Once again a thanks to my editors, who actually gave advice on this chapter, and you should all thank that this chapter didn't get any creepier than it actually is. Also genderfluid!Orochimaru is life. Orochimaru might be a villain but big mood. And oddly enough the creepy factor wouldn't have had come from Orochimaru either if it was still kept in.

Warnings of: Canon trauma via Sasuke, Non-graphic death of a OC, and Orochimaru.

Overall warning of: None of the characters will have backstories that you were expecting. Naruto and Sasuke are like the only characters that I didn't mess with their canon backstories while everyone else around them has been changed in some form or manner.

Sasuke hated anyone coming near the place he slept. He hated anyone going near his family compound. Coincidentally Naruto was going to do both thanks to Kakashi's orders. He was going to step onto the Uchiha compound where Sasuke's relatives lived and stomp all over where they died and enter the house where he had made his base in.

Naruto who was going to touch everything because Naruto had no tact and no sensibility and way too curiosity not to touch everything. It would drive Sasuke crazy. In fact just thinking about already drove Sasuke crazy.

Nobody had really been to the Uchiha compound in such a long time and Sasuke didn't really spend that much time around the compound apart from cleaning the house as much as he needed and going to the family shrine in the old compound every Autumn. It didn't seem right to go around cleaning everything when he half expected Uncle Teyaki to be telling him off for trying to find the secret of his senbei recipe in his house or Uncle Setsuna showing off baby Ren, his grin a tad wide but nevertheless proud.

He didn't like returning to his cousin's place at the end of the day unless he was tired from training. It didn't seem right now due to having no training but not only was he not able to return to Shisui's place without being closer to his goal but he had to bring someone else home with him.

It wasn't right.

The only person he should be bringing to the family compound would be a wife after he took his vengeance against that Man but no, instead he gets Naruto to take care of him because Kakashi was a terrible person who couldn't leave things be.

He did try to lose Naruto and his stupid labouring wheezing in the market place hoping that his clothing would hide him and it seemed to work for about five minutes before Naruto found him again sounding like he was about to pass out but holding a pair lightly bruised pears with a stupid grin on his face. Sasuke stared at the pears and Naruto for a good few seconds before chalking it up to Naruto and his criminal past and really didn't want to know anything more than that.

"What are you looking at bastard, dattebayo!?" shouted Naruto before he winced, and really when wasn't he shouting? Didn't his face hurt from saying so much? God he was annoying.

Sasuke scoffed, if his mother was around she's give him a chilly glare behind a smile like she did to his father, and sneered "Did you steal those or did someone just drop it on the ground?" Naruto growled and held up a pear as if he was about to throw it.

"Bastard! If these pears weren't in such good condition then I'd throw them at you, dattebayo! And for your information I got given them by a kind stall keeper!" He didn't actually care if Naruto got the pears for free or not but he just wanted Naruto to go away.

"By the way, where is your place? I don't think I've ever seen you go home, dattebayo," said Naruto offering one of the pears to Sasuke. Sasuke paused before reluctantly taking the pear. Free food was food that he didn't need to make later. Naruto took a bite out of his own and wincing as he realised that with the broken cheek that he probably couldn't do that.

Sasuke could feel his anger rising again, "Idiot, why did you think you could eat solid food with a broken cheek! Broken cheeks are serious injuries!" Why couldn't the idiot just think for the first time in his life? Why?

"Shut up! The doctor said that I could eat soft foods in about a week anyway so I don't see the difference in eating it now or later!" Naruto glared at the pear as if it was its fault that Naruto couldn't eat it. Sasuke took a bite out of his own, partly to tease Naruto that he couldn't eat his and partly because he was curious of how hard the fruit actually was.

It wasn't hard at all and actually quite soft and sweet. Sasuke internally winced at it, he wasn't exactly used to overly sweet foods apart from the twice a year time that all the girls in class collectively decides to give him presents, one being his birthday and the other being a holiday that came from capital to do with giving boys sweets to show affection. He much prefer tomatoes instead of pears but they weren't even sweet yet even if they were in season.

"Of course there is a difference in eating soft foods now or later! Didn't anyone teach you that you should listen to the doctor?" Sasuke barely noticed the road that they were walking as they were shouting at each other. There was something calming about shouting at Naruto, probably because everyone has shouted at Naruto at some point.

"Of course not! I've never needed to the doctor's for this type of thing before today!"

