Sorry for the late chapter. I thought I gave this to my beta reader to have a look at but it turns out that I never gave it to him. Opps. So anyway here's to Nick, Jake and Max for helping with this chapter.
Warnings: for casual ongoing trauma from Sasuke, I guess?
Also not really a warning but something to help you read this chapter better: Lady Shijimi's constant use of "this one" when referring to herself.
Kiba was wary of Sasuke. Not because of his whole brooding act or his massive amount of fan girls -who even needed that many fan girls anyway?- but because he was like a exploding tag. He always looked like he was two seconds from going off in the middle of Konoha with little warning and was going to take out everyone around him. Kiba couldn't see how nobody else was seeing this or if they were how were they not treating him? How did Kurenai not see this?
Lone wolves always die.
His mother would never stand for it if it was with their clan.
It was a fact of life and just like a lone wolf Sasuke was going to get any team he will be put on killed or abandon them for whatever brooding exploding tag cause he was on.
Like now, Sasuke was apparently going to be on their team for like a week or something and Kurenai went to make him feel welcome and Hinata was behind Kurenai like a blind pup clinging to the comfort of their mum while Shino and himself stayed back to see what would happen.
He barely acknowledged their teacher! Instead he looked away from her sneering faintly with arms crossed.
It wasn't right. Ninjas don't usually go on solo missions unless it was in ANBU or a suicidal mission, which was basically the same, and even then they had a team of people in the same situation. They had an alpha that they listened to and they respected that person to keep them safe. Sasuke had to know this, it was practically repeated in their academy days along with the village is everything.
Akamaru softly growled at Sasuke from the top of Kiba's head, not enough to draw anyone else's attention but enough to let him know what Akamaru thought about this as well. This wasn't good. If this continues on then it could affect everyone that Sasuke works with in the future and considering that ninjas in similar age ranges generally get placed on a team together or age balanced teams then there was a high possibility that he was going to be placed with Sasuke again in the future.
Kiba twitched when he felt something moving on his hand, there should be nothing on his hand but there it was. He kept still, waiting. He felt the things moving- no, it was vibrating on his hand to spell something; Ke-i-ko-ku. Warning.
He looked over to Shino, his body language still focused on Kurenai trying to talk to Sasuke and Sasuke ignoring everything around him like he thought it was below him to even see them. Even when Kurenai finally got Hinata out of her shell to talk to him for a bit.
Kiba had known Shino for a long time, since before he even went to the academy. His older sister used to take him to the Aburame clan lands to get the spare dogs groomed by their bugs, which Shino used to help with. Kiba knew that even when not focused that Shino was aware of everything around him. Almost quite literally as well considering his bugs could tell him everything around him for a good couple of metres and probably soon for kilometres.
"Oi! Asshole-!"
"Kiba-kun -don't call names-" injected Hinata, pursing her lips before trying again, no doubt mentally scolding herself for skipping words, "Kiba-kun, please don't call Sasuke-kun names. It isn't nice," the sentence was said quickly like she was rushing to get all it all out of her so she wouldn't have to say it again and that nobody would pay attention to her.
"I call it like I see it! Besides he was being mean to you back, I see no reason why I shouldn't call him names if he's acting like he's so above us," Akamaru made a sharp yipping sound in agreement.
"I don't see why I should be talking to an Inuzuka and a Hyūga that can't speak properly," there was something terrible in the way that Sasuke responded to insults. It wasn't like Naruto, how every insult or name calling was treated as if expected it was more like Sasuke seemed to thrive on insulting people; like he needed to treat people like trash to fulfil a quota.
Like he used it to be able to survive.
In the academy days it wasn't any of his business, he had hoped that being on a team with others would slightly help him but instead Sasuke went on a team with Naruto, who expects insults and cold attitudes for whatever reason, and Sakura, who like his number one fan and didn't seem to get that Sasuke was a terrible idea for a crush. Both of whom seemed to encourage this attitude, it made for the worst team ever.
