Early the Next Morning
"... And done!" I gently set down the brush and admire my first ever seal. I'm back at the hotel with Sasuke, who is still asleep. I may have been just a little bit excited about finally starting seals and didn't sleep once the Sand Siblings and I parted ways. I may really hate Orochimaru but hot damn does that man know his stuff! His journal is invaluable, if I didn't have that there's no way I'd be attempting to make a seal so soon.
And I want that couch.
"It's! It's! It's!" Excitement fills my voice as my pitch jumps up higher and higher with each word. "Abysmal. It's absolutely terrible. Kami my penmanship sucks!" There are no smooth lines. Everything is jagged and broken, it barely looks like a seal at all. I bet if any seal master saw this pathetic attempt at the art they'd die on the spot.
"Fuck it." I place a stone on top of the seal and put two fingers on the seal itself. "I can't not test my first seal. It's a storage seal, what's the worst that could happen?" I push chakra into the seal, just a tiny bit. "Huh. Nothing happened? Maybe it needs more chakra?" I send in a small but steady trickle of chakra. "Okay, this is getting out of hand. I should probably stop before-"
Bang!
Sasuke swiftly rolls out of his hammock and starts falling to the ground. While he's still in the air, he uses the rotation of his body to help him fling a kunai straight at my head. The sharp non-reflective metal soars through the air before suddenly diverting around me and the slamming into the floor. Chakra strings for the win!
Sasuke finally lands on the ground in a low defensive stance.
"And a good morning to you too!" I huff at Sasuke. "Did you have to try and kill me right off the bat?"
"Oh. Sorry." He stands up while suspiciously eyeing the room for threats. "I could have sworn there was an explosion."
"Well... there was." I sheepishly rub the back of my head and point at the table I was working on. There's a hole in it now about ten centimeters in diameter. "Turns out I'm not good at seals. I'm pretty sure I understand the theory, but I can't create one."
He glares at me. "I take back my apology. I should have thrown two kunai."
"Pfft like that would have changed anything!" I boast. "You'd need to throw two hundred kunai to sneak one past me!"
Another kunai flies at my head, but veers off course and stabs into the floor next to the other one.
"Sasuke really?" I flatly say to him. "You had to know that wouldn't work."
He growls in mild frustration. "You and your chakra strings!" He turns around to start getting ready for the day, there's no going back to sleep now. Even if it is around 4:00am. "I'm glad you're struggling with seals. Finally there's something you can't use your chakra strings to make easier!" There's a hint of smugness in his tone.
Hold on a moment. "Sasuke you're a genius!" I quickly pull out a blank piece of sealing paper and dunk my brush in the ink again.
"I know I am." He arrogantly says as he turns back towards me, probably to show me his damn smirk to get on my nerves. "But how did that possibly- oh you asshole. I literally cannot believe this."
Sasuke is glaring at the table. Next to the new hole is my piece of sealing paper and my brush. The brush is making elegant and precise strokes, it's moving smoothly with the grace of a painter. Each line it leaves behind is nearly perfect, only under ridiculously close scrutiny could a flaw be found and even then those flaws are negligible. They won't effect the overall performance of the simple seal. None of that is why Sasuke is glaring at the table as if he can set it all on fire. No, the reason he's so mad is because the brush is seemingly moving itself, it's floating as if it's alive. I'm not even touching it.
I'm holding it with chakra strings.
"What is it with you and your infernal chakra strings!?" Sasuke rages at me. "Why is that even working!?"
He's got a valid question there. "Two reasons really." I distractedly explain as I focus on manipulating the brush. I have one string tightly wrapped around it, if it was visible it would look like there was a spring on the brush. I'm going very slowly with this, even if the overall performance is better I still need to focus. Sure I am skilled with chakra strings but I've never used them like this before.
"One: I've never cared how sloppy my handwriting is, even in the Academy I didn't try to make it better. That means it's bad. Really bad. I figured as long as it is readable it I'll be okay so there was no need to strive for perfection. Two, I've spent countless hours working on precision with my chakra strings. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to catch an airborne kunai? Well I assure you it's even harder to catch Orochimaru's kunai, yet I can pull that off. Most of the time. Okay, when he's not that serious. Basically the thing I've worked on the most with my strings is striving for perfection. I can't be off by a centimeter with them, that could mean I miss. So it makes perfect sense that my control, my precision, with my chakra strings is better than my handwriting."
"I swear, one of these days you're going to find something that you can't use chakra strings to fix." Sasuke says in a low tone. "I swear it."
The brush pulls up from the paper and rests off to the side. I've finished it. "Damn dude, no need to be so serious about it all! I thought you'd be glad that I'm learning a new skill! We can finally store our tents and stuff. Oh, wait that's kind of a moot point now since we have Murasakino and the other Weavers to make hammocks."
"Don't get me wrong, it's not that you've started to learn seals that I'm mad about. It's your obsession with chakra strings. You've taken one of the most basic skills known to shinobi and made it broken. You do realize how insane the things you do with them are, right?"
