Chapter 1: Wind Shadow
Orochimaru liked the climate of Suna. The desert was a warm, dry place; perfect for cold-blooded reptiles to sun themselves. He was human, mostly, but the traits of his preferred animal had begun to rub off on him. Perhaps when he was done, he would retire here. Just build a nice little hermit hut out in the desert and spend his days playing cards and trying to use senjutsu.
The idea made him giggle, though the sound escaped as a sort of 'Fufufu'. Him, living out in the wilderness like a more primal version of Jiraiya? His erstwhile teammate may have had no taste, but even the legendary pervert wasn't homeless. Yet.
To make things worse, his left hand was acting up again. He eyed the limb suspiciously, like it would bite him with sharingan-tinted fangs if he stopped paying attention. Orochimaru cursed Itachi, cursed his hand and cursed Akatsuki. If he hadn't needed to leave the organization, he wouldn't have had to fight Sasori, Kisame and Itachi at once. Deidara was there, but despite his dislike for the sannin and penchant for blowing things up, he'd been asleep for the fight. Oh, well, everybody had idiosyncrasies. If you were an S-class rogue ninja, they simply happened to be more silly or dangerous. Usually both.
Nevertheless, after telling several of the world's greatest criminals (and Konan) to piss off, he was doing better than ever. Otogakure was a resounding success, and now it was time for stage two of his plans. Stage two, which involved a plot specifically contrived to rival the lunatic complexity of Pain's gather-the-jinchūriki-and-suck-out-the-bijū plan to end all conflict. Sometimes, Orochimaru wondered if the man was a bigger psychopath than himself. It seemed that in Akatsuki, the breadth of the individual's power scaled with how far out of their minds they were. Hidan, an immortal, worshiped a god of destruction and killed wantonly to satisfy himself. Sasori, who was arguably immortal, had destroyed an entire country in the far west just for the hell of it. Kakuzu, who was born in the era of warring states, lived only for money and seemed to not understand the concept of a greater power. And had a collection of human hearts sewed into his back. Pain fancied himself a god, and vowed to bring peace... with an invincible weapon. Orochimaru...
Huh. Maybe it was just immortality that did it.
He arrived at the front gates of Sunagakure, wearing a white traveller's cloak and magatama earrings. The chūnin on guard duty asked for identification and a reason for his visit, and he responded by cutting the man's head off with his index finger. It made a satisfying crackle, like a dish being shattered on the floor, and Orochimaru strode past the corpse with nothing on his mind but the sun on his pale face and world domination.
Suna was larger than Kiri and Iwa, but smaller than Kumo and Konoha. It had sided with Konoha in the Third Great Ninja War, and ties between the two city-states were stronger than ever. Sadly, as Orochimaru was well aware, Suna was becoming restless. Discontent in the village originated from a significant lack of employment in and around the Land of Wind, which was perfectly understandable. There was very little work to be done in the middle of the desert, and most of the outlying hamlets tended to subcontract to other hidden villages. Personally, Orochimaru thought that founding a village based on an economy of murder and intrigue in the centre of a vast desert was rather foolish, but maybe there was a reason. Perhaps it wasn't always a desert, or there was something attractive that had once brought commerce to the country. Whatever it was, it was long gone.
He arrived at the Kazekage's office, which was a massive, spherical building attached to Suna's great sandstone cliffs. The side of the dome bore the kanji for wind, and a gouge ran across the equator. It looked, in fact, like collateral damage from a fight with Shukaku. And they didn't even have the money to repair the most important building in the district? Orochimaru smiled unpleasantly. That was certainly part of the reason he was so well received in his initial proposal.
Nobody barred access to the office, and nobody commented on his appearance until he reached the Kazekage's secretary. The person behind the desk was none other than Nejiri, who was well above genin in skill but hadn't managed to get into a second chūnin exam after failing his first in Kumo. He looked up as he heard the sannin's deliberately audible approach, his expression turning from annoyance to shock to fear as he stared up at one of the most powerful ninja in the world.
"O-O-Orochimaru?" he squeaked, almost toppling backwards out of his chair at the sight of the fearsome man.
"I'd like an appointment to see the Kazekage," Orochimaru drawled, savouring the terrified Nejiri's attempts to placate him.
"W-We ha-have an o-opening in o-our schedule—"
"Now," insisted Orochimaru. "I'm sure the Kazekage will want to see me, sooner rather than later."
"Y-Y-Yes!" Nejiri squealed, vanishing from behind the desk in a shunshin made sloppy by fear. There was a commotion from behind the desk, as the people who were speaking with the Kazekage were ejected. Orochimaru picked his way unassumingly through the crowd of civilians, past the circular doorway into the office, and finally to the leader of Suna.
The Kazekage was a tall man with spiky red hair. He wore the traditional white and blue robes of his station, though his signature hat lay discarded on the floor. The exodus of civilians who'd had their audience cut short left a mess of papers lying on the floor and desk, haphazardly assembled into piles. The seat directly to his left, where Orochimaru vaguely recalled Biwako Sarutobi sitting, was empty. Beyond that sat Chiyo, an elder of Suna, and on the Kazekage's right was Baki.
Dark-rimmed eyes stared back at him. "Orochimaru," he said shortly. "I am... pleased to know that you've taken my advice to heart."
"Nobody enjoys conversing with clones," Orochimaru agreed. "Although, this conversation could be more private still."
