Notes: Well, this was a little later than I wanted, but there's things I want to happen next chapter that couldn't happen in this one.

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Once again, rings of smoke dissipated gently as they reached the ceiling of the Hokage's office. Sarutobi was silent, pensive, thinking about a number of issues all at once. He alone knew just how many factors were in play, and even his knowledge was limited to the growing stack of reports on his desk. Dan's death had been a tragic loss to be sure, but it was not without reward. Hiruzen's elderly fingers slid across a manilla envelope marked "Top Secret" as many of the documents he had were. Some of it was starting to make horrible, terrible, sense to him. He inhaled the smoke of his pipe deeply before releasing it slow and deliberately.

"Tsunade," the elderly man said in a kind, but tired tone as he acknowledged the woman standing across from his desk at last. Behind her was a young, dark haired girl who had remained silent all this time.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." The blond Sannin replied stoically.

"I've read over your request. You wish to be freed from service to the village. If it were anyone else, I would be immediately suspicious, but it is not war time and I've no reason to think you'd betray us... but I would like to know your reasoning," he voiced in reply.

"Hai. Of course, you have that right," Tsunade sighed heavily, "Since Dan's death, I've nothing to tether me to this village. I have seen it at its best, and at its worst... I love this village, I do, but the sorrow is too much for me to bear."

The elder ninja nodded solemnly. It was bad enough Tsunade had lost her brother a day after his twelfth birthday, but now Dan as well... December 4th, his own birthday. A very sad irony. Not the first or last birthday that has been marred by blood, recalling not long ago, Naruto's mother and father had both died after his birth. He could understand her desire to leave a place of bloodshed though...

"Tsunade-san, I must ask... why is Shizune with you?" he inquired of the girl beside her.

"Please Hokage-Sama! Let me go with Tsunade-san! Kudasai!" the kunoichi pleaded.

Sarutobi took a long draw from his pipe and tapped the ashes into a tray. "Hnn... Your apprentice is rather persistent. Well, Tsunade, is there any reason I should let her go with you?"

Tsunade, as a ninja, was known for hiding her emotions. Lately, that had been problematic. Even worse was the growing sense of hemophilia. She just... couldn't look at blood without envisioning the dead. Even if it wasn't her fault, she felt as if it were. She clenched her fists and lowered her head in an attempt to maintain her composure, "I would like to leave the village alone. Yet, Shizune has requested I continue her training. I think it's a mistake but..."

A hand silenced her while the man in the Hokage's seat thought things over. This wasn't a hard decision to make really. It both worried and comforted him that Shizune would be with her. The girl was Dan's niece, and she'd been training under Tsunade for a while, so that was nothing new. The comfort was that the kunoichi had the common sense that Tsunade lacked, and that it would look better on paper for them to go together. It would also be unfortunate as she could be a reminder of her lost love. All the same, Tsunade had made up her mind, and so had Shizune.

"Your request is granted... in part. I will not remove you from the list of active ninja of this village. Instead, you will be on an extended training mission," He motioned then to Shizune, "you may take as long as you like."

"Thank you, Sensei. But... I doubt I will be returning." Tsunade said with a bow.

"Time will tell," her old master smiled before both ninjas shunshined out. He then closed the file on Tsunade and Shizune.

Sarutobi arranged three folders on his desk. The first of the envelopes was centered around the Uchiha clan. Since the founding of Konoha, it and the Senju clan were the supreme power in the village. Senju Hashirama's appointment as the first Hokage was a personal snub to the clan leader of the time, Uchiha Madara. Back then, they were tired of fighting and Madara's campaign for power was shot down by his people. Yet, as time went on and the Senju blood mixed into the village and lost prominence, the Uchiha power base had multiplied. The balance of power in the Hidden Leaf village had simply shifted. Even back to the second Hokage there was talk of betrayal, so their appointment to the Konoha Military Police had been a means of both giving them power and controlling it. Fresh rumors of possible betrayal however, had the council on edge.

