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"The body ages. But the mind is immortal." Speech.

"Kukukuku" Flashback speech. Spellcraft.

§People change. It's just a matter of whether they die before it happens.§ Parseltongue

XxxXxxXxxX

7 abn

Candlelight flickered, causing shadows to dance along the stone walls as he examined his work. Light flickered and reflected off of glass jars, each filled with various liquids with some even holding organs or chunks of flesh. There was only a single living occupant of this room; completely at ease within this unsettling environment. His long black hair was tied up and held away from his face to allow clear vision over his work and the long sleeves of his attire were folded up to the elbows and a pair of bloodied rubber gloves covering his hands.

Orochimaru, former member of the Densetsu no Sannin and most recently; former member of the Akatsuki narrowed his eyes as he finished sewing in the last suture of the organ that was resting on the examination table before him. An empty ink pot and assortment of needles had been moved to the side next to a small sealed scroll where he worked.

It had been several hours of tireless, constant work to get this far.

After his failure in 'acquiring' the body of that Uchiha boy; Itachi, the Snake Sannin had been forced to flee the Akatsuki and, because of his injured state, transfer into another body. That failure, that near death experience at the hands of Uchiha Itachi had been an admittedly harrowing experience. It had forced Orochimaru to face a grim possibility in that, despite the lengths he had already taken in securing his longevity; he could still be killed.

He had enemies, both new and old that were potential threats to a level where it was possible he could be killed before he had a chance to escape and jump into another body. He needed to address that. He needed to have a contingency in place for the possible event of his death that would allow him to return from the Pure Lands.

The possible conclusion he had come to, the aim for his current experiment, was not a new one. It had been something he had previously toyed with when he had created the Curse Seal of Heaven. He had placed a sliver of his essence, his soul into the seal which had been branded on his once apprentice; Anko Mitarashi.

But the Curse Seal was not intended as a means for him to survive beyond death. The purpose of his soul-sliver was to maintain a spiritual connection between himself and dear Anko regardless of any distance separating them physically. At also allowed him to maintain control over the seal and prevented that bumbling idiot of a teammate of his from toying with it.

It was not meant to restore Orochimaru to the living and even if it could be used in such a manner, it would mean that Orochimaru would find himself revived in a place that was filled with those allied against him.

What Orochimaru wanted, was rather a methodology that did not require a third party to bring him back. Something that would act as a sort of anchor and lure for the core of his existence should it be 'released from the mortal coil.'

There had been two components that had needed to be properly readied to achieve this. The first was an adequate Fuinjutsu array that would allow a piece of his existence to be severed and then reattached to something else as well as remain bound to what it was reattached to. The second was a vessel to contain said fragment.

The man had chosen to make use of his previous body; the vessel damaged by Uchiha Itachi that he had most recently vacated. Orochimaru had carefully removed the heart of his previous body and chosen to work on it as the container for his contingency. It was the location of the eighth and final Chakra Gate which made it a viable container for not only his existence, but the modifications that would be needed to sustain and anchor the fragment to the container.

Careful dissection and tattooing via needle and Chakra infused ink had allowed Orochimaru to fill the organ with the fuinjutsurequired for the experiment. A revolutionary seal that was nothing like the simple one dimensional scribbles that buffoons like Jiraiya considered masterpieces but a truly three dimensional seal that connected and interacted across multiple axes.

With the final suture completed and tied off, Orochimaru took a step back and pulled off his surgical gloves, taking a moment to admire his work. For as much preparation that had been needed to ready the heart, he had been able to get away with a very minimal amount of surgical work. It was quite a moment of pride and achievement for the man. He very much doubted that even Tsunade herself could have replicated his work with such delicacy.

A candle flickered out behind him, the candle wick burning out into a pool of wax which smothered the flame. Drawing the attention of the Snake Sannin due to the very slightly diminished change in lighting, it reminded the man that he had been here within this base for quite some time. Far too long than he would have normally allowed.

It would be best he complete his work now so he could relocate. Ever since leaving Konoha Orochimaru had done his best to avoid staying in any single location for too long; to avoid the risk of discovery. And he should have relocated twice over by now.

Tossing the now removed surgical gloves to the side, Orochimaru cleared away the left over equipment that surrounded the now ready heart; picking up and removing left over surgical thread.

With the table clear, Orochimaru reached over to the small scroll that had been resting off to the side and with a snap of the wax seal that bound it shut, unrolled it with a flick of his wrist.

The scroll had been prepared for this specific experiment. It contained three Fuinjutsu arrays that had been meticulously developed for this undertaking.

