Orochimaru was getting bored. He had already given an unconsious Sasuke the curse mark, burned their heaven scroll, and messed with the kyuubi boy's seal.

It was suprising to realize the grey-ish haired kid was only around 8, though not the actual age. His sensei, kakashi, had become a chunin at 6, so that wasn't the suprising aspect. It was his proficiency in genjutsu. Looking back, He could tell there was genjutsu hiding his appearance, but without hindsight, he would have never guessed.

The snake sannin had tried to keep things interesting while he waited for 15 minutes to go by, but the 2 girls from the cloud team were the only conscious people left, and they weren't putting up much fight. It was quite a suprise to find a cloud team and a Leaf team working together, but that suprise didn't last for long. He couldn't really see why they would team up though.

Maybe he should kill one of them, so he can fun with their vengful teammates. He had already killed that other kid, so Sasuke might even come trying to get even more revenge.

Dodging another attack from the tanned girls mace, then ducking underneath the other girl's axe, he noticed it had been about 15 minutes now.

And indeed he was right. Right at that moment Jade and Yoshi's eyes had widened, and looked at something behind Orochimaru, completely distracted.

He debated attacking them, but decided to looked behind first, curious of what they were looking at. Looking back He didn't notice anything out of the ordinary... except the kid he killed was gone.

He turned back around, only to see both the girls and the rest of their unconsious teammates gone.

His look of boredom turned into a crazed grin.

Maybe he would take up that offer. It would be interesting to see what he would ask.

"Ku ku ku. Things are getting interesting. At least now I get the sharingan and the shinigami mask."

With that, he disapeared in a swirl of leaves.

¤◇¤◇¤◇¤◇¤◇¤
Bāsutos P.O.V

Myself, Jade and Yoshi were just a few meters away from where Orochimaru disappeared. Our 3 unconsious teammates behind us.

"Who the fuck was that?" Yoshi asked once she was sure he was gone.

"Orochimaru."

She stared at me confused. "Who is that? I dont think I've ever heard of her." Yoshi said.

Jade giggled at the question. No doubt finding the gender confusion hilarious.

Not that I blame Yoshi. He was disguised as a female grass nin

"He is one of the 3 Sannin, and a rogue leaf shinobi. Im aware most genin from other villages aren't very knowledgable of shinobi from other villages, no matter how infamous they are." I explained to Yoshi, odly remarking on the lack of knowledge most genin had.

Jade had finally gotten over her giggling by then and quickly tries to take hold of the situation.

"I really think we should go now. The 3 of us could still take most of the other teams in the forest, but we should get these 3 to a safe location." She remarked, grabbing Sachi.

I grabbed Sasuke, and Yoshi grabbed Naruto.

Looking closer at Jade's 2 teammates, I idly note they weren't actually twins as I had originally thought. Their facial structures were too different to be siblings. They also didn't really act like siblings either, it seemed like the only thing holding the two together was Jade.

"Hey Bāsuto, why are you suddenly way older?" Yoshi asked, only now noticing my sudden age discrepancy.

Jade turned to look at me so quickly I was suprised she didn't get whiplash. Apparently she had also not noticed.

"I'm currently 16." I explained to Jade.

Her shock turned into amusement as she did a quick mental count.

"4 years. I wonder why she chose that."

"God knows." I joked to her amusement, confusing Yoshi all the while.

Despite that, she simply sighed and didn't bother trying understand the inside joke.

"But you still haven't answered my question. Why are you suddenly older, and also not dead. What was that glowy dust?" She questioned thoroughly confused.

Jade was about to explain, but I stopped her before she could get a word out.

"Me being 12 was a genjutsu, i knew I would be considered a harder target if I was older, so it would be easier to get the drop on those underestimating me. The dust was just my genjutsu dispelling." I explained, lying easily.

I can imagine how hard it might be for people to keep track of all these lies

"Thats actually pretty smart, I'm suprised nobody else thought of that. Anyways, we still have 3 unconscious teammates, and still need 3 scrolls. Ugh, we might not make it." Yoshi noted dejectedly, depressed at the thought of all this being for nothing.

"Actually, we only need one."

"Wait WHAT?"

"We were in a fight before Orochimaru showed up, and we got a heaven scroll from them. We also still have the extra scroll you guys got." I explained to her. She gave a large sigh, no doubt relieved that we still had a chance of succeeding.

We had been walking while we talked, and by then we had found a defendable area just underneath a small cliff. It wasn't as good as what Sakura found in canon, but it would work. I offhandedly noted that because we were in a different spot, the other teams wouldn't find us, and it would just be us versus the sound team.

