Though the World Perish
by: darke wulf
Disclaimer: Unless you don't recognize them, I don't own them. No money or other profits are being made from this attempt at entertainment.
Please be advised that this story is an Alternate Universe fic. You will notice that I've taken some liberties with some dates/events in the original timeline. Also, while I will endeavor to keep most of the cast in character, a few of the characters, particularly Naruto and to a lesser extent Orochimaru, will be out of character based on the changes I've made from the original storyline.
If these sorts of things bother you, I suggest you stop reading now. You have been warned.
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Chapter One
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"If you betray me, can I take a better revenge than to love the person you hate?"
~ Pierre Corneille (1606-1684)
Titus and Berenice (Tite et Bérénice), Act 4, Scene 3.
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A cool breeze gently ruffled short, gravity-defying hair as a young boy stood stoically in the uppermost branches of one of the numerous majestic trees that surrounded the Village of Konohagakure. The child impatiently reached a hand up to yet again redirect the golden strands out of his face. He had not yet had time to acclimate himself to the new hairstyle and was missing the extra weight, and manageability, of his former waist-length locks.
The boy sighed as he closed sky-blue eyes and raised his face to the heavens, relishing the quiet of the forest as the subdued songs of the creatures of the night gently soothed his rattled nerves. Moonlight shone down upon him, silvering his normally sunshine-hued hair and whitening his tanned skin, granting him an otherworldly appearance.
He sighed again as the unpleasant thoughts of the next day's events invaded his mind, abruptly ending the brief moment of peace he had found. He was never going to be able to achieve any sense of calmness, not when the day he had been so dreading was nearly upon him.
Opening his eyes again, he gave the massive gates in the distance a hate-filled glare. He did not like his Father's plan. He had absolutely no desire to return to that place. The people there had almost destroyed him once; he did not relish giving them a second chance.
But the end result of his father's machinations, the complete annihilation of Konoha, was something he had dreamed of accomplishing for nearly as long as he could remember. As long as he kept that ultimate goal in mind, he would survive.
And, while resisting the desire to prematurely slaughter a villager or ten would certainly test the limits of his self-control as they never had been before, developing such control would no doubt be a benefit to him.
In the end though, it came down to one simple fact; his father was counting on him. For the man who had saved him so long ago and had given him a home…a family…he was willing to do anything, even face the demons of his past.
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Six Years Prior:
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The early morning sun was just peeking over the horizon, illuminating the dew that covered the grounds of the quiet graveyard like sparkling diamonds. The songs of birds began to fill the air as they greeted the morning.
Then, soundlessly, a female nin dropped from the tress above to land in a pathway near a large monument, easily three times the size of the others around it. Red eyes softened as the nin, dressed in a standard jounin's uniform, approached.
"Good morning, Sensei," Yuhi Kurenai bowed, greeting her long dead mentor. "I'm sorry I couldn't come visit you yesterday, but I was taking the jounin exam. I finally did it, Sensei! I finally passed!
"I'm sorry it took me so long, but things just haven't been the same without your guidance. It is so difficult to find anyone willing to train a genjutsu specialist such as myself."
Approaching the grave, Kurenai knelt to gently pluck the weeds that had started to grow since her last visit a little over a week ago before placing incense on the grave and setting it alight. "But it does not matter now, I am jounin, and that will not be taken from me. The Hokage himself congratulated me on my achievement. Hopefully I will soon prove myself worthy enough to take on a genin team; I wish to carry on your legacy. I swear in your memory Sensei that I will teach each to their individual strengths, whether that be in tai, gen, or ninjutsu.
"You were so understanding, Sensei. You never held it against those of us who did not excel in ninjutsu, even though with current prejudices of the Village as they are, we were never able to bring you the glory and respect that the ninjustu specialists could. Your guidance meant so much to all of us…"
Kurenai paused briefly, her eyes welling with tears, to gather her emotions.
"And because of how much you meant to us, we have decided that we can wait no longer to avenge you. We have been more than patient, and yet even now the Hokage protects the demon that killed you. I do not understand what he is thinking, why he will not allow the beast to be destroyed as he should, but we can wait no longer.
