Expensive perfume and rot
“The thing about powerful people.” Kakashi sensei told him once, “Is that they’re used to getting what they want. When they make you offers be careful. They expect you to say yes, they think it’s only their due. They don’t like to be told no, so if you say it, you’d best be prepared to back it up. It makes them dangerous, you never know what lengths they’ll go to, to get the answer they want. But remember, it also makes them weak. People never look as closely as they should at things they expect, and it’s when people aren’t paying enough attention, that they are most vulnerable.”
Sasuke remembered that conversation as he faced down the full squad of monsters Orochimaru had sent after him, loyal, and deadly, and twisted in a way that made his skin crawl. Just saying no wouldn’t be enough that much was obvious. Orochimaru was too powerful to be willing to let him say no and he wasn’t strong enough to make it stick, not against all four of them. He was good, but he was only a genin, only human, and they were monsters, that stank of surgical spirits, and rot. If they wanted to just take him, he wouldn’t be able to stop them, they were stronger than him, they outnumbered him. But he remembered Sakura in the forest of death, remembered tears, and a knife, and three dead enemies. Strength didn’t always mean victory, and there was more than one way to win a fight.
They wouldn’t listen to a no, but, they did want him to say yes. They wanted him to agree. Maybe to make their getaway cleaner, maybe for some kind of mind games, he didn’t know, it was Naruto who had a gift for reading people. All he knew was they wanted his co-operation and that was a weakness he could exploit. If there was one thing Kakashi sensei had made very clear it was that the greatest weaknesses a person could carry were the things they wanted. It was as true of Orochimaru as it was of Sasuke himself. And Orochimaru expected that Sasuke would do what he wanted.
So he gave them what they wanted, what they expected. He fought them and lost, let them prove their strength and then agreed to follow them in exchange for that strength, and it worked. They believed him. It was terrifying to think that had things been different, had he been more reckless, it might even have been true. They left him alone, with instructions on where to meet them and he had to hold back a sudden wave of hysterical laughter when they left. Left him free to move against them, because he lied to them, because he promised them what they wanted, what they expected, and they believed him. Victory in the appearance of defeat, and he’d never known how powerful lying beaten in the dirt could feel.
When he felt able to move again he went to the Anbu, and reported the incident. Told them Orochimaru had tried to kidnap him, that he’d had to lie and agree to meet with them in order to get away, that they were at least jounin level if not higher. He was valuable, he knew that much, the village would fight to keep him, and a smart ninja knew when to let other people do the dirty work.
When the sound four returned, his bone masked bodyguards were waiting.
…
“You know, Kakashi sensei warned us about you.” Naruto said casually, in a tone he’d learned from too many lessons he half wished he’d never been taught. Jiraiya had swooped in that morning with grand promises about teaching and secret jutsus. Naruto would be lying if the thought of a secret jutsu from one of the legendary Sannin didn’t interest him, but he still didn’t like the way Jiraiya looked at him, through him, eyes full of a grief that had nothing to do with Naruto himself.
Still, he really had nothing better to do, with his team otherwise occupied. Kakashi sensei was off no-one knew where, Sakura was shopping or so she claimed, and Naruto wasn’t going to challenge her on it when he still had his own secrets, and Sasuke was in the library again, they might be getting on better these days but that didn’t make Naruto any fonder of reading. He had nothing better to do so when Jiraiya invited him to tag along for the day, he’d figured why not.
For some reason they’d ended up outside the hotsprings, spying on naked women, the the thick scent of expensive perfume choking his sense of smell. He really shouldn’t have been surprised. He was sure that when he was a bit older he’d probably appreciate the view, but as it was he was bored, and a little annoyed. So he decided to push a little, see how far his instinctive understanding of people could get under the skin of someone who was so strong as a ninja, but, he suspected, weak as a person.
“Oh, and what did he had to say?” There was a studied indifference to his tone that told Naruto, Jiraiya was actually listening very closely. Jiraiya san didn’t trust Kakashi sensei, tha much wasn’t unexpeted. A lot of the older ninja didn’t. Sakura said it was probably because he was from Kiri originally, Naruto thought it was more because he reminded people of things too true to be comfortable, Kakashi sensei said that those were just two sides of the same thing. But Jiraiya wasn’t exactly suspicious of Kakashi sensei either, not the way some ninja were, and it was probably because he saw a lot of the same truths Kakashi sensei saw, even if he pretended he didn’t. Naruto was pretty sure Jiraiya was a lot smarter than he pretended to be.
“He said you were very strong, and experienced, but kind of a flake.” Naruto was paraphrasing, but that was basically what Kakashi sensei’s warning boiled down to, and it would be interesting to see Jiraiya’s response to the analysis.
“Do you really think you ought to be repeating that? Some people might take offense.” The man had a point, and usually he wouldn’t repeat Kakashi’s warnings so carelessly. But as accusations went it was fairly innocuous, and if he was reading Jiraiya right he wouldn’t take offense.
“Nah, it’s fine. If you cared about people thinking you were a flake, you wouldn’t put so much effort into being one.” Naruto grinned wide at Jiraiya’s surprise, it was a common enough reaction. People didn’t expect insight from the dead last. “I’m good at reading people.” he shrugged, in response to Jiraiya’s intent look.
Jiraiya was quiet for a while after that, he pretended to be distracted by the view on the hotsprings, but Naruto knew better than to fall for it. Naruto had put him off balance, and now he wasn’t sure how to respond. He wondered if this was how Kakashi sensei felt, when he managed to utterly undermine people’s expectations.
