As she looked around the big room, Sakura had to suppress her growing feeling of discomfort and disgust. There were surgical tools left strewn on tables along with notes that while she couldn't decipher all of them, it was clear that the owner enjoyed experimenting on topics best left alone. Sure, she had helped when Lady Tsunade created the prosthetic arm for Naruto, but this was much more grotesque and unnatural. The owner of the hideout clearly had grand plans for cloning and tissue regrowth and was not afraid to have a few failed experiments along the way.
The team had moved through the forest early that morning, following Shikamaru's strategy for the mission. The pouring rain did nothing to help them as they tried to move swiftly buy quietly towards where the reports had mentioned strange occurrences. Upon infiltrating the small hideout, everyone relaxed slightly when they realized the owner had long since moved to a new location. Everyone besides Sasuke, at least. The medical ninja watched her boyfriend carefully to see what was causing him such tension, but it took a little while to put the pieces together.
The further they went through the hideout, the more obvious it became that Orochimaru was somehow involved with the place. Everything from the design to the types of experiments pointed to him, but it was also clear that there was another person's influence. Sasuke being reminded of his past so soon into his redemption might not be a good influence on him, especially when he had made huge strides in the past few weeks. He had only just opened up to Sakura about a day ago with all his bottled feelings, and she was growing increasingly worried about how this would affect him in the coming days. It was clear he had his guard fully raised, and lowering that again may not be easy for him.
Pushing aside her own feelings on the matter, Sakura instead focused on the mission and what they needed to do. No matter how Sasuke responded to all this, she would be there for him. It was more important in the moment to figure out everything they could about the hideout. Leafing through the various papers, she found drawings of Sharingan eyes and the idea conditions and methods of transplanting them to ensure the greatest chances of success. Feeling her stomach turn, she turned to the others to share.
"Whoever this is, they are interested in the Sharingan. The thing I don't understand is where they would get them. Sasuke is the only one who has one now, right?"
Sasuke answered in a clipped tone, "I wouldn't be surprised if Orochimaru somehow managed to stockpile some throughout the years."
Activating her byakugan, Hinata added, "From what I can tell, there aren't any here. It looks like this person cleared out most things of value. Although, there is something strange in the room down the corridor and to the left."
Shikamaru lead the way into that room and stopped short at seeing what was there. There were various large cylinders, each fully capable of holding a person within them. While they were all empty, everyone knew enough of Orochimaru to know that it was likely he was experimenting with some kind of cloning or artificial growth. Sakura saw notes on how children were able to process the implantation of Sharingans more easily than some adults, and she felt her hatred for this person rise at the thought of them experimenting on children. She could only hope those kids had made it out alright.
They didn't dwell long in that chamber and went on to search the rest of the hideout, but they found little in the way of actual evidence or clues. After a while, Shikamaru called everyone together to return to their camp and get ready to go home the next day. No one questioned Sasuke much on his thoughts, but Sakura noted that his already quiet self was even more withdrawn than usual.
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The night would ordinarily be a peaceful, quiet time for the Uchiha to relax slightly, but this night unfolded much like many of his nights during his teenage years. While living with Orochimaru, Sasuke never fully let down his guard. He could be surprised by the Sanin in the middle of the night with trainings or with the injection of a mild poison to help him build up his immunities. His mentor knew exactly when Sasuke would start to feel slightly at ease again, and that would be when he would send dozens of opponents to ambush him while asleep. So, Sasuke learned to function on the most minimal amounts of rest he could, and he could tell that tonight would not yield much sleep.
Foregoing that, he got up and started to wander around the edges of their campsite, looking for a quiet place where he could just let the wheels of his mind turn until they were finished. Finding a small boulder a little way from the camp, he sat down and closed his eyes. Seeing everything today that was so similar to Orochimaru's creepy hideouts was not pleasant, and his brain was reeling from the memories. He didn't like to dwell on those times. He had been so consumed with his vengeance and despair that he hadn't even realized the full extent of what was happening to him or the conditions he had been living in. He was taken care of while he was there, of course, but only so much as necessary for his mentor to take over his body when the time came. His mental wellbeing was not addressed, and he simply lived for the next challenge to overcome.
The young man was pulled suddenly from his spiraling thoughts when he heard a slight sound to his right and turned to see his captain for this mission standing next to him but staring straight ahead. Unsure what to say, Sasuke was quiet until he heard the other man say quietly, "It's him but it's not him, right?"
Sasuke nodded his head in agreement. The hideout was definitely reminiscent of Orochimaru, but these notes belonged to another person. He had wracked his brain for anyone he knew of who could be the culprit, but so far he had come up empty. A lot of Orochimaru's followers had either left him or died during the war, so that greatly limited the pool of candidates.
"Well, if he's still out there, we can find him."
This time he didn't answer and simply looked straight ahead again. Sasuke liked the Nara clan member, but they had never exactly been close or really on good speaking terms before he turned rogue. He waited for him to say something next, but the young man next to him just continued to stand there for a while.
Finally, Shikamaru turned to him and said, "Well, if you aren't going to sleep, then I will. It's almost time for a shift change anyway."
Sasuke nodded again and Skikamaru turned to take a few steps back toward the campsite. He stopped quickly though and added, "Wake me if you want," before continuing on his way.
The Uchiha didn't respond verbally, but he did turn his head to watch the other man leave. The small offer of support was appreciated, and although he knew he wouldn't confide in him, Sasuke saw their relationship starting to mend a little. Shikamaru had been the most vocal of their classmates in not trusting him when he was released from prison, and the step toward a working relationship a nice change.
Beginning to patrol around the camp, Sasuke considered the next few days that were to come. The anniversary of his clan's demise was now one day away, and he wasn't sure what to do with that information. As a child, he often kept to himself during the day and did a few things to honor his family, but now he didn't want to spend the day alone. He wanted to include Sakura as part of the tradition, and started to think of how he could that. As the sun started to break over the horizon, Sasuke felt surprisingly calm after a turbulent night of emotions. He had settled on a plan of what to do with Sakura, if she agreed, and he was sure she would. The others began to stir as the sunlight hit them, and Sasuke smiled slightly before walking over to the group to get the fire started for breakfast.