Work Text:
His old classmates wondered why he kept returning to such a vehemently hated person like Orochimaru instead of staying in the village by Naruto’s side.
Sasuke knew they could never understand the stability Orochimaru gave him when he deserted the village.
It was never easy, or an ideal environment for a growing boy… criminals everywhere you turn, weeks without food as some kind of test, and physical torture repackaged as ‘training.’
At the time he had nowhere else to go. As he grew stronger, his relationship with his new sensei also evolved, seeing as he was now allowed in his presence.
Sasuke had been no fool even as a child. He quickly picked up on the fact he was to be Orochimaru’s next vessel.
Before Orochimaru allowed Sasuke to become one of his shinobi, he had him put through truly awful tests. Sasuke remembers his time down there, he fought, starved, and bled while trapped in complete darkness for three weeks, fighting what he now knows were Orochimaru’s failed experiments, not worth the labor of killing.
Down there only three people crossed his mind; the man he was going through all this to kill, a boy who claims to be the only one who can share his pain, and the man who’s going to help him achieve his goals.
During his time in ‘the pit’ he learned what thirst was like, it made it almost painful to speak, so he didn’t, half the creatures down here weren’t able to anymore anyways. After having only killed 3 people in his lifetime on his missions, he lost count within 10 minutes down there.
As soon as Orochimaru closed the entrance, taking the last of the light with him, he was attacked by many, then when he won there, more were waiting for him. Sasuke created a split in his mind on one side he would believe Orochimaru wanted to train up his own Uchiha protege, make Sasuke powerful, and maybe feel he’s owed his firstborn. On his realistic side he knew Orochimaru didn’t care if he got his revenge or not, that was up to Sasuke putting in the work to beat his time limit, and Orochimaru would not coddle him.
Sasuke decided to ignore the plans for his body for now, take full advantage of the training, observe Orochimaru for the day he has to defeat him, and leave for his brother. He knew fearing the future wouldn’t help him grow in his short time frame. He had three years to overpower Orochimaru and kill Itachi.
…
Sasuke was 14 now, he could feel his growth in power and even physically, since he first arrived at Sound.
Orochimarus cruel training had stripped him of any remaining weight from childhood, quickly shaping the boy into his ideal physique, slender and toned. Afterall Sasuke’s body was going to be his to live in.
Orochimaru closely watched any training or mission he assigned Sasuke, oftentimes having to kill his own troops for nearly scarring his future vessel. He finds amusement in Sasuke’s contempt at this. Towards him? For protecting his precious body?
Sasuke rarely gets to participate in missions at this age, Orochimaru finding it to risky, but Sasuke always accompanies Orochimaru and his second hand Kabuto when switching bases.
Moving bases used to be hard for Sasuke, and that’s why Orochimaru had them do it every two weeks, other than the fact every shinobi nation was looking for them.
Orochimaru used to ignore him, save for when half the hideout was in one place, then he would be sure to show off how precious Sasuke was (without revealing the fact he was his future vessel, although surely he knows Sasuke knows, right?) and insure Sasuke would be made a target.
Sasuke learned to beat them into submission pretty early on, he knew Orochimaru was changing him, hardening him up for what? He only ever wanted to harm Itachi, not some random lost kids, scarily similar to him if he were to dwell on it.
It made him realize how lucky he was for the first time in his life. He took his family for granted before they were snatched away from him like nothing, he hated the village, he still does, but he couldn’t imagine how cursed a life it would be, to be stuck down here and not even cross Orochimaru’s mind.
Sasuke began to like the Sound villages. They lacked the hypocrisy of acknowledged shinobi villages, and everyone knew it was a horrible, violent, unfair place, but no one lied and said it wasn’t. Everything was laid on the table and for once simple.
After Sasuke manages to kill all four of Orochimaru’s elite guards, at his sensei’s order, Orochimaru looks quite pleased and announces his sleeping quarters will be moved.
He now sleeps a hallways down from Orochimaru, snakes often jumping out at him from his own laundry as a result.
One night he wakes up in excruciating pain, the Sannin above him fangs in his neck on his curse mark. He couldn’t move the tips of his fingers, or even his eyes, he remained like that for what felt like an hour but Orochimaru finally pulled away with a sick smile on his face.
“Sorry Sasuke-kun, but I figured you’d prefer if you experienced half the pain while still asleep, tomorrow’s testing won’t be easy.” Then he leaves his room making Sasuke question if he were ever really there.
Eventually as they have to spend more time together, Sasuke realizes Kabuto hates him. He hid it well under a mask of indifference, but with Sasuke’s skill in the sharingan growing he could read people easier, pick out details most wouldn’t.
Kabuto tensed up every time Orochimaru joined Sasuke in the testing lab, interrupting the job he had assigned Kabuto, just to reach into Sasuke’s mouth and deposit 3-5 pills daily. (As if he didn’t trust Kabuto with the privilege.)
Sasuke found amusement in the fact Kabuto took it so personally. As Sasuke grew older Orochimaru started doping him, he no longer allowed him to eat from the same hall as his throwaway troops, and he caught him leering at him a couple times.
It was a pathetic case of jealousy. Why he was jealous about a fifty year old snake going after a teenager, Sasuke would never know but he liked having the upper hand and against Kabuto for once, he was never nice while testing on Sasuke, but was, of course, careful to not leave marks.
Approaching his 15th birthday his training becomes rigorous, to the point Sasuke questions if Orochimaru still plans to take him as a vessel, but when a senbon comes mere centimeters from his eye he’s suddenly looking at a mass of floating blood of the 40-50 shinobi sent to test him.
