A.N: Okay yeah Deidara is in here but don't you get your underwear in a knot he's not staying for long. Yup I've redused Deidara to a plot device so sew me! Lolz. Okay I know the plot is kind of weird but bare with me things will be further explained in the next chapter.

Rolling Snake Eyes

The charka was pumping hard and powerfully in this area. The spot was so electric with energy that it almost made me feel ill. I jumped up into the tree branches to have a better look at what was going on. I tried to be silent but the seen before me was more then…disturbing.

There was a man laughing. He was an Akatsuki, the blond one that had defeated Gaara. And with him was Sasuke! I couldn't quiet hear what was going on but I could see the horror, the young Akatsuki's veins where becoming black spread through his body from the vicious mouth in his chest over his heart. His body was dissolving into pure charka energy in one tiny spot. It would be like a nuclear bomb if the energy where to split!

"Sasuke!" I screamed but I was too late. The sound drowned out my voice and the light was blinding. The explosion was intense and devoured everything, I was happy that the death was painless. I'd just vanish in the fire and concussive power of it. No, pain or suffering. Just blink and then I'll be gone.

Everything happened in milliseconds after that. I don't remember much after that because there was only blackness and the feeling of charka popping and stinging in the air. The blackness enveloped me and I was almost sad that this was all there was to the after life. Only black. And the hiss of charka.

"Are you alive?"I heard a faint voice that seemed miles away.

Of course I'm not alive! I screamed at the darkness but no sound can from where I thought my mouth might be. I wasn't even sure if I have a mouth. It being the after life and all.

I suddenly felt myself being poked though I know for a fact that my body had been disintegrated in the explosion. So why the hell was I feeling a poke? And who was poking me anyway?

"Are you hurt?" asked the voice. It was soft but male and had a tiny hiss in it's under tones. "Hmm this isn't getting me anywhere…" the voice murmured then fuzzed out and I felt myself being moved. I heard nothing more after that and soon I didn't really care about the odd movements though I knew I was dead and I knew it was strange that my nonexistent body was being moved. It didn't matter what the voice was trying to tell me, I was gone, just a memory and there was nothing the voice could do to make me think otherwise.

Pain made me open my eyes. It shot down my spine and through all four limbs and at this moment I felt more alive then ever before! I heard a horrible scream and it took me a while for me to realize it was me. When the cry of bloody murder was over I felt myself breathing hard. The air was damp and hot as if it was the middle of summer.

I heard someone shuffling and it made me open my eyes in slits. I was lying on my side and it took me a moment to realize that I was in fact naked! I was too weak however to sit up or even make a tiny squeak. I could tell I was on a forest floor thanks to the brown leaf covered ground and the trees that towered above me. They where leafy and lush and there arms where the dark grey purple of bark. I must have been outside Konoha.

Someone came into my rage of view and knelt down so we where face to face. My mind was fuzzy so I really couldn't tell gender at the moment plus the clothing it wore was weird and very old fashioned. Anyway the person wore his/her glossy black hair long and had a few strands falling over the powder white forehead. The eyes where sharp and a dull yellow and went well with the straight nose and small lips. I cringed slightly unsure why though somehow my body knew this person wasn't good.

"Hey are you alright?" said the small male voice from the thin mouth.

I didn't respond I wasn't sure I could. I only blinked at the boy.

I was so confused. Where were Sasuke and the Akatsuki? Why aren't I dead? Is Sasuke okay too? Why am I back at the Hidden Leaf? Who was this boy? Why do I get a disturbing vibe from him?

"You don't have to talk," the boy said "but if you can…" he seemed almost bashful when he said this "could you please put these clothes on?"

I blinked and my face became red as I sat up careful to cross my legs and try my best to cover my beasts up. The boy was looking away as he handed over to me a simple white and red kimono. Embarrassed I quick as possible got on the clothing well enough on so I was at lest descent, as I did I sent charka to the places on my body that had burns and slowly began to heal them. While I changed the strange boy said nothing his back to me.

"Okay…you can look now," I said as if it mattered…he'd already seen me naked. He turned back around and I studied him in udder shock. The eyes…I knew those eyes. The eye where a dull golden with cat-like slits for pupils and sharp purple markings over each narrow slit. "Orochimaru," I whispered paralyzed for a moment. No, he is dead! This can't be! Oh the highest he's seen me naked too!

The boy (Orochimaru) blinked at me with a bit of surprise. "How is it you know my name?"

"Oh um," I blinked and gaped like a fish. "A guess?"

"Pretty good guess," he said softly but suspicious "who are you and why where knocked out in the woods?"

He sure is forthwith isn't he? I thought to myself. "My name's Sakura," I said very fast "I was caught up in an explosion and um…somehow came to be here."

"That story is so unbelievable it has to be true," he said without emotion but cocked a bow high into his hairline "but I guess I've heard odder tales."

