The forest environment they had to head through to get to the ruins could be described in three words: hot, humid and bug-infested. With the Land of Whirlpools being an island, Orochimaru wasn't surprised that part of the land was composed of dense rainforest. It was the most untouched part of the island. The other part of the land with its lush hills and beaches were far more agreeable to be inhabited. Nonetheless, there was a natural beauty to the place, unspoiled by man's hands. The sound of crashing waterfalls, cries of exotic birds and rustling of the forest itself from the multitude of beasts dwelling within was a musical symphony to the ears. Eye catching giant flowers and strange plants adorned the trees and ground.

Despite despising the sticky and humid place, Orochimaru thought he wouldn't mind spending a few hours here to study the vegetation and animals. Some of the poisonous looking frogs looked especially promising for his future toxic recipes. He glanced from side to side, noticing the intent gaze from his team-mates and he said coldly, "Is there something on my face?"

Tsunade on his right and Jiraiya on his left both colored. Clearing his throat and continuing to leap through the trees, Jiraiya said, "I was just thinking you look awful."

"Excuse me?" Orochimaru asked skeptically.

"He's right," added Tsunade. "Orochimaru, you look sick." His skin although pale, usually still had a healthy glow to it. One could even call it beautiful porcelain. But now it was pasty and his eyes looked bloodshot as if he hasn't slept for days. His obsidian black hair which was usually gleaming and silky was now on its way to being straw dry.

She had rarely seen him as he now avoided her and Jiraiya after he learned the Five Element Seal, not wishing to hear about Jiraiya's protests against him getting that summoning tattoo and he was probably still resentful of the private conversation he had with her. As he had the entire archives of Uzushio to delve into, he also had a good reason to spend time away from them. It was almost rather hurtful that he no longer even wished them to come along with him to study. Jiraiya had joked that he was happy that he didn't have to read such boring material with an even more boring person and instead, could do actual research on red hair beauties. She knew that he was lying, however, as he didn't even spend much time peeping. Instead, he had spent it taking care of her and staying close. While he worked on his story, she just moped. It was almost shameful that she would let herself get into that state but a girl's first crush... was crushing if it failed.

Orochimaru scoffed at them. "I'm perfectly fine. Mind your own business."

"We're a team. Your business is our business," Jiraiya pointed out, coming closer to him as they continued following after Goro who was at the head of the formation. When Orochimaru didn't answer, Jiraiya said tiredly, "Look, you've been a total ass this past week. I am getting sick of you having your panties in a twist while we're just trying to help."

"You? Help?" Orochimaru replied icily, "I don't need anyone's help, let alone yours, failure."

Jiraiya's face darkened. "Listen here, snake face. You only have me, Tsunade and Sarutobi-sensei who actually gives a damn about you. Keep this up, and you'll lose all of us."

"If you think I can't live without you people, then you're sorely mistaken. It's nothing I haven't already been through before."

Tsunade watched helplessly as he sped up to distance himself from them. In a pained voice, she said, "I don't know what is happening to him. Jiraiya..."

Her white hair teammate tried to smile for her sake. "Maybe he's just on his man-period again." Disheartened to see that his old joke wasn't working on her as she just continued to look sad, he added, "I'll get the old him back. I promise."

"Thank you," Tsunade said half-heartedly.

After another two hours, they came to a stop before a grand stone bridge that led to a temple ruin, high up on a mountain. An ancient precursor to the current buildings in Uzushiogakure, it also had the same waterways with man-made falls falling out from the side to crash down into the rainforest. The stone was worn and aged, with cracks and ivy running through it. But the temple ruin was not quite overtaken with plants yet, and it still stood proudly in the distance. The chakra in the air was even denser than back in the village, highlighting the sunlight and making the ruins shimmer as if it was covered in delicate gold dust.

Goro Uzumaki gestured for the three to stay close as they started walking across the bridge. When they reached the middle of the bridge, Jiraiya leaned over and gaped at the sight. The forest below rippled like an ocean of green and he could actually see the waterfalls now. Tsunade gazed at the colorful birds flying past them and she said in awe, "What is this place?"

Goro's impressive red mustache waved as he let out a rumbling laugh. "A ruin. Duh. Bwahahhahahha!"

Tsunade rolled her eyes and huffed, "Yes, I am soooooo blind."

