#sagemom

She'd never walked this far in one day. She'd never walked this far in her entire life. After days of searching, unwilling to give up, Fū is still determined to seek answers. In her mind, there was no better person to seek them from than one of The Legendary Sannin.

Years of isolated reading in the Takigakure archives and eavesdropping on the Jōnin, who often talked as if she weren't there, the conclusion at which Fū had arrived was this: if anyone had the power to undo her trappings, it would be Orochimaru.

Since sun-up, Fū had trekked through open grassland and into the forests of Otogakure at the far border of The Land of Fire, harnessing as much energy as she can to attune her senses. Having not made his acquaintance before, she knew such an undertaking would be difficult but she hadn't expected it to take her so long. Still, Fū doesn't relent.

Even though the sun now slips past the horizon, her worn soles march on through the forest between brief use of the wings at her back. Moving in the dark, she does eventually stumble upon what looks to be a shadow on the trail ahead.

To breech the thin delicate membrane composing Orochimaru's perimeter felt like a sin. It wasn't something Suigetsu does often, if he cannot help it, but between the lethargy and hunger, he forgotten to mind his manners to instead tug and flatten the fold of the sannin's cross-collar.

" Oh- heh, " the waterling smiles sheepishly, " a little bit of here n' there. Mostly been watching over Log between all that tedium you got me doing. "

Log had run off to look for Mitsuki so impetuously that he hadn’t brought his phone or anything that had GPS. He hadn’t even brought a compass or a map. He had been so anxious to save the day and redeem himself that he’d forgotten how unfamiliar he was with the lands outside Orochimaru’s lab.

He woke up with no idea where he was. He only knew that he was in a forest, curled up under a tree. He must not have slept for long, because it was still dark. In the moonlight, he could see hills in the distance.

He got up. As he walked, the realization hit him that he had failed entirely. He’d upset his brother, fought with his parent, and then ended up unable to do anything useful. Mitsuki had traveled so much, and so independently, that he probably knew exactly where he was, wherever he was. Now, instead of rescuing Mitsuki, Log needed rescuing himself. All his book knowledge couldn’t help him get back home in the dark.

He had never felt so inferior to Mitsuki. Mitsuki could take care of himself. Mitsuki never argued with their parent. Orochimaru claimed that he loved his sons equally, but Log knew that he was considered the “problem child.” How could the problem child be loved as much as the perfect one? And Log was older. He should be the example for Mitsuki, not the other way around. That made it even worse.

He really does not want to fight Orochimaru, he isn't prepared for something so extensively complicated. This snake has so many tricks up his sleeves, sending his insects after him is now a risk as well.

Log (as a child): *Traumatized forever*

They?

Who's they, he wonders.