His eyes find a disappointed Orochimaru looking at Sasuke in disgust, the way Sasuke looks at the now brown floor.
“Come boy, you need to take your medications.”
Sasuke knows not to pry, he knows when Orochimaru is in a mood, he knows when to ask for something he wants. Sasuke would watch Orochimaru’s henchmen fail time and time again trying to communicate with their cruel kage, but Sasuke learned how to succeed before he ever tried, thanks to the sacrifices of many idiots.
It’s another thing that made Kabuto hate him. Sasuke went from a dull, angry, but still annoyingly polite kid, to an egomaniac making light of Orochimaru’s time.
Sasuke no longer starved because he made himself the most agreeable at meal time, he’d answer any questions his sensei had no matter how they made his body seize up. Questions about his old teammates, his brother, Naruto.
His room was better furnished than Kabuto’s at almost any base, always close to Orochimaru. Kabuto would watch in amazement when Sasuke would ask Orochimaru for something as preposterous as a custom wallpaper, but then he’d choke seeing him agree without a fight.
Sasuke just knew when to ask.
Orochimaru even makes himself at home on Sasuke’s bed, reading some old scroll, while Sasuke puts up his new wallpaper.
Sasuke felt sick when he realized Orochimaru was here to try and comfort him. Sasuke had asked for wallpaper with his clan symbol. Orochimaru cruelly forbid him of wearing any clan memorabilia for the first year and a half, to spare him from being targeted, but of course he made no effort to explain that.
Now Sasuke was ready to start feeling like an uchiha again, starting with his living situation. He turns to Orochimaru, schooling his features, then back to the wall.
He didn’t get this far by running his mouth at the scariest Sannin around.
Orochimaru returns his old clothes, but they’re too small to fit him, so he has a uniform made for his student. Sasuke accepts the purple rope, the same model as his sensei’s, something even Kabuto doesn’t have, something just for the two of them. It doesn’t escape Sasuke’s notice how revealing the uniform is.
Orochimaru begins to more invasively inspect Sasuke. After grueling training and medication, he brings Sasuke to his lab and weighs him, swabs his tongue, and runs his hands up and down his bare skin, searching for new health issues that can come with his age.
Sasuke doesn’t particularly struggle, but it’s near impossible to stay still, a being of such high power, the center of his everyday life over the last few years, towering over his bare body checking him for anything that could be affecting him.
He tries to move his arms in front of his body to hide himself, to hide a particular part of himself, but Orochimaru, precise as ever, quickly pulled his arms back down to the chair and strapped them in, not one for patience.
“Oh, were you embarrassed?” He asks looking straight down at it, leaving Sasuke mortified and red in the face. “Don’t be it’s perfectly normal for boys your age.” Then he just resumes gently palming into his skin checking for god knows what.
Sasuke manages to survive the encounter with his dignity still intact and is shooed away back to his room.
He doesn’t care that the snakes hiding in his room saw him reach down his pants the second he closes the door, sure to tell their master.
Sasuke starts taking advantage of his scandalous uniform, and of the leers it causes from Orochimaru.
Anything he asks for he’s sure to have it before the end of the week, if not, the lower troops would have hell to pay for it.
Rumors start spreading through the bases, talk of Sasuke being a “coddled favorite” to a “mini Orochimaru” and Sasuke’s personal favorite “Kabuto’s replacement.” Of course no one talks of this when they are stationed.
On Sasuke’s 15th birthday he has a fever so high Orochimaru doesn’t let him out of his sight, forgetting his previous obligations, or rather passing them onto Kabuto.
Sasuke lies sick, eyes half shut, on Orochimaru’s comically large bed. His sensei is sat at his desk doing what little busy work he can while his vessel pants quietly, soaked in sweat.
“A shower should cool you off, then we’ll go get your dinner and come back.” He lifts the boy from the bed not giving him a choice and strips him in his personal bathroom.
Orochimaru sits him on the edge and washes and rinses him himself. He then dries him and wraps him in a robe, and carried him to their private eating quarters.
If Kabuto were to see Orochimaru feeding Sasuke by hand, the boy warm and wrapped into his side, content, he might die on the spot.
Orochimaru is pleased at how malleable his vessel has been, and the boy clearly knows the plans laid out for his body, or he wouldn’t push himself so hard.
He spends the night checking Sasuke’s fever, and spooning medicine in the sleeping boys mouth. Come morning the boy has some color back.
Orochimaru takes advantage of the slumbering uchiha, or the opportunities that came with it.
His hand passes through Sasuke’s hair. Even his hair is laid out so perfectly, even Itachi didn’t approach the magnificence Sasuke had. Orochimaru found it funny Sasuke couldn’t see he’s already surpassed his brother in some ways.
Orochimaru grew more obsessed with his student by the day. His ideal fat to muscle ratio, his soft hair, the beauty mark on the inside of his left knee, and his voice.
Orochimaru said yes to almost anything Sasuke asked for, just to ensure he would keep asking, and Orochimaru would be the one he asks.
Sasuke’s head leans back with a gentle pull of his hair and he makes a noise, causing Orochimaru to laugh and let him go.
Orochimaru sinks lower into the bed, surprisingly tired, and for the first time since his twenties, falls asleep in the presence of someone else. Sasuke wouldn’t know the significance of this, and even if he did, what would it matter? They were soon to be one being, intertwined together.