The sun is setting. A few silhouettes lurk about a visibly empty area, with nothing but rock.
"It's here." Says the hooded figure as it places its palm on the rocky surface.
"Are you fine on your own ?"
"Yes. You can head back now" The silhouettes scatter.
Simultaneously. A sickly Orochimaru looks at his room door is opened slightly.
"Who's there?" He asks as he coughs a concerning amount of blood. But instead of an answer, all he received in return was a Chidori Spear aimed at his heart, through the door. Orochimaru blocks with his hands. Sasuke cuts down the door,
"Sasuke..."
"End of the line, Orochimaru. I don't need you anymore. You wanted the sharingan right ? But you couldn't fight Itachi. That's why you targeted me, the hatchling. Isn't that right ? You've been toying with life left and right." Sasuke then lunges and pushes the spear deeper, which Orochimaru deflects enough to miss him.
"You disgust me."
Orochimaru opens his mouth and fling himself out of it. Revealing his true form, a giant white snake. But that wasn't enough, as Sasuke cuts him up multiple times in various locations, but something is wrong, and Sasuke feels weakened. Orochimaru's blood in this snake form evaporates in the air and becomes a poisonous cloud. Orochimaru then lunges and starts his body swap ritual, sending both their consciousnesses in his world of snakes to take over him. However, Sasuke unexpectedly overpowers him in his own domain.
"That can't be. I created this dimension. This is my own domain. I'm the one destined to know everything ..."
"Orochimaru. In front of these eyes, you... Actually, you know the rest."
Sasuke takes over. Or so was supposed to happen, but a sharp pain snaps him back. He's stabbed and bound by mysterious black creatures.
"Who... are you..." Sasuke slowly glances over, It's a face he's never seen before.
"Lord Orochimaru. I have a message for you from Lord Danzo." A cold-hearted Root unit by the name of Sai makes a surprise entrance and tips the scales in Orochimaru's favor. With this, his two missions of getting rid of Sasuke and contacting Orochimaru are both successful.
"And I hope you don't mind this, but I had orders to kill Uchiha Sasuke. This much is non-negotiable."
"How did you find this place ?" A glad but nonetheless curious Orochimaru asks.
"It was hard tracking you, but one of the Hidden Leaf's Anbu units spotted you moving, supposedly while changing hideouts. Luckily, we took care of things in time." Taking care of things entailing the death of that Anbu unit and reporting the sighting, all in secrecy. "But I digress. Am I interrupting something ?"
"Hahaha..." The snake laughs softly. "In a sense... But your timing couldn't be more perfect. Wait for me outside. We'll talk after I am done here." Orochimaru laughs his heart out before resuming his goal.
In another one of Orochimaru's hideouts meanwhile, a hostile figure is laying waste to all everything he sees, ranging from disgusting experiments, weird liquids, humanoid forms. The man in the one eyed mask is done looking in every nook and cranny of the hideout, and for the second time he found nothing but empty shells of what used to be human, but not the author of this madness.
"Digusting."
He heads out. And as the timing wills it, an Akatsuki meeting is notified to its member. One after the other, they join. Still a full house, with the exception of Hidan.
"You're late" Pain lightly scolds team Kisame for the delay.
"We just captured the Four-tails and had to tie him up." Kisame answers for it.
"Where's Hidan ?" Kisame asks.
"In pieces. He was messed by a single Hidden Leaf ninja, when they went out for the Nine-tails. We're wondering whether to stitch him back or not. Hm." Deidara declares, in a slightly mocking tone.
"Sashimi ?" Tobi asks like a child.
"Sashimi." Deidara confirms like a parent.
"Sashimi!" The child is excited.
"Speaking of which, did you capture him ? Surely you didn't fail with 4 members on the mission." Pain, still stern, refocuses everyone on the subject.
"Unfortunately not. Sasori and I were supposed to ambush, but Hidan was taken and beaten by one guy, while Kakuzu had to fend off two cells on his own. Sasori went to retrieve Hidan and I intervened before Kakuzu was hit by that ... thing..."
Deidara struggles to find the words as he makes a swirling movement with his finger, vaguely alluding to Rasenshuriken but Kakuzu continues for him.
"A high density Jutsu. If I got hit by it, I would probably have died on the spot. I had already lost 2 hearts fighting the other kids."
"And he didn't use it against me. Knowing he's a reckless idiot, he wouldn't have hidden it when back when we first fought. So he must have learned it in this short time. Hm."
"So ? That still doesn't explain why you didn't capture the Nine-tails." Pain retorts with clear discontent in his tone.
"They were joined by four cells of the Hidden Leaf's Anbu police forces. Luckily, the Jinchuuriki started losing control after seeing Deidara. We waited until Sasori was done, and came back, but the Nine-tails ran amok and was too much to handle. " Kakuzu sums up the situation.
"We captured one of Anbu's members before he killed himself like the other one. " Deidara adds."
"Tobi will bring him to me. Anything else ?"
"I cast my brainwashing jutsu on the kid that got Hidan. This way we can get more intel on the leaf. At least before they figure it out. I'm slightly to blame for letting the Nine-tails run wild, though. I needed to gauge his power." Sasori give one more piece of good news before Pain call off the meeting.
"That's better than nothing then. At least no one died. Dism-"
"Urgent news ! " Zetsu burst into the meeting.
"Uchiha Sasuke is dead. He was swallowed by Orochimaru."
Tobi whistles.
"Well, well..." Kisame follows.
"Oi, oi ..." Sasori expects the worst.
"Now that's a bombshell." Deidara inappropriately adds.
The mood completely shifted. Itachi that was quiet all this time is now the center of attention.
His hologram stayed still for a couple seconds that felt like an eternity. And when everyone was expecting a reaction. He left.
----------- {Outcome }-----------
Sasuke : Deceased. Body and abilities taken by Orochimaru.
Four tails : Captured .
Hidan : Whereabouts unknown.
-------- { Chapter : End } ----------