damned_institute | Day 40: Recreational Field

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Day 40: Recreational Field

Kio's breakfast ended on a much happier note than it had started. However, for once the announcement truly surprised him. He blinked as his nurse came to pick him up. Recreational Field? But.. but if they had a greenhouse, he wanted to go there. The prospect of gardening was a truly liberating one, an island of joy in this hellhole. He thought about going to the Sun Room and lying down, but it occurred to him that he hadn't had proper fresh air since being here. With a cheery goodbye wave to Honey, he followed his torturer outside.

It was much better than he had expected. The sun wasn't too hot (what time of the year were they in, anyway?), so he walked slowly along the walls, fascinated by the size of the field. He wondered if Sou-chan was alright. He hadn't even checked the board. Well, if Soubi wanted to apologize, Kio would be willing to listen. The place was so crisp and clean. He had to think if anyone had ever gone over the walls. What was out there? Freedom? Or a different sort of monster?

Leaning against one of the walls, Kio took as much advantage of the sun as he could. He desperately wanted a lollipop. One was quietly nestled in his pocket, but he would need to wait until the nurses were busy with other patients before he tried anything. Soubi had gone to some trouble to get them, the least he could do was make sure they didn't get confiscated. So with bated breath, Kio waited for a shift in the mood. He was, for once, content. Not happy, but not going crazy either.

[Sou-chan! Team Loveless deploy!]

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"Pain, the leader of Akatsuki," Jiraiya stated easily, arms still crossed.

He was watching to see Sasuke's reactions, and so far, Sasuke was keeping himself under control. Perhaps the information could distract him from his anger, if even only momentarily. There was some more information that he wanted to share before asking Sasuke what he truly wanted.

"He's a Rinnegan user," he continued, knowing that Sasuke have a general knowledge of what that meant. "His power was such that I didn't stand a chance, once he decided to kill me."

Jiraiya paused for a moment, then decided to say it, "Which makes only one Sannin left, the Godaime Hokage."

The leader of Akatsuki, huh? Strong enough to take down a Sannin -- perhaps that was why Itachi worked for this person. What Jiraiya said next confirmed it.

... although hadn't the Rinnegan gone extinct? Sasuke hadn't heard of any users in the current generation, and surely anyone with that prized of a doujutsu have attracted attention even before rising to fame as the leader of Akatsuki.

Strange. And even stranger was the fact that Jiraiya was still offering information that he didn't have to give. Sasuke ended his pattern and was about to move on to the next when Jiraiya said something that gave him pause. Only one Sannin left, the Godaime Hokage.

That meant Orochimaru was dead. The last Sasuke had known, he was still relatively strong, even if he was already deterioriating somewhat for want of a new body. In fact, the last Sasuke had known, Orochimaru had just finished a fight with a four-tailed Naruto that was almost less fight than a game. How had he died -- had Sasuke's plan gone successfully?

"Is that so?" He asked, keeping his tone carefully neutral. "Both you and Orochimaru are gone, then."

"Yes," Jiraiya agreed, wishing he had a tree to lean against or something similar. "The difference is that the devices in Naruto's eyes let him see what happened only minutes before my death. He hasn't seen what happened to Orochimaru, but who knows what event in the 'future' he'll see next."

Sasuke was definitely interested now, although probably suspicious as well. After all, Jiraiya was giving him a lot of information and not asking for anything in return. The Sannin would've been suspicious of himself if he didn't know his own motives.

"I know from the others that Naruto will train with the toads," Jiraiya stated after a long moment of thought. "If he completes the training, he might be the only one in Konoha that stands a chance against Pain."

In Konoha. That was an important addition, especially considering Sasuke. The last thing Jiraiya wanted to do was evoke Sasuke's inferiority complex. When it had reared its ugly head the last time, it nearly killed Naruto.

That was enough prologue, though. Now it was time to get to the actual 'story' he wanted to discuss with Sasuke. Or, truthfully, a certain character.

"But that's not why I wanted to talk to you," Jiraiya stated, unable to hide a bit of a grin from his voice. "I wanted to talk to you about the person that killed Orochimaru."

