A/N: In this chapter, Akako and Sasuke go snake-hunting! I refuse to believe Orochimaru ceased his mischief making after Naruto ended. This was one of my favorite chapters to write, enjoy =]
Rebirth
Part Three: Chasing You
Chapter 10: Whirlpool Home
I passed the jounin exams with flying colors. Kisuke was a good fighter, but he was not as flexible in his thinking as I was. I was hard-pressed to demonstrate some of my other techniques to the judges, as I didn't want them to think I was only proficient in doton, as per my reputation.
I had barely put on my new flak jacket when Sasuke took me by the elbow and transported us to Kakashi's office.
"We're leaving now," he stated.
"Sasuke-kun," Kakashi said, "At least—"
"No more arguments," Sasuke snapped. "We passed the jounin exams, we know Orochimaru's location, and we won't be going alone."
"Who are—?"
"I'm going to track down Juugo and Suigetsu," Sasuke said, scowling.
"And Karin?"
"I don't need her."
Before Kakashi could respond, Sasuke dragged me out of the room.
It had taken me the span of half a second to realize he was serious in leaving right away. The instant we arrived at the house, Sasuke disappeared into his room to pack.
Locating the sealing scrolls I'd bought from Tenten's shop a few weeks ago, I put weapons in one, medical supplies in another, and clothes in the third. After readjusting my sandals for optimal fit, I joined Sasuke at the door.
From there, he set a breakneck pace towards Uzushiogakure, the land of Naruto's ancestors. It took us only two days to get there, but Sasuke circled around towards Hot Water Country in order to gather more information; he took an entire day just to visit Kabuto. We camped out for a week, waiting for Suigetsu and Juugo to find us. Suigetsu showed up first.
"Who's this?" he asked, seeing me. "Karin's replacement?"
I glanced at Sasuke before saying, "I'm Uchiha Akako."
"Really?" Suigetsu asked. "You don't look like an Uchiha. Or are you guys married already?"
"Shut up, Suigetsu," Sasuke snapped.
"Whoa, calm down there, Sasuke-chan," Suigetsu replied.
I could tell right away that the two did not get along. Still, I knew that Suigetsu must be powerful if Sasuke had asked him for help. The enormous sword on his back was confirmation enough of his abilities.
Juugo arrived a few days later. He was easily the largest man I'd ever seen, but I could see the gentleness in his eyes.
"Sasuke-sama," he said, bowing to Sasuke before asking politely for my name.
"Don't go mangling her," Suigetsu piped up, "or Sasuke'll have your balls."
"Shut up, Suigetsu."
"It's nice to meet you, Uchiha-san," Juugo said.
"Aki. It's Aki," I said, impulsively giving him my childhood nickname. From the corner of my eye, I saw Sasuke give me a strange look.
"Aki-san," Juugo complied.
"So what's the plan?" Suigetsu asked. "You have some nerve, calling me here. I have six swords now, six! My followers aren't happy that I left without telling them what was going on."
"I'm sending you to do recon," Sasuke said.
"Great, so I get to do all the grunt work? Lame," Suigetsu said.
"Akako will come with you."
"What, so am I supposed to carry her or something, your highness?"
At this, I felt Sasuke's charka go cold. For the first time, I saw him activate his Rinnegan—it glowed an eerie lavendar color.
"If she comes back with so much as a scratch, I will gut you alive."
"Okay geez, calm down," Suigetsu said, putting his hands up. "I won't hurt your princess."
-paragraph break-
The next day, Suigetsu and I set out in a motorized boat for the Whirlpool Country. Once we were far enough from the shoreline, Suigetsu cut the engine and I cloaked us with a genjutsu that both turned us invisible and masked our chakra. I added a henge on top so that if there were any sensors or guards on the island, they would mistake the two of us for seagulls in the water.
