Re: Akimichi

A day after the Konoha was attacked.

-Hiruzen POV-

"Care to repeat that?"

"I want to either that Nara or Akimichi kid to be in my Root! I can shape them into the perfect weapon for the village!"

I was in my office, in front of me was my best friend, brother, and comrade -Shimura Danzo-. He was demanding that Nara Shikamaru or Akimichi Chouji be in his organization, the Root. I disappointedly looking at him, I was in no hurry to berate him, so I inhale my tobacco pipe and blow a puff of smoke to the side. 'So the thing that I feared really happened, huh...'

"Okay..." Danzo's eyes started to glow when he heard my first word. "...Why should I give them to you?"

"As I said-" Danzo was eager to explain his plan to mold them into a loyal soldier for 'Konoha'. Though I cut him mid-sentence with a raise of a hand.

"Let me ask you this, my friend. Do you think that I'm stupid?" I put my pipe on the table and look straight at him in his eyes. "Well, do you?"

"Of course not, I-"

"Then do you think that I'm senile?" Again, I cut him mid-sentence. I was getting tired of his tirade.

"Do you really think that I don't know what you did? How you tried to assassinate me? How you take the cousin of Uchiha Fugaku? How about Yamanaka Fu? Aburame Torune? And about how you assigned Aburame Yoji to spy on Uchiha Itachi in the past to pull him into your Root?" I look at my friend in his eyes with my eyes sharpen for each question that I threw at him.

"...I know you, my friend..." I flickered behind him while leaving an after-image where I seated before. "...better than you know."

*Woosh*

A tanto slashed abruptly from my hand and sliced Danzo's right arm from his shoulder and my Kunai stabbed his right eyes. Though he was able to parry the Kunai. Both his body and his sliced arms started to fade, as he appeared behind my back already in slashing motion.

So this is [Izanagi], huh...

Immediately, I bent my body forward to dodge the incoming slash. Then I spring my body back throwing a round-house kick onto his c.h.e.s.t. Danzo was thrashed and collided with the wall before woods sprouted on the wall and restrained him. Yamato then came out of the wall with two Shurikens on his hand each that he used to cut the vein in Danzo's neck.

My hand blurred forming several hand-seals to summon my partner, "[Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Enma]"

Danzo's figure blurred as he appeared in front of the window to escape, unfortunately for him, this room was already sealed by the joint effort of several seal master from Anbu. Enma grabbed Danzo's head with his large hand and tossed him to my direction, which I responded with a blast of fire bullet in dragon shape. "[Katon: Karyu Endan]!"

Danzo's figure was once again blurred as he appeared beside Yamato, with his hand almost reached Yamato's neck to snap it. Unfortunately for him, I already predicted his move and signaled Enma beforehand to guard Yamato. In the small space of this room with no gap to escape, his hope was only to kill his way starting from the weakest link. Enma's hand was stretched and crushed Danzo's two wrists in a single hand grip.

This time, I tried to kill him slowly by trapped him inside the water prison technique. This way, with his little number of attempts left, he can enjoy his death more.

"I'm sorry, old friend. I've had enough, and Konoha had enough of you..."

Thus, the fight continues...

---

-Third POV-

Outside of the room, Kakashi and his old Anbu squad member stood guard. Hyuga Ko, one of the Anbu that once in Kakashi 'Inu' squad, was in his full alert with his Byakugan constantly active.

As soon as Shikamaru and Chouji showed their overwhelming talent, Hiruzen already made some precautions. And when Danzo visited him, he immediately took the extreme measure all that was because of he already tired of his old friend's action in the dark.

Kakashi sighed as he knew that from this point onward, Konoha will start to change. And the third Hokage was ready to point the fifth in case something really happens to him. Though he got a feeling regardless of the thing happened, the third would still choose his successor.

'Perhaps it was Jiraiya-sama? maybe the other sennin, Tsunade Hime-sama?'

---

-Third POV-

A few days after the Orochimaru attacked Konoha, team ten were gathered inside the VIP room of the Akmichi restaurant. They were having a feast to celebrate the promotion of Shikamaru and Chouji into the Chunin rank, the two of them plus Shino were the only participants that declared to be worthy enough to become a Chunin. Though instead of upset, Ino too was happy for them.

"Although it irked me that Sasuke countered me perfectly with his skill-set, it gave me a wake-up call, especially the event after that. I need to be more m.a.t.u.r.e, calm. and learn more things to be able to become a chunin."

They then asked her about what happened when she was away yesterday, she told them about the event. About how she ended up inside a rocky cave, her encounter with the snake, and how a horde of monkey suddenly pulled her from the water she was in.

"I thought they were going to hurt me, so I attacked them and was able to hurt a few of them. Though it was only later when Enma-sama arrived with an ethereal looking white snake that he explained my circ.u.mstance.

"I was still skeptical at that time, it's only when Enma-sama showed the image of the two of you separately when you're defending the village that I was able to trust him a bit. Though... the white snake said that I was supposed to be a sacrifice, but she can overlook that if I was able to pass her test. Otherwise, I have to present her another life as an exchange."

