"End your human experiments. Set your prisoners - all of them - free. Kill no one you do not absolutely have to, through direct action or through your forces." A pause. "I do, in fact, have more stipulations. You'll find them listed in the main directory, under 'Terms.'"

"A strange set of priorities. And I learn so much from my experiments. Do you really think you can balance that?"

"I've already surpassed you. Do you think I'm bluffing?"

"No, you're certainly not the type, Sasuke-kun. You're like I was at your age. Earnest, and full of entirely unwarranted hope. What do you plan to do, with your brave new world of freedom?"

"End death, and with it the entire shinobi system."

He laughs.

"Bold indeed. Will you burn the villages to their roots? There are wheels greater than you, and you will be crushed beneath them."

Mildly: "I think you're confused about the definition of 'peace.'"

"If I will die in this, then I will die, but what I have set in motion is greater than myself alone."

"I will say this one more time: Will you stand in my way?"

"I have one more question: what of when the years of this body grow thin? I won't die because you dreamed of morals."

"I'll provide you with a body, without even a mind to fight you."

"My question stands."

"Then I will not hinder you."

"You have your deal, Sasuke-kun. I will watch and wait, and see which way your wind moves the windmills of the world. And when you fail, I will be waiting still."

"This meeting is over, then. See you in the future."

And he turns and walks out.

(It isn't until they're a good distance away that he starts shaking, his heart thrumming in his ears, his breath coming in little gasps - )

Minato puts a hand on his and Tobirama's shoulders, and in a flash of yellow they're back at the base.

"- hey. How did it go. Have you also been made immune to, uh, anxiety drugs."

"Orochimaru agreed," Minato says. "We recorded it if you want to go over it later."

"Not immune," Sasuke mumbles. "Don't want any." He's still struggling to breathe regularly.

"If you say so. I'd like the recording, what's it called?"

Minato names it.

Cam conjures it up, looking concernedly at Sasuke.

Who is actually getting himself under control now, and straightening.

"I'm going to my apartment," he mutters.

"Lemme know if you need anything."

"Sure."

Deep breath.

And he walks back to his rooms.

(This is stupid, he needs to be moving quickly on Itachi, not having a fucking breakdown over one conversation - )

Cam watches the recording. He recalls all his clones to see if this is too many; it's not, so he makes more and they get back to busying themselves about things.

Sasuke gives himself twelve hours to just not have to exist coherently, then...

Okay he still doesn't want to be around other people.

But he can send emails. 

Tobirama and Minato get requests for written reports on what they thought of Orochimaru and Kabuto and Orochimaru's promises. He designates a snake to watch for messages from either Orochimaru or the other snakes. (There's four distinct factions among the snakes, because of course there are - the three summoners' loyalists, and the neutrals.)

On reflection, he sends a message to the faction belonging to the third summoner, Anko, with an update meant for the Leaf. Here, have carefully curated information on Orochimaru's bases and movements and his promise to cut the human experiments the fuck out. Sasuke could use help monitoring him. (He doesn't need help monitoring him, but this is a good ball to set in motion, and an alliance with Anko's snake faction will come in handy if Orochimaru turns on them again.)

Sasuke has the majority of the stealthier snakes on his side, which means he's actually decently equipped to spy on Orochimaru.

Cam gets a request for some of Orochimaru's messages. And, while neither Orochimaru nor Kabuto record meetings, Sasuke's aware of one of the upper echelon of experimenters who takes meticulous notes, and a very bold little snake was able to confirm how she organizes those. He'd like the transcripts from the time he spoke to Orochimaru onwards. (They'll be encrypted, obviously, but Sasuke expects to be able to break that code sooner rather than later.)

Cam can conjure the transcripts! (And attempt to break the encryption by machine, since his computer is way snazzier than anything around today.)

These codes were not designed to be proof against snazzy machines! It turns out Orochimaru is both true to his word and prompt. At least so far. He might be pulling shit in meetings with people who don't write everything down. 

Forensic conjuring for what's being done in these labs that were mentioned as the ones being initially decommissioned?

(Sasuke does not emerge from his apartment during this whole process either. Fortunately, he has enough food for a few more days.)

Cams make dioramas of labs. He sends Sasuke photos.

People seem to be getting out of those alive and even healed up enough to not die once they're on their own. Orochimaru isn't giving them much support, but Sasuke can dance around Anko (via snake messages) to get her to talk to the Leaf about accepting refugees.

(He also sends an email to Minato, asking if Minato can talk to Jiraiya about the same. Jiraiya apparently makes vague noises about passing on the message, while Naruto apparently takes to the idea with gusto.)

To Cam:

Apparently Minato told his old teacher enough about what's going on that his teacher wants to come here, probably bringing Naruto. I don't think this counts as an official delegation from the Leaf, but we should act like it is. Are there two open guest rooms?

(Sasuke does not want to talk to Naruto let alone Jiraiya but maybe if he drags preparing on long enough he'll be feeling human again. Or maybe he can get someone else to talk to them.)