The buzzing of fluorescent lights coursed softly through the underground chamber. Clinks of bottles and metallic instruments and the bubbling of tanks filling with fluid formed a chilling cacophony of sinister potential somewhere within Konoha's bowels.

"Move that table a bit to the left… excellent, Kabuto," Orochimaru pointed to a tilting metallic sheet laden with bindings as he busily organized surgical tools. "We'll have to set it up inside one of the tanks, a troublesome maneuver."

Kabuto pushed the table to the tank undergoing a cleansing cycle. "I find it surprising that Konoha was unable to locate all of your hidden facilities that remain in the village somewhere, Orochimaru-sama."

"I hadn't expected to use this one again even if it survived," he replied truthfully. "I took some extra measures in this case. Deceiving the Hyuga's Byakugan is no simple feat," Orochimaru grinned nastily. "The barrier seals proved costly, however, and I wasn't able to adorn more than one laboratory here with them. We should be thankful for this opportunity, Kabuto."

"If I may… you still haven't informed me what we'll be doing tonight, Orochimaru-sama. I was under the impression that preparations for the invasion were finalized." The nauseous light glinted off of Kabuto's polished glasses.

"Indeed, everything is on track for the invasion. This is but a… curiosity of mine, and as you know I am a very curious man." Orochimaru folded up some linens and glanced at paper reporting the pH and composition of the fluid in the tank. "You've been in Konoha long enough, Kabuto… what do you know about the First Hokage?"

"Shodaime-sama? Of course, he was well known as the 'God of Shinobi', but I imagine you're referring more to his abilities?"

"Then I'm sure you already know… Shodaime-sama was famous for his Wood Style ninjutsu. He is said to have created the structure of the Leaf using it. Since his death, there have been no known users of Wood Style… Or at least, that would be true."

"Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto watched as Orochimaru called some snakes to lift the table gently into the tank.

"When Sarutobi-sensei caught wind of my activities I happened to be in the final stages of an experiment to implant infants with Shodaime-sama's Wood Style kekkei genkai."

"I see, sir. Then, your experiments were successful at producing new users of Wood Style?"

"You see, Kabuto, I developed two versions of this implant. The first was directly grafting large quantities of tissue formed from cultivated cells of Shodaime-sama. This turned out to be quite simple, though unsightly, unrefined, and not as effective as I'd hoped. Often, the tissue does not cooperate with the host, making the Wood Style even more difficult to use than expected. Still, I had one associate here who agreed to receive this version of the procedure."

"An associate, sir?"

"Someone who know doubt wishes to control the nine-tails. Two kekkei genkai within Konoha were noted to have unusual control over Tailed Beasts. The First Hokage was one such individual said to hold that power." Orochimaru chuckled at the notion of such an ambition.

"Then I suppose the other is the Sharingan," Kabuto said astutely.

"Very good, Kabuto. Of course, no Uchiha in living memory has had that capability… perhaps, anyway," Orochimaru said thoughtfully. "Certainly the entire Nine-Tails incident remains highly suspicious, wouldn't you say?"

"As you say, sir. So then, you developed a second method of implanting the Wood Style?"

"Efforts to improve the process were almost completely unsuccessful. As you know, it is relatively easy to transplant dojutsu such as Sharingan or Byakugan. A nature transformation ability is, unfortunately, rooted far and wide across the being of the kekkei genkai holder. It took me quite awhile to isolate it in the First Hokage's cells. Even then, I trialed implants using the isolated element in one hundred infants before I was caught, and only one was successful… all others died."

"Then, that one survivor… is now a Shinobi of Konoha? I do not know this individual."

"Do not doubt your spying abilities, Kabuto. I suspect this particular Shinobi has been brought up deep within ANBU. Konoha has taken great trouble to hide such a valuable asset. Amusing, really, after the lengths they took to drive me out for attempting it..." Orochimaru chuckled again as he wrote some notes in a scroll.

"Still, this method, you were able to impart the infant's cells with the isolated quality of Wood Style?"

