It was time.

He knew that his time was up. In the following days from now Orochimaru will make his move and complete the transfer. The next few days will stage a fight over who holds the control over his body.

He's only a little worried.

Though Sasuke had been in close quarters with the man for years now he didn't know everything about him. Orochimaru was a living mystery. Each instance the man smiled was a surprise, with some fresh tidbit twirling in his mind he toyed with him and rubbed the knowledge in his face. The scientist liked to keep something up under his sleeve and plan for all possible variables – ever since his loss to his sensei he'd gotten quiet, calculated and careful.

Sometimes too quiet, the way he'd go on for weeks not talking to him made Sasuke queasy.

He knew Orochimaru was an obsessive paranoid. Smart, the man used his knowledge of human anatomy and social interactions to his advantage. Any dirty trick he knew to make you uncomfortable, he would. Any words you spoke he'd remember and use against you. Every lick of his lips was savoring triumphant and his look said he knew it. The tension had been rising high between the two of them: the aging, weakening master and the still-growing student, each minute Sasuke lingered a little longer on his assigned missions was pushing the strain.

Orochimaru relished drama. His lip curled like he knew what he was thinking and what was on everyone's mind. Who. When. The sheer enjoyment of the anticipation bothered him on some level, left a distaste in his mouth. This was the moment that will determine life or death for the either of them and Sasuke didn't know if this kind of nonchalance meant something, meant there was a surprise hidden in store.

The loss of his arms had kept Orochimaru fairly withdrawn all these years, happiness was a scary quality to find in his eyes.

"Sasuke-kun," he purred from his position on the bed, beckoning him closer. The formality to his name had always disturbed him. He's mocking him, dripping baited favoritism like it was honey and intentionally calling back memories of his past teammate Sakura. If Orochimaru thought he could ever compare to a teenage girl, well, he was wrong for once.

He can't play mind games with him anymore. Sasuke won't fall for it.

"I need you to go on another mission for me. Land of Rice in Stone Country," he said.

Sasuke kept silent. Sometimes his master asked these favors personally rather than going through Kabuto. He liked to single him out, keep him on his toes and rattled as far as routine. Anything to exercise his power especially when his arms were paining him, when the black, rotting threads couldn't be anesthetized enough at days, leaving the sannin screaming in torture. Pissed at the loss of his jutsu. Vulnerable. He wanted to remind him.

Sasuke thought that this wasn't one of those days. Not cranky enough.

Orochimaru, pleased at his lack of response decided to push it further. His tongue made its way to slither around his wrist.

"Do a kindness and raise my blankets. Your old master is feeling chilly. And my hands are paralyzed, you see?" His tongue caressed his skin as he released his wrist consciously. He leaned back and waited.

Sasuke grimaced. Playing the feeble, old man was not his strong suit. His voice was too sinuous and overly saccharine, Orochimaru must know how he rubbed every individual in his vicinity wrong, save Kabuto. Sasuke could see through it all, in his serpentine eyes and in the muscle strength his damn tongue held over his wrist – Orochimaru was a cold-blooded predator and there was no way he could pretend as prey: arms or no.

But the intent was not lost on him. His sensei was making his threat.

Soon.

…

Orochimaru had said this was of great importance, tying loose ends if you will. He could infer that bringing his target alive… wasn't exactly paramount. The man didn't care for another victim to experiment on, only that Sasuke would follow this order, unlike the others. But Sasuke didn't know if this errand would be his last. He didn't know if he was prolonging the inevitable. He's been walking around for eight hours but still hadn't caught the man he was looking for.

Sasuke's not usually like this, any other time he was a sublime ninja. Today, he was cracking.

Rather than let the nerves torture him in the back of his mind, he kept moving. Stone Country was a place ahead of its time. The locals here prefer stocky fortresses over the papered palaces he's used to. They were far enough from the mainland and Fire Country that their accents were jarring, their dress colorful and patterned, and their looks… shorter. He knew the man he's looking for could be found here, intermixed within this marketplace. White-shock hair and scared running for his life, after Sasuke had crashed his little gathering.

Sasuke never liked his missions at times but honestly this was a bit much.

"Help!" the man cried out.

First mistake.

Pinpointing the source of the cry took only a moment as his Sharingan focused on his target. The doujutsu began distinctly outlining him from the locals. Sasuke calculated the distance between them and decided he was too tired to keep chase any longer – he was too tired to keep it clean. This was going to go public.

