Hey, guys! Hope you're ready for Chapter 4! The arc for 'An Unwanted Mission' will be in multiple parts and I think you guys are gonna like it. Enjoy PART 1!

Chapter 4: An Unwanted Mission (Part 1)

Kabuto and I stood patiently in the grand room where Orochimaru usually was when he was in need of his henchmen. However, I wasn't a "henchmen"; I don't consider myself one at least. Said Sanin sat in his throne in front of us with his head comfortably placed on his hand with his elbow being supported by the armrest. He examined us as he pondered joyfully to himself, which was probably twisted knowing him.

I winced when I noticed his eyes were glued on me. "It looks to me that you weren't really prepared for this meeting. Overslept dear?" He mused charmingly, referring to me still in my sleepwear and messy bedhead.

I blinked at his joke and broadly replied, "I woke up a while ago. I just thought that there was no point in getting ready since there's nothing to be done today."

Orochimaru's grin grew wider at my reason. He was probably amused that I was the only one in the room who clearly didn't look at all professional.

"Clearly that wasn't the case or I wouldn't even be in here right now…" I added in bore.

Orochimaru sighed mockingly. "I apologize for the inconvenience, but it can't be helped. I need you two on this mission now…" He claimed as his smirk was no longer on his face.

"What is the mission, my lord?" Kabuto asked politely, standing respectively straight next to me.

The amount of respect four eyes had for "Lord Orochimaru" was incredible; it never stopped amazing me.

"Lately, I've been creating a formula for a special food pill that helps the body continuously heal itself from inflicted damage for long periods of time, and I just completed its blueprint creation. But the ingredients needed to make them are very rare and only located at the borders of the Great Nations. It is even said that some of these herbs were long extinct but turning back would be pointless considering how close I am." Orochimaru described thoroughly, sounding strict and serious about the topic.

Both Kabuto and I remained standing, waiting for him to give us more details. Then, Orochimaru reached for something behind him and took out a small scroll.

"This scroll contains all of the herbs and ingredients needed for this pill. Be certain that you've obtained every single thing on this list." He warned hardly, tossing the scroll towards us in which Kabuto easily caught it.

"You'll leave for your mission later today. It will probably take you about a few days to complete, a week at the most if things all go well." He added nonchalantly.

"Hold on…" I abruptly spoke up, instantly grabbing Orochimaru's attention.

"Why are you sending both of us on this mission? Specifically me when I'm not really familiar with the area?" I asked in frustration, not seeing any point of me being a part of the mission.

"This mission requires two people; two medic ninja to be exact. It will take forever if one person looks for rare species of herbs whereas having two people experienced for this mission would make the process move more quickly." He reasoned blankly, merely blinking at me.

"But still…"

"Kabuto will lead in this mission since he's familiar with the area, and I know he'll get the job done no matter what." He cut me off instantly.

Now that I knew four eyes was leader, it just made me not want to go even more. It was bad enough I had to spend time with him on a mission, but with him as leader? Where was a hammer I could use to hit myself with to erase this horrible situation?

"Now that you two are aware of the objective of this mission, you're—"

"No." I cut him off coldly.

Orochimaru glanced at me with an annoyed and nasty look on his face. I was aware that he didn't like when someone tried to stand in his way nor say no to him, but I didn't care. I wasn't his henchmen like four eyes; he couldn't boss me around. And I also didn't care if he was enraged by my rebellion because I wasn't gonna help him achieve his evil plans. It wasn't like he was gonna hurt me either because if he wanted Sasuke's body, he was forbidden to touch me whether if I deserved it or not.

The sanin remained glaring at me with his snake-like eyes. "What do you mean by 'no'?" He demanded in question, losing his patience with me.

"I'm sorry, but I will not do this mission. I see no reason why I should go, especially with him. You know full well that I can't stand him and we don't get along…" I debated as I folded my arms.

"I am aware of that. But the mission isn't about you nor Kabuto, so it shouldn't matter if you two go on this mission together." He commented lowly.

"It actually does matter." I countered firmly. "If Kabuto and I can't get along with each other or even work together on this mission, the goal will be out of reach."

