Thomas Drovin – I hope you had a fun Easter Holiday too, mine is still going. J Now for the story, I have a feeling that you can somehow predict the future. Could it be you foresaw what would have happened? :p Thanks for showing me the grammatical mistakes, I've corrected them. Thanks for reviewing the chapters again, I know how tiresome it is. Enjoy the (newest) chapter.

Himeno Kazehito – I'm feeling kind of guilty to make her experience all that scary shit. :p

polki – Everyone loves snakes, polki, everyone. :p

Oji – I'm glad you liked this chapter. It makes me as an author very happy.


So not happening!

.

.

By Angelbloodlover

.

~ Question reality, especially if it contradicts the evidence of your hopes and dreams.

Robert Brault

.

.

.

Chapter 2: Unwanted Changes?

I was becoming numb towards Orochimaru, the sound-nins and the killing. I didn't feel any remorse when I killed them. I didn't feel anything at all. Why should I feel guilty when they killed off innocent people? A lot of good, hard-working innocent people who didn't deserve to be killed. I was doing a good job by killing these bastards off. It meant less evil people in this war-filled world, which was good. I was clearing out the trash.

I was doing a good job. I was being a good girl. I was being useful in my way.

The more I thought about it, the more my mind was convinced about it.

And yet this felt off…

My heart was screaming at me how wrong this was. So wrong! And yet I didn't do anything about it, I didn't give a fuck about their worthless lives. Besides, they didn't deserve to breathe. Those scums didn't deserve to live in this world. They were rotting. They smelled like rotting corpses, they were dead in my eyes, like walking corpses. By killing them I was doing them a favour. They couldn't sin anymore, their lists couldn't grow anymore.

Subconsciously, I was transforming form a normal college student into a child soldier. Seeing all the news about the child soldiers in Africa and experiencing it was a totally different story. At first I felt all these negative emotions all at once but gradually they started to get less and less…

This didn't mean that I didn't feel them at times. When I was alone, they would escape from the depth of my heart and attack me, crush me, suffocate me slowly.

The uncertainty, the guilt, the hate, the anger, the grief, the cruelty, the hopelessness, the shame, the bitterness, the desperation, the insecurity, the coldness, the disgust, the loneliness, the frustration, the violence, the self-pity, the rage, the resentment but most off all the hatred. I hated myself, I hated the person I was becoming and yet I didn't do anything about it… What could I do? Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

But I knew who was responsible for turning me into this persona.

Only one person was to blame, one miserable person…

Orochimaru, I loathed him with all my heart.

And one day, you vile snake, I'll kill you with my two hands, I'll watch the life douse out your eyes and laugh in glee. I'll start dancing in happiness on your rotting corpse and scream from delight. And then… and then…

And then… what? What was I to do after this? Where could I go? Who would want me..?

Shaking those depressive thoughts away, I concentrated on the task at hand. There was no time to be thinking like that.

"Did you memorize and mastered the hand seals perfectly?" Orochimaru asked me with his disgusting voice.

I nodded dumbly and replied with a monotone voice, "Hai, sensei."

He didn't reply and I suspected he waited for the results which I showed him with perfect speed.

Ox. Boar. Snake. Tiger. Dog. Ram. Bird. Dragon. Rat. Horse. Monkey. Hare.

A smug smirk was his only reply as he looked at me. "Sensei, I have a request." I asked him while I locked eyes with him. I was past the stage of being afraid of him but there was still a part of me who was terrified of this beast.

He raised his brow and if I didn't master my emotions then I would have scowled at him. "I would like to learn the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

There was a long pregnant silence until he started laughing madly. I didn't say anything, I didn't react to his taunting. I kept still and quiet. "Why should I?"

"Because my training would increase faster." I answered him. That was something I wanted to learn but since my hand seals and chakra control were so bad I couldn't. Until now, of course.

"Did you read that in the library?" He asked me with narrowed eyes, observing me like a snake.

"Hai, sensei."

