"Good job, acting so quickly." Jiraiya commented as he moved to stand in front of Tsunade and his student.
Kabuto performed a reverse somersault toward his master, landing right beside him. Neither person said anything as they watched their opponents try to get themselves together. Orochimaru's eyes stayed trained on Naruto before they gazed in Jiraiya's direction. He smirked when he saw Tsunade still on the ground, suffering from her hemophobia. Now if they could just get the other three out the way, they would be well on their way with the woman.
"Thanks, Shizune!" Naruto said as he managed to stand and wiped dry blood from his eyes.
Shizune looked at Kabuto and saw that the wound in his hand was still bleeding. His breaths were heavy and his skin looked a little pale. When she saw him take out a round pill, she lightly gasped. 'That's....' she thought to herself as Naruto turned to look at the man as well.
"A Plasma Pill!" Shizune said with narrowed eyes.
"A Plasma Pill?" he asked more to himself. While he was fairly knowledgeable in the basics of iryōjutsu, he couldn't say he knew the deeper details of it. The Mystic Palm Technique was as much as he knew besides a little bit of dokujutsu and use of senbon.
Jiraiya vaguely smiled as he watched Kabuto eat the plasma pill. 'So he's trying to replenish lost blood, huh.' he thought to himself.
"That kid is a medical ninja same as me." Shizune said.
"The blood is gushing out nicely, eh, Kabuto?" Orochimaru commented with his usual evil smile as he stared at his two teammates and their students.
"Lord Orochimaru...." Kabuto said with a smile. "Please take off the bandage of your left arm."
Orochimaru did what he was told, revealing an arm that belong to someone or something else. Naruto looked disgusted at this. This man was all types of crazy, but in an interesting way. Kurama made a comment about him being a weirdo which caused Naruto to roll his eyes. He couldn't help that he wasn't one to discount people's ideas and actions despite of how odd or off it seemed. He even paid detailed attention to people he didn't like and considered their ideas. Sometimes you can learn just as much from your enemies as you do your allies. That was lesson #105 from Kuzai and his time in the ANBU.
"That man is Orochimaru....." Naruto spoke with gritted teeth.
"At last, the real thing appears." Jiraiya commented before looking back at Tsunade. She was still shaking and out of it. "Shizune!"
"Y-Yes!" Shizune answered at his call.
"You take care of the guy with the spectacles!" he ordered, earning a nod from Shizune before turning to face his former teammate. "I'll take care of Orochimaru!"
Orochimaru grinned at this while Kabuto adjusted his glasses. He had to admit that he was curious about the attendant. He knew she was skilled and he wondered how he would fair against her. It wasn't often that he got to speak with and spar with fellow medical nin. In an odd way, he was happy about the experience. Most importantly, he had the opportunity to prove himself to his master and he was determined not to fail him.
"Before that, I'd like to have Tsunade do something about this body." Jiraiya stated.
"The effects of that drug might still last for awhile." Shizune replied. "There's nothing that I can do about it."
"Eh?! What? Really?" he said as he looked at Shizune with large white eyes, before he turned to look at Orochimaru. "Geez. I guess it can't be helped. I have no choice but to fight in this condition."
"Tsunade..." Jiraiya called out over his shoulder. "Rest your body with Recovery Ninjutsu."
"Then, what about me?" Naruto said as he looked at his sensei with determined and hopeful eyes.
"You guard Tsunade together with that pig." Jiraiya said.
"What?! I want to fight, too. Even I can-" Naruto started.
"No, you won't!" Jiraiya snapped. "Like that bespectacled kid said it, right? You're on a different level."
'And who's fault is that?' Naruto thought as he forced himself not to scowl at this man.
"The opponent is a Sannin like myself, and the man who almost killed the Third Hokage." Jiraiya stated as he narrowed his eyes at Orochimaru. "An eye for an eye. I'm the only one who can fight him. And that bespectacled guy possesses the same level of power as Kakashi."
"Okay." Naruto said as he brought his fingers together to form a cross. "Then Kage Bush-"
"Hold it!" Jiraiya interrupted. "Don't use the Kage Bushin no Jutsu. It'd be utterly pointless."
"What?" Naruto said as he turned to his master.
