YAY! Chapter 10! Hope you all enjoy. The PLOT THICKENS! Please review. I do enjoy them greatly. :D

I entered the Uchiha compound just in time for dinner, mother waiting at the door for me. She smiled warmly and pulled me into the house. I slipped my shoes off and was about to follow her into the kitchen when I saw it. Her eyes were watering, as if she was about to cry.

"Mom," I said, grabbing her hand and stopping her. "What is it?"

"Oh," she said, turning and wiping her eyes. "I'm just so happy your home for a few days. I'm going to make all your favorite foods…"

"Is that all? You seem to be bothered by something else. What did you and dad talk about earlier?"

She sighed, biting her lip. "We can talk about that at dinner. I think it best your father explain."

"Is it bad?"

"Let's just eat dinner and talk, okay?"

I nodded and followed her into the kitchen, sitting at the table and taking a sip of water from my cup. "Where is dad?"

"He'll be back shortly, just had to take care of some things," she replied, placing the steaming pot of oden on the table. She removed her apron, hung it on the chair, and then sat down across from me, a smile on her face. "How was Bolt?" she asked now, looking at me with a grin.

"He's fine," I said with a smile. "We talked, he told me all about what has been happening, I told him how training was going…"

"How did your father react?" she asked, lowering her voice. "Truly react."

"Well," I said lowering my voice. "He was disappointed and mad I'd lied to him, then he was completely sad and confused. This is when he conceded to come back. Overall I think he was genuinely hurt by me lying. What I'm worried about is that he won't accept Bolt."

"Bolt is strong Sara," my mother whispered. "Even stronger since you left."

"I know, he told me he mastered Sage-mode and that Himawari had perfected the gentle fist. He says you've recently taken her on as a medical apprentice. I'm really glad you did mom."

"Team seven is infamous Sara," my mother smiled. "Trained by the legendary Sannin. We can't let our successors fall behind if they are to surpass us."

"You can be quite prideful can't you?" I said with a smirk.

"Yes, she can be," my father said, entering the room. "And I would not have the new team seven fall behind either."

"Right, well that doesn't look like it is going to happen," I said, taking another sip of water. "Where have you been?"

"Talking to our idiot Hokage," my father said with a sigh. "I swear on my brother's grave that guy gets crazier with every passing year."

"Probably. It is Naruto we are talking about," Mother commented, filling our plates one by one before her own. "I wouldn't be surprised if he declared tomorrow National Ramen Day."

"What did he say?" I asked, munching on some of the egg.

"Well, he reported progress in suppressing a lot of rogue factions that have popped up and he also informed me that we had a couple of special visitors while we were gone."

"Is that what mom said you would talk to me about?" I asked, glancing between them and eating slowly.

"Well, I suppose now we can talk about it. Our visitor showed up about six months ago and has been living, much to Hinata's displeasure, as their ward."

"Poor Hinata," mother said, taking a drink of her tea. "They aren't the easiest guests to get along with."

"Technically their family…" father pointed.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, trying to hasten their conversation.

"Karin and Suigetsu came by to visit. They haven't been to the hidden leaf since you were nine, maybe ten," father explained. "But they, and their ten year old son Takahiro are staying with the Uzumaki clan."

"Wow," I said, remembering that in reality, Bolt and I hardly talked. There wasn't any need.

"Bolt didn't tell you?" mother asked.

"No, he didn't mention that. I guess he was just too excited to talk about training and my travels," I said, eating some more from my plate. I really hoped they didn't read too far into that. "So that is the big news?"

"That isn't all, no…" mother said, looking at my father slowly. He sighed, shrugging and setting his utensils down.

"Fine… was hoping to finish dinner but it seems curiosity won't be satisfied," he took a sip of his tea and then looked at me. "There was another visitor, about three weeks ago that managed to slip through hidden leaf barriers. He wasn't discovered until he was in the Hokage office. Naruto was surprised but thank goodness he didn't snap and try to kill the intruder."

"Who? Why?"

"It was Orochimaru," my father admitted. "He was looking to speak to me but I was obviously gone. Naruto, the idiot, offered for Orochimaru to stay and wait for me if he'd like but Orochimaru knew better. The devastation he'd caused before the Great War was still a not so distant memory."