"Oh believe me I know." I steal his trademark tone for my next sentence. "People have thought that I have the Magnet Release, the Storm Release, the ability of flight and so much more! Little do they know it's all the same skill just used a little bit differently."
I yank one of the two kunai from the floor and place it on my newly made seal. Even if this goes horribly wrong it'll just blow another hole in the table. It's not like I care about it at all, and judging from how shitty it looks neither does the hotel staff.
"Here we go!" I push chakra into my seal.
"Wait that's my good kunai!" Sasuke says as a puff of smoke swallows the weapon.
I quickly wave away the smoke to reveal my seal. The kunai is gone, or more accurately the kunai is within the seal. "Hell yeah! That couch is mine!"
Sasuke's entire body goes slack in defeat and he tilts his head back to look skyward. "Why is my best friend such an idiot? What did I do to deserve this?"
Eight Hours Later, Noon at the Contestant's Gazebo
"Oh good!" I chirp out once Sasuke and I take our usual seats. "Hiro did manage to escape. I was almost worried for a moment."
It looks like he just forced his way out. The earth pillar I made has been reduced to pebbles. Although, there are some interesting slash-like marks on the ground. Maybe he used wind jutsu to cut the webs then crushed the pillar in anger? Eh, whatever. Not like it's important.
"Yeah and I was worried that the hotel staff would kick us out. You caused an explosion at 4 in the morning." Sasuke grumbles. "If you make that a routine I will stab you. A lot."
"Okay okay I'll not work on potentially explosive things early in the morning."
"Hey Red. Hey Midori." Noboru plops down next to Sasuke.
We both nod to him.
Then something interesting happens, someone new sits down in our group. It's Leiko. She looks frazzled and unkempt. There's dark circles under her eyes and she has a twitch in her hands, like she'd rather be holding onto weapons than having them empty.
And there's a massive bruise all the way around her neck left over from when Gaara manhandled her.
"Why are you here?" I rudely say. "Trying to poison us to get a leg up in our fight?"
She nervously glances over my shoulder to look at something behind me. Or rather someone. "No. I don't want to be near that thing ever again. This is the furthest spot from it."
Okay, she's going down hard. I'm going to make her a laughing stock.
"Now that the three finalists are here, would you all come out to the field?" A familiar voice calls out.
"Holy shit why are they letting Eito proctor the matches still?" I can't help but to say. "I mean really? Like he's not going to be biased at all. I bet he holds me to ridiculously high standards and Leiko can do whatever she wants."
"Believe me," Leiko says with a haunted look in her eyes, "he'll treat this fairly. After what the Kusakage threatened to do he better."
"Oh. Worries abated then." I happily stroll to the field with both Sasuke and Leiko right behind me.
"Hey Eito." I greet him with friendliness. Okay so I'm feeling a bit vindictive. "How's it going?"
"Fine." He forces out.
"Just fine?" I cheekily respond even though it's clear he doesn't want me to. "Where's the fun in that? You need to get out more."
He ignores me in favor of announcing the upcoming match. "The final match of the tournament will be between Leiko of Kusagakure, Red of Otogakure, and Midori of Otogakure. Again, this is a free for all match. There can only be one winner and that will be the last person standing. Fighters ready?"
"You betchya!" I happily clap my hands together. I'm going to have fun with this.
"Yes." Sasuke drolls out.
"I am ready to get this over with." Leiko says. There's no doubt in her eyes, she's thinking that Sasuke and I will team up to defeat her. Too bad she's wrong.
"Begin!" Eito disappears in a swirl of grass for the last time.
In the same instant that Eito vanished, Leiko leaped backwards putting a large distance between herself and Sasuke and me.
"Hey Leiko!" I call out. "We have a proposition for you!"
"... I'm listening." She forces out while trying to figure out her plan of attack.
"Well we recognized that it's a bit unfair for you right now, there's two of us and one of you. So we came up with something to make it easier on you! See how nice we are?" I sweetly talk to her.
"Yes. It's apparent. I can't believe I didn't notice before." She monotonously drones out, no doubt she's mad that I'm poking fun at her.
"We were thinking that we'd only fight one at a time. You vs me then if you win you'll take on Red." I gesture to Sasuke who is standing behind me. "Sound good? He'll sit out no matter what, he won't come to help me."
"I accept. That makes this much easier." Leiko has a glimmer of hope in her eyes for the first time today.
"Okay!" I turn to Sasuke, showing Leiko my back, and wave him away. "Shoo! Shoo! Go look menacing someplace else!"
"I'm going to stab her." Sasuke mutter to himself over and over. "I'm going to stab her until I lose count of how many times I've stabbed her. Then I'll stab her some more."
A small sphere, no larger than a golf ball, drops right behind me and breaks on the ground. A cloud of gas pours out of it, surrounding me in moments.
"Haha! Take that!" Leiko laughs with just a touch of madness. "You left yourself wide open!"
"Huh." I say from within the could. "This really clears up the nostrils. I might have to blow my nose now. Thanks for that, do you have any idea how gross it is to have a runny nose in a mask?"