Suigetsu eased into the water and pushed the boat the rest of the way. When we got close enough to the island, we hid the boat and crept closer towards where Orochimaru's new lab was supposed to be. The two of us hissed in dismay when we saw and detected the multiple layers of traps spreading out hundreds of feet, in every direction, from the location of his base.
"He doesn't do anything half-way, does he?" Suigetsu remarked.
It would be suspicious for Orochimaru to set a guard on duty, since Uzushiogakure was supposed to be deserted. It certainly looked like it.
Suigetsu and I camped out for the rest of the day. I was able to sense several chakra signatures in Orochimaru's lab. Some of them I assumed were guards. Tears sprang to my eyes when I realized that several of them were of children.
"He's experimenting with children!"
"No surprise there," Suigetsu said, shrugging.
We left the island after the rat Sasuke had summoned using his Rinnegan returned from its exploration. I tried not to flinch as it settled in my collar, against the back of my neck.
When we arrived back in Hot Water Country, Sasuke was nowhere to be found.
"Sasuke-sama went to do aerial reconnaissance," Juugo explained. He was roasting our dinner over a fire.
"Thank you, Juugo-san," I said.
"Man, I'm hungry!" Suigetsu said. "Thirsty, too. Being in salt water wipes me out." With that, he went to refill his water bottles.
Juugo and I chatted for a bit while we waited for Suigetsu and Sasuke to come back. When Suigetsu returned, he dug in without waiting for either of us. Juugo and I waited a bit longer for Sasuke to return before starting to eat, as well.
He returned just after nightfall.
"Welcome back, Sasuke-san."
He grunted and took the stick of fish I offered.
"Report."
"There're a whole lot of traps everywhere," Suigetsu said, handing Sasuke a scroll of notations. "And the place is definitely deserted."
"He's experimenting on children," I said, "at least three or four. There are several guards, as well."
Sasuke nodded, his eyes following the rat as it scurried down my arm and ran towards him. He allowed it to climb onto his hand, the one holding Suigetsu's scroll open.
Suigetsu went into more detail about the traps, pointing at the appropriate places on the scroll. I supplemented his descriptions where necessary. The whole time Suigetsu spoke, Sasuke's eyes were trained on the rat.
We spent the next two days refining our plan.
-paragraph break-
Though the four of us were living in the wilderness, plotting the demise of Sasuke's most hated enemy, I had never felt so at peace. I was able to get adequate sleep at night, thanks to the comforting aura of Sasuke's chakra. I had come to enjoy Suigetsu and Juugo's company, as well.
Instead of disabling the traps around Orochimaru's base, the four of us reconfigured them into a massive seal keyed to Orochimaru's chakra. It took almost a month to complete because we could only afford to redo a few traps at a time without arousing suspicion. The ones that weren't necessary for our ploy were usually disabled, but we left a few active, mostly the explosives. They would be useful for our attack. We put the finishing touches on our seal the night beforehand.
Together, Suigetsu and I weakened the structural integrity of the base using a combination of doton and suiton. We reworked the ground surrounding the structure so that it would crumble with a good burst of chakra. We also mixed gasoline into the soil so that we could torch the compound when our task was complete. We wanted no part of Orochimaru's twisted experimentation to remain. Unfortunately, the children's chakra had already taken on a sickly hue. There was no saving them.
The next morning, just as the sun was about to rise, we attacked. Juugo brought the building down, which flushed Orochimaru and his guards out. Juugo and Suigetsu set to killing the guards while I stayed back, masking my chakra and observing. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes as I saw each of the children die, but I forced my vision to remain clear. I needed to watch for Sasuke's signal.
Orochimaru tried to flee, but our trap held. Suigetsu and Juugo made short work of the guards, explosives going off everywhere, and retreated to where I was, outside the seal's range. The three of us knew better than to get in the way of Sasuke's fight. While we watched, I healed the various cuts they'd received.
"The way you heal is much less gruesome than how Karin-san did it," Juugo said.