Orochimaru then closed his eyes, thinking deeply to himself. Possibly meditating. Then he snapped his eyes wide open and showed a fearing, death glare that pierced right through me. From there, I didn't know what to expect next.

"Don't ever try to deceive me, little one! You should learn your role here, and as long as you're with me you follow my rules! I promise you… if you don't start showing me some respect, I will—"

"You'll what…?" I interrupted him once again, not really phased with his cold, heartless demeanor.

"What…?" He growled, daring me to speak more.

"You know just as much as I do that you can't do anything to me because Sasuke will make sure you and Kabuto will suffer and be punished for hurting me. And even if that doesn't happen, my brother is aware that you want his Sharingan and he won't give it to you if you do anything to me that he finds unacceptable." I explained smugly, giving him a microscopic smirk.

The words I had just spoken only made him angrier. He gritted his teeth lividly and swiftly stood from his chair. He was about to use his jutsu to attack me, and I was ready to block it at any time. It was clear to me that he wasn't thinking this through because he knew that whatever he was going to do, his actions would result in him losing the Sharingan.

"My Lord, wait!" A voice blurted out, causing the both of us to wince and turned to where the voice was coming from.

Orochimaru blindly glared at his faithful subordinate. "What is it, Kabuto?" He seethed, ready to kill at any given point.

"With all due respect, Katsumi's right." He politely reminded. "If you try to discipline her, you'll feel the wrath of her brother. You need Sasuke's body, and he agreed as long as we don't harm her. Even though he's currently out on a mission, he'll figure out and he won't hold back."

Kabuto did made some solid points because hearing what he had to say made Orochimaru calm down a bit and remained seated on his chair.

"Remember your goal…" He added hardly.

With a long sigh, said "lord" grumbled, "You're right, Kabuto. I shouldn't let my anger get in the way…"

Hearing this made four eyes sigh in relief, not having to deal with his anger.

"Katsumi." I heard Orochimaru calling my name in which I glanced at him and listened to what he had to say next.

"Despite your brother's commands, it doesn't apply on missions. You are required to complete missions that I assign to you respectfully. Even Sasuke agrees…" He stated cockily.

I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not. Regardless, I would be forced to do this mission so I might as well.

"Fine I'll do it." I groaned tiredly. "But don't expect four eyes here to return in one piece if he gets on my nerves."

"Good then, I expect you two to leave soon." He concluded in satisfaction, then dismissed us.

Once I left the room, I immediately found my way to my bedroom to pack up and ready myself for this mission. Finding herbs and plants for medicine wasn't an easy job because every species of plant were used for different medicine. And considering that the herbs Orochimaru wanted were rare, it would be ten times harder. That would mean Kabuto and I would have to work together because despite our extensive knowledge, we wouldn't get work done if we couldn't get along. Hopefully this would be short and sweet.

I walked out of my bedroom and walked through the dull hallways to meet up with Kabuto. Still ironic that I knew exactly where the exit was. Said four eyes was patiently waiting for me at the door with his stuff ready to leave at any time. He rotated his head, realized that I was standing there waiting for me.

"Are you just going to stand there the whole time?" I huffed in frustration, I wasn't in the mood to carry any patience for him.

Kabuto snickered at my comment. "Says the person who takes double the time to get ready." He countered sarcastically, adjusting his glasses.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, let's just go already." I grumbled and walked out the door, not caring if he followed or not.

Once we both stepped foot out of the pits of darkness and sorrow, we immediately start travelling through the forest by branch from branch. I couldn't stand that Kabuto was made leader because that would mean I would have to follow his rules, and that was a complete nightmare for me. I just had to keep reminding myself that the quicker we complete this mission, the sooner I could be left alone with no one nagging at me.

"Let's stop here…" Four eyes merely suggested, slightly looking over his shoulder at me.

Without giving any response, we both landed on the soft grass in unison. As we straightened ourselves, Kabuto pulled out the scroll Orochimaru gave him from his pouch and carefully read what was inside. I knew he mentioned about a list of herbs needed, but I felt like there was much more in the scroll than he said. I slid myself closer to Kabuto and attempted to read over his shoulder. As I scanned through the writing, I took in the fact that half of these plants were super rare and considered endangered. In other words, there was no way we could find all of them as fast as I originally hoped. Damn it all.