"WHAT!?" She shouts in fury and shock. "How are you standing! That gas could knock out a team of horses in seconds!"
"Well what kind of an idiot uses a horse gas on a human?" I grin under my mask. "That right there is your problem."
"Gah!" She whips out a kunai and throws it at me with all of her strength. It's terribly slow. That being said I'm used to Orochimaru throwing kunai at me.
"Oh no." I look at my left shoulder where I let the kunai hit me. It's buried up to the hilt. "It looks like I've been impaled. Whatever shall I do?"
I firmly grasp the kunai and give it a yank. It comes out with a spray of blood.
"Does this one have a horse poison on it too?" I toss it back to her. I didn't try to hurt her with it, I was merely returning her kunai. "Because I think we already went over this, but I'm not an animal. I think? I mean Orochimaru-sama has toyed with me a bit, I could be part something. Wolf? Maybe a cat? I knew this one cat that hates everyone but for some reason loves me, that could be why."
"How about a bitch!" Leiko shouts from her spot a long distance from me.
"Nah I don't think so. I would have bonded with the Inuzuka more if I was part dog." I scratch my chin. Or rather I scratch my mask but where my chin would be. "You've always been pretty bitchy, maybe you have some dog in you!"
"That is IT! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!" Leiko does something new, something we've never seen before. She makes hand seals. Well this should be interesting, I might have to dodge. "EARTH RELEASE: BONDS!"
"Kinky!" I shout out as two rather thin pillars of earth rise up and trap my hands in them. They then pull my arms taunt, I'm like a T. My feet aren't left alone either, earth surrounded them too. "Oh my Kami if you pull out a whip this will be the best day ever!"
"What is wrong with you?" Sasuke mutters from his spot on the sidelines. "You need serious help."
"Leiko, I'll have you know that my safe word is... uh..." Crap I need a safe word! What's the first thing that comes to mind? What's something I hate a lot? Something that pisses me off since I want to piss her off even more. "Muffins!"
"HAHAHA!" A boisterous laugh echos across the field. "He said Muffins! Muffins! Oh man that is just too good!"
"Remain quiet you fool. I want to see this and you're distracting me." A deep gruff voice cuts off the cackles of the first one.
"Wait no not muffins! Anything but muffins!" I frantically shout. I will not be having that! No thank you! "Apples! It's apples! I totally meant apples!"
"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP!" Leiko roars in fury as she starts to stomp over to me. She thinks I'm actually caught, how unfortunate.
"Wait! Wait! Hold on!" I panic for a moment. Terror fills my voice and I halfheartedly struggle in my bonds.
Leiko actually pauses at my sudden flip. "What? Finally come to your senses and want to surrender?"
I take a shaky breath. "I need to get into my submissive role. Hold on." Leiko's eyebrow starts furiously twitching. "Okay I'm ready! Tell me to shut up again!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
I smirk at her, but she can't see it. What a shame. "Yes Mistress."
"GAH!" She resumes stomping over to me.
"Aw, does that mean you don't like being the boss? That's okay, I can switch roles with you. I promise to be gentle. Okay, no I don't. I promise to make it hurt. It's so much more fun that way!"
"You're like thirteen! You don't know what you're talking about!" Leiko points at me accusingly.
"Well I mean sure I don't know how to wield a whip correctly but I know exactly how to use candle wax." I let a dreamy expression take over my entire body. "It burns so good!"
"Okay, fuck this. I'm done with you." She's finally an arms length away from me. In fact she's even holding a kunai to my neck. "Surrender."
"Nope!" I happily say, as if I don't have a deadly weapon only a scarf's thickness from my neck. "I don't feel like it."
"Then I'm going to kill you."
"THHBBBBBBBBBT!" I blow a raspberry at her.
Fury overtakes all thought in Leiko. I've finally pushed her over the edge. Honestly I'm surprised it took this long. She was already a bundle of frayed nerves before we even stepped out onto the field.
"WILL!"
She drops her kunai and instead pull out the tanto that I have strapped to my right calf.
"YOU!"
She swings it at my neck, cutting about a third of the way through. Blood pours out of the wound, staining my nice coat and conveniently hiding the black of the Jiongu.
"SHUT!"
She yanks the blade out and swings again, cutting another third of the way through.
"THE!"
Another swing completely severs my head.
"FUCK!"
My head rolls off my shoulders and thuds against the ground.
"UP!"
She rears back her leg and viciously punts me across the field. I'm a good twenty meters away from my body, that was one hell of a kick.
"Finally!" Pure bliss forms in her eyes. "She's quiet. Finally. Oh this is so nice."
The crowd is stunned. No one is even daring to breath, they simply can't comprehend Leiko's actions. Her murderous actions.
"Wow Leiko, I like a touch of pain as much as the next person but isn't this a little extreme? I might be a little bit of a masochist at this point – totally blaming my sensei for that one – but damn! Even I draw the line somewhere!"
"HOW IS SHE STILL ALIVE!?" Leiko shouts in equal parts anger and terror.
