Naruto: Legacy Undone

He cursed, dropping from the higher canopies, rushing to get away.

He was getting careless!

His ears twitched, hearing the distinct sound of a blade cutting through wind, headed straight for him.

His hand lashed out, finding a solid grip on a branch that snapped with his momentum but was just enough to divert him from the kunai's path before he hit the ground with a roll.

He was about to look up when he was forced to yank his hand back, narrowly avoiding the deadly, venom laced bite of the little lizard that had been lying in wait there.

He detected the illusion being thrown over his senses, and dispelled it a second too late, the impact came, literally from nowhere, a brutal hit that snapped his head and neck back, dispelling genjutsu that had been placed over him in time to see that spinning dervish of a weapon being thrust down to gore him as he fell.

He hit the ground and kept going, sinking beneath the surface as the weapon buried one of its four blades into dirt and rock rather than flesh and bone.

He sensed the danger lying just beneath him a second before it came.

With an explosion that sent him flying back up into the tree line with half the forest floor he barely had time for his eyes to adjust to the light of day before that light was quickly eclipsed by a monster.

Eight limbs latched onto him, fangs piercing flesh and fabric to inject a paralyzing neuro-toxin into his blood stream.

Then he vanished, replaced by a log.

An alarm rang.

"What!? Are you kidding me!" Ryoko's shout of outrage could be heard back in the Konoha proper.

Kyofu marched out of the shadows in the forest, barely a whisper of sound to announce her movement. Though she said nothing, the expression on her face spoke volumes towards her displeasure.

"Better luck next time." The sannin drawled, stepping out of his own hiding place, face placid and calm as he faced his two fuming students.

"We were so damn close that time." Ryoko hissed

"Close doesn't count." He drawled. "Almost, cutting someone is about as useful as a glass hammer." He jerked his head, indicating the village. "Go on. We're done for the day."

They obeyed, with Ryoko giving off a mocking salute before she turned to leave.

Orochimaru waited for them to be well out of earshot before he allowed his shoulders to sag, taking in a deep breath as he sat down, pulling his shirt to reveal the two holes that had punched into his flesh.

He was getting old...

Or he was a better teacher than he wished to be.

At eighteen and twenty one respectively these children should still be years away from beating him.

But they'd gotten close today...

Sarutobi had once told him a person is measured by the quality of the adversity.

He wondered if that was more a complement to his students or him at this moment.

He grunted, standing up with something between a growl and a groan

Six years ago they were just the gennin of team eight...and not even the most promising ones at that.

The last thought brought a curl to his lips in a bitter sneer as he made his way back towards the village proper.

-0-

She opened her eyes that morning and remained in bed, staring up at the ceiling.

It almost felt surreal to be honest.

So many just left so quickly...

She took a breath sat up on her bed and began getting herself ready for the day, brushing out her shoulder length dark hair. The one vanity she allowed herself really.

She smiled, remembering how it'd been a fight tooth and nail to convince her to keep it.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

It slid open to reveal Kaza, one of the servants.

The older woman bowed.

"Lady Kurotsuchi would you like your meal brought to you today or will you be eating in the dining room?"

"I'll head out." The Iwa princess answered reaching towards her kunai pouch and other weapons. "Tell them I'll be down in a few."

The woman nodded, bowing again.

-0-

The thundering beat of horse cloves drummed through the morning mists of the Konoha forest.

A column of a good two dozen men was the guilty party, with one man in a suit of carved wooden armor, a standard bearer, and another in heavy robes of orange and green, riding at its head.

"Koutou-sama!"

The man in the wooden armor pulled back on the reigns of his horse, stopping as the scout galloped back. "The way is clear my lord, the Sandaime-sama has sent out his escorts behind me.

The Daimyo looked up to the trees, wondering if he'd catch a glimpse...he doubted he would.

"We have made good time yes? I am thinking we will make it in time for lunch."

The Daimyo, with more salt than pepper in his beard now, chuckled. "All you think about is food Rahman."

"This is not true. I think of many things. It is merely easier to think of these other things when I am red faced and full."

Koutou shook his head, smiling. It had not sat well with some members of the noble court that he'd appointed a foreigner as the head of his personal- non shinobi -guard, but to those he would challenge to find a better duelist or a sharper eye.

Rahman's father had been a soldier once, hired as a mercenary during the second war and being appointed as a captain by Koutou's own father after the man had distinguished himself during the last year of fighting.

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