"Half of them are almost gone, if I remembered correctly." I commented nonchalantly.

Kabuto gave me a brief look then glanced back down at the scroll. "You're right there. I remembered the last time he sent me on a similar mission and it took me about two weeks." He replied in agreement as he also scanned through the writing.

That was very pleasant to hear, knowing that it was possible I would be camping in the forest for almost a month. Why did I wanted to be the best medic ninja I could be?

"Well, I say we should split up." I purposed strongly, stepping away from the nerd. "I'll get the first half of the list and you take the second. It will make it easier and faster to find them."

"I'm not so sure about that." He tsked on my plan.

"Why the hell not?" I questioned, not comprehending as to why he would disagree.

"Well for starters, since these herbs are rare, we don't know exactly where they are located." He answered in a dull tone, not giving me any eye contact. "Secondly, this mission is meant for two medic ninja meaning we both have to stick together to find the ingredients. Even if we spilt up, it will make it more difficult to find them since we don't know where they are to begin with; we can't just walk blindly in the forest wasting time."

I stood there in silence, sort of zoning out as he spoke.

"Besides, you said it yourself: you're not familiar with this area just yet. That would be a hassle for me to find the plants and take care of you at the same time." He mocked with a smirk as he took his eyes off of the scroll to see my reaction.

"Shut up, four eyes! I'm not a kid, I can take care of myself!" I snapped viciously.

"Yeah, good for you." He mused skeptically to piss me off.

I was aware that I was supposed to keep my cool around him so we could just finish this mission and then do our own thing alone, but the jerk was getting on my last nerve. I simply had enough, so I stomped over to him until I stood in front of him. He merely turned his attention towards me, wondering what I was doing. Gritting my teeth, I snatched the scroll from his hands which stunned him a little.

"Let me make myself clear, you four-eyed jerk." I hissed venomously. "Just because your 'hero' made you in charge doesn't mean you can go boss me around. I don't respect you or that snake, and if I could, I would leave you all alone to die. So, I highly suggest you not to boss me around unless you want to burn alive." I threatened darkly, not really realizing that my Sharingan was activated.

That might've scared him a bit considering he looked a bit nervous at my sudden change in tone. He then cautiously took the scroll I held off my hands, just in case I wasn't in the mood to be touched.

"I wasn't trying to boss you around, I was simply being honest." He justified calmly. "Lord Orochimaru needs these ingredients for his experiment, and I must get them as soon as possible. I don't really mind if you sit back and do nothing, but at least cover me just in case of an ambush."

It sort of sounded like he was begging me to stay. But what was the point of me staying if I wasn't going to do anything, and it wasn't like I could go back because I would have to feel Orochimaru's wrath. Plus if I were to stay, it would take a lot longer to find all of the ingredients for the food pill.

"Hand that scroll over for a minute?" I stuck out my hand for the scroll.

Without hesitating, he gave me the scroll and I read it over carefully. I sighed and closed the scroll and handed it back to him.

"Based on what I've seen in that list of his, it would take ages to find all of them." I commented tiredly. "If you were to try to find them on your own, God knows how long it will take. And even though I'd rather sit down and watch you, it wouldn't be considerate of me letting you do the work."

"So, you'll help me or not?" Kabuto asked unsurely.

"Does it look like I have a choice?" I huffed in bore, folding my arms across my chest.

Four eyes only gave out a smirk. "Good. We should start looking then…"

"Might as well…" I sighed and bent down to examine the field filled of herbs.

We were both right about the rare plants. They weren't easy to find and it was really frustrating; I sort of regretted lending a hand to Kabuto. But slowly and surely, we crossed out one herb after another the second we had obtained it. We just located a very rare herb that was close to extinction when I realized it was already dusk. Kabuto noticed this too as he safely placed the plant in his bag.

"We should probably turn in for the night." He advised in bore as he adjusted the position of his glasses.

"Yeah…" I breathed in response, stretching the stress away from my body.

