Orochimaru was a patient man. In order to be a good scientist, you had to be. It takes a while to get experimental results. And you always had to prepare for the unexpected, like that old fool Sarutobi barging into one of his labs, forcing him to leave Konoha. He had been prepared that night; everything of importance was sealed up in scrolls, which were sealed up in a single scroll he had hid beneath his clothing. A bit risky, but the only ones alive in the village of Konoha who could actually get in a hit that might damage the scroll were Jiraya, Tsunade and Sarutobi. The first two weren't there, and his old sensei wouldn't attack him, Orochimaru knew him too well for that. It was a shame that the infants with the Shodaime's genes hadn't lived, but that had been a minor setback.
Leaving Konoha was not much of a loss either; he'd been toying with the idea anyways. The village had been useful, but for Orochimaru's quest for immortality, there was nothing else Orochimaru could squeeze out of it, not counting experimental subjects, but those could be found anywhere else. He currently had an immortality-jutsu that allowed his soul to take over other bodies, but it was untested and also not really immortality, as there was still a threat of being lethally injured and unable to find a new host. So Orochimaru had left, seeking another place where he might find the answers to eternal life. And he found it.
He had been approached by an organization known as the Akatsuki, a group of S-class ninja, much like himself. Their goals were a bit strange; all Orochimaru knew that they fought devils, fiends and other hellish critters, which were still swarming the planet. He also knew that their ultimate goal was the capture of the bijuu, the most powerful of the demons. They normally moved in groups of two, there were regular pairs that normally wandered together, and special occasions where different pairs or even groups would be sent against a particularly strong foe. But Orochimaru wasn't really interested in the organization's goals or setup, the members took too much of his attention. Within them laid the answers he had yearned for such a long time.
There was Hidan; an immortal in a literal sense, as Orochimaru had witnessed a fiend similar to a praying mantis had decapitated him, only for the head to start swearing about neck-pain. Orochimaru had heard of the near-extinct Order of Jashin, and that its members could reflect the injuries they suffered to their enemies after going through a secret ceremony, but never had he heard that they didn't die with their victims. In their belief, they destroyed their souls in order to send Jashin the ultimate tribute, the soul of their foe. Well, destroyed was not quite correct, seeing that souls were indestructible, but they were shattered, denying them entrance to heaven or hell until they reformed. The only problem Orochimaru saw was that once the head was severed, Hidan lost control of his body. Also, Orochimaru didn't know if the man was truly immortal, or just immune to a forceful death.
The next member, Kakuzu, would solve that problem. He was nearly Hidan's opposite. While technically mortal, he extended his life by ripping out others hearts, allowing him to use their strengths, as well as add their life to his own. It was a forbidden technique of Takigakure, and that was all Orochimaru could learn about it, Kakuzu being less than helpful. Orochimaru had no idea how old Kakuzu was, but the man had hinted that he'd fought the Shodaime Hokage. If Orochimaru could combine the powers of these two men, he'd have his immortality. But Orochimaru was greedy. So why settle for second-best when you had a chance to gain perfection? The other members' ability would be a magnificent addition, truly creating the perfect body.
His own regular partner was Akasuna no Sasori, or Sasori of the Red Sands. The two of them disliked each other, but respected the other one's skills and actually worked well together. Orochimaru was interested in human puppets, as it would give him an edge. However, he felt that he had better things to do than learn puppetry, not that that meant he wouldn't like his perfect body to be able to use fallen enemies as weapons.
Another member that intrigued Orochimaru especially was Kisame Hoshigaki, or more precisely, his sword Samehada. The sword could instantly devour chakra, and not only the limited amounts humans possessed, Orochimaru had seen Kisame shave all demonic and highly toxic youki off a fiend, without any ill-effects on the sword. Unfortunately, the damned blade was at least semi-sentient, and refused to let anyone but Kisame wield it.
The woman, Konan, did not interest him that much, but he saw the advantages in being able to turn into paper. It would give the expression being overwhelmed by paperwork a whole new meaning, plus nobody expected an attack to come from a pile of blank paper. And the idea was brilliant, Orochimaru would admit that much.
Of course the leader's Rinnegan made Orochimaru's mouth water. The first of the doujutsu, and the most powerful of them all. However, Orochimaru doubted he'd get close enough for a transfer, not that it'd do him much good. Pain wasn't immortal. Still, his skills in an immortal body would grant Orochimaru the strength of a god.
As for the last member, Orochimaru wasn't sure what to make of him. Zetsu was an enigma. All Orochimaru knew about him was that he could freely pass through solid objects, and cover great distances in seconds. Orochimaru had tried to copy that skill, but the results were moderate at best. Still, he was sure that Zetsu could do a lot more than he'd shown.
Orochimaru decided that he'd try to get samples from all of them; while biding his time in hopes that other shinobi would join, so that he might gain more samples.
And slowly and patiently, Orochimaru collected his samples. Ironically, the one sample he desired the most was the easiest to acquire, as Hidan left gallons of his genetic material whenever he fought or prayed to his god.
For the other samples, Orochimaru had to use cunning.
Orochimaru looked at Kakuzu with calculating eyes. The man seemed annoyed. "Why did you call me, Orochimaru?"
Said serpent smirked. "I have something for you." He raised a golden wristband with embedded diamonds into the air.
Kakuzu's eyes widened slightly, then his left arm detached and shot forward, black strings connecting it with the main body. Orochimaru reacted instantly, pulling out a kunai and chopping the limb off with a single sweep.
Kakuzu looked at him. "Are you trying to test my patience?" he asked, obviously annoyed.
Orochimaru shook his head. "Now now, I never said it was for free. In return, I want some information. I heard rumors about an elemental bloodline in Takigakure, and as a former shinobi of that village, you should know."
Kakuzu frowned. It was no secret that Orochimaru was interested in bloodlines, but to go this far? Then again, who was he to complain? "Alright, give me the good and I'll tell you what I know."
Orochimaru raised a brow. "How do I know you won't just run off with this? It is pretty expensive."
Kakuzu looked at him. "If I started to betray my business-partners, the news would spread and nobody would do money-related deals with me."
Orochimaru tilted his head, seemingly weighing his options, and then he threw the wristband to Kakuzu. Said man pulled out a small magnifying-glass that was placed on the eye, the likes every jewel-dealer used, and started to look at every single stone. Finally, he nodded. "This is real. To answer your question, there is no such bloodline in Taki, and there has never been an elemental bloodline-user serving Take in its entire history." With that, he left.
Orochimaru waited a while, and then he smiled. "I know." He had been the one spreading that rumor, and it had served its purpose. He bent down to pick up a number of severed black strings. Amongst what Kakuzu had sent with his arm, there had been a number of loose strings, some of which Orochimaru now collected and sealed in a scroll. With that, the necessary materials were gathered, now for the supplemental ones.
