you as a group. Then, I'll move onto your individual performances.", he said before pulling out a notepad. "First of all, you were much better as a team today than you were yesterday. You arrived together and when the initial battle began, you coordinated your attacks against me. When it went south, you guys escaped into the forest covering each other's backs. And finally, even if Naruto was the only one facing me, you guys executed a plan of some sort to ensure his success."

He paused to meet their eyes. "Nice work, all of you!"

"Secondly, you had a plan. No matter how basic it was, you had one. That means you spent some time yesterday or today morning talking about each other's skills and coming up with ways to use those skills against me. It may have been a basic one, but it was no doubt effective seeing as you almost killed my summon. As shinobi, you will be put in teams with relative strangers and be expected to work together. Then, you will have to communicate effectively and find ways to use your skills in sync. That is usually a very difficult task because from the moment you are genin, you are working with the same three people for a very long time. You showed a real aptitude for working with relative strangers today and that is not a common trait in shinobi." Orochimaru ticked off two items in his notepad.

"Lastly, you forgot the plan at the first sign of trouble. That is, ultimately, a negative for you. I said that I was aware of your plan. And being the fresh-faced fools you are, you believed me. You didn't even consider that I might be lying. If you had stopped to think even for a second, you would have realized that me, being a jonin, would have no need to spy on three genin in order to defeat them. You would have realized that, had I known your plan, I wouldn't have made you aware that I knew. I would have let you continue with the plan, which would have ultimately ended in a colossal disaster because I would've prepared to counter it."

"Shinobi lie. Friend or foe. It doesn't matter. All shinobi lie. It's our way of life. Whether it's throwing a fake punch or outright telling you that you are in line to be the next Hokage just to distract you." Orochimaru ticked off another item in his notepad and met their eyes. "Learn to trust people but also to second-guess everything. Constant vigilance is the secret to survival. Always prepare for the worst-case scenario. That way, you're never too surprised."

The three genin nodded. Naruto paid close attention to what Orochimaru said. Everything was insightful and would no doubt, later be useful in some capacity.

"Now, let's start with your individual assessments. Yuna, I'll be starting with you." Orochimaru turned to her and she tried to adopt a stoic face. But you could see that she was nervous. "Well, you were the only person standing by the end of it which means you did something right. You were also the first one to start attacking which means you were the first one who decided that the plan was forfeit. You forced your teammates to follow your lead without thinking ahead. That's your first mistake."

Yuna nodded. She had already realized this in her mind but it hurt to hear it again. "Secondly, you summoned an animal into the fight. While I won't reprimand you for doing so when I specifically told you that I'm testing your individual capabilities, I will say that it was a very stupid thing to do. It's never a good idea to give your opponent ideas. You know I am one of the sannin and you also know that all three of the sannin have signed summoning contracts. It is certainly impressive that you, a 12-year-old, can actually summon animals. But doing so gave me an idea. I was planning on using a shadow clone to test you three, while I observed from the shadows, but then, you used the summoning jutsu and I thought, 'Why should I put in the effort to fight you when I could easily just observe from above.' I'm not saying you shouldn't use your summons. I'm saying don't use your summons when you know your opponent has way stronger ones in his arsenal."

Yuna nodded simply, although you could tell she was deep in thought. "Other than that, you were fine. You worked well with Naruto and also helped Anko escape. That's a job well done." Orochimaru smiled at her and nodded. He put two more ticks in his notepad.

"Now, Anko, you're up. While you weren't able to showcase much of your offensive capabilities, you were quite exemplary in defending yourself. I suspect that taijutsu is your strong suit and my test didn't give you any opportunity to showcase your physical combat skills. You have my apologies for that but as I said, I reacted on impulse when I summoned Manda. Regardless, you were the first to sense Manda both times. When he first appeared, you were the one who suggested escaping into the woods to your teammates. I suspect that, if not for your suggestion, this hothead here would have tried to stay and fight with his back against a 30-foot fence." Orochimaru said, pointing at Naruto. Ignoring the 'Hey!' that came out, Orochimaru continued.

"When Manda was about to crush that tree you were trying to hide in, you were once again the first to sense it. While you did not defend against it, you were able to get your two teammates out of the way to safety. This leads me to ask. How were you able to sense Manda's presence? Are you a chakra sensor? You'd have to be amazingly good at it if you could sense him when he was trying to sneak up on you."

Seeing the curious look on Orochimaru and her teammates, Anko felt a bit silly because she had no idea how she had done it. "I don't know, really. I am not aware of any chakra-sensing power I have. All I know is that I sensed something coming and it… I don't know, unnerved me. I felt nauseous and I instinctively thought something bad was about to happen."

