Chapter 31: 31
/
Pulling himself from the memories of a clone, Naruto smiled thinly. He picked a thick blade of grass from the floor in front of him and pressed it together between his palms. Tongue playing about his sharpened right incisor, he channeled his chakra to his hands. He breathed in, finding himself in the space between seconds at a crossroads that was becoming familiar.
A thought superheated the chakra in his palms and Naruto withheld a wince. A single wisp of black smoke snaked its way out between his fingers, and as he pulled his palms apart, ash fell to the floor. "Not bad for two days' work."
"What's next, boss?" a clone asked, having stepped forward. Naruto peered around his doppelganger to the thirty others lounging about the training room in varying states of focus.
"Dispel yourselves one by one over the next few hours, no more than two per hour. In the meantime, let's explore this one." He made a full ram seal and cast his left arm sideways. A brief burning sensation stung his extended bicep and the sensation of scales sliding rapidly across his skin sent a momentary shiver down his spine. Six snakes slithered out from his billowy sleeve, hissing impotently without anything to attack. Each was a dark, mustard yellow with inconsistent, inky rings around its body. "Gotta get it down to at least a half ram."
"Got it."
"Good work on the katon transformation," Naruto congratulated himself. The clone tossed him a bemused smirk before turning back to its compatriots, relaying the orders verbally.
The original stood and stretched, running a clawed hand through his ever-growing hair. A trickle of the Kyuubi's chakra dripped into his system, effectively holding at bay the after-effects of Kabuto's latest 'treatment.' The madman was far less smug following Naruto's return from the Ryuuchi Cave, but it didn't stop the pain.
Give it time, he told himself. Much as he hated to admit it, the torture was yielding results. Combined with a strictly regulated diet that he mostly cooked himself, he'd shot up several inches in the seven months and change he'd been at the base. His shoulders had broadened noticeably and he was beginning to notice actual muscle lining his limbs.
"Kabuto-kun's techniques will expedite the natural process your body would perform, my friend. Unfortunately, considering Konoha's neglect, much of that will be spent molding your body into what it should already be," Orochimaru had explained to him once.
Exiting the training hall, Naruto strode purposefully down the long hallway. October tenth had passed unremarkably during his return from the Ryuuchi Cave with Orochimaru. For all the change he'd gone through, from Wave Country to the Crush to his kidnapping, the future was still uncertain. At fourteen, he didn't have a much better idea of what he was doing than he had a year ago.
You're getting stronger, he told himself. It was above and beyond the incremental progress he'd seen when he'd first become a genin, with noticeable upticks in his strength, speed, and the number of ninjutsu he knew. The mountain seemed just as insurmountable.
Pausing, Naruto took a slow, steady breath in. He felt his heartrate slowly ever-so-slightly. "Calm down, Naruto," he whispered. Even with the Kyuubi's chakra in his system, panic at thoughts of the future still crept in from time to time. Remember your meditation.
Through self-awareness comes self-control. Through self-control comes strength.
Moving forward once more, he clenched his fist, a part of him relishing the bite of his claws into the soft flesh of his palm. It, much like anger, helped focus his mind on the here and now, rather than the nebulous future awaiting him outside the base. You're getting stronger, he repeated.
Mind going in circles, he turned left and slid open the familiar door to the library. Lit by the same lanterns that lined the hallway, most of the expansive room was shrouded in shadow. He could only make out half a dozen shelves, each packed to the brim with meticulously organized scrolls. Everything from jutsu theory to world history to actual ninjutsu instructions were housed, many written in Orochimaru's neat script.
He turned left, taking a lantern off a small side table and lighting it with a match. It did little to banish the dark as he made his way past the first shelves and into the expansive ninjutsu section. He passed the first four shelves which contained non-elemental techniques and stopped at the fifth. A kanji depicting 'katon' was etched into the wood.
Light shone from the middle of the two shelves that contained Orochimaru's knowledge of katon techniques. Sasuke stood, lantern in one hand, open scroll in the other, his Sharingan visible even in the low light.
"Bastard," Naruto grunted.
Crimson eyes rose lazily to regard him. "I didn't know you were back."
"Last night." That Orochimaru didn't bother checking in on Sasuke was a tad surprising considering the lengths he'd gone to convince the Uchiha to his side.
"Where'd he take you?"
"The Ryuuchi Cave. Ancestral home of the Hebi clan."
A slim eyebrow quirked. "It took you a month to sign a summoning contract? Slow even by your standards, dobe."
