Third person POV

A group fastly moving shadows leapt through the forest until reaching a subtle cave and hill formation. One of the figures walked up to a cold stone surface, and with a drop of blood, a seal lit up and the stone moved aside, revealing a passage. The figure's head turned around a full 180, grin splitting their face as they beckoned a small shadow to follow them. A huff was heard before a smaller figure followed the tall one in, the two followed by their forces. When all the shadows had disappeared into the passage, the stone slid back into place, looking as natural a stone formation as it ever had.

.....

Sasuke followed Orochimaru down long, slingering underground tunnels until they reached a room Orochimaru once more opened with his blood. They had separated from the sound ninja a few forks back in the tunnels. The Uchiha's face was expressionless, even as his eyes burned the slightest with anticipation.

Orochimaru had been boasting their entire trip of all the things he could teach Sasuke, and Sasuke was beyond tempted. The snake sannin would teach him real power, not like the senseis of the hidden leaf that preached friendship and teamwork over everything else. He was very satisfied with Ren's idea to have him learn from Orochimaru. Ren, actually, had been suspiciously silent since her overtake of his body, but Sasuke wasn't worried. Ren was a monster bird. It's not like anything could actually be wrong.

When they had entered the underground room lit up with strangely bright spheres of light, Orochimaru turned back to Sasuke and his eyes raked over the pale boy, sparkling with greed. The snake tongue creeped out only to hang from the corner of his mouth again as the snake sanning smiled and sat down in a chair, leaning back leisurely, morbidly happy eyes still fixed on Sasuke.

"Well, my cute little student, I promised you a cheat to immediate improvement to kickstart our relationship and your training under me. Now this boost is actually going to be based on a gift I've already given you before... see, I always knew you'd end up joining me, Sassukee~"

Hissing in pleasure, Orochimaru looked pointedly at the crook of Sasuke's neck, where the curse mark lay.

"You can already move around and battle on such a high level after receiving my curse mark, you must have mastered it already to function so well without it tearing you apart. Ah, really, such talent. The Leaf Village really had a quality batch of genin this time... that beautiful little teammate of yours too. I have nothing but fond recollections of her, though I haven't seen her in a while. What say you, my darling protegé? You like her too, don't you? How about we go grab you a little junior sister."

Orochimaru was almost babbling at that point, tongue twisting excitedly as his eyes sparkled with happy anticipation and deep fondness. Sasuke's face on the other hand only darkened.

"She's gone. She left the Leaf."

Orochimaru picked up on the bitter anger in Sasuke's voice and a dark eyebrow raised, the snake sannin slowly smirking, smug beyond measure at having unexpectedly located a trigger of his little student's. That might come in handy later.

Still, about that pretty girl with the insane eyes. It was really a pity. He had really gotten attached to the idea of having her around.

Sighing weakly, Orochimaru decided to leave that alone for now. He always got what he wanted, Sasuke standing barely a few feet in front of him proving that. He'd find her eventually. But for now...

"Sasuke, demonstrate the power of your curse mark for me now."

Hearing the order, Sasuke was slightly stumped. Seeing the always stone faced Uchiha looking even stonier than normal, not making the slightest move to respond, Orochimaru's smug mood flipped and he got the slightest bit annoyed. He knew he was a genius, but surely others could make an effort to at least understand the human language?

Corner of his mouth turning down minutely, Orochimaru elaborated the incentive for his young little student.

"The curse mark needs to be activated for me to lay the next layer on it. Only that way can I give you more power. This will also conveniently let me see where your control is at."

But Sasuke still didn't respond, only slightly furrowed his brow. Seconds of silence ticked by, and just as Orochimaru was about to snap, he heard a rather quiet sentence from the raven.

"I can't."

Now it was Orochimaru's turn to be stumped. Questioning yellow eyes bored into the Uchiha, who twisted his body uncomfortably before saying again,

"I can't activate the curse mark. I never did."

Orochimaru was confused.

