DISCLAIMER AND NOTE: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe. This is my Mito, though.
Ah, we already know what happened at the Prelims, don't we? So this is mostly a transitional chapter.
Thinking (+ flashbacks, "Mito speaking to Kurama in her mindscape," etc.)
Emphasis
Bijuu, etc. speaking
Bijuu, etc. thinking
"I'm sorry, Anko," Minato began wearily after her report. Inoichi always said it was best to address matters like this up front, although he doubted Anko would be honest about it. Kakashi certainly hadn't been when he was younger. "I didn't realize that you would be willing to commit suicide. There are those of us in the village who really care for you. I think you know that many would be devastated if you were gone."
Anko's eyes widened, first in outrage but she felt her heart nearly drown in sorrow. "I'm not… suicidal, Hokage-sama." I don't think I am. "I only wanted to stop my old sensei in any way possible." She glanced up at her leader who was looking at her with such caring blue eyes, so much like her best and first real friend's eyes that it was almost irritating, and shook her head slightly, standing up straighter. "I knew I'd have to do something drastic to stop him," she sneered; "he's always been so much stronger than me."
"Jealous, are we?" Orochimaru smirked.
"Still upset that I threw you away? –That I dismissed you without care or even a second thought?"
"I'd do anything to stop him," Anko admitted.
"You would even use forbidden techniques," Minato commented. Anko was very forthcoming about what happened between her and her former sensei, the rogue, Orochimaru, when she met him in the Forest of Death. She had attempted to use an Orochimaru-devised suicide jutsu to take them both out.
"Yes, sir. –I'm sorry I failed you. …That poor kid," Anko continued, still slowly shaking her head in disbelief over all of this. "Uchiha Sasuke's very lucky to be alive."
Orochimarusmirked at her, looking as full of himself as ever.
"Unlike you, this one is talented," he goaded. "He has the Uchiha bloodline, after all.
–He's also very beautiful. A perfect vessel to be my successor."
Be careful of how you phrase things, sensei: that makes you sound like a pedophile.
And Guren was the one so desperate to "be yours:" not me.
*shiver*
"Orochimaru called Sasuke a 'vessel,'" she said to herself. She recalled a disturbing conversation she'd had with her junior before being kicked out of their little village: one that she'd already discussed at length with the Yamanakas and Hokage after being Mind Walked.
"One day… I will have Lord Orochimaru inside of me. You'll see."
"THE FUCK?! Gross! I swear to God, Guren, if you ever say that again, I'll sic my snakes on you! …What do you see in him like that, anyway? Do you realize how old he is? Oh, yeah: and he's openly asexual, so good luck with that, by the way. Seriously, though. WHAT is your deal? –All you're going to do is piss both of us off if you keep this shit up."
Anko had been disgusted.
Guren smirked. "We'll just wait and see then, won't we?"
Minato nodded, having a good idea of what Orochimaru was attempting to do with this.
Mikoto's going to be as furious as I am. Mikoto was a strong woman and would be able to watch over Sasuke-kun although Minato would still post guards. Now he was really rethinking unsealing the rest of Shisui-kun's chakra.
There was so much at stake, though. So much could go wrong by doing that. Shisui's eyes' abilities were too powerful and he had been working more for his clan than the village before. Shisui had purposely withheld information that could've endangered his village - and wound up with more Uchiha deaths than, perhaps, there could have been.
"Orochimaru says that the five villages need a wake-up call, huh?" Anko nodded - but Minato really wasn't asking her to repeat herself.
Jiraiya reported that the last time Orochimaru had been sighted, he'd been collecting bounties in Ishigakure no Sato: close to Iwa (who despised them both) and far from Rice Country. Konoha had an intelligence gap.
"Humor my curiosity, Anko, but what was he wearing?" Itachi and Konan had been wearing what the latter called the Akatsuki's robes. It was the same thing Obito wore when he attacked his family and later, the Uchihas.
"A black robe with red clouds but he made a gesture out of burning it. –And why? Why would he do that?" When she passed out from the pain in front of her former sensei, Anko thought he MIGHT have been trying to signal her within the smoke but that was probably a pathetic hope of hers - one leftover from her childhood self or something when she was weakened. The bastard. And even if he had been sending up a signal, she hadn't been conscious long enough to see anything - which was his fault!
There was no way he'd really done that - not for her, anyway. And they were alone in the forest! If he had anything else to say, he could've just said it!
Anko had lived with Orochimaru for years and years: the ninja hoarded clothes and beautiful or antique fabrics - and even unattractive or unique ones he found "fascinating" like mad. "Underneath the robe, he just had on a regular Jonin uniform."
"I see."
.
Mito listened to her father lecturing the Genins as she observed what she could about those who had just arrived. She was surprised (and elated) to see teams 7 and 10 made it to the Tower at the last second but MAN did they look terrible. They wouldn't have any time to rest and recuperate!
Sakura's hair, something Mito knew the girl took great pride in, had been cut short and choppily. Her clothes, just like the boys, were torn up and filthy. Kakashi's and Asuma's kids looked as if they'd really been put through the wringer out in the Forest of Death. She looked back to her father and realized that he had begun tapping out code against his leg after clearing his throat and grinning at the kids.
His cloak covered it up from most of the other Jonins, so as she watched through her hair to decipher what he was saying, her face turned toward the ground so that no one would notice; it was no wonder he asked her and Kakashi to stand on that side of him while Genma and Asuma stood on the opposite.
"Orochimaru… Cursed Seal on Uchiha…"
Shocked, Mito kept her composure but glanced over at Sasuke just in time to see him wince as he rubbed his neck. She took a slow, deep breath and felt her heart ache. –Mostly for the kid, but also for Anko whom Mito bet already knew about this.