Naruto had been given the ability to see the future? Sasuke's concern about the possibility of compromising of the Sharingan grew, a cold knot forming in the pit of his stomach. What the hell had the doctor said exactly, that they had ways of manipulating what they could learn from his genetic information?

-- he had tensed without even realising it. Sasuke forced himself to relax and : no matter what his concerns were regarding the possibility of having failed to protect the Uchiha even in this simple way, there was no way he could reveal that to Jiraiya. Like matters between Sasuke and Itachi, this was a private matter; a matter of clan.

Fortunately Jiraiya provided plenty of other problems to consider. If Naruto had already seen one major event in his future, then he was likely going to see another. That could prove to be an annoyance.

And ... the Sannin revealed a confidence in Naruto that was more interesting than anything else. Sasuke expected a certain amount of bias on Jiraiya's part, and indeed on any Konoha-nin's; Naruto was the man's student, after all. And Sasuke could admit that Naruto was capable of a certain amount of progress, although he also knew first-hand that Naruto had a habit of tossing all of that aside in order to chase ridiculous goals and forfeit dreams that might actually allow him to improve. Defeating Pain, though, was probably far-fetched.

At least for Naruto as he was now, as Sasuke had last seen and assessed him. Definitely not remotely strong enough to stand a chance in real battle against a consummate shinobi the likes of the leader of Akatsuki doubtless was. But Jiraiya mentioned further training (with the toads? Orochimaru had mentioned something like that before, but he'd dismissed it as something unimportant at the time); perhaps that was supposed to be the cause?

It was indeed a lot of information, and Sasuke still had his reservations about accepting all of it as true -- but in the next moment Jiraiya revealed that he had indeed been trying to smooth the path into his real topic of interest.

Which was something that Sasuke, to his considerable irritation, had no concrete knowledge about. He didn't like admitting to knowing that much less, especially when Jiraiya had just provided that much information (it smacked too much of a debt), but there was no way to get around the fact that Sasuke only had guesses.

Or a guess; the only person he knew to be planning to kill Orochimaru with an actual chance of success was ... well, it was himself. And if he could confirm that he had, in the future that Jiraiya knew, then he could extrapolate what had likely happened, if it had gone to plan.

"What about the person who killed Orochimaru?" He asked finally, tone perfectly neutral as he carefully stored the other information away for future consideration.

Ah, good. Sasuke wasn't horribly angry anymore. Which meant that they could really get to the meat of the discussion.

"I was curious... on why he was able to kill Orochimaru, but was unable to kill an almost defenseless Naruto. And why he would free all the prisoners in one of Orochimaru's hideouts." Jiraiya grinned a bit more. "Almost sounds like a decent guy, if you ask me. The only person he killed being a bad guy and all...."

Sasuke might have killed others, but Jiraiya was focused on one particular death. Even if he hated what Orochimaru had become, and some part of him still cared for Orochimaru, it was still a relief to know Orochimaru wouldn't be hurting anymore people. Jiraiya had Sasuke to thank for that.

"Sounds kinda like a guy that'd even help save a former teammate without being asked," Jiraiya let his voice trail off, but it was hard to hide his general amusement.

Jiraiya might have been amused, but Sasuke was almost too busy absorbing and trying to process information to notice. There was no doubt now that from the point Jiraiya had been taken, Orochimaru had been killed by Sasuke. And if all had gone to plan, then -- yes, the prisoners would have been freed. Sasuke had no intention of taking up Orochimaru's role as kage, so there would have been no point in keeping them around.

As for the only person Sasuke had killed ... doubtless Jiraiya had been a shinobi long enough that he should have known that by now Sasuke had killed more than one person, but Sasuke let that go. It was obvious the Sannin was focusing on the death of his former teammate to the exclusion of all else.

Actually, it sounded more like Jiraiya was focusing on Sasuke in general. And everything he was saying pointed to ...

Someone who was trying to rationalise the decisions Sasuke had made and turn him into a 'decent guy'. Damn it, Sasuke had expected this from everyone but the Sannin -- it was more than clear that there was no love lost between the man and the student who was to kill his former teammate. Why would Jiraiya bother with such speculation?