Sasuke stared in disbelief. That had to be wrong. Nobody has never gone to the doctors. People get sick and injured and there was no way Naruto has never been injured. "Wait! Never?! You never got a virus that was around the village or broke your arm? I remember you hurting your wrist like two years ago!"

Naruto frowned and looked vaguely constipated, "Huh? Doctors cost money! I don't any spare money to go to the doctors,"

Sasuke stared at Naruto for a moment trying to see if Naruto was purposely being stupid because there was no way that a person could be this stupid before deciding that, no Naruto was just this stupid, "The doctors are free for ninja and students. They're part of the village taxes," Naruto looked dumbfounded.

"The village pays taxes?" he asked dumbly in Sasuke's opinion.

"Yes! We got taught that last year! This is why on each mission we only get a small proportion of money from the mission, part of it goes towards the village. But I remember you had a bandage around your wrist two years ago and you were complaining about how much it hurt and itched," Sasuke was never so grateful that he paid attention to classes even if they were boring and about civilian life.

"Well yeah, it did itch but I put those bandages on myself. They were the same kind as the bandages under our pouches,"

There had to be a limit to how stupid Naruto was. There had to be.

"Those...those aren't medical bandages,"

Naruto shrugged, his stupid orange jumpsuit puffing up as he did so, "Bandages are bandages,"

"They're really not! How did you never go to the doctors in your life? Did you even get injections for rabies or the yearly flu?"

Naruto said "Well, yeah, I've had the injections, everyone's had injections," in such a blank tone of voice that Sasuke was going to kill Naruto. He really was. How did Naruto make everything he say so aggravating.

Sasuke grimaced as he realised that the juice from his pear was leaking onto his hand and he had no way of cleaning it up.

At some point Naruto must have noticed what he was staring at because he said, "Just lick it you prissy asshole," before turning back to looking around, probably trying to find what else he could steal.

Sasuke stared at Naruto for a second before going back to the slow moving trickle of juice.

Sasuke frowned at the juice, it was starting to get sticky and uncomfortable and just gross in general, "I'm not a Inuzuka, I'm not just going to lick fruit juice off of my hands,"

"You don't need to be a Inuzuka to lick things off of your hands, dattebayo!" shouted Naruto or at least Sasuke thought he was trying to, it looked a bit hard when you kept wincing every few seconds and generally sounded like something dying in the streets.

Sasuke looked at his hand and Naruto and smirked. He had a brilliant idea. It wasn't worthy of an Uchiha but it would make himself feel better about everything. Hoping Naruto wouldn't notice Sasuke switched hands that were holding the pear so he had the stalk in the other hand and came closer to Naruto.

"Oi! What do you want, bastard?" Naruto was squinting suspiciously at Sasuke as he slid closer. His hand hovering over the idiot's back. Why couldn't the idiot stay oblivious at the right moments was the real question.

"Nothing, just showing my appreciation of you," Sasuke quickly wiped his juice stained hand on the back of Naruto's jacket, "idiot," and walked ahead just a tad. He smirked at the pure fury and confusion that he heard behind him.

"URk! You put pear juice on my jacket, dattebayo! Oi! Asshole! I'm talking to you, dattebayo! Hey! Don't walk away! That's it, dattebayo!" shouted Naruto from behind him. It should have made him turn around but it didn't.

"Did you really have to squish the pear into my hair?" asked Sasuke, tired and need of a desperate shower, as he opened the door to his second cousin's place. He could feel the mashed up pear sticking hair together in odd ways.

"Shut up. Did you have to throw your pear at my face? Besides you started it, dattebayo," wheezed Naruto, his jacket tied around his waist and he almost sounded like he was about to go into a panic attack. If he did Sasuke was going to shut the door on him and lock him out. He was not going to take care of Naruto in a panic attack.

Sasuke got into Shisui's house to take his shoes off and Naruto did the same.

Naruto looked around for a bit staring at the figurines that his mother collected and the various family photos that littered the place. Some of the photos weren't of his family but of his uncle instead at different stages of his life.

Sasuke knows if he looked in the draws he'll find photos of Shisui and his father in there. Uncle Inshi was superstitious like that. However Sasuke wasn't like Uncle Inshi, he kept the pictures of his family as a reminder of what he had to do and if he happened to cut out that Man out of the pictures, well it was best not to be reminded that he was related.

"Hey Sasuke-kun do you mind if I use your washing machine to wash my clothes?" Sasuke hummed in reply, trusting Naruto to get what he was saying.

