Don't Stare at the Sun or You'll Go Blind

Chapter 5

Sasuke looked around himself in confusion with a deep frown. He stepped through the gates to the Uchiha district, the sound of his sandals slapping on the ground seemingly magnified by the deathly silence of the streets. There was a slight chill in the nighttime air, strangely out of place for the middle of summer. The moon shone brightly overhead, illuminating his way. Sasuke walked through the deserted streets, eyes scanning the darkened buildings. A slight breeze blew a few leaves past his feet and upset one of the signs hanging over a storefront.

A sense of wrongness started to build in his mind. There was a feeling- or was it a voice?- telling him to turn back. With every slow, measured step that he took, the feeling grew until he could feel a chill slide up his spine. He quickened his pace, his feet automatically following his usual path home.

Sasuke tried to sense for the presence of another, but he couldn't detect any chakra signatures nearby. He listened attentively and let his eyes scan the shadowy alleyways as he passed, but nothing stood out to him. The uneasiness building in his chest was the only indication that something was amiss. He could see the main family residence up the street, perfectly intact and seemingly unperturbed. Despite this, it felt as though the closer he got to his home, the more the anxiety grew within his chest. Once he was standing before his front door, Sasuke silently drew a kunai and pushed the door open.

The house was expectedly dark and nearly silent, save for the slight breeze eerily blowing through the halls. Stepping inside, Sasuke couldn't help but tense. He didn't hesitate to activate his Sharingan and clutch his kunai tightly in his hand. This feeling was familiar. He could feel and see the oppressive and rancid chakra flowing through his home, tainting its normally comforting presence.

"Orochimaru?" Sasuke called out into the darkness. His voice remained level despite the ubiquitous Killing Intent seeping through the very walls. Any sort of fear that Sasuke would have felt was effectively drowned out by the cold rage flowing through him. He'd already slain the snake in a mild blood rage that had quelled only slightly upon watching the man burn until nothing remained. While his emotional state had improved remarkably once Naruko had woken from her temporary "death", shreds of hatred and darkness still lingered within Sasuke.

"I'm pleased to know that you managed to survive. This gives me the chance to kill you all over again," Sasuke smirked, his eyes swirling into the Mangekyo.

"Sasuke..."

Stepping onto the tatami mats of the washitsu, Sasuke narrowed his gaze at the unnatural darkness within the room. The darkness acted like a living thing, blocking any moonlight from filtering in through the shoji. From within the darkest corner of the room, a pair of golden, slitted eyes gleamed. Sasuke watched the disembodied eyes move in the darkness, moving along the walls and ceiling. Growing tired of Orochimaru's pathetic intimidation tactics, Sasuke tossed some shuriken at where he assumed Orochimaru's body would be.

"Ku ku ku," Orochimaru laughed from the ceiling, his snakelike body finally appearing through the darkness. Sasuke frowned at the sight of Orochimaru's body having stretched and twisted to avoid all the shuriken. Suddenly, Orochimaru hissed viciously and launched his body from the ceiling. Sasuke watched the man's fangs lengthen, poised to sink into his flesh. Channeling lightning chakra through his kunai, Sasuke leapt to meet Orochimaru halfway.

His kunai stabbed the man through the chest, cracking bone and charring fresh, but Sasuke continued to force the man back and into the wall. His kunai was buried in Orochimaru's heart, pinning the man to the wall behind him. He could feel the soft tissues and splintered bone rubbing against his hand that had lodged in the man's thoracic cavity. Sasuke couldn't stop the wicked grin that slid onto his face. An attack like this wouldn't be enough to kill Orochimaru, but that just afforded more opportunities to make the man suffer.