Thus, Ino told them about the test she took, about how she plunged inside a Genjutsu world full of various extreme weather. And about how she was fending thousands of snakes with various sizes, from her finger-size to the size of giant tree bark.

She was at a disadvantage at first, but as time passed, she was able to adapt. Though, her stamina and chakra were limited, so she tried a gamble. She attempted to control the smaller snake that she already defeated first, then slowly as she stretched her mind she controlled more snake and was able to defeat all of them. Though she too was on the verge of death, fortunately, that was all inside the genjutsu world.

Both Chouji and Shikamaru marveled at her story, the did not doubt her, since there's no reason for her to lie to them. Plus, she bites her thumb afterward and summoned a small snake on the size of her index finger.

Apparently, she passed some kind of test from the said white snake and was offered to be the contractor of the snake tribe. She was offered several benefits with the exchange of a few things.

"She said I passed one of the three tests, and if I passed them all, I'll be granted with an audience with the Hakuja Sennin. The benefit that they offered was I can make a contract with any snakes that I chose if I passed their test, though I have to feed them chakra from time to time, so I can't take as many as I can. And I can receive any teaching of the snakes to learn their abilities. The white snake warned me that some snakes demand a sacrificial, some demand beast meat, and some demand human."

*Ding*

The door was opened and Asuma could be seen slowly walked into the room, he greeted them all and they continued their talk. Ino also retelling her story to her sensei, asking for his opinion.

"Well, that's good. The place you visited is called the Ryuchi Cave, it is one of the big three unexplored sage regions, a legendary place that is equally famous as the other two, Mount Myōboku which housed the toad tribe that leads by the toad sage and the Shikkotsu Forest which housed the slug -Katsuyu-, and a few more beast tribes with an unknown sage as their leader."

Asuma then explained that though the three places were the only known sage land, that does not mean that there was no other sage land. He told them that he had a contract with the monkey tribe, though they did not have a sage, they're the most diverse one with the least requirement being the fighting as the test to sign a contract with them.

As his old man told him, Asuma explained that originally only those willing to sacrifice anything in their greed for power come to Ryūchi Cave, while many travelers may venture close to it unknowingly, the snakes of Ryūchi Cave take precautions so that only those who are deliberately trying to visit it can arrive at it. So, it was her luck that Ino was able to arrive at Ryuchi cave and gained their recognition.

"She already had her summon, so I won't give her an option to chose more. Besides, she still had those pigs, though at this point they're more like a pet instead of a summoned animal..." Asuma sighed, she then looked at Chouji then Shikamaru. "As for you, pineapple head, I recommend either snake from Ryuchi cave or spider from Shikkotsu forest, they aligned with your style. Ino can help you with asking for the contract with Ryuchi Cave, and I can help you with make contact with the Shikotsu forest."

Asuma picked a piece of steak from the table and ate it, he then spoke to Chouji, "As for you, from your style I recommend either the monkey, toad, or elephant. I can help you if you choose the monkey, and I can ask either my old man or Jiraiya-sama for the toad, but we'll have to either ask Danzo-sama for the elephant or visit them near the rock forest at the border of earth country and waterfall country."

Both Chouji and Shikamaru fell silent and lost in thought, they're thinking things through.

"Troublesome..." Shikamaru mumbled as he sighed.

"There's no need to rush, we still have plenty of time. And though you two already become a Chunin, you should keep your training. Ino, you should also prepare yourself for the next exam."

"Yes, Asuma-sensei!" Ino answered while Chouji and Shikamaru still in deep thought. They then continued to chat while having their meals, they chatted for more than an hour before a messenger bird came and perched on Asuma's shoulder.

Asuma took a small roll of paper on the bird's leg and read it, he then burns it to ashes as he grinned teasingly. "Shikamaru, you're summoned by my old man. It seems that you got his interest..." He took a moment to think and smiled. "I will ruin the surprise, he wants to invite you into the ANBU."

"Huh?!" The last line took Shikamaru and Chouji out of their thought.

---

Meanwhile,

*Pant* *Pant* *Pant*

'Finally, I was able to escape, that damn Jiraiya was really persistent...'

On the border between earth and fire country, Orochimaru could be seen resting between protruding rocks that hide him from any plain sight. His pale face was painted with his own blood around the edge of his mouth.

*Cough*

'That damn foolish pervert!' Orochimaru was clutching his side, behind his clothes, his ribs were fractured and a few of his internal organ was crushed. Though Jiraiya also did not fare much better, he was brought into the Mount Myoboku by his summon while he?

Although their prowess relatively the same, when in his partial-sage mode, Jiraiya was stronger than him by quite a margin. That's one of the reasons why he researched natural energy.

"Kukukuku..." Orochimaru laughed, his contracted summon -Manda-, will not help him with this circ.u.mstance. Heck, if Manda knew that he was in this state, Orochimaru was sure that Manda would gladly send him to the afterlife.

His hand glowed as he used the mystical palm technique to tend his wounded body, 'It seems that I have to change my body as soon as possible, and it would not be possible to get that Akimichi boy in the near future... So it's either Sasuke or Kimimaro...'

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