"It would seem so, Kabuto. I did not have enough time here in the village back then, but after later examining the research I found that compatibility with the Wood Style is very important within the subject's genetics and was a main factor in the large quantity of failures to the project."

"Then you must mean their original chakra nature, or perhaps their relation to the Senju Clan, the only known users of Wood Style?"

"Quite, Kabuto. Wood Style is a special nature transformation that combines water and earth chakra. Naturally, individuals who are strong in these natures are the ones most suited to the procedure. Chakra nature is difficult to determine in infants which is one reason my previous experiments were failures. As for the Senju, after the formation of Konoha the Senju spread their branches all across Konoha shinobi. They disseminated as a clan and their 'thousand skills' now reside in almost all Konoha shinobi in some form. Their only strong descendant now is Tsunade-hime, who, to my knowledge, has no children. Even then, Tsunade does not possess the chakra affinity that would be ideal for an implant. We are here today, however, because in our time here you have encountered someone who is ideal."

Kabuto accepted the scroll that Orochimaru handed him. "Water and earth transformations… You must mean Team Seven's straggler."

"Most would not give a second look at the stray Genin of a team containing the last of the Uchiha and the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails headed by the strongest ninja at Konoha's disposal. Yet, Sakura-chan has demonstrated strong affinities in both water and earth. Her remarkable chakra control also means that she has a high chance of using Wood Style without losing control over it, though she'll need to raise her stamina far more to make good use of it. Her lack of clan ancestry solidifies our experiment. Bloodlines among clans don't mix commonly, usually when there are two kekkei genkai one takes precedence over the other."

"I see. Sakura-kun's family has no trace of kekkei genkai, so there shouldn't be interference from her body."

"Now then Kabuto…" Orochimaru clapped his hands gleefully, "our preparations are nearly complete. If you would, please scout Sakura-chan's current location and status. I'll join you soon." Orochimaru swirled his chakra-enhanced tongue in excitement while Kabuto obeyed and made his way to the surface of Konoha.


A ferric taste permeated Sakura's throat as she climbed brokenly to her feet. The log she had been dragging lay next to her, a modest trough of landscape carved underneath it. Subsequent trails formed over the last few weeks ran adjacent to it over the range of the large field she'd trained in. The sun dipped low over the horizon, distorting the light to a simmering orange. Following the trail of the sun, Sakura lumbered back towards the village proper.

The late autumn wind cast a festive smell that Sakura could not feel while breathing heavily through her mouth. The weights chafed uncomfortably around her arms and legs, but she'd been ordered not to remove them.

Maybe I should wear something underneath so that the weights feel better… Then again, there's less than a week before the finals, I could manage. Children raced one another holding pinwheels and lugging kites, eager to test the wind before their mothers recalled them for dinner. Sakura smiled, wondering how many of them would one day be doing what she was now. Her childhood had been unpleasant before she'd met Ino, but still she found herself looking back on it enviously. At least her childhood hadn't involved training to the bone for death matches.

Her skeleton ached dearly, but she could at least look forward to her mother's dinner at home and her father's wisecracks. Through the throbbing of her weighted arms and legs she wondered how the boys were doing. Kankuro looked very capable in the prelims, but compared to people like Neji and Gaara… I think I got off easy compared to Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura couldn't suppress a shudder as she remembered how Hinata had clutched at her chest the first time Neji had hit her and how Lee's arm and leg had crunched sickeningly beneath Gaara's sand. Kakashi-sensei said he knew a way Sasuke could beat Gaara. I have to trust that he knows what he's doing. As for Naruto, I know how much he wants to beat Neji for what he did to Hinata, but that kind of strength seemed so… unfair! Naruto likes to fight at close range… What is he supposed to do when Neji just seals all his chakra? Sakura shook her head, though winced as it induced a headache. No! Naruto may be clueless in school, but was so tricky the way he fought Kiba. Naruto can do it… he can find some way to catch Neji off guard… I hope.

