𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐤𝐢 | ɴᴀʀᴜᴛᴏ ꨄ︎ ꜱʜɪᴘᴘᴜᴅᴇɴ

Her Will

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(Wrote this chapter while listening to BLUE — Billie Eilish and almost crashed out. Enjoy!)

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Rain hammered to the cold, enclosed ground. The narrow, curved walls were corroded with nature and moss. Before I first stepped into this well, the lid atop had always been closed. The proof of its use disheartens what's left of my soul.

Vines meandered with a few attached leaves at the ends, blowing playfully with the hushed wind. It's not so cold above it all, as I stare down the well.

My hands grip onto the round lid, dropping it on top of the well to close it. It will no longer rain into those depths. No longer create a fog far too thick to see in. Humidity too dense to breathe through. 

Although I've become immune to many things, I'll never forget. 

—

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"...— Mercilessness." Orochimaru's voice is muffled in my ears. I don't register the majority of his 'wise' words. "Sasuke-kun's defeated hundreds upon hundreds of shinobi."

I'm back inside Otogakure. This dim and bleak training room feels just as void of life as that rotting well.

"His eyes are proving useful, father." The word 'father' rots on my tongue, no different from the well.

"Indeed." Orochimaru places a hand on my shoulder, looking to the reflection ahead of us. I do not spare the mirror a look, too focused on the destruction beneath me. "But you're already merciless, aren't you? You, who can kill so easily. It's in your nature to put yourself above all others."

Is that how he sees me? Even up until this point? His words don't mean anything to me now. Sasuke's going to kill him, or at least try. It's like listening to a dead man. 

There's no congratulations in his tone. No affection. No guilt.

My eyes roll up to the reflection, and I lock them with yellow irises of my own. Orochimaru's grinning from behind me, his eyes fantasying his goal becoming a reality. I take in how similar we look on the outside.

Our same hair colour, same eyes. Though, his has uncanny slits in his pupils—just like a snake. My skin looks devoid of sunlight, as if I'm anaemic. I don't look too long at my visible veins pumping blood within me.