Parallel Lines | Naruto

𝟑| Aftermath

Sasuke was immediately summoned to Otogakure as soon as he realised that the consequences of his actions were far more problematic than he had initially presumed.

Otogakure was one of the Villages that Orochimaru superintended prior to his arrest a couple of years ago for expediting the Konoha Crush. Its citizens were comprised of foreigners, travellers and Orochimaru's lab rats until the white cloaks had taken over in order to closely monitor the northern lands. Even prior to the Departure, Otogakure was the first plot of land ravaged by the storm, entirely decimating it to flat, barren wastelands that no organism or habitant could survive on. Now, the Village Hidden in the Sound was transformed into an underground fortress, branches emerging from littoral caves and mass destruction.

Not many knew of its survival and Orochimaru used that to his advantage, Otogakure now operated as his main base of operations, where its strategic location enabled it to closely monitor the activity of the Alliance as well as the situation up north; the home to the enemy of the Shinobi world.

Sasuke stared at the metal door, the whirring of bolts and chains filling the silence as the rustic elevator lowered them underground. While the infrastructure and interior mirrored the industrial advancement the world was currently undergoing, maintaining obscurity meant that Orochimaru lacked the necessary architects to further progress for the time being. However, his concerns dwelled in medicine, power and metamorphosis. After all, Sasuke had been subject to his research many times in the past.

"Long time no see, Sasuke my man!" Suigetsu grinned toothily, this time donning Kubikirimōchō on his back, to which he pried off the dead corpse of Zabuza Momochi. "Heard of the mess you made in the southern lab- you shoulda' seen the look on Orochimaru's face, it was priceless!"

Sasuke didn't bother replying.

"You also scared the shit outta Karin, man I wish I was there." He sighed deeply, his hands behind his head. "I heard he's gonna send us out on another mission so you gotta stop with this whole silent treatment business you have going on... it's freaky."

He felt his jaw shift in irritation. After the repercussions of his last mission, he was sure that Orochimaru would be reluctant to send him out until he had managed to retain control over his Tenebris.

While he was impulsive and often thought with his yearn for bloodshed rather than rationale, he acknowledged that having control was something he had to learn if he desired to ever surpass the current foundation of his abilities.

"Orochimaru's worried." Sasuke finally said after minutes passed by.

"Worried?" Suigetsu retorted. "The man doesn't have any facial expression other than that devious, snake-like grin on his face. I didn't even think he was capable of being worried."

He snorted. "It hasn't even been two weeks and he's summoning us again. I assume it's because the appearance of these creatures are a cause of concern, not because of its existence but because of who created them."

"Right..." Suigetsu dragged on. "Because they haven't been seen in five years and now all of a sudden they just appear? What if it's... uh, a fluke?"

Sasuke had mulled over the thought beforehand and concluded that while that was a possibility, he had known otherwise. The artefact they'd received was deliberately planted in Oldpass for this particular reason. It couldn't have been a coincidence and the possibility of it having a creator led to many implications.