Hello y'all!

Thank you so much for the amazing reviews on the next chapter! *More about that at the bottom A/N

Sooo I know I usually don't update twice in a week, but my amazing beta, winteralley, managed to edit this chapter (along with Chapter 20) recently, and I hadn't updated in a while, soo... here is the next chapter!

She drowns in an empty sea

of deep blue like the color of her father's eyes.

of deranged screams.

of layers of half-truths and lies.

A curtain pulls back, reveals a girl held up by puppet strings.

A mask hides her real identity.

A fake.

She wakes up.

"Whattaya think?" Sumiko grinned, shoving a piece of colorful drawings at Eri's face.

Eri lowered the book she was reading, squinting her eyes to look at the sketch on the paper. "That… is a cute thing."

"It's a squirrel!" the girl babbled. "And it's climbing up the tree, because it wants to get a buncha acorns, and it's going to share it with its friends."

Eri gracefully accepted the picture and placed it by her side as Sumiko returned to her pile of blank paper. Eri was pretty damn proud to admit she was learning how to handle Sumiko. It was clear Sumiko wanted attention and approval, and was easily appeased by verbal praises. But it was also best to give the child attention when she asked for it and to leave her alone when she was satisfied with playing by herself. When Sumiko did something wrong, it was better to use emotional appeals than logical ones, and so far, it seemed to be working (Eri ignored the fact that she often used Hanako to draw a boundary between the two of them when Sumiko became a little too overwhelming for her.)

Sumiko clambered onto the couch beside Eri, passing her another drawing. "Look! In this one, I drew all of us."

Eri took the drawing, and examined the picture, careful not to crease the corners with her haphazard grip. In the background was their house, colored in with a bright, neon yellow. There were random windows pasted on the exterior, and Eri was pretty sure their house didn't have flowers growing out of its walls, but carefully decided not to comment on it. True to Sumiko's words, the Namikaze family, along with the Noharas, stood in front of the house in the front yard. They were drawn as stick figures, and the only distinguishable features were their hair colors. Eri was pleasantly surprised to see she was drawn to be the same height as Sumiko.

"I want you to have it," Sumiko peered at Eri from above the drawing.

For the first time since she'd met Sumiko, Eri cracked an honest smile. "Thank you, Sumiko-chan." The girl remained where she was, so Eri added, "I'll add it to my room."

The girl jumped into Eri's side and wrapped her arms around her, ignoring the startled Hanako. "Yay!"

Eri exchanged a startled look with Hanako, who communicated her annoyance with a flick of her tail before vanishing under the couch. Eri cursed her snake for abandoning her, and slowly lowered her hand onto Sumiko's head and patted her the way her parents did for her.

"Eri-chan, Sumiko-chan!" a voice called from the entrance. "I'm home!"

Eri scrambled off the couch, and bounded to the front door. "Otou-chan!" But she stopped short of jumping into her father's arms when she saw a stranger standing beside him, and Sumiko joined her side. "... and guest?"

Minato leaned down to pat Eri and Sumiko's head. "This is Shiranui Genma. He's a chuunin, and he's going to help out with you two."

Sumiko hid behind Eri to peer at Genma, while Eri examined the man, her hands on her waist. He was shorter than her father, just barely reaching his shoulders. He wore a tight bandana over his head, flattening his messy bundle of hair. He stuck his hands in the pocket of his blue jacket, rocking back on his heels. Eri wasn't sure if she should be amused or disappointed at his aura that quivered with anxiety and what looked like fear. Nonetheless, she felt something prickle in the back of her mind at what her father had said.

(help out?)

"Hello," the boy mumbled over the senbon between his teeth. "Nice to meet you."

Minato's laughter filled the awkward space between the children and the two men. "Come now, Genma. Don't be nervous! I promise they don't bite."

"Where's your team?" Eri peered around her father, but saw no one behind him.

"They're packing for a mission," Minato said quickly, before tugging Genma towards the kitchen. When she met Genma's eyes behind her father's back, Eri couldn't help but open her mouth and clamp it shut, her teeth clacking together loudly. Genma visibly paled and quickened his pace to follow Minato. Eri wrapped her mouth with a hand to muffle her snort, but she was pretty sure both Minato and Genma noticed.

