"Orochimaru! Orochimaru! Wake up! A message came from Minato!"
They said the early bird caught the worm, but this was way too early.
Lin Zi had barely opened his eyes when he found Jiraiya's enlarged face looming beside his pillow. One hand was shaking him hard by the shoulder.
"...Jiraiya." Lin Zi buried his face in the pillow, his voice muffled.
"Didn't we sleep in separate rooms last night? Why are you in my room? Ever heard of knocking?"
"Oh, forget about that!" Jiraiya grinned, a scroll clenched in his hand. "Minato sent a reply! It's good news!"
"What could possibly get you this excited?" Lin Zi managed to prop himself up. His golden, slit-pupiled eyes were half-lidded, and he looked thoroughly grumpy.
"We can send those two spies back!" Jiraiya slapped his thigh. "Minato said Team Kakashi is nearby on a mission, so they can swing by and take the prisoners. Once they're back in Konoha and interrogated, we'll find out everything about those dirty dealings in Kumogakure!"
Lin Zi waved a hand and flopped back onto the bed. "Fine, then go meet them. I'm going back to sleep. Wake me when you get back."
"You're not coming?" Jiraiya's eyes widened.
"You sure you want me to go with you?" Lin Zi pointed at his face, then poked his cheek with a pale finger.
"Look at me. I'm an S-rank rogue ninja. If I show up at the handoff, won't those two spies think someone's here to break them out?"
Jiraiya scratched his head, looking unconcerned. "So what? I'll tell them you're a tourist, my brother from another mother, and a travel companion I picked up along the way."
"...You really don't worry about anything." Lin Zi sighed.
"We can't exactly drag the two kunoichi around separately on the way there. We'll each take one and fly them over."
"Fine."
Jiraiya leaned closer and lowered his voice. "Besides, I can't carry two women over rooftops by myself. We'll each carry one; it'll be faster. Come on, quit stalling!"
Lin Zi stared at him for two seconds, then resigned himself to getting up. "Fine, fine. You win."
He threw on some clean clothes, went into the next room, and lifted one of the still-unconscious spies in each hand. He struck them on the back of the neck to make sure they stayed out cold.
Then he pushed open the window, and he and Jiraiya leaped onto the rooftops, one after the other. The morning breeze whipped against their faces as they raced across the tiles, each carrying a prisoner.
They reached the handoff point, a clearing beside a stretch of woods.
They dropped the kunoichi onto the ground. The two Cloud Village kunoichi groaned at the impact and slowly came to.
They opened their eyes, took in their surroundings, then saw the oil symbol on Jiraiya's Forehead Protector. Their faces turned ashen, and the last glimmer of hope in their eyes vanished.
"It's over..." The taller kunoichi bit her lip, her voice trembling. "They're really taking us back to Konoha..."
The other buried her face in the grass, too despondent to even curse.
A little while later, a booming shout suddenly rang out from deep in the woods.
"Lord Jiraiya! Where's the enemy?! Youth is now!!!"
The voice was so loud it startled birds throughout half the forest, and leaves shook loose from the trees. A green figure shot out of the underbrush like a cannonball. With thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a bowl cut, he landed and flashed Jiraiya a wide grin, displaying two rows of gleaming white teeth.
It was Might Guy.
Before Guy had even arrived, his voice had reached them. His feet hadn't touched the ground, but his eyes had already locked onto Lin Zi's deathly pale face and golden, slit-pupiled eyes.
"Orochimaru?! S-rank rogue ninja!!" Guy's pupils shrank. His muscles tensed, and he struck his signature stance. "Lord Jiraiya! I, Might Guy, am coming to your aid! Eight Inner Gates!"
"Gate of Opening, release!"
His chakra exploded, sending a shock wave that tore up the grass.
Might Guy shot straight at Lin Zi like a green cannonball. The pressure from his kick gouged a trench into the ground, and he moved so fast he was little more than a streak of green light.
Lin Zi didn't even blink. He simply raised his right hand in front of him.
With a deafening crash,
Guy's flying kick slammed into an earthen wall that had suddenly risen before him. The wall filled with cracks, and stones flew everywhere.
Lin Zi stood motionless behind it. Even his clothes hadn't stirred, and his golden, slit-pupiled eyes held a hint of boredom.
"That's it?"
Guy's pupils shrank. Before he could change tactics, two giant snakes shot from Lin Zi's sleeve and coiled around his waist and arms. They swung him up and slammed him into the ground with a thud, knocking him out of his Four Gates state and leaving him dazed.
"Guy!" Kakashi's voice came from behind and to the side.
A streak of blue-white lightning tore through the air, its sharp crackle ringing out as it aimed for Lin Zi's back.
Without turning around, Lin Zi slapped his left hand against the ground.
"Summoning: Rashomon."
A miniature Rashomon rose from behind him, just in time to block Chidori.
With a crackle, the blue-white current struck the gate and burst into a shower of sparks.
Kakashi froze in midair, his dead fish eyes wide as saucers. The Sharingan in his eye spun wildly, but he couldn't advance another inch.
Lin Zi clapped his hands, and Rashomon dissolved into smoke. Kakashi staggered to the ground, still holding the Chidori starting pose, dumbfounded.
"That's enough, that's enough!" Jiraiya hurried over, slapping Guy on the shoulder and grabbing Kakashi by the head. "We're friends! We're friends! Stop fighting!"
Guy lay flat on his back, all four limbs sprawled out, green energy still radiating from him. His face said, "Who am I? Where am I?"
"L-Lord Jiraiya... W-what is this...?"
Kakashi looked down at the Chidori that had vanished from his hand, then up at Lin Zi's deathly pale face. For the first time, an emotion akin to "I've seen a ghost" appeared in his dead fish eyes.
He opened his mouth, forcing out a single word. "...Orochimaru?"
Before Lin Zi could nod, Jiraiya threw an arm around his shoulders, grinning triumphantly.
"Well? My brother from another mother is pretty cool, huh?"
Guy: "...Huh?"
Kakashi: "...What?"
Jiraiya gave them a brief explanation of Lin Zi's background.
"Anyway, he probably isn't the Orochimaru you know. Don't ask too many questions for now."
Guy and Kakashi exchanged a look that clearly said, "Are you messing with us?"
But out of respect for Jiraiya, and since the fighting had stopped, they reluctantly lowered their guard enough to accept it.
Kakashi's dead fish eyes raked over Lin Zi several times. In the end, he said nothing, only nodding to signal Guy to take over.
"All right, all right, business first." Jiraiya clapped his hands. "Let's finish the handoff. We still have to head to Tanzaku Town."
Kakashi and Guy stepped forward to bind and search the two kunoichi again. Their hands kept moving, but their eyes kept drifting toward Lin Zi. It was clear they hadn't let their guard down at all.
Lin Zi crossed his arms, his golden, slit-pupiled eyes fixed on the taller kunoichi's profile. He suddenly spoke, his voice quiet but as cold as a snake crawling down someone's back.
"She's got something behind her back teeth. You're Minato's bodyguard, Kakashi. Aren't you going to check her mouth?"
Kakashi frowned instinctively. Beside him, Guy scratched his head and muttered,
"We already searched them, didn't we? You and Lord Jiraiya checked them earlier, right?"
Lin Zi didn't answer. He only watched coldly, his slit-pupiled eyes never blinking.
Before you continue