The second folder was on Uzumaki Naruto. Unbeknownst to most people of the village, he was set to inherit the Yondaime's fortune and estate upon his 18th birthday, or his ascension to the rank of Jounin, whichever came first. The unfortunate status as a jinchuuriki still circled the village in poor esteem. It was largely the civilian populace that detested him, but they weren't likely to act on things. Still, there were few people neutral on the subject of the demon container. Only high ranking ninja or those close to the Yondaime seemed to fully trust and accept the boy. Neutrality was rare, as with the Nara clan for example, who saw him as a tactical wild card without knowing more about him. Hatred was easiest among the lower ranked ninja, who saw him as a threat... the same threat that had wiped out a good chunk of the village on the tenth of October. The hatred from clan elders and other higher ranked ninja, Sarutobi feared, were those who were always against the Yondaime to begin with. Whatever their feelings, he had to help the boy as best he could. For now, saddling him with Jiraiya had put a stop to further slander for the time being.

Finally, was a report on Ta no Kuni, the Land of Rice Fields. It was an order from their local daimyo that their particular chunk of real-estate was now Oto no Kuni, the Land of Sound. It also formally announced the creation of their own Hidden Village of Sound, Otogakure. The land was directly north of them. In fact, it had been where Uchiha Madara had fought Senjuu Hashirama, the First Hokage. This was foreboding in a number of ways, as that was where Konoha had first been introduced to the Kyuubi, which created the valley while it seemed to act under Madara's influence. Since Madara's disappearance, no known Ninja had even existed in the land but those who were hired as mercenaries. Only the woman who had just left his office knew that was where Dan had met his end, so the ninja that were making up this new village had to be horribly strong.

Not on the papers before him, but still milling around in his head, were some scattered reports he'd recalled pieces of. Some were on Orochimaru's recent behavior and activities. Others had been on missing persons, disappearing medical supplies and teaching scrolls from the library. The content of the scrolls and stolen supplies could easily be applied to unethical experimentation to say the least, and coupled with the missing children... the old man shuddered. Orochimaru's behavior had factored into things for several reasons. Much of what was missing would have to be taken by a Jounin at least to be so well hidden and unnoticed. It definitely looked like the work of an insider, and he was the only high ranking shinobi he could think of who had been out of bounds lately. "Troublesome" a Nara would say. Part of the Hokage rejected these thoughts as his mind determined of its own accord that the Snake Sannin would never do such a thing.

After a long while, Sarutobi lifted a cup of tea and took a tentative sip. It was cold. He sighed. He took a long draw on the comfort of his pipe, at least some things didn't change.

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The Toad Sannin had promised Iruka pain, and he had reaped it in spades. The day after Tsunade left, Jiraiya's training for young Iruka increased tenfold as if the man were compensating for something. Not that he was hard to figure out, and blaming the boy for still being 'stuck' here, was not something Iruka liked hearing. In the meantime, his muscles were screaming for relief. He'd been left to hold buckets of water out to the side for hours while also seated in a horse stance. If it wasn't for the chakra exercises Orochimaru had managed to drill into him, he would have given out after five minutes. As it was, he wanted to die the moment he was allowed release from that first exercise.

The rest of the day was spent on something that very cruelly resembled chores. Wash and wipe windows, sweeping, mopping... Iruka honestly never expected an apartment to be so filthy after the man had proclaimed he'd 'cleaned' the place for Naruto's sake not long ago. A very thick layer of crust inside the oven disagreed adamantly with that claim, as well as the mildew stains in the shower.

Complaining never got the genin anywhere with Jiraiya, and though he suspected the 'sage' was bullshitting him, there was still Naruto to watch. He enjoyed the quiet moments left with the blond, which were rather quiet indeed. There was intelligence in the infant's eyes that always put a smile on Umino's face.

"Oi... kid, you need to watch out for Jiraiya, he's a real bastard." Iruka laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. Naruto laughed as well. He rubbed a finger across the scarred bridge of his nose and smiled at the boy. "You're getting big. I'll have to get you new clothes you know?" Giggles and a few foamy bubbles were his reply.

"Let's see... Naruto... Something with spirals on it maybe?" the child giggled and the brown haired shinobi grinned. Part of him believed the boy understood what he was saying. "Okay, so you tell me what you want, cos' if you leave it up to Jiraiya you'll be five years old and still trying to fit into infant's clothes. Okay?" This time, the laughter was louder and the so-named dolphin had to laugh too. If it was coincidence that he laughed or nodded or gurgled on cue, it was a very good one. "Okay okay. So I'm going to name colors and you tell me what one you want... Red... Yellow... Yellow's like your hair..." he mussed up the child's hair as he said that, but somehow he seemed to know. When he mentioned the color orange, the baby got completely exited and latched onto his arm with a somehow alarming speed and strength. "O... Okay! Orange it is... sheesh!"