"Why was he here though? Just to talk to you?"

"He came by the house," mother said. "With Naruto and Shikamaru. Sai was trailing them the whole time watching for any sudden moves. We were all a little nervous of his return." My mother grinned then, taking another drink of tea. "But Orochimaru, when he spoke to me, was different. I don't know how to describe it really. He was still frightening because I knew what he was capable of. However, his demeanor, the way he spoke, and even the way he carried himself was different; softer."

"What did he want?" I asked, looking at dad and then back at mom.

"He wanted to see your father, to talk to him about a something he didn't disclose to me. However, he did speak to me for a while. We even had tea together," mother said. "It was a little awkward at first but Orochimaru showed great interest in two things while he was here. How the village was and how our family was."

"What did you tell him?" I asked, forgetting my meal completely.

"Naruto, Shikamaru, and I spoke with him for a while about the village, about how it has prospered and how the next generation is more promising than ever." She paused, watching my father. "He seemed pleased with our vague but sincere answers."

"You're not making sense. He just stopped by, had tea, talked with you for a minute, and then left? What is the big deal? I know it is Orochimaru but why is it such a big deal?"

"He's a big deal because he said he'd be back when your father returns to speak to him. It is safe to say he's been trailing you both, watching and waiting for you to come back to Konoha," my mother insisted. "That is why when you two came back I had to tell your father. Orochimaru could have shown up for dinner for all I know!"

"I see," I said, looking at father. "What do you think he wants?"

"I have a few ideas," father spoke, draining his cup of tea. "We could speculate all night about it but I think it is best to just wait for his arrival. I don't know for sure what he wants and I am not going to speak to him alone. If he came here inquiring about my family then he can direct his questions toward all of us."

"I just don't want him alone with Sarada," my mother said. "She's strong but this is Orochimaru. Who knows what he wants with us?"

"I don't think that is his aim," my father admitted. "I've known him for a very long time. The war changed him like everyone else. I do not think he wishes any of us harm."

"It still makes me nervous," my mother said, moving to stand. "But you are right. We'll wait for him to show back up." She started clearing the table and I immediately sprang up to help, carrying the plates and empty bowls to the sink. We washed them together, mother putting the rest of the oden in the refrigerator. After all the dishes were done and the table was cleared father and mother decided they were going to retire for the night. It was barely seven but that didn't matter. They'd been apart for over a year and I wasn't going to stand in their way.

I disappeared into my room after dinner, putting some comfortable pajamas on before laying on my soft and sweet smelling bed. It was only after I lay there for a few minutes thinking that I heard a rustling outside my window. I immediately activated my sharingan, looking about the room but there was nothing. I then moved off the bed, grabbing a kunai from the drawer next to it.

There was a soft click now and my window slowly slid open. This made me stiffen, crouching slightly, ready to spring on the intruder. It was a few moments before anything else happened though. The window was cracked slightly and in through the gap slithered a white snake. It had to be no longer than my palm but it slithered over the window sill, down the wall, and over toward me. I watched it closely, my sharingan still active. It wasn't a real snake, I realized it now as it got closer. It was a messenger, a small scroll of paper tucked away inside of it. It slithered to my feet and then disintegrated into flecks of white dust, my eyes going wide as the scroll of paper was revealed. I immediately picked it up and began reading.

Uchiha Sarada,

I assume you know who I am though we have never properly met. I send you this message in hopes that you would agree to meet me. I would like to speak to you about some research I had done over twenty years ago regarding the sharingan and the unique properties it contains. If it is convenient, meet me at the entrance to Naka Shrine. I would speak out in the open and away from any suspicion. My real goal some weeks ago was to gain the opportunity to speak to you, your father being a pretense for that. Please consider my request carefully. I await your presence.

I swallowed hard, reading over the message several times before taking a deep breath. Father seemed to think he meant us no harm and if he really wanted to speak to me this is probably the easiest way to get us alone. Could he be planning something devious? He has always wanted the sharingan… getting you alone away from family and comrades is the best way for him to take it.