"Very end corridor on the right, I'm taking a shower," said Sasuke as he headed upstairs. Sasuke didn't use many rooms in the house. It didn't feel right to him like he was always intruding on something so it was probably best that he brought Naruto here since they'd be intruding on the house together rather than somewhere else like his childhood home.

"Thanks!"

Sasuke didn't bother replying, he was sure Naruto got the message.

He was in a desperate need for a shower and he swore he could hear flies coming towards the smeared fruit on his head as well. Naruto could probably work a washing machine; he was an orphan as well. He took his shower until his hair no longer smelt of ripe pear. Changing and heading back to his room he threw his dirty clothes into his laundry basket and looked at his small table.

His small table had only one chair and was littered with books and scrolls. Some of them he already read, others were ones that he was still learning and one was something that he still needed to translate properly. He got the scroll he needed to translate and as many of dictionaries as he could balance with one hand and his chest. Looking at the scroll in hand he decided he probably also needed a pencil and paper to go along with it before heading downstairs again.

Translating was hard work.

Setting everything on the kitchen table Sasuke was half surprised that he couldn't hear Naruto. Maybe a bit more than half but that's because Naruto was loud and had the tendency to get louder the longer you spent time with him.

Slightly concerned Sasuke wandered down the corridor before he noticed a door open. Not just any door but his aunt's door. The exact same door that he had hear his uncle complain about being basically indestructible, hard to open and how his own son didn't let him into his late wife's office.

Full blown panic filled Sasuke as he rushed to the door to find Naruto down to his boxers looking at the bookshelf in the door with great concentration.

Sasuke had never been in this room before. It was disconcerting. There was a window in the office. Sasuke had never seen a window on the outside before. There was also a fish bowl that had been covered with algae and a small container exclaiming 'Yabby pellets!', there was also half finished reports and books on the table as well.

This was the room where Shisui had his last days in.

This was the room where he could find out why his second cousin committed suicide.

"Ah! Sasuke-kun, sorry I didn't meant to wander about all the rooms down here but I saw the seal and I thought to myself I might as well try it out since Inoichi-san taught me and all. You're not mad about me entering this room are you?"

Sasuke wasn't even looking at Naruto anymore by this point. Instead he was slowly entering the room, step by step, treating it like the museum of the dead that it was.

"Sasuke-kun?"

There was faded photos on the right corner by the window.

The first photo was of his aunt, uncle and baby Shisui. His cousin was tiny when he was a baby and didn't even open his eyes for the photo. His uncle was a standard Uchiha stock of lithe build with black hair and eyes. However his aunt he kept forgetting what she looked like.

That she had black hair clips or the fact she looked ridiculously young compared to his uncle. It just kept fading from his memory and startles him every time he looks at the photo.

Her long red bangs hanging at the front with a short bob at the back and dark greyish black eyes stared at him from the family photo. Shisui's eyes.

The next photo was of the genin team she had. One of the boys he thinks might have been Uncle Setsuna and the girl in the picture he recognised as Aunt Mao, Uncle Setsuna's wife. The other male he doesn't know.

The last photo was newer than the rest. Simply because it was more clearer than the rest.
It was of Shisui and that Man together side by side, both smiling in front of the lake where Sasuke learnt how to do the great fireball technique. Sasuke placed it face down. He didn't need more reminders that he has to do.

"Sasuke-kun, are you okay?"

Naruto touched his arm shocking him for a brief second before he was like normal.

"Of course, I'm fine." Naruto looked unconvinced. It was like all those people that asked him if he was okay after the massacre all over again, "I've just never been in this room before,"

"Huh, was this like your father's office or something?" Sasuke gave him a disbelieving look. How did anyone miss the fact that this was clearly not his family home?

"This is my Aunt Nanami's office. She used seals to seal away this office and later my second cousin did the same thing,"

Naruto tilted his head, he probably confused him, "and you couldn't enter this place at all? Isn't this your place?"

"Don't be an idiot. If I could enter the place it wouldn't smell like mildew and have algae in the pond, besides I'm only using this place. It's not actually mine. It's my uncle's place."

"But I thought all your family was dead?" frowned Naruto as he scratched his head.

"They are."

Naruto froze before looking around and slowly wilting under his stare.

What an idiot.

"Right...right! I need to make you the best meal ever dattebayo!" shouted Naruto as he headed out the room. Sasuke looked around once more, taking it all in. When Naruto's gone he'll explore the place more.

Later.

"At least put clothes on! Or put something on! I'm not having you wander about the house half naked!" shouted Sasuke as he turned to leave the room.

