Orochimaru found his legs feeling heavier and his head feeling lighter. He cursed as it didn't appear as if his clone was taking a knock at all, he showed no signs of fatigue. Then again, he also refused to show he was growing weary of the battle, perhaps his clone was also playing the card of being unaffected.
Orochimaru tried to swerve out the way as the fake Kusangi slashed down at him, but he was a second too late and received a long gash down his arm. He hissed in pain and backed up, slipping beneath the earth and appearing a few feet away clutching his injury. The clone smirked in satisfaction then flipped his sword around his arm.
The battle carried on for a few more hours, every passing minute making the original Sannin doubt his probability of winning the brawl. He knew he couldn't summon anything of great help, as it was all of great size and would attract masks. He carried on attacking his clone when suddenly the replicated Sannin slipped up and received a devastating slash across his chest. He staggered back and held the bloodied wound before eliciting a weakened hiss. His cloned yellow eyes snapped up and glared at the original Sannin who approached him again.
Orochimaru realized his clone was already weak before he entered the fight with him. He must have been attacked by masks as he disobeyed them for the final time, or perhaps the cloned Madara had attacked as the masks ordered. Either way, he appeared as out of chakara as the original was, which meant regeneration was no longer an option. It was finally checkmate. The clone had a more fatal wound scarring his chest than the Sannin did on his arm. The cloned Orochimaru flashed worried eyes in between flashing angered ones. He appeared hesitant, as if he didn't know what he was going to do now. Dark chakara flicked around him in a fiery warning, then spread across the field. Orochimaru matched his clone with his own dark chakara which ended up stunting the flow of the clones. It was a stalemate as neither one could move their potent chakara past the other. The ground shook under the pressure, the wind picking up at great speeds and finally the heavy rain from before started pouring down.
The clone for once seemed worried, the satisfied smile having vanished into nothingness. He knew he was not faring as well as he would have liked against his other self, he knew he was over confident and that he in all probability would not win the battle. He took a step back, Orochimaru anticipated his clone running away. He wouldn't doubt it, the battle had become to much for him and he was in desperate need of healing. The clone fell into nothingness, many smaller snakes dispersing as the the body turned to smoke. Orochimaru cursed. It was nothing but a shadow clone.
His eyes scanned the battle field, and he tried sensing for the replicated Sannin, however it was evident the man was set on not being located. For once, the snakes natural ability to vanish was being used against him. Orochimaru winced as the gash down his arm broke him from his concentration. It may have been best to simply return to the other nations, instead of wasting time and energy on a clone who was equally matched to him anyway.
He still had no exact location to head to however, as the alliance hadn't left any indication. Looking was better than staying still he decided, so he turned for the nearest village he knew of. Perhaps they had taken refuge in an old nations ruins.
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There was a loud cheer from outside, and the Kage all raced to the window to see what was going on. Ninja from all the villages seemed thrilled, and they were moving out the way as someone made their way to the Kage mansion. The team was skeptical, and most of all worried about the amount of noise the alliance was making. Tsunade opened the window and beckoned for the ninja to hush down, but they only hushed momentarily.
Thankfully who ever had caused such a commotion finally got to the Kage mansion, and the guards let the individual pass straight into the building. The other Kage could only hazard a guess at who it may have been.
"Do you think the snake lived?" The Riakage asked.
"Impossible." Madara muttered.
"I don't see why else the guards would move." Gaara stated.
"And the people are ecstatic." The Mizukage added.
It wasn't long before the door clicked open and the ninja who had entered showed himself. The black haired Sannin seemed exhausted, and more than all slightly flighty and on edge. The Kage watched him wearily, their eyes scanned him over. He had blood staining almost all of him and his eyes were still darting between all the Kage untrustingly.
The Kage allowed him to speak first, as if it were the real Orochimaru and not the clone, they owed him much explaining. He offered no immediate response and the impatient Cloud leader decided to end the silence.
"How did you live?" He asked.
"I ran." The Sannin said still slightly breathless sounding.
"From an army?" Madara questioned.
"I have run away from armies and nations all my life Madara. This was no different." Orochimaru muttered.
It was believable, the snake Sannin was known for getting in and out of the most troublesome situations, escaping from any mess he found himself and out running any enemy. The room was still tense, the golden eyed male suddenly looked more irritated than anxious.
"Well? Care to explain your complete betrayal back there?" He asked, the Kage were slightly speechless, all hoping another Kage would take on the task of explaining. Orochimaru ran a hand through his hair.