"I make sure to eat plenty of vegetables." I say despite not having lungs at the moment. I wonder how that's working? Eh, I'll chalk it up to the Jiongu. Speaking of the Jiongu, "Okay, now here we go! Let's see if this works!"
I clear my throat and blood spurts out of my neck. Both halves of my neck, the one on my body and the one on my head. That felt weird.
"Body! I command you to come fetch me! Rise, heed my words and come serve your master!"
My body which has four hearts in it, with the fifth being in my head to let me talk like this, is basically a Jiongu monster. But it's limited to my body's size and shape, it shouldn't have a problem doing exactly what I want.
With the ease of tearing through paper my body breaks out of the earthy bonds.
"WHAT?" Leiko yells while jumping away from it. "You could have broken out the entire time?"
"Yes?" I weakly offer. "It's just I had such high hopes for-"
"If you mention a whip or candles I will stab you right now." Sasuke says from the sidelines. "I don't care if we're from the same village. I will stab you."
"Well shit. That's exactly what I was going to say. Ruin all my fun why don't you." I turn my eyes to my body, it should have been here by now.
"What the hell are you doing?" It's walking around with it's arms held in front of it, almost like a person who has been tossed in a pitch black room feeling their way around. "I'm over here you idiot! NO! Not that way! No that's a rock! Don't put that on our neck! We have no idea where that's been!"
"What the fuck does Otogakure do to it's shinobi?" Someone from the stands asks, but due to the quiet nature of the crowd it's heard by everyone. Honestly it didn't need to be said, everyone was already thinking it.
"No! No! That's Red! Don't go towards him! We don't want his ugly mug on our beautiful body! I'm over here you dumbass! Follow the sound of my voice! It's not that hard – oh wait I have the ears. It can't hear me. Shit. Uh... Leiko darling? Could you be a doll and punt me over to my body?"
SMACK
"Thank you!" I shout as I fly through the air and smack into my body. "Ouch! There now just pick me up and oh thank Kami I'm back in one piece again! Man I really need to stop losing my head! Okay that was bad even by my standards. Just ignore that one."
I turn to face Leiko who is very very very green in the face. Oh so that's why she was quiet for a bit.
"So you've had your fun at my expense. I gave you three chances to try and defeat me. The cloud, the kunai, and the beheading." I drop the playful attitude and don something more sinister. "Now it's my turn to play with you."
"Summoning Jutsu!" I slam my hand to the ground. Shirokumo poofs in inside of a cloud of smoke. "Shirokumo, my most loyal minion! Today we do glorious battle together! Behold, our opponent stands before us. But we will not run away in fear, we will not run in terror! No, we will face her down and we will win! Today this battle will go down in history! We will be remembered until the end of time itself! Those who look back on this day will shake in terror and know our wrath!"
"What the hell kind of drugs are you on kid?" Shirokumo asks me, being 100% serious.
"... None." I droop my head in shame. "I'm just so BORED! I thought the exams would be a challenge but the only people here that can beat me are Red and Gaara but I don't even get to fight one of them and the other is just going to beat me in like five seconds flat! So sorry if I'm trying to have a little fun before my utter and humiliating defeat!"
"No not that you imbecile!" Shirokumo scurries up my body to rest on my head. There's a few screams from the crowd at his actions. Funny, they didn't scream when I was decapitated. "You didn't summon my partner! Bring me Arachne and all those who stand against us will know unsurpassed fear! Muahahaha!"
"They both aren't taking this seriously at all." Sasuke groans to himself. "Not even a little bit."
"With pleasure!" I fly through the required hand seals and slam my hand to the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!"
POOF
The largest smoke cloud I've ever seen associated with my summons appears before me. One brown hairy spiders leg steps out of the cloud. "Summoner, you called?"
The rest of Arachne is soon to follow. Her large brown spindly body, the rest of her hairy legs and her vibrant yellow markings all make themselves known.
"Yes." I rise up to my full height. "Today we go to glorious battle-"
"I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER!" Leiko shouts instantly after laying eyes on the horse sized spider. "I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER!" She's repeating it like a mantra, like it will save her from Arachne. "I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER!"
"Holy crap girl we get it." Shirokumo says with an unamused tone. "I don't know whether to be glad or pissed she didn't have that reaction to me."
"And another stunning victory goes to Arachne, Mother of the Spiders! And the crowd goes wild!" I shout.
Silence follows my crazed declaration.
I turn to the crowd. "I said. And the crowd goes wild."
One person immediately rises to their feet. He's clapping and cheering like a madman, and well he is one. Hidan is losing his shit over my performance and next to him Kakuzu looks highly amused.
Then the sound of another clapping is heard, Kakashi is joining in. He even has a little eye smile going for me an everything.
Just like a domino effect the rest of the crowd joins in. Out of fear or social conditioning I don't really know. Or care, applause is applause.
"I didn't expect that to work." I say to my summons. "Well, wonderful job as usual you two."
"I try." Shirokumo says from atop my head.
