Chapter 11
Sasuke had given up on counting the days since his confinement. Time didn't mean very much when you couldn't even tell whether it was day or night. Meals arrived regularly, but other than that, there was no real way to tell what time of day it was. The meals themselves were all very plain, although highly nutritious so as not to cause any damage to the snake's 'new body'.
He sighed for what seemed the millionth time and wondered at his own self. Just what, exactly, had he been thinking? His mind couldn't seem to organize itself. One moment he was angry with himself for leaving Konohagakure and trying to kill his best friend, and another, he was wondering just what had possessed him to throw away this seemingly golden opportunity to gain more power to not only kill his brother but quite possibly to be able to protect any future that he might have.
Not that he currently had anyone to share anything with, although if he could get his teammates to talk to him again… No, ex-teammates, they were his ex-teammates. He didn't care what they thought or what they did. Yet he was still worried about the dobe and the annoying pink thing. He was worried that they would do something stupid, like continuing to chase after him, and get themselves killed. He was worried about how his betrayal had affected his mentor and sensei, Kakashi. The silver haired man may not have been the most reliable of teachers, but he had always done well by the raven haired youth.
The raven shook his head yet again and tried to direct his thoughts instead of letting them wander down any path they seemingly chose at a moment's notice. He couldn't decide how to feel about anything much less think. His emotions, as his thoughts, seemed to jump from one extreme to another without meeting in the middle and it frustrated him to no end.
He was almost 16 years old for goodness sake! He should have some kind of grasp on his own emotions by now! He had lived on his own since he was 8 years old, had to look after his own affairs. He should be able to make up his mind between whether he wanted to feel joy at the opportunity that Orochimaru had given him or to feel remorse at his own actions in leaving the place of his birth.
If he stayed here, with the snake, and allowed himself to become the old man's new body, there was a price to pay, but he would get some benefit out of the bargain. He knew that the old snake would, eventually, kill his older brother, he would be obliged to do so, if only out of a sense of preservation for his own skin. Sasuke also knew that his clan would be revived. Orochimaru wouldn't be able to stay in his body forever; he would be able to stay in the body for three years at the very least before rejection would set in. Orochimaru would have to wait until Sasuke was at least 18 years old before he tried to take the Uchiha's body as his own in order to insure that Sasuke had any offspring at all so as to have more sharingan wielding bodies to some day possess.
Not that the snake would take possession, in the literal sense, of every single offspring he produced, it wouldn't be necessary. They had discovered that a body that held a kekkei genkai could withstand the rejection of the foreign soul for a lot longer than a body that didn't hold such a talent. The Sannin would allow his clan to flourish as much as possible, as a part of Otogakure.
The Snake Sannin would make sure that the Uchiha Clan, once a proud part of Konohagakure, would be integrated into his own shinobi village as seamlessly as possible. After all, Otogakure was looked at as an extension of the serpent-like man. It was just another part of his insane bid for immortality. As long as Otogakure flourished, so would he; at least, that's what the snake believed. If the Sound failed, then he would as well, and vice versa.
Sasuke's thoughts, once again, strayed from their course of evaluating his own life as he thought more on the village that he had seemingly joined.
Otogakure wasn't quite like Konohagakure has been. The people there had once been outcasts from other villages, shinobi or not. Not everyone living within the village was a shinobi or even capable of becoming one. There were farmers, weavers, and every other kind of worker imaginable for a village to prosper, even a small village like Otogakure.
The Village Hidden in the Sound wasn't anywhere near the size of Konohagakure or even the size of Sunagakure, but it would be, some day. The people here were like people any where. They lived, they died, they laughed, they cried. They grew angry at one another and teased each other about trivial things. They weren't the dark, evil people that many in Konoha had thought of when they first discovered that Otogakure was founded and led by the Leaf's rogue Sannin.
In a way, he could see Otogakure as a type of offshoot of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. They even had similar philosophies. Konohagakure's main lesson was that each member of the village was just as important as the topmost official or shinobi. That each person was important in their own right and should never be abandoned. Otogakure's lesson was that each person should be treated as special, that each could be useful in their own way if so allowed. That, though each were different, that they still had the same potential to become something more.