"We will not allow your spirit to wander in limbo for who knows how many years while that THING lives amongst us as if an innocent child. Mizuki is organizing a small group of your many students to finally avenge your death. Ebisu, Mizuki, Hatsuto and myself will soon be taking action with your old teammate Kanaye. I am sorry it has taken so long, but we did not wish to go against the Hokage. It's become obvious, however, that when it comes to the demon his judgment cannot be trusted."
Finally, heaving a weary sigh, the nin rose to her feet and moved closer to the grave marker, placing a hand gently on its top. "I promise, Sensei, it ends today. You will finally be avenged."
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Run...faster...he had to go faster...had to get away.
The four-year old child could hear the group of nin behind him steadily closing the distance that separated them, his short strides easily overtaken by those of the adults that followed. The only reason he had not yet been stopped was the same reason that he was able to hear the deliberately made noises of his hunters' passage; they were enjoying tormenting their prey far too much to end the chase so soon.
Despite his incredible healing abilities, there were numerous cuts on his face and arms from the branches and thorn-covered vines that grabbed at him as he fled past. Still he kept running, knowing from terrible experience that if his pursuers caught him he would suffer far worse.
With tears of desperate fright streaming from his eyes, he was unable to clearly see his path as he ran through the forest. A sudden jolt of pain lanced up his leg as his foot landed in a hidden animal burrow, and he dropped to the ground with a cry as a sickening crack filled the air.
The boy quickly pulled himself to his feet only to fall to the ground again, grabbing at his broken ankle as agony overwhelmed him when he placed weight on the injury. Desperate to escape, he started to drag himself across the forest floor, trying to at least reach a nearby clump of underbrush in the hopes of hiding from his pursuers.
Such a move was doomed to fail, however, against his well-trained adversaries.
Seeing that the boy would not be able to continue any farther, the small group of shinobi slowed to a stop, two dropping from the forest canopy as they descended upon the defenseless child.
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It was only his iron control that kept Orochimaru from grumbling in boredom as he crept through the lush forest surrounding Konoha. He wasn't particularly fond of scouting missions, but he didn't yet trust anyone in his fledgling Village enough to assign them his current task.
Not being one to jump unthinkingly into action, he was willing to take his time in developing a plan of brutal devastation that would ensure the complete annihilation of Konohagakure. In order for said plan to evolve, however, it was vital that he had accurate accounts of the status of the Village and its shinobi on a semi-regular basis. This meant that he was forced to make at least one trip every few months to scout out the village.
Ideally he would eventually recruit one or two shinobi from Konoha to serve as his spies and eliminate the need for these trips, but to date he had not found any candidates to his liking.
Orochimaru's musings were interrupted suddenly by a flaring of several chakra sources nearby. Curious as to what sort of training would be occurring so far from the village, he made his way silently though the tree tops in the general direction from which the noises seemed to be coming. He eventually was able to make out a group of five nin gathered around something on the ground. When he was finally in position to identify the object, what he saw caused him to lift an eyebrow in surprised confusion.
Two shinobi, a dark-haired male wearing sunglasses and a standard Konoha uniform and a woman that appeared to be dressed in nothing but bandages, were holding up a small blonde child by the arms, pulling them back and high above his head in a painful hold. A white-haired man, either a jounin or chunin judging from his attire, held a bloody knife in his hand, the four inch serrated blade obviously the cause of many of the heavily bleeding wounds scattered across the child's face and body including a particularly nasty looking slice that went from just above his right eyebrow all the way down to his chin.
The Sannin couldn't help but wonder what the young boy could have possibly done to incur such violent hatred. Even *he*, who was widely regarded as one of the most ruthless and cold-hearted people in existence, would not deliberately torture a veritable *infant*!
"But I never hurt nobody!" the child denied fervently.
"Liar!" the man with the knife growled. With a quick strike he viciously stabbed the knife into the side of the child, then twisted his wrist before ripping the knife from the wound, ensuring the vicious teeth on the weapon did as much damage as possible. Orochimaru found himself slightly impressed when the move drew little more than a small whimper; he had seen trained nins far older than the boy cry out in agony after such treatment.