Books and scrolls were everywhere. That greedy snake sure knew how to collect them. He had allowed her to read his master pieces, even though they are so precious to him. He had allowed her to read them. She was puzzled about why? But didn't dare to voice her opinion to him for fear of punishments. As a grown-up she couldn't get enough of reading. It was her hobby, something she did with pleasure and even now when her heart was being ripped from the inside out, she still loved reading. At least there was something that wouldn't change. The first time when Orochi-teme tried to make her read and write she was a failure. He had sent another shinobi to make her read, one who liked to hurt her whenever she was wrong.

Fear makes you stronger and for the first time in her life she had mastered something very quickly, although the pain did help a lot.

"I'll show it only once."

He crossed his index and middle fingers from both hands and- Poof!; there was another clone like him, grinning like a madman. When the clone dispersed, he waited for my reaction. I stood there looking at my hands as I crossed my index and middle fingers, trying to concentrate and cutting my chakra in two.

Poof!

Next to me was a perfect-made clone who looked exactly like me, making me gasp in shock and a bit of pride seeing that my first time was this good. I never had the time to see myself but now I could look at myself without having a mirror. A small smile appeared on my face but I wiped it off my face when I noticed Orochi's eyes which were glinting weirdly, making me almost shiver in disgust. I just hoped he wasn't thinking on molesting or raping me. Looking at my clone again I saw that I had shoulder-length black hair and onyx black eyes just like how I looked in my world. I looked kind of cute if I may say so.

"Try to make more." He ordered with a wicked glint in his eyes.

I suppressed sighing at his excitement and crossed my index and middle fingers from both my hands and concentrated on halving all my chakra as much as I could do. I could hear all the sounds of smoke as one by one my clones came to life. This was something that made me really excited, even though that snake was next to me. I felt so proud of myself even though I didn't show it.

"This looks like the Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Interesting, keep training with them and dispel them one by one." With that the left me alone to train. I let some of the clones do several chakra exercises; tree walking, water walking, … others were fighting using my acrobatic Taijutsu, one I've really wanted to use as my fighting stance and me? I was running in laps, training my physical power, knowing full well that my clones could only make me mentally stronger.

By the time Orochimaru came back it was already morning; did I train that much? I wasn't even tired. Well, my stamina was good but I didn't accept it to be so good under the snakes tutelage. It didn't even feel like I was a child, not even a teen. It felt more like I was an old woman like Tsunade. Sighing I stopped my acrobatic tricks and mentally scoffed as he looked at me with pure amusement shining in his yellow eyes.

They were yellow for Kami's sake! Yellow!

"Memorize all these scrolls till morning if you don't…" He let the sentence trail out, making it sure that he was threatening me. That bastard! How I wish I could snap his fucking neck! He disappeared using Shunshin no Jutsu, something I wanted to learn badly.

"Show-off…" I muttered quietly, using the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to make more of me so we could study together. It was better than being all alone.

"First is Fūton: Daitoppa; a relatively simple technique that creates a sudden gust of wind, but its scale varies greatly depending on the user. If used by a superior shinobi, it has enough destructive power to knock down a large tree. The wind from the squall can blow away all things in the user's line of sight. Hmm…" I read out loud, looking at the hand seals that were necessary for the jutsu.

Tiger. Ox. Dog. Rabbit. Snake.

"Fūton: Daitoppa!" I screamed loudly, letting the fierce wind knock down a huge tree. The tree creaked violently against the wind and then it snapped… Timber! I joked mentally in my head and then ordered my clones to study the rest while I worked on this jutsu. I had to perfect them all. I wanted to beat and kill Orochimaru just like he killed off my heart.

He would pay dearly..

-:-

The next morning I was eating a healthy amount of food which was brought to me by Orochi's slaves, something I didn't understand at all. Why should he do something like that? Why would he train me, feed me, tutelage me…? I was no Itachi and not even Sasuke, then why? Was there something behind this? I was too small and little to be taken over by him. Was he training me fiercely like this so he could take over my body when I grow up? Was he trying to create the perfect vessel for him?

Questions and questions but no freaking answers.

Poof!

That meant one thing: time to play with the snake. I suppressed giggling and stood up ready to show all the jutsu's I learnt. All of them; from Ninjutsu to Genjutsu. That bastard sure is a maniac when it meant training but he was a good teacher, even though I would never admit that out loud.

"Begin."

Fūton: Daitoppa. Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu. Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu. Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu. Genjutsu: Jubaku Hien Satsu.

