Naruto: Hearts & Snakes
By, Antex-The Legendary Zoroark
Disclaimer: I own nothing except this story and anything else that I and I alone came up with. Should I use anything that is not mine and is seen by others, all original ideas go to their respective creators. I am merely borrowing/using them in passing.
:Prologue:
(((Secret Hideout, Land of Fire)))
In a dark and foreboding laboratory, the legendary Snake Sannin, Orochimaru, was seen hard at work on his latest project to achieve immortality and learn all Jutsu.
Orochimaru was a pale skinned man with a snake-like appearance. He had golden yellow eyes with purple eyeliner/markings along with long black hair. He currently wore a garb that consisted of a black cloak-robe with red clouds. This was his Akatsuki garb.
Why may you ask was he wearing one? Well, he recently joined the Akatsuki for his own gains and possibly obtain secrets most weren't privy to. And that, was what was currently related to his latest work.
After having gone on a mission with Kakuzu to recruit a so-called immortal named Hidan, Orochimaru took a fascination with Kakuzu's unique Jutsu: The Earth Grudge Fear.
From his observations during the fight with the man, Kakuzu used the Earth Grudge Fear to absorb the hearts of others and gain their Chakra affinity for himself so long as he holds the heart. The hearts can also act as an extension of Kakuzu's will, able to become separate entities and fight alongside their master. Not only that, the "threads" that are used in the Jutsu can be used as a weapon too.
To Orochimaru though, this Jutsu could be improved on to be even better and more unique.
"Lord Orochimaru?" A voice called out from behind him.
"Ah….Kabuto," Orochimaru grinned at his approaching assistant, "What can I do for you?"
Kabuto, a slim ash-haired young man with glasses, Shinobi garments (mainly in purple), and circular glasses, smiled and held up a vial of some sort of liquid. "I managed to get a small sample of what you needed Lord Orochimaru. But I must ask, why did you need me to bring the DNA of a Sharingan eye from one of Sasori's puppets? It was quite a hassle getting it."
"Well, since I'm in such a good mood today Kabuto, I may as well indulge you for once." Orochimaru chuckled. "The main reason why I needed you to get such a valuable sample is because of two things." When Kabuto raised an eyebrow in confusion, Orochimaru continued, "The first reason was to possibly use the DNA to clone a Sharingan eye for future purposes, and the second was to inject this artificial heart I made so it can pump Uchiha blood."
"That still doesn't answer my question sir." Kabuto said, slightly annoyed that his master wouldn't get to the point.
Orochimaru chuckled at his assistant. He was so fun to tease at times! Nonetheless, Orochimaru explained once more.
"Simple Kabuto. I plan to clone myself and using a modified version of the Jutsu that Kakuzu 'generously' gave me, I can finally gain the legendary Sharingan!" Kabuto smirked at his master's plan. Simple yet genius.
Due to his master's recent completion of his Immortality Jutsu, he could easily take over the clone's body once it matured enough, and then, with the 'Uchiha Heart' the modified Earth Grudge Fear absorbed into the clone, Orochimaru himself would gain the legendary eyes of the Uchiha Clan.
"Very genius Lord Orochimaru." Kabuto praised. "I assume that the clone is already made ahead of schedule?"
"How astute of you Kabuto. I've trained you well." Orochimaru grinned. He then got up from his seat, and led Kabuto deeper into the lab.
After a few minutes of passing by failed subjects and multiple vials containing various body parts, Orochimaru and Kabuto arrived in front of a large vault that had a security seal on it.
Only Orochimaru's most trusted could enter. Any who weren't, would be painfully vaporized. Inputting the code into the seal, the doors welcomed Orochimaru and his faithful spy. The smoke cleared away, revealing a huge test tube chamber, filled with some sort of liquid. And in that chamber, was a younger version of Orochimaru!
"As you can see Kabuto, I've managed to make the clone and even age it to a degree, yet the process is only half done. I need to give it the Earth Grudge Fear 2.0 and then mature it some more. Only then will I finally have the perfect body!" Orochimaru cackled evilly.
Kabuto grinned and asked, "When will the assimilation begin sir?" Orochimaru's grin got even wider and he said, "I will begin the assimilation process in a few days. So, it should be ready within the next month or so." Orochimaru turned towards Kabuto and asked him in a serious voice, "Any word from that idiot teammate of mine from the Leaf?"
Kabuto slightly grimaced and said, "Unfortunately, I have not heard of Jiraiya's whereabouts lately. Do you think he's still tracking us down Lord Orochimaru?"