Studying him longer I saw that his face was a lot fuller then as I recall and he was several inches shorter. He wore a white kimono with a purple sash and black apostrophe looking dashes along the collar. The markings reminded me of Sasuke's curse mark and gave a tremor up my spine. I felt suddenly ill.

"Um are you alright?" he asked and I answered by falling on my knees and vomiting. "Uhh…Never mind."

Minutes later

"So um are you from Konoha?" Orochimaru asked when I felt better and had washed out my mouth with water he gave me from a canteen. I was grateful though still skittish knowing this was Orochimaru who had somehow become much younger then I know him as.

I just nodded at his question.

"I've never seen you around before," he said looking at me interested with those deadly eyes.

"I guess we where never in the same class," I said warily and he pressed his thin black brows together.

"I guess so," he replied with a slight smile "good thing Jiraiya, my partner, didn't find you rather then me. He's such a womanizer." Was that a blush on his cheeks?

I gave a slight half smile. I'd hate to say it but he was pretty adorable and had a real boyish charm to him. Then a flash of the man I knew him as came to mind. A spineless traitor who tortured and ruled others with an iron fist, a man who is greedy selfish and full of lies. My face went cold as I began to hate the boy sitting in front of me.

He was one day going to ruin everything! He killed the 4th Hokage; brain washed Sasuke, and killed hundreds of people in his grotesque laboratories. He doesn't deserve to live, and finally I have the chance to change everything. I could kill Orochimaru right now, with him still young and defenseless…but it wasn't like I had any of my weapons with me anyway. They'd seemed to have burned off with my clothing in the explosion.

I narrowed my eyes but careful not to let my emotions leek out to much. I don't want my prey thinking I'm a threat not so early in the game at lest. That sentence was completely ironic but I didn't pay much mind to it. I was to busy hating Orochimaru.

"Well," Orochimaru said with a slight sigh "I was heading to go for a reconnaissance mission before I found you…um…I guess I could bring you back to the village."

"Where are you going?" I asked with perked interest.

"Land of Water," he said his eyes cast away.

"…Could I come with you?" I asked tilting my head slightly trying to catch his gold gaze. I realized that his eyes did not hold death in them, only shyness.

"Hmm I guess," he said scratching his head his left eye narrowed as he scratched the spot.

"How far are we from Konoha?" I asked looking around. The forest was lush and the tall oak trees over head pointed out that this was the Fire country; oaks lived no where else on earth.

"Um five miles or so," he replied "I could bring you back if you wanted." I shook my head and gave him a false reassuring smile.

"No, its okay I'll stick with you," I said "I don't want to be the one to stall your mission."

"If you say so," he said returning my smile with a shy curve up of his lips. "I guess it would be kind of hard to explain this whole situation anyway." I could see that he didn't like the thought of having me, an unknown, on his mission with him but just as I thought he would Orochimaru was too proud to turn back. "Are you hungry?" he asked and I blinked at the questions having been pulled from my thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"Food," he repeated with a sharp under tone that sounded like a hiss. I tilted my head at his reaction. After a second I nodded and he looked through a small leather pack that he'd been holding on his back. After a second of searching he came up with two rice balls one for himself and one for me. "My partner Tsunade-san made these," he said with his mouth half full. "She's a good cook."

I swallowed heard when he said my teacher's name. The thought of meeting Tsunade-sama being my age hit me like a ton of bricks and made my brain buzz with excitement. He didn't say anything more so we ate in silence.

As I ate the sticky rice ball I watched him move. In a lot of ways he was the Orochimaru I knew but in many more he was not. He was plight and a bit skittish it seems while the former ruler of the Sound village was a cowardly tyrant who enjoyed watching people suffer. I couldn't see how this boy could become so evil. Perhaps this was my chance to figure out what happened in this kid's life that stained his soul. The thought of fixing him suddenly became more of a priority then destroying him.

"So…" he said after a long moment of silence "what do you do?"

"Do?" I repeated because he'd taken me from my thoughts again. This seemed to annoy him.

"I mean what kind of ninjutsu you use?" he asked. "I'm mostly into my animal summon but I like to learn all kinds of jutsu really."

"Oh…I'm a medical ninja," I said taking the last bite of my meal. "I also have great charka control so I can break through walls and stuff."

"Oh?" Orochimaru's brows pressed together "Tsunade does the same thing."

"I'd have to meet her," I said quickly trying to cover up my mistake. I rubbed my hands together once I was done with the rice ball and we both got to our feet. I was bare foot on a count of my ninja shoes being vaporized and Orochimaru not having an extra pair but I didn't mind.

"I'll get you a pair when we get there," he said looking over his shoulder at me. "Don't worry either; you won't get hurt with me as your partner Sakura-san."

It was surprising how a kid with what seemed so little confidence could be so boastful. I was slightly annoyed with his bold proclamation that he could protect me.

I think you should worry more about your self then me Orochimaru I thought as we walked silently though the oak wood of the fifty five year younger Fire Country.

A.N: I love mini Orochi! He's to cute!