Chapter 39: The Good Doctor
Shizune glanced around the cheap room they had booked at one of the local inns. It was a simple layout: two beds, an old radiator that looked like it probably wouldn't work, and a single lamp tucked into the corner. The pale blue paint was peeling in some places, but other than that, the walls seemed to be in good condition and the window was still in one piece. All in all, it was a good deal.
Also, a certain person was conspicuously absent.
"Tsunade-sensei," she murmured to herself, quietly irked, as she set down the piglet she had been holding.
Tonton sniffed around the room for a moment, then oinked in agreement.
It would seem that her mentor had already hit the town, no doubt making a beeline for the local bars and gambling dens.
Allowing herself a quiet sigh, Shizune pinched the bridge of her nose. Although she had only just turned eleven years old, sometimes she felt like, between herself and her mentor, she had to be the responsible one.
She had been traveling with Tsunade-sensei for a few years now—they had left Konoha shortly after she had graduated from the Academy—and she loved the adventure of wandering from place to place, learning medical justu from her mentor.
That said, there were some… downsides.
Namely, learning how to run damage control for Tsunade-sensei.
In the first few months they had been traveling, it hadn't been much of a problem. Her teacher had spent some evenings drinking when they were in a town, sure, but that wasn't too bad. They never traveled very far from Konoha either, only stopping at small towns barely a day away at civilian speeds.
Shizune had the impression that, despite her claims otherwise, her teacher was reluctant to leave the village behind. It was as if she were still caught by some invisible thread. It would only be a matter of time before it snapped, of course, but the thread was wrapped around her neck: until it broke she was just choking herself.
Maybe that was why Tsunade-sensei had retreated into bars more and more lately, whittling their money away on games and bets.
"You stay and watch the room, Tonton." She got an affirmative oink. "I'll be back as soon as I find her."
Closing the door to their inn room and locking it with a click, Shizune sighed again and refocused on the matter at hand: finding Tsunade-sensei. If she left her alone for too long, her mentor was likely to lose most of the money they had earned in the past week to one unlucky game of cards.
"Oh, dear child," the innkeeper said, when she asked how to get to the sketchier parts of town. "I'm not sure that's safe…"
"I'll be fine," Shizune replied, biting back her annoyance at being treated like a kid—she was a shinobi! "I just need to find my auntie before it gets too late."
She would never call her mentor that in-person, of course, even though it was basically the truth: it would bring up too many sad memories. They were mentor and apprentice, teacher and student… but using the family angle did seem to work more often than not when dealing with civilians.
Having that card up her sleeve was particularly useful when it came to actually prying her mentor away from the game table. Playing up an implied family dynamic really worked to get the other gamblers on her side, using the power of peer-pressure to get Tsunade-sensei to leave.
Of course, the worried-kid trick wouldn't work forever. She was growing up, after all, and at some point she'd need to figure out a new method.
Well, that was an issue to deal with at some other time.
It took her a few minutes, but eventually she was able to convince the innkeeper to give her directions. Apparently this town didn't have a very large gambling district—thank goodness—so she only had three or four places to check.
She had no luck at the first bar, finding it to be nothing more than a dirty hole-in-the-wall offering alcohol, gloom, and not much else. Her second stop was no better, if a little bit cleaner looking.
At the third bar, however, her search payed off. As a disgruntled man stepped out from the gambling room, just before cloth could fall back into place over the entrance, she caught sight of blond hair and the bottom edge of a familiar green coat.
Target located.
Of course, the barkeep stepped between her and the back room before she could push through the noren hanging in the doorway.
"This ain't no place for a kid."
"Please, sir." She pitched her voice so it could be heard over the noise of rolled dice and shuffled cards, all but aiming her words at her mentor. Even though she could only see her feet, Shizune still saw her wince. "I'm just looking for my teacher."
"…Your teacher?" He looked skeptical, but he gamely pulled the noren aside and looked into the back room. "Any o' you chumps a teacher to this little girl?"
Tsunade-sensei slowly looked up from her set of cards—strangely enough, it looked like she may have actually been winning for once. "That'd be me."
"Then finish this hand and skedaddle, come back tomorrow if ya want," the barkeep grunted. "Like I said, this ain't no place for little girls."
Her mentor nodded, waved off the almost-friendly jeers of the other people at the table with her, and a minute later was gathering up her winnings—it wasn't much money, really, but still shocking to see.
It was a little funny, how her mentor gave the won ryō an almost suspicious look: it was as if she couldn't believe that she'd had good luck for once.
They walked out of the bar without a word between them, and it took a few blocks for Tsunade-sensei to try and break the silence.
"Shizune-chan…"
"Sensei," she interrupted. "I thought I asked you to at least leave me a note when you go out, so I'd know where to find you if something comes up."