Orochimaru had paid a visit to Amegakure, Akatsuki's headquarters, after Pain had killed Hanzo. Orochimaru had come to secure the corpse, which he managed, and look for the Salamander-contract. He had found that one as well, but it didn't do him any good. The paranoid ruler of Amegakure had sealed it into a tattoo on his arm, with a seal that required the man's own chakra to work. Still, having Hanzo's corpse could only be good, as it probably held a few secrets for Orochimaru to uncover. Sadly, the man didn't have a kekkei genkai, only ridiculous amounts of skill. The man had shown that he was a master in manipulating Fire, Water and Lightning, and that he had been a brilliant strategist.
Right now he was on his way back, but he was biding his time. Then he heard what he'd been waiting for, the flapping of tiny wings. He spun around and released a flurry of senbon that nailed the paper-butterflies to a nearby tree. Orochimaru plucked them off the needles, and then unceremoniously ripped them to shreds, although he sealed a few larger pieces into a scroll. He didn't have to wait long until Konan, the Angel of Amegakure, appeared.
She got strait to the point. "Why did you do that?"
Orochimaru chuckled. "Kukuku, while I enjoy spying on people to learn their secrets, I hate being spied on."
Konan looked him in the eye, and then she slowly nodded. "Don't do it again. I have no idea why you want Hanzo's body, but be careful not to overstep your bounds." With that, she turned to paper and blew away.
Orochimaru shrugged. That was one.
Orochimaru looked at the floor. A giant open Venus-flytrap was in front of him, a man's head and shoulders were sticking out of it, one part of him white as snow, the other one black as the night. This was Zetsu, spy and messenger of the Akatsuki, and he had just given him and Sasori their instructions.
Orochimaru smiled and ruffled through Zetsu's hair. "You are quite useful, aren't you?" Then he quickly pulled his hand back, and not a second too soon. The flytrap snapped shut, sounding like a triggered bear-trap, missing Orochimaru's finger by a hair's width. Then the two parts opened again, revealing an annoyed face. "Don't pat my head."
Orochimaru shrugged, "Won't happen again." Then he and Sasori left as Zetsu sank into the ground. Orochimaru looked at his hand. A few strands of hair were in between his fingers. That was two.
Orochimaru and Sasori were in the hardest fight they had had for a long time. Zetsu had completely underestimated the threat this guy posed. While their foe looked like an overgrown mix between a gecko, a rodent and a bull, it could manipulate the earth beneath their feet, making a fight difficult due to permanent loss of footing. Also, the damned beast sent spikes through the ground every now and then, trying to target their blind-spots. Sasori was still in what Orochimaru was certain was a carrier-puppet, considering he hadn't used a single puppet yet, and having a harder time to dodge. Eventually, the inevitable happened, Sasori took a hit.
The strike had been a nasty one, coming directly from below. Sasori had no way of seeing it, and it pierced through the entire body, shooting out of the top of Sasori's body. As Orochimaru had expected, a figure shot out from "Sasori's" back. Orochimaru saw the true Sasori, what looked like a young man with red hair. Orochimaru was intrigued. From his information, Sasori should be older than that by now. Did the man find his own way of eternal youth, or did he simply have a baby-face?
Sasori spoke. "Damn, he nicked me. And of all the possible places, it had to be there." Orochimaru noticed he was holding his chest, a purplish liquid flowing out between Sasori's fingers, dripping onto a rock on the floor.
Orochimaru smirked. "Looks like everyone doesn't bleed red after all."
Sasori glanced at him. "Orochimaru, be quiet. This has gone on long enough; it's time for me to end this." He looked at the fiend. "You have taken up too much of my valuable time already. But since you grazed me, you will die by my favorite puppet." He pulled out and opened a scroll that had the kanji for 3 in it. With a poof, a man that Orochimaru easily recognized was leaning on Sasori's shoulders. The Sandaime Kazekage, the most powerful leader Sunagakure had ever had, was now one of Sasori's weapons. Then the puppet opened its mouth, and a black substance oozed out. Orochimaru knew that this was not some sort of blob, but countless metal-particles, and if he knew Sasori, the entire thing was poisoned.
The poor critter didn't stand the ghost of a chance. Suddenly, instead of the earth, it was standing on a black platform that bound its limbs, tail and made a choker around its neck while lifting it into the air. With a short tug, the creature was hugging the square platform, all limbs, tail included, were stretched out, pointing away from its body. Then a large block of the Black Sand appeared above it. Sasori's finger twitched and the two black squares shot towards each other, squashing the gecko/rodent/bull in between them like a mosquito between two hands.
Orochimaru walked over to the rock were Sasori's purple blood had pooled and dipped his fingers in the puddle, not without secretly pulling out a syringe and sucking up as much of it as he could. "And I thought that between the two of us, I was the one who was into self-experimentation."
Sasori looked at him. "You don't have a monopoly on intelligence and willingness to sacrifice oneself for his work."
Orochimaru shrugged, "Perhaps not." He had what he wanted from Sasori, almost. He'd take the scroll Sasori made on how to create human-puppets when he actually left Akatsuki, everything else would just raise suspicion.
Getting a sample of the leader Pain was difficult at best; impossible would be closer to the truth. Orochimaru had tried to get it, but he had found out that the Rinnegan had the ability to raise the dead, as secondary bodies, which meant that genetic samples from anything but the original body would be worthless, as the Rinnegan wasn't part of the genetic information of that body. But if that was the case, how could the revived corpse have it? What was different from before the corpse was revived and afterwards? Then Orochimaru had an epiphany. The black piercings on the bodies, he had currently seen two, must be the key. Orochimaru remembered that he'd seen the leader wield similar-looking skewers, and decided to snatch one, just to see what it was.
Getting it was easy, as the leader left the broken ones and the ones that were stuck in his enemies' corpses behind. A first analyze gave Orochimaru the answer he had sought. They were made of bio-mass, and while on first sight their main purpose seemed to be the disruption, a closer look revealed that they were receivers, sending their maker's chakra into whatever was stabbed, disrupting the flow of chakra while opening the way for mental attacks with no way to hit back. But these spikes had to be made of the one that channeled the chakra, and while Orochimaru couldn't check if they had the Rinnegan, he was able to do a basic bloodline-test, and to his joy it came out positive. Six down, one to go.
A hiss of pain escaped Orochimaru's lips when his short flight came to an abrupt end on a few trees. He, Sasori, Kakuzu and Kisame had been ordered to fight a boar-demon that was terrorizing villages, for a price, of course. But the damned thing was tougher than they'd expected. The original plan had been to poison it, which was why Sasori and Orochimaru were present, and then just give it a workout till it croaked, but the oversized bacon had decided to make things difficult, as it just refused to drop dead.
Sasori had retreated, saying that he didn't have anything but his poisons that would be effective against a boar the size of a whale, and that he had already pumped as much poison as was reasonable into the damned thing, and stated that anything else he had with him would not increase the speed of death by a single second.