"Knowing him, yes." Orochimaru muttered. "That, or doing that idiotic 'research' of his…" Orochimaru was no 'super pervert' (or pervert at all), like his teammate and couldn't really understand why exactly Jiraiya took such an unhealthy obsession with a woman's body. But he digresses…
"Know this Kabuto, I don't give too much credit towards others who 'help' me with my work, but I must say that without the Akatsuki and some of their members, I would not have gotten this far in my scientific endeavors. It took a lot of time, but I'm sure the results will be well worth it."
"I'm sensing something else is the matter Lord Orochimaru?" Kabuto guessed with a thoughtful frown on his face.
"There is ONE thing, yes." Orochimaru admitted. "Should this project ever be discovered by the Hidden Leaf, I doubt I'll be able to make another one of these, as my resources would then be severely limited. Not to mention should the Akatsuki find out."
"Shall I prepare some backup escape plans then Lord Orochimaru?" Kabuto suggested.
"That would be most wise Kabuto." Orochimaru nodded.
"Well then, no time like the present I guess. I'll begin some of them now before I need to return to the Hidden Leaf for more of their intel." Kabuto then left and Orochimaru was left alone in the chamber.
'Soon…' He thought, 'Soon I will gain my ultimate desire and crush the Hidden Leaf with this new body!'
(((A Couple Months Later…)))
'Blast!' Orochimaru thought in pure unadulterated anger. 'And everything was going SO perfectly!'
Why, may you ask, was Orochimaru so livid? Apparently, after his failed attempt to take the eyes of Itachi Uchiha as a backup plan should his future vessel be a failure, the Akatsuki had thus found out about Orochimaru's "secret project".
'And it's all that blasted Zetsu's fault!' Orochimaru seethed. 'I should have known that the Akatsuki's best spy would be watching over Itachi!' Orochimaru sighed in frustration. "Calm down Orochimaru, your project is safe and you have no need to panic." He calmed himself. "At least I had the forethought to switch bases. I'm also lucky I escaped the Akatsuki's base before Pain arrived…"
Before Orochimaru could fully relax, a deep booming sound echoed throughout the underground base. 'What now?!'
Orochimaru was reaching his limit. He would soon burst a blood vessel if this kept up. One of Orochimaru's shinobi quickly ran up to him and bowed.
"Well?" Orochimaru asked with barely restrained patience. "What do you have to report?"
"F-forgive us Lord Orochimaru! But the Hidden Leaf's Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi has found this lair!" For a moment, all was silent, but then a huge amount of Killing Intent burst from Orochimaru that the shinobi in front of him nearly soiled himself. Before he could even beg for forgiveness, Orochimaru beheaded him with a slice from Kusanagi, his blade.
Orochimaru looked down at the remains with a sneer on his face. "Worthless." He said. 'Guess it's time I make my leave…'
(((Meanwhile)))
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi was currently (along with his trusted ANBU Squad), marching through Jiraiya's latest discovery of one of Orochimaru's secret bases.
'This time…' he thought to himself, 'This time I will NOT hesitate in bringing you to justice Orochimaru!'
"Spread out ANBU! I want this place searched from top to bottom! I alone, will deal with Orochimaru!" Hiruzen said.
"SIR!" All of the ANBU replied, all using the Body Flicker Jutsu to begin their search in multiple areas.
As the last ANBU left the premises, Sarutobi did the same, heading straight to where he sensed Orochimaru.
Within a few moments, Master and Student were facing each other, the former with a scowl, and the latter with a shocked expression. Orochimaru immediately schooled his features into a condescending smirk so as to not give anything away.
"My, my…if it isn't my old Sensei." He taunted. "What brings you here Hiruzen?"
"As if you already don't know Orochimaru." Sarutobi growled out.
"Hmph. I assume that bonehead Jiraiya helped you find me after so long? It's a shame both of you along with Tsunade aren't here to greet me, otherwise this would be one big family reunion eh Sensei?" Orochimaru said, creepily licking his lips with his long tongue.
"Even if they were here, I would advise them to stay out of this. This is only between you and me!"
"Well then, I guess we have nothing more to talk about Sensei…" Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, getting into a battle stance. Because of this, Hiruzen immediately knew something was up. Orochimaru would usually taunt his opponents before making his "grand escape". Yet for some reason, he hadn't done so yet.
This could mean only two things: either this wasn't the real Orochimaru, OR, he was hiding something MAJOR. Hiruzen decided to test his theory.