I shook these thoughts away. He asked to meet me within our compound at the shrine. He wants to be out in the open and he only seeks to speak to me about his research. Father and mother would surely recognize his presence if anything should happen and they are more than close enough to stop him. I had to do this. Curiosity demanded it.

I closed the window, shed my pajamas and put my clothes from earlier back on. I shut the light in my room off now, waiting a few minutes before sneaking out the window and across the garden, quietly disappearing over the fence. I was at the shrine only a few minutes later, noticing a figure sitting on the stairs, patiently waiting. I approached slowly, my eyes always watching him. He wasn't going to get the jump on me if this was an ambush. I wouldn't allow it.

"Hello," came a smooth and sly voice from beneath the shadow of the roof. When I got closer I bowed, immediately meeting his eye.

"Hello Orochimaru-Sama," I said with a polite nod. "Father hasn't mentioned too much about you so pardon me if I seem confused."

"On the contrary," he said, offering for me to sit next to him on the stairs. "I haven't seen you in many years. In fact, the first and last time I saw you was in the academy. You reminded me a lot of young Sasuke."

"You were at the academy?" I asked, a little surprised. I'd have remembered him. His face was pale, almost pure white and his piercing purple framed eyes bore into me through the moonlight. "I don't remember seeing you."

"Oh no, I was watching, disguised," he said with a slight grin. "I'm sure your father noticed me though."

"Probably, he said we couldn't stay to meet the other parents so that was probably why," I said with a shrug. "But why did you come back now? I mean, is there something I can help you with?"

"You're more polite than your father," he said. "You get that from your mother. She can be as kind as a kitten but as fierce as her predecessor."

"That's right," I said with a nod. "She loved Granny Tsunade greatly. Her passing was hard on us all."

"As it was for me," he said with a nod. "I don't know if we ever officially made peace but I'd give anything to have the chance."

"I think she knew," I said with a nod.

"I'm glad you're confident about it," he said with a slight chuckle. His voice, though smooth and a bit menacing, had a hint of excitement behind it. "How goes the mangekyo training?"

"How did-?"

"I've been watching you, on and off for the past few weeks," he admitted. "I know your father knows about that too."

"So he probably knows you're here right now?" I asked, my eyes a little wide. "That is brave…"

"Oh no, he can't sense me here," he said with a slight nod. "I've developed a jutsu to nullify my presence. It is a lot like the juubi from the great war in a sense that the nature chakra around me masks my power."

"Why didn't you use it before?"

"Because I wanted him to know I was watching," he said, a hint of amusement. "It puts him on edge still."

"I see," I said with a small smile. "The training is pretty tough. I'll be honest, I can't control it yet and it's been over eight months since I activated it."

"Your father had a similar problem," he said with an air of nostalgia. "Took him a year to control it after we figured out a way to activate it."

"He didn't mention that," I said with slight disappointment. "And here I thought it was just me."

"Oh no," he said with a nod. "You see, that is why I wanted to speak to you. I saw you were having some problems but I wasn't sure what it could be. So, I went back to my old research and found something that, at the time, wasn't really important." He pulled out a folder and handed it to me. "Inside you'll find all my research on the sharingan, which most of it you probably know. However, there is also a secondary set of information that I have included."

"Thanks," I said with a nod, opening the folder. "What is the secondary set of information?"

"It started at a hypothesis but I quickly abandoned it shortly before I joined the Akatsuki all those years ago," he said with a nod. "It was research on the feminine properties of the sharingan." He pulled a piece of paper out the stack and set it on top. It was a set of formulas but there was also several paragraphs full of research results.

"You were researching the possibility of the sharingan being implanted into a woman," I said, looking over the research. "One of your previous bodies?"

"Yes, it was my plan," he admitted. "But I had to know more about the female Uchiha who had used the sharingan before."

"I see," I said, reading through the paperwork. I paused when I saw some notes scribbled into the margins. "What does this mean? No possible records?"

"Yes," Orochimaru assured. "The problem with this research, and why I abandoned it, is because there is no written or recorded history of a female Uchiha possessing the sharginan. The first and only female to attain it was Kaguya Otsusuki."

"The goddess that father and Naruto fought during the Great War?"

