Whisper Group

by Foy the Snooze Button

Looking to him in servitude and following him in their multitudes, they found sanity. Building homes and raising families around him, there was order. They lived, warred and died for him. They were his tools, of course they knew, but he was their helper. He asked for loyalty and they gave him devotion; to the bitter end, his people marched with him into chaos. ROOT!Naruto

5. Chapter 5

Ellohay, ymay earday eadersray!

How's you're year so far? Hopefully it's going great and you're having fun.

GIGANTIC shout out to guest110 (this story won't be like Silent Night. Trust me. And thanks for reading!), Imheretolive08 (I hope so too XD), LeviDragon (Oh wow XD thanks so much. I truly appreciate the review), BJJF691 (Happy New Year to you too!), saiyan prince1, dominator088 (I try my possible best. I'm so glad you're enjoying my writing and my stories. Thank you), and Apocalyptica-sama (welcome aboard! There's a lot more coming, so get ready). You guys are so incredible. Your reviews made me smile. Thank you :)

That's enough of my blabbering. Don't let me keep you.

Enjoy…

CHAPTER 5

The air hummed with the low whir of money counting machines.

Six of them, if Ten's count was correct; he couldn't see anything through the brown burlap sack thrown over his head, fastened around his neck by tape.

Pathways to his chakra reserves, natural and artificial, were blocked.

Hundreds of pounds of weight bore down on his very being.

His chakra control was in complete shambles.

His senses were shot to hell.

Ever so subtly, he tried to turn his wrist around and curl his thumbs into his palm, only to be prevented by his restraints. Duct tape wound around his wrists, supported by metres of tight rope so rough it bruised his skin, and finally sealed together with handcuffs. The same went for his ankles, with his heel to upper calf held together by ropes. His shinobi vest was gone, presumably ransacked of the trap seals and discarded somewhere far from him, and his ninja sandals were no longer on his feet, also likely stripped of hidden weapons and fuinjutsu trickery, leaving Ten utterly and completely isolated in his sightless restraints.

Ten was flattered.

He blinked and winced, clenching his teeth and shaking off the urge to fall back asleep. He groaned under his breath at the soreness of his neck, swallowing gulps of air to reopen his airways again.

His mind went back to the last thing he remembered before blacking out.

Ten hacked, waving his hands in front of his face and stumbling to the side, fleeing from the turgid, black-grey smoke.

As he made to summon wind to dispel the smoke, Nine-Nine clambered onto his back and secured his arms around his neck in a cruel chokehold, winding his legs around to constrict his Wood release using brother's midsection, pinning his arms to his side.

Coupled with the blinding effects of the chakra smoke bomb and getting ambushed by the Byakugan boy, one single second of human instinct kicked in for CORE Operative Ten and he panicked.

He ran face first into a wall and toppled back, incapable of escaping Ninety-Nine's inescapable grip.

Ten coughed, chuckling breathlessly.

"…Dang it…I lost."

The integrity of Naruto's win didn't come up at all.

The blonde cheated, plain and simple, albeit Naruto never actually agreed to fight his brother one-on-one.

He promised to choke him out, that was it.

Ten should have seen the subtle planting of the smoke bombs on his person coming from a million miles away; Nine-Nine was exceptional at sleight of hand, weapons or otherwise.

Ten chuckled harder, tired and resigned to whatever fate was in store for him.

Naruto was seated on a stack of moth-eaten textbooks and browning hardback novels, in the corner of the room not three feet from his bound and restrained brother. He had his left ankle on his right knee, arms crossed and leaning back so that his back settled on the cool wall; his pale byakugan eyes stared up at the murky brown ceiling of the residential basement he was currently in, trying to figure out what to do with his crazy brother.

The money counting machines purred softly in the background of his thoughts, and the six attendants counting and arranging the stacks of cash into bundles worked in solemn silence, wearing simple clothes devoid of pockets and ears plugged in order for them to concentrate on their jobs; they arranged one thousand ryu notes onto the machine and pressed the button for it to be counted, then binding them when they were sure that the sum total of the money was fifteen thousand ryu, placing the arranged bills into unassuming women's handbags. As soon as a handbag was filled to capacity, they zipped them up and the door to the basement was opened for one of Naruto's ninjas to troop in, collecting the handbag and exiting without so much as exchanging a look with anyone in the room.

They ran a brisk business in Naruto's Whisper Group.

On a normal day, this counting and sending out of cash went to funding the various internal work going on-like the Chill construction, poverty alleviation of his followers, children's schooling and other such things-or else the money was smuggled to other countries and stored in secret stockpiles in preparation for when Whisper Group was ready to expand outside of Kumo and Snow country. This smuggled cash was the capital base for investing in growing a loyal following for Whisper Group, much like what Naruto did in the two nations he started up in.

While the cash reserves in Naruto's bank accounts were substantial enough for him to require hiring two experienced accountants from among his followers, he didn't have the luxury of keeping most of his money in the bank, as he needed most of his funds liquid so as to be quickly accessed in order to distribute to his followers in case of dire emergencies.

Such as now.

Now, the money leaving the basement was being used for hospital bills.

Naruto's people were the poor and unfortunate, abandoned by their Leader's and considered less than dead. This meant that they didn't enjoy Shinobi/Civilian Benefits, which was simply things ninjas or civilians of a certain level of academic mastery enjoyed, such as affordable housing, free healthcare, pensions and cheap education for their children. These benefits were extended to the immediate family members of ninjas and particular civilians. Seeing as the people under the blonde boss's care weren't covered by these benefits, Naruto handled payments from out of his pocket.

For when Kumo would heal an injured person covered by their Benefits for free, the victim suffering the same injury not under these Benefits paid in full.

While ideally, Shinobi Benefits were desirable to encourage able-bodied men and women enlist to their respective Ninja Force and also increase patriotism for these shinobi, the civilian counterpart of the Shinobi Benefits was riddled with ambiguous conditions and corruption. Kumo, Snow and Iron were the only settlements that practiced the full extent of these benefits, whereas places like Kiri, Suna, Iwa and Konoha utilized fractured versions that took away most benefits, stating that the payment for each high class mission should handle any issue. This made it so that those villages didn't essentially need to make healthcare free, maintain the cost of school fees and landlords were only held back by a thin, invisible string that prevented them from hiking rent to the stars.

Work harder, work longer and work faster, was the bare summary of the ideology of the latter group of ninja villages. In exchange for all that work, the ninjas, in theory, should have had a substantial amount of money saved up for their retirement, also to carry their children through school and other expenses.

Even for the former group of nations as well as the latter group, these systems weren't very sustainable.

Generally, there were five classes of wealth on the elemental nations; upper class, upper-middle class, middle class, lower-middle class and lower class.

Those from the lower-middle class to the upper-middle class could at least hope to learn crafts and trades by becoming apprentices, because they could afford to send their children to these crafts masters. Upper class, or nobles, were those that had the coin to spare to get a proper education. In the case of Ninja Academies, the lower-middle to upper-middle could enter freely for shinobi training, as long as they could afford the marginally cheaper fees.