"I don't have spare clothes!" shouted Naruto back followed by the sound of metal on metal and bowls being moved.

Sasuke looked towards the ceiling wondering if it was too late to kick Naruto out. Probably was. Turning to close the door Sasuke remembered to place grab a book from the bookshelf and wedge it between the door and door frame, just in case. He didn't want to be locked out again.

Sighing Sasuke went back up stairs. He probably had some old clothes in Naruto's size, grabbing an old pair of shorts and top he went back into the kitchen to throw it at Naruto's head. He ignored the noise that Naruto let out as it hit the back of his head.

Luckily for him Naruto quickly put it on, only complaining a bit but he thinks it was more due to the whole throwing thing than being ungrateful.

"Sasuke-kun! You don't have any noodles!" Naruto broke into a coughing fit part way through, "How am I meant to make ramen if I don't have the noodles for it, dattebayo?!"

Sasuke glared at Naruto lightly, "You don't make ramen. Did that ever occur to you?"

"DOn't say such things!" shouted Naruto, apparently offended by the mention of not having ramen for every meal. How was Naruto still healthy if all he ate was ramen?

"Just make something else without noodles,"

"Fine! I will! And it will be the best damn thing you ever had or I'm not Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo!"

Sasuke sighed and hoped for the best.

He ran.

He didn't think about his good luck.

He had to- he had to run; get away.

His village needed him. He had to get away from here.

The corridors were narrow, probably just enough for two people to get through. He hoped that there wasn't another person to come by.

He didn't know how long he had been captured for but his little sister was waiting for him. Everyone was waiting.

Sweat rained down from his forehead. It was hot, much too hot. He couldn't get enough air. The corridor was faintly swayed side to side as he ran down. He didn't know exactly where he was going but he was going to get out of here but everywhere looked the same.

He wanted to stop but if he did was he going to be stopped forever?

Would he go back to the cells? Like everyone else in those filth cages? Where they were experimented on?

No. He was going to get outside. He was going outside. He was going to back to his village and get everyone out that he could. He was going away from Rice Country.

Up ahead there was a shadowed figure. He slowed down slightly. There wasn't any off shoots in the corridor.

"I wouldn't go back if I was you. There are two snakes following you ready to bite if they catch up to you. You don't have any way to go, if you come peacefully you'll survive but if you don't then I'll be forced to kill you," he knew that voice. He knew that voice. He remembered that it was the white one, the one that usually came with the Snake and the doctor.

"You! You helped him take everything from me!" he growled. They were the ones that took everything from him. If only he could-!

The white one pointed a finger at him and something odd happened. There was a quick burst of pain in his forehead, and he was dead.

Kimimaro looked down at the body that lay on the ground and sighed. He felt pity for the man he died not knowing that everyone from his village was dead or rather the experiments done on the body made him forget that he had been already dead.

That the soul of the man placed inside the body didn't remember that his village was already gone and dead by Orochimaru's hand during the Second Ninja War. He'd have to report to Lord Orochimaru that this experiment was a failure but he did say some interesting things.

He seemed to remember him even if they didn't meet during that era. So maybe it was a bit of a success after all.

He left the body in the corridor for Lord Orochimaru's snakes to eat if they so choose and headed off to see Lord Orochimaru to report and see if there was anything he could do for him with the remainder of his life.

The corridors interlinked with each other to make a confusing maze to anyone that didn't know the pathways. Lord Orochimaru preferred to have her quarters in the North despite how she complained about how cold it was. She always had her quarters in the North in all the years that he knew her.

Knocking politely on Lord Orochimaru's door he waited for permission to come in, which thankfully came almost immediately in the form of the door opening by itself. Before it fully opened Kimimaro saw that there was a chakra string attached to the door.

"Impressive as always, Orochimaru-sama," complimented Kimimaro.

There was a soft huff of sound that came from behind a thin paper frame that illuminated Lord Orochimaru's thin frame. A noticeably feminine frame. It was a little distracting especially since she had put on weight, weight that made Lord Orochimaru's figure change in a odd way, that was refusing to go away, at least for the time being.

Trying to avoid looking Lord Orochimaru was hard since there wasn't much of interest to see in the room. It held everything needed for Lord Orochimaru to get dressed with such as different types of make-up and a wardrobe. However it was impersonal. Nothing to say that she had been here apart from concealers and kimonos, like someone else could be living there.