"Interesting." Orochimaru replied. "It seems that you are able to detect killing intent, Anko. That is a very rare skill for a genin. It will certainly be useful for you." Orochimaru said warmly, scribbling something down on his notepad. "Well, I guess that just leaves you Naruto."

Naruto perked up at that. He felt that Orochimaru was very honest about his assessment of his two teammates and he wanted an honest review of his performance in what was the most gruesome battle he remembered fighting. He was prepared for a lot of questions, but he just didn't know how many of them he could give a proper answer to.

"Where to begin, where to begin…" muttered Orochimaru as he skimmed through his notepad. "Well, you didn't waste any time once you knew the fight had started. That's a plus. Throughout the battle, I could see a… what to call it… Let's say, an affinity towards explosive tags. So, before dodging out of the way as I descended from above in that earth dome, you could've slammed a tag on the floor. I would have had no way to sense it as my visibility was heavily hindered. I was even kind of surprised that none of you capitalized on the golden opportunity that presented you with. The two of you not directly under the dome, didn't even change your position. If I had been preparing a jutsu inside the dome and lashed out at where I thought you guys were, you would've been hard-pressed to dodge." Orochimaru said, making eye-contact with each of them. "Moving on, I have some questions that I need answered before continuing."

Naruto nodded when he saw that Orochimaru was talking to him. "What is with the, um, 'affinity' to explosive tags? You can't have purchased that many."

Naruto let out a grin. "I made them when I started with fuinjutsu. They were relatively easy to make and I was a seven-year old boy who thought explosions are the coolest thing in the world.", he said sheepishly. "No wait. I still think that."

"Fuinjutsu, huh? There are not many people who delve into that art because of how complicated it is. Nice to see that you are interested." Orochimaru did not think that any genin would even know about fuinjutsu. As Naruto had elegantly put it, they see paper that causes explosions. No kid would think about how that paper was made. They would just be concerned about using that paper as soon as they got their hands on it. "Next question. Perhaps, the most important one. How were you able to substitute yourself with Anko and then later with me?"

Yuna and Anko looked at Naruto in surprise. Yuna had seen Naruto use the technique with Anko, but she didn't know that he had done the same with Orochimaru. That would explain the explosion on the top of Manda's head.

Anko, on the other hand, didn't even know that the substitution jutsu was involved. She had briefly lost consciousness and when she came to, she was on a tree branch struggling to not fall off. Yuna told her that Naruto saved her and Anko had been content with knowing that. She had not bothered to ask how he did so.

Naruto knew the question was coming and sighing, he realized he would have to talk about his past. "Um… There's something that happened in my past that isn't widely known." Naruto flinched internally as he felt their eyes on him. "You might already have guessed, but I am not originally from Konoha."

Anko and Yuna stared at him in shock. This was a wartorn country. No matter who said that Konoha came out on top, they still suffered losses. And to prevent further losses, new people were never admitted in. Not only that, foreigners, sometimes even the clients, were often treated so badly that they tended to avoid Konoha in general. So it was a surprise to hear someone say that he's a foreigner. It tended to not go over well most of the time.

Noticing the confusion on his teammates' faces, he drew a deep breath and continued. "Or at least I think I am. I woke up at the Konoha General Hospital one day, about 4 years ago. I had only a locket with the name Naruto on it. To this day, I haven't been able to remember a single thing from before waking up in that hospital room."

Naruto quickly surveyed their reactions. Yuna seemed to look at him with a mixture of shock and sympathy. Anko was also shocked, but seemed a bit impatient. Orochimaru just looked on impassively, a curious glint in his eye.

"Why do you think you're not from Konoha?" Yuna asked softly.

Naruto smirked at her but there was no mirth in his eyes. "Red hair, purple eyes, who else in Konoha has these characteristics?"

Yuna was about to respond when Orochimaru interrupted. "This discussion is getting a bit out of hand. We were talking about the substitution jutsu, Naruto. How does this relate to that?"

Naruto nodded, deciding to just come out and say it. "Despite not having any actual memories, I still remember stuff from before." Anko opened her mouth to say something, but Naruto put up a hand to stop her. "Not anything actually meaningful, but little stuff from my sense memory, like the ability to walk, talk, read and all that. But sometimes, when I'm in a fight, and I feel trapped or uncertain about the way I should proceed, something just happens in my mind and the solution just comes to me."

Orochimaru frowned. He had been looking forward to finding out how exactly the genin had accomplished the very impressive feat, but it seemed that the genin himself did not know.

Yuna leaned forward. "So, what does this mean exactly? You just remember how to fight from before?"

Naruto nodded. "It's been like that for the entire time. The first time we threw a kunai in the academy, I nailed every single one of the targets. When they taught chakra theory and control exercises, I found I knew them all. When we spar with the instructors, my mind screams at me about all the gaps and weaknesses it sees, but I wouldn't see it until after I think about it." Naruto paused. "It's a very weird feeling."

