The Eternal Lost Lurker wrote:
Sakura grimaced. While Anko had said this training would
increase her chakra reserves, Sakura wasn't certain whether this had
been the best use of her time. Summoning snakes might be useful in
general, but she didn't have to chakra to summon one big enough to be of
much use in a direct fight. Though the related technique Anko had shown
her had some potential. The pink-haired genin rubbed at the snake
tattoo on her arm through the jacket, grimacing. The mechanics of that
technique were just creepy.
Well, after all, it's an Orochimaru thing, so...
An Orochimaru thing, filtered through Anko. Which probably makes it worse.
Sakura jumped, not bothering to duplicate her teacher's feat,
then jumped again to catch up with Anko. "Home," the genin muttered.
It wasn't like she really had a home to go back to, did she. The only
thing that awaited her was Naruto's empty apartment Even Ino was might
still be on a mission.
"was might still be"?
Argh. Changed what the sentence was going to be midway through and
didn't get rid of what I'd already written. Should be just "might still
be."
Her only male student struggled against the ropes that bound his
arms behind him. "It wasn't fair," Aoki Saburo protested. "Midori
caught my eyes and kept me paralyzed while Ren-chan snuck up behind me
and got my arms."
Since when was--
Shimano Ren rolled her eyes, running one hand through her short,
dark hair. "Since when was being fair part of being a ninja?"
Damn, she beat me to it.
Indeed. :)
Temari ignored her, slowly pulling out a small black book as she
gazed at Nagare's unmoving visage. "So this is the one you caught,
huh?" she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she flipped the book
open to a marked page and compared the picture and data there to the
prisoner. "Nagare of the Stony Waste," she said, grinning evilly as she
shut her bingo book. "The interrogation squads back home will be...
pleased to see you."
Oh dear.
I figured that was probably the best explanation for how this particular
filler character had seen Gaara's techniques and, you know, lived to
imitate them.
Temari shook her head. "The council decided that the new
gentler and kinder Gaara of the Desert only needed one keeper," she
said, a hint of bitterness in her voice. "He and Kankuro are off
chasing sightings of strange ships on the southern coast.
Ah yes, the Hypocrites of Peace.
Well, possibly. Not going to get any more explicit then that with Movie
Two references.
*snip* Ah, Temari. Ever the ambassador of tact.
Truth. :)
It wasn't even these bare facts that were making her feel
poorly. What caused her discomfort was that, while a part of her
recognized how terrible the deeds she had performed were and shivered in
sympathy for at least the poor princess, another part of her felt
differently. This cold, clinical portion of her mind merely observed
that she had only been following orders and that the orders were even
nothing to bat an eye at.
Well duh, she's a NINJA. What the hell did she think ninjas DO?
It's her first cold-blooded kill. There's a difference between knowing
you might have to do that sort of thing and actually doing it for the
first time.
Yamakita Akira paced nervously in front of one of the room's two
doors, occasionally muttering something under his breath. His male
teammate, Gonkuro, simply stared at the intricate mural of the legendary
Earth Dragon that decorated one of the other walls, but even with his
eyes closed Hojo could feel his nervousness. The third member of the
team, Mako, was seated beside Hojo, but her eyes darted between her
teammates and her hands played nervously with the zipper of her open
jacket.
Except for the time she missed, and played with the zipper of her open pants
instead, but that led to something best left for a sidestory.
Heh.
The renegade Sannin let one hand rest on the boy's head and let
a smile grace his stolen face when the younger ninja stiffened but did
not protest. "He is my... apprentice,"
Orochimaru's word for "sex toy"...
The subtext in the Orochimaru/Anko scene back in the Forest of Death
would agree with you. Which is really icky if you sit down and work out
how young Anko would have to be when Orochimaru was training her.
"You have a question?" Kaida asked. The road turned, becoming a
large staircase but not narrowing in the slightest.
"What's a thunder dragon?" Naruto replied, puzzlement in his
voice.
Well gee, Naruto, it's called a thunder dragon, so maybe it's, I dunno, a
DRAGON? That like, spits thunder an' shit? >.>
Naruto's ability to grasp the obvious has never been the strongest.
He studied the swollen moon that hung in the unusually cloudless
sky, noting that it was finally two hours past midnight. It was bad
weather for sneaking about, but one didn't become an elite jounin by
letting little things like that bother you. Taking one last careful
look at the guards standing on the border of the temple grounds, Zeshin
finished smoking his Fire Country cigarette - he wasn't the sort to let
patriotism get in the way of enjoying the best tobacco in the world -
So THAT'S what kind of "Leaf" Konoha is hidden in! XD
Heh.
"I... um... need to go check on some things for the exam," Anko
said. "You know, stuff. Details. All right?" Without waiting to be
dismissed, she vanished in a puff of smoke.
"Shizune," Tsunade said, "why do we put up with her again?"
Because she's fun?
Indeed!
Springing into motion, Ichizo had his sword drawn and slashing
at the arm of Rui's captor in less than a second. His target reacted
just as quickly, dropping the kunoichi and vanishing without even a blur
of motion or cloud of smoke. He reappeared next to his companion, and
Ichizo thought that he caught a hint of crimson in his eyes, mostly
hidden by the bamboo hat he wore.
OSHI--
For real, this time! :)
"All right," Kisame said agreeably. Then he casually
defenestrated Ichizo with the flat of his blade.
Defenestration! Wai!
Such a fun word.
We forward looking up to next chapter being the yes!
As am I! I've been waiting to write the third exam for a long time.
Hopefully my enthusiasm will carry me through all fourteen fight scenes.
Thanks for the comments!