As Sakura then pondered about what she could do to fight against Kakuro's puppets, she remained oblivious to the shadow that slid across Konoha's rooftops with the setting sun. A second presence appeared beside the shadow.

"What do you make of it, Kabuto?"

"She's completely exhausted from her stamina training. I expect we'll have no trouble catching her, although we should do it now; she's almost home." The two cloaked figures flitted around civilian and Shinobi eyes alike as easily as water slipped through gravel.

"That will save us the trouble of draining her chakra for the procedure. Very well, Kabuto, conceal the crossroads." Orochimaru vanished in a swirl of leaves as he began bathing Sakura's path with chakra. Kabuto zipped away to coat the nearby roads with genjutsu that would obscure sight and sound from any who might pass by.

The familiarity of the way home did not aid Sakura in noticing that anything was amiss. Her stomach growled low as it wondered what her mother would have for dinner, she was starving.

Something flicked in the corner of Sakura's eye. The air around her began to darken. Huh? What happened to the streetlamps? Did one run out? She turned her neck, and saw another two lamps directly behind her smoothly dim to black. Startled, she looked in front of her, but the lamps ahead had already been extinguished while she'd had her eyes off them. An ambush! but before she could so much as brandish a kunai Orochimaru appeared out of thick, chakra-laden air, which pressed itself against her brain, forcing her to slumber before his glinting eyes.


"Change her into this gown, Kabuto." Orochimaru held up something resembling a hospital smock. "We'll need to use chakra to access her cells with as little interference as possible." Kabuto took the gown and obeyed, pointedly looking at Sakura's face. He lowered her limp body carefully into the tank, attaching her limbs securely in the process. Kabuto pulled out the scroll he'd been given earlier and laid it out on a bench.

"We are ready to begin, Orochimaru-sama."

"Good. The first step will be a chakra decontamination procedure. Do you recall the technique?"

"Yes sir. The purpose of it is to remove all foreign DNA so that it doesn't interfere with an alteration procedure."

"Remember that different areas of her body will require varying degrees of chakra saturation. We will begin from the feet." Orochimaru and Kabuto both formed the Ram Seal. From the bottom of the tank, chakra surged through the liquid, coating Sakura's exposed feet. Had she been awake, she would have managed to feel the burning and stinging as the chakra eroded away any plant and animal matter.

After nearly a half an hour of slow screening from Orochimaru and Kabuto's chakra, the process reached Sakura's torso. A bright red chakra burn appeared along her waist through the ties in the gown, making Sakura jolt unconsciously.

"Careful, Kabuto, this is where it gets tricky." Kabuto clenched his fingers and increased his control.

Two hours later the visible skin on Sakura's body was red with rash and burns, but the process was complete.

"That will do, Kabuto. It was messy, but it's better to go overboard than do too little. When the DNA augmentation occurs, any lingering plants, bacteria and so forth could bring… unintended side effects," Orochimaru said clinically. "Get the scroll ready. Follow the sealing formula to impart the contents along Sakura-chan's body." Kabuto pulled the table with the scroll into view, looking at the chakra distribution along the graphic of a human body it contained. "Again, start from the feet. This will take awhile." Kabuto obeyed and directed his chakra between the scroll and the tank, following Orochimaru's lead.

Inky swirls wound their way around Sakura's feet. They twitched and glowed bright at every turn, each sequence unsealing chain after chain of microscopic proteins. Kabuto and Orochimaru bathed the tank in chakra, allowing the product to saturate the liquid until they were sequentially chosen to replace torn out sections of Sakura's cells.

"The number of cells in the body is greater than we can imagine, Kabuto. The seal is specially coded to replace her body's structure with our cultivated product on a large scale, but the process will need time to hit every single cell."

As the sensation of countless needles approached Sakura's shins, her consciousness rippled beneath the haze of genjutsu, shattering it in one sudden motion. She screamed.

"Kabuto, hood!" Orochimaru barked. Kabuto immediately flipped his hood, concealing his Sound headband and distinctive light hair. He knew that his cover was not long from being blown, but he must draw out his discovery as a spy in Konoha as long as possible.