Orochimaru was the first to absorb all that knowledge. "So, when you substituted with me…"

"I had no idea that I was going to do that until the moment I did", Naruto completed. "I remember visualising your body, instead of the usual log. I remember releasing all the chakra I had to try and match yours. I remember feeling a pull on my chakra and then appearing on top of Manda."

Orochimaru nodded softly. He remembered the day the boy had been found. How tense both his sensei and his teammate had been. He didn't know exactly what went on behind the scenes, but he had intuited that this boy was dangerous just from the tension on their faces. There was something abnormal about everything surrounding the boy. Normally, the clanless orphans were put together and sent on the more dangerous missions. But for some reason, his sensei or whoever made the teams this year, had taken this 'clanless orphan' away from the others and put him on his team. The team he was instructed to fail.

"Do you think you could reverse engineer this technique if you had enough time? Substituting with an enemy is something every competent shinobi has researched at some point, but other than rumours and exaggerations, this is the first time I've heard of someone actually doing it." Orochimaru asked after a long period of silence.

Naruto frowned as he contemplated the question. "I don't think this can ever serve as a battle-ready technique. When I appeared atop Manda, I was dazed and confused, my vision was blurry and unfocused and I was bleeding from my nose. And I hurt all over as well. I'm not keen on trying it again anytime soon."

Orochimaru seemed disappointed but he nodded his acceptance. There were a million things that could go wrong when developing a technique, and if the effects were as serious as Naruto had just described it, it was probably best not to pursue it.

Naruto knew what he'd told them was a lot to swallow, but he didn't want to be the centre of attention for any longer than necessary. "I was really hoping that I wouldn't have to tell you this. The last thing I want from you all is your pity. But… We are teammates now. So, I guess you were bound to learn at some point." Naruto took a deep breath as the silence between them stretched.

"Ahem.", Orochimaru coughed, getting their attention. "This discussion has deviated too much. We were talking about your performance, Naruto." The boy looked up at him and nodded. "From what we discussed so far, you did your best and it definitely worked. Although it's disappointing that the substitution is not battle-ready unless as a last resort, it's good to see that you are quite the resourceful ninja. I can definitely see what grabbed the higher-ups' attention." Naruto couldn't help but smile at the praise.

"The thing I want you to work on is your sense of self-preservation. At first, faced with Manda, you were about to stand and fight while effectively backed into a wall. Then, when you executed that explosion, you jumped off a 50-foot tall snake with no plan. You probably assumed the trees would break your fall, but that's not good enough. In battle, never assume your techniques have found their mark. If I wanted to kill you and I survived the initial explosion, which I did, you wouldn't want to be on the ground with all your bones broken."

"That is still excusable. You saw a shot. You took it. But in the subsequent explosion, you had no defense whatsoever. You would have been killed had I not erected the strongest defense I'm capable of.", Orochimaru's tone was harsh.

Naruto glanced down at his hands, not meeting his eye. This made Orochimaru's gaze soften. "Fear of death is not a bad thing. A shinobi is not someone that feels no fear. Having no fear of death will lead to recklessness and it's never a good thing for a ninja to think that his actions don't have consequences. This is a lesson for all three of you, not just him." The three genin nodded with resolve, accepting the advice.

"For the foreseeable future, until you all become chunin, I will be training you. Every morning, you will be in Training Ground 44 at dawn. During the mornings, you will go through an intense warmup session, followed by some individual training. After lunch, we will meet again and you will have a team training session. Afterwards, we will see if any missions are available. Then, if all the other jonin senseis agree, you will meet other genin teams and have friendly spars, so you can properly familiarize yourselves with people you will no doubt end up working with." Orochimaru spoke authoritatively. "Now, from what you displayed today; I will tell you what I plan to work on during the individual session. I will go in the same order once again."

"Yuna, you prefer to fight from a distance. You have already mastered water manipulation basics and can perform basic water style ninjutsu. From what I could see, you send in your summons to fight in close quarters while you stay back and provide cover. But as a shinobi, you have to be well rounded in all the shinobi aspects. We will work on that first. Then we will build from there. Maybe some kenjutsu or bojutsu further down the line."

"That sounds wonderful, sensei." Yuna spoke in agreement.

"Anko, your strong suit is taijutsu. Tomorrow, I'll properly test your style and decide whether it's adequate. You seem to specialize in close-range weapons and your weakness is ranged combat. We will work primarily on ninjutsu among other ranged weapons. That should cover your weaknesses well. Is that acceptable?"

Anko nodded, smiling slightly. She had not made the best impression the previous day and she was going to work hard to prove herself to him.

