Part I: Episode II

Orochimaru let out an irritated sigh as he made his way through the village, barely acknowledging the congratulations he was receiving on becoming the next Hokage. He was more concerned about the vastly increased amount of 'discrete' followers he had gotten since yesterday. Some were ANBU agents, meant to make sure any possible political enemies didn't attempt to harm Orochimaru. Ironically, the other group consisted of the closest thing Orochimaru had to a political enemy - Danzo. Or at least, Danzo's glorified orphanage 'Root'. While the ANBU ninja invisibly followed from the rooftops, the Root children blended into the streets of Konoha - a slightly more inconspicuous method, even if it sacrificed the mobility that the ANBU enjoyed.

Orochimaru continued to make his way to the village's western gate, where the village grew less populated and more rural. Both of his pursuers had become less visible, which Orochimaru was sure meant that they were losing their ability to follow as discretely. As the Sannin made his way, he noticed a small family who smiled and waved at him. Orochimaru smiled, but it was more mocking than genuine. A Root group disguised as a family. Cute, but more ineffective.

Suddenly, Orochimaru felt a presence right behind him. He turned, ready to strike, and looked awkwardly when he saw his former teammate Tsuande standing before him.

"Hey there, I hear congrats are in order." She said with a smile in her eyes and a soft smirk on her face. Orochimaru gave something of a laugh in response.

"Thank you, Tsunade. I must admit, I wasn't aware that you were in the village..." Orochimaru's voice trailed, bringing up the subject that neither Sannin felt like discussing. Tsunade sighed and looked up and around her.

"Seems like you've got some company," she said, her grin turning sly. Orochimaru's eyes narrowed and just like that, the two disappeared, leaving numerous frustrated black ops ninja behind.

Orochimaru and Tsunade soon found themselves a few yards behind the western gate. They were still about an hour and a half from the Land of Rivers, but Konohagakure rarely used the buffer land. As a result, Orochimaru found the area private and completely suited for his various less controversial experiments. Unfortunately, he still wanted to avoid his lab with Tsunade right next to him.

The woman had grown uncharacteristically quiet, which set Orochimaru on edge.

"Why are you here, Tsunade?" Orochimaru asked, his voice sounding more annoyed than he had intended. If it offended Tsunade, she didn't show it.

"Oh no real reason. Sensei asked me and Jiraiya to come back to the village for a bit." She replied. Orochimaru inwardly sighed. He had expected Hiruzen to send in some type of advanced recon team, but Tsunade and Jiraiya was certainly unexpected. Tsunade surprised her former teammate even more with her next announcement.

"We're having a nice little get-together later tonight at Ember Saplings. It's sort of a congratulations-slash-reunion sort of deal. You should come." Tsunade's smile was generous.

"Thank you, but you know I'm not a huge fan of those types of things." Orochimaru replied, leaving out his desire to avoid the drunken antics of his old teammates. Tsunade frowned.

"Come on, it'll be fun." Tsunade said. She looked Orochimaru in the eye, silently making it clear that she was not inviting the Sannin. He could either say yes and be rid of her, or decline and be stuck with her all day. And Orochimaru had things that he needed to do, preferably in private and certainly not in front of Tsunade.

"Very well then," Orochimaru sighed, at this point just wanting Tsunade gone. Thankfully, she disappeared after a final smile. Orochimaru seethed as he made his way over to a seemingly random tree and placed his hand upon it. With a gentle nudge of chakra, the tree seemed to jump and a seal appeared just under Orochimaru's feet. And just like that, he was in a completely different place.

The room was mostly bare, save for an operating table, complete with a horror-filled man with his mouth gagged and several painful looking instruments. Various volumes and books lined the walls, many of them written by Orochimaru himself. Ignoring the man who screamed as loud as he could with the rock rod in his mouth, Orochimaru picked up one of his more recent books, skimmed the pages, and then grabbed a scalpel before turning towards the man on the operating table, who began to move as much as he could against his restraints.