Orochimaru knew that Sasori had a point, he himself had also pumped everything he thought might work into the pig, and the demon had started to stumble, but it was not happening fast enough for the Akatsuki's tastes. Orochimaru had been knocked back by the last charge of the boar, covering Kakuzu, who was peppering the oversized piece of ham with all elements, leaving heavy injuries. The battle was coming to a close.
Orochimaru jumped up and charged again, intent on getting vengeance for that involuntary flight-lesson. He would call Manda, but as a member of the Akatsuki he had a hard time getting subjects for his experiments as it was, gathering the sacrifices Manda required would be neigh-impossible. So for now, he was on his own. He jumped, narrowly avoiding the tusks, and plunged his sword into the demon's eye, before ordering it to extend. The boar squeaked in agony. Orochimaru jumped off, and the dying boar made a last-ditch effort to kill. It charged Kisame and thrust its left tusk to his midsection. Kisame barely managed to raise Samehada in time to block the vicious attack. But the tusks were harder than he'd expected, as a few of the sword's scales were crushed, and one broke off and flew towards Orochimaru, who caught it inches before his eye.
Orochimaru curiously looked at the broken scale, knowing that everyone's attention was on the animal-like demon, which had finally dropped to its side and died. Out of curiosity, Orochimaru channeled a bit of chakra into his index-finger and scraped the scale over it. The effect was instantaneous. The chakra vanished from his finger, and the scale grew half a millimeter on an edge. Orochimaru smirked. Apparently, it was still alive, and Kisame obviously hadn't noticed anything. Orochimaru finally had what he wanted, after years of patient work; he had all the necessary ingredients, now he just needed to make it work.
For that, he needed a base; he had found something promising in Ta no Kuni, soon to be Oto no Kuni, although he'd keep a number of bases spread throughout the Elemental Nations. He had Kabuto, his best spy, but for waging war, numbers were essential, and having bloodline-soldiers would be even better. Kabuto had informed him that a young boy with a fascinating ability had contacted him, asking if Orochimaru, who despite his methods was known to get results, if he could be freed from his curse. What Kabuto had described was intriguing, especially if that 'curse' could be transferred to foot-soldiers, making them monstrous powerhouses. Orochimaru had in fact been working on a boost for his troops for a while, but without much success. Anko was the only survivor, but Orochimaru had lost interest in her when she had rejected him. The cursed seal just didn't work, but maybe Juugo's cells could change that. Little Juugo was fate's way of telling Orochimaru that it would soon be time to leave Akatsuki, but not after he had a look at its newest member-to-be that the leader had told them would be there by the time they returned.
Orochimaru's eyes bulged. The new member was Itachi Uchiha! The man had fled Konoha after killing his entire clan sans his direct family, not counting the father. Orochimaru knew that the Uchiha were corrupt and lusting for power, traits he respected and liked about them, as it made them predictable. And now the man with the strength to kill an entire clan whose skills were at least similar to his own was a member of Akatsuki, and therefore for Orochimaru to exploit. Apparently Itachi had awakened something that had been lost for generations, the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan. With Itachi, Akatsuki now had all the members the leader said they would need bar one, Orochimaru would only need to gather a piece of Itachi to be able to make a body that would unite Akatsuki's powers. The last member was still in the air, and the choice would probably take years Orochimaru could not spare. But to his dismay, Itachi was careful, and didn't trust Orochimaru at all, so it was impossible to get a sample. The young Uchiha was always eying him, waiting for him to do something that would give him an excuse to attack Orochimaru. And that gave said serpent an idea.
Orochimaru grasped his stump of an arm. His hand was on the floor, in front of Itachi's feet. Orochimaru had taken Sasori's scroll on human puppetry and fled. But Itachi had intercepted him and in a short but violent battle, he had put Orochimaru through his Tsukiyomi after the Sannin had managed to give him a deep cut just below the cheekbone. Itachi had then used the involuntary freeze-up to sever Orochimaru's hand with the kunai that had scratched him.
He looked down on the snake-man. "All your tricks are useless before my eyes." He stated.
Orochimaru's eyes were filled with hatred. "Then I'll make those eyes mine!" With that, he opened his mouth and the long tongue shot at Itachi. Itachi jumped back, preparing for an attack, but the tongue merely wrapped around the hand and pulled it to Orochimaru. Who jumped back and started to retreat.
Itachi smirked. "If you're thinking about reattaching it, you're wasting your time. My blade is covered with a poison that decomposes flesh. By the time you're anywhere near a place with sufficient instruments for such a operation, all nerve-endings will have decomposed. That hand will never function again. Jutsu are forever out of your reach." That one would especially hurt, since everyone knew it was Orochimaru's dream to master all jutsu.
The man grimaced. "You underestimate me Itachi Uchiha, and that will be your downfall." Then he shunshined away.
Itachi returned to the lair and reported that Orochimaru had defected, and that it had cost him his hand.
Sasori was still upset. "I don't understand what Orochimaru would want with that scroll. All it does is explain how to make a human-puppet, something I decided to make should I ever have an apprentice, but for Orochimaru, it's useless. He's not a puppeteer, and even if he started to learn it now, he would never reach the level of skill necessary to fully utilize a human-puppet."
Konan rubbed her chin. "Orochimaru has the corpse of Salamander Hanzo, one of the few men he ever feared. Perhaps he wants to turn him into a weapon for himself?"
Sasori nodded. "Orochimaru is proud. I can believe that he would do that, and with such a high-specs puppet, he could reach the level of a good user, even if mastery of this art is out of his reach."
Hidan chuckled. "Well, now that he lost the hand, I'd say the fucking bastard would be mediocre at best."
Sasori looked at Hidan. "A true master of puppetry can move a puppet, or even multiple puppets, with a single finger. Also, if I know Orochimaru, then by some means, he'll regain that hand."
Pain shrugged. "That man was always a loose cannon, but his services were excellent. We shall deal with him another time; right now we have more important things to worry about. Also, I found an S-class shinobi who may take over Orochimaru's role as Sasori's partner. Itachi, you and Kisame, your new partner, will recruit him. Use force if necessary."
Orochimaru was in a wonderful mood.
Itachi had actually believed that Orochimaru had used that move for his hand. No, it had been for the kunai in the hand, but Itachi would've suspected something if he had just taken it. 'All my tricks are useless before your eyes, huh Itachi? In the end, you fell for it after all. Granted, I hadn't expected it to cost me my hand, but that's a small price to pay for your blood. With your Sharingan, gaining the entire world's jutsu will be much easier, so thank you very much.'
Orochimaru actually had more of Itachi's blood then Itachi could have realized. The kunai Orochimaru used against him had been a special creation of his. There were small holes in the tip, and the interior of the blade was hollow, covered in stability- and vacuum-seals. When the blade had entered Itachi's flesh, the vacuum-seals activated and pulled blood out of his body. Not as much as Orochimaru would have liked, but any more and Itachi would have felt it. Now that he had all the ingredients, he'd find a suitable body, modify it to his needs and take it over. But first, it was time to leave the body he was born with, and move to something better. His perfect host wouldn't be ready that soon, but Orochimaru was a patient man. After all, he had all the time in the world.
