Chapter 11

"Perhaps it wasn't necessary to send four of them?" Kabuto asked Orochimaru who stood over the body of a young man on an operating table, taking occasional notes.

"Those kids seem to be way too interested in Sasuke." Orochimaru easily responded. "Like how powerful is he?"

"It'll hardly be a challenge. The way Sasuke is now, he won't stand a chance. They'll be sorely disappointed if they think he will be like Yuro."

"Hehehe, I agree as well. He needs guidance. He'll come to me eventually. And once Sasuke meets Yuro, he will understand that even more."

"You plan to pit them against each other?"

"No need. Sasuke will do that himself. With his desire for revenge and pride as a Uchiha, he will immediately see Yuro as an obstacle to overcome, especially when finding out Yuro is also an Uchiha. He will think that if he isn't stronger than Yuro, how could he possibly kill Itachi."

"So you think he is stronger than Sasuke?"

"Currently, yes. However, once Sasuke arrives, he would have obtained the second stage of my Cursed Seal of Heaven. If that future Sasuke fights Yuro, then Sasuke will win."

—

Yuro had recently awoken from what should have been a restful sleep. The medication Kabuto had been helping, but recently he had been unable to sleep properly.

He finally decided to ask for this kind of medicine, despite knowing that there could be all kinds of things put in it. So far, it had been worth it.

Never before had he been so relaxed when waking up in recent memory. But there was also an issue that had been plaguing his mind ever since returning to the hideout after the Chunin Exams. It was the reason why he wasn't able to sleep much lately.

Sasuke's defection to Orochimaru.

He was pretty sure it would still happen even with the deviations already set. It was something he wanted to happen as well since Sasuke would end up killing Orochimaru in a couple of years. It was the goal after all.

However, after the invasion of Konohagakure, the event of Sasuke's coming to Orochimaru's side was not as good as he originally imagined. The reason was simply that Orochimaru still had his arms.

This seemingly simple change in the original timeline was now already an out-of-control butterfly effect. Orochimaru going to find Tsunade and interact with Naruto was one thing that changed to not happening. But the problem now was Sasuke's defection.

And also, now that he thought about it, maybe he shouldn't have left that note with Guy. The information alone might cause Sasuke's defection to go wrong.

'Did Sasuke end up meeting Itachi? Did Sasuke have enough frustration to decide to defect? Did Orochimaru even have enough incentive to send the Sound Four to retrieve Sasuke right now of all times?'

These three questions were something he thought about the past few days and only recently did he find out that Orochimaru indeed sent the Sound Four to get Sasuke. But why?

It brought up a new question after that was answered. And after some thought it hit him. Orochimaru plans to switch bodies when Sasuke arrives.

The reason Orochimaru had waited in the first place was because of his arms being sealed away. His current body's arms began to decay and fall apart. The pain it caused and the desire to use his techniques again made Orochimaru prematurely switch bodies which did fix his arms, but at a superficial level. The problem was his soul being spliced apart, not the body.

So this was why the time-skip even happened and the only reason why Sasuke was even able to defeat Orochimaru before his body was taken over.

Everything had changed!

Instead of having years to take out Orochimaru, there was only a day left. Maybe even today. And he had no idea what to do.

If Orochimaru takes over Sasuke's body, then the entire future he knew of would collapse and spin out of control.

And it had him silently seething in frustration.

The only comfort he had was his knowledge of the future. And he wanted to be the one to create these diversions, purposefully, not accidentally.

The note he left in Konohagakure wasn't anything special. It just held limited information about the Akatsuki, even some things that Jirayai only had theorized.

To ensure they believed it, he even left information about Itachi's little visit and that he knew who the next Hokage would become.

And the reason he did this to begin with? It was to make an impression in their minds of him. Because he didn't want to be labeled as just Orochimaru's lackey, an enemy.

But that didn't even matter anymore. Everything was going wrong just with his existence and it infuriated him to no end that it caused such a substantial difference.

He had no plan x-y-z for any possible outcome, no contingency. He was going with the flow for now, not thinking he had enough importance to cause this much theoretical damage. Now, he needed time, time to at least make up some kind of plan. But no, he had no time.