He raised his hand and aimed. The blue light arced in a straight line through the crowd, directly towards the space his target just assumed. It pierced flesh with a loud, wet squelch, it was broad daylight and the tiny noise of protest sputtered to a stop. The marketplace was struck silent for a moment.

Then all hell broke loose.

…

It only took him half the day to return to base though he realized he probably should've taken longer.

"Sasuke-kun. I believe I asked for discretion, if I recall."

He remained silent.

"Stone Country doesn't know just how "entrenched" its leaders are in Sound dealings… and I was told to keep it that way. Your little stunt yesterday places me in a pressuring position I do not like to be."

Sasuke began cleaning his weapons. He took out the cloth he kept for handling and meticulously polished his swords, inspecting the twin blades and the hilt. He did this every time Orochimaru confronted him in his room because though the base wasn't his this room was his unspoken designated safe space. His. Alone. He didn't return here to be lectured, especially after he completed the damn job like he asked.

His room was dimmed and he was busy. But Orochimaru didn't like to be ignored in place for menial tasks. It irked the man and Sasuke felt vindicated.

"You had me kill a civilian."

"Oh? Not to your tastes, Sasuke-kun?" He veered closer until his steps echoed in the low chamber while Orochimaru's tone darkened. "I didn't know you held lingering reservations," he sneered.

The threat was real, the man's been waiting for the chance to catch him in the act. Around every corner was Orochimaru, hiding for the opportunity to find that 'insufferable moral compass' he spoke often of when he recalled his own past teammates, the same he wanted to find and challenge in Sasuke's determination, but he won't find a thing. The Uchiha had torn those bonds years ago. Orochimaru was the gaping maw under the bridge, waiting for him to peer over.

And Sasuke was done being doubted. He did the deed already and his sensei should be satisfied. He was not interested in being cornered, in being questioned. The proximity of hot breath against his neck was pissing him the fuck off.

"My skills are unsurpassable." Sasuke raised his weapon to fine the edge against Orochimaru's pale neck, letting the metal catch the little light in the room. He tightened his grip and a tiny bead of blood dribbled down his katana. Orochimaru immediately tasted the air for copper, long tongue flickering on instinct before he licked his lips. The small slice made the man happy, instant death at his throat. His Sharingan spun and dark eyes watched, glinted with the pleasure. "This was grunt work. More suited for Kabuto, if I recall. Don't waste my time again," he said, and allowed the red to dissipate.

Orochimaru very very slowly smiled.

"Of course."

…

Of course... he quickly regretted. In a fit of retribution Orochimaru had him make runs across the landscape, knowing that this type of training was his least favorite of them all. Sasuke sprinted with no chakra to supplement him, while a giant-ass snake crashed after his heels.

He ran, Manda rumbled; the great snake enjoyed too well the opportunity to torture him, one of the rare times he rose from his slumber.

The trees whipped by faster than his Sharingan could process them, flashes of brown and greens. He could hear as they cracked like thunder at his footsteps and the ground trembled when they downed by the numbers. It was an ominous warning to the strength of Manda's chase; the snake paid no attention to the destruction he caused at his sheer body size and weight. His tail whipped for balance once and absolutely decimated the undergrowth.

"Faster! Or do you plan to lose to your brother?"

Orochimaru was not helping.

Sasuke picked speed.

The Uchiha knew the man was purposefully guiding the snake through the most difficult of trespasses, he had memorized a good majority of the land. The surroundings of their base was all jungle and if Sasuke didn't watch carefully, he'd as soon as choke himself on a vine. The forest floor was an unspoken danger of bulging roots, mud, or even quicksand – treacherous, even for the animals that made it their home habitat. If he slipped, Orochimaru wouldn't stop to wait for him. If he got caught by any other means, he'd summarily get eaten.

Sasuke wasn't about to fall for any natural trappings.

Manda struck like a whip – the air screamed and the Uchiha had barely the time to spin away. His tail was like a scorpions, diamond exoskeleton empty of poison but no less dangerous... it shook and rattled like bells. Sasuke fumbled in recovery, his legs were shaking, and he backtracked as carefully as he could while his Sharingan noted every detail.

