Sarutobi felt the ache in his soul as he walked towards his meeting. Every step felt as a small eternity as he tried to keep a kind face and a generous word. It was very hard, sometimes, to continue to act kind and doting at times like these.

"Come on! I really really wanna go! Can't we? It's literally right outside. We should go! I heard they had great food and there are these neat shows going on!" Konohamaru asked. Again.

"We can go after we've made sure that-"

"I'm amazing though! I'm not gonna get hurt. I'll protect you so we can just go!" His grandson continued.

Hiruzen gave a slight laugh. His grandson was cute, but he didn't take no for an answer and persistent enough to make his meetings feel like a welcome reprieve rather than a dull slog. That or he was just getting so old that paper work and meetings was just preferred to literally any moving.

"Not today, Konohamaru. I have meetings all day." He deflected. The new carnival was suspicious and he wasn't sure he wanted to let his ninjas go there; much less his easily kidnapped grandson.

"Tomorrow?" He whined.

Hiruzen sighed and gave his best smile. "I will see about maybe doing Saturday of next week."

"But that's like nine days away!" Konohamaru screamed. "I'll be the really lame kid that didn't get to go see it when everyone else goes with their parents!"

Hiruzen winced. It was not lost on him though that Konohamaru was not asking to go, but asking to go with him. This was about more than just going to a cool place. He had to do what he had to do though. It was unfair and it made him all the grumpier inside as he stated, "I'm afraid it's the best I can do."

"Fine! We can go all late and be stupid!" Konohamaru growled before darting away.

Were children always like this? Was it always so hard? Hiruzen gave another sigh. He'd make it up to him later. Maybe take him out for lunch and invite him over for a board game night. He always loved those board game nights.

Setting his shoulders, Hiruzen walked into a meeting with his most trusted allies.

And Danzo.

As he entered, he gazed about the room. Jiraiya, Danzo, Ibiki, Shikaku, and surprisingly Kakashi awaited him. He gave a gesture verifying his identity disguised as dismissive wave. Force of habit more than anything. He sat down in his nice comfortable chair and put family drama aside for politics.

He hated that it was a relief.

"Kakashi." Hiruzen stated as he began to set up his pipe for a smoke. "I did not expect you at this meeting."

"Sorry Hokage-sama. I said something to Jiraiya and he insisted on bringing me." The Copy Ninja stated as he gave an unamused look to the Toad Sage.

"You have some special insight on the-" Hiruzen paused to consider the right word. "The spectacle going on outside our walls?"

"Pure speculation. Not really worth mentioning." Kakashi continued in a bored tone.

Ah. Kakashi didn't want to talk about it. At least not here. Embarrassment? With Jiraiya being involved it seemed likely. Though Jiraiya also had his poker face on. Of all his students, it was, surprisingly, Jiraiya who was the best at gambling. In large part due to the fact that he could mask his emotions well. He just hated to do it.

The stoic face meant either grave things, or he was just doing it because Danzo was here.

The two did hate each other ever since Jiraiya put an entire can of glitter into Danzo's underwear drawer.

"Report. What have we found?" Hiruzen said, fully starting the meeting. Shikaku slid a paper on the desk towards him. It was a simple advertisement with font in bright and cheerful colors with a simple proclamation. "Otogakure's Friendship Extravaganza. Come see the greatest show on earth." He read aloud, growing more incredulous as he went.

"Yep. That's their stance. They have shows. Performers. Games. The major attraction is supposed to be some big play they do every night starting tomorrow all the way up to the first day of the Chunnin Exams." Shikaku stated.

"They filed all the paperwork to do this legally how?" Hiruzen asked, since he was sure that he would have caught something like that passing over his desk.

"The Daimyo of the Land of Rice is there and is the one that we signed the rights to make a tent there to. The people running it are his staff. The customers are guests. It's a bit of a loophole but it stands up enough that if we make a fuss about it it'll piss off some people." Shikaku answered in a tone that sounded both annoyed and impressed.

Hiruzen did recall signing off to allow a large entourage to come with the Rice Daimyo. They had all thought this was an attempt by the boy to appear important by bringing a lot of staff with him. Most child Daimyo go through that phase at some point. The chunnin exams was often a time for the daimyo to make connections with each other as well as find deals among merchants. It wasn't unusual for them to slip ninjas into stuff like this, but the scale of Oto's was attempt beyond the pale.