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Just two weeks of abuse from Jiraiya had had an effect on Iruka, though he didn't seem to notice. Like many young shinobi, he felt the skills were what you needed for success, so the lack of any new moves to his repertoire frustrated him. He failed to notice how his body had lost a slight chubbiness that could be considered 'baby fat' because the Toad nin had all of Iruka's muscles straining in one way or another during the laughable training sessions. The man threw random objects at Iruka which had pushed and heightened his reflexes and sense of danger, especially when Naruto was the object in question. That had lead to a number of fights where Iruka had fought the toad-bastard with all his might and, unknowingly, started backing him toward a wall. Jiraiya would laugh, and though his smile only exuded smugness to the teen, it was pride that the genin actually made him have to think about defending against him. The slimmed down and more wary genin was now far better equipped for the chuunin exams than he ever expected, having been run through a real set of practicals in an impractical way.

In the meantime, Mizuki had tried to advance his skillset under the training of his parents. He was the thinker of the group, so he struggled to find a balance between mind and body. Emotion was always the disruption... when he thought of Anko so obviously being favored. Deep down, he never expected Iruka to get anywhere without him, and that's how he'd like to keep it. If he just had the right connections, the right people supporting him, if he had enough skills, if he could apply it right... They were the students of one of the three Legendary Ninja of the village! How could he not succeed?

Anko had no worries, despite what he said Orochimaru was still training his favorite. She was already continuing her physical training alone well enough, but it was the chakra aspect he always emphasized. It would be essential to his research.

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"Anko-chan?" The snake called to her calmly.

They'd been in the middle of the woods, far from the usual training grounds, and her heart was threatening to take flight if he called her that one more time. "Y-yes sensei!" Anko quickly stood at attention, and despite the bitter cold, her cheeks were flushed red.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked and spread out a large scroll before her. On it were many names, all of them signed in red. There were almost a dozen on the script after Orochimaru's name, which should have given her pause.

"A summoning contract." The bush-tailed teen replied with a slight air of inquiry. She eyed the paper, wondering how the contracts came to be. She could tell from Jiraiya's antics they obviously had lives and families elsewhere, so why would they allow themselves to be called? And could the reverse ever happen?

"Very good. This," he emphasized while he motioned for her to kneel next to her, "is the snake summoning contract. Snakes are the embodiment of what a ninja should be. They are quick, silent and deadly. They are not beings of mercy, so expect none from them. They are the most dangerous summon available in Konoha... do you know why?"

Anko swallowed nervously before answering, a bead of sweat dripped off her brow. "Because... if the snake does not feel the ninja calling him is worthy, they will turn on the ninja and destroy him or her."

"Yes." Orochimaru nodded and grabbed her wrist. 'She is nervous...' He smiled a sinister smile, but Anko didn't pull away, determined to prove herself to her sensei. "Are you good enough? Here..." He cut her finger with a kunai and set it to the paper.

Anko moved as one who's torn in two pieces. The good girl in her would follow her master to the ends of the earth, hoping for even a bit of praise from him... thirsting for acknowledgment. The other part was being choked to death. It was a spike of danger sense that told her this was wrong, that there was something wrong with this. Her finger barely left the parchment when Orochimaru drew her to her feet and made her repeat the motions for the summon over and over, putting chakra into it, and only lacking the essential blood to activate it; the wound had already sealed.

Once Anko had the motion down flawlessly, the pale ninja thrust a kunai at her in mid-form, breaking the skin on her finger. She howled in pain, but he shunshined behind her, forcing her to finish the motion and sending a surge of his own chakra through her. "Now we see who is worthy." and then he was gone.

"WHO DISTURBS MY SLEEP!?" a very large red snake hissed, his body large enough to encompass the clearing before looking down on the genin and laughing. "You must be strong or he wouldn't have made you sign, but unless you can best me, your contract ends here. Come little girl... I'm hungry!"

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Becoming chuunin was expected of Orochimaru's team. It was not surprising that they'd pass, though it was of little consequence to him. Mizuki's performance was promising but ultimately disappointing. What hadn't been expected was how each had performed in battle for the final part of the test. Mitarashi Anko displayed complete savagery in her fight and if anyone had been perceptive enough, they would have noted a slightly vacant look in her eyes. She was a driven individual, a sharpened kunai, a tool... a perfect shinobi. This was exactly what the sannin wanted.