Only inches away from where he was, jaws were sunken deep into the dirt, Sasuke could hear the grinding of earth, low and dragging like walnuts. A crunch, a raise of the head, and he found himself under a single green eye flitting side to side at his every motion. It was a reptilian gaze, eerie and quick, predatory and alien.

Orochimaru liked this training the most. He wanted to capitalize on his memories of the Chuunin Exams in the worst ways he could possibly think of.

"'My skills are unsurpassable,' was that correct?" the man smiled.

Sasuke tried to look away from Manda's gaze but he couldn't, he couldn't, he tried but he could only hear the smugness rich in his master's voice within the back of his mind. He faltered.

"Sasuke-kun." The great snake lashed out with a reflex that was blinding, Sasuke could only freeze and capture it with his eyes. Pink mouth and flesh exposed, his maw extended wide until he blocked the light of the sun and all he could see was death. His feet weren't moving!, and Manda was gaining distance, any second now-

Sasuke turned tail and ran.

Orochimaru laughed into the air behind him. Sasuke knew his only saving grace was that this was not the real Forest of Death. It wasn't. No; there was only one predator he needed to worry about, every other living thing had fled at the sound of Manda's arrival.

This meant he could focus. He could narrow his options. This "training" was the highlight to his sensei's last days. They both knew running laps with no chakra against the leader of a summoning beast was next to impossible, in addition to being exhausting. The skill involved a great deal of luck and the use of snake senses, or lack thereof.

But with Orochimaru perched on Manda's head, utilizing snake weak points wasn't an option. Manda didn't even have to hiss and taste with his tongue once because his sensei directed his every move. Orochimaru was the eyes of the operation and in this instance he didn't need his jutsu to inflict him.

He only needed one lax moment, any day now.

Sasuke couldn't give him that, if it was the last thing he could do.

When he tumbled from a tree root, he could hear Orochimaru scoff dismissively from close behind him, expressing his disappointment. Sasuke had to ignore the sound, shake it off, it didn't matter what he thought, he righted himself and kept running.

Despite all his focus, the signals between the two were made soundlessly. The sannin and his summon didn't have the closest of relationships but they were of one mind and Sasuke didn't doubt their teamwork, he learned the hard way not to underestimate it. Orochimaru could motion with his head merely slightly and Manda would know him, know what to do next. When the forest sounds got quiet, Sasuke realized this.

"Shit. Shit." He ran with a burst of speed that surprised him, fueled by hormonal adrenaline and a twinge of fear. He didn't need to look behind himself to know that Manda and Orochimaru had left, their presence erased from the surface of the earth. It was the same two-part combo attack they specialized in that never failed to get him.

They knew where he was but he didn't know where they were.

He kept running at a medium pace, storing his energy for the quick reflex he'd need to avoid their attack. Deep underground Manda tunneled through the earth and every step Sasuke made alerted him to his position. Every swerve was copied near instantly and it was only a matter of time, not skill.

Luck.

When the ground shivered, Sasuke leapt up and threw his only kunai.

'Never let go of your sword.'

The great mouth was absolutely mesmerizing underneath him. Sasuke could look down into an expanse of glistening inner flesh and the tunnel the throat made, dark and disappearing in clear detail. It was an entry way to hell, he knew that anything caught in between those throat muscles was quickly swallowed whole and digested in minutes. Death was gaining right under him and time seemed to slow as they both transferred their chase into the air.

He tried to tell himself Orochimaru wanted his body. Orochimaru would never hurt him. This was training, he was his sensei, this was teaching – Sasuke's thoughts wheeled like the Sharingan in his eyes, quickly and rapidly finding a no-solution. Manda hissed harsh at his heels like the roar of a hurricane, his forked tongue barely grazing him at the ankle.

No! He panicked, Sasuke threw in an exploding note and flipped.

Dimly, he could hear as Orochimaru laughed. There was sharp pain in his gut that he felt like throwing up.

He dropped. He didn't land very gracefully, if the tumble along the branches down could be called a landing. The great snake crashed the ground and his whole world shook, his vision took too long to right itself once again.

With a low groan Sasuke returned to, but he couldn't pinpoint his pursuers. Manda was gone as soon as he fell, recovering sooner than he had. His sensei could be anywhere and everywhere.

Orochimaru called out to him, voice omnipresent and whispering like the wind. "Are you still afraid, Sasuke-boy?" his voice brushed against his ear.

