Orochimaru did not believe in wasting potential, and he would always try to prevent it if at all possible. Nawaki's death was unfortunate, but his time as the boy's sensei made it clear to Orochimaru that he realistically would have never amounted to much, especially in comparison to his older sister. On the other hand, losing Anko was far more irritating, but that was mostly out of his hands; she was going to betray him, and killing the only survivor of the Cursed Seal of Heaven up to that point would have been a waste, so he simply wiped her memory of anything pertinent and went on his way.
Over the years, he had become very good at judging a person's potential; he needed to in order to build a competent force around himself out of strays, castaways, and captives. He had seen great things in Kabuto, Kimimaro, Guren, and even the rest of the Sound Four after they each won their death battles. He had even seen enough in Dosu, Zaku, and Kin to let them live out their usefulness until their disposability inevitably caught up with them. He even (begrudgingly) could admit that Jiraiya's dumbass little bitch of a protégé, Minato Namikaze, was pouring with potential when he was a wet-behind-the-ears little shit.
Fuck him for stealing the Hokage position from him, nonetheless.
All of that was to say that he knew a thing or two about casing someone's potential, so when he hunted down and beat the shit out of Team 7 in the Forest of Death, he was both impressed and extremely frustrated.
The plan for the venture was simple: he would infiltrate Konoha, kill some genin and disguise himself as one of them to enter the Forest of Death, and then he'd attack Team 7 and hold Sasuke's feet to the fire to determine if he would be a worthy vessel. If he wasn't, he'd simply kill him, pilfer his Sharingan, make it look like Danzo did it, and then watch as Itachi buried Konoha in a fit of rage. Maybe he'd clone Sasuke and then take him as a vessel to kill Itachi with later, or maybe he wouldn't, but that didn't really matter because Sasuke proved to be everything that he had hoped the boy would be and more.
However, that was part of what irritated him so thoroughly. Why in the hell was this boy still a genin? Why wasn't he plucked from his home after the massacre and trained into the ground? He was clearly beyond the average genin after only a few months as a shinobi, so imagine what he could have been had he been quietly inducted into the ANBU to capitalize on being the only naturally occurring Sharingan in the village. He had potential in spades, but Konoha was doing fuck all with it, and it was as maddening as it was advantageous for him.
So, naturally, marking Sasuke with the Cursed Seal of Heaven was a no-brainer. If he survived, whispering sweet nothings of unleashing his true potential and granting him the power necessary to kill Itachi so that he eventually left the village in search of Orochimaru would be child's play. It was so simple, in fact, that the plan was to mark him, kill his teammates, and then leave.
The problem was that nothing was ever so simple. It wasn't just Sasuke whose enormous potential was being squandered. Enter, Naruto Uzumaki, the son of that thieving, fucking bastard, Minato, and the previous jinchuriki of the Kyubi, Kushina Uzumaki. He knew about the boy, and he knew what he contained, but he didn't know if the boy could use the beast's power. All of the information that Orochimaru received about him painted the picture of a talentless failure with severe delusions of grandeur and no genuine relationships or bonds to speak of. It was quite humorous that a child who should have been hailed as royalty by his village was only seen as trash by that very village.
Serves that pompous bastard right. Eat a dick, Minato.
He had intended to allow his summons to simply put the boy out of his misery, but Naruto surprised him by surviving the encounter and coming to his team's aid. He surprised him again when he challenged him using the Kyubi's chakra. Had the boy been able to tap into his tenant's power all along, he certainly would have to have been trained to harness this power… right?
Of course not; that would be giving Konoha too much credit. It was more likely that he had no idea of his status until the 11th hour, and then his former sensei fed the boy all sorts of half-truths and BS assurances to ensure his continued loyalty. Hiruzen Sarutobi was a delightfully evil piece of shit when he really wanted to be.
In any event, Naruto Uzumaki provided far greater amusement than Orochimaru had been anticipating, and while his mechanics were piss poor and any sort of style was nonexistent, he displayed an interesting level of guile and a quick wit while attacking him, alongside strength of both body and will that couldn't be disregarded. He would certainly be an interesting specimen to watch develop in the future, but he had no use for him at the moment, especially with Akatsuki running around. Cutting off access to the fox with the Five Element Seal did the trick in subduing him, and Orochimaru discarded the admittedly surprising child to continue his business with Sasuke.
Then, the boy surprised him once again by maintaining consciousness after having the seal placed on him. He was obviously hindered, yet he still got back up and continued to try to fight and protect his team. His tenacity was admirable, and while not as talented as Sasuke, he certainly was nothing to scoff at like Orochimaru had initially believed despite clearly not having anything in the way of significant training or guidance. He, too, was being wasted by this village.