"Let's go Eri-chan!" Sumiko reached to tug on Eri's arm.

"Sumiko-chan," Eri placed a hand on Sumiko's. "What about offering a hand instead of just pulling? It'd make me a lot happier."

"Okay." Sumiko released her grip, turning her hand to open her palm. "Let's go?"

Eri accepted Sumiko's hand and allowed herself to be dragged into the kitchen, where she heard her mother make a loud exclamation about how she'd missed Genma.

"It's been so long!" her mother babbled, waving the ladle in her hand. "You've grown so much in the time I haven't seen you. I heard you became a chuunin while I was gone. Congratulations! I knew you could do it."

"Thank you," Genma shuffled his feet awkwardly. "And it's good to see you too."

"Have you said hello to—Oh, Eri! This is Shiranui Genma. He was one of my subordinates, and we went on a lot of missions together."

"Otou-chan introduced him to us by the doorway," Eri kept her eyes on Genma as she moved to her mother's side. "Tou-chan, what did you mean when you said he's going to be taking care of us?"

Minato cleared his throat, so Eri braced herself for a speech of bullshit. "Well, I've been assigned a mission outside of Konoha's borders, and Genma's teammates are all out of commission at the moment, so I've assigned Genma the mission of looking after you two."

Kushina frowned, "Wait, but I'm watching over these two!"

Minato's lips strained into a smile. "Ah, the thing is… Kushina, you and I will have to go on another mission."

"You're kidding, right?" Eri stared at her father.

(Her ears ring, a thin twine of high pitch screams penetrating her head, rolling and rolling and rolling up on the hill that is her mind—)

"That's not right," Kushina crossed her arms. "I just returned from a long-term mission. I should be staying in the village for a couple of months, at least until Akira-san returns. Hokage-sama even granted my request to join the Allied Mother's Force—"

Minato gripped Kushina's arm. "I'll explain this to you in our room." He turned to the other three children with a bright smile (that Eri was most definitely not fooled by). "You lot get to know each other!" With that, he and Kushina vanished in thin air.

"Woah," Sumiko and Genma gaped in unison. Genma dug his chin into his hoodie to hide his blush, while Sumiko turned to Eri, bouncing in excitement. "What was that?"

(Close eyes, pale lips, breathe. Breathe)

"That," Eri narrowed her eyes. "Was extremely rude."

"It's Minato-san's really famous technique!" Genma's voice dripped with admiration. "Hiraishin. It's a transportation move that's much faster and more effective than the shunshin."

Sumiko turned to Eri, confusion etched on her face.

"It means he's in his room right now, even though he didn't take the stairs," Eri grit her teeth, her hands fisted in her hair.

(These fragments of flashbacks were causing an immense amount of entirely unnecessary pain. What happened to good ol' nightmares?)

"Ooh, let's follow them!" Sumiko cheered as she turned towards the door.

Eri reached out to grab onto Sumiko's shirt, but stopped herself midway. Instead of pulling the child, she called out, "Sumiko-chan, remember what tou-chan said? He wanted us to get to know Genma-san, so let's do that first." When Sumiko shifted her weight from one foot to the other anxiously, Eri added, "We don't want him to get disappointed in us, right?"

Sumiko hung her head and dragged herself towards the couch. Eri took a deep breath, watching the girl vanish through the doorway. Once she gathered herself, she followed Sumiko to the living room, hearing Genma trail after her. The two girls sat on one couch, and watched with wide eyes as Genma took a seat on the opposite couch. It seemed Sumiko had either gotten used to Genma's presence in those brief minutes or was reassured by Eri's presence, because she was, as always, the first one to break the silence.

"How old are you?" Sumiko asked. "I'm almost five!" She opened up her hands and wiggled all of her fingers. "And Eri-chan is almost three!"

"I'm fourteen," Genma fiddled with his fingers, realized he didn't have fourteen fingers, and dropped them to his side.

"Wow, you're old," Sumiko giggled. "Even older than Rin-nee!"

"Ah, you're Rin's cousin, right?" Genma offered a small smile.

"Yup!" Sumiko giggled.

"So why are looking after us?" Eri interjected.

Genma rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, well, I think it might because I'm a high ranked chuunin—"

"What about tou-chan's team?" Eri tightened her grip on the edge of the couch. "They're also chuunin, aren't they?"