"I must say Orochimaru, normally you aren't so bold to face me. What's the matter? Out of ideas to use against me?" he taunted.
Orochimaru knew his Sensei was trying to make him slip up, but for the sake of his dream and ambition, he would not let the senile old fool get his wish.
"Heh heh heh…My dear Sensei, trying to psych me out? I thought you were more 'honorable' than that."
Hiruzen made to speak again, but Orochimaru was frustrated as it was and did a sequence of quick hand signs. "Striking Shadow Snakes!" Orochimaru shouted as out of his sleeves, multiple small snakes with poisonous fangs were ready to strike at the old Hokage.
Hiruzen immediately dodged and made his own sequence of hand signs. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb!"
Orochimaru quickly substituted with an Earth Clone he made ahead of time, and tried to strike at the old man's backside, his Kusanagi ready to pierce his heart.
Hiruzen was not the Hokage for nothing though and easily sidestepped the attack and used the Summoning Jutsu to call forth Enma the Monkey King, to transform into his famed adamantine bo staff.
Sword against staff, both student and master struggled to get the upper hand over the other. Seeing they were at a stalemate, both broke off from the other, and made plans to take the other by surprise.
For Orochimaru though, his chance was ruined when an ANBU flashed in, interrupting their battle.
"Lord Third! We've discovered something major! But we apparently need some type of DNA to open this room."
Orochimaru immediately knew what the ANBU was speaking of and knew that, despite all his plans for his future vessel, they were completely foiled now. No doubt, Jiraiya would soon arrive to backup his former Sensei and crack the Blood Seal coding on the basement part of the lab.
'Blast it all!' Orochimaru seethed once more. 'One day…one day I WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD SARUTOBI!'
Seeing his Sensei distracted, Orochimaru summoned a plethora of medium sized snakes that could copy his Chakra signature and had them dig multiple holes out of the base to escape. To add more time to flee, Orochimaru created two Shadow Clones to confuse them even more.
As soon as Hiruzen noticed, Orochimaru was already gone; far away from their location.
Sarutobi made sure to sense around the base for anything else that may have escaped his notice while battling Orochimaru. Using the Chakra Echolocation Jutsu, he found nothing.
Sarutobi sighed, frustrated that his devious student had escaped once more. He was getting too old for this.
Regardless, he nodded to the ANBU, codenamed: Dog, and motioned him to lead the way to the vault that Orochimaru was probably trying to keep secret.
(((Later)))
As Sarutobi looked at the gigantic vault, he wondered just what exactly was in it. Last time he was at one of Orochimaru's bases, he had found Orochimaru's apprentice, Anko, with that dreaded Cursed Seal on her neck. What would he find this time?
A short moment later, his other (and currently only Konoha student) arrived. He had long spiky white hair in a ponytail, with red markings going down his eyes. Instead of a regular Konoha Head Protector, he wore a horned one that had the kanji for "oil" instead. He wore attire consisting of a green short shirt kimono and matching pants, under which he wore mesh armor that is visible at his wrists and ankles. He also wore hand guards, a black belt, traditional Japanese wooden sandals, and a red haori with two yellow circles on each side. Last but not least, he had a large scroll on his back, and a tattoo on his left palm.
"Yo old timer!" The man greeted with a giant smile on his face.
Sarutobi shook his head in slight amusement. His student would never change.
He then responded to him, "Jiraiya, I need you to crack the Blood Seal's coding so we may open this vault."
The now named man, Jiraiya, nodded in affirmative, a serious look on his face. "Got it Sensei." After a few moments of tinkering (and avoiding the traps left by Orochimaru), Jiraiya was able to crack the Seal's code.
"Alright, that about does it Sensei. By the way, what do you think Orochimaru was trying to hide in this here vault?" Jiraiya asked.
" I think we're about to find out Jiraiya." Sarutobi said.
As soon as that sentence was finished, the vault's doors opened, and the secret inside was revealed.
"By the Sage…"
TO BE CONTINUED!
Happy New Year's everyone! To celebrate 2018, I've managed to publish my latest creation for Fanfiction. Note that this is my first attempt at a Naruto fanfic, and so I will be looking for some reviews that are helpful to the future progression of this story. "But Antex! You already have another story to focus on!" I know that. This is mainly just a teaser for later on and I hope to expand on it in the future. Rest assured, I will finish Bloodlines first, with a little of this story too from time to time. No worries! I got it all planned out.
And huzzah! A new laptop for me! Lucky me and lucky fanfiction. Why? It'll help me write a WHOLE lot more!
So please, be kind and R&R!
-Antex