Holding out a hand, Orochimaru channeled a small amount of Chakra before pressing his hand against the first array. As if time had chosen to flow in reverse; the seal flowed toward and into the palm of the Shinobi's hand. When the last remnant of the gathering sealing array had collected into Orochimaru's hand, the man removed his hand and placed it over the heart. Another burst of Chakra and the seal spread out once more, covering the exterior of the heart completely.

This was the second part of the unbelievably complex and intricate sealing work that would allow the soul-fragment to be placed within the heart-vessel.

A brief examination of the seal's application; to make sure that it had transferred correctly, that no part of the seal has been mixed up as a result of the transferal from paper to the surface of the fleshy organ and Orochimaru was turning to the second array on the scroll.

The process of readying this second Fuinjutsu was very similar to the first. A pulse of Chakra had the seal transfer itself to his hand, but this time instead of collecting in his palm, it spread out to encompass the entirety of his hand. Black archaic text and symbols intertwined around his fingers, circling his knuckles and darkened his fingernails.

Flexing his hand, once more checking the continued integrity of the seal, Orochimaru allowed a satisfied nod of approval. It was perhaps the only seal of the four that were needed for this experiment that he was most assured of. It was the same one that he had used to collect a shard of his soul to be inserted into the Curse Seal of Heaven.

Maintaining the steady flow of Chakra to his hand, the pale skinned man pressed it against his face, biting back a grunt of discomfort as he felt the Fuinjutsu do its work. When he pulled the hand away from his face a ghostly, image of his face was pulled out. This spectral face of the Snake Sannin was visible only for a moment before it lost cohesion and condensed into a small ball of flickering light.

The transference was quick. It had to be. Orochimaru had actually lost two smaller shards of his existence before he had been able to successfully place on within Anko's Curse Seal because he had been too slow. The Impure Lands of the living was not a friendly environment that a soul could survive in without a host.

There could be no hesitation or room for error in extraction and transferal of something so delicate. The light orb soul fragment was quickly pressed against the Heart which in turn lit up the array that had been placed over its exterior. Where as the seal that Orochimaru had used to cover his hand had been the tool used to extract and sever a portion of his soul, the seal that had been placed over the Heart was a receiving seal. Meant to draw the soul away from the extraction seal and filter it into the vessel that it had been placed over.

When the soul fragment had been successfully pulled into the Heart, the exterior seal faded away, vanishing as the light from the seals activation faded.

Orochimaru ceased his Chakra flow to his hand and allowed the extraction seal to fade away as he gave the now soul-contained heart another inspection. There was no structural signs of weakness and the sutures looked to be holding. Bringing his hand up into a simple hand-sign, the man let out a brief pulse of Chakra.

A brief burst of smoke and the Heart vanished as it transformed; leaving in its place a small white snake no longer than a Kunai and barely thicker than a finger. Already he could see that the soul was properly incorporated with the Heart-turned-snake as the white serpent was already sporting his iconic purple facial markings and had the same bright golden eyes as his own. Closing his eyes for a moment allowed Orochimaru to reach out with his senses.

Good. He could still 'feel' the presence of this fragment. A connection existed between the main core of his existence that was himself and the smaller, weaker fragment that had just now been created.

Holding out his hand to his fragment, Orochimaru waited until the snake had slithered up his fingers to coil around his wrist before turning his attention to the third and final seal that had been stored on the scroll that he had unrolled.

It was the final part of his experiment. The means by which he intended to keep his contingency safe and secure in a place that no-one, not even the Sage of Ryuchi Caves could find. Because it would be completely random and therefore perfectly disconnected from any form of association to himself.

It was a modified reverse summoning Jutsu. Similar in nature to how that idiot had stumbled his way into obtaining the Toad Summoning Contract but designed specifically to avoid any and all connection with animal contracts and summon realms. If successful it would, in theory; send his contingency to a realm that could only be accessed by either those who knew how to find it, or those already there.

Depositing the soul-serpent onto the modified summoning seal, Orochimaru cast his hands through the specific seals involved with traditional reverse summoning.

"Gyaku Kuchiyose no Jutsu."

A burst of smoke and the Jutsu activated. Immediately Orochimaru felt the absence of his recently made soul-fragment, knowing that he had succeeded in sending his contingency far from not only the Elemental Nations, but the realm of the Summon Contracts as well.

But, just as he knew he had succeeded because of the absence, he also knew he had failed.

He could not sense the portion of his soul any longer. There was nothing, not even the faintest of slivers that allowed him to even know that the Fragment existed.

The experiment had failed. So close to success, a means to viable and enduring immortality in sight, and he failed. Without the connection to link himself to his contingency it was no longer possible to go to it should he die. An anchor without a chain.

It was a good thing that Orochimaru had intended to vacate this laboratory. Because the release of his frustration and rage at his failure levelled it completely.