"I'm really not sure," Genma admitted. "Minato-san and Hokage-sama gave this mission to me this morning."

Eri sunk into the couch and closed her eyes, ignoring Sumiko's eager chatter. What in the living hell was the Hokage thinking? Her parents had been on missions for nearly two years. Both of them deserved to at least stay in Konoha for a few more weeks if not months. Of course, she knew Konoha was in a bad situation, and that was why Akira-san had to join the battlefield, but...

(It's not fair if it's your parents?A small part of her whispered viciously. You really are selfish.)

(Foreign thoughts. Unwelcome ideas)

(But they're not foreign are they they're mine)

Eri took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. Her body was tense, her blood boiling under her skin. She felt like she was trapped in a small box with not enough oxygen, unable to free herself as the boundaries of the box closed in on her. The world spun, pixelated blurs. Panic. She was panicking. She had to

(breathe)

("I am—)

"...Eri-chan?"

Eri snapped her head up, and met Genma's dark brown eyes. She followed the outline of his face, slid past his shoulders, trailed down his arms and saw the glass of water he held in his hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes," She reached out to take the glass of water and chugged the water down. "I'm just tired."

(She had to organize her thoughts)

"Maybe it's nap time," Sumiko suggested helpfully. "I always go to sleep after lunch."

"Maybe it is nap time." Eri wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She met Genma's unconvinced eyes and offered him a reassuring smile.

"I'm sure this mission won't take long," Genma kept his eyes on her as he returned to his seat. "A week, at most."

"That's what everyone seems to say about every single mission," Eri grumbled.

"Maybe they'll be back with tou-chan!" Sumiko beamed. "Then we can all have a party."

"We can definitely have a party once we come back." The three of them turned around to look at Minato walk into the living room. Eri looked around her father, and her nervousness was only amplified when she saw the anger brewing within her mother.

"As Genma said, my mission will take a week at most, and Kushina's mission will only take one day," Minato leaned against the couch Genma was sitting on. "It's not a very dangerous mission, so you don't need to be worried." Eri kept her eyes on her mother, refusing to acknowledge the latter part of what her father said even though she knew it was directed at her.

"Hokage-sama is bad at keeping promises," Eri said aloud. "It's only been a few days since okaa-chan came back, and he wants to send you back out."

Kushina strode over to the back of the couch Eri was on, and leaned forward to wrap her arms around Eri. "But this is a very important mission," she said just barely above the level of a whisper. "One that will decide the fate of the war."

Eri whipped her head back to stare at her mother.

(Kannabi Bridge.)

(The wheel of fate spins endlessly)

(Oh jesus fucking christ it's happening now isn't it)

"Is Orocchin not back from his mission?" She glanced at her father from the corner of her eye. (Apparently, rumors spread fast in Konoha, because Genma clearly knew who Eri was talking about and was trying really, really hard not to laugh at Eri's pet name for the Snake Sannin)

"Orochimaru-san's mission has been reported to be a success, so his team's bound to be assigned more missions from here on outwards," Minato grimaced. "He loves you very much, but he doesn't have much time on his hands anymore."

Eri didn't waste her breath by mentioning Mikoto. She'd burdened the Uchihas enough, and Mikoto had no reason to look after Sumiko too.

"Okay," Eri said in a small voice. "I understand."

"I'm sorry, Eri," Kushina gathered Sumiko into her other arm. "And I'm sorry to you too, Sumiko-chan. I know I said we'll be one big family, but something really important came up. I promise, once I come back, we'll have a huge party, okay?"

Sumiko grinned. "Okay!"

"Now, how about you help me set up the table, Sumiko-chan?" Kushina lifted Sumiko up and held her by her side. "I think Eri-chan wants to interrogate Minato-kun a little more."

The two of them left, and the heavy atmosphere wrapped around the three like a cloak.

"When will you and kaa-chan be leaving?" Eri whispered.

"I'll be leaving tonight, while Kushina will be leaving at the end of the week," he replied, and turned to Genma, casually whipping out a kunai from his holster. "Oh, Genma, I need some of your blood." Genma offered a hesitant finger to Minato, and winced when Minato made a small cut before gathering the blood on a piece of paper. "I just need to add you to the protection seals around the premise so you can freely enter and leave the house."

