Ryoko liked living in Konoha. In this age of shinobi, where killing was a profession. A well-paid job even. One thing she did miss - the music. There was a lot she could give to have her iPods right now with some rap blasting full force.

'...Play with my pussy, but don't play with my 'motions. If you spend some money, then maybe I just might fuck ya ' ' she hummed lyrics under her breath while painting a fence. Thankfully, no shinobi was nearby to hear her adult language. That might raise some questions.

The girl smirked. She could not wait to be old enough and 'enlighten ' shinobi around her with the 'wisdom ' from her past. The dirty dancing she used to do in the clubs. The nasty jokes, she always had to hold back now. Teenage years would be fun, she mused.

'All done, ' finally Ryoko reported to the owner of the fence. This was a D rank mission sensei gave her. To do alone. Actually, he dropped about a dozen missions on her head. Talking something about formalities, before they can do more

fun

activities.

Ryoko got a sense that Orochimaru was still testing her. Her patience for one. But he wasn 't that bad. Whenever she had training-related questions, he would provide an answer. That 's putting it lightly. The man was a walking book!

He would go on and on about the smallest details until all intricacies were explained. She soaked in the knowledge like a sponge. Rules and tips on meditation. Rules on developing a jutsu. He was even pleased to know that her chakra nature was not only fire but lightning as well.

They would also spar in the evening, but he never went what she would consider overboard. Ryoko would fight even if she couldn 't put her hands up anymore, but sensei would say that such a state of hers was not worth his time. His coldness and nonchalance were clearly disguising his common sense.

Why was he pretending to be cruel, when actually he had a soft spot, Ryoko didn 't know. But she learned to see through it. Her gratitude was shown by in return helping Orochimaru with his research.

The girl knew a thing or two about medicine and anatomy, from her past, to put it lightly. Of course, she hid it well by providing only small doses of knowledge. She would ask the right questions, which eventually led the sannin to the answer. And if his ego was brushed along the way, by him feeling like he solved the issue by himself, Ryoko didn 't mind.

??????????

After a few weeks of small missions, the day had finally come - C rank mission, baby! Ryoko was excited to leave the village for the first time. She didn 't even mind not taking any 'days off ' in the time Orochimaru became her sensei.

The guards by the gates looked suspicious letting her go alone with Orochimaru, but they didn 't comment. The perks of being a sannin were enough to compensate for this being not the standard four-man team.

The two of them traveled fast over the trees. It was a simple task of message delivery to the border and back. The war was taking more and more shinobi to fight. Unfortunately, this mission was not eventful.

So was the next mission. And the next. They were doing only C rank missions from then on. Small breaks in between. Some more training.

She could swear that Orochimaru got excited every time she brought a new idea for a jutsu.

'Sensei, how can one redirect lightning? '

'You can 't. '

'What about ' well when you generate lightning chakra? But just do it in reverse? Take lightning chakra, guide it through your body and then release? '

'You would die, ' he said flatly, but she could see the gears in his head starting to turn.

'Bullshit. There has to be a way. You probably wouldn 't guide it through vital organs like a heart or brain ' ' she carefully plastered on a thinking mask.

'Obbbbviousssly. But ' a stomach could theoretically work ' ' he thought aloud and she almost saw a moment when a light bulb flickered on above the man 's head.

'Cool! Zap me! I 'll try it! ' she smiled cheerfully extending her arm. She tried practicing it on herself, but it was difficult. And Ryoko had no urge to stand in the rain waiting for lightning to strike her.

She wasn 't the biggest fan of fiction and superhero movies, back in her old life, but she had seen a few. They all proved to have more than plenty of ideas to choose from for her ninjutsu creations.

There was one thing she desperately wanted to try out. Sensei said it would require too much chakra, but she insisted ' After all, each shinobi had a signature ex-Machina jutsu. She had just the perfect idea in mind for her own killer technique.

As she added more and more features to the thing, the number of hand seals to create it quickly got out of hand.

'You are

not

testing out

that

jutsu inside the village, ' Orochimaru sighed when she asked again to practice her devilish creation.

'But seeeeenseeeei! I have to try it out! How else will I know if it works? ' puppy eyes didn 't work on the snake, like on other adults. What did sway him, was the natural process of creation. Idea. Math. Trial & error. Testing was a crucial part and eventually, he agreed.

They traveled to the far end of the Land of Fire, where snowy mountains surrounded them from all directions. They didn 't want any casualties or damage.

It took a week of camping in a nearby cave until the jutsu worked out. Orochimaru stared at the devastated landscape in front of him.