Some confusion coloured Sasuke's tone when he spoke next, although the overriding sense was still one of irritation hidden under the carefully cold voice: "Get to your point. If you are trying to ask a favour of me, I don't do things for charity, but I'm willing to exchange."

Jiraiya smirked, arms still crossed. So Sasuke knew he wasn't quite to his point yet. Well, at least the kid was following him, and not outright attacking what Jiraiya said.

Even if he still didn't trust Sasuke, Naruto did. And that was what mattered in this case. Because Naruto still cared about Sasuke.

"It's about Naruto," Jiraiya finally admitted, his face growing serious. "He's... been through a lot these past few days. Naruto will heal and grow stronger, but for now..."

Jiraiya sighed, letting a bit of worry creep into his voice on purpose. "Don't push Naruto too much. I'm not stupid enough to think you'll be nice to him, and he's not a weakling that needs that sort of thing from you, but you're one of the few who can hurt him."

His eyes narrowed as he looked down at the Uchiha. "Naruto would be quite upset if I broke you after you broke him."

... ah, so that was it. Sasuke should have figured it out earlier. Jiraiya was concerned about his student, and given what Landel had recently done to Naruto he doubtless had good reason.

To be more clear, Jiraiya was concerned that Sasuke might -- might what, exactly? Surely the man didn't think Sasuke would be so pathetic as to actually try attacking Naruto when he was especially weak? Sasuke might have betrayed the village and gone to Sound, might have let Landel blind him, but he hadn't completely lost his pride yet.

Evidently Jiraiya thought differently.

"I am not weak enough to need to bother those who are suffering," he said, the confusion gone but the irritation remaining.

Obviously, Jiraiya had to rethink what he was saying. Sasuke wasn't quite understanding what he was saying. Oh well, he wasn't exactly sure himself...

"I never said you were weak," Jiraiya stated with a sigh. "But it would be Naruto that bothers you, not the other way around."

He made an amused sound. "I'm working on catching Naruto up with his Kanji, a skill he'll need if he wants to become Hokage. ... In order to get him to focus on the lesson better, I told him that despite your blindness, that you were still better than him. He may come hunt you down in the near future to test that theory. ... So when he does, I'd appreciate it if you didn't completely brush him off, irritating as he may be."

What the hell? What would Naruto want with Sasuke at a time like this, when surely even the stupidest moron had to be smart enough to know to stick with the people who weren't likely to hurt him? Sasuke's confused frown deepened for a moment until Jiraiya's explanation became clear, at which point it shifted right back into irritation.

So the Sannin had been trying to make Naruto feel better by distracting him with a task, and he'd decided to drag Sasuke into it. Apparently no matter how few ties there were between them, any and all Konoha-nin simply had to find a way to drag Sasuke into everything. No matter how ridiculous the thing was, too.

It also didn't help that the only reason Sasuke's kanji might be better than Naruto's at this point was probably because he simply knew more; he had no illusions about his current handwriting. That it was even legible was good enough for him, especially given that Sasuke sure as hell didn't have time to waste with sitting around practicing kanji. In other words, all Jiraiya had done was provide Naruto a free session of gloating at Sasuke. Just what he needed.

"If he tries this, I will deal with him as I see fit," he said, stifling the annoyance. The unspoken message that Jiraiya wouldn't be able to dictate anything more specific than what Sasuke said next was clear. "But I won't 'break' him, assuming he is pathetic enough to be broken over such a small matter, as you request."

Not completely brushing off Naruto was probably a fair price to pay for the information Jiraiya had just provided. (In the future, Sasuke noted to himself, he was going to need to ask the Sannin what he wanted right away, instead of trying for any kind of civility. Kakashi's demands be damned.) Nonetheless --

"And in the future," voice cold enough by now to frost over the grass of the field. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't involve me in matters between you and your student without asking my permission first."

Well, that was actually better than he had hoped, actually. Sasuke said he wouldn't completely treat Naruto horribly, and Jiraiya could work with that. He shrugged, even if Sasuke couldn't see it, and didn't seem too concerned about the coldness in Sasuke's voice.