"It is a temple for an ancient and powerful clan. You can say, the Uzumaki's clan ancestors almost."

All of them turned to look at Orochimaru and Goro said suspiciously, "And you know this how, kid?"

Orochimaru's lips twitched. "When we were kids, we stumbled across such a ruin in the Land of Wind. It was some sort of crypt. We didn't know what we had come across then, but I've done my research over the years." He gestured to the gigantic door that served as the entrance. "The symbol of the Sun and Moon seems to be the clan's symbol."

Tsunade's eyes widened in memory. The gigantic doors in that underground did depict a man and woman with the sun and moon. But who or what was this clan? And why has Orochimaru never shared this information with her?

Orochimaru tilted his head, his black hair sweeping across his shoulders. "Uzushiogakure, the Village of Longevity. There is no other village out there that has your memories of the past, collection of lore and old treasures." His eyes drunk in the sight of the grand temple and said, "I've already guessed why this land overflows with chakra. It's leaking out from your seals. You've sealed beings with a huge amount of chakra in certain areas like this."

Picking up on what he was saying and thinking about that burial chamber they've stumbled upon, Tsunade said, "But that man and woman frozen and covered by that glass-"

"That glass absorbed chakra, remember? But the seals here let the chakra leaked out for a reason." Orochimaru chuckled darkly and his eyes shone. "There is nothing more important to life than chakra. Not even water can compare. Uzushio tried to make themselves powerful by enveloping the land and their people in it. The air, the water, and even the food they take in are full of it. THAT'S why they live for so long and are so durable. And yet..." He cocked his head. "The future generation now lives like cowards. Hiding in isolation and fearing the world. How sad."

"Watch it," Goro said thinly, his jolly demeanor dissolving. "Power this great is only harmful to the world. We are its keepers and we will protect it from outsiders who wish to use it for vile purposes."

Jiraiya and Tsunade both came to Orochimaru's side. "Oro," Jiraiya said lowly. "Stop it, you're really pushing it."

He came to a stop and moved them aside gently, turning to face the volcano hair man. "It is not enough you fear your own greatness, but now you wish to destroy it." Orochimaru's golden eyes slowly began to change to red, and the stone beneath his feet cracked. "You people all fear what you cannot understand. You all hate what is different. I will protect and restore everything that's lost. The past and all of its glories will be revived by my hands! I will have everything and anyone that tries to stop me can rot beneath my feet!"

"His eyes! What's wrong with him?!" cried Jiraiya, bracing himself against the powerful waves of chakra emanating from his friend.

"That's… that's impossible!" Goro gasped. The kid was infected with Kyuubi's chakra. Those evil red fox eyes, sharpening of teeth and lengthening of nails... there was no denying it. He shouted at Tsunade and Jiraiya, "Did he come into contact with a fox monster?!"

"During Kushina's trial, he got wounded by it!" Tsunade dug her heels into the ground as the wind roared and whipped at the ground.

"He's been infected! We have to catch him and bring him back and purify him in the village!"

"Stop me? Let me see you try." He threw a smoke bomb at them before acrobatically flipping backward multiple times and landing gracefully before the doors, with statues of giant birds framing the entrance. His right hand was enveloped by thick red chakra and he punched forward, blowing the doors open before he faced them. Biting both thumbs, he slammed them into the ground and shouted, "Gate of the First, Rashomon!" The ground rumbled as a gigantic gate rose up, its menacing demonic face grinning as if silently laughing about the future attempts that will be made to break its incredible defense.

"Orochimaru no!" Tsunade shouted, reaching out as her feet pounded across the ground. She saw him turn his head to look back at her before the gate completely blocked him off from view.

Jiraiya panted as he caught up to her. "Don't worry. We can just smash our way in through the walls or something. For being so smart, Oro was stupid about this situation."

"No, you can't," wheezed Goro as he caught up to them. "You absolutely cannot enter the place through any other way besides this door. If you try to break in from the outside, you can set off traps.

Stepping back, Tsunade cried, "But we can't break through this!" This was her grandfather's ultimate defense. Orochimaru may have only summoned one instead of the maximum five, but it was still a challenge to break through. The best she could do was maybe dent it.

