Deep beneath the earth, in a complex of tunnels and chambers that smelled of damp stone, chemicals, and something reptilian, Orochimaru stood before a wall of scrolls. His laboratory in this particular hideout—one of seventeen scattered across the minor nations—was both sanctuary and prison. The flickering light of chakra-powered lamps cast long, sinuous shadows that seemed to move with a life of their own.
Orochimaru: "Another report from the northern outpost, Kabuto?"
Kabuto: (Materialising from shadows, adjusting his glasses) "Yes, Orochimaru-sama. Suna has officially accepted the Chunin Exams invitation. As Iwa, Kiri, and of course Kumo. All Five Great Villages will be in Konoha next month."
A slow, serpentine smile spread across Orochimaru's face, though it didn't reach his eyes—those golden, vertical-slit eyes that had seen too much, learned too much, and ultimately found all of it lacking.
Orochimaru: "All five... How interesting. That hasn't happened since the Third Shinobi World War's ceasefire negotiations. Tsunade-hime must be feeling particularly confident. Or particularly desperate."
He turned from the scrolls, his long black hair flowing like ink in water as he moved to a worktable covered in anatomical diagrams, chemical apparatus, and several living specimens in stasis fields. His fingers—pale, slender, almost delicate—traced the edge of a map showing the Five Great Nations.
Kabuto: "Our sources indicate it was Kumo's agreement that compelled the others. Once Raikage A confirmed Kumo's participation, the Tsuchikage couldn't afford to decline without looking weak. The Mizukage followed for similar political reasons. Suna... Suna had little choice, given their economic situation."
Orochimaru: "And Kumo agreed because...?"
Kabuto: "Because Indra Uzumaki-Uchiha will be attending. Officially, to retrieve his father's remains. Unofficially..." Kabuto pushed his glasses up, the lenses flashing. "To demonstrate that Kumo fears nothing, not even walking into the heart of a village that placed a 200 million ryo bounty on his head."
The name hung in the air between them, charged with implications. Orochimaru had been tracking the boy's rise for years, ever since the first rumors emerged from Kumo about a prodigy who graduated the academy in record time. But it was only in the last two years that Indra had become... problematic. Interesting, certainly. But problematic.
Orochimaru: "The lake."
It wasn't a question. Kabuto nodded, pulling another scroll from his sleeve and unrolling it. Satellite imagery—stolen from Kumo's own surveillance networks through considerable effort—showed the Land of Wind's northeastern desert. And in the middle of that endless sand, a perfect, permanent lake approximately two kilometres across.
Kabuto: "The Desert Lake, as they're calling it. Created during diplomatic negotiations with Suna when the Ichibi went on a rampage. Witnesses report Indra used no hand signs, no obvious chakra expenditure. He simply... willed it into existence. Water from nowhere, in the middle of a desert. Geologists from Earth Country have examined it—it's not an oasis tapping into an aquifer. It's a self-sustaining hydrological anomaly."
Orochimaru studied the image, his mind racing through possibilities, discarding theories, formulating new ones. Water creation on that scale should be impossible. Even the Second Hokage's water techniques drew moisture from the atmosphere or surrounding terrain. This... this was creation ex nihilo. Or near enough to make no difference.
Orochimaru: "And Suna's reaction?"
Kabuto: "Kazekage Rasa was reportedly... shaken. He accepted Kumo's trade deal—chakra-grain technology for mineral rights—but refused Indra's offer to repair the Ichibi's seal. Pride, perhaps. Or fear of becoming indebted."
Orochimaru: "Pride is such a useless emotion. It blinds one to opportunity." He tapped the image of the lake. "This changes everything, Kabuto. Do you understand why?"
Kabuto: "It demonstrates power beyond conventional ninjutsu. Power that doesn't just destroy but creates. That's more psychologically destabilizing than any show of force."
Orochimaru: "Precisely. A tailed beast bomb can level a mountain, but it leaves a crater. A wasteland. This..." His finger circled the lake. "This gives life. In the middle of a desert, he created a permanent water source that will support ecosystems, agriculture, settlements. It's power as genesis, not destruction. And that is far more terrifying to the established order."