Orochimaru (-oji: no, Mito. Don't think of him as an eccentric uncle; he's certainly not that anymore.) -What are you THINKING?
And does Sasuke really have a seal like Anko's? –A seal we can't get off?!
"Kakashi, seal. Mito, stay. Review at hospital. ANBU guards…"
You've gotta be shitting me, Mito thought to herself furiously as her father spoke of the Will of Fire and why the exams were held. Glancing at Kakashi, she saw him sigh as his shoulders drooped. Mito wanted to be the one to seal away what she could of that damn thing - and to make the bratty Uchiha kid feel better as he seemed to have suffered other wounds in the forest, too. But that meant that the medics she knew were here in the med bay wouldn't have her to back them up in case one of these preliminary battles got nasty.
She didn't sense Shizune or Tsunade's chakra close by so they must be busy at the hospital. And she didn't fully trust any of the rest of the medics yet, aside from an older Hyuuga woman she'd recently been getting to know: maybe. Her daughter was here, at least. There's also that Shin kid - at least he's here and always eager.
Shin, Sai-kun's big brother, was a talented med-nin in training. Sai told her that Shin had been inspired to join the profession after Tsunade saved his life. Shin was still being monitored and would be for years: it was protocol for anyone who'd ever suffered from that strange lung disease.
Her bitter thoughts were brought to a halt when that weird, mousy Kabuto raised his hand to leave the exams. Why is Naruto talking to that little fucker?
"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but my body is all beat up. Actually, I haven't been able to hear out of my left ear since being attacked by the Sound nins…"
Sound nins: so we're all calling them what they are, huh?
- Now, there's a great idea: bring the musical note-wearing nins that were trained by the rogue Orochimaru into Konoha and put them with our Genins. What could go wrong?! Mito thought sarcastically, glancing over at Guren who was looking rather haughty in her fancy, furry getup.
Finally, her father was finished. He had the Genins who wanted to continue participating move upstairs. She headed up there, too.
Keep your friends close but your enemies closer. Mito supposed that old adage really applied here. What a bunch of bullshit. And poor Anko. Anko and Guren seemed to be set on not looking at each other. Anko looked sick as she whispered to her father from behind a Genin's file. Anko didn't look hurt but her chakra was really low so it made sense.
You shouldn't be weakened, Anko-chan. You've been proctoring this exam!
Did Orochimaru go after you, too?!
Blowing out her cheeks, Mito watched Kabuto talk to his teammates before he left to go seek medical attention for his ear, she guessed. Kabuto still had enough chakra to keep going: Mito was sure of that but he was limping. Maybe he's telling the truth - but that didn't mean that she wasn't going to question Naruto about the way he was talking to her glasses-wearing stalker. –It was as if they were suddenly close following the test.
Observing more, there seemed to be some bad blood between Kabuto and his teammates. She needed to look into this or more likely, make sure someone else did.
Kakashi sauntered closer to her as they approached their awaiting Genins and covered his lips (although he was wearing a mask.) "Maa. Thank you for allowing me the privilege of reading Jiraiya-sama's upcoming work." He handed her a scroll and hopped away.
Checking it, she realized that the scroll really did only contain Jiraiya's newest, lamest manuscript! Is this really what they should be focusing on right now?!
Sasuke's match began and (at Mito's hair-raising, terrifying insistence,) Kakashi mentioned the seal he was considering putting on the boy in a rushed, shaky whisper. It seemed Kakashi must be well-versed on Anko's seal. Mito only nodded at him: his plan sounded okay and she agreed to check his work out after the prelims if her father didn't go there to do it himself first.
Then Sasuke up and killed his opponent, another Konoha nin, in his first match.
"Wow." Aren't you without mercy, Uchiha Sasuke?
Sasuke may not have used "the power of Orochimaru's curse seal" but that sure had been disturbing.
Of course, the older Genin he was facing did seem pretty set on killing or hurting Sasuke badly.
She turned to her horrified (or at least disgusted) Genins as Kakashi led Sasuke away. "I'm so proud of you guys for making it! I tried to wish you good luck before the paper test, ya know."
Hinata tried to smile up at her. It was a little difficult, considering what Sasuke had been forced(?) to do to another Leaf Genin. "We knew you were there, sensei!"
"Going through the window: that was a good tactic," she complimented her team regarding how they arrived at the first test. Each of the kids seemed pleased by her words in his or her own way. (Meaning that Shino stood up a little straighter, Hinata blushed, playing with her fingers, and Kiba began bragging that it was his idea while Akamaru seemed to be arguing that idea.) The names came up for the second match and Mito nodded over at Torune while giving him a lazy thumbs up. "You've got this, kid."
"Thank you, sensei."
Kurenai and Mito smiled at him and then at each other. The Aburame kids were so POLITE! Mito loved training Kurenai's kids - and Mito knew that during those sessions, Kurenai took very good care of her own team, teaching them genjutsus and helping them track and train differently. They had a great system going.
Hayate coughed before announcing the competitors again. "Torune from Konoha versus Omoi from Kumo. Hajime."
The Kumo kid (who had a lollipop in his mouth: that was dangerous to fight with, Mito was sure) drew his sword while Torune took off one of his big rubber gloves. Only a few insects left his body, which the Omoi-kid didn't seem to notice. He was busy channeling lightning into his blade. Torune went through a series of hand seals that were meant to divert his challenger's assumptions.
"Let's see what you got, tree-hugger! Ah. No offense because if I insult you - I mean, it could create an international incident and there could be war. Ohhhh! And if war broke out, I could get –OOWWWWWW! Wh- what the hell?!" The talkative foreign kid dropped to the ground and began rolling around, crying out in pain.
"Forfeit and I will take back my rinkaichū. You will no longer be in pain," Torune said mildly.