"I'll help." Jiraiya clapped his hands together and stared up at the demonic grinning gate, his lips pressed into a firm line.

"What are you doing?" Tsunade asked.

"I'll use sage mode, it amplifies all a user's physical strength and speed to unimaginable limits. If that doesn't bust down Oro's gate, I'll quit being a ninja." He closed his eyes and said, "Ok, let me concentrate."

At this moment, Goro asked, "Tsunade, tell me. What are Orochimaru's strengths and weaknesses?"

"He's sexually stupid for a weakness."

Tsunade immediately glared at Jiraiya. "I thought you needed to concentrate." When Jiraiya sheepishly apologized and returned to the task at hand, Tsunade said, "Orochimaru is feared for his poisons and vast knowledge of techniques. Even though he's not a Jounin, he's mastered all five elemental nature transformation." At this, even Tsunade glowed with a small amount of pride for her teammate. Normal Jounins usually have at least two elemental nature chakra they can use. Three was considered skilled. She and Jiraiya have already mastered three each but only Orochimaru has managed to use all five types. In the entire history of Konohagakure, only Madara Uchiha, her grandfather, granduncle and Sarutobi-sensei could do it. Besides them, only Mu, the second Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, has also learned to use all five elemental chakras. She added, "He's also mastered kenjutsu and is the second best swordsman after Sakumoto Hatake. His weapon is the legendary sword: Kusanagi."

At this Goro facepalmed. "You gotta be kidding. The sword that can cut through absolutely anything in the world, extend to an impossible length within a blink of an eye and can fly?!" Goro sighed. "So I have to find a way to keep him using a sword and his techniques then. Damn it." Goro pulled at his mustache. "If he does something stupid in there, this whole island is screwed and my second cousin will kill me! OR worse, ban me from drinking ever again."

"We could find a way to drain his chakra," Tsunade suggested. "Or bait him and tire him out. Orochi has the lowest stamina amongst us three. He hates using techniques that uses up too much of chakra. That's why he doesn't like the Shadow Clone technique."

All of a sudden, Jiraiya cried out and a flash of white light blinded her eyes. When she could see again, she blinked rapidly to clear her vision. What she saw made her reel backward. "Ji-Jiraiya! What happened to you?!" His nose was bulbous and had at least five warts on it. The pupil of his eyes was frog-like, emphasized by the red markings around his eyes. His hands were webbed and even his hair had grown longer in length. Last but not least, his face became slightly more rounded. But besides the physical changes, she could also sense the powerful waves of chakra emanating from Jiraiya.

Jiraiya turned red as she cringed at his appearance. "I haven't mastered Sage Mode yet so that's why I look like this. I can't last long in this form since Ma and Pa toad sages are needed to help me keep it longer. But this should be long enough to break down that gate." He cracked his knuckles. "Come on Tsunade, hurry."

"Don't boss me around." She stepped up beside him and readied a fist. Blue chakra enveloped it and she said, "On the count of three. One, two… three!" Pumping all of her chakra to her arm and then transferring it to her fist, she charged at the gate and slammed it into the thick chakra infused metal. Beside her, Jiraiya did the same. Their blows shook the Earth itself and the gate rumbled as cracks ran through it. Two seconds later, it broke apart into pieces and she looked at her bloody hand. "I… I can't believe we broke the Rashomon gate."

Jiraiya nodded happily. "All my hard work is finally paying off. Now let's get going!"

They hurried in. Where they entered seemed to be a courtyard with waters still flowing around in unique patterns on the ground, to fill an old but still very beautiful pool. In the middle of the pool was a marble statue of a slim lady, her hands forming the tiger seal. Her face was breathtakingly beautiful and her hair was long, swirling around her to end at her feet. Beneath the pedestal were carved words.

Those who would offer her the greatest of gift

They shall live on to eternity with swift

Tsunade silently read the words and felt a drop of cold sweat run down her back. Looking into the statue's eyes, she could help but think that despite her beauty, those eyes were icy and devoid of human empathy. Turning away from the statue, she took in her surrounding.

Stairs led downward to access more ground where there were open corridors to lead deeper into the ruins but in the distance, they could see tall platforms that were connected to each other with linking stairs. Gigantic trees grew everywhere and water rained down from the many waterways that had been built into the walls. At the tallest platform, they could see another set of grand doors. Five empty square spots were noticeable, and probably where the five tablets would have to be placed for them to open.

