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."
...
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