Hello dear readers, how are you today?
I must say, what a exhaustive month was January, huh?! I was not prepared and I can barely believe I've survived it, nor that I managed to, somehow, finish and post this before February.
Ok, just a few hours from February and January may already over in Australia, but hey, I live in Brazil, here it's not over yet, I'm accounting this as a success.
I've nothing to say about the work or the chapter, though. I'm writing this exclusively to practice my English writing skills and to promote my other fanfic, so don't expect it to be something exceptional, which also doesn't means it'll be a terrible thing to read, just unpretentious. Almost a slice of life, once we get over the part where Sasuke is trying to kill Itachi and got him back to Leaf.
That being said, don't expect it to be canon compliant, it won't.
Feel free to point out where the English is odd or straight up broken.
According to Notion, that chapter has: 1,8k words.
Enjoy the read.
The day would be pleasant, birds were chirping high above, a gentle breeze was blowing through his face, cooling down the rising heat just as the morning was turning into noon and the sun was starting to burn his white skin.
Yet, Sasuke didn't care. In a matter of fact, he barely could feel it.
The heat on his skin was nothing other than an annoyance, the breeze too dim to be noteworthy, the sounds of the environment details so small his sleep deprived mind couldn't register.
Not even the wild scents of nature seemed to reach his nostrils.
The only thing he felt was the cracks of the dried leafs he crushes as he walks, his weight sliding from leg to leg with each step, and the strange tingling that lingered in his partly numb body.
Was it the restlessness? He couldn't tell, but he hoped so. Ever since Orochimaru tried to take his body with that strange jutsu he felt this numbness, as if the snake robbed some of his senses while dying. As if his body was nothing but a cloth that kind of doesn't fit anymore. Well, the late sage had managed to use his jutsu, Sasuke had, in fact, being swallowed by the loon white snake of a man. Even though Sasuke fought his way out of it, killing the mad scientist in the process, some side effects were unavoidable, right?
The fact that he barely had ten hours of sleep per week since then didn't help.
No, that was the cause, for sure. Sleep depravation had to be what's causing this numbness. And the doubt.
He wasn't a man to doubt himself, that's surely another effect of having only an hour or two of sleep every day.
Or was the other way around? Was his self doubts depriving him of his rest?
When did he start doubting himself to begin with? He was always sure of what to do, even though that sure was shrouded by unsureness.
'I don't want to use the word "dream" but I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain man.' He recalled saying this to Kakashi all those years ago.
He always knew he would have too kill his brother, it was meant to be, but he never knew how. When Orochimaru showcased his powers to him he knew that he needed it to do the deed, but wasn't sure if he could just let everything else behind and go for it, so he got along with Kakashi in order to find another way.
Of course, that turned into ashes when his brother showed him that Kakashi wasn't enough to do it, Kakashi was too negligent and he was being kept too weak because of it.
He didn't let that shake him, though(maybe a little).
Kakashi wasn't the answer and as long as he was aware, Kakashi were the top Jounin in Leaf, so that could not be helped, he was forced into following Orochimaru. He didn't planned to stay under the wings of the snake, nonetheless.
No, he was doing everything to revenge and restore his clan, he could not allow himself to be fooled into the games of someone else nor could he afford being exiled forever.
The Hidden Leaf where the home of clan Uchiha, the Uchiha was one of the founding clans and it shall be restored to its greatness there.
That's why he planned in killing Orochimaru instead of just leaving. Run, get strong, kill Orochimaru, destroy the Hidden Sound, kill Itachi, return to The Leaf with both heads sealed in a scroll and ask for forgiveness.
It was a solid plan. Until it wasn't. But then again, Naruto always was the best planner of Team Seven, which only points out that planning wasn't a Team Seven thing.
Oh, yes, that's where he started doubting himself. Two and a half years into training, the moment he planned getting rid of the snake nearing fast and one day Orochimaru came and said bluntly: 'I'll take another host, you're not ready yet'.
That has made his blood boil. He was already crushing entire armies without a scratch, his body was in its finest, his chakra control was impeccable, he was more than ready and willing to raze the entire Hidden Sound to the ground, kill that bastard and go after his brother.
He was about to show Orochimaru what happens when he sees red and nothing in his life has ever humbled him more than the way Orochimaru had beaten him down that day. It wasn't even a fight, was more a straight up unilateral spank. He was beaten so hard that took Sasuke an entire month to be able to stand up again. And then another month to recollect the scattered shards of his pride and leave his room. By then Orochimaru already had taken a new body.
'Don't get it wrong, you spar with high level Jounins, all of them rank A ninjas, by all means you are very strong, Sasuke, but none of them are at my level and to me you're no match.' the Sage had told him the first time they've met after his recovery.
From this day forward Sasuke only spared with Orochimaru himself, and that's only had humbled him more. He realized then that Orochimaru had smashed him down with the dwelling strength of a rotten body of a decaying host. Orochimaru with a fresh new host was something else.