"Should we split up to look for him?" asked Jiraiya, looking from side to side for any sign of Orochimaru. "It will speed up the search."

"That could be dangerous," Goro pointed out.

Tsunade immediately fumed. "He won't hurt us. We're his friends."

Goro sighed and said,"He's been infected, girly. He's jumped off the deep end." He made a circle with a finger over his head. "He's crazyyyyyyyyy." Goro ducked when she tried to punch him. "Ha! I ain't falling for that the third time."

She stood her ground, glaring up at the big man. "I know he's still in there somewhere. I grew up with him. He hesitated in leaving us." Like the first time she had asked him to be her friend and he had said no and walked away, he still gave a lingering glance backward. That was the reluctance and the reason why she had then chased after him to ask for his name. Actions and words don't always mirror what the heart wants. She turned to Jiraiya. "We have to split up to speed up the search. If… if he really is infected and going insane or something, we have to help him as fast as we can. Right?"

"Of course," Jiraiya answered immediately. He then said to Goro, "This is ALL my fault. If I hadn't… if I hadn't jumped in and tried to interfere that night, this wouldn't have happened to Orochimaru. I'll risk and do whatever it takes to catch him as fast as possible."

Goro threw his hands up in exasperation. "Fine. But if either of you finds him, try to head here. It will be our meeting point. It's also an open space and more safe. If he tries to ambush us in those corridors, we will be at a disadvantage."

Tsunade gave Jiraiya one last look before the three of them scattered. She ran down the crumbling stairs and took the second corridor on the left. As she ran through the decorative hallway with beautiful carvings of forests and priests and priestess, partially hidden by curtains of ivy and plants, she grinded on her teeth and cursed. If the situation gets out of hand, Orochimaru might lose the Jounin promotion chance and his place as the successor to becoming Hokage might even be in danger. Why could he never have it easy?

She jumped over a broken old antique vase and shouted, "Orochimaru! Where are you?! I just want to help you!" No one answered her and after awhile, she came to a stop as she reached a small room with crumbling walls that let in bright sunlight, and had tufts of grass poking up from the stone. In the years that this place has been abandoned, nature has learned to grow over it, creating something primitive and yet refined with ancient beauty at the same time. If Orochimaru wasn't going crazy, he'd be exploring this place, drawing sketches and writing down notes with her by his side and asking for her input like he usually does.

Touching her necklace, she bit down on her lips with sorrow. "Orochimaru..." To her surprise, the stone in her hand suddenly felt warm and she turned around to see Orochimaru lunging at her. She hit the ground and cried out as he grabbed her hair and slammed her head down before he straddled her and put his hands on her neck to strangle her.

"You would go against my dreams as well? I knew I'd never be the most important thing in your heart, Tsunade! You will never put me first!"

Stars danced across her vision and she gasped, feeling blood wet her hair. "Maru… don't." He didn't seem to hear her as his fists just tightened around her throat. All of a sudden, her necklace flashed and Orochimaru froze in its light, his grip loosening and she coughed for air.

"What is... happening to me?" he asked fearfully, letting go of her entirely. "Tsunade..."

"Girly! Close your eyes!"

Goro?! She quickly did as she was told and she heard Orochimaru cry out and hurriedly rolled off her.

"You miserable overweight drunken geezer!" Orochimaru screamed as he held his hands to his eyes, his back hitting the wall.

"What did you do to his eyes?!" Tsunade screeched when she saw the burnt skin peeking through his fingers. "You fucking threw acid at his eyes?!" She made to run over to him to repair the damage but Goro grabbed her arm and wrenched her back.

"Don't get near him! I need to bind him from a distance!"

Tsunade pushed him away from her as Orochimaru continued to howl in agony. "He can go blind if it's not treated! Let me go!"

"I'll make you pay you geezer! If I go blind, I'll pull out your eyes to replace mine!" Orochimaru formed twenty rapid hand seals that were so fast they were a blur to the eyes.

