The Chunin Exams - 45

Surprisingly, before Daiki could reply to the Snake Sannin, Kakashi stepped in front of him, cutting the mans vision from him, glaring at Orochimaru.

"So not only Sasuke, but Daiki has your interest as well, huh?" Kakashi huffed, "Tell me Orochimaru, what do you plan to gain from all this? Why go after Sasuke?"

Daiki felt the urge to roll his eyes. There was only one thing Sasuke had that Orochimaru wanted. It was obvious, hell he'd already told the Hokage and the like what he wanted.

He supposed Kakashi didn't get the memo.

That, or he was fishing for more information.

"Oh you know how it is, two guys have it already and this third one just has to have it kuku," Orochimaru laughed lightly, "Three I suppose if you're counted, and all things considered, it hasn't been all that long since you were given it by your dearly departed little friend."

"So that's it then." Kakashi replied, voice monotone.

"Indeed, it's the Sharingan!" Orochimaru revealed, spreading his arms wide, grandiosely, "But pardon my rudeness, I have no interest in you Kakashi-kun, unlike Sasuke-kun, you're useless to me I'm afraid, I have no need of an imperfect sharingan user."

"Well obviously," Daiki scoffed, "If it was just about implanting the Sharingan like Kakashi, you could have raided the corpses of the Uchiha ages ago and got it like that, you want the natural ability to use it like an actual Uchiha, and for that you need to have the body of an Uchiha."

Orochimaru's eyes lit up, "Indeed! So intelligent aren't you Daiki-kun?" he hissed, seeming very pleased by his words, "Unfortunately, all the Uchiha are now dead, beyond Itachi and Sasuke-kun, and I'm sure you understand why I'd target Sasuke-kun."

"Because you're too scared to face Itachi?" Daiki taunted.

He was looking for a rise out of the man, to break that amused facade and see about making him sloppy by attacking his pride.

Orochimaru just chuckled, "Well, you're still but a young lad Daiki-kun, all that talent and power doesn't change that," he replied in amusement, "Subduing Itachi and taking his body, is much more of a challenge than taking young Sasuke-kun from the Leaf Village, it's just that simple, and I'm quite the pragmatic man you see."

His taunt washed over him like a pitiful stream against a mountain and was turned aside.

Daiki clicked his tongue, taunting was useless, what about insults then? "So you're just a coward then looking for easy prey," he shrugged, "But this isn't an orphanage Pedomaru, so I suggest you walk away before I my break my foot off in your scrawny ass."

"Could have fooled me, what with all the orphans in here and all, kuku," Orochimaru laughed his words off, "But do feel free to continue, the feeble banter point of battles are ever so amusing sometimes, I'm sure your mind is twisting and turning desperately trying to come up with options to combat me or escape."

Damn, that was cold.

His insults and taunting were completely ineffective here.

But then, he understood it. What were the words of some little weakling when you towered so high above them like a lion over an ant.

Or at least that was probably how Orochimaru saw the current situation.

"Shows what you know, I could escape from you instantly and you couldn't do a thing about it," Daiki scoffed at him, "If it wasn't for Sasuke being vulnerable, I'd be beating your ass like you owed me money right now."

Literally, he could escape to Isobu's personal dimension at anytime. He was just reluctant to show it off in front of Orochimaru unless he was forced to.

"Well, you're welcome to try my interesting little friend," Orochimaru smiled widely, spreading his arms out invitingly, daring him to come at the man, "Though I should add, that if you feel brave because Kakashi-kun is here, he wouldn't make a difference I'm afraid, I'm sure he remembers how our last encounter went."

"I was barely a man at that time," Kakashi refuted, "This won't go like that time, I'm far stronger than I was then."

In response, Orochimaru chuckled derisively, "No, no you are not," he replied, denying his words, "In fact, I dare say you're weaker, you've lost that edge you had back then Kakashi-kun, and let all that potential you had go to waste. Jonin at a mere thirteen years of age and with potential to rival our dearly departed Minato-kun, or at least near his own, but look at you now, you're older now than Minato-kun was when he died, and yet you don't even come close to his strength, what a disappointment you turned out to be."

'He's gonna need a fragment of Gelel for that one.' Daiki resisted the urge to wince. That was a real burn right there.

He had to resist the urge to clap.

He was impressed.

Surprisingly, Kakashi didn't react much at all to the insult, and kept his cool, "Feel free to think so, true I may be weaker physically, rusty from the peace we've enjoyed, but I've learned much along the way," the copy ninja replied, "There may be a gap between us Orochimaru, a substantial one, but don't think for a moment I don't have ways to cross it."

"Hmm, is that so?" Orochimaru hummed thoughtfully, "That is interesting, I wonder, how exactly you would do that though? The mangekyou perhaps? Did all that grief you went through in your younger years unlock it? Or mayhaps you've learned how to use the gates from Gai-kun, I remember you were quite close to him were you not?"

Kakashi stilled, only for a very brief second. But, neither Daiki nor Orochimaru missed it, "Oh, so the eight gates then?" Orochimaru mused, "Interesting, so the Sharingan even allows you to copy that method?"

'Wait, it does?' Daiki had to resist the urge to let his own eyes widen at that information. He had no idea how he would get Gai to teach him to open the gates.

And here the solution dropped right into his lap. Once he had Shisui's Sharingan, he could just copy the method.

"Perceptive as always, aren't you Orochimaru? I suppose you weren't called one of the greatest prodigies to ever come from Konoha without reason," Kakashi all but admitted he was right, "But you guessing it doesn't change anything, I'm known as the master of a thousand jutsu for a reason, do you feel confident enough to take on all that jutsu amplified by the Eight Gates?"

'Now this is interesting.' Daiki eyed Kakashi thoughtfully. This had went completely off script.

Originally, Kakashi would have been stunned into inaction by Orochimaru, the gulf in their strength that massive.

But here, Kakashi was ready to fight him and even had a plan to beat him? The eight gates would fuck him up for sure, but it was still quite the hand to play.

Even Orochimaru couldn't take that lightly.

Especially not with Daiki here. He already knew one little mistake would be all it took for Daiki to fire off the same jutsu he had in the Forest of Death, and if he couldn't escape it in time, like he had before, he would die.

"Well, that would be troublesome for sure," Orochimaru tapped his chin, "Of course I would still beat you Kakashi-kun, but it would become a bit of an exercise in doing so, and of course all that commotion would have reinforcements come running."

Then he smirked, "A good threat Kakashi, how about I return the favour?" he replied, and ever so casually, went through a few hand seals, before reaching down and pressing his hands against the ground, maintaining eye contact with Kakashi and Daiki and almost daring them to act.

Daiki's eyes widened.

He recognised those hand seals!