"Cuz I'll be dead?" Omoi asked, his voice going high.
Torune didn't see a need for something like that, and he hadn't said what he did threateningly, he was fairly sure. "Um… No?"
"Do it! Do it, I forfeit; I forfeit!" The pain lessened seconds later while Omoi was put on a stretcher. It was still bad, though!
"I won," Torune said to his cousin when he reached the Genins again.
"Congratulations," Shino answered in a monotone voice before turning to see which names came up next.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? WHAT KIND OF JUTSU WAS THAT, TORUNE?!" Naruto yelled. "WAS THAT A GENJUTSU? How do you do that?! That was really cool!" Kakashi wasn't there to wrangle his Genins so Sakura went to hit him but Mito pulled her brother away by the back of his jacket, also up and away from Torune (and shooting Sakura a reprimanding look for being a mean brute.)
"Naruto. Behave. Torune, good job but go help the medics." Mito knew that the Kumo kid would need an antidote - one that the Aburame clan guarded jealously. "Ooooo: look!" She put her struggling brother down and bent over to look her insect-loving student in the eye. Two Aburame matches in a row, huh? "Give him hell, Shino-kun."
"Aye, aye, sensei."
Mito grinned fondly and put her hands in her pockets. Maybe she shouldn't have shared that she'd like to one day ride off into the sunset on a large ship on the wide-open sea. Her kawaii student was mocking her, wasn't he?
Seconds later, Shino's insects were swarming the "Sound" kid.
Shino won easily and didn't give away many of his tricks although he was way too talkative during the match for Mito's taste. Mito then narrowed her eyes at Kurenai who seemed grossed-out by Shino's abilities - whyyyy? - while most of the Genins shakily questioned Shino and his allies, making the same horrified faces.
I guess her reaction is, unfortunately, to be "expected" since Torune-kun never brings out his insects during team meetings.
Mito's face screwed up in outrage for her kiddo. "Shino's your comrade and that's a clan ability so it's none of your concern, you little brats. We do NOT MAKE FUN of clan abilities, now, do we?!"
Otherwise, I'd be giving you brats shit about your supposedly creepy eyes, or your creepy shadows, or your SUPER creepy mind shit, or awesome ability to massively enlarge a single part of your body, Mito added to her thoughts. It was no wonder that the Akimichis had the highest marital satisfaction rates in surveys and had for decades.
"NO, SIR," most of the kids answered quickly.
"GOOD! You should be impressed! I know I am. …Congrats, Shino-kun," Mito said more kindly as she tried to block out all of the comments about how scary she was behind her. You're hurting my feelings, you little shits!
Shino sighed heavily. "Thank you, sensei."
Mito hopped down to heal the Sound kid (some) since his arms were missing/fucked up, quickly taking a sample - and his prosthetic - for investigation while he was out cold but needed to stay to watch her Genins in case there was an emergency. Mito knew the medics on hand could help the kid somewhat. Plus, now we know he's a real enemy.
That's some fucked-up ideology right there, Mito: leaving a kid without his partially fake arm!
She felt someone's eyes on her. Turning, she glared back at Guren who looked pissed off as hell - even as she jutted her chin out challengingly and sneered at the Konoha Jonin.
Bring it, Crystal Bitch: I dare you! I'll beat your ass to a pulp for Anko if not to simply pass the time cuz I'm bored!
Guren was the first to turn away. Mito scoffed with very little satisfaction.
In the next match, Sora beat the tar out of a Kumo boy in a taijutsu-only match. Both boys were very good but Sora simply had way more chakra and boy did that kid love to evade. He'd also shown very few of his abilities. Mito congratulated him - and wanted to bop Naruto as badly as Sakura seemed to when he was complaining about what a lame match it had been. It had been anything but! –His words got Gai and Lee all riled up about the Power of Youth and Taijutsu which seemed to summon Kakashi, who looked miserable and sweaty.
"Was it that hard?" Mito asked him about the sealing as Sakura took the field, following Ino down. Kakashi only shook his head. She noticed his clone was whispering to her father.
"Tell you later," he promised.
"I wonder if Ino will be able to go all out on Sakura," Asuma mumbled while lighting up another cigarette and chewing nicotine gum. His male students began complaining or worrying as was either of their natures while Mito's kid brother was yelling his support to his pink crush.
The girls - Ino and Sakura - were arguing, giving each other crap, down on the arena floor. Sora-kun, his former little monk student at the Fire Temple was looking longingly at Mito's kunoichi student - who was looking longingly at Naruto. Asuma shook his head. Oh, the drama!
"So embarrassing," Mito whimpered beside him. Asuma grinned at her sad self but then choked at what she sang in an incredibly low-voiced trill - better explaining her thoughts: "At least right now, both of your kunoichi students are lay-aaaame!"
"Hey! Ino's actually quite skilled," Asuma insisted, watching (and hoping) that Ino proved him right. Next to Mito, Kakashi scratched at his mask and looked like he might agree with Mito.
Kurenai didn't look too convinced of the girls' abilities, either. He'd asked both women to speak to the younger girls and vividly recalled when Ino and Sakura came to yell at their senseis about it afterward. They had been in training ground 14, giving Genma crap because they were bored.
"You made Kurenai-sensei and Mito-sensei come talk to us, didn't you?" Ino asked with a sassy toss of her ponytail.
"Don't deny it!" Sakura shouted, poking her bony finger into her extremely dangerous Jonin-sensei's chest.
"Maa, I don't need to deny it."
"I don't either," I guess, Asuma thought. Kakashi, he knew, was lucky. Ino was a Yamanaka and thus would one day be crazy-scary.
"They don't know us," Sakura exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yeah," Ino agreed shrilly - then looked at Sakura with nothing but venom in her eyes
–Something that Sakura returned ten-fold.