"Leave it. I need a healer." He said.
"Why can't you regenerate?" Madara asked. He earned a sharp hiss.
"Because I'm mortally wounded and out of chakara. Out running an army tends to be a bit of a suicide mission." The serpent said. Tsunade nocked past the Uchiha feeling mixed feelings about everything. It all added up, and it made sense that the Sannin had some how lived. She wouldn't put anything past him, after all being on his team for a period of time had earned her the right to say she knew him fairly well.
He was not an easy man to put down, and he had shown this on many occasions. What she was slightly worried about was the fact that after their betrayal he may have decided to not help the alliance, perhaps end it. If so, she didn't want to heal him.
"How did you find us?" Tsunade asked.
"Are you hiding from me or from the masks?" Orochimaru asked slightly irritably.
"The masks, but a hiding ground is a hiding ground. How did you locate us?" She asked.
"I wasn't looking for you per say, but I ran to the nearest village. I needed healing supplies and I didn't know where you had vanished to. Konoha happened to be the closest place I knew of." Orochimaru said.
"You've never been quick to forgive, yet now you seem quick to do so." Madara said skeptically.
"To be honest, I haven't forgiven a single one of you." Orochimaru said, "but this is where my village is, and besides, I can't afford to try and defeat the masks alone. This is sadly my only option. Wether I trust you is an entirely different matter, forgiveness has nothing to do with this."
Tsunade sighed, it made sense. He probably hated them all, and would certainly never put his life in their hands again. He would never be as useful as he once was as he would never fully give himself to the alliance. But having him back was better than having him die.
She came to heal him, heading for the most obvious and fatal looking wound. Her hands started healing the large chest wound, a blade having evidently run down his torso. She managed to heal all the other cuts, and then finally did her best at healing the chest wound before bandaging it up. The female Sannin looked him over once more before deciding it was all she could do.
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Orochimaru had no luck finding the alliance. He had gone to the nearest village ruin which had happened to be Mist. The streets and buildings however were indecisive rain was once again a drizzle
Orochimaru could feel himself lose far to much blood from his arm wound, and couldn't help but wonder where his clone had gone to.
The clone had fled, his chest profusely bleeding, but he had managed to make sure his blood didn't leave a good enough trail to be tracked. Which was a pity, as the original Sannin found his arm had managed to leave a rather perfect trail. No doubt it would likely attract wild animals, and possibly masks. He sighed and sat down on a nearby broken building, allowing himself to rest but also keeping close guard of the surrounding area. Since he had lived most of his life on the run, this was natural to him and required less effort than the normal individual. However, it also meant he was always, even during peaceful times, highly strung.
He couldn't remember a night spent where he didn't wake up every half an hour to assess the surrounding area, even when allies were right beside him. Then again, time and time again, he was shown that there was no such thing as an ally. No person worth trusting. He tried once more to put his mind at rest, to meditate for a few moments to calm his racing thoughts. It was no wonder he was a psychotic maniac, his mind was his own greatest enemy. Plaguing him with paranoia, and unlikely fates, with fears of trusting, with fears of losing, with fears of dying.
Never did his mind offer him positive things, such as gratitude for the life he had lived so far, or for the fact that despite the unlikeliness of it all, he was still breathing when an army had kidnapped him. Even trying to force positive things did not seem to help, he found it was not as fulfilling as he would have liked, in fact it was far to forced to satisfy his own self. He brushed through his now unimaginably knotty hair, but winced as he moved his arm. He made a half hearted attempt at brushing his fingers through his hair again with his uninjured hand, but it didn't achieve much. There was movement behind him, but it was not human.
Regardless he kept watch on it, just in case it thought it could make a meal of him. The presence got closer, but it became apparent that it hadn't noticed him sitting on the high ledge of the broken building. It was finally identified as another deer and it was incredibly young, he was taken aback to realize his first thought was wether he should kill it for food or not. He soon realized he hadn't eaten in what felt like forever, but he quickly decided he wasn't stooping low enough to kill the creature like some beast. He would rather sit and starve than lose his pride.
The doe he had helped, as pointless as it had been flashed through his mind. Perhaps she was its mother.