"Stop moving," Orochimaru growled, unleashing a quick GenJutus that mostly paralyzed the man. Then, a smile grew on Orochimaru's face. "You'll make me miss." He said as he moved closer. The man, Taka, or something like that, was a young man who was foolish enough to attempt to betray the Konoha-Ame 'alliance' and unlucky enough to be caught my Orochimaru. Consequently, he was now one of Orochimaru's many test subjects forced to sit idle as the Sannin searched for a way to enhance his physical durability. Already, Taka was far more durable than he was before his capture, but Orochimaru saw no point in stopping now

Ember Saplings was a nice restaurant, bragging that their food was exactly the same as what the first Hokage would during the First World War, when the Land of Fire was more like the Land of Embers and the Hidden Leaf was more like the Hidden Saplings. Whether or not it was true, the food was good and the restaurant itself was fairly high-end.

Orochimaru didn't have to look hard to find his party; Jiraiya was loudly boasting about his travels.

"And then all four of them suddenly turn on me! The bastards! Of course, they were no match for the great Jiraiya!" The toad sage practically shouted, much to the delight of the two young waitresses standing beside him. Tsunade rolled her eyes before catching Orochimaru. She waved him over and could see the apprehension in his eyes as we walked closer.

"Yo! Orochimaru! So the old man went and made you Hokage, huh?" Jiraiya asked loudly. He had been drinking, but for the most part was still fairly sober. Before Orochimaru had the chance to respond, he felt a hand clap his shoulder.

"Orochimaru, I'm glad you could make it." Hiruzen said gently before passing the younger man and sitting down beside Tsunade. Much to his annoyance, this left the only available seat next to Jiraiya. As his eyes locked with Hiruzen's, Orochimaru remembered their conversation from earlier that day.

"Why?" Orochimaru asked, once he and Hiruzen were alone. Hiruzen sighed and paused momentarily before answering as he collected his thoughts.

"I meant what I said before, Orochimaru." The older said, turning to look at his former student. "Picking you is a massive gamble. You will be either Konoha's savior or you will be her reaper."

"That hardly answers my question-"

"I picked you, Orochimaru," Hiruzen continued as if Orochimaru had not even spoken; "because I believe that being responsible for this village will be good for you. You're like a son to me, and I want what's best for you. And these people - the ones you live with and fight for - are both going to be your greatest strength and your greatest weakness. I cannot tell you how to oversee this village. I can only hope and pray that you always think of the people."

"Orochimaru! What're you drinking?" Jiraiya asked.

"Just water is fine. I'm sure you and Tsunade will drink enough to compensate for my lack of it. You always have." Orochimaru responded, causing Jiraiya to let out a boisterous laugh. Even Tsunade laughed before ordering another drink. The night continued for a few more hours, mostly with Jiraiya and Tsunade trading stories about their travels while Hiruzen and Orochimaru watched on. Several times, Orochimaru would glance at Hiruzen and wonder just what exactly was going through the old man's mind.

Author's Corner:

First off, wow! Thank you guys so much for all the reviews, follows, and favourites! Y'all are amazing and I appreciate it a bunch. Now for the important stuff.

NOTE: There might be other pairings in this, but the two confirmed pairings right now are OrochimaruxTsunade and ShisuixItachi. I'm not much of a fluff writer and I don't intend to write anything explicit so yeah, romance isn't gonna be a big deal in this story but someone asked about yaoi so yeah.

NOTE: There is about a two-and-a-half year skip between this chapter and chapter 3. Don't worry, you're really only missing a bunch of politics and since I have very little knowledge of how that works, I'm just going to keep my dignity and leave that alone.

NOTE: Sorry if Orochimaru seems OOC in this. It's what I'm trying to do with his personality - like he's caught in this really weird position mentally so that's what I'm trying to portray. So yeah, sorry if it's coming off kinda awkward but if you'll just kinda bear with me while I work on this, hopefully it'll be worth it.

Thanks again so much for all the feedback and I hope you keep coming with it. Good luck in your writing and chapter 3 will be out probably next weekend if not sooner.