"I don't think it worked out as we'd hoped," Asuma sighed to his friend. They'd both hoped that Mito and Kurenai could open the girls' eyes and get them focused on what mattered.
"Kurenai-sensei's decent but Mito-sensei has ZERO feminine charm."
"Watch your mouth, Genin."
Both girls caught the tiniest whiff of why Kakashi was deemed an A to S-class threat in every Bingo Book out there, sans Konoha's, for the last ten years.
"Mito-sensei is one of the most skilled kunoichis in the Elemental Nations. You would do well to emulate her," Asuma said after ensuring she wasn't around to razz him for bragging about her.
"Hmph!" The girls walked off in separate directions.
Dumb kids.
"Sakura's greatly improved," Kakashi was saying when Asuma next tuned into the present. The buzz from double-dosing on nicotine was getting really loud in his ears. Asuma noted that Kakashi was analyzing the match as he gave Naruto a hard time, saying that he was the worst member of Team 7, chakra-wise.
"Maa, maa, Kakashi," Mito grinned dangerously. "Uzumakis have a hard time with chakra control."
"You didn't."
Asuma watched as Mito blushed and gaped at that with wide eyes - he knew that Kakashi was right although Kakashi hadn't really known Mito back when she was little and said to be the next Tsunade. Even the Slug Sannin had said - back then - that Mito-chan had absolutely perfect chakra control (even with her larger reserves) when she was very young.
"He didn't have the opportunity to train as I did - and it's not so easy for me anymore," Mito responded quietly as she went back to watching the match. "It's something I have to work on every day."
"Sakura-chan's amazing," Naruto cheered - completely lovesick and oblivious to everything around him.
The Genin kunoichi bakas knocked each other out after Ino pulled a Yamanaka move that she couldn't have done much with. They'd been arguing and fighting for nearly half an hour, he would bet. Asuma knew he desperately needed to send Ino to her father for more training after this. Well, he already HAD but Inoichi had obviously given in to his daughter's silly whims - and had failed to teach her more than she already knew. "What a drag."
Shikamaru echoed his statements as he and Kakashi jumped to the arena floor to retrieve their unconscious students.
Minutes later, Mito smiled up at the Jonins and their teams as she finished checking the girls out after Kakashi and Asuma brought them back up to their little box. "They're fine and aren't hurt at all. It's just chakra exhaustion. SERIOUSLY: you two need to work on building their reserves! Anyway, they should be up and at 'em in 15-30." She grinned at both girls warmly when they opened their eyes and tired hooked pinkies. Kawaii! That's so nice.
Mito turned back to her Genins and flipped some of her hair forward, running her fingers through it while she QUIETLY reminded Kiba and Hinata that the finals were to come sometime after the prelims. (In other words, don't show your current trump cards unless you have to!)
"Hey, Sakura," Ino said hesitantly. Everyone heard her while they waited to see who was next to fight. "Have you ever noticed that underneath all that long, crazy hair, Mito-sensei's got an AMAZING ass?"
Mito felt her face immediately redden to an alarming degree. It only became worse when Asuma grabbed her, picking her up, apparently thinking that she would attack a Genin! He didn't release her from his ultimate move, the Elder Brother Bind no jutsu - which definitely had a psychological component - until the next names appeared on the screen.
The girls had complimented her (or her strong butt:) what was his problem?! "Put me down… NO!"
Who would she root for?! "Oh no. No, no, no!"
"Don't worry, Ane," Naruto said, adjusting his headband. "I'll finish off Dog-breath in record time!"
You shouldn't have said that, Naruto. Now you've got Kiba riled up.
"Ha. We'll see about that," Kiba laughed knowingly, taking his puppy off his head and jumping down to the arena floor.
Mito covered her cheeks as Naruto complained about Kiba "cheating" by having Akamaru fight by his side. "He knows better than that!"
"Maybe he wants to observe Kiba more," Kurenai said quietly. That made sense but it also didn't. Maybe Naru was worried about what Kiba had been doing while he was stuck in Wave? Otherwise, the kids trained together once a week.
"You are a secretive psycho," Asuma drawled quietly.
Mito looked at him, her eyes bulging out of her head as she began to twitch. At first glance, Asuma was REALLY asking for it. "You've got a psycho prank coming is what you've got, mister."
Waiting for the match to really begin, she supposed he was being fair, though. When she fought - and when she trained Team 8 to fight - she didn't holler jutsu names or use regular hand seals if she could in any way avoid it. Mito never really got why other shinobis did - although certain jutsus might scare those at a lower level but she needed her Genins ready for those who were stronger than them.
Aaand she did like working on new stuff by herself unless she simply couldn't figure out something. I guess I am a secretive psycho.
A Chunin by the name of Kotetsu brought her a slip of paper and quietly requested that she burn it. Moving toward the wall behind them, Mito narrowed her eyes at the other Jonins and at the Nara kid - who looked very curious as to what this was about.
Stealthily come see me before the exam ends – JCG S. Nara
After burning the weird note, Mito made a henged clone and sent it off through a series of flashes and substitutions (the hardest part was figuring out HOW to get out of the sealed tight Tower and then the less-sealed Training Ground 44) to go see the Jonin Commander. The clone stopped close to the Tower and began a leisurely stroll there.
"Oi," came a strange voice from an indoor/outdoor izakaya. Mito's clone turned and saw her target half-hiding behind a self-made shadow. "Henge and meet me around back."
The clone shivered; she'd never heard a shadow's voice. Creepy indeed. Jogging forward, Mito substituted twice more, eventually hiding - just as one of the Chunin she'd substituted with began shouting out in the street when she fell on her butt. Now that's a good distraction. Disguised as a young Nara Academy student, Mito entered the alleyway. "Troublesome. Shikaku-oji! Whatcha doin' back here?"
