Research Subject #9: Prologue
Sarutobi Hiruzen stood on the balcony of the Hokage Tower before a vast assembly of the ninja of the Hidden Leaf. "People of Konoha, it has been my esteemed privilege to serve as your Hokage for many, many years. With all the paperwork I've gone through, there are times where I wonder how there are still enough trees to hide our village. But the time has come to select a new leader. After much debate and consideration, we have finally come to a consensus on the position of Yondaime Hokage." the third Hokage announced to the crowd using Shousetsu no Jutsu.
(Translation: Shousetsu no Jutsu = Amplification Jutsu/ Detailed Explanation Jutsu)
Excited mutterings went through the assembled shinobi and kunoichi. The names of "Namikaze Minato" and "Orochimaru" were those muttered most frequently before their leader waved his hands for quiet. "Therefore, it is my esteemed privilege to present you the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato!" The Professor gestured behind him to the hero of the Third Great Ninja World War, the Yellow Flash of Konoha. The crowd erupted in applause. But not everyone reacted positively to the news. Namely one certain Sannin. He was seething. How could Sarutobi-sensei pass him over for this kid who hadn't even been born while his own prized student had been running missions? Could the Sandaime possibly have found out about some of his more questionable experiments? No that couldn't be the case, Orochimaru mentally shook his head. Even if his sensei had discovered his morally ambiguous research subjects, Orochimaru hadn't performed any experiments on Konoha ninja. Not that the Snake Sannin hadn't desired to study some of Konoha's ninjas more than anyone would consent to. That's actually why he wanted the position. If he was Hokage, it would be almost too easy to arrange the acquisition of some more desirable test subjects and make the disappearances out to be one of the all-too-common casualties of ninja life. But now that wasn't going to happen. Orochimaru resigned himself to his normal methods of pursuing knowledge discreetly when he was approached by Shimura Danzou.
"I'm sorry to hear you were passed up for the position of Hokage." The crippled veteran said consolingly.
"Well I suppose you'd know exactly how I feel." snapped Orochimaru. "I'm not in the mood to be patronized, Shimura-san."
"I'm being completely serious. Konoha would be in a much stronger position with you as commander-in-chief while Namikaze-san available for deployment. Instead the only ninja to have a flee-on-sight entry in the bingo books will be held up with administrative duties. As such, not only will another pacifist shape foreign policy but also our strongest shinobi will become such a high profile figure that taking a step outside our borders could be considered an act of war. I tried to convince Hiruzen to see the logic behind appointing you to the position, but he chose Namikaze-san despite my efforts to persuade him." Danzou responded smoothly.
"Pacifist for a Hokage aside, I would have thought that you would find the prospect of a Hokage that could trigger a war just by setting a foot into the border of another country highly appealing." Orochimaru sneered.
Danzou sighed. "I've never found the resolution of any Konoha's wars satisfactory. Especially this last one. Konoha's leadership has once again failed to finish off our enemies. Konoha's losses in this war would have been far fewer if we had wiped out our enemies in past wars. And with Namikaze-san as Hokage, should Konoha go to war again, I fear that once again Konoha's enemies would be allowed to lick their wounds and plot their retaliation."
"Can't say I disagree with you there." Orochimaru responded. "Well Shimura-san, I'm assuming you had some purpose stepping out of the shadows to meet with me other than gripe about politics."
"Astute as always, Orochimaru-san. I'll get straight to the point. I've been informed that there will some major cuts in ROOT funding."
This caused Orochimaru to raise an eyebrow. "How major are we talking about?"
"7.7 million ryo off the monthly budget." Danzo said, oddly calm considering his own pet project just lost enough to fund numerous A-Rank missions.
Orochimaru whistled. "That's steep. Yet you don't seem as upset about it as I'd expect."
"Oh I'm absolutely livid. But I'm confident that I'd be able to convince the council to repropriate those funds to the Research and Development department, which, incidentally, has a large amount of vacancies, including the director." Danzou said, and smirked as he saw the spark of interest in Orochimaru's eyes.
"Kukukuku, interesting." Orochimaru said, licking his lips. He had been so wrapped up in being passed for the position of Hokage that he'd completely forgotten about the R&D department of Konoha. "And would I be right in assuming I could count on your support if I pursued some more… unorthodox research methods?"
Danzou smiled, and in the Inuzuka kennels, a nin-ken pup died prematurely. "Anything that furthers Konoha will always have my full and undivided support."