"It wouldn't even become much of a diversion." Jiraiya stated. "It'd be a waste of chakra with them as opponents."
"Now then...." Jiraiya announced to his opponents. "Let's get this thing started!"
Jiraiya bit his thumb while Kabuto drew blood from his wound. He lifted Orochimaru's sleeve and swiped his blood over the snake tattoo before making his own hand with blood. Both Jiraiya and Kabuto began to run through hand seals before slamming their hands onto the ground.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" they yelled simultaneously.
A large cloud of smoke covered the area of both sides, creating a screen of fog. When the smoke died down, two giant snakes stood before them with Kabuto and Orochimaru standing on the the taller head. When everyone looked down at Jiraiya's summon, they sweat-dropped.
"Hi." the small orange toad greeted.
"Huh?!" Naruto said.
"What is this?!" Jiraiya exclaimed. "What the heck's going on?!"
"Long time no see." the toad replied, glancing at Naruto.
Shizune furrowed her eyebrows as her gaze returned to the medical nin standing on top of the snake. 'On account of the drug, Master Jiraiya still can't build up chakra very well.' she thought. From his perch on the snake, Orochimaru chuckled ominously as he watched Jiraiya and his student fumble through their words. Beside them, Kabuto was taking a knee, trying to take it easy for a minute and prepare to do what is required of him.
"It looks like your stupid wound still hasn't healed, eh, Jiraiya." Orochimaru spoke. "That's too much even for you with no ability. It seems Tsunade got you with something."
Kabuto adjusted his glasses before he stood. "A sacrifice was necessary for that jutsu, so perhaps she was thinking ahead and drugged him with something that would contain his power." he commented.
"To think she'd make a sacrifice of Jiraiya...." Orochimaru replied. "Well, it sounds just like Tsunade."
Jiraiya sucked his teeth as he looked up at his former teammate. 'Che, to think I'd already have my handicap spotted.' he thought to himself. Naruto didn't say anything as he observed what was going on around. He turned his head when he felt a light weight on his shoulder. It was that little orange frog from earlier.
"Gamakichi." Naruto whispered to him.
"Yo, Naruto." Gamakichi whispered back. "Pops is still waiting on you."
"Tell him cut me some slack." Naruto said. "I'll reverse summon myself when the time is right."
He heard the little toad lightly sigh at this. "Just don't keep him waiting too long, will ya?" he replied.
Naruto slightly nodded as the Toad hopped back on the ground, landing next to Jiraiya. Fortunately, the toad sage was too busy paying attention to what his teammate was saying rather than the blond genin. Naruto eased himself near Tsunade who was still lost in her own fear. Part of him felt bad for her. He had seen shinobi with certain phobias and seeing them in action was not cute. And he thought PTSD was bad.
"You are such a disgraceful guy as always." Orochimaru said.
Seeing the current situation, Naruto sighed and took a step away from Tsunade. He honestly hated when people talked when they were supposed to be fighting. Not only do you give your opponent a chance to critically analyze you, but you give them the time to think and counter. It was one of the first things he learn the ANBU. Shinobi in the Black Ops didn't talk. They fought until someone was dead as it should be. How Jiraiya got drugged by Tsunade, he had no idea but it was pathetic. To think he allowed her to pull a fast one on him.
He bit his thumb and he began to speedily run through a set of hand seals. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" he yelled, catching everyone's attention.
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes as a large toad appeared in the clearing. "I wonder if I should've killed him then, after all." he stated as Kabuto stared at the toad summon before them. "For the sake of the Akatsuki organization, I acknowledged to his achievement and let him slide by. But the only ones who can break a Five-Pronged Spell are the Sannin members and the Third Hokage."
"Which means Jiraiya may have already taught it to Naruto." Kabuto said.
"Perhaps." Orochimaru responded with a hint of curiosity in his eyes which made Kabuto raise an eyebrow.
'What am I missing?' he thought as he looked at the orange wearing kid that was standing on top of the large toad summon.
"What the-" Gamabunta started before he looked up on top of his head to see who it was. "Oh, it's you again. What do you want, brat?"
A tick mark formed on his head as he stomped on his head. "Oi, now is not the time for that!" he said before pointing to Orochimaru. "You see that creepy Snake guy over there? Pervy Sage needs help fighting him and those giant lizards!"
