The first sensation to return was pain. Not the phantom agony of a thousand phantom cuts, but a dull, throbbing ache deep within his mind—the headache of a shattered consciousness trying to knit itself back together.
Orochimaru's eyelids fluttered open, the dim, flickering light of his hidden laboratory stabbing at his new, sensitive pupils.
His hair was a tangled, sweaty mess plastered to his pale forehead. His pristine, recently acquired vessel felt weak, trembling with an exhaustion that was purely mental. He pushed himself up into a sitting position on the cold stone slab that served as his bed, a low hiss escaping his lips. He could still feel the phantom sensation of a blade skinning him alive, the taste of his own blood in a world made of crimson and despair.
Tsukuyomi.
He had underestimated the Uchiha boy. Underestimated the sheer, brutal efficiency of a fully matured Mangekyō Sharingan. The arrogance born from a fresh body and the prospect of two new Kekkei Genkai had made him careless. A bitter, unacceptable failure.
The door to his private chamber slid open without a sound. Kabuto Yakushi, his silver hair neatly combed and round glasses glinting in the low light, stepped inside carrying a tray. On it was a vial of greenish liquid and a cup of water. He moved with the quiet efficiency of a loyal subordinate, his expression one of calm, professional concern.
"Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto said, his voice even. "You have been unconscious for eighteen hours. I administered a chakra-replenishing saline drip and sedatives to stabilize your system after the... mental feedback."
Orochimaru simply glared, taking the vial from the tray. He didn't ask what it was, he trusted Kabuto's medicinal genius implicitly, even if he trusted nothing else about the boy. He downed the restorative elixir in one swallow, the cool, slightly bitter liquid sending a welcome jolt through his weakened system.
"Kimimaro is dead," Orochimaru stated, his voice a dry, scratchy rasp.
"Yes, my lord," Kabuto replied without flinching, adjusting his glasses. "Neutralized by Kakashi Hatake. The body was secured by Konoha."
A low hiss was Orochimaru's only immediate reply. A perfected vessel, gone. The loss was… significant. It accelerated his timelines and narrowed his options.
"And my other... toys?"
"Tayuya was captured," Kabuto reported. "Sakon, Ukon, Jirōbō, and Kidōmaru were eliminated by the ANBU candidates before Kakashi and Itachi intervened. From the state of their bodies, the candidate Yuki Ryuu, was responsible for the majority of the kills."
"Kukuku…" A dry, humorless chuckle escaped Orochimaru's lips. He finally looked at Kabuto, his golden serpentine eyes burning with a renewed, feverish intensity. The pain of the Tsukuyomi was already being transmuted into a cold, obsessive fire. "Effective is an understatement. A Yuki… who can manifest the Shikotsumyaku. The genetic potential is staggering. He is a work of art. A masterpiece waiting to be claimed."
Kimimaro was a tragic loss, but Ryuu... Ryuu was an upgrade. An unexpected, perfect synthesis of two legendary Kekkei Genkai. The perfect container.
"Your deception as 'Mongoose' served its purpose, then," Orochimaru continued, his mind already shifting gears, the recent defeat becoming just another data point in a grander experiment. "You confirmed Konoha's operational blind spots and fed their best new talent directly to me."
"My objective was to assess their new generation's capabilities and create chaos within the ANBU command structure," Kabuto corrected gently, though he knew Orochimaru only cared about the result. "The appearance of Itachi and Kakashi was an unforeseen complication. Konoha must have had a secondary, high-level observation team shadowing the main test supervisors. My defection has likely already been discovered."
"Inconsequential," Orochimaru waved a dismissive hand. "Your usefulness within Konoha was at an end anyway. Now, your value is here." He fixed Kabuto with a piercing stare. "Yuki Ryuu. I want everything. His history, his mother's background, every mission report, every psychological profile you can access from your residual networks. I want to know what he eats for breakfast. I want to know his fears. And most importantly," a slow, cruel smile spread across his pale face, "I want a complete analysis of Kimimaro's biology. We have tissue samples, do we not?"
"Of course, my lord. Several from before," Kabuto confirmed.
"Cross-reference them with what we know of the Kaguya clan's history," Orochimaru commanded, his voice dripping with sinister glee. "Analyze the patterns of cellular decay. Find the flaw in their design. I suspect our new prize will soon find his 'gift' comes with a… rather steep price. It is one thing to acquire a beautiful new vessel. It is far more elegant to have it delivered to your door, begging for a cure only you can provide."
The new plan solidified in his mind, brilliant and cruel. He wouldn't just take Ryuu's body. He would make Ryuu crave the transfer. He would let the boy's own power eat away at him, let him wallow in the terror of his own cursed bloodline, and then, Orochimaru would present himself not as a monster, but as a savior.
"And the Suna project?" Kabuto asked. "Shall we proceed?"
"We will accelerate it," Orochimaru hissed, a newfound urgency coloring his tone. "The loss of Kimimaro and the Sound Four has weakened my immediate military strength. Rasa is a desperate man leading a dying village. He will be pliable. The 'Konoha Crush' will provide the perfect chaotic backdrop for my work. While the Leaf is distracted by an invasion, their attention diverted… I will be free to collect my specimens." He licked his lips.