He moved away from the table, pacing slowly. The hem of his simple white robe whispered against the stone floor.
His mind drifted back—not as far as some might think (he had no past life memories, no sudden awakening of ancient knowledge, just the slow accumulation of decades of study and experimentation)—but to his own departure from Konoha. The night he left, the rain sheeting down, the look on Jiraiya's face when he realized Orochimaru wasn't coming back. The disappointment in Sarutobi-sensei's eyes...
Orochimaru: (Muttering to himself) "You wanted me to be something I could never be, sensei. You wanted a protector. A builder. But I saw what protection buys you—a slow decay. A village rotting from within while pretending at strength."
He remembered the Hidden Leaf Village not as it was now, post-Danzo's exposure, but as it had been in his youth. Brilliant on the surface—the victorious village, the home of the Hokages, the Will of Fire burning bright—but underneath? The same corruption, the same compromises, the same willingness to sacrifice the few for the many, or the inconvenient for the necessary.
His experiments hadn't started from cruelty. They'd started from curiosity. From a simple, profound question: why do we die? Why does knowledge die with us? Why must every generation relearn what the previous one discovered?
The first time he'd extended a subject's lifespan through careful chakra manipulation and organ regeneration, he'd felt not triumph but frustration. It was a patch, a temporary fix. The fundamental problem remained: the human body was flawed. It aged. It weakened. It contained the seed of its own destruction in every cell.
And Sarutobi-sensei had called this pursuit "unnatural." As if dying young in service to a village that would forget you in a generation was "natural."
Kabuto: "Orochimaru-sama? You were saying something about the established order?"
Orochimaru: (Snapping back to the present) "The established order is built on scarcity, Kabuto. On the careful balance of power. On the idea that resources are limited, and therefore must be fought over. But what happens when someone can create resources? When water in the desert, food from barren soil, energy from the air itself becomes possible?"
Kabuto: "The economy of scarcity becomes an economy of abundance. And the institutions built on controlling scarcity become obsolete."
Orochimaru: "Exactly. Konoha's power has always been rooted in the Land of Fire's natural resources—fertile soil, plentiful water, strategic position. But if Kumo can make deserts fertile... what value does the Land of Fire's natural advantage hold?"
He paused at a tank containing a specimen—a hybrid creature with features of both snake and human, suspended in amber fluid. One of his earlier attempts at transcending limitations. A failure, but an instructive one.
Orochimaru: "And then there is the matter of Danzo."
The news of Danzo Shimura's arrest and subsequent execution had reached Orochimaru three months ago. At first, he'd assumed it was misinformation—some elaborate trap. Danzo was too careful, too entrenched, too essential to Konoha's dark underside to ever be truly held accountable.
But the reports kept coming. The Land of Iron Summit. The dismantling of ROOT. The public apologies. Tsunade's ascension to Hokage. Hiruzen's retirement in disgrace.
Kabuto: "Our agents confirmed it personally. Danzo was executed by the Samurai of the Land of Iron. Beheaded with their ceremonial sword. There was no body substitution, no last-minute rescue. The old badger is truly dead."
Orochimaru: "And the how? Danzo didn't fall to internal coup or ambitious rival. He fell because Kumo exposed him. Because Indra Uzumaki-Uchiha decided to dismantle Konoha's corruption from the outside."
He remembered Danzo well—a man even more cynical than himself, if such a thing were possible. Where Orochimaru sought immortality for the sake of knowledge, Danzo sought power for the sake of control. They'd collaborated briefly, in the early days after Orochimaru's defection. Shared resources, information. An alliance of convenience between two outcasts who understood that the world wasn't as simple as the Will of Fire pretended.
But even then, Orochimaru had recognized Danzo's fatal flaw: he believed his own propaganda. He actually thought he was saving Konoha, rather than simply satisfying his own hunger for dominance.
Orochimaru: "Danzo made the mistake of believing his shadow war was the real war. He thought that by controlling information, manipulating events from the darkness, he controlled reality itself. But reality has a way of asserting itself, Kabuto. Usually through unexpected variables."