Naruto dealt with the lower class, and to a limited extent the lower-middle class.

The blonde boss was the one that destabilized class systems in Kumo and Snow; only nobles and the super wealthy could afford to send their children to the Civilian Academy, especially the advanced educational facilities of Kumo and Snow. His people were of the lower class-the less dead-and having them comfortably attend prestigious schools populated by the children of the wealthy with little to no financial problems unsettled the school administrators.

Ironically, Naruto didn't have a house of his own.

This very basement his money was counted and stored in was borrowed from a family of four for the next six hours, whereupon all operations would be moved to another random house.

The family were more than happy to host their boss.

Fifteen thousand ryu went out to every family affected by the bombings at the Academy to tend to their injured children; this was a general sum that covered surgery, if needed, and a complete prescription to deal with their wounds. Anything left of the money was for the affected family to do as they pleased. Naruto assigned Lio to visit the children and their families at the hospital in his steed, apologizing on her Master's behalf for his absence and promising he would see them as soon as he dealt with a matter at hand.

The voiceless boy didn't want to leave his brother alone, as tied up as Ten was.

Given time, Nine-Nine would have concocted a way to escape if he was in this same situation. That also meant that Ten could escape too; it would take a few patient hours but it could happen.

The blonde was feeling the early thump of a headache on thinking of how he was going to balance out the thousands he was spending for correcting his idiot brother's stunt.

If he didn't want to withdraw cash from his bank reserves or touch the stockpiled cash run out of Kumo, the mute boss needed to devise a way for Whisper Group to, figuratively, strike oil.

Naruto glanced at Ten from the corner of his eyes when the other boy coughed dryly, sniffing and slumping into the wall.

"Nine-Nine, you there?"

The boy with the byakugan grunted, switching his position so that his right ankle was now on his left knee and right elbow was on his right thigh, allowing him to rest his cheek on his palm, left fist planted on his hip and quietly narrowing his eyes at the sorry state of his brother.

"Cool." Naruto's Wood release using sibling breathed out, voice ever so slightly muffled by the sack covering his head. He shifted, letting himself fall onto Naruto's left leg and leaning there in partial silence with his head settled on the mute boy's knee. "I wish you let us know what was wrong before you…y'know…ran off."

Naruto exhaled, allowing his eyes to shut and his shoulders to sink; he wished so too.

It all happened so fast.

He saw his chance to escape and he took it before the window could snap shut.

Ten laughed, a sorrowful tone that made Naruto's jaw harden. "Kinda broke our hearts." The boy he was talking to didn't move, not offering any audible reply for Ten's genuine sadness. "Did you see the photo? The one in my vest, top left inner pocket."

It was a black and white photo of their whole family six hours before the graduation; it was a mishmash of faces and expressions, chaotic and messy but playfully joyful.

Somewhere in the middle of the five hundred children was Naruto, or CORE Operative Ninety-Nine. He was in a loose headlock from Ten, pulling down a bottom eyelid and sticking out his tongue to the cameraman. The siblings close to them crowed, forever frozen in uncoloured laughter at Ten and Ninety-Nine's blatant disregard for the order for them to stand at attention for the group photo to be taken, and those not immediately around them decided to follow their cue and take up uncoordinated poses.

Naruto saw One, their family's official baby sister, dorky and awkward, leaning backwards on one foot in a show of defying gravity while in a thinking pose. Someone else, Nine, tossed his head to the right side of his wheelchair and was fake throwing up on One-Hundred, of which the lazy Uchiha was lying sound asleep on the ground. The twin girls Naruto was friendly with stood on the other side, Ninety-Eight was dancing like a robot while Four-Hundred-and-Fifteen had her arms crossed and was rolling her eyes at the boys on her left, who were reaching over their shoulders for their tanto in what they hoped made them look cool but ended up making them look ridiculous. Two of Naruto's taller brothers elsewhere lifted the shy samurai, Fifty, onto their shoulders, chortling at the boy's beet red face. Some sisters were crane kicking in the direction of the camera, perfectly timing the flash so that neither of their feet was on the ground. There was a boy at the back, Two, pulling out his hair and yelling for his siblings to behave for them to take a proper picture.

The ex-CORE ninja found himself smiling.

His eyes glazed over.

He missed them.

"Whatever happened that night, I get that you can't…express it correctly." Ten continued, wincing at how uncomfortable his hands were, taped and tied there at his back, and shifting a little to get a little bit more adjusted but inevitably unable to so he settled back and rested his weight on his brother's leg. "If you could, then you would have left some sort of…clue. A hint, maybe. I don't know. Some idea of why you ran."

CORE was loyal to their Master but they too could keep secrets, especially for the sake of their brothers and sisters.

"L-Let's…let's forget about Master for a minute." Even saying that upset Ten, though now wasn't the time for that. "Everyone back home wants to know why you left."

Naruto how to describe why he ran away.

If there was a memory sharing technique handy, Naruto would use it in a heartbeat, whatever the consequences were.

The five hundred CORE were reduced to Danzo's One Hundred, forced to do so during the Graduation Ceremony by their own hands no less, though that didn't mean that CORE were unfeeling of what they did; for the sake of satisfying their Master didn't stop them from being haunted at night by the memories of those siblings they snuffed out.

Naruto claimed the lives of seventy five of his siblings.

Seventy five brothers and sisters he loved so much.

It was a blood soaked burden he would have to carry for the rest of his life.

Naruto gnashed his teeth at the terrible lurch in his chest.

They needed to see for themselves what he saw.

And it hurt that he didn't have the capacity to show them.

The yellow haired thirteen year old boy whipped out a kunai and slashed a clean vertical line on the back of Ten's neck, cutting the duct tape wound around the bound boy's neck without so much as scratching the skin, reaching down and removing the sack from over his brother's head. Ten blinked, reorienting his vision and grumbling under his breath at his scattered senses, turning his eyes up to the seated boy but not removing his weight from Naruto's leg.

"Tell me how they're all doing."

Ten scoffed. "Where do I even start?" Naruto shrugged, bobbing his head for the bound teen to start wherever he wanted. "Well…One finally finished making her Summoning contract." Whisper Group's boss found his eyebrows shooting up his temple, shocked and impressed by that single update. Ten nodded affirmatively, meaning every word. "Yup. Caught herself the boss summons, made herself the summoning realm and I think she's working on Sage arts now, in-between missions though. But bro," Ten whistled, shaking his head at a memory. "You have to see that boss summons. It. Is. Massive. Super strong too. Heck, might even be strong enough to challenge the Eight tails someday."

Naruto's eyes couldn't grow any wider, mouthing his amazement by the news. He then signed. "She's one-seventh Uzumaki and she knows exactly what she's doing. It can't come as a surprise she's done making the contract."

Catching and subduing herself a Crown Kraken from Whirlpool's treacherous depths wasn't an easy task.

Not in the least.

Yet somehow, One was still the family's last born.

Or better yet, the baby sister.

