Shoma listens to the chaos of noise coming from outside, eyes glaring at the guards as they run by. The boy holds onto the front bars of his prison as he glances at the few others that were in the same situation as him. As the alarm continues to sound, he quickly grabs the rock that he had been able to sneak inside of the cage when the guards hadn't been looking. He takes a few deep breaths before he raises his arms and quickly brings it down, watching as the lock on the cage broke. Shoma checks to make sure no-one is around before he is quickly doing the same for the other prisoners. He knows they have limited time to escape.

The other prisoners mostly start rushing for the exit, many taking on their cursed seal forms and killing any guards they come across. A few start helping Shoma with the escalating escape - 

But the exit doors are shut, solid, and no one's managed to bust through them, and tunneling through the earth isn't working...

There's a roar, and a scream, and people scatter as Juugo, fully transformed and covered in blood, comes tearing down the hall.

Shoma watches as the other prisoners help, his eyes then dart to those rushing to the exit. He has just gotten the last prisoner free before he hears the roar and scream, clear signs of danger. He calculates his next moves, estimating how quickly Juugo would reach the exit. Shoma then quickly darts forward, knowing that his plan could fail due to his inexperience, however in this moment there is no time for second guesses. He uses the seal that had been forced onto him, quickly absorbing whatever chakra he can. He makes sure to not absorb others to exhaustion, knowing they would need to be quick if they were to escape. He focusses the chakra onto the weakest point of the door and quickly expels it, not wasting any time in watching the doors easily bend to his will as they are blown off of their hinges. He darts into a hiding spot before he can be noticed, knowing that Juugo was extremely dangerous and it would not do him good to be in his way.

Juugo slams past a few people who aren't fast enough in hiding, but he doesn't do lethal damage - he seems far more focused on freedom than on the kill.

He blasts out into the sunlight, roaring and ripping through the two guards there.

Shoma stays where he is as he watches Juugo continues on with his single-minded goal. As soon as he hears the roar, and the screams of the guards, he darts out of his hiding spot and races towards the light. He hears the sound of others running as well. Freedom is close for all of them right now. Once he is out, Shoma as well as the other prisoners run into the woods, desperate to return home. He isn't sure of where he's going, but he keeps running, not wanting to be caught and returned back. To be experimented on again. 

It doesn't take long for the alarm to be raised elsewhere. Sasuke can only surmise Orochimaru has sensors monitoring all of his bases, from how quick the response is (he notes that; it'll be important, later).

Orochimaru's probably testing him, because Sasuke's sent out with nothing but his new hawk contract and a new, unbloodied sensor to hunt down the escapees. The orders are to capture anyone he can, kill anyone he can't.

(Sasuke doesn't want to kill any of them, but he can't fail, but he doubts many of them want to be returned... And he's not sure yet how he comes down on that. Not sure what will cause Orochimaru to trust him with more.)

Shoma's far from the first one found, as Sasuke and Karin rapidly round up prisoners - killing no one, and with minimal injuries - but after a few minutes Sasuke's hawk will flit over Shoma's head, narrowing in.

Shoma continues to run, being sure to use his surrounds as cover for himself, not wanting to leave a trail. He knows that that would be a foolish mistake. He looks behind himself every now and then just to be sure that there's no-one following him. He focusses on the land, so does not think to look up, unaware of the hawk that follows him and narrows in on him. 

Then he won't notice Sasuke until he drops down in front of Shoma, sword already drawn and by his side.

Shoma instantly stops in his pursuit of escape as Sasuke drops down in front of him, eyes darting to the sword. He doubles back, not going to give up his chance at escaping just because he has been found. Even if it is futile, he won't stop.

Sasuke's fast, but Karin's avoiding closing with anyone dangerous, so he's on his own, and he's not striking fatally. He darts alongside Shoma and closes, trying to see if he can resolve this with taijutsu alone.

Shoma continues to run, sensing that Sasuke is planning something. He knows that he barely as control over the seal that was forced upon him, and that if he uses it so quickly after his first go, he runs the risk of overloading his body due to his inexperience. However, the pros outweigh the cons in this moment. He raises his hand, the mark on his palm a symbol of his experimentation. He begins to absorb Sasuke's chakra, intending on using it on a jutsu to be able to escape, however, he finds that he is too weak and not too long after starting, his body grows weak, and he forces himself to stop. With a last futile attempt to escape, he tries to evade the other by darting up into the trees, forcing his body to continue on, intending on losing him through the winding forest.