Kabuto: "Like a Uchiha-Uzumaki hybrid raised in Kumo."
Orochimaru: "Exactly. A variable Danzo couldn't account for because, in his worldview, such a thing shouldn't exist. A loyal Uchiha? Impossible. A Uzumaki not bound to Konoha or Uzushio? Unthinkable. A prodigy who doesn't seek the Hokage's chair but instead builds up a rival village? Heresy."
He found himself almost admiring the boy. Not for his morality—Orochimaru had long since discarded such concepts as useful fictions—but for his effectiveness. In five years, Indra had done what Orochimaru hadn't managed in twenty: fundamentally altered the balance of power without fighting a single war.
Kabuto: "Our sources in Konoha report massive reforms. The Truth and Reconciliation Council. Reparations to victims. The Uchiha and Senju compounds being returned to surviving heirs. Naruto Uzumaki learning his true parentage. Sasuke Uchiha being told a... sanitized version of the massacre."
Orochimaru: "Sanitized but still devastating. And how interesting that it was Kumo, not Konoha, that revealed the truth. The boy is clever. He doesn't just attack his enemies; he undermines their very legitimacy. He doesn't just defeat them; he proves them unnecessary."
He thought of his own plan—the Konoha Crush. Months of preparation. Alliances with Suna. The exploitation of the Kazekage's desperation. The careful manipulation of events to lure the Hokage into a vulnerable position. All to deliver a message to Sarutobi-sensei: your village is weak, your ideals are false, and you failed me.
But now...
Two weeks ago, Orochimaru had communed with the snakes. Not the minor summons, but the elders of the Ryūchi Cave. He'd sought their counsel on the approaching Chunin Exams, on whether the timing was right for his long-planned confrontation.
The response had been... unprecedented.
Elder White Snake: (Voice like scales over stone) The wind speaks of changing currents, Orochimaru. The great birds have taken interest in human affairs.
Orochimaru: "The eagles? Garuda's clan? They've always been aloof. What concern is it of theirs?"
Elder White Snake: They have a new summoner. One who has earned not just their contract but their respect. And this summoner has made... requests. About certain events being allowed to proceed without interference from the scaled ones.
Orochimaru: "You're saying the eagles have told you not to interfere with the Chunin Exams?"
Elder White Snake: Not in so many words. But the message was clear: if snakes involve themselves in the coming gathering, the eagles will consider it a breach of the ancient accords. And they will not fight beside us when the great hunger comes.
The "great hunger"—the summon clans' term for the cyclical conflicts that sometimes spilled over from the human world into theirs. The last had been during the Third War, when multiple summon clans had been drawn into battles against their will.
Orochimaru: "And you would heed this warning? The snakes have never bowed to eagles."
Elder White Snake: We do not bow. We calculate. This summoner... he is different. The eagles speak of him with something approaching reverence. And the elephants follow him as well. Two major clans, aligned. And now whispers of bats returning to the world... The balance shifts, Orochimaru. Even serpents must recognize when the ground moves beneath them.
The memory of that conversation still unsettled him. The snake clans were proud, ancient, and notoriously difficult to impress. For them to counsel caution based on a human summoner's influence...
Kabuto: "The eagle summoner is Indra, of course. And the elephants as well. Our agents confirmed he has two major summon contracts—unprecedented for someone so young."
Orochimaru: "Not just contracts, Kabuto. Loyalty. There's a difference. Many shinobi have summon contracts. Few have summons who would intervene in clan politics on their behalf. Fewer still have summons who would deliver veiled threats to other clans to protect them."
He moved to another section of the laboratory, where scrolls on summoning lore were kept. The history of human-summon relations was fragmented, but certain patterns emerged. Every few generations, a summoner appeared who didn't just use the summons but formed genuine partnerships with them. Hashirama Senju had been one—the slugs of Shikkotsu Forest had fought alongside him not because of a contract but because they believed in his dream.
Was Indra another such figure? Possibly. But there was something else about him, something the reports couldn't quite capture...
Orochimaru: "Compile everything we have on him, Kabuto. Not just the military assessments. The personal details. His habits. His relationships. His... creative outputs."
