Chapter 20

Senju's Heir

~~Senju Compound~~

Sipping at her tea to rid the dryness in her mouth, Tsunade took in the view offered by one of the compound's gazebos with a sober smile. She could make out the oddly placed trees -Naruto-, the angry roots sticking out of the ground -Naruto-, and the vacant lots littered with gaping holes -definitely Naruto-.

It was no mystery as to why, then, that Naruto entered her mind at that precise moment, and all she could do was smile some more.

Noticing this, and as she sipped at her own tea, Shizune made a wry smile. "What are you thinking about, Tsunade-sama?" she asked knowing they knew she knew and therefore made the entire process pointless. "Are you perhaps reconsidering what Sarutobi-sama asked of you?"

"Pfft," Tsunade placed her teacup on its saucer rather angrily. "He wishes."

"Careful!" Shizune protested lightly, her hands gingerly checking Tsunade's teacup for dents. "Naruto gave these to you for your birthday, remember...? Speaking about birthdays, his is coming up, isn't it?

"It's exactly thirty-seven days from now," Tsunade offhandedly muttered. Recognizing her mistake, she turned back to Shizune to see her smirking. She blushed a little. "Wipe that damn smirk off your face or I swear Iruka will start getting love letters signed in your name!"

"Love letters?" Shizune giggled. "What are we to you, academy students?"

Tsunade huffed to reclaim some dignity. "To me? Yes, yes you are."

Shizune sighed, her fingers tinkering with the small napkin next to her tea. "You know..." she started warily. "Maybe you should reconsider Sarutobi-sama's offer..."

"Don't start with that, Shizune." Tsunade sipped some more tea, this time putting the cup over its saucer gently and with serious eyes. "It's not just Naruto what's keeping me from taking that offer. It's the fact that I proposed such a project in a time of war, and was totally ignored. That is what pisses me off."

"But that was then..." Shizune tried again, this time a bit more desperate. "Setting up a hospital with your name on it will concentrate the entire planet's medical focus on Konoha! We'll make huge advances in medical science, landmark advancements...! Not only that, but you'll be teaching and guiding new medics from around the globe! Even Sakura-chan might be lured into your tutelage!"

"Sakura, huh...?" she pouted. "To think that little brat refused me...!" Tsunade's eyebrows jumped in annoyance at the mere thought. "I could make her the best damn doctor this world has ever seen! And she has the gall to refuse me because she feels she's not worthy...! News flash, muffin: I wasn't born a genius Medic-Nin, either!"

Shziune chuckled her master's angry grumbling away. "Well, your intentions aren't exactly pure, either."

Tsunade closed her eyes and brushed her lips with the napkin next to her tea, her demeanor the definition of innocent and pure. "I know not what you speak of."

"The fact that you're denying it makes it more obvious~." Shizune singsonged. "It's clear you want to train her purely so Naruto-kun can have a skilled medic every time he goes out on missions."

"That is a nice bonus, aye," Tsunade confirmed with a sagely nod. "But there's more... I can feel this kid can do some real good for the world... Hell, she might be the one who finally surpasses me in Medical Ninjutsu."

Shizune smiled, her lips lined with skepticism. "Now you're just blowing smoke."

"No, I'm serious..." Tsunade tied her fingers together and rubbed the jewel over her forehead. "I feel as if... as if she's capable of more with the slug summons, more than I ever could... It's a weird feeling. I talked to Jiraiya about it, and he says he felt the exact same thing when it came to Minato and Sage Mode."

"Tsunade."

Both females turned to a whirlwind of leaves appearing right next to them. As leaves started sinking in both their teacups, they came to the conclusion that the Shushin had been hastily performed.

As the leaves cleared, Jiraiya appeared in the middle. He was sweating. As if he'd been moving at full speed. This settled trepidation into the pit of Tsunade's stomach.

Jiraiya eyed Tsunade warily, his fists tight and trembling. "It's Naruto," he finally said. "Orochimaru, that snake-loving bastard, he's..."

The porcelain loop on Tsunade's teacup fell right off, without anyone even coming close to touching it. It was a very grim sign.

Shizune, being a firm believer of bad omens in regards to her master's poor luck, cupped her mouth. "No..." She faced Tsunade and made a pitiful attempt to comfort the female Sannin. "M-maybe it came off because you treated it roughly just now... right...?"

