Throught his time in sound, Sasuke never really intended to let Orochimaru overtake his body. He knew from the very beginning that he'd have to kill the snake bastard outside of the village, he just didn't know when, or for that matter, how.

It didn't have to be something that would totally rip the man to pieces, even though Sasuke would enjoy doing that, it just had to be something that would paralyze the snake long enough for Sasuke to finish him.

Sasuke didn't have much time to think out all of the details, but he needed ideas, and he needed them fast. Izumo, a subordinate that Orochimaru had made him train after the previous sound four had been killed, suggested gradual poison, Sasuke rejected this, because of one simple fact: that it would take time, and that certainly wasn't an element that Sasuke had a lot of at this point.

It had been nearly two years since he had arrived in Oto, and he cursed himself for not thinking of a plan earlier in his defection, but it had been his inaccuacy, and he had to deal with the consequenses.

And so here he sat, in a tree on the outskirts of Oto, watching the sun set, hoping some idea would weasel its way into his head, but as he expected, none came.

He sighed in angered annoyance, and jumped from the tree. It was time to face it, killing Orochimaru was a hopeless victory, but if he didn't try, he would end up dead, and the sannin would have dictatorship over his body.

About six months into his inturnship at sound, Sasuke began to realize something: Orochimaru promised him power, but yet, as payment for this, Sasuke was to give up his body, and life. How was he supposed to make use of the power the man granted him, when he was dead? If Sasuke let himself be taken advantage of, his dreams would be forgotten. He wanted the satisfaction of killing his brother himself, not the man he was selling his soul to, who made empty promises.

He had realized Orochimaru's true nature when he ordered Sasuke to 'take care' of Kanju, a rain nin the man had shown temporary interest in.

Sasuke never did discover why Orochimaru wanted Kanju dead, he was a fierce fighter, and a loyal servant, but obviously, something was wrong. The sannin had never been so secretive, well, not towards him anyways.

And so, Sasuke obeyed Orochimaru's odd command, and lead Kanju to his death in the forest surrounding the hidden sound village.

This was first time Sasuke had gotted a glimpse of Orochimaru's ways. The man would make promises no one else could, and when the victim of his ingenius came up on his offer, he would use that man/woman as he pleased, using their power for his own ambitions, and when it was time to full fill his side of the bargain, the one he had used always turned up dead, for some very thought out reason.

Sasuke wanted away from here, and he wanted it fast.There was a loud hiss behind from a viper who was coiled around a branch, clearly annoyed by Sasuke's presence.

The hiss had made him tense, hell, everything here made him tense.

Sasuke began to make his way toward the main comepound, intending on getting something to eat, and training for a while.

~*~

There was a loud pounding on the door of his quarters, Orochimaru had never been so graceless, so Sasuke took his katana with him when he went to answer it.

When he jerked the door open, an out of breath Kabuto stood there, leaning against the door way, trying very hard to caatch his bearings. "What do want Kabuto" Sasuke asked, it was more of a statement than a question, but Kabuto got the point none the less.

The silver-haired medicnin looked up, "Sasuke-san...Orochimaru-sama requested you immediately in his quarters" Kabuto said, his vioce wavering slightly. Sasuke thought to himself, referring to the fact that Kabuto was frantic to get whatever the sannin wanted done.

~*~

"This mission cannot fail Sasuke-kun, I don't care how important you are to this village, if you fail me, you will suffer death." Orochimaru said in a clearly angered tone, that depicted nothing but burning fury.

Something had happened to alter his plans for the hidden mist village, and he needed Sasuke to repair it.

Whenever Sasuke was to learn another forbidden technique, Orochimaru always woke him before dawn.

Sasuke had been bery annoyed by walking through the swamps at night, and to make things worse, Orohcimaru had set illusionary traps around the village, incase anyone tired to infiltrate, and these mirages only annoyed Sasuke even more so than he already was.

In the beginning, Sasuke had complained to Orochimaru, protesting on waking up this early, and having to train out in these 'damned swamps' but Orochimaru had only laughed, ignoring his requests to schedule the training sessions during the day, when the sun was out, and he could see clealy, especially when Orochimaru performed had seals so fast, he couldn't see them without the sharingan.

But after two and a half years, Sasuke had gotted his point through by making annoyed noises while they were walking through the night.

