Did Orochimaru Have a Change of Heart?

The three-day wilderness survival exercise officially came to an end.

In the clearing at the assembly point, most of the students looked disheveled and covered in grime.

Naruto had two streaks of mud smeared across his cheeks, and his orange jumpsuit was torn in several places by tree branches. He stood with his hands on his hips, pacing through the crowd with a huff.

Sakura's hair was somewhat messy, and she was bent over, brushing dead leaves off her pant legs.

Sasuke leaned against a tree trunk at the edge of the assembly point, looking rather worse for wear due to his earlier skirmish with Orochimaru.

"Sasuke!" Naruto spotted Sasuke under the tree and immediately sprinted over.

He pointed a finger at Sasuke's nose and began to shout loudly.

"Where the hell have you been hiding these past three days! I turned the entire forest upside down and couldn't find you! Were you hiding in a tree hole the whole time because you were afraid I'd snatch your stickers?"

Sakura walked over as well; although she wasn't as dramatic as Naruto, her tone was still laced with complaints.

"Sasuke, I really didn't see you at all these past three days. I was thinking that if we ran into each other, we could have teamed up..."

Sasuke straightened his posture and loosened his shoulders.

"It's better that we didn't meet."

"Huh? Why!" Naruto puffed out his chest, unconvinced.

"Because if we had, I would have taken your stickers. Then you wouldn't even have enough points to pass."

Naruto's face flushed red instantly, and he waved his fists. "Don't look down on me! I managed to grab a scroll!"

"Everyone, come over and hand in your scrolls and stickers!" Iruka stood behind a long table in the center of the clearing, holding a clipboard and shouting.

The students lined up and stepped forward one by one.

When it was Sasuke's turn, he walked up to the table and reached into his backpack.

Clatter.

A pile of stickers and mission scrolls was dumped onto the tabletop.

Iruka's hand, holding his pen, hung suspended in mid-air.

He looked at the loot on the table, then back at the expressionless Sasuke.

"Sasuke Uchiha... seventeen stickers, four... scrolls."

He practically ransacked the entire exercise grounds, Sasuke...

Iruka swept the items into a collection bin, his gaze toward Sasuke becoming somewhat complicated.

This child's strength had completely exceeded the standards of the Ninja Academy; he would have to report this to the higher-ups.

"Iruka-sensei." Sasuke didn't leave the table, speaking up directly.

"I want to see the Hokage."

Iruka paused, looking at the exaggerated pile of loot on the table, and nodded.

He had to report to the Hokage anyway.

"Alright, come with me."

Inside the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind a large desk.

He held a pipe in his hand, and the desk was piled high with thick documents.

After Iruka brought Sasuke into the office and gave a brief report on the exercise, he retreated and closed the door behind him.

Only Hiruzen and Sasuke remained in the office.

Hiruzen took the pipe from his mouth, tapped it twice against the edge of an ashtray, and fixed his gaze on Sasuke.

"I didn't expect to see you again so soon, Sasuke." Hiruzen's voice was very gentle. "I heard about your performance in the exercise from Iruka; it was excellent."

"You wouldn't come to see me on your own unless something was wrong." Hiruzen set his pipe on the desk and rested his chin on his clasped hands.

"Tell me, what trouble did you run into?"

Sasuke walked up to the desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down directly.

"I saw Itachi Uchiha."

Hiruzen's expression remained calm; after all, it was reasonable for Itachi to want to see his younger brother. "I see. I will have people investigate this shortly."

"There was someone else, too." Sasuke stared into Hiruzen's eyes.

"A guy with a deathly pale face and a long tongue, who called himself Orochimaru."

Clack.

The pipe near Hiruzen's hand was knocked over by an instinctive movement, hitting the desk with a sharp sound.

The old man's expression changed completely.

If Itachi's appearance was still within his expectations and control, the name Orochimaru was far too shocking.

Orochimaru had infiltrated Konoha? And he had made contact with Sasuke at the exercise grounds?

The Anbu and the Barrier Team hadn't noticed a thing!

"What did he do?" Hiruzen's voice turned fierce in an instant, heavy with oppression.

He stared fixedly at Sasuke's body, attempting to find any trace of injury or hexes.

