Naruto : Venom

”Of course.” I let my wall crumble to dust and start walking back to the contestant gazebo. ”Simply doing what was right. Oto shinobi may seem like monsters, but we’re not. Usually. Some of the time? Depends on who you ask really. Hell ask the right person and they’ll say I’m a monster!”

...

Gaara quirks one of his nonexistent eyebrows at me.

”I know right? I’m a barrel of cuddles and laughs! If you ignore a couple of rage fueled rampages. And a few questionable kills. And that one time I hid three hundred rubber ducks all over Otogakure. Well it was really only two hundred ninety nine but three hundred sounds so much better!”

Gaara stares at me in disbelief.

”Okay, so you have a point.” I give in.

”Green has been kicked out of the Tournament!” Eito’s livid voice shouts out to the crowd.

”Whatever.” I shrug and keep walking. ”There’s always next time. Plus I’ve already proven my worth to my Kage.”

”Then I request that Leiko also be kicked out of the Tournament and by process of elimination Red pronounced the victor.” Orochimaru’s voice silences the crowd. It seems like even the sounds of nature halted, this is as close to silence as you can get while being outdoors.

”On what grounds?!” Eito whirls towards my current Kage.

”She blatantly used lethal force. Twice. Against noncombatants. One is permitted to use lethal force against their opponent, but against the spectators?” A wicked grin forms onto Orochimaru’s face. ”How unsightly. Even I would never approve such tactics.”

Collectively the crowd holds their breath. Everyone is waiting eagerly for what happens next.

”Of course,” Orochimaru continues, ”since it’s my gennin she’ll be fighting next I am willing to... overlook her transgressions if you let Midori compete as well.”

”No! Absolutely not! She attacked me! The Proctor!” Eito spits out. ”She’s done!”

”Then Red is the winner of the Chunin Exams.” Orochimaru levels a cold gaze on the proctor. ”Announce it.”

”No! Leiko and Red still have to fight!”

”You’re playing favorites.” Orochimaru’s tone becomes deadly. ”You do not get to bend the rules as you see fit. Announce it.”

”No! The fight will be tomor-”

”Eito. You are making a fool of us.” The Kusakage intervenes. Finally, he should have done that ages ago. ”It is like the Otokage said, we do not get to play favorites. There will be a fight tomorrow between Red, Leiko and Midori. Or is it Green?”

”Either is fine.” Orochimaru assures the fellow Kage.

”Then so be it! Tomorrow at noon will be the final fight!” The Kusakage yells to the shocked crowd. ”Eito. Wait for me in my office.” Eito doesn’t move, he’s staring gobsmacked at his Kage. ”MOVE!”

”Yes Kusakage-sama!” Eito vanishes from sight.

”Would the contestants please wait for a few minutes? I would like to say something.” The Kusakage asks of all of us and those that stood up sit back down. Sure we don’t have to obey him, but it’s common decency to respect a Kage.

A short minute later he’s standing before us. ”I apologize for the behavior of both my gennin and my jonin.”

Wow. Didn’t expect that.

”What both of them did was deplorable and I hope that you all understand that they will be punished accordingly after tomorrow. For Eito to go to such lengths, to show such favoritism to his own gennin, I should have seen it coming.” He turns to me specifically. ”Thank you for having the courage to stand up and do what is right. Regardless of tomorrow’s outcome I am personally recommending you for a promotion. You’ve earned it.” He turns to the Sound Siblings next. ”Words cannot describe how sorry I am for what happened. For one of my own gennin to go to such lengths! Please, tell me what I can do to redeem Kusa.”

”We would like to open trade with your country.” Gaara replies. ”Suna is settled in a desert, but we have many unique and valuable things to offer. What we lack are trade partners, we don’t have that many. If you truly want to make up for their actions, I ask this.”

”Done.” The Kusakage accepts with ease. ”Is there someone else I should talk this over with or do you carry enough authority to make trade agreements?”

”I will suffice.” Gaara confirms. ”I am being trained to be the next Kazekage, working with another Kage is only to be expected. I would be honored to personally work with you for the betterment of both of our countries.”

”The next Kazekage eh? I believe the honor is mine then!” The Kusakage says in good nature. ”I’ll send a messenger to you to coordinate a meeting between us before you leave. But for now I’ve taken up too much or your time. And there’s someone waiting for me in my office. I bid you all farewell.”

”Well that was certainly interesting.” I comment to Sasuke as he and I start to walk away. All of the gennin are breaking away from each other, we’re going our separate ways.

”Yeah and what you did was really stupid. You almost got kicked out of the tournament!” He smacks the back of my head. ”How the hell do you think Orochimaru-sama is going to react?”

”He gave me permission!” I tenderly rub my skull. ”Did you have to hit me so hard?” I whine.

”I don’t understand that person at all.” Temari’s hushed voice is meant for only her siblings to hear, but I catch it anyways. ”She doesn’t make sense! She’s supposed to hate Suna! She was ready to kill one of our teams a month ago! But she’s okay with risking her place in the tournament to help Gaara out? Hell she even knew that you didn’t need the help! She practically laid out all of our skills not even an hour ago! She didn’t react how she was supposed to at all! She should have been happy that Suna nin were suffering not throwing herself in harms way for us!”

”Sis, some people just don’t make sense.” Kankuro tries to calm her down. ”I get the feeling that a lot of Oto shinobi are that way. What about you Gaara?”

”...”

”Gaara? You there buddy?” Kankuro asks.

”She is not who she says she is.” Gaara quietly says after a long pause. ”They’re eerily similar...”

”She’s like who?” Temari asks.

”She’s like Alvarcus.” Gaara explains and both his siblings jaws drop. ”They both have a reason to hate Suna nin, but both treat us as an exception. They both have abnormal chakra systems and supplies, yet are not hindered by them. Both can use multiple elements, we’ve seen Midori use earth and wind so far. Although Midori seems to favor earth while Alvarcus preferred fire. When they both fight, they make sarcastic remarks. Dark humor flows from their mouths like second nature. She hasn’t once taken a fight seriously, even when facing Lee. She hides behind a playful nature, yet beneath that is someone who is very cunning. I would wager that her mind is her best weapon, just like Alvarcus, which is why she goes to such lengths to appear free spirited. Alvarcus may have had numerous other skills, but without his mind he would never have used them all so fluidly or uniquely.”

”Holy crap he’s right.” Kankuro says and I feel his eyes on me.

”I don’t quite see it...” Temari uncertainly says.

”They both mentioned taking us out for ice cream.”

”No. No no no. It can’t be. Can it?” Temari turns her eyes onto me too. ”Should we confront him? Her? Argh!”

”No.” Gaara calmly says. ”If it is Alvarcus then he’s hiding who he is for a reason. What kind of friends would we be if we exposed him?”

”But he doesn’t belong in Sound!” Kankuro whisper shouts to Gaara.

”And?” Gaara emotionlessly says. ”Did either of you pause to think that maybe the Hokage ordered him there?”

”What are you on about?!” Temari asks in hushed anger.

”Do you really think that a Sannin wouldn’t pick up on the similarities that us gennin did? Or his jonin sensei who happens to have seen every match? It’s highly possible that he’s a spy. So we will not confront him. We will let him continue. Besides, it is possible that we’re wrong. Midori could truly be Midori. Although I admit it would be nice to receive a sign if he truly is our friend.”

...

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