"I... didn't do anything though?" Arachne says uncertainly."Is this normal for the Human Realm?"
"Pretty much. I'll fill you in more back at the Nest." Shirokumo says and poofs off my head.
"Summoner, you need to visit sometime. It's nice to see you." Arachne follows soon after.
"Well then!" I clap my hands and turn to the viewing Kages. "I think I just won the Chunin Exams-"
SHINK
My head separates from my shoulders and Sasuke grabs me by the hair. "Oh fuck me that's right you're still here."
"I am." I can feel the grin under his mask. "Surrender or I throw you into a lake."
"Why is it always water used to punish me? You people need to get more creative." I grumble. "Yeah yeah just put me back first. I know this song and dance."
He plonks me back onto my body.
I heave out a heavy sigh, "Proctor, due to not wanting my severed head to end up in a large body of water I surrender."
"Then... Red wins... the Chunin Exams?" Eito brokenly says. "Did that shit just fucking happen or am I crazy?"
Half a Hour Later, Orochimaru's Hotel
"Alvarcus I think you're insane." Sasuke instantly says the second the door swings shut behind us.
"Hm? What do you mean?" I ask in confusion.
"The whole thing! What the hell was all of that?" He rounds on me.
"Oh you mean the whole 'I might have a domination and submission fetish' thing?"
"Yes!" He throws his hands up in exasperation. "That!"
"Well I admit I may haven taken it a little too far-"
"A little?!"
"-but it worked out brilliantly! Did you see Leiko's face at the end of it? Oh man that was great! Ah, good times."
"How do you even think of things like that? Where do those crazy ideas come from?"
I grin happily. "Sasuke, are you sure you want the answer to that question? Because I would happily tell you all that I know. Fair warning, there are some really freaky things bouncing around in my head, and this is coming from the guy who weaponized a tentacle monster. You of all people know what I do and say, just imagine the things I decide to filter out."
"Forget I said anything." Sasuke rushes to say while taking a half step back. "Nope. Don't want to know. No thank you. I like my sanity."
"Please, I'm not actually insane." I scoff to him.
"Oh really?" A distinctively snake like voice says from deeper into the hotel. "Because I just watched you let someone cut off your head. If that's not insanity then what is?"
How about making a jutsu specifically to move your soul to another's body and take over it forcibly just to prolong your life so you have more time to learn every jutsu known to mankind? Or perverting your own soul so much that you're incapable of using nature chakra, something that should be inherently accessible to everyone? Or sealing away small portions of your soul into others? Or sacrificing a fetus just to see what will happen?
I could go on, I really could but I don't feel like writing a novel.
"I'm totally blaming you for some of that." I accuse Orochimaru. "I mean come on! One of the major parts of my training has been learning to ignore pain. I swear that I'm becoming a masochist. Besides, it isn't like I'll let that happen in a real fight. I just really wanted to piss Leiko off, to show her that even her best can't beat me and that I view her as such an insignificant threat that I didn't once take her seriously."
"Yet never once have you let me remove your head." Orochimaru raises a good point.
"Well no shit. I can't afford to not be serious when we train or I'll lose more than a head. Our skill levels are leagues apart, just like how Leiko's and mine are. But with her I'm the superior one. It's kind of like how you toyed with us in the Forest of Death, the gaps in power are so big that you could let us throw our best at you without a care in the world."
"I suppose you have a logical argument there and I do admit it was interesting to watch her break. I don't think she'll ever be the same after the past few days." Orochimaru smiles to himself. "Although I wonder where you learned about whips and candles. Care to explain?"
Knock Knock
Oh thank Kami, whoever just knocked has my eternal gratitude. I don't know how I'd explain that to Orochimaru nor do I ever want to.
"What is it with people and seeking me out?" Orochimaru grumbles as he rises up from his chair. I may say grumble, but in reality it's fury. He's pissed that there is someone who has the sheer gall to approach him like this again. "I will have to teach this one a lesson. Make an example out of him. Yes, I think I will."
Orochimaru opens the door to reveal the one few people he can't do that to.
Of all the people it could have been, it's the Kusakage himself. "Otokage-sama, I came to congratulate Red-san. I meant to at the field but he managed to sneak away before I could. May I come in?"
Orochimaru narrows his eyes as he graciously steps back and waves in the other Kage. "Of course."
The door silently closes behind the pair of Kage. This is a very unique situation.
"Red-san, congratulations on your victory in the Chunin Exams!" The Kusakage merrily says to Sasuke as he sits down in one of the chairs. Orochimaru takes the other and Sasuke and I are on the couch. "Now, this pains me to so casually toss aside your impressive achievement, but it was not the true purpose I have for seeking out an audience with the Otokage."
If this is about the damn Byakugan again I think I'm going to freak out.
"I can offer you more than what my ANBU did."
Fuck me sideways. Why can't Kusa just leave the Byakugan alone?!
Orochimaru sighs. "Fine. I will hear you out, then refuse. Or we could save ourselves time and just skip right to the refusal."
The Kusakage ignores the obvious jab at him. "I am willing to let you have both of the eyes."