"The exact same," he said, pulling out another piece of paper. "But my theory was simple. Since it had only been males to achieve the sharingan after Kaguya, it made sense that the next female to achieve a sharginan would be able to unlock the same eyes that your father, when blessed by the sage of six paths, attained."

"This is just a theory right? I mean, did you test it?"

"A couple of times when I was working under Danzo many years ago," he admitted. "You know of Danzo, right?"

"Enough," I said with slight bitterness. "Father told me."

"Right, well when I was under his ANBU research team I studied implanting sharingan into powerful kunoichi. Most of the time the bodies, and chakra, rejected the eyes completely. There were very few successful transplants. However, the ones that were successful seemed to go through the same stages of development."

He pulled out another piece of paper. "This explains what happened, in detail, with each subject. Basically, they'd be fine for a few days, their bodies adapting to the eyes. After a few weeks of training they were able to wield the sharingan with decent accuracy. It was only when they tried to activate the mangekyo that things turned south." He sighed and looked at the sky. "They would go blind, their eyes trying to break free of the host and eventually killing the subject. This didn't take long at all and the subjects went through painful bouts of genjutsu, headaches, and eventually blindness again."

"But none of them had Uchiha blood, right?" I asked, my eyes going to his.

"There was one," he said, his eyes downcast. "She was recruited by Danzo, before the coup and before your uncle Itachi graduated the academy. Danzo brought the girl, barely thirteen, to have the sharingan transplanted into her. She adapted better than anyone. There is a whole page just on her in there as well. She adapted to the eyes, activated mangekyo, and for weeks we thought that the transplant was a success."

"I take that as a sign of failure?" I asked, watching his face.

"Yes," he replied. "An utter failure. The girl went insane, seeing things and using her own mangekyo to kill herself. Along with the headaches and the insanity, I think it also changed her brain composition. You need to look into this closely and be cautious about it. If you haven't experienced any of these symptoms yet it means that you probably have a tolerance for it. Being an Uchiha who activated her own eyes probably makes all the difference in the research."

"Headaches occasionally but father cautions the excessive use of my eyes," I admitted, reading over the paper. "Her brain composition changed? You did a scan and found significant irregularities?"

"Many, like parts of her brain just shut off," he admitted. "Just be cautious."

"Why didn't you want to tell father yourself?"

"He'd think I was up to something," he admitted. "I could be but that is up to you to decide." He moved now, standing and moving down the stairs. "Your father has noticed your absence so I better get going. I'll come back around again if you'd like. Just be cautious and take care of those eyes Sarada."

"I will," I said, standing and watching as he disappeared with a pop and puff of smoke. Shadow clone… clever.

"Sara?" came a voice and I turned to look at my father coming in through the gate, his eyes narrowing on what was in my hand. "What is that?"

"Some research materials," I said, holding them out to him. "Orochimaru gave them to me."

"He was here?" my father asked, looking about quickly.

"Just a clone," I admitted. "We talked a minute and he gave me these. I think they'll be helpful. Take a look."

He grabbed the folder, flipped through the papers and then paused, reading further. After a few minutes he looked up at me and I nodded, shrugging. "He said he wanted to give it to me because he knew you'd be suspicious. What I want to know is why you didn't mention him following us for the past few weeks?"

"He told you that too huh?"

"Yeah," I shrugged. "He didn't seem to want to do me harm. We spoke about you for a moment but then he showed me this. I asked him as much as I could but you scared him off."

"I didn't scare him," my father admitted. "He just wanted to gain your trust."

"Well, I can't completely trust him," I said with a shrug. "But I will be looking into his research. It all looks plausible and some of it might help me unblock my problems."

"I agree, it all looks authentic," father admitted, shutting the folder and handing it back. "But be cautious. I think we should have your mother look over it as well."

"Alright," I agreed. "But not tonight. I have a lot to consider and I'd rather get a good night sleep first."

"Let's get back before your mother worries," he said, nodding toward the house. Thankfully, the rest of the night was quiet. It was the morning sun that brought about all the commotion and drama. Is that Bolt?

DUN DUN DUUUUUN! Orochimaru is back! Sorta... what do you think? :D Review please!