He would only be able to keep up with his original plan when(and he was so sure it was a when and not a if…) the Leaf send a mission to rescue him before the snake took his body as a new skin. Originally, Sasuke planned to already had killed the man and his brother at that time.
He never did. The rescue mission never came. Even if Orochimaru didn't changed his body six month earlier than expected it wouldn't have mattered to Leaf, apparently. He would never admit it, but that blow did hurts more than the spanking he got, and he only survived it with ten unbroken bones.
Shit, he thought, I'm rambling again…
It was happening a lot those days, since he somehow managed to kill Orochimaru he would be unable to simply focus on anything for more than a couple minutes at the best, a couple seconds at the worst. The slightest of things would distract him easily, a name he hears in a town, a joke Suigetsu would do about how a cup of water would have more curves than Karin, a serious, although indifferent, although semi-morbid commentary of the redhead, a passionate speech over peace from Juugo, a Broken Fan at a curb side in a rainy day, a fucking butterfly, for god sakes, he saw an ant over his nail one day and daydreamed staring at it for ten goddamned minutes to the point that when he blinked out of it the ant wasn't there anymore! Anything would push a thought in his mind and said thought pull another one into the mix and soon it all would be a storm of memories, thoughts and regrets.
What did you did to me, Orochimaru?!
It has to stop, otherwise he is him going to be killed daydreaming while facing Itachi.
Then he noticed the shift in the ground, the fluff earth giving way to solid stone as a pathway surfaced ahead.
He took some breathes to calm himself. The evenness of the the uneven pathway did wonders to his balance compared to the earth way he came through until there. Yet, walk was more like falling ahead while trying to keep his legs under his body.
It got me here, I guess, he thought coming to a halt.
Opened his eyes for the first time that morning, the morning light daggers in his sore retinae. Sore both due to the sudden light stab and the constant use of his sharingan over the last years.
'Overuse of anything would make it soreful for long before your body becomes used to the load you're putting on yourself. However, if you don't douse it carefully your body could end up broken, Sasuke.' Orochimaru warned when he complained after a spar session one day. He killed him a week later.
Notwithstanding, here he was, glaring at the ugly thing they called "The Uchiha Fortress". Back in its days it should have being a vision to see, something that really had imposed great fear in their enemies, but now it was nothing but a collection of rocks piled over rocks in the middle of nowhere. But here is where he was.
Finally!, he couldn't help but thought.
Today he would have his revenge. The revenge he waited eleven long years to have, which those five he spent under the tutelage of the snake sage.
Here he was, more than ready, readier than ever, or at the very least, as ready as always. Truth be told, his body aches in more than one place, bruises tainting his core.
The leftovers if his match with Deidara that did not healed yet. He should've just let Karin do her thing in him, but the woman unnerves him to no end.
He could not trust her and he would never be able to. As long as she insist on call him "Mr. Orochimaru" all he could do is tolerate her presence in favor of her sensor abilities. If he could strip her down, locate where her ability lays, cut it out of her body and use it without her annoyance, he would gladly do so.
What was Kabuto thinking?! He was supposed to be one of the smart ones!
He planned on killing the pet of a man along with his master, but he was too exhausted to do anything when he dragged himself out of the base. However, when Kabuto asked "which one of the two are you?" and he didn't answered he didn't expected that the man would assume that Orochimaru succeeded. When had he got that dumb?! To spread that throughout the bases of the Sound was nonsense and bothered Sasuke the fact that every ninja that wears a Sound bandana now thought him as the snake himself.
Surely that proved to be useful as he could get what he needs from the bases with not a question, but that's beyond the point. At least Suigetsu and Juugo calls him by his true name, a minor solace in the last weeks he had. Yet, now he really believed that he should've used Karin's healing ability, to face his brother with an aching body could be the death of him and the end of his ambition.
To take such risk over his pride, how childish could be get some times?
Tch, shit, he thought, starting to walk again, passing through the arch that marks the entrance to the fortress, going deep into its darkness.
I'm rambling again…
And that's it. Initially I was planning to have the fight in the chapter too, but life get in the way, so I guess this fic would be something of a drabble thing, something near of 2k per chapter.
Don't get me wrong, I cannot be fully committed to it once it'll be a big skill improvement exercise, which doesn't means it can't be funny, I only may have to prioritize Ying Heroes(my other work, published both in Portuguese and English on Spirit Fanfiction, Fanfiction and Ao3, also published only in Portuguese on Nyah! Fanfiction) and War and Peace(a Saint Seiya fanfic that I'm officially translating to English, published in Portuguese, Spanish and English on Ao3, also published in Portuguese on Spirit Fanfiction), so, as much as I would like to write this more, first things first, right?
That being said, I should update it once a month, so, read ya next time!
Byes!