"Oy! What did I tell you about calling me that?!" Jiraiya yelled up at him with a tick mark on his head.
Naruto looked down at the Sannin in mild annoyance. "What are you even doing down there, Pervy Sage?! Aren't you supposed be up here fighting this freak?!" he yelled back.
Jiraiya's eye twitched. 'Is this little brat being smug with me?' he thought as he glared up at the boy. Naruto whispered something to Gamabunta and toad rolled his eyes but nodded his head in understand. Just as Gamabunta was about to help Jiraiya onto his head, Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and quickly turned to Kabuto who was looking at him as well.
Kabuto nodded before he hopped off the snake's head. "Here I go!" he stated as he landed on the head of the second snake.
"I'll take Jiraiya!" Orochimaru called out as they began to make their move. "I leave the rest to you." he said as Kabuto nodded his head in understanding.
Orochimaru smirked he sped toward Jiraiya. Not having enough time to prepare, Gamabunta had to jump away to avoid the large snakes strike, leaving the rest on their own. Naruto narrowed his eyes as the two snake summons crashed into the ground where everyone else was standing. He looked down at Gamabunta who was looking down at the clearing from his flight in the air as well.
"Be prepared, Gamabunta." He said. "I'm going down."
Gamabunta nodded as he set his landing distance a few good meters from the battle site. He needed to be ready to help Jiraiya when he was ready. As he began his descent, Naruto jumped off his head and landed on the ground before running towards the cloud of debris and high jonin-level speeds, causing Gamabunta to raise an invisible eyebrow. He was going to need to talk to the boy fast and see what this was all about.
Why he hasn't reversed summoned himself yet, he did not know. He had spoke to Ma and Pa about it and they wanted to meet the mysterious genin as well. He decided to patiently wait for the boy. The kid looked like he was involved in a lot shit.
"It's unfortunate." Kabuto said as he headed toward his targets. "Here I also wanted to fight Lord Jiraya, one of the Sannin." he commented as he crashed into the ground.
Shizune had managed to avoid the blow and jumped from rock to rock as she carried Tsunade. Out of nowhere, Kabuto appeared before her and punched in the face, sending her and Tsunade crashing into the ground. Just as Naruto arrived to the scene and was moving toward Kabuto, a large snake appeared out of the cloud of dust with his mouth open wide. 'Not again...' he thought as his jaws trapped him in his mouth and tried to swallow him.
"Naruto!" Jiraiya yelled as he watched his apprentice disappear into the snake's mouth.
"Your opponent is me." the rasp voice of his old teammate called as he moved toward him, riding the head of the snake.
Jiriaya quickly began to go through hand seals before landing on a tiger seal. "Dōton: Dark Swamp!" he yelled.
The ground beneath the snake summons began to soften and given in the weight of their bodies. The snakes sunk into the mud beneath them, throwing Orochimaru off balance much to his dismay. Jiraiya ended up landing on a different part of the snake.
"Dang it. I can't completely sink them with such a puny swamp." he said to himself in frustration. "The drug is still working."
He looked to his right and saw Orochimaru standing there with his back turned toward him. "But, with this, the snakes can't move. A large shadow suddenly overtook the sunlight. He and Orochimaru looked up and both of their eyes widened in shock at what they were seeing. Descending upon them, was a large toad with a large dosu blade in it's hand. When Jiraiya noticed where the blade was aimed for, the Sannin began to panic.
"Gamabunta, wait!" Jiraiya cried, but the toad didn't hear him.
Seeing how fast he was falling, Orochimaru and Jiraiya quickly tried to move out the wait, running out of the lake of mud. By the time they touched the solid ground, Gamabunta landed in a large crash, beheading the two large snakes as he did so. Jiraiya paled in horror at what he was seeing. 'NARUTO?!' he roared in his head as he fell to the ground, struggling to breathe. 'Damn you, Tsunade!' he yelled in frustration as he struggled to fight the drug he was given.
A good distance from them, were Kabuto and Shizune caught in the heat of battle. Shizune fired senbon at him from her wrist-mounted senbon launched. Kabuto smirked as he dodge them and began pulsing chakra into his hand to create a chakra scalpel. Shizune howled in pain as she was sent flying back with a strike to her chest, feeling a cut to one of her pulmonary muscles.
