Chapter 17

Sasuke walked through the dimly lit corridors of Orochimaru's underground base, his footsteps echoing against the cold stone walls. His expression was purposefully calm as he always did. As he approached the central chamber, he paused before the entrance, taking a deep breath before pushing the heavy door open. The room was filled with an eerie silence, broken only by the faint sound of breathing and the scribbles of a pen.

Orochimaru stood at the far end, his back turned to Sasuke. His long, black hair flowed like a dark river, and his presence was as menacing as ever. Or at least, it should have been. When Orochimaru turned at the sound of someone entering, Sasuke couldn't help but feel that this person only had the same look as Orochimaru, lacking the menacing air he had witnessed in Konohagakure's Forest of Death. And that's what he wanted to understand.

"Are you really Orochimaru?" Sasuke asked.

At that question, a strange shift occurred in Orochimaru's mind. It was as if something clicked, reminding him of something buried, a part of himself he had accidentally hidden. The question reverberated, not just in his ears, but in every part of his being.

He had just realized that for the past week, he had been acting on instinct, moving and thinking like Orochimaru. Yet now, confronted with Sasuke's straightforward inquiry, a wave of surprise washed over him, turning into a slight worry. The thought surfaced, questioning as to how this had happened for so long without him realizing it.

Orochimaru's mind wandered to the memories that were not entirely his own, memories belonging to someone else, multiple others. He felt a pang of guilt for running on autopilot for so long. He was not Orochimaru, he couldn't be just him. The fusion of Orochimaru and Yuro had made him his own person, or at least, that was what he was supposed to be.

Taking a deep breath, he focused on Sasuke, deciding on something. "Before that, I would like to gather everyone. Follow me."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly, but he followed Orochimaru through the winding corridors. One by one, they gathered Kabuto, Kimimaro, Kidōmaru, Tayuya, Sakon, Ukon, Jirōbō, and then Karin, who had just arrived that day and hadn't met Orochimaru yet.

The group assembled in a large, dimly lit hall, their expressions ranging from curiosity to guardedness. He worried that this might cause him to lose everyone, as they all followed Orochimaru, not him. He was about to expose himself as a fraud but wanted to tell them the truth, no matter the consequences. If they were to follow him, they needed to understand and accept who he really was.

Drawing in a deep breath, he began to speak, his voice carrying to everyone's ears. "Some of you might have realized, but I am not Orochimaru," his eyes scanned the faces before him. "At least, not entirely. I am a combination of Orochimaru and Yuro. Some of you might not even know who Yuro is, but it doesn't matter. I am a mix of both of them and as such, I am my own person. For the future, I hope for you all to call me Yurochi." It was a simple combination of Yuro and Orochimaru's names, but from now on, it would be his own.

The silence in the room was palpable as everyone processed what he had just said. Some exchanged glances, their expressions mostly confused, while the smarter ones seemed lost in their thoughts. And he allowed them the time to absorb his words and make decisions before continuing.

"I know this is difficult to understand," Yurochi activated his Sharingan and pointed at them. "But it is the truth. Because of this truth, I must ask you all a question. If any of you cannot accept this and wish to stop following me, speak now. It is not something I want to do, but it will be necessary to kill you."

His words hung heavily in the air. Karin, who had just arrived today, looked scared and tried to make herself seem small. She met Yurochi's gaze for a moment before looking away.

Kabuto was who first broke the silence. He had already been pondering the events of the past week and had come to some conclusions but wanted to hear directly from 'Yurochi'. Adjusting his glasses, he asked, "What will your future goals be then? You already know what Orochimaru's goals are, I assume. Are you thinking of something different?"

Yurochi nodded slowly, looking thoughtful. "My main goal is simple. To live without worry in a world where no one can destroy it on a whim and force me to do things I don't want to do." For example, he didn't want someone like Hashirama to exist. Someone who was extremely overpowered and had decided to unite the world by giving everyone sentient nukes. And everyone who was seen as a threat to this uniting of the shinobi world was removed or suppressed. Yurochi didn't want to go through a situation where someone wanted to selfishly bring about world peace or the destruction of the world and had to either comply or be removed.

Sadly, the only way to seemingly achieve this goal for now was to become a force to be reckoned with. To become a Hashirama who no one could touch and whose only way to defeat him was to allow him to die of old age or have an unknown and unexplainable disease take him out.

Kabuto's eyes narrowed slightly as he contemplated Yurochi's words and after a moment, he simply said, "I see."

The room fell silent once more, everyone seemingly lost in their thoughts. Yurochi's declaration had indeed changed their perceptions of him. Even if they couldn't fully understand what had happened, one thing was clear. The Orochimaru they knew was gone. He was a new entity with his own thoughts and goals.

The air was tense as Yurochi awaited any other responses or questions. He was prepared to explain as much as he could to get them to stay and surprisingly, Sasuke was the next to speak up, not with a question but with a firm statement. "My goal is still the same, to get strong enough to kill Itachi. As long as you can help me with that, nothing else matters."

Kimimaro stepped forward, his loyalty still unwavering. "To me, you are still Orochimaru-sama, even if a bit different."