"To think she is a genjutsu-type as well!" Orochimaru cackled. "So many hidden talents across the lands… I can't wait to discover them all!"

"We should have known… chakra control and a learned mind make for genjutsu..." Kabuto muttered beneath his cloak.

"Bind her limbs—" Kabuto threaded chakra through the conductive metal wraps on the table, "-good. Do not worry, my friend, she's no longer in any position to stop us. I'm sure her genjutsu will only add yet another interesting layer to her future."


Sakura yelped through the breathing apparatus while the sensation of needles piercing her stomach crawled through her flesh.

I can't feel my legs…

She struggled against the cold metal restraints around her limbs. Her bones rubbed painfully against their surfaces. Her brain plummeted through a confusing memory, trying to make out what was going on. A single, pasty white face came to her.

Orochimaru… I saw him in front of me…

Sakura wrenched her eyes open, then shut them immediately as the liquid stung her sockets. As pain crept up her spine, she tried again. Through a cloudy vision she spotted conjoined blobs of long dark hair and pale frame. A dark-robed figure she couldn't make out was next to him, but that mattered less to her.

What is he doing…? Ah! It hurts! Sakura squeezed her eyes shut as both their burning and the needles of chakra drove her far outside her comfort zone. She struggled again to free herself, desperate to end the pain and get away.

How long she continued to wrench her aching limbs away, she did not know. Each second felt longer than the last, yet her count of them had long since broken away from her. The chafing of the metal cuffs helped distract her from the numbness in her feet and the feel of chakra sewing itself through her skin as Orochimaru's dark energy continued further up her body.

Sakura's stomach heaved, trying to regurgitate its nonexistent contents. For the moment, she was grateful for how badly she'd needed to eat before. She dimly attempted to recall some of the lessons at the academy that she'd started reminding herself about more and more often recently.

"The first step to resisting torture is to empty the mind of thoughts. Vacate. Meditate. Focus only on breathing, in and out."

Sakura focused in inhaling and exhaling. She began to feel out her chakra instinctively, and within it was something new. Unfamiliar. Foreign.

"If you must think, remember that you are not at fault. Know your enemy, understand what makes them the enemy."

Orochimaru is one of the Legendary Three Ninja of Konoha. He was the student of Sandaime-sama, along with Jiraiya-sama the Sage, and Tsunade-sama the Medic. Each of them has an affinity in Kuchiyose no Jutsu. Orochimaru's specialty is snakes. They are all S-class shinobi, as powerful as the Five Kage.

The suddenly intense prickling in her neck halted Sakura's recitation, but only for a moment.

Unlike the other two, Orochimaru is a rogue ninja. He is a top-ranked criminal in the bingo book, wanted for countless murders, kidnappings, and war crimes against his own country. If encountered in the field, he is strictly not to be engaged, but notification is to be sent to Konoha immediately, who will then determine what course of action, if any, can be taken against him.

Sakura knew that this complex apparatus that Orochimaru had gone through the trouble of putting her in was not meant as torture. While he clearly didn't care how much pain she felt in the process, there was something he was trying to do with her. Something that he only saw fit for her.

Orochimaru is a twisted researcher of ninjutsu. The majority of his crimes are related to unethical experimentation that has resulted in the loss of an estimated hundreds of innocent lives.

So, why her? Why not Sasuke, or…

Why would Naruto be a part of that consideration? What was unique about him?

Somehow… I know… I can feel something strange about Naruto… The amount of chakra he has… those sudden bursts of anger… How he can go from harmless to a total rampage through the enemy ranks. Something is there… something special…

Spots of white flashed through her eyes as chakra began to impale her skull. The intensity of the flare broke her out of her concentration.

Sasuke-kun… Naruto… someone please find me!

Kakashi-sensei… Mom, Dad… Anyone…

All at once, the pain stopped.