Shikaku gave her an irritated look before sighing and staring into the clouds above them. Ninja bullshit, he thought. "Troublesome. Nice disguise, kid. You almost got me with it."
Mito grinned in a way she hoped looked lazy and smart. "What can I do for you, Commander?"
"I want you to come work for me."
Mito cocked her head. "I thought I already did!"
Shikaku snorted. "Yeah, but this would be different." The kid - and Minato's daughter did currently look like one of his little clansmen right now - transferred her weight to her other hip, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked him up and down. He noted that she tilted her head when she was appraising something just like her father did. She tried to dispel a genjutsu and then shrugged her shoulders.
"Can I ask what this is about?"
"Sure, if you can keep it a secret." She nodded her head. "The Gato investigation." Shikaku noted how her eyes lit up and sparkled, making him chuckle. Minato might not be happy with him for approaching her but Shikaku knew that Kiri hoped to soon have Mito moved to ambassadorial duties so he hoped that having her too busy with this job could curr Minato's wrath once he explained things (if he was forced to.) If Mito was working on an investigation, she couldn't be dragged off to Kiri, now could she? Minato will thank me.
Ha: sure he will. "With your clones and skills, you could make a difference in the investigation."
"Can you tell me more?"
"Maa, this won't be on the regular books, kid." Meaning I don't want your father to know just yet.
"That's fine. How about we meet to discuss this somewhere more private? When I'm not a clone?"
What an odd way to phrase it. "Come by the compound after the prelims are decided."
"Good enough." The clone dispelled herself and the original Mito tried to keep a straight face as her brother and student fought on.
.
Minato's clone didn't bother to look up at his sensei at first when he swung into his office like an overgrown ape. "You're late." He activated a room-wide seal but realized he didn't have enough chakra to follow up on it. "Can you check for bugs?"
"Yep. And I'm late for a good reason," Jiraiya said. He knew that he looked worse for wear. He hated being seen in the village like this - probably a side-effect of being teamed with two people obsessed with beauty - and Minato knew that too. After putting up the additional seals, he plopped down in the best chair (other than the Hokage's seat, which he knew was damn comfy but not comfy enough for that awful job) and groaned. "I have news."
"So do I. Konoha's suffered a snake infestation in a key, well-watched area this week, you see."
"Ah, shit. And you must be a clone."
Minato nodded. "My original is watching the prelims of the Chunin Exams."
"Prelims!" That meant that a lot of kids made it through the second task - which was fantastic news if his old teammate really had made an appearance. Orochimaru always loved making a statement and lived for attention which usually meant huge gestures of strength and/or destruction. Jiraiya's upper lip curled into a crooked grin. "Did the brats make it through?"
The blonde clone smiled. "They did. Lots were drawn and Naruto is set to face off against Inuzuka Kiba. Sora-kun's going to be going up against a boy from Kumo."
"Ooo! I'll have to drop by and check that out! The Inuzuka kid will be a tough match for Naruto." Sora was going to totally kick ass unless he decided to give up. Jiraiya never knew what Sora was going to do. –It always seemed to come down to whether his grandson was thinking like a monk or a real shinobi.
Minato had to consider his request. It would send a strong signal that Jiraiya was in Konoha: that Orochimaru should back off. "Fine. Just know that Orochimaru killed some of his former students, marked Uchiha Sasuke with the Curse of Heaven by BITING him, and put down Anko in the second task - figuratively and literally. He said some things and made his demands - obviously trying to get into her head. AND he was wearing an Akatsuki robe. –Before he burned it."
"The Akatsuki is what I need to talk to the real you about," Jiraiya grumbled, really feeling for Orochimaru's old student. And what was with the robe thing?
God! WHAT had his former best friend and teammate become?! Orochimaru was always "different" but this was a whole other level of awful.
Growing up, Anko-chan had been so devoted to the man. Orochimaru was a master manipulator so Jiraiya could only imagine him baiting her. Anko was tough- but even he didn't like going up against his treacherous teammate. "I'll leave you to your favorite part of the job," he quipped about paperwork and jumped up to the windowsill.
"We've got moles or spies to eradicate, sensei."
"You got that right. Welp! I'm off for now!"
.
Jiraiya arrived at the exams, sitting down next to the real Minato, just as Naruto slipped - but then used a clone to plow a Rasengan into the Inuzuka's mud wall. That kid.
Next to him, Minato looked pissed. Jiraiya could only imagine; he was unhappy, too. They'd made Naruto promise not to use that new technique of his unless he was in a life-or-death situation: it drew too much attention and basically screamed his parentage to those from other villages.
Then again, the kid was in an orange jumpsuit and they'd been warning him against wearing that for years.
Now both boys were trash-talking each other and panting. Even the puppy was growling. Dumb kids! Neither of you is going to get promoted if you keep this up.
Then again, Naruto probably gave up his chance for promotion as soon as the Rasengan formed in his (and his clone's) hands.
He glanced up at the big board and saw that so far, the Uchiha kid had won his match as had the two Aburames, and YES: his grandson had won and would be moving on to the finals, too!
Jiraiya looked up and saw a lot of kids here, watching the match. The Uchiha kid was gone and Jiraiya would leave his questions about that until after the foreigners were sent on their way.
Their senseis were with the kids, of course, and watching them made him want to laugh. Except for that Crystal-release girl: what's up with her? Isn't she supposed to be dead? Ohhhhh - and hello, Kumo blondie. That lovely lady could give Tsunade a run for her money…
Gai was crying and hugging his mini-me to his chest while Mito was grasping fistfuls of her hair in one hand and shaking poor Sarutobi Asuma with the other as she watched her younger brother fight. Oh, I think the Inuzuka kid is her student: that's gotta be tough. Jiraiya wondered how Asuma kept his cigarette in his mouth and looked so laid-back while his sister-figure mindlessly throttled him.