Yes. Yes he was.

…

This was their training.

It was hell, it was torture, and it was a big joke onto himself, Sasuke knew that this couldn't account for anything. Orochimaru was having fun and the Uchiha let him, the Uchiha fell for it.

Weak, his brother would say, was he afraid of crows too?

Sasuke ran through the woods. The sannin didn't hesitate calling him names, if he could find any way to rattle him, it was part of the atmosphere, he said, a bombardment of stimuli both physical and mental. Although Orochimaru was one more for polite niceties, he could be devastating when he knew to be and always picked his words carefully as he knew them. He learned how to hurt him. He chose when to do so. Sometimes, Sasuke couldn't tell if the man was his enemy or his friend, his father and teacher.

He didn't always let the disappointment get to him, but Orochimaru was too good with his words until Sasuke didn't know what to think.

"Sasuke-boy."

Although he knew he shouldn't, the Uchiha glanced back on accident. Big mistake. Orochimaru jumped at the opportunity and leapt off his perch from Manda's head, he was a pale blur in the split second his eyes caught him, the red widened. "You know better!" he yelled, and with a whip of his neck pierced him with Kusanagi.

Sasuke tried not to cough, tried not to make any noise because that would disappoint Orochimaru more than the slight, he had to be resolute in taking his pain.

But it seemed as if no matter how he timed his breaths… the sword still hurt. The metal was deep into his side and sinking deeper, colder than ice itself, easily slipping into his flesh in a disturbing way that he couldn't explain. Twisting. Orochimaru, with the sword in his mouth lifted him like a ragdoll on a skewer and shook, threw him hard across the distance. He bounced off rough bark and it burned to slide against the length of the tree; Sasuke coughed and heaved.

The sannin wasn't wrong. He's been here for three years. Long enough to pick up the things around him, even the things he never wanted to know or be a part of. He knew better that this was training by now nor was this training to begin with. Some eerie part of it was dangerously real... through the sweaty, black strands of his hair in his line of sight, where Orochimaru retracted and swallowed his tongue in inhuman speed, his blood on sword and all.

Sasuke couldn't help it, he shuddered. The sannin licked at the droplets of red off his lips and it was a foreshadowing Sasuke didn't want to envision. He knew better than to give himself any more time to rest, Orochimaru wasn't going to wait.

This wasn't about training anymore.

The Uchiha was gifted right into Manda's range and he blinked before a curtain of darkness clamped over him. The ground tore beneath his feet, his prized sight, blinded and useless.

"Hmm, Sasuke-kun? Haven't I said never to look a snake in the eyes?" His Sharingan could only make out the few details of Manda's mouth, differing depths in black. There was texture and little movement as the great snake slowly revealed long hidden fangs. The fleshy substance was shiny in the little light and he felt the rumble of Manda's throaty laugh.

"Your visual acuity is your greatest failing, boy. Fear of snakes and the Sharingan… not a good combination if you want to succeed here." Sasuke could hear Orochimaru pace the perimeter, making crunches of leaves on the foresty floor. He had to ignore his sensei and focus on the issue before him. Manda. Any moment now poison will bead along those stalactites and he had to figure out how to calm himself, how to get out of here.

The burn in his side was losing notice. The air in his lungs was shortening. Sasuke was scared.

"Wouldn't you like to be freed?" Wouldn't you like to be free? Sasuke didn't look away from where he thought those fangs were, long and waiting for him, making his eyes tear with water. It was the thick of poison in the air, slowly insidious with the ability to immobilize an average man with just its scent. Sasuke endured this training too many times to count until he developed an immunity, though alone with the psychosomatic nightmares.

Orochimaru enjoyed to teach. Input, effort, results, he loved when he was 'effective'.

The voice spoke amusement through the scales. "I won't take over your body if you don't want me to."

"Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu!"

Manda rumbled.

"Three minutes," Orochimaru ordered and the mouth around him crunched.

…

His body couldn't move.

Although this wasn't his first snake bite, nor his fiftieth, the poison racked through his body and nervous system. Sasuke's limbs were numb yet his mind awaked and that was the worst part of the ordeal. He was a living sleep paralysis with his eyes open and his body vulnerable, the red of his Sharingan twirled and receded in spurts, but it wasn't as if Sasuke could turn to look at an enemy with his eyes. He could only see the cracked cave ceiling while the green glowed in the corner of his periphery; Kabuto, who ran chakra hands along his body.