It wasn't that her stature was particularly diminutive, for she was at an average height for a thirteen year old girl, sharing one birthday which was the day they were brought into the ROOT base, and she didn't act very spoilt, not all the time anyway; it was merely the siblings' superior instinct to pamper One.

Naruto was proud of her before, now he was positively beaming.

Ten shared his elation, sharing more updates from their family. "Ninety-Eight's into break dancing now." It was a testament to not judge a book by its cover; Ninety-Eight had radiant yellow hair with the facial features of a child brought up in riches and royalty. The girl looked like she would blow through beauty pageants without contest, scale through to claim numerous Miss Konoha titles once she was older and then elevate to Miss Universe on her spare time. In truth, she was brash and boyish; Naruto got along better with her than her non-identical twin sister, Four-Hundred-and-Fifteen, who was apparently under the false impression that Naruto was crushing on her. It irritated the blonde to no end. "Four-Fifteen hasn't changed that much, except I'm pretty sure she's working on her abs." Naruto craned his neck down, peering down at Ten with a bewildered look at how exactly his brother knew that. Ten immediately went on the defensive. "She wears half-shirts now! I don't want to look! Friggin' ew, man!" The young boss held his hands up, letting his brother steam. "Whatever." His eyes then lit up, nudged Naruto's leg with his shoulder. "Hey, remember 2S?"

The blonde snorted. "Of course I remember 2S. How can I possibly forget him?"

CORE Operative Fifty, familiarly called Shy Samurai or 2S.

"How's he doing by the way?"

"He rescued a stray cat last year."

Naruto snickered. "You know…that sounds like something he would do."

"Yeah, I know. It was bound to happen."

"What happened to the cat?"

"She's at the base and we're all looking after her. She's a lil chubby tabby that's got one eye and a scratched up face, so we named her Boxer."

"Nice name."

"I don't know if Master knows we're keeping her but he hasn't said anything…yet."

"Does she like getting pet?"

"You'd think not, with her face and all, but she's a little softie. Even lets us play with her; her favourite toy is this windup mouse. Ugh, she loves that mouse."

"I'd…like to pet her." Naruto motioned, downcast and sparing Ten a quick smile. "Do you think she will let me?"

"It…might take a bit of time but…yeah. Boxer won't mind when she gets used to you."

There was a minute of silence, where Naruto pawed at his eyes, hiding the tears.

He missed them.

"…One day, I'll show everyone what I saw. I'll tell you this though, Danzo hates me." The boy's tear glazed pale eyes hardened, mouthing. "And I can't say I like him either."

"That doesn't sound right." Ten righted himself, facing Naruto properly. His forehead was creased and his dark almond eyes pronounced the deep confusion seeping into his mind. "Master loves you. Master loves all of us. M-Maybe-"

"We both know I didn't do anything wrong." Naruto finished for him, his gestures becoming sharper as he frantically tried to reel in his weathered temper. "I do everything he tells me to do, to the letter and according to mission standards. My track record was spotless."

"Then…why do you think Master d-d-dislikes you?" Simply uttering that went against every ingrained belief in Ten's being; Master loves them, that was the truth. Ten's truth.

"That's what I want you to help me find out."

Having a ROOT insider didn't mean Danzo would stop sending his siblings to come for him, it just meant that Naruto would likely get answers and his ambitions to raising an army to run over ROOT would become more justified.

It didn't seem like any positive answer could come out of why Danzo hated his survival from the graduation ceremony.

Naruto wasn't so optimistic.

He laid out his plan.

Ten didn't like it.

He voiced his concerns. "I don't like this bro…"

"Prove me wrong. Do that and I'll stop my operations, head in my hands and ready for penance." The CORE prayer for forgiveness wasn't exactly a kind process, not especially for the repentant. Naruto stood before Ten and showed his brother his empty bandaged hands, then he pressed the tips of his fingers to his lips, moving his hands to his ears and crossing his arms over his chest in a way that his palms touched his chest, swearing according to the sacred doctrines dictated by Danzo for his CORE to meditate on. Ten flinched at that, almost returning the holy gesture but realizing his hands were currently indisposed, so he could only tip his chin down in acknowledgement of Naruto's oath.

Three years later and Naruto still remembered each line, paragraph and chapter etched into the Doctrines of Shimura Danzo, recalling the infernal and blindly obedient teachings of the war hawk in all their intense glory.

His skin crawled just signing the oath.

"Do you want me to tell the others?"

"No. Then Danzo would find out."

Ten flinched again, this time at how Naruto was so brazenly calling his Master's name.

"Just…tell them I'll see them later." He then added, Naruto smirking in anticipation. "And to bring their A-game when they're coming for me. I won't hold back, not for SS and definitely not for One."

The girl commanded a Crown Kraken after all, and those deep sea behemoths were natural disasters on their own, not to talk of with One's lesser summons. 2S on the other hand was a thirteen year old Master Samurai, soon to be bestowed title of Elder Samurai by Mifune of Iron country while under the guise of one of the Iron Daimyo's most trusted soldiers, whose weapons were forged by the infernal monks of Demon country's Inko mountain range.

They wouldn't be so easily tricked or quickly dispatched like Ten.

The dangerous thing with CORE was their similarity to each other, as well as their diversity in character and ability.

Danzo didn't half-ass anything with CORE.

Naruto could attest for that.

Sharing an elated look with his brother, Naruto signed with a half-frown as he bent down to Ten's level, setting a hand on the other teen's shoulder. "Ok, brother. Don't be mad."

"Mad about-"

Naruto jabbed Ten's neck with his pointer and middle finger, effectively knocking him out.

Unlike Kisame, Ten was smart enough to not force himself awake, instead slipping into a fitful sleep with a mumbled curse that sounded like a robot toy losing battery power.

" Fuuuuuuug~"

'Now. For the easy part.'

He needed to make it look like Ten barely escaped him with his life.

That way, any suspicion on Ten would be thrown away and the CORE ninja could dig around for answers well.

Naruto stood up and cracked his knuckles.

The money counters, ears still plugged and working tirelessly with their functions, collectively winced when their boss ran a vicious, unmerciful fist across the unconscious Ten's face.

Crunch!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

03:15PM

Paediatric Ward

Kumo General Hospital

Lio spied a boy hobbling out of hospital room.

She had just finished another hospital visit, going on her Master's behalf, and was about to head for another one to provide her in-person emotional support to the affect families. Although Lio didn't think she had the emotional range to truly sympathize with these people and their frazzled nerves, not for anyone other than her hero but that same hero trusted her to represent him, and that was what she was going to do.

The angel's neon pink eyes tracked the younger child, who was in the loose white shirt and shorts worn by kid's in the paediatric part of the large hospital, limping in a pair of thin slippers and grunting under the effort of moving with his crutches, hovering his bandaged right foot off the tiled floor. He had a mop of short brown hair, shaved at the sides of his head, milky yellow eyes and a narrow chin.