Years passed. Orochimaru had conquered the body of a woman from Kusagakure, the finest sword-mistress the village had ever produced, and wielder of the legendary Kusanagi, she had been born with high chakra-levels as well, which was a plus, but Orochimaru had chosen her for her sword-skills, seeing that he retained the knowledge of the body's former inhabitant, and could take that knowledge and all skills with him, unless it was a kekkei genkai. The availability of the host's knowledge was vital, as without it, Orochimaru would be forced to go through extensive rehabilitation in order to get used to the new body. All in all, his jutsu was a success, and there were no signs of a rejection.
Juugo was everything Orochimaru had hoped he was and more. Orochimaru had no problems extracting the materials needed to research the effect, and was hoping that he would soon be able to transfer it to others safely.
He had also gained a number of followers, including the last Kaguya, Kimimaro. Unfortunately, that was where the good news ended.
He had found multiple candidates for his new host, used a solution he had created from Hidan's samples, which he had the most from, on them, and waited for the breakthrough. He had seen that his formula theoretically worked, as he had used the same method to give Juugo's abilities to others. It hadn't worked until Orochimaru weakened the solution, essentially reducing the transformation-capabilities to a single form. His first successes merely showed the patterns of their seals, giving them an increase in strength, speed and chakra, but failing to achieve his hope, since they died if forced to Level 2. After some experimentation, he had found a way to safely allow his subjects to reach Level 2. Unfortunately, his subjects had been stuck in their monster-form, but his research showed that that was due to lacking mental strength, not a mistake in the formula. Many went insane, and Orochimaru resorted to locking them up in an outpost, intending to send Juugo there once the process was perfected. But with Hidan's solution, there were no survivors. He was enraged, yet after six failed experiments with fifty subjects per experiment, he decided to save the rest of Hidan's blood, which would not last much longer, and instead use Kimimaro. The boy's kekkei genkai was something he desired as well, and Kimimaro was only too willing to supply him with the needed materials. Orochimaru considered using him as a host should the process take longer than expected.
Yet the experiments with Kimimaro's solution didn't have any more success. Orochimaru was furious, and Kabuto, who had joined Orochimaru in his work and worked his way up to Orochimaru's right-hand-man, was working furiously to solve the problem before Orochimaru forgot himself and ended him.
Kabuto scratched his head, this wasn't good. Lord Orochimaru's patience was slowly wearing thin, and he had no results. It just didn't work, but he was too smart to tell that to his master. In the beginning, Kabuto had found it almost amusing that nobody survived becoming immortal, appreciating the irony, but now it was his own neck that was on the line. If it went on like this, Orochimaru might get the idea that an accelerated regeneration like his was needed in order to succeed.
There seemed to be one piece of the puzzle he was missing. How do you get someone to survive something that has a 100% chance of killing them? Where do you find a person that doesn't die, despite logic, experience, science and everything else saying it should? Then Kabuto remembered that he in fact did know such a person. He smiled. This may very well be the breakthrough he had been waiting for!
He hadn't finished his thoughts when Orochimaru entered, seemingly in a miserable mood. "How are things going?" He asked.
Kabuto shrugged. "The latest batch has died as well..." Orochimaru growled and reached for something. Kabuto didn't even want to know what it was, so he quickly continued "...but I have thought of something that has fairly good chances of working."
Orochimaru raised a brow. "I'm listening Kabuto. But your fate may ride on this, so choose your words carefully."
Kabuto nodded. "I have tried using accelerated regeneration to make it work, and the results were better than anything else we ever got. But it wasn't enough. So I had the idea to use someone who not only has a regeneration equal or even superior to what I can do, but also possesses something that doesn't let him die."
Orochimaru glared at him. "And where would we find such a person? What you described is a scientist's dream subject."
Kabuto nodded. "Where to find him? Perhaps in the last place you would look, Konoha."
Orochimaru snorted. "I would have taken such a person would he have existed there, I squeezed everything out of that village before I left, I even looked into Danzo's ROOT."
Kabuto smiled. "But what if that person hadn't been born then?"
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?" Then it dawned on him. "You're thinking of the Kyuubi-brat, aren't you?"
Kabuto nodded. "The demon will not allow him to die, and if it sees what we inject as the advantages that they are, it might even improve what we give."
Orochimaru nodded. "Yes, the brat would probably live, but what will we do once we injected it into him? Even if he gains the abilities, the demon would destroy me if I attempted to take over the child."
Kabuto shrugged. "Suppose that we extract the demon before the actual takeover."
Orochimaru frowned. "If a bijuu is extracted, the... jinchuuriki... Brilliant! With Hidan's power, he'd survive the extraction, and we could extract sperms for offspring just in case."
Kabuto nodded. "That has the highest chance of success from anything I came up with so far. I could probably easily convince the child to join us, seeing that Konoha isn't exactly the most hospitable of places for the boy."
Orochimaru chuckled, "Kukuku, yes, the most peaceful and kind of all villages, abusing an innocent child. We can't allow that to happen, Kabuto, now can we?"
Kabuto smiled and pushed up his glasses, "Of course not, Lord Orochimaru. Shall I start gaining the boy's trust?"
Orochimaru shook his head. "I have no idea if the Akatsuki is still onto me, so time is of the essence. I suppose if you can gain his trust within the week, you may do so." He glared at Kabuto with a blank face, "I trust you to use your own discretion."
Kabuto bowed, "Understood."
Kabuto's return to Konoha was simple; he had been on an extended C-rank mission for the last few months. He had honestly finished it some months before, but to keep up appearances, and provide service to Lord Orochimaru, he made it seem as though he was only barely skilled enough to complete his missions. The guards recognized him as the supposed failure of a genin he portrayed himself as and let him through with no more than a glance and wave. He smiled at them and waved, He enjoyed his time in Konoha; he really did. In Konoha, no one expected anything of him, and he was left to his own devices. Otogakure was far more stressful, and no one really knew how to relax. He knew this was no vacation, but it couldn't hurt to have some fun when you could. After all, if this didn't work, and he prayed to God that it did, he wouldn't be around to have fun much longer. While wandering around the village he had picked out plenty of ninja patrolling over the rooftops and simply running from place to place. After a while, ten minutes or so, he found what he was looking for. There were three ninja camouflaged on rooftops overlooking the market. They were well hidden, despite the fact that they were in broad daylight overlooking a busy street. The positioning of the three was rather odd. The first two were much closer to the roadway than the third and a bit more conspicuous, as though their detection would not compromise them. That or they didn't think their target capable of detecting them. The third was well back from the road and much more effectively concealed. An over watch for the group? He was positioned in such a way that the first two would be hard pressed to detect him in any way, almost if he was hiding from them as well.
