Anko, still recovering from her fight against her former master, was pacing across a hospital hallway. She was trying to keep up with the old Hokage, who despite his age remained quite a fast individual.

The two of them walked past a series of patients and nurses that were quite surprised to see the Hokage himself in the building. He did occasional visits every month, and he had already visited a week prior to the Chunin Exams.

Hiruzen finally reached the door he was looking for. Room 513. He opened the door with so much strength that one could almost say he slammed it.

Inside, a group of doctors were performing surgery on someone. The curtains of the rooms were closed, and so the only light inside was that from the lamps used specifically for the purpose of the surgeons.

The old man cautiously walked around the doctors, looking for an opening through which to look at the surgery itself. He found very quickly that said spot had been already found by a figure hiding in the shadows.

Danzo had been present there ever since the medical process began, and had been carefully watching every movement for the past hour. He nodded in acknowledgement of the Hokage and the violet-haired jounin that followed.

"You may continue, Anko." Ordered Sarutobi, briefly glancing at her. They had been speaking already just outside the building, but the announcement of the imminent end of the surgery forced him to rush into the room.

"That lying bastard said he was dead." Said the young woman, not really continuing their conversation.

"Hm?" Danzo turned around at the same time as the Hokage, both being quite intrigued at her comment.

"During our battle, he said Uchiha had died as a result of the seal."

"Orochimaru told no lies." Replied Danzo with his usual tone. It was interesting how, when in the dark, he always turned to look at everyone, unlike out in the open when he always kept his head lowered. "Sasuke Uchiha was found with no pulse."

Anko turned to the advisor with considerable shock on her face.

"The medics in front of us are keeping him alive artificially, trying to stabilize his body." He wished he could smoke from his pipe in that room. "It's unlikely he will make it but we have to try."

"His eyes…" Said Anko, remembering her conversation with Orochimaru. "Did he…?"

Danzo looked away and kept his eyes set on the surgery. Instead, Hiruzen knew he would have to be the one to answer.

"Yes."

"So the Uchiha clan is lost." The young woman placed her hand on her forehead and face, wiping some of her sweat.

The advisor remained silent. He debated himself on whether to offer a reply, but after briefly glancing at his old friend and active leader of the village, he finally decided to add nothing.

After fifteen more minutes, one of the doctors stepped away from the boy and removed her gloves. She cracked her knuckles before turning around and walking towards the elders and the young woman.

As the doctor shook her head, it became evident that the expected outcome was the one to take place. Despite all their efforts, the heir of the Uchiha had died.

"So what's his name?" Asked Gohan while scratching his left cheek.

Piccolo looked away. A drop of sweat fell down his cheek while he finally decided to answer. It was already embarrassing enough having to present his newborn child.

"I thought of Katas but I'm not sure yet." He cleared his throat, trying to ignore the conversation Kami and Nail were having inside his head. "Do you have any ideas?"

"How about Little Green?" Suggested Sakura while staring at the little Namekian with great admiration.

The newborn was wearing the same attire as Piccolo and Gohan, just in miniature. However, he was still hiding behind his father's legs, terrified of the strangers. It was natural, as he was not only a baby, but also had never seen humans before.

Piccolo cringed quite heavily at the girl's suggestion. Both him and his student knew that name was out of the question almost instantly.

The Saiyan scratched his chin, unsure of what to name him. Perhaps Dende would be a nice name, but maybe it was not appropriate to give off a name in honor of someone who was probably still alive.

"How about… Miushi?" Gohan raised his finger as he found an idea he liked.

Piccolo nodded in approval, while the pink-haired girl stood up and thought about it for a second. She was not sure about the boy's suggestion, as it kinda sounded like 'umiushi', which meant sea slug.

"Sounds too similar to something else… The poor baby could be bullied or something!" She shook her head to further confirm her disagreement. "However, how about Akira? Isn't that a cool name?"

Gohan was surprised at first, but really liked the idea, so he gave her a thumbs up. On the other hand, Piccolo shrugged.

"I liked Miushi better but I'll take your suggestion."

A tall and bulky man was calmly sitting on a wooden bench in the middle of a regular park. That day had been quite sunny, and he wanted to take advantage of the nice sunlight. However, he had another reason to be there, other than sunbathing.

The birds were singing while kids, supervised by their parents, ran from one side to the other. He missed the days when he was the one chasing his friends. Childhood friends whom he had not seen in decades.

