Saints and Suffering: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 55- The Fields of Battle

Orochimaru, alone as always, gazed from his vantage point atop a lone tree at the vast army laid before him.

The Land of Lightning had truly come in force, 250 thousand strong, and Orochimaru continued to watch them as they settled down for the night and prepared camp. They were only a single days march from the Capitol, and as they seeped across the land, raiding the abandoned farmhouses left in the wake of fleeing civilians, the army moved unhindered.

The fields where the Lightning Army set camp were fallow, still barren and brown in the dead of winter, and the firepits between the tents were as numerous as the stars in the skies. The soldiers, having met no real resistance, were of high morale, and tonight was the best meal served to them so far, large and hearty, preparing them for the exertions of battle that would come the next day, should they make it to the city.

Orochimaru was organizing his thoughts, planning for tomorrow's events. It would be his duty to stop the advance of the troops by any means necessary, and he had to buy at least three days. Ideas came to his head one after the other, some brilliant and workable, others inane or untenable, but still, Orochimaru considered all options. A thorough ninja lived another day, and a callous one died early.

However, time and time again, his thoughts were interrupted by what that damned Minato Namikaze had said to him.

That he would become the fifth Hokage?! Perish the thought.

That was a fool's errand. The dream of a boy whose greatest dream was to make his surrogate father proud.

But Orochimaru no longer though of Sarutobi-sensei like that.

Sensei was overbearing, too critical, too meddlesome, and simply cared too much.

The man who simultaneously couldn't leave Orochimaru alone, but who didn't have enough time for him, leaving him under the auspices of Danzo.

Sensei was the man who had abandoned him. The man who had led him to a ruinous downfall. The man who no longer trusted him.

Orochimaru no longer wanted to make that man proud. No, he simply wanted to be free.

He didn't know what he would do once he was free, maybe learn all jutsu in the world, maybe search for immortality?

It didn't matter what he would choose, he just needed the agency to do so.

Orochimaru had learned that following the betrayal.

You can not live for another; you can only live for yourself, and without freedom, one cannot even live.

Orochimaru had once lived for Sarutobi-sensei, and where had that got him?

Orochimaru was now naught but a puppet with a cursed seal written on his tongue and burned into his soul.

"Danzo is my life-long comrade, one of the few people I trust implicitly, and he will teach you the things that I cannot. There is more to being the Hokage than what you see in the light, and Danzo is my shadow, doing the things that I cannot. You will one day replace me, but before you do, you must see the darker side of the village."

Sarutobi-sensei had told Orochimaru that over ten years ago, after the end of the Second War, and Orochimaru had believed him. If Sarutobi-sensei could trust Danzo, than Orochimaru could trust Danzo as well. The idiocy, naivety, and folly of youth.

Not all hope was lost though, Orochimaru was still a genius, and after years of research, his experiments concerning the soul were finally producing results. Sooner, rather than later, Orochimaru would finally be able to sever the part of his soul that Danzo's inky grip had pierced into, and he would be free once more.