Dawning suddenly appeared on Kabuto's face. The third ANBU was a member of Danzo's ROOT. His smile vanished as he realized this. The whole thing had just become ridiculously difficult. While killing the three might be within Kabuto's abilities, doing so without compromising his spying position within Konoha, would be difficult. He decided stealth was a necessity. Danzo was intelligent. An autopsy to reveal how his men died, and then back tracing that information to suitable suspects, was well known to both Kabuto and Lord Orochimaru. Danzo had been the one to warn the third Hokage to Lord Orochimaru's violent nature. Kabuto would have to kill the three using mundane means, and considering they were ANBU, that would be quite the challenge.
A crash coupled with loud shouting brought him out of his thoughts. The sound seemed to be coming from a shop next to a fruit stand and, he quickly realized, directly across from the first two hidden ANBU. As the commotion approached the front of the shop he began to make out words being screamed by what sounded like an older man.
"What'd I tell you about coming in here you little cockroach! You're not allowed! Get the hell out. Out!"
He winced as a small body came hurtling out of the storefront and landed unceremoniously in the road, causing every head to turn to see the action. He was intrigued when the startled looks of passersby twisted into looks of glee, as though they had just stumbled on a free show.
The body, which He could now tell belonged to a blond haired boy decked out in worn and dirty shorts and a T-shirt, quickly tried to get up but was sent back to the dirt when a large, middle-aged man stormed out of the store and jabbed him in the stomach with the end of a broom handle.
"If I catch you in my store again, I'm gonna break every damn finger you got! Now get out, and stay out!"
Ah, He realized that he had come across his target, one Uzumaki Naruto. He held in a smile, as he thought the whole affair somewhat amusing. However, he needed to train himself to feel sympathy for the boy. He prided himself in his acting abilities, and he had found that it was rather easy to force yourself into an emotion. Given the right look, Uzumaki would be able to tell just how much Kabuto "cared" for his well-being. Naruto stumbled and ran as fast as he could, he bumped into Kabuto, as Kabuto had positioned himself in his path. Naruto looked at Kabuto with watery eyes that were begging for comfort. At that moment, Kabuto felt true concern flood into him. It shocked Kabuto at first, how on earth had he come to care for this child with but a glance?
Before he could react to the blip of emotion, Naruto had brushed past him and run down the street as fast as his legs could carry him. He was brought back to his senses by the shifting of the ANBU on the rooftop. They hadn't attempted to move, but it seemed to as though their eyes were following Naruto as he ran up the road a bit to a small restaurant stand.
A dull murmur began around him from the market-goers. Words such as menace, monster, and the like, were common among the ramblings, Kabuto felt it odd that the most common slander of jinchuuriki, demon, was notably absent. He supposed that the third was thoroughly upholding the law which stated that Naruto's "condition" not be mentioned in public.
The crowd dispersed as quickly as it came and went back to its original position, though noticeably more tense.
Continuing to watch from across the road, Kabuto decided that he would do his best to gain Naruto's trust. He wasn't sure why, but that blip of emotion he had felt, seemed to compel him to pity the child. He decided that a proactive approach would be necessary, and made his way to the Ramen Stand.
"Hello Young man! And welcome to Ichiraku's Ramen! How may I help you?" said a forty year old man with a wide smile on his face.
"Ah, yes, well I suppose I'll have a bowl of shrimp, without the vegetables, please."
The man nodded and began to work, still wearing that exuberant smile on his face as he did so. Kabuto thought that many people in Otogakure could take a lesson from this man. He had grown tired of the constant complaints that the workers gave out in Hidden Sound. Of course, he supposed it made a difference if you were doing something you loved, versus doing something out of fear of retribution.
"So, how did it go?" said the man.
Kabuto looked strangely at the man, "I'm sorry, come again?"
"Your mission! I know a rookie ninja when I see one! And it looks like it was a hard one too. Your first C-rank maybe?"
Kabuto held back a chuckle; He found it ironic that he would get so close to his cover-up story by just sparing him a glance. He looked at himself, he was a dirty mess. He had been on the road for three days and had yet to shower or bathe in any way.
"No, not my first one ever, but it was pretty hard. My teammates finished it up and gave a report to the Hokage, but I was injured and they thought it'd be best if I rested up before making the long journey home. In fact, I just got back twenty minutes ago."
"You're teammates just left you there?"
At this Kabuto perked up in mock surprise when he saw Naruto was sitting on the counter with unrestrained interest.
"Well, yes, but there was no reasonable danger present, so it seemed like a good idea at the time." Kabuto was glad things were going so well, he and Naruto were having a conversation, and Naruto was the one who had instigated it.
"So, you're a ninja?"
Kabuto smiled at Naruto and gave the briefest of nods.
All hint of sadness that Naruto had, swiftly disappeared as he looked over and studied Kabuto. When he was done, he took a deep breath and smiled widely, "That's so cool! What was your mission like? Did you beat a lot of bad guys? Did you save anyone? I bet you were awesome huh?"
Kabuto was genuinely taken by surprise and nearly fell out of his seat from that little outburst. This caused the man cooking his ramen to laugh, and spill some of the broth onto the floor as he scooped up the dish into a bowl for Kabuto.
"That's Naruto for you! Lover of all things ninja," Naruto interrupted him, "and Ramen!" He laughed again, "yes, yes, and ramen too."
Kabuto was ticked; he had felt sorry for this guy? He was annoying as hell. Still, his love of 'all things ninja' might be the key to making him willingly come along. He gave him a small smile and motioned for him to come take the seat by him. Naruto hesitated for a moment then took a plop onto the seat.
"I'll tell you all about it over a bowl of Ramen, alright?"
Kabuto might as well have promised Naruto the moon, his face lit up with a smile and he ordered three miso ramen. Kabuto paid for it, and began weaving an imaginary tale of heroics that would have made quite a good book. He elaborated on the tale of protecting a merchant from enemy ninja while heading to the village hidden in the smoke. He tried to keep it realistic, but Naruto seemed most impressed with the more outlandish aspects.
They went on for about an hour before Kabuto completed his tale. Naruto was thoroughly relaxed and at ease, which meant Kabuto had a great opening. Kabuto began to turn the conversation to Naruto, things he already knew, but necessary to the line of questions he wanted to pose.
"So how old are you kid?"
"Hey! I'm no kid! I'm 8 years old!" Naruto replied with a subdued voice that implied he had been insulted in some way.
Kabuto gave another smile, "I apologize; you look much younger for some reason."
"Oh, well I guess if it was just a mistake…"
Kabuto fired off another question, "So what's your name?"
"Uzumaki Naruto!" the boy replied proudly. Kabuto realized that Naruto was rather desperate for attention, other eight year olds he knew, while quieter, did not like to talk with 'adults' for extended periods of time. Kabuto, however, knew that as long as he gave his undivided attention to Naruto, he would return the favor.
