A black wind drifted through the dark forest, carrying with it a light, but icy rain, its fingers reaching through the ancient, moss covered trees until it reached a small cave, half hidden by thick undergrowth. An eerie green glow flickered from the mouth of the cave. Inside the cave was a rickety wooden table on which stood many skulls and bones and what looked like human hearts. On another, smaller, rounder table stood several bottles of strange coloured liquids, one of which was hissing and bubbling over a Bunsen burner.

Bending over this table was a tall, thin man with long black hair, a pale face and, slanted, evil yellowish green eyes. A long, slimy tongue protruded from his mouth, curling around his thin lips as he worked. He did not simply look like a snake, but he looked like the most evil snake that had ever existed.

" It's nearly ready," he murmured softly to himself," nearly ready. Soon, I will be invincible. If I just add this death powder to this bottle here, it should turn blue and then I will know that the potion is complete!"

Slowly, but with an air of almost uncontainable excitement, he began to pour a fine, white powder into a narrow jar. However, his excitement was quickly replaced with concern as the liquid did not turn blue, but rather turned black and began to smoke and hiss violently. Hastily, Orochimaru looked back at the powder as the potion began to hiss even more loudly, " Wait a minute..." He dipped a thin, skeletal finger into the powder and put some on his tongue. Sugar! It was sugar!

" Kabuto!" he yelled," you've got your sugar from your cookery class mixed up with my experiments! Kabuto! Answer me!"

There was no reply, but Orochimaru did not have time to wonder where his assistant had got to. His narrow eyes opened wide in fright as he turned back to his potion. The entire jar had began to shake and a screeching sound was coming from the liquid which was flashing between black, purple and red colours. The smoke was so thick that barely see. As Orochimaru shifted for a closer look, his hand knocked a lit Bunsen burner which teetered for a moment, then its flame hit the flammable liquid. Orochimaru barely had time to yell," Oh, not again!" before there was a brilliant, purple explosion that filled the entire room.

When the smoke finally cleared, Orochimaru was gone.

Back in the cave, a young man with light hair and thick glasses came running into the room." Orochimaru!" He yelled," I think I may have put some sugar on your experiment shelf-" He stopped and looked around at the empty cave. " Never mind," he shrugged.

Orochimaru was lost in a swirling world of colour. Pink, violet and turquoise light flashed in front of his eyes. Orochimaru was rather reminded of the time the brat Naruto had spiked his drink with LSD while he had been on holiday. Orochimaru still seethed with anger at this memory. The one day of the year that he had decided to take a break from evil schemes and Naruto had to mess it up. Typical. Even as the colours swirled in front of Orochimaru's eyes, he thought he caught a glimpse of Naruto's smug, laughing face and he made a motion to smack it, but then the image disappeared. Orochimaru could not feel his feet on the ground and he felt himself spinning, going round and round and even upside down. He was glad that he had not eaten much that day, for his stomach was heaving. He began to spin faster and his long hair swirled about his head. He had time to think," if only this was happening to Itatchi instead," before the spinning stopped suddenly and he was falling, gathering speed...How high was he? He had no idea. Falling. Falling.

CRASH! Orochimaru landed hard and, for a moment, saw stars in front of his eyes. As he looked closer, he saw that the stars were actually Naruto's face. That kid's really getting to me, he thought, then the stars cleared and he looked around at his surroundings.

He was in a grave yard, just outside a circle of men all wearing dark robes. In the centre of the circle was pale, bald man also wearing robes. This man's face was flat, with almost no nose and red eyes. Snake face, Orochimaru thought derisively as he got to his feet, quite ignoring his own reflection in a puddle of water. Moving slightly to the side, Orochimaru saw a boy with black haired, green eyed boy tied to a statue at the head of a grave.

Orochimaru stood for a minute, thinking up his next course of action and freezing as he heard the bald man mention the word "power", but he quickly grew bored when the man mentioned the same word over and over again without one indication as to how he had got it.

As Orochimaru began to walk away from the group, he heard the bald man call out," and whose this? One of your friends?"

Orochimaru turned and saw most of the circle looking at him. The man raised what looked a short stick. There was a flash of green light and Orochimaru felt an unpleasant, tingling sensation, but otherwise nothing happened. Orochimaru was genuinely confused, wondering what the man was trying to do.

A furious expression crossed the man's face and he raised the stick again. Another flash of light came from the stick and once again, Orochimaru felt that strange sensation. Nothing happened. The other men were raising their stick, too and, all at once, there came burst of light of all sorts of colours. There were green flashes and red jets of light. All around Orochimaru, men were yelling strange words and there was a look of disbelief on all of their faces. Orochimaru staggered slightly as the spells hit him, but quickly regained his footing. He was starting to get very annoyed by these masked men and the snaky bald guy. He leapt at the circle, lashing out with his fist and caught two of them before they could even step backward. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. All around him, more spells were being fired. A few of them cause Orochimaru painful twinges, but nothing worse.

Within a few moments, the entire circle lay unconscious and Orochimaru was facing the bald guy.

" You dare to defy Lord Voldemort!" the bald man sneered, but there was fury on his face.

" Lord? Don't make me laugh!" Orochimaru did, indeed, laugh as a rat scuttled away beneath his legs," I've never seen anyone so weak!"

Voldemort snarled and sent another jet of light at him, but Orochimaru easily dodged and hit out at Voldemort, punching him squarely in the face.

" Hmm, I didn't think your nose could get any flatter," Orochimaru sneered, hitting out again and again, until a spinning kick left Voldemort lying propped against another grave, a dazed expression on his face.

Orochimaru turned to go, but as he did so, he heard a muffled noise and saw the boy trying to speak through a gag. Orochimaru moved over to the boy and pulled out the gag.

" Can... you.. get me... down." The boy gasped. From the expression on his face, he was just as stunned as the men.

Wondering if the boy would be any use to him, Orochimaru cut the ropes tying the boy to the statue.

" T-Thanks," the boy gasped and, as he did so, the lights began to flash in front of Orochimaru's eyes again and he felt his feet leaving the ground. The boy faded away, with only his last words echoing in Orochimaru's head." Thanks."

A feeling of revulsion rose in Orochimaru. He had helped someone! Without meaning too, it was true, but still! If Naruto had seen him...

Orochimaru felt himself landed back in the cave. He was shaking all over and retching violently. He had almost been... one of the good guys. Oh, the horror!

" Where were you, master!" Kabuto cried as Orochimaru reappeared in the cave.

" No where important," Orochimaru cried," and I want a word about your cookery class!"

Privately, he thought, that was the most frightening experience of my life!