"It was a bit more complicated than that," Naruto murmured. He stood next to the renegade Uchiha and peered down at the scroll in his hand. 'Katon: Gooryuuka no Jutsu' was written at the top.
"Signing the contact took me less than a minute."
Naruto sighed. "If you have a question, just ask it, teme."
"What was the point?"
The blond blinked. "Ryuuchi Cave? To become an ally to the clan…"
Sasuke's brow furrowed. "No need to speak in riddles to make yourself sound smart. If you don't want me to know, I don't care that much."
Wait… "You didn't go?"
Sharingan eyes narrowed. "Of course not. Why else would I be asking you about it? Orochimaru just summoned a black snake and told me to sign the contract."
He hadn't questioned Sasuke's name on the contract when he'd had time to think about it on the way back. For all he'd known, Orochimaru had taken Sasuke when he'd still be in 'captivity.' Or at any other time when he'd been far more concerned with Kimimaro than anything else. He hadn't seen much of the Uchiha at all in those first six months.
Naruto had already known they were being trained differently, but he hadn't realized just how much.
"I had to pass two tests. One was a genjutsu. The other was Manda." He smirked at the memory of the grand summon's ultimately impotent rage.
Both of Sasuke's eyebrows were raised. "Hn. You must be better than I thought if you could survive him."
"Do you mean to be offensive every time you open your mouth?"
"If you weren't so easy to find fault with this wouldn't be a problem."
Naruto just rolled his eyes and shouldered passed him. Gratified, he noticed they were of a height and he was broader. "Why d'you think he didn't take you?" he asked, beginning to comb through the kanji written at the base of each scroll.
"Hn, who knows. But if all you did was get tossed around by some snakes, I'm glad I didn't waste my time."
"Again, bit more complicated. You ever hear of senjutsu?"
"No." The single syllable was sharper than any before, and Naruto knew he had Sasuke's attention.
"Apparently some lost art the snakes know about. Didn't get the chance to get into it much." No thanks to Orochimaru. Regardless of the Sannin's personal failure and what that more than likely meant for him, he still didn't appreciate the decision being taken out of his hands.
"Is it powerful?"
"Of course, all of nature would be present to fight your battles, as well."
"Think so, yeah. Orochimaru thought it would kill me to try, but I'll go back for it one day."
"Hn. I'll come with you," Sasuke declared. "If Orochimaru is wary of it, it must be worth knowing."
Naruto quirked a brow. "What makes you think I'll bring you along, bastard?"
"Call it returning the favor."
Feeling his hackles rising, the blond asked, "When was the last time you did me a favor?"
"You're here aren't you?"
Naruto whirled on him. "I'm here 'cause I tried to stop you from coming here. Don't get it fucking twisted."
Sasuke folded his arms over his chest. "You're complaining about having Orochimaru as a teacher?"
"I had a teacher! Densetsu no Jiraiya? Ever heard of him, bastard?"
Thin lips tilted up and Naruto felt rage that had nothing to do with the demon in his gut. "Once or twice. Do you want an apology, then? As far as I can tell, you upgraded. You have the strongest of the Sannin teaching you instead of the dead last, with none of the distractions."
You don't get it, Naruto thought, all his rage evaporating into incredulity. It was just like that day back when he'd first awoken, when Sasuke had found him in his room and tried to convince him to 'stop wasting time' of all things. His friend, if he could even be called that anymore, was blind to the truth for all his Sharingan revealed. Arguing with him, Naruto realized, would be like screaming into the void.
"Forget it. Just…don't bring it up," he told Sasuke. The Uchiha was the closest thing he had to an ally here; if he was fighting with him as well he'd be truly alone.
"Whatever. You can thank me when we've killed Akatsuki," Sasuke declared, the remnants of his smirk fading to cold seriousness.
"Sure." Finding the scroll he was looking for, Naruto opened it with a flick of his wrist. Katon: Karyuu Endan was written neatly at the top. His eyes scanned downward, alighting on the first line.
'User should not attempt this technique until they have mastered the Katon: Karyuudan.'
Frowning, Naruto put the scroll back, Orochimaru's lectures on jutsu mastery ringing through his mind. Thankfully, the scroll in question was only three to the right. He grabbed it and turned, finding Sasuke waiting for him at the end of the shelf, his scroll nowhere to be seen.
Must've memorized it, Naruto mused. "What do you know about the Sound Four?" he asked in lieu of letting Sasuke lead the conversation.
"Uninspiring. Why?"
Carefully refraining from rolling his eyes, Naruto said, "I'm supposed to be leading them. They're apparently gonna help me against Akatsuki."
