Chapter 12: Defection

After entering the library, Fujin first entered section 0 and searched for chakra control scrolls. After searching for a few minutes, he finally found the right one.

After finding a place to sit he opened it up and started reading while thinking, 'I can now walk on walls even in my sleep! I need to try tree climbing a bit and then move on to water walking if I want to improve my chakra control even further. If anyone asks where I learnt these things, I can refer them to this scroll.'

The scroll mentioned leaf concentration, tree climbing and water walking. However what surprised Fujin was that a scroll was referred to at the end of the scroll which presented a theory to improve chakra control even further.

To satisfy his curiosity, he searched for that scroll and started reading it. After reading he analyzed, 'Interesting. The scroll proposes a theory that chakra could be used to counterbalance ourselves against the gravity itself. By applying as much force as Gravity applies on us, one could float, and ascend or descend by applying higher and lower forces respectively.

Still though, no one has successfully managed to do this. Even Tsunade in the series didn't have any such skill and her chakra control was the best there was in the whole series. As for others who flew like the 3rd Tsuchikage and the ones related to him, I think they used earth style to lighten themselves or something along those lines. I don't recall it properly. Anyways, this is an interesting theory. Maybe I could try it sometime later on.'

Keeping the scroll back, Fujin finally decided to get to his main task. He went in section E and grabbed the clone jutsu scroll.

On opening it, he found that this jutsu needed only 3 seals. They were Ram, Snake and Tiger in that order. He read the scroll further. After reading it he thought, 'I see. Even though the hand signs are only 3, a lot more has to be done internally. The hand signs only act as a guide. So just knowing the hand signs won't be enough to be able to do the jutsu. Guess that scraps all my plans for Shadow Clone jutsu. Anyways, I should start learning this jutsu.'

After memorising everything of importance regarding clone jutsu, he left the library. He went back to his apartment and started practicing the clone jutsu behind closed doors.

As expected, the jutsu was quite difficult. He had to make a couple of more trips to the library in order to read that scroll again. During one such trip he saw Genki watching him and smiling. He thought, 'I guess he misunderstood that I'm visiting the library to learn more about history and other stuff he covers in class. Well whatever, it's not a problem to me.'

He also temporarily scrapped his after academy routine and focused entirely on the clone jutsu. Only after he ran out of chakra would he take a break and meditate.

It took 3 days for him to be able to make his first clone. And he was horrified by it! His thoughts were, 'I never thought I'd make worse clones than Naruto!!'

Only after a week was he finally able to create a decent clone. He practiced it for another week to get the hang of it and could do it at a much faster pace.

After that, he started to learn the transformation jutsu. Transformation was going to be a critical technique for him. He planned to disguise himself in order to train outside in order to ensure that he didn't attract much attention to himself. It also doubles up as training for infiltration missions. In case anyone did catch him, he can use that excuse to get away.

It took him a week to pull off transformation jutsu properly to a certain extent. He had transformed into his classmates. However it wasn't entirely perfect. There were still a lot of imperfections. And that only in terms of appearance. He hadn't managed to transform his smell and chakra as mentioned in the scroll.

He thought, 'This is tough. Just getting the appearance right is very difficult. I guess I may be able to change the smell after a while, but perfectly replicating someone's smell will be difficult. Then again, if I recall right, even Naruto in chuunin exams wasn't able to replicate smell as Kiba was easily able to identify him due to his smell. So I guess it is rather difficult to pull off. Even the ones who pass the academy aren't expected to learn how to change the smell. I guess I can work around this by transforming into people from my previous life and using perfumes to mask my smell. That way at least disguising as a stranger would be doable.'

He continued with his practice. However, next morning when he woke up and started his morning workout, he noticed that the environment in the village seemed very tense. Despite it being so early, quite a lot of people were awake. And many ninjas were running around. And most of those ninjas had very solemn faces. Fujin wondered as to what happened.

After the class started, he noticed that a few of the kids from clans looked a bit tense. He approached Senju Teru and asked why they were so tense. Teru was surprised a bit and asked, "Didn't anyone tell you the news?"

Fujin was now really curious. He asked back, "Nope, what news?"

Teru stated seriously, "Yesterday night, one of the legendary sannins, Orochimaru betrayed Konoha and ran away from the village. He is now a missing-nin!"

Hearing that, Fujin became very serious. After a few seconds he replied seriously, "Yeah, that's some bad news. Extremely surprising too!"

Teru agreed, "Yeah. Who would have thought that one of the 3rd Hokage's students would betray Konoha? I heard that he did a lot of illegal experiments that killed a lot of people. Who'd have ever guessed that someone so respected would have been such a scum!"

Fujin nodded solemnly and went to the last bench and sat there. He thought, 'Damn it's hard to act surprised when you already know it is gonna happen! Still though, things are happening in a similar way to what happened in Naruto. The results of the 3rd war, attack of Kurama and Minato's death, then Itachi passing in a year and now Orochimaru's defection.