"Naruto, you are proficient in the basic ninja arts, and it seems you specialize in fuinjutsu. What you lack is an effective taijutsu style and you haven't demonstrated any ninjutsu techniques either. From the earlier discussion, I have a feeling that you will excel in genjutsu because it is somewhat similar to fuinjutsu in the sense that your mind is the only limitation. Therefore, I would like to work on basic elemental jutsu, taijutsu and if time permits, some introduction to genjutsu. Is that satisfactory?" Orochimaru looked at Naruto who nodded.

Orochimaru seemed to consider him for a while before he finally nodded in acceptance. "I read about the circumstances surrounding your arrival in Konoha when I was assigned to your team. We are a team now and it's good that you have chosen to confide in us." Orochimaru said making direct eye-contact with Naruto. "Now, I don't know if you know about this, but the file I got says you were found by someone named Inuzuka Sanae. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting her, and the name doesn't sound familiar. But you could try researching it in your free time."

Naruto's eyes widened. He had asked the doctor attending him when he woke up but she just shrugged, signalling that she didn't know. He was about to speak up when Orochimaru, now walking to the door, interrupted.

"As you said, your hair stands out too much. Dye it black or some other less conspicuous color. Ninja don't draw attention to themselves." Seeing Naruto was about to protest, Orochimaru just smiled. "I was planning on failing you guys this morning. You guys managed to change my mind. You should see this as an achievement. Well done. See you tomorrow, brats."

Yuna stared at the door that slammed shut. She turned around and saw the disbelieving expression on Naruto's face and it made her smile.

Anko laughed out loud. "I think he's starting to like us."

---

Meanwhile, Land of Frost, Unknown location.

Kushina grunted in exertion as the skin finally peeled off the snow-white rabbit she had caught. Blood fell from the carcass, staining the white snow below. Disappointed with her catch, she sighed. Hunting here was very difficult. In the extreme cold conditions of the mountainous region, the game was sparse and very quick to escape.

The Land of Frost was an anomaly for people interested in geography. It lay between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning, both countries with a good climate. Certainly, no snow for either country. But alas, the Land of Frost was essentially a mountain range. As far as Konoha was concerned, it was uninhabited. It was also the reason why Kumogakure stood strong even after losing so badly in the first ninja war. They couldn't be invaded. Not only were they surrounded by mountains, it was essentially impossible for any army to get through the mountainous Land of Frost without alerting them. The only country that could invade them would be Kirigakure, owing to their abundance of ships.

This made Kumogakure the only major village in a situation where the people could enjoy true peace. Kushina's eyes darkened. However, they were the instigators of both prior wars. They were a power-hungry bunch. She knew that firsthand. After all, she had been the target of one of their more recent power plays.

She finally made it back to her team, carrying the still dripping carcass.

"Holy shit, Kushina. What did that rabbit ever do to you?", Fugaku yelled.

Kushina glared at him. "What are you talking about? This is no rabbit. This is dinner.", she said, smiling contentedly.

"I didn't know you liked raw meat, Kushina-chan", Akira chimed in.

"What do you mean, raw meat?", she enquired, horrified. "Where's the fire? What were you guys doing when I was gone?"

"Hn. I told you it was a mistake to bring her on a stealth mission.", the last member of their team spoke.

"Bite me, Hitomi.", Kushina sniped back before turning back to Akira. "But it's so cold, old man. And I'm hungry.", she whined.

"No fire, Kushina-chan. We are on a mission now. Take it seriously." Akira spoke seriously. "Here, you can eat this if you're so hungry.", he said, throwing a ration bar in her direction.

"You guys are no fun." Kushina nevertheless bit into her bar after quickly burying the rabbit under the snow. If a confrontation came about, it wouldn't do her any good to be too tired. Sighing, she thought about the team headed into enemy territory. 'It's a shame Mikoto got a team. It would have been much more fun with her here instead of the cold-hearted bitch I ended up with.', she thought glaring at the back of Hyuga Hitomi.

She seemed to sense her eyes on her back because she turned around to meet Kushina's eyes. Blowing the raspberry at her, she continued on with her business. Kushina sighed. 'Just as unlucky as always, aren't I?'

"Get some rest guys. We're going to move out in an hour. I'll keep watch. The sooner we get this over with, the better.", Akira Senju declared and everyone nodded in acceptance. They weren't about to ask for more work in this dreadful climate.

Kushina wrapped herself up in a blanket she always carried with her in a seal on her wrist. She agreed with what her sensei said. The sooner this is over, the better.

---

Konoha Council Chambers, 2 Hours Later.

An eerie silence filled the chamber, contrary to how it usually was. Today, only jonin-senseis had been summoned. Naturally, they were all aware of what the genin would face in two weeks. Hence, the silence. When faced with a difficult situation, the easiest thing to do is to not talk about it. The ones who had just been assigned a team, were seated at the very front.