When they were far enough out into the swamps and dark. Orochimaru cleared away enough weeds to make a small fire. "I wwill not repeat this, so please pay attention Sasuke-kun" orochimaru said, taking a kunai, and apiece of ofuda out.

The sannin bit his thumb, and wrote out characters on the ofuda slowly enough for Sasuke to memorize them, and the tied the paper to the kunai, tucking it into the rope he wore around his waist.

Orochimaru waited for Sasuke to shift his eyes to the Sharingan, before performing the handseals. He looked expectantly at the Uchiha, and Sasuke nodded, indicating he had seen all the seals correctly. "This is called the Impure Ressurection Summoning Jutsu." Orochimaru said, slamming his hands on the ground.

Seconds later, a coffin rose up out of the ground, a few meters from where Sasuke was standing. 'what use could I have for this?' Sasuke asked himself.

Exactly twenty five minutes and sixteen seconds later, Sasuke defeated his father, and stood breathing heavily in the middle of the chared marshland.

"Very well done Sasuke-kun, but, a bit longer than a fight should last.."

Refelctively, Sasuke lunged for Orochimaru, aiming a kick at his knee. The man smiled, and stepped to the side, evading Sasuke's attack, and grabbing him by his burnt left arm, twisting it behind him, and forcing him to the ground, putting his knee on Sasuke's back, pinning his to the ground.

In the five seconds that the boy lost to wincing, Orochimaru let his go. Sasuke stumbled to his feet, katana already drawn, and in a defensive possition.

"There's no need for that Sasuke-kun, you've lost this fight. Now, come, whem we return to the village, have Kabuto take a look at those burns."

"Yes Orochimaru-sama." Sasuke bit off with as much spite as he could, before following the man back to the village.

~*~

He felt her chakra when she used it to jump onto the roof behind him. Like in In most other villages, people generally walked up to one another, because if they used stealth, everyone would automatically assume the worst.

Sasuke suspected the only reason Tayuya used chakra, was because she was waiting for Sasuke to react, so that she would have an excuse for a fight.

Tayuya walked across the roof, and sat a meter away from, taking out her flute. "Go away." Sasuke said coldly. "Fuck you" Tayuya replied, and began to go up and down her basic scale practices.

(Tayuya had been the only survivor among the other sound four. And if Kabuto hadn't been sent with the search party, she probably wouldnt have made it back alive .)

"You aren't supposed to be talking to me" Sasuke said, glaring at her. "I didn't get ordered not to, besides, you'd like it better if you were alone."

"Ch. if everyone got ostracized for every little insult they said, the whole fucking village wouldn't talk." Tayuya sneered, and began going up and down several chromatic scales.

"He's annoyed at you you know" Tayuya muttered. "It isn't my fault he wanted me to teach him the chidori, and it moves too fast for anyone without the sharingan to see."

"Hn." Tayuya muttered. Sasuke recalled the fight prior to when Orochimaru had requested Sasuke teach him the one thousand birds.

There had been something intensly...satisfying about doging the attack, and slamming a foot into the man's chest hard enough to crack the bone. Sasuke remembered the look Orochimaru had gived him as the blood trickled down his chin.

It hadn't been anger, Sasuke would have preferred anger, it hadn't even been irritation, or that slight condecension, just pure...

He didn't know what to make of the look, or even how to interpret it. But, he knew, before he even agreed to teach the man the technique, that he would pay for it modest ways. But Orochimaru had had a excursion that week, and had too many minor issues with the village to deal, so he couldn't teach Sasuke anything new until he got back.

Sasuke returned to the present. The scales Tayuya had been playing were giving him a headache. "Can't you go somewhere else and do that?" he asked coldly. "Fuck you" Tayuya said once again.

Sasuke ignored her, and glared at the sun until his eyes watered. She left after it had set.

There were three rules for missions in the Hidden Sound Village: Don't die, don't let your teammates die, and don't fail the mission. After about a week, Sasuke found that the third rule only applied to those who bore the curse seal. Because those were the shinobi hand picked by Orochimaru who had arrived in sound because of, or for him.

So unless you were teamed up with some one who had a seal, it didn't matter if a teammate died, as long as the mission was completed successfully. Or if a teammate had to die in order to complete the mission was also accepted.

Ninja in oto weren't measured in ranks like genin, chunin or jonin, because the village was divided cleanly by the curse seal. Those who had the seal were the most important, and those who didn't, weren't. But there were a few people that didn't have the seal, but were ordered to be left alone. Kabuto was a perfect example.