Tsunade immediately left to diagnose Tatsuo, the concern on her face wasn't unnoticed by Jiraiya and Orochimaru, who both glanced at Satoru with curious looks.
"What the hell did you do? She doesn't get this worried even on the battlefield!" Jiraiya had a horrified look, his fingers traced a scar on his forearm as if itstill hurts.
"He used a jutsu which requires a lot of steps to use, she is probably worried that he didn't take all the steps. Don't worry, she'll handle it. She might be angry at you though." Orochimaru said, quite amused by Satoru's confused face, a smile crept on her face.
As they continued to watch the match, Satoru whispered to Orochimaru "How well do you know Lord Danzo?"
"Him and Lord Hokage were our sensei growing up, mostly Lord hokage." She looked at the dissatisfaction on Satoru's face and continued "That's what everyone knows. Did you want some classified, spicy stuff instead?" She winked.
Satoru whispered again "Why does he want to me train the way I do? He gave me a plan to follow a while ago and said that I'll have to abide by it till I'm good enough to be his successor." He placed his hands in his pocket to wipe the sweat and stop the shivering.
He was never meant to tell this to anyone, tell that Danzo wants him to succeed him eventually. Especially not the student of Danzo's rival. Afterall, Hiruzen would stop at nothing to stop Danzo's influence and prevent him from becoming the next Hokage.
Danzo knew that his chances of becoming the hokage on his own was very low, and as long as Hiruzen lived, which is guaranteed a long time, he wouldn't allow it. But if he appoints a youngster clear from any name and bad reputation, into a position of power, he could essentially have access to the Hokage's authoritative power over the village and it would be no different from being the hokage himself.
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed as she looked at Satoru, "Didn't he already have a sucessor? The guy who attacked you in the forest of death, I mean. Out of all the newly formed ROOT, he is the strongest. Why choose you?"
"That's what I want to know. Unlike your other teammates, Danzo holds you in high regards, respects you even. Can you tell me anything about it?" Satoru sighed, then continued to watch the match.
Kano was struggling to land hits on Hinoka, who was keeping her distance and using wind style to heavily punish all of Kano's tactics. Kano looked tired and injured while Hinoka remained calm and composed, not a single injury on her and not even a dent on her chakra reserves despite using more ten times the jutsus than Kano, who was almost drained.
After a while, Tsunade came back to the VIP room, her face was scrunched up in anger, her hand was tightly gripped around the real Satoru, who was in a pained expression.
She looked at clone Satoru and Orochimaru who looked back at her with concerned evident on their face, mostly on Satoru's face.
She came dangerously close and whispered to the clone "Kid, don't ever use that jutsu without proper training ever again! Your friend almost died! And it was YOUR FAULT!!!" Her whisper turned into a shout which made heads turn to look at her, Not that she cared.
"Wh-what happened?! Is Tatsuo okay?" Satoru asked
"That jutsu directly injects yang release chakra into the patient, right? Well, that yang chakra is imbued with the aspect of growth. Which means that wherever it exists, it will cause the cells to grow at a faster rate.
There were certain regions...where the yang release chakra residue was left behind. It caused accelerated cell growth in the area which would become uncontrolled if left unchecked. I found three such regions on Tatsuo's body." Tsunade explained, she let go of the real body which prompted the clone to disperse
Satoru stood up from the floor and rubbed his gingers where she held him, red lines left behind from her tight grip.
"C-cancer? Did he...did he have cancer? Because of me?" Satoru asked, trying to place the best imitation of guilt he could, but the sadness he felt was real.
"Yes, but I found all and removed them. What you tried to attempt was equivalent of a kid who only knows to count to ten trying to solve complex algebra. You simply weren't ready to use this jutsu and won't for a few years." Tsunade's tone began to calm down yet held a strict nature.
"And as you can see, I healed your real body too." Tsunaee went back to her seat and watched in despair as Hinoka won and she lost her money.
"Don't worry Tsunade. Since you have incredibly bad luck I always make sure to bet against you. I probably won a hefty sum since most people bet in the Hyuga's favor." Jiraiya said, making Tsunade light up in joy.
"How much did you bet? You gotta share some with me, I'm your teammate and your friend!" Tsunade said, her eyes were replaced with ryo as she excitedly looked at the roster who comes next.
"I bet about a million. I'll probably get 3 million, I'll give you a hundred grand if you go on a date with me!" Jiraiya said, his hands held a stack of cash which made Tsunade water from the mouth.
"How cheap do you think I am? At least give me a 1 million, I saved your life so many times and never asked anything in return!" Tsunade shouted at Jiraiya, who relented and they waited for the people to come with the money.
"How do I fix it?" Tsunade excitement was through by Satoru's question. She looked at him and spoke "You don't need to worry, I already dealt with it."