Must be a Sarutobi thing. Those people can smoke through anything.
Kakashi-kun was watching the match but behind the magnificent novel he consistently advertised for him, Jiraiya noticed that Kakashi's eyes kept looking Mito up and down. Now on the one hand (and to most normal people,) that might look like Kakashi was wondering if Mito was really going to combust as she watched her student's match but to Jiraiya… "INSPIRATION!" He summoned a notebook and began changing how his latest love interest looked. It was early in the writing process for his latest, greatest work, after all.
Too bad the Kumo blonde already looks so much like Tsunade.
I'd better change the protagonist's looks and name, too, while I'm at it.
Mito's hair was just too weird to be a decent literary love interest, so he made her a normal redhead that definitely did NOT look like Mito or Kushina. Heehee! The name, though: "Mito… Mito, Mito, Mito. Hmm. Tomi," was a good alternative and it would roll off the tongue better. "Tomi, Tomi… Oh, TOmi! " He broke into naughty laughter.
It didn't matter. Ten minutes later he'd decided to go with a coming of age love-triangle as he watched Sora, Hinata, and Naruto. (And as a distraction element, the pink girl.)
And just like before, realizing that he was jotting down notes about his grandchild, Jiriaya immediately dropped those ideas, too.
Minato side-eyed him. "Sensei, you'd better not be doing what I think you're doing."
"I don't know what you're talking about! I'm only making notes to help the boys improve over the next month when they win this thing," he lied.
"IF Naruto wins this match." As far as Minato was concerned, Naruto and his good friend, Kiba, seemed evenly matched. Kiba had really surprised him with that mud wall.
"We're supposed to display our skills," the Inuzuka told his friend down in the arena while wiping his face. "But not all of 'em."
"Ehhhhhh? Says who?!" Naruto asked.
"Mito-sensei."
"Ehh? That's not fair! MY pervert brother-slash-sensei never says nothin'!"
"Are you two going to fight… or kiss?" Hayate finally asked. Both boys drew back and turned red in the face which, to him, was hilarious. And too easy.
"FIGHT" they both yelled.
Mito was nervous. And if she found out that her father was arranging matches that weren't drawn randomly? She would kick his ass: Hokage or not! "IEEEEEEEE," she madly shook whatever was in her other hand while pulling even more of her hair. "C'mon and win… Um. Both of you!"
Kiba fed his puppy a food pill - that cannot be safe - and really began putting the beatdown on her brother, even though Naruto had skillfully performed a series of substitutions and transformations. Kiba, Mito knew, was pretending to be fooled by those transformations. Good job, Kiba! He threw a haymaker at her brother and then everything came to a fault.
Mito had heard a rather loud one rip. Was that a real fart?
"Did… Naruto just fart?" the Akimichi kid asked, repeating her own internal question.
Mito's mouth fell open when Kiba - her poor, poor Kiba who was winning the match and doing so well - had passed out cold after staggering around the floor, holding his nose as if it and his jaw had just been ripped off. Akamaru was down for the count, too.
"What was with that mudwall?" Kakashi asked quietly as he delicately held his masked nose.
Mito tried to put her head back on straight. What was with that gas?! What a strange, smelly ending to a very nice match. She was unsuccessful in covering her snickers or lips as they carried her fart-downed student away. She planned to buy Kiba a gas mask as a consolation prize: he'd appreciate the humor in it.
Kakashi stepped even closer. "It looked a little like my mudwall, Mito-chaan."
"Well isn't that sweet," Mito commented, all wide-eyed (false) innocence and mirth. "That should make you feel really good, that you're so influential, Kakashi-kun!"
Kakashi hummed. "I don't know what that was supposed to be in the middle of it, however. My mud wall features likenesses of my pack."
"That was ah… supposed to be Akamaru." It sorta looked like Akamaru didn't it?
Kiba's mud wall was a work in progress. Its weakest point, actually, was where Akamaru's face was supposed to be. Mito had repeatedly warned him about it but having heard her mention Kakashi's mud wall, Kiba decided that "if the Hatake pack's got their awesome mudwall, Akamaru will be on mine, too!"
Kiba couldn't be dissuaded even short term.
Kakashi went back to his book. "I think it looked like a sandworm from a horror movie."
"Oh my gosh: you're right!" She saw the next two competitors down on the floor, next to Hayate, and winced. "Bad matchup for Tenten."
"Oh?" Gai was suddenly in her face, looming large, green, and shiny. "WHYYYY?" Mito was more interested in the cute way Hinata was offering her brother some cream for his quickly-fading bruises and cuts.
"She's a wind user," Mito shrugged. "Against Tenten-chan's weapons? That's a rough match. Temari-hime's also 18, I think. She's got a lot more experience and I'd wager that she's a Genin in name only."
"And HOW do you know these unyouthful things?"
"I know lots of youthful things, thank you very much!" Mito lasso-ed almost all of the other Konoha Jonins together and into a huddle with her chains. "I read - meaning stole - their complete files. You know the Sand kids remaining are the Kazekage's kids. Well: the redhead's got a sandy furry and the middle child plays with dolls. The Kumo kids are all lightning types and like the kid Torune-kun beat, the remaining girl's a swordsman -er, person. The Sound nins are lying bastards so their information isn't trustworthy, so you know: what can you do?" She released them and then apologized to Kurenai who looked a little flustered.
Considering how much Kurenai was still blushing a minute later with trembling lips, Mito grinned up at her brother, wanting to do him a solid despite him picking her up earlier. "You should get on that and buy some love restraints for playtime, ya know." She made clones to pat on Asuma, Gai, and Kakashi's backs, not getting what their problem was.