Tsunade nearly buckled from the explosion of smoke and chakra that exploded from him. When it cleared away, she inhaled sharply at the sight of the gigantic white snake baring its fangs at them. It was massive, more than six times her height. Its scales were a pure snow white and the venom dripping from its fangs melted the stone below their feet. The only thing that gave away its identity as Orochimaru was the purple markings around its currently blinded bloodshot eyes. "He… he can see us in this form. Snakes have infra-red vision. He can see us from the heat we produce from our bodies," said Tsunade, slowly backing away.

"Smart kid. But in this form, he can't use techniques."

Before Tsunade could comment that getting eaten alive wasn't going to be much better, Goro ran past her and headed for the snake with open arms. "Sealing Jutsu: Forced Frozen Path!" He jumped as the snake snapped at him and he slammed his palm onto its forehead. A glyph of some sort appeared on there, flashing hot blue for a moment before it disappeared from sight.

Tsunade watched as Orochimaru thrashed and hissed, slamming his head into the wall in great fury. He shook his head before lashing out, catching Goro right around the middle and sending him flying through three walls. She cried out as Orochimaru slammed his head down on the ground before throwing himself at the furthest crumbling wall, where the sunlight was coming through. Tsunade instantly realized that for some reason, he was freaking out as he thrashed about. "Orochimaru stop! You're hurting yourself!"

The snake just hissed even louder and it continued to bash its head against the wall. She shrieked as the walls broke, revealing a view of open skies and forest in the distance. They had chosen to fight in a room that was literally at the edge of the mountain and she rushed forward as he fell through. Even with that size, falling from this height might be fatal. She lunged and grabbed his tail, using all of her strength to try and pull him back. Her muscles groaned and sweat popped out all over her body. To make things worse, the damage he caused had weakened the ground and it soon gave away. She tried to reach out to catch a hold of something but her fingers slipped and she fell down with him.

Everything went black when her head cracked against something. But the last thing she felt was something hard and muscled wrapping around her protectively.

When she finally woke up, she groaned as her entire body burned. Thankfully, her entire team was durable, with her taking top spot. Anyone else and they'd either be dead or have all of their limbs broken. Her eyes flickered open; seeing nothing but a dark sky and looming tall trees meant she had fallen from the ruins back down to the forest below and that she had passed out for quite some time. The leaves and dirt around her rustled as she slowly sat up, feeling sore and bruised. Just then, she remembered that she fallen down after Orochimaru. Where was he?

Getting up on wobbly legs, she focused chakra to her hand and green light emitted from it, the same way as if she would heal someone. Slowly, she began to search for him. He couldn't have fallen far from her and she was sure that he can't be dead. But he might be critically injured unless his fall was braced by something.

As she rustled and pushed past thick shrubbery, it was then she noticed the crushed plants and smoothed over ground, indicating that she had stumbled on a snake's trail. Not any snake either. It was a big one. Could it be his? But why would he stay in his snake form? It would make more sense to release the transformation technique and use his human form so that he can perform hand seals.

Coming to the entrance of a cave that was partially hidden by tall bushes, with a tree also partly blocking the entrance, she peeked inside and held her hand out. The rustling of scales alerted her to the presence of a snake inside and when she caught a flash of purple on white, she stepped in. "Orochimaru… is that you?"

Under the pale green light, the giant snake coiled itself together, hiding its head in a frightened manner. Cautiously stepping over to him, she leaned down and gently touched him. The touch made him withdraw from her as he just coiled himself together even more tightly. "Orochi," she called out, using a more affectionate term of his name. "Orochi, what's wrong? Why aren't you transforming back?" When she touched him again, he hissed and crawled away from her, trying to hide in the shadows. But as he did so, she noticed the bloody wound near his midsection. Did he get it from the fall?

She scrambled after him. "Orochimaru! You're bleeding, let me heal you!"

The snake reared its head up and hissed at her, baring sharp fangs. She could tell from the damage to his eyes, that he was still using his infra-red vision to actually see her. He was in terrible shape and if she didn't treat him, she was afraid that it was just going to get worse. When he hissed at her again, she snapped, "Look here smartass! I don't know if your brain is working or not in that form but you have to let me heal you! I care about you and I'm sick and tired of worrying about you! Just let me make you better so that I can feel better too!"

He paused at her words, his mouth slowly closing. He didn't go back down, but he wasn't attacking her or anything either. Did changing into this form or suffering a heavy fall brought some sense back into his mind? Or was it just the fact that he was too far from the temple ruins, to even bother getting violent and freaking out about that precious technique he wanted so much?