Hiruzen knew better than anyone just how greedy Orochimaru was for Kekkei Genkai.

"He wanted to plant something called a Cursed Seal on me," Sasuke replied.

Hiruzen stood up abruptly, the chair behind him scraping harshly against the floor.

"You were bitten?!"

"No," Sasuke shook his head.

Hiruzen's tense shoulders relaxed slightly, but his brows remained tightly locked.

Orochimaru didn't forcibly abduct him? That was completely out of character for his rebellious former student.

"Black," Sasuke called out to the shadow on the floor.

The shadow beneath his feet churned, and Black Dog stepped out from within.

It shook its fur, walked over to Sasuke's leg, and sat down.

Hiruzen's gaze fell upon this ninja hound.

"He didn't bite me," Sasuke pointed at Black Dog, "he bit him."

A deathly silence fell over the office.

Hiruzen stood behind his desk, mouth agape, eyes wide.

He looked from Sasuke to the black dog, his mind unable to process the situation.

"You... what did you say?" Hiruzen doubted he had heard correctly.

"Orochimaru bit your dog?"

"Correct," Sasuke patted Black Dog's neck, "show him."

Black Dog let out a low, extremely reluctant growl from its throat.

It controlled the muscles on the side of its neck, causing the black fur in that area to part, revealing the greyish-white skin beneath.

At the location of Black Dog's carotid artery, three black tomoe patterns were linked head-to-tail, emitting a faint, chilling fluctuation of chakra.

Hiruzen braced his hands on the edge of the desk, leaning forward, staring intensely at the mark on the dog's neck.

He was all too familiar with this.

This was a forbidden jutsu Orochimaru used to control his subordinates; it had appeared on the neck of his beloved student, Anko Mitarashi.

He had even sealed it himself.

But now, this forbidden jutsu, representing one of Orochimaru's greatest masterpieces, had actually appeared on the neck of a dog.

The corners of Hiruzen's mouth twitched uncontrollably.

His first shock was that Orochimaru had actually let Sasuke go, failing to forcibly take away the last survivor of the Uchiha.

And the second shock, the one that nearly caused his brain to crash, was—

Orochimaru had actually, truly, bitten a dog on the neck?!

"He... why would he bite a dog?" Hiruzen's voice trembled, unsure if it was from anger or the sheer absurdity of it all.

"I told him to," Sasuke leaned back in his chair, his tone matter-of-fact.

"He said this thing could grant power, so I had him test it on my Shikigami. He didn't want to at first, but he bit him in the end."

Black Dog covered the Cursed Seal with its fur again and raised a hind leg to scratch its neck.

"That guy named Orochimaru, his mouth tastes like dead rats," Black Dog spoke in human language, its tone filled with disgust.

"If it weren't for this bit of power, I would have bitten his tongue off on the spot."

Hiruzen slumped back into his chair.

He reached up to cover his face, rubbing it vigorously.

Orochimaru, twisted as he was, treating human life like grass—he actually listened to Sasuke and bit a dog?

What on earth was he thinking? Had he had a change of heart recently?

"Hokage," Sasuke tapped the edge of the desk, pulling Hiruzen back to reality.

"I've brought you the intelligence on Orochimaru. Since he can enter silently, he can do other things just as quietly."

Sasuke stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"I've done what I promised you; I didn't hide any information."

"As for why he came or what he wants to do, that's for you Konoha higher-ups to worry about. Don't let him bother me again."

Sasuke turned and walked toward the door.

"Wait," Hiruzen lowered his hands, his expression returning to the solemnity of the Hokage.

"Sasuke, Orochimaru is extremely dangerous. Since he has set his sights on you, he won't give up easily. In a while, I will find someone to take you out of the village for a change of pace."

Sasuke had just gripped the doorknob: "As long as that person is of use to me, it will suffice. I will be heading to the library soon, so get me the pass early."

Having said that, he strode out of the office, the door slamming shut behind him.

The office fell silent once more.

Hiruzen's gaze rested on the documents atop his desk.

He took a deep, harsh drag of his pipe.

Amidst the swirling smoke, the old man's eyes grew incredibly complex.

"Orochimaru..." Hiruzen murmured the name.

"What exactly are you plotting?"