Prologue

'Just you wait Naruto-kun, just you wait… I am going to take you to even greater heights than you could ever achieve'

Orochimaru was a very observant person by nature. He was often very quick on finding out the small usually unseen facts missed by most people. It surely didn't harm him that he had a smart head over his shoulders. No, no one could argue the fact that Orochimaru was a very intelligent person and this very intelligence and observation combined with a very wide arsenal of ninjutsu and taijutsu was what made him such a formidable enemy.

So, it wasn't very surprising when he saw the vast amounts of potential one Uzumaki Naruto had. Seriously, it did not require the brightest minds to figure this fact out but somehow, somehow, the great village of Konoha had not figured out this fact and the irony was that brilliant Sandaime had not even done anything for the boy.

It seemed as if he had over-estimated his former sensei's brilliance. Jiraiya, though he had recognized the blond's potential, had let his own emotions overcome him and the brat's Jounin sensei was an emotional wreck.

Clearly, the blond shinobi was so utterly untalented, had it not been for the fact that his education had been sabotaged or that he housed a chakra powerhouse, Orochimaru might not have given he brat a moment's notice. But since it was for these facts, he couldn't help but decide to spend a few of his time and effort to actually help the boy. Make no mistake, Orochimaru was not going to help a poor lonely soul without gaining something. And oh, he completely intended to gain.

After all, who would want a clearly backstabbing Uchiha when he had a powerhouse of an Uzumaki—whose chakra could cover any jutsu—whose loyalty once gained could make said Uzumaki an extremely dangerous weapon? Possibly could be a new vessel for him too, for that matter.

A/N: So yeah, first story. Not saying much. Just please read and review. I don't know if this idea's been done before, but I'm taking my own twist with it. And yeah, don't expect it to be one of those fics where Naruto is super powered all of a sudden. He's gonna earn it in this fic.