"What was I supposed to do when he asked if you knew your Kanji?" Jiraiya asked in amusement. "Tell him that you were horrible at it? He would've definitely come to gloat then. He still looks up to you, despite everything that's happened. Regardless of how you view yourself at the moment--not that I'm interested at all about that--Naruto still views you as strong, and that he must grow stronger to be at your level. You not being able to see at the moment doesn't change that."

Jiraiya paused for a long moment in thought. Truthfully, considering how many people were probably healers in this place, it was surprising that Sasuke was still blind. Was there the same sort of force preventing Sakura from fixing his eyes, like there had been with Naruto's? Of course, they'd need to transplant new corneas in order to do so, and they'd have to have corneas to transplant in the first place. But still, if Sasuke was stupid, not even that option would be available to him.

So Jiraiya spoke his mind about that. "... Not to mention that alienating him and Sakura would be a bad decision. Sakura's one of the few who could restore your eyes with the right 'materials'."

That Naruto was still concerned about what Sasuke's skills were in such an insignificant field wasn't at all flattering in any way, especially since Sasuke honestly couldn't care less what the hell that idiot thought about him. It was definitely more annoying, and almost certainly going to cause problems for Sasuke in the future.

And what Jiraiya was saying essentially amounted to Fuck you, Naruto matters more. Which was fair; Naruto was Jiraiya's student. That didn't make it any less of a pain in the ass that he'd stuck Sasuke into these ridiculous lessons without Sasuke's consent.

"You should have told him the truth," Sasuke snapped. Tension had crept up his back without his realising it, anger beginning to spark closer to the surface. "That you didn't have a damn clue about me."

Sasuke might have been content at leaving the conversation there -- as far as he was concerned, any legitimate claim Jiraiya had on his time had been fulfilled -- except the Sannin kept talking, in a way that made it clear that he thought he was saying something new and interesting. Evidently he, too, felt some burning need to try to make Sasuke play nice. The difference was that Kakashi's words, at least, had actually held a certain amount of weight.

It didn't help the anger already building up again, so it was with a certain amount of effort that Sasuke resisted the urge to tell the man to mind his own damn business and instead ignored the statement. "I believe this conversation is over, unless you have anything of actual interest to say."

It was a clear dismissal, Sasuke turning away and starting to centre himself to start another pattern.

Oh dear, Sasuke was getting angry again. That wasn't anything new, though. Jiraiya was pretty much already used to it.

"If I had told him that I knew nothing, he would have hunted you down immediately. And an assumption of you having better Kanji than Naruto isn't much of a stretch," Jiraiya commented, sounding amused still. "But this way, you at least get an advanced warning."

At any rate, it was probably better to leave Sasuke alone now, before Sasuke did something stupid. Making Sasuke his enemy would only cause trouble for both him and his student in the long run, anyways. Even if Sasuke was amusing when angry.

Except, of course, when an angry Sasuke was stabbing you with nails. That was somewhat less amusing.

"I'll let you go," Jiraiya was still grinning as he turned to walk away. "But you should really learn how to relax a little. You'll die young if you don't."

Sasuke was increasingly coming to understand why Orochimaru seemed to have found Jiraiya so amusing. Aside from the fact that, judging by the stories, he was just an older and more obviously perverted version of Naruto, the man apparently had a total inability to realise when he had caused someone else trouble. That he clearly did not recognise that fact -- in fact sounded kind of proud about it, or at least highly entertained -- made him stupid on top of it.

So much for the Sannin. Sasuke was rapidly beginning to think that it was possible the Fifth might be the only passable one after all.

Sasuke had no interest in catering to anyone's whims -- he'd refused to be Orochimaru's pet; he had no plan to be Jiraiya's entertainment.

"I'll give you a piece of useful advice in exchange your useless one," he said, not bothering to turn to face Jiraiya. Sounded like the man was walking off, anyway. "I may not be like your former teammate and take pleasure in the suffering of others, but you're a fool if you think I am anything but an enemy working with you by necessity.

"Deluding yourself into believing otherwise is only going to get your student hurt."