"A chakra string used for mundane actions isn't impressive or rather it's not impressive once a person knows that chakra strings is taught to genin in Suna." Lord Orochimaru's voice was a higher pitch as well, a sweeter tone than what people would expect from her. It had been this way for almost a year and a half. A record by Kimimaro's standard.

"It's still impressive to see it in action."

"It really isn't; what it is a waste of energy to amuse people. To make myself seem more impressive than I really am. What is impressive is controlling more than three puppets at a time. I only know of two people who could do that and one of them is dead. A pity she had to marry the Kazekage but such is life."

Kimimaro paused for a moment, there was a delicate smell in the air; a perfume. He scowled fiercely. There was only one reason why Lord Orochimaru would wear such that perfume scent.

"You visited the daimyō again." accused Kimimaro, there was no question involved. That perfume was a gift from that man and Kimimaro desperately wished that he could kill him. Maybe Lord Orochimaru could grant him his dying wish?

There was another huff of air, "Don't get yourself worked up over my non-existent virtue. Konoha took care of that ages ago when they made me part of Seduction Corps," and Lord Orochimaru finally came out from behind her frame, her hair loose behind her back, the inner kimono loosely tied around her and her features slightly masculine as Lord Orochimaru's real chakra was leaking into the body causing it to die faster.

"You shouldn't have to," argued Kimimaro, luckily he was favoured by Lord Orochimaru. Very few were but they almost all seemed to be youth that he had known for a while. The young that he had saved and watched grown up particularly those with interesting abilities.

Looking at Lord Orochimaru many would think that she would be beautiful, in a noble woman type of way, but he only noticed that she looked bored. She probably was, after all Lord Orochimaru's only weaknesses was her hubris and boredom. He knew this much from his years with her. It was like a curse for her.

"This is why you're a good person at heart, Kimimaro-kun. However, this makes you too easy to be manipulated by others, especially those with no morals or care such as the daimyō or myself. Perhaps this was the person that you were always meant to be, besides isn't it better to discover everything in life than to live ignorant of everything?" mused Lord Orochimaru as she made her way to her desk where several scrolls and loose papers lay.

"I'd rather not discover what's so good about the daimyō of Rice Country or his private rooms," muttered Kimimaro. He was being petulant but that man was a pain to be near and a even larger pain to deal with.

"How else will we be able to spread our stock around if it weren't for the charity and missions from our esteemed daimyō?"

There was a immediate answer that came to mind but it wasn't one that Kimimaro was in a position to say. Perhaps Kabuto would be able to say it in some sort of clever, coded way that made Lord Orochimaru amused by.

Instead he said nothing. Like every other time he has brought this up. He was a coward and a dead man walking, there really wasn't much hope for him.

Instead he changed the subject, "The experiment is dead."

"What a pity. What direction did he go?"

"West-North-West, trying to get back to his village,"

"Well, either it was luck or he knew where he was going. Too bad we won't know until the next round of testing."

"He said that he remembered me. Called me the 'white one',"

Lord Orochimaru made a humming sound as she looked over to Kimimaro, a small grin forming and a glint of manic in her eye, "Now that is interesting since I don't recall Jiraiya being at the village that we destroyed in the Second War. Either the experiment is forming new memories even after multiple deaths or he's remembering the experimentation even after a mind wipe and we won't know until later. Very good, Kimimaro-kun,"

Kimimaro let the praise wash over him for a few seconds before bowing and leaving the room.

"Oh and Kimimaro-kun?" He turned around just before he exited the door, ready and attentive to his master's orders, "Tell Tatsuya-chan to enjoy her puppy love while she can and to remember that falling in love only brings tragedy,"

Kimimaro bowed again before making a mental reminder to let Tatsuya to remember that she should watch herself. He'd do anything for Lord Orochimaru after all even if Lord Orochimaru didn't know what it meant and smiled to himself. It was almost time to make Lord Orochimaru's goals a reality.

They had a war to prepare for after all.

Did you know that a D ranked mission in narutoverse can let a genin survive on a weekly basis?

D ranked missions have enough money split 5 ways (4 to the team and 1 part to the village) to let Naruto survive weekly and make savings off of it. I want to live in narutoverse as a ninja to make that kind of money, fuck the fact that I'll be doing domestic duties I'll do them in a heartbeat if I could make that kind of money a week. AND the amount only grows the higher ranking you get. Like wtf.

Reddit makes a very lovely point about economics in narutoverse right here: r/Naruto/comments/19x2i5/basic_economics_in_the_narutoverse/