The floor was somewhat busy at that time of the day as it was visiting hours; the particular section of the children's ward was for those that didn't fall under the village's Benefits, paying in cash and receiving the best care possible.

Lio's hand tightened on the door knob of the last hospital room she left.

She didn't understand why they were still separated from patients that fell under Benefits.

Most kids on this cash-paying floor were from Whisper Group.

She blinked when she noticed something fall from the injured boy's pocket, though he didn't seem to notice, too distracted limping to wherever it is he was going. The girl tugged her beanie and decided to postpone visiting the next room, stalking to the thing the boy had dropped and following the boy after picking it up.

She was curious.

Lio ended up in the reception area, which was mostly empty because visitors went to the hospital rooms instead of lingering about. The boy sat down with a grunt on a bench somewhere in the middle of the reception, easing his crutches so that they leaned together at his side and heaving a little to get himself more comfortable on the cold, iron bench.

He coughed into his fist, wheezing a little, and at that Lio approached.

"You dropped your inhaler." She stood at his front, holding the inhaler to him and wearing an empty expression. When the boy looked at the plastic item, straying his eyes up the hand to the girl's invisible frown and her flickering eyes, Lio pushed her hand closer to him. "Take it."

The boy panted, turning his face from the offered inhaler. "Don't need it."

" Huh." The girl sniffed, observing him breathe in and out, gruff. "Are you sure?"

His yellow eyes stuck to the inhaler in her hand, throatily breathing and shaking his head. "Don't need it."

She pursed her lips with a nod, closing her hand and letting the arm fall to her side. "If you're sure." Next thing she did was plop herself down beside him, pulling down the bottom of her long sleeved shirt, smoothing down the front of her dark shorts. She was wearing black leggings underneath her shorts, designed with neon pink skull and crossbones, crossing her ankles and tapping the sides of her blue shinobi sandals once. Her hands laced on her knees, loosely enclosing the inhaler in such a way that he could clearly see it through her fingers.

"What…what're you doing?" the boy coughed, hand on his chest and dragging each breath into haggard lungs.

She furrowed her brow, barely shrugging. "Nothing."

He panted, grasping his chest and falling back on the bench. "No…what… ha…what…what are you…doing?"

Too calm for what was happening, Lio frowned ever so slightly. "At the moment? I'm sitting on this chair. What are you doing?"

She then opened her hands half a second before he could snatch the inhaler, watching with a vacantly peaceful look as he gulped airway clearing spurts from his inhaler. He pressed for another short burst, puffing raggedly in what resembled relief.

"…How do you feel?" he replied with a daggered glare, huffing and turning away from her.

"Leave me alone."

It was probably a good thing that he didn't recognize her, even with her distinctive pink eyes and her affinity for beanies. Speaking to him felt easier than the adults that were constantly bowing in a show of eternal gratitude in spite of the disaster that occurred not an hour ago; no deaths, thankfully.

Not from Whisper Group anyway.

Lio gripped her knees, sitting upright and eying his bandaged foot. "Broken foot?"

"…Doctor said it's just sprained."

"Well…it's good that it doesn't stop you from moving around." He grunted and Lio found a ghost of a smile playing on the edge of her lips. "Good news is that when school restarts in two weeks, you won't have to attend Physical Education."

"Pre-Academy don't have that." The boy mumbled, easing into Lio's stubborn conversation.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yuh." Pre-Academy being the three semi stress free years taken by seven to nine year olds before they formally started school. These classes were made to introduce younger children to slightly bigger books, giving them a reading foundation that would be further developed when they entered Year One. Of course, children that were evaluated to already have a good grasp on reading and writing could be sent over to the older kids class, whether or not they were home schooled or were simply quicker on the uptake while in Pre-Academy.

Lio was a good example of a child that didn't attend Pre-Academy because of her aptitude for reading, her passable writing skills and her impressive speaking skills.

At ten years old, Lio was now a student of Year Three-G (3-G), the youngest of a class mainly comprising thirteen to fifteen year old kids.

"Then…what does Pre-Academy have?"

His shoulders lifted and dropped. "Stretches." Lio snorted and the boy got defensive. "Teacher says it's good for us!"

"I didn't say it wasn't good for you." She looked to the ceiling and grumbled. "I'd prefer to do stretches than PE." An outrageous statement, given that she was plenty physical in any violent altercation her Master sent her on. She just thought that, for her, Physical Education was pointless because she was receiving a more beneficial combat training from her hero, though she had to swallow her opinion when she remembered that she was the one that pushed her Master to send her to school.

Depowering herself during sports activities, pretending she had average stamina for one her age and jogging at the back of the class was a pain.

It was a real pain.

"What class are you in?"

She told him, immediately noticing the intimidated stiffening of his shoulders and how he almost instinctively sat upright in the presence of his senior.

"Y-Year Three…?"

"Is that a problem?" she questioned, bringing her pink gaze from the ceiling and settling them on the boy's murky yellow orbs. She made to get up to give him his space, a lesson on personal space Lio was yet to completely comprehend as it concerned her Master.

"No!" he suddenly exclaimed, taking a big gasp from his inhaler. "I-It's not."

"Good." She exhaled, settling back down again. "The whole seniority thing doesn't really matter when you don't know who I am."

"…Who are you?"

She smirked, ever so visibly. "Doesn't matter." He pouted and the corner of lips extended higher. "You'll probably find out later but for now, I'm enjoying how rude you are. It's…refreshing."

"So, like, you're pretty important to-" His eyes darted around and he leaned closer. Lio did so as well, feeling herself smile wider at his childish secrecy. " Mr. Fishcake?"

Mr. Fishcake was a fun name children called Naruto.

Lio sat away and covered her mouth with her hands, giggling, a faint sound that made the poor boy colour at the cheeks, embarrassed.

It struck Lio's funny bone every time she heard it.

Wiping a tear from her eyes and composing herself, the pink eyed girl self-consciously ran her palms down her shorts. "I won't say I'm important to "Mr. Fishcake"" she air quoted with an unrestrained snort. "I'm-…how do I say this…- useful to him in the long term, and that's perfectly fine with me because," she paused, looking down to her knees and fiddling with her thumbs. The boy caught the creeping grief gather in her eyes and the hesitant, wholly unseen smile flickering up and down her lips. "Because…" she glanced at him, brow creased. "You know what love is, right?"

"I-I don't know. I think so…?"

" Oh…"

He then quickly supplied, just as Lio was shutting herself emotionally. "I love my mom and dad."

She smiled fleetingly, bringing herself to sit back on the bench. "Something like that but…a teeny tiny bit different." At ten years old, maybe Lio didn't truly understand what love meant and what it entailed. She pulled on her beanie, making sure her head was properly covered. "But are they why you snuck out of your room?"

The boy's demeanour sank, looking down at his wrapped up foot. "They're fighting again."

"Why?"

