Sarutobi: Oh No! My Students Are Staging a Coup!

"Hey, Tsunade."

"I need to talk to you about something..."

Orochimaru lowered his voice.

Tsunade didn't even turn around.

She watched the kids in the distance, exhausted and panting like dogs, and the corner of her mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.

The fish had taken the bait.

Showing off the Flying Thunder God and intimidating the young heirs of those great clans had only been incidental.

Her real target—the one she needed firmly in her grasp in the short term—

was Orochimaru!

They were partners, yes.

But that was nowhere near enough.

She wanted Orochimaru to owe her completely!

Apart from experiments, what could make Orochimaru lose his head?

The secrets of ninjutsu!

And Konoha's greatest trove of those secrets lay in the Book of Seals.

Orochimaru's deep-seated hunger for Forbidden Jutsu had been set ablaze the instant he saw those two six-year-olds use the Flying Thunder God.

He definitely wanted it!

Tsunade turned her head and glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

"What is it?"

Orochimaru's eyes flickered. He tipped his head toward the depths of the woods.

The meaning was clear: they needed to talk in private.

Tsunade had barely taken half a step.

A tall figure cut straight between them.

Jiraiya planted his hands on his hips and thrust his face between theirs, his eyes darting suspiciously from one to the other.

"What are you hiding from me?"

Jiraiya stuck out his neck, his booming voice shaking the woods.

"What secret can't I hear? I'm the assistant instructor. I have to hear it!"

A vein twitched on Orochimaru's forehead.

He gave his idiot teammate a look of disgust and warned coldly, "Keep your curiosity to yourself, Jiraiya. This has nothing to do with you."

"Bullshit! Nothing good ever comes from you two huddling together!"

Jiraiya fixed Orochimaru with a hard stare.

The shouting made Tsunade's ears ache. She shoved aside Jiraiya's arm, which was blocking her path.

"Let him hear it." Tsunade looked at Orochimaru. "Go on."

Orochimaru fell silent for two seconds.

He licked his dry lips. The feverish hunger in his golden, slit-pupiled eyes could no longer be hidden.

"I want to see the Book of Seals."

The air went deathly still.

Jiraiya's expression froze. His eyes widened like saucers.

He stood rooted to the spot as though lightning had struck him.

Then he stumbled back a full step and pointed a trembling finger at Orochimaru, his voice cracking.

"Orochimaru! What the hell are you saying?"

"That's the Book of Seals! Konoha's most closely guarded secret! Are you trying to start a rebellion?"

Jiraiya bristled, Chakra surging through him on instinct.

Sneaking a look at Forbidden Jutsu was a capital crime!

Orochimaru paid no attention to Jiraiya's outburst.

His gaze remained locked on Tsunade's face as he waited for the answer that would decide his fate.

"Fine." Tsunade didn't hesitate for a second. "I agree."

Boom.

Jiraiya's mind went blank.

He whipped around, grabbed fistfuls of his unruly white hair, and roared in despair:

"Fine? What do you mean, fine? Tsunade, have you lost your mind? Why are you going along with him?"

"That thing is full of S-rank Forbidden Jutsu! If the old man finds out, he'll skin all three of us alive!"

Tsunade dug at her ear in irritation.

"Stop yelling."

She shot Jiraiya a glare.

"What about the Book of Seals?"

"My granduncle Tobirama Senju developed eighty percent of the jutsu in it."

"Is it a crime to look at the legacy my own family left behind?"

Jiraiya's mouth fell open.

Every rule and lecture he had been ready to deliver lodged in his throat.

Uh...

He thought it over.

Didn't she have a point?

For anyone else, touching it was a capital crime.

But for her, wasn't it more like rummaging through a drawer at home?

Orochimaru watched Tsunade act as though it were the most natural thing in the world. His Adam's apple bobbed hard.

He had to admit it: Tsunade had won him over.

And there was no way he could refuse.

He had expected a long, difficult negotiation. He had never imagined Tsunade would be bold enough to agree outright.

She had actually agreed.

"In that case..."

Orochimaru lowered his voice, a desperate edge creeping into it.

"Then..." Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. "When do we make our move?"

Where were the Barriers?

When did the ANBU change shifts?

Which escape route should they take?

Orochimaru was already racing through plans to infiltrate the Hokage Building.

Tsunade frowned.

"Make our move?"

She gave Orochimaru a strange look, as if he were an idiot.

"What move?"

Orochimaru froze.

For the first time, confusion crossed his pale face. "Aren't we stealing the Book of Seals?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes, plainly speechless.

"Who said I was going to steal it?"

"That place has hundreds of ANBU guards and more than a dozen layers of Barriers. Go ahead and try stealing it."

Orochimaru was utterly baffled.

His golden, slit-pupiled eyes filled with disbelief.

"If we don't steal it, how do we see it?"

"We ask the old man for it."

Tsunade spoke as though it were perfectly ordinary.

A cold wind swept past. Orochimaru stood frozen in place.

Ask the Third Hokage?

For the Book of Seals?

He wondered if his experiments had damaged his mind. How else could he have heard something so absurd?

Could they really stroll in and ask for something the entire village regarded as its lifeblood?

Tsunade curled her lip.

"It's not like I haven't asked him before!"

"Once today's training is over, come with me to the Hokage Building."

With that, she turned toward Jiraiya, who was still standing there in a daze.

"Hey." Tsunade lifted her chin. "Are you coming?"

Jiraiya snapped back to his senses. He pointed at his own nose, his voice trembling.

"Me? I... I think I'll pass."

Jiraiya swallowed and waved both hands frantically.

"If the old man finds out I got mixed up in this, he'll pound me into paste with the Adamantine Staff!"

"Suit yourself."

Tsunade made no effort to persuade him. She shrugged and walked away.

Jiraiya remained where he was.

He watched Tsunade and Orochimaru walk side by side toward the edge of the clearing. Restlessness crawled under his skin.

He wouldn't dare steal it, not if his life depended on it.

But if they were just going to ask... If they walked openly into the Hokage Building and asked...

Maybe just looking at it wouldn't be such a big deal?

The old man wouldn't kill them all for taking one look, would he?

The last thread of Jiraiya's principles snapped.

"Wait!"

Jiraiya thrust up a hand and hurried after them.

"I'm coming too!!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

That evening, at the Hokage Building.

In the office on the top floor.

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned as he reviewed supply reports from the front lines.

A sudden clatter of heavy, uneven footsteps came from outside the door.

Before he could ask who was there—

Bang!

The office's heavy wooden door flew open under a kick and slammed into the wall with a deafening crack.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand jerked, dragging his brush in a long black line across the document.

He looked up.

His three students stood in his office, looking ready to kill someone.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart sank.

Oh no!

My students had come to stage a coup!!!