"Kiba, Sasuke-kun, stop that. I don't want to hear any name calling from you again, do you hear me?" scolded Kurenai. Her red eyes drilling holes into his head. He can already hear the scolding she'd give him if Sasuke wasn't here.
"Yes Kurenai-sensei," said Kiba dully. Akamaru whined as well in apology. There was a pause as everyone waited for Sasuke to say something but he didn't.
"Sasuke-kun, did you hear me?" repeated Kurenai, her lips thinning and her radiating annoyance.
"Yes, Kurenai-sensei," muttered Sasuke. Kurenai sighed, no doubt going to pull him to the side later on and scold him, before signalling them to follow her so she could teach in their usual way but the disrespect that he gave her...
He was going to be the death of someone and Kiba was unsure if Sasuke would even accept that the death would be his fault. It was worrying and scary and made Kiba want to jump Sasuke on his back and force him to recognise where he's going wrong and make him fix himself but he doubts that Sasuke would respond the way he wants him to if he did.
"Akamaru, give message that we need to get Sasuke-kun half way to acceptable within the week," whispered Kiba, practically mouthing it knowing that Akamaru would be able to hear his commands and send a message to Shino.
Hinata looked over to him questioningly before he nudged his head towards Shino and waited for her to slowly nod back. Shino would fill her in after. If this works he'll have bragging rights for the rest of his life, if it doesn't it probably won't hurt Sasuke any further than what he already is.
Akamaru barked three times to let Kiba know that the message had been sent. Kiba waited for Shino's bugs to return to give him the reply, he was practically bouncing out of his skin waiting.
He felt the vibrating on his hand again and had to stop himself from jumping up in surprised.
A circle.
Kiba grinned. Shino was on board for this self imposed mission. Heck. Yes.
Time to get this lone wolf back into the pack.
[break line]
When Sasuke met Kurenai it felt like he was back when his family was still alive. He could see his mother in her, his father, his aunt, his uncle, his grandmother and grandfather too, he could see his brother in her. She had the Uchiha cheeks and hair. She had the Uchiha eyes.
She almost had the Uchiha eyes. Her eyes were red enough to qualify to be an Uchiha but she didn't have the tomoe and nor could she activate the Sharingan. But she looked like a Uchiha in all the important ways. He didn't like looking at her for too long. It didn't help that she specialised in genjutsu much like his family had. The only thing to make it worst is if she also used fire jutsu.
His new teammates weren't too bad apart from the Inuzuka boy on the team. Sasuke was proud that he probably was the strongest out of all of them, seeing that he was an Uchiha and trained on his taijutsu. The Aburame heir was quiet and didn't cause trouble but the Hyūga heir stuttered whenever she talked.
It was annoying and whenever he made the responses that he got away with in his own team or mocked her he got yelled at by the Inuzuka boy and scolded by Kurenai. It was stupid, she wasn't even worth being the Hyūga heir if she wasn't confident enough; if she couldn't handle being a leader. Her family had options of leaders unlike his own.
Still, he knew that he wasn't welcome. Their team was cohesive. They protected the Hyūga heir. They had actual team work. It worked. It irked him to see that a team could work while they protected their weaker member. At least the Hyūga heir was more useful than Sakura. Sakura couldn't do anything really.
"Mushi-01 in position."
"Inu-02 in position."
"Taka-03 in position."
"Usagi-04, I can see the target. Usagi-04 to Mushi-01, move 5 metres North-west-north."
"Understood. Mushi-01, moving."
"What about me?" He was going to chew that stupid dog out. That stupid dog and his mutt, didn't he know how rare it was to be able to use the intercom system? He better have not stuffed this up for Sasuke.
"Ki- um, Inu-02, Usagi-04 to Inu-02, do not move. Usagi to Taka-03,oh, um, Usagi-04 to Taka-03, do you have a visual?" Sasuke briefly thought about not answering but decided against it so he didn't need to hear about a half an hour long scolding from a woman who looked like she could be his sister if he had one. He really didn't want that because it usually leads to what if Itachi had been born a girl type of situations when he tuned her out.
