Bab 37: Chapter 36
"No!" The man said pacing the room. "No!"
"Yes. You mentioned that." The other said in a lazy drawl smirking as he watched the elder pace the room like a caged animal, looking for all the world like he wanted to hit him for being so glib.
"Are you crazy? Or is it your personal job in life to assure I suffer a migraine every day?" There were few times the famed "God of Shinobi" could ever have been said to have lost his temper or raised his voice, but right now his voice was barely an octave below shouting.
"Maybe my need to give you a permanent migraine has driven me crazy?"
And now he figured he should really stop before Sarutobi decided one surviving student was enough for his tastes.
He opened his mouth then closed it, deciding to think a little more before he'd speak this time.
"What exactly is your objection?"
He figured he could get Sarutobi to line up the proverbial ducks for him to shoot down. But perhaps he should have chosen his words a bit better if the look of murder the old man was throwing him could be taken as an indication.
"My objection-" He spat. "-is that you're nominating team for the chuunin exams that barely has a week's time together, as a whole team. My objection; is that, not only by your reports but the gennin's statements, you've nominated them while only having taught them physical and chakra control exercises. My objection is that they've barely learned any team formations or jutsu since leaving the academy. My objection is that, despite these things not only did you-decide to go forward and nominate them for an exam by all accounts they seem woefully under-prepared for but that you've decided to drag them cross country to the single most hostile neighbor we have that's just as likely to try stabbing you and your students on sight as opposed to letting you into the gates, in order to do it!"
"Well if you're willing to say 'to hell with the treaty' and host an independent exam here I'll be more than happy to-"
"Stop. Treating. This. Like. A. Joke."
The snake let his mouth close, though the smile still remained.
"Alright then." He began. "First, the team barely has a weeks time together, this is true, but that's only true in terms of Kyofu. Naruto and Ryoko have been teammates for the full time the team has been in existence. And Kyofu is adjusting well to them and they to her. Three more months, which is about as much time as we have before the exams, should be enough to finish that."
He moved to continue before Sarutobi could start again. "I've taught them Taijutsu and assured that they can easily overpower any gennin in a hand to hand fight. Ninjutsu comes now, as I said we still have three months time to get their skills to a level that is adequate. Add to that two wind elements powering up a fire jutsu and most teams they face will be overwhelmed from that alone. The team formations and attack patterns they'll get from practicing their jutsu and tai-jutsu with me. It'll sharpen their focus, their handseal speed and coordination. They'll learn it quickly because with the physical exercises I've put them through before this, would already condition their bodies to handle extensive periods of strenuous activity. As for Iwa letting us in through the gate they can no more violate the treaty than you can without alienating any cooperation from any of the other villages. Ryoutenbin would destroy himself economically."
"You're not going." The old man's response was flat.
"You're being over-dramatic." The Sannin drawled.
"And you're getting on my nerves! Now get out. And if I catch one whiff of this stupidity again you don't wanna know all the hell I'll bring down on you. You don't get to play with the lives of your students just to up your own reputation! I know you get off on strutting around like you're smarter than the rest of the world but I thought I taught you better than that!"
The sannin huffed through his nostrils, closing his eyes. "Fine. Fine."
Just like that he stood and marched out of the office.
Saru watched him leave. Knowing his student far better than that.
That had been far too easy.
He was planning something else.
He just couldn't figure out what that something was.
-0-
The answer came to him a month later in the form of a letter.
It hit him like a brick.
It was a letter from the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni.
One that expressed his own personal excitement at the news that Orochimaru had not only taken a team, but was nominating them for the exams in Iwa.
One that also expressed the Daimyo's plans, that he would be traveling to view these exams personally in order to give a full show of support for the participating gennin, and for the Death Dealer of the last great war.
One that assured the Sandaime that, given the impossibility of his own attendance to the exams the Daimyo would do everything in his considerable power to make certain Iwagakure did not try anything untoward against the gennin, or their sensei.
He forced himself to sit in his office and wait for the anger to subside.
And yes that was putting it lightly.
When he finally pulled himself to his feet he told his secretary to postpone everything for an hour, signaled his guard detail to stay out of earshot then he marched himself across the village towards the training ground, taking deep breaths of his pipe as he nodded at the passer-byes that greeted him.
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