Part I: Episode I

There was a soft tension inside the room that usually housed the students of the Ninja Academy. Today, it held some of the most important people in Konohagakure and at the head of the classroom stood the 3rd Hokage himself - Sarutobi Hiruzen. At 56, the man hailed as the "god of shinobi" was certainly beginning to show the greater signs of aging.

Despite the graying of his once dark brown hair and the sagging of his skin, however, Hiruzen still managed to portray a sort of youthful confidence - the kind that seemed to fill the entire room. His eyes scanned the room, resting on his former teammates and the current Konoha council as well as the three Hokage hopefuls in the room: The young and idealistic Namikaze Minato, the brilliant Orochimaru, and the veteran Shimura Danzo.

The room was silent and Homura and Koharu glanced at Hiruzen, silently urging him to get on with the process. Hiruzen looked at the Academy door and sighed. He looked around the room again, noting a few more of the faces in the room. There was Minato's wife, Kushina, who was blatantly ignoring the rule stating the Hokage candidates should be left alone. Hiruzen's wife, Biwako sat in the back of the room, patiently waiting for her husband to announce his successor. Hiruzen looked for his youngest son, Asuma, but to no avail.

"You nervous?" Kushina asked, careful to keep her voice quiet. Minato smiled.

"Yeah, a little bit. I can't believe I'm actually being considered." The blond shinobi said, the excitement showing in his bright blue eyes. Kushina managed to stifle a giggle. He was so cute when he got excited like this.

"Well it is your dream, isn't it? To become Hokage?"

"Well yeah," Minato said, turning to look at his wife. "But look who I'm up against. I have nothing on these two. Yet here I am. It's humbling, in a way." Kushina was about to respond one of the council members cleared their throat in an unnecessarily loud manner. Kushina turned to glare at Koharu. Hoping to avoid a scene, Minato quickly pecked Kushina on the forehead.

"Maybe you should sit down, babe." He suggested. Kushina folded her arms stubbornly but after a bit more coaxing, she reluctantly sat down, making sure not to remove Koharu from her irritated eyes. Minato let out a sigh of relief, glad that nothing serious had happened. He looked around him, accidentally catching Danzo's gaze. It was cold and Minato had to force himself to not stare in the older man's one good eye. Minato quickly turned to look at Orochimaru, who appeared to be deep in thought.

This waiting is stupid, the Sannin thought to himself. Orochimaru knew that Minato had all but won the title of Hokage, and that the whole "ceremony" was a farce. Even if Hiruzen was planning on picking Danzo, Orochimaru knew that he was simply there because he was the only one of Hiruzen's students still in the village. Orochimaru began thinking about his experiments when Hiruzen called the meeting to order.

"As you all know," the Third Hokage began, his facing losing the light it had just moments ago in favor of a more sober expression. "I am ready to retire from the Hokage position and consequently must pick a successor." Hiruzen paused, mostly for dramatic effect. He had all but memorized his speech by now and he enjoyed making his former teammates suffer. Homura and Koharu glared at him, once again willing for him to go faster.

"Of all the talented shinobi in this village, I have narrowed my choices down to the three individuals to my left. First, there is my old friend and comrade, Shimura Danzo. This man has the experience necessary to lead this village as well as the vigilance and resolve to do what is necessary to ensure its safety." Hiruzen stated, looking at Danzo. The man was the council's primary pick, although Hiruzen thought Danzo far too militant.

"Next, my pupil Orochimaru. He is a brilliant man and I have no doubt in his ability to lead Konohagakure into a brighter future." The faces of the council members went unreadable at the mention of Orochimaru's name. There was no denying that the man was brilliant, although it was equally easy to point out that Orochimaru perhaps wasn't the most humane individual and rumors about him ran rampant.

"And finally the youngest of the candidates, Namikaze Minato. He may be young, but this boy is the light of his generation. He is strong, and he is brave." Hiruzen paused again, meeting the council's faces. For once, there was no concrete tie between the three former teammates. Each candidate had their pros and their cons and although the council liked Danzo, the cases for the other two was simply too strong to not consider.

