Chapter 274 272

This isn't awkward at all. I uncomfortably look around Orochimaru's office as the Snake Sannin is studying me.

His eyes are roaming over every miniscule feature, searching for something. I hope it's for a new scar or obvious signs of combat and not something more sinister. With him I can never tell if he's trying to be considerate or a massive creep.

"I take it that the mission went well?" Orochimaru asks me.

"I suppose you could say that." I dance around his question. I don't think he'd take me teaming up with Konoha shinobi well. Especially my old sensei of all people. "Totally wrecked that base by the way. Any news about that? Did Kusa fuck off or did she send more sheep to the slaughterhouse?"

"Kusa is withdrawing." Orochimaru has a pleased aura about him. "Did you really have to rain down fire from the heavens upon them? It was a tad excessive."

"Damn I'm totally going to call it that. The Fire of Heaven. Thanks for the idea."

"You're more than welcome. Now, was it necessary?"

"True it was excessive." He's not wrong, not even a little bit. "But you wanted me to make a statement, to show what I am truly capable of. So I did."

"Enough about the Kusa base." Orochimaru moves on. "Tell me about your visit to the Land of Snow."

"I got the armor?" I awkwardly fumble for a new topic. It failed horrendously.

"Alvarcus." Orochimaru leaks off some killing intent, enough to let me know he's serious. "What happened."

"Nothing major, just bumped into my old sensei and some past friends from Konoha who proceeded to blackmail me into helping with their own mission which resulted in me toppling the dictatorship that once was the Land of Snow's government by blowing Doto's head off with a pebble. Oh! I also attempted to get you a few new recruits but they kinda sorta tried to kill me so I killed them. Sorry about that."

"You should know better than to lie to me." Orochimaru narrows his eyes at me in disappointment. "Now tell the truth."

"You're right my bad." I hang my head in shame. "I also found a bounty station before all of that and got a Bingo Book."

"You're... not lying?" Orochimaru says to himself as he's analyzing me for the smallest of reactions.

"Nah." I let a long and drawn out sigh through my lips. "I can think up of some crazy shit but even I couldn't pull that one out of thin air. Seriously it was a total cluster fuck. It's a miracle that nothing went majorly wrong. I mean all that shit happened but I'm still back in one piece!"

"Really?" Orochimaru asks in mild surprise. "Back in one piece?"

"Not for everyone else's lack of trying." I sheepishly admit. "So yeah. I blew up the base, found a boat, got confronted by some Konoha shinobi, got blackmailed by said shinobi, ended up protecting an actress who turned out to be a Princess, had a minor mental breakdown, unwillingly boarded a blimp -"

"A blimp?"

"Yeah think giant balloon and you've got it." I quickly explain to him.

"Ah the warship." Orochimaru states matter of factly.

"It's not a damn warship! It's a fucking blimp! Ahem. Anyways where was I? Ah yes, after boarding the blimp unwillingly might I add, killed a few people, found Doto and my armor, was taken pseudo prisoner because he threatened to kill the Princess, some crazy chick attempted to torture me and failed horribly at it, broke out with the Princess and murdered Doto with a pebble. After that I just kinda explored the Land of Snow for a bit and made a pit stop at the main base. Did you know your guards don't know who I am? That wasn't awkward at all."

"You're leaving a great amount of detail out." Orochimaru coolly levels an intense stare at me. "Particularly about the Konoha shinobi that you so conveniently glossed over."

"Well yeah." I snort out. "Idiots tried to get me to go back to Konoha with them. Yet here I am, reporting back to you. You would think that after me going to Oto for the third damn time they would learn that I want to be here. Seems like only Kakashi understood that, he hardly tried to get me to go back."

"You escaped from under Kakashi of the Sharingan's nose?" Orochimaru sounds impressed with me.

"It's not like that." I explain quickly before he can do something I don't want. Like insisting on stepping up my training yet again. "He still harbors a soft spot for me, I was his student for a while. He let me go, he couldn't bring himself to take me down. Now that I think about it I probably got lucky it was him there instead of Gai or Asuma or even Kurenai. They'd try much harder to stop me, he just kinda let it happen. Kinda similar to when the Third Hokage let you leave Konoha."

"Splendid!" Orochimaru chirps out in happiness. "It's always uplifting to know that you choose me over them. I admit, I have my doubts once in awhile yet you always lay them to rest. Now you must be tired from your journey, go rest. I will call on you to answer any more questions I have at a later time, for now my curiosity is satisfied."

"Cool." I rise up and make my way towards the door.

"Oh and Alvarcus?" Orochimaru calls after me. "You've missed a week and a half's worth of training. We're going to do double sessions until you're back on track."

"Do we have to?" I whine out.

"Yes, yes we do." Orochimaru grins sinisterly. "I've had plenty of time to come up with new ideas, you going to Snow was a boon for me. These sessions will be extra fruitful."

"Fantastic." I groan out as I leave.

Orochimaru's pleased smile vanishes the moment the door closes behind his child.

"Unacceptable." Orochimaru spins his chair to look at the massive map of the entire elemental nations that he has on his wall. He's glaring a specific village, one of the big five. "He's still too soft. It should not have been them who let him go, it should be him that let them go. No, not even that. He should have killed them regardless of his past connections."

Orochimaru is pulled out of his intense glare and thought process by a sensation in his left hand. It's spasming uncontrollably, not enough to be a real problem but enough for others to know something is wrong with him.

"So it begins." Orochimaru firmly grasps his left hand in his right in a vain attempt to stop the twitching. "Alvarcus you must hurry, I need you to be able to stand by my side. While I am incapacitated you will be my sword. You will be my shield. You will be the one who acts in my stead until I can claim the Uchiha."

...

I quickly rap my knuckles twice on Sasuke's room's door.

"You in there buddy?" I call out.

There's no answer.

"Huh." I scratch my head in confusion. "I thought for sure he'd want to catch up especially because of that conversation we had moments before I left. Well whatever, not like we're going anywhere soon."

With a lazy shrug I take the ten steps down the hallway to my own room.

"Now where am I going to put my armchair?" I ask myself as I swing my door open.

"There you are!" Sasuke heatedly says as he rises up from my couch. Guess he did want to talk after all since the bastard decided to hang out in my room and wait for me. "Orochimaru sure took his time debriefing you."

"Not my fault?" I hesitantly say. "Okay, kinda my fault. The mission was totally fucking weird and I'm the one saying that."

"We'll get to that later." Sasuke walks over to the door I just entered and holds it open. "You coming?"

"Where to?" I follow after him as we both step into the hallway. "Is my couch not comfy enough? I've got an armchair now too, maybe that is more to your liking?" I giddily pull out the scroll and wave it around in the air. "Where should I put it? I'm running out of space, I might have to knock down a wall and take the room next to mine too. What's in that one anyways? Whatever they or whatever is in it can be relocated. This is much more important."

"You and your damn furniture." Sasuke shakes his head in exasperation. "We're going to a training field."

"Any particular reason?" I ask as we're making our way through the base.

"It's the last place anyone will look for us. We've got some talking to do."

...