And thus through the intervention of Danzou, Orochimaru became the head of the Research and Development Department of Konohagakure instead of becoming a missing-nin. Though not many changes were not obvious under the Snake Sannin's leadership, there were a significant number of operations done off the books. Over the next year, ROOT operatives transferred to the Konohagakure Research & Development department undertook a minimum of a dozen A-Rank missions each month. After Danzou informed Orochimaru about the bloodline purges in Kirigakure, Orochimaru was barely able to keep his endeavors to acquire as many test subjects as possible from the Bloody Mist under the radar. The Snake Sannin suspected that his sensei had an inkling of his former student's activities, but seeing as Orochimaru's actions did not victimize anyone from Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen abstained from voicing any opposition he felt. Not that even kind-hearted Sarutobi-sensei would protest with the results of Orochimaru's operations. Former ROOT members had managed to acquire two different bloodlines by abducting orphans within Kiri, some of whom welcomed the chance to escape from Kiri Death Squads. After observing how kidnapping urchins in Kiri garnered no negative attention, indeed, there was even silent approval from officials in relieving them of undesirables, Orochimaru expanded the operations of the ROOT agents Danzou had lent him to other countries. These operations led to Orochimaru discovering several locations throughout the continent for establishing hidden bases, particularly in Rice Country. Everything was going smoothly until the day of October 10th came.
Orochimaru was examining the data gathered from a member of the Hyouton-wielding Yuuki clan regarding combining elements to produce advanced chakra natures when he felt killing intent so massive that despite being an S-Ranked shinobi, the Snake Sannin wet himself. Well, it was just a small squirt, but still, that Orochimaru lost control of his bodily functions for a fraction of a second testified to the sheer magnitude of this killing intent. The only parallel Orochimaru could think of was when Tsunade caught Jiraiya peeping. Orochimaru performed a quick E-Rank Jutsu to extract the moisture in his undergarments before performing a Shunshin to the rooftop of the R&D building. The sight that greeted his yellow eyes made Orochimaru's skin go translucent. (Author's note: With Orochimaru's skin already sickly pale, the effect of blood draining from his face results in a state of semi-transparency.) Just outside the gates of Konoha stood the Kyuubi no Youko in all it's terror-inspiring majesty.
"Orochimaru-sama!" exclaimed Tsuchinoe, a purple haired female ROOT operative Danzou had lent the Snake Sannin. Despite the mental conditioning the kunoichi had underwent, Orochimaru could sense the barely suppressed fear coming from her.
"What is the situation?" Orochimaru hissed, his voice harsh due to the stress of merely observing the Kyuubi no Youko.
"As Danzou-sama feared, the Kyuubi's seal has weakened enough that the beast was able to escape." the operative reported.
"I see." Orochimaru replied, unsealing a security card and tossing it to Tsuchinoe. "See to it that the essential data and test subjects are taken to a secure location." In the distance, Orochimaru could see a golden staff repel the mightiest of the tailed beasts. "I'm going to help Sarutobi-sensei hold off the fox." After receiving acknowledgement from the ROOT kunoichi, Orochimaru suppressed the instincts screaming at him to run and sprinted towards the Kyuubi while preparing the hand seals for his most devastating jutsu. "Tatsu i ushi inu tori mi tatsu u tori hitsuji u tatsu ushi mi tatsu tora!" Orochimaru incanted as he went through the seals. Normally a ninja of Orochimaru's caliber wouldn't be caught dead actually reciting the hand seals, but with the killing intent of the Kyuubi, the immense chakra cost of the jutsu he was using, and the fact that he was about to make a physical transformation to the size of a boss summon, he needed all the concentration he could get. Once Orochimaru cleared the last building in between himself and the Kyuubi, he called out the name of his technique; "YAMATA NO JUTSU!"
With a puff of smoke, the Snake Sannin transformed himself into a mammoth eight-headed serpent the size of Manda.
(Author's Note: Orochimaru hasn't mastered this jutsu to canon levels yet due to not having performed as many experimental procedures on himself.)
Orochimaru suppressed a shudder as the Kyuubi no Youko's glare meet his own. The killing intent focused on him from the bijuu would have given a lesser ninja a heart attack.
"YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME?" The fox sneered in a voice that sent shivers up his spine. It was only the sensing of a familiar chakra signature approaching fast that gave Orochimaru the confidence to respond.
"Alone? No. But with ssenssei and my old teammate, we jusst might." Orochimaru hissed as he steeled himself for what promised to be his hardest fight since the Second Shinobi World War against Hanzo the Salamander.
The fox sneered and prepared to gather a bijuudama when he received a heavy blow to the jaw from the Kongounyoi of Sarutobi Hiruzen's transformed Boss Summon. Using Earth chakra flow, the God of Shinobi had increased Enma's density a hundred fold at the point of impact. The years may had begun to take a toll on the Sandaime Hokage, but his chakra control was sharper than ever. The Kyuubi's bijuudama was aborted by the jarring force of the impact.
"Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu!" called out a flamboyant voice to the left of Orochimaru. The Kyuubi no Youko barely had time to register a looming shadow above him before Kurama felt a crushing weight on his back. A giant magenta-coloured toad with black markings on his face, arms, and legs with horn like protrusions on his head landed on the Kyuubi's back. The toad wore a black kimono with a white sash and mesh armour underneath, with a sasumata in one hand and a shield reminiscent of a sakazuki cup in the other.
(Translation: Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu = Food Cart Destroyer Technique)
"Jiraiya-sama, I may be a little too clumsy for a battle like this, but I'll do my best." stated the battle toad to the white haired Toad Sage on his head as he pinned one of the Kyuubi's tails to the ground. Orochimaru took the opportunity of the Kyuubi's distraction to wrap his heads around the bijuu's remaining eight tails.
The Kyuubi no Youko, known to an extremely select few as Kurama, snarled. This day was just one infuriating disappointment after another. First Kushina's seal weakened enough for Kurama to attempt an escape. That was a good thing. Kurama actually managed to break free. Aside from perhaps seeing Hagoromo-otou-sama again, being free from being sealed inside a human was the greatest thing he had desired. But then the unthinkable happened. Uchiha Madara, that (insert series of insults too indecent to repeat), or at least someone incredibly similar somehow reappeared and controlled him once again. If there was one thing that Kurama hated, and in the last century the Kyuubi no Youko had begun to hate many, many things, it was being controlled. The most powerful of the bijuu would take being sealed over being controlled any day. At least when sealed he had plenty of time to rest, recall fond memories, and plan. As a being made of pure chakra, not having a body wasn't really that much of an inconvenience. When he was controlled, not even his thoughts were his own. So killing Uchiha Madara went back to the top of Kurama's bucket list. It also caused Namikaze Minato to briefly occupy a spot Kurama's top ten favorite humans of all time when the Kyuubi no Youko broke free from the accursed eyes of Indra's line. Hell, if the humans had been cool and allowed him to walk away, Kurama might have had to seriously consider the Yondaime Hokage his new favorite human.
But then his jinchuriki's lover had to ruin it by adding another Bring Down the House Jutsu, dropping the Toad Boss Gamabunta on his neck, pinning him to the ground. For the first time since Senju Hashirama, the Kyuubi no Youko found himself restrained while at full power. If Kurama's head had been clearer, maybe he could have performed a technique that would allow him to escape. But he was just so overwhelmed with the emotional, physical, and mental rollercoaster the day had been that the Kyuubi no Youko couldn't think of a plan beyond venting his frustrations.
"DAMN YOU HUMANS! DAMN YOU KONOHA! DAMN YOU ALL AND YOUR PERVERSIONS OF THE TEACHINGS OF THE RIKUDOU SENNIN!" Kurama bellowed, his voice echoing throughout the Hidden Leaf Villages, and transmitting the broad spectrum of emotions the Kyuubi no Youko felt with every word spoken. Disappointment, despair, hopelessness, and so many other emotions virtually no-one would have thought the most formidable of the tailed beast capable of feeling.
Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure, was certainly thrown for a loop when his Sensory capabilities gave him a brief insight into the Kyuubi's thoughts. Was this the same Kyuubi Kushina-chan described as a being a pure hatred and malice? Certainly there was no shortage of hatred in the torrent of emotions radiating off the Kyuubi, but as someone who always stressed the importance of looking underneath the underneath, Minato was able to sense that this was not blind hatred. This was the kind of hatred and resentment born from lifetimes worth of being wronged. The Yondaime Hokage may not have understood the Kyuubi's reasons for being filled with suffocating malice, but at that moment he did understand that the fox did not start this whole mess. Unfortunately, if the Bijuu wasn't dealt with, the Kyuubi no Youko certainly would finish it. "Kyuubi, I wish circumstances wouldn't have forced me to come to this-"
"YOU WISH IT HADN'T?! YOU THINK I CAME TO KONOHA OF MY OWN VOLITION?! IF I HAD MY WAY, I'D HAVE STAYED THE BLOODY F- AWAY FROM THIS INFERNAL NEST OF CORRUPTION! CURSE THAT BASTARD MADARA AND THOSE ANATHEMATIZED EYES OF HIS! IF NOT FOR HIM, WE WOULDN'T BE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION." Kurama snarled.