Sasuke hated being here. He hated to be like this. Immobile, vulnerable before a man known for many illegal experiments he wouldn't be surprised if he took the opportunity to sample as he was unconscious, to horrifically continue to do so even if he wasn't. Kabuto reveled in moving when and where he couldn't, it was the little power authorities he could assume the few chances he had.

"Uchiha-san."

Sasuke glared.

Kabuto removed his hands and the glow dissipated. He adjusted his glasses before putting away his clipboard, Sasuke feared. "The antidote I administered should be another few hours to take effect. You may feel numb as of late," he said casually.

He couldn't speak.

"I know that you can't respond to what I'm saying but your hearing capabilities are still in order. Can you focus your eyes on me?" Kabuto turned his head towards him and the Uchiha could only seethe internally, breathing while his pupils widened with fear. Kabuto's hand was cold. "Good. Uchiha-san. Would you like something for your fear of snakes?"

What? No, no…

"I may not look it but I'm well versed in immersion techniques to overcome household fears. As you are well aware, the dark, spiders, roaches… A couple sessions of informative therapy and you can consider yourself cured of these things; if you want." Sasuke could only activate and deactivate his Sharingan in succession because he couldn't do anything else with the adrenaline. His eyes spun rapidly but his stare was dumb, his look terrified. Kabuto watched calmly as he formed the hand signs; Sasuke could only breathe heavily with panic.

"It's okay, Uchiha-san. You're in capable hands." He bit his finger and healed the cut as soon as he did, only a drip of blood remaining on the digit.

Stop.

"Try not to be too still. They might mistake you as prey," his voice was soft. The medic nin gently adjusted his head on the pillow for him. He was trying to… he was trying to…

Stop!

Sasuke's neck was straightened, eyes to the ceiling: Kabuto made him 'comfortable'. Sasuke couldn't see the family of snakes as they slithered out from under coat sleeves, he could only hear their chorus of hissing, pitched and sharp like birds of prey.

So many… too many. The air blew harsh out of his nose, panicked, he shut his eyes.

"Will you fight your brother after this?" Kabuto asked idly. Cold, wiry bodies found their way along his torso, slow and deliberate. Three, four, five of em, he couldn't tell the number, they intermixed bodies in a fashion that made his stomach sink and churn. They untangled and crawled their separate ways, he could feel them slither all over his skin.

"Uchiha-san. Don't let what I said disrupt you and your future training battles. It was a mere theory of mine, to make you feel better. Orochimaru-sama requested I keep your mental stability within range during your stay here."

Shut-up! He shook and shook under his skin to no avail. He tried to twitch even a single finger but his body wasn't listening to him! It was a war, his insides roiled and tore with the frustration; Sasuke so wanted to scream.

Kabuto must have planned to observe this. "I don't think it has any weight, really. You don't actually believe it, do you? That your brother was ordered to kill your family?"

He slipped an unidentifiable noise through his teeth.

"Don't let this interrupt your focus. Especially around such a harrowing time for you," one of the snakes was thin like a cord but long, worming tight around his neck while the head followed the heat of his breath. His breathing was coming fast, helpless muffled protests through his nostrils. Dark green and patterned with diamond scales, she flicked her forked tongue as she closed in on his eyes. She was pretty, she was hypnotic, she was mesmerizing, she…

"-was that what you always wanted to hear?" Kabuto's hands had re-familiarized themselves with the clipboard once again, his pen loud against paper. Taps and scratches on wood as the medic made note of him and his every reaction, detailing while he spouted the bullshit coming out of his mouth.

This man threw knowledge like it was dirt to him. Something less of importance than his experiments, like anything of relevance to their time was mere superstition, magic or religion. He'd use what he could to his advantage solely for the end goal of science, exactly why Sasuke was in the precarious position he was now.

Unfortunately, it was working. His fucking experiment was working.

"It's okay, Uchiha-san. Every snake's already eaten and docile. Non-venomous." He could feel her tongue lightly brush along his lashes. The body of her squeezed. "Soon. You'll be in capable hands-"

…

It wasn't a commotion that woke him up.