"You damned demon, you attacked our village, killed our family and friends, and, worst of all, you took our beloved sensei from us, and now you *dare* to claim that you haven't hurt anyone?" the man continued, catching the Sannin's attention. So *this* was the brat that that thrice-damned Namikaze had sealed the Kyuubi into. But that still didn't explain why these nin would be attacking the child. Surely that washed-up has-been of a Hokage currently in charge had explained the situation; why did these people seem to think that the boy and the fox were one and the same?
"I don't know what Sandaime is thinking, trying to protect a demon like you. You should never have been allowed to live." Another man, glaring at the child, stepped from the surrounding group, his peppered hair and weathered face indicating his age, though he held himself with pride and obvious strength. A former shinobi; Orochimaru vaguely remembered him from before he had left the Village, though if his memory served him correctly he was only a mediocre ninja at best. The man's right hand was balled into a fist and, after speaking, he buried it in the child's stomach, causing air to rush from him in a great woosh. Only the unyielding grips on the youth's arms kept him upright. Several more punches to the child's face and body followed; and still the boy refused to cry out.
Finally, with the child limply hanging by his arms, the white-haired nin stepped up to the older man and placed a staying hand on his shoulder. "That's enough, Kanaye, we wouldn't want him to escape his punishment so easily."
"My apologies, Mizuki," Kanaye replied. "I lost control of my anger for a moment."
"Quite understandable," Mizuki replied, squeezing Kanaye's shoulder before dropping his hand. "I think all of us were angered to hear this murdering scum claiming to be innocent."
Listening from above, Orochimaru rolled his eyes and had to forcefully repress a sigh of exasperation. Really, Konohans were such fucking bleeding hearts. If you are going to torture someone, torture them! While they held hands and cried over their poor broken hearts, the child was dying before their eyes. This little counseling session was losing them time.
Speaking of the child...making a clinically examination of the sight before him, Orochimaru couldn't help but wonder just how he wasn't already dead, demon or no demon, given his age and the severity of his wounds.
Blood covered his face from several cuts, including the gash he had noted before that had almost cost him his eye. His nose was obviously broken and his lip had been split in one corner while the lower one looked to have been practically bitten through; no doubt by the child himself as he struggled to keep from screaming during the attack. The original color of his clothing was indistinguishable, as what little of it remained had been dyed with blood from the many severe wounds that scattered his body.
Then the man that had been helping hold the child up grabbed a handful of red-tinted blonde hair and yanked his head back to meet the glare of Mizuki. Eyes of the summer skies became visible to those of the darkest night and then Orochimaru knew, beyond all possible doubt, just who the child was.
How had he not recognized him before? That face, that hair, even that infernal indomitable spirit...and those damned eyes; he should have recognized the brat from the start. He was obviously the progeny of that idiot Minato. He had to be; he was practically a clone of the arrogant bastard!
A wave of anger and hatred nearly overwhelmed Orochimaru, and for a moment his eyesight went red as he remembered the humiliation of being passed over for the prestigious title of Hokage for that no account simpleton.
Just because the peon had a fancy bloodline limit and had made a name for himself during the war with the Iwagakure, conveniently only a few months before the Sandaime had decided to finally step down, he had been made leader of Konoha. Everyone conveniently forgot that it had been Orochimaru who had been practically groomed for the position, that it was he who had not just the physical abilities, but the intellectual ones demanded by the position as well.
It served Namikaze and that village right, being killed and nearly decimated by the Kyuubi. Was it really any wonder that it took their precious Yondaime nearly a week to invent an effective strategy for stopping the demon fox, considering that the man had the intelligence of a particularly dim five year old? If it had been *him* leading the village at the time...
And of course, who else would the bastard have sealed the Kyuubi into but his own son, to keep that power within his own clan; it all made perfect sense. Except, now Orochimaru found himself even more confused as to why the child was being attacked. They *must* be aware of who the child was, it was glaringly obvious, and Namikaze would certainly have left instructions as to how his child was to be raised.
Unless...but no, even Namikaze wouldn't have been that idiotically naive. Surely he would have known better than to assume that the villagers and shinobi would see the boy, not the demon, and would have made provisions for the child...
The Sannin was brought out of his musings when he noticed the object of his curiosity screwing up his face for a moment before spitting out what looked to be a tooth along with a large glob of blood and spit directly into the face of Mizuki, the nin's face having been scant inches from the child's. Obviously the idiot had said something that angered the boy. Orochimaru felt a smirk twist his lips at the boy's impudence. Though, if the furious glare on the nin's face was anything to go by, that little act of defiance was obviously going to cost him dearly.
