Naruto : Venom : Chapter 91

I poke my head through the door and take stock of all the changes. There's only one change. There is a chair across from his desk this time, one for me. How considerate. "You called?"

"Yes, yes. Come in and sit down. I need to discuss something with you." Alarms and warning bells sound in my head.

...

What could he possible want to talk about? I've covered all of my tracks, there is no way he knows I'm reporting to Tsunade. He doesn't know I have a way to contact her, we've never discussed the abilities of my summons in length. He wants me to discover their uses on my own.

"It is about Sasuke." Oh. That changes everything. I'm safe, I get to breath another day. I walk in and take a seat.

"Sasuke. Nothing is wrong I hope." If Sasuke is going to be experimented on again, I dragging him out of here and back to Konoha. Spying be damned, I'm here for him.

Orochimaru sighs. Sighs. I've never seen him this animated before, well excluding his crazed blood thirst for knowledge and battle. I've seen those first hand too many times. "No, nothing is wrong. Per say. I'm worried he many sustain grievous injury during the Exams. He's overconfident and it will be his undoing."

"That is what this is about? You don't need to tell me that. I was there when he attacked his brother. You know, Itachi the S-rank missing nin from Konoha? I still can't believe Sasuke thought he could win that. Besides, this is a bunch of gennin we will be facing. Surely he won't have any issues with anyone sent. Except for me maybe, I doubt that we will be forced to fight though. Not until the finals. We're good enough to work around each other. Besides, our last conversation with the three of us you made it pretty clear you wanted us both to put on a show. We can't do that if we go after each other."

"Gaara of the Desert will be there." With those few words, Orochimaru suddenly has a very strong argument. I can see Sasuke seeking him out as a challenge, Gaara is one of the opponents that Sasuke struggled with. Needed help with. He might challenge Gaara to prove to himself that he's improved.

"Ah." Is my intellectual reply.

Orochimaru sighs in exasperation. "Now you see my problem. Sasuke is strong but rash. He challenges those who are out of his reach. Gaara is one of them, for now. I want you to protect him, curb his enthusiasm, keep him on a leash."

I laugh, the sound startles Orochimaru. "You really think anyone can keep him on a leash? Have you met Sasuke? He doesn't submit to anyone, not even you." Orochimaru raises an eyebrow, saying that was a really bad idea. I need to think what I say through more. "Do you honestly think that he came to Sound for you? No, he came to get stronger. He would have gone to Iwa if it meant he would improve. Surely you remember how much Konoha and Iwa detest each other."

"You're right, not anyone can keep him on a leash, only you. You can, I've seen it. He listens to you, he values your opinion and will accept your reasoning. Only you can keep him from doing something he truly sets his mind on doing." Orochimaru has a twinkle of victory in his eyes.

That smug bastard pisses me off. I hate when he's right. "I can promise nothing. We could be split up during the Exams."

Orochimaru waves a hand dismissively. "Please, both of you are skilled enough to ensure you're always near the other. If there is a team section I have no doubt you'll both be on the same team. I'm not asking you to fight his battles for him, just keep Sasuke safe from himself."

I roll my eyes at Orochimaru. "I do that anyways, I'll keep him out of trouble. It is hands down the most stressful thing I have ever done. You wouldn't believe the trouble we get into."

A wicked gleam sparks in Orochimaru's eyes. "I suppose it is time to step up your training again. After all, how can taking care of a lowly gennin be harder than fighting a Sannin?"

"Oh you asshole! Only today have I managed to avoid getting a limb cut off!" I'm not lying, Orochimaru has been especially vicious this last week. Probably from our scuffle, he really stepped his game up. Before it was just extreme maiming and maybe a loss of a limb. This past week I lost a limb every session, sometimes twice.

"Kukukuku, you're right. Maybe it is time for something new? You have very little experience fighting larger opponents. I might have to summon a few snakes for you to fight."

"Nope! If I didn't hear it, it didn't happen!" I leap out of my chair and sprint out of his office.

...

One Week Until Chunin Exams

"LAZY ASS! UP AND AT THEM!" Tayuya's voice forcibly pulls me from my afternoon nap. Why is it always her? Why can't it be Kidomaru or Jirobo or even Sakon? At least they don't yell at me. All I want to do is take a nice nap after training, but no. Tayuya has to ruin it. "NOW!"

"Ugh, fine. Just quit yelling. I swear you could give me permanent hearing damage." Not only is she loud, we're close quarters. Her voice echos, I have to hear it multiple times. It is annoying.

Tayuya scoffs at me. "Good. I'm getting Red-eyes then we're going to Orochimaru. He wants the three of us for something." She exits my room to go get Sasuke.

That's new, usually it is only Sasuke and I summoned to Orochimaru or the entire Sound Four. What could he want the three of us for? Especially considering the Exams are so close. It can't be a mission, I doubt he would have Tayuya try to advance our training since both Sasuke and I have built in genjutsu defenses.

After I finally drag myself out of my room I meet both Tayuya and Sasuke in the hallway. "Any idea what this is for?" I ask her.

"Nope!" With that very detailed explanation Tayuya takes off down the hallway at a sprint.

"This must be serious if she's willing to run." Sasuke idly comments to me.

"We're a bit late, so start running pansies!" She calls over her shoulder.

"Or that." I levelly reply.

Sasuke and I both follow after her. We make it to Orochimaru's office in record time.

"Good, you're all here." Orochimaru says upon the three of us entering the room. The chair I sat in last time is gone, we will have to stand this time. I wonder if that is his way of showing favoritism? "Now, guesses as to why I called you three? I do love to see how you think."

"I dunno, you find it amusing to have Tayuya wake me up?" I sarcastically reply. "At least there was no bucket this time."

"You want me to test them on genjutsu?" Tayuya guesses. It isn't a bad idea, especially since she doesn't know that we have defenses in place already. It's not like we go around blabbering about our strengths and weaknesses.

"She's going to be our chaperon for the Chunin Exams." Sasuke blandly retorts. "It is the only option that makes sense, we can't go alone."

Orochimaru gleefully claps his hands together. "Well done Sasuke! You're correct, Tayuya will be your handler for the Chunin Exams."

"Oh Kami no. Why her? Choose someone else, anyone else. Please?" I whine childishly at Orochimaru. I don't want to deal with her for that long.

"No. She's the best fit for this." Orochimaru begins to explain. "Both Sasuke and you are very gifted in ninjutsu and your taijutsu is nothing to laugh at. Sasuke's kenjutsu is not something to dismiss either, for the short time he's been working on it he's made very good progress. Between the two of you very little will be able to threaten you on the road to or from the exams. What your team is missing is a genjutsu specialist, hence why I chose Tayuya. Genjutsu is her strongest point, she's a backline fighter. A supporting fighter while you and Sasuke are front liners."

I groan. He's right, it does make sense to pair us with her. Not only his reasons, but of all the Sound shinobi we know the Sound Four's skills the best. We won't be working with an unknown. "Fine. But if she annoys me too much you may be down a member. Fair warning."

"Please like you could actually hurt me! You wouldn't even be able to touch me!" Tayuya brags. I swear we've done this before.

"Ahem." Orochimaru's voice stops our argument before it could take off. "Any questions? No? Good. You all leave for the Land of Grass tomorrow. I want you three there before the day of the Chunin Exams to get a feel for the terrain. Now go do something else, I have business to attend to." We leave his office.

...

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