Weren't love/sex restraints a very normal thing? You know: meaning "off-duty normal" for people who weren't her? –They were ninjas for fuck's sake.
Literally. Ha!
Asuma, she realized moments later, had swallowed his nicotine gum WHICH HE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN USING WITH A CIGARETTE! "No more favors for you! Your habit's getting obnoxious and dangerous."
"THANKS for that."
Mito winced when Tenten was beaten badly (and quickly.) She threw a glare at her father - who then pulled down his big, goofy hat. If Tenten had been able to train under Anko-chan, she would've had a lot more in her arsenal to defend herself with.
Maybe her father had already slotted Anko to proctor the exams when they'd asked about it?
He could've just said so! -Gods, Mito was always getting pissed off at her sire! What's your damage, old man?
Unrelated, Hayate was getting his coughing under control so he could begin the next match, too. The contestants were already down there. "Kin versus Shikamaru. Hajime."
Mito thought they had a surprisingly good match. It was also great to see Guren's team beaten again. Guren being alive all of this time when Anko had grieved for her really pissed Mito off. Some of the stories Anko told her about Guren just didn't sit right with her - although she'd never said anything about it (since she thought Guren was DEAD by the time she learned of them.) "Good job, Shikamaru," she praised absently. "Remind me to get you a treat."
Yeah, she may have been used to saying that to her cats and Akamaru (and Kiba.) She didn't see the look she got from the Nara kid for her words - which was probably a good thing. Mito ruffled Sai's dark hair as he went down to his match. It wasn't long until he was engaged in a fierce battle (for Genins) with the Kumo girl, Karui.
"STAY STILL, YA BASTARD," Karui screamed as she barely avoided a nasty jab from Sai's tanto. Sai's sunshins had REALLY come along. Mito rubbed her chin as she tried to remember to analyze the fight because Karui sorta felt like Mei did to her, only less so. And she did have a reddish tint to her hair. "Hmm."
Do you have familial ties to the Uzumakis, Karui-san? Karui didn't have the chakra reserves of an Uzumaki, though.
Sunshinning as far away from the loudmouthed kunoichi as he could, Sai began weaving hand seals.
Realizing that he'd put up a genjutsu, Karui stopped and recycled her chakra just in time to get pinned by an ink tiger.
The poor girl was so frightened - or more likely freaking out over such a unique jutsu - Sai sunshinned forward and held a tanto at her neck, forcing her to forfeit.
Kurenai praised him when he came back upstairs and Sai ate it up - but Mito was surprised that he didn't simply beat the Kumo Genin with his tanto, alone. Sai was GOOD with his weapon. Now whoever he went up against in the Finals would know many of the "interesting" things Sai could do.
Kiba and Akamaru also returned from the medical bay, fresh and fart-damage-free.
Mito wanted to speak to Karui's sensei to see if she could get any more info on the girl's history or simply "strike up a friendly conversation" but then the next two names came up on the board. Mito let out a long, low snarl before she could even stop herself. She glared at her father. Is he doing this on purpose?!
She took a deep breath and nodded at her extremely worried kunoichi student, giving the girl a hair ruffle and an understanding smile. "You can do this, Hinata!"
"B- but, sen-sensei!"
"None of that, now." Mito bent down to whisper in the girl's ear. "Teach him to respect you - and all kunoichis, eh? You want to make big changes to your clan. Show him that you're capable of doing that."
"H-hai!"
Mito had high hopes as Hinata followed her stuck-up cousin down to the arena floor with her head held high. But as soon as Hayate said the word "Hajime," Neji-kun started monologuing.
"Give up, Hinata-sama. I have one piece of advice for you: stop being a shinobi. You are too kind…"
His words almost sounded like a compliment but Mito had observed enough in their big meetings to believe that Neji was doing anything other than undermining his cousin.
"Are they… siblings?" Naruto asked, not getting what was going on. Passive-aggressive, much, dude?
"They're first cousins through their identical twin fathers," Mito said quietly as she wished Hinata would just punch Neji in the face and get this thing started. Her student was beginning to freak out.
"Neat," Naruto chirped.
Kakashi scratched his head, wrinkling his nose in distaste. "Maa, not really." That led to a discussion of the main and branch Hyuugas. Gai, at least, seemed embarrassed by what Neji was saying.
Mito watched as Neji then made terrible fun of his cousin's mannerisms - ones which Mito thought she'd erased or at least pushed down deep to save Hinata from this kind of bullshit. "Kiba. Can you uhh, vocally support your teammate? Loudly?" she whispered into his ear quietly.
"HINATA! DON'T PUT UP WITH THAT LOSER'S CRAP! YOU CAN DO IT!"
Mito was so glad to have him on her team. Shino, too: although quiet, he was holding the rail hard enough that if he was a little stronger, he would break it, she'd bet. Hinata said something quietly back to her cousin and then Neji lunged forward, darting low as Hinata met him, palm strike for palm strike.
He was basically only blocking her strikes and slapping her around, though. That was disheartening.
"Forfeit, Hinata," Neji demanded after pulling back. He made more, quieter demands, sneering at his cousin and putting their clan politics on display for everyone to see.
"Y-you are hurt by the division within our family m-much more than I, N-Neji-nii-san. I… I will ch- change the clan and…" Neji attacked her again. More blows were exchanged before Hinata finally got in a GOOD hit. Then the cousins stopped again and argued some more!
Neji was so angry: that was obvious to anyone. Mito couldn't take her student being berated so; she believed in Hinata! "Hinata," she drawled gruffly: just loud enough. Hinata went rigid as Neji began to attack again but then slapped chakra into her pant leg and water spilled out of a seal onto the ground. Hinata smacked her heel into it and CRACK! A small crater had formed, throwing Neji off balance.
