Hiruzen had never been apathetic to her smile. When she were young, it filled him with a fatherly instinct and a mentor's pride. Once matured, it lit the spark of desire within him but as their relationship dissolved the cruelty behind it left him cold, regretful and mourning the loss of the innocent student he once knew. Now, it fills him with a hatred hotter than any katon jutsu known to man. He wants nothing more than to strangle the very life from her and then send her soul to the Shinigama for a light snack.
"What do you want?" he asked, acid lacing every word.
"Kukuku, you seem to ask that a lot, Sensei." She replied and was not wrong. He needed to know what her plot was, what her endgame was so he could stop it. He'd protect Konoha from her even with his last breath.
"Well?" he bit back.
"Oh, nothing, just checking in. How's Asuma? He seemed really upset when we returned." Oh, she loved to twist the knife, Hiruzen thought. She was so very pleased with herself.
"Do you enjoy this? I've worked hard to mend my relationship with Asuma and you tear it down for your own amusement."
"Not just my amusement, that was a byproduct. Besides, you only have yourself to blame. I bet you used the same tired excuses you used on me. I have so many demands on my time. My shinobi need me, the civilians need me and while I love them even my family makes demands of me. I just need something for myself, just time to be Hiruzen." She said with a laugh. Hiruzen flinched as that had been exactly what he said to Asuma. He wanted his son to understand the pressures of being Hokage, of being subsumed by the responsibilities of the office. Asuma thought it was bullshit.
"You know it's a lie, right?" Apparently, so does she. "You could have just retired, any one of us were ready to take the mantle. You chose to hang on to power until after the Third Shinobi War. You were so in love with being the Hokage, the God of Shinobi that you couldn't make room for anyone else. That's the truth of the matter."
"I won't debate this with you. And if I have to suffer your vile presence it should be for a reason, now what do you want?"
"I heard you lost us the privilege to wear the Uzumaki symbol. Is that true?" Oh, she's just aiming for all the soft spots today.
"You know it is. He's your student."
"Hai, but he went to sleep instantly upon his return so we haven't had a chance to speak. Any ideas for a replacement? Maybe you could make it a contest, Village wide."
"To emphasize my blunder even more?"
"Yes! Now, you're getting it!" she said with genuine enthusiasm.
"What do you want? Where does this all end? I won't let you hurt Konoha."
"Kukuku, why would I want to hurt Konoha? I live here, I wouldn't burn my own house down just to spite you."
"I don't believe that for a second." Hiruzen said dryly.
"Ok, maybe I would but I'm not. That has to count for something, right, Sensei?"
"The poets will write epics about your magnanimity."
"Then I have truly lived a full and happy life."
"Once again, Orochimaru, what do you want?"
"To tell you my Oto nins have cleared the last of Danzo's known Root bases. Can't say they killed them all, but they got most of them."
"Good, if that is all you may leave." Hiruzen said and sighed when she complied. It took a great deal of his discipline not to strike down the woman when he laid eyes on her, to so casually up end all the work Asuma and he had done to fix their relationship and simply out of spite, to further hurt him. He knew she hated him and it was justified to an extent but when would enough be enough? He could contain her to the village, watch her every moment but until he had a firm idea of what she truly wanted he couldn't get ahead of her. He was stuck reacting to her moves and didn't know how to change the position.
Orochimaru left with a smile on her face, people underestimate the power of petty revenge. And with each slight she was confident the old monkey would continue to think she had some grand scheme with him in mind when truthfully, there was only one target of her machinations and it'd be a few years still before she could fully act on them. Thinking about him led her to considering the Rasa issue.
She could kill him in open combat no problem. It'd literally be no problem at all but assassinating him is something a little different. She couldn't just send a snake to poison him or sink her Kusanagi into his heart. She realized being an S ranked missing nin has left her assassination skills rusty, as far as the hiding all traces you were the culprit part. She hasn't cared if someone knew she killed a target in years. Funny that.
Time, was on her side and because she knew Rasa a little she could make some assumptions. The most obvious being he likely has the information set the release upon his death but wouldn't place the copies somewhere too far out of his control. He trusted no one and essentially only tolerated Baki because the man was powerful and could keep Gaara on the leash. That'd have to be accounted for but she'd task Jiraiya with it, he wouldn't keep his hands clean on this just in case he was trying to set her up. Granted, she had plans to implicate or outright kill him if he double crossed her but she was aware enough to realize the likelihood of needing these contingencies were slim.
Jiraiya wasn't the fool he let others believe him to be, he was as hardened as any other war Veteran but he'd play it straight when it came to Naruto. Him staying away from Naruto wasn't entirely of his choosing, her spies had sussed that out, not that she'd acknowledge it. Why give up some emotional blackmail just because it isn't true? That's absurd.
Clearing her mind of her digression she went back to the how. He had guards so she'd need to find out how loyal and diligent they were to his well being, that might be an in. She might be able to seduce him, even if she found it repugnant. Not seduction in general but Rasa struck her as crymaxer and she didn't need nor want to deal with that. Or he'd just be really bad because he thought too highly of himself and would need constant reassurance that he was good or big or something else. Not worth the effort or the nice pair of panties she'd waste on the night. She chuckled to herself as she continued home. She still had time so she'd think of something.