XxxX

1981 a.d

To any close enough to bear witness and hear it; it would have sounded like nothing more than a series of brief hissing.

For the Soul-fragment of Orochimaru himself, it was agonizing, mind-searing screams.

Corporealizing into reality in a burst of smoke, the small white snake howled in unimaginable agony, twitching and writhing almost as if something had set fire to every part of its existence.

He could not determine what had gone wrong. Only that something had. As a fragment connected to the whole the connection that linked the two was entirely one way so there was no means for him to determine if anything was wrong with that nor could he assess the state of his 'body'.

Forcing his way through the agony that he could feel, Orochimaru was able to determine a source feeling that could explain why everything was feeling so very wrong. A rather unsettling feeling.

Draining.

It felt like he was bleeding out. Like something had stabbed into him, or better still, been forcibly removed and now he was bleeding out through the wound.

He, he was going to die. No, worse! He was going to be eradicated. He was just a fragment, a tiny piece of the original that had no chance of finding its way to the Pure Lands.

He needed to find something, anything, that could help him. To live. To survive!

Steeling himself, forcing back the pain and fear of eradication, Orochimaru turned his attention to his surroundings.

A home. If it could still be called as such. Ransacked and most definitely no longer fit for habitation given that a decent portion of the ceiling had collapsed inward, clearly showing a starry sky beyond. The dwelling, coupled with the corpse of a brown haired bespectacled man to his left assured him that he was in a realm that supported not only life, but a human population.

Flicking his tongue out he was surprised to discover that he could taste, something, in the air. It wasn't Chakra, or even Senjutsu. And yet, it felt similar. Comparable.

And another thing. A warm body.

It was coming from upstairs but Orochimaru could most definitely taste a living creature still within the house.

Slithering up the stars, not at all debilitated in the form due to his own familiarity with the form of movement, the small snake form of Orochimaru slithered over a pile of black robes and into what looked to be a nursery. Within there were two, occupants. The first was an admittedly attractive woman. Bright red hair that briefly reminded him of that Uzumaki woman from Konoha, she had bright green eyes that were already beginning to cloud over in death.

The second was immediately of more interest to Orochimaru. Especially given his, present circumstances.

A child. More an infant really. Perhaps only a year old give or take a few months with the same kind of eyes as the dead woman. Mother and child. In any other situation Orochimaru may have expressed some curiosity for what had happened here. What had come to this house and orphaned this child. What had been able to murder a mother and father in such a manner that even now, the snake could neither smell nor taste any spilled blood from either corpse. They were both completely intact and unspoiled.

But as the soul-fragment had more, pressing concerns, his curiosity was curbed.

It was the child that held his interest. Or, to be more precise; the lighting bolt shaped cut on the child's forehead.

He could taste it. Like a predator sensing prey Orochimaru could sense the presence of a soul fragment within the boy's wound. Weak and pathetic, barely functional and most likely far close to eradication than he himself was.

Potentially a viable host.

Orochimaru could not afford to hesitate. Whatever time he had to consider options or other possibilities could barely be measured in mere moments. So, quickly slithering around the corpse of the woman, the white serpent coiled himself before striking. Lunging up with as much power as his 'body' could provide, he slammed into the forehead of the boy. The physical shell smacked against the laceration and the soul-fragment of Orochimaru slithered inside.

Within the child, Orochimaru found the fragment he had been able to sense. Nothing more than a pitiful, barely living flickering flame, clinging to the outer edge of a large orb of light that most likely represented the host's own existence.

He could still feel his own existence 'leaking' away. Bleeding out into whatever void awaited him should he fail and be eradicated. And if that wasn't bad enough, he could also feel the boy's own soul rearing up; preparing to strike out at the invaders like white blood cells attacking an infection.

He could not afford to wait. Coiling up, Orochimaru lashed out at the flickering flame that was the tiny soul-fragment. Wrapping around it, the snake unhinged his jaw and devoured it whole. Ignoring its attempts to resist, its pitiful cries and wails as it entered his mouth and was just as rapidly dissolved into nothingness.

The host soul was quickly enclosing him; ready to eject him from the boy's body. And just as he 'saw' the existence of this body envelop his own, he felt a quick, last minute surge of strength as the devoured fragment empowered him.

Not enough to repair the damage that the summoning to this realm had caused him. But enough, so that he could survive what was to come.

XxxXxxXxxX

So. both of us are fan's of the 'Madness' trilogy and the idea of a mad scientist Harry Potter. This had us have a discussion of 'if we tried something similar, what direction would we take.' THEN we really kind of realised; "my god do I love Orochimaru."

And thus this story was born. Not so much a 'mad scientist Harry' kind of story, but more a '*** reborn as Harry Potter' kind of story.