Dusk had settled across the Land of Fire, painting the treetops of Konoha in deep crimson and shadow. Far from the bustling avenues of the Hidden Leaf, in the isolated ruins of an old orphanage—long since condemned—there lay a hidden entrance, descending into darkness.
Beneath it, a secret laboratory pulsed with dim, sterile light.
Beakers bubbled. Charts rustled. Machines blinked in silence.
And there, at the heart of it all, Orochimaru stood surrounded by reams of failed test results and failed ambitions.
A dozen thick folders, labeled with experiment codes, were scattered around the terminal desk. The walls were lined with incubators—most inactive, a few still glowing faintly, hosting failed tissue grafts.
He sighed, brushing his pale fingers through a lock of jet-black hair. His yellow eyes narrowed as he glared at the notes.
"Hashirama's cells… stubborn as ever."
No matter how far he pushed the envelope, the Wood Release remained elusive.
Months ago, after the Nine-Tails was resealed into Kushina, the village elders—Sarutobi, Danzo, Homura, and Koharu—had unanimously pushed for a project to stabilize the Jinchūriki system. Their solution? Reproduce the unparalleled chakra-regulating ability of the First Hokage.
Hashirama Senju.
Thus began the era of unauthorized human experimentation.
Orochimaru had been only too eager to assist.
But as dozens of test subjects—volunteers, criminals, missing infants—succumbed to cellular rejection, Sarutobi got cold feet. The Third Hokage shut the project down and sealed all documentation.
Danzo, of course, had no such qualms.
He reached out to Orochimaru in secret. The experiments continued. And sixty babies were abducted from nearby villages. No parents. No paperwork. No questions.
Fifty-nine of them died in agony.
The last… Orochimaru couldn't be sure. He had moved on before the final results came in. There were always other projects, other obsessions. But sometimes, late at night, he wondered what had become of the child.
"Even failure… sometimes mutates into something unexpected," he murmured to himself.
He stepped away from the terminal and placed a gloved hand on a dormant growth tank, inside which floated a withered graft of Wood Release tissue—unresponsive, stagnant.
"Still… such magnificent power…"
He licked his lips.
"If I had that power the night the Nine-Tails attacked… even that wouldn't have been a problem. Neither Minato nor Sarutobi could manage it. Careless."
His golden eyes narrowed.
Something had changed in the village recently. Rumors fluttered through the air like ash from an old war:
Minato and Kushina seriously injured.
Danzo assuming temporary authority as acting Hokage.
The Elders retreating to private council.
A crisis in plain sight, and Orochimaru could smell it—the uncertainty, the disorder. It always came before opportunity.
"Heh… So even the Yellow Flash can bleed."
Then he turned to another scroll.
His notes on immortality.
"No matter how much ninjutsu I master, this body's lifespan is too short. If I want to learn everything… if I want to understand everything… I'll need more time."
"All of it."
Just then, the alarms whispered to life.
A subtle hum in the walls. A vibration in the floor. The base's layered traps had been triggered.
Orochimaru froze, his senses sharpening.
"...Interesting."
Someone had found him. And not just found him—they had bypassed at least five of his chakra-detection mines and four disorientation seals in under a minute.
He moved away from his console, hand inching toward a hidden escape lever in the floor.
"Could it be Danzo? Coming to silence me?"
No, he was too careful. He wouldn't act this soon. He'd wait until Orochimaru lost value.
"A foreign infiltrator? Unlikely."
Another alert.
"They've reached the inner perimeter. Already?"
The last chakra-sealing ward flared, then went dark.
And then—
FLASH.
A pulse of golden light split the gloom.
In less than a second, the room was filled with the smell of ozone—and then the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, stood just ten feet away.
Orochimaru's yellow eyes gleamed.
"Well, well… The Yellow Flash himself."
He smiled like a serpent.
"Minato," Orochimaru purred, taking a lazy step back. "I was beginning to think you were too injured to ever leave your wife's bedside again."
Minato remained silent for a moment, his gaze sweeping across the room. No traps. No immediate threats.
"You came alone," Orochimaru observed, a hint of curiosity in his voice. "That's either very bold of you... or very desperate."
Minato reached into his pouch and withdrew a single scroll.
"I came to offer you something," he said calmly. "And to ask something in return."
Orochimaru's interest piqued immediately.
He licked his lips, his gaze fixed on Minato.
As Minato laid out his plan—quietly, efficiently—Orochimaru listened, rapt in attention.
The fake injury, the planned war with Kumogakure, the trap being set for Danzo… every detail added another layer of intrigue.
By the time Minato finished, Orochimaru's grin was stretched to its limit.
"Oh Minato," he chuckled. "So that's what you've been doing while pretending to lick your wounds."
He stepped closer.
"You're finally growing up."
Minato's eyes narrowed.
"I didn't come to be flattered."
Orochimaru waved him off.
"No, no. This is sincere. You've always had the talent. But I thought you'd waste it playing the loyal soldier to Sarutobi's game board."
He grinned.
"So this is what you're like when you decide to play for keeps."
Minato's face remained still.
"I'm not here to kill anyone, Orochimaru. But I'm done letting people like Danzo steer Konoha."
Orochimaru's tone shifted subtly.
"Then why not tell me everything? Why the caution?"
"Because you're still tied to Danzo," Minato answered. "Until that changes, I can't tell you more than I already have."
It was blunt. Cold. Measured.
Orochimaru chuckled again, voice dry.
"That's not a very good recruitment pitch."
Minato's expression hardened.
"No. But this is."
In that instant, the room shifted again.
Another figure appeared behind Minato—silent as a ghost.
And from the shadows, the scarlet glow of the Sharingan filled the space.
Uchiha Fugaku stepped forward, arms crossed, voice like ice.
"If you leak what was said here… the Uchiha will hunt you. Alongside the Yellow Flash."
Orochimaru turned slowly to face him.
Then he laughed.
Not maniacally, not cruelly.
But genuinely.
"Minato," he whispered. "You sly devil. You've grown fangs."
He paced in a slow arc, inspecting Fugaku from head to toe.
"You've even tamed the Uchiha? That's no small feat. Sarutobi could never manage it. Even Tobirama wouldn't have dared."
Minato didn't answer.
Orochimaru turned back, grin spreading again.
"You've gone from puppet to predator."
"And I must say, Minato…"
"This is so unexpected!"