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The trio looked on to their singular enemy with exasperation. They'd thrown everything they could at him and nothing has worked. Their best formations, their most practiced attacks all failed to even graze him. It was a level beyond frustrating and the feeling of fatigue they all shared only increased their negative emotions.
Taking a steadying breath, the leader charged forth with his quarterstaff. A sweep to the legs was avoided with a mere hop, the following swipe to the ribs was dodged with an easy rotation. Not satisfied with just being on defense, the opponent sent a kick to the staff wielder that pushed him off balance. The other two of the trio finally reengaged, having gained enough energy for a final onslaught. The smallest came with her sword, a textbook dual handed overhead strike meant for the shoulder caused the target of the attack to jump sideways to avoid it.
Said target then had to deflect a series of shuriken that was thrown by the third, the last member willing to play support. Not giving him any breathing room the kenjutsu user continued to press the attack, downward, upward and horizontal slashes all just missing. Each missed attack draining even more stamina, causing unsteady legs to shake under the strain. The bojutsu user returned to the fray with a desperation fueled furocity he hadn't shown.
The lone defender parried and dodged their attacks but never forgot about the third member lying in wait and his patience was soon reward as said member decided to join in on the attack. He decided it was time to end this. As soon as the third was within striking distance, he swiftly relieved the bojutsu user of his quarterstaff and downed him with a palm strike. Without an instance of hesitation he threw the staff toward the other two opponents, the support ninja making the mistake of catching it as it left him open for the aerial assault of his opponent. Two kicks, delivered with a spin felled the boy and he was down for the count. In an impressive display of acrobatics, the attacker landed on his back and immediately kicking up as to not give his final enemy even a hint of an opening.
Seeing she was alone, tired and outmatched she laid her sword down in defeat and was immediately greeted with a smile and him rubbing her head. She broke out into a blush but slapped his hand away.
"Don't do that!"
"Ahh, why not Moegi-chan? You did really well, you all did." Groans is all Naruto got in response.
"You're too good, Boss. We can't hit you." Konohamaru complained.
"It's not that, I'm moving just a bit beyond you guys' speed. You just have to get a little more creative with your tactics. A direct assault can be useful, especially when collectively you have the superior skills but when you're outmatched you have to find or create your own advantages and then exploit it." He said before looking to Udon.
"You abandoned the support role too fast, Udon. It's a good impulse to want to protect your team but protection can take many forms, Had you continued to pepper me with shuriken it might have created an opening for Kon or Moegi. You need to get familiar with how they fight so you can guide opponents to where they'd be most vulnerable." Naruto explained and saw Udon look down in shame or silent recrimination.
"However, you're on your way there. Early on, when they needed a break or some space, you made it for them and you're good at letting them know what you're thinking. Once you start picking up some tactics and strategy in the academy you'll be even better. And your shurikenjutsu is well trained for your age." Naruto finished and saw the boy smile brightly.
"Moegi-chan, what's the most important thing to a swordsman or woman as the case may be?"
"Breathing. If you can control your breathing, you can avoid tension in your muscles. Tension slows down reaction time and robs the strikes of speed and power."
"Good. What's the second?"
"Legs. They have to be strong and swift, steady and nimble."
"Exactly. Once you were getting tired your breathing control was shot and your legs were unsteady. When that happens you have to switch things up. It takes dedication to learn kenjutsu but you aren't a samurai, that isn't all you'll be using." He said and she nodded, taking the criticism a little better than Udon. "But you are improving and you'll be ready to learn a style outside of the basics soon."
"Kon, good staff work. Speed and control are all acceptable but you need to control your emotions. The moment you got frustrated you started telegraphing your moves. If the other two are following your lead then you'll make them predictable, too. Predictable is the one thing you don't want to be."
"Hai."
"With that being said, you guys are getting better now here-" Naruto unsealed some canteens of water and some orange slices "have a snack and some water. I have to meet my Shishou soon."
The trio did as told and chatted away about the academy and other events. Konohamaru begged Naruto to teach them some awesome jutsu and he promised to show them something next time, something small to get them started. He started to depart when he saw Ebisu arrive. He gave the man a nod in acknowledgment and departed, glad he got to spend some time with the brats as he hadn't seen them in awhile.
"Uzumaki-san was right in his review. You'd all do well to heed his advice." Ebisu said.
"Yea, Boss is cool! He's even a Chunin now!" Konohamaru said, excitedly and the other two nodded in agreement.
"Yes, yes, quite cool. Now, are you three too tired for more training?"
"No/No/No!" they responded.
"Good, then let's practice our chakra control." Ebisu said and fought back the urge to laugh at their facial reactions. "I know for a fact that Uzumaki-san practices his chakra control constantly and it's one of the reasons he's considered an up and coming ninjutsu specialist. The better control you have the more you can do with your chakra."
"Fine." Konohamaru huffed out in defeat.
"Good, grab some leaves."