Prologue: A Hero's Death
There was once a time when a nine tailed demon fox appeared. It's mighty tails could crumble mountains and cause tsunamis. To fight this demon, many shinobi were assembled from within the village of the leaf. In the end, two great shinobi were able to seal away the demon, at the cost of their own lives. Those ninja were known as the third and fourth hokage, and this is their story.
"I always knew that robe would look good on you Orochimaru. I could see it from the day we met, you had talent, unlike anyone I had seen before."
"Master Sarutobi, you flatter me too much." The newly appointed fourth Hokage looked away to hide his embarassment, his long flowing black hair slightly hiding his pale, serpentine face.
"You were always the ambitious one, there were times I had my doubts about you. However, when I saw that you could put those aside for the greater good, the choice became obvious." The elderly third Hokage put his pipe to his lips and pulled from it slowly. He let his thoughts linger for a moment, then exhaled and continued, "Still, it was a tough choice, that Namikaze boy is amazing as well, though I felt your experience was much more beneficial to the village. Afterall, you are known as one of the Sannin. Keep an eye on Namikaze Minato, I expect he'll continue to do great things."
"Yes, Jiraiya raised that child well. He'll be a great asset to the village." Orochimaru sighed slightly. As a child, he had been known as a great genius, a prodigy thought to never be seen again. Then Namikaze Minato appeared, a child with skill unlike those the world would likely ever see again. He had to admit, he was jealous of that boy, he'd surpassed everyone's expectations of genius, and had attained a plateau that would likely never be reached.
"Come, the ceremony will begin shortly, and the village awaits."
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Days melted into each other, as hours passed like minutes, and months passed like weeks. The newly appointed fourth Hokage had found that the job wasn't anything like he'd expected. Only a year prior, he'd been an ambitious fool, one seeking only power. He'd wanted to find ways to cheat death, to attain more power, to achieve perfection. He had been willing to do anything to achieve that goal.
An unfortunate series (or fortunate, depending how one might look on it) of events however, changed all of that. There was a time, when his goal was in his grasp, his experiments had started showing some success, and everything he had desired was within his reach. His actions had been discovered by his closest friend, Jiraiya, and had been reported to the previous Hokage. They were too late to stop him, that much was certain, so it didn't matter to him.
However, everything changed in an instant. He stood amongst his experiments, face to face with his teacher, ready to throw everything he held dear away to achieve his goal of perfection and power. His mind wandered as he recalled the events of that day. Jiraiya was there, and had pleaded with him to stop, to come back and forget that anything had happened. The third as well seemed reluctant to fight, to stop his favored pupil. Everything had been to his advantage.
That was when it all unraveled. He'd been working on one of his experiments when the other two has arrived to plead with him. As his attention was diverted, the experiment went haywire, and the subject had grown demonic, and vicious. The demonic creature had sprung from it's shackles as if they were paper, and went into a frenzied rage.
That's when everything changed. As the beast had plunged itself into Jiraiya, pangs of guilt grew within Orochimaru. His own creation was attacking a man he considered his best friend, and wounding him seriously. Even his teacher, who moments ago he'd been willing to kill himself, was falling victim to his vile experiment.
The beast seemed to recognize it's creator, paying Orochimaru no mind as he watched in horror as the two people he had felt closest two were being mauled by a power he'd created. What had that experiment been for, what had he been seeking. Absolute power? He could see the results plainly, the kind of power he sought, the perfect power, it didn't exist, and this was his penance for attempting to create it.
Before his mind could catch up, his body had sprung into action. within seconds he had slain his own creation. He wept as he carried his wounded friend and teached from his lab, and sought medical treatment for them each. It was the next day when, in the prescense of the third Hokage, he destroyed his lab. There had been other experiments within, some of which he knew would pose a great threat to the people, his ambition was one of destruction, a path that would lead only to oblivion. He had realized that as he saw his friend near death, at his own hands. That would be a stain he'd never fully wash.
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"Lord Hokage, the village is under attack!"
"What?" Orochimaru had shot to his feet from behind his desk. The last war had ended two years ago, and the villages had attained an uneasy peace. Surely none of the other Kages were fool enough to start a war so soon. The five great nations were still recovering, as were all the hidden villages, none of them had the resources to start a new war, let alone fight. "Who is it?"
The masked, black ops specialist watched his village leader and shook his head. "It's what we'd hoped would never happen, the nine tailed demon fox has appeared upon our village."