"So you've only learnt to barely handle it once it's been spontaneously activated? Well, I guess you've had it for quite a short time, thinking you'd be able to control activation might be too high expectations, even for an Uchiha-"

"It's never been activated."

Everything was silent for a second before a whispered "Impossible" left Orochimaru's lips and he was on his feet, gaining on Sasuke. Stopping in front of the teenager, Orochimaru looked down at his neck. Orochimaru pushed Sasuke's hair to the side, closely inspecting the curse mark that wasn't functioning quite the way it was supposed to.

"This..."

Bright yellow eyes met dark, impatient onyx. Sasuke gave Orochimaru glare, uncomfortable with the sudden invasion of his personal space but refusing to show it.

"What is it."

The Uchiha's voice was cold and cutting. Orochimaru ignored the aggressive youth, still inspecting his curse mark with fascination on his face. Two slender, sickly pale fingers gently traced the curse mark, and Orochimaru lifted his gaze to meet Sasuke, the interest in his eyes shining like beacons.

"So very interesting... this, Sasuke my boy, is already a double seal."

Sasuke's brow scrunched up ever so slightly.

"Double seal? You gave me two?"

Orochimaru swiftly shook his head, eyes continuously straying towards Sasuke's neck.

"No no no, it wasn't me. It's not really a double seal, more like two completely different seals on top of each other... and the other seal seems to be obstructing the power from my curse mark. Happen to know anything about that though, Sasuke? Hmmmmm?"

Orochimaru eyed Sasuke with suspicion and sickly satisfied mischief. Sasuke's thoughts flashed to Ren for just a second but his expressions remained stony, face completely apathetic.

"...Oh, is that so. Well, can you remove it?"

His voice was the same as ever, pretending not to care or know about anything at all, but he was starting to feel slightly worried.

That's yours, isn't it? Can he remove it, Ren?

He half expected Ren, who had been very silent for the last few hours to ignore him, and was relieved when she didn't.

Jinchuuriki...?

Orochimaru kept tracing the curse mark with his fingers, until slowly pausing, as if in thought.

"I'm not sure... this seal is very strong. Most likely created by someone very powerful..."

The rest he mumbled to himself, musing.

"...Itachi, perhaps?"

After a little while, Orochimaru grabbed a scroll from the side and a puff of smoke immediately followed. Sasuke was grabbed hard by the shoulder, Kabuto holding him in place. The Uchiha glared everywhere, starting to feel really uneasy. His sharingan swirled to life as he fixed his gaze on Orochimaru, who was performing some sort of jutsu.

"What do you think you're doing?"

In response to the provoked Uchiha that was trying to wrestle, unsuccessfully, out of Kabuto's hold, Orochimaru smiled as the tips of his fingers lit up with a greenish flame, one on each fingertip. Then, the snake slowly neared Sasuke, his tongue slipping out of his mouth in a very creepy way. When he was inches away from Sasuke, his hand with the flaming fingertips positioned right over the base of Sasuke's neck, Orochimaru fixed the Uchiha with an intrigued gaze.

"Well, my beloved disciple seems to have a powerful, unknown seal on him that is restricting my own seal from fully activating... I might not be able to undo it yet, but I really, reeaaally want to see just what kind of seal it is!"

Sasuke's eyes widened as Orochimaru's grin split open half his face, and the snake-sannin plunged his fingers onto Sasuke's neck.

Immediately, Sasuke felt pain with a strong pulling sensation running through his body, leading to his neck. Simultaneously, Orochimaru was watching with avid interest as an intricate seal came into view on the skin beneath his fingers. As the green flames came into contact with the seal, it lit up in a bright purple light.

In that moment, Sasuke felt an immediate sense of crisis as the pull seemed to lead outside his body.

REN!

It was silent. Sasuke felt Kabuto's arms holding him slack, and immediately shook them off. When he freed himself, he looked back at Kabuto, only to see the ninja looking with shocked eyes right past him, as if not seeing Sasuke at all. Whipping around to follow the creepy medic's gaze, Sasuke found his eyes locked on a figure.