'So the Sharingan indeed does have the power to control the Kyuubi.' Orochimaru thought to himself. 'If only a transplanted Sharingan wasn't so horrendously inefficient compared to the genuine article. I doubt that if Kakashi-kun has to keep his eye covered just to use the base functions that a mere transplant would allow me to bend the greatest of all bijuu to my will. What a pity, from the way the Kyuubi talked about perverting the teachings of the Rikudou Sennin, the fox must know something about the very origins of ninjutsu…'
"And I'm sure all of Konoha wishes that was the case as well." Minato announced solemnly. "But unfortunately, whether willingly or not, you pose a mortal danger to the village I have sworn to protect. So I'm afraid that it's back to being sealed for you, Kyuubi no Youko."
"Minato-kun, please don't tell me you're going to use that Jutsu to seal the Kyuubi. To give your life is bad enough, but to give your soul…" Jiraiya said with a pleading tone. Having Minato refuse to let him or Sarutobi-sensei give up their life to seal the demon was hard enough to swallow, but to think that Minato would never find peace in the afterlife was heart rending.
"Honestly, I feared that I would have to resort to the Shiki Fuuin. But with you, Sandaime-sama, and Orochimaru-san here, there's a Jutsu that I can use if I employ my Hachimon Fuuin that will allow me to seal the Kyuubi's full power." Namikaze Minato said with a sad smile.
(Translation: Hachimon Fuuin = Eight Gates Seal)
"Just tell us how. It's the very least we could do." Jiraiya said, echoing the sentiments of Sarutobi Hiruzen. Orochimaru, while not willing to give his life up in Minato's place, wasn't the type of depraved individual who would disrespect the dying wishes of a comrade in arms… as long as that goal didn't conflict with the Snake Sannin's plans. Orochimaru helped out with the sealing because if Namikaze had proceeded with the Shiki Fuuin, the chances of successfully using the Edo Tensei to bring him back would drastically decrease.
The three S-Ranked and one SS-Ranked ninja were joined by a handful of remaining ANBU and jounin ninja who were accomplished enough in fuuinjutsu to be able to produce more than the standard seals in sealing the Kyuubi no Youko. Kurama continued to look as if he was resisting so that the ninja of Konoha wouldn't notice what he was devoting six tails-worth of power to one of the plans the bijuu had devised over the decades of being sealed.
'BANBUTSU SOUZOU!' the mightiest of the tailed beasts mentally crowed, ecstatic that the humans had given him enough time to mentally cast his own version of the very ninjutsu that the Rikudou Sennin had used to create himself and the bijuu. Just as Kurama felt the familiar tug of being sealed, the nine-tailed fox permitted himself to smile as his creation snuck past the notice of any ninja that could have put a premature end to the plans of the Kyuubi no Youko. 'Though you may only have chakra reserves comparable to little Shukaku without the perks of controlling sand, I can rest a little easier knowing that my own progeny will be keeping an eye on these meddling humans while I remain sealed. Your name shall be… Shuuichi.'
(Translation: Banbutsu Souzou = Creation of All Things)
(A/N: Continuing the tradition of Kishimoto stealing the name for the Kyuubi no Youko from Yu Yu Hakusho, I'm going to name this OC after the human alias of Kurama, Minamino Shuuichi.)
So on the night of October 10th, the Kyuubi no Youko was sealed into the son of the Yondaime Hokage, who was given his mother's maiden name to protect his identity against the enemies of Namikaze Minato. Orochimaru found this method slightly lacking, so he proposed that any orphans of the Kyuubi attack with unknown parents also be given the Uzumaki surname. In another world, the escape of the Kyuubi no Youko from Uzumaki Kushina's seal would have resulted in massive losses to Konohagakure for ninja and civilian alike. But the value of an S-Ranked ninja can rarely be understated. And two additional S-Ranked ninja can make one a pretty darn big difference, reducing the civilian casualties to a mere fraction of what might have happened if four of the ten most powerful ninja in Konohagakure's history hadn't been present to restrain the most powerful being known to the Shinobi World. The losses to the ranks of Konoha's shinobi was also reduced by a few dozen. But the citizens of Konohagakure wouldn't have changed their opinion even if they were somehow aware that in the original universe scores of them wouldn't be alive if the Kyuubi no Youko had chosen to vent physically instead of verbally. But despite the vast majority hearing that the Kyuubi no Youko would have rather been anywhere else, the citizens of Konohagakure still called for the death of the "demon" when Sarutobi Hiruzen presented the village with their savior, Uzumaki Naruto. Orochimaru had to restrain Jiraiya to keep the Toad Sage from busting the heads of the villagers who spat on the last wishes of his student and the man he considered a son by demanding the death of his godson.
When Jiraiya had calmed down, the Konoha Council was called to address the situation concerning the loss of the Yondaime Hokage. After hours of debating the merits of reappointing Sarutobi Hiruzen to the hat or anointing Orochimaru, and upon Hiruzen giving his approval to his student, Orochimaru left the Council chambers as the Godaime Hokage of the Village of Konohagakure.