"Taka-03, confirmed. Target is now being tracked." Sasuke ignored the heavy breathing coming from the other side of his earpiece.
"Usagi-04 to Mushi-01, distract it." The Aburame heir better keep the target distracted unlike the 2 other times they had to track it down. At least this was easier with an actual team for tracking rather than his own, as he has now come to realise. How come he didn't realise that each of the genin teams that graduated had been for different specialities before?
"Mushi-01, I've sent a decoy." Sasuke watched the target seemingly be sniffing around the forest, like it wasn't prepared to bolt at a single notice. The target was a lot more crafty that it looked. Sasuke thinks he saw a wisp of a chakra from somewhere near the target but he wasn't sure.
"Mushi-01, decoy has been successful." Sasuke released a breath he didn't know that he was holding.
"Usagi to Inu-02, proceed." There was a slight sound coming from the south-east of Sasuke but it was enough to make the target bolt again.
"Taka-03, target on the move! Heading North-east-east! In pursuit!" shouted Sasuke as he ran after that damned cat.
Again.
"Inu-02, in pursuit!" As much as it pained Sasuke to admit it, the Inuzuka boy was probably faster than he was, by like a tiny bit, but he was coming in fast. A lot faster than Sasuke was chasing after the damned cat.
"Akamaru! Let's go!" There was an answering bark as two miniature wind storms went past Sasuke getting to the target much faster than he ever could. Sasuke watched as one of the wind storms tackled the target to the ground where a fierce fight erupted between a cat and a dog. The Inuzuka boy whooped and hollered at the scene egging his mutt on as it tried to not damage the target that much.
"Kiba-kun, please make Akamaru-kun stop. Shino-kun is here for extraction," said Hinata coming out from the cover. Inuzuka looked saddened by his latest entertainment being disrupted but waited for Aburame to come by before calling off his mutt with a whistle. As soon as the mutt was gone the target tried to get away but soon found itself running on air and howling like a Shinigami was on its tail thanks to Aburame's bugs.
The Aburame's bugs have always slightly freaked Sasuke out. There was something about them that just sent warning signals off in his head and where did he even keep the bugs anyway?
"Kurenai-sensei, we've completely our mission!" Sasuke could hear the sound rattling around in his brain thanks to Inuzuka shouting into his microphone. Sasuke could see thanks to Sharingan that even Aburame winced at the volume.
"Kiba-kun, I can hear you. You don't need to be so loud into the microphone, and please don't damage your teammate's hearing. I don't want Hiashi-sama or Shibi-sama to come knocking at my door because you've deafened your teammates," If Sasuke's father had been alive then he'd already be knocking at Kurenai and Inuzuka's doors for the sheer unprofessionalism. If he was alive.
Kurenai stepped out from the shadows, practically melting into existence. It disturbed Sasuke to think that she was watching them the whole time. What if that man was doing the same? Nobody would ever know.
None of the others seemed disturbed that she was watching. Just like that it hit him. The Hyūga heir could probably see the chakra flow while the Aburame heir could probably use his bugs to sense their teacher out and the Inuzuka could probably smell her out.
Chills went up and down his spine; they knew she was there the whole time.
Only he was the one couldn't see it.
He couldn't sense like the others could.
Even the though the Hyūga heir was a waste of space she could see what he couldn't.
She was better than him in that aspect. What else was he missing? What else?
He needed to get better; stronger.
"Good job everyone! Hinata, you need to remember to say the numbers when it comes to the code names and that the mission doesn't end until you get to the missions office. Kiba, don't try and deafen your teammates. Shino, you need more presence when it comes to your teammates, not all teams are going to be able to accommodate you. Sasuke-kun, you're the same as Shino, you need more communication with your team." Criticisms, when was the last time he got a criticism by a teacher? He couldn't remember. Maybe just after the incident.
