'It's the guy who returned Anko-sensei's kunai!' Toru thought, still holding Ino in his arms. He had stepped back after saving her and was now staring coldly at the mysterious enemy.
"Hinata, Ino. Behind me. Now."
Hinata and Ino positioned themselves behind Toru. Nervously pulling out a kunai, Ino took a combat stance alongside Hinata.
"What do you want? Are you after our scroll?" Toru asked, ignoring the mention of his mother.
The man from Kusagakure let out a laugh.
"No... The scroll isn't what I want." His smile was grotesque, as if his skin were some kind of strange mask.
"Then why are you attacking us?"
"Hmm... Let me think about that for a moment. Yes, that's it... I want to see what you're capable of, Toru," he said, licking his lips like a snake.
The man was thin and pale, almost like a vampire. His tongue was long like a snake's, and his voice sent chills down their spines.
Toru was tired of being passive. This wasn't a game anymore. This guy knew who he was...
"You mentioned my mother... Who the hell are you?" Toru said, his eyes gleaming dangerously.
"Who am I? I don't think an introduction is necessary. After all, very soon, my name will be heard throughout all of Konohagakure. However, before that happens, you must first show me what you're capable of."
Slowly approaching Toru's team, the man smiled as he licked his lips.
'This is ridiculous! I don't understand anything he's saying, but he knows about me! Besides, that kunai he threw earlier would have gone straight through Ino. If I hadn't saved her, she definitely would've died.'
Feeling the danger, Toru drew his daggers. Unfortunately, the man suddenly appeared right in front of him. Not even Hinata had been able to detect him, and Ino trembled in fear.
"Give me a little demonstration of your Taijutsu, Toru..." the snake-like man said, launching a swift strike with his kunai.
Toru quickly blocked the kunai with his daggers, but it wasn't enough. With monstrous strength, he was sent flying into a tree. His body crashed into it, the wood cracked, and his teammates didn't know what to do.
Quickly getting back up, Toru spat out blood and raised his guard.
"Hinata, with me! Ino, behind us! Now!" Toru ordered.
His teammates followed the formation, and Toru prepared himself.
"Gyakusatsu no Mai: San Suiteki!"
The man opened his eyes in surprise. Toru disappeared and, in an instant, reappeared in front of him. Like his squire, Hinata was at his side. Right then, Toru's daggers clashed against the kunai while Hinata barely managed to attack the man, who dodged effortlessly as if it were nothing.
"What excellent teamwork," the Kusagakure shinobi said.
Ino formed a hand sign and aimed at the man, but he was moving so fast that it was difficult to keep him in her sights.
Suddenly, Toru dropped to his knees. A single knee to the abdomen sent him to the ground, leaving him gasping for air.
"Toru-kun!"
Without thinking twice, Hinata attacked to defend Toru, but the man was superior.
'I have to do something!' Ino screamed internally. 'I've almost got him. It's going to hurt like hell, but if I don't do something, everything will end up like last time.'
Staring directly at the man, Ino finally saw an opening.
"Shintenshin no Jutsu!"
One second... Ino's mind was inside that man's body.
"Ino..."
Hinata stopped when she realized what had happened, but Ino shouted through the man's mouth.
"Hit me quickly, Hinata! I can't hold my jutsu! He's strong! HE'S TOO STRONG!"
Ino tried to maintain the jutsu no matter what, but the man began to laugh.
"How long has it been since I last saw this ninjutsu?"
In a fraction of a second, he drove his knee into Hinata's abdomen, forcing her to fall just like Toru.
"No way!"
It was as if Ino's Shintenshin no Jutsu had no effect at all, because that bastard was moving freely even though she was desperately trying to stop him from getting close to Toru.
"You have good teammates," he said, crouching down to look Toru in the eyes.
Ino tried to stop the man, but all her efforts were in vain. She couldn't do anything.
'No! I can't control him! Damn it! Toru... Run!'
Ino froze. The man spoke.
"Poor Toru... You have nothing left. Mother, father, a clan... You've lost everything. How unfortunate."
With a sinister smile, he grabbed Toru by the chin and forced him to look at him.
"I know how you feel. That anger, that sadness... all that loneliness gnawing away at every part of your soul... Don't you want revenge on the man who took everything from you?"
'The massacre of the two clans...' Ino thought. She left the strange man's body and looked at her teammates. Hinata was nearby, so she immediately went to help her.
"Ino..."
"Hinata..."
"Toru-kun is..."