At the least he was impressed with their audacity.

"Any signs of them preparing to attack, besides the obvious?"

"None. Not a single exploding tag. Not an unseemly large amount of weapons gathered. No poisons. They all seem suspiciously unsuspicious." The Nara stated.

That could be a good thing though. It was possible that Oto came here to grandstand on their front lawn for just the infamy of having done it. It was exactly the sort of thing that could attract business to a small village. If they were to do it on a village, it would have to be Konoha as well.

"Ibiki. What did you get?" Hiruzen asked as he took a puff from his pipe.

"They had an odd response to aggression." Ibiki noted. "Some acted afraid, but not with the person being aggressive with them. Others seemed to find aggression funny, even if the aggressor was clearly much stronger than them."

"They have a stronger leader then?" Jiraiya spoke up with a guess. "If they were told to not start anything it would explain the fear. The confidence must be because they are sure that someone above them would step up and be stronger."

"That would be my guess too." Ibiki agreed. "They weren't hiding anything from us either. None showed any hesitation in letting us see their inventory. They are either the best village I've seen for wide spread emotional control or they don't think there is anything to hide."

Hiruzen glanced towards Danzo, expecting a response to that. The man was usually quick to point out that everyone had things to hide, but he remained quiet and passive. A more charitable mood from him than normal. That might make this meeting easier on all involved.

"Many ninja seemed to be making a specific and forced effort to be friendly as well. They are not particularly good at it, but it gives the image that they are attempting to deepen friendship." Ibiki stated.

"What about the individual ninja?" Jiraiya asked, "Have we begun to identify them?"

Shikaku threw a stack of folders on the table. "It's a mess. If they aren't unknown they are from a failed hidden village or were kicked out of their own village."

"Missing-Nin?" Sarutobi asked. The last thing they needed was a bunch of villages coming in to fight their missing nin right on Konoha's doorstep.

"No." Shikaku answered. "All of them are the kind of people kicked from the village but didn't have bounties on them. Meaning they pissed off someone higher up in their own village for some reason, but still have enough friends in village to keep the hunters away."

"Or they just weren't important enough to bother with." Jiraiya added.

"In your opinions, do you think we should prevent the people from going?" Hiruzen asked, getting to the heart of the issue.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"Give a disclaimer that it might not be safe. Then watch from a distance to make sure those people don't fall victim to something." Jiraiya stated. "This could just be them trying to get their name out. They are a new village."

"I'm against it." Ibiki answered. "Nothing matches up. This is too costly to just be an attempt at gaining recognition. There is a piece to the puzzle we are missing and I don't like finding those pieces at the cost of potentially civilian lives."

"If we forbid it too much they'll go on their own." Shikaku stated. "If we can post a time and place, people will be safer and we might figure out more. Make sure there are ninja posted inside the carnival during its operating hours so that they are available to react to threats."

Hiruzen took the information in. None of them said anything he didn't agree with. It was a complex decision and he wasn't certain where he wanted to fall on the decision quite yet. Though if anyone was going to convince him it was a bad idea, it would be Danzo. He had an ability to make a lot of things seem unappealing and negative.

"Danzo? What is your take?" He asked.

"I would have the information Hatake said before I speak." Danzo stated, giving the younger ninja a steely gaze.

Kakashi sat in the corner of the office, face buried in his book, not giving any indication that he heard Danzo.

"Speak Hatake." Danzo stated firmly.

Kakashi once again gave no reaction. Jiraiya meanwhile began to look immensely pleased.

Hiruzen suppressed a sigh.

"Please answer his question Kakashi." Hiruzen said.

"Hm?" Kakashi said, looking up. "Oh, sorry, I didn't hear him over the sounds of him not being in my chain of command."

This sent Jiraiya into an uproar of laughter and Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. That was an unusual amount of sass from the Copy Ninja. He usually made sure to not poke at things like Danzo if he could avoid it. What possessed him to respond like that?

"Kakashi." He stated warningly. He didn't need this meeting suddenly becoming unproductive.