Tsunade took in the image of said teacup, her head starting to feel a bit unattached with reality. The last time that had happened was when she was blissfully happy, like now, moments before she had received a letter that said of Minato's death. And even the tea set she had been using then was a gift from Minato.

It was Jiraiya's hand on her shoulder, his face firm, that snapped her back to reality. "Don't you dare even think it. We won't let him. But we have to go, now."

Tsunade rushed after Jiraiya the moment he had disappeared in another Shunshin.

~~Command Center~~

Tsunade had never seen such a busy-looking workplace, except in hospitals. Left and right, ninjas were shuffling through data, throwing stacks of maps, and shouting instructions to colleagues and leaders.

In the middle of all this chaos was Sarutobi Hiruzen, his commanding officers of the Anbu standing with him. They were around a rectangular, wooden table, a large map spilling from its edges due to its sheer size. On the map were small pieces likely representing Anbu units, and although there existed a number of them, the map was far too big to be shadowed in any way or form.

"Old man!" Tsunade roared, her cry drowned by the equally loud activity happening about. "Tell me what's the situation with Naruto!"

"Not now, Tsunade!" Sarutobi sought to communicate back. "If you want to help, try to stay out of the way until I have a fix on his whereabouts! We can start a thorough search then instead of the wild goose chase Orochimaru has us in!"

"You don't know where he is?!" Tsunade managed to get through. "I thought the whole damn forest was wired from corner to corner two days prior to the exam!"

"All of our equipment has become useless!" Sarutobi pointed at the spiraling messes the monitors around them were showing. "We were sabotaged! And that's just the gist of it! All communication signals are being intercepted by some form of encryption Jutsu we can't pinpoint the location of! Said signal is producing dummy signals and explosions our Sensor-Nin are mistaking for Orochimaru's location! Whoever did this, it had to be a spy who had been infiltrated for years in advance! There's no other explanation!"

"Sir!" An Anbu appeared next to Hiruzen. "Bravo's messenger has arrived and he says these two" -he pointed at two red dots on the map- "are fake! Nothing there besides the occasional giant creatures that inhabit it! Also, Bird's team is asking whether they should continue searching or head to their preassigned mission in Kumo!"

"Tell them to keep searching, obviously!" Sarutobi tapped the table repeatedly with his index. "We can't go on like this..."

Tsunade growled as Sarutobi dismissed her once more. "Just tell me where was the last location Naruto was spotted in! I'll go there and check it out myself!"

"It's pointless!" Sarutobi argued, his eyes fixed on the map despite answering Tsunade's question. "We've searched there and beyond! Even I've gone to try and catch something we may have missed! All I found were remnants of tweaked Uzumaki seals! I don't know where Orochimaru gathered such knowledge, but he's using it against us! Just wait until we figure something out!"

Tsunade clutched her hands into fists. "Would you just tell me where he was last-!"

"Boar!" Hiruzen interrupted, his voice high and commanding.

An Anbu with a boar mask stood before the man, his back straightened. "Sir!"

"You are to search here!" Sarutobi pointed at another area in the map. "Go there, investigate the area, and come back immediately! This is the last spot we saw Team Ten before the signal was jammed! We have reason to believe they are with Team Seven! Go!"

"Sir!"

"Hiruzen!" Tsunade howled, her desperation altering the sound of her voice. She received no sign that Sarutobi had heard her. She bit her lips hard enough to turn them the color of Naruto's eyes. 'Naruto... If something happens to you...'

Jiraiya's patience reached its limit.

The entire room fell silent the moment Jiraiya's chakra had made its presence known. He stood next to Tsunade, his large frame fiercely reminding those who knew just who this man was: Naruto's grandfather.

Everyone froze, even the Anbu who had just been ordered to leave. Only the breathing of the people in the room could be heard, and even they were careful to make any movement that could attract the Sannin's attention.

"Jiraiya..." Sarutobi narrowed his age-withered eyes. "What are you-?"

"Answer her," Jiraiya interrupted, though his interruption came on purpose. "Where was Naruto last seen?"

"You can't be serious," came the Sandaime's retort. "Even if I did tell you, what we're doing is following Orochimaru's plan!" Staring at his student for another minute, he sighed seeing Jiraiya's expression unchanged. "Has Anko reported any sightings of suspicious activity within the forest?"

