--Forest of Death--
"And now, let us begin the fight by putting our lives on the line," the Kusa-nin said in a low voice. Sasuke snorted as the Kusa-nin before him pulled on his eye socket, revealing a slitted bloodshot orb. He spat on the ground as the girl before him froze up in abject terror at the show of killing intent.
"Feh. Uchiha Sasuke spits at your theatrics." The black haired boy crossed his arms and arrogantly sneered. "A single lone ninja will never be a match for me." The kusanin, or really, as we all know by now, Orochimaru, laughed at his antics. Clearly the boy was insane.
"We shall see, won't we, Sasuke-kun?" The snake sannin laughed in that distinctive way of his, but Sasuke merely rolled his eyes.
"Fool. I've already maimed you at least thirty seven times by now, had we been fighting. Not to mention trapped you in my Uber-Sexy Patented Uchiha Genjutsu several times and used the numerous skills every single ninja in this village has been willing to teach me. Indeed, being that I am the true last of the Perfect Uchiha Race, all of Konoha's Ninja have bowed and scraped to me, a mere child, since that fateful night all those years ago. A simple grass Ninja will not amount to dirt when compared to the great scion of the Uchiha..." Orochimaru frowned as the boy dragged on and on. Although his points about the patented Uchiha jutsu being uber-sexy were undeniable, most of it was melodramatic arrogant spiel that spoke of ignorance to his enemy's potential strengths.
'Hmm. Perhaps I really am betting on the wrong horse here…' The Sannin thought as he suddenly darted over to the mouthy preteen. 'Maybe I'll just take his eyes like Hatake-' The world suddenly flickered out of existence, the previous backdrop of the forest being replaced by an unending blackness that expanded in every direction. 'What?!'
"You really are an idiot, aren't you?" Sasuke's voice taunted from everywhere at once. "I already told you that I'd ensnared you in my super genjutsu, and yet like the retarded sloth you are you still attempted to attack me. Tell me, you incredible nincompoop, exactly how stupid one must be to try and attack someone after being directly told that they are in a Genjutsu?"
'Impossible! He did not activate the Sharingan!'
"Your slow, sluggish mind is probably trying to grasp how I did it without activating the Sharingan, am I right?" The barely pubescent teen snorted. "Don't even try. A low, microscopic life form like you would not be able to wrap your simple mind around such a concept. For now, I'll just let you think that a wizard did it. As for what's happening to you? Hah, even a fool like you should understand what a concept like death is. The end of your existence. Total nothingness as your body rots, and your mind along with it. This is suitable for something that wasn't much more than canon fodder in the first place, especially when compared to the magnificent Uchiha Sasuke."
'This can not be death. I would not still hear your voice,' Orochimaru thought calmly. 'There is a way out of this. A simple twelve year old, Uchiha or not, can not have made too powerful a Genjutsu for me to simply disperse,' the snake sanin thought back in just as arrogant and snide a tone. 'Kai!' The 'sound' of his thought echoed throughout the blackness, but nothing happened as a result. Sasuke laughed mockingly.
"How amusing! The slug thinks it can break out of my Super Genjutsu!" He laughed some more and Orochimaru, still patient, tried once again to break out of the jutsu.
'Interesting. Such power at a young age… There must be some trick to it, then,' Orochimaru reasoned, although the concept of himself being dead was starting to let a bit of panic creep in.
"Hahahahaha! Keep trying, slug! Enjoy your eternity in oblivion!" Sasuke's voice continued laughing as if faded away.
Not moments later, Orochimaru's mental voice screamed in anguish at his inability to escape the blackness of death.
Outside, Sasuke was standing above Orochimaru's unconscious, twitching and writhing body whose mouth was open in a silent scream, as Sakura stood beside him.
"S-Sasuke-kun?" Sakura said in a barely audible voice. "What… What happened? I was imprinted… with the image of death-" Sasuke snorted and kneeled down to the kusanin's side.
"Hold him down so I can cut the scroll of Earth from his belly. The great Uchiha Sasuke can not stand to sully himself any longer in the presence of this filth." He commanded as he reached in to his supply pack and pulled out a kunai.
--
The Hokage was a ninja prepared for anything. That even meant hoards of S-class nukenin bursting in through every conceivable entrance, including the walls, floor, and ceiling, he had planned out at least forty seven different strategies to use should such a situation were to occur. However… given that the Hokage was not taken to a single S-class nukenin suddenly bursting into his office and throwing themselves at him in a full force… bear hug, to be blunt, it was needless to say that old Sarutobi was absolutely flabbergasted at the sudden appearance and apparent mental state of his exiled student.
"Please, Sarutobi-sensei! You've got to help me! I don't want to die! I want to live!" he cried out. Sarutobi closed his eyes and heaved a sigh.
'So his experiments failed, and he's finally given up. Of course,' the old man attempted to pry the form of his fifty-odd year old student from himself. "Orochimaru, my dear boy… I'm sorry, but I'm afraid death is something that claims us all. It is a natural aspect of life and to deny it-"
"NO! No! You don't understand! He's… He's after me! He'll kill me! Dead!" Sarutobi blinked at that.
"What? Who?" He asked, curious as to whom or what could pose such a threat to his student.
"That awful Uchiha boy!" Sarutobi's mind did a complete 180.
"What?! Foolish boy! What have you done?!" Sarutobi demanded. "You have angered a power far greater than all of the Bijuu combined!" Orochimaru was sobbing by that point. "There is no hope that can save you now!" He quickly removed the sobbing snake-sannin from his form. "I do not wish to be here when that monstrosity appears! How dare you run to me with the hounds of hell at your heels? I should have you delivered to him on a platter!"
"There is simply no need for that, Sarutobi-kun," A familiar, confident, commanding voice came the door and Orochimaru shrieked before suddenly jumping out of the window. "Uchiha Sasuke has arrived." The boy simply leapt out after his prey.