It was at this point where he was staring down unbridled resolve brimming within such disgustingly cerulean eyes that he made a decision. One could call it haphazard, and they may not have been entirely incorrect, but damn it, he refused to let obvious potential go to waste any longer, especially since Konoha would be reduced to rubble by the end of the month anyway.
Naruto, doing his level best to fight through the exhaustion, snarled at him from his spot standing protectively in front of his still convulsing teammate and the pink one.
"I won't let you lay another hand on my te-"
"I know who killed your parents."
That stopped whatever drivel he was about to spew in its tracks. It was also a lie. Orochimaru didn't know for sure who instigated the Kyubi's escape from Kushina; he had a theory, and it was a rather interesting theory, but he had no way of proving it beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Naruto didn't need to know that, though.
"W-what…" he quietly muttered. "You… you know who my parents are?"
Orochimaru's smile was absolutely poisonous. "Of course. Many people in this village do, in fact. They'll never tell you who they are, though. You're too much of a flight risk of their own creation."
Orochimaru could see Naruto struggling to grasp any words to put together a response. "But… the old man said…"
"That he didn't know who they were?" Orochimaru finished for him. "That was a lie, but you already knew that, didn't you?"
The silence he received was telling. Even the pink one's confusion was bleeding through her fear for her and her teammates' lives.
"Allow me to ask you a question, Naruto," Orochimaru smoothly continued, hooking the boy once again. "When were you told about what you contain?"
The silence persisted, but it was now accompanied by a flash of hurt and consternation. That only confirmed his suspicions that it was very recently. This was excellent.
"It's such a shame that you'll never be trusted with information about something as simple as who you even are," Orochimaru piled on.
"Who else knows??"
It was time for the dagger. "The Hokage knows, the village elders know, and I'm sure your sensei knows. Even my former teammate has to know; he was named your godfather, after all."
Orochimaru would forever be thankful for Jiraiya getting drunk out of joy and spilling that information to him after Minato and Kushina informed him. It seemed like such useless information at the time, but currently, it was anything but.
Meanwhile, the turmoil storming through Naruto was plain to see. Watching the trust Naruto had in his home and the adults around him wither away in real time was glorious. The flicker of darkness in his tumultuous expression was even better, as that meant Orochimaru had something to exploit.
"When you're ready to know all about everything this village has been keeping from you," Orochimaru cooed before his neck extended and his head shot towards Naruto, biting him just as he had Sasuke, "come find me."
A guttural cry of pain ripped itself from Naruto's throat as he collapsed into a writhing heap. A thorny, spiral pattern manifested on the spot he was bitten, indicating Naruto's branding of the Cursed Seal of Hell. It was an experimental project Orochimaru had been developing in the event that he saw fit to brand a jinchuriki. He wasn't entirely sure what spurred his curiosity so heavily that day way back when, but in the name of science (and a lot of alcohol), Orochimaru had set out to collect chakra samples from all nine bijuu.
Some were samples that he had collected during previous encounters in past wars, such as cursed sand from the Ichibi, a petrified, molten turd courtesy of the Yonbi, and some of the Gobi's fur. For others, such as some preserved embers from the Nibi, coral from the Sanbi, and slime from the Rokubi, well, he had to get a little creative. He was just lucky that he happened to stumble upon a piece of one of the horns of the Hachibi, as well as the fact that the jinchuriki of the Nanabi was a social butterfly looking to make friends with anyone and everyone. Convincing her to abandon the village that scorned her in favor of "new friends" elsewhere was child's play, as was kidnapping some random child at the Fire Temple who had collected leftover chakra residue from the Kyubi attack… for some reason.
Once the samples were secured, he synthesized them alongside Jugo's DNA to create something that far outstripped those of the Sound Four and likely even trumped the Cursed Seals of Heaven and Earth. The goal was to craft a seal that would trump the influence of the biju locked within a jinchuriki, as well as survive exposure to their noxious chakra. He suspected that the Kyubi's chakra would have expunged Naruto of any other cursed seal had he tried to brand him with any of those, so this would have to do… assuming he survived it. It was still experimental, after all.
If he did, though…
Well, why have the chakra of just one biju when you could have them all?
Oh, it appeared that the boy had finally passed out. That was good; his screaming was becoming annoying.
"Y-you m-monster," he heard the pink one say while quivering in an ocean of distress. "W-what did you d-do to them?!"
Orochimaru silently mulled over the thought of killing her there and then; his business in the forest was concluded, and he really ought to exit stage left before Hiruzen stormed the place once the bodies of the genin he murdered were discovered. However, something about her intrigued him. Her fear could be smelled all the way in Kiri, yet she stood above her teammates and stared him straight in the eye as if she was ready to die to protect them further. It was foolish since if he really wanted to kill all three of them, he would've done so in seconds at the very beginning, and he could tell that she knew that very well, but there she remained.