Mizuki had been forced to spar against Iruka, which couldn't have been a better match up. The silver genin wanted to show his friend up, prove he was the best. Iruka began the battle with less resolve to win, until the ninja stars and kunai had begun flying. His increased speed and reflexes were now becoming apparent, as was the difference in physical strength between him and Mizuki.

In the end, Hoshino Mizuki was defeated. Despite using a number of illusions and using explosive tags and projectiles to slow his opponent, Iruka had not stood down. He hadn't acted in the way the silver-haired opponent wanted to. He pushed forward like a boar with its tusks brandished to throw away all opposition. Iruka was simply willing to risk more, as one of the blades reopened the wound across his nose. The scar tissue had just started mending, now it would have another dimension to it.

There was so much at stake, and yet nobody realized it. The still-genin Mizuki was now furious at the success of his friend. Another insult to him was that Iruka hadn't taken advantage of all his options. Anko had performed better, but their sensei had offered his home to both his chuunin, with Iruka turning him down. 'How... how could he?' It just made things easier for the snake, who enjoyed the way the team was now pitted against itself. Only Anko was above their petty fight, but then again... under his influence, she wasn't exactly herself either... something they wouldn't notice until it was too late.

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This would be the only Christmas for years to come that would make Naruto happy, but one he ultimately wouldn't remember for being so young. Jiraiya had thrown a party for Iruka and his class for passing the Chuunin exams, so the boy was involved with things too. If there was one thing the Toad sannin knew, it was partying. Even without women and wine, you could have song!

Offbeat and out of tune carols echoed loudly from the apartment, with neighbors yelling at the crew to "KEEP IT DOWN ALREADY!" Fugaku didn't feel like ruining the festivities, so the Konoha police stayed out of it... though he did drop in for some eggnog.

"Throwing a party for some children? This isn't like you Jiraiya." The stern Uchiha leader said calmly, receiving his cup of the drink. It was surprisingly nonalcoholic.

"Ehh, well the gaki's been helping me out. Besides! I've been his acting sensei, so I thought he deserved something!" The wild-haired man smiled broadly. "Enjoy enjoy!" It was nice to have something to celebrate for a change. His eyes washed over the ones present, some were orphans from Konoha O, but more of them were fellow genin and freshly minted chuunin. They were all enjoying the party poppers which exploded glitter and streamers all over the apartment. Jiraiya grinned, 'This'll be great training tomorrow...'

Mizuki's absence would have bothered Iruka, but he had something else on his mind, heading into the nursery room for little Uzumaki. "Hiya!" he smiled broadly at the child who sat up and smiled directly at him. A box was set inside the crib that was bigger than he was. "Go ahead, tug at the paper and ribbon."

It only took a moment for the kid to get the idea, and with his little hands, he grabbed and ripped at the paper while his big brother laughed at the scene. There was some sort of grunt of unfairness as there was no way he'd ever open the box that had been beneath the bright red paper.

"That's good enough Naruto." Iruka winced a little as he went to rub the side of his nose, and could still feel the wound Mizuki had given him. His nose once again had a bandage across it and he both sighed and laughed over it. What were the chances? He opened the box for Naruto and set the contents in a pile. "Some of it's used, but I don't have a lot of money you know? Sensei said he'd buy me an apartment since I passed the test. Anko did a lot better than me so she actually gets to live with him. His apartment's across town though."

There was a blue blanket for the boy himself and it matched his bright eyes. There was also some baby clothes as well, all of it bright orange and trimmed white. Some of it was quilted to keep him warm, but there were larger shirts and jumpers anticipating his growth. Still, the boy dug in a pile and pulled back something not meant for a baby at all, a set of aviator type goggles set into a leather band.

"Huh? How'd that get there?" Iruka stared at the object the babe had, wondering if it'd gotten into the clothing at the checkout or something by accident. He tried taking it away from Naruto, but he began crying. 'Damnit... can't take it back even if I want to' "Ahh! Okay okay! It's yours Naru... But it's way too big for you now!"

The babe didn't seem to care and giggled, falling back into bed, the goggles ridiculously slung over his shoulder. The young Chunin gathered up his things and put them away, finally laying the blue blanket on him before returning to the others. He might have been happier for Naruto than himself at that moment, but such things never seem to last...