He cursed himself for making pitiful sentimental connections, so what if it was? He hadn't killed the deer, he had tried to save it. He didn't owe anything to the young creature, and even if he did what was he to do? Not eating it was his grace for the mean while. He felt the need to explore the abandoned site, but didn't want to startle the young buck. So he waited while it sniffed the ground, it eventually realized there was life sitting above it but it was evidently to young to know just how dangerous that was. If the Sannin had decided to eat him, the buck was an easy target.
His patience was running out and he hopped down off the building, this caused the deer to spook and run a few feet away before spinning around to face him. He ignored it, proceeded forwards, it simply stared, blissfully unaware of what natural order was. Prey and predator.
The snake Sannin entered the nearest whole building he came across and searched around for anything of value. Thankfully the home had medical supplies, no food, but he would cut his losses. He tried to patch his arm up, but found he did a shabby job, and he was highly unimpressed at his own failure. Letting out another pained sigh he exited the house, the young deer hadn't moved.
He wondered if it was paralyzed in fear, or if it had a very long attention span. Ears pricked it stared straight at him, or perhaps straight behind him. He automatically followed its gaze. There was nothing there, And he could not sense anything either. The buck however was still looking, either fearfully or memorized. Orochimaru couldn't tell but it was starting to worry him, when the stags nostrils flared and it spun around to head back into the forest the Sannin once again looked around. It certainly hadn't run from him. Birds fluttered out from nearby trees in the distance heading towards him. They flew over his head as they chaotically shrieked and barreled past with frantic flaps.
Something must have been amiss in the distance, something which had caused the birds to flee and the deer to bolt. Either way, judging form where the birds had flown from, the threat was rather far. Far enough for it to hopefully not come near the mist wreckage. He wanted to climb the highest building around but found it was slightly to risky, he may be seen by masks, or clones for that matter. Orochimaru decided to reside in a broken building for the night, he needed rest more than anything and he would summon a snake or two to stay as look outs for the time he slept. He entered the closest and most out of the way building, hoping for it to be the most secluded from both wild animals or passing masks.
He entered the small house and then searched for the best place to sleep, although a bed was an option, he was hardly going to risk sleeping in it. If someone were to walk in they would see him, he would sleep somewhere that even if someone entered the house, he would have a good chance of staying hidden for a while. He would grow to be grateful of that decision. He climbed up the wall and sat on one of the roof support beams, sitting where the beam was the thickest. The least comfortable place of them all notably, but it was certainly out of sight. He had impeccable balance to top it off, so he didn't fear falling off either.
He summoned snakes to curl around the beams and watch the house for while he slept, just incase his senses failed him while he submitted himself to vulnerable state that was sleep. He found himself falling into slumber quickly only to wake up what felt like minutes later. One of his snakes had awoken him, it was much darker outside now and as he gained more awareness he could hear voices.
"Maybe there's food in here." One said.
"Idiot we aren't here for food." A female answered.
"We aren't going to find the bastard. Might as well get food." The voice said again.
"His blood leads here, there's a strong possibility he is still somewhere in the village." The voice was then identifiable. It was the Mizukage, the other voice belonging to the Riakage. Wether they were clones or not he didn't know.
Soon Madara entered the house and looked at the two, he had many injuries plaguing him.
"Have you searched in here? The masks are getting impatient." He said.
So they were the clones Orochimaru noted. He watched them from the roof, glad the night concealed him so well. The female looked at the masked ninja and hushed him.
"We just entered, so no we are still looking." She snapped.
"Well do a quick job." He snapped before leaving room. She sighed in irritation before going around to random places and uprooting furniture to scan the house. There was a possibility they may check the roof Orochimaru cursed, he needed to get out just incase. He had little options now.
He could turn into a snake, but that would be costly chakara wise, and he was trying his best to reserve chakara to regenerate. All the interruptions he faced would wear what little chakara he had down, and he would never be able to regenerate. He had little choice now however as the floor had been properly checked. He did a few silent hand signs and materialized into the small serpent he was known for. It's white scales were not the best for hiding in the dark, but his lithe body was perfect for staying in small spaces.
He slipped into the wood work of the roof and coiled up to become smaller than his already small transformation had made him. As he had worried, the female clone climbed the roof to scan for who ever they were looking for. The Sannin guessed it was either him or his clone. Either way, if he was seen he was dead. She eventually sat on the roof, then looked around for anything she deemed suspicious. She noticed the slightly discoloring in the wall. It was the white of the snake that had caught her attention and she walked across the beam towards it.
