Sasuke made a circuit of the Capital, asking everyone he met, "May I have a look at your XX, miss?" If he had not been wearing court robes, someone might have beaten him to death at any moment.
He wanted to find a suitable source of food for Naruto, and that source had to be a strong, healthy woman.
Of course, not everyone turned Sasuke down.
Some women noticed his handsome looks and entertained other ideas, so they agreed.
Among them, Sasuke selected a sturdy woman whom the neighbors called "Fish Sister." He felt certain she could provide Naruto with healthy food.
Sasuke declined Fish Sister's invitation to sample the goods and prepared to investigate her personal connections. Once he confirmed that her background was clean, he could bring her to Naruto.
Just then, however, Sasuke spotted a familiar figure.
Sasuke rubbed his eyes, almost convinced that his Mangekyo had developed age-related farsightedness.
After checking again and again, Sasuke finally confirmed that this was his future master, Orochimaru.
In this world, Orochimaru was not Hiruzen Sarutobi's disciple. Hiruzen Sarutobi had initially adopted only Tsunade, adding Jiraiya later.
The reason was that Hiruzen Sarutobi feared that more people meant more loose tongues, making it easier for their identities as fugitives to be exposed.
Rather than saying Jiraiya and Tsunade were childhood companions, it would have been more accurate to say that Jiraiya and Orochimaru were.
Tsunade was the daughter of a distinguished family that had been wiped out, and now her identity as a princess had also come to light.
Jiraiya and Orochimaru, on the other hand, were both commoners with no connections or influential backgrounds.
Neither had parents even as children, and they had depended on each other to survive.
Then one day, Hiruzen Sarutobi decided to adopt a child