She took two steps closer and looked up at the snake, staring deep into the slit-shaped eyes. They were a dull yellow instead of the gold or even honey color she was fond of, showing her that he really was horribly sick. She paused. He always said that he understood her but what about her? Did she really understand him? It was now or never to see if she herself, was right for him, thought Tsunade as she took one more step. If she could only cause him misery, was incapable of sharing in his sorrows and doubts and could not understand him, then she didn't deserve to be with him.

"Orochimaru," she said, her words coming from her heart as she stared into his eyes and saw him as the five-year-old boy who had walked to school alone, left school alone, studied the hardest and read through the assigned school reading within a month, and helped her with her schoolwork. "I said before, I wasn't afraid of you. Even in this form, I'm not afraid." A tear leaked out from the corner of her eyes. "Because I know you wouldn't hurt me." He drew back slightly and she reached out to touch him. "How can I have that much trust that you wouldn't, despite everything? It's because I saw the way you looked back at me when I called out to you and the way you loosened your fingers around my neck when you regained some of your sanity. That, and I should believe in the one I love, right?" With that, she leaned forward to kiss him. She had been saving her first kiss for him and even though it was much different than how she had imagined it, all that mattered to her was that it was him, despite what he may look like.

The green light from her hand made the moist cave glimmered and sparkled, reflecting back like shards of tiny crystals on the strange scene of a human girl kissing a snow white serpent. To others, perhaps it would have been strange and even unsightly. But she just considered it to be her own fairytale at the moment. A genuine affection from the heart that can look past all appearances and troubles. The green light from her hand that was still glowing revealed his pupils widening in surprise and shock and she smiled slightly as she parted from him. "Just in case you're still dumb, I want you to know that you're my first kiss. It's not how I expected but I'm still happy."

"Hsssss..."

He tilted his head slightly, and she couldn't quite read how he was reacting to what she had just said and done. It was hard enough when he was human but now that he was a snake, she had little clue as to how snakes even looked when they're happy or not. "Orochimaru?" she asked hesitantly. He then looked down at himself and rubbed his head against himself. It then dawned on her why he wasn't turning back. He was stuck like this. Orochimaru was a controlling type of person. To not be able to control your own physical shape must have unhinged his already fragile mind back at the temple. "You stupid snake," she scolded, moving his head back to look at her. "You hid because you're ashamed of the way you look? Or because you think I'll think you're weak that you have no control over your own body?"

He looked down in a sad manner. He nudged her bare stomach before rubbing his head against himself again. Tsunade let out a small sound and cupped his face. "Even… even if you're stuck like this forever, on the inside, you're still Orochimaru. That's all that matters to me." He perked up slightly and lifted his head from her hands. After a second or two, he rubbed the side of his face against her hand and she smiled. "Don't thank me, it's just the truth of how I feel." She hesitated for a moment before saying, "I care about you. I will help you get that technique." His eyes went so wide, she was afraid they might pop out of their sockets. Gently stroking his head, she nodded. "Once we get that scroll, I'll let you read it and then I'll destroy it and pretend to capture you. I will lie and say that I destroyed the scroll before you could see it, and that I was pretending to be on your side so that you would let me get close. When you dropped your guard after obtaining the scroll, that's when I struck." She understood that he was confused when he looked her up and down questioningly. "Even though I'm afraid of what's inside that scroll, I want to support you and I also believe that power and knowledge is not inherently evil. It's how you use it that will determine that. I… I am putting you before others. I love you, truly."

The last of his defense seemed to crumble, the both of them reflecting back on the day when he rejected her and cried out that he didn't believe in her wanting to change him because it was for his sake and not for others. She gasped slightly when she saw his eyes turning back to a bright gold color, instead of the dull yellow flecked with sinister red. Her necklace grew warm and she took it out to examine it. Orochimaru leaned down and brushed his nose against it before opening his mouth. She blinked. "What? You… wait, you want to eat my necklace?" When he nodded and rattled his tail, she gasped. "Right! It helped augmented my grandfather's powers over tailed beasts. And back there, it helped calm you." She swiftly took it off and put it into his mouth, letting him swallow it. "Just regurgitate and clean it for me later." He nodded and bumped his nose against her affectionately before laying down. "I'll grab some wood and make a fire first so that we can be comfortable. You've lost blood so you're probably cold, Orochi."

