Chapter 33
KABUTO
In a cave in the Land of Rice. Kabuto Yakushi paced back and forth within the room. The curse mark was still present on the recipients, showing that Lord Orochimaru was still alive. Yet there had been no news from Orochimaru sama for quite some time.
Yet suddenly he felt a seal on his hand heat up with chakra. He immediately began molding chakra and making the handseals.
"REVERSE SUMMONING JUTSU!" and Kabuto saw the form of a white snake appear through the summon. Yet it was no ordinary snake because in the place of its head it had a misshapen face. The face was much more familiar to Kabuto. It was the face of his master.
Kabuto immediately bowed down.
"Lord Orochimaru!" he said respectfully. He saw the sheer exhaustion and weariness on the Orochimaru sama as he even struggled to move the body.
"Bring the spare!" his lord hissed out and Kabuto's eyes widened as he listened to the order, yet he just nodded his head and began to walk out of the room. He made his way through the winding corridors; he moved down several floors to reach the basement.
The basement held the most dangerous of Lord Orochimaru's servants. He reached a very large room. This room appeared to be in much better condition than the rest of them. He put his hand on the side of the room and the door opened. The room was completely dark.
He entered the darkened room, his sight taking some time to accommodate to the complete darkness.
"Why are you here, Kabuto?" someone spoke up. Kabuto felt the hair on his neck rise up. He had not sensed the presence. Yet he did not flinch.
"Lord Orochimaru has need of you. He has called you!" Kabuto said in a flat tone.
"When did he return?" the occupant asked, kabuto had not missed the elation in the tone. Such Loyalty, he thought.
"The Lord returned moments ago," kabuto replied. He heard steps from one side of the room and soon the occupant appeared in front of him. The candle from the corridor illuminated his form.
Porcelain skin, covered by a white yukata. A face with very striking features with equaling striking white hair. Two red dots adorned his forehead. Yet the most important feature was the curse mark on his chest. three slightly curved lines, which spread in a rip-like pattern.
"Then lead the way," Kimimaro, the last descendant of the Kaguya clan spoke up. And Kabuto began to walk back to the chambers he had come from. The ever-loyal Kimimaro was right behind him. Kabuto reached the door and saw Kimimaro knock at the door.
"Enter," a hiss came from the other side. And just as Kimimaro was able to enter the room, kabuto put his hand forward. He saw Kimimaro stare straight at him. Kabuto opened his mouth, yet his words never came out. And Kabuto remembered all the time he had spent with the white-haired kid.
How both of them had been trained by Lord Orochimaru. All the time they had fought, succeeded, or failed. He tried to speak up once more, yet his voice seemed to fail him once more. Kimimaro looked straight ahead once more. Pushing his hand away, Kimimaro entered the room. Perhaps, it was just his imagination, but Kabuto thought that he had heard Kimimaro speak to him.
"Goodbye!"
0000
JIRAIYA-THE TOAD SAGE
Jiraiya could feel exhaustion creeping up. It seems that he was not as young as he used to be. Once upon a time, he along with his teammates had fought for three days against a monster like Hanzo the Salamander. Yet it seems that those days were behind him. For he felt weariness creep up.
But perhaps it was a point to note that he was alone this time. There was no Tsunade to heal his injuries and take care of his exhaustion nor Orochimaru to provide support and didn't that name made Jiraiya sad for a moment?
But the thoughts were immediately eradicated from his head. As he saw another one of that thready creatures appear from the underground. This one with a different mask than the other two he had taken out previously. Chakra swirled in his hand, the blue orb of Rasengan forming in his hand. And before the creature could react it had been hit by Jiraiya's attack. His enhanced senses aided him as he fought.
"RASENGAN!" and he could feel his technique grinding in the creatures' stringy mass. CLACK.CLACK. and it disintegrated as soon as the mask broke down.
"AGHHH!" he heard a grunt from Kakuzu. Yet Jiraiya had to jump quickly to avoid the red scythe of Hidan.
"Earth Style: Great Earth Rumbling!" his unimaginable comrade from Iwa shouted from the side. A comrade from Iwa, Jiraiya had never found a sentence more ironic.
He was still clutching his side. Bleeding profusely from the side yet the man stood tall despite all the injuries. He was named, The Immovable Mountain for nothing. Onoki's son-in-law had survived that conniving attack from Hidan.
Jiraiya had figured out the technique and helped the man escape. Because both of them understood the intentions of their attackers somewhat. They had planned to eradicate both of them and inflame the already tense conflict between Konoha and Iwa.
Yet they had been late. Jiraiya had made the surviving ANBU retreat and Kitsuchi had done the same for his platoon earlier. With only Jiraiya and Kitsuchi present they had been unable to cause the chaos they had planned to cause.
"AGHHHH! Why are you helping each other? Weren't you fighting each other before we arrived!" the grey-haired Hidan shouted.
"Well, we were so impressed with your comradeship we decided to give it a chance!" Jiraiya spoke up.