The man had brought two notebooks with him, hoping to get some work done in the meantime. In one, which had a blue cover, he wrote the notes from his research. In the other, which had a red cover, he had been writing the manuscript for his next novel. It had been a few years since he had published the last one, but it had been a little harder for him to focus solely on writing.

"How's the book going?" The familiar warm voice of an old man caught the attention of the relaxed man. He was kind of surprised as it was still a little early.

"Well, slow but I think it's the best I've written in years!" Replied the tall man with some excitement. He grabbed the notebooks and put them on his lap. "Come, sit down, old man!"

"Glad that you're happy with your writing, Jiraiya. I was worried that you would have dropped it entirely after we began giving you so much work." Continued the old Hokage as he sat down on the bench. He breathed in some of the fresh air of that nice morning.

"So what was it that you wanted to tell me?" Asked the Sannin, while turning to look at his master.

While his face remained serene, the Hokage's smile certainly fell down. The news was complicated, though admittedly they could be worse.

"Well, Naruto and his team were attacked by Orochimaru. He killed Sasuke Uchiha and took his eyes. I believe he also reinforced the seal of the Nine-Tails." He looked away once he noticed his student's shocked facial expression. "We have good reason to believe he is still in Konoha and that he has been plotting something."

"You're gonna cancel the exams?"

The old man shook his head. "I'm afraid Orochimaru threatened with destroying Konoha if the Exams were to end."

The Sannin could only rub his forehead at the several unfortunate and even terrible news that had just been delivered to him.

"Danzo is already in the process of finding replacements for team 7."

"No need, I'll take him."

Hiruzen turned his head at his student, pretending to be unsure of what he meant.

"I'll take Naruto." Repeated the man with the long, white hair. He already had it planned, but with all the horrible things happening around the boy he decided to drop his old plan and just go meet him directly. "I've received information that he is in danger. I'll train him."

"Danzo received the same information." The old man glanced back at the grass over which the many kids were playing. "Make sure to do some training of your own, Jiraiya. I can't promise to beat Orochimaru if the situation comes to that."

The Sannin nodded, but gulped almost immediately after. Several years had gone by since he fought his teammate when he left the village. The fight had been close, but ultimately every attempt he made was useless to defeat him. If the Third Hokage could not promise to beat him, then Jiraiya could not either.

In the corners right underneath the terrace of one of the bigger temples in Konoha, two figures stood right behind a series of pillars. That way, the shadows absorbed their bodies, and hid their full appearance from whoever was walking past the place.

Both were men, wearing their shinobi attires. One was a jounin from Otogakure, wearing the full uniform, which was very similar to Konoha's own. The other wore a hitai-ate with the symbol of Konoha, but was paradoxically kneeling in front of the foreign shinobi.

"The eyes have been delivered to the central base of operations." Said the leaf-nin, whose long gray hair was tied into a ponytail. "I shall proceed with the surgery upon my return to Otogakure."

"There was something odd about him when I fought him." Replied the jounin. The way he talked it seemed like he was whispering, almost resembling the hiss of a snake.

The leaf-nin stood up straight while pushing his glasses back in place. "I noticed an injury in both legs and, given his lack of equilibrium, possibly some damage to the spine as well."

"Someone ruined him." Hissed the jounin.

"I heard about Team 7's last mission before the Chunin Selection Exams." Said Kabuto. "And I believe that might be where he was ruined."

The oto-nin's yellow eyes turned to the leaf-nin. His stare was just as cold as his pale skin, and just as unsettling as his overall appearance.

"They were said to go fight off some demons in the northern regions of Konoha. A rural town of farmers, the hometown of the ancient Saru clan, from where the Sarutobi are said to have descended." He kept his middle finger right over his glasses as he spoke, focusing on remembering the details as accurately as possible. "However, Kakashi returned before the estimated date and reported a tactical retreat and one casualty among his students."

"Demons?" Orochimaru sounded almost offended by the uttering of such nonsense in his presence. "Possibly missing-nin, or worse…"

A familiar pattern of red clouds on black cloth passed through his mind during the brief silence.

"The rest are rumors, I'm afraid. But Kakashi said one of them had green skin."

The Sannin's eyes snapped wide open. Only one shinobi came to mind under that description, and it was not good news that Konoha had already directly faced him.

"This complicates things…" The man gritted his teeth before forcing one of his signature unnaturally wide smiles. "For now, focus on your duties, dear Kabuto. Our plan shall go on."

Kabuto smiled too, though with genuine confidence. "I sense some worry in you, my lord…"

"I certainly have my reasons for some concern. It's only natural when you plan such an ambitious invasion…"