Chapter 5: Bargain
Sasuke brought the katana close to his eyes before Naruto instinctually pushed the weapon aside.
"Sasuke. Are you out of your mind?" the blonde yelled, in hopes of changing his stubborn sibling's mind. "Mother wouldn't want this."
Orochimaru's tongue extended out, licking his lips in mischievous amusement. "No Sharingan, no mother," he purred.
Sasuke glanced over. "You're right. How about an even better deal?" The reptile of a man's eyes grew into even thinner slits. The Uchiha knew it was his cue to continue. "You can have a full pair of Sharingan instead. On the condition you give me two months." Orochimaru didn't respond, still deep in thought. "You can either have one Sharingan now, or a pair in two months. All I ask is two months."
"One month…" the ex-Konoha murmured. "A full pair in one month."
Naruto wanted to protest, but Sasuke didn't let him step in. His gamble didn't completely fail. "Deal. One month."
And it was settled.
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Naruto glanced over at his dark-haired brother who seemed unscathed by the exchange. It was worrisome. One month isn't nearly enough to locate someone, but unlike before, they had a lead, a not too unfamiliar lead.
"Hey Sasuke," Naruto finally spoke, "Are you really serious about giving up your Sharingan?"
Sasuke grimaced. "I don't intend to give up my own if I don't have to. I was kind of praying that I'd bump into him and use his pair instead." Truth be told, it was a terrible plan. The chances of bumping into dear "brother" was slim, but defeating him was a must. It just turned out it needed to be sooner than later.
Naruto nodded. "Right." He too knew it was a long run. When Orochimaru comes to collect, they can fight their way out then if so needed. However, Sasuke has his plans and Naruto grew up to respect that.
"Right now we have to focus on locating Mizuki." Sasuke caught the sudden disesteemed expression on Naruto's usually cheerful face.
Mizuki was a former instructor at the Leaf Academy and also friend. But after the scroll-stealing incident, Naruto was traumatized for awhile after witness Iruka-sensei getting hurt because of his naivety. Sasuke remembered, but never blamed him for it. Everyone has their moments of weaknesses.
The two Konoha shinobi made their way out of the Hidden Sound Village and eventually arrived in an even more tenebrous part of the land. Conveniently, there was only one joint and everybody knew everybody else. Mizuki's whereabouts weren't so secretive as anticipated. In fact, ask any ninja at the bar and they'd easily guide you there for a bit of coin. Which was exactly what the two did.
The two brothers crouched behind the bushes around the house Mizuki was rumored to be residing in. It was a decent house, enough to fit around four people but no more. They reasoned that he wouldn't be keeping the "goods" with him. It would make him too much of a target given how valuable one human could be. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and to both his and Naruto's disappointment, the house was vacant. It looked vacant for a while already and the two could only pray that that meant he'd be coming back soon to maintain it.
A week easily flew by with no signs of Mizuki. They asked around, but Mizuki was a nomad. His line of business called for him to constantly be on the hunt and so staying in one place was rare. So if anywhere, they'd have more luck to stay and wait for his return. A few more days passed afterwards, marking more than half of the second week time limit.
Even if Sasuke wasn't growing impatient, Naruto was. Not only is his mother still missing, his brother is in jeopardy. Now they had even less time find mother and successfully locate and defeat the only other surviving Uchiha.
"Sasuke- We should just-" Naruto wasn't able to finish when Sasuke covered his mouth and pointed in the direction of the house.
A deep red color rose to Naruto's eyes as he recognized the familiar man with white shoulder-length hair carrying a huge shuriken on his back. His signature thin stature was now replaced with a strong built body that he flaunted in an unbuttoned fur vest. There was a chance Naruto wouldn't have recognized him if not for the vengeful look in eyes.
Sasuke wanted to formulate a plan, but something was off. The man didn't head inside the house. Instead, he was being extremely cautious and keeping some distance, but not once dropping the smug look on his face. He was in a new business nowadays, but there is no denying he had training as a shinobi.
"You two can come out."
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