'Huh. Well ' that wassss something, ' he mused.

'I think ' I will throw up, ' Ryoko swayed on her feet from exhaustion. This jutsu really did take a good chunk of her chakra, but it was ' magnificent. A true weapon of mass destruction. She would make the world burn! Right after she gets some rest.

Her knees buckled and her sight darkened, but she didn 't feel the impact with the ground. Instead, her head rested on something silky smooth.

'Reckless child, ' Orochimaru whispered, hooking his arms over her knees, while the girl fully fainted on his back. She didn 't see his fond smile.

??????????

Teaching was not how Orochimaru imagined it. The girl refused to give up or give in. Any task was done to perfection as many times as he asked. She was a top student if he could say so himself. Always diligent, listening, and thinking. Too much, to his liking.

If at first, the snake planned to break her, now he was not so sure if that would be possible. The girl wasn 't naive. Despite being obedient, she would challenge his ideas and thoughts. Like an ' equal! Ha! But ' she was skilled, he could not deny it.

Working with Ryoko was refreshing. She was like a breath of fresh air. It looked like her mind worked differently. Just like his mind. She had absurd ideas ' but they worked! So who was he to question her way of breaking decade-old shinobi traditions and expectations on ninjutsu?

If he was to be frank with himself, Orochimaru would admit that he learned from the girl as much as he taught her. She had a natural knack for medicine too. It might not be that odd, considering that her brother was making waves at the hospital with his own genius skills.

On the other hand, the girl had no reservations in criticizing his work! It didn 't look like she was disturbed by anything, but the way she thought about the future ' about what his work would have to deal with from the higher-ups ' Quickly, she would make a case that the trouble was not worth the results. Often than not, Orochimaru had to agree.

He already scrapped many experiments because of her reasoning or because the girl would suggest a more effective way to achieve what he wanted. A genius. She was a bloody genius. He would curse her if he didn 't find needing her opinion more and more each passing day.

Orochimaru would catch himself thinking 'what would Ryoko do in his place? '. The answer was always the same - think outside the box. Take another angle. Find a loophole. It was infuriating, but also very productive.

Finally, he pestered Hiruzen enough to give them a B rank mission. It took a couple of months convincing, but he knew how his old sensei worked. And now Orochimaru and his student traveled to the far Land of Frost.

The mission was to steal a scroll and leave undetected. That is why such an untraditional two-person team worked so well. Nobody would suspect a man with a child to be up to something. Most missions during wartime had bigger teams on them for security.

'Alright, we will take a break herrrre. A snowstorm issss comming, ' Orochimaru announced as they stopped on a snowy ledge of a small cave.

'Ye-ye-yes, sensei, ' the girl stuttered. Orochimaru glanced back. She was shivering! Now that 's a first. And she didn't even complain once. Of course, the climate of these lands was harsh, but he barely noticed the cold anymore.

'Why are you not using chakra to circulate your blood fasssster? ' he chastised the little girl. The tip of her nose was red and the unruly ends of her hair looked frosty.

'I-I-I have never d-d-done that before, ' she answered with rattling teeth. He exhaled. Right. Previous times in cold, the girl would do the oddest thing - she would breathe fire to warm herself. She called it her fire breath.

Now, however, they could not risk using any flames, as they would attract unwanted attention. And the girl knew it. So she used brute force of her will to keep going.

Orochimaru exhaled sharply. The kid would be the death of him. There is no telling what sensei would do if he let the little Uchiha freeze to death.

'Come, ' he beckoned the girl as he unsealed a bedroll and a blanket. With his back to the cave wall, Orochimaru sat down on the bedroll and motioned for the girl to come closer. She didn 't hesitate. Orochimaru long ago stopped being surprised by the lack of intimidation he had on the girl.

Ryoko again proved her intelligence, by knowing what he wanted without him having to say it. She took a seat in front of him, her back resting on his chest.

'Reckless, girl. You could have frozzzzen to death, ' he sighed wrapping a blanket over the both of them. Under it, one of his hands held a kunai for protection, the other wrapped around the shivering girl. She was cold as an icicle.

'I-I ha-hate cold, ' she shivered violently in his grasp.

The girl scooted even closer to his flack vest and he hugged her that much tighter. It was his precious student after all, and he could not let any harm fall upon her.

As they sat like this sharing the warmth and watching the snowfall starting to pick up into a full-blown storm, Orochimaru couldn 't help but feel something odd in his gut. Something warm ' It was a weird sensation and it could only be attributed to the girl he was watching over.