We set up a small camp fit for two. Once we had finished preparing for the night, I briefly left the site to fetch some firewood. I came back to the campsite a while later and the first thing that caught my eye was a well-made campfire. I was sort of blown away because I just left to get wood so I could make the fire myself, but apparently that was taken care of. I trailed my eyes around the area, trying to find Kabuto since he probably was the one who made the fire. It wasn't until a moment later when he walked out of our only tent with nothing but a navy blue shirt and dark grey pants. I noticed that he wasn't wearing his glasses like he did in the morning but he still had his hair in a ponytail.

I always seem to forget that Kabuto looked so different without his glasses, and sort of not exactly in a bad way.

I caught his attention instantly and he threw a welcoming grin. "Back so soon, I see." He hummed.

I gave him a long look then let my eyes glue to the fire. "That fire…" I started.

"If you're implying that it was me who made the fire, then you're right…" He cut in as if he already knew what I was going to say.

"Then what was the point of me going out for firewood?" I groaned with a microscopic pout, irritated that I went through trouble for nothing.

Four eyes slid his feet towards me with his grin still on his face. "I assume that you put up a sweat just to find some wood." He implied smugly.

"You assumed correctly." I replied hardly, narrowing my eyes at him.

Without saying a word, Kabuto took the pile of wood from my hands and walked away from me. "We'll save these for tomorrow night and so on." He simply stated, placing the pile behind the tent.

"Well okay, but someone has to prepare dinner. I'm getting hungry…" I mumbled hungrily, wishing the taste of delicious food.

Kabuto chuckled to himself. "I was hoping for that." He mused as he walked towards the fire. "Take a good look."

I assumed he was referring to the campfire and I examined it once again. This time, I noticed five cooked salmon laying near the golden flames with sticks pierced through each one of them. I was baffled and slightly impressed; four eyes was thinking ahead and he came prepared. I couldn't help it but my mouth started watering as my eyes were glued to the delicious-looking food in front of me. I blindly marched over to the fire and was reaching down for a cook salmon, until a tanned hand snatched my wrist, preventing me from moving any further. I glared at the one who was responsible, daring him to touch me any longer.

"You should make yourself comfortable before you eat." He suggested broadly, possibly referring to my clothes.

"Fine, but only this once." I grunted in annoyance as I slapped his grip off of me.

I stomped my way towards the tent and went inside. I removed my crop hoodie and thigh boots. I left on my net short-sleeve shirt and shorty shorts then I put on ordinary ninja sandals. Once I was satisfied, I walked out of the tent seeing Kabuto now kneeling near the fire preparing the food. He took his eyes off of what he was doing and briefly scanned at my slightly different appearance. I wondered what was going through his mind because he was just blinking at me, saying nothing at all. Finally— which felt like forever –he opened his mouth.

"Are you comfortable?" He asked expressionlessly.

"Sure, I guess." I responded uncertainly, shrugging my shoulders.

He offhandedly grinned. "Now, you can eat." He proclaimed mockingly.

Rolling my eyes, I treaded over to the fire and seated comfortably on the soft ground, across from four eyes. He handed me a plate of food just after I settled myself. I took the plate from his hand without warning and placed it gently on my lap. I examined it cautiously; knowing him, he could've put anything remotely dangerous in the food.

"Don't worry, it's not poisoned, rotten, or deadly in anyway." He sighed tiredly as if he was reading my mind like a book.

I shot a hard glare at him in response. "How the hell would I know that? This is probably a scheme you set up to drug me and use me like your personal toy." I hissed, sharpening my glare.

Kabuto sat there with a blank look on his face on my comment. It didn't look as if he was hurt by my comment since he showed no emotion about it, but I couldn't help but think that he was processing the words I had just thrown at him. I wasn't too sure myself because in all honesty, I had said worst things to him before and never left sorry about it. And he always acted as if I was the bully and he was my victim which wasn't true at all; I was his victim. If he had never lied to me about everything, then I might've back off with the harsh words. He never felt sorry for what he did, so he was getting what he deserved.

"You're simply jumping to conclusions." I heard his soft, upfront voice as my attention was all on him. "You always seem to think that I'm some heartless predator out to secretly get you and use you for personal pleasure, which I'm not. I understand that you don't like me at all, and I'm okay with that. But I would much appreciate it if you stop thinking such things about me."

I was kind of shocked. Why was he saying this as if I was the bad guy? People like him really got under my skin, pretending that they weren't in the wrong.