"Are you going to Kannabi Bridge?" Eri blurted out.

Minato quirked an eyebrow. "Why Kannabi Bridge?"

"Orocchin mentioned it to me last time," she grimaced. "He said that's the bridge Iwa's probably using to transport all their goods and soldiers."

"I see," Minato shook his head. "No, we're not going to Kannabi Bridge."

(What?)

"What?" Eri scrunched up her face. "Then… where are you going?"

"It's a confidential mission, so I can't tell you much more," Minato stood up straight. "But no, I'm not going to Kannabi Bridge."

('They're going the wrong way')

(Thank fucking god)

At once, the tension in her body left like a violent torrent of water bursting through a broken dam. She even let out a sigh of relief as she sunk back into the couch. But…

"Then nothing is happening with Kannabi Bridge?" She turned her head to watch her father.

"Something is going to happen with it," Minato looked at her evenly. "It just won't be my team who deals with it."

"Okay," Eri bit her lips. It felt like there was something her father was keeping from her, but she wasn't sure she really wanted to know. "I understand."

"Now, let's go have lunch!" Minato patted Genma on the back hard enough for the younger man to jump off the couch. "Off to the dining room!" Minato pushed Genma out of the living room. Eri jumped off the couch and held her father's hand to join him in the dining room.

"Why Shiranui-san?" she asked in a quiet voice, keeping her eyes on the floor.

"I met him on my way out from my meeting with Hokage-sama, and he mentioned he hadn't had lunch on our way out," Minato's eyes creased into a smile.

"No, I mean why did you assign him of all people to look after us?" Eri gave her father the "who do you think I am?" look she borrowed from Orochimaru.

"Hmm," Minato tilted his head to one side. "Well, he's the strongest shinobi I can afford to take away from active duty to protect you two while Kushina's gone. And let's just say I have big plans for him later on, so I'm testing to see if he's the right candidate."

"Hiraishin?" she quirked an eyebrow.

The man didn't even have the decency to pretend to be surprised. "Maybe."

With that, Eri allowed herself to join her family and their guest for lunch. Rin joined them a couple minutes later, her arms filled with weapons she packed away for the mission. Sumiko was more than happy to sit next to her cousin to chatter about all the things she'd drawn, running back to the living room to bring stacks of paper. Eri joined in the conversation with half hearted enthusiasm, but her mind drifted on what her father had said. She was so distracted that when Genma left, Eri didn't have the energy to feel guilty about scaring him off.

Later that night, after Sumiko had fallen asleep despite her most stubborn efforts, Team Seven waited by the front door. Minato was adorned in his battle gear (wearing that godforsaken jounin vest she was going to burn one day), his bangs just barely covering his scratched up hitai-ate. The only one who seemed even remotely happy about the situation was Kakashi, who was vibrating with energy. (Clearly, he thought this was a mission appropriate for his skills)

When Obito opened his arms, Eri didn't hesitate to leap into his embrace. She curled her small fingers around his thick chuunin vest, clutching at his sides as tight as she could.

"Aww," Obito cooed. "I missed you, Eri-chan. I wish sensei had given us more breaks so we could visit you—I mean," he glanced at Minato, who smiled at him innocently. "I wish I had finished up my missions faster so I could visit you more often."

Eri laughed into Obito's jacket, but her voice caught in her throat once she remembered where he was going. "Please keep each other safe," she whispered to him.

Obito patted Eri's back as though he knew just what he was getting into (but he was just a child. What did he know?). "Trust me, sensei gave us this seal that lets us all know when we're injured that we're stuck with forever. I'll always be by their side."

Eri said nothing as she released him and took a step back. She took a deep breath, and hugged her father

"I'll be back soon, I promise," her father planted a kiss on her forehead. With a single nod from Minato, the entire team vanished into the sea of darkness. Eri strained her ears to hear them leave, but knew she wouldn't be able to anyhow.

Her mother placed a hand on her shoulder, leaning down to whisper in her ear, "He'll be home really soon, love."

Eri leaned into her mother's arms and closed her eyes.

(Not Kannabi Bridge)

"They'll be safe," she said aloud. "I know it."

"Sensei," Ryuu breathed in awe. "It's huge."