"You're right," her mentor said, breathing out a sigh. "Next time…"
Tsunade-sensei paused then, suddenly, eyes widening for a moment before her expression of surprise swiftly darkened to a scowl. Following her teacher's glance, Shizune spotting a small white snake coiled a short distance away, head raised and staring right back at them.
After a second to consider each other, the snake turned and slipped into the darkness of a nearby alley. She could see it pause halfway down the dirty lane, looking back at them expectantly.
With a reluctant grumble, Tsunade-sensei stalked off after the small serpent.
"Uhm…" Trotting to catch back up, Shizune asked, "Where are we going?"
"Somewhere else, presumably," her teacher grumbled. "Wherever that stupid snake leads us."
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
Her teacher looked briefly conflicted—unsure about something, but she didn't really look worried—before she replied, "…It'll be fine, Shizune-chan."
They followed the snake as it wound through lesser used streets, and after a few minutes it stopped to look at them again. It rose up, still watching them, then set its belly to the wall and began to slither up the side of the building. The white tail vanished onto the rooftop.
"That's kinda freaky," Shizune murmured to herself.
Her mentor shook her head, a small smile briefly touching her lips, before she swiftly followed the snake with a chakra-assisted leap. Shizune scrambled to follow after her, sprinting up the wall.
The roof was lit deep red and bright yellow, along with every color in between. As the light slowly pulled away over the horizon, small shadows were reaching out across the ceramic shingles. A figure stood across from them, silhouetted by the setting sun.
The man—the shinobi, she corrected, catching a glint of silver on his forehead—had long black hair, pale white skin, and a stiff, almost uncomfortable posture.
He also looked… a little familiar, for some reason.
Tsunade-sensei didn't move, almost frozen in place.
"It's been a few years, Orochimaru," she said.
"It has," was his simple reply, sounding strangely cautious.
So that was why Shizune had recognized him, if only vaguely; she had probably met him when she was younger. He was one of her mentor's old teammates, she knew, though the two of them were acting more like distant acquaintances.
"You didn't travel far," he said.
"That doesn't matter." Tsunade-sensei was on guard, eyes narrowed, and she turned her face away. "I am not going back."
"That is not what I am here to ask."
She twitched, not having expected that reply, and looked back at him. "Then what do you want from me?"
"I would request your assistance with a certain matter," he said, his voice low and serious. "It is a delicate situation, and requires the utmost secrecy."
He gave a significant look to Shizune, who tensed at the sudden attention. Resisting the urge to step back or hide behind her mentor, she tried her best stand up straighter and meet his gaze.
It was really hard, and she had to look away after a moment. She'd like to think he was a little impressed, but he was probably more amused than anything else.
"Whatever you tell me," Tsunade-sensei stated, eyes narrowed, "I will be telling my apprentice. Deal with it."
Startled, Shizune glanced up at her mentor. That was kind of unexpected. She couldn't quite decide how to respond: flattered, maybe, as well as a bit embarrassed to have been put on the spot like that.
Pleased and worried, she decided. Whatever was going to come from this conversation, she could tell it was important: she did not want to be left in the dark.
"…I see."
There was a long moment as Orochimaru-san seemed to consider his options. His yellow eyes were focused on them, but it felt like he was looking somewhere else, at some other issue. Then he almost seemed to settle, as if bracing for a blow, and began to speak again.
"It has recently come to my attention that I have, perhaps, made a…" he paused, as if what he was about to say set a physical burden in his throat, "misjudgment in the course of my research."
Tsunade-sensei actually did a double take—by shinobi standards, anyway, which was really more of a startled twitch. "You made a mistake? That you acknowledge?" Her eyebrows rose, incredulous, and her lips took an amused slant. "Does Jiraiya know?"
Although Orochimaru-san said nothing, there was a very slight shift in the line of his shoulders that—based on how her mentor smirked—meant a definite 'no', and probably even a 'do not tell him any of this'.
Then the brief moment of levity fell back down, and he frowned. Crossing his arms, he replied, "Is it a mistake for one to take the path they see, rather than continue wandering in hopes that one finds a better road?"
Which… wasn't really a denial.
"There's nothing wrong with wandering," her mentor groused, defensive. "But that's not the point here. What happened?"
"I will not be sharing any particulars," Orochimaru-san stated, almost prim, "until I know where you stand, Tsunade."
She rolled her eyes in a distinctly long-suffering gesture. "Of course you would be like this, even when asking for backup." She breathed deep, and the subtle tension that had lined her shoulders fully relaxed as she made her choice. "Fine, I'll help you. What do you need?"
"This is no small matter."
"Yeah, I already guessed as much."
"I am serious, Tsunade," he pressed, eyes sharp. "You should consider more carefully before offering assistance."