"Mom wants me to leave school and Dad wants me to keep going." She stayed silent, allowing him to continue. "Mom keeps saying that school isn't safe, and that it'll be better if I learn how to make shoes or bags or…or something. She wants Dad to ask Mr. Fishcake to help us out." Lio hummed, filing her amusement at the use of the name for another time. "Dad says finishing Basic Academy-" which was Years One to Six. College were the non-mandatory four years after that, depending on the student's course of study. "-Is really important. That it'll give me more things to do when I'm older. If I finish Basic Academy, then Mr. Fishcake can give me really important jobs and stuff, that's what Dad says."

"Well, "Mr. Fishcake" won't want us going to school if he didn't intend to give us important jobs when we're done."

Reading, writing and doing easy-to-complicated arithmetic wasn't the end of it.

Subjects like geography, history, economics, commerce, government, politics, biology, chemistry, fine art, literature, and the vast array of other wider, more detailed subjects taught during the latter four years of Basic Academy's six years- to science, social science and art students-were vital to the growth and expansion of Whisper Group.

Lio herself was an overachiever, so she attended a neat mishmash of science and social science classes, primarily registering for and attending social science lessons that would support her when she could finally rise up to her Master's side as his trusted advisor and right-hand.

Naruto calling her his Guardian Angel was a big morale boost.

The girl was a steady, comfortable A plus student.

Not many people in her Year liked that though.

"What do you think?" she asked the boy.

"I…want to be useful to…to Mr. Fishcake." He mumbled. "Mom was really, really sick before he came to help us. And…I haven't seen Dad so happy when he's telling us the cool, kickass missions Mr. Fishcake sends him on. I want to help him like he's helped us… more than he's helped us." The sincerity of his tone wasn't lost on the girl, whose eyebrows climbed up her forehead into her beanie at the bright spark that flicked on in the boy's soul. "I've only met him twice, I think, but…Mr. Fishcake is really important to me."

At that time, Naruto walked briskly past them on his way to the hospital rooms to make his own visits to the injured Academy students, though he screeched to a stop when his distracted mind snapped him back to reality on seeing his Guardian Angel, backtracking some steps to Lio and the boy with an apologetic wince that he was just about to miss her.

He winked at the awestruck boy and held his right hand down to Lio, who slapped his palm with hers, bumped fists and collectively shot finger guns at their temples with their eyes rolled up to the ceiling, a simple handshake that hinted at, but didn't fully explain, their complex relationship.

"Sir."

"Hey." His byakugan eyes, hidden behind a pair of circular shades, looked between his friend and one of his beneficiaries, signing. "What's up?"

Her shyness suddenly kicked in, self-aware of the starry eyed kid watching their every move as well as those present in the reception at Naruto's arrival. Not many recognized the shaggy haired boy or the pink eyed girl he shook hands with, but those that did impulsively lowered their heads and eyes.

The girl sidled a bit closer to him, keenly noticing the new bandages around his hands and neck, and also the fresh change in clothes; he was now in a loose and plain round-neck white shirt, black shinobi pants, blue ninja sandals and a white-grey camo scarf winding around his neck, trailing down to his lower back.

In the privacy of their little bubble, Lio mouthed and moved her hands, signing to her boss with gestures she was certain others won't be able to catch.

"You're very special to me."

Naruto's head tilted back, smiling in confusion; even though his protégé could understand and use the continent's Universal Sign Language she didn't use it very much, choosing to give the voiceless boy the respect of replying audibly with her own voice. Spotting the red hue of her cheeks, the blonde boss chuckled soundlessly. "There aren't enough signs in the world for me to tell you how special you are to me."

The girl glowed, almost literally, beaming with a wide grin and sparkling pink eyes.

The boy smiled with his eyes closed and rubbed her head messily, laughing without sound when she shoved him away with a squeak, arranging her beanie and hissing for him to cut it out.

"Catch up when you're free." Naruto jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, at the corridor of patients rooms he was scheduled to meet. He then started walking backwards to his destination, sending a lax two fingered salute and made to turn around.

"Ah, sir, hold on."

He stopped mid-turn, facing her again and raising an eyebrow in question.

"I want to tell you something." He gestured to her, telling her to go on. She stepped up to him, rising a little to her toes and drawing him down by his arm so that she could whisper into his ear, speaking beneath her normally airy tone. "Something private." He nodded and she gently took her Master by his left elbow, guiding him away from the reception. Before she could forget, she turned and waved to the young boy she had been speaking with for the past few minutes. "Bye. Don't lose that inhaler again."

The boy's brain was too busy short-circuiting to give a good response.

Lio found them a vacant room on a separate extension of the hospital that was renovation; it looked to be a row of uncompleted nurses' accommodations that hadn't been painted or furnished.

He looked at her to tell him whatever her problem was.

The girl told her friend why she didn't want to go to school that day, laying out all the issues and torments she had hidden from him since she started Year Three of Kumo's illustrious Civilian Academy.

The more Lio told him, the less pleased Naruto looked.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

About the same time

A jounin on a chunin team wasn't a conventional line-up, not unless that jounin was the team's officially assigned leader.

Minato had a soft spot for Sakumo's son, and Hiruzen Sarutobi had a soft spot for Konoha's favoured Hokage candidate, so the Sandaime let Team Minato stay commissioned in spite of its members not being genin anymore.

Although the two chunin and jounin could be called individually to perform other assignments, they normally worked best as a team under the leadership and tutelage of Minato Namikaze.

"Congrats again on your promotion, Kakashi." Rin said, weightlessly landing on a branch and bounding off to another, turning a little to smile at her stoic teammate and then returning her gaze ahead. The box strapped to her back rattled, clanking quietly.

The boy she spoke to nodded. "Yeah. Thanks." He too bore his own load, the same sized box though his didn't make as much rattling sounds because, unlike Rin's, he was transporting bread and packets of salt inside his crate while the team's medic was taking several bottles of medicine and other medical supplies.

Kakashi was wearing his new vest over his normal shinobi clothes, though Rin preferred not to wear hers while they were on missions that didn't involve them skirting close to the front lines.

Obito grumbled and Rin couldn't help but giggle at his irritation, hearing the Uchiha's wordless mumbling. "You too, Obito. Congratulations on becoming chunin."

"They're still reviewing my promotion. It's already been a week!" He nearly slipped from his perch, scrambling to catch the branch with his hands and swinging back to the treeline. The outgoing boy took a few seconds to steady himself again, before leaping onwards to catch up to the rest of the team. His crate contained sealing scrolls, pots of ink and brushes, which were among the things in demand in the camp they were going. "How come Kakashi got reviewed and had his jacket handed to him on the same day, by Lord Third no less."

"Look on the bright side, promotion reviews almost always end well." Rin comforted her long-time friend, wincing with a quick smile at the eye roll Kakashi failed to hide. Her promotion review took only four days of deliberation, eventually pushed forward and finalized by a great commendation by Tsunade Senju herself. Rin had impressed the Sannin with her composure and skill in treating the injured ninjas in one of Konoha's medical tents in Grass country; it wasn't everyday people came across the Sannin while on duty but Minato was a political and military figure with very powerful friends, so it shouldn't be unusual for his students to encounter the Legendary Three more times than nought. The roundabout questions surrounding Minato recommending Rin's promotion ended after the Sannin testified on the girl's behalf. It wasn't a matter of nepotism but merit; the elders of the council actively opposed Minato and anything he proposed, even the field promotion of a deserving student of his. The fourteen year old girl gave her Uchiha friend a bigger, more honest smile. "You might as well be chunin. You deserve this promotion."