Sometimes enemies found them, and with enough force investigation discovered their hideout many times. He's had to move with Orochimaru multiple instances throughout the span of six months, some of them close calls he could never forget. Orochimaru was determined folk however, and didn't run for long, he made sure to plan for the worse weeks ahead of his competition. He refused to die before transferring into his body, even if that meant running from his opposition, even if this was his most crucial time as a target. Every village knew of his inability to perform jutsu. They attacked now, believing that they had the missing sannin disadvantaged, though Sasuke personally knew it was not by much. Countless hunters went after the infamous scientist in this precious window of time, only for the misinterpretation to cost them their lives.

The Uchiha never doubted he couldn't win before now. He was proud and indoctrinated into the superiority of his Sharingan. He thought he didn't need to know the man, he would carry his power and win. He would finally erase this immoral place off the surface of the earth and defeat his brother.

That was the original plan.

swi-

Sasuke dodged while air sliced past him, a kunai penetrated through his pillow and embedded itself into the mattress. It vibrated with the force, Sasuke was confused for a moment before he realized.

"I apologize if I've interrupted your sleep, Sasuke-boy."

Orochimaru peeled the weapon, wrapping his tongue around the metal and shinking it out of his bed board. He danced the knife in his face, the cold metal caressing the skin of his cheeks before he dropped it into his lap.

…An offering. As if he had any choice.

The sannin spoke through his tongue. "I would prefer this go smoothly, my Sasuke."

His gaze was focused on the weapon and his mouth remained immobile, Orochimaru perused and made himself at home in his room.

"Well? What will your answer be?"

"How can this be a question?"

"You should already be aware. You're a smart boy, aren't you?"

Sasuke countered. "If you wanted my body you would've taken it while I was still fighting off the snake poison. You would never 'ask'. You're late."

Orochimaru hummed. "You forget I wouldn't want the transfer to be in any way… compromised. A poor body may not survive the exchange, nor one that was medically sedated."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

The sannin ignored him. "However. I also desired to give my favorite ward one last chance. A parting gift, if you will – the choice is yours."

'Don't disappoint me.'

"You want me to fight you." He said as a statement. Orochimaru's gaze gleamed confidently as he smiled.

"I want to see you…" The rattling began in chorus, annoying first and then deafening, like the walls were alive. Snakes weaved flush along the walls, ceilings, and in every corner, vibrating with excitement at Orochimaru's intent. Their scales shifted in mass and sheened glimmer from the little light of his room, dictating to Sasuke how deep the shit he was in.

Like a living Medusa, the heads faced him and hissed in tandem.

"Your decision?"

"Like there was any choice."

All the snakes charged.

…

Three genjutsus and it wasn't working, Orochimaru wasn't slowing down.

By this point, Sasuke's eyes burned. The red had extended into the cornea, bloodshot veins bulging dangerously from over usage. His Sharingan was eating into his chakra by the kilo, depleting his most recent food source and inner chi... but if he receded the doujutsu for a single moment he'd be vulnerable to the swift bite of Kusanagi. Sasuke's lightening could only boost his speed for so long to avoid his master, sometimes he was going too fast he couldn't follow his own movements.

Which was more dangerous than anything. If he couldn't keep himself in check he would be swallowed by the snakes. His body would be stolen right from under him.

Orochimaru smiled as if he knew what he was thinking, and Sasuke didn't know how a man with no hands could be defeating him, what was going on?

"Don't you feel it already, Sasuke-kun?" The Uchiha frantically looked around finding nothing, only a few lingering snakes and the crumbling wreck of his room. The air was heated while the rocks gleamed fresh with wet.

"What did you do?"

"Your eyes are nothing like your brother's." Orochimaru remained still, and the foundation of his wall suddenly punched out towards himself. Sasuke barely dodged the attack before it happened again, his room fighting against him.

"Genjutsu is very noble, my boy, but I'm afraid I never got the time to teach you senjutsu… Then again, you were a little too delicate for the ordeal, weren't you?"

His tongue rewinded rapidly and Sasuke readied himself, with his head tipped high, Orochimaru called out- "Sage Art: Inorganic Animation!"

The three walls and ceiling around him instantly condensed like scrunched paper. His body contorted into an inhuman position, his hands were boxed separately and he couldn't make signs. Only a second into his offense, and Sasuke was stuck.