I knew Sachi would easily awake, and moved toward her. Unlike my teammates, she had only been knocked unconsious by me. A quick splash to the face from my water bottle and she was wide awake. Coincidentally, at that same moment I had to dodge a kick going straight to my face.

"I wouldn't do that again. She hates water." Jade warned far too late, no doubt enjoying her teammate getting soaked.

Duly noted

It was going to take at least half a day for the other 2 to wake up at the very minimum. It seemed as though we were going to have to set up camp here for the night.

"Why is he older now?" Sachi asked as she got a better look at me. I ignored her in favour of looking through the seals in my backpack.

Jade sighed, realizing she would have to explain now that she was aware of the cover story.

"He was always 16, just used a genjutsu to make himself look younger." It was a bare bones explanation, but it got the point across.

I unsealed the Cube from a seal near the bottom of my bag, and rotated one of the sides by ninety degrees. Afterwards I quickly placed it on a small natural ledge right near the bottom of the cliff.

"Everyone back up."

Jade did so without hesitation, effortlessly bringing both my teammates bodies with her.

If she was this strong, why didn't she just bring them both instead of me having to carry Sasuke?

It didn't matter anyways, I activated the Cube and just like before, the dome appeared around it. Unlike before though, you could easily see the inside of it sizzling and steaming.

Quickly all the matter inside turned to steam, and nothing was left but the Cube in the center of it, the seals on all sides of it glowing brightly.

The glow quickly dissipated, and the dome disappeared, the box falling along with it. I was quick to catch it out of the air and reseal it within my bag.

Where the Cube had once been was now a perfectly spherical hole in the side of the cliff, allowing for a much easier place to defend.

"Woah... that was Amazing. What is that thing? It looks pretty nifty." Jade asked, marveling at the box I had once been holding.

"I have to agree, it is pretty amazing. Those seals on it look very intricate. Did you get a seal master to do it?" Sachi added.

"I happened upon Jiraiya of the sannin during my travels. It took a little convincing, but I managed to convince him to give me the seals. After that, I just configure them all properly." I explained to Sachi. Though her face didn't show it, I could tell she was envious of me meeting one of the greatest seal masters in the shinobi world.

She shouldn't be envious, she has no idea what it took to 'convince' that perverted man into giving up those seals

"One of the three Sannin? Like that Oreomaru dude we just fought?" Yoshi asked, recognizing the title from before.

Now the emotions on Sachi's face were much easier to see. Shock and disbelief.

"You fought Orochimaru?! And we're still alive? How... Wait, why was I even unconsious in the first place?" Sachi asked.

Jade groaned, likely bored of all the talking, and wanting to sleep.

"You and Sasuke were ambushed by a different genin team that knocked you both out with a Jutsu. Immediately afterwards, Orochimaru appeared, and attacked us." I continued to explain, despite my protesting vocal chords that, at this point, were sore from all the talking after what amounts to 8 years of little to no talking.

I knew I'd have to start talking when the plot really started up, especially now that Jades here, but this is a bit ridiculous

Jade and Yoshi were easily the most tired of all of us. Considering they fought a battle with the snake Sannin for 15 minutes, I couldn't blame them. Knowing this, it was no suprise when they took this small pause in the conversation as an opportunity to head to sleep.

"That answers all your questions right? Right, now let's get to sleep. Bāsuto can take first watch." Jade said already inside the small crevice I had made, leaving no room for argument. Sachi looked at me quizzically, wondering if I was ok taking first watch.

I just nodded my head, and gestured towards the spherical void in the cliff.

Just before heading in she added one last note.

"I don't understand why you're so trusting of us. We could kill both your teammates right now and then gang up and kill you, age difference or not."

I just nodded my head in acknowledgement, confusing her even more. She didn't ask more however, and headed into the crevice with no further fanfare.

I trust Jade to do the right thing, even if it means stopping her own teammates

I knew the sound team would take at least one more night to arrive, so the only things I had to watch out for were random no name teams, and the creatures of the forest. With that thought in mind, I allowed myself to contemplate.

Meeting up with Jade got me thinking back to earth, and my mind drifted off, while still keeping watch.

I wonder if my wattpad books have gained any traction since I died.

¤◇¤◇¤◇¤◇¤◇¤

No wonder it took so long for team 7 to get to the tower in canon. My teammates were still sleeping after 2 days. Luckily, the sound team was almost guaranteed to attack today, meaning they didn't have the element of suprise.

I specifically told jade to watch out for any rabbits, as the sound team would put an explosive tag on one. Even in a different location, they were still probably going to use the same tactic.

"Hey Ry-Bāsuto. I'm hungry." Jade complained to me in English.

I sighed.