Sasuke scoffed. "They're not completely useless, but I'm not convinced you wouldn't be better off alone."
"Not eager to volunteer?"
"I have training to do. Let me know when you find a real member and I'll be there."
"How's that going?" Naruto asked, realizing he hadn't actually trained with Sasuke since his kidnapping.
An actual smile split the Uchiha's lips. "Well. I'm in the fourth training room if you have time to spar between hunting low-lives."
Sasuke paused as they reached the sliding door, eyes narrowed. "Actually, do that. We should know each other's habits."
"Did no one teach you how to ask nicely, bastard?" Naruto weathered the comeback glare with practiced ease.
"Be serious. It's less than two-and-a-half years until Orochimaru can change bodies. I intend to be ready, but not having backup is moronic."
Naruto's mind immediately went in two different directions: clarity at why he hadn't seen Sasuke much at all – Orochimaru was likely keeping them as separate as possible – and wondering at whether Sasuke had thought to bring him to the Sannin for this very reason. "I hear you," he grunted, trying to figure out how to feel.
Settling on being encouraged that the Uchiha was at least thinking somewhat straight these days, Naruto nodded and extinguished his lantern. "I'll find you after I get the measure of the new team."
"Good. Been too long since I've tested myself," Sasuke said, putting out his own lantern.
"You haven't been sparring?" The door slid open easily and they stepped into the drafty hall.
"It's all I've been doing. I'm bored of mercenaries though."
"I'll take the compliment."
The two teens regarded each other for a moment before nodding.
"Bastard."
"Dobe."
They went their separate ways down the hall.
/~/
His new team appeared from body flickers in front of him, each on bended knee. Their eyes stared at the ground. The subservience curled his lip, but he pushed past it.
Gesturing for them to rise, he asked, "What are your names?"
The Sound Four stood in a line in front of him, loosely at attention. He'd elected to hold this introduction in one of the two cavernous dueling halls – the one he hadn't ever fought Kimimaro in.
Three sets of eyes turned to the white-haired teen with another head protruding from his neck. Their leader? He straightened slightly, saying, "My name is Sakon. My brother…" he gestured to the second head which swiveled to look at Naruto out of the corner of its eye, "…is Ukon. We led the Four in Kimimaro's absence."
Nodding, and doing his best not to look visibly disturbed at Ukon, Naruto looked to the hefty boy next in line.
"My name is Jirobo."
When it became clear that nothing else was about to be said, Naruto turned to the lone female.
"Tayuya," she said, blank tone at odds with the scowl on her face.
"Kidomaru," the last boy said. Naruto regarded his extra arms for a moment before moving on.
"My name's Uzumaki Naruto," he began, making note of the lack of clan names for each. "I'm Orochimaru-sama's apprentice. He's given me command of you four to assist in the mission to hunt, capture, and kill all members of the Akatsuki."
All four nodded curtly, but Naruto paid special attention to Sakon. He couldn't see Ukon's full face, but there wasn't any trace of resentment that he could make out at having command stripped from him. Keep an eye out, he told himself. By all accounts, these four were entirely loyal to Orochimaru and followed his word as law. It didn't preclude them from feeling things that might make his life more difficult, however.
"Any questions?" All four were mute in front of him. He quirked a brow. "Not even one?"
"What are you asking of us, Naruto-sama?" Sakon queried, sounding politely baffled. The other three nodded hesitantly as the blond forced down a sneer at the honorific.
I'm asking if you have any questions, what's so hard about that? Naruto thought viciously. He quelled his urge to snap, determined not to alienate his newfound subordinates. "Traditionally new team members share a piece of information about themselves, or at least have some questions about the mission specifics," he said slowly. "We'll be working together for the foreseeable future. Is there anything you want to know about me?"
"How'd you kill Kimimaro?" Tayuya burst out. The rest of the older teens tensed at the mention of their old leader, looking at Naruto with mixed apprehension and awe.
Were they not watching? he wondered. They'd appeared at the end of his fight at Orochimaru's beckoning, but he'd been too out of it to notice much else. "I tore his heart out," Naruto said shortly. They didn't need details outside of that.
Tayuya's eyes widened and she glanced at her fellow teammates out of the corner of her eyes. The rest shared similar looks. Naruto kept himself from raising both brows.
Kimimaro had been strong, certainly, but the disbelief reflected on the faces of his new subordinates spoke of something approaching reverence. Both Orochimaru and Kabuto had informed him that the Kaguya had been diminished, ravaged by disease at the end. The former had only ever expressed disappointment in Naruto's inability to kill the older teen; the latter had lorded it over him.