"And what do you like to do, Naruto?"
"I like to eat ramen at Ichiraku Ramen and talk to the old man when he can spend time with me, but in a little while I'm going to join the ninja academy and train to be a great ninja!" He didn't know who the old man was but that was beside the point. The kid actually wanted to be a ninja.
Now it was time to ask the important questions. "Oh? And why do you want to be a ninja, Naruto?"
At this, the boy's face took on an oddly serious countenance that was a bit unnerving to see on a child so young. "All of the ninjas are respected by the villagers and the villagers do what they say. If I become a great ninja then all the people in Konoha will have to stop being so mean all the time. That's why I want to be the Hokage like the old man. Then everyone will have to look up to me!"
Now they had hit upon the real issues and the discussion had taken on a decidedly dangerous leaning. If He intended to go any further, He couldn't afford to be overheard.
"Naruto, I've got to go."
"Wh-what, why?" Naruto seemed genuinely heartbroken
"It's getting late, and I need my rest for tomorrow, but do you think we could pick up this conversation tomorrow? I had a lot of fun today; I'd like to keep it up."
Naruto's eyes lit up once more, "Wow! Really?"
"Of course, your quite the enjoyable one." Again Kabuto gave Naruto a small smile as he left the stand.
Kabuto left in a hurry, keeping his attention on the three ANBU who no doubtedly were quite leery of him at this moment. After all, he was a 15 year-old genin who was displaying, before-unseen, interest in a kid 7 years his junior. However, once they had deemed him a non-threat and he was a good distance away, He slowly and stealthily made his way back. He would have to take out the member of ROOT first, but how? Kabuto skulked behind his target, and only took a moment to come up with a feasible plan. He would use a relatively new jutsu in his arsenal. He would use the Camouflage Technique, a jutsu that made the user invisible and eradicated scent. He would then sneak up to close proximity to the ANBU, and use the Chakra Scalpel to perform a quick and dirty lobotomy. Afterwards he would seal the body away for future use. Convinced that was a suitable course of action, Kabuto made his move. He made it seem much simpler than it truly was, but then again, he always did. After all three were dealt with, he observed Naruto's actions.
Naruto was still at the ramen stand, this time eating supper. He engaged in conversation with the man, and a small girl that recently arrived. She was working in the stand, and seemed to genuinely listen to the boy. After an hour, Naruto was on the move again. Kabuto was surprised at how quickly and silently Naruto ran through the back-alleys. Kabuto was quite certain that Naruto's stealth skills were high-genin level. That was very impressive, considering the boy was still in the academy. Kabuto, however, decided that further delay was unnecessary. He put himself on the projected path Naruto was taking, and waited. Before long he saw the familiar batch of blond hair. Naruto stopped quite abruptly when he saw Kabuto, and began running in the opposite direction.
"Wait Naruto! It's me Kabuto!"
Naruto skidded to a halt and gave a hard look at Kabuto. His face was contorted in fear, Kabuto noticed. However, before Kabuto could think on it he was tackled by Naruto. Naruto was sobbing incessantly. Kabuto, to say the least, was confused.
"Naruto, wha-"
"Over here boys! I saw him come through here!"
Kabuto was surprised at the small mob that came through the alley. Even more so, when he noticed they were covered in egg-yolk. He found it hard to not laugh, but managed to pull a straight face to encounter the obviously enraged mass. He stood up, placing Naruto behind him, and adjusted his glasses as he took in the mob that was now frozen in place.
"D-damn it! That's a ninja! We'll have to finish this later…"
A man, tall and powerfully built, squinted ahead. He smirked when he saw Kabuto. Kabuto recognized the man as a retired shinobi, and that he only had one arm. He had lost it in the Kyuubi attack if Kabuto's memory was correct.
"Heh, no worries! That's just some genin drop-out! I can take him no problem!"
Kabuto did not like how this looked; however, it would probably be best if he gathered some additional information before making his move.
"Excuse me; I believe there has been some misunderstanding. It sounds as though you gentlemen are contemplating harming young Naruto here."
The shinobi did not answer, instead the man in the middle, the one Kabuto noticed was also the man who had kicked Naruto out of his store, answered.
"Contemplate nothing! The little monster has been terrorizing the village for eight years now, and I'm damn sick of it! It's time we finished what the fourth started!"
"Surely you're over-reacting, I mean," he chuckled and pushed up his glasses, "it looks like a harmless prank to me."
The man spat, and responded in a near growl, "It's taunting us, the little demon, it's been taunting us ever since that foolish old man started protecting it! Well I'm done! I'm dealing with that monster once and for all!"
The mob had started creeping nearer and nearer ever since the man started talking. By the time the man was finished, he had been spitting into Kabuto's face.
Kabuto responded in a monotone voice, "You do realize the consequences for what you're trying to do don't you?"
The retired shinobi laughed a bit at that, "and who's going to be ratting us out huh? You?
Naruto was sobbing now, hiding behind Kabuto's leg. Kabuto was in a bit of a pickle. Killing all these people would be child's play, but that wasn't the problem. He wanted to get out of Konoha without any traceable evidence of young Naruto's departure. If he killed these men, they would be missed much sooner than the ANBU he had dealt with earlier. That meant a search party much faster. Kabuto decided that killing them was off the table. He racked his head for a non-lethal jutsu that would be useful in this situation. Suddenly it came to him, and not a moment too soon.
Kabuto positioned his hands in the tiger seal, however, the retired shinobi had no plans of letting Kabuto do anything, he charged at him with kunai drawn. He was shocked when Kabuto simply sidestepped him. A move far more difficult than jounin made it look.
"Forced Sleep Technique!", in an instant, thousands of feathers rained down upon the mob, and in turn forced them to sleep an unwanted sleep. The Retired shinobi struggled valiantly to release the genjutsu, but without his other arm, could not do so. He too, soon slept soundly.
Kabuto let loose a breath he had been holding. That was more excitement than he had wanted on this little outing. He quickly slit the ex-ninja's throat. The civilians did not know who he was, and would probably give the only the basest of information on his appearance. His appearance was actually common, he knew of 56 different shinobi that wore glasses and had white hair. He turned to see Naruto fast asleep, and again that blip of emotion caught at Kabuto's heart. Why did he pity this child? He had seen terrible things done to people before, why did it matter this time? Kabuto shook his head; he didn't really care at this point. He decided to just deal with the fact. He briefly thought of waking Naruto up, however now would be the perfect opportunity to abduct little Naruto.
Kabuto sighed; he really wanted to earn the boy's trust. Lord Orochimaru would be furious if Kabuto had failed due to sentimentality. He knew he wouldn't get another ideal moment like this again. So, in favor of discretion, he picked up little Naruto, and fled Konoha.