“What makes you think I put effort into being a flake?” And now Jiraiya was looking at him, trying to read him, and it felt like a victory that the man no longer looked at him and saw a ghost.
“Why else would a ninja of your level let himself get caught spying on women at the hotsprings?” He allowed himself a smug grin.
“Alright brat. You have my attention. Is that what you wanted?” It looked like the legendary toad sage got irritated when called out on his bullshit. Useful, a crack in the mask, if he wanted answers now was the time to push. He might not be booksmart, like Sakura, or Kakashi sensei, but he knew people, and his instincts told him Jiraiya had answers he needed, even if he didn’t know what the questions were.
“I want to know who you’re seeing when you try and look at me.” It was a guess as much as anything, but he wiped all traces of a smile from his face and voice as he asked it, and the way Jiraya crumpled told him he was on the right track.
“You weren’t lying about being good at reading people were you brat?” And there was old old grief in Jiraiya’s eyes, “You remind me of my student in some ways. You look just like him.” Jiraiya sighed then, with a trace of self-mockery “But I suppose in the end you’re different people. Minato could never have broken me down so easily, he was always smarter about jutsu’s than people. You look a lot like him, but you’re not him. In the end I guess there are no second chances.”
He looked so sad as he said it that Naruto almost felt sorry for pushing but what you didn’t know could get you killed. Naruto had learned that from Mizuki and his hate long before Kakashi sensei had ever said it, and he knew in his bones that this secret was important. Still he’d pushed enough for one day. What Jiraiya had told him wouldn’t be enough for him to piece it together on his own, but Sakura and Sasuke would help if he asked and between them they would manage. Jiraiya looked tired and old and Naruto didn’t want to hurt him any further. So he changed the subject.
“Hey hey, would you teach me a cool jutsu?”
…
She’d told the boys she was going shopping, on the basis that it would probably keep them from following. It wasn’t exactly a lie. She just hadn’t specified what she was going shopping for. She was looking for useful allies, and she knew exactly where to start. She felt a little bad for lying, but she needed to be subtle, and the boys were not. It wasn’t entirely their fault, Sasuke was the last Uchiha, eyes were always on him, and as for Naruto, there was something the adults weren’t saying about Naruto and he had eyes following him too. She on the other hand, was the genin daughter, of civilian parents, interesting only in regard to her teammates. She wasn’t nearly so high profile and that gave her a freedom to move that they didn’t have. She wasn’t going to waste it.
That was why she’d challenged Nara Shikamaru to a game of shougi. She was losing of course, everyone lost to Shikamaru, but she was losing far less badly than most would, and she could tell she had his attention. He knew she wanted something, probably even had a few ideas what that might be, and that, more than anything was why she’d decided to speak to Shikamaru first. He was smart, she could explain things to him without ever saying them out loud, and some things were dangerous to say out loud.
“Things aren’t quite what I expected them to be when I graduated.” She said softly as she made her move. It was an innocuous enough statement but from the sharpening of his gaze she knew he’d seen it for the opening gambit it was.
“Things rarely are. Promotion is… troublesome.” It was an agreement, a statement of support. It seemed like his chuunin promotion had come with some truths he wasn’t happy with.
“I worry about my teammates.” Careful be careful, just because Shikamaru was willing to talk didn’t mean no-one else was listening in. This might not be Kiri, with its secret police and constant fear, but a ninja village was still a ninja village, and Kakashi sensei had made sure she knew how to be careful.
“They are a rather troublesome pair.” Shikamaru studied the board. “Disaster just seems to follow Naruto around, and we all know what’s after Sasuke. But then, I suppose they are classmates, we have to be supportive.” He knew then, possibly even more than she did, if his hints about Naruto were any guide, and that was a pretty clear offer of support. She wondered though, Shikamaru was smart, but his familiarity with the silent script of things not quite said was more than just instinct. She knew how to talk around things because of Kakashi sensei, who had taught Shikamaru.
“What’s it like training under Asuma sensei?” Sometimes the most obvious solutions were correct. Shikamaru made his move.
“Troublesome. But interesting. Asuma sensei spent a lot of time outside Konoha serving with the twelve guardian ninjas. It gives him a new perspective on a lot of things.” Ah, so that was it.
“Kakashi sensei has an interesting perspective on things sometimes too. Do you know he wasn’t actually born in Konoha.” From the flash of interest in Shikamaru’s eyes he hadn’t known that. It wasn’t surprising. Genin weren’t usually included in the shinobi gossip that was the lifeblood of a ninja village, too young and indiscreet to trust with the truly interesting tidbits, and generally not allowed into the bars or the chunin and jounin lounges that were the heart of the networks.
“Kurenai and Asuma are dating you know.” Shikamaru offered in return. “Our teams train together sometimes. I think you’d like Shino. He’s quiet but smart, and he hears a lot.” That was very interesting knowledge, it seemed all three of this year’s genin teams were getting additional instruction of one sort or another. And if Shikamaru was sharing that kind of information with her it meant he was definitely interested in her support.
“We should all get together some time, have ramen or something, compare horror stories.” And her tone might make it sound like innocent overdramatisation but they both knew horror stories was a truer description than either would like.
“Aa. That would be nice. Ino would certainly like it. She misses you, even if she won’t admit it.” Shikamaru moved again, and she realised she’d lost.
“I miss her too.” She said softly before standing. “Good game. Same time again tomorrow.”
“Sure. You’re more of a challenge than most people.” And now she felt just a little less like a pawn and a little more like a player. She might not know the shape of the board, or the names of all those playing, but she’d made her move. She only hoped it would play out well.