"With that said, come on everyone, let's turn in this mission," Kurenai's lips curled into a fond smile, her lips curled with just this type of Uchiha smile. Sasuke could see it within her. He wanted to curled up and die.
"Aww yes! Hey, Akamaru, we might be able to get that good meat from Tenchi-san now!" There was an answering bark as the mutt climbed up its master like an awkward monkey while the Inuzuka tried ease the mutt's way to his head.
"Kiba-kun, slow down. There is no hurry; everything goes at its own pace." That had to be the most Sasuke has heard from the Aburame heir. It was really strange hearing the Aburame heir's voice, it was clear, flat and toneless like someone decided that it wasn't worth their effort to try and talk. His jacket didn't muffle anything.
Inuzuka just laughed and ran up to the Aburame heir, "You talk like an old man!", Sasuke could see the flecks of spit coming out of the Inuzuka's mouth. The Aburame heir did an odd shoulder thing that sent the Inuzuka into a fit of laughter. "Are you sure you're not an old man underneath your jacket?"
"I am not."
"That's not a proper answer," singed the Inuzuka boy, his canines just jutting over his lips as he grinned to show the world what he was; an animal.
"Okay boys, that's enough," said Kurenai, her voice stern but her lips still curled into the fond Uchiha smile. He couldn't stand it. He walked faster so he could be at the front of the group, where he belonged.
There was footsteps slowly making their way to him making him tense without realising it. Annoyed at his body's reactions he forced himself to relax. He didn't want to make friends with anyone on this team. They were strange, and cohesive, and made him think of things he wanted left alone.
"Sasuke-kun..." said Hinata as she caught up to him. Sasuke glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Out of everyone from Team Eight, she was probably the best to try and talk at him; beneath his notice and didn't make him think of things he didn't want to. He waited for her to go on but she seemed content just walking next to him and he didn't push for her to talk, the quiet was good.
They walked like that the entire way to the Hokage's office, with Sasuke and the Hyūga heir at the front, the Inuzuka boy and the Aburame heir in the middle, who was using his bugs to carry the howling terror that was a cat, and Kurenai at the back. The only noise was the Inuzuka boy shouting and taunting the Aburame heir, only paused by Kurenai's scolding.
The Hyūga heir didn't say anything but let them walk in silence. It was completely new for Sasuke. Most of the time girls wanted to talk to him and find out all of his favourite things. Maybe the Hyūga heir wasn't absolutely terrible after all. A rival clan heir but not terrible.
Kurenai knocked on the door to the mission office, the door was a thick wooden door that looked unusually smooth and a single brass handle. Usually Kakashi just went straight through the door with the rest of his team following than knocking.
There was muffled talking and the door was opened to them by one of the chūnin inside, they found they weren't the only ones in the mission office. Sasuke held back a frown as he saw who was inside. The Yamanaka heir -call me Ino-chan, is it alright if I call you Sasuke-kun?- and the Akimichi heir were inside along with the slacker heir, who managed to have both better and worse scores than Naruto.
"Ah, Kurenai-chan, I see that you've completed another mission," the Hokage had a smile that said he was amused by the turn of events while Iruka had been staring at Sasuke with a faint grimace before looking away again. Sasuke tensed waiting for an verbal attack. Last Sasuke checked he parted with Iruka neutrally and hasn't heard since from the other man. Did he hear about him punching Naruto? That was probably it. Sasuke relaxed again now knowing the reason for Iruka's dislike of him.
"Hinata-chan!" shouted the Yamanaka heir, running up to the Hyūga heir and hugging her. Sasuke didn't know that they were on good terms. Perhaps there was a lot to the other people around him that he didn't know like long lost family members and clan interactions.
"Ino-chan," said the Hyūga heir warmly as she returned the hug. The Inuzuka boy looked amused by this all like there was something funny about the whole situation rather than two girls being friendly with each other, something which Sasuke hasn't seen in a while. The Aburame heir just look frozen or tense, Sasuke didn't know which one. He didn't think he wanted to know.