"Well, I wouldn't be thinking that if you weren't Orochimaru servant and using humans as dolls for your benefit!" I snapped back, ticked off for his fake innocence.

Suddenly, he gave me a cold yet a slightly hurt stare, causing me to almost spill what was on my plate.

"Just because I serve Lord Orochimaru… it doesn't mean I'm not human. I have personal feelings too." He justified lowly, clenching his fist.

Hearing that made me gasp in awe; this was probably the first time he leaked in his offense to my words. I shouldn't feel slightly bad because he was probably messing with me like he always does, but I couldn't point my finger at that logic at that moment. Something told me he wasn't lying about the last statement. I simply sat there, still taken aback from his words when he cleared his throat. I snapped back to reality and laid my eyes on Kabuto, who still sat across from me waiting patiently. I didn't really know what else to do about the food that was still sitting on my lap. I couldn't just throw it all away since he was literally in front of me and after the stuff he said earlier made it all the more awkward. Plus, I was starving; I had no other choice.

I allowed myself to chow down without any care, not regretting anything about any of it.

As I munched on the fire-cooked meal, I sneaked some glances towards Kabuto who paid no attention to me whatsoever; he was zoned out as he was blindly staring at the bright flames in front of him. I wondered if he was still thinking about what I said about him right in his face. I cleaned my plate in a nick of time and then I noticed him reaching his hand out towards me.

"You're finished right?" He presumed blankly, referring to me finishing eating.

"Uh, yeah?" I replied in question; I wasn't exactly sure what to say.

"Then, hand me over your plate so I can pack up before bed." He urged softly; he sounded that he wasn't in the mood to joke with me.

Did I damage him that much? Was he actually more offended than I thought? Why do I care the slightest anyway?

I blankly moved my plate away from his hand, leaving him there slightly confused.

"I'll do it, you just go to bed." I blurted out, slightly surprised that I just offered to do his work.

I assumed Kabuto was just as confused as I was. "No really, I think it would be better if I—"

"I can seriously do it. Besides, you look like you really need the sleep after all that work you put up with. It's only fair since you set up the campfire, tent, and prepared food for the both of us on your own…" I interrupted in assurance, realizing yet again I was being nice to him.

Kabuto blinked at my reasoning, not really sure what to say exactly. At first, I thought he was going to rebel and not listen to me. But then, he retracted his hand as he sat back down like before.

"If that's what you want, then so be it." He yawned tiredly then he lifted himself up on his feet.

Four eyes lazily slid his feet towards our tent and walked in. I made sure he wasn't gonna pop out by surprise, then I got started with the chores. Once I was done with everything that needed to be done, I made my way to the tent. I quietly opened the zipper and crept into the tent. Once I sealed the entrance, I turned and my eyes instantly caught on a sleeping Kabuto who slept as still as a rock. I legitimately thought that he was dead for a moment. I examined his body lift and drop as he breathed through his parted lips gently. His perfectly tanned face glistened in the moonlight that shone through the tent window. I stood there like a lost child staring right at snoozing handsome; don't know why that thought came up out of nowhere.

Realizing I was staring at Kabuto for a long time, my cheeks turned bright pink all of a sudden. I was kind of embarrassing gazing at the person I couldn't stand. I couldn't even imagine how embarrassing it would've been if he woke up and busted me for staring at him.

I carefully made my way to my sleeping spot that was already prepared for me. Once again, four eyes wanted to a gentlemen; he really needed to stop because it wasn't doing anything good for him. I placed my head on my pillow as I pulled the blanket up to my chest. I stared up at the opened tent window as the moon shone proudly in the night sky, thinking about what was to come tomorrow. I hoped this mission would be done soon because no offense to Kabuto, I wasn't used to being around people for long periods of time especially for those who I don't particularly like— again, no offense to four eyes. Even the times with Squad 7; I loved them but there were times I wanted to hide in my closet until Kakashi somehow found me.

The next thing I knew I was peacefully sleeping just like my companion next to me.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. This part of the story would probably be a trilogy or more, meaning this mission will be split into parts because typing out the whole thing would be a hassle for me. Anyway, I'll see you soon.