It was admirable, he had to admit. Perhaps… she may not be a total waste? He was a man of science, and experimentation was fundamental in science. Perhaps she had potential. It couldn't hurt to find out.
"What I did was give them a gift," he replied. "I gave them power, and if they're worthy, I'll give them the means to achieve what they desire most."
"I…" she stammered, fear still pouring off of her with confusion beginning to bleed back into the pool. "I don't understand…"
"Of course, you don't. You're not special like they are."
He smirked at her wince upon hearing that statement. He had clearly found an insecurity of hers to pounce on.
"It's obvious even to me that you're decidedly unremarkable, especially in comparison to your two teammates," he continued, and he could see the beginnings of tears welling up through the distress. "However, it's also plain to see that you care very dearly about these two, and you'll undoubtedly be devastated when they finally abandon you."
"They won't abandon me!" she had apparently found the strength within her to fire back at that. The waver in her voice told Orochimaru all he needed to know, though. Not even she fully believed that. He had no interest in entertaining delusion.
"Oh, trust me, Sasuke is singleminded in his quest for vengeance against his brother. Naruto, on the other hand, has likely never experienced genuine kindness from anyone that didn't at least somewhat possess ulterior motives. He's a jinchuriki, after all. They never really have it all that good."
The earlier confusion present in her expression grew even more. "A jinchuriki?"
"A biju container," he answered. "Your blonde teammate possesses the Kyubi because his father was an upstart little bitch that didn't deserve the title of Hokage over me-"
Orochimaru stopped himself before he could further slip into that familiar rant. Now was not the time.
"But the Yondaime destroyed the Kyubi!" she insisted, her fear slowly vanishing as the present situation grew less combative.
"And Santa Claus is real," Orochimaru scoffed. Really, what sort of nonsense were they teaching these little idiots nowadays? "No, he did not destroy the Kyubi. He merely sealed it away into his newborn son like the boy's mother before him, then he died. Like a bitch."
"You don't seem to be too fond of the Yondaime…"
"Irrelevant. Naruto's loyalty to this village is hanging on by the withering hopes and dreams of an old, sentimental fool who doesn't want to admit to being even more ruthless than the people he has cast away. Once they find out about the cursed seal I placed on him, they'll do all the work in pushing him away from the village for me. These two will leave and come to me at some point. Whether or not you come along with them is up to you."
Her expression grew a bit frantic, and he could tell that she was wracking her brain for a response. She was becoming desperate. "I'll tell the Hokage! I'll spill everything!"
Orochimaru hummed, making a show of "carefully" considering her declaration. "I suppose you could do that, but that would only alienate them from you even further. It would make it very clear to them that if it ever came down to them and the village, you'd choose the village ten times out of ten. Why would they even consider taking you with them when they leave when you've proven that you can't be trusted?"
She was silent once again, her expression becoming so deliciously crestfallen when the reality of the situation finally crashed down upon her. He had either just successfully driven a massive wedge in this team or just facilitated an unshakable bond between them. Only time would tell, really.
Then, he sensed a familiar chakra signature approaching their location at top speed, and he smirked. "This has been a rousing discussion, but I must now depart. Perhaps I'll see you again in the future, or perhaps not. Again, it's ultimately your choice. Until then, keep these two alive until they awaken. If anything happens to them, I will hold you personally responsible."
With that, Orochimaru sank into the forest floor, leaving her behind with her two unconscious teammates, but not before covertly releasing a white snake and sending it away to hide from the girl.
Was he actually going to leave it up to her? Of course not. He knew that Dosu, Zaku, and Kin would hunt Team 7 down to kill Sasuke on his orders eventually, and when they did, Sasuke and Naruto would not leave any traces of their remains for the forest creatures to scavenge. However, in the event that they encountered them before the two awoke, the girl would have to protect them with her life. Should she survive long enough for his prizes to come to, the white snake would bite her and mark her with the Cursed Seal of Earth. That way, Konoha would never truly trust her even if she did want to sell her teammates out, severely limiting her options. She wasn't even a fraction as valuable to them as Anko was, so disposing of a potential flight risk wouldn't be a difficult decision for them to make in her case.
Speaking of Anko, she was nearing his location like a heat-seeking missile. Orochimaru's mirth grew even more sinister. It was time for a reunion.
This was a drabble I've had that's been gathering dust in my notes, so I figured I'd clean it up a bit and throw it out here to see what happens. No promises about when this will be updated or where it's even going to end up since I've got two other stories that are higher priority (won't be nearly as long as the others, either). Hell, if anyone wants to take the premise and do their own thing with it, go right ahead playa
Thanks for reading.