The Third Hokage regarded his city with apprehension. It had been two days since he had received news that the Akatsuki had officially declared that Orochimaru was one of their own. The leader of the Akatsuki had evidently ordered Orochimaru and another defected ninja to steal a highly valuable scroll from a highly fortified Konohagakure bunker. The two rank S criminals had managed to break in, steal, and depart with the scroll with only one casualty which the Hokage figured was Orochimaru's own doing.

He ran a hand over his face and let out a breath. How on earth would he ever be able to explain this failure to the other Kage? He consciously heard the door to his office open and was pulled back to earth. He directed his attention fully to the new arrival. "Ah, Yondaime, I'm glad you could make it…" The Hokage greeted with a small smile.

Meanwhile, Orochimaru sat at his desk for the second night in a row reading over some of the documents he had stolen while visiting the Konohagakure bunker. The information on them was some seriously old news for him since he had over indulged in the resources available to him at the Akatsuki. He frowned undecidedly to himself and tossed the documents into a spare drawer without a moment's thought. His door opened not a split second later.

Konan stood with an arm load of papers. "Can I ask a favour, Orochimaru-san?" She asked from behind the large stack.

Orochimaru contained the impulse to laugh and stood up. "Do you want help sorting?"

"If you wouldn't mind," The woman replied and sent a very appreciative look his way. "There's more than just this, by the way. This is just the stuff Pein-sama had coagulated in his office." She motioned with her head from him to follow, which he did, as she led him down a few random passageways and into the basement file room.

"Alright, here's the scoop," The woman plopped the large volume of documents down next to an equally as big if not bigger stack of papers. "We alphabetize and then we alphabetize the alphabetized. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?"

Orochimaru grinned hollowly. "This sounds like something you do on a daily basis…" He joked.

"Oh, no not at all," Konan returned his humor before sinking knee deep into the pile of papers on the desk.

Once the task he had been given by Konan, Orochimaru retired to his bedroom for the final time that night. He had a bento box that he had nabbed from Deidara's secret stash and was about to sit down and enjoy it when Kisame entered the room looking none too pleased. "Did you hear? Two Uchiha are supposed to be joining our leagues," He reported as he plopped down onto one of the chairs in Orochimaru's room and put his feet up. "How does that make you feel?"
Orochimaru gazed apprehensively at the man as he stuck a mouthful of rice into his mouth and swallowed. "That matters very little to me, Hoshigaki-san. I know for a fact I shan't be paired with either one since I have already acquired my partner. You, on the other hand, might not be so fortunate."

Kisame frowned at the man. "Shouldn't you care though? Aren't they from your former village?"

Orochimaru shrugged and put another mouthful of food into his mouth. "I'd be more concerned if they were ex-Shinobi Hunters or ANBU. I feel no threat from simpletons."

"Simpletons?" Kisame scoffed. "From what I understand it'll be Uchiha Itachi and another joining us."

"Ah… that ones who killed the Uchiha clan. Somehow that doesn't surprise me…" The man set aside his bento box and smoothed his hair out of his face. "Again, they are simpletons."

"Why do you call them simpletons? They must be somewhat brilliant if they killed their entire family."

"It doesn't take a brilliant mind to unconsciously slaughter a couple hundred people as long as they are brawn enough to do so, Hoshigaki-san. Even you should know that by now."

"The Uchiha have the Sharringan, do they not? That is what threw me when I heard they would be joining our leagues. Isn't that strange to you?"

"In some ways, yes, and yet in others no. The Uchiha usually side with the strongest fighters, and they must have determined Pein to be the strongest of the fighters thus far. Although, I can't blame them with the wishy-washy fool they have as Hokage…"

Kisame laughed his clickly teeth laugh. "Bitter towards everything in that village, aren't you?" He jeered.

"You would be too if you had been me…" Orochimaru shot bitterly at the man. "Now could you go away? Your presence here is becoming far too annoying for anything I would like to deal with daily."