"Oh?" That piqued Orochimaru's interest, even if it's just a little bit. "Both of them? That is more, but I feel like there's a catch."
"Yes." The Kusakage leans forward, placing both his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together. "We will keep the Hyuuga for breeding purposes. Of course we will let you extract samples from her, blood and tissue and such, but the necessary parts for reproducing the Byakugan are to remain intact and untouched."
"Some of my sample gathering techniques are quite... how should I put this... invasive. They could end up killing her." Orochimaru seriously says.
"Then those would be barred also. I need her intact to strengthen Kusa." The Kusakage dismisses those right off the bat. "I'll even offer you the first child."
What is wrong with these men? How can they so casually speak of these horrors? Kidnapping? Rape? Forced childbearing? Bartering children of all things? This is insanity!
The Kusakage continues, "You can even choose the father." He turns his eyes to me. "It's a shame that you can use her. Imagine a Byakugan wielder with her regenerative bloodline. Simply outstanding, what a shinobi they would be. Where in all of the Elemental Nations did you find such a unique kunoichi?"
Orochimaru's head whips towards me and his eyes widen a fraction. "Midori, do you think it is possible that you could-"
"No." I lividly force out. My voice is harsh and gravelly, the smooth carefree tone of Midori is gone. It's replaced with the voice I had when I slaughtered Tayuya's killers. Deep. Gravelly. Harsh. It brokers no argument, the words spoken are final. It sounds like Kakuzu. "I will not. And you better be talking about me getting the eyes for myself. I may kill for you. I may torture for you. I may help with your experiments and test. I will not cross that line for you. I don't care what the punishment is, I am keeping that last shred of humanity."
Orochimaru is having none of that. He's excited at the idea of testing something new, his hands don't remain still, he smiles to himself while flying through a hundred calculations in his head. He's playing out scenarios of me getting a pair of Byakugan. "But it is possible, yes? You could take and use the Byakugan?"
"It doesn't matter if it's possible. There's only one pair of eyes I want." My gravelly voice answers the question and Sasuke coolly turns to me. "Not the Byakugan. Not the Sharingan. No, I will only settle for the Rinnegan."
Silence falls over the four of us. Sasuke and the Kusakage are openly staring at me as if I'm crazy. But Orochimaru, the only person here to see the Rinnegan in person, is calculating. He's thinking of hundreds, thousands, of situations that I could end up with the Legendary Eyes of the Sage of the Six Paths. All of them feature three key people. Me, the person he knows as Pain, and Orochimaru himself. After all, why wouldn't he want to be there to see his child triumph over someone even he can't defeat?
"Of course." Orochimaru smiles with pride. He's definitely approving of my ambitions at the very least. I'm just glad they're overshadowing my refusal of his request about the Byakugan. "Only the best for my child."
"Your child?" The Kusakage says in shock. He rounds on me with a new analyzing eye. "Could it be? Is that why you have her hide so much of her body? You don't want anyone to know that she's yours?"
"We're not father and child in the traditional sense." Orochimaru distractedly explains. "But do go on, I feel like you have more to offer me. Even though it is tempting, it is not worth the risks involved. Yet I feel, I know, that you still have cards left to play. So play them."
"Of course." The Kusakage forces his eyes off of me to look at Orochimaru. It's an impressive feat considering all of the things he's just learned. "I offer an unofficial alliance between our villages. Unfortunately, Otogakure has gotten a bad reputation. One that we can't afford to publicly be seen allying with. What I offer is simple, we will leave you alone and will not accost any Oto shinobi in the Land of Grass if you do the same for us."
"Hm." Orochimaru pauses in thought for a moment. "I will have to refuse again."
A subtle killing intent floods the room. It's not coming from me. Nor is it coming from Sasuke. Or even Orochimaru. It's flowing off of the Kusakage. Someone doesn't like to be told no.
"Explain." The Kusakage demands.
I release my own killing intent, not enough to actually be called impressive, but enough to match the Kusakage's. Neither of us are truly exerting ourselves and I have no doubt that in an actual fight he'd beat me. He's a Kage, of course he'd wipe the floor with me. But there is someone here who can defeat him as easy as walking, someone who views me as their child.
"You will refer to Orochimaru-sama with respect at all times or this meeting will end." I threaten the Kusakage. "He let you take up his precious time, time that he was using to speak with Red and me. So not only are you wasting his time, you're also wasting mine, and Red's, and your own. Accept it or don't, but Orochimaru-sama's decision is final. And it was final yesterday."
"You let your gennin speak so freely in front of Kages?" The Kusakage spits out. The friendly attitude of before is gone, now he's throwing a temper tantrum because he didn't get what he wants. "I was impressed by her performance before but now I'm disappointed that she's so untrained."
"You overstep your place Kusakage." Orochimaru's killing intent joins in the mix, and out does both of ours by several times over. "Every father values the words of their child, I am no exception. Besides, how can you expect a child to idly stand by as their father is insulted before them?" Orochimaru's killing intent vanishes without a trace, and with it mine and the Kusakage's. "But I will explain, not because you demanded it, but because I don't want to be bothered about this again."