Kabuto: "That's a substantial file, Orochimaru-sama. Would you like the summarized version or—"
Orochimaru: "Everything. And bring tea. This will take time."
For the next three hours, Orochimaru immersed himself in the dossier on Indra Uzumaki-Uchiha. He read about the inventions first—the technical marvels that had transformed Kumo from a militarily powerful but resource-poor village into something new.
Chakra-grain: Genetically modified crops that yielded ten times the normal output and could grow in poor soil. Not just food security but food abundance. Economic weaponry disguised as agriculture.
Healing Pods: Automated medical systems that could treat complex injuries without a medic-nin present. Field medicine revolutionized.
Gravity Chambers: Training accelerators that effectively gave Kumo shinobi years of conditioning in months.
Village-Wide Barrier System: Defensive networks that made infiltration nearly impossible.
Memory Reader: A device that terrified Orochimaru more than any weapon. The ability to extract truth directly from the mind? That was power of a different order.
Orochimaru: "He's not just a shinobi. He's an industrialist. A scientist. But his science... it leaps over intermediate steps. Look at this timeline, Kabuto. The gravity chamber prototype appeared less than six months after he graduated the academy. The memory reader a year later. Either he's the greatest genius in history, working alone... or he has access to knowledge he shouldn't have."
Kabuto: "Our spies in Kumo report he spends little time in traditional research. No trial and error. He goes directly from concept to functional prototype. It's as if he already knows the solutions and is merely... reproducing them."
Orochimaru's mind raced through possibilities. Stolen technology? Unlikely—nothing like this existed anywhere else. Ancient knowledge recovered? Possibly, but from where? The Uzumaki had been seal masters, not technologists. The Uchiha had been warriors and policemen. Neither clan had produced anything like this in recorded history.
Orochimaru: "And then there's his chakra."
The reports here were more fragmentary but more disturbing. Eyewitness accounts from the few who had faced Indra and survived.
Kakuzu of the Akatsuki: "Fought like a tailed beast without the beast. Chakra that didn't deplete. That adapted."
Konoha ANBU (survivors of early assassination attempts): "His Sharingan... not like other Uchiha. Different pattern. And his Susanoo... colours never seen in any reports."
Kumo shinobi (whispered rumours): "Trains with the Eight-Tails and Two-Tails as equals. Not as Jinchuriki, but as... partners."
Kabuto: "The most credible report comes from our source in the Land of Waves. During his confrontation with Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, Indra fought using spatial and temporal manipulations that match Mangekyō abilities... but without the typical degradation. He should be going blind. By all accounts, he isn't."
Orochimaru: "He cured the Mangekyō's blindness? Or never suffered from it?" He tapped the report. "Either possibility is extraordinary. The former implies medical knowledge beyond even Tsunade's. The latter implies his eyes are fundamentally different from other Uchiha."
He thought of his own interest in the Sharingan, in the Uchiha's genetic legacy. He'd pursued it for years, seeking that perfect fusion of visual prowess and bodily immortality. Sasuke Uchiha had been meant to be his vessel—a young, potent Uchiha with strong chakra and the potential for Mangekyou.
But now there was Indra. An Uchiha with apparently perfected eyes. An Uzumaki with legendary vitality and chakra reserves. A summoner of major clans. A sage—reports confirmed he'd begun Sage Mode training, though from which source wasn't clear.
Orochimaru: "He represents... consolidation. All the separate paths to power I've pursued—Uchiha genetics, Senju vitality, sage transformation, technological enhancement—he seems to be combining them. Not as separate pursuits, but as integrated components of a single... design."
The word felt inadequate, but it fit. There was a deliberateness to Indra's development that went beyond typical prodigy growth. Most prodigies specialized—Minato in speed and sealing, Itachi in Genjutsu and precision, Kakashi in versatility. But Indra was advancing on all fronts simultaneously, as if following a blueprint.
Orochimaru himself was a sage. He'd learned at Ryūchi Cave, though his transformation was imperfect—the snake features too pronounced, the balance difficult to maintain. True sage hood required a harmony with natural energy that his restless, seeking mind found elusive.