Currently, the Sound Four, no, the Sound Five excluding Yuro, had already left. He hadn't gone because of Orochimaru not allowing it. Probably because he was still untrustworthy in their eyes, it was not like they could be blamed.

So Yuro left his room and went to find Orochimaru. He could be seen sitting down while writing things down in one of his labs. Yuro tried to ignore everything inside this cursed place and focused on the man in front of him.

"Orochimaru-sama, can you send me out to help the others retrieve Sasuke?"

Orochimaru stopped writing and looked up. "Oh? Do you believe that they will be unable to do it on their own?" This would be an odd thing for Yuro to ask, simply because he didn't care about the other in the Sound Five at all.

"Probably? I don't know. But since this is Sasuke Uchiha, the supposed last Uchiha, won't Konohagakure send out Jōnin to retrieve him? They aren't at that level."

"And you are?" Orochimaru asked in clear doubt of him being able to go toe to toe with even the lowest level of Jōnin.

Yuro was beginning to sweat. He knew that he was being suspicious, but he couldn't do anything about it. This was all coming down to the wire and he needed to get out there to try and either make sure Konohagakure successfully stopped Sasuke's defection or in the worst-case scenario, kill Sasuke himself.

'Could I even do that?' He thought. Could he kill such an important character like Sasuke? The future would become even more uncertain. And if someone like Nartuo found out that it was Yuro who did it, then he would have so much trouble on his hands. THE chosen one would be after him.

"No, but I am very good at sneaking around. I could lure them away from the others and set decoys. I could do at least something." 

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes almost imperceptibly. "But why do you want to go help them? You rarely care about anything, yet you care so much about making sure they succeed in their mission. Why?"

His heart began to sound in his ears. What could he say? It was true that he didn't care about them at all. And no, he wanted to make sure Sasuke didn't arrive, ever! What would he say in this situation if he didn't know about the possible future and was just a kid?

"...I want to go outside again. I've been stuck inside Otogakure for so long that when we left Konohagakure, I realized how much I liked being out. And if I need to do something like help make sure they get here safely, then I want to go…And I am also a little excited to meet another Uchiha."

It was all bullshit, every word. Well, kind of. He did want to leave. He did miss the calmness of Konohagakure. There was still a little bit of hope that he could find his home village and reunite with his mom. Then live out the rest of his life there is peace and–

"No," Orochimaru said as the verdict, cutting off his thoughts of picturing his perfect future. That one word made it seem like his heart fell into his stomach and the world crashed down with it. 

"I already know what they are capable of. That's why now was the best time to send them out. Most Jōnin are currently out on a mission, especially that pesky Kakashi. Now that they have their next Hokage in office, many things need delegation. They are still spread thin and recovering from our little invasion. Right now is the best opportunity to get Sasuke to defect to me. Those who could be spared bringing Sasuke back are likely not many.

But it has been a bit since they left and I had already sent out Kimimaro a bit ago just in case things did indeed go wrong. So no, you are not going. At this point, you won't make a difference. And if you are so excited to meet a fellow Uchiha, then wait here with me. They should be arriving in a few hours or so by now."

It had to be said that Yuro knew that he probably looked strangely shaken at being told no. Why did he care so much about this after all? He could go outside on a later day and just meet Sasuke when he arrived.

So after a few moments of silence with Yuro furiously thinking, he decided on a course of action. And with it, he felt an unusual calm wash over him even though in the next couple of hours, he might be dead.

But he felt reassured because, in his eyes, he had tried his best. Yes, many things could have gone differently from an outsider's perspective. But in reality, he was only human. A very imperfect one at that too. Many decisions could and maybe should have been different. Now though, it didn't matter. The past was the past after all and now in the present time, there was only one last idea he thought of to secure himself a better tomorrow.

To kill Orochimaru!

~

(A/N : Does it feel like things are moving too quickly? Should I have done at least one more chapter inside Konoha? Maybe more internal dialogue, perspective changes? As it was said in this chapter, more things could have diverged or slightly changed back in Konoha, but it ultimately doesn't effect the MC. I don't like it when stories of any kind go chapters with the MC not on page or even mentioned at all, save for some circumstances. Just my thoughts.)