Orochimaru turns to Sasuke and me and says three simple words. But those words will cause untold and unpredictable consequences.
"Remove your masks."
Sasuke and I don't move for a tense three seconds. Then slowly, very slowly, I bring my hands up to my dark green mask. The one thing keeping my identity hidden, one of the only reasons that no one here knows who I am. I take off my mask, revealing Midori's face to the other three people gathered.
Sasuke is soon to follow, but he doesn't have a disguise in tact. Orochimaru wants to reveal Sasuke to the Kusakage, it's the only thing I can think of. Why else would he tell us to take off our masks? But why is he doing this? What purpose does this serve?
Once Sasuke's crimson mask is taken off his face, there is an audible gasp from the Kusakage. "The Last Uchiha? You brought the Last Uchiha to the Chunin Exams? Are you insane? Did you not know how many Konoha shinobi would be here?"
"Alvarcus," The Kusakage gasps at Orochimaru's words. Because he knows that if Red is Sasuke Uchiha, then Orochimaru has to be referring to the other person on the couch. "drop the henge."
I do as requested and let Midori fade.
"The Heart Thief." The Kusakage whispers as he stares openly into my black threaded eyes. "You're the Hearth Thief. That's why you can do all of those things. The beating from the Konoha shinobi, dismantling the Jiongu like child's play, using multiple elements, and Leiko's beheading."
"So now you see why I don't want to confront the Konoha shinobi." Orochimaru pins the other Kage in a deadly gaze. "It isn't because I don't want the Byakugan, it isn't that I'm afraid I'll lose against Tsunade, it's that I've already won. I have the two best shinobi from Konoha's youngest generation. Both of them came to be taught by me, they sought me out themselves."
"You offer me the Byakugan?" Orochimaru points at Sasuke. "He already has better. You offer me a child? I already have my own, and he's leagues better than that child would be. You offer an unofficial alliance? We're shinobi, if we want to go somewhere then we will regardless of whether we have permission or not. I have no need of your useless offerings."
"Assist me or I will tell the Hokage the true identities of 'Red and Midori.'" The Kusakage threatens.
"Oh go right ahead." Orochimaru smiles. "Please do, it's been so long since I've leveled a village. Do you think that Tsunade and company would idly sit by? No, she'd march them right up to our door and kick the building over. Then you have a battle between Sannin happening in the middle of your village, and I will make sure that we use our more destructive techniques. Did you know that Manda demands sacrifices as a condition for being summoned? I'm sure I could find plenty here for him."
Orochimaru gestures towards Sasuke and me. "Not to mention both of them. Do you think they will just roll over and wait to be taken back to Konoha, the place they've left and forsaken for me? No, they'll join the fight. Of course you have jonin that are capable of taking them down eventually, but how many are you willing to sacrifice for that? While fighting withing the village your shinobi will be hindered by not wanting to cause collateral damage while mine will run wild. Sasuke will use his superior speed and grace to protect Alvarcus as my child goes about leveling buildings by the dozens."
"You won't be able to try and play type advantage against them. Not only does Alvarcus have access to all five elements he's a genius at using each one of them. Both are above exceptional at dispelling genjutsu, so that will not even slow them down. So you'll send in your stealth fighters in an attempt to remove them, but Sasuke is better than them. He'll see them from a kilometer away and then cut them in half or trap them in genjutsu of his own that makes them turn on their allies. Alone you could have a chance of one of your elite teams removing them quickly, but together they cover the other's weaknesses. So that means the only way to beat them is to overwhelm them with numbers, and they will most certainly take as many with them as possible."
"So tell me Kusakage, do you really think it is wise to threaten me?"
"You all will be gone from my village by tomorrow morning." The Kusakage stands up and swiftly moves to the door. "If any of you leave this hotel room before tomorrow morning I will take it as an act of hostility and you will be dealt with accordingly."
"Agreed. In return you will keep the identities of Red and Midori a secret for one month, after that I don't care what happens." Orochimaru allows. "I do not want to waste any more time in this dreadful place. It's full of rude and self entitled brats."
The Kusakage twitches at the insult. "I hope to never see you again."
"Believe me, the feeling is mutual." Orochimaru calls after the Kusakage as he shuts the door.
"You sure that was a good idea?" I ask Orochimaru. "Kinda was under the impression that our faces were supposed to remain unknown."
"He wouldn't shut up otherwise." Orochimaru sends a glare at the door. "Besides, this way both of you will be attributed with your achievements during the Chunin Exams. Also this will incorporate part of an idea you had, Alvarcus."
"Really? Which one?" Sasuke asks.
"The one where I reveal that two of Konoha's most promising shinobi came to me." Orochimaru grins. "If the Kusakage waits at least two days -even if I did demand a month wait- we will be long gone from here. Then the world will know what happened here, that two shinobi pulled off such a stunt before three Kages none the less! I don't think anything like this has ever happened before!"