"Um, thank you," I responded.
"In case the seal fails, we should spread out," Suigetsu said wisely.
The three of us ran circuits. Juugo was the innermost ring, Suigetsu the middle, and I the outer. The fight was very noisy, but both Sasuke and Orochimaru weren't speaking. They had forgone the usual battle taunts.
Sasuke did not have enough room to summon the complete Susanoo, but the partial manifestation I saw was more than enough to put shivers down my spine. His eyes were a terrible sight to behold.
With a shiver, I realized that Sasuke was actually playing with Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin. Orochimaru had multiple, non-lethal wounds all over his body. He seemed to be using every technique and strategy in his disposal against Sasuke, which was a lot. Still, I could see the mounting desperation in his eyes and knew he knew he could not win this battle.
I watched with growing despair as it became clear that Sasuke intended to torture Orochimaru to death, which could take hours.
"Sasuke-san!" I said, stopping my circuit. "Please stop this!"
"No," he hissed. "I want him to suffer for everything he's done."
"It's not right, Sasuke-san!" I exclaimed. "Let the gods decide his fate, this is cruelty."
"Give it up, Akako-chan," Suigetsu said, as he passed me. "He won't see sense."
Upset, I did the one thing I could—I left. Juugo followed me. His chakra was becoming unstable, so I assumed he left the fight to avoid triggering a violent episode.
"I know you're upset, Aki-san," he said, sitting down next to me on the edge of a ruined rooftop, "but please try to understand how Sasuke-sama must be feeling."
"I can't," I choked. "I've never seen such hatred."
"Orochimaru hurt us in ways that should not be possible," he said gently, "and he did it without remorse. What Sasuke-sama is doing is no less than what he deserves."
"Sasuke-san is a lot of things, but he is not a judge," I bit back.
At this, Juugo's gaze softened further.
"He is not a judge, Aki-san. He is an avenger."
-paragraph break-
After what felt like ages, I saw a cloud of smoke forming in the direction of the base and knew that Sasuke had set fire to it. The battle was over. A few minutes later, Sasuke and Suigetsu arrived. I turned my face away when I saw Sasuke's bloodied face. He had used Amaterasu to set the flames.
"Suigetsu, Juugo, we're finished here."
"Geez, you're welcome," Suigetsu said. He nodded towards me with a, "It's been real, Akako-chan," before disappearing.
"Take care Aki-san," Juugo said. He cast Sasuke a strange look before saying, "If you ever need me again, you need only ask, Sasuke-sama." Then he too disappeared.
"Stay here, Akako."
In a rare moment of petulance, I considered disobeying Sasuke and going back to Konoha on my own, but I refrained. After half an hour, Sasuke returned. He'd changed his clothes, and his hair was damp. Somewhat reluctantly, I approached Sasuke and inspected his eye. He allowed me to fuss over him for a few moments before moving out of my reach.
"We're coming back tomorrow."
I was shocked and pleasantly surprised when we walked into an onsen to stay the night, and it was a gesture that I took full advantage of. We were, after all, in Hot Water Country.
The next day, we traveled back to Uzushiogakure so that Sasuke could put out the black flames he'd unleashed on Orochimaru's compound. They unnerved me when they came into view. The fire was smokeless and continued to burn soundlessly though was nothing left for it to consume, just a pile of slowly shrinking ashes. I fought back a wave of nausea as Sasuke extinguished the flames with his right eye. Instead, I busied myself with filling in the enormous hole left behind by the underground lab's destruction.
"We're leaving."
He summoned a hawk, and it carried us over the water towards Konoha. I was confused when I realized it was not heading towards Konohagakure—its trajectory was off.
"Where are we going, Sasuke-san?" I finally asked.
"Earth Country."
"What are we going there for?"
He glanced at me, his gaze unreadable.
"Sightseeing."
-end of chapter-
A/N: Have a happy new year, y'all! Only a few more chapters to go.