"Ninpō: Poison Fog!" she exclaimed as she exhaled purple mist from her mouth mid-flight.
Kabuto looked stumped by the large poison cloud coming toward him. 'I'll be up a creek if I take even one breath.' he thought, knowing he was going to have to think quick. Shizune was able to steady herself as her feet skidded across the surface of the ground. Her breaths were heavy as she stood in a defensive stance, watching the purple mist begin to settle down. Moments later, she gasped as she felt a sharp pain in her ankles.
Kabuto smirked as he wrapped his chakra imbued hands around her ankles, cutting into her peroneal muscles with his chakra scalpel. He then pulled her legs from under her, causing her to fall to her knees and grunt in pain.
"My leg tendons...!" she gasped as Kabuto released her ankles.
He stood with a smirk as he adjusted his glasses. He brushed the dust of earth that was on his clothes. Now that he had taken down the apprentice and the jinchuriki and Toad Sannin was indisposed, he could focus on his next objective. The Slug Sannin.
On the other side of the battle, Orochimaru was seething as his summons disappeared. The large toad eventually disappeared as well. He turned to Jiraiya who was standing to his feet, still trying to deal with the drug Tsunade had gave him. With a small growl, Orochimaru rushed toward him. Seeing this, Jiraiya began going to through another set of hand seals.
"Ninpō: Needle Jizo!" he yelled as as his hair turned into sharp needled spikes like a porcupine.
His hair them moved to cover him as Orochimaru's neck extended and his head moved to attack him. As Orochimaru moved to kick him, the white needles pierced through his foot before the hair moved to shake him off. Orchimaru then moved bite him, sinking his teeth into the man's neck as he breeched through his jutsu. 'Dang it...the jutsu isn't working well.' he thought with a wince as he felt the man's teeth pierce deeper into his skin.
"Even if we both have handicaps, you won't one-up me." Orochimaru said. "Give up now."
Jiraiya growled as he managed to throw Orochimaru off of him. He gripped the side of his neck as he fell onto his knees and groaned. Once Orochimaru was able to recollect himself, he looked at Jiraiya who was struggling to recover and chuckled. Here he was damn near running a fever and probably sick as a dog and beating Jiraiya who was only drugged as if he were in perfect shape. Jiraiya had always been a sad man to him. While he admired his courage and fighting spirit, he always lacked when it came to certain areas in his life. His failed attempt to win Tsunade's affections were just one of many.
His eyes traveled over to a familiar blob of orange that was a good bit of distance from them, lying beside a boulder all beaten up and dirty. He frowned at him. He couldn't figure the jinchuriki out for the life of him. Was what happened at the Chunin Exams a fluke? Was it just sheer dumb luck? Or was it something else? He sucked his teeth as his gaze returned to Jiraiya. He shook his head as he approached him.
"To think you who were once called the village madness would ferry around such a kid and struggle tirelessly for the village." he chuckled behind his curiosity. "You've really fallen, haven't you?"
"I have a keen eye to discern ability." Orochimaru stated with a pause as he looked back at the jinchuriki who was weakly moving around now. "And that kid is mediocrity in my eyes."
"It's precisely for this reason...." Jiraiya stared with a grin. "that I don't need the Uchiha kid. It's no fun raising a genius who's good from the start."
Orochimaru only chuckled at this. "So you can't leave him alone because it's like you're looking at your old self?" he said mirthfully. "That kid can't beat the Uchiha who inherited the inherent Sharingan shinobi skill. And that's because Naruto doesn't possess the Sharingan. Shinobi ability is about whether one can use and master all the jutsu of the world. Ninja refers to one who can use ninjutsu."
"Hmph" Jiraiya grunted out with a smirk of his own. "Shinobi ability is no such thing. You still don't get it, do you?"
"A Ninja is one who endures." he retorted.
"Hm. It's a difference of opinion, huh." Orochimaru said.
"I'll teach you one thing. What's most important for shinobi ability isn't the number of jutsu one possesses. What's important is the mentality to not give up." He said as Orochimaru narrowed his eyes.