But from what he could glean, Indra's sage training was different. Not from the snakes, not from the toads, not from the slugs. A new path? Or an old one forgotten?
Orochimaru: "The boy is gathering power like a storm gathers clouds. Not just personal power but structural power. He's making Kumo into something new—a village that doesn't need to conquer because everyone needs what it has. A village that can't be attacked because its defenses are orders of magnitude beyond anyone else's. A village that offers solutions instead of threats."
He thought of Hashirama Senju, the only other shinobi who had wielded power on this scale. Hashirama had created forests with his chakra—vast, permanent wood releases that still defined the geography around Konoha. The Forest of Death wasn't just a training ground; it was a monument to the First Hokage's power, a living reminder that some things, once created, could not be undone.
And now Indra had created a permanent lake in a desert. Not a temporary water technique that would evaporate. A permanent geographical feature.
Kabuto: "The parallel has occurred to others. In some circles, they're calling him 'The Lake Maker' as a counterpart to Hashirama's 'Forest Maker.'"
Orochimaru: "But Hashirama's power was biological. Wood Release grows, spreads, lives. This lake... it's hydrological. It doesn't grow. It just... is. Perfectly, permanently. That suggests a different kind of mastery. Not over life, but over matter itself. Over the fundamental elements."
He paused, a thought occurring to him.
Orochimaru: "The Creation ability. Some of the reports use that term. Not 'using chakra to manipulate' but 'creating.' As if he's not transforming existing matter but bringing new matter into existence."
Kabuto: "That should be impossible. Even the most advanced transformation techniques are just that—transformations. The total amount of matter and energy remains constant."
Orochimaru: "Should be. But we've both seen enough impossibilities become reality to know that 'should' is a weak word in our world, Kabuto."
He thought of the Edo Tensei—his masterpiece, the ultimate blasphemy against nature. Bringing back the dead, not as illusions or memories, but as functioning entities. If he could violate the law that said death was permanent, why couldn't someone else violate the law that said matter couldn't be created?
But the implications... If Indra could create matter from nothing, then all economic and strategic calculations based on resource scarcity were obsolete. If he could do it on the scale of a lake, what else could he create? Metals? Food? Chakra crystals?
Orochimaru: "He's not just a powerful shinobi. He's a system-level threat. He doesn't just change the balance of power; he changes the rules by which power is measured."
Orochimaru: "Cancel the Suna alliance. Discreetly. Compensate the Kazekage for his trouble, but make it clear our agreement is void."
Kabuto blinked, the first sign of genuine surprise he'd shown all evening.
Kabuto: "Cancel... Orochimaru-sama, we've invested months in this plan. The disguised Suna team is already prepared. The barrier disruption seals are in place. The Sound Four are ready to deploy. We're days away from—"
Orochimaru: "From walking into a trap of our own making. Think, Kabuto. Five Great Villages, all in one place. Not just their Genin and Chunin, but their Jonin, their advisors, possibly even the Kage's themselves. Konoha will be at its most alert, its most fortified. And with Kumo attending... with him attending..."
He didn't need to finish. Kabuto's sharp mind was already working through the implications.
Kabuto: "You believe Indra would interfere."
Orochimaru: "I believe Indra represents a variable we cannot control, predict, or counter. His capabilities are too unknown. His motivations are opaque. And his power level... if the reports are even half-true, he's beyond Kage-level. He might be beyond what we traditionally consider shinobi."
He thought of the warning from the snakes. The eagles' threat. That wasn't just about summon politics; it was a data point. The summon clans were ancient, cautious, and immensely powerful in their own right. For them to take sides in a human conflict was rare. For them to actively warn against interfering with a specific human event? Unprecedented in his experience.
Kabuto: "But your revenge on Lord Third... you've waited years for this opportunity."
Orochimaru: "Revenge is a luxury, Kabuto. A self-indulgence. I wanted to show Sarutobi-sensei the consequences of his choices. To demonstrate that his precious village was vulnerable. But now..." He gestured to the reports spread across the table. "Now everyone can see Konoha's vulnerability. Danzo's exposure did more damage than any invasion could. The village's moral authority is shattered. Its leadership is in disarray. Its alliances are strained."