Orochimaru spared a glance at their final destination. The main estate of the Daimyo was indeed, as his student put it, quite huge. It was nearly the half the size of Konoha, and its walls almost as tall as the gates of Konoha itself. They'd long passed the front gates, and were only now about to reach the first building. All around them were healthy, carefully pruned bushes and rows of ito koku riu, plum blossoms, and cherry blossom trees. The heavy scent of flowers hung around them, clinging onto his clothes not unlike a heavily perfumed geisha. The poverty that was so abundant in the lands beyond the capital was nowhere to be seen here, where even the gravel was smooth stones chosen by the Daimyo's personal attendants.

"Focus, Ryuu," Orochimaru kept his eyes on the path before them. The lines of the guards; shoulders grew taut, their anxiety growing the more they entered the Daimyo's domain. (Perhaps Nakamura was hated by the Daimyo more than as was let on)

"Well," the man in question sighed from his carriage. "Looks like we're here."

"Please at least try to pretend you're glad to be here, father," his daughter chastised. "If you offend the Daimyo again, we might just be chased out of the Land of Fire herself."

"Mm, probably not," the Lord whipped out a fan. "The Fire Daimyo's pride never would have let me return if he didn't need me desperately. He's probably panicking about the state of finances after hosting too many unnecessary luxury parties."

"My lord," Tsubasa was inches away from crying. "Please, mind your words." The group came to a stop, as they finally reached the main entrance.

"Halt!" a soldier stood before the group, a hand on his sword. "State your identity and your purpose."

"Lord Nakamura has arrived," the captain of the soldiers took a step forward. "As per Daimyo-sama's orders."

The soldier narrowed his eyes. "Only Nakamura-dono may enter the main grounds."

"How dare a mere footsoldier speak of our lord in such a casual manner," Tsubasa hissed.

"It's fine." The door of the carriage swung open, and Yuki took a step out, covering the lower half of her face with a fan. Nakamura followed her out not long after, carrying Anko in his arms. Orochimaru quickly met him, and took his student into his arms.

Orochimaru bowed to Lord Nakamura, careful not to jostle the sleeping Anko. "We owe you a thousand times for your generosity."

Nakamura waved his hand. "No, no. If anything, I should thank you for keeping my daughter company. Kami knows she would have nagged me through the entire trip had it not been for you." He turned to Shikaku, who lingered to the side. "Thank you, Nara-san. I will be sure to tell Daimyo-sama of your great contribution to my safety."

"Yes, my lord," Shikaku bowed. "We will take our leave, then."

"May fujin bless your travels," Lord Nakamura bowed back, before joining his daughter.

Shikaku spun around to address his own group of shinobi. "All right. Let's head out. Use the same formation we used leaving Konoha. I will take Anko." He shrugged off his pack and lowered it to the ground.

Orochimaru reluctantly passed Anko onto Shikaku's back, and strapped her tight with a bolt. "Ryuu, change with Hideaki and take Anko's bag."

Shikaku turned to the Danzo's shinobi. "Take lead, and use the fastest path to Konoha."

Orochimaru paused, his grip on Shikaku's bag tightening, before he helped strap Anko's bag onto Hideaki. After a brief thought, he agreed with Shikaku's decision. It would be best, at this point, to keep them within his sights. The fact that one of them had disappeared in the middle of a mission without a single valid excuse offered was enough to have all three of them suspended for an indefinite period of time. But such a disciplinary action could not be taken in the middle of a mission, so the best second option would be to keep watch on them until the completion of the mission.

"Understood," the girl took one half step forward, before leaping towards the exit. Her other teammate followed a split second later, the rest of the team on their tail.

The group bounded past the walls within minutes, jumping onto the roofs of the buildings to travel beyond the traffic below them. Orochimaru noticed his students had gotten much better at distributing the chakra to their feet evenly to balance, and even at supplying additional chakra to help elongate their leap. They were able to keep pace with the speed they were currently moving at, but he knew they wouldn't last until the end of the trip. He would have to address the issue once they set up camp.

They tore through the city, and entered a more familiar landscape of green vegetation. They used the higher branches, away from the eyes of curious onlookers. It was clear Danzo's shinobi were pushing them to reach Konoha as fast as possible, as there was no sign of them taking a break. His students were already tired and losing stamina fast, but Shikaku made no move to slow down the group, so Orochimaru reached out to give gentle pushes against his students when he caught up to them. It seemed to startle them enough to maximize their speed, at least until they stopped to rest.