"You little monster!" the man screamed as he attempted to remove the disgusting mixture of blood and saliva with his free hand, instead managing to smear the majority of it over his face. "I am going to make you RUE the day you were SPAWNED!"
A swift knee to the child's rib cage produced the disturbing crack of at least one rib breaking. Looking briefly up to the two nin holding the child by his arms, Mizuki ordered, "Ebisu, Kurenai, hold him tight."
He received a nod from the man, Ebisu. Kurenai, however, looked hesitant. "Mizuki," she began, conflicting emotions racing across her face, "surely…"
"Don't start, Kurenai," Mizuki broke in, anger twisting his face. "You ASKED to have a part in avenging our Sensei. You assured me that you would be able to take action against this monster that stole him from us."
"Take action, yes. I want it dead as much as you do, Mizuki. But this torture…it's just not…please, Mizuki, let's just kill it and get it over with."
"Get it over with? He has lived among us for years, happily rubbing our faces in his continued existence. He deserves to suffer for his sins! Now, HOLD. HIM."
Kurenai stared into Mizuki's eyes for a moment, but finally gave a reluctant nod of acknowledgement and tightened her grip on the child. Turning back to the boy, Mizuki gave a demented sneer. "Don't worry, brat. We're not done with you yet." Then, without warning, he wrapped both hands around the boy's throat, using it as a handhold as he shoved the child down and backwards.
This time the child could not prevent the scream of pain as first one shoulder, then the other was jerked from their sockets.
"Stand him up, facing that tree," Mizuki instructed, pointing to one of the larger trees in the vicinity, "and hold his arms just like that above his head." He then turned to the final nin of the group, a lithe man of average height who was dressed in slightly loose black pants with a tight black long sleeved shirt over which he wore a Konoha flak jacket. "Hatsuto, your swords."
The addressed nin reached behind him to the two beautifully crafted katana that were strapped to his back. The swords came unsheathed with a whisper of steel. Stepping towards Mizuki, Hatsuto turned the swords over to the other man.
Mizuki then turned back to the child. Tears were streaming from the boy's eyes as he feebly tried to escape the grasp of the nin that were holding him. Unintelligible sounds of distress filled the air as panicked eyes peering over a small shoulder remained glued to the katana that were steadily approaching.
Ebisu shifted his grip on the boy's left arm, one hand going to hold down the child's wrist, the other his elbow. Mizuki lifted one of the swords and quickly stabbed it through the child's arm, driving between the bones until it ripped through the other side and entered the tree. Even as the boy's scream of agony ripped through the air, the process was repeated on his right side, and the two nin who had been holding him down stepped away.
The group of nin, with the exception of Kurenai who had turned away from the scene, looked down at the miserable child with malicious joy as he hung, soaked in his own blood, from the swords that skewered his small arms.
"Please," the child cried, his voice almost incomprehensible through his tears, "please stop...please..."
"It's no use begging, brat," Mizuki sneered down at the pitiful form. "There is no one who would want to stop us. You are an evil monster, a blight on this world. You deserve nothing but pain."
Mizuki then pulled a short knife from a sheath as the small of his back and sliced the remnants of the jacket and t-shirt that had stubbornly remained clinging to the child. "Hatsuto, he's all yours."
At that Hatsuto stepped forward, uncoiling a whip that had been hanging at his side.
He started methodically at the child's shoulders and worked his way down to the small of his back, leaving harsh red welts in his wake. Not an inch of skin was left untouched as he continued his ministrations, and soon welts became bloody tears in skin as more and more blows rained down with no end in sight.
Finally the child could take no more, and he fled into unconsciousness, only the swords piercing in his arms keeping him upright.
Several more hits landed on the mauled back before the group realized that their victim had escaped them. Eventually, however, Hatsuto stopped his strikes and stepped back slightly, allowing Mizuki to approach the still body.
Grabbing the child's golden hair, Mizuki pulled his head back until the closed eyes were looking up into the sky, tears still running down the small face even in unconsciousness. "We have been terrorized for far too long by this hell spawn. Today is the day that we take our Village back and put an end his evil once and for all!"