Obito flushed. "Thanks, Rin."

"You're very welcome."

"Hear that Kakashi? Rin believes in me."

Kakashi hummed. " Uh huh. Good for you."

"You'd think a "genius" would be smart enough to start bowing down to the next Hokage." The Uchiha boy harrumphed, running to Kakashi's right and sticking out his tongue. "I expect nothing less from my rival."

This got a scoff from the recently minted jounin, casting a side eye to the prospective chunin. "We are not rivals, Obito. In fact-"

Rin frowned. "Kakashi…." Stopping him from saying anything else, playing the peacemaker like she had been doing since Team Minato was formed four years ago. "Be nice."

The masked jounin wrinkled his nose at the scolding, pointedly avoiding Obito's glare. "Whatever. Believe what you want to believe, as long as you focus on the mission."

"I'm becoming Hokage and I'm going to end this war. You'll see."

He didn't need Kakashi to believe in him.

Rin was his biggest supporter and that was perfectly fine with him.

Coming up at their backs was their team sensei and Kushina Uzumaki, each of who also bore their own loads.

Kushina chuckled and a large sweatdrop slipped down Minato's temple.

"You sometimes forget he's a good kid, y'know." The Uzumaki lady commented. Given, she admittedly butt heads with the young Uchiha on far too many occasions, Kushina saw too much of herself in the boy. She also wanted to be Hokage, once upon a time, and contrariwise she also often gave the entire world a big middle finger. "I'm with Rin; the kid's earned that promotion. Don't you think?"

Minato bobbed his head, easily landing and skipping from branch to branch. "I won't have submitted his name for a promotion if I didn't think so. Sure, Obito has a…surprisingly thick skull-" for that, Kushina wholeheartedly agreed. Nodding and humming to show her agreement, making her husband chuckle. "-But he's a still a team player and a hard worker."

The two jounin shared a smirk.

"It's kinda my fault his promotion review is taking so long." Minato's smirk became apologetic. "If I were some other person, this would have been a lot quicker."

" If you were someone else, I won't be married to you. That'd be a big problem." Kushina winked and Minato coughed into his fist, fending off a blush and nearly running face first into a tree for his troubles. The lady laughed when her husband manoeuvred sideways, using his chakra to stick to the trees trunk and leaping up to her branch, continuing their journey. "It's Danzo-sensei. He just…doesn't…like…you."

She winced at the blonde's stare. "You're just now finding out? On our wedding day, the guy sent me camel shit." Packaged in a shoebox and basically thrown at him by the last Shimura. While his student, Kushina, was personally presented a lengthy roll of ramen coupons and a brand new cleaning kit for her katana. " Camel. Shit." Minato repeated, emphasizing each word. "In spite of the war, he went through the trouble of importing the freshest camel shit straight from Wind country."

If Minato didn't know Hirashin, then his suit would have been ruined.

He flashed away with his bride and returned, carrying Kushina in his arms with a larger than life grin to spite the old war hawk; handing the woman her wedding present still felt significant but Minato was pleasantly content with the death stare from the Konoha elder.

"I'll talk to him." Kushina promised, scratching the back of her head and wondering how she was going to word that Obito's promotion to chunin was affecting the young Uchiha's morale.

She already had a good idea of how badly her former teacher despised Minato, more so when he made it known his intentions to run for Hokage candidacy and also when it came out that he had been in a secret relationship with Kushina since the later parts of their genin days.

While Kushina dwelled on how to reconcile her aging father figure with her husband, Minato mused on some intel he had received from Kumo some hours ago concerning the explosions at Hidden Lightning village's civilian school.

No explosive items were found after further investigation, which was odd because even explosive tags left behind a faint stain of the owner's chakra wherever it was planted. The same went for clay bombs, leaving trace amounts of explosive clay on the surface, or at the very least the minor components contained in the explosive device, like shrapnel. The issue was that when the fires had been put out and the rubble pushed aside, the areas of detonation were traced right down the very spot the bombs went off and there were notable chunks of concrete scooped out, taking with it the trace evidence of what sort of explosive device was used.

This basically destroyed any potential lead and ground the investigation to a staggering halt.

Locating the remains of the bomb or where the bomb exploded was important.

If it were an explosive tag, then the affinity of the user's trace chakra could be tracked back to their home village; if it were clay bombs, then the clay could be broken down and analysed, narrowed down which plot of land it was excavated from and also possibly which last few hands touched it before it was set to blow up in the school. Last were newly invented and expensive mechanical explosives; the metal components recovered could be used to track where it was first manufactured. The latter kind of bomb were devastating in scale, not so much like a fully powered explosive tag or clay bomb but fatal all the same, and the shrapnel contained inside these mechanical explosives went everywhere, making it difficult and nearly impossible to gather all the shrapnel.

Besides, mechanical explosives were too expensive to be used to bring down buildings, because of the shrapnel and the lack of adequate range, as they were mainly tossed into the midst of a group of shinobi/samurai to grisly effect.

Minato cancelled mechanical explosives from his mind.

Clay bombs were more useful and explosive tags were easier to acquire.

In this time of war, nations would like to take credit for successful attacks on their enemies. And now that the grand civilian school of a super power like Kumo had been attacked, leaving scores dead and even more injured, it was minutes too late for someone or somewhere to take credit.

Some more conniving people would plant those bombs in order to frame another nation, forcefully introducing Hidden Lightning village to the war and facing the entirety of Kumo's rage elsewhere in a bid for the Raikage to retaliate in order to save face.

Once again, it all came back to the explosive remnants not being found.

Minato grunted.

This meant that the bomber and the person that stole the remnants of the bomb worked separately.

It also meant that the one that gathered the remnants didn't want Kumo to jump into the war in order to retaliate.

Minato was all for that.

Konoha was in a bad enough spot without Kumo actively warring against them.

Iwa had invaded Grass country, expanding its territory and expending resources into blocking off Konoha from Waterfall, an ally that would soon fall to the Tsuchikage's village, while also bearing down on supply routes from Suna to Konoha, who weren't allied to the Hidden Leaf village but were not in the least bit for Iwa. Konoha exchanged money for Suna medics and medical plants, and the sole pathway of exchange was choked full of Iwa ninjas, making it a non-option for Konoha's limited forces to push through.

Konoha's production of medical plants couldn't keep up with the demand and there weren't enough field medics to treat the wounded, leaving little to no option for the shinobi to be transported back to home base and wait for a civilian doctor to be taken to the base to sustain their lives.

Their situation was bad.

Iwa was isolating Konoha, using their uncountable numbers to block access to allied support.

Minato had an idea though.