Enough of that. "Before we get started, I'll need to understand how you four operate as a unit. What types of missions you're used to. What type of training you do together."
"Our missions came from Orochimaru-sama himself," Sakon said. "We are his elite bodyguards and were deployed accordingly. Our latest missions included maintaining barriers in the assassination of the Hokage and the retrieval of Uchiha Sasuke from Konoha."
Biting the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood, Naruto gritted out, "Barriers?" with a semblance of professionalism.
At the word, the Sound Four leapt backward, forming a large square with their backs facing each other. In unison, they formed a snake seal and clapped their hands. A purple wall of rippling flame erupted around them in the form of a massive cube, rising all the way to the cavernous ceiling.
"Shishienjin!" the Four called, and Naruto didn't bother hiding his interest. He approached the purple wall with trepidation – if it had contained two Kage-caliber shinobi, it wasn't to be trifled with.
"Don't get too close, Naruto-sama," Kidomaru told him as he stepped closer. Blue eyes cut to the teen closest to him, who stood inside the barrier's boundaries.
"What does it do?"
"Immolate anyone who touches it," the six-armed teen declared with a grin, the first sign of positive emotion Naruto had seen from any of them.
Not bad. "How is it dispelled?"
"If any one of us loses focus."
"Can you stand outside the barrier?" Naruto asked, cottoning on to a fatal flaw.
Kidomaru grimaced. "We create a secondary barrier to shield ourselves from attack, Naruto-sama."
Which takes more chakra. He motioned for them to dispel the technique, and asked, "How long can you hold it for?"
"Five minutes," Sakon answered as he approached.
An eternity for most shinobi conflicts. "That'll come in handy," he told the Four. If they got the drop on an Akatsuki member, he could conceivably just send them careening into the barrier itself. Defense and offense at the same time, he thought charitably. Excellent. "What other tandem techniques can you perform?"
"That is all, Naruto-sama."
Just when I was getting my hopes up… "Alright. How do you usually train together?"
The Four were silent. He let it hang as the Four simply stared at him, bemusement on their faces. Naruto felt a pit forming in his stomach after seven seconds of nothing and ran a hand through his hair. "You don't train together."
"We've never been instructed to do so once we became proficient at the barrier," Sakon said plainly.
Quelling the urge to strangle someone, preferably Orochimaru, Naruto clenched a fist hard enough to draw blood. "Ok…new plan. You four are gonna attack me with the intent to kill and we're gonna go from there."
He'd hoped to avoid gratuitous combat testing – Kimimaro had been more than enough – but if the Four were as stunted as he was beginning to fear, it was the only way forward. Thankfully, the Four didn't seem perturbed by the notion, though he noted they didn't exactly look eager.
He stood, waiting as they looked at him. "Do you usually wait for your enemy to invite an attack?" he asked bitingly.
Kidomaru leapt forward, kunai made of some bizarre yellow-ish material in each of his six hands. Naruto jumped back, eyes darting to keep track of all of them. He avoided three simultaneous slashes, drew his own kunai to parry two more, and jabbed a fist to the sixth wrist, knocking the knife into the air. He snatched the spinning blade with his free left hand and hurled it sideways, halting the approach of Jirobo.
He vaulted over Kidomaru's head in a tight roll, hands in a cross-shaped seal. A kage bunshin burst into life at his back that swept Kidomaru's legs as he turned; Naruto planted his hands to anchor himself, and crashed both feet into the six-armed teen's chest as his clone dispelled.
The sound of a flute distracted him for a split second, and he strafed away from a series of cracks in the floor emanating from Jirobo's fist. Naruto planted himself and made to take advantage of the large boy's blind spot, only to freeze as he felt his limbs bound and restrained. Genjutsu?
The dueling hall morphed in his vision, great bars appearing from nowhere and crashing down in front of him. Water rose to his knees as he hung limply from a wall that materialized behind him.
Auditory, he realized. He called the Kyuubi's chakra with a thought; his incisors grew too big for his mouth and his nails lengthened into claws as the vision evaporated. Snarling, Naruto blurred to his right. He grabbed ahold of the flute held to her lips and crashed a straight kick to her chest; she flew back with a cry and Naruto pocketed the flute. Enough of that.
