Interlude VIII: Sakura

Sakura opened the door to a dimly lit hallway, cautiously peeking her head out to look down both ways. No sound came from either direction, so Sakura left the room, gently closing the door behind her. The door was painted a dark purple on the outside and Sakura reminded herself to remember that; it wouldn't do for her to go looking for information and then not be able to find her way to the only room she could guarantee was semi-safe.

She was very conscious of the way she walked, a swaying step that was silent along the empty hallway. Orochimaru's gait was different from hers. She was much more surefooted, able to take a hit and stay in place. Orochimaru was built for deflection and dodging, a slinky style of fighting that was incredibly different from hers.

It took another minute to find another door and Sakura felt the scowl forming on her face. This hallway was far too long and reminiscent of the other time she had entered a base belonging to Orochimaru. There was a startling lack of other occupants so far and it made Sakura wonder. How far back had she ended up? Orochimaru couldn't be in Konoha, not with the way this base was set up, so when was she?

She saw a door further down the hall and she picked up her pace, curiously taking in a solid-looking wooden door. Sakura pushed, expecting the door to open, but it didn't budge. Instead, a hot red seal suddenly appeared on the door and Sakura yelped at a sudden pain racing through her hand. She cursed, pulling away and glaring at the seal. It stayed red for half a second, a trickle of blood smeared across it, before it faded to black and then disappeared once more, the smeared blood seemingly disappearing. There was a light clicking sound and then the door partially swung open.

Sakura grimaced, trying to find the cut on her hand. There had to be one, even a shallow cut, from the amount of blood that had been smeared. Instead, there was no sign of a mark anywhere. Already feeling tired of Orochimaru's nonsense, she hesitantly reached forward once more. There was no slicing pain this time, so Sakura pushed the door further open, eyes keen as she examined the dark room. Her eyes adjusted quickly, the slits no doubt expanding to let more light in. She was easily able to find the light switch right next to the door.

She turned and she couldn't believe her luck. Before her was an office, scrolls and books lining several bookshelves behind a rather large desk. Sakura felt her heart pick up in excitement and she quickly made her way to the bookshelf. She doubted Orochimaru would keep something as sensitive as the secret to his body-swapping in an open bookshelf, but there was still available information in front of her. She'd take anything she could get.

The first book was something she thought was odd for Orochimaru to own; it was a civilian sign language book. She glanced at the cover, forever curious, but she dismissed it just as quickly. The following books all centered around politics and then general weapons care. Simple book after simple book and even though she knew better than to set her hopes onto an obvious bookshelf, she felt herself deflate slightly.

Her luck, however, had not yet run out. On the second shelf, set up into cubbies with several scrolls in each slot, there were many more interesting contents. Several of the scrolls were actually summoning scrolls, including animals that she had never seen summoned before. There was a small scroll for something called a bennu, as well as a slightly larger scroll for, of all things, boars. The third one in the cubby was larger than the other two and far more ornamental on the outside. While the others had simple bands of green decorating them, this scroll had gold lining and dark purple detail. Sakura tugged it out, curious, and then immediately made a face.

Spiders , she thought with disgust. It was a summoning scroll for spiders.

"Who the hell wants to summon spiders?" she asked herself, shoving the scroll back into its previous position.

The following scrolls were far less interesting, notes upon notes of simple anecdotes about mundane things. There were some financial reports that Sakura couldn't make out, as well as some notes on what the farming season was like in Hi no Kuni.

And there it is , Sakura thought smugly, feeling relief flood through her veins. She now had confirmation that she was at least in the same country as Konoha. It shouldn't take too long to make it to the village and try to find out where she was in the timeline. Hopefully, she would even run into her teammates.

Sakura half-heartedly went through the rest of the papers on the shelf, books and scrolls not holding her interest for long. She barely pulled out a small plant encyclopedia when there was a clunking sound. Blinking, she dipped her head down, pursing her lips when she had to swipe Orochimaru's long black hair out of her face. There was a tiny messenger scroll wedged in the back behind the encyclopedia.

Sakura pulled it out, curious, unraveling it after setting the encyclopedia back in place.

She skimmed it, not able to decipher the message on the scroll. She did, however, recognize some of the code words used. The last time she'd seen a similarly coded message, she was helping her shishou decrypt some of Danzō's redacted orders from his time as Root's leader. With a small jolt, Sakura realized she has proof that Danzō was in contact with Orochimaru even after he left the village.

"Orochimaru-sama?"

Sakura stood abruptly, a snarl on her lips, meeting the eyes of a nervous-looking man. He wasn't wearing any village identifying symbols, only a pristine white lab coat. He was nervously wringing his hands, doing his best not to meet Sakura's eyes.

"What?" Sakura asked, her voice tight with irritation.

"A message came for you," he stated, hurriedly laying a tiny scroll onto the desk separating them. He made a hasty exit, not waiting for Sakura to respond.

Sakura watched him go, eyes tracking him as he closed the door behind him. She felt stupid for not closing the door behind her, but it was too late now to be bothered by it. She relaxed her stance, glancing down at the message resting innocently on the desk.