Orochimaru was impatiently waiting for Kabuto. Kimimaro's bloodline would be the first to be tested out; after all, Orochimaru did not save the last of the Kaguya to be thwarted by sickness. Even if Kimimaro succumbed, Orochimaru would still have Shikotsumyaku. The test-solution with Kimimaro's DNA was ready and waiting for the test-subject, and so was Orochimaru. Finally, the door opened and Kabuto stepped in, a promising bundle on his shoulders. "Did you succeed?"
Kabuto dropped the bundle, pulled off the sack and an unconscious Naruto Uzumaki dropped to the floor, "Was there any doubt, Lord Orochimaru?"
Said Sannin gave a wicked smile, "Good. Then let us begin the experiment."
Kabuto nodded. He removed Naruto's clothes, placed an oxygen-mask on his face, stuck a heart-rate-detector to his chest, placed a catheter into his arm that was long enough for him and Orochimaru to inject the solutions and nourishment from the outside and tossed him into the prepared tank filled with a clear liquid. Then he injected the first solution. Now all they could do was wait. From their past experiments, Kabuto deduced that they would have to wait half an hour before something happened. Usually then the subjects croaked, but Kabuto was hoping that that didn't happen here, or he'd be in a lot of trouble and a world of hurt.
Kabuto had decided to wait an hour, so that the changes had more time to take place. When he entered, the first thing he heard was the calming peeping of the machine, telling Kabuto that Naruto's heart was still beating. But he decided to take a blood-sample and checked if Naruto now had the Shikotsumyaku or if the fox had chosen the easy way out and simply burned the solution out of the boy's system. That had been his greatest worry, especially since he didn't share it with Orochimaru beforehand. If this went wrong, then Kabuto would have put Konoha on high alert for nothing.
"Come on Naruto, don't let me down now." He muttered as he took the blood. He immediately started to analyze it, while repeatedly muttering "Please have it, please have it, please have it, please..."
Then he got the result. "YES!"
Orochimaru looked at Kabuto, expecting positive news. "And?" He asked.
Kabuto smiled. "He survived. I checked his blood, just in case, and the results are positive. He has the bloodline."
Orochimaru smiled. "Excellent. We'll give him a day to recover; then we'll inject the first sample."
Kabuto nodded. "Which sample will we use first? Hidan's?"
Orochimaru frowned. "No. The Kyuubi helps our procedure because he might die with his host otherwise. If we make him immortal now, it might not support any further changes, choosing to wait it out instead. We'll begin with the Rinnegan sample. I believe you should return to Konoha soon, do your best to obtain a long mission this time."
Kabuto was mute. He knew that was the logical action; however he just did not want Naruto to be unsupervised with Orochimaru… Kabuto quickly berated himself; Lord Orochimaru knew what he was doing. He, as a subordinate, would follow his orders faithfully. Kabuto bowed, "Understood."
It had taken almost a month for Kabuto to return to Orochimaru. The village was in an uproar over the loss of their jinchuuriki. Shinobi were put on high alert, and civilians were generally confused and anxious. Sarutobi was working like mad, all in a fruitless effort to find Naruto. In the meantime, however, the Snake Sannin had injected two more samples into Naruto. The next time Kabuto saw him in his tank, his closed eyes were now rippled, and his flesh held of a number of black threads holding his arms, legs, and torso together.
When Kabuto had asked Lord Orochimaru about the Earth Grudge Fear technique, he was surprised to learn that Kakuzu's abilities were not a bloodline, but actually a forbidden technique developed by Takigakure. It seemed that Lord Orochimaru had actually been able to reverse engineer the technique and applied it to Naruto nonetheless. Though Lord Orochimaru seemed rather infuriated by the amount of time it took.
Orochimaru had taken Naruto out of his tank a few times, after every procedure to be exact, to analyze him. His skeleton was much tougher than a normal human's. He deduced that it had something to do with the formally injected bloodline of Kimimaro.
Kabuto was worried. This was all proceeding too fast for his likes. They had no idea what exactly was happening, and Kabuto was honestly worried that Naruto's body would eventually be unable to keep up with the required mutations at this pace. He had shared that worry with Orochimaru, asking him to slow the pace of new injections, but the Sannin waved him off. Apparently, he could hardly wait to have the perfect body, since he wanted to train the boy a bit before he claimed him as his own.
Still, Kabuto had a bad feeling.
They had injected Itachi's sample into him two hours ago, and Kabuto came to check on Naruto. The moment he entered, he felt that something was not right. The machine showed that the boy's heart-rate was much higher than it should be, but still within acceptable bounds. Still, Kabuto felt that something was wrong and he looked into the tank. At first sight, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary and turned to take a blood sample, when he noticed a anomaly. It seemed that Naruto's eyes were leaking some strange substance. He removed Naruto from the tank to find out what the strange liquid was. Kabuto's findings made him panic. He was suddenly overwhelmed with fear; fear for himself and strangely enough for Naruto. The liquid was blood, with traces of the eyes' corona. He ran towards Orochimaru's chambers. They had to find the source of this anomaly quickly, before Naruto's eyes decomposed.
"Lord Orochimaru!"
Orochimaru was working on an unidentifiable mass when Kabuto came in, and seemed extremely angry at being interrupted. He stopped however and cleaned his hands; they were covered in what looked like blood. However, Kabuto noticed its consistency was too thick and sticky to be blood.
"What is it Kabuto?" Orochimaru hissed.
"Sir, Naruto's eyes are decomposing! It seems his body can't take on both the Sharingan and Rinnegan at once! If we don't hurry, your new body will be blind!"
Orochimaru grimaced, just before he ran towards Naruto's chambers. Kabuto quickly followed after him. They arrived in no time at all. Orochimaru went and checked on all life signs while Kabuto regained his breath by the door. Kabuto was hoping Orochimaru could save Naruto's eyes, though more so for Naruto's sake than anyone else's. He wondered, for the umpteenth time why he cared. He was soon taken out of his wondering by Lord Orochimaru.
"Kabuto, go get my D.N.A samples," Orochimaru said this as he looked through a microscope. Kabuto noticed that there was a small sample of both Pain's and Itachi's D.N.A.
"Of course Lord Orochimaru; which ones?" Kabuto barley dodged a glass vial that was thrown his way.
"All of them!"
"Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto pushed up his glasses, "you really should calm down. Young Naruto's well being, and in turn your own, depend on it." With that he went to retrieve Orochimaru's vast horde of samples.
Kabuto was understandably anxious. It had been 21 days and Lord Orochimaru was still working diligently on Naruto. Kabuto had been giving all of Orochimaru's meals to him ever since this had started. He had also been taking over command over Otogakure in the mean time. The forces were rather anxious considering they hadn't seen Orochimaru in over a week. Kabuto had done little to quell their restlessness. He was worried too, after all.
He was heading towards the laboratory with Lord Orochimaru's lunch. It was miso ramen, he wasn't sure if Orochimaru liked ramen, er… Lord Orochimaru. But he wanted to try his hand at making ramen before Naruto eventually (hopefully) woke up. Just because he didn't gain the boy's trust before the abduction, did not mean he could never earn it.
As he approached, He saw Lord Orochimaru coming down the other end of the hallway. This was either really good news, or really bad. He hadn't left Naruto's side for nearly a month. So this either meant he succeeded or…
"Lord Orochimaru! What happened? Did you finally succeed?"
Orochimaru did not answer; instead he took the meal out of Kabuto's hands and turned around, back towards Naruto. He did, however, motion for Kabuto to follow. After a few slurps of the noodles, Orochimaru began to talk.
"I've succeeded. The boy is no longer in danger of becoming blind."
Kabuto was relieved at that, and let out a sigh of involuntary relief. Orochimaru turned around, noodles still dripping from his mouth, and gave Kabuto a suspicious look. It did not last however, as he smirked and slurped up his noodles at the same time.
"Yes, he won't be blind; however, I went through the rest of my samples in finding a solution. Unfortunately, some of the samples did not take, for reasons I am unable to determine. However, I did not inject anything unnecessary into him. So tell me Kabuto, do you know which sample saved the poor boy?"
Kabuto pushed up his glasses and shook his head. They had just come in to Naruto's 'room' and Orochimaru had finished his meal, he disposed of it in the trash can next to the door. Kabuto noticed there were many empty syringes in the trash as well. When Kabuto looked at the familiar tank which contained young Uzumaki, he was almost surprised to see he had hardly changed since the last time. His hair seemed to be the only thing different, it had become blue.
"I successfully integrated Samehada's ability to absorb chakra into the boy, as well as integrate Sasori's and Konan's, and even Zetsu's samples," Orochimaru then scowled, "However, it seems their abilities were the result of hard work rather than blood. Which I already deducted from Sasori, though the fact Zetsu's appearance is not genetic surprised me."
Kabuto was surprised as well, but for a different reason.
"Lord Orochimaru, how did you allow Pain's and Itachi's samples to work?"
Orochimaru handed Kabuto an empty vial, in it was the same gooey mass that Orochimaru had at the beginning of the month.
"I was able to extract Hashirama's D.N.A. from the man's organs. His body is still intact enough to be turned into a human puppet later on, however."
Kabuto gave Orochimaru a confused look. He did not understand how the first Hokage's D.N.A would do anything. He thought it might allow the use of the Wood element, but other than that, what was it good for?
"Lord Orochimaru, I do not understand. How would Hashirama's D.N.A be useful in this case?"
Lord Orochimaru did not answer but instead picked up some photos from the table in the room.
"I used to think it was just myth, but like the Rinnegan itself, it seems word of mouth stories aren't as unreliable as we portray them to be."
"Lord Oro-" Kabuto's voice trailed off as he examined the photos Lord Orochimaru had given him. They were pictures of Naruto's now closed eyes while Orochimaru was working. Kabuto's blood seemed to freeze as he examined Naruto's eyes. The eyes were a deep purple color; the eye was rippled like the Rinnegan, and had nine tomoe that resembled the Sharingan. Kabuto, for all his knowledge, could not understand how the eyes had combined. He knew that it was theoretically possible, but the fact was that Hashirama's D.N.A. was the glue to these two very different eyes. Why?
"Kukukuku, Kabuto, you look confused."
"Ye-yes, Lord Orochimaru, h-how did this happen?"
Orochimaru's grin nearly doubled, "Ah, Kabuto, Kabuto, Kabuto, you disappoint me. Tell me what do you know of the Rinnegan?"
"Well, it was the first Doujutsu, and belonged to the Sage of the Six Paths. He used it to create the first ninjutsu, and thus established ninja as we know them today. Beyond that, I… I don't really know."
Orochimaru let out a low chuckle. "Do you know the origin of the tailed beasts perhaps?"
Kabuto frowned, he had assumed they were always there. However, by the tone Lord Orochimaru used, he knew otherwise. Kabuto shook his head, more confused than ever before.
"Now, now, Kabuto don't look so disappointed. I myself took great risk and a lot of time to find these truths," He turned his back towards Kabuto and looked at Naruto's softly humming tank. "They were created by the Sage of the Six Paths."
Kabuto lifted an eyebrow, but allowed Orochimaru to continue.
"In the Sage's day, there was only one Bijuu, the Juubi, The ten tailed beast. Its power dwarfed that of the nine we know today," Kabuto's mouth involuntarily dropped open. "The Sage defeated the most powerful demon in the world, the Ten-Tailed Beast. In order to do so the Sage developed an unknown technique to seal the beast within himself, allowing him to harness and control its terrifying power. He was the first jinchuuriki. Although he had successfully sealed the Ten-Tails, its power was so enormous that the seal would break after the Sage's death. Aware of this, the Sage somehow divided the Ten-Tails' chakra into nine parts, which would become known as the tailed beasts. He then, again using unknown means, sealed the Ten-Tails' body inside a gigantic stone prison in the sky, thus creating the moon."
"Lord Orochimaru, no offense, but that seems highly unlikely. Are you sure your information is accurate? I mean a prison on the moon is unlikely, but more believable than the prison being the moon surely.
Orochimaru scowled and turned to face Kabuto once more. "I assure you my information is accurate Kabuto, do not question me again."
"Y-yes, of course," Kabuto pushed up his glasses and swallowed heavily, "but, even so, how does this relate to young Naruto's eyes?"
Orochimaru was smiling again, "Tell me Kabuto, do you know the origin of Kekkei Genkai?"
Kabuto frowned again, "No, Lord Orochimaru, I do not."
"They come from the offspring of jinchuuriki."
"b-but then how did the Sage…"
"The Sage received his Rinnegan after he sealed the Juubi into himself. It was merely a side effect. Likewise, his eldest son received another Doujutsu," Orochimaru could not help his chuckle with this next sentence, "His eldest was the first Sharingan user, the ancestor of the Uchiha!"
Kabuto's head was feeling lightheaded. He wasn't quite sure what to make of this. It seemed Lord Orochimaru was more eager than ever to obtain Naruto's body. The way he looked at the tank, He wasn't observing a living breathing human. No, it was more like he was a small child looking into the window of a candy shop, obsessing over the largest and most mouth-watering display. It made Kabuto rather sick. Still, none of this had actually answered his question.
"But Lord Orochimaru, that still does not answer my question. How did the D.N.A bring the Sharingan and the Rinnegan into a cohesive whole? How did it… recreate the Juubi's eyes?"
"Kukukuku, I'm impressed Kabuto, that you were able to deduce these were the same eyes as the Juubi. However, the answer you seek is quite simple. The Sage's younger son was the ancestor of the Senju. By reforming all three pieces, we have successfully recreated the most powerful Doujutsu the world has ever known, that was once only available to the Juubi… and now," Orochimaru licked his lips, "it's mine."