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."
...
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