That's where the four ninja sat. Minato and Orochimaru looked quite at home while Hiruko Hyuga made it clear to whoever looked at him that he did not care about the meeting. Mikoto Uchiha on the other hand, looked like she wanted to get as far away from there as possible.

Jiraiya noted all this as he made his way into the room behind his sensei and his advisors. They walked all the way to the front and everyone stood up until the Hokage had been seated. Tsunade had apparently gone through with something Jiraiya and Orochimaru warned adamantly against. He let out a sigh in sadness. 'There's a good reason for her nervousness, I guess', he thought, once again noting Mikoto's distress.

Hiruzen stared at his shinobi. What he was about to do hurt him deeply. However, Danzo was right for once. This was no time to be soft. Drawing a deep breath, he began. "I called you all here so soon after yesterday because I understand that our decision was met with some discontentment among the jonin instructors. I would like to take this opportunity to address all of your concerns." He paused.

"The first issue seems to be their age. They are too young for this. To those people who believe so, I ask you to think about what you were doing when you were that age. When you were all 12 years old, were you in the village practicing your aim?" His deep voice cut through all of them making them wince. "No. You were out there fighting a fucking war. To think that you people want to let these… these children rush off into war without adequately preparing them makes me sick."

The assembled jonin looked down in a mixture of guilt and shock. The Hokage was right. They had let themselves feel pity for the kids. That was a mistake. Never underestimate a ninja. The genin were ninja despite their age. Old enough to kill, old enough for anything.

"Huh. It seems that's the only issue you had with it.", the Hokage muttered looking down at his sheet of paper. "Unbelievable. I hope this settles it then." A chorus of assent rose from the assembled jonin. "Now, onto more important things. Team 7. Report.", he called out.

Minato rose immediately. "They have passed, Hokage-sama. They were used to each other's moves and were able to work together to reach the goal I set for them. Kakashi displayed shocking skill during the spar. I would go so far as to say he is already at a low jonin level."

An excited murmur spread through the assembled jonin at what they just heard. As the son of Sakumo Hatake, the kid had a lot to live up to and so far, he was exceeding all expectations.

The Hokage nodded. "That's good to know. Perhaps some of the rookies will get through the next two weeks. Team 10. Report."

Hyuga Hiruko stood up and bowed respectfully. "Failed. Their first course of action was to split up. Resisting the urge to pick them off one by one, I stood and waited. And they came to me one by one so I could do just that. They had nothing to set them apart. Only the basic academy techniques and taijutsu. Not even proper chakra control."

The Hokage nodded once more. He had expected the same. "Team 12. Report.", he commanded, looking at his star pupil.

Orochimaru was silent for a few moments. Then, he stood up making direct eye contact with Danzo instead of the Hokage. Seeing the veteran try and fail to conceal his smirk, Orochimaru realized exactly who it was that noticed Naruto and put him in his team.

"They passed with flying colors, Hokage-sama. But I suspect he already made you aware of that.", he said pointing at Danzo, making the man smirk. The assembled crowd let out a collective gasp. They had never even considered that Orochimaru would take on a team when a war was just around the corner. "They performed admirably, working well together and complementing each other well. They ended up taking down Manda, my most powerful snake summons. I believe that is something that some people in this very room would not be able to achieve."

The whole room erupted with questions.

"That's impossible."

"He must be joking."

"No way. The boss of the snake summons. Dispelled by a couple of brats? I don't think so."

"If what he's saying is the truth, then they must have gotten lucky. Otherwise, I just don't see it happening."

"SILENCE.", the Hokage yelled. "YOU WILL STOP THIS CHILDISH BEHAVIOUR AT ONCE." The crowd was silenced immediately. Glaring intently at the most vocal ninja, he turned to Orochimaru once again. "Explain."

Orochimaru was quite surprised to hear the disappointment in his tone. 'Was it that important to the war effort that I not pass them? No, it can't be that.'

"Hokage-sama, I cannot say if I unconsciously underestimated them or not but I was in no way consciously trying to go easy on them. I set them a task. Destroy my shadow clone. However, they managed to irk my clone enough to make him summon Manda."

Orochimaru paused for a bit, not aware of how it made some people lean forward in their seats. "Then, as you can imagine, it got really messy for them. Until the orphan, Naruto, as a last resort, executed a series of moves that would have no doubt killed a lesser ninja. I was even forced to summon one of the Rashomon gates to protect myself. Granted, I was only a clone and there was no need to do so. But the kid would have been caught up in the blast as well. I think the kid knew that I wouldn't let that happen and he used that fact well, effectively forcing me to shield him." Orochimaru spoke firmly. "And that's just an overview of what this kid did. The other two, while not as impressive, were still better than the average genin."