"Kurenai-san," greeted the other team leader. He had a goatee and a bandana covering his hair, standing proud and firm though Sasuke could see that the man was a little uncomfortable in his current situation.
Kurenai licked her lips before greeting the man with a "Asuma-san," and turned her attention to the front of the room, "Hokage-sama, we're here to report in the D ranked mission that you gave us this morning."
"Very well, we'll get someone to summon Shijimi-sama so she can accept her cat back," there was a pause as every ninja in the room turned to stare at the cat being held in the air by the Aburame heir's bugs before they pretended that moment never happened.
"Hey! Asuma-sensei, can we stay here before we have to go? I really want to catch up with Hinata-chan! Please?" whined the Yamanaka heir as she bounced over to her teacher. Her teacher rubbed his goatee with a brief, relaxed look over to Kurenai.
"If it's not too much trouble for Kurenai-san?" his voice was a smooth drawl and now that Sasuke had been in the room with him for more than a couple of minutes he could smell the scent of tobacco on him. His father always told him that tobacco was a terrible habit to have, an enemy ninja could smell it for miles away and it always lingered no matter what. Sasuke disliked the man already.
"Of course not, we'll be more than happy to have you stay," said Kurenai, her voice still fond and her smile was still that Uchiha smile. Sasuke scoffed. "Sasuke-kun, don't be rude," her voice was still fond but with a hint of steel that reminded him of his mother. She didn't even look at him while saying that! Sasuke clicked his tongue but didn't say anything else and instead chose to turn his head.
"Ah! Sasuke-kun!" cooed the Yamanaka heir as she tried attach herself onto his left arm. Looks like she was done being the Hyūga heir's friend and now moved onto being her true self again. Sasuke tried to discreetly removed her from his arm before accepting that it was probably a lost cause and the only way out was to cut his arm off.
"I missed you so much! Did you miss me?" the Yamanaka heir was fluttering her eyes in a way that a young girl would think of as cute or something but really just looked like she had dirt in her eyes and was trying to remove it without actually touching her eyes. Sasuke didn't actually know what to say.
If he was too harsh he was going to be accused of being heartless, then Kurenai is going to scold him and so would the Inuzuka boy and probably the Hyūga heir as well since she seems to be close to the Yamanaka heir and it was going to be a mess. However if he said anything remotely nice then he was going to be stuck with her on his arm for the rest of the day or more.
So he said nothing.
And because he said nothing the Yamanaka heir just kept going on and on about dates and fashion and everything he didn't care about or want to know about. He should have had just said something terrible because now his ear was just going to have the Yamanaka heir's voice ringing in it for a while.
He also thinks that the Inuzuka boy was also laughing at him. Next time they spar he's going to kick his ass into the ground for laughing at him.
"I didn't know you were adopting stray genin now," said the man, Asuma, as he walked closer to Kurenai. His eyes only looking at her and his tone teasing. His shoulders weren't as tense as before and were slowly relaxing more and more the longer he talked to Kurenai. The closer he got to Kurenai the tenser Sasuke got though.
Kurenai laughed, her hand covering her mouth, and her eyes crinkling in delight, "There are many things you don't know about me now, however Sasuke-kun is just on my team for the next couple of weeks. Kakashi-san had asked me to take care of him," Sasuke didn't like the dismissive way Kurenai spoke about him, like he wasn't going to come back and check up on her. It was his right as the next Uchiha clan head to be able to check up on fam- people, people who belonged to the clan, no matter how distant they were.
"Kakashi-san, huh?" murmured Asuma. His tone was odd with too much bitterness for it to be normal but not enough bitterness for Sasuke to actually get concerned about. It wasn't to the levels of his bitterness over his brother after all.
"Oh come off of it, he only bought Anko-san and myself a few drinks in exchange before leaving," He was handed off to Kurenai for a few drinks?! HE was worth a few drinks of alcohol?!