"The Konoha Council and I have deliberated back and forth for what seems like years over this matter, but in the end, the choice is mine to make." The Sandaime continued, turning to face the candidates. "I could sit here all day and discuss the benefits and drawbacks each one of your brings to this position. At your best, you will see Konoha into a golden age. At your worst, however, all three of you have the potential to bring this village down in fire. Know that I will be with you as a friend, and as an adviser. But enough talk. I now make my decision."

Hiruzen waited momentarily, watching as the room took a collective breath.

"The man whom I appoint as my successor to the title of Hokage is...Orochimaru." The Sannin looked at his former teacher in surprise as the tension that had filled the room to the brim merely seconds ago began to dissipate. A round of polite applause echoed around the mostly empty room. Orochimaru looked into Hiruzen's eyes, but could find no trace of anything. His teacher was unreadable. Noticing the eyes on him, Orochimaru walked slowly to the center of the room and bowed. He hated the gesture, but upsetting the council at this point would only be more trouble than it was worth.

Orochimaru had wanted to talk to Hiruzen as soon as the meeting was over, but then Danzo made his way over to the Sannin. Wearing the most outrageously fake smile Orochimaru had ever seen, Danzo escorted him outside under the guise of a friendly congratulations. Once the two were outside, however, Danzo's face turned dark.

"You don't really intend on taking this position, do you Orochimaru?" Danzo asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. Orochimaru eyed the older man cautiously. Even by Orochimaru's standards, Danzo was cunning and slippery as an eel.

"I do, actually. The position of Hokage works out very well for me, Danzo." The older man barely suppressed an irritated growl before leaning in closely to Orochimaru.

"Drop out, Orochimaru. We both know that you don't care about this village in the slightest. Why even bother with the charade?" Danzo said, coming as close to pleading as a man of his dignity could. Orochimaru scoffed.

"The title of Hokage is just as important to me, Danzo, as it is to you. So no, I have no plans on giving up my position." Danzo glared at Orochimaru with a hatred that surprised even the Sannin, but before he could speak the Academy door opened to reveal Minato and Kushina.

"Ah, Orochimaru-san, Hokage-sama said he wanted to see you after all of this. Congratulations, by the way. You'll make an amazing Hokage." The blond jonin announced before making his way home. Once again, he caught Danzo's still angry gaze.

"Ah, Danzo-san," he said with a bow before walking away. Orochimaru turned to give Danzo one last cold, teasing glance before stepping back into the Academy. Livid, Danzo vanished.


It was dark outside, but that didn't stop Hiruzen from resting on his nose among the Hokage Monument. Generally, it was frowned upon even for the Hokage to do such a thing. But it was late and everyone who would even bother to tell Hiruzen such a thing was asleep, except for Danzo maybe. The thought of his old rival caused Hiruzen to sigh loudly. There was no doubt in his mind that Danzo was seething even still.

"Yo." A deep voice suddenly rang out. Hiruzen turned around to see Jiraiya standing horizontally on the 2nd Hokage's cheek like a man-sized zit. Moments later, Tsunade was there as well, although she seemed less than excited to be there.

"There you two are. I suppose late is better than never." Tsunade scoffed.

"Nice to see you too, old man. Now can you tell us why you asked us to come all this way?" Jiraiya asked. Hiruzen's sigh, as usual, was the only part of him that seemed to be as old as he was. Well his sigh and his face.

"Yes," Hiruzen began. "It's about Orochimaru."


Author's Corner: I did as much research as I could so that my timeline is as close to the original as possible, although since there isn't an official one, I had to make some assumptions. One of the biggest things bothering me is Danzo. I don't know what he has under his eyepatch, but it is known that he had it some time before Hiruzen picked his successor. Likewise, I have no idea if he has the Sharingan embedded on his arm, but I'm pretty sure at this point that he's been injected with the Senju DNA, since Orochimaru has long-since experimented with it by this point.

As for the Part I thing, I'm splitting this story into at least two parts with the first going over Orochimaru's initial years as Hokage/Hokage-select. Part I is essentially a prologue, however, since the story is going to be Naruto story as opposed to an Orochimaru one.

So, if you like where this might be heading or if you just want to correct/add some information, feel free to leave a review. I'm not positive yet, but I might need some OC's to fill out Naruto's graduating class a bit. If you want you can send those, but if this takes off then I will definitely let people know.

Anyway, I hope this story has piqued your interest and while favourites and alerts are cool, I really do crave reviews. Regardless, do as you please and thank you for reading.