The Kazekage snapped his fingers. "Baki, take Temari and Kankurō into the desert. Have them train in endurance for the upcoming chūnin exam. Chiyo, collect Gaara and ensure that he does not destroy my city while I am busy."
"Certainly," the elderly puppeteer agreed, walking out of the room. Baki left too, after some hesitation.
"Those are your best jōnin?" Orochimaru said mockingly. "For shame, Suna."
"Aside from those who are not in the village on assignment," the Kazekage grumbled, "they are indeed my best."
"Some advice, from one Kage to another," Orochimaru said pleasantly. "One's village tends to prosper when one does not kill one's best ninja for trivial reasons."
"Those were unavoidable!" the redhead roared.
Orochimaru coughed something that sounded like 'Pakura'.
The Kazekage took a calming breath and relaxed. "What do you need, Orochimaru?" he finally asked.
"I still have yet to gather my resources, which need not happen just yet, and the only element still missing is beyond your reach. After I obtain it, we will be prepared."
"Have you decided on a date?"
"I believe Konoha will be at its weakest during the public portion of the exam," Orochimaru proposed. "Excessive numbers of their ANBU will not be questioned, and we will be in a perfect position to surprise the vast majority of the chūnin and jōnin. I take it we will not be factoring in Leaf genin?"
"The ones who make it to that stage will be of at least chūnin level in fighting skill, but otherwise they are not a serious threat," the Kazekage agreed. "Are there any other things which I ought to be aware of?"
"Previously, we discussed using your gold dust ability as a distraction for the more powerful members of the Konoha military," Orochimaru said. "I believe that role could be better filled by your son, Gaara."
The Kazekage's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Oh? That seems like quite the risky endeavour for such an unexperienced shinobi, jinchūriki or no. Why should I send him off to die?"
Orochimaru coughed again. 'Yashamaru', he wheezed.
"Very well," the Kazekage allowed. "I take it I will be attacking a more secluded target?"
"Precisely. Your task is to kill Hiruzen Sarutobi."
"The Professor? That's quite the challenge, even for me. You know that, though, so I take it there is another purpose to it? Maybe ridding yourself of an ally who has outlived his usefulness?"
Orochimaru smiled grimly. "No, it is something I expect you to do with every chance of succeeding without a scratch. We'll simply cheat a bit, that's all."
"I like how you think!" the Kazekage laughed. "Is there anything else you wished to discuss?"
"One more item on the agenda," said Orochimaru. "You wished to replace some of your, eh, weaker bloodlines with the sharingan and byakugan. Unless something happened while I wasn't looking, there is only one Uchiha remaining."
"Two, actually," the Kazekage interrupted.
'Four, even, but that's not for you to know,' Orochimaru thought.
"Itachi Uchiha is not on the table, as I have neither the time nor the inclination to capture him for you. While I can grant you as many members of the Hyūga cadet branch as you please, Sasuke Uchiha will remain my property."
"I'll think of something," the Kazekage said agreeably.
"Shall we draw up a division?"
Together, Orochimaru and the Kazekage listed the various clans and assets of Konoha on a sheet of paper. Clan heads went at the top, followed by their heirs and the other members. On a different paper, they covered summoning scrolls and techniques, as well as the rough value of the Konoha treasury and the number of enlisted men in the shinobi corps.
"The techniques can simply be duplicated," the Kazekage mused, crossing it off the list. "We ought to split the clan heads and heirs, to make the division of technqiues roughly equal between Suna and Oto."
"I don't think leaving some of them alive would be wise," Orochimaru said. "For instance, Hiashi Hyūga may be amenable to the forthcoming policy changes, but the Akimichi, Yamanaka and Nara clans will fight to the death unless beheaded." He drew a line through the names Shikaku, Inoihci and Chōza.
"Interesting, as those clans use hidden techniques which are not encessarily unique to their members," the Kazekage mused. "What of the Sarutobi clan?"
"There are only three living shinobi in the main branch of the family," Orochimaru said. "My sensei is too dangerous to let live, as is his son. The brat can live, I suppose. They'll need an heir." Another pair of lines struck out Hiruzen and Asuma.
"That is everything pressing that I wished to cover," the Kazekage said. "Thank you for coming in person. I'll contact your spy at the start of the exams, and we'll marshall our forces. Oh, and please stop trying to scare Nejiri. He's one of my best genin, and it would greatly disappoint me if he were to die of fright."
Orochimaru stood up and nodded reluctantly. It wasn't as though he intended to return to the Hidden Sand any time soon. "I will see you shortly," he said, and promptly dissolved into a writhing mass of white snakes.
"Oh, you bastard," the Kazekage growled. A tidal wave of gold dust rose from behind the desk, wrapped around the pile of snakes and crushed.
.:.
Just outside the room, a small mechanical device was attached to the wall. It was a fist-sized spider, with one thin chakra thread leading to it from the outside. On its underside, a rudimentary listening device lay flush against the wall.
About a kilometre away, Chiyo nearly lost control of the puppet in shock. The Kazekage was going to do what?
This is my take on a genre that I see sometimes: Naruto the puppeteer. There's a lot of buildup in this story, and it'll take a while to get to the stage where the action centres around Naruto. There might be a Naruto pairing in this story, possibly Hinata or another central character, but that won't be a major component of the story. There will, however, be plenty of side pairings. Hinata is listed as a main character because she is independently an important protagonist, as are a few others.
This story builds rather slowly, and the action doesn't centre on Naruto for a couple of chapters. If you can wait that, enjoy!