Hinata got in several good hits, backing Neji up, but just couldn't seem to fully connect with him.
Her heart really isn't in it!
This is always the issue with Hinata, God love her.
For stupid Hyuuga ideological reasons, the water thing really pissed Neji off, however. He yelled at her about the unfairness their clan's branch house suffered - and he was absolutely right! Neji was born earlier to a man who'd been born only minutes after his brother with whom he shared identical DNA. It was insane! But Hinata pressed forward until they both shouted out, "You are in the range of my divination!"
Neji was better than Hinata, though - and not just because he was older. Like Gai had bragged, Neji seemed to be some kind of prodigy. Hinata had improved by leaps and bounds but she just wasn't as fast. She could also only go up to 32 palm strikes on her very best day presently, too.
Neji didn't stop at 32, getting gasps from everyone - including his sensei, Gai. He closed up Hinata's tenketsus, for sure.
Naruto was all fired up and shouting for Hinata to continue. Mito, however, just wanted her student to concede at this point. She didn't want the precious girl hurt anymore.
Neji called Hinata a loser and said some other horrible things before he picked up her dominant arm, yanked her sleeve up, and put the damage he'd inflicted on her on view for everyone to see.
Hinata smiled up at Naruto and somehow managed to stand, swaying dangerously as blood dribbled down her chin.
"She cannot fight any longer, Proctor," Neji said accurately. "Call the match. –Or she will die."
"Winner: Hyuuga Neji."
"No. I - I mm-ust fight on," Hinata said, wondering how she was going to do it. She had weapons and seals but her chakra had been cut off and she couldn't move her arm! Naruto was watching, though, and… "and I, I don't go back on my word. Th-that's my ninja way!"
"Very well." Neji's face contorted into something truly foul and he moved forward to strike her heart.
"THIS MATCH IS OVER, GENIN," Hayate yelled and moved. He'd failed to get in between Sasuke and that Yoroi kid because the match had turned so quickly but he wouldn't watch another Leaf Genin die in front of him today.
The proctor and most of the Jonin-senseis were immediately in front of him and Neji tried to move out of the chains that he was suddenly bound in.
Mito swallowed hard when she realized exactly what kind of severe damage Neji inflicted on his sweet cousin who, from her very first encounter with Team 8, had only wanted to help him. He mouthed off again about "favoritism to the main house" and she made a clone to go have a word with the brat as chains from her back held him. Hinata coughed up a lot of blood and Mito got to serious work; Neji may not have managed to hit her heart in that last go but he'd caused all kinds of damage to her circulatory system. Hell, she had tiny tenketsu wounds all over her skin the likes of which Mito had never seen! Hinata's gate of healing must have been closed. Her… FUCK! Her- Her EVERYTHING was closed, wasn't it? And Neji was still disparaging her?!
"Neji-kun," the clone whispered shakily, ignoring Kakashi and Gai's urging to let him go as her original worked on Hinata. "You tried to kill my student. Your fate may be to have your chakra sucked out with my chains, nice and slow unless you shut the hell up."
Kurenai was visibly shaking beside Mito, watching her work. She was pale and grinding her teeth. Kurenai had looked after Hinata for a few years. Mito could only imagine how she felt if this hurt her so badly.
"Jonins," Minato said, magnifying his voice.
Mito knew that she was being reprimanded and set the brat free before eventually picking Hinata up to carry her to the medical bay as soon as she was safe to transport. There was a Hyuuga back there but after the hatred between branches she just saw, Mito would be staying to ensure that Hinata's tenketsus were properly re-opened. She made sure to show Neji her back as she slowly walked away.
Hinata was going to definitely need to be hospitalized.
Mito was pissed!
Before she was later ordered to return to the stadium, LEE was brought in with a crushed lower leg and wrist! Thankfully, Tsunade was on top of it.
.
"Here are the brackets," Hayate was explaining when Mito eventually returned.
She chuckled darkly, seeing that Naruto would be taking on that damn (and poor, sealed) Neji in the first match of the finals.
She planned to have a word with Neji's father.
Shino would be going up against Kankuro, the Kazekage's middle child.
Sora was set up - perhaps literally - to face his teammate, Sai.
Temari-hime would be going up against Asuma's student, Shikamaru.
Guren's student, Dosu, would be facing Torune.
Sasuke had the last match, and he'd be facing Gaara, the Suna redhead.
"Naruto," Mito called, catching her brother's attention before he could leave, "congratulations!"
"Thanks, ane, but I need to catch up to Kakashi-sensei."
"Ah. He probably went to check on Sasuke-kun…"
"Is Sasuke-kun alright, Mito-sensei?" Sakura asked worriedly. "And Hinata-chan? And poor Lee-kun? –He really helped me - us - in the Forest! I hope he'll be okay. That was scary."
"I think they'll all be alright although it may take some time. I bet they would enjoy you visiting them in the upcoming days! I also bet they wouldn't mind some flowers, or sweets, too, in Hinata-chan's case."
Sakura smiled and nodded, grabbing Ino by the hand and whispering in her ear. Mito grabbed her brother before he could run over to their father and Jiraiya who seemed to be waiting for him. "What's with you being so buddy-buddy with Yakushi Kabuto?"
"Kabuto's great! It's too bad he couldn't continue in the tournament. He saved my life!"
"Did he now?"
And so, Naruto passionately explained in wonderful detail how Kabuto had taken an awful blow for him in the Forest of Death.
Maybe she had been wrong about the bespectacled teen. Mito made a bunch of clones to take off to handle all of her jobs - and to get a detailed debrief on what was going on with Orochimaru. "Take tomorrow to recuperate, Shino and Kiba: you both did really well today! We'll meet the next day, normal time, to discuss some things and go from there."