It was someone's back. He could see the pale, porcelain skin of the exposed legs and arms, as well as the slim lower back. The figure was rather dainty, but had pretty developed curves. A short black dress reached just below her mid-thighs, and she wore no shoes, her pale legs and feet completely bare. Long, opaque black hair was flowing softly with the non-existent breeze, creating an enchanting visage, almost like something out of a dream. Sasuke faintly registered the black rune-like tattoos running down the girl's spine, arms and legs. They were intricate, yet didn't cover much skin at all. Elegant and beautiful, yet somehow inspiring a sense of dread.

A sudden voice coming from somewhere beyond the figure made Sasuke snap out of his thoughts.

"Oooohhhh.... I know you. I searched for you for a long while, little thing!"

Orochimaru was standing face to face with the girl, his yellow eyes flashing first with utter confusion, before turning to pleasure and obsessive fixation. Sasuke was wondering what it was Orochimaru was talking about, until the figure turned to face him.

A beautiful, simply divine face framed by soft locks of hair, black like the darkest of nights. Symmetrical eyebrows. Dainty, perfect nose. Flawless, pouty lips, red like dripping blood. Dark tattoos running from the corners of her eyes down her cheeks, along the expected path of her tears, should she ever cry. And the eyes.

Absolutely gorgeous.

Flaming purple pits of hell.

Sasuke was stunned, staring at the very familiar, dearly beloved yet hated face that looked so different, yet completely the same. He'd recognize that flawless face anywhere, coloring be damned.

"Cei..."

But then he stopped. Looking into those purple pits of hellfire, a premonition rose from deep within his stomach, making him feel heavy yet light, like a man drowning on air. He knew those eyes. How many times had they looked at him with amusement, as insane laughter pounded through his mind?

"...Ren."

The girl blinked her large, burning eyes and her perfect face broke into a blinding smile, a smile that could make the entire world bow down at her feet, begging for the slightest favor, the slightest look, slightest touch.

"Why hello there, Sasuke. Been a while... yet hasn't."

She made a silly expression, lightly hitting her own head as if to demonstrate how stupid her sentence sounded. But Sasuke didn't care. He stared intently at the girl, the look in his eyes seeming to burn even stronger than hers. The girl's face instantly sobered, as she looked at the boy nearing her with ominous steps, a neutral look settling on her face.

Sasuke stopped mere inches in front of her, his eyes scanning every inch of her face, not wanting to miss anything. Her softly rounded bone-structure, the flawless pale skin like ice-diamonds, the beautiful lips that he had on more than one occasion dreamed of kissing...

And the black tattoos running down her face and body. The black hair, just as lustrous as her gorgeous and smooth feathers. The sinister air that seemed to shroud her like miasma, instilling fear and a kind of natural revulsion that all living things should have towards a thing so intimately related to death.

The familiar purple eyes that burned with the promise of unrelenting, unparalleled power.

"...Ceiren."

Ceiren met Sasuke's gaze head-on, onyx clashing with flaring purple. One, burning with obvious intent, while the other simply with hidden mischief.

"Well, the gig was up much faster than I expected... should have expected that from you, Oroepedo. Good job!"

Ceiren quickly whipped around to give Orochimaru a resounding thumbs-up, before turning right back to stare at Sasuke. Seeing that he was still glaring at her, she sighed and gave a small smile, silently relenting to his gaze that was grilling her for answers.

"Well, I made true on my promise, didn't I?"

Sasuke stilled for a moment, his voice coming out sounding hoarse.

"...what?"

Ceiren's smile widened as she raised her hands and cupped Sasuke's cheeks, gently stroking them.

"Well, before the second part of the exams, remember? They wouldn't allow a team with four members, so I said I'd leave. And I promised you a gift. Do you still remember what you wanted?"

She slowly leaned into him, until her lips brushed against his ear. Slowly, her melodious voice sounded, quiet and beautiful, but menacing, like whispers of the damned at night.

"Power."