As they challenged each others ideas, Kabuto looked down at this pathetic woman kneeling on the ground before him. To think that one of the Legendary Sannin would be this weak. He found it both mind-boggling and disgusting. He once respected this woman as a pioneer for medic nin. Her breakthroughs in the medical field and expansion of medical ninjutsu was ground-breaking work and her sheer skill was impeccable. To see such a great woman that he looked up to be reduced to a pitiful child at the sight of blood spoiled her very image.
His glasses reflected in the sunlight as he stared down at the woman who had taken a beating from him for 10 minutes straight without doing anything but screaming for him to get away. He couldn't even sympathize with her. With the same fist he had injured, he balled them up and prepared to deal another punch to her face to knock her out.
Just before his fist to make contact with her face, his punch was met by met. He looked down to see Naruto standing in front of her, looking directly at him. Blood fell from his hitai-ate due to the impact of Kabuto's fists striking his head. Tsunade's eyes widened at this. How he got there so fast, no one knew.
Naruto narrowed eyes as he stared at Kabuto, ignoring the blood dripping down his face. He had saw how he was beating on Tsunade and honestly found the sight sad and pathetic. The man was just having his way with her and the woman just sat there taking like someone's bitch. It was disgusting. Someone who is supposed to be a "legendary" Sannin was sitting her taking an ass whooping from a weakling like him. It made no goddam sense.
And the most pathetic sight was Kabuto. Anyone who fought someone who couldn't fight back was more pathetic than the weakling taking the beating. It was cowardice. True warriors fought their opponents when both parties were at full power and not holding back. It is what made the battle intense and challenging. Those that preyed on the weak were weak themselves and too afraid to face someone on their level or higher. They had no dignity or discipline for that matter. This silver haired punk was just like his master. A foolish prick.
As he stared into his dark eyes, his own eyes seemed to dim and they became cold, catching the jonin off-guard. Before Kabuto could respond, Naruto grabbed his wrist, twisting it as he applied pressure onto a certain point.
Kabuto gasped as he fell onto his knees, looking into Naruto's cold gaze with wide eyes. A perfect rasengan formed in Naruto's free hand and grew until it was a bit above average size. Next thing he knew, Kabuto was sent flying across the field as Naruto shoved the jutsu into his stomach. Blood fell from his mouth as he flew back and skidded across the landscape. Smoke escaped from his abdomen at the chakra burns he received from the jutsu.
Naruto quickly turned to Tsunade and walked toward her who was still staring at him wide eyed. The woman suddenly felt a sharp sting on her cheek, indicating at Naruto had just slapped her across her face. Before she could even respond, he grabbed her by the ruff of her coat and made her look him dead in the eyes.
"What are you doing?!" Naruto snapped. "You are a Sannin. Our future Hokage. And the one I am going to inherit that hat from. How dare you let this dummy beat you like an Academy student? Who are you?!" he spat.
He let go of her, allowing her to fall back onto the ground. He turned around to look at Kabuto who was struggling to get up. When the jonin did, he inspected the wound he got to the abdomen and growled before he turned to look at Naruto was staring at him with that same cold expression. 'What happened to him?' he thought with a groan as he held his stomach. 'His eyes....they aren't the same as they were before. And that jutsu....what was that?' He coughed, spitting out more blood as he stared at the blond.
Kabuto gritted his teeth. 'No....' he thought as he stared at him with narrowed eyes. 'I won't let you stand in my way. I don't know what jutsu you used or how you knew of the pressure point in my wrist, but.....I won't lose to you! And I will not fail Orochimaru-sama.' Sucking up his pain, Kabuto began to run toward the genin. He would show this ninja wannabe to know his place.
"Old Lady Tsunade?" Naruto called out to her with his back facing toward her. "I don't know about you, but I made a promise. Not only was it to win that necklace from you, but to show you that I have what it takes to be Hokage." he said before looking over his shoulder at her.
"Shizune told me what happened." he said, shocking her once more.
"And I'm here to tell you that I don't believe in fate. I make my own destiny and only I have control of my future. Past is gone. The only thing to look at is the present and where we are going toward the future. As long as I have my dream, what has happened and what is happening doesn't matter. If you choose to give up....." he paused before turning to the incoming jonin.
"So be it."