A suicidal idea but an idea nonetheless.

It was a last ditch effort to force the Tsuchikage's army down onto their knees, one final push that was hoped to make all their efforts count in the end.

Kannabi Bridge.

It was a major hub from where Hidden Rock smoothly sent supplies and soldiers to the front line; it was heavily guarded at all hours of the day and locked down under a strict curfew at night.

In this war, it was Iwa's jugular.

The only way the village could continue to wage war on Konoha, maintain their presence in Waterfall and block off Hidden Sand support from the Leaf village.

Cut Iwa's jugular and its war efforts against Konoha would suffocate and die.

Minato's Kannabi Bridge plan consisted of a few smaller strategies; draw Iwa's forces further to the frontlines inside Fire country's borders in such a way that there were at least five active combat areas spread far apart from the other, lessening contact with the other and also stifling an easy retreat back to the Kannabi bridge in case things turned south for Hidden Rock. It was important that the fighting took place inside Fire country and not Grass country. When this was happening, a small force of not more than five ninjas would use the distraction to step around the battles and infiltrate Kannabi canyon, making headway to the bridge and blow it to pieces from under noses of the Tsuchikage's ninjas.

A few aspects of the plan could be better refined, that much was certain, but the plan had merit.

Jiraiya was in support of this rough plan.

In fact, Orochimaru also indicated interest in Minato's irregular idea.

The man who Minato and Naruto crippled, now more or less healed a handful of weeks ago and just about ready to steamroll onto the battlefield with his painstakingly steadily regenerated body parts, until Jiraiya proposed it to him on behalf of his student, Minato, as the blonde Namikaze was the very last person Orochimaru ever wanted to meet.

Tsunade was against it, but Jiraiya could find a way to convince her.

It was good that Minato first went to his wife for her support, then the Sannin to get their support before even pressing the Council to consider his plan.

Fortunately, Kushina didn't mind that her husband took advantage of her advantageous position in Danzo's cold, hollow heart.

Kushina's main reservations were on the identities of the platoon leaders charged to oversee the battles meant to kick up dust, and also the identities of the squad meant to stab Iwa in the throat.

So she struck a deal with Minato that she would only recommend the plan if the Legendary Sannin led their own individual platoons alongside herself and Fugaku Uchiha for the other two platoons, making five units in total. For the latter squad that would traverse the canyon and destroy the bridge, Minato and whoever he selected could handle that; as long as the ninjas on the team were insignificantly few in number and extremely experienced in their art.

Now, getting the backing of the Council was another steep mountain to climb.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Meanwhile in Kumo

The longer Naruto stared at Lio, the harder he asked himself why.

'Why didn't I notice sooner?'

Lio was being bullied.

It had gotten so bad…

They would deface her desk with permanent markers spelling out horrible messages of self-hate and condescension, stuff her backpack with dirt and freshly uprooted weeds, steal her uniform during Physical Education and soak it in one of the toilets in the boy's restroom, laughing at her when she crept into the classroom, wearing her PE clothes and lugging a polythene bag that dripped with her soiled school uniform. Those that hated her presence constantly whispered to her in seething, blistering tones that she was a penniless wraith that just didn't belong.

A rumour was started about how she was cursed and that anyone that looked directly at her, or into her eyes, would be visited by the Shinigami that night and lose a loved one the next day

Lio's class teacher didn't seem to notice that his star pupil was in so much distress, and the girl reporting the matter only ended with the perpetrators being warned and Lio too getting blamed for one odd reason or the other.

They called her dull.

They called her gloomy.

They called her pathetic.

All that was before one of Lio's seniors managed to yank off the girl's beanie.

Then it got worse.

"I didn't want to say anything to you before because you already have a lot on your mind; I don't want to be another problem for you." And she would have very well not spoken up at all if her hero hadn't reminded her that if the whole world despised her and that if she had no other place to find warmth, then he would always be there to keep her heart whole. That morning, when they were cleaning up the bloody massacre Lio had brought down on the Copper Pot gang, he suspected something was wrong and he wasn't the kind of friend to force the truth out of her.

She would let him in whenever she wanted and he would never judge her.

Naruto was the only one that kept Lio from irreversibly descending into madness.

He kept her sane.

A humanoid cosmic being made of blood, flesh and chakra, like Naruto's protégé, could do worse things to a planet once they were pushed past the brink of logical comprehension.

Whatever Hidden Star's scientists did to the little girl was damage that couldn't be undone, obliterating her mental state on a daily basis and leaving the child in a catatonic state afterward.

Luckily for earth, imminent planetary destruction was held at bay by the girl's adoration for her hero.

That didn't stop the thirteen year old ex-CORE Operative from feeling like he had failed her.

'Why didn't I notice sooner?' he echoed again in his mind, recalling the times Lio would return to their temporary homes in her PE clothes, the downtrodden droop of her shoulders, the beaten down sag of her bright pink eyes and the resigned exhale she would give before she left for school the next day, wearing clean clothes and lighting up a little at the parting head tousle from her mentor.

Throughout her ordeal, Lio maintained a steady A plus grade, so Naruto wasn't ever really called to the school concerning her grades or her behaviour, only to inform him that his teachers were elated by her stellar performance in class and were recommending she jump a few Years.

Naruto's hands slowly dragged down his face.

Lio's reaction to the blonde's inner turmoil was instant panic.

"You don't have to do anything. Really. I just told you so that you'll know what's going and to get this load off my chest." Nothing she said made the pale eyed boy feel any better for his obliviousness, running his hands through his hair and trying to figure out the next step from here; what should he tell her and how painfully does his friend want her bullies to be offed? "I'm sure that they'll get bored…eventually…and move on. In a few years, maybe, but I can tough it out till then."

The boy shook his head, not know where to start but starting anyway.

"I'm sorry for not noticing. I've been so distracted with building up our gang and increasing our numbers that-." He stopped himself short, his eyes falling and the dark circles ringed around them deepened even more. "I don't have any excuse. I'm sorry. I'm sorry…I'm really sorry."

The girl became flustered, waving her hands for her mentor to not feel so crestfallen. "S-Sir, its fine! Please, don't apologize. I should be the one-"

"No." he signed sharply, his gut rolling hot with bile. "No. I was the one that told you to hold back. I limited you to civilian strength. I depowered you and told you not to harm anyone in the school. I'm so sorry." He tilted his torso forward and the girl dropped to her knees, unable to stand while her Master bowed to her.

The girl cried, eyes wet with tears and stammering in shock at her teacher's distraught demeanour. "S-Sir. I-I-I'm be-be-begging y-you. P-Please." Her Master was infallible, unbreakable and all-knowing, all the traits Lio dreamt to one day possess, and him lowering himself in apology- and to her no less-broke her heart. Her shaky hands reached up and tried to push him upright, mustering the willpower to do so while her expression contorted to that of broken agony. "Please, sir!"

Straightening up, Naruto's hands slipped under Lio's arms and helped her back to her feet.