"Only a few? If I had known that I would have exchanged a few for my own students,"
"ASUMA-SENSEI!" shouted Ino, coincidentally right in his ear, as she held a fist up in a threatening manner. The man just laughed it off however. Sasuke wished dearly he could shout at the guy to give back his hearing.
"It was a joke, a joke. Please don't hurt me," his words were serious but his tone was joking as he held his hands up in surrender. Inuzuka started to laugh again and the Aburame heir's eyebrows grew closer together at this. At least he wasn't the only unhappy person in the room.
"I hope that it was a joke! It would be pretty poor of you to scatter us like that!" scolded Ino as she clung even harder onto his arm. He wish he had the foresight to know when he was able to get his arm back. He wanted to do training after this.
There was a beat of silence as everyone remembered why Sasuke was in the room in the first place.
The Hokage cleared his throat and smiled at everyone. It reminded him of when he saw the Hokage in person for the first time. Sasuke had remembered that the Hokage had cleared his throat in that exact same way in the hospital room before telling him of the news back then.
"I believe that Shijimi-sama is here now," announced the Hokage, his smile still warm but his tone with a touch of reprimand, and like that the 2 teams separated into their own groups. Ino had left his arm to go to the side with her teacher and teammates while the Aburame heir nudged the Inuzuka boy to get the cat. Kurenai stood tall and serious, any trace of her humour gone.
Was this what it was like for other teams to meet their clients? He always thought that their way was the way you were meant to greet clients and hand in missions. It was a shock to the system really. Even the Inuzuka's grumbling seemed more subdued.
There was a knock on the door and one of the attendants off to the side quickly ran to the door to open it. Lady Shijimi was a portly woman that carried around all her wealth for show. She didn't walk so much as she waddled into the room, her eyes only on her cat being held by the Inuzuka.
"Oh this one's dear Tora-chan, you poor thing, you must be so frightened by this boy and this boy, aren't you this one's dear? Oh, release her at once!" Lady Shijimi had a low and husky voice that didn't seem to match her appearance and Sasuke was rather grateful for that. He kept expecting a high pitch screeching voice whenever he saw her and kept forgetting that it wasn't actually the case.
With a little nudge from Kurenai's foot Inuzuka released the cat into Lady Shijimi's care, allowing her to hug the creature half to death and then a bit more while Inuzuka winced constantly. Probably imagining what would have happened to his mutt as well.
"Yes, this is this one's dear Tora-chan, why this one has been worried about you, what if you had died or been captured by bandits? So very worried, you have this one's favour Hiruzen-san,"
"As always, I am glad to have it. Is your son doing well?"
"This one's child is doing very well, the Fire daimyō has wished for him to be married soon, this one is organising which lady is to be this one's son's wife, it is exciting for all the household, of course you are invited as well, as the witness to the many great events in this one's son's life. Why, even Himejima-san's daughter is on the list so soon there might be a merge of families to keep the line strong," Sasuke didn't actually know about the state politics, apart from the Fujiwara family but that's because they married into the clan and they were family in the loosest sense of the word. Perhaps he should write to their head soon.
"It will be an honour to go to his wedding then," the Hokage gestured to one of the attendants off to the side, not the one that opened to door, to collect Lady Shijimi's money. Lady Shijima smiled, it wasn't a pleasant looking smile as she wasn't what you would think of as beautiful but it was sincere and held goodwill to the people within the room, which is more than what you can expect from a noble.
"What an old man I've become, from seeing the Fire daimyō's son being born to now being able to see him get married. I can only hope that I get to see more weddings in the future,"
"It is the Will of the Fire that humbles all and ensures that all live a long and prosperous life. Surely you would agree with this one?"
"Of course, however I'd never thought that I'd live this long to see it happen," said the Third smiling like he didn't just say he didn't expect to live this long. In front of two genin teams and a bunch of attendants at that.