He poured himself a cup of tea, the steam curling upward like a Specter.
Orochimaru: "Invading Konoha now would be... redundant. And more importantly, risky. With all five villages present, any attack would be seen as an attack on the entire shinobi system. We'd make enemies of everyone, not just Konoha. And we'd likely fail anyway, given the concentrated power that will be in that village."
Kabuto: "Then what? We abandon years of planning because of one boy?"
There was an edge to Kabuto's voice—not disrespect, but frustration. He'd worked tirelessly to orchestrate the Konoha Crush. To see it discarded would feel like waste.
Orochimaru: "We don't abandon. We adapt. The goal was never to destroy Konoha—that would be pointless. The goal was to demonstrate its weakness. To prove that the old order was failing. But Indra has already done that, more elegantly than we ever could. He didn't attack Konoha; he exposed its corruption. He didn't kill its leaders; he made them irrelevant."
He sipped his tea, the bitterness of the leaves matching his thoughts.
Orochimaru: "No, we watch. We observe. This Chunin Exam will be the gathering of the age. All the major players in one place. The old guard—Hiruzen, perhaps even the other retired Kages if they attend. The new generation—the Kage who have taken power recently. The wild cards—Indra, Naruto, Sasuke. And the shadows—the Akatsuki will be watching too, mark my words."
Kabuto: "You want to attend? As a spectator?"
Orochimaru: "In disguise, of course. But yes. I want to see this Indra for myself. To measure his power directly. To understand what he is. And..." A slow smile returned. "To see how Konoha handles hosting the boy who dismantled their moral authority while being the son of one of their own lost clans."
The irony was exquisite. Indra was Fujian Uchiha's son—a Konoha shinobi who had died loyal to the village. And yet that son was now Kumo's greatest asset, returning to Konoha not as a prodigal son but as a foreign dignitary with more power and influence than most Kage.
Kabuto: "And Sasuke Uchiha? Your interest in him..."
Orochimaru: "Remains. But must be reconsidered. If Indra is taking an interest in his cousin... if he's already providing training, guidance... Sasuke may become harder to approach. Or more valuable, if we can still acquire him."
He thought of the Uchiha boy—full of anger, loss, and potential. Perfect vessel material, with the added appeal of the Sharingan's evolution. But if Indra was mentoring him, if he was providing the boy with direction and power...
Orochimaru: "We'll need to reassess our approach to Sasuke. Direct recruitment may no longer be feasible. But indirect influence... that might still work."
Orochimaru: "The world is changing, Kabuto. Faster than I anticipated. For decades, the pattern was clear: the Five Great Villages in uneasy balance, the minor nations caught between, the Akatsuki playing their shadow games, and me... pursuing my own interests in the gaps."
He moved to a larger map, one that showed not just the nations but the known summon realms, the ancient ruins, the places of power.
Orochimaru: "But now? Kumo is ascending not through conquest but through innovation. Konoha is reforming not through revolution but through exposure. The old grudges—between Uchiha and Senju, between Konoha and Kumo, between the villages—are being overwritten by new realities."
Kabuto: "You sound almost... impressed."
Orochimaru: "I am a scientist, Kabuto. I appreciate elegant solutions. And what Indra has done is elegant. He hasn't fought a war, but he's won victories. He hasn't seized power, but he's accumulated influence. He hasn't destroyed his enemies, but he's made them irrelevant."
He thought of his own path—the betrayals, the experiments, the body-hopping, the constant pursuit of more knowledge, more power, more life. It had been... messy. Inefficient. And ultimately unsatisfying, because no matter how much he learned, death still waited. Decay still progressed. The fundamental problems remained.
But Indra's approach was different. He was building something. Creating systems. Solving problems at their root.
Orochimaru: "He's addressing scarcity itself. Not just for himself, but for his village. Perhaps for anyone willing to engage with his systems. That's... fascinating. And potentially useful."
Kabuto: "You're considering... an alliance?"