Jirobo slammed his hands to the ground to his left and ripped up a great shard of the floor. He hefted it above his head just as Sakon darted in front of Naruto. The blond blocked two lightning fast punches only to have a third arm swing out and catch him clean in the face. The blow was strong but had nothing on Kimimaro's heavy hits; Naruto spun tightly with the punch and dropped to sweep Sakon's legs.
Knocking Sakon's feet from under him, Naruto's eyes widened as two more feet appeared to hold the older teen steady. He darted backward to avoid three simultaneous punches that cratered the floor.
He pushed the oddness of his opponents from his mind. They attack separately, he realized. Each had some skill – though Jirobo's proficiency with the doryuu dango would've made Orochimaru livid – but they lacked cohesion.
Naruto sped through seals and spat a renkudan, the rushing wind bullet shattering Jirobo's jutsu as it hurtled toward him. Three clones popped into existence and, augmented by the Kyuubi's chakra, exploded into shunshin's. Naruto watched for a moment as the raw speed overpowered Jirobo and Kidomaru, spared a thought for Tayuya managing to avoid the worst of the first salvo, and refocused on Sakon.
The older teen didn't spare his comrades a glance as curved lines and blotches spread rapidly across his skin. The cursed seal's polluted chakra washed over Naruto like a tepid wave; his lip curled at the feeling, so like Kimimaro's but somehow lesser.
Sakon blasted toward him with a grunt of exertion. Naruto dodged two jabs that popped his ears as they whistled past and caught the third in a vice grip. Predictable. He twisted the arm violently and Ukon let out a screech of pain. That explains that.
Pulling Sakon in close, Naruto hammered a palm into the teen's throat. Keeping hold of the arm, he rotated and slammed an elbow into Ukon's waiting face. Sakon stumbled and Naruto formed a half ram seal. Jagei Jubaku. He felt his skin stretch as a pale grey snake thicker around than his arm darted out from his left sleeve; it wound around Sakon's legs and chest, looped around Ukon's neck, and came to rest next to Sakon's eyes, hissing malevolently.
Naruto cast his eyes around and saw the other three bound similarly. At least that technique is coming along, he mused, struggling to temper his disappointment.
His clones dispelling left him with memories that left much to be desired. "Alright that's enough," he called. The Four took the cue to come to him, and he was once more faced with the blank faces of Orochimaru's 'elite'. Tayuya's scowl was the only emotion on their collective faces, and Naruto was beginning to think it was stuck that way.
"What went wrong for all of you?" he asked, attempting to channel Asuma and Yamato.
Once more his subordinates looked to Sakon. The white-haired teen straightened slightly and said, "There was no intent to kill. Ukon's attack became predictable after you'd already seen it. We shouldn't have wasted it on a punch."
Naruto blinked. Sakon wasn't wrong, but he was so far from right the blonde's mind boggled. "No," he all but bit out; his frustration with Orochimaru was bleeding into his mood and wasn't helped by the Kyuubi's chakra. "You literally stepped in front of Jirobo's attack." He looked to the group as a whole. "Tayuya attempted a genjutsu that I was under for multiple seconds. None of you moved to capitalize on it. None of you defended her, a long range specialist, when I took her out of the fight. None of you tried to leverage the fact that there's four of you into anything even resembling a strategy." He bit his tongue as all four heads turned downward. "Look at me when I'm speaking to you!"
All four heads snapped up, identical blank expressions staring at him. Naruto couldn't make out a hint of shame in any of them; nor understanding. All they showed was contrition – they'd failed his test.
Incandescent rage at Orochimaru filled him. The snake had saddled him with an utterly broken team. He'd track his master down and get answers from him, but Naruto knew instinctively he wouldn't be able to get rid of the Four – which meant they were now his problem.
Walking liabilities. A shinobi of Orochimaru's caliber could compensate for their flaws. Naruto wasn't a shinobi of Orochimaru's caliber.
He shoved his way past the frustration; it solved nothing. He made a cross-shaped seal instead, and four clones popped into existence. "Training starts now."
/~/
Orochimaru's laboratory was no warmer than Kabuto's preferred workspace, though it, thankfully, had fewer corpses on the walls. Naruto strode though it with purpose, fresh with fury from his training with his new team. It was tempered, ever-so-slightly, by the dim light emanating from the back of the lab, in which he could clearly see his master dissecting a body.
He maintained the presence of mind to drop to a knee as he approached, a muttered, "Orochimaru-sama," falling from his lips.
"You are troubled, apprentice?" Orochimaru asked, not giving him leave to rise.
You know why I'm here, fucker. "The team is broken," Naruto bit out. "They're barely even a team! There's no cohesion. They attack separately and don't even think to defend each other."