I guess the next event would be an attempt by Kumo to kidnap Hinata and the death of Hizashi. That move from Kumo does make some sense. With Minato dead, Orochimaru defected and the remaining 2 sannins not present in the village. Then again, giving Hizashi to them was really spineless of Hiruzen.

Well whatever, I don't really have any power to interfere or all the information about Konoha's and Kumo's military. Then again, even if I did have the power, I'd have probably ignored it as it doesn't have anything to do with me.

Anyways, Orochimaru leaving is definitely some good news. If I had to pick the ones I totally want to avoid before I become strong enough, then Danzo and Orochimaru would be the ones to top the list. With Orochimaru gone, half the danger is eliminated. Now I just need to hope that I don't catch Root's attention. Otherwise life will get a lot more troublesome.

That said, I do wonder if, like in Naruto, here too Hiruzen let Orochimaru go or was Orochimaru able to retreat by himself. If it's the former, then that's a huge blame on Hiruzen. How many people died due to Orochimaru just because Hiruzen was too soft to kill his disciple. Heck, even all the deaths caused by Kabuto's impure world resurrection in the 4th great ninja war can be blamed on this bad decision by Hiruzen.' Fujin sighed after having that thought.

While Fujin wasn't disturbed, and even happy that Orochimaru had defected, almost everyone else in the ninja world was tense.

In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen was present with a solemn face. Apart from Hiruzen, Homura and Koharu were also very worried. Danzo was present too.

Danzo criticized the Hokage, "Hiruzen! You've grown soft. You have let such a huge threat to the village get away."

Before Hiruzen could reply, Koharu chided, "I agree. Orochimaru has the knowledge of a lot of secrets of Konoha. If he were to leak anything to our enemy villages, then it'll be a nightmare for us."

Hiruzen sighed and replied, "It's unfortunate that he chose to defect, but I'm sure that he won't do anything that'll be detrimental for Konoha."

Danzo sarcastically spoke, "Yeah, just like you were sure that he won't defect from Konoha. Not only did he escape from you, he also killed close to a couple of dozen of our ninjas that were chasing after him. And there's no saying what else would he do."

Homura tried to calm the situation down, "Well we can keep arguing about this later. The question right now is what to do right now. With the amount of secrets he was privy to, even the various clan heads are very tense."

Danzo stated, "We have to mark Orochimaru as a missing-nin. Increase his bounty and also send a squad to chase after him and eliminate him."

Hiruzen countered it saying, "Sending any squads behind him will probably just get them killed. And we are very short on manpower as it is."

Koharu questioned, "But we can't leave him unchecked, can we?"

Danzo and Homura agreed with Koharu. Hiruzen then said, "I'll send Jiraiya to chase after him" while thinking, 'Hopefully he'll be able to convince Orochimaru to return and get back on the right track.'

Danzo questioned, "Won't he fall prey to his emotions just like you did? I suggest sending root ninjas alongside Jiraiya"

Hiruzen, however not trusting Danzo's intentions, just dismissed it saying, "They'll just get in his way."

The discussion between the 4 old teammates continued for a while. In the afternoon, there was a council meeting.

All the clan leaders were very tense during this meeting. Orochimaru had worked with all of them at some point, and known many of their clan secrets which would be bad for them if leaked to enemies. A few even blamed Hiruzen for having a soft side for his students.

The council concluded by labelling Orochimaru as a missing-nin, increasing his bounty by 50% and sending Jiraiya to hunt down Orochimaru. The various clan leaders were doubtful whether Jiraiya would really hunt Orochimaru, however they didn't really have any other option.

Every other hidden village was surprised and shocked by this news.

In Sunagakure, Rasa thought, 'First Minato and their jinchuriki's death and now Orochimaru's defection? Are they falling apart? Tch, it sucks that we were hit so badly in the previous war and recovery is so slow due to that bastard Daimyo. Otherwise I'd have definitely taken advantage of this situation.'

In Kirigakure, Yagura received the reports as well. But he was too busy in Kiri's internal problems to pay much attention to this incident.

In Iwagakure, the council debated this matter at length. A few suggested that they should use this opportunity to take revenge for what Minato did to them. While some were cautious, wondering if Konoha was playing some sort of game. At the end, when the discussion came to an end, they asked Onoki what they should do.

Onoki said, "There's no point in hurrying to do something right now. Even without Minato and Orochimaru, Konoha is still very strong. And in any case, there's no way that Brat A won't do something. Let's just watch what he does and how Konoha responds and then decide what to do."

On hearing Onoki's decision, one thought ran through everyone present in the council meeting, 'Fence-sitter indeed!'

In Kumogakure though, the 4th Raikage thought very hard about this incident. After discussing with his council, he decided to see if he could take advantage of Konoha's misfortune.