Orochimaru: (Laughs softly) "With Kumo? Unlikely. They know of my reputation. And Indra, for all his innovation, seems to have conventional morals. He protects his mother, loves his girlfriend, serves his village. He's not... like us."
There was no bitterness in the statement, only observation. Orochimaru had long since accepted that he was different. That his curiosity outstripped his compassion. That his desire for knowledge transcended his loyalty to any person or place.
Orochimaru: "But we don't need an alliance. We need understanding. We need to know what he knows. How he does what he does. If he's discovered some fundamental principle of chakra, some way to create matter, to cure genetic degradation, to achieve perfect sage hood... I want that knowledge."
His eyes gleamed with genuine interest now—the cold, sharp interest of a researcher facing a breakthrough.
Kabuto: "You want to study him."
Orochimaru: "I want to understand him. And through understanding, perhaps find new paths for myself. The Mangekyō cure alone... if he's truly solved that, it represents medical knowledge centuries ahead of anything Tsunade or even I have achieved. The Creation ability... if that's real, it violates our understanding of physics. The summon alliances... they suggest diplomatic or charismatic abilities beyond the norm."
He began pacing again, thoughts flowing faster now.
Orochimaru: "We'll attend the Chunin Exams. Not as attackers, but as observers. We'll watch Indra. Assess his capabilities. Study his interactions. And we'll watch the others too—the Jinchuriki, the heirs, the Kage. This gathering will be a crucible. The old world and the new, all in one place."
Kabuto: "And if an opportunity presents itself? For Sasuke? Or... for other acquisitions?"
Orochimaru: "We'll evaluate in the moment. But our primary objective is intelligence gathering, not acquisition. The risks of direct action are too high with so many powerful players concentrated."
He stopped at a shelf containing his most precious research—the notes on immortality, on perfect vessels, on transcending human limitations. How many years had he spent on these problems? How many dead ends? How many failures?
And here was a boy, not yet twenty, who seemed to be solving adjacent problems with apparent ease.
Orochimaru: "There's another possibility, Kabuto. One we haven't considered."
Kabuto: "What's that?"
Orochimaru: "That he's not working alone. That he has... patronage. Of a kind we don't understand."
He thought of the legends—the distant, half-remembered tales of the Sage of Six Paths, of a time before villages, when chakra was new and the world was different. Most scholars dismissed those stories as myth, but Orochimaru had seen enough strange things to know that myths often contained kernels of truth.
Orochimaru: "The Uchiha and Senju were said to be descendants of the Sage's sons. Their feud was supposedly a continuation of an ancient conflict. But what if... what if Indra represents something else? Not just a mixing of bloodlines, but a return to something older? A reclamation of lost knowledge?"
Kabuto: "You think he's discovered ancient secrets? From before the village era?"
Orochimaru: "Or been given them. By whom or what, I don't know. But his progress is too rapid, too comprehensive. It feels less like discovery and more like... recollection. Like he's remembering how to do things rather than figuring them out."
He filed that thought away for further investigation. Another mystery to solve.
Kabuto: "I'll begin preparations for our observation mission. Disguises, secure communications, extraction plans in case things go wrong. How many should we bring?"
Orochimaru: "Just us. And perhaps Kimimaro, if he's well enough. His loyalty is absolute, and his abilities are... distinctive. But otherwise, minimal presence. We're going to watch, not to fight."
Kabuto: "And the Sound Village? Our forces there?"
Orochimaru: "Put them on standby. But no movements toward Konoha. In fact... have them conduct exercises near the Land of Rice Fields border. Let Konoha's intelligence see that we're active but not threatening. A distraction, if you will."
Kabuto nodded, already making mental lists. Orochimaru watched him, appreciating the younger man's efficiency. Kabuto had been an excellent investment—intelligent, adaptable, and sharing enough of Orochimaru's worldview to be a true partner in research, if not in ultimate ambition.
Orochimaru: "One more thing, Kabuto. Dig deeper into Indra's early life. Before he awakened as a prodigy. There are gaps in our timeline. His first nine years in Kumo are poorly documented. His mother, Delia Uchiha—what was she doing during those years? Who taught him, before the academy? Where did his foundational knowledge come from?"