This time, when Orochimaru stopped speaking, no one said a word. Their eyes simply turned to their leader, waiting for him to speak. Silently, they were all hoping for more information on this impressive boy. Their anticipation turned to disappointment however, when the Hokage simply nodded and turned to Mikoto.

"Team 13, Report."

Orochimaru went back to his seat smiling reassuringly at the nervous Uchiha. She stood up without making eye contact with the Hokage. "Team 13 p-passed the exam I set for them, sir.", she spoke softly, her voice breaking. "They had good teamwork skills and had enough power between them to pass. The two orphans on my team, Shinzo and Shizuka, were amazingly in sync and they supported Nawaki well. Nawaki was the most impressive among them. He exhibited high-level knowledge in elemental manipulation and already controls two elements. With Nawaki acting as the muscle and with Shinzo and Shizuka supporting him, I believe they can form a very good team."

Hiruzen studied the young Uchiha jonin curiously. He had an idea why she seemed frightened to announce her assessment. He sent a subtle look towards his pupil seated beside her. Orochimaru nodded ever so slightly, acknowledging that he had received the message. "Thank you, Uchiha-san. You may return to your seat.". He scribbled something down on the paper in front of him.

"Now, onto more pressing matters, we will now announce the details of the silent dispatch. With help from Jiraiya's spies and the shinobi stationed at the borders, we have currently estimated that there are about 150 bandits in that camp. But despite our best efforts, we have not been able to do anything about the shinobi that have infiltrated the Land of Fire. It is not possible to fully comb the countryside in any effective way as that would leave the village in significant danger. That is also the reason why we cannot send a large force to sort out the situation in the Land of Grass."

"Therefore, we will send out the genin teams. If what Danzo said yesterday hasn't made it clear, then I'll make it clear. The genin are expendable. We cannot hope to win a war if half our competent workforce dies before it begins. Therefore, we will send the genin. There are now 177 genin in rotation. 59 teams. Only the genin worthy of the name would return and, in the process, it is estimated that about 30 jonin will be freed up to fight in the frontlines. And this will also toughen up the genin. Silent dispatch is a necessity and has been made use of in the past for the very same purpose. It's kill or be killed out there and any genin who passes, will have learned to do exactly that. Kill or be killed."

He then sighed, letting out a deep breath. "I know this seems extremely ruthless. However, this is a time of war. The enemy has already made their move. The explosion yesterday was not some accident. The forcefield around the village detected a small intruder minutes before the explosion. According to the researchers, it is roughly the dimensions of a small insect, maybe a spider. We do not yet know how that 'spider' of such dimensions accomplished the huge explosion we saw. Yesterday seemed almost like a test run of sorts. We must be on high alert."

"As for the genin, the task set for them is not anything impossible. Kusa was not able to send much info but according to our estimates, there are close to 150 bandits in that village. So, it's at most one on one. On the way, the genin will henge into older ninja so that the enemies who have infiltrated the Land of Fire will see close to 250 jonin ninja heading to their base of operations. With half our ninja out on the borders and 250 jonin marching away from the village, they will no doubt believe that the village is vulnerable. They will most likely mount an attack on the village, but we'll be prepared this time. This is a rather risky move that will no doubt have casualties. However, this is only the first of many such tactics for the coming days. Prepare yourselves."

The gathered group of shinobi voiced a reluctant assent. The meeting continued for some more time. The Hokage went through some more issues regarding the border patrols and the village security, but everyone knew that the soul of the meeting had already been discussed. Orochimaru surveyed the room. The mood had considerably declined. He glanced sideways at Mikoto. Her hands were clenched tightly slightly as she looked straight at the ground. 'Tsunade, what have you done?'

The meeting came to an end soon and the Hokage and his advisors exited the chamber. The assembled shinobi broke into hushed conversations, no doubt about their genin. Orochimaru however, did not have time for that. He quickly moved through the crowd to catch up to the Uchiha heiress.

Mikoto was feeling quite conflicted. From a very young age, she knew one thing about herself. She wasn't interested in politics. She didn't have a knack for it and she didn't care for it. Nor did she have any reason to. She once had an older brother, groomed to be the heir the clan needed. So, she lived her life without the burden of potentially carrying her whole clan on her shoulders.

That changed when her brother got himself killed in the war. The news reached her before his body did. She was barely 14 years old when she was sat down by her parents in front of the whole clan to be named heiress before her brother had even been buried. Kagami Uchiha, named after their late grandfather, was dead and therefore, she became the heiress. And she had lived with that. It was her duty. The diplomacy? The posture? Ugh… She had been sitting comfortably her entire life and suddenly everyone was telling her she was doing it wrong.