"None," the Anbu commander in the animal mask said. "Sir, the forest of death has a radius of ten kilometers. Even if we combed the entire twenty kilometer perimeter with the units available, it might be too late. Maybe, and if Master Jiraiya is willing, with Senjutsu... he can pinpoint his location without being interfered by the signals being emitted..."

"It's a possibility," Jiraiya nodded. "But I need Naruto's last known location just in case distance is a factor. You never know in a plan made by Orochimaru."

Tsunade stared at Jiraiya, her jaw hanging from her mouth. "Jiraiya... You..."

Jiraiya turned to Tsunade, his flamboyant personality returning just so he could grin back at her. "What? Am I not allowed to blow a fuse if Naruto's safety is at stake?"

Tsunade smiled, her eyes warm and thankful. "You really don't know where to draw the line, do you...?" As she snickered seeing his grin growing, she turned back to Sarutobi with hardened determination. "So, what's it gonna be, old man?"

Sarutobi sighed as he pulled his pipe from his robes. "Very well... Look here, both of you. This is where Naruto's team was last seen." He gestured with his pipe on an orange spot on the map. "That was a few hours ago. I truly hope you have better luck than I did..."

~~Forest of Death~~

Kabuto hummed a merry tune as he finished setting yet another set of explosive charges.

Getting up from his spot on the ground, he turned to a mold of dozens of cables and rerouted their connection to each other, short-circuiting their signals.

Kabuto watched them squirm, until a plume of white smoke blew past him and ceased altogether. He allowed himself a triumphant smile. "That should add ten more seconds to their endless search..."

Not until they pinpoint every single one he did prior to the one he just finished will they fix their trashed system.

He made sure to rebury the wires just as soon as he was finished, just so they wouldn't appear to have been tampered with. Rising to his feet, he shot a shuriken straight at a camera hidden in a group of flowers, merely to spite whoever was unfortunate enough to fix it.

'Nearly two days,' he chuckled to himself, lowering his arm. 'But I'm finally finished with Orochimaru-sama's instructions. A greater challenge he has never given me. I had to go all out just to buy him some time with Naruto-kun. Undisturbed time, to be fair. Somehow, though, I doubt everything will go exactly as planned... You never know with ancient, not to mention tampered Uzumaki seals.'

Kabuto squatted and placed a tag engraved with markings over the ground. "This will add a few more seconds... Relative to the Anbu's response time, anyways..."

"Kabuto."

Misumi Tsurugi, his supposedly Genin-level teammate with clear glasses, and Yoroi Akadō, another with dark glasses, appeared next to him as he finished planting the seal underground.

Kabuto stood back up and clapped his hands clean of filth. "So?" He inquired, his face smiling but his aura indicating he expected good news.

Tsurugi turned to Yoroi and exchanged a momentary glance of confusion. "The deed is done. We've both finished doing our part in our side of the forest. Konoha should be disoriented beyond repair for at least one more hour or so."

"Good..." Kabuto walked past them, and stopped just one step short of their backs. "And the scroll in case things are stretched longer than anticipated...?"

This time Yoroi was the one turning to Tsurugi, though the latter seemed to be staring at something else. "I have both scrolls with me. The Genin I encountered was barely able to put up a fight. I disposed of the body, as instructed. It seems we miscalculated the interference of Uzumaki Naruto's previous classmates, however. They've ended up fighting alongside him against Orochimaru-sama."

"Ohhh...?" Kabuto merely responded, aware that there was a chance that would occur long before the plan commenced. "What of our little Sound team? Are they in position to retrieve the body should it prove necessary?"

Tsurugi cleared his throat, an effort to try and fight the feeling of danger his gut was trying to warn him of. "I have instructed them to be ready to move in just as soon as things go wrong..."

Kabuto clapped once, and did no more. He stood there, his back to his teammates and vice versa, their wariness starting to surface in the form of twiddling fingers. "Very good... Now, what of the scapegoat to take all the blame...?"

Tsurugi swallowed, his eyes locking with Yoroi's through his sunglasses. "S-scapegoat...? We weren't..."

"Oh," Kabuto quipped. "That's right. You two weren't told, were you? We need to shift the blame so I can walk right out of Konoha... Kimimaro-kun's condition has become a bit unstable, you see... Any volunteers...?"