"It's something my student said." Kakashi said flippantly. "It's just that and a gut feeling, but I think Orochitama might be involved with this."

Kakashi's answer sent Jiraiya into a fit of laughter and Hiruzen was almost tempted to join in. The idea that his former student would have anything to do with the loud, brightly colored, sweet smelling, and densely packed piece of barely controlled chaos outside their gates was ridiculous. Those were all things that Orochimaru hated beyond all things.

The last time he had been taken to a festival he stated he would sooner cut off one of his legs than go to another and had staunchly refused to attend any similar event since.

"Which student?" Shikaku asked seriously, undercutting Hiruzen's mirth.

"Naruto." Kakashi answered reluctantly.

"You would allow the failure to dictate your opinions?" Danzo sniffed.

"Why not? The Third takes your advice." Kakashi stated before turning a page in his book. The entire room looked at Kakashi in shock. Even Kakashi stopped for a moment as he registered what he said before sighing and speaking up before anyone else could. "Naruto at several points in the mission was able to predict her behavior where no one else could. He seemed to understand her on some level."

"There is no world in which Orochimaru would come within a hundred miles that loud music and bright colors. Hell, even that flier would physically pain him to see. No way he's involved." Jiraiya said dismissively

"But we know from Anko that something has happened with Orochimaru's soul." Ibiki pointed out, watching Danzo's face. The man gave no reaction to information that should have been new to him but was doubtlessly not. Hiruzen felt his gut churn at the mention. He had mixed feelings on that fact still. If something happened to the soul, in some sense, his student might already be dead. In others...maybe this would allow for a reconection?

He squashed those feelings. He couldn't afford them right now.

"The Uzumaki might be the closest we have to a character witness. Is he a good judge of character?" Ibiki continued his questioning.

"I-" Kakashi started then stopped. "I'm actually really not sure. I would say no off the cuff but he's shown bizarre insight multiple times. I really can't say."

"I concur." Hiruzen stated. "He has had strikes against him, such as with Mizuki, but at other times he saw things even others missed. His judgment is unreliable currently."

"We should allow some unimportant people into the carnival." Danzo spoke up, apparently coming to a decision. "If we did not do so we might appear cowardly to the other villages present. We must consider our image. Especially in front of the Daimyo and those coming for the exams. Check for illusions and if someone dies we will make them pay in return."

Hiruzen hadn't expected Danzo to fall on the side of allowing ninja to go to such frivolity, but his stated reason was true and did fit with Danzo's typical arguments. They had nothing but a hunch to imply a threat as great as Orochimaru might be involved.

Or, rather, Orochitama.

"Spread around that people can go, but we aren't sure it's safe. Keep Hyuuga and Inuzuka available to keep watch for anything suspicious during their hours of operation. Ibiki, see if you can find one of their ninja's that you can milk for information."

Nods came from all around the room and everyone stood up to leave. Kakashi quickly exited through the window. Obviously going out of his way to avoid going closer to Danzo. As the room cleared, Jiraiya approached him.

"So." Jiraiya began.

Hiruzen felt a smirk tug at the corner of his mouth.

"Can you imagine. Orochimaru. In charge of a circus." His student began to give a shit eating grin and Hiruzen couldn't help but let out a laugh of his own. "Coming in with the top hat and everything-" the man barely got out before devolving into laughter.

If this person wasn't Orochimaru and was involved in this debacle, his snake pupil was doubtlessly roiling in the Shinigami's stomach.

xxxxxx

I returned to Hidden Sound a short time after my trip to Hidden Waterfall. My time there had been quite productive. The longer the meeting went on the more I was sure that I had convinced him to join. If my team did well, it was unquestionable. If they didn't, I could still probably swing it my way.

"Orochitama-sama." Kabuto greeted me as I approached. "You're back sooner than I expected."

"Hidden Grass informed me that I would have to come back another time. I think they caught wind that I met with Hidden Waterfall and are pissy that I met with them first."

"I see." Kabuto answered. "I expected you to already have gone to Konoha as well."

"I could say the same. I expected you to already be there running interference with Danzo." I stated simply, casting a glance at him. The fact he was here could be a bad sign. It could mean I didn't have his loyalty as much as I-

"Kimimaro took a turn for the worse. I sent a message through secure channels to Danzo that will make him want things to play out for a while, but I didn't want to leave Kimimaro unless I knew he was going to be stable while I was gone."