These new aspects in her life, while unwelcome, were manageable. What she couldn't deal with were the lies and deceit and most recently blackmail, associated with politics. From the moment she was named heiress, she had hated being forced into something she didn't want to do. More than anything, she hated that feeling of helplessness. She tended to act recklessly whenever she felt threatened. Fugaku was much calmer and had the ability to rein her in efficiently. Sadly, Fugaku was not there this morning. He was on a mission. This left her to make a very important decision on her own and she had made one. Just not the one she was being asked to make.

As she walked out of the council chambers and onto the streets, she immediately noticed her tail. The man was obviously not trying to hide, otherwise she never would have spotted Orochimaru so easily. However, considering the fact that Tsunade, his old teammate, was the reason for her dilemma, she was not eager to confront him. Her unwillingness notwithstanding, he had almost caught up. Annoyance etched on her face, she turned around and snapped at him. "What?"

Orochimaru disregarded her annoyance altogether and stared at her. "What did Tsunade tell you?"

"Excuse me?"

"What did Tsunade tell you?", Orochimaru repeated.

"That… that is none of your business, Orochimaru-san. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a clan meeting to get to."

Orochimaru watched her turn around to walk away. "She asked you to fail him, didn't she?" She froze. "Don't worry, Mikoto-san. We'll rein her in. You need not worry about her."

The silence stretched between them until Mikoto finally turned around. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

She turned around and started walking. Almost as an afterthought, Orochimaru called out to her. "You did a good job standing up to her, Mikoto-san. You are a credit to your clan."

This time Mikoto didn't stop. She just continued walking. 'Yeah. I did good, standing up to her.' She scoffed. 'Now, all I have to do is make sure he survives. If he doesn't… I'm finished.'

---

Meanwhile, Market District

"You look good, Naruto. Black hair suits you." Shizuka said, her eyes lit up.

"Pfft."

"Really, man. You have this whole rugged look going for you now." Shinzo chimed in. "With red hair and violet eyes, you looked like some kid drew you with crayons. This is much cooler."

Naruto was prepared to verbally lash out at his friends, but was stopped when the weight on his lap moved. Yugao looked up at him, smiling cutely. "You look really cool, nii-san."

This made Naruto smile. "Thank you, Yugao-chan, you're so sweet."

Shizuka just scoffed. "Sure. Our opinions don't mean anything to you. We get it."

The purple haired bundle started bouncing excitedly. He leaned down to her ear and whispered something which got her giggling even more.

They sat there comfortably for some more time, until it started to get dark. Sighing contentedly, Naruto eased Yugao off his lap. "Well guys. We did it. We are shinobi now for better or for worse. This calls for some celebration. Come on."

Shinzo and Shizuka looked at each other in confusion. "Celebration? We can't afford celebrating anything. We need to find an apartment willing to take in people from the red-light district." Shinzo spoke incredulously as Naruto picked Yugao up.

Naruto beamed at them. "Nonsense. We can do that later. I have a plan.", he said giddily as he continued to walk away.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Shizuka said to Shinzo to which he could only nod.

---

Konoha Hospital, Room 317

Minato knocked on the door lightly. When he heard no reply, he heightened his senses into the room. There was a person inside but it didn't seem like she had registered his presence. Slightly irritated, Minato knocked once more, this time, a little bit louder. He was faced with the same result, however, when there was still no reply. Even more annoyed, he prepared to call out to the person inside.

"Enter."

Words stuck in his throat, Minato stuttered a little bit. He shook himself out of it and opened the door. "Thank you for seeing me, Irene-san. I wanted to talk to you about something."

Irene was looking out the window. She didn't turn her head to look at her visitor. She merely grunted, acknowledging his presence.

"Irene-san, did you by chance meet a little girl by the name of Uzuki Yugao? I talked to some of the kids at the orphanage. They said they haven't seen her. But according to the civilian social services, she should have been at the orphanage with the other children for two days now. But they say that no one new has come to the orphanage in over a year." He paused to check if she was listening. She was still simply looking out through the window. "Er… By any chance, do you know where she is?"

Irene closed her eyes. "What do you care?", she snapped.

Minato was taken aback by the sudden hostility and his eyes widened in surprise. "Excuse me, Irene-san. I meant no offense. It's just that I knew her mother well and I wanted to check in on her."

This somehow only increased the anger Irene was feeling. "So, just because you knew her mother you want to check in on her, do you? How lucky is she to have you? Now, tell me. What about those other kids? The ones that don't have people like you watching out for them."

"Irene-san, that is not-"

"Look out that window. What do you see?"

Forcing his anger down, Minato wordlessly turned to look through the window. "Ma'am, I see Konoha. I see the village."