With that Mizuki brought his knife up to the child's throat, ready to strike the final blow.
Then, in a heartbeat, everything changed.
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To say that the Kyuubi no Kitsune was angry would have been an understatement of massive proportions. These overgrown monkeys dared to think that they would be allowed to end the existence of the greatest of the biju? It was not to be borne. Even trapped in his weak shell of a prison, he would never allow such miserable, honorless cretins to defeat him.
And now, with his pitiful host so near death that he could finally worm his way around the seal and take control, it was time to show these insignificant worms just what it meant to call down the fury of the Kyuubi!
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Suddenly an overwhelming killing aura filled the forest, and Mizuki gasped in pain as he was violently propelled away from his victim by the force of it. Looking up, he saw the form of the child surrounded by a malevolent blood red chakra. In shocked awe he watched as the mauled back started healing before his eyes.
Another burst of chakra sent the two swords pinning the boy to the tree flying. Slowly the child turned, only to force gasps of fear from the nin watching as they took in his altered form. Narrowed red eyes with slit pupils stared into Mizuki's very soul, freezing him to his spot; harsh black whisker marks, long sharpened talons in place of fingernails, and an evil, fang filled smirk all indicated that this was no longer the same child that they had been tormenting.
A slight widening of the smirk was all the warning Mizuki had before the boy disappeared. Before he could even react, a burning pain erupted from his chest. Lowering his eyes, horror combined with pain to whiten his face as he saw a deceptively small, clawed hand thrust into his chest. It lingered only momentarily before it was pulled back, his still beating heart clutched tightly in its grasp.
His thoughts turning sluggish, the dying nin gazed into amused, satisfied eyes straight from the pits of hell. They were the last things he saw before falling lifelessly to the ground.
The Kyuubi paused over the corpse of his victim, smiling the sadistic, bloody smile of a predator who has his prey within his grasp. It had been so very long since he had been free to hunt, to kill, to enjoy the taste of blood. He knew that his freedom would not last; already he could sense that cursed seal attempting to force him back behind its bars now that the brat's health was improving. In spite of this, his grin grew a little more, his eyes sweeping across the pitiful monkeys that were feebly trying to escape. No, he did not have long, but what time he had left he was going to enjoy.
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Orochimaru gazed pensively down at the child lying unconscious before him, the boy having fallen to the ground unconscious not long after rather enthusiastically dismembering the second tormenter he had caught; the rest having fled like the cowards they were. His mind was focused on deciding what to do with the boy now. One side of him angrily demanded his death. He housed the most powerful of demons, which apparently was able to take over his host's body, at least temporarily. He was dangerous, and potentially deadly. Worse, he was the son of one of the men Orochimaru despised the most, a man who had died before the Sannin could gain his revenge upon him.
And yet another side of him pointed out that though it did in fact seem that the Kyuubi could take over the child, based on the events he had witnessed it seemed that it was only possible in extreme situations and even then for a very limited period of time. The slaughter had taken less than ten minutes in all. Surely if the demon could have, he would have remained in control much longer.
As for being Minato's brat, well he could think of few better ways to get back at the dead man than to use his own son to destroy the village he had died to protect.
And besides all that, Orochimaru couldn't help but see a little bit of himself in the boy. Both had been left without families, both had been outcasts, hated for things beyond their control, and both were seen as monsters by the weak fools of Konoha.
Could he deny this boy the acceptance and support that he himself had so desperately craved as a child? Had his heart truly become so black?
Yes, he had turned his back on his village and his comrades when it became obvious that he would never, could never, fit into their shallow view of the world.
And yes, he had come to see his fellow human beings as little more than test subjects, but such had not always been the case. Once he had wanted nothing more than to be accepted, to have friends...family. He had thought he had found those very things until his supposed friends had betrayed him. Time and again he had been pushed down, belittled and ridiculed by those who were supposed to have cared for him, those for whom he had cared so very much.
In the end it became too much and he turned his back on Konoha and the ignorant hypocrites therein, but this child was innocent of those crimes. Indeed, the boy had apparently suffered as he himself had. If he abandoned the boy to his fate, knowing just how cruel and unforgiving the citizens of Konoha could be, would he be any different from those he hated? Wouldn't he be acting just as his former comrades had acted towards him when they abandoned him to suffer the hatred of the Village alone?