Orochimarus sighed, the third Hokage had warned him of such an eventuality, he'd hoped it would never come in his lifetime. The natural disaster known as the nine tailed demon fox was a creature of immeasurable power. He slowly sank back into his seat and thought for a moment. "Gather every shinobi you can, keep the beast out of the village by whatever means necesary. I need to research how I can stop the beast, then I will be there and end this."
"Yes sir!" The ANBU specialist had vanished as quickly as he had appeared, leaving the Hokage alone in his office.
As he sat there, Orochimaru thought about his life. It had been a good one, and he had done many things. He'd faced his own fears, and his own weaknesses and overcame them each. He had wanted to live forever at one point, a dream that he had killed for the good of those around him. He knew the end was near, the demon attacking his village was too powerful for him to expect to defeat and survive. "The will of fire huh? I never understood that rubish."
"But you do understand it, don't you Orochimaru?"
"M-master Sarutobi?" The fourth Hokage turned around suddenly to see an aged, nearly decrepit old man standing behind him. "When did you?"
"Just now. I figured you could use a hand. Actually, one of our genius ninja had an idea to defeat the demon."
"Is that so, do tell me master."
"A sealing ninjutsu that summons forth the god of death. The only drawback is that the user dies."
Orochimaru froze. "I had that feeling. Would you say I've live a good life? I felt I have, I'll have no regrets dying for my village."
"Good, because you won't be dying my idiot apprentice. I will." The old man smirked slightly and patted Orochimaru's shoulder.
"You? You can't master, the village still needs your wisdom. I'm the Hokage now, it's my duty to protect the village."
"And you will, I'm old Orochimaru, I need someone to fight off the demon while I perform the sealing, I can't do it quickly enough if I face the beast alone." Sarutobi took a deep breath, and then sighed heavily. "Look, we don't have much time to discuss it, we need to hurry to protect the village."
"Before we do, teach me the jutsu. Even if you fail, I'll be able to succeed."
"Alright, though I think Minato would object if he could."
"Figured it was him, that fool would throw his life away just as his child is born."
"That's why I stopped him. Now hurry, we don't have much time to waste."
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Things hadn't quite gone as planned, The demon had sensed what was going on and broke from Orochimaru to attack Sarutobi directly, and interupt his jutsu. The old man had already performed the first stage of the sealing when the demon hit him full force. It was obvious that the old ninja wouldn't be able to complete the sealing by himself.
"Forgive me master, but I'll be joining you on your trip to the next world." As the third Hokage danced through the battlefield with the giant fox demon, Orochimaru prepared the sealing technique. As he completed the first stage, he felt an icey chill fall upon his body, he could feel his sense starting to fade. Then he saw it, the form of the God of Death. So that's how it would be, the God of Death would personally take him to the next life. Already he could feel his body starting to weaken as his soul quivered in the prescense of the Death God.
Again, the demon fox seemed to sense what was happening and changed targets. Sarutobi took that chance to again attempt the sealing jutsu. As he again completed the first stage, he collapsed. His body had become too weak to handle it again, and the Death God devoured his soul.
The demon fox had faltered as it's attention became divided, and it's focus split between the two men both attempting to seal it. Seeing the one man drop, it's full attention turned to Orochimaru. However, it was too late for the demon.
Orochimaru gasped as he felt the icy chill of death incarnate pierce into his being, a side affect of the jutsu, he could tell. As he felt his own life start slipping, his life flashed before his eyes. "Looks like I'll join you soon, mother, father, master."
Orochimaru cocked his head sideways as he slowly lingered towards the demon fox, and within the blink of an eye completed the jutsu. The fox had vanished almost instantly as Orochimaru's dying body staggered towards the village. "Y-your power.... Such a waste...."
He'd managed to stagger even deeper into the village, and collapsed against a door. A moment later a woman opened the door and looked at him in shock. "L-lord Hokage?"
He reckognized the woman's voice, though his vision blurred. "Y-your son, bring him to me."
"R-right, right away Lord Hokage."
It was only a few seconds before a young child, a new born of only a few days old, had been brought to him. "Th-this is my will of fire. You will protect the future from now on child." He placed his hand on the boy's stomach and with the last of his energy, sealed the demon fox within the child. "You're the only one who I could think of to seal the fox within, use his power child, only you could truely control it."
At that, the fourth Hokage fell to the ground and breathed his last breath. He had saved the village, with the help of his master, and had sealed the demon fox in a child, one he hoped would protect the next generation, and those to come next. It was no surprise that he could die with a smile on his face.