Shizune frowned slightly to herself, a bit confused. Orochimaru-san had tracked them down, so obviously he wanted Tsunade-sensei to work with him on something. But now it almost seemed like he was trying to convince her not to help.
"I know you're in trouble, Orochimaru, I'm not blind. You wouldn't come to me unless it was something big." Her mentor crossed her arms, unshakeable, and repeated, "What do you need?"
"…I could be exiled from the village for this." It sounded like a confession, though whether to his old teammate or to himself, it wasn't clear. "Are you sure?"
Tsunade-sensei scowled at him, and while it took her a moment to reply, that seemed more due to frustration than hesitance. "You're in something deep, Orochimaru. What the hell did you do?"
He said nothing, yellow gaze steady.
"Of course I'll still help you, Snake-boy," she huffed with an eye roll, sounding a little insulted. "I'm just going to be a little less happy about it."
"Sn—"
He cut himself off, and though he didn't move—not even so much as a twitch—he still seemed speechless. The fact that he wasn't saying anything only supported that conclusion.
"Do you want my help or not, Orochimaru?" she asked somewhat peevishly, though there was a smile in her eyes. For a third time: "What do you need?"
"I…" He still looked as confident and prepared as he had when they first arrived, but the way he drifted off after that one word implied he had been shaken. "My experiment would benefit from the expertise of a healer." He paused, briefly, and corrected, "It will almost certainly fail without your assistance."
"An experiment that needs a healer," repeated Tsunade-sensei, slowly. "And at risk of failing without one… Orochimaru…"
"I am aware," he said, looking at the sunset rather than at her, "that this research is… not safe, for those subjected to the procedures."
Tsunade-sensei just watched him, gaze level. Connecting the same points her mentor had, Shizune suppressed a shiver.
He sighed, glancing at his old teammate before quickly looking away again. "Some would no doubt call it… cruel."
After a long moment, Tsunade-sensei also turned toward the setting sun. Her eyes looked sad, guilty, as if she was blaming herself for something.
"You would have to come back to the village to assist me, you realize," he murmured quietly: one last attempt to dissuade her. "You can still refuse."
"Well." She had faltered briefly at the thought, tempted, but now she firmed her shoulders. "I said I'd help you, and I won't go back on that."
He didn't say the words, but Shizune was fairly sure that small nod was a 'thank you'.
"Unfortunately," he said instead, "we will be working under a fairly abrupt time limit."
Tsunade-sensei gave him a sharp look, almost chastising.
"…I am not, in fact, referring to the time limit under which we, and indeed all mortal people, suffer." Orochimaru-san paused. "Although, yes, for the test subjects, I suppose that is also a consideration."
While her mentor seemed to take that remark in stride, offering nothing more than a long-suffering sigh, Shizune found it to be vaguely disquieting.
But Tsunade-sensei looked… almost happy, in a genuine way she hadn't seen for far too long. Uneasy and a little uncertain, too, but there was an undeniable glint underneath it all. And determination, as if her teacher had seen a chance that she would not—could not—let slip past: her old teammate had been falling, and she refused to lose him too.
Sure, Orochimaru-san might be… weird, but he was important to Tsunade-sensei. For her teacher, she would have to get used to him.
Shizune could do that much.
(Probably.)
Author's Note:
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
It's been a while, hasn't it.
With Tsunade in the picture, it felt like it was surprisingly easier to write Orochimaru.
(…Which I really hope is a good sign.)
While writing this, I re-watched some scenes with them from the anime, both from flashbacks and from the Search for Tsunade arc. I had completely forgotten that Orochimaru straight-up destroys a random castle with a huge freakin' snake when he reveals himself to her.
Like, why did you do that, man? It was completely unnecessary.
But it was dramatic, which I imagine was the main point.
I swear, I spent a week trying to decide whether or not that little piggy was around at this point. And I genuinely had to slap myself a few lines into the chapter, because I had forgotten that Shizune was still only a kid.
I'm working off of a broad timeline I found, so apologies if anything time-wise doesn't match up with the wiki. In my defense, Kishimoto seems to have played fast and lose with things like ages and dates.
At least with this timeline I have I'll stay internally consistent (hopefully)!
This story updates (or attempts to update) once a month on the 15th.
Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! I'm glad you've been enjoying the story thus far, and I hope you continue to do so as things continue!
EDIT (on March 15th):
Okay, so it's been a few months. I keep changing my mind on the events in the next chapter, which is why it's so late, but I cannot let myself keep doing that or I'll just stay stuck here. So yeah.
The plan right now is to finalize things by April 1st and post it then.
Translations:
Noren = traditional Japanese fabric dividers hung between rooms, in doorways, etc.
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Sorry for the long note, but in my defense: coffee. Not a great choice to make at 9 in the evening…
(I'm jazzed.)
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