She had no way of proving it was the Sannin however, as many snakes resided in the abandoned building and many snakes hibernated in the wooden walls and frames to stay warm. They had likely encountered many already. Of course the gig would be up if she managed to see his true colour, the brilliant white scales with startling golden eyes a dead give away. However if she attempted to remove him from the wood work he could simply sink his fangs into her and play the card of a wild snake. Evidently she had seen many snakes in the past roofs and hesitated.
"Why must his summonings be snakes?" She sighed, "I checked the last time this ones yours."
"You're already up there." The Riakage countered.
"Last one I checked bit the living shit out of me." She snapped.
"At least it wasn't poisonous." He stated back.
"Doesn't mean this one isn't." She said.
"Just pull it out for heavens sake we have to move on." He said.
She attempted to grab his tail, the white serpent, whose colour was still hidden well enough hissed in warning and she retracted her hand.
"No ways, you take this one." She snapped.
"Don't be such a girl." He muttered irritably.
"I am a girl, what's your excuse?" She snapped. He rolled his eyes.
"Fine, move." He said as he got to the beam, Orochimaru hissed again and from inside the wood work he reared his head in warning, making sure they knew he would strike. He realized quickly he was rather capable of poison, and that the man would cause his own death reaching inside. However he only had limited poison in such a small serpents body, so he would only manage to kill two of them at best. That was all he needed to at that moment anyway.
He waited for the man to reach in, but he seemed to be hesitating as well. Orochimaru decided to trick him into thinking he was trying to retreat. Orochimaru moved his head away from their sight, making it appear as if he was retreating elsewhere, his tail was surely exposed and the man fell for the ploy. He snatched at the tail, and the snake used its lightning fast reflexes to whip its head back and sink its teeth into his flesh. He cursed and flung the snake to the floor. Snakes were hardy however and such a fall was not fatal to the creature. The Riakage cursed again and held his arm.
"Son of a bitch." He yelled. The Mizukage started laughing hysterically and then glanced at the snake who was on the floor, it had slipped under a fallen chair to get to safety. She hopped down to retrieve it, making sure to stay away from its mouth. The Riakage carried on his complaints and she told him to hush up. He found it was too painful to silence however.
"I think I've been poisoned." He stammered. She looked back at him worriedly.
"Why?" She asked.
"It's hurts like a bitch that's why." He snapped.
"Maybe you have a low pain tolerance. Besides they say venomous snakes have needle like bites, you generally don't feel a thing." She said.
"The bite wound doesn't hurt." He said, his breathing became ragged. The clone Mizukage stared worriedly.
"Madara!" She yelled, the masked man entered and instantly allowed his eyes to look at the Riakage. He seemed to know how to handle a poisoned victim, and told him to not panic as his heart would beat faster accelerating the toxins flow.
As Madara aided the Riakage the Sannin attempted to get out. He wanted to kill the both of them but it was no longer an option. He slipped for a broken piece of wall and entered the cold night where he carried on slipping undetected for a small amount of time. His sense were showing him distress signals ahead, it was coming from the same area he had seen the deer flee from early that night. He could hear the Riakage scream, but the screams carried on for longer than an they should have. The man out lived the poisons death rate. Madara must have found a way to stop the poison from reaching the mans heart. Perhaps managing to bleed it out of him. A serious pity, he would have liked the man to have died. Either way, he once again cut his losses and carried on fleeing.
He slipped under a fallen wall, once again trying to hide. Eventually he saw the clones come out, the Riakage looked angry a large bandage on his arm.
"I'm telling you that was him." He said.
"What colour was it?" Madara asked.
"What does it matter, I've seen him take the form of a giant brown snake. I bet he has smaller more natural coloured transformations." The man said.
"We know all he is capable of transformation wise." Madara said.
"Or so we think. Besides it could have been white." He said.
"I think it was." The Mizukage said, "we need to stop him from escaping."
"Is it him or the clone though?" Madara asked.
"We won't know till we catch it." She said.
So they were looking for him then, not the greatest news he thought, but not the worst he had been dealt. As for now he was well hidden and rather comfortable where he was. However it was still slowly but surely taking away his chakara. The white serpent lay soundlessly for a few moments, he could sense danger approaching in the distance, after a few more hours of waiting he heard more birds frantically ascending.
"What's that?" Madara said looking towards the danger zone.
"Fire." The Mizukage said.
"Who started it? This isn't the weather for forest fires." The cloned Uchiha said.