Jiraiya had been about ready to leave Sasuke to exercise by himself, but all that changed by the time Sasuke was finished speaking. The Sannin's footsteps came to a halt in the grass. Sasuke's response elicited a mixture of amusement and anger.

He stood there, trying to figure out what emotion was going to win out. Eventually, the amusement won out, but there was still anger underneath. Amusement because Sasuke had utterly failed to kill Naruto when Naruto was defenseless, and anger that Sasuke was actually 'threatening' to hurt Naruto.

"That's an empty threat," Jiraiya commented dryly, half-turning to look over his shoulder. "You didn't kill him at the Valley of the End, even after he was rendered unconscious. You didn't kill him at Orochimaru's lair, when he could barely stand, and nothing was there to stop you. You, without a moment's hesitation, went to rescue Naruto, and were even angry about it."

And then, he smirked a bit. "And if I remember correctly, it was you who offered an alliance first, without prompting."

Jiraiya turned fully and crossed his arms, continuing to speak, although the amusement was gone from his voice, "I'll give you a piece of advice for your useless one--if you're going to lie, at least make it believable."

Sasuke had expected that to be warning enough -- if Jiraiya gave a damn about Naruto at all, he really should have known by now that encouraging the fool to chase after his foolish notions was the worst thing a teacher could do.

But the 'proof' Jiraiya presented of Sasuke's harmlessness ... Sasuke halted the beginning of his first pattern and actually laughed. A short, cold expelling of breath and nothing more, but when he slid into the first air-strike his face was utterly expressionless.

The truth was that Sasuke had his story for his life and he'd told it to himself over and over, enough times that he could almost always rely on it without a flaw; even if the story was created after what happened, it was the only thing that could weave them together in a cohesive way. A coherent way: and it didn't allow room for what Jiraiya was suggesting, which was that Sasuke cared.

He didn't. Once, he had, but he'd learned better.

"Is that what you consider evidence?" He didn't even bother explaining each situation one by one. The old fool wouldn't get it. "I have no obligation to explain myself to you, but I will say this: Naruto's life means nothing to me. That I don't kill him is merely because I have little interest in causing pointless death."

Also because he had no intention of capitulating to Itachi's plans for his life, but Jiraiya couldn't understand that and Sasuke wasn't about to explain the Mangekyou to him. "If you think I offered alliance for any reason other than knowing from experience what those two are like in the Institute, you're more of a fool than I expected. And if you think I went that night for the purpose of rescuing him, you're not as adept with gathering information as you claim to be."

Sasuke spoke between quick, fluid movements: kata was designed not for fighting but training, for show, but it was easy enough to adapt it for useful purposes. Each strike against an imaginary opponent was enough to kill, and Sasuke hoped Jiraiya was aware of at least that much.

"Why did you give up on Orochimaru, Jiraiya of the Sannin?" Voice blank, expression blank, but deliberately picking at what was doubtless an old wound. "If you really want to help Naruto, you'll teach him that instead of blind hope."

Jiraiya let Sasuke speak his 'mind', not interrupting until he was finished. It was really interesting, really, the amount of denial that Sasuke was putting forth. Almost cute, actually.

"There's two fundamental differences between you and Orochimaru," Jiraiya stated. "One, you stated yourself--you don't 'take pleasure in the suffering of others'. Two, you don't experiment on innocent people--you even freed them. Even when that could possibly cause problems, and you're smart enough to have known that, but you risked it anyways."

"It took me a while to give up on Orochimaru--I kept on thinking he'd come back," Jiraiya continued, changing the topic somewhat abruptly. "So I counseled Naruto to do the same. He said he'd rather be a fool than to give you up. And, over time, I realized that you were indeed different than Orochimaru. You weren't evil."

Remembering about Orochimaru hurt, but it was an old hurt. Much older than the hurt Sasuke has stamped on Naruto's heart. It was something that wasn't going to easily rile the Sannin up with a mere mentioning of it.

"As for the last, you may have had other purposes as well, but when you spoke, it was primarily about Naruto," Jiraiya shrugged, sounding more amused. "You guarded our backs as we took him out of there. If you were after something more important than him, you wouldn't have stayed back."

