At a Cafe, With the Konoha Gennin
All sitting at the biggest table the cafe has to offer is not only the gennin that made it into the finals, but every single gennin that was sent to the exams. Kiba and Akamaru, Hinata, Shino, Choji, Ino, Neji, Lee, and Tenten.
They're all talking animatedly, just having a good time in general. Then Tenten says something that brings everyone's talking to an abrupt halt.
"So Lee, how'd things work out with Green?"
A strange choking noise comes from Ino, she inhaled some of her drink. "Sorry, sorry. Don't mind me!"
Lee's whole body sags in defeat. "She doesn't like me back!" He whines loudly. "My beautiful orchid doesn't like me!"
Ino stifles a laugh, forcing it down to just a quiet snicker.
"Dude I'm still surprised she's a she!" Kiba cuts in and Akamaru woofs in agreement with his master. "And I can totally see why Lee likes her. She's hot."
Hinata and Tenten look at Kiba in shock. He did just call their enemy attractive.
"Hehehe." Ino let's out a quiet chuckle, but her face is turning red from the pressure of keeping quiet.
"Shino, Choji, Neji! Back me up on this. You're three cool guys, you can admit that much right?"
"She is aesthetically pleasing." Shino takes a small sip from his glass. "That does not mean anything though. She is still an opponent at the least, and enemy at the worst."
"HA!" One sharp squeak of laughter escapes from Ino drawing everyone's attention. "Sorry? I uh... remembered a good joke. Forget I said anything."
"Choji?" Kiba asks, eager to hear his fellow male's opinion.
Choji shrugs. "Sure she's cute. A little too pale though, that can't be healthy."
A high pitch whine cuts through the air. Ino's suppressing her laughter again.
"Are you okay Ino?" Hinata asks out of concern for her friend. She's acting very strange all of a sudden. She's not even trying to insert herself into the conversation, usually Ino would be criticizing Green about something, like saying her hair is too long or she needs to take better care of her skin.
"Yeah!" She says with slightly watery eyes. "Yeah I'm fine! My head is just elsewhere."
"Oookay." Kiba awkwardly says. "So Neji, what do you think about her?"
"I will refrain from answering." Neji diplomatically says.
"Aw come on man!" Kiba isn't taking that as an answer. "I bet you got the best view in the house!"
"WHAT?!" Neji shouts. "NO! I would never abuse the Byakugan like that!"
"It's okay, we understand. Sometimes it's too tempting to resist." Kiba calmly says. Then a lecherous grins forms on his face. "So, what is she working with? That coat hides a lot. Come on! Spill it!"
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Ino finally breaks down letting out a hearty belly laugh.
"What's her problem?" Kiba barks out.
...
The Night After the First Round of the Tournament
There are two people sitting in a luxurious room. Said room is well furnished and has expensive furniture, all in all it would be considered a very nice hotel room for a pair of individuals on vacation. But the two people sitting across from each other are not on vacation, nor do they look remotely happy. Each of them is showing their displeasure in their own way.
The blonde woman is consuming a lethal amount of alcohol. Around her on the table are numerous empty bottles of various liquors, both expensive and poor. Despite the impressive feat of drinking it all alone, she doesn't look the slightest bit drunk or even tipsy. At this point it's almost like the action of drinking is her coping mechanism rather than drinking itself.
The other person is still, almost unnaturally still. Only his silver hair is moving, swaying gently on the breeze. He's hunched over with his elbows placed on his knees and his fingers are laced together before him. His one eye, the only visible part on his face, is locked onto the blonde drinker.
Tsunade finally takes a break from drinking as if the world is coming to an end. "Kakashi, what would you do in my place?"
"Keep Hinata under constant guard. Have Kurenai with her at all times at the minimum." He quickly barks out.
"Not that." Tsunade sighs. "Kusa probably won't make a bold move against her now, especially since I didn't let them keep the poison in her system. They should know that I know they tried that. I mean about Orochimaru."
"I don't know." He honestly replies after a moment of consideration. "On one hand, we're obligated to at least attempt to kill Orochimaru."
"Yet on the other we have to consider Alvarcus's position." Tsunade takes a swig of a dark brown liquid. "He's still ours, he's still on our side."
"The world doesn't know that." Kakashi cuts in. "The only thing that they know is that Orochimaru is parading around in front of us."
"We can't let him walk away. We have to do something." Tsunade comes to the grim conclusion.
"Yes." Kakashi reluctantly agrees. "It's one thing to let gennin go, but Orochimaru himself? We have to react. We have to strongly react to his presence here."
"Or else the rest of the world will see us as weak and timid. They'll think we're still licking our wounds from the invasion." Tsunade finishes her bottle and grabs another.
"Correct." Kakashi curtly confirms Tsunade's idea.
"In other words, we need to send the best we have available to kill him." Tsunade downs half the bottle in one go and grimaces at the taste. Even she doesn't like some types of alcohol. "And whoever he is with."
"Who will most likely be Alvarcus and Sasuke, along with anyone else he brought with him." Kakashi sums up. "And the best we have here is you, me, Gai, Kurenai and Asuma."
"And it could very well take all five of us to bring him down." Tsunade take a large swallow of her latest bottle and winces again at the taste. "I'm the only one who can stand on equal ground with him. Gai could if he opened enough Gates but that's a double edged sword. He'd have to open at least six, maybe even seven to win. But if he has that many Gates open..."
"His attacks become so destructive that he would harm his allies along with his foes." Kakashi finishes. "Orochimaru isn't above using that against us."
"That means all five of us have to work together to take down Orochimaru." Tsunade downs the rest of her vile drink to move onto the next. "Leaving everyone else he's traveling with for the gennin to defeat."
"Alvarcus, Sasuke and the Sound Four. Orochimaru's bodyguards." Kakashi grimly says. "They wouldn't even know that they're attacking their friends."
"That's not even the worst of it." Tsunade rubs her forehead, trying to alleviate the stress she feels. "The textbook way to do this is to ambush them and kill as many as we can as quickly as we can to reduce their numbers as efficiently as possible."
"We'd have to order our gennin to use lethal force unknowingly against their friends." Kakashi sums up.
"Yes." Tsunade starts rubbing her temples in another failed attempt to reduce her stress levels. "I don't want to give that order."
"You might have to."
...
Near Konoha, Location Unknown
"Danzo-sama." Says a kneeling shinobi. "I came to report."
"Good." The bandage clad older man says. "And where are their heads? I specifically asked for each of them."
The kneeling shinobi doesn't flinch at the harsh tone his superior used with him. He's been trained better than that. "The assassination unit has been defeated."
A great deal of displeasure overtakes Danzo's face. "How... surprising. How many are in the hospital? Who has the most severe wounds?"
"None, Danzo-sama." The kneeling shinobi feels a deep pressure settle on his shoulders. Danzo is disappointed in their performance.
"I sent twelve able bodied men and women to take out two deserters." Danzo levels a cold glare at his subordinate. "Two gennin level missing nin. You're telling me that they ran away from twelve of my shinobi?"
"No Danzo-sama. The targets didn't run away from the assassination team. They killed them all." The shinobi's words quiet the room, not even the sound of breathing can be heard.
"Tell me how it happened." Danzo finally breaks the tense silence. He may be livid that his team failed and got themselves killed but he planned around that possibility. That's why he sent this specific shinobi to only observe. "Next time will be different."
...
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