Deep under the base was rich in inorganic materials, the perfect playground for a white snake sage mode everyone believed Orochimaru hadn't successfully achieved. Internally, Sasuke cursed himself. There was nowhere to escape.

His tongue wormed through the cracks of rock, the easing motion of it loud and slippery and wet while the hissing continuing in the background, Sasuke couldn't move! "I think it's about time I make things very difficult for you. I've given you generous chances – I believe it's about time you give back something that belongs to me."

Sasuke froze. He didn't think. A sudden searing pain across his back and he was free, the rock jail couldn't stop him from flying. His wings were out, gray dry skin leathery and tough but free.

Orochimaru spoke darkly. "I spent 20 years developing that jutsu… longer than your lifetime, boy. You will not win with it against me," he said.

Sasuke flapped the bat limbs once and they rose, sweeping vast bony curtains that blocked the light in the room. The sheer length of it crashed an opening into the hallway.

He assessed his options, shifted, the black schelera of his eyes soon adapted to the dark before he was gone.

Orochimaru followed.

…

Sasuke could run, but he knew he couldn't hide, eventually he'd have to fight the man. But he knew when the odds were stacked against him. His sensei was using their environment to his advantage and taking his sweet time with him, any minute now he could have easily turned the tables. Sasuke didn't know why he hadn't already. For some reason his sensei didn't remove his curse power yet, even though he's had ample opportunity and cause to do so.

He could've ended it quickly by cutting off his wings, he could've burned away his seal mark for forever. Sasuke feared exactly what was stopping him.

Just as he had the thought it seemed he spoke too soon, his shoulder seared the skin off his neck and Sasuke screamed.

"This will end quickly."

He clutched his arm and squeezed the pain, god, fuck, somebody make it stop!

Orochimaru came closer and with every step the burn eased, leaving his mind dizzy and conflicted. He didn't want him to come any closer; his sight blurred. The walls seemed to blend together in a gray expanse and no opening, no other color to escape, Sasuke couldn't fly. His right wing flapped with desperation before he crumbled to the ground. All seals, he knew, wished to be in line with their maker and it seemed that his sensei had a failsafe made for judgement day, an inside joke of his queer adherence to consent – Sasuke watched him come.

Half of his wing was receding, his arm was dead, body sprawled as the Sharingan focused on the man above him, tall and cold.

"I didn't wish it to lead in this manner."

"Stop playing the good guy!"

Before his sensei could make any motions, Sasuke released a spurt of involuntary chakra. Pure fear fueled him, his skin was cool with sweat and suddenly made conductive, lightening sparked brightly out of the chakra points of his body.

It crackled loudly with the raw power, blue incandescent. It burned Orochimaru in a lashed whip of energy that drove him away for the moment.

The man hissed. "You would use electric discharge as a barrier… it'll soon be inhabitable for your own comfort, Sasuke."

The curse seal mark burned and the Uchiha groaned.

He gasped to regain his breath while the blue lights thrumming his body slowly died in quiet. He couldn't focus his Sharingan anymore, the pain was too great. Orochimaru was a pale blob burning, dancing in his vision.

He panted. "It shouldn't… last this long."

Orochimaru looked at him. His burn mark was quickly fading from view, his shape gaining clarity. Serpentine eyes were heavy.

"You've been meditating for years, haven't you?"

"A ninja must always prepare for unexpected variables. The last Uchiha willingly walking into my hands, waiting to be assumed… I would be a fool to believe you."

"Why didn't you use it then?" Why not save your hands?

Orochimaru ignored him. "I have to thank my late sensei for half of the work was done for me. My arms are permanently still and I was able to use that to my advantage." As he talked his skin shifted and grew, something different from the neck extension he specialized in. This was grotesque, this was involuntary, violently stretching the skin with every word. "He has taught me patience."

Sasuke's eyes went wide with horror.

"No." As the white skin grew more inhuman, the appearance shifted from mammal to reptile. What looked to be normal skin grafts hardened into scales. Less like a person in sage mode… and into something else entirely. "Your body's failing you," he said with sudden realization, what he spoke was gaining credence in his mind. "Your body's been failing for years."

You never achieved sage mode to begin with.

"You don't have the endurance."

Orochimaru attacked.