The jutsu's kept going and every time one was done the grin on his face would increase and increase like the Joker would do when he was killing off innocent people. I wanted so badly to whack his head like he did to me the first time I had met him but that would be calling for death and I didn't want that.

"That's wonderful, Keiko-chan. Now, show me how good you would fare against me." Without another word he charged straight at me, making me roll to the side as his kick split the earth in two, revealing a poor crater. He was crazy and didn't even give me a moment to take a breath or to rest.

I made the seals for the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu and blew the fire towards him, pumping chakra in the jutsu. What once was a beautiful clearing was now death and decay with the smell of blood. I almost cheered for my victory but then his body melt, leaving a puddle of mud behind. "Shit." I cursed softly, looking left, right, up… Down!

I jumped away right on time. …If I didn't I would've been dead already. I saw his hands looking for me but unfortunately for him I was long gone. That sucker! I tried to estimate how high I would have to jump to rupture the clearing. I loved Tsunades enhanced strength so I taught myself how to do it. Individually. It was agonizing to have your knuckles bleed day in day out but the end result was magnificent. I jumped in the air, using chakra, and then aimed my gloved fist to the place where I could feel his chakra flare thanks to the jutsu, shattering the ground with a lot of strength.

After that there was a long silence where I couldn't pick up his suppressed chakra. I may be getting good but I was still far from awesome. He was more experienced and advanced on every level; no wonder he was nicknamed as one of the Densetsu no Sannin. Narrowing my eyes, I tried to pick up his chakra to no avail. I moved my hands, making the seal for the Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.

Poof!

The clearing was filled with small girls wearing ragged and torn clothes too big for their sizes. With a nod they all shattered the ground, forcing the snake to show himself or else he would be snake-mush.

I grinned deviously when I saw him appear with an annoyed scowl on his face but then that was replaced by a scary-looking smirk and he charged at me, forcing me to use Taijutsu. He kicked my abdomen but that was a clone that dispersed herself, another one tried to punch him with chakra-enhanced strength only to get thrown against a tree. I was getting frustrated as he was killing my clones one by one. I had to come up with a plan or I would be defeated or worse killed.

I quickly used another jutsu, Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu, making the earth change into fine sand by channelling chakra into it, allowing me to dig through it like a mole. The effect goes around the body (not just the hands), making it just large enough for a person to move through. I could pinpoint the enemies whereabouts, despite being underground, by sensing the magnetic forces. I could also sense what was happening on the surface and use that information to launch a surprise attack on the enemy.

After some searching I found him, "Found you, snake." I hissed quietly as I could feel him slither around.

"Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu." I yelled out, holding his ankles hard by channelling chakra to my tiny fists.

"Ku ku ku, good but not good enough, my little flower." He mocked me, smiling down at me with those annoying eyes of him.

"You think that was all I would do?" I scoffed at him, trying to hold in my anger. It would do me no good if I let my anger come out. That was his plan all along; to make me angry and lose control. But no way was he going to see me mad.

"And what will you do?" He asked curiously as he was melting, making me almost gag when his melted face was smiling at me.

"You'll see." With that another half thousands clones appeared and charged at the real one who was behind me.

With experienced speed he slammed his hands against the ground, calling out, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." A giant brown snake appeared, killing all the clones and pulling me out of the ground in less than fifteen seconds. As his tail was constricting me I could see Orochimaru watching with sick pleasure as my breathing got laboured and heavy.

"You thought you could defeat me? How cute." He mocked me with an angry tone, making me fear for my life a second time.

"Starting now you'll improve your kunai, shuriken and senbon accuracy." Orochimaru and his summon disappeared, leaving a lot of kunai, shuriken and senbon behind, letting me drop like a rag doll.

I coughed loudly, grabbing my throat and walking clumsily towards the river, wanting nothing more than refreshing my dry, hoarse throat. That son of a bitch! How dare he play with humans like that?! When I leaned down, although the pain was making it rather difficult, I could see my reflection in the water. I looked like a human pin cushion, one that was battered and bruised beyond words and I wasn't mentioning the pain either. Walking back towards the pile of metals I summoned my clones and started working on my kunai accuracy, wanting to be over and done with this.

All would be over soon...