"Huh. Another thing to add to my resume then. Honestly it's getting a bit ridiculous." I mutter to myself. Then I look up at the two others in the room. "Well then, if you'll excuse me I have an errand to run."
I rise up from my spot and make my way over to a window.
"And where do you think you're going?" Orochimaru asks. He's not mad or angered that I'm risking bringing the fury of the Kusakage down on us but rather he's interested that I have an errand to run in a foreign village. Plus he's mildly impressed that I have the sheer gall to blatantly ignore the threat of a Kage.
My eyes turn frosty and my anger escapes me for a brief instant. I let a bit of killing intent manifest without meaning to and it does not go unnoticed. "There's something I need to burn."
"Oh. That. We never did do that this morning." Sasuke quietly says, drawing Orochimaru's eyes off of me. "Do you want me to come?"
"No." I bark out. "We'll stick out as a pair, this way I can get in then out."
"You'll stick out regardless if you go dressed as Midori." Orochimaru cuts in. "Change before you leave."
"You're... not going to ask what I'm doing? Or where I'm going? Or just why?" I'm surprised. I thought for sure he'd force me to stay until he knew exactly what was going on.
Orochimaru smiles at me. This isn't an evil grin of promised pain or torture, it isn't a sinister smirk of horrors yet to come, it's a caring smile. "I have no need for that. I trust you to stay out of trouble. You're not one to pointlessly seek out attention."
"Huh." I turn away from the window and move towards a bedroom. "Well I'll change in here then leave. I'll be back in an hour or so."
"Until then." Orochimaru bids me farewell.
"Try to not do anything outrageous, will you? We've had enough crazy out of you already." Sasuke dryly asks.
"I promise nothing." I step into the bedroom and shut the door behind me.
"Summoning Jutsu!" I place my hand on the ground and a small cloud of smoke overtakes the room.
"Summoner?" A scratchy voice asks.
"Murasakino, a pleasure as always." Hey, I need a change of clothes and all my stuff is at my hotel not Orochimaru's. What else was I supposed to do? "I have a challenge for you, I need a whole new outfit as soon as possible. One that is completely average, I want it to not stand out at all. I want everyone who sees it to dismiss me as unimportant."
"But... Why?" She whines. "We could make you clothes worthy of an Emperor, worthy of Kings! How about that? Yes, a nice purple. It is the color of royalty after all. Hmm, no it and you don't mix well. Perhaps a deep burgundy?"
"Murasakino, I'm going on a covert stealth mission with a time limit of the next hour. I can't look like royalty while trying to hide."
"... Fine. But next time you will let me make whatever I want for you."
"Within reason." I allow. "So how long will it take? Thirty minutes?"
"If I get all the Weavers involved it'll take about ten." She says with a straight face. Or as straight as a face a spider can have.
"Wow. That is crazy fast. Well don't let me hold you up here, I am on a time crunch."
"Of course, of course. Summon me back in ten minutes, something this simple will be easy to make."
Twenty Minutes Later, Alvarcus's and Sasuke's Hotel Room
"Next time I'm making sure she brings back a shirt with long sleeves." I grumble to myself as I step into my hotel room. "Well, I suppose it kind of worked out. People focused so much on my arms that they didn't bother to look at my face."
Murasakino brought me a simple pair of black civilian pants and a brown t-shirt. It is the epitome of bland and is exactly what I asked for. Except it exposed my scarred arms to the world.
"Hope tou-san doesn't care that I used his face. I'm sure he wouldn't. It's not like he can yell at me if he did. Wow, you're just a bucket full of sunshine right now Alvarcus." I turn my steely gaze onto the two hammocks in the room, more specifically the one that's the farthest away from the door. "Anyways, now for business."
It's the one that reminds me of Tayuya.
It's there that I truly let my guard down around her. That damn hammock is a symbol of me letting myself get played. It's a symbol of my defeat. I did the one thing I knew I should never do, I let an attachment form. I let her get close to me. I should have known that Orochimaru was behind it.
I didn't even see it. It completely blindsided me.
It makes me wonder what else he'll try. He killed my family and Sakura to obtain me. He ordered Tayuya to seduce me to keep me. What's next? What will he think of? How will he attempt to pin me down, to cement my loyalty to him further? Even now he knows that my presence here hangs solely on Sasuke being at Otogakure so he has to be thinking of some absurd and insane plan to make me want to stay once Sasuke's gone.
"Never again." I lash out with a fire whip and cleave the hammock in two. Each half is slowly being consumed by flames. "Right now, right here I vow to never fall for his games again. I have no friends in Sound. I have no allies. Only enemies are there, I'm hiding in a den of wolves."
Half of the hammock is up in flames.
"But I am not a meek sheep. I will not lie down and wait for my defeat to come. I will better myself, I will stand equally with Orochimaru and laugh as he's the one who lies broken and defeated at my feet."
The hammock is fully consumed and the flame fades into nothing without a fuel source to keep it sustained.
"Goodbye Tayuya. I thank you for the harsh lesson in life and I want you to know that I will not be making that mistake again."