Lady Shijimi waited for the Hokage to bow to her, it sent a feeling of grit along Sasuke's teeth, before leaving by an attendant opening the door for her. Sasuke always thought that it was a disgrace to bow down to nobles like they were some trained monkeys and not ninja that could easily end their lives if they wished to.
Asuma sighed before making a show of looking around the room, "Hey, after this would you like to have lunch together?" Sasuke sent the man a filthy glare, "I meant for our teams, it will be nice to treat the lot of them together just this once, right?" Sasuke gave him an even filthier glare. In the background he think he heard the clanging of money changing hands near the table at the front and bated breaths.
Kurenai looked at her team and Sasuke before turning back to Asuma, "Well if it's for the sake of our teams then sure; they did a good job today," Sasuke would have had liked to protest that catching that hell cat wasn't something to be congratulated about, now more training on the other hand would be a reward.
However it wasn't up to him, now was it?
Sasuke refused to drag his feet like a toddler but it was sorely tempting with the way the two teachers were walking next to each other and Ino going from clinging to his arm chatting away about their first date and how jealous Sakura would be to going back to the Hyūga and talking to her. Sasuke growled a warning -and wouldn't his father be rolling around in his grave if he ever saw Sasuke act like a Inuzuka- making Ino back off and walk back to her team.
Eventually he was able to be by himself.
"um...Sasuke-kun?" the Hyūga heir glanced back at the 2 teams who were a good couple of metres away now following their teachers as they walked away talking closely together, "Did you want to join? Us, I mean! You'd rather be training, I mean I know you'd rather be training but are you wanting- er...do you want to join us for lunch?" the Hyūga girl had an odd way of speaking, it was fast and trying to push everything out all at once but at other times it was slow and filled with um or er and pauses to fill in when she was thinking but unsure of what she was saying.
Looking back at the two teams it was a happy scene. Everyone laughing or comfortable with each other even when they were arguing. It made him want to say no, he was never comfortable in crowds like that.
Sasuke huffed but continued to walk next to the Hyūga heir, it would be rude to refuse the free food. Besides the Hyūga heir wasn't so bad for a girl that came from his year group, sure she was odd but she didn't cling to him so that was alright.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad on this team.
So this rant is about chakra again. More specifically chakra in relation to memories.
So we know that chakra contains memories or rather the spiritual side of chakra contains memories. Our examples are Orochimaru when he does his body transfer jutsu, because how else would Orochimaru know that they were Orochimaru and before you say that the Yamanaka clan do something similar, they unlike Orochimaru keep their body there and use their chakra to look into another's mind and control another being, but also Kurama, the 9 tails, could be an example as well. And if you want to go far enough the zombie resurrection jutsu (yes, I know that isn't the proper name for it) that Orochimaru uses could also count.
Why I say that chakra contains memories is because we know that chakra is comprised of spiritual and physical energy, however when you take away that physical energy you're only left with spiritual energy. We know that changing bodies doesn't effect memories. How do we know this? Orochimaru and their techniques. To a lesser extent you could probably count Kurama as well since he changes hosts though you might not count Kurama as they don't really rely on their hosts for the physical aspect of their chakra.
So when Orochimaru uses their techniques be it their body transfer jutsu (the first time) or their zombie resurrection jutsu the original body is no longer available. We don't know what happened to Orochimaru's original body but I'm going to take a guess and say it's dead but Orochimaru and every zombie that was summoned for the 4th War remembers who they were and what they were. So we can only speculate that the spiritual side of chakra, the soul as it would be, contains the memories over the body, which is why the mind swapping or zombie summoning jutsu work. If they didn't work that way then Orochimaru would have had been dead a long time ago leaving only their soul, with no memories, merged with a body that was rapidly dying due to the invasion of a foreign soul.
Because Kishimoto's way of using chakra is fascinating but at the same time god I hate Kishimoto for everything about Narutoverse. Why couldn't he have explored his background more so I didn't need to come up with theories about damn chakra as if I was doing a uni degree on the stuff.