…

He needed a plan. All Sasuke could do was dodge the half-sage body Orochimaru assumed, and barely at that. Only thanks to the Stage Two form of his curse mark could he avoid the dangerous reflexes of the Great White Snake, long fangs and pale scales shivering. Orochimaru was becoming more and more serpentine, as if he didn't have any real control over the senjutsu he claimed.

When that lizard gaze narrowed onto him, double lidded, dim and slow, Sasuke thought he looked more like an animal, more like the predator he's ever been.

That meant this whole time he's had everything to lose. No replacement backup body to assume. If Orochimaru didn't gain a new body now, the snake sage of Ryuchi Cave would eat him through.

Sasuke sliced his chokuto between hard scales and thick meat but the effect was like a Hydras, regenerating from the cut ends in excess. Fuck. He'd have to burn him.

"Uchiha…" The first word he's said since he's abandoned human form, his snake lips having difficulty forming the individual syllables. Orochimaru was losing it, the chimera form of his was getting hungry. He slithered and the large body curled sinuously, movements like water.

There was only one option left to choose.

Wait him out.

If he didn't get caught in the time it took for the snake bite to officially run through… Sasuke jumped to avoid poisonous fangs and his own. Orochimaru will be snake or stone entirely; this Sage Mode couldn't last. Dead or eaten alive, Sasuke didn't care, he clashed against a sharpened tail with his sword while the step of his sandals slid over stone. If he were to be frank, and barring his current predicament, either option worked in his favor. For as long as the man regained the little bit of cognizance he had to chase him, Sasuke needed to wait him out. If he maintained his humanity, his master would win.

Sasuke deactivated his doujutsu to conserve chakra. This wasn't a matter of a sprint but a marathon. He needed to be the prey that could outdistance a predator.

…

'You don't actually believe it, do you? That your brother was ordered to kill your family?'

It's not that he doubted.

When the rocks near his person exploded, the fragments shot past him at impossible speeds, cutting slices of his skin and clothes. Sasuke waited for the blue-gray cloud of debris to dissipate and cloak his presence from what had become his sensei. He blinked away dust and kept still under, while he watched tall snake fangs retreat themselves slowly.

It was old Sasuke, child Sasuke, small, chubby hands that had as much a hard time grasping a pencil as his first kunai; the same Sasuke Itachi gently guided his fingers around the hilt, thumb on top, eyes forward. The one who still loved his brother impossibly, no matter how long his revenge. After hearing the question it was hope, and the damned stupid feeling he thought he tore, swollen in his mind and making his heart skip. He hoped that maybe there was a piece he was missing… though he knew that the opportunity for any relapse had long passed. Sasuke killed that civilian Orochimaru ordered, and it was only the first, one mistake before many.

Maybe he too was timed.

The snake chimera roared in pain, haunting and old reptilian, it's tortured shriek echoed against the caves. The poison of the snake sage was making its way along. Orochimaru lost all of himself into his goals, abandoning his past, morals, and reservations. Determined in attaining a new body he attacked him desperately, pink maw grossly exposed. But rather than transcending his humanity, the man was falling.

Sasuke thought that maybe, just maybe, he couldn't let himself become that.

"Orochimaru."

At the name, the snake veered, large eyes targeted onto him. They were dark with wide pupils and dumb, empty of the yellow he was born with. What was left of the great sannin screamed like a raptor when Sasuke let the red bleed into his eyes.

He didn't know what last to say to him. To his sensei. To his master. Sasuke simply released his genjutsu.

…

Which brought him to this moment.

"-which one are you?"

Sasuke listened as Kabuto posed the question while he watched him closely. The man never did really like him, as next body vessel he took up Orochimaru's attention more than any other prisoner here, and was unspoken favorite. Maybe he was jealous. Maybe he wanted his body too. Kabuto desired to impress the snake on grounds of misguided respect for the man, and Sasuke being in the vicinity didn't allow him the opportunity. It was a split second decision and before he knew it, before he could stop himself, the words were coming out of his mouth.

"Kabuto-san," he spoke slowly and with dark weight. "Do you really think a boy could defeat me? That I'd let myself be weakened?"

He lied.

At his words, Kabuto relaxed minutely and the hand at his side loosened. His grip on his scalpel that he thought Sasuke didn't notice went easy, and he instantly assumed him as a non-threat. Kabuto slowly smiled. "Of course not. Orochimaru-sama."

This was the start to his story.