Sasuke has plenty enough chakra to rush into the trees as well, closing with Shoma and striking at him with his sword, aiming to force him to dodge into a more precarious position from which Sasuke can easily unbalance him.

(It's very, very clear Sasuke grew up in forests much like these.)

Shoma darts through the trees, trying to keep his body going, however he realises it isn't enough as he hears Sasuke closing in, glancing back in time to see the sword coming towards him, darting out of the way quickly, however understands his mistake as he finds that he is unable to dodge whatever comes next. He has clearly underestimated the one dubbed by other prisoners as, 'Orochimaru's favourite'. He has heard of Sasuke before, due to small whispers that worm their way into the prisoners area. 

Shoma knows it it futile to try another escape, so he simply waits for the final blow, wishing that he was more able to control his new power, however he refused to train it when he was told to, having not wanted to become a simple weapon to be used.

He pauses, sword tip hovering at Shoma's throat. "Would you rather die than return?" he asks, bluntly.

Shoma tilts his head back slightly as the sword stops just by his throat. He looks up at the other, his once shocked expression having morphed into one of anger. "I would rather die than become that snakes experiment," he says, fists clenching at his sides. He prepares himself for the blade that will ultimately kill him.

Everyone else has wanted to live.

Sasuke hasn't actually had to challenge his determination to not let Orochimaru win versus -

(He hates death, has never killed. Naruto has. Even Sakura has. Every person in Orochimaru's damn village has except him. Blood doesn't make him shake anymore because he can't let it but it's close, he's lost fights he shouldn't have because someone started bleeding - )

He freezes slightly, hesitates.

Shoma continues to wait for the final blow, although soon wonders why the other hasn't done it yet. He looks at the other with a determined expression. "Are you going to do it or not?" he asks. "Or do I dare ask if one of Orochimaru's little puppets has grown a backbone?" he continues, not backing down even when his own life is in danger. "Living in that hell hole of a place is worse than death. I will not be forced to go back and let him continue his experimentations on me," he says with a snarling undertone.

He shouldn't say anything. He should just kill the other boy.

But - he's angry now. (A lot of emotions loop back to anger.)

"Death is final. You want to give up?"

Shoma simply laughs. "Trust me, I would give anything to be able to kill that snake myself," he states angrily. "But if that's not an option, I'd rather give up than let him have one more vessel that he can use for his own benefit," he continues, his voice raising slightly, having to force himself not to yell. "You're his favourite, so you wouldn't understand how he views those that he imprisons and what extra experimentations he does on us," he lashes out, eyes still trained on Sasuke's face.

Sasuke already has a very, very good idea what experiments Orochimaru performs. (He does worse, sometimes, to those he likes. He's never been careful with Sasuke's body.)

"You're not a good shinobi, if you don't know how to wait," he says instead, voice tight and harsh.

Shoma doesn't say anything at Saskue's words. "And how would waiting be of any benefit to me? No-one is willing to go up against him aside from me. They're too afraid," he says. "So, are you going to kill me or not?" he asks, moving his hands so they were raised. "If you wish to fight then there's no way I can deny that. I was barely a shinobi when I was kidnapped. I'd only been one for a few months," he informs the other. "I apologise if I'm not what a shinobu should be in your eyes, but I haven't had experience being trapped in a secret hideout," he remarks, not going to simply back down.

"You don't see what plots are moving outside of your little corner."

He's annoyed, but - he's leaning against killing him.

He'll give the other boy one more chance to respond before knocking him out. He needs to move onto other prisoners.

Shoma hesitates a little at his words, a small glimmer of hope in his eyes. "And what exactly does that mean?" he asks. However, he's skeptical mostly. This could be a ploy to have him come back willingly. He wasn't born yesterday. "Will these so called plots benefit us prisoners?" he questions, however doesn't hold out hope for an answer.

He's not even sure why he's trusting the other boy and asking these questions. Maybe it's just the experiments and torture that have finally worn him down.

"They should."

Assuming Sasuke's succeeds, at least. He's currently planning on just releasing everyone once Orochimaru's dead, after all.

And he moves to knock out Shoma.

Shoma thinks it over, wondering if trusting the other is a smart idea. However he doesn't have time to think this over before he feels himself being hit on the head and his conscious wavering. 

"I hope it's right of me to trust you... Uchiha..." he manages to faintly say before he falls to the ground unconscious.