"Maybe our allies found the Shinobi, or perhaps one of the loose Sannin." The Misukage guessed, "either way it is in our favour. Shall we help the fire spread, allow it to fully burn this ruin down? That way the snake is forced to come out of hiding or burn."
"Why wait for their flames." Madara chuckled, he placed his fingers to his lips then muttered his jutsus name. Fire burst from his mouth and hit the nearby land and buildings. The flammable terrain caught alight in seconds and roared across the village. The serpent was instantly choked by the smoke, and the heat started to swarm him, singeing his scales. Many smaller animals that lay hidden in the walls and cracks of broken buildings came out of hiding and fled, but they were not snakes, and they were not white.
Orochimaru contemplated what he should do, he waited for the flames to grow higher, hoping they would hide his form. The smoke was good enough coverage and the serpent slipped out from his den to brave the open land. As he thought, the clones were standing on high platforms which gave them the advantage of spotting movement. Thankfully the flickering of the fire was distracting. They had made sure to spread out bordering the village, so that if the snake hoped of evacuating he would end up being seen. Orochimaru hissed in frustration. The flames however were pushing him closer and closer to villages edge. He had no choice but to slip forwards to avoid the burning embers singeing him.
The more he ran the more taxing keeping the transformation became, he realized he was further from the exits than he thought, it had been impossible for his small lithe form to escape the fires. He was forced out of his transformation, he returned to human, but smoke still trapped his lungs and suffocated him. Orochimaru tried to pull himself to his feet but he stumbled back down to one knee. He eventually fell forwards, his hands catching his upper body from hitting the soil. He could feel the heat of the fire as it surrounded him, now making him trapped in a burning circle.
He sensed someone approach, but he was out of chakara and out of breath. His injured arm was once again becoming a burden and he struggled to support himself on it.
"There you are." The cloned Riakage said, he hoisted the Sannin up by the collar of his shirt. Orochimaru feebly pushed at the larger mans chest to gain some distance. The Riakage took a step forwards, bringing the pale Sannin closer to the flames.
Orochimaru fought again, trying to avoid the death awaiting his fatigued body, however that same fatigued body refused to fight any longer.
He cursed as his body failed him when his mind still pleaded to fight.
"Well?" The man asked, "which one are you? The original or copy?"
"We are both dead to you anyway. Why does it matter?" He hissed.
"Now that's a good point." The man said.
"No, we were ordered to bring the clone home." The Mizukage said.
"Who can tell the difference." Madara replied.
"The clone has something we need." She reminded. The other two fell silent then their eyes fell to the Sannin.
"Answer us." The Riakage snapped.
"What's to say I won't just lie to you?" Orochimaru answered.
"For fuck sakes." The Cloud leaders clone snapped, "we will bring him back with us, leave it up for the masks to decide."
"If he is the original there is no reason to let him live. If he lives there's a good chance he will end up escaping." Madara stressed.
"He always does," the Mizukage laughed, "but we have no choice. Besides, as you've seen we always get another chance at catching him. There isn't enough world for him to escape us on."
"This could be our last opportunity." Madara muttered.
"Nonsense." She said, "say he is the original, with friends like his who needs us to kill him?"
Orochimaru watched them for a moment, then found himself shoved to the floor. He slipped out the way of the man kicking him, which angered the Cloud leader further. Madara knocked the man out the way and grabbed hold of the Sannin.
"I'll meet you back at the base then." Madara said.
"Take us with y-" the Mizukage tried to say, but the masked Uchiha had gone out of their dimension taking the Sannin with him.
Blackness claimed the captured Sannins senses, and he fought like a trapped cat might as the man forcibly relocated him. He hissed in frustration as the world started taking shape again, he could hear many voices echoing a metallic hall. All of the voices sounding identical.
It was the masks, and they looked at the approaching Uchiha clone and his prisoner with interest.
Madara tossed the serpent forwards, the latter of which catching himself on a nearby wall to avoid falling.
"Clone or original?" One mask asked.
"He won't say. Interrogate him." Madara answered. The Sannin knew interrogation was never the place a captured enemy wanted to be in. There was no mercy once in enemy hands, if he did not say what they wished to hear, sometimes even if he did say what they wanted to hear, he was in for a world of pain.
Authors note- I have been so busy lately! I'm sorry for the delayed updates...
Thank you so much to those who review! Your words and comments always help me to carry on writing even when pressured for time. Hope you enjoyed the update.