Shikaku raised a hand for the group to stop, and they jumped down onto the ground to receive his next commands. In that brief moment, Orochimaru tossed dry rations to his students, watching them gobble them down at an impressive speed and realizing they hadn't ate the entire day. (A small, very tiny, very miniscule sprout of guilt bloomed within him)

"Orochimaru-san, check if there are any forces around us," he commanded, before lowering Anko onto the ground. "The rest of you, remain on guard."

Orochimaru called upon his scouts, and a nest of snakes erupted from his sleeves, each individual snake gliding and wriggling around each other in opposite directions. With them, they'd be able to secure at least several kilometers around the premise, but this was also a good opportunity to train his students.

"Hideaki, look around to for traps," Orochimaru instructed.

The veins around Hideaki's eyes bulged, and his eerily pale eyes swept around them. He slowly turned in a full circle, before he released his Byaakugan. "There are none within fifty meters, sensei."

His snakes returned to him, informing him of no potential enemies. Orochimaru nodded to Shikaku, who turned to Danzo's shinobi. "Set up camp," Shikaku ordered. "Hinoto-san, Hideaki-kun, and I will take first watch. Second watch will be Orochimaru-san, Ryuu-kun, and Akihiko-san. We will change post in three hours."

The man with the red-nosed cat mask, Akihiko, took a step forward. "I can take first watch with you—"

"No," Shikaku levelled him a heavy look. "You will take second watch."

Orochimaru left Shikaku to deal with Danzo's shinobi, and found Ryuu unfurling Anko's sleeping bag so Hideaki could lay Anko down onto the pad. Orochimaru himself chose to take a seat against the tree closest to Anko, as the position would be the best defense in case someone tried to approach Anko. When Orochimaru looked up, Ryuu had his arm halfway into his bag, most likely reaching for a sleeping bag, while Hideaki stood awkwardly beside Anko, both of them anxiously watching their sensei.

Orochimaru rolled his eyes, "You can sleep in your sleeping bags if you wish."

Ryuu ducked his head in embarrassment, and dropped his bag to instead sit against the same tree as Orochimaru. The boy crossed his arms, mumbling something about not wanting to pack his things again, before closing his eyes. Hideaki, on the other hand, made his way towards Shikaku, waiting for additional orders.

A familiar tingle began to spread from Orochimaru's finger to his wrist. He briefly concentrated his chakra to release Aki, allowing her to slither up from his wrist to his neck, where he felt her wrap her cold body around him.

"Master," she hissed. "Shun has informed me the Iwa shinobi have begun moving away from the bridge. But they're not heading to Konoha," his snake replied.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. Was Onoki planning on gathering all of them before making the final strike?

"Where are they heading to, then?" he hissed.

"They're engaging with Konoha forces, trailing towards Iwa," she replied.

"Is the bridge still being used? Or has it been abandoned?" he demanded.

"It is still being used, but there are far less forces. That is all for now." She released her grip on his neck, and returned to wrap around his wrist. He dismissed her, and she vanished with a puff of smoke (Snakes, he thought snarkily, were the smartest of the summons, but also the proudest). In Ai's place, he summoned her twin, Akio. He allowed the snake to roam unseen by the large group, and gave him a separate mission.

Orochimaru closed his eyes, but before he could do anything, he felt Ryuu's limp body fall beside him. He peeled back one eyelid, taking in the exhausted child who leaned against his shoulder; from the looks of it, the child would wake with a sore neck, one that would definitely affect his movements in the morning. With a sigh, he shifted his arm to lower Ryuu's head onto his lap. Closing both his eyes again, Orochimaru slowly entered a shallow state of slumber, one from which he could wake immediately should enemies attack.

Three hours later, Orochimaru woke to the sound of cluttering leaves and broken branches, footsteps heading towards their direction. He glanced at Shikaku, who stood before him with a curious smile pasted on his face, one that Orochimaru felt like he should be bothered by, but wasn't. He carefully shook Ryuu out of his sleep, and stifled his laughter when Ryuu jerked up, shaking his head wildly.

