Around the Corner, With Sasuke and Alvarcus Moments After Meeting Kakuzu and Hidan
"Green they said Sasori. Wasn't that the one-"
"I know." I cut Sasuke off.
"They have the same cloaks as-"
"I know." I cut him off again.
"Who are they?"
"I will know." I promise him. I already do know, but he has no way of knowing that. I'll need to have Shirokumo send someone to trail the Akatsuki duo to find out where their base of operations is. I'm 90% sure it's somewhere in Ame since Pain is the pseudo leader.
What the fuck is going on? I shouldn't have to deal with Akatsuki members for a long time! Years at the minimum but I've already met half of them!
"That's it. I hate today. I hate it so much." I angrily growl out, more to myself than Sasuke.
"It's not like it can get any worse." He idly quips as he glances back the way we came. He wants to ask them about Itachi.
"You jinxed us." I pin him with a glare. "You put a damn jinx on us! Now it has to get worse."
"You sure about that? Because the only way I can think of for today to get worse is if one of us dies." He distractedly responds. Well, I suppose he's not wrong.
Thankfully the gods must agree with Sasuke because we make it to our hotel without anything going wrong.
...
The Hotel Room
"Would you look at that, they left the hammocks up." Sasuke says as we walk into our temporary room.
I walk into the center of the small room and slam my hand on the floor. "Summoning Jutsu!"
My favorite spider appears in a plume of smoke. "About time you got here. We need to talk." He spares Sasuke a quick glance. "Do you want him here for this?"
"Shirokumo I want 24 hour surveillance on Danzo. I want him under watch constantly, I want to know his habits, I want to know his mannerisms, I want to know who he works with, and I want to know how many times he shakes it after taking a piss. I want to know everything about that man."
He tilts his whole body in confusion. "What changed? You've never taken such an extreme interest in one person before." Except maybe Orochimaru, we both know that. He just can't say it before Sasuke.
"That fuckface ordered a hit on us. It happened on the way here."
He quickly looks both Sasuke and I up and down. "Besides the excess blood on you, which I'm pretty sure isn't yours since you only bleed if you want to, you both look fine to me."
"Tayuya's dead. In the first moments of the assassination attempt."
"Oh." He rigidly goes still. "Oh. That makes this so much worse."
I devote my full attention to the white spider. "Makes what so much worse?"
He nervously plays with his front two legs, rubbing them together like a human would their hands on a cold day. "Al, you'll want to sit down for this."
"... Fine." I stomp over to one of the two chairs and face Shirokumo. "Now what's going on?"
"Al..." He takes a shaky breath. "Tayuya was faking it."
"Say again?" There's no way I heard that right.
"It was all an act." He starts worriedly pacing before me. Sasuke is in as big of a shock as I am. "We had a spider in Orochimaru's office. It overheard him and the rest of the Sound Four talking about your budding relationship with her and Orochimaru was glad it was progressing so quickly. Al he ordered her to seduce you so you would have stronger ties to Sound."
It was all an act? All of it was just another scheme that I'm smack in the middle of? All of those interactions were forced, just to keep me closer to Sound? No, closer to Orochimaru. He's trying to manipulate me again, twisting aspects of my life to suit his wants and needs.
First the Jiongu. Then my family and Sakura. Now this?
"I'm going to rip him to shreds. I'm going to watch as he screams in agony as I peel his skin off. I'm going to take perverse pleasure in watching as the light fades from his eyes as a crush his heart in my hands."
"But not yet." Sasuke cuts in. "He's trying to use us, it's only fair that we use him in return. He's devoted to training us, making us as deadly as possible. We have two and a half years, we're going to be star pupils until then. Then we can kill him as violently as you wish."
"You're right. We'll use him as he is attempting to use us. I'll learn everything I possibly can from him, then use what he taught me to end him for good."
Shirokumo looks from me to Sasuke then back to me. "That went much better than I expected."
"How so?" I ask in curiosity. Pretty sure promising to brutally skin someone alive isn't a good reaction.
"The last couple of times you've gotten foul news you've run off to the Nest and remodeled it a bit." He sheepishly scratches the back of his head. "Honestly I thought for sure we'd be going back there, I had a spot in mind and everything."
He's not wrong. I really should stop doing that.
"On that lovely note, I'm going to take a walk and clear my head a bit." I rise up and shuffle towards the door. "And I'm still kind of processing... that."
I leave and shut the door behind me.
Sasuke and Shirokumo share a concerned look.
"We're totally going to keep an eye on him, right?" Shirokumo says as he scuttles towards the window.
"Of course." Sasuke is quick to follow. "He might want to be alone for a bit, but he shouldn't be."
...
I casually stroll down the block with no real destination in mind, it's like my body is on autopilot. Simply putting one foot in front of the other, just going through the motions.
What will I do next?
I know that Orochimaru had a hand in so many negative aspects of my life, yet I'll have to return to him soon. Within a few days, three at the most.
I know what I need to do next. I need to bury the fury I feel for him, the utter hatred and contempt, and use him. He's the only S-rank shinobi that is willing to devote a majority of his time to train me, to make me good enough to share the title of S-rank. I need to swallow down my emotions and put up a mask of how I was when I first went to him. That's the me he's known, that's the me he's expecting.
I don't know if I can do it.
When I first went to Otogakure it was with pure and noble (okay mostly pure and noble) intentions. Sure there was definitely a subtle undertone of me wanting to protect Sasuke and be there for him but I am making a difference. Konoha is better prepared to combat this enemy and the more Orochimaru trust me the more I'll be able to learn and pass on to Tsunade.
Okay, that last bit was total bullshit. I went for Sasuke alone and the spying gig was the added on bonus. Hell I'm pretty sure Tsunade knows that too, but she doesn't care enough to call me out on it.
I've always held a great deal of anger and hatred towards Orochimaru, even before I learned about my family and Sakura. When Shirokumo unintentionally figured out that their deaths were his doing, it sealed his fate in my eyes. I decided that he's going to die by my hand.
Finding out about Tayuya is just the icing on the cake. I let an attachment form to her, whether it was as an overly touchy and affectionate friend or something more I don't really know. I'll never get a chance to find out now, so does it really matter? Besides it was all an act. She didn't feel anything for me. She was just following orders.
How am I supposed to return to and live with the man who messes with my life so carelessly?
He has to know that if I ever found out one of those things he'd lose me forever. He has to know that these actions would only push me further away from him. Did he honestly expect me to never look deeper into my family's demise? Or for Tayuya to keep an act up indefinitely?
Maybe that's not it. He knows that I'm here for Sasuke, I straight up told him I will chose Sasuke over anyone, even the Snake Sannin. He knows that as long as Sasuke is there I'll be there. So maybe he's using Sasuke as an anchor while trying to make more. I'm uncertain if he's aware that I know about his body switching technique and could be trying to give me another Sasuke so to speak. He has plans for Sasuke, yet he has plans for me too. But if there's no Sasuke, then there's no me.
"Alvarcus Mar." A deep gravely voice calls out from off to my right side.
Just keep walking. There's no way anyone here knows that that is me. Don't react and I'll be fine. I've got this.
"Currently listed in Konoha's most recent bingo book as a B-rank target. Former shinobi of Konohagakure, rumored to now align with Otogakure. Known abilities: Jiongu, elemental jutsu both low and high level, minor genjutsu aptitude, above average taijutsu skills.
Rumored abilities: Magnet release, flight, storm release. Special Note: Is usually seen in the company of Sasuke Uchiha, see his page before engaging Alvarcus Mar. Where one is, the other is close by. Titles: Heart Thief -and this one is my favorite- Muffins."
...
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