"What?" I asked, stopping cold. "Is he stable now? Was it his platelet count? The red blood cells?" My voice growing faster and higher in pitch as I talked.

"His red blood cells." Kabuto answered, producing a chart and handing it over to me. "They began to crash. He's not in any great danger, but his blood is having trouble bringing things to his liver and he has no energy. It's not deadly, but if he got into a fight he would likely burn oxygen faster than his body could absorb it."

I looked over the chart and confirmed the information. All the while I could feel Kabuto's gaze on me. He was watching for something, I just couldn't say what.

"Why didn't you go to Konoha?" He asked, throwing me for a loop.

"I wanted to make sure things were fine here before I went. I'm glad I did, so I could see this." I answered simply as I poured over the charts.

I felt his gaze linger on me longer. I glanced up and his face looked pensive. Uncertain. He wasn't watching me for something now. He was judging if he should do something.

"Say what's on your mind." I said kindly, giving my best comforting smile.

"You left people here in charge. You had stated you were confident that the people here could run things while you were gone. You trust them enough to leave them running things for a month while you are out, yet you came back the same day." Kabuto stated slowly.

"Your point?" I asked, not seeing where this was going.

"You are avoiding going to Konoha." Kabuto stated in a voice bordering on soft.

My brow furrowed. "What? Don't be silly. This is my plan. I knew this would happen."

"You have avoided going to Tsunade as well." Kabuto continued. "Is it possible that you are avoiding your past teammates?"

I felt my temper spike at the insinuation and a snarl started to cross my face. How dare he assume the emotional weakness of-

I stopped. I had almost called Kusanagi out. Over a question about my health. That wasn't like me. I took a breath and centered myself. This was the bit in me that was still Orochimaru. Honestly, a bit of my old self too. Both of us had hated showing weakness. It was a sore spot. Where those sore spots aligned for my two aspects, violence wanted to leap out.

But I was better than that. So I stopped and I really thought about his question.

I had put off going to see Tsunade because I felt it would be emotionally exhausting. Was it the same for Konoha? Thoughts of the city itself didn't seem to stir anything in me besides a vague nostalgia. A slight longing for being able to stand up high in one of the trees near dusk in the fall. Orochimaru had fond memories of sitting up there with the cool wind's caress and the smell of wood-smoke in the air. Though that was all I really seemed to want to do in Konoha itself.

Then I thought of meeting Jiraiya again. Seeing his reaction to me would doubtlessly be amusing. He wouldn't know how to take things at all. Would he react with his typical perverse nature, or would he react with disgust?

The image was not entirely pleasant, but it wasn't the worst. It was emotionally heavy, for sure. However it was very possible Jiraiya wasn't even in the city. He did wonder a lot. So the one likely to meet would be Sarutobi-Sensei. He wouldn't know what to do with himself on meeting me. He'd probably stare dumbly and reject what was right in front of his god damn smug face-

Oh. Okay then. Maybe I was avoiding it. The memories of Sarutobi-Sensei were emotionally charged, but in a very distant and repressed way. Dealing with that in a way that wouldn't end in a fight was a trying thought. Throw in possibly seeing Jiraiya too?

"I think you are right Kabuto-kun. I think I had some repressed emotion I was letting effect me. Thank you for pointing it out to me." I said coming back to myself and giving my best nurturing smile.

Kabuto stared at me for a moment, coming to his own conclusion of some kind, and nodded. "You're welcome, Orochitama-sama."

Taking the new information into account while I smoothed out the nonexistent wrinkles in my floral dress as I made a decision. I was loath to let an emotion like anxiety or fear control me. I was better than that.

"I will check up on Kimimaro. Can I ask that you check on the Carnival in my stead?" I asked as I began to move, Kabuto falling in step behind me.

"Of course." He answered easily. Taking on responsibility easily was something he had been trained for. Usually to stab people in the back, but I was trying to avoid thinking about that bit at the moment.

"Where will you be going?" He asked.

"One of my precious subordinates is close to death." I flipped some of my hair over my shoulder as I marched with purpose. "I have to make a bet with a sucker."