It looked exactly like the correspondence she had just found.

Suddenly eager, Sakura sprang forward and exchanged the old scroll for the new one, delighted to have more information in her grasp. This scroll meant that she at least knew that Danzō was still alive. It put her whereabouts before the Kage Summit, which was more than she had had a moment ago.

This scroll was incredibly simple to decrypt. While the other had been heavily coded with both words Sakura knew how to decipher as well as words she couldn't place, this message was incredibly short and to the point.

Hebi,

Danzō-sama has issued the following orders: all active Root shinobi are to report to the alpha base for an announcement. Kuma will meet you outside of Konohagakure.

The scroll had no sign off signature, which left Sakura curious as to who was spreading word of Danzō's orders. What could Danzō want to announce that was so important that Root agents, especially ones as noticeable as Orochimaru, were being called back?

What did Danzō have up his sleeve?

Sakura bit her lip, a wave of searing anger slowly building in her chest. Sakura disliked plenty of people, wasn't light or naive enough not to wish certain people dead, but if there was one man that she wished she could've gotten her hands-on, it was Danzō. Learning the truth about the man and his bloody deeds had set a fire within her, one almost as hot as Orochimaru's existence had.

She re-rolled the scroll, setting down the new one next to the identical old one. She would leave the base, report to the so-called alpha base with this Kuma person, and make her way into the heart of Danzō's territory. Once whatever announcement was made, she would request a private meeting with the man. She would have time to get used to Orochimaru's movements, time to plan, even if for only the time it took her to travel back to the village. Sakura was a medic-nin and she would be able to feel out her body and adjust far faster than someone unfamiliar with the way human biology worked. She would get him alone and then execute the justice that Sasuke deserved.

If she was lucky, she might even be early enough to circumvent the entire Uchiha Massacre with a simple assassination.

"Enough of that," Sakura muttered to herself, shaking her head to rid her of her vengeful thoughts. She had to finish her brief examination of Orochimaru's office before going back to Orochimaru's room to pack some clothes. There were some more neutral-toned items in the closet that she would have to deal with wearing, as the outfit she currently had Orochimaru in was much too bright for any type of stealth work. If the man was already located in a base, then he was surely already on the run as a traitor. Sakura didn't want to have to fight any of her future—past?—comrades.

The wooden desk before her was sparse on top, several different bottles of ink littering the top, as well as both empty scrolls and blank pieces of paper. Sakura snagged a small travel scroll from the top right drawer, pleased that she at least wouldn't have to sleep on the hard ground. Most of the drawers held innocuous things as well, simple tools like extra brushes and pens. The top left drawer was the only one that brought anything interesting to her attention.

Sakura stared down at the letter in her grasp, blinking down with mixed emotions.

Orochimaru,

I found this montsuki in a little shop in Kirigakure. The pattern reminded me of you. I know you're not a big fan of bright colors, but I thought it would look good on you. Maybe you can wear it to Tanataba when I get back from my mission? I miss you and Tsunade both. Hopefully I'll be back home in a few more weeks.

Yours,

Jiraiya

Sakura stared blankly at the message, struggling to understand what exactly she was supposed to make of the letter. If she could deduce the meaning correctly, Jiraiya had bought Orochimaru a montsuki—which could very well be the one she was wearing now—and had asked if they could attend a love festival together while Orochimaru wore his gift.

"What the fuck?" Sakura breathed out, stunned at the revelation before her.

Jiraiya was a pervert, a man who spied on women while they tried to relax in hot springs. He wrote dirty books about heterosexual relationships; the very idea of any type of homosexual feelings from the man was conflicting with the image she held in her mind.

Could it be, Sakura wondered, that the man simply liked both and never advertised that fact? The times shifted all the time. In Sakura's time, what more conservative people dubbed an 'alternative lifestyle', didn't matter much. Men could marry men and women could marry women. Hell, Sakura knew at least one nurse that identified as non-binary who had a wonderful transgender husband that Sakura had helped perform top surgery on.

Back in Jiraiya's day, however, it wasn't as easy. Sakura could easily imagine the man keeping his orientation, while not necessarily hidden, but definitely under wraps. Someone like Orochimaru, who was actively androgynous in a lot of ways, didn't hide his tendencies.

It was probably one of the reasons people had been wary of him from the start. Sakura had heard enough stories from her shishou to know that Orochimaru had never made any attempt to hide who or what he was. He was open and unashamed of his entire being. People had feared others for a lot less.

Sakura scowled at the thought. People hated Orochimaru because he lacked any empathy whatsoever. He experimented on kids, for fuck's sake. He deserved no pity from her. None.

She steadily ignored the part of her that acknowledged that Orochimaru must have kept the gifted clothing and the letter for a reason. That he must have felt something for someone to feel the need to keep it.

Instead, she simply put the letter back and gathered the Root correspondence. She needed clothes and a plan; for when she left this base, she never had any intention of coming back.