In a way, each village was as much a hypocrite as the other as well. In Konohagakure, people were treated differently depending on their clan titles. He could understand a certain amount of respect being given to those who had a kekkei genkai of some sort or had contributed greatly to the village one way or another, earned respect, but he didn't see how it should be allowed to be taken advantage of as much as it had been. He had hated how people tried to pander to his every whim, trying to gain favor with the 'last of the prestigious Uchiha Clan'. It sickened him how the people had tried to sell themselves, especially some of the women, just for a chance to be associated with him.
It was one of the reasons that he had been so stand-offish with others, his own age or not. He couldn't trust that they hadn't been sent by their own parents to curry favor with him.
Many would say that he shouldn't be that suspicious of anything, but he had remembered what people had been like towards his brother. He had seen how disgusted his brother had bee towards those types of people, and he had felt the same way.
After all, a part of the reason he still hated his elder brother with such a passion was because he still, deep down in his subconscious, wanted to be just like his nii-san.
----------Scene Change----------
She didn't make eye contact with anyone in the group; too busy scanning the area around them.
It would not do to be taken by surprise even in their own base of operations.
They were not in Otogakure; had not been since the Sannin's apprentice had tried to escape. Orochimaru thought that it was too risky to be in one place too long. They had stayed in Otogakure long enough for the sedatives placed in the young Uchiha's food to saturate his system long enough for him to remain unconscious for a little over 36 hours. That had taken a little over two weeks to accomplish.
They were now located in one of the Snake's many compounds scattered throughout the Elemental Countries. She knew which one they were at, and she knew which one they would move too in a few days. She didn't particularly care which one they went to, she knew them all, had been to them all. She was created in one of them, not in Otogakure like many believed.
Just because she was spoken of as the Oto no Youkai did not mean that she originated from there.
Of course, most of the population currently residing within the village walls didn't originate from the small, but flourishing ninja settlement. Many were refugees of one kind or another; people looking for a place to stay and a new start. They looked to their leader, their Otokage to protect them from those that would harm them for simply existing.
She briefly wondered if they knew what the Snake was really like.
Orochimaru was very careful to project a sense of the caring uncle towards 'his' people. He made sure no one starved, that everyone had a roof over their heads. That everyone had work that they could enjoy, that they would receive medical care when needed. Counseling for those with problems wishing to recover from them and make restitution for the wrongs they had made in their lives.
He was the perfect leader for his people.
There seemed to be no crime on the streets of Otogakure.
People who were discontented with the lifestyle would leave, presumably of their own free will. Though this did not happen often, for a multitude of reasons.
First and foremost, many didn't have another place to go, so if they found something about life as a citizen of the ninja village they would, more likely than not, grit their teeth and bare with it. Secondly, if they didn't bare with it and tried to cause trouble, they would be arrested and taken to gaol. Some would change their ways and return to life amongst the populace.
Others were not so lucky.
No one amongst the civilians living in the ninja village really knew about that part. They were just told that the discontented were taken to a new place to stay, one where they would still be safe from those out to kill them for whatever reason, and that they would have several chances to change how they acted.
Of course there were still rumors, but no one really paid them any mind, or at least, not for long if they did try to look in on things too closely.
Otogakure was not a place for those who questioned their leader, but it was a place of refuge and a new start, so many didn't want to question where the hand that fed them came from or what it did when it wasn't seeing to their needs. You took everything at face value and tried not to question or look too closely. It was, after all, a village of ninja, extremely paranoid ninja, who were taught to do whatever their 'savior' told them to do. To do otherwise was to risk being exiled back into the world that had already turned against them. Many followed the village policies out of genuine gratitude, while others just wanted to save what they had left of their lives.
Her expression didn't change as she was dismissed. The Snake wanted her to escort their new ally to his quarters. She said nothing as she indicated a direction that the painter should follow her towards. The pale youth made no attempt to start a meaningless conversation.
They walked silently through the halls of the compound, the only sound to follow them was the almost nonexistent footfalls of the dark-haired artist.
A/N: sorry for the wait any loyal readers I may actually have!...if it makes you feel any better, I've already started on chapter 12!...(sighs)...it might be a while before it's anywhere near done, though, school started two weeks ago, and I have a lot of reading homework...