Two hours later…

She beamed proudly as she started the fire inside their cave. Beside her, Orochimaru curled himself around her and the fire, seemingly enjoying the comforting warmth. She patted his head before working on the wound on his body. The cut wasn't deep and it didn't seem like it would get infected, But his eyes were much harder to work on. Snakes had a protective covering over their eyes; she can't ask him to try and shed his skin or to wait to ask Goro to release the seal keeping him in this form would take too long. Healing was easier through direct contact but those who were highly skilled, can skip past skin and even armor to reach deep down to where the injury lies. It was difficult though, and she openly told him of the risk. She was comforted when he just licked her hand, signaling her to go ahead.

He seemed relaxed and assured as she began the healing process, his pupils responding better and better to the emitted light from her hands. When she was done, there was no trace of redness from his eyes anymore and she sighed in relief. He lifted his head and flicked out his tongue, making her jump as it brushed against her neck. Looking at the spot, she could see the purple bruises that trailed its way to her shoulder and she shrugged. "Just some bruises and cuts when I fell down with you. I'd rather conserve my chakra. I heal fast anyways so they'll disappear by morning." He looked at her sadly before licking the crusty blood that dried on her hair. She patted his side and said, "I forgive you. You didn't mean to do that to me."

Her heart jumped in delight when he pushed her to lean against him, telling her to rest. He was big, his body coming up to her shoulder as she sat there and leaned on him. She smiled as she hugged him like a hug pillow. A giant snake wasn't as comfortable as a real hug pillow but she wouldn't trade him for the world at this moment. "You sleep too," she whispered. He laid his head down on her lap before moving his tail, encircling her and the fire. Tsunade smiled happily and snuggled against him, feeling safe and loved inside the snow white circle. As she began to drift off, she murmured, "It's kind of weird that… in all the years I've known you, you're showing me the most affections when you're a gigantic white snake." She rubbed his head absent-mindedly.

He seemed to hum from her touches. Lifting his head, he rubbed her cheek softly before laying back down. She laughed lightly. "Are you teasing me now? Or are you trying to tell me..." She sat straight up with a gasp. "Are you telling me y-yes? Th-that we can be together?"

She stilled and swallowed nervously as he lifted his head again and moved closer to her. When his snout touched her lips gently, she let out a loud sound of joy and hugged him tightly. "You're now my boyfriend!"

"Hsss?"

"Who cares if we skipped the dating part. We grew up with each other and are closer than a couple who's been on twenty dates!" Tsunade rubbed his beautiful white scales and sighed happily. "Even though it's kind of crappy that you can't say it and that you're covered in scales, I don't care! This is now the second best day of my life!" When he made a questioning sound again, she laughed, "The best day is when I got my little brother, silly." Just then, her eyes glinted mischievously. "Hey Orochi, now that you're a REAL white snake, doesn't that mean your luckiness has also increased? You've got to go gambling with me now."

He gave her an 'I seriously doubt they'd let a giant snake go into a gambling den in the first place' look. At least, that's what she thought. Kissing his head, she cuddled against him and quickly dozed off. In her sleep, she mumbled, "Orochi, you make dinner, I don't care if you don't have hands… I want glazed… honey chicken breasts. Heehee… "

Orochimaru rolled his eyes in amusement as he listened to her rambles. He rubbed the underside of his head against the soft fabric of her red skirt lovingly before drifting off himself, feeling at peace and content for the first time in a long while. He smiled slightly as he remembered her joyful cry of 'You're now my boyfriend!' There was still a twinge of fear in his heart when he thought about losing her if they were in a romantic relationship. But he finally understood that she was so important to him that losing her right now as a friend, was just as traumatizing as losing her as his… girlfriend. Or lover, or wife. Oh holy stars, washe fawning over her now? If snakes could blush, his face would be red like a tomato. Staring at his nose so hard that he went cross-eyed, he thought back to the kiss and felt his temperature spiked up to a dangerous level. Shyly, he buried his face into her lap and tried to get some sleep. When she unconsciously rubbed circles on his back as she slept, he couldn't help but hum in satisfaction. Oh god… he was starting to act like a real snake too, Orochimaru thought with a sigh. But then he hummed again when she continued stroking his back.