The moment both Tsurugi and Yoroi made an attempt to draw a kunai, was the moment Kabuto was forced to act as well. Two chakra scalpels humming and glowing took their place around his hands. Before either of his teammates could reach their pouches, Kabuto was already on his way to their necks.

Pure chakra cleaving through flesh was heard throughout the small clearing.

Kabuto stared at his bloodied scalpels, zero emotion in his eyes. He turned to the decapitated forms of his now diseased teammates, and still remained emotionless, void of all humanity. It was as if he were staring at nothing more than hunks of flesh and bone, not living, breathing people.

"They say it gets easier with time," Kabuto muttered, his scalpels disappearing and his hands adjusting the collar over his shirt. "Why, then... do my hands sweat every time I do it...?" He pushed his glasses over the bridge of his nose, a bead of sweat traveling down the side of his face. "I doubt Nonō-san would've liked me using the chakra scalpels she gave me... for this..."

All is for Orochimaru-sama, he told himself. Like he had been for years now.

Sasuke watched in awe as Naruto's Jutsu, a Jutsu larger in scale than anything he had ever seen before, towered over them and growled like the mythical creature it represented. It shadowed every single one of them under a dark tint, the only things reflecting light being his Sharingan and Naruto's eyes.

Sharingan...

Sasuke bit his lips, until the skin was bleeding red. He stared at Naruto's monstrous Jutsu, then at the reflection of the kunai in his hand. Two tomoes could be seen on each retina, none more spectacular than the last. Why, he wondered? Why was Naruto advancing his bloodline at a rate far superior to his?

'He's a more skilled ninja than you are...' His ego said back.

Seeing Sakura on her knees next to him, a victim to Naruto's overwhelming pressure, Sasuke's Sharingan began to glow a stronger red.

Naruto stared at Orochimaru's challenging eyes, his expression clear of emotion. He brought forward a single half-tiger seal. "Go."

The dragon growled as it moved at a speed unbecoming of its size. It reached Orochimaru, jaws wide, its eyes folding to portray its anger. It bit down exactly where Orochimaru was standing, destroying the root and pulverizing its remains within its mouth.

Naruto jumped and stuck to his dragon's head, right over its eyes. He swished through tiger and hare before caressing the dragon's head. It murmured back in response, seemingly understanding the latter's orders. Naruto held on as the wooden serpent tied its long body around different trees, careful to keep its balance.

Seeing Orochimaru standing two trees away, Naruto spread his arms to gain control of the leaves around him.

Orochimaru watched on as the creature rampaged about, a sneer growing as it came closer and closer. "No sense of restraint in this one, I see... This might end up alerting Konoha of our location..." He bit his thumb and ran through several hand-seals. "Summoning Jutsu."

Naruto held the dragon back once smoke enveloped Orochimaru's location. He frowned as his wooden dragon growled to share their combined displeasure. The dragon whipped its head back, as if feeling defiant of Naruto's control.

"Stop..." Naruto snarled, his chakra having to strengthen his connection with the advanced Jutsu.

"Like pets, Jutsus needs to be kept under control, Naruto-kun..." Orochimaru snickered as the smoke cleared, revealing a large and fearsome-looking snake under him. He gently petted the brown and black scales, command present in his eyes. "Your grandfather could manipulate dozens at a time, so I'm a bit disappointed seeing you struggle with one... You have some large shoes to fill, I'm afraid."

"True," Naruto slapped his hands in prayer, his scarf rising behind his hair. "But unlike me, he didn't start using Jutsus as advanced as these until his twenties."

Orochimaru's smile fell a little. "Right again... I'm surprised you know that. They don't teach that in the Academy's curriculum."

"My grandmother homeschooled me." Naruto ordered his dragon to rush, and it did. Its teeth pierced the serpent's back, dragging a hiss of pain from the creature.

As the dragon began to wrap around the snake's equally long body, Orochimaru cocked his right arm, his left running across Naruto's Jutsu to get a feel of its durability. Without warning, his right fist collided with the dragon's body. Shrapnel of wood flew in every direction, and a crack ran down its abdomen, leaving it no choice but to release Orochimaru's snake.

"You truly are powerful for someone your age," Orochimaru admitted, his snake glaring furiously at the dragon across from it. "But I can't shake the feeling that you're a lot more composed now. More in control,