Kisame scowled but left no less. No need to tick Orochimaru off so late in the day. Orochimaru wouldn't let you forget it for the next month.

Orochimaru shook his head after the man left and returned to picking out the rice from the bento box. "Uchiha Madara and Itachi…" He muttered to himself in mute disappointment. "This is too suspicious for words…" He shrugged it off and stuffed another mouthful of rice into his mouth.

In the morning when the dawn had just barely cracked the horizon, Orochimaru was up and outside in the cool morning air to clear his head. He had been up most of the night reading over some of his old journals with entries that related to the Uchiha clan and whatever their workings in Konohagakure were. It seemed to him that perhaps this was just some weird freaking coincidence or something a little more serious was going on.

Back when he had been loyal to the place he now hated, there had been talk about eliminating the Uchiha clan to rid the world of their dreadful Sharringan. Orochimaru recalled being extremely vehement against the action even before he became obsessed with power. His reasoning: Why would you let a single group of people such as the Hyuuga have free reign over Konohagakure to shape it how they so saw fit? Having realized his folly, he now frowned upon his prior reasoning and saw fit to leave to get the images from his head of the man he so degraded with his political views.

Orochimaru sat down to rest from his morning walk on an inviting piece of soft grass to let his mind get back up to speed. His well trained eye watched the treetops and forest floor for any form of movement before he took off his shade and pulled his hair back into a pony tale to keep it out of his vision. A cool blast of air greeted his hot face as he exhaled. It felt good to be out doors and not cramped up in a stuffy apartment.

Just then, movement caught Orochimaru's eye: the flash of a kunai. He caught it easily between two fingers and then rolled back against a tree before starting to morph into it in a much more hasty fashion that he'd probably regret later. He brought himself up on the top branch of the tree from which the kunai had come. He hadn't expected to see someone there so was not surprised when he saw no one. He glanced down to his right and saw a teenage boy standing with his back to him.

Orochimaru quickly deduced that it was one of the Uchiha that was said to have joined the Akatsuki and calmly frowned before he was kicked from the branch. He landed skillfully on his feet a good bit away from the teenage boy and pulled a kunai from his sleeve and whizzed at the person on the branch he had been kicked from.

The teenage boy caught the blade and sent it back at the older man, who was no longer in the place he had been in a second ago. The boy raised an eye brow and looked to where Orochimaru's hat had been not two seconds prior and discovered it gone. "He's gone," He announced to his fellow.

The man in the tree joined the boy on the ground. "I wouldn't say that…" He folded his arms over his chest. "That was Orochimaru, the defected Sannin. Don't think he'd give up that easily if there's killing to be done."

Orochimaru grinned melodiously down at the two men. "Well observed, Uchiha-san," He complimented from the tree branch on which he sat. He set his hat aside on the branch beside him. "I assume you are the two Uchiha to join the Akatsuki?"

The teenager made a move to throw another kunai at the man but the elder caught his arm. "No need to throw things at him. He's our ally for the time being," He corrected before directing his attention to Orochimaru. "So you have been informed. Were you sent to greet us?"

Orochimaru laughed in a scoffing manner. "Why would I be sent to do the work of some one lesser? Oh, yes, I foresee that happening very soon."

The elder scowled at the man. "Then why are you out here?"

"I don't answer to you…" Orochimaru shrugged simplistically and flipped backwards out of the tree after grabbing his shade. He donned his shade again and bowed mockingly to the two Uchiha. "Perhaps I shall see you within the base sometime…" He flashed a small grin at them. "Until then, farewell…" In the sounding of a snap of one's fingers, Orochimaru was gone from sight.

"Why do I think I'm not going to get along with him?" The teenager asked his elder.

"Because no one in our family gets along with Orochimaru," The elder shrugged. "It's that simple, but that's only because he attitudes have changed a lot…"

The boy shook his head dismally.