"No. I meant with the jutsu. How do I fix it? I lost Soma due to my incompetence, I don't want it happen again. I don't want to lose Tatsuo as well!" Tsunade could see tears well up in his eyes and she felt like someone poured cold water over her good mood.
"I don't have time to train small fries like you. I'll get called to the border in a matter of days. All of us will." Tsunade said, dismissing his request.
"Then can you refer me to someone who does? I can train under anyone, no matter who! P-please." Satoru pleaded, making Tsunade hesitate to continuing further.
Jiraiya whispered something in her ears, which made her look at him doubtfully, as to challenge his advice. She then sighed, its not like she would lose anything from doing it.
"Who did you learn medical ninjutsu from? I will give some scrolls and books to them and make sure you learn under proper supervision. This jutsu isn't to be experimented with, failure means death of the patient."
"Jonin Mitsuki."
"Full name? It's a common name, there are thousands of Mitsuki in this country.
I...don't know her last name, I never asked her. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry, It's no big deal." She said, turning back to see the man entering the VIP room and handing jiraiya a scroll filled with cash.
Satoru felt his emotion drain away within seconds, returning back to a stoic expression. Though, he felt all the emotions he showed they never last long enough for him to process them. He felt like the container which held his emotions had a hole, and everything leaked slowly through it. His container always remained empty no matter what he does...
"After this exam end...I want you to meet me regularly, whenever you are free. In fact, I want you to cut down on your missions and spend more time with me." Orochimaru whispered, her sweet voice made Satoru stand up from his seat.
"Can you stop throwing all these curve balls all the time? I was having a deep thought about my life, and stop whispering that i should cut down on my missions so you can spend more time with me!" Satoru said out loud, hearing her words made him go through an intense whiplash.
"Orochimaru...what am I hearing from this guy?! He's a minor. Why do you want him to go on less missions so you can spend time with him? I-I didn't expect this from you Orochimaru." Jiraiya said, in an overdramatic manner. But Tsunade observed in a serious expression.
"Guys...I think there is a misunderstanding. I meant for his training. I need his help for a project of mine and I'll train him in compensation." Orochimaru explained. Sweat accumulated as Tsunade didn't stop staring at her.
"Orochimaru, Jiraiya let's go. We have work to do." Tsunade says while standing up and heading for the door. Jiraiya was already bored so he stood up to leave as well. Orochimaru reluctantly left for the door, but glanced back at Satoru who was too focused on the match which was about to begin.
"The next match is between Kaito and Kuroi. The final round is here!"
The people cheered loudly, the final round began, Kaito and Kuroi eyed each other up, waiting for the chance to make the other bleed.
"You want to lose here too? You can leave and save yourself from the embarrassment, the door's right there and if you are leaving...take your boyfriend with you!" Kaito said, smirking while pointing at Ay who was seething in the stands.
He placed his hands in his pockets hiding the fact he no longer had a finger and couldn't perform some handsigns anymore. He intended that his calm and composed manner of standing will rile up Kuroi and make him angry. And he succeeded, quite easily so.
"Fuck off you bastard! If it wasn't for your teammate, you would be six feet dead!" Kuroi gnashed his teeth as took a few steps towards Kaito but stopped before reaching him.
"If it wasn't for your teammate, YOU would be six feet under! Hahahaha HAHAHAHA!!!" Kaito had a hearty laugh as he glanced at Ay, who looked like he would jumped off the stands and enter the battle himself.
"How about this time you fight me without him having your back, huh? You think you have what it take to beat me? Just wait till the match begins!" Kuroi said, eyeing the proctor who had a bored expression and was taking to some kunoichi standing near him.
'It seems like he is waiting for the people in the VIP room to place their bets, if they place the bets after the match begins, the flow of the fight will influence their decisions...' Kaito ignored kuroi and walked and satunder the shade of a tree.
'And what the hell is wrong with this guy? He clearly has no skills in riling up his opponents. Maybe I made the wrong impression of him back then.' Kaito sighed
"Ladies and gentlemen! The wait is over, the match begins...NOW!" The proctor said, greenlighting Kuroi to rushed to Kaito who was still sitting under the tree.
Before Kaito could realize it he was punched in the face by Kuroi, an audible crunch sound traveled far and wide.
Kaito smirked, his body exploded in a powerful explosion launching Kuroi flying away.
Kuroi slowly stood up and snuffed out the fire from his clothes, his ears were ringing from the explosion and he struggled to maintain his balance.
'D-did he use the fire clone? Or was it paper bombs?' Kuroi thought while looking at the place of explosion and Kaito wasn't there, alarmed he turned to throw several kunai behind him, feeling like someone stood behind him.
His kunai hit nothing and he saw a piece of wood. Suddenly, several shuriken lodged into his back making him fall to the ground in pain.
"I was hiding behind the tree you idiot! How did you not notice me?" Kaito said, standing near the destroyed tree.