"Talking"

'Thinking'

'Kyuubi Talking'

"Jutsu"

Unknown Location...

Orochimaru was happy.

No not happy, that wasn't the right word.

He was ecstatic...

Overjoyed...

Thrilled even.

Why you ask?

Even he didn't know the answer to that question.

Maybe it was because it was his old Akatsuki associate ,Sasori, had recently just died ,no longer able to endlessly pursue and pester him across the nation. Or maybe it was because he had just discovered a hidden success within his little project of reproducing the Shodai Hokages's famed Wood Style kekkei genkai. Perhaps it was the joy of potential future plotting with the respected Konoha elder ,Danzo Shimura.

As he walked on he continued to ponder as to why he was in such high spirits as of late and it wasn't until he arrived at the entrance to his hideout within Kusagakure with his faithful assistant Kabuto on one side and with Danzo's peculiar chosen envoy ,Sai, on the other had he found the answer to his question.

It was HIM.

His future vessel.

Immediately feeling nostalgic once he laid eyes on him, he let himself think back to the time when he first met the boy. A mere genin at the time and he already held such massive power within him.

A wicked smile spread upon his face as he remembered their first battle within the Forest of Death, the boy had fought so ferociously that Orochimaru ,in good conscience, couldn't let such efforts go unrewarded.

And so he rewarded the boy with the epitome of his beautiful creation. The Curse Mark of Heaven.

He was rather pleased to see the boy survive the ordeal as the Curse mark held a 1 in 10 survival ratio.

At first he was honestly just going to kill him as the boy's skills at the time were rather disappointing and his constant linear and predictable attacks were getting increasingly annoying.

That was until he revealed his gift to him and in the midst of launching his attack had Orochimaru stood witness to it.

Those eyes.

Those beautiful eyes.

To this day he'd still gush like a child upon realizing that he'd one day inherit that power.

Those beautiful crimson eyes staring at him in a mix of anger and desperation.

Some people aren't great judges of character but Orochimaru wasn't just some people and he prided himself in detecting potential,talent,and skill.

And those eyes held such unbridled power,power that could rival even his given some time, and it was just begging to be unleashed to the world. Honestly, it rather frightened him at first, until fright turned into excitement and later into want.

So lost in his musings that the time that the boy actually managed to land a terrible blow to the right side of his face.

He had to shed his skin after the attack since he had blown his jaw clean off. And that had only served to cement his resolve to have him.

After marking him and leaving him and his frightened teammates a few choice words about how he was underappreciated in his village and how he'd give him power if he'd come to him, he left to continue planning for the future invasion.

Of course with a great national power such as Konoha's the invasion failed and his vessel's participation in stopping his scheme's only served to excite him further rather than anger him.

And his excitement only grew since than, watching from a distance as his vessel grew more and more until he had finally had enough of his situation within Konoha.

Seeing this, he sent the Sound Four to instigate on his problems further and to offer him his original offer for power one last time.

And just as he originally suspected, the boy came to him seeking that power and to find the answers that he was so unfairly denied within his village.

But that was a long time ago.

Nearly three years.

And much has changed since then.

No longer was he a boy fresh out of the Academy, now he stood at a proud 5'5 with all the baby fat within him turning into large muscles due to his consistent training.

Not to pat himself on the back but, with his ingenious way of training him and how hard he himself trains, the boy improved by leaps and bounds.

His core skills such as Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu all improved greatly. Ninjutsu was where his skills really shone he could practically execute numerous high-level jutsu without tiring himself out even going as far as mastering his own natural affinity and showing great proficiency on Water Style Ninjutsu. He even picked up the skill of Kenjutsu ,which he mastered somewhat easily, wielding his version of the 'Sword of Kusanagi' just as skillfully in either hand.

His training didn't only consist of his body and techniques either. No, he made sure he trained his mind well into exhaustion as well, making sure to keep his mind full of random knowledge ,from weather to human behavior, whether it was useful or not didn't matter, nothing was not worth learning.

While training with him, it was discovered that he was a one-of-a-kind genius when it came to the art of Fuinjutsu ,which wasn't much of a surprise given his heritage, even going as far as creating a number of ground-breaking seals from the concepts of Space-Time to Chakra Absorption, he knew it all. And with the help of his pet Kabuto, he was able to refine his Chakra Control and as a result ,lessen the chakra input he used on his jutsu. Even his training in the Curse Mark had shown to be fruitful, as now he can change what form he takes almost instantly and can isolate the transformation to specific parts of his body.

Despite all his improvement he didn't stop there. Going as far as subjecting himself to his and Kabuto's Medical Ninjutsu, body modifications, and experiments to get stronger. Thanks to his incredibly strong vitality and...other factors, he was able to survive even the most dire of his experiments and even though the procedures were unbelievably painful, in the end they helped him gain power and by extension one step closer to his goals and that was all the incentive the boy needed to pull through. The experiments helped him gain a stronger skeletal structure, increase muscle mass, speed up brain function, and a whole bunch of other modifications.

And all that power was about to be all his.

And as he looked onto the visage of indifference on his vessels face he couldn't help but notice the stark contrast between the two.

For his future vessels face wasn't that of a handsome,raven-haired, Uchiha like he had originally planned but that of a rugged,blonde-haired Uzumaki.