Could he not make the difference to this child that no one had been willing to make for him?
Plus in doing so, he would more than likely secure the absolute loyalty of what could potentially be his most powerful and loyal follower. Orochimaru knew that he himself at least would have promised anything; his life…his very soul, to anyone had they offered to save him from the lonely hell of his own childhood.
Looking at the child, Orochimaru was slightly surprised to find that he was being studied by two pain-filled blue orbs.
When the child saw that the Sannin had noticed he was awake he licked his lips, then coughed out in a low whisper, "You...you're not...one of the villagers. Are you?"
Orochimaru was slightly amused by the desperate hope that shown in the small face at that question. "No."
His amusement grew as he noted the relief-tinged annoyance that emerged after his less than forthcoming reply.
"Who?"
"My name is Orochimaru."
Sky-tinted eyes looked up at him thoughtfully before pain and despair welled up in them once more. The child sighed, "You're...gonna...hurt me, too...aren't you?"
In that instant, seeing the small boy so pitifully resigned to an existence of pain and hatred a long forgotten part of Orochimaru awoke and decided for him the question he had been pondering earlier.
Moving slowly, keeping eye contact with the boy, Orochimaru knelt and reached his right arm out, not missing the flinch the child gave just before his hand gently cradled the bloody cheek. Any hesitation he might have felt over his course of action was eliminated when those large eyes gazed up at him in absolute wonder at what was perhaps the first gentle touch the child remembered. "No child, I'm not. No one will hurt you anymore. I'll make sure of it."
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Present Day:
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Being taken in by Orochimaru had been the best thing to happen to the young Uzumaki. While the Sannin wasn't the most compassionate of people, he did provide food, shelter and new clothing for Naruto, which put him far ahead of anyone from Konoha.
It had also been Orochimaru who had personally overseen Naruto's training, starting not long after he was brought to Hidden Sound. It had been Orochimaru who had helped Naruto convince the Kyuubi no Kitsune to share his chakra with the boy, and to train him in order to have a suitable host for the "greatest of the youkai".
It was also Orochimaru who, after years of research and testing, had devised a means of permanently merging the demon's power with Naruto's own. Slowly over the years, more and more of the fox's power was absorbed by Naruto's system and converted into his own chakra. The energy that had not yet been absorbed was sealed beyond his reach, even in the most stressful of times.
This would eventually give Naruto complete control over the powers of the fox without needing to worry about losing his mind and body to the youkai. And, though Orochimaru had been unable to rid Naruto of the spirit of the demon fox entirely, Naruto found he didn't mind that anymore. After coming to terms, the relationship between he and the Kyuubi had improved greatly, and he had come to take an odd comfort in having the fox with him. After all, he was the one being who had been with and protected him even longer than Orochimaru.
And in the recesses of Naruto's mind there were several cherished memories; a frightened child being rocked back to sleep after waking from fierce, violent nightmares; brief, proud smiles as the same child mastered his first jutsus; the tortured deaths of any that had dared to threaten or hurt the child.
Not that Naruto was under any illusions. While he knew that his father had grown to care for him in his own way, there had been no attempt made to hide the fact that the only reason Naruto had been taken in was because Orochimaru had thought that he, and the demon within him, could be powerful weapons for Otogakure. Nor did Naruto doubt that should he not live up to his father's expectations, the best he could hope for would be banishment, with death being a far more likely fate.
Orochimaru did not take failure lightly; his aspirations were too high, his plans too intricate to allow tolerance for those who could not achieve the tasks he placed before them.
Naruto did not dwell on such thoughts, for he had no intention of ever letting his leader...his father...his savior down. No he, the mighty Sannin Orochimaru's greatest weapon, would not fail in this or any other task.
And soon the village of Konoha would be no more.
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End Chapter
Looking for a Beta!!
I'm looking for a Beta to help me with this story: particularly one good at cracking the whip to help me meet the deadlines I set for myself and lend opinions on the general storyline (ie if I'm starting to veer a bit too far into OOC land, etc). If anyone's interested, please let me know in a review.
Thanks!