'Sleep, ' he ordered after a while and she obeyed. He felt her pulse slow down. And that felt nice. The feeling of her being so calm next to him ' that was nice. Orochimaru slowly realized that he wanted to protect the girl not only from harm. To protect her from cold. To watch over her while she slept. To protect her from the whole world.

Ryoko felt like a fragile glass doll in his grasp.

When did I get so attached?

he mused looking over her black head of hair. She had stopped shivering and that alone made him feel relieved. His heart felt almost as warm as this little body in his embrace.

In the beginning, Ryoko was nothing but another possible experiment. Her eyes were what got his attention, but it was her soul that changed his perception completely. She was too much like him, to do anything ' harmful to her. No, he would not let her die. Orochimaru decided to make her strong, just like him.

He wanted her to survive this harsh world. He wanted to protect her not only from death but the pain as well. Noone, who knew the girl, would call Ryoko Uchiha fragile. But Orochimaru

knew

people like her. He was like her.

Strong and conniving, but ' some things hurt more than a flesh wound. The loneliness he felt over decades was like the worst kind of torture. He didn 't notice it before as the man learned to push such thoughts aside and bury himself in work. Only after spending time with the girl, did the sannin realize how much he missed human contact and attention.

Ryoko was always open and straight with him. She felt

comfortable

around him. Her darkness didn 't bother him, just like his own darkness didn 't bother her. They were the same.

Orochimaru exhaled, closing his eyes for a second. So help him Kami if anyone dares to harm his little protege.

??????????

The mission was a success as expected. Ryoko never wanted to travel to the North again. Fuck snow and cold. Sensei at least taught her how to enhance her senses with chakra after that mission, although she preferred her fire breath.

And she was now fully convinced that beneath the scaly exterior, Orochimaru was a big softy. He outright refused for her to stay in the cold for too long when he learned about her lack of skill to warm up with chakra.

When she returned home, once again unharmed by her sensei, to her father's surprise, there was big news waiting for her.

'Itachi! You 're soooo lucky! ' she engulfed her brother in a tight hug. His team was actually going to participate in the chunin exams in a month.

'Thank you, Koko, ' he smiled softly at her. Itachi was already ten years old and probably one of the youngest ever participants of chunin exams. While Ryoko herself only recently turned nine, she had a long road ahead of her before climbing the ranks.

'You too, Shisui, ' Ryoko engulfed her cousin in a similar embrace.

'Awww, I already thought you forgot about me, hime, ' the boy ruffled her hair playfully and she could feel his chakra circling happily deep inside of the smiling boy.

'How was your mission? ' Itachi asked as the three of them took refuge in the shade of a big tree in their garden.

'Smooth. Sensei was very efficient, but he was not pleased that I didn 't know how to circle my chakra for warmth, ' she frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.

'You 'll get wrinkles, hime, ' Shisui laughed, poking her in the forehead. She rubbed the spot with a deeper frown on her face.

'Yeah yeah ' Honestly, Sensei is such a dotting worrier, that he could be worse than mother sometimes, ' Ryoko exhaled.

'... '

'Are you still talking about Orochimaru-sama? ' Itachi asked carefully while Shisui was still speechless.

'Hn. I swear, he doesn 't even spar with me to the full extent so I wouldn 't fall from exhaustion or something. '

'That 's good isn 't it? ' Itachi tried his best to understand her ranting, but his puzzled expression gave away that he couldn 't understand why she was unhappy.

'Honestly, I didn 't expect him to be such a softy ' ' she puffed her cheeks and sighed. Maybe Ryoko was just fucked up, but she honestly didn 't feel like Orochimaru was pushing her hard enough. Some people would probably disagree with her if only they knew the extent of their training.

'Orochimaru-sama ' is soft? Did you hit your head, hime? ' Shisui blinked and then poked Itachi to the side. 'Oy, examine her, I think your sister has a concussion. '

Itachi nodded in response with a serious expression. His hands started to glow green without even using any hand signs. Ryoko would have fled this forceful examination if they were only two of them. With Shisui, however, Ryoko had no chance for an escape. Her dear cousin was already getting famous for his speed and flickering skills.

'No concussion or other brain injury, ' Itachi deducted pulling his hands away.

'Obviously, ' Ryoko pouted harder.

'Koko, there 's another thing that happened while you were away ' ' Itachi started and his words got her attention quicker than Shisui could shunshin.

'Hn? '

'Obito was cleared. He is in the hospital now to finish the rehabilitation for his injuries. '

??????????