"Wha…" Ryuu rubbed his eyes.

"It's time for us to take watch, Ryuu," Orochimaru stood and brushed his yukata.

Shikaku took his place, and waved over Hideaki, patting his legs. "You can use my legs as a pillow, Hideaki-kun!" Shikaku grinned.

Hideaki eyes widened with mortification, various shades of sunset red blooming across his cheeks. He made a quick move to unfurl a sleeping bag next to Anko and stuffed himself in it, rolling over to face the opposite direction.

"Ah, well, I guess I'll have to sleep alone," Shikaku sighed. "Maybe I should accept a team to teach too."

"I doubt sensei would appreciate losing his jounin commander to a nest of genin," Orochimaru quirked an eyebrow.

Shikaku closed his eyes, though his lips curled into a phantom of a smile. Orochimaru's eyes traced the small outlines of their camp, reaching the two Danzo shinobi clustered together. They were like damn magnets, the two of them. Akihiko raised his head, and Orochimaru could see a pair of dark eyes peering at him through the holes of his mask.

"We must take watch," Orochimaru said, unwilling to hide his impatience.

"From the trees—"

"Ryuu will stay on the ground, and keep watch by the camp," Orochimaru interrupted, ignoring the worried glances his student shot him. "The two of us will rotate around the camp every ten minutes in a circle."

"Understood," the man replied. He didn't wait for more orders, bounding up the nearest tree to reach the tallest branch.

"Stay with the group," Orochimaru pulled Kasanagi from his mouth, grabbing onto its handle and swinging it by his side. Ryuu reached out in fascination, before pulling his hand back quickly. "Wake Shikaku-san if enemies approach and I am incapacitated."

He planted a foot against the tree to his right, then used it as an anchor to pull himself onto the tree. Once he felt the familiar tug against the rough bark of the tree, he used it as a springboard to jump onto a branch diagonal from where he was. He slid into the shadows offered by the canopy, letting the darkness wash over his figure. He watched Ryuu arm himself with a kunai and position himself close enough to the camp that he could see the sleeping figures, but far enough to be able to see any potential attackers (smart boy. Orochimaru would have to praise him later on).

Once Orochimaru was sure Ryuu stationed himself in the ideal place, he silently leapt across the branches, placing silencing seals on a circle of trees. He left one single tree in the middle, and landed on the branch where Akihiko barely hung from, writhing in pain. Akio returned to him, sliding up his sleeves before dismissing himself.

"Shikaku-san seems to prefer diplomatic methods when it comes to insubordination," Orochimaru took slow steps towards him, revelling in the trembles that came over the man in waves. "But I myself am not so patient." He clamped a hand over the man's mask, and yanked it off, revealing the man underneath it. It was not someone he was familiar with, but that made no difference.

"There are many advantages to commanding an anonymous group of shinobi," he sat beside the man, watching Akihiko's face contort with pain. "But the more Danzo tries to hide Ne, the less he can do anything about expandable soldiers disappearing from his grasp."

Foam gathered at the corners of Akihiko's lips, drool trickling down his cheeks.

"What message was so important for Kinoto to abandon you two in the middle of a mission?" he pressed the blade of Kasanagi against Akihiko's right arm.

The man's eyes held a crazed glint, and the corners of his lips coiled into a snarl.

Orochimaru felt a familiar cold smile slither past his lips. "No worries. We have the entire night."

He knew he couldn't afford to use violence in public. But there were other ways Orochimaru could get his revenge.

And Orochimaru always got his revenge.

WHAT DID I TELL Y'ALL. Orochimaru always gets his revenge, and justice will be served (even more than now) by his hands! He's definitely not the kind of guy to wait and let others deal with someone when they've wronged him.

Also! In response to the 'Guest' comment (because I couldn't reply to you on the site):

Thank you so much for your comments! I personally don't like loud, energetic children that much, and that mayyyyy have leaked a little bit in the chapters with Sumiko in them lol. I'm glad to hear you like the other characters, though!

Haha, a LOT of people were hesitant about the additional SI, so I just want to clarify:

1. There won't be that many reincarnated people in the story.

2. Said characters won't affect the plot that much, but

3. Their presence will explain a lot about Eri and what's going on with her

Any more than this would be spoiling the future chapters, so I hope y'all are content with the above!