Kabuto: "You think there's something in his past that explains his present?"
Orochimaru: "There's always something in the past, Kabuto. The present is just the past's most recent manifestation. Find that something."
As Kabuto departed to begin the preparations, Orochimaru remained in the laboratory. The silence settled around him, broken only by the faint hiss of ventilation systems and the occasional movement from the specimen tanks.
He walked to a viewing port that showed nothing but solid rock—the laboratory was buried deep, protected, hidden. Like he was. For years, he'd believed that this was the way to pursue knowledge: in isolation, free from the constraints of morality, loyalty, or human connection.
But Indra's example suggested another path: knowledge pursued not in isolation but in community. Innovation shared rather than hoarded. Power used to build rather than just to acquire.
Was it a better path? More effective? More... satisfying?
Orochimaru didn't know. But he intended to find out.
Hours later, Orochimaru sat before a blank scroll, a brush in his hand. He was composing a message—not to any human ally, but to the snake elders. A formal notification that he would be attending the Chunin Exams in an observational capacity only, that he acknowledged their warning about the eagles, and that he would not provoke conflict with Indra or his summons.
It was a concession. A recognition that sometimes, even the great Orochimaru had to yield to changing circumstances.
But it was also strategy. The wise serpent doesn't fight the flood; it swims with the current until it finds higher ground.
As he wrote, his mind kept returning to Indra. To the reports of his kindness to the tailed beasts. To his protection of his mother. To his obvious affection for Rias Uzumaki. To his mentoring of the younger Uzumaki children. To his gifts for friends and family.
Such... human attachments. Such vulnerabilities.
And yet, those very attachments seemed to be sources of strength for him, not weaknesses. His mother's safety motivated his defensive inventions. His love for Rias inspired his sharing of power (the bat summon contract was clearly a gift). His loyalty to Kumo drove his innovations.
Orochimaru: "Perhaps I've been wrong all these years."
The words, spoken aloud in the empty laboratory, surprised even him.
He'd believed that attachments made one weak. That love was a distraction. That loyalty was a chain. He'd cut all those chains, and in doing so, he'd gained freedom. But he'd also gained... isolation. A loneliness so profound that even immortality seemed like a sentence rather than a reward.
Indra had attachments. Many of them. And instead of weighing him down, they seemed to lift him up. To give him purpose. To focus his considerable abilities.
Orochimaru: "An interesting hypothesis: that human connection might be a catalyst for achievement rather than an impediment. Worthy of further study."
He finished the scroll, sealed it with his chakra, and set it aside for Kabuto to deliver to the summon realm.
Then he turned to his research notes. For years, his work had been directed toward a single goal: his own immortality, his own evolution. But looking at Indra's broader, more systemic innovations...
What if he applied his knowledge differently? Not just to extend his own life, but to solve larger problems? Not just to acquire power, but to understand fundamental principles?
The thought was... intriguing. Not a change of heart—Orochimaru didn't believe he had a heart to change—but a change of strategy. A broadening of scope.
Orochimaru: "The Chunin Exams will be illuminating. Not just for observing Indra, but for observing everyone. The old generation, the new, the in-between. All gathered in one place, at a moment of transition."
He allowed himself a genuine smile, one that touched his golden eyes.
Orochimaru: "How very... interesting."
The snake would watch. The snake would learn. And when the time was right, the snake would adapt, as it always had.
But for now, the Konoha Crush was cancelled. Revenge against Sarutobi-sensei would wait. There were larger patterns to observe, greater mysteries to solve.
And at the centre of it all, a storm sovereign whose very existence challenged everything Orochimaru thought he knew about power, knowledge, and what it meant to be a shinobi.
The game hadn't ended. It had simply become more complex. And Orochimaru had always enjoyed complexity.
He extinguished the lights in the laboratory, leaving only the gentle glow of stasis fields and monitoring seals. In the darkness, his golden eyes still gleamed—watchful, patient, calculating.
The world was changing. And he would be there to see it change. To understand it. And perhaps, to change with it.
End of Chapter – 22