"And how do you expect me to make pancakes all the way out here? Or bacon for that matter." I asked her, raising my eyebrow.

She glared at me, before pointing at my backpack.

"I saw how many seals you have in there, and I know at least 3 of them are just for pancake supply's. You're more addicted to them then I am. I know that much hasn't changed." Jade noted, glaring fiercely at me.

Shes got me there

"Alright, I'm cooking today." I said, switching back to Japanese so that her teammates could hear as well.

Both looked my way, suprised that I could cook. I didn't blame them, I didn't really give off the vibe of 'professional chef'.

Yoshi nodded happily at the thought of actual food, and while Sachi didn't show it, she was definitely tired of all the berries.

"What are you going to be cooking? If it's meat I can't eat it. I'm vegetarian, which sucks sometimes." Yoshi stated. That was surprising, I had expected her to love meat, and be the kind to hate vegetables.

"No, it's not meat. It's pancakes." I said, and both Sachi and Yoshi eyes lit up in recognition.

"Those things Jade always wants? Now I get to see what they actually taste like." Yoshi said excitedly.

"Hey! I'm not always complaining about them!" Jade exclaimed offended at Yoshi's statement.

"The first thing you say every morning is 'pancakes and bacon'." Sachi remarked. Jade pouted, but doesn't make any further comments.

I quickly got to work, unsealing a premade mix that I made myself. It was also already portioned correctly, and I was glad I had thought to do that in advance. Next I poured the amount of water I needed into it from 2 spare water bottles I had. I would have preferred to use the milk recipe instead, but the milk would have definitely gone sour in the time it would have spent in the storage scroll. Yoshi and Sachi were both staring curiously, no doubt mystified by what I was doing. I had no doubt they thought I was actually making some kind of cake, with what I was doing and the name itself, but they were soon going to be pleasantly suprised.

Once I had probably mixed the mix, I unsealed a frying pan and poured the mix in. I poured the mix onto different sides of the pan, making 2 pancakes. It saved time and portioned the pancakes so I wouldn't run out of mix before finishing the rest. I had only expected to have to make some for at most 3 people after all. After that, I used a simple katon jutsu to light the fire underneath.

"Normally it only takes about 2 minutes to cook on a stove, but with just a fire it may take around 7." I explained as I sat down next to the fire.

"It's like baking a cake, only way simpler and faster, and on a pan... oh, that makes sense." Yoshi exclaimed, making the sudden connection.

Jade was silent as she stared hungrily at the cooking pancakes. For 3 minutes we sat in silence, before I flipped the 2 pancakes over, revealing a perfect golden bottom on each, cooked to perfection.

Another 2 minutes go by of silence, all of us simply seated around the fire. Now that the pan was properly heated, the rest would finish much faster.

I finally unsealed 2 plates, placing one pancake on each of them.

Now, who to give them to?

I purposely handed it to Jade, only to swipe it away and give it Yoshi at the last second. Then before jade could grab the other plate I gave it to Sachi.

Jade was outraged by my actions, and pissed to the point she took her axe off her back.

"They're more like guests to me then you are, and guests should be treated with respect. You'll get your own in a second." I said to her, already making two more of them. She sighed and sat back down, knowing she wouldn't get her pancakes if she decapitated me.

Looking back at Jade's teammates, I watched as They took their first bites of them. I could easily see the look of suprise on their faces, obviously suprised at how good it tasted for a recipe so simple. Yoshi was more expressive about it then Sachi though, loudly exclaiming 'this is so good' and almost dropping her plate in the process.

After a small amount of time, me and Jade also had our plates in hand, eating.

It was nice, just sitting here relaxing, being with Jade for the first time in forever.

I'm going to enjoy this moment, because moments like these rarely happen in a world of shinobi. My eardrums are going to be hurting alot in a small while, so I'm gonna enjoy being able to hear and see clearly while I can

)-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-(

Well, I got that done quickly! Barely a week! It feels nice to actually make a deadline. Can you believe at one point I actually thought I'd be able to update this weekly?

Its funny how easy it is to write for me when pancakes are involved. I don't know why, but that pancake scene was just so easy to write, and felt the most natural too.

I had to look up whether making pancakes was cooking or baking...

It was cooking.

I want your guy's honest opinion of my OCs. Just comment right here what you thought of them. Were they good, bad? Should I kill one of them off because three's a crowd? But seriously, honest opinion of each one.

Honestly, there isn't anything else to say, other then don't forget to VOTE.

And maybe go check out my other storys? Most of them are sh*t though, and Unnoticed is my only really good one.

Anyways, I'll see you all in the next chapter

-JustSk8n

Edited March 26th, 2020