"Do they have useful skills?"
Naruto paused. They did, of course; as redundant as bodyguards were for Orochimaru, the Four weren't incompetent individually. It was only when attacking as a group that they became a liability.
"Then your responsibility is to forge them into a team worthy of note," Orochimaru told him, taking his silence as an answer and still not giving him leave to rise.
Naruto tasted blood as he bit his tongue to hold back an acerbic retort. "I was under the impression that I would be given leave to hunt Akatsuki upon our return, Orochimaru-sama. Training the team will take time." Months, he thought, their terrible habits burned into his memory. "Sasuke alone would be more helpful."
"Sasuke-kun is not at your disposal, apprentice. But time you shall have," the sannin declared magnanimously. He stepped around Naruto to retrieve something. "The mission is yours. Should you require time to train them to your standards, take it. Akatsuki will still be there for you."
"Why?"
A spike of killing intent quieted him. "Everything I do, I do for you," Orochimaru hissed as he stepped around Naruto once more. "Are you so blinded by indignation that you are incapable of understanding this simple lesson?"
He didn't give Naruto time to answer. "While you will not yet be hunting Itachi's ilk, you will find many shinobi in Akatsuki's ranks greater than you are now. Sending you to them unprepared, knowing you will likely die serves none of our goals. Your training is not yet finished, and teaching is a training all its own."
Naruto's nails bit into his palms as he clenched his fists. His legs had begun to burn under the indignity of kneeling for so long, but he held his tongue. "How long will I be kept teaching before the mission can begin?"
Chuckling low in his throat, Orochimaru said, "Until such a time as you deem their performance satisfactory. They are yours now."
"Rise, my friend," he commanded a moment later. Naruto did so gratefully with a blank face.
He stared down at a reddish-purple corpse laying bare on the metal table in front of him. Its eyes were shut – thank the Sage – and its skin was very nearly one massive, decaying lesion. The top layer looked as if it'd been scoured off unevenly, and pockmarks of yellow, green, and black littered the underlying tissue.
"What is this?" Naruto asked quietly, swallowing reflexive vomit at the sight. He was no stranger to either Orochimaru or Kabuto's 'experiments', but this was grisly even for them.
"The aftereffects of the toxin that coats the Kusanagi," Orochimaru said clinically. "Necrotizing fasciitis."
"Looks unpleasant," Naruto said after a moment when it became clear the sannin wasn't going to say more.
"Profoundly. Not that any victim lives to feel their tissues decay. All but those with the most potent chakra die in a few hours."
Feeling intrigued in spite of the results, Naruto asked, "What's the point, then? If the victim is already dead, why study it?"
"Knowledge, apprentice," Orochimaru said shortly, and the subject was closed. Naruto knew that rant by heart after nearly a year with the sannin, and he was thankful not to be subject to it once more.
Knowing his fight was lost, and already starting to formulate plans based on what he'd seen from the Four in their two hours after the farce of a fight, Naruto turned to leave. "How has your fuuton training progressed?" Orochimaru asked suddenly.
"Slowly, Orochimaru-sama. I've focused more on becoming adept at katon manipulation."
"Are you not capable of splitting your clones into groups?"
He quelled a flash of fury. "I've found it more beneficial to focus my clones on one exercise at a time. There is some feedback between them that can be…distracting if they're not all focused on one task." In truth, it was more a question of proximity than anything else. He could only commandeer one room to train in at a time, which always left his clones in close quarters.
Orochimaru looked up from neatly slicing off a section of greenish-yellow tissue, a mote of interest discernable in his eyes. "How curious. Regardless, you will resume your fuuton training. There is a scroll on the lowest shelf in the archive with 'Suna' engraved on the side. It will help guide your study."
"Suna?" Naruto asked before he could stop himself.
"It contains my notes on techniques I parsed from my time battling the desert dwellers," Orochimaru told him. He looked up once more, eyes now distant. "Specifically, against a man named Senyaku. I encourage you to avoid him should you ever find yourself in Suna. He had an enduring hatred of Konoha and me in particular that I doubt has been dulled by time."
Maybe we'd get along, Naruto mused sardonically. "What did you do to him?" he asked, curious despite himself.
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed in the low light and he flashed his teeth in a poor facsimile of a smile. "I admit I took a savage pleasure in turning his techniques back on his men. He appreciated rather less than I."
His momentary mirth spent, Orochimaru turned back to the corpse. "You will report to me your progress at the end of the week."
And with that, Naruto was dismissed.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone