Prologue
If Orochimaru had learned anything from the past five day it was that being the Hokage was not as glories as his predecessor had made it out to be. In the span of seven hours life in the village hidden in the leaves had come to a screeching halt. It had started simple enough, a trade agreement with the village hidden in the mist, nothing dangerous about that, until a border disagreement arouse, all about which side of the border a tiny island with one small fishing village lay. One thing lead to another and before Orochimaru's very eyes he watched as politics transformed a border dispute about an island nether side cared about to a full out war.
An so just like that, two years of bloodshed and death fell upon the two waring nations as the reason for fighting moved from an island nether nation used to avenging the death of comrades and loved ones alike. But as it always had and as Orochimaru was sure it would again, the will of fire that burned in the heart of all Konoha shinobi had burned a path of destruction to the very outskirts of Kirigakure itself. Victory was close and if things went as planed Konohagakure would not only end the war but end Kirigakure as well. Of cores thing rarely went as planed and with the smell of victory thick in the air, a mistake happed, one little tiny mistake and just like that Kushina Uzumaki, wife of Minato Namikaze and villages resident Jinchūriki, was pregnant.
When it came to Jinchūriki most everything was complicated and it seemed that birth-and the stress it placed on the seal-was no different. Kushina was only an hour in to labor before the seal trapping the kyuubi no kitsune within her began to unravel. As the Fourth Hokage and only Fūinjutsu master within the walls Konoha during the war, it was Minato who struggled-and failed-to keep the tailed beast locked within his wife.
It wasn't the war that lead Orochimaru to become the Fifth Hokage, nor the stepping down of a predecessor. No, it was the birth of a child and the death that came roaring in to this world with it that forced Orochimaru to take the title of Kage. The village had lost an experienced Jinchūriki to the escaped beast, lost a third of the Nin currently in Konoha and Hundreds of civilians, lost a Kage that was loved and respected and for what? For the title to be taken by a man who would have rather stayed in Anbu and for the creating of an infant, orphaned Jinchūriki.
Orochimaru forcefully shoved these thoughts out of his mind and scowled as he walked around the Hokage's desk, his desk, to deal with the Anbu that kneeled before him. Four squads, that's how many he had sent to complete the S-ranked missions he had assigned them and yet, only ten individuals kneel before him now. He knew there would be casualties from the mission, there always where, but to think that there would be so many left, Kirigakure was obviously weaker then he thought. Orochimaru wasted no time as he addressed those before him. "Report, Have you secured the objectives Bear?" The bear masked operative rose to his full height before gingerly placing the massive scroll on the Hokage's desk and taking a step back. "All seven objects where acquired from the vault of the Mizukage and verified as authentic by field agents." A cold smirk danced across the Kage's face as he began to unravel the scroll till the first seal was visible. Orochimaru slammed his hand onto the seal, pumping chakra into the ink till he was rewarded with a poof of smoke. As the smoke cleared a massive sword dominated the desk, its dark metal reflecting the light from the moon that shown through the window. Orochimaru's eyes scanned the blade, taking in the razor sharp edge, its rounded end, the hole in the middle of the blade near the top and its half-moon counterpart that marred the blades edge and the beautiful black se-
The Hokage's eyes widened as he took in the seal that stained the blade, that wasn't supposed to be there. It was only from the knowledge he had acquired over the years that allowed him to recognize the seal that lay before him, a wielders seal. A seal that only allowed the person who had created it in the first place to wield the weapon that bears it. Orochimaru seethed with rage as he glared down at the weapon, knowing that when the other swords where checked that they too would have the seal. He turned away from the blade as he walked towards the window of his office, looking out over the sleeping village below. "Bear, go to the hospital and retrieve Jiraiya, his goddaughter can wait. Four of you will take the blades to my lab and guard them till I arrive, no one but Jiraiya is to know they are here." Not but a second later and the Hokage was again alone with nothing but his thoughts.
Of course it wouldn't-couldn't-have been so easy, when had anything ever? Still, it was nothing that he and that bumbling fool Jiraiya couldn't handle, the man may have been a pervert but what he lacked in manners he more than made up for in his knowledge of Fūinjutsu. In that term the two complement each other perfectly, fore what one didn't know, the other surly would.
Once again Orochimaru shuck off his thoughts, he didn't have time to stand at a window and get lost in his own mind, he had a seal to creak and he wasn't going to get that done in the Hokage's tower. He wasted no time as he left the office and began to make his why down the spiral staircase, pass the ground floor and in to the basement. Basements in most of the Hidden villages not doubt had some secrets to be keep and the Hokage's tower was no different. He walked up to one of the many filing cabinets that lined the wall and swiftly opened the top drawer before placing his hand under it to activate the seal hidden underneath. Orochimaru narrowed his eyes as smoke filled is vision before he step out of the quickly dissipating smoke cloud that indicated the successful revere-summoned to his lab.
The lab itself looked more like an operating room with enough books and scrolls stacked in it to make any librarian green with envy. Blinding white lights hung from the stone ceiling above while cold steel table lined one side of the box shaped room while sinks, cabinets and counter space composed the other side while the graying tile floor in between was littered with darns. Towards the back of the room was a large stone table adorned with candles and seals with nine vary different weapons resting on it. Anbu's stood at each corner of the table silently awaiting there Hokage's order as they ignored the larger man leaning up agents the wall behind them.
Jiraiya could help but glare at the snake of a Kage as he poofed in to existents on the other side of the room. Only Orochimaru would have the gall to order him away from his newly born goddaughter at a time like this. He had just lost the man how he couldn't help but view as a son, he wanted to spend time with the last piece of Minato he had left, not hang around in some shithole of a dungeon the snake know doubt called home.
"What do you want Orochimaru, you better have not called me here without a good reason! Hokage or not if I'm here so you can stroke you ego then I'm goanna-" Orochimaru simply snorted at his old teammate as he made his way to the stone table. "Always the inpatient one aren't you Jiraiya? Kukuku-no, I have much more important thing to do with my time and there is far too little time for an augment. I need your assistance Jiraiya, operation 'de-fanged' was a success and the leaf is now in possession of the Seven Swords of the Mist. I must say, without your spy network we may have never learned of this little falling out that the Mizukage had with his little swordsmen."
Jiraiya's gaze shifted from Orochimaru to the weapons that lay on the table. There they were alright, why the Mizukage had them in a vault and not in the hand of a new generation of trusted Swordsmen had been a mystery to Jiraiya for serval month until one of his sources claimed that the Mizukage no longer trusted any of his nin that where skilled enough to wield the blades. To do such a thing, was the Mizukage truly losing his grip on reality as some of his sources clamed?
"As even you can see Jiraiya, the Mizukage has placed wielders seals on all seven of the swords, it could take years to brake the seals if we do thing the proper way. That is why you and I are going to destroy those seals by any means necessary."
Jiraiya pushed himself off the wall and advanced towards the table, truly studying the sealed blades for the first time since he walked in the room. The patterns where rather complex for such seals and the brush strokes were superb but it didn't take long for Jiraiya to spot a flaw. "I use to see Kushina make seals like these often when she practiced her brush strokes with Minato, she always said to make small changes in the patterns, and if two patterns are identical then a technique could be used that makes the two objects fuse together to become one, causing the seals to interact and cancel each other out."
Jiraiya leaned over the table as he continued "There are problems with this technique, just because the seal patterns are identical doesn't meant the two objects will fuse together, they might just destroy each other and even if they do fuse it doesn't mean the new objects will be twice as strong as the old ones. If the two object are similar enough then the stronger of the two will become dominate, the powers of the weaker one will still be there but the physical traits will be lost. If there identical then there power increases but there physical form changes." He ran is hand along one the Kiba's handles, he could practically feel the blade vibrate under his fingertips. "For weapons this powerful that have such unique traits as these there will also need to be a master seal to help fuse two of the blades together."
The snake Kage moved his hands over the table before they came to hover over the Samehada. Orochimaru simply let his hand hang in the air as the blade emitted a sound, seemingly growling at him. "And what, pray tell, will you need for this master seal of your?" After all, the blades themselves are proof enough that thing could never be easy.
A sigh escaped Jiraiya's lips as he turned to lean agents the table. "I'll need two of the blades, for the master seal to work it will need to consume two of the blades so that the master seal itself can interact independently with those seals still on the two blade being fused without destroying them. It shouldn't mater which blade I use, but be warned Orochimaru, when the master seal consumes the blades the weapon will be no more."
Golden eyes glared down at the weapons resting on the table, to lose most of the blades would be devastating, from seven swords down-eight! The Golden eyes landed on one the Kiba's Jiraiya was examining. The Kiba was a pair of blades but always referred to as one unity, ergo Seven Swords of the Mist and not eight. But both blades had their own seal on them, maybe things wasn't quite as bad as he had originally thought….
"Use the Kabutowari and the Nuibari for that seal of yours Jiraiya, how long will it take before the seal is complete and the blades can be fused?" Jiraiya gave yawn as he stretched his back and began to walk over to one of the many cabinets that lined the wall. "If we start right now we can have the master seal complete in two days, I'll also need to know which swords you're planning on fusing together. Every time the master seal fuse a set together it will begin to deteriorate bit by bit, we'll have to start with the biggest pair first and work our way down to the smallest."
The Hokage stayed by the table, both hands resting on its cold surface before he gave the four Anbu present the signal to help Jiraiya prepare.
Golden eyes danced across the row of blades before them, quickly bring forward facts he knew of the swords. "Kukuku- the Samehada and Hiramekarei will be fused first, they both have similar traits and base types, the two Kiba blades are identical and the smallest, they will go last." In quick succession two pale hands blurred together before a shadow clone of the snake Kage poofed in to existence and begin to make its way toward one of the many exits of the underground lab. The original turned swiftly as he too began to help with preparations. "Then Kubikiribōchō and Shibuki will be second, what powers will you hold, what power will my Nin's wield –Kukuku…"