Prologue
"Hiruzen is onto us, Orochimaru," a man said. His body was covered in white bandages. In addition, the black hair and the 'x' scar on his chin presented him as a sophisticated and fearsome man. He leaned forward on his cane and eyed silently at the man before him.
To Danzo, the man he was watching was not someone he would ordinarily consider as an ally. No. He has no allies. Only subordinates and weak superiors. His partnership with this man only stemmed out of a mutual animosity towards another: the Sandaime Hokage, who for all Danzo knew, was responsible for the recent tragedy that had befallen on Konohagakure. At this thought, Danzo squinted his eyes and grinded his teeth. The Sandaime disgusted him. The man standing before him also shared that same feeling as the Sandaime's former student. The two recently orchestrated an assassination attempt to avert the former Hokage from persuading the Daimyo to reinstate him as the Hokage of Konohagakure after the wake of the Kyubi's attack and the Yondaime's death.
"I take it that your men failed," Orochimaru replied after a couple minutes. Danzo winced at this subtly. He wishes to show no form of expression to Orochimaru. Even though he is currently working with him, Danzo still bears aversion to the Sannin. He decided not to reply.
"What has happened of Minato's boy? The jinjuuriki of the Kyubi," Orochimaru asked. He placed the scalpel down and removed his surgical gloves. Afterwards, he turned towards Danzo.
"We've located him. He's in a public orphanage. All files on him are redacted and classified. He now possesses the name of the Uzumaki clan," Danzo answered. He tried his best not to betray the uneasiness running in his gut. What does he want with Konoha's ultimate weapon? The only way to find out was to provide the information as he just did.
"I see… since the Sandaime is onto us, I propose that we should always assume his men are following us. Consequently, we should stop meeting," Orochimaru suggested. Danzo's usefulness has now been exhausted. He no longer required any further information. Any additional information could be excavated by his own men.
"Very well," Danzo whispered and turned to leave.
"Its been a pleasure working with you, Danzo-san" Orochimaru called out as the man left his hideout.
A dark figure darted across the rooftops of Konoha. Flickering here and there before finally coming to a stop.
"Danzo was right after all…" Orochimaru said as he crouched on top of a building, peering down into an open window. He could make out a woman nursing an infant with whisker marks and slightly blond hair.
Just as he was about to leave the rooftop, he detected two faint chakra sources near him. Judging by their ability to mask them, he assumed they were Anbu.
"Orochimaru, what do you want with the boy? He is under the protection of Sarutobi-sama. State your intention," one of the two masked shinobi said, their hands gripping the handles of their katana. Orochimaru smiled at this, they were terrified of him, especially after rumors have spread of his experiments.
"Well, after much consideration, I have decided it was time for me to adopt a baby," Orochimaru grinned. The two Anbu did not realize that he had already slipped away from their sight and is now behind them armed with his sword of Kusanagi. The one they are currently seeing is merely a clone.
Orochimaru drove his sword into the heart of one of the Anbu. The other one drew his sword and leapt back. However, the Sannin had already covered the distance in half a second and delivered a fatal blow with his sword.
He turned his sight back to the window and saw the room now dark and the infant sleeping.
"Kukukuku… Naruto is it?" Orochimaru said as he flickered out of the scene and arrived outside the boy's window. He opened the window and snuck in. Slowly, he picked up the baby and tied the ends of its blanket and wore it around his neck and delicately placed the child in it. He casted a mild genjutsu on the child to ensure his continuous slumber.
As Orochimaru darted across the rooftops n his path to his hideout, he picked up four more chakra sources. Soon enough, they surrounded him.
"Anbu?" He thought. "No. Root," he corrected, judging by their movement, squad positions, and lack of talking. His eyes slithered around, surveying his surroundings. He decided that the best course of action was to even the numbers.
"Shadow Clone jutsu" he whispered, holding the hand sign. Three clones poofed into existence. One of the root operatives charged at the real him. A clone intercepted him and a cacophony of kunai clashing with katana erupted. The interception left Orochimaru vulnerable from one direction since the clone abandoned its position. Another operative saw this and decided to exploit it by releasing a volley of shurikens at him. The two remaining clones moved to deflect the weapons. With his three clones now occupied, Orochimaru danced around the two Root ninjas that charged at him with katanas drawn. He summoned his sword and gracefully cut down one. The remaining operative ran through hand signs and exhaled a fire ball at him. Orochimaru grinned at this and ran through his own set of hand signs.
"Water release: Water bullet" he whispered as ejected a torrent of water. The two clashed and cancelled each other out while producing steam. Orochimaru used this as a cover to deliver two slashes at one operative. Sensing more chakra signals heading his way- likely due to the battle- he fled into the shadows of the village.
As soon as he arrived at his hideout a few miles away from the village, Orochimaru placed the boy on a table. Then he retrieved his fuinjutsu materials and laid it beside the infant.
"Interesting…" Orochimaru hissed as he viewed Yondaime Hokage's seal that stored the Kyubi inside the child. Delicately, Orochimaru started reworking it. He built two gate seals on the boy's hands and then removed some of the constraints that suppressed the Kyubi's chakra. He felt the results immediately, the boy started emitting a strong, hot aura. The whisker marks on his cheeks darkened. The nose grew sharper. The child started wailing due to this change.
"Sh… sh.. sh…" Orochimaru soothed. The child's cry slowly died down. Its eyes darted around the room. Upon seeing the boy's eyes, the Sannin was shocked. They were blazing red.
"F-Fa-Fascinating…" he stuttered. The boy was going to become the strongest weapon he will have ever had under his possession. He grinned sadistically at the thought and continued modifying the boy's seal.
After he was done, the young boy had seal prints all over his body. The boy's chakra reserves are now tapping from the Kyubi. The chakra gates he built on the hands allowed ejection of red chakra straight from the Kyubi. He also implemented two empty weapons seal on the wrists.
"Now… what am I going to call you?" Orochimaru asked playfully. A book caught his attention from the corner of his eyes. It was his former teammate's novel: The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi.
"Kukukukuku" He chuckled. "What name is better than that of the ultimate hero to destroy Konoha with?" He started laughing manically.
"I guess I will call you… Naruto."