And then, Jiraiya grinned wide. "If Naruto's death would be pointless, then you can't be considering him your enemy. So you didn't spare him on a 'whim' that second time, after all. Who was the act for, then--Orochimaru, in case he was watching? Or your former teammates, so that they would be less likely to go after you again after you killed Orochimaru and word got out?"

Sasuke had to wonder at the utter ridiculousness of what Jiraiya was saying. Was this man or wasn't he a famous shinobi -- one of the Sannin, renowned not just for their strength but for the fact of their age, the fact that they had survived well beyond the years an average ninja could expect out of life?

"Whatever differences there are between me and Orochimaru, we are both traitors to Konoha," Sasuke said coolly, enunciating clearly, almost as if explaining to a child. "Surely you are old enough to know that your enemy need not be evil to be your enemy. Such assumptions are for children."

Even Orochimaru, for all his experiments and the way he played with the lives of others, had ultimately been no more than human. That a Sannin could lose sight of such a simple fact was nothing more than sheer idiocy. Then again, proximity to Naruto did seem to cause that problem.

As for the night Naruto had been taken for the experiments -- Jiraiya had to think Sasuke was an idiot if he expected him to state his true intentions to the rest of them. Sasuke's opinion on that supposed 'fact' was more than clear when he paused just long enough between sets to raise an incredulous eyebrow at Jiraiya, pointedly not bothering to dignify such foolishness with an answer.

"I was a Sound-nin at the time," he said in response to Jiraiya's last piece of 'evidence,' actually allowing a hint of exasperation to creep into his voice. "It was only natural for me to ensure that intruders, particularly intruders sworn to capture me, were scared away from our territory. Nonetheless, they were of insufficient significance to be worth killing; deterrence was good enough for shinobi of that level."

Without giving pause for Jiraiya to respond, Sasuke continued, voice shifting to something more plainly serious again: "I am not sure whom you are trying to convince here, Jiraiya. Either way, you would do better to remember that I am not someone you want to teach your student to depend on. If you are trying to take care of Naruto, there are things a good deal more useful than wasting your time trying whatever it is you are here."

Jiraiya still looked amused. Sasuke was getting not-so-angry again, even exasperated. The boy's level of denial, however, was particularly amazing.

"Talking about good and evil... probably is the romantic in me." Jiraiya shrugged, but was still grinning.

The comment about 'scaring' away intruders actually made Jiraiya laugh, but he let Sasuke finish before he replied to that.

"You should know better than I that Naruto isn't easily 'scared off', and that he'll keep on following you as long as both of you continue to breathe," Jiraiya sounded a bit exasperated himself at that, but mostly amused. "I can't dissuade him if he decides to rely on you, but it'd be best if Naruto didn't rely on you. You're not exactly the type that can support people in the way he needs now. I suppose he'll eventually figure that out, but it might take a while. So that's why I made sure you knew his state of mind, because you might miss the cues yourself."

Tch, at least the Sannin was willing to admit that it was foolish romanticism to consider allies and enemies in strict terms of black and white -- though Sasuke had to wonder, if Jiraiya was aware of the idiocy inherent in such a thing, why the man had bothered to mention it at all. He'd thought that he understood Jiraiya's goals here, and he did understand the overall idea behind what the Sannin was doing, but the logic behind the way he was going about this made little to no sense to Sasuke.

If the Sannin was attempting to keep Naruto out of harm's way, he would have done much better focusing on that fool instead of trying to somehow convince himself that Sasuke was 'good.'

At least what the man said next made sense in context of his stated objectives. Even Sasuke couldn't argue with Jiraiya's assertion that Sasuke was unlikely to pay attention to emotional cues from Naruto, if only because he rarely made a point to pay attention to Naruto in general.

Because he couldn't afford to -- more trouble that it was worth for everyone involved.

"You made me aware from the beginning," Sasuke said coolly. "There was no point belabouring all these other irrelevant points. Don't bother wasting your breath and definitely stop wasting my time with such things."

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Day 40: Recreational Field

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