That vessel must be filled with love

-Mito Uzumaki

Darkwings13:

-According to the databook, Orochimaru chakra is only a 3.5. Tsunade has a 4 and Jiraiya somehow has a walloping 5. But since Tsunade has the best chakra control, she'd probably last longest on chakra.

- Yes. Tsunade now has a... boyfriend who's a snake. Bestiality? LOL jk (ー∀ー；)

- I honestly enjoy writing Orochi as a snake. He's so helpless now bwahahaha.

- （*￣□￣*) Don't worry readers. There will be epic fighting. Jiraiya may love his teammates, but he ain't gonna agree with this. Cough-episode where he threatens Tsunade if she helps Orochi-cough. And of course there's still a demon.

(`･ω･) Ah I see JigokuShoujosRevenge. Orochi really didn't let Tsunade explain when they first had that argument, though. I wanted to portray how defensive and closed off he got as well as show his logic first. And yep, you're clever so I am sure you know why I had Orochimaru turned her away so suddenly my friend. ;D

ಥ◡ಥ I feel tingly writing Orotsu's confessions of love, Lord Creator. Well technically it's mainly Tsunade who has to be the one to openly say is since Orochimaru is so dang hesitant and bad at showing his feely side until a billion years later when he tells his sons he openly loves them. Thanks for the toast my friend, and for your deep deep faith even though I like to keep you guessing. Will of course be more in depth when Orochi's infected butt gets pulled back to Uzushio. *holds up a glass of mango juice*

（^Ｏ^）～ Oh new reader. Hello Harleen queen! Thank you very much for the compliment friend. Oh I'm not going to stop writing until I catch up to the manga lol. So enjoy the many updates that is still to come.

（＊＾ω＾）Oh yea, I like to raise people's hope and then bam, hit the feels hammer hxshigaki76. Sorry! *huggles* I'm working on an either very sinister and evil story behind the tablets, or something super sad and still sinister. It will be epic and sinister either way haha. Jiraiya really does some love. Poor guy. I really feel for him and Naruto's unrequited love. Hinata is cool and all but her being matched with Naruto was still super abrupt in my opinion lol.

⊂(・▽・⊂) Gimme a hug BlackLady777. Sorry about the feels hammer. And much yes about Orochimaru demanding too much. He only feels safe and reassured about being loved if he's put at the forefront. Like how he only chooses to believe that Sartubi really loves him when he said 'I love you more than this village'. Which is kind of true since he let Orochimaru escape the first time when he could have killed him. So again here, Orochimaru can finally have trust and faith in Tsuna's words when she still embraced him when he's in such a weakened state and when she agrees to help him, despite it being the kinda wrong thing to do. Oh and I'll definitely have more of Tsunade and Goro interaction. She's probably very curious about what he did to Orochi, to keep that Transformation Jutsu going on ;) Oh and don't worry, I might be a masochist too then haha. I just believe that the best love story portrays the ideal 'You can't know happiness till you've known sadness'. This mission will definitely test where all three Sannin's hearts lies.

(●≧ω≦) I'm so happy you're so touched ileangie23. Aughhhhh if I wasn't so set on making this story as canon as possible, ?I'd skip past all the heartache and just make Oro and Tsuna make babies so beautiful that people's eyes would melt from seeing them. It was so hard last chapter to break muh I mean everyone's hearts. I dread the future. But anyways yes you're right, I wanted to show how hard he tries to shy away from relationship since he believes if he never cared in the first place, he'd never be hurt. With how selfish he is, he really doesn't care about sacrificing those under him since he considers it to be for the greater good (his self-interest). Oh and niceeeeee you notice the long hair thing. I'll mention it in later chapters haha. It's related to why Jiraiya grows his porcupine hair long. Andddddd as for Dan, I consider him to be the easy but pale imitation of Oro that Tsunade would definitely find easier to love. But he's like a crappy palette swap of him (slapped with a cannon fodder sticker). Green eyes vs yellow eyes, white hair vs black hair. Oh and their height are apparently even the same. Hehe and Sarutobi might just freak out that Tsunade had alcohol before she was legal. He might have to pray to the First and Second for their forgiveness.