A Growing Affection

Chapter 65: Jonin Trials, Day 3

"Shikamaru, I'm glad you came. Come in, come in," Jiraiya said  broadly to the younger man. The apathetic Chunin ambled into the  hospital room apprehensively.

"Good morning, Master Jiraiya," Shikamaru said carefully, not aware why he had been asked to visit the recovering shinobi.

"How is your physically therapy going?" the teenage genius asked.

"Pretty  good," the infamous pervert nodded, then he lowered his voice to a  whisper and added conspiratorially, "I'd be done with it by now, but I'm  taking it slow because my nurse has huge..."

"Is there a reason you had me sent here?" Shikamaru interrupted, annoyed.

"Please, close the door," the Sannin instructed, sobering.

"Shikamaru,"  Jiraiya addressed him seriously, "I'm told you're one of the brightest  minds in the Hidden Leaf Village, if not the brightest. And that you're  also quite the codebreaker."

The Chunin smirked, and shrugged in false humility, "So?"

"Well," the Toad Sage frowned, "Before we begin, I should ask how you feel about Blood Oaths."

"I thinking they're a drag," the Nara heir responded predictably.

"Good  answer," Jiraiya smiled slightly, "In that case, just promise me you  won't tell anyone what you're about to hear, and we can lie to the  Hokage about the oath that I'm supposed to make you swear before  discussing this with you."

Shikamaru studied him for a few seconds, and then shrugged again and said, "You have my word. Now, what's this all about?"

"I'm  sure you've heard about Sasuke surrendering his body to Orochimaru,"  Jiraiya started and Shikamaru nodded, his interest peaked.

"Well,  there's more to the story than you know," the injured Sage informed him,  "So far only clan leaders and a few other know the whole story."

He  proceeded to give the cloud-envier a rundown of Itachi's real history,  and of the fight against the new and improved Orochimaru.

"So  Orochimaru killed Itachi..." Shikamaru said softly as he digested the  information. Then he bobbed his shoulders again, and asked, "What does  that have to do with me?"

"There was something else," the Sannin  admitted, "something we didn't tell the clan leaders or even Naruto and  Kakashi. You'll be the only one who knows this besides myself and the  Hokage."

"During the latter part of the fight," the older ninja  frowned in memory, "after Orochimaru paralyzed me and set me up to watch  him kill Itachi, I noticed the snake was using some pretty fancy  footwork. I'm fairly familiar with Orochimaru's fighting style, and his  legs are generally the last things he worries about. He tends to focus  on Ninjutsu and that sword of his. He usually doesn't even take a single  step unless someone attacks his legs or moves out of range. That was  when I noticed his toes were tracing characters in the dirt. It was  about the same time I figured out Sasuke was no longer ordering  Orochimaru to stop."

"So, you think Sasuke was directing  Orochimaru's feet, to send you a message," Shikamaru mused, rubbing his  chin, "since Orochimaru doesn't use his legs, and Sasuke only swore not  to interfere if Orochimaru fought Naruto, Sakura, or Kakashi-sensei."

"Yes,"  Jiraiya nodded, " I suspect Sasuke was able to influence Orochimaru's  footwork to try to send me a message. This message."

He took out a piece of paper, and handed it to the younger man. Shikamaru studied it for a minute, before handing it back.