Sakura wheezed, exhausted, for a few minutes as she waited to see if anything would happen. She carefully eased her eyes open again. Through the haze of the tank, she saw Orochimaru's black and white figure arrange and lay out various scrolls before him. He pointed around for the hooded man to bring him more scrolls and other objects she couldn't see from around the room. As Sakura shut her throbbing eyes again, she examined her chakra.

Something's wrong… It's like my chakra isn't my chakra anymore. What is he doing to me?

Sakura followed the unfamiliar chakra outside the tank, and felt the pressure as Orochimaru and the other figure amassed a huge volume of chakra around their system of scrolls.

The tank surged with the power injected through the tubes, blanketing her senses.

Immediately, Sakura began to scream through her face piece.

Knives now covered every inch of her skin. Head to toe, the chakra burned, searing away all sensation, all thought, all emotion. White hot pain caused her body to twist and undulate, the resulting tearing and bruising of her muscle and bone unnoticeable beneath the veneer of chakra being forcibly inserted into her very cells.

Sakura held on for mere minutes before the pain and her uncontrolled breath drove her utterly out of sight and mind.


"It seems she's passed out from the pain through hyperventilation, sir," Kabuto panted, winded from the chakra he'd expended. Orochimaru looked no worse for wear.

"That was all but expected at this stage. Keep going, we'll need another twenty minutes for this cycle, at least." Kabuto obeyed, the chakra in the tank gaining some visibility from the strength.

When Orochimaru signaled to stop, Kabuto dropped down on a knee in fatigue.

"This strain on your reserves might be good for you, Kabuto," Orochimaru chuckled. "We'll rest for the next thirty minutes while the chakra exits her system. As we do, a little of it shall remain in her cell structure, imbuing it with that of Senju Hashirama. Once we're ready, we'll repeat this process several times, and the residual power of the Wood Style will continue to embed itself. At your leisure, prepare an IV for her just in case."

"Yes sir," Kabuto said, fingering his soldier pills.

True to his word, the tank soon was once again flooded with chakra containing that of Shodaime-sama. Sakura's screams ignited anew, confusion and pain eventually returning her to slumber. Kabuto and Orochimaru rested, then repeated. For hours and hours, saturate Sakura's body with more chakra than she'd ever used in her life they did. Each time, Sakura awoke, and each time she grew a little more accustomed to the pain. But her strength could not last, and with no sleep or food over nearly a day she would not re-awaken by the final treatment, when Orochimaru declared their work complete.

"Give her a mild chakra stimulant to facilitate her recovery. We'll want to see her back on her feet soon," Orochimaru told Kabuto, who popped a soldier pill and injected Sakura with a small yellow syringe.

With Sakura's fragile body in his arms, Orochimaru carefully emerged back above ground in the village, Kabuto trailing him. Sunlight poked through the trees of Orochimaru's old home, reminding his days as a genin, training from early hours while his teammates slept in.

Just like then, this will be a day of new beginnings, he thought to himself as he lay Sakura in one of the training grounds near the village outskirts. Kabuto watched as Orochimaru formed a Seal of the Ram and sent a small jolt of chakra through Sakura's withered form. To his glee, tiny sprouts grew from the ground around her skin, threading through her fingertips, cradling their new magister.

"It seems we have been successful, Kabuto. Can you confirm her vitals?"

"Yes sir, she will be entirely stable by the time village security finds her."

"Very good. Rest now, Kabuto, you will need to be at full strength for the invasion."

"Of course."

As silent as snakes in the grass, Orochimaru and Kabuto disappeared.

I look forward to hearing stories of your exploits, Sakura-chan…


A shorter chapter, but I couldn't really start the next scene without leaving it prematurely, and I really need to get this one out. It was pretty obvious that this was going to happen, what do you all think of this? This was the main change I really wanted to write, and from now on a lot of familiar aspects of the story are going to be affected, even Hinata, which I might even be able to get to next chapter. I'm trying to motivate myself to doing further work in the things that are important to me, such as this, so I'm going to get started on more chapters now.

Until next time,

~Iggy