Hinata looked at Toru. Ino did the same.
"Tell me, Toru, have you ever wanted to tear the life out of the man who took away everything you loved? Haven't you felt, even if only a little, the desire to make him suffer?"
Toru closed his eyes. He wasn't going to listen to that nonsense. He had already been through this, alone in the darkness of his room. He wasn't going to break.
"You're not going to answer? What a shame..."
The man raised a hand to his face and, like some kind of reptile, tore away his skin, revealing a new face. Toru looked at him, and something neither Ino nor Hinata had ever seen happened. Toru's eyes widened in fear.
"Impossible..." Toru said. He recognized that criminal. "Orochimaru..."
"So you know me," Orochimaru added with a smile.
His hair was long and black, his skin white and pale like that of a ghost. His eyes were like a snake's, and his slender, sinister figure made Toru retreat a few centimeters, but Orochimaru stepped closer. He wasn't going to let him get away.
"Orochimaru...? Is that that man's name?" Ino said, helping Hinata back to her feet.
Hinata clutched Ino's clothes as she stared at the ground. Neither of them could do anything about it, but they wanted to try! Even so, reality was different; they had been easily defeated by that man.
"You're an S-rank criminal listed in the Bingo Books. What do you gain from attacking a team of rookie Genin?" Toru said, frightening the girls even more.
The Bingo Books contained information on every criminal shinobi wanted by the respective Kage of the major shinobi villages. All Jonin and ANBU were tasked with hunting down and killing anyone listed in the Bingo Books, because those simple pages contained the village's most dangerous enemies.
"There is much I can gain from doing this, Toru. You have no idea how great the reward is," Orochimaru said, grabbing Toru by the neck. "But anyway, I came here to make you an offer. I can give you power, the chance to take your revenge. All you have to do is accept the gift I'm going to give you."
Toru clenched his fists tightly. Power was always tempting, but this bastard was a criminal. Trusting him would be like signing his own death warrant. However, he looked at the girls and saw the fear on their faces.
If he accepted, would they survive? They were his team, so he couldn't let them get hurt. Besides, Ino had saved his life once, and Hinata had always been a good person; they didn't deserve to suffer because of some random guy who had appeared out of nowhere.
This was unfair. He had no options. Toru could feel the anger growing in his chest, but there was nothing else to say. Then, resigned, looking at his frightened teammates, he said:
"I refuse."
He expected to get out of this somehow. The smile disappeared from Orochimaru's face, and he sighed in disappointment. There was a few seconds of silence, but then the man suddenly laughed.
"You're interesting, Toru. I didn't think you'd be capable of refusing. I offered you the chance to take revenge, and yet you still rejected it."
Orochimaru released Toru's neck and, smiling darkly, looked him in the eyes.
"If, by some twist of fate, you change your mind, I'll be waiting for you somewhere out there, my dear Asahi Toru."
After saying that, just as he had appeared, Orochimaru vanished into the darkness of the forest.
Hinata and Ino sighed in relief, but then they heard the man's voice again.
"I almost forgot. This is a little gift from me. I have high expectations for you, Toru. Don't disappoint me," Orochimaru said before throwing a scroll toward Toru.
Toru caught the scroll. It was one of the exam scrolls, an Earth Scroll; another Earth Scroll...
'This is... Why...?'
He stared into the distance, where Orochimaru had already disappeared. Hinata and Ino rushed toward Toru.
"Are you okay?" Ino asked. Completely terrified, she examined Toru's body for any injuries, but the boy was only bruised and covered in dirt.
'I was so scared...' Ino sighed, tired of having to go through such dangerous situations every day.
Hinata threw herself onto Toru, hugging him desperately.
'?!'
Ino nearly choked on her own saliva. Hinata was so desperate that she was even digging her nails into Toru's back.
"Hinata..." Toru whispered.
Hinata trembled, burying her face in Toru's chest. She didn't need to say anything for him to know how terrified she was. Ino watched them silently. Without having time to get confused by her own feelings, she clenched her fist, frustrated by her weakness.
Remaining there, Toru stared into the distance.
'Orochimaru... If he appeared here, that means the shinobi of Konohagakure may already be working on the case. I hope that's true, because otherwise...'
Growing a little impatient, Ino felt uncomfortable watching Hinata. Quite some time had already passed, and the Hyuga girl looked awfully comfortable against Toru's chest.
'You know what? I don't care. Do whatever the hell you want, idiots.'
Annoyed for some reason, she crossed her arms and looked away.