"No, you idiot. Look at that. Down by the whorehouse.", she said pointing her finger. "What do you see?"

Minato was starting to get annoyed. "I see a burnt down old building, ma'am."

Irene let out a humorless laugh. "That's what you see, is it? That 'burnt-down old building' as you so eloquently put it, is my life's work. The place I built with everything I had. A place where people like me had a home. People with no one left in their lives come together and take care of each other. You shinobi have made it your mission to cause grief to people like us. Killing the parents of defenseless children? Killing the husbands of pregnant women? That's all you shinobi ever do. Kill. Kill. Kill."

"There were 27 orphans in my care. Now, they don't have a home. They can't survive. The girls will be scooped up by the brothels and the boys will be put to slave labor by the merchants. Most of them will end up dead in a gutter. Killed by some thug or, more likely, a drunk shinobi. And no one will ever even know. My life's work. The orphanage kept them safe, if not happy. I kept them safe and you shinobi destroyed that. You shinobi couldn't even let us live in peace. By the events of yesterday, I failed them. I failed all 27 of them. I will never forget that."

The room went silent. Minato stood there, stunned at the outburst from the former Kurama clan heiress. "And you. With your fake concern. You come in here, where I lie in bed dying and you have the audacity to inform me of a 28th person I failed. Thank you for your service, shinobi-san. You are a credit to our village." With that, Irene finally turned her face and looked right at Minato.

Minato flinched when he saw the right side of her face. Severely burned, red and blistered.

"To answer your question, Shinobi-san, I have neither seen nor heard of a little girl named Uzuki Yugao. She was not in the orphanage before the fire and I made sure no one was inside during it. For all I know, she's dead in a ditch somewhere and because of you, I now know that it's my fault. Now, if that's all you wanted, get out. I'm done talking."

Minato stood there for a few minutes in stunned silence. Then, he turned around and walked out without saying another word. His drive to become Hokage had now increased considerably and he had a new mission. Find Uzuki Yugao.

---

30 Minutes Later, Akira Senju's House

"Life is good.", Naruto declared contentedly. Whatever the bed was made of, it was soft. Very soft. The four orphans lay there happily. They arrived about 20 minutes ago and helped themselves to the food in the fridge. Then, they proceeded to change the sheets on the bed on Shizuka's insistence. 'Old people bugs' was the official reason she gave when Shinzo made the mistake of asking why. Then it took the three of them about 5 minutes to get Yugao into the bathroom and clean her up properly. The kid was afraid of anything water-related. It took them even longer to get her to brush her teeth. But finally, they were done.

Now, they all lay on the king-size bed, looking at the ceiling. Life was indeed good. They were all ninja now. Except Yugao, of course. Soon, money would come in and they would be able to afford their own place.

"Hey Naruto. Are you sure this is ok?" Shinzo voiced. "That Akira dude was not thrilled about having us here yesterday. Even I realized that."

"Are you kidding me? He gave out all the hints. 'I'm gonna be on a week-long mission.' 'Take care of my house.' 'That little girl is the cutest, most adorable thing in the entire world.'" he recited easily, tickling Yugao. "You really are the cutest, aren't you?" Yugao continued giggling.

Shinzo deadpanned. "This is not going to end well."

"Wow, this bed is soft." Shizuka spoke.

"We have to get out. It will not end well." Shinzo spoke again with more urgency.

"Sooooooooo sooooooooffft!" Shizuka moaned.

"Seriously, guys. This is a bad idea."

"Chill out, Shinzo. That old man's a softie. Even if he catches us, he won't do anything. Come on. We'll just put Yugao-chan on him. No one can say no to Yugao-chan."

Shinzo sighed again. The bed was soft. "When this is over and it ends badly like I said, I can be the bigger man and say 'I told you so.', instead of whacking you over their heads for being so stupid."

"I love you." The statement was so sudden and so unexpected that all three sets of eyes went wide as they looked at Yugao who was now snoring lightly. Growing up without parents, none of them knew it was now habitual for Yugao to say that before falling asleep.

They looked at each other and smiles broke out as they realized that this little girl loved them and wanted them for who they were. With their minds full and their hearts content, they settled in to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be the start of their journey as a shinobi and they were going to be awesome at it.

---

Hey everyone! Just wanna put this out there. Where is the Love by Black Eyed Peas has to be the best song in existence.

AN0: First time writing a fight scene. Hopefully nothing I've written is too far fetched and everything is descriptive enough to paint a full picture.

AN1: I'm having a lot of fun writing dialogue for Akira Senju and Irene Kurama, which is a bit of a surprise because I usually don't like OCs in my stories. The image I have of Akira is that of a bonafied badass like Levi in AoT but obviously he's older and well... less badass.

See you next time :)