One hand on her side, his other hand dug into his right pocket and brought out a white handkerchief, cleaning the tears from her eyes and holding the hankie to her nose for her to blow into it.

The girl sniffled, shaking and shuddering.

He knew what to do.

First, he was going to get Lio transferred to one of the Third Year classes most of the Whisper Group kids were in, sorting this out with the Director of the Civilian Academy. There she would find friends and wouldn't truly cross paths with her former classmates again outside of the school's festivals and competitions.

Days like these, Naruto wished he could speak, because he wanted so much to march up to his friend's class teacher and roar fire and brimstone on man for overlooking the abuse, doing the same to the subject teachers as well.

One thing was certain though.

He was going to settle for the old-fashioned kidnap and torture routine.

For the bullies themselves, he was going to ruin their wealthy families.

He was going to take all their material possessions, everything of emotional and physical significance to them, and he was going to bankrupt them. Stealing their properties was two-thirds of what he and his people would do to those rich families, smearing their name in mud was another.

Loan sharking was a lucrative business that Naruto wanted Whisper Group to get into, and what better customers than the formerly opulent upper class and the suddenly-struggling upper-middle class.

What was sweeter than loaning to the rich their own stolen money?

And just like that, the thousands he was spending on hospital bills for his people was going to triple in return, and Lio was going to claim her pound of flesh on seeing the sorry state of those bullies if they came to school.

Two birds with one boulder.

He pushed the dirty hankie into his pocket, not minding its state. While one hand remained on her side to support her, the other gestured as he voicelessly stated.

"I need names."

Lio barely managed to convince him to postpone his crusade until after the hospital visits.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Orochimaru of the Sannin wasn't a forgiving man.

He popped off the lid of a pill bottle and poured himself a handful, tipping his head back and tossing them into his mouth, swallowing with a heavy gulp.

The man grated his teeth with a sharp wince, curling into himself and biting his knees to muffle his tortured bellow, the long lasting aftereffects of the beating those two blondes brought down on him.

His reptilian eyes, bloodshot from sleepless nights caused by the constant wracks of pain from his body, burned hot with wrath.

"Take too much of those at a time and you'll get addicted."

The man ignored Tsunade's warning, giving her a feral hiss. "Give me something stronger. These meds aren't helping anymore."

"They're helping enough. Any stronger and it'll affect your liver. I don't even want to talk about what would happen to your heart."

"I can always get new ones." Orochimaru spat, writhing his way onto a log and facing away from the subtle crackle of the campfire. The Senju stared at her former teammates back, chewing on her tongue at the admission of him being able to get spare human organs, likely through illegal means. "Help me stop this pain, Tsunade. Give me the drugs I need."

"…Swear to me you won't harm Jiraiya's boy."

Here, the Snake Sage chortled, a blood curdling sound that prickled the slug lady's skin in ways she hadn't experienced since Sakumo Hatake utterly beat her reptilian friend in a spar. That was when they were genin and Hiruzen Sarutobi, their team sensei and close friend of the Legendary White Fang, wanted to humble the team's prodigy a little.

The scathing glare from the defeated snake boy followed Tsunade into her nightmares.

There wasn't definitive evidence but Tsunade suspected her teammate was somehow involved in Sakumo Hatake's suicide.

She gnashed her teeth. "Damn it, Orochi. Don't hurt that kid. Swear you won't and I'll get you all the drugs you could ever want." She and Jiraiya were finally getting on the right page following the Toad Sage's botched confession, and she didn't want to jeopardize the feeble strings of friendship that connected the trio. The famed medic clenched her fist and snapped, speaking over Orochimaru's mumbled laughter. "Are you even listening? Leave the kid alone!"

"Simple…naïve…Tsunade…" the man said, speaking in a chilling whisper and looking over his shoulder at his glaring friend. "Do you honestly think…that if I swore to leave him be, that I actually will…?"

Tsunade was taken aback, mouth flapping open and closed for a suitable reply to what was undoubtedly the snake man admitting that he was indeed going to seek revenge on Jiraiya's student.

Her non-reply resulted in a cascade of haggard mirth from the agonized man.

For the next seven months after the brutal beating he received from the two blondes three years ago, Orochimaru had not just been confined to a wheelchair due to his missing kneecaps and overall broken body, but he was also retrained in place by strenuous life support for the rigorously dealt organ damage.

Snapped bones, severed tendons, ripped muscles, dislocated joints, a cracked skull, a considerable build-up of pressure inside his skull, swallowed teeth, dislocated lower jaw and a halved tongue, massive internal bleeding, a perforated stomach, systematic organ failure, and a general loss of bodily control.

Nature chakra stubbornly kept him alive, though Minato's seals prevented any unnatural regeneration, keeping him in a state of hellish limbo.

Unable to live and unable to die.

Any healing was either from Tsunade's help or as a result of his slow, naturally human regeneration.

The Sannin's condition was hidden from the general public.

The details of what happened to the snake man were filed as a double S rank secret; no one not in the council or the upper crust of the Konoha ANBU needed to know that the Sannin ambushed a fellow Leaf ninja so as to cause harm to the Hokage candidate.

Minato asked for any charges to be dropped and for Orochimaru to be pardoned; the Snake Sage was essential to the war and the sooner he was healed up, the sooner he could help them defeat Iwa.

This action increased the opinion of his friends and supporters inside the council and among Konoha's black operatives.

In front of the world, Orochimaru could maintain his composure and act like his scars didn't hurt, though behind closed doors he was a wild eyed creature in constant anguish.

Pain was something that scarcely ever left him.

When Orochimaru's body finally accepted the surgically implanted kneecaps and the scheduled surgeries began to taper down in number, which was seven or eight months after the ordeal and as the Third War was in full swing, the man began physical rehabilitation to regain his motor skills.

All the while, he loathed the two people that damned his life to one of perpetual pain and suffering.

Minato.

Naruto.

One would wonder how Orochimaru knew Naruto in any name other than his given CORE codename, Ninety-Nine.

This was because he was there when Shimura Danzo put the boy's traitorous parents to death, after a lengthy and viciously merciless session in the ROOT torture chamber spanning over two loud, eventful days. Naruto's mother expired soon after the boy's father, their bodies twisted in perpetual torment as they were made to watch while the other was being tortured.

To think the Shimura man could do that to the ones he dearly loved.

To the ones he held close to his cold, hollow heart.

Orochimaru snickered.

Their screams, at that time, were a vague annoyance. Now they were a pleasant memory that quelled his quaking heart.

Orochimaru wasn't a forgiving man and Tsunade knew it.

"Take it from a friend, Orochi." She promised him, getting to her feet and looming over her friend. The man didn't turn to her, still tittering with mildly crazed amusement at the wonderful, amazing things he would do the blonde pair. "…This won't end well."

"No, sweet Tsunade, it certainly won't."

Authors note

O.o

What do you think of this chapter?

What do you think of the story so far?

…How do you think/hope this whole story will end?

Leave a review, would you so kindly. Please and please stay safe, wherever you are in the world, and I will see you when I see you.

Foy.