"Jiraiya boy! We are running out of time. You should finish this." He heard Pa speak up from his shoulder.
Jiraiya nodded his head at that. He could see the frustration on the faces of the Akatsuki members. He began making handseals, as he heard Kakuzu speak up at his comrade.
"We are retreating. This battle is lost." And before they could react. Jiraiya inhaled a huge tempest of air. Circulating chakra through his lungs and airway. He exhaled.
"Katon: Majestic Destroyer Flame!" and the field in front of him exploded as the torrent of flame covered everything in his vision. The trees in the path of his Jutsu were burned to a crisp. The smell of burnt wood permeated throughout the surrounding. And when Jiraiya stopped the attack. Instead of a forest, the whole area in front of him had been reduced to a clearing. A charred and blackened clearing. For more than a couple of hundred meters, all the trees had been reduced to nothing but char.
Yet there were no traces of any bodies. Jiraiya closed his eyes and his senses expanded. He could not feel any chakra signatures. He opened his eyes and observed the area in front of him once more. Yet he found no traces of the body.
Somehow, they had managed to escape. How? Jiraiya did not have any idea.
"YYo-You burnt them to a crisp!" he heard from behind him. Kitsuchi said with a shaky voice.
"Our time is up Jiraiya boy," Pa spoke up from his shoulder.
"Do bring the new brat to visit us, it will be good to see a new face," Ma added and Jiraiya nodded his head. And both Ma and Pa vanished with a pop. Jiraiya closed his eyes. The natural chakra leaving his body.
His body returns to its original form. He did not let it show yet the battle had taken quite a bit from him.
"Ha. Aha." Yet not as much as the shinobi in front of him. He could see Kitsuchi hissing in pain as the man coughed up blood. Kitsuchi looked up at him.
"So, what do we do now?" he grunted out. Jiraiya was deep in thought. With his condition, Jiraiya could make quick work of Kitsuchi. Yet was it the right thing to do? Both of them had fought together. Even if it was more of a truce of convenience than anything, still attacking an opponent in such a state did not sit right with him.
Jiraiya did not speak up as he began to walk in Kitsuchi's direction. But just as he had taken a couple of steps they were interrupted.
He felt someone appear right in front of Kitsuchi, a kunoichi with a face much similar to the bleeding man himself.
"What are you doing here Kurotsuchi!" the man shouted and Jiraiya recognized the name. It was his daughter. The granddaughter of the fence sitter.
But she was not the only one. Behind him, he felt an ANBU squad appear as well. Though from what he had sensed in sage mode. This was not a regular ANBU squad. They had some complications in them.
"Lord Jiraiya," the leader bowed. The sole Iwa kunoichi stood steadfastly in front of her father. Kitsuchi continued to shout at her to get away. To run off yet the daughter did not budge an inch. Even after the appearance of the ANBU squad she had not moved.
Jiraiya raised his hand at the ANBU squad. Stopping them from any action.
"STOP! THE BATTLE IS OVER!" and the ANBU stopped at once. Now Jiraiya was staring straight into the eyes of Kitsuchi. Both of them looked into each other's eyes.
"Iwa has decided to negotiate a ceasefire." His words made Kitsuchi and Kurotsuchi's eyes widen. She looked back towards her father who was still straight into Jiraiya's eyes. And after a moment of hesitation, the man nodded his head.
But just as he had nodded there was some movement from the ANBU squad. An ANBU had rushed past everyone, heading straight towards the two Iwa.
Yet he did not make it past Jiraiya. As Jiraiya pushed the complication, he had detected, into the ground with extreme force. The ground cracked as the ROOT ANBU was knocked out.
"I think I was very clear in my orders!" he said as he let some of his chakra leak out. He picked up the ANBU body and threw it back at the squad. The young kunoichi from Iwa was shaken slightly by his chakra.
He turned to face the ANBU.
"We are moving out!" the squad captain nodded. And the ANBU squad began to move out. Jiraiya stopped for a moment before he spoke out.
"If I find any Iwa shinobi in our territory after three minutes, you can consider the negotiations a failure."
And then Jiraiya jumped away leaving the daughter to take away her father. Hopefully, this could end the whole conflict.
This would give them the opportunity to deal with a certain one-eyed bastard.
0000
In the underground of Konoha. Deep down at such a level that even the Byakugan would fail to observe. In a very dark room, a man sat behind a desk with several scrolls laid in front of him. He suddenly stopped as he felt another presence in the room. He closed his eyes to sense yet it vanished just as quickly as it had arrived.
And he found a small scroll appear on the edge of his table. He closed the scroll in his hand and picked up the new scroll. The marking and sealing were very familiar to him, belonging to Hiruzen's wayward student.
So Orochimaru had survived, the bandaged man thought. He opened the scroll and read its contents. The words made him frown as he burned it out of existence after reading it once. The message was very direct.
It is time for you to deliver. I want the Uchiha boy. Urgently
0000
BOOM! Danzo and Orochimaru are planning in the shadows! Will Iwa back off! And what consequences will all this have on the world!
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