Kidōmaru, Tayuya, Sakon, Ukon, and Jirōbō nodded in agreement. They would see Yurochi as a continuation of Orochimaru, their savior, the person who saw something in them. Their path remained unchanged.

Yurochi felt a strange mix of relief and worry. Even if they all stayed, the future was wrought with unknowns. Trust was fragile, and one mistake could shatter it completely. "Thank you, everyone. Now, I need to speak with Kabuto, Kimimaro, and Karin, the rest of you can leave and return to your usual activities."

As the others filed out, Yurochi turned his attention to the three who remained. "I will be leaving for a bit and won't be returning for a while."

Kabuto nodded, already contemplating the possible reasons. "I will accompany you as usual?"

Yurochi nodded. "If you want. Kimimaro will also be going." He then turned to Karin, his expression thoughtful. "Karin, I want you to think about what you want to do in the future while I'm gone. No matter what you decide, I will support it fully."

Karin flinched when he addressed her, eyes were filled with worry. She remembered how her mother had been forced to heal others with her unique ability until it killed her. When she decided to follow Kabuto here, she feared she might be trading one group of people who used her as a tool for another group who did the same, but she took the plunge to escape a guaranteed death sentence for a possible one.

"...Sure, I will think about it," she replied timidly.

"Great. I hope that when I return, you will have decided on something." She nodded and left the room, wrapping her arms around herself, deep in thought.

"Now, Kabuto, Kimimaro, I hope the two of you will follow me to the Land of Waves and then the Northern Hideout."

"The Northern Hideout? Are you planning to visit Jugo?" Kabuto asked, already accurately pinpointing Yurochi's intention.

"Yes, I do plan to meet Jugo. Depending on how it goes, I might bring him here," Yurochi responded. He didn't elaborate further, and Kabuto didn't press for more information.

"And the Land of Waves?"

"Sasuke mentioned some things and it seems that there are a couple of DNA samples there that might be useful. One from the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and the other with Ice Release." Zabuza and Haku. Both would be good additions to raise using the Edo Tensei, though it would be done later when the technique was perfected. For now, he would get their samples. This was an idea cooked up earlier when he was on auto-pilot, and he honestly couldn't discount the powerful potential of Edo Tensei.

"Prepare to leave in an hour. We will go to the Land of Waves first."

The two nodded in sync, but only Kabuto left. Kimimaro did not need to leave since he had nothing of value or even personal items. Now, his body no longer needed to sleep, eat, drink, breathe, or wash. The clothes on his back were made from the Edo Tensei technique too.

It took Yurochi a moment to realize this, and guilt rose to the surface. Kimimaro lived only to serve Orochimaru. His whole life revolved around that. And despite Orochimaru being gone, Yurochi hadn't even let him rest after death, selfishly reviving him for his own purposes, something Orochimaru would have done. But not doing so seemed like a waste. He had everything needed to revive Kimimaro, and the only thing that could have stopped him was the morality of reviving the dead and running on autopilot until recently, he hadn't even considered the morality aspect until now.

Yet despite that, Yurochi was quite excited about the upcoming journey. This would be the first test for himself since this would be his first time outside the confines of Otogakure. He almost hoped that things would not go smoothly so he could test his own limits, as he had only done so in a controlled environment. At the Northern Hideout, he might have to subdue Jugo while also seeing how Kimimaro's revival would affect him.

Despite Jugo's volatile nature, Kimimaro and Jugo were good friends, and it was known that Kimimaro could keep Jugo stable better than anyone else. The Northern Hideout also held other uses, but Yurochi wasn't sure if he should utilize them, as they involved human lives.

The experimental subjects used by Orochimaru to study Jugo's clan technique were there and it was where the curse mark was invented. That place was now under Yurochi's control since he planned to use Orochimaru's influence on everyone there to keep them from attacking him. 

But what should he do with them all? Should he let them all go, use them for something, or kill them and move on since he did not care for the curse mark? He actually wanted to get rid of them because some marks in circulation contained part of the original Orochimaru, meaning Orochimaru could still be resurrected through them. Since Yurochi still held animosity towards Orochimaru, he was unwilling to allow him to revive, though, there was still a part of Yurochi that seemed against that idea.

Also, it was fortunate that Yuro never received the curse mark. If he had fused with Orochimaru, there might have been a chance that the sliver of Orochimaru's soul could have tried to overtake him or act as a separate influence like when Sasuke absorbed Orochimaru. If that influence had appeared, he would have tested his Mangekyō abilities sooner to try and get rid of it.

Thankfully, this was not the case. However, Orochimaru's psychotic personality still tried to rear its head, making ideas like human experimentation or sacrifice seem completely normal for the possibility of forwarding his goals. It was something to be wary of because despite what he thought of himself, Orochimaru was a majority of him and undoubtedly had more influence. If it wasn't for the side of Yuro and the third set of memories, he would essentially be just like Orochimaru in thoughts and actions.

Still, maybe it would be fine for that side of him to come out sometimes. Not everything could be resolved peacefully, after all. For the future, it might be necessary to be ruthless, but he would try and see how things play out and then decide if maybe murdering hundreds of people would be the best solution to a problem.

Glancing towards Kimimaro, a thought then surfaced. 'Maybe I could have someone else do the dirty work instead?'