————————————————————————————————————————————
[One Year Later]
Minato stood by his desk, the warm, reassuring smile he often wore replaced by a look of grave seriousness. The morning sun streamed in, illuminating four masked figures standing at perfect attention before him.
The first wore the familiar Weasel mask. The second, Ryuu's own stark white Crane mask. The third was a Fox mask worn by Yamato, the stoic Wood Release user Minato had personally pulled from the regular ANBU divisions for this team.
The final two were new additions to this nascent unit. One wore the mask of a Shrike, a small, fierce predatory bird. Behind the mask was a young woman of fifteen, a Hyuga from a branch family named Hotaru.
The other wore the mask of a Cat, a tall, powerfully built young man named Goro, from a non-clan background. His speciality was Kenjutsu and an unparalleled mastery of multiple earth-style jutsu, making him the team's dedicated defensive powerhouse and vanguard.
"Squad Zero," Minato began, his voice leaving no room for misunderstanding. This was not a regular debrief. "Your purpose is to engage threats that require a level of skill, discretion, and deniability that even the standard ANBU chain of command cannot provide. Your new mission is one such threat."
He unrolled a scroll on his desk, revealing a faded photograph of a man with sharp features, intelligent eyes, and a look of intense, almost fanatical ambition. "This is Hiruko. A contemporary of the Sannin. A former friend of Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru. He was a brilliant shinobi, but one born without any particular aptitude for ninjutsu or genjutsu. He became obsessed with overcoming this perceived weakness."
Minato's expression hardened. "Several years ago, after his contributions to Konoha's research and development during the Third War, he vanished, branded a missing-nin. He was accused of developing a forbidden kinjutsu to steal the bodies and Kekkei Genkai of other shinobi, and was believed to have been killed by Jiraiya-sama during his defection. However," Minato tapped the scroll, "recent intelligence, extracted from the mind of Danzo Shimura before he was permanently… neutralized, has revealed a different truth."
Itachi and Ryuu exchanged a knowing glance behind their masks. The Yamanaka clan's interrogation of the comatose Danzo had yielded a treasure trove of the Leaf's darkest secrets.
"Danzo coveted Hiruko's research," Minato continued, his voice tight with controlled anger. "Hiruko's 'Chimera Technique' was not just about stealing bloodlines… it was about achieving a perfect synthesis, creating a flawless body that could master all five nature transformations and become effectively immortal. A goal very similar to Orochimaru's, but pursued through different means. Danzo manipulated the Sandaime, feeding him false reports of Hiruko conducting depraved human experiments, convincing him that Hiruko was a traitor. It was Danzo's agents who tried to kill Hiruko during his 'defection', not Jiraiya-sama. Hiruko survived, but he believes to this day that the Third Hokage and his oldest friends betrayed him. He has been hiding, perfecting his Chimera Technique, driven by a desire for power and a deep, festering hatred for Konoha."
"So he is another Orochimaru?" Yamato's voice, muffled by his Kitsune mask, was steady.
"Not quite," Minato corrected. "The intelligence from Danzo's mind suggests Hiruko's ultimate goal is not the world's destruction, but to become a 'perfect being' capable of surviving the next great war he believes is inevitable, and to prove the superiority of his methods to the village that cast him out. While he has performed experiments on shinobi he has captured to perfect his jutsu, he has not engaged in the kind of large-scale human atrocity we discovered in Otogakure. He is a monster born of our own village's shadows, our own internal strife. Which means there may yet be a chance to… reason with him."
"You wish to bring him back, Hokage-sama?" Itachi asked, cutting to the core of the matter.
"I wish to neutralize the threat he poses, Weasel," Minato clarified. "Ideally, by convincing him of Danzo's betrayal and offering him a heavily supervised, conditional place back in Konoha. His genius is on par with Orochimaru's… to have that mind working for the Leaf instead of against it would be a strategic coup. However,"
Minato's gaze became steel, "he is still an S-rank missing-nin who has kidnapped and experimented on shinobi to fuel his goals. He cannot be allowed to continue. Your primary objective is to locate Hiruko's main laboratory, believed to be hidden in the mountains between the Land of Earth and Kusagakure. Infiltrate, assess the status of his Chimera Technique, and if possible, establish contact and present Konoha's new understanding of his defection."
"And if he refuses contact, Lord Hokage?" Kakashi's voice, from his silent post near the window, was a low drawl. He had been present for the briefing, listening in closely.
"If reason fails," Minato said quietly, his voice hard, "you are authorized to use any means necessary to dismantle his research and eliminate the threat. This is a top-priority S-rank mission. Hiruko's technique, in the hands of our enemies, is unthinkable."
He looked at each of them. "Yamato, you are squad leader for this mission. Your Wood Release provides the perfect means for large-scale capture and suppression without unnecessary destruction."
"You depart in one hour. This is your only briefing. The lives of many, and the future security of this village, may depend on your success. Dismissed."
The five masked figures bowed as one, then vanished in a flicker of movement, leaving Minato alone with Kakashi.
"A dangerous gamble, sending them after Hiruko," Kakashi noted.
"Hiruko is a brilliant scientist, but he is no Orochimaru in a direct fight," Minato reasoned. "And that squad… it is arguably the most powerful five-man cell Konoha has ever fielded. If they cannot handle Hiruko, no one can." He turned back to the window. "I just hope they can bring him back before he forces their hand."